ne
by our Lord, but as before said, he was in company with Peter, who gave
him such instruction as was necessary, but not to give a history of our
Lord's discourses; wherefore Mark has not erred in anything, by writing
some things as he has recorded them; for he was carefully attentive to
one thing, not to pass by anything that he heard, or to state anything
falsely in these accounts" ("Eccles. Hist.," bk iii., ch. 39). How far
does this account apply to the Gospel now known as "according to St.
Mark?" Far from showing traces of Petrine influence, such traces are
conspicuous by their absence. "Not only are some of the most important
episodes in which Peter is represented by the other Gospels _as_ a
principal actor altogether omitted, but throughout the Gospel there is
the total absence of anything which is specially characteristic of
Petrine influence and teaching. The argument that these omissions are
due to the modesty of Peter is quite untenable, for not only does
Irenaeus, the most ancient authority on the point, state that this Gospel
was only written after the death of Peter, but also there is no modesty
in omitting passages of importance in the history of Jesus, simply
because Peter himself was in some way concerned in them, or, for
instance, in decreasing his penitence for such a denial of his master,
which could not but have filled a sad place in the Apostle's memory. On
the other hand, there is no adequate record of special matter which the
intimate knowledge of the doings and sayings of Jesus possessed by Peter
might have supplied to counterbalance the singular omissions. There is
infinitely more of the spirit of Peter in the first Gospel than there is
in the second. The whole internal evidence, therefore, shows that this
part of the tradition of the Presbyter John transmitted by Papias does
not apply to our Gospel" ("Sup. Rel.," vol. i., pp. 459, 460). But a far
stronger objection to the identity of the work spoken of by Papias with
the present Gospel of Mark, is drawn from the description of the
document as given by him. "The discrepancy, however, is still more
marked when we compare with our actual second Gospel the account of the
work of Mark, which Papias received from the Presbyter. Mark wrote down
from memory some parts [Greek: enia] of the teaching of Peter regarding
the life of Jesus, but as Peter adapted his instructions to the actual
circumstances [Greek: pros tas chreias] and did not give a consecut