while we slept. And if this come to the governor's ears, we
will persuade him, and rid you of care. So they took the money,
and did as they were taught: and this saying was spread abroad
among the Jews, and continueth until this day.

Matthew tells us that the saying "continueth until this day."
Which day? The day on which Matthew is writing or speaking. Now,
a man does not say of a report or belief that it "continueth until
this day" unless that report or belief originated a long time ago,
and the use of such a phrase suggests that Matthew told or repeated
the story after a lapse of many years.

That apart, there is no genuine historical evidence, outside the
New Testament, that such men as Paul, Peter, Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John ever existed.

Neither can it be claimed that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John actually
wrote the Gospels which bear their names. These Gospels are called
the Gospel "according to Matthew," the Gospel "according to Mark,"
the Gospel "according to Luke," and the Gospel "according to John."
They were, then, Gospels condensed, paraphrased, or copied from some
older Gospels, or they were Gospels taken down from dictation, or
composed from the verbal statements of the men to whom they were
attributed.

Thus it appears that the Gospels are merely reports or copies of
some verbal or written statements made by four men of whom there is
no historic record whatever. How are we to know that these men ever
lived? How are we to know that they were correctly reported, if
they ever spoke or wrote? How can we rely upon such evidence after