which our
Saviour's words were receiving at the hands of his auditory; but our
Saviour's own statement of the reception which His Forerunner's
preaching had met with at the hands of the common people and the
publicans on the one hand,--the Pharisees and the Scribes on the other.
Hence the inferential particle [Greek: oun] in the 31st verse; and the
use in ver. 35 of the same verb ([Greek: edikaiothe]) which the Divine
Speaker had employed in ver. 29: whereby He takes up His previous
statement while He applies and enforces it.

Another specimen of unauthorized accretion originating in the same way
is found a little farther on. In St. Luke ix. 1 ('And having called
together His twelve Disciples'), the words [Greek: mathetas autou] are
confessedly spurious: being condemned by nearly every known cursive and
uncial. Their presence in the meantime is fully accounted for by the
adjacent rubrical direction how the lesson is to be introduced: viz. 'At
that time Jesus having called together His twelve Disciples.'
Accordingly we are not surprised to find the words [Greek: ho Iesous]
also thrust into a few of the MSS.: though we are hardly prepared to
discover that the words of the Peshitto, besides the Latin and Cureton's
Syriac, are disfigured in the same way. The admirers of 'the old
uncials' will learn with interest that, instead of [Greek: mathetas
autou], [Symbol: Aleph]C with LX[Symbol: Lambda][Symbol: Xi] and a
choice assortment of cursives exhibit [Greek: apostolous],--being
supported in this manifestly spurious reading by the best copies of the
Old Latin, the Vulgate, Gothic, Harkleian, Bohairic, and a few other
translations.

Indeed, it is surprising what a fertile source of corruption Liturgical
usage has proved. Every careful student of the Gospels remembers that
St. Matthew describes our Lord's first and second missionary journey in
very nearly the same words. The former place (iv. 23) ending [Greek: kai
pasan malakian en to lao] used to conclude the lesson for the second
Sunday after Pentecost,--the latter (ix. 35) ending [Greek: kai pasan
malakian] occupies the same position in the Gospel for the seventh
Sunday. It will not seem strange to any one who considers the matter,
that [Greek: en to lao] has in consequence not only found its way into
ix. 35, but has established itself there very firmly: and that from a
very early time. The spurious words are first met with in the Codex
Sinaiticus[162].

But sometimes c