WHEN DID THE WITNESSES LIVE?

HE only course left open to infidelity is to impeach the testimony of those who declare that they saw Jesus repeatedly after His resurrection, and conversed with Him on several occasions. This it 1dare not undertake by charging the witnesses with deliberate falsehood and fraud, but by the barefaced declaration that they did not live at the time of Christ's crucifixion. There would be as much sense shown in saying that John Adams and Benjamin Franklin and Charles Carroll of Carrollton and George Washington did not live at the time of the American Revolution; and yet the impudent statement is made again and again, chiefly by feeble fledglings from the foul nest of skepticism, who know about as much of what they are so confidently affirming to their astonished mammas and sisters, as a baby knows of algebra.

It is well, perhaps, to remind any who may have been shaken by the utterly baseless assertion, that the ablest men, and men of the purest lives, who have examined the subject, unite in proclaiming the authenticity and genuineness of the four Gospels, or in other words, that these four Gospels relate matters of fact as they really occurred, and were written by the persons whose names they bear. Sir Isaac Newton says, " I find more sure marks of authenticity in the New Testament than in any profane history whatever." Isaac Taylor, the accomplished scholar and elegant writer and profound thinker, insists that "the integrity of the records of the Christian faith is substantiated by evidence, in a tenfold proportion, more various, copious, and conclusive than that which can be adduced in support of any other ancient writings." Chief Justice Bushe, referring to the narratives of the four Gospels, says, "if those facts are not therefore established, nothing in the history of mankind can be believed." Rawlinson, whose competency to deal with such a question, and whose honesty, will not be questioned, writes as follows: "In truth, there is not the slightest pretence for insinuating that there ever was any doubt as to the authorship of any one of the historical books of the New Testament; which are as uniformly ascribed to the writers whose names they bear as the Return of the Ten Thousand to Zenophon, or the lives of the Caesars to Suetonius. There is indeed far better evidence [italics his] of authorship in the case of the four Gospels and of the Acts of the Apostles, than exists with respect to the works of almost any classical writer."

Simon Greenleaf, LL.D., Professor of Law in Harvard University, is unquestionably entitled to be heard with deference upon the credibility of the witnesses who tell us of the death and resurrection of Jesus, for his great work, called a "Treatise on the Law of Evidence," has received the highest commendation as an authority upon the topic with which it deals. The London Law Journal, in its notice of the book, admits that " upon the existing law of evidence more light has shone from the New World than from all the lawyers who adorn the courts of Europe." The North American Review spoke of him before his death as "an able arid profound lawyer — a man who has grown gray in the halls of justice and the schools of jurisprudence — a writer of the highest authority on legal subjects, whose life has been spent in weighing testimony and sifting evidence, and whose published opinions on the rules of evidence are received as authoritative in all the English and American tribunals."

This great lawyer in 1846 published a book under the title, an "Examination of the Testimony of the Four Evangelists, by the Rules of Evidence as administered in Courts of Justice, with an Account of the Trial of Jesus." The book was republished in England at the instance of the highest dignitaries of the English Church. In it he says, "Let the witnesses be compared with themselves, with each other, and with surrounding facts and circumstances; and let their testimony be sifted as if it were given in a court of justice on the side of the adverse party, the witnesses being subjected to a rigorous cross examination. The result, it is confidently believed, will be an undoubting conviction of their integrity, ability, and truth. In the course of such an examination the undesigned coincidences will multiply upon us at every step in our progress; the probability of the veracity of the witnesses and of the reality of the occurrences which they relate will increase until it acquires, for all practical purposes, the value and force of demonstration." But if the question be asked of an intelligent Christian why he believes that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John lived in the days of Jesus, and wrote the narratives ascribed to them, he will reply, apart from the internal evidence of their truthfulness, and many external proofs, and the results of faith as affecting his own consciousness and experience, that he believes it for the same reasons, only far stronger, which lead him to believe that John Milton wrote Paradise Lost, that Julius Caesar wrote his Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, that Horace and Virgil wrote the poems attributed to them, that Sallust and Tacitus wrote the histories which bear their name, that Cicero delivered the orations which it is supposed he uttered in the Senate Chamber of Rome. In the first place, there is prima facie evidence that these men were the authors of the several works mentioned, because there is no reason, so far as the facts are known, to ascribe them to others. Then it is found that they are quoted or alluded to generation by generation and century by century, in the pages of various writers, up to the very time the alledged authors lived, that no contemporaneous writers disputed their claim, that they can not be traced a day beyond the period when they existed, that the literary style, allusions to manners, customs, and events, and various incidents related, are in conformity with what is otherwise ascertained to be the character and habits and opportunities of these writers; and hence their productions are received without hesitation as genuine.

