given to the book.

29. The third gospel is ascribed, by a probably trustworthy tradition, to
Luke, the companion of Paul. The author himself says that he made use of
such earlier records as were accessible, among which the chief seem to
have been the writings of Mark and the apostle Matthew. To Luke's
industry, however, we owe our knowledge of many incidents and teachings
from the life of Jesus which were not contained in these two records, and
with which we could ill afford to part. Some of these he doubtless found
in written form, and some he gathered from oral testimony. His close
agreement with Mark in the arrangement of his narrative suggests that he
found no clear evidence of a ministry of wider extent in time and place.
He therefore used Mark as his narrative framework, and of the rich
materials which he had gathered made a gospel, the completest of any
written up to his time.

30. Such in the main is the conclusion of modern study of our first three
gospels; it explains the general identity of their picture of Jesus and of
their report of his teaching; it leaves room for those individual
characteristics which give them so much of their charm; and it traces the
materials of the gospels far back of the writings as we have them,
bringing us nearer to the events which they describe. The dates of these
documents can be only approximately known. It is probable that the
"logia" collected by the apostle Matthew were written not later than 60 to
65 A.D., while the Gospel of Mark dates from before the fall of Jerusalem
in 70. Our first gospel must have been made between 70 and 100, and the
Gospel of Luke may be dated about the year 80,--all within sixty or
seventy years after the death of Jesus.

31. The fourth gospel gives us a picture of Jesus in striking contrast to
that of the other three. These present chiefly the works of the Master and
his teachings concerning the kingdom of God and human conduct, leaving the
truth concerning the teacher himself to be inferred. John opens the heart
of Jesus and makes him disclose his thought about himself in a remarkable
series of teachings of which he is the prime topic. This gospel is
avowedly an argument (xx. 30, 31); its selection of material is
confessedly partial; its aim is to confirm the faith of Christians in the
heavenly nature and saving power of their Lord; and its method is that of
appeal to testimony, to signs, and to his own self-disclosures. The
opening verses o