"Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." Eph. 6:17. "I never saw a useful Christian who was not a student of the Bible." D. L. Moody. THIS Volume is issued as an aid to the study of the life of Jesus. It is felt that a more thorough acquaintance with that life, in its plan and progress, may be obtained by the method here presented than can be gained by the fragmentary reading of the Gospels. "The importance of studying the four Gospels in connection," says Dr. G. W. Clark, "cannot be too highly estimated or too earnestly enforced. No clear and well-defined image of the Savior's life can be formed in the mind without it. Selecting leading texts of events and discourses from the different Evangelists will not answer the demand. Each Evangelist must be allowed to contribute his part toward a full and perfect likeness. The true chronological order must also, as far as possible, be observed, or the view will be confused and distorted. But the constant turning from one Gospel to another, and the act of comparing and mentally deciding and arranging, are exceedingly inconvenient and laborious, and most persons who attempt it weary in the task. Hence the great value of an arrangement of the Scriptural text according to the probable order of events, so that the eye can survey all the narratives of dent or utterance at a glance." any inci In his harmonized presentation of the events and discourses of the four Gospels, the compiler of this work has followed, in general, the arrangement adopted by many modern Harmonists, among them Tischendorf, Robinson, Strong, Clark and Gardiner, which is based upon the view that Mark and John, with few exceptions, conform strictly to the chronological order: while Matthew and Luke, on the other hand, guided rather by the principle of association, frequently group together transactions and narratives, related to one theme or connected by a common thought, though they may have occurred at different times and in various places. Of the Harmonists named above, Dr. Gardiner has been most closely adhered to, although the arrangement of Robinson and Clark has been adopted in a few instances, as avoiding certain transpositions of some of the discourses, and thereby, it is thought, enhancing the value of the volume to Sunday-school workers for whose use, as constituting the large majority of Bible students among the laity, it has been especially prepared. The chronology is that of the Rev. Samuel J. Andrews, as presented in his "Bible Student's Life of our Lord," London. The references are, in the main, those which were made with extreme care and diligence by the learned and devout Dr. Blayney in 1769, and since then generally printed in the leading reference Bibles. To have given all these references in full would have greatly increased the size and cost of this book. Nor would it have served so well the end had in view as the plan here adopted. It is hoped that Scripture research will be stimulated by the offering of selections only from the great storehouse of references; for these selections may prove to the thoughtful and devout reader guide-posts, pointing to the fertile fields beyond-beginnings of that "unfolding of the divine words. which," says the Psalmist, "giveth light." It has been the endeavor, further, to give prominence to such references as seem best adapted to illustrate the spiritual truths taught in the text. The compiler desires here to bear grateful testimony to the spiritual benefit which he feels that he himself has gained from this special study, which has extended over several years, an encouragement to hope that his book may be the medium of a similar blessing to many of his readers; and if that might be the result of his labors, great indeed would be his reward. The references thus chosen, as also the text itself, will render the book helpful, it is thought, to leaders of prayer and conference meetings, at which passages from the Gospels are the theme for study. The map and diagrams are a novel feature of this work, and to them the reader's special attention is called. They have been carefully prepared, and can hardly fail, if properly used, to facilitate an understanding of the text and to aid the memory. The compiler has advanced no novel or strictly original views, but has followed closely in the track of men whose right to speak with some measure of authority upon these matters is undisputed. And yet he feels that he will not misrepresent the views of these scholars, whom he has chosen as guides, in stating that it is not claimed by them that the order of events or the chronology here presented, is established beyond question. To quote further from Dr Clark, [These matters] "open a large field for the exercise, both of the judgment and of charity. The arrangement of many passages must depend largely on the discriminating taste of the Harmonist. What may appear probable and appropriate to one may seem less so to another. Dogmatism, therefore, is out of place; caution and a regard for the conclusions of others are ever becoming, and the study and comparison of different harmonies are desirable and very profitable." Attention is called to the article on Bible Translations, a subject of importance to every student of the Script ures. No one can afford to overlook the Introduction by Dr. Henson. There is much of instruction, and of suggestion of deep truths presented in its pages. J. P. C. INTRODUCTION. WHEN we sing as we are accustomed to do, "God is his own interpreter, the meaning is, of course, that those dark providences which we so much dread, when interpreted by subsequent providences, when taken in their relation to the whole course of God's providence, when that shall be set forth before us, instead of being regarded as black and baneful, will be seen to be radiant with beauty and freighted with love. But the words we have quoted are susceptible as well of application to that higher and clearer revelation God has given of himself in his Word. Not only is there an unfolding of God's meaning in Scripture, even as there is in Providence, so that what comes earlier is illuminated and made intelligible by what comes afterwards, but even apart from any chronological considerations, it must evermore be borne in mind that every truth is many-sided and every side, like the facets of a diamond, hath its own peculiar hue of prismatic beauty. It is not possible to see all the truth from any one standpoint, nor for any one form of statement to exhaust the fullness of its meaning. And so in what we call the Bible, God has given us many books penned by many writers, each presenting such views of truth as his mental and spiritual nature made him specially adapted to be the vehicle of. Not that any one of these Scripture writers was left to wander at his own sweet will," so that we must largely discount his deliverances on account of his human imperfections and the possibility of his misapprehending what the Lord would have him teach. That were indeed to undermine utterly the authority of the Scriptures, and "if the foundations be destroyed what shall the righteous do?" We do most thoroughly and invincibly believe that "holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,' |
