ny of the
Gospels, i.e. (in his sense) of our present Gospels, and that
Tatian gave the name of Diatessaron to his work himself. We do not
know upon what these statements rest, but there ought to be some
valid reason before we dismiss them entirely.

Epiphanius writes that 'Tatian is said to have composed the
Diatessaron Gospel which some call the "Gospel according to the
Hebrews"' [Endnote 240:1]. And Theodoret tells us that 'Tatian
also composed the Gospel which is called the Diatessaron, cutting
out the genealogies and all that shows the Lord to have been born
of the seed of David according to the flesh.' 'This,' he adds,
'was used not only by his own party, but also by those who
followed the teaching of the Apostles, as they had not perceived
the mischievous design of the composition, but in their simplicity
made use of the book on account of its conciseness.' Theodoret
found more than two hundred copies in the churches of his diocese
(Cyrrhus in Syria), which he removed and replaced with the works
of the four Evangelists [Endnote 240:2].

Victor of Capua in the sixth century speaks of Tatian's work as a
'Diapente' rather than a 'Diatessaron' [Endnote 240:3]. If we are
to believe the Syrian writer Bar-Salibi in the twelfth century,
Ephrem Syrus commented on Tatian's Diatessaron, and it began with
the opening words of St. John. This statement however is referred
by Gregory Bar-Hebraeus not to the Harmony of Tatian, but to one
by Ammonius made in the third century [Endnote 241:1].

Here there is clearly a good deal of confusion.

But now we come to the question, was Tatian's work really a
Harmony of our four Gospels? The strongest presumption that it was
is derived from Irenaeus. Irenaeus, it is well known, speaks of
the four Gospels with absolute decision, as if it were a law of
nature that their number must be four, neither more nor less
[Endnote 241:2], and his four Gospels were certainly the same as
our own. But Tatian wrote within a comparatively short interval of
Irenaeus. It is sufficiently clear that Irenaeus held his opinion
at the very time that Tatian wrote, though it was not published
until later. Here then we have a coincidence which makes it
difficult to think that Tatian's four Gospels were different from
ours.

The theory that finds favour with Credner [Endnote 241:3] and his
followers, including the author of 'Supernatural Religion,' is
that Tatian's Gospel was the same as that used by Justin.