W\^N^ 
 
 ^\\^ \ 
 
 x-^\\ 
 
 Authorship 
 
 OF THE 
 
 JFouR Gospels. 
 
 William Marvin. 
 
 3525-55 
 .4.M39 
 
■ PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 Shelf.. 
 
 Division . .JIjnQ .tL. .vt?. >»J w 
 
 5^'f/zv«....vrrr.'....l.. l.w).T/ 
 
 Number 
 
AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 External Evidences, 
 
 BY 
 
 ^WILLIAM'^IAR-VIlSr, 
 
 EX-JUDGE OF THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 
 FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA, AND 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 *' A TREATISE ON THE LAW OF WRECK AND SALVAGE." 
 
 ALBANY, N. Y. : 
 PKINTED BY WEED, PARSONS & CO. 
 
 1885. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand 
 eight hundred and eighty-flve, 
 
 By WILLIAM MARVIN, 
 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
:Y PiiliiUlilTUlI 
 
 % TK30L0GI0: 
 
 PKEFACE 
 
 In the summer of 1881, at the Pigeon Cove PIo- 
 tel, situated on Cape Ann, Massachusetts, I became 
 acquainted with an intelligent gentleman, aged about 
 seventy years, who resided in Buffalo and, who, like 
 myself, was staying at the hotel for the benefit of 
 the sea air. At an early period in our acquaintance 
 he introduced the subject of the Christian religion as a 
 topic of conversation, and, during several weeks after- 
 ward, seemed quite disposed to talk on this subject, 
 whenever an opportunity offered. In one of the 
 earliest of our conversations, he asked me if I had 
 read the " Gospel of Marcion." I replied : " No ! 
 I do not so much as know there is a gospel known 
 by that name, I never heard of it before." " Then," 
 rejDlied he, " you are not well informed about matters 
 in connection with the early history of Christianity. 
 You ought to read the Gospel of Marcion." I had 
 read the chapters in the ecclesiastical histories, written 
 by Moslieim, Neander, and Schaff, which treat of the 
 Apostolic and primitive church, and I remembered to 
 have read in them something about a christian sect 
 called the " Marcionites," but I could not recollect 
 
4. PREFACE. 
 
 that I had ever read any thing about a written gospel 
 called after the name of the founder of that sect. I 
 begged my friend to enlighten me. " Why, sir," said 
 he " the gospel of Marcion is the only original and 
 true Gospel. Our gospels are all later, and are all 
 spurious. If you want to read the least untrust- 
 worthy account of the life of Jesus, you must 
 read the Gospel of Marcion." I requested him to 
 inform me where I could get this gospel. He 
 replied that a very clever book had been written 
 by Charles B. Waite, and recently published in 
 Chicago, and in that could be found the gospel he 
 had spoken of. He thought the book could be bought 
 at some one of the book-stores in Boston. On my 
 way home, I stopped at Boston and bought Mr. 
 Waite's book. At Albany I bought the Ante- 
 Nicene Christia/n Libra?^, in 24 volumes. Super- 
 natural Religion^ Westcott on the Canon of the 
 New Testament, and a number of other books, which 
 have more or less to say on the subject we had 
 talked about. I afterward bought Strauss' Life 
 of Jesus. On getting home I began to read these 
 and other books of a similar character and to make 
 notes and memoranda. The result is before the 
 
 reader. 
 
 WM. MARVIN. 
 
 Skaneateles, N. Y., July, 1885. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Preface 3 
 
 Chapter I. 
 
 Statement of the case 7 
 
 Plan of this treatise 10 
 
 Chapter II. 
 
 Evidence 12 
 
 Testimony of Origen, 13; of Tertullian, 14; of Clement, 20; 
 Syriac and Latin versions, 24; Testimony of Irenseus, 26 ; 
 Canon of Muratori, 39; Testimony of Theophilus, 46 ; of 
 Tatian, 46; of Justin, 47; of Papias, 71; of Marcion, 91; of 
 Basilides, 93 ; of Eusebius, 94 ; of Josephus, 96 ; of Tacitus 
 and Pliny and Suetonius, 97; of the Apostolic Fathers — 
 Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, Barnabas and Hermas, 99 ; 
 Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, 107; Testimony of the Gos- 
 pels, 112. 
 
 Chapter III. 
 A Brief Argument 114 
 
6 CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Uncorrupted Text 126 
 
 Manuscripts, 127; the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus, 
 128; Codex Alexandrinus, 129 ; Extract from Genuineness of 
 the Gospels, 130; Collect, 132. 
 
 Appendix. 
 A. — Memories of Men 134 
 
 5. — Apocryphal Gospels, The Protevangelion, 135; 
 The Arabic Gospel op the Infancy, 136 ; The Gospel of 
 Thomas, 137; The Acts of Pilate, 138. 
 
 G. — Lives of the Evangelists, 141. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 STATEMENT OF THE CASE. 
 
 The German writers, Strauss, Baur, and Eich- 
 horn, and the English author of Sxijiernattiral Re- 
 ligion^ and the American author, Charles B. Waite, 
 and others, have asserted, that there does not exist 
 sufficient evidence to justify the belief that the four 
 Gospels were written before the last half of the 
 second century. Mr. Waite says : " The time when 
 the four Gospels were written cannot be definitely 
 determined, but may be approximately stated thus : 
 Luke, A. D. 170 ; Mark, 175 ; John, 178 ; Matthew, 
 180.'" It follows that, in the opinion of these 
 writers, they were not written by Matthew, the pub- 
 lican, by Mark, the companion of Peter and Paul, 
 by Luke, the physician, and John, the beloved dis- 
 ciple, whose names they respectively bear, nor by 
 any persons who were eye or ear witnesses of the 
 facts recorded, or who lived at the same time that 
 Jesus or any of his Apostles lived ; and, that conse- 
 
 ' History of the Christian Religion to tlie year A. D. 200, 
 by Charles B. "Waite; published in 1881; p. 317. 
 
8 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 quently they are not, iu the opinion of these writers, 
 trust-worthy histories. And, though they admit 
 that the Gospels may, and probably do, record the 
 teachings of Jesus with a considerable degree of ac- 
 curacy — such teachings having been preserved and 
 handed down by oral tradition during the first cen- 
 tury and a half, or by other gospels denominated by 
 Christians Ajjooryphal — yet the miracles, they as- 
 sert, are myths, or fanciful stories, invented by 
 Christians after the crucifixion and before our Gos- 
 pels were written. 
 
 If it should be admitted that the Gospels were 
 not written before the time mentioned by these 
 writers, it would not follow from such admission 
 that they are not trustworthy histories ; for it might 
 easily be that the writers related such matters of 
 fact, and such only, as they found recorded by cred- 
 ible eye and ear witnesses, in documents written at 
 an earlier day. Few historians are themselves wit- 
 nesses of the events they narrate, and yet, if they 
 have made an honest and impartial use of original 
 materials, their histories are generally considered as 
 trustworthy. Mark and Luke were not eye and ear 
 witnesses of the events they recorded in their re- 
 spective histories of Jesus. Nor was Mr. Bancroft 
 an eye or ear witness of the transactions he has re- 
 
STATEMENT OF CASE. 9 
 
 lated in his history of the United States, and, yet, 
 these several histories arc generally thought to be 
 trustworthy. 
 
 Nor would it follow from such admission that the 
 miracles recorded in the Gospels are myths. It is 
 true that the later you fix the dates of the Gospels, 
 the longer time you would be giving for myths to 
 grow up; but it would not follow from such later 
 date that myths would certainly grow up, or would 
 be recorded in such later Gospels. If the Gospels 
 M^ere written in the days of the Apostles, sufficient 
 time for myths to grow up could not have clasped 
 between the occurrence and the recording of the 
 events. In this case, the story of the Gospels would 
 in all probability have been recorded in its original 
 purity. 
 
 Evidences in relation to the authorship of the 
 Gospels may be divided into two branches — the ex- 
 ternal and the internal. The external consist mostly 
 of notices of the Gospels found in writings composed 
 in the early part of the Christian era. These may 
 
 also be properly called historic evidences. The in- 
 ternal consist of the matter of the Gospels, their 
 internal structure, their style, their agreement or 
 want of agreement between them, and considera- 
 tions of a similar character growing out of the 
 
lo AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 Gospels themselves. I propose, in this little treatise, 
 to consider the external evidences only ; leaving the 
 internal, which constitute much the larger and more 
 difficult part of the main question, to be discussed 
 by persons much better qualiiied for the task than I 
 am. I think a litttle knowledge on a subject of so 
 great interest is better than total ignorance. My 
 plan is, to give the reader verhatiTYi extracts of all 
 the passages I find in the writings of authors living 
 in the first and second centuries, touching the ques- 
 tion under consideration, accompanying them with 
 brief accounts of the writers. I shall, also, make a 
 few comments on the testimony of each witness, as 
 I pass on, and, in the end, draw my conclusions as 
 to the effect of the whole testimony. By giving 
 verhatim statements of the evidence and fair ac- 
 counts of the character of the different witnesses, 
 the reader will be furnished with the proper data, 
 and may deduce therefrom his own independent con- 
 clusions as to the result of the proof. He need not 
 adopt my conclusions, unless they appear to him to 
 be correct. Of course, I do not publish this little 
 book for the benefit of the learned, who do not need 
 it, but for the benefit of tlie unlearned, who do. It 
 M'ill save the latter much time and trouble in looking* 
 up the testimony for themselves. 
 
STATEMENT OF CASE. n 
 
 1S.0 question of the inspiration of the Gospels, 
 but only the question of their date and authorship, 
 is involved in my inquiry. I shall, therefore, speak 
 of them and their writers with the same degree of 
 freedom, that I would of any secular books and 
 their authors. 
 
 The first three are called " Synoptical Gospels " 
 by critics, because they agree so well in narrating 
 the same events in similar language. They agree 
 with each other near enough to show, that the 
 authors had access to the same sources of inform- 
 ation, and they differ enough to show, that they did 
 not copy from each other, but wrote independently 
 one of the other. The Synoptic Gospels treat 
 mostly of the life of Jesus in Galilee; John's Gos- 
 pel, mostly of His life in Judea. 
 
12 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 EVIDENCE. 
 
 The first witness I shall call is Origen, siirnamed 
 Adamantius, on account of liis iron industry. He 
 was born of Greek Christian parents, at Alexandria, 
 Egypt, in the year 185. This city was at this time 
 the most renowned seat of learning in the world. 
 He was educated mostly at the well-known Catechet- 
 ical School in that city. This school was at the 
 time under the direction of the accomplished and 
 celebrated Clement. Origen became, while still 
 very young, master of that school. He studied 
 every thing. "His knowledge embraced," says 
 Philip Schaff, "all departments of the philology, 
 philosophy and theology of his day." He was 
 equally admu'ed by pagans and Christians for his 
 brilliant talents and wonderful learning. He be- 
 came a voluminous writer. Among other works he 
 wrote Commentaries on the Bible ^ including the 
 New Testament. He wrote the Hexapla^ which 
 was the first polyglot Bible, but covered the Old 
 Testament only. It contained in six columns the 
 
TESTIMONY OF O RIG EN. 13 
 
 original text in two forms — in Hebrew and Greek 
 characters ; and the four Greek versions — of the 
 Septuagint, of Aquila, of Symmachus and of The- 
 odotion. By placing the different versions side by 
 side in separate columns, they could be easily com- 
 pared. Pie traveled extensively, at different periods 
 of his life, and had a large acquaintance with men. 
 Under the Decian persecution he was cast into 
 prison, cruelly tortured and condemned to the stake, 
 but acquired his liberty by the death of that em- 
 peror, and died a natural death at Tyre, at the age 
 of sixty-nine, in the year 253 or 254.* 
 In regard to our Gospels, he says: 
 
 ^' But in the first book of his Commentaries on 
 the Gospel of Matthew, following • the Ecclesiastical 
 Canon, he attests that he knows of only four Gospels, 
 as follows: 'As I have understood from tradition, 
 respecting the four Gospels, which are the only un- 
 disputed ones in the whole church of God through- 
 out the world. The first is written according to 
 Matthew, the same that was once a publican, but 
 afterwards an Apostle of Jesus Christ, who having 
 
 ' Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus, bishop 
 of Csesarea, in Palestine, from the days of the apostles to 
 the year 337; translated from the Greek by Rev. C. F. 
 Cruse, A. M. Bohn's edition; London, 1863. B. 6, c. 3, 
 3, 6, 36. History of the Christian Church, by Philip 
 Schaff, § 128. Neander's Church History, vol. I, p. 693. 
 
14 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 published it for the Jewish converts, wrote it in the 
 Hebrew. The second is according to Mark, who 
 composed it as Peter explained to him, whom he also 
 acknowledges as his son in his general Epistle, say- 
 ing, 'The elect church in Babylon salutes you, as 
 also Mark my son.' And the third, according to 
 Luke, the Gospel commended by Paul, which was 
 Avritten for the converts from the Gentiles ; and last 
 of all the Gospel according to John.' '" 
 
 The next witness I shall examine is Quintus Sep- 
 timius Florens Tertullianus. And who is he with 
 this long quadruple Latin name ? It is necessary to 
 know something about the witness besides his name, 
 in order to judge correctly of his credibility. Well, 
 let St. Jerome, who flourished about the year 380, 
 and who was acquainted with nearly all the learning 
 of that day, and was the translator of the Bible into 
 the Latin language, answer the question. In his 
 Oatalogus Scri^torum Ecclesiasticorum.^ he says : 
 " Tertullian, a presbyter, the first Latin writer after 
 Victor and AjDollonius, was a native of the province 
 of Africa and city of Carthage, the son of a procon- 
 sular centurion ; he was a man of a sharp and vehe- 
 ment temper, flourished under Severus and Anton- 
 inus Caracalla, and wrote numerous works, which. 
 
 ' E. H. E. B. VI, c. 25. 
 
TESTIMONY OF TERTULLIAK 15 
 
 as thej are generally known, I think it imnecessarj 
 to jDarticularize. I saw at Concordia, in Ital}'^, an old 
 man named Paiilus. He said that w^hen joung he 
 had met at Rome with an aged amanuensis of the 
 blessed Cyprian, who told him, that Cyprian never 
 passed a day without reading some portion of Ter- 
 tullian's works, and used frequently to say, ' Give 
 me my master,^ meaning Tertullian. After remain- 
 ing a presbyter of the church until he had attained 
 the middle age of life, Tertullian was, by envy and 
 contumelious treatment of the Roman clergy, driv^en 
 to embrace the opinions of Montanus, which he has 
 mentioned in several of his works under the title of 
 the ' New PropheGy^ He is reported to have lived 
 to a very advanced age, and to have composed many 
 other works which are not extant.'" Neander's 
 history confirms this account of Tertullian.'' So, 
 also, does Philip Schaff's History of the Christian 
 Church^ Schaff says, " he was born at Carthage 
 about A. D. 160, was the father of Latin theology 
 
 1 Introductory notice prefacing the five books of Tcr- 
 tnllian ngainat Marcion, translated by Peter Holmes, D. D., 
 F. R. A. S., and published in the Edinburgh edition of the 
 Ante-Nicene Christian Library, vol. VII. 
 
 "^ Nea7ider's, History, vol. II, p. 683. 
 
 3 P. 512. 
 
1 6 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 and churcli language, and one of the greatest men 
 of Christian antiquity. He was converted from 
 paganism to Christianity when between thirty and 
 forty years of age." 
 
 Beins: thus informed as to the character of our 
 witness, let us now see what he says in regard to the 
 question we are examining. In his fourth book 
 against Marcion,^ which was written about the year 
 210, [his first book having been written, according 
 to his own account, in the 15th year of the reign of 
 Severus, " Ad XY jam Severi imperatoris," which 
 answers to the year 207,'''], he says: 
 
 "We lay it down as our first position, that the 
 evangelical Testament^ has apostles for its authors, •* 
 to whom was assigned by the Lord Himself this office 
 of publishing the gospel. Since, however, there are 
 apostolic* men also [associated in the authorship],* 
 they are yet not alone, but appear with apostles and 
 after apostles ; because the preaching of disciples 
 might be open to the suspicion of an affectation of 
 
 1 C. 3. "^ B. I, c. 15. ^ Instrumentum. 
 
 4 [By this canon of his, that the true Gospels must have 
 for their authors either apostles or companions and disciples 
 of apostles, he shuts out the false Gos2-)els of the heretics, 
 such as the Ebionites, Encratites, Nazarenes, and Marciou- 
 ites (Le Prieur).] 
 
 '^ Apostolicos [companions of the apostlesj. 
 
 •* [He means, of course, St. Mark and St. Luke.] 
 
TESTIMONY OF TERTULLIAN. 17 
 
 glory, if there did not accompany it' the authority of 
 the masters, which means that of Christ,^ for it was 
 that which made the apostles their masters. Of the 
 apostles, therefore, John and Matthew first instil^ 
 faith into us; whilst of apostolic men, Luke and 
 Mark renew it afterwards.'* These all start with the 
 same principles of the faith, ^ so far as relates to the 
 one only G-od the Creator and His Christ, how that 
 He was born of the Virgin, and came to fulfil^ the 
 law and the prophets. Never mind' if there does 
 occur some variation in the order of their narratives, 
 provided that there be agreement in the essential 
 matter. "8 
 
 In arguing against the followers of Marcion's 
 heresy, Tertullian accuses Marcion of having muti- 
 lated Luke's Gospel, under a pretense of amending 
 it, and then claiming, that it was the only true Gos- 
 pel.' This accusation was made at an earlier day by 
 Irenseus in his work Against Heresies^^ where 
 he says : " Besides this, he [Marcion] mutilates the 
 Gospel which is according to Luke, removing all 
 that is written respecting the generation of the Lord, 
 and setting aside a great deal of the teaching of the 
 
 Lord." Having made this accusation, Tertullian 
 then argiies : 
 
 ' Adsistat illi. * Imiiio Christi. ^ Insinuant. 
 
 ■• Instaurant. * Isdem regulis. ^ Supplementum. 
 
 ' Viderit. » De capite. » B, IV, c. 5. 
 
 '" B. I, c. 37, § 3. 
 3 
 
1 8 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 " On the whole, then, if that is evidently more true 
 which is earlier, if that is earlier which is from the 
 very beginning, if that is from the beginning which 
 has the apostles for its authors, then it will certainly 
 be quite as evident, that that comes down from the 
 apostles, which has been kept as a sacred deposit' in 
 the churches of the apostles. Let us see what milk 
 the Corinthians drank from Paul; to what rule [of 
 faith] the Galatians were brought for correction; 
 what the Philippians, the Thessalonians, the Ephe- 
 sians read [out of it]; what utterance also the 
 Romans give, so very near'' [to the apostles], to whom 
 Peter and Paul conjointly^ bequeathed the gospel 
 even sealed with their own blood. We have also [St.] 
 John's foster churches.'' For although Marcion re- 
 jects his Apocalypse, the order of the bishops 
 [thereof], when traced up to their origin, will yet 
 rest on John as their author. In the same manner is 
 recognized the excellent source^ of the churches. I 
 say, therefore, that in them (and not simply such of 
 them as were founded by apostles, but in all those 
 which are united with them in the fellowship of the 
 mystery [of the gospel of Christ]*) that Gospel of 
 
 ' Sacrosanctum. ["Inviolate;" see Westcott, On the 
 Canon, p. 384, and compare T.'s treatise, De Prescript. 
 Sceret. c. 36.] 
 
 - Dc proximo. [Mr. Westcott renders this, " who are 
 nearest to us." See m loco.] 
 
 3 et et. 
 
 "• Alumnas ecclcsias. [He seems to allude to the seven 
 churches of the Apocalypse. ] 
 
 * Generositas. " De societate sacramenti. 
 
TESTIMONY OF TERTULLIAN. 19 
 
 Luke which we are defending with all our might has 
 stood its ground from its very first publication ; 
 whereas Marcion's Gospel is not known to most peo- 
 ple, and to none whatever is it known without being 
 at the same time' condemned. " 
 
 "The same authority of the apostolic churches 
 will afford evidence^ to the other Gospels also, which 
 we possess equally through their means, ^ and accord- 
 ing to their usage — I mean the Gospels of John and 
 Matthew — whilst that which Mark published may be 
 affirmed to be Peter's,* whose interpreter Mark was. 
 For even Luke's form^ of the Gospel men usually 
 ascribe to Paul.^ And it may well seem' that the 
 works which disciples publish belong to their masters, 
 "Well, then Marcion ought to be called to a strict ac- 
 count^ concerning these [other Gospels] also, for hav- 
 ing omitted them, and insisted in preference' on 
 Luke; as if they, too, had not had free course in the 
 churches, as well as Luke's Gospel, from the beginn- 
 ing. Nay, it is even more credible that they'" existed 
 from the very beginning; for, being the work of 
 apostles, they were prior, and coeval in origin with" 
 the churches themselves.""' 
 
 ' Eadem. - Patrocinabitur. '•* Proinde per illas. 
 
 ^ [See Hiei'onymus, Catal. Scriptt. Ecdes. c. 8.] 
 
 * Digestum. ^ [See chap. 2.] 
 
 ' Capit videri. ^ Flagitandus. ^ Potius institerit. 
 
 '" [Tlie Gospels of the apostles John and Matthew, and 
 perhaps Mark's also, as being St. Peters.] 
 
 " Dedicata cum. 
 
 ^"^ B. IV, c. 5. Ante-Nicene Christian Library, pub. at 
 Edinburgh by T. & T. Clark, 1878; vol. VII. 
 
20 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPEL'S. 
 
 TertuUian evidently regarded the Gospels and 
 Epistles — the "New Testament Scriptures," as he 
 calls them' — as on an equal footing of authority 
 with the Old, quoting, as he did, from either in- 
 differently, according as his argument seemed to re- 
 quire. In his work against Marcion — the trans- 
 lation of which makes, in the Ante-Nicene Library, 
 an octavo volume of 480 pages — he refers, accord- 
 ing to the Index of Scriptures affixed, to Matthew 
 40 times, Mark once, Luke 217, and John 13 times. 
 He quotes many times the Acts and all the Epistles, 
 except 2d Peter and 2d and 3d John, and Jude. He 
 quotes frequently, from nearly, or quite, every book 
 of the Old Testament. 
 
 We here dismiss this witness for the present. 
 His testimony proves that the four Gospels existed 
 at the time he wrote, about the year 210, and that 
 he believed, on the authority of tradition and of the 
 Apostolic churches, that they were written respect- 
 ively by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and had 
 been handed down in the churches from the days of 
 the Apostles. 
 
 The next witness I shall call is Titus Flavius 
 Clemens. He was converted from paganism to 
 Christianity at the age of manhood. His writings 
 
 ' De resure. earn., c. 39. Adv. Marc, IV, c. 23. 
 
TESTIMONY OF CLEMENT. 21 
 
 show that he was well acquainted with Greek learn- 
 ing, and all the existing systems of philosophy. He 
 traveled extensively in pursuit of knowledge. He 
 tells us in his first book of Miscellanies or Stro- 
 mata that he had been privileged to hear the 
 " vigorous and animated discourses of blessed and 
 truly remarkable men. Of these, one, in Greece, 
 an Ionic; the other, in Magna Grsecia, (Lower 
 Italy.) The one was born in the land of Assyrias ; 
 the other, a Hebrew, in Palestina."^ He succeeded 
 Pantsenus as president of the catechetical school in 
 Alexandria about the year 189. Many of his writ- 
 ings have perished. His Exhortation to the 
 Heathen., his Instructor., his Miscellanies or 
 Stromata, have been preserved, and are published 
 in the Ante-Kicene Christian Library. His work, 
 called Hypotyposes was translated from the Greek 
 into the Latin by Cassiodorus. It is lost.^ It 
 was written about the year 200. Some extracts 
 from it have been preserved to us by Eusebius, 
 whose words I quote : 
 
 "CHAPTER XV. 
 
