m
"disciples of the Lord." He must mean by this that they had been
personally in contact with Christ, like the apostles whom he has just
mentioned. We therefore can only draw the conclusion that Papias
believed that these two men had known the Lord in their boyhood, and
the fact that he mentions only two such men favours this interpretation.

With regard to the other Elders, the question at once arises, Did
Papias include among those Elders the apostles whom he mentions? If he
did _not_ include them, he means that he inquired of travellers what
they had heard from Elders who had known the apostles. This seems
incredible; the information gained would be far inferior to that
contained in books, whereas Papias speaks of it as superior. Moreover,
it would imply that the knowledge possessed by Papias about those who
had known the Lord was less direct than that possessed by Irenaeus!
For Irenaeus (1) knew Polycarp (2) and others, who knew St. John and
others who had seen the Lord. Whereas, according to this theory,
Papias (1) was instructed by travellers (2), who had heard the Elders
(3) speak about the apostles. If Papias had no better knowledge than
this, Irenaeus would not have referred to Papias with such marked
deference. We conclude, therefore, that Papias used the word "Elders"
to denote Christians who had actually seen the Lord, including the
apostles whom he mentions. This interpretation is {287} supported by
the fact that in the New Testament both St. Peter and St. John give
themselves this very title.

If the above views are correct, they have an important bearing on the
authenticity of St. John's Gospel. The lifetime of Papias, like that
of Polycarp, covers the whole period of dates to which modern
Rationalists now assign that Gospel. If it was not written by the
apostle, it is hard indeed to suppose that Papias did not know the
truth, and record it. And it is equally hard to believe that his
statements about it would not have been copied by such men as Irenaeus,
Dionysius of Alexandria, and Eusebius.

{288}

APPENDIX C

THE MURATORIAN FRAGMENT

The _Muratorian Fragment_ is part of a Latin list of the books of the
New Testament, named after Muratori, the librarian at Milan, who
published it in A.D. 1740. The Canon of which the Fragment is a part
was probably written about A.D. 180. It begins in the midst of a
sentence relating to St. Mark--

[Sidenote: The Gospels.]

". . . at some