t when they believe or disbelieve exactly as he does.
Hence I conclude that the dates of the original narratives cannot be
ascertained, and that we must make the best of the evangelists' own
accounts of themselves. There is, as we have seen, a very marked
difference between them, leaving no doubt that we are dealing with four
authors of well-marked diversity; but they all end in an attitude of
expectancy of the Second Coming which they agree in declaring Jesus to
have positively and unequivocally promised within the lifetime of his
contemporaries. Any believer compiling a gospel after the last of
these contemporaries had passed away, would either reject and omit the
tradition of that promise on the ground that since it was not fulfilled,
and could never now be fulfilled, it could not have been made, or else
have had to confess to the Jews, who were the keenest critics of
the Christians, that Jesus was either an impostor or the victim of
a delusion. Now all the evangelists except Matthew expressly declare
themselves to be believers; and Matthew's narrative is obviously not
that of a sceptic. I therefore assume as a matter of common sense that,
interpolations apart, the gospels are derived from narratives written in
the first century A.D. I include John, because though it may be claimed
that he hedged his position by claiming that Christ, who specially loved
him, endowed him with a miraculous life until the Second Coming, the
conclusion being that John is alive at this moment, I cannot believe
that a literary forger could hope to save the situation by so outrageous
a pretension. Also, John's narrative is in many passages nearer to the
realities of public life than the simple chronicle of Matthew or the
sentimental romance of Luke. This may be because John was obviously more
a man of the world than the others, and knew, as mere chroniclers and
romancers never know, what actually happens away from books and desks.
But it may also be because he saw and heard what happened instead of
collecting traditions about it. The paleographers and daters of first
quotations may say what they please: John's claim to give evidence as an
eyewitness whilst the others are only compiling history is supported by
a certain verisimilitude which appeals to me as one who has preached
a new doctrine and argued about it, as well as written stories. This
verisimilitude may be dramatic art backed by knowledge of public life;
but even at that we must not