c
may multiply Gospels as much as he pleases and an apologist at
least will not quarrel with him, but it would be more to the point
if he could prove the existence in these lost writings of matter
_conflicting_ with that contained in the extant Gospels. As
it is, the only result of these unverifiable hypotheses is to
raise up confirmatory documents in a quarter where apologists have
not hitherto claimed them.

We are delaying, however, too long upon points of quite secondary
importance. Two more passages are adduced; one, an application of
Ps. cx (The Lord said unto my Lord) precisely as in Matt. xxii.
44, and the other a saying assigned to our Lord, 'They who wish to
see me and lay hold on my kingdom must receive me through
affliction and suffering.' Of neither of these can we speak
positively. There is perhaps a slight probability that the first
was suggested by our Gospel, and considering the character of the
verifiable quotations in Barnabas, which often follow the sense
only and not the words, the second may be 'a free reminiscence of
Matt. xvi. 24 compared with Acts xiv. 22,' but it is also possible
that it may be a saying quoted from an apocryphal Gospel.

It should perhaps be added that Lardner and Dr. Westcott both
refer to a quotation of Zech. xiii. 7 which appears in the common
text of the Epistle in a form closely resembling that in which the
quotation is given in Matt. xxvi. 31 and diverging from the LXX,
but here again the Sinaitic Codex varies, and the text is too
uncertain to lay stress upon, though perhaps the addition [Greek:
taes poimnaes] may incline the balance to the view that the text
of the Gospel has influenced the form of the quotation [Endnote
76:1].

The general result of our examination of the Epistle of Barnabas
may perhaps be stated thus, that while not supplying by itself
certain and conclusive proof of the use of our Gospels, still the
phenomena accord better with the hypothesis of such a use. This
Epistle stands in the second line of the evidence, and as a
witness is rather confirmatory than principal.

3.

After Dr. Lightfoot's masterly exposition there is probably
nothing more to be said about the genuineness, date, and origin of
the Ignatian Epistles. Dr. Lightfoot has done in the most lucid
and admirable manner just that which is so difficult to do, and
which 'Supernatural Religion' has so signally failed in doing; he
has succeeded in conveyin