434 Clarence Russell Williams, 



(the disciples) would not believe them but mock." Comitare with 

 this 16: 11. 



That same argument which renders the theor}^ of an unfinished 

 Gospel improbable, stands in the way of a theory of deliberate ex- 

 cision . 



ci) An excision would scarcely have been made thus awkwardly in 

 the midst of a plirasc. 



b) If the excision was made for the purpose of immediately sub- 

 stituting the Longer Conclusion for the original ending, it would 

 scarcely have been made at this point, leaving a manifestly clumsy 

 juncture. 



c) In case such an excision was made as has been suggested, one 

 would naturally expect to find copies of the Gospel with the original 

 ending persisting alongside of copies with the substituted ending, but 

 scarcely copies without any ending. Yet we have many proofs that 

 the Gospel circulated in the abbreviated form in various lands for 

 several centuries. 



d) It is evident that the Shorter Conclusicm was composed to 

 furnish a fitting ending for the Gospel. The Shorter Conclusion is 

 a witness to the abbreviated form of the Gospel, since it would not 

 have been needed w'here the Longer Conclusion was alread}^ known. 

 Further, the Shorter Conclusion would not have been appended to a 

 verse which contradicts it ("they said nothing to any one") unless 

 previously the Gospel was known in a form which ended with v, 8. 

 The attempt in k to alter v. 8 to conform to the Shorter Ending 

 supports this contention. 



Probabilities, therefore, indicate an accidental loss of the original 

 conclusion. This is best explained by the supposition that the last 

 leaf of the Gospel was lost (so Griesbach, Burkitt, and others). The 

 last leaf of a book is most readily lost, and Martin has shown, by the 

 example of Cursive 15, how this might have occurred. Compare also 

 the discussion of Arabic 13. Such an hypothesis accounts not only 

 for the breaking off of the Gospel in the midst of a phrase, but also 

 for the three forms in which the Gospel is found : without conclusion , 

 with the Shorter Conclusion, and with the Longer Conclusion. Adoj)- 

 ting the signs used by Zahn, we will denote the abbreviated Gospel by 

 A, the Shorter Conclusion by B, and the Longer Conclusion by C. 



A glance at the synoptic material will show that the Gospels ac- 

 cording to ]\Iatthew and according to Luke follow Mark as their source 

 as far as v. 8 (Matt. 28 : 8 and Luke 24 : 8), and thereafter they follow 

 different and divergent traditions. \Miile it is perhaps impossible to 

 affirm that neither can in any way reflect the Markan ending (cf. 



