The Four Gospels by David Brown. Banner of Truth Trust. Price 35/-.
This truly great Commentary by David Brown has been in constant use for more than a century. The fact that the Banner of Truth Trust has seen fit to re-publish it in one volume, is in itself a tribute to its worth and merit, and would seem to indicate that there is still a demand for such a production. By this we are encouraged, for as long as preachers continue to refer to such a Commentary we may well hope that the risk of their auditors being subjected to empty sentimental discourses will be considerably reduced.
In his Introduction to the Commentary, Dr Brown expresses his personal appreciation of the unique place and importance of the Four Gospels as the central portion of the Divine Revelation, and indicates the proper line of investigation, stating briefly the leading facts on the different branches of the subject, and drawing the conclusions which these justify and demand. The following quotation, is, we think, most revealing and interesting, and may well serve as an inducement to the perusal of the entire work. On the subject of Inspiration dealt with on page 24 of the Introduction, the author has this to say: “Every thoughtful reader of the Gospels must at times have asked himself how the evangelists were able to report as they have done, so much of what our Lord said and did. As mere memory would plainly have been inadequate to the production of such narratives, there remains but one other explanation of them; some ‘prompting’ from above — enabling the Evangelists to re-produce the scenes and circumstances, discourses and actions, as we have them. Yet so little can one safely rely on mere conjecture or theory in such a case, that had we no explicit information in the narratives themselves as to the source of their proper authority, we should never have felt satisfied that we had solved the problem. But happily, that information we have, and the solidity which it imparts to our faith in these Four Gospels, and by consequence in the rest of Scripture, is complete and reassuring.
” ‘These things have I spoken unto you,’ said Jesus to His disciples, in the upper room, the night before He suffered, ‘being yet present with you. But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.’ So imperfectly did the Apostles apprehend what Jesus said to them, that they could not be expected to remember it, even as it was spoken; for nothing is harder than to recall with precision, any but the briefest statement, if not comprehended. But while Jesus here promises them a Prompter from heaven, it was not to recall His teaching simply as it fell on their ears from His lips. This would have left them the same half-instructed and bewildered — weak and timid men as before — all unfit to evangelise the world, either by their preaching or their writings. But the Spirit was to teach as well as to remind them, to reproduce the whole teaching of Christ, not as they understood it, but as He meant it to be understood. Thus we have a double promise, that through the agency of the Holy Ghost, the whole teaching of Christ should stand up in the minds of His disciples, when He was gone from them, in all its entireness, as at first uttered, and in all its vast significance, as by Him intended. Before the close of this same Discourse, our Lord announces an extension even of this great office of the Spirit. They were not able to take in all that the Lord had to tell them. He had accordingly expressed much in but a seminal form, and some things He could hardly be said to have spoken at all. But when the Spirit should come, on His departure to the Father, He should ‘guide them into all Truth’, filling up whatever was wanting to their complete apprehension of the mind of Christ. On these great promises rests the credibility — in the highest sense of the term — of the Gospel History, and so its Divine Authority.”
The Commentary itself, for all its scope and depth, is not intended for specialists only. It is drawn up in a style well suited to commend itself to the learned and the unlearned. Unlike some commentators, the author does not disappoint his readers by giving so many interpretations of a passage, while leaving the reader without definite guidance. Although thoroughly acquainted with the best works on his subject, he is evidently an independent thinker, and one cannot but be impressed by the conscientious fairness of his exegesis and the richness and definiteness of the theological training based upon its results.
Several features combine to enhance the value of this volume: thorough and extensive scholarship, so often abused in the service of Satan, is here put to its highest and noblest use; the results of mature judgment and accurate thinking are expressed in a most lively and reverential manner, and serve to make the smallest details full of interest and instruction. To bring out clearly the general scope, the character, the meaning of each passage is the chief aim of the author. As he expounds the Word, we are furnished with a substantial body of doctrinal, practical, and experimental truth. Enlightened, enriched, satisfied and delighted with Dr Brown’s explanatory comments on each verse, we are further treated to his ‘remarks’ at the close of each section. These are evidently the reverent and devout reflections of a meditative mind, imbued with the spirit of truth and holiness. Indeed, each and every part abounds with terse, meaningful, thought provoking observations and comments all ready for expansion and amplification.
This Commentator does not waste the reader’s time by allowing himself to be drawn into the region of vain speculations regarding what, at best, can only be conjectural. To illustrate this feature of the work, we may quote what the author has to say on the controversial, much-vexed subject of the star which led the wise men to Bethlehem. With prudence, he remarks, “Much has been written on the subject of this star; but from all that is here said, it is perhaps best to regard it as, simply a luminous meteor, which appeared under special laws, and for a special purpose.”
Finally, this Commentary has many other virtues which we must leave readers to discover for themselves; but to us the most pleasing and impressive merit of all, is the thoroughly devotional strain in which it is written, and which pervades and perfumes every page.
F. MACDONALD.