And Christ and his
Apostles laid the stress of religion upon the Law and the Prophets, _Matt._
vii. 12. xxii. 4. _Luke_ xvi. 16, 29, 31. xxiv. 44. _Acts_ xxiv. 14. xxvi.
22. _Rom._ iii. 21. By the _Hagiographa_ they meant the historical books
called _Joshua_, _Judges_, _Ruth_, _Samuel_, _Kings_, _Chronicles_, _Ezra_,
_Nehemiah_, and _Esther_, the book of _Job_, the _Psalms_, the books of
_Solomon_, and the _Lamentations_. The Samaritans read only the
_Pentateuch_: and when _Jehosaphat_ sent men to teach in the cities, they
had with them only the book of the Law; for the Prophecies now extant were
not then written. And upon the return from the _Babylonian_ captivity,
_Ezra_ read only the book of the Law to the people, from morning to noon on
the first day of the seventh month; and from day to day in the feast of
Tabernacles: for he had not yet collected the writings of the Prophets into
the volume now extant; but instituted the reading of them after the
collection was made. By reading the Law and the Prophets in the Synagogues,
those books have been kept freer from corruption than the _Hagiographa_.
In the infancy of the nation of _Israel_, when God had given them a Law,
and made a covenant with them to be their God if they would keep his
commandments, he sent Prophets to reclaim them, as often as they revolted
to the worship of other Gods: and upon their returning to him, they
sometimes renewed the covenant which they had broken.
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