Chapter IX (1)

INTERNAL EVIDENCE DEMONSTRATED TO BE THE VERY REVERSE OF UNFAVOURABLE TO THESE VERSES.

The “Style” and “Phraseology” of these Verses declared by Critics
to be not S. Mark’s.—Insecurity of such Criticism (p. 140).—The
“Style” of chap. xvi. 9-20 shewn to be the same as the style of
chap. i. 9-20 (p. 142).—The “Phraseology” examined in twenty-seven
particulars, and shewn to be suspicious in none (p. 145),—but in
twenty-seven particulars shewn to be the reverse (p. 170).—Such
Remarks fallacious (p. 173).—Judged of by a truer, a more delicate
and philosophical Test, these Verses proved to be most probably
genuine (p. 175).

A distinct class of objections remains to be considered. An argument much relied on by those who deny or doubt the genuineness of this portion of S. Mark’s Gospel, is derived from considerations of internal evidence. In the judgment of a recent Editor of the New Testament,—These twelve verses “bear traces of _another hand_ from that which has shaped the _diction_ and _construction_ of the rest of the Gospel.”(240) They are therefore “an addition to the narrative,”—of which “the internal evidence will be found to preponderate vastly against the authorship of Mark.”—“A difference,” (says Dr. Tregelles,) “has been remarked, and truly remarked, between _the phraseology_ of this section and the rest of this Gospel.”—According to Dr. Davidson,—“The _phraseology and style_ of the section are unfavourable to its authenticity.” “The characteristic peculiarities which pervade Mark’s Gospel do not appear in it; but, on the contrary, terms and expressions,” “phrases and words, are introduced which Mark never uses; or terms for which he employs others.”(241)—So Meyer,—“With ver. 9, we suddenly come upon an excerpting process totally different from the previous mode of narration. The passage contains none of Mark’s peculiarities (no εὐθέως, no πάλιν, &c, but the baldness and lack of clearness which mark a compiler;) while in single expressions, it is altogether contrary to Mark’s manner.”—“There is” (says Professor Norton) “a difference so great between the use of language in this passage, and its use in the undisputed portion of Mark’s Gospel, as to furnish strong reasons for believing the passage not genuine.”—No one, however, has expressed himself more strongly on this subject than Tischendorf. “Singula” (he says) “multifariam a Marci ratione abhorrent.”(242)... Here, then, is something very like a consensus of hostile opinion: although the terms of the indictment are somewhat vague. Difference of “Diction and Construction,”—difference of “Phraseology and Style,”—difference of “Terms and Expressions,”—difference of “Words and Phrases;”—the absence of S. Mark’s “characteristic peculiarities.” I suppose, however, that all may be brought under two heads,—(I.) STYLE, and (II.) PHRASEOLOGY: meaning by “Style” whatever belongs to the Evangelist’s manner; and by “Phraseology” whatever relates to the words and expressions he has employed. It remains, therefore, that we now examine the proofs by which it is proposed to substantiate these confident assertions, and ascertain exactly what they are worth by constant appeals to the Gospel. Throughout this inquiry, we have to do not with Opinion but with Fact. The unsupported dicta of Critics, however distinguished, are entitled to no manner of attention.

1. In the meantime, as might have been expected, these confident and often-repeated asseverations have been by no means unproductive of mischievous results:

Like ceaseless droppings, which at last are known To leave their dint upon the solid stone.

I observe that Scholars and Divines of the best type (as the Rev. T. S. Green(243)) at last put up with them. The wisest however reproduce them under protest, and with apology. The names of Tischendorf and Tregelles, Meyer and Davidson, command attention. It seems to be thought incredible that they can _all_ be _entirely_ in the wrong. They impose upon learned and unlearned readers alike. “Even Barnabas has been carried away with their dissimulation.” He has (to my surprise and regret) two suggestions:—

(_a_) The one,—That this entire section of the second Gospel may possibly have been written long after the rest; and that therefore its verbal peculiarities need not perplex or trouble us. It was, I suppose, (according to this learned and pious writer,) a kind of after-thought, or supplement, or Appendix to S. Mark’s Gospel. In this way I have seen the last Chapter of S. John once and again accounted for.—To which, it ought to be a sufficient answer to point out that there is _no appearance whatever_ of any such interval having been interposed between S. Mark xvi. 8 and 9: that it is highly improbable that any such interval occurred: and that until the “verbal peculiarities” have been ascertained to exist, it is, to say the least, a gratuitous exercise of the inventive faculty to discover reasons for their existence. Whether there be not something radically unsound and wrong in all such conjectures about “after-thoughts,” “supplements,” “appendices,” and “second editions” when the everlasting Gospel of JESUS CHRIST is the thing spoken of,—a confusing of things heavenly with things earthly which must make the Angels weep,—I forbear to press on the present occasion. It had better perhaps be discussed at another opportunity. But φίλοι ἄνδρες(244) will forgive my freedom in having already made my personal sentiment on the subject sufficiently plain.

(_b_) His other suggestion is,—That this portion may not have been penned by S. Mark himself after all. By which he clearly means no more than this,—that as we are content not to know _who_ wrote the conclusion of the Books of Deuteronomy and Joshua, so, if needful, we may well be content not to know who wrote the end of the Gospel of S. Mark.—In reply to which, I have but to say, that after cause has been shewn why we should indeed believe that not S. Mark but some one else wrote the end of S. Mark’s Gospel, we shall be perfectly willing to acquiesce in the new fact:—but _not till then_.

2. True indeed it is that here and there a voice has been lifted up in the way of protest(245) against the proposed inference from the familiar premisses; (for the self-same statements have now been so often reproduced, that the eye grows weary at last of the ever-recurring string of offending vocables:)—but, with _one_ honorable exception,(246) men do not seem to have ever thought of calling the premisses themselves in question: examining the statements one by one: contesting the ground inch by inch: refusing absolutely to submit to any dictation whatever in this behalf: insisting on bringing the whole matter to the test of severe inquiry, and making every detail the subject of strict judicial investigation. This is what I propose to do in the course of the present Chapter. I altogether deny the validity of the inference which has been drawn from “the style,” “the phraseology,” “the diction” of the present section of the Gospel. But I do more. I entirely deny the accuracy of almost _every individual statement_ from which the unfavourable induction is made, and the hostile inference drawn. Even _this_ will not nearly satisfy me. I insist that one only result can attend the exact analysis of this portion of the Gospel into its elements; namely, a profound conviction that S. Mark is most certainly its Author.

