of any value on the subject of our inquiry. We shall, however, briefly point out all the passages contained in the seven Greek Epistles which have any bearing upon our synoptic Gospels, in order that their exact position may be more fully appreciated. Teschendorf(1) refers to a passage in the Epistle to the Romans, c. vi., as a verbal quotation of Matthew xvi. 26, but he neither gives the context nor states the facts of the case. The passage reads as follows: "The pleasures of the world shall profit me nothing, nor the kingdoms of this time; it is better for me to die for Jesus Christ, than to reign over the ends of the earth. For what is a man profited if he gain the whole world, but lose his soul."(2) Now this quotation not only is not found in the Syriac version of the Epistle, but it is also omitted from the ancient Latin version, and is absent from the passage in the work of Timotheus of Alexandria against the Council of Chalcedon, and from other authorities. It is evidently a later addition, and is recognized as such by most critics.(3) It was probably a gloss, which subsequently was inserted in the text. Of these facts, however, Tischendorf does not say a word.(4) The next passage to which he refers is in the Epistle to the Smyrnæans, c. i., where the writer says of Jesus: "He was baptized by John in order that all righteousness {268} might be fulfilled by Him,"(1)--which Teschendorf considers a reminiscence of Matthew iii. 15, "For thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."(2) The phrase, besides being no quotation, has again all the appearance of being an addition; and when in Ch. iii. of the same Epistle we find a palpable quotation from an apocryphal Gospel, which Jerome states to be the "Gospel according to the Hebrews," to which we shall presently refer, a Gospel which we know to have contained the baptism of Jesus by John, it is not possible, even if the Epistle were genuine, which it is not, to base any such conclusion upon these words. There is not only the alternative of tradition, but the use of the same apocryphal Gospel, elsewhere quoted in the Epistle, as the source of the reminiscence. Tischendorf does not point out any more supposed references to our synoptic Gospels, but we proceed to notice all the other passages which have been indicated by others. In the Epistle to Polycarp, c. ii., the following sentence occurs: "Be thou wise as a serpent in everything, and harmless as the dove." This is, of course, compared with Matth. x. 16, "Be ye, therefore, wise as serpents and innocent as doves." The Greek of both reads as follows: [--Greek--] In the Syriac version, the passage reads: "Be thou wise as the serpent in everything, and harmless as to those things which are requisite as the dove."(4) It is unnecessary {269}