ooks and verses which would not
correspond with his own dogma. In spite of his pretended fidelity to
St. Paul, he mutilated not only St. Luke's Gospel, but even the Epistle
to the Galatians. So whereas it is certain that he used our Luke,
there is no indication to show that he did not admit that the other
Gospels were really the work of the writers whose names they bear.

In the period between A.D. 98, when the death of St. John probably took
place, and A.D. 130, we find several signs of acquaintance with the
Gospels. About A.D. 130, Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis, wrote a book
called _Expositions of the Oracles of the Lord_. It may be regarded as
almost certain that the word "Oracles" signifies written Gospels, just
as in the New Testament the word signifies the written documents of the
Old Testament. He mentions Gospels written by St. Matthew and St.
Mark, and we know from Eusebius that he made use of 1 John. It is
deeply to be regretted that we only have {14} a few remaining fragments
of the writings of this early bishop, who was acquainted with men who
knew our Lord's disciples. In the letters of St. Ignatius, the
martyred Bishop of Antioch, A.D. 110, we find signs of acquaintance
with Matt. and John. The Epistle written by St. Polycarp to the
Philippians soon after the death of St. Ignatius contains quotations
from Matt. and Luke, and the quotations in it from 1 John almost
certainly imply the authenticity of St. John's Gospel, as it is
impossible to attribute the Epistles to any writer except the writer of
the Gospel. The _Didache_, about A.D. 100, shows acquaintance with
Matt. and Luke, and contains early Eucharistic prayers of which the
language closely resembles the language of St. John. The Epistle of
Barnabas, probably about A.D. 98, contains what is probably the oldest
remaining quotation from a book of the New Testament. It says, "It is
written, Many called, but few chosen," which appears to be a quotation
from Matt. xxii. 14. The Epistle of St. Clement of Rome, written to
the Christians of Corinth about A.D. 95, is full of the phraseology of
St. Paul's Epistles, but contains nothing that can be called a direct
quotation from our Gospels. But it does contain what are possibly
traces of the first three Gospels, though these passages are perhaps
quoted from an oral Gospel employed in the instruction of catechumens.

We must conclude that, considering what a large amount of early
Christian literatu