354 AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY ix 



" practical surrender " (not merely as to the age 

 and authorship of the Gospels, be it observed, but 

 as to their historical value) is made, and he has 

 been so good as to do so. Now let us consider 

 the parts of Dr. Wace's citation from Renan which 

 are relevant to the issue : 



The author of this Gospel [Luke] is certainly the same as the 

 author of the Acts of the Apostles. Now the author of the 

 Acts seems to be a companion of St. Paul a character which 

 accords completely with St. Luke. I know that more than one 

 objection may be opposed to this reasoning : but one thing, at 

 all events, is beyond doubt, namely, that the author of the 

 third Gospel and of the Acts is a man who belonged to the 

 second apostolic generation ; and this suffices for our purpose. 



This is a curious " practical surrender of the 

 adverse case." M. Renan thinks that there is no 

 doubt that the author of the third Gospel is the 

 author of the Acts a conclusion in which I 

 suppose critics generally agree. He goes on to 

 remark that this person seems to be a companion 

 of St. Paul, and adds that Luke was a companion 

 of St. Paul. Then, somewhat needlessly, M. 

 Renan points out that there is more than one 

 objection to jumping, from such data as these, to 

 the conclusion that " Luke " is the writer of the 

 third Gospel. And, finally, M. Renan is content 

 to reduce that which is " beyond doubt " to the 

 fact that the author of the two books is a man of 

 the second apostolic generation. Well, it seems to 

 me that I could agree with all that M. Renan 



