THE CONCLUSIOJN". 209 



ftiiiong the early Christians, of examination and discussion ; 

 and that where there was any room to doubt, they did doubt. 



What Eusebius has left upon the subject is directly to 

 the purpose of this observation. Eusebius, it is well known, 

 divided the ecclesiastical writings which were extant in his 

 time into three classes: the "avavn/6/^7?ra, uncontradicted," as 

 he calls them in one chapter, or, "scriptures universally 

 acknowledged," as he calls them in another; the "contro- 

 verted, yet well knowai and approved by many;" and the 

 "spurious." What were the shades of difference in the 

 books of the second, or of those in the third class, or what 

 it was precisely that he meant by the term sjjurious, it is 

 not necessary in this place to inquire. It is sufficient for us 

 to find, that the thirteen epistles of St. Paul are placed by hini 

 in the first class, without any sort of hesitation or doubt. 



It is further also to be collected from the chapter in which 

 this distinction is laid down, that the method made use of by 

 Eusebius, and by the Christians of his time, namely, the close 

 of the third century, in judging concerning the sacred author 

 ity of any books, was to inquire after and consider the tes 

 timony of those who lived near the age of the apostles.* 



IV. That no ancient writing which is attested as these 

 epistles are, has had its authenticity disproved, or is in fact 

 questioned. The controversies which have been moved con- 

 cerning suspected writings, as the epistles, for instance, of 

 Phalaris, or the eighteen epistles of Cicero, begin by show- 

 ing that this attestation is wanting. That being proved, the 

 question is thrown back upon internal marks of spuriousness or 

 authenticity ; and in these the dispute is occupied. In which 

 disputes it is to be observed, that the contested writings are 

 commonly attacked by arguments drawn from some opposition 

 which they betray to " authentic history," to "true ep'st^.es,'' 

 to the "real sentiments or circumstances of the author whom 

 they personate;"! which authentic history, which true epis- 



* Lardner, vol. 8, p. 106. 



t See tracts by Tunstal and Middleton, upon certain suspected epis- 

 tles ascribed to Cicero 



24* 