Well, let us pursue precisely the same mode of investigation with regard to the four gospels, whose reputed authors will be cited as witnesses for the risen Jesus. In the eighteenth century we have scores and hundreds of eminent Christian writers, all testifying to the existence of Christianity, and all quoting the four gospels as authentic and genuine, it is only necessary to mention the names of the Wesleys, Whitefield, Dr. Jonathan Edwards, Dr. Adam Clarke, Dr. Whitby, Dr. Leland, Dr. Blair, Dr. Doddridge, Bishop Butler, author of "The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Course and Constitution of Nature," Dr. Samuel Johnson, Sir Isaac Newton, Edmund Burke who wrote so powerfully in defence of Christianity, and Sir William Blackstone, the distinguished legal luminary, of whom his biographer in Appleton's Cyclopaedia states that " in religious matters he was earnest and sincere, without affectation, profoundly believing in the church of England, and conforming strictly to its rules and practices." Even if the great religious movements of the century, and the number of prominent Christian writers, did not prove a wide spread belief in the four gospels, infidels will no doubt gladly admit that the writings of their favorite authors, as Voltaire, Tom Paine, Charles Blount, and Lord Bolingbroke furnish conclusive evidence how largely Christianity engaged the thoughts of men a hundred years ago.

In the seventeenth century, as every one knows, Charles I. was beheaded, and Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector of England, favoring Presbyterians, and especially Independents, at the expense of Episcopacy; that Henry IV. of France was assassinated, subjecting the Protestants to savage persecutions; that in 1641 more than 40,000, some say 150,000 Protestants were massacred in Ireland; that such Christian writers as Dr. John Lightfoot, Matthew Poole, Bishop Pearson, Dr. John Owen, Dr. Manton, Richard Baxter, Dr. Calamy, Howe, Bates, Bishop Bull, Bishop Burnet, Archbishop Tillotson. Dr. Sherlock, Chillingworth, Stillingfleet, Francis Bacon, Sir Matthew Hale, the eminent jurist and earnest Christian who wrote four books in defence or exposition of the New Testament, John Milton, and John Locke, sent forth their immortal works, as the world calls them, all recognizing the truth of the narratives contained in the four Gospels, and none doubting their authorship.

In the sixteenth century the Protestant Reformation, producing such writers as Martin Luther, Philip Melancthon, the learned Erasmus, Martin Bucer, Ulric Zwingle, John Calvin, William Farel, Theodore Beza, John Knox, besides at least fifty more who devoted their time and scholarship to the exposition and illustration of the scriptures, carries us back still nearer to the four Evangelists, while the rapid spread of Protestantism into many of the countries of Europe, the founding of the order of Jesuits by Ignatius Loyola, the propagation of the gospel by Roman Catholic missionaries in India, China, and Japan, the assembling of the famous Council of Trent, and the horrible massacre of Protestants in France on St. Bartholomew's day, leave no room to doubt the power of the gospel to agitate the minds of men.

In the fifteenth century John Huss and Jerome of Prague were burned at the stake by order of the Council of Constance, the Moors and Jews were converted to the papal church in Spain by force, the Waldenses were compelled to face the fiercest persecutions; and yet in this dark age the names of about 90 prominent ecclesiastical and theological writers have been preserved, among which those of Thomas a Kempis and Savanarola are the only ones that would in all probability be generally recognized.

In the fourteenth century Mosheim's Church History preserves the names of eighty-two ecclesiastical writers, adding, however, the words, there are " many others, too numerous to mention." Among these the only one who would excite any public interest is John WicklifFe, but all of them refer to the four Gospels under the names which they bear. Christianity, such as it was, made considerable advance in China and Tartary, the Waldenses were persecuted, but Louis of Bavaria, Philip the Fair of France, and Edward III. of England, opposed the arrogance of the Popes, one of whom, Clement v., while he was dining, ordered the Venetian ambassador to be chained under his table like a dog, showing the recognized power of the church. The residence of the Popes during this century was removed to Avignon, and rival Popes for a long time carried on a bitter controversy with each other.

