people of his nation. If, on the other hand, the Gospel
traditions gives us only a popular version of the sayings and doings
of Jesus, falsely coloured and distorted by the superstitious
imaginings of the minds through which it had passed, what guarantee
have we that a similar unconscious falsification, in accordance with
preconceived ideas, may not have taken place in respect of other
reported sayings and doings? What is to prevent a conscientious
inquirer from finding himself at last in a purely agnostic position
with respect to the teachings of Jesus, and consequently with respect
to the fundamentals of Christianity?

In dealing with the question whether the Gadarene story was to be
believed or not, I confined myself altogether to a discussion of the
value of the evidence in its favour. And, as it was easy to prove that
this consists of nothing more than three partially discrepant, but
often verbally coincident, versions of an original, of the authorship
of which nobody knows anything, it appeared to me that it was wholly
worthless. Even if the event described had been probable, such
evidence would have required corroboration; being grossly improbable,
and involving acts questionable in their moral and legal aspect, the
three accounts sank to the level of mere tales.

Thus far, I am unable, even after the most careful revision, to find
any flaw in my argument; and I incline to think none has been found by
my critics--at least, if they have, they have kept the discovery to
themselves.

In another part of my treatment of the case I have been less
fortunate. I was careful to say that, for anything I could "absolutely
prove to the contrary," there might be in the universe demonic beings
who could enter into and possess men, and even be transferred from
them to pigs; and that I, for my part, could not venture to declare _a
priori_ that the existence of such entities was "impossible." I was,
however, no less careful to remark that I thought the evidence
hitherto adduced in favour of the existence of such beings
"ridiculously insufficient" to warrant the belief in them.

To my surprise, this statement of what, after the closest reflection,
I still conceive to be the right conclusion, has been hailed as a
satisfactory admission by opponents, and lamented as a perilous
concession by sympathisers. Indeed, the tone of the comments of some
candid friends has been such that I began to suspect that I must be
entering upon a