is
story manifestly runs side by side with the tradition in 1. Pet. iii.
19, 20, wherein it is stated that Jesus "went and preached unto the
spirits in prison," and that preaching is placed between his death (v.
18) and his resurrection (v. 21). The saving by baptism (v. 21) is also
alluded to in this connection in Nicodemus, wherein (chap, xi.) the dead
are baptised. The Latin versions of the Gospels of Nicodemus vary in
details from the Greek, but not more than do the four canonical. In
these, as in all the apocryphal writings, there is nothing specially to
distinguish them from the accepted Scriptures; improbabilities and
contradictions abound in all; miracles render them all alike incredible;
myriad chains of similarity bind them all to each other, necessitating
either the rejection of all as fabulous, or the acceptance of all as
historical. Whether we regard external or internal evidence, we come to
the same conclusion, _that there is nothing to distinguish the canonical
from the uncanonical writings_.

C. _That it is not known where, when, by whom, the canonical writings
were selected_. Tremendously damaging to the authenticity of the New
Testament as this statement is, it is yet practically undisputed by
Christian scholars. Canon Westcott says frankly: "It cannot be denied
that the Canon was formed gradually. The condition of society and the
internal relations of the Church presented obstacles to the immediate
and absolute determination of the question, which are disregarded now,
only because they have ceased to exist. The tradition which represents
St. John as fixing the contents of the New Testament, betrays the spirit
of a later age" (Westcott "On the Canon," p. 4). "The track, however,
which we have to follow is often obscure and broken. The evidence of the
earliest Christian writers is not only uncritical and casual, but is
also fragmentary" (Ibid, p. 11). "From the close of the second century,
the history of the Canon is simple, and its proof clear... Before that
time there is more or less difficulty in making out the details of the
question.... Here, however, we are again beset with peculiar
difficulties. The proof of the Canon is embarrassed both by the general
characteristics of the age in which it was fixed, and by the particular
form of the evidence on which it first depends. The spirit of the
ancient world was essentially uncritical" (Ibid, pp. 6-8). In dealing
with "the early versions of the New Test