which will probably never be ascertained. | mense conduit beneath the surface of the ground [EDEN.] on Zion, brought to light in digging for the foundations of the Anglican church. This edifice occupies apparently a portion of the ancient site of the royal palace, it being not far from the northern brow of Zion. On sinking a shaft, the workmen, at the depth of more than 20 feet, came upon the roof of a vaulted chamber, of fine masonry and in perfect repair. Under this they found an immense conduit, partly hewn out of the solid rock, and where this was not the case it was solidly built in even courses, and cemented on the face with a hard coating of cement about one inch thick, and was covered over with large stones. Here, then, in all probability, was the aqueduct which we know existed in connection with the royal palace on Zion' (Robinson, Res. iv. 243). 2. A valley which runs nearly north and south on the west side of Jerusalem, in which there are two large pools of water, the Upper and Lower Pools of Gihon. We came first,' say Messrs. Bonar and M'Cheyne, to the Lower Pool, and standing on the edge, were surprised at the vast size of the basin, which is by far the lagrest reservoir of the Holy City, though it is inuch dilapidated and perfectly dry. It is formed in a very simple manner, by throwing a massy wall across the lower end of the valley. The stones of the wall are closely cemented, and the work is evidently ancient. There are also the remains of a wall at the upper end and on both sides. The bottom of the pool is merely the natural bed of the valley, and is bare and rocky. The measurements of the pool are as follows: 18 or 20 Depth It was in the valley of Gihon that Solomon was anointed king (1 Kings i. 32-39). It was at the end of the conduit of the Upper Pool' that Isaiah with his son Shear-Jashub was commanded to meet Ahaz (Is. vii. 3). It was here also that Rabshakeh, the Assyrian general, at the head of a great army, sent an insulting message to Hezekiah, and reproaching the living God (2 Kings xviii. 17-19). It also appears that when Sennacherib invaded the country 'Hezekiah took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city;' and it is also stated of him, probably in reference to this counsel, that he 'stopped the upper water-course of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west of the city of David' (2 Chron. xxxii. 3, 30). It is likewise said, ' He made a pool and a conduit, and brought water into the city' (2 Kings xx. 20). From all this it would appear that Hezekiah, while he stopped the upper water-course of Gihon, constructed a pool and a conduit within the city on its western side. The waters were probably brought down by a subterraneous channel, in order to preserve them for the city in case of siege. The Pool of Hezekiah so called, it is likely, was thus fed, and perhaps other fountains within the city. The general correctness of this view has lately been singularly attested by the discovery of an im GILBO'A, a mountain, or rather a mountainous tract, consisting of several ridges, in all about an hour in breadth, lying to the south-east of Jezreel (Robinson, Res. iii. 158). They are not particularly interesting in their general contour. They rise to no great height, and present but a small appearance of either natural pasturage or culture. Large bare patches and scarps of the common cretaceous rock of the country are more conspicuous on them than any clothing of verdure which they wear (Wilson, ii. 85). These hills, however, possess a peculiar interest in connection with the defeat upon them of the Israelites by the Philistines, and the death of Saul and his three sons: Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon you, nor fields of offerings; for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil (1 Sam. xxxi. 1-10; 2 Sam. i. 21). GIL'EAD, an extensive district of country on the east of the Jordan. It was, strictly speaking, a district of country, and as such is commonly distinguished from Bashan and the other parts of the country granted to Israel east of the Jordan (Deut. iii. 8-16); yet it is sometimes used of the country generally which lay to the eastward of that river, and which was allotted to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (Num. xxxii. 26, 29; Deut. xxxiv. 1; Josh. xxii. 9; Judg. xx. 1; 2 Sam. ii. 9). The names of the cities Ramoth-Gilead and JabeshGilead, which are of frequent occurrence in the O. T., help to indicate the locality of Gilead properly so called. It was a hilly country, and hence the country generally is sometimes called Mount Gilead (Deut. iii. 12). There was also, however, a particular hill in the country which was called Mount Gilead (Gen. xxxi. 21, 23, 25). Gilead was particularly distinguished for its balm, and this from an early period (Gen. xxxvii. 