PREFACE
From the matter which is here presented, especially in the first part, we learn that numerous gospels circulated in the early Church. But we also know that toward the end of the second century, the same four gospels which we have still are found recognized in the Church, and are repeatedly quoted as the writings of the apostles, and disciples of the apostles, whose names they bear, by the three most ecclesiastical teachers—Irenæus, in Gaul, Clement in Alexandria, and Tertullian in Carthage. True, that gospels which were used by heretical parties, were sometimes appealed to also by orthodox teachers, but the four were, at that time, and from that time downward, considered as the peculiarly trustworthy foundation on which the Christian faith rested. The reasons assigned by Irenæus in his work against heresies, why there are exactly four gospels, neither more nor less, are these: "the gospel is the pillar of the Church; the church is spread over the whole world; the world has four quarters; therefore it is fitting there should also be four gospels. Again, the gospel is the divine breath, or wind of life for men; there are four chief winds, therefore four gospels." He builds another argument on the fourfold appear-
iii
