many, as in England and America, Lives of Christ have been more numerous than Harmonies.
K. Wieselerand C. Tischendorf, among recent German scholars, have published valuable
Harmonies. In England the work most in use is that of E. Greswell. The Archbishop of York,
William Thomson, presents in Smith’s Bible Dictionary a valuable table of the Harmony of
the Four Gospels (article “Gospels,” Am. ed. vol. ii. p. 751).
An interesting edition of the Synoptic Gospels is that of W. G. Rushbrooke (Synopticon,
Cambridge, 1880–81). It is designed to show, by different type and colour, the divergences
and correspondences of the three Gospels. The Greek text is that of Tischendorf, corrected
from that of Westcott and Hort. It presents in the readiest form the material for harmonistic
comparisons; but the editor has prepared it with a purpose diametrically opposed to that
of the Harmonist, namely, to construct from the matter common to the Synoptists a “triple
tradition,” which will, in the author’s judgment, approximately present the “source” from
which all have drawn. The work has great value apart from its theory of the origin of the
Synoptic Gospels.
In America Edward Robinson published, in repeated editions, a Harmony of the Gospels
in Greek and also in English. He had previously reprinted that of Newcome.
S. J. Andrews (Life of our Lord; New York, 1863), has sought “to arrange the events of
the Lord’s life, as given us by the evangelists, so far as possible, in a chronological order, and
to state the grounds of this order.” It is virtually a Harmony, with the full text of the Gospels
omitted. Few works of the kind equal it in value, though it needs revision in the light of the
more recent results of textual criticism.
Frederic Gardinerhas published a Harmony of the Four Gospels in Greek (Andover,
1871, 1876). It gives the text of Tischendorf (eighth edition), with a collation of the Textus
Receptus, and of the texts of Griesbach, Lachmann, and Tregelles. The authorities are cited
in the case of important variations. Another valuable feature is a comparative table,
presenting in parallel columns the arrangement adopted by Greswell, Stroud, Robinson,
Thomson, Tischendorf, and Gardiner.
A number of works, aiming to consolidate into one narrative the four accounts, have
been passed over.
The Harmony of Dr. Robinson, which has held its ground for more than forty years,
has been recently revised by the present writer. The text of Tischendorf has been substituted
for that of Hahn; all the various readings materially affecting the sense which are found in
Tregelles, Westcott and Hort, and in the Revised English version of 1881, have been given
in footnotes, with a selection of the leading authorities (mss. and versions) for or against
each reading cited. The Appendix has been enlarged to meet the new phases of discussion;
but the whole volume is what it purports to be,—a revision of the standard work of Dr.
Robinson. In the matter of the Greek text, the author would probably have done what has
158
Introductory Essay.