VIII AGNOSTICISM : A REJOINDER 271 



now much it is desirable to let the congregations 

 of the faithful know of the results of biblical, 

 criticism, is likely to wake up with anything short 

 of the grasp of a rough lay hand upon its 

 shoulder; it is the question whether the New 

 Testament books, being, as I believe they were, 

 written and compiled by people who, according to 

 their lights, were perfectly sincere, will not, when 

 properly studied as ordinary historical documents, 

 afford us the means of self-criticism. And it must 

 be remembered that the New Testament books 

 are not responsible for the doctrine invented by 

 the Churches that they are anything but ordinary 

 historical documents. The author of the third 

 gospel tells us, as straightforwardly as a man can, 

 that he has no claim to any other character than 

 that of an ordinary compiler and editor, who had 

 before him the works of many and variously 

 qualified predecessors. 



In my former papers, according to Dr. Wace, I 

 have evaded giving an answer to his main propo- 

 sition, which he states as follows 



Apart from all disputed points of criticism, no one practically 

 doubts that our Lord lived, and that He died on the cross, in 

 the most intense sense of filial relation to His Father in Heaven, 

 and that Ha bore testimony to that Father's providence, love, 

 and grace towards mankind. The Lord's Prayer affords a 

 sufficient evidence on these points. If the Sermon on the Mount 

 alone be added, the whole unseen world, of which the Agnostic 

 refuses to know anything, stands unveiled before us. ... If 

 133 



