'excellent candour,' 'great fulness,' 'perfect impartiality,' with
special reference to the part of the work relating to the authorship and
character of the Fourth Gospel, which he describes as 'a piece of keen
and solid reasoning.' This is quite decisive. Our author might have had
his own grounds for ignoring the arguments of 'apologetic' writers, or
he may have been ignorant of them. For reasons which will appear
presently, the latter alternative ought probably to be adopted as
explaining some omissions. But however this may be, the language of the
reviewer is quite inapplicable to the work lying before me. It may be
candid in the sense of being honestly meant, but it is not candid in any
other sense; and it is the very reverse of full and impartial. The
arguments of 'apologetic' writers are systematically ignored in this
part of the work. Once or twice indeed he fastens on passages from such
writers, that he may make capital of them; but their main arguments
remain wholly unnoticed. Why, for instance, when he says of the Fourth
Gospel that 'instead of the fierce and intolerant temper of the Son of
Thunder, we find a spirit breathing forth nothing but gentleness and
love,' [13:1] does he forget to add that 'apologists' have pointed to
such passages as 'Ye are of your father the devil,' as a refutation of
this statement--passages far more 'intolerant' than anything recorded in
the Synoptic Gospels? [13:2] Why again, when he asserts that 'allusion
is undoubtedly made to' St Paul in the words of the Apocalypse, 'them
that hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a
stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed
to idols [14:1],' does he forget to mention that St Paul himself uses
this same chapter in Jewish history as a warning to those free-thinkers
and free-livers, who eat things sacrificed to idols, regardless of the
scandal which their conduct might create, and thus, so far from a direct
antagonism, there is a substantial agreement between the two Apostles on
this point? [14:2] Why, when he is endeavouring to minimize, if not to