The Internal Evidence of the Fourth Gospel
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any other supposition, it is fraught with difficulties that can not be explained away. "I am not credulous enough to be an unbeliever," is a wise saying in this as in many similar connections. 5. The Gospel opens and closes with surpassing grandeur. With Divine dignity it links itself with the opening words of Genesis : "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . • . And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." What a lifelike contrast with this sublime description is found in the introduction of John the Baptist : "There came a man sent from God whose name was John". In the incarnation Christ did not become a man but man. Moreover in this St. Paul and St. John are in entire agree ment. "There is one God", says St. Paul to Timothy ; "one Mediator also between God and man-Himself Man-Christ Jesus." The reality of the Divine Redeemer's human nature is beautifully manifested in the touching interview between the weary Saviour and the guilty Samaritan woman at the well; as also in His perfect human friendship with Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus, culminating in the price less words, "Jesus wept". And so by the bitter way of the Cross the grandeur of the incarnation passes into the glory of the resurrection. The last two chapters are alive with thrilling incident. If any one wishes to form a true conception of what those brief chapters contain, let him read "Jesus and the Resurrection," by the saintly Bishop of Durham (Dr. Handley Moule) and his cup of holy joy will fill to overflowing. At the empty tomb we breathe the air of the unseen kingdom, and presently we gaze enraptured on the face of the Crucified but risen and ever living King. Mary Magdalene, standing in her broken-hearted despair, is all unconscious of 'the wondrous fact that holy
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