1. Luke’s Gospel includes much of the narrative of Mark and large portions of the didactic matter contained in Matthew. There are numerous omissions in both departments, but on the other hand also considerable additions, especially in the didactic element. The third evangelist has greatly enriched the treasure of the parables, for it is in this important division of our Lord’s teaching that his peculiar contribution chiefly lies. The amount of new matter suffices to raise the question as to its source. It can hardly be thought that the author of the first Gospel would have omitted so much valuable material, had it lain before his eye in the Logia. The hypothesis of a third source, therefore, readily suggests itself —a collection of reminiscences distinct from Mark and the book of Logia, whence Luke drew such beautiful parables as the Good Samaritan, the Selfish Neighbour amd the Unjust Fudge, the Prodigal Son, the Unjust Steward, Lazarus and Dives, and the Pharisee and Publican. The chapters on the infancy and on the re- surrection, so entirely different from the corresponding chapters in Matthew, might suggest a fourth source, unless we suppose that the third included these.
2. The distribution of the material in this Gospel arrests atten- tion. In the early part of the history, from chapters iv. 31 to vi. 16, the author follows pretty closely in the footsteps of Mark. Then comes in a digression, extending from vi. 17 to viii. 3, containing a version of the Sermon on the Mount, the stories of the Centurion and the Widow of Nain, the Message of the Baptist with relative discourse, and the woman in Simon’s house. Thereafter Luke’s narrative again flows in Mark’s channel from the parable of the Sower onwards to the end of the Galilean ministry, as reported in the second Gospel (Mark iv. 1 to ix. 50. Luke viii. 4 to ix. 50), only