|
12. But let us now go back to consider the third step here
mentioned, for it is about it that I have set myself to speak and
reason as the Lord shall grant me wisdom. 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 arc 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.
13. 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 just 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,
Tobias,
Esther,
Judith,
the two books of Maccabees, and
the two of Ezra, which 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 Proverbs, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes.
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|