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apostolical fathers, therefore, have no claim to be considered as apocryphal writings.

As the external form of the Apocryphal New Testament harmonises with that of the larger octavo editions of the Authorised English Version of the New Testament, the advocates of infidelity have availed themselves of it, to attempt to undermine the credibility of the genuine books of the New Testament. The preface to the compilation entitled "The Apocryphal New Testament," is, certainly, so drawn up as apparently to favour the views of the opposers of Divine Revelation; but as its editor has DISCLAIMED any sinister design in publishing it, the writer of these pages will not impute any such motives to him.

II. In order, however, that the reader may see how little the sacred writings of the New Testament can suffer from this publicationt, a

The title-page is surrounded with a broad black rule, similar to that found in many of the large 8vo. editions of the New Testament, printed in the last century and the different books are divided into chapters and verses, with a table of contents, drawn up in imitation of those which are found in all edi. tions of the English Bible,

+ In 1698 Mr. Toland published his Amyntor, in which he professed to give a catalogue of books, attributed in the primitive times to Jesus Christ, his Apostles, and other eminent persons, "together with remarks and observations relating to the canon of Scripture." He there raked together whatever he could find relating to the spurious gospels, and pretended sacred books, which appeared in the early ages of the Christian church. These he produced with great pomp, to the number of eighty and upwards; and though they were most of them evidently false and ridiculous, and carried the plainest marks of forgery and imposture, of which, no doubt, he was very sensible, yet he did what he could to represent them as of equal authority with the four Gospels, and other sacred books of the New Testament, now received amoug Christians. To this end, he took advantage of the unwary and ill-ground

brief statement shall be given, of the very satisfactory reasons for which the apocryphal (or rather spurious) writings, ascribed to the Apostles, have been deservedly rejected from the canon of Scripture.

1. In the first place, they were NOT acknowledged as authentic, nor were they much used by the primitive Christians.-There are no quotations of these apocryphaf books in the genuine writings of the apostolical fathers; that is, of Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Polycarp, and Hermas, whose writings reach from about the year of Christ 70 to 108; nor are they found in any antient catalogues of the sacred books. Some of them indeed are mentioned, but not cited by Ire

ed hypotheses of some learned men, and endeavoured to prove that the books of the present canon lay concealed in the coffers of private persons, till the latter times of Trajan or Adrian, and were not known to the clergy or churches of those times, nor distinguished from the spurious works of heretics; and that the Scriptures, which we now receive as canonical, and others which we now reject, were indifferently and promiscuously cited and appealed to by the most ancient Christian writers. His design in all this, manifestly was to shew, that the Gospels and other sacred writings of the New Testament, now acknowledged as canonical, really deserve no greater credit, and are no more to be depended upon, than those books which are rejected and exploded as forgeries. And yet he had the confidence to pretend, in a book he afterwards published, that his intention in his Amyntor, was not to invalidate, but to illustrate and confirm, the canon of the New Testament. This may serve as one instance out of many that might be produced of the insincerity of this opposer of revelation, whose assertions have been adopted by infidels of the present day. Many good and satisfactory refutations of Toland were published at that time by Dr. Samuel Clarke, Mr. Nye, and others; and especially by the learned Mr. Jeremiah Jones, in his "New and Full Method of settling the Canonical Authority of the New Testament," in 2 vols. 8vo. reprinted at Oxford in 1798, in 3 vols. 8vo.

næus and Tertullian, who lived in the second century. Indeed the apocryphal books above mentioned are expressly, and in so many words, rejected by those who have mentioned them, as the forgeries of heretics, and consequently as spurious and heretical.

2. Few or none of these productions, which (it is pretended) were written in the apostolic age, were composed before the second century, and several of them were forged so late as the third century, and were rejected as spurious at the time they were attempted to be imposed upon the heathen world.-A brief statement of the dates of the pieces contained in the Apocryphal New Testament (with the exception of the writings of the apostolic fathers which are omitted for the reason already stated) will demonstrate this fact.

Thus, the pseudo-Epistles of Abgarus Prince of Edessa, and of Jesus Christ, which were never heard of, until published by Eusebius in the fourth century. Though an Epistle of Paul to the Laodiceans was extant in the second century, and was received by Marcion the heretic, who was notorious for his mutilations and interpolations of the New Testament, yet that now extant is not the same with the antient one under that title in Marcion's Apostolicon, or collection of apostolical epistles. It never was extant in Greek, and is a production of uncertain, but unquestionably very late, date. Mr. Jones conjectures it to have been forged by some monk not long before the Reformation; and, as will be shewn in a subsequent page, it was compiled from several passages of St. Paul's Epistles. The six Epistles of Paul to Seneca, and eight of the philosopher to him, were never heard of, until they were mentioned by Jerome and Augustine, two writers who lived at the close of the fourth century; and who do not appear to have considered them as genuine.

