Chapter 8.—The Canonical Books.

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 are 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 now 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, and Tobias, and Esther, and Judith, and the two books of Maccabees, and the two of Ezra,63    That is, Ezra and Nehemiah. which last 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, viz., Proverbs, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes.  For 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.64    Augustin in his Retractations withdrew this opinion so far as regards the book of Wisdom.  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 Testament65    This application of the phrase “Old Testament” is withdrawn and apologized for in the Retractations. 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.

CAPUT VIII. Libri canonici.

12. Sed nos ad tertium illum gradum considerationem referamus, de quo disserere quod Dominus suggesserit, atque tractare instituimus. Erit igitur divinarum Scripturarum solertissimus indagator, qui primo totas legerit, notasque habuerit, et si nondum intellectu, jam tamen lectione, duntaxat eas quae appellantur canonicae. Nam caeteras securius leget fide veritatis instructus, ne praeoccupent imbecillem animum, et periculosis mendaciis atque phantasmatibus eludentes praejudicent aliquid contra sanam intelligentiam. In canonicis autem Scripturis, Ecclesiarum catholicarum quamplurium auctoritatem sequatur; inter quas sane illae sint, quae apostolicas Sedes habere et Epistolas accipere meruerunt. Tenebit igitur hunc modum in Scripturis canonicis, ut eas quae ab omnibus accipiuntur Ecclesiis catholicis, praeponat eis quas quaedam non accipiunt: in eis vero quae non accipiuntur ab omnibus, praeponat eas quas plures gravioresque accipiunt, eis quas pauciores minorisque auctoritatis Ecclesiae tenent. Si autem alias invenerit a pluribus, alias a gravioribus haberi, quanquam hoc 0041 facile invenire non possit, aequalis tamen auctoritatis eas habendas puto.

13. Totus autem canon Scripturarum, in quo istam considerationem versandam dicimus, his libris continetur : Quinque Moyseos, id est Genesi, Exodo, Levitico, Numeris, Deuteronomio; et uno libro Jesu Nave, uno Judicum, uno libello qui appellatur Ruth, qui magis ad Regnorum principium videtur pertinere; deinde quatuor Regnorum, et duobus Paralipomenon, non consequentibus, sed quasi a latere adjunctis simulque pergentibus. Haec est historia, quae sibimet annexa tempora continet, atque ordinem rerum: sunt aliae tanquam ex diverso ordine, quae neque huic ordini, neque inter se connectuntur, sicut est Job, et Tobias, et Esther, et Judith, et Machabaeorum libri duo, et Esdrae duo, qui magis subsequi videntur ordinatam illam historiam usque ad Regnorum vel Paralipomenon terminatam: deinde Prophetae, in quibus David unus liber Psalmorum; et Salomonis tres, Proverbiorum, Cantica canticorum, et Ecclesiastes. Nam illi duo libri, unus qui Sapientia, et alius qui Ecclesiasticus inscribitur, de quadam similitudine Salomonis esse dicuntur: nam Jesus Sirach eos conscripsisse constantissime perhibetur , qui tamen quoniam in auctoritatem recipi meruerunt, inter propheticos numerandi sunt. Reliqui sunt eorum libri, qui proprie Prophetae appellantur, duodecim Prophetarum libri singuli, qui connexi sibimet, quoniam nunquam sejuncti sunt, pro uno habentur: quorum Prophetarum nomina sunt haec, Osee, Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Michaeas, Nahum, Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggaeus, Zacharias, Malachias: deinde quatuor Prophetae sunt majorum voluminum, Isaias, Jeremias, Daniel, Ezechiel. His quadraginta quatuor libris Testamenti Veteris terminatur auctoritas : Novi autem, quatuor libris Evangelii, secundum Matthaeum, secundum Marcum, secundum Lucam, secundum Joannem; quatuordecim Epistolis Pauli apostoli, ad Romanos, ad Corinthios duabus, ad Galatas, ad Ephesios, ad Philippenses, ad Thessalonicenses duabus, ad Colossenses, ad Timotheum duabus, ad Titum, ad Philemonem, ad Hebraeos; Petri duabus; tribus Joannis; una Judae, et una Jacobi; Actibus Apostolorum libro uno, et Apocalypsi Joannis libro uno.