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canon of authorized books . No council of the church undertook this task during the lapse of several centuries . The volume of the New Testament was gradually collected from different quarters in which the authenticated
writings of the apostles were deposited ; and so cafefully was the discrimination made , that , although several of the pieces contained in our present canon were disputed , owing to some slight defect of evidence , it admits of the
most satisfactory proof , that no piece now excluded from it was ever generall y received as sacred . We will here give some general remarks of Lardner ' s respecting the Apocryphal books published in the early days of Christianity . They are taken from the conclusion of his work
on the Credibility of the Gospel History . ( Works , V . 412 . ) He says , " 1 . These books were not much used by the primitive Christians . There are no quotations of any of them in the apostolic fathers , by whom I mean Barnabas , Clement of Rome , Hennas ,
Ignatius and Polycarp , whose writings reach from about the year of our Lord 70 to the year 108 . I say this confidently , because I think it has been proved . Irenaeus quotes not any of these books ; he mentions some of them , but he never quotes them . The same may be said of Tertullian ; he has mentioned a book called the Acts
of Paul and Thecla , but it is only to condemn it . Clement of Alexandria and Origen have mentioned and quoted several such books , but never as of authority , and sometimes with express marks of dislike . Eusebius quotes no such books in any of his works . He has mentioned them indeed ; but how ?
Not by way of approbation , but , to shew that they were of little or no value , and that they were never received by the sounder part of Christians . Athanasius mentions not any of them by name ; he only pa ^ seth a ai £ vfcre censure upon them ii * general ; nor do any of these books etret come in the way of Jeifoiaxe ^ tit he shews signs of
his dispteasur ^ " . " J ? pw f > r none of the $£ books were con } pa , aed before thai beginning ^ ,, of ,, ^ a $ cpnd centuryJ ? ' T ^ e , pupUcfitum of , titeae Apoery * pW bpoke may be ¦ accounted tor ;> it was v ^ muck owing to the fame of Chri 3 t jmd his kpofetfes /* P ; < 4 i { 8 : M Thecdsei ^ f the apostles' of Ciirist is
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not singular . Many men of distin guished characters have had discourses made for them which themselves kne \ v notliiBg of , and actions imputed to them which they neveir perforincid ; arid eminent writers have often had works imputed to them ot itfliich they werp not the authors . Nc # eitfeei # ss , tery
few impostures- of this kind have prevailed in the world ; , all men being unwilling to be deceived * and many being on their guard , and freadily ' £ 36-erting themselves to detect and expose such things . Many things ivefre published in the name of Platitus \ raifcn
were not his . Some works were ascribed to Virgil and Horace which were not theirs . The Greek and Rodman critics distinguished the genuine and spurious works of those famous writers . The primitive Christians acted
in the like manner ; they did not presently receive every thing proposed to them ; they admitted nothing whici was not well recommended . Says Serapion , Bishop of Antioch , in his Examination of the Gospel of Peter , € We receive Peter and the other apostles , as Christ ; but as skilful men we
reject those writings which are falsely ascribed to them / Upon the whole , *' says Dr . Lardner , " we have all the satisfaction which can be reasonably desired , that the books received by the primitive Christitms were received by them upon good ground , and that others were as justly rejected /'
If any doubts have been occasioned to any individual by the casual inspection of the work we have been reviewing , we trust they will be set to r 6 st by the opinion of so learned arid upright an inquirer after truth & 3 Dr ,
Lardner : and whoever wishes to see to full advantage the argument ivhicii may be derived from these very pietfea in favour of Christianity , will do Well to consult a volume written by Dr . Blaitby , entitled < c Illustrations of the Truth of Christianity . ^ fit . T .
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Ileviewi— 'Jdreeland f ' Sermons . 41
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Art . m *— $ ermoiyi 9 by the late Rev Joseph Bret land . Tfr which ate prafi&ed ± Memoirs of Alto lAfei With aft Appendix , containing Ffvf Letters rehttrng to M ?\ JFhme 4 ® & Hypothesis'tyth '' 7 ^ pt « i&WM tfpl 378 ^ M '^ JWH kiid Co ., London . 182 a .
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VOh . XVI . a
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1821, page 41, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2496/page/41/
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