placing circumcision under the ban, had roused the anger of the Jews. The new works at Jerusalem, and the construction of a temple in honour of Jupiter on the site of the House of Yahveh, raised the anger to militant fury. Rabbi Akiba, the most famous Jewish doctor of the age, had preached the coming of a Messiah. When Ben-cosiba dared to stand forward as captain of the fiercest, and last, uprising of Jewdom against Rome, Akiba hailed him as Messiah, and jubilantly changed his name to Bar-cochba, Son of a Star, and became the new leader's armour-bearer (132). From all sides the Jews flocked. Bar-cochba, flushed and defiant, had struck a coinage of his own. general Severus hurried from Britain to conduct the war. From hill to hill, from fastness to fastness, the Romans hunted the unhappy Jews. Bar-cochba died fighting in the fortress of Bethar (135). Slaughter and sale into slavery swept the remnants of Israel out of their Holy Land. For centuries, a scanty clemency permitted Hebrews to visit their beloved City only once a year—on the anniversary of its destruction-to weep over its dead glories and the memory of its Temple.* The Many notable literary figures adorned the period which lay between the Fall of Jerusalem and the death of Hadrian (138). Quintilian wrote his essays on rhetoric; Statius, brilliant verse; Martial, clever epigrams. Young Lucan's ill-disciplined muse sang of battles; Silius descanted prosily on the Punic War; the elder Pliny devoted himself to natural history; Juvenal threw off graphic satires; Tacitus penned his Annals; Suetonius narrated the lives of the Cæsars; the younger Pliny indited his agreeable epistles; Dion Chrysostom, the friend of Apollonius, composed elegant orations on morals and politics; Plutarch portrayed the immortal Parallel Lives of Greeks and Romans ; Josephus published in Greek his Antiquities of the Jews. While the catholic and humane pages of Plutarch met the applause of the cultivated world, another school of literature, humble, inelegant, narrow, but deeply earnest, was created, so to speak, in the shade and by-ways of civilisation. * Merivale's "History of the Romans under the Empire," vol. vii.; Schürer's "Jewish People," div. i., vol. ii.; Morrison's "Jews under the Romans;" Renan's "L'Eglise." This Christian, Jewish, and Gnostic literature we now turn to examine. 12. Gospels: The Synoptics (Mark, Matthew, Luke), Hebrews, Peter, etc.-The New People, who looked for the speedy passing-away of the world, and the inauguration of a Divine order, would naturally feel no humour for writing. history. They might write letters of exhortation, such as Paul dispatched to scattered Christian societies, or compose Apocalyptic warnings of the coming judgments. But at first they would take little interest in reporting the details of the Master's biography. As time passed, however, and the heavens seemed slow to open and reveal the Son of Man, inquirers here and there began to gather up reports and fugitive reminiscences and commit them to manuscript in Aramaic or Greek. An examination of the first three of our received gospels shows that they possess remarkable likenesses in the words they use, and the events they relate. Because they present a common view of the life of Christ, they are termed the Synoptics; and the question, how to account for the resemblances and differences they display, is known as the Synoptic Problem. The solution of the problem appears to lie in the hypothesis that each of the Synoptics drew material from a document the very words of which (i.e., Greek words) they frequently retained. To take an instance, the words printed in italics occur in all three accounts of the calling of Matthew : Mark: And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphæus sitting at the place of toll, and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. Matthew And as Jesus passed by from thence, he saw a man, called Matthew, sitting at the place of toll, and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. Luke: And after these things he went forth, and beheld a publican, named Levi, sitting at the place of toll, and said unto him, Follow me. And he forsook all, and rose up and followed him. Reports of the speeches of Jesus often tally in these three Greek gospels; that is to say, though Jesus spoke in the popular Aramaic, the three reporters give the same translation. The conclusion follows that the three writers copied from a manuscript now lost, and which furnished what we may regard as the referred to (p. 81). may now be given Common (or Triple) Tradition already John the Baptist, the voice whom Isaiah had foretold, preached repentance and baptised the multitude and also Jesus. Jesus endured a forty-days' temptation. He called four fishermen to be his disciples, and preached in Capernaum and the synagogues of Galilee. He healed a feverstricken woman, a leper, and a paralytic. In the latter case he pronounced forgiveness of the man's sins. He argued with Pharisees, and declared that the new wine must be poured into new bottles. On the Sabbath day he defended his disciples for plucking corn, and he healed a withered hand. He appointed twelve disciples, warned the Pharisees against blaspheming, and pronounced his disciples to be his true kinsmen. He told the parables of the Sower, the Lamp on the Stand, and the Mustard-seed. Having cured a demoniac, he allowed the devils to pass into the bodies of swine. He healed an issue of