The
most skillful interpreter of the sacred writings, then, will be he who
in the first place has read them all and retained them in his
knowledge, if not yet with full understanding, still with such knowledge
as reading gives, — those of them, at least, that are called
canonical. For he will read the others with greater safety when built
up in the belief of the truth, so that they will not take first
possession of a weak mind, nor, cheating it with dangerous falsehoods
and delusions, fill it with prejudices adverse to a sound
understanding.
Now, in regard to the canonical
Scriptures, he must follow the judgment of the greater number of
catholic churches; and among these, of course, a high place must be
given to such as have been thought worthy to be the seat of an apostle
and to receive epistles.
Accordingly, among the canonical
Scriptures he will judge according to the following standard: to prefer
those that are received by all the catholic churches to those which
some do not receive. Among those, again, which are not received by all,
he will prefer such as have the sanction of the greater number and
those of greater authority, to such as are held by the smaller number
and those of less authority. If, however, he shall find that some books
are held by the greater number of churches, and others by the churches
of greater authority (though this is not a very likely thing to
happen), I think that in such a case the authority on the two sides is
to be looked upon as equal.
Now the whole canon of Scripture on
which we say this judgment is to be exercised, is contained in the
following books: — Five books of Moses, that is, Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; one book of Joshua the son of Nun; one
of Judges; one short book called Ruth, which seems rather to belong to
the beginning of Kings; next, four books of Kings, and two of
Chronicles— these last not following one another, but running parallel,
so to speak, and going over the same ground. The books now mentioned
are history, which contains a connected narrative of the times, and
follows the order of the events. There are other books which seem to
follow no regular order, and are connected neither with the order of
the preceding books nor with one another, such as Job, and Tobias, and
Esther, and Judith, and the two books of Maccabees, and the two of
Ezra, which last look more like a sequel to the continuous regular
history which terminates with the books of Kings and Chronicles.
Next are the Prophets, in which there is
one book of the Psalms of David; and three books of Solomon, viz.,
Proverbs, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes. For two books, one called
Wisdom and the other Ecclesiasticus, are ascribed to Solomon from a
certain resemblance of style, but the most likely opinion is that they
were written by Jesus the son of Sirach. Still they are to be reckoned
among the prophetical books, since they have attained recognition as
being authoritative.
The remainder are the books which are
strictly called the Prophets: twelve separate books of the prophets
which are connected with one another, and having never been disjoined,
are reckoned as one book; the names of these prophets are as follows: —
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk Zephaniah,
Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi; then there are the four greater prophets,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel. The authority of the Old Testament
is contained within the limits of these forty-four books.
That of the New Testament, again, is
contained within the following: — Four books of the Gospel, according
to Matthew, according to Mark, according to Luke, according to John;
fourteen epistles of the Apostle Paul — one to the Romans, two to the
Corinthians, one to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the
Philippians, two to the Thessalonians, one to the Colossians, two to
Timothy, one to Titus, to Philemon, to the Hebrews: two of Peter; three
of John; one of Jude; and one of James; one book of the Acts of the
Apostles; and one of the Revelation of John. (On Christian Doctrine Bk. 2.8)
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