The following contains the spirit of Irenaeus when he speaks of his intimacy with Polycarp: "And this voice which came from heaven _we heard, when we were with him_ in the holy mount." (2 Peter i. 18.) "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction." (2 Peter ii. 1.) "And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not." (Chap. ii. 3.) "But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and _destroyed_, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption.... Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you." (Chap. ii. 12, 13.) "For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and, The sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." (Chap. ii. 21, 22.) The letter is filled with all the venom and bitterness of the Gnostic quarrels. We have already said enough to prove the two epistles of John spurious, and who it was that wrote them. "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard\ which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and shew unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us." (1 John i. 1, 2.) Iræneus, in a letter to Florinus, says, in speaking of Polycarp: "Well, therefore, could I describe the very place in which the blessed Polycarp sat and taught; his going out and coming in; the whole tenor of his life; his personal appearance; the discourses which he made to the people. How would he speak of the conversations which he had held with John and others who had seen the Lord. How did he make mention of their words, and whatsoever he had heard from them respecting the Lord." All this he can say without a blush; although Polycarp never saw John, and in all his letters, which are numerous, he never claims he did. He saw Paul, but not John. The manner in which John is made to speak of Christ is much the same as Irenaeus makes mention of Polycarp. Effect is meant to be given to what was stated in both cases, by dwelling on details.