to St.
Matthew and St. Luke by Volkmar. These references, however, are
not sufficiently clear to be pressed.

A much less equivocal case is supplied by Hippolytus--less
equivocal at least so far as the reference goes. Among the
passages which received a specially Gnostic interpretation is Luke
i. 35, 'The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the
Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also the holy thing
which is born (of thee) shall be called the Son of God.' This is
quoted thus, 'The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power
of the Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore that which is
born of thee shall be called holy.'

_Luke_ i. 35.

[Greek: Pneuma hagion epeleusetai epi se, kai dunamis hupsistou
episkiasei soi, dio kai to gennomenon [ek sou] hagion klaethaesetai
huios Theon.]

_Ref. Omn. Haes._ vi. 35.

[Greek: Pneuma hagion epeleusetai epi se... kai dunamis hupsistou
episkiasei soi... dio to gennomenon ek sou hagion klaethaesetai.]

That St. Luke has been the original here seems to be beyond a
doubt. The omission of [Greek: huios Theou] is of very little
importance, because from its position [Greek: hagion] would more
naturally stand as a predicate, and the sentence would be quite as
complete without the [Greek: huios Theou] as with it. On the other
hand, it would be difficult to compress into so small a space so
many words and expressions that are peculiarly characteristic of
St. Luke. In addition to those which have just been noticed in
connection with Basilides, there is the very remarkable [Greek: to
gennomenon], which alone would be almost enough to stamp the whole
passage.

We are still however pursued by the same ambiguity as in the case
of Basilides. It is not certain that the quotation is made from
the master and not from his scholars. There is no reason, indeed,
why it should be made from the latter rather than the former; the
point must in any case be left open: but it cannot be referred to
the master with so much certainty as to be directly producible
under his name.

And yet, from whomsoever the quotation may have been made, if only
it has been given rightly by Hippolytus, it is a strong proof of
the antiquity of the Gospel. The words [Greek: ek sou], will be
noticed, are enclosed in brackets in the text of St. Luke as given
above. They are a corruption, though an early and well-supported
corruption, of the original. The authorities in their favour are C
(first h