The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-12-06
The New Words of Jesus
philadelphia Public Ledger


group of scholars at Oxford in 1897
handled q sheet of papyrus that had
just come fromh the Fayum, beneat
whose sands it had been hid for many
hundred years. 1t was a mere scrap,
SIX inches square, across whose surface
ran words traced in Greek unicals in an
ink startigly black, though ilegible at
the broken edges and where thetexture
OF the wood was frayed. 1t is not an
everyday experience to hold in the hand
leaf written sixteen hundred years be-
fore; the emotions are of heroic proper
lions when this has newly come to the
knowledge of the world and when its
sentences are introduced with the declar-
alton: "Jesus SAITH
The five years that have passed since
Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt brought from
, Oxyrychus, the buried and forgotten
town on the edge of the Libyran desert,
the first papyrus containing the Sayings
of Christ have confirmed the conviction
that the find was of immense Importance.
OF the age of the manuscript there is
and can be no doubt; that it records
words Which it's writer, who lived II
Egypt less than three hundred years after
the death of Jesus, believed had been
uttered by Him is evident. The most
authoritative critical opinion now holds
that the page was written in Alexandria
by a disciple of the new religion, about
the year 120.
| These are the words upon it, so far as
they re dechiperable:
! and then shalt thou see clearly
to cast cut the mote that is in thy broth
ers eye.
Jesus saith, Except We fast to the world,
We shall in no wise find the kingdom of
God; and except We keep the Sabbath We
| shall not see the father.
| Jesus saith, stood in the midst of the
| world, and in the flesh was ] seen of them;
and l found all drunken, and none
found | athirst among them And my soul
| grieveth the of men because they
are blind in their heart.
Jesus saith, Wherever there are
and there is enc ~ alone. / am
with him. Lift the stone and thou shalt
| find me; cleave the wood, and l am there.
Jesus saith A prophet is not acceptable
in his own country, nor doth a physician
! work cures upon them that know him.
Jesus saith, A city built upon the top
! of a high hill established can neither fall
| be hid.
The news columns of yesterdays Pub
| lie Ledger contained the report of
| statement made by Doctor Grenfell at
meeting of the Egypt Exploration Fund.
held III London on Friday concerning
Oxyrynchus. Still more sayings or
''logia,' have come to light. The cable
brings the text of these:
Let not him that seeketh cease from his
search until he tindeth and when he findeth
he shall wonder; wondering, he shall reach
the kingdom, and when he reacheth the
kingdom he shall have rest.
Woe to you, Scribes; for We have taken
away the key of knowledge; we entered not
in yourselves, and to them that enter
ing in ye did not OPEN
In addition to these logia thus YER
bally reported, there are stated to be
several others; one, long and important,
is an amplifcation of the canonicaI
phrase, ''The kingdom of God is within
you" another tells how Jesus answered
the question of His disciples, when
shall the kingdom of God Gomez" But
most important of all, an introduction
to the new logia connects them with
st Thomas, the apostle.
he JOIN. thatt will first suggest itself
to the general public is the question as
to the connection of the newly discovered
sayings" with the body of canonical
Christian writings-the New Testament.
A well instructed theologian would
give this account of that part of the
Bible: At first the acts and words of
Jesus were preserved bl oral tradition.
Gradually the body of tradition, or
much of it, was committed to writing.
There was probably many accounts os
the things that Jesus had said and
done. SIT. Lake writes a preface to his
Gospel, in which he says that forasmuch
as many had taken in hand to set forth
these things, it seemed we'll Tor him
also, who had had unusual knowledge
of all, to write. The closing chapter
of the Fourtht Gospel decares that #
all that Jesus did were recorded, the
world itself would not contain the books.
There are, in fact. many known books
which profess to give accounts of these
deeds and words. Besides the four Cos
pels which the church accepts as au-
thentic, there are a number of pseudo
Gospels. Some of these are rejected as
false others are believed to contain some
truth, probably mingled with error; some
are of enough credibility to be partially
accepted, as apocryphal scriptures.
1t is altogether likely that still other
books giving trustworthy narratives of
Christ may have been lost. Papias-who
lived in Ephesus In the early part of the
second century and who is believed to
have been a friend and disciple of st.
! John-says, in a writing which has come
down to us, that st. Matthew compiled
in Hebrew the sayings Of Christ. This
statement has always been credited, and
much time has been spent searching for
and specializing concerning the lost book.
| It is true that we have one book be-
leved to have been written by st. Mat.
| thew, but it is in Greek and not Hebrew,
and is a narrative of Christ's life and
not a compilation of His utterances.
| ST. Paul, preaching one day in Ephesus.
according to the Acts of the Apostles
exhorted his hearers to remember the
words of the Lord Jesus, how He said,
1t is more blessed to give than to re-
| ceive." Now, none of the Gospels that
have been preserved records any such
saying of Jesus. Where did st. Paul
| learn of it? 1t might have been re-
peated to him orally. or he might have