Page:The kernel and the husk (Abbott, 1886).djvu/229

Letter 19] to shew them that He was not speaking literally, rebukes their dull and literalizing minds as follows:—

Now before I proceed further I must point out to you that these words are not found in St. Luke's Gospel. For my own part I am disposed to believe them to be genuine, though not quite in the exact form in which we now find them. I think St. Luke may have omitted them because he found some difficulty or obscurity in them; or because he did not know of them; or perhaps because he did not know of, or did not accept, the feeding of the Four Thousand, to which they refer. But suppose we are forced to give them up as altogether spurious, that is to say, as not being genuine words of Jesus, though genuine parts of the first and second Gospels; what is the consequence? Simply that we shall be reduced to St. Luke's version of the words, which is as follows (Luke xii. 1): "Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy." Can we say that St. Luke has herein omitted words that are essential to the life of Christ, or that we have lost anything of the highest importance, or even that we have lost a very "characteristic saying" of Jesus in omitting the statistical comparison which St. Luke omits? I think not.

But now let us assume that Jesus uttered these words or something like them. I think you would perceive that