bear good testimony, that the highest duty of an advocate is to make
the truth clear, not to put forward a pleasantly colored falsehood to
deceive the ignorant. It is not even true that Irenaeus ever pretends
that Polycarp in any way vouched our fourth Gospel as having been
written by John, and yet Dr. Tischendorf had the cool audacity to say
"there is nothing more damaging to the doubters of the authenticity of
St John's Gospel than this testimony of St. Polycarp." Do the Religious
Tract Society regard English Infidels as so utterly ignorant that they
thus intentionally seek to suggest a falsehood, or are the Council of
the Religious Tract Society themselves unable to test the accuracy of
the statements put forward on their behalf by the able decipherer
of illegible parchments? It is too much to suspect the renowned Dr.
Constantino Tischendorf of ignorance, yet even the coarse English
sceptic regrets that the only other alternative will be to denounce him
as a theological charlatan.
Dr. Mosheim, writing on behalf of Christianity, says that the Epistle of
Polycarp to the Philippians is by some treated as genuine and by others
as spurious, and that it is no easy matter to decide. Many critics, of
no mean order, class it amongst the apostolic Christian forgeries, but
whether the Epistle be genuine or spurious, it contains no quotation
from, it makes no reference to, the Gospel of John.
To what is said of Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Clement of Alexandria, it is
enough to note that all these are after a.d. 150. Irenaeus may be put 177
to 200, Tertullian about 193, and Clement of Alexandria as commencing
the third century.
One of Dr. Tischendorf's most audacious flourishes is that (p. 49) with
reference to the Canon of Muratori, which we are told "enumerates
the books of the New Testament which, from the first, were considered
canonical and sacred," and which "was written a little after the age of
Pius I, about a.d; 170."
First the anonymous fragment contains books which were never accepted
as canonical; next, it is quite impossible to say when or by whom it was
written or what was its original language. Muratori, who discovered the
fragment in 1740, conjectured that it was written about the end of the
second or beginning of the third century, but it is noteworthy that
neither Eusebius nor any other of the ecclesiastical advocates of the
third, fourth, or fifth centuries, ever refers to it. It may be the
compilation of any monk at any date prior to 1740, and is utterly
valueless as evidence.
Dr. Teschendorf's style is well exemplified by the positive manner
in which he fixes the date a.d. 139 to the first apology of Justin,
although a critic so "learned" as the unrivalled Dr. Teschendorf could
not fail to be aware that more than one writer has supported the view
that the date of the first apology was not earlier than a.d. 145, and
others have contended for a.d. 150. The Benedictine editors of Justin's
works support the latter date. Dr. Kenn argues for a.d. 155--160. On
page 63, the Religious Tract Society's champion appeals to the testimony
of Justin Martyr, but in order not to shock the devout while convincing
the profane, he omits to mention that more than half the writings once
attributed to Justin Martyr are now abandoned, as either of doubtful
character or actual forgeries, and that Justin's value as a witness is
considerably weakened by the fact that he quotes the acts of Pilate and
the Sybilline Oracles as though they were reliable evidence, when in
fact they are both admitted specimens of "a Christian forgery." But what
does Justin testify as to the Gospels? Does he say that Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John were their writers? On the contrary, not only do the
names of Matthew,-Mark, Luke, and John never occur as Evangelists in
the writings of Justin, but he actually mentions facts and sayings as to
Jesus, which are not found in either of the four Gospels. The very words
rendered Gospels only occur where they are strongly suspected to be
interpolated, Justin usually speaking of some writings which he calls
"memorials" or "memoirs of the Apostles."
Dr. Tischendorf urges that in the writings of Justin the Gospels are
placed side by side with the prophets, and that "this undoubtedly places
the Gospels in the list of canonical books." If this means that there
is any statement in Justin capable of being so construed, then Dr.
Tischendorf was untruthful. Justin does quote specifically the Sybilline
oracles, but never Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. He quotes statements
as to Jesus, which may be found in the apocryphal Gospels, and which are
not found in ours, so that if the evidence of Justin Martyr be taken, it
certainly does not tend to prove, even in the smallest degree, that four
Gospels were specially regarded with reverence in his day. The Rev. W.
Sanday thinks that Justin did not assign an exclusive authority to our
Gospels, and that he made use also of other documents no longer extant.
