. 15, 'Ye judge after the
flesh; I judge no man.' This hint he has not followed up, but it seems
to me to be highly valuable. The pericope in question occurs, in most
authorities which contain it, after vii. 52; in one MS however it stands
after vii. 36; and in several it is placed at the end of the Gospel.
This is just what might have been expected if it was written, in the
first instance, on the margin of a MS containing two or three columns on
a page. When transferred from the margin to the text, it would find a
place somewhere in the neighbourhood, where it least interfered with the
narrative, or, if no suitable place appeared, it would be relegated to
the end of the book. It should be added, that some good cursives give it
at the end of the twenty-first chapter of St Luke--the most appropriate
position, historically, that could be found for it. Whether this was an
independent insertion in St Luke, or a transference from St John made on
critical grounds, it is not easy to say.

But if this was the motive of the insertion, what was its source? Have
we not here one of those illustrative anecdotes which Papias derived
from the report of the elders, and to which he 'did not scruple to give
a place along with his interpretations' of our Lord's sayings? Its
introduction as an illustration of the words in John viii. 15 would thus
be an exact parallel to the treatment of the saying in Matthew xxvi. 29,
as described in the first part of this paper [205:1]. A reader or
transcriber of St John, familiar with Papias, would copy it down in his
margin, either from Papias himself or from the Gospel of the Hebrews;
and hence it would gain currency. The _Codex Bezae_, the oldest Greek
manuscript by two or three centuries which contains this narrative, is
remarkable for its additions. May we not suspect that others besides
this pericope (I would name especially our Lord's saying to the man whom
He found working on the sabbath) were derived from this exegetical work
of Papias? At all events Eusebius speaks of it as containing 'some
strange parables and teachings of the Saviour, and some other matters
more or less fabulous ([Greek: muthikotera]),' which Papias derived from
oral tradition.

5. I have already suggested [205:2] that the notice relating to St Mark
in Papias might have been given to explain some peculiarities in the
Second Gospel, _as compared with St John_. This conjecture, standing
alone, appears to have a very slight val