CANON of Scripture, a catalogue or list of the inspired writings; or such books of the Bible as are called canonical, because they are in the number of those books which are looked upon as sacred, in opposition to those which either are not acknowledged as divine books, or are rejected as spurious, and are called apocryphal.
The canon of Scripture may be considered either as Jewish or Christian, with respect to the sacred writings acknowledged as such by the Jews, and those admitted by the Christians.
The first canon, or catalogue of the sacred books, was
Canon. was made by the Jews; but who was the author of it, is not so certain. The five books of Moses were, questionless, collected into one body within a short time after his death; since Deuteronomy, which is an abridgement of the other four, was laid in the tabernacle near the ark, according to the command he gave to the Levites: so that the first canon of the sacred writings consisted only of the five books of Moses. There were no more added to them till the division of the ten tribes; since the Samaritans acknowledged none else. However, since Moses, there were several prophets and other writers divinely inspired, who composed either the history of their own times, or prophetic books, and divine writings, or psalms to the praise of God; but it cannot be discovered that, any time before the captivity, they were collected into one body, and comprised under one and the same canon. It is evident that, in our Saviour's time, the canon of the Holy Scripture was already drawn up, since he cites the laws of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, which are the three sorts of books of which that canon is composed, and which he often styles the Scripture, or the Holy Scripture.
It is generally received, that Ezra was the principal author of this canon, though Nehemiah had some share in it; and that he re-established, corrected, and ordered the sacred books to be written in new characters.
The Jewish canon is generally called the canon of Ezra: but it is certain, that all the books were not received into the canon of the Scriptures in his time; for Malachi, it is supposed, lived after him; and, in Nehemiah, mention is made of Jaddua the high priest, and of Darius Codomanus, a king of Persia, who lived at least 100 years after his time. Dr Prideaux, with great appearance of reason, says, it is most probable, that the two books of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, as well as Malachi, were afterwards added in the time of Simeon the just; and that it was not till then that the Jewish canon of the Holy Scripture was fully completed. And, indeed, these last books seem very much to want the accuracy and skill of Ezra, in their publication; for they fall short of the exactness found in the other parts of the Hebrew Scriptures. There are some authors who pretend, that the Jews have made one or more canons; and that they have added to the former the books of Tobit, Judith, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom, and the Maccabees: but it is most evidently true, that the Jews had no other canon but that of Ezra, nor confessed any other books for sacred but those it contains. The two assemblies of the synagogue, which, as it is pretended, were held for that purpose, are mere chimeras; nor have any ancient writers said any thing of them.
As for the Christian church, there is no doubt but it acknowledged those books to be canonical, which were cited as of divine authority, by Christ and his apostles: the ancient catalogues of the canonical books of the Old Testament, which are to be met with in Christian writers, are conformable to the canon of the Jews, and contain no other books; the Christian church, for several of the first ages, receiving the inspired writers no further than the Jewish canon. The first and most ancient catalogue of this kind, is that of Malito, bishop of Sardis, who flourished in the reign of Marcus Antoninus. It agrees with the Jewish canon,
Canon. excepting his omission of Esther, and that he makes Ruth and Judges two books. Origen has given us a list of the sacred books, in which he takes in Esther, and joins Ruth with Judges. St Gregory Nazianzen divides the books of Scripture into historical, poetical, and prophetic: he reckons 12 historical books, viz. the five books of Moses, with Joshua, Judges, Ruth, the two books of Kings, Chronicles, and Eddras. Five poetical books, Job, Daniel, and the three books of Solomon. Five prophetic books, viz. four great prophets, and 12 small ones. The council of Laodicea was the first synod in which the number of the canonical books was ascertained: this council assigns only 22 books to the Old Testament, including Esther, and joining Baruch and the Lamentations with Jeremiah. St Epiphanius reckons 27 canonical books of the Old Testament; yet he admits no more than are in the catalogue of Origen, and observes that the Jews had reduced them to 22. The third council of Carthage, in the year 397, admitted the books of Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Tobit, Judith, and the two books of Maccabees, into the canon. The church of Rome has agreed herein with that of Africa: for Innocent I. in his letter to Exuperius, places the same books in the canon of Scripture, as pope Gelasius, in the council held in the year 494; and the decree of pope Eugenius, and the canon of the council of Trent, agree with the canon of the council of Carthage. That the council of Trent had no prior authority to proceed on, excepting some slender pretence from the council of Carthage above mentioned, appears from the current testimony of the Latin church.
As to the canon of the New Testament, it is to be observed, that the four Evangelists, the Acts of the Apostles, all the Epistles of St Paul except that to the Hebrews, and the first Epistles of St Peter and St John, have been received as canonical by the unanimous consent of all the churches in all times: the Epistle of St James, that of St Jude, the second Epistle of St Peter, and the second and third Epistles of St John, were not received by all the churches from the beginning, as canonical; but have since been acknowledged as genuine, and therefore admitted into the canon.
We must observe, that the canon of the New Testament was neither settled by any synod, or single authority: this collection was formed upon the unanimous consent of all the churches, who, by constant tradition, reaching to the apostolical age, had received such a number of them as were written by inspired authors.