hypotheAis of text, the reference to the 'Fourth Gospel is very marked, and could not, ns the o.utbor of 'Supcrno.turnl Religion' urges, have been derived from tho theosophy of Philo. Jn tho • Epistle to tho Romans,' c. vii. 2 (in both Curetoniim and Vossian texts), "The living water (6Bcop a~ (iiw), speaking within me,1 says within me, 'Come to the Father.' I desire the Bread of Uod, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ ... and I desiro the Drink of God, his blood, which is incorruptible love." 'l'he ordinary Greek reads. "incorruptible love and eternal life (a.lvvtJos (co~)," instead of (rof, aldmor, the common phrase in John. Lightfoot omits the last clause. Still, the resemblance to eh. vi. 55, nnd 32, 33, 68, o.nd to eh. iv.14, are conspicuous. The letter to' Philadelphians,' c. vii. I: "If any should wish me to go astray, ... but the Spirit does not go astray, being from Goel, for he knows whence he cometh and whither he goeth, and searches out (condemns, 111.l-yxe1) secret things." The unusual use of lpx•""' and 61rd-ye,, found in eh. iii. 8, is found twelve times in the Gospel and once in the Epistle, and thus has become a commonplace in the mind of the writer, who is far less original in the employment of it than was the evangelist. Jgnatius's use of it is a deduction from the words of Christ: " We know not the way of the Spirit, but the Spirit himself knows his own movements." Hilgenfeld, who places the composition of these letters in A.D. 166, says, "The whole theology of the letters of Ignatius rests on the Gospel." If the seven epistles are the genuine work of Ignatius himself, then we have proof of the existence of the Gospel from the year A.D. 110, if not earlier. (6) Tlte Letter to DIOGNETUS. Much dependence cannot be placed on the references contained in this beautiful fragment, simply for the reason that we know nothing for certain as to its date. At one time it was supposed to be from Justin's pen, and was published wHh his works. The manuscript which contained it was burnt in the siege of Strasburg, 1869. It is just possible that Stephens wrote it, and this theory has been maintained by some. Reuss places it o.t A.D. 135; Nitzsch, between A.D. 110 and 125 ; Westcott gives A,D, 117 as its date; Ewald places it between A.D. 120 and 130; Bunsen, in his • Hippolytus and his Age,' A.D. 135; Davidson and Hilgenfeld, a much later date, between A,D. 160 and 180. Granting it to have been an early document, which cannot be disproved, then the testimonies of acquaintance with the Gospel are unequivocal. "Christians dwell in the world, though they are not of the world "-the remarkable phrase, ob,c ei<TI a~ /,c -rou 1<0trµov, c. vi. (cf. John xvii. 14); "For God loved the men for whom he made the world, to whom he has subjected all things in the world . . . to whom he sent his only begotten Son, to whom he promised the kingdom in heaven, and will give to those that loved him,'' c. x. (cf. c. vii. and c. xi., for further reminiscences, as well as remarkable resem- blance to 1 John iv. 19 in c. x.). (7) The tt.,Bcix¾ -rwv t,..,3,,c,. 'A1ro<rro/l.wv. The early perioJ when this remarkable document was probably written precludes any reference to the Fourth Gospel ; yet we breathe throughout the references to the Eucharist, the spirit of the Gospel. God is addressed as" Holy Father" (cf. eh. xvii.11); the" Holy Vine of David" may point to eh. xv. 1. The reference to the "Holy Name" which is said to" tabernacle" in the faithful, whereby " immortality is made known ; " " eternal life," connected with the spiritual food and drink imparted, and with the knowledge of God ; remind us of eh. vi. and xvii. 3. Much of the spirit of the injunction had its origin in a community perfectly familiar with Johannine teaching such as we have it in the Gospel (see British Quarterly Review, clx.ii. pp. 367, 368).
V. FURTHER TESTIMONIES FROM OUTSIDE THE CmrncH AND FROM APOCRYPHAL AND PsEUDEPIGRAPmo LITERATURE. In some respects these testimonies are of even greater weight than those which proceed from Christian writers, because they show that the documents had acquired in 1 Lightfoot is disposed to believe that the right reading is preserved in the interpolator's text, a./\/1.oµevov for ""I 11.tJAouv. If this be the c11se, we have undoubted reforeuce to eh. iv. H. From this pnssage and the preceding passage (vers. 10, 11) the expression, iawp (wv a~II.Oftevo ,, took prominent place in the disoussions of &he second century, of which (Ullple proof 19 give!\, u:xviii INTRODUCTION TO