4-8).

And, not only does he assert the Resurrection as a fact, but he builds upon it a whole scheme of doctrine: 'If Christ be not risen,' he says, 'then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.' We do not stay now to consider the exact philosophical weight of this evidence.
It will be time enough to do this when it has received the critical discussion that may be presumed to be in store for it.

But as external evidence, in the legal sense, it is probably the best that can be produced, and it has been entirely untouched so far.
Again, in considering the evidence for the age of the Synoptic Gospels, that which is derived from external sources is only a part, and not perhaps the more important part, of the whole.

It points backwards indeed, and we shall see with what amount of force and range.

But there is still an interval within which only approximate conclusions are possible.