But
it is evident that the three authorities are not independent; that
they have simply adopted a legend, of which there were two versions;
and instead of their proving its truth, it suggests their
superstitious credulity: so that if "Matthew," "Mark," and "Luke" are
really responsible for the Gospels, it is not the better for the
Gadarene story, but the worse for them.
A wonderful amount of controversial capital has been made out of my
assertion in the note to which I have referred, as an _obiter dictum_
of no consequence to my argument, that if Renan's work[99] were
non-extant, the main results of biblical criticism, as set forth in
the works of Strauss, Baur, Reuss, and Volkmar, for example, would not
be sensibly affected. I thought I had explained it satisfactorily
already, but it seems that my explanation has only exhibited still
more of my native perversity, so I ask for one more chance.
In the course of the historical development of any branch of science,
what is universally observed is this: that the men who make epochs,
and are the real architects of the fabric of exact knowledge, are
those who introduce fruitful ideas or methods. As a rule, the man who
does this pushes his idea, or his method, too far; or, if he does not,
his school is sure to do so; and those who follow have to reduce his
work to its proper value, and assign it its place in the whole.
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