Hermas, who was prominent toward the close of the century; Irenæus, Bishop of Lyons; Justin himself, whose martyrdom was as late as the year 165; Leonides, the martyr; Melito, Bishop of Sardis; the world-renowned Origen, son of Leonides; Pantænus; Polycarp; Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus; Pothinus the predecessor of Irenæus (and whose martyrdom was about 167); Serapion, Bishop of Antioch; Tertullian, the eloquent Roman lawyer of Carthage; Theophilus, the predecessor of Serapion; and Victor, Bishop of Rome. It may be said, and with truth, that the Fourth Gospel, whenever introduced, came in not as a substitute, but as a supplement. The evidence, however, is conclusive that by the year one hundred and eighty, it had obtained as permanent a footing as either of the other Gospels. Its reception was as hearty, and the tradition of its authorship as strong, as in respect to the others. To infer that it was the forged product of the period now under consideration, or any other, is as if De Soto had concluded that the mighty stream which he discovered hastening to the Gulf, with deep and rapid current, so wide that a man could scarcely be seen from shore to shore, had its origin not in far-off lakes or mountains, but in some miserable crocodile swamp of the country he was traversing, and but just out of sight. And _who_ forged the Fourth Gospel and imposed it as John’s upon this score of persons, and hundreds of others? Or did these men conspire together, to deceive themselves, the churches, and the world? What name has come down to us from _that_ age, or any other, who was _capable_ of such an undertaking? What _forger_ wrote those discourses of Our Lord with Nicodemus? Or those with the women of Samaria? Or those with his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion? Or the parable of the good Shepherd? Or that memorable prayer recorded in the seventeenth of John? That any _sane man_ should attribute either of these to a _criminal forger_ would be incredible, if we were not confronted with the fact. And what sort of a man was this forger of the Fourth Gospel? We have Baur’s conception of him as “A man of remarkable mind, of an elevated spirit, and penetrated with a warm adoring faith in Christ as the Son of God and Saviour of the world!” And Baur thinks it _easier_ to believe (without proof) in the existence of this remarkable genius and elevated character, who would _invent_ fictitious discourses, _falsely_ attribute them to the Christ whom he _adored_, and _forge_ the name of the beloved disciple, than to believe with the whole body of the Christian Church, that the discourses and utterances were those of our Lord![1] If John did not write the Fourth Gospel, _who did_? Not one of those who deny his authorship, can give an answer to this question. It is no answer to say that many in the second century believed that Hermas (whom Paul mentions in his Epistle to the Romans), wrote the Pastor or Shepherd of Hermas. Such was not the universal sentiment.