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some of the difficulties which he might otherwise have felt in agreeing with my conclusions. conclusions. It is, after all, by such an examination that a theory which claims our assent must be tested.

It now only remains for me to describe the next portion of this work, in which this detailed examination is conducted.

In comparing the corresponding passages of the first three Gospels, there are seven classes of passages to be considered1. Passages occurring in Matthew alone; 2. Passages occurring in Mark alone; 3. Passages occurring in Luke alone; 4. Passages occurring in Matthew and Mark alone; 5. Passages occurring in Mark and Luke alone; 6. Passages occurring in Matthew and Luke alone; 7. Passages occurring in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The method which I adopted for making the comparison, after much consideration, is the following:-I arranged the whole of the Gospel of St Mark, in its own order, in a central column; on one side I arranged the corresponding passages of the Gospel of St Matthew; and, on the other, those of St Luke, omitting, however, such passages as are clearly derived from independent

sources.

This arrangement gives us in juxtaposition all the passages of the 2d, 4th, 5th, and 7th class. In the next division I have printed, in parallel columns, all the passages of the 6th class-viz. those which occur in Matthew and Luke alone, following the order of St Luke's Gospel. For passages of the 1st and 3d class, I must refer to the Greek Testament.

The particular mode of arrangement to be followed, depends very much on the object with which the arrangement is made. In comparing three authors who have written in succession, and each of whom has made use of the writings of his predecessor, we may with advantage, according to our object, make the first or the third author the central member, arranging the others on either side. In the one method, we see how the earliest authority has been used by the later; in the other method, we see how the latest has used his authorities. The third possible arrangement, or that in which the writer second in point of time should be made the

central member, would evidently be much less instructive than either of the other methods. The second method is that which I followed in my former work. But, in the present investigation, it soon appeared to me that the key to the mystery of the connection of the first three Gospels was to be found, if anywhere, in the connection between the Gospel of St Mark and those of Matthew and Luke. If Mark was the translator of an original, from which Matthew and Luke had also made independent translations -if that original was the true " Protevangelium"-then, by placing Mark in the centre, I could see at a glance in what way it had been made use of by each of the others; and in this work I have accordingly followed the first method.

This arrangement, with the arrangement which follows, of the corresponding passages of Matthew and Luke, gives us the means, although somewhat imperfectly, of investigating the manner in which St Luke has made use of the two of his authorities with which we are acquainted. For a complete and minute investigation of this interesting subject, an arrangement of the corresponding passages, according to the second method-i. e., making Luke the central member-would be requisite. I have been deterred from inserting such an arrangement by the great additional increase of volume which it would have occasioned in this work.

On the page opposite the Greek I have arranged, in the same order, the English authorised translation of the same passages; and in the preliminary notice I have explained how, by means of the italics, the English reader may, in some degree, follow my observations on the verbal agreements and differences of the several Gospels.

In the last portion of the work, which is entitled "Notes on the Sections," will be found the detailed results of the examination; and to this I must refer my readers for the justification of my conclusions.

SYNOPSIS

OF THE

PARALLEL PASSAGES

IN THE

FIRST THREE GOSPELS.

IN the English authorised version, which is here made use of, parallel passages in the different Gospels in which the agreement is verbal are not unfrequently rendered into different although synonymous words; whilst in others, where the meaning is the same but the words are different in the original, they are translated into the same words. In all such cases I have printed the expressions so translated in Italics in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Hence, if the words so printed agree with the corresponding passages in the Gospel of Mark, they are different in the Greek; or, if they differ in the English, they are identical in the Greek. For example, in Section VI. page 9, the words “casting a net into the sea," in Mat. iv. 18, and in Mark i. 16, are the same in the English translation, but in the original every word is different. On the other hand, the same words, " Asûre òñíów μou,” are translated, in Mat. iv. 19," Follow me," and in Mark i. 17, " Come ye after me." By attending to this the English reader will be able to ascertain where the agreement in the original is transcriptural and where it is translational.

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