In the thirteenth century the names of fifty-three ecclesiastical writers are given, among whom Roger Bacon, Thomas Aquinas, and Bonaventura are eminent, all recognizing the authenticity and genuineness of the four gospels; Christianity was propagated among the Arabians in Spain; a fifth crusade was carried on against the Saracens by the combined arms of Italy and Germany; the Inquisition was established in Gaul, and committed to Dominic and his order; King John of England was excommunicated by Pope Innocent III.; the adoration of the Host was introduced by Pope Honorius III.; and a sharp debate arose between the Dominicans and Franciscans concerning the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary.

In the twelfth century the names of fifty-two ecclesiastical writers are given, the best known being Abelard, William of Malmesbury, Thomas a Becket, and Anselm, all quoting the four Evangelists; two famous military and religious orders were instituted, the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, and The Knights Templars; another Crusade was undertaken in the interests of Christianity; missionary efforts succeeded in winning over the Sclavonians, and Finlanders; the Scholastic Theology had its rise; Academical degrees were introduced, and learning revived.

In the eleventh century we find the names of fifty-three writers on the gospels. Pope Gregory the Seventh being the most prominent; the crusades were carried on with fanatical zeal; various religious orders were instituted; the emperor Henry IV. of Germany went barefooted to the Roman Pontiff; and the Church was supreme in all the affairs of Europe, touching every throne and household by its despotic and irresponsible power.

In the tenth century we have the names of twenty Popes, and thirty-six ecclesiastical writers, none of whom, perhaps, are worthy of special notice except Dunstan, archbishop of Canterbury, and Edgar, king of England; the Danes and Polanders and Hungarians were converted to Christianity; and the influence of the monks greatly increased in England, that suffered sorely from Danish invasions.

In the ninth century we find the names of fifty-six ecclesiastical and theological writers, the most noted being Alfred the Great, King of England, who composed a Saxon Pharaphrase on the Ecclesiastical History of Bede, and a Saxon Psalter, and who also founded the university of Oxford; and the gospel in a mutilated form was carried to the Swedes, Saxons, Huns, Bohemians, Russians, and Bulgarians, while Methodus made a translation of the Bible for the Bulgarians, which was used by the Russians.

In the eighth century we have preserved to us the names of twenty-one religious writers, several of whom are quite celebrated, as the Venerable Bede, John Damascenus, Charlemagne, Gregory I. and II., Alcuin and Boniface, called the apostle of Germany. The worship of images was authorized by the second council of Nice; masses were offered for the dead; the ceremony of kissing the pope's toe was introduced; and a controversy arose between the Greek and Latin Churches concerning the Holy Ghost's proceeding from the Son.

In the seventh century the names of thirty-six writers on the gospels are preserved; the sixth general Christian Council was held at Constantinople; Pope Boniface IV. received from the emperor Phocas the famous Pantheon; and we find the archbishoprics of London and York established, with twelve bishoprics under the jurisdiction of each, while Christianity was carried into Holland and parts of Germany; although the century is marked by the rise of Mohammed, who acknowledged the divine mission of Jesus, and claimed to be His successor and the founder of a new dispensation.

In the sixth century we have thirty-eight writers, including Gregory the Great, who sent forty Benedictine monks with Augustine at their head into Britain, and through their influence the Christian faith was embraced by Ethelbert, King of Kent, and by multitudes of his subjects; the fifth general council assembled at Constantinople; female convents were greatly multiplied; Litanies were introduced into the church of France; the Arians were driven out; and the Stylites flourished, who spent their time on the top of pillars in penance.

The fifth century gives us forty-two names of writers on the New Testament, two general Christian councils, one at Ephesus, and one at Chalcedon, and it witnessed the conversion of the Irish to Christianity through the efforts of St. Patrick.

The fourth century hands down fifty-one names of writers who acknowledged the gospels, many of them distinguished, as Eusebius, Constantine the Great, Athanasius, Cyril, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustin, and Chrysostom. The first general council of Bishops was held this century, called together in the year 325 by Constantine the Great, to settle the Arian controversy, and a second general Council was held in the year 381 at Constantinople.

