The superstitious exaltation of the sacred writings, coincident with the lapsing life of the nation, was partially responsible for it, as it discouraged the fresh inspirations of the soul, and suppressed all free spiritual thought.

The genesis of the similar theory concerning the Christian Scriptures repeats the story told above.

The formation of the Christian Church was a period of astonishing literary productivity, commensurate in extent and worth with the importance of Christianity.  It was a creative epoch in history.  The life and teachings of Jesus stirred the minds and thrilled the souls of men.  The higher spheres brooded low upon our world.  Spiritual influences of unparalleled magnitude were working in society.  The “Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

Writings of all sorts abounded.  They carried such weight as their author’s name or their intrinsic worth imparted to them.  Even the most valuable were not so prized or guarded as to prevent some of them from being lost.  Paul’s own letters suffered from this neglect.  Had a few copies of these inestimable letters been made by the churches to whom they were sent such a fate could not have befallen any of them.  These writings were quoted freely by the early fathers, who rarely cared to give the exact language even of the great apostle.

As the churches multiplied and organized, the need of selection from the multitudinous literature of Christianity was felt.  Genuine letters had to be distinguished from spurious letters.  Accurate knowledge of the life and teachings of Christ had become a vital necessity.  The growth of legend and fable, in the Apocryphal Gospels, threatened to swallow up the memory of the real Jesus.  A sifting process went on in the churches, by which the unimportant and objectionable writings were gradually winnowed out and the wheat retained.

The Christian consciousness tried and tested every writing, accepting those which approved themselves inspired by inspiring.

In the course of time this thoroughly vital process, through which public opinion passed upon the Christian writings, was recorded officially in the legislative action of councils, and thus, after many incertitudes and vacillations, the selection of sacred writings was finished and the New Testament canon was closed.  It was closed, as in the case of the canon of the Old Testament, by the gradual loss of free spiritual and literary productivity; closed, as the visions fade and the tides fall within the soul, and the period of criticism follows the period of creation.