coincidences the conclusion that one narrative formed the basis of the three histories.  Ewald supposes the existence of a Spruchsammlung—­collected sayings of Christ—­but such a collection is not enough to explain the phenomena we refer to.  Dr. Davidson says:  “The rudiments of an original oral Gospel were formed in Jerusalem, in the bosom of the first Christian Church; and the language of it must have been Aramaean, since the members consisted of Galileans, to whom that tongue was vernacular.  It is natural to suppose that they were accustomed to converse with one another on the life, actions, and doctrines of their departed Lord, dwelling on the particulars that interested them most, and rectifying the accounts given by one another, where such accounts were erroneous, or seriously defective.  The Apostles, who were eye-witnesses of the public life of Christ, could impart correctness to the narratives, giving them a fixed character in regard to authenticity and form.  In this manner an original oral Gospel in Aramaean was formed.  We must not, however, conceive of it as put into the shape of any of our present Gospels, or as being of like extent; but as consisting of leading particulars in the life of Christ, probably the most striking and the most affecting, such as would leave the best impression on the minds of the disciples.  The incidents and sayings connected with their Divine Master naturally assumed a particular shape from repetition, though it was simply a rudimental one.  They were not compactly linked in regular or systematic sequence.  They were the oral germ and essence of a Gospel, rather than a proper Gospel itself, at least, according to our modern ideas of it.  But the Aramaean language was soon laid aside.  When Hellenists evinced a disposition to receive Christianity, and associated themselves with the small number of Palestinian converts, Greek was necessarily adopted.  As the Greek-speaking members far out-numbered the Aramaean-speaking brethren, the oral Gospel was put into Greek.  Henceforward Greek, the language of the Hellenists, became the medium of instruction.  The truths and facts, before repeated in Hebrew, were now generally promulgated in Greek by the apostles and their converts.  The historical cyclus, which had been forming in the Church at Jerusalem, assumed a determinate character in the Greek tongue” ("Introduction to the New Testament,” by S. Davidson, LL.D., p. 405.  Ed. 1848).  Thus we find learned Christians obliged to admit an uninspired collection as the basis of the inspired Gospel, and laying down a theory which is entirely incompatible with the idea that the Synoptic Gospels were written by Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  Our Gospels are degraded into versions of an older Gospel, instead of being the inspired record of contemporaries, speaking “that we do know.”