X. That formal catalogues of authentic Scriptures were published; in all
which our present sacred histories were included.

XI. That these propositions cannot be affirmed of any other books
claiming to be books of Scripture; by which are meant those books which
are commonly called apocryphal books of the New Testament.





SECTION I.

The historical books of the New Testament, meaning thereby the four
Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, are quoted, or alluded to, by a
series of Christian writers, beginning with those who were contemporary
with the apostles, or who immediately followed them, and proceeding in
close and regular succession from their time to the present.

The medium of proof stated in this proposition is, of all others, the
most unquestionable, the least liable to any practices of fraud, and is
not diminished by the lapse of ages. Bishop Burnet, in the History of
his Own Times, inserts various extracts from Lord Clarendon's History.
One such insertion is a proof that Lord Clarendon's History was extant
at the time when Bishop Burnet wrote, that it had been read by Bishop
Burnet, that it was received by Bishop Burnet as a work of Lord
Clarendon, and also regarded by him as an authentic account of the
transactions which it relates; and it will be a proof of these points a
thousand years hence, or as long as the books exist. Quintilian having
quoted as Cicero's, (Quint, lib. xl. c. l.) that well known trait of