Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 3.1
We have come to know the plan of our salvation through those who brought the Gospel to us. At first they proclaimed it by word of mouth; later, by God's will, they handed it down to us in the Scriptures, which were to become the foundation and pillar of our faith. It is not right to claim that they preached before they possessed full knowledge, as some dare to assert, boasting that they are correctors of the Apostles. After our Lord rose from the dead and they were clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit coming from on high, they were filled with all things and gained perfect knowledge. They went out to the ends of the earth, preaching the good things that come from God to us and announcing heavenly peace to humanity—each of them equally possessing the Gospel of God. Thus Matthew, writing in the Hebrews' own language, published his Gospel while Peter and Paul were evangelizing in Rome and founding the Church. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, handed down to us in writing what Peter had proclaimed. Luke, a follower of Paul, set down in a book the Gospel that Paul preached. Later, John, the disciple of the Lord who had reclined on His breast, published his Gospel while living at Ephesus in Asia. All of them proclaimed to us one God, the Maker of heaven and earth, announced by the Law and the Prophets, and one Christ, the Son of God. Anyone who refuses to assent to them despises the Lord's own companions, despises Christ the Lord, despises the Father, and stands self-condemned by resisting and opposing his own salvation—exactly what all heretics do.
Latin
1. Now enim per alios dispositionem salutis nostree cognovimus, quam per eos per quos Evangelium pervenit ad nos: quod quidem tune preeconayerunt, postea vero per Dei voluntatem in Seripturis nobis tradiderunt, fundamentum et columnam fidei nostree futurum. Nec enim fas est dicere, quoniam ante preedicaverunt 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 terree, ea quee a Deo nobis bona sunt evangelizantes, et ccelestem pacem hominibus annuntiantes, qui quidem et omnes pariter et singuli eorum habentes Evangelium Dei*. Ita Mattheus in Hebreis ipsorum lingua scripturam y. edidit Evangelii, cum Petrus et Paulus Rome evangelizarent, et ecxdyoiav. Mera de trav fundarent Ecclesiam. Post vero horum excessum, Marcus discipulus et interpres Petri, et ipse quee a Petro annuntiata erant, per ———— seripta nobis tradidit. Et Lucas autem sectator Pauli, quod ab illo preedicabatur Evangelium, in libro condidit. Postea et Johannes discipulus Domini, qui et supra pectus ejus recumbebat, et ipse edidit Evangelium, Ephesi Asie commorans. Et omnes isti unum Deum factorem cceli et terre 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 suze: quod faciunt omnes heeretici.