THE NINE CATALOGUES OF THE FOURTH CENTURY GIVEN BY THE FATHERS.

SECTION FIRST.

ONLY THREE OF THEM OMIT THE APOCALYPSE.

58. OF these nine catalogues left us by the fathers of the fourth century, there are three — those of Cyril, Gregory the Divine, and Philastrius — which, while agreeing entirely on every other point with the canon of our churches, make as yet no mention of the Apocalypse, or state, as Amphilochius does, that many still entertain doubts regarding it.

“Notwithstanding the entire agreement of the churches after the Council of Nice,” says Hug, (in his “Introduction,”) “the doctrinal discussions against the ‘ millenarians’ had been too keen in certain parts, and were still too recent to permit that book’s general and unanimous restoration to its place in the canon.”

59. The first of these three catalogues is that of Cyril, who is regarded by the Greek Church as one of her principal saints, and who was patriarch of Jerusalem twenty-four years after the Council of Nice. He died so late as 386; but before being raised to that important see, he had exercised, in Jerusalem itself,¹ the functions of a pastor and catechist. His works consist almost exclusively of eighteen Catecheses, (or didactic lectures,) addressed to catechumens on the principal points of Christian doctrine; and of five Catecheses, styled Mystagogical, addressed to communicants on the two sacraments of the Church. “They were extemporaneous, (σχεδιασθεῖσαω) as he himself informs us, and composed with great simplicity, in order to be intelligible to all.”²

His catalogue is contained in his fourth Catechesis,³ under the title, “Of the Divine Scriptures,” (Περὶ τῶν θεὶωυ Γραφῶν.)

“This is what we are taught by the inspired scriptures of the Old and the New Testament; for there is but one and the same God in both, who in the Old foretells God manifested in the New.”

“Learn, then, from the Church, with a sincere desire to be instructed, (φιλομαθῶς ἐπίγνωσκε παρὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας) what are the books of the Old Testament, and what those of the New, and read nothing of what is apocryphal. . . .  Read (avaylvacke) the Divine scriptures, the twenty-two books of the Old Testament;⁴ . . . . but have nothing to do with any book that is apocryphal. Study earnestly those books only (ratras pdvas pedéra orrovdaims) which we read and recognise openly in the Church, (ἃς ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ μετὰ, παῤῥησίας ἁνωγυγνώσκομεν.)”

“The apostles and the ancient bishops, those office-bearers of the Church who have transmitted to us the Scriptures, were undoubtedly better informed and more circumspect than thou. See, then, that thou, a son of the Church, do not falsify her ordinances, (μὴ παραχάραττε τοὺς θεσμούς.)”

Of the twenty-two books of the New Testament, he says: “As to the New Testament, there are four Gospels, all the rest being false and pernicious. The Manichzeans, too, have written a Gospel according to Thomas, which, under the perfume, so to speak, of an evangelical surname, leads the souls of the simple to perdition. But receive, likewise, the Acts of the twelve apostles, and also the seven Catholic Epistles of James and Peter, John and Jude; and lastly, as a seal put on all the disciples, the fourteen Epistles of Paul. But let all the other books be placed outside, and classed in a secondary rank, (τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ πάντα, ἔξω κείσθω ἐν δευτέρῳ.) As to all such books as are neither read nor recognised in the churches, (ὅσα μὲν ἐν ἐκκλησίαις μὴ ἀνωγινώσκεται,) neither read nor recognise them as far as thou art concerned.”

We perceive here, and we shall perceive in the other catalogues, that besides the canonical scriptures, two other sorts of books had a distinct character assigned them. These were, first, such as, without being canonical, might be read in the churches, and were, accordingly, called Deutro-canonical, or Ecclesiastical; and, secondly, such as were not allowed to be read in churches, even as books of a secondary rank, and were therefore called apocryphal.

Cyril, then, though agreeing on every point with the canon of our churches, had not yet restored the Apocalypse to the rank it held during the previous centuries; but, like Eusebius, assigned it a secondary place, (ἐν δευτέρῳ.) He quotes it very distinctly, and that three times, (Apoc. xii. and xvii.) in his fifth Catechesis, chapters xii., xiii, and xvii.

