Who does not see the value of documents thus composed of the tender remembrances, and simple narratives, of the first two Christian generations, still full of the strong impression which the illustrious Founder had produced, and which seemed long to survive him? Let us add, that the Gospels in question seem to proceed from that branch of the Christian family which stood nearest to Jesus. The last work of compilation, at least of the text which bears the name of Matthew, appears to have been done in one of the countries situated at the northeast of Palestine, such as Gaulonitis, Auranitis, Batanea, where many Christians took refuge at the time of the Roman war, where were found relatives of Jesus[1] even in the second century, and where the first Galilean tendency was longer preserved than in other parts. [Footnote 1: Julius Africanus, in Eusebius, _Hist. Eccl._, i. 7.] So far we have only spoken of the three Gospels named the synoptics. There remains a fourth, that which bears the name of John. Concerning this one, doubts have a much better foundation, and the question is further from solution. Papias--who was connected with the school of John, and who, if not one of his auditors, as Irenaeus thinks, associated with his immediate disciples, among others, Aristion, and the one called _Presbyteros Joannes_--says not a word of a _Life of Jesus_, written by John, although he had zealously collected the oral narratives of both Aristion and _Presbyteros Joannes_. If any such mention had been found in his work, Eusebius, who points out everything therein that can contribute to the literary history of the apostolic age, would doubtless have mentioned it.