EPISTLE, C. II. Remembering what the Lord said, teaching :

Judge not that ye be not judged;

forgive and it shall be forgiven to

you;

be pitiful that ye may be pitied;

with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again; and that blessed are the poor and those that are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God.

EPISTLE C. II. Μνημονεύοντες δὲ ὧν εἶπεν ὁ κύριος

διδάσκων

Μὴ κρίνετε, ἵνα μὴ κριθῆτε. ἀφίετε, καὶ ἀφεθήσεται ὑμῖν.

ἐλεεῖτε, ἵνα ἐλεηθῆτε

ἐν ᾧ μέτρῳ μετρεῖτε, ἀντιμετρηθήσε ται ὑμῖν.

καὶ ὅτι μακάριοι οἱ πτωχοὶ καὶ οἱ διωκόμενοι ἕνεκεν δικαιοσύνης, ὅτι αὐτῶν ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ.

MATTHEW.

vii. 1.

Judge not that ye be not judged. vi. 14. For if ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you : (cf. Luke vi. 37. . . . pardon and ye shall be pardoned.)

v. 7. Blessed are the pitiful, for they shall obtain pity.

vii. 2. With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you.

v. 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit. . . . v. 10. Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

vii. 1.

MATTHEW.

Μὴ κρίνετε, ἵνα μὴ κριθῆτε.

vi. 14. Ἐὰν γὰρ ἀφῆτε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις κ. τ. λ. (cf. Luke vi. 37, ̓Απολύετε καὶ ἀπολυθήσεσθε.)

v. 7. Μακάριοι οἱ ἐλεήμονες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ ἐλεηθήσονται.

vii. 2. ἐν ᾧ μέτρω μετρείτε μετρητ θήσεται ὑμῖν.

ν. 3. Μακάριοι οἱ πτωχοὶ τῷ πνεύ ματι—10 μακ· οἱ δεδιωγμένοι ἕνεκεν δικαιοσύνης, ὅτι αὐτῶν ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν.

It will be remembered that an almost similar direct quotation of words of Jesus occurs in the so-called Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, c. xiii., which we have already examined.' There, the passage is introduced by the same words, and in the midst of brief phrases which have parallels in our Gospel there occurs in both Epistles the same expression, "Be pitiful that ye may be pitied," which is not found in any of our Gospels. In

1 1.p. 223 f.

order to find any parallels for the quotation, upon the hypothesis of a combination of texts, we have to add together portions of the following verses in the following order Matthew vii. 1, vi. 14 (although, with complete linguistic variations, the sense of Luke vi. 37 is much closer), v. 7, vii. 2, v. 3, v. 10. Such fragmentary compilation is in itself scarcely conceivable in an epistle of this kind, but when in the midst we find a passage foreign to our Gospels, but which occurs in another work in connection with so similar a quotation, it is reasonable to conclude that the whole is derived from tradition or from a Gospel different from ours. In no case is such a passage the slightest evidence of the existence of any one of our Gospels.

Another passage which is pointed out occurs in ch. vii., "beseeching in our prayers the all-seeing God not to lead us into temptation, as the Lord said: The spirit indeed. is willing, but the flesh is weak." This is compared with the phrase in "the Lord's Prayer" (Matthew vi. 13), or the passage (xxvi. 41): "Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."3 The second Gospel, however, equally has the phrase (xiv. 38), and shows how absurd it is to limit any of these historical sayings to any single Gospel. The next passage is of a similar nature (c. vi.): “If, therefore, we pray the Lord that he may forgive us we ought also ourselves to forgive." The thought but not

1 Zeller, Die Apostelgesch., p. 52; Credner, Beiträge, i. p. 27, anm. 1; Reuss, Gesch. h. Schr. N. T., p. 162; Eichhorn, Einl. N. T., i, p. 151 f. ; cf. Kirchhofer, Quellensamml., p. 85, anm. 2,

• δεήσεσιν αὐτούμενοι τὸν παντεπόπτην θεὸν, μὴ εἰσενεγκεῖν ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασ μὸν, καθὼς εἶπεν ὁ κύριος τὸ μὲν πνεῦμα πρόθυμον, ἡ δὲ σὰρξ ἀσθενής. c. vii, γρηγορεῖτε καὶ προσεύχεσθε, ἵνα μὴ εἰσέλθητε εἰς πειρασμόν. τὸ μέν πνεῦμα πρόθυμον, ἡ δὲ σὰρξ ἀσθενής. Μatt. xxvi. 41.

