5 o 4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



quiry whether we have to record in this case the existence of an 

 exception to the general character of our Lord's ministry, which 

 was both beneficent and law-abiding. So far as regards the taking 

 of animal life, the matter need not be discussed. It was life des- 

 tined to be taken, taken by violence and probably with greater 

 pain. It may have been, undoubtedly, the highest practical asser- 

 tion of power, which is recorded by the Evangelists. But there 

 is a remaining question, namely, whether this assertion of power 

 was such as to involve serious injury to the proprietary rights 

 of innocent persons. This is the character which Prof. Huxley 

 stamps upon the narrative ; justly, as he thinks, but, as I hold, in 

 defiance of historical authority, and of the laws of rational and 

 probable interpretation. I can not, however, but agree with him 

 on two points which appear to be important : namely, first, that 

 the excision on moral grounds of this narrative from the Synoptic 

 Gospels affects their credit as a whole, and, secondly, that it is 

 material to know whether the act recorded involved the infliction 

 of a heavy penalty upon conduct in itself innocent. 



The first question that arises in approaching this inquiry is, 

 where did the miracle take place ? And I do not well understand 

 how Mr. Huxley, or his authorities, have so readily arrived at the 

 conclusion that the very existence of any place named Gergesa is 

 very questionable.* Origen was a learned man, of critical mind, 

 and he resided for a large part of his life in Palestine, and trav- 

 eled there only two centuries after the time of our Lord.f He 

 tells us expressly these three things : 



1. That there was an ancient citv named Gergesa on the Lake 

 of Tiberias. 



2. That, bordering on the water, there was a precipitous de- 

 scent, which it appears, or is proved (oVxvin-ai), that the swine 

 descended. 



3. That Gadara is indeed a city of Judsea, with very famous 

 baths, but has no precipitous ground in the vicinity of water. J 



This statement from such a source, at such a date, appears to 

 require a treatment much more careful than the dictum that the 

 existence of Gergesa is " very questionable." I admit, however, 

 my obligation under the circumstances to inquire also, and fully, 

 into the case of Gadara. 



Let me now summarily point out what I conceive to be the 

 main sources of error, which, taken together, vitiate the entire 

 argument of Prof. Huxley. 



1. Throughout the paper he confounds together what I had 



* Nineteenth Century, December, 1890, p. 972. 



f See also McClellan's New Testament, on Matt, viii, 28, for the testimony of St. 

 Jerome. 



% Orig., Comment, in Joann., p. 145. 