 "THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. 
 
 ''The divine word having thus been established 
 among the Romans, the power of Simon was soon ex- 
 
 C. 1. - Encyclopaedia Britanmca, article Clement. 
 
22 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 tinguished and destroyed together with the man. ' So 
 greatly, however, did the splendour of piety enlighten 
 the minds of Peter's hearers, that it was not sufficient 
 to hear but once, nor to receive the unwritten doc- 
 trine of the gospel of God, but they persevered in 
 every variety of entreaties, to solicit Mark as the 
 companion of Peter, and whose Gospel we have, that 
 lie should leave them a monument of the doctrine 
 thus orally communicated, in writing. Nor did they 
 cease their solicitations until they had prevailed with 
 the man, and thus become the means of that history 
 which is called the Gospel according to Mark. They 
 say also, that the apostle, (Peter,) having ascertained 
 what was done by the revelation of the spirit, was de- 
 lighted with the zealous ardour expressed by these 
 men, and that the history obtained his authority for 
 the purpose of being read in the churches. This ac- 
 count is given by Clement, in the sixth book of his 
 Institutions, whose testimony is corroborated also by 
 that of Papias, bishop of Hierapolis. But Peter 
 makes mention of Mark in the first epistle, which he 
 is also said to have composed at the same city of 
 Rome, and that he shows this fact, by calling the 
 city by an unusual trope, Babylon; thus, 'The 
 
 ' From these words of Eusebius it is concluded that the 
 death of Simon IMagus happened at Rome in the time of 
 Claudius, for Eusebius writeth that Peter came to Rome in 
 Claudius' reign, and that presently after, Simon's magical 
 arts were by his coming destroyed together with the author. 
 Though there be others that say Simon was destroyed in 
 Nero's time. Vales. 
 
X 
 
 TESTIMONY OF CLEMENT. 23 
 
 church at Babylon, elected together with you, salu- 
 teth you, as also my son Marcus. ' 1 Pet. v. 13. 
 
 "Again, in the same work, Clement also gives the 
 tradition respecting the order of the Gospels, as de- 
 rived from the oldest presbyters, as follows : * He 
 says that those which contain the genealogies were 
 written first; but that the Gospel of Mark was oc- 
 casioned in the following manner : * "When Peter had 
 proclaimed the word publicly at Eome, and declared 
 the Gospel under the influence of the spirit ; as there 
 was a great number jjresent, they requested Mark, 
 who had followed him from afar, and remembered 
 well what he had said, to reduce these things to 
 writing, and that after composing that Gospel he gave 
 it to those who requested it of him. Which when 
 Peter understood, he directly neither hindered nor 
 encouraged it. But John, last of all, perceiving 
 that what had reference to the body in the gospel of 
 our Saviour, was sufficiently detailed, and being en- 
 couraged by his familiar friends, and urged by the 
 Spirit, he wrote a spiritual GosiJel.' Thus far 
 Clement.'" 
 
 Clement rarely cites any of the Gospels by the 
 name of the writer, but he often quotes texts from 
 them. He gives a tradition of their early origin 
 and expresses his doubts of the authenticity of a 
 story told in an apocryphal writing, on the ground 
 that it was not related in any of the " four Gospels 
 
 ' B. II, c. 15 ; and B. VI., c. 14. 
 
24 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 handed down to us."^ According to tlie index to his 
 published works in the Ante-Niceue Library, lie 
 quotes Matthew 100, Mark 21, Luke 100 and John 
 60, times. He quotes, also, an apocryphal book, 
 called the Preaching of Peter, three times. 
 
 We here dismiss this witness. He proves that at 
 the time he wrote, say about the year 200, our pres- 
 ent four Gospels were in existence. He quoted and 
 used them in his writings as frequently, and in 
 much the same way, as writers of sermons do in the 
 present day. 
 
 As bearing upon the question of the date of our 
 Gospels, it should here be observed, that two trans- 
 lations of the Gospels, and other New Testament 
 Scriptures, were made according to Tischendorf and 
 other critics as early as the middle of the second 
 century — the one, from the Greek into the Syriac 
 language, the other, from the Greek into the Latin.* 
 In the first and second centuries, Greek was the 
 language most commonly in nse, at least for all lit- 
 erary purposes, in a part of Palestine, in Asia 
 Minor, in Greece, in Alexandria and in a part of 
 
 ' Stromata, B. Ill, c. 13. 
 
 ' Reuss' Iligtory of the Canon, c. 8. Westcott's Canon of 
 theN. T., pt. -I, c. 3, § 1. Tischendorf 's Wfien were our 
 Oospels Written, etc., and published by the American Tract 
 Society. 
 
SYRIAC AND LATIN VERSIONS. 25 
 
 Italj.^ The Gospels, except Matthew, were origi- 
 nally written in Greek, Paul wrote his Epistles in 
 Greek. The Roman bishop Clement wrote to the 
 church in Corinth in Greek, and, shortly afterwards, 
 the bishop of Corinth wrote to the bishop of Rome 
 in Greek. Clement, Polycarp, Barnabas, Tatian, 
 Justin, Irenseus and others, all wrote in the same 
 language. But, when the Gospel found its way 
 into portions of Syria and other countries in the 
 East, where the Greek language was not so well 
 understood, and into Northern Africa and parts of 
 Italy and other countries in the West, where the 
 Latin language prevailed, there came a demand 
 from the Christians of those countries for transla- 
 tions of the New Testament into their vernacular 
 tongues. This demand was met, in the East, by 
 the Peshito or " simple " Syriac, version of the 
 New Testament, and in the "West, by the old Latin 
 version — a version older than the vulgate now 
 in use. The Peshito is still in common use in 
 many Oriental churches. It contains the four Gos- 
 pels, the Acts and Epistles, except the third of 
 John, the second of Peter, and the Epistle of Judo. 
 It leaves out the Apocalypse.^ The old Latin ver- 
 
 1 Westcott, pt. I, c. 3. § 2. 
 4 
 
26 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 sion coincided with the Muratorian fragment and 
 contained the four Gospels, the Acts, thirteen Epis- 
 tles of Paul, three of John, the first of Peter, the 
 epistle of Jude and the Apocalypse. A few manu- 
 scripts of this old version are still in existence. 
 Lachmann made use of four, of which one belongs 
 to the fourth and another to the fourth or fifth cen- 
 turj.' 
 
 The next witness I shall examine is Irenaeus, He 
 was born and grew up in Asia Minor, — probably at 
 Smyrna. History does not fix the exact date of his 
 birth. "Writers generally state it to have been be- 
 tween the years 120 and 140.' He was surrounded 
 in his youth by Christian influences, and was, most 
 likely, born of Christian and Greek parents. When 
 he was a boy, Asia Minor was full of churches, as 
 is evident from the accounts given of them in the 
 Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles. " The seven 
 churches which are in Asia," so sharply rebuked in 
 the book of Eevelation, were all located within a 
 moderate distance of the place where he spent his 
 boyhood and youth. During the early part of his 
 life, Polycarp was bishop of Smyrna ; Papias, wlio 
 
 ' Westcott, pt. I, c. 3, § 2. 
 
 ■^ ScliafE's Christian Church, § 124. Encyclopaedia Britan- 
 uica, article Irenceus. 
 
TESTIMONY OF IRENyEUS. 27 
 
 knew Aristion and presbyter John, " disciples of the 
 Lord," was bishop of Hieropolis; and Polycrates, 
 of Ephesus. These cities were all in the same 
 neighborhood and near the home of Irengeus. It is 
 reasonable to suppose that he knew not only these 
 persons, but many others whose fathers and mothers 
 had listened to the preaching of Paul and Barnabas, 
 and liad received the Apostolic benediction from the 
 beloved disciple John. 
 
 In the early part of his life, Irenseus removed 
 (some writers say accompanied Pothinus,) to the 
 southern part of Gaul, where for some years he was 
 presbyter under Pothinus, bishop of what is now 
 Lyons, in France. From Pothinus he would natur- 
 ally learn many things connected with the early 
 history of the church ; for Pothinus was born about 
 the year 87 — ten years before the death of the 
 Apostle John — and most likely in Asia Minor 
 where he may have known that Apostle. He lived 
 to the advanced age of ninety years.^ While yet a 
 presbyter, Irenseus was sent with a letter from cer- 
 tain members of the church of Lyons, who were 
 then awaiting martyrdom, to Eleutherus, bishop of 
 Rome. After the death of Pothinus, he became 
 bishop of Lyons. ^ He wrote his great book 
 
 ' E. H. E., B. V, c. 5. 
 
28 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 Against Heresies, according to his own account, 
 during the time Eleutherus was bishop of Rome, 
 i. e., between the years 177 and 193.^ Writers, gen- 
 erally, give the year 180 as the date of this work. 
 The author of Supernatural lieligion gives 190." 
 He wrote also a letter to Victor, bishop of Rome, on 
 the subject of the controversy, pending in his time, 
 about tlie right day of keeping the Easter Festival. 
 He recommended charity and forbearance.^ It is 
 generally believed that he suffered martyrdom in 
 the persecution under Septimus Severus in the year 
 202. But this is not certain. 
 
 Irenseus was instructed in his youth by Polj'carp, 
 who was, next to the Apostle John, the most dis- 
 tinguished ecclesiastical personage of the age in 
 which he lived. Polycarp was born in the year 69 
 or 70. Irenseus says : "He was not only instructed 
 b}' Apostles and conversed with many who had seen 
 Christ, but was also by Apostles appointed bishop 
 of the church in Smyrna."* Tertullian says he was 
 appointed by John." In his letter to Florinus, Iren- 
 feus says : " I can tell, also, the very place where 
 
 ' Irencms, B. Ill, c. 3, § 3. 
 
 ^ Supernatural Religion^ pt. II, c. 10, 6th ed., p. 522. 
 
 » E. H. E., B. V, c. 24. 
 
 « Irenmis, B. Ill, c. 3, § 4. 
 
 * Pre. vs. Heretics, c. 32. 
 
TESTIMONY OF IREN^US. 29 
 
 the blessed Polycarp was accustomed to sit and dis- 
 course, and, also, his entrances, his walks, the com- 
 plexion of his life, and the form of his body and 
 his conversations with the people, and his familiar 
 intercourse with John, as he was accustomed to tell ; 
 as, also, his familiarity with those that had seen the 
 Lord. Also, concerning his miracles, his doctrines, 
 all these were told by Polycarp in consistency with 
 the Holy Scriptures as he had received them from 
 the eye witnesses of the doctrine of salvation. These 
 things, by the mercy of God, and the opportunity 
 then afforded me, I attentively heard, noting them 
 down, not on paper, but in my heart ; and these 
 same facts I am always in the habit, by the grace of 
 God, to recall faithfully to mind."^ Mr. Wadding- 
 ton has hxed the date of the martyrdom of Poly- 
 carp during the proconsulship of L. Statins Quad- 
 ratus, in the year 155-6.^ This date is accepted by 
 M. Renan, Hilgenfeld, Lipsius, Lightfoot and 
 others.^ At the time of his martyrdom he declared, 
 that he had served Christ eighty-six years.* If this 
 expression be explained as taking in the whole period 
 
 E. n. E., B. V, c. 20. 
 
 Westcott's Canon, pt. I, c. 1, § 3, title Polycarp, in note. 
 
 Dr. Lightfoot, Contemporary JRevietv, Aug., 1876. 
 
 E. n. E., B. IV, c. 15. 
 
30 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 of his life, he must have been born in 69-70, as we 
 have above said. 
 
 After the destruction of Jerusalem, by the Roman 
 general Titus, in the year TO, the Apostle John es- 
 tablished his home at Ephesus. From this city, as 
 the centre of his Apostolic labors, he governed the 
 churches in Asia Minor. He lived down into the 
 reign of the emperor Trajan between 98 and 117. 
 His death is generally stated to have occurred about 
 the year 98, at the advanced age of ninety and up- 
 wards. He died a natural death at Ephesus.^ 
 
 It will be seen from the different dates, that the 
 Apostle John and Polycarp were contemporaries 
 during a period of twenty-eight or nine years. They 
 resided during this time, the one at Ephesus, the 
 other at Smyrna. These cities are between thirty 
 and forty miles distant from each other. It will be 
 seen, also, from these dates that Polycarp and Iren- 
 seus were contemporaries during a period of be- 
 tween sixteen and thirty-six years, according to the 
 date of the birth of Irenseus. They both resided 
 in the same city in the early part of the life of the 
 latter. Irenseus was contemporary with Pothinus 
 forty years and more, Pothinus, with Polycarp 
 
 ' E. H. E., B. Ill, c. 23. Schaff's Apostolical Church, B. 
 I, § 102; Ireimns, B. Ill, c. 3, § 4. 
 
TESTIMONY OF IRENjEUS. 31 
 
 fifty years and more, and Polycarp, with the Apos- 
 tle John twenty-eight or twenty-nine years. \See 
 Apijendix A.'\ 
 
 Having heard the evidence relating to the gene- 
 ral intelligence of the witness, and seen what op- 
 portunities he had of informing himself concerning 
 the subject of our inquiry, let us now see what his 
 testimony is. In the third book of his work 
 Against Heretics^ he says : 
 
 ''1. We have learned from none others the plan of 
 our salvation, than from those through whom the 
 gospel has come down to us, which they did at one 
 time proclaim in public, and at a later period, by the 
 will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to 
 be the ground and pillar of our faith. ^ For it is un- 
 lawful to assert that they preached before they pos- 
 sessed 'perfect knowledge,' as some do even venture 
 to say, boasting themselves as improvers of the apos- 
 tles. For after our Lord rose from the dead [the 
 apostles] were invested with power from on high 
 when the Holy Spirit came down [upon them], were 
 filled from all [His gifts], aiid had perfect knowledge; 
 they departed to the ends of the earth, preaching the 
 glad tidings of the good things [sent] from God to 
 us, and proclaiming the peace of heaven to men, who 
 indeed do all equally and individually possess the 
 gospel of God. Matthew also issued a written gospel 
 
 ' See 1 Tim. iii, 15, where these terms are used in refer- 
 ence to the church. 
 
32 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 among the Hebrews' in their own dialect, while Peter 
 and Paul Avere preaching at Kome, and laying the 
 foundations of the church. After their departure 
 [death] Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter^ 
 did also hand down to us in writing what had been 
 preached by Peter. Luke also, the companion of 
 Paul, recorded in a book the gospel preached by him. 
 Afterward, John, the disciple of the Lord, who also 
 had leaned upon his breast, did himself publish a 
 gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia. 
 
 "2. These have all declared to us that there is one 
 God, Creator of heayen and earth, announced by the 
 law and the prophets; and one Christ, the Son of 
 God. If any one do not agree to these truths, he de- 
 spises the companions of the Lord; nay, more, he de- 
 spises Christ Himself, the Lord; yea, he despises the 
 Father also, and stands self -condemned, resisting and 
 opposing his own salvation, as is the case with all 
 heretics." 
 
 " 8. It is not possible that the Gospels can be either 
 more or fewer in number than they. are. For, since 
 there are four zones of the world in which we live, 
 and four principal winds, ^ while the church is scat- 
 tered throughout all the world, and the ' pillar and 
 gi'ound'^ of the church is the gospel and the spirit 
 
 ' On this and similar statements in the fathers, the reader 
 may consult Dr. Roberts' Discussions on the Gospels, in which 
 they are fully criticised, and the Greek original of St. Mat- 
 thew's Gospel maintained. 
 
 ^Literally, " four catholic spirits ; Greek, Te66apa naOo- 
 XiKCc Ttvsv/uara; Latin, " quatuor principales spiritus." 
 -3 1 Tim. iii, 15. 
 
TESTIMONY OF IREN^US. 33 
 
 of life; it is fitting that she should have four pillars, 
 breathing out immortality on every side, and vivify- 
 ing inen afresh. From which fact it is evident that 
 the Word, the Artificer of all, He that sitteth upon 
 the cherubim, and contains all things. He who was 
 manifested to men, has given us the gospel under 
 four aspects, but bound together by one Spirit. 
 As also David says, when entreating His mani- 
 festation, * Thou that sittest between the cheru- 
 bim, shine forth.' ' For the cherubim, too, were 
 four-faced, and their faces Avcro images of the dis- 
 pensation of the son of God. For [as the Scripture] 
 says, ' The first living creature was like a lion,' "•' sym- 
 bolizing His efi'ectual working, His leadership and 
 royal power; the second [living creature] was like a 
 calf, signifying [His] sacrificial and sacerdotal order; 
 but 'the tliird had, as it were, the face as of a man,' 
 an evident description of his advent as a human be- 
 ing; ' the fourth was like a flying eagle,' pointing out 
 the gift of the Spirit, hovering with his wings over 
 the church. And, therefore, the Gospels are in ac- 
 cord with these things, among which Christ Jesus is 
 seated; for that, according to John, relates His origi- 
 nal, effectual and glorious generation from the 
 Father, thus declaring, ' In the beginning was the 
 Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word 
 was God.' ^ Also, 'all things were made by Him, 
 and without Him was nothing made.' For this rea- 
 son, too, is that Gospel full of all confidence, for such 
 
 ' Ps. Ixxx, 1. 2 Rev. iv, 7. ^ John i, 1. 
 
 5 
 
34 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 is His person.' But that, according to Luke, taking 
 up [His] priestly character, commenced with Zacha- 
 rius, the priest, offering sacrifice to God. For now 
 was made ready the fatted calf, about to be immolated 
 for the finding again of the younger son. Matthew, 
 again, relates His generation as a man, saying, ' The 
 book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of 
 David, the son of Abraham;'^ and also, 'The birth 
 of Jesus Christ was on this wise.' This, then, is the 
 Gospel of his humanity;^ for which reason it is, too, 
 that [the character of] a humble and meek man is 
 kept up through the whole Gospel. Mark, on the 
 other hand, commences with [a reference to] the 
 prophetical spirit coming down from on high to men, 
 saying, ' The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, 
 as it is written in Esaias, the prophet ' — pointing to 
 the winged aspect of the Gospel; and on this account 
 he made a compendious and cursory narrative, for 
 such is the prophetical character. " * """^ ' 
 
 ""N*--^ ' The above is the literal rendering of this very obscure 
 sentence ; it is not at all represented in the Greek here pre- 
 served. 
 
 ■^ The Greek is vTckfj; the Latin, "pro." 
 
 ' Matt, i, 1, 18. 
 
 * The Greek text of this clause, literally rendered, is, 
 "This Gospel, then, is authropomorphic." 
 
 'C. 1, § 1, and c. 11, § 8. 
 
 •The idea of Irenteus, that it is fitting that "the 
 church, scattered throughout all the world," should have 
 "four pillars" in the form of the "four Gospels," inas- 
 much as there are "four zones in the world" and "four 
 principal winds," may be purely a fanciful idea, or it may 
 have contained some spiritual or mythical meaning which 
 
TESTIMONY OF IREN^US. 35 
 
 If our Gospels were written and first circulated 
 " in the last half of the second century," according 
 to some critics, then they were written and first cir- 
 culated when Irengeus was in the full vigor of his 
 intellect, in the active service of the church, and 
 about the time he was writing the above extracts. 
 He must have known something about their origin. 
 He must, at least, have known that they did not 
 originate in Apostolic times. He must have remem- 
 bered a time when he knew nothing of them, wlien 
 he first saw or heard of them, and when they 
 first began to be read in the churches. He must 
 have known, that he had never heard Polycarp, 
 Pothinus, Papias, or any other aged person speak of 
 them as existing in their younger days. And if all 
 this were so, then what he says in the above ex- 
 
 he has not explained. He interprets the "four living crea- 
 tures," described in the first and tenth chapters of the 
 prophet Ezekiel, and the fourth chapter of Revelation, as 
 symbols of our four Gospels. The ancient fathers Victo- 
 rinus, Athanisus, Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory 
 the Great, and others, down to modern times, interpret 
 them in the same way. According to this interpretation, 
 St. Matthew is represented as the Man, St. Mark as tlie 
 Lion, St. Luke as the Oalf or Ox, and St. John as the 
 Eagle. (Williams' Study of the Gospels, c. 2.) Artists 
 usually paint a winged Lion in a picture of Mark, an Ox in 
 that of Luke, and an Eagle in that of John. 
 
36 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 tracts, in regard to their Apostolic origin, are delib- 
 erate falsehoods — not mere mistakes or errors of 
 judgment, for there is no room for these, but false- 
 hoods — falsehoods, too, promulgated not only be- 
 fore the whole body of Chi'istiaus, Jews and pagans 
 of that day, but also in the presence of the Gnostics 
 and other heretics against whom he was writing, 
 many of whom were learned men. These would 
 not have been slow to expose his slightest errors and 
 misrepresentations, and charge him with them. But 
 the disciple of Polycarp and companion of Pothiuus 
 and other aged men, from whom he had an oppor- 
 tunity (as we have seen), of receiving, and probably 
 did receive, trustworthy accounts of the origin of 
 our Gospels, utterly ignores the idea of their recent 
 origin. He does not testify merely to the existence 
 of a tradition affirming their early origin, but he 
 testifies to the fact, as if he had investigated the 
 question and had learned the very truth of the mat- 
 ter from persons who knew whereof they spoke. 
 He does not hesitate to affirm in the face of Chris- 
 tians, Jews, pagans, and heretics, that they were 
 written in the days of the xVpostles, by Matthew 
 and John — Apostles, and Mark and Luke — com- 
 panions of Apostles. He expressly excludes the 
 idea of their having originated in more recent 
 
TESTIMONY OF IREN^US. 37 
 
 times, with persons falsely assuming the names of 
 their reputed authors, by describing the writers as 
 "Matthew the Apostle,'" "Mark, the interpreter 
 and follower of Peter,'' Luke, " the follower and disci- 
 ple of the Apostles," and as " inseparable from Paul 
 and his fellow laborer in the Gospel,'" and " John, 
 the disciple of the Lord.'" He speaks of the Gos- 
 pels as being " the pillar and ground of our faith,'" 
 as being " handed down to us from the Apostles,'" 
 as being received as genuine and authoritative, not 
 only by the orthodox Christians, but also by the 
 heretics against whom he was writing. He says : 
 
 " So firm is the ground upon which these Gospels 
 rest, that the very heretics themselves bear witness to 
 them, and, starting from these [documents], each 
 one of them endeavors to establish his own peculiar 
 doctrine. For the Ebionites, who use Matthew's 
 Gosper only, are confuted out of this very same, 
 making false suppositions with regard to the Lord. 
 But Marcion, mutilating that according to Luke, is 
 proved to be a blasphemer of the only existing God, 
 from those [passages] which he still retains. Those, 
 
 ' B. Ill, c. 9, § 1. 2 B. Ill, c. 10, § 6. 
 
 2 C. 10, § 1, and c. 14, § 1. " C. 11, § 1. 
 
 "• B. Ill, c. 1, § 1. « B. Ill, c. 1, § 1. 
 
 ' Harvey thinks tliat this is the Hebrew Gospel of which 
 Irenasus speaks in the opening of this book; but comp. Dr. 
 Robert's Discussions on the Oosiiels, part 11, chap. iv. 
 
 4 
 
38 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 again, who separate Jesus from Christ, alleging that 
 Christ remained impassible, but that it was Jesus 
 who suffered, preferring the Gospel by Mark, if they 
 read it with a love of truth, may have their errors 
 rectified. Those, moreover, who follow Valentinus, 
 making copious use of that according to John, to 
 illustrate their conjunctions, shall be proved to be 
 totally in error by means of this very Gospel, as I 
 have shown in the first book. Since, then, our 
 opponents do bear testimony to us, and make use of 
 these [documents], our proof derived from them is 
 firm and true.'" 
 
