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The firft canon or catalogue of the facred books 

 was made by the Jews ; but the original author of it is 

 wot (;<tisfadlorily afcertained. It is certain, however, that 

 the live books of Mofes, called the Pentateuch, were col- 

 lected into one body within a fhort time after his death ; 

 {•.me Deuteronomy, whieli is, at it were, the abridgment 

 and recapitulation of the other four, was laid in the tabernacle 

 near the ark, according to tlic order which he gave to the 

 J>evitcs. (ch.xxxi. v. 24.) Hence it appears, that the hril 

 canon of the facrcd writings confided only of the live books 

 of Mofes ; for a further account of which, dc Penta- 

 TF.ucH. It docs not appear that any other books were 

 added to thcfe, till the divillon of the ten tribes, as the Sa- 

 nnritans acknowledged no others. However, after the time 

 of Mofes, feveral prophets, and other writers divinely in- 

 fpired, compofed either the hiltory of their own times, or 

 prophetical books and divine writings, or pfalms appropri- 

 ated to the praife of God. But thefe books do not fecm to 

 have been coUefted into one body, or comprized under one 

 and the fame canon, before the Babylonifh captivity. This 

 was not done till after their return from the captivity, about 

 which time the Jews had a certain number of books digefted 

 into a c::non, which comprehended none of thofe books that 

 were written fincc the time of Nehemiah. The book ot 

 Kcclefiailicus affords fufficientevidence, that the canon of the 

 facred books was completed when that trail was compofed; 

 for that author, in chap. xlix. having mentioned among the 

 famous men and facred writers, Ifaiah, Jeremiah, Ezckiel, 

 adds the twelve minor prophets, who follow thole three in the 

 Jewifli canon ; and from this circumllance we may infer, 

 that the prophecies of thefe twelve were already collected 

 and digefted into one body. It is farther evident, that in 

 the time of our Saviour the canon of the holy Scriptures 

 ■was drawn up, fince he cites the Law of Mofes, the Pro- 

 phet?, and the Pfalms, which are the three kinds of books 

 of which that canon is compofed, and which he often llyles 

 "the Scripture," or " the Holy Scripture." Matt. xxi. 42. 

 xxii. 29. xxvi. 54. John, v. 39. This fliews that they 

 were dillinguilhcd from others, and formed a feparate body. 

 The perfon who compiled this canon is generally allowed to 

 be Ezra. According to the invariable tradition of Jews and 

 Chriilians, the honour is afcribed to him of having coUefted 

 together and perfected a complete edition of the Holy Scrip- 

 tures. The original of the Pentateuch had been carefully 

 preferved in the fide of the ark, and had been probably in- 

 troduced with the ark into the temple at Jerufalem. After 

 having been concealed in the dangerous days of the idolatrous 

 kings of Judah, and particularly in tiie impious reigns of Ma- 

 naffeh and Amon, it was found in the days of Jofiah, the fuc- 

 ceeding prince, by Hilkiah the prieft, in the temple. Prideaux 

 fays, that during the preceding reigns, the book of the 

 Law was fo deftroyed and loll, that, befides this copy of it, 

 there was then no other to be obtained. To this purpofe 

 he adds, that the fui-prife manifefted by Hilkiah on the dif- 

 covery of it, and the grief expreffed by Jofiah when he 

 heard it read, plainly (hew that neither of them had feen it 

 before. Upon this, the pious king ordered copies to be 

 •written out from this original, and to be difperfed among the 

 people. 2 Kings, xxii. 8 — 13. 2 Clu-on. xxxiv. On the 

 other hand. Dr. Kcnnicott fnppofes, that long before this 

 time, there were feveral copies of the Law in Ifrael, during the 

 reparation of the ten tribes, and that there were fome copies 

 of it likewife among the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, par- 

 ticularly in the hands of the prophets, priefts, and Lcvites; 

 and that by the inftruflion and authority of thefe MSS., the 

 various fervices in the temple were regulated, during the 

 reigns of the good kings of Judah. He adds, that the 



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furprife expreHTed by Jofiah and the people, at his reading 

 the copy found by Hilkiah, may be accounted for by ad- 

 verting to the hillory of the preceding reigns, and by rccol. 