In

the third, or perhaps in the second,
century, a Gospel of the Birth of
Mary was extant, and received by
several of the antient heretics; but
it underwent many alterations, and
the antient copies varied greatly
from that now printed in the apo-
cryphal New Testament, which was
translated by Mr. Jones from Je-
rome's Latin version, first made at
the close of the fourth century.
This Gospel of the Birth of Mary
is for the most part the same with
the Prot-evangelion or Gospel of
James (which nevertheless it con-
tradicts in many places); and both
are the production of some Helle
nistic Jew. Both also were reject-
ed by the antient writers. The
two Gospels of the Infancy (the
second of which bears the name
of Thomas) seem to have been
originally the same; but the an-
tient Gospel of Thomas was dif-
ferent from those of the Infancy
of Christ. They were received as
genuine only by the Marcosians, a
branch of the sect of Gnostics,
in the beginning of the second
century; and were known to Mo-
hammed or the compilers of the
Koran, who took from them several
idle traditions concerning Christ's
infancy. The Gospel of Nicode-
mus, also called the Acts of Pilate,
was forged by Leucius Charinus,
at the latter end of the third or in
the beginning of the fourth century,
who was a noted forger of the
Acts of Peter, Paul, Andrew,
and others of the Apostles. The
Apostles' Creed derives its name,
not from the fact of its having
been composed, clause by clause,
by the Twelve Apostles (of which
we have no evidence); but because
it contains a brief summary of the
doctrines which they taught. It
is nearly the same with the creed
of Jerusalem, which appears to be
the most antient summary of the
Christian faith that is extant; and
the articles of which have been
collected from the catechetical dis-
courses of Cyril, who was bishop
of Jerusalem in the fourth century.

The Acts of Paul and Thecla, though ranked among the apocryphal Scriptures by the primitive Christians (by whom several things therein related were credited) were in part the forgery of an Asiatic Presbyter, at the close of the first or at the beginning of the second century, who confessed that he had committed the fraud out of love to Paul, and was degraded from his office; and have subsequently been interpolated.

3. When any book is cited, or seems to be appealed to, by any Christian writer, which is not expressly and in so many words rejected by him, there are other sufficient arguments to prove that he did not esteem it to be canonical. For instance, though Origen in one or two places takes a passage out of the Gospel according to the Hebrews, yet in another place he rejects it, under the name of the Gospel of the Twelve Apostles, as a book of the heretics, and declares that the church received only FOUR GOSPELS. Further, though several of these apocryphal books are mentioned by Clement of Alexandria, as well as by Origen, yet Clement never does it as attributing any authority to them, and sometimes he notices them with expressions of disapprobation. In like manner, though Eusebius mentions some of them, he says that they were of little or no value, and that they were never received by the sounder part of Christians. Athanasius, without naming any of them, passes a severe censure upon them in general; and Jerome speaks of them with dislike and censure.

4. Sometimes the fathers made use of the apocryphal books to shew their learning, or that the heretics might not charge them with partiality and ignorance, as being acquainted only with their own books. Remarkable to this purpose are those words of Origen: The church receives only four Gospels; the heretics have many, such as that of the Egyptians,

Thomas, &c. These These we read, that we may not be esteemed ignorant, and by reason of those who imagine they know something extraordinary, if they know the things contained in these books. To the same purpose says Ambrose; having mentioned several of the apocryphal books, he adds, We read these, that they may not be read (by others); we read them, that we may not seem ignorant; we read them, not that we may receive them, but reject them, and may know what those things are of which they (heretics) make such boasting.

5. Sometimes perhaps these books may be cited by the fathers, because the persons against whom they were writing received them, being willing to dispute with them upon principles out of their own books.

6. It may perhaps be true, that one or two writers have cited a few passages out of these books, because the fact they cited was not to be found in any other. St. John tells us (xxi. 25), that our Lord did many other things, besides those which he had recorded; the which, says he, if they should be written every one, I suppose the world itself could not contain the books which should be written. Some accounts of these actions and discourses of Christ were unquestionably preserved, and handed down to the second century, or farther by tradition; which, though inserted afterwards into the books of the heretics, may be easily supposed to have been cited by some later writers, though at the same time they esteemed the books which contained them uninspired, and not of the canon. This was the case with respect to Jerome's citing the Hebrew Gospel, which he certainly looked upon as spurious and apocryphal.

(To be continued.)

FAMILY SERMONS.-No. CLVII. 2 Cor. v. 1.-For we know, that if our earthly house of this taber nacle be dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the

heavens.

