202 POSSIBILITIES AND IMPOSSIBILITIES VI 



of the monstrous legend of the herd of swine. 

 In these three books, there are five accounts of a 

 " miraculous feeding," which fall into two groups. 

 Three of the stories, obviously derived from some 

 common source, state that five loaves and two 

 fishes sufficed to feed five thousand persons, and 

 that twelve baskets of fragments remained over. 

 In the two others, also obviously derived from a 

 common source, distinct from the preceding, seven 

 loaves and a few small fishes are distributed to 

 four thousand persons, and seven baskets of 

 fragments are left. 



If we were dealing with secular records, I sup- 

 pose no candid and competent student of history 

 would entertain much doubt that the originals of 

 the three stories and of the two are themselves 

 merely divergent versions of some primitive story 

 which existed before the three Synoptic gospels 

 were compiled out of the body of traditions current 

 about Jesus. This view of the case, however, is 

 incompatible with a belief in the historical 

 accuracy of the first and second gospels. 1 For 

 these agree in making Jesus himself speak of both 

 the " four thousand " and the " five thousand " 

 miracle. " When I brake the five loaves among 

 the five thousand, how many baskets full of 

 broken pieces took ye up ? They say unto him, 

 twelve. And when the seven among the four 



1 Matthew xvi. 5-12 ; Mark viii. 14-21. 



