mrehy, amiba? to St. I)ioa?im; sad the Nicephori follow the c?ta- Iogue of Melito. *? Our author also states on the same page that "the ancient Christians have followed the Jewish canon in the books of the Old Testament. The first catalogues of the canonicnl books made by the eccle?iuticnl Greek and Latin authors comprehended no more.** To this decisive evidence against the canonical authority of the apee- rypha, we may add that they were never read in the (Jhristian Church until the fourth century, when they were read for ? of/?.? am/ Jerome saith. The Council of Laodicea, held between 360 and 370, and representing the catholic or *mirereal Oburch, ordains in her six- tieth canon that the canonical books of the Old Testament .are those which are acknowledged by the Jews, and rejects the apocrypha. "These canons," says Du Pin, "have been received by the whole church, and put in the code of the canons of the universal ehurch."t 3. T/w ajmcr?/m/boo/r? are not canonS. (1.) They possess no authority whatever, either external or internal, to procure their admission into ?he sacred canon. See this f?lly esta- blished by Horne i? his Introduction, &c., vol i, p. 62?. (2.) The apocryphal books contain many things which are fabulous, ooutradictory, and directly at variance with the canonical Scriptures. (3.) They contain passages which are in themselves .false, absurd, and incredible. (4.) They contain passages at variance with the authentic records of profane historians. Our limits do not permit us to enlarge. But for the proofs of the propositions contained in this and the last two heads, seo Horne ss referred to above. (5.) The apocryphal books are not quoted in the New Testament; bu? those which were received into the canon of the Jews are fie. quently quoted.? 4. Tk? introduction of tl? apoo? amon? tl? vanonical l?oo?s i? not Monsieur Du Pin speaks on thin subject as follows: "The first cata- 1oguo of the books of the Holy $criputres, where they added some books m the Jewish canon, is that of the third Council of Carthage, held A.D. 397, when the books of Judith, Tobit, the Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesias- tieus, and the two books of the Maccabees, were reckoned in the num- ber of canonical books. There is at the end of this canon a remarkable Pastil : Let t? eJ?r?h beyond tAe ?ea be consalted conc?'nin? tAe ?onfirma- tion of tisig exown. De confirmando Lgto canoae e?cles?a tran?marina con- a?hsr. This catalogue of canonical books is confirmed by the authori?r of Pope Innocent I. in an epistle to Exuperius, (A.D. 405,) and by that of a Roman council held under Oelasius, A.D. 494, and is followed in the decree of Eugenins (elected pope 824) to the Armenians, and by the holy Uouncll of Trent? All these catedog, es serve to acquaint us, in genera J, wha? were the books that were always believed to be car-
- Du Pin, Ecc. Hist., wd. i, p. 17.
? EeeL Hist., vol. i,p. 81?, where he quotem the s?ticle? of tim council. p? to ? ?cbm??, v?. ? p. 17, ? ?f ? E, ? ?n?tion. ?M?, 1?. 1 Oi?iti?d ?,,, GOO?JC
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