("Gospels in 2nd Century," p. 117.)
On p. 94 it is stated that "as early as the time of Justin the
expression 'the Evangel' was applied to the four Gospels." This
statement by Dr. Tischendorf and its publication by the Religious Tract
Society call for the strongest condemnation. Nowhere in the writings of
Justin are the words "the Evangel" applied to the four Gospels.
Lardner only professes to discover two instances in which the word
anglicised by Tischendorf as "Evangel," occurs; [______ ______],
the second being expressly pointed out by Schleiermacher as an
interpolation, and as an instance in which a marginal note has been
incorporated with the text; nor would one occurrence of such a word
prove that any book or books were so known by Justin, as the word
is merely a compound of good and message; nor is there the slightest
foundation for the statement that in the time of Justin the word
Evangel was ever applied to designate the four Gospels now attributed to
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Dr. Tischendorf (p. 46) admits that the "faith of the Church.... would
be seriously compromised" if we do not find references to the Gospels in
writings between a.d. 100 and a.d. 150; and--while he does not directly
assert--he insinuates that in such writings the Gospels were "treated
with the greatest respect," or "even already treated as canonical and
sacred writings;" and he distinctly affirms that the Gospels "did see
the light" during the "Apostolic age," "and before the middle of
the second century our Gospels were held in the highest respect by
the-Church," although for the affirmation, he neither has nor advances
the shadow of evidence.
The phrases, "Apostolic age" and "Apostolic fathers" denote the first
century of the Christian era, and those-fathers who are supposed to
have flourished during that period, and who are supposed to have seen
or heard, or had the opportunity of seeing or hearing, either Jesus
or someone or more of the twelve Apostles. Barnabas, Clement, Hermas,
Ignatius, and Polycarp, are those whose names figure most familiarly in
Christian evidences as Apostolic fathers. But the evidence from
these Apostolic fathers is of a most unreliable character. Mosheim
("Ecclesiastical History," cent. 1, cap. 2, sec. 3,17) says that "the
Apostolic history is loaded with doubts, fables, and difficulties," and
that not long after Christ's ascension several histories were current
of his life and doctrines, full of "pious frauds and fabulous wonders."
Amongst these were "The Acts of Paul," "The Revelation of Peter," "The
Gospel of Peter," "The Gospel of Andrew," "The Gospel of John," "The
Gospel of James," "The Gospel of the Egyptians," etc. The attempts often
made to prove from the writings of Barnabas, Ignatius, etc., the
prior existence of the four Gospels, though specifically unnamed, by
similarity of phraseology in quotations, is a failure, even admitting
for the moment the genuineness of the Apostolic Scriptures, if the
proof is intended to carry the matter higher than that such and such
statements were current in some form or other, at the date the fathers
wrote. As good an argument might be made that some of the Gospel
passages were adopted from the fathers. The fathers occasionally quote,
as from the mouth of Jesus, words which are not found in any of our
four Gospels, and make reference to events not included in the Gospel
narratives, clearly evidencing that even if the four documents ascribed
to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were in existence, they were not the
only sources of information from which some of the Apostolic fathers
derived' their knowledge of Christianity, and evidencing also that the
four Gospels had attained no such specific superiority as to entitle
them to special mention by name.
Of the epistle attributed to Barnabas, which is supposed by its
supporters to have been written in the latter part of the first century,
which, Paley says, is _probably_ genuine, which is classed by Eusebius
as spurious ("Ecclesiastical History," book iii., cap. 25), and which
Dr. Donaldson does not hesitate for one moment in refusing to ascribe
to Barnabas the Apostle ("Ante-Nicene Fathers," vol. i., p. 100), it is
only necessary to say that so far from speaking of the Gospels with
the greatest respect, it does not mention by name any one of the four
Gospels. There are some passages in Barnabas which are nearly identical
in phraseology with some Gospel passages, and which it has been argued
are quotations from one or other of the four Gospels, but which may
equally be quotations from other Gospels, or from writings not in the
character of Gospels. There are also passages which are nearly identical
with several of the New Testament epistles, but even the great framer of
Christian evidences, Lardner, declares his conviction that none of
these last-mentioned passages are quotations, or even allusions, to the
Pauline or other epistolary writings. Barnabas makes many quotations
which clearly demonstrate that the four Gospels, if then in existence
and if he had access to them, could not have been his only source of
information as to the teachings of Jesus (E. G., cap. 7).
