of the New Testament, the following things should be carefully
remembered:

_First._ There was a period, extending, perhaps, through some years from
the day of Pentecost, when there were no written gospels, their place
being supplied by the living presence and teachings of the apostles and
other disciples of our Lord.

_Secondly._ When the need of written documents began to be felt, they
were produced, one after another, as occasion suggested them. Thus the
composition of the books of the New Testament extended through a
considerable period of years.

_Thirdly._ Besides the gospels universally received by the churches,
other narratives of our Lord's life were attempted, as we learn from the
evangelist Luke (1:1); but those never obtained general currency. The
churches everywhere received the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John, because of the clear evidence which they had of their
apostolic origin and trustworthiness; and because, also, these gospels,
though not professing to give a complete account of our Lord's life and
teachings, were nevertheless sufficiently full to answer the end for
which they were composed, being not fragmentary sketches, but orderly
narratives, each of them extending over the whole course of our Lord's
ministry. The other narratives meanwhile gradually passed into oblivion.
The general reception of these four gospels did not, however, come from
any formal concert of action on the part of the churches, (as, for
example, from the authoritative decision of a general council, since no
such thing as a general council of the churches was known till long
after this period;) but simply from the common perception everywhere of
the unimpeachable evidence by which their apostolic authority was