3. Let me however distinctly declare beforehand that remarks on “the style” of an Evangelist are singularly apt to be fallacious, especially when (as here) it is proposed to apply them to a very limited portion of the sacred narrative. Altogether to be mistrusted moreover are they, when (as on the present occasion) it is proposed to make them the ground for possibly rejecting such a portion of Scripture as spurious. It becomes a fatal objection to such reasoning that _the style_ may indeed be exceedingly diverse, and yet _the Author_ be confessedly one and the same. How exceedingly dissimilar in style are the Revelation of S. John and the Gospel of S. John! Moreover, practically, the promised remarks on “style,” when the Authorship of some portion of Scripture is to be discussed, are commonly observed to degenerate at once into what is really quite a different thing. Single words, perhaps some short phrase, is appealed to, which (it is said) does not recur in any part of the same book; and thence it is argued that the Author can no longer be the same. “According to this argument, _the recurrence of the same words_ constitutes identity of style; the want of such recurrence implies difference of style;—difference of style in such a sense as compels us to infer diversity of authorship. Each writer is supposed to have at his disposal a limited number of ‘formulæ’ within the range of which he must work. He must in each chapter employ these formulæ, and these only. He must be content with one small portion of his mother-tongue, and not dare to venture across the limits of that portion,—on pain of losing his identity.”(247)

4. How utterly insecure must be every approximation to such a method of judging about the Authorship of any twelve verses of Scripture which can be named, scarcely requires illustration. The attentive reader of S. Matthew’s Gospel is aware that a mode of expression which is _six times repeated_ in his viiith and ixth chapters is perhaps only once met with besides in his Gospel,—viz. in his xxist chapter.(248) The “style” of the 17th verse of his ist chapter may be thought unlike anything else in S. Matthew. S. Luke’s five opening verses are unique, both in respect of manner and of matter. S. John also in his five opening verses seems to me to have adopted a method which is not recognisable anywhere else in his writings; “rising strangely by degrees,” (as Bp. Pearson expresses it,(249)) “making the last word of the former sentence the first of that which followeth.”—“_He_ knoweth that he saith true,” is the language of the same Evangelist concerning himself in chap. xix. 35. But, “_we_ know that his testimony is true,” is his phrase in chap. xxi. 24. Twice, and twice only throughout his Gospel, (viz. in chap. xix. 35: xx. 31), is he observed to address his readers, and on both occasions in the same words: (“that _ye_ may believe.”) But what of all this? Is it to be supposed that S. Matthew, S. Luke, S. John are not the authors of those several places? From facts like these no inference whatever is to be drawn as to the genuineness or the spuriousness of a writing. It is quite to mistake the Critic’s vocation to imagine that he is qualified, or called upon, to pass any judgment of the sort.

5. I have not said all this, of course, as declining the proposed investigation. I approach it on the contrary right willingly, being confident that it can be attended by only one result. With what is true, endless are the harmonies which evolve themselves: from what is false, the true is equally certain to stand out divergent.(250) And we all desire nothing but the Truth.

I. To begin then with the “STYLE AND MANNER” of S. Mark in this place.

1. We are assured that “instead of the _graphic, detailed_ description by which this Evangelist is distinguished, we meet with an abrupt, sententious manner, resembling that of brief notices extracted from larger accounts and loosely linked together.”(251) Surely if this be so, the only lawful inference would be that S. Mark, in this place, _has_ “extracted brief notices from larger accounts, and loosely linked them together:” and unless such a proceeding on the part of the Evangelist be judged incredible, it is hard to see what is the force of the adverse criticism, as directed against the _genuineness_ of the passage now under consideration.

2. But in truth, (when divested of what is merely a gratuitous assumption,) the preceding account of the matter is probably not far from the correct one. Of S. Mark’s practice of making “_extracts_,” I know nothing: nor Dr. Davidson either. That there existed _any_ “larger accounts” which would have been available for such a purpose, (except the Gospel according to S. Matthew,) there is neither a particle of evidence, nor a shadow of probability. On the other hand, that, notwithstanding the abundant oral information to which confessedly he had access, S. Mark has been divinely guided in this place to handle, in the briefest manner, some of the chiefest things which took place after our LORD’S Resurrection,—is simply undeniable. And without at all admitting that the style of the Evangelist is in consequence either “abrupt” or “sententious,”(252) I yet recognise the inevitable consequence of relating many dissimilar things within very narrow limits; namely, that the transition from one to the other forces itself on the attention. What wonder that the same phenomenon should _not_ be discoverable in other parts of the Gospel where the Evangelist is _not_ observed to be doing the same thing?

3. But wherever in his Gospel S. Mark _is_ doing the same thing, he is observed to adopt the style and manner which Dr. Davidson is pleased to call “sententious” and “abrupt.” Take twelve verses in his first chapter, as an example. Between S. Mark xvi. 9-20 and S. Mark i. 9-20, I profess myself unable to discern any real difference of style. I proceed to transcribe the passage which I deliberately propose for comparison; _the twelve corresponding verses_, namely, in S. Mark’s _first_ chapter, which are to be compared with the twelve verses already under discussion, from his _last_; and they may be just as conveniently exhibited in English as in Greek:—

(_S. MARK_ i. 9-20.)

(ver. 9.) “And it came to pass in those days, that JESUS came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. (10.) And straightway coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opened, and the SPIRIT like a dove descending upon Him: (11.) and there came a voice from heaven saying, Thou art My beloved SON, in whom I am well pleased. (12.) And immediately the SPIRIT driveth Him into the wilderness. (13.) And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the Angels ministered unto Him. (14.) Now after that John was put in prison, JESUS came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of GOD, (15.) and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of GOD is at hand: repent ye, and believe the Gospel. (16.) Now, as He walked by the sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. (17.) And JESUS said unto them, Come ye after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. (18.) And straightway they forsook their net’s, and followed Him. (19.) And when He had gone a little farther thence, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. (20.) And straightway He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after Him.”

