Gospels, it is plain that the gospel was
first preached in that tongue. In the 7th century after Christ, the
Mohammedan conquerors, who spoke Arabic, began to supplant {2} Aramaic
by Arabic, and this is now the ordinary language of Palestine. As many
people who spoke Aramaic were at one time heathen, both the Jews and
the Christians adopted the habit of calling their language _Syriac_
rather than Aramaic. The great centre of Christian Syriac literature
was Edessa, and in the eastern part of the Roman Empire Syriac was the
most important and most elegant language next to Greek. It is still
used in the Church services of many Oriental Christians, and it is
spoken in ordinary conversation in parts of North Mesopotamia and
Kurdistan. Further west it is only spoken in a few villages of
Anti-Libanus. In the course of this book it will be necessary to refer
occasionally to the Aramaic language.

It is highly probable that some of the earliest Christian writings were
in Aramaic, but all the books of the New Testament which we now possess
are in Greek. The Greek language was known by many people in
Palestine, and it was splendidly fitted to be the medium of God's
revelation. It was widely known among the civilized nations of the
time, and it is so rich and expressive that religious ideas are better
conveyed in Greek than in almost any other tongue. Whereas it was
essential that the gospel should be preached first in Aramaic, it was
equally essential that it should be written in Greek, for the benefit
of people who did not live in Palestine or who lived there as strangers.

[Sidenote: The Canon.]

The New Testament Scriptures consist of twenty-seven different books,
written by nine different authors. Each book has some special
characteristics corresponding with the mind of the writer and the
circumstances under which it was written. Yet these books exhibit a
manifest unity of purpose and doctrine. Under many differences of
dialect and expression there is an internal unity such as we do not
find in any secular literature, and this unity is due to inspiration.
The whole collection of books is called the CANON of the New Testament.
This Greek word "canon" originally meant a straight rod, such as could
be used for {3} ruling or measuring, then it was employed to signify a
rule or law, and finally it meant a list or catalogue. As applied to
the New Testament, the word "canon" means the books which fit the
Church's rul