60. Gregory of Nazianzus. — The second catalogue is that of the celebrated Gregory of Nazianzus, who, according to Cave, was born in the year in which the first general council was held; and at the age of fifty-six, was made patriarch of Constantinople about the time of the second. He died eight years afterwards, (in 389,) at the age of sixty-four.⁵

That great man, a son of the bishop of Nazianzus, by whom he was ordained to the holy ministry, had acquired a brilliant reputation during the course of his studies at Caesarea, Alexandria, and Athens. He administered the see of Nazianzus during the old age of his father, and had distinguished himself by his strict conscientiousness, as well as by his pre-eminent talents, when he was appointed by the Council of Antioch, in 378, to proceed to Constantinople, for the purpose of opposing Arianism, and erecting the banner of divine truth there. The task assigned. him was arduous; his life was more than once in danger; the: Arians had for forty years been in possession of all the public churches there, and their audacity was remarkable; but Gregory succeeded in bringing back, in a short space of time, a large number of them to the side of truth. He collected an audience in a private chapel belonging to one of his relatives, which was afterwards called the “Church of the Resurrection,” (τῆς ἀναστάσεως) as in it commenced the resurrection, as it were, of the national Church. A crowd of eager adherents were regularly attending his powerful preaching; when at length the Emperor Theodosius, declaring himself his patron, procured his promotion to the patriarchate of Constantinople, with the unanimous consent of one hundred and fifty bishops, convened in a general council for that purpose. The arrival, however, of the bishops of Egypt, towards the end of the council, raised so violent a storm against his election, that, for the peace of the Church, he deemed it his duty to resign his office, and return to Cappadocia, to spend the remainder of his life in devotion, labour, and retirement.

A pious believer, an elegant poet, a preacher of great power and majesty, he was specially respected by the age in which he lived as an unrivalled divine. He was, accordingly, surnamed the Divine, (ὁ θεολόγος.) “To oppose, in any point,” says Rufinus,⁶ “the views of Gregory was, in the sight of the Lord, and of the churches, downright heresy.” (Id obtinwit apud Dominum et ecclesias Det meriti, ut quicunque ausus fuerit doctrine ejus in aliquo refragart, et noc ipso quia ipse sit magis hereticus arguatur.) His writings have been preserved to us almost entire. They consist of sermons, poems, and letters. His catalogue, which forms the whole subject of one of his poems, is entitled, “The Genuine (γνησίων) Books of Inspired Scripture.”

After a very accurate enumeration of the books of the Old Testatment, (in the first nineteen verses,) we have these lines: —

Ἀρχαίας μὲν ἔθηκα δύω καὶ εἴκοσι βίβλους,

     Τοῖς· ἑβραῖων γράμμασιν ἀντιθέτους.

Ματθαῒος μὲν ἔγραφεν ἑβραίοις· θαύματα Χριστοῦ,

     Μάρκος δ' Ἰταλίᾳ, Λουκᾶς Ἀχαιῖάδι·

Πᾶσι δ' Ἰωάννης κήρυξ μέγας, οὖρανοφοίτης. . . . .

“I have given the twenty-two books of the Old Testament corresponding to the letters of the Hebrews. Then, Matthew wrote for the Hebrews the wonders of Christ; Mark for Italy; Luke for Achaia; but John for all — John the great herald of arms, who traversed the heavens. Then, the Acts of the Apostles, and the fourteen Epistles of Paul, and the seven Catholic Epistles — one of James, two of Peter, and again three of John; that of Jude is the last. Thou hast them all; and if any one besides be presented to you, it is not one of the genuine inspired scriptures, (οὐκ ἐν γνησίοις.)”

61. The canon of Gregory is thus, we perceive, the same as our own, with the single exception of the Apocalypse. He, however, alludes to it very clearly (in his twenty-fourth verse) in calling John the great herald who traversed the heavens. Andreas, therefore, bishop of Caesarea, who wrote a commentary on the Apocalypse towards the end of the fifth century, states that Gregory the Divine regarded the Apocalypse “as inspired and authentic.”⁷ We read, in Lardner,⁸ two passages in which the same Gregory expressly appeals to the Apocalypse of John: once, when he says, “As John teaches me in his Apocalypse, (ὡς Ἰωὰννης διδάσκεί με διὰ, τῆς Ἀποκαλύψεως·) and a second time, when he quotes the eighth verse of the fourth chapter of the Apocalypse: Καὶ ὁ ὢν, καὶ ὁ ἣν, καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, ὁ Παντοκράτωρ.”

However, we are rather inclined to think that Gregory of Nazianzus, like Cyril and Eusebius, had not, at the period in question, restored that inspired book to the rank of canonical, in the strict sense of the term, and merely assigned it a place among the books called ecclesiastical, — permitted to be read publicly in the churches of God.⁹

62. Philastrius. — The third catalogue is that of Philastrius, the friend of Ambrose, and bishop of Brescia. He flourished about the year 380. He had travelled much in the cause of the truth, and had valiantly contended against Arianism. Augustin mentions having met with him at Milan, in the house of Ambrose.¹⁰ A work of his is still extant, entitled, De Heresibus. It is to be found in vol. v. of the great library of the fathers;¹¹ and in the 40th and 41st articles of that book, his catalogue of the books of the New Testament is given as follows: —

“Article 40. It has been established as a rule,” says he, “by the apostles and their successors, that nothing else should be read in the Church (non aliud legi in ecclesia debere in Catholica) but the Law and the Prophets; and with the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the thirteen Epistles of Paul, and seven others, — two of Peter, three of John, one of Jude, and one of James; which are all annexed to the Acts of the Apostles. As to the apocryphal writings, though they ought to be read by advanced Christians for edification, (etsi legi debent morum causd a perfectis,) they ought not to be read by all, because heretics, ignorant of the truth, have added or retrenched many things as they thought proper.”

