Holy Scriptures

The term Scriptures signifies writings in general, but is appropriated to the Word of God, which is also, by way of eminency, called the Bible, or book, because it is incomparably the best of all books. The sacred books are divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. The former includes those books which were written under the old dispensation of the covenant of grace, or prior to the incarnation of the Son of God; the latter includes those books which were written after the commencement of the new dispensation, or posterior to the advent of Christ. The apostle Paul lays a foundation for this distinction; for he uses the phrases Old Testament and New Testament, and in one instance designates the writings of Moses and the prophets by the former title (2 Corinthians 3:14). The word canon literally signifies a rule, and was early used to designate the inspired Scriptures, which form a perfect rule of faith and life.

The sacred Scriptures are now collected into one volume, but that volume contains a considerable number of separate books, written by different persons and in different ages. How, then, do we ascertain the authenticity and genuineness of each of these books, and why do we receive them as canonical, to the exclusion of all others?

In determining a question of this kind, we must employ the same method which we follow when the genuineness of any other book is the subject of investigation. How do we know that the books which bear the names of Homer, Horace, Tacitus, and Livy were really composed by them, but by the uniform testimony of all succeeding ages? In the same way do we ascertain that the writings of the apostles and evangelists are genuine. We have the testimony of their contemporaries and immediate successors, who are the most competent witnesses in this case.

The task of searching the records of antiquity has been undertaken by learned men, and executed with great industry and zeal. The result of their inquiries is that the books now included in the New Testament were received as inspired by the primitive church, and numerous passages were quoted from them by the earliest Christian writers; that catalogs of these books, which coincide with ours, are inserted in the works of different authors who flourished in the third and fourth centuries; and that these books were publicly read in Christian congregations and were continually appealed to by Christian writers, as the Standard of faith and the supreme judge of controversies.

The canon of the Old Testament is ascertained by a short process. We know that the Jews arranged their sacred books into three classes, the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiography, or holy writings. Now, our Lord, just before His ascension, thus addressed His disciples, “These are the words which I spake unto 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” (Luke 24:44). The Psalms are here put for the Hagiography, probably because they were the principal book, or occupied the first place in that division. Our Lord, by adopting this common division of the sacred books, which comprehended all the Hebrew Scriptures, ratified the canon of the Old Testament, as it was received by the Jews.

This, however, does not determine what particular books were then included in the sacred volume. But on this point we have the testimony of the Jew historian, Josephus, who indeed does not name the books of the Old Testament, but he numbers them, and so describes them that there is scarcely room for any mistake. His testimony is corroborated by that of several of the early Christian fathers, who have furnished us with catalogs of the books of the Old Testament, from which it appears that the canon then existing was the same as that which we now possess. Besides, a Greek translation of the Old Testament, known by the name of The Septuagint, was made two hundred and seventy years before the Christian era, in which are the same books that are at present found in the Hebrew copies.

The books commonly called Apocrypha were never admitted into the list of canonical books, until the Council of Trent, at its fourth session, 1546, placed them in the same rank with the inspired writings. They are rejected by the Protestant churches for the following reasons: The Jews, to whom the oracles of God were committed and who were never blamed for unfaithfulness to their trust, never acknowledged these books to be of divine authority. They were not written in the Hebrew, but in the Greek language, and the authors of them were posterior to Malachi, in whom, according to the universal testimony of the Jews, the spirit of prophecy ceased. No part of these books is quoted by Christ or His apostles, nor a single word found in all the New Testament from which it can be inferred that such books were in existence. These books contain many things erroneous, superstitious, and immoral; and some of the writers, instead of advancing a claim to inspiration, acknowledge their own weakness and apologize for their defects.

The Church of England, though she does not receive the apocryphal books as canonical Scripture, and therefore does not “apply them to establish any doctrine,” yet directs certain portions of them to be read in the church, “for example of life, and instruction of manners.” Now, as these portions are read promiscuously with the lessons taken from the canonical books, and no notice is given to the people that they are selected from the Apocrypha, they are in reality undistinguished from the inspired writings; and however good and instructive these apocryphal lessons may be, it never can be justified that they should thus be put on a level with the Word of God.

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