Q2


228  THE    GOSPELS   AND    THE  lkct.  v.
the  sanction  of  the  Apostolic  College.  But
as  it  was  propagated,  it  took  up  additional
items,  and  though  frequent  repetition  imparted  to
it  a  certain  coherence  of  form,  on  the  other  hand  it
naturally  led  to  variations  of  order  and  expression.
Fragments  of  such  traditions  floated  indefinitely  in
the  consciousness  of  the  Church  ;  their  occasional
entry  into  the  written  forms  of  the  Gospel  may
sometimes  be  traced  with  the  help  of  textual  criti-
cism ^ ;  in  other  cases  we  know  them  only  from  later
works,  like  the  saying  in  Ads  20^,  *  It  is  more
blessed  to  give  than  to  receive.'  *

The  first  writer  to  lay  stress  on  facts  of  this
order  was  J.  C.  R.  Eckermann  in  the  fifth  volume
of  his  Theologische  Beitrdgey  published  at  Altona  in
1 796  ;  the  transition  to  written  Gospels  did  not  take
place,  in  his  view,  till  the  age  of  Trajan  at  the  end
of  the  first  century  of  our  era.  The  main  exposition
of  this  conception,  however,  was  due  to  J.  K.  L.
Gieseler,  afterwards  well  known  as  a  historian  of  the
Church.  In  his  first  work,*  while  he  was  still
Conrector  of  the  Gymnasium  at  Minden,  he  sought
to  explain  the  common  matter  of  the  Gospels  by  the
propagation  of  a  tradition  which,  unlike  the  rigid
form  of  a  creed  imposed  by  an  ecclesiastical  Council,

*  See  the  Revisers'  Margin  on  Luke  cf*  22"^,  23**,  John  7" — 8" ;  and
the  anecdote  in  D  following  Luke  6^.
^  The  most  comprehensive  collection  is  to  be  found  in  the  Agrapha  of
Dr.  Resch,  1889 ;  he  supposes  them,  however,  to  be  derived  from  lost  Gospels.
