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LONDON:

R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL.

CONTENTS.

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SCRIPTURE READINGS.

EXPOSITION OF MARK I.

AUTHOR OF GOSPEL-DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MATTHEW AND MARK'S NARRATIVES-CHRIST'S DEITY-THE BAPTIST'S PLACE THE BAPTISM OF JESUS CALL OF APOSTLES-JESUS IN THE SYNAGOGUE-DEMONIACS-PETER'S WIFE-JESUS IS GOD.

It is clearly gathered from other portions of the New Testament Scriptures that the author of this Gospel was called sometimes John-not John the Evangelist -and afterwards surnamed Mark, and was sister's son to Barnabas, and the son of Mary, a pious woman who lived in the midst of Jerusalem. He is alluded to by the Apostle Paul, whom he accompanied in many of his travels, as we find recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. He was also the very intimate companion of the Apostle Peter, who frequently makes mention. of him; and it is universally believed, as it is recorded by most of the ancient Patristic authorities, that this Gospel was not only inspired by God, like the rest of the four, but that it was also composed under the surveillance and superintendence of the Apostle Peter himself.

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We shall trace a distinction between this Gospel and that according to St. Matthew. St. Matthew's Gospel was plainly written for the Jews, and therefore it traces the genealogy of Christ through all the Jewish families upwards to Adam; and you will notice that in it there are allusions to Jewish customs, rites, and ceremonies, without the least explanatory remark appended to them, which plainly indicates that Matthew wrote for a people who understood the rites, ceremonies, and customs to which he refers. I do not know whether I mentioned, in my introductory remarks on St. Matthew's Gospel, that the universal statement of the early Fathers is, that he wrote his Gospel in the Hebrew, or rather in the Syro-Chaldaic language, which was a dialect of the Hebrew spoken by the Jews in the days of our blessed Lord. It is said by some of the Fathers, that it was translated subsequently into Greek by Matthew himself; by others it is said that it was translated by some other writer. St. Mark's Gospel was written, plainly, originally in Greek, being a Gospel meant peculiarly for the Gentiles; and in it we have less of the personal history of Jesus, and more of his official character. Thus, whilst Matthew begins with the genealogy of Christ the Son of David, the Gospel of Mark begins with the herald of Jesus, and his temptation, and miracles. We shall find, by a careful comparison of the four Gospels, that whatever was their common origin, and I believe the writers of them were independent witnesses to the facts which they reccrded, and that they have recorded these facts each in his own language and phraseology, but guided, governed and directed by the Holy Spirit,—we have Christ in four different lights, portrayed, if I may so speak, in

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