the later Isaiah, the ages keep
his secret. _The first absolutely indisputable evidence of the existence
of the book dates from the latter half of the second century._"

The first that we know of the _fourth_ Gospel, for certainty, is at the
time of Irenaeus (A. D. 179).[458:1] We look in vain for an express
recognition of the _four_ canonical Gospels, or for a _distinct mention_
of any one of them, in the writings of St. Clement (A. D. 96), St.
Ignatius (A. D. 107), St. Justin (A. D. 140), or St. Polycarp (A. D.
108). All we can find is incidents from the life of Jesus, sayings, etc.

That Irenaeus is the author of it is very evident. This learned and pious
forger says:

"John, the disciple of the Lord, wrote his Gospel to confute
the doctrine _lately_ taught by Cerinthus, and a great while
before by those called Nicolaitans, a branch of the Gnostics;
and to show that there is one God who made all things by his
WORD: and not, as they say, that there is one the Creator, and
another the Father of our Lord: and one the Son of the
Creator, and another, even the Christ, who descended from
above upon the Son of the Creator, and continued impassible,
and at length returned to his pleroma or fulness."[458:2]

The idea of God having inspired _four_ different men to write a history
of the _same transactions_,--or rather, of many different men having
undertaken to write such a history, of whom God inspired _four only_ to
write correctly, leaving the others to their own unaided resources, and
giving us no test by which to distinguish the inspired from the
uninspired--certainly appears self-confuting, and anything but natural.

The reasons assigned by Irenaeus for there being _four_ Gospels are as
follows:

"It is impossible that there could be more or less than
_four_. For there are _four_ climates, and _four_ cardinal
winds; but the Gospel is the pillar and foundation of the
church, and its breath of life. _The church therefore was to
have four pillars, blowing immortality from every quarter, and
giving life to man._"[459:1]

It was by this Irenaeus, with the assistance of Clement of Alexandria,
and Tertullian, one of the Latin Fathers, that the four Gospels were
introduced into _general_ use among the Christians.

In these four spurious Gospels, and in some which are considered
_Apocryphal_--because the bishops at the Council of Laodicea (A. D.