Chapter III: Justin Martyr (2)

In speaking of the trial of Jesus, Justin says: "For also as the prophet saith, they reviled him and set him on the judgment seat and said: Judge for us,"(5) a peculiarity which is not found in the Canonical Gospels. Justin had just quoted the words of Isaiah (lxv. 2, lviii. 2)... "They now ask of me judgment and dare to draw nigh to God," and then he cites Psalm xxii. 16, 22: "They pierced my hands and my feet, and upon my vesture they cast lots." He says that this did not happen to David, but was fulfilled in Christ, and the expression regarding the piercing the hands and feet referred to the nails of the cross which were driven through his hands and feet. And after he was crucified they cast lots upon his vesture. "And that these things occurred," he continues, "you may learn from the Acts drawn up under Pontius Pilate."(6) He likewise upon another occasion refers to the same Acta for confirmation of statements.(7) The Gospel of Nicodemus or Gesta

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Pilati, now extant, does not contain the circumstance to which we are now referring, but in contradiction to the statement in the fourth Gospel (xviii. 28, 29) the Jews in this apocryphal work freely go into the very judgment seat of Pilate.(1) Teschendorf maintains that the first part of the Gospel of Nicodemus, or Acta Pilati, still extant, is the work, with more or less of interpolation, which, existing in the second century, is referred to by Justin.(2) A few reasons may here be given against such a conclusion. The fact of Jesus being set upon the judgment seat is not contained in the extant Acta Pilati at all, and therefore this work does not correspond with Justin's statement. It seems most unreasonable to suppose that Justin should seriously refer Roman Emperors to a work of this description, so manifestly composed by a Christian, and the Acta to which he directs them must have been a presumed official document, to which they had access, as of course no other evidence could be of any weight with them.(3) The extant work neither pretends to be, nor has in the slightest degree the form of, an official report. Moreover, the prologue attached to it distinctly states that Ananias, a provincial warden in the reign of Flavius Theodosius (towards the middle of the fifth century), found these Acts written in Hebrew by Nicodemus, and that he translated them into Greek.(4) The work itself, therefore, only pretends to be a private composition in Hebrew, and does not claim any relation to Pontius Pilate. The Greek is very corrupt and

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degraded, and considerations of style alone would assign it to the fifth century, as would still more imperatively the anachronisms with which it abounds.1 Tischendorf considers that Tertullian refers to the same work as Justin, but it is evident that he infers an official report, for he says distinctly, after narrating the circumstances of the crucifixion and resurrection: "All these facts regarding Christ, Pilate.... reported to the reigning Emperor Tiberius."(3) It is extremely probable that in saying this Tertullian merely extended the statement of Justin. He nowhere states that he himself had seen this report, nor does Justin, and as is the case with the latter, some of the facts which Tertullian supposes to be reported by Pilate are not contained in the apocryphal work.(3) There are still extant some apocryphal writings in the form of official reports made by Pilate of the trial, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus,(4) but none are of very ancient date. It is certain that, on the supposition that Pilate may have made an official report of events so important in their estimation, Christian writers; with greater zeal than conscience, composed fictitious reports in his name, in the supposed interest of their religion, and there was in that day little or no critical sense to detect and discredit such forgeries. There is absolutely no evidence to show that Justin was acquainted with any official report of Pilate to the Roman Emperor, nor indeed is it easy to understand how he could possibly have been, even if such a document existed, and it is most probable, as

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Scholten conjectures, that Justin merely referred to documents which tradition supposed to have been written, but of which he himself had no personal knowledge.(1) Be this as it may, as he considered the incident of the judgment seat a fulfilment of prophecy, there can be little or no doubt that it was narrated in the Memoirs which contained "everything relating to Jesus Christ," and finding it there he all the more naturally assumed that it must have been mentioned in any official report.

In narrating the agony in the Garden, there are further variations. Justin says: "And the passage: 'All my bones are poured out and dispersed like water; my heart has become like wax melting in the midst of my belly,' was a prediction of that which occurred to him that night when they came out against him to the Mount of Olives to seize him. For in the Memoirs composed, I say, by his Apostles and their followers, it is recorded that his sweat fell down like drops while he prayed, saying: 'If possible, let this cup pass.'"(2) It will be observed that this is a direct quotation from the Memoirs, but there is a material difference from our Gospels. Luke is the only Gospel which mentions the bloody sweat, and there the account reads (xxii. 44), "as it were drops of blood falling down to the ground."

