Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-03-29
REVIEW OF THE QUARTER
LESSON XIII, FIRST QUARTER, IN
TERNATlONAL SERIES, MARCH 81.

The Gospel of st. Mark-who Ee Was
Character of His Gospel-Reasons for
the Variations in Style of the Four
Evangelists.
The first quarter of the present year is de
voted to a study of Christ's life and teachings
as recorded in the Gospel according to st.
Mark. 1t is, therefore, most fitting to con-
slider the peculiarites of this Gospel, and to
at least glance at the oft debated question
why there should he four distinct accounts of
the Saviour's mission on earth, strangely va
rying in style and the subjects made promi-
nent, and yet all agreeing in the essentials of
Christian doctrine and ethics 1t is evident
even to the unlearned reader that each writer
addressed a different class, but each sets forth
the same eternal truths-the fatherhood of
God and the helplessness of man, the divinity
of Christ and His atoning death, the neces-
sity of faith, repentance and baptism for the
remission of sins, the moral government of
the universe, grace, eternal life, the way Of
redemption, the possibility of eternal separa-
ton from God and all that is good.
First it must be noted that the time of
Christ's incarnation was divinely appointed
for the only period in all history when the
civilized world was under one government,
when one written language was used by all
scholars and statesmen, when the laws gov
ernng the empire were in general principles
the same, and when the dignity of citizen
ship under one ruler was the citizens protec-
ton, from the mountains of Scotland in the
north to the Sahara in the south, and from
the Pillars of Hercules to the river Eu-
pirates Never before the establishment
of the Roman empire had this been the case.
Never has it been the case since the over
throw of that empire. The Romans had con-
quered all the central belt Of the known
world, their civil war had ended in the estab-
lishment of an imperial line, and when all
opposition to that line had ceased and the
long peace under Augustus Cesar had Sc
cured stability and order, Christ's earthly
mission began.
In all the western half of the empire Latin
was the vernacular, in all the eastern half
Greek; both mingled, Of course, with local
dialects. In both sections the tavern keep
ers, merchants, sailors, travellers and schol-
ars, as rule, understood both languages;
but while the Latin was official, Greek was the
language of most writers, and the Roman
rulers over each of the 120 provinces UNDER
stood both, and in most cases knew some
thing of the local dialect Thus PLATE
wrote the inscription over the cross
written in Greek and Latin and Hebrew
mot that the Jews of that day spoke
Hebrew, for they did not, but it was
their sacred or written language.
The corrupt tongue they spoke, commonly
called Caelo-Syriac, was not reduced to writ
ing but many of its words were necessarily
quoted by some of the New Testament writ
ers, and hence the reader will find the words,
which is by Interpretation" etc., as they
thought necessary to translate some phrases
for the people they aimed to reach.
To a Jew of Palestine the empire was di-
vided into jew and Gentile;" to Roman,
into bond and free" and to a scholar, into
Greel; and barbarian" The last word meant,
not necessarily, as now, wild or uncvi 4zed
man, but merely one who could not speak
Greek-that is, 'prattler," one whose talk
was like "barbar" to n Greek ear Thus the
Greeks called the Persians "barbaroi," even
when the latter were civilized as them
selves With these hints the reader may see
the force of many short suggestions, espe-
cially in Mark and Luke; but he should note
that st. Paul, as the great apostle to the
Gentiles, constantly endeavors to do away
with such distinctions as between Christians.
In these facts, too we find the principal rea-
son for the four Gospels
1t is, first, self evident that st. Matthew
wrote for the Jews and there is some evil
dence that his gospel was first composed in
Hebrew and not long after the crucitixion,
but the Greek copy, as we now have it, did
not appear till thirty years later. St. Mark,
as evidently, wrote for somewhat larger
constituency. and one which needed brief
statement of facts rather than lengthy adj
4 20, ,tac
local affairs of Palestine. In st. Luke we
find from the start a remarkable difference
He begins by stating that many accounts
have been written, and therefore he will pre-.
sent the exact facts as he received them from
eye witnesses Lastly, st. John wrote when
heresies had begun to trouble the church, and
some teachers were tainted with the fancies
of Greek philosophy.
Mark may be called the strictly historical
evangelist He was tho son of woman
named Mary, whose house at Jerusalem wa.
resort of the first Christians. He Travelled
with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch, and
was afterwards an intimate associate OF Pau
as well as of Peter The tradition of the
early church was that he founded the church
al Alexandria in Egypt and suffered martyr
dom there. 1t is long disputed question il
the church whether Mark based his gospe
on that of Matthew or obtained his facts
directly from st. Peter, and very large ant
respectable school maintains that all the
later gospels, and perhaps that of Matthew
also, were compiled from an original work
IA sort of memorabilia of the sayings and act
of Christ-which is no longer in existence
All agree that it was written in Rome, in tn,
Greek language, and at some period between
the deaths of Peter and Paul and the destruc
ton of Jerusalum. should be noted, how
ever, that while all agree that st. John out
lived all the other apostles, yet it is claimed
that III their present form the gospels o
Luke and John are contemporary Ii is no
important, however, as We have the unani
nous testimony of the apostolic father
those whose youth was in apostolic times
that the four gospels were accepted by tn
entire church as the inspired record o
Christ's mission. The point to be chief.
noted here is that the four accounts were in
sense necessary To meet the wants of tn
different classes in the empire, and that ST
Marx set down the facts detailed by all tn
others in form suited for historic arrange
ment