the place was a desert near Bethsaida; and John himself happens to have mentioned, in the opening of his Gospel (i. 44), that Bethsaida was the city of Philip. And laying these three insulated passages together, we see how natural it was to put the question, Where is bread to be bought?' to one acquainted with the neighbourhood. Had we not possessed John's Gospel, we should never have known that such a question was asked; and had we not possessed Luke's Gospel, we should never have seen the special propriety of asking it at Philip.

"We have chosen these examples because in them the truth of certain miracles happens to be implicated. If the coincidences now quoted be real and undesigned, then, not only are they an irresistible argument for the truth of the collective narrative, but they establish directly as facts the healing of Malchus's ear, the cure of many sick and demoniacs, and the miraculous feeding of the multitude with five loaves and two fishes; for it is in the recital of these miracles those coincidences, so truth-vouching, occur. And if, again, these miracles be true, then is Jesus all that He professed, for it was in support of His claims as Messiah that He wrought these miracles.

"But from the Gospels we may transfer this test to other portions of the New Testament. We have there a book mainly occupied with the travels of St. Paul; and alongside of it we have thirteen epistles ascribed to the same apostle. Now, even supposing that the author of the epistles and the author of the Acts were the same individual, it has been triumphantly shown by a sort of microscopical survey, that nothing but scrupulous truth or omniscient falsehood could account for the complex and involute agreement which subsists between them. To detect these latent harmonies was,

perhaps, the greatest service to historic Christianity which acumen and sound sense united have ever rendered; and, though it is impossible to offer any abstract here, we may safely congratulate, as proof against circumstantial evidence, the sceptic who reads the 'Horæ Paulinæ,' and still doubts whether such a man as Paul existed, whether his epistles be genuine, and whether the Acts of the Apostles be true.

"We have often visited the ruins of a famous castle, with which, no doubt, many of our readers are well acquainted. Long ago it was captured, and that it might never be a stronghold to the patriots of Germany again, the enemy burnt it and blew up the walls. But in the weedy foss is still shown a huge fragment of a tower, which, when exploded, alighted there; and in the goodly joining of its stones, and the hardening of its ancient mortar, such a rocky mass had it become, that when lifted from its base, instead of descending in a shower of rubbish, it came down superbly a tower still. And like that massy keep, the books we have been considering are so knit together in their exquisite accuracy, the histories are so riveted to one another, and the epistles so mortised into the histories; and the very substance of epistles and histories alike is so penetrated by that cement of all-pervading reality, that the whole now forms an indissoluble concrete. And though all coeval literature had perished, though all the external confirmations were destroyed, though all the monuments of antiquity were annihilated, strong in its intrinsic truthfulness, the New Testament would still hold its lofty place—a tower of self-sustaining integrity. And though the efforts of enmity were to succeed as they have signally failed, though learned hostility were to undermine its documentary foundations, and blow up that evidence of manuscripts and early versions

on which it securely reposes, so finely do its facts fit into one another, so strongly are its several portions clamped together, and in the penetration and interfusion through all its parts of its ultimate inspiring Authorship, into such a homogeneous structure has it consolidated, that it would come down again on its own basis, shifted, but nowise shattered. Such a book has God made the Bible, that, whatever theories wax popular, or whatever systems explode, 'the Scripture cannot be broken.'" 1

"The attempt," observes M. Renan, "to find a guiding thread through this labyrinth [of Gospel narrations] ought not to be taxed with gratuitous subtlety." His sister, who told him she should love his book, nevertheless, at times, "feared for it" the condemnation of "the frivolous," or of those who were not " 'truly religious souls ;" and he here seems to betray a kindred presentiment in himself. But changing the expression to "those who are truly religious souls," as truth requires, we would say, well they might "fear for it" such condemnation, for truly there was reason. To be taxed with "gratuitous subtlety," however, he thinks too severe a condemnation, since his object has been to "succeed in combining the texts in such a manner that they shall constitute a logical, probable narrative, harmonious throughout." In doing so, he has endeavoured to strictly adhere to "the rules of classic narration," calling to his aid "the methods of art," so giving to the texts what he calls "an appreciative interpretation," and making them "dovetail and furnish a whole in which all the parts are happily blended." “In such an effort," he says, moreover, .. some share of divination and conjecture must be per

1 See "Light to the Path," by James Hamilton, D.D., F.L.S. New edition, London.

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mitted." Well, between his "classic rules, art, divination, conjecture, dovetailing," etc., he has produced, he hopes, not "a caricature" of the Gospel history, but the general spirit of the work; at least, one of the forms in which it could have existed." "In which it could have existed!" It must be some satisfaction to the mind of this gentleman, no doubt, to have accomplished so much as the result of his arduous and protracted labours, and will perhaps be an encouragement to some other philosopher who may have in contemplation the discovery of another form in which it "could have existed;" and the world will doubtless be under an obligation to accord to them its verdict of commendation corresponding with the very important conclusion thus arrived at, as the result of their progressive and philosophic labours.

In a tone of self-exculpation, and with all the assurance we might look for from one who is really guiltless in the matter, Renan exclaims: "Preserve us from mutilating history in order to satisfy our petty susceptibilities!" But if ever there was a man who has mutilated history from such a cause and for such a purpose, that man is Renan. His work throughout bears witness to the fact, that his criticisms of the Gospels are little else than one continued mutilation of history. He exhibits a degree of presumption and audacity in the liberty he has taken with these most authentic of historic documents that is altogether without a parallel in anything we have ever seen. And as to his ostensible grounds for so doing, (all discoverable in the articles of his creed, to which we shall hereafter refer) so utterly puerile are they, that his "petty susceptibilities" is really much too mild a term to express the character of the man in this respect.

CHAPTER III.

CHARACTER AND TEACHING OF JESUS.

O attempt a description of the character of Christ, were to attempt a delineation of the character of

God. To do full justice to such a character, therefore, is beyond the power of man. No pen, but the pen of inspiration, can be adequate to the task of describing the character of the Being in whom "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." As a Being possessing infinite perfections, co-equal with the Father, the natural and moral attributes of the Deity were His-the almighty power, the infinite holiness, the ineffable goodness, the unspeakable mercy, the boundless benevolence, infinite wisdom, unfathomable love, and all the other attributes of Deity were His in all their immeasurable fulness from eternity. Who then may fully describe the character of such a Being? No finite mind, for it is alike unrevealed and unrevealable. But although Christ's being was ever associated with the Infinite, He was nevertheless a man among men, had a human character, and exemplified it in all the primeval loveliness of perfect humanity. He was the most amiable of beings, and all His affections were pure. Pathos and power characterized His preaching; and immaculate innocence, His life. In Him were exemplified, truth unstained by deceit; sincerity without mixture of guile; zeal, unimpaired by ignorance; candour, undiminished by pre