appealed to Phlegon the Chronicler, who mentions(1) an eclipse of the sun about this period accompanied by an earthquake, and also to a similar occurrence referred to by Eusebius,(2) probably quoted from the historian Thallus, but, of course, modern knowledge has dispelled the illusion that these phenomena have any connection with the darkness we are discussing, and the theory that the evangelists are confirmed in their account by this evidence is now generally abandoned.(3) It is apart from our object to show how common it was amongst classical and other writers to represent nature as sympathising with national or social disasters;(4) and as a poetical touch this remarkable darkness of the Synoptists, of which no one else knows anything, is quite intelligible. The statement, however, is as seriously and deliberately made as any other in their narrative, and does not add to its credibility. It is palpable that the account is mythical,(5) and it bears a strange likeness to passages in the Old Testament, from the imagery of which the representation in all probability was derived.(6) The first and second Gospels state that when Jesus
cried with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit, "the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom."(1) The third Synoptic associates this occurrence with the eclipse of the sun, and narrates it before the final cry and death of the Master.(2) The fourth Gospel takes no notice of so extraordinary a phenomenon. The question might be asked: How could the chief priests, who do not appear to have been at all convinced by such a miracle, but still continued their invincible animosity against the Christian sect, reveal the occurrence of such a wonder, of which there is no mention elsewhere? Here again the account is legendary and symbolical,(3) and in the spirit of the age of miracles.(4)
The first Synoptist, however, has further marvels to relate. He states in continuation of the passage quoted above: "and the earth was shaken [———] and the rocks were rent and the sepulchres were opened, and many bodies of the saints who slept were raised; and they came out of the sepulchres after his resurrection, and entered into the holy city and appeared unto many."(5) How great must be the amazement of anyone who may have been inclined to suppose the Gospels soberly historical works, on finding that the other three evangelists do not even mention these
astounding occurrences related by the first Synoptist! An earthquake [———](1) and the still more astounding resurrection of many saints who appeared unto "many," and, therefore, an event by no means secret and unknown to all but the writer, and yet three other writers, who give accounts of the crucifixion and death of Jesus, and who enter throughout into very minute details, do not even condescend to mention them! Nor does any other New Testament writer chronicle them. It is unnecessary to say that the passage has been a very serious difficulty for apologists; and one of the latest writers of this school, reproducing the theories of earlier critics, deals with it in a Life of Christ, which "is avowedly and unconditionally the work of a believer,"(2) as follows: "An earthquake shook the earth and split the rocks, and as it rolled away from their places the great stones which closed and covered the cavern sepulchres of the Jews, so it seemed to the imaginations of many to have disimprisoned the spirits of the dead, and to have filled the air with ghostly visitants, who after Christ had risen appeared to linger in the Holy City." In a note he adds "Only in some such way as this can I account for the singular and wholly isolated allusion of Matt. xxvii. 52, 53."(3) It is worthy of note, and we may hereafter
refer to the point, that learned divines thus do not scruple to adopt the "vision hypothesis" of the resurrection. Even if the resurrection of the saints so seriously related by the evangelist be thus disposed of, and it be assumed that the other Gospels, likewise adopting the "vision" explanation, consequently declined to give an objective place in their narrative to what they believed to be a purely subjective and unreal phenomenon, there still remains the earthquake, to which supernatural incident of the crucifixion none of the other evangelists think it worth while to refer. Need we argue that the earthquake(1) is as mythical as the resurrection of the saints?(2) In some apocryphal writings even the names of some of these risen saints are given.(3) As the case actually stands, with these marvellous incidents related solely by the first Synoptist and ignored by the other evangelists, it would seem superfluous to enter upon more detailed criticism of the passage, and to point out the incongruity of the