25), which was anciently used as a medicine (Jer. viii. 22; xlvi. 11). It was also distinguished for its rich pastures and its fitness for rearing cattle (Num. xxxii. 1). Jephtha and Elijah were natives of Gilead (Judg. xi. 1; 1 Kings xvii. 1). Under the Romans the cities of Gadara, Gerasa, and Philadelphia testify to the prosperous condition of the country. Under the Turkish rule it has sunk into a state of barbarism. There was also another place called GATH- GITTITH, in the title of Psalms viii. lxxxi. lxxxiv., is by some thought to be the name of a musical instrument invented at Gath; by others, to signify a wine-press, and these Psalms to have been sung after the vintage. Others think they were sung by virgins born in Gath; others, that they were composed on the defeat of Goliath the Gittite; but all this is very unlikely. GLASS, a well-known artificial transparent substance applicable to many useful and ornamental purposes. It was commonly said to have been discovered by accident. Pliny relates that a merchant-vessel, laden with nitre or saltpetre, having been driven ashore on the coast of Phoenicia, near the river Belus, the crew in cooking their provisions supported their kettles over the fire on pieces of the nitre, and this being fused with the fine sand brought down by the river, glass was produced. Such was long the received story of the discovery of glass; but Sir J. G. Wilkinson informs us that glass is now known to have been made in Egypt at least 3800 years ago. A bead has been found at Thebes, in Upper Egypt, bearing the name of a Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty. The monuments of the 4th dynasty shew the same glassbottles to have been used then as in later years; and glass-blowing is represented in the paintings from the 12th to the 26th dynasty, and also in those of the 4th, at the tombs near the pyramids. The glass of Egypt was long famous, and the ruins of glass-furnaces are still to be seen at the natron lakes. There is every pro GIL'GAL, a place on the west side of the | Jordan, and the east of Jericho. Here the Israelites encamped after passing through the Jordan, and, as a nation, were circumcised, which they had not previously been, that rite having been entirely neglected by them during their journeyings in the wilderness, and a few days after they observed the Passover in the plains of Jericho (Josh. iv. 19; v. 2-10). Gilgal was one of the places to which Samuel came. yearly in circuit, and judged Israel (1 Sam. vii. 15, 16); and it would appear there was here an altar, for he came hitherto offer burnt-offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace-offerings' (x. 8). By Samuel's desire all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord, and there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace-offerings' (xi. 14, 15). At Gilgal, only two years afterwards, Samuel announced to him that his kingdom should not continue,' because he had 'not kept the commandment of the Lord' (xiii. 1, 4, 7-14). When Saul was afterwards sent to destroy the Amalekites, and also their cattle, the people spared of the best of the sheep and of the oxen;' and he made the apology for them, that they took of them to sacrifice to the Lord in Gilgal.' On this account Samuel there announced to him again his rejection by God from being king over Israel; and there also he hewed Agag, the king of the Amalekites, in pieces before the Lord (xv.) These circumstances shew that Gilgal was then a place of some note, at least as a place for offering sacrifices to the Lord. Elijah passed through Gilgal immediately before he was taken up to heaven (2 Kings ii. 1). There appears to have been then a school of the prophets in Gil-bability that glass was first discovered or ingal (iv. 38). Gilgal became a great seat of idolatry, and as such was threatened with heavy | judgments (Hos. iv. 15; ix. 15; xii. 11; Amos iv. 4; v. 5). There are now no traces of either the name or of the site of Gilgal. It appears to have early declined, perhaps even ceased to exist, for there is no certain mention of in the Scriptures after the captivity (the house of Gilgal,' Neh. xii. 29, is very doubtful), nor is it mentioned by Josephus as existing in his time (Robinson, Res. ii. 287). GIRD'LE. [DRESS.] GITTITES, inhabitants of Gath (Josh. xiii. 3; 2 Sam. xv. 18-20, 22); but the word appears to have had also another signification. Obededom, to whose house David carried the ark, alarmed by the death of Uzzah, as he was conveying it to Jerusalem, and with whom it was allowed to remain three months, is called a Gittite (2 Sam. vi. 6-11); but it is scarcely to be supposed that he would lodge so sacred a charge with a Philistine. Obededom is generally considered to have been a Levite, though there were perhaps more than