The Jesus of the Evangelists: His Historical Character Vindicated; or, an Examination of the Internal Evidence for our Lord's Divine Mission, with reference to Modern Controversy. By the Rev. C. A. Row, M. A. [pp. 586-612]

oSS J?ow'~ J&~?l8 ~ Mc Lcq~~~,ci~~~. [OcTOBEP,
~ses ai~d inferences. It cont~ins 110 i'}~ctoricaJ paragra}~Jis, &~Ht it
is pervaded by a cal in, yet intense earnestness and some of
its passages are trnly el~~qiieiit. S~)I1~C of its ViCNV5 a~~d assnn~ptioi~s are, as MC tliiiik, utterly erroneous, and M~C expeet
to n~~tiee them hereafter, but they do not materially i~iipair
tiie force of the reasoiiing, ~vbi('li is tlioronglily scientific.
Those M~ho s~vectly believe ai~d kno~v tl~at Jesus no~v lives,
do not need to b'1ve it proved to them tliat he ~~as once iii
tl~is ~-orld, M~ltli all tl~ose glories and excellencies ~vliieli tl~e
Gospels ascribe to him, and yet eveI~ siicli persons find U~at
their sonls are refreshed and strengthened by re~diiig M~Cll
~~ritten disqiiisitions, in ~hicli tlie diviiie origii~ of Christianity
is proved fron~ tlie character of Jesns. For they are conipelled
while reading to contemplate, iiiore or less steadily, liis perfections. Xo~v a Iai~~e I)art of ~Ir. Po~v's book is similar in
its nature to such disqiiisitions, t\~r lie spends much time in
examining tlie portraiture of our Lord, in order to show the
in~possibility of its beii~g a in crc invention. If MC n~ay learn
moic concerning niorals by studying the diameter of Christ
tliaii ii) any other ~vay, and if it is true, as many tliii~i that
CliristianiQv is as much indebted to tlie snperliuinan loveliness
of that character, as to any of its doctrines, no book caii be
~~itliont value in ~vhich the divine liiieamcnts of the Saviour
are dwelt npon and clearly exhibited.
It is, however, tl)e good of the uiibelieving which is n~()rC
direedy so ii ght by such treatises as the one before ns. If it
should be alleged that there is no need of such treatises, because the mythic hypothesis is by this time exploded, it is
sufficient to reply that, even admitting it to be so, ~fr. P~ow's
book is a refutation i~ot mereLy of what is strictly called the
mytl~ic theory, bnt of all that lias been ui~ged to prove that
the Gospels are unhistoilcal: and that, supposing tl~at such
writers as Strauss and Re nan should after a while be forgotten,
still there will ever be secret donbts iii many miiids as to the
historical reality of the person of onr Lord. In regard to the
influeiice for evil still exerted by Strauss's Lives of Jesus, a
wnter, well qualified to speak ()11 the subject, says: "They who
speak of liini as dead, are themselves dead it is to be feared,
to modern tl~eologicaI thought and issues. Tlie influence of