The Author of Supernatural Religion Refuted by Himself - The Lost Gospel and Its Contents

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Here, then, are the remains of an older Gospel used by Justin, taken
from copies which rationalists assert to have been, when used by him, in
a state of greater purity than a subsequent recension, which subsequent
recension was anterior to our present Gospels, and being older was
purer, because nearer to the fountain-head of knowledge: but this older
and purer form is characterized by a more pronounced supernatural
element--to wit, the 'fire' in Jordan and the 'light'--so that, the
older and purer the tradition, the more supernatural is its teaching.

SECTION VI.

THE PRINCIPAL WITNESS.--HIS TESTIMONY RESPECTING THE DEATH OF CHRIST.

We have now to consider the various notices in Justin respecting our
Lord's Crucifixion, and the events immediately preceding and following
it. Justin notices our Lord's entry into Jerusalem:--

"And the prophecy, 'binding His foal to the vine and washing His
robe in the blood of the grape,' was a significant symbol of the
things which were to happen to Christ, and of what He was to do. For
the foal of an ass stood bound to a vine at the entrance of a
village, and He ordered His acquaintances to bring it to Him then;
and when it was brought He mounted and sat upon it, and entered
Jerusalem." (Apol. I. ch. xxxii.)

Justin in a subsequent place (Dial. ch. liii.) notices the fact only
mentioned in St. Matthew, that Jesus commanded the disciples to bring
both an ass and its foal:--

"And truly our Lord Jesus Christ, when He intended to go into
Jerusalem, requested His disciples to bring Him a certain ass, along
with its foal, which was bound in an entrance of a village called
Bethphage; and, having seated Himself on it, He entered into
Jerusalem."

Justin thus describes the institution of the Eucharist:--

"For the Apostles, in the Memoirs composed by them, which are called
Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them;
that Jesus took bread, and, when He had given thanks, said, 'This do
ye in remembrance of me, this is My body;' and that after the same
manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, 'This is My
blood;' and gave it to them alone." (Apol. i. ch. lxvi.)

He thus adverts to the dispersion of the Apostles:--

"Moreover, the prophet Zechariah foretold that this same Christ
would be smitten and His disciples scattered: which also took place.
For after His Crucifixion the disciples that accompanied Him were
dispersed." (Dial. ch. liii.)

He mentions our Lord's agony as the completion of a prophecy in Psalm
xxii.:--

"For on the day on which He was to be crucified, having taken three
of His disciples to the hill called Olivet, situated opposite to the
temple at Jerusalem, He prayed in these words: 'Father, if it be
possible, lot this cup pass from Me.' And again He prayed, 'Not as I
will, but as Thou wilt.'" (Dial. xcix.)

His sweating great drops of blood (mentioned only in St. Luke), also in
fulfilment of Psalm xxii.--

"For in the memoirs which I say were drawn up by His Apostles, and
those who followed them [it is recorded] that His sweat fell down
like drops of blood while He was praying, and saying, 'If it be
possible, let this cup pass.'" [34:1] (Ch. ciii.)

His being sent to Herod (mentioned only in St. Luke):--

"And when Herod succeeded Archelaus, having received the authority
which had been allotted to him, Pilate sent to him by way of
compliment Jesus bound; and God, foreknowing that this would happen,
had thus spoken, 'And they brought Him to the Assyrian a present to
the king.'" (Ch. ciii.)

His silence before Pilate, also quoted by Justin, in fulfilment of Psalm
xxii.:--

"And the statement, 'My strength is become dry like a potsherd, and
my tongue has cleaved to my throat,' was also a prophecy of what
would be done by Him according to the Father's will. For the power
of His strong word, by which He always confuted the Pharisees and
Scribes, and, in short, all your nation's teachers that questioned
Him, had a cessation like a plentiful and strong spring, the waters
of which have been turned off, when He kept silence, and chose to
return no answer to any one in the presence of Pilate; as has been
declared in the Memoirs of His Apostles." (Dial. ch. cii.)

His crucifixion:

"And again, in other words, David in the twenty-first Psalm thus
refers to the suffering and to the cross in a parable of mystery:
'They pierced my hands and my feet; they counted all my bones; they
considered and gazed upon me; they parted my garments among them,
and cast lots upon my vesture.' For when they crucified Him, driving
in the nails, they pierced His hands and feet; and those who
crucified Him parted His garments among themselves, each casting
lots for what he chose to have, and receiving according to the
decision of the lot." (Ch. xcvii.)

