ungen.

That there were sentences, like Acts xx. 35, ascribed to our Lord, in early Christian literature, but which are not contained in the canonical gospels, has long been recognised, and not a few collections of them have been made during the last half century by New Testament scholars. R. Hoffmann collected 30; Westcott about the same number; Schaff, Plumptre, and others have given attention to the matter. But the first to treat the subject exhaustively was Dr Resch in his "Agrapha," published in 1889, in the Texte und UntersuchWith his perhaps unrivalled acquaintance with early church literature, he collected 74 passages which he considered to be genuine sayings of Jesus, outside the Gospels; and 103 which he designated "Apokrypha," or "Doubtful and Spurious Agrapha," quoting the passages where each one occurs, and making very valuable comments.1 The leap from 30 to 177 was certainly startling, and suggested criticism. It lay on the surface that very many of what Resch considers genuine Logia, do not claim to be sayings of Jesus, but are, for various reasons, inferred to be so. For instance, the author's favourite argument from synonyms comes into play; as in Eph. v. 14, "Awake, thou that sleepest," &c. Here, because in different authors who quote the passage, we have the variants εξεγέρθητι, ἐγεῖραι and ἀνάστα, this is deemed to prove the existence of a Hebrew original, and the words diò Xéya point to the Matthæan Hebrew gospel. And again, because both Peter and Paul advise women to "be submissive to their husbands," and Peter, James, and Paul advise men to "resist the devil," Resch infers that a saying of Jesus must lie behind. Many non-biblical passages also are for similar reasons assigned to our Lord. Then among the "spurious Agrapha" there are at least a dozen which are not "sayings" at all, but are narratives; and 36 are not sayings of Jesus but of the Apostles. It was, therefore, fitting that the vast accumulation which Dr Resch has compiled should be submitted to searching examination; and such it has undoubtedly received in the work specially before us, at the hands of Mr J. H. Ropes, now "Instructor" in Harvard University, but formerly a pupil of Harnack's indeed, the work was undertaken at the instigation of his former professor. Mr Ropes pays a very fitting tribute to Dr Resch's erudition, and rightly states that the Agrapha is beyond all doubt a ктîμa ès àeí, and will long be a veritable Thesaurus for Agrapha-material.

His criticisms of Resch's materials fall into three categories:I. Passages which were never intended to be a citation of the words of Jesus, but were (1) conscious paraphrases or modifications of Christ's words, (2) quotations from a divergent text, or (3) 1 Many references to Resch's Agrapha were made by Dr Sanday and myself in the Expositor for 1891.

quotations from some authoritative source, but without any claim to be sayings of Jesus. Illogically, as I venture to think, Ropes treats these three in one group, on the ground that they cannot easily be kept aloof. But it would have conduced much to clearness if (3) had been treated separately; and surely those passages which are merely introduced by φησί οι λέγει, “ it says,” or by γέγραπται, "it is written," with nothing but inference to connect the "saying with Christ, may be considered distinct from those which are professedly utterances of our Lord, though deviating more or less from our canonical text. For purposes of critical investigation Ropes does not distinguish between Resch's Logia and Apokrypha-indeed, some of the latter are preferred to the former—and of Resch's 177, or, with the deductions alluded to above, 130, apparent Agrapha, there are 67 which our author, in this his first category, rejects in toto. In the great majority of these instances we thoroughly agree with the criticism, yet there are some few which we are reluctant to "cut down," but would like to "spare" for further investigation; such, e.g., as 2 Clem. viii. 5, "The Lord says in the Gospel, If ye have not kept the little, who will give you the great?" and Barnabas vii. 2, "They that wish to see Me, and to enjoy My kingdom, must receive Me through tribulation and suffering." This may be a recast of John xvi. 33, but it may be the source of Acts xiv. 22. Then we are drawn to Origen's words in his Com. on Matt., "Jesus said: For the weak I became weak; for the hungry I hungered; for the thirsty I thirsted"; and to the passage, quoted by both Hermas and the Aidaxý, "Give to all, for God gives to all from His own gifts"; and there is, at any rate, something truly Christ-like in the words of the Didascalia, which are said to be ev τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ : “ Blessed are they that mourn for the perdition of unbelievers. Fast and pray for the perishing," though both Resch and Ropes consider this one to be ungenuine.