 Irenseus repeatedly affirms in many parts of his 
 work that the heretics appealed to our Gospels to 
 prove their erroneous doctrines as well as to Apo- 
 cryphal Gospels. He quotes Luke 2:49, and 18:18 ; 
 Mark 10:17; Matthew 11:25-27, and 21:23; and 
 many other texts from our Gospels, which he says, 
 the heretics quote and misinterpret." We cannot 
 verify this assertion of Irenaeus, for the works of the 
 heretics referred to are all lost. 
 
 Irenfieus' work Against Heresies^ in five books, 
 translated by the Rev. Alexander Roberts and the 
 Rev. W. H. Rambaut, and published by T. & T. 
 Clark of Edinburgh in the Ante-Nicene Christian 
 Library, makes a volume and a half, containing, in 
 
 ' B. Ill, c. 11, § 7. » B. I, c. 31, §§ 1, 2, 3. 
 
CANON OF MURATORI. 39 
 
 all, six hundred and thirty-seven octavo pages. In 
 this work and a few fragments of other works pre- 
 served by Eusebius, he quotes or refers to Matthew's 
 Gospel 190 times, to Mark's 15, Luke's 120, John's 
 130. He quotes from every book of the new Testa- 
 ment, except 2^^ Peter, and 2'' and 2>^ John. It is not 
 denied that his quotations from the Gospels were 
 taken from the same Gospels which are in common use 
 in our day. The passages quoted by him correspond 
 with parallel texts in our Gospels. Indeed Irenseus 
 recognized no other Gospels than our four as genuine 
 and authentic. These he recognized as Holy Scrip- 
 tures and as standing on a common footing, in every 
 respect, with the Old Testament Scriptures and the 
 Epistles. These same four Gosftels, quoted and de- 
 scribed by Irenseus, were recognized as genuine by 
 Clement, Tertullian, Origen, Jerome, Augustine, 
 Bernard, Wickliffe, Luther, Calvin and many others, 
 making an unbroken series of commentators and 
 writers from the days of Irenaeus to the present 
 time. 
 
 The next piece of evidence I shall consider is 
 called the Canon of Muratori, a fragment in Latin, 
 first published by Muratori in his Antiquiiates 
 ItalicoB in 1740. It was found in the Ambrosian 
 Library, at Milan, in a manuscript of the T^ or 8*^ cen- 
 
40 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 tury, which originally belonged to Columban's great 
 monastery at Bobbio. The manuscript is mutilated 
 at the beginning and end. Besides a canon of the 
 New Testament Scriptures, it contains a miscel- 
 laneous collection of Latin fragments, including pas- 
 sages from Eucherius and Ambrose, translations 
 from Clirysostom and brief expositions of the 
 Catholic creed. It will be noticed on reading the 
 fragment that it states that " the Pastor, moreover, 
 did Hermas write very recently in our times in the 
 city of Rome while his brother bishop Pius sat in 
 the chair of the church of Rome." The Roman 
 calendar fixes the episcopate of Pius between the 
 years 142 and 157. The expression " very recently 
 in our times," as indicating the date of the canon, 
 must mean during the episcopate of Pius or soon 
 after. Muratori thinks it was composed about 190. 
 The author of Supernatural Religion says, "the 
 mass of critics have concluded the fragment to have 
 been written toward the end of the second century." ' 
 Canon Westcott, who examined the manuscript with 
 great care, and published it in full in the appendix 
 to his canon of the New Testament, thinks it could 
 
 ' Supernatural Religion, pt. 2, c. 10, § 3, p. 540. 
 
CANON OF MURA TORI. ■ 41 
 
 not have been originally written later than the year 
 170. Dr. Tregelles thinks it was composed as early 
 as 160.^ Both of these writers think it was written 
 originally in Greek. The author is unknown. The 
 first pages of the manuscript, as we have already 
 said, are lost. It commences, as published by Canon 
 Westcott, thus : " (p. 10 d) quibus tamen interfuit et 
 ita posuit. Tertio evangelii libum secando Lucan,'' 
 etc., etc. I make use of the translation of the 
 canon contained in the Ante-Nicene Library. 
 
 "1 those things at which he was present he 
 
 placed thus.^ The third book of the Gospel, that ac- 
 cording to Luke, the well-known physician Luke 
 wrote in his own name » in order after the ascension 
 of Christ, and when Paul had associated him with 
 
 ' Dr. Samuel Prideaux Tregelles in 18G7 published at 
 Oxford a fac mnile tracing of the manuscript taken by him, 
 in 1857, from the manuscript in the Ambrosian library, and 
 accompanied it by an introduction and critical notes. 
 
 ^ The text is, "quibus tamen interfuit et ita posuit." 
 Westcott omits the " et." Bunsen proposes "i/we non inter- 
 fuit." The reference probably is to the statement of Papias 
 (Euseb. Histor. Eccles. iii. 39) as to Mark's Gospel being a 
 narrative not of what he himself witnessed, but of what he 
 heard from Peter. 
 
 ^ The text gives '' numine suo ex opinione concriset," for 
 which we read " nomine suo ex ordine conscripsit " with 
 Westcott. 
 
 6 
 
42 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 himself as one studious of right.^ Nor did lie him- 
 self see the Lord in the flesh ; and he, according as 
 he was able to accomplish it, began ^ his narrative 
 with the nativity of John. The fourth Gospel is that 
 of John, one of the disciples. When his fellow-dis- 
 ciples and bishops entreated him, he said, "Fast ye 
 now Avith me for the space of three days, and let us 
 recount to each other whatever may be revealed to 
 each of us." On the same night it was revealed to 
 Andrew, one of the Apostles, that John should narrate 
 all things in his own name as they called them to 
 mind (or as they revised them, recognoscentihus). 
 And hence, although different j^oints (principia) are 
 taught us in the several books of the Gospels, there is 
 no difference as regards the faith of believers, inas- 
 much as in all of them all things are related under 
 one imperial {prmcqjaU, leading) spirit, which con- 
 cern the [Lord's] nativity. His passion, His resurrec- 
 tion, His conversation with His disciples, and His 
 twofold advent, — the first in the humiliation of 
 rejection, which is now past, and the second in the 
 glory of royal power, which is yet in the future. 
 What marvel is it, then, that John brings forward 
 these several things {singula) so constantly in his 
 epistles also, saying in his own person, *'What we 
 
 ' Reading " secum " for " secundum." 
 
 ' The text gives " quasi ut juris studiosum," for which 
 "quasi et virtutis studiosum," = *'as one devoted to 
 virtue," has been proposed. Bunsen reads " itineris socium " 
 = '' as his companion in the way. 
 
 2 "Incepit" for "incipet" 
 
CANON OF MURA TORI. 43 
 
 have seen with our eyes, and heard with our ears, and 
 our hands have handled, that have we written." ' 
 For thus he professes himself to be not only the eye- 
 witness, but also the hearer ; and besides that, the 
 historian of all the wondrous facts concerning the 
 Lord in their order. 
 
 y. Moreover, the acts of all the Apostles are com- 
 prised by Luke in one book, and addressed to the 
 most excellent Theophilus, because these different 
 events took place when he was present himself ; and 
 he shows this clearly [i. e. that the principle on which 
 he wrote was to give only what fell under his own 
 notice) by the omission ^ of the passion of Peter, and 
 also of the journey of Paul, when he went from the 
 city (Kome) to Spain. 
 
 3. As to the epistles ^ of Paul, again, to those who 
 will understand the matter, they indicate of them- 
 selves what they are, and from what place or with 
 what object they were directed. He wrote first of all, 
 and at considerable length, to the Corinthians, to 
 check the schism of heresy ; and then to the Galatians, 
 to forbid circumcision ; and then to the Eomans on 
 the rule of the [Old Testament] Scriptures, and also 
 to show them that Christ is the first object {principmm) 
 in these ; — which it is needful for us to discuss 
 
 ' 1 John i. 1. 
 
 "^ The text is, " semote passionem Petri," etc., for which 
 Westcott reads "semota." 
 
 ^Reading, "ei^istolae" and "direct£e" instead "epis- 
 tola" directe," and "voleutibus " for '' volentatibus." 
 
44 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 severall}',^ as the blessed Apostle Paul, following the 
 rule of his predecessor John, writes to no more than 
 seven churclies by name, in this order ; the first to the 
 Corinthians, the second to the Ephesians, the third 
 to the Philippians, the fourth to the Colossians, the 
 fifth to the Galatians, the sixth to the Thessalonians, 
 the seventh to the Eomans. Moreover, though he 
 writes twice to the Corinthians and Thessalonians for 
 their correction, it is yet shown {i. e. by this seven- 
 fold writing) that there is one church spread abroad 
 through the whole world. And John too, indeed, in 
 the Apocalypse, although he writes only to seven 
 churches, yet addresses all. He wrote, besides these, 
 one to Philemon, and one to Titus, and two to 
 Timothy, in simple personal affection and love indeed ; 
 but yet these are hallowed in the esteem of the 
 catholic church, [and] in the regulation of ecclesi- 
 astical discipline. There are also in circulation one 
 to the Laodiceans, and another to the Alexandrians, 
 forged under the name of Paul, [and] addressed 
 against the heresy of Marcion ; and there are also 
 several others which cannot be received into the 
 catholic church, for it is not suitable for gall to be 
 mingled with honey. 
 
 4. The Epistle of Jude, indeed (sane), and two be- 
 longing to the above-named John (or bearing the 
 name of John), are reckoned among the catholic 
 
 1 The text is, '• de qnibus singulis necesse est a nobis dis- 
 putari cum," etc. Bunsen reads, "de quibus non necesse 
 est a nobis disputari cur " = "on which we need not dis- 
 cuss the reason why." 
 
CANON OF MURATORI. 45 
 
 [epistles].' Aud the [book of J Wisdom, written by 
 the friends of Solomon in his honour, [is admitted]. 
 We receive also the Apocalypse of John and [that of] 
 Peter, though some amongst us will not have this 
 latter read in the church. The Pastor, moreover, did 
 Hermas write very recently in our times in the city of 
 Rome, while his brother bishop Pius sat in the chair 
 of the church of Rome. And therefore it also ought 
 to be read; but it cannot be made public'' in the 
 church to the people, nor [placed] among the prophets, 
 as their number is complete, nor among the Apostles 
 to the end of time. Of [the writings of] Arsinous, 
 called also Valentinus, or of Miltiades, we receive 
 nothing at all. Those two who wrote the new Booh 
 of Psalms for Marcion, together with Basilides and 
 the founder of ths Asian Oataphrygians [are re- 
 jected].^ 
 
 There can be no reasonable doubt that the Gospels 
 of Matthew and Mark had been named by the 
 writer in the preceding pages which have been torn 
 off. This document is interesting on many accounts, 
 but particularly as showing that not only the four 
 Gospels were, at the time of its date (say about 170), 
 in common use, but also that the entire canon of 
 
 1 The text is "in catholica," which may be "in the 
 catholic church." Bunsen, Westcott, etc., read " in 
 catholicis." 
 
 * Reading " sed publican" for ''se publicare." 
 =5 Vol, IX, pt. 3, p. 159, Clark's Edinburgh ed. 
 
4j6 authorship OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 our New Testament Scriptures was so far advanced 
 towards final completion as to include as in common 
 use nearly all the books now found in it. 
 
 Tlieophilns, bishop of Autiocli, writing to Autolj- 
 cus about 180, says : " And hence the holy writings 
 teach us, and all the spirit-bearing [inspired] men, 
 one of whom, John, says, ' In the beginning was 
 the word, and the word was with God and the word 
 was God.' Showing, that, at first God was alone 
 and tlie word in Him.'" He quotes from Matthew, 
 Luke, Romans, Timothy and other writers of the 
 New Testament, but without naming any of them 
 except John." 
 
 Tatian, a pupil of Justin Martyr, about the year 
 155-170, " having formed a certain body and collec- 
 tion of Gospels," says Eusebius, " has given this the 
 title Diatessaron, that is, the Gospel by the four, or 
 the Gospel formed of the four ; which is in the pos- 
 session of some even now," i. e., about the year 
 325, when Eusebius wrote.^ It is stated by Diony- 
 sius Bar Salibi, a writer of the close of the 12th 
 century, that Ephraem Syrus, the celebrated deacon 
 of Edessa, wrote a commentary on the Diatessaron 
 of Tatian. This work, or perhaps a series of ex- 
 
 1 B. II, c. 22. ' Antc-Nicene Librarj^ vol. Ill, p. 88, 
 
 » B. IV, c. 29, Westcott's Canon, § 10, title Tatian. 
 
TESTIMONY OF JUSTIN US. 47 
 
 tracts from it, is still preserved in an Arnienian 
 translation. The Armenian text was published as 
 long ago as 1836, but more recently the work has 
 been made generally accessible in a Latin transla- 
 tion published at Venice in 1876. The first pas- 
 sage commented upon is John i, 1, with which, it 
 appears, from the evidence of Bar Salibi, Tatian's 
 Harmony began. Then follow passages from the 
 four Gospels. Scholars, who are acquainted with 
 this commentary, do not hesitate to express the con- 
 viction that it is founded on Tatian's Diatessaron, 
 and this on our four Gospels. What other four 
 Gospels ever formed a collection that was known, or 
 could be known, by the simple description of " The 
 Four?"' 
 
 Flavins Justinus, philosopher. Christian and 
 Martyr, is the next witness. He was born toward 
 the close of the first century, or in the beginning of 
 the second, in the Grseco-Roman colony of Flavia 
 Neapolis — the ancient Sicliem in Samaria — and 
 was educated in Hellenic heathenism. He tells us, 
 in his Dialogue with Trypho^ that he studied philos- 
 
 1 Footman's Eeassuring Hints, 1885, p. 152. Supernatu- 
 ral Religion, ch. VIII, § 1. 
 ' Dialogue, c. 2 and 8. 
 
48 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 ophy at different times with a Stoic, a Peripatetic, 
 a Pythagorean and a Platonist, and at last embraced 
 Christianity as the true philosophy. He spent some 
 time in Ephesus and lived for a considerable period 
 in Rome. He continued to wear the jpallium or 
 philosopher's cloak, after his conversion the same 
 as before.' He suffered martyrdom at Rome about 
 166-7, under the reign of Marcus Aurelius. His 
 principal works, which are still extant, are his 
 Dialogue with the Jew Trypho and two Apologies. 
 The first, which possesses much the greater value, is 
 addressed to the Emperor Antoninus Pius, whose 
 reign commenced in 138 and ended in 161. It was 
 written about the year 150. The other is addressed 
 to Marcus Aurelius, and was written sometime 
 afterward.'' 
 
 In both Apologies^ Justin seeks to obtain from 
 the Roman Emperor a revocation of the decrees 
 which authorized the punishment of Christians, 
 though guilty of no crime, but simply because they 
 were Christians. In the first, he gives to the 
 heathen Emperor a pretty full account of the moral 
 
 1 Introductory notice to bis works. Clark's Ante-Nicene 
 Library, vol. II. Schaff's Christian Church, § 122. 
 
 '^ Schaff's Christian Church, p. 483. Supernatural Re- 
 ligion, vol. I, p. 248. 
 
TESTIMONY OF JUSTINUS. 49 
 
 teachings aud religion of the Christians and shows, 
 that these possess no objectionable character. In 
 his Dialogue with Trypho, he seeks to convince the 
 Jews, that Jesus Christ is the Messiah foretold by 
 the prophets. His writings show an extensive and 
 familiar acquaintance with the Old Testament 
 Scriptures, particularly the prophets and psalms, 
 and with histories of the life and doctrines of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 The question now is, do the writhigs of this wit- 
 ness contain any proof that our canonical Gospels 
 existed at the time he wrote, to wit, about the year 
 150 % They afford abundant proof that he was well 
 versed, as we have already said, in a knowledge of 
 the Gospel history. From what source did he de- 
 rive this knowledge ? The only source of informa- 
 tion to which he refers is certain Memoirs. These 
 he mentions in his first Apology and in the Dialogue 
 eight times by the name simply of Memoirs, and 
 five times by the name of Memoirs of the Apostles. 
 In one place he calls them the "Memoirs which 
 were composed by the Apostles and are called Gos- 
 pels.'" In another place, he uses this language : 
 " In the Memoirs which, I say, were drawn up by 
 
 fj 1 Ap., c. 66. 
 
50 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 His Apostles and those who followed them, it is 
 recorded,"^ etc. When describing the weekly wor- 
 ship of the Christians, he says : " And on the day 
 called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the coun- 
 try gather together to one place, and the memoirs 
 of the Apostles, or the writings of the prophets, are 
 read as long as time permits.'" It is not claimed 
 by anybody that the Apostles and their companions 
 were the subjects of these memoirs, but the writers 
 of them. These writings, it is claimed, were the 
 memoirs of Jesus by the Apostles and their com- 
 panions. 
 
 In the account here given of the Memoirs, two 
 facts are particularly to be noted : 1st. Whatever 
 were their contents, and whether they consisted of 
 one book- or more, they were written by " Apostles 
 and their companions." This fact Justin testifies 
 to ; and he lived so near the days of the Apostles, 
 and had resided in so many different places, and was 
 acquainted with so many different persons, that he 
 had it in his posverto ascertain the truth of the fact 
 he states. 2d. They were read in the churches as 
 Sacred Scriptures, on a common footing with the 
 books of the prophets. This statement is not 
 
 1 Dia., c. 103. ' A})., c. 67. 
 
TESTIMONY OF JUSTIN US. 51 
 
 limited to one or two particular churclies, but is 
 general, and applies to all the churclies existing in 
 that day. Justin is a well qualified witness to 
 testify to this fact. He was born and grew up in 
 Palestine, where he had a good opportunity of 
 learning the customs of the Christian churches in 
 the East ; and he spent the latter part of his life in 
 Rome, where he wrote the Apology^ which states 
 the fact in question, and where he had an equally 
 good opportunity to learn the practices of the 
 churches in the West. He undoubtedly knew this 
 fact to be as he states it.* Now, I think it may be 
 truthfully said that at the time he wrote there were 
 at least 2,000 churches or congregations, scattered 
 throughout the Roman Empire. Irengeus, speak- 
 ing of the unity of the faith held by the churches, 
 says : " For the churches which have been planted 
 in Germany do not believe or hand down any thing 
 different, nor do those in Spain, nor those in Gaul, 
 nor those in the East, nor those in Egypt, nor those 
 in Libya, nor those which have been established in 
 the central regions of tlie world.'" Gibbon esti- 
 
 ' TertuUian says that the "authentic writings" of the 
 Apostles are read in the Apostolic churches. Prescription 
 aaainst Heretics, c. 36. 
 
 against Heretics, c. 36 
 » Irenseus, B. I, c. 10, § 2 
 
52 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 mates the population of the Roman Empire in the 
 time of the Antonines, in 138, at 120,000,000, and 
 the Christian population at the time of the conver- 
 sion of Constantine, about the year 320, at one- 
 twentieth of the whole or about 6,000,000.' 
 Clement, who wrote about the year 200, says, in his 
 miscellanies:'' "But the word of our Teacher re- 
 mained not in Judea alone, as philosophy did in 
 Greece, but was diffused over the whole world, over 
 every nation, and village and town, bringing already 
 over to the truth whole houses and each individual 
 of those who heard it by himself, and not a few 
 other philosophers themselves." Tertullian writing 
 from North Africa, in the year 200, says — probably 
 with some exaggeration — " They who were but of 
 yesterday already fill the palace, the senate, the 
 forum and the camp and leave to the heathen their 
 temples only."^ 
 
 In all probability there were in existence, at the 
 time Justin wrote, at least 20,000 copies of these 
 Memoirs., including all that were in private hands, 
 in the catechetical schools, and in the keeping of 
 the different churches. Mr, Norton, holding the 
 Memoirs and our Gospels to be the same books. 
 
 ' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chs. 2, 15. 
 « B. V, c. 18. ^ Apol, B. I, c. 37. 
 
TESTIMONY OF JUSTINUS. 53 
 
 estimates the number of copies in existence at this 
 time at 60,000. He shows tliat books were much 
 cheaper in that day than they were in the middle 
 ages. The poorest Christian could afford to have a 
 copy of a Gospel.' Now, the question is, what 
 were these Memoirs and what became of them ? It 
 is generally believed they were our Gospels and are 
 in use among us at the present day. But the author 
 of Supernatural Religion, and the German critics 
 he quotes from, say they were not our Gospels, but 
 an apocryphal Gospel bearing several different 
 names, which, according to these critics, was very 
 much used by Christians in the early age of the 
 church, but is now lost.'' 
 
 ' Genuineness of the Gospels, ch. 1. H. Geraud, in liis 
 Essai sur les livres, etc., p. 180, says: 
 
 " The thirteenth book of Martial netted the bookseller 
 about two sesterces ; he sold it for about four (or 99 cen- 
 times). The first book of Martial's Epigrams sold for five 
 denarii (4 fr. 95 c). A large, common book (tomus vilis) 
 brought from six to ten sesterces (or 1 fr. 50 c. to 2 fr. 
 20 c). These prices seem small. * * * But it -was 
 otherwise when the trade of the bookseller was in its in- 
 fancy. Plato paid for three little treatises * * * 100 
 attic minse (about 10,000 fr.), and Aristotle gave three tal- 
 ents (16,465 fr.) for a few books which had belonged to 
 Spensippus.'' Juvenal represents Codrus, who was very 
 poor, as owning books. Sat. Ill, 206. 
 
 ' Ch. 3. 
 
54 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 Now, let us stop here and consider this theory 
 for a moment. These Memoirs were read in the 
 churches as sacred books, on a common footing 
 with the prophets. No doubt Christians every- 
 where were much attached to them. They con- 
 tained the evidences of the faith in defense of 
 which so many of them went to martyrdom. But 
 notwithstanding this attachment, all the copies, 
 numerous as they were, suddenly disappeared, and 
 our four Gospels took their place. This substitu- 
 tion was brought about, according to the theory, 
 between the time when Justin wrote, in the year 
 150, and the time when Irenoeus wrote, in 180 — 
 an interval of thirty years. The church had before 
 this time passed through the period of its infancy, 
 during which it was in great danger, according to 
 all human appearances, of being destroyed by pa- 
 ganism on one side, and Judaism on the other. In 
 the age immediately succeeding that of the Apos- 
 tles, it had within its pale but few learned men, 
 and fewer writers. Its most intelligent members 
 were employed, not in writing books, but in doing- 
 missionary work in heathen countries, and in caring 
 for the flock at home.' Notwithstanding, however. 
 
 ' E. n. E., B. Ill, c. 37. 
 
