Paul, set down in a book the Gospel preached by him. Afterwards, John, the disciple of THE LORD, who leaned upon his breast, also published a Gospel, while he dwelt at Ephesus, in Asia." Lardner, Vol. II. p. 158. Marsh's Notes to Michaelis, Vol. III. p. 95-107. On which we may observe,

1. Epiphanius states, that the Apostles Peter and Paul were put to death at Rome, in the twelfth year of Nero, or A.D. 65, according to the Pascal Chronicle, Pagi, Basnage, and Lardner, Vol. VI. p. 300, 301. We are warranted, therefore, to date Matthew's Hebrew Gospel about A.D. 64, or A.D. 65. For Paul's second visit to Rome could not have been earlier than A. D. 64; and Peter, who joined him there, must have written his second Epistle from thence, shortly before his death, in which he says, "I think it right, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to awaken your recollection; knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle; according as our LORD JESUS CHRIST signified to me. Moreover I will endeavour, that after my decease, ye may be enabled to have these things always in remembrance," 2 Pet. i. 13-15. At the same time also, Paul seems to have written his second Epistle to Timothy; in which he says, "I am now ready to be offered as a libation, and the time of my dissolution is at hand," 2 Tim. i. 6. These passages determine the meaning of the expressions of Irenæus, žodov, “decease," and Oɛμεdiovvτwv, “establishing," the former being actually used by Peter; and the latter, corresponding to his expression, εστηριγμένους εν τη παρούση αληθεια, " confirmed in the present truth," in the preceding verse, 12*.

Matthew's Greek Gospel was probably written during the two years Paul spent at Rome, on his first visit; in consequence of his appeal to Cæsar, from Portius Festus, who was appointed governor, A.D. 62, Acts xxv. 1-12, xxviii. 30. That it was not published before, is highly probable, from the ingenious conjecture of Marsh. Notes, Vol. III. p. 107. "If St. Matthew's Gospel had existed at the time when St. Luke was in Judea, during the two years of Paul's imprisonment by Felix, Acts xxiv. 27, it would hardly have escaped the notice of a writer,

Ο μεν δη Ματθαιος, εν τοις Εβραιοις, τῇ ιδια διαλεκτῳ αυτών, και γραφην εξενεγκεν ευαγγελιου, του Πέτρου και του Παυλου εν Ρώμη ευαγγελιζομένων, και Θεμελιούντων την εκκλησίαν. Μετα δε την τουτων εξοδον, Μαρκος ὁ μαθητης και ἑρμηνευτης Πετρου, και αυτός τα ύπο Πέτρου κηρυσσομενα εγγράφως ήμιν παραδεδωκε.

K. T. X.

who professedly made such diligent enquiries. But Luke accompanied Paul to Rome." We are warranted, therefore, to date Matthew's Greek Gospel about A.D. 63*.

And this date, A.D. 63, above thirty years after the resurrection, is more credible than the earlier dates of A.D. 49, according to the Pascal Chronicle, or A.D. 41, according to Theophylact. Because a writer of the second century, and such as Irenæus, Bishop of Lyons, and the friend of Polycarp, had surely better means of historical information, in respect to a recent fact of the first century, than those subsequent writers of the seventh and eleventh centuries. Internal evidence also supports the first date: Matthew observes, that "the potter's field was called the field of blood, unto this day," xxvii. 8; that "the report of the Roman soldiers, that the disciples had stolen the body of JESUS, was circulated among the Jews, until this day," xxviii. 15; both intimating a considerable interval of time between these facts and the publication of his Gospel.

This also was the fittest time of all. For while the eye-witnesses and "ministers of THE ORACLE" were performing their arduous and important commission of " disciplining all nations," by "preaching the Gospel every where," they had scarcely leisure for writing; but when they were "finishing their course," to supply the place of their oral instructions, after their decease, the written became necessary. This it was which induced Peter to write his Epistles to the Jewish converts of " the dispersion," 1 Pet. i. 1; Paul, his Epistle to the Hebrews; and James and John their general Epistles; and likewise the Evangelists.

