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The author has endeavoured to connect the history of the New Testament Canon with the growth and consolidation of the Church, and to point out the relation existing between the amount of evidence for the authenticity of ''its component parts, and the whole mass of Christian literature. Such a'' method of inquiry will convey both the truest notion of the connection of the written Word with the living Body of Christ, and the surest conviction of ''its divine authority. Of this work the writes: “Theo&shy;logical'' students, and not they only, but the general public, owe a deep debt of gratitude to Mr. Westcott for bringing this subject fairly before them in this candid and comprehensive essay As a theological work it is at once perfectly fair and impartial, and imbued with a thoroughly religious spirit; and as a manual it exhibits, in a lucid form and in a narrow compass, the results of extensive research and accurate thought. We cordially recommend it.”

The author's chief object in this work is to show that there is a true mean between the idea of a formal harmonization of the Gospels and the ''abandonment of their absolute truth. The treatise consists of eight'' ''chapters: — I. The Preparation for the Gospel. II. The Jewish Doctrine'' ''of the Messiah. III. The Origin of the Gospels. IV. The Charac&shy;teristics'' ''of the Gospels. V. The Gospel of St. John. VI. & VII. The'' Differences in detail and of arrangement in the Synoptic Evangelists. ''VIII. The Difficulties of the Gospels. “To a learning and accuracy'' which commands respect and confidence, he unites what are not always to be found in union with these qualities, the no less valuable faculties of lucid arrangement and graceful and facile expression.” — .