The third century gives us the names of twenty-seven Christian writers, including Origen, Cyprian, Novatian, and Paul of Samosata, and is celebrated in the history of the Church by the sixth persecution under the emperor Severus, the seventh persecution under Decius, the eighth persecution under Valerian, the ninth persecution under Diocletian, and his immediate successors.

This brings us to the second century when, according to the wholly unsupported assertion of infidelity, the four gospels were composed by unknown authors. We have followed a continuous and unbroken succession of writers century by century, and even step by step, far more in number than the eighteen hundred years which have passed since the crucifixion of Christ, all of whom refer to these gospels, or quote them, or make comments upon them as the genuine productions of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John during the first century. Two or thrtee leading events in each century have also been mentioned, merely to indicate how prominent Christianity has been through all of these centuries as a mighty factor in the world's progress. Indeed, it would be impossible to write the history of Europe, without at the same time writing the history of the church, for the two are so interwoven, whether for weal or woe, that they have been inseparable since the days of the alledged resurrection of Jesus.

During this second century we have as religious writers Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Hegessippus, Theophilus of Antioch, Melito, Tatian, Papias, Claudius Apollinaris, Hermas, Athenagoras, Clemens Alexandrius, Tertullian, of whom Dr. Lardner remarks "that his quotations from the small book of the New Testament are both longer and more numerous than are the quotations from all the works of Cicero in writers of all characters for several ages," Aquila, Theodotion, Symmachus, the unknown author of the Sylbilline oracles, Irenseus, Polycrates, Dyonisius of Corinth, Pantaenus, Quadratus, besides several fragments of writings by those connected with heretical sects. These men do not say that the four gospels were written in the second century, but on the other hand they explicitly affirm that they were written in the first century. Justin Martyr, A. D. 140, tells us that they were read and expounded in the assemblies of Christians for divine worship on the Lord's day. Irenaeus, A. D. 178, says expressly that there were but four Gospels, and mentions by name those we now possess. Clement of Alexandria, A. D. 194, testifies to the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as written by those whose names they bear. Tertullian, A. D. 200, received as of divine authority, the four Gospels of Matthew and John who, he says, were Apostles, and of Mark and Luke who were apostolical men. Putting together the statements of all the writers of the second century, says Dr. Sampson, we learn "that there were four gospels universally received, two of them from the Apostles Matthew and John, and two from Mark and Luke, who wrote respectively with the authority of Peter and Paul."

But the testimony of early skeptical writers is equally conclusive. Dr. Lardner in his elaborate learned, and cautious work of four volumes, entitled "A Large Collection of Ancient Jewish and Heathen Testimonies to the Truth of the Christian Religion, with Notes and Observations," thus sums up the admissions of the emperor Julian, A. D. 360: " He allows that Jesus was born in the reign of Augustus, at the time of the taxing made in Judaea by Cyrenius: that the Christian religion had its rise, and began to be propagated in the times of the emperors Tiberius and Claudius. He bears witness to the genuineness and authenticity of the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the Acts of the Apostles. And he so quotes them, as to intimate that these were the only historical books received by Christians as of authority, and the only authentic memoirs of Jesus Christ, and His apostles, and the doctrine preached by them. He allows their early date, and even argues for it." Of Porphyry, A. D. 260, he says, "it manifestly appears that he was well acquainted with the scriptures of the Old and New Testament. . . . And we have observed plain references to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John [indeed, scores of them], and the epistle to the Galatians: and in his remarks upon that epistle, probable references to others of St. Paul's epistles." Of Celsus, A. D. 176, he remarks, "We hence learn that in the time of Celsus there were books well known, and allowed to be written by the disciples of Jesus: which books contained a history of Him, and His teaching, doctrines and works. The books here intended, undoubtedly, are the gospels. And, possibly, there may be here also a reference to the Acts of the Apostles." Dr. Doddridge says, "An abridgment of the history of Christ may be found in Celsus. . . . It may be also observed that he speaks of Christ, as having taught and suffered very lately. As for the references to the Gospels, we do not find that he quotes any of them by the name of the authors. But he speaks of the Gospel, meaning no doubt the history of Christ, as being changed three or four times, . . . All which seems to make it evident that he had more than the book of St. Matthew in his hand. And though the greatest part of his references may be found there, yet there are also many of them in the other Gospels." Then follow more than sixty quotations from the Gospels, found in the writings of this early unbeliever.

