The Value of a Monotessaron
Far above concordance, Bible index, Bible dictionary, commentary, I
count the monotessaron the very best help to Bible study. The
monotessaron, it might be parenthetically remarked for the benefit of
the lexicon-lazy folk, is a harmony of the four Gospels, so arranged as
to make one continuous and complete story, in Scripture words alone.
"Fie!" says one reviewer of a recent monotessaron, "we have no use for
such compilations. God gave us the gospel in four separate books. He
could have put it in one if it had been best that way." This is an
argument which would make a heretic of the locomotive, printing-press,
and any other rearrangement of God-given matter. Having the four
Gospels, we may have one. If God had given us only one, we could not
have the four.
Christians will always read the four separate Gospels, in order to see
Christ from four separate points of view, through four separate
individualities, that their differences as well as their agreements
may make the picture stand out more vividly, much as the two diverse
flat portions of a stereoscope view combine into perfect perspective
and reality.
But this combining is necessary; and it may be truly said that what we
lose, in reading the monotessaron, of the personality of John or Luke,
we more than gain in the increased vividness of the person of Christ.
Speaking for one, I may say that through my first acquaintance with a
monotessaron that matchless life has shone upon me with an entire
splendor of beauty and majesty before unimagined.
Never before was the life a whole, like Washington's or Lincoln's. The
imprisonment of John was an event in the fourteenth chapter of one
Gospel, the sixth of another, the third of the rest; the call of
Matthew now in the ninth chapter, now the second, now the fifth; the
parable of the sower in the thirteenth, fourth, and eighth chapters.
Nothing was in a clear, definite relation to the single life. The talk
with Nicodemus is now no longer to me an event of John 3, but of the
beginning of the first year of Christ's ministry, at the Passover. No
longer would I be puzzled to tell which came first, the healing of the
nobleman's son of John 4, or the stilling of the tempest of Mark 4,
but place the last a year later.
Not only has the narrative become clear and orderly, not only has the
wonderful history parted itself into the true and helpful
time-divisions so diverse from the confusing chapters, but the places
now stand out, and journeys are distinct. Take any diatessaron--that
is, any parallel arrangement of the four Gospels--and note the wide
blanks in each book, filled out by others, so that between contiguous
verses of one Gospel must be inserted whole chapters of another,
complete journeys, many deeds and sayings, the location in the
meantime greatly changing. A geologist will think of the helpful
triumph of taking from the full rock record here to fill out the
unconformable strata there, until a geological column is built up.
A further inestimable advantage is the appreciation of surroundings.
What light is cast, for example, on the story of Lazarus in John by
its insertion in Luke! The contact of these parted elements of the
gospel story sometimes rouses a current of thrilling thoughts, making
a veritable electric battery of the monotessaron.
Still another priceless gain is an understanding of proportions.
Matthew's parallels, Mark's deeds, Luke's miracles and parables, John's
sermons--in reading any of the four Gospels peculiar elements come into
prominence, and we are left with no idea of the relative proportion of
these elements in the one life. What emphasis did Christ place on the
doctrinal, and what on the practical? Just how much of his teaching
concerned himself and his character? What space in the New Testament is
occupied by miracles? Just what part of Christ's preaching was
parabolic? What is the prominence of missionary effort and proselytism?
How much is there of consolation, and how much of stern rebuke? What
measure of promise? What quantum of theology? What share of ethics?
These and scores of other questions which occur at once to every
Christian thinker, the monotessaron makes possible of easy and rapid
answer. Indeed, almost its chief advantage is the spur it affords to
the spirit of investigation. Those who are statistically inclined can
even get at precise ratios by the exact process of counting lines.
Well, that is my experience of the value of a monotessaron. It has
given the life and person of Christ marvelous vividness, setting facts
in their due order, location, relations, and proportions, while the
facility it affords is constant inspiration to fresh, delightful
study. This is the experience of thousands, and yet I am sure that
among the readers of this book will be many who are yet unacquainted
with this Bible help. Not only every Sunday-school teacher, but every
Bible scholar, should own one.
The single year in which I wrote this chapter saw the publication, in
quick succession, of four of these monotessarons, one the improved
edition of an older work. Each of these four has its peculiar features
of value, and I have compared them carefully to get at their
characteristics.
1. "The Interwoven Gospels." Rev. William Pittenger. (5 x 7-1/2
inches, pp. 245. New York: John B. Alden. Price, 90 cents.) Five
plates give clearly the various journeys. The Gospel fullest in each
event is taken as the standard, and its verse-numberings given,
while sentences and phrases interwoven from other Gospels are
preceded by an inconspicuous letter, to designate the book from
which they come. This seems to me the ideal plan. There is a table
for finding in the monotessaron any verse of any Gospel. There is a
very distinct synopsis. The time is indicated only at the heads of
the five divisions of the story. The place is given at the head of
each one of the one hundred and seventy-one sections. The index is
scant. The typography is excellent. The American Revised Version is
used.
2. "The Gospel Commentary." J. R. Gilmore ("Edmund Kirke") and Lyman
Abbott, D.D. (5 x 7 inches, pp. 840. New York: Fords, Howard &
Hulbert. Price, $1.50.) This monotessaron is combined with an
excellent and very full commentary, selected from the works of three
hundred authors. These multitudinous notes somewhat mar the
impression of unity and continuity for which the monotessaron is
peculiarly valued. No maps. Information as to sources of the
combined text is given only by references at the top of the page--an
indefinite way. There is a table for finding in the monotessaron any
verse of any Gospel. There is a chronological synopsis, but no
diatessaron table. There is a good index of thirty-two pages, and a
marginal synopsis. The time is minutely indicated at the head of
each page, and the locations shown irregularly, in notes, chapter
headings, or marginal synopsis. There are forty-three chapters. The
typography is clear. The King James Version is mainly used.
3. "The Fourfold Gospel." J. G. Butler, D.D. (5 x 7-1/2 inches, pp.
212. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Price, 75 cents.) This is taken from
Butler's "Bible Work." The sources of the text and transitions are
indicated as in Pittenger's, but not quite so minutely. Places are
given at the head of the one hundred and sixty-six sections. Times
not shown. A good diatessaron synopsis, and a table to find in the
monotessaron any verse from any Gospel. Two sketch-maps. No index
whatever. King James Version.
4. "The One Gospel." A. T. Pierson, D.D. (5 x 7-1/2 inches, pp. 203.
New York: The Baker & Taylor Company. Price, 75 cents.) This
monotessaron contains the gospel story in forty-seven sections, with
no section headings, and no indications whatever of times, places,
or sources of the various portions of the text. Valuable for
reading, but unsatisfactory for study. A capital index. No table for
finding verses, no synopsis or maps. King James Version. Retains
more than the others nearly equivalent words and phrases.
Each of these excellent compilations has its own field, and the
student who can afford the luxury will rejoice in them all. Happy
times in which we live, wherein the person of Christ is brought with
such clearness and fullness and beauty as never before to the poorest
and busiest and most unlearned!