dash his head against the wall
built of unhewn stones of unconscious, blind, and deaf force? Nature,
indeed, has too much spirit--according to Hartmann himself--to indulge in
such an absurdity; and the philosophy of the 'unconscious Unconscious' will
never permit it." It is true, there is actually present in mankind, and in
it alone, such a discord between {335} instinct and satisfaction: man has
in himself instincts which are opposed to sin and death, and nevertheless
sin and death exist. But the redemption through Christ, and especially the
knowledge of his resurrection, announces to us that this discord is
removed.

Therefore, he who in general acknowledges that mankind in its development
has had given to it goals which correspond to its gifts and instincts, has
every reason to look about and see whether, in the course of human history,
certain things have happened which point at such aims--indications which
prophetically assure mankind, that it advances toward a spiritual and moral
perfection, and toward an undiminished participation of all members of
mankind in this perfection. Such an assurance is offered us in the
resurrection of Jesus; and therefore, all who have not abandoned a
teleological view of the world, have reason for _examining it with
reference to the degree of its historical truth_. This degree is the
highest which we can in general claim of any historical event.

In order to show this with such brevity as is necessary in the present
book, and at the same time to guard ourselves against every danger of
prejudice in the investigation, we shall for this occasion assume
hypothetically that all, even the most extreme, assertions of Biblical
criticism as to the authenticity and inauthenticity of the books of the New
Testament, and as to the difference of their component parts and the time
of their composition, are correct and proven; and see what then remains
established. In the first place, it is an acknowledged fact, that Peter
first, then the eleven apostles at different times, and between these more
than five hundred "brethren" (_i.e._, nearly or fully all who had preserved
their {336} attachment to the Lord till his death), saw the appearances of
the risen one, a few days after his death; and, indeed, under the most
different circumstances, and under mental conditions in which they did not
at all expect any such second appearance. We have, in regard to this, the
most authentic written evidence of the