VI POSSIBILITIES AND IMPOSSIBILITIES 203 



thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces 

 took ye up ? And they say unto him, seven." 



Thus we are face to face with a dilemma the 

 way of escape from which is not obvious. Either 

 the " four thousand " and the " five thousand " 

 stories are both historically true, and describe two 

 separate events ; or the first and second gospels 

 testify to the very words of a conversation between 

 Jesus and his disciples which cannot have been 

 uttered. 



My choice between these alternatives is deter- 

 mined by no a priori speculations about the possi- 

 bility or impossibility of such events as the feeding 

 of the four or of the five thousand. But I ask myself 

 the question, What evidence ought to be produced 

 before I could feel justified in saying that I 

 believed such an event to have occurred ? That 

 question is very easily answered. Proof must be 

 given (1) of the weight of the loaves and fishes at 

 starting ; (2) of the distribution to 4-5,000 persons, 

 without any additional supply, of this quantity 

 and quality of food ; (3) of the satisfaction of 

 these people's appetites; (4) of the weight and 

 quality of the fragments gathered up into the 

 baskets. Whatever my present notions of proba- 

 bility and improbability may be, satisfactory testi- 

 mony under these four heads would lead me to 

 believe that they were erroneous ; and I should 

 accept the so-called miracle as a new and unex- 

 pected example of the possibilities of nature. 



