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    mony of the Gospels ; " and they are intended to support the four propositions already stated . In so extensive and voluminous a work , we might reasonably expect to find a good Alphabetical Index of subjects : but all the aid of this kind is a Table of Contents ; and though this seems intended for an analysis of the Dissertations , it is so inadequate to the object , that it gives no intimation of various topics in them which we had marked for consideration .

    The titles of the three first Dissertations are , " On the Regularity of the Gospels , and on their Supplemental Relation to each other—Historical Investigation of the Times [ Dates ] and Order of the Three First Gospels—On the Irregularity of St . Matthew ' s Gospel . " Maintaining , in the course of them , several positions which are incapable of proof , and some which are

    inconsistent with each other , and arguing from these as if they were established by his reasonings , there is little on which the mind can rest with the satisfaction which the author obviously feels in his own conclusions ; and , indeed , in various cases the reasoning itself appears destitute of solidity . When we come to consider the " peculiar texture of each gospel" —our second division—we shall have occasion to advert to some of Mr . Greswell ' s

    opinions on the subject : here we will only point out two or three of those positions which afford an exemplification of some of our strictures . The author sets out with maintaining ( p . 3 ) , that " no history , as such , whatever be the subject to which it relates , can , consistently with its own nature and purposes , disregard the order of time . " He also maintains the inspiration and infallibility of the gospels ; and yet speaks of St . Mark ( p . 34 ) as rectifying the transpositions of St . Matthew , and supplying his deficiencies ; and in vindication of the original and equal authority of the

    former , he afterwards appeals ( p . 23 ) to his " rectification of the order of St . Matthew where that was inverted and irregular . " He even asserts , ( p . 40 , ) that ** it is just and reasonable , and necessary to the joint authority of all , that we should allow to each a separate and an equal weight . Admit their common inspiration , ( he adds , ) and we have no other alternative . " What , then , can we say to the case where , according to St . Matthew ( ch . viii . 5—10 ) , the centurion came to Jesus , and himself intreated him to heal

    his servant ; while St . Luke ' s narrative ( ch . vii . 6 , 7 ) expressly shews that the centurion did not come to him ? Each account cannot have an equal weight , because both could not be the fact . No difficulty whatever exists , if we allow that each recorded the occurrence according to the best of his knowledge ; and it is easy to perceive how that of St . Matthew may have originated , ( especially if he were not himself an eye-witness , ) from the transaction as recorded by St . Luke with circumstantial detail . It was the custom in the East for the messenger to deliver his message in the very words of his employer ; and the words of the centurion thus delivered would

    naturally be referred to the centurion himself as present , by those who did not themselves hear the details from accurately-informed eye-witnesses ; and might be so referred even by some of those eye-witnesses . As to the instructions of Christ , the apostles surely stood upon a different footing from others ; since they received from their Lord ( John xiv . 26 ) the promise of miraculous aid in the recollecting of his declarations . This does not require us to suppose that the very words were brought to their recollection ; but it affords solid ground for a perfect reposing confidence in their record , as it respects the import of his declarations . But in recording his actions , and the events which befel him , where is there even a plausible reason for the supposition that they or the other evangelists were inspired ?

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    36 On the Chronology and Arrangement of the Gospel Narratives .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1831, page 36, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2593/page/36/