blood, and restored the daughter of Jairus. After his rejection by the townsmen of Nazareth, he sent out the Twelve to preach. John the Baptist was put to death. A multitude dined on five loaves and two fishes. Jesus walked on the water. He was asked for a sign from heaven, and refused. He asserted that John the Baptist was Elijah, and allowed himself to be entitled the Christ. After predicting his death and rising again on the third day, he affirmed that his followers must take up the cross. The transfiguration took place. Jesus expelled an evil spirit, after the failure of his disciples to do so. He indicated a child as a type of himself, and forbade any act that should cause the little ones to stumble. His disciples he called the salt of the earth. He prohibited re-marriage after divorce; blessed the children, and advised a young man to sell all his goods, since the rich man would not easily enter the kingdom of God. To his disciples he promised a hundred-fold reward. He announced his intention of going to Jerusalem, though death awaited him. He deprecated ambition such as Gentiles cherished. Having given sight to a blind man, he entered Jerusalem in triumph, cleansed the Temple, disputed with the Pharisees concerning John, related the parables of the Wicked Husbandmen and the Corner-stone, permitted tribute to Cæsar, asserted that in the resurrection marriage ceased, counselled love to God and neighbour, propounded the dilemma of David and his son, blamed the Pharisees for pride, prophesied war, persecution, the shaking of heaven, and the coming of the Son of Man ere that generation had passed, and admonished his friends to watch. A woman anointed his head with ointment. Judas betrayed him for a sum of silver pieces. The passover was eaten, and the bread and "cup" partaken of. Peter was warned of his approaching denial. Jesus prayed that the cup might be removed. He was arrested, accused of claiming the dignity of the Christ, mockingly asked to prophesy. Peter denied him. Pilate, after questioning Jesus if he were the King of the Jews, released Barabbas. Simon of Cyrene bore the cross. crucified. The soldiers parted the garments. scription named him "The King of the Jews." descended from the sixth to the ninth hour. offered vinegar. With a loud cry he expired. The Templeveil was rent. Galilean women watched his death. of Arimathea buried the corpse in a tomb. Mary Magdalene and another Mary visited the sepulchre. The stone was rolled away. The women heard that Jesus was risen and gone to Galilee. They departed Here the Common Tradition ends. Jesus was Joseph The scribes of the first century used no punctuation, and wrote in capitals, the manuscript being made up of short lines. If the original Tradition was cast in the form of terse, abrupt notes, the writers of later gospels would feel induced to expand the concise original. Let us imagine that the original notes contained a paragraph such as the following (it should be remarked that the same Greek word, ti, answered for "what" or "why") : One transcriber might expand the note thus:-" And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. But Jesus said unto them, For your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment." Such is the version in Mark. But another transcriber might give a different version, thus:-"They say unto him, Why then did Moses command to give a bill of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses for your hardness of heart suffered you to put away your wives." So we read in Matthew. In some such manner, and with the aid of materials procured from other manuscripts or from word-of-mouth tradition, the authors of the three Synoptics may have built up their biographies on the basis of a Common Tradition. On the subject of the date of the original document nothing certain can be advanced. It does not, however, seem unreasonable to assume that it circulated in the latter part of the first century.* We have now to inspect the character and contents of the Synoptics themselves, and to make use of our meagre information as to the Gospel of the Hebrews and the Gospel of Peter. MARK.-With the exception of not more than thirty verses, the whole of Mark's gospel is practically embraced in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. This circumstance alone might lead us to suspect that so short a biography would probably stand earliest in date. The writer knows nothing of the virgin-birth, nor can he produce any anecdotes of the Master's childhood. He opens at the open-air propaganda of the Baptist. In one verse only he disposes of the legend of the temptation in the Wilderness. His view of Christ's power over disease stopped at a modest limit, for, while he tells how the people brought to Jesus "all" that were sick, Jesus merely healed " many;" and, at Nazareth, Jesus "could do no mighty work." He makes Jesus say that neither man nor angel, nor even the Son of Man himself, knew the time of the great judgment. Matthew, according to many authorities, left out the words, "neither the Son ;" and they do not appear in Luke at all. He represents the Nazarenes as asking the blunt question, * Abbott and Rushbrooke's "Common Tradition of the Synoptic Gospels;" Jolley's "Synoptic Problem for English Readers;" Cone's Gospel Criticism," chap. iii. Mr. Rushbrooke's "Synopticon" exhibits the Common Tradition in Greek, the various elements being distinguished by different types and the use of colours. |