This volume is, however, a companion to its predecessor, for the methods and the principles of composition are the same in both of them. Essentially they are novels, written in letter form, for they are composed of episodes and reflections, freely are purely the children of my own imagination, as by people like Peter, James, and Silvanus, who occur again and again in the pages of the New Testament. But I have tried to set a limit to my fancy, and so far as I could I have avoided straying too far from the narrative of the New Testament, or from perfectly clear implications of what the New Testament says.