[--Greek--]

[--Greek--]

In addition to the other linguistic differences Justin omits the emphatic [--Greek--] which gives the whole point to Luke's account, and which evidently could not have been in the text of the Memoirs. Semisch argues that [--Greek--] alone, especially in medical phraseology, meant

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"drops of blood," without the addition of [--Greek--];(l) but the author of the third Gospel did not think so, and undeniably makes use of both, and Justin does not. Moreover, Luke introduces the expression [--Greek--] to show the intensity of the agony, whereas Justin evidently did not mean to express "drops of blood" at all, his intention in referring to the sweat being to show that the prophecy: "All my bones are poured out, &c, like water," had been fulfilled, with which the reading in his Memoirs more closely corresponded. The prayer also so directly quoted decidedly varies from Luke xxii. 42, which reads: "Father, if thou be willing to remove this cup from me ":

[--Greek--]

[--Greek--]

In Matthew xxvi. 39 this part of the prayer is more like the reading of Justin: "Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me "--[--Greek--] but that Gospel has nothing of the sweat of agony, which excludes it from consideration. In another place Justin also quotes the prayer in the Garden as follows: "He prayed, saying: 'Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me;' and besides this, praying, he said: 'Not as I wish, but as thou willest.'"(2) The first phrase in this place, apart from some transposition of words, agrees with Matthew; but even if this reading be preferred of the two, the absence of the incident of the sweat of agony from the first Gospel renders it impossible to regard it as the source; and, further, the second part of the prayer which is here

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given differs materially both from the first and third Gospels.

[--Greek--]

The two parts of this prayer, moreover, seem to have been separate in the Memoirs, for not only does Justin not quote the latter portion at all in Dial. 103, but here he markedly divides it from the former. Justin knows nothing of the episode of the Angel who strengthens Jesus, which is related in Luke xxii. 43. There is, however, a still more important point to mention: that although verses 43, 44 with the incidents of the angel and the bloody sweat are certainly in a great number of MSS., they are omitted by some of the oldest Codices, as for instance by the Alexandrian and Vatican MSS.(1) It is evident that in this part Justin's Memoirs differed from our first and third Gospels much in the same way that they do from each other.

In the same chapter Justin states that when the Jews went out to the Mount of Olives to take Jesus, "there was not even a single man to run to his help as a guiltless person."(2) This is in direct contradiction to all the Gospels,(3) and Justin not only completely ignores the episode of the ear of Malchus, but in this passage

1 In the Sinaitic Codex they are marked for omission by a
later hand. Lachmann brackets, and Drs. Westcott and Hort
double-bracket them. The MS. evidence may bo found in detail
in Scrivener's Int. to Crit. N. T. 2nd ed. p. 521, stated in
the way which is most favourable for the authenticity.

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excludes it, and his Gospel could not have contained it.(1) Luke is specially marked in generalizing the resistance of those about Jesus to his capture: "When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him: Lord, shall we smite with the sword? And a certain one of them smote the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear."(2) As this episode follows immediately after the incident of the bloody sweat and prayer in the Garden, and the statement of Justin occurs in the very same chapter in which he refers to them, this contradiction further tends to confirm the conclusion that Justin employed a different Gospel.

It is quite in harmony with the same peculiar account that Justin states that, "after he (Jesus) was crucified, all his friends (the Apostles) stood aloof from him, having denied him(3).... (who, after he rose from the dead, and after they were convinced by himself that before his passion he had told them that he must suffer these things, and that they were foretold by the prophets, repented of their flight from him when he was crucified), and while remaining among them he sang praises to God, as is made evident in the Memoirs of the Apostles."(4) Justin, therefore, repeatedly asserts that _after_ the crucifixion all the Apostles forsook him, and he extends the denial of Peter

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to the whole of the twelve. It is impossible to consider this distinct and reiterated affirmation a mere extension of the passage: "they all forsook him and fled "[--Greek--],(1) when Jesus was arrested, which proceeded mainly from momentary fear.(2) Justin seems to indicate that the disciples withdrew from and denied Jesus when they saw him crucified, from doubts which consequently arose as to his Messianic character. Now, on the contrary, the Canonical Gospels represent the disciples as being together after the Crucifixion.(3) Justin does not exhibit any knowledge of the explanation given by the angels at the sepulchre as to Christ's having foretold all that had happened,(4) but makes this proceed from Jesus himself. Indeed, he makes no mention of these angels at all.

There are some traces elsewhere of the view that the disciples were offended after the Crucifixion.(5) Hilgenfeld points out the appearance of special Petrine tendency in this passage, in the fact that it is not Peter alone, but all the Apostles, who are said to deny their master; and he suggests that an indication of the source from which Justin quoted may be obtained from the kindred quotation in the Epistle to the Smyrnaeans (iii.) by pseudo-Ignatius:

"For I know that also after his resurrection he was in the flesh, and I believe that he is so now. And when he came to those that were with Peter, he said to them: Lay hold, handle me, and see that I am

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not an incorporeal spirit. And immediately they touched him and believed, being convinced by his flesh and spirit." Jerome, it will be remembered, found this in the Gospel according to the Hebrews used by the Nazarenes, which he translated,(1) from which we have seen that Justin in all probability derived other particulars differing from the Canonical Gospels, and with which we shall constantly meet, in a similar way, in examining Justin's quotations. Origen also found it in a work called the "Doctrine of Peter" [--Greek--],(2) which must have been akin to the "Preaching of Peter" [--Greek--].(3) Hilgenfeld suggests that, in the absence of more certain information, there is no more probable source from which Justin may have derived his statement than the Gospel according to Peter, or the Gospel according to the Hebrews, which is known to have contained so much in the same spirit.(4)

