put into a written form during the lifetime of the apostles.  These traditions are the “gold, silver, precious stones” of divine truth.  All other traditions are the “wood, hay, stubble” of human origin.  In settling the question respecting the genuineness of the New Testament writings, we proceed as in the case of any other writings.  We avail ourselves of all the evidence within our reach, external and internal.  We take the testimony of Irenaeus and Tertullian, and also of Marcion and Valentinus; though none of them were inspired, and the two latter were heretical.  But when we have once determined what books were written by apostles or apostolic men, these contain for us the only authoritative tradition, as defined by the apostle:  “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle.” 2 Thess. 2:15.

8.  In comparing the synoptic gospels with each other and with the fourth gospel, we must ever bear in mind that no one of them professes to give a complete history of our Lord’s life, or to arrange all the incidents which he relates in the exact order of time.  Under the guidance of the divine Spirit each one pursues his own course, independently of the others, here inserting what one or more of the rest have omitted, or omitting what one or more of them have inserted; and here, again, bringing in incidents without regard to their exact chronological order, with some general preface like the following:  “at that time,” Matt. 12:1; “and he began again,” Mark 4:1; “and it came to pass as he was alone praying,” Luke 9:18; “and it came to pass as they went in the way,” Luke 9:57; etc.  Thus the wisdom of God has given us, not all the particulars of our Lord’s history, but such a selection from both the incidents of his public life and his public and private teachings as best embodies the great facts of the gospel, and the doctrines and duties connected with them.  In the four canonical gospels the church has, not all of our Lord’s history and teachings, but all that the Holy Ghost judged needful for her establishment and edification to the end of time.

Of our Lord’s history before his baptism we have only his genealogy in a twofold form; some notices of his miraculous conception; an account of his birth and circumcision, with the visions and prophecies connected with them; a history of his preservation from Herod’s attempt to destroy him; the subsequent residence of his parents in Nazareth, with a single incident of his childhood.  Luke 2:40-52.  All these particulars have, in one way or another, a bearing on his divine mission and work as the Son of God.  The apocryphal gospels on the contrary, as, for example, the Gospel of the Infancy, and the Gospel of Nicodemus, abound in frivolous stories relating to our Lord’s infancy and later life, which have no connection with the great work of redemption.

9.  The peculiarities of the fourth gospel, as