nt_, etc. _Irenaeus_,
against heresies, 2. 46; 5. 20; _Letter to Florinus_ in Eusebius' Hist.
Eccl., 5. 20: _Clement of Alexandria_, Strom., 7, p. 757; _Tertullian_,
against heretics, chap. 30. 36: against Marcion, 4. 6, etc. The canon
was not, however, completed in its present form; for the right of
certain books--the so-called _antilegomena_, chap. 6. 6.--to a place in
it remained for a considerable time an open question, which, in its
application to particular books was answered differently in the East and
the West. See chap. 6. On the other hand, certain writings of the
apostolic fathers (as the so-called epistle of Barnabas, the Shepherd of
Hermas, the epistle of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians), being read
in certain of the early churches, found their way into some codices of
the New Testament. Chap. 6, No. 4.

To the latter part of the second century belong two important
canons, that of the Syriac Peshito, and the Muratorian canon.
The former of these represents the judgment of the _Eastern_
churches; the latter apparently that of the _Western_.

The canon of the Peshito has, of the seven disputed books,
_Hebrews_ and _James_. It wants the other five, namely, _2
Peter_, _2, 3 John_, _Jude_, _Revelation_.

The Muratorian canon is in such an imperfect state that its
testimony on some points is doubtful. It contains _Jude_ and
_Revelation_; perhaps also _2, 3 John_. It wants _Hebrews_, and
_2 Peter_, and it adds the apocryphal book called the
_Apocalypse of Peter_.

Origen in the third century (as quoted by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl.,
6. 25) and Eusebius in the fourth, Hist. Eccl., 3. 25, give each
a review of the New Testament canon with a statement of the
differing judgments as to the disputed books. The details will
come up hereafter in connection with the books in question.

The Synodical Council of Loadicea, which was probably held
between A.D. 343-381, gives in its 60th canon (the genuineness
of which, however, has been called in question by some) a list
of the books of the Old and New Testaments. That of the New
Testament wants the _Apocalypse_.

The third Council of Carthage, held A.D. 397, contains all the
books of our present canon. So also the Latin fathers, as
Jerome, Rufinus, etc. But the Syrian churches still adhered to
the canon of the Peshito.

7. The history of Christian opinion in regard t