# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Juli 1855_S209
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Lutheran-Theological Pastors’ Library. 209

However, when, on the occasion of a doctoral ceremony in theology in 1621, ten doctors of theology were assembled in Jena and, among other important matters, discussed the necessity of completing the work begun by Chemnitz and Leyser, they finally and unanimously named Johann Gerhard as the man who alone was equal to this great task and solemnly commissioned him to undertake it in the name of the Church. Gerhard then no longer dared to oppose the wish and call of so many discerning men, but promised that, once he had completed his Loci theologici and his Schola pietatis, he would set to work. And Gerhard did as he had promised: he began the work in 1624; the first part appeared in 1626, and the final two parts in 1627. Gerhard was able to complete the task assigned to him in so short a time all the more readily because, as early as 1617, he had interpreted and published, according to Chemnitz’s method, the harmony of the Gospel accounts of Christ’s Passion, death, resurrection, and ascension. Thus, to complete the work, he had only the following passages left to interpret: Matthew 21:1—26:29; Mark 11:1—14:25; Luke 19:29—22:38; John 11:46—17:26. In publishing the complete Harmony, the Reformed in England and France preceded the Lutherans, for they immediately produced the first edition of the complete work, which appeared in folio in Geneva as early as 1628. A second and a third edition followed there and in Rotterdam in 1645. The finest of all, however, was published in Hamburg in 1652 under the editorship of Johann Ernst Gerhard, the son; the second printing of that same edition also appeared there in 1704.

We have not ourselves seen a German translation of the work, but in “Palm’s Handbibliothek der theologischen Literatur,” which contains only book titles together with their original prices, we find the following title: “Harmony of the Four Evangelists by Chemnitz, Leyser, and Gerhard, translated by Otto Nath. Nicolai. 2 parts in quarto. Magdeburg, 1764 and 1768, published by Scheidhauer. Price: 7 thalers, 16 groschen.” Judging by the number of parts, the translation may not encompass the entire work, while the price suggests that the book must be of considerable size. Concerning the form and content of the complete Latin work, we add the following. Chemnitz prefaced the whole with Prolegomena, in which he first discusses the concept of a harmony of the Gospels and its purpose and usefulness, then evaluates the work previously done in this field, and finally sets forth the principles according to which he himself would proceed. The entire text of the Gospels is divided into chapters, in each of which a passage is treated in the following manner. First there is always the “ratio ordinis,” that is, the explanation of the order followed; this is followed by the Greek text with facing—

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