TESTIMONY OF JUSTIN US. 55 
 
 the lack of learned men and writers, and notwith- 
 standing the opposition the Gospel everywhere 
 encountered, the church continued to grow. The 
 conditions which surrounded it were every day im- 
 proving. Though still persecuted by the govern- 
 ment, yet learned men — Greek and Roman phi- 
 losophers — were beginning to investigate its claims 
 to their attention. Many of these, according to 
 Clement, were abandoning paganism and embracing 
 Christianity. Justin himself was an instance of 
 the conversion of the philosopher into the Chris- 
 tian. And so, also, was Clement. Writers were 
 multiplied in the church. During the interval of 
 the thirty years above mentioned, Irenseus was em- 
 ployed in collecting and arranging materials for his 
 books Against Heresies ; Theophilus, bishop of 
 Antioch, was writing his beautiful letter to Autoly- 
 cus; Athenagoras, the Atlienian philosopher, his 
 Plea for Christians, addressed to Marcus Aurelius 
 and Commodus, emperors ; Tatian was employed in 
 writing his Diatessaron ; Rliodo, his attack on 
 Marcion, and Celsus, his attack on Christianity; 
 while Clement was waiting to become head master 
 of the celebrated school at Alexandria, over which 
 the learned Pantjenus was still presiding ; and 
 Tertullian was studying the Roman civil law at 
 
56 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 Carthage aud sacrificing to the Homan gods. In 
 an age of so much intelligence and literary activity 
 in the church as this, and amidst these surround- 
 ings, it is asserted that our Gospels were written or 
 compiled, and substituted in place of the Mevioirs ; 
 and yet not one of these writers, or any other in 
 ancient times, mentions either the fact of the writ- 
 ing or the substitution. Twenty thousand copies, 
 more or less, of these Memoirs^ scattered through 
 different neighborhoods iu Europe, Asia and Af- 
 rica, suddenly vanished like " the baseless fabric of 
 a vision." They were never lieard of afterward. 
 New books took their places, and, wonderful to tell, 
 all this was accomplished without producing any 
 commotion among the people, or prompting a single 
 remonstrance against the change from a single 
 Christian, so far as we know, and without the 
 transaction being anywhere noticed in history. 
 Credat Judceus Appella. 
 
 Justin undoubtedly knew the names of the 
 writers of the Memoirs ', but it is not likely that 
 the pagan emperor to whom he addressed his 
 Apology knew them ; nor is it probable that the un- 
 believing Jews, for whose benefit he wrote the 
 Dialogue, knew them. By giving the names of un- 
 
TESTIMONY OF JUSTINUS. 57 
 
 known persons as the authors, he could have added 
 nothing to the force of his argument. But by call- 
 ing the books Memoirs of the Apostles, in analogy 
 to Xenophobias Memoirs or Memorabilia of Socrates, 
 with which Justin, and those for whom he wrote, 
 were familiar, he at once described the character of 
 the books, as memorials of the life of Jesus, and he 
 described the character of their writers as persons 
 qualified by their associations with Him to write 
 such memorials. This is all the emperor, or Justin's 
 readers generally, would care to know. The mere 
 names of the writers could convey no information. 
 Besides it may not have been tlie fashion of the day 
 to name the author of a book from which the writer 
 quoted. 
 
 Until within the last century, I believe, no scholar 
 ever doubted that Justin's Memoirs and our Gos- 
 pels were the same. But within that time many 
 critics have sprung up, mostly in Germany, who 
 deny their identity and assert that they cannot be 
 the same, 1st, because so large a number of quota- 
 tions made by Justin from the Memoirs differ in 
 language and thought from parallel passages con- 
 tained in the Gospels; 2nd, Justin narrates facts 
 concerning Jesus, and repeats sayings of His, not 
 found in our Gospels; 3d, there existed at the 
 
58 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 time lie wrote, other Gospels, since lost, which Jus- 
 tin probably used, and which he has denominated 
 Memoirs of the Apostles. 
 
 I will consider, briefly, each of these proposi- 
 tions. First, As to the variations between the quota- 
 tions made by Justin from tlie Memoirs and parallel 
 passages in the Gospels. These variations occur 
 frequently. They are so numerous that at the first 
 blush they would seem to prove that the Memoirs 
 and Gospels could not be the same work. But they 
 have been accounted for in two ways, 1st, in some 
 instances, by the differences in the readings of the 
 different manuscripts, but 2d, more often by the 
 fact that Justin's quotations w^ere generally made 
 from memory and are therefore often inexact. 
 That he often quoted from memory is proved by 
 the fact that in the Apology and Dialogue twenty- 
 eight instances occur in which he quoted passages 
 differently at different times. Such differences 
 would have been impossible if he had opened, or 
 unrolled, the book, and quoted directly from it in 
 each case. Besides, his quotations from the Old 
 Testament Scriptures vary from the text quite as 
 frequently as his quotations from the Memoirs vary 
 from our Gospels. This could not have been if he 
 had quoted from the book. Canon Westcott refers 
 
TESTIMONY OF JUSTINUS. 59 
 
 to thirty instances of inexact quotations from the 
 Old Testament, found in the Apology and Dialogue; 
 seven instances of adaptations of the text to his 
 purposes; and twenty-'two of combining several 
 texts together, as it were, into one.' These varia- 
 tions between the Memoirs and our Gospels, then^ 
 do not prove that they were two different works ; 
 but only the existence, in some instances, of varia- 
 tions in the readings between the manuscript copies 
 of the Gospels used by Justin, and the copies from 
 which our Gospels were taken ; and in other in- 
 stances, and more often, that he trusted too much to 
 a fallible memory to secure accuracy in his quota- 
 tions. But notwithstanding these variations in the 
 readings, and this want of accuracy in the quota- 
 tions, there is a very striking resemblance between 
 the facts and incidents of the Gospel history as re- 
 lated by Justin, and as related in our Gospels. The 
 following summary of the facts and incidents in the 
 life of Christ, taken from Justin's Apology and 
 Dialogue, I quote from Canon Westcott : 
 
 ''Justin tells us that Christ was descended from 
 Abraham through Jacob, Phares, Jesse and David ;2 
 that the angel Gabriel was sent to foretell His 
 
 • Pt. I, c. 2, notes A and B. ''Dla., c. 120, 100. 
 
6o AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 birth to the Virgin Mary;' that this was a fulfill- 
 ment of the projohecy of Isaiah (vii, 14) ;' that 
 Joseph was forbidden in a vision to put away his 
 espoused wife, when he was so minded;* that our 
 Saviour's birth at Bethlehem had been foretold by 
 Micah;* that his parents went thither from Nazareth, 
 where they dwelt, in consequence of the enrollment 
 under Cyrenius;^ that as they could not find a lodg- 
 ing in the village they lodged in a cave close by 
 it, where Christ was born, and laid by Mary in a 
 manger;^ that while there, wise men from Arabia, 
 guided by a star, worshipped Him, and offered Him 
 gold and frankincense and myrrh, and by revelation 
 were commanded not to return to Herod, to whom 
 they had first come;' that he was called Jesus as the 
 Saviour of His people;^ that by the command of God 
 His parents fled with him to Egyjit for fear of 
 Herod, and remained there till Archelaus succeeded 
 him;' that Herod, being deceived by the wise men, 
 commanded the children of Bethlehem to be put to 
 death, so that the prophecy of Jeremiah was fulfilled 
 who spoke of Rachel weeping for her children;'" that 
 Jesus grew after the common manner of men, work- 
 ing as a carpenter, and so waited in obscurity thirty 
 years, more or less, till the coming of John the 
 Baptist." 
 
 1 Dia., c. 100. Luke. c. 1, 35, 38. 
 
 2 Ap., 1, 33. Matt. 1, 23. « j/^_^ p. 78. 
 
 * Ap., 1, 34. Dia., c. 78. ^ ^^,^ j^ 34 
 
 * Dia., c. 78. ' Dia., c. 78. 
 
 8 A2}., 1, 33. » Dia., cc. 78, 103. 
 
 '" Bid. c. 78. » Dia., c. 88. 
 
TESTIMONY OF JUSTINUS. 6i 
 
 ''He tells us, moreover, that this John, the son of 
 Elizabeth, came preaching by the Jordan the baptism 
 of repentance, wearing a leathern girdle and a rai- 
 ment of camel's hair, and eating only locusts and 
 wild honey;' that men supposed that he was the 
 Christ, to whom he answered, 1 am not the Chrid, lut a 
 voice of one crying ; for He that is mightier than I icill soon 
 coTTie {7%ei), ivhoise sandals I am not worthy to bear; that 
 when Jesus descended into the Jordan to be baptized 
 by him a fire was kindled in the river, and when he 
 came up out of the water tlie Holy Spirit, as a dove, 
 lighted upon Him, and a voice came from heaven, 
 saying, Thou art My Son; this clay have I begotten Thee;'^ 
 that immediately after His baptism the devil came to 
 Jesus and tempted Him, bidding Him at last to wor- 
 ship him/ He further adds that Christ Himself 
 recognized John as bhe Elias who should j) recede 
 Him, to whom men had done whatsoever they listed; and 
 thus he relates how Herod put John into prison, and 
 how the daughter of Herodias danced before the 
 king on his birthday, and pleased him, so that he 
 promised to grant her any thing she wished, and that 
 she, by her mother's desire, asked for the head of 
 John, to be given her on a charger, and that so John 
 was put to death.* 
 
 " Henceforth, after speaking in general terms of tlie 
 miracles of Christ, how He healed all manner of sickness 
 and disease,^ Justin says little of the details of His 
 
 ' Dia., c. 88. * Dia., cc. 88, 103. 
 
 ' Dia., cc. 103, 135. * Dia., c. 49. 
 
 5 Ap., 1, 31, 48. Diet., c. 69. 
 6 
 
62 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 life till the last great events. Then he narrates 
 Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem from Beth- 
 phage as a fulfillment of prophecy,' the (second) 
 cleansing of the temple,* the conspiracy against 
 Him,^ the institution of the Eucharist for the remem- 
 brance of Him,* the singing of the Psalm afterward,* 
 the agony at night on the Mount of Olives, at wliich 
 three of His disciples were present,^ the prayer,' the 
 bloody sweat,* the arrest,* the flight of the Apostles,'" 
 the silence before Pilate," the remand to Herod, '° the 
 crucifixion, the division of Christ's raiment by lot,"' 
 the signs and words of mockery of the bystanders,'* 
 the cry of sorrow,'^ the last words of resignation,'* 
 the burial on the evening of the day of the pas- 
 sion," the resurrection on Sunday,'* the appearance 
 to the Apostles and disciples, how Christ opened to 
 them the Scriptures,'* the calumnies of the Jews/^" 
 the commission to the Apostles,'^' the ascension. " -- 
 
 > Ap., 1, 35. Dia., c. 53. 
 
 2 Bia., c. 17. 2 Dia., c. 104. 
 
 4 A2J., 1, 66.. Bia., cc. 41, 70. 
 
 s Bia., c. 106. « Bia., c. 99. ' Bid. 
 
 ^ Bia., c. 103. Ap., 1, 50. Bia., c. 53. 
 
 9 Bia., c. 103. "> Bia., c. 53. 
 
 i> Bia., c. 103. '« Bia., c. 103. 
 
 '3 Bia., c. 97. A])., 1, 35. 
 
 '* Ap., 1, 38. Bia., c. 101. 
 
 '5 Bia., c. 99. ^^ Bia., c. 105. 
 
 ^' Bia., c. 97. ^» Ap., 1, 67. 
 
 '« Bia., cc. 53, 106. Ap., 1, 50. 
 
 =0 Bia., c. 108. '• Ap., 1, 61. 
 
 « Bia., 133. A2h, 1, 46, 
 
TESTIMONY OF JUSTIN US. 63 
 
 Second. It is generally supposed that the Memoirs 
 of the Apostles were the chief, if not the only, soui-ce 
 of information which supplied Justin with so com- 
 plete a knowledge of the Gospel history. He him- 
 self says of them, " they contain all that concerns 
 our Saviour Jesus Christ." ' Nevertheless, he nar- 
 rates events in the life of Jesus, and repeats two say- 
 ings of His, not found in our Gospels, as follows : 
 
 " And then when Jesus had gone to the river 
 Jordan, where John was baptizing, and when He 
 had stepped into the water, a fire was kindled in the 
 Jordan, etc." " 
 
 " He [Jesus] was deemed a carpenter, for He was 
 in the habit of working as a carpenter when among 
 men, making ploughs and yokes, by which He 
 taught the symbols of righteousness and an active 
 life." ' 
 
 " But when the child was born in Bethlehem, 
 since Joseph could not find a lodging in that village, 
 he took up his quarters in a certain cave near- the 
 village ; and while they were there, Mary brought 
 forth the Christ and placed Him in a manger, and 
 here the Magi who came from Arabia found him." * 
 
 ' Ap., 33. 
 
 « Dia., c. 88. ^ Ditto. •• Din., c. 78. 
 
64 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 " Wherefore, also, our Lord Jesus Christ said, ' In 
 whatsoever things I shall take you, in these I shall 
 judge you.' " ^ 
 
 " Christ said, ' There shall be schisms and here- 
 sies.' " ' 
 
 "We do not know the source whence Justin de- 
 rived a knowledge of the events and sayings here 
 mentioned. They may have been reported in some 
 copy of our Gospels which he used, or in some 
 apocryphal gospel, or, which is more likely, he may 
 have learned them from oral tradition. He does not 
 mention the Memoirs in connection with them. It 
 would be bad reasoning, however, to conclude that 
 he did not use our Gospels at all, because he has 
 mentioned some things concerning Jesus in his 
 works, which are not found in them. 
 
 Third. It is objected that there existed at the 
 time Justin wrote other Gospels, since lost, which 
 he denominated Memoirs of the Apostles y and that 
 he probably used one or more of these lost Gospels 
 in writing his works. ■ Supernatural Religion^ 
 says : 
 
 " Vast numbers of spurious writings, moreover, bear- 
 ing the names of Apostles and their followers, and 
 
 ' Bid., c. 47. 2 Dia., c. 35. 
 
TESTIMONY OF JUSTINUS. 65 
 
 claiming more or less direct apostolic authority, were 
 in circulation in the early Church : Gospels according 
 to Peter, to Thomas, to James, to Judas, according to 
 the Apostles, or according to the Twelve, to Barnabas, 
 to Matthias, to Nicodemus, etc., and ecclesiastical 
 writers bear abundant testimony to the early and 
 rapid growth of apocryphal literature. The very 
 names of most of such apocryjiluil Gospels are lost, 
 whilst of others wo possess considerable information ; 
 but nothing is more certain than the fact, that there 
 existed many works bearing names which render the 
 attemjDt to interpret the title of Justin's Gospel as a 
 description of the four in our canon a mere absurdity. 
 The words of Justin evidently imply simply that the 
 source of his quotations is the collective recollections 
 of the Apostles, and those who followed them, regard- 
 ing the life and teaching of Jesus." ' 
 
 Besides the Gospels named in the above extracts, 
 and many more which might be named, Supernatural 
 Religion mentions particularly " the Gospel accord- 
 ing to the Hebrews." He says : 
 
 " The same Gospel was in use amongst the Ebion- 
 ites, and, in fact, as almost all critics are agreed, the 
 Gospel according to the Hebrews, under various 
 names, such as the Gospel according to Peter, accord- 
 ing to the Apostles, the Nazarenes, Ebionites, 
 Egyptians, etc., with modifications certainly, but sub- 
 stantially the same work was circulated very widely 
 throughout the early Church." "^ 
 
 ' Pt. II, c. 3. Art. Jmtin Martyr. ^ Ditto. 
 
 9 
 
66 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 He says further : 
 
 " But enough has been said to prove that it [the 
 Gospel according to the Hebrews] was one of the most 
 ancient and most vahied evangelical works, and to 
 show the probability that Justin Martyr, a Jewish 
 Christian living amongst those who are known to 
 have made exclusive use of this Gospel, may well, 
 like his contemporary Hegesippus, have used the 
 Gospel according to the Hebrews. " 
 
 ''It is not necessary, however, for the purposes of 
 this examination, to dwell more fully upon the ques- 
 tion as to what specific Gospel now no longer extant 
 Justin employed. "We have shown that there is no 
 evidence that he made use of any of our Gospels, and 
 he cannot, therefore, be cited even to prove their ex- 
 istence, and much less to attest the authenticity and 
 character of records whose authors he does not once 
 name. On the other hand it has been made evident 
 that there were other Gospels, now lost, but which 
 then enjoyed the highest consideration, from which 
 his quotations might have been, and probably were, 
 taken." i 
 
 A few fragments only of any of these lost Gos- 
 pels have been preserved in ancient writings and 
 handed down to us. Consequently we do not know 
 enough about their general contents to enable us to 
 say whether or not Justin could have found in them 
 so complete an account of the life of Jesus, and of 
 the doctrines he taught, as he has given us in his 
 
 1 Pt. II, ch. 3. 
 
TESTIMONY OF JUSTIN US. 67 
 
 works. If we may judge of their contents by the 
 contents of later similar writings, which are still ex- 
 tant, we would say he certainly could not. He 
 states many things, it seems to us, which he could 
 have found nowhere recorded but in our Gospels. 
 If, however, Justin did use any apocryphal Gospel 
 (which is a mere assumption) I agree with Super- 
 natural Religion.) that, " The Gospel according to 
 the Hebrews," under some one of its various 
 names, was in all probability the one he used. 
 Although this Gospel is not referred to by name by 
 any writer before the year 185, when it is mentioned 
 ■ for the first time by Hegesippus (thirty-five years 
 after Justin wrote), yet inasmuch as it is known to 
 have been used by the Ebionites, who originated in 
 the Apostolic, or sub-apostolic age, its earlier antiq- 
 uity is generally admitted, Justin was in all prob- 
 ability acquainted with it. He might have used it 
 in writing his works ; but we think he did not, for 
 the following reasons : First. The Memoirs and this 
 Gospel disagree in the doctrines they respectively 
 teach, if we may judge of the doctrines taught in 
 the Gospel by the tenets held by those who used it. 
 The Gospel was used by the Ebionites — a set of 
 Jews half converted to Christianity. They resided 
 mostly in Palestine. They accepted Jesus as the 
 
68 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 promised Messiah, the son of David, and Supreme 
 Lawgiver, yet held tliat he was a mere man, like 
 Moses and David, sprung by natural generation 
 from Joseph and Mary. They tauglit that circum- 
 cision was necessary to salvation for all men. That 
 Paul was an apostate and heretic and all his epis- 
 tles were to be discarded.^ The Memoirs on the 
 contrary teach that Jesus Christ was the " Son of 
 God,'" was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born 
 of the Virgin Mary,' that He rose from the dead 
 and ascended into Heaven,* that circumcision is not 
 necessary to salvation.* The Memoirs furnish no 
 evidence of hostility to Paul. A portion of these 
 Ebionites, under the name of Nazarenes, used a 
 Gospel according to " Matthew, in the Hebrew lan- 
 guage." This Gospel and the Gospel according to 
 the Hebrews are generally thought by critics to be 
 the same, with some modifications." These Jewish 
 Christians became separated, little by little, from 
 the Gentile churches. In the reign of Hadrian, 
 
 ' E. H. E., B. Ill, c. 27. Origen vs. Celsus, 5, 61. Iren- 
 (Bus, B. I, c. 26, § 2. Schafi['s History Ch. Church, § 68. 
 Hii^polytus, 7, 22. 
 
 ' Ap., 13, 22, 23. Dia., 116, 261. ^^ Dia., 100, 78, 76. 
 
 * Dia., 132. Ap. 46. * Dia., 19, 24, 92. 
 
 * IrencBUS, B. I, c. 26, § 2. Alzog's Church History, c. 5, 
 §58. 
 
TESTIMONY OF JUSTINUS. 69 
 
 117-138, those that were residing in Jerusalem were 
 driven out of that city, and were not permitted by 
 that Emperor to return. A church composed 
 mostly of Gentile Christians,* with Marcus as bishop, 
 was established there. Before the end of the fifth 
 century, these sects ceased to exist. The written 
 gospel they had used, save a few fragments, perished 
 with them."^ Now, Justin was not a Jew, either by 
 birth or religion ; but a Roman by birth,' and a 
 catholic by religion. He resided at the time he 
 wrote his principal works, not in Syria, where most 
 of the Jewish Christians resided, but in Rome.* Is 
 it probable that he, a Gentile Christian, derived his 
 knowledge of the great leading Catholic doctrines 
 of the Christian religion, so fully shown in his 
 works, from a Gospel used by a small sect of half- 
 christianized Palestinian Jews ? Where did Jus- 
 tin get his ideas of the miraculous conception of 
 Jesus, His resurrection from the dead,' and His 
 ascension into Heaven,' but from our Gospels? 
 Certainly not from the " Gospel according to the 
 Hebrews." 
 
 ' Eusebius, B. IV, c. 16. Oibion's Borne, c. 15. 
 
 '■' Neander, vol. I, § 4. ^ Ap., c. 1. 
 
 * Introductory notice to his works, Ante-Nicene Library. 
 
 » Ap., 67. 6 Dia., 133. Ap., 1, 46. 
 
70 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 Second. Justin, when giving an account of the 
 Christian worsliip in the Catholic churches of his 
 day, says that " the Memoirs, we read on Sundays 
 with the prophets."^ But there is no evidence that 
 the " Gospel to the Hebrews " was ever read on 
 Sundays or any other day in any Christian congre- 
 gation, not heretical or not separated from the great 
 body of the church. Whether or not it was read in 
 the Ebionitic assemblies, history does not say. It 
 probably was. The numerous heretics and schisma- 
 tics of that and the next succeeding age used a 
 great number of spurious Gospels. Nearly every 
 sect had its special Gospel. Irenseus, in speaking 
 of the heretic Marcosians, says they "forged writ- 
 ings to bewilder the minds of foolish men, and of 
 such as are ignorant of the scriptures of truth.'" 
 The Yalentinians called their recent writings " the 
 Gospel of Truth.'" There was the " Gospel accord- 
 ing to Thomas," " according to the Egyptians ; " * 
 " The Gospel of Peter," condemned by Serapion, 
 bishop of Antioch f " The preaching of Peter," 
 mentioned by Clement ;* "The Gospel of Judas ;'" 
 
 » Ap., 67. ' B. I, c. 20. 
 
 » B. 3, c. 11. * Ilippolytus, B. 5, c. 2. 
 
 * H. E., B. 6, c. 12. « B. I, c. 29; B. VI, c. 1, 15. 
 
 ' Irenmus, B. I, c. 31, § 1. 
 
TESTIMONY OF JUSTIN US. 71 
 
 " The Gospel of Marcion," and many others. The 
 evangelist Luke says that "many " had undertaken 
 to write Gospels before he wrote his.^ But the evi- 
 dence fails to prove, that any of these numerous 
 Gospels, all of which perished with the dying out of 
 the sects that used them, were ever read in the 
 Catholic churches, or ever came into serious compe- 
 tition, in any way, with our canonical Gospels. Sera- 
 pion, bishop of Antioch, writing about the years 
 180 to 200, in speaking of the " Gospel of Peter," 
 says : " We, brethren, receive Peter and the other 
 Apostles as Christ himself. But those writings 
 which falsely go under their name, as we are well 
 acquainted with them, we reject and know, also, we 
 have not received such handed down to us."^ 
 
 Third. A few fragments of the " Gospel accord- 
 ing to the Hebrews," and the " Gospel according to 
 Matthew in the Hebrew language," have been pre- 
 served to us in the writings of St, Jerome and Epi- 
 phanius. They may be found collected together in 
 Canon Westcott's Introduction to the Study of the 
 Gospels, Appendix D. Also, in Mr, "Waite's 
 History of the Christian Religion, chapter four. 
 They furnish no evidence that Justin did or did not 
 
 I Luke, c. 1, V. 1. ' E. H. E., B. VI, c. 12. 
 
72 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 use these Gospels. According to a fragment of 
 " Tlie Gospel according to Matthew," that Gospel 
 contained the statement, " that when Jesus came up 
 from the water the Heavens were opened, and He 
 saw the Holy Spirit of God in the form of a dove, 
 which came down and came upon him, and a 
 voice came from Heaven, saying, ' Thou art My 
 beloved Son; in Thee 1 am well pleased.' And,' 
 again, ' to-day have I begotten Thee,' and imme- 
 diately a great light shone round about the place." 
 Here the light is represented as shining around 
 about the place after Jesus had come out of the water. 
 Justin's account of the matter is different. He says 
 that, " when Jesus had stepped into the water a fire 
 was kindled in the river."^ No fragment of either 
 of these Gospels contains any allusion to the fact 
 that Jesus was either lodged or born in a " cave," 
 nor to His having made " ploughs and yokes," nor 
 to the two sayings recorded by Justin. 
 
