sive manner, the feelings of the Christians during the terrible crisis through which they had just passed.

Zacharias, the son of Baruch, was murdered about the year 68. The arguments given in note †, p. 52, to prove that he was the same as the Zacharias, son of Barachias, alluded to Matt. xxiii. 35, tend to confirm the date of 68, or later, for this Gospel.

Since these two chapters, xxiii. and xxiv. have always formed part of the Gospel of Matthew, the whole compilation must be dated about 68.

II. Let us see what can be collected from external testimony concerning the date.

Barnabas, in an epistle written apparently soon after the fall of Jerusalem, A.D. 71 or 72, has this passage: “Let us therefore beware, lest it should happen to us as it is written, There are many called, few chosen." These words are in Matt. xx. 16, and xxii. 14. And there are many other passages in Barnabas, agreeing almost literally with some in Matthew, although they are not said to be quotations.

Clement of Rome, A.D. 96, says, "For thus he (Jesus) said, Be ye merciful that ye may obtain mercy; .with what measure ye mete, with the same it shall be measured to you:" which agrees with Matt. vii. 2.

A.D. 116. Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, is the first who mentions: Matthew's Gospel by name. His work is lost, but Eusebius says that it contained the following,"Matthew wrote the divine oracles in the Hebrew tongue, and every one interpreted them as he was able." bius in one place calls Papias an eloquent man, and skilful in the Scriptures;" in another, "a man of no great capacity."

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A.D. 178. Irenæus, bishop of Lyons, makes the first clear mention of all the four Gospels, and says of Matthew's "Matthew, then among the Jews, wrote a Gospel in their own language, while Peter and Paul were preaching the Gospel at Rome, and founding (or establishing) the church there. The deaths of Peter and Paul are dated variously from A.D. 64 to 68.* According to

* Lardner is in favour of the year 65; but the arguments for so early a date appear to be of little weight. (Hist. of Apostles, ch. xi.)

Jerome and Bede, they happened in the last year of Nero, or A.D. 68. They had been preaching at Rome together for several years before.

A.D. 230. Origen says that, according to the tradition received by him, the first Gospel was written by Matthew, once a publican, afterwards a disciple of Jesus Christ; who delivered it to the Jewish believers, composed in the Hebrew tongue.

A.D. 368. Epiphanius. "Matthew wrote in Hebrew;" and "Matthew wrote first, and Mark soon (uus) after him, being a follower of Peter at Rome." Now Mark wrote soon after Peter's death; so that if we take the date of this according to Jerome, Matthew must have written about the year 68.

A.D. 394. Theodore of Mopsuestia. "For a good while, the Apostles preached chiefly to Jews in Judea. Afterwards Providence made way for conducting them to remote countries. Peter went to Rome (A.D. 63 or 64), the rest elsewhere; John in particular took up his abode at Ephesus. About this time, the other evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, published their gospels, which were soon spread all over the world."

A.D. 392. Jerome. "The first evangelist is Matthew, the publican, surnamed Levi, who wrote his Gospel in Judea, in the Hebrew language, chiefly for the sake of the Jews that believed in Jesus."

A.D. 398. Chrysostom. "Matthew is said to have written his Gospel at the request of the Jewish believers, who desired him to put down in writing what he had taught them by word of mouth; and he is said to have written in Hebrew;" and afterwards, "In what place each one of the evangelists wrote, cannot be said with certainty."*

These are the earliest testimonies concerning Matthew's

Jerome says, without any appearance of doubt, that Peter was put to death in the last year of Nero, i. e. A.D. 68, De V. I. cap. I. *It was only after the time of Chrysostom that some writers began to attribute an earlier date to Matthew. (Lardner, Hist. of Apost. ch. v.) Lardner concludes that Matthew's Gospel was written not before 63 or 64. But he assumes that "the predictions must have been recorded before they were accomplished." Sect. 3.

Gospel; and they confirm the internal evidence of its having been written about A. D. 68, i. e. about 35 years after the events which it professes to record. During that interval, much of the true history of Christ was doubtless preserved; but it seems also highly probable, that some misrepresentations and fictions should have been mingled with it.

III. In order, then, to receive implicitly Matthew's statements, we must be satisfied as to his accuracy and veracity.

The evidence of Matthew the Apostle's being the real author is not very strong; because most of the writers quoted may have borrowed from Papias; but if it were so, we know so little of that apostle,* that a work of his cannot be exempt from scrutiny.

