false or fictitious; and we call it _credible_ when the record of facts
which it professes to give is worthy of belief. Authenticity and
credibility are, therefore, only different views of the same quality.

In the case of a book that deals mainly with _principles_, the
question of authorship is of subordinate importance. Thus the
book of Job, with the exception of the brief narratives with
which it opens and closes, and which may belong to any one of
several centuries, is occupied with the question of Divine
providence. It is not necessary that we know what particular man
was its author, or at what precise period he wrote. We only need
reasonable evidence (as will be shown hereafter) that he was a
prophetical man, writing under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
But the case of the gospel narratives is wholly different. They
contain a record of the supernatural appearance and works of the
Son of God, on the truth of which rests our faith in the gospel.
So the apostle Paul reasons: "If Christ be not risen, then is
our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." 1 Cor. 15:14.
It is, then, of vital importance that we know the relation which
the authors of these narratives held to Christ. If they were not
_apostles_ or _apostolic men_, that is, associates of the
apostles, laboring with them, enjoying their full confidence,
and in circumstances to obtain their information directly from
them--but, instead of this, wrote after the apostolic age--their
testimony is not worthy of the unlimited faith which the church
in all ages has reposed in it. The question, then, of the
genuineness of the gospel narratives and that of their
authenticity and credibility must stand or fall together.

2. In respect to the _origin_ of the gospels, as also of the other books