(Adv.
Haeres. 1. iii. c. 3.) I remark these particulars concerning Irenaeus
with more formality than usual, because the testimony which this writer
affords to the historical books of the New Testament, to their
authority, and to the titles which they bear, is express, positive, and
exclusive. One principal passage, in which this testimony is contained,
opens with a precise assertion of the point which we have laid down as
the foundation of our argument, viz., that the story which the Gospels
exhibit is the story which the apostles told. "We have not received,"
saith Irenaeus, "the knowledge of the way of our salvation by any others
than those by whom the Gospel has been brought to us. Which Gospel they
first preached, and afterwards, by the will of God, committed to
writing, that it might be for time to come the foundation and pillar of
our faith.--For after that our Lord arose from the dead, and they (the
apostles) were endowed from above with the power of the Holy Ghost
coming down upon them, they received a perfect knowledge of all things.
They then went forth to all the ends of the earth, declaring to men the
Message of heavenly peace, having all of them, and every one, alike the
Gospel of God.
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