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A

HISTORY

OF THE

APOSTLES AND EVANGELISTS,

WRITERS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

CHAP. I.

General Denominations of the Collection of sacred Books received by Christians. I. Scripture. II. Bible. III. Canon. IV. Old and New Testament. V. Instrument. VI. Digest. VII. Gospel.

1. ONE of the general denominations of the sacred books is Scripture, or Scriptures, literally or primarily signifying writing. But by way of eminence and distinction the books in highest esteem are called Scripture, or the Scriptures.

This word occurs often in the New Testament, in the gospels, the Acts, and the epistles. Whereby we perceive, that in the time of our Saviour and his apostles this word was in common use, denoting the books received by the Jewish people, as the rule of their faith. To them have been since added by Christians the writings of the apostles and evangelists, completing the collection of books, received by them as sacred and divine.

Some of the places, where the word scripture is used in the singular number for the books of the Old Testament, are these: 2 Tim. iii. 16, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." And Luke iv. 21. John ii. 22. Acts i. 16; viii. 32, 35. Rom. iv. 3. Gal. iii. 8. James ii. 8, 23. 1 Pet. ii. 6. 2 Pet. i. 20. Scriptures, in the plural number, in these following, and many other places. Matt. xxi. 42; xxii. 29; xxvi. 54. Luke xxiv. 27, 32, 45. John v. 39. Acts xvii. 2, 11; xviii. 24, 28. 2 Tim. iii. 15. 2 Pet. iii. 16. St. Peter applies this word to the books of the New as well as of the Old Testament, to St. Paul's epistles in particular: 2 Pet. iii. 16....“ as also in all his epistles...which they that are unlearned wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Plainly denoting, that St. Paul's epistles are scriptures in the highest sense of the word.

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II. Bible is another word, which has now been long in use among Christians, denoting the whole collection of writings received by them as of divine authority.

The word, primarily, denotes book: but now is given to the writings of prophets and apostles by way of eminence. This collection is the Book or Bible, the book of books, as superior in excellence to all other books. The word seems to be used in this sense by Chrysostom in a

Hac parte (quod bene notandum est) Petrus canonizat, nt ita loquar, id est, in canonem sacrarum scripturarum ascribit, atque canonicas facit, epistolas Pauli. Dicens enim, VOL. III.

'sicut & cæteras scripturas,' utique significat, se etiam illas in scripturarum numero habere. De sacris autem scripturis eum loqui, in confesso est. Est. in loc.

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passage already cited. I therefore exhort all of you to procure to yourselves Bibles, Bidia. If you have nothing else, take care to have the New Testament, particularly the Acts of the apostles, and the gospels, for your constant instructors.' And Jerom says, That the scrip⚫tures being all written by one spirit, are called one book.' We likewise saw formerly a passage of Augustine, where he informs us, That some called all the canonical scriptures one book, 'on account of their wonderful harmony, and unity of design throughout.' And I then said: It is likely, that this way of speaking gradually brought in the general use of the word Bible, for the whole collection of the scriptures, or the books of the Old and New Testament.'

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In short, the ancient Christians were continually speaking of the divine oracles, and the divine books, and were much employed in reading them, as Chrysostom directs in a passage transcribed below: where he recommends the reading the divine books daily, forenoon and afternoon. At length the whole collection was called the book, or the Bible.

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Dr. Heumann has an epistle, or short dissertation concerning the origin of this name of our sacred collection of books, And for some while he was of opinion, that it was so called, as being the most excellent of all books: in like manner as the Jews had before called their collection the scriptures, by way of eminence. So Acts xviii. 24 and 28. But afterwards he suspected, that the origin of this name was in those words of Paul, 2 Tim. iv. 13. "The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books: na τα βιβλια.” For he believed, that thereby the ancient Christians understood the sacred code. But he afterwards acknowledged, that he had not found any instance of that interpretation in ancient writers. It seems to me therefore, that this conjecture should be dropt, as destitute of foundation; and that it should be better for us to adhere to the forementioned origin of this name, which appears to have in it a good deal of probability.

