Chapter VIII: Section VII

THE PRINCIPAL WITNESS.--HIS TESTIMONY RESPECTING THE MORAL TEACHING OF OUR LORD.

One more class of apparent quotations from our Synoptic Gospels must now be considered, viz., the citations in Justin of the moral teaching or precepts of Christ. Those are mostly to be found in one place, in one part of the First Apology (chapters xv.-xviii.), and they are introduced for the express purpose of convincing the Emperor of the high standard of Christ's moral teaching.

The author of "Supernatural Religion" gives very considerable extracts from these chapters, which I shall give in his own translation:--

"He (Jesus) spoke thus of chastity: 'Whosoever may have gazed on a
woman, to lust after her, hath committed adultery already in the
heart before God.' And, 'If thy right eye offend thee cut it out,
for it is profitable for thee to enter into the kingdom of heaven
with one eye (rather) than having two to be thrust into the
everlasting fire.' And, 'Whosoever marrieth a woman, divorced from
another man, committeth adultery.'"

* * * * *

"And regarding our affection for all He thus taught: 'If ye love
them which love you what new thing do ye? for even the fornicators
do this; but I say unto you, pray for your enemies, and love them
which hate you, and bless them which curse you, and offer prayer for
them which despitefully use you.' And that we should communicate to
the needy, and do nothing for praise, He said thus: 'Give ye to
every one that asketh, and from him that desireth to borrow turn not
ye away, for, if ye lend to them from whom ye hope to receive, what
new thing do ye? for even the publicans do this. But ye, lay not up
for yourselves upon the earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and
robbers break through, but lay up for yourselves in the heavens,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt. For what is a man profited
if he shall gain the whole world but destroy his soul? or what shall
he give in exchange for it? Lay up, therefore, in the heavens, where
neither moth nor rust doth corrupt.' And, 'Be ye kind and merciful
as your Father also is kind and merciful, and maketh His sun to rise
on sinners, and just and evil. But be not careful what ye shall eat
and what ye shall put on. Are ye not better than the birds and the
beasts? and God feedeth them. Therefore be not careful what ye shall
eat or what ye shall put on, for your heavenly Father knoweth that
ye have need of these things; but seek ye the kingdom of the
heavens, and all these things shall be added unto you, for where the
treasure is there is also the mind of the man. And 'Do not these
things to be seen of men, otherwise ye have no reward of your Father
which is in heaven.' And regarding our being patient under injuries,
and ready to help all, and free from anger, this is what He said:
'Unto him striking thy cheek offer the other also; and him who
carrieth off thy cloak, or thy coat, do not thou prevent. But
whosoever shall be angry is in danger of the fire. But every one who
compelleth thee to go a mile, follow twain. And let your good works
shine before men, so that, perceiving, they may adore your Father,
which is in heaven.' ... And regarding our not swearing at all, but
ever speaking the truth, He thus taught: 'Ye may not swear at all,
but let your yea be yea, and your nay nay, for what is more than
these is of the evil one.'"

* * * * *

"'For not those who merely make profession, but those who do the
work,' as He said, 'shall be saved.' For He spake thus: 'Not every
one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall (enter into the kingdom of
heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in
heaven). For whosoever heareth me, and doeth what I say, heareth Him
that sent me. But many will say to me, Lord, Lord, have we not eaten
and drunk in Thy name, and done wonders? And then will I say unto
them, 'Depart from me, workers of iniquity.' There shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth, when indeed the righteous shall shine as the
sun, but the wicked are sent into everlasting fire. For many shall
arrive in My name, outwardly, indeed, clothed in sheep-skins, but
inwardly being ravening wolves. Ye shall know them from their works,
and every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and
cast into the fire."

* * * * *

"As Christ declared, saying, 'To whom God has given more, of him
shall more also be demanded again.'"

The ordinary reader, remembering that Justin was writing for the heathen, would suppose, after reading the above, that Justin reproduced from SS. Matthew and Luke the moral precepts of Christ, or rather those which suited his purpose, and his purpose was to show to the heathen Emperor that Christianity would make the best members of a community.

To this end he reproduces the precepts respecting chastity, respecting love to all, and communicating to the needy--being kind and merciful--not caring much for material things--being patient and truthful--and above all, being sincere.

He did not reproduce the precepts respecting prayer, simply because immoral men among the heathen worshipped their gods as devoutly as moral men did. He did not reproduce the Lord's prayer, because he would not consider that it belonged to the heathen, or the promises that God would hear prayer, simply because these would belong to Christians only.

Again, he evidently altered and curtailed what the heathen would not understand, as for instance, in quoting our Lord's saying respecting "anger," he quoted it very shortly, because to have quoted at length the gradations of punishment for being "angry without a cause," for "calling a brother Raca" and "fool," would have been almost unintelligible to those unacquainted with Jewish customs.

The author of "Supernatural Religion" repudiates the idea that Justin, in any of these quotations, makes use of our present Gospels. He examines these [so-called] quotations seriatim at considerable length, for the purpose of showing that Justin's variations from our present Gospels imply another source of information. He considers (and in this I cannot agree with him, though I shall, for argument's sake, yield the point) that--

"The hypothesis that these quotations are from the canonical gospels
requires the acceptance of the fact that Justin, with singular care,
collected from distant and scattered portions of these gospels a
series of passages in close sequence to each other, forming a whole
unknown to them, but complete in itself." ("Supernatural Religion,"
vol. i. p. 359)

I say I cannot agree with this, because I think that the extracts I have given have all the signs of a piece of patchwork by no means well put together, but I will assume that he is right in his view.

Here, then, we have, according to his hypothesis, another sermon of Christ's, which, owing to the "close sequence" of its various passages, and its completeness as a whole, must take its place alongside of the Sermon on the Mount. Where does it come from?--

"The simple and natural conclusion, supported by many strong
reasons, is that Justin derived his quotations from a Gospel which
was different from ours, though naturally by subject and design it
must have been related to them." (Vol. i. p. 384.)

And in page 378 our author traces one of the passages of this "consecutive" discourse through an epistle ascribed to Clement of Rome to the "Gospel according to the Egyptians," which was in all probability a version of the "Gospel according to the Hebrews."

Here, then, is a Gospel, the Gospel to the Hebrews, which not only contained, as the author has shown, a harmony of the histories in SS. Matthew and Luke, so far, at least, as the Birth and Death of Christ are concerned, but also such a full and consecutive report of the moral teaching of Christ, that it may not unfitly be described as "a series of passages in close sequence to each other," collected "with singular care" "from distant and scattered portions of these Gospels." How, we ask, could such a Gospel have perished utterly? A Gospel, which, besides containing records of the historical and supernatural much fuller than any one of the surviving Gospels, contained also a sort of Sermon on the Mount, amalgamating in one whole the moral teaching of our Lord, ought surely (if it ever was in existence) to have won its place in the canon.