than if Christ in the flesh had been speaking to him; and to the
writings of the apostles, whom he esteemed as the presbytery of the
whole Christian church." It must be observed, that about eighty years
after this we have direct proof, in the writings of Clement of
Alexandria, (Lardner, Cred. part ii. vol. ii. p. 516.) that these two
names, "Gospel," and "Apostles," were the names by which the writings of
the New Testament, and the division of these writings, were usually
expressed.

Another passage from Ignatius is the following:--"But the Gospel has
somewhat in it more excellent, the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ,
his passion and resurrection." (Lardner, Cred. part ii. vol. ii. p.
182.)

And a third: "Ye ought to hearken to the Prophets, but especially to the
gospel, in which the passion has been manifested to us, and the
resurrection perfected." In this last passage, the Prophets and the
Gospel are put in conjunction; and as Ignatius undoubtedly meant by the
prophets a collection of writings, it is probable that he meant the same
by the Gospel, the two terms standing in evident parallelism with each
other.

This interpretation of the word "Gospel," in the passages above quoted
from Ignatius, is confirmed by a piece of nearly equal antiquity, the
relation of the martyrdom of Polycarp by the church of Smyrna. "All
things," say they, "that went before, were done, that the Lord might
show us a martyrdom according to the Gospel, for he expected to be
delivered up as the Lord also did." (Ignat. Ep. c.i.) And in another
place, "We do not commend those who offer themselves, forasmuch as the
Gospel, teaches us no such thing." (Ignat. Ep. c. iv.) In both these
places, what is called the Gospel seems to be the history of Jesus
Christ, and of his doctrine.

If this be the true sense of the passages, they are not only evidences
of our proposition, by strong and very ancient proofs of the high esteem
in which the books of the New Testament were holden.

II. Eusebius relates, that Quadratus and some others, who were the
immediate successors of the apostles, travelling abroad to preach
Christ, carried the Gospels with them, and delivered them to their
converts. The words of Eusebius are: "Then travelling abroad, they
performed the work of evangelists, being ambitious to preach Christ, and
deliver the Scripture of the divine Gospels." (Lardner, Cred. part ii.
vol. i. p. 236.) Eusebius had before him the writings both of Q