creation which he made.'(1) 'He is the sole way of access to the Lord; and no one shall enter in unto him otherwise than by his Son.'"(2)
This is all Canon Westcott says on the subject.(3) He does not attempt to point out any precise portions of the fourth Gospel with which to compare these "striking analogies," nor does he produce any instances of similarity of language, or of the use of the same terminology as the Gospel in this apocalyptic allegory. It is evident that such evidence could in no case be of any value for the fourth Gospel.
When we examine more closely, however, it becomes certain that these passages possess no real analogy with the fourth Gospel, and were not derived from it. There is no part of them that has not close parallels in writings antecedent to our Gospel, and there is no use of terminology peculiar to it. The author does not even once use the term Logos. Canon Westcott makes no mention of the fact that the doctrine of the Logos and of the pre-existence of Jesus was enunciated long before the composition of the fourth Gospel, with almost equal clearness and fulness, and that its development can be traced through the Septuagint translation, the "Proverbs of Solomon," some of the Apocryphal works of the Old Testament, the writings of Philo, and in the Apocalypse, Epistle to the Hebrews, as well as the Pauline Epistles. To any one who examines the passages cited from the works of Hennas, and still more to any one acquainted with the history of the Logos doctrine, it will, we fear,
seem wasted time to enter upon any minute refutation of such imaginary "analogies." We shall, however, as briefly as possible refer to each passage quoted.
The first is taken from an elaborate similitude with regard to true fasting, in which the world is likened to a vineyard and, in explaining his parable, the Shepherd says: "God planted the vineyard, that is, he created the people and gave them to his Son: and the Son appointed his angels over them to keep them: and he himself cleansed their sins, having suffered many things and endured many labours.... He himself, therefore, having cleansed the sins of the people, showed them the paths of life by giving them the Law which he received from his Father."(1)
It is difficult indeed to find anything in this passage which is in the slightest degree peculiar to the fourth Gospel, or apart from the whole course of what is taught in the Epistles, and more especially the Epistle to the Hebrews. We may point out a few passages for comparison: Heb. i. 2-4; ii. 10-11; v. 8-9; vii. 12, 17-19; viii. 6-10; x. 10-16; Romans viii. 24-17; Matt. xxi. 33; Mark xii. 1; Isaiah v. 7, liii.
The second passage is taken from an elaborate parable on the building of the Church: [———] "And in the middle of the plain he showed me a great white rock which had risen out of the plain, and the rock was higher than the mountains, rectangular so as to be able to hold the whole world, but that rock was old having a gate [———] hewn out of it, and the hewing out of the gate [———] seemed to me to be recent."(2) Upon this rock the tower of the Church is built. Further on an explanation is given of the similitude, in which occurs another of the
passages referred to.[———] "This rock [———] and this gate [———] are the Son of God. 'How, Lord,' I said, 'is the rock old and the gate new?' 'Listen,' he said, 'and understand, thou ignorant man. [———] The Son of God is older than all of his creation [———], so that he was a councillor with the Father in his work of creation; and for this is he old.' [———] 'And why is the gate new, Lord?' I said; 'Because,' he replied, 'he was manifested at the last days [———] of the dispensation; for this cause the gate was made new, in order that they who shall be saved might enter by it into the kingdom of God.'"(1)