From the point of view of such an enquiry, I
probably go much further into the examination of Justin's "Memoirs"
than was at all necessary.
Space, however, forbids my further dwelling on these instances,
regarding which Dr. Lightfoot says: "In every instance which I have
selected"--and to which I have replied--"these omitted considerations
vitally affect the main question at issue." [25:1] If Dr. Lightfoot had
devoted half the time to mastering what "the main question at issue"
really is, which he has wasted in finding minute faults in me, he might
have spared himself the trouble of giving these instances at all. If
such considerations have vital importance, the position of the question
may easily be understood. Dr. Lightfoot, however, evidently seems to
suppose that I can be charged with want of candour and of fulness,
because I do not reproduce every shred and tatter of apologetic
reasoning which divines continue to flaunt about after others have
rejected them as useless. He again accuses me, in connection with the
fourth Gospel, of systematically ignoring the arguments of "apologetic"
writers, and he represents my work as "the very reverse of full and
impartial." "Once or twice, indeed," he says, "he fastens on passages
from such writers, that he may make capital of them; but their main
arguments remain wholly unnoticed.
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