 ledting whafe a very idolatrous king Manaifeh had been for 

 ^j years, and that he wanted neither power nor inclination 

 to dellroy the copies of the Law, if they had not been fe- 

 crtted by the fervants of God. The Law, after being I'n 

 long concealed, would be unknown almoft to all the Jews j 

 and thus the folemn reading of it by Jofiah would awaken 

 his own and the people's earnell attention ; more efpecially, 

 3=: the copy produced was probably the original written by 

 Mofes. From this time copies of the Law were extenfively 

 multiplied among the people ; and though within a few 

 years, the autograph, or original copy ot the Law, was 

 burnt with the city and temple by the Babylonians, yet 

 niaiiv copies of the Law ar.d the Prophets, and of all the 

 otlicr facred writings, were circulated in the hands of private 

 perfons, who carried them with them into their captivity. 

 It is certain that Daniel had a copy of the Holy .Scriptures 

 with him at Babylon ; for he quotes the Law, and mentions 

 the prophecies of Jeremiah. Dan. ix. 11. 13. ix. 2. It 

 appears alfo, from the fixth chapter of Ezra, and from 

 the ninth chapter of Nehemiah, that copies of the Law- 

 were difperfed among the people. It is unneceRary, there- 

 fore, to fuppofe, with fonie of the ancient fathers, fuch as 

 TeituUian, Clemens Alexandrinus, Bafil, &c. that Ezra 

 reilored the fcriptures by a divine revelation, after they had 

 been loll and deftroyed in the Babylonifti captivity. For this 

 opinion they had no other authority than tlie fabulous rela- 

 tion which occurs in the 14th chapter of the fecond apo- 

 cryphal book of Eldras ; a book too abfurd rur the Roman- 

 ills themfelves to admit into their canon. The whole which 

 Ezra did may be comprized in the following particulars. 

 He coUecled as many copies of the facred writings as he 

 could find, and compared them together, and out of them 

 all, formed one complete copy, adjuiled the various readings, 

 correfted the errors of tranfcribers, and, as fome fay, annexed 

 the " Keri chetibs," wliich are found in the margins of the 

 ancient MSS. He likewife made additions in feveral parts 

 ot the dilTerent books which appeared to be ncceflary for 

 the illuftration, correction, and completion of them. To 

 this clafs of additions, we may refer the lall chapter of Deu- 

 teronomy, which, as it gives an account of tlie death and 

 burial of Mofes, and of the fucceflion of Jofnua after him, 

 could not have been written by Mofes himfelf. Under the 

 fame head have alfo been included many other interpolations 

 in the Bible, which create difHcuhies that can never be folved 

 without allowing them ; as in Gen. xii. 6. xxii. 14. xxxvi. 3. 

 Exod. xvi. 35. Deut. ii. 12. iii. 11, 14. Prov. xxv. i. The 

 interpolations in thefe pafTages are afcribed by Prideaux to 

 Ezra ; and others which were afterwards added he attributes 

 to Simon the Juft;. Ezra alfo changed the old names of feve- 

 ral places that were become obfoletc, putting inilead of 

 them the new names by which they were at that time called ; 

 inftances of which occur in Gen. xiv. 4. where Dan is fubfti- 

 tuted for Lailh, and in feveral places in Genefis, and alfo in 

 Numbers, where Hebron is put for Kirjath Arba, Sic. 

 He likewife wrote out the whole in the Chaldee charafter, 

 changing for it the old Hebrew charafter, which hath fince 

 that time been retained only by the SamaritJins, and among 

 whom it is preferved even to this day. In the church of 

 Dominic, in Bononia, there is faid to be a copy of the He- 

 brew Scriptures, preferved with great care, which they pre- 

 tend to be the original copy written by Ezra himfelf, and 

 for which great fums have been occafionally borrowed by 

 the Bononians upon the pledge of it, and which have again 

 been paid for its redemption. This copy is written in a 



very 



