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mw INTRODUCTION. FO-THE STUDY
OF THE GOSPELS.

AN INTRODUCTION

TO THE

me UDY OF THE GOSPELS

BROOKE FOSS. WESTCOT®, D.D.. D.C.L.

SIXTH EDITION.

Cambridae and Wondon:
MACMILLAN AND CO.
1881

[Zhe Right of Translation and Reproduction is reserved.)

WS 2555
Wie

Εὐλόγως ὁ διδάσκαλος ἡμῶν ἔλεγεν
Γίνεοθε τρὰπεζῖτὰι δόκιμοι.

5.907.

Canrbridge :
PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A.
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS,

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2007 with funding from
Microsoft Corporation

http://www.archive.org/details/introductiontost0Owestrich

NOTICE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.

N issuing the new edition of this Essay, I can only
repeat what I said nearly six years ago. The book
remains with all its shortcomings such as it was when
first written. Once again some mistakes which I had
detected myself, and others which friends pointed out
to me, have been corrected: a few additions have been
made; a few phrases have been modified; but this is
all that has been done in revision, nor did I purpose to
do more. If the Essay has any value, it lies chiefly, I
believe, in the encouragement which it offers to students
who desire to examine the records of our Faith with
patient and devout trust in the Spirit of Truth. They
will know, scarcely less well than I do, where the fulfil-
ment of my plan falls short of the design ; but they will
know also the certainty of the assurance, which each
day’s work makes stronger, that Holy Scripture opens
treasures new and old to men and to Churches, now as
in former times, when the scribe becomes a disciple of

the kingdom of Gop.
B. -F.. W,

TRINITY COLLEGE,
feb. 10th, 1872.

NOTICE TO THE THIRD EDITION.

T is impossible for me not to acknowledge with gra-
titude the favour with which the last edition of this
Essay was received both at home and in America by
representatives of very different schools’ of criticism.
This favourable reception of the book seems to be at
least a recognition of the soundness of the general spirit
in which it was conceived, of the general principles on
which it was constructed. No one can feel so deeply
as I do how much the execution falls short in detail of |
the plan which I had proposed. But nothing was fur-
ther from my purpose than to supersede individual
study. My whole object will have been gained if I have
guided any fellow-students along paths in which labour
is fruitful, to springs of thought which are ever fresh.
‘We do not, to use the noble words of Origen, ‘invite ~
‘the more able and vigorous inquirers to a simple and
‘irrational faith, when dealing with the history of Jesus
‘presented in the Gospels; we wish to prove that those
‘who are to study it need careful and candid judgment
‘and a spirit of assiduous investigation, and, so to speak,
‘an entrance into the design of the writers, that so the
‘purpose of each recorded fact may be discovered.’

NOTICE TO THE THIRD EDITION. ix

In this respect I can sincerely rejoice that nothing
which has been published since the appearance of the
last edition of the book has led me to modify in the
least degree the principles on which it rests. It is of far
less moment that the pressure of other necessary work
has prevented me from entering again upon the long
course of: special study which alone would make a cor-
rection of details of any real value, Some errors and
false references have been amended ; a few explanations
have been added; frequent verbal improvements have
been introduced ; but substantially this edition is a re-
print of the last. Where it differs from its predecessor
I am almost always indebted to the suggestions of my
friend the Rev. Hilton Bothamley, who has fulfilled the
laborious charge of conducting it through the press.

On one point I may add a few words of explanation.
The Essay contains no formal investigation of the au-
thenticity of the Gospels. With regard to the first three
this appears to me to be unnecessary if the view which I
_ have given of their origin is correct; and nothing, as it
seems, can be more certain. The accounts of their ori-
gin which I have given in the several cases are to my
own mind satisfactory, and I have endeavoured to be-
come familiar with everything which has been urged
against the traditional view; but even if the special au-_
thorship of the Synoptic Gospels could be disproved
they are still shewn to contain in their substance a
contemporary Apostolic record. With the Gospel of
St John it is otherwise, and I hope to enter at length

Χ NOTICE TO THE THIRD EDITION.

into its history on a future occasion. But here again
the final decision appears to rest not on fragmentary
scraps of documentary evidence, but on that living ap-
preciation of the circumstances of the rise of the Chris-
tian Church which is the irrefragable testimony to its
Apostolic origin. For the rest Ewald’s calm and de-
cisive words are, I believe, simply true: ‘that John is
‘really the author of the Gospel, and that no other
‘planned and completed it than he who at all times is
‘named as its author, cannot be doubted or denied,
‘however often in our times critics have been pleased to
‘doubt and deny it on grounds which are wholly foreign
‘to the subject: on the contrary every argument, from
‘every quarter to which we can look, every trace and
‘record, combine together to render any serious doubt
‘upon the question absolutely impossible.’ |

B. F. W.

HARROW,
Christmas Eve, 1866.

Or Tre \
7 7. "5% ‘ ryi.’y
} «4 αν
uv) iv Si a πὶ }
A,

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

N the present work I have endeavoured to define and

fill up the outline which I sketched in the Elements
of the Gospel Harmony published in 1851. The kind-
ness with which the Essay was received encouraged
me to work on with patience within the limits which
I had marked out, in the hope that I might justify
in some degree the friendly welcome of my critics.
᾿ The experience of nine years has made me feel how
much there was to remodel and correct and explain
in the first rough draft, so that I have retained scarcely
a paragraph in the form in which it was originally
written. But while everything is changed in detail, I
have changed nothing in principle. My design in all
change has been to place in a clearer light the great
laws of the interpretation of Holy Scripture, which (as
I believe) alone vindicate most completely its claim
to be considered as a message of God ¢hrough men
and 20 men.

The title of the book will explain the chief aim
which I have had in view. It is intended to be an
Introduction to the Study of the Gospels. I have
therefore confined myself in many cases to the mere
indication of lines of thought and inquiry from the

ΧΙ PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

conviction that truth is felt to be more precious in
proportion as it is opened to us by our own work.
From this cause a combination of references to pas-
sages of Scripture often stands for the argument which
it suggests; and claims are made upon the reader’s
attention which would bé unreasonable if he were not
regarded as a fellow-student with the writer. For the
same reason I have carefully avoided the multiplica-
tion of references, confining myself to the acknowledg-
‘ment of personal obligations or to the indication of
sources of further information’.

In a subject which involves so vast a literature
much must have been overlooked; but I have made
it a point at least to study the researches of the great
writers and consciously to neglect none. My obliga-
tions to the leaders of the extreme German schools
are very considerable, though I can rarely accept any
of their conclusions. But criticism even without reve-
rence may lay open mysteries for devout study.

On one question alone I have endeavoured to pre-
serve a complete independence. With one exception
I have carefully abstained from reading anything which
has been written on the subject of Inspiration since
my first Essay was published. It seemed to me that
it might be a more useful task to offer the simple
result of personal thought and conviction than to
attempt within narrow limits to discuss a subject which
is really infinite. At times independence is not dearly

1 For the Index, which will form, I believe, a most valuable addition to

the usefulness of the Essay, my warmest thanks are due to my friend the
Rev. J. Frederic Wickenden, M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. Xiil

purchased by isolation; and one who speaks directly
from his own heart on the highest truths may suggest,
even by the most imperfect utterance, something fresh
or serviceable. Above all things, in this and other
points of controversy, we cannot remind ourselves too
often that arguments are strong only as they are
true, and that truth is itself the fullest confutation of
error.

How impossible it is to avoid errors in travelling
over so wide a field those will best know who have.
laboured in it; and those who detect most easily the
errors, from which I cannot hope to be free, will I
believe be the most ready to pardon them. But be-
sides the fear of errors in detail, there is another con-
sideration which must be deeply felt by every one
who writes on Holy Scripture. The infinite greatness
of the subject imparts an influence for good or for evil
to all that bears upon it. The winged word leaves its
trace, though the first effect may be, in the old Hebrew
image, transient as the shadow of a flying bird. Yet I
would humbly pray that by His blessing, who is perfect
Wisdom and perfect Light, what has been written
with candour and reverence may contribute, however
little, to further the cause of Truth and Faith, the twin
messengers of earth and heaven. Ju His Hand are both
we and our words,

B. FW.

HARROW,
Lent, 1860.

Α
>
4
ΩΝ

FROM THE PREFACE TO THE FIRST
EDITION.

' Y chief object has been to shew that there is
a true mean between the idea of a formal har-
monization of the Gospels and the abandonment of
their absolute truth. It was certainly an error of the
earlier Harmonists that they endeavoured to fit together
the mere facts of the Gospels by mechanical ingenuity ;
but it is surely no less an error in modern critics
that they hold the perfect truthfulness of Scripture as
“a matter of secondary moment. The more carefully
we study the details of the Bible, the more fully shall
we realize their importance ; and daily experience can
furnish parallels to the most intricate conjectures of
commentators, who were wrong only so far as they
attempted to determine the exact solution of a diffi-
culty, when they should have been contented to wait
in patience for a fuller knowledge.

Again, it must have occurred to every student of
the Gospels that it cannot be sufficient to consider
_them separately. We must notice their mutual rela-
tions and constructive force. We must collect all their
teaching into a great spiritual whole, and not rest
satisfied with forming out of them an accurate or even
ἃ plausible history... The general schemes which I have
attempted to give of the Miracles and Parables will
probably be so far satisfactory as to direct some atten-

XVi FROM THE PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

tion to the wonderful harmonies which yet lie beneath
the simplicity of Scripture.

Once again, it seems to be a ‘general opinion that
the Bible and the Church—Scripture and Tradition—
are antithetical in some other way than as uniting to
form the foundation of Christianity ; I trust that the
history of Inspiration which I have appended to this
Essay may serve in some measure to remove an error
which endangers. the very existence of all Christian
Communions.

The quotations which occur from time to time I
need hardly say are derived from the original sources;
and I trust that I have carefully acknowledged my
obligations to others. In the history of Inspiration I
could have wished to have found more trustworthy
guides: Rosenmiiller and Sonntag are partial and in-
exact, and Hagenbach is necessarily meagre ; every one
however who has paid any attention to Patristic lite-
rature will heartily acknowledge the deep debt of grati-
tude which he owes to the Benedictines of St Maur.

In conclusion I have to thank many friends for
their advice and help during the progress of the Essay
through the press. As I have stated nothing thought-
lessly, so I shall still hope to profit by their kindly
criticism. Plato has taught us to rejoice in the removal
of error from our judgment, and a greater than Plato
has shewn that Christian correction should be welcomed
with the spirit of love and meckness from which it rightly

springs.
B. Εἰ W.
TRINITY COLLEGE,
Lent, 1851,

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

The connexion of Philosophy and Religion in regard to the Pro-
gressive development and the essential need of Revelation; and
the special objections brought against it

The general effects of the course of Modern Philosophy on the
popular views of Christianity,

and Holy Scripture specially, as regards
i. Its inspiration. ii. Its completeness. iii. Its interpre-
tation

I. Inspiration.

The contrast of the Calvinistic and Modern views.
General objections to both.

The possibility of a mean

αν The general idea of Inspiration.
Compared with Revelation.
Believed in universally: involves no sfecia/ difficulties :
incapable of analysis
2. The form of Inspiration.
Pagan— Biblical.
Various: yet always fwofold .
The personality of the teacher preserved.
This is an essential part of the conception, the ex-
pression, and the record
Thus the Inspiration of Scripture is plenary, and
yet progressive

Page

8—11

1o—I3

14, 15

XVIli CONTENTS.

Page
3. The relation of Inspired writings to Christian 6. ἃ
4- The proofs of the Inspiration of writings.
(a) External.
(a) Supernatural commission of Apostles,
(8) Analogy of the Apostolic use of the Old Testa-
ment.
(y) Testimony of the Church . . 2 18, 19
(4) Internal. |
How far a proof is possible . : . . . 20
é.g. in the Gospels—illustrated by their
i. Negative Character.
Fragmentary: Unchronological: Simple . Pee ae
ii. Subject . ° ‘ 5 . ° « . 24
iii. Social teaching.
Miracles: Parables: Prophecies . 26—29
II.. Completeness.
The Difficulties.
Analogous to those in the
Individual: Society: Nature . : : . . 30, 31
Their solution to be found in the idea of Providence . 32
History and Criticism suggest the idea of completeness;
or at least a tendency towards it . ᾿ 32—36
III. The Interpretation of Scripture twofold:
τ. Literal.
Strictly grammatical: importance of this in the New
Testament.
Objections met : 5 ὸ . : - -36-—40
2. Spiritual.
Flows from the literal: sanctioned by universal tes-
timony.
The spiritual sense the Arimary sense . 40, 41
Interpretation realized in the visible Church . 42
The province of criticism . ° : ἢ ° : : . 43
General plan of the Essay . , ‘ . Ἶ : . Ἶ 44

CONTENTS.

xix

CHAPTER I.

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

The true idea of History.

The coming of Christ the centre of human -history, and the
record of the Gospel impressed with results of a world-wide
training, the outlines of which are : . . δ .

Partly preserved in the Old Testament, and

Partly to be sought in the post-biblical history of the
Jews, which is pregnant with important issues, both from
outward vicissitudes and inward revolutions, during the
(i.) Persian and (ii.) Grecian periods; and here especially
the foundations of Christian thought and writing were laid
silently and slowly . i aul . eae . .

i, The PERSIAN period; as to
(a) National hopes.

The loss of independence gave to the Jews a truer
spiritual union, and higher aspirations . . .

(β) Spiritual position.
As a consequence the Prophetic work ceased, and
the Scriptures were collected.

Meanwhile Religion assumed a more spiritual cha-
racter, and the view of the spiritual world was
widened . . 9 Φ . Υ . .

(γ) Soctal organization.
The hierarchical element prevailed from the growing

regard to the Law and the Synagogue-service .

The dangers of the period.
Its character impressed on the literature and traditions
of the time Ὰ BLS . ‘ me

’ ji, The GRECIAN period.

The Dispersion, military and commercial, reconciled
with unity by the Syrian persecution . . .

Page
46—48
48—52
53—55
Soria
57, 58
59—61
61—65

ΧΧ CONTENTS.

. Page
The internal history of the Jews.

1. In Palestine ; during
(a) The Grecian supremacy.
Rise of speculation.
Sadducees—Pharisees—Essenes . : - 65—7o
The prevalent Legalism to be traced in
Ecclesiasticus, and the
Traditional sayings of the Doctors : ys ee 8
(8) The Hasmonzean supremacy.
Impulse given to thought and writing (Baruch).

Revelation:
The Book of Henoch,

4 Esdras. : : +) ae . 73—75

Didactic narratives :

Tobit,
Judi. *. a 50. : : ᾽ 75
flistory: 1 Maccabees . : ; τ p 76

2. In Egyft.
The Septuagint : , F : ; ΤΟ; ἡ ἢ
The growth of Hellenism.
Aristobulus . ‘ : ; : 3 : 79
The Fewish Sibyl. Philo. The Therapeute.
The Book of Wisdom . ; : ‘ - 79-—82

General characteristics of the period: positive and nega-
tive 5 . . . ᾿ . . . . . 83—89

Note. Sysopsis of early Jewish Liteyature . + » ; ‘ +: GO} Or

CHAPTER II.
THE JEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

The Biblical doctrine of the Messiah’
In the Patriarchal age;
In the time of Moses—the Kingdom—the Captivity.
The general forms which it assumed Ξ ; ; ᾿ . 92—98

CONTENTS.

ΧΧΙ

The Apocryphal books contain no mention of Messiah, but
anticipate a national restoration

1. The Messianic doctrine as further developed ,

i. In the Apocalyptic Literature.
(a) The Sibylline writings (ZgyZ7)
(8) The Book of Henoch (Palestine)
(y) The fourth Book of Esdras (Zgypt)
(6) The Book of Jubilees (Palestine) .

ii. In the Exegetic Literature.
(a) The Septuagint (Zgyft) . ‘ ; : ‘
(8) The Targums (Palestine).
Onkelos.

The later ‘Targums on the Pentateuch and on
the Hagiographa

Jonathan

The Psalms of Solomon

2. The Messianic doctrine as described in historic records of
the first century.
i. The New Testament .
ii. Contemporary writers.
(α) Philo
‘ (ὁ)

Josephus

3. The later Messianic doctrine of the Jews.

i. The Mishna
ii. The Gemara
iii. Later Jewish books
iv. Mystical books .
4. The doctrine of the Word.
i. In Palestine: the Targums .
1, In Egypt: Philo

General result

Page
g8—100
96—99
99-— 199
10g—11g
110-121
122
124-120
126, 127
127
129—136
137

138

140

141
142—I44
144
146—151
151
153-—156
156—158

XXil CONTENTS.

Note I. Messianic Prophecies in the New Testament compared
with the corresponding interpretation of Fewish com-
mentators . δ . . . . . .

Note II. Zhe Christology of the Samaritans ὸ . .

CHAPTER III.
THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

The first Christian teachers entertained no design of handing
down a written record of the Gospel.

Such a design would have been wholly foreign to their national
feeling, for the Literature of Palestine was essentially tradi-
tionary, and the social position of the Apostles offered no
advantages for the work.

On the other hand an Oral Gospel was the natural result of
their labours ᾿ ; . . . . . . .

I. The Oral Gospel.

1. Preaching a necessary preliminary to the historic
Gospel, and the means by which it was formed

In this work all the Apostles joined; and it was
regarded as the characteristic of the Christian dis-
pensation and of the Apostolic mission . . .

Thus the Gosfel was the substance and not the record
of the life of Christ.

The Old Testament was the written word . .

This feeling survived even to the close of the Second

Century ‘ ὁ ᾿ . ° : . .

2. The Oral Gospel of the Apostles was historic. This
appears from

(a) The description given of the Apostolic work .

(8) The account of the Apostolic preaching . A

(y) The contents of the Apostolic Letters ‘ ὸ

Page

159—162
163, 164

165—168

168

XxXill

CONTENTS.
Page
II. The written Gospels.
1. Distinctly connected with the Apostolic preaching.
(8) St Matthew 5 2 ; ‘ . 187
(y) St Luke . i . : 189
The evidence of St Luke’s Preface. ‘ 189—192
2. The internal character of the Synoptic Gospels
favours the belief that they arose from a common
oral source.
i. The nature of the problem which they present 192, 193
(a) Their concordances threefold.
In general plan.
In incident.
In language A ae : . 194—I99
(8) Their corresponding differences 200
ii. The solutions proposed,
(a) Mutual dependence : Σ : 201
(8) Common sources.
(2) Written. (ὁ) Written and Oral. (c) Oral 202—207
In relation to the form and substance of the
Gospels: to their specific characters: to their
language : . ‘ 208—210
Tradition not necessarily the parent of Myths 211
CHAPTER IV.
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.
Times of calm belief unfavourable to the study of the Bible 213
The characteristics of the Gospels brought out by modern con-
troversy.
1. The individual character of the Gospels implied in the
idea of Inspired History; and even necessary in their
first form, from
i. The Nature of the subject. Divine: Human 214—219
ii, The elements contained in the Apostolic teaching.
St James, St Paul, St Peter : ‘ . . 210-222

XXIV CONTENTS.

iii. The forms of thought current in the Apostolic age.
Few: Past.
Roman: Present.
flellenist ; Future.
Alexandrine: Eternal relations.
By which it was'adapted to the wants of later times
2. The Evangelists were fitted to preserve these original
types of Christian faith,
i. Though not conspicuous in history or tradition
’ St Matthew 7
St Mark (St Peter)
St Luke (St Paul)
St John

The general result of the position of the Evangelists

ii. The distinctness of the Gospels attested by

_ (a) The practice of separate sects.
Ebionites (St Matthew).
[ Docete] (St Mark).
Marcionites (St Luke).
Valentinians (St John)

(2) The judgment of the Church.
The Evangelic Symbols. Augustine .

The results of the view

CHAPTER V.

_ THE GOSPEL OF ST JOHN.

The contrast between St John and the Synoptists
Characteristics of St John.
i. The Gospel in itself.
(a) Its special history
(1) The life of St John. ἡ
Later legends (256). His typical character .

Page

222—226

226, 227
227—232
232—236
236—239

240

241

CONTENTS. XXV

Page

(2) The authenticity of the Gospel. : : 258
Its late date (259). The testimony of the
Apostolic Fathers (260); of the Fathers
of the second century (260); αἱ Heretical

writers (262). The scepticism of the Alogi 263

(8) Its internal character . ὲ : ᾿ be τς “03

(1) Language.
(a) Word&-sutgeke, vents 6 << 64 ae ee aOe= aoe
(4) Composition.
General characteristics: Directness; Cir-
cumstantiality; Repetition; Indivi-
duality of narrative; Personality of
action Ξ ; ; ‘ ‘ . 269—272
Combination of sentences: Simplicity ;
Particles; Key-words; Parallelism . 272—276
(2) Plan. ,
An Epic.
The object of the Gospel.
Its great divisions :
(2) The Manifestation of Christ.
(2) The issues of the Manifestation . . 276—282
[Note A, p. 309.]

- (3) Substance . ὃ ἱ . 282
[Note B, p. 3113 Note C, p- ΦΈΡ
ii. The relation of St John to the Synoptists . : : 283

(a) Points of difference
(1) Asto locality and teaching. ΄. : . 283—290
(2) As to our Lord’s Person. . : 3 : 290
(8) Points of coincidence
(1) In facts : Ὁ ‘ Ἶ : ; . 29I—293
(2) In teaching . : : ‘ ‘ : : 294
(3) In character.
The Lord. St Peter. St John. . 296—305
The relation of St John’s Gospel to a new world.

Christian doctrine: Human thought . ‘ . 325—309
Note A. Analysis of the Gospel of St Fohn [see p. .81]". : 309
Note Β. St Fohn’s Quotations from the Old Test. [see p. 283] . 311

Note C. Classification of the Miracles in St Fohun {see p. 283]. 312

XXVI CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VI.

THE DIFFERENCES IN DETAIL IN THE SYNOPTIC EVANGELISTS.
Page
The differences of the Synoptists as to

i. The Nativity : ‘ 3 . ° ‘ Ξ . 314—320
ii. The Baptism Ἶ ; . Ξ ; A : : 320
iii. The Temptation . ἶ : : ° 3 . es
iv. The Transfiguration . ° , ‘ : : . 324-327

v. The Passion [Note, p. 343] . Ἔ 5 τα, Ἂν . 327--.-332

vi. The Resurrection ° ° ᾿ Ξ ; ; . 333-340
Conclusions from these characteristic differences . : , 341 |
Note. On the Day of the Crucifixion [see p. 327] . , ’ 343

CHAPTER VII.

THE DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN ‘THE SYNOPTIC
. EVANGELISTS.

Few traces of a chronological arrangement in the Gospels . 850-255.
i. The Gospel of St Matthew in its internal development . 255-303
[Notes A to D, p. 384—390.]
ii. The Gospel of St Mark Ξ > , ° . 364—372
[Notes E, F, p. 391.]

iii. The Gospel of St Luke : . : ‘ . 372—381
[Notes G, H, K, p. 3. 393-397: ‘]

General Summary... : 3 , . . 382

Note A. Analysis of the Gospel fs St Matthew ae p- 4551 384

‘Note B. Analysis of the Sermon on the Mount [see p. 358] . 386

Note C. Classification of the Miracles in St Matthew [see p. 358] 387
Note D. Classification of the Parables in St Matthew [see p. 379] 389

Note E. Classification of the Miracles in St Mark [see p. 365] 391
Note F. Analysis of the Gospel of St Mark {see p. 366] . . 391
Note G. Analysis of the Gospel of St Luke [see p. 372] - ° 393
Note H. Classification of the Miracles in St Luke [see Ὁ. 374] 395

Note K. Classification of the Parablesin St Luke [see p. 374]- 397

CONTENTS.

XXVIi

CHAPTER VIII.

THE DIFFICULTIES OF THE GOSPELS.

Difficulties arise from errors as to the character, the purpose,
the historical authority of the Gospels, and from antecedent

prejudices

They are useful Intellectually, Morally, and in connexion with

the whole Scheme of Nature.

APPENDICES.

APPENDIX A. On the Quotations in the Gospels

APPENDIX B. On the primitive Doctrine of Inspiration .

§1. The Subapostolic Fathers
§ 2. The Apologists

§ 3. The Church of Asia Minor

§ 4. The Roman Church.

§ 5. The North African Church

§ 6. The Church of Alexandria

§ 7. The Clementines

AppENDIX C. On the peas Traditions of the

Words and Works

APPENDIX D. On some of the Apocryphal Gospels
The Gospel according to the Hebrews .

The Gospel of the Ebionttes
The Gospel of the Clementines
The Gospel of Marcion

Lord’s

APPENDIX E. A Classification of the Miracles of the Gospels
APPENDIX F, A Classification of the Parables of the Gospels

Page

399—406

400—410

413—416
417-456
418

422

426

430

. 433
437

452

457-—405
466—477
466
469
472
474
478—481
482—484

ἊΣ

LISRAB OS
re Se L AY Y ‘

oF THE

« \
NIV ERS! 1: ™ }
CALIFORNEA

INTRODUCTION.

The Inspiration, Completeness and Interpretation of
Scripture.

Ἔοικεν ὁ τὴν "Ipw Θαύμαντος ἔκγονον φήσας οὐ κακῶς γενεαλογεῖν.
PLATO,

' on one who has paid any attention to the

history of the Church must have felt the want of a
clear and comprehensive view of the mutual relations
and influences of speculation and religion, as they have
been gradually unfolded by reason and revelation. In
Theology and Philosophy we insensibly leave the posi-

tions of our fathers, and rarely examine the origin and
primary import of the doctrines which we have inherited

or abjured. Words and formulas survive as silent wit-
nesses or accusers, but we do not interrogate or heed
them. Still it would be a noble and worthy task to
determine the meeting-points and common advances of
faith and science, and to discover how far each has been
modified by the other, either in combination or in con-
flict. We might then follow the progress of man’s
material and spiritual life from the beginning to the end
of the Bible, from the mysteries of the Creation and the
Fall to the dark foreshadowing of the final consummation
of the world in the last chapters of the Apocalypse. We
might be able to mark the rise and growth of error as
well as its full and fatal development, and to learn under

b+ w.c. A

Introduc-
tion.

The import-
ance of con-
necting the
history of
Philosophy
and Reli-
Lion in order
to estimate
ἴδεν

the 2γοργέδ-
sive develop-
ment,

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

Introduc-
tion,

—_—

the essential
need, and

the peculiar
aspects of
divine truth,

what guise of truth it gained acceptance among men.
We might see how far the expression of the doctrine of
the Church was re-shaped to meet the requirements of
successive ages, and how far the language of its formu-
laries was suggested by the opinions of the times in
which they were composed.

Nor is this all: we might findin Philosophy not only
the handmaid but also the herald of Revelation. We
might trace in the writings of the heathen world the tend-
ency of man’s spontaneous impulses, and the limits of
his innate powers. We might compare the natural view
of our destiny in Plato or Aristotle with its fulfilment in
the Gospel. We might be taught by them to value the
privileges of a. divine law and a definite covenant, when
they tell us, in the language of doubt and dependence,
that there is something infinitely greater for which our
mind still longs at the moment of its noblest triumphs ;
that the wants which modern scepticism would deny are
real and enduring; that the doctrines which Natural
Religion has assumed are not the proper heritage of
thought; that the crowning mystery of the Incarnation
is an idea as true to reason as it is welcome to the heart.

Yet more, by such a view of the scheme of Revela-
tion we should be able to fix the source of the special
objections which are brought against it, and to determine
their proper relation to the whole. Men are always
inclined to exaggerate the importance of a conflict in
which they are themselves engaged, and to judge of
everything as it affects their own position. A general
change in the religious character of an age often leads to
the disregard of some element, or to the abandonment
of some outwork, which is really essential to the perfec-
tion and integrity of revealed religion*, And if it be the
1 Compare an eloquent article by Quinet in the Revue des deux Mondes, 1838,

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.

first duty of an impartial student to estimate the exact
force of his personal bias, that he may eliminate its
influence before he determines a result; it is no less im-
portant for those who would judge rightly of.the absolute
value of current opinions to consider how much they owe
to the characteristics of the present age before they are
assigned to their proper place as fresh steps in the pro-
gressive development of human wisdom.

During the last two centuries, to speak generally,
there has been a steady advance from one extreme in
Philosophy to the other—from naturalism to transcen-
dentalism—and the successive assaults on Christianity
have exhibited a corresponding change. Religion and
Metaphysics are now contemplated from within, and not
from without: the world has been absorbed in man. In
spite of partial reactions the idea of the Society, whether
in the State or in the Church, has yielded to that of the
Individual’; and whatever may be thought of the true
precedence and relation of the two, it is evident that
Theology cannot have been unaffected by the new point
of sight from which it is contemplated. Those who
press the claims of the individual to the utmost find in
Christianity itself a system of necessary truth, indepen-
dent of any Gospel histories, and unsupported by any
true redemption. They abandon the ‘letter’ to secure
the ‘spirit,’ and in exchange for the mysteries of our
faith they offer us a law without types, a theocracy
without prophecies, a Gospel without miracles, a cluster
of definite wants with no reality to supply them ; for the
mythic and critical theories, as if in bitter irony, concede
every craving which the Gospel satisfies, and only ac-

1 In the interval of twenty years permanent. The idea of the Society
since this sentence was written, we _ seems likely to take its place again
have seen the beginning of a new by the side of the idea of the Indi-
reaction which promises to be more vidual. 1871.

Α 2

Introduc-
tion.

-----.-

The general
effect of the
course of
modern
Philosophy

on the popu-
lar view of
Christian-
ity, and
specially

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

on the doc-
trine of
Holy Scrip-
ture, as
affecting its

1, /uspira-
tion,

Il. Com-
pleieness,

count for the wide spread of orthodox error by the
intensity of man’s need. Christian apologists have ex-
hibited the influence of the same change. They have
been naturally led to connect the teaching of revelation
with the instincts of man, and to shew that even the
mysteries of faith have some analogy with natural feel-

ing or action. Meanwhile the power of Christianity as

embodied in a permanent society, the depository and
witness of the truth, has grown less, and so it is now a
common thing to depreciate the outward evidences of
religion, which are not however essentially the less im-
portant because they appear inconclusive to some minds.
Upon the widest view, history perhaps offers the fullest
and most philosophical proof of the claims of Christian-
ity; but however this may be, historical evidence neces-
sarily demands attention even where it cannot produce
conviction; and as aforetime many who did not believe
for Jesus’ words believed for His very works’ sake, so
still the external array of Christian evidences may kindle
the true inner faith, and in turn reflect its glory.

The doctrine of Holy Scripture is specially liable to.
the influence of this transition from an objective to a
subjective philosophy. The Written Word, by its mani-
fold relations to the action of Providence-and the growth
of Christian society, no less than by its combination of
divine and human elements, offers points of contact with
every system, and furnishes infinite materials for specu-
lation. A variety of questions arise at the outset of all
intelligent study of the Bible which involve the solution
of some of the most difficult problems of mental and
critical science, and which consequently receive answers
in accordance with the existing forms of thought. In.
what sense, it may be asked, is a writing of man Gop’s
message? How can we be reasonably assured that the

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.

record is exact and complete? In what way are the
ordinary rules of criticism affected by the subject-matter
to which they are applied? It is evidently impossible
to discuss such questions at present in detail: probably

they do not admit of any abstract discussion ; but it may,

be allowable to suggest some general principles affecting
the Inspiration, the Completeness, and the Interpreta-
tion of Holy Scripture, which may serve to open an ap-
_ proach to the study of it.

When the first act of the Reformation was closed, and
the great men had passed away whose presence seemed
to supply the strength which was found before in the re-
cognition of the one living Body of Christ, their followers
invested the Bible as a whole with all the attributes of
mechanical infallibility which the Romanists had claimed
for the Church. Pressed by the necessities of their posi-
tion the disciples of Calvin were contented to maintain

_ the direct and supernatural action of a guiding power on

the very words of the inspired writer, without any regard
to his personal or national position. Every part of
Scripture was held to be not only pregnant with instruc-
tion, but with instruction of the same kind, and in the
same sense. Nor could it be otherwise, while men con-
sidered the divine agency of Inspiration as acting exter-
nally and not internally, as acting oz man and not
through man. The idea of a vital energy was thus lost
in that of a passive state, and growth was reduced to
existence; for what is highest in a purely spiritual world
becomes lowest in the complex and limited life of man,
The rude but sincere violence of fanaticism and the rapid
advance of physical science did much to shake this arbi-
trary theory; and those who were captivated by the first
vigorous achievements of historical criticism and mental
analysis hastened to the other extreme. The Bible, they

Introduc-
tion.
III. Juter-
pretation.

I. The [n-
spiration of
Scripture.

The contrast
between the
Calvinistic
and

modern
views of the
Bible.

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

General ob-
sections to
the objective
and

said, is merely the book of the Legends of the Hebrews,
which will yield to the skilful inquirer their residuum of
truth like those of the Greeks and Romans, Inspiration
is but another name for that poetic faculty which embo-
dies whatever there is of typical and permanent import
in things around and invests with a lasting form the
transitory growths of time. |

It is easy to state the fatal objections which a candid
reader of Scripture must feel to both these views ; and
in a general sense it is not less easy to shew how the
partial forms of truth in virtue of which they gained ac-
ceptance may be harmoniously combined. The purely
organic theory of Inspiration rests on no Scriptural
authority, and, if we except a few ambiguous metaphors,
is supported by no historical testimony. It is at vari-
ance with the whole form and fashion of the Bible, and
is destructive of all that is holiest in man, and highest in
Religion, which seeks the co-ordinate elevation of all our
faculties and not the destruction of any one of them, If
we look exclusively at the objective side of Inspiration
the Prophet becomes a mere soulless machine mechani-
cally answering the force which moves it, the pen and
not the penman of the Holy Spirit. He ceases to be a
man while he is affected by the phrensy (μανία) of the
heathen seers’, and under a momentary influence gives

1Cf. Plat. Phedr. 248p. It Catholic Church. Cf. App.B, 11. 84.

will be seen from his position in the
scale that the prophet is regarded
as one in whom all human powers
are neutralized. Zim. 71 : οὐδεὶς
ἔννους ἐφάπτεται μαντικῆς ἐνθέου καὶ
ἀληθοῦς, ἀλλ᾽ ἢ καθ᾽ ὕπνον τὴν τῆς
φρονήσεως πεδηθεὶς δύναμιν ἢ διὰ
νόσον ἢ διά τινα ἐνθουσιασμὸν παραλ-
λάξας. This idea of an ‘ Ecstasy’
was applied to the Prophets by the
Alexandrian Jews, and adopted by
the Montanists, but rejected by the

As to the occurrence of ‘ecstasy’ in
Scriptural records, cf. p. 13, n.
Plato’s idea of a possible inspira-
tion is interesting: Phedr. 85 Cc. The
really brave man will ‘ either learn
‘or discover the truth, or if this be
‘impossible he will at any rate take
‘the best of human words (λόγων)
‘and that which is most irrefragable,
‘and carried on this as on a raft
‘sail through life in perpetual jeo-
‘pardy, unless one might make the

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.

up his whole spiritual growth. But on the other hand
if we regard Inspiration only subjectively, we lose all
sense of a fresh and living connexion of the Prophet
with Gop. He remains indeed a man, but he is nothing
more. He appears only to develope naturally a germ of
truth which lies within him, and to draw no new supplies
of grace and wisdom from without. There is no reunion
of the divine and human in his soul on which a Church
may rest its faith, He may deduce, interpret, combine
truth, but in the absence of a creative power he is defi-
cient in that which an instinct of our being declares to
be the essential attribute of the highest teacher’. Such
a theory removes all that is divine in our faith, and
destroys the title-deeds of the Church’s inheritance. It
' is opposed to the universal tenor of Scripture and tradi-
tion, and leaves our wants unsatisfied and our doubts
unanswered by GoD. If it be true, man is after all alone
in the world, abandoned to the blind issues of fate or
reason or circumstance. His teachers are merely his
fellow-men, and their words claim his hearing only so far
as they find a response in a heart already influenced by
personal and social life. And who then shall answer him
that their promises are more than echoes of his own
cravings; and that the ready acceptance which their
doctrine has found is anything but a natural result of its
correspondence to the wants and wishes of men?
Happily however we are not confined to the two

more striking when we call to mind

‘journey on a securer vessel, some
‘divine word if it might be, more
‘surely and with less peril.’ Compare
Phedr. 244A; 2568; and in refer-
ence to oracles, [Jom] 534; Zim.
71D. Inthe passage which I have
taken as a motto (7heet. 155 D) he
has expressed admirably the true
relation of wonder to wisdom, faith
to philosophy. The analogy is

the office of Iris—é&pw, elpw, Ἶρις,
the messenger.

1 Ποιητής. Cf. Plat. Conv. 205 Cc:
ἡ ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος eis τὸ ὃν ἰόντι
ὁτῳοῦν αἰτία πᾶσά ἐστι ποίησις...
ἀπὸ δὲ πάσης τῆς ποιήσεως ἕν μόριον
ἀφορισθέν. . . τῷ τοῦ ὅλου ὀνόματι
προσαγορεύεται.

Introduc-
tion.

subjective
theories of
L[uspiration.

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

Introduc-
tion,

The possi-
bility of

in respect t.
the teacher
and the
vecora.

1. The idea
of Inspira-
tion.

The contrast
between
Inspiration

Revela-
tion.

The idea of
Revelation
peculiarly
Christian.

extreme theories: the elements of truth on which they are
respectively based are opposite indeed, but not contrary.
If we combine the outward and the inward—Gop and
man—the moving power and the living instrument—we
have a great and noble doctrine to which our inmost
nature bears its witness. We have a Bible competent to
calm our doubts, and able to speak to our weakness. It
then becomes not an utterance in strange tongues, but in
the words of wisdom and knowledge. It is authoritative,
for it is the voice of GOD; it is intelligible, for it is in the
language of men.

The possibility of such a combination seems to follow
directly from a consideration of the nature and form of
Inspiration ; and the same reflections which establish a
necessary connexion between inspired thoughts and ~
inspired words point out the natural transition from the
notion of an inspired teacher to that of an inspired book,
and justify the application of the epithet at once to the
impulse and the result, an ambiguity which at first sight
creates only confusion and embarrassment.

Inspiration may be regarded in one aspect as the cor-
relative of Revelation. Both operations imply a superna-
tural extension of the field of mian’s spiritual vision, but
in different ways. By Inspiration we conceive that his
natural powers are quickened so that he contemplates
with a divine intuition the truth as it exists: still among
the ruins of the moral and physical worlds. By Revela-
tion we see as it were the dark veil removed from the
face of things, so that the true springs and issues of life
stand disclosed in their eternal nature. This idea of
Revelation which regards power and truth and beauty as
veiled and yet essentially existing beneath the suffering
and sin and disorder which is spread over the world
within us and without—over man and nature—seems to

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.

be peculiarly Christian, Probably nothing but the belief
in the Incarnation could give reality and distinctness to
the conception of a ‘restitution of all things;’ and St
Paul describes the possibility of a clear vision and trans-
forming reflection of the divine glory as the especial pri-
vilege of believers. The change wrought in philosophy
by the vital recognition of this idea penetrates to the

very foundations of knowledge and hope.

The ‘ recol-

‘lection’ of Plato becomes intuition, and we can now by
faith reverse the words of Plotinus who thanked Gop
that ‘he was not tied to an immortal body’

1 The usage of the word ἀποκά-
λυψις and ἀποκαλύπτειν in the New
Testament is full of interest, as il-
lustrating the Apostolic yiew of the
objects of Revelation. The passages
in which the words occur are the
following :

᾿Αποκάλυψις.

i. The swbstantive occurs only
once in the Gospels, when Simeon
describes our Lord as a light to
dispel the darkuess under which
the heathen were veiled (Luke ii. 32,
φῶς els ἀποκ. ἐθνῶν). Elsewhere
Christianity itself, the very centre
of all revelation, is described by St
Paul as ὦ revelation of a mystery
(Rom. xvi. 25, ἀποκ. μυστ.) : and so
especially the great fact that the
Gentiles should share equally with
God’s ancient people in the New
covenant was made known ὧν revelas
tion (Eph. iii. 3, κατὰ ἀποκάλυψω).
Through revelation af Fesus Christ
St Paul received the Gospel which
he preached (Gal. i. 12, δι᾽ ἀπο-
καλύψεως “I. X.). The visions of St
John were a revelation of Fesus
Christ (Apoc.i. 1). And even ia
details of action it was dy revelation
that St Paul went up the second
time to Jerusalem (Gal, ii. 2, κατὰ
ἀποκάλυψιν).

ii. Revelation also serves to ex-
press that insight into divine truth

which God gives to His servants,
and which all Christians are encou-
raged and bound to seek (Eph. i. 17,
δῴη ὑμῖν πνεῦμα σοφίας Kal ἀποκα-
λύψεως ἐν ἐπιγνώσει αὐτοῦ). Hence
Revelations—peculiar manifestations
of this general gift—are disclosed in
the Christian assemblies (1 Cor. xiv.
6, 26); and St Paul dwells particu-
larly on the number of them which
were granted to him (2Cor. xii. 1,7).

11, But as the eye of the Chris-
tian is naturally turned to the coming
consummation of the ages, the re-
velation of Fesus Christ m an espe-
cial sense is that second. coming of
the Lord when all shall know Him
(x Pets 1.2 7,. χα ron. Δ. 5.4
Thess. i. 7; 1 Cor. i. 7, ἡ ἀποκ. τοῦ
Kup.). In this we look forward to
the revelation. of His glory when
the robe of sorrow shall at last be
thrown aside (1 Pet. iv. 13), and
God’s righteous judgment of the
world made known (Rom. ii. 5,
ἀποκ. δικαιοκρισίας τοῦ Θεοῦ); and
then the sons of Gop shall be re-
vealed in their full majesty, and crea-
tion shall rejoice in the sight (Rom.
Vili. 19, dtrox, τῶν vidv τοῦ Θεοῦ).

᾿Αποκαλύπτειν, ἢ ᾿

i. The verb occurs more frequently
than the substantive, but exactly
in the same varieties of connexion.
By Revelation the Prophets in old

Introduc-
tion.

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

Introduc-
tion.
The belief in
Inspiration

universal;

But while the idea of Revelation in its fullest sense
appears to be essentially Christian, every religion presup-
poses the reality of Inspiration, of a direct intelligible
communication of the divine will to chosen messengers.
The belief in such a gift is in fact instinctive, and at
least equally with the belief in a Supreme Being pos-

time gained an understanding of
the glad tidings which they pro-
claimed (1 Pet. i. 12, οἷς ἀπεκαλ.
κιτιλ). By Revelation the faith
was made known (Gal. iii. 23),
and its fulness declared zx the spirit
to the holy Apostles and Prophets
(Eph. iii. 5) in whom God was
pleased to reveal His Son (Gal. i. 16,
ἀποκ. ἐν éuol).

ii, Then again by Revelation the
personal knowledge of the truth is
gained (Matt. xi. 25, 27; Luke x.
21, 22; Matt. xvi. 17); by Revela-
tion God supplies what is yet defec-
tive in us (Phil. iii. 15) in the way of
special teaching (1 Cor. xiv. 30) or
in the course of personal experience
(a Cor. ii. 10).

iii. And while a continuous Re-
velation of God’s righteousness and
wrath is still ever being made
(Rom. i. 17, 18, ἀποκαλύπτεται), the
Christian looks to that final mani-
festation of His infinite holiness,
when the power of evil shall be at
last revealed (2 Thess. ii. 3, 6, 8)
in due time, and also the Son of
Man (Luke xvii. 30), before whom
it shall perish. Then shall be ful-
filled the purpose of Christ’s coming
when the thoughts of many hearts are
unveiled (Luke ii. 35), as they were
partially unveiled during His earthly
work ; then everything ved/ed shail
be revealed (Matt. x. 263; Luke xii.
2); for the day is revealed in fire
to try men’s works (τ Cor. iii. 13);
then shall His servants enter into
the gory which even now is pre-
pared for them (Rom. viii. 18; 1 Pet.
Vv. 1; i. 5, σωτηρίαν ἑτοίμην ἀπο-
καλυφθῆνα!ι).

To neglect any one of these aspects

of Revelation which set forth its
fundamental, continuous, and final
‘operation, is to mutilate the com-
pleteness of the divine truth. Yet
we are apt to forget that we have
still a future interest in its most glo-
‘rious fulfilment. The great work of
Revelation, so to speak, the Return
of Christ in glory, yet remains to be
realized.

The words do not occur in St
Mark, St James, St Jude, nor in
the writings of St John, except
Apoc. i. 1, and John xii. 38 (from
the LXX.). And conversely pavepiw
occurs very frequently in St John,
and also:in St Mark, but is not
found in St Matt. or St Luke. On
the connexion of γνωρίζω, φανερόω,
ἀποκαλύπτω, cf. Eph. iii. 3—5; Rom.
xvi. 26; i. 17; iii. 215 1 Pet. v. 1, 4.
The first regards the individual know-
ledge, the second the outward mani-
festation, the third the essential per-
manence, of that which is set forth.

In the LXX. the metaphor of
ἀποκαλύπτειν is clearly brought out
in its personal form in the phrases
ἀποκ. τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς (Num. xxii.
31) and ἀποκ. τὸ οὖς (Ruth iv. 4).
᾿Αποκάλυψις first occurs in Ecclus.
xi. 27 (the usage in 1 Sam. xx. 30
is quite different), but Jerome re-
marked (Comm. ad Galat. i. 123
Lib. 1. p. 387) that the word ‘ was
‘used by none of the wise of the
‘world among the Greeks.’ It is
found in Plutarch. Cf. Plat. Gorg.
460 A, Gc. (ἀποκαλύπτω). In like
manner the Latin Christians be-

inning with Tertullian seem to

ave been the first if not the only
writers who employed vrevelatio and
the cognate words metaphorically,

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.

sesses the testimony of universal acceptance. Even
intellectually the idea of Inspiration offers no extraordi-
nary difficulties. To enlarge or inform any faculty is
evidently a secondary operation of the same power by
which it was first given and quickened. The intercourse
between the Creator and the creature must in common
with all spiritual manifestations remain a mystery ; but
that it does take place in some form or other is a matter
of constant experience. And if we may venture to
regard Inspiration merely as a mental phenomenon, it is
not more remarkable that man’s spirit should be brought
into direct connexion with the Spirit of Gop, than that
one mind should be able to exercise a sympathetic in-
fluence upon another. The fact that man is complex
and finite introduces no difficulty here which is not pre-
sent in the ordinary processes of thought and life. On
the contrary, this consideration fixes a bound to the ex-
tent of our inquiry; for all abstract azalysis of Inspira-
tion is impossible, as the divine element is already in
combination with the human when we are first able to
observe its presence.

Our inquiry is thus limited strictly to the character
of Inspiration. The real existence of such an influence
is proved at once by common belief and personal ex-
perience. The nature, of its operation transcends the
power of our thought; but it remains to examine the
form which this divine teaching bears when presented
to men. And here a characteristic difference may be
observed. In heathen nations the Sibyl or the Pythoness
was the type of an inspired teacher; and Plato con-
sequently places the prophet low in the scale of men, as
one in whom all human powers of body and soul were
neutralized’. The dream, the vision, the ecstasy, seemed

1 Cf. p. 6, n. I.

Tntroduc-
tion.

It is tmpossi-
ble to con- -
template the
divine and
human
apart; hence
we are limtt-
ed to the ex-
amination
of

2. The Form

of Inspired
teaching tn
heathen and

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

Biblical re-

cords.

The form is
adapted to
the special
end; but in
any case it
exhibits

to be the only means whereby the Deity could come
into contact with man, and thus all personal conscious-
ness was destroyed by the supernatural influence. In
the records of the Bible, on the other hand, the teaching
of Inspiration appears as one great element in the edu-
cation of the world,and therefore it has an essential con-
nexion with the age and people to whom it is addressed,
while its form varies according to the needs of men.
Like every gift of GoD Inspiration is bestowed for
some special end to which it is exactly proportioned. At
one time we may picture to ourselves the Lawgiver
recording the letter of the divine Law which he had re-
ceived directly from GOD znseribed upon tables of stone or
spoken face to face. At another we may watch the sacred.
Historian unconsciously it may be and yet freely seizing
on those facts in the history of the past which were the
turning-points of a nation’s spiritual progress, gathering
the details which combine to give the truest picture of
each crisis, incorporating fragments from earlier records
in his own narrative, and grouping all according to the

|laws of a marvellous symmetry which in after times |

might symbolize their hidden meaning. Or we may see
the Prophet gazing intently on the great struggle going
on around him, discerning the spirits of men and the
springs of national life, till the relations of time no longer
exist in his vision, till all strife is referred to the final
conflict of good and evil foreshadowed in the great
judgments of the world, and all hope is centered in the
coming of the Saviour and in the certainty of His future
triumph, Another perhaps looks within his own heart,
and as a new light is poured over its inmost depths, his
devotion finds expression in songs of personal penitence
and thanksgiving, in confessions of sin and declarations

of righteousness, which go far to reconcile the mysterious

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTORE.

contradictions of our nature. To another is given the
task of building up the Church. By divine instinct he
sees in scattered congregations types of the great forms
of society in coming ages, and addresses to them not

systems of doctrine, but doctrine embodied in deed,

which applies to all time because it expresses eternal
truths, and yet specially to every time because it is con-
nected with the realities of daily life. |

But however various the forms of inspired teaching
may be, in one respect they are all similar. In every
case the same twofold character is preserved which arises
from the combination of the divine influence with the
human utterance. The language of the Lawgiver, the
Historian, the Prophet, the Psalmist, the Apostle, is
characteristic of the position which each severally occu-
pied.. Even when they speak most emphatically ¢he
words of the Lord, they speak still as men living among
men; and the eternal truths which they declare receive
the colouring of the minds through which they pass.
Nor can it be said that it is easy to eliminate the vari-
able quantity in each case; for the distinguishing pecu-
liarities of the several writers are not confined to marked
features, but extend also to a multitude of subtle differ-
ences which are only felt after careful study. Everywhere
there are traces of a personality not destroyed but even
quickened by the action of the divine power,—of an
individual consciousness not suspended but employed at
every stage of the heavenly commission’. Ὁ

1 The cases of spiritual ecstasy
mentioned in Scripture are obviously
exceptional and distinct from pro-
phetic inspiration. The second rap-
. ture of Saul is easily intelligible from
the circumstances of the narrative ;
and on the former occasion it is ex-
pressly mentioned that Gop gave him
another heart before he prophesied

(τ Sam. x. 6, 9—16). When St Paul
was carried up to Paradise, the words
which he heard were not for the
instruction of the Church, but zz-
speakable words which it is not law-
Sul (ἐξόν) for a man to utter (2 Cor.
xli. 4). The outpouring of ‘tongues’
was addressed to Gop and not to
man (1 Cor. xiv. 2). [On

Introduc- .
tion.

----

a twofold
character,
since

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

This person-
ality an es-
sential part
of the con-
ception.

Inspiration. then according to its manifestation in
Scripture is Dynamical* and not Mechanical; the human
powers of the divine messenger act according to their
natural laws even when these powers are supernaturally
strengthened. Man is not converted into a mere machine,
even in the hand of GoD.

But it may be asked whether this combination of let-
ter and spirit be perfect or partial; whether the special
human form be essential to the right apprehension of the
divine idea; whether the shell be absolutely needed to
preserve the kernel; or whether the impress of personal
character must be effaced before we can see the godlike
image, and the outward covering be removed in order
that the inner germ may grow and fructify *, |

It might perhaps be a sufficient answer to such in-
quiries to point out the absolute impossibility of sepa-
rating the two elements, the external and the internal, the
historical and the doctrinal, the objective and the subjec-
tive, however we choose to name them. But the truth of
this general statement becomes more clearly apparent if.
regard be had to the conception, the expression, and the
communication of thought. The slightest consideration
will shew that words are as essential to intellectual pro-
cesses as they are to mutual intercourse. For man the
purely spiritual and absolute is but an inspiration ora
dream, Thoughts are wedded to words as necessarily as
soul to body. Language is a condition of our being, de-

describe an influence acting upon

On the other hand, the personal
living Aowers, and manifesting itself

characters of Balaam and Caiaphas
to their

remain unchanged when they utter
unwillingly or unconsciously divine
truths.

1 The word is open to many ob-
jections on other grounds, and not
least from its technical application;
but I can think of no better one
which may be conveniently used to

through them accordin
natural laws, as distinguished from
that influence which merely uses
human organs for its outward ex-
pression, as for instance in the case
of the Dzemoniacs.

2 Cf. Tholuck, Glaubwiird. der
Evang. Gesch. s. 429 ff.

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.

termining the conception as well as the communication of
ideas, as in the earliest record of our race we read that
Adam while still in solitude gave names to all the crea-
tures which passed before him*, Without it the mys-
teries unveiled before the eyes of the seer would be
confused shadows; with it they are made clear lessons
for human life.

But even if it were possible for the Prophet to realize
truth otherwise than according to the capacity of his
finite mind, still something would be wanting. It is not
enough that the sacred teacher should gaze upon the
eternal truths of religion as do the disembodied spirits
in the Platonic Phedrus’: he must be able to represent
them fitly to other men. And when addressed to man
the human element becomes part of the message from
heaven ; for the divine can be grasped by him only when
defined and moulded according to the laws of his own
nature. .

The Book is thus rightly said to be inspired no less
than the Prophet. The Book reflects and perpetuates
the personal characteristics of the Prophet, but it does
not create them. Writing introduces no limitation into
the representation of truth which does not already exist
in the first conception and expression of it. The isolated
writing bears the same relation to the whole work of the
Prophet as the Prophet himself to the world from which
he is chosen. The partial and incomplete record pre-
serves the clear outline of such features in his character
and mission. as were of importance for the guidance of
the future Church.

1 Cf. Donaldson’s Mew Cratylus, neglect to study the myth, which
. 62. gives from the side of nature what
2 Phedr.247D;249C. Thepas- may be called the Sacramental view

sage is too long to quote, but no one οὗ the world.
who can refer to the original should

I ntroduc-
tion,

-----.--

the 6“ 2765-
sion, and

the record of
the divine
truth.

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

adapted toa
progressive
Aumanity

On following out the lines of thought thus lightly
sketched, it will I think appear that from a Christian
point of view the notion of a perfect Dynamical Inspira-
tion alone is simple, sufficient, and natural. It presup-
poses that the same providential Power which gave the
message selected the messenger; and implies that the
traits of individual character and the peculiarities of
manner and purpose which are displayed in the compo-
sition and language of the sacred writings are essential
to the perfect exhibition of their meaning. It combines
harmoniously the two terms in that relation of the finite
to the infinite which is involved in the very idea of Re-

_velation. It preserves absolute truthfulness with perfect
humanity, so that the nature of man is not neutralized,

if we may thus speak, by the divine agency, and the
truth of GOD is not impaired, but exactly expressed in
one of its several aspects by the individual mind. Each
element performs its perfect work; and in religion as
well as in philosophy a glorious reality is based upon a
true antithesis. The Letter becomes as perfect as the
Spirit ; and it may well seem that the image of the In-
carnation is reflected in the Christian Scriptures, which,
as I believe, exhibit the human and divine in the highest
form and in the most perfect union. :

For when it is said that the Scriptures are every-
where quickened by a principle of spiritual life, it is
already implied that they exhibit an outward develop-
ment. The divine teaching, though one, is not uniform.
Truth is indeed immutable, but humanity is progressive ;
and thus the form in which truth is presented must be
examined in relation to the age in which the revelation
was made. At one time it is:‘to be sought in the simple
relations of the patriarchal household: at another in the
more complicated interests of national existence: at

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.

another in the still deeper mysteries of individual life :

at another in the infinite fulness of the Saviour’s work,
or in the perplexing difficulties which beset the infant
Churches. But each form has its proper and enduring
lesson: each record constitutes a link in the golden

_ chain which, to use the Homeric allegory, has again

bound the earth with all its varied interests to the throne
of GOD.

The personal consequences which flow from this
view of the Inspiration of Scripture are too important

not to find a passing notice here. Truth is brought by

the recognition of the human element in its expression

into a connexion with life which it could not otherwise
have. The several parts of the Bible are thus united,

not only by the presence of a common object, but also
by the impress of a common nature. The history of
Christ Jesus is concrete doctrine, as doctrine is abstract

history. The Christian finds in the records of the

Lord’s life a perfect pattern for his own guidance as well

as the realization of the Apostolic teaching. However
_ wonderful each action of the Saviour may be as a mani-
_ festation of power, providence, and love, he seeks yet
_ further for its personal relation to himself; for he knows
that the Evangelists, men even as he is, felt truly the
inner meaning of the events which they record, and
truly told their outward details. All the Holy Writings,
~ as we read, have but one end, that we may be ¢horoughly

| furnished to all good works, and this is obtained by their

entire adaptation to our complex nature. Nor will any
one who is conversant with the history of ancient sys-

_ tems be inclined to think lightly of the use thus made of

the simplest instincts and powers of humanity in the
revelation of the highest mysteries. The fundamental

} error of the most pious of the ancient philosophers lay
Be. . W.G. B

Introduc-
tion,

3. The rela-
tion of In-
sptred writ-
ings to
Christian

life.

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

Introduc-
tion,

The
proofs of the
Inspiration
of writings.

(a) Exter-
nal:

a) The su-
pernatural
commission
of the

A posties.

in their misapprehension of the relation of the finite to
the infinite. They sought a system of absolute truth,
independent of the specific laws of human life, and vainly
laboured to raise men out of the world. They had

no gospel for the simple and poor, for the mechanic and
the slave. In the pursuit of wisdom they disparaged

common duties, and deferred the business of social life
and of explanation of the popular faith till they should
have solved the riddle of self-knowledge’. They che-
rished and set forward one part of man’s nature to the
destruction of the others. The end of philosophy was
declared to be the isolation of the soul: the work of life
only the contemplation of death. Christ on the con-
trary, finally uniting in one person GOD and man, fixed
the idea of spiritual life in the harmonious combination
of faith and works, and left His disciples in the world
though not of it. The tree which symbolizes the Chris-
tian faith springs from earth and is a resting-place for

the birds of heaven*: the leaven spreads through the

whole*® man; for humanity is not removed by the Gospel
doctrine, but clothed with a spiritual dress*.

The various proofs which may be adduced in support
of the doctrine of the plenary Inspiration of Holy Scrip-
ture, according to the sense in which it has been already

explained, are various in kind, and will necessarily

appear more or less forcible at different times and to

different minds. On the one hand, assuming that the

writings of the New Testament are at least in part the

works of men whose Divine commission was attested by —

sensible miracles, we may appeal to the fact that they

claim to speak in the name and by the authority of Him
᾿ Ct Plat. Gorg. 527 Ὁ; Phadr. ρωμένα πνευματικῶς.

229 E 8 Cf. Trench, Votes on the Para-
2 Orig. Tom. xt. im Matt. ὃ 5: bles, p. 115. Olsh. 272 doc. .

Οὐδὲν μὲν τῶν ἀπτέρων, τὰ δὲ ἐπτε- 4 Cf. Plat. Phed. 64 A; 67 Ὁ.

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE. 19
by whom their mighty works were wrought’. Or we | Introduc-
μ᾿ , . tion.
may collect the passages which the Apostolic writers| —
have quoted from the Old Testament, and comparing | (f) 7% ana-
Rae ; ξ logy of the
the spiritual lessons which they draw from them with Ae
2 Θ᾽
Testament,

the simplest meaning of the text, form some general
conclusions as to the sense in which they regarded the
words of the Prophets as indeed the Word of Gop’.
Or, descending still lower, we may shew that the Chris-
tian Fathers with one consent affirmed in the most com-
plete manner the Inspiration of the Scriptures, placing
the writings of the New Testament on the same footing
with those of the Old, as soon as it was possible that the

1 The reality of an odjective In-
spiration both of the Apostles and of
others (Acts viii. 26, 29; xi. 28;
xiii. I, 2; xxi. 10, 11) is clearly as-
sumed in the New Testament.

i. Inthe Gospels. Matt. xvi. 17;
x. 10, 20; Mark xiii. 11; John xiv.
26; xvi. 12—1I5.

ii. In the Acts. Ch. viii. 26, 29;
Mr40% Xi, 12, 281 xiii. 2; xv. 28;

νι 6,75 °Xxi. 11:

iii. In the Catholic Epistles. 1
Pet. i. τὸς τ} 2 Pet. i. 19—213

' 1 John ii. 20.

iv. In the Pauline Epistles. 1
Thess. iv. 2; (2 Thess. iii. 6;) 1 Cor.
ii. 10; xiv. 37 ; (2 Cor. iii. 18;) Gal.
i. 11, 12; Rom. viii. 16; Eph. iii.
3—6; 1 Tim. iv. 1; 2 Tim. iii. 16,
17.
The same doctrine is, implied in
the Pauline phrase κατ᾽ ἐπιταγήν,
Rom. xvi. 26; 4 Cor. vii, 6 (comp.
ver. 25); 2 Cor. viii. 8; 1 Tim. i. 1;
Tit. i. 3. And on the other hand the

corresponding change in the believer
_ —‘ the revelation of eye and ear’—is
vividly set forth; 2 Cor. iii. 18; Col.
iii, το. This change extends to each
element of man’s complex nature.
His spirit (πνεῦμα) is aided by the
Spirit of God that it may know the
blessings of the Gospel (1 Cor. ii

12). His reason (νοῦς) is furnished
with new intuitional principles by
which to test the Divine counsels
(Rom. xii. 2, ἀνακαίνωσις τοῦ vods).
His understanding (διάνοια, Eph. iv.
18) is enlightened so as to recog-
nise the True One (1 John v. 20.
Cf. Eph. i. 18, πεφωτισμένους τοὺς
ὀφθαλμοὺς τῆς Kapdlas). And ac-
cording to the measure of this change
Inspiration is a blessing common to
all ages and all Christians,

The distinction of τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦ Θεοῦ
and ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ, which are both
rendered the Word of Gop in the En-
glish Version, and Verbum Dei in the
Vulgate, isimportantin relation tothe
doctrine of the Inspiration of Scrip-
ture. The former phrase occurs in
Matt. iv. 4 (= Deut. viii. 3); Luke
(ii. 29) ; iii. 2; John iii. 345 vill. 47;
Rom. x. 17; Eph. vi. 17; Hebr. vi. 5;
xi. 33 1 Pet. i. 25 (=Is. xl. 8). The
latter is more frequent: Mark vii.
13; Lukev. 1, Sc.; John x. 35; xvii.
17; Acts iv. 31, ὥστε. ; Rom. ix. 6;
Col. i. 25; Hebr. iv. 2, Gc. ; 1 Pet.
i. 23: Gc. The distinction is lost
also in the Syriac and Gothic Ver-
sions. In Eph. vi. 17, Tertullian
(I. p- 152) strangely reads Sermo Det.

2 Cf. App. A. On the Quotations
in the Gospels.

B 2

(y) The testi-
mony of the
Church.

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

In what
sense a proof
of Inspira-
tion is pos-
sible.

Apostolic records could rise with clear pre-eminence
above the oral tradition of the Apostolic teaching’, On
the other hand we may examine the character and
objects of the books themselves, and put together the
various facts which appear to indicate in them the pre-
sence of more than human authority and wisdom, no
less in the simplicity and apparent rudeness of their
general form than in the subtle harmony and marvellous
connexion of their various elements. And if this method
of proof is less direct and definite than the other ; if it
calls for calm patience and compels thought in each
inquirer ; it is also broader and more elastic, capable of
infinite extensions and applications. Nor is it less
powerful even while it is less cogent. To many perhaps
the inward assurance which it creates is more satisfac- —
tory than the rigid deductions of direct argument. The
unlimited multiplication of convergent presumptions
and analogies builds up a strong and sure conviction,
possessing a moral force which can never belong to a
mere formal proof, even where the premises are neces-
sary truths. 7 ?

To speak of the proof of the Inspiration of the Scrip-
tures involves indeed an unworthy limitation of the idea
itself. In the fullest sense of the word we cannot prove
the presence of life, but are simply conscious of it; and
Inspiration is the manifestation of a higher life. The
words of Scripture are spiritual words, and as such are
spiritually discerned*. The ultimate test of* the reality
of Inspiration lies in the intuition of that personal faculty
(πνεῦμα) by which inspired men once recorded the words
of God, and are still able to hold communion with Him.
Everything short of this leaves the great truth still with-

* Cf. App. B. On the Primitive Doctrine of Inspiration.
2 1 Cor. ii. 12—16.

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.

out us; and that which should be a source of life is in
danger of becoming a mere dogma. At the same time
it is as unfair and dangerous to reject the teaching of a
formal proof as it is to rely upon it exclusively. It can-
not be an indifferent matter to us to bring into harmoni-
ous combination the work and the writings of the Apo-
stles: to follow and faithfully continue the clear outlines
of scriptural criticism as traced in the writings of the
New Testament: to recognise the power which the Bible
has hitherto exercised upon the heart of the Church,
and the depths which others have found in it. Such in-
vestigations will necessarily lead to other and more per-
sonal questions. We shall ask naturally whether we
have any clear conception of the position which the first
Christian teachers occupied, and the results which they
accomplished? Whether we have ever fairly estimated
the extent to which the different Books of Scripture are
penetrated by a common spirit? Whether the fault be
not in ourselves, if occasional difficulties are allowed to
destroy the effect of those divine words which have been
for ages a spring of life? And thus a new field will be
opened before us; and in this case ever-deepening con-
viction is the result and the reward of labour. For there
is this essential difference between an outward and an
inward—a logical and a moral—proof, that while the one
can be handed down from one generation to another in
all its formal completeness, gaining no fresh force and
admitting of no wider application; the latter only exer-
cises its full influence by the personal appreciation of
each element of which it consists, and adapts itself to
every shifting phase of thought from which it draws its
strength.

To examine at length the details which suggest this
internal proof of Inspiration is at once useless and im-

Introduc-
tion.

The internal
evidence of
Inspiration

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

Introduc-

tion,

tliustrated
s/ectally by

i. The nega-
tive charac-
ter of the
Gospels.

(a) Their
Sragment-
ariness; and
yet

ἕλεν contain
nearly all
that we
know of the
life of
hrist.

John xxi. 25.

possible. Their effect lies in the individual point of
sight from which they are regarded, and their weight in
their infinite variety. But one or two remarks on the
Gospels may serve to illustrate different lines of thought
which will furnish abundant materials for private study;
and it is by this only that their real value can be
estimated.

In the first place, the negative character of the Gos-
pels, the absence of certain features which we should —
have- expected to find in them, is too striking not to
arrest attention. They are fragmentary in form. Their —
writers make no attempt to relate all the actions or dis-
courses of our Lord, and shew no wish to select the most
marvellous series of His mighty works; and probably
no impartial judge will find in any one of them a con-
scious attempt to form a narrative supplementary to
those of the others. But if we know by the ordinary
laws of criticism that our Gospels are the only authentic
records of the Saviour’s life, while we believe that Pro-
vidence regards the well-being of the Christian Church,
are we not necessarily led to conclude that some divine
power overruled their composition, so that what must
otherwise seem a meagre and incomplete record should
contain all that is fittest historically to aid our progress
and determine our faith? Nor can it be unworthy of
notice that while the Gospels evidently contain so small
a selection from the works and words of Christ, so few
details unrecorded by the Evangelists should have been
preserved in other ways. The peculiar incidents pre-
served by each Evangelist shew hardly less clearly than
the express testimony of the latest evangelic record,
that during the first age countless facts were preserved
of which no distinct memorial now remains. The gene-
ral difference in character between the Gospel of St John

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.

and the Synoptic Gospels, and in a less degree the cor-
responding difference between separate parts of the
Synoptic narratives, indicates the existence of many
intermediate forms of doctrine of which tradition has
preserved no trace. We cannot but suppose that the
numerous witnesses of our Lord’s works and teaching
treasured up with affection each recollection of their
past intercourse ; still the cycle of the Evangelic narra-
tive is clearly marked; and it cannot but seem that the
same Power which so definitely circumscribed its limits
determined its contents’.

Again, the Gospels are unchronologicalin order. We
are at once cautioned against regarding them as mere
history, and encouraged to look for some new law of
arrangement in their contents, which, as I shall endea-
vour to prove, must result from a higher power than an
unaided instinct or an enlightened consciousness.

Once more, the Gospels are brief and apparently con-
fused in style. There is no trace in them of the anxious
care and ostentatious zeal which mark the ordinary pro-
ductions of curiosity or devotion. The Evangelists
write as men who see through all time, and only con-
template the events which they record in their spiritual
relations. But at the same time there is an originality
and vigour in every part of the Gospels which becomes a
divine energy in the Gospel of St John. As mere com-
positions they stand out from all other histories with the
noble impress of simplicity and power; and it is as if the
faithful reflection of the Image of GOD sheda clear light
on the whole narrative. The answer was once given to
the Pharisees when they sought to take Jesus that never
man spake like that man, and those who assail the autho-

-1Cf. App. C. On the Apocryphal traditions of the Lord’s Words and
Works.

Introduc-
tion.

(8) Their de-
Jiciency in
chronology.

(y) Their
simplicity 97
style.

John vii. 46.

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

iti. The social
teaching of
the Gospels

and

rity of the Gospels have been constrained to confess
that never was history written as in them’. 3

If we regard the subject of the Gospels it would in-
deed be strange if this were not so. The New Testa-
ment does not contain a mere record of ordinary facts or
a collection of indifferent conclusions, but lays the histo-
ric groundwork of man’s redemption and builds up his
practical faith. In narrative, in doctrine, and in pro-
phecy, the same great truths are brought forth under
different relations of time. And thus the connexion of
events, the arrangement of arguments, and the choice of »
symbols, may serve to exhibit in clearer and more
varied outline the whole structure of Christianity. For
nothing can be immaterial which is able to influence our
idea of the Saviour’s life, or to alter the application of
Christ’s teaching. The history must be not only true to
the outward form, but true to the inward spirit; the
proof must be not only convincing but effectual; the
prediction must not only answer to the event, but cohere
with the whole scope of prophetic revelation. It may
indeed be easy to quote passages in which we do not
see the importance of the minuter details of the Scrip-
tures ; for we cannot know the secret experience of all
Christians ; but it would be equally easy to prove that
there is no singularity in expression or detail, no trait of
personal feeling or individual conception in the Gospels,
which does not in some one place greatly affect our
notion of Christ’s teaching. And thus unless the pe-
culiarities of each writer were chosen to exhibit a special
aspect of truth they must in some degree distort it.

But though we shall dwell frequently in the course
of the following pages on the characteristic differences
of the Evangelists, we must not forget that, while they

* Cf. Gaussen, Theopneustia, pp. 238 ff. (Eng. Tr.)

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.

work separately for the instruction of individuals, they
have a common service to perform in the edification of
the Church. Their writings must be combined as well
as analysed, and we must carefully construct the general
doctrines which they teach us by a comparison of scat-
tered passages. All true sense of the absolute unity of
the Diatessaron, as distinguished from its unity of form,
is commonly lost by separating Miracles, Prophecies,
and Parables, instead of combining them. We regard
them, as a child might regard the stars, as chance sparks
of heavenly light, because we have not observed the law
which rules their order. Yet it is in the perfection and
oneness of their social teaching, so to speak, that the
strongest internal proof of the plenary Inspiration of the
Gospels is to be found. The office of the Apostles was
not only personal but public. They had not merely to
appropriate subjectively the truths of salvation, but to
set them forth for the instruction of the whole Christian
Society. The inspiration of the Apostles is to the
Church what enlightenment is to the believer. For as
we hold that there are rights which belong to the state
rather than to the citizen, so there are doctrines which
pertain to the whole body of the faithful rather than to
its several members. Such doctrines are the great mys-
teries of nature—foreknowledge and providence—which
find their proper centre in the social and not in the per-
sonal existence. But nevertheless their truest resolu-
tions must be sought in the life of Him by whom the
whole world was reunited to GOD. We must consider
how far each Miracle and Prophecy helps us to com-
plete our idea of the power and foresight of GoD in
reference to the wants and works of man; and how far
each Parable suggests the glorious truth of the inner
harmony of the universe. The manner in which these

Introduc-
tion.

---------

its applica-
tion.

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

τι Miracles.

questions—the foundation-doctrines of a Christian com-
munity—are treated by the Evangelists is such as to
exclude the idea of a mere personal intuition, for that
leaves no room for those combinations in which the ful-
ness of the Gospel lies. However far one Evangelist
might have been led by the laws of his own mind, it can
only be by the introduction of a higher power that four
unconsciously combine to rear from different sides a har-
monious and perfect fabric of Christian truth.

1. The richness and symmetry of this social teaching
of the Gospels will appear more clearly if we consider a
little more closely the elements with which it deals. In
order to understand the full force of Miracles we must
bear in mind their double aspect—outward as well as
inward—as works of power and works of redemption.
The former view, which was almost exclusively studied
during the last two centuries, is now well-nigh forgot-
ten’, through that spirit of our own times to which we
have already alluded; but still the Miracles are as im-
portant to the Christian faith providentially as morally.
And as their redemptive significance is deep and varied,
so is their outward manifestation perfect in extent and
glory. It has been well observed that there is nothing
in them contrary to nature, while all is above nature ;
that the laws of existences around us are not broken,
but resolved into or brought into connexion with higher
laws; that there is no creation out of nothing, but a
freeing of the primitive order (κόσμος, mundus’) from the

1 Pascal rises far beyond his own
age when he says ‘Les figures de
‘l’Evangile pour |’état de l’ame ma-
‘lade sont des corps malades.’ (Pen-
sées, τι. 372, ed. Faugére.)

2 The word κόσμος in this sense
was first used by Pythagoras (Plut.
de Plac. Phil. tt. 1). Mundus occurs

in Ennius (cali mundus), and yet
Cicero evidently speaks of the word
as strange and unusual even in his
time (de Univ. x. lucens mundus),
It will not fail to strike the atten-
tion, that while the Greeks and Ro-
mans regarded the outward beauty
and order of creation as giving’ the

Ce αν ΤΥ τὰν ee ΓΑ ee ee

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.

lets and limitations of sin. Again, it is equally true,
though less observed, that they penetrate into every
class of being with which we are connected—material,
animal, and spiritual; that they now involve and again
exclude natural means; that they alike give life and
destroy it; that they rise above the laws of matter and
change its accidents. The constancy and harmo
nature have been converted into an argument agaj
almighty Providence’; and in Miracles we find t
per vindication of the perpetuity and extent of the
tor’s power.
against those philosophers, who from the time of Epicu-
rus” have confounded the law and Him who works ac-
cording to the law, and by a strange confusion substitute
as it were a theory of motion for a living force. There
is, as I trust to shew, at once a perfect distinctness in
the practical and doctrinal import of each Miracle, and a
perfect unity in their final aim; so that the complete-
ness of their cycle and the variety of their applications
suggest to us the influence of a higher power on the

Evangelists than a mere ‘intuitional consciousness*,

truest name to the world, the He-
braizing Greek and Rabbinical wri-
ters should have regarded ‘the

ages’ (αἰῶνες, pdip) as the right
denomination of that.of which the
interest centres rather in the moral
than in the physical order. This
Scriptural conception of the ‘ Life of
the World’ offers the earliest and
grandest Philosophy of History.
Comp. Hebr.i. 2; 1 Cor. x.11; Eph.
iii. 21; Hebr. ix. 26.

1 Cf. Galen. de Usu Part. ΧΙ. 14
(quoted by Pearson, Ox the Creed,
p- 540 note). The following passage
of Goethe (Tholuck, Glaudbwiird. 5.
xiv.) expresses plainly the assump-
tion which lies at the basis of much
criticism at present: ‘Du haltst das

‘Evangelium, wie es steht, fiir die
‘gdttlichste Wahrheit: mich wiirde
‘eine vernehmliche Stimme vom
‘Himmel nicht iiberzeugen, dass
‘das Wasser brennt... Vielmehr halt’
‘ich dies fiir eine Lasterung gegen
‘den grossen Gott und seine Offen-
‘barung in der Natur.’

2 Οἷς, de Nat. Deor. 1. 25. Epi-
curus...ait atomum, quum pondere
et gravitate directo deorsum feratur,
declinare paullulum. It is remark-
able that a change of motion did
not suggest the idea of some exter-
nal power. ‘Attraction’ is but a
name to describe the action of force,
and assumes the existence of that of
which it cannot explain the origin.

3 Cf. Rogers, Reason and Faith,
Ed. Rev. Oct. 1849, pp. 344-6.

Introduc-
tion.

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

Introduc-
tion,

2. Parables.

Rom. viii. 19

—22. Cf.

2. While the miracles shew that a sustaining power
is everywhere present in nature, the Parables reveal no
less clearly the divine harmonies by which it is pene-
trated. For Parables are more than arbitrary similitudes.
In part they explain those higher relations of our exist-
ence to which the common events of life should lead us,
and realize in religion the Socratic Example. They
connect the principles of action with the principles of
faith, and appeal to the heart of man as a witness of his
true duties to GoD and his fellow. In part they connect
the natural with the spiritual world, and shew how the
laws of natural progress correspond to the course of
spiritual development. And at the same time they give
us some glimpses of the union of man with higher and
lower intelligences, and explain that mutual dependence
of all things which the Manichzan and Gnostic failed to
recognise, and thence fell into the most fatal and blas-
phemous errors—till we are led to realize the glorious
words of St Paul that αὐ creation (κτίσις) waiteth for the
manifestation of the sons of God, groaning and travailing
in pain until now.

3. Again, we are taught to recognise the working of
Providence, not only in the outer world of nature, but
also in the inner world of action ; while experience shews
that the control of the general result is reconciled with
individual freedom’. To this end the reality and depth
of Prophecy is set before us in the records of Judaism,
of which Christianity is in the highest sense the proof

and fulfilment*, In the various events detailed in the

4 The confirmation of this great chiffre.’ Pascal, Pensés, 11. 2473
doctrine by statistics is one of the p. 242 ff. The Jews had a pro-
most striking results of modern eh Ὁ Vana lex donec venerit Mes- "ὑ
science. Cf. a Table from M. Que- sias. Cf. Orig. de Princ. Iv. 6,
_telet in Mrs Somerville’s Physical quoted in App. B.vi. What is need-
eet ly, Il. pp. 383-4. ed to interpret this cipher is briefly

‘Le Vieux Testament est un expressed in the words of our Lord

. INTERPRETATION OF S CRIPT: URE.

Old Testament Scriptures which were written for our
learning the Jews became figures of us. The private
fortunes of their monarchs, and the national revolutions
of their race; the general import of their history and the
wider significance of their Prophecies, as well as the
more explicit predictions; all receive their complete ac-
complishment in the Messiah and His kingdom. It is
then through the Evangelists that the Holy Spirit has
afforded us a true insight into the inner meaning of the
Prophets who were the historians of the elder dispensa-
tion, as in the Epistles He has set forth the antitypes of
the ancient Law. That is surely a meagre theology and
unscholarlike criticism which finds nothing more than a
fanciful adaptation in the Scriptures quoted in the open-
ing chapter of St Matthew, and nothing deeper than an
arbitrary variation in the different words by which each
passage is introduced. On the contrary, it seems as if
from verse to verse the full glory and wisdom of the past
were being gradually disclosed to us, as we are directed
to observe the types of the Messiah in the crises of per-
sonal or national history; and then to acknowledge the
fulness of the more distant Christian analogies in the
outward fortunes of the Jews; and lastly to accept the
reality of the minuter deductions from their Prophetic
teaching’.

(Luke xxiv. 25) ὦ ἀνόητοι καὶ βραδεῖς A personal historic type, Is.
τῇ καρδίᾳ : the νοῦς and διάνοια [cf. vii. 14. Immanuel (cf. Is.
Eph. i. 18] were alike defective in viii. 1)—Jesus.
those who failed to understand the (8) Matt. ii. 18, ἣν ἐκεῖ... ἵνα
Scriptures of the Old Testament. πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥηθέν.
Compare also Rom. i, 21, ἐματιώ- A national historic type,
θησαν ἐν τοῖς διαλογισμοῖς αὐτῶν, καὶ Hos. xi. 1. Israel—Mes-
ἐσκοτίσθη ἡ ἀσύνετος αὐτῶν καρδία. siah.
Eph. iv. 17, 18, ἐν ματαιότητι τοῦ (y) Matt. ii. 17, τότε ἐπληρώθη
νοὸς αὑτῶν ἐσκοτισμένοι τῇ διανοίᾳ. τὸ ῥηθέν. ' ;

1 (a) Matt. i. 22, τοῦτο ὅλον γέ- An analogy in Jewish his-

yovev ἵνα πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥη- tory, Jer. xxxi. (xxxviii.)

θέν. 15. The mother of Israel

Introduc-
tion.
1 Cor. x. 6,
11.

Introduc-

tion.

Il. TheCom-

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

| But if we admit the Inspiration of Scripture as suffi-
ciently proved by external and internal evidence, a

gleteness of | difficulty still remains: for how, it may be asked, can it

Script

Statement
of the case.

' be shewn that the collection of inspired writings forms a
complete record of the Revelation which it commemo-
rates? There was a time when the Bible, which we re-
gard as one volume and call by one name, existed only
in its separate parts, till at length it gained its present
form after long and anxious questionings. And though
we believe that history bears clear witness to our Canon-
ical books and to no others, still history, it may be said,
cannot assure us that they contain all the points of
divine truth which it is needful for us to know, What-
ever is taught by Inspiration is authoritative; but how
can we learn that all necessary elements of inspired
teaching have been committed to writing? At the first
glance the several books appear to be disconnected and
incidental. In many cases they were composed to meet
the wants of a special crisis—to instruct, to correct,
to confirm, individuals or churches. There is nothing to
shew that the Apostles—if we regard only the New
Testament—entertained any design of delivering to
future ages a full written account of the Christian faith,
or a perfect system of Christian doctrine. On the con-
trary, there is a marked difference in the points of sight
from which they regard the Christian dispensation ; and
they all seem in common to shrink from claiming for

weeping for her children
taken from her.

(δ) Matt. ii. 23, κατῴκησεν...
ὅπως πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥηθὲν
διὰ τῶν προφητῶν.

-A deduction from prophetic
language. Ps. xxii, 6;

Is. liii. 3.
It is very remarkable that the

final conjunctions (ἵνα, ὅπως) never
occur with the optative of the New
Testament, unless Eph. i. 17 may
possibly be an exception. Is the
explanation to be sought for in the
fact that the truest instinct leads
us to regard every issue as still
working and waiting for a present
accomplishment?

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.

31
their own writings a rank co-ordinate with that of the | introduc.
. tion.
Old Testament Scriptures. =
The slightest thought will shew that such inquiries | 7% αἰ.

will not admit of one peremptory answer, though the
traditional view of Holy Scripture by which we regard
the several books as necessarily connected renders us to
a great extent insensible to many of the difficulties
which they really involve. This traditional belief has
indeed practically its proper use and reward ; but where
investigation is possible, belief must be the goal and not
the starting-point, the conclusion and not the premiss of
our reasoning.

But while we allow that the difficulties thus raised
are real, they are still not singular or exceptional, but
analogous to those common mysteries of our being
which are rarely felt only because they are universal.
The action of Providence in every case is lost in mys-
᾿ tery. In one aspect most things in the life of an indivi-
dual seem to be casual and unimportant ; and yet when
we observe from time to time indications of a providen-
tial plan in its general course, we practically admit that
the same superintending power penetrates into those ap-
parently trivial details which really mould the character
of the whole. So again in the history of nations it is at
first difficult to recognise how the feuds of party and the
confusion of popular cries can form any part of a divine
scheme for the government of the world; and yet when
we discover on a wide survey traces of such a controlling
influence, we are forced to allow that it extends to com-
mon things, and works by means which antecedently
seem totally inadequate to the issue. Or to take yet
another example: the vast and various convulsions
which have broken up the surface of the earth, and
covered it with scars and ruins, seem little like the mani-

culties are
real, and yet

analogous to
those which
are found in
individual
life,

im society,
-

in nature,

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

Their solu-
tion to be
sought for in
the notion of
Providence.

Universal
history and

festations of infinite wisdom ; and still when it is known
that they were needed to fashion the fair diversity of
woods and waters, and to bring within the reach of man
the treasures stored up by fixed laws in the depths
below, we acknowledge that Providence not only inspires
the general law, but acts equally by those changes and
outbreaks which, as far as the range of our observation
extends, seem to interrupt its ordinary working.

These examples of the action of Providence in the
individual, in society, in nature, will illustrate the form
in which we may expect it to be shewn in securing the
completeness of the records of Revelation ; for in relation
to Holy Scripture the belief in Providence is the neces-
sary supplement to the belief in Inspiration. And if we
find that GOD works concurrently with the exercise of
man’s free agency ; that He finds even in the weaknesses
and imperfections of His creatures efficient service ; that
the traces of a plan and purpose which are disclosed by
a comprehensive view of His dealings suggest the exist-
ence of order and completeness throughout, and recon-
cile us to the presence of disturbing influences; we may
reasonably expect to meet with similar phenomena in
the relation of Providence to Scripture: so that it will be
no fatal objection to the completeness of the Bible that
it is composed of writings not only occasional and per-
sonal but also beset with various conflicting difficulties,
if it can be shewn that there are clear signs of a consist-
ent historical recognition of this completeness, and also
traces of a mutual dependence and general unity in the
books themselves.

For though is is true that history cannot prove di-
rectly the completeness of the Scriptures, it can furnish
strong presumptions that they are complete. The same
divine messengers who committed to writing the original

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.

records of Revelation embodied their teaching in a visi-
ble society. The Bible and the Church trace back their
claims to the same source, and each can appeal to the
other to bear witness to its permanent integrity. If then
it appear, to take one example, that the earliest descrip-
tion of the Christian body recognises exactly those ele-
ments which are found in the Apostolic writings: if the
Articles of Belief and the forms of worship are exactly
those which are either suggested or prescribed in them:

if Christians with a common consent appealed to the New
Testament, as soon as its constituent books were collected
into one volume, as an adequate and final source of
Christian doctrine; and if the same be true of the Old
Testament in relation to the Church of the Old Cove-
nant from age to age; then no one who believes that the
lessons of Providence are legibly written in the instinc-
tive judgments of society will doubt that the Bible was
intended to be that for which the Church has received it,
a complete record of all that was of permanent import in
successive revelations. That the proposed conditions are
satisfied by the mutual relations of the Scriptures and the
Church from age to age, history can shew most clearly.
The indistinctness which hangs over isolated details
commonly arises from the narrowness of the field of
sight. On a wide view nothing can be mere striking
than the independence and unity of the written Word

and the organized Body. And this independence and’

unity offers the clearest proof of their individual sym-
metry and completeness.

Nor is this all: it is possible that some outward sym-
metry may be found to exist in the mutual relations of
the different fragments of which the Bible consists; and
the argument from design is proportionately more con-
vincing as the elements in which the design is traced are

W. Ὁ. Cc

Introduc-
tion,

-----

criticism

confirm the

belief in the

completeness

of Scripture;
or :

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, ΑΔ

more numerous and naturally less connected. That this
is so seems indeed to be indicated by the very form: of
the Bible. To take an illustration again from the New
Testament: the obvious analogy between the quadri-
form Gospel and the four classes of Epistles, the peculiar
fitness of the Acts as a mediative element to connect
them together doctrinally and historically, the lasting
| significance of the Apocalypse as a prophetic and typical —
_view of the fortunes of the Church to the end of time—
create an impression of original unity among the com-
ponent parts which thus produce a well-proportioned
whole’. And if on a further examination of the books
it appear that the different characters of their writers,
the variety of styles in which they are composed, the
manifold circumstances which called them forth, contri- .
bute in each case some distinctive feature to the image
of truth which they combine to produce, is not the idea
of completeness a natural consequence of a combination
as marvellous as it is unexpected? But the subtle or-
ganization of Scripture, no less than that of nature, is
only revealed to a watchful and attentive eye. A passing
hint may arouse inquiry, but nothing less than a patient
and candid study of the Bible can convey any notion of
‘the intimate relations which exist between its several

_ 1 It may be worth while to set 1. The Historical Foundation:
down the correspondence here sug- Synoptic Gospels. St Ffames,
gested: St Fude.
1. St Matthew. ' Transition to the next class:
St Fames, St Fude (St Peter, Acts of the Apostles. 1 Pe-

Apocalypse). ter. ,
2. St Mark. 2. The Logical Construction : Z/i-

St Peter. - Stles of St Paul. -
3. St Luke. Transition to the next class;
Epistles of St Paul (Hebrews). Ep. to the Ephesians. Ep,

4. St John. to the Hebrews.

Lpistles of St Fohn. 3. The Spiritual Completion: Zhe
On, a broader view we obtain an Gospel and L£pistles of St
equally striking view of the com- Fohn.

pleteness of the New Testament:

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE,

parts, Each fresh point of sight presents to the eye
new harmonies of detail and form. On a full survey
contrasts are successively exposed and subdued ; irregu-
larities are found to belong to the general plan; orna-
ments gain a constructive importance; and, as in some
noble monument, each well-wrought fragment is seen to
be stamped with the marks of independence and design.
The circumstances under which each workman wrought,
no less than the peculiarities of his work, prove his real
independence; and the manner in which every pecu-
liarity contributes to the whole effect shews that all alike
were obedient to the design of one great Architect.

If it be still said that there are gaps and chasms in
the Canon; that the structure does not in all respects
correspond to the plan; that much appears unfinished
and insecure: it may be enough to reply that there is
at least a clear tendency towards unity in its different
parts, not discernible at first, but growing ever clearer
to those who look most closely into it; and that such a
tendency towards order and perfection is all that can as
yet be found in the worlds of nature and man, though
these are confessedly complete in design, as being the
immediate works of Gop. The distinctness of this first
revelation is obscured by the existence of evil in a thou-
sand forms, which seems to contradict our notions of
almighty power and love; and it is likely that the same
kind of difficulties should reappear, however GOD makes
Himself known. If then we acknowledge in nature a
perfection of plan, though we cannot make it out in all
its details, and complete by faith the order which we see
commenced at intervals; it is reasonable to regard the
completeness of Scripture in the same way, and to sub-
mit patiently to the existence of uncertainties and diffi-
culties in the Bible, which we find also in the only other

Introduc-
tion.

-----

a tendency
to symmetry
and order ts
all that we
can yet see
in the other
works of
God.

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

The record
of the same
character as
the original
Revelation.

1Π|, The Zn-
terpretation
oe Scripture.

manifestations of GOD’S working with which we can
compare it. They may indeed be necessarily introduced
by the narrow range of our observation and experience,
or be absolutely required for our probation and disci-
pline. And though this mode of arguing may perhaps
seem weak and inconclusive to those who have scarcely
felt the difficulties which it is intended to meet, yet it
may be remarked that we can have nothing to guide us
but analogies and presumptions, ideas of fitness and
order, gathered from the outward government of the
world, when we endeavour to reason on GOD’S dealings -
with man. Nor can it be said again that such analogies
only exist between the revelation in nature and the reve-
lation to men ; for what is true of the original revelation
is true also of the permanent record. The individual
character, as has been already shewn, is an essential part
of both as far as man is concerned. The finiteness and
imperfection of human nature must everywhere be felt in
Divine things ; and the supposition that a complete re-
cord of revelation may be found in writings apparently
casual and fragmentary introduces no difficulty which is
not already found in another form in the primary con-
ception of revelation, and in the first expression of its
truths. In all alike GOD works through man according
to the natural laws of thought and action; and thus the
One becomes manifold, and the whole can be contem-
plated only in its component parts.

From what has been said it follows that the personal
conviction of the Inspiration and Completeness of Scrip-
ture depends in a great measure upon the accurate study
of the Sacred Writings themselves; and thus it is im-
portant to fix within certain limits the great principles
by which they must be interpreted. Nor is this difficult
in a general sense, however many: difficulties may be

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.

involved in the application of the principles to every de-
tail. Two great objects appear to be included in the
work of the interpreter: the strict investigation of the
simple meaning of the text, and the development of the
religious teaching which lies beneath it. The first re-
gards the form, and the second the spirit of Scripture.
The one rests on the acknowledged permanence of ‘the
essential relations between thought and language; the
other on {πὸ Providential purpose which is seen to exist
in the successive records of the Divine history of the
world. The religious truth is conveyed through the
medium of human conceptions; and human conceptions
are used for the expression of religious truth. The es-
‘sence of Inspiration does not lie in the form alone or in
the spirit alone, but in the combination of both. If the
form be the result of direct Inspiration, it follows that
Scripture contains a revelation of pure physical truth,
which is contrary to experience ; if on the other hand the
-action of Inspiration be limited to the spiritual element,
it follows that this must be separable from the form,
which has been shewn to be impossible.

At a time when extended criticism has proved that
the very inflexions of words have a mental significance
and answer to some peculiarity of race, it seems almost
‘superfluous to remark that idioms of language are but
the embodiments of national character: that an idiom is
the starting-point, and not the end of inquiry. Yet long
tradition has sanctioned the application of principles to
Biblical criticism which are abandoned in all other sub-
jects ; and it has been held to be a final answer in diffi-
culties of expression in the Old and New Testaments
that they are ‘ Orientalisms.’ If this be true, it is evident
that the difficulty is only removed one step further back:
why, it must be asked, was the Eastern phrase so turned ?

Introduc-
tion.

The object of
Interpreta-
tion two-
Jold—to
secure

1. the lite-
ral, and

2. the spiri-
tual sense.

1. Literal
Interpreta-
tion based
upon strict
grammati-
cal criti-
cism.

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

The import-
ance of accu-
rate analy-
sis of lan- τῇ
guage in
New Testa-
ment, owing
to the oo
plexity o

the dialect.

Impurity of
a dialect no
argument
Jor treating
it uncriti-
cally,

of what mental condition is ita symptom? Surely we
may believe that the Hebrew spirit still lives in the
characteristics of the Hebrew language; and if so, the
close analysis of each Hebrew idiom will lay open some-
thing of the inner workings of that mind through which
the world was prepared for the kingdom of God.

The theory of ‘Orientalisms’ has exercised its most
fatal influence on the interpretation of the New Testa-
ment. The presence of a foreign colouring in the Greek
writings of the Apostles is so striking, that we may be
inclined to smile at the labours of the purists of the last
century. But to one who looks beneath the surface this
combination of Hebrew idiom with Greek words is a fact
of the utmost significance. The Hebrews realized more
vividly than any nation the present working of GOD in
the world, and contemplated even nature from a theo-
cratic standing-point. The Greeks again scrutinized
with the nicest discrimination the powers of man and
the. objects of sense, and by a vocabulary of infinite ful-_
ness perpetuated the knowledge which they gained.
And what more fitting vehicle can we conceive for the
enunciation of the highest truth than that. Hebraizing
Greek which unites all that was noblest in the forms of
Hebrew thought with all that was richest in the stores of
Greek expression ? .

‘But it is said that the Alexandrine Greek was a
mixed and degenerate dialect, and that it therefore
offers no sure ground for minute criticism. With equal
reason the student of Euripides might complain of
the arbitrary licence of Homer or Theocritus because
they do not conform to the Attic standard; and yet
the most startling anomalies of the earliest and latest —
authors can be reduced to an arrangement in har-
mony with the general principles of language. The

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.

transition from the Greek of Aristotle to that of St Paul
is in fact less abrupt than might have been expected ;
but even if it were as great as it is commonly supposed
to be, the real state of the case would remain unchanged.
The laws of syntax and the sense of words may be mo-
dified in the lapse of time or by external influences ; but
the great law by which words are the living exponents
of thought remains unchanged, and the modifications are
themselves necessarily subject to some law. It is rea-
sonable to expect that the grammar of the New Testa-
ment may not in every point coincide with the grammar
of Homer or Herodotus or Xenophon. The style of St
Paul or St John may differ as much from that of each of
them as they differ severally from one another. But it
is the work of the scholar to determine the specific
character of the writer before him, and to explain in
what way he has been led to diverge from the normal
type of expression. And further: the laws which deter-
mine the continuity of language are not broken by the
infusion of foreign elements, as long as the language
retains a living energy. The history of our own litera-
ture proves that it is a mere assumption that a language
loses even in precision by the incorporation of new forms
and words. On the contrary, increased facility of ex-
pression gives occasion for the fixing of minute differ-
ences of conception which would otherwise be evanescent.
And when the Apostolic writers use a Greek dialect
variously modified by Eastern thought, they are not re-
- moved from the pale of strict criticism, but rather pre-
sent a problem of unusual interest from the various
relations of the elements which it combines.

Nor can it be urged against this view that the Apo-
stles were unlettered men, and consequently unlikely to
speak with exactness; for it is certain that the use of

Introduc-
tion.

------

Grammar
depends on
thought ;
and while it
varies in
Sjorm

survives the
greatest re-
volutions in
language.

And this is
as true of
rude dialects
as of refined.

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

Introduc-
tion.

The tend-
ency of the
disregard of
language.

2. Spiritual
Interpreta-
tion chet on
the Literal

Interpreta-
tion,

The spiri-
tual sense
the primary
sense of
Scripture,

provincial dialects is no less strict than that of the purest
idiom. The very power of language lies in the fact that
it is the spontaneous expression of thought. Education
may extend the range of knowledge, but experience is
an adequate teacher of that which lies before us. Gali-
lean fishermen were even naturally no less qualified
than others to watch the processes of the spiritual life,
and adapt to their own needs the words which the Sep-
tuagint had already consecrated to a divine use.

All intelligent interpretation of Scripture must then
be based upon a strict analysis of its idioms and words.
To suppose that words and cases are convertible, that
tenses have no absolute meaning, that forms of expres-
sion are accidental, is to abjure the fundamental princi-
ples on which all intercourse between men is based. A
disbelief in the exactness of language is the prelude to
all philosophical scepticism. And it will probably be
found that the tendency of mind which discredits\ the
fullest teaching of words leads, however little we may see
it, to the disparagement of all outward revelation.

But when the interpreter of Scripture has availed
himself of every help which historical criticism can fur-
nish for the elucidation of the text—when by the exact
investigation of every word, the most diligent attention
_to every variation of tense and even of order, the clearest
recollection of the associations of every phrase, he has
obtained a sense of the whole, perfect in its finer shades
_and local colouring no less than in its general outline and
effect—his work is as yet only half done. The literal
_sense is but the source from which the spiritual sense is
to be derived ; but exactly in proportion as a clear view
is gained of all that is special in the immediate object
and position of each writer, it will be found that the sim-
ple record appears to be instinct with Divine life: for, as

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.

has been already noticed, the external circumstances and
mental characteristics of the writer are not mere acci-
dents ; but inasmuch as they influence his apprehension
and expression of the truth, they become a part of his
Divine message. And the typical speciality which
springs from this is the condition at once of the use-
fulness and of the universality of Scripture.

The existence of an abiding spiritual sense under-
lying the literal text of the Old Testament is sufficiently
attested by the quotations in the New. Unless it be re-
cognised, many of the interpretations of the Evangelists
and Apostles must appear forced and arbitrary ; but if
we assume that it exists, their usage appears to furnish
an adequate clue to the investigation of its most intri-
cate mazes. It must always be a difficult task to appre-
ciate rightly the spiritual lessons of history, to detect the
real analogy between past and present, to understand the
fleeting symptoms of good and evil, to compare the
several sides of truth and error; but the task is one
which is ever assigned to men. Mere mechanical infalli-
bility is but a poor substitute fora plenary Inspiration,
which finds its expression in the right relation between
partial human knowledge and absolute Divine truth.
And if this view imposes upon the interpreter of Scrip-
ture a work of endless labour, at least it clears from his
way formidable difficulties which would otherwise beset
him, and that not by any arbitrary division of the con-
tents of the Bible, but in virtue of its essential character,
The inspired truthfulness of the Prophet does not lie in
the view which he takes of natural phenomena, but in
the relation in which this partial conception stands to
some spiritual lesson. It is a noble and glorious task to
follow into their remotest results, and reduce to their

simplest forms, the laws which govern the world in rela-

Introduc-
tion,

Attested by
the usage of
the Aposto-
lic writers.

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

The Inter-
pretation of
Scripture
outwardly
realized in

the Church.

tion to ourselves; but this is not the work of the mes-
senger of Revelation. It is enough that he should view
nature as his contemporaries view it, while at the same
time he adopts exactly so much of the-popular belief as
serves to illustrate and explain his message. The ‘days’ —
of creation, the ‘windows of heaven, the ‘stedfastness of
the round world, the ‘hand of GoD, and the like, are
expressions which, while they are intelligible to the sim-
-plest minds, perpetuate at the same time great facts
which the highest culture can scarcely realize. No part
of human knowledge is absolute, except such as follows
directly from the laws by which the mind of man is
limited ; and probably it will be found that elements of
permanent truth lie hid in the various aspects of nature
preserved in the Bible, as in the doctrines of the Apo-
stles there are certainly traces of the anticipation of
wants which after the course of ages have scarcely yet
been fully realized.

Meanwhile the Interpretation of Scripture no less
than its true Completeness is being ever set forth in the -
history of the Church. The Christian is not even out-
wardly left alone in the endeavour to master the mani-
fold lessons of Revelation. The same Providence who
_ guided the composition of the Bible has also furnished a
| Commentary on it in the fortunes of mankind. And it
| will easily be seen that there is a perfect analogy be-
_tween the Church and the Scriptures in their relation to
the individual Christian. When united, they complete
the circle of his external defences ; but if they be sepa-
rated, he is led either into superstition or into doubt.
Both contain and convey mediately the grace necessary
for his support, and yet only so far as the Holy Spirit
works with and through them. The outward form in
each case brings the essence within the reach of man ;.

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.

and places within our grasp that which'is otherwise too
subtle for our present senses. The enunciation and the
embodiment of truth are adapted to our finite nature ;
and it is alike unreasonable to say that we do not need
a true Bible, and to maintain that a definite Christian
society is unnecessary for the full unfolding of the spiri-
tual life.

Yet there are difficulties in detail which must be
brought before the individual judgment. Carelessness,
we allow, has given currency to false readings in the text
of Scripture ; but the number and variety of the autho-
rities which may be used to correct them is not only
unequalled but unapproached in the range of ancient
literature. The laws of criticism are absolute, and the
Christian may confide with implicit reverence in their

issues. Heresy again may draw its doctrine from the |.

Bible; but ‘what does that shew except that Scripture
has many sides which must be combined and harmo-
nized, not severed and distorted according to the bent of
our private will? The laws of language, as those of cri-
ticism, are absolute, and the Christian may trust in them
as the certain outward expression of the deepest truths.
Nor can the existence of these final and in part irre-
soluble difficulties appear strange and unnatural. We
have no reason to conclude from our knowledge of the
whole character of GOD’S dealings that He might be
expected to preserve ever inviolate what He has once
given, The world which was at first good is now full of
evil; man who was at first blessed has fallen under the
curse of sin; and such contingencies seem to be involved
necessarily in the idea of a finite existence. But a re-
demption has been wrought for both; and so too on the
historical side of our religion an uncorrupted Bible lies
before us if we patiently and candidly search for it, and

Introduc-
tion.

The province
of criticism.

Criticism
hallowed by
a spiritual
influence.

INSPIRATION, COMPLETENESS, AND

Introduc-
tion.

The plan of
the Essay.

a true personal interpretation may be gained by sincere
and faithful study. In both cases however the task is
something more than a merely mechanical or intellectual
process. Whoever has watched attentively the workings
of his own mind will feel that in criticism and philology
there is still room for the operation of that Spirit of GOD
which is promised to the Christian scholar. Variations
may exist on the one side, and ambiguities on the other,

which disappear when brought before the scrutiny of the }

spiritual judgment.
It will be my object in the following Essay to deter-
mine in what way the principles thus indicated may be

applied to the study of the Gospels—to determine how

far their origin and contents fall in with the general or-
der of Providence, and suggest the presence of that deep
and hidden wisdom in which we have found the charac-
teristic of Inspiration to lie. And if it can be shewn that
the Gospels sum up in the record of the Incarnation all
that was evolved of spiritual import in the long disci-
pline from the Captivity to the Advent; if it can be:
shewn that the time at which they were written was at
once most suited to their publication and least likely to
have given birth to them; if it can be shewn that they
grew up as it were spontaneously in the Church without
effort and without design, and yet have a distinct rela-
tion in their four-fold diversity to the past and future
wants of the Church; if it can be shewn that under the

difference of letter there lies a perfect unity of spirit—
| that there is a special tendency and plan in the writing

of each Evangelist, arising out of the position which he
held in the Catholic Church—that the varieties of detail
and the succession of incidents converge to one common

point and conduce to one common end; if it can be

shewn that in particular parts the teaching of the dif-

INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.

ferent Gospels may be combined into a whole of marvel-
lous symmetry and completeness ; then indeed the resi-
duum of difficulties and alleged discrepancies will seem
of little weight. We shall see a noble view opened of the
relation of the Gospel to the former and future history of
the world, and of the. Gospels to the Gospel itself. We
shall feel that deep sense of the continual presence of
the divine influence, and that firm conviction of the un-
erring truthfulness of the Sacred writers, which can only
be gained by a comprehensive view of the complete
subordination of every part of Scripture to the training
of man and the realization of his hopes. We shall then
find nothing superfluous in the repetitions of the Gospels,
and nothing inconsistent in their variety, any more than
in the fresh groupings and different prospects of some
earthly scene. We shall understand with the great mas-
ter of Alexandria that ‘every word if only it be rightly
viewed effects a special purpose;’ for Revelation zs xot a
vain thing for us; 1} 1s our 1176.

Introduc-
tion.

CHAPTER TI.

The Preparation for the Gospel.

Abroudrn ἡ γῆ καρποφορεῖ πρῶτον χόρτον εἶτεν στάχυν, elrev πλήρης
σῖτος ἐν τῷ στάχυϊ, S. MARCVS, iv. 28.

HE Bible is the oldest and truest vindication of the
dignity of History. When the Jewish Church
numbered the ancient records of their state among the —
works of the Prophets, they acknowledged that insight
and foresight are only varieties of the same faculty, dif-
fering in their objects and not in their essence. The
present, if we could read it rightly, contains the past and
future, though that which is real and abiding is enve--
loped in a mass of confused details, so that it is visible
only to the eye of the true seer. This follows indeed
from the nature of the case; for truth in itself is abso-
lutely one. But though it is one in itself it can only be

| manifested partially; and human history in the highest
sense is the record of its successive manifestations in the

life of men and man. In this respect History may be
likened to the gradual unveiling of some godlike figure.

_The imagination of the inspired artist can divine its per-
fect form from the contemplation of the first fragment,
_but to the common sight it passes slowly from stage to

stage to the fulness of its finished beauty. Each part
however which is revealed remains open for ever. His-

. THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

tory is not only progressive in its course, but also pro-
gressive in the form of its teaching. All its records are
held together by a real harmony and are instinct with
one design. Each fresh convulsion leaves the earth
further advanced towards its final purpose, though for
the time it is covered with ruins, And in this sense His-
tory is a nobler Biography, the tale of a nobler life than
man’s; for even though at present we can but see it
dimly, there appears to be a common life not only in
nations but in the world, if at least the best conception
of life which we can form is that of activity combined
with organization, the permanence of the whole recon-
ciled with the change of the parts, a power of assimila-
tion and a power of progress,

Any real appreciation of Ghiistiantey in its world-
‘wide relations must rest upon some such view of History
as this. Christianity cannot be separated from the past
any more than from the future. If we may venture so
to speak, it was not an accident or an after-thought, but
foreknown before the foundation of the world, The In-
carnation as it is seen now is the central point of all His-
tory. And more than this, if we regard the great issues
of life, all past history as far as it has any permanent
significance appears to be the preparation for that great
mystery; and all subsequent history the gradual appro-
priation of its results. Isolated efforts were made in
ancient times to anticipate the truth for which men were
waiting ; and opposing powers sought to check its in-
fluence when it was set forth in the life of Christ; but
premature development and open antagonism served in
the end only to display the supremacy and consolidate
the power of Revelation. The Gospel was no sudden or
solitary message. The legend of Pallas is the very con-
verse of the Nativity. Christianity is in one sense as

Chap. i.

The coming
of Christ is
the centre of
human his-
tory; and

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

the record of
the Gospel ἐς
impressed
with the re-
sults of a
world-wide
training.

The outlines
of this train-
ing partly
preserved
in the Old
Testament ;
and

ancient as the Creation, resting on a foundation wide as
the world and old as time. Step by step the ground-
work of the Church was laid in the silent depths, and at
last, when all was now ready, it rose above the earth,
that all men might consciously combine to rear the spiri-
tual temple of the living Gop.

What is true of the subject of the Gospel is true in a
less complete degree of the record. The writings of the
New Testament are not a separate and exceptional
growth, but the ripe fruit of minds which had been ma-
tured through long ages of various fortunes and manifold
influences. The very language in which they are written
is in some sense an epitome of ancient history. For it
was the will of Providence that the people whom He
destined to become the special depository of His revela-
tions should not only develope their individual character,
but also by contact with Egypt, Persia, Greece, and
Rome, assimilate the foreign elements necessary to the
perfection of their work. The history of the Jews thus
becomes as it were the key to the history of the world ;
and, by regarding the various stages through which it
passed, it is possible to distinguish the various consti-
tuents which combined to form the character of the
Apostles and to prepare men for their teaching.

It follows as a necessary consequence that the Old
Testament is itself the divine introduction to the New.
In the records of the religious life of the Jews, in the set-
tling of worship and the widening of hope, it is possible
to see the foreshadowings of Apostolic doctrine, while the
vicissitudes of their national history exhibit most clearly
the growing purposes of GOD. A kingdom was reared on
the ruins of the theocracy. A hierarchy succeeded to
the place of the vanquished kingdom. When the Law
of Moses had lost its power under.the complicated forces

THE PREPARATION FOR ΤῊΣ δου αι.

οἵ advancing civilization, it was quickened
life by the zeal of the Prophets; and the
Priests and Scribes in after time formulized wha

people might yet find a definite support for their ancient
belief.

But the records of the Old Testament deal only with
the central periods of the history of Israel, the times of
direct spiritual instruction, of the Law and the Prophets;
and the last period of preparation which followed the
Captivity, like the first preparation in Egypt, is too often
regarded asa blank. Yet it is in this especially that we
must trace the growth of that spirit which fixed the
limits of Judaism and prepared the way for the advance
of Christianity. Even in the absence of a. continuous
literature the progress of the people is marked clearly
by definite events, fruitful in lessons on the course of
national life.

The mission of Ezra, ‘the second Moses’ as he was
called, like that of the first, was followed by a period of
silence. It was needful that the law which was written
on tables should be realized in life. Meanwhile Persia,
no less than Egypt, had a work to accomplish for Israel ;
and till this was done the wisdom of the East was not
yet exhausted. Afterwards this work of later training
and preparation which was begun by Persia was trans-
mitted in due time to Greece and Rome; and the Jew
gained suppleness and strength from a Literature and
from an Empire of equal breadth with his own faith.
His faith also was tried by the most varied alternations
of fortune. At one time a line of native heroes gave
unity and independence to a subject race; at another
a foreign despot attempted to found a wide dominion
‘upon the basis of the ancient creed. Hope followed

f
Pa Ling

Prophets had taught, that a conquered and tributary |

partly to be
sought in the
post-biblical
history of
the Fews,
which ts
pregnant
with tmtpor-
tant issues
owing both
to

its outward
vicissitudes .
and

W.G. D

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

Chap. i.

its inward
revolutions
during the
Persian and

Grecian

periods.

hope; and the last form of Jewish nationality was shaped
under the heavy pressure of critical vicissitudes. The
rivalry of the Samaritans, the rise of the Hellenistic
Church, the tyranny of the Syrian kings, the fall of the
Maccabzean dynasty, the subjection of Palestine to an
Idumzan dependent of Rome, disciplined the people for
the coming of Messiah.

And while the outward fortunes of the Jews after the
Captivity were thus varied with progressive phases of
one growing purpose, the changes in their inner life were.
not less remarkable. The century after Ezra was a time
of silence, but it was also a time of activity. New facul-
ties were called out by a new order of things. An age of
reflection followed an age of Inspiration. The guidance
of Prophets had followed the close of the Theocracy ;
and in turn the Prophets were replaced by Doctors
(Sopherim). Schools of learning methodized the study
of the Law. The Scribe and the Lawyer succeeded to
the authority of the Priest; and, in the words of the
Talmud, ‘the crown of learning was nobler than that of
‘empire’’ The definite collection of Holy Scriptures
marked indeed formally as well as practically the cessa-
tion of the immediate teaching of the Spirit. The Canon
regarded as a whole demanded interpretation, and de-
fined the range of learning, Vernacular paraphrases of
the Sacred Writings satisfied the wants of the congrega-
tion, and deeper investigations into their meaning occu-
pied the place of philosophy. The conquest of the East
by Alexander interrupted the course of this national de-
velopment, and introduced a new element into Jewish
life. The Hebrew and the Hellenist stood side by side,
at one time in strange combination, and again in angry

ao. Fiidische Literatur, p. 359 (Ersch ἃ, Gruber, ae
I

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

rivalry. It seemed as if a new Israel were rising on the
banks of the Nile, not only trained in the wisdom of
Egypt, but courting its favour, And even in Palestine
there were clearer signs of the coming close of the Jewish
dispensation than the existence of Sadducees or He-
rodians. The unity of the nation was still symbolized in
the Temple, but the Synagogue recognised the existence
of its component parts. The people looked backward or
forward for the manifestation of GOD’s Power, but for
the moment they rested on the ordinary protection of
His Providence. They were GOD’s heritage no less than
before, but they were also numbered among the king-
doms of the earth.

It is in the great changes thus roughly sketched that
we must look for the true connexion of the two Testa-
ments. Unless they are taken into account the very
language and form of the Apostolic writings must be un-
intelligible; for every page of the New Testament. bears
witness to the depth and permanence of the effects which
they produced. Nor is it unnatural to regard a period
unmarked by any direct impress of divine interposition
as cherishing in darkness germs of spiritual life to be
quickened in due time. On the contrary, the great
epochs of revelation are widely separated by ages, which
serve at once for harvest and seed-time. Such were the
intervals of silence before the call of Abraham, during
the Egyptian captivity, and before the mission of Sa-
muel; and it may not be a mere fancy if we discover
some analogy between the period of natural development
in the Jewish nation which preceded the birth of our
Lord, and that period of natural and silent growth which
ushered in His ministry. The inward conflict was com-
pleted before the outward manifestation began, Even
when the divine power was withdrawn from visible

Chap. i.

The founda-
tions of
Christian
thought and
writing were
laid in these
periods,

silently and

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

Chap. i.

slowly.

This follows
JSrom a gene-
rail survey of
the effects of

operation, it was no less certainly engaged in bringing
within its control new powers, and opening new fields
for its future work. The end itself came only with the
Sulness of time. |

Slowly and almost imperceptibly this measure of
time was filled. The interval between the Captivity and
the birth of Christ was not only fertile in critical combi-
nations of different elements, but ample space was given
for each to work its full effect. For two centuries after
the Captivity the Jews’ grew up under the dominion of
Persia; for about a century and a half they were under
Greek rulers; for a century they enjoyed independence
under the Hasmonzan princes; and for more than half -
a century Rome was supreme through the government
of her instruments. Or, if we include the Captivity, it
may be said that for three hundred years the Spirit of
the East was dominant in Judza, to be followed fora
like period by the Spirit of the West*, What then, to
define more clearly the outline which has been already
drawn, were the characteristic influences of thesé two
great periods? How can we best represent their effects
upon the people of God* ?

1 If the word had been current 8 For the history of the Jews

I should have preferred to say Fx-
deans. In this: way a threefold
name would significantly mark a
threefold «history: ‘he people of
lsrael—Fudeans—Fews: the first
name marking their providential,
the second their local, the third their
sectarian position.

2 The division of the periods
corresponds to that of the first two
schools into which the. Hebrew
writers aredivided. The age of the
Sopherim began with Ezra and
ended with Simon the Just. The
age of the Zanaim began after the
death of Simon and extended to the
close of the second century.

during the Persian period Ewald is
by far the most important authority
(Geschichte Ezra’sund der Heiligherr-
schaft, Gottingen, 1852. The -
smaller work of Jost (Allgemeine

' Geschichte, u. 5. w. 1832) is a valu-

able summary. Raphall’s History ὁ

the Fews (Vols. 1, 2, London, 1856)
contains much useful matter, but in
a very uncritical form. For the
later period Jost’s longer work is
available. Herzfeld’s Geschichte des
Volkes Israel, u. s. w. (Nordhausen,
1855—7) is a valuable collection of
materials And discussions, but not a
history.

THE PERSIAN PERIOD.

The Captivity in Babylon, as has been already no-
ticed, is in some respects analogous to that in Egypt in
its relation to the history of the Jews. In both cases
the Jews were brought into contact with a nation whose
material power was scarcely greater than its intellectual
culture. In both cases important changes were wrought
in the organization of the people which clearly repre-

sented the influence of their conquerors. But the two

periods of exile were distinguished essentially in their
character, The oppression in Egypt was manifested in
the personal bondage of individuals: the Captivity in
Babylon was the political subjection of the nation. In
Egypt we can see a people trained to patient endurance

and ready submission among masters whose idol was

science and whose watchword was changelessness, In
Babylon we can see the same people, exhausted by vain
hopes, and lamenting a fallen kingdom, led to contem-
plate the sublime truths of ‘a spiritual world among
teachers whose perception of the antagonism of good
and evil, even amidst the worst corruptions, seems to
have been only less clear than that of their Persian con-
querors, The Jews came up out of Egypt an entire
people, bound together by common descent and common
sufferings ; the voice of Sinai was still sounding in their
ears when they approached the borders of Canaan; the
miracles of release were but a prelude to miracles of
conquest. They returned from Babylon no longer as
a separate nation, but as a colony to form the central
point of a religious commonwealth: they returned to
hear the last words of Prophecy from those who had
guided their course, and to recognize in the writings of
the past the abiding lessons of GoD: they returned as
tributaries to a foreign power, and yet with a freedom for
hierarchical development which hitherto had been denied

Chap. i.

i. The Prr-
SIAN PERIOD
as to

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

(a) National
expectation.
The Fews by
losing their
independence

tual union
and higher
hopes.

them. The revolution in their national hopes, in their
spiritual position, in their social organization, was distinct
and critical’.

The return from Babylon was partial and not gene-
ral. The people of Israel passed from Egypt one united
tribe, to take possession of a promised kingdom, and to
assert their national independence. From Persia only a
small band of exiles came back to the home of their
fathers, while the mass of their countrymen still lingered
in the land of their captivity, and were content to retain
their faith while they sacrificed their patriotism. Hence-
forth the Jews ceased to form one people in a political

sense, though they had found a spiritual bond which

could transcend all national differences, While they
fought for different masters, and even met face to face in
adverse lines, they could still serve one GOD with undi-
vided worship. But however insignificant the returning
exiles may have been in numbers and wealth, yet the
return was necessary; and from being the centre of a
kingdom Jerusalem became the centre of a creed. But
the difference was most significant. The growth of a
Church succeeded to the growth of a people, and the
sympathies by which its members were united grew

wider as the sources from which they rose became miore

truly spiritual. In losing their independence the Jews
lost also something of the narrowness of their first views”.
No longer needing the close limits of Canaan to shut

1 Outwardly the annals of the
Jews from the time of Nehemiah
(B.C. 445) to the invasion of Alexan-
ander (B.C. 332) are indeed brief.
One event only is mentioned—the
murder of his brother by a high
priest in the Temple: Joseph. Azz.
XI. 7. 1. But there are traces of
oppression on one side and heroic
endurance on the other: Hecat. ap.

Joseph. ¢c. Apion. I. 22.

The chronological errors of the
Rabbins in consequence of this
silence of history, which introduce
a difference of 240 years, are noted
by Raphall, 1. 33.

2 It cannot however be deter-
mined when the court of the Gen-
tiles was added to the Temple:
Ewald, Iv, p. 197.

THE PERSIAN PERIOD, * |

55.

them off from foreign influences, they were prepared to |

maintain their faith in whatever land they visited. De-|

prived of their hereditary dominion, they were led to,

look forward to a more glorious period of power, when a
Son of David should found an eternal and boundless
kingdom. Under the presence of foreign rule they clung
to the sure promises of their higher destiny ; and with
higher hopes than they had ever realized before, a few
poor exiles went forth to conquer the world’.

When once the people was inspired with this new
principle of life the Prophetic work was ended. It re-
mained only to ponder over the teaching of the old Pro-
phets, and to read their words in the light of a new faith.
The promises were already given, and only a suspension
of creative energy was needed that it might be possible
to contemplate with steady and undiverted eye the trea-
sures of the past. In this sense the Jews were stationary
during the Persian period ; but stationary only so far as

they entered on no new ground while they were busy in |

mastering every position in that which had been already
occupied. And as if to prepare them for such a period
of repose and silence the last words of Malachi pointed
to no new Prophet, but to Elijah himself as the herald of
the last and greatest crisis in their history. To some the
very name of Malachi—the Messenger*—seemed to an-
nounce a new epoch, and the later tradition which iden-
tifies him with Ezra was only a bolder expression of the
same idea.

But when the personal work of the Prophet was
finished, the need of the collective Prophetic teaching
was deeper than ever; and the warnings of ancient his-

1 Cf. Renan, Ltzudes, L’histoiredu Ewald’s point of view.
Peuple d’ Israel, p. 121; a brilliant 2 Cf. Ewald, Iv. p. 201 n.
sketch of Jewish history from

Chap. i.

(8) Spzritual
position. As
consequence
of this the
Prophetic
work ceased,
and

theProphetic
writings
were collect-
ed,

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

tory were then sought for most earnestly, when the
records which contained them were to the mass of the

people but sealed books.

The generation which grew

up in exile adopted the Aramaic dialect (Chaldee), —

which had been already introduced into Palestine by the

_Chaldzan invaders, and thenceforth Hebrew ceased to

exist as the national language.
difficulty mutually relieved each other.

But the want and the
The providen-

| tial change of language suggested a general limit within
which the voice of Inspiration might be heard, as the fear-
ful chastisements of the Captivity turned men’s minds to

1 The history of the Jewish
Canon is necessarily obscure.
books of Moses appear to have been
united under the title of the Law
from a very early period (2 Kings
xxii. 8; cf. Josh. xxiv. 26; 1 Sam.
x. 25?); but though the later Pro-
phets exhibit a familiar acquaint-
ance with the works of their pre-
decessors, there is no evidence to
shew that the prophetic writings
were either formed into a definite
collection or connected with the Law
before the exile. The earliest trace
of such a collection of the Prophets
_ (if Dan. ix. 2 be excepted) occurs in
Ecclesiasticus (xlviii. xlix.), where
the writings of Isaiah, Jeremiah,
and Ezechiel, are mentioned in detail,
though it is probable that xlix. 10,
in which ‘the memorial of the twelve
‘Prophets’ is blessed, is a later inter-
polation. The book of Daniel seems
thus not to have been reckoned
among the Prophets at. that time,
though from the absence of authen-
tic evidence it is impossible to mark
the successive steps by which the pre-
sent Canon was determined. Pre-
scriptive usage, as in the case of
the New Testament, is the clearest
witness of its early history, till the
persecution of Antiochus, like that
of Diocletian, definitely separated

The .

the old Scriptures with a devotion before unknown’,

the holy writings of the suffering
Church from its remaining. litera-
ture. But the fact that the Hebrew
book of Sirach was not admitted into
the Palestinian Canon is a sufficient
proof that the distinction existed
practically long before; and it is
generally allowed that the contents
of the Law the Prophets and the
Hagiographa were determined by
‘the Great Synagogue,’ which ac-
cording to a Jewish tradition first
added the books of Proverbs, Canti-
cles, and [Kcclesiastes, to the last
division. Zunz, Die Gottesdienstlichen
Vortrige der Fuden, p. 14, note Ὁ,
Berlin, 1832. Cf. Keil, §§ 156 ff.;
Fuerst, τ. Xanon d. Alten Test,
nach d. Ueberlieferungen in Talmud
u. Midrasch 1868; Geschichte d. Bib-
lischen Literatur —1867-71. The
famous tradition of the restoration
of the lost books by Ezra is but
an exaggerated version of the work
of collection which really dates from
him: 4 Ezra [2 Esdras] xiv. Iren.
c. Her. Wl. 21, (25) Gc. See The
Bible in the Church, App. A.

The existence of the Great Syna-
gogue itself has been called in ques-
tion on insufficient grounds: cf.
Jost, Gesch. 1. p. 438—50; Ewald,
IV.p.191; Taylor, Adoth, pp. 124 ff.;
and p. 58, ἢ. 4-

THE PERSIAN PERIOD.

The cessation of Prophecy and the formation of the
Canon were accompanied by other changes in the per-
sonal life of the Jews not less important than these and
closely connected with them. The Prophets had spoken
of a New Covenant and of an inward worship of the heart
with ever-increasing clearness. The position of the peo-
ple helped them to accept the lesson. In exile, far from
the sanctuary, they had learnt, as never before, the power
of prayer’. The simple religion of Moses had become
impossible ; and on the other hand contact with Persia,
which stands out from all ancient nations in the simpli-
city of a spiritual worship, naturally led them to realize
the purity of their faith, and idolatry passed away for
ever from among them. The removal of this peril opened
the way to a further extension of their divine knowledge.
The time was come when they could contemplate with-
out peril the contending powers of an unseen world; and
the doctrine of spirits of good and evil took shape, not as
a foreign accretion, but as a seasonable development of
their first faith®.

Outwardly however the great change in the Jewish
nation after the return was the predominance of the hier-
archical element in the state: but it was a hierarchy of
education and not of caste, The records and the institu-
tions of Judaism were regarded as the hallowing power,
and not the class to whom the administration of them
Was committed. In the absence of direct Prophetic
teaching public worship became the witness of GoD’s
presence, and the requirements of the Law were ex-
tended with scrupulous minuteness to the details of pri-
vate life, Two important changes in ritual signalized
prayers: Zunz, a. a.O.p.31. Ethe-

‘ridge, Hebrew Literature, p. 93 ff.
* Cf. Ewald, Iv. p. 207 f,

1 Ewald, rv. p. 30; and on the re-
moval of the ark, 20. p. 197 n. The
Great Assembly introduced daily

Chap. i.

Meanwhile
religion as-
sumed a
nore person-
al character,
and

the view of
the spiritual
world wits
widened.

(y) Socéal or-
ganization.
The hierar-
chical ele-
ment pre-
vailed from

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

Chap. i.

the growin,
regard tot,
Law and

thecharacter
of the service
of the Syna-
gogue.

the new order of things. The ‘dispersion’ was recog-
nised by the creation of Synagogues’: the close of the
Prophetic era by the stated reading of the Law*. From
these necessary innovations other results flowed which
exercised an important influence upon the character of
the people. The anxious and excessive zeal which led
men to limit and overlay the freedom of daily conduct
by religious observances tended to invest a select body
of teachers with almost absolute power. Thus the
‘Scribes’ soon rose above the Priests, and with them tra-
dition supplied the place of literature. The same result
was further strengthened by the services of the Syna-
gogue. The reading of the sacred text was necessarily
attended by a vernacular paraphrase (Zargum), oral ἴῃ τ
deed, yet formed according to strict rules, and handed
down in regular succession®*. Thus schools of biblical
learning grew up around the Synagogues, and the mem-
bers of these passed naturally into the great council of
the nation (συνέδριον, γερουσία) or into the provincial as-

' The exact date of the institu-
tion of Synagogues cannot be deters
mined. Possibly Ps. lxxiv. 8 may
be a reference to them, and in that
case their existence shortly after the
Return would be established; and
this is on many grounds the most
reasonable belief.

The importance of the institution
as marking the new stage of tradi-
tion is recognised in the use of the
Synagogue (as opposed to Church)

of Judaism (Lutterbeck, Die Neu-
testamentlichen Lehrbegriffe,l. p. 150,
Mainz, 1852),

* The traces of the public reading
of the Law are as obscure as those
of the existence ofa primitive Canon.

to Moses, and having existed par-
ἱ

for the whole outward constitution "

The custom was attributed in part:

semblies which were framed upon the same model’.

tially at least under the kings, was
established on a firm basis by Ezra.
Lessons from the Prophets were
added in the time of the Maccabees;
and at a much later period passages
from the Hagiographa were intro-
duced into special services of the Ba-
bylonian Synagogue. Zunz, ἃ. ἃ. O.
pp. 3—7-

3 Zunz, ἃ. 8. Ὁ. pp. 7, 8. Cf. ch,
II. I. ii, B.

4 The Sanhedrin probably existed
from the time of the Return, and
seems to have been formed on the
model of the Mosaic council (Numb.
xi. 16). During the Persian period
the attention of its members would |
be naturally turned to internal af-
fairs ; and Ewald’s conjecture (IV. p.
101) seems most just that the tradi-
tions of ‘the Great Assembly’ really

THE PERSIAN PERIOD. "

But the very zeal with which the people sought to
fulfil the Law. contained the germ of that noxious growth
by which it was finally overpowered. For there was a
darker side to the prospects of the Jews, though their
old perils were conquered. Not only was the integrity
of their national character endangered, but they were
exposed to the subtle temptation of substituting formu-
las for life. Hence arose the necessary reactions of
_ dogmatism and scepticism: hope strengthened into affir-
mation, doubt descending to denial. Meanwhile the
fresh joy of life was sinking under the pressure of super-
stition; and as the saddest symbol of the direction in
which they were turning, the people of GOD shrank from
naming Him who was their Strength’. |

The scanty remains of the literature* which may be
referred to the Persian period reflect in fragmentary
images the characteristic features which have been no-
ticed in it. The latest writings which were received into
the Hebrew Canon are rather results of the former
teaching of the nation by the Law and the Prophets
than new elements in its progress, They were essen-
tially Holy Writings (ἁγιόγραφα, Kethuvim) and not
fundamental or constructive, the expression and not the
spring of a divine life. In the books of Chronicles, Ezra,

refer to the first Sanhedrin. The
greater political activity of the coun-
cil in the Grecian period is a suffi-
cient cause for the adoption of the
Greek title and the separation of the
two councils. The earliest allusion to
the Sanhedrin has been found in a
fragment of Hecatzeus (Joseph. «.
Apion. 1. 22) referring to circa B.C.
312 (Raphall, Hist. of Fews, τ. p. 86,
from Frankel’s J/onatsschrift, Nov.
1851, p. 48).

1 Wie der Volksname sich mit
jeder der drei grossen Wendungen
dieser Geschichte aindert (Hebraer;

Israel; Judaer) und jeder als kurzes
Merkmal des ganzen Wesens der
besondern Wendung gelten kann,
ebenso und noch mehr der Name
Gottes; aber nichts ist bezeichnen-
der als dass auf dem einfachen aber
hocherhabenen ahve der pracht-
volle fahve der Heere mit dem sehr
frei gebrauchten Jahve, auf diesen
endlich ein...... folgt. Ewald, tv. p.
224.

* Though the remains of the
literature are small, the wise man
complains of the multitude of books :
Eccles, xii. 12.

Chap. i.
The dangers
of the period.

The general
character
tmpressed on
the litera-
ture, and

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

Chap. i.

the contem-

porary esti-

mate of the
period,

and Nehemiah, it is possible to trace a special purpose
in the prominence given to ritual observances. In
Esther it might seem that we have a simply human nar-
rative, were it not for that under-current of faith which
refers all to the Providence of Him whose name is never
mentioned. The later Psalms are a softened echo of the
strains of David, and not new songs; hymns for the
ordinary service of the Temple, and not deep searchings
of the heart. In Ecclesiastes again the sublime ques-
tionings of Job pass into rhetorical arguments, directed
to calm the bitterness of outward suffering rather than to
fathom the deep riddles of humanity’.

The spirit of the period was rightly appreciated by
those who ruled it, and finds its true expression in the
three principles which are attributed to the men of the
Great Assembly: ‘Be discreet in judging: train up many
‘scholars: make a hedge around the Law”’.’ The diffi-
culties of social and national life, the conflicting interests
of ruler and subject, the anxious effort to realize in prac-
tice the integrity of state and citizen when both were im-
perilled by foreign supremacy, are attested by the first
command, which could never have occupied such a place
in a land of settled government and certain independence.
The second command points to the true source of strength
in an age of transition and conflict, The evils of doubt
and dissension are best removed by the extended know-

1 Ewald places the composition
of Baruch and Tobit at the close of
the Persian period (pp. 230, 233),
but they seem to belong to a later
time,

* Aboth, τι τ, Cf. Ewald, tv..p.
219. Raphall, Hist. of the fews, 1. Ὁ.
118 ff., where a somewhat different
explanation of the three commands
is quoted from Frankel’s A/onais-
schrift, V1.

The Pirke Aboth has been pub-
lished with a German translation
and commentary by Dr A. Adler,
Fiirth, 1851 (2 parts); by R. Young,
Edinb. 1852; and with very com-
plete illustrations by C, Taylor,
Camb, 1877. It is the most im-
portant record of Jewish thought du-
ring the whole period, and the short
maxims which it contains when writ-
ten out at full length become history,

THE GRECIAN PERIOD.

ledge of the principles embodied in the state. In pro-
portion as the different classes of the Jewish people were
instructed in the writings of Moses and the Prophets,
priestly usurpation on the one hand and popular defec-
tion on the other became impossible. The third com-
mand alone contains the warning of the coming end.
The fence was necessary, because the Law was not only
fixed but dying. Religion already seemed capable of
being defined by rule; duty had ceased to be infinite.
Stern uprightness, devotion to the law, scrupulous ri-
tualism,—all springing from a heroic faith and tending
to a lifeless superstition—such were the characteristics
of the city which on the frontier of the East awaited
with undaunted courage the approach of the conquering
hosts of Alexander.

Inwardly as well as outwardly the Jewish nation was
at that time prepared to support the antagonism of
Greece. The people had comprehended their relation to
the world, and the bold expression of the national faith
was the motto of the last teacher of the Great Assembly,
Simon the Just said, ‘The world (O/am) hangs on three
‘things: the Law, worship’, the practice of philanthro-
“ΡΥ And it was by the strength of this faith that Jeru-
salem stood unshaken when Tyre fell*. In addition to
the lively consciousness of a spiritual mission yet to be
fulfilled, the Jews found ready defences against the spe-
cial dangers which were involved in Grecian rule. The
belief in the absolute unity of GOD was so firm that the
subtlest form of polytheistic worship could no longer
endanger its integrity. The theocratic aspect of nature

1 Avodah, i.e. service, worship, Theworld—life in its fullest develop-
work. Theoldcommentutorsagreein _ment—rests on (1) Doctrine, that is
referring it here to the temple wor- _ spiritual religion; on (2) the Service
ship of sacrifice. . of God, that is practical religion; on

2 Aboth, 2. Adler gives a gene- (3) Love, as the spring of action.
ral. interpretation to the maxim, 3 Ewald, Iv. p. 250.

Chap, i.

ii. The GRE-
CIAN PERIOD;
The Fews
were pre-
pared for
the confiict
with Greece.

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

Alexandria
the common
meeting-

ground, and

anew centre

of Fudaisa.

was so universal that the refinements of pantheism could
scarcely make their charms felt. Ritualism was so deep-
ly inwrought into common life that the teaching of phi-
losophy could at best only gain a hearing in the schools.
The work of the Eastern world in training a chosen peo-
ple was perfected; and it was reserved for Greece to
bring the bold teaching of reason and nature into con-
tact with the rigid forms of truth which constituted the
centre of the old Dispensation, as it remained for Rome
in after time to present the image of a kingdom of the
world, raised upon the foundation of civil law and social
freedom, in significant contrast with that kingdom of GoD
of which the children of the Prophets failed to recognise
the extent and comprehensiveness,

The introduction of this new element into Jewish life
brings with it, in part at least, a change of scene. The
storm of conquest and the vision of empire passed away,
but the true work of Alexander was perpetuated in the
city which he chose to bear his name; and which re-
mains after two thousand years the common portal of
the East and West. Greek and Roman, Byzantine and
Arab, ruled in turn, but Alexandria retained under every
dynasty that catholic character which its founder sym-
bolized by placing the temple of Isis side by side with
the temples of the gods of Greece’, Alexander prepared
a stage in which ample scope and opportunity were given
for every combination of thought and feeling, and men
were found to occupy it. The teaching of Philo, Origen,
and Plotinus, was able to leave its individual impress on
the three greatest forms of religious faith.

A large colony of Jews formed a part of the original
population of the new city ; and after more than a thou-
sand years the descendants of Pharaoh's bondmen re-

1 Arrian, 111. 1.

THE GRECIAN PERIOD.

turned to the land of their bondage. A second time,
according to the old conceit, Israel was preparing to
spoil Egypt, now of her intellectual as before of her
spiritual heritage, while the colony grew up in the enjoy-
ment of perfect freedom under the continued influence of
the Greek language and literature. For some time the
mutual influence. of the Churches of Jerusalem and
Alexandria was intimate and powerful. Afterwards :
from political and social causes the separation grew
wider, till the foundation of the temple at Leontopolis
completed the schism. Yet even thus the ancient inter-
course was not broken off. No beacon-fires announced
in Egypt the due time of celebrating the new moons’ 85.
determined by the Sanhedrin, but still the great body of
the Alexandrine Jews paid the tribute to the Temple.
Jerusalem was. still regarded as their mother-city’; and
when the famous synagogue at Alexandria was destroyed
in the reign of Trajan, it was said that ‘the glory of
‘Israel was extinguished. From this time Judaism
acknowledged another centre; and three great streams
flowed from Alexandria, Babylon, and Jerusalem, which
carried the name and faith of the GoD of Israel through
Africa, Asia, and Europe.

The return from Persia was in itself, as has been

shewn already, the beginning and the preparation of a |

dispersion: the Greek invasion opened the way to its”
fulfilment, and Greek rule neutralized the evils by which
it was attended.

The'liberal policy of Alexander towards the Jews
was imitated by his successors, and the progress of their
dispersion was consequently accelerated*, Ptolemy is

1 Cf. Mishna, Rosh Hashanah, 11. 3 Cf. Ewald, pp. 267 ff.; Raphall,

Ρ- 234. II. p. 64 ff, who quotes Frankel, |
2 Philo, ὦ. Flacc. § 7. Monatsschrift, Dec. 1853. Merivale,

Chap. i.

,
:
᾿
i
Ι

| |

᾿

The Disper-
ston at once

political and

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

commercial:
but yet

said to have placed Jewish soldiers in occupation of.
Egyptian and African strongholds, in addition to those
whom he carried with him after his conquest of Jeru-:
salem; and he introduced Jews into the colony of
Cyrene. Seleucus Nicator about the same time admit-
ted Jews to the full citizenship of the numerous towns
which he founded throughout Asia Minor and Syria,

-and Antioch became the seat of an important Jewish

settlement. At a later period Antiochus the Great
transferred two thousand Jewish families from Babylon
and Mesopotamia to secure the loyalty of the disturbed
districts of Lydia and Phrygia. On the shores of the
Caspian and in the highlands of Armenia the Jews in-
creased in number and influence under the protection of
the Parthian dynasty. From Egypt they penetrated in-
to Abyssinia, and probably into Arabia; and at last—to
anticipate one detail—the work of dispersion was com-
pleted when Pompey carried with him to Rome a train of
Jewish captives. |

Meanwhile the influence of commerce was not less
powerful than the constraint of policy in scattering the
Jews wherever civilization had penetrated. The power
of the Greek arms and the Greek language laid open
new paths on every side, and Jews followed the con-
querors not only as soldiers but as merchants. Energy
characterized their efforts in the one case no less than
fidelity in the other, and the wealth which rewarded
their industry secured them independence and respect.
But the tendency of this dispersion of commétce was
more perilous than the dispersion of war. The forces
which were sufficient to support the people in their first

Romans under the Empire, 11. p. authorities for the facts summarised
361 ff. Dictionary of the Bible s.v. in this section are given.
Dispersion of the Fews, where the "

The Law became the vital centre of a widespread

ες one,

THE GRECIAN PERIOD.”

conflict were weakened by sub-division. Everywhere
they were mingled with the heathen population, and yet
they were doubly isolated, for as their religion divided
them from their fellow-citizens, so the ties of their com-
mon nationality were weakened by foreign habits. -The
political divisions which followed the captivity were mul-
tiplied a thousand fold, and Judea itself was gradually
yielding to the influence of Greece, when the precipitate
fury of a persecutor finally concentrated the spirit of the
people in absolute and heroic devotion to the law of
Moses. The persecution of Antiochus averted the great
outward peril by which the Jewish people were threat-
ened from the West. Sympathy was quickened through-
out the whole body, and directed to one centre. The dis-
persion was reconciled with a real unity when the Law
was felt to supply the want of a fatherland. The lesson
which was first taught at the Return was completed;
and the Church finally assumed the place of the nation.
The independence, not only national but individual,
which was in the end the result of the Greek conquest,
deeply affected the whole internal condition of Palestine.

