the four Gospels, of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John: the Acts of the Apostles, written by Luke: the fourteen Epistles of the Apostle Paul, viz., Romans, two to the Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, two to Timothy, one to Titus, one to Philemon, and one to the Hebrews; two Epistles of Peter the Apostle, three Epistles of John the Apostle, one of James the Apostle, one of Jude the Apostle, and the Apocalypse of John the Apostle. If any man will not receive as sacred and canonical all these books entire, with all their parts, as they have been wont to be + read in the Catholic Church, and as they exist in the old Latin (Council of Trent, Sess. IV.) * * In the Council of Trent, the discussion of the Canon of the New Testament was less extensive and intense, than that which had come upon the Canon of the Old Testament. Not a voice opposed the canonicity of the antilegomena of the New Testament; Luther and his supporters were recognized as their sole opponents. Regarding the last verses of the Gospel of Mark; Luke's account of the sweat of the Lord in Gethsemani; and the section relating to the adulteress in the Gospel of John, some discussion was moved. Cardinal Pacheco demanded in the general assembly of the Council on the 27th of March, that these portions should be expressly indicated in the decree. Cajetan had placed that the final verses of Mark were of less authority in matters of faith. (Mark. XVI. 9—20.) The Fathers believed that it was inopportune to even notice the doubts concerning these passages. The question was put to vote whether express mention should be made of these passages, and it was decided in the negative by thirty-four votes against seventeen. Some discussion followed till finally the point raised by Pacheco was safeguarded by the clause: "the books with all their parts." The next point of discussion regarded the authors of the books. The question was submitted: Whether the books should be received together with the authors. Forty-four of the assembly voted on the 1st of April, that the authors should be received as well as the books. In consequence of this the schema was modified, so that the author of every book of the New Testament is most clearly mentioned with the respective books. Hence the question which had been open up to that time was settled. The Council fixed the canonicity and authorship of the books. CHAPTER XIV. THE NEW TESTAMENT OF THE SECTS. The Canon of the schismatic Greek Church, is the same as that of the Roman Catholic Church. In Syria, the Nestorians receive only the Gospels, the Acts, fourteen Epistles of Paul, I. Peter, I. John, and the Epistle of James. Ebed Jesu, the Nestorian Metropolitan of Nisibe, (†1318), does not mention the four shorter Catholic Epistles and Apocalypse in his catalogue of the New Testa ment. The schismatic Armenians receive all our books, and add two letters of the Corinthians to Paul, and Paul's response. The Ethiopian Canon contains all the books, and adds the Apostolical Constitutions. Calvin and his sect received the full Canon. The Anglican Church also received all the books of the Catholic Canon. In the Lutheran Church there was much fluctuation of opinion. Luther had doubted of the Epistles of James, Jude, Hebrews and the Apocalypse; his followers went farther, and rejected II. Peter, and II. and III. John. But the Lutherans were not constant in this opinion. The lack of support of the other sects, and the feebleness of their position brought it about that Bossuet was able to write in 1700 to Leibnitz : "Nous convenons tous ensemble, protestants et catholiques, également des mêmes livres du Nouveau Testament; car je ne crois pas que personne voulût suivre encore les emportements de Luther contre l'Épître de saint Jacques. Passons donc une même canonicité à tous ces livres, contestés autrefois ou non contestés après cela, Monsieur, permettez-moi de vous demander si vous voulez affaiblir l'autorité ou de l'Épître aux Hébreux, si haute, si théologique, si divine, ou celle de l'Apocalypse, ou reluit l'esprit prophétique autant de magnificence que dans Isaïe et dans avec Daniel?" The Lutherans had abandoned their theory, but in many of of their Bibles the preface of Luther was long after printed. It is for this cause that Richard Simon ridicules them for such an apparent contradiction. Finally, these prefaces were expunged, and the opinions of their founder on this point consigned to oblivion. The rise of rationalism has changed the estate of the books of both Testaments in the protestant church. It is now no longer a question of the divinity of any particular book, but belief in the divinity of the whole collection is fast dying in all the sects. CHAPTER XV. THE APOCRYPHAL AND LOST BOOKS OF BOTH TESTAMENTS. The radical signification of apocryphal, аπóкpupos from аπокрúπтЄш, is that of hidden. Cornely believes that the application of the term to scriptural writings came from the custom of the Greeks of preserving the ȧπóκpupa Bißxía in the temples of the gods. These books, they fabled, had come to them from the gods; hence, the later imposters, according to his opinion, feigned a mysterious origin for their productions, which thus were styled apocryphal. His arguments to prove this theory are very feeble. In our judgment the first signification of the term