The reader will advert to this distinction: "and
then, when Jesus came to the river Jordan, where John was baptizing, as
Jesus descended into the water, a fire also was kindled in Jordan: and
when he came up out of the water, (the apostles of this our Christ have
written), that the Holy Ghost lighted upon him as a dove."
All the references in Justin are made without mentioning the author;
which proves that these books were perfectly notorious, and that there
were no other accounts of Christ then extant, or, at least, no other so
received and credited as to make it necessary to distinguish these from
the rest.
But although Justin mentions not the author's name, he calls the books,
"Memoirs composed by the Apostles;" "Memoirs composed by the Apostles
and their Companions;" which descriptions, the latter especially,
exactly suit with the titles which the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles
now bear.
VIII. Hegesippus (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 314.) came about thirty
years after Justin. His testimony is remarkable only for this
particular; that he relates of himself that, travelling from Palestine
to Rome, he visited, on his journey, many bishops; and that, "in every
succession, and in every city, the same doctrine is taught, which the
Law and the Prophets, and the Lord teacheth.
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