Church, but the Church itself was no longer absolutely
Distinct sects were formed when the example of
Greece had prepared a new way to speculation; and
according to tradition terrible portents preceded the
change. After the death of Simon the Just, it is said)
the scape-goat no longer perished among the rocks, but
escaped into the wilderness. The western light of the
golden. candlestick, which had always burned brightly,
was now sometimes extinguished. The fire upon the

altar languished.. The blessing upon the shew-bread |
ceased’, Antigonus of Socho, the first among the Doc- |
1 Prideaux, Connexion, 11. 2, from the Jerus. Talm.

W. G. E

Chap. i.

by Zersecu-
tion render
ed contpati-
ble with true
unity.

a --““««“τἕὥὝΟ

Theinternal
history f

1. The Jews
in Palestine
during

(a) The Greek
supremacy.

The rise of
segts.

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

Chap. i.

Sadducees
(/reedom).

tors who bears a,Greek name’, marks the beginning of
this era, and tradition-describes him as the first of the

-Tanaim. The motto in which his doctrine is summed

up is as it were an epitome of the comiflg controversy,
combining the antithetical principles which were after-
wards dissevered. ‘Be ye not as servants who serve
‘their Lord for the sake of a reward, but as servants who
‘serve their Lord without looking for a reward; and let
‘the fear of Heaven be upon νου δ᾽ The first clause
offers a protest against the unworthy superstition of a
ceremonial righteousness; the second reproves that proud
confidence in Self which follows on the first liberation
from legal service. The two distinct truths which lay at
the root of Pharisaism and Sadduczism are recognised
together, and each excludes the exaggeration of the
other. The historical position assigned to Antigonus is
in exact harmony with this teaching. He is said to have
been the scholar of Simon the Just the last member of
the great Synagogue, and the master of Sadoc and
Boethus the founders of Jewish rationalism*®. The teacher
now rises distinct from the Church. Hitherto there had
been no schools of faith, no famous mex; but at length
individual feeling found its peculiar expression no less in
thought than in action.

Sadduczism was the first and boldest expression of
the growing passion for freedom. But the type of free-
dom was sought in Greece corrupted by luxury and
scepticism and not in the Prophetic pictures of the spi-

ritual Israel. After the first assertion of man’s absolute
| independence, a doctrine which contained implicitly all

1 Zunz, p. 36. Nathan) isgiven by Raphall, 1. p. τότ.
2 Aboth, 3. This is said (Adler, Socrates, it will be remembered, ὲ
p- 32) to be the first instance of the numbered both Antisthenes and

use of Heaven for God. Aristippus among his scholars.
® The story (from the Adot¢h of R.

THE GRECIAN PERIOD,

the subsequent tenets of the school, the influence of the
Sadducees on Judaism was purely negative. Their exist-
ence was a protest against the sufficiency of the Phari-
saic system ; but they offered nothing to replace it.
While some sought freedom, others, as is always the
case, strove to exclude the possibility of its operation.
‘The rise of Sadduczism was coincident with a reaction
in favour of tradition. The Pharisees claimed to possess

exclusively the full perfection of the Law; and though.

the spirit by which the ancient writings were dictated
passed away, the form in which they were cast still
moulded the oral supplements* which were added to
complete them. The Halaka and the Haggada—the
Rule and the Word—represented in their general scope
the Law and the Prophets; and the primary J/idrash
(Interpretation) united precept and exhortation at once

with one another and with Holy Scripture’.

1 The best authorities for early
Hebrew literature are: Zunz’s Got-
tesd. Vortr.d. Fuden, already quoted,
which stands alone for critical accu-
racy and completeness within its
peculiar range: Steinschneider’s ar-
ticle Fzidische Literatur, in Ersch
and Gruber’s Lucyclopedie (which
has been revised and published in
English by the author): Etheridge’s
Hebrew Literature, London, 1856,
ἃ very unpretending and useful
summary. Hirschfeld’s Geist der
Talmudischen Auslegung der Bibel,
Berlin, 1840, is very diffuse and de-
‘ficient in clearness. Cf. note at the
end of this Chapter.

2 As these words are of frequent
occurrence, it may be well to trace
their meaning once for all.

(t) The general word for Biblical
interpretation in its widest sense
(cf. Aben Ezra ap. Buxtf. s.v.) is
Midrash (fr. darush, to investigate
and interpret). ‘Hence also an ex-
position or allegorical interpreta-

But no

tion is called Darish (the result
of inguiry); the teacher generally
Doresh, Darshan (interpreter); and
the school dazth hammidrash. The
word occurs in 2 Chron. xiii. 22;
xxiv. 27. Gesenius gives to rud as
the radical meaning of the verb: cf.
Ges. Thes. 5. v.

(2) Thepractical precept is Halaka,
a step, a rule, from halak, to go,
hence ¢o spend one’s life, to hive.
The comparison of derek (via, vita,
cultus) shews clearly how a step
would naturally express a detached
principle of life. The cognate form
halikah (found only in pl.) occurs
trop. in Prov. xxxi. 27.

(3) The narrative, extending from
the legend to the homily, is Z/ag-
gada, Aggada, from Nagad, Hiph.
Higegid, to tell, relate.

Hirschfeld (Der Geist der Tal-.

mud. Auslegung, p. 13) gives a
different and I think δὴ erro-
neous explanation of the words:
halakah, tteratio, von halak, das

Chap. i.

Pharisees
(ritualisne).

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

Chap. i.

The infiu-

ence of tra-

dition.

claim was made to original divine legislation. It was
said that an oral Law had been given on Sinai, and that
this which had been handed down in due succession from
tho time of Moses, when explained by the sayings of the
great teachers, constituted the necessary supplement to
the written Law, and completed a perfect code of life of
equal and paramount authority in all its parts. It was
the work of the Sopherim to collect, of the Tanaim to
arrange the substance of this oral Law. Nor was this
done hastily. The first formal classification of the con-
tents of the Torah shebeal Peh—the Law that is upon the
Lip—is attributed to Hillel; and the six Orders (Seda-
vim) which he isting uishee formed the basis of the
work of Akiva and Jehuda, when at length, at the end
of the second century, the Mishna—the repetition of the

Law—was committed to writing’.
The popular influence of this secondary Law is eveiy-

where visible in the Gospels.

Nachgehen, Folgen einer Vorschrift,
Mithalten, und ‘der Parthei sein.’
Haggadah, dicta, sermones, von na-
gad sprechen, erzahlen, meinen,—
Meinung.

1 The precepts of this oral Law,
in allusion to their supposed source,
were called halacoth le Mosheh me-
Sinai ( precepts of Moses from Sinai).
This was the original hadbdalah (7ra-
dition), a name applied to the writ-
ings of the Prophets (Steinschn., ut
supr. p. 361), For centuries this
Law was preserved by memory or
in secret rolls (megilloth setharim).
At the end of the second century,
when the consequences of the defeat
of Barkokeba threatened the utter
dismemberment of the Jewish na-
tion, it was committed to writing
by R. Jehuda (trgr a.c.), and be-
ing embodied with other materials
in six Sedarim (Urders) under the
name of the MZishna (shanah), to

It is absolutely authorita-

double, repeat; the word mishneh
occurs for a copy [of the Law]. in
Deut. xvii. 18; Josh. viii. 32 has
remained the central point of all
later tradition. Round the Sedarim
of the Mishna a complement of dis-
cussions Gemara (gamar, to complete)
was gradually formed, and the whole
was completed at Babylon. in 498
A.D. The study of the AZshna and.
Gemara was properly called Zalmud
(study from lamad, he learnt), and
this name was applied to the works
themselves. A second Gemara (ex-
tending to four of the six Orders)
was formed in Palestine about the
end of the fourth century; and this
in combination with a text of the
Mishna, slightly differing from the
Babylonian, forms the Jerusalem
Talmud, On the Jewish interpreta-
tion of Zorah and Kabbalah see
Taylor, Adoth, pp. 119 ff.

THE GRECIAN PERIOD.

tive, and yet absolutely definite. The tradition of the
Elders claims the obedience of the faithful ; and ceaching
with authority—with independent power—is contrasted
with the teaching of the Scribes*? But the recognition of
such a code in itself marks a crisis of religious feeling.
As long as the charter of faith is felt to consist in living
principles capable of being clothed in ever-varying

forms, no change can render it obsolete or inadequate.,

If however its terms are once fixed by some temporary
interpretation, at the first revolution of thought or posi-
tion it is found antiquated and insufficient, and that help
is sought from tradition which really can be found only
in the vitality of the original Law. To invoke tradition
as an independent authority is to proclaim that the first
Law is dead.

Between the false freedom of the Sadducee and the
ritualism of the Pharisee a third course lay open. The
_Essenes sought rest in a mystic asceticism which pro-
mised freedom through the conquest of sense, and true
worship in the substitution of the spiritual for the
material*, Like similar reformers in every age they
began by asserting the sovereignty of God to the ex-

clusion of man’s freedom’.

1 R. Eliezer boasted that he had
never said anything which he had
not heard from his teacher. (Stein-
schneider, a. a. O. p. 364.)

2 The relation in which the three
parties stand to one another is a suf-
ficient proof that it is unnecessary
to seek the origin of the Essenes
in any foreign society. The triple
tendency ever exists in men, and in
times of strong religious feeling
will find an outward expression in
each case partial and exaggerated,
and approaching more or less
closely to the corresponding de-
velopments of other periods. ‘The

Jews by race, they found

Palestinian origin of the Essenes is
rightly asserted by Hilgenfeld, Die
Fud. Apok. pp. 245 ff. Alexandrine
and Pythagorean influences may
have modified the details of the so-
ciety in the course of time; but
the resemblances of the Essenes,
Therapeute, and Neo-Pythago-
reans are explicable on other
grounds.

The derivation of the name is
uncertain. Many deduce it from
asa, to heal. Hilgenfeld proposes
fHazin, Hozim, seers, which is sup-
ported by Suidas 5. v.

3 Joseph. Antig. XIII. 5. 9.

Chap. i.

Essenes
(asceticism),

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

The Phari-
sees and
E-ssenes con-
nected by an
anxious
legalism,
which ap-
pears in

their chief bond of union in mutual love as members of
a society rather than citizens of a nation*. The institu-
tion of celibacy and the community of goods reduced
the relations of their domestic life to the simplest form ;
but each detail assumed something of the solemnity of
worship. Though ascetics they did not wholly fly from
the business and society of men, but living in scattered
communities they offered a public testimony to truth,
justice, and purity*. At the same time, by varied
fastings and lustrations and by the study of the sacred
books’*, they aspired towards a closer communion with
the unseen world, and claimed to retain among them
the gift of prophecy; and ‘it is rarely,’ Josephus adds,
‘that they are found to err in their predictions*,’

The school of the Essenes, however different in its
final shape from that of the Pharisees, yet sprang from
the same causes. . A feeling of distrust in life, a faithless
unwillingness to tread in the old paths, a craving after
the protection of a stern discipline, combined with a
zeal prepared for any sacrifice, found satisfaction in the

minuteness of an oral Law, or in the self-devotion of a
religious rule’. |

1 Joseph. Bell. Fud. τι. 8. 4. ([Hip-
pol.] PAzlos. 1x. 18 ff.) cE “Antig.
XVIII. 2; XV. 10. 4. Philo, Quod
omnis probus liber, 88 τ ἴ.; Apol. fr.
ap. Euseb. Prep. Lv. viii. 11; Plin.
H.N.1V.v. 17. The first passage con-
tains the authority for what I have
stated, unless a direct reference to
some other source is added.

* Hilgenfeld (a. a. O. p. 259 anm.)
seems to give rightly the sense of
Joseph. B. F. 11. 8. 4: ‘They have
‘not one city, but many dwell to-
*gether in each [of their communi-
*ties]’ (as below ἐν ἑκάστῃ πόλει τοῦ

ὶ, τάγματοΞ). The words thus become

consistent with those of Philo and
Pliny;. but the reading in Hippoly-

tus μετοικοῦσι, OM. τοῦ τάγματος, is
more favourable to ‘the common
rendering. Some Essenes even re-

garded marriage as a duty (Joseph.

&. F. i. 8. 13).

3 Βίβλοις ἱεραῖς...καὶ προφητῶν
ἀποφθέγμασιν. The τὰ τῶν παλαίων
συγγράμματα (ὃ 6) seem to have
included more than the books of
Scripture. (Cf. Hippol. rx. 22.)
The Essenes had also private books:
Ta τῆς αἱρέσεως βιβλία (§ 7).

* He quotes three examples: An-
tig. XV.10.53 Bell, Fud.i. 3. 53 MU.

, 3.
ὅ The Essenes ‘reverenced the
‘ Lawgiver next to God,’ and their
observance of the Sabbath was most

‘be the gathering-place of the wise.

THE GRECIAN PERIOD.

The book of Ecclesiasticus, the sole relic of the

Palestinian literature during the Greek supremacy, is

marked by the traces of this anxious legalism’. Life

appears imprisoned in endless rules, and the teacher

Strives to restore its cheerfulness. Subjection and
humility are among the chief virtues. Knowledge is
hidden in proverbs and confined in schools. To unriddle
dark sayings is the duty of the wise man, though it be
‘a wearisome labour of the mind.’ He who ‘sees a man
‘of understanding will get betimes unto him, and wear
‘the steps of his ἀοογ The renown of the Scribe is of
all the most brilliant and the most enduring*. Giving
glory to the priest is coupled with shewing fear towards
GoD’.

The sayings of the later Doctors are still more
impressed with the spirit of dependence. The stored

‘mind of the teacher is the source of wisdom, and hope

seems surest when it can be referred to old belief®,
‘Jose the son of Joezer of Zereda said: Let thine house
Dust thyself with
‘the dust of their feet; and drink their words as a
‘thirsty man.’ ‘Joshua the son of Perachja...said: Get

‘for thyself a teacher; win for thyself a companion...’

‘Abtalion said: Ye wise men be careful in your dis-

scrupulous (Joseph. 7. ¢.). They
offered sacrifices (θυσίας ἐπιτελοῦσι)
also, but not at Jerusalem (Joseph.
Antig. XVIII. 2). Philo however
says (p. 457 M.) θεραπευταὶ θεοῦ
γεγόνασιν οὐ ζῷα καταθύοντες-...

1 There cannot I think be any
reasonable doubt that the translation
was made c. 130 B.C. and that con-
sequently the Hebrew original was
written about 180 B.c. It seems
probable that old materials were
included in the original book, but I

‘see nothing which may not be of

purely Palestinian origin. Cf. Ewald,
pp. 298 ff. Dict. of the Bible, 5. v.

2 Ecclus. iv. 7; viii. 1, 8, 143 ix.
13} Xill. 2.

3 Ecclus. xiii. 26; vi. 36.

4 Ecclus. xxxviii. 24; xxxix. 11.
With this compare the corresponding
praise of the Law: xxiv. 23—29.

5 Ecclus. vii. 29—31. At the
same time the writer takes a wider
view than usual of the extent of
God’s providence: xviii. 13.

6 Aboth, 4, 6, τι.

Chap. i.

Ecclesiasti-
cus, and still
more in

the tradt-
tional say-
ings of the
Doctors.

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

Chap. i.

9) The Has-

MONBAN SU-
premacy.

A new im-
pulse given
bo thought
and writing.

‘course, lest ye be...cast into a place of bitter waters,
‘and the scholars who come after you drink of them
‘and die...’ ‘Hillel said: He who will make himself
‘a great name loses his name; he who increases not
‘decreases; he who learns not is worthy of death; and
‘he who makes use of the Crown [of the Law ne his
‘own ends] is lost*’ ‘Shammai said: Make thy doctrine
‘sure. Speak little and do much...’ ‘Gamaliel said :
‘Make to thyself a teacher. Relinquish doubtful points ;
‘and give not tithes often wits to conjecture [but
‘with strict accuracy].’

For a time however the resuscitation of the national
spirit supplied the loss of the ancient spirit of the
Prophets. The Maccabzean struggles, which averted
the danger of a general assimilation of the people to —
their Grecian rulers, at the same time gave real life to
the study of Scripture, and called out new forms of
thought and writing. Hitherto the Law had concen-
trated upon itself the affection and hope of the Jews.
Since the Return they had been content to find in this
the pledge and foundation of their national stability,
anticipating a future which should only confirm and
complete the character of the present. But now again,
in the heat of contest and under the immediate
consciousness of divine help, they felt that the end
could not be consummated in a mere ‘judgment of the
‘heathen, but fixed their eyes again upon the faded
image of Messiah, and saw their fullest hope only
through the strife and trials which should accompany
His advent. In the moment of victory they knew that
its issue was transient. The temporal glory of a con-
queror was insufficient to satisfy the hopes of the

* Aboth, 13, according to the sion of Surenhusius cannot be cor-
| translation of Adler; the Latin ver- rect.

— -αονανδνμννο ον

- «

“high-priest for ever until there should ar
‘ prophet’?
literature. The last echo of the Prophets passed away
in the book of Baruch, the writer of which, after con-
fession and reproof, describes in the magnificent imagery
of Isaiah the future triumphs of Jerusalem”. But now
Revelation succeeded to the place of Prophecy. It
seemed that the time was come when the veil might be
raised from the counsels of GOD; and the seer pointed
to all things working together for the immediate and

final crisis*.

In addition to the ‘Revelations’ of Daniel* two

11 Macc. xiv. 41. -Cf. iy. 463
ix. 27. Yet it is προφήτης, not ὁ
προφήτης (John i. 21).

2 It is extremely difficult to de-
termine the date of the Book of
Baruch. Possibly it was written
shortly before or after the war of
liberation; but on some accounts I
should prefer an earlier date. The
first part (i.—iii. 8) is evidently de-
rived from a Hebrew original; and
the Greek translator of this part
probably added the conclusion (iii.
g—end). See Dict. of the Bible, s.v.

3 A Revelation (ἀποκάλυψις) with
its specific purpose, its artificial
plan, its symbolic imagery, its an-
gelic ministrations, possessing at
once the unity of a poem and the
gorgeousness of a dream, is in itself
the last step in the development of
Prophecy. It is also the most at-
tractive form in which hope can be
offered to a people which has learnt
to feel even in the deepest afflictions
that they form the turning-point of
the world’s history. But Revelation
differs from Prophecy not only in
the details of composition, but also
in the point from which it contem-
plates the future, or rather the eter-
nal. The Seer takes his stand in

the future rather than in the pre-
sent; and while the Prophet seizes
on the prominent elements of good
and evil which he sees around him
as seeds of the great ‘age to come,’
the Seer is filled first with visions of
‘the last days,’ and so passes from
those to the trials of his time. In
Prophecy the divine and human—
intuitive prescience and fragmentary
utterance—are interwoven in one
marvellous web. In Revelation
the two elements can be contem-
plated separately, each in its most
active vigour, distinct predictions
and elaborate art. As a natural
consequence, Revelation invites imi-
tation as well by its artificiality as
by its definiteness: its form is hu-
man, and its subject-matter limited
and uniform. And thus, while few
have ventured to affect the style of
the ancient Prophets, ‘ Apocalypses’
have rarely been wanting to embody
the popular belief of those enthu-
siasts who in all ages antedate the
final judgment of the world, and see
in passing events nothing but cer-
tain signs of its near approach.

4 This is not the place to enter on
the question of the date of the Book
of Daniel in its present form; but I

( a) Afoca-
SES.
Flonoch.

4 Esdras.

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

Chap. i.

Jewish Apocalypses still remain, the Book of Henoch
and the so-called fourth Book of Esdras, which shew
with singular clearness in what way the writings of
Daniel served as the foundation for later dreams. Both
exist only in translations, but have otherwise, as it
appears, but few deviations from their original form.
The former is evidently of Eastern and probably of
Palestinian origin, while the latter with equal certainty
may be ascribed to Egypt. Both contain numerous data
which seem to point to the period of their composition,
but at the same time these are so ambiguous as to have
received the most various explanations, Without enter-
ing into the details of the question, it appears most
probable that the books were written at periods sepa-
rated by about a century, Henoch during the later times
of the Greeco-Syrian empire, and Esdras when the power
of Rome was everywhere dominant in the East and
Octavian undisputed master of the empire’. But
however this may be, there can be no doubt that both
Apocalypses represent purely Jewish notions; and
dealing with the problems which Christianity solved,
at no long interval from the time when the great
Answer was given, they yield in strange interest to few
records of antiquity. Even in respect of style as well
as of substance they repay careful study. The spirit of
GOD’s ancient people is indeed no longer clothed in the
utterance of divine Prophets, but it is not yet shrouded in

may be allowed to remark that the
canonicity of the book depends on
the judgment of the Jewish Church,
and not on the date of its compo-
sition. If it can be demonstrated
that it belongs to the Maccabzean
era, it remains just as much as be-
fore a part of Scripture, and a
divine comment on history. See
Dict. of the Bible, s.v.

1 The general character of the
book at first sight suggests a date
shortly after the destruction of Jeru-
salem, and this has been adopted by
Gfrérer, Wieseler, and Bauer; but
the description of the ‘three heads’
(c. 11) appears to point to the times
of the Triumvirates. Cf. Hilgenf. p.
218 ff. .

THE GRECIAN PERIOD.

a dress of idle fables. There are symptoms of increasing
degeneracy and faithlessness in the later book, but
when Henoch and Esdras were written the words of
Inspiration were still powerful to rein the fancy and
shape the visions of seers, and the wildest imaginings
which they contain make little approach to the trifling
of the Talmudists’.

At the same time that prophetic hopes reappeared
under the form of Revelations, prophetic history gave
rise to those striking narratives of individual life, Tobit
and Judith, which present the popular ideal of virtue,
courage, and patience. For these the book of Esther
offered a Scriptural model, as that of Daniel for the
Apocalypses, and Ecclesiastes for the books of Wisdom.
_ Nor can it be unworthy of notice that the latest books
in the Canon offer a complete parallel in theme and
manner to the works which followed, while they are
clearly distinguished from them even by outward marks
of power and originality. As time advanced, imagina-
tion supplied the place of vision, and fiction was substi-
tuted for history.

The book of Tobit is at once the oldest, the most
natural, and the most beautiful, of the scenes of later
Jewish life. The legalism of Jerusalem is softened
down in the regions of the far East, and it would be
impossible to find a more touching image of holiness
and piety, according to the then current type, than that
of the Israelite captives at Nineveh. The various ties
of family relationship are hallowed by the presence of
pure love. The righteousness of works appears in deeds

1 Compare, for instance, the al- in a transition state, vi. 49—52.
lusion to Leviathan and Behemoth The Apocalypses of Henoch and
in Henoch lx. 7, with the well- Esdras will come under notice more

known Talmudic legend. Thefourth particularly in the next chapter.
book of Esdras contains the legend

Chap i.

(b) Didactic

narratives.

Tobit.

THE PREPARATION FOR \THE GOSPEL.

Judith.

1 Maccabees.

2Maccabees.

2. The fews
in Egypt.
Lhe κήδε
gint

of affection and mercy rather than in forms of mere
ritual, The power of private prayer is exalted by: its
manifold success. The belief in the eternal purposes of
Gop is firm and constant; and hope is proportionately
clear and strong. The book of Judith is conceived in a
far different strain. The ordinary relations of a house-
hold are changed for the most terrible dangers of war:
holiness in living for valour in daring. It was written
apparently when a season of conflict was still impending,
and the memory. of deliverance still fresh. A woman,
and she a widow, is able to overcome the captain of
‘the king of all the earth’ by the power of the GOD of
her fathers. ‘There is none that may gainsay her words’
or her confidence ; and why should Israel tremble before
Syria? Faith can yet do what faith has done’.

The first book of the Maccabees is the only Palesti-
nian record of the heroic struggle which was inspired by
such a hope, and is simple, natural, and accurate. The
second book, of African origin, is more ambitious, and
at times legendary; but both are destitute of that
Prophetic insight which elsewhere makes the chronicles
of the Jews a commentary on the fulfilment of the
divine counsels’. |

The relics of the ante-Christian literature of Palestine
terminate*® with the first book of Maccabees; but mean-
while the Jewish spirit in Egypt had not been inactive.
The Greek Bible had preserved that real union with
ancient Israel which the disuse of the Temple-service

1 The numerous recensions in
which the Books of ‘Tobit and Ju-
dith—like those of Esther and Daniel
—exist is a sufficient proof of the
wide popularity which they enjoyed.
Cf. Fritzsche, Lxeg. Handb. Einl.
Tob. 8§ 3-8; Fud. 88 2—5.

2 In the article Maccadees in the

Dict, of the Bible 1 have endeavoured
to sketch the religious condition of
the Jews at the time.

3 The Book of Fubilees perhaps
may be added, cf. ch. 11.1. i. 8. The
Targums were rather the gradual
embodiment of traditions than spon-
taneous literary works.

THE GRECIAN PERIOD.

had threatened to destroy; and from the first the
growth of independence and thought was more rapid
among the Jews of Alexandria than among those of
Palestine. The city itself was not stamped with the
impress of any distinct nationality, and controversy was
inevitable in a place where every system found its
representatives. But the Law and the Prophets still
continued to guide the philosophy of the Dispersion ;
and. the Greek dress in which they were clothed pre-
pared for after-times the means of expressing intelligibly
the principles of Christianity. The history of the LXX.
is obscure and perplexed*,. This however at least is
clear, that the Pentateuch was translated first, no long
time after the first settlement of the Jews, and that the
other books were added at various intervals before the
middle of the second century B.c2 The character of
the Alexandrine Church has not failed to influence the
translation; and in some respects it is rather an adap-
tation than a reproduction of the original. - Even in the
Pentateuch the traces of a growing refinement are dis-
cernible. The most remarkable anthropomorphic phrases
are softened, and ‘the glory of the Lord’ is substituted
for His personal presence.. Some preparation at least is
made for the distinction of the Creator from JEHOVAH;
and the narrative of the creation is moulded according

1 The work of Hody, De Bidli-
orum Text. Orig., Oxon. 1705, 15
still the most important original in-
vestigation of the LXX. Frankel
( Vorstudien zuder LX X, Leips.1841)
deals well with details of language
and orthography. Grinfield (Apology
Jor the LXX. London, 1850) pleads
for the authority of the translation.

2 It is a coincidence too remark-
able to be left unnoticed, that about

the same time at which the transla-

tion of the Pentateuch was com-
pleted, Manetho, an Egyptian priest,
published in Greek the first authen-
tic account of the Egyptian history
and religion based upon the original
records. Once again Egypt and Is-
rael came in conflict. |The writings
of Callimachus illustrative of Greek
mythology, and of Aratus on natu-
ral phenomena, belong to the same
period. Cf. Carové, Vorhalle des
Christenthums, p. 176, Jena, 1851.

Chap. i.

modified the
original
text, and

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

Chap. i

fixed a theo-
logical dia-
lect.

The growth
cf Hellen-

ism.

‘to the current conceptions of a primary ideal world and

of the constitution of man’s nature’. The variations in
the Prophets are still more remarkable; and it seems
difficult to explain the omissions which occur, except by
supposing that there was some intentional reserve in
publishing the expected glories of Messiah’.

But the LXX. performed a still greater work than
that of extending a knowledge of Judaism to the heathen
world: it wedded Greek language to Hebrew thought,
the most exact form of expression with the most spiri-
tual mode of conception. The intellectual vocabulary
of the civilized world was claimed for religious use, and
theology became a science. Active speculation followed
as a necessary result. The gifts and promises of Reve-
lation were compared with the faculties and wants of
man. ‘Traditional faith and new philosophy were ex-
amined and combined with various success; and the
two events which mark the widest divergence of the
Alexandrine from the Palestinian Jews belong to the
same generation, and synchronize with the Maccabean |
struggles. About the same time that the temple of
Leontopolis was built, Aristobulus, a Jewish follower of
Aristotle*, gave the first real impulse to that mystical
and Hellenizing tendency which was afterwards supposed
to characterize the synagogue and church of Alexandria.
The two facts mutually explain one another; for the
growth of wider views of the purposes of the Law and a
more spiritual perception of its precepts might seem to

1 Cf, Gfrérer, a. a. O. 11. ff. 8 δ΄;
Dahne, 11. 1 ff. Frankel, p. 176 fff.

* Grinfield, p. 74, with reference
to Isai. ix. 6.

8. With regard to the development
of Jewish thought at Alexandria, it
is important to remember that the

| pursuit of philosophy was of late

introduction in the city, and that
the form first current was the Peri-
patetic. Platonism was only a reac-

tionagainst scepticism, which springs

naturally from an exclusive study of
the abstract or useful sciences. Cf..
Matter, Hist. del’ Ecole Alex. U1. Ῥ.
153 ff. P33 Α ;

THE GRECIAN PERIOD.

justify the abandonment of the literal Sion. The time
was come, it was said, when there should de ax altar to
the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, as the Prophet
had spoken; and when Egypt should be dlessed as God’s
people’.

The voice of Paganism itself was now boldly used to
attest the supremacy of the faith of Israel. In his com-
mentary on the books of Moses* Aristobulus introduced
a long Orphic quotation, which must have been cast in a
Jewish shape either by himself or by some one of his
countrymen. The adaptation—for it seems to have been
an adaptation rather than a forgery—was not without
excuse, and found abundant parallels. Orpheus seemed
to stand apart from the later forms of polytheism in the
depths of a mysterious antiquity, and thus the reminis-
_ cences of a patriarchal tradition could be attributed to
~ him without unnatural violence. In like manner the
~ Sibyl occupied an independent position in the religions
of Greece and Rome. If Orpheus represented the
. recipient of a primeval revelation, the Sibyl was an
embodiment of the teaching of nature*. The writings
of a Jewish or Chaldaic Sibyl contain probably the
earliest fragments among the Sibylline verses; and the
very fact of their existence and currency is a proof of

1 Tsai. xix. 18, 19, 25. Joseph.
Antig. XiIl. 3. Cf. Hieron. Comm.
‘tn Isat. V. 7.4:

IV. p. 294 Nn.
3 Oracula Sibyllina...... recensuit
Reser! T. H. Friedlieb, Lipsiz, 1852.

2 BiBrous ἐξηγητικὰς τοῦ Mwiicéws
νόμου, Euseb. H. 1. vil. 32. The
fragments of Aristobulus are pre-
served in Euseb. Prep. Evang. Vil.
13, 143; VIII. (8), 9, 10; XIII. 12.
The passages quoted by Clement
of Alexandria recur in Eusebius.
The objections to the authenticity
of the fragments are quite insuf-
cient. Cf. Gfrérer, Phz/o, 11. pp.
71 ff.; Daehne, 11. p. 73 ff.; Ewald,

Cf. Hilgenfeld, Die fudische A poka-
lyptik, Jena, 1857, pp. 53—90. The
text however is still extremely cor-
rupt. The second edition of the
Sibylline Oracles by C. Alexandre
(Paris, 1869) is the most convenient,
and with the Zxcursus by the same
author (Paris, 1856) gives an exhaus-
tive review of the literature of the
subject.

Chap. i.

Aristobulus.

The Jewish
Sibyl.

THE PREPARATION FOR. THE GOSPEL.

Chap. i.

Philo

the growing sympathy between Jew and Greek. ‘GoD,’
it is said, ‘dwells in all men, the test of truth in common
‘light?’ His people are no longer only, ministers of
His vengeance—this office is reserved for the ‘ barbarian
‘rule’ of Rome*—but ‘they shall be guides to all men
‘unto life*’ The corruptions of heathendom are traced
to their first source in the confusion of tongues; and
the triumphs of the true faith are pursued tillit becomes
the religion of the whole earth, till ‘prophets are made
‘kings and judges of the world, and a heavenly peace —
is restored to nature and man*. In this respect the
Sibylline writings stand alone as an attempt to embrace
all history, even in ‘its details, in one great theocratic
view, and to regard the kingdoms of the world as de-

stined to form provinces in a future kingdom of Gop.
The writings of Philo exhibit the maturity of Alex-
andrine thought which was thus early directed to subtle
allegory and wide hope. They bear few marks of
originality or order, and must be regarded as the epitome
and not the source of a system. Their characteristic is.
meditation and not thought: their source the accumu-
lated treasures of the past, and not the opening of any new
mine: their issue eclecticism, and not discovery.' They
may shew how far men had advanced, but they open no
way for future progress. Filled with the most profound
belief in the divinity of the Jewish Law, and not unin-
structed in the philosophy of Greece, Philo endeavours
to shew the real unity of both, or rather to find in Moses
the true ‘source of the teaching of Plato and Aristotle.
The spiritual instinct which had softened down the
anthropomorphic language of the Pentateuch in the
1 Prol. 18, Cf. 111. 262. 4 111. 781; 357 ἕξ; 784 ff. Cf. pp-

_ * 111 638, 520. go ff,
3 III. 195.

THE GRECIAN PERIOD.

LXX. translation led Philo to explain away the traces of
it which still remained, The divine Logos, at once the
Reason and the Word of Gop, is brought into close and

manifold connection with the world, while JEHOVAH (τὸ.

ὄν, rarely ὁ ὧν) is farther withdrawn from it. With the
fullest consciousness of the work which the Jews had to
discharge as teachers of mankind, Philo saw no way in
which the work could be accomplished but by the per-
petuation of the ordinances of the’ Law. He felt that
the details of ritual were more than symbols of abstract
ideas, but he found no antitype to substitute in their
place. And thus while his spiritualism retained the
restrictions of the old faith, it removed it from the reach
of the simple. So far from preaching a Gospel to the poor,
it took away from them the outward pledge of it in
which they trusted. Its tendency was to exalt. know-
ledge in place of action : its home was in the cells of the
recluse, and not in the field or the market; its truest
disciples were visionary Therapeute, and not Apostles
charged with a Gospel for the world, debtors alike to Few
and Greek. bas )

The society of the Therapeuta* was indeed the
practical corollary of Alexandrianism. The same tend-
ency which had produced the society of the Essenes in

Palestine found a new development on the borders of |
Lake Meeris, The discipline and occupation of these |

ascetics seemed to offer so clear an image of later
monastic life that Eusebius claims them as Christians,
and probably they furnished the model on which the first

Egyptian communities were framed. They differed from |

the Essenes both in the object of their pursuit and in
the austerity of their rule. The examination of the
deeper symbolism of Scripture was a congenial employ-

1 Philo, De Vita Contemplativa, throughout,
W. G, “F

Chap. i.

The Thera-
peutz,

82 .

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

Chap. i.

The Book of
Wisdom,

ment to those whose external position had long shut
them out from the literal observance of the Law; and
the open corruption of the court of the Ptolemies natu-
‘rally called out the antagonism of an excessive self-
denial. The active work which formed an essential
part of the system of the Essenes found no place in the
cells of these Alexandrian devotees. For them the
‘whole day from sunrise to sunset was spent in mental
‘discipline ;’ their one study was to investigate the inner
meaning of their national philosophy contained in the
‘holy writings.’ The use of hyssop to give flavour to
the ordinary diet of bread and salt and water was re-
garded as a delicate luxury. They sought only to
appease the appetites and not to gratify them. But the
satisfaction of bodily wants was often forgotten in the
pursuit of wisdom; and at all times ‘meat and drink’
were held unworthy of the light. In one respect only
they shared in common pleasures, when on their weekly
vigil they recalled in sacred hymns and dances the great
song of Moses and Miriam, adapting the rich resources
of Grecian poetry and music to their divine themes.
The Book of Wisdom is the noble expression of a
mind which might have sought rest and joy in this
meditative life; nor need it be a matter of wonder if the
clearest foreshadowing of some of the truths of Chris-
tianity proceeded from such a source: if the attributes
of the Divine Wisdom were gathered to something of a
| personal shape, and the workings of its powers extended
_to the whole world, by men who lived in the contempla-
_tion of God’s dealings with mankind, Yet it is Wisdom,
| hot the Word, and much less Messiah, which is exalted
| by the poet as ‘the creative, preserving, guiding, power.’
To the recluse far from the rude struggles of life—from
‘the publicans and sinners’ of a suffering world—it might

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

seem enough to paint the glories of Wisdom and gaze
for ever on the picture, but Wisdom, cold and partial,
could not be the truth for which creation was looking’.

For this last growth of Judaism, if the fairest, was
still premature and fruitless. In its essence it was the
ideal of heathen religion and the negation of Christianity,
because it raised the soul in isolation from the earth and
excluded all regard to the outer work of life and redemp-
tion. It was equally partial in its application and in its
scope. It addressed only one part of man’s nature, and
one class of men. It suppressed the instincts of civil
and domestic society, which Christianity ennobled: it
perpetuated the barriers which Christianity removed : it
abandoned the conflict which Christianity carries out to
victory. Yet even thus the mystics of Egypt and
Palestine maintained a practical belief in the necessity
of a spiritual faith. Their own existence was a sign of
‘the last times,’ but they could not interpret it. They
witnessed that Judaism in its literal acceptation was
insufficient to fulfil the desires of men; but they could
not proclaim, as did John the Baptist, the near approach
of a coming kingdom.

A retrospect of the manifold vicissitudes of the
history thus briefly sketched will shew the rich variety
of discipline by which the Jews had been moulded, and
the work which they were fitted to perform in the Apo-
stolic age. The spirit of the Law and the Prophets had
been embodied in every great typical form. The several
phases of partial and independent development were
now completed. Judaism had existed in the face of the
most varied nationalities, and had gained an elasticity

1 The other side of the picture felt by comparing v. 13 (παῖς κυρίου)
is given in the account of ‘the with Is. li, 13 ff, and Acts iii.
righteous man’ (c. ii. τὸ ff.). The 13, 263 iv. 27, 30.
importance of this passage will be

Chap. i.

The general
character of
Alexandri-
anisie.

Summary of
the condition
of the Fews.

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

Chap. i.

The corre:
sponding
change in
Fleathen-
dom.

A period of
criticism.

of shape without losing its distinctness of principle. But
each concfete system which was substituted for the
faithful anticipation of the Messianic times led in the
end to disappointment and confusion, and the scattered
exiles were unable to spiritualize the nations among
whom they sojourned. The hierarchy which seemed so
full of life in the age of Ezra at last degenerated into a
mere sect. The kingdom which had been thought to
herald the final triumph of the nation ended in a foreign
usurpation. The alliance with Greek philosophy had
led on the one hand to an Epicurean indifference, on the
other to an unpractical mysticism. But meanwhile the
principles which lay at the basis of these partial efforts
had gained a substantive existence, and were silently
working in the whole people. The truths which had
been felt once still lived even under the ruins of the
systems wliich had been reared upon them.. Law,
freedom, thought, an intense national pride, and a world-
wide dispersion, a past bright with the glories of a Divine
Presence, a present lost in humiliation, a future crowded
with pictures of certain triumphs, combined to fashion
a people ready to receive and propagate a universal
Gospel. A missionary nation was waiting to be charged
with the heavenly commission, and a world was un-
consciously prepared to welcome it.

The influences which had moulded the Jewish people
during the three centuries preceding the Christian era
were not confined within that narrow circle. The age of
Alexander was the culminating point of Greek thought
as well as of Greek power. Afterwards the scholar oc-
cupied the place of the poet, and a period of criticism
followed a period of creation. Aristotle, Pyrrhon, and
Epicurus, brought the last new elements into the system
of ancient philosophy, and their successors combined,

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

arranged, methodized, but opened no new ways of
knowledge’. The same interval which matured the ful-
ness of Jewish hope served for the development of the
final issues of Greek wisdom. And yet more than this:
as the Jewish nationality was broken up by their wide
dispersion, so the great tides of Western conquest swept
away gradually the barriers by which the world had
been divided, and colonization followed in the train of
conquest, The citizen of Rome passed from province
to province, and if he borrowed the Greek language it
was to assert the Roman supremacy. As a necessary
consequence the power of paganism everywhere gave
way. If philosophy had undermined its theoretical basis,
national intercourse had weakened its practical effects.
The life of paganism lay in its speciality. Pagan belief
was in each case the religious expression of some par-
ticular region: the peculiarities of the creed were bound
up with the character and history of its birthplace. Be-
yond its native limits its true vitality ceased, and all
that remained was a spasmodic action. At the time
when the Jew had discovered in his faith a germ of
universality unknown before the dispersion, other re-
ligions were proved vain by their narrowness. The
gods of Greece had faded away into dim shadows;
and Rome after she once left the borders of Italy
had no true gods, but admitted to a comprehensive
Pantheon the deities of each conquered race. Through-
out the West the religion of the state and the religion
of the citizen were divorced. Faith was dying, and
yet the desire of faith was evident: the old temples
were deserted, and the wildest mysteries found eager
votaries.

1 See the article Philosophy in is given a general survey of the de-
the Dict. of the Bible, in whichthere velopment of Greek philosophy.

The dissolu-
tion of na-
tionalities
a

of national
religious,

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

Chap. i.
Meanwhile
the catholic
powers sur-
vive: Greek
literature
and Roman
right.

And philo-
sophy by
analysing
nian 5 pow-
ers and
zustincts
prepared the

way for their

harmonious
combi-
nation.

But if Greece and Rome alike failed to found a uni-
versal religion, they shewed its possibility. Each in its
turn had exerted a power capable of uniting all men by
a moral influence. Greece had left a universal literature
and language by seizing the general laws of beauty and
thought. Rome had founded a universal empire by
asserting with instinctive justice the great principles of
right in her dependent provinces. The idea of a com-
mon humanity transcending the differences of race and
time was outwardly established by the help of thought
and law’.

For the universal powers of Greek language and
Roman right were not all which heathendom laid at
the foundation of Christianity. The great work of Greek
philosophy had been to distinguish the various elements
which were confused in the popular idea of religion, that
they might be prepared for a harmonious combination.
Theology, morality, law, worship have been so long and
so clearly apprehended in their separate scopes, that it
is often forgotten that they were once entangled in one
complex notion. Step by step the great masters of
antiquity advanced towards the truth which they divined.
From the study of the universe they passed to the study
of man, marking his varied relations, analysing his dis-
tinct faculties, and asserting the manifold instincts by
which he is impelled, even while it remained impossible
to reconcile them. Partial truths obtained their boldest
expression, freedom and fate, a life purely sensuous and
a life purely intellectual, man’s body enthroned and
imprisoned, Epicurism and Stoicism: such was the
final contrast which St Paul found at Athens, and which
Christianity harmonized. |

_ ὁ Compare the marvellous descrip-
tion of the power of universal law
(guam M, Tullius pene divina voce

depinxit) quoted from Cicero by
Lactantius, Jwstit, VI. 8 (Cic. de
Rep. ill. 22).

7, HE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

Even in their negative aspect the results of systems
as varied as the elements of human nature were an im-
portant preparation for the Gospel, and were in them-
selves an exhaustive commentary on Natural Religion,
defining the extent of its domain and the nature of its
independence’. The central principle which should bind
all men into one family and unite earth to heaven—if
heaven indeed existed—had been sought in nature, in
individual reason, in civil life, and all that magians,
philosophers, statesmen, had found were fair shadows,
noble and bright at first, but resolving themselves into
terrible spectres. The religions of the East had sunk
into degrading superstitions and strange sorceries. The
speculations of Greece had been directed into countless
channels all leading to blank scepticism. The organiza-
tion of Rome was on the point of becoming the mere
machinery of a military despotism. Everywhere idolatry
had wrought out its fearful issues, and shameless wicked-
ness had corrupted the streams of social life.

_ Nor can it be urged with justice that this picture of
the exhaustion of ancient life ceases to be true if we look
beyond the limits of the Roman empire. The religions
of India and Scandinavia contained no element capable
of renovating a world; and though it is impossible to
penetrate far into the darkness in which their beginnings
are shrouded, they appear to have fostered forms of cor-
ruption and barbarism more desolating than the paganism
of the West. The Northmen were gathering strength
for a contest yet distant: the masses of Eastern Asia
were in some sense condemned by nature to slavery.
In one case civilization was not yet possible, in the other
it was essentially defective. And in estimating the

1°*Let any one, for instance, compare Arist. de Anima, Il. 5 with
1 Cor. xv.

Chap. i.
But philo-
sophy could
not solve the
problent it
proposed.

Nor was the
case other-
wise beyond
the limits of
the Roman
Empire.

88 THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL,

Chap.i, | nature of an epoch-it is sufficient to regard the great
centres of civilization. The drama of history is ever
enacted upon a narrow stage. Fresh characters enter
and play their parts in due course, but till then they
have no influence except through others. The world
has its representative nations to whom its fortunes are
entrusted, and who truly express its condition ; and in
this sense the Roman empire at the beginning of the
Christian era was no less really than popularly identical
with the civilized world’. |

Α «οἴμοι | But in the midst of disappointment and exhaustion
sought in the |

Roman Em- | hope still lived, There was a vague presentiment abroad
eines that a new period was drawing near; and the triumph of
material power appeared to offer the blessings which
Christianity realized. The birth of Augustus is said to
have been accompanied by prodigies which declared him
to be the future master of the earth, and old legends
revived in his person®, Time seemed to fulfil the au-
guries. The beginnings of the Empire gave promise of
a government able to maintain the welfare of the world ;
and the lull of general peace by which it was ushered in
was welcomed as the inauguration of the new era. The
nations were gathered into one, and a ruler such as the
world had not seen claimed them as his inheritance.
At such a time even outward unity might well seem to
promise secure happiness, The state, which was always
| the real object of a Roman’s devotion, had found a per-
‘sonal embodiment ; ; and the people were willing to
concede to the Emperor the divine titles which he
claimed*, The stern image of Might was decorated with

᾿ 1 Ἢ οἰκουμένη. et Deus noster sic fieri jubet’ (Suet.
2 Suet. Oct. c. 94. The whole © Domit.c. 13). Cf. Tac. Ann. 1. το:
chapter is very curious. Salvador, 2775. de 4 oa: Rom. 1.

4 The climax was reached by Do- 334 ff.
mitian whose edicts ran, ‘ Dominus

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

something of oriental splendour, The verses of the
Sibyl had already passed from Alexandria to Rome;
and in painting the future the legends of the Golden
Age were combined with the prophetic expectations of
the East.

For it was in the East that hope rested. The strange
traditions of India and China are well known; but in
their present form they seem to have received something
of a Christian colouring, though the Jews must have
carried with them in their dispersion the great outlines
of their-national faith’, In Palestine these outlines had
been filled up in times of spiritual trial. The Messianic
promises had grown purer and clearer by the ordeal of
persecution and suffering ; and the people which was of
all the most despised cherished a belief which was
noblest in the time of its distress. The Jew knew that
a spiritual kingdom would come, of which the Roman
empire was but a faint and partial image; and by certain
signs he felt its near approach. His view might be
imperfect or distorted, coloured by the hope of material
triumph or clouded by thoughts of vengeance, yet his
eye was fixed heavenward, and he stood ready for the
conflict. The spectacle is one of sublime interest ; and
to understand the fulness of the Jewish faith it is neces-

sary to go back once more and trace the outlines of the |

Messianic hope as it was gradually shaped through long

ages of discipline, after the dispensation of the Prophets |.

had closed,

1 Cf. Huc’s Christianity in China, i. p. 11. Schlegel’s Philosophy of
History, p. 136 (Eng. Trans.).

Chap. i.

hope still
looked to
the East.

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

Chap. i. »

NOTE ON CHAPTER I.

The following slight synopsis of Jewish literature will serve as a clue to
much that will be said afterwards. [Alexandrine writers and works are
distinguished by Italics.] ἶ

3rd Cent. B.c. ANTIGONUS of Socho.

and Cent, B.c.

170
150
(?)
(?)

120

(?)

1st Cent. 8.6,
go

(?)

The Pentateuch translated into Greek; the other books of
the Old Testament at various times afterwards.

Baruch i—iii. 8.

The Septuagint completed.

ARISTOBULUS (fragments).

Jesus the Son of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus); Sepher Ben σῖτα.
perhaps contains fragments of the original book.

Tobit.

The Psalms of Solomon. ae : Fabr. Cod. Preud. Vid»
I. 014 ff.) !

Additions to Daniel and Esther.

Judith.

Baruch, the present recension.

Fewish Sibylline Oracles,

The Apocalypse of Henoch.' /£thiop. Trans.

LEcclesiasticus translated into Greek.

The Wisdom of Solomon.

EZECHIEL (fragments).

The elder PH/ZO.

The Book of Fason on which 2 Macc. was based.

1 Maccabees (Greek Trans.). —

2 Maccabees.

The Letter of Feremiah.

3 Ezra, translation and revision of the Hebrew book.

4 Maccabees.

4 Z£zra (Ethiop. Ar. Lat. Trans.).

Prayer of Manasses (cf. Fritzsche, Exeg. Hand. p. 158).
3 Maccabees (perhaps later).

HILLEL.

SHAMMAI.

THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL.

tst Cent. A.D.

and Cent. A.D.

3rd Cent. A.D.

4th Cent. A.D.

sth Cent. A.D,

498 -

Targum of Onkelos on the Pentateuch (Zunz, p. 62).
Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Prophets (7. p. 62).
GAMALIEL.

PHILO (c. 20 B.C.—50 AvD.).

The Book of Jubilees (AEthiop. Trans. ).

JOSEPHUS (47—Cc. 100 A.D.).

“AKIVA (122 or 135).

R. ΜΕΙΕ.

xxxli. Middoth of R. Eliezer (Zunz, p. 86).
Megillath Taanith (fragm., zd. p. 127).

SIMON Ben Jochai. ‘

JEHUDA Hannasi, or Hakkodesh, or Rabbi (+190).
Elements of the Books Jetzira and Zohar.

Mishna.

Sifra debe Rab (on Leviticus : Rab + 243).

Sifri debe Rab (on Numbers and Deuteronomy).
Toseftas (addenda) of R. Chija and R. Hoschaja.
Seder Olam (Zunz, p. 86).

Mechilta (on part of Exodus, Zunz, p. 47).

Sifri Sutta (fragm. on Numbers, zd. p. 48).

Malacath Hamashecan (α΄. p. 87).

Bereshith Rabba (except the last five chapters, z¢. pp.
174 ff.) ᾿

Jerusalem Gemara (Talmud).

Babylonian Gemara (Talmud).

Chap. i.

Chap. ii.

The Biblical
doctrine of
Messiah in
the Patri«
archal,

CHAPTER II.

The Fewish Doctrine of Messiah.

Οὐχ ἑαυτοῖς ὑμῖν δὲ διηκόνφρυν αὐτά.

1 S. PETER I, £2.

HE book of Genesis connects the promise of Re-
demption with the narrative of the Fall’. At
each crisis in the providential history of the world this

1 The various works on the growth
and form of the Jewish doctrine of
the Messiah, particularly after the
close of the Prophetic era, seem to
me to contain materials for a history
of the doctrine rather than the his-
tory itself. Schéttgen (Hore He-
braice et Talmudice, Dresd. 1733—
42) has accumulated a most valuable
collection of Jewish traditions, but,
to omit minor inconsistencies, he ex-
hibits no critical perception whatever
of the relative value of the author-
ities which he quotes, and often
seems to me to misinterpret the real
tenor of their testimony. The wri-
ters who have followed him have for
the most part confirmed his errors.
Nork (Radbinische Quellen u. s. w.
Leipzig, 1839), who has collected
with fair accuracy the sum of He-
brew tradition, is most offensive and
unjust in the use which he makes
of it. Gfrorer (Das fahrhundert des
ffeils, Stuttg. 1838) has given the
best general view of the subject, but
he is not free from the great faults
of Schéttgen, which found their na-
tural issue in Strauss’ Leben Fesu.
As a correction to these exaggerated
pictures of the oe Rae ag of the
Jewish doctrine of Messiah the re-
marks of Br. Bauer(A7itik der Evang.
Gesch, 1. 391 ff. Leipzig, 1846) on

the non-existence of any such clear
doctrine, however exaggerated they
may be on the other side, are wor-
thy of consideration. Ebrard’s ‘an-
swer (Avitik der Evang. Gesch. pp.
651 ff. Erlangen, 1850) seems to me
partial and inadequate. —

Bertholdt’s Christologia fudao-
rum (Erlange, 1811) possesses no
distinctive or critical value, and Bp.
Blomfield unfortunately relied upon |
him in his Dissertation upon the tra-
ditional knowledge of a promised Re-
deemer (Cambr. 1819) for the state
of Jewish belief in our Lord’s time.
Hengstenberg’s Christology (Eng.
Tr. Edinb. 1856, Vols. I. 11.) is
rather a collection of criticisms on
the Messianic passages of the Old
Testament than a connected view of
the doctrine; and the same remark
applies to Pye Smith’s Scripture Doc-
trine of Messiah, Lond. 1837.

[Τὸ these books must be added
Hilgenfeld’s Messias Fudagorum...
Lips. 1869, which gives a collection
of texts. Drummond, J. Fewish Mes-
siah, London, 1877. The book of
Vernes, Histoire des Ldées Messia-
niques, Paris, 1874, has no value,
The Christus of A, Schumann sup-
plies a convenient summary of the
Biblical teaching on the subject.]

THE APOCRYPHA. ᾿

promise was brought within narrower limits, and illus-
trated by fresh details. After the Flood one of the sons
of Noah was especially connected with the future tri-
umph of God’. Abraham was called, and the assurance
was given to him that the blessing of the earth should
spring from his seed. The fortunes of the twelve
Patriarchs were prophetically foreshadowed, and the
_sceptre was assigned to Judah. But up to this point no
personal trait of a Redeemef was given. Hope was
turned from mankind generally to a race, a nation, a
tribe; but in accordance with the simplicity of early
faith it was left otherwise vague and distant.

The legislation of Moses contained the next revela-
tion of ‘the great age to come, and the first description
of the Prophet by whom it should be inaugurated. The
Law from the first exhibited the image of a nobler Law ;
and that which was permanent and essential in the rela-
tion which it established between God and man was
transferred to a future Lawgiver. At the same time the
hope of the world was definitely centred in Palestine by
the witness of a heathen seer. The promise of Moses
was confirmed by the unwilling testimony of Balaam,
who looked forward to the triumph of the Jewish race
and the Jewish King,and condemned himself; just as in
after times Caiaphas admitted the necessity of Christ’s
sacrifice, and condemned his nation.

The establishment of the kingdom gave occasion for
a further enlargement of the conception of Messiah’s
person and work, and a narrower limitation of the stock
from which He was to spring. One family was selected
from the chosen tribe; and the ‘sceptre’ was now

1 Gen. ix. 27. The rendering of saculis Sem.
Onkelos, whatever may be thought * The doubtful term Shz/oh (Gen.
of its correctness, makes this more xlix. ro) cannot be urged against
clear: Dilatet Deus Fapheth: et ha- this view.
bitare faciat gloriam suam in taber-

Cnap. ii.

Mosaic, and

Regal
periods,

THE YEWISH DOETRINE OF MESSTAH.

Chap. ii.

and in the
Captivity.

General
results.

The A pocry-
phal books
silent as to
Messiah,
but

1 Macc, xiv.
41.

reserved for the Son of. David. The later period of
the kingdom saw the gradual unfolding of the idea of
the future king. Human tyranny served to place in
clearer light the fulness of Messiah’s love ; the idolatrous
faithlessness of the people brought out the irresistible
persuasiveness of His teaching; the growing conscious-
ness of sin witnessed to the efficiency of His priestly
intercession.

The Captivity completed the circle of the Messianic
hopes, by turning the eyes of the people to the divine
glory of the coming king, and the universal extent of
His dominion. The Son of David was recognised under
the wider title of the Son of Man; and His kingdom
appeared as the last and mightiest of the monarchies of
the world. .

In this way the earliest hope of mankind was centred
in a Person; and the image of the future Saviour was
drawn from the varied forms in which God made Him-
self known in the history of the chosen people. The
same discipline which shaped their character chastened
and ennobled their hopes. The old hope gave birth toa
new one, and yet survived the transformation, because it
was true though partial; and at the close of the Pro-
phetic era three great Messianic types remained, the
Mosaic, the Prophetic, the Apocalyptic—representing in
some degree the three periods of inspired teaching; and
according as these different types were adopted ex-
clusively or variously combined, so the faith of later
generations was dwarfed or enlarged.

The Apocryphal books, as is well known, contain no
reference to a personal Saviour. The first book of
Maccabees records the decision of the ¥ews and the
priests that Simon be ruler and high priest for ever (εἰς
τὸν αἰῶνα) till a faithful prophet arise; but it seems

THE APOCRYPHA. ‘

doubtful whether there is any reference in these words
to the great Prophet of whom Moses spoke, or to the
forerunner of Messiah. The omission is probably due
to the character of the books, and not to the absence of
the hope which is clearly expressed in other contempo-
rary writings. Similar writings in the Old Testament
(¢.g. Ezra, Nehemiah) contain no Messianic predictions ;
and the book of Baruch, the only echo of the Prophets
which remained in the Maccabean age, announces in
ancient words the restoration and triumph of the chosen
people’. J τοὔἶῖ cause them to return |satth the Lord| to
the land which I sware to their fathers, to Abraham and
to Isaac and to Facob, and they shall be lords over it ; and
7 will multiply them, and they shall not be diminished ;...
and I will no more move my people Israel from the land
that I gave them®. Take a good heart, O Ferusalem. He
that named thee shall comfort thee. Wretched are they
that affiicted thee and rejoiced over thy fall. Wretched are
the cities to which thy children were in bondage. Wretched
is the land that received thy sons...For fire shall come upon
her from the Eternal for long days, and she shall be in-
habited by evil spirits for the longer time. Look round to
the East, O $erusalem, and behold the joy which ts coming
to thee from God. Behold thy sons are coming whom thou
sentest forth: they are coming, gathered together from the
East to the West by the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in
the glory of God...For God shall shew thy brightness to
every country under heaven... They went out from. thee on
foot, led by enemies, but God ts leading them to thee lifted
up on high with glory, as children of the kingdom". The

1 But the language used of the 2 ii. 345 35+
Law as eternal "πὰ life-giving (iv. 1) ὃ iv. 30 ff. V- 3» 6, where the other
and in an especial sense a revelation reading ws θρόνον βασιλείας gives the
of God’s person (iii. 37 f-) is par- same general sense, but the meta-
ticularly worthy of notice. phor is very harsh.

‘Chap. ii.

contemplate
a national ἢ
restoration,

THE ¥EWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap, ii.

1. The Mes-
sianic doc-
trine further
developed (i.)
in the Apo-
calyptic
literature.

(a) The
Sibylline
Oracles.
160—140 B.C.

same ideas recur in the book of Tobit. The God who
scattered them shall gather His people together again,
and bring them to their land. And they shall build His
house, not such as was the former house, until the seasons
of the age (καιροὶ τοῦ αἰῶνος) be fulfilled’ ; and afterwards
they shall return from the places of their captivity, and
build Yerusalem gloriously’...F¢erusalem shall be built
with sapphire and emerald, and thy walls with precious
stone, and her towers and battlements in pure gold; and
the streets of Yerusalem shall be paved with beryl and
carbuncle and stone of Ophir*...And all nations shall turn
truly to fear the Lord God, and bury their idols; and all
nations shall bless the Lord ; and Hts people shall confess
God, and the Lord shall exalt His people; and all who
love the Lord God tn truth and righteousness shall rejoice,
doing mercy to our brethren*.

But these wide anticipations of coming Wor appear
vague and incomplete when compared with the clear-
drawn visions of that Apocalyptic literature’, in which
we must next trace the progress of the Messianic faith.

The earliest fragments of the Sibylline writings®
which belong to the beginning of the Maccabean period
complete the picture of the national triumph by the
recognition of the great Conqueror’, When the need of
man is sorest, and pestilence and war are spread over
the world: when king seizes king, and nation ravages
nation, and rulers fly, and the earth is changed, and a
barbarian power desolates all Greece: when the earth is

* Quoadusque repleatur tempus
meledictionum. Vet. Lat.

* xiv. g.

3 xiii, 16, I7-

4 xiv. 6, 7.

5 Cf. p. 73:

δ Lib. 11. with the exception of
vv. 1—96, 818—828, and one or two
smaller interpolations. Cf. Hilgen-

feld, a. a. Οἱ 53 ff. Gfrorer, Philo,
u. 5. W. 11. 121 ff.

7 The best general initrodhictions
to the Apocalyptic writings are by
Liicke (Versuch einer vollstindigen
LEinleitung in die Offenbarung des
Fohannes, 2te Aufl. Bonn, 1852)
and Hilgenfeld (Die Ftidische Apoca-
lyptik, Jena, 1857).

THE SIBYLLINE ORACLES.

unsown and unploughed, covered with the unburied dead’:
then it is said? ‘God shall send from the sun a king who
“shall cause every land to cease from evil war, slaying
‘some, and fulfilling a faithful covenant with others.
‘Nor shall He do all this by His own counsels, but
‘obeying the high decrees of the mighty God. Then
‘again the people of the mighty God shall be laden
‘with noble wealth, with gold and silver and with array
‘of purple; and the earth shall bring forth to perfection,
‘and the sea teem with blessings...But again the kings
‘of the Gentiles with gathered might shall assail this
‘land, bringing fate upon themselves; for they shall wish
‘to ravage the fold of the mighty God, and to destroy the
‘noblest men...But swords of fire shall fall from heaven,
‘and on earth great flames shall come...and every soul
‘of man and every sea shall shudder before the face
‘of the Immortal...And then shall [the foes of His
‘people] recognise the _ Immortal God who brings these
‘judgments to pass, and there shall be wailing and cry-
‘ing over the boundless earth as men perish...But the
‘sons of the mighty God® around His temple all shall
‘live in quiet...for the Immortal is their defender, and
‘the hand of the Holy One. And then shall all the
‘islands and cities say How does the Immortal love these
‘men, for all things strive with them and help them...
‘Come, let us all fall on the ground and entreat the Im-
‘mortal King...Let us send to His temple...and all heed
‘the Law of the Most High God...And then* shall God
‘raise up a kingdom for ever (εἰς αἰῶνας) over all men...
‘And from every land men shall bear frankincense and
‘gifts to the house of God...And prophets of the mighty

1 Vv. 632—651. 3 Vv. 702 ff.
2 Vv. 652 ff. * Vv. 766 ff.

WG, G

Chap. ii,

THE FYEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii.

The defects
of the Sibyl-
ine concep-

tion.

Its further
enlarge-
ment,

‘God shall take away the sword, for they shall be judges
‘of mortals and righteous kings. Rejoice then, O Virgin,
‘and exult ; for to thee hath He given gladness for ever
‘who created heaven and earth. In thee [O Sion] shall
‘He dwell; and for thee shall He be an Immortal
‘Light?’

But even in these Oracles the glory of the king is lost
in the glory of the nation. The house of David is for-
sotten in the recollection of the theocracy”. The perma-
nent establishment of the Law as the rule of the whole
earth is the object of highest hope’, or second only to
that final consummation of the world, when a fiery flood
shall destroy all that is corrupt and perishable in man
and nature, and leave the good in eternal purity. ‘The
‘people,’ it is said, ‘shall be guides of life to all mortals*;’
but there is no mention of a spiritual covenant. There
are no glimpses of a Gospel or of an Incarnation. The
blessings of the future are drawn after the types in Deu-
teronomy, and the plagues which are denounced against
the wicked recall the scenes of the Exodus and the com-
quest of Palestine.

Still the belief in a Messiah is recognised, and the
glorious future is connected with His advent. Nor is
His descent from the Sun, the seat of the empire of light,
the only sign of His divine nature. In a later fragment,
_which dates from the time of the last triumvirate, Mes-
_siah appears in contrast to Beliar the great manifestation

of the power of evil’. ‘A holy king as time hastens on
‘shall come to hold the sceptre of every land for all

* The remainder of this passage ‘send from heaven, who shall judge
(787—794) is a close imitation of Is. | ‘ each man in blood and flash of fire’
xi. 6—8. Cf. 367—380. (vy. 286 f.), though he appears with

* The only reference to the family the attributes of Messiah, can be no
of David is found in vv. 288—2g0, _ other than Cyrus.
but it appears to relate to Zerubba- 3 Cf. vv. 573 ff.
bel; and the king whom ‘God shall * Ver. 195. 5 Vv. 49 ff.

THE BOOK OF HENOCH.

‘ages...But forth from the people of Sebaste* shall Beliar
‘come afterwards; and he shall plant the lofty mountains
‘{in the valleys], and stay the sea, the mighty fiery sun,
‘and the bright moon, and wake the dead, and perform
‘many signs among men; but they shall not bring their
‘accomplishment in him, but they shall be deceptive, and
‘in truth they shall deceive many men (μέροπας), both
‘faithful and chosen Hebrews and also other lawless men
‘who have not yet heard the word of God. But when
‘the threats of the mighty God draw near, a flaming
‘power shall come in a billowy flood (δι᾿ οἴδματος) upon
‘the earth, and consume Beliar and all the haughty men
‘who placed their trust in him,...GopD shall roll the
‘heaven as a book is rolled, and the whole spangled fir-
‘mament shall fall on the glorious earth and ocean. A
‘torrent of devouring fire shall flow unwearied, and con-
‘sume the land, and consume the sea, and the firmament
‘of heaven, and days; and creation itself it shall melt
‘together, and refine it and purify it (és καθαρὸν διαλέξει).
‘And no longer shall the laughing globes of the [heaven-
‘ly] lights [roll on. There shall be] no night, no dawn,
‘iro many days of care, no spring, no summer, no winter,
‘no autumn. And then shall the judgment of the mighty
‘God come in the midst of the mighty age when all these
‘things come to pass*,’

Shortly after the first collection of Sibylline Oracles
was formed at Alexandria, the hopes of the Palestinian
Jews were raised to the highest pitch by the successes of
John Hyrcanus, only to be lost again in the rising con-
flict of sects, and the weakness and crimes of his succes-

1 This:name must have beenin- death of Antony,
serted afterwards (with a reference 2 It is sufficient to refer generally
to Simon Magus, Sebaste=Samaria? to Matt. xxiv., 2 Thess. ii., Apoc.

or to Nero); for it could not have vi., xxi., for striking parallels to
. been used of the Romans beforethe many of the thoughts in this passage.

Chap. ii.

(8) The Book
of Henoch.

t 107 B.C,

100 THE F$EWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH. °

sors. These alternations of joy and sorrow found their
expression in the Apocalypse of Henoch’. No Apocry-
phal book is more remarkable for eloquence and poetic
vigour; and the range of subjects which it includes is as
noble as its style. In its present form the book aims at
little less than a comprehensive vindication of the action
of Providence both in the physical and in the moral
world. At one time it encourages men quailing before
outwafd enemies; at another it rebukes a people torn by
inward divisioris: πον it offers an explanation of the
mysteries of creation; and now it seeks the type of pre-
sent dangers in the catastrophe of primeval history. It
is probable that these different parts owe their origin to
distinct authors, and that they were interwoven into the
present book by a later compiler. But the distinction of
the constituent elements is of comparatively little im-
portance at present, sinée the book assumed a certain
unity during its last revision, and offers a generally con-
sistent view of the office of Messiah®. But while the

Chap. ii.

1 Liber Henoch, Aéthiopice. A. Re:

Dillmann, Lipsiz, 1851. Das Buch
Henoch. Uebersetzt und erklirt von
Dr A. Dillmann, Leipzig, 1853.
These two editions supersede those
of Abp. Laurence: Zhe Book of
Enoch, &c. Oxford, 1821, 33, 38, and
Libri Enoch, versio Ethiopica, Oxon.
1838. Where: the difference: ap-
peared to require notice I have given
Laurence’s- refidering in . brackets
[L,] or in the notes. The editions
of Hoffmann and Gfrérer have no
independent value. Cf. Dillm: Zin-
leit. ΒΡ. lvii. ff.

*-Ewald-in an admirable eésdy
on the book (Ueber d. Zthiop. B.
Henoch Entstehung, Sinn u. Zusam-
mensetz. Transact. of the Royal Soc.
of Gottingen, 1856, pp. 107 ff.) sup-
poses that it consists of fragments
of four books, .

The first book, the original pro-
phecy, written in a period of out-
ward trouble and danger, during
the first years of John Hyrcanus, c.
B.C. 144, represented by capp. xxxvil.
—1xxi. with some interpolations.

ii. The second book, written a few
years later, when prosperity had
given rise to internal schisms, c. B.C.
135, of which fragments occur i—
v.; vi. 1, 2j vili. 43 ix. 1—6, 8—
Il 5 X. 4—I0, 12; Xi. 2; Xii—xvi.;
lxxxi. I— 43 Ixxxiv.; xci. 43 cv.

iit: The third book, written a little
later, c. B.C. 128, philosophical in
character, as the first is poetical and
the second rhetorical. Fragments
of this occur: xx—xxxvi.; Ixxii—
Ixxxii.; 1xxxili, I—Q; Ixxxv—xc.;
cvi—{[cviii. ]

iv. The book of Noah, occurring
in scattered fragments; vi. 3—8;

t *

THE BOOK OF HENOCH.

IOI

whole book is thus impressed with a certain stamp of
uniformity, the central portion round which the other
prophecies are grouped glows beyond the other parts
with a spiritual fervour, pure, intense, and passionate. If
the deeper mysticism and colder speculations of the
Apocrypha leave no place for the doctrine of Messiah:
if the priestly and prophetic office of the great king was
merged by the Sibyl in the prophetic office of the nation:
in Henoch the Advent of Messiah is contemplated with
a joyful and certain hope. The might and tyranny of
heathen oppressors serve only to suggest the certain
retribution and just vengeance which hangs over them:
the victories which have been gained by the people of
God are but a prelude to wider conquests. A judgment
is reserved for sinners; a triumph is prepared for the
righteous: and Messiah is the divine instrument of this
twofold issue. Such is the message of ‘ faith and truth”’
which the voice of the ancient patriarch proclaims to a
people conscious of their heavenly mission and fresh from
brilliant struggles, and yet trembling and divided’.

The first introduction of the Messianic subject is
marked by several peculiarities which at once call atten-

ix. 7} X. I—3, 113 xi. 22: lxix. 4:
XViiI— XIX. $ XXxix. I, 2%; lx. I—IO,
24 f.; Ixiv—Ixix. 16. This book
was written some years after the
last.

The whole book of Henoch as-
sumed its present shape, according
to Ewald, during the first half of
the century before Christ. I have
given these details, not because I
think it possible to accept a result
so complicated, but because the di-
visions throw considerable light upon
the internal structure of the book.
Other theories of its composition
may be seen in Hilgenfeld, a. a. O.
pp- 95 ff. Perhaps all that can be
affirmed with certainty is the later
origin of the Noachian portions.

1 Cf. Dillm, p. 32; Ewald, p.
128.

2 In giving a genera} yiew of the
Messianic descriptions of Henoch,
I have quoted the book in its final
shape, not only because it is most
convenient to do so, but because the
book was current in this form at the
Christian era, for the arguments of
Hoffmann (Schriftd. τ. 371) in favour
of a later origin are quite unsatisfac-
tory. It will be seen that the chief
part belongs to Ewald’s ‘First
Book.’ In the ‘Second Book’ the
righteousness of Messiah is His
characteristic attribute, just as the
people of God are described as ‘the
righteous’ more usually than ‘the
elect.’

Chap. ii.

The intro-
duction of
the Messt-
antic doctrine
ἐμ Henoch.

THE FYEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap ii.

The general
conception of
the Messiah.

tion to its importance. The Vision which contains the
most complete portraiture of the coming Kingdom is
emphatically the Vision of Wisdom; and this ‘beginning
‘of Wisdom’ is addressed to all ‘the dwellers on the
‘earth, both those of old times and those who shall come
‘after’ Even God Himself is addressed by a new title
in connexion with these Messianic revelations, as ‘the
‘Lord of Spirits,’ the Supreme Sovereign who establishes
by His spiritual hosts order and righteousness in the
various realms of creation.

The vividness of the prophecy is already foreshadowed
by the form which it assumes. In one passage the Seer
is represented as approaching the divine presence and
contemplating the person of Messiah. ‘I saw,’ he says,
‘in heaven One, Ancient of days’, and His head was
‘white as wool; and with Him was another, whose coun-
‘tenance was as the appearance of a man, and full of
“grace like to one of the holy Angels. And I asked one
‘of the Angels, who went with me and shewed me all
‘hidden things, of that Son of Man, who He was and
“whence He was and wherefore He went with the An-
‘cient of days. And he answered me and spake to me:
‘This is the Son of Man to whom righteousness belong-
‘eth, with whom righteousness dwelleth (hath dwelt, L.),
‘and who revealeth all the treasures of that which is
‘concealed, because the Lord of Spirits hath chosen
‘Him; whose lot before the Lord of Spirits hath sur-
‘passed all through His uprightness for ever (in everlast-
‘ing righteousness, L.). And this Son of Man whom
‘thou hast seen shall raise the kings and the mighty
‘men from their beds, and the powerful even from their
‘thrones; and shall unloose the bands of the powerful

ὦ Dillm., ein Haupt der Tage, betagtes Haupt. The allusion to Dan.
vil. £3 justifies the translation.

THE BOOK OF HENOCH.

103

ain

‘{with which they bind God’s people], and break in
‘pieces the teeth of sinners. And He shall hurl the
‘kings from their thrones and their kingdoms, because
‘they magnify Him not nor praise Him, nor acknow-
‘ledge with thankfulness whence the kingdom is lent
‘to them...And they shall be driven from the dwellings
‘of the assembly of His Church and of the faithful’’...
The attributes of majesty and humanity, of dominion
and righteousness, with which Messias is here clothed,
continually reappear throughout the Visions, and the ma-
nifestation of these in the deliverance of the faithful and
the final retribution of the wicked forms the general object
of His work. Without adding any new element to the
fulness of the old Prophets the writer of Henoch endea-
vours to combine into one grand image the scattered
traits in which they had foretold the working of their
great king; and if he only dwells on the resistless might
and certain triumph which should attend His advent, he
differs from later zealots in retaining the essential cha-
racter of superhuman glory with which Daniel had por-
trayed Him. He appears in several places to recognise
the pre-existence of Messiah, while at the same time he
describes Him as very man; and though the interpre-
tation of these passages has been questioned’, the clear
recognition of the eternal predestination of Messiah, and
of the intimate relation in which he stands at once to
God and to the whole world of spirits, is one of the most
conspicuous points in the teaching of the book. ‘Before
‘the sun and the signs of heaven were created, before
‘the stars were made, the name [of the Son of Man]
‘was named (invoked, L.) before the Lord of Spirits’

ἃ -xivi. 3 Compare the Rabbinical saying,
2 Wrongly, I believe. Cf. Lau- that ‘the name of Messiah existed
rence, Pre/. Diss. 11. f. ‘ before the foundation of the world.’

Chap. ii.

Messiah's
character
and divine
attributes.

THE ¥EWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

His
humanity.

‘He was chosen and hidden in the sight of God before
‘the world was created, and He shall be to eternity in
‘His sight’ At the day of His appearance, ‘the kings
‘and mighty men and dwellers on the earth shall laud
‘and praise and magnify Him who ruleth over all, who
‘was hidden. For aforetime He, the Son of Man, was
‘hidden, whom the Most High kept in the presence of
‘His power, and revealed to the elect’.’ And thus it is
said that Henoch in his lifetime was ‘translated from
‘among the dwellers on the earth to that Son of Man,
‘to the Lord of Spirits®.’ Even before His manifestation
the Messias was the joy of men and angels; for ‘the
‘Wisdom of the Lord of Spirits revealed Him to the
‘Holy and the Righteous,..for in His name are they
‘delivered, and He is the avenger of their life*’ And
Henoch heard ‘the voice of the Angel Rufael praise the
‘Elect One and the elect people’ before the throne of
the majesty of God®. The very stars and elements and
powers of nature ‘rejoiced greatly, praising and mag- Ὁ
‘nifying [God], because that to them was revealed the
‘name of that Son of Man°’

In contrast with this divine aspect of Messiah are

lation. ‘Afterwards was Henoch

1c. xlviii. 3, 6. ‘The elect and
‘celebrated among men as living

‘the concealed one existed in His

‘presence before the world was cre-
‘ated and for ever.’ (Laur.)

2 c. Ixii. 6, 7; c. lxi. 10, Laur.

3c. lxx. 1. This difficult pas-
sage, which is the clearest testimony
to the pre-existence of Messiah, be-
longs, according to Dillmann, to the
‘Noachian’ additions to the original
book, and so dates from the first
century B.C, (Dillm. pp. xl. 1.).
Laurence’s translation is quite dif-
ferent: ‘ After this the name of the
‘Son of Man, living with the Lord
‘of Spirits, was exalted by the inha-
‘ bitants of the earth.’ Cf. Dillm. Zc.
Ewald (p. 124n.) givesanother trans-

‘with Messias and with God...’

4c. xlviii. 7. ‘He revealed the
‘ wisdom...’ Laur.

δος Ble BOs

8c. Ixix. 26 (Iviii. 38, Laur.).
From this passage it appears natural
to conclude that the unutterable
name—Z7he Oath—by which the
whole world was ruled (c. Ixix. 14
ff.) was the name of Messiah. Cf.
Apoc. ii. 17. According to the pre-
sent text, the title ‘ Lord of Spirits’
is once applied to Messiah, c. Ixii.
2, but there is probably some cor-
ruption.

THE BOOK OF HENOCH.' ἡ UR poe aN

Ἂς

108

the ‘many titles which declare His buy a a

πριν...

God's good pleasure : the yen the Son of Man, the
Son of woman", while still also the Sow of God’. And
though these titles belong in a peculiar sense to Messiah
as the type and head of His Church, they are extended
also to all believers, who are called the righteous, the elect,
the children of God. Even the form under which Messiah
was first described is applied in a lower scale to Henoch,
who is addressed by an Angel as ‘the Son of Man who is
‘born to righteousness, and on whom righteousness dwell-
‘eth, and whom the righteousness of the Ancient of days
‘leaves ποῖ In the imagery of one of the Visions Mes-
sias is ‘born as a white bullock’, and all the beasts of the
field and all the birds of the air feared Him and prayed
to Him always. ‘And I looked,’ the Seer continues, ‘till
‘all their races were changed, and they all became white
‘bullocks...’ And when the judgment is accomplished it
is said: ‘The whole host of heaven and all the Saints
‘who are above, and the host of God, the Cherubim and
‘Seraphim and Ophanim, and all the Angels of might,
‘and all the Angels of dominion, and the Elect One, and
‘the*other powers which are on the land above the water,
‘shall cry on that day, and with one voice exalt and
‘praise and laud and magnify [God] in the spirit of faith,
‘in the spirit of wisdom and of patience, and in the
‘spirit of mercy, and in the spirit of right and of peace,
‘and in the spirit of goodness, and shall all say with one

1 cc, xxxviii. 2; liii. 6. ference to Gen. iii. 15.
2c. xlv. 3, 4, ὅτ. This is the > c. cv. 2 only.

most usual title of Messiah. 6 Ὁ, Ixxi. 14 (Ixx. 17, Laur.) Cf.
3 cc. xlviii. 10; lii. 43 only. c. lx. ro.

4 ς, lxii. 5 only. The form of the 7 (c. Ixxxix. 45, Laur.). By this
title appears to be suggested by the figure He is compared with the Pa-
context. I believe there is no re- triarchs.. Cf. Dillm. p. 286,

} Chap. ii

106

THE FEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii,

His excel-
lent gifts.

The effect of
/lis coming.

‘voice: Praise be to Him, and praised be the name of
‘the Lord of Spirits for ever and ever’.’

But while Messiah is thus represented as man, and
perhaps classed among created things, He stands far
above all in the greatness of His gifts. Not only is He
placed by God on the throne of His majesty to execute
judgment in the world, but ‘wisdom is poured out [on
‘Him] like water, and there is no end of His majesty.
‘He is mighty in all the secrets of righteousness, and
‘unrighteousness passes away before Him like a sha-

‘dow...In Him dwells the spirit of wisdom, and the

‘spirit of Him who giveth knowledge (the spirit of in-
‘tellectual wisdom, L.), and the spirit of teaching and
‘power, and ¢he spirit of those who have fallen asleep in
‘righteousness. And He shall judge the hidden things ;
‘and no man shall be able to utter an idle speech before
‘Him, for He is chosen before the face of the Lord of
‘Spirits according to His good pleasure’.’ :
The effect of the manifestation of Messias follows
immediately from His character. ‘In those days shall a
‘change be wrought for the holy and the elect: the light
‘of day shall dwell upon them, and majesty and honour
‘shall turn to them. And on the day of distress ruin —
‘shall be heaped upon sinners...And in those days the
‘earth shall give back that which has been entrusted
‘to it, and the kingdom of death shall give back that
‘which has been entrusted to it, and Hell (Sheol) shall
‘give back that which it owes. And [Messias] shall choose

‘earth over the water on that day’
(Ix. 13); yet he defends it as con-
taining ‘an obvious reference to

οὖς, Ixi. 10, 11. From the posi-
| tion in which the words ‘ the Elect’

| occur, and from a comparison of the

| context, a question may perhaps
| arise whether the reading is correct.
_Laurence’s translation is not very
| probable: ‘And all the Angels of the
| ‘Lord, namely of the Elect one, and

‘of the other Power, who was upon

‘Gen. i. 1,’ and ‘the declaration of
‘a...precise and distinct Trinity of
‘Persons under the supreme appel-
‘lation of God and Lord.” Lrel.
Diss, p. li. :

2 ¢. xlix. (xlviii. Laur.),

THE BOOK OF HENOCH.

107

‘the righteous and holy among them, for the day is
‘come that they should be delivered,’

But the final establishment of Messiah’s kingdom’ is
preceded by a time of devastation and conquest qn earth
—a ‘period of the sword.’ ‘I saw, and a great sword was
“given to the sheep [the long oppressed people of God] :
‘then the sheep went forth against the beasts of the field
‘[their ancient oppressors] and all the beasts and the
‘fowls of heaven fled before their face*” and turned too
late to prayer and repentance*. This occupies the
eighth of the ten ‘weeks’ into which the history of the
world is divided ; ‘and the sword is given that judgment
‘and righteousness might be executed on them who act
‘with violence, and the sinners given over into the hands

‘of the righteous’.

1 cc. 1.3 li. The doctrine of the
resurrection is again described with
singular force and detail in c. Ixi. 5,
6. One point is particularly de-
serving of notice; in speaking of
the future state of the wicked the
writer always speaks of their 9 227115
only (Dillm. p. 165). The re-union
with the body—the condition of
sharing Messiah’s kingdom—is re-
served for the righteous. Cf. Hom.
Odyss. xi. 487 ff.; Plato, Resp. U1.
386c. The same doctrine occupies a
prominent place in the Mormonite
system. Spencer’s Leéters, pp. 154
ff.

2 The mutual relation of the dif-
ferent parts of ‘the end of the
world’ is naturally obscure, and the
obscurity is increased by much con-
fusion both in the language and in
the text of the book. The general
interpretation which I Rave given
appears to be intelligible and con-
sistent; but two difficulties remain,
as to the times of the appearance of
Messiah, and of the great judgment.
In c. xc. 37 the birth of ‘the white
‘bullock with great horns’ (Messiah)
is described as taking place after the

And the hearts of the saints are full

period of the sword and before the
great conversion of the world (§ 38),
though all men were already col-
lected at the Holy City (2. e. in the
ninth week); and this, I believe, is
the opinion of the writer. And cor-
respondingly it appears to be his
intention to place the great judg-
ment at the end of the tenth week,
after the peaceful reign over the
converted world, though in c. xe.
20—27 it is described immediately
after the period of the sword, pro-
bably as being its final consumma-
tion and spiritual antitype (cf. xlvii.
4; xlviii. 2). The character of Mes-
siah as the resistless and righteous
Judge requires that all judgments,
even the period of the sword (c. xl viii.
4 ff.), should ultimately be referred
to Him. The clearer statements must
interpret the more general. :

8 qc xc. 19 (Ixxxix. 27, Laur,).
But even the most terrible calamities
are regarded as a judgment on sin-
ners (and not a trial for the elect,
cf. cap. c. 1 ff.).

4 cc. lxiii.; xxxviii. 6.

δὲς, xci, 12 (xcii. 13, 14, Laur.), |
cf. c. xxxvili. §. Even in this chap-

Chap. ii.

The wars
which pre-
cede it; and

τοῦ

THE $EWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii.

ats final

blessedness.

‘of joy that the number of righteousness was fulfilled,
‘and the prayer of the righteous heard, and the blood of
‘the righteous required before the Lord of Spirits’? At
the end of this week the people of God have reared
houses for themselves ‘in their own pleasant land,’ and
built ‘a new temple for the great King, greater and
‘nobler than the first,’ and ‘all the sheep are therein.
‘And in that place I saw a fountain of righteousness
‘which was inexhaustible; many fountains of wisdom
‘encircled it, and all that were thirsty drank thereof,
‘and were full of wisdom, and had their dwelling with
‘the holy and righteous and elect”’ ‘In the ninth week
the righteous judgment is rendered...‘ And all men look
‘to the way of uprightness; and all the beasts of the
‘field and all the fowls of heaven gathered themselves
‘to the house [of God], and the Lord of the sheep had
‘great joy that they were all good and returned to His
‘house. And I looked till the sheep laid down the
‘sword that was given to them, and brought it back to
‘His house, and it was sealed before the face of the —
‘Lord...And the eyes of all were opened that they
‘should see that which is good (the good one, L.), and
‘there was not one among them who saw not®’ And
after this, at the end of the tenth week, shall be the
eternal judgment over the Angels...“And the former
‘heaven shall vanish and pass away, and a new heaven
‘shall appear, and all the powers of heaven shall give
‘light for ever sevenfold. And after that shall be many
‘weeks without number in goodness and righteousness,
‘and sin shall be no more named for ever and ever‘,

ter the different stages of the great alsoc. xcviii. 123; xcvi. I.

end of all things seem to be distin- 1c, xlvii. 4.
guished: ‘the period of the sword,’ 2 c. xlviii. 1.
§ 4—6; ‘the revelation of the secrets δ Ὁ; X%C./334,
‘of the righteous,’ § 3; ‘the mani- 4 co eel. 27 χοῦ δ, Laur). ΟΣ

‘festation of Messiah,’ § 2. See 6, xcii. 4, 5. .

THE FOURTH BOOK OF ESDRAS.

109

‘And it shall come to pass in these days that the elect
‘and holy children [of God, the Angels,] shall descend
‘from the heights of heaven, and join their Lord with the
‘children of men’. And from henceforth there will be
‘nothing that corrupts (transitory, Dillm.) any more, for
‘He, the Son of Man, hath appeared, and sits upon the
‘throne of His majesty, and all evil shall vanish and
‘pass away before His face... And the chosen One
‘shall dwell among His chosen people®. And they shall
‘be arrayed in the robe of life...; and the Lord of Spirits
‘shall dwell over them, and they shall dwell with that
‘Son of Man, and eat with Him, and lie down and rise

‘up [with Him] for ever and ever’,
The interval between the dates of the books of He-

noch and Esdras’ was one

ec. xxxix. 1. Cf. Dillm. 7: δ

3c. lxix. 29, 3 ἃ. xlv. 4.

4c. Ixii. 16, 14. The traces of
‘mysticism’ in the book of Henoch
are very rare, but they tend to
shew that the personification of W7s-
dom and the Word was entirely un-
connected with the doctrine of Mes-
siah. ‘ Wisdom found no place where
‘she should dwell; then had she a
‘dwellingin heaven. Wisdom came
*to dwell among the childrer? of men
‘and found no dwelling-place; then
‘ Wisdom returned to her place and
‘took up her abode among the An-
‘gels; And Unrighteousness (Folly)
‘came forth from her abode [the in-
definiteness of the phrase is worthy
of notice]: ‘she found those whom
‘she sought not and dwelt among
‘them, [welcomed] asthe rain in the
‘wilderness, and as the dew on the
‘thirsty land’ (c. xlii.). In another
place it is said: ‘The Righteous
‘One [Messiah] shall arise from
‘sleep, and Wisdom shall arise and
‘ be given to them [the elect]’ (c. xci.
10). Once more: ‘the Wisdom of
‘the Lord of Spirits revealed [the

of humiliation and trial for

‘Son of Man] to the holy and the
‘righteous’ (c. xlviii. 7). Again
Henoch is described as bidding his
son collect all his household toge-
ther, ‘for,’ he says, ‘the Word calls
‘me, and the Spirit is poured out
‘upon me.;,’ (c. xci. 1). So again c.
xiv. 24, ‘The Lord called me and
‘ spake to me; Come hither, Henoch,
‘and to my Holy Word.’ The pas-
sage c. xc. 38 (Ixxxix. 47, Laur.) is,
I believe; in spite of Ewald’s autho-
rity (p. 159 n.), an interpolation;
and Dillmann’s explanation of the
manner in which it may have arisen
is at least very ingenious. The literal
rendering as it stands is: ‘the first
‘in the midst of them became [a
* word, and that word became] a large
‘beast.’ Nor can I think that c. lii. 1,
‘ When he brings his word upon you
‘ shall ye not be destroyed?’ refers to
Messiah personally. Cf. Dillm. 77 Joce.

5 Liicke, Zinlettung, τε. s. τὸ. §
12. Hilgenfeld, Hud. Apok. 187 ff.
The best edition is that of Gfrorer,
Prophete veteres Pseudepigraphi,
Stuttgard, 1840, pp. 66 ff., who gives
Laurence’s Latin version of the

Chap. ii,

Apoc. ili. 20,
(y) Lhe

i ourth [se-
cond | Book
of Esdras

THE FEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

distinguish-
ed from
Henoch dy
its gloomy
Zone; and

the faithful Jew. The kingdoms of the world grew
stronger, and he was gradually brought again under their
dominion. The very forms in which the revelations are
clothed furnish apt symbols of the times in which they
were respectively written and of the general feelings by
which they were pervaded. A patriarch translated from
earth to heaven, and admitted to gaze face to face on
the hosts of the spiritual world, is the fitting herald of
wisdom, righteousness, and judgment, to a people who
even in suffering see in their tyrants only the objects of
coming vengeance. A prince in exile with an exiled
nation, the witness of heathen wickedness and the victim
of tormenting doubts, pleads with significant energy the
cause of a people whom their God seems to have for-
saken and given up to the oppression of an alien’. The
mysteries of the physical creation are as nothing to one
who is bewildered by ‘the counsels of the Most High,’
though he is referred back to the lessons of nature that
he may acknowledge his weakness’,

This fundamental difference of tone between the two
Apocalypses appears to explain their divergences in
detail. The burden of Esdras is throughout ‘How long,
“Ὁ Lord*?’ The present world is for him utterly cor-

| rupt ; few only shall share in the promised redemption.

Fasting and tears are the preparation for his visions;

Ethiopic (Oxon. 1820) with a colla-
tion of the Old Latin, and the Arabic
version (by Ockley in Whiston’s
Primitive Christianity, V 0l.1V.1711).
The Diéssertatio Critica of Van der
Vlis (Amsterd, 1839) gives a care-
ful examination of (1) the Latin ver-
sion, (2) the Ethiopic version, and
(3) of the scope, date and author of
the book.

The ‘Missing Fragment’ of the
Latin Version has been edited with
great care and completeness by Mr

R. L. Bensly, Cambridge, 1875.

The quotations are here given ac-
cording to the divisions in the Eng-
lish version: the references in brack-
ets are to Gfrorer’s divisions. The
Ethiopic text is followed unless the
contrary is stated. ‘The Authorised
Version follows the Latin.

1 Cf. c. vi. 9 (iv. 15). Esau ap-
pears to represent the Idumzan
Herod. Hilgenf. p. 195. |

2c. iv. 5 ff. (ii. 7 ff.).

3 Cf. c. iv. 35 (ii. 44), Ge.

THE FOURTH BOOK OF ESDRAS.

and the seer: no longer looks upon the mysteries of
heaven, but listens to them as they are revealed by the
ministry of Angels’. Everywhere the language is that
of an exile among the foul corruptions of Egypt, to
whom the promised land is no longer the gathering field

of nations, ‘the joy of the whole earth. The ‘woes of |:

‘Messiah’ are described with a terrible fulness, which
is hardly exceeded by the despairing traditions of the
Talmud’. ‘Behold the days shall come that...the way
“of truth shall be hidden, and the land of faith shall be
‘barren (sterzlis erit a fide V. L.). But iniquity shall be
‘increased,...and the land shall be wasted utterly... The
‘sun shall shine suddenly in the night and the moon in
‘the day, and blood shall drop from wood, and the stone
‘shall give his voice, and the people shall be troubled...
‘There shall be a sound also in (chaos fiet per V. L.)
“many places ;...and friends shall destroy one another.
“Then shall wit hide itself, and understanding withdraw
‘into his secret chamber, and shall be sought of many
‘and yet not be found. Then shall unrighteousness and
‘incontinency be multiplied upon earth. One land shall
‘ask another and say, Is righteousness gone through thee,
‘or one doing righteousness (justum faciens V. L.)? And
‘it shall say, No. At that time shall men hope, and
‘obtain nothing ; they shall marry, and not rejoice; they
‘shall labour, but their ways shall not prosper®’ And

these woes and evils are supposed to follow by an inevit- |

able law from the working of nature. ‘For the world
‘hath lost his youth, and. the times begin to wax old.
‘For the world is divided into twelve parts, and the ten
‘parts of it are gone already and half of a tenth part...
‘And look how much the world shall be weaker through
- ‘age, so much the more shall evils increase upon them
1 Cf. c. iv. 21 (ii. 30). 2 Cf. below, pp. 133 f. 3c. v. (iii.),

THE SEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

‘that dwell therein’...For the grain of evil was sown in
‘the heart of Adam from the beginning, and the fruit of
‘ungodliness hath been brought forth and multiplied up
‘to this time, and shall yet be brought forth until the
‘time of harvest come’, So ‘when commotion shall be
‘seen in the world between several nations, and nations
‘shall be disturbed, and the people shall be polluted,
‘and princes shall hasten to mutual slaughter, and
‘leaders shall be struck with consternation, then under-
‘stand that of these the Most High hath spoken as
‘coming before his appointed time®*’

The stern spirit of exclusiveness, through which the
blessings ushered in by these terrible signs are reserved
for the Jewish nation alone, is another sign of the over-
whelming sorrows under which the writer of the book was
bowed down, ‘Arid now, O Lord...if the world (6. αἰών)
‘be made for our sakes*, why do we not possess an in-
‘heritance with the world? how long shall this endure®?’
And when he inquires as to the end of all things and
the terrible issues of Adam’s sin, the answer is given:
‘The Most High hath made this world for many, but the
‘world to come for few...There be many created, but
‘few shall be saved*’ ‘For you is paradise opened, the
‘tree of life is planted, the time to come is prepared...
‘and therefore ask no more questions concerning the
‘multitude of them that perish’; nay rather ‘inquire
‘how the righteous shall be saved, whose the world is
‘and for whom the world is created®’

1 c, xiv. 10 ff. (xiv. 8 ff.). Cf c. δ viii. 1, 3. Cf. c. vii. I—13;
V. 54, 553 iv. 50. The entrance to the fair city was
2c. iv. 30 (ii. 38). made ‘one only path, even between
3 c. ix. 3 ff. (ix. 2 ff.). ‘fire and water, so small that there

4 Cf. c. vi. 55 (iv. 63), ‘All this. ‘could but one man go there at once’
‘have I spoken before thee, O Lord, at the time of Adam’s transgression,
‘because thou madest the world for ' while before it was wide and sure.
‘our sakes ;’ and c. vii. 10, 11 (v. 10). 7 ς, viii. 52, 55.

ὅς, vi. 59. 8 c, ix. 13. The scarceness of the

THE FOURTH BOOK OF ESDRAS.

113

At length when deceit and oppression and terror
have filled the world, Messiah shall come, ‘even he whom
‘(Unctus V.L.) the Highest hath kept for the end of
‘days, of the seed of David (om. V.L.), like a lion from
‘a wood, rebuking the eagle for her unrighteousness and
‘utterly consuming her. The rest of my people shall He
‘(J AEth.) deliver with mercy, them that have been pre-
‘served in my judgment, and He shall make them joyful
‘until the coming of the day of judgment, whereof I have
“spoken unto thee from the beginning’ Under’another
image Messiah is described as a man rising from the mys-
terious sea into whose depth none can look; for ‘no man

‘upon earth can see my Son [saith the Lord], or those |

‘that be with Him, but in the day [of His appearing]*”
‘And afterwards that man flew with the clouds of heaven,
‘and wheresoever He turned His countenance and looked
‘all things forthwith vanished before Him...and there
‘was gathered together a multitude of men out of num-
‘ber from the four winds of the heaven to subdue the
‘man that came out of the sea. But I beheld and lo
‘He had raised for Himself a great mountain and flew
‘up upon it... And as the multitude came against Him
‘He neither lifted up His hand, nor took His sword nor
‘any instrument of war, but only there went forth out of

‘His mouth a billow of fire...and burned them up every |

‘one, until nothing was left of them but only the dust of
‘their ashes and the smoke of their conflagration...
‘ Afterwards I saw the same man come down from the
‘mountain and call unto Him a peaceable multitude; and

‘there came much people unto Him...Then was I struck
‘with great fear and I awaked®*... And this is the mean-

good is given as a reason for God’s 2c. xili. 51, 52:

delight in them (vi. 35, AZth.). 3c. xiii. 3—13. Convalescebat cum
=. Ὁ c. χῆ; 50, δ: 34 ge 36 ff.): cf. metllibus celt, V.L.
ἢ xi. 37 ff. (xi. 41 ff.)

Ἄν «Ὁ. Η

Chap. ii.

Its doctrine
of the Cont-
ing of Mes-
siah and

114

THE $EWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii.

Apoc. xxi. 10,

‘ing of the vision: The man whom thou sawest coming —
‘up from the heart of the sea, the same is He whom God
‘the Highest hath kept a great season, to redeem the
‘world unto Himself (guz per semetipsum liberabit creatu-
‘ram suam V.L.).... And the Most High shall begin to
‘deliver those that dwell on the earth. [And He shall
‘undertake to fight against another, one city against

“another, one place against another, one people against

‘another, and one realm against another. And when
‘these things shall come to pass, and the signs shall
‘happen which I have shewed thee before, then shall
‘that Man ( Μέρη meus V.L., Ar.) be declared, whom
‘thou sawest (at virwm V.L.) ascending. And when all
‘the people hear His voice they shall leave the battles
‘they have in their own land one against another. And
‘an innumerable multitude shall be gathered together
‘desiring to slay Him. But He shall stand upon the
‘top of Mount Sion. And Sion shall come, and shall be
‘shewed to all men, prepared and built, like as thou saw-
‘est that mountain to come forth and be formed without
‘hands. And this is my Son who shall rebuke the
‘nations for their sins...and He shall destroy them with-
‘out labour like coals of fire (per legem que igni asst-
_‘ mtilata est V.L.). And whereas thou sawest that another
‘peaceable multitude was gathered unto Him; these are
‘the nine (decem V.L.; novem et dimidia Ar.") tribes which
‘were carried away prisoners out of their own land... But
‘they took this counsel among themselves, that they
‘would leave the stock of their people (multitudinem
‘gentium V.L.) and go forth into a country where never
'‘mankind dwelt, that they might keep their statutes
‘which they had never kept in their own land. And they
‘entered through the narrow passages of the Euphrates.
| 1 Cf, Baruch, Zp. Syr. init. :

THE FOURTH BOOK OF ESDRAS.

115

‘For the Most High...held still the flood till they were
‘passed over...and now the Highest shall stay the springs
‘of the stream again that they may go through’; there-
‘fore sawest thou the multitude come together...’

The reign thus commenced in terrible and over-
whelming desolation shall last for four hundred years®.
‘After these years,’ it is said, ‘shall my son Christ die,
‘and all men that have breath, And the world shall be
‘turned into the old silence seven days, like as in the
‘first beginning, and no man shall remain. And after
“seven days [the world that yet awaketh not V.L.] shall
‘be raised up; and the corruptible world shall retire afar.
‘And the earth shall restore those that are asleep in her,
‘and so shall the dust those that are in silence, and the
‘secret places shall deliver those souls that were com-
‘mitted unto them. And the Most High shall appear
‘upon the seat of judgment; and His mercy shall come
‘(z.e. to the distressed faithful; pertransibunt miserie
‘V.L.), and His clemency shall cease, and His long-
‘suffering shall have an end, but judgment only shall
‘remain, and truth shall stand, and faith shall bud, and
“the work shall follow, and the reward shall be shewed,
‘and justice shall watch, and injustice shall not slumber*’
For ‘the day of doom shall be the end of this time and
‘the beginning of immortality for to come, wherein cor-
‘ruption is past...°.’

The great outlines of these Apocalyptic’visions offer
a striking parallel to the teaching of the Apostles. The
times of war and tumult which portend the coming of
Messiah, His sudden appearance with a heavenly host,

1 Cf. Apoc. xvi. 12. his qui cum eo [sunt], et letificabit
2 c. xiii, 25—47 (xiii. 32 ff.). eos qui resuscitabuntur. Filius meus
_ 8 vii. 28. The corresponding esus V.L. Filius meus Messias Ar.
clause is wanting in Aith. v. 29. 4 vii. 28—35 (v. ra
Revelabitur enim Messias meus cum 5 c, vii. 43 (vii. 12).

H 2

Chap. ii.

---.-.-..-.-.-

the reign of
Messiah

as contpared
with the
Apostolic
teaching.

116

THE JEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii.

«--Ἅ.ς...

The Apoca-
lypse of
Baruch.

The Messi-
anic re eign
on earth.

the destruction of the wicked by the breath of His
mouth, the reign of triumph, the general resurrection ©
and last judgment, are brought out with distinct clearness.
Nor is this all; in spite of the importance attached to
the ‘good works laid up in heaven,’ faith is required as a
condition of salvation; and legalism is spiritualized by
the recognition of a higher energy. But a sorrowful
gloom lies over all. Messiah Himself dies. Chaos re-
sumes its old sway. The earth is not quickened with ἃ
new life, but passes away in a second creation.

The Afocalypse of Baruch has many points of re-
semblance both in its general conception and structure
and in its specific teaching to IV Ezra’. It was written
after the destruction of the second Temple by Titus’,
but the data are insufficient to fix the exact time of its
composition, which however may be placed certainly
within fifty years after that event. Israel is described
as the central object of divine love. Their chastise-
ments were for good. The present world and the world
to come were made for the righteous*; and by ‘the
righteous’ the author understands in the spirit of post-

Exilic Judaism the strict observers of the Law*.

The Messianic expectations of the book are gathered
in two main scenes, the ‘beginning of the revelation of
_Messiah’ and the Resurrection: a reign on earth and >
ineffable bliss in heaven.

As a preparation for the description of the circum-
|stances and character of the earthly triumph of the
righteous, the writer gives an interesting view of the

;
__1 This book was found in αὶ gave the original Syriac text in the

Syriac translation included ina Ms. second part of the fifth volume of —

of the Old Testament by Dr Ceriani, the same work in 1871.
_Who first published a close Latin 9c. xxxil.
translation in his Monumenta sacra 3c, XY.

et profana i, 2, 1866, and afterwards 4 ¢.g. Cc. xlviii.

THE APOCALYPSE OF BARUCH.

117

periods of light and darkness into which the history of
the world may be divided’. The last darkness is the
gloomiest of 411 Then there shall be universal wars,
earthquakes, fires, famines ; every land except the Holy
Land shall consume its inhabitants, and the few who
remain shall be given into the hand of Messiah*®. But
the Holy Land shall protect its people*, and Messiah
shall summon to him there all that survive of the nations.
Some too he shall quicken and some he shall slay. All
the people who knew not Israel or who trampled not on
the seed of Jacob shall live. All who tyrannised over
‘them or knew them [and did not join themselves to
them] shall be slain with the sword*. Then, after
humbling all that is in the world, Messiah shall sit upon
his throne in peace; and there shall be universal tran-
quillity, health and joy. There shall be no untimely
death, and birth shall be without pain. Labour shall
have no fatigue; and the beasts shall minister to men.

This is the beginning of that which is incorruptible®.
In another passage’ the crisis of the advent of this
‘first manifestation of divine judgment is marked with
more detail. Baruch saw in a vision a mighty cedar,
the survivor of the woods, and a vine growing near it.
The vine uttered the voice of righteous judgment against
the cedar; and the cedar was consumed and the vine
grew and was circled by flowers that never fade. The
cedar, he learnt, was the fourth [Roman] kingdom: the
‘vine the kingdom of Messiah*. The last prince [of
Rome], who should be left from the desolation of his
people, would be brought to Mount Sion. There
Messiah would convict him of his evil deeds, and after-

1c, liii. ff. 5 ς, lxxii,
* ot, ixix: ἢ 8 cc. Ixxiii. f.

3c, Ixx. 7 cc. xxxvi. ff.
4c, Ixxi. 8 ¢. xxxix.

Chap. ii.

This reign
commences
on the fall
of the
Roman
Empire.

118

THE FEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii.

The final
Judgment.

wards slay him; and then rule his people who should
be found in the place which he had chosen, ‘till the
‘world of corruption ends and the times foretold are
‘fulfilled’ | :
There is a second description of this period of
earthly bliss which contains some additional details of
interest. In the last tribulations, it is said again, those
only will be protected by God who are in the Holy
Land. And ‘when that shall have been fulfilled which
‘is to happen there, Messiah shall begin to be revealed.’
And Behemoth shall be brought to light and Leviathan,
and they shall be for food to all who are left. ‘The
‘earth also shall bring forth a thousand fold; and on
‘one vine there shall be a thousand branches and one >
‘branch shall give a thousand clusters, and one cluster
‘shall give a thousand grapes, and one grape shall give
‘a measure (corum) of wine’.’ A breeze shall waft sweet
odours in the morning, and clouds shall bring refreshing -
dews at night. And manna shall come down again
from above upon the faithful, ‘for they have reached the
‘end of time ὅν. '
‘And it shall be after this’ the writer continues, |
‘when the time of the advent of Messiah shall be ful-
‘filled, [and he shall return in glory, then all who slept
‘in hope of him shall rise again. And it shall come ‘to
‘pass in that time that]* the treasuries shall be opened
‘in which the number of the souls of the just are kept...
‘and they shall rejoice... And the souls of the wicked,

te but he does not appear to me to

2 This imagery appears with
some amplification in the famous
fragment of Papias, af. Iren. V. 33.

C. Xxix.
_ 4 Mr Drummond rightly, I be-
lieve, supposes that this passage has
been interpolated by a Christian
hand (Fewish Messiah, pp. 380 f.;)

have sufficiently distinguished ‘the
beginning of the coming of Messiah’
(incipiet revelari Messias, c. xxix.)
fromthe consummation of his coming
in the new order (implebitur tempus
adventus Messiah), when the cor-
ruptible ceases. Comp. c. Ixxiv.

THE BOOK OF $UBILEES,

‘when they shall see all these things, shall be more
‘afflicted, for they know that their punishment has
fcome,...".

At first the dead shall be raised in the shape in
which they were laid in the grave, that there may be
perfect mutual recognition. Then when this end has
been gained, they shall all be transfigured. The appear-
ance of the wicked shall become worse, that they may
endure punishment; and the righteous shall be clothed
in light. ‘Those who are saved in their works, and
‘to whom the Law was hope...’ shall see the glories of
the invisible world. They shall not grow old and shall
be made like to angels, and they shall be greater than
angels. ‘The majesty of the living creatures which are
‘beneath the throne’ shall be unfolded before their eyes,
and all the marvels of being which God now hides from
sight ®,

In this anticipation there is little more than the
_ devout confidence of the Pharisaic Jew in the certain
grandeur of his people’s destiny and the perfection of
the Law. The broader visions of hope for the Gentiles
which the prophets had laid open have faded away. A
few poor remnants alone are tolerated in subjection to
the chosen people. Palestine is the narrow region of
safety and happiness,

But there was a yet narrower and sterner form
of Jewish hope in which exclusiveness degenerated
into the wildest intolerance, and the abservance of
the Law into the most passionate formalism. This
spirit was evoked in its full energy by the rise of
Christianity, and distinctly animates the Bookwf Fubilees*,

? ©. xxx. Ewald’s $¥ahrbiicher der Biblischen
ate ἢ Wissenschaft, 1849, pp. 230 ff.:
3c. li. 1850, 1 ff. The book is mentioned
4 Translated by A. Dillmannin under this title by Epiphanius adv.

The exciu-
siveness of
Esdras
carried to its
Surthest de-
velopment in
(δ) The Book
of Jubilees.

120

THE FEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii.

which is one of the strangest relics of early Jewish litera-
ture.. This remarkable narrative may be called a ‘haga-
dical’’ commentary on Genesis, and it derives its name
from the fact that its entire arrangement is based on the
festal cycle of forty-nine years. The object of the writer
is to methodize the chronology of primeval history, to
explain its difficulties, to enforce its lessons. In relation

'to the Apostolic writings the chief importance of the

book lies in the fierce severity with which it inculcates
the ritual of the Law, and in the haughty pride with
which it limits the special privileges to Israel. The sab-

bath appears as no earthly institution, but as ordained
first for Angels, and observed in heaven before the crea-

tion of man*, The very object for which the people of
Israel was chosen was that they might keep it. The
eating of blood is an offence on the same level as the -
shedding of blood®. The cruel deed of Simeon and Levi
is blessed*; and precedence over all men is given to Levi
and his seed, and they ‘rank as the Angels of the pre-
‘sence.’ It is taught that the Mosaic ordinances were not
only observed by the Patriarchs, but written in heavenly
tables and binding for ever’. And nothing less than the

successful claims of Christianity to have fulfilled and

| Her. XXX1X.§6, ἐν τοῖς Ἰωβηλαίοις

εὑρίσκεται τῇ καὶ Λεπτογενέσει
καλουμένῃ... It 15. also called ἡ τοῦ
Mwicews ἀποκάλυψις, μικρογένεσις,
τὰ λεπτὰ Τενέσεως (Dillmann, pp.
74, 76). Its date is some time in the
first century A.D. (2d. p.88), later than
the Book of Henoch (zd. p. go) and
earlier than the Testaments of the
twelve Patriarchs (¢d. p. 91). The
Aithiopic version was made from a
Greek text: whether this was the

| original text is uncertain from in-

ternal evidence, and Jerome evi-
dently alludes to a Hebrew original

of the book. Z¢/. Ixxviii. 18, 24. Cf.
Ed. Bened. ἃ ¢.; Dillm. pp. 88 ff.

1 See p. 67, n. 2.

ΒΊΟΣ ii. pp. 238,.6.) ΟΡ Ν

8 Pp. 245, 248.

* Pp. 37—39:

5 Pp. 245, 12 (the feast of Taber-
nacles celebrated by Abraham), 6
(Tithes), g (Circumcision), 49 (Pass: ’
over). In the face of this stern ri-
tualism it is strange that a tradition
should exist which derives Gal. vi.
15 from the ἀποκάλυψις Mwicews.
Cf. Meyer, Δ. ὦ.

THE BOOK OF FUBILEES.

I2I

spiritualized the precepts of the Law can explain the
stress which is laid upon its permanent obligation, and
the hopeless penalties which are attached to the neglect
of it. Inthe presence of ritualism such as this the vision
of Messiah almost fades away. The personal character
of the Redeemer is lost in the vague anticipation of a
general return from the dispersion’, The transition from
‘this world’ to ‘the world to come’ is found in a gradual
progress of moral and physical evil ‘till the children are
greyheaded,’ followed by a period of deepening repent-
_ ance and increasing strength, which culminates in an age
when men shall enjoy a thousand years of perpetual
youth, and no Satan or destroyer disturb their happi-
ness”. |

At the same time that the attempt was made to
furnish a supplement to Scripture in the Apocalyptic
writings, the books of Scripture themselves were sub-

1 No mention is made of the pro-
mise to Eve as might have been ex-
pected in p. 238.

2°cc. i, 3 Cxxiii.; pp. 232, 23, 24.

The Ascensio Esaie (Gfrorer, Pro-
phete veteres Pseudepigraphi, pp.
1ff.), though a Christian Apocalypse,
contains some peculiar elements of
Jewish tradition. The description
of the successive descents of Mes-
siah through the seven heavens
preparatory to His incarnation is
-well worthy of notice, c. ili. 13—2I.
Cf. Clem. Hom. ul. 20. Nero is
directly identified with Antichrist
in c. iv. I.

The fragment of the ASCEN-
SION OF Moses, first published
in a Latin translation by Ceriani,
Monumenta Sacra et profana, i. 1,
᾿ χϑόι, and reprinted, after a fresh
examination by Volkmar Handé.
5. d. Apokr. iii. 1867, contains very
little that illustrates the details of the
popular Messianic expectation. It
was written in a time of deep de-

‘ wrath.’

pression by one full of the great
destiny of his nation ‘for whose
sake the world was created’ (c. i.),
but the deliverance for which he
looks is not connected, so far as
appears, with any personal Messiah.
A time of fierce persecution is fore-
told and then, when it is at its
height and the choice seems to be
only between apostasy and death,

‘the Heavenly One rises from His

throne and reveals Himself in
‘He comes forth to chas-
tise the heathen and destroy their
idols. Then Israel is happy and
mounts up over the necks and
wings of the eagle (Rome)... . and
rests in the starry heaven, and looks
down upon his foes’ (cc. τα f.).

The date of the book is fixed
variously from a time shortly after
the death of Herod the Great to the
reign of Hadrian. The data are
too uncertain to-allow a confident
judgment to be formed.

Chap. ii.

li. The doc-
trine of Mes
siah in the
Exegetic
literature,

THE $EWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

(a) The Sep-
tuagint.

(8) The Tar-

gums.

mitted to a formal interpretation. Egypt and Palestine
shared alike in the work of translation, as they joined in
completing the image of Messiah’s triumph; and the
Septuagint and the Targums remain as the monuments
of their labours, Regarding only the present form of
the versions, the Septuagint is the most ancient; and it
is perhaps characteristic of the time and place at which
it was made’ that it contains scarcely any passages which
bring forward the person of Messiah in a clearer light
than the original text”. In some places the original
ambiguity between a race and a person is decided by the
selection of the race as the source of the divine bless-
ings: in others the future hope appears to be lost in the
present which served as the type of it: in others the
fulness of the original prediction is lowered and com-
pressed: but generally the mere words of the original
are reproduced without any attempt to apply or elucidate
them *,

But the case is far different with the Targums; and
next to the writings of the New Testament the Targums _

1 Cf. p. 76, 77

; rule [0716] from Facob. Cf. Credner,
2 Of those which do the most re-

8. ἃ. Ὁ. 64.

markable is Numb. xxiv. 7 (quoted
by Philo, 11. p. 423M.). Isai. xxxviii.
11 is very questionable; and even in
the first passage there is no distinct
reference to Messiah. Compare also
Amos ix. 12 (Acts xv. 17).

3 Cf. Gen. iii. 15, αὐτός σου τη-
ρήσει κεφ. LXX. (cf. Philo 1. p. 124),
συντρίψει Rom. xvi. 203; but pro-
bably rp. is an old mistake for
τειρήσει.

Gen. xlix. 8---το; τὰ ἀποκείμενα
αὐτῷ LXX. ᾧ ἀποκεῖται Aquila, οὗ
ἐστίν all. (Cf. Just. Mart. Dial. c.
120; Credner, Beitr. 11. 51 ff.)

Numb. xxiv. 17—19; LXX. in
ver. 19 give καὶ ἐξεγερθήσεται ἐξ
Ἰακώβ, for the Heb. And there shall

Isai. iv. 2; the sense is lost in
LXX.

Isai. ix. 6; καλεῖται τὸ ὄνομα av-
τοῦ Μεγάλης βουλῆς ἄγγελος LXX.
omitting the rest of the verse, which
however is interpolated in Cod.
Alex.

Isai. xlii. 1—4; this is applied
by LXX. to Jacob and Israel. ‘The
citation in Matt. xii. 18—21 differs
greatly from LXX.

Isai. xlix. 1 ff; probably referred
by LXX. to Israel.

Ps. ii. 6; ἐγὼ δὲ κατεστάθην βασι-
λεύς LXX.

Ps. cix. (cx. ) 53 συνέθλασεν LXX.

Fagg, ii. 7; τὰ ἐκλεκτὰ πάντων
τῶν ἐθνῶν 1ΧΧ.

"A % τ Ἐν oF See
j > ~ 7

YS J γι i, y (fe Pd
THE TARGUMS, “2 Sp: 123
“SAN coal
of Onkelos’ and Jonathan furnish the best cont é y | Chap. ii.

evidence as to the nature of the popular view of the
Messiah at the commencement of the Christian era.
This testimony however is not only an authentic expres-
sion of the current belief, but rather an embodiment of
traditional teaching. The introduction of oral Chaldaic
paraphrases in the public reading of the Scriptures dates
from the time of Ezra; and there is every reason to be-
lieve that written translations existed as early as the
first century before Christ, though for a long time inter-
preters would naturally shrink from committing their
versions to writing. Passing by the scanty notices of
these first versions, the paraphrase of the Law named
from Onkelos and that of the Prophets named from
Jonathan ben Uzziel are at once the oldest and the most
important. It has been supposed that both belong to
the first half of the first century, though the evidence by
which their dates are determined is scanty and incom-
plete’. The first, as was required by the nature of the
subject, is strictly accurate and clear, rarely departing
from the original text €xcept to avoid the semblance of
anthropomorphic doctrine. In the latter, wider scope
was effered to the translator, as well through the greater
freedom allowed in the treatment of the prophetic books,
as by the necessity of giving distinctness to the sublime
predictions which they contained. It is probable that
both have been interpolated in some degree by later
hands, but the attempts to shew that they have been

1 I have not been able to make Deutsch’s article on Zargums in the
use of Luzzato’s Rabbinical Essay Dictionary of the Bible, in which the
‘on Onkelos: Philoxenus, ἕο. Vien- Targum falsely named after Onke-
nze, 1830. los, z.e. Akilas or Aquila, is placed

2 The arguments of Gfrérer are on between the end of the second and
the whole sufficient to prove that the end of the third century, and
they were made before the final that on the Prophets at the middle
overthrow of Jerusalem (¥ahrh. d. οἵ the fourth century.]
Heils, 1. 36—38). [Yet see M.

124 THE JEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSTAH.
Chap. i. | modified with a polemical object against the Christians
a must be considered to have failed’.
The Tar- The Targum of Onkelos from its literal exactness
um of On-

Gen. xlix. 10.

Num. xxiv.
17.

could not contain many explicit references to the Messiah.
Two passages only are quoted in which he introduces
the title, but those are of the utmost importance, as they
recognise generally the period of Messiah’s coming, and
the majesty of His kingdom. In translating the well-
known words of Jacob’s blessing “2/7 Shiloh come, he says
till Messiah comes whose ἐς the kingdom and to whom 15
the gathering of the nations, And he gives a correspond-
ing rendering of the prophecy of Balaam: A king shall
rise from ¥acob,and a Messiah shall be anointed from
Israel. The last words are perhaps in themselves
ambiguous, but wken taken in connexion with constant |

Jewish tradition their meaning cannot be doubtful.

1 Zunz, Gottesd. Vortriége, pp.
ὅτ ff. The Messianic passages from
the Targums are collected by Bux-
torf, Lex. Talmud. p. 1268 ff., with
some slight errors; and in a con-
venient form, with the Hebrew text
and double English translation, by
R. Young, Zhe Christology of the
Targums, Edinb. 1853. In addition
to the Targum of Onkelos on the
Pentateuch, there is a second, origi-
nally knownas the Palestine Targum,
which exists at present in a double
recension as the Ferusalem Targum
and the Zargum of the Pseudo-Fo-
nathan. In its present form this
probably dates from the second half
of the seventh century (Zunz, p. 77),
though based on older materials.
Its character is rather that of Ζ72267-
pretation (Midrash) than translation.
Fragments exist of a Jerusalem
Targum on the Prophets (Zunz, p.
77 ff.). The Targums on the Hagio-
grapha are perhaps later. That on
the Psalms, Proverbs, and Job is as-

signed by Zunz to the same country
(Syria), and also date, but without
determining what it is: the Targum
on the Psalms speaks of Cozstantt-
nople (Zunz, p. 64 n.). The author
of the Targum on the five AZegz/loth
(Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes,
Esther, Canticles) lived pxobably
‘ziemlich lange nach der talmudi-
‘schen Epoche’ (zd. p.65). No Tar-
gum on Ezra, Nehemiah, or Daniel,
exists. That on Chronicles is of
very late date. The account of the
Targums by Zunz (ch. 5) is most
masterly and exact, and contains in
a brief space and a scholarlike form
all, I believe, that is yet known cer-
tainly as to their history.

[Zunz has since, as it appears, mo-
dified his opinion, but it seemed best
to leave this note as it was originally
written. An elaborate and thorough-
ly original account of the Targums
is now accessible to the English
reader in M. Deutsch’s article in the
Dictionary of the Bible.)

THE TARGUMS.

125

The Messianic interpretations of Jonathan are nu-
merous and interesting, agreeing in most cases with
the current of later teaching. Thus he says, A king
shall come forth from the sons of Fesse, and Messiah
shall arise from his sons sons. This is the branch of
the Lord, the son given to the house of David, who shall
endure for ever, in whose time shall be much peace; yet
He shall execute a terrible vengeance on the enemies
of His people, “ke a fiery flying serpent. By Him shall
the nations be broken in pieces: and they shall dring
offerings to Him, because He shall be established in gooa-
ness, and be seated on His throne in truth; and He shall
be for a crown of joy. At the same time the Messiah
appears not only as a conquering and triumphant king,
but also as ¢he servant of the Lord, the servant whom He
had chosen, who should prosper. And though Jonathan
sees in the description of Christ’s sufferings only the
chastisement of the Jewish nation, yet he connects this
period of distress with Messiah’s coming. Because God
hath cleansed their souls from sins, they shall see the
kingdom of their Messiah, they shall have many sons
and daughters, they shall prolong their days, and keeping
the Law of the Lord they shall be happy according to His
good pleasure.

So also in the other Prophets Messiah is that second
David the King of Israel whom the Lord should raise
up; who should go forth from them, and be revealed from
the midst of them, and teach them the worship of the Lord,
as the mystical Shepherd to whom the flock should
be restored, 22 whom all the just should trust, and all
the humble dwell under the shadow of His kingdom.
And as He was to be the son of David, and Him-
self the spiritual David, so was He to come forth
from Bethlehem, David’s city, being wamed from the

Chap. ii.
The ae
gum of Jo-
nathan ben
Uzziel.

IS. xb 3

Is. iv. 2;

cf. Zech. iii.
8

Jer. XXit..5,
Jer. xxxiii.

Is, xvi. 1, 5.
Is, xxviii, 5.

Is. xlii. 13 of
Zech, iii. 8.
Is. xliii. ro.
15. lii. 13.

Is. liii. το.

Hos. iii. 5.

Jer. xxx. 9.
XxXXHi, 13—
15.

Ezech. xvii.

23;
cf. Hos. xiv.
7 (8).

126

THE ¥EWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii.
; Zech. vi. 13.
The later
Targums on

the Penta-
teuch.

Ex. xii. 42.

Deut. xxx. 4.

Gen, iii. 15.

Dent. xxv.

19.
ox. xvii. τό.
Num. xxiv.

=~ re
Num. xxiii.
21.

Ex. xl. 9, 11.

Gen. xxxv.
ai.

beginning and destined to rule over all the kingdoms of
the earth".

The later Targums upon the Pentateuch exhibit a
striking contrast to the rigid simplicity of Onkelos,
and in their Messianic passages shew clearly the hopes
and influence of a later age. In addition to the two
passages which he applies to Messiah* they explain
fifteen others as.referring to His time. JMWoses came
forth from the desert, Messiah, it is said, shall come out
of Rome [ὃ the Roman Empire] in the great Paschal
night of the second deliverance of Israel. Then though
the people be scattered to the uttermost parts of heaven
the Word of the Lord shall gather them thence by the
hand of Elias the great priest, and bring them thence
by the hand of Messiah the King. The idea of the
terrible conflict of good ‘and evil zz the last days had
assumed a form and consistency not found in the earlier
writings. Then shall the serpent strive to sting men in
the heel, but the sons of the woman shall secure™ their
deliverance in the heel of time, the days of Messiah,
All the sons of the East in league with Amalek, whose
sin shall never be forgotten, shall then join battle with
the house of Israel and fall for ever, for the cry of
Messiah is among His people. Already a second Messiah
the son of Ephraim—appears in contrast with Messiah
the King, and they are compared respectively to the
laver in the court of the tabernacle and the vessels in
the tabernacle itself. But still Eder, the watch-tower
near Bethlehem, is spoken of ‘as the place from which
Messiah shall be revealed in the end of days*.

1 The references to 1 Sam. ii. τὸ
and 2 Sam. xxii. 3 are at least un-
certain; that to Isai. xlv. 1 is obvi-
ously incorrect.

3 Both Targums extend the appli-

cation of Gen. xlix. 11) 12 expressly
to Messiah.

3 The same interpretation appears
also in a passage contained in the
Targum of Jonathan on Mic. iv. 8

THE TARGUMS.

127

The Targums on the Hagiographa contain but few
distinct Messianic allusions. The only Psalms which are
directly applied to the Messiah are Ps. xxi. xlv. xi. lxxii.
The six measures of barley which Ruth received from
Boaz are interpreted to symbolize the sz righteous
men who should spring from her... . David, Daniel
with his companions, and King Messias. In the para-
phrase of Lamentations it is said: Zhou [Ὁ Lord] shalt
proclaim freedom to thy people the house of Israel by the
hand of Messiah, as thou didst by the hand of Moses
and Aaron in the time of the Passover ; and thou, Zion,
shalt be freed by the hand of Messiah and of Elias the
fligh Priest. In Ecclesiastes it is expressly said that
the day of the coming of King Messiah is a mystery
as the day of death; and who is he who shall discover
it by wisdom? Several passages in Canticles are re-
ferred to the Messiah; and special mention is made
of the two deliverers who should arise, Messias the son
of David and Messias the son of Ephraim. |

But while the Apocalyptic and Interpretative litera-
ture of the Jews shews the form which the Messianic
hope had assumed as a theological dogma at the be-
ginning of the Christian era, it conveys little information
as to the hold which the doctrine retained on the mass
of the people. The teaching of the schools could scarcely
touch the sympathies or influence the character of he
multitude who knew not the law; and the literature
which survives in after generations is generally that
which was in advance of the age in which it appeared.

One important fragment however of what may be
called the popular literature has been preserved. The
(And thou, tower of Eder), which

however seems to be an interpola-
tion: Et tu Messia Israelis ged occal-

taris propter peccata Ecclesia Zionis
ad te regnum venturum est.

Chap. ii.

——

The Tar-

gunt on the

Hagiogra-
ha.

Ruth iii, 15.

Lam. iv. 22%

Eccles. vii.

25.
Cf. 1.12%.

Cant. iv. 5.

This lite-
rary testt-
peony does
not reach to
the popylar
belief.

John vii. 49.

The Psalms
of Solomon.

THE F$EWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Psalms of Solomon* appear to belong to the times of
the persecution of Antiochus’, and to express the deep
penitence and the devout hope of a pious Jew at that
crisis. They are distinguished from the Apocalyptic
writings by a clearer recognition of the sins of the
people, and from the books of the Apocrypha by a
sreater simplicity and a closer adherence to the language
of the Old Testament. The view which they give of
Messiah is proportionately distinct and full, especially
in the exhibition of the spiritual character of His
reign. After general prayers for mercy and restora-
tion (vii., xi.), and beyond the anticipation of a divine
coming for judgment (xv.), the recollection of the pro-
mise to David and his seed for ever rises in marked
pre-eminence (xvii.). Though his throne be cast down,
yet shall it be raised up. A king, it is said*, a Son
of David, shall be girded with strength to bruise unjust
rulers, to cleanse Jerusalem, to remove sinners, to gather
together the just from all the places in which they have
been scattered. He shall shake the earth with His
word, the writer adds, and bless His people, and the
Gentiles shall serve Him. He shall be ‘clean from
sin’ (καθαρὸς ἀπὸ ἁμαρτίας), ‘an anointed Lord’ (χριστὸς
κύριος"), and ‘shall not be weak’ through the strength
of God. And ‘happy are those who are born in His
‘days to see the blessings of Israel which God ΜΕΝ
‘bring to pass in the congregation of the tribes*,’

1 The Greek translation, which
is all that remains, is given by Fabri-
cius, Cod. Pseudep. V. T. τ. 914 ff,
and recently by Fritzsche. The
Psalms are translated, and assigned
to a second Solomon of the time of
the Return, A Whiston, Authentic
Records, &c. pp. 117 ff Cf.
Ewald, Iv. 343 't

2 Cf. Ewald, tv. 343n. The lan-
guage of Ps. viii. seems decisive on
this point.

3 Ps. xvii. 5, 8, 23 ff.

4 Ps. xvii. 36. Ewald (IV. 344 n.)
conjectures that this may be an
error of translation for Xp. κυρίου.
Cf. Luke ii. 11 (varr. lectt.), 26.

> Ps, xvii. 503 xviii. 7.

THE NEW TESTAMENT.

129

The language of these Psalms offers a near approx-
imation to the tone of those who first welcomed the
Messiah ; but the various details gathered from a scanty
literature are first combined into a living picture in the
records of the New Testament. Without the historical
narrative the sum of the theological teaching is confused
-and often unintelligible. But in a few scattered phrases
the Apostolic writers have preserved a striking outline
of the different forms which the national hope of the
Jews assumed at the time and on-the scene of Christ’s
appearance. The variety and distinctness of the traits
which they have marked, their simplicity and natural-
ness, their vital connexion with existing circumstances,
and the confirmation which they receive from subse-
quent history, are alike worthy of careful study; and
taken together they combine to give a vivid and lifelike
image of the popular creed as it was apprehended by
men who were ready to die for it.

The early literature of the Jews recognised the exist-
ence of very different ideas of the Messianic work. The
difference which was thus admitted in theory was em-
bodied in life. The faith and spirit of the believer in
this case as in every other moulded the substance of
his belief; and Holy Scripture seemed to promise to
each in the coming deliverance exactly that freedom
for which he longed most ardently. Atonement, inde-
pendence, restoration, dominion, union—such were the
manifold ideas included in the glorious prospect of Mes-
siah’s kingdom.

But while the form of the hope was indefinite, its
preSence was universal. In some form or other, general
expectation was quickened in Judza and in Samaria and
among the Jews of the dispersion’; ¥erusalem and all

1 John i. 42; iv. 25; Acts xxvi. 7.

W. G. τῇ

Chap. ii.

2. The Mes-
sianic hope
of the Fews
as described
in the his-
toric records
of the first
century.

i. The New
Testament.

The variety
and

universality

of belief.

130

THE ¥EWISH DOCTRINE. OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii.

Acts xxvi. 7.

The Time of
Messiah's
coming.

Luke ii. 25,
26,

Luke ii. 38.

The Manner.

“πάρα and all the region round about F$ordan went out
to John’s Baptism without distinction of rank or sect,
musing whether he were the Christ’. In the most different
stations there were those who wazted for the kingdom of
God. To this the twelve tribes instantly serving day and
night hoped to come. And at a later time Simon the
mystic and Barkokeba the zealot found multitudes ready
to welcome in them either the Great Power of God or
the Star which should rise out of Israel.

Even in the wide diversity of opinion which existed
as to Messiah some points seem to have been settled by
general tradition or consent. It was held that the time
of His advent, though fixed in the Divine counsels, was
unknown to men, who meanwhile were looking anxi-
ously in the distress of nations for those szgus which they
had been taught to expect as the first announcement of
the fulness of the time. General belief pointed to an
appearance startling and sudden, in the wz/derness or
in the secret chamber. Even the Pharisees asked Christ
when the kingdom of God should come’. And here, too,
special blessings were reserved for such as looked for
them. In the capital of Herod there was one just and
devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, to whom
it was revealed that he should not see death till he had
seen the Lord’s Anointed. And others shared the hope
and assurance of Symeon, since Anna could speak freely
of Jesus 20 those who were waiting for the redemption of
Ferusalem’®.

The uncertainty which attached to the time, ex-

1 Matt. iii. 5; Luke iii. 13; John
i. 19, 20; iii. 28. Yet here as else-
where it was ‘he common people who
seem to have heard him most gladly:
Matt. xxi. 23—27 and the parallel
passages (Mark xi. 27—33; Luke

xx. 6),

2 Luke xvii. 20.

8 This is the reading of NB, some
ancient mss., and all the best Vy.
The remaining MSS. give ἐν ‘Iep.,
and so do the mss. except a few
which have τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ or ἐν τῷ
Ἴσρ.

THE NEW TESTAMENT.

131

tended also to the manner of Messiah’s appearance.
The question of the Magi when they inquired for Him
who was born King of the f¥ews shewed a faith not
general at the period. In recognising a child as King
their spiritual insight may be compared with that of
Symeon and Anna. By others, especially by His own
countrymen, it was made an objection to the claims
of our Lord that His family was known to them and
dwelt among them. We know this man whence He ts,
said the people of Jerusalem, but when the Christ cometh
no man knoweth whence He ts. How can this man
whose father and mother we know, asked the multitudes
at Capernaum, say J came down from heaven? They

‘expected to hear the cry Lo here is the Christ, or Lo

there, and to see Him declared at once in the fulness
of power and strength as the deliverer of His people.

As the star in the East was to be the physical
emblem of Christ’s coming, so was it universally be-
lieved that Elijah would prepare His way, at once by
restoring the ancient faith of the people, and by con-
secrating Him to His office. This belief was already
part of the popular teaching, and even the disciples
seemed to have looked for its literal accomplishment
when they suggested the difficulty How say the scribes
that Elias must first come? Nor was this all; as Elijah
represented the majesty of the Prophets, so Jeremiah
symbolised their devotion; and he who had frayed
much for the people and the Holy City was specially
named among those who should accompany Messiah

at His appearance’. But apart from all other testimony
| ‘the works of the Christ’ were for the spiritual vision the
_ decisive sign of His presence.

1 Matt. xvi. 14. Cf. 2. [4] Esdr. 2 Matt. xi. 2, τὰ ἔργα τοῦ χριστοῦ.

ii, 18, where Isaiah is included.

Chap. ii,

Matt. xiii,
54—58.

John vii. 27.

The Signs.

Matt. xvii.
Io.

2 Macc, xv.
14.

132

THE FEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii.
The Birth-
place.

Matt. ii. 5.

John vii. 41,
42.

The Davidic
type. Ν
Matt. χχιι.
42.

Matt. xii. 23.

Matt. ix. 27.
Matt. xx. 30.

Matt. xv. 22.

Matt. xxi. 9.

Matt. xxi.
15.

The Mosaic
type.

Deut, xviii.
15.

Such being among the acknowledged signs of the
Messiah, it was determined with equal agreement that
He should spring from Bethlehem the city of David.
The answer of the priests to Herod is confirmed by
the doubts of those who at a later time questioned
the Messiahship of one whom they supposed to be a
Galilean, and asked Did not the Scripture say that
Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem
the village where David was?

And not only was the Messiah to spring from David's
city; He was emphatically David’s Son*. Such was
the answer which the Pharisees made to the question
of our Lord; and when the multitudes were amazed
at the miracles of Jesus they said, /s not this the Son

of David? evidently understanding by the words the

promised King. The blind on two occasions addressed
Him by the same title, Have mercy on us, thou Son of
David. And the name was spread abroad even among
strangers: a@ woman of Canaan... cried unto Him
saying, [lave mercy on me, Lord, thou Son of David.
So when the pilgrim multitude led Him in triumph
the song was still Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed
2s the coming kingdom of our father David’; and when

the triumph was over, the children in the Temple once

more caught up the words.

The type of Royal Power was naturally that on
which the mass of the Jews dwelt with the liveliest
hope, but the image and promise of Moses moulded
the expectations of some among them. These looked
for a Prophet rather than for a King*, though they

1 The title itself does not occur
in the writings of St John, and yet
in the passage just quoted he impli-

citly recognises it. Cf. Apoc. v. 5,
xxii. 16, ἡ ῥίζα Aaveld. In the

Epistles the Davidic descent of

Christ is only twice alluded to:

Rom. i. 3; 2 Tim. ii. 8.

᾿ 2 Mark xi. το. Cf. Lukei. 32, 69.
3 John vi. 14. Elsewhere’ ‘the

THE NEW TESTAMENT.

133

entertained no clear conception of the scope of his
teaching ; and the ‘likeness’ of which Moses spoke
led them to anticipate an outward resemblance in life
rather than in work between the lawgivers of the Old
and New Covenants, which attained in later times a
fabulous minuteness*. A trace of this tendency occurs
in the Gospels: when the multitudes said Zhis zs of
a truth the Prophet which cometh into the world, they
soon called to mind the manna in the wilderness, and
asked for a-sign like this through which they might
believe. But the Mosaic type of Messiah was not

capable of a full realisation till the foundation of a

Christian Church, and consequently it appears most
prominently in the Acts of the Apostles*. Before
that time the woman of Samaria, who might be sup-

posed to feel most deeply the need of a second Moses,

expressed most truly the belief in His advent®. In
the later books of the New Testament the completeness

of the mutual relation between Moses and Christ is

perfected by the allusions to a spiritual Balaam ; and
in the imagery of the Apocalypse a second song of

‘Moses celebrates the final triumph of the new De-

liverer*, i

At the same time the higher side of Messiah’s
nature was not denied or forgotten.
turned upon the assumption of the title of Sox of God? ;

The Temptation

Prophet ’ and ‘the Messiah’ are dis-
tinguished: John i. 20, 21; vil. 40.
Cf. John i. 46. Perhaps the expres-
sive title ‘He that cometh’ (Matt.
xi. 3 ||) is to be referred to this
source.

1 Cf. Gfrorer, 11. 335 ff. Inf. pp.
137, 138.

2 Acts iii. το ff.; vii. 37 ff

3 John iv. 25. The Messianic

doctrine of the Essenes probably

assumed this form.

4 2 Pet. ii. 153 Jude 113 Apoc.
ii. 14 (xv. 3). There is no trace of
this ‘ Antichrist’ in early Jewish
writings. Arymillus (see Buxtorf
LAr iS Be Diba) belongs to a
much later period, and is connected
with Isai. xi. 4. Comp. 2 Thess.
ii. 8.

5 The following table gives I
think a correct summary of the

Chap. ii.

John vi. 14
31 ff. ς

The Divine
character.

134

THE FEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii.

Matt. xxvi.
63. ;
The true
Human cha-

vracter disre-

garded.

Matt. xvii.
23.

Matt. xvi.
22.

Luke xxiv.

and during our Lord’s ministry the evil spirits sought
to precipitate and so to mar His work by proclaiming
His divine character. The mystery however which was
hidden from the eyes of the multitude to whom it
seemed blasphemy was proclaimed or acknowledged
at solemn crises. Thus John the Baptist, Nathanael,
Peter, and Martha, bore witness to Christ as the Son
of God; and the Sanhedrin recognised the ‘title as
belonging to Messiah, when the High Priest in the
presence of the assembly solemnly adjured Jesus say-
ing, Zell us whether thou be the Christ the Son of God”.
The fatal error of the Jewish people lay in the
opposite direction, for in the fond anticipations of a
second David to come as a divine champion they
disregarded the true Humanity of the Messiah. Look-
ing for a sign from heaven they could not read the
signs on earth before them. The disciples were sorry
when Christ spoke to them of His coming passion,
St Peter even began to rebuke Him for admitting that
such humiliation was possible. Till his death some
had hoped that zt had been He who should have redeemed
/srael, but then their hope was lost till Christ Himself
shewed them that the Prophets had foretold all these
things; and by the help of this divine teaching they

usage of Messiah’s title Son of
God ([ὁ] υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ) in the Gos-
pels :

i. By our Lord Himself: John
iii. 17, 18 (?); v. 25; ix. 35; [v. 1.
τοῦ ἀνθρώπου]; x. 36; xi. 4.

ii. By believers: Matt. xvi. 16
(St Peter not in ||, but cf. John vi.
69); [Mark i. 13] John i. 24, 808
xi. 273 [xx. 31.]

iii, By Jews: Matt. xxvi. 63;
XXVil. 40, 43 (0. υἱός); cf. John xix.
7, vil. 0.3; Luke xxii. 70.

iv. By evil spirits: Matt. iv. 3,

6 ||; viii. 29 ||}; Mark iii. 11; Luke
iv. 41.

The sailors (Matt. xiv. 33) and the
centurion (Matt. xxvii. 54; Mark xv.
39 vl. 8.) see in Christ θεοῦ υἱός.

1 The statements of Justin (Dza/.
c. 49) and Celsus (Orig. c. Cels. i.
49) only shew that this opinion was
not held in their time. The forms
which the Messianic hope assumed
among the Jews were various, and
the prevalence of one form among
a particular class or at a particular
time cannot exclude the others.

THE NEW TESTAMENT.

135

set forth from that time the sufferings of Messiah from
the Scriptures. Such being the feelings of those who
were nearest to Christ, it cannot be strange that the
people were even more perplexed by His lowliness’.
When He spoke of Himself as the Son of Man, the
people answered ... Who ἐς this Son of Man*®? Even
when they were most startled by His works or words
of power they generally saw in Him no more than
a Prophet, or waited for some more striking revelation
of His majesty®. Jf thou be the Christ tell us plainly
was the complaint at one time; and at another, when
they wondered at His gracious words, they said, Is not
this Foseph’s son ?

