our God." Another interesting instance is to be found in Matt. xxvi.
47, Mark xiv. 43, and Luke xxii. 47, where all three evangelists,
apparently without any necessity, explain that Judas was one of the
twelve. Again in Matt. xxiv. 15, 16, and Mark xiii. 14, we have the
note or parenthesis "let him that readeth understand," which one
evangelist seems to have copied from the other.

The DIFFERENCES between the Synoptic Gospels may be observed in the
following facts:--

(a) _Facts peculiar to one or two Gospels._--There is a wide difference
between the account of the birth and infancy of our Lord given in Matt.
and that given in Luke. In Matt. we have recorded an angelic
communication to St. Joseph concerning the future birth of Jesus. In
Luke, an earlier and fuller annunciation to St. Mary is recorded. In
Matt. the story of the infancy is centred at Bethlehem, in Luke at
Nazareth. The accounts given of the appearances of our Lord after the
Resurrection record different events. In Matt. and Mark Galilee is the
scene of His appearances, in Luke the scene is laid in Jerusalem and
its neighbourhood. There is not the least reason for regarding these
accounts as contradictory, but there is reason for inquiring why the
different writers selected different appearances.

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(b) _Different accounts of the same facts._--The three distinct
incidents of the temptation of our Lord are recorded in a different
order in Matt. and Luke, and the temptation is recorded without these
incidents in Mark. St. Luke's version of the Beatitudes is reduced in
number, and is followed by corresponding denunciations. In Mark x. 46
and Matt. x. 29 we have the cure of Bartimaeus on the departure from
Jericho, in Luke xviii. 35, xix. 1 at the entrance of the city. In
Matt. viii. 28 there are two demoniacs, while in Mark v. 2 and Luke
viii. 27, which seem to narrate the same event, only one demoniac is
mentioned. All the Synoptic Gospels give slightly different accounts
of the inscription on the cross, and the words spoken by the centurion
at the death of Jesus vary in Luke from the words in Matt. and Mark.

(c) Differences in the order of words and sentences.--Although Matt.
and Luke do not combine against Mark in narrating a whole incident in
an order different from Mark, it is important to notice that there are
some cases in which Matt. and Mark agree against Luke, or Mark and Luke
agree against Matt. And we must not omit a signi