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SECT. III.

of the Canon of the New Testa

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UT how well qualified and The Obaffifted foever thefe Evangeli- je&tion. "cal Penmen might be, yet by what "means fhall we be able to know, whe"ther one authentick Copy of all they "wrote has ever defcended to us, fince "the Tranfmutations in them have been "fo many, and their Genuineness fo of<<< ten difputed; i fince fome Pieces, "which were at firft received, were "afterwards rejected, as Spurious, and "others, which were at firft rejected, 66 were afterwards receiv'd as canonical, "and Matters, in fhort, were reduc'd "to fuch uncertainty, that there was

no fingle Book of the New Testa« ment, which was not refus'd by fome " of the Ancients, as unjuftly father'd 66 upon the Apoftles? Several of these "Books, we cannot but acknowledge,

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iVid. Toland's Amyntor. Vid. The Grounds and Reasons of the Chrift. Religion.

ແ are piously written, and upon Subjects of great Concern to Salvation, "and were therefore, in Procefs of Time, "made canonical by the Church; but "then this was plainly an accidental "Event, which befel those Books gra"dually, after long Difputes about "their Authority, and might have be"fallen other pious Books, which, "though deem'd Scripture, and declar'd "canonical by the Ancients, have been "fince rejected, as Suppofitious and

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Apocryphal. The Epiftles of Bar"nabas, for Inftance, the Paftor of "Hermas, the Epiftles of Polycarp, "of Clemens, of Ignatius, were all "held in great Efteem, and publickly "read in the primitive Church, whilft "the Epiftle to the Hebrews, that of "James the fecond of Peter, the fe"cond and third of John, &c. were, ❝for a long time, univerfally rejected "and now what Reafon can be given, "why they fhould have fuch different ἐσ "Fates. Why the former fhould be " poftpon'd, and the latter received "with fo much Veneration, but the

pure Caprice of thofe, who had the "Eftablishment of the prefent Canon, " and who were many hundred Years

wrangling and difputing, before they "could adjust this mighty Matter. So

" that,

"that, upon the whole, we, who live

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at this Distance of Time, muft labour "under great Uncertainty, and have "fome Reafon to doubt, whether, af"ter fo many Changes and Chances, " we have one Word of the Apoftles "genuine Works, in the whole New "Teftament.

The Word Canon is originally Greek, Answerand, in its common Acceptation, figni- ed, fies a Rule; and therefore when we employ it in an Ecclefiaftical Senfe, we understand by the Canon, or Canonical Books, thofe Books, which, confin'd to a certain Number, were defign'd by God to be the Rule of our Faith and Practice.

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That the primitive Chriftians had By fhewfufficient Means and Opportunities to ing, that diftinguish the genuine and infpit'd Wri- the pritings, from what were Apochryphal or ChriftiSpurious, no one can doubt, who con- ans had fiders, that the original Writings of the Opportu Apoftles themselves (whofe Hands they nities of knowing were not unacquainted with) were in their Cuftody; that though the Apostles nuine wrote to whole Churches, yet particu- Books of lar Men are frequently nam'd in their Epiftles, which was a great means to af- ment. certain their Authority; that no fooner

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the New

Tefta

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were these Epiftles fent (as is plain in the Cafe of St. Paul's) to particular Churches, but they were publifh'd and read, with other facred Scriptures, in their open Affemblies; that Copies authentically attefted were immediately taken of them, fufficient to answer the Number of the Churches and ChurchOfficers, which the Apoftles had every where fettled; and (what is more than all) that at this time, there still remained the miraculous Gift" of difcerning Spirits, whereby Perfons, who were endued with it, were enabled to diftinguish true Revelation from Impoftures.

'Tis reasonable to fuppofe therefore, Canon of that, during this Period of Time, where the New in the Helps and Advantages attending Tefta- the Church were fo many, God should fettled by provide himself with a proper InftruSt. John. ment, to settle and determine the Rule

ment was

of our Faith, and thereby preserve the Chriftian World from all future Uncertainty. And, accordingly, fome have obferv'd, that St. John, who wrote his Gospel and Epiftles against those Hereticks chiefly, who were the most notorious Forgers of 1purious, and .corrupters of the true Books of the Scripture, had his Life prolong'd by Provi

'Col. iv. 16. 2 Pet. iii. 16.

1 Cor. xii. 10..

Providence, that he might be able both to vindicate and compleat the whole Canon thereof. 'Tis certain from Eufebius, that he revised the three Gospels, before he wrote his own; and Photius tells us another Circumftance, viz. That the Verfions of the Gofpels were approv'd by him, as well as the Originals; nor can we doubt, but that, in fo long a Life, he had feen the Works of the reft of the Apoftles, and given them his Approbation: As what indeed could be more worthy his Care, or more neceffary at that Juncture, than that he fhould ascertain the Authority of those Writings, which were to be the Churches great Prefervative against thofe Herefies, which, even then, became too numerous, and which, he could not but forefee, would occafion no fmall Scandal and Disturbance in future Ages?

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What gives a farther Confirmation of This this Opinion is the Teftimony of the fame provid Eufebius, who, in his Ecclefiaftical Hiftory tullian, tells us, that, in the beginning of the Ireneus, fecond Century, about the Time of ConfeffiSt. John's Death, or immediately after on of En it, there were great Numbers of Per- mies. fons, Difciples of the Apoftles, who travell'd over the World, building up

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