hew also has not been preserved; for here again we should expect
much light to be thrown on the corresponding account in Papias. Why did
Papias introduce this notice of the Hebrew original of St Matthew? We
may suspect that the same motive which induced him to dwell on the
secondary character of St Mark's knowledge led him also to call
attention to the fact that St Matthew's Gospel was not an original, but
a translation. I turn to an exegetical work of Eusebius, and I find this
father dealing with the different accounts of two Evangelists in this
very way. He undertakes to solve the question, why St Matthew (xxviii.
1) says that the resurrection was revealed to Mary Magdalene on the
evening of (or 'late on') the sabbath ([Greek: opse sabbaton]), whereas
St John (xx. 1) places this same incident on the first day of the week
[Greek: te mia ton sabbaton]; and among other explanations which he
offers is the following:--

The expression 'on the evening of the sabbath' is due to the
translator of the Scripture; for the Evangelist Matthew published
[Greek: paredoke] his Gospel in the Hebrew tongue; but the person
who rendered it into the Greek language changed it, and called the
hour dawning on the Lord's day [Greek: opse sabbaton] [208:1].

He adds, that each Evangelist corrects any misapprehension which might
arise--St Matthew by adding 'as it began to dawn towards the first day
of the week,' St John by a similar qualifying expression 'when it was
yet dark.' Being acquainted with the work of Papias, Eusebius might have
borrowed this mode of explanation, if not this very explanation, from
him.

But it may be urged that on this hypothesis the motive of Papias must
have appeared in the context, and that, if it had so appeared, Eusebius
must have quoted it. The reply is simple. Papias must in any case have
had some object or other in citing this testimony of the presbyter, and
none is given. But I would answer further, that under the supposed
circumstances Eusebius was not likely to quote the context. As a matter
of fact, he has not done so in a very similar case, where he tears out a
fragment from a passage in Irenaeus which intimately affects the
relations of the Evangelists to one another [209:1]. He commences in the
middle of a sentence, and extracts just as much as serves his immediate
purpose, leaving out everything else. On this point, I am glad that I
can reckon beforehand on the assent of the