III. Canon is originally a Greek word, signifying a rule or standard, by which other things are to examined and judged.

As the writings of the prophets and apostles and evangelists contain an authentic account of the revealed will of God, they are the rule of the belief and practice of those who receive them. Sometimes canon seems equivalent to a list or catalogue, in which are inserted those books, which contain the rule of faith.

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Du Pin says, This word signifies not only a law or rule, but likewise a table, catalogue, list. Some have supposed, that the canonical books were so called, because they are the rule of the faith. But though it be true, that they are the rule of our faith: yet the reason of their being called canonical, is, because they are placed in the catalogue of sacred books.'

Perhaps, there is no need to dispute about this; for there is no great difference in those two senses and there may be passages of ancient writers, where it would be difficult to determine, which of them is intended.

St. Paul has twice used the word canon, or rule. Gal. vi. 16, "As many as walk according to this rule." Upon which verse Theodoret's comment is to this purpose: He calls the fore⚫ mentioned doctrine a rule, as being straight, and having nothing wanting, nor superfluous.' Again, says St. Paul, Philip. iii. 16, "Whereunto we have already attained, let us walk according to the same rule." Where he speaks of the doctrine of the gospel in general, or of some particular maxim of it: not of any books containing the rule of faith. However, his use of the word may have been an occasion of affixing that denomination to the books of scripture:: for it is of great antiquity among Christians.

Irenæus, speaking of the scriptures, as the words of God, calls them the rule, or canon a Vol. ii. p. 609, 610. Ibid. p. 589.

b Ibid. P. 565.

• Αλλά δει πανια καιρον επιτηδειον ήγεισθαι προς την των πνευματικων λόγων διαλεξιν. . . . Δυνησομεθα και επί οικιας δια τριβονίες, και μετα την έσιασιν, και προ της έπιασεως μελα χειρας λαβονίες τα θεια βιβλια την εξ αυτων καρπεσθαι ώφεXelay. In i. Gen. hom, x. T. IV. p. 81. C. Bened.

• De origine nominis Bibliorum. Heum. Pacile. Tom. I. p. 412-415.

f Suspicari deinde cœpi, ideo Biblia' dictum esse sacrum codicem, quod tamquam liber omnium præstantissimus κατ' εξοχήν dictus sit τα Βιβλια. Suppetias conjecturæ huic ferre videbatur illa appellatio, quâ idem divinum opus vocari solet ai ypapai. e. gr. Act. xviii. 24, 28. Id, ib. p. 413.

8 Ib. p. 414.

h Le mot signifie non seulement une loi, une règle, mais aussi une table, un catalogue, une liste.... Quelques uns ont cru que les livres canoniques étoient ainsi appellés parcequ'ils sont la règle de la foi. Mais, quoique cela soit vrai, ce n'est pas ce qui leur a fait donner le nom de canoniques, qu'ils n'ont que parceque l'on a nommé canon le catalogue des livres sacrés. Diss. Prelim. 1. 1. ch. I. sect. 2.

* Κανόνα εκάλεσε την προκειμένην διδασκαλίαν, ὡς ευθύτητε κοσμεμενην, και μήτε ελλειπον τι, μήτε περιτίον έχεσαν. Theod. in loc.

k Nos autem unum et solum verum Deum doctorem sequentes, et regulam veritatis habentes ejus sermones, de iisdem semper eadem dicimus omnes. Iren, 1. 4. c. 35. al. 69. f. p. 277.

of truth. Here canon is not a catalogue, but the books, or the doctrine contained in the books of scripture.

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Clement of Alexandria, referring to a quotation of the gospel according to the Egyptians, says with indignation: But they who choose to follow any thing, rather than the true 'evangelical canon [or the canon of the gospel] insist upon what follows there as said to Salome.' In another place he says: The ecclesiastical canon is the consent and agreement of the law and the prophets with the testament delivered by the Lord.'

