th and infancy of Jesus,
his genealogy, and the preaching of John the Baptist, and concluding
with an equally minute history of his betrayal, trial, crucifixion, and
resurrection, and which relates all the miracles, and has for its
evident aim throughout the demonstration that Messianic prophecy was
fulfilled in Jesus, could be entitled [Greek: ta logia] the oracles or
discourses of the Lord. For these and other reasons ... the majority of
critics deny that the work described by Papias can be the same as the
Gospel in our Canon bearing the name of Matthew" ("Sup. Rel.," vol. i.,
pp. 471, 472). But the fact which puts the difference between the
present "Matthew" and that spoken of by Papias beyond dispute is that
Matthew, according to Papias, "wrote in the Hebrew dialect," i.e., the
Syro-Chaldaic, or Aramaean, while the canonical Matthew is written in
Greek. "There is no point, however, on which the testimony of the
Fathers is more invariable and complete than that the work of Matthew
was written in Hebrew or Aramaic" ("Sup. Rel.," vol. i., p. 475). This
industrious author quotes Papias, Irenaeus, Pantaenus in Eusebius,
Eusebius, Origen, Cyril of Jerusalem, Epiphanius, Jerome, in support of
his assertion, and remarks that "the same tradition is repeated by
Chrysostom, Augustine and others" (Ibid, pp. 475-477). "We believe that
Matthew wrote his Gospel in Hebrew, meaning by that term the common
language of the Jews of his time, because such is the uniform statement
of all ancient writers who advert to the subject. To pass over others
whose authority is of less weight, he is affirmed to have written in
Hebrew by Papias, Irenaeus, Origen, Eusebius, and Jerome. Nor does any
ancient author advance a contrary opinion" ("Genuineness of the
Gospels," Norton, vol. i., pp. 196, 197). "Ancient historical testimony
is unanimous in declaring that Matthew wrote his Gospel in Hebrew, i.e.,
in the Aramaean or Syro-Chaldaic language, at that time the vernacular
tongue of the Jews in Palestine" (Davidson's "Introduction to the New
Testament," p. 3). After a most elaborate presentation of the evidences,
the learned doctor says: "Let us now pause to consider this account of
the original Gospel of Matthew. It runs through all antiquity. None
doubted of its truth, as far as we can judge from their writings. There
is not the least trace of an opposite tradition" (Ibid, p. 37). The
difficulty of Christian apologists is, then, to prove that the Go