[Footnote O: Matt. xiii: 3. Luke viii: 5.]
[Footnote P: Luke xvi: 18.]
I now come to Ignatius, who became bishop of Antioch about thirty-seven years after the ascension of Messiah; and therefore, from his time and station, it is probable that he had known and conversed with many of the apostles. Some of the epistles of this bishop are referred to by Polycarp, his contemporary, the bishop of Smyrna; and some are quoted by Irenaeus, A. D. 178; and by Origen, A. D. 230. In these epistles are plain and undoubted allusions to the Gospels of Matthew and John, of which the following are but specimens: "Christ was baptized of John that all righteousness might be fulfilled by him."[Q] "Be ye wise as serpents in all things and harmless as a dove."[R] "Yet the Spirit is not deceived, being from God, for it knows whence it comes and whither it goes."[S]
[Footnote Q: Matt. iii: 15.]
[Footnote R: Matt. x: 16.]
[Footnote S: John iii: 18]
I now pass over several writers in whose works are similar quotations from the scriptures to those already noted; among them Polycarp, a convert to Christianity through the teachings of the Apostle John; as also Papias, his companion; Justin Martyr, separated from the last named by but twenty years; and also Hegesippus, who came about thirty years after Justin. This brings us to the year 170 A. D. At this time the churches of Lyons and Vienna in France, sent a relation of the sufferings of their martyrs to the churches of Asia and Phrygia. This epistle is found entire in the works of Eusebius [315 A. D.], and in it are direct allusions to the Gospels of Luke, John and the Acts of the Apostles. The one to John is, "Thus was fulfilled that which was spoken by the Lord, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doeth God's service."[T]
[Footnote T: John xvi: 2.]
At that time these churches in France had for their bishop Pothinus, then about ninety years old, whose time, therefore, must have joined on to the times of the apostles.
"The evidence now," says Dr. Paley, "opens upon us full and clear." Irenaeus succeeded Pothinus as bishop of Lyons. In his youth he had been a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John. * * * He asserts of himself and his contemporaries, that they were able to reckon up in all the principal churches the succession of bishops from the first. * * * The testimony which this writer affords to the historical books of the New Testament, to their authority, and to the titles which they bear, is expressive and positive. One principal passage runs as follows: