reference to Judges xiii. 5, 7,-then is there testinony in one of the gospels to the prophetical character of this book.* 18. Ruth.] There are certain of the books, whose canonicity reposes mainly on the undoubted fact of their having entered as constituent parts into that collection of writings termed Scripture, in the days of the New Testament; and on the homage rendered to them generally, and without any exception whatever, being specified by the founders of the latter dispensation-and that notwithstanding their earnest and repeated dissuasives against vain traditions, or "Jewish fables" of all sorts, or aught that in any shape made unwarrantable usurpation of a divine authority. We are not, however, altogether destitute of scriptural allusions to the subject-matter, of which this book is the only known record as may be seen in the references below.f In the first verse of the first chapter of this book, the era of the judges is spoken of, as having already elapsed; and in the last verse of the last chapter, the genealogy of Ruth's family terminates with David-which intimates it to have been written in the days of this Jewish monarch; and, in all likelihood by Samuel. We may add that Matthew notices Ruth expressly in his genealogy-as if pointing to the memorial that is left of her. 19. Samuel-two books.] In entering on this portion of scripture, it seems proper to remark, that, in more than one direct history of the same events, we have a duplicate or triplicate evidence -a concurrence of testimonies for the same subject-matter-besides a certain countenance and authority given by these writers to each other, who thus depone alike to one and the same history. That Samuel himself wrote the greater part of these books, is a general and confident opinion. A scriptural writer he undoubtedly must have been*-though we are unable precisely to define all the scriptures which he wrote. "Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer."t We are also told of his employment as a writer in 1 Samuel x. 25."Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the Lord." This last circumstance, by the way, is another scriptural indication of the practice of laying up all the writings, that were to be preserved, in a holy place; and it strengthens the security that we feel in the safe keeping of the canonical scriptures-the avoidεro-laid up in “ arca ecclesiastica,” εν τη κιβωτω της διαθηκης, in "armario synagogæ." Certain it is, at all events, that we have very many confirmations of these books of Samuel in other scriptures. "Behold the days come that I will cut off thine arm, and Acts iii. 24. +1 Chr. xxix. 29. the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house," 1 Samuel ii. 31. "So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the Lord; that he might fulfil the word of the Lord, which he spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh," 1 Kings ii. 27.-" Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations," 1 Samuel viii. 5. "I will be thy king; where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges, of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath," Hosea xiii. 10, 11. "And afterward they desired a king, and God gave unto them Saul," Acts xiii.21.-"So the priest gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the shew-bread that was taken from before the Lord," 1 Samuel xxi. 6. "But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did when he was an hungered, and they that were with him; how he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shew-bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests," Matt. xii. 3, 4.—" And David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there, and said, the Lord hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place, Baal-perazim," 2 Samuel v. 20. "For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act," Isaiah xxviii. 21. We can dispose of the profusion of these testimonies in no other way, than by pointing out the places where so many of the remainder are to be found in a note below.* 20. Kings-two Books.] We may here observe, that still more remarkably than with the pieces which we have just quitted, we have now the benefit of a multiple testimony, both for the contents of the books on which we are entering; and so by implication, for the books themselves. We have not only the corroboration of other books, such as the two of Chronicles and Second Samuel; but we have other historical witnesses in those speakers or writers of other times, who gave sum* 1 Sam. i. 11.-Judges xiii. 5. 2 Sam. vii. 1.-1 Chr.xvii. 1, &c. ii. 8.-Ps. cxiii. 7. vii. 2—13.--1 Kings viii. vii. 3.-Matt. iv. 10. 15-26. Luke iv. 8. vii. 7.-1 Chr. xvii. 6. vii. 8-Ps. lxxviii. 70. vii. 12.-1 Kings ii. 1. vii. 13. v. 5. vi. 12. ix. 1.-1 Chr. viii. 33. Matt. ix. 13. xvi. 11.-2 Sam. vii. 8. XXV. 44.-2 Sam. iii. 14, xxix. 4.-1 Chr. xii. 19. 1 Chr. xxii. 10. vii. 14.-Heb. i. 5. Ps. lxxxix. 30, viii. 18.-1 Chr. xviii. 17. 1 Chr. xxii. 9. xii. 30. xi. 12. xi. 27. maries of the Jewish story-as the prayer of the ninth chapter of Nehemiah-several historical psalms, the 78th, the 105th, and 106th-the long speech of Stephen, in the 7th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles; and of Paul in the 13th chapter -besides the enumeration of Old Testament worthies, which he gives in the 11th chapter of his epistle to the Hebrews. It is true, that we are uncertain of the precise authors for all the precise portions of the historical books in the Old Testament. We are unable to make such a distribution as this; but we know that there was no lack either of writers or inspired men, and at opportune times, for all the scriptural compositions which have come down to us. The character indeed of these compositions rests, not on our knowledge of their secondary or human authors; but on our knowledge of their divine authorship, as attestedby the general estimation in which they were held among the Jews-by the virtual consent to this of Christ and His Apostles, who would have made it known to their disciples, if they had thought the estimation extravagant or false-by the direct, attestations given to these writings in certain parts of the Old, and more especially in the New Testament by the agreement of Jews and Christians in this matter-and by all the general arguments which we have brought to bear on the question of the canonical authority of the Jewish scriptures. As to the abundance of qualified penmen in those days, though we cannot point to the definite contributions of each or any of them-yet we know generally of their existence in the tribe of Levi, and |