The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-06-11

In the general preface 10 the selections which
no has made from the New Testament. tho
author OF Ancient Sacred Scriptures invites
us to remember that the biographies Of Jesus
or the Gospels. rs they are called, were none
of them written until long nftor the death Of
Jesus. Not one of His words was written
down when spoken. or. indeed. written In
any form until many years after IL was
spoken. SO profound. however, was the i'm
preston made by His words upon the minds
and memories OF those who heard them,
and especially upon His disciples. that. after
His tragic death. they were wildly recalled.
and. in fragmentary form. passed from mouth
to mouth and circulated from place to place.
wherever His prosecuted followers were
scattered abroad or went preaching the
new religion. Thus II came to pass that
for many years, the words as well as the deeds
of Jesus were preserved only as traditions.
Repeated over and over thousands Of times by
thousands of different persons. and among
unlearned and superstitiuus people it was inn
possible. our author submits that they should
be preserved. even for a brief period in their
erdct original form: much less could they la
30 preserved and Transported tna second or a
third generation. Hence as a matterof ncces-
sity various mythical or fabulous intcrweav-
inRs of attempted explanation, elaboration. in
ference and detail must have taken place
during tho quarter century or more which
elapsed between the death Of Jesus and even
the first written record Of His life. These in
terweavinGs Of fancy and fable increased 50
rapidly. aud threatened completely to Oh
scure the original words and deeds around
which they had grown. that At length. dcvout
men set themselves to work to collect from the
mass OF floating traditions such as they deemed
most trustworthy. in order to write them
down and Il, Tra tbnu, fro,
cretions OF eHtravnGan"r and misconrcption.
In such an attempt even III. most honest
clear minded and conscientious bOEraphers.
with no scrap Of written record or history be-
fore them aud depending entirely upon oral
reports and testimony. mus have been able 10
gather only very imperfect fragmontary.
and. In detail. uutrUStworthy account OF
words that had been spoken and deeds
that had been performed more than a genera
ton before their Tina. Hence tho conclusion
IS drawn that the exact words and precise
deeds OF Jesus are not. aud never can he.
known. The spirit Of them. on the other hand
uRQucStionahly survives. and shines luminous
" forth from the pages OF the four Gospels
What the author Of the book before us would
have al! wise persons do is to consider this
spirU, which "maketh alive" and not the let
ter. which "k'lcth.'
Elsewhere in the preface it is pointed ont
posed before the ritter half OF the FIRST century
and in their present form were not known
until the beginning Of the MIRA century. The
titles Matthew" Marx" Luke" and
John " are probably only the assumed names
under which las was then common aud allow
able their unknown authors or rompilers
wrote. 1t is pronounced possible and even
probable that thov ar" MI different versions of
an original collection o. goSrc! made long be-
Jesus Upon this theory their agreements and
disaGreements may he accounted for while
at the same tims the careful student OF the
points OF likeness and unlikeness may dis
entangle the four narratives and weavs
their materials again into one connected and
consistent account Of all that is most perma-
nently important in tho life and teachings Of
Jesus This Is what tho author has attempted
In that part OF the Ancient Sacred Scriptures"
which is devoted to the New Testament But,
before marking the principles upon which his
selections have been made We should note
what he Gays about Johns Gospel and about
tho. mode OF TRANSMITTING certain phrases to
which n special significance has h"cl attached.
1t IL well known that the COmI,i'r ~ ihr fOurt IA
Gospel-it ia imInat"rial whether o.. regard the
name OF John as real or aesuiurG lr.lxed tn
his biography Of Jesus 81 u"tHlN"~ ,al prorm or
Introduction. commencing with "Iu hr begin
ming was the IoEOS, Nc. This iugO~ t'Ortriue,
as 1t has since come TO be- called. t. l.u' N an,
way referred to in any uthar portion Of tn"
New Testament. aud from the viewpoint If
the higher criticism i locked upon as A
pubtlety borrowed originally from the Crock
schools Of philosophy TIA" author Of the
fourth Gospel also added frequently To his ac-
count OF what Jesus said and did rhilosoI,!l-
seal opinions of his own, which not only are
not confirmed by the records OF the autho.s O!
the other three. or so-calcd synoItir gusp",s
hut arc out OF harmony with them IIo has n So
added incidents not mentioned by any Of the
other bioGrarhers, Passing now 10 III" phrases
Son OF Man - and Son Of God which occur
In the Gospels. and upon which great stress has
been laid by thcoogians. the author Of An
Hebrew writings these phrases are ircTuenty
found especially In the later or prophetic p"-
RODS. They arc used interchangeable. aud IA
equivalents. with the common understanding
apparently. that they were both titos which
all good men might assume or have applied 10
them. 1t was especially, however mon OF dis.
tinRuished virtue or wisdom who were called
and called themselves By these terms. When
therefore. Jesus appeared. calling himself aud
being called son OF Man " and Son Of God,
II was no novelty; 1t was In keeping with the
common speech OF tho Hebrews as applied &c
al! whom they looked upon as sAReS or proph-
OTIS. Recognizing this 70 be the fact. tho pres
Snt translator has departed from the Gus
tom OF writing or printing these appellatloni