Through contemporary writings and the results of modern biblical
research it is possible to study definitely the origin of the various
New Testament books and to follow the different stages in their growth
into a canon. This familiar chapter in the history of the Bible is
richly suggestive, because of the clear light which it sheds upon the
more complex and obscure genesis and later development of the Old
Testament. It will be profitable, therefore, to review it in outline,
not only because of its own importance, but also as an introduction to
the study of the influences that produced the older Scriptures; for
almost every fact that will be noted in connection with the origin and
literary history of the New has its close analogy in the growth of the
Old Testament.

[Sidenote: _The threefold grouping of the New Testament books_]

We find that as they are at present arranged, the books of the New
Testament are divided into three distinct classes. The first group
includes the historical books: the Gospels and Acts; the second, the
Epistles--the longer, like the letters to the Romans and Corinthians,
being placed first and the shorter at the end; while the third group
contains but one book, known as the Apocalypse or Revelation. The
general arrangement is clearly according to subject-matter, not
according to date of authorship; the order of the groups represent
different stages in the process of canonization.

[Sidenote: _Why the Gospels are not the earliest_]

Their position as well as the themes which they treat suggest that the
Gospels were the first to be written. It is, however, a self-evident
fact that a book was not written--at least not in antiquity, when the