man, in the fourth of his books: for there were five books composed by him.(1) And he added saying: 'But these things are credible to believers. And Judas the traitor not believing, and asking how shall such growths be effected by the Lord, the Lord said: They who shall come to them shall see.' Prophesying of these times, therefore, Isaiah says: 'The Wolf also shall feed with the Lamb,' &c. &c. (quoting Isaiah xi. 6—9), and again he says, recapitulating: 'Wolves and lambs shall then feed together,'" &c. (quoting Isaiah lxv. 25), and so on, continuing his argument. It is clear that Irenæus introduces the quotation from Papias, and ending his reference at: "They who shall come to them shall see," he continues, with a quotation from Isaiah, his own train of reasoning. We give this passage to show the manner in which Irenæus proceeds. He then continues with the same subject, quoting (v. 34,35) Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Daniel, the Apocalypse, and sayings found in the New Testament bearing upon the Millennium. In c. 35 he argues that the prophecies he quotes of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the Apocalypse must not be allegorized away, but that they literally describe the blessings to be enjoyed, after the coming of Antichrist and the resurrection, in the New Jerusalem on earth, and he quotes Isaiah vi. 12, lx. 5, 21, and a long passage from Baruch iv. 36, v. 9 (which he ascribes to Jeremiah), Isaiah xlix. 16, Gala-tians iv. 26, Rev. xxi. 2, xx. 2—15, xxi. 1—6, all descriptive, as he maintains, of the Millennial kingdom prepared for the Saints; and then in v. 36, the last chapter of his work on Heresies, as if resuming his
1 Eusebius has preserved the Greek of this passage (H. E.,
iii. 39), and goes on to contradict the statement of Irenæus
that Papias was a hearer and contemporary of the Apostles.
Eusebius states that Papias in his prefaco by no means
asserts that he was.
previous argument, he proceeds:(1) § 1. "And that these things shall ever remain without end Isaiah says: 'For like as the new heaven and the new earth which I make remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name continue,'(2) and as the Presbyters say, then those who have been deemed worthy of living in heaven shall go thither, and others shall enjoy the delights of Paradise, and others shall possess the glory of the City; for everywhere the Saviour shall be seen as those who see him shall be worthy. § 2. But that there is this distinction of dwelling [———] of those bearing fruit the hundred fold, and of the (bearers) of the sixty fold, and of the (bearers of) the thirty fold: of whom some indeed shall be taken up into the heavens, some shall live in Paradise, and some shall inhabit the City, and that for this reason [———] propter hoc) the Lord declared: In the... (plural) of my Father are many mansions [———].(3) For all things are of God, who prepares for all the fitting habitation, as his Word says, that distribution is made to all by the Father according
as each is or shall be worthy. And this is the couch upon which they recline who are invited to banquet at the Wedding. The Presbyters disciples of the Apostles state that this is the order and arrangement of those who are saved, and that by such steps they advance,"(1) &c. &c.
Now it is impossible for any one who attentively considers the whole of this passage, and who makes himself acquainted with the manner in which Irenæus conducts his argument, and interweaves it with quotations, to assert that the phrase we are considering must have been taken from a book referred to three chapters earlier, and was not introduced by Irenæus from some other source. In the passage from the commencement of the second paragraph Irenæus enlarges upon, and illustrates, what "the Presbyters say" regarding the blessedness of the saints, by quoting the view held as to the distinction between those bearing fruit thirty fold, sixty fold, and one hundred fold,(2) and the interpretation given of the
saying regarding "many mansions," but the source of his quotation is quite indefinite, and may simply be the exegesis of his own day. That this is probably the case is shown by the continuation: "And this is the Couch upon which they recline who are invited to banquet at the Wedding"—an allusion to the marriage supper upon which Irenæus had previously enlarged;(1) immediately after which phrase, introduced by Irenæus himself, he says: "The Presbyters, the disciples of the apostles, state that this is the order and arrangement of those who are saved," &c. Now, if the preceding passages had been a mere quotation from the Presbyters of Papias, such a remark would have been out of place and useless, but being the exposition of the prevailing views, Irenæus confirms it and prepares to wind up the whole subject by the general statement that the Presbyters, the disciples of the Apostles, affirm that this is the order and arrangement of those who are saved, and that by such steps they advance and ascend through the Spirit to the Son, and through the Son to the Father, &c., and a few sentences after he closes his work.
In no case, however, can it be legitimately affirmed that the citation of "the Presbyters," and the "Presbyters, disciples of the Apostles," is a reference to the work of Papias. When quoting "the Presbyters who saw John the disciple of the Lord," three chapters before, Irenæus distinctly states that Papias testifies what he quotes in writing in the fourth of his books, but there is nothing whatever to indicate that "the Presbyters," and "the Presbyters, disciples of the Apostles," subsequently referred to, after a complete change of context, have anything to do with Papias. The references to Presbyters in this