conceded, it does not terminate the controversy, for among the many extraordinary claims of the Romanist church, one of the most extraordinary is, the authority to add to the Canon of Holy Scripture. It has been made sufficiently manifest, that these Apocryphal books were not included in the Canon during the first three centuries; and can it be doubted whether the Canon was fully constituted before the fourth century? To suppose that the Pope, or a Council, can make what books they please Canonical, is too absurd to deserve a moment's consideration. If, upon this principle, they could render Tobit and Judith Canonical, upon the same they might introduce Herodotus, Livy, or even the Koran itself.

SECTION V.

INTERNAL EVIDENCE THAT THESE BOOKS ARE NOT CANONICAL THE WRITERS NOT PROPHETS, AND DO NOT CLAIM TO BE INSPIRED.

I COME now to the fifth argument to disprove the Canonical authority of these books, which is derived from internal evidence. Books which contain manifest falsehoods, or which abound in silly and ridiculous stories, or contradict the plain and uniform doctrine of acknowledged Scripture, cannot be Canonical. Now I will endeavour to show, that the books in dispute, are all, or most of them, condemned by this rule.

In the book of Tobit, an angel of God is made to tell a palpable falsehood-" I am Azarias, the son of Ananias the Great, and of thy brethren."* By which Tobit was completely deceived, for he says, "Thou art of an honest and good stock." Now in chapter xii., this same angel declares, “I am Raphael, one of the seven Holy Angels, which present the prayers of the saints, and go in and out before the glory of the Holy One."

* Tobit, v. 12.

Judith is represented as speaking scarcely any thing but falsehood to Holofornes; but what is most inconsistent with the character of piety given her, is, that she is made to pray to the God of Truth, in the following words, "Smite, by the deceit of my lips, the servant with the prince and the prince with the servant:" who does not perceive, at once, the impiety of this prayer? It is a petition, that He who holds in utter detestation all falsehood, should give efficacy to premeditated deceit.

This woman, so celebrated for her piety, is also made to speak with commendation of the conduct of Simeon, in the cruel slaughter of the Shechemites; an act, against which God, in the Scriptures, has expressed his high displeasure. In the second book of Maccabees, RAZIS, an Elder of Jerusalem, is spoken of with high commendation, for destroying his own life rather than fall into the hands of his enemies; but certainly suicide is not, in any case, agreeable to the Word of God.

The author of the book of Wisdom, speaks in the name of Solomon, and talks about being appointed to build a temple in the holy mountain; whereas it has been proved by Jerome, that this book is falsely ascribed to Solomon.

In the book of Tobit, we have this story: "And as they went on their journey they came to the river Tigris, and they lodged there; and when the young man went down to wash himself, a fish leaped out

of the river, and would have drowned him. Then the angel said unto him, take the fish. And the young man laid hold of the fish and drew it to land. To whom the angel said, open the fish, and take the heart, and the liver, and the gall, and put them up up safely. So the young man did as the angel commanded him, and when they had roasted the fish, they did eat it. Then the young man said unto the angel, Brother Azarias, to what use is the heart and the liver and the gall of the fish? And he said unto him, touching the heart and the liver, if a devil, or an evil spirit trouble any, we must make a smoke thereof before the man or the woman, and the party shall be no more vexed. As for the gall, it is good to anoint a man that hath whiteness in his eyes; he shall be healed."* If this story does not savour of the fabulous, then it would be difficult to find any thing that did.

In the book of Baruch,† there are also several things which do not appear to be true. Baruch is said to have read this book, in the fifth year after the destruction of Jerusalem, in the ears of Jeremiah,‡ the king, and all the people dwelling in Babylon, who upon hearing it, collected money and sent it to Jerusalem, to the priests. Now Baruch, who is here alleged to have read this book in Babylon, is said, in the Canonical Scriptures, to have been carried

* Tobit, c. vi.

† Baruch, i.

Jeremiah, xl.

captive into Egypt, with Jeremiah, after the murder of Gedaliah. Again, he is represented to have read in the ears of Jeconias the king, and of all the people; but Jeconias is known to have been shut up in prison, at this time, and it is no how probable that Baruch would have access to him, if he even had been in Babylon. The money that was sent from Babylon was to enable the priests to offer sacrifices to the Lord, but the temple was in ruins, and there was no altar.*

In the chapters added to the book of Esther, we read, that "Mordocheus, in the second year of Artaxerxes the great, was a great man, being a servitor in the king's court. And in the same, "That he was also one of the captives which Nabuchodonosor carried from Jerusalem, with Jeconias king of Judea." Now, between these two periods, there intervened one hundred and fifty years; so that, if he was only fifteen years of age when carried away, he must have been a servitor in the king's court, at the age of one hundred and seventy-five years!

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Again, Mordocheus is represented as being a great man in the court, in the second year of Artaxerxes," before he detected the conspiracy against

*Baruch, i. 10. "And they said, behold we have sent you money to buy you burnt offerings, and incense, and prepare ye manna, and offer upon the altar of the Lord our God."