ians; but no positive conclusion can be drawn with respect to any
other epistle, or any of the four Gospels" (Marsh's "Michaelis," vol.
i., p. 354, as quoted in Norton's "Genuineness of the Gospels," vol. i.,
p. 3). Very heavily does this tell against the authenticity of these
records, for "if the four Gospels and other books were written by those
who had been eye-witnesses of Christ's miracles, and the five Apostolic
Fathers had conversed with the Apostles, it is not to be conceived that
they would not have named the actual books themselves which possessed so
high authority, and would be looked up to with so much respect by all
the Christians. This is the only way in which their evidence could be of
use to support the authenticity of the New Testament as being the work
of the Apostles; but this is a testimony which the five Apostolical
Fathers fail to supply. There is not a single sentence, in all their
remaining works, in which a clear allusion to the New Testament is to be
found" ("Christian Records," Rev. Dr. Giles, p. 50).

Westcott, while claiming in the Apostolic Fathers a knowledge of most of
the epistles, writes very doubtfully as to their knowledge of the
Gospels (see above p. 264), and after giving careful citations of all
possible quotations, he sums up thus: "1. No evangelic reference in the
Apostolic Fathers can be referred certainly to a written record. 2. It
appears most probable from the form of the quotations that they were
derived from oral tradition. 3. No quotation contains any element which
is not substantially preserved in our Gospels. 4. When the text given
differs from the text of our Gospels it represents a later form of the
evangelic tradition. 5. The text of St. Matthew corresponds more nearly
than the other synoptic texts with the quotations and references as a
whole" ("On the Canon," p. 62). There appears to be no proof whatever of
conclusions 3 and 4, but we give them all as they stand. But we will
take these Apostolic Fathers one by one, in the order used by Paley.

BARNABAS. We have already quoted Bishop Marsh and Dr. Giles as regards
him. There is "nothing in this epistle worthy of the name of evidence
even of the existence of our Gospels" ("Sup. Rel.," vol. i., p. 260).
The quotation sometimes urged, "There are many called, few chosen," is
spoken of by Westcott as a "proverbial phrase," and phrases similar in
meaning and manner may be found in iv. Ezra, viii. 3, ix. 15 ("Sup.
Rel.," vo