one person of this name (1 Chron. xv. 17, 18, 21, 24; xvi. 4, 5, 37, 38; xxvi. 4, 8); and the ark being lodged with him would well correspond with his being a Levite. It is supposed he may have been called a Gittite from being a native of GATHRimmon, a city in the tribe of Dan (Josh. xix. 45), and which was a Levitical city (xxi. 24). vented in Egypt. Fires lighted frequently on the sand in a country producing natron, or subcarbonate of soda, would be more likely to disclose the secret than kettles on the coast of Phoenicia, as related by Pliny (Wilkinson in Herodot. ii. 81; Wilkinson, Ancient Egypt. ii. 57-65). Though glass might be first made in Egypt, so valuable a discovery was not likely to be confined to that country. A small bottle has been found in the north-west palace at Nimroud in Assyria, and is now in the British Museum. On this highly interesting relic is the name of Sargon (Is. xx. 1), with his title of king of Assyria in cuneiform characters, and the figure of a lion. We are therefore able to fix its date to the latter part of the 7th century B.C. It is consequently the most ancient known specimen of transparent glass, none from Egypt being, it is believed, earlier than the time of the Psamettici (the end of the 6th or beginning of the 5th century B.C.) Opaque coloured glass, however, was manufactured, as before mentioned, at a much earlier period, and some exists of the 15th century B.C. In a chamber of the north-west palace of Nimroud was also discovered a rockcrystal lens with opposite convex and plane faces. Its properties could scarcely have been unknown to the Assyrians, and we have consequently the earliest specimen of a magnifying and burning glass (Layard's Nin. and Bab. 196, 197). It is rather remarkable that in the O. T. we meet with no reference to the simple substance GLEDE 263 glass, though it was so early known to both the Egyptians and the Assyrians. We read indeed of looking-glasses (Exod. xxx. 8; Job xxxvii. 18; Is. iii. 23); but anciently mirrors were made of polished metal, and in these passages, and also in several in the N. T., the reference is to such mirrors. [MIRRORS.] In the Book of Revelation, sea of glass like however, John speaks of a unto crystal' (iv. 6); as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire' (xv. ii.); of 'a city of pure gold like unto clear glass;' and of 'the street of the city being of pure gold, as it were transparent glass' (xxi. 18, 21). In these passages the reference is no doubt to the substance commonly called glass: it would have been quite inappropriate to have brought gold into comparison with another and inferior metal, even though polished. when the names are of rare occurrence. There is GLEDE, the common kite. The word N is rendered glede in Deut. xiv. 13; but in the parallel passage (Lev. xi. 14) NT, which is doubtless the same word, there being either a mutation of the initial letter, or an error in the transcription, is rendered vulture. often much uncertainty as to the beasts and birds mentioned in the Scriptures, especially In the present instance Gesenius does not designate the species, but merely gives the general signification, some bird of prey;' the one term indicating the keenness of its sight, the other the rapidity of its flight. The LXX. use the word yoy; the Vulgate milvus (Gesenius, Lex. 184). GNAT, a small-winged insect, of which there are various species. Gnats appear to abound in Palestine (Thomson, Land and Book, ii. 93). Such as are very zealous about trifles or smaller matters, while they indulge themselves in things evidently and heinously sinful, are said to 'strain at' (or rather out) 'a gnat, and swallow a camel' (Matt. xxiii. 24). GOAD, a long staff for driving cattle with. It is said of Shamgar that he 'slew of the Philistines 600 men with an ox-goad' (Judg. iii. 31). If the goads of ancient times were the same as those of modern times, they may have Maunbeen powerful instruments of offence. drell, speaking of his approach to Jerusalem, saysThe country people were everywhere at plough in the fields, and it was observable that in ploughing they used goads of an extraordinary size. Upon measuring of several, I found them to be about eight feet long, and at the bigger end six inches in circumference. They were armed at the lesser end with a sharp prickle for driving of the oxen, and at the other end with a small spade or paddle of iron, strong and massy, for cleaning the plough from the clay that encumbers it in working. May we not from hence conjecture that it was with such a goad as one of these that Shamgar made that prodigious slaughter related by him? confident that whoever should see one of these instruments would judge it to be a weapon not less fit, perhaps fitter, than the sword, for such an execution' (Maundrell, 110). am In 