Supernatural Religion Volume II Part 18

cross, he goes on to say: "Again Moses makes a type of Jesus, that he must suffer and himself make alive [------], whom they will appear to have destroyed, in a figure, while Israel was falling;"(l) and connecting the circ.u.mstance that the people were bit by serpents and died with the transgression of Eve by means of the serpent, he goes on to narrate minutely the story of Moses and the brazen serpent, and then winds up with the words: "Thou hast in this the glory of Jesus; that in him are all things and for him."(2) No one can read the whole pa.s.sage carefully without seeing that the reference is direct to the Old Testament.(3) There is no ground for supposing that the author was acquainted with the fourth Gospel.

To the Pastor of Hermas Tischendorf devotes only two lines, in which he states that "it has neither quotations from the Old nor from the New Testament."(4) Canon

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Westcott makes the same statement,(1) but, unlike the German apologist, he proceeds subsequently to affirm that Hermas makes "clear allusions to St. John;" which few or no apologists support. This a.s.sertion he elaborates and ill.u.s.trates as follows:--

"The view which Hermas gives of Christ's nature and work is no less harmonious with apostolic doctrine, and it offers striking a.n.a.logies to the Gospel of St. John. Not only did the Son 'appoint angels to preserve each of those whom the Father gave to him;' but 'He himself toiled very much and suffered very much to cleanse our sins.... And so when he himself had cleansed the sins of the people, he showed them the paths of life by giving them the Law which he received from his. Father.'(2) He is 'a Rock higher than the mountains, able to hold the whole world, ancient, and yet having a new gate.'(3) 'His name is great and infinite, and the whole world is supported by him.'(4) 'He is older than Creation, so that he took counsel with the Father about the

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creation which he made.'(1) 'He is the sole way of access to the Lord; and no one shall enter in unto him otherwise than by his Son.'"(2)

This is all Canon Westcott says on the subject.(3) He does not attempt to point out any precise portions of the fourth Gospel with which to compare these "striking a.n.a.logies," nor does he produce any instances of similarity of language, or of the use of the same terminology as the Gospel in this apocalyptic allegory. It is evident that such evidence could in no case be of any value for the fourth Gospel.

When we examine more closely, however, it becomes certain that these pa.s.sages possess no real a.n.a.logy with the fourth Gospel, and were not derived from it. There is no part of them that has not close parallels in writings antecedent to our Gospel, and there is no use of terminology peculiar to it. The author does not even once use the term Logos. Canon Westcott makes no mention of the fact that the doctrine of the Logos and of the pre-existence of Jesus was enunciated long before the composition of the fourth Gospel, with almost equal clearness and fulness, and that its development can be traced through the Septuagint translation, the "Proverbs of Solomon," some of the Apocryphal works of the Old Testament, the writings of Philo, and in the Apocalypse, Epistle to the Hebrews, as well as the Pauline Epistles. To any one who examines the pa.s.sages cited from the works of Hennas, and still more to any one acquainted with the history of the Logos doctrine, it will, we fear,

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seem wasted time to enter upon any minute refutation of such imaginary "a.n.a.logies." We shall, however, as briefly as possible refer to each pa.s.sage quoted.

The first is taken from an elaborate similitude with regard to true fasting, in which the world is likened to a vineyard and, in explaining his parable, the Shepherd says: "G.o.d planted the vineyard, that is, he created the people and gave them to his Son: and the Son appointed his angels over them to keep them: and he himself cleansed their sins, having suffered many things and endured many labours.... He himself, therefore, having cleansed the sins of the people, showed them the paths of life by giving them the Law which he received from his Father."(1)

It is difficult indeed to find anything in this pa.s.sage which is in the slightest degree peculiar to the fourth Gospel, or apart from the whole course of what is taught in the Epistles, and more especially the Epistle to the Hebrews. We may point out a few pa.s.sages for comparison: Heb. i. 2-4; ii. 10-11; v. 8-9; vii. 12, 17-19; viii. 6-10; x. 10-16; Romans viii. 24-17; Matt. xxi. 33; Mark xii. 1; Isaiah v. 7, liii.

