In tragedy the play ends with the death of the hero, but if the
biographers of Jesus had given a similar excuse for bringing their
narrative to a _finale_, there would have been the danger of their
being asked to point out his grave. "He was caught up in a cloud,"
relieved them of all responsibility to produce his remains if called
upon to do so, and, at the same time, furnished them with an excuse to
bring their story to a close.

It would hardly be necessary, were we all unbiased, to look for any
further proofs of the mythical and fanciful nature of the Gospel
narratives than this expedient to which the writers resorted. To
questions, "Where is Jesus?" "What became of his body?" etc., they
could answer, "He was caught up in a cloud." But a career that ends in
the clouds was never begun on the earth.

[Illustration: Coin of the XII Century, Showing Halo Around Lamb's
Head.]

Let us imagine ourselves in Jerusalem in the year One, of the
Christian era, when the apostles, as it is claimed, were proclaiming
Jesus as the Messiah, crucified and risen. Desiring to be convinced
before believing in the strange story, let us suppose the following
conversation between the apostles and ourselves. We ask:

How long have you known Jesus?

I have known him for one year.

And I for two.