why should they not have had the first also?

Our author however does not stop here. He maintains that these same
writers quoted not only from a double of St Luke, but from a double of
St John also [258:1]. 'That was fulfilled,' they write, 'which was
spoken by the Lord, saying, _There shall come a time in which whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God service_,' where the words of
St John (xvi. 2) are exactly reproduced, with the exception that for
'There cometh an hour when' ([Greek: erchetai hora hina]) they
substitute 'There shall come a time in which' ([Greek: eleusetai kairos
en ho]. This substitution, which was highly natural in a quotation from
memory, is magnified by our author into 'very decided variations from
the Fourth Gospel.' He would therefore assign the quotation to some
apocryphal gospel which has perished. No such gospel however is known to
have existed. Moreover this passage occurs in a characteristic discourse
of the Fourth Gospel, and the expression itself is remarkable--far more
remarkable than it appears in the English version ([Greek: latreian
prospherein to Theo]), not 'to do God service,' but 'to offer a religious
service to God'). I may add also that the mention of the Spirit as the
Paraclete, already quoted, points to the use of this Gospel by the
writers, and that the letter presents at least one other coincidence
with St John. Our author certainly deserves credit for courage. Here, as
elsewhere, he imagines that, so long as he does not advance anything
which is demonstrably impossible, he may pile one improbability upon
another without endangering the stability of his edifice.

But even if his account of these evangelical quotations could survive
this accumulation of improbabilities, it will appear absolutely
untenable in the light of contemporary fact. Irenaeus was the most
prominent and learned member of the Church from which this letter
emanated, at the very time when it was written. According to some modern
critics he was the actual composer of the letter; but for this there is
no evidence of any kind. According to our author himself he was the
bearer of it [259:1]; but this statement again is not borne out by
facts. There can be no doubt however, that Irenaeus was intimately mixed
up with all the incidents, and he cannot have been ignorant of the
contents of the letter. Now this letter was written A.D. 177 or, as our
author prefers, A.D. 178, while Irenaeus published his thi