Commentaries were anciently written upon the Scriptures; harmonies
formed out of them; different copies carefully collated; and versions
made of them into different languages.
No greater proof can be given of the esteem in which these books were
holden by the ancient Christians, or of the sense then entertained of
their value and importance, than the industry bestowed upon them. And
it ought to be observed that the value and importance of these books
consisted entirely in their genuineness and truth. There was nothing in
them, as works of taste or as compositions, which could have induced any
one to have written a note upon them. Moreover, it shows that they were
even then considered as ancient books. Men do not write comments upon
publications of their own times: therefore the testimonies cited under
this head afford an evidence which carries up the evangelic writings
much beyond the age of the testimonies themselves, and to that of their
reputed authors.
I. Tatian, a follower of Justin Martyr, and who flourished about the
year 170, composed a harmony, or collation of the Gospels, which he
called Diatessaron, of the four. The title, as well as the work, is
remarkable; because it shows that then, as now, there were four, and
only four, Gospels in general use with Christians. And this was little
more than a hundred years after the publication of some of them.
(Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 307.)
II. Pantaenus, of the Alexandrian school, a man of great reputation and
learning, who came twenty years after Tatian, wrote many commentaries
upon the Holy Scriptures, which, as Jerome testifies, were extant in his
time. (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 455.)
III. Clement of Alexandria wrote short explications of many books of the
Old and New Testament. (Lardner, Cred. vol. ii. p. 462.)
IV. Tertullian appeals from the authority of a later version, then in
use, to the authentic Greek. (Lardner, Cred. vol. ii. p. 638.)
V. An anonymous author, quoted by Eusebius, and who appears to have
written about the year 212, appeals to the ancient copies of the
Scriptures, in refutation of some corrupt readings alleged by the
followers of Artemon. (Lardner, Cred. vol. iii. p. 46.)
VI. The same Eusebius, mentioning by name several writers of the church
who lived at this time, and concerning whom he says, "There still remain
divers monuments of the laudable industry of those ancient and
ecclesiastical men," (i. e. of Christian writers who were considered as
ancient in the year 300,) adds, "There are, besides, treatises of many
others, whose names we have not been able to learn, orthodox and
ecclesiastical men, as the interpretations of the Divine Scriptures
given by each of them show." (Lardner, Cred. vol. ii. p. 551.)
VII. The last five testimonies may be referred to the year 200;
immediately after which, a period of thirty years gives us Julius
Africanus, who wrote an epistle upon the apparent difference in the
genealogies in Matthew and Luke, which he endeavours to reconcile by the
distinction of natural and legal descent, and conducts his hypothesis
with great industry through the whole series of generations. (Lardner,
Cred. vol. iii. p. 170.)
Ammonius, a learned Alexandrian, who composed, as Tatian had done, a
harmony of the four Gospels, which proves, as Tatian's work did, that
there were four Gospels, and no more, at this time in use in the church.
It affords also on instance of the zeal of Christians for those
writings, and of their solicitude about them. (Lardner, Cred. vol. iii.
p. 122.)
And, above both these, Origen, who wrote commentaries, or homilies, upon
most of the books included in the New Testament, and upon no other books
but these. In particular, he wrote upon Saint John's Gospel, very
largely upon Saint Matthew's, and commentaries, or homilies, upon the
Acts of the Apostles. (Lardner, Cred. vol. iii. pp. 352, 192, 202 & 245.)
VIII. In addition to these, the third century likewise
contains--Dionysius of Alexandria, a very learned man, who compared,
with great accuracy, the accounts in the four Gospels of the time of
Christ's resurrection, adding a reflection which showed his opinion of
their authority: "Let us not think that the evangelists disagree or
contradict each other, although there be some small difference; but let
us honestly and faithfully endeavour to reconcile what we read."
(Lardner, Cred. vol. iv. p. 166.)
Victorin, bishop of Pettaw, in Germany, who wrote comments upon Saint
Matthew's Gospel. (Lardner, Cred. vol. iv. p. 195.)
Lucian, a presbyter of Antioch; and Hesychius, an Egyptian bishop, who
put forth editions of the New Testament.