2. Though Irenæus names Luke before Mark, it is not decisive to confirm the received order, because he had named Peter before Paul, and therefore, in the order of composition, "the disciple of Peter" should precede " the follower of Paul." All that we can fairly collect from his account is, that neither of them wrote until after the death of those Apostles, whose doctrines they communicated to the world. Hence then, we cannot assign an earlier date than A. D. 65, to either of their Gospels; and we are warranted to assume, that Luke wrote his Gospel and Acts about A.D. 66, and Mark about A.D. 67. Both are allowed to have written before the destruction of Je

We may add, that Paul himself, in the whole course of his Epistles, takes no notice of any written Gospel.

rusalem, A.D. 70, the signs of which, the three first Evangelists so minutely described, as a warning to the faithful to quit that devoted city betimes, Matt. xxiv. 15, 16, Mark xiii. 14, Luke xxi. 20, 21.

3. Whether John wrote his Gospel before or after that catastrophe, does not appear from this passage of Irenæus. All that can be collected from it is, that he followed the other Evangelists. But there is another passage of Irenæus, which intimates that it was a long time after the destruction of Jerusalem. He states, that "John, the disciple of OUR LORD, announcing this [true] faith, and designing, by the annunciation of the Gospel, to remove the error which had been sown among men by Cerinthus, and much earlier, by those called Nicolaitans,-began thus, in that doctrine which is according to the Gospel, In the beginning was the Word." Lardner, VI. p. 187 *.

Here, Irenæus observes, that the doctrine of the Cerinthians was taught much earlier by the Nicolaitans. Cerinthus, therefore, must have flourished in the latter days of the Apostle; and this is confirmed by Theodoret, A.D. 340, who says, that "according to report, Cerinthus sowed the tares of his peculiar heresy, while the celebrated John, who wrote the divine Gospel, was still living." Lardner, IX. p. 323, Note. And that Theodoret alluded to the testimony of Irenæus, may be collected from the expression, mapaσπɛipai Siavia, "sowed the tares," corresπαρασπείραι ζιζανια, ponding to "the error sown."

Epiphanius, A.D. 368, says, that "John also, moved by the Spirit, wrote a Gospel, after he had long declined it through humility, when he was more than ninety years of age, and when he had lived many years in Asia; after his return thither [to Ephesus] from Patmos." Lardner, IV. p. 314.

Jerom, A.D. 392, also states, that John was banished to the Isle of Patmos by Domitian, (raising the second persecution after Nero,) in the fourteenth year of his reign, [A.D. 95,] where he wrote the Apocalypse; which Justin Martyr and Irenæus interpreted, [respecting the Millennium,] that when Domitian

• Lardner has cited a contrary passage in appearance of Irenæus, stating that "John wrote his Gospel for the reason mentioned, xx. 30, foreseeing (providens) those blasphemous notions that divide the Lord, as far as in their power," p. 187. But as Michaelis justly remarks, providens should be rendered, not "foreseeing," but guarding against." St. Paul also speaks of Gnostic errors, long before John wrote his Gospel.

had been killed, and his edicts repealed by the senate, because of their excessive cruelty, he returned to Ephesus, in the reign of Nerva, [A.D. 96,] and living there to the reign of Trajan, [A.D. 97,] he established and governed all the Churches of Asia; dying at a great age, in the sixty-eighth year of our Lord's passion, [A.D. 31 +68] A.D. 99.

