Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-20

With thia description the codex Sinaiticus
tallies exactly. 1t Is written upon the finest
vellum and Is arranged in sheets by threes
and fours. 1t is certainly as old as the
fourth century. 1t is probably of the year
331.
This is the oldest manuscript OF st.
Matthews gospel which has yet been dis
covered. In the year 303 began the last Of
the pagan prosecutions. The Emperor
Diocletian was determined to destroy our
religion utterly. He paid especial attention
to the discovery and destruction of our
sacred books, Everybody who had in his
possession any part of the New Testament
was required upon pain of death to give it
up to be burned. A new class
OF offenders comes into church his
tory with this persecution, the TRADITIONS"
or TRAITORS" who played the coward and
gave up the Scriptures into the hands of
the pagans. This will explain the lack of
manuscripts earlier than this long and
thorough persecution. They were burned on
pagon bonires.
Here is space then of three centuries
between the events which are described in
St. Matthews gospel, and the earliest
manuscript of this gospel which remains.
This is the period of patriotic reference.
That is, we trace the existence of this gospel
during these obscure centuries Sv noting
what is said about it by the Christian
writers whose works have survived.
KNOWLEDGE THROUGH REFERENCES.
The references to the New Testament in
the writings of the first three centuries may
be divided into two classes-quotation
and description. Sometimes there is
using of an illustration which can
be referred to the pages of the New Testa-
menr end which shows that the writer was
acquainted with the Scriptures which we
have in our hands to-day. Concerning these
quotations, it will be enough to say that
they occur to a greater or less extent in every
one of these writers, the amount OF quota
tion being determined partly by the literary
habits of the writer and partly by the ma
ture of his subject, exactly as in sermons
and in theological books to-day. In a
standard work on 1.-THE credibility of the
Gospel History" these quotations fill five
octave volumes. From the works of Origen,
for example, which were written in the third
century, it is said that nearly the whole of
the New Testament could be reproduced.
OF the works of Justin Martyr, which were
written in the second century, 1t is said:
''This father introduces into his eItant
writings large number of evangelical
passages. A few of them coincide exactly
with our canonical gospels. A much larger
number have so close resemblance that
without referring to the actual text of our
gospels, the variations would not be noticed
by an ordinary reader. Justin Martyr pro-
poses to derive these sayings and dolngs
from written documents which he styles
Memoirs of the APOSTLES, and which Che tells
his heathen readers) are called gospels"
The most interesting testimonies to the
of the New Testament Scripture
come under the head, not of quotation but
of description.
LEARNED THROUGH DESCRIPTION
We have seen that the Gospel of st.
Matthew was accepted by the Church in its
present form in the fourth century, and
can still be read in the very pages
which were written in the year 331.
Eusebius, Cyril, Jerome
and others, all in that same century
give lists of the New Testament books, with |
st. Matthews gospel at the head. Origen,
in the year 250, gives a similar list. |
Irenaas was writing about the year 200. He |
was a pupil of Polycarp, who had been |
disciple OF St. John himself. There was,
accordingly, only one generation interVen-
ing between Ireueus and the days of the
last apostle. mere Is WnaI 1reubuS says
about the gospels in his day: Matthew"
he says, sproduced his gospel written
among the Hebrews in their own dialect,
while Peter and Paul proclaimed the gospel
and founded the church at Rome. After
the departure OF these, Mark, the disciple
and interpreter of Peter, also transmitted to
us in writing what had been preached by
Peter. And Luke, the companion of
Paul, committed to writing the gos-
pei preached by him, /. e., Paul. |
Afterward John, the disciple of our |
Lord, the same that lay upon his breast,
also published the gospel, while he was yet |
at Ephesus, in ASIA. In the year 200, then,
there were four accepted gospels, exactly as
there are now. the first of them bearing the
name of Matthew as its author. In the year
l60 Christian writer named Tatian COM
posed harmony OF the four gospels, that is,
ne so arranged the four records as to make
,ne continuous narrative. This arrange
nent he called Didtessaron, which means
our put together. This work, which dates
,ack to the middle of the second century,
las recently, within the past twenty years,
,een discovered. We learn from it that in
hat day there we're four accepted gospels,
IS there are now, and that these four were
ssentiaIly the same which we have to-day.
thus we trace the gospel of st. Matthew
ack to the year 160.
THE EARLIEST INFORMATION.
In that same year, or earlier, lived a
riend OF the Martyr Polycarp, named
'apias. Papias is described by Ireneus as
disciple of st. John. He tells himself
low diligent he was to inquire about the
ayings of the Apostles. "When person
anne in nv way who had been follower of
ne elders, would inquire about the dis
overies of the elders-what was said by An
rev, or by Peter, or by Philip, or by
'homas or James, or by John or Matthew,
r any other OF the Lords disciples" +"
Matthew" says Papias, passing on from
description of the composition OF St. Marks
ospel, Matthew composed the oracles in
he Hebrew language, and each one inter-
reted them as he could"
This is the earliest mention of the name.
his man, who touches with one hand the
avs OF the Apostles, is acquainted with the
ospel of st. Matthew.
We arrive, then, at this conclusion. That
q the middle of the second century, so
ears after the deIth of the last OF the apos-
les, there were four gospels known among
christians, one of which bore the name OF
fatthew.
Now remember, that was not day of
ooks. 1t was a day of remarkable and
aimed memories. To hand down facts, words
nd teachings, without the aid of writing,
om one generation to another was a uni
ersal Hebrew custom. Scarcely anything
as put in writing. All was left to the
lie keeping of a practiced memory. The
hristians OF tine middle of the second GEN.
Try had this same traditional remembrance
the deeds and words of Christ by which to
st these and all other gospels. Christian
,ceptance of the gospels is a testimony to
eir truth.
THE APoCRYPHAL GOSPELS.