2 6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



story of the spread of the gospel, the only "working hypothesis" to 

 explain the facts. The synoptics hear internal marks of heing genu- 

 ine ; give a consistent tale to account for the state of things as detailed 

 by Paul and the Book of Acts ; and have external testimony accumu- 

 lating in their favor derived especially from the controversies with 

 the early heretics. Even John's gospel is brought within a hundred 

 years of our Lord's death, almost certainly in the first century, is 

 shown to be as little inconsistent with the synoptics as Plato's Socra- 

 tes is with Xenophon's Socrates, and breathes an air so superior to 

 that of the Apostolic Fathers, that we see the one to be heaven-de- 

 scended, the other to be the product of imperfect human nature at a 

 time when the minds of Christians were saturated with divine truth. 

 It is clear that the "expectancy" of accounting for the life of Christ 

 by human causes has not yet been realized. " The Bible," as Beza 

 said, "is an anvil which has worn out many hammers." 



Every one knows that all men, scientific and unscientific, are lia- 

 ble to be swayed by prejudice, and Dr. Carpenter has not been able 

 to throw much light on this subject by physiology. Even mathema- 

 ticians may have their " personal equation." Philosophers, so called, 

 and scientists have fallen under the influence of the idols of Bacon, 

 and not a few other idols which have been set up since his time. His- 

 torical investigators, judges, and juries, are all aware of its existence, 

 and should guard against it. We meet with it in our daily inter- 

 course with our fellow-men, and make allowance for it. We see it in the 

 village parties, in political contests, and in the rivalries of rank and 

 trade. To every reality there is a counterfeit; corresponding to ev- 

 ery truth there is a false appearance ; if there be one Jehovah, there 

 are many idols. Many, when they look to the dust of the conflict, 

 arc tempted to conclude that Truth cannot be found. But, notwith- 

 standing all this, Truth can be found and won by those who court her 

 in the right manner and the right spirit. It is to be remembered, 

 however, that while we are required to demand evidence before yield- 

 ing our conviction, all evidence is not of the same kind. " I receive 

 mathematics," said Goethe, "as the most sublime and useful science 

 as long as they are applied in their proper place ; but I cannot com- 

 mend the misuse of them in matters which do not belong to their 

 sphere, and in which, noble science as they are, they seem to be mere 

 nonsense, as if, forsooth, tilings only exist when they can be mathe- 

 matically demonstrated ! It would be foolish for a man not to believe 

 in his mistress's love because she could not prove it to him mathemati- 

 cally. She can mathematically prove her dowry, but not her love." 

 Some scientists in our day are insisting that every thing, even in his- 

 tory, morals, ami religion, is to be settled by experiment and calcu- 

 lation, and would place all truth under the microscope subject it to 

 the blowpipe, and express it in statistics and they do not see that 

 the highest truth escapes in the process. The defenders of religion 