63. On reading merely this 40th article, we might suppose that Philastrius, while fully recognising the whole of our first canon, as well as our second, did not receive our second-first. This, however, would be a mistake, as far as regards the Epistle to the Hebrews; in his 41st article, (entitled, “Heresy of certain persons touching the Epistle to the Hebrews,”) he adds: —

“Others maintain that the Epistle to the Hebrews was not written by Paul, but by the Apostle Barnabas, or by Clement, bishop of Rome. Others, again, assert that Luke had written an epistle to the Laodiceans; and that, as indiscreet persons had added various things to it, it is not read in the Church; or if some read it, it is only the thirteen Epistles of Paul that are regularly read to the people in the Church, and the Epistle to the Hebrews is not read except occasionally, (nist tredecim epistole ripsius, et ad Hebrœos interdum.) That epistle being written in a flowing and agreeable style (rhetorice scripsit, sermone plausibilt) has given rise to the impression that Paul was not its writer. The expression, Ἰησοῦν· πιστὸν ὄντα τῷ ποιήσαντι αὑτὸν, (Heb. iii. 23,) has "also led some to reject it. Some, moreover, reject it for what it | says of repentance, as sanctioning the views of the Novatians, (Heb. vi. 4, and following.)”

We have thus seen that the catalogue of Philastrius (the third and last of the catalogues of the fourth century which omit the Apocalypse) regards as heretics those who denied that the Epistle to the Hebrews was written by Paul. Only, in admitting into the canon the Epistle to the Hebrews, Philastrius is at pains to state the three intrinsic grounds of the prejudice entertained by some of the Latins against that part of Holy Scripture.

We shall have occasion to return to the subject in Book Third.

SECTION II.

ALL THE OTHER SIX CATALOGUES OF THE FATHERS OF THE FOURTH CENTURY ARE ENTIRELY IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CANON OF OUR CHURCHES.

64, All other catalogues drawn up by fathers of the fourth century were, on all points, identical with the catalogue which has been received for the last 1500 years by all the churches in Christendom. Those catalogues are, — l. That of Athanasius the Great, who was only twenty-six years younger than Eusebius; 2. That of another contemporary father, whose name is unknown to us; 3. That of Epiphanius, archbishop of Cyprus, only fourteen years (or, according to others, only four years) younger than Athanasius; 4, That of Jerome, secretary to Damasus, bishop of Rome, and thirty-five years younger than Epiphanius; 5. That of Rufinus, a presbyter of Aquileia, the intimate friend of Jerome before becoming his adversary, and, like him, versed in literature, both of the East and of the West, owing to his residence at Jerusalem from 371, and at Rome from 396; 6. That of Augustin, the holy bishop of Hippo, twenty-three years younger than Jerome.

We shall present to the reader a brief examination of the preceding catalogues respectively.

65. Athanasius. — The testimony of this great man is of the very highest importance, on account of his rank, his talents, and character, and the whole of his career. He was unquestionably the most illustrious personage of his time, not merely from his steadfastness in the faith, but the extent of his erudition, and the energy and clearness of his intellect, that ever shine forth in his writings, (λέγειν τε καὶ νοεῖν ἱκανόν, says Sozomen;)¹² but also because his incessant contending against Arius and the secular power, which, for the most part, was on the side of Arius, filled up fifty years of his life, and compelled him to make a personal visit to every part of the empire. From Alexandria he had to repair to Tyre, Constantinople, Rome, Belgium, and to the deserts of the Thebaid. Born in 296, as is thought, he lived more than eighty — years, and was a bishop for more than half-a-century. Everybody knows how wonderfully he distinguished himself, notwithstanding his youth, (still under thirty,) in the General Council of Nice, and that, only five months after the close of the council, he became patriarch of Alexandria. Persecuted by the two Eusebiuses, more than once deprived of his see, banished, even condemned to death, he had, during his travels and long exile, an opportunity of ascertaining, better than any other man, the mind of all the churches of the East and of the West regarding the Scriptures. His testimony is, therefore, the most accurate expression possible of the mind of the Church universal in the fourth century. “His life,”¹³ says Sozomen, “is the model of the episcopate, and his doctrine the rule of orthodoxy, (νόμος δ'ὀρθοδοξίας τὰ ἐκείνου δόγματα.)”

