il and a man standing on a point of the temple in the
full sight of Jerusalem? Did so unusual an occurrence cause no
astonishment in the city? Where is the high mountain from which Jesus
and the Devil saw all round the globe? Is it true that the Devil gives
power to whom he will? If so, why is it said that the powers are
"ordained of God"?

Another "discrepancy, concerning the denial of Christ by Peter,
furnishes a still stronger proof that these records have not come down
to us with the exactness of a contemporary character, much less with the
authority of inspiration. The four accounts of Peter's denial vary
considerably. The variations will be more intelligible, exhibited in a
tabular form" (Giles' "Christian Records," p. 228). We present the
table, slightly altered in arrangement, and corrected in some details:--

MATTHEW. MARK. LUKE. JOHN.
1st. Seated without Beneath in In the On entering
in the the palace, by midst of the to the
palace, to a the fire, to a hall where damsel that
damsel. maid. Jesus was kept the
being tried, door.
seated by
the fire, to a
maid.

2nd. Out in the Out in the Still in the In the hall,
porch, having porch, having hall, in standing by
left the room, left the room, answer to a the fire, in
in answer to in answer to man. answer to the
a second a second bystanders.
maid. maid.

3rd. Out in the Out in the Still in the Still in the
porch, to the porch, to the hall, to a man. hall, to a
bystanders. bystanders. man.

In addition to these discrepancies, we find that Jesus prophesies that
Peter shall deny him thrice "before the cock crow," while in Mark the
cock crows immediately after the first denial: in Luke, Jesus and Peter
remain throughout the scene of the denial in the same hall, so that the
Lord may turn and look upon Peter; while Matthew and Mark place him
"beneath" or "without," and make the third denial take place in the
porch outside--a place where Jesus, by the context, certainly could not
see him.

How long did the ministry