A partial conception of Messiah’s work necessarily
followed from a partial conception of His nature. To
the Jews this appeared to be bounded by the estab-
lishment of a glorious kingdom and the confirmation
of their Law. A second and spiritual birth of God’s
people or God’s servants seemed alike impossible and
unnatural; and Nicodemus, in accordance with the
spirit of his countrymen, might well find it difficult
to understand how it should be required of him to lay
aside the opinions and prejudices which had grown
about him from his infancy, before he could even see
that kingdom for which he sought. The brethren of
Jesus who saw His works still wished for an open
manifestation of His power and office, for they could
not delieve in a Messiah who hid Himself from the great
world’, Peter was eager to: pay for his Master the

SOCK. pp. 104, 113.

2 John xii. 34. Cf. John ix. 35,
where NBD read ὁ vids τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.

3 Cf. Matt. xvi. 143; xxi. 11, 46;
Mark ii. 123 vii. 37; xi. 18; Luke
iv. 32, 373 V. 263; vii. 16 [ix. 9;
xxiii, 8]. See also John vii. 26, 31;

viii. 53.

4 It is evident that the brethren
of the Lord sought only to preci-
pitate the declaration of this Mes-
siahship. ‘They lacked that faith
which could rest wholly in Him and
abide Histime, Cf. John ii. 23, 24.

Chap. ii.

Acts xvii. 3; »

The partial
conception of
Messiah's
work.

John iii. 2,
3» 4

John vii. 3,

4» 5°

Matt, xvii.
24 ff.

136

THE FSEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii.

Matt. xx. 27.

Acts i. 6.

John iv. 25,
42.

ii. Contem-

porary writ-

ers.

The Mes-

stanic hope
JSainter

among some

ξ la roe 5.

Luke ii. 34,
35+

tribute to the Temple even after his inspired con-
fession. The fiery zeal of the sons of Zebedee led
them to seek places next to their Saviour’s throne;
and the Apostles inquired of the risen Lord whether
He would at that time restore the kingdom to Israel.
Some indeed seemed to have looked further for ‘a re-
‘stitution of the world ;’ but it was reserved for Sama-_
ritans, conscious of doubt and sin, to feel that Messiah’
would announce all things—even the true forms of wor-
ship—and be the Saviour of the world’.

But while the poor and simple, guzleless Israelites,
rude Galilzans, fiery zealots, clung severally to some
peculiar Messianic hope, those Jews who had been
brought into closer connexion with Greek literature
or Roman dominion seem to have looked on the popular
belief as exaggerated or groundless fanaticism. The
leaven of Herod had penetrated the nation of God.
Many thoughts were working, though as yet unrevealed,
at the time when Symeon foresaw that the Saviour
was se¢ as well for the fall as for the rising of many,
and for a sign which should be spoken against. Hillel
‘the second restorer of the Law’ said that there would
be no Messiah. According to him the promise and
its fulfilment belonged to the time of Hezekiah; and
though in fact he may have rejected only the notion

1 The title AZessias occurs only in
John i. 42; iv. 25. Can it be with-
out meaning that the Hebrew word
is preserved exactly in the two places
where simple faith in the: ancient
promise seems livéliest ?

* From the circumstances of our
Lord’s examination before the San-
hedrin it is evident that He had not
openly proclaimed Himself as the
Messiah, or the adjuration of the
High Priest would have been un-
necessary (Matt. xxvi. 63). In like

manner it is clear that the abro-
gation of the Mosaic Law had not
formed part of His public teaching.
The formation of an outward Church
necessarily preceded ‘the announce-
ment of this truth. It is also impor-
tant to notice that in early Jewish
writings .there is no trace of the
belief in the substitution of a
spiritual for a ritual law, which
assumed a definite form after the
tenth century.

PHILO.

137

of a temporal kingdom, his opinion gained extensive
currency in its literal sense’. Philo speaks only in
one place of the coming of a deliverer, ‘A man shall
‘come, says the Oracle, leading a host, and he shall
‘subdue nations great and populous by the aid of God,
- ‘who shall send the help that befits the holy. And
‘this is an undaunted bravery of soul, and a most
‘mighty strength of body*, two things of which even
‘one is formidable, but if both meet they are wholly
‘irresistible. But some of the foes [the Oracle says]
‘are unworthy to be defeated by men, against whom
‘{God] will array swarms of wasps for their most shame-
‘ful destruction, warring in defence of the holy ones.
“ΠῚ says] moreover that this [hero] shall not only
‘enjoy surely without bloodshed victory in war, but
‘also an unassailable right of sovereignty, for the help
‘of those who may become his subjects through good-
‘will or fear or reverence.’ It is only necessary to read
the context to feel how little importance Philo laid on
the presence or work of this victorious deliverer. The
hope which he cherished rested on the promises made
to the whole nation, and not on the predictions of a
single deliverer; and thus, while his expectation of
a personal Messiah was apparently feeble, he paints
in glowing colours the blessedness of a coming reign
of virtue, when the enemies of God shall be confounded,
and His people gathered from the utmost corners of

‘1 Sanhedr. c.68. Cf. Just. M. Dial,
c.68, 71,77. Thus ata later time the
priests and zealots were ranged on
opposite sides: Gfrorer, Il. p. 439-
2 Philo de Prem. § τό, p. 423 M
(Numb. xxiv. 7, LXX.). The refer-
ence to ‘an inspired prophet’ (de
Monarch. 1.9) is too general to be
applied certainly to Messiah, yet the
passage claims attention: ἀλλά τις

ἐπιφανεὶς ἐξαπιναιῶς προφήτης θεο-
φόρητος θεσπιεῖ καὶ προφητεύσει, λέ-
ων μὲν οἰκεῖον οὐδέν, οὐδὲ yap εἰ
λέγει δύναται καταλαβεῖν 6 γε κατε-
χόμενος ὄντως καὶ ἐνθουσιῶν, ὅσα δὲ
ἐνηχεῖται διελεύσεται καθάπερ ὑπο-
βάλλοντος ἑτέρου. No description
perhaps could offer a more instruc-
tive contrast to the prophetic office
of Christ.

Chap. ii.
(a) Puixo.
The type of
an tdealis-
ing party.

138

THE $EWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii,

-----ὄ--ὄΦ

(b) Josrruus,
The type of
a temporis-
ing party.

the world to dwell in their own land. Then, he says,
wars shall cease among men, and wild beasts shall
forget their fierceness. And the scattered children of
God shall return under the guidance ‘of a form (ὄψεως)
‘more divine than that of man, unseen by others, and
‘visible only to those who are being saved; and they
‘shall find three advocates (παρακλήτους) of their re-
‘conciliation (καταλλαγῶν) with the Father: First, the
‘kindness and goodness of [God] who invites them...
‘secondly, the holiness of the patriarchs of their race...
‘and thirdly, that through which especially the favour
‘of those things which have been mentioned precedes,
‘the reformation of those who are being led to a [new]
‘truce and covenant, who have been able with difficulty
‘to come from a pathless wandering to that path whose
‘end is no other than to please God as sons [please]
‘a father. Then shall the ruins of their cities be re-
‘paired: the prosperity of their fathers shall seem but
‘little in comparison with the perennial springs of God's
‘favour by which they will be cheered; and their
‘enemies shall be filled with dismay and sorrow when
‘they see the sure and unchangeable prosperity of
‘God’s people’

While Philo cherished in this way a sure belief that
his nation was destined to take the foremost place in
the world, Josephus appears to abandon the trust in
a national restoration, as well as that in a personal
Saviour. Rome is acknowledged as the mistress of

1 Philo de Execrat. 88 8, 9. Philo
quotes in his Messianic descriptions
Levit. xxvi.; Deut. xxviii. ; Numb.
xxiv. 7; and also Isai. liv. 1; Ps.
cxxi. 8. Cf. Gfrdrer, Philo, 1. 532:
Dahne, I. 432 ff. Possibly the “ di-
‘vine vision’ may be an idealised

antitype of the ‘pillar of fire’ which
attended the Jews on their first
Exodus and in which the Word was
present, but it by no means supports
the identification of the Word and
the Messiah, but rather distinguishes
them. :

YOSEPHUS.

139

the world: Vespasian is proclaimed to be the king who
should. rise from the East. In his narrative of the
early history and final struggle of the Jews, which
become inexplicable without the recognition of the one
‘central hope by which they were quickened, he never

once betrays any personal interest, much less belief,

in the doctrine of Messiah. Yet even thus he bears
ample testimony to the powerful hold which it main-
tained on the nation. ‘When Fadus was procurator
‘of Judza,’ he relates, ‘a certain sorcerer (γόης) by
‘name Theudas persuaded the great mass of the people
“(τὸν πλεῖστον ὄχλον) to take up their property and
‘follow him to the river Jordan; for he announced
‘that he was a prophet, and said that he would divide
‘the river by his command, and give them an easy
‘passage; and saying this he deceived many’;’ and
faithfully did the nation cherish the recollection of
their first deliverance as the image of that which should
come. The same characteristic marks the history of
‘the Egyptian false prophet who came into the country,
‘being a sorcerer, and having persuaded men that he
‘was a prophet collected about thirty thousand of those
‘whom he had deceived. And these he led from the
‘wilderness to the Mount of Olives...*,” ‘for he said
‘that he wished to shew them how at his bidding the
‘walls of Jerusalem would fall, through which he pro-
‘mised that he would afford them an entrance into
‘the city*’ And these impostors were but specimens
of a class of ‘vagabond men and deceivers, who under
‘the pretence of divine inspiration (@ecacuod) compassed
‘revolutions and changes, and persuaded the multitude

1 Joseph. Andig. XX. 4. I- the other passage there is no allu-

2 Joseph. B. 7. Il. 13. 5- sion to this promised miracle.
8. Joseph. Antig. Xx. 7. 6. In

Chap. ii.

Popular
risings.

140

THE $EWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii.

writers.

‘to indulge in mad hopes (δαυμονᾶν), and led them forth
‘into the wilderness, as though God would shew
‘(Se(Eovros) them there signs of freedom,’ or, as it is
expressed in the parallel passage, promising ‘to shew
‘evident prodigies and signs wrought according to the
‘foreknowledge of God’’ The final insurrection is the
clearest proof of the general spread of this Messianic
enthusiasm, for Josephus allows that ‘that which espe-
‘cially incited the Jews to the war was an ambiguous
‘Oracle found in their sacred writings, to the effect
‘That at that time one out of their own country should
‘vule the world (τῆς οἰκουμένης). And even in the last
‘extremity of the siege many prophets were sent by
‘the chiefs among the common people, charging them
‘to wait for the help of God;’ and these found ready
credence, so that six thousand fell in the porch of the
Temple, whither they had fled ‘expecting to receive
‘the signs of safety®.’

The hope entertained by the Jews was indeed so
notorious that it did not escape the notice of Roman
historians ; and they attached so much importance to
the predictions on which it was based, as to find their
fulfilment in the elevation of Vespasian to the imperial
throne. ‘A few, says Tacitus in speaking of the pro-
digies which preceded the destruction of Jerusalem,
‘turned these events into a cause of alarm; the greater

1 Joseph. Δ. cc. Josephus con- ὌΝ

trasts these fanatics with the zealots
(λῃσταί, sicarit) as being ‘in hand
‘more pure, butin purpose more im-
‘pious. ZB. ¥. 1. 13. 4.

2 B. F. νι. 5. 4. The reference
is probably to the prophecy of
Daniel (ii. 44), and not to that of
Balaam, as Bretschneider supposes:
Theolog. Fl. Fosephi,§10. Cf. An-
tig. X. II. ἢ.

The Pitan. which Josephus |
gives of the promise to Abraham is
characteristic: προεδήλου τὸ γένος
[τὸ] αὐτῶν els ἔθνη πολλὰ καὶ πλού-
τον ἐπιδώσειν, καὶ μνήμην αἰώνιον
αὐτῶν ἔσεσθαι τοῖς γενάρχαις (Antig.
I. 14. 4). But it is to be remem-
bered that neither Philo nor the
Targum understood this of Messiah.

THE MISHNA.

141

“number were possessed with a belief that it was written
‘in the ancient writings of the priests that it would
‘come to pass at that very time that the East would
‘grow mighty, and that men proceeding from Judza
‘would gain the empire of the world. An ambiguous
‘oracle, which had foretold [the fortunes of] Vespasian
‘and Titus...’ Suetonius relates the same circum-
stance almost in the same words, adding however that
the belief was ancient, uniform, and universally current
throughout the East.

But however strong the hope was even after the
destruction of Jerusalem, it was quenched at no distant
time in the blood of the noblest Jews. The disastrous
rising of Barkokeba was the last public profession of
the earlier creed. Afterwards a gloom settled over
the image of Messiah, and increasing sorrows were
described as the sure signs of His approach.

Eliezer surnamed the Great βαιά": ‘A little before
‘the advent of a Messiah® shamelessness shall be in-
‘creased; and there shall be great dearth of corn: the
‘vine shall bear fruit, but [from the excess of revellers]
‘wine shall be sold dear. The mightiest empire in
‘the world shall be overwhelmed with evil judgments,
‘and no chastisement shall have place. The synagogues
‘shall be converted into houses of shame, the borders
‘of Judzea shall be laid waste, and all the region shall
‘be made desolate. Noble men shall go round from
‘town to town and meet with no offices of mercy. The

1 Tac. Hist. v.13. Suet. Vesp. 4: of some fanatics.

Percrebuerat oriente toto vetus et * Sota, ὃ 15 (III. pp. 308-9, ed.
constans opinio esse in fatis ut eo Surenhus.). Cf. Edzard, Avoda Sara,
tempore Judzea profecti rerum poti- . 248 f.

rentur. The well-known passage in 3% MNAPYIA Ln calcaneis M.
Suet. Claud. 25, Judeeos impulsore See p. 126. Cf. Buxt. Lex. Radd.
Chresto assidue tumultuantes urbe 5. v.; Wagenseil, Sofa, 1. ¢.

expulit, may refer to the intrigues

Chap. ii.

3. The Mes-
stantc hope
as expressed
in the later
Fewish writ-
ings.

i. The Mish-
na.

142

THE FEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii.

ii. The Ge-

mara (Za/-

miud).

‘wisdom of teachers shall seem of ill savour; the inno-
‘cent shall be despised; and the failing of truth shall
‘be great. Young men shall confound the face of the
‘old; the old shall rise before the young. The son shall
‘provoke the father; the daughter shall rise against her
‘mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in- -
‘law; in fine every one shall have for his foes those of
‘his own household. In truth that age shall have the
‘face of a dog, and the son shall not reverence his
‘parent. On whom then must we trust? On our
‘heavenly Father’

This remarkable passage stands I believe alone in
the Mishna*; but in the Gemara many other strange
and inconsistent traditions occur, which seem at times
more like the expression of despair than of faith. The
‘birth pangs of Messias’ passed into a proverb*; and
some Rabbis declared that they wished not to behold
His coming*. Drought, famine, thunder, and wars, were
among the signs which should precede Him, and it was
said that the sight of men should fail for anguish and
sorrow. Nor was the moral state of the world expected
to be better than the material. The divine teaching
was to fail, and all men were to become Sadducees:
‘when men grow fewer and fewer, so the tradition runs,
‘expect Messias®; when the world is overwhelmed with
‘evils as with a flood; when the last supply is consumed,
‘and the last hope gone.’

1 Cf. Lactant. Jmsti¢. vil. 15 f. be accurate. The Messianic inter-

* Various opinions as to the com-
ing and work of Elias are given:
Edaj. s. f. (IV. p. 362).

3 5 Sy an (ὠδῖνες, Matt. xxiv.
8; Mark xiii. 8).

4 Schottg. Hor. Hebr. τι. 546-7,
971. 1 have not verified Schéttgen’s
references, which however seem to

pretations of the Old Test. common
to the New Test. and Jewish writers
are given in Note 1, at the end of the
chapter.

5 Sanhedr. c. 91. 1 (referring to
2 Sam. xxii. 28): Schottg. 11. 154,
968.

THE GEMARA.

143

The prevailing tone of these traditions is due in all
probability to the disappointment of earlier dreams.
Various limits had been fixed for the coming of. Messiah,
and all as Raf confessed were passed’. Some had
likened the duration of the world to a week of heavenly
days, six thousand years of trial and labour followed
by a millennial sabbath*. Two thousand years it was
thought elapsed before the Law, two thousand were to
pass under the Law, and two thousand years were re-
served for the victories of Messiah. Others thought
that the world would last eighty-five years of Jubilee
(4165—or 4250 years), and that Messiah would come
in the last®*, The Romans, it was said at one time,
shall oppress Israel for nine months*, Others again
measured four hundred years from the last desolation
of the Holy City as the utmost limit of delay; but the
time went by, and then men cried in despair: ‘Let
‘his bones be broken who computes the limits of
‘Messiah’s coming’. Different explanations were pro-
posed for the delay. The strangest fancy perhaps was
that it was occasioned by the necessity for all the souls
in the receptacle of spirits (Guph) to be embodied first’;
but in some form or other it was generally referred to
the sins of the people. ‘If Israel keep but one sabbath
‘or one fast duly Messiah at length will come’’ He
came, according to another wild legend, on the day.
of the destruction of the Temple, but was suddenly
carried away to be revealed at His proper time®. And
with strange and tragic irony others said: ‘He is even

1 Schottg. 11. 966. : 4 Td. τι. 970
2 Edzard, /.c. p. 66. This idea 5 Jd. 965.
was popular with the Christian Fa- 6 Edzard, p. 28. Cf. pp. 224 ff.
thers: cf. Barn. Zp. xv.; Iren. ὦ. 7 Id. p. 247-
Her. x. 28. 3. Lactant. Jzstit. VU. 8 Midr. Echa, 50, and Fer. Be-
14, and notes. rach. 5.1. Cf. Jost, Gesch. d. Fu-
3 Schottg. 11. 963. denth. 404n. Cf. Targ. Mic. iv. 8.

Chap. ii.
The time of
Messiah's
coming.

144

THE F$EWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii.

The manner,

iii. Later
Fewish

works.

‘now sitting among the poor and wounded at the gates ~
‘of Rome, and men know Him ποῖ᾽.
The twofold description of Messiah’s ‘vent was
explained by the different circumstances under which
He might come. He would come, it was said, if the
people were wholly good or wholly wicked; if good,
then He would appear according to the words of Daniel
on the clouds of heaven ; if evil, then meek and lowly as
foretold by Zechariah*, As to the nature of His king-
dom the later tradition in one respect was uniform.
There will be no difference, it was said, between these
days and the days of Messias, except in the subjugation
of the Gentiles®*. But as to its duration opinions widely
differed. Passages were quoted from the Prophets which
appeared to fix forty or seventy years, or three genera-
tions, or a thousand or seven thousand years for its
continuance*. And ‘in those days the Nazarites shall
‘drink wine, and ‘there shall be no more proselytes’
but ‘all the Gentiles of their own accord shall be brought
‘to Messiah,’ and ‘all shall be clean®.. Thus some said
‘In the days of Messiah there will be thirteen tribes,
‘and the thirteenth will be Messiah’s;’ but others again
doubted whether the ten tribes would be restored’.
The later Jewish books contribute some further de-
tails as to the expectation of Messiah, though perhaps

1 Schéttg. 11. 969. Edzard, p. of a suffering Messiah. Discuss. de
254, or, as others said, in Aden (td. Christol. Samar. Lib, Lips. 1821,
$C), pp- 12 ff.

* Id. τι. 969. In this connexion 3 Edzard, p. 208. Cf. Gfrérer,
(Zech. xii. 10—12) the idea of a Fakr. d. Heils, 1. 219. Bertholdt,

Messiah ‘the son of Joseph’ was Ῥ. 41.

| first entertained: Succa Bab. 52. 4 Schottg. II. p. 973.
| Cf. Gfrorer, 11. 258 ff. . The death 5 Jd. pp. 613 ff.

_ of Messias is admitted in 2 [4] Esdr. . 6 Jd. 11. p. 207 (from Ezek. xviii.
| vil. 29; supr. p. 115. Friedrich has 19). Cf. Sanhedr. c. 11. 3: bec
refuted Bertholdt’s argument insup- Zech. x. 4. 2 (4) Esdr. xii. 39 ff
port of the ante-christian doctrine supr. p. 114.

THE MYSTICAL BOOKS.

little stress can be laid upon their originality’. It is
said that a new Elias, born like the first of barren
parents, will herald His approach by a preaching of re-
pentance, according to some only three days before
Messiah*. Messiah Himself will appear in the North,
and His advent will be marked by a star®. Moses and
Elias will attend Him, and He ‘will stand upon the
‘roof of the Temple;’ also the Shekinah will continue
with men for three years and a half‘. The same Pass-
over night which witnessed the chief crises in the fortunes
of the human race will also witness Messiah’s coming”.
And some speak of a mediatorial death and exaltation,
of a resurrection of the Patriarchs and of the just, of
the removal of the Redeemer (Goel) to heaven’. Then
all the feast-days will be abolished except the day of
atonement, and sacrifices shall cease, and there will
be no distinction of clean and unclean’. The kingdom
of Messiah will be strong in spite of the banded heathen.

1 The pre-existence of Messiah is
taught in the later writings. It was
‘the Spirit of Messiah which brood-
‘ed over the waters at the creation.’
Cf. Nork. p. ix. and notes.

2 Schottg. 11. p. 533.

3 Id. pp. 538, 531:

4° Td. pp. 544. 188, 548.

5 Jerome mentions this ‘Jewish
tradition’ as the ground of the ‘ Apo-
‘stolic tradition’ of the watchings
of Easter-eve—the nox vigiliarum
(Comm. in Matt. xxv. 6). ‘The pas-
sages referring to this usage are
given by Bingham, “4771. XXI. I. 32.
Schéttg. 11. pp. 531, 563.

6 Schottg. 11. pp. 566, 578 ff.,
595. The Jewish notion of a ‘suf-
fering Messiah’ belongs exclusively
to a late period. He appears as
the son of Foseph or Ephraim as
opposed to che son of David; but
the earliest evidence of this belief

W.G.

occurs in the Badbyl. Gemara. Cf.
Targ. Cant. iv. 5; (Jerus.) Ex. xl.
Ir; see p. 127. Pearson On the
Creed, 164 note, ed. Camb.; Strauss,
Leben Fesu, τι. 3243 Gfrorer, 11. 262,
270, 271. Cf. infr. p. 150, on Zohar.

[The whole question of the origin
and development of the belief in a
Messiah ‘ the son of Joseph’ or ‘ the
‘son of Ephraim’ requires to be
examined afresh. .The book of
Wiinsche, Die Leiden d. Messias,
Leipzig, 1870, gives an intere-ting
collection of passages, but far more
is needed. The language of St Paul
in Acts xxvi. 23, εἰ παθητὸς ὁ χρι-
στός seems to imply that the thought
of a suffering Messiah was not
wholly strange to Jewish thinkers
in spite of john xii. 34, though he
may be expressing only his own
faith. 1880].

7 Td. i. 612 ff

146

THE ΣΕΥΨΙΘΗ DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii.

ive The mys-
tic Zétera-
ture of the
Fews.

The origin of

this litera-
ture.

Ezek. i.

The oppressors of Israel will be destroyed, and all
others made to do service to God’s chosen people.
Then the blessings of Eden will be restored: all creation
will be relieved from the consequence of man’s sin; and
God will walk as in old times among His people, and
man will not fly from the presence of His Maker’.

There is still another form of Jewish literature which
has exerted a powerful influence upon the later doctrine
of Messiah, but it is uncertain whether the mystic
teaching of the Kabbala was directed in any degree
towards the subject at the beginning of the Christian
era. Mysticism and Philosophy looked first within
rather than without for the fulfilment of the aspirations
which they cherished ; and they probably received from
Christianity the impulse by which their later course
was shaped’.

Like other Eastern nations the Jews were naturally
inclined to theosophic speculation, and though this
tendency may have been repressed by the definite teach-
ing of revelation as long as they were confined within
the sacred boundaries of Palestine, it found a freer scope
after the exile. The prophecies of Ezekiel suggested
a congenial subject for mystical interpretation. In their
general imagery they appeared to reproduce the symbols
of a strange nation, and to invite to the study of Eastern
wisdom. The Vision of the divine glory, the chariot-
throne on which the Lord was seen by the river of
Chebar, formed the text for the inquiry into the essence

1 Gfrorer, ahr, d. Heils, τ. 413 f.
Buxtorf’s essay De Messia venturo
(de Synag. Fud.c. 50, Ugolini, 7hes.
Iv.) contains very little of import-
ance, but gives a curious description
of the ten expected signs of Messiah
(pp. 1154 ff.), of the ten consola-
tions (pp. 1160 ff.), and of the great

feast which should mark His Advent
(pp. 1162 ff.).

I have collected in Note τ. at the
end of the chapter the Messianic
passages quoted in the New Testa-
ment which are interpreted in the
same manner in Jewish writings.

* Cf. Zunz, cc, ix. Xx1.

THE MYSTICAL BOOKS.

147

and majesty of God; as the narrative of Genesis seemed
to contain under a veil the secrets of creation. Round
these two centres, the manifestation of God’s glory in
Himself and in Creation, Theology and Nature, fancies
and thoughts clustered and at length gained consistency.
Enthusiasts saw the shadows of their own dreams in the
divine history of their nation, and fancied that the
Patriarchs were their teachers. Whatever they felt to
be true in foreign systems was found latent in some
symbolic word or number. All inward and outward
experience was held to be only a commentary on the
fulness of the Law and the Prophets.

The progress of mysticism is generally the same:
a vague aspiration, a pregnant word, a tradition, gather-
ing form and fulness in the lapse of time, an incongruous
system, treasured in the secret discipline of schools,
and at length committed to writing. And such was
the history of the Kabbala*. Already in the Apo-
cryphal books of the Old Testament there are traces
of the recognition of esoteric wisdom in the ‘ Chariot’
and the ‘Creation ;’ and at Alexandria the new theory
found a rapid and natural development*. In Palestine
and Babylon the same teaching spread, but under close
restrictions. It was forbidden for any one under thirty
years of age to read the Vision of Ezekiel. The public
exposition of the ‘Works of Creation’ or of the ‘Chariot’
was unlawful’, and single hearers were selected with

1 The name belongs to a much 2 Zunz, pp. 162, 163. Sirac
later period. The root is Zabal to xlix. 8.
receive [by tradition], and the word 3 Mishna, Chagiga, c. 2.1. Non

was originally applied to all the
books of the Old ‘l'estament except
the Pentateuch (Zunz, 44, n.); and
even after the technical sense of the
word was established, it was still
commonly used for ‘oral tradition’ in
the 13th and r4thcenturies(Zunz, /.c.).

exponunt... Opera Creationis cum
duobus neque Currum cum uno, nisi
fuerit sapiens qui sensum intelligit.
There are in the Talmud traces of
the existence of secret interpreta-
tions of the AZercaba and Bereshith.
Zunz, 164.

K 2

Chap. ii.

Its great
subdivisions.

Its growth.

148

THE FYEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSTAH.

Chap. ii.

Earlier spe-
culations are
at length
commitied to
writing.

special care. The very form of instruction was enig-
matic. The truth was expressed in short ‘sentences
‘for thinking men;’ principles only were given, and not
the application of them.

As long as the Kabbala remained in this form, it
is evident that it must have continued subject to ex-
ternal influences. Its teaching included the knowledge
of all mysteries ; and as Christianity most truly purified
the speculations of the Neo-Platonists and the poly-
theism of Julian, so also it must have modified the
secrets of Jewish tradition. The philosopher, the states-
man, and the mystic, would have shrunk equally from
the conscious appropriation of Christian doctrine; but.
some principles when once enunciated approve them-
selves so certainly to the heart and reason, that it
becomes a question afterwards whether they spring
from revelation or from intuition. Thus open on one
side to the Persian doctrine of Emanation, and on the
other to the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation, the
Kabbala grew in silence, till at last in the seventh or
eighth centuries the traditionary dogmas were embodied
in written commentaries’, Of these two remain, widely
separated in the times of their redaction, but both
probably based on traditions of equal antiquity. The
Sepher Yetsira or Book of Creation dates in its present
form from about the eighth century’: the Sepher ha
Zohar or Book of Splendour owes its existence in its
present form to R. Moses of Leon in the thirteenth

Ϊ n.).

1 Zunz, 165.

2 Zunz, 165, who gives numerous
examples of later idioms and words,
The Talmud contains a reference to
a Sepher Yetsira, which Zunz sup-
poses to be an error for LYolcoth
Yetsira mentioned elsewhere (p. 464,
Popular tradition ascribes its

authorship to R. Akiba, or even to
Abraham. In the absence of an
exact criticism of its composition it
is impossible to fix the date of its
first elements. Cf. Jellinek, Ze?-
trage zur Gesch. α΄. Kabbala, 1. Leip-
sic, 1852.

THE MYSTICAL BOOKS.

149

century, though it probably includes elements of great
antiquity’. :

It follows from what has been already said that
little stress can be laid on the passing coincidences
between the Kabbalistic books and the New Testament.
In their fundamental principles the two present a total
contrast. The Yetsira develops a system of pantheism
utterly at variance with Christianity; and the same
pantheism lies at the basis of Zohar. At the same
time speculations on the Divine Nature are necessarily
so vague, that recent theologians have found in Zohar
the whole of Christianity. The two natures of Messiah
and his threefold office are said to be symbolized in the
tree of the ten Sephiroth and in the Chariot* ; and those
more abstruse questions as to the Person of Christ
which agitated and divided the Church are said to be
anticipated and decided in the mystical dogmas of
Simeon ben Jochai. |

The direct and unquestionable traditions as to Mes-
siah which are embodied in Zohar are more interesting.
He is to be revealed first in Galilee*, coming from the

366 ff. His arguments rest on the
convertibility of the terms Shekinah,
Metatron, &c., with Messiah, which
seems to be unwarranted. Messiah
is comparatively rarely mentioned

1 This has been satisfactorily es-
tablished by Jellinek in his tract,
Moses ben Schéemtob de Leon und
sein Verhdltniss zum Sohar, Leipsic,
1851. The warm approval of Jost

is sufficient to remove any lingering
doubt as to the correctness of Jelli-
nek’s conclusion: A. Fellinek und
die Kabbala, Leipsic, 1852. Α
Zunz, pp. 404 f. Jellinek detects
the presence of nine different au-
thors in the present work (Jost, p.
10); and it is impossible not to hope
for some clear results from his later
studies.

The other opinions as to the ori-
gin of Zohar are given by Joel, Die
Religions- Philosophie des Sohar,1849,
pp: ὅτ ff.

2 Schéttgen, 11. pp. 294 ff.; 350 ff;

by name, and where the title occurs
there is little to justify the identifi-
cation.
278, 289, 412, 413. The most re-
markable passage (p. 341) seems to
have but little of a Christian tone.
The passages here referred to main-
tain expressly the twofold Messias—
the Son of David: and the Son of
Ephraim: cf. p. 360.

3 The reason alleged is given by
Jerome (Comm. in Matt. v. 16), ut
ubi Israelis fuerat ab Assyriis prima
captivitas, ibi redemptoris praco-
nium nasceretur.

Cf. Schéttg. Um. pp. 267, |

Chap ii.

False inter-
pretations of
Zohar.

Authentic
Messianic
traditions in

Zohar.

150

THE SE WISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii.

The indirect

influence of
these specu
lations.

garden of Eden; and a star in the East is to herald
His approach: the land which was first laid waste by
invaders is to receive first its consolation’. He is to
spring from the race of Boaz and David’; and the dove
which brought to Noah the tidings that the flood had
abated shall hover over Him and place a crown upon
His head*. To Him the little ones shall be gathered,
and He shall collect the captives from all the corners
of the earth*. He shall enter Jerusalem, according to
the Prophet, riding on an ass*; and drink the cup of
suffering as men do®; and Messias the son of Joseph
(or Ephraim) shall die and rise again; and the dead
shall be raised’.

But while it is impossible to shew that the mysticism
which gave this form to the doctrine of Messiah after
the Christian era had led to any clear conception of
a suffering Saviour before His Advent, it unconsciously
prepared the way for a true recognition of His divine
nature. Even in the Pentateuch there are traces of
a revealed as well as of a hidden God, of one on whom

|man may look and still live, of an Angel (JZaleach)

who exercises the functions of Deity. This conception
of the external manifestation of the Deity was followed
in the later books by a corresponding representation
of His invisible energy. In the book of Proverbs
Wisdom (Khokma, copia) appears in some degree to
fill up the chasm between God and the world; and

1 Schottg. 11. 524 f.3 1. II. puted author of Zohar must have
2 Schottgen 11. 525. been a Christian from the summary
* Id. Ῥ. 537. of his teaching. An answer of
* dd. pp. 541. Gleessner is appended, with a rejoin-
δ 74. Ῥ. 543. der by Schéttgen, but nevertheless
6 74. pp. 112, 580. Schéttgen’s arguments seem quite
7. Id. pp. 557, 565, 572. insufficient.

Schottgen in his Lectiones Rabbi- In Note 11. at the end of this

γε, 11. §§ 8 ff., endeavours to prove Chapter some account is given of the
that R. Simeon ben Jochai the re- _later Samaritan Christology.

»᾿

THE DOCTRINE OF THE WORD.

in the Apocryphal writings this mediative element is
apprehended with greater distinctness, but at the same
time only partially, and with a tendency to pantheistic
error. Meanwhile the growing belief in an angel-world
composed of beings of the most different natures and
offices gave consistency to the idea of a Power standing
closer to God than the mightiest among the created
hosts. The doctrine thus grounded fell in exactly with
the desire of the philosophic interpreters of Scripture
to remove from the text the anthropomorphic repre-
sentations of the Supreme Being; and with varied
ingenuity and deep insight into the relations of the
creature and the Creator, the finite and the Infinite,
they constructed the doctrine of the Word (Memra,
λόγος).

The belief in a divine Word, a mediating Power by
which God makes Himself known to men in action
and teaching, was not confined to any one school at
the time of Christ’s coming. It found acceptance alike
at Jerusalem and Alexandria, and moulded the language
of the Targums as well as the speculations of Philo.
But there was a characteristic difference in the form
which the belief assumed. In Palestine the Word ap-
pears, like the Angel of the Pentateuch, as the medium
of the outward communication of God with men: in
Egypt as the inner power by which such communication
is rendered possible. The one doctrine tends towards
the recognition of a divine Person subordinate to God’:
the other to the recognition of a twofold personality in
the divine Essence.

The earliest Palestinian view of the Word is given
in the Targum of Onkelos’. In this it is said the Lord

1 Yet the personal A/etatron was * The usage is not uniform: ¢.g.
created. Cf. Dorner, I. 60. Gen. xvii. I.

4. The doce
trine of the
Word.

i. Jz Pales-
tine.

152

THE FEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii.
Gen. vii. 16.
Gen, xv. 1;
xvii. 2.

Gen. xxi. 20.

Gen, xxvi. 3.

Gen. xxviii.
20.
Ex; xix. 17.

Deut. iii. 2;
iv. 24.

The later
Targunis.

in Egypt.

protected Noah by His Word when he entered the Ark:
that He made a covenant between Abraham and Fits
Word: that the Word of the Lord was with Ishmael
in the wilderness; with Abraham at Beersheba; with
Isaac when he went among the Philistines ; with Joseph
At Bethel Jacob made a covenant. that
the Word cf the Lord should be His God. Moses at
Sinai drought forth the people to meet the Word of God.
In the book of Deuteronomy again the Word of the
Lord appears as a consuming fire talking to His people
Jrom the midst of the mount and fighting for them against
their enemies ; and the same image recurs in the Targum
of Jonathan on the books of Joshua and Samuel.

In the later Targums on the Pentateuch the works
of the Word are brought out more plainly. He creates
man and blesses him and detects his fall. By Him
Enoch is translated, and Hagar comforted. He appears
to Abraham in the plains of Mamre, and provides the
ram for him on Moriah. He is present with Jacob at
Bethel, in Haran, and in the going down to Egypt.
At the Exodus He destroys the first-born of the
Egyptians, and delivers His people with mighty signs
and becomes their King’.

1 In due connexion with the Wemra mediately derived from them. In

is the Shekinah, the one regarding
the active operation of God, the
other His visible presence. The
Shekinah however is rarely men-
tioned in the Targums [e.g. Ex. xxv.
8; Num. v. 3, ‘the Shekinah of the
‘Lord’(Onkelos),and more frequently
in the later Targums; cf. Buxt. Lex.
Rabb. 5.ν. Gen. ix. 27, already
quoted in p. 93, ἢ. 1, offers the most
remarkable example of the introduc-
tion of the Shekinah,] but frequently
in Zohar; while the title AZera is

found only in the Targums, or im-

some parallel passages of the Targum
both terms occur. Thus in Num.
xxiii, 21 Onkelos paraphrases: ‘The
‘Word of the Lord shall be their
‘help, and the Shekinah of their
‘King among them;’ and Pseudo-
Jonathan; ‘The Word of the Lord
‘shall be their help, and the tri-
‘umphal strain of King Messias shall
‘sound among them.’ Again in
Ex. xx. 24 the Shekinah in Onkelos
replaces the word of the Lord _in
Pseudo-Jonathan. And conversely
in Ex. xix. 17 and Deut. xxiii. 14

THE DOCTRINE ,OF THE WORD.

153

The representation of the nature and functions of |:

the Word in Philo is far removed from the simplicity
of this recognition of an outward Mediator. Various
influences combined to modify his doctrine, and the
enunciation of it is perplexed and inconsistent. The
very title Logos with its twofold meaning, speech and
reason, was a fruitful source of ambiguity’, and this
first confusion was increased by the tempting analogies
of Greek philosophy standing in conflict with Hebrew
belief in the absolute unity of God. As a necessary
consequence the Logos is described under th yr POSE,
varied forms. At one time it is the mind o i1
which the archetypal world exists, as the desi

[ God in bs
iD γὶ

Chap. li.
ii. Jz Egypt.
PuHILo.

The variety
and inconsis-
tency of Phe
lo’s views.

earthly fabric in the mind of the architect’.
time it is the inspirer of holy men, the spring and foot

of virtue. At another time it is the Son of God, the
First-born, all-pervading, all-sustaining, and yet per-
sonally distinct from God. At another time the con-
ception of two distinct divine personalities yields to the
ancient dogma, and the Logos though retaining its divine
attributes is regarded only as a special conception of

God, as reasoning, acting, creating.

Shekinah in the Pseudo-Jonathan
answers to the Word of the Lord in
Onkelos.

The first of the passages just
quoted has been brought forward to
establish the identity of the Word of
the Lord with Messiah [Schéttgen,
ΠῚ. 5,6; Bertholdt, ὃ 24: the pas-
sage quoted by the latter (note 3)
from Targ. Jon. Is. xlii. 1, is differ-
ently given by Schottgen, Ill. 431:
in quo Verbum meum (majestas mea)
sibt complacet|; but even if it were
less equivocal it could have but little
weight against the whole tenor of
early Jewish writings. Not only is
the proposed interpretation doubtful,
but elsewhere unparalleled, It is

worthy of notice that the eight names
of Messiah given in the JZidrash
Mishle (xiith cent.) on the authority
of ΚΕ. Huna (+ 290 A.D.) contain no-
thing to identify Him with the Word

or Shekinah. Compare the names’

given by Philo de Confus. Ling. § 28.
The union of the Shekinah with
Messiah is taught in Zohar. Cf.
Bertholdt, § 24, n. 3.

1 The distinction is recognised in |

the contrast of the λόγος προφορικός,
and the λόγος ἐνδιάθετος, de Vita
Mos, 111. 12, 11. p- 154.

2 De Mund. Opi. ὃ 4 ff., 1. pp. 4
ff. The whole passage is most cha-
racteristic and instructive.

154

THE S$EWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii.

Philo’s
interpreta-
tions com-
pared with
those in the
Targums.

The contrast between the wavering conceptions of
Philo and the simple statement of the Targumists is
seen clearly in the passages where they recognise in
common the presence of the Logos in the narrative of
the Pentateuch. Philo speaks of the Logos as that
through which the world was created’, but at the same
time as an ‘instrument’ (dpyavov)” ‘which still in after
‘time the pilot of the universe handles as a rudder
‘and so steers the course of all things®’ The Angel
which met Hagar was ‘the divine Word, but Hagar

|is said to be ‘routine learning’ (ἡ μέση καὶ ἐγκύκλιος

παιδεία), which twice flying from the presence of sove-
reign virtue (Sarah) is brought back by the divine Word
to the house of her Lord*. Jacob met the Word of
God at Bethel, even one of those ‘Words which God
‘sends to bring help to the lovers of virtue’.’ ‘An
‘Angel, a servant of God, the Word, changed the name
‘of Jacob, but the unalterable God changed the name
‘of Abraham’... The Word was the cloud which
separated the hosts of Israel and Egypt, to whom ‘the
‘Father who created (γεννήσας) the universe assigned
‘the special gift that standing on the confines He should
‘separate the created (τὸ γενόμενον) from Him that made
‘it. The same is at once the suppliant of the- mortal
“ever pining («npaivoytos) for the incorruptible, and the
‘envoy of the prince to the subject. Moreover he rejoices

“in the gift, and magnifying himself sets it forth saying :

1 De Monarch. ὃ 5,1. p. 225. notice. It occurs in the simplest

2 Leg. Alleg. 1.§ 9,1. p. 473 Ul.
$31, 1. p. 106. De Cherub. § 35,
I. p. 162.

% De Migr. Abr. § τ, 1. p. 437.

4 De Cherub. § 1, 1. p. 138. Cf.
de Prof. § 37, 1. p. 576.

5 De Somn. § 12, 1. p. 631. The
plural form (Adyo.) is worthy of

sense in Leg. Alleg. § 62, I. p. 122,
where οἱ ἄγγελοι Kal λόγοι are con-
trasted with αὐτὸς 6 ὦν. The trea-
tise de Post. Cain. 88. 9, 25; 26, I.
pp. 229, 241, 242, contains a very
interesting series of examples of its
usage.
8 De Mut. Nom. § 13, 1. Ὁ. 501.

THE FEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

155

‘And I stood between the Lord and you, being neither
‘unbegotten as God nor begotten as you, but a mean be-
‘tween the extremes, in contact (ὁμηρεύων) with both’
Even from these examples—and they might be
multiplied indefinitely—it is evident that Philo had
no uniform and distinct doctrine of the Logos. The
term in its manifold senses continually rules his thoughts,
and he deals with this more frequently than with the
great idea to which it was properly applied. An ap-
parent analogy, a striking incident, a passing phrase,
is sufficient to modify his statement and direct the
course of his reasoning. With him speculation had
arrived at the stage in which language domineers over
thought. But though it is impossible to decide abso-
lutely that Philo attributed to the Word a personal
and divine essence, and still more to bring all his state-
ments into harmony with one dogmatic scheme, there
is nevertheless a general tendency towards one issue
among the conflicting details which his writings contain,
one great current of thought which can be _ traced
throughout them in spite of the manifold eddies by
which it is disturbed. When he writes most independ-
ently he assigns to the Logos divine attributes? and
personal action*®; and at the same time he affirms in
the most decided manner the absolute indivisibility
of the divine nature’. The Word is neither an emana-
tion nor a created being, but rather God Himself under

1 Quis Rer. Div. Her. § 42, 1. p.
501. With the language here used
compare the title δεύτερος θεὸς quoted
from Philo by Eusebius, Prep. Zv.
Vil. 13. This title is indeed implied
in Leg. Alleg. § 73, 1. p. 128.

2 Asthe creation (de Monarch. ὃ 5,
I. 225) and preservation of the uni-
verse, Frag. 11. p.655: ὁ θεῖος λόγος
περιέχει τὰ πάντα καὶ πεπλήρωκεν.

Cf. Quis Rer. Div. Her. ὃ 38, 1. p.
499; de Profugis, § 20, I. p. 562.

5 As the ἀρχιερεύς, de Somn. § 37,
I. 653; εἰκὼν θεοῦ, de Mund. Ofif.
8 8, 1.6, &xc.; ἡμῶν τῶν ἀτελῶν θεός,
Leg. Alleg. § 73, 1. 128; ὕπαρχος,
de Somn. ὃ 41, 1. 656; cf. 1. 308.

* Quod Det. Potiort Insid. § 24,
I. 209.

Chap. ii.

In the midst

opinions one
general
tendency
may be
traced,

156

THE YEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSTAA.

Chap. ii.

---..

Vet the doc-
trine of the
Word ve-
mained
wholly un-
connected
with that of
the Messiah.

John i, 1, 14.

General
sumniary.

The frag-
mentariness
of the Few-
tsh hope.

a particular form, conceived as the source and centre
of vital energy. Combined with his other teaching
this view naturally leads to the conception of a twofold
personality in the Godhead. Even while he shrinks
from the recognition of such a doctrine’, his. arguments
must have led men to reflect upon it; and in this way,
without laying the actual foundation for the truth, he
prepared the ground on which it might be laid.

But the preparation which Philo made for the Gospel
was purely theological and speculative. His idea of
the Logos was wholly disconnected from all Messianic
hopes’. It was in fact to a great degree a philosophical
substitute for them. Philo may have conceived of the
Word as acting through Messiah, but not as one with
Him. The lines of thought which pointed to the action
of a second Person in the Godhead, and the victories
of some future human conqueror, were not even parallel,
but divergent. “It was reserved for St John to combine
the antithetic truths in one short divine phrase. Then
for the first time God, Man, Shekinah, Word, were
placed together in the most simple and sublime union:
Lhe Word was God, and the Word became flesh and
tabernacled among τ ἧς,

Little still remains to be said as to the relation
which the Messianic hope which has been now traced
in its various forms and bearings bore to its fulfilment.
One or two points however, which are often overlooked
in a mass of detail, may deserve some notice. And
the first thing which must strike any one who has
observed the manifold sources from which the several

1 De Somn. § 39, 1. 655.

2 On this point the testimony of
Origen is most important, ς. Ce/s. 11.
21: ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ πολλοῖς ᾿Ιουδαίοις καὶ
σοφοῖς γε ἐπαγγελομένοις εἶναι συμ.-

βαλὼν οὐδενὸς ἀκήκοα ἐπαινοῦντος τὸ
λόγον εἷναι τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, ὡς ὁ
Κέλσος εἴρηκε...

3 Cf. Apoc. xxi. 3 (shakan, habi-
tavit=oxnvow, Jud. vili. 11; G-c.).

consisted were known, but they were kept distinct.

THE FEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

157

traits of Messiah’s person have been drawn is the frag-
mentariness of the special conceptions formed of Him.
Most of the separate elements of which the whole truth

One feature was taken for the complete image; and
the only temper which excluded all error was that of
simple and devout expectation.

Yet while the results of the long and anxious
thought of the people were thus partial and uncombined,
each succeeding generation added something to the
heritage of the past and made a wider faith possible.
Step by step the majesty of Messiah was traced in
nobler lines in Henoch and Esdras; and if the subtle
speculations of the Hellenists on the action and revela-
tion of God had no direct Messianic application, they
familiarized the minds of men with thoughts essential
to the apprehension of the doctrine of an Incarnation.

‘Everything was ready’ for the work, but the work
of the Spirit was not yet done. The essentially divine
nature of Messiah was not acknowledged. The import
of His human nature was not felt. The full character
of his work with regard to man, to the nation, to the
world, was not apprehended. The consciousness of
personal sin turning the mind of the believer to:the |
thought of a new birth was hardly awakened. The
adoption of the nations to be joint-heirs with Israel
to a spiritual kingdom must have seemed impossible
till man’s personal relation to God was fully recognised.
And the wider effects of redemption could be regarded
only as material blessings till the full bearing of redemp-
tion on mankind was realized. Yet men were every-
where feeling after the truth which lay near to them.
And as it is impossible to conceive that any Jew could |
have pictured to himself Christ as He really came, so

ἱ

Chap. ii.

------

Its progress-
1veness.

Its defectse

158

THE F$EWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii.

Yet the pre-

paration
was cont-

pleted,

it is equally impossible to imagine any other Saviour
who could have satisfied all the wants which were felt
at the time of His coming. ,

Times of triumph and sorrow, the government of
judges, kings, and priests, the open manifestation of
divine power and the brilliant display of human courage,
the teaching of Prophets and the teaching of experience,
the concentration of Eastern meditation and the activity
of Western thought, the scepticism of learning and the
enthusiasm of hope, each form of discipline and each
phase of speculation, had contributed to bring out into
clear forms upon one narrow stage the spiritual capa-
cities and aspirations of men. Everything was ready,
and a brief space was sufficient for the Prophetic work
of Messiah. Disciples were waiting to recognise Him:
enemies had already rejected Him. His words found
everywhere a direct and characteristic application. His
presence was an instantaneous test of all that was par-
tial or transitory. The simple announcement of His
Advent was the Gospel: the record of His works and
words, in various scenes and before various classes, con-
tained the fulness of its special adaptations not for one
time only but for all times. For the manifoldness of the
elements which were combined in the Jewish people at
Christ’s coming provided not only for the rapidity of its
comprehension, but also for the typical completeness of
its history. And the narratives of this history, in their
origin and growth, in their common harmony and special
differences, in their fruitful combinations and distinct in-
dividuality, will now claim our attention. The voice
and power of the Saviour lives in them, and it is no false
reverence which bids us ‘fly to the Gospels as to the
‘Flesh’ (capxi)—the very outward manifestation—of the
long-expected ‘ Christ!

1 Ign. ad Philad, cap. v.

ik THE FEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

159

NOTES ON CHAPTER II.

NOTE I.

MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
COMPARED WITH THE CORRESPONDING INTERPRE-
TATIONS OF JEWISH COMMENTATORS.

Of the 94 passages from the Old Testament which are quoted in a
Messianic sense by the Apostolic writers, I have not been able to trace
more than 44 which are interpreted in the same manner in Jewish
writings. Many of these however are important, and all are interesting
as throwing a general light upon the system of Jewish interpretation.

Isai. vii. 14;

Mic. v. 23

Jer. xxxi. 15;

Matt. i. 23-24.

— ii. 6.

ερτῴαέ ii. 18.

Not applied to Messiah by the
Jews: Schottg. 11. 159; nor yet
the name /mmanuel. The words
were referred at an early time
to Hezekiah: cf. Just. M. Dial.
cc. 68, 71, 77. Sanhedr.c. 98.
Pearson On the Creed, pp. 323,
324 (ed. Cambr.). Hengsten-
berg, Christology, τ. p.63 (Eng.
Tr.).

Explained in the same way in
Targum (ad loc.). Pirke R.
Eliezer. So also Kimchi and
Abarbanel (Schéttg. 11. 213).
Cf. Tertull. c. Fwd. 13. Just. M.

Apol.1. 34. It is doubtful whe- |.

ther any other interpretation
was ever current: Hengsten-
berg, I. 187.

[Cf. Zohar, ad Gen.100 (Schittg.
II. 448); andad Exod.3 (Schattg.
I. 4).] |

Chap. ii.

160 THE $EWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

Chap. ii. Isai. xl. 3; Matt. iii. 3. [Cf. Pesikta Sotaria, 58, ad
Pigs Num. xxiv. 17 (Schottg. 11. 97;
141).]
— ix. I, 2; — iv. 15, 16. Not before Falkut Sim. 11. 182
(Schottg. 11. 160).
-— lili. 4; — viii. 17. Sanhedr. 98. Schottg. 11. 183.

For the history of the interpre-
tation compare Hengstenberg,
Il. 311 ff.
Meal; ἀπ Ἐπ: — xi. 10. Tanchuma, 66 (Schottg. 1. rrr).
‘God said, As there were spies
‘in the Old Testament, so shall
‘there be in the times of the
‘New Testament a messenger to
‘ prepare my way before me as it
‘iswritten.’ Cf. Schemoth R.131.
Debarim R. 256, in connexion
with Is. xl. 3 (Schottg. 11. 224).
Isai. xlil. 1-43 — xii. 18---21. So Zargum, Kimchi, Abarba-
nel.. Cf. Midrash Tehillim, 23
(Schottg. 11. 113), Pesikta R.
(Schottg. 11. 130). See Heng-
stenberg, 11. 197.
Zech. ix. 9; — XXi. 5. Sanhedr. 98. LBerachoth, 56.
Pirke R. Eliezer, 31 (Schéttg.
II. 220). In 27147. Scham,. 66, -
there is a comparison of the
first Goel (Moses: Ex. iv. 20)
with the second (Schdttg. 2, ¢.).
Cf. Bereshith R. 98 (Schottg.
II. 1045); Schottg. 1. 169; 11.
136, 139.
Ps. cxviii. 22; — xxl. 42. No trace in old writers (Schottg.
1. 173, 174), but so applied in
Zohar and later commentators:
Schottg. 11. 87, 88, τού, 107,
‘140, 290, 334, 407, 609. 4
— CX. 13 — XXxil. 44. Midr. Tehil. ad loc. (Schottg. 1.
192; 11. 246). Bereshith R. 83,
ad Gen. xxxvili. 18, applies ver.
3 to Messiah (Schéottg. I. 192).
— xxi. 1, 18; — xxvii. 35, 36. The Psalm generally was so
applied in later writings: Pe-
stkta R. Midr. Tehil.
| Isai. liv. 13; John vi. 45. Pestkta R. Bereshith R. Sche-

THE JEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

161

‘Isai. iii. 15
Zech. xii. 10;
Joel ii. 28-32;

Gen. xxii. 18;
Ps. ii. 1, 23

Isai. xlix. 63

Amos ix. II, 123

Isai. viii. 143
— li. 7;

Ps, xix. 43

Isai. lix. 21;

— xi. 103
— lxiv. 4;

Ps. x. 13

Levit. xxvi. II, 12)

Deut. xxi. 23;
Isai. liv. 1;

— lvii. 19;

Ps. χ]ν. Ay

Ὶ

Isai. viii. 18;
:

W.G.
:

John xii. 38.

— xix. 37.
Acts li, 17-21.

ee lil. 25.
“— iv. 25, 26.

— xiii. 33.
— xiii. 47.
— xv. 16, 17.
Rom. ix. 33.
— x. I5-

— xi. 18.
— xi. 27.

i τος τὶ XV. 12.

1 Cor. ii. 9.
— xX. 4.
== XV. 25e
2 Cor. vi. 16,
Gal. iii. 13.
— iv. 27.
Eph. ii. 17.
Hebr. i. 8, 9-

Hebr, ii. 13.

moth R. Debarim Κ᾽, (Schottg.
11. 185, 65, 67).

No trace ; but see Sanhedr. 98,
quoted above.

Succa 52, of Messiah the son of
Foseph. So Kimchi.
Siphri (Schottg. 11. 210). Bam-
midbar R. 231. Tanchuma, 14.
Bammidbar R. 184 (Schéottg.
It. 67) gives a different inter-
pretation.

Mechilta 3. Pirke R. Eliezer,
28. <Avoda Sara, 3 (Schottg.
II. 227, 228).

Midr. Tehil. Bereshith R.
(Schottg. 11. 228, 104).
Bereshith R. (Schottg. 11. 102).
Sanhedr. 96. The name of
Messiah is said to be filius ca-
dentis,

Sanhedr. 38 (Schottg. 11. 160).
Pestkta R. Vajikra R. Bere-
shith Δι (Schottg. 11. 179, 100).
No trace in early writings. Zo-
har (Schottg. 11. 230).
Sanhedr. 98. Bereshith R. 37
(Schottg. 11. 187, 184).
Targum. Sanhedr. 93. Rashe.
Kimchi. Abarbanel (Schottg.
11. 161).

PestkiaR. Schemoth R. (Schottg.
II. 195).

Cf. Zarg. Isai. xvi. I.

Cf. supra.

Pesikta Sotarta, 34. Tanchuma
(Schottg. II. 150).

Cf. Schottg. ad loc.

Gibborim, 49 (Schottg. I. 749).
Bereshith R. 37 (Schottg. τι.
384).

Only in Zohar: Schottg. 11. 115.
Targum. So Aben Ezra
(Schottg. I. 924).

Cf. Schottg. I. 933? from Isai.
xlii. 1.

Chap. ii. |

-----

162

THE JEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAZ.

Chap. ii.

Ps. xcv. 7-113 Hebr. iii. 7-11. “Midr. Tehil. 36. Shir hasht-
vim, 25 (Schottg. 11. 243).
— CX. 4; — vy. 6. No Jewish writer regarded

Melchizedek as a type of Christ
(Schottg. 1. 949). Cf. Schottg.
11. 645 for a spurious passage
from Bereshith R.

Jerem. xxxi. 31-343 --- viii. 8-12. Pesikta R. (Schottg. 1. 970).

Hab. ii. 3, 43 — x. 37, 38. Sanhedr. 97 (Schéttg. 11. 215).

Hagg. ii. 6; — xii. 26. Debarim R. 250 (Schottg. 11.
207; cf. 75).

Tsai, xxviii. τό: tet τς ἡ. Targum? Cf. Schottg. 11. 170.
So Rashe.

— lili. 9, 4; — ii. 22, 24. Cf. supra.
Dan. vii. 133 Apoc. i. 7, £3. Sanhedr. 98 (Schottg. I. 1151).
Zech, xii. 103 — i. 7. Cf. supra.

Ps. il. 9; — li. 27. Cf. supra.

The above list is derived almost exclusively from Schéttgen and not
from the original authorities, nor have I verified the references, but it will
be found I trust sufficiently accurate to serve as the basis of further inves-
tigations. The history of the later Jewish doctrine of the Messiah is at
present as confused and unsatisfactory as that of earlier date.

The preceding chapter’was written before I had read Jost’s later history
(Geschichte des Fudenthums, τ. Leipsic, 1857). The account which he gives
of the Jewish Messianic hope at the time of our Lord (pp. 394—402)
seems to me to omit several important features; and while the Christian
scholar will gratefully acknowledge his candour and largeness of view, yet
his conception of the rise of Christianity is necessarily imperfect in its
essence. His arguments have not induced me to change any of my
conclusions; and in spite of his criticism I still think that Ewald has
apprehended most fully the nature of the elements in Judaism which con-
tributed to form the foundation of a Catholic Church.

THE JE WISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

163

NOTE 11.
THE CHRISTOLOGY OF THE SAMARITANS.

The narrative of St John (c. iv.), and the ready welcome which was
afterwards given by the people of Samaria to the teaching of the Apostles
(Acts viii. 4 ff.), combine to invest the Messianic expectations of the Sama-
ritans with great interest. And this interest is further increased by the fact
that Simon Magus, the most influential false teacher of the first age, was
himself a native of a village of Samaria (Just. M. Ajo/. 1. 26; Clem. Hom.
II. 22), and found the readiest acceptance of his prophetic claims among
the Samaritans (Acts viii. 9, 10; Just. 4 c.). Little remains however of
the scanty Samaritan literature, and, that only in an imperfect and altered
form (Gesenius, Aumnal. Oriental. 1. 1824. Jost, Gesch. d. Fudenthums, 1.
83 ff.). But the same causes which confined the literary activity of an
isolated people tended to preserve their traditions and usages unaltered;
and at an early period an attempt was made to derive some clear know-
ledge of the opinions of the Church from the testimony of its priests. The
correspondence was opened by J. C. Scaliger in 1580, and was continued
by some English scholars from 1672 to 1689, by Ludolf in 1685, and by
Sylv. de Sacy in the present century. The whole correspondence has been
collected and edited by Sylv. de Sacy in an essay in Wottces εἰ extraits des
Manuscrits de la Biblioth. du Rot, xi. 1 ff. 1831, which still remains the
classical authority upon the subject. (Cf. Sylv. de Sacy, Mémoire sur [état
actuel des Samaritains, Paris, 1812.)

In the English correspondence the doctrine of Messiah—Hashaéd or
Hfathaé, i.e. the Converter, at present Z/ Muhdy, i.e. the Guide (Robins,
11. 278), in the Samaritan nomenclature—forms a prominent subject. Ina
letter written to the English in 1672 the Samaritans ask, ‘What is the
‘name of Hashab who shall appear? and when shall we have consolation,
‘and come from under the hands of the sons of Ishmael?’ (Sylv. de Sacy,
pp- 181, 191). In the reply reference is made to Gen. iii. 15; xlix. 10;
Deut. xviii. 15; Numb. xxiv. 17. The Samaritans in answer express sur-
prise that no mention is made of Gerizim (p. 20g); but they recognise the
application of the prophecies, with the exception of Gen, iii. 15 and xlix. ro,
and speak of the expected Deliverer as ‘a flaming furnace, and a lamp of
‘fire (Gen. xy. 17), to whom the nations shall be subjected.’ Our doctors
have taught us, they add, that ‘this Prophet will arise, and that all people
‘will be subdued unto Him, and believe on Him, and on the holy Law,

Chap. ii,

THE JEWISH DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH.

‘and on Mount Gerizim; and that the religion of Moses will appear with
‘glory; and that the first name of this Prophet who shall rise will be [M.],
‘that he will die and be buried near to Joseph the son of Phorath (2.6.
“ΓΒ 13, Gen. xlix. 22); and that the tabernacle will be brought to sight
‘by his ministry and be established on Mount Gerizim’ (it was supposed to
be hidden there. Cf. Friedrich, de Christol. Samar. p. 76). In the later
correspondence with Sylv. de Sacy (1808) it is said: ‘The doctrine of Ha-
‘thab, who will come and manifest His spirit, is a great mystery. We shall
‘be happy when He comes. We have prodigies by which we shall recog-
‘nise Him, and we know His name [Messiah] according to the Rabbis.
‘That which you say of Shiloh is true: he hated the law of Moses’ (p. 30).
On this last point the Samaritan doctrine is especially worthy of notice.
The allusion to Shiloh (Gen. xlix. 10) is not applied to the Messiah, but to
an enemy of the Law, perhaps, it is said, to Solomon (p. 29). These par-
ticulars derived from letters are confirmed in detail by a conversation which
Dr Wilson held with De Sacy’s correspondent on the Samaritan Christo-
logy, but the conversation furnished no fresh information on the subject
(Lands of the Bible, τι. 51 ff.).

It must be allowed however that beyond the mere ΠΡ expectation
of a deliverer to restore the glory of the Law upon Gerizim, based appa-
rently on Deut. xviii. 15, little else is certainly established by this evidence.
The form in which the inquiries were suggested may be supposed in several
cases to have modified the answers. On the other hand nothing can be
more arbitrary than the statement of Br. Bauer, who supposes that the
Samaritans borrowed the notion of Messiah entirely from the later Jews.
Cf. Friedrich, Discussionum de Christologia Samar. liber, Lipsiz, 1821:
Gesenius, de Samar. Theologia, Halle, 1824.

At present the miserable remnant of the Samaritans who still occupy
a few houses at Nablous appears to be fast hastening to extinction, perse-
cuted and demoralized. See Bargés, Les Samur. de Naplouse, Paris, 1855:
Jost, Gesch. d. Fudenth. pp. 79 ff.: Robinson, Biblical Researches, τι. 275 ff.
III, 129 ff. Ed, 2: Mills, Zhree Months Residence at Nablus, Lond. 1864.

CHAPTER III.

The Origin of the Gospels.

Ἡ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων παρακαταθήκη διὰ τῆς γραφῆς λαλοῦσα ὑπουργῷ
χρῆται τῷ γράφοντι πρὸς τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν ἐντευξομένων.
CLEM. ALEX.

DISTINCT conception of the spirit of the Apo-

-& stolic age is necessary for a right understanding of
the relation of the Gospel to the Gospels—of the divine
message to the lasting record—at the rise of Christianity’,
Experience has placed in so clear a light the fulness
and comprehensiveness of the Christian Scriptures, that
it is natural to suppose that they must have occupied
from the first the position which the Church has assign-
ed to them. But this idea is an anachronism both in

fact and in thought.

1 The literature of the subject is
so extensive that it would be impos-
sible to give even a general summary
of it. Many of the most important
essays will be mentioned in the
course of the chapter. Those of
Gieseler (Historisch-kritischer Ver-
such tiber die Entstehung. .der Schrift-
lichen Evangelien, Leipzig, 1818) and
Ewald (Fahrbiicher, 1848, 77) repre-
sent with the greatest power the ex-
treme form of the ‘oral’ and ‘docu-
mentary’ hypotheses. Thiersch has
some good general remarks in his
Versuch zur Herstellung des Histort-
schen Standpunkts fiir die Krittk d.
Neutest. Schrift. (Erlangen, 1845),
and the tract by which it was fol-

The men who were enabled to

lowed, Einige Worte iiber d. Aechth.
εἰ. Neutest. Schrift. (Erlangen, 1846),
but they are joined with many ex-
aggerations. The object of the pre-
sent chapter is rather to excite and
guide inquiry than to discuss fully
the question of the origin of the
Gospels in all its bearings—a sub-
ject far too vast for the space which
can be given to it. [I cannot say
that the arguments of Dr Roberts in
his very interesting Déscussions on
the Gospels have led me to modify
my conclusions in any respect. The
article on Gosfels in the last edition
of the Encyclopedia Brittanica gives
an account of the later literature. ]

Chap. iii.
The spiri-
tual position
of the Apo-
stles incom-

patible with
the design of
Sorming a
permanent
Christian
literature,
and yet

166

THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

‘Chap. iii.

JSavourable
to its fornt-
ation.

penetrate most deeply into the mysteries of the new
revelation, and to apprehend with the most vigorous
energy the change which it was destined to make in the —
world, seem to have placed little value upon a written
witness to words and acts which still as it were lived
among them, They felt as none else ever can feel the
greatness of the crisis in which they were placed, and
the calm progress of common life appeared to be for
ever interrupted by the spiritual revolution in which
they were called to take part. The ‘coming age’ to
which they looked was not one of arduous conflict, but
of completed triumph. The close of the old dispensa-
tion and the consummation of the new were combined
in one vision. The outward fashion of the world—the
transitory veil which alone remained—was passing away.
The long development of a vast future was concentrated
in the glory of its certain issue. But while everything
shews that the Apostles made no conscious provision for
the requirements of after times in which the life of the
Lord would be the subject of remote tradition, they ©
were enabled to satisfy a want which they did not anti-
cipate. The same circumstances which obscured their
view of the immediate future gave to the time in which
they lived its true significance. They pierced beneath
the temporal and earthly to the spiritual and eternal.
Men wrote history as it had never been written, to
whom the present seemed to have no natural sequel, and
unfolded. doctrine with far-seeing wisdom, while they
looked eagerly for that divine presence in which all par-
tial knowledge should be done away. That which was
in origin most casual became in effect most permanent
by the presence of a divine energy; and the most
striking marvel in the scattered writings of the New
Testament is the perfect fitness which they exhibit for

ΓῚ

THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

167

fulfilling an office of which their authors appear

themselves to have had no conception.

The intensity of the hope cherished by the first
Christian teachers was not more unfavourable to con-
scious literary efforts on their part than their original
national character. It was most unlikely that men who
had been accustomed to a system of training generally
if not exclusively oral should have formed any design
of committing to writing a complete account of the his-
tory or of the doctrines of the Gospel. The whole in-
fluence of Palestinian habits was most adverse to such
an undertaking. The rules of Scriptural interpretation,
the varied extensions of the Law, and the sayings of
the elders, were preserved either by oral tradition, or
perhaps in some degree in secret rolls, till the final dis-
persion of the Jewish nation led to the compilation of
the Mishnah. Nothing less than the threatened destruc-
tion of the traditional faith occasioned the abandonment
of the great rule of the schools. ‘Commit nothing to
‘writing’ was the characteristic principle of the earlier
Rabbins, and even those who like Gamaliel were fami-
liar with Greek learning faithfully observed it. Nor
could it be otherwise. The Old Testament was held to
be the single and sufficient source of truth and wisdom,
the reflection of divine knowledge, and the embodiment
of human feeling. The voice of the teacher might en-
force or apply its precepts, but it admitted no definite
additions. The various avenues to an independent lite-
rature were closed by the engrossing study of the Law;
and an elaborate ritualism occupied the place of a po-
pular exposition of its precepts. The learned had no
need for writing, and the people had no need of books.

1 Cf. Jost, Geschichte des Fudenthums, τ. 367.

Chap. iii.

The nation-
al character
of the later
Palestinian
Fews gene-
rally

alien front
literature ;
a.

168

THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iii.

this was
more espe-
cially the
case in Gali-
lee among
the peasant
class,

I. The Oral
Gospel.

1. These ge-
neral obsta-
cles to the
conscious
JSormation of
a Christian
literature
were in-
criased by
the special
work of the
Apostles in
preaching.

The Scriptures contained infinite subjects for meditation
in their secret depths; and the practice of Judaism fur-
nished an orthodox commentary upon their general
purport, open alike to all, clearly intelligible and abso-
lutely authoritative.

Tradition was dominant in the schools, and from the
schools it passed to the nation; for the same influence
which affected the character of the teachers must have
been felt still more powerfully by the great mass of the
Jews. In their case the want of means was added to
the want of inclination. In the remoter regions of the
north the impediments to the simplest learning were
still greater than those which prevailed at Jerusalem.
The school of Tiberias grew up only after the fall of

the Temple; and the faithful zeal of the Galilaans

may be rightly connected with their intellectual sim-
plicity. To descend one step further: the art of writing
itself was necessarily rare among the peasantry, and the
instinct of composition proportionately rarer. From all
these circumstances, from their nation, their province,
their class, their education, the first Christians were pri-
marily unfitted for forming any plan of a comprehensive
religious literature. If they were writers, it could only
have been by the providential influence of circumstances,
while they were oral teachers by inclination and habit.

But it may be rightly said that such obstacles as
these are only important when they fall in with others
which lie deeper; for men become great writers, even in
common life, not so much by discipline as by instinct.
In the case of the Apostles however these further ob-
stacles were not wanting; their external disinclination
for literature was unremoved if not increased by their
special work, Both from the nature of their charge and

THE ORAL GOSPEL.

169

the character of their hearers they sought other means |,

of fulfilling their great commission than such as books
afforded. Their Master enjoined on them during His
presence and at the moment of His departure to preach
the Gospel. And while they fulfilled the office for which
they were fitted no less by habit than by the effusion of
the Holy Spirit, they could not have felt that more was
needed for the permanent establishment of the Christian
society. How shall men believe without a preacher
(κηρύσσων)! is the truest expression of the feeling and
hope of the Apostles. They cherished the lively image
of the Lord’s life arid teaching without any written out-
line from His hand; and they might well hope that the
Spirit which preserved the likeness in their hearts might
fix it in the hearts of others. Christianity was con-
trasted with Judaism as a dispensation of the Spirit and
not of the letter; the laws of which were written not on
tables of stone but on the souls of believers. The sad
experience of ages has alone shewn the necessity that an
unchanging record should co-exist with a living body:
in the first generation the witness of the spoken word
and the embodiment of the word in practice belonged
to the same men.

it must not however be supposed that this tendency
to preach rather than to write was any drawback to the
_ final completeness of the Apostolic Gospel. It was in
fact the very condition and pledge of its completeness.
Naturally speaking, the experience of oral teaching was
required in order to bring within the reach of writing
the vast subject of the Life of Christ ; and it cannot be
urged that any extraordinary provision was made for
the fulfilment .of a task which is now rightly felt to
have been of the utmost importance. The Gospel was
a growth, and not an instantaneous creation. The

Chap. iii.

----

Rom. x. 14.

But this
preaching
was the true
Joundation
of the Gos-
pels,

170

THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iii.

John xx. 30,
STs XX1. 23,

Gospels’ were the results and not the foundation of the
Apostolic preaching. Without presuming to decide how
far it would have been possible, in accordance with the
laws of divine action, to produce in the Apostles an im-
mediate sense of the relation which the history of the
Life of Christ occupied towards the future Church, it is
evident that the occasion and manner in which they
wrote were the results of time and previous labour.
The wide growth of the Church furnished them with an
adequate motive for adding a written record to the tes-
timony of their living words; and the very form of the
Gospels was only determined by the experience of
teaching. The work of an Evangelist was thus not the
simple result of divine Inspiration or of human thought,
but rather the complex issue of both when applied to
such a selection of Christ’s words. and works as the
varied phases of the Apostolic preaching had shewn
to be best suited to the wants of men. The primary
Gospel was proved, so to speak, in life, before it was
fixed in writing. Out of the ccuntless multitude of
Christ’s acts, those were selected and arranged during
the ministry of twenty years which were seen to have
the fullest representative significance for the exhibition
of His divine Life. The oral collection thus formed
became in every sense coincident with the ‘Gospel ;’

1 By the Gospels in this con- the words described

nexion I understand the first three
‘Synoptic’ Gospels. The Gospel of
St John stands ona different footing
in some respects, as exhibiting the
result of the peculiar experience of
one Apostle and not the first and
common experience of all. The
terms Synoptist, Synoptical, as ap-
plied to the first three Evangel-
ists appear to date from the time
of Griesbach, though they were
brought into general use by Neander.

Originally
simply those Evangelic writers
whose narratives were naturally
arranged together in a Synopsis, as
agreeing in the main both in sub-
stance and in arrangement. Ac-
cording to later usage the words
serve to express also the common
character of the first three Gospels,
as giving a general view of the
Lord’s ministry unbroken by the
festival visits to Jerusalem recorded
by St John.

THE ORAL GOSPEL.

171

and our Gospels are the permanent compendium of its
contents.

This then was the first great stage in the Apostles’
work—the first step in the composition of the Gospels
—to adapt the lessons which they learned with Christ
to the requirements of the growing Church. Every
detail of their conduct tends to indicate the clearness
with which they apprehended the requirements of. their
office, and fulfilled them by the guidance of. the pro-
mised Spirit. They remained together at Jerusalem in
close communion for a period long enough to shape
a common narrative, and to fix it with the requisite
consistency. They recognised that their message was
popular and historic. The place of instruction was the
synagogue and the market-place, and not the student’s
chamber. The qualification for the Apostolate was per-
sonal acquaintance with Christ; and St Paul admitted
the condition, and affirmed that he had fulfilled it. Of
the great majority of the Apostles all that we know
certainly is that they were engaged in this first charge
of instructing orally the multitudes who were waiting to
welcome their tidings. The common work of ‘the
‘Twelve’ was prayer and the ministry of the word, though
the labours of all are summed up in the acts of two
or three. The rest of the Apostles were engaged with
St Peter on the day of Pentecost, and guided by their
teaching (διδαχή) the new converts. Signs were wrought
by their hands to arrest the attention of their hearers
(τέρατα) and symbolize the purport of their message
(onueta)—the testimony of the Resurrection. The Apo-
stles in a body were brought before the council and
beaten and forbidden Zo speak in the name of Fesus.
And when all others were scattered, they remained
stedfastly at Jerusalem watching the progress of the

Chap. iii.

—_

Its intport-

ance recog-

nised by the
Apostles:

Acts i. 21, 22;
τ: Cor. xv. 8,
9.

Acts vi. 4.

Acts ii. 37,
42.

. Acts ii. 43.

Acts v. 12.

Acts iv. 33.
Acts v. 18,

29, 40.

Acts viii. 1,

14. 5
Acts xi. ff,
Acts xv. 21.

172

THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iii.

Apoc. xxi.14,

by the Chris-
tian fathers:

by common
language. .

The Old
Testament
the written
testimony.

Church, supplying its wants, and, regulating its disci-
pline. The twelve foundations of the wall of the city of
God bore the names of the twelve Apostles’.

The earliest fathers saw in this energy of teaching
the right fulfilment of the mission of the Apostles.
They were likened to the twelve gems upon the robes
of the great High Priest, which should give light to the
Church’. ‘The Elders refrained from writing, it is
said, ‘because they would not interrupt the care which
‘they bestowed on teaching orally by the care of com-
‘position, nor expend in writing the time required for
‘the preparation of their addresses. ‘Perhaps they —
‘felt,’ it is added, ‘that the functions of the speaker and
‘writer were incompatible ; and saw in books only the
‘written confirmation for after time of the instruction
‘which they conveyed at present®.’

Common language bears unequivocal witness to the
general prevalence of the same view, Till the end of
the first century, and probably till the time of Justin
Martyr, the ‘Gospel’ uniformly signifies the substance
and not the record of the Life of Christ. The Evan-
gelist was not the compiler of a history, but the mis-
sionary who carried the good-tidings to fresh countries ;
the bearer and not the author of the message. Timothy
was charged to fulfil the work of an Evangelist ; and
Evangelists are enumerated by St Paul with Apostles
and Prophets and Teachers among the ministers of the
Church*. é

In the mean time, if any written evidence for the
facts of the Gospel were needed, it was found already in

1 Compare the habitual use of
‘hearing’ in connexion with the
contents of the Gospel : Eph. iv. 21;

1 John ii. 7, 18, 24 &c.
2 Tertull. adv. Mare. 1V.13, p.229.

3 Clem. Alex. Zclog. Proph. § 27,
p- 996 Ρ. oR oat Ne

4 \iph. iv. 11; comp. 2 Tim. iv. 5.
Cf. Euseb. #. £. 111. 37. Neander,
Pfhlanz. u. Lett. 1, 205 2.

ΖΩΖΕ ORAL GOSPEL.

173

the deep words of the Prophets. In passing over to
Christianity the Jew did not lay aside his reverence for
the Scriptures, but rather seemed to have gained the
clue to their meaning which he before had wanted. <Ad/
the Prophets spoke of Christ, and to this central sub-
ject everything was referred. Nor was this conviction,
however difficult it may be for us to apprehend its
intensity, partial either in its acceptance or in its
action. The same appeals are made to the fulness of
the Scriptures in the teaching of St Paul and of the
twelve, before the assemblies of the Jews and of the
Gentiles. The written Gospel of the first period of the
Apostolic age was the Old Testament interpreted by
the vivid recollection of the Saviour’s ministry. The
preaching of the Apostles was the unfolding of the Law
and the prophets’.

Even in the sub-apostolic age the same general feel-
ing survived, though it was modified by the growing
organization of the Christian Church. The knowledge
of the teaching of Christ and of the details of His life
was generally derived from tradition and not from
writings. The Gospels were not yet distinguished by
this their prophetic title. The Oid Testament was still
the great storehouse from which the Christian teacher
derived the sources of consolation and conviction. And
at the close of the second century Irenzeus, after spéak-
ing of the Scriptures—the sum of the Apostolic teach-

ing—as ‘the foundation and pillar of our faith,’ speaks |

of a ‘tradition manifested in the whole world, and ‘kept
‘in the several churches through the succession of the
‘presbyters”.’

᾿ Compare Acts ii. “τό, 28, 343 xviii. 28.

‘ ili, 18, 21, 22, 243 iv. I13 Vill. 32 2c. Her. 1. ἸΟῪ; 2.1. The sub-
ff.; ix. 22; xiii. 27, 33; xvii. 2, 3; stance of this paragraph is wrought

Chap. iii.

Acts iii. 21,
24.

Acts xxviii.
23.

This convic-
tion lasted
practically
to the close
of the second
century.

174

THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iii.
2. The Afo-
stolic Gospel
was historic.
This appears
Srom

(a) the de-
scription of
the Apostolic
work ;

Acts i. 21, 22,

In one respect the testimony of Irenzeus—the con-
necting link of the east and west—is extremely im-
portant, as distinctly recognising the historic element
in the Apostolic tradition. The great outlines of the
life of Christ were received, he says*, by barbarous
nations without written documents (size literis) by an-
cient tradition: and this combination of facts and doc-
trine existed from the first. ‘The Gospel,’—the sum,
that is, of the oral teaching—in the language of Ignatius
represents ‘the flesh (σάρξ) of Jesus®.”’ The Saviour’s
personal presence was perpetuated in the living voice
of His Church. At a still earlier time the writings
of the New Testament contain abundant proof that
the ‘ Gospel’ of the first age was not an abstract state-
ment of dogmas, but a vivid representation of the truth
as seen in the details of the Saviour’s life. The Acts
of the Apostles and the Apostolic letters—the first
preaching and the subsequent instruction of the
Churches—shew that the facts of the life of Christ
were the rule by which the work of the Christian
teacher was measured,

The first common act of the Apostolic body affirms
in the most striking manner the position which they
claimed to fill with regard to the Saviour’s ministry.
Not only was it necessary that the Apostle should be
a witness of the Resurrection, but the qualification for

|giving this testimony was to be derived from a con-

tinuous intercourse with the constant companions of
the Lord from the baptism of Fohn to the Ascension.
The Resurrection was the victory which the preacher
had to proclaim; but the victory was the issue of a

out in detail in the History of the ᾿ 1 Tren. c. Her. Ill. 4. 2.
on of the New Testament, pp. 2 Ignat. ad Phil. cap. 5.
52 ff.

THE ORAL GOSPEL.

175

long battle, and found its outward completion in a
triumph. Each event in the life of Christ contributed
to the final issue; and as the busy prelude of word and
work first introduced the closing scenes of suffering and
glory, so was it in after times. The ministry of the
Saviour was felt to be the necessary preparation for His
Passion. The Apostles could not but speak the things
which they had seen and heard’, The teaching and the
acts of Christ were a necessary part of the message of
men who were specially charged with the witness to His
Resurrection ?.

The more exact records of the preaching of the
Apostles confirm the impression which is produced by
the general description of their office. The Gospel was
felt to contain not only a doctrine (διδάξαι) but an
announcement (ἀναγγεῖλαι) ; and the simplest expression
of its contents was the testimony of the resurrection
of the Lord Fesus, or in two words only, Fesus ἐς the
_Lord*. When Philip preached at Samaria he spoke
concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Fesus
Christ, of the outward establishment of the Church
and of the personal work of the Saviour; and the same
twofold subject was the substance of St Paul’s preaching
at Rome, when he received for two whole years all that
came in unto him. Nor are examples wanting to shew
in what way the historic groundwork of the faith was
laid. In the two cases in the Acts where the message
of Christianity is delivered in detail to those who were
waiting for instruction, ‘the great announcement’ is
conveyed by the outline of the ministry of Christ. St
xili. 31, in which passage St Paul
specially notices the office of the
Apostles to witness δεγζζο the people.

3 Κύριος ᾿Ιησοῦς. Comp. 1 Cor.
xii. 3; Rom. x. 9.

1 In this passage Peter and John
are represented as speaking, and it
is impossible not to recal x John i.
I—3.

_ 2 Acts ii. 323 111. 15; iv. 33; and

Chap. iii.

Acts iv. 19,
20.

(B) the re-
cords of the
Apostolic
preaching;
and

Acts xx. 20.

Acts iv. 33;
Xi. 20.
Acts vili. 12.

Acts xxviii.
30 31.

Acts x. 36—
433 xiii, 23—

gfe

176

THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iii.

---.-.

Acts xx, 20.

Actsii. 22 τῆ;
iii. 13 ff.; iv.
8 ff.; v. 30;
XVil. 2, 3;
XxVi, 23.

Peter before Cornelius, and St Paul in the Synagogue
at Antioch, sketch shortly the significant traits of the
Saviour’s life within the very limits which were marked
from the first, the Baptism of Fohn and the Ascension.
There is however a difference between the two addresses, —
which is of considerable moment towards the apprecia-
tion of the form in which the Apostolic teaching was
conveyed both publicly and also from house to house.
The address of St Paul was public and, so to speak,
ecclesiastical: that of St Peter was private and cate-
chetical. The one appears to lead to further inquiry,
the other is crowned directly by baptism. The words
of St Peter convey in fact a short Gospel, and in this
not only the substance but also the outline of the later —
Creed. He marks the date of Christ’s appearance (after
the Baptism which Fohn preached), the place from which
He came, and the inauguration of His work (Low God
anointed Fesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and
with power), the point from which His ministry com-
menced, and the extent to which it spread (throughout
all Fudea...beginning from Galilee), the signs by which
His presence was attended, and the different localities
in which they were shewn (zz the'land of the Fews and
in Ferusalem), His Crucifixion, His Resurrection on the
third day, His manifestation to His chosen witnesses,
His great charge, His coming to judgment. But while
the personal instruction of individuals appears to have
embraced the whole ministry of Christ, the public testi-
mony of the Apostles was centred in the facts of the
Passion and Resurrection. These form the prominent
subjects of the message which they delivered to the
general gathering of the Jews and to the council, in the
synagogues and before the judgment-seat; and the
same cardinal ee are described with the

THE ORAL GOSPEL.

177

greatest fulness in the written Gospels are noticed

with the most minute detail in the speeches of the
Acts’,

The letters of the Apostles are the sequel to their
preaching, called out in most cases by special circum-
stances, and dealing rather with the superstructure than
with the basis of Christianity. The common ground-
work of facts is assumed as lying at the bottom of all
reasoning, but as a natural consequence it is not noticed
except by implication or allusion. Christ was set before

the eyes of the Galatians as crucified, with the clearness’

of an open proclamation (κατ᾽ ὀφθαλμοὺς mpoeypadn).
The Gospel which St Paul proclaimed to the Corinthians
was the story of the death and Resurrection of Christ.
In speaking to the Thessalonians it is evident that he
had dwelt upon the great issue of the Resurrection, the
second coming of the Lord. And everything tends to
shew that the traditions? which formed an important

1 The betrayal (Acts ii. 23); the
condemnation by the Sanhedrin (xiii.
27); the failure of the charge (xiii.
28); the conduct of Pilate (iii. 13)
and of Herod (iv. 27); the choice
of Barabbas (iii. 14); the urgency of
the people and rulers at Jerusalem
(xiii. 27, 28); the Crucifixion (iv.
IO; Vv. 30; x. 39) by the hand of
Gentiles (ii. 23); the Burial (xiib.
29); the Resurrection on the third
day (x. 40); the manifestation to
foreordained witnesses (x. 41) for
many days (xiii. 31) who did eat and
drink with Him after He rose (x.
41); the charge to the Apostles
(x. 42); the Ascension to the right
‘hand of God (ii. 33; iii. 21).

2 This follows from the usage of
the correlative. words παραδιδόναι,
παράδοσις, παραλαμβάνειν. Luke i.
2: καθὼς παρέδοσαν ἡμῖν ol dm’ ἀρχῆς
αὐτόπται καὶ ὑπηρέται... (the events
of the ministry of Christ). 1 Cor.

W.G.

ΧΙ. 23: ἐγὼ yap παρέλαβον ἀπὸ [not
παρά] τοῦ Κυρίου ὃ καὶ παρέδωκα
ὑμῖν... (the details of the Last Sup-
per). 1 Cor. xv. 3: mapédwxa...d
καὶ παρέλαβον (the details of the
Passion and Resurrection). These
unequivocal examples of a historical
tradition illustrate the other pas-
sages in which the words are used
in a more general sense: Rom. vi.
17; εἰς dv παρεδόθητε τύπον διδαχῆς.
1 Cor. xi. 2: καθὼς παρέδωκα ὑμῖν
τὰς παραδόσεις κατέχετες. Jude 3:
τῇ ἅπαξ παραδοθείσῃ τοῖς ἁγίοις πί-
στει. 2 Thess. ii. 15; (iii. 6) ; Gal.
i. 9; 1 Thess. ii. 13. Compare also
παρὰκαταθήκη, παραθήκη, 1 Tim. vi.
20, 2 Tim i. 12, 14, with Clem.
Ecl. Proph. §.27: ἡ γὰρ τῶν πρε-
σβυτέρων παρακαταθήκη διὰ τῆς γρα-
φῆς λαλοῦσα ὑπουργῷ χρῆται τῷ
γράφοντι πρὸς τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν
ἐντευξομένων.

Chap. iii.

-------

(y) the con-
tents of the
Apostolic
letters.

Gal. iii. x,

τ Cor. xv. 1—
4.

THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

SZ JAMES
andSt JUDE.

Sz PETER,
ist Epistle.

part of the Apostolic teaching included the details of the:
Lord’s ministry, which were committed to the Evangelist
as the rule of his. work. But the Epistles themselves
were not designed for elementary teaching, but for the
further instruction of those who were familiar with the
great outlines of the revelation of godliness which were
embodied in the baptismal confession. This confession
however was the standard of Christian thought; and
in spite of the character which was necessitated by their
destination, the Epistles contain in scattered notices a
airly complete sketch of the life of Christ, such as
might be gathered from the letters of a missionary of
the‘present day thoroughly familiar with the substance
of the\Gospels.

The Epistles of St James and St Jude are in this
respect distinguished from the other Apostolic writings,
for, with the exception of the allusions to the presence
of the Lord ¥esus Christ, they contain no reference to
the details of His work’. But even thus they bear indi-
rect testimony to the existence of a traditional Gospel.
The language of St James offers the most striking coin-
cidences with the language of our Lord’s discourses*;
and St Jude speaks of the mest holy faith, the basis
of the Christian life, not as a simple principle, but as a
sum of facts®*.

The first Epistle of St Peter bears in every chapter
the vivid image of Christ’s sufferings (i. 21; ii. 21 ff.;
1Π τ, ἀν I, 13; ν, 1). “It ‘Seems es “af “the poste

1 James v. 8; Jude 24. James ili. 12 || Matt. vii. 16.
2 James i. 5, 6 || Matt. vii. 7; Cf. Credner, Ziz/. § 321, Ὁ. 608. In
. ΧΧΙ. 22. James v. 12 || Matt. v. 36, 37, there
ele 2 | — vii. 21. is a coincidence with the Clementine
— Ue. 6 Il — veg reading τὸ vat val...rd ov οὔ (Hom.
(Le.vi.20). 111. §53 XIX. 2).
— —13 | — v. γ. 3 Jude 20.

—ili, 1 |. — xxiii. 8,

THE ORAL GOSPEL.

179 |

delighted to turn back with penitent and faithful gaze
to the scene of his own fall and his Master’s love, as
he pictures Him silent and uncomplaining before His

accusers, and bears witness to others of what he had

himself seen (ν. 1). But St Peter does not confine his

allusions to the humiliation of Christ, to His rejection

(ii. 4, 7, 8), His Crucifixion (ii. 24), His death (i. 2, 19):
he speaks of His eternal election (i. 20), and records
with confident hope His resurrection (i. 3, 21; iii. 21)
and exaltation to the right hand of God (iii. 22; cf.
i. 21). The scenes of suffering are connected with cor-

responding scenes of glory (i. 11, τὰς μετὰ ταῦτα δόξας);

and while the Apostle alludes with apparent distinctness
to the last charge of Christ (v. 2, 3) and the descent
of the Holy Spirit (i. 12), he looks forward to the
glorious coming of the great Judge as the consum-
mation of His work (i. 5, 7, 13; iv. 5).

The second Epistle is chiefly remarkable for the

detailed reference to the Transfiguration (i. 16 ff.),

which, in the midst of marked peculiarities of language,
offers a most interesting parallel to the Evangelic narra-
tive. The words of the heavenly voice are to a great
extent coincident with those recorded by St Matthew,
with the natural omission of the last clause’; but the
comparative elaborateness of the description seems to
offer an instructive contrast to the simplicity of the
earlier Gospel’.

St Paul says in writing to the Corinthians that

his single determination was to proclaim to them Christ

crucified; and the cross of Christ is the centre and sign

1 The reading εἰς ὃν εὐδόκησα (i. ἔξοδος in a metaphorical sense is re-
17) for ἐν ᾧ εὖδ. (which some good markable i in 2 Pet. i. 15 || Luke i iX. 31.
cursive Manuscripts and the Vulgate ᾿Εν. φωνῆς évexGelons ὑπὸ τῆς
read) is found also in Clem. Hom. μεγαλοπρεποῦς δόξης...«ἐν τῷ ὄρει τῷ
III. 33. The recurrence of the word ἀαγίῳ [al. dy. ὄρ.].

Chap. iii.

and Epistle.

S# PAut.
x Cor. ii, 2.

180 THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

of his Epistles. The phrase the cross (1 Cor. i. 18; Gal.
v. 11), the cross of our Lord. Fesus Christ (Gal. vi. 14),
the cross of Christ (1 Cor. i. 17; Gal. vi. 12; -Phil.
iii. 18), is peculiar to his writings, for the single ad-
ditional passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebr.
xii. 2, a cross of shame) is purely historic; and it cannot
but appear to be characteristic of the view which he
took of the Christian faith’. In various places he marks
the supreme judge (1 Tim. vi. 13, ander Pontius Pilate’),
the time (1 Cor. v. 7, Christ our Passover was slain), and
the instruments (1 Thess. ii. 15, the Fews who killed the
Lord Fesus) of the Lord’s death. But the death of
Christ was as it were only the way to the Resurrection;
and in the writings of St Paul the two events are put.
forward as forming the very substance of the Gospel
(1 Cor. xv. I ff.)®, and as such are constantly combined
(Rom. iv. 24, 25; xiv. 9). Yet even thus the com-
pleteness of the narrative is preserved. Christ died
...and was buried...and rose again the third day (1 Cor.
xv. 4 ff.). Afterwards the reality of the Resurrection is
attested by the subsequent appearances to Cephas, to
the twelve, to above five hundred brethren, to James,
to all the Apostles, to St Paul himself (1 Cor. xv.
5—8). In several places the Apostle assumes the fact
of the Ascension (Rom. viii. 34; Eph. i. 20; Col. iii, 1),

Chap. iii.

1 In connexion with this it may
be observed that the metaphorical
sense of σταυρόω (Gal. v. 243 vi. 14)
is peculiar to St Paul.

* If we adopt the common trans-
lation the mention of Pontius Pilate
is remarkable, as the reference in
that case must be rather to the
words of John xviii. 36 ff. than of
Matt. xxvii. 11. It is better how-
ever to take ἐπὶ (as in the Creed)
simply as marking the date.

ὁ. It is very important to notice

that St Paul speaks of this Gospel
as handed down (xv. 1, 3). He first
received (παρέλαβε) and in turn
transmitted (παρέδωκε) the Gospel.
In the same way he speaks of ve-
ceiving mediately (and not directly)
Jrom the Lord (raped. ἀπὸ τοῦ K.
not παρὰ τοῦ K.) the account of
the institution of the Eucharist (1
Cor. xi. 23). Cf. Neander, Gesch.
d. Pflanz. Ὁ. 5. W. I. 130 ff. Supr.

Pp. 177, 1. 2.

THE ORAL GOSPEL.

181

and in one phrase he clearly alludes to it (1 Tim. iii. 16,
ἀνελήμφθη ἐν δόξῃ" cf. Mark xvi. 19; Acts i. 2).

In respect to the prominence thus given to the last
scenes of our Lord’s life the Epistles of St Paul are in
harmony with the narrative of the Gospels. He felt that
the whole life of Christ was outwardly summed up in its

crowning issue, in the depth of shame and in the fulness
of triumph; but yet he does not leave the preparation
unnoticed. At the first Christ made Himself of no repu-
tation, by taking upon Him the form of a servant; being
vich for our sakes He became poor; He was born of
a woman, sprung from the Jews according to the flesh;
the seed of Abraham; of the seed of David; brought zz
subjection to the Law (ὑπὸ νόμον); circumcised; asso-
ciated with others as His brethren. In His life He
pleased not Himself, but left an image of meckness and
gentleness in the midst of afflictions and sufferings (Col.
i. 24; 2 Cor. i. 5; 1 Thess. i. 6); and the pattern of the
life of Christ is that to which the Christian must aspire,
and to which he will at last attain (Eph. iv.13). One
scene only, the institution of the Last Supper, is de-
scribed in detail, and in that the language is almost
coincident with the narrative in the Gospels (1 Cor. x.
16; xi, 23—26)*.

The Epistle to the Hebrews touches on each of the
great features in the Saviour’s life; His incarnation (ii.
9 ff.), His descent from Judah (vii. 14), His temptation
(ii. 18; iv. 15), His consecration to His ministry (v. 5),
His humiliation (ii. 9 ff.) and sufferings (v. 8), His agony
(v. 7, with peculiar details), and Crucifixion (vi. 6) out-

1 Tf the text of Luke xxii. 19, 20 it more than probable that an inter-
be correct, the coincidence is all polation hasbeen made from 1 Cor.
but verbal; the confusion however xi. 23 ff.
which exists in these verses renders

Chap. iii.

Phil. ii. 7 ff.
2 Cor. viii. 9. -

Gal. iv. 4.
Rom. ix. 5.
Gal. iii. 16. !

Rom. xv. 3.
2 Cor. x. 1.

The Epistle
to the He-
brews.

182

THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iii.

St JouHN.

The sub-
stance of the
Gospels re-
cognised
generally in
the Epistles.

side the walls of Jerusalem (xiii. 12), and His exaltation
to the right hand of God (viii. 1; ix. 24 ff.)*.

The references which St John makes in his Epistles
to the circumstances of the life of Christ are exactly
accordant with the character of his Gospel. He dwells
on the pre-existence of the Son of God (1 John iv. 9),
and at the same time affirms with the most complete
distinctness His real Incarnation (iv. 2) and bodily pre-
sence (i. I, αἱ χεῖρες ἡμῶν ἐψηλαφησαν)" and death (i. 7;
11. 2). In the same way, without noticing the Resur-
rection expressly, he speaks of the mediatorial work
of Christ in the presence of the Father (ii. 1), and
His future coming in the flesh (2 John 7, ἐρχόμενον).
The beginning and close of the Lord’s ministry, His
baptism and death, are shewn to be mysteriously united,
inwardly in the completion of a divine testimony, and
outwardly in one of the last incidents of the Passion
(1 John v. 6). In St John the spiritual significance is
extended over the literal, but a foundation of historic
detail lies at the foundation of the higher lesson.

The connexion of the Evangelic narrative with the
Apostolic Epistles is not however confined to mere
allusions. The spirit and tone of the’ letters presup-
pose some such record as that which is contained in the
histories. The substance of the Gospels is an adequate
explanation of the form of the first Christian teaching,
and it is impossible to conceive of any other. Though
it be true that scarcely any clear references to the re-
corded discourses of the Lord are contained in the
Epistles (for the reference of 1 Cor. vii. 10 to Matt. v.
32 and of 1 Cor. ix. 14 to Luke x. 4, 7, cf. 1 Tim. v. 18,

1 Cf. Stanley, on Corinthians, pp. the word ψηλαφᾷν is not used in the
586 ff. ed. 2. narrative of St John (xx. 19 ff),
? It is instructive to observe that but in that of St Luke (xxiv. 39).

THE ORAL GOSPEL. -

183

is at best uncertain), it is no less true that the life and
words of Christ are everywhere assumed as the basis
of all doctrine. He is Himself wisdom (1 Cor. i. 30),
the centre of truth (Eph. iv. 21), te true (1 John v. 20);
His commandments are absolute (1 Cor. xiv. 37); His
words are the decisive rule of sound doctrine (1 Tim.
vi. 3); His example the one perfect model (1 Pet. ii. 21;
Phil. ii. 5; 1 John ii. 6). It is everywhere assumed
that the Christian is familiar with the portraiture of his
Master, and each of the traits which are preserved in
these passing notices is seen in its full expression in
the Gospels. The New Testament as a whole is a key
to the sub-apostolic history: the Gospels, not perhaps
in their written but in their oral form, are the key to the
Epistles’.

Thus far then it has been shewn that the character-

istic work of the Apostles was preaching and not writ-
ing; that they were inclined to this form of teaching by
character and training no less than by their special
commission; that the first ‘Gospel’ was consequently
an oral message and not a written record; that the
books of the Old Testament were the sufficient
Apostolic Scriptures. It has been further shewn
that this oral Gospel of the Apostles was _his-
toric; that the Apostles were expressly declared to be
witnesses of the whole ministry of Christ; that their
preaching rested on the details of His life; that their
letters presuppose an acquaintance with the facts of

1 ΤΊ is remarkable that there is (as
far as I know) no direct allusion to
the Miracles of our Lord in the
Epistles; but it is possible (Stanley,
1...) that the word δαιμόνια in 1 Cor.
x. 20, 21, which occurs elsewhere in
St Paul only in 1 Tim. iv. 1, may
be chosen with a distinct reference

to the antagonism so often brought
out in the Lord’s life in His casting
out devils. It is a similar fact, that
in the writings of the Apostolic
Fathers there are (I believe) no spe-
cific allusions to the miracles of the
Apostles. The omission in both cases
arises from the nature of the writings.

Chap. iii.

Summary.

2 Tim. iii. r5.

THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

Il. The
written Gos-

pels.

1. Distinctly
connected
with the
Apostolic
preaching.

(a)S¢Mark;
on the evi-
dence of Pa-
pias and

tional.

the Gospel, and preserve such an outline of its con-
tents as is filled up in our Gospels. It remains still
to inquire whether there is any direct evidence for con-
necting our present Gospels with the oral cycle of
Evangelic facts which is thus seen to have existed ;
and whether the theory of a common oral origin is
consistent with the peculiarities of form which they
exhibit. .

On the first point early testimony is explicit and
uniform. Each of the first three Gospels is distinctly
connected by adequate evidence with the previous
preaching of Apostles, as being intended to supply a
permanent record of that which was before only tradi-
The written Gospels are acknowledged in his-
tory to be the last stage of the Apostolic preaching, the
preparation for passing into a new age.

The earliest account of the origin of a ‘Gospel’ is
that which Papias has given on the authority of the
Elder John’. Papias was himself a ‘direct hearer’ of
this John, and John was a ‘disciple of the Lord’ (if
the text of Papias be correct), or at any rate contem-
porary with the later period of the Apostolic age. ‘This
‘also the Elder used to say. Mark having become
‘Peter’s interpreter wrote accurately all that he remem-
‘bered (or that he [Peter] mentioned: ἐμνημόνευσεν) ";

1 Euseb. ΜΑΣ. ul. 39. Routh,
Rell. Sacr. 1. pp. 13 ff.

* This word is ambiguous like
ἀπεμνημόνευσε below, and may mean
either remembered or mentioned. It
is used in both senses in the chapter
of Eusebius in which the quotation
occurs. The first sense is that in
which it is commonly taken here,
but it may be argued that the second
rendering gives a meaning more
consistent with the other forms in
which the tradition is preserved. A

passage of Eusebius (Dem. Zv. 111.
5) however seems to favour the ren-
dering related from memory in the
second case: Πέτρος οὐδὲ καθῆκεν ἐπὶ
τὴν εὐαγγελίου γραφὴν δὲ εὐλαβείας
ὑπεροχῆν᾽ τούτου Μάρκος γνώριμος
καὶ φοιτητὴς γεγονὼς ἀπομνημονεῦσαι
λέγεται τὰς τοῦ Πέτρου περὶ τῶν
πράξεων τοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦ διαλέξεις.. «πάντα
γὰρ τὰ παρὰ Μάρκῳ τοῦ Πέτρου δια-
λέξεων εἶναι λέγεται ἀπομνημονεύ-
ματα. Compare also Clem. Alex.
ap. Euseb. H. 5. VI. 14...70” Μάρκον

THE WRITTEN GOSPELS.

185

‘though he did not [record] in order that which was
‘either said or done by Christ (οὐ μέντοι τάξει τὰ ὑπὸ
“τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἢ λεχθέντα ἢ πραχθέντα). For he neither
‘heard the Lord nor followed (παρηκολούθησεν) Him ;
‘but subsequently, as I said, [attached himself to] Peter,
‘who used to frame his teaching to meet the wants
‘fof his hearers], but not as making a connected nar-
‘rative of the Lord’s discourses (ὥσπερ σύνταξιν τῶν
“Κυριακῶν ποιούμενος λόγων" al. λογίων). So Mark com- |}
‘mitted no error, as he wrote down some particulars
«(ἔνια γράψας) just as he recalled them to mind (07 as
‘he [Peter] narrated them: ἀπεμνημόνευσεν). For he
‘took heed to one thing, to omit none of the facts that
‘he heard, and to make no false statement in [his ac-
‘count of] them.’

This most important testimony notices the three
points on which stress has been already laid, the historic
character of the oral Gospel, the special purpose with
which it was framed, and the fragmentariness of its
contents; and it was on such an oral basis that our pre-
sent Gospel of St Mark is said to have been founded,
according to the evidence of one who must have known
the Apostles’.

Later writers, partly as it seems from an independent
tradition, and partly from the account given by Papias,
repeat the same general statement of the relation of
St Mark to St Peter with various differences of detail.
Irenzeus defines more exactly the time of the publica-
tion of the Gospel, though the reading is uncertain.
‘Since the decease (ἔξοδον, cf. 2 Pet. i. 15) of these
‘(Peter and Paul), Mark, the disciple and interpreter

.. μεμνημένον τῶν λεχθέντων ἀναγρά- 1 On this testimony of Papias, see
ψαι τὰ εἰρημένα... Hist. of Canon, p. 74.

Chap. iii.

later wri-
ters.

186 THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

‘of Peter, himself also has handed down to us in writ-
‘ing the things which were preached by Peter’ Cle-
ment of ,Alexandria records as ‘a tradition of the
‘elders of former time’ (παράδοσιν τῶν ἀνέκαθεν πρεσβυ-
τέρων) an account which though very similar to that
of Papias appears to be distinct from it. ‘[It is said]
‘that when Peter had publicly preached (κηρύξαντος)
‘the word in Rome, and declared the Gospel by Inspi-
ration (πνεύματι τὸ evayy. ἐξευπόντος), those who. were
‘present being many urged Mark, as one who had fol-
‘lowed him from a distant time and remembered what
‘he said, to record (ἀναγράψαι) what he stated (τὰ ei-
“ρημένα); and that he having made his Gospel gave
‘it to those who made the request of him; and that
‘Peter, when he was aware of this, took pains neither to
‘hinder him nor to encourage him in the work’ (mpo-
TPETTLKOS μήτε κωλῦσαι μήτε προτρέψασθαι). Origen
says still more expressly that ‘Mark made his Gospel
‘as Peter guided him (ὑφηγήσατο) Tertullian in like
manner remarks that ‘the Gospel of Mark is maintained
‘to be Peter’s, whose interpreter he was...for it is allow-
‘able (capzt) that that which scholars publish should be
‘regarded as their master’s work*’

_ Chap. iii,

1 Tren. c. Her. Ul. 1. 1. Cf. Eu- proferente, penitus ut possent que

seb. H. £.v. 8. The reading μετὰ
τὴν τούτου (sc. τοῦ κατὰ Ματθαῖον
εὐαγγελίου) ἔκδοσιν (Cramer, Cat. in
Marc. p. 264) is worthy of notice,
as the date is not consistent with the
other accounts. Elsewhere Irenzeus
calls Mark zxzterpres et sectator (i.e.
ἀκόλουθος) Petri (111. 10. 6).

* Clem. Alex. Fragm. Hypotyp.
p- 1016 P. Euseb. Z. vi. 14.
So also Adumbr. in Pet. Ep. τ. p.
1007: Marcus Petri sectator palam
preedicente Petro evangelium Rome
coram quibusdam Cezesareanis equi-
tibus et multa Christi testimonia

dicebantur memoriz commendari,
scripsit ex his quae Petro dicta sunt
Evangelium quod secundum Marcum
vocitatur. The false references which
Eusebius (7. 25. 11. 15) and Jerome
(de Virr. Lllustr. 8) make to this
passage, as though St Peter did
confirm the Gospel by special reve-
lation, are evidently later embel-
lishments of the tradition.

3 Comm.in Matt. 1. Euseb. HE.
VI. 25.

4 Contr. Marc. Iv. 5. To these
writers Justin M. may be added,
who speaks of ‘the Memoirs (azo-

THE WRITTEN GOSPELS.

187

The tradition was repeated in after times, but gene-
rally in the later form which Eusebius gave to it, ac-
cording to which St Peter expressly ‘sanctioned the
‘writing [of Mark] for the use of the Church’ in ac-
cordance with a divine revelation ; a statement which is
at direct variance with the authority which Eusebius
quotes and is also internally improbable’.

The history of the present Gospel of St Matthew is
beset with peculiar difficulties, and the earliest writers
are silent as to the circumstances which attended its
composition. While using the Greek text as unques-
tionably authentic they recognise unanimously the ex-
istence of a Hebrew archetype, of which they seem to
regard the Canonical book as an authoritative trans-
lation or representative, but still without offering any
explanation of the manner in which this substitution
was made®. Papias, probably on the testimony of the
Elder John, though this is not clear, states simply that
‘Matthew composed the oracles in the Hebrew lan-
‘suage; and each reader interpreted them as he σου] δ᾽
This evidence then carries us back to a time when no
Greek Gospel bearing the name of St Matthew was
generally current, though a Hebrew Gospel, for λόγια
first (Euseb. H. Z. vi. 14). Origen,
on the other hand, also on the au-

thority of tradition (ws ἐν παραδόσει
μαθών) placed St Matthew’s first

μνημονεύματα) of Peter’ with an ob-
vious reference to St Mark: Dial.
c, 106. Hist. of N. 7. Canon,

Ῥ- 104.

1 The later writers are quoted by
Credner, Zizi. p. 113 ff.

In another place Eusebius (7 £.
11. 16) represents St Mark as ‘him-
‘self preaching in Egypt the Gospel
‘which he composed.’

2 Tradition varied as to the rela-
tive historical position of the Gospels.
Clement of Alexandria recorded as
an old tradition (παράδοσις τῶν avé-
καθεν πρεσβυτέρων) that the Gospels
with the genealogies were written

(γράμμασιν Ἑβραικοῖς συντεταγμένον),
Mark’s second, and St Luke’s third
(Euseb. “κα £. νι. 25).

3 Papias ap. Euseb. 7. £. 111. 39.
Ματθαῖος μὲν οὖν “ESpatdc διάλέκτῳ
τὰ λόγια συνεγράψατο, ἡρμήνευ-
σε δ᾽ αὐτὰ ὡς ἠδύνατο ἕκαστος. The
form of the sentence is remarkable,
and the aorist marks a change before
Papias’ (or John’s) time. Cf. /iZs¢.
of N. T, Canon, Ὁ. 65. 4

Chap. iii.

(8) S¢ Mat-
THEW.

THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

Oracles can mean no less, of which he was the author
was known and used. In the next generation the
Greek Gospel was used more commonly by Justin than
any other, though he is silent as to the authorship’;
and in the time of Clement of Alexandria’, Tertullian’,
and Irenzus*, the present Gospel was recognised by
the Church as the authentic work of St Matthew. But
the reception of the Greek text did not interfere with
the earlier belief. The existence of a Hebrew original
is confirmed by the statement of Irenzus’, and also
of Origen’ made on the authority of ‘tradition’ (ὡς ἐν
παραδόσει μαθων), and by the general consent of later
opinion, as well as by the story of Pantzenus, who is
said to have found in India the Hebrew writing of
Matthew, which was left there by the Apostle Bartho-
lomew’. But none of these writers allude to the origin
of the Gospel. This is first described by Eusebius in
a passage which bears strong internal marks of proba-
bility, though it is impossible to point out the autho-—
rities on which it rests. ‘Matthew, he says, ‘having
‘formerly preached to Hebrews, when he was about to
‘go to others also, having committed to writing in his
‘native tongue the Gospel which bears his name (τὸ κατ᾽
“αὐτὸν evayy.), supplied by his writing the want of his
‘presence (τὸ λεῖπον τῇ αὐτοῦ παρουσίᾳ, 1.6. the loss they
‘felt as he was no longer with them) to those from
‘whom he set out®’ This may be a mere conjecture by

1 He alludes to the Gospels by ...ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν τετράμορφον τὸ evay-

the general name of the Memoirs of γέλιον ἑνὶ δὲ πνεύματι συνεχόμενον.
the Apostles. Cf. Hist. of N. 7. 5 Tren. c. Her. 111. 1. 1. Euseb.

Canon, pp. 340 ff. Ἦν £. Vv. 8.
2 Clem. Alex. Wypotyp. 1. c. Cf. 8 Orig. Comm. in Matt. 1. Cf.
Euseb. 27. £. Vi. 14. Euseb. 4. Z. VI. 25.

3 Tert. c. Marc. Iv. 2 ...fidem ex 7 Euseb. H. 2. v. το. Cf. Hieron.
apostolis Joannes et Matthzeus insi- de Virr. fil. 36. Comp. Epiph.
nuant. fer. XXX. 3.

4 Tren. c. Her, 111. 11. 8... 6 Λόγος 8 Euseb. A. £. 111. 24.

THE WRITTEN GOSPELS.

189

which Eusebius explains the earlier tradition, but in the

absence of all opposing evidence it must be allowed to |.

have some weight.

The early account of the origin of the Gospel of
St Luke is strictly parallel to that of the origin of St
Mark’s Gospel, but 1655 detailed. ‘Luke the follower of
‘Paul,’ says Irenaeus’, ‘set down in a book the Gospel
‘which he (Paul) used to preach’ (τὸ ὑπ᾽ ἐκείνου κηρυσ-
σόμενον evayy.). Tertullian speaks of St Paul as ‘the
‘“qlluminator of Luke,’ and says that ‘the summary
‘(digestum) of Luke was generally assigned to Paul?’
The allusions which St Paul makes to ‘his Gospel’
(Rom. ii. 16; xvi. 25; 2 Tim. ii, 8; cf. 2 Cor. viii. 18)
and to St Luke soon gave rise to the supposition that
he himself used the Gospel of St Luke. Even Origen
speaks of ‘the Gospel of Luke as that praised by Paul’;
and the tradition assumed a more definite shape in the
writings of Jerome* and the Pseudo-Athanasius. It is
remarkable however that Eusebius refers to the con-
jecture (φασί) without trace of approval’, though the
corresponding tradition which confers the direct autho-
rity of St Peter on the Gospel of St Mark rests on his
assertion.

But apart from tradition, the preface with which
St Luke opens his Gospel throws a striking light upon
its composition. The words have been made the subject
of the most varied controversy, though the true sense
seems to lie upon their surface. Both in the description
which he gives of other ‘Gospels, and in the peculiar

1 Tren. c. Her. 111. 1. 1. Euseb. gelizavit et creditus est referre nobis
H. E. v. 8. Elsewhere Irenzeus Evangelium (2d. 14. 2).

calls Luke inseparabilis a Paulo et 3 Tert. adv. Marc. IV. 23 IV. 5.
cooperarius ejus in Evangelio (¢. 3 Orig. ap. Euseb. Z. Z. vi. 25.
Her. 111. 14. 1)...qui semper cum 4 Hieron. de Virr. il. 7.

Paulo praedicavit...et cum eo evan- 5 Euseb. #. ΕΠ Ill. 4.

Chap. iii.

(y) S¢ LuKE.

The evidence
of St Luke's
Preface.

Luke i. 1—4.

190 THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iii. | character which he claims for his own, St Luke appears

ay to confirm the views already given of the prevalence
and nature of the unwritten. Gospel of the first age.
The common basis of the Evangelic narratives is said
to be the oral ¢vadition of those who from the beginning
(cf. Acts 1. 21, 22) were eye-witnesses and ministers of
the word. ‘The two elements in the Apostolic character
which have been already pointed out, personal know-
ledge (αὐτόπται) and practical experience (ὑπηρέται), are
recognised by St Luke as present in those who ori-
ginally handed down (παρέδοσαν) the history which
many attempted to draw up and arrange afresh (avata-
ξασθαι) in a connected shape (dvar. διηγησιν.. «καθὼς T.).
The work of these unknown first Evangelists was new
only in form and not in substance. The.tradition which
they incorporated in a narrative was not peculiar to
themselves, but was common to all (καθ. παρ. ἡμῖν)";
for the common belief was independent of these written
records. St Luke speaks of the ‘attempts’ as of some-
thing which had no influence at the present”. The
facts had been fully established (πεπληροφοῤημένων not —
πληροφορηθέντων, Rom. iv. 21) apart from the evidence of
such documents. Theophilus was already zvzstructed in
the words® of the exact truth of which St Luke wished
to assure him ; and his instruction was derived not from
books, but from that oral teaching (κατηχήθης) which
is described by the same term from the first foundation
of the Church (Acts xviii. 25; 1 Cor. xiv. 19; Gal. vi. 6).
So far then the statements of St Luke corroborate in

1 Bp Marsh justly insists on the judgment, when he saw in the word
importance of the phrase in his Ovi- attempt itself a reproof of unautho-
gin of the first three Gospels, p. 364. rized temerity (//om. in Luc. 1).

2*Exrexelpnoav attempted, not have 3 The words (oi λόγοι) being the
attempted. Possibly some feeling of constituent elements of the word (ὁ
this , difference influenced Origen’s éyos), Cf. x Tim. iv. 6.

THE WRITTEN GOSPELS.

| the fullest manner the view which has been taken of

the origin of written Gospels. The narrative was the
embodiment of the oral accounts: the facts (πράγματα)
were co-ordinate with ¢he word: the work of the Evan-
gelist was arrangement rather than fresh composition :
the subjects with which he dealt were at once matters
of firm conviction and ordinary instruction. The grounds
on which St Luke rests his own narrative involve the
same principles. It is evident at first that he repre-
sents his Gospel as a faithful embodiment of the ‘ Evan-
‘gelic tradition.” He finds no fault with the basis on
which the earlier writers rested. His own. determina-
tion is placed on an equal footing with theirs (ἔδοξε
καμοί) ; but he claims for himself a knowledge of the
Apostolic preaching continuous from the first, com-
plete, exact ; and for his writing a due order (Luke i. 3,
παρηκολουθηκότι ἄνωθεν πᾶσιν ἀκριβῶς καθεξῆς cou ypa-
ψαι). Each word in the sentence contributes an im-
portant element to the completeness of the whole idea.
St Luke appears to speak of a gradual unfolding of
the whole Gospel in the course of the Apostolic work
which he had watched from the first step throughout
in every detail. The same term (παρακολουθεῖν) de-
scribes the personal attendance on a teacher and the
careful following of teaching’. The long companion-
ship seems to be the criterion of the complete know-
ledge. And this view of the notion implied in ‘following’
illustrates the meaning of the next words. St Luke’s
‘continuous familiarity’ with the subject gave him a
knowledge of the whole cycle of the ‘tradition,’ and
not only of particular periods or particular parts of
it. His knowledge started from the first and extended

1 See Papias 7. c. ap. Euseb. H. £. 111. 39, compared with 1 Tim. iv, 6;
2 Tim, iii. 10.

192

THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iii.

2. Theinter-
nal charac-
ter of the
Gospels.

to every point; and the peculiar advantages of the
Evangelist are enforced by the notice of his special
care (ἀκριβῶς) and plan, But the notion of order
(καθεξῆς) does not necessarily involve that of time,
but rather that of moral or logical sequence (cf. Acts
xi. 4). The two may coincide, and in the exhibition
of a perfect life in the main they will, but chronological
order is not paramount in the Gospels, and the lan-
guage of St Luke does not imply that he designed
to follow it. Like the teaching on which it was first
based, the record is subservient to special requirements.
It is complete in regard to its object but not absolutely,
a message of good tidings and not a biography, united
in its several parts by a spiritual law and not by a table
of dates’.

Hitherto all the evidence which can be gathered
from the circumstances of the early Church and the
traditions of the origin of the Gospels has tended to
establish the existence of an original oral Gospel, de-
finite in general outline and even in language, which
was committed to writing in the lapse of time in various
special shapes, according to the typical forms which it
assumed in the preaching of different Apostles. It is
probable that this oral Gospel existed from the first
both in Aramaic and in Greek, as would naturally be
the case in a country where two languages were gene- —
rally current. The teaching of St Matthew ‘among his
‘own countrymen’ is expressly said to have been in
‘Hebrew, and it is not less certain that Greek must
have been the common medium of intercourse with the
Hellenists. The step from these oral narratives to
written records in Hebrew and Greek is simple and

1 Comp. εὐαγγελισταί, p. 172.

THE WRITTEN GOSPELS.

natural; but nothing has been said yet of the internal
evidence to be derived from the Gospels themselves ;
and still it is on this that the decision of the question
of their origin mainly depends. General indications:
and beliefs, probabilities and seeming coincidén τὰς
must be abandoned if they are clearly opposed 7

their mutual relations, to the extent and limit of their)—

similarity and difference, to the general unity by which
they are held together, and to the special character-
istics by which they are distinguished. It may be
_ asked whether there is any intimate external connexion
between the Gospels? Whether the resemblances which
exist point to the existence of a common source or to
mutual dependence? Whether in the latter alternative
it is possible to determine the order of precedence, or
in the former the nature—oral or written—of the ori-
ginal records? Various answers have been given to
these questions, but the first at least may be regarded
as definitely settled’. No one at present would maintain
with some of the older scholars of the Reformation
that the coincidences between the Gospels are due
simply to the direct and independent action of the

HEV ἢ

1 For the study of the parallel-
isms of the Gospels abundant helps
are provided. Tischendorf’s Syxof-
sis Evangelica is handy and critical.
Greswell’s Harmonia Evangelica
(Ed. 4ta, Oxon. 1845) is perfect in
respect of typography, but the text
is bad and altogether unprovided
with critical apparatus, so that it
cannot be safely used alone. Stroud’s
New Greek Harmony (Lond. 1853)
is second only to Greswell in the
convenience of its typographical ar-
rangement, and it has a fair affa-
ratus criticus, Anger’s Synopsis

W. G.

Evangeliorum Matt. Mare. Luce...
(Lipsie, 1851 Ed. 1) contains a
most complete and elaborate sum-
mary of all the early Evangelic frag-
ments and quotations in acdition to
the Canonical text and critical appa-
ratus, but the arrangement is not so
distinct as that in Greswell and
Stroud. For. practical purposes
Anger combined with Stroud or
Greswell will furnish all the student
can require. [The Synofticon of
Mr Rushbrooke (Cambridge, 1880) |
gives the textual facts as completely |
as they can be given, 1881.]

i. The na-
ture of the
problem
which they
present.

104

THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iii.

------

(a) The con-
cordances
between
thent three-

Sold.

|
(a) 7x gene-
ral plan.

same Spirit upon the several writers. The explana-
tion of the phenomena which they present is sought
by universal consent in the presence of a common ele-
ment, though opinions are still divided as to its nature.
The original source of the resemblance may lie in the
influence of an original tradition or of a popular nar-
rative, or in the earliest written Gospel itself; but the
existence of some such source is admitted on all sides.
The merits of the different hypotheses must be decided
by their fitness to satisfy the various conditions of the
question ; and before attempting to decide their claims,
it will be necessary to gain a distinct notion of the .
nature and extent of the concordances of which an ex-
planation is required.

The concordances of the Synoptic Gospels may be
classed under three heads—general agreement in the
plan and arrangement of the materials; constant iden-
tity of narrative in form and substance; and verbal
coincidences. With these concordances are combined
differences in detail and expression, large interpolations
of peculiar matter, distinct revisions, so to speak, of the
same record; so that the points of meeting between the
different writers are scarcely more numerous than the
points of divergence, and the theory which explains the
existence of the former must not leave the existence of
the latter unnoticed or unaccounted for.

The general plan of the first three Gospels exhibits
a remarkable correspondence. The history of the In-
fancy contained in St Matthew and St Luke finds no
parallel in St Mark, but afterwards the main course
of the three narratives is throughout coincident. The
preparation for the Ministry, the mission of John the
Baptist, the Baptism, the Temptation, the return to
Galilee, the preaching in Galilee, the journey to Jeru-

THE WRITTEN GOSPELS.

ἔος ᾿.

salem, the entrance into Jerusalem and the preaching
there, the Passion, the Resurrection—such is the com-
mon outline which they all present, and the same rela-
tive order of the subordinate incidents is always pre-
served by St Mark and St Luke, and also by St
Matthew with the exception of some of the earlier
sections. The most remarkable differences lie in the
presence of a long series of events connected with the
Galilean ministry which is peculiar to St Matthew
and St Mark’, and of a second still longer connected
with the journey to Jerusalem which is peculiar to
St Luke’.

Nor is the obvious similarity between the Synoptic
Gospels confined to their broad outlines. The incidents
with which their outlines are filled up are often iden-
tical and always similar. The absolute extent of this co-
incidence of substance admits of a simple representation
by numbers; and though the relations which are given
are only approximately true, they convey a clearer
notion of the nature of the phenomenon than any
general description. The proportion may be exhibited
in several modes, and each method places the truth
in a new light.

If the total contents of the several Gospels be repre-
sented by 100, the following table is obtained®:

Peculiarities. Coincidences.
St Mark ἢ ‘ : 7 ‘ . > 93
St Matthew . ‘ . 42 ° . ὁ ὁ 1.38
St Luke ‘ , - 59 ; . ~ <4.
[St John . . . 91 . . ὃ 8]

From this it appears that the several Gospels bear

1 Matt. xiv. 22—xvi. 12= Mark vi. 45—viii. 26.
2 Luke ix. §1—xvili. 14
3 Stroud, Harmony of the Gospels, p. 117+

Chap. iii,

(Ὁ) Lx tuci-
dent.

196 THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iii, | almost exactly an inverse relation to one another, St

Mark and St John occupying the extreme positions,
the proportion of original passages in one balancing
the coincident passages in the other. If again the
extent of all the coincidences be represented by 100,
their proportionate distribution will be’:

St Matthew, St Mark, St Luke . a ks
St Matthew, St Luke . Ν : : Ec ae
St Matthew, St Mark . ἢ ; ; - 20
St Mark, St Luke ᾿ Ἶ ; . : 6

Or if we follow another principle of comparison and
take the whole number of distinct sectzons in the Syn-
optic Evangelists as 150 approximately, the peculiari-
ties and coincidences of these three Gospels may be
thus exhibited:

Peculiarities. Coincidences.
St Luke ...... 37 af Ge fe
St Matthew...14 ΘΝ WB ces a! : 5
St Mark......... 2 ee te Sh laa
53 97

The relations thus obtained harmonize on the whole
with the former, but it appears that in regard to their
mutual connexions the Gospels of St Matthew and St
Mark have a much greater similarity of subject, and
those of St Matthew and St Luke a somewhat greater
similarity in the mere extent of coincidence, than con-
versely. Other interesting combinations might be ob-
tained from an examination of ‘the range of greatest
coincidence and most distinctive peculiarities; but look-
ing only at the general result it may be said that of the
contents of the Synoptic Gospels about two-fifths are

* Compare Norton’s Genuineness of the Gospels, 1. 373. ff:

THE WRITTEN GOSPELS.

197

common to the three, and that the parts peculiar to one
or other of them are little more than one-third of the
whole. In St Mark there are not more than twenty-
four verses to which no parallel exists in St Matthew
or St Luke, though St Mark exhibits everywhere traits
of vivid detail which are peculiar to his narrative.

It is not however enough to consider general coinci-
dences of substance and subject. Such a view conveys
a false and exaggerated impression of the likeness be-
tween the Gospels. In spite of their general resem-

blance they are severally distinct in style and effect. |

The identity of range is combined with difference of

treatment: peculiarities of language with unity of scope..

The verbal coincidences between the different Gospels,
while in themselves sufficiently remarkable, are yet
considerably less than might appear from the popular
statement of the facts. The passages common to St
Matthew with some other of the Synoptic Gospels
form a little more than four-sevenths of the whole,
but the corresponding verbal coincidences are less than
one-sixth. In the other Gospels the proportion of
verbal coincidences is still less. Those in St Luke form
about one-tenth, and in St Mark about one-sixth of
the whole Gospels, while the general coincidences form
respectively about two-fifths, and thirteen-fourteenths’,
Thus the approximate relation of the verbal to the
general coincidences of the Gospels may be represented
tabularly:
St Matthew. St Luke. St Mark.
’ τ...24 Ἐ ing 40; BROS
Nor is this all: in the distribution of the verbal
coincidences a very simple law is observable. They

1 For these proportions I am indebted to Mr Norton, /.¢,

——

Chap. iii,

--.----

The distri-
bution ofver-
bal coinci-

dences pecu-

liar.

198 THE. ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

occur most commonly in the recital of the words of |
our Lord or of others, and are comparatively rare in
the simple narrative. Thus of the verbal coincidences
in St Mark about four-fifths, of those in St Matthew
about seven-eighths, and of those in St Luke about
nineteen-twentieths, occur in the records of the words
of others.

If again these verbal coincidences are further ana-
lysed, several interesting results are obtained. In the
passages common to all three Evangelists about one-
sixth consists of verbal coincidences, and of them one-
fifth occur in the narrative, and four-fifths in the recita-
tive parts. In the same sections the additions common
to St Matthew and St Mark contain five-sixths of their
verbal coincidences in the recitative portions ; and those
common to St Mark and St Luke’, and St Matthew
and St Luke, with two unimportant exceptions, present
no verbal coincidence except in such portions*. In the
sections common to two Evangelists a similar law pre-
vails, The verbal coincidences between St Matthew
and St Luke are very numerous in the recital of our’
Lord’s words, but the coincidences in the narrative
cannot be rated at more than one-hundredth part of the
others. One instance alone of verbal coincidence oc-
curs in the numerous sections common only to St Mark
and St Luke, and in this the coincidences in the reci-
tative to those in the narrative part are as five to one.
In the sections common to St Matthew and St Mark

Chap. iii,

——

1 The most remarkable similari-
ties.of fact and differences of lan-
guage occur in Mark v. 2 ff.=Luke
Vili. 27 ff.

2 One important observation was
made by Marsh (Michaelis, trod.
to the New Testament, V. 317), that

when St Matthew and St Luke
verbally agree in the common sec-
tions St Mark always agrees with
them also, There is not a single
instance of a verbal agreement in
these sections between St Matthew

and St Luke only, .

ΓΣ

THE WRITTEN GOSPELS.

199

alone a different proportion obtains. In these the
verbal coincidences in the narrative ‘part are somewhat
more than one-third of the whole number; but it is
remarkable that in one important section (Mark vi.
17—29; Matt. xiv. 3—12) the only trace of a verbal
coincidence o¢curs in the words ascribed to John the
Baptist.

But in order to give these proportions no more than
their due force, account must be taken of the propor-
tion which the narrative and recitative parts of the
Gospels bear to one another. Roughly then it may
be said that the narrative in St Matthew forms about
one-fourth of the Gospel, in St Mark about one-half,
in St Luke about one-third. If these proportions are
combined with the aggregate of coincidences in the
several Gospels, and the contents of each Gospel re-
presented by 100, the following table is obtained :

(a) Narrative. (8) Recitative, (y) Coincidences (5) Coincidences

in (a). in (8).
πον αἰ a | ee: . MeN ole ©. Sar Mee Pm
πο τριεος τ BO: ς εὐ SO eee ee ARES τ 4 Sea
OEM es 34 Ce OO re ORG te! ὦ 80

Or in other words verbal coincidences are more fre-
quent in the recitative than in the narrative portions of
St Matthew in the proportion (nearly) of 12 : 5, of St
Mark of 4: 1, and of St Luke of 9: 1.

The general harmony and distinctness of the results
which have been obtained by these various analyses
shews that they must be taken into account in con-
sidering the general problem of the coincidences of the
Synoptists. There is a marked difference between the
composition of the recitative and narrative parts of the
Gospels. In the former there is a prevailing unity, in
the latter an individual style. The transition from the

Chap. iii.

—

The expla-
nation of the
coincidences
must also
explain
their dis-
tribution.

THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

(8) The dif
Jerences in
the Gospels
correspond
with their

coincidences.

εἶ

one to the other is often clear and decided, and the
most remarkable coincidences are in several instances
prefaced by the most characteristic differences. It is
‘evident then that the problem involves two distinct
conditions, and a satisfactory solution must account not
only for the general similarity which the Gospels ex-
hibit in their construction and contents, but also for
the peculiar distribution of their verbal coincidences.
Any theory which leaves one or other of these points
unexplained must be considered inadequate and un-
true. .

The difference in language between the narrative
and recitative parts of the Gospels points the way to
those characteristic peculiarities by which they are re-
spectively marked, which are, as has been already said,
scarcely less striking than their general likeness. The
three records are distinct as well as similar in plan
and incident and style. Each presents the form of
a complete whole whose several parts are subordinated
to the production of one great effect. Each contains
additions to thé common matter which are not dis-
tinguishable externally from the other parts; and the
Gospel of St Mark which contains the fewest substan-
tive additions presents the greatest number of fresh
details in the account of incidents not peculiar to it.
Keach is marked by specialities of language, which, not-
withstanding the limits within which they are confined,
| penettate throughout its contents. In many cases, as
‘in the genealogies and in the narratives of the Passion
| and the Resurrection, these differences amount to serious
difficulties from our ignorance of all the circumstances
.on which the accounts depend; and even where it is
‘not so, they are distinct and numerous, and offer as
clear a proof of the actual independence of the Gos-

;

THE WRITTEN GOSPELS.

201

pels, as the concordances offer of their original con-
nexion’.

Such, in brief summary, are the peculiarities which
the Synoptic Gospels present, and which the true ac-
count of their origin must explain. This explanation
has been sought in the application of two distinct prin-
ciples. One class of solutions rests upon the assumption
that the later Evangelists made use of the writings of
their predecessors ; another supposes that the similarity
is to be traced to the use of common sources, either
written or oral. To these distinct methods of solution

a third class may be added, which consists of various

combinations of modified forms of the two others.

The first class of solutions contains every possible
combination of the Gospels: Each in turn has been
supposed to furnish the basis of the others; each to
occupy the mean position; each to represent the final
narrative’. This variety of opinion is in itself an objec-
tion to the hypothesis, for it is a case where it might
seem reasonable to expect a clear and unquestionable
proof of dependence. But it is further evident that the
assumption of a mutual dependence, while it may ex-
plain the general coincidences between the Gospels,
offers no explanation of the peculiar distribution of
the coincidences, or of the differences between the several

narratives. It appears to be inconsistent with the re-

steller des N.T. Leipzig, 1816, which

1 The peculiarities of plan, inci-
dent, and language, which charac-
terize the different Gospels will come
under notice subsequently; at pre-
sent it is enough to state the results
which will be then established. The
most minute and valuable contribu-
‘tion to the criticism of the verbal
characteristics of the Evangelists
is that of Gersdorf, Bettrvage zur
Sprach-Characteristik der Schrift-

at the same time offers the most
striking confirmation of the text of
the oldest family of Manuscripts,
but it treats the subject grammati-
cally rather than linguistically.

2 Compare Marsh’s Diéssertation,
ἄς. pp. 172 ff. The exceptions
which he notices have been re-
moved. Cf. Reuss, Die Gesch. d.
NV. 7. § 180.

Chap. iii.

ii. The solu-
tions pro-
posed.

(a) Mutual
dependence.

202

THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iii.

(B) Common
sources.

sults of a careful analysis of the language and of the
contents of the Gospels. Every attempt to shew on
this hypothesis why a later Evangelist has omitted
details which are noted by an earlier one, why he
adopted his language up to a certain point and then
suddenly abandoned it, why he retained in some sen-
tences nothing more than a remarkable word, and in
others the fulness of an entire answer, has always failed.
Nor is this an inconsiderable objection. If the coinci-
dences of the Gospels are due to mutual use, the di-
vergences cannot but be designed. Such a design
however as would satisfy this hypothesis is not dis-
coverable in the Gospels. The true purpose which
may be traced in the writing of each Evangelist is
naturally explicable on very different principles from
those which are involved in the minute criticism and
elaborate reconstruction of former works. The super-
ficial incongruities and apparent contradictions which
are found in the different Gospels are inconsistent with.
the close connexion which the hypothesis requires ; and
the general notion is as foreign to the spirit of the
Apostolic age as it is to the current of ecclesiastical
tradition. In its simple form the ‘ supplemental’ or
‘dependent’ theory is at once inadequate for the solu-
tion of the difficulties of the mutual relation of the
Synoptic Gospels and inconsistent with many of its
own details; and as a natural consequence of the
deeper study of the Gospels it is now generally aban-
doned except it be taken in combination with the other
principle of solution.

This second principle consists in the recognition of
one or more common sources from which our present
Gospels are supposed to have been derived’. But the

1 This principle is "βίαια. by Epiphanius in general terms in Her.

THE WRITTEN GOSPELS.

principle admits of very varied application. The com-
mon sources may have been written or oral, and thus
two distinct theories arise which have in turn been
subjected to various modifications,

The simplest form in which the hypothesis was first
distinctly brought forward consisted in the recognition
of certain original Greek documents, which were sup-
posed to have furnished the foundation of the Synoptic
Gospels and then to have passed out of use’. A closer
examination of the Synoptic Gospels shewed the in-
adequacy of this supposition to explain the phenomena
which they present, and the historical difficulties which
it involved were even greater than those of the ‘sup-
plemental’ hypothesis. The changing limits of coin-
cidence and variation combined with a gerieral identity
of plan remained still unexplained ; and the loss of a
Greek Protevangelium necessarily appeared inconceiv-
able. In a short time a new theory was proposed.
An Aramaic document was substituted for the Greek
one, and it was argued that the various Greek transla-
tions of this original text might be expected to combine
resemblances and differences like those which exist in
the Gospels’. This opinion was not exposed to some
of the most obvious objections which were urged against
a Greek original, and it carried the explanation of the
partial coincidences of the Evangelists one step farther;

11. 6: οὐχὶ ἑκάστῳ ἐμέρισεν ὁ Beds ter an oral than a written source.

iva οἱ τέσσαρες εὐαγγελισταὶ...τὰ μὲν
συμφώνως καὶ ἴσως κηρύξωσιν; ἵνα
δειχθῶσιν ὅτι ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς πηγῆς
ὥρμηνται, τὰ δὲ ἑκάστῳ παραλη-
φθέντα (1. παραλειφθέντα) ἄλλος διη-
γήσεται (]. -ται) ὃς ἔλαβε παρὰ τοῦ
πνεύματος μέρος τῆς ἀναλογίας. But
he does not further explain what he
understands by ‘the one source,’
though his words evidently suit bet-

1 J. D. Michaelis (Zrtrod. Ed. 4).
The idea was first cursorily ex-
pressed by Le Clerc (1716). Cf.
Marsh, pp. 184 ff. Schleiermacher
afterwards revived the opinion in
his Essay on St Luke, 1817.

2 Lessing (1778); Semler (1783);
Niemeyer (1790), Gc. Cf. Marsh,
pp. 186 ff.

(a) Written.

THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

but it was in detail scarcely more tenable. Though the
loss of an Aramaic text is in. itself not unlikely, yet the
absence of all mention of the existence of such a docu-
ment is a serious objection to its reality*: and the trans-
lation of a common original would not explain the
peculiar distribution of the verbal coincidences of the
Gospels which has been pointed out. In addition to
this the existence of any single written source would
leave the phenomena of the differences of the Gospels
still unaccounted for. To explain these fresh and more
complex hypotheses were devised”. It was at last
argued that the original Aramaic Gospel which formed
the basis of the common parts of the three Gospels, was
used by the three Evangelists after it had been variously
increased by new additions. It was further supposed
that St Mark and St Luke used a Greek translation
of the original Aramaic Gospel free from interpolation ;
and that the Greek translator of the Hebrew St Matthew
made use in the first instance of St Mark where he had
matter in common with St Matthew, and in other places
where St Mark failed him of St Luke*. This hypothesis
is certainly capable of being so adapted as to explain
all the coincidences and differences of the Gospels, as
in fact it is little more than the complement of an
analysis of them; but the extreme artificiality by which
it is characterized renders it wholly improbable as a
true solution of the problem. Such a combination of

1 Some endeavoured to obviate
this objection by identifying the
Aramaic Gospel with the Gosfe/
according to the Hebrews or with the
Hebrew St Matthew. Cf. De Wette,
Linl, § 844.

? Eichhorn’s first hypothesis na-
turally intervenes, but it is needless
to criticise this or his later and still
more elaborate one. The first is

examined by Marsh (ὦ δ. zzfr.), and
the latter described by De Wette,
£inl. § 84D. The same remark will
apply to the theory of Gratz. Cf,
Meyer, Comm. ti. α΄. N. 7. 1.1, p. 22.

3 Marsh, Lssay on the Origin of
the first three Gospels, appended to
his translation of Michaelis’ Zztro-
duction, Ed. 2, Vol. ΠΙ. Part 2,
Lond. 1802. .

THE WRITTEN GOSPELS.

205

research and mechanical skill in composition as it in-
volves is wholly alien from the circumstances of the
Apostolic age, and at variance with the prevailing
power of a wide-spread tradition. In dealing with this
elaborate scheme the instinct of criticism at once anti-
cipated the result of closer inquiry. In spite of the
acuteness and ingenuity by which it was supported it
found little favour, and served to bring into discredit
the belief in written sources common to the Gospels,
by shewing that any combination less subtle and varied
was unable to satisfy all the conditions of the case. ©

In the meantime a clearer light had been thrown
upon the existence and character of the traditional
Gospel’, and the recognition of its general influence
was combined with former hypotheses. It was sup-
posed that the Aramaic record of St Matthew and the
Memoirs which St Mark framed from the preaching of
St Peter were the written basis on which the present
Gospels were formed by the help of the current tradi-
tion. But the same arguments which established the
independence of the written Gospels when their similarity
was deduced from their mutual dependence equally esta-
blish it when they are referred to a current tradition
as their original source. And on the other hand, while
it is certain from the testimony of St Luke that various
narratives of the whole or of parts of the Apostolic
tradition were current, yet these unauthoritative or
partial documents, as has been already shewn, are in-
capable of giving an explanation of the complicated
phenomena of the Gospels, to whatever source they are

1 Especially by Gieseler, Ais- ner (Ziz/. §§ 86 ff.), and with some-
torisch-Kritischer Versuch, ἃ. 5. W. what different details by Reuss
Leipzig, 1818. (Gesch. d. N. T. ὃ 185 ff.).