1 Sam. xiii. 21 we are told that the Israelites used a file to sharpen the goads,' which agrees well with the above description; GOAT This and in Eccles. xii. 11 it is said, "The words of GOAT, a well-known animal, of which there He finds sufficient nourishment in heathy, barren, and uncultivated ground. The inconstancy of his disposition is marked by the irregularity of his actions. He walks, stops short, runs, leaps, approaches, or retires; shews mere humour, and without any other cause or conceals himself, or flies off, as if actuated by than what originates in an eccentric vivacity of temper. "When pastured along with sheep, goats always take the lead of the flock. They love prefer the most elevated and rugged parts of to feed separately on the tops of the hills, and mountains. They do infinite mischief when permitted to go among corn, vines, copses, or young plantations; for they eat with avidity the tender bark and young shoots of trees, which generally proves fatal to their further growth. They carefully avoid moist ground, marshy meadows, and rich pastures. They are seldom reared in plain countries, where they never thrive, and where their flesh is always bad' (Buffon, Nat. Hist. iii. 491). We are uncertain as to the particular kind of goat which is spoken of in the Scriptures; perhaps there may be reference to more than one variety. We read of the 'wild goats of the rocks,' and of the high hills as a refuge for the wild goats' (1 Sam. xxiv. 2; Job xxxix. 1; Ps. civ. 18). Goats were kept in considerable numbers by the Hebrews. Nabal, who dwelt in the hill Sam. xxv. 2). As sacrifices, goats and kids country of Judah, had a thousand goats (1 were largely employed, as well as sheep and lambs (Lev. iii. 12, etc.) Even in the passover a kid might be used equally as a lamb (Exod. xii. 5). In the uses to which goats are turned uses to which they were applied in ancient in the present day we have examples of the times. Goats' milk is used as an article of food, particularly in rocky hilly countries, where numbers of them are kept. So it was among An the Hebrews: 'Thou shalt have,' says Solo- | people, saying, Every son that is born' to the mon, 'goats' milk enough for thy food, for the Israelites 'ye shall cast into the river' (Exod. food of thy household, and for the maintenance i. 22)-the common designation of the Nile, as of thy maidens' (Prov. xxvii. 27). Though to being the great river of the country. It was persons unaccustomed to it goats' flesh is not in the flags by the river's brink' that Pharaoh's very palatable, yet that of the kid is very agree- daughter found the infant Moses, when she able, and is by many preferred to lamb. 'came down to wash herself at the river, and ciently it also appears to have been much her maidens walked along by the river's side' relished. 'Go,' said Rebekah to Jacob, when (ii. 3. 5). In the miracle of turning the waters she was scheming to impose on her aged hus- of Egypt into blood Moses or Aaron 'lifted up band, and to obtain his paternal blessing for his rod and smote the waters that were in the her younger and favourite son, Go now to the river, and all the waters of the river were turned flock, and bring me from thence two good kids to blood; and the fish that was in the river of the goats; and 1 will make them savoury died, and the river stank, and the Egyptians meat for thy father such as he loveth' (Gen. could not drink of the water of the river. And xxvii. 9; see also xxxvii. 17; Judg. vi. 19). | all the Egyptians digged round about the river Goats' hair, particularly that of some kinds, is for water to drink; for they could not drink of very valuable, and is employed by the Turks the water of the river' (vii. 20, 21, 24). No and others in the manufacture of camlets, a one can doubt that it is the Nile which is here very useful article of dress. In like manner, intended by the river, for it only could produce among the Hebrews, goats' hair was spun and so general an effect. In like manner, regarding woven and made into curtains for the tent over the miracle of the frogs, it is said, 'The river the tabernacle (Exod. xxxv. 26; xxxvi. 14-18). shall bring forth frogs abundantly,' which were The goats of the East are commonly black, and to become a general plague in the land; and the cloth made from their hair having the same when, on Pharaoh's submission, Moses said, they colour, and being much used by the Arabs for shall depart from thee, and from thy house, covering their tents, hence the blackness of their and from thy servants, and from thy people,' tents (Hackett, Illust. 