ed the Levites which bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, Take this book of the LAW, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.”* Here, in the most sacred part of the sanctuary, the Pentateuch was preserved as a sacred deposite. On one occasion, indeed, it seems to have been displaced, and its integrity endangered, when in the reigns of Manasseh and Amon idolatry so prevailed, that the true worship of God was suspended. During this period of darkness, the LAW was cast out among the rubbish, where it was found in the reign of the pious Josiah. But while the autograph of Moses was laid up by the side of the ark, we are not to suppose that there were no authentic copies of this sacred book among the people. Josephus relates, that every tribe, by the command of Moses, was furnished with a copy. And as it contained the liturgy for the public worship of God, the rites of which were very numerous, and the regulations very minute, the priests and Levites must have been supplied with copies, to enable them rightly to conduct the public service This book also contained the law of the land, and prescribed the duties of kings and rulers; on which account it was expressly commanded, that when there should be a king, "He shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests, the Levites."+ It would, however, be unreasonable to expect that the autograph of Moses could last until this period of the world. What became of it is not known. The probability is, that it perished with the ark, in the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar. And this fact probably occasioned the tradition which was prevalent among the Jews, that the sacred Scriptures were utterly lost in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; and that they were restored by Ezra, by divine inspiration. Now it is probable * Deut. xxxi. 25, 26. + 2 Kings xxii. 9, 10, 11. Deut. xv i. 18. that the autographs were lost, and that Ezra the scribe, who was an inspired man, collected the scattered copies of the sacred books, corrected their errors, and thus restored the Scriptures to their original integrity. On account of this important and pious labour, the constitution of the canon of the Old Testament is by the Jews ascribed to Ezra; and they join with him, as assistants, "the men of the great synagogue," some of whom were prophets, by whose aid the sacred volume was prepared, and copies circulated among the people. În such a work, he would need many coadjutors; and no more holy or important work could have occupied the time and attention of inspired men. It is reasonable to believe, therefore, that all who were qualified to render effectual aid in this service, would be ready to assist Ezra in correcting and preparing the Holy Scriptures, for general use. That all the copies of the LAW were not lost, is as evident as any thing can be; for Daniel in the captivity had possession of the prophecies of Jeremiah. And Ezra himself was a "ready scribe in the LAW;" and in the sixth chapter of Ezra we read, that the functions of the priests were regulated after the second. temple was finished, "as it is written in the book of Moses;" and this was many years before Ezra came to Jerusalem. And in the eighth chapter of Nehemiah it is said, that Ezra "brought the LAW before the congregation, and read therein from morning until mid-day." In regard to the other books, little is said. We read, however, that the writings of Joshua were annexed to the law, and of course deposited with it by the side of the ark; and we may take it for grant ed, as a matter of course, than when any prophet or inspired man had finished a writing intended for general use, it was added to the volume of the law, and preserved with it. How carefully the writings of Moses were read and accurately remembered, appears from the frequent reference made to the facts there recorded by the writers who came after Moses; especially, by the holy men who composed the book of Psalms. And that this knowledge was commonly possessed by men not inspired, will appear from the full and accurate recapitulation of the history recorded in the law, in the complete and eloquent answer given by Jepthah to the king of the Ammonites.* The writings of the prophets also abound in references to facts recorded in the law of Moses. On what material the Scriptures were written, in what character or alphabet, whether bound up in a single volume or in several; whether preserved in rolls, as in the synagogues now, or in the common form of our books, are inquiries which are worthy the attention of the biblical student, but no way necessary to our purpose, at present. That which is of the utmost importance is, to know that the Lord Jesus Christ and his inspired apostles, gave their unqualified sanction to the SCRIPTURES which were in use and read in the synagogues, in their time. Christ severely censures the Scribes and Pharisees and Lawyers for neglecting to obey the Scriptures, and for misrepresenting them and rendering the law of God void by their vain traditions: but he never hints that they had corrupted the sacred text. On the contrary, he refers to the SCRIPTURES, then extant among the Jews, as an infallible standard. "Search the SCRIPTURES," said he; "for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me."t Again, "Ye do err, not knowing the SCRIPTURES." He proves his doctrine by the Scriptures, "which cannot be broken,"§ and it is asserted repeatedly, that certain things came to pass, "that the Scriptures might be fulfilled."|| Yea, Christ himself declares "they must be fulfilled.”¶ And Paul says, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God."** They are also by this apostle called “the * Judges xi. § John x. 35. Mark xiv. 49. Matt. xxvi. 54. ** 2 Tim. iii. 16. And Peter ORACLES OF GOD,* THE WORD OF GOD." says, "the PROPHECY came not in old time by the wil' of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." And 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.|| 66 Thus it appears, that we have the best possible evidence that the SCRIPTURES which were in use yhen Christ was upon earth, were entire and uncorrupted, and were an infallible rule; and that men erred from not knowing or understanding them. Whether these SCRIPTURES were included in one book or in several, is of no consequence. In one place, our Lord refers to the Scriptures of the Old Testament under the name of MoSES and the PROPHETS. They seem, however, to have been divided into three parts, called by our Saviour, "the LAW, the PROPHETS, and the PSALMS."** This exactly corresponds with the ancient division of the Jews, into the Law, Prophets, and Hagiographa, which is mentioned by Josephus. But whether there were three separate volumes, or only one, is a matter of no manner of consequence, any more than it is now, whether the canonical Scriptures are included in one or two volumes. The only difficulty which remains is, to ascertain what books were actually extant, at that time, under the name of SCRIPTURES. If we can settle this point satisfactorily, the proof of the canon of the Old Testament will be complete. In the first place, then, it may be observed, that the most important parts of the Old Testament are expressly quoted. We have seen that our Lord mentions the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms; *Romans iii. 2. Heb. v. 12. Rom. ix. 6. x. 17. 1 Cor. xiv. 36. 2 Cor. ii. 17. Ephes vi. 17 Col. i. 25. 1 Thess ii. 13. 1 Tim. ii. 9. 2 Peter i. 21. James i. 21. 22 ¶ Luke xvi. 29, 31. and several of the prophets are named, and citations are made from others. Now, as far as this evidence goes, it is complete; but it must be acknowledged, that several books now in the canon of the Old Testament, are not named nor quoted. In regard to these we must resort to other evidence. The next proof is derived from the copies of the Hebrew Bible in the hands of the Jews. If our canon is not the same as the one in use in the time of Christ, the alteration must have been made by the Christians, either by adding or taking away some books. But if this had been done, the fraud could easily have been detected by referring to the Jewish Scriptures; for no one can suppose that they would join in collusion with Christians, to mar or adulterate their own sacred volume. Such has been the hostility between the Jews and Christians from the beginning, that they have been mutually safeguards of the inspired books, to preserve them from alteration by one party or the other. All that is necessary, there fore, is to compare our copies of the Hebrew Scriptures with those found among the Jews. The result of this comparison is, that in regard to this point, there is a perfect agreement between the Jews and Protestant Christians. We claim a place for no book in the canon which they do not acknowledge to be inspired; and they bring no accusation against Protestants for having mutilated the sacred volume by abstracting from it any book or chapter. But again, we are able to approach very near to direct and full proof of the point in hand, from a most unsuspected quarter. Josephus, who was coutemporary with the apostle Paul, and himself not only a learned man, but a priest, has left on record a testimony which every impartial man will consider satisfactory. "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 TUIR |