the First Impressions of the teaching of Jesus, the two elements of the coming conflict are seen side by side. There is the Gathering of Disciples: not only are personal calls recorded, but at this point the very Scribes themselves show a disposition to press into the kingdom. There are also Hints of Antagonism, and at this time they are no more than hints: silent doubts as to the claim to forgive sins, respectful questionings as to unpatriotic companying with publicans, or immoral companying with sinners, as to feasting while others fast. The section has an appropriate climax in an incident which leads the multitude to cry out in wonder, and the Pharisees to mutter the thought which hereafter is to be their great blasphemy.

But from this point the winnowing power of Christ's ministry, and the divergent effects of its contact with human society, have so increased that the successive sections of St. Matthew's narrative similarly diverge, and alternately treat of the disciples, with their deepening hold of the kingdom, and the outside world, with its intensifying opposition. The fifth section draws into one view the Organisation of Apostles to spread the news of the kingdom, and similarly unifies the instructions given them into a single Sevenfold Commission. From the Apostles the narrative turns, in the sixth section, to the world, and brings out the Growing Isolation of Jesus in his Ministry: he gradually draws apart from the imperfect ministry of his forerunner; from the Pharisaic doctrine of the Sabbath,

the great outward mark of the Hebrew nation; other opposition of the Pharisees is pronounced a blasphemy against the Spirit of Holiness; from the wisdom and might of the great cities he turns to the simplicity of babes, to those who labour and are heavy laden; a final touch is found in the separation of Jesus from his very mother and brethren. With the seventh section we have returned to the band of disciples: here is brought out the distinction between the Public Parable, the dark saying addressed with its own winnowing power to the multitude, and the Private Interpretation, which with unwearied patience gives the full light to those who are thus being initiated into the 'mystery' of the kingdom of heaven. The eighth section resumes the external ministry: here are related the Greater Miracles the wide-reaching effects of such incidents as the feeding of multitudes with a few loaves and fishes; here equally appears the Growing Antagonism, by which Christ's own country casts him off, and Jerusalem sends a deputation to watch him, while Jesus himself staggers the faith of those closest to him by cutting down at one stroke the whole Tradition of the Elders, which had cast a veil of ceremonial frivolities over the face of the Mosaic law. Section nine, commencing with the confession of Peter, records the Full Recognition by the Disciples of the Kingdom; but the strange doctrine of the sufferings of the Messiah, which is thereupon revealed to them, raises in their minds perplexing questions of the Kingdom, and

its spirit is more and more fully unfolded. This brings us to the tenth section, the Entry into Jerusalem, and the Final Breach with the Ruling Classes; it closes with the sevenfold denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees, and the weeping over the doomed city. The public ministry of Jesus has now closed: the eleventh section contains the Discourse to the Disciples which is the Revelation of the End; and the final division of the narrative records the Passion of Jesus and his Resurrection.

Literary criticism shows at its worst when it seeks to make preferences; and it would be wanting in reverence to the sacred character of the gospels to exalt one above the other. Each has its proper function, and makes appeal to a different class of readers. But it may be said that the Gospel of St. Matthew has a special interest for modern thought, and the rational spirit of enquiry which seeks a connected view of even the most sacred incidents; here we have a mind, cast in the mould of Hebrew philosophy, exhibiting its philosophic grasp of an historic world-movement of which the outer form is Hebrew. The historic books of the Old Testament, however much they may leave to critical enquiry for adjustment and reconstruction, make a noble literary whole. They are the story of a theocracy in conflict with the secular: a national sense of divine kingship is gradually dissipated by assimilation to the visible government of surrounding peoples. Thus the Old Testament history is history of

failure: the secular government culminates in national exile, and the restored Jewish church becomes spiritual at the price of increased exclusiveness. A truer conclusion to the history of the Old Testament is found in the gospel of St. Matthew: here a kingdom of God that is essentially spiritual is seen developing in conflict with secular powers, which crush out of it all that is not spiritual, eternal, universal. There can be no fitter close for this narrative of St. Matthew than his brief picture of the risen Lord, on the mountain of ascension, giving to the band of disciples the command to make disciples of all the nations, animated by a presence that will be in their midst even to the end of the world.

II

To the Gospel of St. Mark, considered as a literary work, little is needed in the way of introduction. It is sufficiently obvious that this gospel is addressed, not to Hebrews, but to Gentiles; and several times parentheses

in modern phrase, footnotes — give explanations of details which by Hebrew readers would be taken for granted. In this, more than in the other narratives, we find general pictures of the ministry of Jesus. Especially prominent is the constant crowding of the multitudes roused by the works of wonder, which drive Jesus into desert places to seek privacy, while, if he enters a house, the whole city St. Mark deals much less fully

is gathered at the door.

than the other evangelists with the actual teaching of the Master: the very 'Sermon on the Mount' is wanting. On the other hand, he preserves with more minuteness the outward circumstances amid which the teaching is delivered. All three gospels bring out the exceeding difficulty with which the disciples receive the revelation of the sufferings of the Messiah: it is Mark who tells us how on the very mountain of the transfiguration the disciples 'wist not what to answer' and 'became sore afraid'; how again, they understood not the saying, and were afraid to ask him'; how, in the going up to Jerusalem, 'Jesus was going before them, and they were amazed, and they that followed were afraid.' St. Matthew makes a single incident of the barren fig tree: St. Mark relates separately the mystic words addressed to the tree, and how, on the following morning, the marvel of the tree's withering drew another lesson from the Master. St. Matthew, with his tendency to classification, includes with the other tempting questions the scribe's enquiry as to the great commandment of the law: St. Mark has preserved the separateness of this from the rest, and how the scribe did homage to the grandeur of the reply, and Jesus recognised the different spirit of this questioner. The external details introduced by this evangelist often serve as links binding incidents together: Matthew relates Christ's saying about his mother and brethren immediately after the blasphemy of the Pharisees, but it is Mark who opens this latter