4. The candid reader must needs admit that precisely the self-same manner is recognisable in this first chapter of S. Mark’s Gospel which is asserted to be peculiar to the last. Note, that from our SAVIOUR’S Baptism (which occupies the first three verses) the Evangelist passes to His Temptation, which is dismissed in two. Six months elapse. The commencement of the Ministry is dismissed in the next two verses. The last five describe the call of four of the Apostles,—without any distinct allusion to the miracle which was the occasion of it.... How was it _possible_ that when incidents considerable as these had to be condensed within the narrow compass of twelve verses, the same “graphic, detailed description” could reappear which renders S. Mark’s description of the miracle performed in the country of the Gadarenes (for example) so very interesting; where a single incident is spread over twenty verses, although the action did not perhaps occupy an hour? I rejoice to observe that “the _abrupt transitions_ of this section” (ver. 1-13) have also been noticed by Dean Alford: who very justly accounts for the phenomenon by pointing out that here “Mark appears as _an abridger of previously well-known facts_.”(253) But then, I want to know what there is in this to induce us to suspect _the genuineness_ of either the beginning or the end of S. Mark’s Gospel?

5. For it is a mistake to speak as if “graphic, detailed description” _invariably_ characterise the second Gospel. S. Mark is quite as remarkable for his practice of occasionally exhibiting a considerable transaction in a highly abridged form. The opening of his Gospel is singularly concise, and altogether _sudden_. His account of John’s preaching (i. 1-8) is the shortest of all. Very concise is his account of our SAVIOUR’S Baptism (ver. 9-11). The brevity of his description of our LORD’S Temptation is even extraordinary (ver. 12, 13.)—I pass on; premising that I shall have occasion to remind the reader by-and-by of certain peculiarities in these same Twelve Verses, which seem to have been hitherto generally overlooked.

II. Nothing more true, therefore, than Dr. Tregelles’ admission “that arguments on _style_ are often very fallacious, and that _by themselves_ they prove very little. But” (he proceeds) “when there does exist external evidence; and when internal proofs as to style, manner, verbal expression, and connection, are in accordance with such independent grounds of forming a judgment; then, these internal considerations possess very great weight.”

I have already shewn that there exists _no_ such external evidence as Dr. Tregelles supposes. And in the absence of it, I am bold to assert that since nothing in the “Style” or the “Phraseology” of these verses ever aroused suspicion in times past, we have rather to be _on our guard_ against suffering our judgment to be warped by arguments drawn from such precarious considerations now. As for determining from such data the authorship of an isolated passage; asserting or denying its genuineness for no other reason but because it contains certain words and expressions which do or do not occur elsewhere in the Gospel of which it forms part;—let me again declare plainly that the proceeding is in the highest degree uncritical. We are not competent judges of what words an Evangelist was likely on any given occasion to employ. We have no positive knowledge of the circumstances under which any part of any one of the four Gospels was written; nor the influences which determined an Evangelist’s choice of certain expressions in preference to others. We are learners,—we _can_ be only learners here. But having said all this, I proceed (as already declared) without reluctance or misgiving to investigate the several charges which have been brought against this section of the Gospel; charges derived from its PHRASEOLOGY; and which will be found to be nothing else but repeated assertions that a certain Word or Phrase,—(there are about twenty-four such words and phrases in all,(254))—“occurs nowhere in the Gospel of Mark;” with probably the alarming asseveration that it is “abhorrent to Mark’s manner.” ... The result of the inquiry which follows will perhaps be not exactly what is commonly imagined.

The first difficulty of this class is very fairly stated by one whose name I cannot write without a pang,—the late Dean Alford:—

(I.) The expression πρώτη σαββάτου, for the “first day of the week” (in ver. 9) “is remarkable” (he says) “as occurring so soon after” μία σαββάτων (a precisely equivalent expression) in ver. 2.—Yes, it is remarkable.

Scarcely more remarkable, perhaps, than that S. Luke _in the course of one and the same chapter_ should four times designate the Sabbath τὸ σάββατον, and twice τὰ σάββατα: again, twice, τὸ σάββατον,—twice, ἡ ἡμέρα τοῦ σαββάτου,—and once, τὰ σάββατα.(255) Or again, that S. Matthew should _in one and the same chapter_ five times call the Sabbath, τὰ σάβββτα, and three times, τό σάββατον.(256) Attentive readers will have observed that the Evangelists seem to have been fond in this way of varying their phrase; suddenly introducing a new expression for something which they had designated differently just before. Often, I doubt not, this is done with the profoundest purpose, and sometimes even with manifest design; but the phenomenon, however we may explain it, still remains. Thus, S. Matthew, (in his account of our LORD’S Temptation,—chap. iv.,) has ὁ διάβολος in ver. 1, and ὁ πειράζων in ver. 3, for him whom our SAVIOUR calls Σατανᾶς in ver. 10.—S. Mark, in chap. v. 2, has τὰ μνημεῖα,—but in ver. 5, τὰ μνήματα.—S. Luke, in xxiv. 1, has τὸ μνῆμα; but in the next verse, τὸ μνημεῗον.—Ἐπί with an accusative twice in S. Matth. xxv. 21, 23, is twice exchanged for ἐπί with a genitive in the same two verses: and ἔριφοϋ (in ver. 32) is exchanged for ἐρίφια in ver. 33.—Instead of ἄρχων τς συναγωγῆς (in S. Luke viii. 41) we read, in ver. 49, ἀρχισυνάγωγος: and for οἱ ἀπόστολοι (in ix. 10) we find οἱ δώδεκα in ver. 12.—Οὖς in S. Luke xxii. 50 is exchanged for ὠτίον in the next verse.—In like manner, those whom S. Luke calls οἱ νεώτεροι in Acts v. 6, he calls νεανίσκοι in ver. 10.... All such matters strike me as highly interesting, but not in the least as suspicious. It surprises me a little, of course, that S. Mark should present me with πρώτη σαββάτου (in ver. 9) instead of the phrase μία σαββάτων, which he had employed just above (in ver. 2.) But it does not surprise me much,—when I observe that μία σαββάτων _occurs only once in each of the Four Gospels_.(257) Whether surprised much or little, however,—Am I constrained in consequence, (with Tischendorf and the rest,) to regard this expression (πρώτη σαββάτου) as a note of _spuriousness_? That is the only thing I have to consider. Am I, with Dr. Davidson, to reason as follows:—“πρώτη, Mark would scarcely have used. It should have been μία, &c. as is proved by Mark xvi. 2, &c. The expression could scarcely have proceeded from a Jew. It betrays a Gentile author.”(258) Am I to reason thus?... I propose to answer this question somewhat in detail.

