01.4. Theological and Homiletical Introduction to NT

THEOLOGICAL AND HOMILETICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT

§ 1. Theology in general, or the scientific knowledge of the Christian religion, may, according to its historical and scientific character, be arranged under two great divisions,—Historical, and Theoretical or Systematic Theology, taking these terms in their widest sense. (I.) Historical Theology may again be ranged under the following three sections:—(1) The History of Revelation, or of the Kingdom of God, which forms the basis of the whole system; (2) The History of the Records of Revelation, or Exegetics in the wider sense; (3) The History of Revealed Religion, or Church History. (II.) In the same manner, Theoretical or Systematic Theology may be divided into three sections:—(1) The System of Christian Doctrines, or Dogmatics; (2) The System of Christian Morals, or Ethics; (3) The System of Christian Polity, or Practical Theology.

§ 2. From this analysis we infer that the materials from which to construct a theological and homiletical Introduction to the Sacred Scriptures, must be derived from the elements of the history of revelation, of exegesis, and church history, as well as from the elements of dogmatics, ethics, and practical theology, always with special reference to the practical, homiletical, and pastoral point of view.

§ 3. Before proceeding with our special Introduction to the New Testament, we must premise, in brief outline, a General Introduction to the Scriptures. The special introduction to the Old Testament may be left for another occasion,²⁵ not merely because our present task is connected with the New Testament, but because, as Christians, we proceed, theoretically, from the New Testament to the Old, and not vice versa. It is sufficient for our purpose to communicate, in briefest form, the results obtained by modern research, and to indicate the works which may aid the reader in reviewing these results for himself.

§ 4. Accordingly, we shall have to preface the N. T. portion of our Commentary,—(1) by a General Introduction from the theological and homiletical point of view; (2) by a Historical and Exegetical Introduction to the New Testament in general, and to its various parts; (3) by a General Homiletical and Pastoral Introduction; (4) by a Homiletical and Pastoral Introduction to the New Testament.

FIRST SECTION GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

_____________

§ 1 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION, OR OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD The History of the Kingdom of God must not be confounded with Biblical History. The latter, like Biblical Theology, forms part of Exegesis, while the History of the Kingdom of God embraces the whole history of the world viewed from the Christian stand-point. The kingdom of God is that new creation in which God reveals Himself in His character as Redeemer. It is based upon the universal and absolute dominion of God over the world, and results from it; and it consists in the restoration of the dominion of the Spirit of God over the hearts of men, brought about by Christ, who is the heart of the race. As mankind was originally destined to form the kingdom of God, and for that purpose was arranged into one family, the kingdom of God may also be viewed as the restoration of mankind to one body under the One and Eternal Head (Acts 3:21; Ephesians 1:22), in whom it was elected from all eternity, and called, for the harmonious manifestation of the glory of God (Ephesians 1:4-5). The restoration of this kingdom presupposes the existence of an opposite pseudo-kingdom, in which the human family were scattered and dispersed by sin—a kingdom of darkness and of falsehood, the kingdom of Satan. Accordingly, the history of the preparation, foundation, and completion of the kingdom of God, is at the same time the history of its hostile conflicts with the antagonistic kingdom of darkness. The kingdom of God disappeared from earth through the working of unbelief, by which the Lord was robbed of His dominion over the heart. Similarly has it again been restored to the world by the combined operation of the grace of God, and of a spiritual faith which He has planted in the heart of His elect, and which ultimately appeared in all its fulness and perfectness, as conquering the world, in Christ, the Elect One. This salvation of the world is destined gradually to spread till it pervades all mankind. Hence the extension of the kingdom of God to its final completion in the world will occupy the entire course of time, even as this kingdom is destined to cover all space in the world. Viewed in this light, the whole history of the world itself is simply the history of the restoration and transformation of the world into the kingdom of God.

Thus, all history may be included under the idea of the βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ. But its innermost centre is that manifestation of God’s redeeming grace, by which, on the basis of His general revelation to man, He has founded His kingdom. The all-comprehensive medium of God’s revelation was His personal incarnation in Christ. Throughout the entire course of history, we perceive how mankind, in ever-narrowing circles, tends towards this manifestation of the God-Man. Again, after He has appeared, we notice how, in ever-widening circles, it tends towards the final goal—to present all mankind as born of God.

Christ, then, is the beginning, the middle, and the end of all revelation. But as revelation is ever love, light, and life, it embodies at the same time both saving truth and saving reality, or revelation in the narrower sense, and actual redemption Hence it is that in Christ we have not only the completion of revelation, but also complete redemption.

Redemption, in all its phases and stages, is prepared and introduced by judgments, which, by the grace of God, are, however, converted into so many deliverances. Again, every new stage in the unfolding and history of salvation is marked by a fresh extension and establishment of the kingdom of God, appearing as the Church of the redeemed. Hence, while the real kingdom of God was founded when redemption was first introduced, it shall be perfected when the benefits of redemption shall have been extended to the utmost boundaries of the world. This is the Development of Revelation, to which we now proceed.

I. General Revelation a) Widest circle (revelation by Symbolical signs, which ultimately point of the Word).

b) Narrower circle (revelation by facts).

II. Special Revelation, or Revelation of Salvation (by the Word, accompanied by Symbolical Signs) a) Revelation during the course of its progress.

b) Revelation completed.

So far as we are concerned, it is by subjective revelation that we become partakers of objective revelation, even as it is only by the revelation of salvation that we come to understand and see general revelation. The various cycles of revelation are clearly perceived only when viewed in the light of justifying and saving faith, which sheds upon each of them a new and glorious lustre. The following are the various periods of historical revelation in parallel review:—

The manifestation of salvation, as it constitutes the great moving force of all history, draws the course of the latter into the whole of the history of the kingdom of God. The history of the βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ may be divided into that of the Kingdom of God in its legal and typical form, or the Theocracy (a term formed by Josephus, Contra Apion. ii. 16), and that of the real Kingdom of God in spirit and in truth—the βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν,—or into the Pre-Christian and the Christian (not Post-Christian) Era.

I. History of the Theocracy, or of the Pre-Christian Era

1. Primeval times, the type of the entire history of the world to the great judgment—till the Flood—and the new formation of the (Noachic) race.

2. The dispersion of nations and the calling of Abraham; or, origin of the contrast between Heathenism and Judaism (preparation for the Theocracy), or between passive and active religiousness (the religions of nature, and that of revelation).

3. Establishment of the great contrast; or, the Empires of the world as the central points of civilization, and the foundation and history of the Theocracy in the narrower sense. Antagonism and mutual influence.

4. Removal of the great contrast and antagonism. Gentiles settle in Palestine; the Jews of the Diaspora. Cessation of the typical, and preparation of the real Theocracy. (Heathen power and heathen culture. Oppression of the Jews and prophecies.)

5. The first coming of Christ. Close of the first, and commencement of the second era. Redemption of the world.

II. History of the Kingdom of God in its Fulness, or of the Kingdom of Heaven in the World 1. Primeval Christianity, the type of all Church History 2. Appearance of the antagonism between the Christian Church and the Jewish and heathen world.

3. Establishment of this antagonism; or, the Christian Empires, and the establishment of the Church in the narrower sense. Hostility and mutual influences. Mediæval Legalism a symbol and type of the future.

4. Removal of the antagonism, and appearance of the true Church and the true State.

5. The future of Christendom.

LITERATURE In a certain sense, every branch of literature may be regarded as auxiliary to the study of the history of the kingdom of God. More particularly, however, we include here those works on universal history which are written from a general or a religious point of view, and works on the philosophy of history. It is scarcely necessary to add, that we would also direct special attention to historical books written in a Christian spirit, and to those which treat expressly of the history of the kingdom of God.

I. General Works²⁶ On Chronology:—Gatterer (1777), Ideler (1825–26), Brinkmeier (1843). On General History:—Herder, Fred. Schlegel (R. C.), and Hegel, on the Philosophy of History. Eyth: History from the Christian stand-point (1853). Ehrenfeuchter: The Histor. Development of Mankind (Heidelb. 1855). Bräm, Barth, Lisco, Theremin, Grundtwig, Zahn, Kalkar, Ziegler, Kurtz, on Sacred History. Bunsen: God in History (Part I. Leipz., 1857). Leo (Romanizing), and Dittmar: History of the World before and since Christ. [R. Turnbull: Christ in History. Boston, 1854.—P. S.] II. On Particular Periods and Branches

1. History of Creation.—Schubert, Wagner, Pfaff, Burmeister (negative), Rougemont. Humboldt: Kosmos. Kurtz: Bible and Astronomy (Germ. and English). [Hugh Miller: Testimony of the Rocks, or Geology in its bearings on the two theologies, natural and revealed. Edinb. and Boston, 1859. Tayler Lewis: The Six Days of Creation, or the Scriptural Cosmology. New York and London, 1855.—P. S.]

2. The Flood.—Lücken, Stolberg (Hist. of Religion, Germ., vol. i. App.), Buttmann, Bopp (Die Sündfluth, Berlin, 1829), Rud. Wagner (Naturgeschichte des Menschen, 1838), Schubert (Das Weltgebäude, Erlangen, 1852).

3. The Division of Nations and the Genealogical Table. Heathenism.—Feldhoff (Die Völkertafel der Genesis, 1837), Knobel (ditto, 1850). [Tuch, Delitzsch, Bush, on Genesis, ch. x.—P. S.] Creuzer, Baur, Stuhr, Wuttke, on Ancient Mythology and the heathen religions. G. Seibert: Griechenthum und Christenthum, 1857. Döllinger (R. C.): Heidenthum und Judenthum—Vorhalle des Christenthums, 1857. [A very learned and instructive work, also translated into English.—P. S.] Schelling: Philosophy of Mythology.

4. History of Israel.—Hess, Jost (a liberal Jew), Bertheau, Ewald, [Milman, Stanley] on the history of the Jews.—Comp. Josephus on the Jewish war.

5. Fulfilment of Prophecies.—Keith, O. Strauss (Niniveh and the Word of God, 1855), Layard (Nineveh and Babylon).

6. The Life of Christ.—Works of Hase, Neander, Lange, Ewald, Lichtenstein, Friedlieb, Bucher, [Sepp, Kuhn, Ellicott, Andrews, on the Life of Christ; also Ullmann, Young, Bushnell, Schaff, Dorner, on he Character and sinless Perfection of Jesus.—P. S.]

7. The Apostolic Age.—Neander, J. P. Lange (Leipz., 1853), P. Schaff (2d ed., Leipz., 1854, German and English), Thiersch, Trautmann, Lechler, in the Apostolic Age. Mosheim, Baur, Hagenbach and Schaff, on the Church in the first three centuries.

8. Church History.—See Liter. in Hagenbach’s Theol. Encyclop., p. 220, and in Schaff’s Hist. of the Apost. Church, Gen. Introd., ch. iv. On the moral effects of Christianity: Tzschirner, on the Down-fall of heathenism (German), Chaste, Beugnot, on the same subject (French), C. Schmidt: Essai historique sur la société civile dans le monde romain, et sur sa transformation par le Christianisme, [comp. an able review of the latter work, by Dr. Sears, in the Bibliotheca Sacra for April, 1863.—P. S.]

9. Post-Christian Judaism.—Friedländer, Grätz, Beer, M‘Caul, Jost, [Edersheim,] on later Jewish history.

10. Mohammedanism.—G. Weil: Mohammed, his Life and Doctrine (German). Stuttgart, 1343. Döllinger: Mohammed’s Religion. München, 1838. W. Irving: Life of Mohammed. Gerok: Christology of the Koran (German). Gotha, 1839. German translations of the Koran, by Boysen, Wahl, Geiger, Ullmann. [Engl. trsl. with notes, by J. M. Rodwell. London, 1861.—P. S.]

11. History of Civilization.—A very extensive literature. General works on the subject by Gruber, Kolb, Wachsmuth (Leipz. 1850), Guizot [Balmez.] History of Philosophy by Brucker, Tennemann, Reinhold, Rixner, Ritter, Hegel, Sigwart, Schwegler; and on special sections of the hist. of Philos.: Brandis, Erdmann, Chalybäus [Zeller, Morell, A. Butler, Maurice.—P. S.] History of Art by Kugler, Schnaase, Otte, Springer, Piper, etc. History of Literature by Eichhorn, Wachler, Bouterweck, Schlegel, [Grässe, Brunet, Allibone, etc.] History of Law and Jurisprudence by Eichhorn, Walter, Philipps, Grimm, Savigny.

12. History of Missions.—Blumhardt: Gen. Hist. of Missions in the Christ. Church. Basel, 1828–1837, 3 vols. G. Schmidt: Victory of Christianity, etc. (German). Leipz., 1857, 3d ed. Steger:Protest. Missions, 1838. W. Hoffmann: Missions-Stunden, and other writings. Wallmann: The Missions of the Evangel. Churches (German), 1849. [Harvey Newcomb: Cyclopedia of Missions (700 pages). New York, 1854. The Memorial Volume of the first Fifty Years of the Amer. Board of Com. for Foreign Missions. Boston, 1861.—P. S.] The periodical reports and publications of Missionary societies in Europe and America. On Inner missions see the works of Wichern, März, [and the reports of the German Church Diet and Congress for Inner Missions, since 1848.—P. S.]

§ 2 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES I. Auxiliary Sciences

Among the auxiliary sciences of exegesis we include all those which serve to prepare us for the study of Scripture. To this class belongs the study of antiquities, and that of ancient languages, generally; and, more particularly, that of criticism and of hermeneutics. The direct auxiliaries to the study of the Scriptures are, so far as the text itself is concerned, biblical antiquities and the sacred languages; and, so far as regards the present form of the text, biblical criticism and hermeneutics. These two sciences consist in the knowledge how scientifically to examine and to ascertain the genuineness of the records of Scripture and of the text, and in acquaintanceship with the fundamental principles of biblical interpretation.

1. Biblical Archæology in general.—Comp. Hagenbach, Theol. Encyclop., p. 132. Among works on this subject we name those by Warnekros, Rosenmüller, Jahn, de Wette, Ewald, Scholz, Saalschütz, the Real-Wörterbuch of Winer (indispensable), and other Encyclopædias of Biblical Literature.

