tas, et veritas comprobatur." (Bed. Ven. in Apoc. cap. 4. Opp. tom. V. col. 1073.) For the mode of making up the number twenty-four, in the books of the O. T. see bishop Cosin on the Canon, p. 77. 203489. Artaxerxes, qui et Longimanus, id est, Makpóxep, annis XL.

Hujus anno VII. prima die mensis primi, Esdras sacerdos et scriba legis Dei, ascendit de Babylone cum Epistolis Regis, et in prima mensis quinti venit in Hierusalem cum viris MDCC. Et inter alia strenue gesta, castigavit filios transmigrationis ab uxoribus alienigenis. Ejusdem anno vicesimo Neemias, pincerna, de Susis castro adveniens, murum Hierusalem LII. diebus restituit, et ducatum genti XII. annis præbuit. Huc usque divina Scriptura temporum seriem continet. Quæ autem post hæc apud Judæos sunt digesta, de libro Machabæorum, et Josephi, atque Africani scriptis exhibentur, qui deinceps universam historiam usque ad Romana tempora prosecuti sunt." Bed. Ven. de Sex Ætatibus Mundi. Opp. tom. II. p. 181.

21

"In libro Jesu filii Sirac, hæc præfata sententia legitur, quem librum B. Hieronymus, atque Isidorus inter apocryphas, id est, dubias Scripturas, deputatum esse absque dubitatione testantur. Qui etiam liber non tempore prophetarum, sed sacerdotum, sub Simone, Pontifice, magno regnante Ptolomæo Euergete, conscriptus est: nec tantum prophetias, quantum morales disciplinas, et laudes sapientiæ proferre videtur." (Alcuin. adv. Elipant. Tolet. Episc. Opp. col. 941.)

- 22

Ælfric mentions, in his tract upon the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numerus, Deuteronomium, Josue, Liber Judicum, Ruth, four

books of Kings, (i. e. two of Samuel, and two of Kings,) Verba Dierum, ( 727 i. e. Chronicles; which is thus entitled in the Hebrew Bibles; and which Ælfric reckons, according to ancient Jewish usage, as a single book,) Psalms, three books of Solomon, namely, Parabole, Ecclesiastes, Cantica Canticorum; "two more books placed with Solomon's workes, as if he made them: which for likeness of stile and profitable use have gone for his but Jesus, the sonne of Syrach, composed them: one is called Liber Sapientia, the Booke of Wisdome; and the other Ecclesiasticus; very large bookes, and read in the Church, of long custome, for much good instruction." (p. 17.) Isaias, Hieremias, Ezechiel, Daniel, Osee, Johel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Micheas, Naum, Abbacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zacharias, Malachias, Esdras, Job, Tobias, Hester, Judith, two Machabeorum. Elfric's tract upon the New Testament, enumerates the sacred books thus, Matheus, Marcus, Lucas, Johannes; two Epistles of Petrus; one, of Jacob the Righteous; (James the Just;) three, of Johannes the Evangelist; one of Judas the Apostle; altogether seven books of this rank of Paulus the Apostle, fifteen Epistles; namely, to the Romans, one; to the Corinthians, two; to the Galathians, one; to the Ephesians, one; to the Philipensians, one; to the Colosensians, one; to the Thesalonicensians, twain; also to the Ebreans, one; to his own disciple, Timotheus, twain; and Titus, one; to Philemon, one; to the Laodicensians, one: Actus Apostolorum, in English, Deeds of the Apostles; Apocalipsis, that is, Revelation; the last book in the Bible.