"The Lord enjoined that whosoever did not keep the fast should be put to
death." "He required the goats to be of goodly aspect and similar,
that when they see him coming they may be amazed by the likeness to the
goat." Says he, "those who wish to behold me and lay hold of my kingdom,
must through tribulation and suffering obtain me" (cap. 12). And the
Lord saith, "When a tree shall be bent down and again rise, and when
blood shall flow out of the wound." Will the Religious Tract Society
point out from which of the Gospels these are quoted?
Barnabas (cap. 10) says that Moses forbade the Jews to eat weasel flesh,
"because that animal conceives with the mouth," and forbad them to eat
the hyena because that animal annually changes its sex. This father
seems to have made a sort of _melange_ of some of the Pentateuchal
ordinances. He says (cap. 8) that the Heifer (mentioned in Numbers) was
a type of Jesus, that the _three_ (?) young men appointed to sprinkle,
denote Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that _wool was put upon a stick_
because the kingdom of Jesus was founded upon the cross, and (cap. 9)
that the 818 men _circumcised_ by Abraham stood for Jesus crucified.
Barnabas also declared that the world was to come to an end in 6,000
years ("Freethinkers' Text Book" part ii., p. 268). In the Sinaitic
Bible, the Epistle of St. Barnabas has now, happily for misguided
Christians, been discovered in the original Greek. To quote the
inimitable style of Dr. Tischendorf, "while so much has been lost in
the course of centuries by the-tooth of time and the carelessness of
ignorant monks, an invisible eye had watched over this treasure, and
when it was on the point of perishing in the fire, the Lord had decreed
its-deliverance;" "while critics have generally been divided between
assigning it to the first or second decade of the second century, the
Sinaitic Bible, which has for the first time cleared up this question,
has led us to throw its composition as far back as the last decade of
the first century." A fine specimen of Christian evidence writing,
cool assertion without a particle of proof and without the slightest
reason-given. How does the Siniatic MS., even if it be genuine, clear up
the question of the date of St. Barnabas's Epistle? Dr. Tischendorf does
not condescend to tell us what has led the Christian advocate to throw
back the date of its composition? We are left entirely in the dark:
in fact, what Dr. Tischendorf calls a "throw back," is if you look at
Lardner just the reverse. What does the epistle of Barnabas prove, even
if it be genuine? Barnabas quotes, by name, Moses and Daniel, but never
Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. Barnabas specifically refers to Deuteronomy
and the prophets, but never to either of the four Gospels.
There is an epistle attributed to Clement of Rome, which has been
preserved in a single MS. only where it is coupled with another epistle
rejected as spurious. Dr. Donaldson ("Ante-Nicene Fathers," vol. i., p.
3) declares that who the Clement was to whom these writings are ascribed
cannot with absolute certainty be determined. Both epistles stand on
equal authority; one is rejected by Christians, the other is received.
In this epistle while there is a distinct reference to an Epistle
by Paul to the Corinthians, there is no mention-by name of the four
Gospels, nor do any of the words attributed by Clement to Jesus agree
for any complete quotation with anyone of the Gospels as we have them.
The Rev. W. Sanday is frank enough to concede "that Clement is not
quoting directly from our Gospels."
Is it probable that Clement would have mentioned a writing by Paul, and
yet have entirely ignored the four Gospels, if he had known that they
had then existed? And could they have easily existed in the Christian
world in his day without his knowledge? If anyone takes cap. xxv. ef
this epistle and sees the phoenix given as a historic fact, and as
evidence for the reality of the resurrection, he will be better able to
appreciate the value of this so-called epistle of Clement.
The letters of Ignatius referred to by Dr. Teschendorf are regarded by
Mosheim as laboring under many difficulties, and embarrassed with much
obscurity. Even Lardner, doing his best for such evidences, says, that
if we find matters in the Epistles inconsistent with the notion that
Ignatius was the writer, it is better to regard such passages as
interpolations, than to reject the Epistles entirely, especially in the
"_scarcity_" of such testimonies.
