To condemn or to acquit a man in a court of law, there must not only
be evidence, but enough of it to justify a decision. There is some
evidence for almost any imaginable proposition; but that is not
enough. Not only does the evidence offered to prove Jesus'
historicity, already examined, fail to give this assurance, but, on
the contrary, it lends much support to the opposite supposition,
namely, that in all probability, Jesus was a myth--even as Mithra,
Osiris, Isis, Hercules, Sampson, Adonis, Moses, Attis, Hermes,
Heracles, Apollo of Tyanna, Chrishna, and Indra, were myths.

The story of Jesus, we are constrained to say, possesses all the
characteristics of the religious drama, full of startling episodes,
thrilling situations, dramatic action and _denouement_. It reads more
like a play than plain history. From such evidence as the gospels
themselves furnish, the conclusion that he was no more than the
principal character in a religious play receives much support. Mystery
and morality plays are of a very ancient origin. In earlier times,
almost all popular instruction was by means of _Tableaux vivant_.

As a great scenic or dramatic performance, with Jesus as the hero,
Judas as the villain--with conspiracy as its plot, and the trial, the
resurrection and ascension as its _finale_, the story is intelligent
enough. For instance, as the curtain rises, it discloses upon the
stage shepherds tending their flocks in the green fields under the
moonlit sky; again, as the scene shifts, the clouds break, the heavens
open, and voices are heard from above, with a white-winged chorus
chanting an anthem. The next scene suggests a stable with the cattle
in their stalls, munching hay. In a corner of the stable, close to a
manger, imagine a young woman, stooping to kiss a newly born babe.