eaks and come to no quotation from the Old Testament
at all, or three hundred and fifteen pages with only two breaks
and come to none outside the Pentateuch. But the reduced volume
that we have supposed, containing the fourteen Homilies, would
probably exceed in bulk the whole of the extant Christian literature
of the second century up to the time of Irenaeus, with the single
exception of the works of Justin; it will therefore be seen how
precarious must needs be any inference from the silence, not of
all these writings, but merely of a portion of them.

For the rest, the quotations in the Homilies may be said to
observe a fair standard of exactness, one apparently higher than
that in the genuine Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians; at the
same time it should be remembered that the quotations in the
Homilies are much shorter, only two reaching a length of three
verses, while the longest quotations in the Epistle are precisely
those that are most exact. The most striking instance of accuracy
of quotation is perhaps Gen. xv. 13-16 in Hom. iii. 43. On the
other hand, there is marked freedom in the quotations from Deut.
iv. 34, x. 17, xiii. 1-3, xiii. 6. xxx. 15, Is. xl. 26, 27, and
the combined passage, Num. xii. 6 and Ex. xxiii. 11. There are
several repetitions, but these occur too near to each other to
permit of any inference.

Our examination of the Old Testament quotations in Justin is
greatly facilitated by the collection and discussion of them in
Credner's Beitraege [Endnote 39:1], a noble example of that true
patient work which is indeed the reverse of showy, but forms the
solid and well-laid foundation on which alone genuine knowledge
can be built. Credner has collected and compared in the most
elaborate manner the whole of Justin's quotations with the various
readings in the MSS. of the LXX; so that we may state our results
with a much greater confidence than in any other case (except
perhaps Clement of Rome, where we have the equally accurate and
scholarly guidance of Dr. Lightfoot [Endnote 40:1]) that we are
not led astray by imperfect materials. I have availed myself
freely of Credner's collection of variants, indicating the cases
where the existence of documentary (or, in some places,
inferential) evidence for Justin's readings has led to the
quotation being placed in a different class from that to which it
would at first sight seem to belong. I have also, as hitherto, not
assumed an absolutely strict s