Now this statement is clearly not formed accord

ing to the canon of the African churches, mentioned in note 15; for that expressly ascribes five books to Solomon, (Salomonis libri quinque,) this ascribes to him only three books, and moreover asserts that the two other books, going by his name, are not his, nor entitled to be read in the Church, except from long custom, and their general goodness of matter. The African churches also sanction two books of Esdras; meaning, there is no doubt, by the first book, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah conjointly, which stood as one book in the ancient Hebrew canon. By the second book of Esdras is meant the first apocryphal book of that name. There can be no question that Ælfric acknowledged as canonical only the first of these, namely, the conjoined books of Ezra and Nehemiah; for he expressly ascribes but one book to Esdras, and in such a case we cannot hesitate as to the identification of that one. Esdras se pritere appat ane boc. Esdras the writer (or scribe) wrote one book. Again, the African Church ranges Tobit, Judith, and the two books of Maccabees, without any remark, in the canon: naming also Job between Chronicles and Psalms. Elfric places Tobit after Job, treating it as a fit accompaniment of that book, and saying, that it "is added unto this number because it hath a like holy meaning therein." (p. 22.) That it is placed there as being an integral part of God's revealed word, is not said. The words, indeed, would seem to imply, that it was not so considered. Nor is Judith treated as if esteemed canonical. Ælfric says, "The widow Judith, who overcame Holophernes, the Sirian general, hath her booke also among these, concerning her

own victory, and Englished according to my skill, for your example, that ye men may also defend your country by force of arms against the invasion of a foreign host." (The Danes were then in the habit of invading England.) Of Maccabees, the writer says, "Among these books the Church hath accustomed to place two other tending to the glory of God, and entituled Machabeorum, for the great valour of that family, who prevailed then so much in fight against the heathen forces, encroaching much upon them, and seeking to destroy and root them from the land which God had given them, and so to empaire the glory of God himself." Thus all the apocryphal books mentioned are said to have been included in the Bible (or perhaps merely used by Elfric in his scriptural labours for popular instruction) upon some especial grounds: a tolerably fair presumption, that he considered them no parts of the sacred canon. Among them he places the book of Esther, introducing it, as in the other cases, by a sort of apology. This may either arise from his having used the apocryphal portions of Esther, or from his reluctance to place a mere abridgment of his own under any appearance of equality with canonical Scripture. His words are,

66

Queene Hester, who delivered her nation, hath one booke also in this number, because it containes the praise of God: the which I briefly, after my manner, translated into English." Upon another point in which Ælfric differs from the Africans, namely, his mention of St. Paul's Epistle to the Laodiceans, his tract allows no room for saying any thing farther than that he names this piece after the Apostle's Epistles to individuals; a singu

lar arrangement, if he were assured of its canonicity. All uncertainty, however, as to this eminent ecclesiastic's estimate of canonical Scripture is removed by the fact, that St. Jerome's version was the received Bible of England in his days. This would be sufficient, even without the weight of individual authorities, to prove that the Anglo-Saxon Church agreed neither with ancient Africa, nor with modern Rome, as to the canon of Scripture.

23 The Apostles' Creed was known as the less Creed, the Nicene Creed, from its use, as at present, in the Communion-service, the Mass Creed, the Athanasian Creed is styled in a Cottonian MS. (Vespasian. A. 1.) FIDES CATHOLIca. Of all these

creeds there are vernacular translations.

24❝Sicut enim ex latere Adam dormientis nata est Eva, ita ex latere Christi dormientis in cruce. exierunt sacramenta, sanguis, scilicet, et aqua, ex quibus constituta est Ecclesia." Bed. Ven. in Ps. 41. Opp. tom. VIII. col. 651.

25 Tpa ding rýndon þurh zoder mihte гра miccle гpа mæne ærne ænig man ne maz dæɲ on ænig þing apyndan ne zepanian Fulluht hurelhalzung. Nir re mærre-preort þe mærrian mot to mærrianne ah on poɲulde ɲpa mirtlic. ne rрa Fracod on his dædan zÿf he dæra þenunza adere dey spa spa dær tozebyneð þeah he rýlf unɲiht dreoze on his life ne by reo þenung þær na þe pуnre. Ne eft nis ænig spa mæɲe ne spa halizes lifer þaðon dæra þenunza zezodian oddon zemýcclian maze. Do spa hpýle spa hit do zoder rÿlfer miht by on pære deade þuɲh halız genýne. Ac re eaɲma rýnfulla man heaɲmað þeah him rýlfum ezerlice spуde re pe zepnirt-læc to mærrianne