to the detection of imposture: where the testimony is false, it is perilous to multiply witnesses. Again, the having several Gospels helps us to understand better the myriad-sided Divine Man. His aspect changes with our point of vision, and the four evangelists give us four view-points. To speak in way of swift, rough characterization: Matthew's Gospel is Hebrew, Messianic, the Gospel of fulfillment; Mark's Gospel is dramatic, Petrine, the Gospel of action; Luke's Gospel is catholic, Pauline, the Gospel of humanity; John's Gospel is doctrinal, spiritual, the Gospel of Divinity. And yet the four Gospels are but one Gospel. Accordingly, the tropical fancy of the . fathers took delight in comparing them to the four faces of the one cherub, to the four sides of the one New Jerusalem, to the four rivers flowing from the one stream of Eden, etc. Nobly does Adam of St. Victor, in the twelfth century, express the current view of the cherubic symbolism of the Gospels : See, far above the starry height, Of Christ, the Eternal Son. To Mark belongs the lion's forin, Called by the Father from the grave, Adam of St. Our Debt to the Evangelists. The face of man is Matthew's share, And tracks the line of high descent Through which the Word with flesh was blent, To Luke the ox belongs, for he, More clearly than the rest, doth see Christ as the victim slain; Upon the cross, as altar true, The bleeding, spotless Lamb we view, So from their source in Paradise High above earth in heaven. But while we may smile at such fancies, it is not fanciful to say that the four evangelists have given us four different portraits of one and the same Divine Man, presenting him from four points of vision, and so delineating him more vividly in his manifold perfectness, making him more apprehensible to all classes, conditions, and temperaments of men, and to all ages of the world. This is the circumstance which makes it so profitable for us to study the Gospels in synchronous lessons. The habit protects us from partial and unsymmetrical views; for the Gospels, like stones. in mosaic, are mutually complemental. It is of immense benefit, therefore, to study them in light of one another; for, like the trilingual inscription of the Rosetta Stone, the four Gospels interpret and confirm each other. Secondly, let us thank God that he prompted his servants to note down, so early in the Christian era, statements of the apostolic testimony; for the rich result is that, instead of uncertain and fickle tradition, we have permanent contemporary records. And so the Gospels are the foundation of all that is to be believed concerning Jesus Christ. They are the true "apostolic constitutions" for Christendom; Built upon the foundation of the Eph. ii, 20-22, apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner-stone. Lastly, be thou thyself a Theophilus, Friend Theophilus, of God; and the Spirit will write a gospel to thee also. Almighty God, who calledst Luke the Physician, whose Collect. praise is in the Gospel, to be an Evangelist, and Physician of the soul; May it please thee, that, by the wholesome medicines of the doctrine delivered by him, all the diseases of our souls may be healed; through the merits of thy Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. |