pable distinction was kept up between the sacred and the apocryphal writings. Epiphanius says of the Apocrypha, that, "though useful and profitable, they were not taken in among the scriptures. And therefore, they were not placed in the ark of the covenant.' Damascenus also testifies of the apocryphal writings, that, "however good and beautiful, they were not ranked with the canonical writings, and not deposited in the ark." So that, though offered by their authors to the church, they were not thought worthy of a place beside the canonical and authorized writings, and therefore were not laid along with these in the ecclesiastical repository or ark. It is doubtless from this circumstance that the fathers termed the canonical writings EvdalETO-because they understood, that, when admitted into the canon, they were at the same time admitted into the sanctuary, and placed by the ark of the covenant; whereas, on the other hand, the anongupo may have received their name, because they were restrained άπο της αγίας κρύπτης, from that holy crypt, that sacred repository, in which the canonical writings were preserved. This then is thought to have been the practice, both before and after the Jewish captivity; and it does seem a very formal and distinct acquittal of the trust which had been laid on that people, to whom, in the language of Paul, "had been committed the oracles of God." Irrespective, however, of the evidence that exists for this especial obser

* Εν τη της διαθηκης κιβωτῳ.

† Ευαρετοι μεν και καλαι, αλλ' ουκ αριθμούνται ουδε έκειντο εν τη

vance-it is obvious, that both in the general habit of Jewish families, and in the institution of so numerous and well-appointed a body of ecclesiastics, there did obtain among the Jews, the most ample and efficient means for the fulfilment of this great purpose. The likelihood, at the same time, of this method of custody and preservation, is, we think, well made out, both by the quotations from scripture, and the other testimonies which we have now exhibited; and receives moreover a certain confirmation, from the practice in Jewish synagogues at this day-where a copy of the law is still deposited in a sacred receptacle, called by Tertullian Judaicum armarium, a little chest or press termed armoire in French, and thence transformed into aumory in Scotland. We do not think the full and absolute vindication of this temple. process indispensable to our present argument; and we are more disposed to regard it, as but one beautiful and picturesque representation of it-and through which, we are made to see, as if in picture, or to read as on a visible and enduring monument, the safety and integrity of the Old Testament records. The same process, however, was substantially repeated, we have no doubt, in the frequent synagogues of the land-nay, in many thousands of private families, alike zealous of their law and of the way of their forefathers; and so as to afford a guarantee for the genuineness and preservation of the Hebrew scriptures, of which there is no similar example in ancient history. The Jewish people were separated from the nations of the earth, for, among other reasons, the keeping

and transmission of the elder revelations to the latter ends of the world; and this one purpose at least, of their marked and singular economy, has been fully accomplished by them.

8. But, whatever obscurity may be conceived to hang over the methods of this more remote and ancient dispensation, we at length emerge into full assurance, when we come to the days of the New Testament; and gather thence our third general argument, the strongest of all, we think, for the canonicity of the Old Testament writings. Nothing can be more certain than the use, the frequent use, made by the Jews from very early times, of written language as the vehicle of their alleged revelations. And the books to which they were thus committed, were signalized above all others by the religious estimation in which they were held. "And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them." "And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God"t "And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides: on the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables."+ "And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew

Exod. xxiv. 12. Ex. xxxi. 18.

Ex. xxxii. 15, 16.

unto me.

thee two tables of stone like unto the first; and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest."* "And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire, in the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them And I turned myself, and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the Lord commanded me."t "And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life.”‡ "And it shall be, on the day when you pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaster them with plaster: And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over," &c. These quotations serve to prove how early writing was resorted to, in the communications between heaven and earth. The book that was "before the priests the Levites," we have no doubt, was that laid up in the ark of the covenant, from which each king was required to write a copy; and we cannot imagine a more effectual device for the preservation of an autograph, and for the transmission of a book in its original integrity to future ages. But beside this, we may observe in these Deut. xvii. 18, 19.

Ex. xxxiv. 1. + Deut. x. 4, 5.
Deut. xxvii. 2, 3.

passages, what the written revelations were, in their earliest and most rudimental form-before they were expanded into books, whether smaller or larger, for circulation among the people. "Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it to the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel." "Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel."* "Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the Lord."t "Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever."+ "The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book."| "The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah."§ "So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon." "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end."** These last quotations exhibit to us the origination of books, or parts of books, in the Old Testament; and did we offer, in addition to

• Deut. xxxi. 19, 22.

t1 Sam. x. 25. This act of laying up what he had written before the Lord, may be regarded as another example of the deposition of the Sacred Writings, in a sanctuary or consecrated place.

Is. xxx. 8.

Jer. xxx. 1, 2.

§ Jer. xlv. 1. Daniel xii. 4.