36). he added, they shall remain in the river only (viii. 3, 9, 11). GOLD. [METALS.] [ARK.] GOSHEN, the part of Egypt in which Jacob and his family settled, and where their descendants, the children of Israel, continued to dwell. The situation of it is not now certainly known; but there can be little doubt it was in Lower Egypt, probably towards the north-east, in that part of the country which lay contiguous to Canaan. Jacob's family, which consisted of about seventy persons, could occupy only a small part of it, but the country of Goshen (Gen. xlvii. 27) must have been a district of some extent, for at the time of the exodus their descendants must have increased to upwards of 2,000,000 (Exod. xii. 37), yet Goshen is still spoken of as the country in which they dwelt (viii. 22; ix. 26). It appears to have been a rich part of the country, at least in pastures for flocks and herds; for we find Pharaoh saying to Joseph, "The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell' (Gen. xlvii. 1-6). We may conclude from this that it lay on one or more branches of the Nile, perhaps somewhere in the eastern part of the delta; for where the country is not watered by the Nile it is a perfect desert. This is further apparent from the circumstances, that in cultivating the land the Israelites practised irrigation (Deut. xi. 10); that it produced figs, and vines, and pomegranates (Num. xx. 5); that among the articles on which they lived were cucumbers, and melons, and leeks, and onions, and garlic, which are in common use by the modern Fellahs; and that they had also plenty of fish to eat (xi. 5). Indeed, many circumstances in the history of the Israelites shew plainly that the country in which they dwelt lay on the Nile: Pharaoh charged all his | It would also appear that the kings of Egypt resided in or near the part of the country in which Jacob and his family settled, and where we afterwards find the children of Israel dwelling. Joseph, it is natural to conclude, lived at the court of Pharaoh, as being his chief minister (Gen. xli. 39-44). Now, this is the message which he sent to his father on inviting him into Egypt: "Thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou and thy children, and thy children's children, and thy flocks and thy herds, and all that thou hast.' And of the affecting circumstances of Joseph's manifestation of himself to his brethren, we are told "The fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come; and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants' (xlv. 10, 16); and on Jacob's arrival in Goshen, Joseph, notwithstanding his age, brought him in and set him before Pharaoh,' and also some of his brethren (xlvi. 1, 2, 7, 10), which it is not likely he would have done had the monarch's residence been at a distance. In like manner, 200 years after, we find Pharaoh's daughter in the neighbourhood of the Israelites; and the communications which Moses had with Pharaoh, and at the same time with his brethren the children of Israel, shew that the monarch was near at hand. What the extent of Egypt was at that time we do not know. Perhaps we take our ideas of it too much from what it was in subsequent times. Kingdoms in the early ages of the world were generally small; and perhaps in the days of Joseph and of Moses Egypt might be but an inconsiderable country, and the Pharaohs and the Israelites might never be far apart from each other. In connection with the plagues of Egypt we read of the fields of Zoan, which was a place of great antiquity, Hebron having been built only seven years before it (Num. xiii. 22): Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt, the field of Zoan.' 'He | in the E. T., 'the gospel of the kingdom.' The wrought his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the field of Zoan' (Ps. lxxviii. 12, 43). In Isaiah's days it was probably the capital of Lower Egypt: 'Surely,' he says, 'the princes of Zoan are fools; the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish' (Is. xix. 11; see also v. 13); and it may not improbably have been so, or at least the residence of Pharaoh, in the days of Moses. It is considered as the same as Tanis, which geographers place in the delta of the Nile, on one of its eastern branches. The town of San, which still exists, is supposed to be the ancient Tanis; but if it is, Tanis can scarcely have been Zoan; at least Sin, as well as No and Noph, appear to be distinguished from Zoan in Ezek. xxx. 14-16. word had not at this period obtained the technical application which it afterwards received, and which is now common with us. In Is. lxi. 1 the Messiah is represented as saying: "The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek ;' but in Luke iv. 18, where our Lord quotes the passage, these words are rendered in the E. T. to preach the gospel to the poor,' instead of 'to preach good tidings to the poor,' which essentially mars the beauty of the passage, what follows being an enumeration of the various glad tidings which were brought. It is plain there