compare Islamism with Christianity. It must therefore be our first care to examine, whether there be any ground for so grave a charge as that made by Mohammed, and whether we can satisfactorily prove the integrity of the Holy Scriptures; for so long as the Bible lies under any such suspicion, we are deprived of our best and most valuable weapon. The Jews being first accused of having corrupted the Old Testament Scriptures, we shall in the next chapter endeavour to substantiate the integrity of that portion of the Bible, which for so long a period was entrusted to their guardianship.

CHAPTER I.

INTEGRITY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

"Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." Matt. V. 18. Lu. XVI. 17.

1. That we may prove to better advantage the integrity of the Old Testament, it will be necessary to introduce some items respecting the history of that part of the Bible. 12 It is generally known as "the Scripture," "the Old Testament,” “the book of the covenant," or simply "the Law,"13-the latter

12 The entire Bible, so termed since Chrysostom: Tà ßißhía sc. deia: libri xar' so. Chrysost. in Suic. thes, eccles. pag. 696. Also ἱερὰ γραφὴ; ἁγία γραφή, θεία γραφή, and Bibliotheca sancta. Isidor. Orig. cap. IV. pag. 3.

13

27, Chald. na, saņa, i reagǹ 2 Pet. I. 20; di roagai

After the

being the standing name in the Koran. Church had been without Scriptures for more than two thousand years, and when the word of God could no longer be orally transmitted with safety, Moses wrote the Pentateuch, and thus laid the foundation of that series of holy books which Malachi concluded in the year B. C. 397.-This collection of holy Scriptures is divided into the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms. 14

The Law comprised the five books of Moses, and admitted of no other division. The Prophets were divided into "the former" and "the latter Prophets;" among the "former Prophets" were reckoned the book of Joshua and of Judges, the books of Samuel, and of the Kings. "The latter Prophets" are the Prophets properly so called, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the twelve minor Prophets. 15 Amongst the Psalms or "other holy writings" are understood all the rest of the holy Scriptures, including also Daniel, whom the Christians, according to the Septuagint, count with the Prophets, there being a considerable difference as to the order in which these books are made to follow each other, with the Jews, the Sep

Matt. XXII. 29; e, roagai ayi Rom. I. 2; i+oà yoάuμere 2 Tim. III. 15. 7, Sanhed. fol. 91. col. 2. ó róμos, John XII. 34; ed Ed. Bíßhov diæðýen; Exod. XXIV. 7; “vetus Testamentum" since the third century; i nadaik diαðýny 2 Cor. III. 14.

14 Our Lord's division: ὁ νόμος Μωσέως, ὁι προφῆται καὶ ὁι yakuoi Luke XXIV. 44. Or 1., 2., 3. brqand, youφεῖα, ἀγιόγραφα, ψαλμοὶ, also: καὶ τὰ ἀλλὰ βιβλία.

נְבִיאִים so called in contradistinction to נְבִיאִים אַחֲרוֹנִים 15

DN priores and posteriores.

tuagint, and the Fathers of the Church. 16 Again, from the fact of our Lord speaking of the "Psalms," as the "third division of the Old Testament, it would appear that the book of Psalms stood first on the list of that division, and thus gave its name to all the remaining books" or Hagiographa, as this section of the "sacred writings" has been called; just as we speak of the whole of the New Testament, as "the Gospel," because the portion so called stands first. 17 Others think that our Lord made use of the title of "the Psalms" to signify the entire division of the Hagiographa, not so much on account of its standing first on the list, as because of the poetical character, which distinguishes the greater part of this class of writings. 18 Both Josephus and Philo speak of the Hagiographa as containing chiefly hymns and praises to God. 19.

16 The Talmud thus: "Ordo Prophetarum: Josua et Judices, Samuel et Reges, Jeremia et Ezechiel, Jesaia et duodecim Prophetae." Baba Bathra f. 14. cap. 2. The cause is thus stated: "Cum libri Regum finiantur in desolatione, et Jeremias totus versetur in desolatione, Ezechiel vero incipiat in desolatione et finiat in consolatione, et Jesaias totus versetur in consolatione, copulaverunt desolationem cum desolatione, et consolationem cum consolatione." J. G. Carpzov. Introductio ad libros can. III. 88.

