manently in Crete,* and it can be shewn that, for centuries afterwards, such a dignitary as "the Bishop of the Church of the Cretians" was utterly unknown. The seven letters written by James, Peter, Jude, and John, are called General or Catholic epistles. The Epistle of James was addressed "to the twelve tribes scattered abroad" probably in A.D. 61, and its author survived its publication perhaps little more than twelve months. † Peter, as we have seen, appears to have written his two epistles only a short time before his martyrdom. The Epistle of Jude is the production of a later period, as it contains quotations from the Second Epistle of Peter.§ The exact dates of the Epistles of John cannot now be discovered, but they supply internal proof that they must have been written towards the close of the first century.|| According to some, the Apocalypse, or Revelation of John, was drawn up before the destruction of Jerusalem, and in the time of the Emperor Nero; but the arguments in support of so early an origin are very unsatisfactory. Ancient writers ¶ attest that it was written in the reign of Domitian towards the close of the first century, and the truth of this statement is established by various collateral evidences. The divine authority of the four Gospels and of the Acts of the Apostles was, from their first appearance, universally acknowledged in the ancient Church.** These books were publicly read in the religious assemblies of the primitive Christians, and were placed on a level with the Old Testament Scriptures.tt The epistles of Paul occupied an equally honourable position. In the second and third centuries Titus iii. 12. + Some, however, assign to it a much earlier date. See Davidson's "Introduction to the New Testament," iii. 320. See Period i. sec. i. chap. 10, p. 158. § See Wordsworth" On the Canon,” p. 273. See Davidson's "Introduction," iii. 464, 491. Irenæus, v. 30. Euseb. iii. 18. **See Wordsworth "On the Canon," p. 157, 160, 249. ++ Justin Martyr, ap. i. 67. 2 Pet. iii. 16 the Epistle to the Hebrews was not, indeed, received among the sacred books by the Church of Rome; * but at an earlier period its inspiration was acknowledged by the Christians of the great city, for it is quoted as the genuine work of the Apostle Paul by an eminent Roman pastor who flourished in the first century. The authority of two of the most considerable of the Catholic epistles-the First Epistle of Peter and the First Epistle of John-was never questioned; but, for a time, there were churches which doubted the claims of the five others to be ranked amongst "the Scriptures." § The multitude of spurious writings which were then abroad suggested to the disciples the necessity of caution, and hence suspicions arose in certain cases where they were destitute of foundation. But these suspicions, which never seem to have been entertained by more than a minority of the churches, gradually passed away; and at length, towards the close of the fourth century, the whole of what are now called the Catholic epistles were received, by unanimous consent, as inspired documents. The Apocalypse was acknowledged to be a divine. revelation as soon as it appeared; and its credit remained unimpeached until the question of the Millennium began to create discussion. Its authenticity was then challenged by some of the parties who took an interest in the controversy; but it still continued to be regarded as a part of Holy Scripture by the majority of Christians, and there is no book of the New Testament in behalf of which a title to Wordsworth "On the Canon," p. 205. + "The allusions to the Epistle to the Hebrews are so numerous that it is not too much to say that it was wholly transfused into Clement's mind."— Westcott on the Canon, p. 32. See also Euseb. iii. 38. Wordsworth "On the Canon," p. 249. § "The word (ypapń) translated Scripture, which properly means simply a writing, occurs fifty times in the New Testament; and in all these fifty places, it is applied to the writings of the Old and New Testament, and to no other." -Wordsworth, p. 185, 186. || Wordsworth, p. 249, 250. a divine original can be established by more conclusive and ample evidence.* It thus appears that, with the exception of a few short epistles which some hesitated to accredit, the New Testament, in the first century, was acknowledged as the Word of God by all the Apostolical Churches. Its various parts were not then included in a single volume; and as a considerable time must have elapsed before copies of every one of them were universally disseminated, it is not to be thought extraordinary if the appearance of a letter, several years after it was written, and in quarters where it had been previously unknown, awakened suspicion or scepticism. But the slender objections, advanced under such circumstances, gradually vanished before the light of additional evidence; and it may safely be asserted that the whole of the documents, now known as the Scriptures of the New Testament, were received, as