On one occasion, when he is seemingly referring to the [bloody] sweat of our Lord, which is mentioned only in St. Luke, who is not an Apostle, he designates these writings as the “Memoirs which were drawn up by the Apostles and those who followed them.” [19:1] Again, on another occasion, he seems to indicate specially the Gospel of St. Mark as being the “Memoirs of Peter.”  It is a well-known fact that all ecclesiastical tradition, almost with one voice, has handed down that St. Mark wrote his Gospel under the superintendence, if not at the dictation, of St. Peter; and when Justin has occasion to mention that our Lord gave the name of Boanerges to the sons of Zebedee, an incident mentioned only by St. Mark, he seems at least to indicate the Gospel of St. Mark as being specially connected with St. Peter as his Memoirs when he writes:  [20:1]—­

“And when it is said that he changed the name of one of the Apostles to Peter; and when it is written in his Memoirs that this so happened, as well as that He changed the names of two other brothers, the sons of Zebedee, to Boanerges, which means ’sons of thunder;’ this was an announcement,” &c. (Ch. cvi.)

With the exception of these two apparent cases, Justin never distinguishes one Memoir from another.  He never mentions the author or authors of the Memoirs by name, and for this reason—­that the three undoubted treatises of his which have come down to us are all written for those outside the pale of the Christian Church.  It would have been worse than useless, in writing for such persons, to distinguish between Evangelist and Evangelist.  So far as “those without” were concerned, the Evangelists gave the same view of Christ and His work; and to have quoted first one and then another by name would have been mischievous, as indicating differences when the testimony of all that could be called memoirs was, in point of fact, one and the same.

According to the author of “Supernatural Religion” Justin ten times designates the source of his quotations as the “Memoirs of the Apostles,” and five times as simply the “Memoirs.”

Now the issue which the writer of “Supernatural Religion” raises is this:  “Were these Memoirs our present four Gospels, or were they some older Gospel or Gospels?” to which we may add another:  “Did Justin quote any other lost Gospel besides our four?”

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I shall now give some instances of the use which Justin makes of the writings which he calls “Memoirs,” and this will enable the reader in great measure to judge for himself.