in _The Descriptive Sociology_,
compiled between 1867 and 1881 by three University men I engaged for
the purpose. When using this compilation of facts concerning sixty-eight
different societies I have habitually trusted to the compilers. For
even had I been in good health, it would have been impossible for me to
verify all their extracts from multitudinous books. In some cases, where
the work was at hand, I have referred for verification; and have usually
done so in the case of extracts from the Bible; now and then, as I
remember, rejecting the extracts given to me as being not justified
by the context. But in the case in point it seems that I had not been
sufficiently careful. It is only after reading the preceding chapter
that it becomes clear that the passage I quoted must be taken as part of
an argument with an imaginary interlocutor, rather than as expressive
of St. Paul's own sentiment. It must, I think, be admitted that the
presentation of the thought is a good deal complicated, and, in the
absence of the light thrown upon it by the preceding chapter, is liable
to be misunderstood. I regret that I misunderstood it."

This explanation and apology are, of course, most satisfactory. Saint
Paul is cleared by Mr. Spencer's certificate, and the _Independent_
remarks that this is "a noble codicil to Mr. Spencer's chapter on
Veracity." Nay, it professes high "admiration" for him as the "greatest
living philosopher of the English-speaking race." Thus the "Comedy of
Errors" is followed by "All's Well that Ends Well," and the curtain
falls on compliments and embraces.

It really seems a shame to disturb this pleasant harmony, but we feel
compelled to say something to the _Independent_ and to Mr. Herbert
Spencer about the Apostle Paul.

In the first place we must observe that Mr. Spencer's "erroneous"
statement about the great apostle, while it may be an _aspersion_,
is certainly not _extraordinary_. It has repeatedly been made by the
apostle's adverse critics, and even by some of his admirers. Without
citing a long list of them, we will give two--both English, and both
judicial. Jeremy Bentham, the great reformer of our jurisprudence, wrote
a work entitled _Not Paul, but Jesus_, in which he contends through four
hundred pages that Paul was mercenary, ambitious, and an unscrupulous
liar. To cull a single passage from Bentham's book is like picking one
raisin from a rich plum-pudding. Every sentence is an indictment. And
s