PREFACE XXV 



not credit " Matthew's " account of the infancy ; 

 does not believe the " Sermon on the Mount " 

 as given by Matthew was preached ; does not be- 

 lieve in the two feeding miracles, to which Jesus 

 himself is made to refer ; wholly discredits 

 " Matthew's " account of the events after the 

 crucifixion; and thinks it not worth while to 

 notice " Matthew's " grave admission that " some 

 doubted." 



IX. None of these troublesome consequences 

 pursue the hypothesis that the threefold tradition, 

 in one, or more, Greek versions, was extant before 

 either of the canonical Synoptic Gospels ; and that 

 it furnished the fundamental framework of their 

 several narratives. Where and when the three- 

 fold narrative arose, there is no positive evidence ; 

 though it is obviously probable that the traditions 

 it embodies, and perhaps many others, took their 

 rise in Palestine and spread thence to Asia Minor, 

 Greece, Egypt and Italy, in the track of the early 

 missionaries. Nor is it less likely that they 

 formed part of the " didaskalia " of the primitive 

 Nazarene and Christian communities. 1 



X. The interest which attaches to "Mark" 

 arises from the fact that it seems to present this 



1 Those who regard the Apocalyptic discourse as a "vaticina- 

 tion after the event " may draw conclusions therefrom as to the 

 date of the Gospels in which its several forms occur. But the 

 assumption is surely dangerous, from an apologetic point of 

 view, since it begs the question as to the unhistorical character 

 of this solemn prophecy. 



