1882; Dr. Edwin Abbott's nrticles on" The Gospels," in the new erlition of the' Ency- cloprcrlia Ilrittanica;' Mnngolrl'H erlition of Holt,;mann's 'F.inlcitnng ,:. Neuen Test.;' English tro.mlations of Dr. I•'. Godet's invalnablo introduction nnd commentary (T. rrnrl T. Clark); the commentnry and introduction by Canon Westcott, in the 'Speaker's CommentBry;' commentary and introduction by Drs. Moulton anrl Milligan, in Schaff's ' Popular Commentary;' and by Archdeacon Watkins in Bishop Ellicott's 'New Testa- ment Oommentary for English Readers;' translations of Bernard W e~ss's great work on the• Lifo of Christ' (3 vols., 'l'. and T. Clark), and of Theodore Keim's ',Jesus of Naz11rn,' nnd Dr. Ezra Abbott's• External Evidence of the Fourth Gospel.' Further, a contribution to literary evidences, entitled 'Canonicity of the New Testament,' by Professor Chnrteris, D.D., on the basis of Kirchhofer's 'Quellensamlung;' and a com- mentary by Dean Plummer, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, appear to me singularly useful. I acknowledge great indebtedness to these works, as well as to many others that are referred to in the course of the Introduction and Exposition. Whensoever and by whomsoever "the spiritual Gospel" was produced, it is a veritable prodigy of thought and suggestion, and it involves conceptions of the Divine, and possibilities of the hnman that are ineffably sublime. Its simplicity invites atten- tion, its depth bewilders. "A great water n is it, where an infant can wade, and where the mightiest craft can float, do business, and ride at anchor. Its metaphysic bridges the chasm between thought and reality. The spiritual becomes the eternal The philosophy of the union of the human to the Divine has never been conceived with such practical force and astounding realism. All this wonld ba true, if it be only the dream of some divine of the second century, more profound than Plato, more terrible than 2Eschylus, more sympathetic than Pascal, more mystic than Boehmen, more self- annihilatin.~ than Buddha, and of one albeit who has left no name behind him. But if the book be what it professes to be, the record of a positive experience, a selection and arrangement of the memories of the disciple whom Jesus loved, then, without any question or exaggeration, it is the most inestimably precious fragment of all recorded history. This is the deep conviction the Gospel has inspired in successive ages, and this conclusion is forced upon many of us by a candid perusal of all that has been written with the view of shattering it. One word concerning the text and the English translation presented in these volumes. Every place has been noted where the Revised Text of 1881 has deviated from the Textus Receptus, or from the well-known text of the eighth edition of Tischen- dorf, or from those of Trcgelles, and of Westcott and Hort. Some of the principal authorities on which these distinguished critics have in the main relied will be found in the footnotes. A few of the more celebrated texts, such as eh. i. 28; v. 3-5; vii. 63-viii. 12, have been discussed at greater length. Deviations from the Revised Version have been admitted into the translation with the view of exhibiting a closer approach to the exact force of certain sentences and words. '!'hey are not offered as revision of the Revisers' work, but as moving along the lines of exegetical and interpretative comment. The Hebrew, Greek, and Roman letters represent the uncial manuscripts, usually signified by them, and the Arabic numerals indicate the cursive manuscripts cited by Tiechendorf, Tregelles, Westcott and Hort, Meyer, Alford, Godet, and others. The versions, Fathers, and other materials of judgm.ent are indicated in a sufficiently explicit manner-the critical notes of Meyer and Alford and Dr. Weymouth's composite text have been carefully observed. • • • I desire especially to record my gratitude to the Rev. William Henry Beckett, of Stebbing, for the valuable help he has afforded to me in bringing the work through the preBB1 and for other important services and suggestions.
JOHN. "' THE