e-witnesses.[1] Little importance was attached to these writings,
and the preservers, such as Papias, greatly preferred oral
tradition.[2] As men still believed that the world was nearly at an
end, they cared little to compose books for the future; it was
sufficient merely to preserve in their hearts a lively image of him
whom they hoped soon to see again in the clouds. Hence the little
authority which the Gospel texts enjoyed during one hundred and fifty
years. There was no scruple in inserting additions, in variously
combining them, and in completing some by others. The poor man who has
but one book wishes that it may contain all that is clear to his
heart. These little books were lent, each one transcribed in the
margin of his copy the words, and the parables he found elsewhere,
which touched him.[3] The most beautiful thing in the world has thus
proceeded from an obscure and purely popular elaboration. No
compilation was of absolute value. Justin, who often appeals to that
which he calls "The Memoirs of the Apostles,"[4] had under his notice
Gospel documents in a state very different from that in which we
possess them. At all events, he never cares to quote them textually.
The Gospel quotations in the pseudo-Clementinian writings, of
Ebionite origin, present the same character. The spirit was
everything; the letter was nothing. It was when tradition became
weakened, in the second half of the second century, that the texts
bearing the names of the apostles took a decisive authority and
obtained the force of law.

[Footnote 1: Luke i. 1, 2; Origen, _Hom. in Luc._ 1 init.; St. Jerome,
_Comment. in Matt._, prol.]

[Footnote 2: Papias, in Eusebius, _H.E._, iii. 39. Comp. Irenaeus,
_Adv. Haer._, III. ii. and iii.]

[Footnote 3: It is thus that the beautiful narrative in John viii.
1-11 has always floated, without finding a fixed place in the
framework of the received Gospels.]

[Footnote 4: [Greek: Ta apomnemoneumata ton apostolon, a kaleitai
euangelia]. Justin, _Apol._ i. 33, 66, 67; _Dial. cum Tryph._, 10,
100-107.]

Who does not see the value of documents thus composed of the tender
remembrances, and simple narratives, of the first two Christian
generations, still full of the strong impression which the illustrious
Founder had produced, and which seemed long to survive him? Let us
add, that the Gospels in question seem to proceed from that branch of
the Christian family which stood nearest to Jesus. The last wor