" (Iren., Bk. iii.
ch. xi.)
Clement of Alexandria, speaking of a saying ascribed to our Lord,
writes:--
"In the first place, then, in the four Gospels handed down amongst
us, we have not this saying; but in that which is according to the
Egyptians." (Miscellanies, iii. ch. xiii.)
Tertullian writes thus:--
"Of the Apostles, therefore, John and Matthew first instil faith
into us; whilst, of Apostolic men, Luke and Mark renew it
afterwards. These all start with the same principles of the faith,
so far as relates to the one only God the Creator, and His Christ,
how that He was born of the Virgin, and came to fulfil the law and
the prophets. Never mind if there does occur some variation in the
order of their narratives, provided that there be agreement in the
essential matter of the faith in which there is disagreement with
Marcion." (Tertullian against Marcion, iv. c. ii.)
Such are the explicit declarations of these three writers respecting the
number and authorship of the Four.
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