Supernatural Religion Volume I Part 29

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 circ.u.mstance. 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 G.o.d, 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 cla.s.s, he says: "Some agree quite literally, which, however, is seldom: "(1) and under this head he can only collect three pa.s.sages 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 pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sage presently. De Wette's third pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sages 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 pa.s.sages 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 pa.s.sages 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 G.o.d."(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 pa.s.sages 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. Wh.o.r.e 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 a.s.sist 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 h.e.l.l fire." The sequence of Matt.

v. 28, 29, points specially to it. The double occurrence of this pa.s.sage, however, with a different context, and with the order reversed in Matthew, renders it almost certain that the two pa.s.sages 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 G.o.d [--Greek--] with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into h.e.l.l, [--Greek--]

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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 pa.s.sages 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 pa.s.sage, and its repet.i.tion 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 pa.s.sages for any special purpose, but also because, on the contrary, amongst these quotations are more of the pa.s.sages 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 pa.s.sages 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 pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sage follows in the next chapter. Only a single pa.s.sage comes from a distant part of the dialogue with Trypho. These pa.s.sages 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 a.s.sumption of the fact that Justin, with singular care, collected from distant and scattered portions of those Gospels a series of pa.s.sages 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 pa.s.sage, 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 a.s.sert 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 a.s.sertion is nothing but the merest a.s.sumption. 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 pa.s.sage and, discovering fragmentary parallels in various parts of the Gospels, to a.s.sert that it is compiled from them and not derived, as it stands, from another source.(1) As an ill.u.s.tration 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 pa.s.sages 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 ident.i.ty 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 circ.u.mstance was no proof that the quotation was taken from that and from no other Gospel. The pa.s.sage, however, is a literal quotation from Luke x. 2, 3, which, as we have a.s.sumed, had been lost.