VIII AGNOSTICISM: A REJOINDER 305 



man ; in the latter there are two. The story is 

 told fully, with the vigorous homely diction and 

 the picturesque details of a piece of folklore, in 

 the second gospel. The immediately antecedent 

 event is the storm on the Lake of Gennesaret. 

 The immediately consequent events are the 

 message from the ruler of the synagogue and the 

 healing of the woman with an issue of blood. 

 In the third gospel, the order of events is exactly 

 the same, and there is an extremely close general 

 and verbal correspondence between the narratives 

 of the miracle. Both agree in stating that there 

 was only one possessed man, and that he wa3 

 the residence of many devils, whose name was 

 " Legion." 



In the first gospel, the event which immediately 

 precedes the Gadarene affair is, as before, the 

 storm ; the message from the ruler and the healing 

 of the issue are separated from it by the accounts 

 of the healing of a paralytic, of the calling of 

 Matthew, and of a discussion with some Pharisees. 

 Again, while the second gospel speaks of the 

 country of the *' Gerasenes " as the locality of the 

 event, the third gospel has " Gerasenes," 

 " Gergesenes," and " Gadarenes " in different 

 ancient MSS. ; while the first has " Gadarenes." 



The really important points to be noticed, 

 however, in the narrative of the first gospel, are 

 these that there are two possessed men instead 

 of one; and that while the story is abbreviated by 