Dr. John Leland of Dublin says, "Celsus, a most bitter enemy of Christianity, who lived in the second century, produces many passages out of the Gospels. He represents Jesus to have lived but a few years ago. He mentions His being born of a virgin [and this is succeeded by the principal events in His life, by the account of His death, and by the narrative of His resurrection, as related in the four gospels]. It is true he mentions all these things only with a design to ridicule and expose them. But they furnish us with an uncontested proof, that the gospels were then extant. Accordingly he expressly tells the Christians, 'These things we have produced out of your own writings.' And he all along supposeth them to have been written by Christ's own disciples, that lived, and conversed, with Him: though he pretends they feigned many things for the honor of their Master."

But enough surely has been said to prove, by the testimony of the friends and foes of Christianity, that the Gospels could not have been written in the Second Century. Besides this, we have the letter of the younger Pliny, the genuineness of which has never been disputed, written to the emperor Trajan, A. D. 107, asking advice as to his treatment of Christians, many of whom he had punished, as Governor of Bythinia. "Suspending therefore all judicial proceedings," he says, "I have recourse to you for advice. For it has appeared unto me a matter highly deserving consideration, especially upon account of the great number of persons who are in danger of suffering. For many of all ages, and every rank, of both sexes likewise, are accused, and will be accused. Nor has the contagion of this superstition seized cities only, but the lesser towns also, and the open country." Tacitus, who was older than Pliny, writing of Christians in an undisputed passage of his history about A. D. 100, describes their savage persecution by Nero A. D. 64, and says "they had their denomination from Christus, who in the reign of Tiberius was put to death as a criminal by the Procurator Pontius Pilate. This pernicious superstition, though checked for awhile, broke out again, and spread not only over Judaea, the source of this evil, but reached the city also: whither flow from all quarters all things vile and shameful, and where they find shelter and encouragement. At first they only were apprehended, who confessed themselves of that sect: afterwards a vast multitude, discovered by them. All which were condemned, not so much for the crime of burning the city, as for their enmity to mankind." Suetonius, writing about the same time, says, "the Christians were punished, a sort of men of anew and magical superstition;" and Lucian also of the second century is a heathen witness to the spread of Christianity.

But how could it spread at the beginning of the second century to such distant provinces as Pontus and Bythinia, and how could it collect "a vast multitude" of adherents in the imperial city itself between the years A. D. 54 and A. D. 68, the period of Nero's reign, if the four gospels on which it was founded were not then in existence? In the letter of Pliny to Trajan, he speaks of the temples as having been almost forsaken; and Justin Martyr, who wrote about thirty years after Pliny, in his Apology addressed to the Roman emperor and Senate boldly says, "There is not a nation, either of Greek or Barbarian, or of any other name, even of those who wander in tribes, and live in tents, amongst whom prayers and thanksgivings are not offered to the Father and Creator of the Universe by the name of the crucified Jesus." Tertullian, who also belongs to the second century exclaimed in his well known Apology, "We are of yesterday, and yet have filled every place belonging to you — cities, islands, castles, towns, assemblies, your very camp, your tribes, companies, senate and forum;" and he "calls the attention of the heathen to the fact, that the Christians were in a condition to make resistance, and to acquire by violence liberty of faith, since their numbers were so great, constituting almost a majority in every city. Yet they obeyed the injunctions of patience taught in their divine religion, and lived in quietness and soberness, recognizible in no other way than by the amendment of their former lives," (Uhlhorn).

