[68] Any examiner whose duty it has been to examine into a
case of "copying" will be particularly well prepared to
appreciate the force of the case stated in that most
excellent little book, _The Common Tradition of the
Synoptic Gospels_, by Dr. Abbott and Mr. Rushbrooke
(Macmillan, 1884). To those who have not passed through
such painful experiences I may recommend the brief
discussion of the genuineness of the "Casket Letters"
in my friend Mr. Skelton's interesting book, _Maitland
of Lethington_. The second edition of Holtzmann's
_Lehrbuch_, published in 1886, gives a remarkably fair
and full account of the present results of criticism.
At p. 366 he writes that the present burning question
is whether the "relatively primitive narrative and the
root of the other synoptic texts is contained in
Matthew or in Mark. It is only on this point that
properly-informed (_sachkundige_) critics differ," and
he decides in favour of Mark.
[69] Holtzmann (_Die synoptischen Evangelien_, 1863, p. 75),
following Ewald, argues that the "Source A" (= the
threefold tradition, more or less) contained something
that answered to the "Sermon on the Plain" immediately
after the words of our present Mark, "And he cometh
into a house" (iii.
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