the note upon the fulfilment of the prophecy Is. vii. 14 (’Behold a virgin,’ &c.), the visit of the Magi guided by a star, their peculiar gifts, their consultation of Herod and the warning given them not to return to him, the massacre of the children at Bethlehem, fulfilling Jer. xxxi. 15, the descent into Egypt, the return of the Holy Family at the succession of Archelaus.  The Temptations Justin gives in the order of Matthew.  From the Sermon on the Mount he has the verses v. 14, 20, 28, vi. 1, vii. 15, 21, and from the controversial discourse against the Pharisees, xxiii. 15, 24, which are without parallels.  The prophecy, Is. xlii. 1-4, is applied as by Matthew alone.  There is an apparent allusion to the parable of the wedding garment.  The comment of the disciples upon the identification of the Baptist with Elias (Matt. xvii. 13), the sign of the prophet Jonas (Matt. xvi. 1, 4), and the triumphal entry (the ass with the colt), show a special affinity to St. Matthew.  And, lastly, in concert with the same Evangelist, Justin has the calumnious report of the Jews (Matt. xxviii. 12 15) and the baptismal formula (Matt. xxviii. 19).

Of the very few details that are peculiar to St. Mark, Justin has the somewhat remarkable one of the bestowing of the surname Boanerges on the sons of Zebedee.  Mark also appears to approach most nearly to Justin in the statements that Jesus practised the trade of a carpenter (cf.  Mark vi. 3) and that He healed those who were diseased from their birth (cf.  Mark ix. 21), and perhaps in the emphasis upon the oneness of God in the reply respecting the greatest commandment.

In common with St. Luke, Justin has the mission of the angel Gabriel to Mary, the statement that Elizabeth was the mother of John, that the census was taken under Cyrenius, that Joseph went up from Nazareth to Bethlehem [Greek:  hothen aen], that no room was found in the inn, that Jesus was thirty years old when He began His ministry, that He was sent from Pilate to Herod, with the account of His last words.  There are also special affinities in the phrase quoted from the charge to the Seventy (Luke x. 19), in the verse Luke xi. 52, in the account of the answer to the rich young man, of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, of the Agony in the Garden, and of the Resurrection and Ascension.

These coincidences are of various force.  Some of the single verses quoted, though possessing salient features in common, have also, as we shall see, more or less marked differences.  Too much stress should not be laid on the allegation of the same prophecies, because there may have been a certain understanding among the Christians as to the prophecies to be quoted as well as the versions in which they were to be quoted.  But there are other points of high importance.  Just in proportion as an event is from a historical point of view suspicious, it is significant as a proof of the use of the Gospel in which it is contained;