which is so largely made up of that Tradition-viz., Mark. Many passages show a strong resemblance. It is not so easy to make out the relation between Luke and Matthew. Luke's form of the Lord's Prayer displays extreme conciseness: Father, Hallowed be thy name; Thy kingdom come; Give us day by day our daily bread; And forgive us our sins; for we ourselves also forgive everyone that is indebted to us; And bring us not into temptation." We might almost regard Matthew's version as an enlargement of Luke's. Certain paragraphs appear very much alike in Luke and Matthew. Possibly Luke took fragments of matter from the same written notes ("logia ") as Matthew. We do not possess adequate evidence to decide whether Luke or Matthew came first. Luke significantly modified the "Pella document," which prophesied the days of evil, by inserting the statement, "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled"'—a vague expression, which seems to be an attempt at explanation of the delay in the appearance of the Son of Man.

A very conspicuous feature in Luke is a special section, ix. 51 to xviii. 14. In this section Jesus wanders hither and thither in Samaria, and utters many of those parables which meet us in Luke alone. It looks as if the author designed to give Samaria a place of honour in the scenes of Christ's pilgrimage.

In this case, again, we find it advisable to refrain from useless conjecture at the date of the document, beyond the assumption that it appeared in the early years of the second century. The writer probably lived out of Palestine; he has a manner of referring to places as cities of the Jews," which betokens a Gentile writer addressing Gentile readers. Yet a poetic sympathy with the Hebrew religion and scriptures manifests itself in the skill with which he composes the hymns in the prefatory chapter: "My soul doth magnify the Lord," and "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel." These hymns give a fresh and graceful expression to the spirit of the ancient Psalms.

Many years afterwards Irenæus attributed the authorship of the Third Gospel to "Luke, the companion of Paul."*

* Cone's "Gospel Criticism;" Carpenter's "First Three Gospels ;" Davidson's "Introduction."

Jesus is "But," no wise

PETER.-Among the ancient Christian tombs in Akhmim, in Upper Egypt, the French Archæological Mission found, in 1886-87, a vellum manuscript which contained Greek fragments of the Book of Enoch, the Apocalypse of Peter, and the Gospel of Peter. The recovered portion of the Gospel begins: "But none of the Jews washed their hands, neither did Herod, nor any of his judges, and when they would have washed them, Pilate rose up and thereupon Herod the king bids that the Lord should be taken off, saying to them, Do with him [Jesus] as I bade you do." Then Joseph, "the friend of Pilate," enters (before the crucifixion) to ask for the body of the Lord. insulted, and crucified between two malefactors. the evangelist proceeds, "he was silent, as if in feeling pain." The inscription, "This is the King of Israel," was affixed. Christ's clothes were divided by lot. One of the malefactors reproached the men who cast lots for the garments. Darkness covered all Judæa, and many citizens went about with lanterns. Jesus received vinegar and gall Just before expiring he called out, "My Power, my Power, hast thou forsaken me?" The "veil of the Temple of Jerusalem" was torn in two. Men drew out the nails from the hands of the Lord, and laid him on the earth, and the earth was wholly shaken, and great fear came upon them." The sun shone out. Joseph buried the Master's corpse. "Then the Jews and the elders and the priests, when they saw what an evil deed they had done to themselves, began to beat their breasts and to say, Woe to our sins, for the judgment and the end of Jerusalem is at hand." At this point the narrator changes to the first person, as if Peter himself spoke: "And I with my companions was grieving, and, being wounded in heart, we hid ourselves." Scribes and Pharisees besought Pilate to place a guard over the tomb. The centurion Petronius took charge of the sepulchre. A crowd came "early in the morning, as the Sabbath was drawing on to view the tomb in the garden. "And in the night, when the Lord's Day was drawing on, as the soldiers were on guard, two and two in each watch, there was a great voice in heaven, and they saw two men descend thence with great radiance, and they stood over the tomb." The stone over the entrance rolled away spontaneously. Shortly afterwards the sentinels

beheld "three men coming out of the tomb, and two of them were supporting the third, and a cross was following them; and the heads of the two men reached to the heaven, but the head of him who was being led along by them was higher than the heavens. And they heard a voice preached to them that

from heaven which said, Hast thou are asleep? And a response was heard from the cross, Yes." While the soldiers consulted as to the best course to pursue, another celestial figure descended, and entered the sepulchre. The soldiers fled to Pilate, who commanded them to breathe no word of what they had seen. Mary Magdalene came with a group of friends to perform the rites of embalming, but found the tomb open. Inside they descried a young man" in a brilliant robe, who told them the crucified one was risen; and the women hastened away. The fragment terminates thus :—' "But we the twelve [note the "twelve "] disciples of the Lord wept and grieved, and each of us in grief at what had happened withdrew to his house. But I, Simon Peter, and Andrew, my brother, took our nets and departed to the sea, and there was also Levi, the son of Alphæus, whom the Lord"