2 This view is supported by Cred-

Chap. iii,

(b) Written
and oral.

THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

The Gospels
are organic
wholes.

themselves referred. At the same time they may have
exercised a considerable influence upon the mass of
Christians, preserving among them the general form
and substance of the tradition ; and while they satisfied
the want of the Church at large, they may have con-
tributed to confine our knowledge of the Lord’s life
within the present narrow limits by discouraging the
search for further information. But the existence and
use of these isolated narratives, like the corresponding
records of the Jewish tradition, were signs and not
causes of the presence of an oral history, and as long
as the Apostles survived the pure tradition must have
been’ still preserved among them independent of such
helps. To seek for such fragments in our existing
Gospels is simply to open the way to mere conjecture.
In default of all external evidence it is impossible to
separate the present Gospels on internal grounds into
any distinct constituent parts. Each is a _ separate
organic whole, simple and uniform, even where it has
the closest resemblance to the parallel record.

A fresh attempt however has been made lately’ to
dissect the Gospels into their original components, which
claims notice from its boldness, and serves at the same
time as an example of the arbitrary results of subjective
criticism. An original Greek Gospel, containing the re-
cords of the Baptism, the Temptation in its simplest
form, and the Passion, is taken as the substructure; and
it is further conjectured that this was used by St Paul,
and perhaps composed by the Evangelist St Philip.
This document was followed by the Hebrew ‘collection
‘of Oracles’ (λόγια) of St Matthew, which included the
greater part of the Lord’s discourses with introductory
narratives. Then followed the history of St Mark,

1 By Ewald, Fahrbiicher, 1848, 1849.

THE WRITTEN GOSPELS.

207

which, though an independent work, was yet written
by one who was acquainted with the two former re-
cords. These three elements together, with new addi-
tions and passages from ‘a book of higher history,’ were
wrought up into the present Gospel of St Matthew.
Afterwards three anonymous Evangelists are supposed
to have revised the narrative, which received its last
form at the hands of St Luke. Such a hypothesis
can scarcely claim much attention as an explanation
of the actual origin of the Gospels, though it may
throw some light on the growth of the tradition of
which they are the records. It is as a whole incon-
sistent with the unity of plan and the unity of lan-
guage by which the Gospels are marked. If they were
really the mere mosaic which would result from such
a combination, it would be impossible that they should
be so distinctly individualized by the peculiarities of
form and construction which penetrate through every
part of them. Above all, and this remark applies to
all the explanations which depend on the use of com-
mon documents, such a hypothesis is inconsistent with
the language of St Luke’s Preface, which points clearly
to an oral tradition as the source of his own Gospel,
and by implication of the corresponding parts in the
other Gospels; and this last alternative of a common
oral source of the Synoptic Gospels is perhaps alone
able to satisfy simply and completely the different con-
ditions of the problem which the Gospels present.

It has been shewn already that the hypothesis of an
oral Gospel is most consistent with the general habit
of the Jews’ and the peculiar position of the Apostles:

* At a later period Eusebius says characterizing at once the man and
of Hegesippus ἄλλα ὡς ἂν ἐξ Ιουδαϊ- the nation (27. Z. Iv, 22).
κῆς ἀγράφου παραδόσεως μνημονεύει,

Chap. iii.

208

THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS,

Chap. iii,

in relation
to the form
and sub-
stance of the
Gospels.

that it is supported by the earliest direct testimony and
in some degree implied in the Apostolic writings. The
result of the examination of the internal character of
the Gospels is not less favourable to its adoption than
the weight of external evidence’. The general form
of the Gospels points to an oral source. A minute
biography or a series of annals, which are the simplest
and most natural forms of writing, are the least natural
forms of tradition and the farthest removed from the
Evangelic narratives, which consist of striking scenes
and discourses, such as must have lived long in the
memories of those who witnessed them. Nor are the
Gospels fashioned only on an oral type; they are
fashioned also upon that type which is preserved in
the other Apostolic writings. The oral Gospel, as far
as it can be traced in the Acts and the Epistles,
centred in the crowning facts of the Passion and the
Resurrection, while the earlier ministry of the Lord
was regarded chiefly in relation to its final issue. In
a narrative composed on such a plan it is evident that
the record of the last stage of Christ’s work would be
conspicuous for detail and fulness, and that the events
chosen to represent the salient features of its earlier
course would be combined together without special re-
ference to date or even to sequence. Viewed in the
light of its end the whole period was one in essence,
undivided by years or festivals, and the record would
be marked not so much by divisions of time as by
groups of events*, In all these respects the Synoptic

1 The hypothesis was first pro-
posed in detail by Gieseler in the
work already quoted. In later times
it has been supported by Guericke,
Einl. 8 19; Thiersch, Versuch sur
flerstellung, u, 5. wW. 119 ff.; and

Norton, Genuineness of the Gospels,
1. ποίας Ὁ. Dr Davidson (/z¢rod. 1.
404 ff.) allows considerable weight
to tradition, while he admits the use
of written documents.

2 Such groups of events occur in

THE WRITTEN GOSPELS.

. 209

Gospels exactly represent the probable form of the
first oral Gospel. They seem to have been shaped by
the pressure of recurring needs, and not by the deli-
berate forethought of their authors. In their. common
᾿ features they seem to be that which the earliest history

declares they are, the summary of the Apostolic preach-
ing, the historic groundwork of the Church.

The transition from the earliest oral Gospel to the
specific forms which it afterwards assumed is capable
of being easily realised. The great steps in the process
are still marked in the Gospels themselves. The Gospel
of St Mark, conspicuous for its vivid simplicity, seems
to be the most direct representation of the first Evan-
gelic tradition, the common foundation on which the
others were reared. In essence, if not in composition,
it is the oldest; and the absence of the history of the
Infancy brings its contents within the limits laid down
by St Peter for the extent of the Apostolic testimony.
The great outline thus drawn admitted of the intro-
duction of large groups of facts or discourses combined
to illustrate or enforce some special lesson. In this
way the common tradition gained its special characters,
but still remained a tradition gaining fixity and dis-
tinctness till it was at last embodied in writing. For
the Gospels of St Matthew and St Luke represent the
two great types of recension to which it may be sup-
posed that the simple narrative was subjected. St Luke
presents the Hellenic, and St Matthew (Greek) the

‘later Hebraic form of the tradition, and in its pre-
sent shape the latter seems to give the last authentic

the constant connexion of the heal- withered hand; of the alarm ‘of
ing of the Paralytic and the call of | Herod, the feeding of the 5000, and
Matthew; of the plucking the ears [πε confession of Peter,

of corn and the healing of the

W..G. O

Chap. iii,

-----

In relation
to thir spe-
cific charac«
ters.

Acts i, 21, 22:

210

THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

᾿

Chap. iii.

| In vrelation

to their lane
guage,

spels.

-cedence of the forms of the narra-

record of the primitive Gospel’, Yet in both these a
common tradition furnished the centre and basis on
which the after works were built up, The original prin-
ciples of combination regulated the later additions, and
a clear resemblance of shape remained in the fuller nar-
rative.

In this way the successive remoulding of the oral
Gospel according to the peculiar requirements of dif-
ferent classes of hearers furnishes a natural explanation
of the general similarity in form and substance between
the several Gospels, combined with peculiarities and
differences in arrangement and contents. The assump-
tion of a common oral source is equally capable of
explaining the phenomena of the language of the Go-
The words of the Lord and the questions pro-
posed to Him would necessarily first be fixed, while
the narrative by which they were introduced remained
more free. Single phrases would be impressed with
peculiar force; and the recurrence of strange words
in the same connexion in the different Evangelists,
even when the construction of the sentence is changed,
seems scarcely to admit of a simple explanation except
on the admission of a traditional record’. And while

“γεύσωνται θανάτου, Matt. xvi. 28 |||.
δυσκόλως, Matt. xix. 23 |||]. Matt.
iv. s=Luke iv. 9, πτερύγιον. Matt.
vii. 5 =Luke vi. 42, διαβλέψεις.
Matt. xi. 11= Luke vii. 28, ἐν γεν-
νητοῖς γυναικῶν. Matt. xxl. 44=

1 The order thus given, St Mark,
St Luke, St Matthew (Greek), re-
presents the probable order of pre-

ttve which they give. It may or may
not coincide with the order of writ-

ing; for it is of course possible’ that
an earlier form of the Apostolic
tradition may have been committéd
to writing at a later period. This
is an important fact which seems to
have been wholly overlooked by
critics.

2 E.g. ἀπαρθῇ, Matt. ix. τα ||
ὀπίσω μου ἐλθεῖν, Matt. xvi. -2¢ |||

Luke xx, 18, συνθλασθήσεται...λικ-
μήσει. Mark vi. 41=Luke ix. 16,
κατέκλασε. ‘Mark xiv. 15=LEuke
xxii. 12, ἀνάγαιον. Matt. xxiv. 22=
Mark xiii. 20, κολοβοῦν. Matt. xxvi.
55 = Mark xiv. 48, συλλαβεῖν. Com-
pareal so Matt. iii. 3 ||\|, τὰς τρίβους
αὐτοῦ" and Matt. iv. ro= Luke iv. 8,
προσκυνήσει5᾽ where the Evangelists

THE WRITTEN GOSPELS.

211

the free development of common materials gave full
scope for variations in detail, as well as for interpo-
lations of fresh matter, it includes the preservation
of language hallowed by long use in its well-known
shape. Nor is it an unimportant fact that in this re-
spect also St Mark occupies the mean position between
the other Evangelists, as would naturally be the case
if he represents most closely the original from which
they started.

But while it is allowed that the prevalence of an oral
tradition, varied by the influence of circumstances, might
furnish an adequate explanation of the coincidences and
differences of the Gospels, the very plasticity of tra-
dition is turned into an argument against the hypo-
thesis. It has been argued that tradition is the parent
of fable, and that to admit a traditional source for the
Gospels is to sacrifice their historic value. The ob-
jection appears to rest upon two misconceptions. It
disregards, so to speak, the traditional education of
the age, and arbitrarily extends the period during which
the tradition was paramount. It has been shewn al-
ready that the Jews preserved with strict accuracy the
interpretations of the Law and the sayings of the
great teachers; and even if it had not been so, it
would have been sufficient to point to the difference
between an age of hearing and an age of reading to
remove the suspicion raised against the tradition of the
first age from the uncertainty of tradition now, But
more than this, the Evangelic tradition existed simply
as such only during the lifetime of those who were
the authors of it. No period was left for any mythic
embellishment. As long as the first witnesses survived,
agree in differing from the LXX. Bp. Marshinhis Comment. pp. 211 fi.
These coincidences are all noted by

Chap. iii.

------.-

Need Tradi-
tion be al-
ways the
parent of
Myths?

The question
answered,

212 THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. i, 50 long the tradition was confined within the bounds of
oe their testimony; when they passed away it was already
fixed in writing.

Other objections may perhaps be urged against the
hypothesis of a definite oral Gospel’, chiefly from a
misunderstanding of the spirit and work of the Apo-
stolic times; but, without affecting to say that it re-
moves every difficulty in the mutual relations of the
written Gospels, it explains so much with perfect sim-
plicity and naturalness that it would be unreasonable
not-to acquiesce readily in the existence of some doubts.
Parts of the tradition may have been committed to
writing from time to time; many, as St Luke says, may
have attempted to arrange the whole in a continuous
narrative, but still it remained essentially a tradition in
the first age, and as such found its authoritative ex-
pression in our Gospels. The characteristic forms and
various shades of feeling under which the common
materials were moulded remain subjects for future
inquiry.

1 Hug. Zind. 95 ff.; Weisse, Die pp. 32, f.whogivesa good outline and

Lvangelienfrage, 141 ff. Compare criticism of the different schemes
also Baur, Die Kanon. Evangelien, οἵ the origin of the Gospels. °

CHAPTER IV.

The Characteristics of the Gospels.

Willst du ins Unendliche schreiten,
Geh nur im Endlichen nach allen Seiten.
GOETHE,

HE Bible, like the Church, gains fresh force and
strength in times of trial. As long as it is un-
assailed, it is also in a great measure unstudied. It
is received as a whole with unquestioning reverence,
but the characteristics of its component elements are
undistinguished. A vague sense of the general unity
of the books of which it is composed takes the place
of a clear view of their organic union, Their indepen-
dence and variety, their vital connexion with periods
widely separated in time and thought, their individual
traits and original objects, are neglected in that tradi-
tional view which sees in all one uniform and changeless
revelation, neither special in its destination nor progress-
ive in its course. :

These remarks, which apply with more or less force
to all the books of Scripture, are specially applicable
- to the Gospels. The assaults which have been made
in late times upon their historic truth have brought
out with the most striking clearness their separate
characteristics, and it has even been argued that they
were composed designedly to further particular views.

Chap. iv.
Times of
alm belief
unfavoura-
ble to the
study of the
Bible,

The charac
teristics of
the Gospels
brought out
by modern
controversy.

214

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap iv.

The general
character of
their differ-
ence.

1. This indi-
vidualized
character is
implied in
the idea of
an inspired
history.

This exaggeration of the truth, though wholly incon-
sistent with their perfect simplicity, is yet a valuable
protest against that theory which represents them to
be casual collections of Evangelic fragments, and opens |
the way to a true appreciation of their claims. Taken
together they bear the same relation to the whole
Apostolic tradition that ‘they bear severally to one
another’. The common record and the separate records
have each a representative value. The three Synoptic
Gospels are not mere repetitions of one narrative, but
distinct views of a complex whole. They are the same,
and yet they are fresh. The great landmarks of the
history are unchanged: the same salient points reappear
in all, but they are found in new combinations and with
new details, as the features of a landscape or the out-
lines of a figure when viewed from various points.
Outwardly the Gospels are the reflex of individual
impressions. We never find even in the case of the
Prophets that the personal character of the divine
messenger is neutralised ; and much more may we ex-
pect to find a distinct personality, so to speak, in the
writing of the Evangelists, whose Inspiration was no
ecstatic impulse, but the consecration of a whole life,
the conversion of an entire being into a divine agency.
For the Gospels, like the Gospel, are most divine
because they are most human. As the clear expression
of that which individual men seized and treasured up

? A curious trace of the recogni-
tion of the representative character
of the written Gospels is found in
the inscriptions of the Gospels in
Cod. 69 (Cod. Leicestr.) ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ
[M.] εὐωγγέλιον. Τὴ the case of
St John the inscription is εὐαγγέλιον
ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ ᾿Ιωάννην. A similar

inscription is found in some other .

Manuscripts. Matthzei (ad Luc. i, 1)

supposes that it is a mere blunder.
It may be observed that the force
of the preposition in the phrase τὸ
κατὰ [M.] εὐαγγέλιον points prima-
rily to the authority and source (e.¢.
κατὰ Θουκυδίδην) ‘the Gospel [of
‘Christ] according to [the arrange-
‘ment and teaching of] M.’, though
it may in a secondary sense include
authorship, τ .

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

215

as the image of their Saviour’s life, they convey to other
men the same living picture in the freshness of its local
colouring. And this colouring is of the essence of the
picture. The only conception which we can form of
the Inspiration of a historic record lies in the divine
fitness of the outward dress in which the facts are at
once embodied and veiled. No record of any fact can
be complete. The relations of the most trivial oc-
currence transcend all power of observation; and the
truthfulness of special details is no pledge of the truth-
fulness of the general impression. The connexion and
relation and subordination of the various parts, the
description and suppression of particular incidents, the
choice of language and style, combine to make a history
true or false in its higher significance, and belong to
that ‘poetic’ power which is the highest and rarest gift
of the historian. This power the Evangelists possessed
in the fact that they were penetrated with the truths
of which they spoke. The Spirit which was in them
searched the deep things of God, and led them to realise
the mysteries of the faith, not indeed in their infinite
essence, but as finite conceptions. And would not such
writers above all others compose in an unconscious order?
would not the great facts of the Gospel assume in group-
ing and detail the subjective impress of their minds,
as they selected and arranged them with all truthfulness
and divine enlightenment? Popular history is universally
the truest reflex of popular opinion; and where distor-
tion and embellishment are excluded by the multiplicity

of the record, the human interest of the narrative is one |.

of the most powerful means for the propagation of the
divine message. The Gospel emphatically speaks to

men by men, and recognises their intellectual differences,
which it converts in different ways to God’s glory, In |

Chap. iv.

216

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iv.

—_—-

The differ-
ences
between the
Gospels not
only natural
but even ne-
cessary ows
wg to

like manner the Evangelists wrote the story of man’s
salvation, each as the type of one mighty section of
mankind, as they personally felt the need of a Saviour,
and acknowledged His power. The truth on which
this statement rests lies at the very foundation of the
Christian faith, for as the Son of God was made man
for our redemption, so the Spirit of God spoke through
men for our instruction.

The contrast between the Gospel of St John and
the Synoptic Gospels both in substance and in indi-
vidual character is obvious at first sight; but the cha-
racteristic differences of the Synoptic Gospels, which
are formed on the same foundation and with common
materials, are less observed. Yet these differences are
not less important than the former, and belong equally
to the complete portraiture of the Saviour, which com-
prised the fulness of an outward presence as well as
the depth of a secret life. In this respect the records
correspond to the subjects. The first record is manifold;
the second is one: the first is based on the experience
of a society, the second on the intuition of a loved
disciple. Even in date they arise out of distinct périods.
The spiritual Gospel belonged to a late stage in the
growth of the Church when Christianity was seen clearly
to rise above the ruins of an ‘old world? the ‘fleshly’
Gospels were contemporaneous in essence with the
origin of the Church itself, and were shaped by the
providential course of its early history. But this natural
and social growth, so to speak, invested the Synoptic
Gospels with a permanent and special power which
must continue to work its effects as long as human
character remains the same. Each narrative in which
the common facts were moulded was in this way the

| Spontaneous expression of a distinct form of thought,

ST FOHN AND THE SYNOPTISTS.

217

springing out of peculiar circumstances, governed by
special laws of combination, destined at first to meet
the wants of a marked class, and adapted to satisfy
in after times the requirements of those who embody
from time to time in changing shapes the feelings by
which it was first inspired. In whatever view we regard
the origin of the Gospels, this multiformity appears to
be as necessary as it was natural. On the one side the
different aspects of the subject and the various elements
combined in the early Church, on the other the recurrent
phases of the human mind. which are found in every
age, seem to call for some distinct recognition, and to
suggest the belief that each Gospel may fulfil a repre-
sentative function in the exhibition of the Divine Life.
Nor can such a belief be dismissed at once as resting
on mere fanciful analogies, though it is as difficult to
express in their full force the arguments by which it
is supported as it is to resolve a general impression
into the various elements by which it is produced.
The proper proof of the fact that each Gospel has its
distinctive worth springs from personal investigation;
such at least was the conviction in which the great
students of former times applied themselves to the
examination of the Gospels; and the fuller materials
and surer criticism which are now the inheritance of
the scholar promise proportionately larger results to
that labour which is most truthful because it is also
most patient and most reverent.

The subject of the Gospel—the history of the new
creation—the manifestation of perfect humanity—‘the
‘prophetic image of the glorified life"’—transcends, ac-
cording to the analogy of the earlier Messianic types,

1 [Εὐαγγέλιον]---τοῦ ἐξ dvacrd- nant definition of Basil (De Sp. S.
σεως βίου προδιατύπωσις is the preg- XV. ap. Suic. 7265. s. v. εὐαγγ.).

Chap. iv.

i. The na-
ture of the
subject, both
Divine and
Hluman.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

the scope of one narrator. The first creation was the
creation of a harmonious world, the second was the
reunion of the elements which sin had divided. Step
by step in the progress of Jewish history successive
features of the coming Saviour were embodied in the
Law, the Kingdom, the Prophets, the Seers; and the
record of the fulfilment of that to which these all pointed
could scarcely have been less varied. The twofold

| nature and complete manhood of Christ seem to require

representations at least as distinct as the prophetic teach-
ing of the Law is from the visions of Daniel. In earlier
times Patriarchs and Kings and Prephets foreshadowed
in their lives fragments of the work of Messiah; and
so when He came His work contained implicitly the
fulness of that which they prefigured. The archetypal
life which summed up the fragmentary teaching of the
past embraced the various separate developments of
the future. On the one side we see the many forms
of the humanity of Christ; on the other the unchanging
immanence of His Godhead. The bearings of each act,
and the teaching of each discourse, are necessarily in-
finite, for He spoke and acted as the representative
of men’. Variety in the record is necessary to the
completeness of the portraiture: the manifoldness even
of the outward life of the Lord exceeds the limits of
one historic type’. The written memorial is necessarily
partial, and to borrow the language of geometry super-
ficial; while the living fact is entire and solid. To the
simple believer the whole becomes intelligible by the

1 Compare Neander’s Life of the full truth (Hom. 1. in Matt. ap.
Christ, § 71 (E. Tr.); Church His- Suicer, /. c.) οὐκ ἤρκει εἷς εὐαγγελισ-
tory, 11. pp. 1—5 {E. Tr.); Ols- τὴς πάντα εἰπεῖν ; ἤρκει μέν" ἀλλὰ...
hausen’s Comment. Einl. § 2. [ἐκ τεσσάρων] μεγίστη τῆς ἀληθείας

3 The judgment of Chrysostom in ἀπόδειξις γίγνεται.
this respect appears to fall short of

THEIR CONNEXION WITH APOSTOLIC TEACHING.

219

separate contemplation of the parts. And if Christ be
our Pattern as well as our Redeemer : if we must realise
the fulness of His manhood for the direction of our
energies, as well as the truthfulness of His Godhead
for the assurance of our faith: it must be done by
comparing the distinct outlines of His life as taken
from the different centres of human thought and feeling;
for it is with the spiritual as with the natural vision, the
truest picture is presented to the mind, not by the
absolute coincidence of several images, but by the har-
monious combination of their diversities.

The varied fulness of Christian truth is seen from the
first in the constitution of the Church. The first circle
of its human teachers represents in characteristic dis-
tinctness the different aspects under which it may be
viewed, developing in harmonious completeness the out-
_ lines which the Prophets had previously drawn’. It
seems indeed at first sight, when we picture the Apo-
stolic age as a living scene, as if all unity of doctrine
were lost in the diversities of the Apostles, as they
appropriated and embodied each in a finite form the
infinite principles of their common Master. By some
the mysterious glories of the ancient creed were mingled
with the purer light of Christianity; and they trans-
ferred to the new and spiritual faith the majesty of the
Mosaic Law which they had observed with reverent

or even ascetic devotion’.

1 Neander (Gesch. d. Pflanz. d.
Christl. Kirche, 564—796) has fol-
lowed out the various forms of early
Christian teaching with equal judg-
ment and sagacity. In times of in-
ward discord no truth can be more
precious than ‘the manifoldness of
‘Christianity in its oneness ;’ and
nowhere is it more distinctly seen
than in the Scriptures.

St James*® sets before us
2 Cf, Hegesippus, ap. Euseb. HZ.

I. 23.

8. Cf. Gal. ii. 12; Acts xv. 13.
Though St Peter was the Afostle of
the circumcision, he does not per-
sonify the Jewish party, but rather,
as the representative of the Catholic
Church, mediates between them and
St Paul. Cf, Neander, Gesch. d.
Pflanz, 507+

Chap. iv.

Eph. iv. 13.

ii. The va-

rious ele-

ments COeX- -

tstent in the
Apostolic
teaching.

St JAMEs.

220

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iv.

James ii. 8:
L255 ii, 12.

Sz Pau,

this form of Christianity. He contemplates it from the
side of Judaism as the final end and aim of the earlier
training. Standing, as we may believe, in a close natu-
ral relation to the Saviour, he puts aside all remem-
brance of that connexion and even of the personal
presence of the Lord’, that he may dwell with the free-
dom and vigour of a Prophet on the principles which
He had established. His view of Christianity, to use
a popular word, is objective. In this aspect faz¢ is an
intellectual belief in a fact, while works are the only
outward proof of spiritual vitality. The Gospel is con-
templated as a Law, though it is a royal Law and a
Law of freedom, The essence of external religion
(θρησκεία), to which the ancient ritual had regard, is
laid open in the practice of Christian virtue. Christi-
anity is thus like a flower, which is fuller indeed and
more perfect than the bud from which it opens, while it
still rests upon the same support and is confined within
the same circle. |

The antithesis to this view is found in that of one
who was called to believe in a glorified Lord and not
to follow a suffering Teacher, St Paul was separated
from the other Apostles by the widest differences of
habit and training, and the change which attended his
acceptance of the Gospel was as violent as it was
sudden. With him Christianity was not so much a
prepared result as a new creation; and when the Church
chose his Conversion for special commemoration, it can
hardly have been without the instinctive feeling that
this was to him what death was to the other saints,

* The name Yesus Christ only though it presents some of the
occurs twice: i. 1; 11, r; and the closest parallels to the language
epistle contains no allusion to the of the Gospels. Cf. p. 178, n. 2.
Passion and Resurrection of Christ,

THEIR CONNEXION WITH ST FAMES, ST PAUL, ST PETER.

221

the entrance into a higher life. Old things had passed
away (2 Cor. v. 17, τὰ ἀρχαῖα); and faith only—the
willing surrender of the whole being to a supreme
power—was felt to furnish the entrance into the hea-
venly kingdom*. In such a connexion works, which
might proceed from the spirit of servile obedience, sunk
into the rank of a mere symptom, instead of being the
central fact. Yet these antithetical views of fazth and
works—the outer and the inner—are not contradictory,
but supplementary. They can be no more set in oppo-
sition than the convexity and concavity of a curve.
The common terms must be interpreted in accordance
with the position of the writers before they are com-
pared. And at last the teaching of the Apostles must
be combined and not identified, for we lose the fulness
of the truth if we attempt to make out their literal
accordance. They wrought differently for the establish-
ment of the Christian society, and they wrote differently
to direct its future development.

But there was yet another side of Christianity τάδε
was exhibited in the Apostolic teaching’. It was not
only a system of practical religion and a form of spi-
ritual growth, but it was also a fresh element in the
social world. St Peter exhibited this organising power
of the new faith. According to the significant promise
which was expressed in his name® he laid the founda-

1 Cf. Acts xiv. 27, θύραν πίστεως,
which stands in close relation with
the words of our Lord (John x. 7),
and the remarkable phrase which
occurs in the history of St James
(Heges. ap. Euseb. 1...) ἀπάγγει-
λον ἡμῖν τίς ἡ θύρα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ
σταυρωθέντος:;

2 The teaching of St John, as has
been remarked already, belonged to
a later period. See ‘Chap. v.

3 Cf. Pearson On the Creed, p.
627 note (ed. Cambr.). Yet it is of
importance to bear in mind the
distinction between πέτρος and πέ-
τρα (Matt. xvi. 18), between the
isolated mass and the living rock.
The one is the representation of and
suggests the existence of the other
(cf. Donaldson, Vew Cratylus, ὃ 15).
Cypr. de Unit. Eccles. 4: Hoc erant
utique et czteri Apostoli quod fuit

Chap. iv.

S¢ PETER,

222

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

. Chap. iv.

Acts ii. 37—
41; x. 44—48.

ΡΟ 1.5,

ili. The
Sorms of
thought cur-
rent in the
Apostolic
age.

EW.
Luke ii. 25,
37.

RoMAN.
Phil. iv, 22.

tions of the Jewish and the heathen churches, while the

task of fixing or completing their future structure was ©

left to others. His activity was not directed by a review
of the conditions of man’s outward piety or the require-

ments of his spiritual instincts, but sprung from his.

living hope ina sovereign Lord.

Each of the great aspects of human life, outward
and inward, in society and in the individual, are thus
represented in the forms of Apostolic teaching. The
external service of God by works of charity, the internal
sanctification of man’s powers by faith, and the per-
petual maintenance of the rights and blessings of a
Church, combine to complete the idea of Christianity
as exhibited by the first circle of the Apostles; and we
are naturally inclined to look for some analogous variety
in the form of the inspired records of His life from
Whom the Apostolic wisdom came.

If we extend our view beyond the limits of the
Jewish people, these different tendencies which existed
among the Apostles will be found exhibited on a much
larger scale and in more distinct clearness. The uni-
versality of the Gospel was attested from the first by
the fact that it was welcomed by representatives of every
class; and without leaving the records of the New Tes-
tament we read that it found reception with the earnest
Jew, who was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and
served God in the Temple with fastings and prayers
night and day :—with the retainer of Cesar’s household
(Cf. Tac: Ann. XV. 44; XIII. 32), removed alike from

Petrus, pari consortio preediti et
honoris et potestatis, sed exordium
ab unitate proficiscitur [et primatus
Petro datur, ut una Christi Ecclesia
et cathedra una monstretur. Et pas-
| tores sunt omnes, et grex unus os-
| tenditur, qui ab Apostolis unanimi

consensione pascatur] ut ecclesia
Christi una monstretur. The inter-
polated clause shews what Cyprian
would probably have written if
he had acknowledged any such
claims as the Bishop of Rome makes
now.

;

THEIR CONNEXION WITH TYPICAL FORMS OF THOUGHT.

223

the influence of tradition, feeling, or philosophy :—with
the outcast publican, who stood afar off as unworthy
to approach his God :—with the Areopagite, awakened
to a sense of a future judgment; and finally with the
cultivated disciple of the Alexandrine Schools, fervent
in spirit and mighty in the Scriptures’. And these are
not merely individuals, but true types of the various
classes into which the Roman world was divided in its
religious aspect. The characteristic feelings which they
embodied express the cardinal tendencies of men, and
mark the great divisions of the Apostolic work. The
Apostles had to unfold and declare the significance of
the Past. They had to point out the substance of

Christianity as shadowed forth in the earlier dispensa- |

tion. They had to make known the mighty Lawgiver
of a new covenant, the divine King of a spiritual Israel,
the Prophet of a universal Church. They had to connect
Christianity with Judaism.

Yet more: they had to vindicate the claims of the
Present. They had to set forth the activity and energy
of the Lord’s life, apart from the traditions of Moriah
and Sinai; to exhibit the Gospel as a simple revelation
from heaven; to follow the details of its announce-
ment as they were apprehended in their living power
by those who followed most closely on the steps of
Christ. They had to connect Christianity with History.

From another point of view they had to proclaim the
hopefulness of the Future. They had to shew that the
Gospel fully satisfies the inmost wants of man’s nature;
that it not only removes ‘the leprosy of castes and τῆς
‘blindness of pagan sensuality, but gives help and
strength to the hopeless sufferer who has no one to

us back to earlier notices of Egypt.

1 The phrase ἀνὴρ λόγιος (Acts
Herod. Il. 3.

xviii. 24)—a learned man—carries

Chap. iv.

HELLENIsT.
Matt. ix. 9.
{Lu. xviii.
13.

Acts xvii. 34."
ALEXAN-
DRINE.
Acts xviii.
24, 25.

As looking
to the

Past,'

Present,

Future, and

224 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iv. | put him in the healing waters, while it confers pardon
John v7. | On the returning prodigal and happiness on the be-
uke xv. 20; ΣΦ wnt . ,
xxiii, 43, lieving robber. They had to connect Christianity with

Eternal rela-
tions of
Christian-
ity.

John i. 3; x.
153; xii. 48.

By this
variety the
Gospel ts
adapted to
all ages and
characters of
mind.

Man.
Nor was this all: many there were whom their deep

searching of the human heart had taught to feel the
want of a present God. These longed to see their

ardent aspirations realised in the life of the Saviour ἡ

whom they had embraced, and to find their hopes
confirmed and directed by His own words. For such
a spiritual history was needed; and the Christian
teachers had to exhibit our Lord in His eternal res
lations to the Father, alike manifested in the past,
the present, and the future, as the Creator, the Re-
deemer, and the Judge. They had to connect Chris-
tianity with God.

This variety in the forms of the Apostolic preaching
which was directed to meet the hope of the Jew and
the energy of the Roman, to satisfy the cravings of
our moral nature and the wants of our speculative
reason, could not fail to influence the form in which
the facts of the life of Christ were apprehended and
grouped. These facts were the groundwork of all Chris-

tian teaching, and in virtue of their infinite bearings

admitted of being variously combined. In this way
the common Evangelic narrative was modified in the
special labours of the different Apostles, and that
which was designed to meet the requirements of one
period was fitted to meet the requirements of all. For
it is not enough to acknowledge the marvellous adapta-
tion of the Gospel to the Apostolic age. It was
equally destined for all times; and in this sense our
present Gospels, the records of the Apostolic preach-

ing, combine to form a holy τετρακτύς, ‘a fountain οὗ

a μυνννυνδωνν....

THEIR CONNEXION WITH TYPICAL FORMS OF THOUGHT. ©

‘eternal truth’ in a deeper sense than any mystic har-
mony of the ancient sage.

There are many whose thoughts still linger in the
past, and who delight to trace with a vain regret ‘the
‘glories which have passed away from the earth.” To
them St Matthew speaks, as he did to the Jew of old,
while he teaches that all that was great and good in
former days was contained in the spirit and not in the
outward shape, and exhibits the working of providence
in the course of national history. There are many again
whose sympathies are entirely with the present, who
delight in the activity and warmth of daily life, who
are occupied with things around them, without looking
far beyond their own age and circle. To them St
Mark addresses a brief and pregnant narrative of the
ministry of Christ, unconnected with any special recital
of His birth and preparation for His work, and un-
connected, at least in its present shape, with the myste-
rious history of the Ascension. Many also there must
be in every age who dwell with peculiar affection on
the Gospel of St Luke, who delight to recognise the
universality of our faith, whose thoughts anticipate the
time when all shall hear the message of Christianity,
who know no difference of class and acknowledge no
claims of self-righteousness, but admit the bonds of a
common humanity, and feel the necessity of a com-
mon Saviour. And lastly are there not those, even
in an era of restless excitement, who love to retire
from the busy scenes of action to dwell on the eter-
nal mysteries which St John opens for silent contem-
plation: men of divine eloquence and mighty in the
understanding of the word, who water the churches
which others have planted? No period of life, no
variety of temperament, is left without its Gospel.

W. G. Ρ

Acts xviii.24.

τ Cor. iii. 6.

226

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iv.

2. The Evan-
gelists in re-
lation to
these origi-
nal types of
Christian
Saith,

i. The Evan-
gelists
though not
generally
conspicuous
in history or
tradition

The zealous and the pensive, the active and the thought-. _
ful, may draw their peculiar support from the differ-
ent Evangelists, and find in them their proper end
and road.

These reflections however anticipate in some degree |
the answer to the question which arises more directly
from the previous remarks. The varieties of opinion
and feeling which distinguished the Apostolic age and
the body of the Apostles themselves, which were indeed
only special forms of unchanging instincts af man’s
nature, suggest with more or less probability the ante-
cedent likelihood of a manifold—even of a fourfold—
Gospel. How far then, it may be asked, are our pre-
sent Gospels fitted to represent the influence of these
typical differences? How far are these differences im-
plied in the character and position of our Evangelists ?
How far have they been historically recognised either in
the arbitrary conclusions of heretics or in the catholic
teaching of the Church ?

On applying these questions to the Gospels the first
feeling probably will be one of disappointment. It
must appear strange that only one bears the name of
an Apostle who is distinctly individualized in the events
of the narrative itself. Nor is the obscurity of the early
history of the Gospels relieved by the clearness of later
records, With the exception of St John, no one of the
Evangelists rises into any prominence in the memorials
of the first age, and tradition adds little to the few
casual notices in which their names are found. But if
we look deeper, this circumstance is itself a testimony
to the simple truthfulness of the Ecclesiastical belief,
when the names of the Gespels are contrasted with the
more conspicuous titles of the falsely named Gospels
of St James and Nicodemus, and the Preachings of

β seb. H. 2. ν. 8).

]

| Gospel of St Matthew and the claims

ST MATTHEW.

227

St Peter and St Paul; and on the other hand all that
can be gathered from external sources as to the posi-
tion occupied by the authors of the books points to
their representative character. In the broadest features
of time and position there can be no doubt that the
Evangelists were widely separated from one another.
Whatever may have been the exact dates of the several

books, they were certainly composed at long intervals,

longer still if measured by the course of events and
not by the lapse of years. The first probably was com-

posed in its original form while the disciples still zev¢

daily 20 the Temple at the hours of prayer ; the last when
Jerusalem was trodden under by Gentiles and her house
left to her desolate. The fundamental difference which
is involved in this change of national position was
further increased by the personal characteristics of the
Evangelists. The publican of the Galilean lake, the
companion of St Paul, and the sow and interpreter of St
Peter, are severally distinguished from one another no
less than from the prophet of the Apocalypse; and the

differences which thus lie upon the surface gain addi-

tional clearness in proportion as they are traced in de-
tail as far as the meagre memorials of the first age
enable us to follow them.

Tradition is constant in affirming that St Matthew
wrote his Gospel in Judea—‘while Peter and Paul were
‘founding the Church at Rome,’ as Ireneeus adds’—for
the use of Jewish converts and in their national lan-

guage’, ‘Having formerly preached to the Hebrews,

an impartial view of the evidence
which bears upon the question seems
to point to a clear result. All early
writers agree in affirming that St
Matthew wrote in Hebrew (Ara-
maic), and owing to them this belief
gained universal currency till the

1 Tren. c. Her. i. 1. 1 (ap. Eu-
2 The original language of the
of the present Gospel to Apostolic

authority have been made the sub-
ject of considerable discussion; yet

Chap. iv.

yet qualified
as being
widely scpa-
rated indate
and charac-
zer.

Acts iii. 1.

Luke xxi. 24.
Matt, xxiii.
38.

τ Pet. v. 13.

St Mat-
THEW.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

‘when he was about to go to others also, he com-

era of the Reformation (Erasmus).
At the same time all equally agree
in accepting the Greek Gospel as
the Gospel of St Matthew, without
noticing the existence of any doubt
as to its authenticity. The earliest
witness is Papias. ‘Matthew,’ he
says, on the authority as it appears
of the elder John, ‘composed the
‘oracles (τὰ λόγια) in the Hebrew
‘dialect; but each interpreted them
‘as he could’ (cf. p. 187, n. 3). One
point in this testimony which seems
to have been overlooked is of im-
portance. The tenses mark two
periods of the circulation of the
Hebrew Gospel: one during which
the Hebrew alone was current, and
another in which the original au-
thority quoted by Papias lived, when
individual translation was no longer
needed (ἡρμήνευσε not ἐρμηνεύει). In
other words an authorized Greek
representative of the Hebrew St
Matthew must have existed in the
generation after the Apostles. The
next witness is Irenzeus who says
that ‘Matthew published a written
‘Gospel in the Hebrew dialect’ (ap.

Euseb. 1. Z. v. 8), while he every-

where accepts the present text as
the authentic work of the Apostle.
The evidence of Origen is to the
same effect (ap. Euseb. 27. Z. vi. 25),
and it is unnecessary to extend the
inquiry lower down, for all external
evidence is absolutely uniform in
attesting both the existence of a
Hebrew archetype, and the autho-

rity of the present Gospel as the.

work of St Matthew. But on the
other side it is argued from internal
evidence that the present Gospel
bears no marks of being a transla-
tion, that several details in it point
to a late and not to an early date,
and that there is no evidence to
shew that any one who mentions
the Hebrew original had seen it.
The last objection is evidently un-
reasonable. Till it can be shewn

that the writers quoted are untrust-
worthy generally, it is purely arbi-
trary to reject their statement be-
cause it is not sufficiently explicit.
The two other facts are perfectly
consistent with a belief in the He-
brew original and in the Greek St
Matthew. It has been shewn that
the oral Gospel probably existed
from the first, both in Aramaic and
in Greek, and in this way a prepara-
tion for a Greek representative of
the Hebrew Gospel was at once
found. The parts of the Aramaic
oral Gospel which were’adopted by
St Matthew already existed in the
Greek counterpart. The change was
not so much a version as a substitu-
tion; and frequent coincidence with
common parts of St Mark and St
Luke, which were derived from the
same oral Greek Gospel, was a ne-
cessary consequence. Yet it may
have happened that as long as the
Hebrew and Greek Churches were
in close connexion, perhaps till the
destruction of Jerusalem, no autho-
ritative Greek Gospel of St Matthew,
Ζ. 6. such a revision of the Greek
oral Gospel as would exactly answer
to St Matthew’s revision of the Ara-
maic, was committed to writing.
When however the separation be-
tween the two sectious grew more
marked, the Greek Gospel was writ-
ten, not indeed as a translation, but
as a representation of the original,
as a Greek oral counterpart was
already current; and at the same
time those few additional notes were
added which imply a later date
than the substance of the book
(Matt. xxviii. 15). By whose hand
the Greek Gospel was drawn up is
wholly unknown. The traditions
which assign it to St John or St
James are without any foundation
in early writers. [Nothing which I
have seen since this note was writ-
ten leads me to modify the opinion
expressed init, 1866; 1871.]

* ST MATTHEW.

229

‘mitted to writing in his native tongue the Gospel as
‘he taught it (τὸ κατ᾽ αὐτὸν εὐαγγέλιον), and so sup-
‘plied by his writing that which was lacking in his
‘presence’... This testimony, it is true, refers to the
Aramaic archetype and not to our present Greek Gos-
pel, but that Aramaic record furnished at once the
substance and the characteristics of the Greek revision.
_ The existing narrative is so complete and uniform in
plan and style that it cannot have suffered any con-
siderable change in the transition from one language
to the other; and there is no sufficient reason to depart
from the unhesitating habit of the earliest writers
who notice the subject in practically identifying the
revised version with the original text, though indeed
it was not so much an independent version as an adap-
tation of the oral Greek Gospel to the ‘preaching’ of

St Matthew’.

1 Euseb. 27. Z. rit. 24.

2 The view which has been given
of the relation of the present Gospel
of St Matthew to the original Ara-
maic text-and the oral Greek Gospel
which was the common basis of the
two other Synoptists receives a re-
markable confirmation from the pe-
culiarities of the Old Testament ci-
tations which it contains. These
may be divided into two distinct
classes: the first consisting of such
passages as are quoted by the E-
vangelist himself as fulfilled in the
events of the life of Christ; the
second of such as are inwoven into
the discourse of the different cha-
racters, and form an integral part
of the narrative itself. Of these the
first class belongs to the distinctive
peculiarities of the Gospel; the se-
_cond to its general foundation. The
one may be supposed to have had
no representative in the current
Greek tradition; the other to have
existed in a Greek form from the

first. Exactlyin accordance with this
supposition it is found that the first
class is made up of original render-
ings of the Hebrew text, while the
second is in the main in close ac-
cordance with the LXX even where
it deviates from the Hebrew. This
will appear from an examination of
the passages in question :

(i) eculiar quotations: i. 23
(καλέσουσιν); ii. 15, 18; iv. 15, τό;
viii. 17; xii. 18 ff. 5 xiii. 35; xxi. 5;
ΣΧ 9, 10. Cf. ii. 6.

(ii) Cycltc quotations: iii. 3; iv.
4, 6, 7, 10 (προσκυνήσεις, so Alex.);
xv. 4, 8, 9; xix. § (18 f.); xxi. 425
(xxii. 32); xxii. 39, 44 (ὑποκάτω) ;
XXill, 39; xxiv. 153 xxvii. 46.

In all the cases of Cyclic quota-
tions parallels occur in the other
Synoptic Gospels agreeing (as St
Matthew) with the LXX. Some-
times however quotations in St Mat-
thew coincide with Synoptic par-
allels, where both differ from the
LXX: xxi. 133 xxvi. 31. In other

Chap. iv.

230

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iv.
Matt. ix. 9.
Mark ii. 14.
Luke v. 27.

The details of St Matthew’s life which have been
preserved are very scanty. There can however be little
doubt that the Matthew of the first Gospel is the same
as the Levi of the second and third, though the per-
sons were distinguished even in very early times’. The
change of name, which seems to have coincided with
the crisis in the life of the Apostle, and probably bore
some reference to it’, finds a complete parallel in the
corresponding changes in the cases of St Peter and
St Paul, even if it appear strange that no passing notice
of the identification occurs in the catalogues of the
Apostles. According to the present text of St Mark,
Levi (Matthew) is called the sox of Alpheus*; and in
the absence of any further mark of distinction, it has
been usual to identify this Alphzeus with the father of
James; in which case St Matthew would have been
nearly related by birth to our Lord. His occupation
was that of a collector of dues (6 τελώνης) on the sea of
Galilee; and this alone shews that he cannot have ob-
served the traditions of the Pharisaic school*, Ata
later time he is described as a rigorous ascetic, living
‘on seeds and fruits and herbs without flesh’, as if by

cases a coincidence with the LXX Svérom. Iv. 9.

is found where the same quotation 2 Matthew, z.¢. MIND = Θεόδω-
is not preserved in the context of ρος, ϊ

the Synoptists, though there is evi- 8 Mark ii. 14. In this place Ὁ

dence that it formed part of the oral
narrative: xi. τὸ (cf. Mark i. 2);
xiii. 14. Cf. ix. 13=xii. 7 (Kal od);
xxi. 16. Matt. xxii. 24, 37, are
quotations of the substance rather
than of the words, and differ equally
from LXX and parallels.

Bleek (quoted by De Wette, Zzz/.
§ 976) called attention to this differ-
ence in the text of St Matthew’s
quotations, but did not rightly ap-
prehend its bearing.

1 Heracleon, ap. Clem. Alex.

and some cursive manuscripts read
᾿Ιάκωβον τὸν τοῦ ᾿Αλφαίου. The po-
sition which St Matthew occupies.
in the catalogues of the Apostles
throws no light upon this relation-
ship (Matt. x. 3; Mark iii. 18; Luke
vi. 15; Acts i. 13). In the first
three passages he appears rather to
be connected with St Thomas.

4 Cf. Lange, Leben Fesu, 1. 238.

5 Clem. Alex. Ped. 11. 1. This
trait again brings him into con-
nexion with James ¢he σέ. Eu-

ST MATTHEW.

a natural reaction he had exchanged the licence of

his former life for the sternest self-denial; but this
austerity, which was rather that of an Essene than of
a Pharisee, appears as part of his practice and not of
his teaching; nor can it have been without influence
on the progress of the Christian faith that the Hebrew
Evangelist was one who, if it was only on the narrow
stage of a Galilean town, had yet ventured beyond
the strict limits of national hope. St Paul, who was
trained in the most straitest sect of his religion, when
once convinced, hastened to the opposite pole of truth:
St Matthew, passing to the new faith by a less violent
transition, naturally retained a firmer hold on his earlier
belief. His Apostolic commission tended to strengthen
this feeling ; for, according to a very early tradition, he
remained at Jerusalem with the other Apostles for
twelve years after the death of the Lord, busy among
his own countrymen’. When this work was ended he
preached tke Gospel to offers; but no trustworthy
authority mentions the scene of his missionary labours,
which in later times were popularly placed in £¢/i-
opia®, The mention of his martyrdom is found only
in legendaty narratives, and is opposed to the best
evidence, which represents him to have died a natural
death’.

seb. H. £. 1. 73. The same tradi-
tion throws sone light upon a singu-

ἐκ παραδόσεως τὸν σωτῆρα φησὶ προσ-
τεταχέναι τοῖς αὐτοῦ ἀποστόλοις ἐπὶ

lar passage qucted from the ‘Gospel
of the Ebionits:’ ἦλθον καταλῦσαι
τὰς θυσίας, Ka ἐὰν μὴ παύσησθε τοῦ
θύειν οὐ παύσται ad ὑμῶν ἡ ὁργή
(Epiph. Her. XXX. 16).

Predic. Petri ap. Clem. Alex.
Strom. Vi. 5.53: μετὰ δώδεκα ἔτη
ἐξέλθετε els Dv κόσμον μή Tis εἴπῃ
Οὐκ ἠκούσαμε. This belief was al-
ready a ¢ralition in the time of
Apollonius (. 180 A.D.): ἔτι δὲ ὡς

᾿ δώδεκα ἔτεσι μὴ χωρισθῆναι! τῆς ‘Te-

ρουσαλήμ (Euseb. H. .. v.18). Cf.
Routh, Rel. Sacr. 1. p. 484.

2 Eusebius says simply (III. 24)
when he went é@ ἑτέρους. The later
tradition is given by Socrates, 27...
1.19. Cf. Credner, Zz. § 35.

3 Heracleon, ap. Clem. Alex.
Strom. IV. 9. 73. The Apocryphal
Acts and Martyrdom of Matthew,
which relates in extravagant terms

232

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iv.

SZ MARK.

These notices, however slight, yet contribute in some
measure to mark the fitness of St Matthew for fulfilling
a special part in the representation of the Gospel. The

| time and place at which he wrote further impress upon

his work its distinctive character. The Hebrew Chris-
tians, during a succession of fifteen bishops, outwardly
observed the customs of their fathers, and for them he
was inspired to exhibit in the teaching of Christ the
antitypes of the Mosaic Law, to portray the, earthly
form and theocratic glory of the new dispensation, and
to unfold the glorious consummation of the /kimgdom of .
heaven, faintly typified in the history of his ¢gountrymen.

The history of St Mark is somewhat mgre distinctly
known than that of St Matthew; but a double name,
as in the case of St Matthew, has given) rise to the
conjecture that two persons—John Mark’ the com-
panion of St Paul and Mark the Evangelist the son of
St Peter—are to be distinguished’. The general voice of
tradition is against this distinction’; and the close con-
nexion in which St Peter stood to the former Mark

Migne).
The title vids (1 Pet. v. 13) cer-
tainly seems to mart a natural and
not a spiritual relatignship.
3 It must however be admitted
that the tradition fist appears at a
later time. It is n¢t, so far as I

his miracles and death in the coun-
try of the Anthropophagi, contains
no fragment of any genuine tradi-
tion, unless it be in the mention of
his Hebrew prayer (Act. AZatt. § 22,
p. 182, ed. Tischdf.). The names
Ματθαῖος and Ματθίας are constantly

confounded : 4.9. [Hippol.] Phzdos.
VII. 20, where Miller has wrongly
introduced Ματθαῖον into the text.

1 Acts xii, 12, "Iwdvvou τοῦ ἐπικα-
λουμένου Μάρκου" xii. 25, “I. τὸν
ἐπικληθέντα M.: xv. 37, Ἶ. τὸν xa-
λούμενον M. Sometimes simply ¥ohz-
Acts xiii, 5, 13.

2 The late list of the Seventy Dis-
ciples contained in the works of
Hippolytus distinguishes ¢hree, the
Evangelist, the cousin of Barnabas,
and John Mark. (pp. 953 f. ed.

know, mentioned bly Eusebius or
any earlier writer; jut occurs first
in the preface to thy Commentary

p- iv.) on Acts xil. 15) though with
some doubt (raya otra ἐστι Μάρκος
ὁ εὐαγγελιστής... πιθανὶς δὲ ὁ λόγος
κιτ.λ.). Yet οἵ. Hieron. Comm. in
Philem. 24.

ST MARK.

offers a sufficient explanation of the origin of the latter
designation as applied to him. When the Apostle was
delivered from prison after the martyrdom of St James,
he went to the house of Mary the mother of Fohn sur-
named Mark, where many were gathered together. By
birth St Mark was a Jew and a cousin (ἀνεψιός) of
Barnabas, himself a Levite of Cyprus, from which some
concluded that St Mark was of priestly descent. He
appears at an early time in connexion with Paul and
Barnabas before their special commission to the Gen-
tiles; and when this was given, he accompanied them
on their first missionary journey as their minister (ὑπτηρ-
erns). But after visiting Cyprus, with which he may
be supposed to have been previously acquainted, he left
them and returned to Jerusalem, being unprepared, as
it would seem, for the more arduous work of the mis-
sion*. It is perhaps a mark of the same hasty tem-
perament that he was ready, not long afterwards, to
take part in the second journey of St Paul; and when
St Paul refused to allow this, in consequence of his
former desertion, he went again with Barnabas to Cy-
prus. The next notice of St Mark, which occurs after
an interval of some years, speaks of steady work and
endurance. St Paul mentions him among those few
fellowworkers who had proved a comfort to him, and
in a contemporary Epistle he again names him with
St Luke. At a still later period St Paul desires
his help at Rome; and it was at Rome, according to
the popular belief, that he specially attached himself

1 Prol.in Marc. (Vulg.). Bede,
Prol. in Marc. ap. Credner, § 48.

* Chrysost. ap. Cram. Cat. a7 loc.:
dre ἐπὶ μακροτέραν λοιπὸν στελλο-
μένων ὅδον. It has been conjectured
that the singular epithet stwm/-
fingered (κολοβοδάκτυλος) applied to

St Mark in the Philosophumena (vu.
30) may refer to this as marking
him as a deserter (pollice truncus,
poltroon), the physical idea being
substituted in the course of time for
the moral one (Tregelles, Fourn. of
Philology, 1855, pp. 224 ff.),

Acts xil,.12.
Col, iv. 10,

It.

Acts iv. 36.
Acts xii. 25.

Acts xiii. 5.

Acts xiii. 13
xv. 38.

Acts xv. 36
~~ 39-

Col. iv. 10,
It.
Philem. 24.

2 Tim, iv. 11.

234

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iv.

ΘΕ ν, 15.

to St Peter; but this belief may have arisen from the
opinion, which was common in early times, that St
Peter spoke of Rome under the mystical name of Baby-
lon, though it is more natural to suppose that St Mark
accompanied him on some unrecorded Eastern journey.
However this may be, his close connexion with St Peter
as his interpreter (ἑρμηνευτής, 1. 6. secretary) is well es-
tablished’; and it was in this relation that he com-
posed his Gospel from the oral teaching of his master’.
After the death of St Peter he is said to have visited
Alexandria, where—such was the strange tradition of
later times—he gained the admiration of Philo, and died
by martyrdom according to the common legend’.

It is perhaps a mere fancy, but it seems natural to
find in St Mark a characteristic fitness for his special
work. One whose course appears to have been marked
throughout by a restless and impetuous energy* was |
not unsuited for tracing the life of the Lord in the
fresh vigour of its outward power. The friend alike of
St Paul and St Peter, working in turn in each οἵ the

1 Papias (Johannes Presb.) ap.
Euseb. 47. £. 111. 39 (Μάρκος épun-
veurns Πέτρου γενόμενος), Irenzeus,
c. Her. il. 1. 1 (M. ὁ μαθητὴς καὶ
ἑρμηνευτὴς Πέτρου), Tertullian, adv.
Mare. τν. 5 (Marcus quod edidit
Evangelium Petri affirmatur, cujus
interpres Marcus). The sense of
ἑρμηνευτὴς is fixed by Jerome ad
Hedib. 11: Divinorum sensuum
majestatem digno non poterat [B.
Paulus] Greeci eloquii explicare ser-
mone; habebat ergo Titum inter-
pretem, sicut et B. Petrus Marcum,
cujus evangelium Petro narrante et
illo scribente compositum est.

2 Cf. pp. 185 ff.

8 Hieron. de Virr. Tlustr. 8:
mortuus est octavo Neronis anno.
The detailed traditions of his mar-
tyrdom are worthless: [Hippol.] Zc. ;

Chronic. Alex. ap. Credner, p. 100.
4 This same trait appears even in
an early incident of his life, if Town-
son (followed by Olshausen, Gres-
well, and Lange) is right in identi-
fying him with the young man who
followed Jesus at His betrayal with
hasty zeal (περιβεβλημένος σινδόνα)
and afterwards fled with equal pre-
cipitancy (Mark xiv. 51, 52).

Can there also be any basis for
the singular tradition which repre-
sents him as one of the Seventy Dis-
ciples who was offended by the hard’
saying of the Lord at Capernaum
(John vi. 60) and left Him till
brought back by St Peter? (Epiph.
Her, 1.1. 6). The same story occurs
in [Hippolytus] 7.¢., but there St
Luke-also is joined with him.

CONNEXION OF ST MARK WITH ST PETER.

235

great centres of the Jewish world, at first timidly sen-
sitive of danger, and afterwards a comforter of an im-
prisoned Apostle, of the circumcision and yet writing
to Gentiles’, St Mark stands out as one whom the
facts. of the Gospel had moved by their simple force
to look over and beyond varieties of doctrine in the
vivid realization of the actions of the Sox of God. For
him teaching was subordinate to action; and every
trait which St Peter preserved in his narrative would
find a faithful recorder in one equally suited to appre-
hend and to treasure it. The want of personal know-
ledge was made up for by the liveliness of attention
with which the Evangelist recorded ‘without omission
‘or misrepresentation’ the words of his master*. The
requirements of a Roman audience (ὃς 2.6. Peter πρὸς
Tas χρείας ἐποιεῖτο τὰς SudacKadias’) fixed the outlines
of the narrative; and the keen memory of a devoted
Apostle filled up the picture with details which might
well remain in all their freshness on such a mind as
his. For St Peter himself was of a kindred nature

with St Mark. He too could recall scenes of incon-

siderate zeal and failing faith; while in his later years
he still dwelt on each look and word* of his heavenly

1 This follows from the explana-
tion of Jewish customs (11. 18; vil.
I—4; xiv. 12; xv. 6), opinions (xii.
18), localities (xiii. 3), no less than
from the general character of the
Gospel.

The idea that the Gospel was ori-
ginally written in Ladi (subscrip-
tions to the eshito and Harcle-
an (Philoxenian) Syriac, and some
Manuscripts, cf. Tischdf. 4. 7. I. p.
325) was a mere conjecture from the
belief that it was preached at Rome.
The story of the autograph at Venice
and Prague is well known. Credner,

ὃ 55-

5 Papias, ap. Euseb, H. Z. It.

7 Papias, 7. ¢.

4 A remarkable instance of this
occurs in his Epistle (1 Pet. v. 2),
ποιμάνατε TO ἐν ὑμῖν ποίμνιον τοῦ
Θεοῦ, which points significantly to
John xxi..16. The metaphor does
not occur in the Pauline Epistles
[cf. Eph. iv, 11; Heb. xiii. 20; Acts
xx. 28—9g]. In v. 3, τῶν κλήρων
should not be translated (as E. V.)
God’s heritage; but the sense is
rather, Be not lords over (Psal. ix. 31
[x. 10] LXX) ¢hose assigned to your
authority, but ensamples to the flock

Chap. iv.

His con-
nexton with
SZ PETER.

236

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iv.

—_——-_

¥ Pet. v.13:
Philem. 24.

2 Tim. iv. 11.

St LUKE.

Lord, whom he had early loved with more than a dis-
ciple’s affection’. Thus it was that the master and the
disciple were bound together by the closest sympathy.
The spirit of the Apostle animates the work of the
Evangelist: the spitit of his completed life. For St
Peter’s work was already done when he had vanquished
at Rome, as before in Palestine, the great Antichrist
of the first age”; and it remained only that he should
be united in martyrdom with St Paul, with whom he
had been before united by the ministry of common dis-
ciples, through whom the Apostles of the Jew and Gen-
tile yet speak to all ages. . |

The doubts which attach to the details of the history
of St Matthew and St Mark recur also in the history of
St Luke*®. It has been argued from the language of
St Paul that he was of Gentile descent*; and in later
times he was commonly supposed to have been a

committed to your love. There is
one flock, but many /é¢s; and thus
again we are recalled to John x. 16
in which we are told of one flock
(ποίμνη) and matty folds (αὐλή).

1 John xxi. 15 (ἀγαπῶ, pido).

2 Simon Magus (Euseb. 27. Z. τι.
14). The true historical relation of
this Sorcerer to the Apostolic work
is too often neglected, though indeed
it has not yet been sufficiently ex-
plained. Cf. History of N.T. Canon,
pp. 274 ff.

ὃ The original form of the name
Lucanus (Λουκᾶϑ) is preserved in
some Latin Manuscripts (a i ff? for.
Cf. Tischdf. 4. 7. 1. pp. 326, 546).
Similar contractions occur in the
case of Epaphras and Silas.

The identification of Silas with St
Luke, which was proposed by Evan-
son (Dissonance, &c. pp. 106 ff.) and
has been lately revived, seems to be
inconsistent with the narrative of

Acts xvi., and to rest on no sound
arguments. The same may be said
of the identification of Luke with
Lucius, cf. p. 237, n. 5. Such conjec-
tures spring from simple impatience
of acquiescing in the fragmentariness
of Scripture.

4 Col. iv. 14, 11. The phrase oi
ὄντες ἐκ περιτομῆς might be used
fitly in contrast with a Gentile pro-
selyte; and it was the general
opinion in Jerome’s time that St
Luke was a proselyte : Licet plerique
tradant Lucam Evangelistam ut pros-
elytum Hebreeas litteras ignorasse
(Hieron. Quest. 17: Gen. c. XLVI.).
The name seems to have been re-
ferred to the Evangelist by all the
early commentators :[Ambr.]; Pela-
gius; Chrys. 222 Zoc.; Adamant. Diad.
c. Marc. § 1, p. 260, ed. Lomm. Cf.
Can. Murat. enit.: Lucas iste medi-
cus...

S7’ LUKE.

237

native of Antioch’, the centre of the Gentile Church,
and the birth-place of the Christian name. But this
belief, though natural in itself, rests on no conclusive
evidence; and the further details which are given as
to the mode and place of the Evangelist’s conversion’,

and as to his original social* and religious position,

can be regarded only as conjectures. So much how-
ever at least can be set down with certainty, that he
was the friend and companion of St Paul; and, from
a comparison of Col. iv. 14 with Philem. 24 and 2 Tim.
iv. 10, 11, there remains no reasonable doubt that the
Evangelist is the same as the beloved physician who con-
tinued alone in faithful attendance on the Apostle
during his last imprisonment*, Nor can the recent
theories as to the composition of the Acts be con-
sidered to have set aside the natural interpretation of
the change of person which marks St Luke as the
companion of St Paul’s second journey. From the nar-
rative it appears that he joined St Paul at Troas on
the eve of his entrance into Macedonia’; and when Paul

1 This is stated first by Eusebius
(27. Ε. il. 4: τὸ μὲν γένος dv τῶν
ἀπ᾽ ᾿Αντιοχεία5), and copied from
him by Jerome (de Virr. Lilustr.
7: Antiochensis, Comm. in Matt.
Preef.: natione Syvws Antiochensis)
and later writers (Theophylact, Eu-
thymius). It is instructive to no-
tice how the tradition grows more
definite in time. Chrysostom on
the other hand, while dwelling con-
stantly on the associations of An-
*tioch, takes no notice of such a
connexion (Lardner, Credibility, v.

128). . δ

In addition to the tradition of
St Luke’s Gentile descent and con-
version by St Paul (cf. p. 236, notes),
we have another that he was one of
the Seventy Disciples (cf. p. 234,n.4).
The first appears in the Dealogue

against the Marcionites appended to
Origen’s works, and seems from the
context to have been suggested by
doctrinal reasons (Dial. c. Mare. § 1,
p- 259, ed. Lomm.). It is repeated
by Epiphanius (er. LI. 11, p. 433),
with the addition that he preached
in Gaul; but Eusebius was unac-
quainted with the legend. Euseb.
H. E. 1.12. The identification of St
Luke with one of the two disciples
at Emmaus is equally unsupported,

% The legend that he was an
artist, which became very popular
in later times, is not found before
Nicephorus Callistus (+1450). Lard-
ner, Credibility, V1. 112.

* Cf. p. 236, n. 4.

5 If the reading of D and Au-
gustine (de Serm.Dom. 11. 57 [Xvuz])
in Acts xi. 28 (συνεστραμμένων δὲ

Chap. iv.

——

Acts xvi. 8,
το.

238

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iv.

Acts xvi. 16
—4o,

Acts xx. 6.

Philem. 24.
Acts xxi. 1,

17.
Acts xxvii. I.
2 Tim. iv, 11.

Hs con-
nexion with
Sé¢ Paut,

2 Cor. viii. 18.

and Silas left Philippi after their imprisonment, he
seems to have remained there, and not to have ac-
companied St Paul on his later journeys till after the
uproar at Ephesus, when St Paul met him again at
Philippi before his return to Palestine. From this time
St Luke remained in constant attendance (συνεργός) on
the Apostle during his journey to Jerusalem and on
his voyage to Rome, where he appears to have re-
mained till the latest period of St Paul’s life.. Of the
later history of St Luke nothing is known’, but he is
generally supposed to have written his Gospel and the
Acts in Greece, though even on this point tradition is

not uniform?,

The distinctive characteristic of St Luke’s life lies in
the one certain fact of his long companionship with

St Paul.

form and emphatic clearness’.

The earliest writers insist on this with uni-

It became a custom to

speak of St Luke as the brother whose praise in the

hu ov) rests on any early tradition,
St Luke would appear to have been
connected with St Paul at a much
earlier period. This reading may
perhaps hang together with the iden-
tification of St Luke with Lucius
of Cyrene (Acts xiii. 1), a notion
which was current in Origen’s time,
unless it is assumed that the Lucius
of Rom. xvi. 21 was a different
person (Orig. ad Rom. xvi. § 39).
This identification has found favour
among many modern scholars (Lard-
ner, Credibility, v1. 124 f.), though
it has very little in its favour. On
this supposition St Luke would be a
kinsman (συγγενής) of St Paul; a
fact which could hardly have failed
to be preserved by tradition. Irenzeus
(c. Her, 111. 14. 1) points out accu-
rately the companionship of St Luke
with St Paul, as it is shewn in the
Acts,

1 In the absence of all early evi-
dence to the contrary, it may be sup-

posed that he died a natural death.
Cf. Lardner, Credibility, V1. 129.

2 In Achaize Boeotizeque (al. Bi-
thynizeque) partibus : Hieron. Comm.
in Matt. Pref. Compare the various
subscriptions given by Tischendorf,
NV. 7. τ. p. 546. Some of the copies
of the Peshito (Jones, p. 159) place
its writing at Alexandria, an opinion
which recurs in Ebed Jesu’s. Caza-
logue, Assem. Bibl. Orient. 111. p. 35
probably from a confusion with St
Mark.

The history of the Acts is gene-
rally taken to fix the date of the
writing of the Gospel, which is sup-
posed to fall shortly before the close
of the period of ¢wo years (Acts
xxviii. 30), z.¢. before A.D.63. All
that can be certainly affirmed is that
it preceded the Acts (Acts i. 1); for
it seems rash to conclude that the
Acts necessarily contains the history
up to the point of its publication,

3 Cf. pp. 189 f,

CONNEXION OF ST LUKE WITH ST PAUL.

239

Gospel ts throughout all the churches’; and as early as
the time of Origen it was supposed that St Paul spoke
in his Epistles of the written Gospel of St Luke, when
he referred to that oral teaching which probably itself
furnished its substance and character*. Such compa-
nionship at once bespeaks natural sympathy and in-
creases it; and whether the allusion to the Jdeloved
physician points to any special service which St Luke
had rendered to the Apostle or not, the epithet at
once arrests attention in the connexion in which it
occurs. Nor can it be without influence upon ‘our
estimate of St Luke’s character that he wrote the Acts.
The very design of such a history, when considered
in relation to the Apostolic age, was remarkable; and
the form in which it is cast, portraying the devel pment
of the Church ‘from Jerusalem to Rome’ through each
stage of its growth, bears witness to a mind in which
the future of Christianity was more distinctly imaged
even than in the visions of St John. The book seems
in its prophetic fulness to be a true ‘philosophy of
‘the history’ of the Church. It closes only when the
Gospel had encountered and conquered a typical cycle
of dangers. The universal promulgation and gradual
acceptance of the Christian faith is there already pre-
figured in its critical moments; and the Evangelist
who dwelt on such a picture must have been naturally
fitted to trace the life of Christ in its wide compre-
hensiveness, as the Gospel of the nations, full of mercy
and hope, assured to a whole world by the love of a
suffering Saviour’.

1 2... Hieron. Comm. in Matt.
Z.c.: Lucas medicus, natione Syrus
Antiochensis, cujus laus in Evan-
gelio, qui et ipse discipulus apostoli
Pauli...

_ * Euseb. AZ, v1.25. Cf. p. 189.

On the possible use of some written
records of the life of Christ by St
Paul, compare Neander, Gesch. d.
Pflanz. 131 f. ἶ

3 ‘The special inscription to Theo-
philus (Luke i. 3) may appear to be

Chap. iv.

Col. iv. 14.

240

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iv.

St JOHN.

John xviii.
15.

Acts xix. 35.

Luke ix. 54.

St John survived to see the outward establishment
of that Catholic Church which St Luke foreshadowed. .
In him ‘two eras met, so that the mysterious promise of
his Master was fulfilled’, as he farried till the Lord
came in power and judgment to sweep away the ensigns
of the old theocracy and appear in the Christian Body.
The world might well seem to be passing away, as the
shifting scene in some great tragedy, or rather as the
veil which is cast over the Eternal’, to one who had
passed through the crisis of the first age. He who had
anxiously followed Jesus into the judgment-hall lived
to know that His name was preached from India to
Spain; he who had frequented the Temple, even after
he was filled with the might of Christ, survived its ruin,
and died in a city consecrated to the service of a
heathen deity; he who would have called fire on the
heads of the Samaritans at last speaks in our ears only
the words of love in a Christian assembly*®. Indeed the
differences between St John and the Synoptists—may
we not even say between the Son of Thunder and the -

an objection to this universality of Cod. Fuld. in ver. 23, and Aug.

character assigned to St Luke’s Gos-
pel, but really it seems to support
it. Theophilus is evidently repre-
sented as a man of rank (κράτιστος)
and intelligence: and the true scho-
lar (if I may so speak) is essentially
the man of the widest sympathies.
It may be added that if, as many
have thought from the time of Origen
(Hom. 1. tn Luc. 5. f, adapted by
Ambrose, Comm. in Luc. 1.3), Theo-
philus is simply a symbolic title of
the true disciple, then the inscrip-
tion itself sets forth the character of
the narrative.

1 John xxi. 22, ᾿Εὰν αὐτὸν θέλω
μένειν ἕως ἔρχομαι, τί πρὸς σέ; The
stress lies on the idea of an extended
interval (ἕως ἔρχομαι [r Tim. iv. 13,
Vulg. dum venio|, donec venio, as

once, Zvact. i Foh. CXXIv. 2), and
not an indefinite and single limit
(ἕως ἂν ἔλθῃ Vulg. guoad usgue
veniat, 1 Cor. iv. 5). The famous
legend of St John’s grave at E-
phesus is well told by Augustine,
ΓΑ

3.1 John ii. 17, ὁ κόσμος παρά-
γεται compared with 1 Cor. vil. 31,
παράγει TO σχῆμα τοῦ κόσμου τούτου.
The double change appears to be
significant. For the image of παρά-
γεσθαι compare 1 John ii. 8, and
perhaps App. A@thr. 117, &c. Oplap-
Pov παράγειν.

3 Jerome (Comm. in Ep. ad Galat.
Lib. 111. vi. 10, p. 528) gives the
noble story, which cannot be too
often quoted. It is remarkable that
it is not found in any earlier writer.

ST SOHN.

241

Christian bishop ?—are so striking that they must be
reserved for further examination; yet who does not feel
that the Apostle who. leaned upon the breast of Fesus*
was naturally most qualified to record the deepest
mysteries of His doctrines? that he to whom the mother
of the Lord was entrusted was most fitted to guard
‘the inheritance of the universe’? that he who had
outlived the first earthly forms in which Christianity
was clothed must have been able to see most clearly
and set forth most fully its unchanging essence, ‘as he
‘soared like an eagle above the clouds of human in-
‘firmity, and contemplated with the keen and steady
‘gaze of the heart the light of eternal truth*’

Without exaggerating the importance of such details
of the lives of the Evangelists as have been just col-
lected, it may be said that, as far. as they throw any
light upon their character and position, they shew them
to have represented different types of Christian doctrine

1 Augustine has a long and elo-
quent passage on the active and
contemplative lives which he finds
symbolized in St Peter and St John,
Tract. in Foh. CXX1V. 5, which he
briefly sums up: Perfecta me [scil.
_Christum] sequatur actio, informata
mez passionis exemplo; inchoata
vero contemplatio maneat donec ve-
nio perficienda eufn venero.

2 August. de Cons. Evv.1. 9 [VI.].
Cf. Tract. in Foh. XXXVI.5: Restat
aquila: ipse est Joannes, sublimium
preedicator, et lucis interne atque
zterne fixis oculis contemplator.
By the side of these passages must
be placed another not less true nor
less needful tobe remembered, 7 γαςεί.
in Foh. τ. 1: Audeo dicere fratres
mei, forsitan nec ipse Joannes dixit
ut est, sed et ipse ut potuit; quia de
Deo homo dixit : et quidem inspira-
tus a Deo, sed tamen homo, Quia
inspiratus, dixit aliquid; si non in-
spiratus esset, dixisset nihil: quia

W.G,

vero homo inspiratus non totum
quod est dixit: sed quod potuit homo
dixit. The whole context, in spite
of the strangeness of the imagery, is
well worthy of study.

Early tradition is uniform in re-
presenting the Gospel as written at
Ephesus: Iren.c. Her. 111. 1. 1; Hie-
ron. de Virr. Jilustr. 9. Cf. Can.
Murat. init. Compare also the sub-
scriptions of the Oriental versions,
Tischdf. V. 7. 1. p. 696. The no-
tion that it was written at Patmos
seems to rest on the unsupported
statement of Pseudo-Hippol. De X/Z
Afpost. p. 952.

The date at which it was written
cannot be determined with accuracy.
The earliest writers, I believe rightly,
place it last of the Gospels in time:
[Can. Murat.] Iren. 2. c.; Clem.
Alex. ap. Euseb. 2422. 2. VI. 143
[Orig. ap. Euseb. #. Z. VI. 253]
Jerome, /.¢.

Chap. iv.

John xiii. 25;
xxi. 20,

The general
result of the
position
of the
Evangelists.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

and to have written under circumstances favourable for
the expression of their distinctive views. The places at
which the Gospels were probably written—Judza, Italy,
Greece, Asia,—and the persons for whom they were
immediately designed, harmonize with what may be
regarded as the individual bias of the writers. So far as
any likelihood exists that each Gospel will bear the
marks of personal feeling and outward influence, this
individuality is seen to be no accidental admixture of a
human element by which the divine truth was marred,
but on the contrary a trace of the working of God’s
Spirit, by which such persons were moved to write as
would best represent to the Church the manifold forms
of the life of Christ. We may detect in every picture of
the Saviour the unchanging Deity; but at the same
time the Absolute, so to speak, is clothed in each case
with special attributes, which are determined by the
sacred writers as they dwelt on the several sides of
Christ’s human nature. Each gives a true image, but
not a complete one; and if in old times Messiah was
variously represented as the second Lawgiver, the
mighty King, and the great High Priest, we need feel
no wonder that three Evangelists portrayed His pre-
sence in the fashion of a man; while the fourth re-.
vealed that crowning doctrine οἵ. the Christian faith
which, if it existed in the depths of the ancient Scrip- .
tures, had been unobserved by the Jew’. The same
Spirit worked in all—the Spirit of wisdom and know-
ledge, of practical and spiritual judgment—and enabled
them to find the perfected tendency and plenary de-
velopment of their own hopes and energies in the teach-
ing and life of Him in whom all the powers of man were
united with the fulness of the Godhead.

1 Just. Mart. Dial. ε, Tryph. c. 49, p. 268 A.

THE DISTINCTNESS OF THE GOSPELS.

243

The reality of the distinctive characteristics of the
Gospels will appear yet more clearly, if we consider
their relation to the different sects which exhibited the
exclusive development of the several elements which
the Catholic Church recognised and united in her teach-
ing’. It has been seen that variety of feeling existed
even in the Apostolic body*; and when this was re-
produced in the Christian society, it soon gave rise to
those divistzons which lie at the bottom of the great
parties into which Christendom has been since severed.
One said 7 am of Paul; and another J am of Apollos;
and another J am of Cephas; and another J am of
Christ*; when the first tidings of the Gospel had hardly
died away on their ears*. The inward tendency had
already become a conscious feeling, and was rapidly
hastening towards a dogmatic decision. Men were no
longer content to find that for which they were seeking
in the life of Christ; they wished to isolate it. The
logical exhibition of Christianity, its mystic depths, its
outward and ritual aspect, its historic power, were thus
separated and substituted for its complex essence; just
as the Sadducee, the Essene, the Pharisee, and the
Herodian, had already found in the Law a basis for

1 The chief fragments of the 4Zo-
cryphal Gospels noticed in the fol-
lowing paragraphs in connexion
with various sects will be given in
App. D.

2 Pp. 219 ff.

- 3 It is worthy of notice that the
phrase is ἐγὼ δὲ Χριστοῦ, and not
ἐγὼ δὲ Ἰησοῦ. ‘The personal name,
which is universal in the Gospels
and common in the Acts and the
Apocalypse, is naturally rare in the
Epistles, unless the human nature
of the Lord requires to be brought
into clear prominence. Cf. 2 Cor.
iv. 5, 10, 41; Hebr. ii. 9; xii. 24,

and often.

1 Cor. i. 12. Cf. Neander,
Gesch. d. Pfhlanz. 324 ff. After all
that has been written on the CArist-
party, I still believe that the words
of St Paul refer to those who pre-
ferred to cling to Christ alone, with-
out accepting the Christian doctrine
mediately through the Apostles.
The present century has seen such
a sect formed in America. It is
impossible not to feel that the many
essays on these ‘parties’ are con-
ceived wholly in the spirit of our
own time, without any realisation of
the life of the first age.

Chap. iv.

i. The dis-
tinctness of —
theiGospels
attested by
(a) The prae-
tice of sepa-
rate sects.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iv.

EBIONITES.

(Sz ATat-
thew.)

their discordant and exclusive systems’. Yet it would
be an anachronism to suppose that the Corinthian
Church exhibited at once definite and circumscribed
parties. The spirit of party was not immediately em-
bodied ; but in the course of time the fundamental dif-
ferences which it represented were boldly and clearly
systematized. Some were not content to cherish the
ancient Law with natural reverence and pride (Vaza-
venes), but insisted on the universal reception of the
Mosaic ritual (Zdzonztes). They saw in Jesus nothing
but the human Messiah, co-ordinate with Adam and
Moses’, and in the Christian faith nothing but the per-
fection of Judaism*®, whether they regarded this from
the practical (£dzonites proper) or mystical point of
sight (Gnostic Ebionites*). St Paul was emphatically
‘their enemy,’ and the universal Gospel which he preach-
ed ‘a lawless and idle doctrine’? By the common con-
sent of early witnesses, the various sects which arose
from the embodiment of these principles agreed in

1 Cf. Neander, Church History,
I. 52 ff.

* Conf. Clem. Hom. WW. 21
(Adam); 11. 38 (Moses). Cf. Hom.
III. 20; XVIII 133; and III. 20:
[ὁ ὑπὸ χειρῶν θεοῦ κυοφορηθεὶς
ἄνθρωπο] ὃς ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς αἰῶνος
ἅμα τοῖς ὀνόμασιν μορφὰς ἀλλάσ-
σων τὸν αἰῶνα τρέχει, μέχρις ὅτε
ἰδίων χρόνων τυχών, διὰ τοὺς καμά-
τους θεοῦ ἐλέει χρισθείς, εἰσαεὶ
ἕξει τὴν ἀνάπαυσιν. Cf. Uhlhorn,
Die Hom. τε, Recogn. d. Clem. Rom.
164 ff.

% Either as identifying Christi-
anity with the real essence of Ju-
daism (the Homilies); or as recog-
nising in Judaism the preparation
for Christianity (the Recognitions).
Cf. Uhlhorn, a. a. O. 258 ff.

* On the twofold distinction in
relation to the Person of Christ, see

Euseb. #.£. 111. 27, VI. 17; Epiph,
Her. XXX. 16.

5 Ep. Petri (Hom. Clem.) c 2:
τινὲς yap τῶν ἀπὸ ἐθνῶν τὸ δι ἐμοῦ
νόμιμον ἀπεδοκίμασαν κήρυγμα, τοῦ
ἐχθροῦ ἀνθρώπου ἄνομόν τινα καὶ
φλυαρώδη προσηκάμενοι διδασκαλίαν,
καὶ ταῦτα ἔτι pov περιόντος ἐπεχεί-
ρησᾶν τινες ποικίλαις τισὶν ἑρμηνείαις
τοὺς ἐμοὺς λόγους μετασχηματίζειν εἰς
τὴν τοῦ νόμου κατάλυσιν, ὡς καὶ ἐμοῦ
αὐτοῦ οὕτω μὲν φρονοῦντος μὴ ἐκ
παρρησίας δὲ κηρύσσοντος' ὅπερ ἀπ-
ein, The whole passage is most
instructive, and the allusion to Gal,
ii. 12, ὑπέστελλεν καὶ ἀφώριζεν éav-
τὸν k.T.A. unmistakeable. Compare
also Hom. XVII. 19, where St Paul
is assailed under the person of Simon
Magus with a verbal reference to
Gal. 1. 11 (εἰ κατεγνωσμένων pe
λέγει).

Ι͵

ST MATTHEW AND THE EBIONITES.

taking the ‘Gospel’ of St Matthew as the basis of
their Evangelic record. This appears to have existed
among the Nazarenes in a comparatively pure Hebrew
(Aramaic) form; and even in Jerome’s time the copy
which they used preserved a very clear resemblance
to the Canonical Gospel, differing chiefly by. interpo-
lations, which were rendered at once easy and natural
from the isolation of the Jewish Christians’, The two
other parties included under the common title of £dzon-
ites seem to have preserved peculiar Greek recensions
of the same fundamental narrative. The Ebionites in
-a stricter sense had nothing in their Gospel to answer
to the first two chapters of our present text, and Epipha-
nius describes the book generally as ‘incomplete, adul-
“terated, and mutilated?’ The fragments which he
quotes point also to the further conclusion that it was
derived from the Aramaic and not from the Greek
text. But it was otherwise with the Gnostic Ebionite
Gospel. The text of this* presents the most constant
coincidence with the language of the Greek St Matthew,
and it can hardly have been derived from any other
source. The variations which it presents are generally
such as admit of explanation from polemical motives,
and where it is not so, allowance must still be made
for freedom of quotation and for the influence of tra-
dition*. One fact however is clearly prominent through-
out these intelligible varieties of recension, that the

1 Cf. Hieron. ad Matt. xii. 13; ‘removed the genealogy.’ Yet cf.

de Virr. Lllustr. 3. tb. 14.
2 Epiph. Her. Xxx. 13: οὐχ ὅλον 3 As gathered specially from the
πληρέστατον ἀλλὰ νενοθευμένον καὶ Clementines.

ἠκρωτηριασμένον. On the other hand
the Nazarenes ἔχουσι τὸ κατὰ Mar-
Bator εὐαγγέλιον πληρέστατον ‘EBpa-
tort (Her. XXIX. 9), though Epipha-
nius in the next sentence says that
he does not know whether ‘they

4 Passages occur which shew
clearly that the writer of the Homi-
lies was acquainted with the con-
tents of the three other Canonical
Gospels. Cf. Hist. of New Testa-
ment Canon, p. 287.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

[Docet®.]
(S¢ Afark.)

Gospel of St Matthew was felt to be distinctively the
Jewish Gospel. The life of the second Lawgiver was
the common foundation which Judaizing Christians of
every shade of opinion used for the construction of their
distinctive records. .

The special history of the Gospel of St Mark is more
obscure. Even at the beginning of the fifth century no
distinct commentary upon it was yet written’. The
Preaching of Peter, which enjoyed a wide popularity in
the second and third centuries, has nothing but the
name in common with St Mark’; and the accounts of
the Gospel according to Peter are so meagre that no
satisfactory conclusion can be drawn as to its origin
and characteristics*. Yet there is one clear and decided
statement that some sectarians paid a peculiar regard
to the Gospel of St Mark. After noticing the exclu-.
sive reverence which the Ebionites and Marcionites
paid respectively to the Gospels of St Matthew and
St Luke, Irenzeus adds that those who separated Jesus
from Christ—the human instrument from the divine
Spirit—maintaining that Jesus suffered, while Christ
continued always impassible, preferred the Gospel ac-
cording to St Mark*. It might seem that they dwelt

1 Cramer, Cat. in Marc. Hypoth.
p. 263 (Victor Ant.).

2 See particularly the passages
quoted by Clement of Alexandria,
Strom. V1. 5. It is however worthy
of notice that St Peter is represented
as urging his hearers in the same
terms to avoid the Pagan and Jewish
forms of worship. Cf. Credner,
Beitrige, 1. 351 ff. Schwegler, Vach-
apost. Zeit. 11. 30 ff.

3 Cf. Serapion, ap. Euseb. 1. 2.
vi. 12. Routh, Rell. Sacr. 1. pp.
452 ff. Serapion connects the Gos-
pel with Marcianus (? Marcus) and
the Docetee.

4 Tren, ¢. Her. Wl. 11. 72 Qui
autem Jesum separant a Christo,
et impassibilem perseverasse Chris-
tum, passum vero Jesum dicunt,
id quod secundum Marcum est
preeferentes Evangelium, cum amore
veritatis legentes illud corrigi pos-
sunt. Olshausen (Zchth. d. Evang.
97) rejects this statement, but with-
out sufficient ground. The descrip-
tion which Irenzeus gives agrees
with a form of Docetism which
(supr. note 3) was actually con-
nected with the Gospel according
to Peter. Cf. [Hippol.] adv. Her.
VIII. 10, p. 267.

ST LUKE AND THE MARCIONITES.

more particularly on the works of Messiah’s power,
and not on the mystery of His Incarnation ; and found
their Gospel in the recital of miracles and mighty acts
which bore the impress of God, rather than in words and
discourses which might seem like those of men.

It has been seen that the Gospel of St Matthew
underwent several recensions. The developments of the
Judaizing tendency were various, for it was the spirit
of a people and not of an individual. But the doctrine
of St Paul, which bore the clear image of one mind,
was made the basis of a single marked system. In the
first half of the second century, Marcion, the son of
a bishop of Sinope’, gave his name and talents to a
sect which proposed to hold the perfected doctrines of
the Gentile Apostle. So far from finding any right
of perpetuity in the Jewish Law, he ascribed its origin
to the Demiurge, from whose evil rule men were set
free by the Saviour. In Christianity, according to his
view, all was sudden and unprepared*: a new and spi-
ritual religion was revealed immediately from heaven to
supplant the earthly kingdom which had been promised
to the people of Israel by their God. As a necessary
consequence of his principles, Marcion could not accept
the Catholic Canon of the Scriptures, but formed a new
one suited to the limits of his belief. His Afostolicon
was confined to ten Epistles of St Paul, and his Gospel
was a mutilated recension of St Luke®. For him the
Pauline narrative was the truest picture of the life of

1 Epiph. Her. xi. τ. [Tertull.]
de Prescr. Her. ut. The statement
however has been doubted, for Ter-
tullian takes no notice of it. The
writer under the name of Tertullian
attributes to Cerdo the Canon which
is elsewhere assigned to Marcion.

2 Tertull. adv. Marc. tv. 11: Sub-
ito Christus; subito et Johannes,

Sic sunt omnia apud Marcionem,
que suum et plenum ordinem ha-
bent apud creatorem. Cf. 111. 6.

3 After long discussion even the
Tiibingen critics appear to have ac-
quiesced in the belief that the Gospel
of St Luke is the original document
(Herzog, Encyclop. 5. v.). Cf. Hist.
of N. T. Canon, pp. 315 f.

MARCION-
ITES.
(S¢ Luke.)

248

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iv.

*
VALENTI-
NIANS.

St Fohn.)

Christ, though even this required to be modified by a
process which was easily practicable at a time when
the Evangelic text was not yet fixed beyond the. in-
fluence of tradition.

The peculiar characteristics of St John’s Gospel
could not fail to attract some of the early mystic
schools. The deep significance of its language, the
symbolic use of the words “ight and darkness, life and
death, the world, the word, and the truth, furnished
the Eastern speculator with a foundation for his fa-
vourite theories. If we may trust Irenzus', the termi-
nology of the Valentinians was chiefly derived from that
of St John; and conversely in recent times many have
supposed that the Gospel itself was due to Gnostic
sources. The affinity which it has with part of. the
Gnostic scheme is at least undoubted ; and Heracleon,
the most famous scholar of Valentinus, wrote the first
Commentary upon it’, following, according to Tertul-
lian, his master’s example in using ‘the pen instead of
‘the knife to bring the Scriptures into agreement with
‘his tenets*,’

This severance of the Gospel-histories by different
sects exhibits most distinctly the reality and nature of
their difference. For if they have no special character,
on what hypothesis can we explain their connexion
with partial exhibitions of Christian truth? How were
the separate books adopted by peculiar schools, which
pursued to an excess the idea which we have supposed
to predominate in them? Those who admitted only
one Gospel, even if they mutilated and altered it, must
have found in it some peculiar points of contact with

1 Tren, c. Her. 1. 8. 5: Πατέρα 2 Cf. Orig. i Fok. x. § 21.
γὰρ εἴρηκεν [ὁ "Iwdvyns] καὶ Χάρινκαὶ History of N. 7. Canon, pp. 306
Μονογενῆ καὶ ᾿Αλήθειαν καὶ Λόγον καὶ ff.

Ζωὴν καὶ "Ανθρωπον καὶ Ἐκκλησίαν. 3 Tertull. de Prescr. Her, 38.

THE EVANGELIC SYMBOY

249

their own position ; and rightly found Nog for h heré
is but the inordinate desire to define, distinguis and
isolate, those manifold elements which are sorabinea in
the perfect truth.

Sectaries divided the Gospels as being separately
complete: the Church united them as constituents of
a harmonious whole. The first distinct recognition of
the four Gospels presents them also as one.
‘ator Word who sits upon the Cherubim, when mani-
‘fested to men, gave us the Gospel in a fourfold form,
‘held together by one Spirit; and in the same place
Irenzeus labours to prove by. various analogies that the
Gospels could not be more or fewer than four, the
number of the faces of the Cherubim, which were
‘images of the life and work of the Son of God*’ The
same mysterious emblem of Ezekiel was constantly
applied to the Evangelists in later times throughout
the Christian world, but generally as modified in the
Apocalypse, where the idea of individual life prevails
over that of a common being. Yet while the early
fathers agreed in the general explanation of the vision,
they differed widely in details» In the West the in-
terpretation of Jerome gained almost universal currency,
and in later times has been confirmed by the usage
of art®. According to this the saz is assigned to St

1 Tren. ἐς Her. 111. 11. 8: ὁ τῶν signs the maz to St Matthew, the

‘The Cre- |

ἁπάντων τεχνίτης λόγος, ὁ καθήμενος
ἐπὶ τῶν Χερουβὶμ καὶ συνέχων τὰ
πᾶντα, “φανερωθεὶς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις,
ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν τετράμορφον τὸ εὐαγγέ-
λίιον, ἑνὶ δὲ πνεύματι συνεχόμενον...
καὶ γὰρ τὰ Χερουβὶμ. τετραπρύσωπα"
καὶ τὰ πρόσωπα αὐτῶν εἰκόνες τῆς
πραγματείας τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ.

2 Trenzus (/.c.) regarding, as Au-
gustine remarks (de Cons. νυ.
I. 9 [VI.]), only the commencement
and not the scope of the books, as-

eagle to St Mark, the Zo to St John,
and the ox to St Luke. This opi-
nion is repeated by Juvencus, Zz,

fTist. Pref. The opinion of Jerome |

is followed by Ambrose (zz Luc.
Preef. §§ 7, 8; cf. Comm. in Luc. X.
117, 118); Sedulius, Carm. Pasch.
I. 355 ff, and generally in later
times. All writers agree in assign-
ing the ox to St Luke.

. §% These emblems of the Evan-
gelists are not however found be-

ΦΑῚ
ya
ifs cresy. \ onan iv.

(b) The fudg-
ment of the
Church.

The Evan-
gelic Sym-
bods.

250

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iy.

The treatise

of St Augus-

tine.

Matthew, the oz to St Mark, the or to St Luke, and
the eagle to St John, as typifying respectively the
human, active, sacrificial, and spiritual, sides of the
Gospel. Augustine, who inverts the order of the first
two symbols, and probably with justice, agrees with
Jerome in drawing a line between the creatures of the
earth and of the sky*; and a trace of this distinction
is found at a still earlier period. Clement of Alex-
andria relates as a current tradition in his time that
‘St John, when he found in the writings of the other
‘Evangelists the bodily history of the Lord, com-
‘posed a spiritual Gospel’” and such language is not
an inapt description of the relation of the Synoptists to
St John.

But though the early Church apprehended with dis-
tinctness the characteristics of the Gospels, Augustine
seems to have been the first who endeavoured to ex-
plain their minute differences by a reference to their
general aim; and his work is better in conception than
in execution. The age was hardly ripe for the task;
and Augustine had not the critical tact for performing
it. The mass of Christians welcomed too gladly the
inspired histories on their Apostolic claims to submit
their composition and arrangement to internal scru-
tiny. It was enough for them to believe that they
were written by holy men of God, without attempting
to determine their mutual relations. And even the
scholars among them were better qualified to discuss
the manifold bearings of an isolated passage than to

fore the Mosaics of the 15th century
(Miinter, Stznbilder d. Alten Chris-
ten, 1. pp. 44 ff.). The earliest sym-
bols are four rolls round a represen-
tation of the feeding of the 4000
(Miinter, I. 44, Pl.13). Afterwards
they appear as four streams issuing

from a rock on which Christ, or the
Lamb, or the Cross, stands (cf.
Cypr. Zp. 73. 10).

1 Hieron. zz Ezek. τ. 7 ff. Aug.
de Cons. Evv. 1. ὦ.

2 Clem. Alex. ap. Euseb. 4. Z.
VI. I4-

DISTINCTNESS THE BASIS OF HARMONY.

251

form a general idea of the historic features of a whole
book. On the other hand we must remember that a
rich inheritance of tradition was treasured up in the
early Church; and the attempt of Augustine, combined
with the general statements of former writers, suffi-
ciently shews the method in which these would have
sought for an explanation of the variations of the Evan-
gelists. His treatise is the formal expression of their
_ silently recognised belief.

The view which has been just sketched of the re-
lation of the Canonical Gospels to the varieties of
opinion existing in the Apostolic age, and to the great
principles from which they spring, which are as per-
manent as human nature itself, suggests necessarily
various reflections as to their relation to ourselves.
Above all it will remove that dead conception of a
verbal harmony between them which is fatal to their
true understanding. Their real harmony is essentially
moral and not mechanical. It is not to be found in
an ingenious mosaic composed of their disjointed frag-
ments, but in the contemplation of each narrative from
its proper point of sight. The threefold portrait of
Charles I. which Vandyke prepared for the sculptor is
an emblem of the work of the first three Evangelists:
the complete outward shape is fashioned, and then
at last another kindles the figure with a spiritual life.
Nor are the separate portraitures less pregnant with
instruction than when they were originally drawn. If
we study the records in their simple individuality, for-

getting for the time the other traits which fill up the}

picture, we shall probably find more in this view of
their distinctness than a mere speculation: it will shew
us the life of Christ in relation to the master-spirit of
our own constitution. The Gospel will be seen to be

Chap. iv.

-------.-

The results
of this view
of the
Gospels.

252

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. iv.

-----

particular as well as universal. We shall gain a con-
ception of the multiform aspects.of Christianity in the
many-sided presence of its Founder. We shall see its

1 manifoldness as well as its unity. We shall no longer

regard it as a philosophic ideal of religion, but as a
living revelation, developed and perfected among mez.
We shall recall the period when the several Gospels
satisfied the various moral and spiritual wants which
must remain the same to the end of time, and trace
the divine sanction which they give to the different
tendencies of human thought and action. We shall
rise upwards from the perception of individuality to
that of variety; from variety to catholicity. The
various outward forms of Evangelic teaching, recog-
nised by the Apostles and ratified by the Church, will
teach us to look for some higher harmony in faith than
simple unison. We shall acknowledge that it is now as
in days of old, when the same unchanging scheme of
redemption proceeding from one God, ‘seeking the -
‘weal of men through divers ways by one Lord,’ was
seen under changeful varieties of external shape’. The
lesson of experience and history, the lesson of reason
and life, will be found written on the very titles of the
Gospels, where we shall read with growing hope and
love that ‘God fulfils Himself in many ways.’

t Clem. Alex. Strom. vi. 13. δόσιν ὑποληφθεῖσα. «ἀκόλουθον “γὰρ
106: μία yap τῷ ὄντι διαθήκη ἡ σω- εἶναι μίαν ἀμετάθετον σωτηρίας δόσιν

| τήριος. ἀπὸ μεταβολῆς κόσμου εἰς map ἑνὸς Θεοῦ δι’ ἑνὸς κυρίου πολυ-

ἡμᾶς διήκουσα κατὰ διαφόρους γενεάς τρόπως ὠφελοῦσαν... Cf. Lib. yu.

τε καὶ χρόνους διάφορος εἶναι τὴν 17. 107.

CHAPTER V.
The Gospel of St Fohn, .

Two worlds are ours: ’tis only Sin
Forbids us to descty
The mystic heaven and earth within,
Plain as the sea and sky.
: KEBLE.

T is impossible to pass from the Synoptic Gospels
to that of St John without feeling that the trans-

ition involves the passage from one world of thought
to another. No familiarity with the general teaching of

the Gospels, no wide conception of the character of the
Saviour, is sufficient to destroy the contrast which
exists in form and spirit between the earlier and later
narratives; and a full recognition of this contrast is
the first requisite for the understanding of their essen-
tial harmony. The Synoptic Gospels contain the Gos-
pel of the infant Church: that of St John the Gospel
of its maturity. The first combine to give the wide
experience of the many: the last embraces the deep
mysteries treasured up by the one. All alike are con-
sciously based on the same great facts, but yet it is
possible, in a more limited sense, to describe the first as
historical, and the last as ideal; though the history
necessarily points to truths which lie beyond all human
experience, and the zdeas only connect that which was

᾿

Chap. v.

The general
contrast
between

St Fohn
and the
Synoptists.

THE GOSPEL OF ST FOHN.

Characteris-
tics of St
John,

i. The Gospel
in itself.
(a) [ts hiss

Lory.
1. The life of
St Fohn. ,

once for all realized on earth with the eternal of which
it was the revelation. This broad distinction renders it
necessary to notice several points in the Gospel of St
John, both in itself and in its relation to the Synoptic
Gospels, which seem to be of the greatest importance
towards the right study of it. No writing perhaps, if
we view it simply as a writing, combines greater sim-
plicity with more profound depths. At first all seems
clear in the child-like language which is so often the
chosen vehicle of the treasures of Eastern meditation;
and then again the utmost subtlety of Western thought
is found to lie under abrupt and apparently fragmentary
utterances. The combination was as natural in the
case of St John, as it was needful to complete the cycle |
of the Gospels. The special character of the Gospel
was at once the result and the cause of its special
history; and when we have gained a general concep-
tion of the Gospel in itself, the relations of difference or
agreement in which it stands to the other narratives will
at once become intelligible.

The facts bearing on the life of St John which are
recorded in the Gospels are soon told. He was the son,
apparently the younger son’, of Zebedee and Salome’.
His father was a Galilzean fisherman, sufficiently pros-
perous to have hired servants’, and at a later time his

1 That he was the younger son
appears to follow from the order in
which the names Fames and Fohn
the brother of Fames are generally
given in the Gospels: Matt. iv. 21,
&c.; Mark i. 19, G’c.; Luke v, το,
Sc. The names occur in the other
order, Peter and Fohn and Fames,
in Luke viii. §1; ix. 28, though the
reading is doubtful; and so undoubt-
edly in Acts i. 13 (not Zec.). In
Acts xii. 2, James is styled the dro-
ther of Sohn.

2 Mark xv. 40, xvi. I, compared
with Matt. xxvii. 56. From the
comparison of the last passage with
John xix. 25, it has been concluded
that Salome was the <sister of the
mother of the Lord, but the inter-
pretation of the passage is uncertain.
Later traditions suppose various
other relationships between the fa-
milies of Joseph and Mary and Ze-
bedee. Cf. Winer, RW2&. 5. ν. Sa-
lome ; Thilo, Cod. Apocr. 362 ff.

3 Mark i. 20. Cf. John xix. 27,

‘THE LIFE OF ST $OHN.

255
mother was one of the women who followed the Lord | Chap. v.

and ‘ministered to Him of their substance’’ Nothing
is recorded which throws any light upon the character
of Zebedee, except the simple fact that he interposed
no obstacle to his sons’ Apostleship ; but Salome her-
self went with Christ even to His death, and the very
greatness of her request? is the sign of a faith living and
fervent, however unchastened. St John, influenced it
may be by his mother’s hopes, and sharing them, al-
though simple and unlettered*, first attached himself to
the Baptist, and was one of those to whom Jesus was
revealed by him as the Lamb of God*. Henceforth he

accompanied his new Master, and together with his |

brother and St Peter was admitted into a closer re-
lationship with Him than the other Apostles*. In this
nearer connexion St.John was still nearest®, and as he
followed Christ to judgment and death’, he received
from the cross the charge to receive the mother of the
Lord as her own son®. After the Ascension St John
remained at Jerusalem with the other Apostles. He
was with St Peter at the working of his first miracle;
and afterwards he went with him to Samaria®. At the
time of St Paul’s first visit to Jerusalem he was absent
from the city; but on a later occasion St Paul de-
scribes him as one of the pzllars of the Church”. At
what time and under what circumstances he left Jeru-

from which it would appear that
John was raised above want.

1 Mark xv. 40, 41, compared with
Luke viii. 3.

2 Matt. xx. 20 ff. Cf. Mark x.
35 ff. The same characteristic ap-
pears under a different form in the
wish of her two sons recorded in
Luke ix. 54; and in spite of other
interpretations, it is best to refer
the surname Boanerges (Mark iii.
17) which is applied to them to a

natural warmth of temperament.

3 Acts iv. 13.

4 John i. 35 ff.

5 Luke vill. 51 (at the house of
Jairus); ix. 28 (at the Transfigura-
tion); Mark xiv. 33 (at Gethsemane).

6 John xiii. 23; xxi. 7, 20 (μαθη-
τὴς ὃν ἠγάπα ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦ:).

7 John xviii. 15; xix. 26.

8 John xix. 27.

9 Acts i. 133 iii. x ff; viii. 14.

10 Gal. i. 18 ff.; ii. 9.

THE GOSPEL OF ST ΣΟΙΖ.

Later
legends.

salem is wholly unknown; but tradition is unanimous
in placing the scene of his after-labours at Ephesus’.
His residence there must have commenced after St
Paul’s departure, but this is all that can be affirmed
with certainty. It is generally agreed that he was
banished to Patmos during his stay at Ephesus, but
the time of his exile is very variously given®. The
legend of his sufferings at Rome, which was soon em-
bellished and widely circulated, is quite untrustworthy’;
and the details of his death at Ephesus are equally
fabulous, though it is allowed on all hands that he |
lived to extreme old age’.

But while no sufficient materials remain for con-
structing a life of the Apostle, the most authentic tra-
ditions which are connected with his name contribute
something to the distinctness of his portraiture’. The
lessons of his Epistles and Gospel are embodied in le-
gends which characterize him as the zealous champion
of purity of faith and practice within the Christian body,
and in one legend at least the symbolism of the Jewish —
dispensation is transferred to the service of Christianity,
as in the visions of the Apocalypse. On the one hand
St John proclaims with startling severity the claims of
doctrinal truth’, and the duties of the teacher*: on the

1 Tren. c. Her. il. I. 1.

2 Tren. v. 30. 3 (Euseb. H.Z. v.

8) (Domitian): E . Her, Li. 33
(Claudius).

3 Tertull. de Prescr. Her. 36:..
in oleum igneum demersus nihil
passus est. Hieron. ad Matt. xx.
23-

+ Tren. 11. 22. 5: μέχρι τῶν Τραιά-
νου χρόνων. Hieron. ad σαζαέ. vi.
to. For the traditions which de-
scribe him as still living in his tomb
at Ephesus compare Credner, Ziv,
220 f. The passage of Augustine

(Zn Ev. Fohann. Tract. 124. 2) is
perhaps the most interesting notice
of the belief.

5 These traditions have been col-
lected and discussed by Stanley,
Sermons and ae on the A postolic
Age, pp- 275 ff.

“6 Iren. 111. 3. 4 (on the authority
of Polycarp : Buse. H. E. IV. 14)...
"Iwdvyvns ὁ τοῦ κυρίου μαθητὴς ἐν τῇ
᾿Εφέσῳ πορευθεὶς λούσασθαι καὶ ἰδὼν
ἔσω ἸΚήρινθον ἐξήλατο τοῦ βαλανείου
μὴ λουσάμενος ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειπών" Φύγω-
μὲν μὴ καὶ τὸ βαλανεῖον συμπέσῃ

THE TYPICAL CHARACTER OF ST FOHN.

other he stands out in the majesty of a sacred office,
clothed in something of the dress of the old theocracy’.
The two views involve no contradiction, but rather ex-
hibit the wide range of that divine love which cherishes
every element of truth with the most watchful care, be-
cause it is of infinite moment for the well-being of man.
The associations of the past are not rudely cast aside
when they can no longer betray. To a Christian among
Christians the perils and supports of faith appear in new
lights; and the one famous phrase Little children, love
_ one another becomes a complete rule of life, when it is
based upon the perception of Christian brotherhood and
received as the charge of a father in Christ”. As com-
pared with the other representative Apostles, St Peter,
St James, and St Paul, the position of St John is clearly
marked. He belongs rather to the history of the
_ Church, if the distinction may be drawn, than to the his-
tory of the Apostles, and is the living link which unites
the two great ages. He is the guardian of a faith al-
ready established, and not, like St Peter, the founder of
an outward Church. His antagonist is Cerinthus, the

founder of a false representation of Christianity, and not

ἔνδον ὄντος Κηρίνθου τοῦ τῆς ἀληθείας
ἐχθροῦ.
where a similar legend i is told of St
John and “ἴοι.

* In the beautiful story of the
young Robber—v@os οὐ pidos—
which is too long to quote: Euseb.
_H, 35. ττ1. 23 (on the authority of
Clement of Alexandria).

1 Polycrates, ap. Euseb. 1. 2. 111.
31 (v. 24): ἔτι δὲ Kal Ἰωάννης ὁ ἐπὶ
τὸ στῆθος τοῦ Κυρίου ἀναπεσών, ὃς
ἐγενήθη ἱερεὺς τὸ πέταλον πεφορεκὼς
καὶ μάρτυς καὶ διδάσκαλος, οὗτος ἐν
᾿Εφέσῳ κεκοίμηται. For the use of
τὸ πέταλον compare Ex. xxviii. 32:
xxix. 6; Levit, viii. g (LXX). Cf.

W. δι

Bingham, Antiquities, 11. 9. 5.

2 Hieron, Comm. in Ep. ad Galat.
vi. 10: Beatus Joannes Evangelista
cum Ephesi moraretur usque ad ul-
timam senectutem et vix inter disci-
pulorum manus ad ecclesiam defer-
retur, nec posset in plura vocem
verba contexere, nihil aliud per sin-
gulas solebat proferre collectas, nisi
hoc: Filioli diligite alterutrum. Tan-
dem discipuli et patres qui aderant,
teedio affecti quod eadem semper
audirent, dixerunts Magister quare
semper hoc loqueris? Qui respondit
dignam Joanne sententiam: Quia
preceptum Domini est, et si solum
fiat sufficit.

The typical
character of
St Fohn.

THE GOSPEL OF ST SOHN.

2. The au-
thenticity of
the Gospel.

The testi-
mony of
the last
chapter.

Simon Magus, who appears in the position of an Anti-
christ. In his teaching the fazth is contemplated in its
fundamental facts, which include all there is of special
application in the reasoning of St Paul and in the pro-
phetic exhortations of St James. In the language of
the last chapter of his Gospel, which itself is the meet-
ing-point of Inspiration and tradition, he abode till the
Lord came, and speaks.in the presence of a Catholic
Church, which rose out of the conflicts which had been
guided to the noblest issue by the labours of those who
preceded him. 2

This last chapter of his Gospel is in every way a
most remarkable testimony to the influence of St John’s
person and writings. . Differences of language’, no less
than the abruptness of its introduction and its substance,
seem to mark it clearly as an addition to the original
narrative ; and the universal concurrence of all outward
evidence no less certainly establishes its claim to a place
in the Canonical book. It is a ratification of the Gospel,
and yet from the lips of him who wrote it: it allows time
for the circulation of a wide-spread error, and yet cor-
rects the error by the authoritative explanation of its
origin. The testimony, though upon the extreme verge
of the Apostolic period, yet falls within it, and the Apo-
stle, in the consciousness (as it seems) of approaching
death, confirms again his earlier record, and corrects the
mistaken notion which might have cast doubt upon the
words of the Lord’.

1 Yet these differences by no
means amount to a proof of differ-
ence of authorship, but only of a
difference of date. The last verse
of the chapter (xxi. 25) may have
followed xx. 31 before the supple-
mentary chapter was added. A
further consideration of the evidence

satisfies me that there is no substan-
tial ground for doubting its genuine-
ness.

2 This seems to be the object of
ch. xxi. 23. The danger and the
correction of such an error as is
noticed belong equally to the period
of the extreme age of the Apostle.

EARLY TRACES OF ST ¥OHN’S TEACHING.

259

_ The earliest account of the origin of the Gospel is
already legendary’, but the mention which it contains of
a subsequent revision may rest upon the facts which are
seen to be indicated by the concluding chapter. So
much however is attested by competent authority, that
St John composed his Gospel at a later time than the
other Evangelists*, and we can hardly be wrong in refer-
ring the book to the last quarter of the first century, and
in its present form probably to the last decennium of
the period. This late date of the writing is scarcely of
less importance than its peculiarly personal character, if
‘we would form a correct estimate of the evidence which
establishes its early use and authority. It passed into
circulation when the first oral Gospel was widely current
in three authoritative forms, and it bore upon its surface
no less than in its inmost depths a stamp of individuality
by which it was distinguished from the type of recog-
nised tradition. Yet these facts, which must at first
have limited the use of the book, contribute to the clear-
ness of the testimonies by which the use is evinced.
There is in this case no such ambiguity as to the origin
of a striking coincidence of language as in the early
parallels with the Synoptic Gospels, since there is no trace

1 Can. Murat. (Hist. of N. 7.
Canon, p. 214, and App. C): Co-
hortantibus condiscipulis et episcopis
suis dixit (sc. Johannes): Conjeju-
nate mihi hodie triduum, et quid
cuique fuerit revelatum alterutrum
nobis enarremus. Eadem nocte re-
velatum Andres ex Apostolis ut re-
cognoscentibus cunctis Johannes suo
nomine cuncta describeret. Jerome
probably alludes to this tradition
when he says: Ecclesiastica narrat
historia, cum a patribus [Johannes]
cogeretur ut scriberet, ita facturum
se respondisse si indicto jejunio in
commune omnes Deum precarentur;

quo expleto, revelatione saturatus,
in illud procemium ccelo veniens
eructavit Jz principio erat Verbum
...(Hieron. Comm. in Matt. Procem.
p- 5). Cf. Clem. Alex. ap. Euseb.
HE. Vi. 14.

2 Clem. Alex. ap. Euseb. HZ. Σ᾿.
VI. 14: ὁ Κλήμης...παράδοσιν τῶν
ἀνέκαθεν πρεσβυτέρων τέθειται...τὸν
μέντοι ᾿Τωάννην ἔσχατον συνιδόντα ὅτι

Th σωματικὰ ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις δε-

δήλωται, προτραπέντα ὑπὸ τῶν γνω-
ρίμων, πνεύματι θεοφορηθέντα, πνευ-
ματικὸν ποιῆσαι εὐαγγέλιον. Tren. c.
fTfer. 111. 1. 1, ap. Euseb. 27. 2. v.
8; Origen ap. Euseb. #. Z. VI. 25.

Chap. v.

The late

| date of the

Gospel.

THE GOSPEL OF ST FOHN.

The testi-
mony of the
Apostolic
Fathers.

The testi-
mony of the
Fathers of
the second
century.

of any definite tradition similar to the record of St John.
The record was itself a creative source and nota sum- Ὁ |

mary, the opening of a new field of thought, and not the
gathered harvest. Clear parallelism of words or ideas
with St John’s Gospel in later writers attests the use of
the book, and cannot be referred to the influence of a
common original. |

The earliest Christian writers exhibit more or less
distinctly the marks of St John’s teaching’. This is
most clearly seen in Ignatius, who perhaps more than
any other among the Apostolic Fathers resembled him
in natural character. Without an acquaintance with St
John’s writings it is difficult to understand that he could
have spoken in some cases as he does, but if he were ac-
quainted with them the subtle resemblance which exists
is at once intelligible’, Polycarp in like manner ob-
viously refers to a passage in the first Epistle of St
John*; and Papias, according to Eusebius, ‘made use of
‘testimonies’ out of it*, The importance of this evidence
is the greater, because it proceeds from’ a quarter in
which we might naturally look for the most certain in-
formation. Polycarp was himself a disciple of the Apo-
stle, and Papias conversed with those who had been.
Nor is it an objection that the coincidences are with the
Epistle rather than with the Gospel, for the two writings
are so essentially united that their Apostolical authority
must be decided by one inquiry.

In the next generation the traces of the use of the
Gospel, and not only of the general influence of St John’s

1 Cf. Hist. of N.T. Canon, pp. ὃς dv μὴ ὁμολογῇ Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν
25, 35, OI, 203. ἐν σἀρκὶ ἐληλυθέναι ἀντίχριστός ἐστι
5.(Γ, Ign. ad Smyrt. iii. v. xii.3 (1 John iv. 3. Cf. Nott. critt. 222
ad Eph. vii.; ad Magn.i.; ad Rom. loc.).
vii. 4 Papias ap. Euseb. 4. 2. τι.
5. Polyc.ad Philipp. vii: πᾶς yap 30.

ὟΝ

THE TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS.

writings, are indisputable. The Elders who are quoted
by Irenzus interpret a saying of our Lord recorded by
St John’, and the Asiatic source of the reference con-
tributes something to its weight. Though the question
has been keenly debated, with some exaggeration on
both sides, there can be no reasonable doubt that Justin
Martyr was acquainted with St John’s Gospel, and re-
ferred to it as one of those written by Apostles as con-
trasted with those which were written by their followers’.
Quotations from the book occur shortly afterwards in
the writings of Apollinaris*®, Tatian*, Athenagoras’, Po-
lycrates®, and in the Epistle of the Church of Vienne’.
The first direct quotation of the Gospel by name occurs
in Theophilus*®; and in the last quarter of the second
century it was universally received as an authentic and
unquestioned work of the Apostle. As such it is in-
cluded in the early Eastern Canon of the Peshito, and
in the Western Canon of Muratori; and from this time
all the great Fathers of every section of the Church

argue on the basis of its universal reception and divine

authority.

1 Tren. Vv. 36.2: ὡς οἱ πρεσβύτεροι
λέγουσι. . «καὶ διὰ τοῦτο εἰρηκέναι τὸν
Ἰζύριον "Ev τοῖς τοῦ πατρός μου μονὰς
εἶναι πολλάς (John xiv. 2, ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ
τοῦ πατρός μου μοναὶ πολλαί εἰσιν).
The use of the phrase of St Luke
(ii. 49, ἐν τοῖς τοῦ πατρός mou) is
worthy of notice.

2 Hist. of N. T. Canon, pp. 151»
167.

+ Gnd. Apollin. ap. Routh, Rell.
Sacr. 1. 161: ὁ τὴν ἁγίαν πλευῤὰν
ἐκκεντηθείϑ, ὁ ἐκχέας ἐκ τῆς πλευρᾶς
αὐτοῦ τὰ δύο πάλιν καθάρσια, ὕδωρ
καὶ αἷμα, λόγον καὶ πνεῦμα (John xix.

4 Tatian, Orat. ad Grec. 19: πάν-
τα ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ γέγονεν
οὐδὲ ἕν. Cf. capp. §, 13-

5 Athenagoras, Sz/plic.pro C: hrist.

10: ἀλλ᾽ ἔστιν ὃ vids τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγος
τοῦ πατρὸς ἐν ἰδέᾳ καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ" πρὸς
αὐτοῦ γὰρ καὶ δι᾽ αὐτοῦ πάντα ἐγέ-
vero, ἑνὸς ὄντος τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ
υἱοῦ (John i. 3; xvii. 21—23).

6 Polycr. ap. Euseb. H. Z. v. 24:
ἔτι δὲ καὶ ᾿ΙΤωάννης ὁ ἐπὶ τὸ στῆθος
τοῦ Κυρίου ἀναπεσών... (7ο μη xiii.
25):

7 Routh, Rell. Sacr. 1. 300: τὸ
ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν «εἰρημένον. ὅτι
᾿Ελεύσεται καιρὸς ἐν ᾧ πᾶς ὁ ἀπο-
κτείνας ὑμᾶς δόξει λατρείαν
eae das τῷ Θεῷ (John xvi.

8 Theophilus, ad Autol. Il. 22:
ὅθεν διδάσκουσιν ἡμᾶς αἱ ἁγίαι γρα-
φαὶ καὶ πάντες οἱ πνευματοφόροι ἐξ

ὧν Ἰωάννης λέγει ᾿Εν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λό-

70s...

262

THE GOSPEL OF ST SOHN.

Chap. v.

The testi-

mony of
Heretical
writers.

This testi-
mony con
tinuous and
convergent.

The reception of the Gospel among heretical teachers
was scarcely less general than its reception in the
Catholic Church. Its individuality preserved it from
the conflict which the Synoptic Gospels supported with
other versions of the same fundamental narrative. There
is an apparent allusion to it in the Great announcement
which was attributed to Simon Magus’; and it is evi-

‘dently referred to in the writings of the early Ophites*

and Peratici®*. It is still more worthy of notice that
it is quoted in the Clementine Homilies, which are
the production of another school*. Basilides ‘who lived
‘not long after the times of the Apostles’ and Valen-
tinus distinctly refer to it?; and Heracleon the scholar
of Valentinus made it the subject of a Commentary*®.
The chain of evidence in support of the authenticity
of the Gospel is indeed complete and continuous as far
as it falls under our observation. Not one historical
doubt is raised from any quarter, and the lines of evi-
dence converge towards the point where the Gospel was
written,and from which it was delivered to the Churches.
On the other side one fact only can be brought for-

1 [Hipp.] adv. Her. v1.9: οἰκητή-
ριον δὲ λέγει εἶναι [ὁ Σίμων] τὸν ἄν-
θρωπον τοῦτον τὸν ἐξ αἱμάτων γεγε-
ynpévov...(John i. 13).

* (Hipp.] adv. Her. v.g: περὶ ov,
φησίν, εἴρηκεν ὁ Σωτὴρ Hi ἤδεις τίς
ἐστιν ὁ αἰτῶν, σὺ ἂν ἤτησας παρ᾽
αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔδωκεν ἄν σοι πιεῖν ζῶν
ὕδωρ ἁλλόμενον (John iv. 10, 14);
and many other passages.

3 [Hipp.] adv. Her. v. 12: τοῦτό
ἐστι, φησί, τὸ εἰρημένον, Ov yap ἣλ-
θεν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου εἰς τὸν κόσ-
μον ἀπολέσαι τὸν κόσμον, ἀλλ᾽
ἵνα σωθῇ ὁ κόσμος δι αὐτοῦ
(John iii. 17).

4 Clem. Hom, X1X. 22: ὅθεν καὶ ὁ
διδάσκαλος ἡμῶν περὶ τοῦ ἐκ γεν ε-
τῆς πηροῦ καὶ ἀναβλέψαντος map’
αὐτοῦ ἐξετάζουσι τοῖς μαθηταῖς Hi

οὗτος ἥμαρτεν ἢ οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ
ἵνα τυφλὸς γεννηθῇ ἀπεκρίνατο
Οὔτε οὗτός τι ἥμαρτεν οὔτε οἱ
γονεῖς αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα δ αὐτοῦ
φανερωθῇ ἡ δύναμις τοῦ Θεοῦ τῆς
ἀγνοίας ἰωμένη τὰ ἁμαρτίματα (John
ix. 1 ff.). Cf. Uhlhorn, Die Homi-
lien u. 5. W. 122 ff.

5 [Hipp.] adv. Her.: τοῦτο, φησίν
[ὁ Βασιλείδης], ἐστὶ τὸ λεγόμενον ἐν
τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις ἣν τὸ φῶς τὸ
ἀληθινὸν ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄν-
θρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσ-
μον (John i. 9). The testimony of
Basilides to St John’s Gospel has
been made the subject of a special
essay by Hofstede de Groot, Leipsic,
1868.

6 Origen. iz Foann. Tom. XI.
88 τὸ ff.

ITS INTERNAL CHARACTER.

ward. It is said, on the authority of Epiphanius, that
the Gospel, as well as the other writings of St John,
was attributed to Cerinthus by a sect whom Epiphanius
calls the A/ogz’. Their name indicates the ground on
which they proceeded. Their objections to the Apo-
stolic origin of the book were, as far as can be ascer-
tained, purely internal, and it is not difficult to trace
the course which the objectors may have followed, till
they reached their final result. Such internal objec-
tions can always be strengthened by pointing out the
defects which, from the nature of the case, must neces-
sarily exist in the outward proof of the origin of a
book in an age and in a society almost without literary
instinct. But the true historic view which regards the
whole growth of Christianity within and without fur-
nishes a convincing answer to such scepticism, which is
essentially partial. The development of later specu-
lation becomes then first explicable when it is traced
out as the result of one definite impulse. The general
tendency of all casual testimony is found to coincide
with the conclusion which was assumed on all sides
without hesitation when Christian literature first rose
into importance. And a deeper study of the inter-
nal features of the Gospel will shew that what appear
to be difficulties and divergences from other parts of
Scripture belong to the fulness of its personal cha-
racter, and contribute equally to the completeness of
the teaching which it conveys, and to’ the-perfection
of that image of the Saviour which it presents when
combined with the records of the other Evangelists.
The internal character of St John’s Gospel offers in
fact an almost boundless field for inquiry. It presents

1 Epiph. Her. LI. 3. Cf. Hist. of N. 7. Canon, P+ 279.

The scepti-
cisut of the
Alogi.

(B) The in-
ternal cha-
vracter of the
Gospel. °

THE GOSPEL OF ST ¥OHN.

τ. Lts lan-
guage.

(a) The

vocabulary.

the results of the most consummate art as springing
from the most perfect simplicity. The general effect of
its distinct individuality is heightened by a careful ex-
amination of the various details by which the whole im-
pression is produced. In language, plan, and substance,
the narrative differs from the Synoptic Gospels; and
each of the points thus offered to investigation will
require some notice.

The language of St John presents peculiarities both
in words and constructions which mutually illustrate
one another. In both an extreme simplicity and an >
apparent sameness cover a depth of meaning which
upon a nearer view is felt to be inexhaustible. The
simplicity springs from the contemplation of Chris-
tianity in its most fundamental relations: the same-
ness from the distinct regard of the subject in each
separate light, by which every step in the narrative is
as it were isolated, instead of being merged in one
complex whole’.

The introduction to the Gospel furnishes the most
complete illustration of its characteristic vocabulary.
The Word, the Life, the Light, the Darkness, the Truth,

|the World’, Glory, Grace, are terms which at once place

1 In examining the language of
St John I have derived very con-
siderable help from the valuable work
of Luthardt, Das fohannetsche Evan-
gelium, Niirnberg, 1852. Through-
out I have compared and corrected
my own conclusions by his, with the
greatest advantage.

2 The use and meaning of these
words, which were applied in very
early times to strange and mystical
schemes, is full of interest; see Iren.
I. 8. 5 ff: σαφῶς οὖν δεδήλωκεν ὁ
᾿Ιωάννης διὰ τῶν λόγων τούτων τά τε
ἄλλα καὶ τὴν τετράδα τὴν δευτέραν,
Λόγον καὶ Ζωήν, "AvOpwrov καὶ Ἔκ-

κλησίαν" ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὴν πρώτην
ἐμήνυσε τετράδα....... Πατέρα εἰπὼν
καὶ Χάριν καὶ τὸν Μονογενῆ καὶ Αλή-
θειαν.

The term the Word, ὁ Λόγος, used
absolutely as a title of the Son of
God, is found only in the Preface to
the Gospel (i. 1, 14), where it occurs
four times. It occurs in the cog-
nate phrase the Word of God in the
Apocalypse (xix. 13); and in a pas-
sage in the Epistle to the Hebrews
(iv. 12, 13) the simple and derived
meanings of the term, the Revela-
tion and the Person in whom the
Revelation centres, are combined

ITS INTERNAL CHARACTER.

the reader béyond the scene of a limited earthly con-
flict, and raise his thoughts to the unseen and the

with the notion of an account to be
rendered. In the LXX. λόγος is
the usual representative of 737,

and occurs in those passages in which
later interpreters have found the
traces of a fuller revelation of the
divine nature: 2g. Ps. xxxiii. 6;
ΟΥ̓. 20; Isai. xxxviii. 4, Gc. In
the Latin Versions of the New Tes-
tament, as represented by Manu-
scripts of évery class, λόγος is trans-
lated by Verbum, which falls very
far short even of a partial rendering
of the Greek. There is however
evidence that in the second century
Sermo was also current, which is in
some respects a preferable rendering
(Tertull. adv. Hermog. 20 &c. and
constantly); and Tertullian seems
to prefer vatio, though he implies
that it had not been adopted in any
Version. See adv. Prax. 5: Ideo-
que jam in usu est nostrorum per
simplicitatem interpretationis ser-
monem dicere 72 primordio apud
Deum fiisse, cum magis rationent
competat antiquiorem haberi, quia
non sermonalis a principio sed ra-
tionalis Deus......... In de Carne
Chr. 18 he reads verbum caro fac-
tum est.

The Lif (ἡ ζωή) is a term of much
wider application. It occurs not only
in the preface of the Evangelist, but
also in the discourses of our Lord,
and in one phrase full of deep mean-
ing—to enter into life (εἰσελθεῖν εἰς
τὴν fwhv)—it is found in the Gos-
pels of St Matthew and St Mark
(Matt. xviii. 8, 9; xix. 17. Mark
ix. 43, 45. Cf. Matt. vii. 14). In
the Epistles of St Paul the word is
only less important than in St John
(cf. Rom. v. 10; viii. το. Col. iii.
4. 2 Tim. i. 1): and it is found,
though rarely, in the other Epistles
(cf. Hebr. vii. 16. Jamesi.12. 1 Pet.
iii, 7. 2 Pet.i. 3). In the writings
of St John Christ is presented as the
Life under various aspects. At one

time He proclaims Himself to be
the Resurrection and the Life (ἔγῴ
εἶμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή) in the
presence of material death (John
xi. 25),and againas the Way and the
Truth and the Life (ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς
kal ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή) in the pre-
sence of religious doubt (xiv. 6). In
this latter sense St John says The
Life was the Light of men (καὶ ἡ ζωὴ
ἣν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων" i. 4), that
Light of Life (τὸ φῶς τῆς Fwijs), as it
is elsewhere called (viii. 12), which
he shall have who follows Christ.
The Zife (τ John i. 2; v. 20) lies
beneath all physical and spiritual
being and action, absolutely one, and
universally pervading. At other
times the single gift and source of
life is contemplated in the separate
parts or modes in which it is pre-
sented. Jam the bread of Life (ἐγὼ
εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τ. ζωῆς" vi. 35, 48): the
words (ῥήματα) which 7 have spoken
Zo, you, they are spirit and they are
life (vi. 63, cf. ver. 68): Z will give
to him that thirsteth of the fountain
of the water of life (Apoc. xxi. 6; cf.
Xxli. I, 17, vii. 17, John iv. 14): 20
him that overcometh will I give to eat
of the tree of life (ἐκ τοῦ ξύλου τῆς
ζωῆς" Apoc. ii. 7: cf. xxii. 2, 14, 19:
ffs [the Father’s] commandment is
life eternal (xii. 50): this zs life eter-
nal, that they know thee (va γινώ-
oxwow) the only true God, and Fesus
Christ whom thou hast sent (ἀπέστει-
Aas’ xvii. 3): these things have been
written...... that ye may have lifein
fZis (Christ’s) zame (xx. 31). Elses
where it is regarded as something

present in the Father (v. 26), in the |"

Son (v. 26, ἑυὴν ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ), and
in those united in fellowship with
Christ (vi. 53, 543 ν. 403 iii. 16, 16,
30), perhaps varying in degree (x. 10,
iva ζωὴν ἔχωσιν καὶ περισσὸν ἔχωσιν),
present in one sense (Υ. 24) and yet
future (xii. 25; cf. vi. 273 iv. 36),
personal (1 John v. 12, 16), and yet

THE GOSPEL OF ST $OHN.

| eternal.

The conflict of good and evil is presented in
an image which conveys in final distinctness the idea
of absolute antagonism. ‘The Incarnation itself is re-
garded as the great climax of the revelations of Him in
whom all things weve and by whom all things decame.
Yet the Life and the Light and the Truth are no mere
abstractions, but centre in a person. The one predo-
minating idea, partial and yet true, passes into the
other in the consideration of new relations. The Life,
which in its fullest sense is the most noble expression
of creative power, becomes the Light in regard to men;
and the sum of that which the Light reveals is the

extending to the world (vi. 51).
[Compare the use of ζωοποιέω, v. 21,
vi. 63, and in St Paul (7 times) and
I Pet. iii, 18]. ,

The grand notion of Zzfe as the
divine basis of all being is limited in
that of Light, which is one of the
forms in which it is presented to mez
(i. 4). God is light (1 John i. 5),
even as Christ is light (Johni. 4—g);
iil. το; xil. 46), the “ight of the
world (vill. 12), during His presence
(xii. 35, 36; ix. 5) and after His
bodily withdrawal (1 John ii. 8), in
which the believer abides (7d. ii. 10)
and walks (2. i. 7). The opposite
to this heavenly light (cf. John xi.
9, 10) is the Darkness (σκοτία me-
taph. only in St John, σκότος only
in ill. 19; 1 John i. 6), in which
others walk (viii. 12; xii. 35; 1 John
li. 11) and abide (xii. 46) and are (1
John ii. 9), and which overwhelms
them (xil. 35) and blinds them (1
John ii. 11), though it cannot over-
whelm the Light (Johni. 5). [Com-
pare the use of φαίνειν, φανεροῦν,
φωτίζειν.

In another aspect the Revelation
which brings life and light, and in
one sense zs life and light, is the
Truth, Inthe use of this word St
John, standing in marked contrast
to the Synoptists, offers’ a close

parallel with St Paul. Christ Him-
self is the Truth {xiv. 6), even as
the Revelation (λόγος) of God is
truth (xvii. 17); and the Holy Spirit
as the Guide of the future Church
is essentially the Spirzt of Truth
(xiv. 17; xv. 26; xvi. 13; 1 John
iv. 6), and the Sfzvet zs the Truth
(τ John v. 6). But while the Truth
is expressed in language (viii. 40),
it extends to action (111. 21; 1 John
i. 6, ποιεῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν), and brings
with it freedom (viii. 32), and holi-
ness (xvii. 17, 19). [Compare the
use of ἀληθής, ddnOuwos.]

The sphere to which this all-em-
bracing Revelation is addressed is
the World (6 xécpuos), a word which
while it occurs in this application
in St Matthew (xiii. 38; xxvi. 13)
and St Mark (xvi. 15) and more fre-
quently in St Paul, is yet so com-
mon in its ethical sense in St John
as to be highly characteristic of his
writings. Christ Zakes away (bears)
the sin of the world (i. 29; τ John ii.
2), gives life to the world (vi. 33: cf.
ver. 51; 1 John iv. 9), came to save
the world (xii. 47; 111. 17; 1 John
iv. 14: cf. iv. 42), is the ight of the
world (viii. 12; ix. 5); and con-
versely the world could not recetue
Him (xiv. 17), but ated Him (xy.
18).

ITS INTERNAL CHARACTER.

Truth. From stage to stage the whole is laid open
which was contained implicitly in the first prophetic
announcement. For nowhere is the spiritual depth of
St John’s Gospel more clearly imaged than in the one
term which is most commonly and most rightly asso-
ciated with it. When St John surveys in his own per-
son, in a few sentences, the great facts of the Incar-
nation in their connexion with all the past and all the
future, and as they reach beyond the very bounds of
time, he speaks of the Lord under a title (λόγος) which
is only faintly and partially imaged by the Word.
The rendering, even on the one side which it ap-
proaches, limits and confines that which in the original
is wide and discursive. As far as the term Logus ex-
presses a Revelation, it is not an isolated utterance but
a connected story, a whole and not a part, perfect in
itself, and including the notions of design and com-
pletion. But the meaning of Logos is only half em-
braced by the most full recognition of the idea of a
given revelation, conveyed by one who is at once the
Messenger and the Message, speaking from the begin-
ning in the hearts of men, of whom He was the Life
and Light, and by the mouth of those who were His
Prophets: it includes also that yet higher idea, which
we cannot conceive except by the help of the language
which declares it, according to which the Revelation is,
in human language, as Thought, and the Revealer as
Reason in relation to the Deity. In this sense the title
lifts us beyond the clouds of earth and time, and shews
that that which has been realised among men in the
slow progress of the world's history was zowards God,
in the depths of the Divine Being, before creation.
These vast truths, which are included in the one term
by which St John describes the Lord, had been dimly

THE GOSPEL OF ST $OHN.

seen from one side or the other by many who had
studied the records of the Old Testament. Now they
brought forward the notion of a divine Reason, in
which the typical ‘ideas’ of the world were supposed:
to reside: now of a divine Word, by which God held
converse with created beings; but at this point the
boldest paused, No one had dared to form such a
sentence as that which with almost awful simplicity de-
clares the central fact of Redemption in connexion
with time and eternity, with action and with being,
The Word was made flesh and dwelt amorg us; and
it may well seem that the light of a divine presence
still ever burns in that heavenly message, thus written
for us, as clearly as it burnt of old on the breastplate
of priest, or among the company of the first disciples.
If any one utterance can bear the clear stamp of God’s
signature, surely that does which announces the fulfil-
ment of the hopes of a whole world with the boldness of
simple affirmation, and in language which elevates the
soul which embraces it”.

1 Cf. pp. 151—156.

2 In addition to the characteris-
tic words of St John, which have
been already noticed (p. 264, n. 2),
there are many others which illus-
trate in a remarkable way the spirit
of his Gospel. Among these may
be mentioned :

ἀγαπᾶν, ἀγάπη (Gosp. Epp.)

ἁμαρτία (Gosp. τ Ep.)

ἀμὴν ἀμὴν (Gosp.)

γινώσκω (Gosp. Epp. Apoc.)

ἔργον, τὰ ἔργα (Gosp.)

ἐρῶταν (Gosp. Epp.)

θάνατος (in τ Ep. and Apoc.)

θεᾶσθαι, θεωρεῖν (Gosp. τ Ep.)

τὰ ἴδια (Gosp. : also in Luke xviii.
28 [not Rec.] and Acts xxi. 6)

κρίσις, κρίνειν (Gosp. Apoc.)

μαρτυρία, μαρτυρεῖν (Gosp. Epp.
Apoc.)

οἷδα (Gosp. τ Ep.)

ὄνομα (Gosp. Epp. Apoc.)

ὄχλος sing. (Gosp. Apoc.: in pl.
only vil. 12, with war. Lect.)

παροιμία (Gosp. also 2 Pet. ii. 22.)

ὁ πατήρ (Gosp. Epp. Apoc.)

midgew (Gosp. Apoc.)

πιστεύω εἰς (Gosp. τ Ep. πίστις
is found only in 1 John ν. 4 and 4
times in Apoc. not at all in Gosp.)

πρόβατα (Gosp.)

σάρξ (Gosp.)

σημεῖον (Gosp. Apoc.)

τεκνία (τ Ep.)

The number of words peculiar to
St John is very large. In the Gos-
pel I have counted sixty-five, and
there are possibly more. In the
main these spring out of the pecu-
liar details of his narrative: e.g.
ἀντλεῖν, ἀποσυνάγωγος, γλωσσόκο-

ITS STYLE ‘AND FORM.”

269

If we pass from the vocabulary of St John to the
form of his sentences, what has been said of the former
still holds good in new relations. The characteristics
which mark the elements of his language mark also his
style of composition. . There is the same simplicity and
depth in the formation of his recurrent constructions as
in the choice of his familiar words; and these qualities
‘bring with them in each separate sentence clearness and
force. Like the key-words of his language, his construc-
tions are almost without exception most obvious .and
plain*. The effect which they produce is not gained by
any startling or subtle form of expression, but only by a
calm and impressive emphasis. Clauses are rather ap-

pended than subordinated. Every thing is placed be-

fore the reader in a direct form, even in the record of
the words of others, when the oblique narration is most
natural: Certain of the multitude therefore when they heard
these words said Of αὶ truth this ἐς the Prophet. Others
said This is the Christ. But some said What, doth the
Christ come out of Galilee’? If remarks are added either

μον, κλῆμα, σκέλος, τίτλος, ὑδρία,
ψωμίον. Some are characteristic :
Δίδυμος, ᾿Ἑβραϊστί, ἀρνίον (xxi. 15:
Apoc. often), σκηνοῦν. Many words
occur with remarkable frequency in
St John, as ἐγώ and oblique cases,
ἔμος, ἴδε,ἵνα, μέντοι, οὖν, οὔπω, πώποτε,
and their usage is full of meaning.

The absence of some words from
the Gospel is equally worthy of no-
tice, as for instance, ὁ αἰὼν (οὗτος,
&c.), δύναμις, δύναμεις, ἐπιτιμᾶν, εὐὖ-
αγγέλιον (and derivatives), παρα-
βολή, παραγγέλλειν, πίστις, σοφία,
σοφός. In this connexion it may
be noticed that St John speaks of
Fohn the Baptist simply as Fohn ;
the title does not occur in the
Gospel—a small trait which would
not have been preserved by a later
writer. —

1 A remarkable sign of this is
found in the singular fact that St
John zever uses the optative (Cred-
ner, Zin/. § 96). In xiii. 24 the
reading καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ Εἰπὲ τίς ἐστιν
is certainly correct.

In like manner the particle ἄν is
only found in the construction with
the indicative (iv. 10, Gc.), except
in the connexion ὃς dv, ὅστις ay,
ὅσος ἄν.

2 John vii. 40, 41. Cf i, r9—
273; Vili. 223 ix. 3 ff. 413 Xxi. 20.
In John iv. 51 the authorities are
divided, and if 6 παῖς αὐτοῦ be the
right reading, it probably stands
alone as an example of oblique con-
struction (cf. Luthardt, p. 37). The
common reading in xili. 24, πυθέ-
σθαι τίς ἂν εἴη, is incorrect. Cf.
supr. ἢ. I.

Chap. v.

(Ὁ) The com-
position,
Simplicity.

Directness.

THE GOSPEL OF ST ¥OHN.

Circumstan-

tiality,

Repetition,

to bring out more strongly the features of the scene, or
to connect the history with the immediate time, they are
added for the most part in abrupt parentheses: Yesus
therefore, being wearted with his journey, sat thus on the
well. It was about the sixth hour. There cometh a wo-
man of Samaria to draw water’,

One result of this form of writing is circumstantiality.
The different details which are included in an action are
given with individual care. Word is added to word,
when it might have been thought that the new feature
was already included in the picture; and yet in such
sentences as ¥esus cried out in the Temple teaching and
saying, and they questioned him and said to him, and
the like, it will be found that there is something gained
by the distinct expression of each moment in the narra-
tive which might otherwise have been overlooked*.

Another mode in which this fundamental character
of St John’s style shews itself is repetition. The subject
or chief word of the whole sentence is constantly re-
peated both in the narrative, and in the recital of our
Lord’s discourses. Ju the beginning was the Word; and
the Word was with God; and the Word was God. Fesus
then when he saw her weeping, and the Fews that came
with her weeping... If I bear witness of myself, my wit-
ness 15 not true. There ts another that beareth witness of
me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of
me ts true’,

1 John ‘iv. 6. Cf. vi. 103 x. 223
xlii. 30; xviii. 40.

2 John vii. 28; i. 25. Compare
1. 15, 323 Viil.. 123 xii. 44, Orc. A
very simple and common example
of this characteristic occurs in the
constant use of ἀπεκρίθη καὶ εἶπεν for
the usual ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν or ἀπε-
κρίθη λέγων of the other Evangelists.
The two ideas are co-ordinated and

not subordinated. The form of ex- "
pression occurs thirty-four times in
St John, and elsewhere only in
(Mark vii. 28;) Luke xiii. 15; xvii.
20.

It is a consequence of the same
principle that we find such phrases
as ἐγὼ... ἐξῆλθον καὶ ἥκω οὐδὲ...
ἐλήλυθα (viii. 42).

