scenes and localities. It introduces few miracles and chiefly those not referred to by the other gospels, such as the raising of Lazarus from the dead. John also makes their object different,-to show forth the superhuman mission of Jesus, not to supply some pressing human need.

The lengthy discourses in the fourth gospel which take up the larger part of the work are very different from the parables and practical exhortations recorded by the other three. Their style and matter are so unique that it is hard to separate what the author attributes to Jesus from what he supplies himself. Furthermore, there is little or no room in the fourth gospel for the human development of Jesus. From the first he seems to be fully aware of his mission and so do his followers. The inwardness and spirituality of the religious experience recorded in this gospel, and its conception of the eternal life and of the last things, differ remarkably from what is everywhere present in the synoptics.

For these and other reasons a great controversy has been raging for nearly a century as to how the fourth gospel originated and what is its historical value. It is now generally maintained that in substance, at least, it is the work of the apostle John and was written at Ephesus near the close of the first century, primarily for the Christian circles of that region. John had had a long time to reflect upon the incidents he had witnessed and the discourses he had heard. He had lived very close to the Master, had observed the origin and progress of the church for over half a century, had been well acquainted with Paul, and in his later years had been profoundly affected by the philosophical speculations everywhere current in his adopted city.

His book was written to give his mature judgments concerning the mission of Jesus and in part to describe the growth of his own religious experience. He does not in all probability reproduce word for word the discourses of his Master, as he wishes at the same time to explain them and point out their eternal significance. "Being an apostle he did not need to be literal." Probably he frequently modified the historical setting in order more fully to attain his purpose. Probably also

the gospel originally ended at the close of chapter xx. The twenty-first chapter, written to correct a wrong impression concerning the meaning of the words of Jesus to Peter regarding John, may have been added shortly after the apostle's death, if not before it.

Hitherto the book of Revelation has been considered a work so full of mystery as to be almost unintelligible except to a chosen few. Some have regarded its prophecies as referring to a time already past, some have taken the book, with the exception of the first three chapters, as having to do with events yet to come, and others have looked upon it as giving a symbolic history of the experience of the Christian church from the beginning to the end of time. It has usually been taken for granted that it was written by the apostle John when in exile on the island of Patmos just before the destruction of Jerusalem, and that he himself had only a dim consciousness of its significance.

In our time the book is no longer considered either obscure or mysterious, but far more easily comprehended, for the most part, than many things to be found in other portions of the New Testament. For it is now seen to have a strictly historical basis, and is interpreted solely in the light of the circumstances surrounding its origin and the views entertained by the

people for whom it was written. It is placed side by side with a mass of similar literature that appeared in abundance among the Jewish people from at least the second century B.C.

Scholars have now made it clear that for several centuries it was the universal expectation of the Jews that after one dreadful outburst of the hostile forces of earth and heaven, God would appear in the person of his Messiah and set up once for all his glorious kingdom. Whenever his people came to any crisis in their affairs owing to unusual persecutions or other distresses, an apocalypse would appear to revive their drooping spirits, strengthen their faith in God, and assure them of his final victory. Their apocalypses were written in riddles, because it was usually dangerous to be distinct, and because human nature instinctively associates the mysterious with the divine. They were generally ascribed to some celebrated character of the past in order to attract attention to their contents. Such writings attributed to Enoch, Moses, Ezra, Daniel, and others still exist.

Scholars now hold that the book of Revelation like the book of Daniel was written at a time of great religious persecution, and that like Daniel its predictions are based upon existing conditions and concern the immediate future. The author of the book is still in the Old Testament stage of development regarding the world and the state, which he hates with all his heart. He has not yet risen to the New Testament idea of loving his enemies. Still he shows a firm faith in Jesus as the true Messiah and Saviour of his people. So permeated is he with the spirit of the prophets and psalms that he borrows most of his strange imagery from Ezekial, Zechariah, and other Old Testament

writers who had adopted this peculiar mode of expressing their thoughts. These considerations lead the scholars of our day to place the date of its composition in the time of the Domitian persecutions, that is, about 95 or 96 A.D. This makes it the last book in point of time in the New Testament. Its author is now regarded as some unknown Jewish Christian not yet fully imbued with the spirit and teachings of the gospel. Its style and ideas are so far removed from the fourth gospel that few, if any, recent scholars can see in it the work of the profoundly philosophical and spiritually-minded apostle John.

To the New Testament as a whole we are chiefly indebted for the two ideas which lie at the foundation of the highest conceivable form of religion-the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. No other book gives us such a revelation of the love of God for all his creatures and his unceasing interest in everything that concerns their welfare. Jesus stands forth in it as the true interpreter of the universe, as the true revealer of the mind and heart of God. All that is noblest and best in our modern civilization and in our modern conception of religion we owe to his teachings and life.

j. The Koran of Mohammed.-The bible of the Mohammedans is about the size of the New Testament and is called the Koran, a term derived from a word meaning to chant or recite. It is the sacred book of more than a hundred millions of people, and according to a high authority "is perhaps the most widely read book in the world. It is the textbook in all Mohammedan schools. All Moslems know large parts of it by heart. Devout Moslems read it through once a month. Portions of it are recited in

the five daily prayers, and the recitation of the whole book is a meritorious work frequently performed at solemn or festival anniversaries." The students of science and philosophy among the Arabians almost from the time the Koran was first published have had it for their sole mission to understand its precepts.

The book consists of one hundred and fourteen chapters, or suras, and each chapter begins with a heading which states the title and almost always the place of revelation. Then comes the formula "In the name of the most merciful God." The first chapter is often called the Lord's Prayer of the Moslems, and is universally regarded as the gem of the whole book. It is entitled "The Introduction; Revealed at Mecca," and reads as follows: In the name of the most merciful God. Praise be to God, the Lord of all creatures; the most merciful, the king of the day of judgment. Thee do we worship, and of thee do we beg assistance. rect us in the right way, in the way of those to whom thou hast been gracious; not of those against whom thou art incensed, nor of those who go astray.

Di

There does not seem to be any other principle in the arrangement of the chapters than that of length. The longest chapter comes immediately after the introduction and consists, in Sale's translation, which is here followed, of many (34) pages. The shortest chapter is the 112th, and contains less than two lines. Chapter second is the real beginning of the book and is entitled "The Cow," probably from the story of the red heifer that occurs in it. The first part of this chapter is as follows: "Revealed partly at Mecca and partly at Medina. In the name of the most merciful God. A. L. M. There is no doubt in this book; it is a direction to the pious, who believe in the mysteries of

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