(1.) That among the Greek-speaking Jews of Palestine, in the days of the Gospel, ἡ μία τῶν σαββάτων was the established method of indicating “the first day of the week,” is plain, not only from the fact that the day of the Resurrection is so designated by each of the Four Evangelists in turn;(259) (S. John has the expression twice;) but also from S. Paul’s use of the phrase in 1 Cor. xvi. 2. It proves, indeed, to have been the ordinary Hellenistic way of exhibiting the vernacular idiom of Palestine.(260) The cardinal (μία) for the ordinal (πρώτη) in this phrase was a known Talmudic expression, which obtained also in Syriac.(261) Σάββατον and σάββατα,—designations in strictness of the _Sabbath-day_,—had come to be _also_ used as designations of the _week_. A reference to S. Mark xvi. 9 and S. Luke xviii. 12 establishes this concerning σάββατον: a reference to the six places cited just now in earlier note establishes it concerning σαββάτα. To see how indifferently the two forms (σάββατον and σαββάτα) were employed, one has but to notice that S. Matthew, _in the course of one and the same chapter_, five times designates the Sabbath as τὰ σαββάτα, and three times as τὸ σάββατον.(262) The origin and history of both words will be found explained in a note at the foot of the page.(263)

(2.) Confessedly, then, a double Hebraism is before us, which must have been simply unintelligible to Gentile readers. Μία τῶν σαββάτων sounded as enigmatical to an ordinary Greek ear, as “_una sabbatorum_” to a Roman. A convincing proof, (if proof were needed,) how abhorrent to a Latin reader was the last-named expression, is afforded by the old Latin versions of S. Matthew xxviii. 1; where ὄψε σαββάτων, τῇ ἐπιφωσκούση εἰς μίαν σαββάτων is invariably rendered, “Vespere _sabbati_, quæ lucescit in _prima sabbati_.”

(3.) The reader will now be prepared for the suggestion, that when S. Mark, (who is traditionally related to have written his Gospel _at Rome_,(264)) varies, in ver. 9, the phrase he had employed in ver. 2, he does so for an excellent and indeed for an obvious reason. In ver. 2, he had conformed to the prevailing usage of Palestine, and followed the example set him by S. Matthew (xxviii. 1) in adopting the enigmatical expression, ἡ μία σαββάτων. That this would be idiomatically represented _in Latin_ by the phrase “prima sabbati,” we have already seen. In ver. 9, therefore, he is solicitous to record the fact of the Resurrection afresh; and _this_ time, his phrase is observed to be _the Greek equivalent for the Latin _“prima sabbati;” viz. πρώτη σαββάτου. How strictly equivalent the two modes of expression were felt to be by those who were best qualified to judge, is singularly illustrated by the fact that the _Syriac_ rendering of both places is _identical_.

(4.) But I take leave to point out that this substituted phrase, instead of being a suspicious circumstance, is on the contrary a striking note of genuineness. For do we not recognise here, in the last chapter of the Gospel, the very same hand which, in the first chapter of it, was careful to inform us, just for once, that “Judæa,” is “a _country_,” (ἡ Ἰουδαία χώρα,)—and “Jordan,” “a _river_,” (ὁ Ἰορδάνης ποταμός)?—Is not this the very man who explained to his readers (in chap. xv. 42) that the familiar Jewish designation for “Friday,” ἡ παρασκευή, denotes “_the day before the Sabbath_?”(265)—and who was so minute in informing us (in chap. vii. 3, 4) about certain ceremonial practices of “the Pharisees and all the Jews?” Yet more,—Is not the self-same writer clearly recognisable in this xvith chapter, who in chap. vi. 37 presented us with σπεκουλάτωρ (the Latin _spiculator_) for “an executioner?” and who, in chap. xv. 39, for “a _centurion_,” wrote—not ἑκατόνταρχος, but—κεντυρίων?—and, in chap. xii. 42, explained that the two λεπτά which the poor widow cast into the Treasury were equivalent to κοδράντης, the Latin _quadrans_?—and in chap. vii. 4, 8, introduced the Roman measure _sextarius_, (ξέστης)?—and who volunteered the information (in chap. xv. 16) that αὐλή is only another designation of πραιτώριον (_Prætorium_)?—Yes. S. Mark,—who, alone of the four Evangelists, (in chap. xv. 21,) records the fact that Simon the Cyrenian was “_the father of Alexander and Rufus_,” evidently for the sake of his _Latin_ readers:(266) S. Mark,—who alone ventures to write in Greek letters (οὐά,—chap. xv. 29,) the Latin interjection “_Vah!_”—obviously because he was writing where that exclamation was most familiar, and the force of it best understood:(267) S. Mark,—who attends to the Roman division of the day, in relating our LORD’S prophecy to S. Peter:(268)—S. Mark, I say, no doubt it was who,—having conformed himself to the precedent set him by S. Matthew and the familiar usage of Palestine; and having written τῆς μιᾶς σαββάτων, (which he knew would sound like “_una sabbatorum_,”(269)) in ver. 2;—introduced, also for the benefit of his Latin readers, the Greek equivalent for “_prima sabbati_,” (viz. πρώτη σαββάτου,) in ver. 9.—This, therefore, I repeat, so far from being a circumstance “_unfavourable_ to its authenticity,” (by which, I presume, the learned writer means its _genuineness_), is rather corroborative of the Church’s constant belief that the present section of S. Mark’s Gospel is, equally with the rest of it, the production of S. Mark. “Not only was the document intended for Gentile converts:” (remarks Dr. Davidson, p. 149,) “but there are also appearances of its adaptation to the use of Roman Christians in particular.” Just so. And I venture to say that in the whole of “the document” Dr. Davidson will not find a more striking “appearance of its adaptation to the use of Roman Christians,”—_and therefore of its genuineness_,—than this. I shall have to request my reader by-and-by to accept it as one of the most striking notes of Divine origin which these verses contain.—For the moment, I pass on.

