indeed admitted into the church, but is not acknowledged by all to be divine, this may be taken from the Shepherd." Again, "In the book of the Shepherd, if any one thinks that writing is to be received."

He thus refers to other apocryphal writings: "Now, it is written in the Catholic Epistle of Barnabas." "Since that book [the Doctrine of Peter] is not reckoned among the ecclesiastical books, the reason whereof can be shown, namely, because it is neither the writing of Peter, nor of any other man, who was inspired by the spirit of God."

a

Origen recognizes both of these collections, the Gospel and Apostle, and also that of the New Testament as a whole. He bases his acknowledgment of the books of the New Testament as divine, and as the sources of truth, upon the inspiration of their authors, and the tradition of the church. He says, "As formerly, among the Jewish people, many pretended to prophecy, and were indeed false prophets, . . . so likewise in the New Testament many have attempted to write Gospels, but all are not received. And so you must know that not only four, but many Gospels have been written, from which those that we have are selected, and handed down by the churches. We may learn this fact from

a

Puto, quod Hermas iste sit scriptor libelli illius, qui Pastor appellatur, quæ scriptura valde mihi utilis videtur, et, ut puto, divinitus inspirata. Comm. in Ep. ad Rom. vol. iv. 683. On the contrary, El on τokuńσavτα xal ảлó τινος φερομένης μὲν ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ γραφῆς, οὐ παρὰ πᾶσι δὲ ὁμολογουμένης εἶναι θείας καὶ τοιοῦτον παραμυθήσασθαι, ληφθείη ἂν καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ποιμένος. Comm. in Matt. vol. iii. p. 644. — In libello Pastoris, si cui tamen scriptura illa recipienda videtur. Homil. viii. in Num. vol. ii. p. 294. Γέγραπται δὴ ἐν τῇ Bagráßa nabolný čлiroký. C. Cels. i. 63. vol. i. p. 378. — Quoniam ille liber (Petri Doctrina) inter libros ecclesiasticos non habetur, et ostendendum est, quia neque Petri est scriptura, neque alterius cujusquam, qui spiritu Dei fuerit inspiratus. De Princ. Præf. vol. i. p. 49. [See, also, Münscher, l. c. § 51, 52.] Hom. xix. in Jerem. vol. iii. p. 264.

the exordium of Luke; for the remark he makes, they 'have taken in hand,' contains a latent accusation against those who rushed to the writing of Gospels, without the grace of the Holy Spirit. Matthew, Mark, John, and Luke, indeed, have not 'taken in hand' to write, but, full of the Holy Spirit, they wrote the Gospels....... The church (following the ecclesiastical standard mentioned by Eusebius) receives four Gospels; the heretics have many, among which are those according to the Egyptians, and according to the twelve Apostles. But of all three, we approve nothing, except what the church approves; that is, only four Gospels are to be received." Again: "But now it were tedious to stop and inquire, concerning this book, (the Doctrine of Peter,) whether it is genuine, or spurious, or mixed.""

......

[Origen makes use of but two specific terms to designate the religious writings of the Christians, namely, the Gospel and the Apostle. But, as these two separate collections seem gradually to have united into one,

b

Hoc,

• Sicut olim in populo Judæorum multi prophetiam pollicebantur, et qui dem erant pseudoprophetæ ......: ita et in Novo Testamento multi conati sunt scribere Evangelia, sed non omnes recepti. Et ut sciatis non solum quatuor Evangelia, sed plurima esse conscripta, ex quibus hæc, quæ habemus, electa sunt et tradita ecclesiis, ex ipso proœmio Lucæ cognoscamus quod ait, conati sunt, latentem habet accusationem eorum, qui absque gratia spiritus sancti ad scribenda Evangelia prosilierunt. Matthæus quippe et Marcus et Johannes et Lucas non sunt conati scribere, sed spiritu sancto pleni scripserunt Evangelia....... Ecclesia (xατà tòv èxxλŋoiaσtixòv navóva Euseb. vi. 25) quatuor habet Evangelia, hæreses plurima; e quibus quoddam scribitur secundum Ægyptios, aliud juxta duodecim Apostolos....... Sed in his omnibus nihil aliud probamus, nisi quod ecclesia, i. e. quatuor tantum Evangelia recipienda. Homil. i. in Luc. iii. p. 933. — Iolù dé ¿ơtɩ võv .......... ἵστασθαι πρὸς αὐτὸ ἐξετάζοντας καὶ περὶ τοῦ βιβλίου (Πέτρου κηρύγματος), πότερόν ποτε γνήσιόν ἐστι, ἢ νόθον, ἢ μικτόν. Com. in Johan. iv. 226. See Origen, Hom. in Jerem. Opp. iii. p. 164. De Princ. iv. c. i. Opp.

