e does not add
one iota to our knowledge of the authorship and credibility of the
Gospel. Dr. Lightfoot says "The author of _Supernatural Religion_
maintains, on the other hand, that only twelve years before, at the
outside, the very Church to which Irenaeus belonged, in a public
document with which he was acquainted, betrays no knowledge of our
canonical Gospels, but quotes from one or more apocryphal Gospels
instead. He maintains this though the quotations in question are
actually found in our canonical Gospels." [144:1] Really, Dr. Lightfoot
betrays that he has not understood the argument, which merely turns
upon the insufficiency of the evidence to prove the use of particular
documents, whilst others existed which possibly, or probably, did
contain similar passages to those in debate.

VII.

_TATIAN'S 'DIATESSARON.'_

I need not reply at any length to Dr. Lightfoot's essay on the
_Diatessaron_ of Tatian, and I must refer those who wish to see what
I had to say on the subject to _Supernatural Religion_. [145:1] I may
here confine myself to remarks connected with fresh matter which has
appeared since the publication of my work.

An Armenian translation of what is alleged to be the Commentary of
Ephraem Syrus on Tatian's _Diatessaron_ was published as long ago as
1836, but failed to attract critical attention. In 1876, however, a
Latin translation of this work by Aucher and Moesinger was issued, and
this has now, naturally introduced new elements into the argument
regarding Tatian's use of Gospels. Only last year, a still more
important addition to critical materials was made by the publication
in Rome of an alleged Arabic version of Tatian's _Diatessaron_ itself,
with a Latin translation by Ciasca. These works were not before
Dr. Lightfoot when he wrote his Essay on Tatian in 1877, and he only
refers to them in a note in his present volume. He entertains no doubt
as to the genuineness of these works, and he triumphantly claims that
they establish the truth of the "ecclesiastical theory" regarding the
_Diatessaron_ of Tatian.

In order to understand the exact position of the case, however, it will
be well to state again what is known regarding Tatian's work. Eusebius
is the first writer who mentions it. He says--and to avoid all dispute I
give Dr. Lightfoot's rendering:--

"Tatian composed a sort of connection and compilation, I know not
how ([Greek: ouk oid' hopos]), of the Gospels, and calle