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Eusebius, as formerly quoted, says of Origen: But in the first book of his Commentaries upon the gospel of Matthew, observing the ecclesiastical canon, he declares that he knew of four gospels only.'

I shall add a few more passages from later writers, chiefly such as have been already quoted in the foregoing volumes: to which passages therefore the reader may easily have recourse.

Athanasius in his Festal Epistle speaks of three sorts of books, the canonical, the same which are now received by us, such as were allowed to be read, and then of such as are apocryphal: by which he means books forged by heretics.

In the synopsis of scripture ascribed to him, but probably not written till above a hundred years after his time, near the end of the fifth century, is frequent mention of canonical and un

canonical books.

The council of Laodicea, about 363, ordains, that no books, not canonical, should be read in the church, but only the canonical books of the Old and New Testament.'

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Rufinus, enumerating the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, makes three sorts of books; such as are included in the canon; such as are not canonical, but ecclesiastical, allowed to be read, but not to be alleged for proof of any doctrine; and lastly, apocryphal books, which were not to be publicly read.

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Jerom likewise often speaks of the canon of scripture, as we saw in his chapter, where he says: • Ecclesiasticus, * Judith, Tobit, and the Shepherd, are not in the canon:' and that 'the church reads, or allows to be read, Judith, Tobit and the Maccabees, but does not receive ⚫ them among the canonical scriptures: and that they, and the books of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus, may be read for the edification of the people, but not as of authority for proving any "doctrines.' And for the Old Testament he recommends the true Jewish canon, or Hebrew verity. I refer below to " another place relating to the books of the New Testament.

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The third council of Carthage, about 397, ordains, that nothing beside the canonical scriptures be read in the church under the name of Divine Scriptures.'

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Augustine, in 395, and afterwards, often speaks of canonical scriptures, and the whole canon of scripture, that is, all the sacred books of the Old and New Testament. We read of some, says he, that " they searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so," Acts xvii. 11. What scriptures, I pray, except the canonical scriptures of the law and the • prophets? To them have been since added the gospels, the epistles of apostles, the Acts of the apostles, and the Revelation of John.' Of the superior authority of the canonical scriptures to all others, he speaks frequently in passages afterwards alleged in the same chapter.

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Chrysostom, in a place already cited, says: They " fall into great absurdities who will not follow the rule (or canon) of the divine scripture, but trust entirely to their own reasoning.' I refer to another place to the like purpose.

a See Vol. i. p. 408.

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Says Isidore of Pelusium, about 412: that these things are so, we shall perceive, if we ' attend to the rule [canon] of truth, the divine scriptures.'

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And Leontius of Constantinople, about 610, having cited the whole catalogue of the books of scripture from Genesis to the Revelation concludes; These are the ancient and the new. books, which are received in the church as canonical.'

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By all which we discern, how much the use of these words, canon and canonical, has obtained among Christians, denoting those books which are of the highest authority, and the rule of faith; as opposed to all other whatever, particularly to ecclesiastical, or the writings of orthodox and learned catholics, and to apocryphal, the productions chiefly of heretics, which by a specious name and title made a pretension to be accounted among sacred books.

IV. The most common and general division of the canonical books is that of ancient and new, or the Old and New Testament. The Hebrew word berith, from which it is translated, properly signifies covenant. St. Paul 2 Cor. iii. 6-18, shewing the superior excellence of the gospel covenant, or the dispensation by Christ, above the legal covenant, or the dispensation by Moses, useth the word testament, not only for the covenant itself, but likewise for the books in which it is contained. At least he does so in speaking of the legal covenant. For, representing the case of the unbelieving part of the Jewish people, he says, ver. 14. "Until this dayremaineth the same vail untaken away in reading the Old Testament."

