ies on
points so important, and as to which there could be little mistake, are
enough to throw discredit on the whole story.

It is further noticeable that Luke is absolutely silent about Herod's
massacre of the innocents. What can we think of his reticence on such a
subject? Had the massacre occurred, it would have been widely known, and
the memory of so horrible a deed would have been vivid for generations.
Matthew, or whoever wrote the Gospel which bears his name, is open to
suspicion. His mind was distorted by an intense belief in prophecy, a
subject which, as old Bishop South said, either finds a man cracked or
leaves him so. After narrating the story of Herod's massacre, he adds:
"Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy, the prophet,
saying," etc. Now, he makes similar reference to prophecy no less than
five times in the first two chapters, and in each case we find that the
"prophetical" utterance referred to has not the faintest connexion with
the incident related.

Besides, a man who writes history with one eye on his own period, and
the other on a period centuries anterior is not likely to be veracious,
however earnestly he may intend to. There is an early tradition, which
is as strong as any statement about the history of the Primitive Church,
that Matthew's Gospel was originally written in Hebrew; and it has
been supposed that the writer gratuitously threw in these references to
Jeremy and others, in order to please the Jews, who were extremely fond
of prophecy. But this supposition is equally fatal to his credibility as
an historian. In any case, the Evangelists differ so widely on matters
of such interest and importance that we are constrained to discredit
their story. It is evidently, as scholarship reveals, a fairy tale,
which slowly gathered round the memory of Jesus after his death. Some
of its elements were creations of his disciples' fancy, but others were
borrowed from the mythology of more ancient creeds.

Yet this fairy tale is accepted by hundreds of millions of men
as veritable history. It is incorporated into the foundation of
Christianity, and every year at this season its incidents are joyously
commemorated. How slowly the world of intelligence moves! But let us not
despair. Science and scholarship have already done much to sap belief in
this supernatural religion, and we may trust them to do still more. They
will ultimately destroy its authority by refuting its pretensions, and