midst of plenty. In the midst of light, they walk in darkness. God has sent to them the word of life, but they have lightly esteemed the rich gift of his love. O that their eyes were opened, that they might behold wondrous things in the law of the Lord!

SECTION III.

ORDER OF THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT-TIME OF THE GOSPELS BEING WRITTEN-NOTICE OF THE EVANGELISTS.

THE order of the books of the New Testament is not uniform, in the manuscripts now extant, nor as they are mentioned by the Fathers. EUSEBIUS arranges them thus: the Four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of Paul, the First Epistle of John, and the Revelation of John. "These," says he,

were received (except the last mentioned) by all Christians." Then, he mentions those which were not unanimously received; as, the Epistle of James, the Epistle of Jude, the Second of Peter, and the Second and Third of John.

IRENEUS, who lived long before Eusebius, has not given a regular catalogue of the books of the New Testament, but he seems to have followed the same order.

But ATHANASIUS, in his Festal Epistle, has given the following order: The Four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Seven Catholic Epistles, the Fourteen Epistles of Paul, and the Revelation. The ancient and celebrated Alexandrian Manuscript follows the same order; as also does CYRIL of Jerusalem, but he does not mention Revelation.

The arrangement, in the catalogue of the Council of Laodicea, is exactly the same as that of Cyril; the book of Revelation being left out. JOHN DAMASCENE, and LEONTIUS, follow the same order.

The order of the Syrian catalogues as given by EBEDJESU, is—The Four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Three Catholic Epistles, (their Canon at first contained no more,) and the Fourteen Epistles of Paul.

RUFIN's order is-The Gospels, the Acts, Paul's Epistles, the Catholic Epistles, and the Revelation. The Council of Carthage has the same. GREGORY NAZIANZEN the same; only the Revelation is omitted. AMPHILOCHIUS the same, and the book of Revelation, mentioned as doubtful. NICEPHORUS of Constantinople, the same, and Revelation omitted.

This, therefore, appears to have been the order in which the books of the New Testament succeeded each other in most ancient copies; and is the one now in general use.

But EPIPHANIUS has an order different from any of these, as follows-The Four Gospels, Paul's Epistles, the Acts of the Apostles, the Seven Catholic Epistles, and the Revelation. JEROME follows the same order; and also EUTHALIUS.

AUGUSTINE varies in his arrangement of the sacred books. In one place, he puts the Acts last, except Revelation; and in another, he places it after Revelation. He also varies in his arrangement of the Epistles of Paul, and of the Catholic Epistles.

The order of INNOCENT the First, bishop of Rome, is: The Four Gospels, Paul's Epistles, the Catholic Epistles, the Acts, and Revelation,

ISIDORE of Seville has, in his writings, given several catalogues, in all of which he pursues the order last mentioned. The same writer informs us, that the books of the New Testament were usually included in two divisions, or volumes; the first containing the Gospels; the second, the Acts and the Epistles; the book of Revelation being omitted.

CHRYSOSTOM follows an order which appears to be peculiar he places first, the Fourteen Epistles of Paul; next, the Four Gospels; then, the Acts; and in the last place, the Catholic Epistles. GELASIUS places Revelation before the Catholic Epistles. The Apostolical Canon, as it is called, contains the following catalogue: The Four Gospels, Fourteen Epistles of Paul, Seven Catholic Epistles, Two Epistles of Clement, the Constitutions, and the Acts. If this were, indeed, the genuine Canon of the apostles, as the title imports, it would be decisive, and all other authorities would be superfluous; but it is acknowledged by all good critics, that it is spurious, and of no authority in settling the early Canon.

The order of the Four Gospels has generally been, as in our copies, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Irenæus, Origen, Eusebius, Athanasius, the Council of Laodicea, Gregory Nazianzen, Amphilochius, the Syrian Catalogues, Jerome, Rufin, Augustine, the Alexandrian Manuscript with most others, agree in this order.

But that this order was not uniform, appears from Tertullian, who arranges them thus-Matthew, John, Luke, Mark. And the same order of the Gospels is followed, in the very ancient Manuscript, commonly called, Codex Cantabrigiensis.

There is very little variation observed in the arrangement of Paul's Epistles. They are generally found in the same order as we have them in our copies; but this is not universally the case: for in some copies, the Epistle to the Hebrews occupies the fourteenth place among Paul's Epistles, and in others the tenth. But in all copies, the Epistle to the Romans stands first, though not first in the order of time.

With respect to the time when the gospels were written, no precise information can be obtained, as ancient authors differ considerably on the subject. It seems to be agreed, however, that they were not published immediately after the ascension of Christ: nor all at the same time. The best thing which we can do is to place before the reader the principal testimonies of the Fathers, and leave him to judge for himself.*

The earliest writer who says anything explicitly on this subject is IRENEUS; but he does not inform us what time intervened between the resurrection of Christ, and the writing of these gospels. His words are; “For we have not received the knowledge of the way of salvation, from any others than those by whom the gospel has been brought to us, which gospel they first preached, and afterwards, by the will of God, committed to writing, that for time to come it might be the foundation and pillar of our faith. Nor, may any say that they preached before they had a competent knowledge of the gospel; for after that our Lord

* The testimonies here adduced are, for the most part, selected from the collections of Lardner, to whose works the reader is referred.