The Lost Gospel and Its Contents Part 17

John, ii.

"But that wine was better which the Word made from water, on the moment, and simply for the use of those who had been called to the marriage." (iii. 11, 5.)

"As also the Lord speaks in reference to Himself, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' He spake this, however, it is said, of the temple of His body." (v. 6, 2.)

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA.

Matthew, i.

"And in the gospel according to Matthew the genealogy which begins with Abraham is continued down to Mary, the mother of the Lord.

'For,' it is said, 'from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, and from David to the carrying away into Babylon," &c.

(Miscellanies, i. 21.)

Matthew, iii.

"For the fan is in the Lord's hand, by which the chaff due to the fire is separated from the wheat." (Instructor, i. 9.)

Matthew, iv.

"Therefore He Himself, urging them on to salvation, cries, 'The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.'" (Exhortation to Heathen, ch. ix.)

Matthew, v.

"And because He brought all things to bear on the discipline of the soul, He said, 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.'" (Miscellanies, iv. 6.)

Mark, i.

"For he also 'ate locusts and wild honey.'" [In St. Matthew the corresponding expression being 'His food was locusts and wild honey.'] (Instructor, ii. 11.)

Luke, iii.

"And to prove that this is true it is written in the Gospel by Luke as follows: 'And in the fifteenth year, in the reign of Tiberius Caesar, the word of the Lord came to John, the son of Zacharias.'

And again, Jesus was coming to His baptism, being about thirty years old,' and so on." (Miscellanies, i. 21.)

There are at least twenty more references to the accounts of the preaching of St. John in the third of St. Matthew, first of St. Mark, and third of St. Luke, in Clement's writings, which I have not given simply because it is difficult to a.s.sign the quotation to a particular Evangelist, as the account is substantially the same in the three.

Luke xii. 16-20.

"Of this man's field (the rich fool) the Lord, in the Gospel, says that it was fertile, and afterwards, when he wished to lay by his fruits and was about to build greater barns," &c. (Miscellanies, iii. 6.)

Luke xiii. 32.

"Thus also in reference to Herod, 'Go tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils,'" &c. (Miscellanies, iv. 6.)

Luke xiv. 12, 13.

"He says accordingly, somewhere, 'When thou art called to a wedding recline not on the highest couch.' ... And elsewhere, 'When thou makest a dinner or a supper,' and again, 'But, when thou makest an entertainment, call the poor.'" (Instructor, ii. 1.)

Luke, xv. Parable of Prodigal Son.

"For it were not seemly that we, after the fas.h.i.+on of the rich man's son in the Gospel, should, as prodigals, abuse the Father's gifts."

(Instructor, ii. ch. i.)

John, i.

"You have then G.o.d's promise; you have His love: become partakers of His grace. And do not suppose the song of salvation to be new, as a vessel or a house is new; for ... in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with G.o.d, and the Word was G.o.d." (Exhortation to Heathen, ch. i.)

"For He has said, 'In the beginning the Word was in G.o.d, and the Word was G.o.d." (Instructor, viii.)

"Wherefore it (the law) was only temporary; but eternal grace and truth were by Jesus Christ. Mark the expressions of Scripture; of the law only is it is said 'was given;' but truth, being the grace of the Father, is the eternal work of the Word, and it is not said to _be given_, but _to be_ by Jesus, _without whom nothing was_."

(Instructor, i. 7.)

"The divine Instructor is trustworthy, adorned as He is with three of the fairest ornaments ... with authority of utterance, for He is G.o.d and Creator; for all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made: and with benevolence, for He alone gave Himself a sacrifice for us, 'For the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.'" (John x. 11.) (Instructor, i. 11.)

"For the darkness, it is said, comprehendeth it not." (Instructor, ii. 10.)

"Having through righteousness attained to adoption, and therefore 'have received power to become the sons of G.o.d.'" (Miscellanies, iv.

6.)

"For of the prophets it is said, 'We have all received of His fulness,' that is, of Christ's." (Miscellanies, i. 17.)

"And John the apostle says, 'No man hath seen G.o.d at any time. The only begotten G.o.d,' [oldest reading,] 'who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." (Miscellanies, v. 12.) John, iii.

"He that believeth not is, according to the utterance of the Saviour, condemned already." (Miscellanies, iv. 16.)

"Enslaved as you are to evil custom, and clinging to it voluntarily till your last breath, you are hurried to destruction; because light has come into the world, and men have loved the darkness rather than the light." (Exhortation to Heathen, 10.)

"'I must decrease,' said the prophet John." (Miscellanies, vi. II.)

TERTULLIAN.

Matthew, i.

"There is, first of all, Matthew, that most faithful chronicler of the Gospel, because the companion of the Lord; for no other reason in the world than to show us clearly the fleshy original of Christ, he thus begins, 'The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David the son of Abraham.'" (On the Flesh of Christ, ch. xxii.)

"It is, however, a fortunate circ.u.mstance that Matthew also, when tracing down the Lord's descent from Abraham to Mary, says, 'Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, _of whom_ was born Jesus." (On the Flesh of Christ, ch. xx.)

"You [the heretic] say that He was born _through_ a virgin, not _of_ a virgin, and _in_ a womb, not _of_ a womb; because the angel in the dream said to Joseph, 'That which is born in her is of the Holy Ghost.'" (_Ibid._ ch. xx.)

Matthew, ii.

"For they therefore offered to the then infant Lord that frankincense, and myrrh, and gold, to be, as it were, the close of worldly sacrifice and glory, which Christ was about to do away." (On Idolatry, ch. ix.)

Mark i. 4.

"For, in that John used to preach 'baptism _for_ the remission of sins,' the declaration was made with reference to a future remission." (On Baptism, x.)