δ John 1. τ αν ὅϑ. πο GIy! BOs

ITS STYLE AND FORM. "

271

This tendency to emphatic repetition may be seen
again in the way in which the persons involved in the
dialogue are brought out into clear antagonism. Sen-
tence after sentence opens with the clauses, ¥esus said,
the Yews said, so that the characters engaged in the
great conflict are never absent from the mind of the
reader’; and a similar emphasis is gained in other sen-
tences by the introduction of a demonstrative pronoun,
when an important clause has intervened between the
subject and the verb: He that seeketh His glory that sent
him, the same (οὗτος) ts true’.
~~ It is to be referred to the same instinctive desire to
realise, so to speak, the full personality of the action,
that St John frequently uses the participle and substan-
tive verb for the more natural finite verb. The distinc-
tion between the two forms of expression is capable only
οὗ a rude representation in English, yet even so it is
possible to appreciate the difference between the phrases
7 bear witness, and [ am he that beareth witness, and to
feel that the idea of the action predominates in the one,
and that of the person in the other®. Elsewhere the
force of the clause is heightened, in a way which the
English idiom cannot express, by the position of the
verb at the beginning of the sentence. The central idea

Compare i. 103 v. 46, 473 χν. 411;
XVli. 25.

1 £.g. viii. 49 ff.: x. 23 ff. It is
however to be remarked that in
these cases the verd is put first: iv.
oh Ore.

2 John vii. 18. Compare οὗτος in
i. 333 lii. 323 vi. 463 x. 255 XV. 5.
And ἐκεῖνος in i. 18, 333 V+ 11, 37,
38; (ix. 37;) x. 13 xil. 485 xIVv.
21, 26; xv. 26. The former pro-
noun occurs in the other Gospels in
this kind of construction several

times (Matt. xiii. 20 ff. ; Mark vi.

16; Luke ix. 48): the latter, as far
as I know, only twice: Mark vii.
15, 20, and in the former of these
cases on very doubtful authority.

$ John viii. 18; v. 39; xi. T3
xvii. 19, 23. If i. 9, ἦν τὸ φῶς...
ἐρχόμενον, is an instance of this con-
struction, the words must be ex-
plained not of one act but of a se-
ries—not of the Incarnation only
but of a continuous manifestation.
This construction occurs also in the
other Gospels. Cf. Winer, Gramm.
§ 45- 5, pp. 437 ff. ed. Moulton.

Chap. v.

Individu-
ality of nare
rative,

Personality
of action.

272

THE GOSPEL. OF ST FOHN.

Chap. v.

The cont-
bined effects
of these cha-
vacteristics.

The combi-
nation of
sentences.

Simplicity.

of the whole is given first, and the remainder of the
sentence is made dependent upon it’.

All these peculiarities converge to the same point.
The simplicity, the directness, the particularity, the em-
phasis, of St John’s style, give his writings a marvellous
power, which is not perhaps felt at first. Yet his words
seem to hang about the reader till he is forced to re-
member them. Each great truth sounds like the burden
of a strain, ever falling upon the ear with a calm persis-
tency which secures attention. And apart from forms
of expression with which all are early familiarized, there
is no book in the Bible which has furnished so many
figures of the Person and work of Christ which have
passed into the common use of Christians as the Gospel
of St John. 17 am the bread of life: 7 am the light of the
world: 7 am the good shepherd: I am the vine: are
words which have guided the thoughts of believers from

the first ages”.

The combination of the sentences in St John offers
a complete analogy to the construction of them. What
has been said of the words and the constituent members
of his sentences applies equally to entire paragraphs.
There is the same circumstantiality in the picture as a
whole as in the details. Words, clauses, paragraphs,
follow one another, in what may be taken for needless
repetition, till the mind grows sensible of the varied

1 £.g. i. 28, 30, 52, 533 Vie 7— xi. 25, ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ
11; vii. 45f. This is specially the fo. xiv. 6, ἐγὼ ἐκ τε ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ
case in the , phrases λέγει αὐτῷ, ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή. XV. I, 5, ἐγώ
ἀπεκρίθη αὐτῷ ὁ Ἴ. Cf. p. 271, εἶμι ἡ. ἄμπελος.

n. I. The frequency of the use of the

2 John vi. 48, ἐγώ εἶμι ὁ ἄρτος pronoun ἐγώ by St John as com-_
τῆς ζωῆς. νἱ. 51, ἐγώ εἶμι ὁ ἄρτος pared with the Synoptists points to
ὁ ζῶν. vill, 12, ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ φῶς τοῦ the fulness of this personal revela-
κόσμου. χ. 7, ἐγώ εἶμι ἡ θύρα τῶν tion of our Lord. The simple
προβάτων. χ. Q, ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ θύρα. phrase ἐγώ εἶμι occurs in all the
X. II, 14, ἐγώ εἶμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός. Gospels.

ITS STYLE AND FORM.

273

light in which the object is placed and grasps the com-
plete image. The final effect of the entire narrative is
inartificial, and yet intense and powerful. The multipli-
cation of simple elements issues in a result of acknow-
ledged grandeur; and the mode in which the result is
produced leads the mind:to dwell upon it with patient
study. Sentences are added one to another rather than
connected. Only the simplest conjunctions’ are used
even when the dependence of the successive clauses is
subtle and hidden. Equally often the narrative or dis-
course is continued without the help of any conjunctions,
especially when the deepest feeling is roused, and the
full heart embraces the whole scene without distinguish-
ing the subordination or sequence of the details: And
Fle said Where have ye laid him? They say to Him
Lord come and see. Fesus wept. Statement follows’
statement, and the reader is left to work out for himself
the law by which they are bound together. It is as if
St John felt that each truth involves all truth; and that
the truth was to be described, as he had seen it, by the
portraiture of its several aspects, and not as it were dis-
covered or displayed by any process of argument. For
him knowledge was sight®.

But while the particles in St John occupy generally
a very subordinate place, two which express a designed
object (ἵνα) and a natural result (οὖν), however much
these ideas may be hidden from the ordinary sight, are

1 The most common are καί and 3 y John i. 1. The frequency of

δέ, though both occur much less fre-
quently in St John than in the other
Evangelists. The conjunction ré,
which is rare in the Gospels, occurs
only in ii. 15 (re...xal); iv. 423 vi.
18. In the two latter cases there is
a various reading δέ supported by
important evidence.

= pon si. ὅπ 16. CE. 2, ὁ,
Si; ie 273/iv. 7; 16 ff. ; xv.

W.G.

the words θεωροῦν, θεᾶσθαι, ἑωρα-
κέναι, which has been already no-
ticed, is an indication of this cha-
racteristic of St John. It is worthy
of notice that in the Gospel and
Epistles he uses bnly the perfect of
ὁρᾶν (ἑώρακα), which occurs twenty-
six times. There can be no doubt
that ἐθεώρουν is the true reading in
vi. 2.

Chap. v.

Characteris«
tic particles.

THE GOSPEL OF ST ¥OHN.

Connexion
by a key-
word.

singularly frequent and important. The view which
they open of the continuous working of a divine Provi-
dence and of the sequence of human actions is exactly
that on which St John may be supposed to have spe-
cially dwelt, and which he brings out with the greatest
distinctness, The Fews said unto him It 15 not lawful for
us to put any man to death: that (ἵνα) the word of Fesus
might be fulfilled, which he spake signifying by what
manner of death he should die’. When therefore (οὖν)
he heard that he was sick, he abode at that time two
days in the place where he was”,

Another form of connexion is equally characteristic
of St John and equally instructive. Successive sen-
tences, no less than the parts of a single sentence, are
combined by the recurrence of a common word, The
repetition of the key-words of the former sentence in
that which follows unites the new statement with that
which preceded, and yet invests it at the same time

simple infinitive: xvii. 24, θέλω ἵνα
ἀφῶσιν IV. 473 XvVil. 153 XIX. 31,
383 Xi. 60% Xvi. 7. Ὁ ORNL ks
v. 20. In both these cases the idea
of purpose and design seems to have

* John xviii. 32. The expression
ἵνα πληρωθῇ is even more frequent in
St John than in St Matthew (who uses
also ὅπως πληρωθῇ & τότε ἐπληρώθη),
and it is found not only in the narra-

tive of the Evangelist (xii. 38; xviii. 9,
323 xix. 24, 36), but also in the dis-
courses of our Lord (xiii. 18; xv. 25 ;
xvii. 12). The elliptical phrase ἀλλ᾽
ἵνα, which occurs also in Mark xiv.
49, is worthy of particular notice :

i. SSK BS (wie Ses) ΧΗ Οὐδ 3 xiv,
31; xv. 25. 4£ John ii. 19. Other
examples of the use of ἵψα are inter-
esting. In many cases it is used
where in classical Greek a combina-
tion of the article with the infinitive
would be the natural construction :
iv. 34, ἐμὸν βρῶμά ἐστιν iva ποιήσω"
Vi. 293 (vi. 4053) xii. 23, ἐλήλυθεν ἡ
wpa ἵνα δοξασθῇ ΧΙ. 13 xv. 8; xvi.
30; xvil. 3. 1 John i. g; ii. 27;
lv. 17. Cf, xiii. 2, 343 xv. 12, 13,
43. τ John lili, 11, 233 v. 3. At
other times it takes the place of a

led to the change of expression,
and this notion is very apparent
in some simpler examples: xvi. 2,
ἔρχεται ὥρα ἵνα πᾶς...δόξῃ. xX. τῇ.
Cf. til, 19 πὶ 47 ΜᾺ one
y. τό.

2 John xi. 6. Examples of the
various characteristic uses of οὖν in
St John will be found in the follow-
ing passages: ii. 225 ili. 25, 293 iv.

I, 6, 463 vi. 5; vii. 253, 28 ff. 5 viii.
12, 21 ff,, 331, 383 Keo 7-5 xi. 31;
xii. 15:3. O04 9s OER ore. The word
is almost. confined to narrative, and
occurs very rarely in the discourses.
The sequence which it marks is one
of fact and not of thought. In the
Epistles it occurs only 3 John 8.
In 1 John ii. 24, iv. 19, it is wrongly
inserted in some copies.

ITS STYLE AND FORM.

with an individual worth. Sometimes the subject is
repeated: 7 am the good shepherd. The good shepherd
layeth down Fis life for the sheep’. Sometimes what ap-
pears to be a subordinate word is transferred to the
first place: Greater love hath no man than this, that
a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my
Sriends...*. Sometimes a clause is repeated which gives
the theme of the passage: / am the true τ... am
the vine: ye the branches...*; and again, one which
repeats its closing cadence*: Zhe world hated them,
because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the
world... They ave not of the world, even as [ am not of the
world...sanctify them in the truth...that they also may be
sanctified in truth®.

This repetition is connected with another peculiarity
of St John’s style, which is observable both in the
simple sentences and in the connected record—the
spirit of parallelism—the informing power of Hebrew
poetry—which runs through it. It would not be pos-

sible to find a more perfect example of parallelism than

the blessing of the Lord: Peace 7 leave with you: my peace
7 give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let rt be fearful...°.

1 John x. rr. In referring here
and elsewhere to our Lord’s dis-

vidual character of his Gospel, ap-
pears to present exactly so much of

courses as recorded by St John for
illustrations of St John’s style, I
may repeat (to avoid misconstruc-
tion) what I have said before of the
relation of the Evangelist to the
words which he records. Nothing
can be further from my -wish than
to question the divine authority of
the Evangelic records of the Lord’s
teaching. But few can suppose that
the Evangelists have preserved gene-
rally either the exact or the entire
words of the discourse recorded.
St John in particular, from the indi-

each discourse as his natural pecu-
liarities of conception and language
fitted him to preserve, fulfilling in
this way his providential function in
the instruction of the Church. The
record is absolutely true, and yet
not complete.

2 John xv. 13, 14.

3 John xv. 1, 5.

4 John xvii. 14—I9.

5. This remarkable characteristic
finds a place even in the history:
xviii. 18, 25.

6 John xiv. 27.

Parallelism.

THE GOSPEL OF ST FOHN.

2. The plan
of St Fohn’s
Gospel,

But such instances are naturally very rare, as they
are essentially poetical, though simpler forms both of
direct’ and antithetic” parallelism occur throughout the ἢ
book. The parallelism however which is most charac-
teristic of St John is a progressive or constructive paral-
lelism*, or rather a symmetrical progression. The sub-
ject is stated and pursued to a definite result; it is
then stated again with the addition of the new con-
clusion, and carried to another limit. In this way the
truth is presented, as it were, in a series of concentric
circles ever-widening: each one in succession includes
all that have gone before, and is in part determined
by them*.

This characteristic parallelism in thought and lan-
guage which is found in the narrative and discourses
of St John leads the way to the truest appreciation of
the entire Gospel. It is in fact the divine Hebrew
Epic. Every part is impressed with the noblest features
of Hebrew poetry, and the treatment of the subject
satisfies the conditions of variety, progress, and com-.
pleteness, which, when combined with the essential
nature of the subject itself, make up the notion of a
true Epic. The history is not only of national, but
of universal interest. The development of faith and
unbelief in the course of the Saviour’s life up to the
last agony of the Passion and the last charge of the
risen Lord presents a moral picture of unapproach-
able grandeur. The separate incidents subserve to the

1 ZF. g. viii. 23. | 25, ἣν δὲ [Πέτρος] ἑστὼς καὶ θερμαι-.
2 £. g. vii. 6; viii. 14, 35, 38; vouevos—or as the theme: e.g. Vi.
xvi. 16, 28. 39, 40; X- 7, 9, ἐγώ εἶμι ἡ θύρα" x.

% One simple form in which this 11, 14, ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός. Cf,
shews itself is the repetition of a xvii. 14—16.
clatise either as the burden of the 4 The discourses in chapp. x. xvii.
sentence: ¢.g. vi. 39, 40, 44, dva- will furnish a sufficient illustration |
στήσω ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ xvili.18, οἵ this method of arrangement.

IN WHAT SENSE IT IS A DIVINE POEM.

exhibition of the one central idea of the Word made
flesh dwelling among men; and everything is contem-
plated in its truly poetic, that is, in its permanent
and typical aspect. Outward magnitude alone is want-
ing; and if the narrative falls short in mere extent,
this secondary accident cannot neutralize all the other
details in which the Gospel fulfils the requirements of
an Epic.

But the fact that the Gospel is in the highest sense
a poem is not to be so interpreted as to bring into
a prominent light the notion of art or composition : still
less must it be so misconstrued as to suggest the idea
of imaginative or creative power. The Gospel is a
poem, because it is the simple utterance of a mind
which received into itself most deeply and reproduced
most simply absolute truth. It is an Epic, because it
is the divine reflection of the Life of the Son of God,
not taken in a special aspect, but as the Word mani-
fested to men. This circumstance alone distinguishes
it from the other Gospels, which are memoirs rather
than poems, because they present the Life of Christ
under limited relations, and not chiefly or uniformly
in its relation to the Infinite. And if that be a true
definition of poetry which describes it as the power of
giving /zfinity to things, that is no less truly poetry
which preserves in a peculiar sense the idea of its /z-
finity in the record of the Divine Life,

This view of St John’s Gospel will be of considerable
help in understanding its plan; for while it is the most
* natural outpouring of a soul full of the life of Christ’,
the idea which was foremost in the Apostle’s mind
regulates the order of his narrative. That idea of
Christ—the Incarnate Word—satisfying the wants of

1 Eg. xX 30. Cfoxxi, 2,

Not by de-
sign, but in
wirtue of tts
subject,

The subject
and object of
the Gospel.

THE GOSPEL OF ΤΣ ΡΩΝ:

Its great
divisions,
The Pro-
logue.

humanity finds expression in facts ; and the symmetry,
which elsewhere is the effect of purpose, is here the
result, as it were, of an inner law. The subject which
is announced in the opening verses is realised step by
step in the course of the narrative. The Word came
unto His own, and they received Him not; but others
received Him, and thereby became children of Ged.
This is the theme, which requires for its complete treat-
ment not simply a true record of events or teaching,
but a view of the working of both on the hearts of men.
The ethical element is co-ordinate with the historical ;
and the end which the Evangelist proposes to himself
answers to this double current of his Gospel. He wrote
that men might believe the fact that Fesus ts the Christ
the Son of God, and believing—by spiritual fellowship—
might have life in His name’.

After the Introduction (i: 1—18), which includes
within a narrow compass an outline of the personal
being of the Word, of His Revelation to men, and οἵ.
His Incarnation, the main body οὗ the Gospel falls
into two great divisions, the first (i. I9g—xii.) contain-

|ing the record of the Life of Christ, the second the

record of His Passion (xiii—xx.). The whole is then
closed by an Epilogue, which carries forward the les-
sons of the Gospel to the history of the Church (xxi.).
The division between the two great sections is marked
by a twofold pause. The Evangelist sums up the faith-
lessness of the Jews, and connects their final rejection
of Messiah with the declarations of Prophecy ; and then
records the words in which the Lord declared His

1 John xx. 31, ταῦτα δὲ γέγραπται theories of a polemical object in
ἵνα πιστεύητε ὅτι ᾿Ιησοῦς ἐστὶ ὁ the Gospel. The Gospel is indeed
Χριστὸς ὁ vids τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἵνα πι- truly polemical so far as the Truth
στεύοντες ζωὴν ἔχητε ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι is the only complete answer to all
avrov—words which offer an in- error.
structive contrast to the popular

THE PLAN OF THE GOSPEL.

279
relation to the Father and the world, foreshadowing the | Chap. v.
judgment which should follow on the rejection of His
message’,
The first section may be generally described as the | (@) 7 Me-

manifestation of Christ to men. Throughout the whole
of it, and nowhere afterwards, Christ is described as the
Light. Under this image He is first presented by St
John in the Introduction, and at the close of the 12th
chapter the Lord Himself, when He surveys the course
of His teaching, repeats it for the last εἰπε, A second
idea is scarcely less characteristic: Christ is not only
the Light, but He came to give Life®. He that fol-
loweth Me, to use the remarkable words which He ad-
dressed to the Jews, shall have the Light of Life. The
manifestation of Christ centres in these truths, and is
exhibited under two distinct aspects. The first con-
veys the Announcement of the Gospel (i. 19g—iv.); the
second the Conflict (v.—xii.). At first during a wide
range of labour in Judea and Samaria and Galilee,
among persons most widely separated by position and
character, the revelation is made without exciting any
direct antagonism. The elements of the future conflict
are present, but visible only to the eye of Him who
knew what was in man*. The Gospel is laid before the
world, and the reception which it was destined to meet
is shewn in detail in the portraiture of typical cases.
The testimony of the Baptist and of signs (i, 19—1I. 25)
is followed by personal revelation (iii. iv.). The group

of the first disciples, Nathanael, Nicodemus, the Sama- |.

ritan woman, the Galilean nobleman, exhibit various

1 John xii. 36—43; 44—50. cur thirty times in this section and
2 The image occurs in i. 4—9; only six times in the remainder of
iii, 19 ff.; viii. 125-ix. 5; xii. 35, the Gospel.
46. ; 4 John ii. 25, ἐν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ.
3 The phrases ἔχειν ζωήν, Kc. oc-

nifestation *
of Christ to
men.

The An-
nouncement

THE GOSPEL OF ST FOHN.

forms of faith and unbelief, and behind these individual
characters glimpses of the popular feeling are given,
which serve as a preparation for the next stage of the
history. In this the Conflict between Christ and the
Fews grows more and more hopeless, till the chzef
Priests and Pharisees finally determine to put Him to
death. The desire to £2// Him is marked at the open-
ing of the period, and traced out on several successive
occasions, till the feeling of the people was ratified
by the deliberate judgment of the Sanhedrin’. In the
mean time the same course of events which aroused
the animosity of the Jews tried the spirit of the dis-
ciples. There is a conflict within as well as without;
and they who had welcomed the first proclamation of
the Gospel advance or fall back in faith as Christ
revealed more fully His Person and Work’. This reve-
lation proceeds in a threefold order. In the first sec-
tion Christ is presented as the support of action and
life (v. vi.); in the second as in a more special sense
the Light (vii—x.); in the third: as the giver of life in
death (xi. xii). Each of these ideas is illustrated by
miraculous working ; and the miracle both points the
lesson, and serves as the centre and startingpoint of
the discourses which are grouped about it. Now Christ
gives strength to the impotent man, feeds the multi-
tude in the wilderness, triumphs over the power of
nature (v. vi.); now He gives sight to the man born
blind (ix.); now He calls Lazarus from the grave (xi.).
Each division is bound to that which precedes by the
recollection of earlier conflicts’; and the whole finds its.

1 John v. 18, ἐζήτουν ἀποκτεῖναι: constantly brought out by the Evan-
vii. I—25 ; vili. 37 —40; xi. 53, ἐβου- _gelist, vi. 60-—69; Vii. 12, 435 ix.
λεύσαντο ἵνα ἀποκτείνωσιν αὐτόν. Cf. 163 x. 19.

Vili. 59; xX. 313 xi. 8. ® John vii. 1g ff. compared with

2 The different working of the v. 16ff.; xi. 8 compared with x. 39.

| Lord’s words upon His hearers is

THE PLAN OF THE GOSPEL.

consummation in the twelfth chapter, which presents
in the most striking contrasts the fruits of faith and
unbelief in act (xii. 1—22) and sign (28—30) and word
(44-50). Then at the close of Christ’s open ministry
Greeks come to claim admittance to Him of whom the
Pharisees said in anger Behold the world is gone after
Him (xii. 19—22), and who said Himself, speaking of
His death, /f J be lifted up from (out of) the earth, I
will draw all men unto myself (xii. 32).

The second great division of the Gospel (xiii—xx.)
differs from the first both in the unity of scene and the
briefness of the period over which it extends, and in the
general character of its contents. The first describes
the manifestation of Christ to men; the second pre-
sents the varied issues of that manifestation. In re-
gard both of its substance and of its style it falls into
two parts, of which the first (xiii—xvii.) contains the
record of the Saviour’s love as seen in His unrestrained
intercourse with His disciples in the immediate prospect
of His death; while the second exhibits the narrative
of the Passion, as the crowning point of faith on one
side and unbelief on the other, of humiliation and vic-
tory, of rejection and confession. A Church is founded
on the Cross: a ministry is commissioned in the cham-
ber where the Apostles were gathered together in fear
of the Fews’.

The one great subject of the Lord’s last discourses
is the Vew Commandment, the love of Christians spring-
ing out of His love, and His Father’s love for them’.
The point of departure is a symbolic act, which places
in the clearest light the ministry of love; then after the

1 John xx. 19. Cf. xix. 34: 1 ters (xiii.—xvii.) and only thirteen
John v. 6, 8. times besides in the remainder of
2 The words ἀγαπάν and ἀγάπη the Gospel.
occur ¢/iirty times in these five chap-

(b) The ts-
sues of
Christ's
mantfesta-
tion to men.

The revela-
tion of lowe.

THE GOSPEL OF ST FOHN.

The Passion.

The Epi-
logue.

3. The Sub-

stance of St
Fohn’s Gos-
pel.

dismissal of the traitor (xiii. 31) the Christian law is
proclaimed with the warning against St Peter’s hasty
assurance (xiii. 3438). First love is contemplated as
it works in the absence of the Lord (xiv.), then as it
springs from vital union with Him the only source of
love (xv.), then as it is fulfilled in the strength of the
promised Spirit (xvi.). And last of all the priestly
prayer of Christ (xvii.) is itself at once the fullest out-
pouring of love, and the surest pledge of the support of
love among Christians. After the record of the Passion
and Resurrection, in which the glorified human nature
of the risen Saviour is specially brought out, there
follow as a last appendix the Promise and the Charge
for the future. A last Miracle conveys the lesson of
encouragement to those who toil long: a last com-
mission distinguishes the work which Christ’s servants
have still to do for Him’.

Even in this rapid outline it is impossible to over-
look the unity of purpose and plan which runs through
St John’s Gospel. It is not, as the other Gospels, an |
individual view of a common subject, but the substance
is itself peculiar. It is not only personal in its concep-
tion and working out, but it deals with the history of
the Lord personally. It lays open to us the thoughts
which lie beneath actions, and traces the gradual reve-
lation of character. But while it is thus in some sense
more complete than the other Gospels, in so far as it
contains the complete spiritual portraiture of the Lord
which is the key to all His outward life, yet in fact it is
as incomplete as they are. It is a poem and not a
life—the exhibition of the most divine truth of which
the world has been witness, and not the narrative of
events which externally considered were infinite. The

1 See note A at the end of the Chapter.

ITS RELATION TO THE SYNOPTIC “GOSPELS.

Old Testament Prophecies’, the Miracles’, the Dis-
courses which it notices, are in one aspect confined in
range, and yet they open out a way for every thought,
and point to the Incarnation as the solution of every
doubt. The materials are rather pregnant with varied
instruction than copious, exhaustive in their application
rather than in their form;-but the more the student
pauses upon what seem abrupt transitions, fragmentary
utterances, simple repetitions, the more he will advance
to a certain perception of the absolute unity by which
the whole Gospel is bound together, and of the infinite
fulness of the Revelation which it contains in the record
of the Word made flesh.

These reflections, which affect the contents of the
Gospel as well as its style and form, lead to the
second great point of our inquiry, the relation in which
the Gospel of St John stands to the Synoptic nar-
ratives. The general features of difference between
them have been already noticed’, but it remains to
examine somewhat more in detail the special points
of variation and coincidence which stamp them with
the marks of a real independence and of an underlying
unity.

The points of difference between St John and the
Synoptists are commonly classed under two heads,
differences as to the place and form of our Lord’s teach-
ing, and differences as to the view which is given of
His person.

The Synoptists, it is said, describe the public minis-
try of Christ as extending only over one year, and
closing with a visit to Jerusalem, which was at once
the first and the last which He made. St John on the

1 See note B. 2 See note C.
3 Pp. 240, 248, 251 f.

ii. The rela-
tion of St
Fohn to the
Synoptists,

(a) Points of

Difference

considered as
objections.

THE GOSPEL OF ST FOHN.

The objec-
tions assume
the complete-
ness of each
narrative.

other hand records a visit to Jerusalem at the very
commencement of His work, and notices several visits
afterwards, which were spread over a period (appa-
rently) of three years. The Synoptists again combine
to present a picture of Christ’s teaching characterized
by simplicity, terseness, and vigour, illustrated by fre-
quent Parables and summed up in striking Proverbs,
while St John attributes to Him long and deep dis-

| courses, in which the argument is almost hidden by

what appedr to be at first sight monotonous repetitions,
and in which practical instruction is lost in the mazes of
mystical speculation. In the former our Lord is de-
scribed as a great moral reformer, laying open the fun-
damental principles of the Law which He came to
fulfil, speaking as a man among men, though clothed
with the dignity of a Prophet: in the latter from first
to last He is invested with a divine glory, claiming for
Himself a relation with the Father which roused to the
utmost the anger of His enemies, and inspired His fol-
lowers with hope even in the prospect of bereavement.
And yet further it is urged that the differences are not.
confined to general differences of time and manner and
character, but extend to important details of fact, since
the Miracles which are represented by St John to be
the turning-points of our Lord’s course (as the raising of
Lazarus) are unnoticed by the Synoptists.

One answer may be made in common to all these
objections, and to the last of them no other is neces-
sary. They proceed upon the assumption that the
Gospels are complete biographies. They would be of
great weight if on other grounds there were any reason
to suppose that the Evangelists either told all the facts
which they knew, or entertained the idea of writing
histories. It has however been already shewn that such

ITS RELATION TO THE SYNOPTIC ,GOSPELS.

a view of their purpose is wholly untenable’. The his-
torical framework of their writings subserved to a doc-
trinal development. The form and extent of the nar-
rative was determined by outward circumstances. The
omission of one or other series of events or discourses
is not equivalent to an exclusion of them, unless it can
be shewn that the two supplementary records are incon-
sistent. All truthful inquiry into the mutual relations
of the Gospels must be based upon the fullest recog-
nition of their fragmentariness. The question is not
Whether this fact is left unnoticed by one? nor even
Why is it left unnoticed? but Is it actually set aside by
some other record? Is it irreconcileable either in oc-
currence or in conception with what we learn from other
sources? When the ground is thus limited, few who
have studied the manifold aspects of the most common-
place life will be prepared to affirm that differences of
tone and style, however marked, are necessarily incon-
sistent when they are attributed to the same character :
few who have been familiarized with the wide diverg-
ences in detail of authentic narratives professedly com-
plete will insist with excessive confidence on different
ranges of subject in narratives composed for a special
purpose to which completeness was always subordi-
nate.

But besides this general answer there are other pre-
sumptions which are sufficient to justify in fact what
has been urged only as a possibility. The first objec-
tion that the locality and mode of our Lord’s teaching
as recorded by St John are both different from those
described by the Synoptists is as much an undesigned
coincidence as a difficulty. It would be natural to sup-
pose that the one would be, so to speak, a function of

1 Pp. 169 ff. 207.

1. The differ-
ences as to
locality and
manner of
teaching niu-
tually ex-
plain each
other ;

and were tn-
volved in
the history of
the time.

THE GOSPEL OF ST FOHN.

the other. The hearers and the doctrine are obviously
connected by considerations of fitness. If it were the
case that the method of instruction were the same while
the persons were widely varied, or the persons the same
while the teaching was changed, it might be fairly
asked whether such differences would be likely to exist
within the narrow limits over which the Lord’s ministry
was extended. But as it is, if it appear that there is a
clear propriety in the twofold variation, answering alike
to the immediate object and to the permanent office of
the books, then the ground of objection becomes an
indication of providential design. The want of all
ages is found to be satisfied in the record of the Sa-
viour’s labours in different countries and among dif-
ferent men. :

That there was such a division in the Jewish nation
as is implied in the characteristics of the mass of our

| Lord’s hearers in the Synoptists and St John is an un-

questionable fact. On the one side the peasantry of
Galilee—that ‘warlike race,’ as Josephus describes them
—who had in earlier times withstood the chariots of
Sisera, and were yet again to vindicate their inde-
pendence against the arms of Rome’—still clung to
the literal faith of their fathers in simplicity and zeal.
They wished to raise Jesus to an earthly throne’, and
led Him in their Paschal train to the Holy City*
Their religion lay in action and their faith in obedience.
But far different was the state of those Jews who had

1 Compare Dr Stanley’s Sermons
on the Apostolic Age, p. 84 note.

* John vi. 15. The addresses
which followed in the Synagogue at
Capernaum to ‘the Jews’ (vv. 41,
52) may be compared’ with that in
the Synagogue at Nazareth (Luke
iv. 16 ff.) at the beginning of Christ’s
ministry as to its tone and results.

$ John xii. r2—19. While St
John recognizes the peculiar charac-
ter of this Galilzan multitude, he
does not detail the teaching ad-
dressed to them, which we find in
the other Evangelists. This clearly
points to a difference of scope and
not to a divergence of tradition.

ITS RELATION TO THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS.

been brought into contact with Greek intellect or Ro-
man order. For them new regions of thought were
opened which seemed to indicate that religion was only
for the wise. They felt the full difficulty of founding
any universal earthly sway, and either rejected the
Messianic hopes as the result of fanaticism, or saw in
the course of things around them the signs of some
mighty spiritual change which should more than fulfil
the metaphors of the ancient Prophets. To the former
class, whether at Capernaum or at Jerusalem, we find
the truths of Christianity addressed in their plainness
and active power. Parables and maxims are multiplied
to enliven their apprehension and direct their energy’.
And on this teaching the missionary Gospels were natu-
rally based, the Gospels of the Church’s infancy and
growth, because the same conditions which shaped the
form of instruction in the first instance called for its
preservation afterwards. But to those who were reared
under other influences, to the student of the law, the
teacher of Israel, tothe Samaritan perplexed with doubts
about the traditions of her fathers, to the cavillers who
reposed in blind confidence on the Law which was
daily presented to them in the splendour of a noble
ritual, to the disciples growing in faith and yet unable
to bear all that a loving Teacher would disclose, other
modes of instruction were adapted. Now an awakening
dialogue, now a startling revelation, now an outpouring
of righteous zeal or gentle tenderness, furnished the
materials for that Gospel which penetrates to the
depths of individual life. Yet the popular and the
personal styles of thought and language are perfectly

1 The Parables addressed to the them in the presence and (as it
Rulers and Pharisees in Matt. xxi. seems) for the instruction of the
28; xxii. 1 ff. were addressed to multitude. Cf. Matt.-xxi. 26, 46.

THE GOSPEL OF ST FOHN.

JToreover
the Synop-
tists allow cf
an extended
ministry,

which is an-
tecedently
probable,

and

harmonious. The histories which severally record them
are not contradictory but complementary. They do
not exclude but imply one another. They recognise
generic differences which, as we know, existed among
the Jews at the time; and it is no small proof of
their authenticity that they satisfy the requirements
of those great national parties in Judaza which could
scarcely have been realised by a writer whose ideas
were drawn from a time when the centre of Jewish life
was destroyed. ie

Yet it may be said that this general harmony be-
tween the two forms of teaching and the two classes
of hearers is no answer to differences as to the time
and place of Christ’s ministry as given by the different
Evangelists. Jf the time were extended, zf the place
were varied, then the change in style would be intel-
ligible; but the narrative of the Synoptists recognises
no such extension or movement, Here the incomplete-
ness of the records precludes the possibility of a per-
fect answer, but it is enough that the Synoptists at
least allow that the ministry of our Lord may have
been as long and as diversified as St John relates;
and, indeed, many old writers, in their anxiety to esta-
blish a harmony between the Gospels, found in the
fourth only an appendix to the other three, designed
to fix their chronology and supply details which they
left unnoticed.

The very nature of the first promulgation of the
Gospel, if we apprehend it according to the common
laws of history, demanded a lengthened period for its
accomplishment’, Apart from any express data, it

1 Tt is useful to call to mind con-
stantly the extreme uncertainty
which hangs over the exact length
of our Lord’s ministry. The only

certain limits within which it must
lie are the fifteenth year of the reign
of Tiberius (Luke 111. 1, A.D. 28) and
the recall of Pilate, just befor: the

"οὗ the Apostles and the Seventy, without supposing a

ITS RELATION TO THE SYNOPTIC ‘GOSPELS.

must seem incredible that the course of events which
the Synoptists relate could have been compressed into
a single year. Such narrow limits leave no adequate
space for the development of faith in the disciples, for
the transition from hope to hatred in the mass of the
people, for the varied journeys on both sides of Jordan
and to the borders of Tyre and Sidon, for the missions

haste—almost a precipitancy—in the consummation of
Christ’s personal work which finds no parallel in the
history of His preparation or in the labours of the
Apostles. But in fact the Synoptists imply in rare pas-
sages the existence of a much more extended ministry
than they have described. St Luke by a casual date
marks the occurrence of a Passover in the middle of his
narrative’; and the various allusions to Jerusalem which
are scattered through the first three Gospels shew that
the Lord must have been there before the time of the
Passion?; while St John on the other hand expressly
notices that an earlier visit was made purposely in such

undecided, as the Gospels leave it.

death of that Emperor, A.D. 37,
which leaves room enough for the
tradition mentioned by Irenzus, on
the authority of Asiatic tradition,
that our Lord was at least 40 years
old at the time of His death (Iren.
¢. Her. i. 22, 5). Even in the
time of Irenzeus there was no satis-
factory. information on the point;
and the uncertainty of the Jewish
calendar will not allow of any con-
clusion based on the day of the Pas-
chal festival. Allowing that St John
only mentions ¢hvee Passovers (ex-
cluding v. 1), I know of no argu-
ments which can prove that he
notices every Passover in the course
of our Lord’s ministry; and in
such a case it seems by far the
wisest course to leave the question

W.G,

On the other hand it must be re-
membered that a very strong case
has been made out by Mr Browne
(Ordo Seclorum) for the limitation
of the Lord’s ministry to a single
year. If there were dzvect evidence
for the omission of τὸ πάσχα in John
vi. 4 his arguments would appear to
be convincing.

1 Luke vi. 1, ἐν σαββάτῳ devrepo-
πρώτῳ, yet it must be noticed that
the word is omitted by important
authorities ; NBL al.

2 Cf. Matt. iv. 25; xxiii. 37—39
(ποσάκις, ἄπαρτι) ; xxvii. 57. Luke
x. 38 ff. (cf. John xi. 5). See also
Matt. xix. 1 (cf. John x. 40); viii.
18,

actually a:-
kunowleaged
by them,

200

THE GOSPEL OF ST FOHN.

Chap. ν.

-----

And in the
Sorm of our
Lord's
teaching
offer paral-
tels to St
Sohn.

2. Differ-

ences as to
our Lord’s
Person,

a way as to avoid popular notice, because the time
(καιρός) was not yet fulfilled’

The objection which is drawn from the variations in
the form of our Lord’s teaching admits also of a similar
answer. The diversity is not only a necessary result of
the diversity of hearers, as an extended scene was re-
quired by the nature of the message, but is actually
recognised as existing in our present records. There
are mutual coincidences between St John and the Syn-
optists which break the abruptness of the transition
from the one to the other. One fragment preserved
by St Matthew and St Luke presents the closest re-
semblance in tone and manner to the discourses in St
John’; and St John, while he avoids the exact type
of the parable, has preserved the relation of addresses
and acts which are only parables transformed®*. In this
respect it might seem that the differences of teaching
lead us beyond the two great classes of hearers in
Galilee and Jerusalem, and offer a characteristic trait

which distinguishes the mass of Galilaean followers from

the closer circle of the Apostles.

It is not necessary to examine at length the last
objection, which rests on the twofold view of the Lord’s
Person given in the Gospels, So far as the differences
on which this is based have any real existence, they

have been already noticed.

1 John vii. 6, 10. St John him-
self in this passage implies that Ga-
lilee was the chief theatre of our
Lord’s teaching and works (ver. 3,
4), though he had recorded two pre-
vious visits to Jerusalem. In other
places he leaves ample room for the
Galilean ministry: ii. 1253 iv. 43,
543 V. Fj Vie 83 Vie,

* Matt. xi. 25-30, Luke x.
21---24.

5. John x. 1—3 (παροιμίαν, ver.

They belong to the essence

6); xv. 1—6; xii. 243 xvi. 21. John
xiii. 4—12. Compare John iil. 29
with Matt. ix. 15. It is worthy of
notice that our Lord is represented
as veiling the great mystery of His
death under symbolic language both
by St John and by the Synoptists :
John iii. 14; Matt. xii. 40; John
li. 20; Luke xiii. 32. _ For a still
earlier revelation of the same truth
compare John i. 29 with Lukeii. 35.
. Compare p. 295, N. 4.

ITS RELATION TO THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS.

of supplementary records of Christ’s life. They are
recognised in the Creeds as well as in the Bible. And
all the circumstances connected with the fuller reve-
lation of His glory were calculated to call it forth.
The time, the persons, the occasion, were suited for the
teaching of the greater mysteries which must have been
taught if Christianity is true. And there is a propor-
tion preserved between the communication of the doc-
trine and the record of it which harmonizes with the
general character of Scripture. The deeper truth was
committed not to the multitude but to the few; and
the writing in which it is preserved was not the com-
mon witness of the Church, but the testimony of a loved
disciple.

The consideration of the differences between the
Synoptists and St John has already led to the notice
of some of their coincidences, These extend to facts,
to teaching, and to character; and contribute in no
slight degree to invest the fourth Gospel with those
attributes of reality and life which are too commonly
lost sight of in the discussion of its peculiar character-
istics, }

The manner in which St John alludes to some of the
cardinal points of our Lord’s life illustrates the usage of
the Synoptists with regard to the lapse of time which
takes place in their history. He assumes as known
that which he nowhere specifies. His full meaning is
first perceived when contemplated in the light of facts
which are only recorded by others. Though he does
not relate in the course of his narrative the details of
the. Incarnation, the Baptism, the Last Supper, or the
Ascension, yet he gives peculiar and unequivocal inti-
mations of each event. The first statement of the In-

carnation is absolute: it stands as a vast truth apart |
T2

(8) Points
of Cotnci-
dence.

1. Jn Facts.

The Incarna-
tion,

202 THE GOSPEL OF ST. FOHN.

. Chap.v. | from all relation to individuals’, But at the beginning
of our Lord’s ministry, before He had manzfested forth
His glory, the Mother of ¥esus looked to Him in perfect
dependence on His power now that He had commenced
His public ministry and gathered His disciples round ©
‘Him*, The life of sabzection which was then at length
closed. explains the nature of her request; and the
critical character’ of the moment is brought out yet
more distinctly in the answer Woman what have I to do
with thee? which places in the clearest contrast the free-
dom of spiritual action and the claims of private duty.
The history of the Infancy and the first Miracle at Cana
mutually explain each other. An act which is related
by one Evangelist carries out the thoughts which are
noticed by another®. Perfect independence issues in
perfect harmony. In another aspect of the same great
fact St John dwells on the doctrine while the Synoptists
detail the events. St Matthew and St Luke narrate
at length the ‘history of the Miraculous Conception,
and St John dwells with especial fulness on the eter-
nal Sonship of Christ which is its divine correlative.
The two truths must stand or fall together; for a Co-
rinthian mean can never express that union of God
and man which is alone sufficient to assure our hearts
of redemption.

The Bap- If we pass from the Incarnation to the Baptism we
ag find in this also the same silence and the same implied
knowledge of the circumstances of the occurrence,
When John the Baptist first appears, his great work is

1 John i. 14, ὁ λόγος σὰρξ eyé- καὶ σοὶ γύναι; with thecorrespond-
νετο. ing words from the cross (xix. 26)
2 John ii, 1 ff. St John alone of Τύναι ἴδε ὁ vids cov, as St John
the Evangelists does not mention stood by ready to dake her unto his
the name of the Mother of the Lord. own home.
It is a point full of instruction to 3 Luke ii. 51.
compare the phrase (ver, 4) τί ἐμοὶ

LTS RELATION TO THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS.

done. The Christ is recognised. When Jesus comes,
as it appears, from the scene of the Temptation’, he
revealed Him to others and witnessed, saying, 7 have

seen the Holy Spirit descending as a dove from heaven|

and it abode upon Him’.

~The allusions to the Christian Sacraments are
equally characteristic though they are of a different
kind. Nothing is said of the institution of the Eucharist
or of Holy Baptism, and yet the conversation with Ni-
codemus* and the discourse at Capernaum stand in the
closest relation with them, and unfold and enforce the
inner meaning of rites with which the Apostle must
have been familiar as ordinances of Christ‘,

The references to the Ascension are perhaps the
most remarkable example of the manner in which St
John includes the historical fact in the spiritual neces-
sity of it. He gives at length the discourses in which
the need and the consequences of the event are ex-
plained at full: after recording the Resurrection, he
relates the remarkable address of our Lord to Mary,
in which it is contemplated as an immediate occur-
rence ; and yet he says nothing of the fulfilment of the
promise’, It is enough that the fact was a part of the

1 This seems to be the natural
way of connecting the narratives of
St John and the Synoptists, and to
involve no difficulty.

* The apparent discrepancy be-
tween John i. 31 and Matt. iii. 14
disappears when we remember that
the fulfilment of John’s public mis-
sion was to be indicated by a defi-
nite sign (John i. 31—35), and thus
his personal knowledge (Matt. iii.
14, 15) was independent of his
ΕΝ of prophetic recognition (John
i. 31)

"Ἢ John i iii. 5. Cf. [Mark] xvi. 16;
Acts 11. 38.

4 It may also be added that while
neither the Transfiguration nor the
Agony are mentioned by St John
the influence of both events is visi-
ble in his record.

5 John xx. 17. With this may
be compared the fact that while St
John gives most fully the Discourse
on the Mission of the Comforter,
it is St Luke who records the de-
scent of the Holy Spirit (Acts ii.),
though he does nat notice the ante-
cedent promise. So again St John
alone notices the special commission
of the Apostles (xx. 21, 22: cf. Matt.
XXViii. 19, 20), which is afterwards

The Eucha-
rist: Holy
Baptism.

The Ascen-
sion.

204 THE GOSPEL OF ST ¥OHN.
Chap.v. | divine order. As such for him it was, and his readers
~ | knew from other sources how it took place’.
2, In Teach- The marked distinction between the teaching of our

ing.

Lord as recorded by St John and by the Synoptists has_
been recognised most fully, but it has been shewn that
there are points of connexion by which the two are in
some degree united. This connexion admits of being
presented somewhat more in detail in regard of the
substance as well as of the manner of the teaching.
There is indeed something of characteristic difference
both in the conception and in the expression of the
same truths, but such that the difference contributes to
the completeness of the final idea. Thus in St Matthew
the crowning doctrine of the Holy Trinity is expressed
in the formula of Baptism: in St John it is contem-
plated in the personal relation of the Christian to the

Father and the Son and the Comforter’.

seen to be realized in the history of
the Church.

In illustration of the usage of St
John it may be remarked that St
Paul presupposes the mystery of the
Incarnation without expressly stat-
ing it (Rom. i. 4; ix. 5; Gal. iv. 4,
5), and includes the Ascension in
the Resurrection (1 Thess. i. 10).
The Pauline teaching of the second
Adam (1 Cor. xv. 45) may also be
compared with John iii. 6.

1 At the one meeting-point of
all the Gospels before the history of
the Passion (John vi. 1 ff. and paral-
lel accounts) their harmony is per-
fect. The recurrence in all the nar-
ratives of κόφινος, which is only used
in the account of this Miracle in the
New Testament, is worthy of no-
tice.

Among other facts which St John
mentions incidentally as well-known
are the calling of the twelve (ἐκλέ-
ξασθαι, John vi. 70: cf. Luke vi. 13):
the difference between our Lord’s

The mystery

birthplace and place of abode (John
vii. 42): His relation to Joseph (i.
40; vi. 42).

This clear presupposition of an
accurate acquaintance with the facts
of the life of Christ, which is shewn
in these minute references and pene-
trates the whole Gospel, has two
important bearings, which, although
necessarily connected, yet refer to
different lines of thought. In detail’
it tends to establish the minute truth
of the events recorded by the Evan-
gelists; and more generally, by
shewing that the spiritual aspect of
the Evangelic facts was revealed at
a time when the simple. narratives.
were already current, it refutes the
theory of an imaginary history in-
vented to supply a mental want.
The truth lay in the facts; but the
facts were accepted in themselves
before their inner meaning was laid
open.

2 Matt. xxviii. 19; John xv, xvi.
xvii,

ITS RELATION TO THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS.

of the Atonement lies at the bottom of many of our
Lord’s last words to His disciples, but it nowhere is
stated with such simple distinctness as in the phrase
recorded by St Matthew and St Mark, in which it is
said that the Sox of man came...to give His life a
ransom for many’. In the Synoptists no less than in
St John Christ claims for Himself the possession of a//
power’, the forgiveness of sins, the sole revelation of
the Father®. In both there are traces of the same
images, of the same thoughts, of the same language’*.

1 Matt. xx. 28; Mark x. 45 (Av- 1 Tim. ii. 6.

τρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν). The word λύτρον 2 Matt. xxviii. 18. Cf. xxii. 41—
is not found elsewhere in the New 46.
Testament. ᾿Αντίλυτρον occurs in 3 Matt. xi. 27.

4 The following examples will be sufficient to justify what is said:
(1) Coincidences in Imagery.
John iii. 3 (the new birth); Matt. xviii. 3 (become as little
children). Compare also Matt. xiii. 52 (γραμμ. μαθητ.).
John iv. 35; Matt. ix. 37 (the great Harvest). |
John x. 7; Matt. xviii. 12 (the Good Shepherd).
John xiii. 1 ff.; Luke xii. 37 (the Master serving). Cf, Luke
Xxii. 27.
John xiii. 16; Matt. x. 24, 25 (the Master and Servant).
John iii. 29; Matt. xxii. 2 (the Bridegroom),
John xv. 2; Matt. vii. 19 (Unfruitfulness).
(2) Coincidences in Thought.
John v. 14; Matt. xii. 43—45 (the worse thing).

John ix. 39; Matt. xiii. 13. Cf. John xii. 4o (the eyes |

blinded).
John xiii. 20; Matt. x. 40 (the Father received by the faith-
ful).

John v. 30; Matt. xxvi. 39 (the Father’s will done).
John iii. 17; Luke ix. 56 (the Mission to save).
John vii. 29; x. 153 Matt. xi, 27 (the Father known to
Christ).
(3) Coincidences in Language.
John iv. 44; Matt. xiii. 57 (the Prophet without honour).
John xii. 25; Luke xvii. 33 (the soul loved and lost).
John v. 8; Mark ii. g (the words of healing).

To these may be added the parallel reports of the judgment of the people:
(1) John iv. 19; Luke vii. 16: (2) John vi. 42; Matt. xill. 55: (3) John
vii. 15; Matt. xiii. 54. And while it is a Synoptist (Matt. xxvi. 61) who
mentions the special charge against the Lord of speaking against the
Temple, St John alone gives the words which led to the charge (John ii. 19;
cf. Matt. xii. 6).

THE GOSPEL OF ST FOHN.

3. In the
Characters
depicted.

The charac-

ter of the
Lord.

And it is most important to observe that St John no-
where attributes to our Lord the key-words of his own
terminology. In his Gospel, as in the others, Christ
speaks of Himself as the Sox or the Son of man, and
never as the Word’. |

One other point of coincidence between the Syn-
optists and St John still remains to be noticed, the
coincidence of the characters which they describe. The
scene varies, the manner varies, the substance in some
sense varies, but the great figures who give life to the
picture are the same. This kind of resemblance, which
in fiction is one of the subtlest refinements of art, in such
writings as the Gospels is a clear sign of absolute truth.
Where it cannot spring from elaborate design, it must
be the result of faithful portraiture.

It has been often and most truly said that the cha-
racter of our Lord as drawn by the Evangelists is in
itself the one sufficient proof of their veracity. No cha-
racter could have been further removed: from the popu-

lar tdea of the time, none

1 John iii. ro—2r and 27—36
might at first sight seem exceptions
to this remark. Yet on a careful
reading of the passages it seems im-
possible not to feel that the Evan-
gelist is in part commenting on and
explaining the testimony which he
records. The comments seem to
begin respectively at verses 16 and
31.. These additions will seem less
singular if we remember that they
set forth the spiritual essence of
Christianity in relation to the legal
righteousness and to the preparatory
mission of the Baptist.

These explanatory comments re-
ceive a striking illustration from a
single phrase introduced into John
xvil. 3. The title ᾿Ιησοῦς Χριστὸς
in such a connexion is wholly with-
out parallel in the Gospels; and we

‘must, I think, regard τὸν μ. ad. Θεὸν

more entirely beyond the

and "I. Xp. as explanations of what
precedes added by the Evangelist,
which do not modify but only define
the sense. Cf. 1 Johny. 20. The
title Fesus Christ is commonly given
to our Lord in the Acts and Epistles,
but occurs only in the introductions
to the Gospels [except Matt. xvi. 21,
which is a most instructive passage]:
Matt. i, 1, 16, 18; Mark i. 1; John
i. 17, or, in other words, in those
sections which formed no part of the
original tradition.. This peculiarity
is important as shewing the two
stages in the history of the Gospels,
though it will not bear out the con- .
clusion which Dr Dobbin (Davidson,
Introd. i. 421 ff.) drew from it, as
to the priority of the Gospels in their
present form to the Epistles. Cf,

pp. 207 ff.

THE CHARACTER OF THE LORD.

conception of men reared amidst dreams of national
hope, and checked at every step by the signs of foreign
power. A natural awe commonly hinders us from pic-
turing to ourselves the Person of our Blessed Lord with
any individual distinctness. In one sense it is true that
He has no individuality, for the aspects of His human
nature are practically infinite; but we do not even
apprehend His character individually in the different
lights in which it is presented. The mind shrinks from

analysis, lest criticism should take the place of devo- |
tion; and yet there is a sense in which even we may |

see Christ in the flesh, and strengthen our faith by the
contemplation of those traits of a divine humanity which
furnish for all ages the perfect type of life. “Touching
only on one small border of this subject, we may
notice some features in the character of our Lord which
are traced both by the Synoptists and St John. The
variety of the circumstances establishes the truthfulness
of the impression, and helps to present the Saviour to
us, not as a mere embodiment of an idea, as some have
taught, but moving in a world of action, and influenced
by the complex feelings to which we are subject. At
the beginning and the close of His work, St John, as
we have already seen’, shews how He drew a line be-
tween natural and spiritual claims: so do the Synoptists;
they relate that He stretched forth His hand to His dis-

ciples and said Behold my mother and my brethren, when |

for a moment His earthly kindred sought to interrupt
His work of mercy®. By the well at Sychar He sat
down wearied, and then forgot His request and His
fatigue in conversing with the Samaritan, so that zs

disciples prayed Him saying Master eat: but He said

1 p. 292, N. 2 as
2 Matt. xii. 46 ff.; Mark iii. 32 ff; Luke viii. 19 ff.

THE GOSPEL OF ST FOHN..

unto them I have meat to eat that ye know not of*. And
similarly St Mark records that after He had retired
into the wilderness with His disciples, for they had no
leisure so much as to eat; when He saw much people, He
was moved with compassion toward them, and began to
teach them many things’. In each case the same bodily
want is recognised, and in each case it yields to the
pressure of a higher desire. The Fews when they saw
His acts of authority sazd to Him What sign shewest
Thou to us, seeing that Thou doest these things? Fesus
answered and said to them Destroy this temple and in
three days 1 will ratse it up. Aun evil and adulterous

‘| generation, He said in another’ place, seeketh after a

sign; and there shall be no sign given to tt, but the sign
of Fonas the Prophet’. In both cases the manner, the
thought, the lesson, are the same. We feel that both
are utterances of the same Person, and yet such that
no mere power of imitation could have passed from
one to the other. John, when in prison, sent to ask
Christ Art Thou He that should come, or do we look
for another? Fesus answered...Go and shew F¥ohn those
things which ye do hear and sce...If I had not come
and spoken unto them, they had not had sin...If I had
not done among them the works which none other man
did, they had not had sin...*.. The testimony of word
and deed, that is enough to reassure the last Prophet
who would have hastened, it may be, the glory of
Christ’s kingdom, and to condemn those who had seex
and hated both Him and His Father.. A short sentence -
from the lips of one who knew what was in man lays
open the whole inner life and brings to its final issue
the struggle which divides it, whether of faithful re-

1. John iv. 6, 7, 31 ff. 3 John ii. το; Matt. xii. 30.
| 2 Mark vi. 31 ff. Cf. Mark iii. 20. 4 Matt. xi. 4; John xv. 22, 24.

THE CHARACTER OF THE LORD.

pentance, as when He said Go call thy husband, or of
sad abandonment, as when He gave the command to
him whom He loved, Go sell whatever thou hast, and
give to the poor’. Nicodemus, when he seemed to claim
for himself the gift of wise discernment, was met by
the answer Except a man be born again he cannot see
the kingdom of God. When the disciples disputed Who
as the greatest? Fesus set a little child in the midst
of them and said Except ye be converted and become as
little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of hea-
ven”. {
and He hid Himself, and going through the midst o
them so passed by, if perhaps their sin might be yet
averted*,. The same simple words Follow me mark
the discipleship of Philip in St John which elsewhere
determine the call of Matthew*. The over-zealous re-
quest of St Peter was anticipated by a question which
reproved his zeal, and in the same way the salutation of
Nathanael seems to have replied to the doubts with
which his mind was filled®. In St John, as in the
Synoptists, the dealing of our Lord with those who
came to Him is everywhere marked by the same ab-
solute insight, so that His words were the touchstone
by which their thoughts were revealed. Love is blended
with judgment, and the voice of encouragement with
the call to faith, in a way which finds no parallel in
history. The image is divine, and bears witness to a
divine prototype. |

The vastness of the character of the Lord is best
seen by contrast with any of the other characters in

*. The multitude crowded round Him in wild anger

ted); Luke iv. 30.
“4 John i. 44 (cf. xxi. 19); Matt.
ix. 9 (cf. viil. 22). Compare also
δεῦτε ὀπίσω μου in Matt. iv. 10.

5 Matt. xvii. 25; John i. 47, 48.

1 John iv. 16; Mark x. 21.

2 John iii. 3 (οἴδαμεν, ver. 2); Matt.
xviii. 1 ff.

3 John viii. 59 (the idea remains
the same if the last clause is omit-

The charac-
ter of St
Peter.

THE GOSPEL OF ST FOHN.

Chap. v.

the Gospels. These, however noble, are yet limited,
and capable of being realised in a definite form. Every
one has a distinct conception of St Peter and St John.
They have an individuality which in this sense our Lord
could not have; and St Peter above all is the one in
whom this is most marked. Quick in action even to
rashness, and bold in word even to presumption, he is
yet the founder of the outward Church. In St John,
and in the Synoptists, the essential outlines of his cha-
racter answer to the symbolic name which all the
Evangelists notice as given to him by Christ*; and
several corresponding traits may be placed together so
as to shew the real unity which lies beneath the differ-
ent narratives. In the first two Gospels it is related
that when our Lord began to speak of His coming
sufferings at Jerusalem, Peter took Him and began to
rebuke Him, saying Be it far from Thee Lord: this shall
not be to Thee. In St John, when at the Last Supper.
Christ served His disciples and girded Himself to wash
their feet, Peter saith to Him Thou shalt never wash
my feet”. He cannot for a moment endure the thought
of the humiliation of his Lord, whether among His
enemies or His own followers; and if he adds after-
wards with the over-haste of a natural reaction: Lord

1 John i. 43, Σὺ εἶ Σίμων ὁ vids
Ἰωάνου" σὺ κληθήσῃ Κηφᾶς, ὃ épun-
νεύεται Πέτρος. This prophetic nam-
ing (κληθήσῃ) may have been repeat-
ed at the commission of the Twelve,
though there is nothing in the lan-
guage used in describing that event
which necessarily leads to that con-
clusion (Matt. x. 2, Σέμων ὁ λεγό-
μενος Ilérpos. Mark iii. 16, καὶ ἐπέ-
θηκεν ὄνομα τῷ Σίμωνι Πέτρον. Luke
vi. 14, 2. ὃν καὶ ὠνόμασε Πέτρον).
St Mark uses the same phrase of the

title of the sons of Zebedee: καὶ ἐπέ-

θηκεν αὐτοῖς ὀνόματα Boavnpyés, a
title which evidently points to some
special fact, which can hardly have

‘been connected with their appoint-

ment to the Apostolate. The con-
trast between Johni. 43, σὺ εἶ Σίμων,
and the phrase preserved by St Mat-
thew in the record of the confession
is very striking: Matt. xvi. 18, od
εἶ Πέτρος. ‘The prophecy was then
fulfilled.

2 Matt. xvi. 21 ff.; Mark viii.
31 ff.; John xiii, 8.

THE CHARACTER OF ST PETER.

301
not my feet only, but also my hands and my head; it is| Chap. v.

as when at the Transfiguration he would have dzudlz¢
three tabernacles for Christ and Moses and Elias, xzot
knowing what he said, but eager to realise to the full
a blessing of which he only half perceived the import,
and unable to wait in calm assurance on the will of
his Master’. This impatient energy, which seems to
be ever striving after the issues of things, made him
give expression in many cases to the thoughts which
others cherished, perhaps vaguely*. Thus it was in
his noble confession of Christ’s divine majesty, in which
St John has preserved one trait of singular interest.
According to the details which he has recorded, the
confession itself was connected with action: Lord, to
whom shall we go away? Thou hast words (ῥήματα)
of eternal Life®, and in virtue of this practical power he
received the special charge: Do thou when thou art con-
verted strengthen thy brethren*, Elsewhere he would
know of the future of himself or others: Behold we
forsook all and followed Thee, what shall we have there-
fore’?...Lord, and what shall this man do*? He can-
not rest in uncertainty where knowledge might prove
the guide to deeds. If the Lord spoke of blind leaders,
he said Declare to us the Parable: if of watchful service,
Lord, speakest Thou this Parable unto (πρός) us, or even
unto all? if of a traitor among the Apostles, he beck-
oned to the disciple who leaned on Jesus’ bosom, Ze//

1 John xiii. 9; Matt. xvii. 4; Mark
ix. 5, 6; Luke ix. 33.

2 This is seen in several little
traits: Mark xi. 21, ἀναμνησθεὶς ὁ
Πέτρος λέγει. Matt. xxi. 20, ἰδόντες
οἱ μαθηταὶ ἐθαύμασαν. Luke viii. 45,
εἶπεν 6 II. καὶ οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ. Mark v,
31, ἔλεγον αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ.

3 John vi. 68, 69. The words are

the true complement of Luke v. 8.
Cf. Matt. xvi. 17; Mark viii. 29;
Luke ix. 20.

4 Luke xxii. 31 f.
στρέψα:. ;

Matt. xix. 27. Cf. Mark x. 28:

Luke xviii. 28.

6 John xxi. 21, Κύριε, οὗτος δὲ
τί;

,
σύ ποτε ἐπι-

THE GOSPEL OF ST FOHN.

and then denying Aim’.

1 Matt. xv. 15; Luke xii. 41;
John xiii. 24 (cf. p. 269, n. 1); John
xiii. 37. Compare the question in
Matt. xvill. 21: Lord how oft shall
my brother sin against me and 7 for-
give him?

2 Matt. xviii. 24; John xviii. 10.

3 Matt. xiv. 28; xxvi. 35, and
parallels. Much discussion has been
raised as to the narratives of the
denial of St Peter, and the differ-
ences which occur in them are gene-
rally insisted upon as offering the
clearest proof of the impossibility of
maintaining the verbal accuracy of
the Evangelists. A comparison of
the texts in question rather creates
surprise that difficulty should have
been felt by any who picture the
scene as it may be supposed to have
happened.

All the Evangelists fix the place
as the same, the Court of the High
Priest (ἡ αὐλὴ τοῦ ἀρχιερέως, Matt.
xxvi. 58; Mark xiv. 54; Luke xxii.
54, 553 John xviii. 16, 17). The
narrative of St John, which distin-
guishes a hearing before Annas from
the hearing before Caiaphas, yet
| clearly implies that all the denials
were made in the same spot (xviii.
18, 25). From this fact connected

probable that the House of the High
Priest included the official apart-
ments of Annas and Caiaphas (cf.
Strauss, § 127).

But it is said, the persons who

with Luke xxii. 61, Gc. it seems.

provoke Peter to the denial are dif-

| who it is of whom He speaks: if of a coming separation,
Lord, why cannot I follow Thee now’? Frequently the
characteristics of St Peter are seen in action.
would pay the Temple-tribute for Christ, as jealous
for His ritual righteousness: now he follows Him with
a sword to Gethsemane We feel at once that the
walking on the waters and the failing faith are a true
figure of his following Christ to the place of judgment
At the outset his zeal and

Now he

ferently given. This requires care-
ful notice. (1) All the Evangelists
agree that the first question was put
by a damsel (Matt. xxvi. 69, μία παι-
δίσκη. Mark xiv. 66, μία τῶν παι-
δισκῶν τοῦ ἀρχιερέως. Luke xxii:
56, παιδίσκη τις. John xviii. 17, ἡ
παιδίσκη ἡ. θυρωρός). St John adds
that she was the Portress, St Luke’
that the question was put as St Peter
sat by the fire: so far all is perfectly
harmonious, for I do not notice the
variations in the words of the ques-
tion, which are Greek renderings of
the Aramaic, and perfectly agree in
sense. (2) In the narrative of the
second denial the persons who assail .
St Peter are variously given, St
Matthew (71) says another woman
(ἄλλη); St Mark (69) the same dam-
sel (ἡ παιδίσκη); St Luke (58) another
man (trepos); St John (25) simply
they said (εἶπον). The phrase of St
John brings the whole scene before
us.as the others describe it in de--
tail. A crowd is gathered round
the fire (John xviii. 18): the por-
tress tells her suspicions to the
bystanders (Mark xiv. 69): the ac-
cusation is repeated by various per-
sons, and St Peter left the group
(Matt. xxvi. 71), ἐξελθόντα eis roy
πυλῶνα), repeating his hasty denial
(Mark xiv..70, ἠρνεῖτο. No one
uses the imperfect in the former
case). (3) This most natural con-
ception of the event is further.
brought out on the third denial... St.
Luke (59) says, another said Of a

THE CHARACTER OF ST ¥OHN.

courage are unbounded; then follows the swift and
compiete reaction. St John first looks into the empty
sepulchre, but St Peter first enters it’, St John first
recognises the risen Lord on the sea of Tiberias, but
St Peter first casts himself into the water to be with
Him* Perfect truthfulness alone can account for the
minute harmony of all the features in such a cha-
racter, portrayed in books most widely separated in
origin and date.

More difficulty has been felt in combining into one
picture the various traits which have been recorded of
the person of St John. He is but rarely mentioned in
the Synoptists, and a mighty revolution was interposed
between these earlier notices and the testimonies of his
own writings. Besides this the character itself is one
which almost eludes. description. The intense concen-
tration and power of an inner life flash out at some
rare moments, but commonly the life flows on with deep
and still course. St John was indeed a Son of Thunder’,
but the thunder is itself the unfrequent witness of the
might of elements long gathering. There is a difference
between the style of St John and that which we should
assign to the Galilzan Apostle, but the style is only the
reflection of his completed character. There is the dif-
ference between a former and latter faith, such as we

truth this fellow also was with Him,
Sor he is a Galilean, - St John (26),
One of the servants of the High
Priest, being his kinsman whose ear
Peter cut off, saith Did not 7 see thee
in the Garden with Him? Here St
Matthew and St Mark notice the
number of the assailants: they that
stood by said (Matt. xxvi. 73, οἱ é0-
τῶτες εἶπον. Mark xiv. 70, ol παρ-
eorwres ἔλεγον). The narratives
present us with three acts of denial,
as they may be most naturally sup-

posed to have taken place in a
crowded court in the excitement of
a popular ferment.

On the conduct of St Peter him-
self Luthardt has some good re-
marks: α. a. O., 108 ff.

1 John xx. 6,

2 John xxi. 7.

5 The form of the surname is well
explained by Lightfoot, Hor. Hedr.
ad Marc. iii. 17: the general sense
by Meyer, and most recent commen-
tators on the passage.

The charéc-
ter of St
Sohn,

THE GOSPEL OF ST FOHN.

find also between the recorded acts and epistles of St
Peter; but in the Apocalypse, and the Catholic letters
of St John, we trace the identity of his nature in the
course of its development. The same zeal which would
have called jive from heaven on the inhospitable Samari-
tans, though guided now to another end, denounces
plagues and destruction on him who takes from or adds to
the words of his prophecy’. The same jealousy for Christ
which forbade the working of one who followed not with
them, though purified by a higher faith, warns the elect
lady not to did God speed to him who abideth not in the
doctrine*®, The same fervent spirit in defence of truth is,
as has been seen, recognised by tradition, and that too
combined with the tenderest love*. Nor is there any
inconsistency in such a combination. The same deep
feeling is the source of both characteristics. And as the
affectionate letters to the Philippians and to Timothy,
with their clearer revelations of divine truth, only unfold
to us another view of the great Apostle, so the Gospel
of St John, in its fulness of meditative devotion, helps
us to realize the whole Christian course of him, who first
with eager hope acknowledged in Jesus the Lamdé of God,
and saw zz the Spirit of God farthest into the history of
the Church, and guarded most jealously its early Creed*.
Throughout the whole life of St John,—in Samaria, in
Patmos, in Ephesus, in the old world of Judaism, in the
new world of Christianity, and in that meeting-point of
the two dispensations which was the fiery trial of the
early Church: in the most distant times, and in the
most diverse lands, we ever find the same personal de-
votion to the Lord, as the embodiment of the Divine,—
alike distinguished from the zeal of St Peter for His

1 Luke ix. 54; Apoc. xxii. 18, 3 Cf. p. 256, n. 6.
2 Luke ix. 49; 2 John 9, Io. 4 John i. 35—37; Apoc.i. το...

THE CHARACTER OF ST ¥OHN.

outward glory, and the energy of St Paul for His ex-
tended influence,—enlightened indeed and: spiritualized
by the growth of Christianity in himself and in the world,
and yet unchanged. The youthful womanly form, which
art has assigned to St John, has served to remove from
our minds the stronger features of his nature. Yet these
may not be forgotten, for even in this aspect the eagle is
his true symbol. His love was no soft feeling, but a
living principle, an absolute devotion to truth as he had
seen and known it in the Person of his Lord. He stands
forth as the ideal of a thoughtful Christian, relentless
against evil, and yet patient with the doubting. He ¢éar-
ried till the Lord came, and left his Gospel as the witness
and seal of the accomplishment of the Apostolic work’.

From this point of sight the new scope of his Gospel
answered to the conditions of a new world. The period
which intervened between the dates of the Synoptic
Gospels and St John’s was beyond any other full of the
distress of nations with perplexity, and marked by the
shaking of the powers of heaven, which proved, so to
speak, to be the birth-pains of the Christian Church’.
When St John wrote, the Jews were ld away captive
into all nations*, and men asked why God had cast
away His people? what there was in the Gospel-history
which explained the rejection of the seed of Abraham,
of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came ?

1 There is not space now to dwell
on the other characters traced in St

_ John, but one general remark must

)

be made. ‘The number of distinct
persons portrayed by him is a singu-

_ Jar mark of the authenticity of his
narrative. In the Synoptic Gospels

:
:
:

no one stands out from the Apostles
except St Peter, and perhaps the
sons of Zebedee, but in St John we
have characteristic traits of St An-
drew (i. 41 ff.; vi. 8, 9; xii, 22), St

W. G.

Philip (i. 44 ff; vi. 55 xii. δὲ ff;
xiv. 8 f.), St Thomas (xi. 16; xiv.
5; xx. 24 ff.), St Jude (xiv. 22). The
parallel between Luke x. 39 ff. and
John xi. has been often drawn.

2 Luke xxi. 25,26. Cf. Tac. Hist.
I. 2, 3. Sometimes the language of
the historian coincides verbally with
Scripture: Praeter multiplicis rerum
humanarum casus, ceo terrague pro-
digia et fulminum monitus.

3 Luke xxi, 24.

St Fohn’s
Gospel in re-
lation toa
new world.

Judaism.

306

THE GOSPEL OF ST FOHN.

Chap. v.

Christianity,
as @ system.

Acts x. 47.

Philosophy.

Col. iv. 13.

The life of

the Lord,ex-
plaining the
rejection of
the Fews as
a nation:

Christian
doctrine:

On another side St Paul had given to Christianity its
intellectual development. He had completed the work
which St Peter had begun, and maintained the freedom
of the Gentile converts who had been first received by
the Apostle of the Circumcision. The storm which had
raged from Jerusalem to Pontus, from Antioch to Rome,
had now ceased, but the fashion cf the Church was
changed, and men asked what ground there was in the
teaching of the Messiah for this new form of Christianity ?

And yet again Christianity had come into contact
with Philosophy. The voice of the preacher had been
heard in Alexandria by the scholars of Philo, and at
Hierapolis by the friends of Epictetus; and many must
have inquired how far the new doctrines served to un-
fold the inner life of man? how far they fulfilled the
aspirations of the Academy and realized the morality of
the Porch?

To all these deep questionings unencountered for
the most part by the former Evangelists, who regarded
rather the outward form of the Christian faith than its
rational or spiritual development, St John replies by the
teaching of the Lord’s Life. The Jews as a nation had
rejected the Saviour: He came to His own home, and
Fis own people received Him not’. Throughout the
whole ministry of Christ, as recorded in the fourth
Gospel, the progress of this wilful blindness is traced,
till the record closes with the fatal sentence: though
Fesus had done so many miracles before them, yet the Fews
believed not on Him, as Esaias prophesied when he saw
Fis glory, and spake of Him?. | :

Nor are the great doctrines on which St Paul de-
lighted to dwell, the doctrines of faith, of love, of provi-

1 John i. τι (τὰ ἔδια, of ἴδιοι).

Ῥ. 280.
2 John i, 113 xii, 37—41. Cf,

One peculiarity of St John’s lan-

ITS RELATION TO A NEW ORDER.

dence, of a redemption, of a Holy Spirit, brought out
less distinctly by St John than the fall of the Jews’.
It is true that we can trace these great elements of

Christianity in the symbolic teaching of the Synoptists, |

and in scattered sayings, but they form the staple of

St John’s narrative.

The lesson is at least co-ordinate

with the fact ; and the plain revelations which he made,
as he recorded the deep words on which he had long

guage in this view is to be noticed.
He speaks of the opponents of the
Lord almost always as the ews
(οἱ ᾿Ιουδαῖοι), which phrase is very
rarely (Matt. xxviii. 15) used by the
Synoptists in this sense, who em-
ploy the specific terms, the Phari-
sees, &c. St John uses the term,
the Pharisees, frequently in a defi-
nite sense (i. 24; iv. 1, &c.), but ne-
ver the Scrzdes (John viii. 3 is even

on this account to be condemned),

the Lawyers, the Sadducees. The
Synoptists on the other hand only
put the title, the ews, in the mouth
of Gentiles (Matt. ii. 2; Matt. xxvii.
it ff. and parallels), with very rare
exceptions where they add notes, as
it were, to the original narrative
(Matt. xxviii. 15 ; Mark vii. 3; Luke
vii. 3; xxiii. 54: the two last in-
stances are the most remarkable),
St John regards the nation after its
final apostasy, and the distinctions
of party are lost in their common
unbelief. It seems strange that
some commentators should have
grounded an objection on this ‘un-
designed coincidence’ between the
scope and the language of the Gos-
pel. The usage of St Luke in the
Acts naturally agrees with that of
St John.

Some alleged historical difficulties
will be noticed afterwards in Chap.
VIII.

1 Tt would carry us too far to do
more than allude to the parallel
which may be drawn between St
John and St Paul on these great

topics. The following hints may
suggest a line of inquiry:

(a) Faith. Never the abstract
πίστις, but always active as πιστεύειν
els, a transference of our hope to
another and not a mere assent to a
fact, πιστεύειν τινι, a construction
which occurs commonly in this sense
(iv. 21, 50, G-c.). Thus the act of
faith appears as the ground of son-
ship (i. 12), life (iii. 15, G-c.; xi. 25,
26, &c.), support (vi. 35), inspira-
tion (vii. 38), guidance (xii. 36, 46),
power (xiv. 12), the work of God (vi.
29). Inthe Synoptists fazth (πίστις)
is the mediative energy in material
deliverances as the types of higher
deliverance (Matt. ix. 22; Mark v.
343 Χο, 523; Luke vii. 50; viii. 48;
XVii. 19; xviii. 42), and the mea-
sure of material power (Matt. ix. 29;
xxi. 21; Mark xi. 22).

(8) Love. John xiii. 343 xv. 12
(contrast Matt. xxii. 39). 1 Cor. xiii.

(y) Providence. Predestination.
John vi. 64, 65; iii. 27; vi. 37, 443
v. 21; xv. 16 (cf. vi. 70); xv. 5;
xvii.12. In this connexion ἡ ὥρα is
used of the crisis in each stage of
our Lord’s Life and specially of His
Passion as its crowning point: ii.
43 Vii. 303 Vili. 203 xii. 23, 27; xiii.
I; Xvi. 4; xvii. 1. Cf. ὁ καιρός, Vii.
6—8.

(5) Redemption, i. 29; iii. 14, 153

vis 513 xii. 243 xiii. 31. Comp.
Rom. v. 8 with John iii. 16.
(e) Zhe division in man. i. 13.

Comp. Rom. vii. 6 with John iii. 6,
and John vi. 63 with 2 Cor. iii. 6.

THE GOSPEL OF ST FOHN. ἡ

Hinman
thought.

John xv. 7.

John xiv. 12.

pondered, furnish the means of recognising the actual
fulness of other Gospels. Without St John, it might.
seem possible to say with a recent writer, ‘Not Paul but
Jesus, but with him the unity of the New Testament is
vindicated, and the chain of its connexion finished.

The intimate connexion of St John’s Gospel with the:
greatest problems of thought and life has never been
questioned. A few words are sufficient to shew that the:
Apostle felt that there are mysteries beyond all human
understanding ; and he was contented to state them in
the simplicity of antithetic truths. From the first con-
secration of social intercourse at the Marriage Feast to
the last utterances of a Master’s love, the course of
spiritual life and death is traced in its progressive stages,

] as the words and works of the Lord are recorded year

by year, advancing together in ever-widening spheres to
their final consummation. The sublime prayer of Plato’
is answered by that Word which adzdes in us and we in
Him. The possibility of the true life, of which Stoicism
was but a counterfeit, is secured by the promised Com-
forter, through Whom we shall do the works which
Christ did, and greater works than these, because He has
gone to the Father’.

This was the teaching from the Life of Christ which
was required by the age at which St John wrote, and it
has been seen that he was peculiarly fitted to supply it.
His early. call to the Apostleship enabled him to regard
Christianity from a Christian point of sight; he had to

1 Plat. Phed. 85 B: δεῖν γὰρ...
τὸν βέλτιστον τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων λό-
ywv λαβόντα καὶ δυσελεγκτότατον,
ἐπὶ τούτου ὀχούμενον, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ
σχεδίας, κινδυνεύοντα διαπλεῦσαι τὸν
βίον, εἰ μή τις δύναιτο ἀσφαλέστερον
καὶ ἀκινδυνότερον ἐπὶ βεβαιοτέρον
ὀχήματος ἢ λόγου θείον τινὸς δια-

πορευθῆναι.

2 Perhaps it is from looking at
the mysterious depths of thought
and language, often unintelligible to
the thinker and speaker, that St
John records the unconscious testi-
mony of unbelievers: xi. 513; xix.
21, 223 (xviii. 38).

ITS RELATION ΤῸ: A NEW ORDER.

experience no sudden conversion, like St Paul; he had
to abandon no ancient prejudices, like St Peter; his
whole nature séems to have been absorbed in the con-
templation ‘of the Light and the Life and the Truth;
and while others wandered on distant missions, it was
his work to cherish the Mother of his Lord; to see
visions, and to meditate on what he had heard and looked
upon and handled of the Word of Life, The prophe-
cies which ushered in.the new dispensation failed; the
tongues which gave utterance to the raptures of the first
believers ceased; the knowledge of the early Church
vanished before the fuller development of Christianity ;
but love still remained, and at Ephesus, which combined
all the refinement of Greek culture with the freedom of
Eastern thought, St John wrote ‘the Gospel of the
‘world,’ resolving reason into intuition, and faith into
sight.

Norte A: see p. 283.

The following sketch of the construction of St John’s Gospel may be
of use in completing some of the gaps in the summary which has been given
and guiding the way to minuter inquiry},

i, 1—18. .THE INTRODUCTION.

i. 1- 5. The Word in 1115 own Nature.

6—13. His Revelation to men.
14—18. The Incarnation.

(i) i. 19—xii. THE MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST TO THE WORLD.
(a) i. 19—iv. Zhe Proclamation.
(a2) i. 19—ii. 12. The Testimony.
I. i. 19—37- The Testimony of John.
2. 1. 38—5I. The Testimony of Disciples.
3. li, I—I2. The Testimony of Signs (Zhe water made wine).

1 Later study has led me to mo-
dify many of the details of this
analysis, but I leave it as it was
first made, for no one analysis of
the Gospel can give all the features
of its harmonious development. At
different times we- see now one

aspect of its course and now another.
For a revised analysis and for many
illustrations of the points touched
upon in this Chapter, I may be
allowed to refer to the notes on the
Gospel in the Sfeaker’s Commen-
lary.

Chap. v.

1 Johni. τ᾿.

THE GOSPEL OF ST ¥OHN.

(ὁ) ii. 13 —iv. 54. The Work.
1. ii, 13—iii. 36. With Jews.
The people (ii. 13—25).
Representative men (iii).
Nicodemus, the teacher of the Law (1—21).
John the Baptist, the last Prophet (22—36).

2. iv. I—42. With Samaritans.
The woman (iv. 5—30).
The people (iv. 39—42).
3. Iv. 43——54- With Galilzeans.
The people (iv. 43—45).
The Nobleman (iv. 46—54). (Wodleman's Son
healed.)

(8) v.—xii. Zhe Confiict.
(a) v. vi. The Prelude.
Christ the support of action and life.
(The impotent man healed.)
( The feeding of the Multitudes.)
(The walking on the Sea.)

(6) vii.--x. The Contrast.
Christ the source of truth, light, guidance.
(Zhe man blind from his birth healed.)
(c) xi. xii. The Separation.
xi, Christ the giver of life to the dead.
(Lazarus raised.)
xii. The judgment of men (1—29); of the Evan-
gelist (37—41); of Jesus (44—50).

. (ii) xiii—xx. THE ISSUES OF CHRIST’S MANIFESLATION.

(a) xiiii—xvii. Zhe Consolation.
(2) xiii, Types.
1—17. The true pattern.
18—30. The traitor.
31—35. The charge.
36—38. The unstable.
(4) xiv. Love to Christ in absence.
1—11. The union of Christ with the Father.
12—31. ‘This the source of the Christian’s strength.
(c) xv. Love to Christ the spring of love.
1—17. The mutual love of Christians.
18—27. The hatred of the world.

THE GOSPEL OF ST SOHN.

(4) xvi. The Promise.

1—15. The Comforter.
16—24. The Return.
25—33. The Interval.

(6) xvii. The Prayer.

1—5. For Christ Himself.
6—19. For the Apostles.
20—26. For all believers.

(8) xviiiicxx. The Victory.
(a) xviii. 1—18, 25—27. The betrayal.
᾿ς Xviil. I—14. Judas.
15—18, 25—27., St Peter.
(2) xviii. 19—xix. 16. The Judgment.
xviii. 1g—24. The Jews.
xviii. 28—xix. 16. Pilate.
(c) xix. 17—42. The End.
17—27. The Elevation on the Cross.
28—37. The Death of Jesus.
38—42. The Burial.

(4) xx. The New Life.
1—18. The Revelation.
19—23. The Commission,
24—29. The abiding Blessing.
30, 31. Conclusion.

xxi. THE EPILOGUE.
1—14. The Sign of the Future.
(Lhe Miraculous Draught of Fishes.)
15—24: The varied Call of the Disciples.
25. Conclusion.

Note B: see p. 283.

The quotations from the Old Testament which occur in St John are
characteristic of his general manner. Some are verbal citations; some are
slightly changed from the original text: some are deductions or adaptations

based on the inner meaning of the prophetic words.

(a) Verbal quotations.
John x. 34=Ps. Ixxxii. 6 ἐν τῷ νόμῳ ὑμῶν (LXX= Hebr.).

— [xii. 13]=Ps. cxviii. 25, 26 (LXX σῶσον δή for Ὥσαννά).

— xii. 38 =Is. lili. 1 (LXX—Hebr. om. Κύριε).

THE GOSPEL OF ST ¥OHN.

John xix. 24=Ps. xxii. 19 (LX X= Hebr.).
— xiii. 18=Ps, xli. 9 (Hebr. zot LXX).
— xix. 37=Zech. xii. ro (Hebr. ποῦ LXX).

(8) Varied quotations. |
1. Changes of expression.
John i. 235 =Is. -xl. 3 (εὐθύνατε for ἑτοιμάσατε---εὐθείας
ποιεῖτε in LXX and Hebr.).
— xii. τὰ, 15=Zech. ix. 9 (μὴ φοβοῦ---καθήμ. ἐπὶ πῶλον ὄνου
for χαῖρε σφόδρα---ἐπιβεβηκὼς
ἐπὶ ὑποζύγιον καὶ πώλον νέον

in LXX and Hebr.).
—xil. 39—41=Is. vi. 9, 10 (τετύφλωκεν---πεπώρωκεν.
Sense of Hebr. Varies from

LXX).
2. Changes of form. |
Johnii. 17 =Ps. Ixix. 10 (καταφάγεται for karépayev).
—— Vi, 31ff. = Ex, «vi. 4,15; Ps. Ixxviil. 24.
— vi. 45 =Is. liv. 13 (add. καὶ ἔσονται).
—Vili..17 =Dent. xix. 45.

— xv, 25 =Ps. xxxv. 19 (direct instead of the partici-
pial form in Hebr. and LXX).
(y) Adaptations,
John vii. 38. Cf. Is. xii. 3; xliv. 3, Ge.
[| xii. σὰ. Cf. Psoixxxixs 36.)
— xix. 36. Cf. Ex. xii. 46. Ps, xxxiv. 21.
sn" Xe Ὃ; Ch Pe ee re:

From the form of these quotations it would appear that St John was
familiar both with the Hebrew text and with the LXX.

NOTE C: see p. 283.

᾿ The general position which the Miracles recorded by St John occupy.
in his narrative has been already marked. Taken by themselves they

‘present a whole pregnant with instruction. [Other modes of grouping will

occur to the student, which are not less instructive. For example, the two —
first mark the fundamental conditions of the Gospel, the five next its mani-
fold application, the last its history.]

THE GOSPEL OF ST SOHN.

i. The Miracles of our Saviour during His ministry.

(a) Sovereignty over nature absolutely.

The water made wine (11. 1—11).
A type of the independence (ver. 4) and transmuting power

of the spiritual life.

(8) Sovereignty over nature ve/atively to man.
(2) Disease. ᾿ ; |
1. The ruler’s son (iv. 46—84). :
Mediative faith: above Nature (ver. 50). |
2... The man at Bethesda (v. 1—9). |
Personal faith: above Ritual (ver. 9).

(6) Dzésorder.

1. Natural wants (Gen. iii. 17).
feeding the five thousand (vi. 5—59).
Leading to higher aims (ver. 53).

2, Outward impediments. τῇ
Walking on the sea (vi. 15---2 1).
Leading to higher faith (ver. 20).

3. Personal defects.

The man born blind (ix. 1—%).
; Leading to higher responsibility (ver. 39).

The raising of Lazarus (xi.).
Christ the source of Life (ver. 25).

ii. The Miracle of the risen Saviour.

The multitude of fishes (xxi. 1—8).
The type of the successful work of the Church.

It is not, I believe, fanciful to see a significance even in the number of
these miracles. Seven are included in the record of Christ’s ministry, and
an eighth completes the typical representation of His work after the Resur-
rection. Seve, according to the early belief, was the figure of a completed
creation: eight the figure of the Resurrection, or new birth (Cf. Aug.

Ep. LV. 23).

CHAPTER VI.

The Differences in Detail in the Synoptic Evangelists.

Willst du dich am Ganzen erquicken;
So musst du das Ganze im Kleinsten erblicken.
GOETHE.

ITHERTO it has been our object to shew that

the four Evangelists were naturally fitted to

record the Life of Christ under the different forms in
which it met the wants of the early Church, and is
still apprehended by ourselves. It has been seen that
the Apostolic age was marked by the existence of re-
presentative types of religious belief, that the Gospel
narrative was shaped in the first instance by the pres-
sure of immediate needs, and afterwards reduced to
writing under circumstances which tended to perpetuate
the characteristics which had been preserved by various
classes of the first teachers and hearers, that the fourth
is distinguished from the other three by a difference
which is likened to the relation of the spirit to the
body, of the universal to the special, or again of the
testimony of the loved disciple to the common testi-
mony of the Church. In the present Chapter we shall
examine more minutely the mutual bearings of the
Synoptic Gospels. With this object we shall review in
detail the accounts which they contain of the great

THE NATIVITY.

315

crises of the Life of our Lord, in order at once to
test more rigorously, and define more clearly, the
general view which has been proposed. If it be said
that the variations to be alleged can be explained by
natural causes, we at once admit the statement; for
it has been shewn that one of the elements of Inspira-
tion is the selection of a messenger by God who shall
express truth in its human form with the fulness and
force of his proper character. The differences in the
Gospels may, and in some sense must, have arisen
naturally; but in the same sense the whole working of
Providence is natural, and the results of individual feel-
ing in past time have been consecrated for our instruc-
tion by the office of the Christian Church.

The mode in which the different Evangelists deal
with the history of the Incarnation and Birth of our
Lord offers a perfect illustration of their independence

and special characteristics. St Mark, who records the
active ministry of Christ, gives no details of His In-
fancy; and both from internal and external grounds
there is reason to believe that in this respect he ob-
served the limits of the first oral Gospel. The narrative
of the mysteries of the Nativity belonged to the period
of the written testimony and not of the first procla-
mation; and St Matthew and St Luke combine to
reveal as much of the great facts as helps us to appre-
hend, not the event itself, but the mode in which it
was welcomed by those with whom God was pleased
to work in its accomplishment. The Genealogy with
which St Matthew opens his Gospel introduces at once
its peculiar subject’... The first words are an echo of

1 The questions involved in the impossible to enter upon them here.
two genealogies of our Lord are so The omission of the discussion is of
numerous and intricate that it is little consequence, as it has been

Chap. vi.

THE DIFFERENCES IN DETAIL IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Old Testament language’, and the symmetrical arrange-
ment of the generations is equally significant in rela-
tion to Jewish history and to Jewish thought. But
apart from the form, St Matthew dates the Messianic
hope from David and from Abraham, and binds Chris-
tianity with the promises of the ancient covenant’.
St Luke on the contrary places the corresponding Ge-
nealogy not before the Birth but after the Baptism,
and represents Christ as the second Adam, the Soz of
God*, In the one we see a royal Infant born by a
legal title to a glorious inheritance; and in -the other
a ministering Saviour who bears the natural sum of
human sorrow. Even in the lines of descent which
extend through the period common to the two genea-
logies there is a characteristic difference: St Matthew
follows the course of the royal inheritance of Solomon,
whose natural lineage was closed by the childless Jehoia-
chin: St Luke traces through Nathan the natural pa-

most ably conducted by Dr Mill
(Zhe Evangelical accounts of the de-
scent and parentage of the Saviour
vindicated, Cambr. 1842) and by
Lord A. Hervey (Zhe genealogies of
our Lord and Saviour Fesus Christ,
Cambr. 1853). A summary of the
results which these critics have ob-
tained is given in a little tract, 7he
Genealogies in St Matthew and St
Luke, London, 1856. Withoutaffirm-
ing every detail in the explanations

_ proposed we may be satisfied that
᾿ every discrepancy ca be explained;

and more than this is not to be ex-
pected in a case, where necessarily
much of the history is most obscure.
Both genealogies without doubt give
the descent of Joseph—the universal
belief till the sixteenth century—
and most hold that St Matthew
gives his /ega/ descent, shewing that
our Lord was Solomon’s heir (2 Sam.
vii. 13-173; 1 Chron. xvii. 14),

though the line of Solomon failed —
in Jehoiachin (Jer. xxii. 29, 30),
and St Luke his natural descent,
shewing that he was “zeally de-
scended from David (2 Sam. vii. 123
Ps. Ixxxix. 35, 36) through Nathan.
Others however exactly transpose
this view. For the details of the
subject I must refer to the works

. above quoted.

1 Matt. i. 1, Βίβλος γενέσεως. Cf.
Gen. v. 1.

2 Matt. i. 3.

3 Cum [Lucas] Adamum Dei f-
lium vocat, significat Christum ex
virgine ortum secundum esse Ada-
mum, ejusque ortum per Spiritum
Sanctum non minus esse opus po-
tentiz divinz singulare quam Ada-
mi fuerat (Wetst. ad Luc. iii. f.).
For a comparison of St Paul’s and
Philo’s teaching on the second Adam
compare Babington, fournal of Phi-

lology, 1. pp. 47 ff.

THE NATIVITY. Ἶ

rentage of the Sov of David. In St Matthew the Birth
of Christ is connected with national glories: in St Luke
with pious hopes. Instead of recalling the crises of
Jewish history’ and the majesty of the typical king-
dom, the Pauline Evangelist begins his narrative with
a full recital of the personal acts of God’s mercy to
the just and prayerful, and of His all-powerful grace?
to the holy and believing*. In St Matthew we read
of the Incarnation as it was revealed in a dream to
Joseph, in whom may be seen an emblem of the ancient
people; but in St Luke the mystery is announced by
the Mighty one of God* to the Blessed Virgin, the type
of the Christian Church®, In St Matthew the Nativity
is ushered in by Prophecy: in St Luke it is heralded

by those songs of triumphant faith which have been

rehearsed in our public services for thirteen centuries;
and even these, from hymn to hymn, seem to gather

1 Matt. i. 2; 6, 11.

3 The words χάρις, xaplfouat, are
not found in St Matthew or St
Mark. The former occurs in the
Introduction of St John, and in all
the groups of the Epistles.

3 Luke i. 6, 13, 28, 45. On the
last passage Ambrose says (zz Luc.
ii. § 26), Queecunque crediderit ani-
ma et concipit et generat Dei Ver-
bum, et opera ejus agnoscit...Si
secundum carnem una mater est
Christi; secundum fidem tamen om-
nium fructus est Christus. The
same writer points out in a word the
difference between Zachariah and
the Blessed Virgin (c Luc. ii. § 15):
Heec jam de negotio tractat; ille
adhuc de nuntio dubitat.

4 Gabriel: Luke i. 19. Cf. Dan.
Vill, 16; ix. 21.

5 Ambr. zz Luc. ii. § 7. It has
been argued (even by Neander, Z. F.
§ 14, note) that the different modes
in which God is recorded to have
communicated with man, in St
Matthew by dreams and in St Luke

by Angels, shew the extent of the
subjective influence of the writer’s
mind upon the narrative. But surely
those are right who see in this dif-
ference the use of various means
adaptéd to the peculiar state of the
recipient. Moreover as St Matthew
recognises the ministry of Angels
(xxviii. 2), so St Luke relates Visions
(Acts x. g—16; xvi. 9; xviii. 9, 10).
Cf. Gen. xx. 33; xxviii. 123 xxxi. 24
(Dreams)—xvili. 2; xix. 1 (Angels).
With regard to the names of the
Angels it may be observed that the
adoption of foreign terms does not
imply the introduction of a foreign
belief. Cf. p. 57.

It is to be noticed that the con-
tents of the divine messages (Matt. i.
20, 21; Luke i. 30—33) are related
conversely to the general character
of the Gospels, as a consequence of
the difference of character in those
to whom they were addressed. The
promise of Kedemption is made to
Joseph ; of a glorious Kingdom to
the Virgin.

THE DIFFERENCES IN DETAIL IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

fulness and love: the help of Israel and the horn of
David is welcomed as one who shall bring joy zo all
the chosen nation, and give light to the Gentiles. In
St Matthew the Magi—the wise inquirers into the mys-
teries of the world—led by a strange portent in the sky,

offer adoration* and symbolic tribute to the new-born

King of the Fews. In St Luke the shepherds—the hum-
ble watchers of nature—the despised successors of the
Patriarchs*—cheered by the voice of Angels recognise
and proclaim the praises of the Saviour’ of the meek
in heart; and the devotion first offered in the stable
of the village inn is completed by the thanksgivings of
the aged Simeon and Anna in the Temple. In the one
we read the fulfilment of the Jewish idea of a royal
Messiah: in the other the realisation of the cravings,
clear or indistinct, of the human heart. In the one we
see typified the universal reign of Christ, and in the
other His universal mercy. Once more: St Matthew
alone records the murder of the Innocents, the flight
into Egypt, the cause of the final settlement at Naza-
reth: St Luke on the other hand has preserved the
details of the Purification, and adds the one incident
which links together the Infancy and the Ministry of
Christ in the trait of a perfect obedience and a divine
consciousness*. In the former the hostility of earthly

John iv. 14. The progression in

1 The word προσκυνεῖν is not ap-
Luke ii. 18—20 is very beautiful:

plied by St Luke to our Lord till

after the Resurrection: xxiv. 52,

| where also it is probably an interpo-

lation. Cf. p. 337, n- 2.

* Abba Garien dixit...ne doceat
quisquam filium suum . pastorem...
eo quod opificium ipsorum est opifi-

| cium latronum (Wetst. 27 Zzc. ii. 8),

9. The words σωτήρ (Cic. tn Verr.
11. 63), σωτηρία, σωτήριος, are not
| found in St Matthew and St Mark.
They occur John iv. 42, 22; 1

wonder—meditation—praise.

4 A comparison of Matt. ii. rr
with Luke ii. 24 (Levit. xii. 8) leads.
us to place the Purification before
the Visit of the Magi. Luke ii. 39
does not exclude the flight into
Egypt, and certainly shews the in-
dependence of the Evangelists. Nor
does there appear to be any discre-
pancy between Matt. ii. 22, 23 and
Luke 11. 4. The divine command

THE NATIVITY. _"

319

powers to the kingdom of Christ is seen to work out
the designs of God: in the latter the Law is fulfilled in
the redemption of the Saviour from the service of the
Jewish Temple.

The consideration of these various details will shew
the reality of the difference in spirit and form between
the two narratives; but the artificiality of the contrast
lessens the sense of their complementary character
throughout. It is impossible to read them in succession
without feeling that we pass from one aspect of the
great central fact to another: that each picture is drawn
with perfect independence, and yet so that the separate
details are exactly capable of harmonious adjustment.
There is nothing in the one which could lead to the
creation of the other: their boundary lines just meet
where the character of the scene changes, and they must
be united with care that their real continuity may be
discovered. Yet if we regard the precise words of the
Evangelists, without introducing glosses of our own,
their harmony is complete. And if we penetrate to the
ideas which they present to us as fulfilled, these are
seen to have a permanent importance for the right
conception of the history. For both narratives point
yet higher in word and idea than the special limits to
which they naturally tend, and unite in the spiritual
teaching of St John: lx the beginning was the Word.,...

(Matt. ii. 20) would suggest a return
to Bethlehem, in which such mar-
vellous things had been wrought;
and how can we account for Joseph’s
selection of Nazareth asa place of
abode so readily as by supposing
that he was previously connected
with it? Cf. Just. M. Dial. § 78,
p- 303 Ὡς a

As for the ἀπογραφή, it is enough
to say with Wetstein: Epocha tam
celebris non potuit Lucam latere,

Cf. Acts v. 37. [1851.]

I leave this note as it was origi-
nally written. No one now after
Zumpt’s Essay (Berlin, 1854) can
doubt that Quirinus was governor
of Syria at the time of our Lord’s
birth as well as ten years after-
wards. The true sense of the pas-
sage is brought out very clearly
by the correct reading: αὕτη ἀπο-
γραφὴ τρώτη ἐγένετο (not αὕτη ἡ
amroypapy).

Chap. vi.

This con- -
trast in de-
tail the sign
of a contrast
in general
character.

320

THE DIFFERENCES 1N DETAIL IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Chap. vi.

----.

ii. The Βα-

tism.

S# Matthew.

and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,...
and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.
Justin represents Trypho as saying that ‘the Mes-
‘siah would be unconscious of His own office and un-
‘endowed with power, till He had been consecrated by
‘Elias’’? The narrative of the Baptism in St Matthew
points out the element of truth which was contained in
this belief. The work of the Baptist included the crown-
ing rite of the Old Covenant, the confession of a spiritual
need under an outward shape. Repentance—the com-
plete change of mind which was the fitting preparation
for the Kingdom of Heaven—was consecrated in a
sacramental sign, and the last ordinance of Judaism
was in essence and form a prophecy of Christianity.
The new Elias recognised his personal unworthiness to
baptize Jesus wzzto repentance®, and yet he knew not that
He was the Messiah till the promised sign appeared’.
Simple faith in his mission shut out all conjecture and
suspended, it may have been, all hope. But the very
act which he would have hindered brought with it the
token for which he was waiting. It was fitting*, alike
for him as the faitful Prophet of the Advent, and for

1 Dial. c. Tryph. § 8, p. 226 B:
Χριστὸς δέ, εἰ καὶ γεγένηται καὶ ἔστι
που, ἄγνωστος ἐστι καὶ οὐδὲ αὐτός
πω ἑαυτὸν ἐπίσταται οὐδὲ ἔχει δύνα-
uly τινα μέχρις ἂν ἐλθὼν Ἤλίας χρίσῃ
αὐτὸν καὶ φανερὸν πᾶσι ποιήσῃ.

* Yet even in this there is no

_ difficulty to those who have learnt
| from St Paul the cardinal doctrine

of the Redemption (2 Cor. v. 21),
and see in our Lord the ‘ideal’
man, in the noblest sense of ancient
philosophy, the ‘last Adam’ in the
language of Revelation.

In proportion as this truth was
forgotten the fact itself became an
offence. Thus in the ‘Gospel ac-

‘cording to the Hebrews’ the follow-
ing passage was found: Ecce mater
Domini et fratres ejus dicebant ei:
Joannes Baptista baptizat in remis-
sionem peccatorum; eamus et bap-
tizemur ab eo. Dixit autem eis:
Quid peccavi, ut vadam et baptizer
ab eo? Nisi forte hoc ipsum quod
dixi ignorantia est (Hieron. adv. Pe-
lag. III. 2, p. 782).

3 John i. 33. Cf. note r supra.

4 Matt. iii. 15: ἄφες ἄρτι οὕτως
yap πρέπον ἐστὶν ἡμῖν πληρῶσαι
πᾶσαν δικαιοσύνην. Ilpémev occurs
here only in the Gospels: there is
a contrast with ἐγὼ χρείαν ἔχω in
ver. 14.

THE BAPTISM.

Christ as the subject to the Law, to fulfil every rite sanc-
tioned by God—the perfect righteousness of the Jewish
covenant. And thus at this point of their contact, the
form of the New was shaped by the rules of the Old;
and the gift of the Spirit for Christ’s work on earth was
connected with a legal observance. St Luke on the
other hand does not dwell on this. relation. On the
contrary, he connects the Baptism of our Lord with that
of the multitude generally, instead of isolating it as a
fact wholly alone’. He regards the event as it affected
the Saviour, among others and not apart from them.
In this aspect he records His prayer when the heavens
were opened rather than the concession by which the
act was prefaced*. From a like reason he gives the
heavenly voice as it was addressed to Christ: Zhou art
my beloved Son: in Thee [ am well pleased; and not as
addressed to John or the people at large: 7his 7s my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, as the words
are preserved in St Matthew. Nor is there any dis-
crepancy in this various transcription of the one divine
testimony®. Here, as elsewhere, the spiritual message
becomes articulate only to the individual soul*: the
material sign is intelligible only by divine revelation’.

1 Luke iii. 21: ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν τῷ
βαπτισθῆναι ἅπαντα Tov λαόν, καὶ
"Inood βαπτισθέντος καὶ προσευχο-
μένου, ἀνεῳχθῆναι τὸν οὐρανόν.

2 The same peculiarity occurs in
St Luke’s account of the Transfigu-
ration : ix. 29, (18). Cf. v. τό; vi.
123 xi. 13 (xxii. 41).

3 Augustine (de Cons, Evv. 1. 2,
§ 14) says well: Diversitas locutio-
num adhuc etiam utilis est, ne uno
modo dictum minus intelligatur...In
the account of the Transfiguration—
the outward manifestation of Christ’s

glory—all the Evangelists have ov-,

Tos ἐστίν.

W.G,

4 It is however important to
maintain the objective reality of the
voice and sign, though faith was
necessary in order to obtain their
true meaning. See John xii. 28—30.
Acts ix. 7 (ἀκούοντες τῆς φων ἢ 5);
xxii. 9 (οὐκ ἤκουσαν τὴν φωνήν"
Dan. x. 7). Cf. Characteristics of
Gospel Miracles, pp. 120 ff.

5 Cf. Hieron. ad Matt. iii. 16:
Aperiuntur autem cceli non resera-
tione elementorum sed spiritualibus
oculis.

On the traditional variations as to

the details of the Baptism, see Just. |

M, Dial. § 88, pp. 315 Ὁ; 316 D, and’
X

Sz Luke.

322

THE DIFFERENCES IN DETAIL IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Chap. vi.

iii. The

Temptation.

Luke iv. τ.

Mark i. 13.

The Temptation necessarily followed the Baptism’.
The first act of the public ministry of the Lord was to
reverse the outward circumstances of the Fall. In the
fulness of the Spirit He passed into the wilderness to
regain the Paradise which Adam lost’: He was with the
wild beasts, in the graphic words of St Mark, who com-
presses into this one pregnant sentence the central lesson
of the trial, and adds no further details of its course,
save that he records a ministry of Angels apparently
throughout the trial®, The other two Evangelists record
the same events with an important variation in order,
and some slight verbal differences. The representative
points of the Temptation, for the narratives imply much
which they do not contain*, are given in each case in
the order which preserves a climax from the particular
position occupied by the writer. Taking the arrange-
ment of St Matthew, we see our Lord triumphing over
the natural wants of humanity; refusing to tempt the
sustaining power of Providence; and finally shrinking
from a momentary alliance with the powers of darkness
even to establish the temporal Messianic sway, when He

Otto’s notes; Anger, Synopsis Evv.

15.

In St Mark’s account of the Bap-
tism the present participles are cha-
racteristic ; ἀναβαίνων, σχιζομένους,
καταβαίνων. He alone adds ἀπὸ
Ναζαρέτ (i. 9), while the other Evan-
gelists mention our Lord’s residence
there (Matt. ii. 23; Luke ii. 51).

1 It is instriictive to compare the
different phrases by which the Temp-
tation is introduced :

Matt, iv. 1 ¢ ἀνήχθη... ὑπὸ τοῦ
Πνεύματος πειρασθῆναι (conducting).

Mark i. 12: τὸ Πνεῦμα αὐτὸν éx-
βάλλει (constraining).

Luke iv. 1: Ἰησοῦς δὲ πλήρης
Πνεύματος ἁγίου... ἤγετο ἐν τῷ Πνεύ-
ματι (inspiring).

It has been noticed already that

the Temptation precedes the narra-
tive in John i. 19.

2 Bengel, iz Marc. 1. c.: Res
magna. Gen, i. 26.. Tespieloos in
bestias, cujus Adamus tam mature
jacturam fecerat, in summa jam ex-
inanitione exercuit: quanto magis
exaltatus: Ps. viii. 8. The forms
of the Temptation have been often
compared with the temptations of
Adam: eg. Hilar. ad Matt. 111. 5.

3 Mark i. 13, ἦν.. «διηκόνουν.

4 EF. g. Luke iv. 1, 2: ἤγετο εἰς
τὴν ἔρημον ἡμέρας τεσσαράκοντα πει-
ραΐόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου. Cf.
Hom. Clem, ΧΙ. 35: ὁ ἀποστείλας
ἡμᾶς Κύριος ἡμῶν καὶ Προφήτης ὑφη-
γήσατο ἡμῖν ὡς" ὁ πονηρὸς τεσσαρά-
κοντα ἡμέρας διαλεχθεὶς αὐτῷ...(ἵ-
Llom. XIX. 2.

THE TEMPTATION.

323

saw the glory of the kingdoms of the world, The first
temptation occupies the same position in St Luke.
Personal and material cravings are-from any side the
first and simplest form of temptation; but the order of
the two latter temptations is reversed. The preserva-

tion of the just relation of the Saviour to God occupies |

in St Luke the final place which St Matthew assigns
to the vindication of Messiah’s independence of the
world. In St Luke the idea of a temporal empire of
Christ passes more clearly into that of mere earthly
dominion, which is distinctly regarded as in the power
and gift of Satan’, The crowning struggle of Christ
is not to repress the solicitation to antedate the outward

victory of His power, but to maintain His human de- |-

pendence upon His Father’s will. Before Messiah the
King the temptations arise in the order of His relations
to sense, to God, to man: before the man Christ Fesus,
in his relations to sense, to man, to God. The sequence
is one of idea and not of time. The incidents are given
wholly without temporal connexion in St Luke, and the
language of St Matthew is more definite only in appear-
ance*. The narrative indeed is one which may perhaps
help to shew the impossibility of applying to things
spiritual and eternal that ‘phantom of succession,’ in
the shadow of which we are commonly forced to speak
and act. However this may be, the closing words of
the two narratives correspond to what appear to be their
fundamental notions. St Matthew records the ministry
of Angels to a heavenly Prince*®: St Luke shades the

1 Luke iv. 6: ἐμοὶ παραδέδοται 3 Matt. iv. rr, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἄγγελοι
καὶ ᾧ ἐὰν Oéd\w δίδωμι αὐτήν. προσῆλθον καὶ διηκόνουν αὐτῷ com-
2 Luke iv. 3, εἶπεν δέ...5, καὶ ἀνα- pared with Mark i. 13, ἣν μετὰ τῶν
γαγών...9, ἤγαγεν δέ. Matt. iv. 3, θηρίων καὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι διηκόνουν αὐτῷ.
καὶ προσελθών...5, τόδε παραλαμβά- Cf. Luke xxii. 43.
νει...8, πάλιν παραλαμβάνει. ἢ

X 2

Chap. vi.;

Matt. iv. 8.

1 Tim. ii. 5.

THE DIFFERENCES IN DETAIL IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

iv. The
Transfigu-
ration,

Deut. xviii.
18,

brightness of the present triumph with a dim foreboding
‘of the coming sufferings of the Saviour: then the Devil
departed from Him, but only for a season’.

The importance which the Jews attached to the con-

secration of’ the Messiah by Elias has been already
noticed; and ‘tradition was much occupied with the
various other functions which the great Prophet should
discharge in the preparation of the heavenly Kingdom’.

But Elias, the representative of the second stage in the

Jewish dispensation, was not alone, though he occupied
the most prominent place in the popular anticipations
of a glorious future. The Mosaic type of the Messiah

was not lost, though it had fallen into the background ;
and there were some who argued that as the. ancient
‘Lawgiver had reflected the divine glory from his coun--
tenance, so it should be with the Prophet like to him

| whom the Lord should raise ΠΡ ἴῃ after time, for Moses

was both a minister and an image of the Messiah. ‘ The
expectation thus formed received a literal and yet a
spiritual fulfilment: The partial and borrowed glory
with which Moses had shone became a complete Trans-
figuration in the case of Christ. That was from with-
out: this from within. That was a sign to all the
people: this only to the chosen three, to the zealous,
the reverent, and the loving. What in old times was
given as a token of visible splendour was now changed
into a source of silent faith. But even under these
changed relations the correspondence of the two events
upon the mount is very striking. ΤΕ is impossible to read
St Matthew’s account of the Transfiguration without
‘recurring to the scene in the Exodus when the face of

1 Luke iv. 13, ἀπέστη ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ Matt. xvii. 10 (11. p. 339).
ἄχρι καιροῦ. Cf. John xiv. 30. 3 Contrast Matt. xvii. 9 with Ex.
3 Cf. Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr, in xxxiv.29ff% ~~ !

THE TRANSFIGURA TION.

325

Moses shone, and the children of Israel were afraid to
come nigh him; and the peculiar language which he uses
coincides exactly with the form of Jewish tradition’.
_ He alone records the prostration of the disciples through
their excessive fear, and the master’s strengthening
touch and cheering words, uttered once before upon
the stormy lake*®, It is with equal significance that
St Matthew, the Hebrew Evangelist, relates without
the implied reproof which is added by St Mark and
St Luke® the wish of St Peter to erect three tabernacles,

one for Christ and one for Moses and one for Elias,—to |

give as it were a permanent standing-place to the Jewish
Law-and its Prophetic development in connexion with
the Gospel—when in truth they were just departing‘.

St Luke, on the other hand, again at this new crisis

recals to notice the perfect manhood of the Saviour.
He who was praying when He was specially marked
out for His public ministry prays also at His installa-
tion to the mediatorial office’, The characteristic dif-
ference between St Luke and the other Evangelists is
yet more clearly brought out by the more considerable
peculiarities of their narratives. St Matthew and St
Mark place in immediate connexion with the Trans-
figuration® a remarkable conversation about Elias which

1 Matt. xvii. 2, καὶ ἔλαμψε τὸ πτων (Luke ix. 29).

πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ws ὁ ἥλιος (cf. xiii.
43). Fulgida facta fuit facies Mo-
‘sis instar solis (Wetst. ad /oc.). The
feature common to all the Evange-
lists, Azs raiment became white, is
singularly illustrated by Bereshith R.
(Wetst../. c.): Vestes lucis, hze vestes
Adami primi. Cf. Apoc. vii. 13 ff.
The material imagery of St Mark is
worthy of notice, στίλβοντα λευκὰ
λίαν ola γναφεὺς ἐπὶ TIS γῆς οὐ
δύναται οὕτως λευκᾶναι (Mark ix.
3), compared with λευκὰ ὡς τὸ φῶς
(Matt. xvii. 2) and λευκὸς ἐξαστρά-

2 Matt. xvii.-6, 7, μὴ φοβεῖσθε.
Cf. Matt. xiv. 27; xxviii. 10.

3 Mark ix. 6, οὐ yap ἤδει τί λα-
λήσῃ. Luke ix. 33, μὴ εἰδὼς ὃ λέγει.

4 Luke ix. 33, ἐν τῷ διαχωρίζεσθαι
αὐτούς. It may be remarked that
the heavenly voice follows on the
departure of Moses and Elias. When
they passed away came the words
common to all the Evangelists, 7 Azs
is my beloved Son...Hear Him.

5 Luke ix. 29, ἐν τῷ προσεύχε-
σθαι.

δ΄ The question τί οὖν κιτιλ. Matt.

Chap. »j.

Exod. xxxiv.
29, 39.

Matt. xvii. 9
—13.
Mark ix. 9—
13.

326 THE DIFFERENCES IN DETAIL IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

serves to point out the spiritual connexion of the new
and old. The substance is the same in both; but St
Mark expresses with greater distinctness the contrast
between the traditional idea of Elias’ coming and its
real effects upon Messiah’s kingdom’: Elias had indeed
come and restored all things, but for the advent of a
suffering Redeemer, and not for the conquest of a mighty
prince. St Luke omits this discourse, but he gives the
subject of that more mysterious conversation when
Moses and Elias ¢a/ked’ with the Lord. The addition
is one of the greatest interest, for it connects the recital
of Christ’s sufferings with the fullest manifestation of
His glory. The Passion, with its triumphant issue, was
the point to which the Law and the Prophets tended,
and thus we read that the representatives of both talked
to Christ of the Exodus which He was about to fulfil in
Ferusalem®, The Apostles themselves were as yet un-
prepared for the tidings. As at Gethsemane they were
heavy with sleep, but at last when they were awake they
saw Christ's glory, and the two men that stood with
Tim. |

While there are these significant variations* in the
details of the narrative itself, all the Evangelists relate

Chap. vi.

xvii. 10 (cf. Mark ix. 11) seems to
refer to ver. 9), so that the sense is:
If this visit of Elias must not be
proclaimed till Thou comest in Thy
power, can we still believe that he
shall, according to the teaching of
the Scribes, prepare Thy way?

1 Mark ix. 12. Olshausen rightly
as I think considers this to be the
purport of the verse. Kal πῶς in-
troduces an objection grounded on
the resumption of the former clause
(If it be so, how then...), which is
resolved by ᾿Αλλά (Nay, doubt not:
I tell you...).

2 Matt. xvii. 3; Mark ix. 4 (συν-

Aadovvres).

* Luke ix. 31, 32, ἔλεγον τὴν ἔξο-
Sov αὐτοῦ ἣν ἔμελλε πληροῦν ἐν ‘Tepov-
σαλήμ. The construction of λέγειν
is unusual, but occurs again in Rom.
iv. 6, and in the earliest classical
writers in the sense of ‘recounting,’
‘relating the details of,’ ‘describing.’
The word ἔξοδος itself is less definite
than decease, and may be best illus-
trated by the technical sense (Arist.
foet. XI1.), the ‘closing scene of a
Tragedy.’ ;

4 The additions in Mark ix. 10,
Matt. xvii. 5 (ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα), are
characteristic.

THE PASSION.

327

the same previous conversation and the same subsequent
Miracle. The prediction of the disciples’ trials, the
image of their Lord’s triumph, and, flowing from it, the
certainty of the disciples’ help, exhibit a glorious se-
quence from every point of view, which few will attribute
to an apt coincidence or to a conscious design.

It does not form any part of my plan to examine at
length the Synoptic histories of the Passion, or to com-
pare them in detail with that of St John’. It will be
enough for the present to notice the chief peculiarities
of the different Evangelists, so that it may be seen how
far they explain the aim and office of each, without
regarding the whole progress or the minute relations of
the different narratives. Both historically and doctrinally
the Passion appears as the central and crowning point of
the Gospel. Where all else is described in rapid out-
lines this is recorded with solemn particularity; and the
characteristic traits in each account are proportionately
more numerous and salient than elsewhere. Without
asserting that these furnish.a complete solution of the
difficulties by which they are accompanied, they contri-
bute at least an important element towards the investi-
gation of them. They place us in some measure in the
position from which the several Evangelists regarded the
course of the whole scene; and charge the picture with
the varied forms of busy and restless action, which the
great master of Venice has dared to portray with vivid
and startling reality”.

1 The chronology of the Passion
Week—a subject which cannot be
left unnoticed—is examined in a
Note at the end of the Chapter.

2 The first effect of Tintoretto’s
great Crucifixion is perhaps offen-
sive from the fulness of life which it
exhibits, yet on deeper study we

feel that the Passion must have been
witnessed in some such form. It
still however may be questioned
whether the realistic conception of
incidents in the Lord’s Life is a legi-
timate subject for Christian art, or
the simply historical portraiture of
the Lord for Christian criticism.

Chap. vi.

v. The Pas-
sion.

228

THE DIFFERENCES IN DETAIL IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Chap. vi.

S?* Mat-
THEW.

Cf Luke

XXiv. 21.

The peculiarities in St Matthew’s narrative are nu-
merous and uniform in character. With more or less
distinctness they all tend to shew how the Messiahship
of Jesus was attested during the course of events which ©
checked the faith of some; and the same feeling which
directed the selection of the points of the narrative in-
fluenced the manner of their treatment. In the form,
as well as in many of the details, there is something of
an Old Testament complexion which completes the im-
pression produced by the circumstances themselves.
These are indeed in some cases singularly significant.
In St Matthew alone we read the last testimonies which
were given to the Messiahship of the Lord by Himself
and by His enemies. Nowhere else is there the same
open and unreserved declaration of the Saviour’s majesty
as in St Matthew’s description of the Betrayal and the
Judgment. The crises of apparent hopelessness are
exactly those which call forth the most royal declarations
of sovereign power. When the disciples would have
defended their Master at Gethsemane, He reminds them
that He could bring to His aid legions of Angels, but
that the Scriptures must needs be fulfilled—that His
kingdom is not to be supported or destroyed by the
sword—that He must finish His work on earth before
He comes in the clouds of heaven’. So again when He
stands before the great tribunal of the chosen nation, in
answer to the solemn adjuration of the High Priest’,
He claims the name and the glory of the Christ. Up
to that moment He was silent, but then at last the re-
cognition of the sacred power of the minister of God
brought with it the words which proved to be the final

1 Matt. xxvi, 52—54. Cf. John κατὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος ἵνα ἡμῖν.
xviii. 11. εἴπῃς... This clause is peculiar to St’

* Matt. xxvi. 63, 64, ἐξορκίζω ge Matthew.

THE PASSION.

329

condemnation of Judaism. Then it was that as Christ
He was mocked by the people*; and meanwhile the re-
morse and death of Judas witnessed in another place to
the fulfilment of Messianic types in the Psalms and
Prophets*. So far Christ is seen to be openly pro-
claimed’ and rejected by His people; but He is also
regarded under a peculiar relation to Gentiles. The
dream of Pilate’s wife, and the symbolic purification’ of
the governor himself, express the influence which the
righteousness* of the Saviour exercised upon their imagi-
nation and judgment. The one carries us back to the
early history of the Jews when the fortunes of the nation
were fashioned by the dreams of heathen princes—of
Abimelech, of Pharaoh, of Nebuchadnezzar’: the other
points forward to the terrible consummation of the curse
now uttered in reckless unbelief®. One other testimony
remains: St Matthew alone tells us that the earth was
shaken and the rocks rent, and many bodies of the saints
which slept arose’, at the death of Christ, whose power

1 Matt. xxvi. 68, IIpopnrevoov εἰμι ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος τούτου [τοῦ

ἡμῖν Χριστέ, τίς ἐστιν ὁ παίσας σε;
The word Χριστέ is wanting in the
other Gospels. Compare also xxvii.
17 with Mark xy. 9.

2 Matt. xxvii. 3—10. The fulfil-
ment of prophecy in the history of
the Passion is cuioaea | noticed by
St Matthew (xxvi. 56, τοῦτο δὲ
ὅλον yéyovev...compared with Mc,
xiv. 49), sometimes directly as here
and xxvi. 31 || Mc. xiv. 27 (Zech.
xiii. 7), and sometimes indirectly,
xxvii. 34 (PS. Ixviii. 21), 43 (Ps.
. xxi, 9). The contrast between Matt.
xxvi. 24 || Mc. xiv. 21 (ὡς yéypa-
mra) and Le. xxii. 22 (κατὰ τὸ
ὡρισμένον) is full of meaning. The
quotation in xxvii. 35 is certainly
an interpolation.

3 Cf. Deut. xxi. 6, 7.

4 Matt. xxvii. 19, Μηδὲν σοὶ καὶ
τῷ δικαίῳ éxelvw...xxvii. 24, ᾿Αθῷός

δικαίου)" but the last words are pro-
bably an interpolation.

5 Gen. xx. 3; xli.25; Dan. ii. 3.

6 Matt. xxvii. 25, τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ
ἐφ᾽ ἡμᾶς καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ τέκνα ἡμῶν.

7 Hilar. ἐς Matt. xxvii. 51, 52:
Movetur terra: capax enim hujus
mortui esse non poterat. etre
sciss@ sunt: omnia enim tum valida
et fortia penetrans Dei Verbum et
potestas eeternze virtutis irruperat.
Et monumenta aperta sunt: erant
enim mortis claustra reserata. 42
multa corpora sanctorum dormien-
tium surrexerunt: illuminans enim
mortis tenebras et infernorum obscu-
ra collustrans, in Sanctorum ad
preesens conspicatorum resurrectione
mortis ipsius spolia detrahebat. The
use of the phrase οἱ ἅγιοι is remark-
able, which does not occur elsewhere
absolutely in the New Testament

Chap. vi.

330

THE DIFFERENCES IN DETAIL IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

‘Chap. vi.

Matt. xxvii.

43-
Δ MARK.

was felt in the depths of Nature and of Hades when
men asked in mockery for the confirmation of his words:
He said I am the Son of God.

The details peculiar to St Mark are less numerous
but hardly less characteristic. It has been remarked
often that the account of the young man that fled naked
proves that we have in the second Gospel the narrative
of an eye-witness, who was nearly concerned in an inci-
dent which would have seemed trivial to others’. One
or two other minute points lead to the same conclusion.
In the account of the testimony of the /alse-witnesses
St Mark appears to have preserved words of the Lord
which do not occur in the other Evangelists*; and he
alone notices the disagreement of their testimony*®. In
the same way he characterizes Simon the Cyrenian as
the father of Alexander and Rufus‘; and in him alone
we read that Pilate investigated the reality of the death
of Christ’,

except of Christians, and not at all
in the Gospels: Acts ix. 13, 32, 41;
xxvi. 10; Rom. xii. 13, &c.; Apoc.
xl. 18; xviii. 20. And yet more,
the form of ,expression πολλὰ σώ-
ματα τῶν ἁγίων.. «ἠγέρθησαν can-
not be overlooked in the interpreta-
tion of the passage.

1 Mark xiv. 51, 52. Cf. p. 234,
N. 4:
2 Mark xiv. 58, τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον
τὸν xeLtpomolyrov...d\Nov dx €Lpo-
ποίητον. The words do not occur
elsewhere in the Gospels, but com-

5 Mark xv. 44, 45.
lation,

pare Hebr. ix. 11, 24; 2 Cor. v. 4.

3 Mark xiv. 59 οὐδὲ οὕτως ἴση ἦν
ἡ μαρτυρία αὐτῶν. We have in the
testimony of the witnesses a point
of contact with the Gospel of St
John. The differences between the
recorded words of our Lord and the
report of the witnesses are striking:
7 can destroy (Matt. xxvi. 61, δύνα-
μαι καταλῦσαι); L will destroy (Mark
xiv. 58, καταλύσω), as compared
with Destroy...and [will raise (John
il. 19 λύσατε...καὶ ἐγερὼ).

4 Mark xv. 21.

The quotation in xv. 28 is certainly an interpo-

The details common to St Matthew and St Mark which are not founis

in St Luke are numerous:
Matt. xxvi. 31, 32.

37. 38. --

-- 40—45. pee

59—66. —

Mark xiv. 27, 28.

The future foretold.

— 33, 34. The selection of Peter,
James and John.

— 37—41. The ¢hree warnings.

— 44. The sign of the kiss.

— 55--04.

The false-witness.

THE PASSION.

331

The special details by which the narrative of St
Luke is distinguished are more obviously marked by a
common character, and seem in some measure to bea
complement to those of St Matthew. For while the
peculiar traits preserved by St Matthew exhibit in
various aspects the Messianic dignity of the Lord, those
preserved by St Luke seem rather to present notices
of human sympathy, points of contact with common
life, evidences of a perfect manhood. This is more
evident if account is taken of the details common to
the two other Evangelists which St Luke omits; and
though it may appear fanciful to insist on every dif-
ference as an example of a difference of scope (chiefly
through the faults in our apprehension and representa-
tion of them), yet the total effect of contrast and com-
bined effect cannot be doubted. St Luke alone has
preserved the question which shewed the devotion of
the disciples to their Lord, when the boldness of one
raised the sword in His defence’: he alone records the
thrice-repeated declaration of Pilate, that he found no
fault in Him’; and notices the accusation for civil
crimes*, and the examination before Herod*. In him

Matt. xxvii. r2—14. Mark xv. 4, 5. The Lord’s silence be-
fore Pilate. Cf.John
xix. Ὁ.
-- — 26. — — 15. The scourging. Cf.John
xix. I.
— — 2—31. — — 16—20. The mockery of the
soldiers with the reed
(Matt.) and crown.
— — 34 — — 23. The deadening draught.
— — 39, 40. — — 29,30. The mockery of the
passers by. Cf. Luke
xxiii. 35.
— — 46—49. — — 34—36. The cry of agony.
1 Luke xxii. 49, [doves δὲ of περὶ 2 Luke xxiii. 4, 14, 22.
αὐτὸν τὸ ἐσόμενον εἶπαν Κύριε εἰ 8 Luke xxiii. 2, ...διαστρέφοντα

πατάξομεν ἐν μαχαίρᾳ; The words τὸ ἔθνος ἡμῶν καὶ κωλύοντα φόρους
seem to-exclude any idea but thatof Καίσαρι διδόναι... Ἢ
sacrifice in a desperate cause. 4 Ambr. iv Luc. xxiil. 4—12: In

Chap. vi.
ΘΖ LuKE.

THE DIFFERENCES IN DETAIL IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

we read of the Angel which strengthened the Lord’s
human nature at the Agony’, of an hour of His ene-
mies and the power of darkness when their malice could
find full scope’, of that look which recalled to St Peter
the greatness of his fall®, of the words in which He
resigned His Spirit to His Father*. The last word of
mercy, in which He removed the injury which had
been wrought by mistaken zeal*: the last word of
warning, in which He turned the thoughts of mourners
to the personal consequences of the deed which moved
their compassion®: the last prayer of infinite love, in
which He pleaded for those who reviled and slew Him’:
the last act of sovereign grace, in which He spoke a

blessing from the cross’;
companion of St Paul.

are all recorded alone by the
In St Matthew we saw that
the dead did homage to the crucified Messiah:

in St

Luke® all the multitudes that came together and saw
the things which were done returned, beating their breasts

for sorrow’?

typo etiam Herodis atque Pilati,
qui amici ex inimicis facti sunt per
Jesum Christum, plebis Israel po-
pulique gentilis figura, quod per
Domini passionem utriusque sit fu-
tura concordia...

1 Luke xxii. 43, 44. The extent
and character of the variations in
the evidence as to the authenticity
of this passage point (like similar
variations in other parts of the Gos-
pel) to a double recension of the
Gospel, proceeding, as it appears,
from the Evangelist himself.

2 Luke xxii. 53, αὕτη ὑμῶν. ἐστὶν
ἡ ὥρα καὶ ἡ ἐξουσία τοῦ σκότους.
Cf. iv. 13, ὁ διάβολος ἀπέστη am αὐ-
τοῦ ἄχρι καιροῦ.

5. Luke xxi. 61, καὶ στραφεὶς ὁ
Κύριο; ἐνέβλεψεν τῷ Πέτρῳ...

4 Luke xxili. 46, Πάτερ εἰς χεῖράς
σου παρατίθεμαι τὸ πνεῦμα μου. The
echo of the words still lingers in the

phrase of St Peter:

5 Luke xxii. 51.

6 Luke xxiii. 27—31.

7 Luke xxiii. 34. Πάτερ ἄφες
αὐτοῖς" οὐ γὰρ οἴδασιν τί ποιοῦσιν.
These words reappear in the narra-
tive of the martyrdom of James,
the brother of the Lord, preserved
by Eusebius, 4. Z. τι. 23, Παρακαλῶ
Κύριε Θεὲ Πάτερ ἄφες αὐτοῖς" οὐ γὰρ
οἴδασι τί ποιοῦσιν.

8 Luke xxiii. 43.

9 Luke xxiii. 48.

10 It may not be out of place to
notice one apparent discrepancy in
the accounts of the Passion on which
the opponents of the literal accuracy
of the Evangelists insist with the
greatest confidence. It is said that
each of the four Evangelists gives
the Inscription on the Cross in dif-
ferent words. The statement is cer-
tainly so far true that each Evan-

1 Pet. iv. 19.

THE RESURRECTION. ἢ

333

The various narratives of the Resurrection place | Chap. vi.
the fragmentariness of the Gospel in the clearest light. | vi. Te Re-
Survection.

They contain difficulties which it is impossible to ex-
plain with certainty, but there is no less an intelligible
fitness and purpose in the details peculiar to each ac-
count. The existence of difficulties in brief records of
such a crisis is no more than a natural consequence
of its character. The events of the first great Easter
morning were evidently so rapid in their sequence and
so startling in their lessons, that a complete history
would have been impossible’. Even in ordinary cir-

gelist gives a phrase which is not
entirely coincident with that given
by any one of the others, but a close
examination of the narratives fur-
nishes no sufficient reason for sup-
posing that all proposed to give the
same or the entire inscription. St
John indeed uses such terms as to
leave no doubt as to his record:
ἔγραφεν δὲ καὶ τίτλον ὁ Πιλᾶτος...
ἦν δὲ γεγραμμένον... Ἰησοῦς ὁ Να-
ὡραῖος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων
John xix. 19). These Greek words
then we may be assured were cer-
tainly placed upon the cross; but
if we compare the language of St
John with that of St Mark, it will
be obvious that St Mark only de-
signs to give the words which con-
tained the point of the accusation—
the alleged usurpation of royal dig-
nity—xal ἦν ἡ ἐπιγραφὴ τῆς αἱ-
τίας αὐτοῦ ἐπιγεγραμμένη O βασι-
λεὺς τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων (Mark xv. 26);
and these words which contain the
charge are common to all the Evan-
gelists. The language of St Mat-
thew and St Luke again, though
this might be disputed, seems to im-
ply that they have preserved re-
spectively the two remaining forms
of the trilingual inscription: ἐπέ-
θηκαν...τὴν αἰτίαν αὐτοῦ γεγραμμέ-
rqv Οὗτός ἐστιν ᾿Ιησοῦς ὁ βασιλεὺς
τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων (Matt. xxvii. 37)---ῖἣν

δὲ καὶ ἐπιγραφὴ ἐπ’ αὐτῷ Ὁ βασι-
λεὺς τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων οὗτος (Luke xxiii.
38). If this natural conjecture be
admitted, the difference is a proof
of completeness, and not of discre-
pancy. St Matthew would certainly
preserve the Hebrew form in his
original Gospel ;.and the title in St
Luke as given in Cod. Corb., Rex
Judzorum hic est, seems like the
scornful turn of the Latin title.
However this may be, there is at
least no possibility of shewing any
inconsistency on the strictly literal

‘interpretation of the words of the

Evangelist.

The difference between John xix.
14 (ἕκτη) and Mark xv. 25, τρίτη
(cf. xv. 33: Matt. xxvii. 45; Luke
xxiii. 44), seems clearly to point to
a different mode of reckoning (cf.
John xviii. 28; Ewald, Chrestus,
217). Again no one would find a
contradiction in the following sen-
tence: βαστάζων Tov σταυρόν ἐξῆλθεν
«ἐξερχόμενοι δὲ εὗρον Σίμωνα" τοῦ-
τον ἠγγάρευσαν ἵνα ἄρῃ τὸν σταυρὸν
αὐτοῦ (John xix.17; Matt. xxvii. 32).

1 In this sense the closing words
of St John’s Gospel, which are
passed over too often as a mere
hyperbole, contain a truth, which as
it holdsin a lower sense of the details
of every human life, is absolutely
true of the details of the Perfect

THE DIFFERENCES IN DETAIL IN. THE SYNOPTISTS.

cumstances the effects produced by the same outward
phenomena, and the impressions which they convey
to different persons in moments of great excitement,
are so various, that we are in some measure prepared
for apparent discrepancies in the recital of the facts
which accompanied what was the new birth of believers
no less than of the Saviour. At the same time we know
so little of the laws of the spiritual world, and of the
conditions under which beings of another order are
revealed to men, that it is idle to urge as a final in-
consistency the diversity of visions which, while truly
objective, may still have depended in a manner which
may be faintly conceived on the character of the wit-
nesses to whom they were given. And besides all this,
there are so many tokens of unrecorded facts in the
brief summaries which are preserved, that no argument
can be based upon apparent discrepancies sufficient
to prove the existence of absolute error’. We have
lost, so to speak, the setting of the history, When
the narratives were composed much was universally
known which is unrecorded now. The necessary result
is partial obscurity or apparent divergence. But where

Life—dria ἐὰν γράφηται καθ᾽ ἕν,
οὐδὲ αὐτὸν οἶμαι τὸν κόσμον χωρῆσαι
τὰ γραφόμενα βιβλία. This percep-
tion of the infinity of life makes the
historian a true poet.

1 For instance, from John xx. 7
it appears that Mary Magdalene did
not enter the Sepulchre at the first
visit ; and this fact gives a clue to
the explanation of the Angelic Vi-
sions. In Matt. xxviii. 16 (οὗ
ἐτάξατο αὐτοῖς) there is a reference
to other revelations of the Lord to
the Apostles than that which the
Evangelist has recorded. St Luke
(xxiv. 34) notices incidentally. an
appearance to St Peter which he

has not detailed; and the same ap-
pearance seems to be referred to by
St Paul (1 Cor, xv. 5). St Paul (1
Cor. xv. 6) helps us to distinguish
the appearance to the gathered
church in Galilee from the last ap-

pearance to the Apostles (Luke xxiv.

44 ff.), with which it has been con-
founded; and notices an appearance
to James, which is elsewhere only
recorded in Apocryphal traditions.

If any further testimony to the mul-
tiplicity and variety of the revela-
tions of the Risen Lord is required,

it is given in the widest terms by St
Luke in Acts i. 3. (ἐν πολλοῖς eae
plows, ὀπτανόμενο9).

THE RESURRECTION.

335

the evidence is confessedly imperfect, it may be wise
_to hesitate, but it is presumptuous to condemn; and
the possibility of reconciliation in the case of partial
and independent narratives is all that the student of
the Gospels requires. When it is seen that this pos-
sibility is further combined with the existence of a
special character in the separate accounts, the whole
question will be presented in a truer and more instruc-
tive form. We shall learn to acquiesce in the exist-
ence of diversities which we cannot finally solve, when
we find enough recorded to satisfy the individual de-
signs of the Evangelists and the permanent needs of
Christians.

It is necessary to repeat these obvious remarks
because the records of the Resurrection have given
occasion to some of the worst examples of that kind
of criticism from which the other parts of the Gospels
have suffered, though not in an equal degree. It is
tacitly assumed that we are in possession of all the
circumstances of the event, and thus on the one hand
differences are urged as fatal, and on the other ela-
borate attempts are made to shew that the details given
can be forced into the semblance of a complete and
connected narrative. The true critic will pause before
he admits either extreme. He will not expect to find
in each Gospel, nor yet in the combination of them,
a full and circumstantial record of a mere fact of com-
mon history; and he will be equally little inclined to
bind down the possible solutions of the difficulties intro-
duced by variations and omissions to one definite form.
He will rather acknowledge the characteristics of the
truth in narratives incomplete as historical relations and
yet most perfect as lessons of divine truth embodied in
representative facts.

Chap. vi.

The true as-

pect of the

narratives

336

THE DIFFERENCES IN DETAIL IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Chap. vi,

as distinct
wholes, and
not Jrag-
ments capa-
ble of sepa-
rate combé-
nation.

S$? Mat-
THEW.

Regarding the recorded details of the Resurrection
from this point of view, we can dismiss without any
minute inquiry the various schemes which have been
proposed for-bringing them, as they stand at present,
into one connected narrative. Whether the harmonist
has recourse to a multiplication of similar incidents,
or, with a truer insight into the style of the Scriptures,
sees in the several accounts perspective views, as it
were, in which several incidents are naturally grouped
together’, we may accept the general conclusion with-
out insisting on the several steps by which it is reached.
It will rather be an object of study to realise each sepa-.
rate account as conveying a distinct image of the signs
and results of Christ’s victory. The fullest and truest
view of the whole will then naturally follow.. The most
general will result from the most particular: the final
impression from a combination of wholes, and not from
a mosaic of fragments.

The narrative of St Matthew is, as is commonly the
case, the least minute. The great features of the history |
are traced with bold outline. Faith and unbelief, fear
and joy, are seen together in the closest contrast ; and:
over all is the light of a glorious majesty abiding even
unto the end. Heaven and earth are combined in one
wide view*: Messiah reigns and the opposition of His
enemies is powerless. The visit of the women, the
Angelic ministry,—a source of deadly terror to the
guards, of great joy to the believing,—the appearance
of the Lord, the falsehood of the watch, the division
among the disciples, the last Charge, combine to form
a noble picture, yet so as to convey no impression of

1 This form of explanation is well usual errors in taste.
followed out. by Ebrard (A7vit. d. 2 Matt. xxviii. 18.
Lvang. Gesch.), though with his . aa

THE RESURRECTION.

a complete narrative. But the peculiar traits in this
brief summary are both numerous and important. St
Matthew alone notices the outward glory of the Re-
surrection, the earthquake, the sensible ministry of the
divine messenger, the watch of enemies replaced by
the guarding Angel. The vigilance of Roman soldiery
and the authority of priestly power are seen to be
unable to check the might of the new faith’. The
majesty of the triumphant Messiah is shewn again by
a fact which St Matthew has preserved as to the feel-
ings of His disciples. He alone notices the humble
adoration of the risen Lord before His Ascension’, and,
as if with jealous’care, traces to its origin the calumny
currently reported among the Jews Zo this day. St Mark
mentions the command to the disciples to go to Galilee,
but St Matthew alone relates the final Charge to the
assembly of believers, which was given in solemn
majesty, and it may be on the very mountain on which
Christ first taught them®. Thus it was foreshewn that
Jerusalem was no longer to remain the Holy City, the
final centre of the Church. The scattered flock were
again gathered together by their Master in the de-
spised- country from which they had first followed him*.
The world-wide extent of His Kingdom is at once pro-
claimed. Their commission is extended to all the na-

tions ; and the highest mystery of the faith is conveyed |.

in the words which are the passport into the Christian
community.

The narrative of St Mark is attended by peculiar
difficulties. The original text, from whatever cause it

Δ Lange, Leben Fesu. 3 Matt. xxviii. 16, τὸ ὄρος οὗ
2 Matt xxviii. 9, 17. Contrast ἐτάξατο αὐτοῖς.
Mark xv. 19. In Luke xxiv. ‘52 the 4 Matt. xxvi. 31, 32, mpodiw ὑμᾶς
words προσκυνήσαντες αὐτόν are very εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν.
doubtful.

W. G, Y

Matt. xxviii.
if.

Matt. xxviii.
Ig, 20.

ΘΖ MARK.

338

THE DIFFERENCES IN DETAIL IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Chap. vi.

Mark xvi. 8.

Mark xvi.1r.

Mark xvi.17,
18,

may have happened, terminated abruptly after the
account of the Angelic vision’. The history’of the
revelations of the Lord Himself was added at another
time and probably by another hand. Yet in both parts

of the record one common feature may be noticed, which

seems to present the peculiar characteristic of the Gos-
pel. The disciples hesitate before they accept the fact
which surpassed their hope. There is doubt before there
is faith, Thus as St Mark preserves an especial assu-
rance of the reality of Christ’s death, so he confirms
most strongly the reality of His Resurrection. His
narrative shews that the witnesses were not mere en-
thusiasts who believed what they wished to be true.
The women Zold nothing to any man when they had
first seen the Angelic vision. The Apostles only yielded
finally to the reproof of their Master, when they had
rejected in their bitter mourning the testimony of those
to whom He had appeared. This gradual progress to
faith exhibits that outward side of the history which
is further illustrated by the details which the Evangelist
has preserved from the Lord’s last charge. The pro-

1 Mark xvi. 8, ἐφοβοῦντο γάρ. It
is vain to speculate on the causes of
this abrupt close. That the verses
which follow are no part of the ori-
ginal narrative but an appendage is

-shewn by

(1) The direct external evidence
of δὲ Β and the statement of Eusebius
which was probably derived from
Origen, a combination which is not,
I believe, ever in error in the Gos-
pels.