Various branches of biblical Archœology. a) Ethnology.—The descendants of Shem. The Hebrews. The Jews. The nations of Canaan. The nations surrounding Israel. Comp. the Archæological works of Bellermann, Rosenmüller, Winer, Movers (on the Phœnicians), [Layard, Rawlinson, and Niebuhr on the Assyrians.] b) Geography.—Palestine and the other countries mentioned in the Bible. Travels. Topographical works. Maps. Comp. especially Crome, von Raumer, Robinson (Researches, Engl. and Germ.), Strauss (Sinai und Golgatha), Krafft (Topography of Jerusalem), Schulz (Jerusalem), Tobler; the Travels of Berggren, Schubert, Robinson, Wilson, Van de Velde, Schulz, Tischendorf, [Stanley, Hackett, Thomson, Bausman,] etc. c) Natural Science.—Bochart’s Hierozoicon. d) Chronology.—Comp. as above, p. 6. e) Civilization.—Agriculture. Pastoral life. Dwellings. Furniture. Trades. Domestic life. Social life (Poetry and Music). Government. Theocracy. See Michaelis, The Laws of Moses; Herder and Saalschütz (on Hebrew Poetry); [the various commentaries of Ewald, Hupfeld, Umbreit, Hengstenberg, Delitzsch, Alexander, etc., etc., on the Psalms and other poetical books of the O. T.—P. S.] f) Religion.—On the typology of the Old Testament services, comp. the works of Bähr (Symbolik des Mos. Cultus, 2 vols. 1837), Kurtz, Hengstenberg, Keil, [and Fairbairn, Typology of Scriptures, Edinb. and Philad., 1857.] 2. The Languages of Scripture.—Philologia sacra. See Hagenbach, p. 123, and the manuals quoted below.

3. Biblical Criticism.—Unhappily, we are still without any accurately defined canon of criticism, especially of biblical criticism. Hence, when biblical criticism appears in so many instances to be self-contradictory and self-destructive, this must be ascribed not merely to Rationalism, but also to the want of well-ascertained scientific principles. The two great points which must be kept in view in criticism are, the authenticity of the text, and its integrity. On the character and literature of biblical criticism, see Hagenbach, p. 146.—Fundamental principles: (1) The place of criticism is not above the subject, as looking down upon it, but in juxtaposition to, and in living contact with it. (2) In criticism we must progress from the general to the particular, in order to be always sure that we are treating of the same subject; while, on the other hand, we must also pass from the particular to the general, in order thereby to make sure of the reality and actuality of the subject. (3) The standard which we apply to a subject must be commensurate to it. Thus historical facts cannot be judged of by the physical standard applied to them by Pantheism and by Fatalism. Mythological ideas are altogether inapplicable to the elucidation of the Scriptures. The Old Testament standard is insufficient for the criticism of the Gospel history. (4) The critic must first have settled his general principles before he can arrive at any conclusion as to the special results of these principles. Above all, therefore, he must be quite clear about the personality of God and of the God-Man. (5) Criticism must ever recognize it that all history has a deep religious bearing, symbolical of the great fact that all history has an ideal object, and that this grand idea is evolved in the course of history. (6) The critic must bear in mind that one grand idea pervades and connects the various portions of Scripture, while he at the same time keeps in view the gradual development of Scripture, its various periods, and the special form which each separate portion has taken, according to the individuality of the writer. (7) Criticism must be able to distinguish between agreement in spirit, and agreement in the letter merely. (8) The criticism of the witnesses themselves must precede the criticism of what they witnessed. (9) The various records of Scripture must be classified according to their relation to the character and object of those who bore the record. (10) The great fact that the Word has become flesh—i. e., that the idea has become history—must be laid down as the fundamental principle of all criticism. This presupposition raises the critic above all false presuppositions. See Lange, Leben Jesu, i. 108; Posit. Dogm., p. 605. On the history of criticism, see Hagenbach, Theol. Encyclop., p. 157, sqq.

4. Biblical Hermeneutics.—This is the science of the right understanding and the right interpretation of Holy Writ. For further explanation, and for the literature of the subject, see Hagenbach, p. 162. Among modern writers on hermeneutics, we mention Lücke, Clausen, Schleiermacher, Lutz, and the writer of the article Hermeneutics in Herzog’s (German) Real-Encycl.; [also Cellerier: Manuel d’Hermeneutique, Geneva, 1852; Fairbairn: Hermeneutical Manual, Philad. 1859.—P. S.] For the history of scriptural interpretation, and of its principles, we refer to the work of G. W. Meyer (Hist. of Exegesis since the revival of Letters (Gött., 1802–1808, 5 vols.). On the allegorical exegesis of the Middle Ages, see Elster: De medii œvi theologia exegetica, Gött., 1855. The following are the essential conditions in hermeneutics: a. For the right understanding (1) Inward condition of interpretation: homogeneousness of spirit with the writer and his subject.

(2) Outward condition: familiarity with the languages, antiquities, and history.

(3) Combination of these two elements: familiarity with the peculiar character and spirit of revelation, and, in consequence, ability to distinguish between what is symbolical and mere myths, and again, between what is symbolical and what is pure history or abstract dogma. (The symbolical must not be confounded with myths; but, on the other hand, it must not be regarded as pure dogma.)

(4) The mind of the interpreter must continually connect and bring into juxtaposition the Scriptures, in their general bearing, with the individual portions under examination. (Scripture must not be made to contradict itself by pressing the letter.) Analogy of faith: survey of the grand total bearing, the fundamental idea. Analogy of Scripture: survey of the individual and the special parts. Comparison of Scripture with Scripture.

(5) A comparison and connection between the general spirit of Scripture, and the personal and individual views of each inspired writer.

(6) A lively interchange between the mind of the Word and the mind of the interpreter.

(7) A living interchange between the individual interpreter and the general spirit of interpretation in the Church. (Not, indeed, blind submission to authority, but neither craving for singularity.) b. For the proper interpretation (1) Accurate exposition of the meaning of the text. Interpretation in the narrower sense.

(2) Illustration of the meaning of the text, by analogous passages. Explanation.

(3) Reproduction of the meaning of the text, by pointing out its eternal bearing and import. Application.

II. Exegetics

Exegetics, in the widest sense, depends on the proper connection between the right understanding and interpretation of the general import of Scripture and that of its individual portions. The parts can neither be understood without the whole, nor the whole without the parts. Hence that interpreter only can advance the subject who has learned to view the individual parts in the light of the total bearing of Scripture, and the total bearing in the light of the individual portions thereof. Thus alone can the necessary equilibrium be preserved.

Viewed theoretically, criticism is the first process, although, in point of practice, criticism follows upon exegetics and hermeneutics.

Criticism consists in a lively interchange between a scrutiny of the general principle and that of the individual statements of Scripture.

Hermeneutics then shows the lively interchange existing between the interpretation of the spirit, or of the meaning of Scripture as a whole, and the interpretation of the special passage or expression.

Lastly, we have Exegetics proper, which may be either general or special. The former, or Introduction (Isagogics), establishes and explains, from the mutual relationship between the character of Scripture as historically ascertained, and the summary contents of its various portions, the import and substance of the Scriptures generally. Special Exegetics develops and exhibits the succession of thought in Scripture, down to the minutest expression and letter, by connecting and comparing the ascertained character of Scripture with the text under review. The Introduction to the various books of Scripture belongs to the department of Exegesis, since, on the one hand, it presupposes an exegetical analysis of each book, while, on the other, it concludes with an exegetical survey of the contents of the portion of Scripture examined. Again, Exegesis itself is an Introduction, in the most special sense of the term. For every exegetical treatise must not only commence with a special introduction to, and indicate the character and contents of, the portion of Scripture about to be examined, but it must ever again revert to those general views and leading characteristics which have been ascertained.

1. Definition of the Holy Scriptures

Holy Scripture is the complete sum of the records of our divinely revealed religion, which culminates in Christianity. Hence it marks the progress of the incarnation of the Eternal Word of God to its completion in the final settlement of the canon of Scripture. If, generally speaking, writing is the peculiar organ of civilization, the medium for the increasing interchange of thought, the record of the history of mankind, the standard of its development, all this applies in the highest, and, indeed, in a unique sense, to the sacred writings. They are the form under which Christianity originally appeared to regenerate the world, the bond of fellowship between believers of all nations and ages, the record of the history of revelation, and the standard and rule for the development of Christianity and of the Church. In the all-wise arrangement of the God of revelation, Holy Writ was therefore as necessary as the Incarnation itself. The Gospel was destined to pervade every relationship of life and every institution. As in Baptism, it sanctified the washing with water; in the Eucharist, the meal of fellowship—the bread and the wine; and by the Charismata, the diversity of human gifts, so as a written record it sanctified the letter and assumed this essential form of intellectual and spiritual intercourse among men.

Bretschneider:²⁷ “The Bible may be viewed,—1, historically, if we inquire what its character is, according to the testimony of history—viz., a collection of credible documents of the Jewish and the Christian religion; or, 2, dogmatically, if we in quire in what light the religious society of Christians regard it—viz., as the code of Divine revelation.” While at one time theologians were wont to lay special emphasis on the dogmatical, they have of late equally dwelt upon the historical character of Scripture. But all such seeming antagonism disappears if we take a deeper view of Holy Writ. Scripture is not “a collection,” it is the collection. The various records of which it is composed, together form only one record. Lastly, the great question which claims our attention is not merely concerning the records of the Jewish and Christian religion generally, but as to the Divine origin and institution of these religions.

Literature.—Comp. the article Bible in the different Encyclopædias of Ersch and Gruber, Herzog, Hagenbach, Pelt, [Kitto, Smith.—P. S.]. The different Introductions to the Old and New Testament (see a list of them in Winer’s Handbuch der theol. Literatur, vol. i, p. 33 sqq.). Also the introductory chapters of the Bible-works of Starke, Richter, Gerlach, Lisco, Bunsen. Then the articles on the Holy Scriptures in the principal works on Dogmatics. Köppen: Die Bibel, 2 vols. Finally the modern works on Biblical Theology. On the History of the Bible, see E. Reuss (Braunschweig, 2d ed., 1853), and the more popular works of Ostertag: Die Bibel und ihre Geschichte, (2d ed., Basel, 1857), and Tholuck Die Bibel (Leipzig, 1851). [Prideaux, Stackhouse, Howel, L. Clarke, on the History of the Bible; A. Alexander, and L. Gaussen, on the Canon of the Old and New Testaments.—P. S.] 2. Various Designations of the Scriptures The three different designations commonly given to the Scriptures indicate the different points from which the same Divine record maybe viewed. The term Bible (τὰ βιβλία sc. θεῖα), i.e. the Book, or the Book of books, points out the difference between Holy Writ and all other literature, while at the same time it also connects the Scriptures with the intellectual productions of men. All other writings are, like planets, to move round this central sun. The name Holy Scripture (ἱερὰ γραφή, ἁγία γραφή, θεῖα γραφή) refers to the relationship between the form or the letter of the Scriptures and the inspired word of God which it contains. Lastly, the term Word of God (Verbum Dei) indicates the identity of the oral revelation of God with the Bible, and also its internal identity—the agreement of the whole with the parts, and of the parts with the whole. The Bible, as such, is the historical object of theological science, the introduction to the Old and New Testament. The Bible, in its character as the Holy Scriptures, is the human expression of Divine inspiration, and the religious object of our faith. The Bible, as the Word of God, is the canon or the doctrinal rule and standard of our belief and practice. The first of these names designates the human aspect of Scripture in its Divine grandeur; the second, the combination of Divine revelation with human development and intellectuality; while the third points to the pure and perfect revelation of God which it embodies, or the canon, as the final and grand leading characteristic of the Bible, both as a book and as the Scriptures.

3. The Bible in its Divine Aspect Inspiration. The Word of God The Bible consists of a number of books, whose composition is coextensive with the progress of Divine revelation in Israel, and covers a period of more than one thousand five hundred years. Its writers were of the most different character and education; it exhibits every variety of form, and is couched in two very different languages. Yet withal it is so thoroughly one in its character, that it might be supposed to have been written in one century, in one year, in one hour, in one moment.

Throughout, it is pervaded by one and the same idea of God and revealed religion; it sets forth the same truths; it breathes the same spirit; it has the same object. This is its Divine aspect. The Bible is not of time, nor of man; it is Divine, because it is inspired (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21). But the inspiration of the Scriptures by the Spirit of God must not be viewed apart from the inspiration of the holy men who wrote it, in the execution of their immediate, prophetic, and Divine calling. Nay, the inspiration for their office has this advantage over the inspiration of their writings, which are closely connected, that it is more direct and more lively. On the other hand, the inspiration of these writings implies special preparedness and collectedness on the part of the sacred writers, and a special significance of the occasion and the motive. In all these respects a corresponding measure of spiritual blessing and direction must have been vouchsafed.

