XI PECULIAR CONTROVERSIAL METHODS 403 



be more appropriate for an act of such manifest 

 injustice and illegality. 



I can but marvel that modern defenders of the 

 faith should not be glad of any reasonable excuse 

 for getting rid of a story which, if it had been 

 invented by Voltaire, would have justly let loose 

 floods of orthodox indignation. 



Thus, the hypothesis, to which Mr. Gladstone so 

 fondly clings, finds no support in the provisions of 

 the " Law of Moses " as that law is defined in the 

 Pentateuch ; while it is wholly inconsistent with 

 the concurrent testimony of the synoptic Gospels, 

 to which Mr. Gladstone attaches so much weight. 

 In my judgment, it is directly contrary to every- 

 thing which profane history tells us about the 

 constitution and the population of the city of 

 Gadara ; and it commits those who accept it to a 

 story which, if it were true, would implicate 

 the founder of Christianity in an illegal and in- 

 equitable act. 



Such being the case, I consider myself excused 

 from following Mr Gladstone through all the 

 meanderings of his late attempt to extricate 

 himself from the maze of historical and exegetical 

 difficulties in which he is entangled. I content 

 myself with assuring those who, with my paper 

 (not Mr. Gladstone's version of my arguments) in 

 hand, consult the original authorities, that they 

 will find full justification for every statement I 



