INTERNAL EVIDE1'CE.] Gosrigiisi 793 substitute less uncouth words for the original barbarisins. I tinuity will commend it as likely to be, if not the original Thus, from varying causes, the different versions of the tradition will deviate 3 and when we come to compare three of them together, and to write down the words common to the three, we shall no longer find the original continuous tradition. Gaps in the sense will occur every now and then, owing to the omission of some necessary word. On the other hand, although the literary cement (so to speak) which fills up the interstices between the words and deeds of the Lord may naturally vary, we may expect that the words of the Lord Himself will be more care- fully preserved, and more identically reported by all three synoptists, so that they will give a more continuous sense, and will enable us to approximate to the original tradi- tion. Let us now take the Gospel of Mark, and set down, from the first two chapters of it, all such words as it contains in common with Matthew and Luke, merely adding in italics such words as may enable the reader to perceive the structure of each sentence; and let us see whether the words thus collected show any traces of a continuous narrative :—1 “l1‘.:-aias I the prophet: II the voice of one crying in the wilder- ness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. i John I in the wilderness preacl1ingI repen(t). I All I wen(t) forth I to be baptiz(ed) by him. II There cometh one stronger than I whose shoe-latchet [Mat. shoes] I lam not worthy to loose [Mat bear]. II baptiz(e) you with water, He I shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit. |I Jesu(s) was bapti(zed). II The heaven? I and the Spirit, as a dove, descend(ing) on Him. And a voic(_e) from | heaven I My beloved Son, in Thee [Mat whom] I am well pleased. I The_Spirit drires H 17:21.; I in the wildern(ess) forty days te.mpt(ed) by [Satan ; Lu. devil]. II He came into Galilee. II Com(eth) into the house of Simon [Mat Peter]. I Stepmother sick of a fever. || And the feve(r‘) left her; I she ministered to th(-(in). II He heale(d). II He preache(d) in the synagogu(es) of G-alil(ee). II There came a leper I saying to Hi(m), lf Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. And stretching forth His hand, He touched him I Iwill, be thou clean. And immediately there departed from him the leprosy. II And He said to him, Tel(l) no one, but I show thyself to the priest, and offer that which Moses ordained as a testimony to them.” Chap. ii. “ II And they brin(g) Hi(1n) a paralyti(c). II And seeing their faith, II He said, Thy sins are forgive(n). I The scribes said, This man blaspheni(eth). II Jesus said to the(m), I Why reason ye in your hearts? Vhich is easier, to say I Thy sins are for- give(n), or to say, {is(e) I and walk. But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins, He saith to the paralyt.i(c), I Rise, take thy bed, Igo to thy house. And I having taken it up, he went. II And they glo1‘ifi(ed) God. And Ife saw one sitting at the receipt of custom, and said to him, Follow Me, I and arising he followe(d) Him. I And he feasted Him in his house, and ma.n(y) publiean(s) I were feast(iiig). II And the l’harisee(s) sai(d) to His disciple(s), V(hy) eat with publicans and sinners? I H(e) I said to them, They that are strong [Lu. healthy] have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. I cam(e) not to call the righteous but sinners. I The disciples of John I say to Ili(m) : I The disciples of John and of tlw Pharisee(s) fas(t), but Thin(e) do not. Jesus said to the(m), Catn) the son(s) of the bride—cl1ainber fast? I The bridegroom is with them. II But the days shall come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them. Then shall they fast. I No one putleth 011 a I patch upon an ol(d) garmen(t). No on(e) putte(th) new wine into old bottles. Else, it will burs(t) the bottle(s), and the zrine will pcris(h) aml the bottles also. But new wine into new bottles. II On the Sabbath, they -were going through corn-fields; His disciples plucke(d) the wheat -cars. I The Pharisee(s) said, They are doin(g) on the Sab- bat(h) that which is not lawful. He said to the(m), Have ye not read what David did when he was an hungered, and they that were with him? how he went into the house of God, I and ate the shewbread, vhic(h) it is not law(fiil) to eat, save for the priest(s) ? II The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Few will have any difliculty in following the above narratiye which represents the Triple Tradition of the synoptists. It will be generally admitted that, so far as it extends, it omits little of importance; and its con- 1 A gap in the narrative of Mark is signified by I , a longer gap by II. Bracketed parts of words signify that the word occurs in the three Gospels, but in different forms. 