he
refers to those writings for the most part anonymously and with reserve.
On the other hand, if his treatise against Marcion (to take a single
instance) had been preserved, we should probably have been placed in a
position to estimate with tolerable accuracy his relation to the
Canonical writings. But in the absence of all this valuable literature,
the notices in Eusebius assume the utmost importance, and it is of
primary moment to the correctness of our result that we should rightly
interpret his language. Above all, it is incumbent on us not to assume
that his silence means exactly what we wish it to mean. Eusebius made it
his business to record notices throwing light on the history of the
Canon. The first care of the critic therefore should be to inquire with
what aims and under what limitations he executed this portion of his
work.

Now, our author is eloquent on the silence of Eusebius. His fundamental
assumption is that where Eusebius does not mention a reference to or
quotation from any Canonical book in any writer of whom he may be
speaking, there the writer in question was himself silent. This indeed
is only the application of a general principle which seems to have taken
possession of our author's mind. The argument from silence is
courageously and extensively applied throughout these volumes. It is
unnecessary to accumulate instances, where 'knows nothing' is
substituted for 'says nothing,' as if the two were convertible terms;
for such instances are countless. But in the case of Eusebius the
application of the principle takes a wider sweep. Not only is it
maintained that A knows nothing of B, because he says nothing of B; but
it is further assumed that A knows nothing of B, because C does not say
that A says anything of B. This is obviously an assumption which men
would not adopt in common life or in ordinary history; still less is it
one to which a competent jury would listen for a moment: and therefore a
prudent man may well hesitate before adopting it.

With what unflinching boldness our author asserts his position, will
appear from the following passages:--

Of Hegesippus he writes [35:1]:--

'The care with which Eusebius searches for every trace of the use
of the books of the New Testament in early writers, and his anxiety
to produce any evidence concerning their authenticity, render his
silence upon the subject almost as important as his distinct
utterance when speaking