ed him in a special manner for
his work.

22. Ancient tradition favors the idea that Mark wrote his gospel _in
Rome_. Had he written in Egypt, as Chrysostom thinks, we can hardly
suppose that Clement of Alexandria would have been ignorant of the fact,
as his testimony shows that he was. In respect to _date_, the accounts
of the ancients differ so much among themselves that it is difficult to
arrive at any definite conclusion. We may probably place it between A.D.
64 and 70. The _language_ in which Mark wrote was Greek. This is
attested by the united voice of antiquity. The subscriptions annexed to
some manuscripts of the Old Syriac, and that in the Philoxenian Syriac
version, to the effect that Mark wrote _in Roman_, that is, in Latin,
are of no authority. They are the conjectures of ignorant men, who
inferred from the fact that Mark wrote in Rome that he must have used
the Latin tongue.

The story of the pretended _Latin autograph_ of Mark's gospel
preserved in the Library of St. Mark at Venice is now exploded.
The manuscript to which this high honor was assigned is part of
the _Codex Forojuliensis_, which gives the text of the _Latin
Vulgate_. The text was edited by Blanchini in the appendix to
his _Evangeliarium Quadruplex_, _Fourfold Gospel_. The gospel of
Mark having been cut out and removed to Venice was exalted to be
the autograph of Mark. See Tregelles in Horne, vol. 4, chap. 23.
The fact that Mark wrote out of Palestine and for Gentile
readers at once accounts for the numerous explanatory clauses by
which his gospel is distinguished from that of Matthew. Examples
are: chaps. 7:3, 4; 12:42; 13:3; 14:12; 15:42; and the frequent
interpretations of Aramaean words: 3:17; 5:41; 7:11, 34; 10:46;
14:36; 15:34.

23. The opening words of Matthew's gospel are: "The book of the
generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham," by
which, as already remarked, he indicates his purpose to show that Jesus
of Nazareth is the long promised Messiah of David's line, and the seed
of Abraham, in whom all nations are to be blessed. Mark, on the
contrary, passing by our Lord's genealogy, commences thus: "The
beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." He recognizes
him, indeed as the son of David, and the promised Messiah and king of
Israel. Chaps. 10:47, 48; 11:10; 15:32. But, writing among Gentiles and
for Gentiles, the great fact which he is i