XVIII
My dear ——,
From the digressions concerning the growth of the Gospels and the possibility or probability that their truths would be conveyed through illusion I now return to our main subject, the question whether the life of Christ can be disentangled from miracles. And here you tell me that some of your agnostic and sceptical friends quote with great satisfaction the following sentence from Bishop Temple's recent Bampton Lectures[1]: "Many of our Lord's most characteristic sayings are so associated with narratives of miracles that the two cannot be torn apart." I can well believe what you tell me as to the advantage which they naturally take of this admission: "Here," they say, "is a statement made on high authority that, unless you can believe that Jesus worked bonâ fide miracles, such as the blasting of the fig-tree and the destruction of the swine, you must give up 'many of Christ's most characteristic sayings'—in other words, you must give up the hope of knowing what Jesus taught." I wish your friends, who quote this assertion with so much pleasure, would also have quoted the "characteristic sayings" alleged by Dr. Temple in proof of this assertion; for you would then have seen for yourself that many of these "characteristic sayings" are associated not with "miracles" but with "mighty works;" and I am sure you have not forgotten the difference between the two.[2]