It is for didactic theology to enter into fuller details. The following points, however, should be borne in mind:—The idea of inspiration entertained by the Jews of Palestine was different from that of the Jews of Alexandria. The former accurately distinguished between Divine illumination and mere human enlightenment (hence the difference as to the Apocrypha). Besides, the views of the Palestinians were also sounder and more liberal on the question of the relation between the Divine Spirit and the intellect of man in inspiration. The Alexandrian Jews, following in this respect Grecian ideas, were wont to regard inspiration as something magical,—the individuality of man being for the time depressed and silenced: while the Hebrews understood it that human individuality was only humbled, but thereby also exalted and purified, and thus set free and quickened. The Alexandrians reasoned on the supposition that originally the Divine and the human mind were heterogeneous, and that in the course of history this gulf was bridged over; while the Hebrews proceeded on the idea of an original homogeneousness, and held that the discord which appeared in the course of history was more or less removed by the influence of grace. Hence it was that they alone properly appreciated the Divine element of Scripture in its human form—the “apples of gold in pictures of silver.” The Alexandrian idea was substantially that which, at a later period, was urged by the Montanists. This view of inspiration was rejected by the ancient Church. Still, kindred notions again partially prevailed in the seventeenth century. Rationalism was of course incompetent to remedy such a defect. If theologians had formerly overlooked the human individuality in the composition of Scripture, the Rationalists went to the opposite and more dangerous extreme of denying the Divine character of Scripture altogether, or at least of confining the Divine element to the operation of mere reason, or to special providence, or to moral elevation on the part of the writers. Inspiration necessarily implies the presence and sway of the Spirit of God in the writer, whereby he becomes the organ of that Spirit. The impulse or motive power (impulsus), the communication or the contents (suggestio), and the guidance toward the object aimed at (directio), are all divine, and conform to the objects and aim of the kingdom of God. But this also implies that inspiration itself is subject to certain limitations or conditions. These are either religious conditions, flowing from the nature of this object; or intellectual conditions, arising from its gradual realization; or organic conditions, connected with Him who is the great centre of that object; or, lastly, ethical conditions, springing from the personal holiness of that object. In other words, 1, The Bible, as inspired, is a book of religion, and not an astronomical, geological, or scientific Revelation 2, It has gradually progressed from the incompleteness of the Old, to the perfectness of the New Testament. 3, It has its centre in Christ, as God incarnate, and as the absolute revelation of God in human form. 4, It must never be considered as the effect of a morbid state of body or mind on the part of the writers (such as clairvoyance), but always as the result of direct moral and spiritual intercourse of the personal and living God with the personal mind of man. The Spirit of God was indeed strong enough to preserve the sacred writers from essential mistakes or false testimonies and traditions, and to secure to their writings the impress of never-fading freshness of youth, although He never could nor would force them to speak otherwise than in language conformable to the current ideas of the people, and to their own intellectual development.

We are now prepared to answer that much vexed modern question,—whether the Holy Scriptures be the Word of God itself, or whether the Word of God be in the Holy Scriptures. Viewing the Bible in its individual parts and sections, we reply, The Word of God is in the Bible. But, regarding it as an organic whole, of which all the parts point to Christ and proceed from Christ, we must confess: Holy Writ, as it explains itself, and opens up from book to book and from verse to verse, is the one harmonious and complete Word of God.²⁸ On the literature of inspiration, comp. the Encyclops.; also the works of Wilson, Haldane, Rudelbach, and Gaussen. We specially refer to Fr. de Rougemont, Christ et ses témoins, 2 vols. Paris and Lausanne, 1856—a work which equally opposes the views of Gaussen and the false spiritualism of the Strassburg school of Scherer and others. [W. Lee: The Inspiration of the Holy Scripture, its Nature and Proof. Dublin and New York, 1857, 478 pages.—P. S.] 4. The Holy Scriptures in their Human Aspect; or, History of the Holy Scriptures (Isagogics in the narrower sense) The period over which the composition of Holy Scripture extends, reaches from Moses to the Apostle John, or from about 1500 before to 100 after Christ,—a period of sixteen centuries,—irrespective of the oral traditions and of those small commencements of scriptural records which preceded the time of Moses.

Equally great is the distance of places where these books were written, varying from Jerusalem and Babylon to Rome, and embracing all Palestine and Greece. The Bible was composed in the two leading languages of antiquity, which reflect the greatest contrast in the intellectual world. The Hebrew tongue may be characterized as the most unstudied and childlike, as the deepest, purest, and most direct language of spiritual experience; while the Greek is the most cultivated, refined, and philosophical expression of intellectual life. The inspired writers were shepherds and kings, men learned and men unlettered. The diversity of form in the Scriptures appears not only objectively in their contents and character (being partly historical, partly poetic, partly apophthegmatic, partly prophetic, and partly epistolary), but also subjectively in their style and composition, each book bearing a faithful impress of the individuality of its writer. Not reckoning the Apocrypha, the Old Testament comprises thirty-nine books (counting the Book of Lamentations separately), while the New Testament contains twenty-seven separate writings. Yet, from the unity of spirit pervading this vast literary collection, they constitute, really, only one book—a second intellectual creation (Psalms 19). The science of General Isagogics treats of Scripture as a whole, giving the history,—1, of the collection, or of the canon; 2, of the present form and character of the text, of the various codd. and editions; 3, of its spread, or of the translations and quotations; 4, of its application, or of interpretation. The science of Special Isagogics treats of separate books, discussing their authorship, time, place, occasion, character, contents, division, and literature. On the Introduction to the Holy Scriptures and its literature, compare Hagenbach’s Encycl. pp. 140, 144, and the excellent works of Hertwig: Tables to the Introduction into the Old Testament. Berlin, 1856; and to the Introduction into the New Testament. Berlin, 1855.

5. The Holy Scriptures in their Christological, Divine-Human (Theanthropic) Character; or, the Scriptures as the Canon. The Old and the New Testament

Viewed in their Christological character, the Holy Scriptures are the canon, both as the record of the revelation completed in Christ, and as the rule of the Christian life of faith. According to this Christological principle, they are divided into the Old and New Testaments (testamentum, διαθήκη, בְּרִית), to indicate that the Old Testament is the incomplete commencement which is explained, fulfilled, and glorified by the New, embodying, as it does, absolute perfectness. According to the same principle, the Apocrypha are kept distinct, as a mere appendix to the Bible, which, so to speak, forms an intermediate link between the canonical Scriptures and common literature. Lastly, viewed in this light, the Scriptures bear special reference to the development of the Christian Church and of the Christian life, where their teaching is expressed in a logical form (more especially in confessions of faith), while at the same time they serve as the rule, standard, and guide on all questions of doctrine. The expression Canon implies not merely that the Bible is a sacred book, but that in its pages revelation continues, by the agency of the Spirit, an ever-present and ever-sufficient reality. As the canon, the Bible is, so to speak, the Word of God incarnate, which, by means of writing, continues spiritually effectual to the present time. The Old Testament is not merely the book of the Old Covenant, but the Old Covenant itself as the type of the New. Similarly, the New Testament is the New Covenant itself, the Gospels are the Gospel, and the apostolic writings, the living word of the Apostles. The organic Christological relationship between the Old and New Testament, according to which the former is the preparation, the introduction, and the growth of the New, while the latter is the fulfilment, the abrogation, and the completion of the Old, is indicated in the Old Testament itself, and amply confirmed in the New (Deuteronomy 18:18; Isaiah 66:3; Jeremiah 31:31-32; Ezekiel 36:25; Daniel 2:44; Hosea 2:19, etc.; and 2 Corinthians 3:7; Matthew 5:17-20; Matthew 12:40; Matthew 12:42; John 1:17-18; John 8:56; Galatians 3:25; Hebrews 8:7, etc.). The relationship between the canonical and the apocryphal books was correctly defined by the ancient Jewish synagogue, and, after it, by the ancient Greek and the modern Protestant Churches in opposition to the Roman Catholic theory. The Apocrypha serve, 1, as a kind of historical supplement, being a narrative of the kingdom of God during the period intervening between the Old and New Testaments; 2, as a record of popular piety, forming a distinct period between the age of the Prophets and that of the New Testament; 3, to exhibit the character of Alexandrian Judaism, though only a part of them is derived from that source; 4, as a background to the canon itself; 5, for private instruction and edification. Even the strictly Calvinistic Synod of Dort decided on retaining the Apocrypha along with the canon, and, despite their fallibility and mistakes, they are too deeply imbued with the genuine spirit of the Theocracy to rank them among the ἄτοπα καὶ δυσσεβῆ, in which Eusebius (3:25) places the heretical New Testament Apocrypha. The Hebrews have divided the Old Testament into the Law (תּוֹרָה); the Prophets, נְבִיאִים (which includes the books of Joshua, of the Judges, of Samuel, and of the Kings); and the Writings generally (כְסוּבּ), or Hagiographa. This division bears reference to the foundation, the historical development, and the edification of the Theocracy. The great preponderance of the prophetic books in the canon, clearly shows that Judaism was the religion of the future, and that the tendency of the Old Testament was ever towards the New. The arrangement of the canon adopted in Christian theology is that into Historical, Doctrinal, and Prophetical Books, corresponding to the same division in the New Testament.

According to this analogy we notice, 1, that to us the Law has become history; 2, that the Prophets are brought into immediate contact with the New Testament, and point out the tendency of the Old towards the New Covenant; while the circumstance that the New Testament contains only one prophetical book, although it is throughout a prophecy of the second coming of Christ, indicates the deep rest which the longings of the soul have found, in the appearance of Christ, and in the redemption which He has accomplished.

Viewing the Holy Scriptures as one connected canon, we may consider all doctrine as historical fact with historical efficacy, and all history as ideal, symbolical, typical, and spiritual, while in their prophetic portions they combine both these elements.

There is, of course, a difference between the genuine canon of Scripture and that which is current, in respect, 1, of unauthenticated readings, or variations; 2, of mistakes, or of infelicity of translation; 3, of the various misrepresentations of the genuine text by exegetical traditions. The Scriptures, as canon, are necessarily subordinate to the living Saviour, and to the blessed Trinity. They are the written revelation of Christ, but not a second Christ; least of all when taken individually, and under the impression that the Old Testament is in every respect quite equal in authority to the New Testament. On the other hand, as the canon of Christ, the Scriptures must ever form the directory of the external Church, and of the individual Christian, in their fallible growth and development, and are consequently above them. Finally, they are coordinate, or occupy the same line with the ideal life of Christ in the Church, and stand forth as a second spiritual creation by the side of God’s revelation in nature.²⁹ 6. Import of the Holy Scriptures The Bible is a mystery of Divine Providence in the department of literature similar in character to the mystery of the incarnation itself. The incarnation of God in Christ has, so to speak, assumed a bodily expression in the essential Church, i. e., in the preaching of the Gospel, on the basis of the apostolic office, and in the congregation of holy baptism and of the Eucharist. Similarly, the Scriptures are its intellectual or spiritual³⁰ expression.

It is simply impiety to designate the origin of the Bible as accidental, while the decrees of Synods and papal bulls are called necessary.

Holy Writ is the tradition of traditions, and the canon of canons. All other traditions and canons must be brought to the test of the Prophets and Apostles. And, in truth, the Bible reflects all times and places, or rather it is the reflex of eternity. Viewed in reference to its centre, it is the biography of the eternal Christ; viewed in its circumference, it is that of humanity: for, in the power of the prophetic spirit which pervades it, it embraces the end as well as the commencement of our world, and sounds the depths of hell as well as scales the heights of heaven. The book of God is also the book of the world; and, rightly understood, the book of nature as well as the book of the Spirit. There, the history of revelation becomes doctrine, and doctrine becomes history. Proceeding from the Spirit of God, it is fully understood only by the Spirit, even as it can only be explained and applied by the Spirit. To those who are called and waiting, it opens its mysteries; while to the hardened and the sinner it proves a closed book, as it were sealed with seven seals. Nay, like the Gospel itself, it is to some “a savour of life unto life;” to others, “a savour of death unto death.” The outward senses may be absorbed by the letter only, and make an idol of it. In this respect the elements of Scripture have the same import and effect as those of the world. But just as the elements of the world are only rightly known when viewed in the unity of creation, and only wholly known if viewed as the symbolical Word of God, so the Bible is only rightly known when regarded as the second and spiritual creation, and wholly known when viewed as the second and higher revelation of God—the revelation of the foundation, of the reconciliation, and of the transformation of the world.

7. Relation between Holy Writ and the so-called Sacred Records of other Nations and Religions

All the principal religions have chronicled their origin in sacred records, which ever afterwards were regarded as the standard for their development. The most renowned of these religious records are the Vedas of the Indians, the Kings of the Chinese, the Zendavesta of the Persians, the two Eddas of the ancient Germans, and the Koran of the Mohammedans. Even the Old Testament, when brought into combination with the Jewish Talmud, becomes quite different from what it is when viewed in the light of the New Dispensation. To the Jews it has become a series of traditional statutes, upon which the covering of Moses rests. The Mormons of our day have stamped upon themselves the mark of apostasy, since, like Mohammed of old, they have adopted the falsified records of a new and spurious revelation. The religious records of all nations are faithful representations of these religions themselves. All heathen religions are mythical,—the myth being the essential form of heathenism. But if form and substance are related, the contrast between Holy Scripture and myths must be as great in point of form as that between revealed religion and heathenism. In the Bible, religion has become faith, faith fact, fact sacred history, and sacred history the soul of secular history. Hence also biblical history gives not merely outward facts, but is itself symbolical. Hence also biblical doctrine is not a scholastic system, but also historical and deeply practical. Lastly, it is on this ground that Scripture presents such a wonderful concatenation and succession of history and of doctrine. But the antagonism of history and doctrine is transformed into a higher unity in the prophetical and poetical portions of Scripture.

Revealed religion discloses the errors of all other creeds, while at the same time it brings out any remnant of truth in them, which in turn may become a point of connection for the kingdom of God. Similarly, Holy Writ sheds light on the sacred records of the Gentiles, showing their utter insufficiency, their errors, and the traditions of truth which may have been preserved in them. Indeed, the same remark might be made with reference to all other literature. Thus in this sense also the Bible is the Book of books.

III. Special Exegetics; or, the Art and Practice of Scriptural Exposition

Viewing it in the widest sense, all science and civilization, consciously or unconsciously, must serve as a kind of exposition of the Scriptures, and that whether the Scriptures be dragged down to the level of man, or man raised to the level of the Scriptures. (The Talmud, the New Testament.) Speaking more strictly, the spiritual life of the Christian Church, and more especially the pastoral office, may be regarded as an exposition of the Scriptures, with a twofold and diverse result (tradition, faith). Lastly, the same remark holds true of scriptural exposition in the narrowest and special sense of the term; and there is an exegesis which draws down Scripture to its own level, and another which rises to that of Scripture (mere dogmatism or rationalism on the one hand, and, on the other, the light of the Bible thrown upon exegesis, and that of exegesis upon the Bible).

Various qualifications are requisite for the right interpretation of the Scriptures. Thus the Bible as a whole must all along be compared with its individual parts; exposition must be closely connected with explanation, or the word with the life; exegetical tradition (or the analogy of faith as expressed in the various confessions of faith) and individuality must each have their proper place,—there must be proper submission, and yet proper independence; above all, the interpreter must ever realize that the Lord speaks, and that he is to hear,—or, in other words, the truth revealed must find a response in the obedience of faith, and again, in the prayer which it evokes. The results of Exegesis are Bible History and Biblical Theology.

