Foreword
As in the case of my volume on The Acts of the Apostles, and that on Mark, in this volume we have Stenographically reported sermons. They consist of seventy-two such.
From this method they suffer, and gain. They suffer the loss of literary finish possible to the Writer; but they gain from the very roughness and directness associated with the Word extemporaneously uttered, as to the form of sentences. They proceed, from first to last, on the assumption that it was the intention of the writer of this Gospel to set forth the Person of our Lord in relation to His Kingly office.
From the mystic account of His advent in human history, through the record of the authority of His ethical enunciation, the mercifulness of His method, the majesty of His Death, and the glory of His Resurrection, to the ringing claim of "all authority," and clarion command to "disciple the nations," we are ever in the presence of the King.
With happy memories of the days when they were prepared and spoken, and profound gratitude to GOD for His acceptance of them then, manifested in the blessing they were to many, I now commit them to the wider ministry of the printed page, praying that they may still be helpful, in some measure, in showing forth some of the glories of Him Who was attested of GOD in the words, "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased;" and thus the Son, to Whom He gives the nations for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession.
G. C. M.
Glendale, California.