It may well be expected that, at least in touching such serious matters as the Crucifixion and last words of Jesus, Justin must adhere with care to authentic records, and not fall into the faults of loose quotation from memory, free handling of texts, and careless omissions and additions, by which those who maintain the identity of the Memoirs with the Canonical Gospels seek to explain the systematic variations of Justin's quotations from the text of the latter. It will, however, be found that here also marked discrepancies occur. Justin says, after referring to numerous prophecies regarding the treatment of Christ: "And again, when he says: 'They spake with their lips, they wagged the head, saying: Let him

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deliver himself.' That all these things happened to the Christ from the Jews, you can ascertain. For when he was being crucified they shot out the lips, and wagged their heads, saying: 'Let him who raised the dead deliver himself.'"(1) And in another place, referring to the same Psalm (xxii.) as a prediction of what was to happen to Jesus, Justin says: "For they who saw him crucified also wagged their heads, each one of them, and distorted [--Greek--] their lips, and sneeringly and in scornful irony repeated among themselves those words which are also written in the Memoirs of his Apostles: He declared himself the Son of God; (let him) come down, let him walk about; let God save him."(2) In both of these passages Justin directly appeals to written authority. The [--Greek--] may leave the source of the first uncertain,(3) but the second is distinctly stated to contain the actual words "written in the Memoirs of his Apostles," and it seems reasonable to suppose that the former passage is also derived from them. It is scarcely necessary to add that both differ very materially from the Canonical Gospels.(4) The taunt

4 Canon Westcott admits that in the latter passage Justin
does profess to give the exact words which were recorded in
the Memoirs, and that they are not to be found in our
Gospels; "but," he apologetically adds, "we do find these
others so closely connected with them that few readers would
feel the difference"! This is a specimen of apologetic
criticism. Dr. Westcott goes on to say that as no MS. or
Father known to him has preserved any reading more closely
resembling Justin's, "if it appear not to be deducible from
our Gospels, due allowance being made for the object which
he had in view, its source) must remain concealed." On the
Canon, p. 114 f. Cf. Matt, xxvii. 39--43; Mark xv. 29--32;
Luke xxiii. 34--37.

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contained in the first of these passages is altogether peculiar to Justin: "Let him who raised the dead deliver himself" [--Greek--];(1) and even if Justin did not himself indicate a written source, it would not be reasonable to suppose that he should himself for the first time record words to which he refers as the fulfilment of prophecy.(2) It would be still more ineffectual to endeavour to remove the difficulty presented by such a variation by attributing the words to tradition, at the same time that it is asserted that Justin's Memoirs were actually identical with the Gospels. No aberration of memory could account for such a variation, and it is impossible that Justin should prefer tradition regarding a form of words, so liable to error and alteration, with written Gospels within his reach. Besides, to argue that Justin affirmed that the truth of his statement could be ascertained [--Greek--], whilst the words which he states to have been spoken were not actually recorded, would be against all reason.

The second of the mocking speeches (3) of the lookers-on is referred distinctly to the Memoirs of the Apostles, but is also, with the accompanying description, foreign

1 The nearest parallel in our Gospels is in Luke xxiii. 35.
"He saved others, let him save himself if this man be the
Christ of God, his chosen." [--Greek--]

3 Semisch argues that both forms are quotations of the same
sentence, and that there is consequently a contradiction in
the very quotations themselves; but there can be no doubt
whatever that the two phrases are distinct parts of the
mockery, and the very same separation and variation occur in
each of the Canonical Gospels. Die ap. Denkw. Mart. Just.,
p. 282; cf. Hilgenfeld, Die Ew. Justin's, p. 244.

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to our Gospels. The nearest approach to it occurs in our first Gospel, and we subjoin both passages for comparison:

[--Greek--]

It is evident that Justin's version is quite distinct from this, and cannot have been taken from our Gospels,(2) although professedly derived from the Memoirs of the Apostles.

Justin likewise mentions the cry of Jesus on the Cross, "O God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" [--Greek--];(3) as a fulfilment of the words of the Psalm, which he quotes here, and elsewhere,(4) with the peculiar addition of the Septuagint version, "attend to me" [--Greek--], which, however, he omits when giving the cry of Jesus, thereby showing that he follows a written source which did not contain it, for the quotation of the Psalm, and of

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the cry which is cited to show that it refers to Christ, immediately follow each other. He apparently knows nothing whatever of the Chaldaic cry, "Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani" of the Gospels.(1) The first and second Gospels give the words of the cry from the Chaldaic differently from Justin, from the version of the LXX., and from each other. Matthew xxvii. 46, [--Greek--] the third Gospel makes no mention at all of this cry, but instead has one altogether foreign to the other Gospels: "And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and said: Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said this, he expired."(2) Justin has this cry also, and in the same form as the third Gospel. He says: "For when he (Jesus) was giving up his spirit on the cross, he said: 'Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,' as I have also learned from the Memoirs."(3) Justin's Gospel, therefore, contained both cries, and as even the first two Synoptics mention a second cry of Jesus(4) without, however, giving the words, it is not surprising that other Gospels should have existed which included both. Even if we had no trace of this cry in any other ancient work, there would be no ground for asserting that Justin must have derived it from the third Gospel, for if there be any historical truth in the statement that these words were actually spoken by Jesus, it follows of course that they may have been, and probably were, reported in a dozen Christian writings now

