Therefore, although it be, as I believe, demonstrable that we have no
real knowledge of the authorship, or of the date of composition of the
Gospels, as they have come down to us, and that nothing better than
more or less probable guesses can be arrived at on that subject, I
have not cared to expend any space on the question. It will be
admitted, I suppose; that the authors of the works attributed to
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, whoever they may be, are personages
whose capacity and judgment in the narration of ordinary events are
not quite so well certified as those of Eginhard; and we have seen
what the value of Eginhard's evidence is when the miraculous is in
question.
* * * * *
I have been careful to explain that the arguments which I have used in
the course of this discussion are not new; that they are historical
and have nothing to do with what is commonly called science; and that
they are all, to the best of my belief, to be found in the works of
theologians of repute.
The position which I have taken up, that the evidence in favour of
such miracles as those recorded by Eginhard, and consequently of
mediaeval demonology, is quite as good as that in favour of such
miracles as the Gadarene, and consequently of Nazarene demonology, is
none of my discovery. Its strength was, wittingly or unwittingly,
suggested, a century and a half ago, by a theological scholar of
eminence; and it has been, if not exactly occupied, yet so fortified
with bastions and redoubts by a living ecclesiastical Vauban, that, in
my judgment, it has been rendered impregnable.
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