land, until it was taken by storm.-Prince DMITRI GORTCHAKOFF (1756-1824) was a celebrated Russian poet, and wrote odes, satires, and epistles.-Prince ALEXANDER GORTCHAKOFF (17641825) served under his uncle Suvaroff in Turkey and Poland, displayed great courage at the capture of Praga, a suburb of Warsaw, and was made lieutenant-general in 1798. In the campaign of 1799 he commanded under Korsakoff at Zurich. He was subsequently made Military Governor of Viborg, repulsed Marshal Lannes at Heilsberg, and commanded the right wing of the Russian army at the battle of Friedland (1807). Appointed Minister of War in 1812, he filled this post to the end of the French war, when he was made general of infantry, and member of the Imperial Council.-Prince ANDREI GORTCHAKOFF (1768-1855) served in 1799 as major-general under Suvaroff in Italy, and commanded, in 1812, a division of grenadiers at Borodino, where he was wounded. In the campaign of 1813-14 he commanded the First Corps of Russian infantry, and distinguished himself at Leipzig and Paris. He was made general of infantry in 1819, and in 1828 retired from active service.-Prince PETER GORTCHAKOFF (1790-1868) served in the campaigns of 1813 and 1814 in Caucasia under General Yermoloff. He took part in the RussoTurkish War of 1828-29, and was one of the signers of the preliminaries to the Treaty of Adrianople. In 1843 he was appointed GovernorGeneral of Western Siberia, and occupied that important post until 1851, when he retired from active life. On the outbreak of the Crimean War, however, he offered his services, which were accepted; and at the battle of the Alma he commanded the left wing of the Russians. He also took part in the battle of Inkerman.-Prince MIKHAIL GORTCHAKOFF (1795-1861), brother of Peter, began his military career as an officer of artillery, and distinguished himself in 1828 at the siege of Silistria and at Shumla. In 1831 he gave proofs of extraordinary valor in the battle of Ostrolenka and at the taking of Warsaw. He was appointed general of artillery in 1843, and Military Governor of Warsaw in 1846. In 1853 he commanded the Russian forces in the Danubian Provinces, crossed the Danube at Braila, March 23, 1854, occupied the frontier region of Bessarabia. and in 1855 directed the defense of Sebastopol. As a reward for his services in this unsuccessful but still brilliant defense, Prince Gortchakoff was appointed by the Emperor Alexander II. Governor of the Kingdom of Poland, and was for several years a wise and conciliatory representative of his youthful Emperor at Warsaw. He died May 30, 1861.

Prince ALEXANDER MIKHAILOVITCH GORTCHAKOFF (1798-1883), a cousin of the preceding, entered the diplomatic service and became one of the most skillful and influential diplomats in Europe. He was an attaché in the suite of Count Nesselrode at the congresses of Laibach and Verona, secretary of the Russian embassy in London in 1824, chargé d'affaires at Florence in 1829, counselor of the Russian Embassy at Vienna in 1832, and in 1841 was sent as Plenipotentiary to Stuttgart, where he negotiated the marriage of the Grand Duchess Olga, daughter of Emperor Nicholas, with Crown Prince Charles of Württemberg. He was accredited Ambassador to the German Bundestag at Frankfort in 1850, and there first met Bismarck. He represented

Russia at Vienna from 1854 to 1856, and so conducted affairs that Alexander II. made him Minister of Foreign Affairs on the retirement of Nesselrode, April 15, 1856. At the very outset hostility to Austria seemed to be the impelling motive of his policy. "Austria," he declared, "is no State, only a Government," and he shaped his policy in accordance with his dictum, after the disastrous issue of the Crimean War, "La Russie ne boude pas, elle se recueille" ("Russia bears no grudge; she collects herself"). He was unquestionably successful in restoring the prestige of Russia. In 1863 he was made Chancellor of the Empire. During the Civil War in the United States he maintained a friendly attitude toward the North, a fact which restrained France and England from open countenance of the Confederacy. By bringing Russia into accord with Prussia in 1863 he was able to resist the attempted interferences of foreign powers in behalf of the Polish insurgents. He cultivated friendly relations with Bismarck while the latter was Prussian Ambassador at Saint Petersburg, and the good understanding between the two governments made possible the attainment of German unity through Prussia's drastic course, while Russia reaped her reward by being enabled to break the terms of the Peace of Paris in regard to the neutrality of the Black Sea. After 1873 Gortchakoff ceased to view with favor the much talked of alliance of the three Emperors, because of the increasing power of Germany. He was the guiding spirit of Russian policy in the war with Turkey in 1877-78, and the diplomatic consequences of that war widened the breach between the two great chancellors and their governments. Gortchakoff felt that Russia had been deserted by Germany in the negotiations at Berlin, and he never forgot it. He was the author of the Franco-Russian entente, to which Bismarck responded by the Triple Alliance. De Giers succeeded Gortchakoff as Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1882, but the latter remained Chancellor until his death at Baden-Baden, March 11, 1883. Prince Gortchakoff's biography, by Charles Marvin, was published in London (1887). Some interesting observations on Gortchakoff and his diplomatic methods are to be found in Bismarck's Autobiography, translated by Butler (New York, 1899). Consult also Klaczko, The Two Chancellors, translated by Tait (New York, 1876). RUSSIA: RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. chester (q.v.), Lancashire, England. Population, GOR/TON. A suburban municipality of Man

in 1891, 15,200; in 1901, 26,550.

See

GORTON, SAMUEL (1600-77). An English sectary. He was born at Gorton, Lancashire, near Manchester, apprenticed to a London clothier, adopted radical religious opinions, and left for Boston in 1636. Here he became involved in disputes on religious topics, went to Plymouth, and began to preach; but he was looked upon as a heretic, required to furnish sureties for his good conduct, and went to Rhode Island. Aquidneck (now Newport) he was publicly whipped for insulting the clergy and magistrates. He found protection at Providence with Roger Williams (1641). Thence in 1642 he went to the other side of Narragansett Bay, and bought the lands owned by the Indian chief Miantonomo at Shawomet, now Old Warwick. His claim was

At

disputed by other Indian chiefs, and the dispute being referred to the Boston authorities, forty soldiers were sent, who took Gorton and six of his people prisoners. They were tried at Boston on the charge of being 'damnable heretics,' and sentenced to hard labor in chains (1643). Five months afterwards (January, 1644) they were released, and driven out of the colony. Gorton then returned to England, and obtained from the Earl of Warwick an order for the land he had bought from the sachem. He returned in 1648, named the place Warwick, and thenceforward lived in peaceful possession. He preached occasionally, and filled a number of local civil offices. He was an author, and published Simplicitie's Defense Against Seven-Headed Policy (1646, reprinted in Peter Force, Collection of Historical Tracts, Washington, 1846); An Incorruptible Key Composed of the CX. Psalm Wherewith You May Open the Rest of the Holy Scriptures (1647); An Antidote Against the Common Plague of the World (1657); and other works. He died at Warwick between November 27 and December 10, 1677. A sect of which he was the founder, though few in number, existed for about one hundred years. Its distinguishing tenets were contempt for the regular clergy and the outward forms of religion, and the belief that the true believers were so united to God that they shared in His perfection, and for them Heaven and Hell were practically non-existent. Its negations led to its being called the 'Nothingarians.' Consult Gorton's biography by Sparks, American Biography, vol. v. (Boston, 1845).

GORTYNA (Lat., from Gk. Tópтvva). An ancient city of importance on the southern side of the island of Crete. It stood on the banks of the small river Lethæus (Mitropolipotamo), at a short distance from the sea, with which it communicated by means of its two harbors, Metallum and Lebena. It possessed temples of Apollo Pythius, Artemis, and Zeus. Near the town was the famous fountain of Sauros, inclosed by fruit-bearing poplars; and not far from this was another spring, overhung with an evergreen plane-tree which in popular belief marked the scene of the amours of Jupiter and Europa. Gortyna was the second city in Crete, next to Cnosus in importance. According to tradition, they combined to subdue the island, and then quarreled with each other. Neither plays a conspicuous part in the history of Greece. Under the Romans Gortyna became the metropolis of the island. Some ruins may still be traced at the modern village of Hagii Deka. An important inscription (Greek) was discovered here in 1884 by Halbherr in the bed of a mill-stream. Taken with two fragments previously discovered, and others which have come to light later, the inscription forms a practically complete code of laws, bearing on the family relations in regard to such matters as inheritance, marriage, divorce, and adoption. The inscription is written alternately from right to left and left to right (boustrophedon) in a peculiar local alphabet and in the local dialect. In spite of these marks of antiquity, it is not likely that the code can be dated much earlier than B.C. 400. Consult: Bücheler and Zitelmann, Das Recht von Gortyn (Frankfurt, 1885); Baunack, Inschrift von Gortyn (Leipzig, 1885); Merriam, in American Jour

nal of Archæology, vols. i. and ii. (Baltimore, 1885-86), with translation and notes. GÖRTZ, gērts, VON. See SCHLITZ. GÖRUP-BESANEZ, goʻroop bâ-zä'nets, Baron EUGEN (1817-78). A German chemist, born at Gratz, and educated in that city and at Vienna, He was ap Padua, Munich, and Göttingen. pointed professor of chemistry at Erlangen in 1849. His researches on zoöchemical analysis are important; and his work entitled Anleitung zur qualitativen und quantitativen zoöchemischen Analyse (3d ed. 1871) is very valuable. principal publication is the Lehrbuch der Chemie (vol. i., 7th ed. 1885; vol. ii., 6th ed. 1881; vol. iii., 4th ed. 1878), which has been translated into French and several other languages.

His

GÖRZ, gērts, or GÖRITZ, gè'rīts. The capital of the Austrian Crownland of Görz and Gradisca, one of the Coast Districts; charmingly situated in a fruitful plain on the left bank of the Isonzo, about 35 miles north-northwest of Triest (Map: Austria, C 4). Among its principal buildings are the cathedral of the seventeenth century, with a beautiful sacrarium; the church and college of the Jesuits, the latter used as barracks; the archbishop's palace; and Government buildings. Above the town rises the interesting old partly ruined castle of the former counts of Görz; and to the north lies the Franciscan monastery of Castagnavizza, with the graves of Charles X. of France, who died in Görz in 1836, and of the Duc d'Angoulême and the Comte de Chambord. Görz has manufactures of silks, cotton, leather, matches, candles, paper, and soap, and a thriving trade in vegetables, candied fruits, and wine. On account of its dry mild climate and protected situation, the city has become a favorite winter resort. Population, in 1890, 21,825; in 1900, 25,432.

GÖRZ AND GRADISCA, grå-dis'kå. A crownland and (titular) princely earldom of the Cisleithan portion of Austria-Hungary (Map: Austria, C 4). It is the most northern of the Coast Districts, being bounded on the north by Carinthia, on the east by Carniola, on the south by the Adriatic and the districts of Triest and Istria, and on the west by Italy. The area is approximately 1125 square miles. It is mostly a mountainous region. The southwestern part, on the Adriatic, is wholly arable and very fertile. In the north the Julian Alps cross in a southeasterly direction, with the Triglav group (9380 feet) rising on the eastern boundary; in the west the Venetian Alps extend southward, forming most of the western boundary, with Monte Canin (8770 feet) as the highest peak. The two important rivers are the Isonzo and the Timavo, each emptying into the Adriatic. Agriculture is the leading industry. Wine and silk are produced in the south. Wheat, barley, maize, buckwheat, and hay are the leading crops. Some rice is grown. Capital, Görz. The local diet has twenty-two members. The crownland sends five members to the Lower House of Austria. The population, in 1890, was 220,308; in 1900, 232,338. The inhabitants are almost wholly Roman Catholics. About 61 per cent. are Slovenes, and 35 per cent. Italians. The district came into the possession of Austria in 1500, on the extinction of a line of counts of Görz and Gradisca, who had ruled for some centuries.

