The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 17

the close of the second century, was a. presbyter in Rome, and w&e in dnnger of la.psing into the V11lentinian heresy concernin~ the unity of God. The letter records the early experience of lrenmus and his youthful recollections of Polycarp, the disciple of St. John, and the grief that Polycarp would have felt if he had known the heretical t.endencies of Florinus. . "These doctrines," says he, 11 0 Florinus, to say the le&st, are not of a e01md under- ' i;tanding. These doctrines are inconsistent with the Church, and calculated to thrust those that follow them into the greatest impiety. 'l'hese doctrines, not even the heretics out of the Church ever attempted to assert. 'l'hese doctrines were never delivered to thee by the presbyters before us, those who also were the immediate disciples of the aposJles._ For I saw thee when I was yet a boy_ in the Lower Asia. with Polycarp, rnovmg m great splendour at court, and endeavounng by all means to gain his esteem. I remember the events of those times much better than those of more recent occur- rence. As the studies of our youth, growing with our minds, unite with them so firmly that I can tell also the very place where the blessed Polyca.rp was accustomed to sit and discourse; and also bis entrances, his walks, his manner of life, the form of hie body, his conversations with the people, and his familiar intercourse with John as be was accustomed to tell, as also his familiarity with the rest of those that had s~en the Lord. How also be used to relate their discourses, and what things he bad heard from them concerning the Lord. Also concerning his miracles, his doctrine ; all these were told by Polycarp, in consistency with the Holy Scriptw·es as be bad received them from the eye-witnesses of the doctrine of salvation. These things, by the mercy of God, and the opportunity then afforded me, I attentively heard, noting them down, not on paper, but in my heart; and these same facts I am always in the habit, by the grace of God, of recalling faithfully to mind. And I can bear witness in the sight of God that,,jf that blessed apostolic presbyter had heard any such thing as this, he would have exclaimed, and stopped his ears, and, according to his custom, would have said, ' 0 gooe. God, unto what times hast thou reserved me, that I should tolerate these things.?' He would have fled from the place in w bich he had sat or stood bearing doctrines like these. From his epistles, also, which be wrote to the neighbouring Churches in order to confirm them, or to some of the brethren in order to admonish or to exhort them, the same thing may be clearly shown." This paints the character of the man, his confidence in what he calls "the Scriptures," and the exceeding improbability that he should have repeatedly quoted from John's Gospel, as his, words which, according to some modern critics, had only seen the light very lately, and had no connection whatever with the apostle, who was known and beloved by his personal friend. Let it be also observed that !rename speaks of the "two testaments" as proceeding from one and the same God. "The argument," says he, "of a presbyter the disciple of the apostles" (' Hrer.,' iv. 32: • Anti-Nicene Library,' ii. 4, 5). And in defending the view of this presbyter, he quotes unmistakably eh. i. 3 (cf. v. 36. 1, 2). He speaks (i. 3. 6: 'Anti-Nicene Library,' i. 15) of the writings of the evangelists and apostles being perverted, as well 8B those of the prophets, to their own ends. In the co=encement of iii. 1 we find a special enumeration of the four Gospels, which are attributed to the respective authors. Frequent allusions are made to the Gospel of John by name, and a mystic reason is given for there being "four Gospels," neither more nor less. And some account follows of the special use which the heretics had made of these Gospels, revealing therefore, not only their wide diffusion in the Churches, but their influence beyond the limits of the Churches, and proving that they must have held a position of high significance and authority to be appealed to by friend and foe. This occurs about A.D. 180-190, and some of these references look back over a period of twenty to thirty years at least. 'l'he quotations from the four Gospels made by Irenreus fill eleven closely printed folio pages in Massuet's editio°; of bis works, and amount to no fewer than five hundred, one hundred of these bemg taken from the Fourth Gospel (o;ee index of 'Anti-Nicene Library:' 'Works of l1enams,' ii pp. 193-197). (2) While Irena:us thus proves for us the wide diffusion of these/our G_ospels in the western <lil'ision of the empire, we have an equally extensive circulat10n of these ,locuweuts in the East; for TIIEOPDILUB, Bishop of Antioch before A.D. 170 (and who  THE GOSPEL ACCORDING '1'0 ST. ,JOHN. xxi