The sun., 1883-10-28

abrupt, and clogeed with Hebraisms ~ 1t is
has little in common with that Of the prologue.
This part OF the work. moreover, Ia moro jew
ish in texture and spirit than the rest; John
the Baptist is OF sacerdotal origin; the rites
o. publication and circumcision are pune
tillously performed; tho parents Of Jesus
10 every year on the pilgrimage to
Jerusalem; several anecdotes are ex-
nctly suited to the Jewish taste. A
remarkable feature OF the book is that the part
assigned to Mary which in Mark is a nullity
is gradually enlarged IN proportion as Chris
tianity gets further from Judea, and rs Joseph
loses his paternal role. The legend needs her
and is drawn on to descant on her at length
People cannot believe that the woman whom
God has chosen to conceive Of tho Holy Ghost
could be an ordinary woman: she 1t Is who
must serve as guarantee for whole sections OF
tho Gospel story; they create for her, there
FORE in the Church role that grows moro i'm
pressive from day to day.
Very fine and quito as unhistorical are the
stories encountered only in the third Gospel
with regard to the Passion. the death. and the
resurrection OF Jesus. In this portion OF his
book Luke has we'll nigh abandoned his usual
eSamplar. Mark. and has followed other toxts.
The result is an oven moro legendary account
than Matthews. Everything In 1t Is intensi-
fed or embolished At Gsthsenane. Luke
adds the angel tho bloody sweat. the heal
ing OF the sar which had been smitten
off, The nrraignment before Herod Antipas is
wholly OF his invention. Tho beautiful episode
Of the daughters OF Jerusalem. designed to rep.
resent the crowd as euiltlcss OF tho death Of
Jesus. and to cast all the odium on the
rulors and chief priests. tho conversion OF one
Of the nalefactors. the prayer OF Jesus for his
executioners. suggested bv the twelfth verse
OF the ffty-third chapter OF Isaiah. are
deliberate additions. For the sublime cry
OF despair. Elohi. e,ohi. lama sabach-
hdni. which no longer harnonized with
the conceptions men were forming OF
the divinity Of Jesus. he substitutes a text
calmer and moro resigned: Father. into thy
hands I commend my spirit" Finally. the
doings Of the risen Jesus are reoounted In pur-
suance OF wholly artificial plan. partially con.
formed to that OF the Gospel of the Hebrews.
according to which tho life beyond the tomb
only lasted q single day and closed with AN
ascension. OF which we hear not q word from
Mark and Matthew.
Luke's Gospel. then. Is an amended and COM
pleted Gospel. already far advanced in the path
OF legend. Like the pseudo Matthew, Luke
corrects Mark by forestalling objections. by
effacing real or apparent contradi Lotions, by
suppressing features that had become moro or
less unacceptable. toRether with vulgar, over
emphasized. or Insignificant details. What he
fails to understand no leaves out or ekilfuly
winds round. He adds pathetic and dainty
touches. invents little. but alters much. The
aesthetic transform ations which he affects are
astonishing. 1t is marvellous how much he
makes out Of the story OF Mary and Martha.
her sister: never did ten more charming lines
drop from a pen. His account OF the woman
who brought an alabastcr box OF ointment is
no less exquisite; tho episode Of the disciples
that ,ourneyed down to Emmaus Is one OF tho
subtest and most delicatsly shaded bits OF mar.
rative that exists In any language.
Luke Is the most literary Of the four evan
Relists. Everything In his book indicates a
large and gentle mind snge. moderate, sober.
and reasonable even in his irrational dvaga-
tions. His exuggerations. improbabilities in
constituencies spring from tho very nature Of
the parable and constitute It's charm. Matthew
rounds of the somewhat rough outlines OF
Mark. Luke does far more he is a writer: he
displays real comprehension Of composition
His book is a beautiful consecutive narrative,
Mt once Hebraic and Hellenic, blending the
emotion OF the drama with the serenity OF tho
idyl. 1t Ia all laughter. tears. and song
thero Is weeping and chanting everywhere: 1t
OF tho meek and lowly admitted into tho king
dom Of Col. A spirit rs OF holy infancy, spirit
of Joy. OF fervor. the evangelical impulse In Its
primal originality. spread over tho whole legend
tint OF incom parable sweetness Nobody was
ever less sectarian. Not a reproach no. an un .
kind word, for the old people OF Israel. hence
forth cast out: for 10. is not its exclusion pun
ishment enough? 1t is the most beautiful book
extant; the delight which the author must
have experienced in writing 1t will never be
adequately measured.
Un1ncstionably. the historical vnlue of the
third Gospel is less than that OF its two prede-
cessors. A remarkable fact however which
clearly proves that the so. called Synoptic Cos
pels reilly transmit IN echo OF the words of
Jesus. results from the comparison OF Luke s
Gospel with tho Acts OF the Apostles The two
books have one and the same author. But
now set the utterances OF Jesus in the Gospel
side by side with the talk OF the apostles
In the Acts. YOU will find them totally different
here tho charm OF the most artless self -efrace-
ment: there II refer OF course. to the set dis
courses in tho Acts and especially in tho
last chapters) species Of rhetoric that
at times ia rrotty frigid To what should be
Inscribed this differencs2 Evidently In the sec.
ond case Luke is spinning tho discoursss out
OF his own hend whereas In the former case he
is following tradition. Tho sayings Of jesus
were committed to writing before Luke; not
so those Of tbs Apostles. An important induc-
tion. moreover. may be made from the account
OF the Last Supper in tho first eristle OF Saint
Paul to the Corinthians. Here we have the
oldest Gospel text In existence tthe first epistls
to the Corinthians dates from the year 57,;
now. this text comedies closely with Lukes.
Luke. therefore, may have a substantial value
OF hi. own. even whom he diverges from Mark
and Matthew.
Luke marks the ultimate stage of deliberate
revision whlcl, the Gospe tradition was cana
BILE OF reaching. After him there are no longer
any but apocryphal evangelists. who pro-
coed by sheer ampli,cation and a priori hy-
pothcsis. without recourse to new documents,
We shall sec later how texts like those of Mark.
Luke. and tn" pseudo. Matthew failed, never
theless. TO satisfy Christian riety. and how
there came into being new Gospel which AS.
sumed to surpass them.
III. Renan thinks. as we have said. that 1t