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no longer extent, and in all probability they existed in some of the many works referred to in the prologue to the third Gospel. Both cries, however, are given in the Gospel of Nieodemus, or Gesta Pilati, to which reference has already so frequently been made. In the Greek versions edited by Teschendorf we find only the form contained in Luke. In the Codex A, the passage reads: "And crying with a loud voice, Jesus said: Father, Baddach ephkid rouchi, that is, interpreted: 'into thy hands I commend my spirit;' and having said this he gave up the ghost."(l) In the Codex B, the text is: "Then Jesus having called out with a loud voice: 'Father, into thy hands will I commend my spirit,' expired."(2) In the ancient Latin version, however, both cries are given: "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Hely, Hely, lama zabacthani, which interpreted is: 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me.' And after this, Jesus said: 'Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit': and saying this, he gave up the ghost."(3)

One of the Codices of the same apocryphal work likewise gives the taunting speeches of the Jews in a form more nearly approaching that of Justin's Memoirs

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than any found in our Gospels. "And the Jews that stood and looked ridiculed him, and said: If thou saidst truly that thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross, and at once, that we may believe in thee. Others ridiculing, said: He saved others, he healed others, and restored the sick, the paralytic, lepers, demoniacs, the blind, the lame, the dead, and himself he cannot heal."(1) The fact that Justin actually refers to certain Acta Pilati in connection with the Crucifixion renders this coincidence all the more important. Other texts of this Gospel read: "And the Chief Priests, and the rulers with them, derided him, saying: He saved others, let him save himself; if he is the Son of God, let him come down from the cross."(2)

It is clear from the whole of Justin's treatment of the narrative, that he followed a Gospel adhering more closely than the Canonical to the Psalm xxii., but yet with peculiar variations from it. Our Gospels differ very much from each other; Justin's Memoirs of the Apostles in like manner differed from them. It had its characteristic features clearly and sharply defined. In this way his systematic variations are natural and perfectly intelligible, but they become totally inexplicable if it be supposed that, having our Gospels for his source, he thus

2 Ev. Niood., Pars. I. A. x.; Tischendorf Ev. Apocr., p.
232; cf. Thilo. Cod. Apocr. N. T., p. 584; Fabricius, Cod.
Apocr. N. T., i. p. 259; Tiachendorf ib., p. 340. There are
differences between all these texts--indeed there are
scarcely two MSS. which agree--clearly indicating that wo
have now nothing but corrupt versions of a more ancient
text.

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persistently and in so arbitrary a way ignored, modified, or contradicted their statements.

Upon two occasions Justin distinctly states that the Jews sent persons throughout the world to spread calumnies against Christians. "When you knew that he had risen from the dead, and ascended into heaven, as the prophets had foretold, not only did you (the Jews) not repent of the wickedness which you had committed, but at that time you selected and sent forth from Jerusalem throughout the land chosen men, saying that the atheistic heresy of the Christians had arisen/' &c.(1).... "from a certain Jesus, a Galilrean impostor, whom we crucified, but his disciples stole him by night from the tomb where he had been laid when he was unloosed from the cross, and they now deceive men, saying that he has risen from the dead and ascended into heaven."(2) This circumstance is not mentioned by our Gospels, but, reiterated twice by Justin in almost the same words, it was in all probability contained in the Memoirs. Eusebius quotes the passage from Justin, without comment, evidently on account of the information which it conveyed.

These instances, which, although far from complete, have already occupied too much of our space, show that Justin quotes from the Memoirs of the Apostles many statements and facts of Gospel history which are not only foreign to our Gospels, but in some cases contradictory to them, whilst the narrative of the most solemn events in the life of Jesus presents distinct and systematic variations from parallel passages in the Synoptic records.

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It will now be necessary to compare his general quotations from the same Memoirs with the Canonical Gospels, and here a very wide field opens before us. As we have already stated, Justin's works teem with these quotations, and to take them all in detail would be impossible within the limits of this work. Such a course, moreover, is unnecessary. It may be broadly stated that even those who maintain the use of the Canonical Gospels can only point out two or three passages out of this vast array which verbally agree with them.(1) This extraordinary anomaly--on the supposition that Justin's Memoirs were in fact our Gospels--is, as we have mentioned, explained by the convenient hypothesis that Justin quotes imperfectly from memory, interweaves and modifies texts, and in short freely manipulates these Gospels according to his argument. Even strained to the uttermost, however, could this be accepted as a reasonable explanation of such systematic variation, that only twice or thrice out of the vast number of his quotations does he literally agree with passages in them? In order to illustrate the case with absolute impartiality we shall first take the instances brought forward as showing agreement with our Synoptic Gospels.

