18 NOVEMBER 1893, Page 12

Canonical and Uncationica/ Gospels. By W. S. Barnes, .11,1), (Longmans.)—Mr.

Barnes gives in this little volume, which has the appearance of lectures republished, the outline of the evidence relating to the Gospels. He traces it backwards from the end of the second century to Tatian and the Diatessaron, to Justin Martyr, to Hernias and Papists, and finally to the Apostolierd Fathers. 1-e Ian in view the conclusions stat4■el in " Supernntnral Religion,"

that no trace of the Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. John can be discovered before 180 A.D., and that, while there is evidence of St. Luke's Gospel having existed before 140 A.D., it was not held to be authoritative. The chapter on the " lincanonical Gospels" enforces the argument that the uncanonical presuppose • the canonical. And, indeed, they have a look of being supple- wentau ; attempting to fill up, for instance, the gap of the child- hood and youth of Christ, a period about which it is natural to feel curiosity.