It is scarcely necessary to add that these facts or requirements would be ' commended to every man's conscience' (2 Co 4-) by examples of the wisdom, sublimity, and beauty of the SaWour's moral and spiritual teaching. Of this we have an example in St. Paul's speech at Miletus (Ac 20"). In this case the audience was composed of Chris- tian elders ; and it may be that a true instinct led the early preachers, in addressing the unconverted, to dwell on the Woes rather than on the Beatitudes. However tliis may be, the meagre sermon sketches contained in the Book of the Acts do not enable us to make a positive statement as to wliat the preachers said, beyond what is indicated in tlie outline given above.
3. We may say, then, tliat it was the needs of the Cliristian Churcli in her natural
first called Gospels into existence. The language of St. Luke {V- ') confirms what we might have otherwise guessed as to the history of the transition from oral to written narratives. Those who had been privileged to be ' eye-witnesses and ministers of the word ' ' delivered ' (irap^Soo-ai') to others what they deemed essential in what tliey had seen and heard in the course of their attendance on their Master, and ' many ' of their hearers ' took in hand to draw up narratives' (dvardfoff^ai Si-irfW^")- It may be remarked in passing that St. Paul, who always claimed an authoritative knowledge of the capital events of the Evangelic history, uses the
word wapadiSdmi of his o\ra communications to liis converts (1 Co 11-- ^ 15^ 2 Th 2'^ 3'^).
It is impossible to say how early the necessity for written Gospels arose. The expajision of the Church beyond Juda;a began possibly immediately after the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit ; it certainly was in operation aft«r the martyrdom of Stephen (Ac 11"). The number of tliose who could be reckoned as ' eye-witnesses and ministers of the word ' cannot have been very great. Even if we make the large assumption that every one of the 120 persons who were gathered together for the election of Matthias (Ac 1'*), or of the 500 hrotliren to whom the Lord appeared (1 Co 15"), could be so described, and that they were all sub- sequently engaged in active evangelistic work, yet the labour of spreading the new faith, even within the limits of Palestine, would have soon outgrown their power to cope with it. As far as the original witnesses were concerned, their memory would enable them to teU all that was necessary of the Saviour's life, even as much a;3 is contained in the longest of our present Gospels. Indeed, there can be no doubt that from constant, perhaps daOy, re- petition of some portion of the stoi-y, the recollec- tion of the whole would soon assume a stereotyped form. But as the number of evangelists who had not ' known Clirist after the flesh ' multiplied in every direction, it would very soon become impos- sible for the original witnesses even to instruct all those who were to teach others. To meet this im- perative and gro\ving need — the instruction of preachers — was, we may well believe, one of the objects with which the narratives alluded to by St. Luke in his preface were first drawn up. It is natuial to suppose that at first such narratives were used to refresh the memory of the evangelists ; afterwards, when the first generation of believers had quite passed away, the wTitten Gospels would be openly read, as being the most authentic account of what the original witnesses had seen and heard.
Dr. Salmon is of opinion that even before the Crucifixion some of our Lord's discourses, or por- tions of them, had been committed to writing. Without going so far as tliis, it is scarcely open to reasonable doubt that WTitten Gospels of some sort were in circulation well -witliin the period covered by the Acts of the Apostles. In order the better to see this, we shall examine the evidence supplied by the Epistles of St. Paul. His writings, from their e.xtent and the comparative certainty with which they can be dated, afford the most satisfac- tory grounds on which to base a conclusion.
i. It is obvious that the question when the word ei5a77^\ioi' was first used in the sense in which we use it when we speak of the ' Gospel according to St. Matthew,' is quite distinct from the question as to when such written nan-atives first appeared and received any degi-ee of public recognition. The first step towards what may be called the literary use of the term evayy^Xiov is to be found in passages where the word is used, not of the ' good news ' it.self, but in the sense of someone's presentation of it.
1 Th 15 ' Our gospel canie not unto you in word only."
2 Th 21^ • God called you [unto salvation] through our gospel.' Gal lu 'The gospel which was preached by me . . . is not
after man.' Gal 22 ' I laid before them the gospel which I preach among
the Gentiles.' Ro 21G ' God shall judge the secrets of men, according to my
gospel, by Jesus Christ.'
1 Co ISl*"- ' 1 make known unto you . . . the gospel which I