sentations made by Christ himself. We rise from reading Matthew with the same feeling of the presence of the same Saviour that Mark and Luke present.

The writer of the fourth gospel, John, lived to witness the growth of errors, doctrinal and practical. His gospel, while giving the leading occurrences in the life of Jesus, dwells more fully on his discourses as the most powerful weapons with which to meet the errors which had arisen in the churches.

By this fourfold biography, all classes of minds are met. The conservatism of Matthew, the minuteness of Mark, the comprehensiveness of Luke, and the insight and love of John, give the life of Christ the power of appeal to all classes and characters.

The book of Acts, written by Luke, shows how the apostles, entrusted with the message, the principles and the spirit embraced in the life of Jesus, reduced them to practice. It teaches us on what principles or ideas the churches of Christ were founded, and shows us the children of Jesus trying to walk and to work alone -at least with no human hand to hold and guide, and no human voice to commend or correct.

Next to that of the Lord Jesus, the fullest biography in the New Testament is that of the Apostle Paul. He was chosen to write more than any of his co-labdrers, and as his writings could be better understood by knowing his life, large space is given to his travels, his persecutions and his addresses.

Paul's epistles are thirteen, if we except that written to the Hebrews, about which there has been much dispute. It is generally believed that, if not written by him, it was by one of his immediate disciples, under his own direction. In writing to the Romans, Paul almost becomes a Roman in the argument and vindication of law; while in writing to the Ephesians and Colossians, he appears as one who by profound meditation and spiritual sympathies has reached the very inmost mysteries of the truth.

The epistles of Peter, James and Jude are very different from those of Paul. His were directed to churches or individuals, and may be termed personal. The others are more of a general character. Especially is this the fact in regard to the letters written by Peter. The first of these was, always received as his. The

second epistle was termed in the early churches antilegomena, or a book whose authorship was disputed. The same is true of the epistles of James, and second and third of John, and Jude. The authorship of the book of Revelations was also disputed, and was left out of some of the early versions. But with all this variety of authorship and style, the fact still stands that the New Testament simply proclaims one Saviour, Jesus Christ, and faith in him as the ground of salvation.

CHAPTER IV.

THE COMPILERS OF THE BOOK.

The collection of these inspired writings is called the New Testament. This appellation is a translation of two Greek words, which mean New Covenant. Paul called the doctrine, the precepts and the promises of the gospel, Kaine Diatheke, or New Covenant, in opposition to the old or Mosaic economy. This new covenant was the will or testament of Christ, and hence, though the apostles never applied this term to their writings, it was adopted at a very early age.

The writings known by this appellation consist of twenty-seven books, composed on different occasions at different places, by eight different persons. As many of the epistles, and doubtless also the several gospel narratives, were directed to different churches, as that at Rome, and that at Ephesus, and other cities, it became necessary to collect all these separate books into one volume. This was done at an early period under the foregoing title, and the list of books contained in this volume was called the canon of the New Testament. Canon simply means rule, or general regulation, and was applied to the New Testament books because these contained the rule or standard of doctrine and morals. Neither the exact time when this compilation was made, nor the persons by whom the separate writings were collected and formed into one volume, is known. All that can be ascertained with any certainty is that in the early ages of Christianity -indeed soon after the time of the apostles-this collection existed and was sought for and destroyed by the persecuting authorities. It is certain that in the early part of the second century the collection existed in two parts, distinguished as the Evangelicum, or gospel, and the Apostolicum, or apostolic writing.

In 315 a list of the books of the New Testament was published

by Athanasius.

In 370 by Epiphanius. In 392 by Jerome.

In

390 by Rufinus. In 394 by Augustine; and in 397 by forty bishops, who met in council at Carthage in Africa. These lists all agree with that of our received versions. There were other lists of these sacred writings, differing from those just mentionedone by Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia. Among them he classified as controverted the epistles of James and Jude, the second epistle of Peter, and the third of John. But no one of those who made out these lists, nor the councils we have mentioned, claimed thereby to settle the canon of the New Testament. They simply published the names of the books which had for a century or more been generally received as the inspired writings of the apostles.

CHAPTER V.

THE ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE BOOK.

Although the common language in Jerusalem and all Judea at the time of Jesus was Chaldee, and in "Galilee of the Gentiles" was Syriac, it is a remarkable fact that the New Testament was written in Greek. "This most beautiful, subtle and powerful language," says Dean Alford, "that ever flowed from the lips of man, had been growing up to perfection for ages. There rose a mighty conqueror, Alexander the Great, who overran the East. Wherever his conquests spread he carried the tongue of Greece, and through him and the subsequent wider empire of the Romans, Greek became the civilized language of the world."

Though the New Testament is not written in what is known as classic Greek, still all its inimitable power is retained. Some specimens of the Syro-Chaldaic are preserved in the Gospels. "Ephphatha," "Abba," "Aceldama," "Bethesda," "Cephas," "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,” "Maranatha," and "Talitha

cumi," are examples.

The Greek, then, was the original of the New Testament, though some suppose that Matthew wrote his Gospel in Hebrew. The translation of this original Greek into various tongues constituted the different versions of the New Testament. The oldest of

these was the

PESHITO-SYRIAC VERSION. Peshito means simple-that is, a literal translation, or a translation without note or comment. The ancient character of this version is beyond question. Some have gone so far as to assert that it was made either by one of the apostles, or under apostolic supervision. The apostle Thaddeus has been named as the translator. But, as the most convincing evidences prove that the books in our canonica! New