There are fifteen epistles of which eight are undisputedly forgeries. Of
the remaining seven there are two versions, a long and a short version,
one of which must be corrupt, both of which may be. These seven
epistles, however, are in no case to be accepted with certainty as those
of Ignatius. Dr. Cureton contends that only three still shorter epistles
are genuine ("Ante-Nicene Fathers," vol. i., pp. 137 to 143). The Rev.
W. Sanday treats the three short ones as probably genuine, waiving the
question as to the others ("Gospels in Second Century," p. 77, and see
preface to sixth edition "Supernatural Religion"). Ignatius, however,
even if he be the writer of the epistles attributed to him, never
mentions either of the four Gospels. In the nineteenth chapter of the
Epistles to the Ephesians, there is a statement made as to the birth and
death of Jesus, not to be found in either Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.
If the testimony of the Ignatian Epistles is reliable, then it vouches
that in that early age there were actually Christians who denied the
death of Jesus. A statement as to Mary in cap. nineteen of the Epistle
to the Ephesians is not to be found in any portion of the Gospels. In
his Epistle to the Trallians, Ignatius, attacking those who denied
the real existence of Jesus, would have surely been glad to quote the
evidence of eye witnesses like Matthew and John, if such evidence had
existed in his day. In cap. eight of the Epistles to the Philadelphians,
Ignatius says, "I have heard of some who say: Unless I find it in the
archives I will not believe the Gospel. And when I said it is written,
they answered that remains to be proved." This is the most distinct
reference to any Christian writings, and how little does this support
Dr. Tischendorf s position. From which of our four Gospels could
Ignatius have taken the words, "I am not an incorporeal demon,"
which he puts into the mouth of Jesus in cap. iii., the epistle to the
Smyrnaeans? Dr. Tischendorf does admit that the evidence of the Ignatian
Epistles is not of decisive value; might he not go farther and say, that
as proof of the four Gospels it is of no value at all?
On page 70, Dr. Tischendorf quotes Hippolytus without any qualification.
Surely the English Religious Tract Society might have remembered
that Dodwell says, that the name of Hippolytus had been so abused by
impostors, that it was not easy to distinguish any of his writings. That
Mill declares that, with one exception, the pieces extant under his name
are all spurious. That, except fragments in the writings of opponents,
the works of Hippolytus are entirely lost. Yet the Religious Tract
Society permit testimony so tainted to be put forward under their
authority, to prove the truth of Christian history. The very work which
Dr. Tischendorf pretends to quote is not even mentioned by Eusebius, in
the list he gives of the writings of Hippolytus.
On page 94, Dr. Tischendorf states that Basilides, before a.d. 138, and
Valentinus, about a.d. 140, make use of three out of four Gospels, the
first using John and Luke, the second, Matthew, Luke, and John. What
words of either Basilides or Valentinus exist anywhere to justify this
reckless assertion? Was Dr. Tischendorf again presuming on the utter
ignorance of those who are likely to read his pamphlet? The Religious
Tract Society are responsible for Dr. Tischendorfs allegations, which it
is impossible to support with evidence.
The issue raised is not whether the followers of Basilides or the
followers of Valentinus may have used these gospels, but whether there
is a particle of evidence to justify Dr. Tischendorf s declaration, that
Basilides and Valentinus themselves used the above-named gospels. That
the four Gospels were well known during the second half of the first
century is what Dr. Tischendorf undertook to prove, and statements
attributed to Basilides and Valentin us, but which ought to be
attributed to their followers, will go but little way as such proof (see
"Supernatural Religion" vol. ii., pp. 41 to 63).
It is pleasant to find a grain of wheat in the bushel of Tischendorf
chaff. On page 98, and following pages, the erudite author applies
himself to get rid of the testimony of Papias, which was falsified and
put forward by Paley as of great importance. Paley says the authority of
Papias is complete; Tischendorf declares that Papias is in error. Paley
says Papias was a hearer of John, Tischendorf says he was not. We leave
the champions of the two great Christian evidence-mongers to settle the
matter as best they can. If, however, we are to accept Dr. Tischendorf's
declaration that the testimony of Papias is worthless, we get rid of the
chief link between Justin Martyr and the apostolic age. It pleases Dr.
Tischendorf to damage Papias, because that father is silent as to the
gospel of John; but the Religious Tract Society must not forget that
in thus clearing away the second-hand evidence of Papias, they have
cut away their only pretence for saying that any of the Gospels are
mentioned by name within 150 years of the date clfor the birth of
Jesus. In referring to the lost work of Theophilus of Antioch, which
Dr. Tischendorf tells us was a kind of harmony of the Gospels, in which
the four narratives are moulded and fused into one, the learned Doctor
forgets to tell us that Jerome, whom he quotes as giving some account of
Theophilus, actually doubted whether the so-called commentary was really
from the pen of that writer. Lardner says: "Whether those commentaries
which St. Jerome quotes were really composed by Theophilus may be
doubted, since they were unknown to Eusebius, and were observed by
Jerome to differ in style and expression from his other works. However,
if they were not his, they were the work of some anonymous ancient."
But if they were the work of an anonymous ancient after Eusebius, what
becomes of Dr. Tischendorf's "as early as a.d. 170?"
Eusebius, who refers to Theophilus, and who speaks of his using the
Apocalypse, would have certainly gladly quoted the Bishop of Antioch's
"Commentary on the Four Gospels," if it had existed in his day. Nor is
it true that the references we have in Jerome to the work attributed to
Theophilus, justify the description given by Dr. Teschendorf, or even
the phrase of Jerome, "_qui quatuor Evangelist arum in unum opus dicta
compingens_." Theophilus seems, so far as it is possible to judge,
to have occupied himself not with a connected history of Jesus, or a
continuous discourse as to his doctrines, but rather with mystical and
allegorical elucidations of occasional passages, which ended, like many
pious commentaries on the Old or New Testament, in leaving the point
dealt with a little less clear with the Theophillian commentary than
without it. Dr. Tischendorf says that Theodoret and Eusebius speak
of Tatian in the same way--that is, as though he had, like his Syrian
contemporary, composed a harmony of the four Gospels. This is also
inaccurate. Eusebius talks of Tatianus having found a certain body and
collection of Gospels, "I know not how," which collection Eusebius
does not appear even to have ever seen; and so far from the phrase in
Theodoret justifying Dr. Tischendorf's explanation, it would appear from
Theodoret that Tatian's Diatessaron was, in fact, a sort of spurious
gospel, "The Gospel of the Four" differing materially from our four
Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Neither Irenaeus, Clement
of Alexandria, or Jerome, who refer to other works of Tatian, make any
mention of this. Dr. Tischendorf might have added that Diapente, or
"the Gospel of the Five," has also been a title applied to this work of
Tatian.
In the third chapter of his essay, Dr. Tischendorf refers to apocryphal
writings "which bear on their front the names of Apostles" "used by
obscure writers to palm off" their forgeries. Dr. Tischendorf says
that these spurious books were composed "partly to embellish" scripture
narratives, and "partly to support false doctrine;" and he states that
in early times, the Church was not so well able to distinguish true
gospels from false ones, and that consequently some of the apocryphal
writings "were given a place they did not deserve." This statement of
the inability of the Church to judge correctly, tells as much against
the whole, as against any one or more of the early Christian writings,
and as it may be as fatal to the now received gospels as to those now
rejected, it deserves the most careful consideration. According to
Dr. Tischendorf, Justin Martyr falls into the category of those of the
Church who were "not so critical in distinguishing the true from the
false;" for Justin, says Tischendorf, treats the Gospel of St. James and
the Acts of Pilate, each as a fit source whence to derive materials for
the life of Jesus, and therefore must have regarded the Gospel of St.
James and the Acts of Pilate, as genuine and authentic writings; while
Dr. Tischendorf, wiser, and a greater critic than Justin, condemns the
Gospel of St. James as spurious, and calls the Acts of Pilate "a pious
fraud;" but if Dr. Tischendorf be correct in his statement that "Justin
made use of this Gospel" and quotes the "Acts of Pontius Pilate," then,
according to his own words, Justin did not know how to distinguish the
true from the false, and the whole force of his evidence previously used
by Dr. Tischendorf in aid of the four Gospels would have been seriously
diminished, even if it had been true, which it is not, that Justin
Martyr had borne any testimony on the subject.