THE FOURTH COSPEL.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 556, 10 July 1909, Page 9

THE FOURTH COSPEL.

. - LOCAL STUDY OF AUTHORSHIP. As Cincinnatus returned to his plough, so Mr. P. . Franklaiul, after his rejection bilbo Manawatu electors, seems to have retreated to his study. There iiow. conies forth, as the first fruits of this period of retirement, a shilling pamphlet entitled "The Johannino Problem: A Few Thoughts Relating to the Authorship of the Fourth Gospel." Watson, Eyre, and Co., Palmerston North.) In, this, as in many of his previous writings, Mr. Frankland has adopted what may bo palled the annotative method. That is to say, lio begins, with a citation from another author, footnotes tt) it,"and sometimes, as in the present instance, concludes with further original compent. It is not a finished nor a popular litorary form, but tliero is something engaging and even convincing in the intimate candour with which it shows the author's mind at work. "Franko laiido, franke myndo," is, wo understand, Mr. Frankland's ancestral motto, and it is curiously appropriate. The "Johannino" pamphlet begins with annotated excerpts from the writings of Dr. H. H. Wendt, Professor in the University of Jena, and Professor Fishor, of Yale, but Mr. Frankland, who has evidently mado a close, study of recent Biblical criticism, refers in his notes to many other authorities. He does not absolutely bind himself'to any theory as to the authorship of tho Fourth Gospel, but he is inclined to hold that'it was compiled by the heretic Cerinthus from tho written reminiscences of John of Ephesus, and subsequently corrected by more orthodox writers. John of Ephcsus, ho suggests, was identical, not with the son of Zebedec, but with the "beloved disciple" mentioned several time's in the later chapters of tho Fourth Gospel, and believed by Mr. Frankland to have been a cadet of tho Jewish priesthood. Mr. Frankland strongly contends for tho historicity of the narrative and fully accepts its testimony to the'resurrection. His pamphlet, with its careful examination of tho evidono©; against, as well as 1 for, his hypothoaoa, should. 1» of T alii« <

to students, preachers, -and teachers. He ro< gards it as preliminary to a moro extended study of tho Fourth Gospel, especially in itarelation to tho Synoptics, and ho has also in contemplation a larger volumo which will cx« pand his metaphysical pamphlet, "Thought! on Ultimate Problems."