To write about the Gospels, explaining their origin and transmission, within the compass of an article in ANTIQUITisY o nly possible by expounding the writer's own views on this much discussed and in many parts highly controversial subject in a somewhat peremptory and dogmatic fashion. I therefore make my apologies beforehand to such of my readers as may hold other views, which the inevitable limits of space make it for me impossible to discuss. The main problems I have to consider are : (I) how did the Gospels come to be written, (2) in what ways were they preserved, and (3) what are the chief texts actually extant ?