3. Their genuine absorption in tlieir subject. — There is evident in these Evangelists a feeling that they are dealing with a theme too sacred to be trifled with. Their attitude towards the Lord whose life and actions they seek to portray is one of profound reverential afi'ection, constraining them to a complete sinking of their own person- ality, with no other aim than that of ]jresenting a picture worthy of Him who has won their hearts. They write as men who are impelled by a pure devotion to declare what they have learned and know about things which they believe to be preci- ous and true.
II. In Jesus.— Reality, as seen in Jesus Himself, is superlatively arresting. In an age of affecta- tions, formalisms, and general bondage to tradition, He stood out as uncompromisingly sincere, intent on getting close to fact and truth, and keeping resolutely in view the essential and permanent interests of life. He dared to think for Himself, and rose high above all artificiality and make- believe. This spirit of reality in Jesus is con- vincingly attested by the following points :
1. His thorough naturalness as a religious teacher. — With no demure, sanctimonious airs, and no pretentious tones such as the Rabbis w'ere wont to assume, He spoke straight to the heart and conscience ; and common people felt that His utterances came home with an authority they were compelled to own (Mt 7^^). There was nothing of the professional about Him. His de- meanour was that of unstudied simplicity ; and when occasion suited. He could unbend and let joy and cheerfulness have their genial flow, — looking with amused interest on the children at their games (Mt 11^^-^^), sharing the gladness of the social gathering (Jn 2^"'"), or lighting up His discourse with flashes of playfulness (Lk 11^'^). While keenly alive to the seriousness of His vocation. He aff"ected none of the Pharisaic rigour which would repress the healthy instincts of humanity — a witness for the highest truth, yet winningly human, and with a manner so gracious and open as to make Him easily accessible to all classes of men.
2. His fearless directness in facing the actual facts of existence. — No one ever looked with more straight and steady gaze than Jesus did on the solemn realities of human life and destiny. The distress and sufl'ering that are in the world (Mt 4-* 12'5), the mysteries of Providence (Lk IS^"*, Jn 9^), the value and needs of the soul (Mt le'^^s-", Lk 12-0- •-'), the curse of sin (Mt 18**- ", Lk W, Jn 8-''*), the certainty of retribution (iNIt 18" 23»3, Mk 9«-48)^ the necessity of spiritual renewal (Mt 9''', Jn 3»-^), the burden of responsibility (Mt ll"»-2-» 23''*, Lk 1013-16), the imperative obligations of duty (Jn 9'*), the supreme authority of God (Mt 19", Jn 434 io-isi),_on all these Jesus kept His ej'e fixed with an intensity of vision and purpose that was never relaxed from the beginning to the end of
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His career. Clearing His mind of all vague senti- ment and easy superficiality, He confronted the grave problems and experiences, the mighty facts and forces, which affect man's well-being now and for ever, and dealt with them in a spirit of un- wavering fortitude and sincerity.
3. His steadfast determination to reach, and hold by, the fundamental elements of religion. — Radical in the truest sense, Jesus displayed an incessant anxiety to get at the roots of things, to pierce beneath superficial respectabilities, and find tlie great eternal principles on which life should be based. This is seen (1) in His teaching. The outward observances of religion. He maintained, are nothing unless prompted by genuine gratitude and reverence (Mt 23^^, Lk ll-*'-^). No matter how decorous the worship ofiered to Jehovah, if the spirit of devoutness does not fill the mind (Mt 15*, Jn 4"^*). The show of goodness may look fair, but it has no value if it be the outcome only of calcu- lating prudence or self -flattering pride (Mt 6^'^, Lk 16'^). Purity, mercy, clear integrity of motive in the central springs of the life. He insisted on as the essentials of goodness. Everything had to be sterling, from the heart, real [see art. HEART]. — (2) In His private life. The demand thus made was severely searching, yet it was fully met by Jesus in His own person. If the faithful • apjili- cation of high spiritual principles to the com- mon, trivial concerns of existence be a sure proof of reality, that proof was given by Him in a superb degree. It is significant that the men who knew Him best and saw most of Him in daily intimacy were also the men who adored and be- lieved in Him most fervently ; and even the one who played the traitor was yet constrained to bear testimony to the goodness he had wronged (Mt 27^). — (3) In His bearing toivards the bigoted ex- clusiveness of His day. Though threatened with the wreck of His own reputation by any associa- tion with the ' publicans and sinners,' Jesus had such profound sympathy with them in their de- spair of all good, begotten by the harsh ostracism to which they were doomed, that He seized every opportunity of coming into touch with them (Mt 9i»-i3, Mk 2'5- 16, Lk 5--^«- 3« 151- 2). Bent on stirring the hearts of those outcasts of society by some ray of hope. He moved straight on to His gracious object, grappling with the moral necessities of the situation, indifferent to the censures of offended propriety. He even went so far as to choose a publican as one of His immediate disciples. The same superiority to the exclusive temper of His time is evinced also in His relations with the de- spised Samaritans (Jn 4'»-»2, Lk 17"-l^ cf. lO*'^-^')— His dominant concern always being to penetrate beneath surface appearances, and to reach and make manifest the capacity for righteousness in the innermost core of every'human soul.