SECTION IV

Summary

Our present Sacred Writings were soon distinguished by appropriate names and titles of respect.

Polycarp. “I trust that ye are well exercised in the Holy Scriptures;—as in these Scriptures it is said, Be ye angry and sin not, and let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” This passage is extremely important; because it proves that, in the time of Polycarp, who had lived with the apostles, there were Christian writings distinguished by the name of “Holy Scriptures,” or Sacred Writings. Moreover, the text quoted by Polycarp is a text found in the collection at this day. What also the same Polycarp hath elsewhere quoted in the same manner, may be considered as proved to belong to the collection; and this comprehends Saint Matthew's, and, probably, Saint Luke's Gospel, the Acts of the Apostles, ten epistles of Paul, the First Epistle of Peter, and the First of John. In another place, Polycarp has these words: “Whoever perverts the Oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says there is neither resurrection nor judgement, he is the firstborn of Satan.”—It does not appear what else Polycarp could mean by the “Oracles of the Lord,” but those same “Holy Scriptures,” or Sacred Writings, of which he had spoken before.