ve been grievously astonished to find that
any one objected to his following the example of the best models
accessible to him.

But since Huxley wrote those words more evidence has been produced. From
the Old Testament, from the Talmud, and from the recently-discovered
_Teaching of the Twelve Apostles_ (a pre-Christian work) the origins of
the Sermon on the Mount have been fully traced.

Agnostic criticism now takes an attitude towards this sermon which may
be thus expressed:

1. The sermon never was preached at all. It is a written compilation.

2. The story of the mount is a myth. The name of the mount is not
given. It is not reasonable to suppose that Jesus would lead a
multitude up a mountain to speak to them for a few minutes. The
mountain is an old sun-myth of the Sun God on his hill, and the
twelve apostles are another sun-myth, and represent the signs of
the Zodiac.

3. There is nothing in the alleged sermon that was new at the time
of its alleged utterance.

Of course, it may be claimed that the arrangement of old texts in a new
form constitutes a kind of originality; as one might say that he who
took flowers from a score of gardens and arranged them into one bouquet
produced a new effect of harmony and beauty. But this credit must be
given to the compilers of the gospels' version of the Sermon on the
Mount.

Let us take a few pre-Christian morals.

Sextus said: "What you wish your neighbours to be to you, such be also
to them."

Isocrates said: "Act towards others as you desire others to act towards
you."

Lao-tze said: "The good I would meet with goodness, the not-good I would
also meet with goodness."

Buddha said: "Hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases
by love."

And again: "Let us live happily, not hating those who hate us."

In the Talmud occur the following Jewish anticipations of Christian
morals:

Love peace, and seek it at any price.

Remember that it is better to be persecuted than persecutor.

To whom does God pardon sins?--To him who himself forgives injuries.

Those who undergo injuries without returning it, those who
hear themselves vilified and do not reply, who have no motive
but love, who accept evils with joy; it is of them that the
prophet speaks when he says the friends of God shall shine
one day as the sun in all his splendour.

It is not the w