CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



so far as we are aware, to the Old Testament, and 

 quotations from it by the apostolic Fathers are 

 numerous enough ; but we find few clear and 

 certain references to the didactic portions of the 

 New Testament. The Christians continued simply 

 to appeal on all disputed points to the Scriptures, 

 which had long been the treasure of the people 

 of God, and which were still accessible to all 

 believers. The generation which immediately 

 succeeded that of the apostles did not consider 

 the apostolic writings of equal importance as 

 writings with the sacred books of the Old 

 Testament. Besides, most of the epistles were 

 of little use in controversy, for the earliest heretics 

 denied the apostleship of St Paul ; while both 

 parties admitted the authority of the Septu- 

 agint, and found in it their common weapons of 

 argument Nevertheless, we occasionally find 

 references to the didactic portions of the New 

 Testament, such as those to Romans, i Corin- 

 thians, Ephesians, Hebrews, and James, in 

 Clemens Romanus ; to I Corinthians and 

 Ephesians, in Ignatius ; to Romans, I Corin- 

 thians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 

 I Timothy, 2 Timothy, i Peter, and i John, 

 in Polycarp. Still more uncertain are the refer- 

 ences of the apostolical Fathers to the gospels. 

 The notices found in Barnabas, Clemens Romanus, 

 Ignatius, and Polycarp are only sufficient to indi- 

 cate that all the great facts of Christ's life were 

 known to the churches, and that the doctrinal 

 significance of these had begun to be realised. 

 They do not, however, demonstrate the existence 

 of written gospels, but they prove that Christianity 

 rests on a historic basis. Their silence in relation 

 to the written gospels now constituting a portion 

 of the canon of the New Testament, is at first 

 sight singular ; but when we reflect that the facts 

 of the Saviour's life and teaching were appar- 

 ently quite familiar to the churches so familiar, 

 indeed, that no explanation was needed in allud- 

 ing to them we see that the necessity of the 

 apostolic Fathers quoting from the Evangelists 

 ceases. It is contended that any specific quota- 

 tions would have been a work of supererogation ; 

 whereas, in the case of the didactic epistles, which 

 were written originally for the benefit of particular 

 churches, and conditioned by their special circum- 

 stances, and the contents of which, therefore, 

 could not be so well or widely known, quotations 

 or allusions might more naturally be looked for. 

 But evidence of this negative character for the 

 existence of the evangelical records, however 

 probable, is very uncertain, and its uncertainty 

 is increased by the use made of writings which, 

 at a later period, were rejected as apocryphal. 

 First, in the second half of the 2d century, more 

 distinct references to the gospels are found in 

 Papias (died 163), in Justin Martyr (died 165), 

 in his pupil Tatian (died 176), in Athenagoras 

 (died 1 80), and in Theophilus, who wrote about 

 the year 180. None of these writers, however, 

 names the authors from whom he quotes, though 

 Papias the earliest, but not the most trustworthy 

 of them bears direct and minute testimony to the 

 existence of gospels by St Matthew, St Mark, St 

 John, the catholic epistles, and the Apocalypse, 

 whence it has been concluded that the authenticity 

 of the apostolic memoirs was not then settled, and 

 perhaps not even investigated ; but anonymous 

 quotation seems to have been a characteristic 



394 



carelessness of the time, for of this kind are 1 17 of 

 Justin Martyr's references to the Old Testament. 

 The great fact on which a constructive Christian 

 criticism leans in regard to the evidence of these 

 writers is, that they do not speak of the gospels 

 ; or apostolic memoirs as things which had only 

 recently made their appearance, but as well known 

 and long established. Justin even states that the 

 'apostolic memoirs' were regularly read in the 

 churches for the edification of believers a fact 

 which clearly indicates their superior sanctity and 

 universal reception. 



Nevertheless, the idea of a universally acknow- 

 ledged New Testament canon is not discernible in 

 the church in Justin Martyr's time. There is no 

 positive evidence in favour of its existence ; but 

 this is not to be wondered at, for the consciousness 

 of freedom in the Holy Spirit, which penetrated 

 the Christians of the ist century; the opposition 

 of the Judaising and anti-Judaising parties 

 which does unquestionably appear to have existed, 

 though not in that exaggerated form in which 

 it is apprehended by the Tubingen school ; the 

 still living tradition of the apostles ; the diffi- 

 culty of diffusing apostolic writings sent only to 

 particular churches ; the absence of criticism ; the 

 vacillation in determining the point where the 

 apostolic men ceased ; the use in the worship of 

 God of the Old Testament, and, in particular 

 churches, of casual Christian writings not now 

 looked upon as canonical : all these causes to- 

 gether operated in hindering, till the middle of 

 the 2d century, a formal collection of New Testa- 

 ment writings of any compass or critical value, 

 though it seems quite clear that they existed 

 separately, and were regarded as the most authori- 

 tative records of the new dispensation. The 

 earliest trace of such a collection (the ten Pauline 

 epistles without the pastoral epistles) appears 

 after the middle of the 2d century, in opposition 

 to that Gnostic perversion of primitive Christianity 

 which had been introduced by Marcion of Pontus. 

 The Muratorian Canon in the West, and the 

 Peshito in the East, both belonging to this 

 period, which has been called the 'Age of the 

 Apologists," furnish important evidence in regard 

 to the New Testament Canon, for both refer to 

 nearly every book now received as authorita- 

 tive, the exceptions being, in the former, the 

 Epistle of James, the Epistle to the Hebrews, 

 and 2 Peter ; in the latter, Jude, 2 Peter, 2 

 and 3 John, and the Apocalypse. In the 

 close of the 2d, and in the beginning of the 

 3d century, Irenaeus, Clemens Alexandrinus, and 

 Tertullian bear testimony to the recognition of 

 the four gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the 

 thirteen Pauline epistles, the ist Epistle of Peter, 

 the ist Epistle of John, and the Apocalypse, as 

 canonical writings. But they do even more 

 than bear testimony to their recognition they 

 appeal to antiquity for proof of the authenticity 

 of the books which they used as Christian Scrip- 

 tures. On this point, Tertullian is especially 

 precise, and his most convincing argument on 

 behalf of the ' surety of the gospels ' is, that ' the 

 very heretics bear witness to them.' They did 

 not, it is admitted, acknowledge the whole ol 

 the New Testament canon, but this is explicable 

 on the hypothesis, which is justified by investiga- 

 tion, that the portions rejected were those that 

 seemed alien to their own opinions. Two distinct 



