THE title, neither of this nor of the other histories of our Lord, is to be ascribed to the penmen. But it is manifest, that the titles were prefixed, in the earliest times, by those who knew the persons by whom, and the occasion on which, these writings were composed. For the sense wherein the word Gospel is here used, see Prel. Diss. V. Part ii. sect. 18.
2 Karà Mardaïov," according to Matthew," "of Matthew," or "by Matthew." These are synonymous, as has been evinced from the best authorities. Cas. rendered it "auctore Matthæo,' probably enough. Nor is this, as Be. imagines, in the least repugnant to the claim of the evangelists to inspiration. Paul does not hesitate to call the doctrine with which he was inspired his Gospel. Nor does any man at present scruple to call the Epistles written by that apostle, Paul's epistles.
3 Τὸ κατὰ Ματθαῖον Εὐαγγέλιον. I have preferred this to every other title, because it is not only the briefest and the simplest, but incomparably the oldest, and therefore the most respectable. All the ancient Gr. MSS. have it. The titles in the old La. version called Itc. were simply "Evangelium secundum Matthæum""secundum Marcum," etc.; and in most ancient MSS., and even editions of the present Vulgate, they are the same. From the writings of the Fathers, both Gr. and La., it appears that the title was retained every where in the same simplicity, as far down as the fifth century. Afterwards, when, through a vitiated taste, useless epithets came much in vogue, some could not endure the nakedness of so simple a title. It then became "Sanctuin Jesu Christi Evangelium secundum Matthæum," etc., which is that used in the Vul. at present. The N. T. printed at Alcala (called the Complutensian Polyglot) is the first Gr. edition wherein a deviation was made, in this respect, from the primitive simplicity. The title is there, in conformity to the Vul. printed along with it, To xaza Ματθαῖον ἅγιον ἐυαγγέλιον. This mode was adopted by some subsequent editors. Most of the translators into modern languages have gone further, and prefixed the same epithet to the name of the writer. Thus Dio. in Itn. "Il santo evangelio," etc.