The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1899-11-04
How THE BIBLE CAME TO us.
LECTURE FIRST, THE FORMATION OF
THE CANON.
BY Rev. Albert r. Bond.

in the providential order of the
world, in his decentralization
through the incarnation with its
blessings to man, and in the
guidance of childhood Christian
ity with lessons of universal i'm
port. 1t thus demands for itself
unique place in the worlds liz
brary of great books. No other
book dares to claim 80 much with
any reasonable substantiation of
statements. Coming as the Word
of God to US, it seeks for atten-
tion and obedience in harmony
with its divine origin.
The design of this course of
lectures is to set forth in popular
form a sketch of the outward his
tory Of the Bible. We are the in
heritors OF a noble legacy in the
English Bible. The processes that
have made it possible for every
man, however meagre his re-
sources, to possess a copy of Gods
revelation to men, evince the
greatest marvel in the history of
literatures. A knowledge of these
facts will quicken our interest in
the Book and deepen our rever-
ence for the ways of Providence.
The basal truth of these lectures
is the inspiration OF the Scrip
lures. God moved in an inexpli-
cable way upon certain men in
widely different ages, and they
expressed to and for us the will of
God. Their writings are author-
itative, and we now purpose to
call attention to the influences
that have given us these sacred
writings in their present shape.
The title OF the Bible, first ap-
piled in medieval times, comes to
us from the Greek, being a mere
transliteration of IA BIBLIA-the
books. Non- Christian religions
have their collections of sacred
books to which names have been
given, but it is a fitting tribute
to the power of Christianity that
its sacred writings should have
been combined into one volume
called The Books-or, as we pre-
fer it, The Book. In considering
the history, then, OF the Bible
we must remember that it con-
tains 66 separate books, written
y by about 40 men, the limit of
whose times covers more than ten
and half centuries.
The term CANON is applied to
the body OF sacred writings be-
cause they constitute a rule of
doctrine and Practice. Literally
the word means straight rod or
ruler. Then came the idea of a
standard of measurement. 1t was
first applied to the Scripture by
the Greek writer's of the fourth
century A. d. Hence, to speak
of book as being canonical or
non -canonical fixes its relation
either as within or without the
recognized body of the holy writ.
AS the Bible has a first and
second part, each with a different
history, we must consider them
separately.
I. THE OLD TESTAMENT CANON.
The Cid Testament, in our En-
glish Bibles, has thirty nine
books, written by about thirty
men in different ages. There was
no conjunction of purpose on the
part of these writer's to make one
great book. Each man wrote for
his time according as God gave
him the message. And yet the
testimony OF antiquity reveals tbs
fact that these writings were re-
garded with reverence and con-
stituted the source of appeal tc
determine the will of God. Have
!. we the same Old Testament usec
in ancient times? BY what meth
ods do we determine this fact?
We must guard against the er'
ror of supposing that the forma
ton of the canon took place a
one time. AS the several book
were written in different periods
so we may expect TO find simi
lar fact in their recognition ant
collection into one volume. Il
this fact lies safeguard agains
fraud and mistake, since it woult
have been easier to foist a decep
tion on the unsuspecting if on,
man or set Of men had authorita
lively declared the limits OF tn
divine messages. However, ther
are testimonies thai chow the ac
ceptauce Of Cur books by tn
people OF Israel.
A threshold division Of the Oh