HISTORY OF THE BIBLE. 



The Acts of Philip, The Acts of Andrew, The 

 Acts of Bartholomew, and The Acts of John. It 

 is difficult to ascertain their age. Some are pro- 

 bably of earlier date than the Apocryphal Gospels, 

 but the original MSS. are lost, and we only 

 possess them in late transcripts of the middle 

 ages. 3. The Apocryphal Apocalypses, consisting 

 of seven documents, four of which are called 

 apocalypses by their authors. There is great 

 and perplexing variety in the MSS. That called 

 The Apocalypse of Moses relates rather to the Old j 

 Testament than to the New ; so does The Apoca- 

 lypse of Esdras, which is a weak imitation of the 

 Fourth Book of Esdras. The others are The 

 Apocalypse of Paul, The Apocalypse of John, and 

 The Assumption of Mary in three forms. These, 

 too, only exist in late MSS. of the middle ages, 

 and it is, of course, not quite certain that they are 

 the same in form as the works bearing the same 

 name referred to in the writings of the Fathers. 

 The New Testament Apocrypha is not without 

 interest or instruction for us. It throws a flood 

 of light upon the workings of the early Christian 

 consciousness and modes of thought, and it also 

 enables us to appreciate the vast superiority of 

 those Scriptures which have obtained canonical 

 authority. See Tischendorf's Prolegomena to the 

 Apocryphal Literature of the New Testament 

 (Leipsic, 1873); and Clark's Ante-Nicene Chris- 

 tian Library, vol. 16 (Edinburgh, 1870). 



Of very much greater importance for the history 

 of the New Testament canon is another series 

 of ancient Christian writings, which in various i 

 regions continued for a long time to be used in the 

 churches in the same way as the books of the | 

 New Testament. The most important of them j 

 are the so-called Gospel of the Hebrews (appar- , 

 ently closely related to the gospel of Matthew, J 

 and used by Jewish- Christian sects) ; the appar- j 

 ently very similar Gospel of Peter j the Apostolic j 

 Constitutions ; and almost the whole of the Apos- 

 tolic Fathers. Of these (the two epistles of 

 Clement of Rome, that of Barnabas, that of > 

 Ignatius, that of Polycarp, and the Shepherd of 

 Hermas) the Shepherd, Clemenfs epistles, and the 

 epistle of Barnabas, are sometimes found in old 

 MSS. of the Bible ; but, though remaining most 

 valuable monuments of primitive Christianity, they 

 were gradually separated from the canon of the 

 New Testament. The antilegomena (discussed 

 below) finally recognised as part of the canon, 

 occupy a position intermediate between apocry- 

 phal writings and the books universally acknow- 

 ledged by the Church. 



NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 



In touching upon the canonical literature of the 

 New Testament, it may be necessary to make 

 some preliminary remarks upon the relation in 

 which it stands to that of the Old. A long-preva- 

 lent opinion identified the two so entirely as to 

 find the latest developments of New Testament 

 theology quite plainly revealed in the words of the 

 Old Testament Scripture, and hardly recognised 

 a real spiritual growth between Moses and Paul ; 

 Christianity seemed at most to be but an expan- 

 sion of Judaism. Now the orthodox expositor 

 gives free scope to the truth of a vast development 

 between Old and New Testament times. Even 

 those who most earnestly believe that priestly 



symbolism and prophetic vision infallibly shad- 

 owed forth the religion of Christ, admit with 

 freedom that they did so but obscurely and incom- 

 pletely. On the other hand, they allow that all 

 true religion is essentially one, and whenever a 

 patriarch, or priest, or psalmist, or prophet rose 

 above the materialism or the formalism of his 

 age, and entered into the inner sanctuary of truth, 

 he stood upon the same spiritual platform, and 

 breathed the same divine air as Christ and the 

 apostles. The lives of Abraham and Moses, the 

 lyrics of David and Asaph, the rapturous hopes 

 of Isaiah, were a perpetual inspiration to their 

 countrymen, keeping alive, in the darkest hours, 

 the flame of heavenly faith and valour, and giving 

 birth, in pious hearts, to new and nobler thoughts. 

 The men who figure in the New Testament, and 

 the men who wrote it, were nurtured upon the 

 older literature ; but the world had changed since 

 the days of Malachi, and a vast future had opened 

 up before the spiritual vision of the Galilean saint 

 and sage, in the presence of which national 

 religions appeared mean, and the earth became 

 an undivided home of the great family of man. 

 This universalism of faith and love was ever and 

 again finding a momentary expression in ancient 

 psalm or prophecy, but it now became, for the 

 first time, the fixed foundation of a majestic 

 creed ; and although it may have been narrowed 

 by smaller natures in the course of inevitable 

 controversy, it remains for ever the glorious 

 inheritance of Christendom. 



It must be admitted that the same difficulties, 

 though in a lesser degree, shew themselves in 

 regard to the origin and authorship of the New 

 Testament literature, that met us when we were 

 considering the Old. We do not know for certain 

 that the writings in every case proceeded from the 

 men whose names they bear, or belong to the age 

 to which they are assigned, or have come down to 

 us in the precise form they originally bore. The 

 first three gospels are asserted by some to be the 

 outcome of a lengthened period of traditionary 

 growth. Of the two gospels ordinarily attributed 

 to apostles, that bearing in its title to be by 

 Matthew is regarded as by another hand, and 

 the fourth gospel is assigned on various grounds 

 to dates ranging from no A.D. to after the middle 

 of that century. Several of the epistles accepted 

 by the catholic church as Pauline, are declared 

 to be by one whose style of thought differed 

 entirely from that of the apostle of the Gentiles. 

 The second epistle of Peter, in particular, is 

 asserted to be pseudonymous. 



NEW TESTAMENT CANON. 



This canon is a collection of writings containing 

 the history and doctrines of Christianity, and may 

 be divided into three chief sections : I. The 

 historical books, or the four gospels, and the Acts 

 of the Apostles. 2. The didactic and pastoral 

 writings, which include the Epistles of Paul to 

 the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, 

 Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, 

 Titus, Philemon, the Hebrews, the two Epistles of 

 Peter, the three Epistles of John, the Epistles 

 of James and Jude. 3. The prophetical section, 

 consisting only of one book, the Apocalypse, or 

 Revelation of St John the Divine. The primitive 

 Christians referred for proof of doctrine, &c. only, 



