That variations still existed in the Eastern Church is shown by the lists which vied with one another in precedence. The apostolic canons adopted the seven general epistles, while the apostolic constitutions excluded them. The Alexandrian MS. added to the ordinary books of the New Testament, Clement’s two epistles; and Cosmas Indicopleustes omitted the general epistles as well as the Apocalypse. At length the Council of Constantinople, usually called the _Trullan_ (A.D. 692), laid down positions that fixed the canon for the Greek Church. The endeavor in it was to attain to a conclusion which should unite East and West. This council did not enumerate the separate books, but referred to older authorities, to the eighty-five canons of the apostles, the decrees of the synods of Laodicea, Ephesus, Carthage, and others; to Athanasius, Gregory of Nazianzus, Amphliochius of Iconium, Cyril of Alexandria, Gennadius, &c. After the fourth century there was a general desire to fall back on apostolic times, to appeal to the Church, to ascertain the opinion of synods or assemblies; in a word, to rely on authority. Less discrepancy and activity were manifested about the canon in the Western Church. Here the chief doubts were directed to the epistle to the Hebrews and the seven general ones. The former was early excluded, and continued to be so even in the time of Jerome. The latter were adopted much sooner. The impulse given by Constantine to determine the books of Scripture re-acted on the West, where the Church considered it its own privilege. Augustine’s influence contributed much to the settlement of the question. The synods of Hippo (A.D. 393) and of Carthage (A.D. 397) received the epistle to the Hebrews and the seven general ones, thus fixing the New Testament canon as it now is. In 419 the African bishops, in the presence of a Papal delegate, repeated their former decision. After the West Goths joined the Catholic Church in the sixth century, the Romish and Spanish Churches gave prominence to the fact of accepting both the Apocalypse and the epistle to the Hebrews. The canon of the West was now virtually closed; the fourth Council of Toledo (A.D. 632) at which Isidore was present, agreeing with the Augustinian list, ratified as that list had been by Innocent the First. The reception of the epistle to the Hebrews was facilitated by the objections of the Arians and Semiarians; while opposition to the Priscillianists in Spain strengthened adherence to the traditional canon. Augustine and the Trullan Council fixed the number of the New Testament books as they are now.