With his
argument we have no concern. The position itself proves that four, and
only four, Gospels were at that time publicly read and acknowledged.
That these were our Gospels, and in the state in which we now have them,
is shown from many other places of this writer beside that which we have
already alleged. He mentions how Matthew begins his Gospel, bow Mark
begins and ends his, and their supposed reasons for so doing. He
enumerates at length the several passages of Christ's history in Luke,
which are not found in any of the other evangelists. He states the
particular design with which Saint John composed his Gospel, and
accounts for the doctrinal declarations which precede the narrative.
To the book of the Acts of the Apostles, its author, and credit, the
testimony of Irenaeus is no less explicit. Referring to the account of
Saint Paul's conversion and vocation, in the ninth chapter of that book,
"Nor can they," says he, meaning the parties with whom he argues, "show
that he is not to be credited, who has related to us the truth with the
greatest exactness." In another place, he has actually collected the
several texts, in which the writer of the history is represented as
accompanying Saint Paul; which leads him to deliver a summary of almost
the whole of the last twelve chapters of the book.
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