Page:Philochristus, Abbott, 1878.djvu/417



I.

''These words of the Lord Jesus are not indeed found in our Gospels; but they have been handed down by tradition. Nor have I been able to find in the history of Philochristus any sayings of the Lord Jesus, save such as have been either handed down by tradition or else recorded in our Gospels''.

Moreover, the writer (as it seemeth to me, having diligently compared this history with the Gospels of the holy Evangelists Matthew and Mark and Luke) ''maketh mention of all such miracles as are found in all the three Gospels (though the raising of Jairus' daughter and the healing of the woman with the issue be but briefly mentioned): but if any miracle is found in one or in two Gospels only, concerning that he is silent. And this he seemeth to do not by chance, but of set purpose, as if he were minded to speak of those miracles only which are common to the first three Gospels. But Anchinous the son of Alethes maketh conjecture that Philochristus had in his mind a certain Original Gospel (whether it were a book or tradition) of exceeding antiquity; whence also the holy Evangelists drew that part of their several relations which is common to the first three Gospels''.