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.
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