 It appears to me that the conclusion fairly to be 
 drawn from Justin's testimony, is that the Memoirs 
 were the " Diatessaron " of Tatian and the four 
 Gospels denominated by Irengeus, thirty years after 
 
 1 Din., 88. 
 
TESTIMONY OF PAPIAS. 73 
 
 Justin wrote, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. 
 Mutato 'nomine, de te fahula narratur. -^ 
 
 The next witness whose testimony we will ex- 
 amine is Papias. Eusebius says of him : " At this 
 time {%. e., between the years 98 and 117) Papias 
 was well known as bishop of the church of Hiera- 
 polis, a man well skilled in all manner of learning 
 and well acquainted with the Scriptures." He knew 
 the daughters of the Apostle Philip, who lived in 
 the same city with him, and who gave him a won- 
 derful account of a person being raised from the 
 dead. These daughters of Philip lived to an ad- 
 vanced age, according to Polycrates, bishop of 
 Ephesus, and were buried in the city of their resi- 
 dence." Papias says of himself that he was a 
 hearer of Aristion and of the presbyter John, " dis- 
 ciples of the Lord and companions of the Apostles."* 
 
 ^ On reviewing the testimony of Justin, Dr. Sanday con- 
 cludes "that he either used our present Gospels, or else a 
 later work of the nature of a harmony based on them. The 
 theory that he was ignorant of our Gospels in any shape is 
 wholly untenable." Tlie Gospels of the Second Century. Ch. 
 — Jiistin Marty n. 
 
 Tischendorf thinks that Justin used Apocryphal Gospels, 
 particularly the Protevangelion of James in the Acts of 
 Pilate as well as our Gospels. — When were Our Gospels 
 Written f [See AjypendixR] 
 
 ^ H. K, B. Ill, c. 31. ' S. E., c. 39. 
 
 10 
 
74 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 Irenaeus says that he was "the hearer of John«and 
 the companion of Poly carp," and that he had writ- 
 ten a work in five books. He makes considerable 
 extracts from the fourth book, of which, however, 
 we need take no notice, they being irrelevant to our 
 inquiry.^ The writings of Papias are all lost except 
 the few fragments preserved to us in the writings 
 of Irenseus and Eusebius. Hierapolis was a city in 
 Phrygia in Asia Minor. The church there is men- 
 tioned by St. Pau?. Papias is the earliest writer 
 who mentions any of the Gospels by name, and as 
 there is much controversy among modern critics in 
 regard to the identity of the Gospels named by him, 
 I shall here introduce, with its context, the chapter 
 from Eusebius which contains all his testimony on 
 the subject. 
 
 " There are said to be five books of Papias, which 
 bear the title ' Interpretation of our Lord's Declara- 
 tions.' Irengeus, also, makes mention of these as 
 the only works written by him, in the following 
 terms: * These things are attested by Papias, who 
 was John's hearer and the associate of Polycarji, an 
 ancient writer, who mentions them in the fourth 
 book of his works. For he has written a work in 
 five books.' So far Irengeus. But Papias himself, in 
 the preface to his discourses, by no means asserts 
 
 1 IrenffiiHj B. V, c. 39. ^ Colossians, c. 4, v. 13. 
 
TESTIMONY OF PAPIAS. 75 
 
 that he was a hearer and an eye-witness of the holy 
 Apostles, but informs us that he received the doctrines 
 of faith from their intimate friends, which he states 
 in the following words : ' But I shall not regret to 
 subjoin to my interpretations, also, for your benefit, 
 whatsoever I have at any time accurately ascertained 
 and treasured up in my memory, as I have received 
 it from the elders, and have recorded it in order to 
 give additional confirmation to the truth, by my tes- 
 timony. For I have never, like many, delighted to 
 hear those that tell many things, but those that teach 
 the truth; neither those that record foreign precepts, 
 but those that are given from the Lord, to our faith, 
 and that came from the truth itself. But if I met 
 with any one who had been a follower of the elders 
 anywhere, I made it a point to inquire what were the 
 declarations of the elders. What was said by Andrew, 
 Peter, or Philip. What by Thomas, James, John, 
 Matthew, or any other of the disciples of our Lord. 
 What was said by Aristion, and the presbyter John, 
 disciples of the Lord; for I do not think that I de- 
 rived so much benefit from books as from the living 
 voice of those that are still surviving.' Where it is 
 also proper to observe the name of John is twice 
 mentioned. The former of which he mentions with 
 Peter and James and Matthew, and the other Apos- 
 tles; evidently meaning the evangelists. But in a 
 separate point of his discourse, he ranks the other 
 John with the rest not included in the number of 
 Apostles, placing Aristion before him. He disting- 
 uishes him plainly by the name of presbyter. So that 
 it is here proved that the statement of those is true. 
 
76 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 who assert there were two of the same name in Asia, 
 that there were also two tombs in Ephesus, and that 
 both are called John's even to this day; which it is 
 particularly necessary to observe. For it is probable 
 that the second, if it be not allowed that it was the 
 first, saw the Revelation ascribed to John. And the 
 same Pajiias, of whom we now speak, professes to 
 have received the declarations of the Apostles from 
 those that were in company with them, and says also 
 that he was a hearer of Aristion and the presbyter 
 John. For as he has often mentioned them by name, 
 he also gives their statements in his own works. 
 These matters, I trust, have not been uselessly ad- 
 duced. But it may be important also to subjoin 
 other declarations to these passages from Paj)ias, in 
 which he gives certain wonderful accounts, together 
 with other matters that he seems to have received by 
 tradition. That the Apostle Philip continued at 
 Hierapolis, with his daughters, has been already 
 stated above. But we must now show how Papias, 
 coming to them, received a wonderful account from 
 the daughters of Philip. For he writes that in his 
 time there was one raised from the dead. Another 
 wonderful event happened respecting Justus, sur- 
 named Barsabas, who, though he drank a deadly 
 poison, exjierienced nothing injurious, through the 
 grace of the Lord. This same Justus is mentioned in 
 the book of Acts, after the resurrection, as the one 
 over whom, together with Matthias, the holy Apostles 
 prayed, in order to fill up their number, by casting 
 lots, to supply the place of Judas the traitor. The 
 passage is as follows: * And they placed two, Joseph, 
 
TESTIMONY OF PAP I AS. 77 
 
 called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and 
 Matthias. And having prayed, they said.' The 
 same historian also gives otlier accounts, which he 
 says he adds as received by him from unwritten tra- 
 dition, likewise certain strange jiarables of our Lord, 
 and of his doctrine, and some otlier matters rather 
 too fabulous. In these he says there would be a cer- 
 tain millennium after the resurrection, and that there 
 would be a corporeal reign of Christ on this very 
 earth; which things he appears to have imagined, as 
 if they were authorized by the apostolic narrations, 
 not understanding correctly those matters which they 
 propounded mystically in their representions. For 
 he was very limited in his comprehension, as is evi- 
 dent from his discourses; yet he was the cause why 
 most of the ecclesiastical writers, urging the antiq- 
 uity of the man, were carried away by a similar 
 opinion; as, for instance, Irenseus, or any other that 
 adopted such sentiments. He has also inserted in 
 his work other accounts given by the above men- 
 tioned Aristion, respecting our Lord, as also the 
 traditions of the presbyter John, to which referring 
 those that are desirous of learning them, we shall 
 now subjoin to the extracts from him, already given, 
 a tradition which he sets forth concerning Mark, who 
 wrote the gospel in the following words : ' And John 
 the presbyter also said this, Mark being the interpre- 
 ter of Peter, 1 whatsoever he recorded he wrote with 
 
 ' Jerome, in Catalogo, calls Mark the interpreter of Peter 
 from this place of Papias, as I judge. Hence it is that 
 many of the Greeks write, tliat the Gospel of Mark was die- 
 
78 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 great accuracy, but not, however, in the order in 
 which it was spoken or done by our Lord, for he 
 neither heard nor followed our Lord, but, as before 
 said, he was in company with Peter, who gave him 
 such instruction as was necessary, but not to give a 
 history of our Lord's discourses: wherefore Mark 
 has not erred in any thing, by writing some things as 
 he has recorded them; for he was carefully attentive 
 to one thing, not to pass by any thing that he heard, 
 or to state any thing falsely in these accounts.' 
 Such is the account of Paj^ias, respecting Mark. Of 
 Matthew he has stated as follows : ' Matthew com- 
 posed his history in the Hebrew dialect,' and every 
 one translated it as he was able.' The same author 
 (Papias) made use of testimonies from the First 
 Epistle of John, and likewise from that of Peter. He 
 also gives another history of a woman, who had been 
 accused of many sins before the Lord, which is also 
 contained in the Gospel according to the Hebrews. 
 And this may be noted as a necessary addition to 
 what we have before stated." ">■ 
 
 tated by Peter. So Athanasius in his treatise De Libris 
 Sacra? Scriptura;. Which, how it is to be understood, 
 Papias declares in this place. For it is not to be supposed 
 that Mark wrote his Gospel from the mouth of Peter dic- 
 tating to him; but, when he heard Peter preaching the 
 word of God to the Jews in Hebrew, Mark carefully 
 digested those things in the Greek language, which con- 
 cerned Christ. Vales. 
 
 ' The author here, doubtless, means the Syro-Chaldaic, 
 which is sometimes in Scriptures, and primitive writers, 
 called Hebrew. "" U. E., B, IH, c. 39. 
 
TESTIMONY OF PAP I AS. 79 
 
 The reader will notice that Eusebius in the above 
 extract speaks disparagingly of the understanding 
 of Papias, because Papias believed " there would be 
 a certain millennium after the resurrection, and that 
 there would be a corporeal reign of Christ on this 
 very earth." But this belief, however it may aifect 
 the question of the narrowness or bi-eadth of his un- 
 derstanding, does not in the least detract from his 
 credibility, as a witness to facts. It was a belief 
 very commonly entertained by Christians in his day. 
 No critic, so far as I know, has attempted to dis- 
 credit his testimony. It cannot be fairly denied 
 that he recorded truthfully what John told him 
 
 touching the origin of the writings of Mark and 
 Matthew. Nor can it be fairly denied th^it Euse- 
 bius has correctly copied the record. And if botli 
 these facts are so, then, we have in his testimony 
 very strong evidence of the existence of these two 
 Gospels, not only at the time Papias wrote, which 
 the author of Supernatural Religion thinks was 
 about the year 160, and Canon Westcott thinks was 
 in the latter part of his life, say about the year 1-iO ; 
 but also at the time presbyter John first acquired 
 his knowledge of their existence, which must have 
 been before the death of the last surviving Apostle, 
 or soon after ; for the presbyter was, according to 
 
8o AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 the above extract from Eusebius, a contemporary of 
 the last of the Apostles, or of their immediate fol- 
 lowers. 
 
 But the attempt is made by critics to avoid the 
 force of Papias' testimony by affirming that John 
 did not have in mind our two canonical Gospels, 
 when he spoke of Mark as being the interpreter of 
 Peter, and as having recorded what Peter had told 
 him, and when, too, he spoke of Matthew, as hav- 
 ing composed his history or Logia in the Hebrew 
 dialect, but that he had in mind other and older 
 writings bearing the same names. The reasons as- 
 signed for this opinion, as to Mark's Gospel, are : 
 
 First. That it does not exhibit " such unmistaka- 
 ble traces of Petrine influence " as we might 
 reasonably expect in a Gospel written by the inter- 
 preter of Peter, and therefore the Gospel referred 
 to by the presbyter cannot be our Gospel. It does 
 not clearly place Peter at the head in the catalogue 
 of Apostles ; it does not contain the text, " Thou 
 art Peter and upon this rock I will build my 
 church ; " it does not mention his walking upon the 
 sea; nor does it contain the text, " Simon, Simon, 
 behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may 
 sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee, that 
 thy faith fail not ; and when thou art converted. 
 
TESTIMONY OF PAP I AS. 8i 
 
 strengthen thy brethren," which is given by Luke ; 
 it does not mention Peter's being sent to prepare 
 the passover, but only that " two disciples " were 
 sent.^ These, and other like omissions, together 
 with the fact that no mention is made of any par- 
 ticular sayings or doings of Peter, which it may be 
 reasonably supposed must have been known to his 
 interpreter, go to show, it is argued, that the 
 Gospel spoken of by the presbyter John was not 
 our Gospel, 
 
 If it should be thought that these criticisms have 
 any force in them, it may be said in answer that if 
 Peter exerted any influence at all in regard to mat- 
 ters to be mentioned or omitted in the Gospel, as, 
 according to the tradition, he undoubtedly did, he 
 would not be apt to use that inflnencc to make him- 
 self conspicuous, if he could conscientiously avoid 
 doing so. Peter, though a bold, was not an egotis- 
 tic and vain-glorious man. It is to be remembered 
 too, that he had once denied his Master with curs- 
 ing and swearing. He repented bitterly, and prob- 
 ably forever afterwards thought the less he could 
 say about himself, consistently with truth and duty, 
 to Mark or any one else, the better. 
 
 ' Supernatural Religion, pt. II, c. 4, § 2. 
 11 
 
82 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 Bat second J it is argued that the description John 
 gives of the Gospel he had in mind does not 
 correspond with our Gospel, and therefore he does 
 not refer to it, but to some other. The description 
 is that Mark recorded what was spoken or done by 
 our Lord "with great accuracy, but not, however, 
 in the order in which it was spoken or done by our 
 Lord, for he neither heard nor followed our Lord, 
 but, as before said, he was in company with Peter, 
 who gave him such instruction as was necessary, but 
 not to give a history of our Lord's discourses.'" The 
 argument, as stated by the author of Supernatural 
 Meligion, is then conducted as follows : 
 
 " This description would lead us to expect a work 
 composed of fragmentary reminiscences of the teaching 
 of Peter, without regular sequence or connection. 
 The absence of orderly arrangement is the most 
 prominent feature in the description, and forms the 
 burden of the whole. Mark writes 'what he re- 
 membered ; ' 'he did not arrange in order the things 
 that were cither said or done by Christ ;' and then 
 follow the apologetic expressions of explanation — he 
 was not himself a hearer or follower of the Lord, but 
 derived his information from the occasional preach- 
 ing of Peter, who did not attempt to give a consecu- 
 tive narrative. Now it is impossible in the work of 
 
 I E. H. K, B. Ill, c. 39. 
 
TESTIMONY OF PAP I AS. 83 
 
 Mark here described to recognize our present second 
 Gospel, which does not depart in any important de- 
 gree from the order of the other tAvo Synoptics, and 
 which, throughout, has the most evident ■ character 
 of orderly arrangement. The Gospel 025ens formally, 
 and after presenting John the Baptist as the Mes- 
 senger sent to prepare the way of the Lord, proceeds 
 to the baptism of Jesus, his temptation, his entry 
 upon public life, and his calling of the discii)les. 
 Then after a consecutive narrative of his teaching and 
 works, the history ends with a full and consecutive 
 account of the last events in the life of Jesus, his 
 trial, crucifixion and resurrection. There is in the 
 Gospel every characteristic of artistic and orderly 
 arrangement, from the striking introduction by the 
 prophetic voice crying in the wilderness to the solemn 
 close of the marvellous history. The great majority 
 of critics, therefore, are agreed in concluding that the 
 account of the presbyter John recorded by Papias 
 does not apply to our second canonical Gospel at all."' 
 
 In support of the last proposition in the above 
 extract, the author cites thirty-one writers, mostly 
 Germans, and against it twenty-two, also mostly 
 Germans. It seems to me that mere criticisms upon 
 the order of arrangement of the contents of an 
 ancient literary work of a fragmentary character, 
 like the Gospel of Mark, ought to go but a very 
 little way as evidence in deciding the question of its 
 
 ' 6th edition, vol. I, p. 3C3. 
 
84 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 authorship when such criticisms conflict with the 
 historic account — particularly when the critics dis- 
 agree as badly as they do in this case. But why 
 should not the presbyter himself be entitled to 
 
 criticise our Gospel, as well as other persons, with- 
 out its being supposed he referred to some other 
 Gospel ? If his criticism is so bad that it does not 
 seem to us to apply to our Gospel, the most we can 
 say is, he blundered in his criticism. And if he 
 were living, he might, perhaps, say the same thing 
 in regard to ours. But let us see what his criticism 
 is. He says : " Whatsoever Mark recorded he wrote 
 with great accuracy, but not, however, in the order 
 in which it was spoken or done by our Lord." 
 And is not this criticism true and justly applicable 
 to our Mark? Who M'ill say that he has recorded 
 the sayings or doings of our Lord in the order in 
 which they occurred? We know he has not. He 
 has paid very little attention to the chronology of 
 events. His criticism, it seems to us, fits our Gos- 
 pel very well. Many critics think that the other 
 Gospels are likewise defective in orderly arrange- 
 ment ; that they are all mere fragmentary notices, 
 and not complete histories. Be that as it may, it is 
 certainly true that Mark has not recorded the " say- 
 ings and doings of our Lord in the order in which 
 
TESTIMONY OF PAP IAS. 85 
 
 they were spoken or done by him ;" and this is all 
 that the presbyter says on the subject.^ 
 
 If our Mark contained an account of any event 
 which took place after Papias wrote, or named any 
 person who lived after that time, then we might 
 well believe that Papias and the presbyter did not 
 have in their minds our Gospel, but some other 
 bearing the same name. But our Gospel is guilty 
 of no such anachronism ; it contains no such ac- 
 count ; it names no such person. I think a plain, 
 unlettered man, who makes no pretensions to a 
 knowledge of tlie art of criticism, but one, never- 
 theless, who is well acquainted with the history of 
 the period in which Christianity took its rise, would 
 be apt to say, on a careful reading of the Gospel, 
 that he can find nothing in it, and nothing left out 
 of it, inconsistent with the idea that it was written 
 in the Apostolic age and by the person whose name 
 it bears, and that it is referred to by Papias and 
 the presbyter. It does not condemn itself. 
 
 ' Dr. Sanday, iu his Oospeh of the Second Century, ch. " Pa- 
 pias," gives it as his opinion that our Mark is written in 
 order, and that it is not an original document. "These 
 two characteristics," he says, "make it improbable that it 
 is, in its present shape, the document to which Papias al- 
 ludes." 
 
86 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 When Papias proves that a Gospel existed in his 
 day, known as a "Gospel by Mark, the interpreter 
 of Peter," and when Irenaeus, forty years after- 
 ward, proves that a Gospel existed in his day, 
 known as " a Gospel by Mark, the interpreter of 
 Peter," there arises a strong presumption, in the 
 absence of any other evidence, that these two Gos- 
 pels, bearing the same name, are one and the same. 
 This presumption is so strong that it cannot be met 
 and overcome by such criticisms alone as we have 
 quoted and referred to. It can only be met and 
 overcome by additional proof, showing the actual 
 loss of the Papian Gospel, and the substitution of 
 the Irengean in its place. The loss of the one, and 
 the substitution of the other, must both be proved. 
 But this proof does not exist. The author of Su- 
 pernatiiral Religion says : " It is not necessary for 
 us to account for the manner in which the work to 
 which the presbyter John referred disappeared, and 
 the present Gospel according to Mark became sub- 
 stituted for it." ^ We think the author presumes 
 too far on the good nature of his readers. It is 
 necessary for him, in our judgment, in order to 
 maintain his theory, to prove the disappearance of 
 
 ' 6th edition, page 366. 
 
TESTIMONY OF PAPIAS. 87 
 
 the one and the substitution of tlie other. He 
 says : " The merely negative evidence that our 
 actual Gospel is not the work described by Papias 
 is sufficient for our purpose." ^ The " negative 
 evidence" here spoken of consists of the "criti- 
 cisms " which we have referred to, and some others 
 of a similar character. We have quoted the greater 
 part and the strongest of them. In our judgment, 
 the presumption in favor of the fact that the Pa- 
 pi an and Irentean Gospels are one and the same 
 remains unimpaired by the " negative evidence." 
 Christians in modern times do not lose their Gos- 
 pels, nor substitute a newer Gospel in place of an 
 older. Kor have we any evidence that the primi- 
 tive Christians, in any one instance, ever did this; 
 or that they regarded th^ir sacred writings with any 
 less reverence than Christians regard theirs at the 
 present day. Nor have we any evidence of the 
 existence, in ancient times, of any other Gospel 
 bearing the name of Mark, than the one which is 
 referred to by both Papias and Irenseus. Not ex- 
 isting, no Gospel bearing that name, apocryphal or 
 genuine, has been lost, nor any other substituted in 
 its place.' 
 
 ■ 6th edition, page 366. 
 
 * Ernest Renan thinks that the description of the Loffia 
 
88 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 The account Papias gi^es of Matthew's Gospel 
 is : " Matthew composed his history, Logia, in the 
 Hebrew dialect, and every one translated it as he 
 was able." The critics have raised the question 
 whether the Logia here spoken of means oracles, 
 discourses, or sayings only ; or whether it means, 
 also, a narrative of events. If the latter, which is 
 the better opinion, then it may include our Gospel. 
 Clement of E.ome uses Logia of God as meaning 
 sacred Scriptures.' So, also, Polycarp uses Logia 
 of the Lord as meaning Scrij^tures.* But it is ar- 
 gued whether the signification of the word is broad 
 enough to include our Gospel or not , our Gospel, 
 according to the tradition, was written in the 
 Hebrew or Aramaic language, and we have only a 
 
 and Mark's Gospel, given by Papias and the presby- 
 ter, correspond with our Gospels. He says: " Certain it is 
 that these two descriptions correspond very Avell to the 
 general physiognomy of the two books now called the 
 "Gospel according to Matthew" and the "Gospel accord- 
 ing to Mark," the first characterized by its long discourses; 
 the second full of anecdote, much more exact than the first 
 in regard to minute acts, brief to dryness, poor in dis- 
 courses, and badly composed." He regards all our Gospels 
 as genuine. — Int/roduction to Life of Jesus. 
 
 ' 1 Ej)., c. 53. 2 Ep_ pjiii^ c. 7. 
 
TESTIMONY OF PAPIAS. 89 
 
 translation by an unknown hand ; and as the origi- 
 nal is lost, so that we cannot compare with it the 
 translation to test its correctness, the translation is 
 worthless and without Apostolic authority.^ In 
 answer to this, it may be said that although we do 
 not know who made the translation, yet there is a 
 strong probability that it was made in Apostolic 
 times and is correct, and had the approval of Apos- 
 tolic men. The way Papias speaks of the original 
 implies that it had been translated before his day ; 
 " every one translated it," etc. He uses the past 
 tense, implying thereby that it was no longer neces- 
 sary to translate it. Eveiy early writer that has 
 come down to us uses the Greek version as unques- 
 tionably authentic. Philip Schaff thinks it " most 
 probable" that the translation was made by Mat- 
 thew himself.'' The original was probably pre- 
 served among the Jewish sects of the Nazarenes 
 under the name of the " Gospel according to Mat- 
 thew," and among the Ebionites, in a mutilated 
 form, under the name of the " Gospel according to 
 the Hebrews." Under one name or another it 
 most likely continued to exist until these sects all 
 
 ' Supei'iiatural Religion, 6th edition, p. 377. 
 ' Apostolic Church, B. V, § U. 
 12 
 
90 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 died out, whicli event came to 2)ass before the mid- 
 dle of the fifth century. 
 
 It will be noticed that Ensebius says, in the 
 above extract, that " Papias," whose books he un- 
 doubtedly had before him when he wrote, " made 
 use of testimonies from the First Epistle of John." 
 If so, then we have quite satisfactory testimony 
 that the Gospel of John existed in the days of 
 Papias ; for the striking similarity of thought 
 and style existing between the Gospel and Epistle 
 prove them to have proceeded from the same mind. 
 If John wrote the Epistle, he probably wrote the 
 Gospel also.' 
 
