In regard to the order of the books, the Talmudists and the JIasoretes, and even some MSS. of the latter, differ from each other. The Alexandrian translators differ from both, and Luther's arrangement, which is generally followed by Protestants, is made entirely ac- cording to his own judgment. The modern Hebrew Bibles are thus arranged, viz. rive books of Moses; Josh- ua, Judges, two books of Samuel, two books of Kings; Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve minor proph- ets; Psalms, Proverbs, Job,(;anticles, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 and 2 Chronicles. The New Test, consists of the four (Jospels, the Acts, Epistles of Paul, Catholic Epistles, and the Ai)ocalypse ; these are
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differently arranged in the Greek and Latin MSS. All these writings have been considered in the Christian Church from the earliest period as divinely inspired (^eoTTi'tvarot, 2 Tim. iii, 14-1(3), as no doubt the books of the Old Test, were by the Jews (see 'Vedmud, passim; I'hilo, l)e Vit. Mosis, vol. ii; Josephus, Cont. Apion. 1, 3; and the manner of their citation in the New Test.). The early Christian writers also constantly maintain their inspiration (.Justin Martyr, Second Apohfiy; Ire- lueus, i,4; Origen, X\tpl 'Apxiov, Prjef.), the only differ- ence of opinion being as to its limits. Some of the fa- thers maintain their verbal inspiration, others only that of the thoughts or sentiments, or that the sacred writ- ers were merely preserved from error ( Dupin, On the Canon). But the first controversy raised on this sub- ject was in the 16th century, when the theses of the Jesuits [see Maccabeks], who had maintained the low- er notion of inspiration, were condemned by the facul- ties of Louvain and Douai. Jahn observes {Inti-od.) that on this subject the entire Cliristian world was di- vided, and that the condemnation of the theses was not sanctioned by the Church or the Koman primate, and that the Council of Trent has pronounced no judgment on the subject. Henry Holden, doctor of the Sorbonne, published his Analysis Fidei in 1652, in which he de- fended that notion of the fathers w-hich maintained only an exemption from errors appertaining to doctrine. Jahn further observes {loc. ci/.) that most Protestants, until the middle of the 18th century, defended the most rigid notions of verbal inspiration; but that, from the time of Tiillner and Semler, the idea of inspiration was frittered away and eventually discarded. The high no- tion of inspiration has been recently revived among Protestants, especially in the eloquent work of M. Gaus- sen, of Geneva, Theopneustia ( 1842 ). The moderate view has been that generall}^ adopted by English di- vines (Henderson, On Itispii-ation, Home's Infiod. ; ap- pendix to vol. i), while m America the extreme view of verbal inspiration has, until very recently, prevailed. — Kitto, s. V.
H. History and Authenticity of the Holy Scriptures. — 1. The Old Testament.— The first Scripture, the Penta- teuch, was kept in a sacred place, the tabernacle, both in the wilderness and in the land of Canaan; and the successive sacred writings that were produced before the building of the Temple of Jerusalem were commit- ted to the same safe custody; but when the Temple was built, Solomon removed into it these writings, and commanded that all succeeding Scriptures should be there preserved also. Though the Temple was burned by Nebuchadnezzar, it does not ay>pear that the MSS. were destroyed, for none of the succeeding sacred writers allude to anytliing of the kind, winch they certainly would have done as a matter of deep lamentation. Dur- ing the captivity, Daniel (ix, 11. 13) alludes to the writ- ten law as in existence; and Ezra (Neh. viii, 5, 8) read the book of the law to the [)eople on their return from Babylon. About the time of Ezra, inspiration closed; the Spirit departed from Israel with Malachi, the last of the prophets, or, as the Jews call him, the seal of the prophets. Then the canon was formed by Ezra, and the Jews never dared to add, or allow anytliing to be add- ed, to it. The canon of the Scriptures, as collecte<l by Ezra, is attested by Joseplius in his book Contra Apion. wherein he mentions the number of the books, the ar- rangement, and the contents; and adds that after a long lapse of time no one has dared to add, tlimiuish, or al- ter; and that it is implanted in all Jews from their birth to consider these books the oracles of God, and, if need require, cheerfully to die for them. Five hun- dred years after Eizra, a complete copy of the canon of Hebrew Scripture was preserved in tlie Temple, with which all others might be collated. Although Christ often reproached the scribes and Pharisees for their erroneous glosses on Scripture, he never said that they had in any way falsified the Scriptures. Paul (Rom. iii, 2) reckons among their privileges that ''to them
were committed the oracles of God," without imph'ing that they ever abused their privilege by corrupting them.
The Jewish canonical division of Scripture into three great parts — the law, the prophets, and the holy writ- ings (which commence with the Psalms) — is authorized by our Saviour (Luke xxiv, 44) when he alludes to this threefidd division: "All things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me."