Jerom also observes, that "last of all the Evangelists, John wrote a Gospel, at the desire of the Bishops of Asia, against Cerinthus, and other heretics, and especially against the dogma of the Ebionites, then springing up, who affirmed that CHRIST did not exist before his birth of Mary: whence he was compelled to declare his divine nativity." Lardner, V. p. 40. And in another passage more fully, "When he was in Asia, and the seeds sown by the heretics, Cerinthus, Ebion, and others, who denied CHRIST to have come in the flesh, were now springing up, (whom also in his Epistle he calls Antichrists,) he was compelled, by almost all the Bishops of Asia, and by deputations from many Churches, to write more fully of OUR SAVIOUR'S Divinity; and ecclesiastical history informs us, that when he was thus urged by the brethren to write, he answered that he would, provided that they would all join in prayer and fasting to God; which being done, and he being fully inspired, he burst forth into that divine preface, "In the beginning was THE ORACLE," &c. p. 35.

From this concurrent testimony of Irenæus, Theodoret, Epiphanius, and Jerom, we may collect, that John wrote his Gospel about A.D. 97, and not earlier, about two years before his death; which is the date adopted by Mill, Fabricius, Le Clerc, and Jones, Lardner, VI. 190, and seems greatly preferable to A.D. 68, adopted by Lardner himself, upon two considerations, which appear to be very weak: 1. That it is likely St. John wrote a short time after the other Evangelists, either to confirm them, or to supply omissions; and so to complete the history of CHRIST; 2. That at a very great age, (supposing that John was born about the same time with CHRIST,) he could have been scarcely fit for such a work as this, p. 191.

For, 1. It is rather unlikely that John wrote soon after the other Evangelists. He waited until the doctrine of CHRIST'S human nature was sufficiently established, by means of the preceding Gospels; before the world could be prepared for that higher and more mysterious doctrine of his divine nature,

*

as observed by Clemens Alexandrinus, A.D. 194, whose testimony critically concurs with the preceding. See Lardner, IV. 2. Lardner followed the modern opinion of a Socinian, Wetstein, in the latter objection, rather than these respectable ancient testimonies, which himself furnished. And if John's life was prolonged to "a very great age," of near a century, by his divine Master, for the wise and gracious purpose of remaining a pillar and a bulwark of the Church of CHRIST against heresies; can we question whether his faculties were not also continued unimpaired? Can it be a question, whether the sublime writer of the Apocalypse, in A.D. 95, was competent or not to write a Gospel in A.D. 97? Was not Moses' Song the most brilliant of all his compositions, written at the age of 120, shortly before his death? And if John, in his Epistle, warned the faithful of the "many Antichrists" that sprung up towards the close of the first century, in his Epistle, 1 John ii. 18; if he warned the Asiatic Churches, by the divine command, of the errors of the Nicolaitans, twice, in his Apocalypse, ii. 6—15, can it be questioned, at the present day, whether he might not also have designed to combat the errors of Cerinthus and others, in his Gospel? Michaelis has endeavoured to prove, and with much appearance of probability, that his Gospel was also designed to confute the errors of the Gnostics and of the Sabeans (or Baptists,) who acknowledged John the Baptist as their founder; and ascribed to him a greater authority than to CHRIST; and he ingeniously remarks, that unless it had been asserted, it would have been unnecessary for the Evangelist to remark, i. 8, that "John was not the light, itself, but only bore witness to the Light." See his Introduction, Vol. III. p. 285-302.

to

Lardner adduces a specious argument from the Gospel itself, prove that it was written before the destruction of Jerusalem. "Now there is (εσTI) at Jerusalem, by the sheep market, a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue, Bethesda, having (exovoa) five porches," v. 2. "St. John," says he, "does not say there was, but there is; and though the pool might remain, it could

The publication of the Apocalypse, naturally led to that of the Gospel. In the former, Christ's leading character of "THE LAMB that was sacrificed from the foundation of the world," though intimated incidentally, was not expressly noticed in the three first Gospels. It was necessary, therefore, to describe "THE LAMB OF GOD, that (by his sacrifice of himself) taketh away the sins of the world," John i. 29, in his mediatorial capacity more fully.