After what has been said, we proceed to shew the immense difference that exists, as to firm belief in the entire Scriptures, between his language and that of Eusebius, his contemporary, but the friend of Arius.

66. “As for us,” he says, in his “Festal Epistle,”¹⁴ “we have the Holy Scriptures for our salvation; but I am afraid, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, (2 Cor. xi 3,) that a small number of simple persons have been turned away from simplicity and holiness by the wickedness of men, and induced to read apocryphal works, from haying been misled by the identity of their titles with those of genuine books. It appears to me, therefore, of importance to the Church that I should give a list of these; and, in doing this, I shall borrow the words of Luke,¹⁵ and say, “As some have thought proper to draw up a list of apocryphal books, and to mix them with the inspired scriptures, regarding which we have obtained perfect certainty, (ἐπληροφορήθημεν,) from the testimony of the fathers, received from those who were from the beginning eyewitnesses and ministers of the word; it seemed good to me also, -at the request of faithful brethren, to enumerate, in order, the books held and delivered, and believed as of Divine authority, (τὰ κανονιζόμενα καὶ παραδοθέντα πιστευθέντα τε θεῖα εἶναι βιβλία,) that whoever may have been led astray may blame those who have misled them.”

“The list of the Old Testament books is this,” (he then gives them.)

“But we must also enumerate the books of the New Testament. They are as follows: — “The four Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Then the Acts of the Apostles, and the seven Catholic Epistles of these apostles; one of James and two of Peter; then three of John and one of Jude. There are then fourteen epistles of Paul, in the following order, (τῇ τάξει γραφόμεναι οὕτως) — one to the Romans; then two to the Corinthians; then (epistles respectively) to the Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians; then two to the Thessalonians, and one to the Hebrews; then, immediately after these, two to Timothy, one to Titus, and, lastly, one to Philemon; and, again, the Apocalypse of John.”

We feel a pleasure in giving a literal translation of these catalogues, (notwithstanding the repetition of the same terms,) to impress upon the reader the distinct and constant uniformity with . which the order of the books (τάξις) was, from the beginning, handed down in the Church, though this order was not in accordance with the respective dates of the books. This circumstance, as we shall shew, is not without importance in the history of the canon.

“These books,” adds Athanasius, “are the fountains of salvation, to which the thirsty may repair to obtain refreshment from the oracles they contain; for it is only in these books that pious inquirers can learn evangelical truths, (ἐν τούτοις μόνοις τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας διδασκαλεῖον εὐαγγελίζεται.) Let no person add anything — to them, and let no person take anything away from them.” . . . .

“For further precision it is necessary to add, that, besides these books, there are others which, though not admitted into the canon, (οὐ κανονιζόμενα μέν) have been stamped (τετυπωμένα δέ) as proper to be read by those who, having but recently come among us, are desirous of obtaining pious instruction — the Wisdom of Solomon, and the Wisdom of Sirach, and Esther, Judith and Tobias, and what are called the apostolic institutes, (καὶ διδαχὴ καλουμένη τῶν ἀποστόλων,) and the Pastor of Hermas. Therefore, beloved, as the former are canonical, and the latter proper to be read, to such alone confine your attention, making no mention whatever of apocryphal writings, (οὐδαμοῦ τῶν ἀποκρύφων μνήμη.) These are an invention of heretics, who have written according to their fancy, and have assigned them dates, in order to palm them on the simple as ancient writings.”

It is thus perfectly clear that the list given by Athanasius is complete, as was that of Origen, who lived one hundred and fifty years earlier. But even then it was customary to reckon two sorts of writings besides the twenty-seven canonical books. The first was a small number of books which were called ecclesiastical, and which might be read in the churches; the second was carefully denounced under the name apocryphal. The same distinction will be found in other catalogues.

