general, Augustine expressed himself very freely, de civit. Dei xxi. c. 6, 7, (in reference to miraculous phenomena, but his language is also applicable to other miraculous stories of the age); Nec ergo volo temere credi cuncta, quæ posui, exceptis his, quæ ipse sum expertus. Cetera vero sic habeo, ut neque affirmanda, neque neganda decreverim. Comp. de util. cred. 1 c. de vera rel. 25 (Retract. i. c. 13). Concerning the miracles related in Scripture themselves, it was of importance to distinguish the miracles performed by Jesus from those wrought by Apollonius of Tyana, to which Hierocles and others appealed. Augustine therefore directed attention to the benevolent design of Christ's miracles, by which they are distinguished from those which are merely performed for the purpose of gaining the applause of men (e. g. the attempt to fly in the presence of an assembled multitude) de util. cred. 1. c. Comp. Cyr. Alex. contra Jul. i. 1.: 'Eyà dè, őtɩ μèv τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀπηλλάγμεθα ἐμβροντησίας καὶ πολὺς ἀποτειχίζει λόγος τῶν ἐκείνων τερθρείας τὰ χριστιανῶν, φαίην ἄν κοινωνία γὰρ οὐδεμία φωτὶ τρὸς σκότος, ἀλλ ̓ οὐδὲ μερὶς πιστῷ μετὰ áníσTOν.-On the view of Gregory the Great respecting miracles see Neander, Kirchengesch. iii. p. 294, 95.

2 Augustine gives a canon on this point, de civit. Dei xvii. c. 16, ss., comp. xviii. 29, ss. and below § 122, note 4.

3 Aug. de civ. D. iv. 34:....Et nunc quod (Judæi) per omnes fere terras gentesque dispersi sunt, illius unius veri Dei providentia est. Comp. xviii. c. 46.

4 Arnob. ii. p. 44, 45: Nonne vel hæc saltem fidem vobis faciunt argumenta credendi, quod jam per omnes terras in tam brevi temporis spatio immensi nominis hujus sacramenta diffusa sunt? quod nulla jam natio est tam barbari moris et mansuetudinem nesciens, quæ non ejus amore versa molliverit asperitatem suam et in placidos sensus adsumta tranquillitate migraverit? Aug. civ. D. v. 25, 26, xviii. 50:...inter horrendas persecutiones et varios cruciatus ac funera Martyrum prædicatum est toto orbe evangelium, contestante Deo signis et ostentis et variis virtutibus, et Spiritus Sancti muneribus: ut populi gentium credentes in eum, qui pro eorum redemtione crucifixus est, Christiano amore venerarentur sanguinem Martyrum, quem diabolico furore uderunt; ipsique reges, quorum legibus vastabatur Ecclesia, ei nomini salubriter subderentur, quod de terra crudeliter auferre conati sunt; et falsos deos inciperent persequi, quorum causa cultores Dei veri fuerant antea persecuti.

5 Lact. iv. 15, 26, Aug. de civ. Dei xviii. 23, Cyrill. Alex. contra

Jul. i. 1. But the enemies of Christianity maintained, even in the times of Lactantius, non esse illa carmina Sybillina, sed a Christianis conficta atque composita.

§ 119.

SOURCES OF RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE-BIBLE AND

TRADITION.

During the present period both the Bible and tradition were regarded as the sources of Christian knowledge.1 The statement of Augustine, that he was induced by the authority of the church alone to believe in the Gospel, only proves that he considered the believer, but not the Bible, to be dependent on that authority.2 In ecclesiastical controversies and elsewhere the Bible was appealed to as the highest authority, and its perusal recommended to the people as the source of truth, and the book of books.4

1 Nihil aliud præcipi volumus, quam quod Evangelistarum et Apostolorum fides et traditio incorrupta servat, Gratian in Cod. Theod. 1. xvi. tit. vi. 1, 2.

