cept a few names, and notes; and that all the books belonging to the Canon of the Old Testament, were collected and inserted in the sacred volume by Ezrà himself. And this opinion seems to be the safest, and is no how incredible in itself. It accords also with the uniform tradition of the Jews, that Ezra completed the Canon of the Old Testament; and that after Malachi there arose no prophet, who added any thing to the sacred volume. Whether the books were now collected into a single volume, or were bound up in several codices, is a question of no importance: if we can ascertain what books were received as Canonical, it matters not in what form they were preserved. It seems probable, however, that the sacred books were at this time distributed into three volumes, THE LAW; THE PROPHETS; and the HAGIOGRAPHA. This division, we know to be as ancient as the time of our Saviour, for he says, These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things might be fulfilled, which are written in THE LAW, and in THE PROPHETS, and in THE PSALMS, concerning me. Josephus, also, makes mention of this division, and it is by the Jews, with one consent, referred to Ezra, as its author. In establishing the Canon of the Old Testament, we might labour under considerable uncertainty and embarrasment, in regard to several books, Luke xxiv. 44. were it not, that the whole of what were called THE SCRIPTURES, and which were included in the threefold division, mentioned above, received the explicit sanction of our Lord. He was not backward to reprove the Jews for disobeying, misinterpreting, and adding their traditions, to the Scriptures, but he never drops a hint that they had been unfaithful or careless, in the preservation of the sacred books. So far from this, he refers to THE SCRIPTURES as an infallible rule, which must be fulfilled, and could not be broken. Search the scriptures, said he, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, but they are they which testify of me. The errors of the Sadducees are attributed to an ignorance of the Scriptures: and they are never mentioned but with the highest respect, and as the unerring word of God. The apostle Paul, also, referring, principally, if not wholly, to the Scriptures of the Old Testament, says, And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. They are also called by this apostle THE ORACLES OF GOD; THE LIVELY ORACLES, THE WORD OF GOD; and when quotations are made from David, it is represented as the Holy Ghost speaking by Mark xiv. 49. John x. 35. 2 Tim. iii. 15, 16. the mouth of David. The testimony of Peter, is not less explicit, for he says: The prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And the apostle James speaks of the Scriptures, with equal confidence and respect; And receive with meekness, says he, the ingrafted word which is able to save your souls. And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, &c. Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain? &c. We have, therefore, an important point established with the utmost certainty, that the volume of Scripture which existed in the time of Christ and his apostles, was uncorrupted, and was esteemed by them an inspired and infallible rule. Now, if we can ascertain what books were then included in the Sacred Volume, we shall be able to settle the Canon of the Old Testament without uncertainty. But here lies the difficulty. Neither Christ, nor any of his apostles has given us a catalogue of the books, which composed the Scriptures of the Old Testament. They have distinctly quoted a number of these books, and so far the evidence is complete. We know, that THE LAW and THE PROPHETS and THE PSALMS were included in their Canon. But this does not ascertain, particu larly, whether the very same books which we now find in the Old Testament were then found in it, and no others. It is necessary then, to resort to other sources of information. And happily, the Jewish historian Josephus furnishes us with the very information which we want: not indeed as explicitly, as we could wish, but sufficiently so to lead us to a very satisfactory conclusion. He does not name the books of the Old Testament, but he numbers them, and so describes. them, that there is scarcely room for any mistake. The important passage to which we refer, is in his first book against Apion, "We have" says he "only two and twenty books, which are to be believed as of divine authority; of which five are the books of Moses. From the death of Moses, to the reign of Artaxerxes the son of Xerxes, king of Persia, the Prophets who were the successors of Moses have written in thirteen books. The remaining four books contain hymns to God, and documents of life, for the use of men." Now the five books of Moses are universally agreed to be, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The thirteen books, written by the prophets, will. include Joshua, Judges with Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah with Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, the Twelve minor Prophets, Job, Ezra, Esther, and Chronicles. The four remaining books will be, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon, which make the whole number twenty-two; the Canon then existing is proved to be the same, as that which we now possess. It would appear, indeed, that these books might more conveniently be reckoned twentyfour; and this is the present method of numbering them, by the modern Jews; but formerly, the number was regulated by that of. the Hebrew alphabet, which consists of twenty two letters, therefore, they annexed the small book of Ruth to Judges; and probably it is a continuation of this book by the same author. They added, also, the Lamentations of Jeremiah to his prophecy, and this was natural enough. As to the Minor Prophets, which form twelve separate books in our Bibles, they were anciently, always reckoned one book, so they are considered in every ancient catalogue, and in all quotations from them. It will not be supposed that any change could have occurred in the Canon from the time of our Saviour and his apostles, to that in which Josephus wrote. Indeed, he may be considered the contemporary of the apostles, as he was born about the time of Paul's conversion to Christianity; and was therefore grown up to man's age, long before the death of this apostle; and the apostle John probably survived him. And it must be remembered, that Josephus is here giving his testimony to a public fact: he is declaring what books were received as divine by his nation; and he D |