II. The second list consists of those sentences which through defective memory are alleged to be sayings of Jesus, though in reality they belong to some other part of Scripture. Ropes finds eleven of these, 74 to 84, and it is remarkable there are not more. Jerome, e.g., cites Ecclus. iv. 21 as from the Gospel; Origen affirms that "the good Lord" says: "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath," and Didascalia gives as sayings of " our Lord," "Love covers a multitude of sins," and "Wrath destroys the wise." There was certainly no justifiable reason why Resch should regard these as genuine sayings of Christ; but the case of Aphraates (83), "Pray and be not weary," ought to have been placed by Ropes in his first class as a modification of Luke xviii. 1.

III. The third list consists of those which claim to be utterances of Christ, but their historic value has to be decided on by their

intrinsic quality, or by the source which furnishes them to us. Thus judged, Ropes decides that of Resch's apparent Agrapha 28 are worthless, 7 are probable and 11 are genuine. Of the 28 worthless ones, we must say, in justice to Resch, that there are only seven which he deemed genuine. As to these seven, our verdict is in most cases the same as Ropes'. We cannot on the authority of Epiphanius regard No. 85 as a genuine Logion, "Sufficient for the labourer is his hire"; nor on the supposed authority of Justin, Apol. i. 15, "The heavenly Father desires the repentance of the sinner rather than his punishment," since the context shows that this is rather Justin's comment on Matt. ix. 13 which immediately precedes. On the other hand, we are not so certain as Ropes as to the worthlessness of No. 88, when we find that Justin, Dial. c. Tryph., ch. 35, and Didascalia vi. 5, both give as the words of Jesus, ἔσονται αἱρέσεις καὶ σχίσματα. Is not this the basis of Paul's certainty when he says, "It is necessary that there should be aipéres among you?" (1 Cor. xi. 19). Nor can it be lightly decided whether 1 Cor. xi. 26, "As oft as ye eat this bread, &c.," is an addition made by Paul, or goes back, as is attested twice in the Apostolic constitutions, and also in several ancient liturgies, to a saying of Christ Himself, ye do show My death till I

Among the probable fragments, Ropes includes "He that is near Me is near the fire," attested by Origen; "The weak shall be saved by the strong," Judicium Petri; and the interpolation of Codex Bezae, after Luke vi. 4, as to the man working on the Sabbath. He also considers as probable three sayings which Resch classes among the Apokrypha. Two of these are from the Gospel of the Hebrews: "Wherein have I sinned, that I should go to be baptized?" and "He that wonders shall reign, and he that reigns shall rest"; while Ropes places more credence than Resch in the testimony of Clemens Alex. that our Lord told Salome that the kingdom should come, "when the two shall become one, and the male with the female be neither male nor female."

66

Of the 74 passages which Resch deems genuine there are only six which fully satisfy Ropes, No. 141-6. These are: "It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Among whom I find you, among them will I judge you" (Justin and Clem. Al.). "Ask great things and little things shall be added to you" (Clem. Al. and Orig.). "Be ye approved money-changers" (for which Logion Resch gives 69 quotations in early literature). "I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth," &c. (found parenthetically in Rev. xvi. 15); and the account of the woman taken in adultery. On the other hand, he considers as genuine FIVE sayings which Resch is doubtful about. These are: (1) The passage in the Gospel of the Hebrews which

says, according to the testimony of Jerome, that Christ reckoned as a very grave offender "him that made sad his brother's spirit." (2) "Never be joyful except when you see your brother in love," which is also in the Hebrew Gospel. (3) "Let not the lambs fear the wolves after they (the lambs) are dead" (2 Clem. v. 4). (4) "Many of thy brothers, sons of Abraham, are clad with dung, dying for hunger, and thy house is full of many good things, and nothing at all goes forth for them." So Origen: but surely this is a sermonic paraphrase of Luke xvi. 25, though alleged to have been said by Christ to the young Ruler. (5) "I will choose to myself the excellent. Excellent are those which my Father in Heaven has given me" (Eusebius.)