9 Here Mark uses a strong word, meaning “cleaving " or “rend- ’ Matthew and Luke prefer the more usual word, meaning ins’ ; “ opening.” Hence the gap. tradition, at all events a closer approximation to it than we are likely to find elsewhere. It therefore becomes an important business to consider the scope and variations of the Triple Tradition,—where it is full and ample, where it is meagre, where it begins and where it ends. The commencement of the Triple Tradition has been given in the specimen quoted above. It begins with the proclamation made by John the Baptist, of the advent of the Stronger One. Describing (Mk. iii.) the cure of the withered hand, the choice of the Twelve, the discourse on blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and the answer to the question, “Who is My mother and My brethren 2” it passes (chap. iv.) to the parables of the sower and the mustard seed, which it gives very fully ; the rebuking of the wind and the exorcism of the legion (Mk. v.) are given as follows :— Mk. iv. 35. “Let us go across to the other side. They took Hi(m) I in a boat. II They wak(e) Hi(n1) say(ing), Ve perish : and He, arising, rebuked the win(d). [I And there was a calm. He said to them, I Your faith! II They said, IVho is this that even the wind obey(eth) Him?” Mk. V. 1. “ And they came across into the land of the [Gadarenes, Gerasenes, or Gergesenes]. There met Him I one [Mat. two] in the II tombs II crying, I Vhat is there between me and Thee, Thou Son of God? II Torment me not. II And he [Mat. they] besought Him . . . into . . . II And He . . . them, I goin(g) forth, they come to (or into) the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep place into the sea [Lu. lake] and were choked [ZIat. perished]. I Those that were feeding them I fled and brought word into the city. II They came II Jesus. II And I they bcsought Him to depart from I them.” This is given as a specimen of those passages where the narrative is not so continuous, and where there is some ap- pearance of confusion. The evidence of confusion is con- firmed (l) by the fact that a word is used here (8at’)auw) to denote “spirit” or “demon,” which is not found once elsewhere in the whole of the Gospels, nor, indeed, any- where in the New Testament (except in the Apocalypse twice), whereas 8ai,u¢5viov is used forty-five times, and -rrvef-,ua twenty-seven times in the three Gospels alone 3 by the difference of the names for the locality, Gadara, Gerasa, Gergesa ; (3) by the fact that Matthew speaks of two deinoiiiacs instead of one.3 The restoring to life of the daughter of a ruler (Mk. and Lu., ruler of D. synagogue) is next thus briefly related: “ He came into the house. I She is not dead, but sleepeth. And they mocked Him. II Having taken her by the hand I Arise.” Then follow (chap. vi.) the mission of the twelve, Herod’s conjecture about the new prophet, and the feeding of the five thousand, which runs thus (Mk. vi. 44) z—— 3 It has been suggested (Abbott, Through Nature to Christ, p. 447) that this extremely difficult narrative may have arisen from a mis- understanding of the phenomena of possession. Compare the story in the Evangelium In _fant1'ce Arabicum (a Gospel which shows special traces of Mai-k’s influence) in which (chap. xi.) it is said of a certain demoniac that “demons, in the shape of crews and serpents, began to go forth, fleeing from out his month.” But it is perhaps more likely that the variation in the name of the place points to some mis- understanding as to the origin of the story. The name Gadara, l'l'I"lJ, sometimes means a “sheepfold"; and gdda-r, though not a Syriac word, is yet given in the Syriac lexicons as Hebrew for “ flock.” Again, the correct reading in_ Maik is probably “Gerasene,” not “Gadarene” ; and the word C/‘W1 means “to cast out.” Lastly, the third reading, “ Gergesa,” supported by Origen, is expressly said by that author (Comm. in Ev. Joan n., vi. 24) to mean “ 7rapou<ia e’xBeBA-q- mi-raw," “ the district of those who cast out”; and he suggests that the name was probably prophetical, referring to our Lord's expulsion from the district (e'7ru':I/uu.os‘ ofiaa -rdxa 7rpo¢>-:7-rm6)s). Now, when a narrative of an event reported to have occurred at a certain place contains three different names of the place, and when each of the_ three names is adapted to the event, such a triple adaptation is obviously likely to be not a mere casual coincidence, but rather a convergence pointing to some misunderstanding or non-historical nucleus as the centre and origin of the narrative. What the niisunderstanding was may be a matter of conjecture, but that there was some misunderstand- ing is a probability approaching to certainty.
X. —- Ioo