24 foll., &c., which speak distinctly of miracles, and precisely in that indirect manner which is the best kind of evidence.

Therefore if we accept the hypothesis suggested in 'Supernatural Religion'-- and it is a mere hypothesis, quite unverifiable--the evidence for miracles would not be materially weakened.

The author would, I suppose, admit that it is at least equally probable that the saying was quoted from our present Gospel.
This probability would be considerably heightened if the allusion to 'the star' in the Syriac of Eph.

xix has, as it appears to have, reference to the narrative of Matt.ii.In the Greek or Vossian version of the Epistle it is expanded, 'How then was He manifested to the ages?
A star shone in heaven above all the stars, and the light thereof was unspeakable, and the strangeness thereof caused astonishment' ([Greek: Pos oun ephanerothae tois aoisin; Astaer en ourano elampsen huper pantas tous asteras, kai to phos autou aneklalaeton aen, kai xenismon pareichen hae kainotaes autou]).

This is precisely, one would suppose, the kind of passage that might be taken as internal evidence of the genuineness of the Curetonian and later character of the Vossian version.