uld be observed also that Eusebius mentions
Papias as quoting not only the First Epistle of St John, but also the
First Epistle of St Peter. May not the two have been connected together
in the context of Papias, as they are in the notice of Eusebius? It is
quite clear that Papias had already said something of the relations
existing between St Peter and St Mark previously to the extract which
gives an account of the Second Gospel; for he there refers back to a
preceding notice, 'But afterwards, _as I said_, he followed Peter.'
Would he not naturally have quoted, as illustrating these relations, the
reference to the Evangelist in the Apostle's own letter, 'Marcus my son
saluteth you' (1 Pet. v. 13)? If the whole of the Muratorian writer's
notice of the Second Gospel had been preserved, we should not improbably
have found a parallelism here also. But, however this may be, the
resemblance is enough to suggest that the Muratorian writer was
acquainted with the work of Papias, and that he borrowed his contrast
between the secondary evidence of St Mark and the primary evidence of St
John from this earlier writer. And such a contrast offers a highly
natural explanation of Papias' motive. The testimony of the elder
respecting the composition of St Mark's Gospel was introduced by him, as
we saw, to explain its phenomena. Though strictly accurate in its
relation of facts, as far as it went, this Gospel had, he tells us, two
drawbacks, which it owed to its secondary character. The account could
not be taken as _complete_, and the order could not be assumed to be
strictly _chronological_. In other words, compared with other
evangelical narratives which Papias had in view, it showed _omissions_
and _transpositions_. A comparison with St John's narrative would yield
many instances of both. We have ample evidence that within a very few
years after Papias wrote, the differences between St John and the
Synoptic Gospels had already begun to attract attention. The Muratorian
writer is a competent witness to this, nor does he stand alone. Claudius
Apollinaris, who succeeded Papias in the see of Hierapolis, perhaps
immediately, certainly within a very few years, mentions that on the
showing of some persons 'the Gospels seem to be at variance with one
another' [207:1]. He is referring especially to the account of the
Crucifixion in St Matthew and St John respectively.

It is much to be regretted that the Muratorian writer's account of St
Matt