2 Adv. Man. 5: Evangelio non crederem, nisi me ecclesiæ catholicæ commoveret auctoritas. This passage is to be compared in its whole connection: see Lücke, Zeitschrift für evangel. Christen. i. 1, 4. Lücke justly rejects, ibid. p. 71, the expedient adopted by older protestant theologians, e. g. Bucer and S. Baumgarten (Untersuchung theologischer Streitigkeiten, vol. iii. p. 48) viz. to assign to the imperfect tense the signification of the pluperfect "according to the African dialect."

3 Athanasius contra gent. i. p. 1, b.: Avтáρkeis pèv yáp eiow αἱ ἁγίαι καὶ θεόπνευστοι γραφαὶ πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας ἀπαγγεXíav.-Chrys. contra Anomœos xi. Opp. i. p. 542. Aug. Doctr. christ. i. 37: Titubabit fides, si scripturarum sacrarum vacillet auctoritas. ib. ii. 9, and many other passages.

4

* Aug. Ep. 137 (Opp. ii. p. 310): (Scriptura Sacra) omnibus (est) accessibilis, quamvis paucissimis penetrabilis. Ea, quæ aperte continet, quasi amicus familiaris sine fuco ad cor loquitur indoctorum atque doctorum.-De doctr. christ. ii. 42: Quantum

autem minor est auri argenti vestisque copia, quam de Ægypto secum ille populus abstulit in comparatione divitiarum, quæ postea Hierosolymæ consecutus est, quæ maxime in Salomone ostenduntur, tanta fit cuncta scientia, quæ quidem est utilis, collecta de libris gentium, si divinarum scripturarum scientiæ comparetur. Nam quicquid homo extra didicerit, si noxium est, ibi damnatur, si utile est, ibi invenitur. Et cum ibi quisque invenerit omnia, quæ utiliter alibi didicit, multo abundantius ibi inveniet ea, quæ nusquam omnino alibi, sed in illarum tantummodo Scripturarum mirabili altitudine et mirabili humilitate discuntur. Comp. Theodoret. Protheoria in Psalm. Opp. T. i. p. 602. Basilii M. Hom. in Ps. i. (Opp. i. p. 90). Rudelbach, 1. c. p. 38, and Neander, gewichtvolle Aussprüche alter Kirchenlehrer über den allgemeinen und rechten Gebrauch der heil. Schrift, in his kleinen Gelegenheitsschriften Berlin 1839, p. 155, ss. Chrysostom, however, is far from making salvation dependent on the letter of Scripture. In his opinion it would be much better, if we needed no Scripture at all, provided the grace of God were as distinctly written upon our hearts, as the characters are upon the book. (Introduct. to the homilies on Matth. Opp. T. vii. p. 1). In the same manner Augustine says de doctr. christ. i. 39: Homo itaque fide, spe et caritate subnixus, eaque inconcusse retinens non indiget Scripturis nisi ad alios instruendos. Itaque multi per hæc tria etiam in solitudine sine codicibus vivunt. Unde in illis arbitrare jam impletum esse quod dictum est (1 Cor. xiii. 8): Sive prophetæ evacuabuntur, sive linguæ cessabunt, sive scientia evacuabitur, etc.

§ 120.

THE CANON.

Lücke, über den neutestamentlichen Kanon des Eusebius von Casarea. Berlin 1816. Spittler, L. T., Kritische Untersuchung des 60sten laodicäischen Kanons. Bremen 1777.-On the other side: Bickel, in the theologische Studien und Kritiken 1830, part 3, p. 591, ss. [Stuart, Critical History and Defence of the Old Test. Canon, p. 438, ss. 447, ss.]

