sition, because it yields additional and independent testimony of
the same date and character as that of Papias. But the following reasons
combined make out a very strong case for assigning the passage to
Papias. (1) It entirely accords with the _method_ of Papias, as he
himself describes it in his preface [197:1]. Scriptural passages are
interpreted, and the sayings of the elders are interwoven with the
interpretations. It accords equally well with the _subject_ of his
Expositions; for we know that he had a great fondness for eschatological
topics, and that he viewed them in this light. (2) The possibilities are
limited by the language, which confines our search to written documents.
So far as we know there was, prior to the time of Irenaeus, no Christian
work which would treat the same subject in the same way, and would at
the same time satisfy the conditions implied in the words, 'The elders,
the disciples of the Apostles, say.' (3) The connection with a previous
passage is highly important in its bearing on this question. In the
thirty-third chapter of his fifth and last book Irenaeus gives the
direct reference to Papias which has been considered already [197:2]; in
the thirty-sixth and final chapter occurs the passage with which we are
now concerned. Is there reason to believe that the authority in these
two passages is the same or different? Several considerations aid us
in answering this question, and they all tend in the same direction.
(i) The subject of the two passages is the same. They both treat of the
future kingdom of Christ, and both regard it from the same point of view
as a visible and external kingdom. (ii) In the next place the
authorities in the two passages are described in similar terms. In the
first passage they are designated at the outset 'the elders who saw
John, the disciple of the Lord,' while at the close we are told that
'Papias records these things in writing in his fourth book: It is not
clear whether these elders are the authorities whom Papias quotes, or
the class to whom Papias himself belongs, and whom therefore he
represents. Since Irenaeus regards Papias as a direct hearer of St John,
this latter alternative is quite tenable, though perhaps not as probable
as the other. But this twofold possibility does not affect the question
at issue. In the second passage the authorities are described in the
opening as 'the elders' simply, and at the close as 'the elders, the
disciples of the Apos