ut we have no certain evidence that they were then
collected into a whole. The writings of apostles and apostolic men had
of course the same authority as their spoken word: that is, an authority
that was supreme and decisive, according to the principle laid down by
the Saviour: "He that receiveth you, receiveth me; and he that receiveth
me, receiveth him that sent me." Matt. 10:40. But so long as the
churches had the presence of the apostles they could not feel, as we do
now, the need of an authoritative written rule of faith and practice;
nor is there any proof that the apostles themselves understood in the
beginning of the gospel God's purpose to add, through them, a second
part to the canon of revelation that had been for so many centuries
closed. A considerable number of years elapsed after the ascension
before it was thought necessary to give to the churches under apostolic
sanction a written account of our Lord's life and teachings. The Acts of
the Apostles were not composed till about A.D. 61-63. The apostolic
epistles were for the most part written on special occasions and to meet
special exigencies, the greater number of them not till between A.D.
50-70, those of John still later. The Christians of this age drew their
knowledge of the gospel mainly from the same sources to which Luke
refers in the preface to his gospel; from oral tradition, namely,
received directly or indirectly from them "who from the beginning were
eye-witnesses and ministers of the word."

4. After the death of the apostles came what may be called the _age of
the apostolic fathers_; men who, like Ignatius, Polycarp, and others
whose names have not come down to us, had been the disciples of the
apostles. Ignatius suffered martyrdom at Rome, A.D. 107 or 116. Polycarp
survived beyond the middle of the second century. The literary remains
of this period are very scanty, the genuine writings of the apostolic
fathers being confined to a few epistles--one of Clement of Rome to the
Corinthians, seven of Ignatius, one of Polycarp to the Philippians, to
which we may add the so-called epistle of Barnabas; since whoever was
the author, it does not date from later than the early part of the
second century. From these writings we gather in general that the
gospels and apostolic epistles were in current use in the churches, but
nothing definite in regard to the collection of these writings into a
whole.

"With the exception of the epistles of _Jude_,