The second pa.s.sage is taken from an elaborate parable on the building of the Church: [------] "And in the middle of the plain he showed me a great white rock which had risen out of the plain, and the rock was higher than the mountains, rectangular so as to be able to hold the whole world, but that rock was old having a gate [------] hewn out of it, and the hewing out of the gate [------] seemed to me to be recent."(2) Upon this rock the tower of the Church is built. Further on an explanation is given of the similitude, in which occurs another of the

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pa.s.sages referred to.[------] "This rock [------] and this gate [------]

are the Son of G.o.d. 'How, Lord,' I said, 'is the rock old and the gate new?' 'Listen,' he said, 'and understand, thou ignorant man. [------]

The Son of G.o.d is older than all of his creation [------], so that he was a councillor with the Father in his work of creation; and for this is he old.' [------] 'And why is the gate new, Lord?' I said; 'Because,'

he replied, 'he was manifested at the last days [------] of the dispensation; for this cause the gate was made new, in order that they who shall be saved might enter by it into the kingdom of G.o.d.'"(1)

And a few lines lower down the Shepherd further explains, referring to entrance through the gate, and introducing another of the pa.s.sages cited: [------] "'In this way,' he said, 'no one shall enter into the kingdom of G.o.d unless he receive his holy name. If, therefore, you cannot enter into the City unless through its gate, so also,' he said, 'a man cannot enter in any other way into the kingdom of G.o.d than by the name of his Son beloved by him'... 'and the gate [------] is the Son of G.o.d. This is the one entrance to the Lord.' In no other way, therefore, shall any one enter in to him, except through his Son."(2)

Now with regard to the similitude of a rock we need scarcely say that the Old Testament teems with it; and we need not point to the parable of the house built upon a rock in the first Gospel.(3) A more apt ill.u.s.tration is the famous saying with regard to Peter: "And upon this rock [------] I will build my Church," upon which

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indeed the whole similitude of Hermas turns; and in 1 Cor. x. 4, we read: "For they drank of the Spiritual Rock accompanying them; but the Rock was Christ" [------]. There is no such similitude in the fourth Gospel at all.

We then have the "gate," on which we presume Canon Westcott chiefly relies. The parable in John x. 1--9 is quite different from that of Hermas,(1) and there is a persistent use of different terminology. The door into the sheepfold is always [------], the gate in the rock always [------]. "I am the door,"(2) [------] is twice repeated in the fourth Gospel. "The gate is the Son of G.o.d" [------] is the declaration of Hermas. On the other hand, there are numerous pa.s.sages, elsewhere, a.n.a.logous to that in the Pastor of Hermas. Every one will remember the injunction in the Sermon on the Mount: Matth. vii. 13, 14. "Enter in through the strait gate [------], for wide is the gate [------], &c., 14. Because narrow is the gate [------] and straitened is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."(3) The limitation to the one way of entrance into the kingdom of G.o.d: "by the name of his Son," is also found everywhere throughout the Epistles, and likewise in the Acts of the Apostles; as for instance: Acts iv. 12, "And there is no salvation in any other: for neither is there any other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."

The reasons given why the rock is old and the gate new [------] have anything but special a.n.a.logy with

3 Compare the account of the new Jerusalem, Rev. xxi. 12 ff.; cf. xxii. 4, 14. In Simil. ix. 13, it is insisted that, to enter into the kingdom, not only "his name" must be borne, but that we must put on certain clothing.

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the fourth Gospel. We are, on the contrary, taken directly to the Epistle to the Hebrews in which the pre-existence of Jesus is prominently a.s.serted, and between which and the Pastor, as in a former pa.s.sage, we find singular linguistic a.n.a.logies. For instance, take the whole opening portion of Heb. i. 1: "G.o.d having at many times and in many manners spoken in times past to the fathers by the prophets, 2. At the end of these days [------] spake to us in the Son whom he appointed heir [------](1) of all things, by whom he also made the worlds, 3.

Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his substance, upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had made by himself a cleansing of our sins sat down at the right hand of Majesty on high, 4. Having become so much better than the angels,"(2) &c., &c; and if we take the different clauses we may also find them elsewhere constantly repeated, as for instance: [------] The son older than all his creation: compare 2 Tim. i. 9, Colossiansi. 15 ("who is...

the first born of all creation"--[------], 16, 17, 18, Rev. iii. 14, x.

6. The works of Philo are full of this representation of the Logos. For example: "For the Word of G.o.d is over all the universe, and the oldest and most universal of all things created" [------]

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[------].(1) Again, as to the second clause, that he a.s.sisted the Father in the work of creation, compare Heb. ii. 10, i. 2, xi. 3, Rom. xi. 36, 1 Cor. viii. 6, Coloss. i. 15, 16.(2)

The only remaining pa.s.sage is the following: "The name of the Son of G.o.d is great and infinite and supports the whole world." For the first phrase, compare 2 Tim. iv. 18, Heb. i. 8; and for the second part of the sentence, Heb. i. 3, Coloss. i. 17, and many other pa.s.sages quoted above.(3)

The whole a.s.sertion(4) is devoid of foundation, and might well have been left unnoticed. The attention called to it, however, may not be wasted in observing the kind of evidence with which apologists are compelled to be content.

Tischendorf points out two pa.s.sages in the Epistles of pseudo-Ignatius which, he considers, show the use of the fourth Gospel.(5) They are as follows--Epistle to the Romans vii.: "I desire the bread of G.o.d, the bread of

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heaven, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ the son of G.o.d, who was born at a later time of the seed of David and Abraham; and I desire the drink of G.o.d [------], that is his blood, which is love incorruptible, and eternal life" [------].(1) This is compared with John vi. 41: "I am the bread which came down from heaven" 48.... "I am the bread of life," 51.... "And the bread that I will give is my flesh;"

54. "He who eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life"

[------]. Scholten has pointed out that the reference to Jesus as "born of the seed of David and Abraham" is not in the spirit of the fourth Gospel; and the use of [------] for the [------] of vi. 55, and [------]; instead of [------] are also opposed to the connection with that Gospel.(3) On the other hand, in the inst.i.tution of the Supper, the bread is described as the body of Jesus, and the wine as his blood; and reference is made there, and elsewhere, to eating bread and drinking wine in the kingdom of G.o.d,(3) and the pa.s.sage seems to be nothing but a development of this teaching.(4) Nothing could be proved by such an a.n.a.logy.(5)

The second pa.s.sage referred to by Tischendorf is in the Epistle to the Philadelphians vii.: "For if some

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would have led me astray according to the flesh, yet the Spirit is not led astray, being from G.o.d, for it knoweth whence it cometh and whither it goeth, and detecteth the things that are hidden."(1) Teschendorf considers that these words are based upon John iii. 6--8, and the last phrase: "And detecteth the hidden things," upon verse 20. The sense of the Epistle, however, is precisely the reverse of that of the Gospel, which reads: "The wind bloweth where it listeth; and thou hearest the sound thereof but _knowest not_ whence it cometh and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit;"(3) whilst the Epistle does not refer to the wind at all, but affirms that the Spirit of G.o.d does know whence it cometh, &c. The a.n.a.logy in verse 20 is still more remote: "For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be detected."(3) In 1 Cor. ii. 10, the sense is found more closely: "For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, even the deep things of G.o.d."(4) It is evidently unreasonable to a.s.sert from such a pa.s.sage the use of the fourth Gospel.(5) Even Tischendorf recognizes that in themselves the phrases which he points out in pseudo-Ignatius could not, unsupported by other corroboration, possess much weight as testimony for the use of our Gospels. He says: "Were these allusions of Ignatius to Matthew and John a wholly isolated phenomenon, and one which perhaps other undoubted results

