these four gospels from the beginning by all the churches; and deny the
apostolic authority of other pretended gospels. In all this, they give
not their individual opinions, but the common belief of the churches. It
is conceded on all hands that in their day these four gospels were
universally received by the churches as genuine and authoritative
records of our Lord's life and works, to the exclusion of all others.

_Irenæus_ was a native of Asia Minor, of Greek descent; but the
seat of his labors was Lyons and Vienne in Gaul, of the former
of which places he became bishop after the martyrdom of
Pothinus, about A.D. 177. He was born about A.D. 140, and
suffered martyrdom under Septimius Severus A.D. 202. In his
youth he was a disciple of Polycarp, who was in turn a disciple
of the apostle John. In a letter to one Florinus, which Eusebius
has preserved, (Hist. Eccl., 5. 20,) he gives, in glowing
language, his recollections of the person and teachings of
Polycarp, and tells with what interest he listened as this man
related his intercourse with the apostle John and the others who
had seen the Lord, "how he recounted their words, and the things
which he had heard from them concerning the Lord, and concerning
his miracles and teaching." And he adds that these things which
Polycarp had received from eye-witnesses he related "all in
agreement with the Scriptures;" that is, obviously, with the
gospel narratives. Pothinus, the predecessor of Irenæus at
Lyons, was ninety years old at the time of his martyrdom, and
must have been acquainted with many who belonged to the latter
part of the apostolic age. Under such circumstances, it is
inconceivable that Irenæus, who knew the Christian traditions of
both the East and the West, should not have known the truth
respecting the reception of the gospels by the churches, and the