He

GÖSCHEL, ge'shel, KARL FRIEDRICH (17841862). A German jurist and philosopher. was born at Langensalza, and was educated for the bar at Leipzig. In 1845 he was appointed president of the consistory for the Province of Saxony, Prussia, but was compelled to resign that position after the Revolution of 1848. He was not only a profound scholar and theorist, but also a practical legislator, both in ecclesiastical and secular matters. Conservative in his religious views, Göschel exerted considerable influence upon the Protestant Church in his day, and, above all, was instrumental in establishing the relation between theology and the Hegelian philosophy. His works include: Aphorismen über Nichtwissen und absolutes Wissen (1829); Der Monismus des Gedankens (1832); Von den Beweisen für die Unsterblichkeit der menschlichen Seele (1835); and Vorträge und Studien über Dante (1863).

GOSCHEN, gō'shen, GEORGE JOACHIM (1831 -). An English statesman and financier, born in 1831, and educated at Rugby and Oriel College, Oxford. Entering the mercantile firm of Frühling & Goschen, he paid especial attention to finance, and in 1856 became Director of the Bank of England. A Liberal member of Parliament for London from 1863, he took an active share in throwing open the universities to dissenters, and in bringing about the abolition of religious tests. He became a Privy Councilor and vicepresident of the Board of Trade in 1865, and in the following year Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and a Cabinet Minister, but retired with the Russell Ministry in June of that year. On Gladstone's accession to power in 1868, Goschen was appointed president of the Poor Law Board, and in 1871 First Lord of the Admiralty. He retired from office with his party in 1874, and in the election of this year he was the only Liberal candidate returned from the City of London. Two years later he and M. Joubert went as delegates to Cairo, where they planned with the Khedive the conversion of the Egyptian debt. In 1880 and 1881, as special ambassador to the Porte, Goschen lent his services to the settlement of the Græco-Turkish boundary. Because of his opposition to Gladstone on the extension of the franchise and on home rule for Ireland, he abandoned the Liberal party for that of the Liberal Unionists (q.v.) in 1886, and accepted the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lord Salisbury's Government, under which he carried a measure for the reduction of the public debt. In 1895 he again became First Lord of the Admiralty. He was made lord rector of Aberdeen University in 1887, and of Edinburgh University in 1890. He has written largely on financial questions, and his treatise on The Theory of the Foreign Exchanges is a standard work.

GOS'HAWK (AS. gōshafoc, goose-hawk, from gōs, goose + hafoc, heafoc, hawk). A genus of falcons (Astur) containing five or six species, distinguished from the true falcons by a lobe or festoon, instead of a sharp tooth, on the edge of the upper mandible, and by the shortness of the wing, which reaches only to the middle of the tail. It is more closely allied to the sparrow-hawks. The species to which the name goshawk originally belonged (Accipiter palumbarius) is very widely diffused over Europe, Asia, and the north of Africa, chiefly inhab

iting hilly and wooded regions. It is now very rare in Great Britain, particularly in England. Although one of those that were called ignoble birds of prey, it was much used for falconry, being easily trained, and very successful in catching such game as is confined to the ground. The goshawk was thus flown at hares, rabbits, pheasants, partridges, etc. It was also flown at geese, whence the name goose-hawk. It ordinarily seeks its prey by flying near the ground, and can remain a very long time on the wing. It follows. its prey in a straight line, not rising in the air to descend upon it, like the falcons; and when baffled by the object of pursuit entering a wood and hiding itself in some covert, will perch on a bough, and await its reappearance with wonderful patience for many hours. Its flight is very rapid. The goshawk builds a large nest in trees. The female, much larger than the male, is about. two feet in entire length.

The

The American goshawk (Accipiter atricapillus) differs from that of the Old World, being altogether a larger and handsomer hawk. upper parts are dark bluish slate color, while underneath it is whitish, closely barred, or vermiculated with fine zigzag lines of brown. The young birds have a much less handsome plumage. The goshawk is chiefly a winter visitor in the Northern United States, but breeds in the Rocky Mountains from Colorado northward. It is the most abundant of the birds of prey in Alaska, where many remain through the winter, and subsists partly by robbing the Eskimo hunters snares, though mainly by capturing ptarmigan for itself. See Plate of FALCONS AND FALCONRY.

