Excerpt from Critical and Exegetical Hand-Book to the Gospel of John The Gospel of John stands pre-eminent among the Gospels, as does Paul's Epistle to the Romans among the New Testament Epistles. It is, indeed, except in the identity of their fundamental principles, as unlike it as possible. It does not forge, link by link, a chain of impas sioned argument, and construct a reasoned system of Christian doctrine, but, in simplest and half-fragmentary utterances, brings out those sub lime truths in which the entire doctrinal system finds its centre and foundation. Its eagle flight springs directly to the skies, and it exhibits the sublime Being who is its subject, not springing amidst the changes of time and the weaknesses of humanity, but having His home in the bosom of the Father and the deeps of eternity. Beyond either of its fellows. It opens to our vision the spiritual world, and portrays the king dom of heaven, not in its more earthly guise and human manifestations, but in its origin in the counsels of eternal love, and in the heavenly truths which originate and underlie it. Its unique and marvellous opening condenses within its compass a whole system of Theology, in the person of Him who to a world of sin and error comes with grace and truth, and to a world of death and darkness, with life and light. And the entire work is in keeping with the Prologue. It is throughout, like the seamless robe of the crucified Lord, consistent and harmonious. There is in its plan and purpose no momentary wavering. All its topics are so selected and treated as to subserve' the unfolding of the grand truths proclaimed in its introduction, to show us the very heavens opened, and the Son of God and the Son of Man, in the paradoxical harmony of this twofold nature, re-establishing the suspended intercourse between earth and heaven. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.