The 19th century recognition of Mark as the earliest gospel led to the belief that it must therefore be the most reliable.[16] This conclusion was shaken by two works published in the early decades of the 20th century: in 1901 William Wrede argued strongly that the "Messianic secret" motif in Mark was a creation of the early church rather than a reflection of the historical Jesus; and in 1919 Karl Ludwig Schmidt showed how the links between the episodes are the invention of the writer, thus undermining the claim that the gospel is a reliable guide to the chronology of Jesus' mission.[17] The modern consensus is that Mark's purpose was to present a theological message rather than to write history,[16] but this gospel is nevertheless still seen as the most reliable of the four in terms of its overall description of Jesus's life and ministry.[18]