He (or the person bearing his name) quotes from the Old Testament, as prophecies relating to Jesus, texts which, when examined, are found to have nothing to do with Jesus. For instance, ch. ii. 15, "And he (Jesus) was there (in Egypt), that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, out of Egypt have I called my son." The passage in Hosea is "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt," ch. xi. 1. Some he quotes incorrectly, as ch. ii. 6, compared with Micah v. 2. One passage which he quotes as a prophecy,‡ ii. 23, is not found in the Old Testament; although there is one in Judges, xiii. 5, resembling it in sound only. See also ch. ii. 17, and iv. 14.

The misquotation or misapplication of the prophecies might be regarded merely as a proof of negligence or erroneous judgment; but the converse, viz. the perver

In addition to the account in the New Testament, Lardner could find only a few uncertain traditions. Hist. of Apost. ch. v. † Jerome says concerning this quotation, that Matthew agrees neither with the Septuagint nor the Hebrew text, either in words or sense. "Quanta sit inter Matthæum et Septuaginta, verborum ordinisque discordia, sic magis admiraberis, si Hebraicum videassensusque contrarius est, Septuaginta sibi hoc in loco et Hebraico concordante. Hieron de opt. gen. interp. t. iv. par. 2.

‡ "This text (he shall be called a Nazarene) is entirely wanting in all our copies, Hebrew and Greek." Whiston's Essay on O. T. p. 104. Lit. accomp. p. 4.

sion of facts, in order to fit them to the prophecies, indicates historical dishonesty.

In Zechariah ix. 9, is this passage: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold thy King cometh unto thee; he is just and having salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass."

Matthew relates the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem thus, xxi. 1: "Then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them (aUTOUS). All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold thy king cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass and the colt, and put on them (Eπav auTwv) their clothes, and set him thereon," literally, on them" (επεκάθισαν επάνω αυτών). *

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Mark, Luke, and John, mention only one animal, the colt of an ass, although Mark appears to have copied the greater part of his account from Matthew. This does not shew such a literal fulfilment of the prophecy, but is more probable in itself. The testimony, therefore, of the other three evangelists, and the probability of the thing itself, lead us to conclude that Matthew has falsified in his account in order to make it appear that the prophecy was exactly fulfilled.

In Psalm lxix. 21, we find "They gave me also gall

* Augustine explained the matter by saying, he rode first one, then the other. Campbell's translation is, "They made him ride." Improved version, "And he sat thereon." Rosenmüller compares this passage to Jud. xii. 7, "Jephtha was buried in the cities of Gilead," i.e. one of them.

... •

† Matt. Και ότε ηγγισαν εις Ιεροσολυμα ηγαγον την ονον και τον πωλον, και επέθηκαν επάνω αυτων τα ἱματια αυτων, και επεκάθισαν επάνω αντων.

Mark xi. 1, 7. Και ότε εγγίζουσιν εις Ιερεσαλημ και ηγαγον τον πωλον προς τον Ιησεν, και επεβαλον αυτῳ τα ἱματια αυτων και εκάθισεν επ' αυτῳ.

John

for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." Matthew Matthew says that, previously to the crucifixion, they gave Jesus "vinegar to drink mingled with gall" (Ogos μera xoans μeμryμevov) xxvii. 34. But Mark calls the drink "wine mingled with myrrh" sopprimerov over. says nothing of this first offering of drink, but agrees with Matthew and Mark in mentioning another, of the sponge filled with vinegar immediately before the death of Jesus. Luke says only in a loose manner, "and the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar," xxiii. 36; which may refer to the second offering. Matthew therefore disagrees with Mark, and is not confirmed by the others, as to the precise kind of drink offered before the crucifixion; but he makes his account correspond exactly with the Psalm.*

Matthew says that Judas received thirty pieces of silver for betraying Jesus, and afterwards brought them again to the priests, who bought with them the potter's field. "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value, and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me." Mark, Luke, and John, merely state that Judas received money, without mentioning thirty pieces; and say nothing about a potter's field. But Luke, in the Acts, says, Judas himself bought a field. Matthew, then, differs materially from the others, the differences being such as make his account agree well with what he quotes as a prophecy.

Since Matthew appears anxious thoughout his work to exhibit the fulfilment of prophecy by Jesus, it seems

* This subject is considered more minutely in chap. xii., note on John xix. 28.

† In our copies the passage is in Zechariah xi. 12, 13, but rather different from Matthew's quotation. The resemblance of the last five chapters of Zechariah to Jeremiah in style and subject, and the unsuitableness of some parts to the time of the former, (see ch. x. 10, 11,) would lead us to think that Matthew was here correct as to the name of the book, and that those chapters were originally part of Jeremiah. Jerome said he had seen the text concerning the potter's field in an apocryphal book of Jeremiah. In Matt. xxvii. t. iv. p. 134.