IX AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIA1HTY. 357 



in which they are embedded, in Matthew. 

 " Notes " are somewhat suggestive of a shorthand 

 writer, but the suggestion is unintentional, for M. 

 Renan assumes that these "notes" were taken, 

 not at the time of the delivery of the "logia" but 

 subsequently, while (as he assumes) the memory 

 of them was living and definite ; so that, in this 

 very citation, M. Renan leaves open the question 

 of the general historical value of the first Gospel ; 

 while it is obvious that the accuracy of " notes " 

 taken, not at the time of delivery, but from 

 memory, is a matter about which more than one 

 opinion may be fairly held. Moreover, Renan 

 expressly calls attention to the difficulty of dis- 

 tinguishing the authentic " logia " from later 

 additions of the same kind (" Les ]vangiles," 

 p. 201). The fact is, there is no contradiction 

 here to that opinion about the first Gospel which 

 is expressed in " Les Evangiles " (p. 175). 



The text of the so-called Matthew supposes the pre-existence 

 of that of Mark, and does little more than complete it. He 

 completes it in two fashions first, by the insertion of those 

 long discourses which gave their chief value to the Hebrew 

 Gospels ; then by adding traditions of a more modern forma- 

 tion, results of successive developments of the legend, and to 

 which the Christian consciousness already attached infinite 

 value. 



M. Renan goes on to suggest that besides 

 "Mark/' "pseudo-Matthew 7 ' used an Aramaic 

 version of the Gospel, originally set forth in that 