GOʻSHEN. The name of that part of ancient Egypt which Pharaoh is said to have presented to Jacob and his family when they came down to Egypt (Gen. xlvi. 6). Modern Bible critics consider the narrative a tradition resting upon the recollection that at one time some of the clans of the later Hebrew confederacy dwelt in Goshen; this tradition, however, while not confirmed by archæological discoveries in Egypt, may be accepted as reliable, though it is quite certain that only some of the Hebrew clans, and by no means all, sojourned in Egypt. Goshen is described as outside of Egypt proper (Gen. xlvi. 34), and "the best of the land," i.e. for a pastoral people (Gen. xlvii. 6, 11). It was on the eastern border of the Nile delta. In the priestly narrative it is designated as the land of Rameses (Gen. xlvii. 11), but according to the Egyptian inscriptions, Goshen (identical with Kesen of the inscriptions) and Rameses represent two different nomes. Naville (The Shrine of Saft el Henneh and the Land of Goshen, London, 1888) regards Goshen as the land which afterwards became the Arabian nome, viz. the country around Saft el Henneh east of the canal Abu-l-Unneagge, a district comprising Belbeis and Abasseh, and probably extending farther north than the Wady el-Tumilat (the valley through which the canal of the Consult W. M. Red Sea formerly passed). Müller, Asien und Europa nach den aegyptischen Inschriften (Leipzig, 1893).

GOSHEN. A city and the county-seat of Elkhart County, Ind., 100 miles east of Chicago, Ill.; on the Elkhart River, and on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and Saint Louis railroads (Map: Indiana, D 1). It has important agricultural

and lumber interests, and extensive manufactures, which include flour, rubber goods, shirts, mittens, machinery, bicycles, sash and doors, veneering, furniture, woolen goods, and, farm implements. There are a public library, the building having been erected at a cost of $25,000, and a handsome high-school building of stone ($65,000). Goshen is governed by a mayor, elected every two years, and a unicameral council. The water-works and electric-light plant are owned and operated by the city. Population, in 1890, 6033; in 1900, 7810.

GOSHEN. A village and the county-seat of Orange County, N. Y., 60 miles northwest of New York; on the Erie and other railroads (Map: New York, F 4). The centre of an agricultural section, it has a large trade in milk, butter, and cheese. There are cut-glass works, foundries, and a cider-mill. Goshen was settled in 1714 and first incorporated in 1809. The government, under a general act of 1897, is vested in a president and board of four trustees, who are elected at the annual corporation meeting. The village owns and operates its water-works. Population, in 1890, 2907; in 1900, 2826.

GOSLAR, goʻslär. An ancient Imperial city of Germany, in the Prussian Province of Hanover, situated on the Gose at the foot of the Rammelsberg, about 35 miles south of Brunswick (Map: Prussia, D 3). Goslar is rich in architectural remains of its former prosperity and glory. Its market square is quaint and interesting. Some of the more prominent historic structures are the Zwinger, a tower with walls 20 feet thick; the Gothic Rathaus, with a valuable collection of old books and other antiquities; the tailors' and butchers' guild-houses, dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries respective ly; the Romanesque twelfth-century church of the Neuwerk monastery, containing creditable paintings: the Frankenberg Church built at the beginning of the twelfth century and restored in 1880, with tombstones and sculptures; and the interesting chapel, which was formerly the vestibule of the historical Cathedral of Saint Simon and Saint Jude, founded in 1039 and destroyed in 1820. In the interior of the chapel are many relics of interest to the antiquary. The Kaiserhaus, the most ancient secular building in Germany, is a restored palace founded by Henry III. in the eleventh century. Its large Imperial hall is enriched with historical frescoes by Wislicenus, and contains an ancient Imperial throne dating from the twelfth century. The double chapel of Saint Ulrich, a portion of the original building, holds the tomb of Henry III., with his heart.

The chief industry of Goslar is mining. In the way of manufactures it produces marble articles, matches, chemicals, starch, playing-cards, and cigars. In the vicinity are situated a number of ponds from which ochre dye is obtained. The Rammelsberg Mountain (2040 feet) has been mined for centuries, produces several kinds of ores, and is a source of much interest to tourists. Population, in 1890, 13,311; in 1900. 16.403, chiefly Protestants. Goslar was founded probably early in the tenth century, and soon became important on account of its rich mineral deposits. It was a favorite place of sojourn with the Saxon and Franconian emperors, and the seat of many diets. For its adherence to the Hohenstaufen it

was destroyed by Otho IV. in 1204; but it recov ered its prosperity after joining the Hanseatic League. It suffered during the Thirty Years' War, and from conflagrations in 1728 and 1780. Attached to Hanover in 1816, it finally became Prussian in 1866.