as applied to our books, was to denote that the origin and authorship of the book were unknown. By its etymological force, it would extend to all books of unknown authorship. But language is a living growth, and can not be bound by etymology. The books which, though of an uncertain author, were certainly of an inspired author, were thus preserved immune from this appellation. So that the term became exclusively applied to books, whose real character was hidden. At all events the use of the term to-day is to signify a book which by its title seems to lay claim to divinity, but which has no sufficient data to substantiate this claim. Perhaps we could not better the definition of Origen: "Books which were produced under the names of the saints (biblical personages), but which are outside the Canon." Not all the Apocrypha are of the same character. Some are impious; others are composed of legends and pious reflections intended for the edification of the faithful. The Apocrypha are of two great classes, those of the Old Testament, and those of the New. We know from the testimonies of the Fathers that a vast multitude of Apocrypha existed in the early ages of the Church. The pious fictions of Christians, the fictions of the Jews, and the forgeries of the heretics conspired to augment the number. The first official enumeration of the Apocrypha is in the following Canon of Gelasius, sanctioned in a council at Rome in 495-496. List of apocryphal books which are not received: The Itinerary under name of Peter the Apostle, which is entitled of The Acts of Andrew the Apostle, apocryphal. The Gospel of Mathias, apocryphal. The Gospel of Peter the Apostle, apocryphal. The Gospel of James the Apostle, apocryphal. The Gospel of Barnabas, apocryphal. The Gospel of Thomas, used by the Manicheans, apocryphal. The Gospel of Bartholomew the Apostle, apocryphal. The Gospel of Andrew the Apostle, apocryphal. The Gospel corrupted by Lucian, apocryphal. The Book of the Infancy of the Saviour, apocryphal. The Gospels corrupted by Hesychius, apocryphal. The Book of the Navitivity af the Lord and Mary and the Wise Woman, apocryphal. The Book called Pastor, apocryphal. All the books made by Lucius, the disciple of the devil, apocryphal. The Book called The Foundation, apocryphal. The Book called The Treasure, apocryphal. The Book of the Daughters of Adam, or the Little Genesis, apocryphal. The Book called the Acts of Thecla and Paul, apocryphal. The Book called of Nepos, apocryphal. The Book of Proverbs, written by heretics, and circulated under the name of S. Sixtus, apocryphal. The Apocalypse, which bears the name of Paul the Apostle, apocryphal. The Apocalypse which bears the name of Thomas the Apostle, apocryphal. The Apocalypse which bears the name of Stephen the Apostle, apo cryphal. The Book called "Transitus", that is the Assumption of the Blessed The Book called the Penance of Adam, apocryphal. The Book of Ogias, who is supposed by the heretics to have combated with the dragon after the deluge, apocryphal. The Book called the Testament of Job, apocryphal. The Book called the Penance of Origen, apocryphal. The Book called the Penance of St. Cyprian, apocryphal. The Book called the Penance of Jamne and Mambre, apocryphal. The Book called The Lots of the Holy Apostles, apocryphal. The Book called The Praise of the Apostles, apocryphal. The Book called The Canon of the Apostles, apocryphal. The Letter of Jesus to King Abgar, apocryphal. The Letter of Abgar to Jesus, apocryphal. The Book called The Contradiction of Solomon, apocryphal. (Mansi. A minor list of apocryphal books appears in the works of Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople (+828). Psalms and Canticles of Solomon, 2100 verses. Apocalypse of Peter, 300 verses. Epistle of Barnabas, 1360 verses. Gospel according to the Hebrews, 2200 verses. Henoch, 4800 verses. The Patriarchs, 5100 verses. The Prayer of Joseph, 1100 verses. The Testament of Moses, 1100 verses. The Assumption of Moses, 1400 verses. Eldad and Modad, 400 verses. Elias, the Prophet, 316 verses. Sophonias, the Prophet, 600 verses. Zachary, the father of John, 500 verses. Baruch, Habacuc, Ezechiel, and Daniel, Pseudepigrapha. The Itinerary of John, 2600 verses. The Itinerary of Thomas, 1700 verses. The Gospel of Thomas, 1300 verses. The Doctrine of the Apostles, 200 verses. The I. and II. Epistle of Clement, 2600 verses. Ignatius, Polycarp, and the Pastor of Hermas.-(Opusc. Hist. ed. Boor). A list of Apocryphal books published from different manuscripts by Montfaucon, Cotelier, Hody and Pitra contains the following: Adam. Henoch. Lamech. Patriarchs. Prayer of Joseph. Vision of Elias. Vision of Isaias. Apocalypse of Sophonias. Apocalypse of Zachary. (Pitra Jur. Eccles. Graec. Hist.) Apocalypse of Ezra. History of James. Apocalypse of Peter. Voyage and Doctrine of the Apostles. Epistle of Barnabas. Acts of Paul. Doctrine of Polycarp. It is not within the scope of our work to give an extended notice upon all these Apocryphal books. We shall only speak of those of greater importance in the bearing upon the Holy Scriptures. We shall first speak of those which the Church permitted to be printed outside the Canon in the Vulgate. Outside the Canonical books in the edition, of the Vulgate, are found the third and fourth Books of Ezra, and the Prayer of Manasses. |