IX AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY 359 



adverse case " with the facts just set forth. For 

 what is the adverse case ? The question, as Dr. 

 Wace puts it, is, " It may be asked how far can 

 we rely on the accounts we possess of our Lord's 

 teaching on these subjects." It will be obvious 

 that M. Renan's statements amount to an adverse 

 answer to a "practical" denial that any great 

 reliance can be placed on these accounts. He 

 does not believe that Matthew, the apostle, wrote 

 the first Gospel ; he does not profess to know who 

 is responsible for the collection of " logia," or how 

 many of them are authentic ; though he calls the 

 second Gospel the most historical, he points out 

 that it is written with credulity, and may have 

 been interpolated and retouched ; and, as to the 

 author, " quel qu'il soit," of the third Gospel, who 

 is to " rely on the accounts " of a writer, who 

 deserves the cavalier treatment which "Luke" 

 meets with at M. Renan's hands ? 



I repeat what I have already more than once 

 said, that the question of the age and the author- 

 ship of the Gospels has not, in my judgment, the 

 importance which is so commonly assigned to it ; 

 for the simple reason that the reports, even of 

 eye-witnesses, would not suffice to justify belief in 

 a large and essential part of their contents ; on 

 the contrary, these reports would discredit the 

 witnesses. The Gadarene miracle, for example, is 

 so extremely improbable, that the fact of its being 

 reported by three, even independent, authorities 



