eived rather
in the spirit of the elder Gospels than of the fourth.

There is a nearer approach perhaps in the identification of 'the
gate' with the 'Son of God,' and in the explanation with which it
is accompanied. 'The rock is old because the Son of God is older
than the whole of His creation; so that He was assessor to His
Father in the creation of the world; the gate is new, because He
was made manifest at the consummation of the last days, and they
who are to be saved enter by it into the kingdom of God' (Sim. ix.
12). Here too we have the doctrine of pre-existence; and
considering the juxtaposition of these three points, the pre-
existence, the gate (which is the only access to the Lord), the
identification of the gate with the incarnation of Jesus, we may
say perhaps a _possible_ reference to the fourth Gospel;
_probable_ it might be somewhat too much to call it. We must
leave the reader to form his own estimate.

* * * * *

A somewhat greater force, but not as yet complete cogency,
attaches to the evidence of the Ignatian letters. A parallel is
alleged to a passage in the Epistle to the Romans which is found
both in the Syriac and in the shorter Greek or Vossian version. 'I
take no relish in corruptible food or in the pleasures of this
life. I desire bread of God, heavenly bread, bread of life, which
is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was born in the
latter days of the seed of David and Abraham; and I desire drink
of God, His blood, which is love imperishable and ever-abiding
life' [Endnote 275:1] (Ep. ad Rom. c. vii). This is compared with
the discourse in the synagogue at Capernaum in the sixth chapter
of St. John. It should be said that there is a difference of
reading, though not one that materially influences the question,
in the Syriac. If the parallel holds good, the peculiar diction of
the author must be seen in the substitution of [Greek: poma] for
[Greek: posis] of John vi. 55, and [Greek: aennaos zoae] for
[Greek zoae aionios], of John vi. 54. [The Ignatian phrase is
perhaps more than doubtful, as it does not appear either in the
Syriac, the Armenian, or the Latin version.] Still this need not
stand in the way of referring the original of the passage
ultimately to the Gospel. The ideas are so remarkable that it
seems difficult to suppose either are accidental coincidence or
quotation from another writer. I suspect that Ignatius or the
author of the E