GOSLAWSKI, go-släv'ské, MAURYCY (180234). A Polish poet, born in Podolia. He was educated at Kremenetz, and composed his famous war-songs as a soldier during the Revolution of 1830. These were subsequently collected and published under the title Poezya Ulana polskiego poswiecona Polkom M. Goslawski ("Poems of a Polish Uhlan," 1833). Sent as an emissary to Galicia from Paris, whither he had fled in 1833, he was arrested by the Russian authorities and imprisoned at Stanislau, where he died, and where a monument was erected to his memory in 1875. His complete works were published by Brockhaus in 1864 under the title of Poezye.

GOS'NOLD, BARTHOLOMEW (?-1607). An English navigator and one of the earliest explorers of New England. He sailed for America in 1602 with a party of colonists in the Concord. The expedition seems to have been supported by Sir Walter Ralegh. Gosnold made land somewhere on the coast of Maine, sailed south along the coast, and discovered and named Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Elizabeth Island. This last, now known as Cuttyhunk, was made a base for trading operations, which were carried on in The idea of a Buzzard's Bay for a few weeks. permanent settlement, to found which was one of the objects of the voyage, was soon abandoned, and in July the Concord was once more in England with a cargo of cedar, furs, and sassafras. In 1606-largely through Gosnold's efforts-an association of London and West of England merchants obtained a charter from James I. for colonizing Virginia. Three ships sailed under Captain Christopher Newport (1607). The expedition discovered and named Cape Charles and Cape Henry, and founded the settlement of Jamestown. Gosnold was among those appointed by the King to the council of the colony, and he was one of the many who succumbed to illness in the early months of the experiment. He died on August 22, 1607. For the contemporary account of Gosnold's voyages and the settlement of Virginia, consult Arber's edition of the Works of John Smith, in the Scholar's Library (London, 1884), and Stevens's reprint of Brereton, Brief and True Relation of Gosnold's Voyage (London, 1901).

GOSPEL (AS. godspel, godspell, OHG. gotspel, from god, OHG. got, God + spel, tidings; probably corrupted by popular confusion with god, God, from gotspel, good tidings, a translation of Gk. evayyov, evangelion, good tidings, from ev,eu, well + åɣyéλλew, angellein, to announce). The word used to denote (1) the message of salvation given to the world by Jesus Christ, and (2) the historical record of this message as contained in the first four books of the New Testament; so that each of these books is designated a Gospel, and the collection is known as the Gospels. The term, as used in the earlier books of the New Testament, has an active sense, best expressed by the phrase 'the preached Gospel.' This was due to the missionary character of the initial proclamation which was given by the Apostles to the message of salvation. It is frequently so used in Paul's Epistles (e.g. I. Thess. iii. 2;

Rom. i. 1-3, 9, 16; Phil. i. 5, 12; ii. 22; iv. 3). In the later books the term is used sometimes in a technical sense, denoting the historical record of this salvation message (e.g. Mark i. 1), or even the message itself as an article of faith and confession (e.g. Rev. xiv. 6). This technical sense was fully acquired by the end of the second century.

The following article naturally confines itself to the term as denoting the historical records of the Gospel message-the New Testament books commonly known as the Gospels. Of these Gospels, the first three (Matthew, Mark, Luke) cover practically the early portion of Jesus' life -i.e. His ministry in Galilee and the north-together with the close of His life in Jerusalem, recording largely the same events and reproducing largely the same teachings. For this reason they are technically known as the Synoptic Gospels, and the question of their literary relation to one another and to common and specific sources is known as the Synoptic Problem. Their origin dates within generally the same period; say from A.D. 65 to 80. The fourth Gospel (John) covers the later portion of Jesus' life-i.e. His ministry in Judæa and Jerusalem, not only on the occasion of His visits to the city during His Galilean ministry, but especially during the closing ministry in that city and region-recording events and reproducing teachings largely different from those given in the Synoptic Gospels. For this reason the literary relation of the fourth Gospel to the Synoptic Gospels constitutes in itself a specific problem known as the Johannine Problem, or the Problem of the Fourth Gospel. The origin of the fourth Gospel dates from a period much later than those of the Synoptists; say about A.D. 90. The discussion of these two problems has enlisted the interest of most New Testament scholars, and has really gathered around itself the most significant New Testament work which has been done in the last fifty years. More definitely stated, these problems are as follows:

I. SYNOPTIC PROBLEM. Our first three Gospels present such striking identities in their order of narrative, and, in their use of word, phrase, and continued statement, and at the same time such striking differences in these respects, that we are compelled to ask what theory of their origin will account for these phenomena. The following theories have been propounded: (a) The Successive Dependence Theory; viz. that the evangelists made use of one or more of the Gospels already written, so that one of the Gospels is the first and original Gospel. A second writer used the first, and the third used one or both of his predecessors. This is the oldest view, having practically originated with Augustine, and has been worked out into every possible modification. (b) The Documentary Theory; viz. that all three Gospels to some extent made use of a preëxisting written source. This theory came from ideas suggested by Le Clerc (1716), and was later taken up by Priestley (1777), and finally definitely formulated by Lessing (1778). This also has received many modifications, according to the view held as to the character of the original document, and also according to the way this theory was combined with the first. (c) The Oral Theory; viz. that all three Gospels made use of the common oral tradition, which had become fixed by use. This was first suggested by Herder (1797) and Eckermann (1806), but

VOL. IX.-5.

fully formulated by Gieseler (1818). It has also been variously modified according as there have been held to enter into the oral sources written sources as well, or as the Gospels have been held to use each other along with the common sources, or as the common tradition has been held to have undergone various recensions which the Gospels have used in varied combinations. The conclusions most generally accepted by critics to-day lie within the general sphere of the Documentary Theory, though they involve elements of each of the others. In substance they are, that behind our present chronological Gospels lay two fundamental written sources-one a collection of the sayings of Jesus, known as the Logia of Matthew, and represented most conspicuously, if not exclusively, in our first and third Gospels; the other a narrative of the events of Jesus' ministry, which is practically, if not absolutely, identical with our second Gospel. Besides these main sources, it is held that the writers of the individual Gospels had access to special sources peculiar to themselves, while the writer of the third Gospel made use directly of the first as well as the second. Quite recently the theory has been advanced in Germany that the two main documents referred to above are not primary in character, but composite results of multiple sources whose origin is often, if not always, impossible to trace.

II. THE PROBLEM OF THE FOURTH GOSPEL. There is such a radical difference between the discourses of Jesus as given in the Synoptic Gospels and in the fourth Gospel that we are forced to ask whether they both can have come alike from Jesus. This difference lies in the following facts: (a) The Synoptists present the discourses as simple talks on the level of every-day speech; the fourth Gospel as involved discourses beyond the range of ordinary speech. (b) The Synoptists give the discourses largely in the form of parable, as The Sower, The Lost Sheep, The Prodigal Son; the fourth Gospel gives them largely in the form of allegory, as The Water of Life, the Light of the World, The Good Shepherd. (c) In the Synoptic Gospels the subject of the discourses is, generally speaking, the varied and practical topics of religious living, as in the Sermon on the Mount; the qualities of the Christian life and character; or as in the great Parable Discourse, the nature and growth of the Kingdom of God. In the fourth Gospel to an almost exclusive extent, Jesus Himself is made the subject of the discourses, and this self-subject is treated almost wholly from the point of Jesus' transcendental relations to the Godhead. To account for these facts, the theory has been widely held that the peculiarities of the fourth Gospel discourses are due to the personal reflections of the author of the Gospel, who was not the Apostle John, but a disciple of his school, who presents in these discourses, not the actual teachings of Jesus, but the late first century, if not the post-Apostolic, theology of the Church. In recent years, however, there has been a growing tendency to account for these peculiarities as possible in the genuine teachings of Jesus, through the fact that they were delivered by Jesus in surroundings and to audiences different from those in and to which the Synoptic discourses were delivered, while they were reproduced by an apostle whose religious personality itself and spiritual intercourse with Jesus were