RECENT EESEARCH IN EGYPT. 575 



disciple among the gospel writers, certainly wrote far later, when all 

 his ways bad changed from the days of his iisher life on the Sea of 

 Galilee. Hence there appears no rival to the obvious position of Mat- 

 thew as the first recorder of the sayings of his Master compiled in the 

 Sermon on the Mount. 



The leaf of Matthew's Gospel is of great interest in the literary his- 

 tory of the Gosjjels. Hitherto we have had no manuscripts older than 

 the second great ecclesiastical settlement under Theodosius. Now we 

 have a piece two ages earlier — before the first settlement of things 

 under Constantine at the council of Nicoea. Here, in the middle of 

 the third century, we find that the beginning of the Gospel, the most 

 artificial, and probably the latest, part, the introductory genealogy and 

 account of the Nativity was exactly in its present form. This gives 

 us the greatest confidence that the Gospel as we have it dates from the 

 time of the great i:)ersecutions. 



Such are some of the astonishing and far-reaching results that Egypt 

 has given us within three years past. All the most important ages of 

 history seem to suddenly stand out with a vividness and clearness 

 which has hardly any parallel in the history of discovery. What may 

 not three years more show us? 



Dendera, Kena, Cairo, Egypt, 