IV. Bible History

Bible History differs from the general history of the kingdom of God, in that it delineates only the foundation of this kingdom by means of and during the course of revelation. It traces in historical succession the narrative contained in the Scriptures in all its essential features. In the Old Testament, it shows us all the elements of the life of faith, and sets before us many a precious example of faith and patience for our imitation; while in the New Testament it exhibits the history of faith and salvation “made perfect,” both in the miracles and triumphs of the Lord, and in the deeds of His Apostles. Thus Bible History forms the basis of Church History.

Comp. the Sacred Histories of Hübner, Rauschenbusch, Zahn, Grube, Günther, Kurtz, etc.

V. Biblical Theology

Biblical Theology may be regarded as the final result of exegesis, and at the same time as the basis of the History of Dogmas and of Systematic Theology. Its purpose is to trace the gradual yet uniform development of Christian doctrine and ethics throughout revelation. It may be divided into General and Special. The former follows the development of faith throughout Scripture, showing,—a, The Divine aspect of Scripture, or its one and all-pervading idea: the faith of revelation in the God of revelation, b, Its human aspect, or its gradual unfolding in the individual books of Scripture, according to the various stages of religious development and their character. c, Its Christological or theanthropic aspect, viewing revelation to its completion in Christ, and according to the different doctrinal types in the New Testament.—On the other hand, it is the task of Special Biblical Theology to trace the doctrines of Scripture from their first germs in the Old Testament to their completion in the New, viewing them in the light of theology, of anthropology, of Christology, and of the doctrine of the kingdom of God (Theocratology). On the literature of the subject, comp. Hagenbach, pp 197 and 201. [We mention de Wette, Steudel, Oehler, Lutz, on Biblical Theology, and especially the excellent work of the late Dr. Schmid,of Tübingen: The Biblical Theology of the N. T. Stuttg., 1853, in 2 vols.—P. S.] VI. Appendix. Exegetical and Homiletical Helps³¹ 1. Biblical Philology.— a) Hebrew Grammar: Gesenius, Rödiger, Ewald, Stier, Freitag, Hupfeld, Thiersch, Nägelsbach. [Engl. works: Stuart, Conant, Bush, Tregelles, Nordheimer, Green.—P. S.] b) Hebrew Dictionaries: Buxtorf, Coccejus, Simonis, Simonis-Winer, Gesenius, Schröder, Fürst, Maurer. [Robinson’s Gesenius, 3d ed., Bost., 1849; B. Davidson and Bagster’s Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon (with a grammatical analysis of each word in the H. Bible), London, 1848.—P. S.] c) New Testament Grammar: Winer [6th ed., Leipz., 1855. Two Engl. trsl.—P. S.], Alt, Buttmann. d) New Testament (and Septuagint) Dictionaries: Schöttgen, Schleussner, Wahl, Bretschneider, Schirlitz, Wilke, Dalmer, [Robinson: A Greek and Engl. Lexicon of the N. T., the new ed., New York, 1851, etc., and Bagster’s Analytical Greek Lexicon, Lond., 1852.—P. S.]

2. Archæology.—Geography of Palestine: Ritter (Erdkunde, vol. 15), K. von Raumer, Bräm, Crome, Völter, Robinson, [Stanley, Thomson, Hackett, Bausman.—P. S.] Maps of Grimm, Kiepert, Zimmermann, and the Bibel-Atlas of Weiland, Weimar, 1832, [and of Jenks, Coleman, and the Americas Tract Society.—P. S.] Topograghy of Jerusalem Schulz (Berlin, 1845), Krafft (Bonn, 1846), Tobler, Robinson, Berggren.

3. Introduction to the Bible.—Bertholdt de Wette, Scholz, Eichhorn, Schott, Hug, Credner, Guericke, Reuss, Hengstenberg (Beiträge), Hävernik, Keil, etc.; [also the posthumous works of Bleek, and the English works of Horne and Davidson.—P. S.]

4. Editions of the Bible.—Polyglot Bible by Stier and Theile (Bielefeld, 2d ed., 1854, 4 vols.). The Hebr Old Testament by Simonis, van der Hooght, Hahr, Theile. The Septuagint by Breitinger, Tischendorf, and Paris edition. The Greek Testament by Griesbach, Knapp, Schott, Hahn, Lachmann (small and large editions), Theile, Tischendorf (Leipz. 1841, ’48, ’49, 59, different ed.), etc. Synopsis or Harmonies of the Gospels: Griesbach, de Wette and Lücke, Rödiger, Anger, Tischendorf, Robinson (all in Greek), Lex (Die Evangelien-Harmonie, Wiesbaden, 1835), [Robinson, Strong, in English.—P. S.] The Vulgate by van Ess, Kistemaker, etc.

[Note.—The best of the many ed. of Tischendorf, which I have used in this Engl. edition of Lange’s Matthew, is the large critical edition in 2 vols.: Novum Testamentum Grœce. Ad antiquos testes denuo recensuit, apparatum criticum omni studio perfectum apposuit, etc. Edit. septima, Lips. 1859. The smaller critical edition in one vol. (ed. ii. 1849) gives a sufficient amount of critical apparatus for ministers and students. In connection with this, reference should be had now also to Tischendorf s edition of the famous Codex Sinaiticus, discovered by him, and issued in 1863. Of Lachmann I have used the large edition in two volumes with the Latin translation: Novum Testamentum Grœce et Latine. Berolini, 1842 and 1850.

I have also compared occasionally Stier and Theile: Polyglotten-Bibel, 2d ed., 1849; and Philippus Buttmann: Novum Testamentum Grœce ad fidem codicis Vaticani, (Cod. B.) Berol., 1862, (in new Greek type, conformed to the ancient uncial MSS., the Greek inscriptions of the Augustan age, and the Pompeyan papers.) The best English editions of the Greek Testament, to which I have more or less frequently referred in the course of the work, are the following:

Dr. S. T. Bloomfield: The Greek Testament with English Notes, 9th ed., Lond., 1855, 2 vols., with a supplementary volume of Critical Annotations, Lond., 1860, which contains a digest of the various readings, and embodies the investigation of seventy uncollated or ill-collated MSS. and the valuable materials derived from Scrivener’s collation of seventy MSS.

W. Webster and W. F. Wilkinson: The Greek Testament with Notes, Critical and Exegetical. Lond., 1855, 2 vols. Anglican, useful “for learners rather than the learned.”

Dr. Henry Alford: The Greek Testament, etc., 4th ed., Lond. 1859, 4 vols. The first vol. containing the four Gospels, was reprinted, from the third ed., by the Harpers of New York, 1859. Alford gives a revised text, and a critical digest of various readings (entirely rewritten in the 4th ed.) between the text and the comments. He surpasses his English predecessors, is essentially orthodox (Anglican) and evangelical, yet critical, liberal, progressive, and made good use of the Germans, especially Olshausen, Tischendorf, de Wette and Meyer.

Dr. Chr. Wordsworth: The New Testament in the original Greek: with Notes, new ed. in 2 vols., Lond., 1862. Conservative, reverential, patristic and Anglican.

Dr. S. P. Tregelles (a Plymouth brother, and a believer in the absolute plenary inspiration): The Greek New Testament, edited from ancient authorities, with various readings of all the ancient MSS., the ancient versions, and earlier eccles. writers (to Eusebius incl.). together with the Latin version of Jerome, Lond., vol. i. containing the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, 1859; vol. ii., containing Luke and John, 1860. Not yet completed. Tischendorf does him injustice in his large ed. of 1859, Prolegg., p. 113 sqq. Tregelles is one of the few scholars who have made the restoration of the genuine apostolic text of the N. T. the work of their life, and, like Bengel, unites with critical learning and laborious research a childlike faith and profound reverence for the Word of God. Mr. Scrivener, in his Introduction to the Criticism of the N. T. (1861), p. 347, remarks: “Every one who venerates the spectacle of time and substance freely bestowed in the best of causes, without the prospect or indeed the possibility of earthly reward, will grieve to know that the further prosecution of his opus magnum is for a while suspended by Dr. Tregelles’ serious illness.”—P. S.]

5. Criticism.—Capelli, Kenicott, Bengel, Gries bach, Reiche, Schleiermacher, Löhnis, Lachmann, Tischendorf. [Bloomfield, Alford, Wordsworth, Tregelles, in the critical parts of their ed. of the Gr. Test., and especially the able work of Fr. H. Scrivener: A plain Introduction to the Criticism, of the N. T. for the use of Biblical students. Cambridge, 1861.—P. S.] Kirchhofer: Quellensammlung zur Geschichte des N. T. Kanons. Zürich, 1844. Olshausen on the Genuineness of all the books of the N. T. [Engl. trsl. by Fosdick, prefixed to vol. i. of Kendrick’s Olshausen.—P. S.] Thiersch on the Canon, 1845. Ebrard: Kritik der evang. Geschichte [not Schriften, as the original reads.—P. S.], 2d ed., 1850. [Engl. condensed trsl., Edinb., 1863.] Bleek: Beiträge zur Evangelienkritik. [Westcott: Introduction to the Study of the Gospels. Amer. ed. with an introduction by Hor. B. Hackett. Boston, 1862.—P. S.] Also Neander, Lange, Schaff, Thiersch, on the Apostolic Age. For the O. T.: Hengstenberg, Hävernick, Keil, Bleek, etc.

6. Translations.—Luther’s last original edition of his German Bible, by Bindseil and Niemeyer, Halle, 1850. Von Hoff, Leipz., 1851. Other German Bible versions: by Friedr. von Meyer, Stier (Bielefeld, 1856), de Wette, the Zürich transl., and the Roman Catholic translations of Leander van Ess, Braun, Brentano, Allioli, Dereser, etc. [English versions: Wiclif, a. d. 1380; Tyndale, 1534; Cranmer, 1539; Geneva, 1560; The Bishop’s Bible, 1568; Authorized, or King James’s, 1611. Roman Catholic versions: Anglo-Rhemish, 1582, and Douay Bible, 1609, etc. See Bagster’s English Hexapla, London; also Mrs. H. C. Conant: Hist. of the Engl. Bible New York, 1856. The publications of the American Bible Union, N. York, especially the revised versions of Lillie, Conant, and Hackett. Dean Trench on the Revision of the C. V., Lond., 1858. Dr. Alford’s revised Engl. N. Test., Lond., 1863. The authorized English Bible of 1611 is, upon the whole, the best of all Bible versions ancient and modern. Comp. John H. Newman’s eloquent testimony in its favor, after his transition to Rome; also the testimony of Marsh in his Lectures on the English Language.—P. S.]

7. Commentaries on the Whole Bible.—Critici sacri, several editions. Amsterd., 1698; Frankf. a. M., 1700, etc. Polus: Synopsis, Frkf., 1712, 5 vols. Grotius: Annotationes. On the Old Testament: Rosenmüller (Scholia), Maurer, the Exeget. Manual (Germ.) of Leipz., 1838 sqq., (rationalistic in part). On the New T.: Calvin, Wolf (Curœ philologicœ et criticœ, 1741, 5 vols.), Bengel [Gnomon, Lat., Germ., and in two Engl. transl.], Olshausen [transl. into Engl., Edinb.; Amer. ed., revised by Dr. Kendrick, N. Y. 1856, etc.], de Wette, Meyer. [English Commentaries on the whole Bible: Henry, Scott, J. Gill, Clarke, Patrick—Lowth—Whitby, David Brown (Glasgow, 1863); on the New T.: Hammond, Doddridge, Burkitt, Bloomfield, Alford, Wordsworth, Webster and Wilkinson, Barnes, Owen, Jacobus.—P. S.]

8. Commentaries on Separate Books.—See list in Hagenbach: Theol. Encycl., p. 179 sqq., and Winer: Handbuch der theol. Lit., i., p. 33 sqq., 162 sqq. [On Genesis and the Pentateuch: Calvin, Luther, Hengstenberg, Tuch, Bertheau, Gerlach, Delitzsch, Bush. On the other historical books of the O. T.: Keil, Maurer, Thenius, Movers, Bertheau, Bush. On the Psalms: Luther, Calvin, De Wette, Tholuck, Hengstenberg, Hupfeld, Delitzsch, Jos. Add. Alexander, Isaac Taylor. On Job: Ewald, Umbreit, Hirzel, Schlottmann, Barnes, Conant. On the Proverbs: Umbreit, Stier, Bertheau, M. Stuart. On the Song of Songs: Herder, Umbreit, Ewald, Hengstenberg, Delitzsch. On Ecclesiastes: Umbreit, Knobel, Bertheau, Hengstenberg. On Isaiah: Gesenius, Hitzig, Dressler, Händewerk, Jos. Add. Alexander. On Jeremiah: Hitzig, Umbreit. On Ezekiel: Hävernick, Hitzig. On Daniel: Hävernick, Hengstenberg, Lengerke, Hitzig, Auberlen. On the Minor prophets: Theiner, Ackermann, Hitzig, Henderson, Pusey.—On the New Testament: On the Four Gospels (either separately or in harmonies): Calvin, Olshausen, Meyer, Macknight, Campbell, Greswell, Owen, Jacobus; also Catena aurea on the Gospels from the Fathers, collected by Thomas Aquinas. Oxf., 1843. On Matthew and Mark: Fritzsche, Jos. Add. Alexander, Conant. On Luke: van Osterzee (in Lange’s Bibelwerk). On the Gospel of St. John: Lampe, Lücke, Tholuck, Luthardt, Hengstenberg. On the Sermon on the Mount: Tholuck. On the Parables and Miracles: Trench. On all the Discourses of Jesus: Stier: Reden Jesu. (The Words of the Lord Jesus, trsl. by Pope, and republ. twice in America.) On the Acts: Baumgarten, Hackett, Jos. Add. Alexander. On all the Epistles of St. Paul: Calvin, MacKnight, Conybeare and Howson (Life and Epistles of St. Paul. Lond. and N. York ed.). On separate epistles of Paul: Tholuck (on the Romans), Fritzsche (ditto, 3 vols., Latin), Rückert, Mos. Stuart (ditto) Osiander (Corinthians), Winer, Usteri, Wieseler (Galatians), Harless, Stier (on the Ephesians), Huther, Wiesinger (the smaller and the Pastoral Epistles), Neander (Corinthians, Philippians, etc.), Pelt, Lillie (Thessalonians), Hackett (Philemon), Hodge (on Romans, 1 Corinthians, and Ephesians), Ellicott, (the English Meyer, on Galatians, Ephesians, Thessalonians, etc., republished in Andover, 1860, sqq.). On the Epistle to the Hebrews: Bleek (a real exegetical masterpiece, in 3 vols., 1828–1840), Tholuck, Stuart, Ebrard (as continuator of Olshausen). On the Catholic Epistles: Steiger (on Peter), Lücke, Neander, Rickli, Düsterdieck, Ebrard (on John’s Epistles), Archbishop Leighton (on 1 Peter), Schneckenburger, Kern, Neander, Stier (on James), Stier (on Jude). On the Apocalypse: Bengel, Auberlen, Hengstenberg, Lücke, Düsterdieck, Ebrard, Bleek, Elliott, Mos. Stuart.—P. S.]