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of inquiry wholly contradicted, they would hardly have any conclusive weight. But--."(1) Canon Westcott says: "The Ignatian writings, as might be expected, are not without traces of the influence of St. John. The circ.u.mstances in which he was placed required a special enunciation of Pauline doctrine; but this is not so expressed as to exclude the parallel lines of Christian thought. Love is 'the stamp of the Christian.' (Ad Magn. v.) 'Faith is the beginning and love the end of life.' (Ad Ephes. xiv.) 'Faith is our guide upward' [------], but love is the road that 'leads to G.o.d.' (Ad Eph. ix.) 'The Eternal [------]

Word is the manifestation of G.o.d' (Ad Magn. viii.), 'the door by which we come to the Father' (Ad Philad. ix., cf. John x. 7), 'and without Him we have not the principle of true life' (Ad Trail, ix.: [------]. cf.

Ad Eph. iii.: [------]. The true meat of the Christian is the 'bread of G.o.d, the bread of heaven, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ,' and his drink is 'Christ's blood, which is love incorruptible'

(Ad Rom. vii., cf. John vi. 32, 51, 53). He has no love of this life; 'his love has been crucified, and he has in him no burning pa.s.sion for the world, but living water (as the spring of a new life) speaking within him, and bidding him come to his Father' (Ad Rom. 1. c).

Meanwhile his enemy is the enemy of his Master, even the 'ruler of this age.' (Ad Rom. 1. c, [------]. Cf. John xii. 31, xvi. 11: [------] and see 1 Cor. ii. 6, 8.(2))"

Part of these references we have already considered;

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others of them really do not require any notice whatever, and the only one to which we need to direct our attention for a moment may be the pa.s.sage from the Epistle to the Philadelphians ix., which reads: "He is the door of the Father, by which enter in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the prophets, and the apostles, and the Church."(l) This is compared with John x. 7. "Therefore said Jesus again: Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the Sheep" [------]. We have already referred, a few pages back,(2) to the image of the door. Here again it is obvious that there is a marked difference in the sense of the Epistle from that of the Gospel. In the latter Jesus is said to be the door into the Sheepfold;(3) whilst in the Epistle, he is the door into the Father, through which not only the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles enter, but also the Church itself. Such distant a.n.a.logy cannot warrant the conclusion that the pa.s.sage shows any acquaintance with the fourth Gospel.(4) As for the other phrases, they are not only without special bearing upon the fourth Gospel, but they are everywhere found in the canonical Epistles, as well as elsewhere. Regarding love and faith, for instance, compare Gal. v. 6, 14, 22; Rom. xii. 9, 10, viii. 39, xiii. 9; 1 Cor. ii. 9, viii. 3; Ephea iii. 17, v. 1, 2, vi. 23; Philip, i. 9, ii.

2; 2 Thess. iii. 5; 1 Tim. i. 14, vi. 11; 2 Tim. i. 13; Heb. x. 38 f., xi., &c., &c.

We might point out many equally close a.n.a.logies in

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the works of Philo,(1) but it is unnecessary to do so, although we may indicate one or two which first present themselves. Philo equally has "the Eternal Logos" [------],(2) whom he represents as the manifestation of G.o.d in every way. "The Word is the likeness of G.o.d, by whom the universe was created" [------].(3) He is "the vicegerent" [------]

of G.o.d,(4) "the heavenly incorruptible food of the soul," "the bread [------] from heaven." In one place he says: "and they who inquired what is the food of the soul... learnt at last that it is the Word of G.o.d, and the Divine Logos.... This is the heavenly nourishment, and it is mentioned in the holy Scriptures... saying, 'Lo! I rain upon you bread [------] from heaven.' (Exod. xvi. 4.) 'This is the bread [------] which the Lord has given them to eat'" (Exod. xvi. 15).(5) And again: "For the one indeed raises his eyes towards the sky, contemplating the manna, the divine Word, the heavenly incorruptible food of the longing soul."(6) Elsewhere: "... but it is