Page:A General Survey of the History of the Canon of the New Testament (7th edition, 1896).djvu/89

 I.]

shew that the writings of the Apostles were regarded from the first as invested with singular authority, as the true expression, if not the original source, of Christian doctrine and Christian practice. And more than this: they prove that it is unnecessary to have recourse to later influences to explain the existence of peculiar forms of Christianity which were coeval with its reception in the world. In a word, they mark the beginnings of a written Canon, and establish the permanence of the elements of the Catholic faith.

The latter point must be examined with care; for it is very needful to notice the proofs of the continuity of the representative forms of Christian doctrine at a time when it has been supposed to have undergone strange changes. Many have rightly perceived that the reception of the Canon implies the existence of one Catholic Church; and conversely, if we can shew that the distinct constituents of Catholicity were found in Christendom from the first age, we confirm the authenticity of those books which severally suggest and sanction them. It is true that these different types of teaching are at times arbitrarily expanded in the uncanonical writings without any regard to their relative importance, but still they are essentially unchanged; and by the help of patristic deductions we may see in what way the natural tendencies which give rise to opposing heresies are always intrinsically recognised in the teaching of the universal Church. The elements of Holy Scripture are so tempered that though truly distinct they combine harmoniously; elsewhere the same elements are disproportionately developed, and in the end mutually exclude each other.