*

Of the date of the gospel of Peter no certain indication exists. We may, for the present, regard it as a product of the first half of the second century. There is reason to believe it was known to Justin Martyr.†

A passing word may deal with a mysterious story which perhaps originated about this period. According to this story, Jesus was the son of Mary by a soldier named Panther (Panthera; Pandera). Celsus picked up the tale, and inserted it in his "True Account," a work long since lost. In the third century Origen criticised Celsus, giving extracts from the "Account." In one of these he quotes Celsus as saying that Jesus was "born in a Jewish village, of a poor woman of the country, who gained her subsistence by spinning, and who was turned out of doors by her husband, a carpenter by trade, because she was convicted of adultery; that after being driven away by her husband,

*

J. Rendel Harris's "Newly-Recovered Gospel of Peter."

+ E. J. Dillon, in an article on "The Primitive Gospel," in the Contemporary Review, June, 1893.

=

and wandering about for a time, she disgracefully gave birth to Jesus, an illegitimate child, who, having hired himself out as a servant in Egypt on account of his poverty, and having there acquired some miraculous powers, on which the Egyptians greatly pride themselves, returned to his own country, highly elated on account of them, and by means of these proclaimed himself a God." And another passage states that "she bore a child to a certain soldier named Panthera."* Some scholars conjecture that the name Panther is an anagram obtained by transposition of a number of letters from the Greek word "Parthenos" Virgin; the tale being a skit on the legend of the Virginbirth. A story in the Talmud concerning Jeschu, or Jesus, the son of Pandira, relates that he dwelt in Egypt for a time and learned the arts of magic, for practising which the Jews afterwards stoned him to death. In some obscure manner this Jeschu, who flourished in the reign of Alexander Jannæus (died 79 B.C.), appears to be connected with the tradition retailed by Celsus. The subsequent history of the story is not clear, but in the Middle Ages it was known to the Jews in the form of the "Sepher Toldoth Jeschu," or Book of the Generation of Jesus-an unedifying pamphlet which narrates the amours of Panther, the rival wonderworkings of Jesus and the Rabbi Judas, the mock-crowning and scourging of Jesus, his death by stoning, the hanging of his body on a tree, his burial, etc.‡

By the Syriac version of the Gospels discovered at Mount Sinai in 1892 the birth of Jesus is described in curiously inconsistent terms. The opening chapter of Matthew affirms that "Joseph begat Jesus," though, a few verses later, the writer affirms that Mary "was found with child from the Holy Ghost." Other interesting readings occur in this version, such as the question of Pilate to the people,

* Origen "Against Celsus," chapters xxviii. and xxxii.

† J. Rendel Harris, in an article on "The New Syriac Gospels,” in the Contemporary Review, November, 1894.

The "Toldoth Jeschu" is published with notes by Foote and Wheeler. An account of it appears in Baring-Gould's 66 Lost and Hostile Gospels." Graetz, in his " History of the Jews" (vol. iii., chap. xi.), thinks the Panther story, as given by Celsus, arose in the time of Bar-cochba; but he attaches no historical value to the "Toldoth."

"Which will ye that I release unto you? Jesus Bar-Abba, or Jesus that is called Christ ?" etc.

*

14. Various New Testament Epistles and the Book of Acts. Within the period we are now traversing there falls, as many critics judge, a considerable number of the tracts now included in the New Testament. With a rough approximation we shall follow the probable chronological order in which these compositions were issued.

The Epistle of James.-An ethical circular went the round of the societies of Saints in the latter half of the first century. This document contains but few references to Christ and Christians. It bears the character of an impressive moral exhortation, such as might have been appropriately addressed to any of the scattered settlements of the New People before they had evolved their definite doctrine of salvation by Jesus. The writer held Ebionite views. He was a Jewish Christian. His letter opens thus: " "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are of the Diaspora, greeting." No clear identification of this James is possible. The idea grew up that James, the Lord's brother, had written the epistle; but, even so late as the time of Eusebius, many Christians doubted its alleged apostolic authority.

James's letter bears the stamp of sincerity and simplicity. Conduct rises above creed. The moral life stands forth as the essence of religion. Self-control is emphasised patience under trial, steadfastness of faith, quiet persistence in loosing the soul from things unclean and vicious. Deeds, not voluble professions, commend a man's character. Upright dealing and practical sympathy towards the unhappy and forlorn constituted true piety. To cringe to the rich, to offer to the wearer of gold rings a more commanding seat in a Christian assembly than to a humbly clad brother, showed a mean and disloyal heart. The daily course should obey the royal law, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;" and so tender must the Saint preserve his conscience that every small disobedience will cause him remorse as if he had broken the whole law of God. Works justified, works gave token of life, works gave fertility to faith, and