67. The Anonymous Father. — The second catalogue is that of a contemporary of Athanasius, frequently confounded with him, the Greek text of which is to be found among the collective works of Athanasius, and entitled, “Synopsis of Holy Scripture.”¹⁶ This brief composition is admired as “a model of accuracy, sagacity, and learning,” according to the Benedictine Fathers, (tanta cura, sagacitate, eruditione elaborata, ut nihil supra.) Its contents are as follows: — “All Scripture is held by us Christians as inspired, (θεόπνευστος.) It consists, not of indefinite books, but of books definite and recognised as canonical, (ἀλλὰ, μᾶλλον ὡρισμένα καὶ κεκανονισμένα ἔχει τὰ βιβλία) The books of the Old Testament are, (then follows the list.) The canonical books of the New Testament are: The four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the seven Catholic Epistles of different apostles, counted as one book, (he enumerates them in their established order;) the fourteen Epistles of Paul, counted as one book, (he enumerates them, too, in their established order;) and, in addition to these books, (ἐπι τούτοις) there is also the Apocalypse of John the divine, received as his, (δεχθεῖσα ὡς ἐκείνου) and recognised by the fathers, who were holy men, and inspired of God, (καὶ ἐγκριθεῖσα ὑπὸ πάλιν ὡγίων καὶ πνευματοφόρων πατέρων.)

“Such are the canonical books of the New Testament, which are, as it were, the first fruits, the anchors and props of our faith, inasmuch as they were written and left as a deposit (καὶ ἐκτεθέντα) by the apostles of Christ themselves.”

68. Epiphanius. — The third catalogue, that of Epiphanius, is to be found in his “Panarium,” or treatise “Against Heresies.”

The writings of this father, who was born in Palestine, and of Jewish extraction, are, equally, of great value, owing to the vast extent of his literary attainments, and his acknowledged familiarity with ecclesiastical antiquities (antiquitatum prœsertim ecclestasticarum callentissimus.)¹⁷ He was master of five languages, (πεντάπγλωσσος) says Jerome, “being equally skilled in Hebrew, Syriac, Egyptian, Latin, and Greek.” His treatise “Against Heresies” is, in the opinion of Photius, from its copious quotations from Justin Martyr, Irenzeus, Hippolytus, and other ancient authors, more rich and more useful than any work written before. him on the same subject. “His writings,” says Jerome, in another part of his works, “are read and re-read (lectitantur) by scholars of real erudition, on account of the matter, (propter res,) and by persons of less learning, on account of the style, (propter verba.)”

Brought up in Egypt, and perverted to Gnosticism before he was twenty years of age, he had returned to his native country, to put himself under the direction of the celebrated Hilarion, the establisher of monasticism in Palestine. He had himself afterwards founded the monastery of Ad, over which he presided when he was called to the important see of Salamis, in Cyprus. It was principally in that maritime and commercial city that he acquired an early celebrity by his preaching and his writings, as well as by the soundness of his doctrine and the purity of his life. He lived to a great age. It is even said that at the time of his death, in 402, he was considerably more than a hundred years old. Born in the third century, he died in the fifth, after having been thirty-six years a bishop. We find him acting an eminent part at Rome and at Constantinople, combating with great firmness various evil tendencies of his age, and especially the Arian heresy, as well as the use of images, which was then beginning to appear, and the too-much-accredited errors of Origen. Hence arose his dispute with John of Jerusalem, and even with the illustrious Chrysostom, whom he reproached for not having condemned them in a manner sufficiently clear and distinct. Epiphanius has been accused of laying too much stress on tradition.

69. His words on the canon are these: —

“Hadst thou been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and taught by the prophets and apostles, thou wouldst, in proceeding from the creation to the time of Esther, read the twenty-seven books of the Old Testament, (the Hebrews reckon only twenty-two,) and the four holy Gospels, and the fourteen epistles of the holy apostle Paul, with the Acts of the Apostles, (Acts written previously or during the same period,) and also the Catholic Epistles of James, Peter, John, Jude, and the Apocalypse of John, besides the two books of Wisdom, that of Solomon, and that of the Son of Sirach, and, in a word, (ἁπλῶς,) all the sacred scriptures.”

70. Such is the exact and complete catalogue of Epiphanius, as to the New Testament. We do not, for the present, say anything of the Old Testament, as we wish to avoid adding any unnecessary complication to our task. Otherwise, we would have pointed out the error of Epiphanius, who recommends two uncanonical books, “The Wisdom of Sirach,” (Ecclesiasticus,) and “The Wisdom of Solomon.” In his time they formed a distinct class, (as we shall by and by shew, in examining the catalogue of Rufinus,) and were called Ecclesiastical. As distinguished from apocryphal writings, they were allowed to be publicly read. “Besides the twenty-seven given by God to the Jews, (ἐκ Θεοῦ δοθεῖσαι τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις) and by them reckoned twenty-two,” says Epiphanius, at the beginning of the same work, “there are, independently of the apocryphal writings, two books which are controverted among them, (παρ’ αὐτοῖς ἐν ἀμφιλέκτῳ) the Wisdom of Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon.” “These. two books are unquestionably useful and edifying,” he adds in another place; “but they are not placed among the acknowledged books, and that is the reason why they have not bee admitted into the ark of the covenant, (Ἀλλ’ εἰς ἀριθμὸν ῥητῶν οὐκ ἀναφερονται, διὸ οὐδὲ ἐν τῇ τῆς διαθήκης κιβωτῷ ἀνετέθησαν.)”

