coincidences between the Gospels, showing
that they are drawn from a common source; from all these facts we
finally conclude _that there is no evidence that the Four Gospels
mentioned about that date_ (A.D. 180) _were the same as those we have
now._

G. _That there is evidence that two of them were not the same._ "The
testimony of Papias is of great interest and importance in connection
with our inquiry, inasmuch as he is the first ecclesiastical writer who
mentions the tradition that Matthew and Mark composed written records of
the life and teaching of Jesus; but no question has been more
continuously contested than that of the identity of the works to which
he refers with our actual Canonical Gospels. Papias was Bishop of
Hierapolis, in Phrygia, in the first half of the second century, and is
said to have suffered martyrdom under Marcus Aurelius about A.D.
164-167. About the middle of the second century he wrote a work in five
books, entitled 'Exposition of the Lord's Oracles,' which, with the
exception of a few fragments preserved to us chiefly by Eusebius and
Irenaeus, is unfortunately no longer extant. This work was less based on
written records of the teaching of Jesus than on that which Papias had
been able to collect from tradition, which he considered more authentic,
for, like his contemporary, Hegesippus, Papias avowedly prefers
tradition to any written works with which he was acquainted" ("Sup.
Rel.," vol. i., pp. 449, 450). Before giving the testimony attributed to
Papias, we must remark two or three points which will influence our
judgment concerning him. Paley speaks of him, on the authority of
Irenaeus, as "a hearer of John, and companion of Polycarp" ("Evidences,"
p. 121); but Paley omits to tell us that Eusebius points out that
Irenaeus was mistaken in this statement, and that Papias "by no means
asserts that he was a hearer and an eye-witness of the holy Apostles,
but informs us that he received the doctrines of faith from their
intimate friends" ("Eccles. Hist.", bk. iii., ch. 39). Eusebius subjoins
the passage from Papias, which states that "if I met with any one who
had been a follower of the elders anywhere, I made it a point to inquire
what were the declarations of the elders: what was said by Andrew,
Peter, or Philip; what by Thomas, James, John, Matthew, or any other of
the disciples of our Lord; what was said by Aristion, and the Presbyter
John, disciples of the Lord" (Ibid). Seeing that Papia