17 The Talmud, with the exception of Ruth, places them thus: "Ordo Hagiographorum: Ruth, Psalmi et Hiob et Proverbia, et Coheleth, Canticum et Threni, Daniel et Esther et Chronica." Baba Bathra f. 14. cap. 2.

18 Josephus speaks of them as containing ὕμνους εἰς τὸν θεόν. Joseph. cont. Ap. §. 23.

19

Μηδὲν ἐισκομίζοντες, μὴ ποτὸν, μὴ σιτίον, μηδέτι τῶν ἄλ λων ὅσα πρὸς τὰς τοῦ σώματος χρεία. ἀναγκαῖα, ἀλλὰ νόμους καὶ λόγια δεσπισθέντα διὰ προφητῶν καὶ ὕμνους καὶ τὰ ἀλλὰ οἷς ἐπιστήμη καὶ ἐνσέβεια συναύξονται καὶ τελειοῦνται. Philo de vita contemplat. §. 13. p. 893 ed. Frcf.

As the Psalms stood first on the list of the third division of the Old Testament, so the book of Chronicles appears to have stood last among the Hagiographa; that this book closed this division, and hence the entire Old Testament, is evident from our Saviour's words, in which He sums up the bloodshedding of martyr-prophets from the foundation of the world, to the last martyrdom recorded in the canonical books of the Jews, viz. "from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple.

20

2. The enumeration of the books of the Old Testament has been variously made out; we mention this, lest the Mohammedans should rush to the conclusion, that there is either confusion or uncertainty respecting the real number of the canonical books. Josephus, to whom we are indebted for the first catalogue of these writings, with a view evidently, of making their number correspond with that of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet 21 reduces them to twenty-two combining the books of Ruth and the Judges into one, as also Jeremiah and the Lamentations, after the manner of the Septuagint. 22 If however the five books of Moses be counted separately, as they are by Jo

20 Luke XI. 50. 51. Matt. XXIII. 35. 2 Chron. XXIV. 20. 21 Ουκ ἀγνοητέον δ' εἶναι τὰς ἐνδιαθήκους βίβλους, ὡς Ἑβραῖοι παραδιδόασιν, δύο καὶ εἴκοσι, ὅσος ὁ ἀριθμὸς τῶν παρ' αυτοῖς 070xíor otir. Origen. Euseb. H. E. VI. 25.

22 Ον γὰρ μυριάδες βιβλίων εισὶ παρ' ἡμῖν, ἀσυμφώνων καὶ μαχομένων, δύο δὲ μόνα πρὸς τοῖς είκοσι βιβλία, τοῦ παντὸς ἔχοντα χρόνου τὴν ἀναγραφὴν, τὰ δικαίως θεῖα πεπιστευμένα. Joseph. contra Apion. lib. I. cap. 8.

sephus, the rest may justly be counted singly; this being done in the Bibles of the present day, the number amounts to thirty-nine books.

The question now arises, when do we hear of their being collected together in the form in which we now possess them? We find the entire Old Testament deposited in the temple immediately after the Jewish captivity. 23 Again, at the time when the prologue was written to the apocryphal book of Sirach or Ecclesiasticus, which was about 130 years B. C. the collection of the canonical books had been accomplished. 24

Josephus, born 37. B. C. quotes not only nearly all the books, but gives a detailed account of their names and number. He informs us that the abovementioned twenty-two books of the Old Testament were completed in the days of Artaxerxes Longimanus, king of Persia, who in his twentieth year had commissioned Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Five of the books were written by Moses; thirteen viz. Joshua, Judges and Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, Esther, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, the twelve minor Prophets and Job, were added to the Pentateuch during the interval between Moses and Artaxerxes.

23

Joseph. Antiquit. V. I. 17. de bello Jud. VII. 5. 5; traces of the holy Scriptures being preserved in the sanctuary before the Captivity 1 Sam. X. 23. Deut. XXXI. 26.

24 The books were collected by Ezra and the other members of the synagoga magna, της πος, συναγωγή γραμματέων in 1 Macc. VII. 12; but the conclusion of the canon is said to have been effected under Simon the Just. B. C. 292.