 ' Westcott's Introduction, Appendix D. Norton, Addi- 
 tional Notes, § 2. Canon Westcott, in his Canon of the New 
 Testament, cii. 4, § 3, in a note, says: "I believe the va- 
 rious forms St. Matthew's Gospel assumed in ancient times 
 were as follows: 1st. The original Aramtean text. 2d. A 
 revision (?) of this included in the Peshito. 3d. An inter- 
 polated text used by the Nazarenes, which contained the 
 first two chapters, and is described by Jerome. 4th. A 
 mutilated and interpolated text used by the Ebionites. 
 5th. An Apostolical translation in Greek. 
 
 "^ Dr. Sanday says : "I am bound in candor to say that, 
 so far as I can see at present, I am inclined to agree with 
 the author of Supernatural Religion, against his critics, that 
 the works to which Papias alludes cannot be our Gospels in 
 their present form." — The Gospels of the Second Century — 
 Ch. Pajnas. 
 
TESTIMONY OF MARCION. 91 
 
 The next witness we shall call is Marcion. He 
 was born at Sinope, in Pontus, of which place his 
 father was bishop. He came to Rome about 139, 
 and brought with him a collection of writings, con- 
 taining '• The Gospel," which was a copy of St. 
 Luke with numerous variations and omissions from 
 the received text ; and the ApostoUcon. The latter 
 was composed of ten Epistles of St. Paul arranged 
 in the following order — Galatians, 1 and 2 Corin- 
 thians, Romans, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Ephesians, 
 (Laodiceaus), Colossians, Philippians, Philemon.^ 
 
 This collection of New Testament writings is the 
 earliest noticed in history, though probably not the 
 earliest in existence, as such collections would be 
 apt to be sooner made in the more important 
 churches founded by one or more Apostles ; such as 
 Antioch, Corinth, Rome and others, than in the 
 churches of a distant province, like Pontus. It has 
 been thought by some critics that the Gospel Mar- 
 cion used was the original of our Luke. It has 
 been mostly preserved in the writings of Tertullian 
 and Epiphanius, who, with Irenseus, affirm, that he 
 altered our Luke by leaving out the account of the 
 
 ■ Tertullian, Adv. Marcion, B. V. Westcott on the Canon, 
 p. 313. Sujiernatural Religion, c. 7, 
 
92 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 birth of Jesus, and his genealogy and other passages, 
 in order to make it suit his doctrinal views.^ For 
 the same reason, Tertullian says, he labored hard to 
 destroy the authority of the other Gospels, which of 
 course he could not do if they were not in existence 
 at the time he wrote, about 1-iO.* 
 
 From the writings of Irenseus, Tertullian and 
 Epiphanius, the Gospel used by Marcion has been re- 
 constructed with considerable confidence that we 
 have its real character before us. It agrees with 
 Luke's Gospel as far as it goes, i. <?., with more than 
 two-thirds of it. It omits the two first chapters of 
 Luke, and the third except the first verse. It omits 
 a few other texts. The question among critics is, 
 whether the author of Luke adopted Marcion's Gos- 
 pel as the basis of his own and then added to it, or 
 whether Marcion got up his Gospel by catting out of 
 Luke's the parts he did not like as charged against 
 him by the writers above named — Dr. Sanday seems 
 to have shown that the parts or texts in Luke 
 omitted in Marcion are of the same style and dic- 
 tion as the rest of Luke which is accepted by Mar- 
 
 ' Tertullian, Adv. Marcion, B. IV. c. 2. Irenmus, B. I, c. 
 27, § 2. Epiphanius' ffivr., B. XLII, cs. 9 and 10. 
 « B. IV, c. 3. 
 
TESTIMONY OF BASILIDES. 93 
 
 cion. The peculiarities of Luke's stjle are found 
 in the portions of the gospel omitted by Marcion.^ 
 "We come now to Basilides, of Alexandria, who 
 according to Clement, Jerome, and Eusebius, flour- 
 ished in the time of the Emperor Hadrian, about 
 117 to 138. He wrote twenty-four books on the 
 Gospel, all of which are lost. Hippolytus, in his 
 Refutation of all Heresies^ quotes from these 
 books the following: "And this he says," ^. e. 
 Basilides says, " is that which has been stated in the 
 Gospels : ' He was the true light which lighteth 
 every man 'that cometh into the world.' " The 
 language of the text as quoted corresponds with 
 John c. 1 , V. 9. " The Holy Spirit will come upon 
 thee, and the power of the Highest will over-shadow 
 thee." This language is found in Luke 1, v. 35 ; 
 changing only the word " shall " into " will." 
 " And that each thing," says Basilides, " has its own 
 particular time, the Saviour is sufficient witness, 
 when He observes, ' mine hour is not yet come.' " 
 This remark is found as quoted in John 2, v. 4. 
 Basilides quotes frequently from St. Paul's Epistles, 
 
 ' Tlie Qonpeh of the Second Century, hy Dr. W. Sanday, 
 London, 1876. 
 
 ' B. VII, cs. 10, 14, 15. 
 
94 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 with which, however, we have nothing to do in 
 this inquiry. 
 
 In speaking of the growth and spread of the 
 Gospel in the time of the Emperor Trajan, 98--117, 
 Eusebius says : 
 
 " Of those that flourished in these times, Quadratus 
 is said to have been distinguished for his jirophetical 
 gifts. There were many others, also, noted in these 
 times, who held the first rank in the apostolic suc- 
 cession. These, as the holy disciples of such men, 
 also built vi\) the churches where foundations had 
 been previously laid in every place by the Apostles. 
 They augmented the means of promulgating the 
 Gospel more and more, and spread the seeds of 
 salvation and of the heavenly kingdom through- 
 out the world far and wide. For the most of 
 the disciples at that time, animated with a more 
 ardent love of the divine word, had first fulfilled the 
 Saviour's precept by distributing their substance to 
 the needy. Afterward leaving their country, they 
 performed the office of evangelists to those who had 
 not yet heard the faith, whilst with a noble ambition 
 to proclaim Christ, they also delivered to them the 
 books of the holy Gosi^els. After laying the founda- 
 tion of the faith in foreign parts as the particular ob- 
 ject of their mission, and after appointing others as 
 shepherds of the flocks, and committing to these the 
 care of those that had been recently introduced, they 
 went again to other regions and nations, with the 
 grace and co-operation of God. Tlic Holy Spirit, 
 
TESTIMONY OF EUSEBIUS. 95 
 
 also, wrought many wonders as yet through them, so 
 that as soon as the Gospel was heard, men voluntarily 
 in crowds, and eagerly, embraced the true faith with 
 their whole minds. As it is impossible for us to give 
 the numbers of the individuals that became pastors 
 or evangelists, during the first immediate succession 
 from the Apostles in the churches throughout the 
 world, we have only recorded those by name in our 
 history, of whom we have received the traditional ac- 
 count as it is delivered in the various comments on 
 the apostolic doctrine, still extant." 
 
 Kow, the " books of the Holy Gospels," which 
 the historian mentions in the above extract, were 
 no other than our four Gospels; for these only 
 were considered by him, and the church generally, 
 at the time he wrote, as genuine. All others were 
 considered as apocryphal and heretical. We have 
 here the authority of Eusebius for saying that our 
 Gospels were delivered to the newly established 
 churches by the evangelists at the very beginning 
 of the second century. 
 
 In reading the EGclesiastlcal History of Euse- 
 hius, it should be borne in mind that he had access, 
 when writing it, to many historical documents, 
 books and papers, which have since been lost ; and 
 that his statements of facts like the above may be 
 safely believed, although we know not the authority 
 
96 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 on which he makes them. He was a very learned 
 man and a diligent collector of facts and documents 
 relating to the history of the church, which he 
 wrote, from the days of the Apostles to the year 
 337. 
 
 Josephus in his Antiquities of the Jews, says : 
 " Now, there was about this time," i. «., during the 
 procuratorship of Pontius Pilate, " Jesus, a wise 
 man [if it be lawful to call Him a man, for He was 
 a doer of wonderful works — a teacher of such men 
 as receive the truth with pleasure]. He drew over 
 to Him both many of the Jews [and many of the 
 Gentiles. He was the Christ] ; and when Pilate, at 
 the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, 
 had condemned Him to the cross ; those that loved 
 Him at the first did not forsake Him [for He ap- 
 peared to them alive again the third day ; as the 
 divine prophets had foretold these, and ten thou- 
 sand other wonderful things concerning Him]. 
 And the tribe of Christians, so named from Him, 
 are not extinct at this day," i. e., at the time he 
 wrote, about 100.^ 
 
 ' B. XVIIT, c. 3. Canon Farrar thinks that the whole 
 passage above extracted from Josephus is spurious, particu- 
 larly the clauses included within the brackets. — Encylopce- 
 dia Britannicu, artkle '' Jesus.'''' Doctor Schaff considers 
 them genuine. — Christian ChircJi, § 15. They are defended, 
 
TESTIMONY OF TACITUS AND PLINY. 97 
 
 Tacitus, the Roman historian, who wrote about 
 110, in his Annals,' says : " The Emperor Nero, in 
 order to stifle the rumor that he liimself had set 
 Rome on fire, ascribed it to the Christians. The 
 author of this name was Christ, who in the reign of 
 Tiberius Csesar was brought to punishment by 
 Pontius Pilate, the procurator." The historian 
 gives a graphic account of the persecution of the 
 Christians at Rome during the reign of Nero, in the 
 year 6-i-5, in Avhich Peter and Paul are both sup- 
 posed to have lost their lives. 
 
 Suetonius says, in his life of Ne]-o,'' " he inflicted 
 punishment on the Christians, a sort of people who 
 held a new and impious superstition." 
 
 Pliny, proconsul of Bithynia, in an official com- 
 munication made to the Emperor Trajan, in the 
 year 112, in which he asks for directions touching 
 the manner of executing the laws against the 
 Christians, says of them : " That they confessed, 
 
 too, as genuine in an able dissertation published in the ap- 
 pendix to Josephus' works. The writer of this dissertation 
 contends that Josephus should not be understood as assert- 
 ing that Jesus was the " Christ " or "Messiah " in the Jew- 
 ish sense of the word, but only that he was a man called 
 " Christ," but not that he was the Messiah. 
 
 ' Lib., XV, c. 44. 2 c. 16. 
 
 13 
 
98 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 ' That thej were wont, on a stated day, to meet 
 together before it was light, and to sing a hymn to 
 Christ, as to a God, alternately, and to oblige them- 
 selves by an oath not to do anything that was ill ; 
 but that they would commit no theft, or pilfering, 
 or adultery ; that they would not break their prom- 
 ises or deny what was deposited with them when it 
 was required back again.' " He says : " This 
 superstition is spread like a contagion, not only into 
 cities and towns, but into country villages, also, 
 which yet there is reason to hope may be stopped 
 and corrected." In answer to this epistle, the em- 
 peror instructed Pliny that, " These people are not 
 to be sought for ; but if they be accused and con- 
 victed, they are to be punished, but with this cau- 
 tion, that he who denies himself to be a Christian, 
 and makes it plain that he is not so by supplicating 
 to our Gods, although he had been so formerly, 
 may be allowed pardon upon his repentance."^ 
 
 It is manifest from these extracts that Josephus, 
 Tacitus, Suetonius and Pliny, knew something 
 about the Christians of their day ; but there is no 
 evidence that they knew, or did not know, any 
 thing of the existence of our written Gospels. 
 
 ' See a copy of this correspondence in the appendix to 
 the works of Josephus. 
 
TESTIMONY OF APOSTOLIC FATHERS. 99 
 
 I come now to tlie testimony of the Apostolic 
 fathers — Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Poljcarp, 
 Barnabas and Hermas. It was formerly supposed 
 that all these writers were companions of the Apos- 
 tles ; and this is probably true of Clement, Poly- 
 carp and Ignatius. Good critics think that the 
 Epistle of Barnabas was not written by the com- 
 panion of Paul, but by some other person, about 
 the years 119 to 126, and that the Pastor of Her- 
 mas was written about the years 140 to 150. It is 
 generally thought that the Clement who wrote the 
 two epistles to " The Church of God sojourning at 
 Corinth," is the same as the person of that name 
 referred to by St. Paul,' and the third bishop of 
 the Church at Rome. Irenseus says of him : " This 
 man, as he had seen the blessed Apostles, and had 
 been conversant with them, may be said to have 
 the preaching of Apostles still echoing in his ears, 
 and their traditions before his eyes.'" His first let- 
 ter is thought to have been written about the year 
 96 or 97. Polycarp was the first bishop of Smyrna. 
 Irenaeus says of him that "he was instructed by the 
 Apostles, and was brought into contact with many 
 who had seen Christ." ' He wrote an epistle to the 
 
 ' Phil, c. 4. 3. ^ B. Ill, c. 3. 3 B. Ill, c. 3. 
 
loo AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 church at Philippi. He suffered martyrdom, ac- 
 cording to Eusebius, in the year 154-6. The pro- 
 consul, before whom he was arraigned, desiring to 
 save his life, said to him : " Have a regard for your 
 age." " Swear by the genius of Csesar." " Swear 
 and I will dismiss you." " Revile Christ." Poly- 
 carp answered: "Eighty and six years have I 
 served Him, and he never did me wrong; and how, 
 then, can I blaspheme my King that has saved 
 me ?" ' Ignatius was appointed bishop of the 
 church at Antioch, according to Eusebius, about 
 the year YO, and suffered martyrdom about the year 
 109. Some fifteen letters are attributed to him by 
 early writers, but the most of them have been 
 decided by critics to be spurious. Three, in the 
 ancient Syriac version, edited and published by 
 Doctor Cureton, in 1845, are generally believed to 
 be genuine, namely, epistles to Polycarp, to the 
 Ephesians and to the Romans. 
 
 I think it cannot be satisfactorily shown that the 
 Apostolic fathers quoted in their writings from our 
 written Gospels. Nor can it be shown that they 
 did not. Their writings are filled with statements 
 of the facts and doctrines of the Gospel. Canon 
 Westcott says in regard to them : 
 
 1 E. n. E., B. IV, c. 15. 
 
TESTIMONY OF APOSTOLIC FATHERS. loi 
 
 "The 'Gospel' which the fathers announce in- 
 cludes all the articles of the ancient creeds. ' Christ, 
 we read, our God, the Word, the Lord and Creator of 
 the "World, who was with the Father before time 
 began,- humbled Himself, and came down from 
 heaven, and was manifested in the flesh, and was 
 born of the Virgin Mary, of the race of David ac- 
 cording to the flesh; and a star of exceeding bright- 
 ness appeared at His birth.* Afterward He was 
 baptized by John, to fulfil all righteousness : and 
 then, si3eaking His Fathers message, He invited not 
 the righteous, but sinners, to come to Him.'* Per- 
 fume was poured over His head, an emblem of the 
 immortality which He breathed on the Church^ At 
 length, under Herod and Pontius Pilate He was cru- 
 cified, and vinegar and gall were offered Him to drink.* 
 But on the first day of the week He rose from the 
 
 1 On the use of oral and written Gospels in the first age, 
 compare Gieseler, Ueber die Entstehung u. s. w. ss. 149 sqq. 
 
 Introduction to the Study of the Gospels, pp. 154 ff. 
 
 ^ Ign. ad Rom. inscr., c. iii. ; ad Ephes. inscr. ; ad Mag- 
 nes. viii. : Barn. v. : Ign. ad Magnes. vi. 
 
 ^ Clem. xvi. : Ign. ad Magnes. vii. : Barn. xii. : Ign. ad 
 8myr. i. ; ad Trail, ix. ; ad Ephes. xix. : Ign. ad Ephes. xx. ; 
 id. xix. (of especial interest). 
 
 * Ign. ad Smyr. i. The words which are parallel with St. 
 Matthew, 'iva itXrjpooQ^ Ttdda diHatodvvr/ vn^ avrov 
 appear to have been wanting in the Ebionite Gospel: 
 Hieron. adv. Pelag. iii. 2. Ad Rom. viii.: Barn. v. 
 
 * Eph. xvii. the words eni ziji uEcpuXiji connect the ref- 
 erence with Matt. xxvi. 7 (true reading). 
 
 * Ign. ad Magnes. xi. ; ad Trail, ix. ; ad Smyr. i. : Barn, 
 vii. 
 
I02 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 dead, the first-fruits of the grave; and many prophets 
 were raised by Ilim for whom they had waited. 
 After His resurrection He ate with His disciples, and 
 showed them that He was not an incorporeal spirit.' 
 And He ascended into heaven, and sat down on the 
 right hand of the Father, and thence He shall come 
 to judge the quick and the dead ' 
 
 1 Bam. XV.: Iga. ad, Magnes. ix. : Clem. xxiv. : Polyc. 
 ii. : Ign. ad Magnes. ix. ; ad Smyr. ill. 
 
 2 Baru. XV. : Polyc. ii. : Barn. vii. : Polyc. ii. Barnabas 
 {I. c.) appears at first sight to place the Ascension also on a 
 Sunday ; but it is more likely that he regarded the Manifesta- 
 tion and Ascension of the Risen Christ as simply additional 
 moments in the story of the Resurrection. 
 
 There are also numerous references to discourses of our 
 Lord which are recorded in the gospels : 
 Clement. 
 
 c. xii. Comp. Matt. v. 7; vi. 14; vii. 2; 12, and par- 
 allels . 
 
 c. xlvi. Comp. Matt. xxvi. 24 and parallels. 
 Ignatius. 
 
 ad JSjjh. V. Matt, xviii. 19. 
 
 id. vi. Matt. x. 40. 
 
 ad Trail, xi. Matt. xv. 13. 
 
 ad Rom. vii. Cf. John xvi. 11. 
 . id. Cf . John iv. 14 ; vii. 38. 
 
 id. Cf. John vi. 51 . 
 
 ad Philad. vii. Cf. John iii. 8. 
 
 ad Smyrri. vi. Matt. xix. 13. 
 
 ad Polxjc. i. Matt. viii. 17. 
 
 id. ii. Matt. x. 16. 
 
 POLTCARP. 
 
 c. ii. Matt. vii. 1; vi. 14; v. 7; Luke vi. 38, 40. Matt. 
 V. 10. 
 
TESTIMONY OF APOSTOLIC FATHERS. 103 
 
 Such, iu their owu words, is the testimony of the 
 earliest Fatliers to the life of the Saviour. Round 
 these facts their doctrines are grouped; on the truth 
 of the Incarnation and the Passion and the Resur- 
 rection of Christ their hopes were grounded.'" 
 
 In addition to these statements of the chief facts 
 of the Gospel, Clement quotes several sayings as 
 coming from Jesus. Thus, in chapter 13, he 
 writes : 
 
 " For thus Jesus spoke : ' Be ye merciful, that ye 
 may obtain mercy ; forgive, that it may be forgiven 
 you ; as ye do, so shall it be done unto you ; as 3'e 
 judge, so shall ye be judged ; as ye are kind, so 
 
 c. vii. Matt. vi. 13; xxvi. 41; Mark. xiv. 38. 
 
 c. V. Cf . Matt. XX. 28. 
 
 c. vi. Cf. Matt. vL 13, 14. 
 Barnabas. ' 
 
 c. iv. Matt. xxii. 14. 
 
 c. V. Matt. ix. 13. 
 These parallels together with supposed references to say- 
 ings of the Lord not contained iu the canonical Gospels 
 are examined in a note at the end of the chapter: pp. 60 
 flf. Compare Iiitrod. to the Study of the Gospels, App. C. 
 Gieaeler, Ueber die Entstefiung der schrift. Ecv. ss. 147 ff. 
 
 ' Cf. Ign. ad Philad. viii. It is very worthy of notice 
 that there are no references to the miracles of our Lord in 
 the apostolic Fathers. All miracles are implicitly included 
 in the Incarnation and Resurrection of Christ. Compare 
 note at the end of the chapter. 
 
I04 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 shall kindness be shown to you ; with what meas- 
 ure ye mete, with the same it shall be measured to 
 you.' " Again, in chapter 46 : " Remember the 
 words of our Lord Jesus Christ, how He said, 
 'Woe to that man by whom offenses come. It 
 were better for him that he had never been born, 
 than that he should cast a stumbling-block before 
 one of my elect ; yea, it were better for him that a 
 mill-stone should be hung about his neck and he 
 should be sunk in the depths of the sea, than that 
 he should cast a stumbling-block before one of My 
 little ones.' " So, also, Polycarp writes : •' Being 
 mindful of what the Lord said in his teaching: 
 Judge not, that ye be not judged ; forgive, and it 
 shall be forgiven unto you ; be merciful, that ye 
 may obtain mercy ; with what measure ye mete, it 
 shall be measured to you again ; blessed are the 
 poor and those that are persecuted for righteous- 
 ness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God." ^ 
 '* Beseeching in our supplications the All-seeing 
 God ' not to lead us into temptation,' as the Lord 
 has said, ' The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh 
 is weak.' " " Barnabas writes : " Let us beware lest 
 we be found fulfilling that saying, as it is written, 
 ' Many are called, but few are chosen.' " Again he 
 
 ' C. 2. - C. 4. 
 
TESTIMONY OF APOSTOLIC FATHERS. 105 
 
 writes, " that he might show he came ' not to call 
 the righteous, but sinuers, to repentance.' " ' 
 
 These extracts from Clement, Folycarp and Bar- 
 nabas read very much like passages found in the 
 Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke, yet with 
 some considerable variations. But the short sen- 
 tence from Barnabas, " Many are called, but few are 
 chosen," is found in the same words in Matthew's 
 Gospel.* It has, however, been suggested that Bar- 
 nabas may have quoted this short saying from 4th 
 Ezra, 8th and 3d, where it reads, " There be many 
 created, but few shall be saved. " 
 
 Notwithstanding the similarity of thought and 
 language between these several extracts from the 
 different writers and parallel passages in our Gos- 
 pels, we cannot affirm confidently that the writers 
 quoted from them, for the reasons: First. That 
 they do not name the Gospel. Second. The ex- 
 tracts do not correspond verbally, except in one in- 
 stance, with the text of the Gospels. Third. The 
 writers may have quoted them from the Gospel of 
 the Hebrews, or some other apocryphal work. 
 Fourth. They may have quoted these sayings of 
 Jesus from oral tradition. 
 
 C. 5. 2 Ch. 20, V. 16, and c. 22, v. 14. 
 
 14 
 
io6 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 In considering the question of the authorship of 
 our Gospels, we need to bear in mind that the Gos- 
 pel was preached and churches were planted in 
 Syria, Asia Minor, Greece and Italy, and probably 
 in the far East, and other countries, by the Apostles 
 and their converts, a considerable time — probably 
 between thirty and forty years — before any one of 
 our Gospels was written. We have no account that 
 Jesus himself wrote any thing, except on one occa- 
 sion, when He wrote in the sand. His commission 
 to his disciples was, not to write, but to preach. 
 Oral teaching was the custom of the country and 
 the practice of the Apostles. The written Gospel 
 is the transcript of oral tradition. " Hitherto," 
 says Canon Westcott,^ " all the evidence which can 
 be gathered from the circumstances of the early 
 church and the traditions of the origin of the Gos- 
 pels, has tended to establish the existence of an 
 original oral Gospel, definite in general outline and 
 even in language, which was committed to writing 
 in the lapse of time, in various special shapes, ac- 
 cording to the typical forms which it assumed in 
 the preaching of different Apostles. It is probable 
 that this oral Gospel existed from the first in Ara- 
 
 Jntroductioii to the Study of the Gospels, p. 19S. 
 
