THE DISPUTED BOOKS.

The grounds on which each of the disputed books—­Antilegomena, chap. 5, No. 6—­is received into the canon of the New Testament, will be considered in the introduction to these books.  In the present chapter some general suggestions will be made which apply to them as a whole.

1.  This is not a question concerning the truth of Christianity, but concerning the extent of the canon; a distinction which is of the highest importance.  Some persons, when they learn that doubts existed in the early churches, to a greater or less extent, respecting certain books of the New Testament, are troubled in mind, as if a shade of uncertainty were thereby cast over the whole collection of books.  But this is a very erroneous view of the matter.  The books of the New Testament, like those of the Old, were written one after another, as occasion required; and the churches received each of them separately on the evidence they had of its apostolic origin and authority.  At length collections of these books, that is, canons, began to be formed.  Such collections translators would of necessity make, unless they found them ready at hand.  The earliest canons of which we have any knowledge are contained in the old Latin version, the Syriac version called Peshito, and the Muratorian canon; each of which represented the prevailing judgment of the churches in the region where it was formed.  As this judgment differed in the different provinces of Christendom in respect to the books in question, so also do these canons.  The Peshito contains the epistle to the Hebrews and that of James, but omits the other five books.  The Muratorian canon omits the epistle to the Hebrews, the epistle of James, and the second epistle of Peter; but contains the epistle of Jude, the book of Revelation, and apparently also the second and third of John, though in respect to them its language is obscure and of doubtful interpretation.  The old Latin version, so far as we can judge from the quotations of the church fathers, agreed in general with the Muratorian canon.  It contained, however, the epistle of James, (Codex Corbeiensis, ff,) and that to the Hebrews; and if, as has been supposed, this latter was a later addition, it was yet earlier than the time of Tertullian.  See Westcott on the Canon, pp. 282, 283.  Now this diversity of judgment with regard to particular books does not affect in the least the remaining books of the New Testament, which are sustained by the authority of all the above-named witnesses, as well as by the undivided testimony of the ancient churches.  Did the New Testament claim to be the work of a single author, the case would be different.  We should then have but one witness; and if certain parts of his testimony could be successfully assailed, this would throw a measure of suspicion on the whole.  But now we have in the separate books of the New Testament a large number of witnesses, most of whom are