(2) The indirect external evi-
dence furnished by tke existence of
a duplicate ending in Lk. Syr. hel™s.

(3) ‘he internal evidence of

(a2) The contents: v. 9 re-
peats what has been already narra-
ted in 1 ff,

(8) Thestyle: vv. 9—20 are
epitomatic and wholly alien from
St Mark’s general manner.

(y) The connexion: it is im-
possible to suppose that St Mark
could have written consecutively égo-
βοῦντο yap* ἀναστὰς δὲ πρωί.

On the other hand the early evi-
dence (Irenzeus) in favour of these
verses seems to establish their Canon-
icity, though they cannot be regard-
ed as part of the original narrative
of St Mark. There is no inconsist-
ency between Mark xvi. 13 and
Luke xxiv. 34, 35, but rather a most
true trait of nature: cf. Luke xxiv.
37- Nor is there any connexion of
time in xvi. 15, καὶ εἶπεν κιτ.λ.

THE RESURRECTION.

339

“mises of miraculous power assume in this a speciality
and distinctness to which there is elsewhere no parallel;
and the brief clause in which the progress of the Church
and the working of its ministers is described leads the
‘reader to see on earth the present power of that mighty
Saviour, who in this Gospel only is described as seated
on the right hand of Goa’.

St Luke presents many of the same details as St
Mark, but at a greater length and apparently with a
different object. He does not dwell directly on the
majesty of the Resurrection as St Matthew, nor on the
simple fact of it as St Mark, but rather connects it with
the Passion, and unfolds the spiritual necessity by which
suffering and victory were united. Thus it is that he
records that part of the Angelic message in which the
death and rising again of Christ were traced in His
own words. And‘the Lord Himself, whether He talks
with the two disciples or with the eleven, shews the
necessity of those events by which their faith was shaken’.
In this connexion the eucharistic meal at Emmaus gains
a new meaning. That which was before clearly con-
nected at least with the observances of the Jewish ritual
is now separated from all legal observances. The ds-
appearance of the Lord is as it were a preparation for
His unseen presence; and at the same time the revela-
tion to the eleven shews that He raised with Him from
the grave and up to heaven ‘all things appertaining
‘to the perfection of man’s nature®’ The last view
which St Luke gives of the office of the risen Saviour
corresponds with the earlier traits in which he shews
His relation to mankind. In St Matthew He is seen

l Mark xvi. 19. Cf. Matt. xxvi. παθεῖν ; ver. 44, δεῖ πληρωθῆναι
64: Luke xxii. 69; (Acts vii. 55, πάντα τὰ γεγραμμένα, Cf. xxiv. 7.
56;) Col. iii. 1; Hebr. x. 12. 3 Luke xxiv. 36 ff. (σάρκα καὶ

2 Luke xxiv. 26, οὐχὶ ταῦτα ἔδει ὀστέα).

ἢ ἄν.

Chap. vi.

Sé# LUKE.

Luke xxiv. 7.

‘

THE DIFFERENCES IN DETAIL IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Luke xxiv.
47; 48.

St Joun.

John xx. 15,
16.

Tohnxx.24 77

John xxi. 7.

as clothed with a// power in heaven and on earth...present
with the disciples to the end of the age. In St Mark He
is raised to heaven to a throne of sovereign power, as
One to whom nature does homage. In St Luke He is
the High Priest in whose name repentance and re-
mission of sins is to be proclaimed to all nations—the
Mediator who sends forth to men the promise of His
Father 6 ἊΣ ἐπὶ

There is yet another aspect in which the Resurrec-
tion is presented in the Gospels, which can only be
indicated now, though it presents lessons of marvellous
fulness. St John traces its effects not on a Church, nor
on an active ministry, nor on mankind at large, but on
individuals. The picture which he draws can be com-
pleted by traits taken from the other Evangelists; and
if this be done, there is probably nothing else in the
Gospels which gives the same impression of simplicity
and comprehensiveness, of independence and harmony,
of perfect truthfulness and absolute wisdom. The Re-
surrection, then as now, is proved to be the touchstone
of character. In the presence of this great fact the
thoughts of many hearts are revealed. Personal devotion,
even if mistaken and limited, is received with a welcome
of joy’. Hope, which had sunk by a natural and violent
reaction even to despair, is cheered by a word of peace
and strengthened to utter the highest confession of faith’.
Silent love looks and believes*, To the eye of the
beloved disciple the Lord was known when hidden from
others; and while some hastened to embrace or worship
Him, it was his part to wait in patience, and in this
sense also to tarry till the Lord came.

1 Matt. xxviii. 9, Χαίρετε. Here στευσεν. Cf. Luke xxiv. 12, which
only in the Gospels. is a very ancient gloss if not a part

2 John xx, 26, 28, of the original text.

3 John xx. 8, καὶ εἶδεν καὶ ἐπί-

THE GENERAL RESULT.

341

However incomplete the comparison between parallel
Evangelic narratives which has been made in this
chapter may be in some of its details, it seems impos-
sible not to feel that it throws a striking light upon the
individuality, the independence, and the Inspiration, of
the Gospels. A more complete examination, which
should take account of every shade of difference, such
~as could only be apprehended by personal study, would
fill up an outline which is too plain to be easily mis-
taken. The characteristic traits which have been noticed
appear in the records of a series of incidents which have
been selected for their intrinsic importance and not
arbitrarily. They are so subtle that no one could at-
tribute them to design; and yet so important that they
convey their peculiar effect to the narratives. Without
any constant uniformity they converge towards one
point; and even when their connexion is least apparent,
they present a general impression of a definite law to
which they are subject. Diversity of detail is seen to
exist without contrariety; and the exhibition of a spi-
ritual purpose with the preservation of literal accuracy.

Individuality is a sign of independence. The more
exactly any one compares parallel passages of the Gos-
pels the more certainly he will feel that their likenesses
are to be referred to the use of a common source and
not to the immediate influence of one Gospel upon
another. The general form is evidently derived from
some one original type; the special elaboration of it is
due to personal knowledge and apprehension of the
events included in the fundamental cycle of teaching.
The evidence of the Evangelists is thus one and yet
independent. They do not reproduce one uniform
history ; but give distinct histories according to the
outlines of a comprehensive and common plan.

Chap. vi.

The results
of these cha-
ractertstic

differences.

The indivi-
duality,

independ-
ence, and

342

THE DIFFERENCES IN DETAIL IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Chap. vi.

Inspiration

of the Evan-

gelists.

We may proceed yet one step further. Individuality —
and independence, when presented in such a form as
to exhibit complementary spiritual aspects of the same
facts, are signs of Inspiration. From one side it is pos-
sible to refer the phenomena which they offer to the
mental characteristics of the Evangelists; but it has
been seen that the human element is of the essence of
Inspiration. The Bible is divine decause it is human.
The Holy Spirit speaks through men as they are, and
the fulness of their proper character is the medium for
conveying the fulness of the truth. It follows then that
in proportion as it can be shewn that there is a distinct-
ness of purpose, though most free from the marks of
conscious design, in the several Gospels—in proportion
that there can be shewn to exist in them significant
differences consistent with absolute truth, there is a sure
pledge of their plenary Inspiration in the truest and
noblest sense of the words. Nothing less than the
constant presence of the Holy Spirit, if we can in any
way apprehend the method of His working, could pre-
serve perfect truthfulness with remarkable variations;
a perfect plan with childly simplicity; an spe
spiritual concord in independent histories.

THE DAY OF THE CRUCIFIXION.

343

ON THE DAY OF THE CRUCIFIXION.
NOTE to p. 327.

The difficulties connected with the chronology of the Paschal week are
acknowledged on all hands to be very considerable, and the various solutions
which have been proposed have tended to perplex the question still more by
introducing uncertainty into the interpretation of the terms involved. The
examination of these difficulties may be divided into two distinct parts,
The determination (1) of the day of the month, and (2) of the day of the
week, on which the Lord suffered. Of these the first includes the alleged
discrepancy between the Synoptists and St John as to the time and charac-
ter of the Last Supper: the second, on the other hand, is chiefly of interest
for the interpretation of the Gospels. The two questions are quite inde-
pendent, and will be considered separately.

i. All the Evangelists agree as to the xeme of the day of the Crucifixion ;
and in the absence of all evidence to the contrary, it is entirely unreasonable
to suppose that the name is used in more than one sense. The day was
The Preparation (ἡ παρασκευή), or rather A Preparation (παρασκευή).

Matt. xxvii. 62, τῇ δὲ ἐπαύριον ἥτις ἐστὶν μετὰ Thy παρασκευήν.

Mark xv. 42, ἐπεὶ ἣν παρασκευή, ὅ ἐστιν προσάββατον.

Luke xxiii. 54, καὶ ἡμέρα ἣν παρασκευῆς καὶ σάββατον ἐπέφωσκεν.

John xix. 31, ἐπεὶ παρασκευὴ ἣν (cf. ver. 42); ver. 14, ἦν δὲ παρασκευὴ
τοῦ πάσχα.

What then was the Parasceue—the Preparation? There can be no
doubt that in early Christian writers, as in modern Greek, this was the
name of Friday (Clem. Alex. Strom. Vil. 877. 75, ἡ Παρασκευή, ...ἐπιφη-
μίζεται...ἡ ᾿Αφροδίτης. Cf. Polyc. Mart. 7, τῇ Παρασκευῇ, δείπνου ὥρᾳ.
Tertull. de Hejun. 14). Friday was indeed ¢he preparation for the weekly
Sabbath, and as such it was natural that the name should be used for it so
commonly that at last it became the proper name of the day’. But the
name and character of Sabbath was not confined to the weekly day of rest.
There were other festival-days which had the same Sabbatic character, and
foremost among them the first day of the feast of unleavened bread (Lev.
ἐγγύας μὴ ὁμολογεῖν αὐτοὺς ἐν σάββασιν,
ἢ τῇ πρὸ ταύτης παρασκευῇ ἀπὸ ὥρας
ἐνάτης.

1 The word appears, as it were, in ἃ
transition-state in a decree of Augustus
preserved by Josephus: Azz, xvI. 6. 2:

Chap. vi.

i. As ἔο the
day of Ni-
San,

1. Direct
Evidence.

a. The Cru-
Ccifixion on a
Preparation
Day.

THE DAY OF THE CRUCIFIXION.

Chap. vi.

B. The Pre-
parationday
Jjixed by St
Sohn as the
Eve of the
Passover.

γ. The Syn-
optic dates
reconctleable
with this
conclusion.

xxiii, 15, τὰ σάββατα. Cf. ver. 11, Hebr. verr. 24, 39); and thus the day be-
fore these festival-sabbaths would likewise include a Preparation in the same
way as that before the weekly sabbaths. ΑἹ] festivals did not partake in
this Sabbatic character, and consequently the enumeration of days in Judith
(viii. 6, évjorevev...xwpls προσαββάτων καὶ σαββάτων, καὶ προνουμηνιῶν καὶ
νουμηνιῶν καὶ ἑορτῶν καὶ χαρμοσυνῶν οἴκου Ἰσραήλ) proves nothing as to the
exclusive use of the word προσάββατον, by which St Mark explains παρα-
σκευή, for the weekly Preparation}.

If it is allowed that there is nothing in the Synoptic Gospels, so far as
the title of the day is concerned, which determines whether it is to be
understood of the weekly or of the festival preparation, St John seems to
leave no real room for doubt. In point of grammar, παρασκευὴ τοῦ πάσχα
—the Preparation of the Passover—might mean Friday in the Paschal
week ; but it seems incredible, if we take into consideration the significance
of St John’s dates, that the Evangelist should reckon by the week and not
by the symbolic feast of which he is recording the fulfilment”. In con-
nexion with the whole narrative, the Preparation of the Passover cannot
mean anything but the Preparation for the Passover, or in other words the
14th Nisan, the eve of the Paschal supper, which was eaten at the beginning
of the 15th Nisan according to the Jewish reckoning, 2.6. after sunset of the
14th according to our own®.

The dates furnished by the Synoptists fall in with this interpretation.
On the first day of unleavened bread, which is identified with the 14th
of Nisan by the significant addition when they sacrificed the Paschat-
offering (Mark xiv. 12, τῇ πρώτῃ ἡμέρᾳ τῶν ἀζύμων ὅτε τὸ πάσχα ἔθυον"
Luke xxii. 7, ἡ Qu. τ. ag. ἐν ἣ ἔδει θύεσθαι τὸ πάσχα" Matt. xxvi. 17, τῇ δὲ.
πρώτῃ τῶν ἀξ), the disciples inquired where they should prepare the
Passover. © Then follow in unbroken succession the Last Supper (Matt.
xxvi. 20; Mark xiv: 17, ὀψίας γενομένης᾽ Luke xxii. 14, ὅτε ἐγένετο | wpa),
the departure to Gethsemane (Matt. xxvi. 31; Mark xiv. 27, ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ
ταύτῃ), the arrest, the examination (Matt. xxvi. 74, and parallels, ἀλέκτωρ
ἐφώνησεν), the deliberation (Matt. xxvii. 1, πρωίας γενομένης), and the
various steps of the Passion. Now it appears that the 14th was kept at a
later time as a day of rest especially in Galilee (Mishna, Pesach. IV. τ. 33
ap. Bleek, Beitr. 1224), that is probably the natural day, excluding the
evening. ‘The fact supports the idea, which is probable in itself, that the

1M. Lutteroth, in an ingenious essay
(Le Four de la Préparation, Paris, 1855),
has endeavoured to identify the Prepara-
tion with the roth of Nisan, the day on
which the effering was set apart. Luke
xxii. 7 seems. to be decisive against this
supposition, and M. Lutteroth appears to
feel the difficulty which the most forced
interpretation is insufficient to remove.

2 ‘This will be felt at once if we translate
John xix. 42 because of the Friday of the

Fews (Bleek, Beitr. 117).

3 In conformity with this the Jewish
tradition represents ‘the Eve of the Pass-
over’ as the time of the Crucifixion (Bleek,
Beitr. 148). The connexion between the
two uses of παρασκευὴ is well seen in the
connexion of 5) the eve of a feast, and

SAIW Friday (Buxt. Lex. p. 1659).

4 Sapientes dicunt, in Judeea operaban-

tur vespera Paschatis (ΠΣ "2 2)

THE DAY OF THE CRUCIFIXION.

question of the disciples was asked immediately upon the sunset of the cathe
The preparation is evidently contemplated as foreseen by the owner of the
house, and need not have occupied much time!. The evening of the Supper
would thus be as St John represents it, the evening at the beginning of the
14th. The same day after sunrise next morning is rightly described as a
Preparation- day—the Preparation of the Passover, though the Preparation,
in the strictest sense of the term, was ene to the last three hours, from
the zznth hour.

This view of the time of the Last Supper is supported by a variety of
indirect arguments, common to St John and the Synoptists, which appear
to be so cogent in themselves that many critics who affirm the inconsistency
of the two forms of the narrative assume that the original basis of the Syn-
optic Gospels presented the same chronology as St John, and that these
coincidences spring from the partial preservation of the first text.

But before noticing these less distinct intimations of the date, there are
yet two other passages of St John which seem to leave no room to doubt
his meaning, if it be not clear already. On the morning of the day of the
Crucifixion the Jews, as he writes, wozld not enter the judgment-hall of
Pilate, that they might eat the Passover (John xviii. 28, wa φάγωσι τὸ
πάσχα"). Nothing but the determination to adapt these words to a theory
could suggest the idea that eating the Passover applies to anything but
the great Paschal meal’,
the time makes it impossible to determine the extent of impurity contracted
by entering the house of a heathen, but it would at any rate last till sunset
in which case the person thus impure could not be present at the sacrifice of
the offering in the Temple. Nor is it less decisive on the point that towards
the close of the evening on which the Last Supper took place, and when it
was nearly ended, the disciples thought that Judas was dismissed that he
might buy the things which were needed for the feast (John xiii. 29, ὧν
χρείαν ἔχομεν εἰς τὴν ἑορτήν), which was already defined as the feast of the
Passover (xiii. 1, πρὸ δὲ τῆς ἑορτῆς τοῦ πάσχα). On the 15th such purchases
would have been equally illegal and impossible,

This passage leads to the series of other passages already alluded to
which so far determine the day of Crucifixion as to shew that it was not

21, θύσατε τὸ πάσχα, and though the words

usque ad meridiem. Sed zx Galilea nihil
might perhaps be extended to the keeping

amnino operabantur; et nocte schola

Our ignorance as to the custom of the Jews at |

Schammai vetat, schola Hillelis permittit
usque ad scintillationem solis. Cf. § 6.
The whole chapter is worthy of study in
* illustration of the care with which even
the 19th Nisan was observed. Cf. Pesach,
Vol. 1. p. 150.

1 Mark xiv. 15, δείξει ἀνάγαιον μέγα
ἐστρωμένον ἕτοιμον.
. 2 The phrase occurs in the account of
the institution of the Passover, Exod. xii.

of the whole rite, yet they properly de-
scribe the sacrificial act as distinguished
from the entire festival (ποιεῖν τὸ πάσχα,
Num. ix, 2, 6, το, &c.). Cf. Deut, xvi. 2, 5,
6; Ezra vi, 20, 21, ἔσφαξαν τὸ πάσχα... καὶ
ἔφαγον τὸ πάσχα.

3 The passages quoted in support of the
rendering ‘celebrate the feast by eating
‘the Chagiga’ fail in true parallelism
(Bleek, Beitr. 109 ff.).

2. Indirect
Evidence.

a. St Sohn
implies that
tae Passover
was not
eaten on the
Crucifixion
Day.

B. St Fohvr
and the Sy-
noptists tim-

346

THE DAY OF THE CRUCIFIXION.

Chap. vi.
ply that the
Crucifixion
Day was not
the 15th Ns-
san (a Sab-
bath).

y. The Syni-
bolisne of the
Passion fa-
vours the
14th of Ni-

San,

15th Nisan. ‘This day—the first day of unleavened bread—was a Sabbath,
on which the Sabbatic law of rest was specially binding (Exod. xii. 16;
Lev. xxiii. 7). Now the Synoptists and St John alike exclude the notion
that the day of the Crucifixion was such a Sabbath, Apart from the extreme
improbability that such a festival as the first day of unleavened bread
would be described as Friday or Preparation-day, everything is done with-
out scruple which would have been unlawful on a Sabbath. A commission
to make purchases is regarded as natural (John xiii. 29); the Lord and
His disciples leave the city contrary to the command (Exod. xii. 22);
men come armed for the arrest of Christ! (Luke xxii. 52); the Jewish
council meets for judgment; Simon comes (as it appears) from his ordinary
work (Mark xv. 21; Luke xxiii. 26, ἐρχόμενον dm’ ἀγροῦ); the condemned
are executed and taken down from the crosses, and at the close of the day
spices are prepared for the embalming of the Lord (Luke xxiii 55), and
because of the Preparation (that is, of the approaching Sabbath) He is laid
in a tomb which was near (John xix. 42), whereas if it were the 15th, the
day itself was a Sabbath?. To those familiar by experience with Jewish
usages, as all the Evangelists must have been, the whole narrative of the
Crucifixion, crowded with incidents of work, would set aside the notion
that the day was the 15th. Where the idea was excluded by facts, there
would be no need of words and no fear of ambiguity; and if we keep
clearly in view the Sabbatical character of the 15th, we shall be satisfied
that all the Evangelists equally forbid us to place the Crucifixion on such
a day. :

One or two allusions, which perhaps cannot be urged as arguments
without claiming greater authority for the symbolic meaning of Holy
Scripture than many would concede, seem to point clearly to the result
which has been thus obtained from the positive evidence in favour of the
14th Nisan, and the negative evidence against the 15th. St John, by
applying to our Lord words from the institution of the Passover*, evidently
contemplates Him as the true Paschal Lamb, and the harmony of the nar-
rative is completed by the supposition that the time as well as the mode of
the Lord’s death coincided with that of the typical victim* St Paul
repeats the same idea more distinctly, 1 Cor. v. 7, τὸ πάσχα ἡμῶν ἐτύθη
Χριστός" ὥστε ἑορτάσωμεν κ.τ.λ. ; and it has been argued with great plausi-
bility that if he had regarded the institution of the Eucharist as taking place
at the Paschal meal he would not have said simply ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ ἣ mapedidero
(x Cor. xi. 23). Nor.is it to be forgotten that these references of St Paul
are the more important as proceeding from a distinct source.

1 And this, it may be noticed, when the
rulers determined to avoid the feast (Matt.
xxvi. 5; Mark xiv. 2, μὴ ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ).

2 Bleek (Z.c.) quotes authorities to shew
the illegality of doing the several acts

mentioned on the Sabbath; the enumera-
tion itself seems sufficient for any one

acquainted with the Jewish law.
3 John xix. 36compared with Exod, xii. 46,
4 In this aspect the time, the xizth
hour (Matt. xxvii. 46; Mark xv. 34; Luke
xxiii, 44), is very important. This was the
beginning of the solemn Preparation (comp.
Ρ. 343, 0. 1).

THE DAY OF THE CRUCIFIXION.

347

On such a point historical tradition may seem to some to be of no great
weight, but it is evident that the tendency of any change in the tradition
would be towards the identification of the Last Supper with the Paschal
meal, and not towards the distinction of the two, if they had been originally
connected. Now, as far as appears, early tradition is nearly unanimous in
fixing the Crucifixion on the r4th, and in distinguishing the Last Supper
from the legal Passover’. This distinction is expressly made by Apolli-
naris?, Clement of Alexandria’, Hippolytus*, Tertullian, Irenzeus®, who
represent very different sections of the early Church. Origen, according to
the Latin Version of his Commentary on St Matthew, seems to identify the
Supper with the legal Passover, but the passage is confused® From
the time of Chrysostom the meal was generally identified with the Pass-
over’; but Photius expressly notices that two writers who differed widely
on other points of the Paschal controversy agreed in fixing the Passion
on the 14th, contrary to the later opinion of the Church, and therefore
reserves the question for examination’. The Quartodeciman controversy
itself has no decisive bearing on the date. The evidence as to the point
on which the controversy turned is too meagre and ambiguous to allow
of any satisfactory conclusions being drawn from it.

But in answer to all these arguments which are drawn from direct and
indirect evidence of every kind, it is said that the Synoptists plainly speak
of the Last Supper as the Paschal meal. It might perhaps be enough to
answer that they define the day of the Crucifixion at least as plainly, and
that St John, who is in perfect harmony with them as to the day, shews
that the meal was not the Paschal meal, as indeed it could not be if it
was on the Preparation-day. Either then they must include a gross con-
tradiction in their narrative, or we must misinterpret their meaning as to
‘tthe day or the meal; and certainly not as to the former, because that is
fixed by a complicated chain of evidence, while the other is expressed in

Apollinaris (in Frag. 111.) elsewhere
states distinctly that the Lord, the ‘great
* sacrifice,’ was crucified and ‘buried on the
‘day of the Passover,’ the r4th, the ‘true
* Passover of the Lord.’

3 Clem. Alex. Fragm. Ὁ. 1016, Pott.

4 Hipp. Fragm. 1. u. (p. 869, ed.
Migne).

δ Tertull. adv. Fud. 8; Iren. Iv. το.
1 (23) (quoted by Browne, Ordo Seclorum,

1 Cf. Routh, RelZ. Sacr. 1. 168.

2 Fragm. τι. ap. Routh, 1. p. 160:
λέγουσιν [ot δι᾿ ἄγνοιαν φιλονεικοῦσι περὶ
τούτων] ὅτι τῇ WS τὸ πρόβατον μετὰ τῶν
᾿μαθητῶν ἔφαγεν ὁ Κύριος, τῇ δὲ μεγάλῃ
ἡμέρᾳ τῶν ἀζύμων αὐτός ἔπαθεν" καὶ διη-
γοῦνται Ματθαῖον οὕτω λέγειν ὡς νενοήκα-
σιν. ὅθεν ἀσύμφωνός τε νόμῳ ἡ νόησις
αὐτῶν. καὶ στασιάζειν δοκεῖ κατ᾽ αὐτοὺς τὰ
εὐαγγέλια. ‘This fragment is specially im-

portant as pointing to what may have
been the source of the confusion, the dif-
ferent reckoning of the Jewish ecclesias-
tical and natural days: the evening at the
beginning of the 14th seems to have been
confounded with the evening at the end of
the 14th (the natural day), 2 δ. the evening
of the 15th and the time of the Paschal
meal.

p. 66). Yet Irenzeus callsthe meal a Pass-
over (11. 22. 2).

® Orig. Comm. in Matt. § 79.

7 The interesting Catena on St Mark
published by Cramer contains both opi-
nions (Cram. Caé. in Marc. pp. 420, 421),
the second with a reference to St John.

® Phot. Cod. 115, 116.

9 Cf. Bleek, Betty. 156 fff.

Chap. vi.

3. Historic
Evidence.

Obj. The
Synoptic ac-
count of the
Last Sup-
per.

348

THE DAY OF THE CRUCIFIXION.

Chap. vi.

Flow this
must be un-
derstood.

ii. As to the
day of the
Week.

one or two phrases which admit readily of a different sense, when once we

reflect that the very circumstances of the case must have put out of ques-
tion for Jews what appears to us to be their most natural meaning. It is
said that the disciples speak of preparing for eating the Passover (Matt.
xxvi. 17; Mark xiv. 12; Luke xxii. 9); that Christ himself proposes to
eat it (Matt. xxvi. 18; Mark xiv. 14; Luke xxii. 8); that the disciples
actually prepared the Passover (ἡτοίμασαν τὸ πάσχα, Matt. xxvi. 19;
Mark xiv. 16; Luke xxii. 13); that in the course of the meal which fol-
lowed immediately afterwards the Lord said 7 desired to eat this Passover
with you (ἐπεθύμησα τοῦτο τὸ πάσχα φαγεῖν μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν, Luke xxii. 15). If
these words stood alone, there can be no doubt that we should explain
them of the Paschal meal taken at the legal time; but the Evangelists who
use them exclude this sense by their subsequent narrative, and we find in
the contexts indications of the sense in which they must be taken. The
Lord, in sending His disciples to make the preparation, said JZy tome 15
near (Matt. xxvi. 18), as if to explain something unusual in His com-
mand. He sent, as the words imply, to a disciple who was expecting
Him, and speaks with authority as the Master (ὁ διδάσκαλος, Matt, xxvi.
18; Mark xiv. 14; Luke xxii. 11). May we not then suppose that the
Preparation which the disciples may have destined for the next day was
made the preparation for an immediate meal which became the Paschal
meal of that year, when the events of the following morning rendered the
regular Passover impossible!? If this seems a forced ‘sense, we must
remember that while the memory of events was still fresh, as it was when
the oral Gospel was fixed, statements which are perplexing to us may have
been readily intelligible from a knowledge of the connecting facts. Nothing
at least can be more unlikely than that the narratives should be severally
inconsistent with themselves. Ritual difficulties, which we can feel only
by effort and careful study, would be felt instinctively by the Evangelists.
They and their first readers could not have referred the events of the
Crucifixion-day to the Sabsath on the rs5th, and consequently could not,
as we might do, refer the words which describe the Supper preceding it to
the legal Passover.

It remains for us to notice very briefly the second point of inquiry. Long
use and tradition seem to have decided this already, but it may be ques-
tioned whether there are not grounds for doubting the correctness of the
common opinion. In the record which St Matthew has preserved of the
saying of the Lord as to the sign of Fonah, it is stated that the Son of
Man shall be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matt.
xii. 40, τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς vixras). Admitting that the parts of the days
of the Burial and the Resurrection are to. be reckoned as days, yet even
thus the period from Friday till Sunday is only three days and /wo nights.

1 Hippol. Fragm. 1. p. 869: οὗτος yap Hv. ~— for the Christian Eucharist would render
τὸ πάσχα TO προκεκηρυγμένον καὶ τελειού- the confusion easier in after time; οἵ,
μενον τῇ ὡρισμένῃ ἡμέρᾳ. Theuseofmacxa Mingarelli, Did. de Trin, τι. 16.

THE DAY OF THE CRUCIFIXION.

Are we then to conclude that the separate enumeration of days and nights
is without any special force, and strictly speaking inaccurate? or to suppose
that the term Prefaration-day has led to the very natural but erroneous
identification of the day of the Crucifixion with /viday? The evidence on
both sides is but slight. On the one hand it may be said that St John
spoke of the Sabbath which followed the Preparation as being of special
solemnity (John xix. 31, ἣν yap μεγάλη ἡ ἡμέρα ἐκείνου τοῦ σαββάτου), and
this would certainly be the case if the 15th of Nisan, a festival Sabbath,
coincided with the weekly Sabbath; and so also St Luke appears to mark
only one day as intervening between the Burial and the Resurrection (Luke
XXiil. 54, 56, σάββατον ἐπέφωσκεν... τὸ μὲν σάββατον ἡσύχασαν). But St
Matthew describes the day after the Crucifixion in so remarkable a manner
as to lead to the belief that he did not regard it as the weekly Sabbath:
The next day that followed the day of the Preparation the Chief Priests
came to Pilate (τῇ δὲ ἐπαύριον ἥτις ἐστὶν μετὰ τὴν παρασκευήν, Matt. xxvii.
62). Such a circumlocution seems most unnatural if the weekly Sabbath
were intended ; but if it were the first day of unleavened bread, then, as the
proper title of that day had been already used to describe the commence-
ment of the Preparation-day (Matt. xxvi. 17, τῇ δὲ πρώτῃ τῶν ἀζύμων), no
characteristic term remained for it. Moreover the day in itself was a
great Sabbaih, and could be described as such by St John, without sup-
posing any coincidence of the weekly and festival Sabbaths. And the whole
Sabbatic period, extending from the beginning of’the 15th of Nisan to the
dawn of the first day of the week might perhaps without violence be called
a Sabbath ; or at least the rest on the 15th might be implied in the state-
ment of the rest observed on the Sabbath. Such a period would completely
satisfy the term fixed by the sign of Fonah, and the text of the Gospels
(with the exception of the one passage in St Luke, which forms an apparent
difficulty) leaves the length of the entombment undetermined, except so far
as it is fixed by the first day of the week, and the legal resting-time which
interrupted the preparations of the disciples?.

But without pursuing the question further at present, what has been
said may be sufficient to direct attention to the investigation, which seems
to call for more notice than has been hitherto given to it.

1 The other dates which refer to the
interval are: (1) Matt. xxvii. ὅς, εἶπεν...
μετὰ τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἐγείρομαι, κέλευσον
οὖν ἀσφαλισθῆναι τὸν τάφον ἕως τῆς τρί-
τῆς ἡμέρας. Cf. Mark viii. 31, δεῖ, μετὰ
τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἀναστῆναι: Mark ix. 31,
x. 34. (2) John ii. 19, λύσατε τὸν ναὸν
τοῦτον καὶ [ἐν] τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγερῶ αὐ-
τόν. Cf, διὰ τριῶν ἡμερῶν, Matt. χχνὶ. 61,

Mark xiv. 58, ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις, Matt.
xxvii. 40, Mark xv. 29. (3) τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ
ἀναστῆναι, Matt. xvi, 21, xvii. 23, XX. 10,
Luke ix, 22, xviii. 33, xxiv. 7, 46. (4) τρίτην
ταύτην ἡμέραν ἄγει, Luke xxiv. 21. It will
scarcely be denied that the obvious mean-
ing of these phrases favours the longer in-
terval which follows from the strict inter-
pretation of Matt. xii. 40.

‘Chap. vii.

Chronologt-
cal arrange
went not to
be expected
in the
Synoptic
Gospels.

CHAPTER VII.

The Differences of Arrangement in the Synoptic
Evangelists.

Le coeur ἃ son ordfe.
PAscAL:

HE differences of arrangement in the Synoptic

Evangelists are more obvious and not less impor-
tant than the differences in detail. Numerous groups of
events present the same arrangement in every case, but
other events are transposed, so as to convey a new les-
son from the new position in which they stand. While |
there is very much which is common to all the Synop-
tists, the incidents peculiar to each produce the same
kind of individuality in the whole narratives as the special
details impart to the separate elements of which they
are composed. Each Evangelist has a characteristic
arrangement, coincident up to a certain point with that
of the others, and yet so far different that harmonists
are commonly driven to violent expedients—assump-
tions of the repetition or confusion of similar events—
to bring all into agreement. But before taking recourse
to such solutions of the difficulty we may fairly ask
whether the order of the Evangelists is a violation or an -
abandonment of chronological sequence? If the succes-
sion of time is subordinated to the succession of idea,

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

351

then it is but lost labour to seek for a result which our
materials are not fitted to produce. The object of the
student will be to follow out the course of each reve-
lation of the Truth, and not to frame annals of the
-Saviour’s Life. There are indeed times marked out by
marvellous coincidences and significant relations in which
we may see something of the symmetry of the Divine
plan of history, but evidence is wanting to justify the
extension of a system of minute dates to the teaching
of the Lord. If what has been already said of the frag-
mentariness of the Gospels be true—and the character
and express language of St John’s Gospel seem to be
conclusive on this point—then it is from the first un-
likely that writings which do not aim at completeness
should observe with scrupulous exactness the order of
time. Selection is in.the one case what arrangement is
in the other. The first was guided by an instinctive
perception of representative facts: the other by an in-
stinctive perception of their relation to a central idea.
An inspired order is the correlative of an inspired abridg-
ment. The existence of the one suggests the existence
of the other, or at least removes any presumption against
the disregard of the common rule of composition.

If however the text of the Gospel bear clear traces
of a systematic attention to chronology, the argument
based on a mere analogy which might be expected to
hold between matter and form must be set aside. But
in fact it is not so. The examination of a few chapters
of the Synoptic Gospels will leave little doubt that
temporal sequence was not the standard of their ar-
rangement. Their whole structure, as well as their con-
tents, serves to prove that they are memoirs and not
histories. Definite marks of time and place are ex-
tremely rare; and general indications of temporal or

Chap. vii.

The Gospels
exhibit jew
traces of it.

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

disjunctive’.

1 From the time of the Tempta-

tion to the Transfiguration I have

noticed only the following distinct
connexions of detailed events:

(1) Matt. viii. 18, 34. The storm
stilled; the Gadarene demo-
niacs; the return. So Mark iv.
35 ff. (connecting these events

with the great day of Para-

bles: cf. Matt. xiii. 53); Luke

Vili. 22 ff.

(2) Matt. ix. 18, ταῦτα αὐτοῦ λα-
λοῦντος. Of the new and old;
Jairus’ daughter.
v. 22; Luke vili. 41, καὶ ἰδού"
fixing no connexion of time.

(3) Matt. ix. 32, αὐτῶν δὲ ééep-
χομένων. The healing of two
blind; the healing of a dumb
man (peculiar to St Matthew).

(4) Matt. xii. 46, ἔτι αὐτοῦ da-
λοῦντος᾽ xiii. I, ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ
ἐκείνῃ (yet cf. Acts νι]. 1);
Mark iv. 1, καὶ πάλιν. Luke
Vili. 4, συνιόντος δὲ ὄχλου. The
blasphemy of Pharisees; the
true kindred; the day of Pa-
rables. Compare No. (1).

εὐθέως ἠνάγκασεν. ‘The Walk-
. ing on the Water immediately
after the Feeding the 5000.

(6) Matt. xvii. 1; Mark ix. 2,
μεθ᾽ ἡμέρας ἕξ. Luke ix. 28,
ὡσεὶ ἡμέραι ὄκτω. ‘The Com-
ing of the Kingdom; the
Transfiguration.

(7) Mark i. 29, καὶ εὐθὺς ἐξελ-
θόντες. Luke iv. 38, ἀναστὰς
δέ (Mait. viii. 14, καὶ ἐλθών...
no connexion: cf. ν, 23; Mark
i. 39). The Demoniac in the
Synagogue; Peter's wife’s
mother cured.

(8) Luke vii. 11, ἐν τῇ ἑξῆς (al.
τῷ ἑξῆς). The Centurion’s
servant; the widow’s son.

These data are evidently insuffi-

᾿ cient to determine one certain order

ἰ

local connexion are scarcely more frequent’.
dinary words of transition are either indefinite or are
Outwardly at first sight the Synoptic

Cf. Mark’

(5) Matt. xiv. 22; Mark vi. 45, ©

The or-

of events; nor are the ambiguities
removed by taking into account the.
notices that some events followed
others: Matt. ix. 9, 273 xii. 9, 153
XV. 21, 29.

It may be observed that the style
of St Matthew presents the greatest
appearance of continuity, though
probably he offers the most nume-
rous divergences from chronological
order. Cf. Matt. viii. 1, ὄχλος
πολλοί" 2—4, καὶ ἰδοὺ... μηδενὶ εἴ-
πΉ5᾽ 5, εἰσελθόντος" 14, καὶ ἐλθών"
18, ἰδὼν δέ᾽ 23, καὶ ἐμβάντι" xiv.
13, 1. St Luke, on the other
hand, is the least connected. The
great series of events which he con-
nects with the last journey to Jeru-

- salem (xi.—xvii.), is at once one of

the strongest arguments against the

observance of time by the Evange-

lists, and the most striking illustra-
tion of their mode of connexion.

* In this respect the usage of each
Evangelist is peculiar. The follow-
ing connecting phrases may be no-
ticed: .

(1) In St Matthew: (a) Tére—at
that time. no close sequence:
the word does not occur in
this manner in St Mark; cf.
Luke xxi. 1o—iii. 5, 133 (iv
I); ix. 14, 37 (cf. ver. 35)s
Xl. 20; Xil, 22, 38; (xiii. 36);
ΧΡ, 12:1 XVi. 943 ΧΙ) 285
Στ 03,07 $.KR. 2h SRR a
In iv. 1 and xiii. 36 it marks
a direct sequence.

(8) δέ, iv. 18; v. τ; νὴ]. 18;
Xi. 23 XV. 325 ΧΕ 13.

(y) καί, iv. 233 Vili, τὰ; ix.
2, 9, 27, 353 X- 1; ΧΙ, 9;
XV. 215 ΧΥΪ. 1, 5.

(δ) ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ, xi. 25
xli. I; Xiv. I, ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ
ὥρα, XVill. I, ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς
ἡμέραις, iil, I, ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ
ἐκείνῃ, Xiil. 1.

(ε) To these may be added the

A SPIRITUAL ORDER.

Gospels are more like collections of anecdotes than his-
tories. If we compare any series of incidents which
they contain with a similar series in any historian ancient
or modern, we shall find at once that apart from all
other differences there is a fundamental distinction in
the way in which the incidents are put together. In
the one the circumstances of time and place rule the
combination: in the other the spiritual import, not in-
dependent of these, but yet rising above them, is dis-
tinctly predominant. :

But while it is maintained that the separate Gospels |
are not to be forced into any chronological harmony,
that the law of their composition is moral and not tem-
poral, that there is a progressive development in the
several histories, to neglect which is to lose the very
outline of their divine meaning; yet the order of time,
so far as it can be ascertained, is not to be. neglected.
The occasion frequently gives its character to the action.
A marked connexion brings out with unerring power

some latent trait which might otherwise have been over-_
looked*. Thus it is that particular days seem to stand |

use of ἐκεῖθεν, ix. 9, 273 Wie ὙΠ, Oa" te, ἐδ]
Mi, THs KML 9533 xv. xi. I} XX. 13 &c.
21, 29. (8) καί, iv. τό, 313 Vii. 18; |
(2) In St Mark: (a) καὶ... πάλι, Vili. 26; ix. 10, 57; Χ. ὅδ |
ii. 1, 133 iii. 13 iv. 1 (καὶ πᾶ» (y) δέ, vii. 36; viii. 193 ix. 1; |
hw); vii. 31 (kad πάλι); viii. 7> 43> 405 X. 1, 17. |
1, ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ημέραις The connexions of xi.—xvii. will |
πάλιν. be noticed afterwards. |
(8) Kal, i. 21, 40; ii. 18, 23; 1 The healing of the woman with |
iii, 7, 13, 20, 31; iv. 21,24, the issue, which in all the accounts |
26, 30; Vie 1, 7, 14.» 303 interrupts the history of the raising |
vii. I, 23; Vili, 22, 27. of Jairus’ daughter, offers the most

(3) In St- Luke: (a) καὶ éyévero or remarkable illustration of this. The
ἐγένετο δέ occurs—in St Luke beginning of the woman’s plague
42 times; in St Mark 4 times; was coeval with the maiden’s birth,
in St Matthew, καὶ ἐγένετο The one had suffered for twelve
bre ἐτέλεσεν (cuver. vii. 28), years when she was made whole;
five times; else once, ix. 10) _ the other had lived for twelve years

—v. I, 12, 17; vi. 1, 6, 12; whenshe fell asleep to receiveanew

WeG. Z

The order of
time gene-
rally coin-
cident with
@ sptritual
order.

354

| DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Chap. vii,

The Har-
mony of the
Gospels to be
sought in the
combination
of the pur-
poses which
they work
out,

out with signal prominence in the history of Christ, as
portraying a crisis of faith and unbelief in a rapid con-
currence of events’. The days themselves stand iso-
lated, while as distinct wholes they have an internal
unity. But beyond such a limited influence of time as
this, there is an influence which extends to a much wider
range. In the perfect life all succession proceeds by a
supreme law. The progress in the lessons which it un-
folds will answer absolutely, as among men partially, to

\its outward development. It is then impossible but

that there should be some broad lines of agreement in
order between records of Christ’s work based on its
varied spiritual meanings. General agreement will be
diversified by characteristic divergencies. The agree-
ment will be sufficiently wide to convey to us some
sense of the infinite harmony of every part and relation
of the human Life of the Saviour: the divergence suffi-
ciently striking to save us from sacrificing the manifold
bearings of eternal truth to a rigid order of time.

If this view be correct the technical work of the har-
monist is limited to a narrow compass. When he has
shewn that the few incidental fixed dates in the Gospels
are consistent with one another, all objections drawn
from the discordant order which they otherwise present
fall to the ground. He is then free to interpret the
letter by the spirit; and to lay open that inner harmony
which springs out of the union of various purposes, and
leads to the full portraiture of a divine work. The
reality of such a harmony is involved, as we have seen,
in the very idea of Inspiration, and it is perhaps a
life. It is impossible not to recog- 2 Matt. ix. § 6.

nisé in this a typical meaning. The 1 Two such days may be noticed :
faith of the Gentiles seizes the gift Luke iv. 33—42, a day of faith;

' which is destined for the Jew. This Mark iv. 1—v. 20, a day of opposi-

is beautifully brought out by Hilary, tion, warning, power.

ST MATTHEW.

355

corollary from the existence of a fourfold record. Yet
it is to be felt rather than analysed. The subtlest signs
by which it is characterized vanish in the rude process
of dissection. To present it clearly, and even then very
inadequately, would be to write a commentary on the
Gospels; and for the present it must be enough if we
can determine some of the great features by which it
“appears to be distinguished.

We have already seen that St Matthew connects the
beginning of the Gospel-history with the glories of the
typical kingdom and the hopes of the first covenant. At
the very outset he announces the Messiah as the son of
| David and the son of Abraham, the branch and seed to
which all Prophecy looked. The Genealogy, confined
within the limits of the national promise, is the intro-
duction to his narrative: the birth of the Christ’ his first
subject. The inner scope of the whole Gospel is directed
to the development of this idea in the light of ancient
Revelation’. The fear of Joseph is connected with the
righteousness of the law; and the imperfection of this
righteousness is at once intimated by the reference to
the szus of the people from which Christ should save them.
“But the holy name Jesus—symbolical at once of the
Ἢ ancient triumphs of Israel and of the future triumphs
‘of the Church—is merged for the moment in that mys-
terious title which was consecrated by the memory of
an ancient deliverance. ‘The sense of God’s personal
presence, which when shadowed forth in former times
had sustained the king of Judah against the armies of
Syria and Damascus, is at length confirmed by a literal
fulfilment of the symbol. J/mmanuel is no longer a figure
2 See Note A at the end of the

Chapter for an Analysis of the
Gospel.

1 There can be little doubt that
the correct reading in Matt. i. 18 is
τοῦ δὲ Χριστοῦ ἡ γένεσις οὕτως ἣν.

Chap. vii.

SZ Mat-
THEW’S
Gospel.

The History
of the pro-
mised Mes-
stah.

The Intro-
duction, (i.
ii.)

Matt. i. 18.

Matt. i. 21.

Isai. vii.

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Chap. vii
Matt. ii. 23.
i, The Pre-
lude.

(iii. iv.)
Matt. iii. 3;
iv. 1477
Matt. iii. 7.
Matt. iii. 1;

ΥΟΣ,

but a truth. The Parable becomes a fact: the word of
hope a confession of faith.

The first chapter declares the title of Messiah, the
second foreshews His reception. Adoration on the one
side, persecution on the other: the ministry of the
powers of heaven, the tyranny of the powers of earth:
bloodshed, and flight, and exile: such are the begin-
nings of the Kingdom. He who is saluted by Prophets
as God with us, is, according to the tenour of their
teaching, a Nasarene—poor and despised—in the eyes
of men.

So far we have a preface to the Gospel, pregnant
with symbolic facts. Next follows a brief summary of
Messiah’s work, presented in a rapid contrast between
His preaching and the preaching of His Herald. Both
proclaim the same message’. Both choose the field of
their labour according to the declarations of Prophecy.
But with this the resemblance ends. The work of John
is that of the Law, to awaken and convict. He con-
fronts the two great sections of the Jewish Church’* with.
terrible denunciations against the prescriptive holiness
of descent and ritual. For hope he points only to Him
who should come. In act, if not in word, he acknow-
ledges the fulfilment of his office in the recognition of
Messiah*, And then the scene changes. The wilder-
ness, which was the place of John’s teaching, is the
place of Christ’s Temptation. When John is cast into

1 Matt. iii. 2; iv. 17, Μετανοεῖτε,
ἤγγικεν yap ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν.
It may be doubted whether the true
reading in the second case is not
simply “Hyy:cev ἡ Bac. τ. otp. See
Tisch. ad loc.

2 From not observing the point
of this, some have felt a difficulty
at the mention of these sects. St

Matthew gives the relation of the
religious parties of the Jews to
John, as St Luke of each social
class. Both form together a whole:
τῶν Pap. καὶ Lado.

3 Thus he yields to the words
πληρῶσαι πᾶσαν δικαιοσύνην (Matt.
iii. 15). Compare Johni. 31.

ST MATTHEW.

85).

prison, Christ definitely begins his work’. Instead of
repelling or dismissing men, Christ calls them to follow
Him and share His labour. He announces in the Syna-
gogue the Gospel of the Kingdom*, and confirms His
word by signs of power and love.

From this point we are led to regard our Lord more
in detail under His different offices, as Lawgiver, Prophet,
and King. One trait prepares the way for the other, so
that it is difficult to make a very definite line of demar-
cation between the different sections of the history; but
while the transitions are gradual, the general progress of
idea is beyond question. The beginning is a counter-
part of the revelation from Sinai: the close a fulfilment
of the covenant with David’.

In this aspect the Sermon on the Mount is first seen

in its trué bearing on the scope of St Matthew. That:

which was for St Luke but as one discourse among
many was for St Matthew the introduction and key to
all*. The phrase with which it is opened marks the
solemn majesty of its delivery®. Words of blessing are
the preface of the new dispensation®. Step by step the

1 Matt. iv. 12, 17. Yet He had highest peak (καταβάς), such as

taught before: John iii. 22 ff.

2 Matt. iv. 23, τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς
βασιλείας. The phrase is character-
istic of St Matthew, ix. 35 (a re-
markable parallel); xxiv. r4. In
Mark i. 14 it is a false reading.

3 Matt. xxviii. 18, 20.

4 There cannot I think be any
reasonable doubt that the discourse
related in Luke vi. 20 ff. is the same
as that related by St Matthew. The
differences on which some have laid
stress vanish upon an accurate ex-
amination of the text. The scene
in St Matthew is τὸ ὄρος (v. 1), a
word of general meaning: St Luke
defines the spot more precisely as
τόπος medwos (vi. 17, not πεδίον), a
plateau on the mountain, below its

would naturally be chosen for ad-
dressing a multitude. I see no con-
tradiction between ἔστη in Luke vi.
17, and καθίσαντος αὐτοῦ in Matt.
v. 1. The words refer to different
moments, and St Luke preserves a
trait of the latter in vi. 20, ἐπά-
pas τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτοῦ els τοὺς
μαθητάς.

5 Matt. v. 1, ἀνοίξας τὸ στόμα (cf.
Eph. vi. 9). Spanheim, Dud. Zvang.
Ill. p. 375+ In ver. 21 ff. τοῖς ap-
xalos is certainly (as apparently all
the ancient Versions) Zo (not dy) zhe
men of old. Cf. Rom. ix. 12 (ix. 20
LXX); Gal. iii. 16; Apoc. vi. rr;
ix. 4; Matt. xxii. 31.

6 It is worthy of remark that the
Kingdom is noticed in the first and

Chap. vii.
Matt, iv.
18 ff.

Matt. iv.

232

il. The Mes-
sitah as Law-
giver and
Prophet.
(v.—xiii.)

(a) The New
Law.
(v.—viii.}

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

(B) The tes-
timony of
Signus.

(viii. ix.)
Matt. viii.
I—7.

Matt. viii.’
18—ix.

nature of Christ is unfolded as the consummation of the
Jewish Theocracy*. The great features of the Christian
commonwealth, the character and influence’? of its citi-
zens, the principles of the Christian law, and the practice
of the Christian life, are deduced from the ordinances,
and often expressed in the words, of the Old Testament.
The voice which speaks is one of absolute authority, but
it proclaims everywhere not abrogation but fulfilment. —
The promulgation of the new Law is followed by the
record of a series of Miracles* which enforce and explain
the true position and authority of the Lawgiver. He
fulfils the spirit of the Law and acknowledges its claims,
while He violates the letter*: He points to faith and not
inheritance as the basis of His kingdom: He shews that
active gratitude for God’s mercies is unrestrained by
ceremonial injunctions®. Or to regard the subject from
another point of sight, the same Miracles indicate in
succession the certainty, the spirituality, and the com-
pleteness, of His works; and if we turn from the works
themselves to those for whom they were wrought, we
notice resignation as the true mark of the suppliant ;
faith of the intercessor; service of the restored. Out-
cast, stranger, and friend, are alike heard. All is indeed
infinite because it is divine. The significance of the
signs deepens as we look to their different bearings.
The common relation of Christ to the people being
thus indicated, He is seen in a clear relation to His dis-

ciples. He claims perfect self-denial; and He exhibits

last (v. 3, 10); nor would it be diffi- 13, 14, will appear very striking.
cult to point out a relation observed 3 For a classification of the Mira-

in the order of the blessings.

1 For an outline of the Sermon
on the Mount, which will make this
clearer, see Note B at the end of
the Chapter.

2 If we represent to ourselves the
company, the emphatic ὑμεῖς in ver.

cles in St Matthew see Note ( "αἱ
the end of the Chapter.

4 It was unlawful to touch a
leper: Matt. viii. 3; Lev. v. 3.

5 Matt. viii. 16 indicates that the
Miracle was wrought on the Sab-
bath, Cf. Luke iv. 31, 38.

5.72 MATTHEW.

perfect power and mercy and wisdom. The material
and spiritual worlds obey His voice: the bands of sin
are loosed by His word. But at the same time faith
is exhibited as the measure of man’s blessing, and the
means whereby he may recognise the presence and the
power of God. The outward cure is the image of.an
unseen salvation. The blind do not see till they be-
lieve: and when utterance is given to the dumb, the
Pharisees can say that the devil is cast out through the
prince of the devils.

The character of the Lawgiver next passes into that
of the Prophet. The mission of the Apostles is the
public establishment of the Kingdom of which the na-
ture and authority are already declared. Discourses pre-
- dominate largely over miracles. The facts are construc-
tive and not initiatory. The great charge is placed in

vivid juxtaposition with a portraiture of the people [

among whom the Apostles should work. Woes are
balanced by thanksgivings. The true disciples are
shewn to be not the wise but the simple, not the specta-
tors of mighty Miracles but the meek and lowly of
heart. Then follows a contrast which penetrates the
_ whole range of life. The letter and the spirit of the Law
‘are contrasted by the light of Scripture’, of reason, of
Miracle: the kingdom of Satan with the kingdom of
God: the sign of Jonas with the questionings of the
Jews: the kindred of blood with the kindred of the
spirit. And at this point, while the multitudes press to
hear, the formation and growth of the Azzgdom in its
widest relations is explained by analogies from the
natural world’, rich in instruction for the believing, and

bles of St Matthew see note D at

1 The remarkable passage, xii.
the end of the chapter.

5—7, is peculiar to St Matthew.
4 For a classification of the Para-

Matt. ix. 29.

Matt ix. 6,

22.
Matt, ix. 28.
Matt. ix. 34.

(y) The Com-

WLLSSLON.

Matt. x.

Matt. xi. r—
το; 20—30.

(8) The Con-
trast.

Matt. xii, 1—
13.

Matt. xii. 22
—37; 38—45.

Matt, xii. 4€
(e) Parables
of the King-
dom.
Matt. xiii. 1
—52.

360

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Chap. vii.

Matt, xiii.
530:

iil. The Mes-
siahasKing.
Matt, xiv.—-

Xxv.
(a) The cha-
vacter of the
King as com-
pared with

earthly and

Matt. xiv. x
το 33»

hierarchical
dominion.
Matt. xv. 1—
29.

mere riddles for the faithless". We read of the Divine
power which founds it, and of the simultaneous influ-
ence of evil*: of its outward majesty and of its inward Ὁ
power: of its objective value and of its subjective |
claims*®: and lastly, of its universality. On earth con-
fusion and error prevail to the last, but there will be a.
day of final separation. Christ Himself is no Prophet
in His own country. He does there few mighty works
because of their unbelief; and yet He is preparing to
claim His royal inheritance.

The royal dignity of Messiah is introduced by an
incident, which but for this connexion appears to break
the tenour of the history. The tyranny of an earthly
sovereign—the banquet of Herod and the death of
John—stands in clear opposition to the love of Him
whose compassion was moved by the sight of the
gathered multitudes, so that He healed and fed them in
the wilderness. Herod, though grieved, works murder ;
Christ saves even beyond the extent of man’s hope.
Temporal dominion presents one side of the contrast:
hierarchical dominion the other. The tradition of the
Elders is set aside as opposing the Law of God; and

1 St Matthew alone expressly
gives Christ’s reference to Prophecy
as explanatory of His teaching, xiii.
14, 15. It is zwplied in the other
accounts.

2 The real force of this Parable
(24—30) seems to have been lost by
not attending to the word ὡμοιώθη
as distinguished from ὁμοία ἐστί.
The Church is subject to outward
influence: it is made like to some
things, as it zs like to others. Cf.
XViii. 233 xxii. 2; xxv. 1. The full
force of fifavia, which had the sem-
blance but not the fruit of wheat, is
well given in the words of Origen :
Non solum est sermo Christus, et
est sermo Antichristus : veritas Chris-

tus, et simulata veritas Antichris- _
tus: sapientia Christus, et simulata
sapientia Antichristus . .. quoniam
omnes species boni quascunque ha-
bet Christus in se in veritate ad
eedificationem hominum, omnes eas
habet in se diabolus in specie ad
seductionem sanctorum. (Comm. in
Matt. 33.)

3 xiii. 45, ὁμοία... ἀνθρώπῳ $0
τοῦντι, not ὁμοία μαργαρίτῃ as in
ver. 44. The spirit of the King-
dom works in the man. In 44, 48»
47, a threefold form of image is
given, corresponding to a _three-
fold aspect of the operation of
the Gospel (θησαυρῷ, ἀνθρώπῳ, σα-

ὙΠ ν}).

“ως ἡ
“Ret r .

ζ A

ST MATTHEW. bates

{
Py, é

ΟῚ :
LAN’.

Ree Pp
the blessings extended to Jews are now sy iedlly'
assured to Gentiles as citizens of the future kingdom!’
The faith of the Canaanite and the patience of the wait-
ing multitude win the help. which excites the surprise
-of the disciples. Yet even thus it is not given to all to
see Christ. The signs of the times are unintelligible
to the blind of heart ; while to the faithful God Himself
reveals the deepest mysteries.

St Peter’s inspired confession opens the way to further
glimpses of the Kingdom. Yet the earliest manifesta-
tion of Christ’s glory, like the splendour of the eastern
sky, betokens the coming storm. The announcement of
shame and sorrow and death is the introduction to the
vision of majesty. The Transfiguration of Messiah is
connected with the first distinct announcement of His
sufferings, with the prospect of His human conflict and
the vindication of His divine right. Thenceforth He
speaks more in detail of the citizens of the Kingdom:
of their moving principles, obedience, humility, unselfish-
ness, forgiveness; and of their social characteristics, of
the rights of marriage as a religious bond, of the duties
of wealth as a blessing derived only from God. Yet all
claims of merit are excluded. Jany first shall be last.
The warning voice of the Parable which closes the sec-
tion shews that our reward rests in God’s good pleasure.

The journey to Jerusalem presents once again the
conflict between the hopes of the disciples and the work
of Christ. Their prayer for dignity is answered by the
foretelling of suffering; and on the other hand the eyes
of the blind are opened, though the multitude rebukes
them, as they cry for mercy to the Sox of Davia’.

ix. 27. We may feel that the act
of faith which acknowledges Jesus
as the Messiah restores true vision
to man. In Mark viii. 22 sight is

1 It is worthy of notice that this
phrase is used in the one other place
in which sight is restored to the
blind at their own prayer: Matt.

“ep
4 7

Matt. xvi. σ
—20-

(8) Glimpses
of the King-
dom.

Matt. xvi. 3.

Matt, xvi. 24
-28.

Matt. xvii.
21, 26.

Matt. xvii.
24—XVili.

Matt. xix.

Matt. xx. 1—
16.

(y) The King
claims His
heritage.

Matt. xx. 20
—34-

362

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Chap. vii.
Matt. xxi. 18
---22.

Matt. xxi. 23
—xXxXil,

Matt.. xxii.
41—46.
Matt. xxiii.
—XXV.

iv. Death
the gate of

The title of Messiah with which the Gospel began is
thus resumed at its close’. In virtue of His royal
power He purifies the temple of God, and marks by:
a type the national barrenness of Israel, a disobedient
and faithless people. Then follows the conflict. The.
question of cavillers is followed by a portraiture of their.
character. The political. objections of the Herodian,
the intellectual difficulties of the Sadducee, the legal
disputes of the Pharisee, are answered*. A counter
question closes finally this second Temptation; and a
triple judgment pronounced on the Teachers, on the
City, on the World, prepares the way for the Passion.
The record of the public ministry of Christ ends where
it began, in the teaching of the Law. But woes answer
to blessings: the sentence of the Scribes to the Sermon
addressed to the multitudes: the first had declared the
fulfilment of the spirit of Judaism, the last exposes the
corruption of its practice. And when Christ turns to
His disciples the words of judgment still remain. He
destroys their present hope of an earthly kingdom by
prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem: and, yet
more, He passes onward to the end of the outward
Christian Church, to that final day when the Son of man
shall sit on the throne of His glory, and judge all nations
as their King*. :

The narrative of the Passion, like so much else’ in

Mark

restored by intercession; in John
Luke

xxii. 18, γνοὺς τὴν πονηρίαν.

ix. 3, 4, by a direct act of divine
mercy; so many are the ways in
which God enlightensus. Cf. Matt.
Xll. 23; XV. 22; xxi. Ὁ, Τῆι

1 ‘The multitudes and afterwards
the children cry Hosanna to the
‘Son of David (Matt. xxi. 9, 15).
This salutation does not occur in the
other Gospels.

* The variety of the language of

the Evangelists gives a full picture of.

the spirit of Christ’s enemies: Matt: ’

xii, 15, εἰδὼς τὴν ὑπόκρισιν.
XX. 23, κατανοήσας τὴν πανουργίαν.

3 Matt. xxv. 31. ‘The whole dis-
course. is peculiar to St Matthew;
and this is the only place in which
our Lord assumes the title of King. _
Cf. Matt. v. 35, xxi. 5; Luke xix,
38; John xix, 27. The reader of
Plato will call to mind the mag-
nificent myth of Er the Armenian
(Zoroaster, Clem. Alex. Strom. V.
104): esp. X. pp. O14 ff

ST MATTHEW. ‘

363

St Matthew, proceeds by contrasts. Calm foreknow-
ledge and restless craft, devotion and treachery, the
advance to death and the rash promise, the inward
agony and the outward desertion, heighten the effect
of a picture which only familiarity can weaken. And
the contrast does not end even here. The confession
of the Lord and the denial of the servant; the death
of Judas and the death of Christ; the care of friends
and the vigilance of enemies, carry it on to the last with
a divine power. Love still lingers by the grave which
seemed to be closed over all hope.

The history of the Resurrection completes the lesson
of the whole Gospel. We have passed from the spirit
of the Mosaic Law to the foundation of the Church and
the inspiring strength of the Atonement. The temporal
hopes of the ancient people have been gradually replaced
by their spiritual antitypes: the costly offerings of the
Magi by the precious ointment of a believing woman:
the adoration of sages by the simple faith of a despised
Canaanite. Yet once again the Lawgiver of the New
Covenant addressed His disciples from the Galilean
mountain, but He dwelt no longer on the People of the
Past, but on the Church of the Future: the command-
ments to the men of old were fulfilled in the teaching
of Christianity. Once again the promised King ap-
peared and received the homage of His subjects, but it
was as the Lord of heaven and earth, and not as the

Prince of Israel. Once again the Prophet of our Faith |
spoke comfort to His Apostles while He assured to.
them the essence of the theocratic rule in the promise |
of the abiding presence of Immanuel: Lo all the days
Lam with you unto the end of the world’.

language or construction. The style
is not nearly so Hebraizing as that |
F !

ἰ

1 The Gospel of St Matthew is
not very broadly characterized in

Chap. vii.

the Eternal
Kingdom.

(a) The Pas-

sion,

Matt. xxvii.
61.

(8) The
Triumph.

Matt., xxviii.
16, 19.

Matt. xxviii.
19.

Ver, 20.

364

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Chap. vii.
i. St MaRK.
Christwork-
ing autong
men.

The Gospel of St Mark offers a great contrast to

that of St Matthew in its general effect.

The peculiari-

ties of language and minuteness of detail which are least

of St John, nor is the language so

rich as that of St Mark. Yet there

are some words and phrases which

mark the Hebrew Evangelist. A-

mong these the following are the

most important :

(1) Ἢ βασιλεία, τῶν

(Dw NID) The
τς of heaven ; which phrase
occurs 32 times in St Matthew,
and not in the other Evangel-

οὐρανῶν
king:

ists, who use in parallel pas- _

sages 7 βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ, the
kingdom of God (Matt. vi.
333 xii. 28 ; xxi. 31, 43).

(2) ὁ πατὴρ ὁ ἐν οὐρανοῖς (ὁ οὐρά-
vos), Which occurs 15 times in
St Matthew, twice in St Mark,
and not at all in St Luke (in
xi. 2 it is a false reading).
Generally it will be observed
that οἱ οὐρανοί is the seat of
the heavenly powers; ὁ ov-
ρανός the physical heaven.

(3) Υἱὸς Δαυείδ, seven times in
St Matthew, three times each
in St Mark and St Luke.

(4) 7° ἁγία πόλις, the Holy City,
Matt. iv. 5; xxvii. 53. Not
in the other Evangelists. Cf,
Matt. xxiv. 15, τόπος ἅγιος.
Apoc. xi. 23 xxi. 2 (ἡ πόλις ἡ
ayia); Xxi. 10.

(5) ἡ συντέλεια τοῦ αἰῶνος, the
consummation of the age (the
end of the world). Matt. xiii.
39 (συντ. al.), 40, 49 5 Xxiv. 3;
xxvili, 20. Hebr. ix. 26, συν-
τέλεια τῶν αἰώνων, the meeting
of the Old and New. Cf. Job
xxvi. 10 LXX ap. Schleusn.

(6) wa (ὅπως) πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥηθέν,
eight times in St Matthew.
Not elsewhere in this form.
In St John, ἵνα πληρωθῇ ὁ
λόγος (ἡ γραφή) ; in St Mark
once, ἵνα πλ. αἱ γραφαί.

(7) τὸ ῥηθέν twelve times (ὁ ῥη-
θείς, iii. 3); ἐρρήθη six times.
Not elsewhere of Scripture
(Mark xiii. 14 is a false read-
ing). Cf. Gal. i. 16. St
Matthew always uses τὸ ῥηθὲν
when quoting Scripture him-
self. In other quotations he
has γέγραπται, like the other
Evangelists. He never uses
the singular γραφή.

(8) καὶ ἰδού (in narrative) in St
Matthew 23 times; in St Luke
16; not in St Mark.

(9) ἱπαρεγόμον ον: . λέγοντες ab-
solutely, without the dative of
person. Cf, Gersdorf, Bettriige

95 f.

(το) ἐθνικός, Matt. v. 473 Vie 73
xviii. 17. Cf. Gal. ii. 14.

(11) ὀμνύειν ἐν, twelve times in
St Matthew. Cf. Apoc. x. 6. -

Several other peculiarities collected
by Credner (Zzu/. 37) and Gersd lorf
establish the unity of authorship,
but do not appear to be obviously |
characteristic of the position of the
author, ¢.g. ἕως οὗ, πᾶς ὅστις, τάφος,
ἐΝενμήφῤνολὰ προσελθεῖν, μαθητεύειν,
μαλακία, ἐγείρεσθαι ἀπό, the position
of the adverb after the verb, &c. Cf.
P+ 357) N. 2.

Still more characteristic is the in-
troduction of Prophetic passages by
the Evangelist himself (cf. p. 229 n.):

i. 23 || Is. vii. 14
li. 15 || Hos. xi. 1
ii. 18 | Jer. xxxvili. 15
li. 22; ἦν. 15, 16 || Zs. 2x. τ, 2
ΘΙ. 17 || Zs. dazz. 4
xii. 18 ff. || Ls. xlit. 1 ff
Xt. 35 || Ps. Lexvet, 2
XXi. 5 || Zech. ix. 9
Xxvii. 9,10 || Zech. xi. 13

The general references to Messiah’s
work (distinguished by italics) de-
serve especial notice.

ST MARK.

observable in St Matthew are most obvious in St Mark ;
and conversely St Mark offers nothing which answers
to the long expositions of the Lord’s teaching in St
Matthew. This fundamental difference is seen at once
in the relative proportion in which the records of Miracles
and Parables stand to one another in St Mark. The
number of Miracles which he gives is scarcely less than
that in the other Synoptic Gospels’, while he relates
only four Parables» Like St Peter’, he is contented
to lay the foundation of the Christian faith and leave
‘the superstructure to others. It is enough that Christ
‘should be presented in the most vivid light, unfolding
the truth in acts rather than in words; for faith will
translate the passing deed into an abiding lesson.
Everything centres in the immediate facts to be noticed.
Without drawing a complete history, St Mark frames
a series of perfect pictures. But each is the representa-
tion of the outward features of the scene. For this
reason the Evangelist avoids all reference to the Old
Testament*. The quotations which occur in the Lord’s
discourses remain, but after the Introduction he adds
none in his own person. ‘The living portraiture of Christ
is offered in the clearness of His present energy, not as
the Fulfilment of the Past, nor even as the foundation
of the Future. His acts prove that He is both; but

1 For a classification of the Mira- 3 Dean Stanley’s Sermons on the
cles in St Mark see Note Eat the <Afostolic Age, p. 102.

end of the Chapter. 4 The quotation in Mark xv. 28

» 2 They are the following : is an interpolation. The quota-

(a) Parables of the growth of _ tion in i. 2, 3 seems to shew that

the Kingdom. the Evangelist purposely avoided

The sower (iv. 1—20). references to the Prophecies after-

The seed growing secretly wards. It may be noticed that
(iv. 26—29). The mus-. the word νόμος never occurs in St
tard seed (iv. 30—32). Mark; it istfrequent in the other

(8) Parable of Judgment. ‘Evangelists, but it is not found in
- The husbandmen (xii. St Peter,
I—12).

The Gospel
of action.’

366

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SVNOPTISTS.

—_—

» Chap. vii.

The charac-
teristics of
St Mark to
be sought in
details.

Additions
which shew
direct infor-
mation.

this is a deduction from the narrative, and not the sub-
ject of it. :
It follows from what has been already said that the
chief point for study in St Mark’s Gospel is the vivid-
ness of its details and not the subordination of its parts
to the working out of any one idea. The narrative does
not indeed vary considerably in its contents from the
other. Synoptic Gospels, and offers several broad divi-
sions which mark successive stages in the work of
Christ’. But turning from the construction of the whole
record to the characteristic treatment of separate inci-
dents, we are at once struck by the extent and import-
ance of the minute peculiarities which St Mark presents,
There is perhaps not one narrative which he gives in
common with St Matthew and St Luke to which he
does not contribute some special feature. These pecu-
liarities are so numerous that they prove his indepen-
dence beyond all doubt, unless we are prepared to admit
the only possible alternative, that they are due to the
mere fancy of the Evangelist ; a supposition which is
sufficiently refuted by their character. The details point
clearly to the impression produced upon an eye-witness,
and are not such as would suggest themselves to the
imagination of a chronicler. At one time we find a
minute touch which places the whole scene before us’;
at another time an accessory circumstance such as often

1 For the plan of St Mark’s

| Gospel see Note F at the end of
the Chapter.

2 In the enumeration of the chief
peculiarities of St Mark given in the
following notes, I have not attempt-
ed more than a rough classification.
The erroneous views commonly held
as to the epitomatory character of
his Gospel invest these details with
peculiar interest, and they will τῷ-
pay careful study.

iv. 37, 38, Ta κύματα ἐπέβαλλεν

els τὸ πλοῖον...καὶ αὐτὸς ἣν ἐν τῇ

πρύμνῃ. ἐπὶ τὸ προσκεφάλαιον καθεύ-
δων.

vi. 38.

vi. 48, καὶ ἤθελεν παρελθεῖν av-

1X Fe
ix. 14—16.
x. 50, ὁ δὲ ἀποβαλὼν τὸ ἱμάτιον

αὐτοῦ ἀναπηδήσας ἦλθεν...

Χν. 44.

ST MARK.

367

. fixes itself on the mind, without appearing at first sight
.to possess any special interest’: now there is a phrase
which reveals the feeling of those who were witnesses of
‘some mighty work’; now a-word which preserves some
trait of the Saviour’s tenderness*, or some expressive
turn of His language*. Other additions are such as
might have been made for the sake of clearness, even
by one who had no immediate information as to the
events recorded’; but besides these there are some
which indicate yet more distinctly the Apostolic source
of the peculiarities of St Mark. He alone describes on
several occasions the look and feeling of the Lord’, and

1 Mark i. 20, μετὰ τῶν μισθωτῶν.

iv. 36, καὶ ἄλλα δὲ πλοῖα ἣν μετ’
αὐτοῦ.

vi. 41, καὶ τοὺς δύο ἰχθύας ἐμέρισεν
πᾶσιν. :

xiv. 51, 52. Cf. pp. 234, 330.

xiv. 3, συντρίψασα τὴν add Bac-
Tpov.

4 Mark vi. 52, οὐ γὰρ συνῆκαν ἐπὶ
τοῖς ἄρτοις" ἣν γὰρ αὐτῶν ἡ —
πεπωρωμένη.

Vili. 32, ταρῥησίᾷ τὸν λόγον ἐλά-
λει.

ix. IO.

x. 24, of δὲ μαθηταὶ ἐθαμβοῦντο
ἐπὶ Tots λόγοις αὐτοῦ.

X. 32, ἣν προάγων αὐτοὺς ὁ *In-
σοῦς, καὶ ἐθαμβοῦντο, οἱ δὲ ἀκολου-
θοῦντες ἐφοβοῦντο.

xl. το, Εὐλογημένη ἡ ἐρχομένη
βασιλεία τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν Δαυείδ,

Cf. vi. 3, ὁ τέκτων.

3 Mark vi. 31, Δεῦτε ὑμεῖς αὐτοὶ
“κατ᾽ ἰδίαν εἰς ἔρημον τόπον καὶ ἀνα-
ΤῊΝ ὀλίγον.

- 34, ἐσπλαγχνίσθη ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς
bre. hay ws πρόβατα μὴ ἔχοντα
ποιμένα.

viii. 3, καί τινες αὐτῶν ἀπὸ μακρό-
θεν εἰσίν.

ix. 21, 25, 27.

KOR, ἀν

4 Mark i. 15, πεπλήρωται ὁ καιρός
«πιστεύετε ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ.

iv. 11, ἐκείνοις τοῖς ἔξω.

vii. 8, «ἀφέντες τὴν ἐντολὴν τοῦ
θεοῦ κρατεῖτε τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν
ἀνθρώπων.

vill. 38, ἐν τῇ γενεᾷ ταύτῃ τῇ

'μοιχαλίδι καὶ ἁμαρτωλῷ.

ix. 12, καὶ πῶς---ἐξουδενωθῇ ;

ix. 39, οὐδεὶς γὰρ.. δυνήσεται ταχὺ
κακολογῆσαί με.

X. 21, ἄρας τὸν σταυρόν.

Xx. 30.

ΧΙ. 17, οἶκος προσευχῆς κληθήσεται
πῶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν.

xl. 24, πιστεύετε ὅτι ἐλάβετε

‘Kal ἔσται ὑμῖν.

xii. 6, ἔτι ἕνα εἶχεν υἱὸν ἀγαπητόν.

Xili. 32, οὐδὲ ὁ vids.

xiv. 18, ὁ ἐσθίων μετ᾽ ἐμοῦ.

xiv. 37, Σίμων καθεύδεις ;

5 Mark iii. 14, ἵνα ὥσιν per’ αὐτοῦ
καὶ ἵνα ἀποστέλλῃ αὐτοὺς κηρύσ-
σειν...

iii. 30, ὅτι ἔλεγον Πνεῦμα αἀκάθαρ-
τον ἔχει.

v. 26, μηδὲν ὠφεληθεῖσα ἀλλὰ
μᾶλλον εἰς τὸ χεῖρον ἐλθοῦσα.

Vv. 20.

vii. 2—4.

xi. 13, 6 γὰρ καιρὸς οὐκ ἦν σύκων.

Cf. vi. 13, oe ἐλαίῳ πολλοὺς
ἀρρώστους: Ve 45

8 Mark i iii. 5, feat περιβλεψάμενος
avrovs] μετ᾽ ὀργῆς, συλλυπούμενος
ἐπὶ τῇ πωρώσει τῆς καρδίας λέγει...

Chap. vii,

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Style.

preserves the very Aramaic words which He uttered’.
He records minute particulars of persons, number, time,
and place’, which are unnoticed by the other Evange-

lists.

particularity of observation.
In narration he frequently adopts the

are lively®.

present for the historic tenses*,
for an indirect form of expression’.

His language and: style correspond with this

His phrases of transition

and introduces a direct
He couples to-

gether words or phrases of similar meaning to heighten

lii. 34, περιβλεψάμενος κύκλῳ τοὺς
περὶ αὐτὸν καθημένους λέγει...

V. 32, περιεβλέπετο (of aor.) ἰδεῖν
τὴν τοῦτο ποιήσασαν.

vi. 6, ἐθαύμαζε διὰ τὴν ἀπιστίαν
αὐτῶν.

x. 21, ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς ἐμβλέψας αὐτῷ
ἠγάπησεν αὐτόν...

X. 23, καὶ περιβλεψάμενος ὁ Ἴη-
gous...

xi. 11, Kal περιβλεψάμενος πάντα...

Cf, 1. 4% 433. χρὴ;

1 Mark iii. 17, Boavnpyés, ὅ ἐστιν
viol βροντῆς.

v. 41, Ταλιθὰ κοῦμι, 6 ἐστιν μεθερ-
μηνευόμενον, Td κοράσιον σοὶ λέγω
ἔγειρε.

vil. 11, Κορβᾶν, ὃ ἐστιν δῶρον (Cf.
Matth. xxvii. 6),

Vii. 34, "Epdabd, ὃ ἐστιν Avavol-
χθητι.

xiv. 36, Reliones ὁ πατήρ.

Cf. ix..43 Ὁ}: κὶ 46s

2 (a) Persons: τ 20, καὶ ᾿Ανδρέου

μ. Ἶακ. καὶ Ἰωάν.

ἥ 30, κατεδίωξαν αὐτὸν Σίμων καὶ

οἱ μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ.

ii. 26.

iii. 6, μετὰ τῶν Ἡρωδιανῶν.

lil, 22, οἱ γραμματεῖς οἱ ἀπὸ Ἵερο-

σολύμων καταβάντες...

vii. 26.

ie ἃ μετὰ τῶν δώδεκα.

xi. 21, ἀναμνησθεὶς ὁ ἹΙέτρος.

xiii. 3, ἐπηρώτα αὐτὸν κατ᾽ ἰδίαν

Πέτρος καὶ I. καὶ Ἶ. καὶ ᾽Α.

xiv. 65, οἱ ὑπηρέται.

ἈΚ. ἢ.

_ ky. 21, τὸν πατέρα ᾽Δ. καὶ Ῥ,

xvi. 7, τῷ Πέτρῳ.

(8) Number: ν. 13, ὡς δισχίλιοι.

vi. 7, ἀποστέλλειν δύο δύο.

vi. 40, ἀνέπεσαν πρασιαὶ πρασιαί,

κατὰ ἑκατὸν καὶ κατὰ πεντήκοντα.

xiv. 30, πρὶν ἢ δὶς ἀλέκτορα φωνῆ-

σαι τρίς με ἀπαρνήσῃ.

(γ) Time: 1. 35, πρωὶ ἔννυχα λίαν.
f. xvi. 2.

ii. 1, δι’ ἡμερῶν.

iv. 35, ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ὀψίας

γενομένης.

Vi. 2, γενομένου σαββάτου.

xi. 11, ὀψίας ἤδη οὔσης. Cf. xi. 19.

xiv. 68.

XV. 25, ἣν δὲ ὥρα τρίτη.

(δ) Place: ii. 13, παρὰ τὴν θάλασ-᾿
σαῦ, ΠΟΥ ill. 7 νυ ΝΣ

ν. 20, ἐν τῇ Δεκαπόλει.

vii. 31, ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν ὁρίων Δεκα-

πόλεως.

(viii. 10).

xii. 41, κατέναντι τοῦ γαζοφυλα-

κίου.

xiii. 3, κατέναντι τοῦ ἱεροῦ.

xiv. 68, eis TO ᾿προαύλιον.

XV. 39, ὁ παρεστηκὼς ἐξ ἐναντίας.

Xvi. 5, καθ. ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς.

3 Thus καὶ εὐθύς occurs probably
twenty-seven times (the reading is
often uncertain) in St Mark, eight
times in St Matthew, and twice in
St Luke.

4 i, 40, 443
xiv. 43, 66, &c.
5 Mark iv. 39> Σιώπα πεφίμωσο.

v. 8, Ἔξελθε τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἀκάθαρ-
τον ἐκ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.

vi. 23, 315 χὰ, 6, °c,

"νῶν xiv: Res

ST MARK,

369

or define his meaning’. Like St John, he repeats the
subject in place of using the relative’, And in many
cases he uses terms of singular force which do not occur
elsewhere in the New Testament’.

The few incidents which are peculiar to St Mark
illustrate, as might be expected, the general character
of his Gospel. The one Parable which he alone has
preserved turns our attention to God’s presence in the
slow and silent operations of Nature as typical of His
constant presence among men in their daily life. Of
the two peculiar Miracles, one lays open the gradual
process of the cure wrought*; and the other exhibits
a trait which seems to reveal something of the agony
of the Redeemer’s work, as leading to the last Agony
at Gethsemane, when He looked up to heaven and groaned
(ἐστέναξε) in contemplation of the wreck which sin had
wrought in man, who is ever dull in hearing and slow in
praising God*®, The connexion of these three special
lessons is surely most significant. Without taking away
the attention from the outward act, they lead us to look
at the inmost processes which the outward act reveals.
Together they give hope and strength for all labour.
A Saviour sorrows over man’s sufferings and unbelief,
and meets each advance of faith: a Spirit works within

προμεριμνᾶν, xiil. II.
- συνθλίβειν, ν. 24, 31.

4 viii. 22—26, ἐπιθεὶς τὰς χεῖρας
...€lra πάλιν ἐπέθηκεν τὰς χεῖρας.

ὅ vii. 31—37. Cf. John xi. 35..
It is remarkable that in both these
Miracles our Lord took the sufferer

1 i, 13, ἦν [ἐκεῖ] ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ.

ii, 20, τότε...ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ.

ili. 29, οὐκ ἄφεσιν ἔχει εἰς τὸν
αἰῶνα ἀλλὰ ἔνοχός ἐστιν αἰωνίου
ἁμαρτήματος.
iv. 33, 343 V. 26, &c.

vi. 25, εὐθὺς μετὰ σπουδῆς.

vii. 21, ἔσωθεν... .ἐκ τῆς καρδίας, δια.

2 ii. 19, 20, 273 ill. I, 35 iv. 15
(cf. Mt. and Lec.); v.41, 423 Vl. 17,
18 (cf. Mt.); x. 13 (cf. Mt. and Le.);
xiv. 66, 67 (cf. Mt. and Lc.).

3 ἐκθαμβεῖσθαι, ix. 15; xiv. 333
xvi. 5, 6.

ἐναγκαλίζεσθαι, ix. 36; x. 16.

W.G,

apart(vii. 33, ἀπολαβόμενος ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄχ-
Nou" Vili. 23, ἐξήνεγκεν ἔξω τῆς κώμη).

One other circumstance in con-
nexion with Christ’s miracles is no-
ticed by St Mark, that even those
who éouched the border of His gar-
ment were niade whole (Mark vi. 86;
cf, Luke vi. 19, viii. 46; Acts xix.12).

Chap. vii.

Additional
incidents
character-
tstic.

Mark iv. 26
—29.

370

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Chap. vii.

Additional
tratts in
common tn-
cidents.

Mark i. 33.
Mark ii. 2.

Mark i. 45.

Mark vi. 33.

Mark vi. 55,
56.

us, bringing to ‘maturity by hidden steps the seed Wvitich

| God has planted.

The smaller variations in the narrative offer several
features of interest in addition to those which have been
already noticed. One of these characterizes the whole
Gospel. St Mark more than any other Evangelist re-
cords the effect which was produced on others by the
Lord’s working. Just as he follows out the details of the
acts themselves, he mentions the immediate and wider
results which they produced. From the beginning to
the end he tells us of the wonder and amazement and
fear’ with which men listened to the teaching of Christ.
Everywhere multitudes crowd to hear Him’, as well as
to receive His blessings. When He was in a house, the
whole city was gathered to the door, and even then the
crowd could find no room. So great at times was the
excitement that He could no longer openly enter into the
city; and it is said twice, that as many came and weit,
He could not even eat®,so that He seemed to His kindred
to be beside Himself. Those who were healed, in spite
of His injunctions, proclaimed abroad the tidings of
His power*. And in His retirement, men from all the
cities ran together on foot to see Him; and wherever He
went, into villages or cities or country, they placed their
sick before Him; and as many as touched Him were
made whole.

1 Mark i. 22 (ἐξεπλήσσοντο), 27)

1, τ, £5); ἀνα, ὄχλος πλεῖστος" Ve
vi. 20; xi. 18; vii. 37 (ὑπερπερισσῶς

21, 24, 345 ΧΟῚ; xil. 37°

ἐξεπλ.); x. 26 (περισσῶς ἐξεπλ.).

v. 20 (ἐθαύμαζον); ix. 15 (ἐξεθαμ-
BnOnoar); x. 24 (ἐθαμβοῦντο).

v. 42 (ἐξ ξέστησαν ἐκστάσει μεγάλῃ);
vi. 51 (λίαν ἐκ περισσοῦ ἐξίσταντο).

iv. 41 (ἐφοβήθησαν φόβον μέγαν);
Δ ν ΟΣ ax. 6); ix, 32.

Ξ Mark i ii. 13, πᾶς ὁ ὄχλος ἤρχετο
πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ ἐδίδασκεν αὐτούς (cf.

3 iii. 20, 21, ὥστε μὴ δύνασθαι
αὐτοὺς μηδὲ ἄρτον φαγεῖν" καὶ ἀκού-
σαντες οἱ παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ...ἔλεγον ὅτι ἐξέ-
στη. Vi. 31, ἦσαν οἱ ἐρχόμενοι καὶ
οἱ ὑπάγοντες πολλοί, καὶ οὐδὲ φαγεῖν
εὐκαίρουν. .

Δ θ, 48, ἤρξατο κηρύσσειν πολ-
Aa Kal: διαφημίζειν τ τὸν λόγον. Υ. 20;
vii. 36.

ST MARK.

371

In substance and style and treatment the Gospel
of St Mark is essentially a transcript from life.’ The
course and issue of facts are imaged in it with the
clearest outline. If all other arguments against the
mythic origin of the Evangelic narratives were wanting,
this vivid and simple record, stamped with the most
distinct impress of independence and originality, totally
unconnected with the symbolism of the Old Dispensa-
tion, totally independent of the deeper reasonings of
the New, would be sufficient to refute a theory subver-
sive of all faith in history. The details which were ori-
ginally addressed to the vigorous intelligence of Roman
hearers’ are still pregnant with instruction for us. The
teaching which ‘met their wants’ in the first age finds
a corresponding field for its action now. It would be
worse than idle to attempt any general comparison of
the effects which the several Gospels may be supposed
to work upon the Church, but it is impossible not to
see some significance in the circumstance that the his-
toric worth of the Gospels was then most recklessly as-
sailed when St Mark was regarded as a mere epitomator
of the other Synoptists. We cannot gain a full percep-

1 The following passages may be pels: κεντυρίων, xv. 39, 44, 45

taken as examples of St Mark’s
style in connexion with the parallel
accounts: vi. 30—43 (the feeding
the 5000); ix. 14—29 (the healing
of the Lunatic); and vi. 14—29 (the
feast of Herod). In each case we
have I believe the testimony of an
eye-witness. In the last some friend
of John the Baptist may have been
present.

2 Euseb. 27. Z. 111. 39.. Cf. pp.
186, 235.

One peculiarity of St Mark’s
language not yet noticed seems to
point to this Roman origin, his
use of several Latin forms which
do not occur in the other Gos-

(elsewhere ἑκατοντάρχος, -χηΞ); Ko-
δράντης, xii. 42 (Matt. Vv. 26); σπε-
κουλάτωρ (vi. 27); τὸ ἱκανὸν ποιῆσαι
(xv. 1§:. cf.. Acts xvii. 9). To
these may perhaps be added ξέστης
(vii. 4, 8); κράββατος (in St John
and Acts). Other words he has
in common with one or more of
the other Evangelists : δηνάριὸν (all);
κῆνσος, (Mt.); λεγιών (Mt. Le.)’;
πραιτώριον (Mt. Joh.); φραγελχοῦν
(Mt.).

In all these notices of St Mark’s
language I have derived great help
from Credner (£Z7zz2/.. § 49), though
his large collections require careful
sifting.

AA 2

Chap. vii.

The import-
ance of St
Mark's Gos-
pelasa
historical
record,

372

Chap. vii.

iii. S#LUKE,

Christ the
Saviour.

Luke i. 45,
52.

Luke i. 79.

Febr. ii. 10;

iv. 15.

i. The re-
cord of the
Infancy.

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

tion of the truth till the form of its outward revelation is
surely realized. The form is not all, but it isan element
in the whole. The picture of the sovereign power of
Christ battling with evil among men swayed to and fro
by tumultuous passions is still needful, though we may
turn to St Matthew and St John for the ancient types
or deeper mysteries of Christianity or find in St Luke
its inmost connexion with the unchanging heart of man.

For the ‘Gospel of St Paul’ is in its essential cha-
racteristics the complementary history to that of St
Matthew. The difference between the two may be seen
in their opening chapters. The first words of the He-
brew Evangelist gave the clue to his whole narrative;
and so the first chapter of St Luke, with its declarations
of the blessedness of faith and the exaltation of the
lowly, leads at once to the point from which he con-
templated the life of Him who was to give light to them
that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. The
perfect manhood of the Saviour and the consequent
mercy and universality of His covenant is his central
subject, rather than the temporal relations or eternal
basis of Christianity. In the other Gospels we find our
King, our Lord, our God; but in St Luke we see the
image of our Great High Priest, made perfect through
suffering, tempted in all points as we are, without sin,
so that each trait of human feeling and natural love
helps us to complete the outline and confirms its truth-
fulness’,

The pictures of the Infancy, to which the Temple
forms the background, typify in a remarkable manner
this human and priestly aspect of the life of Christ. The
circumstances and the place equally turn the thoughts

1 For an outline of the Gospel see note G at the end of the Chapter.

ST LUKE.

373

of the reader to the realities shadowed forth in the old
Law of sacrifice. The Saviour Himself—the perfect
Victim and the perfect Priest—received the seal of the first
Covenant, and in due time was presented in the Temple
and redeemed from-its service. The offering was the
offering of the poor; and the first blessing was mingled
with words of sorrow. Years of silent growth then fol-
lowed, and when He had arrived at the age of legal
maturity’ the chi/d YFesus went up to the feast and
claimed the Temple as His Father's House, and spoke
of other work than that in which ‘His life was as yet
spent. But while the future was thus mysteriously fore-
shewn, for the present He was subject to His earthly
parents, aud increased in wisdom and stature, and in
favour with God and men. The development of the
divine consciousness in Him who was indeed God is
described to us as it proceeded according to the laws of
human life. At each successive stage in the long pre-
paration for His work, from first to last, we mark the
gradual and harmonious revelation of His double na-
ture. His Godhead and Manhood—signs of triumph
and suffering—are united at the Nativity, the Presenta-
tion, the Examination in.the Temple, the Baptism, the
Temptation ; for all is order and truth -in the Godlike
Life, quickening and quickened in due measure’.

The main contents of St Luke’s Guspel may be
divided into several groups which present distinctive

ΟἹ Chagiga (ap. Wetst. ad Luc. ii.
42): A xii. anno filius censetur ma-
turus. oma (id.): Ab anno xii.
initiabant pueros ad jejunandum.
Tradition assigned this age as the
crisis in the lives of Moses, Samuel,
and Solomon (Wetst. ὁ ¢.). Cf
[Hipp.] adv. Her. p. 156.

~ 2 Origen, Hom. iv. in Luc.: Non
illo tantum tempore preeparatee sunt

vize et directze semite, sed usque
hodie adventum Domini Salvatoris
spiritus Joannis virtusque precedit.
O magna mysteria Domini et dispen-
sationis ejus! Angeli praecurrunt
Jesum : angeli quotidie aut ascen-

dunt aut descendunt super salutem |
hominum. in Christo Jesu. Cf. John |

i, 51.

Chap. vii.

--------

Luke ii. 21,
22, 24.

Luke ii. 34,
35:

Luke ii. 40.
Lukeii. 41 ff.

Luke ii. 523

ii. The an-
nouncement
of Christ's
work.

Luke iv. 14—
44.

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Matt. iv. 14 ff.

Luke iv. 15.

Luke iv. 16 ff.

Matt.viii.1,5.

Luke iv. 31,
38.

Two great
divistons of

the Gospel.

iii. The fu-

ture Church,

7 ἐς univer-
sality.
(Take voi—
vi, 11.)
Luke vi, 8,

10.

features, though each one passes so gradually into the

next as to afford no clear line of demarcation. A gene-_
ral announcement of Christ’s work forms an introduction
to the more detailed narrative. This announcement
differs characteristically from that in St Matthew. In
St Matthew the preaching of the Lord is connected with
the fulfilment of Prophecy: in St Luke it is presented
in its own power. In St Matthew the first discourse is
the Sermon on the Mount, in which Christianity is dis-

‘played in its relation to Judaism: in St Luke the dis-

course at Nazareth, in which the Gospel is freely offered
to the poor, the desolate, and the stranger. The first
Miracles in St Matthew signify the removal of legal
impurity and national distinctions; while in St Luke
the message of mercy is confirmed by the deliverance
of captives from spiritual and bodily infirmity, from evil
active and personal’ within them.

In the succeeding chapters the work thus outlined is
described under two great heads. The first (v.i—ix. 43 a)
contains a view of the future Church; the second the
teaching of Christ, leading to the call of a new people
and the rejection of the Jews. The first is chiefly a
record of Miracles*: the second a record of Parables’®.
In the one we'read the works of the Son of God: in
the other the words of the Son of Man. The miracu-
lous draught of fishes, combined with the prayer of St
Peter and the promise of the Lord, is a perfect intro-

1 Luke iv. 35, 39 (ἐπετίμησεν).
The word occurs of the fever in St
Luke only. Cf. viii. 24 and pa-
rallels.

These two miracles were wrought
on the Sabbath (iv. 16); and hence
we may see that spiritual and bodily
maladies are so far healed by Christ
as they interfere with religious life.
In character the two Miracles are

complementary: there was an un-
clean spirit in the Synagogue, and
a faithful woman suffering (jv συνε-
χομένη) at home from a great fever.

2 For a classification of the Mira-
cles in St Luke’s Gospel see Note
H at the end of the Chapter.

3 For a classification of the Para-
bles in St Luke see Note K at the
end of the Chapter,

ST LUKE,

375

duction to the doctrine of the Church. Its first charac-
teristic is universality ; and the idea which is thus an-
nounced is continuously unfolded in a series of acts in
which Christ triumphs over physical uncleanness, moral
guilt, social degradation and legal superstition.

The extent of the new covenant having been thus
set forth, we next observe something of the nature of

_ the society in which it is embodied. The selection and

eee eee Sel ee, eee

Eee

instruction of the Apostles mark them as men who do
not take their stand on the fulfilment of the Law, but
on the wider basis of Christian charity’. The events
which follow illustrate the source of their power, and
the character of those among whom they have to work.
Faith on the part of man, and love on the part of Christ,
are shewn to bring blessings beyond all hope. John
and the people—the Pharisee and the Sinner’—exhibit
the contrasts of Jewish life. And the notice of the
ministering women aptly closes the section which opens
with the call of the Apostles. The Teacher, who in-
cluded in his Church the humble, the distressed, and
the repentant, is attended by the weak and loving rather

than by a council of Elders, a band of Warriors, or a

school of Prophets’.

Such being the breadth and foundation of the Chris-
tian Society, we are led to regard the process of its de-
velopment and the nature of the claims which it makes
on those who are admitted to its privileges. The Para-
ble of the Sower is presented under a new aspect in

1 This follows from a comparison
of Luke vi. 20—49 with St Mat-
thew’s record of the Sermon on the
Mount. As to the identity of the
two discourses see page 357, note

4.
2 The Lesson of Love is the first
Parable recorded by St Luke, as

the Draught of Fishes is the first
Miracle.

3 Evans, Scripture Biography, i.
p- 268. Exod. xviii. 25 (Moses);
2 Sam. xxiii. 8 ff. (David); 2 Kings
ii. 2, 7 (Elijah). The Apostles
themselves offer a contrast scarcely
less striking than the women.

Chap. vii.

Luke v. 12—
16; 17—26;
27—39;
Luke vi, 1—
It.

Its constitu-
tion.

(Luke vi. 12
—viii. 3.)

Luke vii. 2—
IO}; II—17.
Luke vii. 18
—35:36—s50.
Luke viii. 1
—3.

Its develop-
ment,
(Luke viii. 4

376

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Chap. vii.

Luke viii. 16
—18; 19—21,

Luke viii. 22
—25; 26—
39; 40---55.
/ts claims.
(ix. 1—43 a.)
Luke Pg
δ᾽; 10—17.

Luke ix. 23
Luke ix. 37
43 a.

-iv. The uni-
versal
Teaching.
The Great
Episode.
(Luke ix.

43 b—xviii.
30.)

St Luke; it exhibits the responsibility of the hearers of
the Gospel’, and does not, as in St Matthew, form an
introduction to a general view of the outward Kingdom.
Hence next we are taught the obligation of Christian
example and the omnipotence of religious duty ; and to
encourage men in the varied struggles of Christian life,
a series of Miracles attests the Saviour’s power. over
matter, spirit, and death. He supplies the strength when
He enjoins the task. When He sends forth His Apo-
stles He endues them with power. When they return
He feeds the hungry multitude, lest they should: de-
spair owing to the inadequacy of their natural powers
for the conversion of the world. The prospect of suf-
fering is relieved by the vision of glory; and when evil
prevails against them, He still casts out the unclean
spirit which baffles their doubting efforts.

The second great division of the record of the Lord’s
ministry includes a remarkable series of acts and dis-
courses which are grouped together in connexion with
the last journey to Jerusalem’, Some of the incidents

1 This difference in the scope of
the Parable is indicated by ver. 8,
15, compared with Matt. xiii. 8—
23. St Luke dwells on the single
idea of productiveness, and does not
regard the different degrees of pro-
ductiveness which must exist in the
Christian Church. This idea is
afterwards given in the Pouzds (xix.
12 ff.);.and conversely St Matthew
notices only equal productiveness in
the Zalents (xxv. 14 ff.).

The comparison of Matt. xiti. 13
(ὅτι) with Luke viii. τὸ (ἵνα) is full
of instruction: spiritual deafness is
at once the cause and the result of
not listening to God’s voice.

2 The connexions of time in this
Great Episode (ix. 43 —xviii. 14)
deserve particular attention, especial-

ly in reference to those sections
which occur in the other Evangelists
in a different context. These paral-
lels, for the most part, consist in
short and weighty sayings such as
are constantly repeated even by
writers in different works; and there
is no difficulty in supposing that they
were introduced by the Lord into
different discourses. More rarely
Parables recur in new relations; and
in one case incidents, alike in every
particular, are found to occupy a
different position in St Luke from
that which they occupy in St Mat-
thew. Besides these partial or com-
plete parallels, there are a large
number of sections peculiar to St
Luke. The following table of pas-
sages, with the particles of connexion

SST LORE:

occur in different connexions in the other Evangelists ;
and the whole section proves, by the absence of historical

by which they are introduced, will
place the question fairly before the
reader :
. I. Sections including parallels
with the other Gospels.
(a) In short sayings or parts of dis-
courses.

x. I—I16 (μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα). Cf.
Matt. ix. 37, 38; x. 10—16; xi. 21
—23; x. 40. Luke ix. 1 ff.

Xi, I—4 (kai ἐγέν. ἐν τῷ εἶναι ad.
ἐν τ. τ. wpoc.). Cf. Matt. vi. c—
3.

xi. 5—13 (καὶ εἶπεν). Cf. Matt.

vil. 7-—I1.

xi. 29—36 (τῶν δὲ ὄχλων ἐπαθροι-
ζομένων). Cf. Matt. xii. 38—42; v.
153 vi. 22, 23. Luke viii. 16.

xi. 37—54 (ἐν δὲ τῷ λαλῆσαι). Cf.
Matt. xxiii.

_ xii. 1—12 (ἐν οἷς).
6; x. 28—33, &c.

xii. 22—40 (εἶπεν δέ... Διὰ τοῦτο).
Cf. Matt. vi.

xii, 41—53 (εἶπεν δὲ ὁ Ilérpos).
Cf. Matt. xxiv. 45 ff.

xii. 54— 59 (ἔλεγεν δέ). Cf. Matt.
Xvi. 2, 3, Ore.

xiii. 22—30 (εἶπεν δέ ris). Cf.
Matt. vii. 13, Gc.

ΧΙ, 31—35 (ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ).
Cf. Matt. xxiii. 37—

Xiv. 25—35 (συνεπορεύοντο δὲ av-
τῷ ὁ. πὸ). Cf. Matt. x. 37, &e.

xvii. 1—4 (εἶπεν δέ). Cf. Matt.
XVili. 6, 73 21, 22.

xvii. 22—37 (εἶπεν δέ). Probably
the same discourse as Matt. xxiv.

(8) In Parables and longer dis-
courses.

ix. 46 ff. (εἰσῆλθεν δέ) τ- Matt.
xviii. 1 ff. ἐν ἐκείνῃ TH Opa. Mark
ix. 33 ff.

X. 21—24 (ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ὧρᾳ) =
Matt. xi. 25 (ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ).

xiii, 18—21 (ἔλεγεν οὖν). Matt.
ΧΙ], 31, 32. Mark iv. 30—32.

xiv. “16-—24 (ὁ δὲ εἶπεν [ἑνὲ τῶν

Cf. Matt. xvi.

cuvavax.]). A variation recurs Matt.
ΧΧΙΙ, I—TI4.

xv. 3—7 (εἶπεν δέ). Matt. xviii.

I2—I4.
(y) In incidents.
ix. 49 (δέ). Mark x. 38 (δέ).

ix. 57 καὶ πορευομένων αὐτῶν ἐν
τῇ ὁδῷ). Matt. viii. 18.
xi. 14 (kal ἣν ἐκβ. δ.).
22 (τότε).

XViii.
Matt. xix.
(καὶ προσ.).

II. Sections peculiar to St Luke.

ix. 51—56 (ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν τῷ συμ-
πληρ. τ. ἡμ. τ. ἀναλ. av.).

X. 17—20 (ὑπέστρεψαν δέ).

xX. 25—37 (καὶ ἰδού). Not the
same as Matt. xxii. 34 ff.; Mark
xii. 28 ff.

x. 38—42 (ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν τῷ πο-
ρεύεσθαι).

xii. 13—21 (rev δέ τις αὐτῷ ἐκ
τοῦ ὄχλου).

ΧΙ. I—5 (παρῆσαν δέ τινες ἐν
αὐτῷ τῷ καιρῷ).

xii. 6---Ο (ἔλεγεν δέ).

ΧΙ. 10—17 (ἦν δὲ διδάσκων).

xiv. 1—13 καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ ἐλ-
θεῖν εἰς οἷκον).

‘xv. 8—r10; 11—32 (εἶπεν δέ).

xvi. 1—13 (ἔλεγεν δέ. Cf. Matt.
vi. 24.

Xvi. 14—31 (ἤκουον δέ..
Cf. Matt. v. 18.

xvii. 5—10 (καὶ εἶπον).

xvii. Ti—I9 (καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ
πορεύεσθαι αὐτὸν εἰς 1.).

xviii. 1---8 (ἔλεγεν δέ).

xviii. Q—14 (εἶπεν δέ).

Of all these passages one only is
attended with any serious difficulty
—Luke ix. 57 compared with Matt.
viii. 18. The historical order ap-
pears to be that given by St Luke.
In all the other cases of parallelism
we find repetitions which are per-
fectly natural, and borne out by re-
petitions which occur in the same |

Matt. xii.

15—17 (προσέφερον δέ).
13 (τότε); Mark x. 13

«καὶ εἶπεν).

378

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Chap. vii.

Prepara-
tion.
Luke ix. 43b

- 56.

Luke ix. 57
—62.

Luke x. 1—
16.

Luke x. 21

—24.

Luke x. 30
— aie

data and the unity of its general import, that a moral
and not a temporal sequence is the law of the Gospels.
For it is possible to trace throughout this part of the
narrative a contrast between the true and the false
people of God, between the spiritual and the literal
Israel’. The shadow of eclipse is seen to rest already »
on the old system and the old spirit. A new Covenant
and a new Discipleship are ushered in by words of warn-
ing and reproof. The journey, which seemed to be for
honour, is announced to be for death. The intolerant
zeal of St John is checked when he would have restrained
the progress of good because it was advanced by one
who followcd not with them. St James and St John
are rebuked when they had called down fire on the
enemies of. Jerusalem. For the Christian there is no
shelter, no delay, no retreat. After this Introduction
the fuller development of the new dispensation begins
with the mission of the Seventy, and not with the
mission of the Apostles. Its groundwork, from St
Luke’s point of sight, is the symbolic evangelization
of every nation upon earth’, and not the restoration
of the twelve tribes of Israel. The mission is closed
by thanksgiving; and as a comment upon the tidings
with which the teacher was charged, we read that the
Spirit of the Law was fulfilled by a Samaritan, that the

truest devotion was shewn by the patient listener who

Gospel. It does not however ap-
pear that the difference between ἔλε-
γεν and εἶπεν as introductory words
is so clear as to admit of being
urged : xiv. 7, 12; xvi. 53 yet see
iii. 7; iv. 225 v. 36, Sc.

1 This has been pointed out by
Browne, Ordo Seclorum, Ὁ. 638,

. Is

2 According to Jewish tradition,
there were Seventy (Clem. Hom.
Xvill. 4; cf. Gen, xlvi. 27) or Seven-

ty-two different nations and tongues
in the world. In the text of St
Luke ἑβδομήκοντα δύο is very highly
supported. Cf. Clem. Alex. Strom.
I. 142. Clem. 'ecopnm. II. 42%
Deus...in LXXII. partes divisit totius
terree nationes eisque principes ange-
los statuit (Dan. x. 13).

The numbers 12 and 70 are com-
bined in Num. xxxiii. 9. Cf. Ori-
gen, Hom. XXvil. tz Nui. § 11, for
an interpretation of the passage.

ST LUKE.

379

was not cumbered with much serving, that prayer, even if
the answer be delayed, will in the end triumph over all
difficulties. Then follow lessons of warning, of progress,
of discipleship, of judgment. Perils from within and
from without are laid open, perils from the lack of
God’s Spirit, from wonder-seeking and Pharisaism, from
persecution and worldly cares. The times are shewn
to be pregnant with signs of ruin; and yet in the midst
of this stern teaching the multitude rejoices. In spite
of opposition the growth of the Church is assured. If
some are rejected others from afar shall fill their places.
Even death itself cannot forestal the completion of the
appointed work. Formalism is silenced: the poor are
called, and the feast, which was despised by those who
were first invited, is furnished with guests. The cha-
racter of the true guest is next described in a series of
Parables which portray in the liveliest images the com-
pleteness of the sacrifice required of him, the universality
of the invitation offered, the relative duties of disciples
to one another. The quickening power of God and the
fruitful struggles of penitence are pictured in the case

of those who have been lost from Christ’s fold* through |

carelessness, or have lain inactive in His Church from
darkness, or have wilfully joiwed themselves with the
citizen of a far country.. The obligations of wealth and
station, the duty of forbearance and the power of faith,
are seen to guide the Christian in social life; and when
every claim is fulfilled he is still taught to feel that he is
an unprofitable servant.

The tokens of judgment grow clearer as we draw to
the close of the section. Of the ten lepers who were
πλανηθῇ év...marks the different

aspects of the Parable in the two
Gospels.

1 The difference between Luke
xv. 4, Tis ἄνθρωπος... ἀπολέσας
év...and Matt. xviii. 12, Ἐάν..,

Chap. vii.
Luke x. 38—

42.
Luke xi. 1—

13.
Lessons of
warning.
Luke xi. 14
—28;
29—36; 37—

54:

xii, I—125
13-53.

xii. 54.

xiii. 9.

xiii. 17.
xiii. 18— 30.
Lessons of
Progress.
Luke xiii. 31
Luke xiv. 1
—24.

Lessons 0
discipleship.
Luke xiv.
25—35.
Luke xv.
Luke xvi.—
XvVii. 10.

Luke xv. 15.

Luke xvii.1o.

Lessons of
SFudgnutent.
Luke xvii.18.

380

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Chap. vii.

Luke xvii.er.

Luke xviii.
1—8.

Luke xviii.
9—30.

Luke xviii.
27.

v. The king-

dom
clatmed.

Luke xix. 9.

healed a Samaritan alone returned to give glory to God.
If the Pharisees ask when the kingdom of God comes ?
they are told that it is already wzthin them. The day
of vengeance for the elect is promised guzck/y (ver. 8).
Humility, childliness, and self-sacrifice,—the opposites
of prevalent vices—are set forth as the conditions of
entrance into the kingdom, and if the words seem hard,
one sentence marks the cause of the difficulty which
men felt and the remedy for it: That which ἐς impossible
with men ts possible with God. é

The narrative of the Journey and the Conflict follows
the same general outline as in the other Gospels, but
with some characteristic additions’. Zacchzeus, a pub-
lican and a sinner, was deemed worthy to entertain the
Son of God .and pronounced to be a son of Abraham.
And as we noticed in St Matthew that his first strain
was repeated at the close of his Gospel, so in St Luke
the Angelic hymn which was earliest sung in heaven in
honour of the Saviour’s Birth is re-echoed by the band
of disciples as He approaches Jerusalem for the last

1 The following are the most vii. 20, 21; 29, 30.

remarkable additions to common
narratives (besides those already
noticed) which occur in St Luke:

wii, 1, 2. The date of John’s mi-
nistry.

lil. 5, 6 (ὄψεται πᾶσα σὰρξ τὸ
σωτήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ).

iii. 1o—rg. The social differ-
ences and duties of John’s hearers.
og) TPs ay. wr.

iv. 6, 13, ἄχρι καιροῦ.

iv. 14---20.

.. 35, μηδὲν βλάψαν αὐτόν.

. 42, 43, Kal οἱ ὄχλοι.. .ἀπέσταλ-

vi. 8, αὐτὸς δὲ.. αὐτῶν.
δὲ ἐπλ. ἀν.

vi. 12, καὶ ἣν διανυκτ. nae T. προσ.
τοῦ Θεοῦ.

11, αὐτοὶ

dey.

vill. I—3, 47: ἐν π. τοῦ λαοῦ.

viii. 2, Κηρ. τὴν Bas. τοῦ Θεοῦ.

ix. 29, ἐν τῷ προσ. αὐτόν,

ix. 31, 323 44, θέσθε ὑμεῖς..
Cf, xxi. 14.

XViii. 31, Kal τελ... «τῷ υἱ, τ. avOP.'

XViii. 34, καὶ ἦν τ. ῥ. τ. κεκρ...«τὰ

.τ.λ.τ.

XIX. 37--0, 41—44.

xx. 16, ἀκουσ. δὲ ef. Μὴ γένοιτο.
Xx. 20, εἰς TO παραδ... τοῦ ἡγεμ:
xx. 26, καὶ οὐκ ἴσχι'... ἔν. τοῦ Naor.
XX. 34, οἱ υἱ....ἐκγαμ.

xx. 38, πάντες γὰρ αὐτῷ ζῶσιν.
ΧΧ. 30, 40.

xxi. 24, 3 34—3, 375 38.

xxii. 3, εἰσ. δὲ ὁ 2. εἰς Ἴ,

xxil. 15—18, 24—38, 43, 44, 48.

ST LUKE.

381

time before the close of His work’. Yet again we hear
the same peculiar tones of mercy and love on the road
to Calvary, and from the very Cross; and once more,
when the risen Lord promises to His disciples His Spirit
from on high before they preach the Word unto αὐ the
nations, beginning at Jerusalem*, From first to last the
same great subject abides, The Gospel of the Saviour
begins with hymns and ends with praises; and as the
thanksgivings of the meek are recorded in the first
chapter, so in the last we listen to the gratitude of the

faithful ὃ,

1 Luke xix. 38—40, ἐν οὐρανῷ
εἰρήνη καὶ δόξα ἐν ὑψίστοις. Cf.
li. 14. Peace ratified in heaven is
the pledge of peace to be realised
on earth.

* The view which has been given
of St Luke’s Gospel as containing
the offer of the Gospel to all—not to
Jews only nor Gentiles only—is re-
markably confirmed and explained
by his /ater treatise. For as in the
one we mark the universality of
Christ’s promises, so in the other we
see their full accomplishment. In
the outset of the Acts (Acts ii.
g—tr) we are told that Jews and
proselytes, from Arabia to Pontus,
from Parthia to Rome, heard the
tidings of salvation in their own
tongue; and the last glimpse of
Apostolic history is full of encourage-
ment and hope, when it is recorded
(Acts xxviii. 31) that, after turning
from the Jews to the Gentiles, Paul
received all that came unto him, and
preached with all confidence the things
which concern the Lord Fesus, no
man forbidding him.

Those writers who regard the
book of the Acts as partial and
incomplete seem to have mistaken
its entire purpose; for we do not
require for our spiritual guidance a
history of the Apostles, but a record
of the establishment of the Christian
Church. The title is not ¢#e Acts,

but Acts of the Apostles (πράξεις |.

τῶν amrocrd\wv)—such acts as should
be significant to future times; and
so we read in the book of all the
modes of thought which Christianity
encountered in Judzea, Asia, Greece,
and Rome: we learn from it how
far the Apostles modified the frame-
work of our faith, to build up the

. several Churches, and how far they

selected a fit foundation for their
teaching from the popular belief.
The Gospels do not give us a life of
Jesus, but a narrative of man’s re-
demption; the Acts does not detail
the fortunes of men, but sets forth
the establishment of the various
forms of Christian truth.

3 The language of St Luke pre-
sents many peculiarities, some of
which are characteristic; and a large
number of words are common to the
Gospels and the Acts which do not
occur elsewhere in the New Testa-
ment. The following peculiarities
are the most remarkable:

(1). χάρις (χαριτόω, i, 28) 8 times.
Elsewhere in Gospels only John i.
14, 16, 17. Common in Acts and
Epistles.

(2) σωτήρ, i. 473 ii. rr (John iv.
42). σωτηρία, i. 09, 71, 773 xix. 9
(John iv. 22). τὸ σωτήριον, ii. 320;
iii. 6. General in Acts and Epistles.
Σώζειν frequent throughout the New
Testament.

Chap. vii.
Luke xxiii.

9—43-*
uke xxiv.

49.

Luke xxiv.
53-

382

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SVYNOPTISTS.

Chap. vii.
General
Summary.

Such appears to be, in rude outline, the general
tenour of the Synoptic Evangelists; and though it be
impossible to discuss within our present limits their —
more minute divergencies in order and narration, yet
it will be sufficiently clear that they subserve to special
uses, that they imply. and explain fundamental dif-
ferences of scope, and unfold the Christian faith as it

falls within each separate range.

The events recorded

by the Synoptists are not generally distinct, but they

(3) εὐαγγελίζεσθαι (Matt. xi. 5
only) τὸ times. Frequent in Acts
and Epistles. Evayyé\ov (Matt.,
Mark, Acts, Epp., Apoc.) does not
occur in the Gospels of St Luke and
St John, nor in St John’s Epistles.

(4) πλῆθος 8 times in Gosp., 17
times in Acts; elsewhere in the New
Testament 7 times. σλήρης with
gen. (John i. 14: cf. Mark viii. 19)
iv. 1: v. 12; 8 times in Acts. πλῆ-
σαι, metaph. (cf. ἐμπλῆσαι), 6 times
in Gosp., 9 times in Acts; not else-
where. πληροῦν throughout the New
Testament.

(5) ὑπάρχειν 7 times in Gosp., 24
times in Acts, 14 times elsewhere;
not in other Gospels (τὰ ὑπάρχοντα,
Matt. xix. 213 xxiv. 473 xxv. 14:
In St Luke 8 times. προυπάρχειν
in Gosp. and Acts once.

(6) παῖς (Θεοῦ) of David, Israel,
Christ, i. 54, 69; Acts iii. 13, 26;
iv, 25, 275.30.

(7) ἱκανός g times in Gosp., 18
times in Acts, 3 times each in Matt.
and Mark; elsewhere 6 times.

(8) οἶκος, metaph. (Matt. x. 6;
xv. 24, olx. Ἶσρ.) 7 times in Gosp.,
9 times in Acts.

(9) νομικός (Matt. xxii. 35; Tit.
iii, 13 only) 6 times in Gosp. ém-
στατής (= Ῥαββεί) 6 times; not else-
where. ἀληθῶς with λέγω (= ἀμήν)
3 times in Gosp.; not elsewhere.

(το) ὕψιστος (as an epithet of God)
3 times in Gosp., in Acts twice:.
elsewhere Mark v. 7; Hebr. vii. 1.

(11) Peculiar words

(a) found only in St Luke’s Gos-
pel and Acts:

διισχυρίζεσθαι, διοδεύειν, ἐνεδρεύειν,
ἐπιδεῖν, ἐντόνως, κατακλείειν, κατακο-
λουθεῖν, κλάσις (ἄρτου), μεγαλεῖα,
ὀχλεῖσϑαι, προβάλλειν, προσδοκία,
συμπληροῦν, συνεῖναι, τραυματίζειν
(τραῦμα, Gosp. 1), all once in Gosp.,
once in Acts; duiordvat, ἐπιβιβάζειν,
θάμβος (twice in Gosp., once in
Acts); ἐπιχειρεῖν, ἴασις, [συναθροί-
few] (Gosp. 1, Acts 2); διαπορεῖν,
ἐπιφωνεῖν, εὐλαβής, καθιέναι, συναρ-
πάζειν (Gosp. 1, Acts 3); ἡ ἑξῆς,
καθεξῆς (2; 3)3 καθότι (2; 4); ὀδυνᾶ-
σθαι (33 1); ὁμιλεῖν (2; 2); συνκα-
λεῖσθαι, midd. (33; 2); συμβάλλειν

24 id}e

(8) found only in Gospel: πτοεῖ-
σθαι, συκοφαντεῖν, ὑποχωρεῖν, χρεο-
φειλέτης (each twice); συνιέναι, συν-
τυχεῖν, τελεσφορεῖν, φιλονεικία, Gc.
(each once).

(y) occurring more often in Gosp.
and Acts than in the other books of
the New Testament: ἅπας, ἀτενίξειν,
ἐξαίφνης, καλούμενος, ὀνόματι, κατελ-
θεῖν, παραχρῆμα.

(12) καὶ ἐγένετο (ἐγέν. δέ) ἐν τῷ...
In Gosp. 22 times, in Acts twice —
(Mark iv. 4). Compare éyévero
WS...

(13) ἦν, Gc. with partic. In
Gosp. 47 times, in Acts 37 (Matt.
10; Mark 27; John 18).

In the numbers given some differ-
ences may arise from various read-
ings, but they are, I believe, sub-
stantially correct.

GENERAL SUMMARY.

are variously regarded, that we may be led to recognize
_the manifold instructiveness and application of every
word and work of Christ. It may indeed be difficult
to trace the progress of the subject, as it is taken up in
each successive part of the histories; yet from time to
time the same familiar notes recur, and we feel sure that
a deeper knowledge and a finer discernment would lead
us to recognize their influence, even in those passages
which are most complicated and obscure. We have
followed no arbitrary arrangement in classifying the
Miracles or Discourses of our Lord, and yet in the mere
simplicity of the Gospels we have traced the great signs
of a new and noble sequence, too uniform and pregnant
to be attributable to chance, too unpretending and
obscure to be the work of design. And surely the
conviction of this truth, more than any other—incom-
municable it may be, and ill-defined by language—must
fill us with the devoutest reverence for the Gospel-
histories, a reverence which is no vain Bibliolatry, but
a feeling which springs from the satisfaction of our
inmost wants, and furnishes the fullest materials for
patient study. For such a scheme of the Holy Gospels
is at once most worthy of their divine origin, and most
consistent with their outward form; it realizes the in-
dividuality of their authorship, and explains the facts
of their perversions; it satisfies in its manifoldness:every
requirement of the past and future relations of Christian
truth; it falls in with early tradition, and opens to us
a new view of the providential government of the Church;
and finally it sets before us in the clearest light the
combination of the human and divine which lies at the
basis of all Revelation. The surest answer to all doubts
—the readiest help in all difficulties—the truest consola-
tion in all divisions—must spring from a real sense of

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

the union of God and man in religion and in Scripture,
which is the perfect record of the historical fulfilment of
the union; and, if we read the words of Inspiration
humbly and sincerely, we have a promise which can-
not fail’.

1 Orig. Selecta in Num. xi. 25: ἕν yap ἐν Χριστῷ τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ μία διὰ
πάντων ἡ ἐνέργεια.

Notes to Chapter vii.

Note A; see p. 355+

The following analysis may guide the student in pursuing the teaching
of St Matthew:

i, li. INTRODUCTION.
The Royal pedigree (i. 1—17).
The Virgin’s Son, the promised Saviour (18—25).
The homage (ii. 1—12).
The persecution (13—23).
(In all things the words of the Prophets are fulfilled.)

I. iii, iv. THE PRELUDE,
(a) The Baptist iii.) :
The Messenger (t—6). The Message (7—12). The Re-
cognition (13—17).
(8) Zhe Messiah (iv.): .
The Trial (1:—11). The Home (12—16). The Message
(17). The Call (18--- 22). The Work (23—25).
11. v.—xiii. THE LAWGIVER AND PROPHET.
(a) The new Law in relation to the old (vy. vi. vii.).
(8) Zhe testimony of signs (viii. ix.)
Characteristics (viii. 1—15).
The Suppliant (Resignation, 1—4); the Intercessor
(Faith, 5—13); the Restored (Service, 14, 15).

NOTES.

385

The Lord and the Disciples (viii. 18—ix. 17).
Self-denial (18—22).
Power (Nature, 23—27; Spirits, 28—34; Sin, ix. 18).
Mercy (9—13).
Prudence (14—1r7).
The results (ix. r8—34).
Faith confirmed (20—22) 3 raised (2 3-20); ; attested (27
—31)-
Unbelief hardened (32—34).
(y) The Commission (ix. 36—xi.).
The Charge (x.).
The Hearers (xi.).
John (1—15) 3 the People (r6—109).
Woes (20—24); Thanksgivings (25—30).
(ὃ) The Contrast (xii.). !
The letter and the spirit of the Law.
Example (t—g); Miracle (to—13).
The kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of God (22—37).
The sign of Jonas (38—45).
Natural and spiritual kindred (46—s0).

_ (e) Larables of the Kingdom: its rise, growth, consummation
(xiii.).
III. xiv.—xxv. THE KING.

(a) The character of the Kiug, compared with

Temporal dominion :
The feast of Herod ; death of John (xiv. 1—12).
The feast of Christ (Jews) ; the disciples saved (13—33).

Hierarchical dominion :
The tradition of the elders (xv. 1—20).
The Syrophcenician heard (21—28).
The Gentiles healed and fed (29—30).

_ Truth hidden from some (xvi. 1—12), revealed to others

(x 3—20).
(8) Glimpses of the Kingdom. ?

The prospect of suffering (xvi. 24—28).

The vision of glory (xvii. r—r3).
The secret source of strength (14—2 1).

The Citizens.
Moral principles: Obedience, a sign (xvii. 24—27); Hu-

mility, Unselfishness, Forgiveness (xviii.).

Social characteristics: Marriage, children, riches, sacrifice
(xix.).

Yet all without intrinsic merit (xx. r—16).

W. G, BB

Chap. vii.

386

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Chap. vii.

(y) Zhe King claims his Heritage.

The Journey (xx. 17—34).
“Fhe triumphal Entrance (xxi. 1—17).
The Conflict (xxi. 18—xxii.).
The sign (xxi. 18—22). The first question (23—27).
The portraiture (28-—xxii. 14). The temptation (15—
40). The last question (41—46). ἡ
The Judgment (xxiii.—xxv.).
The Teachers (xxiii.).
The City (xxiv.). — > ;
The World (xxv.).

IV. xxvi.—xxvili, DEATH THE GATE OF THE ETERNAL KINGDOM.
(a) . Zhe Passion (xxvi. xxvii.).
Contrasts: foreknowledge, craft (xxvi. 1—5),
love, treason (6—16).:
The Last Supper: woes foreseen and faced (17—29).
The rash proinise: power misjudged (30—35).
The inward Agony (36—46).
The outward Desertion (47—56).
The Confession of Christ (57—68),
The Denial of Peter (69—75).
The death of Judas (xxvii. 3—r0).
The Death of Christ (11—50).
Christ and Barabbas (13—26).
Christ and the soldiers (27—31).
Christ and the bystanders (32—56).
The Burial (57—61). The watch (62—66).
(8) Zhe Triumph.
The Rising in glory (xxviii. I—10).
The false report (11—15).
The great Commission (16—20).

ΝΟΤΕ B; see p. 358.

The Sermon on the Mount may be arranged thus :

i. The citizens of the Kingdom (y. 1—16).
(2) Their character (r—12),

In themselves (3—6),
Poor in spirit.
Meek,”
Sorrowing.
Hungering after righteousness.

j ike θὰ

NOTES.

387

Relatively (7—12).
Merciful to men.
At peace with God.
Pursuing peace. "
Persecuted...
The example of the Prophets

(B) “Their influence (13—16).
To preserve (13).
To guide (14—16).

gi ‘The New Law (t7—48).
é (a) The fulfilment of the Old generally (1720).
(8) The fulfilment of the spirit of special commandments.
_ Murder, Adultery, Perjury, Revenge, Exclusiveness (21
- 48).
iii, The New Life (vi.—vii. 23).

(a) Acts of devotion (vi. r—18).
Alms (1—4).
Prayer (5—15).
Fasting (16—18).

(8) Aims (19—34).
The true treasure (19—21).
The single service (22—24).
The perfect repose (25—34).

(y) Conduct (vii. r—12).
Charitable in judging (1—5).
Circumspect in teaching (6).

_ Faithful in well-doing (7—12).

(δ) Dangers (vii. 13—23).

From himself (13, 14).

From false teachers (15), to be tested by Works of
faith (16—20), not by Works of power (21—23),

iv. The great contrast (vii. 24—27).

NOTE C; see p. 358.

The following scheme of the Miracles recorded by St Matthew will
serve to shew their relation to the framework of his Gospel.) Of course
no one scheme can exhaust the-lessons of the Miracles, This only shews

BB2

Chap. vii.

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS,

their bearing in succession upon one great ideas The Miracles peculiar to
St Matthew are marked by italics.

i. The Miracles of the Lawgiver.

(a) In relation to the Old Law.

1, The Spirit before the Letter (ver. 3):
The Leper cleansed (viii. 2—4), Ὁ
2. Faith superior to National Descent (ver. to):
The healing of the Centurion’s Servant (viii. s—13).
3» The Service of Love before ritual observance (ver.
14):
The healing of Peter’s Wife’s Mother (viii. 14, 15).
[viii. τό, 17, Many healed, as Esaias prophesied.]
(8) In Himself, as all powerful over ) ,
1. The Material world, :
The Stilling of the Storm (viii. 23—27). -
2. The Spiritual world,
The Gadarene Demoniacs healed (viii. 28—34).

3. The power of Sin,
The Paralytic healed (ix. :—8),

(y) In relation to man, as requiring Faith

1. Actively, to seize the blessing,

The woman with issue healed (ix. z2o—22).
2. Passively, to receive it,

Jairus’ daughter raised (ix. 18—26).
3- Asa measure of the blessing (ver. 29),

The two blind men (ix. 27—31).

4: As the means of understanding it,

The dumb devil cast out (ix. 32—34).
[ix. 3s, Many healed.]

ii. The Miracles of the Prophet of the Kingdom,

(2) Vindicating the law of Conscience (in Action),
The withered hand healed (xii. 9---- 13).

(8) Rescuing Sight and Speech from the power of evil,
The blind and dumb devil cast out (xii. 22—30).

NOTES.

ili. The Miracles of the King.
(a) As to His people.
1. Jews.

In relief of want,
Feeding of thé 5000 (xiv. 15—21).
In relief of toil (ver. 24),
Walking on the sea (xiv. 22—33).
2. Gentiles.
In answer to prayer,
The woman of Canaan (xv. 21—28).
[xv. 30, 31, Many healed.]
In reward of patience (ver. 32),
The feeding of the 4000 (xv. 32—39).

(8) As to His Title.
1. Perfect by human preparation (ver. 21).
Healing the Lunatic (xviii. 14—21).

2. Legitimate by divine right (ver. 25, 26).
The Stater in the Fish (xvi. 24—27).
[xxi. 2, Many healed.]

(y) As to His Government.

1. Merciful according to our Prayer (ver. 32).
The two blind men healed (xx. 30—34).

2. Just according to our fruits (ver. 1g—22).
The fig-tree cursed (xxi. 17—22).

Nore D; see p. 359.

The following are the Parables recorded in St Matthew, which, it will
be seen, fall into two divisions corresponding with the Prophetic and
Kingly aspects of Christ’s character as seen before in the record of the
Miracles, and in the general plan of the Gospel.
St Matthew are marked by italics.

i. Images of the characteristics of Christianity.
(a) Its source.
(1) From God:
The Sower (xiii. 3—8).

(2) Yet counterfeited by the devil:
The Tares (xiii. 24—30).

The Parables peculiar to

300 DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.,

Chap. vii. (8) Its progress.

(1) In outward extent:
The Mustard Seed (xiii. 3h, 32)
(2) Ininwardinfluences
~ The Leaven (xiii. 33).
(7) Its relation to men.

(1) ‘Asa gift from heaven:
The hid Treasure (xiii. 44).

(2) As a power in the individual:
The Merchant seeking pearls (xiii. 45, 46).

(3) As a wide working instrument:
Lhe Draw Net (xiii. 47—50).

ii. Images of the life of Men.
(a) Love.
_ (1) A spontaneous feeling:
The lost sheep (xviii. 12—14).
(2) A debt due to God:
The unmerciful servant (xviii. 23—25).
-. (8). Dependence. es |
The labourers in the Vineyard (xx, 1—16).

- (y) . Activity.

(1) Obedient in spirit, as of sons of God:
The two Sons (xxi. 28—32).

(2) Unselfish, as of Stewards of God:
The wicked husbandmen (xxi. 33—41).
(δ) Reverence.
The Marriage of the King’s Son (xxii. 1—14).
(c) Responsibility. |
(1) At all times:
The Ten. Virgins (xxv. ἐν

(2) In all positions:
The Talents (xxv. 14—~30).

NOTES.

NOTE E; see p. 365.
The Miracles recorded by St Mark fall into the following groups:
i. Signs of the Saviour’s work (i. 23—ii. 12).
. The devil cast out in the Synagogue (i. 23—28).
The fever healed in the house (i. 30, 31).

The leper cleansed (i. 490—45).
The paralytic pardoned and restored (ii. 3—12).

ii. Signs of the Saviour’s teaching (iii. 1—6; iv. 35—-v.).

(a) Freedom of action.
0) he withered hand restored on the Sabbath (iii. r—6).

ΒΑ: Trials of Faith.
The storm stilled (iv. 35—41).
The Legion cast out (v. 1—20).
The woman with the issue healed (v. 25—34)..
Jairus’ daughter raised (v. 21—24, 35—43).
iii. Signs of the Kingdom (vi. 30—523 vii. 24—Vili. 9, Gc.).
(2) The extent of the Kingdom.
; The satisfaction of the Jews: 5000 fed (vi. 30—44).
The passage of the lake (vi. 45—52).
The satisfaction of Gentiles:
The Syropheenician (vii. 24—30).
The deaf and dumb man (vii. 31—37).
The 4000 fed (viii. 1-—9).
(8) Special-lessons.
Discernment: the blind man at Bethsaida (viii. 22—26).
Faith: the Lunatic (ix. 14—729).
Mercy: Bartimezeus (x. 46—52).
Judgment: the Fig-tree (xi. 12—14).
The most remarkable omission is that of the Cexzéurion’s servant, The
Miracles peculiar to St Mark are distinguished by italics.

Nore Εἰ; see p. 366.

The following outline will convey a general notion of the construction
of St Mark’s Gospel, and supersede the necessity of examining it in detail.

i. I—13. THE PREPARATION.
“J. i. 1g4—ii. 12. THE WORK FORESHEWN BY ACTS.
(a) The Call (i. 14—20).

(8) Signs (i. 21—ii, 12).
Possession, Fever, Leprosy, Palsy.

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

392
Chap. vii. 11. 11. r3—iv. 34. OUTLINES OF TEACHING.
: (a) ‘Traits of the new life:

The Call of the Publican (ii. 13—17).

The Lesson of Prudence (18—22).

The Sabbath: Example (ii. 2328); Sign (iii. 1—6).
(8) The Kingdom of God and the world.

The Apostles (iii. 13...19); the enemies (20—30); the

true kindred (31—35).
Parables of the Kingdom (iv. :—34).

(y) Signs (iv. 35—v.). .
The Storm (iv. 35—41). Legion (v. 1—20). The

woman with issue; Jairus’ daughter (21—43).
(5) The Issue: Unbelief (vi. 1—6).
III. vi. 6 &—xiii. THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE KINGDOM.
(a) The Mission of the Apostles (vi. 6 d—13).
Temporal dominion.
The Feast of Herod: John (vi. 14—209).
The Feast of Christ: Christ on the waters (30—52).
Hierarchical dominion.
The tradition of the Elders (vii. r—23); Blessings for
the Gentiles; the Syrophoenician; the deaf and
dumb ; the multitudes fed (vii. 24—viii. 9).
Lack of discernment in some (10o—21).
A sign (22—26).
Revelation to others (27—33).

(8) Glimpses of the Kingdom (viii. 34—x. 31). :
The prospect of suffering (viii. 34—38); the Vision of
Glory (ix. 1—13) ;, the secret source of strength (14—29).

The citizens.
Humility; charity; self-denial (ix. 3350); marriage;

children; riches; sacrifice (x. 1—31).

(y) The Sovereignty claimed (x. 32—xiii.).
The journey (x. 32—52).
The Triumphal entrance (xi. r—11).

The Conflict.
The sign (xi. 12—25); the first question (27—33); the

portraiture (xii. 1—12); the temptation (13—34);

the last question (35—37).
The Pharisees (38—40); the Widow (41—44).

The Judgment (xiii.).

NOTES.

393

IV. xiv.—xvi. THE ETERNAL KINGDOM ENTERED THROUGH THE
GATE OF DEATH.
The end foreshewn by act (xiv. 3—9), and word (r2—3r1).
The Agony; Betrayal; Denial; Condemnation (xiv. 32
—xv. 20).
The Crucifixion; Burial (xv. 21—47).
The Resurrection [Revelation; Ascension] (xvi.).

Nore G; see p. 372.

The following outline of the Gospel of St Luke will serve to explain the
connexion of the several parts:

i. ii, INTRODUCTION.

The Annunciation of the birth of John and of Christ
(i. 1—5 6).
The Birth of John; the Nativity; the’ Presentation;
Christ with the doctors (i. 57—ii.).

I. iil.—iv. 12. THE PREPARATION.
The work of the Baptist (iii. 1-- 20].
The attestation at the Baptism and by descent (21—38).
The Trial (iv. 1—13).
11. iv. 14—44. THE ANNOUNCEMENT.
Preaching (14, 15)-
Tidings at Nazareth (16—3o0).
Signs: the unclean spirit (31—37); Simon’s wife’s mother
(38, 39).
Many works (40, 41); wide teaching (42—44).
111. v.—ix. 4345. THE FUTURE CHURCH.
(a) Its universality (v.—vi. rt).
The sign: the draught of fishes (v. 1—11).
The Leper cleansed (r2—16).
The Paralytic restored (17—26).
The Publican called (27—39).
The Law vindicated-from superstition (vi. 1—11).

(8) Its constitution (vi. 12—viil. 3).

The Apostles called: the Sermon on the Mount (vi. |

12—49).
The spring of help:
Faith in man: the Centurion’s servant (vii. 2—10).
Love in Christ : the Widow’s son (11—17).

Chap. vii.

-----

594

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

Chap. vii.

—_—

- The hearers:
_ John and the people (r8—35).
The Pharisee and the Sinner (36—s0).
The ministering women (viii. 1—3). _
(y) Its development (viii. 4—56).
The Sower (viii. 4—18).
Earthly ties (19—21). |
Lessons of faith: the Storm stilled (02-48); the Le-
gion cast out (26—39); the woman healed (43—48) ;
Jairus’ daughter raised, (40—56).
(6) Its claims (ix. I—43 @).
-- The Commission (ix. r—6); the earthly king (7—9).
The 5000 fed (to—17); the Confession {18--- 27).
The Transfiguration; the Lunatic healed (28—43 @).
- IV... ix. 43 6—xviii. 30... THE. UNIVERSAL CHURCH. THE REJEC-
“TION OF THE JEWS FORESHEWN,
(α),. Preparation (ix. 43 6—xi. :13). ei
Coming persecution (43/—45). Traits of the true disci-

ple (46—62). Rhy
The Mission of the 70 (x. 1-20), Thanksgiving (21—
24).

᾿ One family of men: the Good So ἐν (25—37).
One thing needful: Mary and Martha ( 38—42).
Prayer the strength of life (xi. 1—13). > . wt

(8) Lessons of warning (xi. 14—xiil. 9).
poking Seven worse spirits (xi. r4~38)-
‘Sign of Jonah (29—36).
Pharisaic religion (37—54)-

‘Outward τ: Persecution (xii, 1—12).

Wealth (13—31).
Life (32—s3).

Signs of the times (54—59).

‘The Fate of the Galileans (xiii. 1—s).
The barren Fig-tree (6--: 9).

(y) Lessons of progress (xiii. TO—xiv. 24).
. /The woman [the Church] set free (xiii. ro—17).
; The growth of the Church outward ond inward
(18—21).
. The duty of effort (tee
The assurance in working Eee
Formalism defeated (xiv. 1—6).
The poor called (7—14). ,
The feast furnished with guests (15—24).

NOTES.

(δ). Lessons of discipleship (xiv. 25—xvii. 10).
The completeness of the sacrifice (xiv. 285-38).
The universality of the offer (xv.). tf
Social duties.
The Stewardship of wealth (xvi.).
Offences ; Faith ; Service (xvii. r—ro). ἡ

(¢). The coming end (xvii. 11—xvyiii. 30).
<7... The sign: the Ten: Lepers (xvii. 1119). ᾿
The unexpectedness of Christ’s coming (20—37).
The Unjust Judge (xviii. 1—8).
Obstacles to faith :
Self-righteousness; Pride; Selfishness (9Q—30).

V. xviii. 31—xxi.. THE SOVEREIGNTY CLAIMED,.”?

(a) The Journey:
Warnings; Bartimzus ; Zacchzeus 3 the Talents (xviii.
31—xix. 27).

(8) The Entry (xix. 28—44).
The Work begun (45—48).

;
‘

(y) The Conflict. The first question (xx. 1—8); the portrai- !
ture (g—19) ; the Temptation (20—40) ; the last question |

(41—44). ,
The Pharisees (45, 46); the Widow (xxi, 14).
The Judgment (xxi. 5—36).

The Work (37, 38).

VI. xxiii—xxivy. THE SOVEREIGNTY GAINED BY DEATH,

The end foreshewn (xxii. t—23).
Divisions within (24—34); dangers.without (35—38).
The Agony; Betrayal; Denial ; Condemnation (39—71).
The Judgment of Herod and Pilate (xxiii. 1—25).
The Crucifixion ; Burial (26—56).
The Revelation of the Risen’ Saviour (xxiv. 1—43).

The last Charge; the Ascension (44—-53).

NoTE H; see p. 374. :

The spiritual teaching of the Miracles in St Luke, as a whole,’ will

be seen from the following: table. The Miracles peculiar to St Luke

are marked by italics.

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

mee ὃ

i. Signs of the mission of the Saviour (iv. 18) generally to check
the action of evil.

(a) Spiritual :
the unclean spirit cast out (iv. 3337).
(8) Physical:
Peter’s wife’s mother healed (iv. 38, 39).
ii. The Christian Society.
(2) Its universality: ¢he Miraculous Draught of Fishes (ν.
I—11).
Hence Christ
(1) Purifies the outward life :
the Leper cleansed (v. 12—14).
(2) Purifies the inward life :
the Palsy healed (v. 18—26).
(3) Quickens deadened energies:
the withered hand restored (vi. 6—11).
(8) ‘The spring of its blessings.
(1) Faith in man:
the Centurion’s Servant (vii. 2--- το).
(2) Love in Christ: |
the Widow's Son raised (vii. 11—17).
(y) The fulness of Christ’s power to preserve it, as seen in
His Sovereignty over
(1) Matter:
the Storm stilled (viii. 22—25).
(2) Spirit:
the Gadarene Demoniacs (viii. 26—39).
(3) Death:
Typical : the Woman with the issue (viii. 43—48).
Natural: Jairus’ daughter raised (viii. 41—56).
(5) The extent of its claims.
(1) ‘To instruct and strengthen all:
the 5000 fed (ix. ro—17).

(2) To overcome by faith all evil:
the Lunatic healed (ix. 37—42).

iii, Signs of Christ’s working on men.

(a) To give utterance to the spiritually dumb :
the dumb devil cast out (xi. 14—26).

NOTES. ο 397

(8) To remove Chap, vii.

(1) The inward checks to our progress:
the Woman with a spirit of infirmity (xiii. 11—17).

(2) The outward obstacles to it (ver. 5);
the Man with the Dropsy (xiv. 1—6).

(y) To cleanse impurity outward and inward (ver. 19):
the ten Lepers cleansed (xvii. 12—19).

(δ) To restore spiritual sight :
the blind man restored (xviii. 35—43).
[the healing of Malchus ; xxii. 50, 51.]

The Miracles recorded by St Matthew and St Mark which are omitted
by St Luke are : (1) The walking on the sea; (2) the healing of the Syro-
pheenician’s daughter ; (3) the feeding of the 4000 ; (4) the barren fig-tree.
The omission of the last three is the more worthy of notice because they
symbolize the call of the Gentiles. But the character of St Luke’s Gospel
is to be sought in its general tone. The message which it conveys is uni-
versal, and not exclusive in any sense.

