It
comes to this: We cannot rely upon the correctness of the meagre account
of the Gospels supposed to have been written by Mark and Matthew, and we
have no other upon which to fall back. Regarding the other two Gospels,
we have no information whatever from Papias, whether correct or
incorrect, and altogether this Father does little or nothing towards
establishing the credibility of miracles and the reality of Divine
Revelation.
V.
_MELITO OF SARDIS--CLAUDIUS APOLLINARIS--POLYCRATES._
Throughout the whole of these essays, Dr. Lightfoot has shown the most
complete misapprehension of the purpose for which the examination of the
evidence regarding the Gospels in early writings was undertaken in
_Supernatural Religion_, and consequently he naturally misunderstands
and misrepresents its argument from first to last. This becomes
increasingly evident when we come to writers, whom he fancifully
denominates: "the later school of St. John." He evidently considers that
he is producing a very destructive effect, when he demonstrates from the
writings, genuine or spurious, of such men as Melito of Sardis, Claudius
Apollinaris and Polycrates of Ephesus, or from much more than suspected
documents like the Martyrdom of Polycarp, that towards the last quarter
of the second century they were acquainted with the doctrines of
Christianity and, as he infers, derived them from our four Gospels.
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