There is undoubted proof that within forty years from the time Justin wrote his First Apology, our Four Gospels (and no others) with the Book of Acts, were universally received in the church, as we now receive them. It comes from the writings of Agrippa Castor, Apollinaris, Bishop of Hierapolis, Apelles, Athenagoras, Basilides, Celsus, Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius, Heracleon, Irenæus, Jerome, Marcion, Melito, Bishop of Sardis, Origen, Pantænus, Polycarp, Serapion, Tatian, Theophilus, Tertullian, Valentine, The Letter of the Church of Vienne and Lyons, and the unknown authors of the Clementine Homilies, and the Muratori Canon—Christians, Gnostics, Heretics, and Heathen, all concurring to prove universal reception, beyond a reasonable doubt. So strong is this proof that even Strauss does not deny such reception by the _end_ of the second century, and he admits that there is evidence of an _earlier_ date. He says: “We learn from the works of Irenæus, of Clement Alexandrinus, and of Tertullian, that, at the end of the second century after Christ, our Four Gospels were recognized by the orthodox church as the writings of the Apostles and the disciples [companions] of the Apostles, and were separated from many other similar productions, as authentic records of the life of Jesus. The first Gospel, according to our Canon, is attributed [i. e. by the authors named] to Matthew, who is enumerated among the twelve Apostles; the fourth to John, the beloved disciple of our Lord; the second to Mark, the interpreter of Peter;[1] and the third to Luke, the companion of Paul. We have, besides, the authority of earlier authors, both in their own works, and in quotations cited by others.” As a false witness sometimes admits a part, the better to conceal what is more important, so Strauss _admits_ a state of things as existing at the _end_ of the century, that, beyond dispute, should be carried back to a time at least twenty years earlier. Thus Professor Fisher, in his exhaustive work, says of John’s Gospel (which is conceded to have been the last): “We choose to begin[2] with the unquestioned fact of the universal reception of the Fourth Gospel as genuine in the last quarter of the second century. At that time we find that it was held in every part of Christendom to be the work of the Apostle John. The prominent witnesses are Tertullian in North Africa, Clement in Alexandria, and Irenæus in Gaul.” And Professor Abbot[3] says: “I begin with the statement, which cannot be questioned, that our present Gospels, and no others, were received by the great body of Christians as genuine and sacred books during the last quarter of the second century.”