Eusebius then proceeds to argue that probably the second
of the two Johns, if not the first, was the man who saw the Revelation.
What an occasion for quoting any information bearing at all on the
subject from Papias, who had questioned those who had been acquainted
with both! His attention is so pointedly turned to John at the very
moment when he makes his quotations regarding Matthew and Mark, that I
am fully warranted, both by the conclusions of Dr. Lightfoot and the
peculiar circumstances of the case, in affirming that the silence of
Eusebius proves that Papias said nothing about either the third or
fourth Gospels.
I need not go on to discuss Dionysius of Corinth, for the same reasoning
equally applies to his case. I have, therefore, only a few more words
to say on the subject of Eusebius. Not content with what he intended
to be destructive criticism, Dr. Lightfoot valiantly proceeds to the
constructive and, "as a sober deduction from facts," makes the following
statement, which he prints in italics: "_The silence of Eusebius
respecting early witnesses to the Fourth Gospel is an evidence in
its favour_." [56:1] Now, interpreted even by the rules laid down by
Dr. Lightfoot himself, what does this silence really mean? It means,
not that the early writers about whom he is supposed to be silent are
witnesses about anything connected with the Fourth Gospel, but simply
that if Eusebius noticed and did not record the mere use of that Gospel
by anyone, he thereby indicates that he himself, in the fourth century,
classed it amongst the undisputed books, the mere use of which he does
not undertake to mention.
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