parts of a divine revelation, by an overwhelming majority of the early Christians. The present division into chapters and verses was introduced at a period comparatively recent; † but there is reason to believe that stated portions of the writings of the apostles and evangelists were read by the primitive disciples at their religious meetings, and that, for the direction of the reader, as well as for the facility of reference, the arrangement was soon notified in the manuscripts by certain marks of distinction. It is well known that in the ancient Churches persons of all classes and conditions were encouraged and required to apply themselves to the study of the sacred records; that even children were made ac* See Davidson's "Introduction," iii. 540-550. + See Horne's "Introduction," ii. 168. The author of the present division into chapters is said to have been Hugo de Sancto Caro, a learned writer who flourished about the middle of the thirteenth century. The New Testament was first divided into verses by Robert Stephens in 1551. The Geneva Bible was the first English version of the Scriptures into which these divisions of Stephens were introduced. Horne, ii. 169. quainted with the Scriptures;* and that the private perusal of the inspired testimonies was considered an important means of individual edification. All were invited and stimulated by special promises to meditate upon the mysterious, as well as the plain, passages of the book of Revelation. "Blessed," says the Apostle John, " is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein." + The original manuscripts of the New Testament, which must from the first have been accessible to comparatively few, have all long since disappeared; and it is now impossible to tell whether they were worn away by the corroding tooth of time, or destroyed in seasons of persecution. Copies of them were rapidly multiplied; and though heathen adversaries displayed no small amount of malice and activity, it was soon found impossible to effect their annihilation. It was not necessary that the apostolic autographs should be preserved for ever, as the records, when transcribed, still retained the best and clearest proofs of their inspiration. They did not require even the imprimatur of the Church, for they exhibited in every page the stamp of divinity; and as soon as they were published, they commended themselves by the internal tokens of their heavenly lineage to the acceptance of the faithful. "The Word of God is quick and powerful," and every one who peruses the New Testament in a right spirit must feel that it has emanated from the Searcher of hearts. It speaks to the conscience; it has all the simplicity and majesty of a divine communication ; it enlightens the understanding; and it converts the soul. No mere man could have invented such a character as the Saviour it reveals; no mere man could have contrived such a system of mercy as that which it announces. The New * John v. 39; 2 Tim. iii. 15. + Rev. i. 3. See also 2 Peter i. 19. Paul's epistles were often written with the hand of another. See Rom. xvi. 22; 2 Thess. iii. 17. Testament is always on the side of whatsoever is just, and honest, and lovely, and of good report; it glorifies God; it alarms the sinner; it comforts the saint. "The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times."* The excellence of the New Testament is displayed to singular advantage when contrasted with those uninspired productions of nearly the same date which emanated from the companions of the apostles. The only genuine document of this nature which has come down to us, and which appeared in the first century,t is an epistle to the Corinthians. It was prepared immediately after the Domitian persecution, or about A.D. 96, with a view to heal certain divisions which had sprung up in the religious community to which it is addressed; and, though written in the name of the Church of Rome, there is no reason to doubt that it is the composition of Clement, who was then at the head of the Roman presbytery. The advice which it administers is most judicious; and the whole letter breathes the peaceful spirit of a devoted Christian pastor. But it contains passages which furnish conclusive evidence that it has no claims whatever to inspiration; and its illustration of the doctrine of the resurrection is in itself more than sufficient to demonstrate that it could not have been dictated under any supernatural guidance. "There is," says Clement,§ "a certain bird called the phoenix. Of this there is never but one at a time, and that lives five hundred years: and when the time of its dissolution draws * Ps. xii. 6. + The epistle to Diognetus may have been written in the first century, but it is commonly referred to a later date. He speaks of the Church of Corinth at the time as "most ancient" (§ 47), and refers apparently to the Domitian persecution. See Euseb. iii. 15, 16. § Tertullian also illustrates the resurrection by the story of the phoenix "De Resurrec. Carn." c. 13. |