and SAVIOUR, JESUS CHRIST; and lais APOSTLES; &Ca 3055 was written at the entreaty of the Jewifh converts, while he abode in Paleftine, but at what particular time, is uncertain ; force will have it to be written eight, force fifteen, and force thirty years after our Lord's afcenfion : it was originally written in Hebrew, but foon after tranflated into Greek by one of the difciples, probablyby St. James the Lefs : but whoever the tranf lator was, is of no confequence, becaufe the verfion was well known to the apoftles, and approved by them ; and accordingly the church has from the earlieft ages re- ceived the Greek copy as authentic, and placed it in the facred canon of Scripture. The Greek tranflation having been en- tertained, the Hebrew copy was afterwards chiefly owned and ufed by the Nazaræi, a middle fea between Jews and Chriftians ; with the former, they adhered to the rites and ceremonies of the Mofaic law; and with the latter, they believed in CHRIST, and embracedhis religion ; and hence this gofpel has been ftyled, " The gofpel ac- cording to the Hebrews, and the gofpel of the Nazarenes." But after a time, it was interpolated by thefe Chriftians, who in- ferted feveral paffages of the evangelical hiftory, which they had heard from the apoftles, or from thofe who had familiarly converfed with them ; and to thefe addi- tions the ancient fathers frequently refer in their writings, The Ebonites, on the contrary, (truck out many pàffages, becaufe they were not favourable to their tenets. A Hebrew copy of St. Matthew's gofpel (but whetherexa&ly the fame as that writ- ten by the apoflle, is uncertain) was found amongft the other books, in the treafury of the Jews at Tiberias, by one Jofeph, a Jews who, after his converfion, was a man of great honour and efteem in the reign of Conflantine. St. Jerom affures us, that another was kept in the library at Cwfarea in his time, and another by the Nazarenes at Berea, from whom he procured the liberty to tranfcribe it, and which he af- terwards tranflated both into Greek and Latin, with this remarkable obfervation, that in quoting the text of the Old Tefta- ment, the evangelift immediately follows the Hebrew, without taking notice of the Septuagint tranflation. A copy of this góf- pel was alfo dug up in the year 485, oti opening the grave of St. Barnabas in Cy- prus, tranfcribed with his own hand ; but thefe copies have long fince perifhed : and with regard to thofe publilhed fince by Tile and Munfter, the.barbarous and cor- rupt flyle fufficiently demonffrate that they were not originals, but the tranflation ofa more ignorant and corrupt, age, and there. fore defervedly rejeaed by the more judi- cious and enlightened part of mankind. St. M A R K, the EVANGELIST THOUGH the name of St. Mark Teems to be of Roman original, he was neverthelefs defcended from Jewifh parents, and of the tribe ofLevi : nor was it uncommon amongft the Jews to change their names, on force remarkable revolution or incident of life, or when they intended to travel into any of the Roman provinces in Europe. No, 26, and APOSTLE. St. Mark 'was generally confidered by the ancients, as one of the feventy difciples ; and Epiphanius exprefsly tells us, that °° he was one of thofe who, taking excep, tion at our Lord's difcourfe of eating his flefh and drinking his blood, went back and walked no more with him." But there appears no manner of foundation for thefe opinions, nor for that of Nicephorus, who 4 E will
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