is an error in the translation of either the O. T. or the N. T., and there can be no question in which of them the error is (see also Matt. xi. 5; Luke vii. 22). In like manner, in Is. lii. 7 we read: 'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good.' But in Rom. x. 15, where this passage is quoted, it is thus rendered: How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things.' Here the words of the prophet should have been preserved 'good tidings of peace;' and then, to keep up the reference, the following verse should have been translated But they have not all obeyed (τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ) the good tidings; for Esaias saith, Lord, who GOSPEL is derived from the Saxon word hath believed our report?' In Heb. iv. 2 we godspell,―i.e., god, good; spell, history, narra- read in our translation: For unto us was the tion, message. It thus corresponds in etymology gospel preached as well as unto them,' where it and in signification with the Greek word evay-ought plainly to be, Unto us were the good yeλior; but, as we shall afterwards see, it does not always form an appropriate translation of it. Indeed, though the word gospel is in common use, it has long ceased to carry with it to most minds its original signification. The following are the chief senses in which evayyellor and its cognates occur in the N. T. The land of Goshen is also called 'the land of Rameses' (Gen. xlvii. 11); and previous to the exodus the Israelites had built for Pharaoh treasure-cities, Pithom and Rameses' (Exod. i. 11). It was from Rameses that the Israelites set out when they took their departure from Egypt; but whether this was from the land of Rameses or from the city of that name, it is impossible to determine. If it was the city, its situation is merely matter of conjecture; so that the point from which they set out on their journey cannot be stated with anything like certainty. 1. Glad tidings. This is the original and general meaning of the word. In this sense it is often rendered by our translators, as in Luke i. 19; ii. 10; viii. 1; Acts xiii. 32; Rom. x. 15; 1 Thess. iii. 6; and the idea of good tidings is usually implied even when it is not what is chiefly intended. 2. The scheme of redemption by Jesus Christ, including the system of truth connected with it. This is the meaning of the word, particularly in the writings of Paul, and it is the ordinary meaning of it among ourselves. 3. The history of the life of Christ (Mark i. 1 ?). The word evayyéλior has at all events been used in this sense in the superscription which was prefixed from a very early period to the histories of his life; and hence the writers of them received the name of the evangelists. 4. The ministry of the gospel; gospel work (Rom. i. 1, 9; 1 Cor. ix. 14, 18; Cor. viii. 18; 2 Tim. i. 8). 5. Some particular truth or truths which were specially of the nature of good news (Gal. ii. 2). The first two senses are those in which the word ebayyedov is most commonly used in the N. T., but unhappily the second is often given when it should have been the first, the word gospel being employed instead of glad tidings. In Matt. iv. 23, and various other passages, rò εὐαγγέλιον τῆς βασιλείας should have been rendered 'the glad tidings of the kingdom,' not, as tidings published as well as unto them.' What the good tidings were which were common to both is evident from the context: they were the promise of a rest to the people of God.' There is also a passage in the Book of Revelation which plainly refers to a different subject from what with us is commonly called the gospel, and where the employment of that term has led to a common misapplication of the text: 'I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people' (Rev. xiv. 6). This verse is often quoted as if it had reference to the preaching of the gospel throughout the world; whereas it has no manner of reference to it. The message which the angel was to proclaim is expressly given in the following verse, and its nature appears still further from ver. 8; and it consists of the good news, that the hour of God's judgments on the enemies of the church is come. The word, therefore, ought to have been translated, not gospel, but simply good tidings, which would have misled no one (Campbell, Gospels, i. 187). GOSPELS, the name given to the books of the N. T. which contain a narrative of the life of Christ, from the Greek word evayyÉMIOV, which, as mentioned in the preceding article, signifies glad tidings. The name was not originally affixed to these books. The first application which we find of it was in Justin Martyr, whence we learn that it had come into use in this sense as early as the year 150. From this use of the term the writers received the name of evangelists, though two of them were apostles. |