Copyright, 1897, LONGMANS, Green, and Co. All Rights Reserved FIRST EDITION, April, 1897. 04-11-358ur3 GENERAL MOTTOES 'Will ye speak unrighteously for God, and talk deceitfully for Him?'-JOB Xiii. 7. 'Not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.'-2 COR. iv. 2. 'Melius est ut scandalum oriatur quam ut veritas supprimatur.' 'O superbi Cristian, miseri, lassi, Non v' accorgete voi, che noi siam vermi Voi siete quasi entomata in difetto, DANTE, Purgat. x. 121–129. 'Idola fori omnium molestissima sunt; quæ ex fœdere verborum et nominum se insinuarunt in intellectum. 'Idola theatri innata non sunt sed ex fabulis theoriarum et perversis legibus demonstrationum plane indita et recepta.' BACON, Nov. Org. i. lix. lx. 'Being persuaded of nothing more than this, that, whether it be in matter of speculation or of practising, no untruth can possibly avail the patron and defender long, and that things most truly are likewise most behovefully spoken.'-HOOKER. vi GENERAL MOTTOES 'His words I did use to gather for my food and for antidotes against my faintings.'-BUNYAN. 'The older error is, it is the worse, Continuation may provoke a curse: If the Dark Age obscured our fathers' sight, Must their sons shut their eyes against the Light?' BISHOP KEN, Edmund. Μεγάλη ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ὑπερισχύει.—1 ESDRAS iv. 41. 'Omni studio legendæ nobis Scripturæ sunt . . . ut probati trapezita sciamus quis nummus probus sit, quis adulter.' JER. Comm. in Ephes. 1. iii. 5 (Vall. vii. 637). 'If Truth do anywhere manifest itself, seek not to smother it with glosing delusions, acknowledge the greatness thereof, and think it your best victory when the same doth prevail over you.' HOOKER, Eccl. Pol. Pref. ix. 2. 'If it is certain that the writings of the Old Testament offer to us many grave difficulties which we are, at present, unable to overcome; it is no less certain that they offer a revelation of a purpose and a presence of God which bears in itself the stamp of truth. The difficulties lie in points of criticism; the revelation is given in the facts of a people's life.' BISHOP WESTCOTT, The Revelation of the Father, p. 159. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Thoughts of men in the present day necessitate a plain and truth- PAGE . 1 The Bible not one homogeneous book, but a collection of writ- ings gradually admitted into a varying canon. All Christians alike believe in the supremacy of Scripture; but every word of it is not supernaturally dictated-Nor infallible. That view has been prolific of disaster. The Bible is a library. Why called 'sacred' and 'holy.' Gradual growth of the conception of 'the Bible' as one book. The word 'Bible.' Gradual formation of the Canon. Philo; Josephus; New Testament writers; the Talmud, Old Testament, Apocrypha. Uncanonical books once accepted as sacred in the Christian Church. The Homologoumena and Antilegomena. The final test of canonicity was the reason and conscience of Christians. Boldness and independence of Luther. The Old Testament Canon. Ezra. The Scribes; the Rabbis; Rabbi Aqiba. Difficulties about Ecclesiastes, Ezekiel, the Song of Songs. The Law, the Prophets, and the Kethubîm. In the New Testament Canon hesitations about the Apoca- lypse; the Epistles of Jude; James; 2 Peter; 2, 3 John; the THE BIBLE REPRESENTS THE REMAINS OF A WIDER LITERATURE The Bible all that is extant of a much wider literature. The Old Testament represents the selected and fragmentary re- |