ies dans
l'Asie Centrale_; and the recently published work of Mr. E.G. Browne,
_The Episode of the Bab_.]

[Footnote 32: Here, as always, the revised version is cited.]

[Footnote 33: Does any one really mean to say that there is any internal
or external criterion by which the reader of a biblical statement, in
which scientific matter is contained, is enabled to judge whether it is
to be taken _au serieux_ or not? Is the account of the Deluge, accepted
as true in the New Testament, less precise and specific than that of the
call of Abraham, also accepted as true therein? By what mark does the
story of the feeding with manna in the wilderness, which involves some
very curious scientific problems, show that it is meant merely for
edification, while the story of the inscription of the Law on stone by
the hand of Jahveh is literally true? If the story of the Fall is not
the true record or an historical occurrence, what becomes of Pauline
theology? Yet the story of the Fall as directly conflicts with
probability, and is as devoid of trustworthy evidence, as that of the
Creation or that of the Deluge, with which it forms an harmoniously
legendary series.]

[Footnote 34: See, for an admirable discussion of the whole subject, Dr.
Abbott's article on the Gospels in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_; and
the remarkable monograph by Professor Volkmar, _Jesus Nazarenus und die
erste christliche Zeit_ (1882). Whether we agree with the conclusions of
these writers or not, the method of critical investigation which they
adopt is unimpeachable.]

[Footnote 35: Notwithstanding the hard words shot at me from behind the
hedge of anonymity by a writer in a recent number of the _Quarterly
Review_, I repeat, without the slightest fear of refutation, that the
four Gospels, as they have come to us, are the work of unknown writers.]

[Footnote 36: Their arguments, in the long run, are always reducible to
one form. Otherwise trustworthy witnesses affirm that such and such
events took place. These events are inexplicable, except the agency of
"spirits" is admitted. Therefore "spirits" were the cause of the
phenomena.

And the heads of the reply are always the same. Remember Goethe's
aphorism: "Alles factische ist schon Theorie." Trustworthy witnesses
are constantly deceived, or deceive themselves, in their interpretation
of sensible phenomena. No one can prove that the sensible phenomena, in
these cases, could be caused only by the agency of