The mocking of Him by His enemies:--

"And the following: 'All they that see Me laughed Me to scorn; they
spake with the lips; they shook the head: He trusted in the Lord,
let Him deliver Him since He desires Him;' this likewise He foretold
should happen to Him. For they that saw Him crucified shook their
heads each one of them, and distorted their lips, and, twisting
their noses to each other, they spake in mockery the words which are
recorded in the Memoirs of His Apostles, 'He said He was the Son of
God: let Him come down; let God save Him.'" (Ch. ci.)

His saying, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (reported only
in SS. Matthew and Mark):--

"For, when crucified, He spake, 'O God, my God, why hast Thou
forsaken me?'" (Ch. xcix.)

His saying, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit," reported only
in St. Luke:--

"For, when Christ was giving up His spirit on the cross, He said,
'Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit,' as I have learned also
from the Memoirs." (Ch. cv.)

His Resurrection and appearance to His Apostles gathered together (found
only in SS. Luke and John), and His reminding the same Apostles that
before His Death He had foretold it (found only in St. Luke):--

"And that He stood in the midst of His brethren, the Apostles (who
repented of their flight from Him when He was crucified, after He
rose from the dead, and after they were persuaded by Him that before
His Passion He had mentioned to them that He must suffer these
things, and that they were announced beforehand by the prophets)."
[37:1] (Ch. cvi.)

The Jews spreading the report that His disciples had stolen away His
Body by night (recorded only by St. Matthew):--

"Yet you not only have not repented, after you learned that He rose
from the dead, but, as I said before, you have sent chosen and
ordained men throughout all the world to proclaim that a godless and
lawless heresy had sprung from one Jesus, a Galilean deceiver, whom
we crucified, but His disciples stole Him by night from the tomb,
where He was laid when unfastened from the cross." (Ch. cviii.)

The Apostles seeing the Ascension, and afterwards receiving power from
Him in person, and going to every race of men:--

"And when they had seen Him ascending into heaven, and had believed,
and had received power sent thence by Him upon them, and went to
every race of men, they taught these things, and were called
Apostles." (Apol. I. ch. l.)

From all this the reader will see at a glance that Justin's view of the
Crucifixion and the events attending it was exactly the same as ours. He
will notice that all the events related in Justin are the same as those
recorded in the Evangelists Matthew and Luke; and that the circumstances
related by Justin, and not to be found in the Synoptics, are of the most
trifling character, as, for instance, that the blaspheming bystanders at
the cross "screwed up their noses." I think this is the only additional
circumstance to which the writer of "Supernatural Religion" draws
attention. He will notice that Justin records some events only to be
found in St. Matthew and some only in St. Luke. He will notice also how
frequently Justin reproduces the narrative rather than quotes it.

The ordinary reader would account for all this by supposing that Justin
had our Synoptics (at least the first and third) before him, and
reproduced incidents first from one and then from the other as they
suited his purpose, and his purpose was not to give an account of the
Crucifixion, but to elucidate the prophecies respecting the Crucifixion.

The author of "Supernatural Religion," however, goes through those
citations, or supposed citations, seriatim, and attempts to show that
each one must have been taken from some lost Gospel, most probably the
Gospel of the Hebrews.

Be it so. Here, then, was a Gospel which contained all the separate
incidents recorded in SS. Matthew and Luke, and, of course, combined
them in one narrative. How is it that so inestimably valuable a
Christian document was irretrievably lost, and its place supplied by
three others, each far its inferior, each picking and choosing separate
parts from the original; and that, about 120 years after the original
promulgation of the Gospel, these three forged narratives superseded a
Gospel which would have been, in the matter of our Lord's Birth, Death,
and Resurrection, a complete and perfect harmony? I leave the author of
"Supernatural Religion" to explain so unlikely a fact. One explanation
is, however, on our author's own showing, inadmissible, which is, that
our present Synoptics were adopted because they pandered more than the
superseded one to the growing taste for the supernatural, for the
earlier Gospel or Gospels contained supernatural incidents which are
wanting in our present Synoptics.

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.

SECTION VIII.

THE PRINCIPAL WITNESS.--HIS TESTIMONY TO ST. JOHN.

We have now to consider the citations (or supposed citations) of Justin
from the fourth Gospel. These, as I have mentioned, are treated by the
author of "Supernatural Religion" separately at the conclusion of his
work.

Whatever internal coincidences there are between the contents of
St. John and those of the Synoptics, the external differences are
exceedingly striking, and it is not at all to my present purpose to keep
this fact out of sight. The plan of St. John's Gospel is different, the
style is different, the subjects of the discourses, the scene of action,
the incidents, and (with one exception) the miracles, all are different.

Now this will greatly facilitate the investigation of the question as to
whether any author had St. John before him when he wrote. There may be
some uncertainty with respect to the quotations from the Synoptics, as
to whether an early writer quotes one or other, or derives what he cites
from some earlier source, as for instance from one of St. Luke's [Greek:
polloi].