(II.) Less excusable is the coarseness of critical perception betrayed by the next remark. It has been pointed out as a suspicious circumstance that in ver. 9, “the phrase ἀφ᾽ ἧς ἐκβεβλήκει ἑπτα δαιμόνια is attached to the name of Mary Magdalene, although she had been mentioned three times before without such appendix. It seems to have been taken from Luke viii. 2.”(270)—Strange perversity, and yet stranger blindness!

(1.) The phrase _cannot_ have been taken from S. Luke; because S. Luke’s Gospel was written after S. Mark’s. It _was_ not taken from S. Luke; because _there_ ἀφ᾽ ἧς δαιμόνια ἑπτα ἐξεληλύθει,—here, ἀφ᾽ ἧς ἐκβεβλήκει ἑπτα δαιμόνια is read.

(2.) More important is it to expose the shallowness and futility of the entire objection.—Mary Magdalene “had been mentioned three times before, _without such appendix_.” Well but,—What _then_? After twice (ch. xiv. 54, 66) using the word αὐλή without any “appendix,” in the very next chapter (xv. 16) S. Mark adds, ὅ ἐστι πραιτώριον.—The beloved Disciple having mentioned himself without any “appendix” in S. John xx. 7, mentions himself with a very elaborate “appendix” in ver. 20. But what of it?—The sister of the Blessed Virgin, having been designated in chap. xv. 40, as Μαρία ἡ Ἰακώβου τοῦ μικροῦ καὶ Ἰωσῆ μήτηρ; is mentioned with one half of that “appendix,” (Μαρία ἡ Ἰωσῆ) in ver. 47, and _in the very next verse_, with the other half (Μαρία ἡ τοῦ Ἰακώβου.)—I see no reason why the Traitor, who, in S. Luke vi. 16, is called Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης, should be designated as Ἰούδαν τὸν ἐπικαλούμενον Ἰσκαριώτην in S. Luke xxii. 3.—I am not saying that such “appendices” are either uninteresting or unimportant. That I attend to them habitually, these pages will best evince. I am only insisting that to infer from such varieties of expression that a different author is recognisable, is abhorrent to the spirit of intelligent Criticism.

(3.) But in the case before us, the hostile suggestion is peculiarly infelicitous. There is even inexpressible tenderness and beauty, the deepest Gospel significancy, in the reservation of the clause “out of whom He had cast seven devils,” for this place. The reason, I say, is even obvious why an “appendix,” which would have been meaningless before, is introduced in connexion with Mary Magdalene’s august privilege of being the first of the human race to behold the risen SAVIOUR. Jerome (I rejoice to find) has been beforehand with me in suggesting that it was done, in order to convey by an example the tacit assurance that “where Sin had abounded, there did Grace much more abound.”(271) Are we to be cheated of our birthright by Critics(272) who, entirely overlooking a solution of the difficulty (_if_ difficulty it be) Divine as this, can see in the circumstance grounds only for suspicion and cavil? Απαγε.

(III.) Take the next example.—The very form of the “appendix” which we have been considering (ἀφ᾽ ἦς ἐκβεβλήκει ἑπτὰ δαιμόνια) breeds offence. “Instead of ἐκβάλλειν ἀπό,” (oracularly remarks Dr. Davidson,) “Mark has ἐκβάλλειν ἐκ.”(273)

Nothing of the sort, I answer. S. Mark _once_ has ἐκβάλλειν ἐκ,(274) and _once_ ἐκβάλλειν ἀπό. So has S. Matthew, (viz. in chap. vii. 4 and 5): and so has S. Luke, (viz. in chap. vi. 42, and in Acts xiii. 50.)—But what of all this? _Who_ sees not that such Criticism is simply nugatory?

(IV.) We are next favoured with the notable piece of information that the word πορεύεσθαι, “never used by S. Mark, is three times contained in this passage;” (viz. in verses 10, 12 and 15.)

(1.) Yes. The uncompounded verb, never used _elsewhere_ by S. Mark, is found here three times. But what then? The _compounds_ of πορεύεσθαι are common enough in his Gospel. Thus, short as his Gospel is, he alone has εἰσ-πορεύεσθαι, ἐκ-πορεύεσθαι, συμ-πορεύεσθαι, παρα-πορεύεσθαι, _oftener than all the other three Evangelists put together_,—viz. twenty-four times against their nineteen: while the compound προσπορεύεσθαι is _peculiar to his Gospel_.—I am therefore inclined to suggest that the presence of the verb πορεύεσθαι in these Twelve suspected Verses, instead of being an additional element of suspicion, is rather a circumstance slightly corroborative of their genuineness.

(2.) But suppose that the facts had been different. The phenomenon appealed to is of even perpetual recurrence, and may on no account be represented as _suspicious_. Thus, παρουσία, a word used only by S. Matthew among the Evangelists, is by him used four times; yet are all those four instances found _in one and the same chapter_. S. Luke alone has χαρίζεσθαι, and he has it three times: but all three cases are met with _in one and the same chapter_. S. John alone has λύπη, and he has it four times: but all the four instances occur _in one and the same chapter_.

(3.) Such instances might be multiplied to almost any extent. Out of the fifteen occasions when S. Matthew uses the word τάλαντον, no less than fourteen occur in one chapter. The nine occasions when S. Luke uses the word μνᾶ all occur in one chapter. S. John uses the verb ἀνιστάναι transitively only four times: but all four instances of it are found in one chapter.—Now, these three words (be it observed) are _peculiar to the Gospels_ in which they severally occur.

