s, "shall be called the Son of God;" whereas Justin has "is the
Son of God." Now in this Justin differs from the Protevangelium, which
reads, "Shall be called the Son of the Highest;" so the probability is
still more increased that in the quotation from the "Dialogue" he did
not quote the Protevangelium, and did quote St. Luke. However, we will
make the author a present of these words, because we want to assume for
a moment the truth of his conclusion, which he thus expresses:--

"Justin's divergencies from the Protevangelium prevent our supposing
that, in its present form, it could have been the actual source of
his quotations; but the wide differences which exist between the
extant MSS. of the Protevangelium show that even the most ancient
does not present it in its original form. It is much more probable
that Justin had before him a still older work, to which both the
Protevangelium and the third Gospel were indebted." ("Supernatural
Religion," vol. i. p. 306.)

Assuming, then, the correctness of this, Justin had a still older Gospel
than that of St. Luke; and we shall hereafter show that St. Luke's
Gospel was used in all parts of the world in Justin's day, and long
before it. Now Justin himself lived only 100 years after the
Resurrection; and this is no very great age for the copy of a book,
still less for the book itself, of which any one may convince himself by
a glance around his library. We may depend upon it that Justin would
have used the oldest sources of information. A book so old in Justin's
days may have been published at the outset of Christianity. The author
himself surmises that it may have been the work of one of St. Luke's
[Greek: polloi]. Anyhow it is an older and therefore, according to the
writer's own line of argument all through his book, a more reliable
witness to the things of Christ, and its witness is to the supernatural
in His Birth. Are we, then, able to form any conjecture as to the name
of this most ancient Gospel? Yes. The author of "Supernatural Religion"
identifies it with the lost Gospel to the Hebrews, in the words:--

"Much more probably, however, Justin quotes from the more ancient
source from which the Protevangelium and perhaps St. Luke drew their
narrative. There can be little doubt that the Gospel according to
the Hebrews contained an account of the birth in Bethelehem, and as
it is, at least, certain that Justin quotes other