Spirit of the Gospels

Non enim per alios dispositionem salutis nostrae cognovimus, quam per eos, per quos Evangelium pervenit ad nos; quod quidem tunc praeconaverunt, postea vero per Dei voluntatem in Scripturis nobis tradiderunt, fundamentum et columnam fidei nostrae futurum. Nec enim fas est dicere quoniam ante praedicaverunt, quam perfectam haberent agnitionem; sicut quidam audent dicere, gloriantes, emendatores se esse apostolorum. Postea enim quam surrexit Dominus noster a mortuis, et induti sunt supervenientis Spiritus sancti virtutem ex alto, de omnibus adimpleti sunt, et habuerunt perfectam agnitionem; exierunt in fines terrae, ea quae a Deo nobis bona sunt evangelizantes, et coelestem pacem hominibus annuntiantes, qui quidem et omnes pariter et singuli eorum habentes Evangelium Dei. Ita Matthaeus in Hebraeis ipsorum lingua Scripturam edidit Evangelli, cum Petrus et Paulus Romae evangelizarent, et fundarent Ecclesiam. Post vero horum excessum, Marcus discipulus et interpres Petri, et ipse quae a Petro annuntiata erant, per scripta nobis tradidit. Et Lucas autem sectator Pauli, quod ab illo preadicabatur Evangelium in libro condidit. Postea et Joannes discipulus Domini, qui et supra pectus ejus recumbebat, et ipse edidit Evangelium, Ephesi Asiae commorans. Et omnes isti unum Deum factorem coeli et terrae a lege et prophetis annuntiatum, et unum Christum Filium Dei tradiderunt nobis: quibus si quis non assentit, spernit quidem participes Domini, spernit autem et ipsum Christum Dominum, spernit vero et Patrem, et est a semetipso damnatus, resistens et repugnans saluti suae: quod faciunt omnes haeretici. Sanctus Ireneaus Lugdunensis, Adversus Haereses, Lib III, Cap I.

For from no others did we come to know the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the Gospel has come to us, which they then openly proclaimed, and later by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the foundation and pillar of our faith. For it is not right to say that they preached before they had perfect knowledge, as some dare say, boasting of themselves as improvers of the Apostles. For, after our Lord rose from the dead, when the Holy Spirit came down they were endowed with power from on high, and they were filled with everything, and had perfect knowledge. They departed to the ends of the earth, preaching the the good things sent to us from God and announcing the peace of heaven to men, all of them together and each one of them having the Gospel of God. Matthew issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own language, while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome and founding the Church. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, also handed down to us in writing what had been announced by Peter. Luke also, the follower of Paul, composed in a book the Gospel preached by him. Afterwards, John, the disciple of the Lord, who had leaned upon His breast, published a Gospel when he dwelt at Ephesus in Asia. All these have handed down to us that there is one God, Creator of heaven and earth, announced by the law and the prophets, and one Christ the Son of God. If anyone does not assent to these things, he scorns the companions of the Lord, and so he scorns Christ the Lord Himself, and so he scorns the Father, and thus he damns himself, resisting and opposing his own salvation, as all heretics do. Saint Ireneaus of Lyons, Against Heresies, Book 3, Ch 1.