194 POSSIBILITIES AND IMPOSSIBILITIES v 



*>t 



Jesus, falsely coloured and distorted by the super- 

 stitious imaginings of the minds through which it 

 had passed, what guarantee have we that a similar 

 unconscious falsification, in accordance with pre- 

 conceived 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 conse- 

 quently with respect to the fundamentals of 

 Christianity ? 



In dealing with the question whether the 

 Gadarene story was to be believed or not, I con- 

 fined 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 coin- 

 cident, 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 improb- 

 able, 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 care- 

 ful 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. 



