410 PECULIAR CONTROVERSIAL METHODS xi 



can see who will turn to my article of February 

 1889 [VII. supra], out of which all this discussion 

 has arisen, that the arguments upon which I rest the 

 strength of my case touching the swine-miracle, are 

 exactly " historical " and " critical/' Expressly, and 

 in words that cannot be misunderstood, I refuse to 

 rest on what Mr. Gladstone calls " subjective " 

 evidence. I abstain from denying the possibility 

 of the Gadarene occurrence, and I even go so far as 

 to speak of some physical analogies to possession. 

 In fact, my quondam opponent, Dr. Wace, 

 shrewdly, but quite fairly, made the most of these 

 admissions ; and stated that I had removed the 

 only " consideration which would have been a 

 serious obstacle " in the way of his belief in the 

 Gadarene story. l 



So far from setting aside the authority of the 

 synoptics on " subjective " grounds, I have taken 

 a great deal of trouble to show that my non-belief 

 in the story is based upon what appears to me to 

 be evident ; firstly, that the accounts of the three 

 synoptic Gospels are not independent, but are 

 founded upon a common source ; secondly, that, 

 even if the story of the common tradition pro- 

 ceeded from a contemporary, it would still be 

 worthy of very little credit, seeing the manner in 

 which the legends about mediaeval miracles have 

 been propounded by contemporaries. And in 



Nineteenth Century, March 1889 (p. 362). 



