ld be compelled to rely, in the one case, upon
the untrustworthy gossip of Mussulman chroniclers, and in the other
case upon the garbled statements of the "Acts of the Apostles," a book
written with a distinct dogmatic purpose, sixty or seventy years after
the occurrence of the events which it professes to record.

It is true, many of the words of Jesus, preserved by hearsay tradition
through the generation immediately succeeding his death, have come
down to us, probably with little alteration, in the pages of the three
earlier evangelists. These are priceless data, since, as we shall see,
they are almost the only materials at our command for forming even a
partial conception of the character of Jesus' work. Nevertheless, even
here the cautious inquirer has only too often to pause in face of the
difficulty of distinguishing the authentic utterances of the great
teacher from the later interpolations suggested by the dogmatic
necessities of the narrators. Bitterly must the historian regret
that Jesus had no philosophic disciple, like Xenophon, to record his
Memorabilia. Of the various writings included in the New Testament, the
Apocalypse alone (and possibly the Epistle of Jude) is from the pen of
a personal acquaintance of Jesus; and besides this, the four epistles of
Paul, to the Galatians, Corinthians, and Romans, make up the sum of the
writings from which we may expect contemporary testimony. Yet from these
we obtain absolutely nothing of that for which we are seeking. The brief
writings of Paul are occupied exclusively with the internal significance
of Jesus' work. The epistle of Jude--if it be really written by Jesus'
brother of that name, which is doubtful--is solely a polemic directed
against the innovations of Paul. And the Apocalypse, the work of
the fiery and imaginative disciple John, is confined to a prophetic
description of the Messiah's anticipated return, and tells us nothing
concerning the deeds of that Messiah while on the earth.

Here we touch upon our third consideration,--the consideration which
best enables us to see why the historic notices of Jesus are so meagre.
Rightly considered, the statement with which we opened this article
is its own explanation. The Jesus of history is so little known just
because the Christ of dogma is so well known. [16] Other teachers--Paul,
Mohammed, Sakyamuni--have come merely as preachers of righteousness,
speaking in the name of general principles with which their ow