Excerpt from The Diatessaron of Tatian: A Harmony of the Four Holy Gospels Compiled in the Third Quarter of the Second Century The materials of a patchwork must exist before the patchwork itself. The shells and pebbles which we find embedded in the matrix of a conglomerate rock, must first have had a separate existence grinding themselves smooth on the troubled sea-shore. So it is but a truism to say, that the records which Tatian knew and valued as authentic form of apostolic tradition, and from which he compiled his Harmony, must have had an assured position in his time. He knew - at any rate he used - no others. And he was the friend and pupil of Justin Martyr. They lived and taught in the same city were received in the same circle of acquaintances were persecuted by the same enemies worshipped - perhaps hid - in the same catacombs. And when the friends wanted to strengthen or comfort one another, in the face of danger or difficulty, we may well believe that they quoted the Saviour's words, and recounted His deeds, out of the same Gospels. But to admit that the Gospels of Tatian were the Gospels of Justin, is to bring them back to the very threshold of the first century, to a period in which very many personal friends of the apostles must have been alive, and able to testify to the genuineness of their writings. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.