Suppose the case to come before a judge. Let us try to imagine what would happen: COUNSEL: M'lud, may it please your ludship. It is stated by Paul of Tarsus that he and others worked miracles-- THE JUDGE: Do you intend to call Paul of Tarsus? COUNSEL: No, m'lud. He is dead. JUDGE: Did he make a proper sworn deposition? COUNSEL: No, m'lud. But some of his letters are extant, and I propose to put them in. JUDGE: Are these letters affidavits? Are they witnessed and attested? COUNSEL: No, m'lud. JUDGE: Are they signed? COUNSEL: No, m'lud. JUDGE: Are they in the handwriting of this Paul of Tarsus? COUNSEL: No, m'lud. They are copies; the originals are lost. JUDGE: Who was Paul of Tarsus? COUNSEL: M'lud, he was the apostle to the Gentiles. JUDGE: You intend to call some of these Gentiles? COUNSEL: No, m'lud. There are none living. JUDGE: But you don't mean to, say--how long has this shadowy witness, Paul of Tarsus, been dead? COUNSEL: Not two thousand years, m'lud. JUDGE: Thousand years dead? Can you bring evidence to prove that he was ever alive? COUNSEL: Circumstantial, m'lud. JUDGE: I cannot allow you to read the alleged statements of a hypothetical witness who is acknowledged to have been dead for nearly two thousand years. I cannot admit the alleged letters of Paul as evidence. COUNSEL: I shall show that the act of resurrection was witnessed by one Mary Magdalene, by a Roman soldier-- JUDGE: What is the soldier's name? COUNSEL: I don't know, m'lud. JUDGE: Call him. COUNSEL: He is dead, m'lud. JUDGE: Deposition? COUNSEL: No, m'lud. JUDGE: Strike out his evidence. Call Mary Magdalene. COUNSEL: She is dead, m'lud. But I shall show that she told the disciples-- JUDGE: What she told the disciples is not evidence. COUNSEL: Well, m'lud, I shall give the statements of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew states very plainly that-- JUDGE: Of course, you intend to call Matthew? COUNSEL: No, m'lud. He is--he is dead. JUDGE: It seems to me, that to prove this resurrection you will have to perform a great many more. Are Mark and John dead, also? COUNSEL: Yes, m'lud. JUDGE: Who were they? COUNSEL: I--I don't know, m'lud. JUDGE: These statements of theirs, to which you allude: are they in their own handwriting? COUNSEL: May it please your ludship, they did not write them. The statements are not given as their own statements, but only as statements "according to them." The statements are really copies of translations of copies of translations of statements supposed to be based upon what someone told Matthew, and-- JUDGE: Who copied and translated, and re-copied and re-translated, this hearsay evidence? COUNSEL: I do not know, m'lud. JUDGE: Were the copies seen and revised by the authors? Did they correct the proofs? COUNSEL: I don't know, m'lud. JUDGE: Don't know? Why? COUNSEL: There is no evidence that the documents had ever been heard of until long after the authors were dead.