71. Jerome — The fourth catalogue is that of Jerome. Of all the fathers of the fourth century this illustrious doctor is unquestionably the most worthy to be heard on the canon of Scripture; not, indeed, for his character, or his meekness, or candour, or spiritual knowledge of the gospel, or even for his respect for the sacred books, — his language on this point being often unseemly; but for his unvaried perspicuity, his acquaintance with the sacred tongues, his erudition, his travels, his immense application, and his long residence in Palestine, where his researches in connexion with the Scriptures were unceasing.

This celebrated man, who, by his life, belongs equally to the West and to the Hast, was raised up by God to spread a great light in the Church, by urging the study of the sacred texts, and bringing back general attention, especially among the Latins and Greeks, to the pure sources of Biblical truth. His career, moreover, was, like that of Epiphanius, of great length, as he died in 420 at the age of eighty-nine. Born in Upper Dalmatia, he repaired to Rome for the purpose of continuing his studies under the eloquent Victorinus, the African. Entering on his first course of travels, he traversed Gaul, visiting all the libraries, proceeding as far as Trèves to meet with Hilarius, and returning by Aquileia to Venice to see Rufinus. From that he went to Thrace, and, passing over into Asia, proceeded as far as Antioch, for the purpose of passing four years in the solitude of the desert, and devoting himself entirely to the study of oriental languages and the Holy Scriptures. It was only at the age of forty-nine that he was ordained a presbyter. Already, however, famous all over the empire, he repaired to Constantinople a short time before the second general council, which was held there in 381. In that capital he attended, with great ardour, the lectures of Gregory of Nazianzus, ’ till he left it in company with Epiphanius and Paulinus for Rome, where he spent three years, and where Bishop Damasus appointed him one of his private secretaries. Thoroughly disgusted, however, with that city, after the death of Damasus, he left it in 385, never to return. He visited Epiphanius in Cyprus; thence passed over to Jerusalem, and, the following year, went to Egypt, where he became a hearer of the illustrious Didymus. Returning at length to Palestine, he entered on his long and last retirement in the plain of Bethlehem. It was there, during the space of thirtythree years, that he wrote the greatest part of his works; and tuat, constantly visited by the most illustrious individuals, he became the oracle of his age.

72. Jerome has given us his catalogue under more than one form; and it may be stated, before we proceed further, that the first volume of his works is itself a catalogue. It has been called Divina Hieronymi Bibliotheca, as it contains all the books of Holy Scripture, translated by Jerome from Hebrew or Greek, with prefaces of great value prefixed. It is divided into three parts. The first comprehends the Hebrew canon, or the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa. The second contains some books of the Old Testament, which Jerome had translated either from the Chaldaic or from the Greek of the Septuagint. The third contains all the books of the New Testament, with prefaces and copious notes. In his preface to the seven epistles, which is addressed to Eustochius, the author informs us that, having found, in the Latin manuscripts, the Epistle of,Peter misplaced, and put at the head of the rest, (from a mistaken zeal for the primacy of that apostle,) he had been at pains to restore it to its proper place, “in conformity,” he says, “to the order always observed in the Greek manuscripts.” He informs us, at the same time, that un~ faithful translators had omitted the passage relating to the three witnesses in the First Epistle of John. Some have pretended to deny that the preface in question was written by Jerome, but we cannot enter on this point here.

73, Besides this, Jerome has given us his catalogue directly, and more than once; first in his treatise De Viris Iilustribus,¹⁸ written in 392, and afterwards in his Epistle to Paulinus,¹⁹ written in 397.

In that letter he says: —

“I shall just briefly refer to the New Testament. It contains first Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the four-horsed chariot of the Lord, the true cherubims, (then follows a mystic explanation of the chariots of Ezekiel.) Then Paul writes to seven churches, for his eighth epistle, that to the Hebrews, is, by the Latins, usually arranged separately, (a plerisque extra numerum ponitur.) He writes to Timothy and to Titus; he recommends to Philemon a fugitive slave. . . . . The Acts of the Apostles seem to describe the infancy of the Christian Church; but on learning that the writer of that book is Luke the physician, ‘whose praise is in the gospel,’ (2 Cor. viii. 18,) we are satisfied that all its words are a remedy for a diseased soul. The apostles James, Peter, John, and Jude, have published seven epistles, as mystic 1s condensed, and at once both short and long — short as to the words, long as to the sense. . . . The Revelation of John contains as many mysteries as words, (tot habet sacramenta quot verba.) What I say of it is little in comparison to the merit of the book.” He adds, “In verbis singulis multiplices latent intelligentic.”

