The sun., 1916-01-06
DEUTERoCANoNICAL BOOKS.
Evidences In History That Cnr's's
Bible Iucluded ApOCrypha.

To THE EDITOR OF THE SUN--Sir; Mr.
Fountain contends that 1t ia OF historic
truth that the Bible used by Chfrst COW
tained no Apocrypha, or rather, aen.
terocanonio,l writings. As matter Oh
fact, history proves the contrary. WI.
Fountain passes over host or WITNESSES
In order to cite the Isolated instances OF
ST. Jerome and Origen. Evidently he
has never read the testimonies containeu
In the writings of st. Clement of Rome.
the Shepherd of IIermas, st. lrenGue'
, 81. Hippolytus. Tertullian ana 81 Typ
rian lie has also neglected to con-
slider the Epistle Of Barnabas. the works
of such ancient writer's or tho serono
and third centuries as Saints lolycarT..
Athenasoras. Methodius. Clement ana
Dionysius of Alexandria, all or wnofn
in the portjons Of their works still cx-
tant give ample proof that the deuterO-
canonical portion of the Old Testament
was used both for cdliication ana IN
struction. and was regarded as higmy
| as the other portions of Holy writ.
The seven deuterocanonical books are
| embodied in the ancient catalogues, that
OF Hippo In 1893 and that Of ST. limo
| cent I. in l05, to mention only two.
Such is the witness OF unbiased MS
tory from the infant days of the Church ;
and we may he sure that the Apostles
and their disciples. with the impress OF
our Lords teaching still fresh on thcir
minds. were Scrupulously caretul IN
qua riding the sacred deposit of their
| faith and were faithful interpreters OF
J tho teachings OF our Lord. THESE are
| the first links in the cham Of evidence
which reaches without sign OF weaken
| ing right down through the ages TO this
very matter Of fact twentieth century.
Mention too might be made or add,-
| tional facts tending to substantiate the
contention that the deuterocanonicai
| books are OF equal weight with the pro
tocanonical ones. In the Scptuagint
the deutcrocanonical books arc inter
| mingled with the others as though or
equal authority. We may be sure that
the Apostles referred to the Greek Bible
when converting the Gentle world.
Textual criticism has established beyond
all cavil that Of the $50 references 10
the Old Testament which we find In the
| New. 300 are from the Septuagit. True.
| we never find explicit allusion to the
| deutercc anvnicsl books In the New
| Testament. but expressions and ideas are
borrowed from them quite often 'cf.
T. Peter t., 6-1. with Wisdom. ill.,. 5-6)
| Further several books whioh the evan
gelsts undoubtedly regarded as inspired.
Esdras. Abdias, Nahum, Cantcle of Can
, ticler. Ecclesiastes, Esther and Seheryas
are in no way alluded To by tho sacred
| writer's. Again, the Apostles allowed
! the use of the Septus,.yint to their CON
verts hut would they not have been re-
miss in duty II they knew that this
book contained uninspred writings?
That the jew. OF Palestine did not
recognize the deutcrocanUuical books at
the time of Josephus is not a very seri-
! ous objection. The Jews OF Alexandra
were quite az orthodox as those of Pales-
| tine In their views Of inspiration. The
| Palestinian Jews, ever most tenacious of
their old canon. did not wish to re-
! ceive into their canon books written only
recently and in Greek. while the Alex
sndrian Jews, who were broader minded
accepted them freely. This solution is
also a more satisfactory Interpretation
OF Josephus's words.
There is another consideration which
l would urge upon Mr.. Fountain. amply
evidenced by just such discussion ar
this one. 1t is the utter insufihciency
OF trying TO find in the Bible criterion
OF it's canonicity. of regarding the Bible
only as "A rule OF faith. J. J. X S.
BALTIMORE. Nd. January 5.