HERMAS.—­Tischendorf relinquishes this work also as evidence for the Gospels.  Lardner writes:  “In Hermas are no express citations of any books of the New Testament” ("Credibility,” vol. i. pt. 2, p. 116).  He thinks, however, that he can trace “allusions to” “words of Scripture.”  Westcott says that “The Shepherd contains no definite quotation from either Old or New Testament” ("On the Canon,” p. 197); but he also thinks that Hermas was “familiar with” some records of “Christ’s teaching.”  Westcott, however, does not admit Hermas as an Apostolic Father at all, but places him in the middle of the second century.  “As regards the direct historical evidence for the genuineness of the Gospels, it is of no importance.  No book is cited in it by name.  There are no evident quotations from the Gospels” (Norton’s “Genuineness of the Gospels,” vol. i, pp. 342, 343).

IGNATIUS.—­It would be wasted time to trouble about Ignatius at all, after knowing the vicissitudes through which his supposed works have passed (see ante pp. 217-220); and Paley’s references are such vague “quotations” that they may safely be left to the judgment of the reader.  Tischendorf, claiming two and three phrases in it, says somewhat confusedly:  “Though we do not wish to give to these references a decisive value, and though they do not exclude all doubt as to their applicability to our Gospels, and more particularly to that of St. John, they nevertheless undoubtedly bear traces of such a reference” ("When were our Gospels Written,” p. 61, Eng. ed.).  This conclusion refers, in Tischendorf, to Polycarp, as well as to Ignatius.  In these Ignatian Epistles, Mr. Sanday only treats the Curetonian Epistles (see ante, p. 218) as genuine, and in these he finds scarcely any coincidences with the Gospels.  The parallel to Matthew x. 16, “Be ye, therefore, wise as serpents and harmless as doves,” is doubtful, as it is possible “that Ignatius may be quoting, not directly from our Gospel, but from one of the original documents (such as Ewald’s hypothetical ’Spruch-Sammlung’), out of which our Gospel was composed” ("Gospels in the Second Century,” p. 78).  An allusion to the “star” of Bethlehem may have, “as it appears to have, reference to the narrative of Matt, ii... [but see, ante, p. 233, where the account given of the star is widely different from the evangelic notice].  These are (so far as I am aware) the only coincidences to be found in the Curetonian version” (Ibid, pp. 78, 79).

POLYCARP.—­This epistle lies under a heavy weight of suspicion, and has besides little worth analysing as possible quotations from the Gospels.  Paley quotes, “beseeching the all-seeing God not to lead us into temptation.”  Why not finish the passage?  Because, if he had done so, the context would have shown that it was not a quotation from a gospel identical with our own—­“beseeching the all-seeing God not to lead us into temptation, as the Lord hath said, The spirit, indeed, is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  If this be a quotation at all, it is from some lost gospel, as these words are nowhere found thus conjoined in the Synoptics.