Notre K3 see Ὁ. 374.
The Parables in St Luke illustrate the general course of his narrative.

i. The Foundations.

(a) Love: the two debtors (vii. 41—43)+

(8) Productiveness : the Sower (viii. 4—15).

(y) Charity : the good Samaritan (x. 30—37)-

(δ) Importunity in Prayer: the Friend at midnight (xi, 5—8).
ii. Lessons of warning.

(a) Dependence : the rich Fool (xii. 16—21).

(8) Faithfulness: the Servants (xii. 35—48).

(y) Fruitfulness : the darren Fig-tree (xiii. 6—9).

iii. Lessons of progress.
(a) Outward growth: the Mustard Seed (xiii. 18, 19).
Inward change : the Leaven (xiii. 20, 21).
(8) The humble exalted: ¢he chief seats (xiv. 7—11).
The poor called : the great Supper (xiv. 12—24).

DIFFERENCES OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE SYNOPTISTS.

iv. Lessons of discipleship.
(a) -The rational Sacrifice :
the Tower-builder (xiv. 28—30),
the King going to war (xiv. 31—33). |
(8) The universal offer : .
The guideless Wanderer from the Church :
the lost Sheep (xv. 3—7).
The lost Slumberer in the Church:
the lost Drachma (xv. 8—10).
The wilful Apostate from the Church :
᾿ the Prodigal Son (xv. 11—32).
(y) Social duties: '
In the use of outward blessings :
Prudence: the unjust Steward (xvi. 1—12).
Charity: the rich man and Lazarus (xvi. 19—31).
Service no ground of merit: Unprofitable Servants (xvii.

7—I0).
v. Lessons of Judgment.
(a) The injured heard at last:
the Unjust Fudge (xviii. 1—8).
(8) Man’s judgment reversed :
the Pharisee and Publican (xviii. g—14).

(y) The Christian-rewarded according to his work: .
the Talents (xix. 11—27).

(5) The retribution of the wicked :
the wicked Husbandmen (xx. g—16).

CHAPTER VIII.

_» The Difficulties of the Gospels.

Πεπαιδευμένου ἐστι ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον τἀκριβὲς ἐπιζητεῖν καθ᾽ ἔκαστον γένος, ἐφ᾽
ὅσον ἡ τοῦ πράγματος φύσις ἐπιδέχεται.
ae ARISTOTELES.

“JF we have in any measure succeeded in establishing
the idea of .a distinct spiritual purpose and order
in the writings of the several Evangelists; if we have
shewn. that they rest upon the foundations of the Past
‘and meet the wants of the Future, the remainder of our
task will be easy. We shall fee/ the presence of the
‘Holy Spirit throughout the whole narratives, and seek
neither to limit His influence nor to define His opera-
tion. We shall recognise the divergences of the sacred
writers, but still strive to discover the law of their course
and the point of their reunion.. We shall bear in mind
how much is clear and evident in the written Word,
while we ponder over dark and disputed sentences.
We shall admit the obscurities which critics have de-
tected in our Gospels, and endeavour to explain their
origin, while we remember that, like the spots upon the
surface of the sun, they neither mar the symmetry nor
impair the glory of the great Source of our Life and
Light which is imaged in them.
It would be a profitless task to discuss at length the
objections which have been urged against distinct pas-

Chap viii.
The difficul-

ties of the
Gospels rela-
tively incon-
siderable.

General
grounds for
meeting ob-
Jections.

409

THE DIFFICULTIES OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. viii.

τ. They
spring from
ἃ wrong
view of the
nature of the
Gospeds.

2. Fron dis-
regard of

sages of the Gospels, for it is always the penalty of
controversy that the whole is neglected for details; but
it may be not without use to indicate some general
grounds for receiving with patience accounts which we
cannot entirely reconcile. Such general considerations
may lead us to wait for fuller knowledge, not with
doubt and misgiving, but with a sure confidence in
God’s eternal truth. ;

We have already noticed the error of those who
contemplate the life of Christ, as recorded by the Evan-
gelists, only outwardly, without regarding its spiritual
significance. Hence it has followed that details his-
torically trivial have been deemed unfit subjects for
the exercise of Inspiration; and it has been argued
from the omission of a wide cycle of facts by the Evan-
gelists that their narratives are vague and incomplete,
The first step to a right understanding of the Gospels
must be the abandonment of this point of sight; we
must regard them as designed to set forth the progress
of a divine work embodied in the life of the Son of
Man; we must compare them with the inward experience
of Christians, and not with the annals of biographers;
we must read them to learn the details of our redemp-
tion, and not to add some new facts to the chronicles of
the world. Before we pronounce any clause or word in
the Bible insignificant or needless, let us be assured that
it contains no mystery’, that it teaches the humble
student no new lesson in the knowledge of the world
or of man or of God.

A second source of objections to the Gospels springs

1 Orig. Philoc. c. 1: Πρέπει τὸ πνεῖ τῶν ἀπὸ πληρώματος. Kat
ἅγια γράμματα πιστεύειν μηδεμίαν οὐδέν ἐστιν ἐν προφητείᾳ ἢ νόμῳ ἢ
κεραίαν ἔχειν κενὴν σοφίας Θεοῦ...ἐκ εὐαγγελίῳ ἢ ἀποστόλῳ ὃ οὔκ ἐστιν

γὰρ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ λαβόντες ἀπὸ πληρώματος.
οἱ προφῆται λέγουσι. διὸ πάντα

THEIR NATURE AND PURPOSE MISUNDERSTOOD.

401

from the general disregard of their spiritual character.
No attempt is made to realise their individual purposes,
as representing natural and fundamental differences in
the conception of the Life of Christ. If their individu-
ality is asserted, it is as the partial result of design, and
not as the spontaneous expression of a finite mind filled
with the truth. To borrow an illustration from classical
literature, the Memoirs of the Apostles are treated
historically by a method which no critic would apply
to the Memoirs of Xenophon. The scholar admits the
truthfulness of the different pictures of Socrates which
were drawn by the philosopher, the moralist, and the
man of the world, and combines them into one figure
instinct with a noble life, half-hidden and half-revealed,
as men viewed it from different points; but he seems
often to forget his art when he studies the records of
the Saviour’s work. Hence it is that superficial differ-
ences are detached from the context which explains

them. It is urged as an objection that parallel narra-

tives are not identical. Variety of details is taken for
discrepancy. The evidence may be wanting which
might harmonize narratives apparently discordant; but
experience shews that it is as rash to deny the proba-
bility of reconciliation as it is to fix the exact method
by which it may be made out. If as a general rule we
can follow the law which regulates the characteristic
peculiarities of each Evangelist, and see in what way
they answer to different aspects of one truth, and com-
bine as complementary elements in the full representa-

tion of it'; then we may be well contented to acquiesce

1 Orig. in Foann, Tom. x, 18: τοὺ τῶν Ἐὐαγγελιστῶν διαγράφοντος
᾿ῬΕπίστησον δὲ ἐπιμελῶς, εἰ δυνατὸν διαφόρους τοὺ λόγου ἐνεργείας ἐν δια-

| ὡς τάς γε ἐναλλαγὰς τῶν yeypau- φόροις ἤθεσι ψυχῶν οὐ τὰ αὐτα ἀλλὰ

μένων καὶ τὰς διαφωνίας διαλύεσθαι τινα παραπλήσια ἐπιτελούσας. The
παρὰ τὸν τῆς ἀναγωγῆς τρόπον, ἑκάσ-. wisdom of Origen’s principle is not

W.G, CC

Chap. viii.
their
distinct
purposes.

402

THE DIFFICULTIES OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. viii.

3. From a
neglect of
their proper
historical
authority.

in the existence of some difficulties which at present
admit of no exact solution, though they may be a
necessary consequence of that independence of the Gos-
pels which in other cases is the source of their united
power’. |

The neglect of the spiritual object of the Gospels,
by which they are deprived of their proper character,
leads necessarily to the disregard of their secondary
character as true narratives of facts. Many recent
critics have not only reduced our Gospels to the level
of ordinary writings, but have then denied their special
and independent authority. They commonly admit a.
fact on the testimony of Josephus, which they question
if it rest on the statement of St Matthew or St Luke’.
They do not concede those privileges to the Evangelists
which they yield to other historians in accordance with
the received rules of evidence; and though it be said
that the assumed Inspiration of the Gospels removes
them to a fresh position, it is clear that in the interpre-
tation of the outward text they must be subject to the
just arbitration of criticism; for the body is obedient
to the laws of matter, though informed by a living spirit.
We claim for the Gospels the strictest interpretation of
language. Let the test be applied universally, and the
apologist will gain as much as the interpreter. As soon

shaken in any degree by his own
failure in applying it.

1 Cf. Matt. viii. s—10; Luke vii.
I—I0.

Matt. xxvii. 5; Acts i. 18 See
Gaussen, 7heopneustia, p. 143 (Eng.
Tr.) for a curious parallel.

john xix. 17; Luke xxiii. 26.
See ἢ. 332, ἢ. τὸ a7 fin., and Orig,
Comm. in Matt, Tom. X11. § 24.

2 Matt. xiv. 3.

Matt. xxiii. 35.

Matt. xxvii. 51 sqq.; 62—66;

xxviii. 11—15 (Strauss, III. 4, ὃ

133).

Luke iii. 1 (Strauss, 11. 1, ὃ 44).

Luke xxiii. 45 (Strauss, Il. 4,
§ 133). -There is no mention of an
Eclipse, but of Darkness (σκότος
ἐγένετο, Matt. xxvii. 45; Mark xv.
33; Luke xxiii. 44). The objection
is as old as the time of Origen, who
answers it rightly: Comm. Ser. in
Matt. § 134.

John i, 28; iii, 23; iv. δ, Cf."
XVili. I. ᾿

THEIR AISTORICAL AUTHORITY SLIGHTED.

as we disbelieve in the force of words similarity is con-
founded with sameness’; differences are quoted as con-
tradictions*; the general is asserted to be inconsistent
with the particular’; the connexion of subject is taken
for a connexion of time’.

It cannot be denied that the real origin of many,
perhaps of most of the objections to the Gospels, lies
‘deeper than textual criticism. The objections to the
record rest on a fundamental objection to the implied
fact. An unexpressed denial of the possibility of Mira-
cles is the foundation of detailed assaults upon a mira-
culous narrative. Critical difficulties are too often in
the first instance the excuse for a foregone conclusion,
or at least fall in with a definite bias. A charge of
prejudice is alleged against the defenders of the Gospels,
and it lies more truly against those who attack them.
The prevalence of a suspicion of all miraculous history,
of a willingness to accept any explanation which may
limit or modify its character, of a kind of satisfaction
in believing that we may plausibly doubt some part of
it and so question the whole, is far greater than we com-

1 Matt. ix. 32—34; xii. 22—30.

Matt. xiv. 15—21; xv. 32—-38.
Cf. xvi. 9, 10.

Matt. xxvi. 6—13; Luke vii. 36
- 50.

Luke ix. 1 sqq.3; x. I 566.

John ii. 14—17; Matt. xxi. 12,
13:
Soha iv. 46—54; Luke vii. r—r0.

2 Matt. 111. 14; Johni, 31. Cf.
P- 293, n. 2.

Matt. xx. 29—34; Mark x. 46—
52; Luke xviii. 35—43- Cf. David-
son’s Hermeneutics, p. 558.

Matt. xxvii. 54; Luke xxiii. 47.

Matt. xxvii. 37; Mark xv. 26;
Luke xxiii. 38; John xix. 19 (the
Luscription on the Cross). Cf. p.
332, N. 10.

3 Matt. xi. 2. sqq.; John i. 34;
iii. 27.

Matt. xi. 14; Johni. 21.

Matt. xxi. 38; Acts 111. 17 3 xiii.

27.
Matt. xxvi. 8; John xii. 4.
Matt. xxvi. 69—75; Mark xiv.
66—72; Luke xxii. 56—62; John
xviii. 17, 18, 25—27 (the denials of
St Peter). Cf. p. 302, n. 3.

John v. 31: viii. 14.

A suggestive instance occurs in
Matt. xx. 20; Mark x. 35, when
we compare Matt. xx. 22 with Mark
x. 38 (οἴδατε).

Matt. xiv. 13; Luke ix. ro.

4 Matt. xxi. 19, 20; Mark xi. 20.
Luke xxiv. 50; Acts i. 3.

CC2

4. From
antecedent
prejudices.

404

THE DIFFICULTIES OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. viii.

——

5. The
gravest ob-
jections are
uncertain.

Importarce
o& teeling

monly admit even to ourselves. No one probably is
free from the feeling; and it is well to consider how
much of each difficulty is due to the nature of the fact,
and how much to the nature of the evidence by which
it is attested ; how far it is a fair result of the text itself,
and how far a natural consequence of the conception
which the text contains. Christianity is essentially mi-
raculous. This is a postulate of Biblical criticism; and
it follows that miraculous circumstances are exactly in
the same position in the Gospel-history as natural cir-
cumstances in common history. If the postulate be

granted, the conclusion is inevitable; if it be denied,

argument is impossible. No external evidence can pro-
duce faith. | }

Apart from narratives which involve this antagonism
of principle, it may be observed that even in those pas-
sages which present the greatest difficulties there are
traces of unrecorded facts, which, if known fully, would
probably explain the whole’: further knowledge tends
to remove, instead of increasing, objections; and few
objections are admitted to be of force by all adverse
critics. The heritage of scepticism is rather the settled
spirit of doubt than the accumulated store of arguments.
Each antagonist of Christianity thinks that the battle
fails where he is not himself engaged. Isolated and
independent efforts are opposed to the gathered
strength which ages of faith have transmitted to the
Church.

It is perhaps the more necessary to insist on these

1 Luke ii. 2, αὕτη ἀπογραφὴ

Cf. p. 318, n. 4.
πρώτη ἐγένετο, k.T.A. The force

Cf.

of the objection lies in the neglect
of the word πρώτη, which seems to
refer to some other ‘Taxing,’ with
which we are unacquainted. [1851]

John xix. 14; Mark xv. 25.
Townson, Déssert. VIII. 1, ὃ 2.

We see the importance of this
minute criticism in Mark xi. 13,
ἔχουσαν φύλλα.

THEIR LITERAL TR UTHFULNESS.

405

particulars, as much of the criticism at the present day
seems to assume that there is some resting-place be-
tween the perfect truthfulness of Inspiration and the
uncertainty of ordinary writing. A subjective standard
is erected, which, if once admitted, will be used as much
to measure the doctrines as the facts of Scripture; and,
while many speculators boldly avow this, others are con-
tented to admit the premises from which the conclusion
necessarily follows. But within the Church criticism is

the interpreter and assessor, and not the sole and final |

judge. The same Spirit which gave the Revelation for
the establishment of the outward society will unfold its
meaning, but not supersede its use. The Spirit and the
Word work together and not apart. To claim a distinct
personal enlightenment independent of a written Word
is to violate the highest attribute of man, his social de-
pendence. To convert the written Word into a rigid
code of formal teaching, independent of the abiding
presence of the Spirit who draws: from _ it lessons for
each age, is to destroy the idea of a Church—that
Communion of Saints which realises in life the historic
verities of Christianity. Both feelings alike though in
different ways spring out of that tendency of our age
which would obliterate the name of government and the
claims of national life.

Still we must not seek by an excess of zeal to limit
the narratives of Scripture to any mechanical arrange-
ment; they are /iving oracles, whose vitality consists
in their integrity. It is enough for us to refute the
conclusions of our adversaries without imitating their
subtleties. The great marks of the divinity of the Gos-
pels are written on every page and included in every
word. “Their perfect adaptation to our wants is proved
by the witness of our own hearts, not because we can

Chap. viii.
the literal
truthfulness
of Scripture:

even when
we cannot
prove ΖΖ.

Acts vii, 38.

406

THE DIFFICULTIES OF THE GOSFELS

Chap. viii.
Heb, xis Xe

x Tim. iii. 16.
(ΘΣ or ΟΣ.)

The relation
of Faith to
Reason in
Scripture.

1. Difficul-
ties are use
Jul Tntel-
lectually.

| ledge.

discover truth, but because by God’s help we can recog-
nise it; and it is equally unwise and unchristian to mar
our glorious heritage in the pursuit of a faithless know-
ledge, to impair its fulness, or abridge its scope, because
our own reason, or that of others, is too proud to bow
before the wondrous works and Miracles consequent on
the perfection and reality of God manifest in the flesh.
Surely here, if anywhere, it befits our weakness ‘to be
‘thankful and to wait’’

But while either extreme of indifferentism and formal
harmonization is alike hurtful—for by the one we are
apt to destroy our sense of moral beauty, and by the
other our regard for moral truth—we are not to decline
with some the labours of a searching criticism, or with
others the veneration of the humblest faith; for it is
only by the combination of these that the deepest mean-
ing of Holy Scripture is laid open. Reason and Faith
are not antagonistic principles, but another form of the
great antithesis which lies at the basis of all our know-
By the one we discover the human form, and by
the other the spiritual basis, of revealed truth. Reason
gives us the laws which limit our human conceptions as
made in time and space, and Faith gives us those ab-
solute ideas of spiritual things which Reason embodies.
The one answers to the human, and the other to the
divine in our nature; and both alike are addressed by
the Word of God, and consecrated to the Christian’s use.

From this view of our constitution we may see that
the very existence of difficulties in our Gospels, which

1 Cf. Orig. Philoc. c. 1: ᾿Ασφαλὲς
οὖν τὸ περιμένειν THY ἑρμηνείαν τοῦ
σαφηνιστοῦ λόγου, καὶ τῆς ἐν μυστη-
ρίῳ σοφίας ἀποκεκρυμμένης, ἣν οὐδεὶς
τῶν ἀρχόντων τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου ἔ-
Ὕνωκε κατὰ ἀποκάλυψιν μυστηρίου

χρόνοις αἰωνίοις σεσεγημένον, pavepw-
θέντος τοῖς ἀποστόλοις καὶ τοῖς ἐκείνοις
παραπλησίοις. διά τε γραφῶν προφη-
τικῶν καὶ τῆς γενομένης εἰς αὐτοὺς
ἐπιφανείας. τοῦ “σωτῆρος ἡμῶν λόγον
τοῦ ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν.

IN THEIR INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL ASPECTS.

are the groundwork of our /fazzh, is a fresh incentive to
vigorous and rational study. There is a noble remark
of Origen’ which is true in a moral sense, and perhaps
even literally, that the ‘divine Word ordered some
‘stumblingblocks and stones of offence in the sacred
‘records, that we might not be led away by the un-
‘alloyed attractiveness of the narration, and seek for
‘nothing more divine.’ We feel assured that the Scrip-
tures contain infinite depths from our sense of the gene-
ral dealings of Providence and of the wants of the
Church ; and the subtlest criticism discovers enough to
encourage us to dedicate every energy to the investi-
gation of their mysteries. If there were no need for
rigorous criticism, no reward for acute philology, no
scope for philosophical inquiry, in the study of the
Bible: if the text were uniform, the diction simple,
and the connexion obvious, we might neglect the con-
secration of our entire faculties to divine ends’; while,
as it is, we find in the human form, and the natural
transmission of the sacred volume, the noblest field for
our labours. If it be said that these subtleties are only
for the scholar, the answer is obvious, that so are the
objections to which they correspond. The Bible ap-
peals to all as they are: no one occupies a position of
superiority. The difficulties of Scripture are useful in-
tellectually®.

But again we.must remember that all Revelation is
given to us as in a state of probation‘, and that not only

1 Philoc. 1. 15: φκονόμησέ τινα
οἱονεὶ σκάνδαλα καὶ προσκόμματα. καὶ
ἀδύνατα διὰ μέσου ἐγκαταταχθῆναι
τῷ νόμῳ καὶ τῇ ἱστορίᾳ ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ
λόγος " ἵνα μὴ πάντη: ὑπὸ τῆς λέξεως
ἑλκόμενοι τὸ ἄγωγον ἄκρατον ἐχούσης

«οἰ μηδὲν θειότερον μάθωμεν.

2 Arist. Zih. Δ. VI. 12.

3 Among the notes for Pascal’s

great Apology, is the following:
Plusieurs Evangélistes pour la con-
firmation de la vérité. Leur dis-
semblance utile (Ed. Faugére, τι.
P- 371).

4 In addition to Butler, we may
refer to Pascal’s notes, Vol. 11. p.
205, 200.

2. Morally.

THE DIFFICULTIES OF THE GOSPELS

Philoc. i. 23.

In reference
to Nature.

in reference to a part of our nature, but to the whole.
We are subjected to a mental as well as to moral trial,
or rather morality is extended to reason as well as to
life; and we might expect that Scripture should fur-
nish us with a proper training for both. ‘Believe, and
‘then thou shalt find beneath the imaginary offence
‘a full source of profit,’ was a saying of Origen’s, never
more truly applicable than in an age of unexampled
restlessness. The outward moral temptation is now per-
haps less formidable than heretofore, from the form of

| our civilization, while the inward struggle waxes fiercer

and fiercer, as men seek not so much to live freely as
to know fully, forgetting too often that love is the source
of wisdom’; for the ‘chasms (and discrepancies) in the
‘divine history afford room for the exercise of faith—a
‘faith whose root is to be found, not in science, not in
‘demonstration, but in simple and self-subduing sub-
‘mission of our spirits®’ The difficulties of Scripture are
useful morally.

Origen® will still furnish us with another remark:
the difficulties of the revelation in the Bible are strictly
analogous to those of the revelation in nature. ‘In both
‘we see a self-concealing, self-revealing God, who makes
‘Himself known only to those who earnestly seek Him ;
‘in both we find stimulants to faith, and occasions for
‘unbelief*’ There are apparent anomalies in the phe-
nomena of the material world, but their general uni-
formity teaches us that these are only discrepancies

in appearance. There are difficulties in applying the

1 1 faut aimer les choses divines τείνουσα els πᾶσαν αὐτὴν διὰ τὸ μὴ
pour les connaitre. Pascal. καθ᾽ ἑκάστην λέξιν δύνασθαι τὴν ἀ-
2 Neander, Life of Christ, Introd. σθένειαν ἡμῶν παρίστασθαι τῇ κεκρυμ-
® De Princip. iV. p. 163, (I. § 7), μένῃ λαμπρότητι τῶν δογμάτων ἐν
ὥσπερ οὐ χρεωκοπεῖται ἡ πρόνοια εὐτελεῖ καὶ εὐκαταφρονήτῳ λέξει ἀπο-
διὰ τὰ μὴ γινωσκόμενα παρα τοῖς Ὑ κειμένῃ.
ἅπαξ παραδεξαμένοις αὐτὴν καλῶς, * Neander, 7. δ,
οὕτως οὐδὲ ἡ τῆς γραφῆς θειότης δια-

IN REFERENCE TO NATURE.

409

great doctrine of gravitation—as in the case of the
tides—but we /ee/ that they arise not from any want
of universality in the law, but from our ignorance of the
conditions of the problem. There are also difficulties
in Scripture, and shall we not rest assured from that
divine wisdom which we can discern, that they spring
only from our ignorance of the circumstances on which
the question turns? If the Gospels had presented no
formal offences, how soon should we have heard objec-
tions drawn from the general course of God’s dealings.

How readily should we have been reminded of the plau-.

sibility of human forgeries, and of the mystery of divine
Providence. It would have been even said’ that the
advance of Christianity—which must be folly ¢o the
Greek—was due to the beauty of its external form, and
the perfection of its superficial smoothness, and not to
the power of its inner truth; whereas, at present, the
discrepancies of Scripture lead us back to the Author
of nature; and as we do not question His eternal
Presence, though many details of His operation tran-
scend our knowledge, so neither need we doubt the
perfect Inspiration of the Scriptures, though frequently
we may be unable to recognise the treasure of God in
the earthly vessels which contain it. The difficulties of
Scripture are useful as unfolding the true analogy of
God’s works,

But, ‘not to rest in this school of nature,’ we must
remember in the midst of the doubts and perplexities
which so easily beset us, that at present we know but in
part the facts and the bearings of Revelation. Dim
views of a wider scope and a more perfect wisdom are
ever opened before us. Faith looks forwards as well as
inwards ; and even now we see enough whereon to rest

1 Origen, Philoc. ΤΥ.

Chap. viii.

t Cor. 1. 23.

2 Cor. iv. 7.

rt Cor. xiii. 9.

410

THE DIFFICULTIES OF THE GOSPELS.

Chap. viii.

Rey. xxi. 23.

securely the firm foundations of our hope, possessing our
souls in peace, till that which 15 in part shall be done
away—till the refulgent buildings of the New Jerusalem

and its heavenly glories shall be fully disclosed, whereof

at present we can but discern, amid the mists of earth,
wondrous pillars and buttresses, or through some dim
window the distant rays of that glorious Sun—even the
Lamb of God—which shall at one time illumine the
Holy City.

Γενηθητω ἡμῖν KATA THN THCTIN ἡμῶν KA@ HN Kal πιοτεὺ -

a a \ ’ > \ > , ’ >
OMEN OTI TIACA ΓΡΑΦΗ θΘΕΟΠΝΕΥΟΤΟΟ ΟΥ̓ σὰ KAI ΟΦΕΛλΙΜΟΟ ECTI.
- ORIGENES.

J ¥

pve 5

ἡ

APPENDIX A.

ON THE QUOTATIONS [IN THE GOSPELS.

Οὐδέποτε οὕτως ἐλάλησεν ἄνθρωπος,
JOHN vii. 46.

HE quotations made from the Old Testament by our Lord and His
disciples give us perhaps the truest and most decisive view of the In-
spiration of the Bible; for no one I suppose will refuse that authority to
the Gospels and Epistles which is assured to the Law and the Prophets.
The Christian Councils must have had the same authority and guidance in
deciding on the Canon of the new Scriptures as was enjoyed by the Jewish
Church, nor can we believe that less grace was given to those who portrayed
the substance of the Gospel than to those who saw its shadow; for the only
alternative is to deny the need of an outward society and a divine Word for
the fulfilment of the second dispensation. It will be seen from the follow-
ing passages, taken from the books of Moses, the Psalms and the Prophets,
that a spiritual significance lies beneath the Bible as a whole; that its power
and usefulness are not confined to striking predictions or definite precepts,
but spread over simple historic details, and involved in the records of in-
dividual life. We may conclude this,

I. From the mode in which our Lord appeals to Scripture as decisive:

(a) In direct precepts:
Matt. iv. 4, 7, 10; cf. Luke iv. 4, 8, 12 (yéypamrrac* εἴρηται"
Deut. vi. 13, 16; viii. 3). Matt. ix. 13; xii. 7 (Hos. vi. 11).
Matt. xv. 4 (ὁ Θεὸς εἶπεν); Mark vii. 10 (Mwiions εἶπεν, Ex, xx.
12). Cf. Matt. xxii, 36, 38; Matt. xviii. 16. Cf. Deut.
xix. 15.
(8) In distinct Prophecies:
Matt. xi. 10 (οὗτός ἐστιν περὶ οὗ γέγραπται, Mal. iii. τὴ.

Matt. xxiv. 15. Mark xiii. 14 (τὸ ῥηθὲν ὑπὸ Δανιὴλ τοῦ wp, Dan. |

ix. 273 xii. 11).

Appendix A.

The Inspi-
ration of
the Old
Testament
involves
that of the
New.

And that is

Sepa

. By the
Guotations of
our Lord;

414

ON THE QUOTATIONS IN THE GOSPELS.

Appendix A.

Matt. xxvi. 54 (πῶς ody πληρωθῶσιν al γραφαὶ ὅτι οὕτω δεῖ γενέ-
σθαι; cf. ver. 56).

Luke vii. 27. Matt. xi. τὸ (περὲ οὗ γέγραπται" Mal. iii. 2).

Luke xxii. 37 (τὸ γεγραμμένον det τελεσθῆναι ἐν ἐμοί. Isai.
lili, 12).

And significant:

(y) In its secondary application:

Matt. x. 35 (Mic. vii, 6), Matt. xii. 5 (οὐκ ἀνέγνωτε; Num.
XXVili. 9).

Matt. xili, 14, 15 (ἀναπληροῦται αὐτοῖς ἡ προφητεία" Isai, vi.
9---τ 1).

Matt. xv. 8, 9 (προεφήτευσεν ‘Ho. Isai. xxix. 13).

Matt. xxi. 13. Mark xi. 17. Luke xix. 46 {γέγραπται Tsai.
lyis9);

Matt. xxi. 16 (οὐδέποτε ἀνέγνωτε; ; Ps. viii. 2).

Matt. xxi. 42 (οὐδέποτε ἀνέγνωτε ἐν ταῖς ypadais;) Mark xii. το:
(ἡ γραφὴ αὕτη); Luke xx. 17 (τὸ γεγραμμένον τοῦτο Ps.
Cxvili. 22, 23).

Matt. xxvi. 31 (yéyparrat: Zech. xiii. 7),

John vi. 45 (ἔστιν γεγρ. ἐν τοῖς προφήταις" Isai. liv. 13).

John xiii. 18 (ἡ γραφή" Ps. xli. 9).

John xv. 25 (ὁ λόγος ὁ γεγραμμένος ἐν τῷ νόμῳ αὐτῶν" Ps. χχχν.
1Q)-

(5) In its spiritual depth:

Matt. xii. 40 (Jon. i. 17). Matt. xix. 4, 5 (οὐκ avéyrwre;) Mark
x. 6, Gen, ᾿ς αὖ ii. 24.

Matt. xxii. 32 (τὸ ῥηθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ :) Mark xii. 26 (οὐκ ἀνέ-
Ὕνωτε ὡς εἶπεν ὁ Θεός:) Luke xx. 37 (Mwiiogs ἐμήνυσεν" Ex,
iii. 6, 16).

Matt. xxii. 43, 44 (Δαυεὶδ ἐν πνεύματι); Mark xii. 36 (Δ. ἐν mp.
ἁγίῳ); Luke xx. 41 (Aaveld Aéyer’ Ps. cx. 1).

Matt. xxvii. 46; Mark xv. 34. Cf. Ps. xxii. 2.

Mark ix. 49h.

John x. 34 (yeyp. ἐν τῷ νόμῳ ὑμῶν" Ps. Ixxxii. 65).

From these passages it will be seen that we must either accept the doc-
trine of a plenary Inspiration, as we have already explained the phrase, or
deny the veracity of the Evangelists. If our Lord’s words are accurately
recorded, or even if their general tenor is expressed in one of the Gospels,
the Bible is indeed the Word of God in the fullest spiritual sense ; for no

1 Cf. Olshausen, Comm. S. 555 ff. gen, Philoc. τ. § 10); xvi. 29, 31; John v.
5 Cf, Matt, xxvii. 46; Luke xi. 52 (Oris 39, 46; vii. 38

1. There appears to be a distinct meaning in the different modes of
quotation. Surenhusius! has made a valuable collection of the formulz in
use among the Rabbins, which may be compared with the Greek phrases;
but the discussion of this question would necessarily lead us beyond the
Gospels.

2. The usage of the Evangelists shews that they did not introduce the
quotations into the speeches of Jesus, For while St Mark and St Luke do

1 In his Βίβλος καταλλαγῆς. Cf supr. Ῥ. 29) 0. αν

ON THE QUOTATIONS IN THE GOSPELS. 415
scheme of accommodation can be accepted where it tends to lead men | Appendix A,
astray as to the sources of divine help. ~—
II. The doctrine which we have seen to be implied in the language | Il. Ay the
of our Lord is yet more fully unfolded by the Apostles and Evangelists. ὌΝ
It will be enough for our present purpose to give a general table of the | Zvangelists.
citations in the Gospels:
(a) Distinct Prophecies :
Matt. ii. 6 (γέγραπται Mic. v. 2),
Matt. iv. 15, τό (iva πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ τοῦ wp. Isai. ix. 1, 2).
Matt. xil. 17—21 (ὅπως πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥηθέν. Isai. vi. 1—4).
Matt. xxi. § (ἵνα πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥηθέν" Zech. ix. 9); John xii. 15
(καθώς ἐστιν γεγραμμένον).
(8) Typical acts and words fulfilled in the Gospel history :
Matt. i. 22 (ὅλον γέγονεν ἵνα πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥηθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ Kuplov διὰ
τοῦ wp. Isai. vii. 14).
Matt. ii. 15 (va πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥηθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ Kuplov διὰ τοῦ mp.
Hos. xi. 1).
Matt. ii. 18 (τότε ἐπληρώθη τὸ ῥ. διὰ τοῦ wp. Jer. xxxi. 15).
Matt. ii. 23 (ὅπως πληρωθῇ τὸ p. διὰ τῶν προφητῶν).
[Matt. iii. 3. Marki. 3. Luke iii. 4. John i.-23.]
Matt. viii. 17 (ὅπως πληρωθῇ. Isai. 1111. 4).
Matt. xiii. 35 (ὅπως πλ. τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ τοῦ mp. Ps. Ixxviii. 2).
Matt. xxvii. 9, το (τότε ἐπληρώθη τὸ p. [Zech.] xi. 12, 13).
John ii. 17 (γεγρ. ἐστίν" Ps. lxix. 9).
John xii. 38—4r (οὐκ ἠδύναντο πιστεύειν ὅτι εἶπεν ‘Ho....... ἵνα
πληρωθῇ ὁ λόγος Ἣσ... ταῦτα εἶπεν ‘Ho. ὅτε εἶδεν τὴν δόξαν
αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐλάλησε περὶ αὐτοῦ" Isai. 1111. τ; vi. 9, 10).
John xix. 24 (ἵνα ἡ γραφὴ πληρωθῇ [ἡ λέγ.]. Ῥ5. xxii. 18, Cf.
Matt. xxvii. 35).
John xix. 36 (va ἡ yp. TA. Ex. xxii. 46. γραφὴ λέγει" Zech.
xii. 10).
It may be worth while to enumerate some general conclusions to which | Deductions
this enumeration leads: spe hod
usage.

416

ON THE QUOTATIONS IN THE GOSPELS.

Appendix A.

not quote the Prophets in their own narratives, they agree exactly with St
Matthew in their records of our Lord’s teaching.

3. The authority of Christ Himself and of His Apostles encourages us
to search for a deep and spiritual meaning under the ordinary words of
Scripture, which however cannot be gained by any arbitrary allegorizing,
but only by following out patiently the course of God’s dealings with man}.
There are traces even in the Old Testament of the recognition of this fulness
of the written Word?. Such a belief lies at the basis of the arguments of
St Paul? and of the Epistle to the Hebrews‘; and we shall find that it was
ratified for at least three centuries by the common consent of the Church.

1 Those who wish to pursue this ques-
tion further in relation to modern opinions
will do well to study Olshausen’s beautiful
tract, Lin Wort wiber tiefern Schriftsinn.

2 Olshausen, § 7; the passages in the
Apocrypha are given in § 8.

3 Cf. x Cor. x. 1—12, 18; 2 Cor. iii. 7, 8.
Cf. Orig. zz Yoau, Tom. xxxu ὃ 17; Gal.

iv. 21—31; Eph. v. 29—32 (Gen. ii. 24);
Col. ii. 17.

4 The whole argument of the Epistle
depends on the reality of the spiritual
meaning of the Old Testament. Cf. Heb.
iv. 5,73 V. 5-123 Viil.—x; xii. 1,

In the Apocalypse also we find the same
deep symbolism: cf. xxi, 10-27.

APPENDIX B.

ON THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.

"2 Τιμόθεε τὴν παραθήκην φύλαξον, ἐκτρεπόμενος Tas βεβήλους κενοφωνίας
καὶ ἀντιθέσεις τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως" ἣν τινες ἐπαγγελλόμενοι περὶ τὴν
πίστιν ἠστόχησαν. : ἱ

1 TIM, vi. 20,

&@ the present Appendix I shall endeavour to collect, as far as possible,

all the chief opinions of the Fathers of the first three centuries on the
nature of Inspiration. We may be inclined to judge some of their state-
ments fanciful or unsound, but still it cannot be a profitless task to learn
what they thought of our Bible who found in its teaching a support in mar-

_ tyrdom :—it cannot be unworthy of the most advanced Christian to treasure

up the sayings of those who lived while an Apostolic tradition still lingered
among the disciples of St John, St Peter, and St Mark.

In the course of our inquiry we shall meet with men who regarded our |

_ religion from the most opposite points of view. We shall hear the testi-

monies of the converted Jew, the awakened heathen, and the hereditary
Christian—of those who found in the faith of Christ the fulfilment of an-
cient promises or early hopes, and of others who were driven to embrace it
by the pressure of their own wants, after they had gone through the circle
of philosophy. Yet more, we shall be obliged to recognise the various in-
fluences of Eastern and Western life. Palestine and Assyria, Antioch and

_ Alexandria—the seats of divergent systems of criticism and theology—

contributed to fill the ranks of Christian writers, and furnished words to
express their new ideas. The voice of Christianity comes to us from Athens

and Carthage, from Rome and Lyons. All these points must be care-

fully remembered if we wish to form an adequate idea of the real purport
and true unity of the teaching of the Church. For in proportion as their
differences of country, education, and temperament, are greater, so much

_ the more striking is the essential agreement of the early Fathers in points |
of faith and feeling; and if we can trace under various forms one great idea

W.G, DD

Appendix B,

418

ON THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.

Appendix B.

1. BARNA-
BAS,

Ep. $9.

ὃ s.

§ το.

§§ 8, το,
II,

§ 14.
8 0.

of Inspiration in the scattered societies of ancient Christendom—if we can
find it incorporated into distinct systems and acknowledged by the most
incongruous minds—if the universal consent of antiquity lead us to Scrip-
ture for the groundwork of our Creed—we shall surely acknowledge that
tradition has done for us a noble and necessary work, by maintaining an
inspired Bible, a definite Canon, and a general method of interpretation.

For the sake of simplicity it will be best to follow the common arrange-
ment of Church histories, and examine in succession (1) the Subapostolic
Fathers; (2) the Apologists; (3) the Fathers of Asia Minor; (4) of North
Africa; (5) of Rome; (6) of Alexandria; (7) the Clementines.

Sect. I. THE SuBAPOSTOLIC FATHERS.

Οὔτε γὰρ ἐγὼ οὔτε ἄλλος ὅμοιος ἐμοὶ δύναται κατακολουθῆσαι τῇ σοφίᾳ

τοῦ μακαρίου καὶ ἐνδόξου ἸΤαύλον.
POLYCARP,

Ie ROM the nature of the Subapostolic writings all allusions to In-

spiration are incidental. The first literature of a Church is rather
practical than doctrinal, and we must endeavour to discover the teaching
which it involves, rather than merely that which it expresses. Thus Bar-
nabas uses such phrases as the following when quoting Scripture : ‘The
‘Lord saith in the Prophet, Ps. xvii. 45;’ ‘the Spirit of the Lord prophe-
‘sieth, Ps. xxxiii. 13.’ Again he tells us that ‘the Prophets received their
‘gift from Christ and spake of Him,’ and that ‘Moses spake in the Spirit.’
Consistently with this view he asserts the presence of a spiritual meaning
in the Law and History of the Jews}, and discovers types of the Cross in
the ancient Scriptures (Exod. xvii. 18, sqq-; Isai. Ixv. 2; Num. xxi. 9).
The number of those circumcised by Abraham (318, in Greek τι} repre-
sents, he says, at once the name of Jesus (IH) and the figure of the Cross
(T): than this there is no truer (γνησιώτερος) word. But such knowledge
was hidden in old time: ‘we have gained the right sense of the command-
‘ments, and speak as the Lord wished.’ We are, as it were, a new crea-
tion. The first tables of the Covenant which Moses brake because of the
unworthiness of the people have been given to us by the Lord. ‘In us
‘God truly dwells, that is, the Word of His faith (ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ τῆς πί-
‘orews), the calling of His promise, the wisdom of His ordinances, the
‘commandments of His teaching, Wimself prophesying in us, Himself dwell-

1 Rosenmiiller (Hist. Interfr. 1. 65 sqq.) has drawn a striking parallel between the
interpretations of Barnabas and Philo. 7

THE SUBAPOSTOLIC FATHERS.

419

‘ing in us; by opening for us who were enslaved by death the doors of the
‘temple, even our mouth, and by giving us repentance, He brought us into
‘the incorruptible temple [z.e. made us true temples of God]. He then
‘that longeth to be saved looketh not to man, but to Him that dwelleth in
“him and speaketh in him....And one rule of those who walk on the way of
‘light is: Thou shalt guard what thou hast received, neither adding nor
‘taking away from it.’

2. Clement of Rome quotes many passages from Scripture with the
words: ‘for the Scripture saith;’ ‘by the testimony of Scripture;’ ‘the
‘Holy Spirit saith.’ He exhorts his readers to ‘look carefully (ἐγ[κύπ-
‘ rere] els) into the Scriptures, which are the true [utterances] of the Holy
‘Spirit. Again he says, ‘Ye know, beloved, ye know well the sacred
‘Scriptures, and have looked carefully into the Oracles (τὰ λόγια) of [God];’
and the ‘spirit of lowliness and awe (τὸ ὑποδεές) through obedience, not
“only improveth us, but also improved the generations before us, even
‘those [unless we read with Davis καταδεξομένους, which is probably cor-
*rect] who received His Oracles in fear and truth.’ In another place he
speaks of the ‘ministers of the grace of God [the Prophets of the Old
‘lestament], ‘who by the Holy Ghost spake of repentance.’ But the
greatest effusion of the Spirit was reserved for the Christian Church, when
our Lord sent forth His Apostles, even as He was sent by the Father, to
preach the kingdom of God, ‘with the full assurance and measure of the
“Holy Spirit (μετὰ πληροφορίας πνεύματος aylov), when they had received
**the promises, and been fully convinced (πληροφορηθέντες) by the Resur-
‘rection, and confirmed in the word of God’ (πιστωθέντες ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ
Θεοῦ) ; of whose number ‘the blessed Paul at the beginning of the Gospel
‘in very truth wrote by Inspiration’ (πνευματικῶς, divinitus inspiratus
Vet. Int.) to the Corinthians.

Again the Epistle of Clement abounds in Old Testament illustrations.
He traces in the men of old time the results of envy, and the blessings of
faith, obedience, and humility. He recognises moreover the lasting im-
port of the recorded history, and the significance of the most minute
details!: the scarlet thread which Rahab hung out of the window was to
*shew that a redemption (λύτρωσις) should be made by the blood of the
‘Lord for all who believe and hope upon God.’ The use as well as the
language of Clement prove in what account he held the Word of God.

3. -The short and affecting Epistle of Polycarp contains little which
illustrates our subject, though he tells us with touching humility that
“neither he nor any like him is able to attain perfectly (κατακολουθῆσαι) to
‘the wisdom of the blessed and glorious Paul’ (contrast 2 Pet. iii. 15, 16),
and seems for once to burn with the zeal of his master when he declares
that ‘he is the firstborn of Satan whoever perverts the Oracles of the
‘ Lord to suit his own passions, and says that there is neither Resurrection.
‘nor Judgment.’ The last quotation is valuable, for, when compared with

1 Compare the remarkable passage Clem. ΕΖ. τι. 12.
DD2

Appendix B.

$19. Cf Rev.
xx. 18, 19.

2. CLBAMENS
RoMANUS.
Ep. 1. 23, 34.
I. 13, 16.
(Cis. liii.)
Lp. τι. 2, 6,

I. 45.

I. 53-

ι. 19.

ἐξ. 9s

ON THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.

Appendix Β.

ς. 11(Paul).}

4. IGNATIUS.

ad Philad, s.

ad Megn. 8,

ad Philad. 9.
Cf ad
Smyrn. 7.

ad Philad. 7.

ad Trall. 5.
(So Syr.)
ad Rom. 6.

ad Rom. 4.
ad kph. 15.

ad Eph. 3.

the passages of Clement cited before, it proves that the same term (τὰ
λόγια) was used in quoting the old and new Scriptures. Again Polycarp
writes that he ‘trusts his hearers are well versed in the sacred writings’
(in sacris litteris), alleging at the same time Psalm iv. 4; Ephes. iv, 26.
Indeed the words and spirit of the New Testament seem to be inwrought
into his mind, for though he only once mentions the name of the sacred
writer whom he quotes, there appear to be in his short Epistle more than
twenty distinct references to the Apostolic books},

4. The transition from Polycarp to Ignatius is very striking, which-
ever recension of the Ignatian letters we may be inclined to adopt. We
read in one passage that the writer ‘trusts to attain to that lot to which he
‘has been mercifully called, having fled to the Gospel® as to the flesh of
‘Jesus, and to the Apostles as to the Presbytery of the Church;’ and ‘yet
‘more,’ he adds, ‘let us love the Prophets, because they were the heralds ἡ
‘of the Gospel (κατηγγελκέναι els...)...and by belief in it were saved ;’ ‘ for
‘the divinest (θειότατοι) Prophets lived according to Jesus Christ...being
‘inspired (ἐμπνεόμενοι) by His grace;’...6He was the subject of their
‘preaching, and the Gospel is the perfection of immortality’ (ἀπάρτισμα

| tion from heaven:

ἀφθαρσίας).

In one place Ignatius seems to claim for himself a direct communica-

‘I call you to witness that I knew this not from man

“(σαρκὸς ἀνθρωπίνης), but the Spirit proclaimed, saying, ‘ Do nothing without
‘your bishop, keep your flesh as a temple of God,...be ye imitators of
‘Jesus even as He was of His Father;’ yet again he disclaims the personal*
possession of this higher knowledge, which was reserved for the time ‘ when
‘he received the pure light’ by death, and so became a ‘man of God,’

‘I do not give you injunctions (διατάσσομαι),᾽ he says,
‘they were Apostles, I a condemned man...

‘as Peter and Paul:
> The Christian who ‘pos-

‘sesses the Word of Jesus is truly able to hear even His silence, that he
‘may be perfect: that in what he speaks he may act, and in what he is
‘silent his character may be known;’ ‘the bishops’ too ‘are in the mind
“(ἐν τῇ γνώμῃ εἰσιν) of Jesus, as Jesus is the mind of His Father+.’

1 Fevardentius, in his notes on Irenzeus
(111. 3, p. 118, App. Ed. Benedic.), quotes
some questionable fragments from a manu-
script Catena on the Gospels, purporting
to be the versions of some chapters of
the Resfonsions of Polycarp, Bishop of
Smyrna, made by Victor of Capua (c. 480).
Their character will be seen from the
following quotations: Matt. xix. 5. Deus
vero qui per inspirationem divinam in corde
Adam ista verba formavit ipse Pater a
Domino recte locutus fuisse refertur; nam
et Adam hanc prophetiam protulit, et Pater
quieum inspiravit recte dicitur protulisse..,
Rationabiliter Evangelist principiis di-
versis utuntur quamvis una eademque

Evangelizandi eorum probatur ratio;...
curz fuit eo uti procemio quod unusquis-
que judicabat auditoribus expetere. Surely
this is not the language of the Apostoli¢
age.

2 There are apparently only half as_
many references to Scripture in the shorter
recensions of the Epistles as in the remains
of Polycarp, though in bulk the former are
perhaps ten times as great as the latter.

3 In opposition to Hefele and Niemeyer
I can only understand these words of writ-
ten histories and epistles according to the
context and the general usage of the words,
Cf. Ussher, Zc.

4 In one passage Ignatius seems to ex-

THE SUBAPOSTOLIC FATHERS.

421

5. Papias, who was a contemporary of Polycarp, is the first writer who
distinctly recognises the Synoptic Gospels. In illustration of them, as it
appears, he composed an ‘Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord’ (Aoylwy
υριακῶν ἐξήγησις), including in his book traditions still current, which
might seem to throw light upon the Apostolic narrative. Like Clement
and the Alexandrine school, he is said to have given a spiritual interpreta-
tion to the history of the Creation (els Χριστὸν καὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν πᾶσαν τὴν
ἑξαήμερον vonoas); and he is quoted by Andreas as a witness to the authority
of the Apocalypse.

6. The Shepherd of Hermas evinces by its form and reception! the
belief of the primitive age in the nature and possibility of Inspiration. We
have not to discuss here the Apostolic claims of the book, but its existence
is a distinct proof of the early recognition of a Prophetic power somewhere
existent in the Church. What was the character of this influence we may
learn from the commencement of one of the visions: ‘ And again the Spirit
‘carried me away to the same place,...and when I had risen from prayer, I
‘saw.a Matron walking and reading a Book, and she said to me: Can you
‘report this to the elect of God? 1 said to her: Lady, 7) cannot retain so great
‘things in my memory; but give me the book, and I will write them down.
‘Take it, she said, and restore it to me. Now when I had taken the book,
‘I retired and wrote down everything letter by letter, for I did not discover
‘the [divisions of the] syllables’ (non enim inveniebam syllabas ; cf. Clem.
Alex. Str. VI. § 131). The Lady, he afterwards tells us, is the Church of
God, and the revelation is to be sent to foreign cities, and delivered to the
widows and orphans of the Church”.

7. One more passage I will add from an uncertain but very early
writer? who, addressing an inquiring heathen, describes the blessings of
believers, among whom ‘the fearful strains of the Law are repeated, the
‘grace of the Prophets recognised, the faith of the Gospels established, the
‘tradition of the Apostles kept, and the grace of the Church triumphant’
(σκιρτᾷ). And if thou grievest not this grace thou shalt know what the
‘Word speaks to men, by whom He pleases, when He will’ (ἃ Λόγος ὁμι-
λεῖ, δὲ ὧν βούλεται, ὅτε θέλει). In this noble sentence we see the first
jntimation of the co-ordinate authorities of the Bible and the Church, of

press a sense of the deeper meaning of
Scripture: ad Ephes. 19 (in Syr.). It will
be seen that with one exception the pas-
sages quoted are not found in the Syriac
Version, at least in a perfect form.

1 It is quoted with marked respect by
Irenzus, Clement of Alexandria, and Ori-
gen. Cf. Euseb. H.Z. v.7; Ml. 25.

2 The whole section is very interesting.
Origen (Philoc. 1. 11) gives a singular alle-
gorical interpretation of the two copies
which Hermas is ordered to make.
represents Grapte as the /etfer, for she

teaches widows and orphans—those who
are not yet united with the Spouse of the
Church, though divorced from their old
connexion, nor yet adopted children of the
Father; while Clement typifies the sA/ri¢,
extending its influence far and wide without
corporeal restraints.

3 Cf. Hist. of N. T. Canon, pp. 86 ff. I
do not remember to have read anywhere
more eloquent outbursts of Christian feel-
ing than are found in several chapters:
e.g. ch. Vv.

Appendix B.

5. PAPIAS.
Luseb. H.E.

Ill. 39.

Fr. 1x.
(Routh.)

Prol. in
Apoc.

6. HERMAS.

Vis. 11. 4.

7. Ep. ad
DioGNE-
TUM,

§ 11.

422 ON THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.
Appendix B, | a written record and a living voicé; and it may well serve as a summary of
ros the principles which we have traced in the earliest Fathers of the Christian
Faith.
Sect. IJ. THe APpo.ocists.
οὔπω μέχρις αἵματος ἀντικατέστητε.
HEBR. ΧΙ], 4.
- ad early | 1. HE writings of the earliest Apologists, Quadratus and Aristides,
τ Ἐπ Brie. have perished; but Eusebius has preserved a tradition that the

v. 17(0n the
authority of
Miltiad:s).

2. JUSTIN
Martyr,
The Law.
Cohort. 12.
Apol. 1. 44.
The Psalms,
Apol. I. 40.
Apol. 1. 35.
Lhe Pro-
phets.

Dial. ¢. 119.
The New
Testament:

Apol. 1. 67.

former, like the daughters of Philip (Acts xxi. 9), was distinguished for his
Prophetic power—another intimation of the belief of the Early Church in.
the real existence of a gift of Inspiration. Thus it is that the works of.
Justin—who, as we are told, still retained the mantle of the philosopher
after he had adopted the doctrines of the Gospel—first present to us Chris-
tianity in relation with the ancient faith; and by their whole form and
language they clearly shew the necessary change which had taken place
since the time of the Apostles in the hearers and teachers of the new
religion}.

2. The Scriptural quotations introduced by Justin into all his works
are numerous, and his mode of citation is singularly expressive. He tells
us of the ‘history which Moses wrote by Divine Inspiration’ (ἐκ θείας ἐπι-
mvolas), while the ‘Holy Spirit of prophecy taught through him.’ Again
he quotes the language of David, ‘who spake thus (Ps. xix. 2—5), through
‘the Spirit of Prophecy;’ and of Isaiah who was moved (θεοφορεῖσθαι) by.
the same Spirit (Is. Ixv. 2; lviii. 2).

Yet more, he tells us that ¢ as Abraham believed on the voice of God,
‘and it was reckoned to him for righteousness, so do the Christians too.
‘believe on the voice of God, which has been addressed again to them by
‘the Apostles of Christ, and proclaimed by the Prophets, ... whose writings—
‘the Memoirs of the Apostles®, or the Books of the Prophets—were read
‘each Sunday in the public assembly (τὰ ἀπομνημονεύματα τῶν ἀποστόλων

serve that the two classes of writings—the

Δ The Elders quoted by Irenzeus make
Apostolic and the Prophetic—are placed in

use of the writings of the New Testament

as well asof those of the Old (Hist. of N.T.
Canon, pp. 80, 81); and Eusebius (H.£Z.
111... 37) speaks of Evangelists in the reign
of Trajan as ‘striving to deliver to others
‘the Scripture of the divine Gospels’ (τὴν
τῶν θείων εὐαγγελίων γραφήν).

2 ze. our Gospels (Hist. of N.T. Canon,
pp. 109 ff.). It is very important to ob-

the same rank throughout, for the Apostles
“by the power of God announced to every
‘race of men the Word of God, as they were
‘sent by Christ (Matth. xxviii. 20) to teach
‘all’ (A fol. 1. 39). Justin refers to Yohn,
one of the Apostles, as having prophesied
(Ρέας, ς. 81).

THE APOLOGISTS.

423

“ἢ τὰ συγγράμματα τῶν προφητῶν... τῇ τοῦ ἡλίου λεγομένῃ jucpa);’ ‘for we.
‘have been commanded by Christ Himself to obey not, the teaching of
‘men (ἀνθρωπείοις διδάγμασι) but that which hath been proclaimed by the
‘blessed Prophets. and taught by Him.’
How glorious the Prophet’s office was in Justin’s opinion we may ima-
gine when he says that ‘we must not suppose that the language (λέξεις)
‘proceeds from the men who are inspired, but from the divine Word which
‘moves them (μὴ dm αὐτῶν τῶν ἐμπεπνευσμένων ἀλλ᾽ ἀπὸ τοῦ κινοῦντος
“αὐτοὺς θείου λόγου). Their work is to announce that which the Holy Spirit
‘descending upon them purposes through them to teach those who, wish to
‘learn the true religion’ (τὴν ἀληθῆ θεοσέβειαν). ‘For neither by nature
‘nor human thought (ἐννοίᾳ) can men recognise such great and divine truths,
‘but by the gift which came down from above upon the holy men [under
‘the Jewish dispensation], who needed no art of words, nor skill in captious
‘and contentious speaking, but only to offer themselves in purity (καθαροὺς,
παρασχεῖν) to the operation of the Divine Spirit, in order that the divyne
‘power of itself might reveal to us the knowledge of divine and heav ly
‘things, acting on just men as a plectrum on a harp or lyre’ (ἵνα αὐτὰλτὸ
θεῖον ἐξ οὐρανοῦ κατιὸν πλῆκτρον ὥσπερ ὀργάνῳ κιθάρας τινὸς ἢ λύρας
᾿ δικαίοις ἄνδρασι χρώμενον τὴν τῶν θείων ἡμῖν καὶ οὐρανίων ἀποκαλύψῃ γνῶσιν)"
However strictly we may be inclined to interpret Justin’s metaphor, we
must remember (as has been well observed) that the tone and quality of the
note depend as much upon the instrument as upon the hand which plays
11, And how can we listen to the full and deep harmonies of the Bible
without feeling that more than half their power and beauty lies in the
divine union of the different human instruments through which the Spirit
speaks, ‘perfecting one full message of salvation for those who will discern
‘it, stopping and staying every inworking of the evil spirit, even as the
‘strain of David stayed the evil spirit which oppressed the soul of Saul’?
Justin’s view of the Interpretation of Scripture is perfectly consistent
with his doctrine of Inspiration. ‘There are,’ he tells us, ‘many revela-
‘tions veiled in Parables and mysteries, or expressed in symbolic actions,
‘which Prophets explained who arose after those who spoke and acted;’
‘and there is no profit in quoting the words or facts of Scripture, unless
‘we are able to render an account of them, a gift which comes [to Chris-
‘tians] by the great Grace of God;’ for the ‘Scriptures belong to the
‘Christian and not to the Jew, who when he reads does not understand
‘their meaning’ (νοῦν). Thus he says in his dialogue with Trypho that he
can ‘prove by a careful enumeration that all the ordinances of Moses were
‘types and symbols and indications (xarayyeAlas) of those things which
‘were to be realized in the Messiah’ (τῷ Χριστῷ γενέσθαι)... The twelve
‘bells which hung round the robe of the High Priest prefigured the twelve
Apostles who were united ‘with our eternal Priest, by whose voice the
‘whole earth was filled with the glory and grace of God and Christ.’ The

1 See the passage of Hippolytus quoted below, §1V. 4, Ῥ. 432

Appendix Β,
Dial, 48.

The Pro-
phet's office.
Apol. 1. 36.
(cf ες. 33 and
Apol. 11. το.)
Cohort. 35.

Cohort. ς. 8.

Orig. in
Matt. 11.

Interpre-
tation.

Dial. § 68,

Dial. § 92.

Dial. § a9.
Cf. Otto, 1. ς.
The Cere-
monialLaw,
Dial. § 42.
Cf Apol. τ.
32; Dial. § 53.

Dial. ὃ 42.

424

ΟΝ THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.

Appendix Β.

Dial. § 40.
Dial. § 41.

Dial. § 134.

Dial. § 134.
Dial. § 1317

3. TATIAN,

§ 29.

4. ATHENA-
GORAS.

Paschal Lamb was a type of the Death of Christ, even as the two goats at
the great Fast set forth His two Advents, and the offering of fine flour in
the case of leprosy the remembrance of His Passion in the Eucharist.

Justin finds an equally deep significance in the facts recorded in the Old
Testament. He sees symbols of the Cross in the tree of Life—in the
brazen serpent—-in Moses as he stood victorious over Amalek—in the ensign
of Judah ‘whose horns are as the horns of a unicorn’ (Deut. xxxiii. 17)—
and in the very form of man. So also the events of patriarchal history are
pregnant with meaning. The marriages of Jacob with Leah and Rachel
prefigured the union of Jesus with the Synagogue and the Christian Church:
the spiritual sight of the Jews was weak, and Rachel concealed the gross
gods of her fathers. ‘

These examples of the method of Interpretation which Justin followed
will suffice!; we may add however that he does not seem ever to deny the
literal truth of the narratives which furnish him with these divine analogies ;
on the contrary, in some cases he insists on the bare interpretation of the
text with unnecessary strictness. ;

3. The Apologetic discourse of Tatian, Justin’s disciple, affords him
little scope for speaking of Inspiration; yet he draws.a striking contrast
between the positions of the heathen and of the Christian. ‘The Spirit of
‘God,’ he says, ‘is not with all men, but abiding with some whose con-
‘versation is just (παρά τισι τοῖς δικαίως πολιτευομένοις καταγόμενον), and
‘being united with their soul (συμπλεκόμενον τῇ ψυχῇ) it proclaimed to all
‘other souls by Prophetic teaching that which had been hidden, and those
‘which obeyed wisdom attracted (ἐφείλκοντο) to themselves a kindred spirit,
‘while those who did not obey...were found to fight against God.’ In
another place he notices the great antiquity of Scripture, and says that its
Prophetic power (τὸ προγνωστικὸν τῶν μελλόντων) was one of the grounds
on which he was led to believe in its doctrine?. :

4. The language of Athenagoras when speaking of the Prophets is
perhaps without parallel, and it has been regarded, with good reason, as

1 Justin’s principles in this respect may.

have been modified by his residence at
Alexandria. He speaks with admiration
of Philo and Josephus (Cohort. c. 10); and
argues that the old philosophers were
‘compelled by the Divine Providence, act-
‘ing in behalf of men, to say, many things
‘in support of Christianity’ (Cohort. c. 14,
πολλὰ Kal αὐτοὶ ὑπὸ τῆς θείας τών ἀνθρώπων
προνοίας καὶ ἄκοντες ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν εἰπεῖν ἠναγ-
κάσθησαν).

2 He quotes John i. 5, with the words:
‘This is that which was said’ (τὸ εἰρημέ-
νον). The accounts of his Diatessaron are
too vague to enable us to form any clear
idea of its purpose. [The extracts from the
Commentary of Ephraem Syrus do not

throw much light on the structure of the
Book. 1881.] Eusebius (7. £. Iv. 29)
describes it as a ‘strange harmony and
‘combination of the [four] Gospels,’ nor
does there seem any reason to suppose
with Neander (CA. /7ist. 11. 167, n. Eng.
Tr.) that Apocryphal traditions were
wrought intoit. We find it used by many
who followed the Apostolic teaching (a7o-
στολικοῖς ἑπόμενοι δόγμασι. Theodor. Fad.
Her, τ. 20), and it commenced with the
words ‘In the beginning was the Word.’
Its similarity to the ‘Gospel of the He-
brews’ probably arose from the omission of
the history of the Infancy, which would
militate against Tatian’s Gnosticism (Epi-
phan. xtvi. 1: Theodor. Z.c. Cf. Olshau-

THE APOLOGISTS.

425

expressing the doctrine of Montanism. He says that ‘ while entranced and
‘deprived of their natural powers of reason (κατ᾽ ἔκσσασιν τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς λο-
“γισμῶν) by the influence of the divine Spirit, they uttered that which was
‘wrought in them (ἃ ἐνηργοῦντο), the Spirit using them as its instruments,
‘as a flute-player might blow a flute.’ And again, under another image, he
describes the ‘ Holy Spirit, which works in those who speak prophetically,
‘as an emanation issuing from God, and carried back to Him, like a ray
‘from the Sun’ (ἀπόρροιαν rot θεοῦ ἀπόρρεον καὶ ἐπαναφερόμενον ws ἀκτῖνα
ἡλίου). Thus the Christian ‘gives no heed to the doctrines of men, but
‘those uttered (Oeo¢aros) and taught by God; for ‘he has Prophets as
‘witnesses of his Creed (ὧν νοοῦμεν καὶ πεπιστεύκαμεν), who inspired (read
“ ἔνθεοι for ἐνθέῳ) by the Spirit have spoken of God and the things of God?’
5. Far different is the language of Theophilus bishop of Antioch—
sixth in succession from the Apostles—who addressed an admirable defence
of Christianity, still extant, to Autolycus a heathen. According to him,
. the Inspired writers were not mere mechanical organs, but men who coinci-
dently with the divine influence displayed a personal and moral fitness for
their work. ‘The men of God being filled with the Holy Spirit (πνευματο-
“ φόροι Ilvevuaros ‘Ayiov) and gifted with Prophecy, having inspiration and
‘wisdom from God, were taught of Him, and became holy and just.
‘Wherefore also they were deemed worthy to obtain this recompense, to
“be made the instruments of God (ὄργανα θεοῦ γενόμενοι) and receive (xw-
‘pjoavres) the wisdom which cometh from Him, by which wisdom they
‘spake of the creation of the world and all other things...which happened
‘before their birth, and during their own time, and which are now being
‘accomplished in our days; and so we are convinced that in things to come
‘the event will be as they say.’ Again he adds that the ‘Christians alone
‘have received the truth, inasmuch as they are taught by the Holy Spirit,
‘Who spake by the holy Prophets and [still] announces all things to them
‘beforehand’ (rod λαλήσαντος ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις προφήταις Kal τὰ πάντα προ-
καταγγέλλοντος) : ‘ Who is the Beginning and Wisdom and the Power of
‘the most High,’ so that the ‘ words of the Prophets are the words of God.’
Moreover the ‘contents of the Prophets and of the Gospels are found to
‘be consistent (ἀκόλουθα), because all the writers spake by the Inspiration
‘of the one Spirit of God?’ (διὰ τὸ τοὺς πάντας la pteie est ἑνὶ πνεύματι
θεοῦ NeAaAHKEvat).
Autol. τι. 22...

sen, Ueber die Echtheit u. 5. w. s. 335 ff. :
Hist. of N. T. Canon, pp. 321 ff.).

1 It is singular that there is scarcely any
trace of Allegorical Interpretation in Athe-
nagoras. See Guericke, Hist. Schole Ca-
tech. Alex. τι. p- 50.

2 We learn from Jerome that Theophi-
lus composed a commentary on the Gos-
pels (ix Evangelium, i.e. τὸ εὐαγγέλιον) :
or perhaps a harmony (iv. Zvangelistarum
in unum opus dicta compingens). Cf. ad

fall the holy Scriptures
‘teach us and all who were inspired by the
‘Holy Spirit (πνευματοφόροι), of whom was
‘ John (Evang. 1. 3). Rosenmiiller (A/és¢.
Interp. 1.1, Ὁ. 200) quotes this passage to
prove that Theophilus ‘distinguishes be-
‘tween the sacred Scrifiwres and the wri-
‘tings of the Apostles.’ Surely the distinc-
tion can be of little use to lower the autho-
rity of St John. Elsewhere (ad Axfol.
11. 14) Theophilus quotes an injunction of

Appendix B.

Leg. pro
Christ.
ὃ 9.

ξ το,

ad Aut. 11. 9.

Il. 3...

426

ON THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.

Appendix B.

τ. HEGE-
SIPPUS.

H. E. tv. 22.

2. Me.iro.

cp. Hieron.
e Vir. Ill.

_ δ. 24. ap.
Ἐπ πε. H.E.
V. 24.

Euseb. H.E.
Iv. 26.

Routh, Rell-
Sacrz, 1. 22:
116 σῷ.

3. CLAUDIUS
APOLLI-
NARIS.
Routh, τ. 2.
150.

Sect. III. THe FATHERS OF THE CHURCH OF ASIA MINOR.

Ὁ ἔχων οὖς ἀκουσάτω τί τὸ πνεῦμα λέγει Tals ἐκκλησίαις.
APOC. II. 7, I1, 13.

I. E have just seen that the early Apologies for Christianity

proceeded from heathen converts; in like manner the first
endeavour after an ecclesiastical history was made by a Hebraizing Chris-
tian, with whom the historical side of his faith had naturally the fullest sig-
nificance. The fragments of Hegesippus contain little or nothing which
bears on our inquiry; yet in one sentence preserved in Eusebius he seems
to recognise authoritative Christian documents, when he says that ‘in each
‘city all is ordered according to the preaching (κηρύσσει) of the Law, of the
‘ Prophets, and of the Lord 4.’

2. Melito, bishop of Sardis, helps us by the titles of some of his trea-
tises, and by his own personal reputation. We learn from Tertullian that
he was accounted a Prophet by very many, and Polycrates describes him as
‘having transacted everything by the Holy Spirit’ (ὁ ἐν ‘Ay. Ilv. πάντα
πολιτευσάμενος). Among his works we find discourses ‘On [Christian]
‘conversation (πολιτείας) and Prophets’—‘ On Prophecy’—‘ On the Reve-
‘lation of St John’—and ‘The Key.’ The last-mentioned book necessarily
suggests to us an anticipation of the Alexandrian School ; and some.exam-

| ples of Melito’s exegesis, probably borrowed from it, sufficiently indicate the

extent to which he carried the typical significance of. each word and detail
of Scripture’.

3. A fragment of Claudius Apollinaris® furnishes us with another
instance of the typical interpretation of Scripture; but without dwelling

St Paul (1 Tim. ii.) as an utterance of the
‘Divine Word.’

In one passage (ad Axtol. τι. 14) ‘Vheo-
philus draws a mystical meaning from the
Mosaic account of the Creation, but he
also accepts all the details literally.

1 In another fragment, given by Routh
(Rel. Sacr. τ. p. 203, Ed. 1), he is repre-
sented as saying that ‘those who maintain
‘the doctrine of 1 Cor, ii. 9 lie against the
‘holy Scriptures and the Lord: Matt. xiii.
‘16.’ If there be no error in this quotation,
it is a strange example of the literal style of
interpretation which Origen had to meet.
Cf. Hist. of N.T. Canon, p. 208, n. 3.

2 Eusebius (7.8. τν. 26) has preserved
an important letter of Melito, in which

he relates what he has done to satisfy a
friend’s wish to become acquainted with
the ‘Scriptures of the Old Testament’ (τὰ
τῆς παλαίας διαθήκης βιβλία). The phrase
seems to imply New Testament Scriptures
also. See Hist. of N.T. Canon, p. 221.

8 In connexion with this name we may
quote the remarkable words of SERAPION
(bp of Antioch in the reign of Commodus)
in reference to the false Gospel of St
Peter: ‘We receive Peter and the other
‘Apostles as Christ; but those writings
‘falsely ascribed to him we decline to re-
‘ceive through our experience’ (Euseb.
HE, νι. τ2). See Hist. of N. T. Canon,
Ρ. 399.

THE FATHERS OF ASIA MINOR. 427
any longer on these minute details, we must proceed to the great work of | Appendix B.
IRENAUS, which unfortunately has come down to us’ chiefly through the fae
uncertain medium of a Latin version’, for no Greek manuscript is known . χονς
to exist. Reared under the teaching of Polycarp?—whose words, he tells pie gi ,
us, he remembered better than the events of his later life—and succeeding oe
a martyr in the bishopric of Lyons, Irenzeus is a noble representative of
the faith and zeal of the early Church. Then only does he seem to forget
his master’s lessons of peace and love, when he contends against those
who deny the continual manifestation of God’s Spirit in His Church, or of
His providence in the world. So full and comprehensive is his treatment | General
of Inspiration, though he only discusses it incidentally, that it is difficult fee ;

aspiration.

to convey a notion of its general bearing by isolated quotations. According
to him, the successive dispensations of God wrought together to one great
end by the operation of one Power, as ‘men were accustomed to bear
‘(portare) God’s Spirit and hold communion with Him.’ Thus the ‘ Prophet
‘spake of the Advent of the Word in the flesh, as acted on by His influ-
‘ence (charisma) ;’ and ‘all who foretold the coming of Christ received
‘their Inspiration from the Son;’ for ‘how could: Scripture testify, as it
‘does, of Him alone, unless all things had been revealed by one and the
‘same God through the word to believers?’ Yet till His advent ‘Christ
‘was, as it were, the hidden treasure in the field of Scripture, since He was
‘[only] indicated by Types and Parables ;...for all Prophecy till its accom-
‘ plishment is full of riddles and ambiguities to men.’ To us however ‘the
‘ Apostles by the will of God have consigned (¢radiderunt) the Gospel in
‘the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith...and by them
‘we have learnt the truth, that is, the doctrine of the Son of God...... For
‘after that our Lord rose from the dead, and they were clothed with the
‘power of the Spirit from on high, they were filled with a perfect know-
‘ledge in all things’ (de omnibus adimpleti sunt, et habuerunt perfectam agni-
tionem)*. Consequently ‘ they are beyond all falsehood’ (extra omne men-
dacium). But each preserves his own individuality: thus ‘St Paul frequently
‘uses hyperbata on account of the rapidity of his utterance and the
‘yehemence of the Spirit which is in him (fropter velocitatem sermonum
‘suorum et propter impetum qui in ipso est spiriths); as for instance in
‘ Gal. iii. το we must suppose a man asking the question and the Spirit
‘answering it ; and so again in 2 Thess. ii. 3. But we must not imagine
that the truth was thus impaired by the human agent, or the significance of
words destroyed. ‘Matthew might have said Zhe generation of Fesus was

1 Massuet’s remarks on Irenzeus’ view
of Scripture are so essentially polemical as
to be almost valueless. (Désser?¢. 111. 1, 2.)

2 In connexion with this name we may
again refer to the letter of PoLYCRATES,
bp of Smyrna in the reign of Severus, in
which he tells us ‘that having examined
‘the whole of Holy Scripture [on the

‘question of Easter] he is not afraid of his
‘opposers ; for those greater than himself
‘have said 72 ἐς right to obey God rather
‘than man’ (Euseb. H. Ε΄. ν. 24).

3 So.again (111. 12. 5): αὖται φωναὶ τῶν
μαθητῶν τοῦ κυρίου τῶν ἀληθῶς τελείων μετὰ
τὴν ἀνάληψιν τοῦ κυρίου δια πνεύματος τε-
λειωθέντων..:

adv. Her. ν.
14. 2.
IV. 20, 4.

IV. 7. 2.
IV. 11. 1.

Iv. 26. 1.

Ill, I. 1-
ut. pref,
III, 1. 1+

III, 5.
Ill, 7.

11. τό. 2.

428

ON THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.

Appendix B.

The Gos-
pels.
DIL. 11, 9.

21s 3%,: 3,

11. 11. 8,

Deeper
meaning of
Scripture.
It. 28. 2.

V. 30.1.

cf. Rev. xiii.

8: xxii. 18,

‘on this wise, but the Holy Spirit foreseeing the corruptions of the truth
‘and fortifying us against their deception says by Matthew Zhe generation
‘ of Christ was on this wise.’

Moreover Irenzeus sees a mystical fulness and meaning in the four
Evangelists ; ‘ As God made all things in fair order and connexion, so was’
‘it needful that the [outward] form of the Gospel should be well framed
‘and fitted together ;’ and ‘as there are four! regions of the world in which
‘we are, and four general winds,—as the Church is scattered over the
‘whole earth, and the Gospel is the pillar and support (στήριγμα) of the
‘Church,—we might expect it should have four pillars, [and four winds as
‘it were] breathing on all sides immortality, and kindling [the divine spark]
‘in men.’ Again as in the ancient Church the visible form of God rested
on the fourfaced Cherubim, ‘so Christ, when manifested to men, gave us
‘His Gospel under a fourfold form, though held together by one spirit,’
and on these Gospels he rests (τὰ εὐαγγέλια ἐν ols ἐγκαθέζεται ὁ Χριστός).

In many of his general views of Scripture Irenzeus anticipates the
thoughts and language of Origen. He tells us that the ‘Scriptures are
‘perfect, inasmuch as they were uttered (dict#e) by the Word of God and
‘His Spirit, though we want the knowledge of their mysteries;’ and how
much, he adds, is unexplained to us in the operations of nature—the rising
of the Nile—the migration of birds—the ebb and flow of the tide—‘Is it
‘then a hard case that as in the outward world some truths are as it were
‘sacred to God (ἀνάκειται τῷ Θεῷ) while some have come under our _know-
‘ledge, some of the difficulties in the Scriptures, which are all full of spi-
‘ritual meaning (πνευματικῶν), should be explicable by the grace of God,
‘while the solution of others must rest with Him, and that not only in
‘this world (αἰών) but also in the world to come, that God may still teach,
‘and man still ever learn from God?’ The revelations of the Bible may
seem too meagre to satisfy our curiosity ; yet ‘no small punishment (ἐπὶ-
‘riula) will be his who adds to or takes from the Scripture.’ The details
may seem insignificant; yet ‘nothing is empty or without meaning in the
‘dealings of God.’ The connexion of its parts may be perplexing; yet
‘all Scripture, as it has been given to us by God, will be found to be har-
‘monious.’ The interpretation of its teaching may be difficult ; yet ‘we
‘guard our faith which has been admitted (ferceptam) by the Church, and
‘which, like a precious gift stored up in a fair vessel, is ever renewed
* (rejuvenescens) by the Spirit of God, and gives new life (ve7uvenescere facit)
‘to the vessel in which it is. For this gift of God is entrusted to the
‘Church to give life to the world (ad inspirationem piasmationi) as the soul
‘to the body, and in it [the gifts of faith entrusted to the Church] lies the
‘enjoyment of the Holy Spirit sent by Christ, which is the earnest of our

1 Compare a very striking passage on
the symbolism of the number four in a
fragment of Victorinus de Fabr. Cali;

Routh, Rell. Sacre, ut. 456; Crosnier,
Iconogr. Christ. pp. 50, 51; Philo, de M.
88 15, 16.

THE FATHERS OF ASIA MINOR.

429

‘immortality, the confirmation of our faith, the ladder by which we ascend
‘to God. For where the Church is, there is also the Spirit of God; and
‘where is the Spirit of God, there is the Church and all grace; but the
‘Spirit is Truth;’ and Truth is one; for we acknowledge as one the God
of Creation and the God of Redemption—the author of the old Dispensa-
tion and the author of the new—‘ we follow Him alone as our Teacher,
‘and regard His words as the rule of Truth’ (regulam veritatis habentes
ejus sermones).

The doctrine of Irenzeus on the Millennium illustrates his view of the
literal truth of Scripture, while it also shews the influence of his Asiatic
master.
draw arguments from isolated details of Parables, and the natural colouring
of language; moreover he strongly opposes the system of the Gnostics who
based the truth of their opinions on numerical analogies and verbal symbols,
though he himself admits the propriety of such subtle inquiries when pur-
sued for the illustration of that which is admitted on other grounds. There
can be no doubt that he recognises an under serise (ὑπόνοια) in Scripture,
and allows the symbolic meaning of the gifts and sacrifices of the Mosaic
law, since heavenly truths can only be conveyed under earthly forms.
Again he sees figures of national and individual application in the records
of the chosen people,—as when he acknowledges a type of the Gentile
Church in the marriage of Moses with the /Ethiopian,; and explains at
some length the history of the birth of Phares and Zara as foreshadowing
the fortunes of the two Covenants4, In another place he contrasts the
mother of the human race with the mother of the Saviour: ‘ What the
‘Virgin Eve bound by her want of faith, that the Virgin Mary loosed by
‘her faith.’ He finds types of Christ in the rod of Moses, ‘which assuming
‘a body (¢#carnata) confuted and destroyed all the opposition of the Egyp-
‘ tians? to the dispensation of God ’—in the brazen serpent—in Joseph—and
in Joshua, who completed what Moses had commenced, and for manna
gave the people corn which is the ‘ firstfruits of life.’

In many cases the explanations of Irenzeus seem arbitrary and incohe-
rent, from the want of any such general principle as that which guided the
speculations of Origen. Thus he finds a type of the Church in Lot’s wife
who became a pillar of Sa/¢, and, according to tradition, unchanging and
incorruptible. Again he likens the boy who led Samson to John the Baptist,
and the two pillars of the building which he destroyed to the two Cove-
nants by which the world is supported. We are told moreover that he
interpreted the Fall spiritually and not historically, and maintained his
view by very weighty arguments,

2 The relations of the Jews to the Egyp-
tians are perpetuated in those of the
Christian Church to the unbelieving world
in all ages, Iv. 30.

1 This method of typical interpretation
he justifies by the authority of tradition
(presbyter dicebat) in the case of the spoil-
ing of the Egyptians: IV. 30. 1,

On other occasions also he adheres so strictly to the text as to

Appendix B.

IV. 35+

Scriptural
Interpreta-
tion.

IV. 33; Il,
34- Ie

Il. 24. 1

(Fesus).
° Sf. Stieren

Ayn
The Law.
IV. 19. I.

History.

IV. 20. 12.
IV. 25. 2.

III, 22. 4.

Indefinite.

IVs 41, 3
fr. 2. 346.

fr. 2. 343.

430

ON THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.

Appendix B.

Scripture to
be combined
with Na-
ture.

1V. 32.

Vv. 36/7,

Dion. Cor.
ap. Eused, |
H. E. τν. 23.

x. Carus.

The instances already quoted clearly shew the general principles which
Irenzeus applied to Holy Scripture, acknowledging at-once the mysteries of
its letter! and of its spirit. To this inner sense of the Word of God he
tells us that the Christian will ever strive to penetrate, by the help of daily
experience, and the use of appointed ordinances”; he will gather all the
analogies of the outer world which may serve to direct his judgment, and
scrutinize all the records of Revelation which may enlighten his mind and
extend his knowledge. The works of nature combine with the words of
God to train and perfect the race of man, ‘in which are accomplished
‘those mysteries into which Angels desire to look, that they may trace the
‘workings of that Wisdom by which Creation is made conformable and
‘united to the Son.’

Sect. IV. THE FATHERS OF THE ROMAN CHURCH.

Ὅσα προεγράφη els τὴν ἡμετέραν διδασκαλίαν προεγράφη.
Rom. xy. 4.

HERE is something mournful in the silent shadowy line of Roman

Bishops during the first three centuries ; their voices seem not to be
heard save when they claim the powers which their successors gained. The
only famous Roman writers of the period were Caius and Novatian who
were Presbyters, and Hippolytus Bishop of Portus whose education was
wholly Eastern. Yet we must remember here the practical tendencies of
the national character, which were alike displayed in the absence of theo-
logical studies, and in that zealous liberality which was regarded as the
traditional glory of the Roman Church.

1. Ina fragment preserved in Eusebius, Caius seems to regard ‘reve-
lations’ as a mark of an Apostle*, and in the same place uses the striking
phrase, the ‘Scriptures of God.’ In another fragment which is attributed
by some to Caius, the writer speaks of the followers of Artemon ‘ who fear-
‘lessly laid their hands on the divine Scriptures, saying that they corrected
‘them.... How great is the daring of their error,’ he adds, ‘ cannot be un-

1 In his explanation of the history of
Lot (Gen. xix. 30 ff.), he evidently main-
tains its real truth, while he justifies the
relation as properly typical.

2 Cf, 111. 4. Land iv. 33.8 for further il-

Ἵ lustration of Irenzeus’ views on the Church.

He speaks in a very remarkable passage
(11. 3. 4, cf. Euseb. HZ. v. 7) of the con-
tinuance of the powers of exorcism, Pro-

phecy, and healing in the Church at his
own time. Compare also, for a strong as-
sertion of the same belief, the author quoted
by Eusebius, H.£. v. 17.

3 Κύήρινθος ὁ δι ἀποκαλύψεων ὡς ὑπὸ
ἀποστόλου μεγάλου γεγραμμένων τερατολο-
γίας....---ἐπεισάγει, ------ἐχθρὸς ὑπάρχων ταῖς
γραφαῖς τοῦ @eov ...Euseb. 27... 111, 28.

THE FATHERS OF THE ROMAN CHURCH.

431

‘known even to themselves; for either they do not believe that the divine

‘ Scriptures weré spoken by the Holy Spirit (Ayéw Πνεύματι λελέχθαι), and”

‘are unbelievers: or they hold themselves wiser than the Holy Spirit, and
‘we must say they rave’ (δαιμον ὥσιν).

2. The famous fragment on the Canon has been falsely attributed to
Caius, but it is certainly of the same date, We find in this probably the
first distinct recognition of the Inspiration of the Gospels, which are re-
garded as formally divergent, yet one in their great end. ‘ Though various
‘elements are inculcated (/icet varia principia doceantur) in each, still the
‘faith of believers differs not, since everything concerning the Nativity and
‘Passion and Life [of our Lord] is declared in all of them by one and the
‘selfsame guiding Spirit’ («0 et principali*® Spiritu).

3. The writings of Novatian are full of quotations from the Old and
New Testaments, and his view of their authority is clear and wide. He
regards the whole Law as spiritual, ‘for divine ordinances must be received
‘in a divine sense ;’ and traces the symbolic meaning of the Mosaic restric-
tions on food. The books of the Prophets furnish him with a clear proof
of God’s providence, ‘which not only extends at all times over individuals,
‘but also over cities and states, whose issues God declared by the words of
‘Prophets (vocibus prophetarum cecinit), yea, even over the whole world.’
And the forms of the Prophetic language prove the certainty of their pre-
dictions ; for they use the past tense in speaking of the future, since ‘divine
‘ Scripture regards as accomplished that which will beyond all doubt come
‘to pass.’ Yet more grace was given to the writers of the New Covenant,
for though the ‘ Prophets and Apostles were inspired by one and the self-
“same Spirit, still on the former He came but for a time (ad momentum),
‘while He abode with the latter always: to the one some degree of His
‘influence was vouchsafed ; on the other His whole energy was poured : in
‘the one case it was a scanty gift, in the other a bounteous loan (/arge com-
‘ modatus), not set forth before the Resurrection, but conferred by it according
‘to Christ’s promise (John xiy. 26) of a Comforter...... Who strengthened
‘the hearts and minds of the Apostles, Who made clear to them the mys-
‘teries of the Gospel (distinxit evangelica sacramenta), Who dwelt within
‘them and enlightened their minds on divine things.’

4. There appears to be no reason for doubting the tradition which
represents Hippolytus of Portus as the disciple of Ireneus. In him we
find a real link between the Asiatic and Alexandrian schools, for Jerome
tells us that he preached before Origen. His writings exhibit the same
deep sense of the spiritual meaning of Scripture® as we have already traced

‘Spirit mystically shewed forth’ (de An-
tichr. 50). The same names are given by
Irenzus (adv. Her. ν. 30). See others in
Fevardentius’ note: the zealous Franciscan
quotes Afartin Lauter as one ‘who could
‘not escape the name of Antichrist,’ but

1 Cf. Hist. of N. T. Canon, pp. 211 ff.

2 2,6. ἡγεμονικῷ, cf. Routh, Zc.

3 See de Antichr. §§ 14, 15, 23. He
quotes Rev. xiii. 10, and suggests the words
ἡ" ΕἾΤΑΝ, EYAN@AC, and AATEINOC,
as satisfying the number which ‘the Holy

Appendix B,

E-useb.v.28 ;
Cf Routh, i.
2. 18 $99.

2. Fragm.de
Canone.

Routh, Rell.
Sacre, IV. 3.

TIAN.
De Cib. Jud.

Ω. 2

De Trin. c. 8.
(ed. Rig.)

ib. c. 28.

ib. ¢. 29.

4. Htroy-
TUS.

432

ON THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.

Appendix B.

Contra
Noetum,
§§ 11, 12.

De Anti-
Christo, § 2.

Cont. Noet.
$1.

in his immediate teacher and in earlier writers. He regards that which has
once been revealed by God to man as still full of instruction and wisdom
after the primary application is gone: ‘ The Law and the Prophets were
‘from God, who in giving them compelled His messenger to speak by the
‘Holy Spirit, that receiving the inspiration of the Father’s power (τῆς
“πατρῴας δυνάμεως τὴν ἀπόπνοιαν λαβόντες) they may announce the Father’s
‘counsel and will. In these men therefore the Word found a fitting abode
* (πολιτευόμενος) and spoke of Himself; for even then He came as His own
‘herald, shewing the Word who was about to appear in the world......

‘These blessed men...spake not only of the past, but also of the present
‘and of the future, that they might be shewn not to be for a time merely
‘(mpocxatpot), but heralds of the things to come to all generations...... For
‘these Fathers, having been perfected by the Spirit of Prophecy, and
‘worthily honoured by the Word Himself, were brought to an inner har-
‘mony (ἑαυτοῖς ἡνωμένοι) like instruments, and having the Word within
‘them, as it were to strike the notes (ws πλῆκτρον), by Him they were
‘moved, and announced that which God wished. For they did not speak
‘of their own power (be well assured)1, nor proclaim that which they
‘ wished themselves, but first they were rightly endowed with wisdom by
‘the Word, and afterwards well foretaught of the future by visions, and
‘then, when thus assured (πεπεισμένοι), they spake that which was [re-
‘ vealed] to them alone by God.’

It will be readily seen how widely this view is removed from that of
Athenagoras, though conveyed under a similar metaphor, differing from it
indeed just as the analogous description of Justin does. The instrument
here is first tuned to express the divine strain; the moving power dwells
within as a vivifying principle, and does not act from without on an invo-
luntary subject. The reason is cleared and not clouded; the melodies of

| heaven are fitted to the words of men, not by an arbitrary power, but by

an inward affinity. ‘The blessed Prophets,’ to use another image, ‘are
‘eyes of Christ.’ ‘They ministered the Oracles of God for all generations.’
So then it is our duty to listen to the faintest voice of the Bible, to trace
its relation to ourselves and its source from above us: ‘As the divine Scrip-
‘tures proclaimed the truth, so let us view it; all they teach let us acknow-
‘ledge by the growth of Faith (ἐπιγνῶμεν); as the Father pleaseth to be
“believed, let us believe Him; as the Son pleaseth to be glorified, let us
‘glorify Him; as the Holy Spirit pleaseth to be given, let us receive Him;
“not according to our own choice, or our own mind (νοῦν), forcing to our
‘own tastes that which has been given by God, but as He chose to shew
‘the truth through the Holy Scriptures, so let us view it.’

inclines to adopt ‘ Maometis’ as the true 1 My πλανῶ. This parenthetical phrase
solution of the number. For a comparison occurs also in [Hipp.] adv. Her. x. 33

. of the ‘allegories’ of Hippolytus with those (Bunsen, 1. p. 272).

of Origen, see Bunsen, 1. 302 (ed. 1),

THE FATHERS CF THE NORTH AFRICAN CHURCH.

433

Sect. V. Tue FATHers or tHE NortTH AFRICAN CHURCH.

τῷ πνεύματι ζέοντες.
ROM, XII. II.

E have now traced the history of the doctrine of Inspiration as un-

folded in the Greek and Roman Churches; we have seen the same
great principles enunciated by those who claimed to draw their doctrine
from St John, and by those who sought to base their authority on St Peter.
Whether it were viewed as part of the heritage of that wide Christian family
which Irenzeus loved to contemplate, or as the bond of that great power
which silently grew at Rome, Holy Scripture was still held to supply the
believer with the divine elements of his life and faith. We have yet to con-
sider our subject in relation to two other Churches, and two other forms of
mental development—those of North Africa and Egypt. In the writers of
North Africa, whether at Carthage or Hippo, we find an intensity of zeal,
a depth of feeling, a power of intuition, but little modified by cautious criti-
cism or severe logic. The aspirations of Tertullian after a stricter life led
him into Montanism; and the craving for a clearer knowledge at first united
Augustine with the Manichees. We shall thus see how the doctrine of
Inspiration was regarded by men of a warmer temperament and a more
restless faith, who sought out the truth with earnestness, and embraced
whatever conclusion they obtained without reserve. Indeed the whole
character of the African Church is emotional, if we would distinguish it
from the doctrinal and practical types of Asia and Rome. But while the
Churches of North Africa, Asia, and Rome combined to look at Christianity
as a great historic fact, rather than as the final satisfaction of the ill-expressed
wants of man, the Alexandrians sought to follow out this latter view, by
bringing all that was grand and beautiful in human systems into a spiritual
harmony with Divine Truth.

.'1. On one point, it has been well observed!, Tertullian never doubted:
whether Catholic or Montanist, he Still maintained alike the Inspiration of
the Old and New Testament Scriptures. Whether he be writing to the
heathen, the heretics, or the orthodox, he expresses the same belief in the
same unwavering language. He tells us in his noble Apology that ‘God
‘sent forth from the first men who by their justice and innocency were
‘worthy to know God, and to niake Him known, and filled them to over-
‘flowing (czundatos) with the Divine Spirit;’...and so ‘gave us a written

“Testament? (‘xstrumentum litterature), that we might more fully and more |

1 By Maréchal, Concordantia Patrum, * Tertullian is the first writer, I believe,
1. p. 162; a work which is admirably exe- who uses the word 7Jestamentum in its
cuted, and is well worthy of the Benedic- ordinary acceptation, though it seems to
tine fame. have been current before his time. [Mar-

ἄντα, EE

Appendix B.

The relation
of the North-
African ta

the other
Churches.

rt. TERTUL-
LIAN.

| Apol 18,

432

ON THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.

Appendix Β.

De Anima 2.
Apol, 31.
Apol. 39.

The unity of
all Scrip-
ture.

Adv. Marc.
ν. 2.

C. Gnost. 2.
ib.

Ady. Jud.
G2.

Inspiration
γε rder the
New Cove-
nant,

Adv. Mare.
Wt τό.

lil. 6; IV. 13;
de Resurr.
Carn. 22.

de Prezescr.
Heer.*2s:
adv. Marc.
ΙΝ 2.

de Exh.
Castit. 4.

i
De Przscr.
Heeret. 21.
i». 36.

The peculiar
authority of
Scripture,

‘deeply learn of Him and of His counsels and of His will.’ Nor does he
scruple to call these, books the ‘writings (d¢éeras De)’ and the ‘words of
‘God (voces Det),’ which the Christian studies for warning or remembrance,
and to which he looks ‘as the food of his faith, the spring of his hope, and
‘the bulwark of his trust.’

Like all the other Fathers whom we have examined, Tertullian sees a
profound unity in the dispensations of God. ‘The same divine power
‘(divinttas) was preached in the Gospel which had ever been known in the
‘Law, though the discipline was not the same.’ ‘The Law indeed is the
‘root (radix) of the Gospels ;’ and ‘in succession all the Prophets utter the
‘words of the same God (0s prophetarum ejusdem Dei vocibus sonat), en-
‘forcing the same Law by an iteration of the same precepts.’ He even
goes farther back than Moses for the first elements of the ancient Covenant.
He traces the development of this dispensation in Paradise and among the
Patriarchs, apart from the ceremonial observances of the Jewish ritual.
Abel, Enoch, Melchisedec, and Lot were accepted by that God, ‘who,
‘according to the circumstances of the times, reshapes (veformantem) the
‘precepts of His Law, for the salvation of men’ (1. sa/utem).

Thus Prophets, Evangelists, and Apostles are placed by Tertullian in
one rank as God's ministering servants. Christ spoke by Moses, ‘for He
‘was the Spirit of the Creator... ;’ and ‘the Prophecies are the voice of the
‘Lord.’ The madness (dementia) of those who deny that the Apostles
knew all things!, or, who admit that they knew all, but maintain that they
did not reveal all things to all men, is equally reprehensible. ‘The four
Gospels, he tells us, are reared on the certain basis of Apostolical authority,
and so are inspired in a far different sense from the writings of the spiritual
Christian; ‘all the faithful, it is true, have the Spirit of God?, but all are
‘not Apostles...’ ‘The Apostles have the Holy Spirit in a peculiar sense ;
‘they have it in the works of Prophecy, and in the operation of mighty
‘powers (eficacia virtutum), and in the gift of tongues*, not as possessing
‘the influence in part as the rest...’ The revelation of the Apostles is the
revelation of Christ ; and ‘happy is that Church’—he is speaking of the
Roman Church as it then was—‘ which combines the Law and the Prophets
‘with the writings of the Evangelists and Apostles, and draws her faith
‘from them...’

This being the case, we might expect that Tertullian would reject that
which is not proved by Scripture*, and bid such as tampered with the
Sacred Volume ‘fear the woe destined for those who add to, or take from

cion] duos deos dividens proinde diversos,
alterum alterius Jzstrumenti vel (quod
magis usui est . dicere) TZeséamenti..;
adv. Marc. iv. τ.

! In reference to Gal. ii. 11, he remarks
rightly: Conversationis fuit vitium non
praedicationis; de Prescr. Her. 22.

2 This doctrine was part of the ‘Regula

Fidei’ (de Prescr. Her. 13): [Profiteamur
Jesum Christum] misisse vicariam vim
Spiritus Sancti qui credentes agat.

3 Documento linguarum, asa friend sug-
gests to me for documentorum linguam.

4 Cf. de Monog. 4, Negat Scriptura quod
non notat; and ae Cor. Mil. 2, sie or
quod non ultro est permissum.

THE FATHERS OF THE NORTH AFRICAN CHURCH.

435

‘it;’ while he himself ‘adores its fulness which reveals the Worker and
‘the works;’ which admits of wide application, and universal reference;
for ‘all Scripture is fit for edification, being inspired by God.’ Nay more,
he even thinks that ‘the Scriptures were so arranged by the will of God,
‘that they might afford materials for heretics, since it is written that here-
‘sies must be, which could not be without the Scriptures.’

In his principles of Interpretation Tertullian exhibits an equal sense of
the truthfulness and depth of the Bible. ‘The language of the Prophets,’
he says, when arguing from their language on the Resurrection, ‘is gene-

‘rally allegoric and figurative, but not always;...many of their words can
‘be maintained in a naked and simple sense}.’ But nevertheless in other
places? he admits the mystical import even of numbers, and traces a sym-

᾿ bolism of the Apostolic twelve in the twelve foustains of Elim, the twelve

gems of the High Priest’s robe, and the twelve stones selected by Joshua
from the Jordan. He finds a figure of Holy Baptism in the pool of Bethesda
—though this was effective only once a year, but that is so always; and
though that wrought (oferabatur) temporal health, while this renews (7e-
format) eternal vigour. The same Sacrament was still more clearly fore-
shewn in the passage of the Red Sea; and as ‘after the flood—the Baptism
‘of the World, so to speak—by which the ancient sins of man were cleared
‘away, the dove first brought the olive-branch of peace, so, when we rise
‘from the Baptismal font, the Dove, the Holy Spirit, flies to us, sent forth
‘from heaven, where the Church is the antitype of the ark.’

At the same time Tertullian urges us to employ the ‘rudder of inter-
‘pretation,...for no divine utterance is so unconnected, that the words only
‘can be maintained, and not their general bearing (ratio) ;’ for we must
adhere to the ‘rule of the Church (regula Ecclesia), which she received from
‘the Apostles, and the Apostles from Christ, and: Christ from God;’...
while we may be assured that ‘where there is seen to be truth of discipline

‘and Christian faith, there will there be the truth of the Scriptures and of
‘interpretation and of all traditions®.’
2. Cyprian’s doctrine of Inspiration is scarcely less exact, though it is

less express. He more frequently shews his sense of the value of the

1 In all such cases Tertullian seems in-
clined to destroy the primary historical
fulfilment of the Prophecy, regarding the
employment of the tenses as arbitrary,
since ‘ with the Deity there is no difference
‘of time, for with him eternity itself brings
‘all time to the same uniform relation’ (dz-
rigit uniformem statum temporum); adv.
Marc. ut. 5. ‘Eternity hath no divisions
‘of time’ (πον habet tempus eternitas);
adv. Marc. τ. 8. Pantznus, Novatian, and
Irenzus seem to have held the same

doctrine.
2 Compare his explanation of Isa. vii. :

Non solum sonum nominis spectes sed et
sensum...nobiscum Deus... spolia autem
ϑόφομνω ipsos Magos...regem autem As-
syriorum Herodem intellige . 3; adv,
Marc. ut. 12. Cf. Just. M. “ας. ὃ 77.

See other examples, adv. Marc. 1. 18.

3 Cf. Bp Kaye’s Essay on Tertullian,
pp. 290—304; and especially p. 297, n.
(ed. 2), for the idea of primitive Tradition
in relation to the doctrine of the English
Church. This tradition was merely her-
meneutic, and not an independent source
of doctrine,

EE 2

Appendix B.

Adv.
Hermog. 22.
ib.

de Przescr.
Her. 39.
The Inter
pretation of
Scripture.
De Resurr.
Carn. 20.

adv. Marc.
lV. 13.

de Bapt. s.

ib. 9.
ib. 8.

Subject to
the Church.

de Przescr.
Her, 37.

de Przeser.
Her, 1).

2. CYPRIAN.
Testim. 1.
Pref,

436

ON THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.

Appendix B.
ib.

de Orat.
Dom. 1.

[Ep. xxx1.
~ (26) 5.]

de Exhort.
Mart. Pref.
1

ib. 40

de Lapsis, 7.

Ep. Lvl.
(56) 5, 6.

Ep. τ. 3.
de Op. et.
Eleem. 9.

Ep. Lv.
(56) 5.

Ep. ΚΕΧΧΙΙ.
Io.

Cf Ep. Lxix.
6

76).
de Lapsis,
20.

de Exhort.
Mart. Pref,
ἃς

‘divine Scriptures’ by quoting their testimonies! than by fixing their au-
thority. The books of the Old and New Testaments are to him the ‘foun-
‘tains of divine fulness from which the Christian must draw strength and
‘wisdom;’ the source of those ‘divine commands (magisteria) by which
‘God has vouchsafed to train and instruct us, that enlightened by His pure
‘and bright radiance we may hold the way of. life through their saving
‘mysteries’ (sacramenta). ‘They are the ‘foundations of our hope, the bul-
‘wark of our faith, the support of our hearts, the guide of our path, the
‘safeguard of our salvation.’ In the Scriptures the Christian must find the
‘torch which shall kindle his faith’ in the hour of danger; the ‘arms with
‘which he shall face the terrors of persecution and the coming of Antichrist ;
and the ‘trumpet which shall rouse him to the battle.’ When writing to
future martyrs Cyprian says, ‘that his poor skill, aided by divine Inspira-
‘tion?, 5141} bring forth armour for them from the precepts of the Lord’...
‘I know,’ he adds, ‘that the intricacies of human speech must be removed,
‘and only those things set down which God says, and by which Christ
‘exhorts His servants to martyrdom.’ We read in his writings again and
again that the Holy Spirit spake in the Law and in the Gospel—by Pro-
phets, Apostles, and Evangelists. ‘By Him the Prophets were quickened
‘to a knowledge of the future.’ By Him the Apostles teach us ‘what they
‘learnt from the precepts of the Lord and heavenly revelations’ (calestzbzs
mandatis), being ‘full of the grace of the Inspiration of their Master’
(Dominice inspirationis). By Him too, according to the promise, the Chris-
tian answers his accusers in the hour of death; ‘for it is not we who speak,
‘but the Spirit of the Father, who departs not from His confessors, and
‘Ilimself speaketh in us, and shares our crown.’ And thus it is that the
Power of God lives in the Church, ‘ which, like Paradise, includes within
‘her walls all fruit-bearing trees, which she waters with four rivers—even
‘the four Gospels, and on which she pours with a heavenly stream the grace
‘of a saving Baptism?.’

Yet more; the teaching of Scripture—whether by History or Prophecy,
by Laws or Psalms,—is full of deep meaning, and its spiritual import is
perfect—‘the Gospel cannot stand in part and fall in part,’—nor is it
limited in its application like the doctrine of men; so that Cyprian describes
a selection of texts which he made under a remarkable similitude: ‘they

1 Cyprian composed three books of Jes-
zimonies, containing a selection of texts
from Scripture, arranged for doctrinal pur-
poses at the request of a friend.

The quotations from Cyprian’s corre-
spondents are given in brackets.

2 I am not sure that Maréchal is right
in referring these words to the Holy Scrip-
tures; cf. Lf. Lxxi. 5. f. Libellum ‘De
bono patienti#’ quantum yaluit nostra
mediocritas Jermittente Domino et inspi-

vante conscripsimus.

3 In one place Cyprian seems to draw a
distinction between the writings of the
Bible: Much hath God chosen to be
‘spoken and heard through his Prophets ;
‘yet how much greater are those words
‘which the Son of God speaketh—which
‘the Word of God, who was in the Pro-
‘phets, testifieth by His own voice.’ De
Orat, Dom. ὃ τ.

THE FATHERS OF THE NORTH AFRICAN CHURCH.

437

‘are,’ he says, ‘as the very wool and purple from the Lamb by whom we
‘are redeemed and quickened, of which each may make for himself a
See that having covered their former nakedness all may wear the
‘dress of Christ, arrayed in the sanctification of heavenly grace.” Among
the types which Cyprian quotes we find the Church prefigured by the
Robe without seam, by the Ark, and by Rahab. He sees a spiritual mean-
ing in the account of the raising of the Shunammite’s son, from which he
deduces the propriety of Infant Baptism ; and discovers a symbol of the
Eucharist in the dread and wine which Melchisedec offered to Abraham,
and again in the blessing of Judah. He recognises alike the authority and
the mystery of Scripture ; and declares the peculiar and lasting functions
of the Spirit in the Church and in the Christian’.

3. Lastly, the sentiments of Cyprian were shared by the other bishops
of the African Church of his time. In the account of the Council of Car-
thage on rebaptizing heretics, we find that many of those present based
their judgments expressly on the authority of Scripture, using such lan-
guage? as shews most clearly the feelings with which they regarded it®.

Sect. VI. Tue FATHERS OF ALEXANDRIA.

᾿Αλεξανδρεὺς τῷ γένει, ἀνὴρ λόγιος, δυνατὸς ὧν ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς,
ACTS XVIII. 24.

THE designs of the Macedonian conqueror in founding Alexandria were

more than fulfilled. He wished to unite in that city the East and
West by the bonds of commerce and the intercourse of daily business ;
and it proved the point of their religious contact, and the centre of a new
spiritual life. The faith of Palestine and the reason of Greece existed
there side by side, till they were prepared to receive the principle of a

1 In connexion with Cyprian we may
quote the following passage from FirMi-
LIAN, Bp of Cesarea in Cappadocia: ‘The
‘divine Word surpasses the nature of man,
‘nor can the soul form a perfect and entire
‘conception of it, and therefore there is so
‘great a number of Prophets, that the mani-
‘foldness of divine wisdom may be distri-
‘buted among many. Whence also [at a
‘later time] the first is ordered to keep
‘silence in prophesying, if a revelation shall
“have been made to a second.’ [Cypr.] £4.
εχχν. 4. It would be impossible to find
a more distinct recognition of the separate
purposes of the sacred writers,

2 E.g. Scripturz Sanctz (5, 6, 74); Scrip-
ture deifice (8); Hzereticos—decerpentes
sancta et admirabilia Scripturarum verba
execrandos censeo... (31); Divina Scrip-
turze (33). .

3 The very remarkable poem of Commo-
DIAN—one of the most interesting speci-
mens of rude Latin now remaining—offers
the same kind of mystical interpretations
as Tertullian and Cyprian, For instance,
addressing a Jew, he says, § 39: Inspice
Liam typum Synagogez, éc. So again he
says: In. te Apostolus clamat, immo Deus
per illum (§ 58).

Appendix B.

De Unit.
Eccles. 7,
Ep. Lxtx.
(76) 2, 4.
Ep. υἐχιν.

59) 3
Ep. Lxiit. 4,
6.

ConcIL.
Carti.AG.

The Alexan-
drine Schoor.,

438

ON THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.

Appendix B.

2 Macc. i.
το.

de Vit. Con-
templ. p. 893
D.

Sirac. XXIv.
23—9.

1. CLEMENS
ALEX.
Strom, v. 8.

. 4.
ib, VI. 5. 42.

ib. νι. 8, 67.
ΚΣ Ων ἀν ὃς
28.

Peed. x. 11.

96.
Protr. 1. 5.

combined vitality in the preaching of Christianity. The colony of Jews
at Alexandria—the Glory of Israel, as they were called—adopted the lan-
guage, and learnt the doctrines of Greek Philosophy; they recognised the
element of good which it contained}, and doubtless, if they did not teach,
at least in turn suggested fresh thoughts to its masters. The Jewish Rabbi
became an instructor of the Egyptian king, and the ‘ entire interpretation
‘of all the books of the Law (τών διὰ τοῦ νόμου πάντων) was completed
‘under the prince surnamed Philadelphus.’ We may believe that the later
writers of this school lost sight of the stern realities of Jewish history, and,
in anticipating a wider future, forgot the meaning of the past; yet even
Philo professed only to follow the principles and patterns of men of old time,
who interpreted allegorically the philosophy of their fathers (τὴν πάτριον

φιλοσοφίαν ἀλληγοροῦντες) ; and the writings of the Apocrypha exhibit —

unequivocal marks of the same view of Scripture. However this may be,
it cannot be denied that the views of the allegoric school were first accepted
and then systematizéd by the Christian fathers, and we shall endeavour to
shew in what way the unscientific criticism of Clement, which was based
on the mere feeling of the depth of the sacred writings, was reduced to
symmetry and order by Origen, whose views of Inspiration, with all the
faults of his Eastern ardour, are perhaps the noblest and worthiest which
have ever been set forth.

1. Clement’s doctrine of the plenary Inspiration of Scripture is at once
rigid in its primary form and wide in its general application. He recognises
the working of Providence in the moral teaching of Greeks and Barbarians,
and traces the origin of Pagan philosophy to the same God (ὁ τῆς Ἑλλη-
νικῆς φιλοσοφίας δοτὴρ τοῖς “Ἑλλησι) who was the Author of the Mosaic and
Christian covenants, and compares the Jewish Prophets with those among
the heathen ‘whom He raised up as Prophets in their own dialect, and
‘separated from common (χυδαίων) men, as they were able to receive the
‘divine favour :’ while in another place he does not hesitate to call philo-
sophy a ‘ peculiar covenant (οἷον διαθήκην οἰκείαν) given to the Greeks on
‘which might be built the philosophy of Christ?.’ But it was by the
‘Masters of Israel’ that God led men properly to the Messiah, speaking
to them in the Law’, the Psalms*, and the Prophets®; for, ‘ disregarding
‘the lifeless instruments—lyre and harp—the Word of God reduced to
‘harmony by the Holy Spirit not only this world, but man the microcosm,
‘both body and soul, and so makes melody to God through that many-
‘voiced instrument, and says to man: Thou art my harp, my flute, my

4 Ped. i. 10, 110: ‘O λόγος τοῦτο
ψάλλε. διὰ Δαβὶδ περὶ τοῦ κυρίου λέγων
(Ps. xlv, 8 sq.).

5 Protrept. νι. 78: “Ἱερεμίας δὲ ὁ
προφήτης...«μᾶλλον δὲ ἐν ᾿Ἱερεμίᾳ τὸ ἅγιον
πνεῦμα ἐπιδείκνυσι τὸν θεόν.

1 Olshausen, Ein Wort u. 5. w. 88. 18, το.

2 In illustration Clement quotes the
Κήρυγμα Wérpov. He asserts explicitly the
inspiration of this work (Strom. vi. 15. 128),
as well as that of the Shepherd of Hermas
(26, 121).

3 Strom. 11. 23. 146.

-
a ν-ὐνόσω.

—_——S- μα εν.

ΨΥ

THE FATHERS OF ALEXANDRIA.

439

‘temple: my harp, from the harmony [of many notes]—my flute, from the
‘Spirit that breatheth through thee—my temple, from the Word that
‘ dwelleth in thee’...... ‘Truly of man the Lord wrought a glorious living
‘instrument after the fashion of His own image; one which might give
‘every harmony of God, tuneful and holy’ (ὄργανον Θεοῦ παναρμόνιον, ἐμ-
meres καὶ ἅγιον, σοφία ὑπερκόσμιος, οὐράνιος λόγος), Thus the foundations
of our faith rest on no insecure basis, ‘for we have received them from
‘God through the Scriptures’...... ‘of which (ὧν γραφῶν) not one tittle shall
‘ pass away without being accomplished ; for the mouth of the Lord, the
‘Holy Spirit, spake it’ (ἐλάλησε ταῦτα); ‘and we have believed on Him
‘through His voice: and he that believeth on the Word knoweth that the
‘thing is true, for the Word is truth; but he that believeth not on him
‘that speaketh disbelieveth God :’ for he disbelieveth ‘that which hath
‘ been spoken by the Holy Spirit for our salvation’ (τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύ-
ματος σωτηρίως εἰρημένα). :

The Gospel dispensation is still more glorious than the Law: the ‘ Pro-
‘phets were perfect in Prophecy, the just perfect in righteousness, ...but
‘the Apostles were fulfilled (πεπληρωμένοι) in all things.’ Yet ‘there is no
‘discord between the Law and the Gospel, but harmony, for they both
‘proceed from the same Author’ (ἑνὸς ὄντος ἀμφοῖν χορήγου τοῦ Kupiov),
‘differing in name and time to suit the age and culture of their hearers
«(καθ᾽ ἡλικίαν καὶ προκοπὴν οἰκονομικῶς δεδομέναι) by a wise economy, but
‘ potentially one (δυνάμει),᾽ since ‘faith in Christ and the knowledge (γνώσει)
“οὗ the Gospel is the explanation (ἐξήγησις) and fulfilment of the Law’.’
In all the Scriptures—‘in the Law, in the Prophets, and in the blessed
‘Gospel’—‘ which are ratified by the authority of Almighty power’—
(κυρίας οὔσας ἐξ αὐθεντείας παντοκρατορικῆθ) we ‘have the Lord as the
‘spring of our teaching, who, by the various ministrations of His servants,
‘in sundry times and in divers manners from beginning to end guides the
‘ course of knowledge.’

Clement is not inclined to undervalue human learning, yet he adds that

the ‘ reading of the Scriptures of the Lord is necessary for the demonstra- | 7 jan,

‘tion of what the Christian teacher brings forward ;’ and as they are the
basis of our spiritual knowledge so are they also the means of quickening
our spiritual vision. ‘The Christian training exercises our mind and
‘awakens our intelligence, begetting in us an inquiring and sagacious spirit
‘ (ἀγχίνοιαν ζητητικήν), through that true philosophy which we have found,
‘or rather received from Him who is the Truth’ (jv...rap αὐτῆς τῆς ἀλη-
θείας ἔχουσιν ol μύσται). We may have fallen from our original glory, yet
Clement bids those ‘ whose mental eye has been dulled by evil rearing and
‘instruction to come to their proper light, seeking the truth which sets
‘forth in writing that which is unwritten’ (ἐπὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν τὴν ἐγγράφως
τὰ ἄγραφα δηλοῦσαν) ; and to come with humility, for ‘some patch together

‘ divers fabrications and falsehoods that they may seem to reject the Scrip-

1 Cf. Strom. vit. 16. 103; Adumbr, in Petri Ep. τι 1. 12: Paedag. τι. 12. 94.

Appendix "Ὁ,

ib.

| Strom. 1. 4.

12.

| Protr 1x. 82.

| Strom. 11. 4.

12.

| ib vr. 15.

126.

The New
Testament.

ib. Iv. 21.
135+
ib, 11, 23. 145.

ib. 11. 6. 29.

ib. Iv. 21.

136.

ib. Iv. σ. 2.

ib. vil. τ6. 95.

The relation
of Scripture

Strom. v1. 11,

οι.
Cf 15. 128.
Strom. 1.5. 32+

ib. 1. 3. το,

ib. vil. 16. 99.

440

ON THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.

Appendix B.

ib. vir. τό, 98.
ib. VIL, 16. 95.

Protr. tx. 87.

Interpreta-
tion.

Strom. VI. re,
129.

The Law.

ib. 1. 26. 167 3

cf. 169.
ib. v1. 17. 84;
86.

Strom. ΠΟΙ.
88.

Strom. v. 6.
32.

The Gospel.
de Div. Salv.
5.

‘tures—that is, the Holy Spirit—with a show of reason ;’—with patience,
for some have ‘refused to admit them after a superficial perusal, having
‘lacked the zeal to penetrate the depth of their meaning ;’—and with obe-
dience, ‘ for he ceases to be a man (θήριον γένοιτο), so to speak, who spurns
‘the tradition of the Church, and lightly turns aside (ἀποσκιρτήσαΞ) to the
‘opinions of human heresies.’ And then he says, quoting the words of
St Paul (2 Tim. iii. 15), ‘ the Scriptures are truly Holy, for they are writings
‘which make us holy and make us godlike (τὰ ἱεροποιοῦντα καὶ θεοποιοῦντα
‘ypduuara); and of these holy writings and words the Bible is composed,
‘which the same Apostle calls zzspired by God, being useful for doctrine,
‘ for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.’

The method of Interpretation adopted by the Alexandrine Fathers
serves to place their view of Inspiration in the clearest light ; for it was
not to them, as it might seem now, a mere exercise of ingenuity, but an
earnest search after a wider and more certain knowledge (γνῶσις). Clement
maintains the existence of an allegoric meaning throughout the whole of
the Bible, whose deeper mysteries are only seen ‘ by the light which dawns
‘on those who are truly initiated in knowledge, and seek the truth in love.’
Moses, he tells us, ‘was a living law guided by the gracious Word’ (νόμος
ἔμψυχος τῷ χρηστῷ λόγῳ KuBepvduevos), so that his writings are still full of
instruction, though their literal acceptation has passed away}. The details
of patriarchal history, and the proportions of the Jewish tabernacle*, are
significant to the Christian philosopher (γνωστικός). Even the admission
of Psalms into the Sacred Canon suggests the idea of the ‘ harmony of the
‘Law and the Prophets, of the Gospel and the Apostles, in the Church,
‘and of that under-current of melody which flows on through all the
‘changes of persons’ (τήν τε ὑποβεβηκυῖαν τὴν καθ᾽ ἕκαστον προφήτην κατὰ
τὰς μεταπηδήσεις τῶν προσώπων συνῳδίαν). But ‘it would be ἃ long task to
‘go through all the details of the Law and the Prophets which are ex-
‘pressed in riddles, for almost the whole of Scripture speaks to us in
‘this oracular language,’ yet most deeply and fully in the books of the new

' Covenant.

‘The Saviour teaches His disciples nothing after a merely human
‘fashion, but all things by a divine and mystic wisdom ;...for even those

1 Cf, Strom. 1. 15.67. The Ten Com- eous truth (τὸ αὐτομαθές, Isaac) Strom.

mandments have a philosophic as well as a
natural sense ;—‘ Even the two Tables may
‘be a prophecy of the two Covenants.’
Strom, Vi. τό. 133 sqq.

2 For instance he explains the history
of Abraham in the following way—appa-
rently after Philo: Divine Wisdom (Sarah)
brings no fruit at first to the believer
(Abraham), and so while he is still vigor-
ous he is induced to apply himself to
worldly learning (the Egyptian Hagar), but
afterwards she gives birth to a spontan-

1. 5.130; 35.

3 He gives a detailed explanation of the

symbolism of the Tabernacle : Sfvovz. v. 6.
32 sqq. ‘Thus the hangings which covered
it indicated that its mysteries were veiled ;
the curtain over the five pillars (the five
senses) represented the separation between
the worlds of sense and reason; while the
Jour pillars which divided the Holy of
Holies from the Sanctuary signified the
four Covenants and the sacred Name of

God,

THE FATHERS OF ALEXANDRIA. aah

Se ea which seem to hie: Bein expressed simply still are found to | | Appendix B.
‘require as much attention, nay even more than what was spoken cuigma~) ra

‘tically, on account of the exceeding excess of meaning in them.’ His |

works! and words? alike convey ever new lessons to those who search for |

them; hence it is necessary in reading Scripture to regard the general scope |

and the particular phrase, for the ‘careful distinction of words and facts
‘produces great light-in our souls, and we must needs listen attentively
“to those single expressions which convey many significations, and to the
‘single signification of many words together.’ Thus, by the continual ad-
vances of Faith we gain the mystical sense* of the Bible, while the
‘unwritten tradition of the written Word4, given by the Saviour Himself
‘to the Apostles, is handed down even to us, being inscribed on new hearts
‘according to the renewing of the Book by the Power of God’ (κατὰ τὴν
ἀνακαίνωσιν τοῦ βιβλίου).

This inner teaching Clement regards as useful for our moral training,
and necessary from the nature and aim of Revelation. ‘The Scriptures
‘conceal their meaning (ἐπικρύπτονται τὸν νοῦν) that we may be led to inquire
‘from the commencement of our course, and be ever vigilant in the investi-
‘gation of the words of salvation...’ ‘ Their character is figurative (παρα-
“βολικός), because the Lord, though He was not of the world (xoopixés),
‘came to men as if He were of the world, endued with every [human]
‘virtue, and purposed to lead man—the foster-brother of the world—by
‘the way of knowledge to pursue the intelligible and absolute, rising from
‘a lower to a higher sphere’ (ἔμελλεν τὸν σύντροφον τοῦ κόσμου ἀνθρωπον
ἐπὶ τὰ νοητὰ καὶ κύρια διὰ τῆς γνώσεως ἀνάγειν ἐκ κόσμου els κόσμον). Conse-
quently ‘there are difficulties in the Bible, yet a// things, we read (Prov.
‘vill. 9) are plain to those who understand, that is, to all who receive and
‘ever preserve the interpretation of the Scriptures, which has been made
‘clear by Christ, according to the rule of the Church (ἐκκλησιαστικὸς κανών),
‘which consists in the perfect combination of all the notes and harmonies
“(συνῳδία καὶ συμφωνία) of the Law and the Prophets with the Testament5
‘delivered at the presence of the Lord.’

2. Hitherto we have collected the scattered hints and implied assump-
tions of the plenary Inspiration of the Scriptures which are found in the
works of the early Fathers of the Church; we have 511 remaining the more
difficult task of examining the direct arguments and definite conclusions

1 Cf. Strom. Vi. 11. 94.

2 Cf. Strom. Iv. 4. 15.

3 Cf. fr. 66. ὁ σωτὴρ τοὺς ἀποστόλους
ἐδίδασκεν τὰ μὲν πρῶτα τυπικῶς καὶ μυστι-
κῶς, τὰ δὲ ὕστερα παραβολικῶς καὶ ἡνιγ-
μένως, τὰ δὲ τρίτα σαφῶς καὶ γυμνῶς κατα-
μόνας. Generally (cf. Strom. vi. 15. 132)
Clement only notices ¢wo senses of Scrip-
ture: in S/vom. 1. 28. 179 he appears to
consider ¢hrvee. It is a natural tradition
which represents Peter and James and

John as immediately instructed by our
Lord after His Resurrection, and the others
through them. Clem. Alex. ap. Euseb.
H. E. αι. 1, 3; cf. Strom, vi. 8. 68.

4 Cf. Strom. vil. 17. 106. This was the
key (κλείς) of the true believer, while the
misbeliever has a false key (ἀντικλείῃ).

5 Διαθήκη. Cf. de Div. Serv. 3; Greg.
Nyss. ap. Suicer, 5. v. ἡ θιοόπιευσιτος δια-
θήκη.

Strom. v1. 10."
82.

ib. Vi. 15.
121: 132

The use of
this hidden
meaning of
Scripture,

Strom. vi. 15.
126,

ib. VI. 15. 125.

2. ORIGEN.

ON THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.

Appendix FP.

General
View of
Luspiration,

de Princ. 1.
Preef, 4.

san Oe om

ib, Iv. 15.
|

of the great teacher of Alexandria,—of him whose proper name is said to
mean the ‘Son of Light,’ and whose labours earned for him the title of
‘ Adamantine.’ The fortunes of Origen during his lifetime aptly prefigured
the fate of his writings. His zeal was accounted infatuation, and his learn-
ing turned to a reproach. Though he was known to have reclaimed the
wandering, and to have refuted the malicious, yet he was driven from
the service of the Church in the very city where he had preached Christ on
the steps of the Temple of Serapis, and strengthened his father to endure
the terrors of martyrdom. Though ‘countless doctors, priests, and con-
‘fessors’ proceeded from his school, he was himself arraigned as a heretic
and convicted; though he was the friend and teacher of saints, his salva-
tion was questioned and denied. For many centuries he was condemned
almost universally by the Western Church, in consequence of the adverse
judgment of Jerome. In later times Picus of Mirandola? ventured to
maintain the cause of the great Father: the thesis was suppressed, but the
author remained uncensured ; indeed a pious lady was said to have received
a revelation not long before, which seemed to assure her of the forgiveness
of Samson, Solomon, and Origen. This hope however in the case of the
last was admitted apparently by few; and Baronius® expresses his ‘surprise
that any doubt of his condemnation could be raised after the sentence of
Anastasius.

It is not our object now to enter at all into the general opinions and
character of Origen: it will be enough for us to listen to his own words
about Holy Scripture, and if we find in them a deep and solid foundation
of truth constructed with earnestness and wisdom,—unaptly crowned, it
may be, with the fantastic structures of a warm and hasty imagination, —it
is possible that we may be led to regard his other labours with charity, if
not with gratitude, and to remember that his errors refer to questions which
had not in his time been decided by the authority of the Church, =~

The work ‘on Principles’ (περὶ ἀρχῶν), which supplied the enemies of
Origen with the richest store of objections, contains also the most complete
view of his theory of Inspiration. At the commencement of the first book
he assumes the doctrine as acknowledged by all Christians, and in the last
he supports it by a profound and independent proof, which in later times
suggested the Analogy of Butler. ‘Truly,’ he says, ‘it is most evidently
‘preached in the Churches that the Holy Spirit inspired each of the Saints,
‘Prophets, and Apostles, and that the same Spirit was present in those of
‘old time as in those who were inspired at the coming of Christ ;’ for
‘Christ, the Word of God, was in Moses and the Prophets,...and by His
‘Spirit they spake and did all things.’ By the help of this illuminating
Power: the ministers of truth explained the hidden mysteries in the life

1 Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil com- Huet, Origeniana, 1. 4. 10, gives a list of
piled the admirable selection of passages the pupils of Origen.
from Origen’s writings on Holy Scripture, 2 Huet, Origeniana, 11. 4. 3. το.
é~c. which bears the title of PAzlocalia. 3 Huet, Origeniana, 11. 4. 3. 21.

THE FATHERS OF ALEXANDRIA.

443

and actions of man; unfolded the workings of God’s Providence in Crea-
tion and Redemption; and at the same time edifiedethe simple and un-
learned by instructive narratives. The true God acted on the Prophets to
enlighten and strengthen them, and not to cloud or confuse their natural
powers, like the Pythian Deity, who was akin to those demons which
Christians are wont to drive out by prayers and adjurations; for the divine
messengers ‘by the contact of the Holy Spirit with their soul (διὰ τῆς πρὸς
“τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτῶν ἁφῆς τοῦ καλουμένου ἁγίου πνεύματος), so to speak, gained
‘a keener and a clearer intuition of spiritual truth’ (διορατικώτεροι τὸν
νοῦν [Zth. Nic. Vi. 6] καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν λαμπρότεροι); and they thus became
more perfect men as well as wiser seers.

The details of the cosmogony and the records of the chosen people were
in Origen’s judgment as truly written by the Inspiration of divine Wisdom
as the works of the Prophets. He assumes that the ‘records of the Gospels
‘are Oracles of the Lord, pure Oracles as silver purified seven times in the
‘fire’ (Ps. xii. 6), and that there is a meaning in their minutest details;
while they are without error, inasmuch as we believe that they were ‘ accu-
‘rately written by the co-operation of the Holy Spirit...’ The opening
words of St Luke’s Gospel seem to him to prove and illustrate this doctrine
of Inspiration: they ‘attempted’ (ἐπεχείρησαν) to write histories who did
so without the gift of God’s grace (χωρὶς χαρίσματοΞ) ; our Evangelists did
not ‘attempt’ that which they did by the motion of the Holy Spirit (éypa-
wav ἐξ ἁγίου κινούμενοι πνεύματος), and their books alone we receive on the
authority of the Church of God. Yet more, Origen does not hesitate to say
that the Christian receives the words of Paul as the words of God’, for he
was made fit (ixaywOels) to be a minister of the new Covenant, not of the
letter, but of the Spirit. They only, he elsewhere tells us, will find contra-
dictions in the Apostle’s writings ‘who sever the one doctrine of the Faith
‘into the diverse opinions of sects, and examine only those testimonies of
‘Scripture which support their peculiar view, regardless of the full and
‘ perfect meaning of such passages as exhibit the opposite side of the truth’
(ὁ diverso veniunt), But again he notices that St Paul speaks some things
in his own person which do not possess the same authority?; and he seems
to consider that the Inspiration of the Epistles generally is derived from
the Gospels, for they are a Gospel in another form. Yet still they are not
less pregnant in meaning than the other parts of Scripture, though to some |
they may seem more plain than the //ésforic and Prophetic Books, but are
full of the elements of the mightiest and most manifold thoughts. Such is

1Cf, Hom. vu. in Levit. § 4: Mihi of the Epistles. For instance, he says of
autem sicut Deo et Domino nostro Jesu the ‘Epistle to Romans’ (Pref. in ΕΖ. ad

Christo ita et Apostolis ejus adhzrere
bonum est, et ex divinis scripturis se-
cundum ipsorum traditionem intelligentiam
capere.

2 His language at times seems incon-
sistent, unless we observe this distinction
between the personal and general contents

Rom.): Videtur Apostolus in hac epistola
perfectior fuisse quam in ceteris, quoting
x Cor. ix. 27; Phil. iii. ro, 13. Again:
Scribunt Thessalonicensibus in werdo Dei
Paulus et Silvanus et Timotheus (Lib, 111.
fr.). Cf. Hom. τι. in Esech. τὸ; Hom.
xxix. in Luc.; de Orat. τ. § 2.

Appendix "Ὁ.

c. Cels. vin
4.

Its presence
in the whole
of Scri; ture,
de Princ. iv.

14.

In the Gos-

pels.

in Matt.
Jom. xv.3.

in Matt,

In the
Epistles.

Comm. in
Joan. Zom.
V. 3

Comm, in
Rom, 2.26.
IL. 7.

Comm. in

Joan. Zom.
1.5.

de Princ. iv.
10,

444

Appendix B.

[Dial. 1.]

Comm. in

Joan. 11. 2.90.

(//xet.)

Hom. in

Jerem. xxi.
2.

All Scrip-
ture alike
tustruct@ve.

Comm. in

Joan. Tone,
1. 6.

de Princ. Iv.
6.

Hom, in
Num. xxvii.
I.

Hom. xxxIx.
in Jerem.
(Philoc. 10.)

Comm. in
: ey ἃ.
(Philoc. 2.)

The Proof of
Inspiration.

de Princ. Iv.
Si

ON THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.

the variety which we find in the Bible, yet all parts combine into one har-
monious whole: ‘there are many sacred writings, yet there is but one Book:
‘there are four Evangelists, yet their histories form but one Gospel:’ they
all conspire to one end, and move by one way. All the sacred volumes
‘breathe the spirit of fulness, and there is nothing, whether in the Law or
‘in the Prophets, in the Evangelists or in the Apostles (s¢ve ἡ, Evangelio
‘sive in A postolo), which does not descend from the fulness of the divine
‘Majesty. Even at the present time the words of fulness speak in Holy
‘Scripture to those who have eyes to see the mysteries of heaven, and ears
‘to hear the voice of God.’ .

We may call the Gospel the ‘first-fruits of the Scriptures!,’ or the
‘Elements of the Faith of the Church;’ we may believe that the ‘divinity
‘of the Prophetic revelations and the spiritual meaning of the Law shone
‘forth by the dwelling of Jesus on earth,’ and that there were no clear
proofs of the Inspiration (θεοπν εὐστουΞ) of the writings of the old Covenant
before that time;—yet the Christian—who has recognised in his own Faith
the fulfilment of Prophecy, and received the substance which the Law
shadowed, —will prize equally ‘all the words of God.’ ‘We cannot say of
‘the writings of the Holy Spirit (SAiritus Sancti littere) that anything in
‘them is otiose or superfluous, even if they seem to some obscure.’ We
cannot believe that there is ‘ one jot or tittle written in the Scriptures which
‘does not work its own work, when men know how to employ it.’ The fault
is our own if the ‘rock of stumbling’ remain, for we shall indeed ‘ find con-
‘nexion (οὐδὲν παρέλκει) and use in all that has been written, if we give
‘heed to our reading, and pass over no letter without examination and
‘inquiry.’ As in the natural world the skill of the Creator is not only seen
in the stars of heaven, but in the organization and life of the meanest
insect, and in the structure of the smallest plant, ‘so too we conceive of all
‘that has been recorded by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost (τὰ ἐξ ἐπι-

‘(iepds) foreknowledge, which supplies superhuman wisdom to the race of
‘man by the Scriptures (διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων), has placed, so to speak, the
‘seeds of saving truths in each letter as far as possible...; at least whoever
“has once received these Scriptures as inspired by the Creator of the world
‘must expect to find in them all the difficulties which meet those who
‘investigate the system of the universe.” __

Origen rests his proof of Inspiration on the influence of the Sacred
books, and the fulfilment of Prophecy. Other legislators besides Moses,
and other teachers besides Christ, he tells us, framed laws and systems
which they would gladly have propagated through the world, but the
Jewish? and Christian creeds alone have spread successfully, in spite of
national prejudices and religious persecution. Moreover he adds that the

Comm. in Foan. τ. 43 χρὴν δ᾽ ἡμᾶς
εἰδέναι οὐ ταὐτὸν εἶναι ἀπαρχὴν καὶ πρωτο-
| γέννημα. Μετὰ γὰρ τοὺς πάντας καρποὺς

ἀναφέρεται να ἀπαρχή, πρὸ δὲ πάντων τὸ
πρωτογέννημα.
2 De Princip, τν. τ f.; Πᾶσα δὲ 'Ἑλλὰς

“πνοίας τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἀναγεγραμμένα), believing that the divine

sity ἢ οὐ ΜΝ δο iti ain

THE FATHERS OF ALEXANDRIA.

445 -

rapidity with which Christianity was promulgated proyes the divine nature |
of the Christian word!, ‘which is preached in the whole world, so that |
‘Greeks and Barbarians, wise and foolish, profess the doctrines of our Faith.’ |
Again: the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets, abound with predictions of
the Advent and Reign of Christ, and foreshadow the desolation of Judah,
and the assumption of the Gentile Church. The fulfilment of these by the
life of Jesus and the course of Christianity ‘has placed the Inspiration of the
‘Scriptures beyond a doubt, and raised the veil from the face of Moses.’
Such are the outward proofs for the unbeliever; the Christian however
will rest his faith on the teaching of the Church. The Bible is the bulwark
of the Church, and the Churchis its guardian. That alone is to be believed
as truth which accords with the Apostolic ‘ tradition? handed down in the
‘preaching of the Church, by order of succession from the Apostles, and
‘even now abiding in the Churches.’

The objections which are urged against the doctrine of a plenary Inspi-
ration Origen answers by analogies from Life, from Nature, and from
Providence, as Irenzeus* in a more general way had done before him.
The anthropomorphic language of Scripture he compares with our own
mode of addressing children suitably to their understanding, to secure their
benefit, and not to exhibit our own capacity (Deut. i. 31); though still for
the spiritual it has also a spiritual meaning contained in the simple words,
if we know how to hearken to them. Again we have already seen that
outward insignificance is no ground for disparaging the marvellous beauty
of the least being in the natural creation ; and the same holds true in the
Bible. And thirdly, there are difficulties in the doctrine of Providence
which we cannot yet solve, as, for instance, the existence of venomous
animals, still we do not for this reason speak against the Author of nature,
but wait, if haply we may be deemed worthy to know that about which we
now reverently withhold our judgment ; and so too in the divine Scriptures
lie many things which we cannot explain, and yet dare not condemn; but
‘as the doctrine of God’s Providence is not destroyed (χρεωκοπεῖται) by our
‘ignorance on particular points when we have once rightly admitted it, so
‘likewise the divinity of the Scriptures, which extends through them all,
‘remains undisturbed, though our weakness cannot in each special phrase
‘master the hidden glory of the truths concealed under simple and con-
‘temptible language.’

καὶ βάρβαρος ἡ κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἡμῶν Deut. xxxii, 21; Ps. xlv. (xliv.) τ, 2;

ζηλωτὰς ἔχει μυρίους, καταλιπόντας τοὺς
πατρῴους νόμους καὶ νομιζομένους θεούς,
τῆς τηρήσεως τῶν Μωσέως νόμων
καὶ τῆς μαθητείας τῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ
λόγων...

1 It is worth while to remark how abso-
lutely Origen identifies the Christian Books
and the Christian Doctrine.

2 The following are the Prophecies which
he quotes: Gen. xlix. 10; Hos, iii 4;

Ps. Ixxii. (Ixxi.) 7, 8; Isa, vii. 14; viii. 9;
Mic. v. 2; Dan. ix. 24.
"9 Cf. Ρ. 435, ἢ. 3:

4 Cf. p. 428.

δ When defending the rude style of the
Scriptures upon the ground of their popu-
larity Origen adds (c. (εἰς. vi. 2): ἐστὶ
γοῦν ἰδεῖν τὸν μὲν Πλάτωνα ἐν χερσὶ τῶν
δοκούντων εἶναι φιλολόγων μόνον. τὸν δὲ
Ἐπίκτητον καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν τυχόντων καὶ ῥοπὴν

Appendix B,

ib. Iv. 2.

ib. 1V. 3—6.

ib.1. Pref.2,2.

Objections to
the doctrine.

c. (εἷς. tv.
71.

Comm. in
Ῥὰ ἐῶ
(Philoc. 2.)

de Princ, 1Vv.
7.

446

ON THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.

Appendix Β.

Interpreta-

tion.

c. Cels, m1.
rit

de Princ. 1.

Pref. 8.

ib. Iv. 9.

A trifle

SCVLNE»

de Princ. rv.

We have already seen that Origen represents the doctrine of the Inspi-
ration of the Bible as taught by the universal Church ; in like manner he
tells us that her principles of Interpretation were fixed, though there were
variations in private judgment from the earliest times. ‘It is a point in
‘her teaching that the Scriptures were written by the Spirit of God, and
‘admit not only of the obvious meaning, but of another unperceived by
‘many!; for those details which are written are the forms of certain mys-
‘teries and the images of divine things, and in this the opinion of the whole
‘Church is one, that every part of the Law is spiritual...’ ‘The simplest
‘acknowledge the presence of these mystic dispensations?, and the most
‘sagacious (οἱ εὐγνώμονες καὶ ἄτυφοι) confess that they do not understand
‘them.’ | .

The peculiar feature of Origen’s system of Interpretation is the main-
tenance of a threefold sense in Scripture generally ; he finds indications
of this principle in several passages of the Old Testament*, and maintains
that as ‘man consists of body, soul, and spirit, so too does Holy Scripture,
‘which has been granted by God for the salvation of Man4#;’ and thus the
simple may be edified by the dody (σῶμα), the more advanced by the soz
(ψυχῆ), and the perfect by the «2271 (πνεῦμα). Corresponding to these three
parts are three methods of Interpretation—the historical, the moral, and

| the mystical; and properly the ‘body’ was for those who were before us,

the ‘soul’ for us, and the ‘spirit’ for those ‘who shall receive the inherit-

mpos TO ὠφελεῖσθαι ἐχόντων θαυμαζόμενον,
αἰσθομένων τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν λόγων αὐτοῦ βελ-
τιώσεως. Any national literature would
furnish a parallel.

1 This spiritual sense is granted by the
Spiritto the Church. Hom. in Lev. v. 3.

2 The instances he quotes will best
explain his meaning: Gen. xix. 30—38;
Gen. xvi.; Gen. xxix.; Gen. xxx.

3 For instance, from the Mosaic history,
he refers to the construction of the Ark
(the Church) ‘with lower, second, and
third stories’ (om. 11. in Gen. § 6); from
the. Law to Levit. vii. 9: Clibanus secun-
dum suiformam profundiora. .. significat..,
Sartago ea que si frequenter versentur...
explicari possunt. Craticula autem ea quae
palam sunt...(H/om v. in Lev. § 5), from
the Proverbs to Proy. xxii. 20, δι LXX.;
and again from the Gospel to the shee
loaves in the Parable, Luke xi. 5, 6 (Hom.
v. in Levit. § 5).

4 The threefold character of man’s being,
and. its entire (ὁλόκληρος) consecration to
God’s service by Christianity, are clearly
expressed in 1 Thess, v. 23. It is important
to distinguish accurately between the prin-
ciple of natural intellectual life (ψυχή),

and that of spiritual religious life (πνεῦμα).
Divine revelation (ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ) some-
times, by its mysteries leaves the one
unsupported by the other (μερισμὸς ψυχῆς
τε καὶ πνεύματος, Hebr. iv. 12). Cf. 1 Cor,
xv. 45; Phil. i. 27; Lukei. 47. Hence it is
that ψυχή and σάρξ are never Contrasted,

Those who gladly trace the earlier anti-
cipations of. truth will recognise this triple |
division in Plato, Resf. IV. pp. 441 sqq.,
where he distinguishes the appetitive (τὸ
ἐπιθυμητικόν---σαάρξ), the emotional (τὸ θυ-
μοειδές---ψυχή), and the rational (τὸ λογι-
στικόι"---πνεῦμα) elements in a man anda
state; and also in Aristotle’s definition of
a triple ‘essence’ (ovaia)—material (ὕλη),
formal (εἶδος), and the combination of these
(τὸ ἐξ ἀμφοῖν) (de Anima, 11. 2); and in his
separation of the appetitive (ὀρεκτικόν),
sensational (αἰσθητικόν), and rational (δια-
νοητικόν), in human life. De Anima, τι. 3.
The other species of life—the nutritive
(θρεπτικόν), and the translative (κινητικὸν
κατὰ témov)—do not belong to this view. —
These systems are naturally distinguished
from the scriptural teaching by their less
distinct exhibition of the ‘spiritual’ prin-
ciple, which is absorbed in ‘reason,’

THE FATHERS OF ALEXANDRIA.

447

‘ance of eternal life, by which indeed they may reach the heavenly king-
‘doms.’ ;

The utility of the literal sense of Scripture ‘is proved by the multitudes
“of those who believe sincerely and simply';’ and the reality of the moral
meaning is shewn by the example of St Paul (1 Cor. ix. g= Deut. xxv. 5),
from which we may gather that Origen intends to include under this head
the adaptation of the particulars of Scripture to the earthly life of maz.
‘The spiritual explanation is that which shews the archetypes and sub-
‘stances imaged and shadowed in the Law;’ and is found from the teach-
ing of the Apostles to exist both in the ritual and in the historical books
(τ Cor. x. 11. Gal. iv. 21—24. Heb. viii. 5. Rom. xi. 4). The ‘spiritual
‘world,’ in which this interpretation is realized, may be regarded as hea-
venly, or as Christian and earthly?: when we contemplate the former, we
explain ‘anagogically,’ and ‘Allegories’ properly are applied only to the
latter. Thus the Prophecies which describe the character and fate of
various nations under the Jewish dispensation may be referred, according
to the one system (avaywyy), to the inhabitants of the celestial regions
correlative to the kingdoms on earth’, or by the other (ἀλληγορία) to spiri-
tual characters unfolded by Christianity.

