l, the sum of which is _Jesus
Christ crucified for the salvation of the world_. The four gospels,
then, as containing the history of our Lord's appearance and works, lie
at the foundation of the revelation contained in the New Testament. To
these, then, our attention must first be given; after which the history
of the apostolic labors, as given in the Acts of the Apostles, will
naturally follow.

I. THE GOSPELS AS A WHOLE.

3. The word _gospel_ (Anglo-Saxon, _god_, _good_, and _spell_, _history_
or _tidings_) answers to the Greek word _euangelion_, _good-tidings_,
whence comes the Latin _evangelium_, with the derived words in use among
us, as _evangelist_, _evangelical_, etc. It properly signifies the _good
message itself_, and it is only by a secondary usage that it is applied
to the _written histories_ of the Saviour's life, as being the
embodiment of this message. The titles prefixed to these gospels from
the beginning; "The Gospel according to Matthew", "The Gospel according
to Mark," etc., indicate that the written record is not itself the
gospel, but rather an account of the gospel _according to_ these
different writers. Christ himself is the author of the gospel. It
existed and was received by many thousands before a line of it was put
upon record on the written page.

4. The genuineness, uncorrupt preservation, and authenticity of the four
canonical gospels have already been shown at some length. Chaps. 2, 3,
4. In connection with the argument for their genuineness, their natural
division into two parts--the first three, commonly called the synoptical
gospels, and the gospel according to John; the remarkable agreements and
differences of the three synoptical gospels among themselves; and the
remarkable contrast which the fourth gospel presents to all three of the
synoptical gospels, have also been considered simply as _existing
facts_. Chap. 2, Nos. 14 and 15. But when we seek an _explanation_ of
these remarkable phenomena, we enter upon a very difficult problem, one
on which the ingenuity of Biblical scholars has exhausted itself for
several successive generations without reaching thus far a result that
can be regarded as perfectly satisfactory. Almost all conceivable
theories and combinations of theories have been proposed, some of which,
however, are now generally abandoned as untenable, and need not be
considered at large.

5. Looking at the three synoptical gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we
find a