74. We see, then, that Jerome, like the rest, received the seven epistles controverted and uncontroverted. He considered all the four writers apostles; he extols the Revelation, and specifies the fourteen epistles of Paul, saying, merely in reference to the Epistle to the Hebrews, that “the Latins for the most part exclude it.” He is very far from saying that he himself excludes it, for he is at pains to repeat, in various parts of his writings, that he regards it as canonical, and believes it to be Paul’s,

He wrote to Dardanus, about the year 414, as follows: — “Our friends (the Latins) must be made to understand that the Epistle to the Hebrews is received as Paul’s, not only by the churches of the East, but likewise by all the earlier Greek ecclesiastical authors, (ab omnibus retro ecclesiasticis Grœci sermonis scriptoribus,) though most people there believe it to have been written by Barnabas or Clement. It must also be remarked that it is really of small importance whether Paul or some other planter of the churches wrote it, since its Divine authority is daily recognised, by the fact of its being publicly read in the churches, (et quotidie ecclesiarum lectione celebratur.) If usage among the Latins has not admitted it to a place among the canonical Scriptures, and if, on the other hand, the churches of the Greeks do not receive so freely (as the Latins) the Revelation of John, we recognise both, (tamen nos utrumque suscipimus,) as we desire to follow, not the usage of the present time, but the authority of ancient authors.”

75. Rufinus. — The fifth catalogue is that of Rufinus, a presbyter of Aquileia.

Long on terms of friendship with Jerome, he was his fellowstudent in the schools of Aquileia, travelled, like him, in the East, (about the year 371,) visited, like him, Egypt, attached himself, like him, to Didymus, established, like him, a monastery in Palestine, where he spent twenty-five years; but, having engaged in a controversy with Epiphanius, from zeal for the memory and doctrine of Origen, he drew upon himself the enmity of Jerome, and returned to Italy in 397, to die in Sicily in 410.”

His catalogue, which is to be found in his Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed,²⁰ is so remarkable for the clearness and precision of its language, that we shall translate the greater part of it: —

“It was the Holy Spirit,” says he, “that, in the Old Testament, inspired the Law and the Prophets, and in the New Testament, the Gospels and the Apostles. Therefore the apostle has said, ‘All scripture is given by inspiration, and is useful for instruction.’ That is the reason why it appears to me proper to specify here, by a distinct enumeration, (evidente numero,) from the records of the fathers, the books both of the Old Testament and of the New, which, according to the testimony of the ancients, are held as inspired by the Holy Spirit, and transmitted to the churches of Christ.

“In the New Testament are the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the Acts of the Apostles, written by Luke; fourteen Epistles of the Apostle Paul; two of the Apostle Peter; one of James the Apostle, and the Lord’s brother; one of Jude; three of John, and John’s Apocalypse. Such are the books which the fathers have included in the Canon, and on which they have desired that the assertions of our faith should be founded, (ex quibus fidet nostrœ assertiones constare voluerwnt.)

“It is necessary, however, to point out, at the same time, that there are, besides these, other books that were called by the ancients (a majoribus) not canonical, but ecclesiastical. Such are the Wisdom of Solomon, and the Wisdom of the Son of Sirach, the book of Tobit, that of Judith, and the books of the Maccabees

“In connexion with the New Testament, there is the short book called, The Shepherd of Hermas, (or likewise, The Two Voices, or, The Judgment of Peter.) All these books, it is true, were allowed to be read in churches, but they could not be quoted for establishing points of faith, (non tamen proferri ad auctoritatem ex his fidet confirmandam.) The other books professing to be scriptures are called apocryphal, and are not allowed to be read in churches.

“I have thought proper,” adds Rufinus, “to mention these circumstances here, which we know from the fathers, for the information of such as are learning the elements of the faith, that they may all understand at what fountain of the Word of God they may fill their cups.”

We have here, then, a clear statement of the distinction, which we have mentioned in speaking of Athanasius and Epiphanius, of three sorts of books — canonical, twenty-seven in number and divinely-inspired; ecclesiastical, to be read in churches solely for edification; and apocryphal, forbidden to be read at all.

76. Augustin. — The sixth and last catalogue of the fathers of the fourth century, entirely the same as our canon, is that of the most sublime and the most profound of the ancient doctors, the illustrious bishop of Hippo. He is the latest of the fathers that we intend to quote in the present inquiry. About a hundred years later than Eusebius, he belongs to the end of the fourth century and the beginning of the fifth; as Eusebius belonged to the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth.