We have now to inquire how far Origen refuses to acknowledge the
literal sense in all cases: ‘Some Scriptures,’ he says, ‘have not the cor-
‘poreal4 (τὸ σωματικόν, i.e. conseqguentiam historialis intelligentia, as Ru-
‘finus renders it), so that in such cases we must seek alone the soul and
‘the spirit.’ By this he evidently means that certain passages taken lite-
rally do not zzstruct us, for no one can deny that they have a meaning.

_ They may then be either untrue morally, or untrue historically : they may

contain in the letter hurtful patterns or symbolic narratives; let us examine
Origen’s opinion in relation to these two possible cases.

With regard to the first class of instances, no one would maintain that
the moral failings of the Patriarchs (Gen, ix. xx. xxxviii. which Origen
quotes®) are objects for our direct imitation, and he himself asserts most
strongly that the records are profitable in other ways. Again we may
include under this division those precepts of the Mosaic Law which are no

1 Cf. de Princ, 1v. 14: Tlpo€xetro yap καὶ
τὸ ἔνδυμα τῶν πιευματικῶν, λέγω δὲ τὸ
σωματικὸν τῶν γραφῶν, ἐν πολλοῖς ποιῆσαι
οὐκ ἀνωφελές, δυνάμενόν τε τοὺς πολλοὺς
ὡς χωροῦσι βελτιοῦν.

9. So Guericke (A/ist. Schole Catech. τι.
p. 60) rightly maintains against Mosheim
and Rosenmiiller.

3 In relation to this singular opinion
compare Huet, Origeniana, 11. 2. 11, τα
whatever Origen’s error may be, it is clear
that it-arises from an extreme regard to
the de¢ter of Scripture.

4 Hom. τα. in Gen. $6: Non semper in

Scripturis divinis historialis consequentia
stare potest, sed nonnunquam verbi causa
deficit, ut Prov, xxvi. 9; τ Reg. vi. 7;
Lev. xiii.

Origen finds a symbol of the Zwo, or
three meanings in John ii, 6 (de Prine.
IV. 12).

5 Cf. Hom. vi. in Gen. § 1: Si quis hee
(Gen. xx.) secundum litteram se/us audire
vult et intelligere, magis cum Judais quam
cum Christianis debet habere auditorium:
Origen does not deny the literal truth of
the fact, but its moral fitness,

Appendix B,

The Literal,
de Prine. ty.
12.

the Moral,

de Prine. 1y,
13.

and the

Spiritual

sense.

de Prine. 1v.
13.

ib. 1v. 22,

Ts the lite-

ral sense

always true?

de Prine. iv.
12.

As to Moa-
rads,
Strom. fr.

Hom. in.
Gen. vi.

485

Appendix Β. |
|
|
|

As to Facts.

de Princ. rv.
16.

Comm. in
Joan. Tom.
X. 2.

σωματικοῖς χαρακτῆρσι).

ON THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.

‘gene needful for our moral training. These the Christian is to receive
not literally but spiritually; but though he does not value their outward
sense, he is not therefore to cast them aside as worthless and worn out, but
to seek for their inner significance!.. Origen does not deny that the details
of the Law were actually observed, but he maintains also that they are
useful now?.
But in some places, it will be said, Origen denies the literal truth of
facts. We have indeed already seen that he did not, like fanatics in those
times as well as in our own, attribute passions to the Deity according to
the letter of Scripture, but rather received its statements as true only in
idea; and he carries out the same principle somewhat further: he denies
that we ought to understand literally the account given of God ‘ planting
‘the garden of Paradise,’ and ‘walking in it in the cool of the evening.’
Yet more, he rejects that material theory of the Temptation which’ sup-
poses that ‘all the kingdoms of the world were placed before the bodily
‘eyes of Jesus, as contiguous to one mountain ;’ and adds that ‘ whoever
‘carefully examines the question will find countless similar incidents in the
‘Gospels, not literally true [but true in idea], inwrought into those narra-
‘tives which are to be received according to the letter*.’ If Origen had
rested here it would have been an easy task to defend him, but in other
places he speaks still more boldly. When discussing the apparent discre-
pancies of the Evangelists, he says that ‘if one were to set them all forth,
‘then would he turn dizzy, and either desist from trying to establish all
‘the Gospels in very truth, and attach himself to one,..,or, admitting the
‘four, grant that their truth does not lie in their corporeal forms’ (ἐν τοῖς
But at the same time he only abandons the literal
beautiful words: When the people mur-

mured in the wilderness Moses led them
to the rock to drink, and even now he

1 Cf. Hot. xt. ta Num. ὃ 1 f.: Ostendi-
mus, ut opinor, auctoritate Scripture di-
vinz ex iis que in lege scripta sunt aliqua

penitus refugienda esse et cavenda, ne
secundum literam ab Evangelii discipulis
observentur; queedam vero omnimodo, ut
scripta sunt, obtinenda, alia autem habere
quidem secundum litteram veritatem sui,
recipere tamen utiliter et necessario etiam
allegoricum sensum Cf. Hom, ΧΙ. in

Lxsd. § 6; How. 1x. in Num. ὃ 4.

2 In some places he speaks of parti-

.
' cular details of the Law as unreasonable

(ἄλογα᾽ de Princ. τν. 17) and impossible,

| if taken merely in their obvious sense:
_ e.g. Gen. xvii. 14; Exod. xvi. 29; Jer. xvii.

21, 22. Wemay also understand from this
point of view his real meaning when he
says that the law outwardly is ‘less elegant
‘and reasonable than many human sys-
‘tems,’ and ‘that it may prove a stumbling-
‘ block without the Gospel;’ but in that all

| its discords are resolved, or, in Origen’s own

leadeth them to Christ (Hom. x1. tz Ex.
§ 2).

The literal sense of some passages in the
Gospels Origen holds to be similarly un-
tenable: ¢.g. Luke x. 4; Matt. x. 10; v.. 39.
Such examples shew most distinctly the
kind of error which he had to meet, and
from which indeed he had himself suf-
fered.

3 The Greek text stands as follows in
Lommatzsch’s edition: παραπλησίως δὲ τού-
τοις καὶ ἄλλα μυρία ἀπὸ τῶν εὐαγγελίων ἔνε-
ore τὸν ἀκριβοῦντα τηρῆσαι, UTED τοῦ συγκα-
ταθέσθαι συνυφαίνεσθαι ταῖς Kara τὸ ῥητὸν
γεγενημέναις ἱστορίαις, ἕτερα μὴ συμβεβηκό-
τα. One Manuscript omits συνυφαίνεσθαι,
and it seems likely that the word is merely
a gloss to explain συγκαταθέσθαι, which is
generally used in a different sense: the
comma after ἱστορίαις should be removed,

THE FATHERS OF ALEXANDRIA.

449

sense when he considers that it is self-contradictory, useless, or unworthy
of God: he accepts all the Bible, and feels bound to give an intelligible
reason for his faith; he faces difficulties which many do not choose to see,
and proposes a solution which only exhibits his veneration for Holy Scrip-
ture. Otherwise he admits the naked truth of the Patriarchal and Jewish
history?, for ‘those things which are true historically are many more than
‘those which contain merely a spiritual sense ;’ he is unshaken in his
belief in the most remarkable Miracles*, and paints with force and feeling*
the details of ancient events (res geste), that they may minister to our
instruction; it is true that Christ ever opens the eyes of those who are
mentally blind, but while on earth He restored to men their bodily sight:
it is true that He ever raises the dead, but then He raised Lazarus from
the grave: it is true that He ever stills the tempests in which the Church is
tossed, when His disciples call upon Him, but then we know that He
wrought the special work recorded in the Gospel history. Origen accepts
the record—‘ for we know that all things which are written are true’—but
he looks for something deeper; the question we have always to ask is,
“What is the meaning of this relation?’ (guo hec tendit historia) for we
cannot believe that it is ‘mere history, and does not pertain to us.’ The
answer to this inquiry must be sought by careful and laborious criticism.
In Origen’s judgment, we must insist on the strict interpretation of tenses
and persons®, and find a meaning in phrases which are commonly held to

1 Comm. Ser. in Matt. § 134: Judicavi
igitur bonum, ut accipiens bonum propo-
situm eorum qui in fide constantes. esse
desiderant, solutiones criminationum eo-
rum in quantum mihi ex Deo est virtus
inveniam pro evangelica veritate: ut fideles
non solum fide simplici sed etiam ratione
fidei muniantur in fide,

Strauss (/ztrod. § 4) has endeavoured to
find a mythical tendency in the following
beautiful passage: καὶ τοῦτο προλαβόντες
δι’ ὅλην τὴν φερομένην ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις
περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἱστορίαν εἰρήκαμεν, οὐκ ἐπὶ
ψιλὴν πίστιν καὶ ἄλογον τοὺς ἐντρεχεστέ-
ρους ἑκκαλούμενοι, ἀλλὰ βουλόμενοι παρα-
στῆσαι OTe εὐγνωμοσύνης χρεία τοῖς ἐντευ-
ξομένοις καὶ πολλῆς ἐξετάσεως, καὶ, ἵν᾽
οὕτως ὀνομάσω, εἰσόδον εἰς τὸ βούλημα τῶν
γραψάντων, ἵν᾽ εὑρεθῇ ποίᾳ διανοίᾳ ἕκαστον
γέγραπται. c. (εἶδ. 1. 42.

2 The Tenth Homily on Genesis is a
good example of his method of dealing
with such subjects. The passage referred
to is quite sufficient to shew that he admits
the reality of Rebecca’s history, though he
maintains that the Holy Spirit had a deeper
object in dictating the record: Hee fabulas
putatis esse, et historias narrare in Scrip-

We'G,

turis Spiritum Sanctum? (§ 2) for neither
Jabula nor μῦθος involve the falsity of the
narrative which they convey. Cf. Hom. τι.
in Ex. §1: Nos omnia que scripta sunt
non pro narrationibus antiquitatum, sed
pro disciplina et utilitate nostra didicimus
scripta...Hom. τ. in Ex. §5: Non nobis
hec ad historiam scripta sunt, neque pu-
tandum est libros divinos Agyptiorum
gesta narrare, sed que scripta sunt ad
nostram doctrinam et commonitionem
scripta sunt...Homm. 1x. in Fos. § 7: Hee
quidem veterum historiz referunt gesta ;
sed quomodo nos hanc historiz narra-
tionem ad mysticam intelligentiam refere-
mus...?

3 For instance in the history of Balaam:
Hom, xu. in Num. ὃ 8.

4 Cf. Hom. 1x. in Num. § 5.

5 Cf. Comm. Ser. in Matt. § 25; where
he accepts the remarkable tradition which
identifies ‘Zacharias the son of Barachias’
with the father of John the Baptist, from
the words ‘ye slew’ (Matt. xxiii. 30). Cf.
Thilo, Cod. Apocr. Prol. 64. See also Hom.
x. in Luc. (Luke i. 76). Comm. in Matz.
Tom. xr, f. Matt. xvi. 19 (ot οὐρανοῦ,
compared with Matt. xviii. 18 (ὁ οὐρανός).

Appendix B.

ἐς Princ. tv.
19.

Frag. in Ep.
ad Gal.

Hom. xvi.
in Luc.
Hom. v. in

Luc.

Hom.
XXXVIIL in
uc.

450

ON THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.

Appendix B.

Errors in
detail.

Matt. xxii.
32.

be vague conventionalities'; we must not omit an article?, nor neglect an
antithesis®; for the fulness of our spiritual insight will be proportioned to
the distinctness of our historical conception—the inward and the outward
are so combined that we must proceed to the one by the other.

From the passages that we have quoted it will appear that Origen’s
errors lie rather in the application of his theory than in the theory itself;
many of our greatest expositors unconsciously adopt his separate princi-
ples, but probably all would shrink back from imitating the haste and
boldness of his deductions.. Yet it must be remembered that when he first
investigated the question of Scripture Interpretation, it was governed by no
laws, and was limited rather by custom than by reason. The Alexandrine
school of Philo had long endeavoured to rescue the Law by any means
they could from the contempt of Philosophy; the teachers of the Christian
Church had received certain models of exposition in the New Testament,
and sought to reproduce their form without determining the basis of their
construction. But Origen went further: he was dissatisfied with the in-
heritance of Jewish Allegories and Christian imitations, and sought to
determine afresh the true system of Biblical Criticism: he did not indeed
decline the arduous labours of a scholar for the more pleasing speculations
of a commentator; but while he laid down deep and striking laws of In-
terpretation, he revised the text of Scripture with singular ingenuity and
zeal. He felt that there was something more than a mere outward form in
the Bible; he felt that the ‘words of God’ must have an eternal signifi-
cance‘, for all that comes into relation with God is eternal; he felt that
there is a true development and a real growth in the elements of divine
Revelation®; he felt the power and glory of the Spirit of Scripture bursting
forth from every part; and can we wonder that he sometimes failed to
notice the fair symmetry and perfect proportions of its framework? Can we
condemn him for gazing too earnestly where we are unwilling to turn our
eyes? Can we reject his entire system because it has been misapplied by
others or by himself? It is not our purpose now to estimate the intrinsic

1 Hom. xv. in Gen. § 1: Si diligentius
consideremus, inveniemus quia nunquam
fere in sanctum quis locum dicitur descend-
isse, neque ad vituperabilem conscendisse
memoratur. Cf. Hom. xx.in Luc.: Crebro
descendit Jesus cum discipulis...nec abs-
que fine sublimia tenet. Hom. in’ Yosh. τι.
3. Soagain (Hom. 111. in Luc.) in Luke i.
11, he finds in the word ‘appeared’ a law
of spiritual phenomena: [eorum] que sunt,
divina et superna in voluntate est videri et
non videri. Cf. Hom. 1x. in Luc. (Luke i.
57): Ubicunque justus nascitur ibi com-
plentur dies.

2 Hom. xxxv. in Luc, (Luke xii. 58),

ὃ Hom. vin.in Luc. (Luke i. 46: ψυχὴ...

μεγαλύνει, πνεῦμα... ἀγαλλιάζεται.)

4 Hom. 1x. in Num. ὃ 7: Reconditum
in iis (ss. Scripturis) invenies et secretum
mysteriorum sapientiz et scientiz Dei sen-
sum, quo nutriantur et pascantur anime
sanctorum non solum in presenti vita sed
etiam in futura.

5 Hom.t.in Ex.§ 1: Videtur mihi unus-
quisque sermo divine Scripture similis
esse alicui seminum, cujus natura hee est,
ut cum jactum fuerit in terram regenera-
tum in spicam vel in quamcunque aliam
sui generis speciem, multipliciter diffunda-
tur, et tanto cumulatius quanto vel peritus
agricola plus seminibus laboris impenderit
vel beneficium terrze foecundius indulserit...

THE FATHERS OF ALEXANDRIA.

451

merits of his scheme, or the extent to which he failed in using it, yet we may
call to mind that the founder of modern Philosophy not only laid down
the principles of knowledge, but also endeavoured to employ them; and it

may be as unfair to disparage the symbolic interpretation of Scripture by’

Origen’s errors in detail, as to judge of the capabilities of Inductive Science
from Bacon’s ‘ Theory of Heat.’

It only remains for us now to refer to Origen’s view of the personal use
of the Scriptures, which is too noble not to claim some slight notice. We
must read them, he tells us, ‘with attention, yea with great attention, for
‘it is needed in reading the divine writings, that we may not speak or form
“notions about them rashly.? We must read them with reverence: ‘for
‘if we use great care in handling the Sacred Elements, and rightly so, is it
‘a less offence (fzacelum) to disregard the Word of God than His Body ν᾽
We must read them with pure hearts: for ‘no one can listen to the Word
‘of God...unless he be holy,in body and spirit...no one can enter into this
‘feast with soiled garments.’ Yet the ‘mere language of the Bible is not
‘enough to reach the soul of man, unless power be given from God to the
‘reader and shed its influence (ἐπανθεῖν) over the lesson}; for if there are
‘Oracles of God in the Law and the Prophets, in the Gospels and Apostles,
‘he who is a student (μαθητευόμενος) of God’s Oracles must place himself
‘under the teaching of God’ (Sejoe,..dddoxadov ἐπιγράφεσθαι θεόν) ; such
an one must ‘seek their meaning by inquiry, discussion, examination, and,
‘which is greatest, by prayer?;’ ‘he must not be content to Avock and to
‘ seek, for prayer is the most necessary qualification for the understanding of
‘divine things...and the Saviour urged us to this when He said, not only
‘knock and it shall be opened, seck and ye shall find, but also ask and it
‘shall be given you. If then we read the Bible with patience, prayer, and
faith: if we ever strive after a more perfect knowledge, and yet remain
content in some things to know only in part —even as Prophets and Apostles,
Saints and Angels, attain not to an understanding of all things: our
patience will be rewarded, our prayer answered, and our faith increased *.
So, ‘let us not weary in reading the Scriptures which we do not under-
‘stand, but let it be unto us according to our faith, by which we. believe
‘that all Scripture being inspired by God (θεόπνευστος οὖσα) is profitable.’
‘Oftentimes we derive good without perceiving it, for thus our life is sup-
‘ported...; so too our spiritual life is frequently profited by the mere reading
‘of Scripture, when our reason does not receive the fruit: a charm, as it
‘were, acts upon our nature; its better elements are strengthened and
“matured, the worse weakened and brought to naught.’

1 Cf. de Princ, τν. 10: Κἂν ἐπὶ τὰ εὐαγ-
γέλια δὲ φθάσωμεν, κἀκείνων ὃ ἀκριβὴς
νοῦς ἅτε νοῦς ὧν Χριστοῦ δεῖται χάριτος
τῆς δοθείσης τῷ εἰρηκότι" ἡμεῖς δὲ νοῦν
Χριστοῦ ἔχομεν (x Cor, ii. 16).

2 Hom. xu. in Ex. § 4: Non solum
studium adhibendum est ad discendas lit-

teras sacras, verum et supplicandum Do-
mino, et diebus et noctibus obsecrandum,
ut veniat Agnus ex tribu Juda, et ipse
accipiens librum signatum dignetur aperire,

3 Hom. vu. in Luc.: Utinam mihi eve-
niat ut ab infidelibus stultus dicar qui
talibus credidi. Such are Origen’s words

FF2

Appendix Β,

The study

of Scripture.

Ep. ad Greg.
8 3.

Hom. x1tt. in
Ex. § 3.

Hom. ΧΙ. in
Ex. § 7.

c. Cels. vi. 2.

Hom. in. Jer.
eR ot

Hom.in Gen.
XL 3

de Princ. 1v.
26.

Hom. xx. in
Jos.

452

ON THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.

Appendix B.

THE CLE-
MENTINES.

Their im-
portance as
recognising
@ sceptical
element in
the first
ages.

i. The Homi-
lies.

Sect. VII. THE CLEMENTINES.

HERE is yet one group of writings, stamped in common with the
name and authority of Clement of Rome, which requires some notice.
Of this the Clementine Homilies and Recognitions are the most important
representatives, which I believe do not yield in intellectual interest to any
production of the first three centuries!. Both works present the same
great outlines. Both give a history of the conflict between the ‘chief of
‘the Apostles’ St Peter and the great enemy of the first age Simon Magus.
But under this general likeness they offer considerable differences in detail —
and theological tendency. The Homilies are distinctly Ebionite and anti-
Pauline, while the Recognitions present a view of the Person of our Lord
intermediate between the opinions of Artemon and Arius?. The'value of
the Clementines does not however lie in the system of doctrine which they
contain, for in this respect they are often confused and contradictory, but
in a singular richness of thought and speculation. In reading them we
seem to stand face to face with some old speculator who tries at one time
to bring Christianity within the measure of his philosophy, and then again
to solve former difficulties by Christian truth. Questions which we regard —
commonly as the growth of a later age are debated with subtle ingenuity.
The ‘scepticism’ of the first century is found to have been scarcely less
powerful or less pregnant than that of our own. .

The existence of this speculative element in the early Church, hidden
too often under the name of Gnosticism, is of the greatest importance for
estimating rightly the growth of Christianity in the face of an able and
thoughtful opposition; and the form of teaching to which it led is scarcely
less interesting as a phase of mental culture. But without entering on
these wider relations of the Clementines, we must confine ourselves to the
light which they throw on the primitive idea of Inspiration. On this
subject the Homilies and the Recognitions present points of difference

‘| which correspond with the fundamental differences of the two books, and

both alike offer a striking contrast to the broad comprehensiyeness of the
Catholic doctrine which has been already traced in the Fathers of the
Church. ᾿

The Homilies—and in this they only present a common error in a bolder
form—regard Inspiration only in relation to the Prophet and not to the
Church. The individual overpowers the society: he at once conveys the

when contemplating the great mystery of owz....Géttingen, 1854) give all that can be

Christianity. required. Of the Homilies, Dressel’s edi-
1 For the general history of the Clemen- _ tion (Gott. 1853) is the best; of the Recog-

tines, the works of Schliemann (Dze C/e- nitions, the small text of Gersdorf (Lips.

mentinen,..Hamb. 1844) and Uhlhorn(Die — 1838) the most accessible.

Homilien und Recognitionen d. Klem. 2 Schliemann, 533 ff.; 330 ἢ,

THE CLEMENTINES.

453

message and interprets it. In this partial view the Homilies support the
opposite extreme to Montanism. The Montanists regarded an ecstacy—
a suspension of man’s natural faculties—as the necessary mark of a divine
teacher, but in the Homilies we read that the ‘Spirit must be innate and
‘perpetual’ (ἔμφυτον καὶ ἀένναον), and that the revelation must be distinctly
conceived in the Prophet’s consciousness, for partial knowledge and tem-
porary possession ‘belong to those who are maddened by the spirits of
‘disorder, and intoxicated by the reeking of altars.’ The true Prophet
with boundless spiritual intuition (ἀπείρῳ ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμῷ) sees and knows
all things mental and material (πάντα πάντοτε... πάθη, τόπους, ὅρους) by an
immediate and perfect knowledge, without the agency of dreams and
visions ; for those influences are uncertain and no mark of piety, while the
Prophet must be pure and sinless,—they are independent of the exercise of
reason, while his power works through his soul. Such Prophets were
Adam, Moses, and Christ, who appear in clear preeminence above all other
men, and next to them stand Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob}.
Till the coming of Christ the Pentateuch—in its pure form—was the de-
pository of truth, for the later Prophets were inspired by the secondary
power, typified by Eve, through which the divine element was involved in
human corruptions.

In one remarkable passage Peter is represented as declaring the nature
of Revelation from his own experience, at the time when he received the
blessing of the Lord. ‘The answer rose in my heart: I know not how I

‘said Thou art the Son of the living God ;...and from that time I learnt that

‘to learn without teaching, or vision, or dream, is Revelation. And truly
‘it is so; for in that [truth] which is placed in us of God all truth is con-
‘tained seminally (σπερματικῶς), and is covered and revealed by the hand
‘of God, who worketh in us according to the merit (ἀξίαν) of each ; but
‘that anything should be manifested from without, by visions or dreams, is
‘clearly not an instance of Revelation but of wrath.’ Though in this case
the Apostle is made to claim the privilege of a direct communication with
God, in other places he declines the title of Prophet: ‘I am a servant of
‘God the Creator of all things,’ he says, ‘a disciple of His right (δεξίου)
‘ Prophet ; wherefore being His Apostle I speak the truth ;’ and again, ‘I
‘am a disciple of the true Prophet, and not a Prophet.’

With these subjective views of the Prophetic office the writer of the
Homilies does not hesitate to maintain the unauthenticity of the Mosaic
writings. According to him the Law was first given orally by the Prophet

‘to the seventy Elders and afterwards reduced to writing, when the devil

was permitted to introduce errors? into its form, that the hearts of its

2 The errors which are enumerated in
the Clementines are partly the anthropo-
morphic descriptions of God’s anger, jea-
lousy, repentance, &c. (//om. τι. 43); and
partly the moral failings of the Patriarchs,

1 The seven Old Testament Prophets are

called by the author of the Homilies the
‘seven pillars of the world’ (//om. ΧΙ.
13, 14). Cf. Schliemann, 194 ff. ; Uhlhorn,
164 ff.

Appendix B.

Hom, 111. 12.

Hom. 111. 13.
ib.

Hom. xvit.
15—17.
ib, 11. 6.
ib, XVII. 14.

Hom, tt, 23,
25-

Matt. xvi. 16,

17.
Hom, xvit.
18.

ib. vil. 112.

ib, XVIII. 7.

ib, 11. 38;
Ill. 4, 47.

454

ON THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.

Appendix B.

ib. XVI. 10

ib. 111. 50.

ii. The Re-
cognitions.

Recog. 1. 69.
ib, 11.483 1
59+

ib. 1. 21.

ib. 11. 45, 55.

ib. IV. 21.

ib. Vit. 5.

readers might be tried ; yet this doctrine of the corruption of the Penta-
teuch is only for the advanced Christians, and not for the simple and un-
learned. The fitness of the Bible to prove the faith of man is beautifully
described: ‘There are many representations of the Deity in the Scriptures,
‘,..and each finds in them that idea of God which he wishes. Moreover
‘our soul within is arrayed for immortality in His image; if then I leave
‘Him who gave it the likeness, the likeness justly will leave me...’ Thus
the right discrimination of the truth of the Scriptures must rest in the
internal witness of the believer’s heart, who should be, after his Lord’s
command, a ‘good money-changer?,’ skilful to discern the true image of
the Divine and the current counterfeit.

The Recognitions differs in its whole doctrinal tendency from the Homi-
lies, though it was undoubtedly based upon them. In this book Christianity
is no longer regarded as identical with pure Judaism, nor are the Prophets
degraded into the ministers of a corrupt Power ; and though the full majesty
of the Saviour is still unrecognised, He is raised above the ancient Law-
giver. Consistently with this view of the two economies, the author of
the Recognitions declares the harmony of the Law, the Histories, and the
Prophets? ; and at the same time he places the source and the proof of their
Inspiration in Jesus. The difficulties which beset the understanding of the
Scriptures are not attributed to the outward corruptions of.an evil spirit,
but to the ‘sin which has grown up with (coadolevit) men;’ so that the truth
is not referred to the judgment of the personal consciousness, but drawn
from the tradition of the appointed teachers in the Church.

Yet more, the Recognitions differs from the Homilies in the view which
it gives of the mode, the extent, and the instruments, of Divine Revelation,
In the Homilies we read that dreams and visions are marks of God’s wrath,
but in the Recognitions it is said that He has condescended to address men
by such outward agencies ; and the objective glories of the Mosaic Law—
the ‘heavenly voices and visions of Sinai’—are distinctly acknowledged.
The importance of this difference will be more apparent when we remember
that the call of St Paul® to his Christian mission was made by a glorious
appearance of the Lord, who further instructed the future Apostle of the
Gentiles by visions in Arabia, Jerusalem, and Paradise. In another place
the whole circle of natural acquirements is included by the author of the
Recognitions in the gifts of the Apostolate: Peter is described as a ‘man

It is worth while to recall the method by
which Origen removed these difficulties:
see above, p. 443. Schliemann (197, av72.)
scarcely does justice to the great Christian
Father.

1 Hom. τι, 51: εὐλόγως ὁ διδάσκαλος
ἡμῶν ἔλεγεν Τίνεσθε τραπεζῖται δόκιμοι.
Cf. Cotelerius 1. c.: 277 Ῥ- 429.

2 Thus, quotations from the Psalms are
introduced with the following words:

Sancti Spiritu Dei repleti, et guttis miseri-
cordiz ejus irrorati exclamabant (Recog. ὦ
II. 44).

In another place we read: Imagines
gestorum Moysi et ante ipsum patriarchze
Jacob ipsius (veri prophetz) per omnia
typum ferebant (Recog. ν. 10).

8 For this remark I am indebted to
Schliemann, 312,

CONCLUSION.

455

‘ of God, full of all knowledge (Alenus totius scientie), acquainted even with
‘Greek learning, because he is filled with the Spirit of Gad;’ though indeed
such empty eloquence (/oguwacitas) was unsuited to the dignity of one who
spake rightly of heavenly things}.

For the Christian has another and an abiding source of wisdom in the
presence of the ‘true Prophet,’ who teaches him according to his needs.
This ‘true Prophet,’ even Christ, is the one illuminator of the soul. He is
the sole author of all perception of the divine and the eternal. He alone
knows all the past, the present, and the future. The whole existence of
the world is but as the course through which He hastens to rest. He

taught the Patriarchs, and in each generation was present to the good,
though under a veil, especially to those who looked for Him. The progress
of history was in some sense a preparation for His Incarnation, which was
the most powerful charm to win the love of men. And when He died ‘all
‘the world suffered with Him; for the sun was darkened, and the mountains
‘were rent asunder, and the graves were opened, and the veil of the temple
‘ was torn, as if in sorrow for the destruction which was coming upon the
‘ place.’

The general effect of the inquiry into the early doctrine of Inspiration
of Scripture, which is now completed, is to confirm in the fullest degree
the results which were obtained independently from a consideration of the
idea of a written record of a divine Revelation. The unanimity of the
early Fathers in their views on Holy Scripture is the more remarkable when
it is taken in connexion with the great differences of character and training
and circumstances by which they were distinguished. In the midst of
errors of judgment and errors of detail they maintain firmly with one con-
sent the great principles which invest the Bible with an interest most
special and most universal, with the characteristics of the most vivid indi-
viduality and of the most varied application. They teach us that Inspiration
is an operation of the Holy Spirit acting ¢krough men, according to the
laws of their constitution, which is not neutralized by His influence, but
adopted as a vehicle for the full expression of the divine Message. They
teach us that it is generally combined with the moral progress and purifica-
tion of the Teacher, so that there is on the whole a moral fitness in the
relation of the Prophet to the doctrine. They teach us that Christ—the
Word of God—speaks from first to last ; that all Scripture is permanently
fitted for our instruction ; that a true spiritual meaning, eternal and absolute,
lies beneath historical and ceremonial and moral details. They teach us
that this view was in their time no late invention, but a tradition which
they received and transmitted, each according to his skill endeavouring to
carry out the principles which he had learnt. It is possible that objections,
more or less serious, may be urged against various parts of the doctrine,
but it cannot, I think, be denied that as a whole it lays open a view of the

1 Schliemann, 311. 2 Cf. Uhlhorn, 234.

Appendix B.

ib, 11. 22.

ib, 1. τό.
ib. 1. 21.
ib. 11. 22.
ib. 1. 52.

ib. I. 60.

Recog. 1. 54.

Conclusion.

456

ON THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.

Appendix B.

Orig. de
Princ. Iv. 27.

Bible which vindicates with the greatest clearness and consistency the
claims which it makes to be considered as one harmonious message of God,
spoken zz many parts and many manners by men and to men—the distinct
lessons of individual ages reaching from one time to alltime. If it be false,
we shall then be bound to inquire earnestly what are the grounds, the
proofs, the limits of our own belief; if it be true, we shall certainly be led
to prize the Scriptures more highly and more personally, as inexhaustible
wells of living water, ever springing up unto eternal life.

᾿ς Verum hee per excessum quendam, rei tamen ipsius consequentia commo-
nitos breviter dixisse suffictat ad ostendendum id quod sunt quedam quorum
significatio proprie nullis omnino potest humane lingue sermonibus explicart,
sed simpliziore magis intellectu quam ullis verborum proprietatibus decla-
rantur. Ad quam regulam etiam divinarum Scripturarum intelligentia reti-
nenda est, quo scilicet ea que dicuntur non pro vilitate sermonis sed pro
divinitate Sancti Spiritus gui eas conscribi inspiravit censeantur.

APPENDIX C.

ON THE APOCRYPHAL TRADITIONS OF THE LORD'S
WORDS AND WORKS.

s U a i , , 7; ’ 9 [
Συναγάγετε τὰ περισσεύσαντα κλάσματα ἵνα μή τι ἀπόληται.
ST JOHN vi. 12.

T isa fact of great significance, that traditional accounts of words or

works of the Lord which are not noticed in the Gospels are extremely
rare. The Gospels are the full measure of what was known in the Apo-
stolic age, and (may we not add) of what was designed by Providence for
the instruction of after ages. There are however some fragments which
appear to contain true and original traits of the Lord's teaching, and as
such are invested with the greatest interest. Some traditional sayings
again are evidently duplicate recensions of passages contained in the
Gospels. Others are so distorted by the admixture of explanation or com-
ment as to present only a very narrow point of connexion with the Evan-
gelic history. The following collection of these various kinds of traditional
sayings is as complete as I have been able to make it, but may probably
still admit of additions. The first saying is stamped with the authority of
St Paul, and therefore is not Apocryphal, but it is too important a supple-
ment to the records of the Gospel to be passed over in an account of
‘unwritten words}?.’

I. ... Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said J¢ zs blessed
rather to give than to receive (Acts xx. 35)".

Compare Luke vi. 30. The saying does not appear elsewhere, so far as
I know.

2. On the same day having seen one working on the’Sabbath He said
to him, O man, if indeed thou knowest what thou doest, thou art blessed ; but
if thou knowest not, thou art cursed, and art a transgressor of the law,

1 I have been unable to obtain Koerner, ‘“Inaod ὅτι αὐτὸς εἶπεν Μακάριόν ἐστιν

De dictis Christi ἀγράφοις, 1776. The
collection by Bunsen, Azad. Ante-Nic. 1.
29 ff. isveryimperfect. Onthe other hand,
that of Anger (Synofs. Evang. quoted be-
fore) is, as far as he goes, very complete.
[A convenient and careful collection has
lately been made by Mr J. Τὶ Dodd, Ox-
Jord, 1874.)

2 μνημονεύειν τῶν λόγων τοῦ Κυρίου

μᾶλλον διδόναι ἢ λαμβάνειν.

8 This very remarkable narrative occurs
in Cod. D, after Luke vi. 4: τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ
θεασάμενός τινα ἐργαζόμενον τῷ σαββάτῳ
εἶπεν αὐτῷ Ἄνθρωπε εἰ μὲν oldas τί
ποιεῖς μακάριος ef εἰ δὲ μὴ οἷδας
ἐπικατάρατος καὶ παραβάτης εἶ τοῦ
νόμον. The form of address (av@p.) occurs
in Luke xii. 14; ἐπικατάρατος occurs in

Appendix C.

A pocryphal
traditions
wery scanty.

i. Tradition-
al words.

(a) Original
traditions.

458

ON THE APOCRYPHAL TRADITIONS

Appendix Ὁ.

3. But ye seek from little to increase, and that from the greater there be

a less},

4. Thus He [Christ] saith Tey who wish to see Me and to lay hold on
My kingdom must receive Me by affliction and suffering?.

Cf. Matt. xvi. 24; Acts xiv. 22.

5. Shew yourselves tried bankers.

Cf. 1 Thess. v. 21.

6. He that wonders shall reign; and he that reigns shall rest*.
Look with wonder at that which ts before you®.

John vii. 47; παραβάτης νόμου is a phrase
of St Paul. It is evident that the saying
rests on some real incident; but it does not
recur elsewhere.

Other additions which occur in D seem
to be only new versions of passages in the
Gospels. The most remarkable are:

After Matt. xx. 28 (following § 3), εἰσερ-
χόμενοι δὲ καὶ παρακληθέντες δειπνῆσαι μὴ
ἀνακλίνεσθαι (ἀνακλίνεσθε) εἰς τοὺς ἐξέχον-
τας τόπους, μήποτε ἐνδοξότερός σου ἐπέλθῃ,
καὶ προσελθὼν 6 δειπνοκλήτωρ εἴπῃ σοι “Ere
κάτω χώρει, καὶ καταισχυνθήσῃ᾽ ἐὰν δὲ
ἀναπέσῃς εἰς τὸν ἥττονα τόπον καὶ ἐπέλθῃ
σου ἥττων, ἐρεῖ σοι ὃ δειπνοκλήτωρ Braye
ἔτι ἄνω, καὶ ἔσται σοι τοῦτο χρήσιμον.

John vi. 56: καθὼς ἐν ἐμοὶ ὃ πατὴρ κἀγὼ
ἐν τῷ πατρί. ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ἐὰν μὴ
λάβητε τὸ σώμα τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου
ὡς τὸν ἄρτον τῆς ζωῆς οὐκ ἔχετε ζωὴν ἐν
αὐτῷ. The same passage occurs in some
Latin authorities.

1"Ypets δὲ ζητεῖτε ἐκ μικροῦ αὐξῆσαι
καὶ ἐκ μείζονος ἔλαττον εἶναι. These words
occur in Cod. D after Matt. xx. 28, and are
followed by a passage very similar to Luke
xiv. 8-10. The interpolation is found in
some Syriac(Cu. Pesh. Philox.) and in very
many Latin copies. The Latin rendering
is variously given: Vos autem queritis de
minimo crescere et de magno minui (4).
Vos autem quzritis de modico crescere et
de maximo minui (Bodl. 857. B. M. Reg.
1 B, vii). Vos autem queritis de pusillo
crescere et de majori minores esse (B. M.
Reg. 1 A, xviii) °c. Comp. Tischendorf or
Tregelles zz loc.

The very peculiar form of the Greek
and the deep meaning of the second clause
perhaps mark the saying as one based upon
traditional words of the Lord, and not

simply an expansion or application of the
words which precede.

2 Barn. ZA. 7: οὕτως φησὶν οἱ θέ-
Aovrés με ἰδεῖν καὶ ἅψασθαί μου τῆς
βασιλείας ὀφείλουσι θλιβέντες καὶ
παθόντες λαβεῖν με. :

The passage which was formerly quoted
from c. 4...ut dicit filius Dei Resistamus
onni iniguitati et odio habeamus eam is
now shewn by the Greek text of Cod. Sin.
(ὡς πρέπει υἱοῖς θεοῦ) to have been a false
reading for ut decet filiis Dei resistamus...
The words quoted inc. 6, ἴδον ποιήσω τὰ
ἔσχατα ὡς τὰ πρῶτα, seem to be a mixture
of Ezek. xxxvi. 11, and Matt. xix. 30.

3 Τίψεσθε τραπεζῖται δόκιμοι. Apelles
ap. Zpiph. 44. 2; Orig. 2721 Yoann. xix. ὧϑε.;
cf. Anger, p. 274. This is the most com-
monly quoted of all Apocryphal sayings,
and seems to be genuine. The thought is
explained in an addition to the Parable of
the Talents which occurs in the Clemen-.
tine Homilies, Σοῦ γὰρ, φησὶν [ὃ Κύριος],
ἄνθρωπε, τοὺς λόγους μου ὡς ἀργύ-
ριον ἐπὶ τραπεζιτῶν καὶ ὡς χρήματα
δοκιμάσαι (Clem, Hom. ul. 61).

No literal rendering gives the sense
clearly. The various renderings of tpa-
meCitrar—‘ exchangers,’ ‘money-changers,’
‘bankers ’—which I have given at differ-
ent times are all open to objection.. The
sense would be given by: ‘ Put your talents
to good use.’ A somewhat different turn
is suggested by Synes. 232. v. ap. Suicer
s. τ΄. δόγμα.

4 See p. 467, n. 2.

5 Trad. Matt. ap. Clem. Alex. Strom.
Il. 9. 45: θαύμασον Ta παρόντα βαθμὸν
τοῦτον πρῶτον τῆς ἐπέκεινα γνώσεως ὑποθέ-
μενος. :

OF THE LORD'S WORDS AND WORKS.

459

7. Lcame to put un end to sacrifices, and unless ye cease from sacrificing

[God's] anger will not cease from you.

Cf. Matt. ix. 13.

8. Jesus said to His disciples Ask great things, and the small shall be
added to you; and ask heavenly things, and the earthly shall be added to

you”.
Cf. Matt. vi. 33.

9. Our Lord Jesus Christ said Jz whatsoever [ may find you, in this

will I also judge you*.

Such as I may find thee, I will judge thee, saith the Lord‘.

10. The Saviour Himself says He who is near Me is near the γε; he
who is far from Me is far from the kingdom,

Cf. Luke xii. 49.

11. The Lord says in the Gospel Zfye kept not that which is small, who
will give you that which ts great? For I say to you that he that is faithful

in very little ts faithful also in much.

Cf. Luke xvi. 11, 12, 10 (the last clause coincides verbally).

12. [The Lord] says Keep the flesh pure and the seal unspotted, that
we may receive eternal life (perhaps chat ye may receive eternal life)’.

1 Ev, Ebion. ap. Epiph. Her. xxx. τό,
p. 140: Ἦλθον καταλῦσαι tas θυσίας, καὶ
ἐὰν μὴ παύσησθε τοῦ θύειν οὐ παύσεται ἀφ᾽
ὑμῶν ἡ ὀργή.

2 Orig. de Orat. § 2: εἶπε γὰρ ὃ Ἰησοῦς
τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ Αἰτεῖτε Ta μεγάλα
καὶ τὰ μικρὰ ὑμῖν προστεθήσεται,
καὶ αἰτεῖτε τὰ ἐπουράνια καὶ τὰ ἐπί:
γεια προστεθήσεται ὑμῖν. Cf. Clem.
Strom. 1. 24. 158: αἰτεῖσθε γάρ, φησί, τὰ
μεγάλα καὶ τὰ μικρὰ ὑμῖν προστε-
θήσεται. Id. Stronz. τιν. 6. 34.

3 Just. Μ. Dial. 47: ὃ ἡμέτερος Κύριος
Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς εἶπεν. “Ev οἷς ἂν ὑμᾶς
καταλάβω, ἐν τούτοις καὶ κρινῶ.
Clem. Alex. Quis dives, ὃ 40: ᾽ΕφΦφ᾽ οἷς γὰρ
ἂν εὕρω ὑμᾶς, φησίν, ἐπὶ τούτοις καὶ
κρινῶ. Cf. John ν. 30; Ezek. xxxiii. 20;
xxiv. 14.

4 Nilus ap. Anast. Sin. Quest. 3 (Anger,
p. 207): οἷον γὰρ [ἂν] evpw σε, τοιοῦ-
τόν σε κρινῶ, φησὶν ὁ Κύριος.

5 Orig. Hom. in Ferem. 1. p. 778: Legi
alicubi quasi Salvatore dicente, et quiero
sive quis personam figurarit Salvatoris,
sive in memoriam adduxerit, ac verum sit
hoc quod dictum est. Ait autem ipse Sal-
vator: Oui juxta me est juxtaignem est;
qui longe a me longe est a regno.

Didymus, zz Ps. 88. 8: διὸ φησὶν. ὃ
Σωτήρ, Ὁ ἐγγύς μον ἐγγὺς τοῦ πυρός"
ὁ δὲ μακρὰν ἀπ’ ἐμοῦ μακρὰν ἀπὸ
τῆς βασιλείας.

For the knowledge of this remarkable
saying I am indebted to the Rev. F. J. A.
Hort.

A very similar phrase occurs in Igna-

tius (ad Smyrn. 4): ἐγγὺς μαχαίρας ἐγγὺς
θεοῦ" μεταξὺ μαχαίρας μεταξὺ θεοῦ" and
both phrases offer some resemblance to
one quoted from the Doctrine of Peter by
Gregery Naz. (ZA. 1. ad Ces. ap. Credn.
Beitr. 1. 353): κάμνουσα Ψυχὴ ἐγγύς ἐστι
θεοῦ. ‘
8 (Clem. Rom.] ZA. τι. 8: λέγει γὰρ ὁ
Κύριος ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ Εἰ τὸ μικρὸν
οὐκ ἐτηρήσατε, τὸ μέγα τίς ὑμῖν
δώσει; λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι ὁ πιστὸς
κιτ.λ.

This form of the thought occurs again
in Irenzeus 11. 34. 3: δὲ tn modico fideles
non fuistis, quod magnum est quis dabit
vobis ? .

7 (Clem. Rom.] Z. τι. 8: dpa οὖν λέγει
Τηρήσατε τὴν σάρκα ἁγνὴν καὶ τὴν
σφραγῖδα ἄσπιλον, ἵνα τὴν αἰώνιον
ζωὴν ἀπολάβωμεν (-ητε). ἢ

Appendix C.

460

ON THE APOCRYPHAL TRADITIONS

Appendix Ὁ.

13. The Lord Himself having been asked by some one When His
kingdom will come? said When the two shall be one, and that which is
without as that which is within, and the male with the female neither male

nor female’,
Cf. Gal. iii. 28.

14.

Jesus says for those that are sick I was sick, and for those that

hunger I suffered hunger, and for those that thirst I suffered thirst®.
Cf. Matt. xxv. 35, 36 (ἐπείνασα, ἐδίψησα, ἠσθένησα).

I5.

...In the Hebrew Gospel we find the Lord saying to His disciples

Never be joyful except when ye shall look on your brother in love?.

16,

...When the Lord came to Peter and those with him [after His

Resurrection] He said to them Zeke hold, handle Me, and see that I am not

an incorporeal spirit.

And straightway they touched Him and believed,

being convinced by His flesh and by His Spirit 4.

Τῇ.

comes,

18.

Christ said Good must needs come, but blessed is he through whom τέ

It was not through unwillingness to impart His blessings that the

Lord announced in some Gospel or other, JZy mystery ts for Me and for the

sons of My house.

1 [Clem. Rom.] ZA. τι. 12: ἐπερωτηθεὶς
«αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος ὑπό τινος πότε ἥξει
αὐτοῦ ἡ βασιλεία, εἶπεν Ὅταν ἔσται τὰ
δύο ἕν καὶ τὸ ἔξω ὡς τὸ ἔσω καὶ τὸ
ἄρσεν μετὰ τῆς θηλείας οὔτε ἀρσεν
οὔτε θῆλυ. This mystical saying, which
seems very different in form from the
character of our Lord’s words, is found in
Clement of Alexandria in several shapes.

Strom. Ul. 9. 63 ff.: φασὶ γὰρ ὅτι αὐτὸς

εἶπεν ὁ Σωτὴρ Ἦλθον καταλῦσαι τὰ
ἔργα τῆς θηλείας... ἡ Σαλώμη φησί
Μέχρι τίνος οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἀποθανοῦνται:...
ὁ Κύριος ἀποκρίνεται Μέχρις ἂν τίκτω-
σιν at γυναῖκες... Καλώς οὖν ἐποίησα
μὴ τεκοῦσα... ἀμείβεται ὁ Κύριος Πᾶσαν
φάγε βοτάνην τὴν δὲ πικρίαν ἔχου-
σαν μὴ φάγης... α΄. 13. 92: πυνθανο-
μένης τῆς Σαλώμης πότε γνωσθήσεται τὰ
περὶ ὧν ἤρετο, ἔφη ὁ Κύριος Ὅταν τὸ. τῆς
αἰσχύνης ἔνδυμα πατήσητε, καὶ ὅταν
γένηται τὰ δύο ἕν καὶ τὸ ἄρρεν μετὰ
τῆς θηλείας οὔτε ἄρρεν οὔτε θῆλυ.
Clement believes, he says, that the narra-
tive was contained in the Gospel according
to the Egyptians.

A passage of Pseudo-Linus (de Passione

Petri), for which I am indebted to Bunsen
(Anal. Ante-Nic. τ. p. 31), appears to con-
tain another version of this saying: Domi-
nus in mysterio dixerat Sz xon feceritis
dextram sicut sinistrant et sinistram 52-
cut dextram et que sursum sicut deorsum
et que ante sicut retro non cognoscitis
regnum Det, ;

A good instance of the mixture of a
mystic explanation with a simple text
occurs in a passage of the Πέίστις Σοφία,
quoted by Tischendorf, oz Matt. xxiv. 22.

2 Orig. zz Matt. Tom. xu. 2: ᾿Ιησοῦς
γοῦν dnoi Aca τοὺς ἀσθενοῦντας 400 έ-
νουν, καὶ διὰ τοὺς πεινῶντας ἐπεί-
νων, καὶ διὰ τοὺς διψῶντας ἐδέψων.
The words appear to be only an adapta-
tion of the passage in St Matthew.

3 See p. 467, n. 5.

4 See p. 467, n. 1.

5 Clem. Hom. Xu. 29: ἔφη Τὰ ἀγαθὰ
ἐλθεῖν δεῖ" μακάριος δέ, φησίν, dv οὗ
ἔρχεται. The other sayings which occur
in the Homilies (111. 55): ὁ πονηρός ἐστιν
ὁ πειράζων. XIX. 2.: Μὴ δότε πρόφα-
σιν τῷ πονηρῷ, &c., seem less likely to
be genuine.

OF THE LORD'S WORDS AND WORKS.

461

We remember our Lord and Master, how He said " us Keep the mys-
teries for Me and for the sons of My house}.

19. The cause therefore of the divisions of soul that came to pass in
houses [Christ] Himself taught, as we have found in a place in the Gospel
existing among the Jews in the Hebrew language, in which it is said 7
well choose for Myself these ones, the excellent ones whom My Father who
is in heaven has given to Me*.

20. ...The Lord taught of those days [of His future Kingdom on earth]
and said Zhe days will come in which vines shall spring up, each having ten
thousand stems, and on each stem ten thousand branches, and on each branch
ten thousand shoots, and on each shoot ten thousand clusters, and on each
cluster ten thousand grapes, and each grape when pressed shall give five and
twenty measures of wine. And when any saint shall have seized one cluster,
another shall cry: I am a better cluster; take me; through me bless the
Lord. Likewise also [He said] that a grain of wheat shall produce ten
thousand ears of corn, and each grain ten pounds of fine pure flour ; and so
all other fruits and seeds and each herb according to its proper nature.
And that all animals, using for food what is received from the earth, shall
live in peace and concord with one another, subject to men with all sub-
jection...And he [Papias] added saying; Now these things are credible to
them which believe. And when Judas the traitor believed not and asked,
How then shall such productions proceed from the Lord? the Lord said
They shall see who shall. come to these times. Of this then (Irenzeus adds)
Isaiah prophesied, Isai. xi. 6 ff.°...

In addition to these passages, which seem to contain in a more or less
altered form traces of words of our Lord, there are other fragments which
are either variations of known sayings, or (as it appears) sentences framed
to suit the character of the Apocryphal work in which they were found.
Of these fragments the following are the most remarkable:

1. TheLord said Should you be with Me gathered in My bosom, and not

1 Clem, Alex. Strom. v. 10, 64: οὐ γὰρ
φθονῶν, φησί, παρήγγειλεν ὁ Κύριος ἔν τινι
εὐαγγελίῳ Μυστήριον ἐμὸν ἐμοὶ καὶ
τοῖς υἱοῖς τοῦ οἴκου μου. Clem. Hom,
XIX. 20: Μεμνήμεθα τοῦ Κυρίον ἡμῶν καὶ
διδασκάλου ὡς ἐντελλόμενος εἶπεν ἡμῖν Ta
μυστήρια ἐμοὶ καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς τοῦ
οἴκου μου φυλάξατε. The late Dean of
Lincoln [Dr Jeremie] pointed out to me
that these words occur substantially in the
Greek Version of Is. xxiv. 16: τὸ μυστήριόν
pov ἐμοί, τὸ μυστήριόν pov ἐμοὶ καὶ τοῖς
ἐμοῖς. See Field Hexafla in 1. Comp.
Alex. ap. Theod. 47. Z. τ. 4.21.

2 See p. 468, n. τ.

3 Papias, cf. Iren. v. 33.3. It is evident
that this famous passage gives only a very
imperfect representation of the discourse
of the Lord to which it refers, for I think
that it is certainly based on a real dis-
course. It must be observed that the
narrative is now only preserved in a Latin
translation of a free quotation from Papias,
who gave it on the authority of those who
had heard St John speak of teaching of
the Lord to such effect. The history of
the tradition is a sufficient explanation of
the corruption which it has suffered.

Appendix C,

(8) Varia-
tions of
Evange-
listic words.

462

ON THE APOCRYPHAL TRADITIONS

Appendix C.

do My commandments, I will cast you off, and say to you Go from Me, 7
know you not whence you are, workers of tniguity'.
Cf. Matt. vii. 21—23.

2. The Lord saith Ye shall be as lambs in the midst of wolves.
Peter answers Him and saith: What then, should the wolves tear in
pieces the lambs? Jesus said to Peter Let not the lambs fear the wolves
after they are dead; and do you fear not those who kill you and can do
nothing to you; but fear Him who after you are dead hath power over soul
and body, to cast them into a Gehenna of 376",

Cf. Matt. x. 16, 28; Luke xii. 4, 5.

3. In the Preaching of Peter the Lord says to the disciples after the
Resurrection: J chose out you twelve disciples, having judged you worthy

But

of Me®.
Cf. John vi. 70; xv. 16.

4. Peter says that the Lord said to the Apostles: Should then any one
of Israel be willing to repent, so as to believe upon God through My name, his

sins shall be forgiven him.
one say We did not hear*.

After twelve years go out into the world, lest any

5. ... According to some who alter the Gospels [Christ says] Blessed
are they who have been persecuted through righteousness, for they shall be
perfect ; and blessed are they who have been persecuted for My sake, for they
shall have a place where they shall not be persecuted*,

Cf. Matt. v. 10.

6. ...The Word says to us Should any one for this.xeason kiss [a wo-

1 [Clem. Rom,] 11. 4:.. «εἶπεν ὁ Κύριος
᾿Εὰν τε mer ἐμοῦ συνηγμένοι ἐν τῷ
κόλπῳ μου, καὶ μὴ ποιῆτε τὰς ἐν-
τολάς μου, ἀποβαλώ ὑμᾶς, καὶ ἐρῶ
ὑμῖν Ὑπάγετε ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ, οὐκ οἶδα
ὑμᾶς πόθεν ἐστε, ἐργάται ἀνομίας.

2 Clem. Rom. 11. 5: Δέγει γὰρ 6 Κύριος

Ἔσεσθε ὡς ἀρνία ἐν μέσῳ λύκων.

᾿Αποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Πέτρος αὐτῷ λέγει ᾿Εὰν
οὖν διασπαράξωσιν οἱ λύκοι τὰ ἀρνία;
Εἶπεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς τῷ Πέτρῳ Μὴ φοβείσθω-
σαν τὰ ἀρνία τοὺς λύκους μετὰ τὸ
ἀποθανεῖν αὐτά καὶ ὑμεῖς μὴ φο-
βεῖσθε τοὺς ἀποκτείνοντας ὑμᾶς καὶ
μηδὲν δυναμένους ποιεῖν ἀλλὰ φο-
βεῖσθε τὸν μετὰ τὸ ἀποθανεῖν ὑμᾶς
ἔχοντα ἐξουσίαν ψυχῆς καὶ σώμα-
τος, τοῦ βαλεῖν εἰς γέενναν πυρός.

3. Clem. Alex. Strom. vi. 48: ἐν τῷ
Πέτρου Κηρύγματι ὃ Κύριός φησι πρὺς τοὺς

μαθητὰς μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν Ἔ ξελεξ-
άμην ὑμᾶς δώδεκα μαθητάς, κρίνας
ἀξίους ἐμοῦ.

4 Clem. Alex. Stvom. vi. 43: διὰ τοῦτο
φησὶν ὃ Πέτρος εἰρηκέναι τὸν Κύριον τοῖς
ἀποστόλοις ᾿Εὰν μὲν οὖν τις θελήσῃ
τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ μετανοῆσαι διὰ τοῦ ὀνό-
ματός μου [τοῦ] πιστεύειν ἐπὶ τὸν
θεόν, ἀφεθήσονται αὐτῷ αἱ ἁμαρτίαι"
μετὰ δώδεκα [δ] ἔτη ἐξέλθετε εἰς
τὸν κόσμον μή τις εἴπῃ Οὐκ ἠκού-
σαμεν.

5.Clem., Alex. Strom. Iv. 41: ὡς τινες
τῶν μετατιθέντων τὰ εὐαγγέλια Μακάριοι,
φησίν, οἱ δεδιωγμένοι ὑπὸ τῆς δικαι-
οσύνης ὅτι αὐτοὶ ἔσονται τέλειοι.
καὶ μακάριοι οἱ δεδιωγμένοι ἔνεκα
ἐμοῦ ὅτι ἕξουσι τόπον ὅπου οὐ διω-
χθήσονται.

OF THE LORD'S WORDS AND WORKS.

463

man] a second time because she pleased him [he sins]; and adds Men must
therefore act thus with extreme caution in the kiss [of peace] (or rather the
salutation), as knowing that, if perchance it should be sullied by thought, it
would place them out of the pale of eternal life’.

7. ...[In the Gospel according to the Hebrews] the Saviour Himself
says: Fust now my Mother the Holy Spirit took me by one of my hairs, and

bore me away to the great mountain Thabor?.

Comp. Ezek. viii. 3.

8. [Christ] said: Many shall come in My name...And There shall be
schisms and heresies. And Take heed to false Prophets...*.

9. Accept not anything from any man, and possess not anything in this

world 4,
Cf. Matt. x. 7—10.

Io. It is said in the Gospel according to Luke He to whom more ἐς
Jorgiven loves more; and he to whom less is forgiven loves little®.

Cf. Luke vii. 47.

11. [Christ said] Z often desired to hear one of these words, and had not

one to tell it§,

See also 2 Clement § 3 (Matt. x. 32); § 4 (Luke xiii. 27); ὃ 13 (Luke

Vi. 325 35)+

The traditional facts relative to the Gospel-history, which present the

1 Athenag. Legat. 33:...1%ty λέγοντος
τοῦ λόγου ’Eav τις διὰ τοῦτο ἐκ Sev-

᾿ répov καταφιλήσῃ ὅτι ἤρεσεν αὐτῷ

--καὶ ἐπιφέροντος Οὕτως οὖν ἀκριβώ-
σασθαι τὸ φίλημα (μᾶλλον δὲ τὸ προσ-
κύνημα) δεῖ, ὡς εἴ πον μικρὸν τῇ δια-
νοίᾳ παραθολωθείη, ἔξω ἡμᾶς τῆς
aiwviov τιθέντος ζωῆς.

2 See p. 467, n. 3.

3 Just. M. Dial. ὃ 35, p. 253 B: εἶπε yap
... σονται σχίσματα καὶ αἱρέσεις.
This sentence seems to have been formed
from the sense of our Lord’s words and the
form of τ Cor. xi. 18, το. It occurs in a
transitional shape in Clem, How. xvi, 21.
Justin however quotes it as an indepen-
dent saying.

The passage quoted by Hegesippus
(Phot. Cod. 232, p. 472; Fragm. ap. Routh,
I. p. 219) seems to be only a citation from
memory of Matt. xiii. 16. See also Tischdf.
on Matt. vii. 22.

The words quoted by Origen from Cel-

sus (c. Cels. vi1t. 15, 16) do not seem to
make any pretensions to being words of
the Lord (Anger, p. xxvii. n.), The whole
passage is extremely obscure.

4 Dr Wright’s Ancient Syriac Docu-
tents, Pp. 20.

5 Cypr. Zest. 1.116: In Evangelio cata
Lucam Cui plus dimittitur, plus diligit;
et cui minus [pusillum] dimittitur, modi-
cum diligit. Cf. Iren. 111. 20. 2.

To these passages may be added the
clause appended by D and numerous Latin
authorities to Mark xiii. 2: καὶ διὰ τριῶν
ἡμερῶν ἄλλος ἀναστήσεται ἄνευ χειρῶν.
Compare also p. 457, n. 3.

§ Marcos. ap. Iren, 1. 20. 23... ἐν τῷ
εἰρηκέναι Πολλάκις ἐπεθύμησα dxod-
σαι ἕνα τῶν λόγων τούτων καὶ οὐκ
ἔσχον τὸν ἐροῦντα. I think that ἐπε-
θύμησα was an early corruption for ἐπεθύ-
μησαν, and that the reference is to Matt.
xiii. 16. ᾿Επεθύμησα seems to be incon-
sistent with the context.

Appendix C,

ii. Tradi-
tional facts.

464

ON THE APOCRYPHAL TRADITIONS

Appendix Ὁ.

Vet of. Luke
i. 27.

slightest semblance of truth, are even fewer than the traditional words.
Justin Martyr gives some details which appear to be mere deductions from
the received history, or translations of Prophecy into history. Such are
the notices that the mother of the Lord was of the family of David; that
the Lord was born in a cave, that the wise men came from Aradza, that the
Lord’s Miracles were attributed to magic, that the ass which the disciples
brought for Him was found fied to a vine. Of a similar kind are the
statements made by Celsus, that the person of the Lord was ‘little and ill-
‘favoured (δυσειδές) and ignoble,’ and that His mother wrought with her
own hands?; and those which occur in the Clementines, that John the
Baptist (like the Moon) had 30 disciples, as our Lord (the Sun) had 123,
and that the ministry of Christ began at the spring solstice*. Some tradi-
tions had a wider currency, though they may have had a like origin, as
that the Baptism was accompanied by the appearance of a bright fire or
light, and the words 7hou art my Son: this day have 7 begotten Thee®, One,
which appears in many different forms, represents our Lord as commanding
His disciples to remain for 12 years at Jerusalem®; another relates that

He remained with them 18 months after the Resurrection7, and gave fresh

revelations which were preserved in esoteric books. The tendency to
exaggeration appears in the story of the death of Judas given on the autho-
rity of Papias; and, since it is as natural to define as to exaggerate, names
were affixed to many of the chief persons who are nameless in the Gospel
history8. Of the domestic life of the Lord one trait only, except such as
are obviously fabulous®, has been preserved, which from its simplicity may
be true, where Justin says that ‘ ploughs and yokes were preserved, which
‘Christ wrought while among men.’ Some details are added to narra-
tives of the Gospels, as in the notice that the man with a withered hand
was a mason, and that a ‘vast lintel of the Temple’ was shattered by the
earthquake at the Crucifixion ; but the history of the appearance’ of the -

1 Just. M. Dial. 43, 78, 69.

3. Cels. ap. Orig. c. Cels. vi. 75; 1. 28.

3 Clem. Hom. 23.

4 Clem. Hom. τ. 6 f.

5 Cf. p. 472, n. 3; p. 469, n. 2.

6 Clem. Alex. Strom. vi. 431...mera δώ-
δεκα ἔτη ἐξέλθετε εἰς τὸν κόσμον μὴ τὶς
εἴπῃ Οὐκ ἠκούσαμεν. Cf. Apollon. ap.
Euseb. H. 1. v. 18 (ὡς ἐκ παραδόσεως).
The Πίστις Σοφία (Anger, p. xliii.) gives
eleven (?) years.

7 Valentiniani ap. Tren. 1. 3. 2.

8 Examples of this appear in the Ver-
sions of the Gospels. Thus the two thieves
are called in Matt. xxvii. 38, 39, Zoatham
and Camma; in Mark xv. 27, Zoathan and

Chammatha, by Colb. Par.; and in Luke

xxili. 32, Yoathas and Maggatras, by Rhe-
dig. In Luke xxiv. 13, the name Emmaus
by a variety of changes is made to serve as
the name of one of the disciples.

Compare also Hom. Clem. τι. 19, Ἰούστα
τις ἐν ἡμῖν ἐστὶν Συροφοινίκισσα, K.T.A.
(Matt. xv. 22), Even the Rich man in Luke
xvi. 19 receives a name NVineve (Theb. and
Schol. Gr.).

9 The famous story of the Alphabet
may deserve notice from the early date at
which it was current: Iren. 1. 20.1. Cf.
Thilo, Cod. Apocr. p. 290 ff. Other early
legends occur in Justin Gzos?. ap. [Hippol. ]
Philos. v. p. 156.

10 Just. M. Dial. c. 88.

OF THE LORD'S WORDS AND WORKS.

465

Lord to St James is the only independent record of a fact known to have

taken place which is ποῦ mentioned in the Gospels?.

1 All these examples are taken from
the Gosfel according to the Hebrews. Cf.
pp. 468 ἢ.

One of the early additions to the last
chapter of St Mark deserves notice from
its singularity. It is preserved by Jerome:
In quibusdam exemplaribus et maxime in
Greecis codicibus juxta Marcum in fine ejus
Evangelii scribitur: Postea cum occubuis-
sent undecim, apparuit eis Jesus et expro-

bravit incredulitatem et duritiam cordis
eorum, quia his qui viderant eum resur-
gentem non crediderunt (Marc.’ xvi 14).
Et illi satisfaciebant dicentes: Szculum
istud iniquitatis et incredulitatis substan-
tia est (one MS. sub Satana est), que non
sinit per immundos spiritus veram Dei
apprehendi virtutem: idcirco jam nunc
revela justitiam tuam (adv. Pelag. τι.

§ 15).

Appendix C,

1 Cer. xv. 7.

Appendix Ὁ.

APPENDIX D.

ON SOME OF THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.

Καπηλεύοντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ.
2 COR, ii. 17.

HE acts and sayings attributed to the Lord which have been preserved
elsewhere than by the Evangelists have been already noticed : it still
remains for us to collect the materials which illustrate the general character
and contents of those early writings, which for a time partially occupied
the place or disputed the claims of the Canonical Gospels. As might have
been anticipated these Apocryphal Gospels present two great types, one
Judaizing, the other Pauline. The former type is preserved in several
specific forms which correspond to differences in the Judaizing sects—(z1)
the Gospel according to the Hebrews, (2) the Ebionite Gospel, (3) the Clemen-
tine Gospel, the latter in (4) thé Gospel of Marcion. It would carry us
away from our immediate subject to discuss how far the first three Gospels
are to be regarded as having a distinct existence as written records, but I
cannot but believe that too little weight is allowed ordinarily to the power
of oral tradition to mould and propagate modified forms of isolated pas- |
sages. The fragments themselves will shew on what a narrow basis many
ingenious theories have been built. One point however seems beyond all
reasonable doubt, that the Synoptic Gospels give a simpler and therefore
an earlier form of the common narratives. This follows at once from a
general view of the fragments ; and argument of detail would be of little
avail against a critic who could maintain that the Gosfel according to the
Hebrews or the Gospel of Marcion are respectively the originals of St Mat-
thew and St Luke. .

I. Tue GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE HEBREWS (τὸ καθ᾽ “EBpalous
εὐαγγέλιον, Clem. Alex. ; Orig. : Evangelium secundum [juxta] Hebreos,
Hieron.).

1 The Fragments of the Gospel according careful notes by Mr E. B. Nicholson (Lon-
to the Hebrews (with many other frag- don, 1879); but I am quite unable to accept
ments of Evangelic traditions conjecturally his view of the book.
assigned to it) have been edited with very

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE HEBREWS.

467

Several passages of this Gospel have been already quoted, but they
are repeated here with the original text.

1. ...When the Lord came to Peter and those with him [after His Re-

surrection], He said to them Zake hold, handle Me, and see that 7 am not.

an incorporeal spirit. And straightway they touched Him and believed,
being convinced by His flesh and by His Spirit}.

2. He that wonders shall reign, and he that reigns shall rest*.

3. [In the Gospel according to the Hebrews] the Saviour Himself
says: Fust now My Mother the Holy Spirit took Me by one of My hairs, and
bore Me away to the great mountain Thabor*.

4. »..[In the Hebrew Gospel the Lord says] 727, thy brother has sinned
in wvord and done thee amends, seven times in a day receive him. Simon His
disciple said to Him: Seven times in a day? The Lord answered and said
tohim: Yea TZ say to thee, until seventy times seven. For in the prophets also,
after they were anointed with the Holy Spirit, there was found word of sin*.

5. ...In the Hebrew Gospel we find the Lord saying to His disciples:

Never be joyful except when ye shall look on your brother in love®.

1 Ignat. ad Smyrn. 3:...67€ πρὸς τοὺς
περὶ Πέτρον ἦλθεν, ἔφη αὐτοῖς Λάβετε,
ψηλαφήσατέ με καὶ ἴδετε ὅτι οὐκ
εἰμὶ δαιμόνιον ἀσώματον.
αὐτοῦ ἥψαντο καὶ ἐπίστευσαν, κρατηθέντες
τῇ σαρκὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ τῷ πνεύματι.

The same words are quoted by Jerome
from the Nazarene Gospel, de Virr. Illustr.
16: Ecce palpate me et videte quia non sum
demoniun incorporeum. Cf. Hieron. zz
Tsai. Lib, xvi. Prol. The chief clause
occurred also in the Doctrine of Peter:
- Non sum demonium incorporeum (Orig. de
Princ. Pref. 8). Cf. Euseb. H. 2. 111, 36.
Comp. Luke xxiv. 39.

The combination ¢owpatos καὶ δαιμονι-
κός occurs in Ign. ad Smyrn. 2.

2 Ev, Hebr. ap. Clem. Alex. Strom. 11,
9. 45: Ὁ θαυμάσας βασιλεύσει καὶ ὁ
βασιλεύσας ἀναπαυθήσεται.

3 This very singular saying, which is
evidently of Hedrew origin, from the gen-
der of Spirit (Ruach), is quoted several
times. Orig. iz Yoann. Tom. 11. ὃ 6 ἢ:
*Edy δὲ προσίεταί τις τὸ Kad’ ‘EBpaiovs
εὐαγγέλιον, ἔνθα αὐτὸς ὁ Σωτήρ φησιν
ἄρτι ἔλαβέ με ἡ μήτηρ μοῦ τὸ ἅγιον
πνεῦμα ἐν μιᾷ τῶν τριχῶν μον, καὶ
ἀπήνεγκέ, με εἰς τὸ ὄρος τὸ μέγα
Θαβώρ. Id. Hom. in Ferem. XV. 4: εἰ δέ
τις παραδέχεται τὸ ἄρτι ἔλαβέ με, K.T.A,

Καὶ εὐθὺς.

Hieron. zz Mich. vii. 6:...qui...crediderit
Evangelio quod secundum Hebrzos editum
nuper transtulimus, in quo ex persona Sal-
vatoris dicitur A/odo tulit me mater mea
Sanctus Spiritus in uno capillorum meo-
vunt... Id. iw Isat, xv. 11:...in Evange-
lio quod juxta Hebrzos scriptum Nazarxi
lectitant, Dominus loquitur AZodo me tulit,
ἅς. Id. in Ezek. xvi. 13: In Evangelio
Hebrezorum quod lectitant Nazarzi, Sal-
vator inducitur loquens Modo me arripuit
mater mea, Spiritus Sanctus. Cf. Fabri-
cius, Cod. Afocr. N. T. 361, n.; Bp Pearson,
on the Creed, p. 166.

4 Hier. adv. Pelag. 11. 2: Si pecca-
verit, inquit, frater tuus in verbo et sa-
tis tibi fecerit, septies in die suscipe eum.
Dixit illi Simon discipulus ejus: Septies in
die? Respondit Dominus et dixit ei: Etiam
ego dico tibi, usque septuagies septies.
Etenim in prophetis quoqgue, posiguam
uncti sunt Spiritu Sancto, inventus est
sermo peccati. The last clause is very
obscure. Comp. Tischdf. on Matt. xviii. 22.

6 Hieron. iw Eph. v. 3: in Hebraico...
Evangelio legimus Dominum ad discipulos
loquentem: £¢ nunguam, inquit, Zeti sitis,
nisi guum fratrem vestrum videritis in
caritate. He again refers to the saying in
Comm. in Ezek. vi. xvi. 7,... in Evan-
gelio Quod juxta Hebrzos Nazarzi legere

GG2

Appendix D.

468 ON SOME OF THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.

6. The cause therefore of the divisions of soul that came to pass in
houses [Christ] Himself taught, as we have found in a place in the Gospel
existing among the Jews in the Hebrew language, in which it is said 7
will choose for myself these ones, the excellent ones whom my Father who is in
heaven has given to me},

Appendix D,

7. The Gospel contained a history of a woman who was accused of
many sins before the Lord, which was related also by Papias?.

8. It is written in a Gospel, which is styled according to the Hebrews,
if any pleases to receive it, not as an authority, but as an illustration of the
subject before us. Another rich man said to him, Master, what good thing
shall I do to live? He said to him, O man, fulfil the Law and the Prophets
fle answered Him, I have fulfilled them. He said to him, Go sell all that
thou possessest, and distribute it to the poor, and come follow Me. But the
rich man began to scratch his head, and it did not please him. And the
Lord said to him, How sayest thou, 7 have fulfilled the Law and the Prophets,
since tt is written in the Law, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; and
lo! many of thy brethren, sons of Abraham, are clothed in filth, dying of
hunger ; and thy house is full of many goods, and nothing at all goes out of
ἐξ to them? And He turned and said to Simon His disciple who was sitting
by Him, Simon, son of Fonas (Fohn), it is easier for a camel to enter the eye
of a needle than for a rich man [to enter] into the kingdom of heaven®.

9. The Gospel entitled according to the Hebrews, which I lately
translated into Greek and Latin, and which Origen often quotes, contains
the following narrative after the Resurrection. Mow the Lord, when He had
given the cloth to the servant of the priest, went to Fames and appeared to

consueverunt inter maxima ponitur crimina
qui fratris sui spiritum contristaverit.
1 The translation given involves a slight

alteration in the printed text, 2 SO

for ΟἽ, which seems to be required.

The translation of Dr Lee, ‘7 will choose
to myself these things; very, very ex-
cellent are those whom my Father which
ts in heaven has given to me,’ is not satis-
factory and involves the transposition of a
point which stands after the first ‘excel-
‘lent.’ In the second place where the say-

ing is given ΟἹ is omitted, and
this may be the true reading:
choose for urys2lf excellent ones, the excel-
lent, &c.’

As very strange conclusions have ‘been
drawn from this quotation, it may be worth
while to notice that ina later passage of the

‘7 will

book (8. 37, p. 321) Eusebius distinctly re-
cognises the four Gospels as alone ney
bearing the title,

2 Euseb. H. £. 111. 39: ἐκτέθειται δὲ [ὁ
Παπίας] καὶ ἄλλην ἱστορίαν περὶ γυναικὸς
ἐπὶ πολλαῖς ἁμαρτίαις διαβληθείσης (de
muliere adultera, Ruf.) ἐπὶ τοῦ κυρίου,
ἣν τὸ καθ᾽ “Ἑβραίους εὐαγγέλιον περιέχει.
There is no reason to suppose that Papias
derived the history from the Hebrew Gos-
pel, and not from tradition. The narrative
may (as Rufinus implies) be the same as
the pericope, John viii. r—11._ Cf. Fabri-
cius, Cod. Apocr. N. T. p. 356, n. -

ὃ This passage is given in the Latin
version (not by Rufinus: cf. Huet, Ov7-
gentana, II, 3. 12) of Origen’s commentary .-
on St Matthew (Tom. xvr. ὃ 14). The pas-
sage is not found in any Greek Manuscript.
The text is printed by Tischendorf on
Matt. xix. 16.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING ΤῸ. ΤΗ͂Σ HEBREWS.

469

him. For Yames had taken an oath that he would not eat bread from that
hour on which he had drunk the cup of the Lord, till he saw Him rising from
the dead. Again a little afterwards the Lord says, Bring a table and bread.
Immediately it is added, He took bread, and blessed, and brake, and after-
wards gave it to Ffames the Fust, and said to him, My brother, eat thy bread,
Jor the Son of Man has risen from them that sleep.

to. In the Gospel according to the Hebrews...there is the following
passage : Lo the mother of the Lord and His brethren said to Him : Fohn the
Baptist is baptizing for the remission of sins ; let us go and be baptized by
him. But He said to them: What sin have I committed that I should go

and be baptized by him? unless perchance this very word which I have spoken
is [a sin of | 7gnorance*.

11. According to the Gospel written in Hebrew which the Nazarenes
use [it is said]: Zhe Holy Spirit with full stream shall come down upon Him
[the Branch of Jesse]...Moreover in the Gospel of which I made mention
above we find this written: Mow ἐξ came to pass when the Lord had come
up out of the water, the Holy Spirit with full stream came down and rested
upon Him and said to Him: My Son, in all the Prophets 7 was waiting for

Thee, that Thou shouldest come, and I might rest in Thee.

For Thou art

my rest; Thou art my Firstborn Son, who reignest for ever*.

1 Hieron. de Virr. Lilustr. τι. : Evan-
gelium quoque quod appellatur secundum
Hebreos, et ame nuper in Grecum Lati-
nunique sermonem translatum est, quo et
Origenes szepe utitur, post resurrectionem
Salvatoris refert: Dominus autem cum de-
disset sindonem servo sacerdotis, tvit ad
Facobum et apparuit ei. Furaverat enin
Facobus se non comesturum panemt ab illa
hora qua biberat calicem Domini, donec
videret eum resurgentem a dormientibus
(Gr. ἀναστάντα ἐκ νεκρῶν). Rursusque post
paullulum: 4 ferte, ait Dominus, mensant
et panem. Statimque additur: Tit panem
et benedixit ac fregit et dedit Facobo justo,
et dixit ei: Frater mi, comede panem
tuum, quia resurrexit Filius hominis a
dormientibus.

2 Hieron. adv. Pelag. ut. 2: In Evan-
gelio juxta Hebre@os, quod Chaldaico qui-
dem Syroque sermone sed Hebraicis lit-
teris scriptum est, quo utuntur usque
hodie Nazareni secundum Apostolos, sive,
ut plerique autumant, juxrta Mattheum,
quod et in Czsariensi habetur bibliotheca,
narrat historia: Ecce Mater Domini et
Sratres ejus dicebant ei: Foannes Baptista
baptizat in remissionem peccatorum ; ea-
mus et baptizemurabeo. Dixit autem eis:
Quid peccavi ut vadam et baptizer ab eo?

nisi forte hoc ipsum quod dixi ignorantia
est. Et in eodem volumine: Siz fecca-
verit, inquit, frater tuus in verbo, &c.
(cf. p. 467, ἢ. 4).

This narrative was found also in the
Preaching of Paul (or of Peter or of Peter
and Paul):...in quo libro contra omues
scripturas et de peccato proprio confiten-
tem invenies Christum, qui solus omnino
nihil deliquit, et ad accipiendum Joannis
baptisma pzene invitum a matre sua Maria
esse compulsum. Item cum baptizaretur
ignem super aquam esse visum, quod in
Evangelio nullo est scriptum,,.(Auct. de
Rebaptismate, c. XV11.).

I have not noticed any passage in which
the mention of a light at the Baptism is
referred to the Gospel according to the
Hebrews, though the circumstance was
described in the Ebionite Gospel.

3 Hieron. Comm. in Isai. 1V. xi. 22...
Juxta Evangelium quod Hebrzo sermone
conscriptum legunt Nazarwi: Descendit
super eum omnis fons Spiritus Sancti...
Porro in Evangelio cujus supra fecimus
mentionem hee scripta reperimus: Fac-
tum est autem cum ascendisset Dominus de
aqua, descendit fons omnis Spiritus Sancti
et requievit super eum et adixit illi; Fili
mi, in omnibus prophetis expectabam te,

Appendix D.

470

ON SOME OF THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.

Appendix D.

12. Bethlehem of Fudea...this is an error of the copyists : for I think
that the word given originally by the Evangelist, as we read in the Hebrew,
was Fudah, not Fudea'.

13. In the Gospel entitled according to the Hebrews for panis super-
substantialis (in the Latin version of Matt. vi. 11), I found mahar, which
means for the morrow”.

14. In the Gospel which the Nazarenes and Ebionites use, which I~
lately translated from the Hebrew into Greek, and which is called by very
many the original Gospel of Matthew, the man with the withered hand is
described as a mason, who sought the help [of Christ] with words to this
effect: J was a mason, seeking a livelihood by the labour of my hands. I pray
Thee, Fesus, to restore tome my health, that 7 may not beg my bread in shame*.

15. In the Gospel used by the Nazarenes I find the soz of Fehowda for
the soz of Barachias*.

16. The name Barabbas is ἜΚ ΑΘΑ ΤΙ in the Gospel styled according
to the Hebrews as Son of their master...

17. In the Gospel of which I have often made mention, we read that
a lintel of the Temple of vast size was broken asunder®,

18, The Gospel that has come to us in Hebrew characters has directed
the threat not against him that concealed [his talent], but against him
that lived riotously. For it contained [an account of] three servants, one
who consumed his lord’s substance with harlots and female flute-players ;

a second who multiplied it by business; a third who hid the talent.

ut venires et requiescerem in te. Tu es
enine requies mea; tues filius meus pri-
mozenitus gui regnas in senipiternunt.

1 Hieron. ad Matt. ii 5: Bethlehem
Fudee@...Librariorum hic error est. Pu-
tamus enim ab Evangelista primum editum
sicut in ipso Hebraico legimus F¥ude non
Fudee.

2 Hieron. ad Matt. vi. 11: In Evangelio
quod appellatur secundum Hebrzos pro
supersubstantiali pane reperi Mahar, quod
dicitur cvastinume; ut sit sensus: Panzer
nostrum crastinum (id est futurum) de
nobis hodie.

3 Hieron. ad Matt. xii. 13: In Evan-
gelio quo utuntur Nazarzeni et Ebionite,
quod nuper in Graecum de Hebrzo ser-
mone transtulimus, et quod vocatur a ple-
risque Matthzi authenticum, homo iste
qui aridam habet manum czementarius scri-
bitur, istiusmodi vocibus auxilium precans:
Cementarius eram, manibus victum que-
vitans. Precor te, Fesu, ut mihi restituas
sanitatem ne turpiter mendicenz cibos.

4 Hieron. ad Matt. xxiii. 35: In Evan-
gelio quo utuntur Nazareni pro filio Bara-

And

chie, filium Yotad@ reperimus scriptum,

5 Hieron. ad Matt. xxvii. 16: Iste[Bar-
abbas] in Evangelio quod scribitur jurta
Lebreos filius magistri eorunt interpre-
tatur...

6 Hieron. ad Matt. xxvil. 51: In Evan-
gelio cujus spe fecimus mentionem, super-
liminare templi infinitae magnitudinis frac-
tum esse atque divisum legimus. Cf. 22.
ad Hedib, vit. 1: In Evangelio autem
quod Hebraicis litteris scriptum est, legi-
mus non velum templi scissum sed super-
liminare templi mirze magnitudinis cor-
ruisse. I see no reason for referring the
quotation given from Hegesippus (cf. p. 459,
n.) to the Gosfel according to the llebrews,
though he used it: Euseb. 27. £. Iv. 22,
cf. Hist. of N. T. Canon, pp. 206 f.

So again Jerome refers to his Hebrew
friends and not to a Hebrew Gospel in
Comm. tn Hab. iii. 3 (audivi Hebreeum..
disserere) and in Comm. in Isai. xi. τ (eru-
diti Hebrzzorum), and no conclusion can be
drawn from those passages as to the con-
tents of the Gospel according to the He-
brews.

471

then that one was welcomed, one blamed only, and one shut up in prison}. | Appendix D.
Compare also the scholia quoted by Tischendorf frome τὸ ᾿Ιουδαϊκόν on | et
Matt. iv. 5; xvi. 17; xviii. 22; xxvi. 74%.

II. THe GOSPEL OF THE EBIONITES.

Epiphanius speaks of the Nazarenes as ‘having the Gospel according
‘to Matthew in a most complete form in Hebrew,’ though he immediately
adds that he does not know whether they ‘ removed the genealogies from
‘Abraham to Christ*.’ In contrast with this statement he says that the
Ebionites had a Gospel ‘called the Gospel according to Matthew, not
‘entire and perfectly complete, but falsified and mutilated, which they call
‘the Hebrew Gospel4.’ He then gives several passages professedly taken
from this Gospel, but they present so many inconsistencies that it is evident
that they cannot have belonged originally to the same book. One frag-
ment contains a narrative of the Baptism, with the addition of Apocryphal
details which gained a wide currency at a very early time. Another gives
a saying of the Lord which may have been included in the original
Ebionite Gospel. Of the remaining pieces one belongs to a writing like
the Clementines, in which the simple form of history was exchanged for
a didactic form. It is possible that this incongruous element had been
incorporated in the Gospel in the time of Epiphanius; or he may have
derived his information from different sources. It is only necessary to
notice that the fragments were not of the same origin.

1. [In the Ebionite Gospel] the following passage occurs : There came
a man by name Jesus, and He was about thirty years old, who chose us.
And when He came to Capernaum He entered into the house of Simon sur-
named Peter, and opened His mouth and said: As I passed along the Lake of
Tiberias I chose John and James sons of Zebedee, and Simon and Andrew
and Thaddeus and Simon Zelotes and Judas Iscariot; and thee Matthew
I called as thou wert sitting at the receipt of custom, and thou followedst
Me. You then I wish to be twelve Apostles, for a testimony to Israel®.

THE GOSPEL OF THE EBIONITES.

1 Eusebius Theopfh. ὃ 22, fragm. Gr.

(Migne, Pat. Gr. xxiv. 685): τὸ eis ἡμᾶς
ἧκον ‘EBpatxots χαρακτῆρσιν Εὐαγγέλιον τὴν
ἀπειλὴν οὐ κατὰ τοῦ ἀποκρύψαντυς ἐπῆγεν
ἀλλὰ κατὰ τοῦ ἀσώτως ἐζηκότος, τρεὶς γὰρ
δούλους περιεῖχε, τὸν μὲν καταφαγόντα. τὴν
ὕπαρξιν τοῦ δεσπότου μετὰ πορνῶν καὶ αὐλη-
τρίδων, τὸν δὲ πολλαπλασιάσαντα τὴν ἐργα-
σίαν (lege τῇ ἐργασίᾳ), τὸν δὲ κατακρύψαντα.
εἶτα τὸν μὲν ἀποδεχθῆναι, τὸν δὲ μεμφθῆναι
μόνον, τὸν δὲ συγκλεισθῆναι δεσμωτηρίῳ.

2 The Tract Shadéath has probably pre-
served a fragment from an Aramaic Gospel:
Tam not come to take away from the law
of Moses, nor to add to the Law of Moses
am I conte (Matt. v. 17). See Rev. W. H,
Lowe, Fragutent of P'sachim, p. 68.

3 Epiph. Her. ΧΧΙΧ. 9, Ρ. 124: ἔχουσι

δὲ τὸ κατὰ Ματθαῖον εὐαγγέλιον πληρέστα-
τον Ἑβραϊστί. παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς γὰρ σαφῶς τοῦτο
καθὼς ἐξ ἀρχῆς éypddy Ἕ βραϊκοῖς γράμ-
μασιν ἔτι σώζεται. οὐκ olda δὲ εἰ καὶ τὰς
γενεαλογίας τὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ ᾿Αβραὰμ ἄχρι
Χριστοῦ περιεῖλον.

4 Epiph. Her. xxx. 13, p. 137: ἐν τῷ
γοῦν παρ᾽ αὑτοῖς εὐαγγελίῳ κατὰ Ματθαῖον
ὀνομαζομένῳ, οὐχ ὅλῳ δὲ πληρεστάτῳ, ἀλλὰ
νενοθευμένῳ καὶ ἠκρωτηριασμένῳ, ‘EBpaixoy
δὲ τοῦτο καλοῦσιν, ἐμφέρεται, κιτ.λ.

5 Epiph. Har. xxx. 13, p. 137: ἐν τῷ
παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς εὐαγγελίῳ... ἐμφέρεται ὅτι ἐγέ-
νετό τις ἀνὴρ ὀνόματι ᾿Ιησοῦς, καὶ αὐτὸς ὡς
ἐτῶν τριάκοντα, ὃς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς. καὶ ἐλ-
θὼν εἰς Καφαρναοὺμ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν
Σίμωνος τοῦ ἐπικληθέντος Πέτρου, καὶ ἀνοί-
tas τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ εἶπε Παρερχόμενος παρὰ

472

ΟΝ. SOME OF THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.

Appendix D.

----.

2. And John came baptizing, and Pharisees went out to him and were
baptized, and all Jerusalem. And John had raiment of camels’ hair, and
a girdle of skin about his loins; and his food (the Gospel says) was wild
honey, the taste of which was the taste of manna, like a honey-cake steeped
in oil,—that they may convert the word of truth into a lie, and put Aoney-
cakes (éyxpldas) for locusts (axpidas)1.

3. The beginning of their Gospel is this?: It came to pass in the days
of Herod king of Judzea, that John came baptizing with a baptism of
repentance in the river Jordan, who was said to be of the race of Aaron

aS aE a

the priest, a son of Zachariah and Elizabeth, and all went out to him.

tized, Jesus also came and was baptized by John.

And after a long interval it adds, that when the people were bap-

And when He came up

from the water, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Holy Spirit of

God in the form of a dove, which came down and came upon Him?.

And

a voice came from heaven, saying: Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee

I am well pleased. And again: To-day have I begotten Thee*.

τὴν λίμνην Τιβηριάδος ἐξελεξάμην ᾿Ιωάννην

09 ΄ eA} ΄ a ’΄ ͵Ν
καὶ Ἰάκωβον υἱοὺς Ζεβεδαίου καὶ Σίμωνα τὸν
Ζηλωτὴν καὶ Ἰούδαν τὸν Ἰσκαριώτην" καίσε
τὸν Ματθαῖον καθεζόμενον ἐπὶ τοῦ τελωνίον
bors ee ΄ ΄, sie “ἃ = .
ἐκάλεσα καὶ ἠκολούθησας MOL” ὑμᾶς οὖν Bov-
λομαι εἶναι δεκαδύο ἀποστόλους εἰς μαρτύριον
τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. καὶ ἐγένετο ᾿Ιωάννης, K+T.A.

1 Epiph. Zc.: καὶ ἐγένετο ᾿Ιωάννης βαπ-
τίζων καὶ ἐξῆλθον πρὸς αὐτὸν Φαρισαῖοι καὶ

And

ἐβαπτίσθησαν καὶ πᾶσα “Ἱεροσόλυμα. Kat
εἶχεν ὁ ᾿Ιωάννης ἔνδυμα ἀπὸ τριχῶν καμήλου
καὶ ζώνην δερματίνην περὶ τὴν ὀσφὺν αὐτοῦ,
καὶ τὸ βρώμα αὐτοῦ, φησί, μέλι ἄγριον, οὔ
ἡ γεῦσις ἦν τοῦ μάννα, ὡς ἐγκρὶς ἐν ἐλαίῳ,
ἵνα δῆϑεν μεταστρέψωσι τὸν τῆς ἀληθείας
λόγον εἰς ψεῦδος καὶ ἀντὶ ἀκρίδων ποιήσω-
σιν ἐγκρίδας ἐν μέλιτι. The variation shews
that the Gospel was in Greek.

? Epiph. Zc. This passage has apparently been interpolated from St Luke (Zacharias,

Elizabeth).
Gospel.

C. 13; ἐγένετο ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ‘Hpwdou
τοῦ βασιλέως τῆς ᾿Ιουδαίας

ἦλθεν ᾿Ιωάννης
βαπτίζων βάπτισμα μετανοίας
ἐν τῷ ᾿Ιορδάνῃ ποταμῷ,
ὃς ἐλέγετο εἶναι ἐκ γένους Ἀαρὼν
τοῦ ἀρχιερέως καὶ ἐξήρχοντο πρὸς
> . ’ὔ
αὐτὸν πάντες.

In the following chapter Epiphanius again quotes the beginning of the
A comparison of the two quotations illustrates the carelessness of Epiphanius
and the manner in which the text was altered.

> , > a ε , ε id
C. 14: ἐγένετο ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις “Ηρώδου

βασιλέως τῆς ᾿Ιουδαίας
σι σα ΄ ,
ἐπὶ ἀρχιερέως Καιαφα
HAVE τις ᾿Ιωᾶάννης ὀνόματι
βαπτίζων βάπτισμα μετανοίας
᾿ cal “a 9? ‘
ἐν τῷ ποταμῷ ‘lopdavy,

Ν s ε -
καὶ Ta ἑξῆς.

The insertion of ποταμῷ is worthy of notice. The word is doubtful in Matt. iii. 6, but

certain in Mark i, 5.

® The difference of this clause from the
corresponding clause in the Canonical Gos-
pel is full of meaning. There the Spirit
cescends (καταβαῖνον) as a Dove: here it is
as a Dove which came down (kareAO ovens).
And if, as is probable, the rendering should
be ‘entered into him,’ as Mr Nicholson
suggests (The Gospel according to the He-
brews, p. 39), the variation is still more

striking. The difference between τὸ πνεῦμα
ὡς περιστερὰν καταβαῖνον εἰς αὐτὸν (Mark
i, 10) and τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐν εἴδει περι-
στερᾶς κατελθούσης καὶ εἰσελθούσης εἰς
αὐτόν is at least significant of the relative
dates of the two narratives.

4 These words are also quoted as used at
the Baptism by Justin and Hilary.

THE CLEMENTINE GOSPEL.

immediately a great light shone round about the place’; and John, when
he saw it (the narrative continues), saith to Jesus: Who art Thou, Lord?
And again a voice came from heaven to him [John]: This 15: ΜΥ beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased. And then (it continues) John fell down
before Him and said: I beseech thee, Lord, do Thou baptize me. But
He forbade him, saying, Suffer it; for thus it is becoming that all things
be fulfilled ?.

5. Cf. p. 459, No. 7.

6. [In the account of the Last Supper they add the interrogative and
the word flesh], saying: Have I earnestly desired to eat this flesh, the
Passover, with you®?

7. They say, according to their absurd argument: /¢ is sufficient for
the disciple to be as his Master*.

111. THE GOSPEL OF THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIEs.

The numerous quotations which occur in the Clementine Homilies are
generally allowed to furnish another form of the Ebionite Gospel. It may
however be very fairly questioned whether the peculiarities which these
quotations exhibit may not be more properly referred to oral tradition or to
errors of memory than to any one written source. With one or two excep-
tions the Homilies contain no sayings of the Lord which are not either
mere duplicates of passages in the Gospels or deductions which follow
directly from them. The subjoined list contains I believe a complete list
of the passages quoted in the Homilies. The quotations marked by Italics

1 This detail is added in two Latin
Manuscripts (Verced/. a. Sangern. g'): Et
cum baptizaretur (Fesus πὶ) lumen ingens
(magnum 51) circumfulsit (fulgebat g') de
aqua, ita ut timerent omnes qui advene-
rant (gui congregati erant g'). Cf. Just.
M. Dial. 88; Sydtl. Orac. vit. 82—84.

It is worthy of remark that in an addi-
tion which occurs in another Latin Manu-
script (B0d4, ΚῚΣ a miraculous (?) light is
connected with the Resurrection: Mark
xvi. 4, Subito autem ad horam tertiam tene-
bre diei (2d. ten.) facte sunt per totum or-
bem terre, et descenderunt de celis angeli,
et(surgentes) in claritatevivi Dei simulas-
cenderunt cum eo, et continuo lux facta est.

2 Epiph. Her. xxx. 13, p. 138: καὶ pera
τὸ εἰπεῖν πολλὰ ἐπιφέρει ὅτι τοῦ λαοῦ βαπ-
τισθέντος ἦλθε καὶ ᾿Ιησοῦς καὶ ἐβαπτίσθη
ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἰωάννον. καὶ ὡς ἀνῆλθεν ἀπὸ τοῦ
ὕδατος ἠνοίγησαν οἱ οὐρανοὶ καὶ εἶδε τὸ
πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ ἅγιον ἐν εἴδει περι-
στερᾶς κατελθούσης καὶ εἰσελθούσης εἰς αὐ-
τόν" καὶ φωνὴ ἐγένετο ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ λέ-
γουσα Σύ μου εἶ ὁ υἱὸς ὁ ἀγαπητός ἐν σοὶ

ηὐδόκησα" καὶ πάλιν ᾿Εγὼ σήμερον γεγέν-
νηκά σε. Καὶ εὐθὺς περιέλαμψε τὸν τόπον
φῶς μέγα. ὃν (2. ὃ) ἰδών, φησίν, ὁ ᾿Ιωάννης
λέγει αὐτῷ Σὺ τίς εἶ Κύριε; καὶ πάλιν
φωνὴ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ πρὸς αὐτόν, Οὗτός ἐστιν ὃ
vids μου ὁ ἀγαπητὸς ἐφ᾽ ὃν ηὐδόκησα. Καὶ
τότε, φησίν, ὃ ᾿Ιωάννης προσπεσὼν αὐτῷ
ἔλεγε Δέομαί σου Κύριε σύ με βάπτισον. ὁ
δὲ ἐκώλνεν αὐτῷ λέγων "Ades, ὅτι οὕτως ἐστὶ
πρέπον πληρωθῆναι πάντα.

3 Epiph. er. Xxx. 22, Ὁ. 146: ἐποίησαν
««αὐτὸν λέγοντα My ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἐπεθύ-
μῆσα κρέας τοῦτο τὸ Πάσχα φαγεῖν
μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν. Immediately below Epipha-
nius quotes the passage: Μὴ ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἐπε-
θύμησα τοῦτο τὸ Ildcyxa κρέας φαγεῖν μεθ᾽
ὑμῶν. The true reading was probably
κρέας τοῦτο τὸ Or τοῦτο τὸ κρέας.

4 Epiph. Her. xxx. 26, p. 251: φασὶ
yap κατὰ τὸν ἐκείνων ληρώδη λόγον ᾿Αρκετὸν
τῷ μαθητῇ εἶναι ὡς ὁ διδάσκαλος. If it
were not that Epiphanius quotes the pas-
sage again in the same form (§ 30, p. 160),
it would seem that the change (εῖναι for
iva. γένηται) was simply an error of his,

Appendix D,

ON SOME OF THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.

Appendix Ὁ. | are verbal in the main; the remainder generally give the sense of the
_ corresponding passage of the Canonical Gospel in other words}.

Matt. v. 3. Cf. Hom. xv. το: ὁ διδάσκαλος ἡμῶν πιστοὺς πένητας
ἐμακάρισεν.
v.8 Cf. Hom. xvii. 7: ἵνα οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτὸν ἰδεῖν
δυνηθῶσιν.
| v.17. Hom. 111. 51: οὐκ ἦλθον κ.τ.λ.
xxiv. 353 v. 18. Hom. 111. 51: ὁ οὐρ.---παρελ. ἰῶτα ἕν---τ. νόμου.
V. 34, 35- Hom. Il. 56: μὴ ὀμόσητε τὸν οὐρ.---ὑποπόδ. τ΄ π.
αὐ. ἐ.
ν. 37. Hom. Ill. 55; XIX. 2: ἔστω tu. τὸ ναὶ ναί, (καὶ) τὸ οὗ οὔ"
τὸ γὰρ π.---πον. ἐξ Cf. 2 Cor. 1. 17.
ν. 39—41. Cf. Hom. Xv. 5.
v. 44. Cf. Hom. Il. tg.
v..45- Hom. Il. 57. Cf. xii. 26; xviii. 2.
vi. 6. Hom. III. 55.
vi. 32, 8. Hom. 111. 55: οἷδεν γάρ---ἀπ. πρὶν αὐτὸν ἀξιώσητε.
vi. 13. Hom. XIX. 2: p.—t. πον.
vii. 2. Cf. Hom. ΚΤ 16.
vii. 7. Hom. Ill. 52: (yr. καὶ εὑρίσκετε.
vii. g—11. Hom. 111. 56: τίνα αἰτήσει vi. ἄρτον---ἢ καὶ ix0.—o π.
ὑ. ὁ οὐράνιος---τοῖς αἰτουμένοις αὐτὸν καὶ τοῖς ποιοῦ-
σιν τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ.
vil. 12. Cf. Hom. ΧΙ. 32: ὃ θέλει ἑαυτῷ θέλει καὶ τῷ πλησίον.
Cf. vii. 4.
vil. 13, 14. Hom. XVIII. 17.
vil. 15, 16. Hom. vil. 15, 16.
vii. 21. Cf. Hom. vill. 7: τέ με λέγεις κύριε κύριε, Kal οὐ ποιεῖς
ἃ λέγω; :
vill. τα. Hom. VIIL. 4.
ἐ villi. 5—11. Cf. Hom. ΙΧ. 21.
vili. 24. Cf. Hom. XIX. 14.
viii. 31. Cf. Hom, XIX. 14.
ix. 12, Hom. til. 56: ὁ Θεὸς ἔλεος θέλει Kal οὐ θυσίαν, ἐπίγνωσιν
αὐτοῦ καὶ οὐχ ὁλοκαυτώματα (Hos. vi. 6).
x. το. Hom. Ill. 7: ἀξ, ἐ. ὁ ἐργ. τοῦ μισθοῦ αὐτοῦ. Cf. Luke
χυ τχ Lamy, 1.
x. 11—15. Cf. Hom. Ill. 30, 31.
x. 28. Hom. XVII. 5.
x. 29, 30. Cf. Hom. ΧΙ, 31.
X. 34, 35- Cf. Hom. XI. 19.
1 The Clementine quotations are printed I have discussed the quotations of
in a convenient form by Credner, Beitrige, Justin M. elsewhere: /Zist. of N. 7. Canon,

1. pp. 284 ff. pp. 129 ff.

THE CLEMENTINE GOSPEL. 475

xi. ir. Cf. Hom. Il. 17,
xi. 25. Hom. VII. 6: ἐξομ. σ. πάτερ τοῦ οὐρ. καὶ τ. γ. ὅτι ἐκ. τ.
ἀ. σ. πρεσβυτέρων καὶ---μηπ. θηλάζουσιν. Cf. Hom.
XVII. 5; XVIII. 15.
xi, 27. Hom. XVII. 43 XVIII. 4: οὐδεὶς ἔγνω τὸν πατέρα el μὴ
ὁ υἱὸς ws οὐδὲ τὸν υἱόν τις οἷδεν εἰ μὴ ὁ πατὴρ Kal οἷς ἂν
βούληται ὁ υἱὸς ἀποκαλύψαι.
xi. 28. Hom. 111. 52: δεῦτε---κοπιώντες.
xii. 26. Hom. ΧΙΧ. 2: εἰ ὁ Σ.---π. οὖν αὐτοῦ στήκῃ ἡ βασιλεία;
xiic 34. Hom, XIX. 7: ἐκ w. Kk. στο ἃς
xii. 41. Hom. XI. 33.
xii. 42. Hom. ΧΙ. 33: Bao. ν. ἔγερθ. μ. τ. γ.---ἀπὸ τ. m.—Zonr.
ὧδε καὶ οὐ πιστεύετε.
xiii. 17. Hom. 111. 53.
xiii. 39. Cf. Hom. XIx. 2.
xiii, 52. Cf. Hom. vill. 7.
xv. 13. Hom. Ill. 52: πᾶσα p.—o π. ὁ ovp. exp.
xvi. 13 ff. Hom. xvit. 18 f.
xvii. 5. Hom. XVII. 53: οὗτος ἐστίν μου ὁ vids ὁ ἀγαπητὸς els ὃν
εὐδόκησα" τούτου ἀκούετε. .
xvil. 20. Cf. Hom. ΧΙ. 16: διὰ πίστεως...τὰ ὄρεσιν ἐοικότα... μεθί-
στησι πάθη.
xviii. ἧς Hom. XII. 29. Cf. p. 457, szem. 17.
xviii. 10. Hom. XVII. 7.
xix. 8, 4. Hom. Ill. 54.
xix. 16—18. Cf. Hom. XVIII. 3.
xx. 16; xxii. 14. Jom, VIII. 4: πολλ. KX. OX. δὲ Exr.
xxii. 1—14. Cf. Hom. VIIL. 22.
xxii. 23. ΟἿ, Hom. Ill. 54.
xxii. 32. Hom. III. 55: οὐκ ἔστιν θ. ν. adda §.
xxiii. 2, 3. Hom. III. 18.
xxiii. 13. Cf. Hom. ΚΙ 16.
xxiii. 25, 26. Hom. ΧΙ. 29: ovae v. yp. Kal φ. ὑ. ὁ. K. τ. TOT. —
τὸ ἐξ. ἐσ. δὲ γέμει ῥύπους.
Xxiv. 2, 34- Hom. III. 15.
xxiv. 45—51. Hom. III. 60; 64.
xxv. 21. om. 111. 65 : εὖ ὃ.---πιστέ.
xxv. 26. Hom. Ill. 61.
xxv. 41. Hom. XIxX.2. Cf. Xx. 9.
xxviii. 19. Cf. Hom. Xvi. 7.

Appendix ἢ.

In addition to these passages there are others which present parallels
with the remaining Canonical Gospels.

Mark iv. 34. Hom. ΧΙΧ. 20: διὸ καὶ τοῖς αὐτοῦ μαθηταῖς κατ' ἰδίαν.
ἐπέλυε τῆς τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείας τὰ μυστήρια. ᾿

476

ON SOME OF THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.

Appendix D.

Tertull.
adv. Mare.
1V. 7.

ib. 1v. 8.

Mark vii. 26. Hom. Il. 19: Συροφοινίκισσα.
xii. 29. Hom. 111. 57 (Deut. vi. 4).

Luke viii. 18. Cf. Hom. xviii. 16 (κἂν δοκῇ ἔχειν).
x. τῆς, (Cf, Hom. Xrx. 9:
x. 20. Cf. Hom. 1x) 32,
xviil. i—8. Hom. XVII. 5.
xix. I—10. Cf. Hom. It. 63.
XXxlil. 34. Hom. XI. 20.

John iii. 5. Hom. ΧΙ. 26.
ix. 1 ff. Hom, XIX. 22.
x. 9. Hom. Ill. 52: ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ πύλη τῆς ζωῆς. :
χ. 27. Hom. Ill. 52: τὰ ἐμὰ πρόβατα ἀκούει τῆς ἐμῆς φωνῆς.

IV. THE GOSPEL ΟΕ MARCION.

Tertullian and Epiphanius! supply us with materials for reconstructing
the Gospel which Marcion published as the Gospel of the Lord, or of
Christ. It does not appear that he made any additions to the Pauline
narrative of St Luke, which he adopted as the basis of his history; and the
following table? will shew how much of it he recognised. In most cases
the reasons for the changes and omissions will be evident, when we bear in
mind the peculiar features of the Marcionite heresy.

St LUKE. The first, second, and third chapters of St Luke
were wanting in Marcion’s Gospel, which began
{ππ| rj. with the words: ‘In the fifteenth year of the reign
‘of Tiberius Caesar [God] came down to Caper-
Εν. 31]. *‘naum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching on the

‘ Sabbath-day.’

iv. 32—37. ver. 34 om. Ναζαρηνέ.

iv. 38, 39. Doubtful.

iv. 16—30. Omitting all reference to the Old Testament, and in
v. 16 om. οὗ ἣν τεθραμμένος and κατὰ τὸ εἰωθὸς αὐτῷ.

ἵν, 40---44. Entire.

1 Heres. XL pp. 309 seqq. It will
be sufficient for our purpose to refer only
to Tertullian, who examines the Gospel of
Marcion in the fourth book of his trea-
tise against him. Several variations which
occur in Epiphanius appear to be later
errors of transcription, or errors of Epi-
phanius himself.

2 In the construction of this table I
have chiefly followed Hahn’s edition of
Marcion’s Gospel, published in Thilo, Co-
dex Apocryphus, pp. 403—408; and I have
throughout compared my own table with

that given by de Wette (£77. § 71 ὁ), who
quotes the results of Ritschl’s investiga-—
tions into the subject.. All the passages of
St Luke which were contained in Marcion’s
Gospel are placed in the first column, and
any significant variations are noted in the
second.

3 'l'he Marcionites maintained the no-
tion of a sudden. and unexpected (subitum
ex inopinato, Tertull. Zc.) appearance of
the good Deity, to frustrate the designs
of the God of the Jews. Cf. Neander,
Church History, τι. pp. 182 5644.

THE GOSPEL OF MARCION.

‘477

Vi 129.

Vi. I—49.
‘ “Ψ.
Vil. I—28; 26---5ο;

. Vill. r—18; 20—56;

1X. $—62.
!

ΧΟ I—113 16—42.

xi. I—29; 33—48;
52— 54.

xii. u—5; 8—59;
xili. ToO—28,

xiv. I—5; 12—35.
XV. I1—IO.
Xvl. [—3I.
xvii. 1—6; 11—37.

xviii. I—30; 35—43.

1 Tertullian (adv. Marc. iv. 11) acutely

Entire’. Inver. 14, ἵνα els μαρτύριον ἢ ὑμῖν τοῦτο.
Entire, In ver. 17, κατέβη ὃν αὐτοῖς.

ver. 29—35 are opposed to Marcion’s view of the
relation of John the Baptist to Jesus, and to his
idea of the true Christian life.

Entire®. s

In ver. 30 Marcion seems to have read συνέστησαν

αὐτῷ (or rather ἔστησαν wer’ αὐτοῦ) : and in place of
ver. 31 only ὀφθέντες ἐν τῇ δόξῃ αὐτοῦ".

ver. 21 om. πάτερ and καὶ τῆς γῆς.

The order in ver. 22 was reversed by Marcion. In
ver. 24 he probably read only ὅτι mp. οὐκ εἶδον ἃ
ὑμεῖς βλέπετε.

ver. 25 om. αἰώνιονδ.

Cf. Varr. Lectt. in ver. 2; ver. 29 om. εἰ μὴ τὸ
onu. Iw,

In ver. 42 he read κλῆσιν for κρίσιν, and om. ταῦτα
---ο-ἀφιέναι.

In ver. 8, 9, ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ.

In ver. 28, for ᾿Αβραὰμ---προφήτας, Marcion read
πάντας τοὺς δικαίους, and added éxB8. καὶ κρατου-
μένους ἔξω. ;
In ver. 26, Marcion read καταλείπει for μισεῖ.

In ver. το, ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ. Cf. xii. 8, 9.

In ver. 12, τὸ ἐμόν.

In ver. 17, for the last clause Marcion read ἢ τῶν
λόγων τοῦ κυρίου μίαν Kep. 7.8

Marcion added in ver. 2, εἰ οὐκ ἐγεννήθη ἢ [εἶλι.
μ.; and inserted Luke iv. 27 after v. 14.

ver. 37 om. ὁ Ναζωραῖος. Cf. iv. 34.

Marc. 1v. 22. He justifies the apparent

criticises the impropriety of the sudden in-
troduction of John the Baptist, after the
removal of the opening chapters of St
Luke’s Gospel.
vv. 14, 36—39 may be seen in Tertullian,
adv, Marc. 1v. 9—11 (pp. 21t0—222).

2 Marcion explained ver. 23, and the
‘woe’ in ver. 24, so as to accord with his
own views: Tertull. adv. Marc. 1v. 15.

3 Marcion represented the announce-
ment of the ‘mother and brethren of Jesus’
as made ¢tentandi gratia: adv. Marc. iv.
19, p. 260. According to Epiphanius ἡ μη-
ma—asd. αὖ. was wanting.

4 The explanation which Marcion gave
of the Transfiguration is interesting: adv.

Marcion’s explanation of .

harshness of ver. 57 seqq.

5 Cf. Tertull. adv. Marc. tv. 25, p. 293.

6 Marcion supposed that the ‘strong
man armed’ (ver, 21) meant the Creator—
the God of the Jews, and the -‘ stronger
man’ the good Deity. Tertull. rv. 26, p.
299:

7 In ver. 5, the ‘fearful God’ is the
Creator, who is also signified by the ‘thief’
(ver. 39). Tertull. Zc. pp. 304, 311.

8 For Marcion’s explanation of the
parable (19—31) see Tertull. Zc. pp. 328
seqq. The words sicut et lex et prophete
(Tertull. rv, 33) seem to be a comment of
Tertullian,

Appendix D.

«IV. g—I1I.
- IV. 12—

26, 27.

478

ON SOME OF THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.

Appendix D.

ib. IV. 37.
ib. Iv. 38.

ib, IV. 39.

ib. 1V. 40, 41.

ib. IV. 41.

ib, Iv. 43.

Conclusion.

As to Mira-
cles:

xix. I—283; 47, 48. ver. 9 om. καθότι---ἐστιν.

xx. I—8; 19—36; Entire.
39—47-
ΧΧΙ. 5—I73 19, 20; ver. 27 om. καὶ δόξης].
23—38. In ver. 32, for ἡ γενεὰ αὕτη Marcion read ὁ οὐρανὸς

καὶ ἡ γῆ.
ver. 36 om. καὶ--- ἀνθρώπου.
xxii. r—15; [17, 18]; ver. 3 om. εἰσῆλθε δὲ σατανᾶς.
19—29; 31—343
39—413; 45—48;
52—7I.
XXlil. I—423 44—46; ver. 3 om. τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων.
50—562, ver. 34 om. διαμεριζόμενοι---κλήρον.
xxlv. I—26; 28—47; ver. 25 ols ἐλάλησεν ὑμῖν.
ver. 32 om. ws διην. ἡμ. τ. γραφάς.
ver. 37 φάντασμα for πνεῦμα.
ver. 39 om. ψηλαφήσατε, σάρκα.
ver. 44 om. ὅτι---ἐμοῦ.
ver. 45 om. τότε---αὐτοῖς.
ver. 46 om. ὅτι---᾽γέγραπται.

No one of the remaining Apocryphal Gospels claims any special notice.
The fragments quoted from the Gospel according to the Egyptians * have been
already given; and of the Gospels of Basilides, Cerinthus, Apelles, Mat-
thias, we know little more than the names. But there is another class of
writings also called Apocryphal Gospels, to which the Gospels of the Infancy

and the Gospel of Nicodemus belong, which cannot be left wholly unno-’

ticed. The narratives which we have hitherto examined were either based
on the same oral traditions as the Canonical Gospels, or revisions of the
Canonical texts; but these enter on a new field, and illistrate the writings
of the New Testament more by the complete contrast which they offer to
the spirit and style of the whole, than by minute yet significant divergences
from particular books. The completeness of the antithesis which these
spurious stories offer to the divine record appears at once—if we may be
allowed for a moment to compare light with darkness—in relation to the
treatment of the three great elements of the Gospel history,—Miracles,
Parables, and Prophecy, the lessons of power, of nature, and of providence.
In the Apocryphal Miracles we find no worthy conception of the laws of
providential interference; they are wrought to supply personal wants, or

1 Marcion probably applied the passage
to the Jewish Messiah (Hahn).

2 Epiphanius represents Marcion as in-
troducing various changes into ver. 2, of
which traces appear elsewhere: cf. Tischdf.
ad loc.

3 It appears that the end of Marcion’s

Gospel was as abrupt as the commence-
ment. Compare Hahn, Z.c. p. 486. [I have
left this section as it was originally written.
For later views on the Gospel I may refer
to Dr Sanday’s Gosfels in the Second Cen-
tury, pp. 204 ff. 1881.]

4 Cf. p. 460, π. 1.

———_- -—

a σε τω ΣιΣ κα

ON SOME OF THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.

to gratify private Heals: and often are positively immoral. Dae again is

there any spiritual element in their working; they are arbitrary displays of |

power, and without any spontaneity on our Lord’s part or on that of the

recipient. The Apocryphal Gospels? are also entirely without Parables;
they exhibit no sense of those deeper relations between nature and man—_
between corruption and sin—which are so frequently declared in the |
Synoptic Gospels. And at the same time they do not attain to the purely |
spiritual theology of St John, which in its very essence rises above the |

mixed earthly existence of man.

Yet more, they do not recognise the office of Prophecy; they make no
reference to the struggles of the Church with the old forms of sin and
evil reproduced from age to age till the final regeneration of all things.
History in them becomes a mere collection of traditions, and is regarded
neither as the fulfilment of the past nor as the type of the future.

The differences in style are not less than these differences in spirit. For
the depth of a spiritual sequence we have affected explanations and irrele-
vant details*, And the divine wisdom of our Gospels stands in clear con-
trast to mere dreams of fancy, if we compare some Scripture story with
obvious parallels in the most esteemed of the Apocryphal histories. Thus
we might refer to the cure of the dzemoniac (Gosf. Zzf. 14), and the recital
in St Luke (viii. 26—-32); to the discourse from the Mount of Beatitudes
(Matt. v. vi. vii.), and the address from Mount Olivet (Gosp. Foseph. τ. sqq-);
to the inspired records of the Crucifixion,‘ and the Gospel of Nicodemus.
For even these wild legends have their use. If the corruptions of the

Gospels lead us back to a common source preserved in our Canon, the
fables of early times teach us how far the characteristics of the Gospels —

were above the natural taste of the first Christians.

1 Compare the following passages in the (8) Gosp. Inf. 23, 36—7, 40.

Apocryphal Gospels: Gosp. Inf. 15, 17 5644.
2 Cf. Gosp. Inf. 50—2.
(a) Gosp. Inf. 14—20, 38 (ed. Thilo). 47—8.
Gosp. Thom. 5. Protey. S. Jac. 111.

Gosp. Inf. 29, 47, 49. Gosp. Joseph. 16, 17.

479

Appendix Ὁ.

Para bles:

Prophecy.

Appendix E.

APPENDIX E.

A CLASSIFICATION OF THE GOSPEL MIRACLES.

Πιστεύετέ μοι ὅτι ἔγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί" εἰ δὲ μή, διὰ TH

ἔργα αὐτὰ πιστεύετε.
ST JOHN xiv. II.

HAVE examined elsewhere! the general relations of the Gospel Miracles

as a Revelation—a whole in themselves of singular harmony and com-
pleteness: at present it will be sufficient to give an outline of the results
obtained, by presenting a classification of the Miracles, which will exhibit
their mutual connexions?.—

I. MIRACLES ON NATURE.

1. Miracles of creative power.
(a) Zhe water made wine: John ii. r—12.
Character changed. Christ the Source of Joy.
(8) The Bread multiplied.
(1) Matt. xiv. 15—215 Mark vi. 35—44; Luke ix. 12—
17; John vi. 5—r4.
(2) Matt. xv. 32—39; Mark viii. r—r10.
Substance increased. Christ the Source of Subsist-
ence.
(y) The walking on the water: Matt. xiv. 22—26; Mark vi.
48, 49; John vi. 16—21.
Force controlled. Christ the Source of Strength.
2. Miracles of Providence.

(a) Miracles of Blessing.
(1) Zhe first Miraculous Draught of Fishes: Luke v.
I—II.
The foundation of the outward Church.

1 Characteristics of the Gospel Miracles, many-sided; and at least it is sufficient to ΄

Cambr. 1859. shew that sovze connexion exists. Deeper
2 The arrangement proposed is not study may lay open more subtle and pro-
offered as absolute or final. It offers, un- found points of union between the different

less I am mistaken, oze very natural and incidents.
instructive view of relations which are

ee -ἀϑυν, Νὰ μόν...

A CLASSIFICATION OF THE GOSPEL MIRACLES.

481

(2) Zhe Storm Stilled; Matt. viii. 23—27; Mark iv. 35
—41; Luke viii. 22—25.
The defence of the Church from without.
(3) Zhe Stater in the Fish’s Mouth: Matt. xvii. 24—27.
The support of the Church from within.
ες (4) Zhe second Miraculous Draught of Fishes: John xxi.
I—23.
ν The Church of the future.
(8) Miracle of Judgment.
The Fig-tree cursed; Matt. xxi. το ff.; Mark xi. 20 ff.

II. MIRACLES ON MAN.
(a) Miracles of Personal Faith.
(1) Organic defects (the Blind).
(a) Faith Special.
The two blind men in the house: Matt. ix.
20---31.
(ὁ) Faith absolute.
Bartimeus restored: Matt. xx. 29—34; Mark
x. 46—52; Luke xviii. 35—43.
(2) Chronic impurity.
(2) Open. Leprosy?
Faith Sfecial.
The one Leper: Matt. viii. 1—4; Mark i.
40—45; Luke v. 12—16.
Faith special and adsolute contrasted.
The Ten Lepers: Luke xvii. 11—16.
(ὁ) Secret.
The Woman with the Issue: Matt. ix. 2o—
22; Mark v. 25—34; Luke viii. 43—48.
(8) Miracles of Intercession.
(1) Organic defects. (Simple Intercession)—
(a) The blind; Mark viii. 22—26.
(6) Zhe deaf and dumb: Mark vii. 31—37.
(2) Mortal Sicknesses. (Intercession based on natural
ties)— ,
(a) Fever.
The nobleman’s son healed: John iv. 46—54.
(ὁ) Paralysis.
The centurion’s servant healed: Matt. viii.
5—13; Luke vil. I—Io.
The man borne of four healed: Matt. ix. 1—
8; Mark ii. r—12; Luke v. 17—26,

W.G. HH

Appendix E.

482

A CLASSIFICATION OF THE GOSPEL MIRACLES.

Appendix E.

(y) Miracles of Love.
(1) Organic defect.
The blind man healed: oe ΙΧ.
(2 Disease.
(a) The fever healed: Matt. viii. 14, 15; Mark i.
29-343; Luke iv. 38—41.
(2) Zhe dropsy healed: Luke xiv. 1—6.
(c) The withered hand restored: Matt. xii. g—13 5
Mark iii. 1—5; Luke vi. 6—11.
(4) The impotent man restored: John v. 1—17.-
[(e) The woman with a spirit of infirmity set free:
Luke xiii. 1o—17],
(3) Death.
(a) The Death-chamber.
A girl raised: Matt. ix. 18 ff.; Mark v.
22 ff.; Luke viii. 41 ff.
(2) The Bier.
A young man raised: Luke vii, 11—18..
(c) The Tomb.
A tried friend raised: Joun xi Ἵ
IIf. MIRACLES ON THE SPIRIT-WORLD.

(a) Miracles of Intercession.
(1) Stmgle intercession.
(2) A dumb man possessed by a devil; Matt. ix.
32—34-
(4) A blind and dumb man: Matt. xii. 1.5; Cia
Luke xi. 14 ff,
(2) Intercession based on zazural ties.
(a) The Syrophenician’s daughter healed; Matt.
xv. 21—28; Mark vii. 24—3o. |
(ὁ) Zhe lunatic boy healed: Matt. xvii. 14 ff. ;
Mark ix. 14 ff.; Luke ix. 37 ff.
(8) Miracles of Antagonism.
(1) In the Synagogue.
The unclean spirit cast out: Mark i. 21—28;
Luke iv. 31—37.
(2) Inthe Zombds.
The Legion cast out : Matt. viii. 23—34; Mark v.
1—17; Luke viii. 246—37.

1 The healing of Malchus (Luke xxii. or import. We may see in it how the
51) seems not to fall within the true cyclé divine Power represses and remedies the
of the Gospel Miracles either in character evils caused by inconsiderate zeal.

A CLASSIFICATION OF THE GOSPEL MIRACLES.

483

It will be seen that in the fundamental and crowning Miracle of the
Gospel—the Resurrection—all these forms of miraculous working are in-
cluded. The course of nature was controlled, for there was a great earth-
quake; the laws of material existence were over-ruled, for when the doors
were shut Jesus came into the midst of His disciples, and when their eyes
were opened He vanished out of their sight. The reign of death was over-
thrown, for many of the saints came out of their graves and went into the
Holy City. The powers of the Spiritual world were called forth, for Angels
watched at the Sepulchre and ministered to believers. Thus full and har-
monious is the whole strain of Scripture: A// things are double one against
another, and God hath made nothing imperfect.

HH 2

Appendix E.
Matt. xxviii.
2

John xx. 6.
Luke xxiv.
31:

Matt. xxvii.
53-

Matt. xxvii.
2, &c.
Wisd. xlii.
25.

Appendix F.

The relation
of Parables
to Miracles.

APPENDIX F.
A CLASSIFICATION OF THE GOSPEL PARABLES.

Πάντα δισσά, ἕν κατέναντι τοῦ ἑνός"
καὶ οὐκ ἐποίησεν οὐδὲν ἐλλεῖπον.
EcCcLUS. xlii. 24.

E have already endeavoured to discover in the combination of the
Gospel Miracles the laws of divine interference for the Redemption

of man, and the proofs of the universality of the Saviour’s power; it will be
our object now to point out the converse truths from a consideration of the
Parables: in them we shall seek to mark the lessons which we may learn

‘| from the Natural World on the progress and scope of Revelation, and the

testimony which man’s own heart renders to the Christian Morality. Thus
it is that the Miracles and Parables are exactly correlative to each other: in
the one we see the personality and power of the Worker, and in the other
the generality and constancy of the Work; in the one we are led to refer
the ordinary events of life to God, and in the other to consider their rela-
tion to man; in the one we are led to regard the manifoldness of Provi-
dence, and in the other to recognise the instructiveness of the Universe.

The Parables in the Gospels may be presented in the following classifi-
cation, if we consider the sources from which they are drawn :

I, PARABLES DRAWN FROM THE MATERIAL WORLD.
1. The Sources of the Elements of natural or spiritual Life :
(a) The Power of Good. Zhe Sower: Matt. xiii. 3—8 ; Mark
iv. 4—8; Luke viii. 5—8.
(8) The Power of Evil. Zhe Tares: Matt. xiii. 24—30.
2. The mode of their Development silent and mysterious.
The seed growing secretly; Mark iv. 26—29.
3. The Fulness of their Development :
(a) Anoutward Growth. Zhe Mustard-seed: Matt. xiii. 31, 325
Mark iv. 30—32; Luke xiii. 18, 19.
(8) An inward Change. Zhe Leaven: Matt. xiii. 33; Luke
xlil. 20, 21.

ee ee ae eee

~—— εν,

A CLASSIFICATION OF THE GOSPEL PARABLES.

485

11. PARABLES DRAWN FROM THE RELATIONS OF MAN.
1. Tothe lower World, as explaining his Connexion also with
higher Beings?, while he
(a) Destroys the worthless (σαπρά). The Draw-net: Matt. xiii.
47—50-
(8) Labours with the unfruitful. Zhe darren Fig-tree: Luke
xiii. 6—g.
(y) Seeks to reclaim the lost, whether it has been lost
(1) By its own Wandering. 7 he lost Sheep: Matt. xviii.
12—14; Luke xv. 3—¥7.
(2) By his Carelessness. Zhe lost Drachma; Luke xv.
8—1Io. .

2. To his Fellow-men:
(a) Inthe Family, from the higher to the lower, as explaining
his personal relations to God :
(1) Mercy. Zhe unmerciful Servant: Matt. xviii. 23

— 35.
Correlative: Gratitude. The two Debtors: Luke vii.
41—43- '

(2) Forgiveness. Zhe Prodigal Son: Luke xv. 11—32.
Correlative: Obedience. Zhe two Sons: Matt. xxi.

28—32.
(8) In social Life, as explaining his Relations to the Church:

(1) Zeal in the Petition for Blessings :
(2) Forothers. Zhe Friend at Midnight: Luke
xi, 5—8.
(Ὁ) Forourselves. The Unjust fudge: Luke xviii,
1—8.
(2) Patience in the Course of Life:
(a) For others, Endurance. Zhe 72): Virgins:
Matt. xxv. 1—13.
(4) In ourselves, Self-denial. Zhe lower Seats:
Luke xiv, 7—11.

(3) Regard for outward Ordinances :
» (a) Asa Feeling from within. Zhe great Supper:
Luke xiv. 15—24.
(4) As required by their Dignity. Zhe King’s
Marriage-feast: Matt. xxii. I—1I4.

1 Cf. Matt. xiii. 49, 50; Luke xv. 7 θεοῦ" when the careless within the existing
(χαρὰ ἔσται ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ" when the Re- Church were awakened). It is easy to see
demption was accomplished): Luke xv.10 why there is no corresponding clause in the
(χαρὰ γίνεται ἐνώπιον τῶν ἀγγέλων τοῦ Prodigal Son,

Appendix F.

486

A CLASSIFICATION OF THE GOSPEL PARABLES.

Appendix F

(y) In regard to his Means, as explaining the Devotion of our
Endowments to God’s Service:
(1) Thoughtfulness in planning his Works, as to
(a) His own power:
Absolutely. The Tower-builder: Luke xiv.

28—30.
Relatively. The King making War: Luke
‘xiv. 3I—33. |

(ὁ) Their Effects on others. Zhe unjust Steward:
Luke xvi. I—9.

(2) In his Works.
(2) As to himself, Fruitfulness :
Absolutely. The Talents: Matt.xxv.14—30.
Relatively. The Pounds: Luke xix. 11~-27.
(5) As to others, Unselfishness. Zhe wicked Hus-
bandmen: Matt. xxi. 33—44 3 Mark xii. ὦ
—12; Luke xx. 9—18.

(3) After the completion of his Works.
(2) As to himself, Humility. Zhe unprofitable
Servants: Luke xvii. 7—10.
(6) As to others, Dependence. Zhe Labourers
in the Vineyard: Matt. xx. 1—16.

3. To Providence, as teaching that spiritually as well as temporally
Advantages imply Duties, whether we obtain them

(a) Unexpectedly. Zhe hid Treasure: Matt. xiii. 44. |

(8) \After'a zealous Search. Zhe Man secking Pearls: Matt.
xiii. 45, 46. ‘

(y) By natural Inheritance. Zhe rich Fool: Luke xii. 16—21.

There are still remaining three symbolic narratives which are usually
ranked as Parables :—the Publican and Pharisee, the Good Samaritan, and
the Rich Man and Lazarus. These however in their primary reference
give direct patterns for action, and in their secondary meaning apply to —
classes and not to individuals. It seems as if we may read in them the
opposition of Christianity to Judaism, in its essential Spirituality, in its
universal Love, and in its outward Lowliness.

INDEX.

Advent, attempts to fix the date of, 143
Alexandria, the meeting-point of Ju-
daism and Greece, 62
Antigonus of Socho, 65
Antiochus, effects of his persecution, 65
Apocalypse, use of the word in the
N.T., 9 n.
Apocalypse and Prophecy contrasted,
70 ἢ. 3
Apocryphal Jewish books, 73.
silent as to
a personal MESSIAH, 94.
Gospels (see Gospel), 466
sayings of our LORD, 457
works of our Lorp, 464
Apologists, on Inspiration, 422
Apostles, their relation to Christian
writings, 165
Apostles, their different views of Chris-
tianity, 219
Assembly, the great, 60
Athenagoras on Inspiration, 424
Augustine, his treatise on the Gospels,
250

B.
Baptism of our Lorp, accounts of the,
320
Barnabas on Inspiration, 418
Baruch, Apocalypse of, 116

Caius on Inspiration, 430
Calvinistic view of Inspiration, 5
Canon of the Old Testament, 56 ἢ.
Claudius Apollinaris on Inspiration, 426
Clemens Romanus on Inspiration, 419
Alexandrinus on Inspiration, 438
Clementine Homilies on Inspiration, 452
Recognitions on Inspiration,
454
Completeness of Holy Scripture, 30 ff.
Concordances between the Gospels, 194
Connecting phrases used by the Evan-
gelists, 352 n.; in the last journey to
Jerusalem, 376 n.
Crucifixion, Synoptic narratives of the,
327
day of the, 343
Cyprian on Inspiration, 435

Difficulties of the Gospels, their origin,
299; their usefulness, 406

Diognetum, Ep. ad, on Inspiration, 421

Doctors, sayings of the later, 71

Ecclesiasticus, 71
Esdras, 4[2], its character, 110

*,* For the Index Iam indebted to the kindness of my friend the Rev. J. Frederic Wickenden,

M. A, of Trinity College, Cambridge.

488 INDEX.

Esdras, 4[2], its doctrine of MEssIAH, 112

Essenes of Palestinian origin, 71 n.

Evangelists not conspicuous in history,
226

Evangelists, their emblems, 249

Faith, its relation to Reason, as con-
cerning Scripture, 406
Flight into Egypt, 318 n.

G.
Gemara, singular reference to MESSIAH,
ΠΥ Qos

Genealogies of our LORD, 315 n.
Gospel, use of term, 172

oral in origin, 192, 208

facts mentioned in the Acts of

the Apostles, 175 f.

the Epistles,
177
its first preaching historic, 174,
184

Gospels, the Four, their general charac-
ter, 22, 169, 207, 288, 400
Inspired history, 214
embody Apostolic preaching,
169, 226 ff.
order of their composition, 209n.
their distinctive character, 216,
225, 401
their real unity, 251
their difficulties, 397
their historical authority, 402
Gospel according to the Hebrews, 466
Egyptians, 460 n.
of the Ebionites, 471
of the Clementine Homilies, 473
of Marcion, 476
of the Infancy, 478
of Nicodemus, 479

Grammatical interpretation of Holy
Scripture essential, 36, 402

Greek language, an omen of a universal
religion, 84

Greek thought in contact with Judaism
at Alexandria, 62

Hagiographa, their character due to
the Captivity, 59

Heathen allusions to an expected MEs-
SIAH, 140 Ξ

Heaven,:as synonymous with Gop,
when first so used, 66 n.

Hebrews (Epistle to the), its testimony
to the Gospel, 181

Hegesippus on Inspiration, 426

Henoch, Book of, clearness of its Mes-
sianic doctrine, 99

Heretics, their adoption of the several
Gospels, 244

Hermas on Inspiration, 421

Hippolytus on Inspiration, 431

History of the human race centres in
the Gospel, 47

History of the Jewish people, its im-
portance, 49

Ignatius on Inspiration, 420
Inspiration, different theories of, 4
defined, 7, 14
combines the divine and
human, 214
various forms of, 12
proofs of, 18
claimed in the New Testa-
ment, 18 n.
opinions of the Fathers of
the first three centuries
on, 417—456

ἱ
f
:
ἢ
ἢ
i

INDEX.

480.

Interpretation, grammatical and spiri-
tual, 36, 402
Irenzeus on Inspiration, 427

James, St, his testimony to the Gospel,
178

Jesus CHRIST, use of title in the
Gospels, 296 n.

Jewish thought, development of, 49

later doctrine of the
MESSIAH, 144

people, affected bythe Captivity,
53 ff.

contrast between Galilee
and Judzea, 286
literature, outline of, 94
John, St (Baptist), how mentioned by
St Matthew and St Luke, 356 n.
John, St (Evang.), his character, 303
his life, 240, 253
his Gospel, analysis of it, 309
its poetical conception, 276
its language, 264 n., 268 n.
its style, 269
its contrasts to the Synoptists,
251, 283 ff.
its coincidences with the Syn-
optists, 291, 295 n. 3
St Paul, 307 n.
its quotations from the Old
Testament, 311
adapted: by the Valentinians,
248
rejected by the Alogi, 263
his account of the Resurrec-
tion, 340
his Epistles, their testimony to
the Gospel, 182 .
Josephus, rejection of Messianic hope,
138

Fubilees, Book of, no reference to the
Messiah, f19

Jude, St, his testimony to the Gospel,
178 ;

Justin Martyr on Inspiration, 422

Κ,

Kabbala, its doctrine of MESSIAH, 146
Kosmos, mundus, zon, 26 n.
(ὁ κόσμος), how used by St
John, 266 n.

Law, the, statedly read after the Capti-
vity, 58
Life (ἡ ζωή),
265 ἢ.
Light (τὸ φώς), 266 π.
Logos (see WORD).
use of term in the LX X and New
Testament, 265 ἢ.
LorD (our), identity of His character in
the several Gospels, 296
Lost tribes, Jewish tradition on the,
14, 144
Luke, St, his Gospel, analysis of, 393 ff.
language of, 381 ἢ.
connected with St Paul, 188,
238
adapted by the Marcionites,
247
Preface, 189, 239 n.
its account of the Crucifixion,
331

how used by St John,

Resurrec-
tion, 3 39

Manetho, contemporary with the LXX,
77 De
Mark, St, his Gospel, analysis of, 391
language of, 368

490

INDEX.

Mark, St, connected with St Peter, 184,
235
adapted by the Docetze, 246
his account of the Cruci-
fixion, 330
his account of the Resurrec-
tion, 337
Mary, Virgin, not mentioned by name
in St John, 292 n.
Matthew, St, his Gospel, analysis of,
384 ἢ,
language of, 363 n.
history of, 187
Aramaic original of, 229
quotations from Old Tes-
tament, 229 n.
adapted bythe Ebionites,
244
_ his account of the Cruci-
fixion, 328
Resur-

rection, 336
Melito on Inspiration, 426
- MESSIAH, earlier doctrine developed in
Old Testament, 92
later doctrine developed in
New Testament, 129
distinguished from the WorD,
152 h.
Sheki-
nah, Metatron, Sc. 149 n.
pre-existent, 145 n.
suffering, 145 n.
dying, 134
character not openly claimed
by our Lorp, 136 n.
usage Of the word in New
Testament, 136 n.
Messianic Prophecies, Jewish interpre-
tation of, 159
Ministry of our LorD, its length un-
‘certain, 288 n.
Miracles, their character, 26

Miracles, recorded by St Matthew, 387
St Mark, 369,

391

—

St Luke, 395
St John, 312
of the Gospels classified, 480
Mishna, reference to MESSIAH, 141
Mysticism of the Essenes, 69
Therapeutze, 81
Kabbalists, 146

Nativity, the narratives of the, 315
Novatian on Inspiration, 431

(Ὁ),

Objections to the Gospels, their origin,
400
their uncer-

tainty, 404
Old Testament, history of the Canon
obscure, 56 n.
how quoted in the Gos-
pels, 229 n., 311, 413
its sufficiency in primi-
tive times, 173, 183
Omissions in the Gospels, 288
Origen on Inspiration of Scripture, 441
on Interpretation of Scripture,
446
Orphic and Sibylline writings, 79

“iP,
Paganism, éssetitially local, 85
Parables, their character, 28
to whom addressed, 290
recorded by St Matthew, 389
St Mark, 365 n.
St Luke, 397
their analogies in St John,
290
of the Gospels classified, 484

INDEX.

491

Parallelism a poetic feature in St John,
275
Passion (our Lorv’s), Synoptic narra-
tives of, 327 ff.
Passover (last), uncertainty of date,
288 n.
Paul,’ St, his teaching compared with
St John’s, 307 n.
his Epistles, their testimony
to the Gospel, 182
Peculiarities of the Gospels, their aitiount
and value, 194
Peter, St, his name, 221 n., 300 n.
his character, 300
his denial, 302 n.
his Epistles, their testimony
ts to the Gospel, 178
Philo, scope of his teaching, 80
—_—_—_— —-doctrine of MEssIAH,
137
the WORD, 153
Philosophy, its work in preparing for
Christianity, 86
Prayer developed during the Captivity,
57
Preaching the first form of Christian
doctrine, 168, 172
Prophecies of MEssIAH, how explained
by the Jews, 159
of the Old Testament, how
quoted in the New Testa-
ment, 29, 30 N.
Psalms of Solomon, clear reference to
MESSIAH, 127

Q.
Quotations of our LORD, 413
of the Evangelists, 29 n., 415
in St Matthew confirm a
Hebrew original, 229 n.
referred to MESSIAH, as ex-
plained by Jews, 159
in St John’s Gospel, 311 |

* R.
Resurrection predicted in the book of
Henoch, 107
Resurrection of body confined to the
righteous in the book
of Henoch, 107 n.
our Lorn’s, the four nar-
ratives of, 333
Roman empire identical with the civi-
lized world, 88
suggestive of a univer-
sal religion, 85

Samaritan doctrine of MEssIAH, 163
Sanhedrin, its origin, 58 n.
Sayings of our Lorp, Apocryphal, 457
Sects, their rise among the Jews, 65
at Corinth, 243 n.
Septuagint version, its history, 77
reference to MESSIAH doubt-
ful, 122
Sermon on the Mount, outline of, 386
Shechinah, whether applied to MEs-
SIAH, 149 ἢ.» 152 Nn.
Sibylline books conceive a universal
theocracy, 80
their testimony to
MESSIAH, 96
Simon Magus, the Antichrist of the
first age, 236
Simon the Just, his great maxim, 61
Son of Gop, usage of phrase, 134 n.
Spiritual interpretation of Holy Scrip-
ture, 40
Synagogue and Schools, their rise, 50,
58
Synoptic Gospels, their concordances,
194
their differences, 199
order of composi-
tion, 207 n.

492

INDEX.

Synoptic Gospels, contrasted with St
John, 216
unchronological, 350

Targums, their date, 123 n.
their clear reference to MEs-
SIAH, 125 f.
the

WorD, 152
Tatian on Inspiration, 424
Temptation of our LorD, accounts of,
322
Tertullian on Inspiration, 433
Theophilus on Inspiration, 425
Therapeutz, 81
Titles of the Gospels, 214n.
on the Cross, 332 ἢ. 10
Tradition of the Elders, Mishna, Tal-
mud, 68 n.
Transfiguration, the narratives of the,
324
Truth (ἡ ἀλήθεια), how used by St
John, 266 n.

Verbal coincidences between the Syn-
optists, 197

Wisdom of Solomon, 82
Worp (doctrine of the) in Palestine,

151
Egypt,
153
St John,
264 n., 267

not applied to MESSIAH
by Henoch, 109 n.; by the
Targums, 152 n.; or by Philo,
138 n., 156
Works of our Lorp, Apocryphal, 464
World, state of the, at the Advent, 87 f.
ὁ κόσμος, how used by St John,
266 n.
See Kosmos.

THE END.

CAMBRIDGE; PRINTED BY ΓΟ. J. CLAY, M.A, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

~
ι

“Fin

Pan:

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
BERKELEY

Return to desk from which borrowed.
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