The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 137

lives-in a few sentences only, by means of which their inner life in part expressed itself. Shonld a bio.2:rapher be content, in delineating 11he career of Lulher, to pnint with perfect eccuracy t.hree or four palmary events in his life, to pro,•ide tho sotting of three or four memore_b(e ut.teranoes of tho Reformer, which appear to the writer to represent the essential spmt of the man,-he ought not to be charged with inventing those faots or fabricating th~ i;e.yings, even should it turn out that the events aud words inherently pos11e11s a dramatic propriety in themselves. A description of Luther nailing his theses t-0 the church door; bis journey to Worms ; bis characteristic speeches on his progreBB thither and before the Diet; his language to the prophets at Wittemberg, when he burst from his retirement to confront them; his conduct dming the Diet at Augsburg, and the death-scene,-would not constitute a biography of Luther. Yet should a com- petent student, who perceives in these events and words powerful expression of the chief momenta of Luther's mission in this world, elect thus to represent it, and confine himself to them, their dramatic relation t.o one another ought not to invalidate confi- dence in their accuracy and historicity. Other consistent hypotheses of the personality of the gre&t Reformer might be framed which would not include more than one or two of these events, but might include other groups of sayings equally historic and revela- tory. They need not be charged with being merely subjective creations because of this difference of subject-matter. The Personality of the Logos incarnate, if such an hypothesis or presupposition be rational at all, could not have evolved itself in human life without evoking a faith and a distrust which acted and reacted on each other. The leading revelations-of his own essential Being would be made through actions and words more or less obviously related. The unconscious poetry and dramatic effect of the revelation of the conflict and the victory must evince and evolve itself to one who reflects upon the whole effect upon his own mind of the life and ministry of the L-Ord. The dramatic unity of the whole is a testimony to the reality of the facts. Such a conception of the life, vindicated by the citation of its chief moment.a, renders the testimony thus borne to Jesus the most remarkable fact in all literature. The Fourth Gospel is so interrelated in all its parts, and conveys such powerful testimony to what was consecutively unfolded, accounts so wondrously for the catastrophe, and prepares so fully for the final revelations of the risen L-Ord and strong Son of God, that little controversy remains as to its '11111,ity. No mythopalic tendency can have produced such a. drama. The whole is so harmoniously built up out of its several parts that a variety of authorship is hardly so much as sus- pected by the most resolute of its opponents. The vision is not one of many minds at different epochs, but of one richly stored mind at one consummating period of his own career. The elaboration of the details and the exhaustive presentation of great truths t-0uching the work and person of the God-Man reflect in every verse the spiritual apprehension of one exalted mind. There _can be no que_sti?n that _the writer wishes himself to be re!!&rded as the near relative and most intimate friend and beloved 0 disciple of Jesns. If the considerations already advance~ justify us in holding that this writer was the identical person whom he represents himself to be, we have scarcely any option-we must believe that Jesus was and is the Son of God. If such a concep- tion of his Master was prepared by an intimate disciple and on~ ~!10 knew that. he spake truth, then in him we have " the true God and eternal hfe. Before making any attempt to grasp the representation in its fulness, we have need to take our shoes from our feet-we a.re on holy ground. . The aid to this task obviously available in the numerous arrangements ?f the subJect- matter to which we have referred alone makes it possible to the present wnter to propose the following scheme : - 1. TRB REVELATION OP THE LoGOS TO TliE WORLD. Ei:positlon ol the fundamental nature of "t_he Word," a~d compre_hen~ivt specimens of hi■ nature and method, with the twofold effect of his self-revelat1on. Ch. 1.-1v. 1. TM ezplanation offered by the eoongeli:Jt of the aeries of facts wMch he ia about to na,.,-au. Thia ii contained in eh. i. 14-, "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." But before he makes this 11111ertion, he state&- (1) The pre-emtence, Peri;onality, and Divinity of the Logos. Ch. i. 1, 2.  THE GOSPEL ACOORDING TO ST. JOHN. clv