I will consider this last question first. The Gospels most distinctly affirm that they do not belong to the class of professed histories, but to that of memoirs. This is a very important consideration; for if they only claim to be memoirs and not histories it is absurd to demand of them an accuracy of arrangement and of detail, which would be essential to a history, but which forms no portion of the plan of a memoir. But they not only affirm that they are memoirs, but memoirs of a peculiar character; that is to say, religious [pg 476] memoirs, composed with a double purpose, viz. that of setting forth the events of a life, and at the same time of teaching a religion.
This point is so important, and is so generally overlooked in the arguments both of those who affirm and of those who deny their historical character, that it will be necessary to prove it. It is not only evident from the general nature of their contents, but three of the Evangelists directly affirm it, and two of them, Luke and John, in express terms. The former distinctly asserts that he composed his Gospel in order that a person called “Theophilus” might know the certainty of the things in which he had been instructed. “Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth a declaration of these things that are most surely believed among us; even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eye witnesses and ministers of the word; it seemed good to me also, having perfect understanding of all things from the first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things in which thou hast been instructed.” (Luke i. 1-4.)
Here we have the purpose of the writer definitely affirmed. It is to set forth a statement of the leading facts of the life of Jesus, for the purpose of communicating instruction in the Christian religion. In one word, the author proposed to teach a religion by means of a narrative of facts. It is hardly possible to give a more accurate description of a memoir as distinguished from a history. He also tells us that he meant to compose it in an orderly arrangement, but he does not tell us whether the order was intended to be strictly chronological, or merely regulated by the avowed religious purpose of the work. It is quite [pg 477] possible for a writer to adopt an orderly arrangement, who arranges his matter as much by religious considerations as by chronological ones. According to the statement of this preface, the religious purpose is clearly the predominant one; and it is therefore only reasonable to suppose that it has exerted considerable influence on the grouping.
We learn also from this preface that the things most surely believed among Christians consisted of a number of facts, which had been delivered to them by persons who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the word. Several persons had already set forth written accounts of them before the author composed this Gospel. It is implied that he did so because he possessed better and more accurate sources of information than previous writers. The object, however, is clear; it was that Theophilus might know the certainty of those things, i.e. the great facts on which the Christianity, in which he had been instructed, was based.
The assertion of this religious purpose in the composition of the fourth Gospel, and that the materials are a selection from a large mass of others is even more distinct and definite. “Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye may have life through his name.” (John xx. 30, 31.)
Words could hardly have been framed which more definitely assert that this Gospel is a memoir, and not a history; and that the religious purpose, in its composition, was the predominant idea of the writer.
The assertions of the author of St. Mark's Gospel, although not equally full, are sufficiently definite. He [pg 478] designates it as “The beginning of the gladsome message of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Here, again, the religious idea is plainly the predominant one in the writer's mind, and the obvious conclusion is that he intended his work to be a memoir, and not a history.
We have no such direct affirmation by the author of St. Matthew's Gospel, unless the opening words, “The book of the generations of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham,” are intended to cover the entire work. The nature of its contents, however, leave not the smallest doubt that his design in writing was precisely the same as that of the other Evangelists, viz. to teach Christianity by setting forth a memoir of the life of Jesus Christ.
Such, then, is the avowed purpose of the authors of the four Gospels. Each of them is a religious memoir. This being so, it is absurd to demand of such writings what can only be found in regularly composed histories.
In what, then, does a history differ from a memoir? The object of the historian is not only to give an account of the events which he narrates precisely as they occurred; but the order of his narrative is regulated by the definite sequences of time and place. The writer of a memoir, on the contrary, is not bound to observe this order, but he is entitled to vary it in reference to the special object he has in view, and the points which he requires to illustrate.