f St Luke. They might, or
might not, have been able to communicate information respecting it,
beyond the fact which every one knew, and which therefore no one cared
to repeat, that it was written by a companion of St Paul. He might, or
might not, have found himself confronted with a difficulty which led him
to repeat his information, assuming he had received any from them.

As regards the second question, I agree with our author. I am indeed
surprised that after ascribing such incredible carelessness to Eusebius
as he has done a few pages before, he should consider it impossible and
impermissible to suppose him guilty of any laches here. But I myself
have a much higher opinion of the care manifested by Eusebius in this
matter. So far as I can see, it would depend very much on the nature of
the information, whether he would care to repeat it. If Papias had
reported any 'similar' information respecting the two last Gospels, I
should certainly expect Eusebius to record it. But if (to give an
illustration) Papias had merely said of the fourth Evangelist that 'John
the disciple of the Lord wished by the publication of the Gospel to root
out that error which had been disseminated among men by Cerinthus, and
long before by those who are called Nicolaitans,' or language to that
effect, it would be no surprise to me if Eusebius did not reproduce it;
because Irenaeus uses these very words of the fourth Gospel [182:1], and
Eusebius does not allude to the fact.

But our author argues that, 'if there was a Fourth Gospel in his
knowledge, he [Papias] must have had something to tell about it'
[182:2]. Perhaps so, but it does not follow either that he should have
cared to tell this something gratuitously, or that any occasion should
have arisen which led him to tell it. Indeed, this mode of arguing
altogether ignores the relations in which the immediate circle addressed
by Papias stood to St John. It would have been idle for Papias to have
said, as Irenaeus says, 'John the disciple of the Lord, who also lay
upon His breast, published his Gospel, while living in Ephesus of Asia'
[182:3]. It would have been as idle as if a writer in this Review were
to vouchsafe the information that 'Napoleon I was a great ruler of the
French who made war against England.' On the hypothesis of the
genuineness of the Fourth Gospel, such information would have been
altogether superfluous. Papias might incidentally, when quoting the
Gospel, have introduced