Justin Martyr’s Christian training took place in the Nazarene Church, in the orthodox, milder section. He no doubt inherited the traditional prejudice against St. Paul, for he neither mentions him by name, nor quotes any of his writings. That he should have omitted to quote St. Paul in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew is not surprising; but one cannot doubt that had he seen the Epistles of the Apostle of the Gentiles, he would have cited them, or shown that they had influenced the current of his thoughts in his two Apologies addressed to Gentiles. He quotes “the book that is called the Gospel” as if there were but one; but what Gospel was it? It has been frequently observed that the quotations of Justin are closer to the parallel passages in St. Matthew than to those of the other Canonical Gospels. But the only Gospel he names is the Gospel of the Twelve. Did Justin Martyr possess the Gospel of St. Matthew, or some other? It is observable that he diverges from the Gospel narrative in several particulars. It is inconceivable that this was caused by defect of memory. Two or three of those texts in which he differs from our Canonical Gospels occur several times in his writings, and always in the same form.(156) Would it not be strange that his memory should fail him each time, and on each of these passages? But though his memory may have been inaccurate in recording exact words, the differences that have been noticed between the citations of Justin Martyr and the Canonical Gospel of St. Matthew are not confined to words; they extend to particulars, to facts. Verbal differences are accountable for by lapse of memory, but it is not so with facts. One can understand how in quoting by memory the mode of expressing the same facts may vary, but not that the facts themselves should be different. If the facts cited are different, we are forced to conclude that the citations were derived from another source. And such is the case with Justin. Five or six times does he say that the Magi came from Arabia;(157) St. Matthew says only that they came from the East.(158) He says that our Lord was born in a cave(159) near Bethlehem; that, when he was baptized, a bright light shone over him; and he gives words which were heard from heaven, which are not recorded by any of the Evangelists. That our Lord was born in a cave is probable enough, but where did Justin learn it? Certainly not from St. Matthew’s Gospel, which gives no particulars of the birth of Christ at Bethlehem. St. Luke says he was born in the stable of an inn. Justin, we are warranted in suspecting, derived the fact of the stable being a cave from the only Gospel with which he was acquainted, that of the Hebrews.