But it cannot be so with St. John. A quotation of, or reference to, any
words of any discourse of our Lord, or an account of any transaction as
reported by St. John, can be discerned in an instant. At least it can be
at once seen that it cannot have been derived from the Synoptics, or
from any supposed apocryphal or traditional sources from which the
Synoptics derived their information.

The special object of this Gospel is the identification of the
pre-existent nature of our Lord with the eternal Word, and following
upon this, His relation to His Father on the one side, and to mankind on
the other.

He is the only begotten of the Father, God being His own proper Father
[Greek: idios], and so He is equal to the Father in nature (John v. 18),
and yet, as being a Son, He is subordinate, so that He represents
Himself throughout as sent by the Father to do His will and speak His
words.

With reference to mankind He is, before His Incarnation, the "Light that
lighteth every man." After and through His Incarnation He is to man all
in all. He is even in death the object of their Faith. He is the
Mediator through whose very person God sends the Spirit. He is the Life,
the Light, the Living Water, the Spiritual Food.

Justin Martyr repeatedly reproduces in various forms of expression the
truth that Christ is the eternal "Word made flesh" and revealed as the
"Only-begotten Son of God," thus:--

"The first power after God the Father and Lord of all is the Word,
Who is also the Son, and of Him we will, in what follows, relate how
He took flesh and became man." (Apol. I. Ch. XXXII.)

Again:--

"I have already proved that He was the only-begotten of the Father
of all things, being begotten in a peculiar manner [Greek: idios],
Word and Power by Him, and having afterwards become man through the
Virgin." (Dial. ch. cv.)

Now, we have in these two passages four or five characteristic
expressions of St. John relating to our Lord, not to be found in any
other Scripture writer. I say "in any other," for I believe that not
only the Epistles of St. John, but also the Apocalypse, notwithstanding
certain differences in style, are to be ascribed to St. John.

We have the term "Word" united with "the Son," and with "Only begotten,"
and said to be "properly (proprie; [Greek: idios]) begotten;" a
reminiscence of John v. 18, the only place in the New Testament where
the adjective [Greek: idios] or its adverb [Greek: idios] is applied to
the relations of the Father and the Son, and we have this Word becoming
flesh and man.

Now Justin, in one of the places, writes to convince an heathen emperor;
and, in the other, an unbelieving Jew; and so in each case he reproduces
the sense of John i. 1 and 14, and not the exact words. It would have
been an absurdity for him to have quoted St. John exactly, for, in such
a case, he must have retained the words "we beheld his glory, the glory
as," which would have simply detracted from the force of the passage,
being unintelligible without some explanation.

Again, we have in the Dialogue (ch. lxi.) the words "The Word of Wisdom,
Who is Himself this God begotten of the Father of all things." Now here
there seems to be a reproduction of the old and very probably original
reading of John i. 18, [48:1] "The only begotten God who is in the bosom
of the Father." Certainly this reading of John i. 18 is the only place
where the idea of being begotten is associated with the term "God."

We next have to notice that Justin repeatedly uses the words "God" and
"Lord" in collocation as applied to Jesus Christ; not "the Lord God,"
the usual Old Testament collocation, but God and Lord, thus:

"For Christ is King and Priest and God and Lord," &c. (Dial. ch.
xxxiv.)

Again:--

"There is, and there is said to be, another God and Lord subject to
the Maker of all things." (Dial. lvi.)

Now the only Gospel in which these words are to be found together and
applied to Christ is that according to St. John, where he records the
confession of St. Thomas, "My Lord and my God" (John xx. 28).

Again: St. John alone of the Evangelists speaks of our Lord as He that
cometh from above [Greek: ho anothen erchomenos], as coming from heaven,
as "leaving the world and going to the Father" (John iii. 31; xvi. 28),
and Justin reproduces this in the words:--

"It is declared [by David in Prophecy,] that He would come forth
from the highest heavens, and again return to the same places, in
order that you may recognize Him as God coming forth from above and
man living among men." (Dial. ch. lxiv.)

Again: though St. John asserts by implication the equality in point of
nature of the Father and the Son (John v. 18), yet he also very
repeatedly records words of Christ which assert His subordination to the
Father. Nowhere in the Synoptics do we read such words as "I can of mine
own self do nothing." "I seek not mine own will, but the will of the
Father which hath sent me" (John v. 30): "My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent me, and to finish His work" (iv. 34; also John vi. 38): "I
have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, He gave me a
commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak." (xii. 49)

Now Justin Martyr reproduces these intimations of the subordination of
the Son:--

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