i. p. 156.

p.

he calls their collected writings the New Testament. He is the first writer who divides all the religious writings common amongst the Christians into three classes- genuine, spurious, and mixed." Among the mixed writings, we are probably to place such as were received by some catholic churches, and rejected by others, or those which Eusebius afterwards called the contested writings. Origen has not expressly informed us what books he enumerated in either class, but it may be determined from remarks he has elsewhere made. The four Gospels, the Acts, the twelve Epistles of Paul, the First Epistle of Peter, and the First of John, were incontestably genuine and divine writings. Probably, also, he reckoned the Apocalypse among them. But on the other hand, the following were of less value, and belonged to the mixed writings, namely, the Epistles of Jude, Barnabas, the Second and Third of John, and perhaps the Epistle of James, and the Second of Peter. Finally, he considers as spurious the Preaching of Peter, and several of the Gospels then current. He determined the rank and value of writings by their genuineness, and the fact that they were the work of inspired men. But his opinion about inspiration is fluctuating. At one time he says, all the apparent contradictions of the Bible arise from the interpreter's ignorance; that the Old and New Testament contain the same doctrine, only veiled in the one and unveiled in the other; and yet says the writings of the apostles are not equal to those of the prophets, which begin, "Thus saith the Almighty God," and doubts whether Paul included his own writings when he said, "All Scripture given by

inspiration, and profitable;" for the apostle sometimes writes, "I say, and not the Lord," &c.]"

The Apocalypse was doubted by Dionysius of Alexandria.'

§ 24.

THE CANON OF EUSEBIUS.

Eusebius, the diligent investigator and learned historian of the church, treats in detail of the canon of the New Testament in the following celebrated passage: "And here it seems proper to give a summary enumeration of the writings in the New Testament previously mentioned. And here, among the first, must be placed the holy quaternion of the Gospels, which are followed by the book of the Acts of the Apostles. After this, the Epistles of Paul are to be reckoned, and immediately after these the acknowledged First Epistle of John, and the Epistle of Peter, which is likewise to be received. After these, if it appears proper, the Apocalypse of John is to be placed, concerning which we shall present the current opinions in due season. All these belong to those which are acknowledged as genuine."

• See Com. in Matt. Opp. iii. p. 441, Com. in Johan. Opp. iv. p. 8, and on the other hand, ibid. p. 4 and 5. See Münscher, 1. c. vol. i. § 52 and 63.

See Eusebius, lib. vii. c. 25.

'See Vogel, Com. de Canone Euseb., (Erlangen, 1809—11,) pt. i. p. 4, note 2. Bertholdt, p. 120, note 3. Hug, Introduction, § 20, p. 78, sqq., Fosdick's translation.

* Hist. Eccl. iii. 25: Εύλογον δ' ἐνταῦθα γενομένους, ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι τὰς δηλωθείσας τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης γραφάς. Καὶ δὴ τακτέον ἐν πρώτοις τὴν ἁγίαν τῶν Εὐαγγελίων τετρακτύν· οἷς ἕπεται ἡ τῶν πράξεων τῶν ̓Αποστόλων γραφή· μετὰ δὲ ταύτην τὰς Παύλου καταλεκτέον ἐπιστολάς· αἷς ἑξῆς τὴν φερομένην 'Ιωάννου προτέραν, καὶ ὁμοίως τὴν Πέτρου κυρωτέον ἐπιστολήν· ἐπὶ τούτοις τακτέον, είγε φανείη, τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν Ιωάννου·

"Among the books which are disputed, though well known to the many, are that Epistle ascribed to James, and that of Jude, the Second of Peter, and the Second and Third of John, whether they belong to the evangelist or to some other of the same name with him.