The wild assertion, that the Gospels were not written until the second century, destroys itself, therefore, and is shown to be utterly absurd. Leaving entirely out of view the account given in the Acts of the Apostles of the marvellous progress of Christianity during the thirty-five years immediately following the alledged resurrection of Jesus, we have the testimony of Tacitus that in this brief period a vast multitude of Christians suffered persecution under Nero, and that "their executions were so contrived, as to expose them to derision and contempt. Some were covered over with the skins of wild beasts, and torn to pieces by dogs. Some were crucified. Others, having been daubed over with combustible materials, were set up as lights in the night-time, and thus burned to death." Upon the statement of the Roman historian Gibbon remarks; " The most skeptical criticism is obliged to respect the truth of this extraordinary fact, and the integrity of this celebrated passage of Tacitus. " But Tacitus is followed by Pliny at the very beginning of the second century, who certifies to the prevalence of the Christian faith at a time when, if the assertion of infidelity is to be believed, there was no foundation for it in any written or published narratives. It may be said that the diffusion of Christianity was owing to the missionary zeal of the apostles and first preachers of the gospel. Yes, but if they had no story of the resurrection to tell, it is inconceivable that a vast multitude believed what they never heard, and according to the assertion just noticed, they could not have heard it for the story was not invented until the middle of the second century. You might as well suppose that the people of the United States celebrated their Declaration of American Independence a hundred years before it was made, and based their laws, customs, and usages upon the Constitution of their country long previous to its adoption. Surely men must hate Christianity intensely to believe such nonsense.

But we are not yet done with the witnesses to the authenticity and genuineness of the four Gospels. Entering now the first century we find Barnabas, a fellow laborer of Paul, mentioned in Acts xi., xii., xiii., xiv., xv.; 1 Cor. ix. 4-7; Gal. ii. 1,9, 13; Col. iv. 10; Clement, another fellow laborer of Paul, mentioned in Phil. iv. 3; Hermas, another fellow laborer of Paul, mentioned in Rom. xvi. 14; Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, A. D. 70; and Polycarp, a disciple of the apostle John, all quoting these four gospels, and all referring them to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as their authors. Thus we have an unbroken succession of writers, numbering in the aggregate many thousands, and running back through successive centuries to the very time when it said the gospels were written, and extending no further. Of all these writers not one has ever questioned the authenticity and genuineness of the four gospels. Some of the other books of the New Testament, now and for many hundreds of years, recognized as constituting part of the Canon of Sacred Scripture, were at first doubted or disputed, but no Christian for more than eighteen hundred years has ever doubted or disputed the fact that the four gospels were written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Dean Alford says of the first of the four, "The author of this Gospel has been universally believed to be the apostle Matthew," and cites the names of Papias at the beginning of the second century, Irenaeus, Eusebius, Origen, Epiphanius. Jerome, Gregory Nazianzen and others, who state that it was first written in Hebrew. As to the author of the second Gospel he says, "it has been universally believed to be Mark; . . . and an unanimous tradition of the ancient Christian writers represents him as the 'interpres' of Peter: that, is, the secretary or amanuensis, whose office it was to commit to writing the orally-delivered instructions and narratives of the apostle." Concerning the third Gospel he says, "It has been universally ascribed to Lucas or Luke, spoken of Col. iv. 14, and again Philemon 24, and 2 Tim. iv. 11." Of the fourth he says, " The universal belief of the Christian Church has ascribed this Gospel to the apostle John."

It may be well to add the testimony of infidels to the authorship of the four Epistles, thus rendering complete and conclusive the evidence which assigns to the first century the original documents narrating the resurrection. Baur says, " The four Epistles, which must on all accounts be considered the chief Epistles of the Apostle, are the Epistle to the Galatians, the two Epistles to the Corinthians, and the Epistle to the Romans. There has never been the slightest suspicion of unauthenticity cast on these four Epistles." Renan says in "The Apostles," "Not the slightest doubt has been raised by serious criticism against the authenticity of the Epistle to the Galatians, the two Epistles to the Corinthians, or the Epistle to the Romans;" while in his later work, "St. Paul," bespeaks of Epistles unquestionable and unquestioned; namely, the Epistle to the Galatians, the two Epistles to the Corinthians, and the Epistle to the Romans." Keim, the latest of the rationalistic writers, says in his "Jesus of Nazara," "The first Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians was written at the beginning of Easter, A. D. 58." "Suspicion is forbidden by his whole character; by his acute understanding, which was entirely free from fanaticism; by the form of his careful, cautious, measured, plain representation;... and above all, by the favorable general impression his report produces, and by the powerful corroboration which accompanied it in the clear, consistent, universal belief of early Christendom, and particularly in the testimony of a host of living eye-witnesses." Hence even if it could be proved that the four Gospels were not written until the second century, infidels themselves admit that through the four Epistles the story of the resurrection gained currency in the middle of the first century, and therefore before myths had time to form.