9. Bible Dictionaries (of things).—Winer: Bibl. Real-Wörterbuch, 2 vols., 3d ed., 1848 (critical), Zeller: Biblisches Wörterbuch, 2 vols., 1856 (popular, and very useful). Many articles in Herzog’s Real-Encyclop. für Prot. Theol., [condensed transl. of Bomberger and others, unfinished.] Oetinger: Bibl. Wörterbuch, newly ed. by Hamberger, Stuttg., 1850. [English Bible Dictionaries: Taylor’s, and Robinson’s Calmet, Kitto, W. Smith (London and Boston, 1863, 3 vols.), and, for popular use, those of the American Tract Society, and of the American Sunday-School Union.—P. S.]

10. General Bible Works for practical and homiletical use.—Christoph Starke (Past. primarius of Driesen): Synopsis Bibliothecœ exegeticœ in Vetus et Novum Testamentum; oder kurzgefasster Auszug der gründlichsten und nutzbarsten Auslegungen, 2d ed., Leipz., 1740, 10 vols. The Berleburger Bibel, 1726–’39, 8 vols. fol., new ed., 1857, J. J. Hess: Bibelwerk, Zürich, 1776–1812, 23 parts. H. & W. Richter: Erklärte Hausbibel, Barmen, 1840. O. v. Gerlach: Das A. und N. Test. mit Einleitungen und erklärenden Anmerkungen, Berlin, 1854, Lisco: Das A. und N. Test. mit erklärenden Anmerkungen. Matthew Henry: An Exposition of the O. and N. T., London, 1849, 6 vols., [and many older Engl. and Amer. editions. Henry’s Com. is very spiritual and practical, and widely popular in England and America. The same is true of Thomas Scott: The holy Bible, with original notes, practical observations, etc., first 1788, 5th and best ed., Lond. 1822, in 6 vols., and often since.—P. S.] Braun (Rom. Cath.): Die heil. Schrift, lat. u. deutsch nach dem Sinne der h. röm. Kirche, der h. Kirchenväter, etc., Augsb., 1789–1806, 13 vols.

SECOND SECTION GENERAL AND SPECIAL INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT

_____________

§ 1 THE NEW TESTAMENT I. The Name: New Testament The term New Testament unquestionably proceeds from the institution of the Lord’s Supper. The Lord designates the Eucharist the New Covenant in His blood, in the strict sense of the term. The New Testament fellowship of believers reconciled to God by Christ, which commences in, and is introduced by baptism, is completed and appears outwardly in the Holy Supper. In the Eucharist the Lord carries out that New Covenant with the Church which is founded upon His holy life and His Word, upon His atoning death, His victory, and on the conversion of individual believers. While the celebration of the Eucharist is a remembrance of the first foundation of the Church, it ever inaugurates anew the formation of the Church, and also serves as its manifestation. Hence the writings which record the foundation of this new and eternal covenant are themselves called the New Covenant, the New Testament. Lastly, this designation indicates the connection and the contrast between these writings and those of the Old Covenant.

II. Origin of the New Testament The first commencement of the New Testament dates, in all probability, from the period when the Lord lived and taught on earth. It has ever been the practice to write down that which was deemed most memorable. Accordingly, it can scarcely be supposed that any one acquainted with letters should have been brought into contact with the Lord, or come under the influence of His Spirit, without noting down the most striking occurrences he had witnessed, or the most weighty truths he had heard. In this manner some brief memoirs must have been composed before any of the New Testament writings had been compiled—a fact to which, indeed, the Evangelist Luke bears testimony (Matthew 1:1). Nay, more, we are warranted in assuming that the most important events in the early history of Christ, such as the song of praise of Zacharias, of the Virgin, and of old Simeon, may have been written down at a very early period. To our mind it seems natural that Matthew, who was probably the most practised writer³² among the Apostles, should very early have collected together the sayings of the Lord; and similarly, that John should have made a collection of His discourses. But such memorabilia were only the faithful historical recollections of individuals. Before the New Testament could be written, the work of the Lord required to be finished, and His Holy Spirit poured out upon the Apostles, that thus they might be fully fitted for their high calling. The original mission intrusted to the Apostles and the seventy disciples—to testify of the Lord after the completion of His life and work—necessarily implied also the duty of writing about Him, as opportunity afforded. If, according to the Saviour’s injunction, they were to devote all their energies to this work, to apply every means, to seize every opportunity for its promotion, they must, of course, also have employed the powerful instrumentality of literature. Nor were they unfaithful to their calling. As they went forth into all the world preaching the Gospel, so also did they address themselves to all ages by their writings. And, as at last, at the end of the world, they shall again meet, the faithful messengers of the Lord, who by the instrumentality of the Church (which they had served to plant) have fulfilled their great commission of preaching the Gospel to every creature, so also will they be found to have accomplished their work through the writings of the New Testament. As the composition of the New Testament formed, like the preaching of the Word, part of the great mission which the Lord intrusted to His Apostles, it required special Divine preparation and illumination by the Holy Ghost. Just as “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,” so wrote they by the same Spirit. The inspiration bestowed on them for the purposes of their apostolic calling, was at the same time the source of their preaching and of their writings.

But, while asserting the Divine origin of the New Testament, we do not by any means overlook the human form in which it was cast. On the contrary, that human form appeared all the more genuinely when it became the vehicle of Divine revelation. Hence, the New Testament writings are clothed in the language of Greece, and couched in its peculiar mode of thought. This form constitutes another contrast between the Old and the New Testament. The language of the Old Testament (the Hebrew) is that of feeling, of directness, and of the esoteric religion of the Jews. The language of the New Testament is that of full intellectual consciousness (νοῦς), of matured reflection, and of the exoteric religion of all nations. But the New Testament is also imbued with the spirit of the Old; and whenever there is any direct and esoteric presentation of revelation (the speaking ἐν πνεύματι), we meet with frequent Hebraisms, especially in the Book of Revelation.

III. Chronological Succession of the books of the New Testament The oldest apostolic letter is that addressed by the Synod at Jerusalem, about the year 53 [or rather a. d. 50—P. S.], to the Gentile Christian Churches, and which is recorded by Luke in the 15th chapter of Acts.

Soon afterward Paul wrote his first letters to the Churches. The apostolic writings may be arranged in the following order of succession:—

1. The two Epistles to the Thessalonians, written from Corinth, about 54 or 55 [53—P. S.].

2. The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, written from Ephesus, about the year 56 or 57.

3. The two Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians, written from Ephesus and Mace donia, about the year 58.

4. The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, written from Corinth, about the year 59.

5. The Epistle of James, written from Jerusalem, and addressed to the Jewish Christians in the Diaspora, about the year 62.

6. The Epistles of Paul to the Ephesians, to the Colossians, and to Philemon, written from Rome, about the year 63.

7. The Epistle of Paul to the Philippians, written from Rome, about the year 64.

8. The Epistle to the Hebrews, the Gospel by Luke, and the Acts of the Apostles, written probably from the same place, or at least from Italy, and about the same time—the year 64.

9. The First Epistle of Peter, written from Babylon, about the year 64.

10. The First Epistle of Paul to Timothy, written from Macedonia, between 64 and 66 [?].

11. The Epistle of Paul to Titus, written from Macedonia, or from Greece, between 64 and 66 [?].

12. The Second Epistle of Paul to Timothy, written from Rome, about the year 67 or 68 [?].

13. The Second Epistle of Peter, written in the same place, and about the same time, about 67 or 68.

14. The Gospel by Mark, written in Rome, about the year 68.

15. The Gospel by Matthew, written in Judea, about the year 68 or 69.

16. The Gospel by John, written about the year 70.

17. The Epistle of Jude, written probably between the years 80 and 90 18. The Revelation of John, written about the year 95.

19. The three Epistles of John, written probably between the years 96 and 100 [?].³³ IV. Critical Collection of the New Testament Canon

It will be readily granted that the various Churches carefully preserved the epistles and writings of the Apostles, and those of their assistants, the Evangelists Mark and Luke. The idea that several apostolic writings, more especially a third Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, and an Epistle to the Laodiceans by the same Apostle, have been lost, owes its origin to a misunderstanding of some allusions in the New Testament. (Comp. Lange’s Apost. Age, I. 205 sqq.) But it is probable that at a later period Mark himself enlarged his Gospel by adding to it a conclusion, appended to that which it had in its original shape; as also, that at the commencement of the second century, the well-known passage in the Second Epistle of Peter was inserted after the Epistle of Jude. (Apost. Age, I. 152) These circumstances, however, do not affect the authenticity of the text. The interpolation of the trinitarian passage in 1 John 5:7-8, is of much later date. The Gospel of Matthew, originally written in Hebrew, was translated at a very early period, and probably by Matthew himself, into our present Greek Gospel, which has ever since been received as canonical in the Church.

It was natural that the writings of the Apostles should be communicated from one church to the other, and extensively diffused, since many of them were evangelical epistles, addressed to several, or to all Christian communities (as, for example, the Epistle to the Hebrews, that of James, the two Epistles of Peter, the First Epistle of John, the seven epistles in the Book of Revelation, and the Epistle to the Ephesians), Besides, the practice was also distinctly prescribed by the Apostles (Colossians 4:16). Accordingly, we find even in the New Testament an allusion to collections of apostolic writings, more especially of those of Paul, as in the Second Epistle of Peter (Matthew 3:16), with which also Acts 16 may be compared with reference to the address of the Synod of Jerusalem, recorded in Acts 15.

Such collections of apostolic writings rendered something like critical examination necessary, to enable the churches to distinguish between what was genuine and what spurious. It is remarkable that so early as in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians (2 Thessalonians 2:2), which is the second oldest of the New Testament writings, we find an appeal to the critical sense of the churches. So long, indeed, as some of the Apostles, or even their immediate disciples, lived and taught, the stream of oral apostolical tradition was so abundant and so pure, that some preferred to apply directly to that source of instruction. Thus we account, for example, for the circumstance that Papias, a disciple of John, who lived at the commencement of the second century, mentions the Gospels of Matthew and of Mark, but, instead of referring to those of Luke and of John, records the names of the men whose presence and instructions had in his case filled the place of these Gospels (Euseb. 3:33; comp. Lange, Leben Jesu, I. 151, and Apost. Age, I. 215). Even in the writings of the apostolic Fathers we meet with frequent evidence of their familiarity with the New Testament writings. On these various testimonies, as they multiply with the lapse of time, as also on the various forms and lists of the canon to its final close in the fourth century, compare the various Introductions to the New Testament. Nor must we omit to mention that, during the first three centuries, the Church amply proved its critical capacity by rejecting from the canon that vast mass of apocryphal writings which claimed admission into the New Testament. But the deep contrast between these works and the spirit of the New Testament has only lately been fully brought to light, in connection with the controversy about the mythical theory of Strauss. (Compare the literature on the subject as given by Winer, and the collections of New Testament Apocrypha, by Fabricius, Thilo, and Tischendorf.) V. Unity and Organic Arrangement of the New Testament DIVISION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT At first, it seemed as if the ancient Church would have adopted an arrangement of the New Testament writings substantially similar to that of the Jews for the Old Testament. Thus we find mention of three sections of the New Testament, to correspond with the ancient division into Law, Prophets, and Hagiographa. Besides the arrangement into τὸ εὐαγγέλιον and ὁ ἀπόστολος (Clemens Alex.), τὰ εὐαγγελικὰ καὶ τὰ ἀποστολικά (Irenæus)—by which they meant the Gospels, and, in the first place at least, the writings of St. Paul—we also find mention of a third collection under the name of καθολικαὶ ἐπιστολαί, which seems to have included the apostolic writings generally, καθόλου (see Hug. Einl. in’s N. T., vol. ii., p. 428). This explanation of the word καθολικός has been controverted; but the fact that the Epistle to the Hebrews, although catholic in its tenor, was not included among the Catholic Epistles, because its authorship was attributed to St. Paul, speaks in favor of the above suggestion. This division of the New Testament, however, fell to the ground when the canon was completed. Hence there can be no valid objection to the modern division into Historical, Doctrinal, and Prophetic books. But it deserves notice that the Book of Acts was originally, and also in the Scripture lessons, included among the Epistles, and this with good reason; for in the strict historical sense, it belongs not to the period of the Gospel history, but to that of the foundation of the Church by the Apostles, and serves as historical basis to the Epistles. Properly speaking, it forms a transition from the historical to the doctrinal books. This division of the New Testament is warranted by the peculiar cast, and by the prevailing characteristics of its various books, although in a certain sense each of them contains, at the same time, history, doctrine, and prophecy. Keeping this arrangement in view, the New Testament canon presents to our mind the eternal past, present, and future of the Church; Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever—or Christ in His historical manifestation, in His rule over the Church, and in His glorious advent. But here each part is organically connected with the other, just as, in the idea of eternal life, the past, the present, and the future pervade and interpenetrate each other. “All the writings of the New Testament contain, in the first place, the basis, or the ideal past of the Church; next, its standard, or the rule for its present development; lastly, its final aim, or the goal of its future.” (See my Apost. Age, ii., p. 571.) The historical books describe the first manifestation and the foundation of the kingdom of heaven in our world, and its inroad upon the world, with a view to final conquest, by the planting of the apostolic Church. The doctrinal books are intended to serve as a directory for the development of Christian and ecclesiastical life in the kingdom of heaven, or of the kingdom of heaven as manifest in ecclesiastical and Christian life, in all its relations to the world, whether hostile or peaceable. This development is ever based upon, and traced to, the first coming of Christ for the redemption of man. Lastly, the prophetical books are intended to guide this development of Christian and ecclesiastical life, in accordance with the prophetic announcement and description of the second advent of Christ. The foundation of the kingdom of heaven—its unfolding—its future conquests, and ultimate completion: such are the three parts which constitute the New Testament. The Historical portion of the New Testament consists of two parts, the Gospels, and the Book of Acts. The former exhibits the eternal basis of the Church, and its foundation in time; the latter, the planting of the Church, its original form, and the first and prophetic outlines of its spread through the world.

