ng down His life for them in
suffering and death, and rising and returning to them as their Lord. He
appeals to them for faith in God, for loyalty to Himself as God's
Servant and Son, and for trust in His divine power to save them.

This conception of Jesus is given us in documents which must be
investigated and appraised as sources of historical knowledge. The four
gospels are our principal informants, and no other writings in existence
have been so often and so minutely examined. Among scholars at present
it is a common hypothesis that Mark's is the earliest narrative; that
this was combined with a _Collection of Sayings_ (compiled, perhaps, by
Matthew) and other material in our first gospel, and by another editor
(probably Luke) with the same or a similar _Collection of Sayings_ and
still other material in our third gospel. Later yet, a fourth evangelist
interpreted for the world of his day the Jesus of the first three
gospels in the light of his own and the Church's spiritual experience.

The earlier sources, as is usually and naturally the case with literary
records of the past, are considered historically more reliable than the
later. The words of Jesus in the form in which they are given in the
Synoptists are more nearly as Jesus spoke them, than in the form in
which they are recorded in _John_. There is a tendency, often found in
kindred documents, to make events more marvellous as the tradition is
handed on. In _Mark_, for instance, the Spirit descends upon Jesus "as a
dove," symbolizing the quietness with which the Divine Power possessed
Him; in _Luke_, the symbol is materialized, and the Holy Spirit descends
"in _bodily form_ as a dove." The writers interpret the narrative for
their readers: _Matthew_ takes Jesus' ideal of the indissoluble
marriage-tie, as it is given in _Mark_, and allows, in the practical
application of the ideal, divorce for adultery; he adds to Jesus' word
about telling one's brother his fault "between thee and him alone"
further advice as to what shall be done if the brother be obdurate,
ending with "Tell it unto the Church." _John_ substitutes for the many
sayings of Jesus in the earlier gospels, in which He appears to look
forward to a speedy and sudden coming of His Kingdom in power, other
sayings, in which He promises to come again spiritually and dwell in His
followers. On the other hand, in some particulars scholars think that
the later writers had more accurate information, and us