4 Εἰ οὖν δεόμεθα τοῦ κυρίου, ἵνα ἡμῖν ἀφῇ ὀφείλομεν καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφιέναι, c. vi,

the language of this passage corresponds with Matthew vi. 12-14, but equally so with Luke, xi. 4. Now we must repeat that all such sayings of Jesus were the common property of the early Christians-were no doubt orally current amongst them, and still more certainly were recorded by many of the numerous Gospels then in circulation, as they are by several of our own. In no case is there any written source indicated from which these passages are derived; they are simply quoted as words of Jesus, and being all connected either with the "Sermon on the Mount" or the "Lord's Prayer," the two portions of the teaching of Jesus which were most popular, widely known, and characteristic, there can be no doubt that they were familiar throughout the whole of the early Church, and must have formed a part of most or all of the many collections of the words of the Master. To limit them to our actual Gospels, which alone survive, would be absurd, and no reference to them, without specification of the source, can be received as evidence even of the existence of our Synoptics. We shall fully demonstrate this in considering the origin and composition of our present Gospels, but we may here briefly illustrate the point from the Synoptics themselves. Assuming the parable of the Sower to be a genuine example of the teaching of Jesus, as there is every reason to believe, it may with certainty be asserted that it must have been included in many of the records circulating among early Christians, to which reference is made in the prologue to the third Gospel. It would be absurd to affirm that no part of that parable could be referred to by an early writer without that reference being an indication of acquaintance with our synoptic Gospels. The parable is reported in closely similar words in each

of those three Gospels,' and it may have been, and probably was, recorded similarly in a dozen more. Confining ourselves, however, for a moment to the three Synoptics: what could a general allusion to the parable of the Sower prove regarding their existence and use, no mention of a particular source being made? Would it prove that all the three were extant, and that the writer knew them all, for each of them containing the parable would possess an equal claim to the reference? Could it with any reason be affirmed that he was acquainted with Matthew and not with Mark? or with Mark and not with Matthew and Luke? or with the third Gospel and not with either of the other two? The case is the very same if we extend the illustration, and along with the Synoptics include the numerous other records of the early Church. The anonymous quotation of historical expressions of Jesus cannot prove the existence of one special document among many to which we may choose to trace it. This is more especially to be insisted on from the fact, that hitherto we have not met with any mention of any one of our Gospels, and have no right even to assume their existence from any evidence which has been furnished.

'Matt. xiii. 3-23; Mark iv. 2—20; Luke viii. 4—15.

CHAPTER III.

JUSTIN MARTYR.

WE shall now consider the evidence furnished by the works of Justin Martyr, regarding the existence of our synoptic Gospels at the middle of the second century, and we may remark, in anticipation, that whatever differences of opinion may finally exist regarding the solution of the problem which we have to examine, at least it is clear that the testimony of Justin Martyr is not of a nature to establish the date, authenticity, and character of Gospels professing to communicate such momentous and astounding doctrines. The determination of the source from which Justin derived his facts of Christian history has for a century attracted more attention, and excited more controversy, than almost any other similar question in connection with patristic literature, and upon none have more divergent opinions been expressed.

Justin, who suffered martyrdom about A.D. 166-167,1 under Marcus Aurelius, probably at the instigation of the cynical philosopher, Crescens, was born in the Greek

1 Anger, Synops. Evan., p. xxvi.; Baur, Vorles. Chr. Dogmengesch. I. i. p. 253; Bleek, Einl. N. T., p. 228; Credner, Beiträge, i. p. 100; Donaldson, Hist. Chr. Lit. and Doct., ii. p. 73; Eusebius, H. E., iv. 16, Chron. Pasch. A.D. 165; Eichhorn (c. A.D. 163), Einl. N. T., i. p. 84; Guericke, H'buch K. G., p. 150, p. 377; Milman, Hist. of Christianity, ii. p. 134 f. ; Reuss, Gesch. h. Schr. N. T., p. 288; Scholten, Die ält. Zeugnisse, p. 20; Tischendorf, Wann wurden, u. s. w., p. 25; De Wette (c. 163), Einl. N. T., 1860, p. 104.