21. The washing of the Apostles' feet (xiii. 2-20). 25. The blessed Virgin standing by the cross; the words, "Woman, behold thy son," "Son, behold thy Mother" (xix. 25-27). 26. The piercing of our Lord's side; "The blood and water” (xix. 31-37). 27. Our Lord's appearance to St. Mary Magdalene (xx. 11-18). 28. Our Lord gives the Apostles power to forgive sins (xx. 21-23). 29. The incredulity and confession of St. Thomas (xx. 24-29). 30. The miraculous draught of fishes (xxi. 1-14). 31. The commission to St. Peter, and the prophecy concerning the Apostle's death (xxi. 15-25). The four living creatures described in the Book of Ezekiel and in the Book of the Apocalypse Emblems of (Ezek. i. 10; x. 14; Ap. iv. 7) have from the four very early times been regarded as symbols Evangelists. of the four Evangelists. According to St. Augustine, the "lion" stands for St. Matthew, because St. Matthew sets forth our Lord's office as king; the "man" for St. Mark, because he dwells mainly on our Lord's human nature; the " ox," the sacrificial victim, for St. Luke, because propitiation is the leading idea in St. Luke's Gospel. The first three Evangelists are signified by creatures that walk on the earth, because they describe especially those things that Christ did on earth, and relate precepts on the duties to be performed by us on earth; whereas St. John is symbolised by the "eagle," because he soars above the clouds of human infirmity, and contemplates with steady gaze the light of eternal truth. According to St. Jerome, the "man" is assigned to St. Matthew, the "lion" to St. Mark, the "ox" to St. Luke, and the "eagle" to St. John, as typifying respectively the human, active, sacrificial, and spiritual sides of the Gospel. The last of the historical books is THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. Writer. It is clear from its preface that this book was intended to carry on the history of the third Gospel, and was written by the same person. The Catholic Church has always regarded St. Luke as its author, and the arguments for this view are admitted by most critics to be quite satisfactory. The writer's object was to show that the faith of Object of the Christ was witnessed to after the ascenBook of the sion "in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, Acts. and to the uttermost parts of the earth;" and the book naturally falls into three parts. The first part, from chapter i. to vii., is an account of the fulfilment of the promise of the Father by the descent of the Holy Ghost enabling the Apostles to preach the Gospel to all nations, and the first fruits of their preaching in Jerusalem. The second, from chapter viii. to xii., relates the further progress of the Church in Palestine, amongst both Jews and gentiles. The third, the spread of the Gospel in Asia and Europe, especially among the heathen, by the ministry of the Apostle Paul. St. Peter is the chief agent in the first two parts, as St. Paul is in the last. The object of the present work is to bring before the reader the contents of the books just described in the form under which they can be most easily and thoroughly comprehended from a historical point of view. To this end, the four Gospels have been combined into one narrative, so as to exhibit, as far as may be, the local and temporal connection of the : events recorded and this statement implies that the order observed in the Gospels has been disturbed. For the evangelists certainly did not write upon any preconcerted plan of making a complete history, nor, if we except St. John-and it is doubtful whether we ought to except him-does it appear that any one of them took account in his composition of what the others had written. It is pretty clear that the four Gospels arose independently of one another, each out of its own peculiar circumstances, and were shaped, more or less, each by the special spiritual exigencies its author contemplated. They were memoirs, not histories; and the incidents selected were put together, not necessarily as they happened, but in the way best calculated to promote the doctrinal purpose of the writer. Hence their reduction to the form of a history cannot be effected except at the expense of their characteristic arrangements. Yet, without such reduction, we cannot obtain a clear conception of our Lord's life as a whole; we cannot mark the relation of the several parts of that life to each other, or discern the circumstances that determined its course, and their bearing on its end. So that while a combination of the Gospels can never pretend to be an adequate representation of the Gospels themselves, it may, when judiciously made, fairly claim to be a method of considering the records that cannot be dispensed with if the full significance of their testimony is to be understood. The principal parts into which the Gospel narrative has been divided are four. The first embraces the events before our Lord's public life; the second, the events of our Lord's public life from his baptism to the day of his triumphal entry into Jerusalem; the third, the events of Holy Week; the fourth, the events of the forty days from the resurrection to the ascension. The period of time covered by Part I. is thirty с years; but the events narrated, with the exception of the journey made by our Lord to Jerusalem in his twelfth year, were certainly included in the first two or three years. Part II. opens with the preaching of St. John the Baptist, in the autumn of A.D. 26.* Our Lord began his public life by being baptised in the river Jordan, Jan. A.D. 27. The next three months were spent in preparation for the ministry. The ministry itself lasted for three years, and is reckoned by Passovers. The first Passover is that mentioned in St. John ii. 13, when our Lord cleansed the temple for the first time; the second is indicated in St. John v. 1, when the miracle at the pool of Bethsaida took place; the third is the one named in St. John vi. 4, at which, perhaps, our Lord was not present; the last is the one mentioned by all the Evangelists, at which our Lord suffered. The first year of the ministry was spent chiefly in Judea. Our Lord was then presenting himself to the rulers of the Jewish nation as the Messias. They could not deny the evidence of his works (St. John iii. 2), but they refused to acknowledge his claims, and it would seem were prepared for vigorous measures against him in case he should have any success amongst the people; for we read that when the Lord knew "how the Pharisees had heard that he had made and baptised more disciples than John (though he himself baptised not, but his disciples), he left Judea, and departed again into Galilee" (St. John iv. 1-3). The time of this return, which was through the *In the chronology of the gospel history the views of Mr. Greswell have been for the most part adopted; but the reader must bear in mind that the notices of time given by the Evangelists are such that there is not a little uncertainty as to the precise date even of the main events of our Lord's life. One thing, however, is quite certain, that there is an error of at least four years in the vulgar era, for it places our Lord's birth four years after the death of Herod. midst of Samaria, was probably four months before the ensuing Passover (see St. John iv. 35). At the beginning of the second year we again find our Lord in Jerusalem, for a feast, which we assume was the Passover. In consequence of a miracle wrought at the pool of Bethsaida on the sabbath-day, Jesus was charged with having broken the law, and the rulers sought to kill him. His defence of himself, wherein he claimed to be the Son of God, only exasperated them the more, and he retired again to Galilee, to begin a ministry, the special work of which was to found a Church to supersede the Jewish polity. Out of the body of his disciples he ordained the twelve Apostles. He took them about with him; he taught them, by direct discourses and parables, the nature of his kingdom, and sent them forth to preach it to the Jews (St. Matt. x. 2-4; St. Mark iii. 13-19; St. Luke vi. 12-14). From Capharnaum, as a central point, he made circuits in Galilee, preaching and working miracles. At the beginning of the second year he retreated, probably to escape the observation of the Scribes and Pharisees, to the more heathen borders of Tyre and Sidon (St. Mark vii. 24). The duration of the Galilean ministry was about a year and six months. Towards its close our Lord tested his Apostles' faith, and on St. Peter's confession made him the rock of his Church. His doctrine from this time had more or less explicit reference to his approaching sufferings and death. After a private visit to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, our Lord finally left Galilee in a very solemn manner, sending seventy-two disciples, two and two, before his face, into every city and place whither he himself would come (St. Luke x. 1). The circumstances of this journey, narrated by St. Luke; the discourse on the Feast of Dedication; the retreat beyond the Jordan (St. John x. 22-40); the private visit to Bethany to raise Lazarus (St. John xi. 1-44); the |