_____________

§ 2 HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT The four Gospels, which together form only one Gospel (τὸ εὐαγγέλιον) under a fourfold aspect (κατὰ Ματθαῖον, etc.), constitute, along with the Book of Acts (πράξεις τῶν ἀποστόλων), the historical records of the New Testament. The great leading idea which pervades this history, is the introduction of the kingdom of heaven (βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν), or its manifestation (at least, so far as its principles and power are concerned)—the revelation of God being completed by the coming of the God-Man, the Redeemer of the world, and His kingdom founded upon earth by the planting of His Church through the power of the Holy Ghost. Accordingly, this evangelical history forms the centre of all history, by concluding that of the ancient and commencing that of the new world. The difference between the historical books of the New Testament consists in this, that while the four Gospels record the history of the revelation of the kingdom of heaven, and of its foundation in the Person and the work of the Lord Jesus, the Book of Acts describes the royal administration of Christ as manifested in planting His kingdom in and for the world, by the power of the Holy Ghost working through the Apostles. The Gospels exhibit the kingdom of heaven in the Person of Christ; the Book of Acts, the Person of Christ in the kingdom of heaven; the former show us the kingdom of heaven upon the earth, yet above the earth, separate and distinct from all the world; the latter, the kingdom of heaven in the world—all its roots and fibres having taken hold upon the soil of earth. In the one case, we have the perfect revelation of God in the Spirit of Christ (the ἀποκάλυψις), in the other, by the Spirit of Christ (the φανέρωσις); in the one case, the descent of the heavenly Jerusalem upon the holy city, in the other, the spread of that heavenly kingdom from Jerusalem to Rome. The Gospels show us how Christ consecrated Himself for the world, and thereby reconciled it to God in that solemn judgment which the world pronounced upon itself; the Book of Acts teaches how Christ consecrated the world unto Himself, and thereby redeemed it. Yonder, the old era terminates, the principle of the new having appeared; here, the new era commences, the principle of the old having been mortified.

I. The One Gospel in the Four Gospels

Viewed as a literary production, the Gospel history exists in a fourfold form. But for the ancient, true, churchly view, this circumstance is altogether secondary to the fact that under this fourfold form we have the one Gospel of the Lord. Strictly speaking, therefore, it is not the Gospel of Matthew, etc., as we now are accustomed to say, but the Gospel according to Matthew, according to Mark, according to Luke, and according to John. It is this grand unity of character, of history, of doctrine, and of spirit, which gives to the Gospels their common designation. Though we have four human writings, they form only one Divine record of the Gospel. To doubt this essential unity, is to lose to the same extent the capacity for the churchly appreciation and even the Christian understanding of the Gospels. But even this does not exhaust the relation between the four Gospels and the one Evangel. Not only does the difference between the four Gospels not obscure the unity of the one Evangel; but this number four rather indicates the unfolding of the Evangel in all its fulness, so that it reflects the fourfold sway of God in the world, meets the fourfold wants and views of the world, and under a fourfold aspect displays the infinite riches of revelation.

Irenæus (Advers. Hœres. iii. 1) connected the vision of the four cherubim in Ezekiel 1 with the four Gospels, and explained the symbolical meaning of that passage as applying to the distinctive peculiarities of the Evangelists. The idea was afterwards adopted and developed by the Fathers, and the four Gospels were compared with the vision of the four living creatures. Christian art has perpetuated the special arrangement of these symbols, proposed by Jerome, by assigning to Matthew the symbol of the man, to Mark that of the lion, to Luke that of the ox or sacrificial bullock, and to John that of the eagle. (Comp. Credner: Introd. to the N. T., p. 54.) Our own study of the Gospels would lead us to modify the interpretation of Jerome in so far as to regard Matthew under the symbol of the ox, and Luke under that of the man. (Leben Jesu, I. p. 156.) Stier has approved of this change. The first Gospel is preeminently that of history, and of the fulfilment of the Old Testament by the sacrificial sufferings and death of Christ and the redemption thus achieved. Hence the sacrificial bullock is the appropriate symbol of Matthew. The second Gospel presents to our minds the all-powerful revelation and working of Christ as direct from heaven, irrespectively of anything that preceded,—the completion of all former manifestations of the Deity. Symbol, the lion. The third Gospel is preeminently that of perfect humanity,—human mercy presented in the light of Divine grace, the transformation of all human kindness into Divine love. Symbol, the figure of a man.

Lastly, the fourth Gospel exhibits the deep spiritual and eternal import of the history of Christ—the Divine element pervading and underlying its every phase,—and with it the transformation of all ideas, and of all ideals, in connection with Christ. Symbol, the eagle. To this rapid sketch we might add, that the essential harmony of these Gospels cannot be properly appreciated, unless, while recognising their intrinsic unity, we also keep in mind those peculiar characteristics of the Evangelists on which the differences in their narratives depend.

Literature.³⁴—On the Gospel Harmony compare the [German] works of Tholuck: Credibility of the Gospel History (against Strauss’s Life of Jesus); Ebrard: Criticism of the Evangelical History; Thiersch: On the Restoration of the historical standpoint, etc.; Lex: The Gospel Harmony on the Life of Jesus (Wiesbaden, 1855). Also the Lives of Jesus by Neander, Hase, Lange, and J. Zeller: Voices of the German Church on Strauss’s Life of Jesus. [Engl. works: Macknight, Campbell, Greswell, Robinson, Strong: on the Gospel Harmony; Westcott: Introduction to the Study of the Gospels (1862); Ebrard: The Gospel History (Edinb. trsl., 1863); Ellicott, und Andrews: The Life of Christ.—P. S.] II. The Book of Acts The Book of Acts may also be arranged under four sections. 1. We have the apostolic Church, as the preparation and foundation of the one primeval Church for all the world,—embracing all nations and tongues (Matthew 1, 2); 2. The Jewish Christian Church (with Jerusalem as its metropolis, and Peter as its representative), tending toward the Gentile world and the Gentile Church (Matthew 3-12); 3. The Gentile Christian Church (with Antioch as its metropolis, and Paul as its representative), tending toward the Jewish Christian Church (Matthew 13:1 to Matthew 25:12); 4. The removal of any temporary difference by a higher unity, commencing with the journey of the Apostle Paul to Rome, and in the church at Rome, where the Jewish Christian and the Gentile Christian elements appear combined. The modern assaults on the credibility of the Acts are refuted by Lechler: The Apostolic and post-Apostolic Age; Dietlein: Das Urchristenthum; Schaff and Lange: History of the Apostolic Age, and in part by Baumgarten in his Commentary on Acts. [Also in Wisseler: Chronology of the Apostolic Age, 1848.—P. S.]

§ 3 THE DIDACTIC PORTION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, OR, THE EPISTLES

“As the historical writings of the New Testament form a τετράμορφον εὐαγγέλιον, so a similar τετράμορφον (to use an ancient ecclesiastical expression), a τετράμορφος ἀπόστολος, might, so to speak, be traced in its parenetic portions” (Guericke, Isagogics, p. 216). This writer then proceeds to compare Matthew with James, Mark with Peter, Luke with Paul, and the Gospel with the Epistles of John. So also substantially Neander, Schmid, Schaff. The didactic portion of the New Testament consists of epistles addressed to particular churches (epistles in the narrower sense), and general or catholic epistles addressed to the whole Church, or to a larger section of it. (On the various interpretations of the word καθολικός, comp. the Introductions). The writings of Paul, although belonging to the former class, might also be termed catholic, as they successively extend over every department of Christian life. Thus 1. Eschatological Epistles: the two Epistles to the Thessalonians, which treat of the doctrine of the last things; 2. Ecclesiastic Epistles: the two Epistles to the Corinthians, which treat of the organization and discipline of the Church; 3. Soteriological Epistles: the Epistle to the Galatians, which treats of the doctrine of redemption, presenting the righteousness by faith in contrast with the spurious righteousness by works; while the Epistle to the Romans exhibits this same righteousness in its nature and effects, in opposition to sin and its consequences. 4. Christological Epistles: the Epistle to the Philippians, which shows the exaltation of Christ in and by His humiliation, forms a transition between the previous epistles and those which treat of the Person of Christ, more especially the Epistles to the Colossians, and to the Ephesians. The Epistle to the Colossians commences by presenting the eternal and inherent glory which Christ possessed before all time, and then presents Him as the sole object of our faith; while the Epistle to the Ephesians commences with the final glory of Christ at the termination of all time, and presents Him as the only goal of the Church, and as forming the grand bond of its unity. 5. Lastly, we have the Pastoral Epistles: among which we include, besides the two Epistles to Timothy and that to Titus, the Epistle to Philemon. The Epistle to the Hebrews must, on account of its general tenor, be classed with the Catholic Epistles, although, from its origin and character, it evidently claims kindred to those of Paul. We have thus three series of Catholic Epistles. The Epistle to the Hebrews, and that of James, express the relation in which the Church universal, but especially the Jewish Christian Church, stands to the Old Testament (to the ceremonial and the moral law), with the view of warning against apostasy and Judaizing tendencies. The three Epistles of John exhibit the relationship between the Church and the present state of things: 1. The fellowship of believers in Christ; 2. The proper limits of that fellowship,—the necessity of avoiding heretics; 3. The proper extent of that fellowship,—avoiding a spirit of separatism. Lastly, the Epistles of Peter and of Jude treat mainly of the relationship of the Church to the future.

§ 4 THE PROPHETIC PORTION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT The Book of Revelation contains a prophetic description of the second advent of the Lord, and of the manifestation of His new creation and the transformation of the world, which is to be brought about by a series of great conflicts and triumphs of Christ over Antichrist and over the world. The description of this new work of creation opens with the Sabbath of redemption (hence the prophet has his vision on the Lord’s Day), and extends to the eternal Sabbath of final completion. Accordingly, we also have the sacred number seven, seven times repeated—the seven churches, the seven seals, the seven trumpets, the seven thunders, the seven vials, and the seven heads of Antichrist. At the close, we have the manifestation of the seven Spirits of God—who throughout have guided the struggle (Matthew 1)—in the appearance of Christ and the transformation of the world: a new genesis, by which the Bible at its conclusion points back to its commencement, showing how final and perfect fulfilment had now been attained.

THIRD SECTION GENERAL HOMILETICAL INTRODUCTION

___________

§ 1 THE PLACE OF HOMILETICS

One of the main duties of the pastoral office is preaching, as this work is more clearly defined by practical theology. The latter science, however, embraces more than that special department. It gives the theory of ecclesiastical life and Christian fellowship, and of its cultivation, or of edification, and treats, according to the teaching of Paul (1 Corinthians 12:4-6),—1. Of the Charismata in the Church; 2. of ecclesiastical offices; 3. of ecclesiastical functions. Among these, public worship occupies the most prominent place; and again, in public worship the preaching of the word, for which homiletics supplies the rules. Public worship is the real (not symbolical) and direct outward manifestation of the life of the Church in Christ its Head; while, at the same time, it also serves to deepen and to extend that life. The former of these objects is attained more especially by what may be designated the liturgical services, or prayer and praise, while the latter is aimed at by means of the sermon.

Based upon the eternal Word of God, and derived from it, the sermon is intended to advance the spiritual life of the Church in its individual members,—its lessons being always pointed with special reference to the present state and requirements of Christians, and to their ultimate calling. The rules for the proper discharge of this New Testament prophetical office are laid down in the science of Homiletics, or the sacred Art of Religious Discourse.

§ 2 CHARACTER AND PRINCIPLES OF HOMILETICS

Christian Homiletics is the evangelical churchly application of Rhetorics to sacred purposes. The homiletic oration is addressed to the spiritual feelings and interests of men, in divine wisdom and simplicity, and with spiritual motives, in order either to enlist them for those spiritual purposes which form the one grand aim of man, or else to quicken their spiritual life. From this it follows, that we shall have to dispense with all the mere outward artifices of secular rhetorics—many of which are dishonest, and to present our theme in a simple, yet well arranged, lively and effective address. From this we may derive the following fundamental rules of Homiletics.

1. The sermon occupies a place intermediate between the eternal Word of God and the present requirements of the Church. On this ground, it must neither be merely a practical exposition of Scripture, nor yet merely a practical address adapted to the wants of the moment. It must combine these two elements, and at the same time serve to quicken, to sanctify, and to further develop the inner life, from the Word of God.

2. This application of the Word of God to the state and wants of the Church, is entrusted to the believing hearts of a properly trained ministry. Accordingly, the sermon must bear evidence both of personal piety and of intellectual individuality, or rather, this intellectual individuality must appear consecrated by devotion to the altar.

