Baptist without the explanatory remarks. The additional sentences given by Luke are:

He that hath two coats,

Let him impart to him that hath none;
And he that hath food,

Let him do likewise. (Luke iii. 11.)

To the publicans he said:

Extort no more than that which is appointed you.

To the soldiers he said:

(Luke iii. 13.)

Extort from no man by violence, neither accuse any one wrong

fully;

And be content with your wages. (Luke iii. 14.)

These sayings were probably derived from another source than the Aramaic Matthew. Luke represents in his introduction that he used many sources.' These are specimens given by the Baptist of the fruits of repentance such as were required in preparation for the advent of God in judgment. He sees that the axe is already lying at the root of the dead trees, and is about to cut them down. The fire is ready to consume them. The true children of Abraham, the heirs of the promises of God, will abide; God will provide for that. Even the stones of the wilderness are more likely to produce living children of Abraham than such fruitless trees and venomous serpents as the Pharisees and their disciples. The day of wrath, the Day of Yahweh, predicted by the prophets of the Old Testament, is at hand; and those who do not prepare themselves for it by true repentance have every reason to dread it, and flee away from it.

Matthew, in accordance with his custom, adds another discourse of the Baptist to the previous one with

1 Luke i. 1-4.

2 Matt. iii. 11, 12.

out comment or mark of separation. Luke' gives it on another occasion in response to the people, who inquired whether John was the Messiah. Mark' gives it in an abridged form, as the theme of his preaching. John' also gives it in a shortened form, in response to an inquiry of the Pharisees whether he was Elijah, the Messiah, or the expected prophet. A careful study of these four parallel passages makes it probable that the original Aramaic discourse would be as follows:

I indeed baptize you with water;

But he that is mightier than I cometh after me,
Whose shoes I am urworthy to untie :

He will baptize you with fire.

Whose fan is in his hand,

Thoroughly to cleanse his threshing-floor;
And to gather the wheat into his garner;

But the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.

In this discourse the Baptist looks again at the judg ment of fire. The chaff will be consumed here, as the

1 Luke iii. 16, 17.

2 Mark i. 7, 8.

3 John i. 26, 27.

• The first four lines are common to the four evangelists. Disregarding the differences in order of words in the sentences, Matthew alone gives "unto repentance." Matthew and John use the preposition "in" before "water." Mark alone uses the aorist "baptized." Luke's text is to be preferred in the first line. In the second line, Matthew and John use the participle "coming," Mark and Luke the present "cometh." All use "after me" but Luke. In the third line, the text of Luke is best. John uses a final clause for the infinitive of Mark and Luke. Mark inserts "stoop down," and Matthew substitutes "to bear." "Latchet" is given by all but Matthew; it is an amplification for greater distinctness. John uses worthy " for "sufficient" of the three others. Mark and John do not give " and with fire" of Matthew and Luke. "Fire" is best suited to the context." Holy Spirit" was probably an explanation of the fire, in two of the evangelists substituted for it, in the other two inserted before it. This was due to reflection upon these words in connection with the descent of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The last four lines are given by Matthew and Luke. The only differences are in the use of infinitives of Luke for futures of Matthew. We prefer to follow Luke. This difference, as well as differences in order of words, is due to a different translation of the Aramaic original.

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dead wood was to be consumed in the previous passage. As the true children of Abraham were to abide there, so the wheat is to be gathered into the garner here. The fan of the threshing-floor takes the place of the axe of the woodman, in the figure of the act of judgment.

The last four lines harmonize with the previous discourse; but the first four lines bring into view the conception of two baptisms: the one with water, the other with fire. The Baptist connects the baptism with fire and the judgment of fire without discrimination in time, just as the Old Testament prophets were accustomed to do. In this particular he seems not to have advanced beyond them. The judgment of fire, with its redemption of the people of God, is the theme of his preaching. Repentance and baptism with water are its preparations. The advent of God is connected, in the mind of the Baptist, with the advent of the Messiah. The Messiah. comes to bestow this baptism of fire, and to exercise judgment. The Baptist seems to have in mind the advent of the Son of Man in the cloud with the Ancient of Days and the fiery stream of the apocalypse of Daniel. The evangelists after the day of Pentecost see in the fire the fiery tongues of the Holy Spirit as well as the fiery flame of the lake of fire of the judgment day.

The Gospel of John tells of a closer recognition of Jesus by the Baptist :

And John bare witness, saying, I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven; and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, he said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and abiding upon him, the same is he that baptizeth with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen, and have borne witness

1 Cf. Joel iii.; Ezek. xxxix. Briggs' Messianic Prophecy, p. 488. 2 Dan. vii. 9-12.

that this is the Son of God. [And so the Baptist transfers his own disciples to Jesus with the words]: Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world! (John i. 29-34.)

The two sides of the work of the Advent were distinctly foretold by the Baptist; namely, the judgment and the redemption. He reiterates the ancient prophecies with reference to the judgment.' But in the doctrine of redemption he advances in the line of the annunciations, and of his father Zachariah, and of Simeon, to a still more vivid conception of the Messiah as the victim, the sin-bearing and suffering Lamb of the great prophet of the exile." Here the Baptist combines the judging Son of Man with the rejected prophetic servant. These two Messianic ideas, kept apart in the Old Testament, converge in his representation. His language is brief, enigmatic, and gives no explanation of the remarkable combination in his mind. This conception of the Baptist is given only by the Gospel of John, preserved in the memory of the apostle who had heard. it from the lips of the Baptist himself.

These enigmatic words had pointed him to Jesus as in some way both the Messianic servant and the Son of Man, the mediator of the Day of the Lord, of the divine judgment, and of the redemption of the world.

John the Baptist gives to his disciples a final testimony:

Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Messiah, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice; this my joy therefore is made full. He must increase, but I must decrease. (John iii. 28–30.)

1 Isa. xli. 3-11; Mal. iii.

2 Isa. liii.

CHAPTER III.

THE MESSIAH OF MARK.

THE Gospels give glimpses of the life and teaching of Jesus from four different points of view. Mark is the simplest and the earliest in composition. Almost all

that is given in Mark reappears in Matthew and Luke; both of these Gospels using the earlier Mark. Matthew is distinguished by long discourses of Jesus upon several great themes. We find very much the same matter in other connections in Luke; but only a limited portion of it in Mark. It is evident that the Gospel of Matthew has grouped the words of Jesus about several themes. As it depended chiefly upon Mark for the historical material, it also depended on the Logia of Matthew for these discourses. The Logia of Matthew is the collection chiefly of the sayings of Jesus made by the apostle Matthew in the Aramaic language, according to the testimony of Papias.' This Logia was lost at an early date, but the most if not all of its contents are in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Luke gives them more in the circumstances of their utterance. The Gospel of Matthew arranged them in a topical order without regard to these circumstances. These discourses of Jesus from the Logia of Matthew are rich and pregnant with Mes

1 See p. 41.