(4.) I shall of course be reminded that τάλαντον and μνᾶ are unusual words,—admitting of no substitute in the places where they respectively occur. But I reply,—Unless the Critics are able to shew me _which_ of the ordinary compounds of πορεύεσθαι S. Mark could _possibly_ have employed for the uncompounded verb, in the three places which have suggested the present inquiry, viz.:—

ver. 10:—ἐκείνη πορευθεῖσα ἀπήγγειλε τοῖς μετ᾽ αυτοῦ γενομένοις.

ver. 12:—δυσὶν ἐξ αὐτῶν ... πορευομένοις εἰς ἀγρόν.

ver. 13:—πορευθέντες εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἄπαντα, κηρύξατε τὸ εὐαγγέλιον;—

their objection is simply frivolous, and the proposed adverse reasoning, worthless. Such, in fact, it most certainly is; for it will be found that πορευθεῖσα in ver. 10,—πορευομένοις in ver. 12,—πορευθέντες in ver. 15,—_also_ “admit of no substitute in the places where they severally occur;” and therefore, since the verb itself is one of S. Mark’s favourite verbs, not only are these three places above suspicion, but they may be fairly adduced as indications that _the same_ hand was at work here which wrote all the rest of his Gospel.(275)

(V.) Then further,—the phrase τοῖς μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ γενομένοις (in ver. 10) is noted as suspicious. “Though found in the Acts (xx. 18) it _never occurs in the Gospels_: nor does the word μαθηταί in this passage.”

(1.) The phrase οἱ μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ γενόμενοι occurs nowhere in the Acts or in the Gospels, _except here_. But,—Why _should_ it appear elsewhere? or rather,—How _could_ it? Now, if the expression be (as it is) an ordinary, easy, and obvious one,—_wanted_ in this place, where it _is_ met with; but _not_ met with elsewhere, simply because elsewhere it is _not_ wanted;—surely it is unworthy of any one calling himself a Critic to pretend that there attaches to it the faintest shadow of suspicion!

(2.) The essence of the phrase is clearly the expression οἱ μετ᾽ αυτοῦ. (The aorist participle of γίνομαι, is added of necessity to mark the persons spoken of. In no other, (certainly in no simpler, more obvious, or more precise) way could the followers of the risen SAVIOUR have been designated at such a time. For had He not just now “overcome the sharpness of Death”?) But this expression, which occurs four times in S. Matthew and four times in S. Luke, occurs also four times in S. Mark: viz. in chap. i. 36; ii. 25; v. 40, _and here_. This, therefore, is a slightly corroborative circumstance,—not at all a ground of suspicion.

(3.) But it seems to be implied that S. Mark, because he mentions τοὺς μαθητάς often elsewhere in his Gospel, ought to have mentioned them here.

(a) I answer:—He does not mention τοὺς μαθητάς nearly so often as S. Matthew; while S. John notices them twice as often as he does.

(b) Suppose, however, that he elsewhere mentioned them five hundred times, because he had occasion five hundred times to speak of them;—what reason would _that_ be for his mentioning them here, where he is _not_ speaking of them?

(_c_) It must be evident to any one reading the Gospel with attention that besides οἱ μαθηταί,—(by which expression S. Mark always designates _the Twelve Apostles_,)—there was a considerable company of believers assembled together throughout the first Easter Day.(276) S. Luke notices this circumstance when he relates how the Women, on their return from the Sepulchre, “told all these things unto the Eleven, and _to all the rest_,” (xxiv. 9): and again when he describes how Cleopas and his companion (δύο ἐξ αὐτῶν as S. Luke and S. Mark call them) on their return to Jerusalem, “found the Eleven gathered together, _and them that were with them_” (xxiv. 33.) But this was at least as well known to S. Mark as it was to S. Luke. Instead, therefore, of regarding the designation “_them that had been with Him_” with suspicion,—are we not rather to recognise in it one token more that the narrative in which it occurs is unmistakably genuine? What else is this but one of those delicate discriminating touches which indicate the hand of a great Master; one of those evidences of minute accuracy which stamp on a narrative the impress of unquestionable Truth?

(VI.) We are next assured by our Critic that θεᾶσθαι “is unknown to Mark;” but it occurs twice in this section, (viz. in ver. 11 and ver. 14.) _Another_ suspicious circumstance!

(1.) A strange way (as before) of stating an ordinary fact, certainly! What else is it but to assume the thing which has to be proved? If the learned writer had said instead, that the verb θεᾶσθαι, here twice employed by S. Mark, occurs _nowhere else_ in his Gospel,—he would have acted more loyally, not to say more fairly by the record: but then he would have been stating a strictly ordinary phenomenon,—of no significancy, or relevancy to the matter in hand. He is probably aware that παραβαίνειν in like manner is to be found in two consecutive verses of S. Matthew’s Gospel; παρακούειν, twice in the course of one verse: neither word being used on any other occasion _either by S. Matthew, or by any other Evangelist_. The same thing precisely is to be said of ἀναζητεῖν and ἀνταποδιδόναι, of ἀντιπαρέρχεσθαι, and διατίθεσθαι, in S. Luke: of ἀνιστάναι and ζωννύναι in S. John. But who ever dreamed of insinuating that the circumstance is suspicious?

(2.) As for θεᾶσθαι, we should have reminded our Critic that this verb, which is used seven times by S. John, and four times by S. Matthew, is used only three times by S. Luke, and only twice by S. Mark. And we should have respectfully inquired,—What possible suspicion does θεᾶσθαι throw upon the last twelve verses of S. Mark’s Gospel?

(3.) None whatever, would have been the reply. But in the meantime Dr. Davidson hints that the verb _ought_ to have been employed by S. Mark in chap. ii. 14.(277)—It is, I presume, sufficient to point out that S. Matthew, at all events, was not of Dr. Davidson’s opinion:(278) and I respectfully submit that the Evangelist, inasmuch as he happens to be here _writing about himself_, must be allowed, just for once, to be the better judge.

(4.) In the meantime,—Is it not perceived that θεᾶσθαι is the very word specially required in these two places,—though _nowhere else in S. Mark’s Gospel_?(279) The occasion is one,—viz. the “beholding” of the person of the risen SAVIOUR. Does not even natural piety suggest that the uniqueness of such a “spectacle” as _that_ might well set an Evangelist on casting about for a word of somewhat less ordinary occurrence? The occasion cries aloud for this very verb θεᾶσθαι; and I can hardly conceive a more apt illustration of a darkened eye,—a spiritual faculty perverted from its lawful purpose,—than that which only discovers “a stumbling-block and occasion of falling” in expressions like the present which “should have been only for their wealth,” being so manifestly designed for their edification.

(VII.) But,—(it is urged by a Critic of a very different stamp,)—ἐθεάθη ὑπ᾽ αὐτῆς (ver. 11) “is a construction only found here in the New Testament.”

