CHAPTER XIII

THE NEW TESTAMENT OF THE SECTS

The Canon of the schismatic Greek Church is the same as that of the Roman Catholic Church.

In Syria, the Nestorians receive only the Gospels, the Acts, Fourteen Epistles of Paul, I. Peter, I. John, and the Epistle of James. Ebed Jesu, the Nestorian Metropolitan of Nisibe, (†1318), does not mention the four shorter Catholic Epistles and Apocalypse in his catalogue of the New Testament.

The schismatic Armenians receive all our books, and add two letters of the Corinthians to Paul, and Paul’s response.

The Ethiopian Canon contains all the books, and adds the Apostolical Constitutions.

Calvin and his sect received the full Canon.

The Anglican Church also received all the books of the Catholic Canon.

In the Lutheran Church there was much fluctuation of opinion. Luther had doubted of the Epistles of James Jude, Hebrews and the Apocalypse; his followers went farther, and rejected II. Peter, and II. and III. John. But the Lutherans were not constant in this opinion. The lack of support of the other sects, and the feebleness of their position brought it about that Bossuet was able to write in 1700 to Leibnitz: “Nous convenons tous ensemble, protestants et catholiques, également des mêmes livres du Nouveau Testament; car je ne crois pas que personne volut suivre encore les emportements de Luther contre l’Epître de saint Jacques. Passions done une même canonicité à tous ces livres, contestés autrefois ou non contestés; après cela, Monsieur permettez moi de vous demander si vous voulez affaiblir l’autorité ou de l’Epître aux Hébreux, si haute, si théologique, si divine, ou celle de l’Apocalypse, ou reluit l’esprit prophétique avec autant de magnificence que dans Isaie et dans Daniel?”

The Lutherans have abandoned their theory, but in many of their Bibles the preface of Luther was long after printed. It is for this cause that Richard Simon ridicules them for such an apparent contradiction. Finally, these prefaces were expunged, and the opinions of their founder on this point consigned to oblivion.

The rise of rationalism has changed the estate of the books of both Testaments in the protestant church. It is now no longer a question of the divinity of any particular book, but belief in the divinity of the whole collection is fast dying in all the sects.