"Among the spurious must be reckoned the book of the Acts of Paul, that called the Shepherd, and the Apocalypse of Peter, and besides these, the Epistle ascribed to Barnabas, the books called the Institutes of the twelve Apostles, and also, as I said before, if it appears proper, the Apocalypse of John, which some, as I said, reject, but which others class with the acknowl

περὶ ἧς τὰ δόξαντα κατὰ καιρὸν ἐκθησόμεθα· καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἐν ὁμολογουμένοις.

Τῶν δ ̓ ἀντιλεγομένων, γνωρίμων δ ̓ οὖν ὅμως τοῖς πολλοῖς, ἡ λεγομένη Ιακώβου, φέρεται καὶ ἡ ̓Ιούδα· ἦτε Πέτρου δευτέρα ἐπιστολὴ καὶ ἡ ὀνομαζομένη δευτέρα καὶ τρίτη Ιωάννου· εἴτε τοῦ Εὐαγγελιστοῦ τυγχάνουσαι, εἴτε καὶ ἑτέρου ὁμωνύμου ἐκείνῳ.

Ἐν τοῖς νόθοις κατατετάχθω καὶ τῶν Παύλου πράξεων ἡ γραφὴ, ὅ, τε λεγόμενος ποιμὴν, καὶ ἡ ἀποκάλυψις Πέτρου. Καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἡ φερο μένη Βαρνάβα ἐπιστολὴ, καὶ τῶν ̓Αποστόλων αἱ λεγόμεναι διδαχαί· ἔτι τε, ὡς ἔφην, ἡ ̓Ιωάννου ἀποκάλυψις, εἰ φανείη, ἣν τινες, ὡς ἔφην, ἀθετοῦσιν, ἕτεροι δὲ ἐγκρίνουσι τοῖς ὁμολογουμένοις. Ηδη δ' ἐν τούτοις τινὲς καὶ τὸ καθ' Εβραίους Εὐαγγέλιον κατέλεξαν, ᾧ μάλιστα Εβραίων οἱ τὸν Χριστὸν παραδεξάμενοι χαίρουσι. Ταῦτα μὲν πάντα τῶν ἀντιλεγομένων ἂν εἴη. Αναγκαίως δὲ καὶ τούτων ὅμως τὸν κατάλογον πεποιήμεθα, διακρί ναντες τάς τε κατὰ τὴν ἐκκλησιαστικὴν παράδοσιν ἀληθεῖς καὶ ἀπλάστους καὶ ἀνωμολογημένας γραφὰς, καὶ τὰς ἄλλας παρὰ ταύτας, οὐκ ἐνδιαθήκους μὲν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀντιλεγομένας, ὅμως δὲ παρὰ πλείστοις τῶν ̓Εκκλησιαστικῶν γινωσκομένας· ἴν' εἰδέναι ἔχοιμεν αὐτάς τε ταύτας, καὶ τὰς ὀνόματι τῶν ̓Αποστόλων πρὸς τῶν αἱρετικῶν προφερομένας· ἤτοι ὡς Πέτρου, καὶ Θωμᾶ, καὶ Ματθία, ἢ καί τινων παρὰ τούτους ἄλλων Εὐαγγέλια περιεχούσας· ἢ ὡς Ανδρέου, καὶ ̓Ιωάννου, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ̓Αποστόλων πράξεις· ὧν οὐδὲν οὐδαμῶς ἐν συγγράμματι τῶν κατὰ διαδοχὰς ̓Εκκλησιαστικῶν τις ἀνὴρ εἰς μνήμην ἀγαγεῖν ἠξίωσεν. Πόρρω δέ που καὶ ὁ τῆς φράσεως παρὰ τὸ ἦθος τὸ ἀποστολικὸν ἐναλλάττει χαρακτήρ· ἥ τε γνώμη καὶ ἡ τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς φερομένων προαίρεσις, πλεῖστον ὅσον τῆς ἀληθοῦς ὀρθοδοξίας ἀπᾴδουσα, ὅτι δὴ αἱρετικῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀναπλάσματα τυγχάνει, σαφῶς παρίστησιν· ὅθεν οὐ δ ̓ ἐν νόθοις αὐτὰ κατατακτέον, ἀλλ' ὡς ἄτοπα πάντη και δυσσεβῆ παραιτητέον.