in the fifth; Ambrose, Athanasius, and Eusebius, of the fourth; Cyprian, Origen, and Tertullian, of the third; till we reach Irenæus, (from A.D. 97 to 202,) who was the disciple of Polycarp, the follower of St. John.

Thus the testimony from the present time up to the very days of the apostles, is notorious to all mankind— an unbroken chain, where each link is distinctly visible.

And not only so. Several different series of testimonies may be traced up in the various countries of Christendom; each independent of the rest. One series in Italy, through Gregory up to Clement of Rome, in the first century. A second in France, through Hilary to Irenæus, Bishop of Lyon. A third in Africa, through Fulgentius, Austin, and Cyprian, to Clemens Alexandrinus and Tertullian. A fourth in Syria, through Ephrem Syrus to Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch in A. D. 107. A fifth in Asia Minor, through Anatolius and Pamphilus to Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, martyred in A. D. 168. All these wit

nesses testify, not merely that they received our books from their immediate ancestors, but received them as the authentic writings of their respective authors, as having been acknowledged in all the Christian churches from the age of the apostles, and acted upon as the rule of faith and practice. The force of this testimony is convincing to a fair and candid mind.3. It is a fact unique and irresistible.

II. But I proceed to notice THE PROGRESS OF

2 Born about the year 150.

3 See Lardner, Less, Michaelis, Paley, Bp. Marsh, &c. for the authorities. To the same authors, and to the admirable and laborious T. H. Horne, I refer for many of the materials which I have employed in the present and following Lectures. I mention this once for all. The business of a writer of Evidences in the 19th century, is, very much, selection and compilation.

THE SETTLEMENT OF THE SACRED CANON as a

further proof of the authenticity of the New Testa

ment.

For if we can discern care and discrimination in the reception of the books of the New Testament; if we find they were gradually admitted from deliberate conviction and as circumstances naturally called for a decision, we shall have a further ground of confidence in the testimonies we have adduced.

The twenty-seven books of the New Testament, composed by eight different authors, during a space of about sixty years, would of course require some space of time to reach all the various churches in every part of the known world; especially considering the expense and difficulty of procuring copies before the invention of printing, the poverty of the first Christians, the state of persecution in which they frequently were placed, and the wars which separated kingdoms and nations.

In the fathers, therefore, of the first age who were contemporaries with the apostles, the references to these books are less formal and less numerous and complete, than in the succeeding ones, when education had entwined the language of the New Testament around all the habits and associations of thought in Christians. All the books are not cited. There is no design in the references made to provide materials of proof for a future age. The testimony is unintentional, incidental, given in the simplicity of the heart for direct practical purposes, and therefore far more decisive to us of the authentic origin of our books, than professed dissertations would have been. The quotations and allusions, however, in the six apostolical fathers amount to more than two hundred and twenty,

The Gospel of St. Matthew was published about the year of our Lord 38; the Gospel and Revelation of St. John about 96 or 97.

and recognize nineteen books.

or twenty of the sacred

In the second century the testimony becomes more express, more full, more in the way of defence of the gospel against heretics or open adversaries. The quotations are so numerous, that a large part of the New Testament might be collected from them. We have thirty-six writers of this age, parts of whose works have come down to us. In Justin Martyr (born A. D. 89, died 164) there are about two hundred citations. In Irenæus (A. D. 97-202) "there are (says Dr. Lardner) more and larger quotations from the small volume of the New Testament, than of all the works of Cicero, though of such uncommon excellence for thought and style, in the writers of all characters for several ages." The list of quotations in Tertullian occupies nearly thirty folio pages. The testimony of this age begins also to widen by the public reading of the sacred books in the churches, by the collection of them into volumes, by the construction of harmonies; and, towards the close of the century, by translations into other languages, as the Latin and Syriac.

In the third and fourth centuries the progress of the testimony brings us to what may be termed the settlement of the canon. We have more than a hundred authors, whose works, or parts of them, have come down to us, and who bear witness to the genuineness of the books. The quotations are so numerous, that in one Christian Father, Athanasius, there are more than twelve hundred. Catalogues of the books of the New Testament, expressly drawn up to distinguish them from unauthentic writings, are given. Harmonies are formed. Critical examinations of an

cient testimony are executed with care. The public reading of the books, and versions of them into all the languages of mankind, are multiplied with the propagation of the gospel. Commentaries are composed. The sacred writings are distinguished by a still more

deep veneration, and called by solemn and accustomed names of honour, as the fountains of divine truth. Collations of different manuscripts are undertaken, and public libraries are devoted to the preservation of copies. Martyrs and confessors cling to the sacred books with ardent affection. Councils acknowledge and bow to their authority.

During these two centuries, so long as doubts were entertained about the authenticity of any particular book, (arising from the brevity of the writing, as the Second and Third Epistle of St. John and the Epistle of Jude, or from the sacred author having concealed his name, as in the Epistle to the Hebrews, or from the particular abuse made of any particular book, as the Revelation of St. John,) such doubts were openly avowed. We have the grounds of evidence laid before us in Eusebius, (A. D. 315,) and can form a judgment upon the question for ourselves.

5

The books, concerning which any hesitation prevailed, are seven, and those the precise ones which, from circumstances might be expected to be thus doubted of and which do not, in fact, touch the general truth of the gospel doctrine. The rest were universally received as genuine; or, as Eusebius says, were the Ομόλογονμέναι γραφαί, " The confessed and openly recognized Scriptures." And the remaining seven were received by the vast majority of Christians, though a few doubted of their authenticity. Eusebius expressly speaks of them as γνώριμων όμως τους Toλλo" writings acknowledged by most to be genuine." And he distinguishes them from the spurious writings which form his third class. All hesitation was however gradually dissipated; so that by the time of Jerome and Augustine (A. D. 342-420) many catalogues are given with all our present books,

They are the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistles of James and Jude, the Second Epistle of St. Peter, the Second and Third of John, and the Book of the Revelation.

but including none other. This deliberation in the ancient Christians strengthens exceedingly the weight of the attestation which they give, because it marks simplicity of intention, care, uprightness, that discrimination which is productive of confidence of mind in those who are called to examine and compare testimonies. I proceed to another argument.

III. Wherever you take A SPECIMEN out of this mass of evidence, whether from the first or any following century, THERE ARE ALL THE MARKS OF IN

TEGRITY AND TRUTH.

What can be more simple and yet more satisfac tory, than the language of Clement, Bishop of Rome, from A. D. 91 to 110, in his Letter addressed to the Corinthians, in which he refers to the Epistle of the apostle Paul to that church, with the perfect familiarity and confidence of one who knew that every Corinthian Christian was acquainted with that sacred writing. "Take into your hands the Epistle of the blessed apostle Paul; what has he written to you in the beginning of Christianity? Truly by divine inspiration he gave you directions concerning himself and Cephas and Apollos."

To the age of this Epistle of Clement, we have the testimony of Irenæus, (A. D. 97—202,) who says, "It was written by Clement, who had seen the blessed apostles and conversed with them." Again, Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, (A. D. 170,) states that this Epistle of Clement was accustomed to be read in that church. Eusebius, the faithful ecclesiastical historian, (A.D. 315,) also bears witness to it. Thus the truth and importance of Clement's testimony are clear—and what is his testimony? He has fifty or sixty quotations from the New Testament, or allusions to the language of it, from nineteen of the sacred books. So irresistible is our argument from the beginning.