The Four Gospels

THE study of Holy Scripture, and, in particular, the study of the Gospels, which give us the living and life-giving words and deeds of our Blessed Redeemer Himself, is at once a duty and a pleasure, a labor and a delight, than which there can be none more vital and all-important to the deeper religious life and fruitfulness of all Christians, and especially of those whose high office it is to guide and instruct others by holy words, precepts, and examples to virtuous living and to the ultimate perfection and rewards of the Christian life. This is what St. Paul was teaching when, moved by the Holy Ghost, he penned to Timothy those inspired words: "All Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice, that the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work." It is mainly through the Scriptures that we know God, and that we hear His words and learn the message He has delivered to mankind. Hence St. Jerome says that "to be ignorant of the Scripture is not to know Christ," while, as the same holy doctor elsewhere affirms, "a man who is well-grounded in the testimonies of the Scripture is the bulwark of the Church." In the pages of the sacred books, and above all in the Gospels, we behold the Image of Christ standing out before us, living and breathing, diffusing everywhere around consolation in trouble, encouragement to virtue, and attraction to the love of God; there we find so many references to the holy Church, so many ready and convincing arguments regarding her institutions, her nature, her office, and her gifts there also the apostolic man finds abundant and excellent assistance, most holy precepts, gentle and strong exhortation, splendid examples of every virtue, the promise of eternal reward and the threat of eternal punishment, uttered in terms of solemn import, in God's name, and in God's own words." The Gospels are books of history, the facts of which are as well authenticated and as well 'attested to as are the best established facts of any human history. They are books of theology, containing dogmatic and moral principles, doctrines, laws; and hence from them a great portion of our technical and scientific theology has been drawn. Finally, the Gospels are books of piety and devotion, for in them we see the God-man manifesting to us by word and example the life of the spirit in action, wrought to its highest perfection. These are the reasons why the faithful servants of Christ and His Church have ever read, studied, and loved the sacred pages of the Gospels.