How long did the ministry of Jesus last?  Luke places his baptism in the fifteenth year of Tiberius (iii. 1), and he might have been crucified under Pontius Pilate at any time within the seven years following.  The Synoptics mention but one Passover, and at that Jesus was crucified, thus limiting his ministry to one year, unless he broke the Mosaic law, and disregarded the feast; clearly his triumphal entry into Jerusalem is his first visit there in his manhood, since we find all the city moved and the people asking:  “Who is this?  And the multitude said, This is Jesus the Prophet of Nazareth of Galilee” (Matt. xxi. 10, 11).  His person would have been well known, had he visited Jerusalem before and worked miracles there.  If, however, we turn to the Fourth Gospel, his ministry must extend over at least two years.  According to Irenaeus, he “did not want much of being fifty years old” when the Jews disputed with him ("Against Heresies,” bk. ii., ch. 22, sec. 6), and he taught for nearly twenty years.  Dr. Giles remarks that “the first three Gospels plainly exhibit the events of only one year; to prove them erroneous or defective in so important a feature as this, would be to detract greatly from their value” ("Christian Records,” p. 112).  “According to the first three Gospels, Christ’s public life lasted only one year, at the end of which he went up to Jerusalem and was crucified” (Ibid, p. 11).  “Would this questioning [on the triumphal entry] have taken place if Jesus had often made visits to Jerusalem, and been well known there?  The multitude who answered the question, and who knew Jesus, consisted of those ’who had come to the feast,’—­St. John indicates this [xii. 12]—­but the people of Jerusalem knew him not, and, therefore, asked ‘Who is this?’” (Ibid, p. 113).  The fact is, that we know nothing certainly as to the birth, life, death, of this supposed Christ.  His story is one tissue of contradictions.  It is impossible to believe that the Synoptics and the fourth Gospel are even telling the history of the same person.  The discourses of Jesus in the Synoptics are simple, although parabolical; in the Fourth they are mystical, and are being continually misunderstood by the people.  The historical divergences are marked.  The fourth Gospel “tells us (ch. 1) that at the beginning of his ministry Jesus was at Bethabara, a town near the junction of the Jordan with the Dead Sea; here he gains three disciples, Andrew and another, and then Simon Peter:  the next day he goes into Galilee and finds Philip and Nathanael, and on the following day—­somewhat rapid travelling—­he is present, with these disciples, at Cana, where he performs his first miracle, going afterwards with them to Capernaum and Jerusalem.  At Jerusalem, whither he goes for ‘the Jews’ passover,’ he drives out the traders from the temple and remarks, ’Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up:’  which remark causes the first of the strange misunderstandings between Jesus and