Teschendorf only cites two passages in support of his affirmation that Justin makes use of our first Gospel.(2) It might be supposed that, in selecting these, at least two might have been produced literally agreeing, but this is

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not the case, and this may be taken as an illustration of the almost universal variation of Justin's quotations. The first of Teschendorf s examples is the supposed use of Matthew viii. 11, 12: "Many shall come from the east and from the west, and shall sit down," &c. [--Greek--]. Now this passage is repeated by Justin no less than three times in three very distinct parts of his Dialogue with Trypho,(1) with a uniform variation from the text of Matthew--_They_ shall come from the _west_ and from the east," &c. &c. [--Greek--](2) That a historical saying of Jesus

should be reproduced in many Gospels, and that no particular work can have any prescriptive right to it, must be admitted, so that even if the passage in Justin agreed literally with our first Synoptic, it would not afford any proof of the actual use of that Gospel; but when on the contrary Justin upon three several occasions, and at distinct intervals of time, repeats the passage with the same persistent variation from the reading in Matthew, not only can it not be ascribed to that Gospel, but there is reason to conclude that Justin derived it from another source. It may be added that [--Greek--] is anything but a word uncommon in the vocabulary of Justin, and that elsewhere, for instance, he twice quotes a passage similar to one in Matthew, in which, amongst other variations, he reads "_Many_ shall come [--Greek--]," instead of the phrase found in that Gospel.(3)

The second example adduced by Tischendorf is the supposed quotation of Matthew xii. 39; but in order fully

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to comprehend the nature of the affirmation, we quote the context of the Gospel and of Justin in parallel columns:--

[--Greek--]

Now it is clear that Justin here directly professes to quote from the Memoirs, and consequently that accuracy may be expected; but passing over the preliminary substitution of "some of your nation," for "certain of the scribes and Pharisees," although it recalls the "some of them," and "others," by which the parallel passage, otherwise so different, is introduced in Luke xi. 15, 16, 29 ff.,(1) the question of the Jews, which should be literal, is quite different from that of the first Gospel, whilst there are variations in the reply of Jesus, which, if not so important, are still undeniable. We cannot compare with the first Gospel the parallel passages in the second and third Gospels without recognizing that other works may have narrated the

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same episode with similar variations, and whilst the distinct differences which exist totally exclude the affirmation that Justin quotes from Matthew, everything points to the conclusion that he makes use of another source. This is confirmed by another important circumstance. After enlarging during the remainder of the chapter upon the example of the people of Nineveh, Justin commences the next by returning to the answer of Jesus, and making the following statement: "And though all of your nation were acquainted with these things which occurred to Jonah, and Christ proclaimed among you, that he would give you the sign of Jonah, exhorting you at least after his resurrection from the dead to repent of your evil deeds, and like the Ninevites to supplicate God, that your nation and city might not be captured and destroyed as it has been destroyed; yet not only have you not repented on learning his resurrection from the dead, but as I have already said,(1) you sent chosen(2) and select men throughout all the world, proclaiming that an atheistic and impious heresy had arisen from a certain Jesus, a Galilaean impostor," &c. &c.(3) Now not only do our Gospels not mention this mission, as we have already pointed out, but they do not contain the exhortation to repent at least after the resurrection of Jesus here referred to, and which evidently must have formed part of the episode in the Memoirs.

Tischendorf does not produce any other instances of supposed quotations of Justin from Matthew, but rests his case upon these. As these are the best examples apparently which he can point out, we may judge of the

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weakness of his argument. Do Wette divides the quotations of Justin which may be compared with our first and third Gospels into several categories. Regarding the first class, he says: "Some agree quite literally, which, however, is seldom: "(1) and under this head he can only collect three passages of Matthew and refer to one of Luke. Of the three from Matthew the first is that, viii. 11, 12,(2) also brought forward by Teschendorf, of which we have already disposed. The second is Matt. v. 20: "For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." A parallel passage to this exists in Dial. 105, a chapter in which there are several quotations not found in our Gospels at all, with the exception that the first words, "For I say unto you that," are not in Justin. We shall speak of this passage presently. De Wette's third passage is Matt. vii. 19: "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire," which, with the exception of one word, "but," at the commencement of the sentence in Justin, also agrees with his quotation.(3) In these two short passages there are no peculiarities specially pointing to the first Gospel as their source, and it cannot be too often repeated that the mere coincidence of short historical sayings in two works by no means warrants the conclusion that the one is dependent on the other. In order, however, to enable the reader to form a correct estimate of the value of the similarity of the two passages above noted, and also at the same time to examine a considerable body of evidence, selected with

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evident impartiality, we propose to take all Justin's readings of the Sermon on the Mount, from which the above passages are taken, and compare them with our Gospels. This should furnish a fair test of the composition of the Memoirs of the Apostles.

Taking first, for the sake of continuity, the first Apology, we find that Chapters xv., xvi., xvii., are composed almost entirely of examples of what Jesus himself taught, introduced by the remark with which Chapter xiv. closes, that: "Brief and concise sentences were uttered by him, for he was not a sophist, but his word was the power of God."(1) It may broadly be affirmed that, with the exception of the few words quoted above by De Wette, not a single quotation of the words of Jesus in these three chapters agrees with the Canonical Gospels. We shall however confine ourselves at present to the Sermon on the Mount. We must mention that Justin's text is quite continuous, except where we have inserted asterisks. We subjoin Justin's quotations, together with' the parallel passages in our Gospels, side by side, for greater facility of comparison.(2)

1 [--Greek--] How completely this description contradicts the
representation of the fourth Gospel of the discourses of
Jesus. It seems clearly to indicate that Justin had no
knowledge of that Gospel.

