ST. LUKE.

ST. JOHN.

There are many other things that Jesus did, the which if they should be written every one, I suppose the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS.

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"In our readings of the Bible," says Dr. Chalmers, “we often acquit ourselves of the task very currently, and are apt to speed our way over whole phrases, without being at all arrested by any thought or feeling of their significance, and that too, with a book where there is nothing insignificant." Such is the case in our use of the word Gospel from our familiarity with the word, we use it without feeling the depth of meaning and of interest there is to us in the expression. In the Book called the Gospel according to St. Matthew, we find the words "The gospel of the kingdom;" in the Gospel according to St. Mark, the words, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." "Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God;" and in the Gospel according to St. Luke, "the gospel;" the word is not used in the Gospel according to St. John, but in the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of St. Paul, and St. Peter, and the book of Revelation, we find the word frequently used. The word "Gospel" is the Anglo-Saxon translation of the Greek word, of which the full meaning and intention is given us in the address of the Angel to the Shepherds at Bethlehem, "Fear not for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." If we seek for a brief delineation of what the Gospel really is, we shall find it in the third chapter of the Gospel according to St. John, as expounded by our Saviour himself to Nicodemus.

This word, the glad tidings, or good message from God to man, ("Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men.") is transferred from the message itself, to denominate the writings of those who have handed down to us, a history of its first proclamation by St. John, and its full developement in our blessed Lord and Saviour. From the Greek word Euaggelion, comes the' Latin Evangelium, and hence our word Evangelists, the writers of the four Books which bear their names. These have been received in the Church in all ages, as the only gospels which are genuine and authentic, and have been believed in by all faithful Christians, whose best testimony is their own conscience, the internal testimony of the Holy

Spirit, bearing witness to their spirits, to whom it has been given to receive in simple and unhesitating faith these Divine oracles.

"Yon cottager, who weaves at her own door,
Pillow and bobbins, all her little store;
Content though mean, and cheerful if not gay,
Shuffling her threads about the livelong day,
Just earns a scanty pittance; and at night,
Lies down secure, her heart and pocket light.
She, for her humble sphere by nature fit,
Has little understanding and no wit,
Receives no praise, but though her lot be such,
Toilsome and indigent, she renders much;
Just knows, and knows no more, her Bible true,
A truth the brilliant Frenchman never knew;
And in that charter reads with sparkling eyes,
Her title to a treasure in the skies."

Let us then without doubt and hesitation put our trust and confidence as we have done, from our earliest youth, in these blessed writings.

In reference to this subject, I cannot do better then quote the following note in the "Lives of Robert and James Haldane by Alexander Haldane, Esq.

"There is an interesting anecdote; which was related by the late Rev. D. Walter Buchanan, with reference to one of the means which seems to have been provided in order to secure the New Testament either from interpolation or corruption :

'I was dining' said Dr. Buchanan 'some time ago with a literary party at old Mr. Abercromby's of Tullibody, (the father of Ralph Abercromby, who was slain in Egypt) and we spent the evening together. A gentleman present put a question which puzzled the whole party. It was this- Supposing all the New Testaments in the world had been destroyed at the end of the third century could their contents have been recovered from the writings of the first three centuries ! ' The question was novel to all and no one even hazarded a guess in answer to the inquiry. About two months after this meeting I received an invitation to breakfast with the Lord Hailes (Sir David Dalrymple) next morning. He had been of the party. During breakfast he asked me if I recollected the curious question about the possibility of recovering the contents of the New Testament from the writings of the first three Centuries. I remember it well, and have thought of it often, without being able to form any opinion or conjecture on the subject.' 'Well,' said Lord Hailes, 'that question quite accorded with the turn or taste of my antiquarian mind. On returning home, as I knew I had all the writings of these centuries, I began immediately to collect them, that I might set to work on the arduous task as soon as possible.' Pointing to a table covered with papers he said, 'There have I been busy for those two months searching for chapters, half chapters, and sentences of the New Testa

ment, and have marked down what I found, and where I have found it, so that any person may examine and see for himself. I have actually discovered the whole New Testament except seven or eleven verses (I forget which) which satisfied me that I could discover them also.' 'Now,' said he 'here was a way in which God concealed and hid the treasures of his word, that Julian, the apostate Emperor, and other enemies of Christ who wished to extirpate the gospel from the world, never would have thought of, and though they had, they never could have effected their destruction.'

These Books of the New Testament together with the Old Testament, have been handed down to us from generation to generation, the only genuine, authentic, and inspired writings that have been received into the Christian Church. And how have they been handed down? Printing was invented not earlier than A.D. 1445 when "John Gansfleisch of Sulgeloch (Sorgenloch) commonly called Guttenberg of Mainz, who had already tried many experiments during a sojourn of twenty years at Strasbourgh, and on his return to his native town, brought his plans to perfection with the assistance of Peter Schoffer, and a rich goldsmith named John Fust. The first printed book was Guttenberg's Latin Bible (finished in 1456.)" Before this time all books were written; the original manuscripts of the New Testament have long since perished, but a great number of manuscripts are now in existence, which contain some part of the Scriptures, none which contain a perfect copy of the whole. The materials on which manuscripts are written assist in determining their age. In the present day in India a leaf is commonly used for writing on, the Palmyra leaf. The Latin word Liber, which we translate Book, is the inner bark of a tree, which was used for the purpose of writing on. But there are four substances on which manuscripts have been written, and on which they have been handed down to us. 1. Papyrus. 2. Leather. 3. Parchment. 4. Paper. We derive our word Bible, from the name of the plant the Egyptians used for making rolls for writing on, the Byblus, which was also called Papyrus, from which we have also the word Paper.

"This plant, the Cyperus Papyrus of modern botanists, mostly grew in Lower Egypt, in marshy land, or in shallow brooks and ponds formed by the ir.undation of the Nile, where they bestowed much pains on its cultivation." "The mode of making papyri was this ;— The interior of the stalks of the plant after the rind had been removed, was cut up into thin slices in the direction of their length, and these being laid on a flat board, in succession, similar slices were placed over them at right angles; and their surfaces being cemented together by a sort of glue, and subjected to a proper degree of pressure, and well dried, the papyrus was completed." "The papyrus is now no longer used, but some few individuals continue to make it in Sicily as a curiosity; and sheets from the plant, which still grows in the Anapus near Syracuse, are offered to travellers, as curious specimens of an obsolete manufacture." The papyrus is said to be no longer found in Egypt, so that the Prophecy of Isaiah xix. 7. is literally fulfilled. "The paper-reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and