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398 Credibility of the Gospel History.
Faustus often says that' he receives tlie gospel ; meaning
thereby the doctrine taught by Jesus Christ.
He says that'' he, as well as the catholics, own Jesus to
be the author of the New Testament or covenant.
He mentions' the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John, without hinting that there were any other authen-
tic historians of Jesus Christ.
He seems to allow that John wrote the gospel under his
name. For, mentioning Peter and Andrew, James and
John, as the first and most early disciples of Jesus, he says
' of all tliese four John only wrote a gospel.'
In the Acts of Archelaus it is expressly said that ' Mani"
' argued from the gospel, and the apostle Paul ;' that is,
from the gospels, and from the epistles of that apostle.
Phot i us, in his extracts from Agapius, says that ' he°
' quoted many passages of the divine gospel, and the epistles
' of the divine Paul.'
Augustine speaks ofp their using the four gospels, and
the epistles of Paul ;
and frequently of theiri approving or""
admitting- the authority of the gospel and the apostle.
2. With regard to St. Matthew's gospel, Faustus has
disputed its genuineness. He is answering the catholic
argument for the authority of the Old Testament, taken from
the words of our Lord in Matt. v. 17 : and, among other
' Accipis evangelium ? Et maxime. Faust. 1. 2. c. ] . Accipis evangelium ?
Tu me interrogas, utrum accipiam, in quo idipsum apparet, quia quae jubet
observe.—Nisi adhuc nescis, quid sit quod evangelium nuncupatur. Est
enim nihil aliud, quam pr cdicatio et mandatum Christi. Id. 1. 5. c. 1.
'' Quod Novum Testamentum Jesum condidisse utrique fatemur. id. 1. 18.
c. 1. ' Sed otlensus duorum evangelistarum maxime dissensions,
qui genealogiam ejus scribunt, Lucae et Matthaei, haesi insertus quemnara
potissimum sequerer.—Infinita ergo eorum prcetemiissa lite, ad Joannem
Marcumque me contuli ; nee impariter a duobus ad duos, et ab evangelistis
ad ejusdem nominis professores. Faust. 1. 3. c. i.
" Quibus praesentibus ? Petro, Andrea, Jacobo, et Joanne.—Ex his qua-
tuor onus, id est, Joannes, evangelium scripsit ? Ita. Faust. 1. 17. c. i.
" Deinde ccepit dicere plurima ex lege, multa etiam de evangelic, et
apostolo Paulo, quae sibi videntur esse contraria. Arch. c. 40. p. 69.
° aTToaTTaoaaffiov Se pTjra riva tu Otis tvayyiKis, Kai tni'^oXwv tu
Oita IlavXn, TTtipa-ai TptfiXsv avra, Kai vpoQ Tr]v oiKitav Svacrefieiav tXKiiv.
Ph. Cod. 179. p. 405.
p Aut si talis oratio impudens est, sicuti est, cur in Pauli epistolis,
cur in quatuor evangelii libris ea valere aliquid putant— ? De Util. Cred.
cap. 3. n. 7.
1 Nam quaero ab eis, utrum bonum sit delectari lectione apostoli,—et utrum
est.
Bonum bonum sit evang»?lium disserere ? Respondebunt ad singula :
Conf. 1. 8. c. x. p. 24.
" Videamus, quemadmodum ipse Dominus in evangelio nobis praeceperit
esse vivendum ; quomodo etiam Paulus apostolus. Has enim scripturas illi
condemnare non audent. De M. E. C. c. 7. n. 13. in.
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