The local Council of Hippo, held in the year of Christ 898, at which Augustine, afterwards bishop of Hippo, was present, formed a catalogue of the sacred books of the Old and New Testament, in which the ecclesicutical bookt were all included. They are in- serted in the ibllowing order in its 86th Canon, viz. :
" That nothing be read in the charch besides the Canoni- cal Scriptures. Under the name of Canooical Scriptures are reckoned Genesis, Exodas, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 4 books of Kings, Remains, Job, Psalms of David, 6 books of Solomon, 12 books of tho Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, ExeUel, Tobit, Judith, Hestber, Esdras, 2 books, Maccabees, 2 books.** [For the books of the New Tes- tament, see ANnLSoOMKivA.] *'*' But for the confirmation of this canon the churches beyond the seas are to be consulted.** The Paasionf of the Martyrs were also permitted to be read on their anniversaries.
The third Council of Carthage, generally believed to have been held in 897, at which Aurelius, bishop of Carthage, presided, and at which Augustine was pres- ent, consisting in all of forty-four Inshops, adopted the same catalogue, wliich was confirmed at the fourth
BEUTEROCANONICAL
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DEUTERO-CANONICAL
Conncil of Carthage, held in the year 419. The refei^ ence eaid to haye been made from the third Council of Cttrthage, held in 897, to pope Boniface, is a manifest anachronism in the copies of the acts of this council (see L' Abbess Concilia), as the pontificate of Bonifkoe did not commence before 417. It has therefore been conjectured that this reference belongs to the fourth council.
As St Augustine had great influence at these Coun- cils, it must be of importance to ascertain his private sentiments on this subject. This eminent man, who was bom in 854, consecrated bishop of Hippo (the pres- ent Bona) in 895, and died in 480, in the seventy-dxth year of his age, writes as follows in the year 897 :
^* The entire Canon of Scripture is comprioed in these books. There are 6 of Mohci, viz. GeoeHis, Exodus, Leviticus, Num- bers, Denteronoiny ; 1 of Joahua, 1 of Judges, 1 small book called Ruth, which seems rather to belong to the beginning of the Kingdoms, the 4 books of the Kingdoms, and 2 of the Re- mains, not following oae another, but parallel to each other. These are historical books which contain a sucoeasion of timee in the order of events. There are others which do not observe the order of time, and are unconnected together, as Job. Tobit, Esther, and Judith, the S books of Maocabeen, and the S books of Esra, which last do more observe the order of a regular ■uccesdon of events, after that contained in the Kingdoms and Remains. Next are the Prophets, among which is 1 book of the Psalms of David, and 3 of Solomon, via. l>roverbe. Can- ticles, and Eoclesiastes; for these 8 books, Wisdom and Ec- desiastieus, are caUed Solomon's for no other reason ttian be- cause they have a resemblance to his writings : for it is a very general opinion that they were written by Jesus the son of Irach ; which bodes, however, since they are admitted into authority, are to be reckoned among propbetioal books. The rest are the books of those who are properly called prophets, as the several hooka of the 12 Prophets, which being found to- gether, and never separated, are reckoned 1 book. The names of which prophets are these : Rosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jo- nab, Micnh, Nahnm, Habakkuk, Zoph»niah, Ilaggai, Zecha- riah, Malachi. After these the four Prophets of large vol- umes, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Rsekiel. In these 41 books is comprised nil the authority of the Old Testament" (Ds Doetr. Chrtaf.). [For the New, see AMnLBOOMXHA; they are the same with those now received.]
It has, indeed, been maintained that Augustine altered his opinion on the subject of the deutero-canonical books in his Retractions (see Henderson On Inspirch Hon, p. 495) ; but the only passage in this work beai^ ing on the subject, which we can discoyer, is that wherein he confesses his mistake in terming Ecclesi- asticus a prophdwal book. Augustine has also been supposed to have testified to the inferior authority of these books, from his saying that one of them was read from the reader* t place. '* The sentiment of the book of Wisdom is not to be rejected, which has de- served to be recited for such a long course of years fh>m the ttep of the readen of the Church of Christ, and to be h^trd with the veneration of divine author- ity from the bishop to the humblest of the laics, fidth- ftil, penitents, and catechumens."
What the result of the reference fh>m Africa to the "churches beyond the seas" may have been, we can only judge from the letter which ia said to have been written om the subject by Innocent I, bishop of Rome, to St. Exupere, bishop of Toulouse, in the year 405. In this letter, which, although disputed, is most prob- ably genuine. Innocent gives the same catalogue of the books of the Old and New Testaments as those of the councils of Hippo and Carthage, omitting only the book of Esther.
The next catalogue is that of the Roman Council, drawn up by pope Grelasius and seventy bishops. The genuineness of the acts of this council has been ques- tioned by Pearson, Cave, and the two Basnages, but vindicated by Pagi and Jeremiah Jones. The cata^ logue is identical with the preceding, except in the or- der of the books.