in and thus deferred to by the Author of Christianity, we receive as at the mouth of the Saviour. The Jews and Christians separated from each other, with the very same list however of Old Testament scriptures; and these, laying aside the great Popish adulteration and a few minor ones, remain unchanged with each of the parties to the present day. We cannot imagine a more secure basis for the canon of the Old Testament, than the authentication of that very list by Christ and His Apostles-thus giving the benefit of all the evidence for the new, to the scriptures of the elder dispensation. 9. We shall now enter, in detail, on the scriptural evidence for each of the particular books of the Old Testament; but, before doing so, let us advert to certain larger divisions into which they were grouped by the Hebrews; and the traces of which are to be found in the Bible itself. There was the book of their law, consisting of our Pentateuch, or five books of Moses, and originally written in one volume. There was the book of the prophets, which yet comprehended certain of the historical, and excluded certain of the prophetical writings. There was lastly the book of the Hagiographa or Holy writings, the inspiration of which was not doubted by the Jews as to its reality, but which were distinguished from the former in their reckoning by the mode of the inspiration. Moses the author of the first class of these books was universally held to be the most illustrious of all their sacred writers, being the only one admitted to direct and personal converse with God.* The authors of the second class were conceived to have had their communications made to them by dreams and visions, or even by a voice. The authors of the third class were regarded too as divinely inspired men, only that instead of being honoured by any sensible manifestations of the Divinity, they wrote under the impulse of a silent and authoritative guidance on their own minds. They were besides conceived to have no public mission as prophets, and so neither were their works though inspired read publicly. The circumstance of the book of Daniel being ranked among the Hagiographa, is ascribed to the power of evidence which lies in it for the truth of Christianity, and to the consequent apprehension lest if read in their synagogues, they might lead any to embrace this religion. This distinction might appear to degrade certain of the writers of the Old Testament beneath the rank of infallible teachers from Heaven; but it will be found not to affect the reality of their inspiration, only the mode of it -and even for this there seems to have been no solid ground-the reasons alleged for it by the learned among the Jews being of a very fanciful or legendary character. One great benefit of the scriptural evidence that we shall allege for each of the several books is, that it must restore the confidence which this distinction might have otherwise impaired as it will occasionally be found, that there is a greater weight and splendour of this evidence for certain of the books which have Numb. xii. 6-8. been placed in the lowest class, than for many of those which have had a higher rank and precedency assigned to them. Whatever authority may be attached to the opinion of the Jews, respecting the methods and degrees of inspiration which obtained among the writers of the Old Testament-there can be no doubt of the threefold distribution, as if into three volumes, that was made of them. It is recognized in the scriptures themselves; and we should lose a certain portion of the evidence that we are now in quest of, if we omitted the testimonies given, not separately to the individual books, but aggregately to one or other of these larger collections. We shall find traces at least for the book of the law as one separate book, consisting of the five books of Moses, but isolated from all other scripture, even in the Old Testament; and in the New we have abundant evidence both for it and for the other two besides. "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets." "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John."t "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."+ "And David himself sayeth in the book of Psalms."§ "And he said to him these are the words which I spake to you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me." "For it is written in the book of Psalms, let his habitation be desolate, "** &c. Matt. v. 17. § Luke xx. 42. + Matt. xi. 13. Luke xxiv. 44. Matt. xxii. 40. **Acts i. 20. "Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue to this day witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come.' "And when he had appointed them a day, there came many to him in his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening." "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets." "But even unto this day when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart." That the book of the law was not confined to the legal part of the Pentateuch, is evident from its being appealed to for the historical facts of the narrative, as in Gal. iv. 21 -26, where the story of Hagar and her son is ushered in by a challenge on those who are of the law to hear the law. And there is even reason to believe that the whole of the Old Testament was at times designated as "the Law" or "Book of the Law." The quotation in John x. 34, seems to have been taken from the Psalms, and yet is said to be taken from the "Law." The people in John xii. 34 allege their having heard out of the law, that which must have been read or told to them out of the Psalms. And our Saviour in John xv. 25, makes a quotation from the Psalms as from the law. The truth is, that the names Acts xxvi. 22. Acts xxviii. 23. ‡ Rom. iii. 21. properly and primitively annexed to one portion of the Jewish scriptures was at length extended to the whole as being all of the same complete and rightful authority over the faith and consciences of men.* 10. Still however the Pentateuch is often singled out from the other scriptures, by its original and appropriate designation of the Book of the Law. So that, beside the scriptural evidence for the individual books of the Pentateuch, there is much of that evidence to be found in the general references made to the Pentateuch on the whole, under the title of the Law or Book of the Law. But of the many citations which might be produced, a very few must suffice. "Observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee." "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth."† "As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses."+ "And keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes and his commandments and his judgments and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses." "But the children of the murderers he slew not: according unto that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein the Lord commanded * There are besides quotations in the New Testament as from the law, of words only to be found in the prophets-so that their whole Bible must have often been designated the " Book of the Law," and hence the strong probability that the book taken from the temple and carried at the Roman triumph, though termed by Josephus the book of the law, was the temple copy of the whole Hebrew scriptures. ↑ Josh. i. 7, 8, || 1 Kings ii. 3. Josh. viii. 31. |