with many of the Apostles. Epistles of Ignatius are referred to by Polycarp, his contemporary. Passages found in the epistles now extant under his name, are quoted by Irenæus, A.D. 178; by Origen, A.D. 230; and the occasion of writing the epistles is given at large by Eusebius and Jerome. What are called the smaller epistles of Ignatius, are generally deemed to be those. which were read by Irenæus, Origen, and Eusebius.

In these epistles are various undoubted allusions to the Gospels of Saint Matthew and Saint John; yet so far of the same form with those in the preceding articles, that, like them, they are not accompanied with marks of quotation.

Of these allusions the following are clear specimens:

MATT.7

"Christ was baptized of John, that all righteousness might be fulfilled by Him."

"Be ye wise as serpents in all things, and harmless as a dove."

• Lardner, Cred., vol. i. p. 147.

Chap. iii. 15. For thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."

Chap. x. 16. "Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves."

JOHN.

"Yet the Spirit is not deceived, being from God: for it knows whence it comes, and whither it goes."

'He (Christ) is the door of the Father, by which enter in Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the Apostles, and the Church."

As to the manner of quotation, this is observable; Ignatius, in one place, speaks of Saint Paul in terms of high respect, and quotes his Epistle to the Ephesians by name; yet, in several other places, he borrows words and sentiments from the same Epistle without mentioning it; which shows, that this was his general manner of using and applying writings then extant, and then of high authority.9

V. Polycarp1 had been taught by the Apos

Chap. iii. 8. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit."

Chap. x. 9. "I am the door; by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved."

On the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas, see notes, pp. 74. 107. The publication of the Syriac version of three of the Epistles of Ignatius by Mr. Cureton has added to the doubts long entertained respecting the integrity of the Greek edition, even the shorter one published first by Voss in 1646. It is probable that it has materially suffered from interpolations. Still, enough remains to prove that the writer must have been acquainted with the Gospels and Saint Paul's Epistles; chiefly, however, in the way of allusion, not of formal quotation.-EDITOR. 1 Lardner, Cred., vol. i. p. 192.

tles; had conversed with many who had seen Christ; was also by the Apostles appointed bishop of Smyrna. This testimony concerning Polycarp is given by Irenæus, who in his youth. had seen him: "I can tell the place," saith Irenæus, "in which the blessed Polycarp sat and taught, and his going out and coming in, and the manner of his life, and the form of his person, and the discourses he made to the people, and how he related his conversation with John and others who had seen the Lord, and how he related their sayings, and what he had heard concerning the Lord, both concerning His miracles and His doctrine, as he had received them from the eye-witnesses of the Word of life; all which Polycarp related agreeably to the Scriptures."

Of Polycarp, whose proximity to the age and country and persons of the Apostles is thus attested, we have one undoubted epistle remaining. And this, though a short letter, contains nearly forty clear allusions to books of the New Testament; which is strong evidence of the respect which Christians of that age bore for these books.

Among these, although the writings of Saint Paul are more frequently used by Polycarp than any other parts of Scripture, there are copious allusions to the Gospel of Saint Matthew, some to

passages found in the Gospels both of Matthew and Luke, and some which more nearly resemble the words in Luke.

I select the following, as fixing the authority of the Lord's Prayer, and the use of it among the primitive Christians: "If therefore we pray the Lord, that He will forgive us, we ought also to forgive."

"With supplication beseeching the all-seeing God not to lead us into temptation."

And the following, for the sake of repeating an observation already made, that words of our Lord found in our Gospels, were at this early day quoted as spoken by Him; and not only so, but quoted with so little question or consciousness of doubt about their being really His words, as not even to mention, much less to canvass, the authority from which they were taken :

"But remembering what the Lord said, teaching, Judge not, that ye be not judged; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven; be ye merciful, that ye may obtain mercy; with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."2

Supposing Polycarp to have had these words from the books in which we now find them, it 2 Matt. vii. 1, 2; v. 7. Luke vi. 37, 38.

is manifest that these books were considered by him, and, as he thought, considered by his readers, as authentic accounts of Christ's discourses; and that that point was incontestable.

The following is a decisive, though what we call a tacit, reference to Saint Peter's speech in the Acts of the Apostles: "whom God hath raised, having loosed the pains of death."3

VI. Papias, a hearer of John, and companion of Polycarp, as Irenæus attests, and of that age, as all agree, in a passage quoted by Eusebius, from a work now lost, expressly ascribes the respective Gospels to Matthew and Mark; and in a manner which proves that these Gospels must have publicly borne the names of these authors at that time, and probably long before: for Papias does not say that one Gospel was written by Matthew, and another by Mark; but, assuming this as perfectly well known, he tells us from what materials Mark collected his accounts, namely, from Peter's preaching, and in what language Matthew wrote, namely, in Hebrew. Whether Papias was well informed in this statement, or not; to the point for which I produce this testimony, namely, that these books bore these names at this time, his authority is complete.

3 Acts ii. 24.

Lardner, Cred., vol. i.

p. 239.