TESTIMONY OF APOSTOLIC FATHERS. 107 
 
 maic and Greek, as wonld naturally be the case in a 
 country where the two languages were generally 
 current." ' When we reflect that three of the 
 Apostolic fathers lived in the same age as the Apos- 
 tles, and had, in all probability, been taught by 
 them, and that the other two lived in an age next 
 succeeding, and had been taught by the immediate 
 disciples of Apostles, it is not unreasonable to sup- 
 pose that they learned from oral teaching the say- 
 ings of Jesus, and the events of His life mentioned 
 by them in their epistles. Canon Westcott comes 
 to the following conclusion on this subject : '''•First. 
 No evangelical reference in the Apostolic fathers 
 can be referred certainly to a written record. 
 Second. It appears most probable from the form of 
 the quotations that they were derived from oral 
 traditions." 
 
 The Didache or the Teaching of the Twelve 
 Apostles^ belongs to an age approximating very 
 closely to that of the epistles of the Apostolic 
 fathers. Philotheos Bryennios, Metropolitan of 
 
 ' Dr. Sanday says : " There was a certain body of narra- 
 tive which, in whatever form it was handed down, whether 
 as oral or written, at a very early date obtained a sort of 
 general recognition, and seems to have been, as a matter of 
 course, incorporated in the evangelical works as they ap- 
 peared. — The Gospels of the Second Century, p. 100. 
 
io8 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 Nicomedia, Diocletian's ancient capital, discovered 
 this work in 1873, while looking over the manu- 
 scripts in the Jerusalem Monastery at Constanti- 
 nople. It was found near the middle of a small 
 thick book, covered with black leather, and bound 
 up with other works, namely, first ChrysostonC s 
 Synopsis of the books of the Old and New Testa- 
 ments ; then the Epistle of Barnabas ; then the Epis- 
 tles of Clement ; then the teaching of the Twelve 
 Ajjostles ; then the Epistle of Mary of Cassobelae 
 to Ignatius ; followed by Twelve Epistles of Igna- 
 tius. This collection of manuscripts is numbered 
 in the library 456. The Teaching of the Twelve 
 Apostles occupies leaves 76-80 of the manuscript, 
 and contains about as much matter as Paul's epistle 
 to the Galatians. The manuscript is written on 
 parchment, in Greek cursive characters, and is dated 
 A. D. 1056. 
 
 The " Teaching " was published with an intro- 
 duction and copious notes by Bishop Bryennios, at 
 Constantinople, in 1883. The publication at once 
 attracted the attention of learned men in Germany, 
 England and the United States. The manuscript 
 was and is very generally believed by them to be 
 genuine and the work to have been originally com- 
 posed in the first half of the second century. 
 
TEACHING OF THE APOSTLES. 109 
 
 Doctors Adolf Harnack, August Wiinsche and 
 Theodore Zalm, each published in 1884 the Greek 
 text with a translation into German, accompanied 
 by extensive foot notes. Harnack thinks it was 
 composed not before 120 and probably not before 
 140. Bryennios himself fixes the date between 120 
 and 140. Canon Farrar translated it into English 
 for the May number of the Contemporary Review 
 for 1884. Messrs. Hitchcock and Brown, professors 
 in the Union Theological Seminary, Kew York, 
 published the Greek text and a translation in 1884 
 and a second edition in 1885, with a valuable intro- 
 duction and notes. They think it was composed 
 between 120 and 160. On the 31st of January, 
 1885, the Rev. Charles R. Hale, one of the ministers 
 in St. Paul's church in Baltimore, took a photo- 
 graph copy of three pages of the manuscript in the 
 Jerusalem library at Constantinople. The John 
 Hopkins university has reproduced by photograph 
 these pages and published a few copies of them. 
 
 The Teaching of the Tioelve Apostles is an 
 interesting work, not because it teaches any doc- 
 trine or rite not taught in the New Testament 
 Scriptures, but because it is one of the links in the 
 chain, together with the epistles of the so-called 
 Apostolic fathers, to connect these scriptures with 
 
no AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 the later writings of Justin Martyr, Irenssus, 
 Clement, and Tertullian and otlier Christian fa- 
 thers. 
 
 As to the contents of this work, it contains a 
 summary of the practical duties of life as consisting 
 of love to God and to our neighbors, and points out 
 the "two ways " — one of life, the other of death. 
 It gives instruction in regard to baptism which 
 must be by the use of water in the name of the 
 Trinity ; in regard to the Eucharist, or Lord's 
 supper, which must be celebrated by partaking of 
 the broken bread and of the wine, accompanied by 
 prayers and thanksgiving. It also gives directions 
 in regard to the conduct and support of the clergy, 
 and in regard to the second coming of Christ to 
 judge the world.' 
 
 After this account of the finding, age and con- 
 tents of the Teaching of the Apostles, the ques- 
 tion we have now to consider is, does this work fur- 
 nish any evidence that the author knew or used our 
 Gospels ? It furnishes abundant evidence that he, 
 like the Apostolic fathers, knew the Gospel ; but 
 did he know our written canonical Gospels ? It 
 
 * See Edward A. Grosvenor's accouut of the finding of 
 the "Teaching,'' and Phillip Schaff's review of it in the 
 May number of the Century Magazine for 1885. 
 
TEACHING OF THE APOSTLES. iii 
 
 furnishes no evidence that he did not know them, 
 unless the fact that he does not name tliem nor 
 unmistakably refer to them can be fairly inter- 
 preted into evidence of his ignorance of them. 
 But we cannot fairly make this interpretation 
 unless we can show that he had occasion to 
 name or refer to them and yet did not. Many 
 writers do not mention in their writings the Can- 
 terbury Tales., Paradise Lost., and other works 
 well known to them, nor refer to them simply be- 
 cause they have no occasion to do so. Whether 
 the author quoted from our Gospels or not, is a 
 little uncertain from the fact that he does not name 
 them, and passages that may have been quoted, 
 almost or quite literally from our Gospels, may also 
 have been quoted from the traditional oral Gospel 
 then in existence. The same difficulty of deter- 
 mining the particular source whence the author de- 
 rived a knowledge of any sayiug of Jesus, or any 
 event in his life mentioned by him, exists in the 
 case of the " Teaching " as in the case of the epistles 
 of the Apostolic fathers. The " Teaching " contains 
 the Lord's Prayer in very nearly the same language 
 as it is found in Luke's Gospel, adding, however, at 
 the conclusion, "• for thine is the power and the glory 
 forever." But this prayer the author may have 
 
112 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 quoted from memory as he bad learned it from oral 
 teaching. He quotes also, as a saying of our Lord, 
 " give not that which is holy to the dogs," and ap- 
 plies it to unbaptized persons by way of prohibit- 
 ing them from partaking of the Lord's supper. The 
 saying is found in the same words in Matthew vii, 6. 
 His work contains many sayings which correspond 
 almost literally with similar sayings found in the 
 Sermon on the Mount. Such as " Bless them that 
 curse you," " if any one give thee a blow on the 
 right cheek turn to him the other also," " if any 
 one take thy cloak, give him thy tunic also," and 
 many other similar passages. 
 
 I come now to the Gospels themselves. There is 
 some internal evidence that the Synoptic Gospels, 
 Matthew, Mark and Luke, were severally written 
 before the destruction of Jerusalem under the 
 Roman General Titus in the year 70 ; for each of 
 these Gospels contains a prophecy by Jesus of that 
 coming event.^ If it should be said, that the proph- 
 ecy was written after the event took place, I an- 
 swer: this is not likely, for if this were so, the 
 writers would have been apt, in honor of their mas- 
 ter, to record its fulfilhnent. But neither writer 
 
 ' Matt., 24. Marie, 13. Luke, 21. 
 
TESTIMONY OF THE GOSPELS. 113 
 
 does so. There is uotliing in either one of these 
 Gospels tending to show that Jerusalem was not 
 standing and in a flourishing condition at the time it 
 was written. 
 
 15 
 
114 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 CHAPTEH III. 
 
 A BRIEF ARGUMENT. 
 
 The testimonies of Origen, Tertiillian, Clement, 
 IrenEeus, the canon of Muratori, and the Syriac and 
 Latin versions of the New Testament, all concur in 
 proving that in the latter part of tlie second century 
 our Gospels existed and were read as sacred books 
 by many thousands of Christians, living in Europe, 
 Asia and Africa. Judging from these facts alone it 
 might be reasonably presumed that they had a much 
 earlier origin. They could not have sprung into 
 snch universal use all at once. This presumption, 
 by itself, and without any additional evidence, ought 
 to be considered as entirely convincing, in the ab- 
 sence of any proof to the contrary. Bnt in addi- 
 tion to this, the witnesses prove that the Christians 
 of that day had a tradition among them, stating that 
 these Gospels had been written, respectively, by 
 Matthew the publican, Mark the interpreter of 
 Peter, Luke the physician, and John the beloved 
 disciple, and that they had been handed down to 
 them from the days of the Apostles. There is no 
 
A BRIEF ARGUMENT. 115 
 
 evidence that either Christians, pagans or heretics, 
 had any account of any other origin. These facts 
 are not only proved, but, I believe, are admitted to 
 be true by all critics. Now, what are the just infer- 
 ences to be drawn from these facts ? Plainly, 1st, 
 that the tradition is true, and, 2d, that the Gospels 
 were written by the persons named. "What other 
 inference different from these can possibly be drawn? 
 "We believe that Homer wrote the Iliad ; Yirgil, 
 the ^neid I Tacitus, the Annals ,' Milton, Para- 
 dise Lost I and Shakspeare, the plays of Othello 
 and Macbeth, on evidence much less convincing 
 than these facts furnish to prove the genuineness of 
 the Gospels. 
 
 If a conclusion, so conclusive as this seems to be, 
 can be confirmed, it is confirmed by the further 
 facts that the churches — corporate bodies having an 
 uninterrupted succession of officers and members 
 from the days of the Apostles down — were the 
 keepers of the Gospels and other sacred Scriptures. 
 The bishops, and other officers, handed these writ- 
 ings down to their successors in office, and these, to 
 their successors, and so on. No other ancient books, 
 except the other sacred Scriptures, ever had such 
 trustworthy custodians, nor such credible witnesses 
 to their genuineness, as our Gospels. It is also 
 
Ii6 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 strengthened by the further facts that Justin Martyr, 
 about the year 150, made use of the Memoirs of 
 the Apostles, called Gospels, "which were com- 
 posed by the Apostles and their companions," and 
 which, we think, were our Gospels — that Paj)ias, 
 writing about the year 140, referred to Logia by 
 Matthew, and a Gospel by Mark, eo nomine, and 
 testified to what presbyter John, a contemporary of 
 the Apostles, told him about their origin — that 
 Marcion used our Gospel according to Luke, in tlie 
 year 140, as affirmed by Irenaeus and Tertullian, but 
 denied by some critics and asserted by others — that 
 Basilides, writing between the years 117 and 138, 
 quotes texts that correspond with texts found in 
 ,' Luke's and John's Gospels — and, that Barnabas, 
 ■ Clement, Polycarp and Ignatius, between the years 
 I 98 and 119, all quote many sentences very much re- 
 sembling passages found in our Gospels, and which 
 may have been taken from them, but without nam- 
 ing the writer, and that Eusebius says that the evan- 
 gelists delivered to their converts the books of the 
 holy Gospels in the reign of Trajan, 98-117. 
 
 In answer to the conclusion herein arrived at — 
 that the Gospels were written by the persons whose 
 names they bear in Apostolic times — it has been 
 argued that this cannot be, for the reason that there 
 
A BRIEF ARG UMENT. 1 1 7 
 
 is no evidence that they are named or referred to by 
 any writer, Christian or pagan, who wrote before 
 the last half of the second century. The author of 
 Sujjernatural Religion says: "After having ex- 
 hausted the literature and testimony bearing on the 
 point, we have not found a single distinct trace of 
 any one of these Gospels during the first century 
 and a half after the death of Jesus."^ Therefore, 
 it is argued, they did not exist during that time. 
 
 "We think the ergo is a non sequitur. Besides, 
 we have pointed out, as we believe, several " distinct 
 traces " of our Gospels in writers who wrote " dur- 
 ing the first century and a half after the death of 
 Jesus." But let us suppose we are mistaken, and 
 that no such "traces" exist. It will not follow 
 from this negative fact that our Gospels did not 
 exist ; for it may well be that no author wrote dur- 
 ing the time specified, whose subject required him 
 to name or refer to them, or, if such author did 
 write, and did name the Gospels -or quote from them, 
 his writings may be lost. Excepting the New Tes- 
 tament Scriptures and a few Epistles written by 
 Barnabas, Clement, Polycarp, Ignatius and Hermas, 
 and excepting the Teaching of the Apostles, all of 
 which we have already noticed, there are no writ- 
 
 ' 6th edition, p. 547 
 
ii8 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 ings, still extant^ which treat of the Christian re- 
 ligion, older than the writings of Justin Martyr, who 
 wrote about the year 150. Before his day, accord- 
 ing to Eusebius, Quadratus and Aristides, about tlie 
 year 126, wrote Apologies / Basilides wrote a com- 
 mentary on the Gospel in twenty-four books, about 
 the year 125 ; Agrippa Castor, about the year 130, 
 wrote a Refutation of the Heresies of Basilides / 
 and Marcion, about the year 140, wrote a book con- 
 cerning the law and the Gospel called Antitheses / 
 Hegessippus, a contemporary of Justin Martyr at a 
 later period, probably between 177 and 193, wrote 
 what Eusebius calls, " the plain tradition of the apos- 
 tolic doctrine," in five books. In another place he 
 calls them " five books of commentaries.' ' We know 
 nothing of the character of this work, except what 
 Eusebius says of it, and what can be learned from a 
 few extracts preserved by him. Mr. Waite claims, 
 that it was a " history of the church from the be- 
 ginning to his own time." But Eusebius does not so 
 speak of it. He says that " Hegessippus compiled 
 in five books the plain tradition of the apostolic 
 doctrine, in a most simple style of composition,'' 
 It is most likely that it was a general commentary 
 on the doctrines of the Gospel. Whatever the 
 Avork was, this, and all the others we have just 
 
A BRIEF ARGUMENT. 119 
 
 named, have perished. We do not know whether 
 or not any of the writers quoted or referred to our 
 Gospels. 
 
 It has been argued that because Eusebius does 
 not state in his history that these and other writers 
 before the time of Ire n sens did name or refer to 
 our Gospels, therefore it may be certainly concluded 
 that they did not. But this conclusion does not 
 justly follow. They may have referred to them, 
 both by name and by quotations, and yet Eusebius 
 may not have felt it necessary to mention the fact. 
 He was not writing a history of the Gospels nor of 
 the New Testament Scriptures, though he gives a 
 catalogue of them as they existed in his day. If 
 the authorship or canonicity of any one of the Gos- 
 pels had been in dispute at the time he wrote, he 
 would have been likely in that case to record in his 
 work whatever evidence he met with in these older 
 writings, proving the existence of such disputed 
 Gospel, in order to throw light upon the question 
 of its authorship or canonicity. He himself says : 
 " As I proceed in my history I shall carefully show 
 what ecclesiastical writers in their times respect- 
 ively made use of any of the disputed writings." * 
 
 ' B. m, c. 3. 
 
I20 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 But the authorship and canonicity of the four Gos- 
 pels were not in dispute at the time he wrote, but 
 were as much fixed and determined as they are 
 to-day. No particular reason can be given why he 
 should have noticed them, or either of them, in 
 writing his history. No inference, therefore, un- 
 favorable to the early existence of the Gospels, can 
 be drawn from his silence in regard to them when 
 referring to older writers. The argumentuin ex 
 silentia is of no weight in this case. 
 
 But suppose it should be admitted that no writer 
 between the day of the crucifixion and the time of 
 Irenseus, a period of 150 years, referred to our Gos- 
 pels at all, either by name or otherwise ; this fact 
 would not prove their non-existence. The omission 
 / to name them in their writings certainly would not, 
 ' any more than the omission of Doctor Edward 
 Bouverie Pusey to name them, except in quoting 
 his texts, in thirty-one sermons written by him, 
 proves that they did not exist at the time he 
 wrote the sermons. It may not have been the 
 fashion of the day for writers to cite their authori- 
 ties by name. The omission to quote from them 
 would not prove their non-existence, for the sub- 
 I ject-matter of their books might not call for any 
 / quotations from them. Besides, in the earliest days 
 
A BRIEF AR Q UMENT. 1 2 1 
 
 of Christianity the Gospel was propagated every- 
 where by oral teaching — by preaching — not by 
 writing. The historic facts of Christ's life, death, 
 resurrection and ascension, and the doctrines of 
 faith growing oat of these, were first orally taught 
 to the people by the Apostles and their successors. 
 Many churches were founded and established a 
 considerable time before the Gospels were written. 
 This oral Gospel was handed down to succeeding 
 generations, and was well understood by Christians 
 of the first and second centuries. Writers mio^ht 
 easily quote from it and comment on its doctrines 
 without feeling any necessity to refer to the writ- 
 ten Gospels by name or otherwise, though they 
 might have had them in their possession. Irenteus 
 notices how the faith of the Gospel was propagated 
 in his day among the barbarians of many nations 
 "without paper or ink or written documents, by 
 teaching to them the traditions of the Apostles." ' 
 And yet it is not denied that the written Gospels 
 existed and were in common use in the days of 
 Irenseus. 
 
 In all probability the oral traditionary Gospel 
 and the written Gospels existed together, side by 
 
 > B. Ill, c. 4, § 3. 
 16 
 
]22 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 side, in the first years of Christianity. " We have 
 learned from none others," says Irenaeus, " the plan 
 of our salvation, than from those through whom 
 the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at 
 one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, 
 by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scrip- 
 tures, to be the ground and pillar of onr faith. "^ 
 As time rolled on, the written Gospels, being in 
 entire harmony with the oral traditions, and being 
 believed to be written by Apostles and their com- 
 panions, came to be considered as the sole authentic 
 evidence of the traditions of the Gospel history. 
 
 If we assume that the Gospels were written in tlie 
 Apostolic age by the persons whose names they bear, 
 then there is no difficulty in accounting for their 
 general reception among the early Christians as 
 sacred books ; nor for the tradition of their Apos- 
 tolic origin. The writer of any one of them, having 
 finished his work, would naturally deliver the 
 manuscript to the bishop of some leading church, 
 such as the church at Jerusalem, or at Antioch, or 
 Ephesus, or Alexandria, or Rome, and it would be 
 deposited in the church for the purpose of being 
 read to the people and for safe keeping. Copies, 
 made by an authorized scribe, would be given out 
 
 ' B. Ill, c. 1, § 1. 
 
A BRIEF ARGUMENT. 123 
 
 to other churches or to individuals, accompanied 
 by the declaration that it was the Gospel of 
 Matthew, or Mark, or Luke, or John, as the case 
 might be. Not at first, but after a time, the name 
 of the writer would come to be inscribed on the lit- 
 tle book. Copies would soon come to be made from 
 copies as well as from the original. And so the 
 writings would be readily multiplied and circulated 
 among Christians everywhere, each copy always 
 accompanied by the traditionary account of its 
 authorship. And so of the other canonical Gospels. 
 Besides these, there existed at a very early day 
 other writings, or fragments of Gospels, in circula- 
 tion, as we have already seen ; but these four only 
 soon came to be considered as solely authentic and 
 canonical ; because these alone were known to have 
 had Apostles and companions of Apostles for their 
 authors. 
 
 Now, if, on the other hand, we suppose the Gos- 
 pels were not written before the end of the Apos- 
 tolic age, how can we, in this case, account for their 
 general reception and use among Christians ? No 
 Apostle would be living at the time they appeared 
 who could vouch for their genuineness or historic 
 accuracy. Older accounts of Jesus and his doc- 
 trines, either in a written form or in the form of 
 
124 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 oral tradition would be existing among Christians. 
 If the recently written Gospels offered to their ac- 
 ceptance differed from these, they would have been 
 rejected on account of such difference. The 
 Christians would have preferred the old accounts to 
 the new. If the old and new accounts agreed, the 
 recently written Gospels would have been but a 
 new edition of the old. If the Gospels made their 
 first appearance under a claim of being ancient or 
 of Apostolic origin when they were not, Christians 
 would have answered : " Your claim is false. We 
 know you not. We have never heard our fathers, 
 nor our grandfathers, nor our aged bishops, speak 
 of you." If they originated as late as the last half 
 of the second century, then, in addition to these 
 obstacles in the way of their reception, they would 
 have had to encounter, in hostile opposition, Jus- 
 tin's Memoirs which were before this time, as we 
 have seen, in possession of the field. 
 
 In addition to these objections to the theory of a 
 late origin of the Gospels, there stands the tradition 
 of their Apostolic origin — a tradition proved, be- 
 yond all question, to have existed from very early 
 times. How could this tradition have originated 
 and been believed, if in point of fact it was not 
 true ? Its truth or falsity could have been easily 
 
A BRIEF ARGUMENT. 125 
 
 proved in that day, by inquiring of the aged men 
 then living, whose gandfathers — or, at the farthest 
 remove — great grandfathers, were companions of 
 the Apostles. \_See Aj>_pendix C] 
 
i26 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 CHAPTEE lY. 
 
 UNCORRUPTED TEXT. 
 
 It remains now to consider, very briefly, tlie ques- 
 tion whether or not the Gospels have been handed 
 down to us in an uncorrupted state, i. <?., without 
 material alterations or interpolations. 
 
 The original autograph Gospels were probably 
 written upon papyrus, as most books were in that 
 day. This material was a kind of paper made from 
 the fibre of a species of reed that grew plentifully 
 on the banks of the Nile. It was more brittle and 
 less durable than our paper. A few specimens 
 taken from the ruins of Herculaneum, and from 
 the bodies of mummies, have been preserved to the 
 present day. The original manuscripts undoubtedly 
 became lost or destroyed by accident, or by the rav- 
 ages of time, or perhaps by the order of persecuting 
 rulers, within the first two centuries. Nor is it proba- 
 ble that we have at the present day any copy taken 
 immediately from the original ; we have only copies 
 of copies. Of these, it is said that more than six 
 hundred manuscript copies in the Greek language 
 
UNCORRUPTED TEXT. 127 
 
 are still to be found in the public and private libra- 
 ries of Europe. They are all older than 1455. 
 Since that time the Gospels have been multiplied by 
 printing, and few or no manuscript copies have 
 been made. 
 
 Written copies of the Greek Scriptures including 
 those of the Septuagint translation of the Old Testa- 
 ment far exceed in age and number those of all the 
 classical writings of antiquity put together.' Tisch- 
 endorf catalogues about 500 manuscript copies of 
 the Gospels, 200 of the Acts and Catholic Epistles, 
 and a little less than 100 of the Apocalypse. The 
 Rev. F. H. Scrivener enumerates 34 manuscript 
 gospels in uncial characters, 601 in cursive charac- 
 ters, 14 Paul's Epistles in uncials and 283 in curs- 
 ives.^ Dr. Kennicott collated about 630 Hebrew 
 manuscripts for his critical edition of the Hebrew 
 Bible.' The oldest extant copies of formal works 
 exhibit the whole text in uncial or capital letters, 
 without spaces between the words, and without 
 
 ' F. H. Scrivener's Six Lectures on the Text of the New Tes- 
 tament and Ancient Manuseri2its, 1875. The various versions 
 of the Bible, by Constantine Tischendorf. 
 
 "^ Collection of about twenty manuscripts of the Holy 
 Gospels, by Rev. F. H. Scrivener, Cambridge, 1853. J/c- 
 Clintock and Strong'' s Cycloimdia, article Manuscripts. 
 
 ' Home's Introduction, pt. I, c. 3, § 7. 
 
