churches as genuine, not only where it originated, but everywhere else
in Christendom. The difficulty with which some of the genuine books of
the New Testament gained universal currency sufficiently refutes such an
absurd supposition.

7. We are now prepared to consider the testimonies of an earlier period.
Here _Justin Martyr_ is a very weighty witness, since he lived so near
the apostolic age, and had every facility for investigating the history
of the gospel narratives. He was born near the beginning of the second
century, and his extant works date from about the middle of the same
century. Before his conversion to Christianity he was a heathen
philosopher earnestly seeking for the truth among the different systems
of the age. Of his undoubtedly genuine works, there remain to us two
Apologies (defences of Christianity) and a Dialogue with Trypho a Jew,
designed to defend the Christian religion against its Jewish opponents.
In these he quotes the gospel of Matthew very abundantly; next in number
are his quotations from Luke. His references to Mark and John are much
fewer, but enough to show his acquaintance with them. He never quotes
the evangelists by name, but designates their writings as "The Memoirs
of the Apostles;" and more fully, "The memoirs which I affirm to have
been composed by his"--our Lord's--"apostles and their followers,"
Dialog., ch. 103, "which," he elsewhere says, "are called gospels,"
Apol. 1. 66, and in a collective sense, "the gospel," Dialog., ch. 10.
It should be carefully noticed that he speaks in the plural number both
of the apostles who composed the gospels and their followers. This
description applies exactly to our canonical gospels--two written by
apostles, and two by their followers.

The attempt has been made in modern times to set aside Justin's
testimony, on the alleged ground that he quotes not from our