These conclusions need to be supplemented from the phenomena of the documents themselves.

In the relation of the Gospels to the growth of the Christian society and the development of Christian doctrine, and especially to the great turning-point in the history, the taking of Jerusalem, there is very considerable internal evidence for determining the date within which they must have been composed.

It is well known that many critics, without any apologetic object, have found a more or less exact criterion in the eschatological discourses (Matt.

xxiv, Mark xiii, Luke xxi.

5-36), and to this large additions may be made.