IX. The fourth century supplies a catalogue* of fourteen writers, who
expended their labours upon the books of the New Testament, and whose
works or names are come down to our times; amongst which number it may
be sufficient, for the purpose of showing the sentiments and studies of
learned Christians of that age, to notice the following:
_________
* Eusebius ...... A.D. 315
Juvencus, Spain ..... 330
Theodore, Thrace .... 334
Hilary, Poletiers .... 340
Fortunatus ..... 354
Apollinarius of Loadicea 362
Damasus, Rome ..... 366
Gregory, Nyssen .... 371
Didimus of Alex, . . . . 370
Ambrose of Milan ..... 374
Diodore of Tarsus ..... 378
Gaudent of Brescia .... 387
Theodore of Cilicia .... 395
Jerome ........ 392
Chrysostom ...... 398
_________
Eusebius, in the very beginning of the century, wrote expressly upon the
discrepancies observable in the Gospels, and likewise a treatise, in
which he pointed out what things are related by four, what by three,
what by two, and what by one evangelist. (Lardner, Cred. vol. viii. p.
46.) This author also testifies what is certainly a material piece of
evidence, "that the writings of the apostles had obtained such an esteem
as to be translated into every language both of Greeks and Barbarians,
and to be diligently studied by all nations." (Lardner, Cred. vol. viii.
p. 201.) This testimony was given about the year 300; how long before
that date these translations were made does not appear.
Damasus, bishop of Rome, corresponded with Saint Jerome upon the
exposition of difficult texts of Scripture; and, in a letter still
remaining, desires Jerome to give him a clear explanation of the word
Hosanna, found in the New Testament; "He (Damasus) having met with very
different interpretations of it in the Greek and Latin commentaries of
Catholic writers which he had read." (Lardner, Cred. vol. ix. P. 108)
This last clause shows the number and variety of commentaries then
extant.
Gregory of Nyssen, at one time, appeals to the most exact copies of
Saint Mark's Gospel; at another time, compares together, and proposes to
reconcile, the several accounts of the Resurrection given by the four
Evangelists; which limitation proves that there were no other histories
of Christ deemed authentic beside these, or included in the same
character with these. This writer observes, acutely enough, that "the
disposition of the clothes in the sepulchre, the napkin that was about
our Saviour's head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped
together in a place by itself, did not bespeak the terror and hurry of
thieves, and therefore refutes the story of the body being
stolen." (Lardner, Cred. vol. ix. p. 163.)
Ambrose, bishop of Milan, remarked various readings in the Latin copies
of the New Testament, and appeals to the original Greek;
And Jerome, towards the conclusion of this century, put forth an edition
of the New Testament in Latin, corrected, at least as to the Gospels, by
Greek copies, and "those (he says) ancient."
Lastly, Chrysostom, it is well known, delivered and published a great
many homilies, or sermons, upon the Gospels and the Acts of the
Apostles.
It is needless to bring down this article lower, but it is of importance
to add, that there is no example of Christian writers of the first three
centuries composing comments upon any other books than those which are
found in the New Testament, except the single one of Clement of
Alexandria commenting upon a book called the Revelation of Peter.
Of the ancient versions of the New Testament, one of the most valuable
is the Syriac. Syriac was the language of Palestine when Christianity
was there first established. And although the books of Scripture were
written in Greek, for the purpose of a more extended circulation than
within the precincts of Judea, yet it is probable that they would soon
be translated into the vulgar language of the country where the religion
first prevailed. Accordingly, a Syriac translation is now extant, all
along, so far as it appears, used by the inhabitants of Syria, bearing
many internal marks of high antiquity, supported in its pretensions by
the uniform tradition of the East, and confirmed by the discovery of
many very ancient manuscripts in the libraries of Europe, It is about
200 years since a bishop of Antioch sent a copy of this translation into
Europe to be printed; and this seems to be the first time that the
translation became generally known to these parts of the world. The
bishop of Antioch's Testament was found to contain all our books, except
the second epistle of Peter, the second and third of John, and the
Revelation; which books, however, have since been discovered in that
language in some ancient manuscripts of Europe. But in this collection,
no other book, besides what is in ours, appears ever to have had a
place. And, which is very worthy of observation, the text, though
preserved in a remote country, and without communication with ours,
differs from ours very little, and in nothing that is important (Jones
on the Canon, vol. i. e. 14.).