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It is no wonder therefore that this way of speaking has much prevailed among Christians. Melito, bishop of Sardis, about the year 177, went into the east, to get an exact account of the books of the law and the prophets. In his letter to his friend Onesimus, giving an account of his journey, and reckoning up the books in their order, he calls them the ancient books, and ` the books of the Old Testament. Eusebius calls it a catalogue of the acknowledged. scriptures of the Old Testament.' Our ecclesiastical historian elsewhere speaks of the scriptures of the New Testament. I shall remind my readers of but one instance more. Cyril of Jerusalem, introducing his catalogue of scriptures received by the christian church, says :These things we are taught by the divinely inspired scriptures of the Old and New Testament.' Many other like examples occur in the preceding volumes of this work.

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V. Instead of testament, Latin writers sometimes use the word instrument, denoting writing, charter, record. We find it several times in Tertullian, reckoned the most ancient Latin writer of the church now remaining. In a passage already cited he calls the gospels, or the New: Testament in general, the evangelic instrument. And says: How large chasms Marcion has 'made in the epistle to the Romans, by leaving out what he pleases, may appear from our entire instrument: or our unaltered copies of the New Testament, particularly of that epistle. Speaking of the shepherd of Hermas, he says, it was not reckoned a part of the divine instru-> ment: thereby meaning, as it seems, the New Testament: which passage was quoted by us." formerly. He calls the law and the prophets the Jewish instruments: that is, writings or scriptures. He speaks of the antiquity of the Jewish instruments or scriptures. He seems in one place to use the word instrument, as equivalent to scriptures, containing the doctrine of revelation, or the revealed will of God.

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VI. Digest is another word used by Tertullian in speaking of the scriptures.

Luke's'

2 Οτι δε ταύτα έτως έχει, τον κανόνα της αλήθειας, τας θειας Romanos] Marcion fecerit, auferendo quæ voluit, de nostri Φημι γραφας, κατοπτεύσωμεν. Isid. ep. 114. 1. 4.

" See Vol. iii. p. 77.

« Ταύτα εςι τα κανονιζομενα βιβλια εν τη εκκλησία, και waλalɑ HAI Vɛa. Citat. ibid. p. 380. note *,

Notandum, quod Berith, verbum Hebraïcum, Aquila ouvŋuny, id est, pactum, interpretatur: LXX semper day, id est, testamentum: et in plerisque scripturarum locis testamentum non voluntatem defunctorum sonare, sed pactum viventium Hieron. in Malach. cap. ii. T. iii. p. 1816.

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• Ετι δε και μαθείν τήν των παλαιων βιβλίων εξελήθης ακρι
Calav. x. λ. Ap. Euseb. 1. 4. c. 27. p. 148. D.
Γ. ... Και ακριβως μαθών τα της παλαιας διαθήκης βιβλια.
Ib. p. 149. A.
Ibid. p. 148. D.

i The same, p. 409.

See Vol. ii. p. 393. * See Vol. i. p. 419. Quantas autem foveas in ista vel maxiine cpistolâ [ad

Instrumenti integritate patebit. Adv. Marcion. 1. 5. cap. 13.

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P. 601.
" Sed cederem tibi, si scriptura Pastoris-divino instru-
mento meroisset incidi.... De Pudicit. cap. 10. p. 727. A.
n See Vol. ii. p. 284.

Aut numquid non justi Judæi, & quibus pœnitentiâ non opus esset, habentes gubernacula disciplinæ & timoris instrumenta, legem & prophetas. De Pudicitiâ. Cap. 7. p. 722. B. P Primam instrumentis istis auctoritatem summa antiquitas. vindicat. Apol. cap. 19. p. 19. B.

Sed quoniam edidimus, antiquissimis, Judæorum instru mentis sectam istam esse suffultam. Apol. cap. 21. in. p. 20.

Sed quo plenius et impressius tam ipsum, quam dispositiones ejus et voluntates adiremus, instrumentum adjecit literaturæ, si quis velit de Deo inquirere. Apol. cap. 18. P. 18. C. r See Vol. i. P. 420.

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