3. The sermon is addressed to a real church,—not a perfect church, but yet to a church. On this ground, it must proceed on the assumption that there are spiritual principles and sympathies to which it can appeal, whilst at the same time keeping in view and seeking to remove existing obstacles and objections. It must therefore avoid the extreme of being merely an appeal to the unconverted (a λόγος προτρεπτικός), while, on the other hand, it eschews mere indirect and pointless “speaking with tongues” (γένη γλωσσῶν). It must ascertain the exact spiritual state of the congregation, and, in accordance therewith, progress from conviction to joy and thanksgiving. Nor should it ever be forgotten that the sermon forms part of worship, and that, while in its character and purpose prophetic, it is also essentially devotional. Hence the sermon must be neither noisy nor drawling; noise in the pulpit runs counter to the dignity of worship, and to that of Christianity itself. Conversion is not to be confounded with nervous excitement; it implies a state when the soul is moved indeed to its inmost depths, yet calmed in Christ. As for drawling, it is entirely out of place in the pulpit. Singing should be left to the congregation; and the moment the sermon rises into musical festivity, it should close.

4. The sermon is addressed to a congregation, not to students. Hence, it must be popular, clear, pointed, and practical,—avoiding obscurity, confusion, and abstract propositions. On the other hand, it must be simple, direct, lively, yet sufficiently dignified. It must have sprung from prayer and meditation, from communion with the Lord and with His Word, and from deep sympathy with the spiritual state and the wants of the congregation.

5. The sermon is addressed to an evangelical church, i.e., a church called to the freedom of the Spirit. Hence it is to be a homily, in the ancient sense of the term i.e., an interchange between the mind of the preacher and the spiritual views of the congregation, which cannot be obtained by mere persuasion, far less by outward or authoritative injunction, excluding all liberty, but by communion and fellowship of life. The homily is, so to speak, query and reply. Yet it were a mistake to rebut every objection which might possibly be raised, instead of replying to the queries which would naturally arise in the mind of the audience. These enquiries must be answered not with the wisdom of man, but by the Word of God.

6. The sermon is an official address delivered to the Church in the name and by the authority of the Head of the Church. Hence its name, Preaching,—prœdicatio, declaration. Accordingly, the testimony of the truth must be supported by evidence; nor must it be of the nature of mere philosophical demonstration, which, of course, is incapable of being preached. Nor, lastly, would it be right to substitute for this testimony a mere asseveration: the testimony of the heart is to be combined with argument addressed to the mind.

7. The sermon is to edify. It is intended to build up the living temple with living stones; i. e., to promote spiritual communion, and thereby to quicken Christians.

8. The construction of the sermon depends upon an exercise of the mind, which in turn presupposes meditation, prayer, and theological and religious knowledge. For the regulation of this exercise of the mind, Homiletics lays down certain rules about the invention of the theme, its division, and the execution and delivery of the discourse itself.

_____________

§ 3 ECCLESIASTICAL AND MATERIAL HOMILETICS That which gives to the sermon its value, is the Word of the living God, which is laid down objectively in the Scriptures, and expressed and applied by the preacher in a subjective form. The central point of the Word of God, and its grand, all-embracing personality, is the eternal and historical Christ with His finished work. In the Person of the God-Man revelation and redemption are united, and revelation itself becomes redemption; there the Law and the Gospel meet, and the Law itself becomes Gospel; there doctrine and history meet, and doctrine itself becomes history; there the Church and the Scriptures meet, and the Church itself presents the epistles read and known of all men; there the Church and the believing heart meet, the Church being in Him of one heart and one soul; lastly, there justification and sanctification are united, and sanctification becomes a justification for the day of judgment. With all this we wish to impress upon our readers that the mystery of revelation must be preached, not as a matter of speculation, but with a view to its grand teleological object—the salvation of sinners; that the Old Testament must be explained according to the analogy of the New; that doctrine must be illustrated by life, and the confessions of the Church regulated by the Divine Scripture; that the Church must be built up by seeking the conversion and personal holiness of souls; and that justification by faith must ever be presented along with its final aim—the glorification of saints. The main point which the preacher should keep in view is, that the great object of Christianity is to bring us into personal relationship to the risen Saviour, that is, into blessed fellowship, through Him, with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The selection of a suitable subject for the sermon may be determined, 1, by the order of the Church universal, as it presents itself in the ecclesiastical year with its great festivals; 2, by the traditional or a new series of Gospels and Epistles for the day; 3, by the directions of the authorities of the particular national or state Churches; 4, by the order of Synods and consistories; 5, by the ordinary course of nature and its seasons; 6, by extraordinary events (casualia); 7, by the peculiar relation and condition of the pastor and the congregation; 8, by literary helps, concordances, commentaries, religious reading, etc., which facilitates the invention and preparation of matter for sermons.³⁵ 1. The Order of the Church General. The Church Year The Church year designates the Christian consecration of time to the service of God, whereby the cycle of seasons becomes the symbol and type of the cycle of the evangelical history, and of the great facts of redemption. The Greek and Roman Churches changed the whole secular time into a succession of holidays in the interest of an exclusive hierarchy and an external showy ceremonialism; and thus the holidays of saints gradually obscured and almost annihilated the holy day of the Lord, or the Christian sabbath. But the ancient Catholic and the evangelical Church year represents typically and really the sanctification of the year as a manifestation of, and preparation for, eternity. [The Church year, as observed in the evangelical churches of Germany and the Continent, in the Church of England, and their descendants in America, is a reformation, purification and simplification of the Catholic Church year; it omits most or all holidays of saints, martyrs and angels, and of the Virgin Mary, but retains the leading festivals which commemorate what God has done for us in the incarnation, the passion and death, the resurrection and ascension of Christ, and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost; thus making the festivals of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost prominent, and restoring—at least in England and America—the weekly festival of the Christian Sabbath to its proper dignity and significance.—P. S.]

Literature.—On the Christian Church year see the works of Fred. Strauss (Berlin, 1850), Lisco (Berlin, 1852), Alt (1851), Harnack (1854), Warner 1860), and Piper’s Evangelical Year-book, published annually at Berlin since 1850. [Also the Liturgical works and collections of Daniel, Mone, Neale, etc., the Liturgies of the Church of England, and the Lutheran Churches of Europe and America, Ebrard’s Ref. Kirchenbuch, the new Baden Liturgy, the Irvingite Liturgy, the new (provisional) Liturgy of the G. Ref. Church of the U. S. (Philad. 1857), Baird’s Collection of Presbyterian Liturgies (New York, 1859), etc., etc.—P. S.] 2. The Old and New Pericopes, or Scripture Lessons for the Sundays of the Year On the history of perikopes see the article Perikopen in the Univers. Theol. Dictionary of Danz; [also the more recent one in Herzog’s Real-Encyclopœdie, vol. xi., p. 373–399, written by E. Ranke.—P. S.] Ranke: Das kirchliche Perikopen-system. Berlin, 1847. Alt: Der christl. Cultus. Berlin, 1851, sqq., 3 vols. Lisco: Das christl. Kirchenjahr, 4th ed., Berlin, 1852. Bobertag: Das evangel. Kirchenjahr in sämmtlichen Perikopen. des N. T. Breslau, 1857. On modern selections of Scripture lessons: Ranke (Berlin, 1850), Suckow and Nitzsch (Bibl. Vorlesungen aus dem A. und N. T. Bonn, 1846). See the list of the old series of perikopes at the close of the gen. introduction.

3. National and State Churches

These have appointed in different countries of Europe a festival of the Reformation. [In Germany it is celebrated October 31, the day when Luther affixed the 95 theses on the doors of the castle church at Wittenberg, in 1517.—P. S.] Also political festivals, [coronation of kings, commemoration of royal birthdays; in the Church of England, the commemoration of the death of King Charles I., and of the Gunpowder Plot,—now abolished and omitted from the Common-Prayer Book.—P. S.] National fast and humiliation days. [Thanksgiving days annually recommended by the Governors of the different States of the United States of America, especially in New England, and national thanksgiving, or fast days, recommended to the whole people by the President of the United States, e.g. by President Taylor, during the cholera in 1849, and several times by President Lincoln, during the civil war, especially on the 30th of April, 1863. But, owing to the separation of Church and State, Governors and Presidents cannot ordain and command, like European sovereigns, but simply recommend, the observance of Christian festivals. Nevertheless, such days are generally even better observed in America than in Europe, perhaps for the very reason that their observance is not made a matter of compulsion, but of freedom.—P. S.] 4. Provincial Synods [Denominations] and Local Congregations

Missionary festivals, foreign and domestic. Laying of corner stones, and dedication of new churches, etc. Confirmations, communions, benedictions, solemnization of marriage, funerals. All these are not, strictly speaking, casualia, but occur in the ordinary course of religious and congregational life.

5. Churchly Festivals of the Natural Seasons New Year. Spring festival. Harvest festival. Sylvester, (close of the year, December 31).

6. Extraordinary Events of Nature and of History (Casualia)

Extraordinary days of humiliation and prayer, during seasons of pestilence, famine, and war (Comp. above sub No. 3), or of thanksgiving after the return of peace or some great national deliverance.

7. Pastoralia

Ordination—, installation—sermons. Introductory and valedictory sermons. [Opening sermons at Classical and Synodical meetings, diocesan and general Conventions, Centenary and other commemorative discourses.—P. S.] 8. Homiletical Helps

1. Concordances, verbal or real, or both, by Wichmann (1782), Schott (1827), Hauff (1828), Büchner (1776), continued and improved by Hübner (1837 and often), Bernhard (1850). [All these works are German.] Greek concordance by H. Bruder: Ταμεῖον τῶν τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης λέξεων. Lips., 1842. [Based upon an older work of Erasmus Schmid; contains all the words of the Greek N. T. in alphabetical order with the passages where they occur; invaluable for reference.—P. S.] Hebrew concordance by Jul. Fürst: Concordantiœ libror. V. T. Lips., 1840. [Based upon Joh. Buxtorf, and as valuable for the Hebrew, as Bruder for the Greek T.—English Concordances: Alex. Cruden: A complete Concordance to the Holy Scriptures of the O. and N. Test., first published in London, 1731, and often since, both in England, Scotland and America, in full and in abridged forms. Also: The Englishman’s Greek Concordance of the New Testament, publ. by S. Bagster, London, and republ. by Harper & Br., New York, 1855,—a useful adaptation of Schmid’s Greek Concordance to the study of the English Bible.—The Englishman’s Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance of the Old Test., etc., Lond. (Longman, Green, Brown, and Longmans), 1843, 2 vols.,—an equal adaptation of Buxtorf-Fürst to the English Bible.—P. S.]

2. Lists of Texts. Schuler: Repertorium biblischer Texte und Ideen für Casual-Predigten und Reden. Halle, 1820. Haupt: Bibl. Casualtext-Lexicon, 1826. [There are a number of English works of the kind with or without skeletons of sermons; but I have none within reach, and cannot now find their titles.—P. S.]

3. Materials. Homiletical Bible-works and collections of Sermons and Preachers’ Manuals. See the list in Danz’s and Winer’s works on theol. Literature. Collection of Patristic sermons in Germ., trnsl. by Augusti (2 vols., 1830 and 1839). Luther’s Hauspostille and Kirchenpostille. The older German sermons of Scriver, H. Müller, Val. Herberger, Rieger, and the more recent sermons of Reinhatt, Dräseke, Harms, Schleiermacher, Nitzsch, Fr. Strauss [court chaplain at Berlin, died 1863], Tholuck, Jul. Müller, G. Dan. and Fr. W. Krummacher, Ludw. and Wm. Hofacker [brothers], Kapff [of Stutgart], Schenkel [of Heidelberg], Beck [of Tübingen], Steinmeyer, W. Hoffmann [both of Berlin], Stier, Liebner, van Osterzee [of Rotterdam, now of Utrecht], and many others.—[The best English pulpit orators are Jeremy Taylor, Rbt. South, Isaac Barrow, Jos. Butler, Tillotson, Whitefield, John Wesley, among the older, and Edward Irving, Melville, Robt. Hall, Chalmers, Guthrie, Caird, Hare, Trench, Archer Butler, Spurgeon, among the more recent. Of American preachers we mention Jonathan Edwards, Sam. Davies, John M. Mason, Bethune, Alexander (father and two sons) G. Spring, Skinner, Stockton, Durbin, Wayland, Lyman Beecher, Park, Bushnell, Phelps, H. Ward Beecher, etc., etc. The French pulpit is best represented by Bossuet, Bourdaloue, Massuet, among the Roman Catholics, and Saurin, Adolf Monod, and Vinet, among the Reformed.—P. S.]³⁶

§ 4 PASTORAL OR FORMAL HOMILETICS

Finding of the Subject.—This evidently depends on the above-mentioned traditions of the church year, etc., and on circumstances which cannot be prescribed or induced from without. Standing between the Word of God and the special wants of his congregation, the minister must choose his theme according to his spiritual perception and peculiar disposition at the time. However obvious in the circumstances a text may appear, yet the theme is always a discovery, or rather a gift from the Lord, a message to the Church, which can only be obtained or understood by prayer and meditation, by inward labor and spiritual meditation.

Division.—The sermon itself is the organic and artistic unfolding of the theme, showing the living connection between the text and the peculiar wants and circumstances of the congregation. The theme of the discourse constitutes the fundamental idea of the sermon, and, accordingly, must pervade the whole. It is generally expressed in a short, definite proposition (which accordingly is frequently called the theme). The theme must embody both the cause and the object of the discourse; i.e., it must have a divine basis, and at the same time a divine aim, although, in the proposition, either the cause or the object may be more prominently brought forward. The different parts of the sermon naturally flow from the theme. It is the object of the introduction to prepare the audience for the theme. Again, the subject must be presented in a lucid manner. This is the object of the proposition and of the division. The execution aims at presenting the theme in all its fulness. Lastly, the subject is summed up and applied in the conclusion. The general object and benefit of the delivery is, that in it the living truth is directly communicated to the living soul. The homily, in the narrower sense (or the familiar expository lecture), differs from the sermon, in that it follows not so much the logical order of the theme, as the order of the text, which in this case is generally a larger portion of Scripture. In the sermon, the main contents of the text are compressed and expressed in the theme and in its proposition, and afterward systematically expounded in the various parts of the discourse. The distinction commonly made, of analytical and synthetical discourses, is apt to mislead. Even the most analytical homily must be one in its idea and aim, otherwise it degenerates into a mere accidental exposition; while the so-called synthetic or systematic sermon also must ever unfold the teaching of the word, if it is to be a sermon, and not merely a religious address. As intermediate between the homily and the sermon, we may mention those compositions in which the two elements are combined, homiletic sermons and systematic homilies. The theme must be expressed in the proposition, briefly, clearly, strikingly, yet simply and not artificially. According to the text, or the circumstances of the case, or the state of the audience or of the speaker, it may be expressed either in a positive sentence, or in the form of a query, or of an inscription; in which latter case it resembles more closely the ancient homily, or the mental interchange between the congregation and the preacher.

