The Gospel of St. John. Edited by the Rev. S.
A. UcClymont. " The Century Bible." General editor, Professor W. F. Adeney. (T. C. and E. C. Jack.)—Dr. McClymont gives us in his introduction an excellent summary of the arguments, pro and con., which have been urged as to the authorship of the Fourth Gospel. The balance of critical opinion has been somewhat changed during the last two decades. The affirmative is now supported by writers who have no theological or ecclesiastical constraint. The real difficulty lies in the question,—Did the Master speak as the Synoptista report Him, or as He is reported by St. John ? Dr. McOlymont adopts here the view of a pre- decessor that the Gospel is "a distillation of the life and teach- ing of Jesus from the alembic of the Apostle's own mind." There is much to be said for Matthew Arnold's view that the book was redacted by the elders of the church in which St. John laboured.
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