nities ; for it seems evident that the general or oecu- menical council of Nice, which met in the year 3:25, formed no catalogue. The first catalogue, indeed, which has come down to us is that of an anonymous writer of the third century. He reckons thirteen epistles of Paul, accounts the Epistle to the Hebrews the work of an Alexandrian Marcionite, mentions the Epistle of Jude, two of John, and the revelations of John and Peter, saying, with respect to them, that "some among us are opposed to their being read in the church" (see Hug's Introduction, § xiv). But soon after the council of Nice public opinion turned gradually in favor of the antilegomena, or controvert- ed books ; for we then find them for the first time cited without any marks of doubt as to their canonici- ty. Thus, in the year 348, Cyril of Jerusalem enu- merates fourteen epistles of Paul and seven Catholic epistles. Gregory of Nazianzus, who, according to Cave (Ilistoria Literaria), was bom about the time of the Nicene Council, and died in 389, enumerates all the books now received except the Apocalypse. Epi- phanius, who was chosen bishop of Constantia in A.D. 307 or 3G8, and composed his catalogue of ecclesias- tical writers in 392, cites, in his Panarium, the differ- ent books of the New Testament in a manner which shows that he received all that are in the present can- on. Of the Apocalypse he says that it was " general- ly or by most received;" and, speaking of the Alo- gians, who rejected all John's writings, he observes, " If they had rejected the Apocalypse only, it might have been supposed that they had acted from a nice critical judgment, as being circumspect in regard to an apocryphal or mysterious book ; but to reject all John's writings was a sign of an anti-Christian spirit." Am- philochius also, bishop of Iconium, in Lycaonia, who was contemporary with Epiphanius, and is supposed to have died soon after the year 394, after citing the fourteen epistles of Paul, in his Iambics, adds, "But some say the Epistle to the Hebrews is spurious, not speaking correctly, for it is a genuine gift. Then the Catholic epistles, of which some receive seven, others only three, one of James, one of Peter, one of John ; while others receive three of John, two of Peter, and Jude's. The Revelation of John is approved by some, while many say it is spurious." The eighty-fifth of the Apostolical Canons, a work falsely ascribed to Clement of Rome, but written at latest in the fourth century, enumerates fourteen epistles of Paul, one. of Peter, three of John, one of James, one of Jude, two of Clement, and the (so-called) Apostolical Constitutions, among the canonical books of Scripture. This latter book, adds the pseudo-Clement, it is not fit to publish before all, "because of the mysteries contained in it." The first council that is supposed to have given a list of the canonical books is the much agitated council of Laodicea, supposed to have been held about the year 360 or 364 by thirty or forty bishops of Lydia and the neighboring parts ; but the fifty-ninth article, which gives a catalogue of the canonical books, is not gener- ally held to be genuine. Its genuineness, indeed, has been questioned by both Roman Catholic and Prot- estant historians. In his Introduction to the Old Testament Jahn refers to this canon as the work of " an anonymous framer." Among the canonical books included in the pretended fifty-ninth canon of this council are the seven Catholic epistles, viz., one of James, two of Peter, three of John, one of Jude ; four- teen of Paul, in the following order, viz., Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Hebrews, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. The Apocalypse ia not named. Jerome and Augustine, whose opinions had great influence in settling the canon of Scripture, essentially agreed in regard to the books of the New Testament. St. Augustine was present in the year 393 at the council of Hippo, which drew up a catalogue of all the books of Scripture, agreeing in all points, so
far as the New Testament was concerned, with the canon universally received, with the exception, per- haps, of the Hebrews, for the ancient doubt still ap- pears through the wording of the acts of this council. They commence with enumerating only thirteen epis- tles of Paul, and then add " one, by the same author, to the Hebrews." They then mention two of Peter, three of John, one of James, and the Apocalypse, with a proviso that the churches beyond the sea be consult- ed with respect to this canon. And to the same effect the council of Carthage, held in the year 397, having adopted the same catalogue, the bishops assembled in council add, " But let this be known to our brother and fellow-priest (consacerdoti) Boniface [bishop of Rome], or to the other bishops of those parts, that we have received those [books] from the fathers to be read in the church." The same catalogue is repeated in the epistle of Innocent I, bishop of Rome, to St. Exupere, bishop of Toulouse, in the year 404, which, by those who acknowledge its genuineness, is looked upon as a confirmation of the decrees of Hippo and Carthage. It was still more formally confirmed in the Roman synod presided over by Pope Gelasius in 494, "if, indeed," to use the words of the learned Ro- man Catholic Jahn, "the acts of this synod are genuine" (see his Introduction). But, however this may be, the controversy had now nearly subsided, and the antile- gomena w^ere henceforward put on a par with the ac- knowledged books, and took their place beside them in all copies of the Scriptures. Indeed, subsequently to the eras of the councils of Hippo and Carthage, we hear but a solitary voice raised here and there against the genuineness of the antilegomena. Theodore, bish- op of Mopsuestia, for instance, the celebrated Syrian commentator and preacher, who died about A.D. 428, is accused by Leo of Byzantium of having " abrogated and antiquated the Epistle of James, and afterward other Catholic epistles" (see Canisii Thesaurus, i, 577). And Cosmas Indicoplcustes, so called from the voyage which he made to India about the year 535 to 547, in his Christian Topography, has the following observa- tions in reference to the authority of these books: " I fori >ear to allege arguments from the Catholic epistles, because from ancient times the Church has looked