(1.) Very likely; but what then? The learned writer has evidently overlooked the fact that the passive θεᾶσθαι occurs but _three times_ in the New Testament _in all_.(280) S. Matthew, on the _two_ occasions when he employs the word, connects it with a dative.(281) What is there _suspicious_ in the circumstance that θεᾶσθαι ὑπό should be the construction preferred by S. Mark? The phenomenon is not nearly so remarkable as that S. Luke, on one solitary occasion, exhibits the phrase μὴ φοβεῖσθε ἀπό,(282)—instead of making the verb govern the accusative, as he does three times _in the very next verse_; and, indeed, eleven times in the course of his Gospel. To be sure, S. Luke in this instance is but copying S. Matthew, who _also_ has μὴ φοβεῖσθε ἀπό once;(283) and seven times makes the verb govern an accusative. This, nevertheless, constitutes no reason whatever for suspecting the genuineness either of S. Matth. x. 28 or of S. Luke xii. 4.

(2.) In like manner, the phrase ἐφοβήθησαν φόβον μέγαν will be found to occur once, and once _only_, in S. Mark,—once, and once only, in S. Luke;(284) although S. Mark and S. Luke use the verb φοβεῖσθαι upwards of forty times. Such facts are interesting. They may prove important. But no one who is ever so little conversant with such inquiries will pretend that they are in the least degree _suspicious_.—I pass on.

(VIII.) It is next noted as a suspicious circumstance that ἀπιστεῖν occurs in ver. 11 and in ver. 16; but nowhere else in the Gospels,—except in S. Luke xxiv. 11, 14.

But really, such a remark is wholly without force, as an argument against the genuineness of the passage in which the word is found: for,

(1.) Where else in the course of this Gospel _could_ ἀπιστεῖν have occurred? Now, unless some reason can be shewn why the word _should_, or at least _might_ have been employed elsewhere, to remark upon its introduction in this place, _where it __ could scarcely be dispensed with_, as a ground of suspicion, is simply irrational. It might just as well be held to be a suspicious circumstance, in respect of verses 3 and 4, that the verb ἀποκυλίζειν occurs there, _and there only_, in this Gospel. Nothing whatever follows from the circumstance. It is, in fact, a point scarcely deserving of attention.

(2.) To be sure, if the case of a verb exclusively used by the two Evangelists, S. Mark and S. Luke, were an unique, or even an exceedingly rare phenomenon, it might have been held to be a somewhat suspicious circumstance that the phenomenon presented itself in the present section. But nothing of the sort is the fact. There are no fewer than forty-five verbs _exclusively used by S. Mark and S. Luke_. And why should not ἀπιστεῖν be, (as it is,) one of them?

(3.) Note, next, that this word _is used twice_, and in the course of his last chapter too, also _by S. Luke_. Nowhere else does it occur in the Gospels. It is at least as strange that the word ἀπιστεῖν should be found twice in the last chapter of the Gospel according to S. Luke, as in the last chapter of the Gospel according to S. Mark. And if no shadow of suspicion is supposed to result from this circumstance in the case of the third Evangelist, why should it in the case of the second?

(4.) But, lastly, _the noun_ ἀπιστία (which occurs in S. Mark xvi. 14) occurs in two other places of the same Gospel. And this word (which S. Matthew uses twice,) is employed by none of the other Evangelists.—What need to add another word? Do not many of these supposed suspicious circumstances,—_this_ one for example,—prove rather, on closer inspection, to be confirmatory facts?

(IX.) We are next assured that μετὰ ταῦτα (ver. 12) “_is not found in Mark_, though many opportunities occurred for using it.”

(1.) I suppose that what this learned writer means, is this; that if S. Mark had coveted an opportunity for introducing the phrase μετὰ ταῦτα earlier in his Gospel, he might have found one. (More than this cannot be meant: for _nowhere_ before does S. Mark employ _any other phrase_ to express “after these things,” or “after this,” or “afterwards.”)

But what is the obvious inference from the facts of the case, as stated by the learned Critic, except that the blessed Evangelist _must be presumed to have been unconscious of any desire to introduce the expression under consideration on any other occasion except the present_?

(2.) Then, further, it is worth observing that while the phrase μετὰ ταῦτα occurs five times in S. Luke’s Gospel, it is found only twice in the Acts; while S. Matthew _never employs it at all_. Why, then,—I would respectfully inquire—_why_ need S. Mark introduce the phrase _more than once_? Why, especially, is his solitary use of the expression to be represented as a suspicious circumstance; and even perverted into an article of indictment against the genuineness of the last twelve verses of his Gospel? “Would any one argue that S. Luke was not the author of the Acts, because the author of the Acts has employed this phrase only twice,—‘often as he _could_ have used it?’ (Meyer’s phrase here.(285))”

(X.) Another objection awaits us,—“Ἓτερος also is unknown to Mark,” says Dr. Davidson;—which only means that the word occurs in chap. xvi. 12, but not elsewhere in his Gospel.

It so happens, however, that ἕτερος also occurs once only in the Gospel of S. John. Does it therefore throw suspicion on S. John xix. 37?

(XI.) The same thing is said of ὕστερον (in ver. 14) viz. that it “occurs nowhere” in the second Gospel.

But why not state the case thus?—Ὕστερον, a word which is twice employed by S. Luke, occurs only _once_ in S. Mark and _once_ in S. John.—_That_ would be the true way of stating the facts of the case. But it would be attended with this inconvenient result,—that it would make it plain that the word in question has no kind of bearing on the matter in hand.

(XII.) The same thing he says of βλάπτειν (in ver. 18).

But what is the fact? The word occurs _only twice in the Gospels_,—viz. in S. Mark xvi. 18 and S. Luke iv. 35. It is one of the eighty-four words which are peculiar to S. Mark and S. Luke. What possible significancy would Dr. Davidson attach to the circumstance?

(XIII.) Once more.—“πανταχοῦ” (proceeds Dr. Davidson) “is unknown to Mark;” which (as we begin to be aware) is the learned gentleman’s way of stating that it is only found in chap. xvi. 20.

Tischendorf, Tregelles, and Alford insist that it _also_ occurs in S. Mark i. 28. I respectfully differ from them in opinion: but when it has been pointed out that the word _is only used besides in S. Luke_ ix. 6, what _can_ be said of such Criticism but that it is simply frivolous?

