forget that the best dramatic art is the
operation of a divinatory instinct for truth. Be that as it may, John
was certainly not the man to believe in the Second Coming and yet give
a date for it after that date had passed. There is really no escape
from the conclusion that the originals of all the gospels date from the
period within which there was still a possibility of the Second Coming
occurring at the promised time.

THE PECULIAR THEOLOGY OF JESUS.

In spite of the suspicions roused by John's idiosyncrasies, his
narrative is of enormous importance to those who go to the gospels for
a credible modern religion. For it is John who adds to the other records
such sayings as that "I and my father are one"; that "God is a spirit";
that the aim of Jesus is not only that the people should have life, but
that they should have it "more abundantly" (a distinction much needed by
people who think a man is either alive or dead, and never consider the
important question how much alive he is); and that men should bear in
mind what they were told in the 82nd Psalm: that they are gods, and
are responsible for the doing of the mercy and justice of God. The Jews
stoned him for saying these things, and, when he remonstrated with them
for stupidly stoning one who had done nothing to them but good works,
replied "For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy, because
that thou, being a man, makest thyself God." He insists (referring to
the 82nd psalm) that if it is part of their own religion that they are
gods on the assurance of God himself, it cannot be blasphemy for him,
whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, to say "I am the son
of God." But they will not have this at any price; and he has to escape
from their fury. Here the point is obscured by the distinction made by
Jesus between himself and other men. He says, in effect, "If you are
gods, then, a fortiori, I am a god." John makes him say this, just as he
makes him say "I am the light of the world." But Matthew makes him say
to the people "Ye are the light of the world." John has no grip of the
significance of these scraps which he has picked up: he is far more
interested in a notion of his own that men can escape death and do even
more extraordinary things than Christ himself: in fact, he actually
represents Jesus as promising this explicitly, and is finally led into
the audacious hint that he, John, is himself immortal in the flesh.
Still, he does not