artyr do not fall
in the way of one in a hundred thousand of our countrymen. How is it,
then, to be deprecated that erroneous statements should be current about
him! How is it to be censured that his testimony should be changed, and
he should be made to speak a falsehood!" ("Christian Records," p. 71).
Dr. Giles then argues that Justin would have certainly named the books
and their authors had they been current and reverenced in his time; that
there were numberless Gospels current at that date; that Justin mentions
occurrences that are only found related in such apocryphal Gospels. He
then compares seventeen passages in Justin Martyr with parallel passages
in the Gospels, and concludes that Justin "gives us Christ's sayings in
their traditionary forms, and not in the words which are found in our
four Gospels." We will select two, to show his method of criticising,
translating the Greek, instead of giving it, as he does, in the
original. In the Apology, ch. xv., Justin writes: "If thy right eye
offend thee, cut it out, for it is profitable for thee to enter into the
kingdom of heaven with one eye, than having two to be thrust into the
everlasting fire." "This passage is very like Matt. v. 29: 'If thy right
eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee; for it is
profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that
thy whole body should be cast into hell.' But it is also like Matt,
xviii. 9: 'And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from
thee; it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than
having two eyes to be cast into hell-fire.' And it bears an equal
likeness to Mark ix. 47: 'And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out; it
is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than,
having two eyes, to be cast into hell-fire.' Yet, strange to say, it is
not identical in words with either of the three" (pp. 83, 84). "I came
not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." "In this only
instance is there a perfect agreement between the words of Justin and
the canonical Gospels, three of which, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, give the
same saying of Christ in the same words. A variety of thoughts here rush
upon the mind. Are these three Gospels based upon a common document? If
so, is not Justin Martyr's citation drawn from the same anonymous
document, rather than from the three Gospels, seeing he does not name
them? If, on the other hand, Justin has cited t