Born in Numidia, of Christian parents, in 355, though, in spite of his mother’s tears, early drawn into the fatal doctrines and practices of the Manichzans, he was a public professor of rhetoric at Carthage, when, at the age of twenty-eight, he left Africa and repaired first to Rome, and afterwards to Milan. It was in this latter city that, through his intercourse with the illustrious Ambrose, who had received him with great kindness, he was convinced of his errors; but it was only in 388, when he had reached the age of thirty-three, that he was converted from darkness to light, by a manifest display of Divine power. Returning the following year to Africa, he resided for three years in retirement on his father’s estate, and was then ordained to the holy ministry at the age of thirty-six. Five years afterwards he was called to the episcopal see of Hippo. He died in 430 at the age of seventy-five, while shut up in the city of Hippo, which the Vandals, already masters of Africa, were then besieging by sea and land. This admirable man, who, during his long career, had never ceased to labour, by his powerful writings, for the defence of the doctrines of grace, and the consolidation of the churches of God all over the world, was raised up not only to overthrow, during his own age, the Pelagian heresy, but to cast a beneficent track of light over the Church through all succeeding ages. His works have been published in eleven folio volumes.²¹ His “City of God,” his commentaries on the Psalms, his sermons, his letters, his recantations, his confessions, his treatises on sin and grace, commend themselves to the Christian reader by two main characteristics — the devotional feeling they everywhere breathe, and his argumentative method, which should serve at all times as a pattern to divines, from its being a perpetual exposition of the Word of God through the Word of God itself. He was a pillar in the house of God, and he remains a luminary to all ages. —

77. We copy his catalogue as contained in one of the latest of his works, entitled, De Doctrind Christianâ,²² begun in 397 and completed in 426.²³

For the present we omit what he says regarding the Old Testament, adducing here his testimony merely as to the New: —

“The authoritative books of the New Testament are, (Hisce libris Testamenti Novi terminatur auctoritas,) — Quatuor libris Evangelii, (secundum Matthewm, Marcum, Lucam, Joannem;) quatuordecim Epistolis Pauli apostoli, (ad Rom., ad Cor. duabus, ad Gal. ad Eph., ad Thess. duabus, ad Col., ad Tim. duabus, ad Titum, ad Philemonem, ad Hebrœos;) Petra duabus; tribus Joannis; und Judœ, et unâ Jacobs; Actibus Apostolorum, libro uno; et Apocalypsi Joannis, libro uno.”

1) He informs us he continued to catechise in 847. See his sixth Catechesis; or Cave, (Hist, Litt., vol. i., p, 211.)

2) They were published at Paris, in Latin, in the year 1564; and in Latin and Greek in the year 1720.

3) Chap. xxxiii., and following. Ed. Bened. Venice, 1763.

4) Is it needful to repeat that it was the fancy of the ancient Jews to reduce their thirty-nine books to twenty-two, the number of letters in the alphabet? Thus they reckoned the twelve minor prophets as one book, and counted as one Ruth with Judges, Ezra with Nehemiah, Jeremiah with the Lamentations, first and second Samuel, first and second Kings, first and second Chronicles,

5) These dates are those given by Cave, (Hist. Lit., p. 246;) but Fabricius (Bibl. Græc. viii,, 384) states that he was born in 300, and died in 391.

6) Prol. in libr, Gregorii.

7) Bib. Pat. Max., v.1590. Constat namque beatos illos viros, Gregorium theologum, Cyrillum Alecandrinum, ete., divinum fideque dignum non uno loco tradere,

8) Tom. iv., p. 287.

9) We find among the works of the same father another catalogue, which some attribute to Amphilochius, and of which we shall speak further on, (thesis 82.)

10) At the beginning of his book De Heresibus.

11) Bib. Pat. Max., p. 711.

12) Lib. ii,c17. Ed. Valesii, p. 466.

13) Cave (Scrip. Eccl., tom. i., p. 191) quotes Sozomen, p. 397; but we have not been able to find the words there.

14) Festal Ep., xxxix., tom. ii, p. 961. Ed, Bened. Paris, 1698.

15) Luke i. 1-3, paraphrased.

16) Benedictine edition, tom. ii., p. 125, Paris, 1698.

17) Cave, tom, i, p. 282,

18) Chap. y.; Opera, tom. iv.

19) Tom. iv., p. 574. Edit. Bened. (Martianay), Paris, 1693.

20) In the works of Cyprian, p. 26. Amsterdam edition, 1691.

21) The best edition, the Benedictine, (Paris, 1679, and following years,) has been reprinted at Antwerp, 1700-1703, and at Paris, in royal octavo, 1835-1840.

22) Lib. ii., vol. iii., part i, sec. 13, p. 47. Edit. Paris, 1836.

23) Cave, Hist. Lit., vol. i, p. 290, &c.