2 It need not be said that the variations between the
quotations of Justin and the text of our Gospels must be
looked for only in the Greek. For the sake of the reader
unacquainted with Greok, however, we shall endeavour as far
as possible to indicate in translation where differences
exist, although this cannot of course be fully done, nor
often, without being more literal than is desirable. Whore
it is not necessary to amend the authorized version of the
New Testament for the sake of more closely following the
text, and marking differences from Justin, wo shall adopt
it. We divide the quotations where desirable by initial
letters, in order to assist reference at the end of our
quotations from the Sermon on the Mount.

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[---Greek---]

4 Matt. v. 29, 30, it will be remembered, are repeated with
some variation and also reversed in order, and with a
totally different context, Matt, xviii. 8, 9. The latter
verse, the Greek of the concluding part of which we give
above, approximates more nearly in form to Justin's, but is
still widely different. "And if thine eye ('right' omitted)
offend thee pluck it out and cast it from theo; it is good
for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having
two eyes to be cast into hell fire." The sequence of Matt.
v. 28, 29, points specially to it. The double occurrence of
this passage, however, with a different context, and with
the order reversed in Matthew, renders it almost certain
that the two passages A. and B. were separate in the
Memoirs. The reading of Mark ix. 47, is equally distinct
from Justin's: And if thine eye offend thee cast it out
[--Greek--]; it is good for thee [--Greek--] to enter into the kingdom
of God [--Greek--] with one eye rather than having two eyes to
be cast into hell, [--Greek--]

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[---Greek---]

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[---Greek---]

1 In the first Gospel the subject breaks off at the end of
v. 42. v. 40 may be compared with Justin's continuation, but
it is fundamentally different. The parallel passages in Luke
vi. 30, 34, present still greater variations. We have given
vi. 34 above, as nearer Justin than Matt. v. 46. It will be
remarked that to find a parallel for Justin's continuation,
without break, of the subject, we must jump from Matt. v.
42, 46, to vi. 19, 20.

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[---Greek---]

1 This phrase, it will bo observed, is also introduced higher up in the passage, and its repetition in such a manner, with the same variations, emphatically demonstrates the unity of the whole quotation.

2 There is no parallel to this in the first Gospel. Matt. v. 48, is too remote in sense as well as language.

3 The first part of v. 45 is quite different from the context in Justin: "That ye may be sons of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh," &c, &c.

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We have taken the whole of Justin's quotations from the Sermon on the Mount not only because, adopting so large a test, there can be no suspicion that we select passages for any special purpose, but also because, on the contrary, amongst these quotations are more of the passages claimed as showing the use of our Gospels than any series which could have been selected. It will have been observed that most of the passages follow each other in unbroken sequence in Justin, for with the exception of a short break between y and 8 the whole extract down to the end of 0 is continuous, as indeed, after another brief interruption at the end of i, it is again to the close of the very long and remarkable passage k. With two exceptions, therefore, the whole of these quotations from the Sermon on the Mount occur consecutively in two succeeding chapters of Justin's first Apology, and one passage follows in the next chapter. Only a single passage comes from a distant part of the dialogue with Trypho. These passages are bound together by clear unity of idea and context, and as, where there is a separation of sentences in his Gospel, Justin clearly marks it by [--Greek--], there is every reason to decide that those quotations which are continuous in form and in argument were likewise consecutive in the Memoirs. Now the hypothesis that these quotations are from the

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Canonical Gospels requires the assumption of the fact that Justin, with singular care, collected from distant and scattered portions of those Gospels a series of passages in close sequence to each other, forming a whole unknown to them but complete in itself, and yet, although this is carefully performed, he at the same time with the most systematic carelessness misquoted and materially altered almost every precept he professes to cite. The order of the Canonical Gospels is as entirely set at naught as their language is disregarded. As Hilgenfeld has pointed out, throughout the whole of this portion of his quotations the undeniable endeavour after accuracy, on the one hand, is in the most glaring contradiction with the monstrous carelessness on the other, if it be supposed that our Gospels are the source from which Justin quotes. Nothing is more improbable than the conjecture that he made use of the Canonical Gospels, and we must accept the conclusion that Justin quotes with substantial correctness the expressions in the order in which he found them in his peculiar Gospel.(1)

It is a most arbitrary proceeding to dissect a passage, quoted by Justin as a consecutive and harmonious whole, and finding parallels more or less approximate to its various phrases scattered up and down distant parts of our Gospels, scarcely one of which is not materially different from the reading of Justin, to assert that he is quoting these Gospels freely from memory, altering, excising, combining, and interweaving texts, and introverting their order, but nevertheless making use of them and not of others. It is perfectly obvious that such an assertion is nothing but the merest assumption. Our Synoptic Gospels themselves condemn