Uniformity in presenting the subject would indicate a want of living interchange of thought with the people—a kind of dead scholasticism and formalism, unsuited to the pulpit. The same remark holds true in reference to the division, which must not be determined simply according to the syntactic arrangement of the sentence, but flow from the subject by an interchange of thought and feeling between the preacher and the hearers. The division of the sermon will therefore vary with our varying aim. Still, it is always necessary to observe logical order, which may be expressed in the following rules. The division must, 1, embrace no more than the theme; 2, it must exhaust the theme; 3, it must arrange it according to its essential synthetic parts; 4, it must express the regular progress of these parts, from the cause to the final object, from the ἀρχή to the τέλος .

Execution.—The same rules are here to be observed. The subject must be properly grouped, without, however, allowing this arrangement to appear too prominently. So far as style is concerned it behoves us to remember that ours is sacred oratory, and that the effects aimed at are spiritual in their nature. Accordingly, we must equally avoid the extreme of vulgar familiarity, and that of philosophic pomposity or of flowery poetry.

Delivery.—Here also art comes into play. The delivery of the discourse, in reference both to what is heard and what is seen (declamation and action), must not be rude nor unstudied. On the other hand, it must be free from extravagance or affectation. It must be natural, in the sense of corresponding to and expressing the subject treated, and yet distinctive, according to the individuality of the preacher, always bearing in mind that he is but the minister of the word.

Literature.³⁷—The principal writers on Practical Theology are Baxter, Burk, Schwarz, Köster, Marheineke, Hüffell, Harms, Gaupp, Nitzsch, Schleiermacher, Moll, Ebrard. The chief works on Homiletics are those of Schott [translated in part by Dr. Park in earlier vols. of the Bibliotheca Sacra.—P. S.], Theremin [trsl. by Dr. Shedd.—P. S.], Stier, Alex. Schweizer, Palmer, Baur, Vinet [trsl. by Dr. Skinner.—P. S.]. On the History of Pulpit Eloquence, we refer to the works of Schuler, Ammon, Schmidt, Paniel, and Lentz, also Beyer: Das Wesen per christl. Predigt, 1861, and Kirsch: Die populäre Predigt, 1861. [Comp. Henry C. Fish: History and Repository of Pulpit Eloquence (a collection of the masterpieces of the greatest preachers of different ages and denominations, with biographical sketches, and a masterly introductory essay by Dr. Park, of Andover), New York, 1857, 3 vols.—P. S.]

FOURTH SECTION HOMILETICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT

_____________ The rules which we have already given apply specially to the homiletical treatment of the New Testament. It may be considered a mark of progress, that in our days, more than in the ancient Church, the New Testament is chosen as the subject of exposition; although, on the other hand, Socinian and Rationalistic views may have led to a depreciation of the Old Testament. In opposition to any such tendency, it is sufficient to remark, that the Apostles themselves based their teaching upon the Old Testament, and that the saying of Paul, in 2 Timothy 3:16, applies to all times. Deeper and more spiritual views of the New Testament as the fulfilment of the Old, and that of all prophecies of creation and of ancient history, will lead us, in expounding the New Testament, ever to refer to the Old, and thus to enrich and explain, to enlarge and to quicken, our addresses. The point to be always kept in mind is this, that in Christ alone is all fulness.

Literature.³⁸—1. Homiletical and Practical Commentaries on the New Testament. C. H. Rieger: Betrachtungen über das N. T. zum Wachsthum in der Gnade und Erkenntniss Jesu Christi. Tübingen, 1828, 2 vols. Heubner: Praktische Erklärung des N. T. Potsdam, 1860, sqq. Besser: Bibelstunden. Halle, 1854, sqq. Mad. Guyon: La Ste. Bible, avec des explications. Amsterd., 1713–’15, 20 vols. Also the commentaries of Bengel, Bogatzky, Gossner. [The best English commentators for homiletical and practical use are Henry, Scott, Gill, Doddridge, Burkitt, Barnes (Hodge on the Romans). Comp. also David Brown and others: A Commentary, Critical, Experimental, and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments. Glasgow and London, 1863 sqq.—P. S.]

2. Expositions of the Pericopes, or Gospels and Epistles for the year. A large number of German sermon books of Herberger, Rambach, Harms, Stier, the two Hofackers, Kapff, Hirscher (R. Cath.), Lisco, etc.

Appendix.—Table of the Ancient Scripture Lessons, or Gospels and Epistles for the Sundays of the Year.³⁹

Footnotes: 

[25] [The Theol. and Homil. Commentary on the Old Testament which is included in the plan of Dr. Lange’s Bibel work, and will follow that on the New T.—P. S.] [26][This long list of books is reduced in the Edinb. trsl. to a few lines, without division of subjects.—P. S.] [27] Systemat. Entwicklung aller in der Dogmatik vorkommenden Begriffo.

[28] Comp. Lange’s Philosophische Dogmatik, p. 540 sqq.

[29] [Dr. Lange’s distinction between untergeordnet, überqeordnet, gleichgeordnet, and beigeordnet cannot be fully rendered, but is more clearly expressed above than in the Edinb. trsl.—P. S.]

[30] [Dr. Lange uses here the unusual term: geisthaft, as opposed to leibhaft, and with a shade of difference from geistig or intellectual, geistlich or spiritual, and geisterhaft or ghost-like. The antithesis is dear enough.—P. S.] [31] [This whole section is omitted in the Edinb. trsl.—P. S.]

[32][Der schreibkundigste, the best penman. The Edinb. trsl. mistakes the sense in rendering this: the best educated. Dr. Lange refers simply to the mechanism of writing, in which Matthew, as a former collector of customs, by constant practice, had acquired more case and skill than the other Apostles, who were fishermen. As to natural talent and education, Peter, Paul, and John were undoubtedly his superiors. Luke also had more learning, being a physician by profession, and a superior Greek scholar.—P. S.]

[33] [The chronological dates assigned to the apostolic writings by Dr. Lange slightly differ in three or four instances from those adopted in my History of the Apostolic Church. Of some books it is impossible accurately to ascertain the time of composition.—P. S.] [34][Omitted in the Edinb. trsl.—P. S.]

[35] [This last and all the following sections from 1–8 till § 4, are omitted in the Edinb. trsl.—P. S.]

[36] [We add a more complete list of distinguished deceased American preachers, selected almost entirely from Dr. W. B. Sprague’s Annals of the American Pulpit, arranged by denominations and in chronological order. The list is, of course, very incomplete, and a number of very eloquent and useful men are omitted, because they published nothing, or were poorly educated. The most eloquent preachers in the list are put in italics; those marked (*) have left behind them one or more volumes of sermons; those marked (^†) have left nothing except in pamphlet form.—P. S.] Congregational (Trinitarian).

^* Thomas Hooker Died, 1647.

^* Benjamin Wadsworth Died, 1737.

^* Benjamin Coleman, D. D. Died, 1747.

^* Jonathan Edwards Died, 1758.

^† John Hooker Died, 1777.

^† Samuel Cooper, D. D. Died, 1783.

^† Joseph Bellamy, D. D. Died, 1790.

^† Peter Thatcher, D. D Died, 1802.

^* Charles Backus, D. D Died, 1803.

^* David Tappan, D. D . Died, 1803.

^* Nathan Strong, D. D Died, 1816.

^* Timothy Dwight, D. D. Died, 1817.

^* Jesse Appleton, D. D Died, 1819.

^† Samuel Spring, D. D. Died, 1819.

^* Joseph Lathrop, D. D. Died, 1820.

^* Samuel Worcester, D. D. Died, 1821.

^* David Osgood, D. D. Died, 1822.

^* Edward Payson, D. D. Died, 1827.

^* Ebenezer Porter, D. D. Died, 1834.

^* Nathaniel Emmons, D. D. Died, 1840.

^† Leonard Woods, D. D. Died, 1854.

^* Joshua Bates, D. D. Died, 1854.

^* Lyman Beecher, D. D. Died, 1863.

Presbyterian.

^* Jonathan Dickinson. Died, 1747.

^† Aaron Burr. Died, 1757.

^* Samuel Davies. Died, 1761.

^* Gilbert Tennent. Died, 1764.

^† Samuel Finley, D. D. Died, 1766.

^* Jonathan Parsons. Died, 1776.

^* John Witherspoon, D. D. Died, 1794.

^† Samuel Büell, D. D. Died, 1798.

^† John Blair Smith, D. D. Died, 1799.

^† John Blair Linn, D. D. Died, 1804.

^* Samuel Stanhope Smith, D. D., LL. D. Died, 1819.

^* Sylvester Larned. Died, 1820.

^* John B. Romeyn, D. D. Died, 1825.

^* John Mitchell Mason, D. D. Died, 1829.

^† John Holt Rice, D. D. Died, 1831.

^* William Nevins, D. D. Died, 1835.

^* Edward Dorr Griffin, D. D. Died, 1837.

^* Daniel A. Clark. Died, 1840.

^† John Breckenridge, D. D. Died, 1841.

^* James Richards, D. D. Died, 1843.

^* Ashbel Green, D. D . Died, 1848.

^† Samuel Miller, D. D. Died, 1850.

^* Archibald Alexander, D. D. Died, 1851.

^* Erskine Mason, D. D. Died, 1851.

^* Ichabod Smith Spencer, D. D. Died, 1854.

^* Philip Lindsley, D. D. Died, 1855.

^* James W. Alexander, D. D. Died, 1859.

^† Nicholas Murray, D. D. Died, 1861.

^* Jos. Addison Alexander, D. D. Died, 1860.

Episcopalian.

^† Samuel Johnson, D. D. Died, 1772.

^* Rt. Rev. Samuel Seabury, D. D. Died, 1796.

^† Rt. Rev. John Henry Hobart, D. D. Died, 1830.

^* Gregory Townsend Bedell, D. D. Died, 1834.

^* Rt. Rev. William White, D. D. Died, 1836.

^† Samuel Farmar Jarvis, D. D., LL. D. Died, 1851.

Baptist.

^* Samuel Stillman, D. D. Died, 1807.

^* Jonathan Maxcy, D. D. Died, 1820.

^† Richard Furman, D. D. Died, 1825.

^† Thomas Baldwin, D. D. Died, 1826.

^† William Staughton, D. D. Died, 1829.

^* William Theophilus Brantley, D. D. Died, 1845.

^* Wm. Parkinson. Died, 1848.

^† Spencer H. Cone. Died, 1855.

Methodist.

^* Thomas Coke, LL. D. Died, 1804.

^† Francis Asbury. Died, 1816.

^* John Summerfield. Died, 1825.

^† Wilbur Fisk, D. D. Died, 1839.

^* Henry Bidleman Bascum, D. D. Died, 1850.

^* Stephen Olin, D. D., LL. D. Died, 1851.

^† Elijah Hedding, D. D. Died, 1852.

^* William Capers, D. D. Died, 1855.

Dutch Reformed.

^* Theodore Jacobus Freling-huysen. Died, 1751.

^* William Linn, D. D. Died, 1808.

^† John N. Abeel, D. D. Died, 1812.

^† John Henry Livingston. D. D. Died, 1825.

^† John Melanchthon Bradford, D. D. Died, 1826.

^† John De Witt, D. D. Died, 1831.

^† Philip Milledoler, D. D. Died, 1852.

^† Jacob Brodhead, D. D. Died, 1855.

German Reformed.

^† Michael Schlatter. Died, 1790.

^* Charles Becker, D. D. Died, 1818.

^* Augustus Rauch, P. D. Died, 1841.

Evang. Lutheran.

^† Henry Melchior Mühlenberg. Died, 1787.

^† Justus Henry Christian Helmuch, D. D. Died, 1833.

^† Carl Rudolph Demme, D. D. Died, 1863.

Reformed Presbyterian.

^† James McKinney. Died, 1804.

^* Alexander McLeod, D. D. Died, 1833.

^† Gilbert MeMasher, D. D. Died, 1854.

Associate Reformed.

^* James Gray. D. D. Died. 1824.

^* Alexander Proud fit, D. D. Died, 1843.

^† J. M. Duncan, D. D. Died, 1851.

Unitarian.

^* Jonathan Mayhew, D. D. Died, 1766.

^* John Clarke, D. D. Died, 1798.

^* Joseph Stephens Buck-minster. Died, 1812.

^* Samuel Cooper Thacher. Died, 1817.

^* Abiel Abbott, D. D. (of Beverly). Died, 1828.

^* James Freeman, D. D. Died, 1835.

^† John Thornton Kirkland, D. D. Died, 1840.

^* William Ellery Channing. D. D. Died, 1842.

^* Henry Ware, Jr. D. D. Died, 1843.

^* Francis William Pilt Greenwood, D. D. Died, 1843.

^* W. B. O. Peabody, D. D. Died, 1847.

[37][Omitted in the Edinb. trsl.—P. S.] [38][Omitted in the Edinb. trsl.—P. S.]

[39] [This Table is likewise omitted in the Edb. trsl. But as it belongs to the homiletical character of this Commentary and is frequently referred to in the Homiletical sections, we have retained it with the exception of the Apostles Days, and Days of the Virgin Mary, which are very rarely observed among Protestants. The old series of Gospels and Epistles is essentially the same in the Rom. Cath., Luth., Episcop., and Germ. Reform. Churches with a few variations. Compare the Tables in the Episc. Common Prayer Book, in the Germ. Ref. Liturgy of 1857, pp. 30–33, and in many Lutheran and Reformed Liturgies and Hymn Books.—P. S.]

[40] [This and the following Latin titles are the initial words of the introductory Latin Psalms appointed for these several Sundays in the Latin Church.—P. S.]