(XIV. and XV.) Yet again:—συνεργεῖν and βεβαιοῦν are also said by the same learned Critic to be “unknown to Mark.”

S. Mark certainly uses these two words only once,—viz. in the last verse of the present Chapter: but what there is suspicious in this circumstance, I am at a loss even to divine. He _could_ not have used them oftener; and since one hundred and fifty-six words are peculiar to his Gospel, why should not συνεργεῖν and βεβαιοῦν be two of them?

(XVI.) “Πᾶσα κτίσις is Pauline,” proceeds Dr. Davidson, (referring to a famous expression which is found in ver. 15.)

(1.) All very oracular,—to be sure: but _why_ πᾶσα κτίσις should be thought “Pauline” rather than “Petrine,” I really, once more, cannot discover; seeing that S. Peter has the expression as well as S. Paul.(286)

(2.) In this place, however, the phrase is πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις. But even this expression is no more to be called “Pauline” than “Marcine;” seeing that as S. Mark uses it once and once only, so does S. Paul use it once and once only, viz. in Rom. viii. 22.

(3.) In the meantime, how does it come to pass that the learned Critic has overlooked the significant fact that the word κτίσις occurs besides in S. Mark x. 6 and xiii. 19; and that it is a word which _S. Mark alone of the Evangelists uses_? Its occurrence, therefore, in this place is a circumstance the very reverse of suspicious.

(4.) But lastly, inasmuch as the opening words of our LORD’S Ministerial Commission to the Apostles are these,—κηρύξατε τὸ εὐαγγέλιον πάση τῇ κτίσει (ver. 15): inasmuch, too, as S. Paul in his Epistle to the Colossians (i. 23) almost reproduces those very words; speaking of the Hope τοῦ εὐαγγελίου ... τοῦ κηρυχθέντος ἐν πάση [τῇ] κτίσει τῇ ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανόν:—Is it not an allowable conjecture that _a direct reference_ to _that_ place in S. Mark’s Gospel is contained in _this_ place of S. Paul’s Epistle? that the inspired Apostle “beholding the universal tendency of Christianity already realized,” announces (and from imperial Rome!) the fulfilment of his LORD’S commands in his LORD’S own words as recorded by the Evangelist S. Mark?

I desire to be understood to deliver this only as a conjecture. But seeing that S. Mark’s Gospel is commonly thought to have been written at Rome, and under the eye of S. Peter; and that S. Peter (and therefore S. Mark) must have been at Rome before S. Paul visited that city in A.D. 61;—seeing, too, that it was in A.D. 61-2 (as Wordsworth and Alford are agreed) that S. Paul wrote his Epistle to the Colossians, and wrote it from _Rome_;—I really can discover nothing unreasonable in the speculation. If, however, it be well founded,—(and it is impossible to deny that the coincidence of expression _may_ be such as I have suggested,)—then, what an august corroboration would _this_ be of “the last Twelve Verses of the Gospel according to S. Mark!” ... If, indeed, the great Apostle on reaching Rome inspected S. Mark’s Gospel for the first time, with what awe will he have recognised in his own recent experience the fulfilment of his SAVIOUR’S great announcement concerning the “signs which should follow them that believe!” Had he not himself “cast out devils?”—“spoken with tongues more than they all?”—and at Melita, not only “shaken off the serpent into the fire and felt no harm,” but also “laid hands on the sick” father of Publius, “and he had recovered?” ... To return, however, to matters of fact; with an apology (if it be thought necessary) for what immediately goes before.

(XVII.) Next,—ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι μου (ver. 17) is noticed as another suspicious peculiarity. The phrase is supposed to occur only in this place of S. Mark’s Gospel; the Evangelist elsewhere employing the preposition ἐπί:—(viz. in ix. 37: ix. 39: xiii. 6.)

(1.) Now really, if it were so, the reasoning would be nugatory. _S. Luke_ also once, and once only, has ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί σου: his usage elsewhere being, (like S. Mark’s) to use ἐπί. Nay, in two consecutive verses of ch. ix, ἐπί τῷ ὀνόματί μου—σου is read: and yet, in the very next chapter, his Gospel exhibits an unique instance of the usage of ἐν. Was it ever thought that suspicion is thereby cast on S. Luke x. 17?

(2.) But, in fact, the objection is an oversight of the learned (and generally accurate) objector. The phrase recurs in S. Mark ix. 38,—as the text of that place has been revised by Tischendorf, by Tregelles and by himself. This is therefore a slightly _corroborative_, not a suspicious circumstance.

(XVIII. and XIX.) We are further assured that παρακολουθεῖν (in ver. 17) and ἐπακολουθεῖν (in ver. 20) “are both _foreign to the diction of Mark_.”

(1.) But what can the learned author of this statement possibly mean? He is not speaking of the uncompounded verb ἀκολουθεῖν, of course; for S. Mark employs it at least twenty times. He cannot be speaking of the compounded verb; for συνακολουθεῖν occurs in S. Mark v. 37. He cannot mean that παρακολουθεῖν, because the Evangelist uses it only once, is suspicious; for that would be to cast a slur on S. Luke i. 3. He cannot mean generally that verbs compounded with prepositions are “foreign to the diction of Mark;” for there are no less than _forty-two_ such verbs which are even _peculiar to S. Mark’s short Gospel_,—against thirty which are peculiar to S. Matthew, and seventeen which are peculiar to S. John. He cannot mean that verbs compounded with παρά and ἐπί have a suspicious look; for at least _thirty-three_ such compounds, (besides the two before us,) occur in his sixteen chapters.(287) What, then, I must really ask, can the learned Critic possibly mean?—I respectfully pause for an answer.

(2.) In the meantime, I claim that as far as such evidence goes,—(and it certainly goes a very little way, yet, _as far as it goes_,)—it is a note of S. Mark’s authorship, that within the compass of the last twelve verses of his Gospel these two compounded verbs should be met with.

(XX.) Dr. Davidson points out, as another suspicious circumstance, that (in ver. 18) the phrase χεῖρας ἐπιτιθέναι ἐπί τινα occurs; “instead of χεῖρας ἐπιτιθέναι τινι.”