Fragments from Reimarus

PREFACE.

The method of criticism adopted by Reimarus is most commendable for its extreme clarity and fidelity to the Gospel records. He teaches in such a way that even the least educated mind can understand him. He is so far from forcing his own interpretations upon us that he habitually allows the New Testament to speak for itself; every charge he is compelled to bring against the founders of Christianity is sustained and proven by their own testimony. I have not yet seen another work on this subject in the English language that carries such an irresistible force of argument.

A complaint might be made that the present work is, as its title declares, only fragmentary. While a complete work from the master hand of Reimarus would doubtless have been of great value, there is a merit not to be despised in brevity and conciseness, especially when the subject matter is more calculated to weary the mind than to refresh it. These paragraphs from the pen of the great German thinker are each and all well-aimed and powerful blows, and one must be a brave man to attempt to place a shield between them and the orthodox faith. I venture to say there is only one method of neutralizing or diminishing the force of this attack—the method of