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Tats THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG 274 Tanler advanced, and being, in turn, displaced by the greatly increased supply and use of hymns in the Church of England. In one section, at least, of this country, it was largely used in preference to the New England version, or Bay Psalm Book (q.v.), many editions appearing in Boston between 1750 and 1800. It contains some fairly poetical portions, many that are still well adapted to public worship where metrical psalms are preferred, and a few that are able to hold their own simply as hymns. The Supplement to the New Version (1703) is supposed to be the work of Tate alone; it contains versions of the Te Deum, Lord's Prayer, Creed, Commandments, and other passages of Scripture or Prayer-Book. Some of these are well done, and have been largely used in the English Church; and one, " While shep herds watched," is in nearly universal use. In 1702 Tats was named historiographer-royal. In 1677 he published a volume of poems, and in 1678 his drama Brutus of Alba (London); he also wrote some ver sions of Shakespeare's dramas. His best original poem was Panacea-a Poem an Tea (London, 1700); and his translations include The Life of Louis of Bourbon, Late Prince of Condo (1693), and Cowley's History of Plants (1695). BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. S. Austin and J. Ralph, Lives of the Poets-Laureate, pp. 196-222, London, 1853; S. W. Duffield, English Hymns, pp. 428, 610, New York, 1886; Julian, Hymnology, pp. 799-802, 919-920; DNB, Iv. 379-380; and the literature on English hymns under HYMNOLOGY; and PSALMODY. TATIAN, te'shi-un. I. Life. II. Writings. I. Life: Concerning the date and place of birth of Tatian nothing is known except what he himself tells in his " Address to the Greeks," chap. xlii. (ANF, ii. 81-82), viz., that he was born in " the land of the Assyrians "; and neither the state nor place of his death is known. He enjoyed a good ed ucation and became acquainted with Greek culture. Extensive travels led him through different coun tries and showed him the nature of Greek education, art, and science. He himself states that he studied the pagan religions. Finally he came to Rome, where he seems to have remained for some time. Here he seems to have come for the first time in touch with Christianity. According to his own rep resentation, it was primarily his abhorrence of the heathen cults that led him to spend thought on re ligious problems. By the Old Testament, he says, he was convinced of the unreasonableness of pagan ism. He adopted the Christian religion and became the pupil of Justin. It was the period when Chris tian philosophers competed with Greek sophists, and like Justin, he opened a Christian school in Rome. It is not known how long he labored in Rome with out being disturbed. The later life of Tatian is to some extent obscure. Since the " Address to the Greeks " was written probably in Greece, it may be inferred that he tarried in that country for some time. Epiphanius relates that Tatian first estab lished a school in Mesopotamia, the influence of which extended to Antioch in Syria, and was felt in Cilicia and especially in Pisidia, but these statements can not be verified. The later activity of Tatian is attested by the history of the Diatessaron (see be low). Ireneus remarks (Hcer., L, xxvlii. 1, ANF,
i. 353) that Tatian after the death of Justin separated from the Church and taught Encratitic heresy, also a doctrine of eons related to that of Valentine. Such statements are to be received with caution; for the Occident regarded as heretical much which the Orient judged orthodox. The ascetic character which Syriac Christianity bore as late as the time of Aphraates was not impressed upon it by Tatian, but has roots that reach deeper. The importance of Tatian lies neither in his protest against Hellenism in his " Address to the Greeks " (see below), nor in his work on Jewish antiquity, but in his service for the church in Syria. He was the first to give the Syriac congregations the Gospel in their own language. The Syrian church possessed and used the Gospel from the very beginning until the time of Rabbula only in the form of the Diatessaron; it is probable, therefore, that Tatian not only brought the Diatessaron into Syria, but also developed there a successful missionary activity in the last quarter of the second century. A later age did not realize that the Syrian ascetic tendencies had been transmitted from Semitic primitive Christianity, hence it regarded Tatian as a sectarian, the head of the Encratites.
II. Writings: His "Address to the Greeks" tries to prove the worthlessness of paganism, and the reasonableness and high antiquity of Christianity. It is not characterized by logical consecutiveness, but is discursive in its outlines. The carelessness in style is intimately connected with his contempt of everything Greek. No educated Christian has more consistently separated from paganism; but by overshooting the mark, his scolding and blustering philippic lost its effectiveness because it lacks justice. But Tatian was praised for his discussions of the antiquity of Moses and of Jewish legislation, and it was because of thin chronological section that the " Address " was not generally condemned. For his Diatessaron, see HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS.
In a lost writing, entitled On Perfection according to the Doctrine of the Savior, Tatian designates matrimony as a symbol of the tying of the flesh to the perishable world and ascribed the " invention " of matrimony to the devil. He distinguishes between the old and the new man; the old man is the law, the new man the Gospel. The early development of the Syrian church furnishes a commentary on the attitude of Tatian in practical life. Thus for Aphraates baptism conditions the taking of a vow in which the catechumen promises celibacy. This shows how firmly the views of Tatian were established in Syria, and it supports the supposition that Tatian was the missionary of the countries around the Euphrates. The starting-point of Tatian's theology is a strict monotheism which becomes the source of the moral life. Originally the human soul possessed faith in one God, but lost it with the fall. In consequence man sank under the rule of demons into the abominable error of polytheism. By monotheistic faith the soul is delivered from the material world and from demonic rule and is united with God. God is spirit (pneuma), but not the physical or stoical pneuma; he was alone before the creation, but he had within himself potentially the whole crea-
