CHAPTER I I THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF THE FOURTH GOSPEL BY CANON G. OSBORNE TROOP, M. A., MONTREAL, CANADA
The whole Bible is stamped with the Divine “Hall-Mark” ; but the Gospel according to St. John is primus inter pares. Through it, as through a transparency, we gaze entranced into the very holy of holies,: where; shines in unearthly glory “the great vision of the face of Christ”, Yet man’s per versity has made it the “storm center” of New Testament criticism, doubtless for the very reason that it bears such unwavering testimony both to the deity of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and to His perfect humanity. The Christ of the Fourth Gospel is no unhistoric, idealized vision of the later, dreaming church, but is, as it practically claims to be, the picture drawn by “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, an eye-witness of the blood and water that flowed from His pierced side. These may appear to be mere unsupported statements, and as such will at once be dismissed by a scien tific reader. Nevertheless the appeal of this article is to the instinct of the “one flock” of the “one Shepherd”. “They know His voice” . . . “a stranger will they not follow.” 1. There is one passage in this Gospel that flashes like lightning—it dazzles our eyes by its very glory. To the broken-hearted Martha the Lord Jesus says with startling suddenness, “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth on Me, though he die, yet shall he live; and who soever liveth and believeth in Me, shall never die.” I t is humbly but confidently submitted that these words are utterly beyond the reach of human invention. I t could
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker