PRESENT DAY FACTORS IN NEW TESTAMENT STDDY. 41 



equally rash to affiriii, as is so often done, that the whole 

 historical character of the fourth Gospel is to go by the board. 

 In England, it is true, leading utterances may still be constantly 

 quoted on the conservative side. Thus, e.g., Mr. C. H. Turner, 

 in his Studies in Early Church History, p. 191, maint.ains that 

 it still appears to him reasonably certain tiiat one of the original 

 disciples named John, whether the apostle or another, settled 

 in Asia Minor, wrote the fourth Gospel there, and died about 

 A.D. 100. And more positive statements still as to the author- 

 ship of the fourth Gospel by the beloved disciple might easily 

 be quoted both in England and Germany. 



But still it is often boldly attirmed that in Germany the 

 Gospel of St. John is no longer to be regarded as a source in 

 estimating the documents at our disposal say, e.g., for a Life of 

 Jesus, or iov an examination of their teaching and claims. It is, 

 therefore, well to remember in passing that one of the fullest 

 and most thoughtful works upon St. John's Gospel in recent 

 years comes to us from Germany. The title of the book is in 

 itself sufficient to secure it a high place, 7%e Gospel of St. Joh^i 

 as a Source for the History of Jesus. 



There is much in the volume with which we should probably not 

 agree, but its great value lies in the fact that the writer, F. Spitta, 

 so well known in other connections, regards the fourth Gospel as 

 containing an original document which was the work of an eye- 

 witness, and that this eye-witness was one of the most trusted 

 friends of the Master, no less a person than the Apostle John. 



It is worth noting that Spitta regards this portion of the 

 fourth Gospel as still more reliable than the Synoptists as an 

 authority and a history. 



11. But no attempt to deal with the sources of our Gospels 

 could lay claim to any fullness, unless we make some reference to 

 those remarkable })seudepigraphical or apocalyptic books of the 

 Jews which form in some respects a kind of background to the 

 New Testament books. 



Let us endeavour to give to some few of them a brief 

 consideration. 



The Assumption of Moses, probably dating soon after A.D. 6 — - 

 the date assigned to it not only by Dr. Charles, but by Professor 

 Burkitt — is written by a Pharisaic Quietist. He has to protest 

 — it is in fact the very object of his writing — against the 

 secularization of the Messianic ideal, and the growing political 

 corruption of the Pharisaic party, against the notion so common, 

 at all events in the middle of the century, that works were the 

 means of salvation. 



