The Person and Work of Jesus Christ 10 7 pally two of them; namely, the older Mark document, the source of the present Gospel of St. Mark, and the Logia, or collection of sayings of Jesus, the supposed source of the Gospel of St. Matthew. I t is probably true that our present Gospels are based upon previous sources; but, in the absence of fixed data, it is impossible to determine with any degree of certainty just what those sources contained. But critical acumen cannot rest satisfied even with those sources. Says Wernle: “They are not free from the possibility of modifica- tion and adulteration. They represent the belief of the Chris- tians as it developed in the course of four decades.” I t is there- fore needful to distinguish between genuine elements and later additions in those sources. This is an exceedingly difficult and delicate task, especially since we do not know, for a certainty, the form nor the substance of those sources. Hew is it accomplished? We have noted an “inner consciousness” of many textual critics. I am reminded of this when I hear Harnack blandly say: “Whoever has a good eye for the vital and a true sense of the really great must be able to see it, and distinguish between the kernel and the transitory husk;” or when I hear Professor Pfleiderer speak of “healthy eyes; * or see how ■Bousset finds the proofs of genuineness in the fact that “it is psychologically comprehensible,” or Mehlhorn in the fact that “it could not have been invented.” It is with a sense of relief that we read Professor Bousset’s refreshingly naive concession that where we find the sources too meager “we may occasionally make use of our imagina- tion.” Unfortunately our imagination is not a safer guide in his- torical and. scientific matters than is our inner consciousness, and the eyesight of no two men is exactly alike. A few years ago there was in Berlin an exhibition of paintings represent- ing scenes from the life of Christ. Hundreds of paintings were exhibited; they were very interesting to look at, but they did not contribute anything to our knowledge of the real ap1
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