Here is the note from Volume 2, the New Testament, of Townsend’s Analysis, the Introduction, page 4:
The canon of the New Testament was closed by the Author of the Apocalypse. After his death the Christian Churches admitted no addition to the Inspired Volume.
Each book, as it had been successively given to the Churches, was carefully verified, and cautiously received. They were at first addressed to some one particular class of men, or were composed for one express purpose; and before their general utility was acknowledged, they were received by the persons to whom they were addressed, in the sense for which they were composed by their respective authors.
Thus the Gospel of St. Matthew, as Dr. Townsend and others have satisfactorily shown, was compiled at a very early period after the ascension of our Lord, for the use of the Jewish converts.
The gospel of St. Mark was probably composed for the use of the converted Proselytes of the Gate; and St. Luke’s Gospel was written for the more general use of the Gentile converts, who were united into the churches by St. Paul.
The Gospel of St. John was written at the request of the Church at Ephesus, as a supplement to the rest; with more especial reference to those heresies of his age, which impugned the doctrine of the Divinity of Christ.
Many years, we may justly conclude, would have elapsed before these Gospels were collected in one volume; and many more would elapse before the attention of the primitive Churches, which received them with so much veneration, would be directed to their apparent discrepancies. For this veneration was not slightly founded; it originated from the universal knowledge which prevailed among all the Churches, that the authors of these books, and of the other books which they esteemed sacred, were possessed of the power of working miracles, to demonstrate the truth of their narration.
The general evidence deducible from the testimony of the eyewitnesses of the wonderful actions of our Lord, and from the testimony of the hearers of his gracious teaching, was not sufficient. The relators of his actions could appeal to their own supernatural gifts, and afford undeniable proofs of their veracity, and of their more than human knowledge.
St. Matthew, as one of the twelve, partook of the miraculous powers which were given to each. St. Peter may be considered as the real author of St. Mark’s Gospel; and St. Paul, of the Gospel attributed to St. Luke. St. John was also of the twelve.
Invested with the apostolic office, and acting with the plenary powers with which their Divine Master had honored them, we may justly conclude that none of their early converts, either of the Jews, the Proselytes, or the Gentiles, would have considered the seeming difficulties of their narratives. The objects for which both the Gospels and the Epistles were written would have been well understood, and further explanation was unnecessary: and no Harmony of the Gospels would have been either desired or appreciated in the apostolic age.
[I have broken up the original long paragraph into shorter paragraph segments to make it easier to read this material on computer screens.]