Homily does not end here, however, but continues in words not found in our Gospels at all: "And reasonably: 'For,' he says, 'it is thine, O man, to put my words as silver with exchangers, and to prove them as money/"(1) This passage is very analogous to another saying of Jesus, frequently quoted from an apocryphal Gospel, by the author of the Homilies, to which we shall hereafter more particularly refer, but here merely point out: "Be ye approved money-changers" [———].(2) The variations from the parallel passages in the first and third Gospels, the peculiar application of the parable to the words of Jesus, and the addition of a saying not found in our Gospels, warrant us in denying that the quotations we are considering can be appropriated by our canonical Gospels, and, on the contrary, give good reason for the conclusion, that the author derived his knowledge of the parable from another source.

There is no other quotation in the Clementine Homilies which literally agrees with our Gospels, and it is difficult, without incurring the charge of partial selection, to illustrate the systematic variation in such very numerous passages as occur in these writings. It would be tedious and unnecessary to repeat the test applied to the quotations of Justin, and give in detail the passages from the Sermon on the Mount which are found in the Homilies. Some of these will come before us presently, but with regard to the whole, which are not less than fifty, we may broadly and positively state that they all more or less differ from our Gospels. To take the

severest test, however, we shall compare those further passages which are specially adduced as most closely following our Gospels, and neglect the vast majority which most widely differ from them. In addition to the passages which we have already examined, Credner(1) points out the following. The first is from Hom. xix. 2.(2) "If Satan cast out Satan he is divided against himself: how then can his kingdom stand?" In the first part of this sentence, the Homily reads, [———] for the [———] of the first Gospel, and the last phrase in each is as follows:—

[———]

The third Gospel differs from the first as the Homily does from both. The next passage is from Hom. xix. 7.s "For thus, said our Father, who was without deceit: out of abundance of heart mouth speaketh." The Greek compared with that of Matt. xii. 34.

[———]

The form of the homily is much more proverbial. The next passage occurs in Hom. iii. 52: "Every plant which the heavenly Father did not plant shall be rooted up." This agrees with the parallel in Matt. xv. 13, with the important exception, that although in the mouth of Jesus, "the heavenly Father" is substituted for the "my heavenly Father" of the Gospel. The last passage pointed out by Credner, is from Hom. viii. 4: "But also 'many,' he said, 'called, but few chosen;'" which may be compared with Matt. xx. 16, &c.

[———]

We have already fully discussed this passage of the Gospel in connection with the "Epistle of Barnabas," and need not say more here.

The variations in these passages, it may be argued, are not very important. Certainly, if they were the exceptional variations amongst a mass of quotations perfectly agreeing with parallels in our Gospels, it might be exaggeration to base upon such divergences a conclusion that they were derived from a different source. When it is considered, however, that the very reverse is the case, and that these are passages selected for their closer agreement out of a multitude of others either more decidedly differing from our Gospels or not found in them at all, the case entirely changes, and variations being the rule instead of the exception, these, however slight, become evidence of the use of a Gospel different from ours. As an illustration of the importance of slight variations in connection with the question as to the source from which quotations are derived, the following may at random be pointed out. The passage "See thou say nothing to any man, but go thy way, show thyself to the priest" [———] occurring in a work like the Homilies would, supposing our second Gospel no longer extant, be referred to Matt viii. 4, with which it entirely agrees with the exception of its containing the one extra word [———]. It is however actually taken from Mark i. 44, and not from the first Gospel. Then again, supposing that our first Gospel had shared the fate of so many others of the [———] of Luke, and in some early work the following passage were found: "A prophet is not without honour except in his own country

and in his own house" [———]t this passage would undoubtedly be claimed by apologists as a quotation from Mark vi. 4, and as proving the existence and use of that Gospel. The omission of the words "and among his own kin" [———] would at first be explained as mere abbreviation, or defect of memory, but on the discovery that part or all of these words are omitted from some MSS., that for instance the phrase is erased from the oldest manuscript known, the Cod. Sinaiticus, the derivation from the second Gospel would be considered as established. The author notwithstanding might never have seen that Gospel, for the quotation is taken from Matt. xiii. 57.(2)

We have already quoted the opinion of De Wette as to the inconclusive nature of the deductions to be drawn from the quotations in the pseudo-Clementine writings regarding their source, but in pursuance of the plan we have adopted we shall now examine the passages which he cites as most nearly agreeing with our Gospels.(3) The first of these occurs in Hom. iii. 18: "The Scribes and the Pharisees sit upon Moses' seat; all things therefore, whatsoever they speak to you, hear them," which is compared with Matt, xxiii. 2, 3: "The Scribes and the Pharisees sit upon Moses' seat; all things therefore, whatsoever they say to you, do and observe." We subjoin the Greek of the latter half of these passages.

That the variation in the Homily is deliberate and derived from the Gospel used by the author is clear from the continuation: "Hear them [———], he said, as entrusted with the key of the kingdom, which is knowledge, which alone is able to open the gate of life, through which alone is the entrance to eternal life. But verily, he says: They possess the key indeed, but to those who wish to enter in they do not grant it."(1) The [———] is here emphatically repeated, and the further quotation and reference to the denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees continues to differ distinctly from the account both in our first and third Gospels. The passage in Matt, xxiii. 13, reads: "But woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut the kingdom of heaven against men; for ye go not in yourselves neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in."(2) The parallel in Luke xi. 52 is not closer. There the passage regarding Moses' seat is altogether wanting, and in ver. 52, where the greatest similarity exists, the "lawyers" instead of the "Scribes and Pharisees" are addressed. The verse reads: "Woe unto you, Lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered."(3) The first Gospel has not the direct image of the key at all: the Scribes and Pharisees "shut the kingdom of

heaven;" the third has "the key of knowledge" [———] taken away by the lawyers, and not by the Scribes and Pharisees, whilst the Gospel of the Homilies has the key of the kingdom [———], and explains that this key is knowledge [———]. It is apparent that the first Gospel uses an expression more direct than the others, whilst the