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IN the preceding chapter St. Paul had been giving an affecting account of the afflictions which had befallen himself and his brethren for the sake of the Gospel. Nevertheless, he adds, we faint not; for though our outward man perish, our inward man is renewed day by day; for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh out for us an exceeding and eternal weight of glory." As though he had said, True our sufferings are great; so great indeed that, if we had no hope beyond this life, we should be of all men the most miserable: but we are not disheartened; for we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eter nal." The trial will soon be over, but not so the glory that is to follow death that ends the one, will be but the gate of admission to the other. Suppose, then, the worst; suppose that these pains and perils which we endure for the cause of Christ, should end in death itself; suppose, that in addition to the lingering torture of a life of sorrow, and vicissitude, and reproach, we should be called to sustain even the pains of martyrdom, still is our faith unshaken, still is our hope undaunted, still is our rejoicing unsubdued:" for we know that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

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In these words, the Apostle presents us, first, with an affecting representation of our present frail and mortal condition; which be contrasts, secondly, with that building of God, that house not made

with hands, which is eternal in the illustrate these two descriptions, heavens. We shall endeavour to and then, in the third place, point rested that certainty of which he out on what grounds the Apostle speaks in the text.

First, We have in the words before us an affecting representation of our present frail and mortal condition.-The body is called a "house" or "tabernacle:" it is the dwelling-place of the soul, and is furnished with various organs and senses for its accommodation. But it is at best but an "earthly" house, and shall soon be dissolved." Our origin was humble: "the. Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground:" in this respect. we stand on a level with the beasts that perish; our bodies are only erected as a temporary dwelling, and, when the purpose for which they were formed is accomplished, they will mix again with their native dust, till the morning of the resurrection, when they shall be reunited to the soul, and remain for ever either in heaven or in hell.

The Apostle's description of our mortal frame as an earthly house, shews us, by a lively image, how frail we are. We cannot long endure the shock of accidents, or the wasting hand of time; we are inevitably hastening to dust: in vain do we lavish much care, and toil, and expense on this outward tenement: in vain do the young boast of their youth, or the strong of their strength, or the vigorous of their health. These bodies which are now their pride must soon decay, and turn to loathsome defor mity. All earthly distinctions and possessions are likewise fast hasting away: the world is full of change: uncertainty is inscribed on all earthly things even while we enjoy them, and death is rapidly approaching to put an end to our short-lived possession.

The text further speaks of this earthly house as being but a “ tabernacle;" that is, a tent pitched for

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a season, or for occasional shelter, those blessed abodes of which but not intended to abide for ages. our Lord said, "In my Father's Thus our bodies are but slightly house are many mansions: I go to compacted: they are subject to prepare a place for you." "While pain and sickness, and from our very at home in the body we are absent infancy are silently hastening to de- from the Lord;" " but," continues cay. The image in the text is also the Apostle, we desire to be calculated to impress on our minds absent from the body, and to be that we are strangers upon earth; present with the Lord." Here we for a tabernacle denotes a state of have no certain dwelling place; but pilgrimage, and such is our condi- there we trust to enter a city that tion in the present world: we have hath immoveable foundations, and no abiding city; we are exposed to to be fixed as pillars in the temple the inconveniencies and dangers of of God, to go no more out. a waste and howling wilderness, and as Christians we profess to be looking forward to a better, even a heavenly, country. We pitch our tent here only as soldiers on their march: earth is not our rest; it is an enemy's land; and we need ever to live in it with watchfulness and prayer, as faithful servants of Jesus Christ; taking unto us the whole armour of God, and fighting the good fight of faith, that we may lay hold of eternal life.

Secondly, We are to contrast the frail and mortal condition wheh has been described with that building of God, that house no made with hands, which is eterna in the

heavens.

The Apostle, in the words, may refer to that glorius and incorruptible body win which the saints shall be cloth at the resurrection of the just, and the bearing of the text word seem naturally to lead us to ceclude, that he had in view the catrast between the vile bodies dich we now inhabit, and those elestial bodies which shall be fasioned like unto Christ's glorious Jody, according to the mighty orking whereby he is able to sube all things to himself. Or he my intend to refer generally to the heavenly state, which is often cald in Scripture a house, à sion, a city, in distinction to perishing tabernacles which we w inhabit. When these feeble odies shall be dissolved, the soul of the believer shall be housed in a brighter clime: it shall inhabit

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This heavenly building is further described by the Apostle as eternal: it is not exposed to the violence of storms or accidents, but is situated in a pure and peaceful region, far beyond the reach of whatever can molest or endanger its blissful inhabitants. It is an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away; purchased by the inestimable price of the blood of Jesus Christ, who, by his meritorious obedience unto death, hath opened the gate of heaven to all believers. It is a building "of God:" his hands formed it, and his glory enlightens it; it is the land in which he resides in his unveiled presence; where he hath fixed the throne of his glory; where" the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them; and they shall be his people, and he will be with them and be their God; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, for the former things are passed away."

Thirdly, We are to inquire into the grounds on which the Apostle rested the certainty of which he speaks in the text. He says, " We know." His was no vain suggestion of the imagination, but a settled conclusion of his mind and understanding. We may consider him either as expressing generally his assured belief in a future state of happiness to the faithful in Christ Jesus, or as referring in a particu

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