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it utterly, for precisely similar differences of order and language exist in them and distinguish between them. Not only the language but the order of a quotation must have its due weight, and we have no right to dismember a passage and, discovering fragmentary parallels in various parts of the Gospels, to assert that it is compiled from them and not derived, as it stands, from another source.(1) As an illustration from our Gospels, let us for a moment suppose the "Gospel according to Luke" to have been lost, like the "Gospel according to the Hebrews" and so many others. In the works of one of the Fathers, we discover the following quotation from an unnamed evangelical work: "And he said unto them [--Greek--]: The harvest truly is great but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. Go your ways: [--Greek--] behold I send you forth as lambs [--Greek--] in the midst of wolves." Following the system adopted in regard to Justin, apologetic critics would of course maintain that this was a compilation from memory of passages quoted freely from our first Gospel, that is to say Matt. ix. 37. "Then saith he unto his disciples [--Greek--] the harvest," &c, and Matt. x. 16, "Behold I [--Greek--] send you forth as sheep [--Greek--] in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore," &c, which, with the differences which we have indicated, agree. It would probably be in vain

1 For the arguments of apologetic criticism, the reader may
be referred to Canon Westcott's work On the Canon, p. 112--
139. Dr. Westcott does not, of course, deny the fact that
Justin's quotations are different from the text of our
Gospels, but he accounts for his variations ou grounds which
seem to us purely imaginary. It is evident that, so long as
there are such variations to be explained away, at least no
proof of identity is possible.

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to argue that the quotation indicated a continuous order, and the variations combined to confirm the probability of a different source, and still more so to point out that, although parts of the quotation separated from their context might to a certain extent correspond with scattered verses in the first Gospel, such a circumstance was no proof that the quotation was taken from that and from no other Gospel. The passage, however, is a literal quotation from Luke x. 2, 3, which, as we have assumed, had been lost.

Again, still supposing the third Gospel no longer extant, we might find the following quotation in a work of the Fathers: "Take heed to yourselves [--Greek--] of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy [--Greek--].

For there is nothing covered up [--Greek--] which shall not be revealed, and hid which shall not be known." It would of course be affirmed that this was evidently a combination of two verses of our first Gospel quoted almost literally, with merely a few very immaterial slips of memory in the parts we note, and the explanatory words "which is hypocrisy" introduced by the Father, and not a part of the quotation at all. The two verses are Matt. xvi. 6: "Beware and [--Greek--] take heed of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees" [--Greek--] and Matt. x. 26

.... "For [--Greek--] there is nothing covered [--Greek--] that shall not be revealed, and hid that shall not be known." The sentence would in fact be divided as in the case of Justin, and each part would have its parallel pointed out in separate portions of the Gospel. How wrong such a system is--and it is precisely that which is adopted with regard to Justin--is clearly established by the fact that the quotation,

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instead of being such a combination, is simply taken from the Gospel according to Luke xii. 1, 2, as it stands. To give one more example, and such might easily be multiplied, if our second Gospel had been lost, and the following passage were met with in one of the Fathers without its source being indicated, what would be the argument of those who insist that Justin's quotations, though differing from our Gospels, were yet taken from them? "If any one have [--Greek--] ears to hear let him hear. And he said unto them: Take heed what [--Greek--] ye hear: with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you: and more shall be given unto you. For he [--Greek--] that hath to him shall be given, and he [--Greek--] that hath not from him shall be taken even that which he hath." Upon the principle on which Justin's quotations are treated, it would certainly be affirmed positively that this passage was a quotation from our first and third Gospels combined and made from memory. The exigencies of the occasion might probably cause the assertion to be made that the words: "And he said to them," really indicated a separation of the latter part of the quotation from the preceding, and that the Father thus showed that the passage was not consecutive; and as to the phrase: "and more shall be given unto you," that it was evidently an addition of the Father. The passage would be dissected, and its different members compared with scattered sentences, and declared almost literal quotations from the Canonical Gospels: Matt. xiii. 0. He that hath [--Greek--] ears to hear let him hear."(l) Luke viii. 18, "Take heed therefore how [--Greek--] ye hear." Matt. vii. 2... "with what measure ye

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mete it shall be measured to you."(1) Matt. xiii. 12: "For whosoever [--Greek--] hath, to him shall be given (and he shall have abundance); but whosoever [--Greek--] hath not from him shall be taken even that which he hath." a In spite of these ingenious assertions, however, the quotation in reality is literally and consecutively taken from Mark iv. 23--25.

These examples may suffice to show that any argument which commences by the assumption that the order of a passage quoted may be entirely disregarded, and that it is sufficient to find parallels scattered irregularly up and down the Gospels to warrant the conclusion that the passage is compiled from them, and is not a consecutive quotation from some other source, is utterly unfounded and untenable. The supposition of a lost Gospel which has just been made to illustrate this argument is, however, not a mere supposition as applied to Justin but a fact, for we no longer have the Gospel according to Peter nor that according to the Hebrews, not to mention the numerous other works in use in the early Church. The instances we have given show the importance of the order as well as the language of Justin's quotations, and while they prove the impossibility of demonstrating that a consecutive passage which differs not only in language but in order from the parallels in our Gospels must be derived from them, they likewise prove the probability that such passages are actually quoted from a different source.

