The reason that I undertake to devote several chapters to this inquiry, is because some have supposed that the testimony of the Bible respecting God is so far imperfect that it is scarcely reliable. And to the extent of my ability, I desire to check a growing skepticism in relation to the Bible, and therefore will endeavor to prove that not only are the revelations contained in the Bible sufficient to lay a sure foundation for an intelligent belief in God, but that the Bible itself is both authentic and credible. I must ask my readers to remember, however, that this of itself is a subject for a volume, and I can but devote a few pages to it; and therefore ask that too much be not expected.
[CHAPTER VIII.]
FAITH.—THE BIBLE.
A word, in passing, on the Bible as a whole, I am of the opinion that a very great many people look upon the Bible as simply one book, one testimony—one witness for God; when in fact it is not one book, but a collection of books; not one witness for God, but the collected testimony of many witnesses for him.
The word does not come, I am assured on very good authority, from the word biblos, as many have supposed; nor does it signify the book by way of eminence—the Book of books, but it is a word derived from the Greek biblia, meaning the books, and is a term first applied by Chrysostom to denote the collection of small books which constitute the Old and New Testaments; and this term with the prefix "Holy," soon came into general use. This is how the Jewish Scriptures came to be called the Holy Bible; meaning, really, the holy or sacred books. The Bible is made up of sixty-six distinct books, bound together in one volume, and written by about forty different authors. And if each book is not a separate and independent witness for God, it cannot be denied that each author is.
The first of the sacred writers is Moses, whom Bacon calls "God's first pen;" the last is the Apostle John. These two writers, the first and the last, are separated by a period of some two thousand years; and the men who wrote as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost, in that lapse of time, and whose works have been preserved to us in the Bible, occupied various positions in life, ranging from the grand old war king of Israel, David, and the wise king Solomon, down to the humble shepherd Amos, the despised tax collector Matthew, and Peter, the unlearned fisherman. But whatever the condition of life occupied by these men, or whatever the nature of their respective writings, whether histories, biographies, poems, prophecies, or only didactic discourses on morals or religion, they all, in some way or other, bear witness to the existence of God, and give us some information respecting his character and attributes.
It is now our task to inquire briefly into the authenticity and integrity of these writings. For convenience I shall take up the two Testaments, the Old and the New, separately:
First, then, the Old Testament: It is maintained by the best biblical scholars, that the books which now constitute the Old Testament, were collected as we have them, immediately after the return of the Jews from the captivity in Babylon; that would be about the middle of the fifth century, B. C. The work is ascribed to Ezra, Nehemiah; and the men of the great synagogue. In proof of this they point to the testimony of the son of Sirach, who flourished between the years 310-370, B. C.;[A] and who speaks of the canon—with its three divisions as finally made up.[B] By the "three divisions," I mean those divisions made by the Jews in their scriptures, and which are supposed to be contemporary with the completion of the canon. Those divisions are (1) the Pentateuch, or Law;[C] (2) the Prophets; and (3) the Hagiographa.[D] It is of these divisions that the son of Sirach speaks.
[Footnote A: Vide Kitto.]
[Footnote B: See the prologue to the Book of Ecclesiasticus, in the Apocrypha.]
[Footnote C: The five books of Moses—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.]