a ** Irenæus, ++ Clement of Alexandria, and ||| Origen, unite in ftyling Mark the difciple and interpreter of Peter. A diftinguished paffage of Clement of Alexandria, who flourished in the year of Christ 194, is worthy to be recited, as it fhows us the occafion of his writing his gofpel. The following circumstance induced Mark to compofe his gofpel. The apostle Peter having publickly preached the Christian religion in Rome, and delivered the doctrines of the gospel by the fpirit, many who were prefent, entreated Mark, as he had been a long time his companion, and had a clear knowledge of what was now delivered, that he would commit them to writing. Accordingly, when he had finished his gofpel he delivered it to thofe, who had made this request. To the fame purpose Jerom ↳ says: Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, at the request of the Chriftians at Rome, wrote a fhort gofpel, according to what he had heard Peter relate. The gospel published by Mark, fays Tertullian, may ** C Μαρκος ὁ μαθητης και ερμηνευτης Πέτρου, και αυτός τα έπα Πέτρου κηρυσσομενα εγγράφως ήμιν παραδίδωκε. Irenaeus, p. 199. Grabe. ++ Ακολουθήσαντα αυτῷ [Πετρῳ] πορρωθεν, καὶ μεμνημένον των Avrov. Clem. Alex. apud Eufebium, Hift. Eccl. Lib. vi. Cap. xiv. p. 216. Valefii. Origen in He wrote as Peter dictated to him. b De Viris Illuftribus, Cap. viii. p. 215. be accounted Peter's, whofe interpreter he was, Epiphanius fays, that Mark was one of Chrift's feventy disciples: but this affertion cannot be relied upon. It is eafy to indulge conjectures and to weave plaufible fchemes. It is allowed by almoft all the antients, that he wrote his gofpel at Rome, and from a declaration of Irenæus, that he published it after the deceafe of Peter and Paul, it is with certainty concluded that it could not be written before the year 63 or 64 of Chrift. ST * SECT. III. Afbert hiftory of the Evangelift Luke. Luke, fays Eufebius, was a native of An. tioch, by profeffion a phyfician, and for the moft part a companion of the apostle Paul. From his attending St. Paul in his travels, and from the teftimony of fome of the antients, Bafnage, Fabricius, and Dr. ‡ Lardner have been induced to conclude that this evangelift was a Jew-and fome learned men both among the antients and moderns have been of opinion that he was one of the feventy. The first time that this evangelift is * METα de Thy TOUTWv odor. Irenæus, Grabe. p, 169. So I understand the word god in this paffage. Lardner's Supplement to the Credibility, Vol. i. p. 236. 2d Edit. I See Dr. Whitby's Preface, and Dr, Lardner's hiftor of this Evangelist, ubi fupra. 1 is mentioned in the New Teftament is in his own history of the Acts of the apostles. We find him a with St. Paul at Troas. He attended the apoftle to Jerufalem-continued with him during his troubles in Judæa-failed in the fame fhip withhim when he was fent a prifoner from Cæfarea to, Rome-and ftayed with him in the imperial city during his two years confinement there. In St. Paul's epiftles, written during his imprisonment, he is mentioned by name, and, in one of those letters, ftyled the beloved phyfician. The antients have not mentioned his fuffering martyrdomit is probable, therefore, that he died a natural death. St. Luke was not an apostle-but he was as Irenæus obferves, an infeparable companion of the apostle Paul, and committed to writing, the gofpel preached by him. Clement of Alexandria, as quoted in Eufebius, mentions a traditionary report handed down from prefbyters of more antient times, which was, that the gofpels which contained the genealogies were written firft. this tradition may be depended upon, and it is very probable, the gofpels of Matthew and Luke. were written before St. Mark's. a Acts xvi, 10, II. b K 4 If Tertullian calls Mat b Lucas infeparabilis fuit à Paulo, p. 234. Again, p. 199. Lucas autem fectator Pauli, quod ab illo prædicabatur Evangelium, in libro condidit. Irenæus Grabe. Oxon 1702. * Προγεγράφθαι ελεγεν [ ὁ Κλημης ] των ευαγγελιων τα προ plexorta Tas YSVERλoyras. Eufebius Ecc. Hift. Lib. vi. c. xiv. p. 216. Valefii. Paris 1659. [Chap. IV. Matthew and John, difciples of Chrift, Mark and Luke, difciples of apoftles. + In like manner Eufebius fays, that Luke had delivered in his gospel a faithful narrative of thofe tranfactions, of whofe truth he himself had been fully affured, from the diftinguifhed advantages he enjoyed from his great intimacy and long continuance with Paul, and his converfe with the other Apostles. ‡ We learn from the proem of his gofpel with what fidelity and accuracy he compiled the history of thofe wonderful tranfactions it records. He tells his reader, with what religious folicitude he had examined into the hiftorical facts on which Chriftianity was founded, with what care and caution he had traced the ftream to its fource, and what application and ftudy he had employed to digeft and arrange thefe great events in a regular feries. "As there have been feveral. perfons, fays he, who have compiled and published to the world hiftorical accounts of thofe celebrated tranfactions, for the veracity of which we have fuch ample and undoubted evidence, having been. furnished with materials by those perfons who were + Nobis fidem ex Apoftolis Joannes et Matthæus infinuant: ex Apoftolicis Lucas et Marcus inftaurant. Tertullian, P. 503. Rigalt. των * Τον ασφαλή λόγον ων &UT ικανως την αληθειαν κατειλη φεί, εκ της αμα Παυλῳ συνουσίας τε καὶ διατρίβης, και της λοιπων αποτολων ομιλίας ωφελημένω, δια του ιδίου παρέδωκεν syayysna, Eufebius Ecc, Hift, p. 96. Valefii. were not only the preachers of Christianity, but, from the beginning, were eye witnesses of the facts themfelves: After their example, I too, O most illuftrious Theophilus, after having diligently examined into these events and accurately investigated them to their fource, have judged it proper to digeft them into a regular and connected narration, in order that you may fee on what a firm and unfhaken bafis that religious fyftem is fupported, into the doctrines of which you have been carefully initiated." This marks his fidedelity as an hiftorian, and ftrongly prepoffeffeth the reader in favour of the veracity and probity of the writer. This hiftory, fays St. Jerom, he compofed and published in the regions of Achaia and Bocotia. My learned and worthy friend Dr. Lardner, who hath examined these subjects with the greatest accuracy and critical judgment, hath fixed the date of this gospel and of the Acts to the year 63 or 64. Dr. Owen hath affigned an earlier period to the publication of this gospelabout the year 53. * In Achaia Bocotiæque partibus, volumen condidit. Proem. in Comment. Matth. SECT, |