he Euphrates, in the
year 420 or 423 according to different computations, and held this see
till his death, which occurred A.D. 457 or 458. In the year 453 he wrote
his treatise on _Heresies_, in which he makes the following statement:--

He (Tatian) composed the Gospel which is called _Diatessaron_,
cutting out the genealogies [282:1] and such other passages as show
the Lord to have been born of the seed of David after the flesh.
This work was in use not only among persons belonging to his sect,
but also among those who follow the apostolic doctrine, as they did
not perceive the mischief of the composition, but used the book in
all simplicity on account of its brevity. And I myself found more
than two hundred such copies held in respect in the churches in our
parts ([Greek: tais par' hemin ekklesiais]). All these I collected
and put away, and I replaced them by the Gospels of the Four
Evangelists.

The churches to which he refers were doubtless those belonging to his
diocese of Cyrrhestice, which contained eight hundred parishes [283:1].
The proportion of copies will give some idea of the extent of its
circulation in these parts.

It is vain, in the teeth of these facts, to allege the uncritical
character of the father as discrediting the evidence. The materials
before Theodoret were ample; the man himself was competent to form a
judgment; and the judgment is explicit. Neither can there be any
reasonable doubt, considering the locality, that the _Diatessaron_ here
mentioned is the same which is named in the _Doctrine of Addai_, and the
same which was commented on by Ephraem Syrus. When the author of
_Supernatural Religion_ argues that Theodoret does not here regard this
_Diatessaron_ as patched together from the four canonical Gospels, it is
unnecessary to follow him. This point may be safely left to the
intelligence of the reader.

Here then we have the testimony of four distinct witnesses, all tending
to the same result. Throughout large districts of Syria there was in
common circulation from the third century down to the middle of the
fifth a _Diatessaron_ bearing the name of Tatian [283:2]. It was a
compilation of our Four Gospels, which recommended itself by its concise
and convenient form, and so superseded the reading of the Evangelists
themselves in some churches. It commenced, as it naturally could
commence, with the opening words of the Fourth Gospel-