Page images
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[ocr errors]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

ib.

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

America (continued)

........ 553

United States "The Gospel Ad-

[blocks in formation]

"A Time to dance'

23

....

Rev. of Phillimore's Speech
The New Marriage Act (Cap.
LXXV. Geo. IV.).

Lit. Intel.-New Works-WelshCle-
rical College-Mariners' Sav-
ings' Banks

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

France-Germany

596

India

ib.

Letter of Dr. O'Shaughnessy

601

Pub.Aff.-France.

[blocks in formation]

Spain

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Ancient Edifices

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

Basle Missionary Society

American Missionary Institutions ib.

Pub. Aff.-France

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

CHRISTIAN OBSERVER.

No. 241.]

JANUARY, 1822. [No. 1. Vol. XXII.

RELIGIOUS COMMUNICATIONS.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer, be

refutation ought to be equally accessible; and it occurs to me that

YOUR

rant, that among the various modes of attack levelled against the authority of the sacred Scriptures, in the late campaign of infidelity and blasphemy, great success was augured by the anti-Christian party from the republication of certain uncanonical books, under the title of the Apocryphal, or I would rather call it the counterfeit, New Testament. The proverbially polluted press from which the work issued-for the publisher is no other than the parodist Honeit might have been hoped would have checked its circulation, and I trust has done so in a great measure: it is however certain that a very considerable number of copies have been disposed of, and their poison is no doubt actively at work. The Quarterly Reviewers have thought the publication of sufficient importance to devote to it a considerable article in one of their late Numbers (No. 50, for Oct. 1821), in which they express a wish that some person competent to the task would draw up a small supplement to Larduer and Paley, "containing distinct evidence of the spuriousness of these compositions, and stating the principles by which their spuriousness is proved." This, they add, "would answer every objection." Scholars may indeed find ample information on the subject in Lardner, Paley, Jones on the Canon, and other accredited works: but as this apocryphal book is now thrown on the world in a cheap and portable form, and in the vernacular tongue, the CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 241.

cannot be better employed than in such a service.

[ocr errors]

The task proposed by the Quarterly Reviewer had, it appears, been anticipated by the Rev. T. H. Horne, in the second edition of his valuable "Introduction to the critical Study of the Holy Scriptures" just published; and it has been so ably performed by him that I could earnestly wish to see the greater part of his paper reprinted in the Christian Observer, where it would meet with immediate and extensive circulation, and be more accessible to general readers, than in Mr. Horne's voluminous publication. The disquisition would be very curious and entertaining, were it not for the extreme pain which must accompany its perusal, by every person who has reverence for the genuine oracles of God, and who reflects upon the awful woe denounced upon all who shall add to, or diminish from, the book of Divine inspiration. I have only to add, that the author has courteously permitted me to transcribe his paper for the present purpose. Earnestly

I say anticipated; because, though Mr. Horne's work did not appear till two months after the publication of No. 50. of the Quarterly Review, his chapter on the Apocryphal New Testaof his work, was, I understand, printed ment, which occurs in the first volume off (indeed it must necessarily have been so) many months before that Number of the Quarterly Review appeared. It seems but just to Mr. Horue to men

tion this circumstance.

B

do I wish that this brief refutation were bound up with every copy of the Apocryphal New Testament; but as the publisher of that work is not likely to do this measure of justice, it only remains for every individual to supply the antidote where he finds the poison, and in this view, if your readers will excuse the paronomasia Anglicé, pun

VICE FUNGAR COTIS.

ON THE WRITINGS USUALLY
CALLED THE APOCRYPHAL
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTA-

MENT.

1. Enumeration of these apocryphal writings. II.External evidence, to shew that they were never considered as inspired or canonical.

-III. Internal Evidence.-IV.

These apocryphal books are so far from affecting the credibility of the genuine books of the New Testament, that the latter are confirmed by them.

I. The spurious and apocryphal books composed in the early days of Christianity, which were published under the names of Jesus Christ and his Apostles, their companions, &c., and which are mentioned by the writers of the first four centuries under the names of Gospels, Epistles, Acts, Revelations, &c., are very numerous. Most of these have long since perished; though some few are still extant, which have been collected (together with notices of the lost pieces), and published by John Albert Fabricius, in his Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti, the best edition of which appeared at Hamburgh, in 1719-1743, in three parts, forming two volumes 8vo. Of this work the Rev. and Learned Mr. Jones made great use, and in fact translated the greater part of it, in his "New and Full Method of settling the Canonical Authority of the New Testament." The apocryphal books extant are, An Epistle from Jesus Christ to Abgarus; his Epistle,

which (it is pretended) fell down from heaven at Jerusalem, directed to a priest named Leopas, in the city of Eris; the Constitutions of the Apostles; the Apostles' Creed; the Apostolical Epistles of Barnabas, Clemens or Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp; the Gospel of the Infancy of our Saviour; the Gospel of the Birth of Mary; the Prot-evangelion of James; the Gospel of Nicodemus; the Martyrdom of Thecla, or Acts of Paul; Abdias's History of the Twelve Apostles; the Epistle of Paul to the Laodiceans; the Six Epistles of Paul to Seneca, &c. Of these various productions, those of which the titles are printed in Italics are comprised in a late publication

entitled,

Testament, being all the Gospels, "The Apocrypha! New Epistles, and other Pieces now extant, attributed in the first four Centuries to Jesus Christ, his Apostles, and their Companions, and not included in the New Testa ment by its Compilers. Translated and now collected into one Volume, with Prefaces and Tables and va rious Notes and References. London, 1820."-Second edition, 1821, 8vo. The writings ascribed to Barnabas, Ignatius (at least his genuine epistles), Polycarp, and Hermas, ought not in strictness to be considered as apocryphal, since their authors, who are usually designated the Apostolical Fathers, from their having been contemporary for a longer or shorter time with the Apostles of Jesus Christ, were not divinely inspired apostles. The first epistle of Clement to the Corinthians indeed was for a short time received as canonical in some dismissed as an uninspired producfew Christian churches, but was soon tion; the fragment of what is called the Second Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, Dr. Lardner has proved not to have been written by him. These productions of the

This is a misnomer; for all the apocryphal writings are not included in the publication in question.

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »