thy tradition led him to give the
place he has to many of the incidents which he adds to Mark's story, it
seems impossible to follow him in all respects; for instance, in severing
the account of the blasphemy of the Pharisees (xi. 14-36) from the place
which it holds in Mark (iii. 19-30).

42. Still more uncertainty exists concerning the historic connection of
teachings of Jesus to which Matthew and Luke give different settings; for
example, the Lord's Prayer (Matt. vi. 9-15; Luke xi. 1-4), and the
exhortations against anxiety (Matt. vi. 25-34; Luke xii. 22-31). We have
seen that much of the teaching common to these gospels is probably derived
from the collection of the "oracles" of the Lord made by the apostle
Matthew. Everything that we can infer concerning such a collection of
oracles indicates that, while some of the teachings may have been
connected with particular historic situations (compare Luke xi. 1), many
would altogether lack such introductory words. A later example of what
such a collection may have been has come to light recently in the
so-called "Sayings of Jesus," discovered in Egypt and published in 1897.
In these the occasion for the teaching has been quite lost; the sole
interest centres in the fact that Jesus is supposed to have said the
things recorded. If Matthew's book contained such "logia" or "oracles," it
is probable that the original connection in which most of them were spoken
was a matter of no concern to the apostle, and consequently has been lost
This in no way compromises the genuineness of these sayings of Jesus. The
treatment of Luke ix. 51 to xviii. 14 is much simplified by this
consideration. To Luke's industry (i. 1-4) we owe the preservation of some
events and very many teachings which no other evangelist has recorded.
Some of this new material (for instance, vii. 11-17, 36-50) he has
assigned a place in the midst of Mark's narrative. Most of it, however,
he has gathered together in what seems to be a sort of appendix, which he
has inserted between the close of the ministry in Galilee and the final
arrival in Judea. For many of the teachings it is now impossible to assign
a time or place. That this is so will cause no surprise or difficulty if
we remember that in the earliest days the report of what Jesus said and
did circulated in the form of oral tradition only. It was the knowledge
that first-hand witnesses were passing away that led to the writing of the
gospels. During the perio