128 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 punctuation. The uncial calligraphy gave way to 
 the cursive or small runnino; hand about the beorinn- 
 ing of the tenth century. Hence, if a manuscript 
 is written in cursive letters, it is at once known to 
 be of comparatively late date.' 
 
 The three oldest and therefore most authoritative 
 copies of tlie Gospels in existence are, 1st, the Gos- 
 pels contained in the manuscript Bible preserved in 
 the Vatican library at Rome. This Bible is com- 
 prised in a single quarto volume containing 759 
 thin delicate vellum leaves. It includes the Septua- 
 gint translation of the Old Testament written in six 
 columns, on a single side of the leaf, in uncial let- 
 ters. Critics place its date no later than the first 
 half of the fourth century. 
 
 2d. The Codex Sinaiticus consists of more that 
 300 large leaves of the finest vellum made from the 
 skins of young antelopes. It contains the Old and 
 New Testaments, written in four columns on every 
 page and eight on the open leaves, in Greek uncial 
 letters. This manuscript was obtained from tlie 
 convent of St. Catharine, on Mount Sinai, by Con- 
 stantino Tischendorf in 1844 and 1859, for the em- 
 peror of Russia, It belongs to the middle of the 
 
 8crivener''s Six Lectures, p. 20, and p. 33. 
 
UNCORRUPTED TEXT. 129 
 
 fourth century, according to Tischendorf and other 
 critics. The New Testament is perfect, not having 
 been deprived of a single leaf.^ 
 
 Fac similes of both these manuscripts may be 
 seen in the Astor Library in New York. 
 
 3d. The Codex Alexandrinus, containing the Old 
 and New Testaments in Greek, in uncial letters. It 
 was given to Charles 1st of England, by Cyril, pat- 
 riarch of Constantinople. It is kept in the British 
 Museum. Critics place the date not earlier than the 
 latter half of the fourth century. 
 
 Numerous errors in copying have undoubtedly 
 crept into the text of different manuscripts, produc- 
 ing in this manner many various readings, which 
 it is the business of scholars and critics to discover 
 and point out ; yet we have stronger evidence, we 
 think, to believe that copies of the Gospels have 
 been preserved and handed down to us, containing 
 fewer errors and conforming more essentially and 
 completely to the original exemplars than any other 
 ancient writings whatever. That the original text 
 of our Gospels has been handed down to us with 
 
 * See a translation of Tischendorf's own account of \iis 
 obtaining this manuscript for the Emperor of Russia, pub- 
 lished, by the Religious Tract Society of London, and by 
 the American Tract Society. 
 
 17 
 
I30 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 but few errors or interpolations of copyists, is well 
 proved by Mr. Norton in his Genuineness of the 
 Gospels} He says : 
 
 ** We proceed, then, to the proof that the Gospels 
 have not been exposed to any peculiar causes of cor- 
 ruption, but remain essentially the same as they were 
 originally composed. 
 
 This appears, in the first place, from the agree- 
 ment among our present manuscript copies of the 
 Gospels, or of parts of the Gospels, in whatever form 
 these copies appear. There have been examined, in a 
 greater or less degree, about six hundred and seventy 
 manuscripts^ of the whole, or of portions, of the 
 Greek text of the Gospels. These were written in 
 different countries, and at different periods, jirobably 
 from the fifth century donwards. They have been 
 found in places widely remote from each other, — in 
 Asia, in Africa, and from one extremity of Europe to 
 the other. Besides these manuscripts of the Greek 
 text, there are many manuscripts of ancient versions 
 of the Gospels, in different languages of each of the 
 three great divisions of the world just mentioned.- 
 There are likewise many manuscripts of the works of 
 the Christian fathers, abounding in quotations from 
 the Gospels ; and especially manuscripts of ancient 
 commentaries on the Gospels, such as those of Origen, 
 who lived in the third century, and of Chrysostom, 
 who lived in the fourth, — in which we find their text 
 
 ' Pt. I, c. 1. 
 
 "^ See Scholz's Catalogue, in the Prolegomena to his N. T. 
 
UNCORK UP TED TEXT. 131 
 
 quoted, as the different portions of it are successively 
 the subjects of remark. 
 
 Now, all these different copies of the Gospels, or 
 parts of the Gospels, — so numerous, so various in 
 their character, so unconnected, offering themselves 
 to notice in parts of the world so remote from each 
 other, — concur in giving us essentially the same text. 
 Divide them into four classes, corresponding to the 
 four Gospels, and it is evident that those of each class 
 are to be referred to one common source ; that they 
 are all copies, more or less remote, of the same 
 original ; that they all had one common text for their 
 archetype. They vary, indeed, more or less from 
 each other ; but their variations have arisen from the 
 common accidents of transcrijition ; or, as regards the 
 versions, partly from errors of translation ; or, in re- 
 spect to the quotations by the fathers, partly from 
 the circumstance, that, in ancient as in modern times, 
 the language of Scripture was often cited loosely, 
 from memory, and without regard to verbal accuracy, 
 in cases where no particular verbal accuracy was re- 
 quired. The agreement among the extant copies of 
 any one of the Gospels, or of portions of it, is essen- 
 tial ; the disagreements are accidental and trifling, 
 originating in causes which, from the nature of things, 
 Ave know must have been in operation. The same 
 work everywhere appears ; and, by comparing together 
 different copies, we are able to ascertain the original 
 text to a great degree of exactness ; or, in other words, 
 where various readings occur, to determine what were 
 probably the words of the author. 
 
 The Greek manuscripts, then, of any one of the 
 
132 AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 Gospels, the versions of it, and the quotations from it 
 by the fathers, are all, professedly, copies of that 
 Gospel, or of parts of it ; and these correspond with 
 each other. But, as these professed copies thus cor- 
 respond with each other, it follows that they were 
 derived more or less remotely from one archetype. 
 Their agreement admits of no explanation, except 
 that of their being conformed to a common exemplar. 
 In respect to each of the Gospels, the copies which we 
 possess must all be referred, for their source, to one 
 original Gospel, one original text, one original manu- 
 script. As far back as our knowledge extends. 
 Christians, throughout all past ages, in Syria, at 
 Alexandria, at Rome, at Carthage, at Constantinople, 
 and at Moscow, in the East and in the West, have all 
 used copies of each of the Gospels, which were evi- 
 dently derived from one original manuscript, and 
 necessarily imply that such a manuscript, existing as 
 their archetype, has been faithfully copied." 
 
 COLLECT. 
 Blessed Lord, who hast caused all Holy Scriptures 
 to be written for our learning ; Grant that we may 
 in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and in- 
 wardly digest them, that by patience and comfort 
 of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold 
 fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which 
 thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. 
 Ame7i. — Book of Common Praye?\ 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 It would not readily occur to the mind of a person, 
 who has never thought on the subject, that the knowledge 
 of an event can be preserved without writing 120 years, by 
 means of the memories of two men, and ^80 years by means 
 of the memories of three men. The authorship of the 
 Declaration of Independence can probably be proved to-day 
 by means of the memories of the elder John Adams and of 
 his grandson, Charles Francis Adams. John Adams was 
 one of the committee to whom was assigned the duty by 
 Congress of preparing that instrument. He undoubtedly 
 knew who wrote it. He would be apt to communicate this 
 knowledge to his grandson, Charles Francis Adams, who 
 was nineteen years old when his grandfather died. Charles 
 Francis was born in 1807, and is still living. If he is iu 
 good health he will remember what his grandfather told 
 him about the drafting of so celebrated a document. He 
 will remember, too, what his grandfather said about the 
 conversations he held at various times with old Doctor 
 Franklin, who was born in 1706. Franklin and Adams 
 were often associated in public business. The Doctor, in 
 all probability, told Mr. Adams many things connected with 
 his early life, which Mr. Adams would be apt to relate to 
 his grandson in his old age. A man is still living who told 
 me he had conversed with a soldier who was at the battle 
 known as Braddock's defeat — a battle fought between the 
 whites and Indians in 1755. Suppose this man shonld re- 
 late to some young men, who should live sixty years longer, 
 the accounts of the battle he had received from the soldier. 
 Such account could be transmitted in this way to a person 
 
134 APPENDIX. 
 
 living 190 years after the event. Mr. Ridlon, in his "Intro- 
 duction to his History of the Ryedales," says: '' My grand- 
 father lived contemporary with eight generations of his 
 family. From his standpoint he could look backward and 
 remember three generations of his predecessors; looking 
 downward, he could see four generations of his descend- 
 ants, and at the same time he himself was the connecting 
 link of this chain between the first three and last four gene- 
 rations, making eight generations in all." 
 
 No writer dates the birth of Irenajus later than A. D. 
 140. Now, if his father was sixty years old when he was 
 born, then his father was born in A. D. 80, and if his 
 grandfather was sixty years old when his father was born, 
 then his grandfather was born in A. D. 20 — thirteen years 
 before the crucifixion. It would not have been impossible 
 for him to have witnessed that event. Not only so, but he 
 may very easily have known some or all of the Apostles and 
 evangeUsts. If these precise facts are not true of Irensus, 
 there is a grave probability that they may have been true of 
 many of his contemporaries. The grandfathers of many 
 of these latter may have been present at the crucifixion. 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 The reader may be interested in seeing a brief synopsis 
 of two or three Apocryphal Gospels, which have come 
 down to us from the second and third centuries. 
 
 The Protevangelion of James gives an account of 
 Joachim and Anna, father and mother of the Virgin Mary ; 
 of the birth of Mary, and her education in the temple until 
 she was twelve years old, wlien she was committed by the 
 priests to the care of Joseph, an old man and father of seve- 
 ral children ; of the annunciation to Mary by an angel that 
 she was about to become the mother of the ' ' Son of the 
 Most High,'' and should call his name "Jesus"; of the 
 great distress of Joseph when he discovered the condition 
 in which Mary was ; of the appearance of an angel in a 
 dream, who relieved his mind by telling him that Mary was 
 to bring forth a son "who should save His people from 
 their sins." When the priest discovered the condition Mary 
 ■was in, he caused Joseph and Mary to be brought before 
 him and accused them of sinfulness, which they denied and 
 asserted their innocence. He gave each of them '' to drink 
 of the water of the ordeal of the Lord," and sent them 
 away to the liill country, and they returned unhurt," when 
 the priest said, ' ' If the Lord God has not made manifest 
 your sins, neither do I judge you." Joseph and Mary went 
 up to Bethleliem to be enrolled, under an order from tlie 
 Emperor Augustus, and when within three miles of Bethle- 
 hem Mary requested to be taken down from the ass, and 
 she was led into a "cave," where Jesus was born. Magi 
 from the East, led by a star visit and worship the babe in 
 the cave. Herod sent men to murder the children from 
 
136 APPENDIX. 
 
 two years old and under. Mary, hearing of this, was 
 afraid, and took the infant and put him in an ox-stall. And 
 Elizabeth, to save John, took him up into the hill country, 
 where, in answer to the prayer of Elizabeth, a mountain 
 ■was cleft and received mother and child. Herod, not find- 
 ing John, caused Zacharias, his father, to be murdered near 
 'the altar, where "they found not his body but they found 
 his blood turned into stone." This celebrated Gospel ends 
 here, with a certificate that "I, James, wrote this history 
 in Jerusalem/' etc. 
 
 The Arabic Gospel op the Infancy relates that when 
 Joseph and Mary w^ere on their way up to Bethlehem to be 
 enrolled, Jesus was born in a " cave " and placed in a stall, 
 and circumcised on the eighth day in the cave, and was 
 visited there by the magi. To escape the fury of Herod, 
 Joseph and Mary took the child into Egypt. When pass- 
 ing through Egypt, idols fell down before the child, "saj^- 
 ing, a God has come here in secret." "Demons, fleeing in 
 the shape of ravens and serpents, began to go forth out of 
 the mouth of a demoniac boy." A demoniac woman Avas 
 cured. A dumb bride was cured by holding Jesus in her 
 arms. Lepers were cured. They came to Memphis and 
 saw Pharaoh, and remained three years in Egypt; "and 
 the Lord Jesus did in Egypt very many miracles, which are 
 recorded neither in the Gospel of the Infancy nor in the 
 perfect Gospel." After three years, the parents, with the 
 child, returned to Nazareth, where many miracles were 
 wa-ought ; many of them unmeaning and frivolous, as when 
 Jesus, being seven years old, was playing with the boys 
 and making images of asses, oxen, birds and other animals, 
 he made his to walk, leap or stand still at his bidding; he 
 made clay sparrows and other birds to fly ; he put many 
 pieces of cloth into a "tub full of indigo," and each piece 
 came out, of the color the owner wished. Joseph made 
 doors, milk-pails, beds and cliests, and Jesus by stretching 
 out his hand would make them longer or shorter as Joseph 
 
APPENDIX. 137 
 
 wanted them. Some of his many miracles were mischiev- 
 ous and wicked ; as when a boy ran against him with so 
 much force that he fell, he said to the boy : "As thou hast 
 thrown me down, so thou shalt fall, and not rise again." 
 And the same hour the boy fell down and expired . He 
 was sent to school, but taught the schoolmaster. "When 
 twelve years old, he went up to Jerusalem with Joseph and 
 Mary to the feast, and there expounded to the astronomers 
 and philosophers in the temple the sciences of astronomy 
 and physics and metaphysics. On returning to Nazareth, 
 he began to hide his miracles and mysteries, and gave at- 
 tention to the law until his thirtieth year, when the Fa- 
 ther, at the Jordan, " by a voice sent down from heaven, 
 declared Him to be His beloved Son." This Gospel ends 
 here. It calls Mary throughout the '' Lady " Mary, a title 
 never given her by writers of the first two centuries. 
 
 The Gospel of Thomas, in the two forms, the Latin and 
 Greek, relates many stories of the pranks and tricks of 
 Jesus in his school-boy days, some of which were irreve- 
 rent and some malicious, and all unmeaning, except to ex- 
 cite the admiration of the reader. They are all called 
 miracles by the writer. He made clay sparrows to fly ; got 
 angry with a boy, and ' ' dried him up " like a dead tree ; 
 got angry with another for running against him, and cursed 
 him, so that he died. The parents of the boys complained 
 to Joseph of Jesus' misconduct, and they were struck blind. 
 He raised a dead boy, named Zeno, to life ; lengthened or 
 shortened the wood, by a word, for Joseph to make plows 
 and yokes; went to school, but taught the schoolmaster; 
 raised a dead man to life; and when twelve years old went 
 up to Jerusalem to the feast of the passover with Joseph 
 and Mary, where they lost sight of him, and after three 
 days' search for him he was found in the temple, sitting in 
 the midst of the teachers, both hearing the law and asking 
 them questions. "And Jesus advanced in wisdom and 
 stature and grace." Thus ends this Gospel. 
 18 
 
138 APPENDIX. 
 
 The Acts of Pilate, called also, since the thirteenth 
 century, "The Gospel of Nicodemus," gives au account of 
 the trial of Jesus before Pilate ; his condemnation, cruci- 
 fixion, resurrection and ascension. It professes to be writ- 
 ten by Nicodemus in Hebrew. According to this Gospel, 
 the official authorities of the Jews accused Jesus before 
 Pilate, the Governor, that whereas they knew him to 
 be the son of Joseph and Mary, born out of wedlock, he 
 claimed to be the son of God and a king ; that he profaned 
 the Sabbath by healing the sick and casting out demons on 
 that day ; that he was a magician, and cast out demons by 
 Beelzebub, the j)rince of the demons; that his birth in 
 Bethlehem was the cause of the murder of the infants there. 
 On these charges Pilate sent an officer to arrest Jesus, and 
 he was arrested and brought before Pilate, where the rulers 
 of the synagogues and the elders clamored for his death ; 
 but many other Jews interceded for him, and gave evidence 
 in his favor. Twelve Jews said they wei-e present at the 
 betrothal of Joseph and Mary. Nicodemus testified to the 
 good character of Jesus and his performing many miracles ; 
 a certain Jew testified he had been sick thirty-eight years, 
 and was cured by Jesus ; another said he was born blind, 
 and ' ' Jesus put his hands upon my eyes and I instantly re- 
 ceived sight " ; a certain woman said, "Iliad au issue of 
 blood for twelve years, and I touched the hem of his gar- 
 ment and the issue of blood was stopped." Others said, 
 "He raised Lazarus from the tomb after he had been 
 dead four days." Pilate declared he found no fault in 
 Jesus, and sought to release him, and rising up from 
 the tribunal, he sought to go out; but tlie Jews cried 
 out: "Thou art no friend of Ca3sar's if thou release this 
 man, because he called himself the son of God and a 
 king. Let him be crucified. " Pilate was afraid, and 
 after taking water and washing his hands, and declaring, 
 "I am innocent of the death of this just man," he said to 
 
APPENDIX. 139 
 
 Jesus: "Thy nation has charged thee with being a king. 
 On this account I sentence thee, first to be scourged, ac- 
 cording to the enactment of venerable kings, and then to 
 be fastened on the cross in the garden where thou wast 
 seized ; and let Dysmas and Gestas, the two malefactors, 
 be crucified with thee." 
 
 Josejih of Arimathea begged the body of Jesus, and laid 
 it in his tomb, and at the request of the hostile Jews, Pilate 
 appointed a watch to guard it. But the Jews, being angry 
 with Joseph for what he had done, seized and locked him 
 in a room and stationed a guard over him, intending after 
 the Sabbath to murder him. But Joseph was gone, and 
 the seals were unbroken, and Caiaphas had the key. While 
 the Jews were wondering at his escape, some of the guard 
 over the tomb of Jesus came and reported that there had 
 been a great earthquake, and they saw an angel come down 
 from heaven and roll away the stone from the mouth of the 
 tomb and sit upon it, and they heard the angel tell the wo- 
 men that Jesus was risen. The Jews said to the guard, 
 "We do not believe you." The guard answered, '' We 
 have heard that you locked up Joseph and put a seal on the 
 door, and that you have opened it and not found him. Do 
 you, then, give us the man you were guarding, and we will 
 give you Jesus." " The men of the guard said to the Jews, 
 ' And Jesus is risen, as we heard from the angel, and is in 
 Galilee.'" 
 
 And Phineas, a priest, and Adas, a teacher, and Haggai, 
 a Levite, came from Galilee to Jerusalem and reported to 
 the Jews that " tliey had seen Jesus and his disciples sit- 
 ting on the mountain called Mamileh." And on the advice 
 of Nicodemus, the Jews sent men into Galilee and other 
 districts to find Jesus, and they could not find him ; but 
 they found Joseph at Arimathea, who, at the solicitation of 
 the Jews, went up to Jerusalem. The Jews, after making 
 excuses to Joseph for locking him up, asked him to relate 
 what had happened to him. Joseph said he remained all 
 
I40 APPENDIX. 
 
 the Sabbath locked up, but about midnight a bright ' light 
 shone around him, and Jesus appeared to hira, and took 
 him by the hand and placed him in the middle of his house, 
 and left him, saying, "I go to my brethren in Galilee.'' 
 And the Jews sent men again into Galilee, who again in- 
 quire of Phineas, Adas and Haggai, separately and apart 
 from each other, and they concurred in saying: "While 
 Jesus was yet sitting on the mountain Mamileh and teach- 
 ing his disciples, we saw a cloud overshadowing both him 
 and his disciples ; and the cloud took him up into heaven, 
 and the disciiDles lay upon their faces upon the earth." 
 
 The three Gospels first above named give an account of 
 Joseph and Mary, the birth, infancy and boyhood of Jesus. 
 The last gives an account of the trial of Jesus before Pilate, 
 his condemnation, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. 
 Neither these, nor any other Apocryphal Gospel within my 
 knowledge, gives any account of Jesus between the time he 
 was twelve years old and the time of his trial and cruci- 
 fixion. The only account we have of his public ministry 
 and teachings is from our canonical Gospels. Tlie Apocry- 
 phal Gosjiels which we have named, and the Pseudo-Mat- 
 thew, and others, with the Acts of Philip and other Apos- 
 tles, are published in the Ante-Nicene Christian Library, 
 vol. XVI. All these Gospels and Acts were written as late 
 as the last half of the second century or the beginning of 
 the third, and some of them later. Tischendorf thinks 
 the Protevangelion and the Acts of Pilate were written in 
 the first part of the second century. — Bate of the Oospels, 
 c. 3. What is true in any of these Gospels was taken from 
 ours. A few facts may have been learned from tradition, 
 such as that Jesus was born in a "cave" and made 
 "ploughs." 
 
APPENDIX C. 
 
 According to ancient writers — 
 
 Matthew, called also Levi {Luke^ 5, v. 27), was a Jew, 
 and probably a Galilean. He was toll or tax collector for 
 the Roman government at Capernaum, on the sea of Gali- 
 lee. — (J/rt<., 9, V. 9.) Whilo engaged in this occupation, 
 Jesus, passing by, called him to follow Him, which he im- 
 mediately did, and became one of the twelve. He wrote a 
 Gospel in the Hebrew or Aramaic language, which goes 
 under his name. He preached the Gospel in Judea, Par- 
 thia and Ethiopia. Hippolytus says: "He fell asleep at 
 Hierees, a town of Parthia." 
 
 Mark. John Mark, though a Roman by name, was born 
 of Jewish parents residing in Jerusalem. When Peter was 
 delivered out of prison by an angel, " he came to the house 
 of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark." — 
 AcU, 13, V. 12. He became the companion of Peter in his 
 travels, and is called by Irenceus and other ancient writers, 
 the amanuensis or "interpreter" of Peter. — B. IH, c. 1. 
 He wrote a Gospel, which is called after his name, and in 
 which, according to Papias and Irenajus, " he handed down 
 to us what had been preached by Peter." He was the first 
 bishop of the church in Alexandria, in Egypt, but not an 
 Apostle, and suffered martyrdom in that city. — E. H. E., 
 B. H, c. 16. 
 
 Luke, called by Paul the beloved physician {Col., 4, v. 
 14), was born and educated in Antioch, in Syria. Eusebius 
 says he was a physician by profession. — B. Ill, c. 4. He 
 became the companion of Paul in his travels, and wrote the 
 Gospel called after his name, and the Acts of the Apostles. 
 
142 APPENDIX. 
 
 The Gosj^el was sometimes called by tlie ancients Paul's 
 Gospel. — Tertullian, B. IV, c. 5. He was not one of the 
 twelve Apostles. Modern writers have attributed to him 
 skill in painting, and the jjainting of one or more pictures 
 of the Virgin Mary; but this is fabulous. Tlie place, man- 
 ner and time of his death are unknown. 
 
 John, the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of 
 James, was born, probably, at Bethsaida, on the sea of 
 Galilee, where Andrew and Simon were also born, and 
 where his father followed the occupation of a fisherman. — 
 Mat., 4, V. 21 and 23. He is supposed to have been about 
 twenty-five years of age when he began to follow Jesus and 
 became one of the twelve. His father was not, probably, 
 entirely poor, as he kept hired servants. — Marl; 1, v. 20. 
 John himself owned a house, which became the home of 
 the Virgin Mary after the crucifixion. — John, 19, v. 27. He 
 witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus; was with Him in 
 the garden and at the cross, and one of the first to visit the 
 sepulchre after the resurrection. After the destruction of 
 Jerusalem he removed to Ephesus, in Asia Minor. From 
 this point he supervised the churches in his neighborhood 
 for a considerable number of years ; wrote the Revelation 
 and the Gospel called after his name. He lived to a very 
 advanced age, and died at Ephesus in the reign of Trajan, 
 who succeeded Nero, in the year 98. — Irenceus, B. HI, c. 3, 
 § 4. Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, in the year 196, asserts 
 that John was buried in that city. — E. H. E., B. Ill, c. 31. 
 
Date Due 
 
 Ja 
 
 Si