\\INTRODUCTION TO MARK\\

This is the title of the book, the subject of which is the
Gospel; a joyful account of the ministry, miracles, actions, and
sufferings of Christ: the writer of it was not one of the twelve
apostles, but an evangelist; the same with John Mark, or John, whose
surname was Mark: John was his Hebrew name, and Mark his Gentile
name, \\#Ac 12:12,25\\, and was Barnabas's sister's son, \\#Col 4:10\\,
his mother's name was Mary, \\#Ac 12:12\\. The Apostle Peter calls
him his son, \\#1Pe 5:13\\, if he is the same; and he is thought to
have wrote his Gospel from him {a}, and by his order, and which was
afterwards examined and approved by him {b} it is said to have been
wrote originally in Latin, or in the Roman tongue: so say the Arabic
and Persic versions at the beginning of it, and the Syriac version
says the same at the end: but of this there is no evidence, any
more, nor so much, as of Matthew's writing his Gospel in Hebrew.
The old Latin copy of this, is a version from the Greek; it is most
likely that it was originally written in Greek, as the rest of the
New Testament.

{a} Papias apud Euseb. Hist. l. 3. c. 39. Tertull. adv. Marcion. l. 4.
c. 5.
{b} Hieron. Catalog. Script. Eccles. p. 91. sect. 18.