The more firmly the doctrine of the church was established, the nearer the Canon of the Sacred Scriptures, the principal parts of which had been determined in the

times of Eusebius,1 was brought to its completion. The synods of Laodicea,2 of Hippo, and (the third) of Carthage,3 contributed to this result. The theologians of the Eastern church distinctly separated the later productions of the Greco-jewish literature (i. e. the apocryphal books, libri ecclesiastici) from the Canon of the Old Test. i. e. the literature of the Hebrew nation. But although Rufinus and Jerome endeavoured to maintain the same distinction in the Latin church, it became the general custom to follow Augustine in doing away with the distinction between the canonical and apocryphal books of the Old Test., and in considering both as equal.5 The Canon of the Manichæans differed considerably from that of the Catholic church.6

1 Eus. h. e. iii. 25, adopts three classes, viz. opoλoyoúμeva, ȧvτιλεγόμενα, νόθα, (whether and in how far the last two classes differ, see Lücke, 1. c).-To the first class belong the four gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of Paul (inclusive of the Epistle to the Hebrews), the first Epistle of John, and the first Epistle of Peter; to the Antilegomena belong the Epistles of James, Jude, the second of Peter, and, lastly, the second and third Epistles of John. With regard to the book of Revelation the opinions differ. The following are reckoned among the vóla: Acta Pauli, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Apocalypse of Peter, the Epistle of Barnabas, and the Apostolical constitutions. The άтожа Kai Svσσeßî rank below the νόθα.

2 The Synod of Laodicea was held about the middle of the fourth century (between the years 360 and 364). In the 59th canon it was enacted, that no uncanonical book should be used in the churches, and in the 60th a list was given of the canonical books, in Mansi, ii. 574. In this list all the Hebrew writings of the Old Testament are received, and the apocryphal books excluded (with the exception of the book of Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah). The canon of the New Test. is the same as ours, except the book of Revelation, which, however, was considered genuine in Egypt (by Athanasius and Cyrill). But mention is made of the seven Catholic Epistles, and the Epistle to the Hebrews ascribed to Paul.-For further particulars see the introductions to the New Test.

3 A.D. 393, and A.D. 397. These synods number the Apocrypha of the Old Test. among the canonical books. Comp. the 36th canon Conc. Hippon. in Mansi, iii. 924, and Concil. Carth. 11. c. 47, Mansi, iii. 891. Innocent I. (A.D. 405), and Gelasius I. (A.D. 494) (3) confirmed their decisions.

4

Rufini, Expos. Symb. (1. c.) p. 26: Sciendum tamen est, quod et alii libri sunt, qui non catholici, sed ecclesiastici a majoribus appellati sunt, ut est Sapientia Salomonis et alia Sapientia, quæ dicitur filii Syrach, qui liber apud Latinos hoc ipso generali vocabulo Ecclesiasticus appellatur...... Ejusdem ordinis est libellus Tobiæ et Judith et Maccabæorum libri. He places the Shepherd of Hermas on the same footing with the Apocrypha of the Old Test., and maintains that they might be read, but not quoted, as authorities, "ad auctoritatem ex his fidei confirmandam." Comp. Hier. in Prologo galeato, quoted by De Wette, Einleitung, i. p. 45.

5 Aug. de doctr. chr. ii. 8, and other passages quoted by De Wette, 1. c. Comp. Münscher, Handb. iii. p. 64, ss. Gregory the Great, mor. lib. xix. c. 21: Non inordinate agimus, si ex libris, licet non canonicis, sed tamen ad ædificationem ecclesiæ editis testimoniam proferamus. He makes only a relative distinction between the Old and New Test., lib. i. hom. 6, in Ezech.: Divina eloquia, etsi temporibus distincta, sunt tamen sensibus unita.

6 Münscher, 1. c. p. 91, ss. Trechsel, über den Kanon, die Kritik und Exegese der Manichäer. Bern. 1832. 8. The authenticity of the Old Test., and the connection between the Old and the New Testaments, was defended in opposition to the Manichæans, especially by Augustine, de mor. eccles. cath. i. c. 27, de utilitate credendi, and elsewhere.

§ 121.

INSPIRATION AND INTERPRETATION.

[Davidson, S., Sacred Hermeneutics, p. 111-162.] On the literature, comp. § 32.

The writers of the present period regarded inspiration as having reference either spiritually to the doctrines, or mechanically to the letter of Scripture. Not only were