Mr Ropes is himself a diligent student of early Christian literature, and has added 30 apparent Logia to the list of Resch, in conjunction with Professor Harnack, who is credited with six. Eleven of these are from the New Testament, or rather from N.T. MSS. ; twelve from various extra-canonical sources, and seven from the Gnostic Book Pistis Sophia, which, by the way, has recently been translated into English by the Theosophical Publishing Society. Of his own citations from the N.T., Ropes rejects "There is need of few things or of one as an arbitrary alteration of Luke x. 41. He also rejects the doxology in the Lord's Prayer (Matt. vi. 13) as appropriated from the Jewish liturgy; and the words "Every sacrifice shall be salted with salt," in Text. Rec. of Mk. ix. 49, as derived from Lev. ii. 13. These we concede; but when Mr Ropes maintains that Mark xvi. 15-18 is not a genuine Logion, we demur. Though it may not have formed part of the original Gospel of Mark, we are reluctant to believe that these are not the words of Jesus, especially verses 15, 16. Our author is more kindly disposed to Luke ix. 55, "Ye know not what spirit ye are of "; and Luke xxiii. 34, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." These he considers as probably valid Logia, though he would exclude them from the Greek Text. Of the alleged sayings of Jesus in the Pistis Sophia, there is only one which Ropes deems even probable, viz., "He who shall impart life to one soul, and save it, shall, apart from his own light in the kingdom of light, receive another glory."

Three Logia contributed by himself, Ropes considers genuine. One is Codex D's addition to Matt. xx. 28, "Ye seek from little to grow and from the greater to be less." The second is 1 Thess. iv. 15-17, where he interprets Paul's phrase, Xéyoμev èv Xóyw kupiov, to mean that we have here Christ's own words. The third we view with grave misgiving. It is a passage from the Talmud, Aboda Zara, 16b, 17a, where the question is raised whether one might build a privy for the High Priest from the offering of a whore, and Jesus of Nazareth is said to have decided thus: She gathered it

from the hire of a harlot and unto the hire of a harlot shall it return (Micah i. 7): from refuse is it come, to the place of refuse shall it go." One can but wonder why Mr Ropes, who is so stringent in his criticisms, should affix his seal to an unsavoury morsel like this. And now we may be expected to say one word as to the light which the study of these Agrapha sheds upon the papyrus page recently discovered; and there are one or two remarks we would like to offer, First, as First, as to the introductory formula, which is regularly Aéye Inoous. It is certainly noteworthy that this phrase is never once used to introduce any one of the Logia which have come before our notice, genuine or spurious. We have Aéyei, λέγει ὁ κύριος, λέγει ὁ σωτήρ and ὁ Ἰησοῦς φησί, etc., but never λέγει Ιησούς. Even in the New Testament this phrase occurs only in the Fourth Gospel. As the introduction to an agraphon, the name "Jesus," standing alone, only occurs three times, and they are all in Origen. In Clem. Rom., the Didascalia and the Constitutions, it is found once each, but in conjunction with some other name. This is slender evidence, perhaps, on which to connect the fragment with Origen; but it may, possibly, be a straw in the stream. The fragment was found in Egypt; Origen was an Egyptian. lived A.D. 186-254; the extreme dates for the papyrus are A.D. 140-240. Origen was the first great student of written texts of Scripture. He was very familiar with extra-canonical New Testament literature. He cites the Gospel according to the Hebrews. He contributes to no less than 8 of the sayings of Jesus which Resch deems genuine, and to 10 which he deems doubtful. The name "Jesus" points to an early date. The present eye, instead of ele, indicates citation from a written document. Is it not possible then that we have here part of a collection made by Origen from early sources?

Origen

As to fasting, the only two sayings I find are: "Fast and pray for the perishing," which Didascalia quotes from "the gospel "; and an apostolic dictum given by Origen: "Blessed is he that fasts, that thereby he may feed the poor." As to Logion 3, there is quite a string of quotations given by Resch (p. 458), all of late date though, in which Jesus is said to have pointed with his finger, and said : "This is the middle of the world." The early part of Logion 5 closely resembles a passage in Ephraem Syrus: "Christ comforted those who live a solitary life, saying: 'Where there is one there am I,' lest any of the lonely ones should be sad, because He Himself is our joy, and he is with us: and where there two, there will I be,' because His mercy and grace overshadow us: and where there are three,' as we gather in the church, which is the perfect body of Christ, and His express image."

In conclusion, I wish to offer some indications that the Greek of