284 AGNOSTICISM : A REJOINDER viil 



they were all visions, like the manifestation to 

 himself? And, finally, Jiow is this account to be 

 reconciled with those in the first and third 

 gospels which, as we have seen, disagree with 

 one another ? 



Until these questions are satisfactorily answered, 

 I am afraid that, so far as I am concerned, Paul's 

 testimony cannot be seriously regarded, except as 

 it may afford evidence of the state of traditional 

 opinion at the time at which he wrote, say 

 between 55 and 60 A.D. ; that is, more than 

 twenty years after the event ; a period much more 

 than sufficient for the development of any amount 

 of mythology about matters of which nothing was 

 really known. A few years later, among the con- 

 temporaries and neighbours of the Jews, and, if 

 the most probable interpretation of the Apoca- 

 lypse can be trusted, among the followers of Jesus 

 also, it was fully believed, in spite of all the 

 evidence to the contrary, that the Emperor Nero 

 was not really dead, but that he was hidden away 

 somewhere in the East, and would speedily come 

 again at the head of a great army, to be revenged 

 upon his enemies. 1 



Thus, I conceive that I have shown cause foi 

 the opinion that Dr. Wace's challenge touching 

 the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord's Prayer, and 



1 King Herod had not the least difficulty in supposing the 

 resurrection of John the Baptist " John, whom I beheaded, 

 he is risen " (Mark vi. 16). 



