Canon Westcott rests his argument that this passage is a reference to
Mark. Nothing, however, could be more untenable than such a conclusion
from such an indication. The phrase in the Homily presents a very marked
variation from the passage in Mark. The "all things" [------] of the
Gospel, reads: "The mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens" [------] in
the Homily. The passage in Mark iv. 11, to which Dr. Westcott does not
refer, reads [------]. There is one very important matter, however,
which our Apologist has omitted to point out, and which, it seems to us,
decides the case--the context in the Homily. The chapter commences thus:
"And Peter said: We remember that our Lord and Teacher, as commanding,
said to us: 'Guard the mysteries for me, and the sons of my house.'
Wherefore also he explained to his disciples privately," &c.:(l) and
then comes our passage. Now, here is a command of Jesus, in immediate
connection with which the phrase before us is quoted, which does not
appear in our Gospels at all, and which clearly establishes the use of a
different source. The phrase itself which differs from Mark, as we have
seen, may with all right be referred to the same unknown Gospel.
It must be borne in mind that all the quotations which we have
hitherto examined are those which have been selected as most closely
approximating to passages in our Gospels. Space forbids our giving
illustrations of the vast number which so much more widely differ from
parallel texts in the Synoptics. We shall confine
{28}
ourselves to pointing out in the briefest possible manner some of the
passages which are persistent in their variations or recall similar
passages in the Memoirs of Justin. The first of these is the injunction
in Hom. iii. 55: "Let your yea be yea, your nay nay, for whatsoever is
more than these cometh of the evil one." The same saying is repeated
in Hom. xix. with the sole addition of "and." We subjoin the Greek
of these, together with that of the Gospel and Justin with which the
Homilies agree.
[------]
As we have already discussed this passage(1) we need not repeat our
remarks here. That this passage comes from a source different from our
Gospels is rendered still more probable by the quotation in Hom. xix. 2
being preceded by another which has no parallel at all in our Gospels.
"And elsewhere he said, 'He who sowed the bad seed is the devil'
[------](2): and again: 'Give no pretext to the evil one.'(2) [------].
But in exhorting he prescribes: 'Let your yea be yea.'" &c. The first
of these phrases differs markedly from our Gospels; the second is not in
them at all; the third, which we are considering, differs likewise in an
important degree in common with Justin's quotation, and there is every
reason for supposing that the whole were derived from the same unknown
source.(3) In the same Homily, xix. 2, there occurs also the passage
which exhibits variations likewise found in Justin, which we have
already examined,(4) and now
{29}
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