2. The first certain notice which we have of the ex- istence of any of the New-Testament writings in a collected form occurs in 2 Pet. iii, 16, where the writer speaks of the episties of Paul in such a way as to lead us to infer that at that time the whole or the greater part of these were collected together, were known among the churches generally (fbr Peter is not ad- dressing any particular church), and were regarded as on a par with " the other Scriptures," by which lat- ter expression Peter plainly means the sacred writings botii of the Old and the New Testament, as far as then extant. — ^That John must have had before him copies of the other evangelists is probable fh)m the euppk' mentary character of his own gospel. — In the anony- mous Epistle to Diognetus, which is, on good grounds, supposed to be one of the earliest of t£e uninspired Christian writings, the writer speaks of the Law, the Prophets, the Gospels, and the Apostles (§ xi, ed. He- fele). — Ignatius speaks of " betiJcing hhmself to the Gospel as the flesh of Jesus, and to the apostles a^ the presbytery of the Church," and adds, **the prophets also we love," thus showing that it was to the Scrip- tures he was referring {Ep, ad PhUadeijihenot, § v, ed. Hefele). — ^Theophilus of Antioch speaks f^quenlly of the New-Testament writings under the appellation of al &yiai ypa^i, or 6 OtXoc XSyog, and in one place mentions the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospels as alike divinely inspired (ad, Autol. iii, 11). — Clement of Alexandria frequentiy refers to the books of the New Testament, and distinguishes them into ^^the Gospels, and Apostolic Discourses" (fim Dives Salvus f prope fin. ; Stromat. saepissime). — ^TertuUian distinctly intimates the ex^nce of the New-Testament Canon in a complete form in his day by calling it **£vangel- icum Instrumentum" (adv. Marc iv, 2), by describing the whole Bible as *' totum instrumentum utrinsque Testamenti" (adu. Praz, c 20), and by distinguishing between the '* ScripturaYetus" and the <* Novum Tes- tamentum" (JUd. c. 18). — Irenaeus repeatedly calls the writings of the Nejr Testament " the Holy Soiptures,'* "the Oracles of God" (ado. Hcsr. ii, 27; i, 8, etc.), and in one place he puts the evangelical and apostol- ical writings on a par with the Law and the PtH^phets (Ibid, i, 8, § 6). From these allusions we may justiy infer that before the middle of the third century the New-Testament Scriptures were generally known by the Christians in a collected form, and reverenced as the word of God. That the books they received were the same as those now possessed by us is evident fh>m the quotations firom them furnished by the early £a.
CANON
CANON
then, and which have been 8o carefhny collected bj the learned and laborioos Lardner in his CndSMUkf ^ ikt Gotpd History, The same thing appears from the researches of Origen and Ensebiiis, both of whom care- fnllj inqoired, and liave accurately recorded what boolu were received as canonical by the tradition of the churches or the chorch writers (Uiektifrtaarua^ wa- pdioffii), and both of whom enumerate the same books as are in onr present Canon, thongh some of them, snch as the Epistles of James and Jade, the 2d Ep. of Peter, the 2d and 8d of John, and the Apocalypse, they mention that tlioa^ received by the mi^iity, they were doubted by some (Euseb. iT. ^. iii, 25; vi, 24). Besides these sources of information, we have no few- er than ten ancient catalogues of the New-Testament books still extant. Of these, tix accord exactly with our present Canon, while of the rest ^roe omit only the Apocalypse, and one omits, with this, the Epistle to the Hebrews (Lardner*s Works^ vol. iv and v, 8vo ; Home's /n^rodMctiofi, i, 70,' 8th edition).
8. The history of the N.-T. Canon may be < iently divided into three periods. The first extends to the time of Hegesippus (c. A.D. 170), and indndes the nra of the separate circulation and gradual collection of the ^MMtolic writings. The second is cloaed by the persecution of Diocletian (A.D. 808), and marks the separation of the sacred writings from the remaining ecclesiastical literature. The third may be defined by the third CouncU of Carthage (A.D. 897), in which a catalogue of the books of Scripture was formaUy rati- fied by condliar authority. The first is characteris- tically a period of tradition, the second of speculation, the third of authority ; and it would not be difficult to trace the fiuitures of the successive ajes in the ooune of the history of the Canon. For this, however, we have not room in detail, but must refer to the fore- going statements in support of this remark, the truth of which is fruiher su^ained by the history of the times.
The persecution of Diocletian was directed in a great measure against the Christian writings (Lact
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