If we examine further, however, in the same way, quotations which differ merely in language, we arrive at the very same conclusion. Supposing the third Gospel to be lost, what would be the source assigned to the

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following quotation from an unnamed Gospel in the work of one of the Fathers? "No servant [--Greek--] can serve two lords, for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." Of course the passage would be claimed as a quotation from memory of Matt. vi. 24, with which it perfectly corresponds with the exception of the addition of the second word [--Greek--], which, it would no doubt be argued, is an evident and very natural amplification of the simple [--Greek--] of the first Gospel. Yet this passage, only differing by the single word from Matthew, is a literal quotation from the Gospel according to Luke xvi. 13. Or, to take another instance, supposing the third Gospel to be lost, and the following passage quoted, from an unnamed source, by one of the Fathers: "Beware [--Greek--] of the Scribes which desire to walk in long robes, and love [--Greek--] greetings in the markets, and chief seats in the synagogues and uppermost places at feasts; which devour widows(1) houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation." This would without hesitation be declared a quotation from memory of Mark xii..38-40 ".... Beware [--Greek--] of the Scribes which desire to walk in long robes and greetings in the markets, and chief seats in the synagogues and uppermost places at feasts: which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive," &c. It is however a literal quotation of Luke xx. 46, 47; yet probably it would be in vain to submit to apologetic critics that possibly, not to say probably, the passage was not derived from Mark but from a lost Gospel. To quote one more instance, let us

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suppose the "Gospel according to Mark" no longer extant, and that in some early work there existed the following quotation: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye [--Greek--] of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." This would of course be claimed as a quotation from memory of Matt. xix. 24,(1) with which it agrees with the exception of the substitution of [--Greek--] for the [--Greek--]. It would not the less have been an exact quotation from Mark x. 25.(2)

We have repeatedly pointed out that the actual agreement of any saying of Jesus, quoted by one of the early Fathers from an unnamed source, with a passage in our Gospels is by no means conclusive evidence that the quotation was actually derived from that Gospel. It must be apparent that literal agreement in reporting short and important sayings is not in itself so surprising as to constitute proof that, occurring in two histories, the one must have copied from the other. The only thing which is surprising is that such frequent inaccuracy should occur. When we add, however, the fact that most of the larger early evangelical works, including our Synoptic Gospels, must have been compiled out of the same original sources, and have been largely indebted to each other, the common possession of such sayings becomes

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a matter of natural occurrence. Moreover, it must be admitted even by apologetic critics that, in a case of such vast importance as the report of sayings of Jesus, upon the verbal accuracy of which the most essential doctrines of Christianity depend, it cannot be considered strange if various Gospels report the same saying in the same words. Practically, the Synoptic Gospels differ in their reports a great deal more than is right or desirable; but we may take them as an illustration of the fact, that identity of passages, where the source is unnamed, by no means proves that such passages in a work of the early Fathers were derived from one Gospel, and not from any other. Let us suppose our first Gospel to have been lost, and the following quotation from an unnamed source to be found in an early work: "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire." This being in literal agreement with Luke iii. 9, would certainly be declared by modern apologists conclusive proof that the Father was acquainted with that Gospel, and although the context in the work of the Father might for instance be: "Ye shall know them from their works, and every tree," &c, &c, and yet in the third Gospel, the context is: "And now also, the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: and every tree," &c, that would by no means give them pause. The explanation of combination of texts, and quotation from memory, is sufficiently elastic for every emergency. Now the words in question might in reality be a quotation from the lost Gospel according to Matthew, in which they twice occur, so that here is a passage which is literally repeated three times, Matthew iii. 10, vii. 19, and Luke iii 9. In Matthew iii. 10, and in the third Gospel, the words are part of a saying of John the

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Baptist; whilst in Matthew vii. 19, they are given as part of the Sermon on the Mount, with a different context, This passage is actually quoted by Justin (k 8), with the context: "Ye shall know them from their works," which is different from that in any of the three places in which the words occur in our synoptics and, on the grounds we have clearly established, it cannot be considered in any case as necessarily a quotation from our Gospels, but, on the contrary, there are good reasons for the very opposite conclusion.

Another illustration of this may be given, by supposing the Gospel of Luke to be no longer extant, and the following sentence in one of the Fathers: "And ye shall be hated by all men, for my name's sake." These very words occur both in Matthew x. 22, and Mark xiii. 13, in both of which places there follow the words: "but he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved." There might here have been a doubt, as to whether the Father derived the words from the first or second Gospel, but they would have been ascribed either to the one or to the other, whilst in reality they were taken from a different work altogether, Luke xxi. 17. Here again, we have the same words in three Gospels. In how many more may not the same passage have been found? One more instance to conclude. The following passage might be quoted from an unnamed source by one of the Fathers: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." If the Gospel according to Mark were no longer extant, this would be claimed as a quotation either from Matthew xxiv. 35, or Luke xxi. 33, in both of which it occurs, but, notwithstanding, the Father might not have been acquainted with either of them, and simply have quoted from Mark

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xiii. 31.1 And here again, the three Gospels contain the same passage without variation.