he
Fathers of the Church who came after him in affirming the
genuineness of the four Gospels appeal to this Irenaeus this "half
fool, half knave," as the authority and voucher for their
authenticity; the evidence for their authenticity stops short with
him. Justin Martyr who flourished about the year 140 of the
Christian Era, in his apology quotes, indeed, Memoirs of Jesus
Christ which he says, were written by Apostles and Apostolick
men. But it is, acknowledged by Bishop Marsh in his notes to
Michaelis Introduction, to the New Testament, that the quotations
of Justin Martyr are so unlike the expressions in the received
Evangelists to which they appear to refer, that one of two things
must be true; either that Justin does not quote our present
Gospels; or else, that they were in his time in a very different
state, than what they now are.

Papias who wrote about 116 of the Christian Era says, that
Matthew wrote a Gospel "in Hebrew which every one interpreted
as he was able," but says nothing of a Gospel of Matthew in
Greek; and that the present Greek Gospel called of Matthew could
not be a translation from Matthew's Hebrew, appears from
Bishops Marsh's Dissertation on the origin of these[fn10] first
Gospels; where he proves that it is not a translation of one work,
but a compilation from several. The same is maintained by the
German Theologians to be presently mentioned.

[fn10 for "these," "the three"]

[fn11 These Sybiline oracles so often, and so confidently appealed
to by the Fathers of the Church, are now universally allowed to
have been forged by the Christians themselves: of them Scaliger
speaks as follows.

"Quid pseudo--Sybilina oracula quae Christiani gentibus
objiciebant, quum tamen e Christianorum officina prodiissent in
Gentium autem Bibliothecis non reperirentur? Adeo verbum Dei
inefficax esse censuerunt, ut regnum Christi sine mendaciis
promoveri posse diffiderent? atque utinam illi firimi mentiri
coepissent," apud La Roche Mem. Lit. 7. 331. as quoted by Mr.
Everett, p. 228. of his work.

If the reader will consult Toland's Amyntor, he will find appended
to that work, a list of the names of I think about a hundred
Gospels, Epistles, and Revelations, forged by the Gentile
Christians in the first centuries of the Christian Era. The
Celebrated Semler, so distinguished for his knowledge in Biblical
criticism and ecclesiastical antiquities, has said, as Mr. Everett
allows, p. 464 of his work, that the