[109] I may call attention, in passing, to the fact that this authority, at any rate, has no sort of doubt of the fact that Jewish Law did not rule in Gadara (indeed, under the head of "Gadara," in the same work, it is expressly stated that the population of the place consisted "predominantly of heathens"), and that he scouts the notion that the Gadarene swineherds were Jews.
[110] The evidence adduced, so far as post-exile times are concerned, appears to me insufficient to prove this assertion.
[111] Even Leviticus xi. 26, cited without reference to the context, will not serve the purpose; because the swine is "cloven-footed" (Lev. xi. 7).
[112] 1st Gospel: "And the devils besought him, saying, If Thou cast us out send us away into the herd of swine." 2d Gospel: "They besought him, saying, Send us into the swine." 3d Gospel: "They intreated him that he would give them leave to enter into them."
[113] See Marquardt, Römische Staatsverwaltung, Bd. III. p. 408.
[114] Nineteenth Century, March 1889 (p. 362).
[115] "The Value of Witness to the Miraculous." Nineteenth Century, March 1889.
[116] I cannot ask the Editor of this Review to reprint pages of an old article,—but the following passages sufficiently illustrate the extent and the character of the discrepancy between the facts of the case and Mr. Gladstone's account of them:—
"Now, in the Gadarene affair, I do not think I am unreasonably sceptical if I say that the existence of demons who can be transferred from a man to a pig does thus contravene probability. Let me be perfectly candid. I admit I have no à priori objection to offer.... I declare, as plainly as I can, that I am unable to show cause why these transferable devils should not exist." ... ("Agnosticism," Nineteenth Century, 1889, p. 177).
"What then do we know about the originator, or originators, of this groundwork—of that threefold tradition which all three witnesses (in Paley's phrase) agree upon—that we should allow their mere statements to outweigh the counter arguments of humanity, of common sense, of exact science, and to imperil the respect which all would be glad to be able to render to their Master?" (ibid. p. 175).