Excerpt:

'THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK'.

COMPILED AT AN UNCERTAIN DATE LATER THAN 55 ,1.n.

"This gospel contains "the earliest and the simplest picture of the ministry of Jesus," but tells nothing of his birth or early life. It appears to be the work of the John Mark who is mentioned more than once in the New Testament, and to have been compiled from information gathered from the Apostle Peter (whose convert Mark is supposed to have been), as well as ,"rom other sources, both written and oral. Of these sources it is plain that the compilers of ' The Gospels according to St. Matthew and St. Luke' also availed themselves, as well as, in all probability, of a draft of this gospel. It is evident from the writer's habit of translating Aramaic words, and using Latin expressions, that his Life of Jesus was intended for readers of the Western World ; a view confirmed by many interesting traditions of the Western Church. From the absence of much of the Teaching of Jesus given in ' The Gospels according to St. Matthew and St. Luke,' it has been inferred that this was not available in a connected form for the compiler of the present gospel."