The decision of most of the questions included in the subject before us must depend on the patient examination of a mass of particulars which cannot be set forth here. But it may be well to indicate in general terras the nature and bearing of the evidence on some of the chief points at issue. We pass on, therefore, to consider —
(3) The Source or Sources of the matter and order common to the three Synoptic Gospels. — It will not bo profitless, in the tirst place, briefly to give the reasons for which Griesbach's theory has been generally abandoned. That theory is at first eight tempting. It seems to account readily for the fact that not only do we find in Mk so much that is common also to Mt and Lk, btit that traits and words and expressions which occur, some in Mt, some in Lk, in narratives that are parallel, are frequently found in combination in Jlk ; so that this Gosjiel, while it is on the whole shorter, is generally fuller in the narratives it does contain. It is not impossible that in some, and even a good many cases, words, etc., from Mt or Lk may have been introduced, e.g. by the hand of an editor, into the second Gospel as we have it. But the theory of compilation cannot explain the phenomena as a whole. For (a) to carry out the process of analysis and combination to tne extent required by this hj-pothesis would be a very com- plicated and difficult task, such as no one, especi- ally in that age, would be likely to undertake. The supposition that Mt and Lk reproduced Mk, or the document embodied therein, with some abbreviations and alterations which are largely difi'erent because they acted independently, is a far simpler one. Moreover, it accounts for a large part of the similarity between Mt and Lk themselves, which, on Griesbach's theory, is left wholly unexplained, (b) The reasons that can be alleged, on Griesbach's theory, for Mk's relinquish- ing the order of narratives in Mt to follow Lk, and vice versA, and for his omission of so much which those Gospels contain, though he is supposed in other cases to have combined them, appear to be very arbitrary, (c) A mere compiler could hardly have been able to give to his work the force and freshness and vividness which peculiarly characterize Mk.
We turn to the question whether the chief source common to the three was a certain traxli- tion of oral teaching or a document. In judging of the adequacy of the former to account for the facts, it seems important, first of all, to distin-
guish between the cfTect which oral teaching might have, on the one hand, in determining the general character of the selection and presentation of the matter recorded, and, on the other hand, in seeming a fixed order of sequence in the relation of particuiai incidents and pieces of discourse. Now, the con- tents and general form of the Sj-noptic outline, a« we see it most simply in Mk, is such as might naturally arise from the circumstances and needs of the preaching of the gospel, a-s soon as its message was delivered to those who had not them- selves known Jesus. In the earliest days after Pentecost, anion" the people of Jerusalem and the crowds from Galilee to whom the great Prophet of Nazareth had been a familiar ligure, it was enough for the apostles to testify that He had risen from the dead. Even to a man like Cornelius, whom the fame of His deeds could not but have reached in a more or less distinct and accurate form, it might be enough to say, 'The word which he sent unto the children of Israel, preaching good tidings of peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all)^tliat saying, ye j'ourselves know, which was published throughout all Judiea, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached ; even Jesus of Nazareth, how that God anointed him with the Holy Ghost and with power ; who went about doing good, and healing aJI that were oppressed with the devil ; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did, both in the country of the Jews and in Jeru- salem ; whom also they slew, hanging him on a tree ' (Ac lU*''*'). But more and more, as years passed, and as the gospel was carried to fresh circles, men would wish to have particulars about the life and work of Jesus ; and it would be neces- sary that a right impression of Him and His ministry should be imparted, in order that the meaning of His cross and resurrection should be in any measure understood. For this purpose an expansion would be needed of that brief summary which has just been quoted. The preachers would seek to set before their hearers in a comprehensive manner, and within such limits as oral teaching imposed, a view of the person of Jesus in its attractive grace and holiness and goodness, as He had been known to themselves and to the multi- tudes who followed Him, to enable them to realize His supernatural character, as it was evidenced by His wonder-working power, and the authority with which He spake. A detailed chronicle was not what was wanted ; they wished simiily to impart a clear conception of His mission and His credentials. The desired end could be best attained by a sketch which should give prominence to the salient features of His work, and which, while it con- tained some comprehensive descriptions of His occupations at diU'erent periods, and of the im- pression produced by His teaching and miracles, and marked a few chief epochs in His ministry, should be confined, for the rest, to an account of some important incidents and sayings, selected as examples out of a mass of others that might have been told. When they passed to the last days of His life, and His death, the mode of treatment would naturally be different. Here it would be no longer a question merely of illustrations. Be- sides all other reasons for giving a fuller narrative, such as the natural interest of the closing scenes, and the deep impression which all their details had made on the minds and hearts of the preachers themselves, it was necessary to press home and to justify the idea of a suffering Messiah. In addition to these aims, which tended to impart a particular form to the accounts orally delivered, the close intercourse maintained among the original group of Christian missionaries, even after they had begun to move about, and the similarity of the