of God’s own Son, and another compares Moses the servant with Christ the Son; but the fullest revelation is reserved to the last Gospel.  And herein the order of God’s dealings is observed, Who gives the lesser revelation to prepare for the fuller and more perfect.  The design of the Gospel is to restore men to the image of God by revealing to them God Himself.  But, before this can be done, they must be taught what goodness is, their very moral sense must be renewed.  Hence the moral discourses of the Synoptics.  Till this foundation is laid, first in the world, and then in the soul, the Gospel has nothing to lay hold of and to work upon; so it was laid first in the Sermon on the Mount, which, far beyond all other teaching, stops every mouth and brings in all the world guilty before God; and then the way is prepared for fuller revelations, such as that of the Atonement by the Death of Christ as set forth in the Epistles of St. Peter and St. Paul, and the revelation culminates in the knowledge of the Father and the Son in the Fourth Gospel.

With respect to the assertion of the author of “Supernatural Religion,” that the discourses in this Gospel are, as compared with those in the Synoptics, wholly dogmatic, as opposed to moral, the reader may judge of the truth of this by the following sayings of the Fourth Gospel:—­

    “Every one that doeth evil hateth the light.”

    “He that doeth truth cometh to the light.”

    “God is a Spirit, and they who worship Him must worship Him in
    spirit and in truth.”

    “They that have done good [shall come forth] to the Resurrection of
    Life.”

    “How can ye believe who receive honour one of another, and seek not
    the honour that cometh of God only?”

    “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine whether
    it be of God.”

    “The truth shall make you free,” coupled with

    “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.”

    “If I your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye ought also to
    wash one another’s feet.”

    “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I
    have loved you.”

    “He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth
    Me.”

These sayings, the reader will perceive, embody the deepest and highest moral teaching conceivable.

One more point remains to be considered—­the impossibility that St. John, taking into account his education and intellect, should have been the author of the Fourth Gospel.  This is stated in the following passage:—­