There is nothing in this passage which bears any peculiar analogy to the Acts, for the statement is a simple reference to a tradition which is also embodied both in the third Synoptic(2) and in the fourth Gospel;(3) and the mere use of the common words [------] and [------] could not prove anything. The passage occurs in the Epistle immediately after a quotation, said by Jerome to be taken from the Gospel according to the Hebrews, relating an appearance of Jesus to "those who were with Peter," in which Jesus is represented as making them handle him in order to convince them that he is not an incorporeal spirit.(4) The quotation bears considerable affinity to the narrative in the third Synoptic (xxiv. 39), at the close of which Jesus is represented as eating with the disciples. It is highly probable that the Gospel from which the writer of the Epistle quoted contained the same detail, to which this would naturally be a direct {12} descriptive reference. In any case it affords no evidence of the existence of the Acts of the Apostles.(1) The second passage, which is still more rarely advanced,(2) is as follows:-- [------] The only point of coincidence between these two passages is the use of the word "wolves." In the Epistle the expression is [------], whilst in Acts it is [------]. Now the image is substantially found in the Sermon on the Mount, one form of which is given in the first Synoptic, vii. 15,16, and which undeniably must have formed part of many of the Gospels which are mentioned by the writer of the third Synoptic. We find Justin Martyr twice quoting another form of the saying: "For many [------] shall arrive in my name, outwardly indeed clothed in sheep's skins, but inwardly being ravening wolves [------]."(3) The use of the term as applied to men was certainly common in the early Church. The idea expressed in the Epistle is more closely found in 2 Timothy iii. 1 ff., in the description of those who are to come in the last days, and who will (v. 6) "creep into the houses and make captive [------] silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts." {13} The passage cannot be traced to the Acts,(1) and the Ignatian Epistles, spurious though they be, do not present any evidence of the existence of that work.(2) Only two sentences are pointed out in the "Epistle of Polycarp" as denoting acquaintance with the Acts. The first and only one of these on which much stress is laid is the following:(3) [------]