BIBLE

(Gr. 0i6\os. a book; from whence the word came and Newto biT est ament i phatically to the volume of the Old The sixth article of the English Church enumerates the books of the Old Testament, which it considers of canonical authority: in which it follows the canon received by in the time of our Saviour. The apocryphal writings, which are accounted authentic by the Bom Catholics, are of undoubted antiquity, being comprised in the Septuaginl edition of Um Scriptures; hut iheir authority has never been acknowledged by the.lews, who reckon twenty-four in the Hebrewcanonicallangu books; nor are their originals found ion of the New Testament is now received without variation, we believe, in all Christian communities. In the early period of the church, the authenticity of particular books was frequently disputed, and heretii attempted to foist other apocryphal writings into their place. The general consent, however, of the orthodox church may be inferred from catalogues extant in the writings of many of the Fathers throughout the first four centuries, ami I declaration of the council of Laodicea anil others. Some latitude of opinion seems. however, to have been allowed in early times respecting the book of Revelations; and some of the Fathers confe that the genuinene of St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, of that of James, of the second of Peter, and two last ol John, was held tiv some to b> BIBLE SOCIETY, [s. 157]