ight be added by the
collector of the papers, whom I take to be _Ezra_.

The Psalms composed by _Moses_, _David_, and others, seem to have been also
collected by _Ezra_ into one volume. I reckon him the collector, because in
this collection I meet with Psalms as late as the _Babylonian_ captivity,
but with none later.

After these things _Antiochus Epiphanes_ spoiled the Temple, commanded the
_Jews_ to forsake the Law upon pain of death, and caused the sacred books
to be burnt wherever they could be found: and in these troubles the book of
the _Chronicles_ of the Kings of _Israel_ was entirely lost. But upon
recovering from this oppression, _Judas Maccabaeus_ gathered together all
those writings that were to be met with, 2 _Maccab._ ii. 14. and in
reducing them into order, part of the Prophecies of _Isaiah_, or some other
Prophet, have been added to the end of the Prophecies of _Zechariah_; and
the book of _Ezra_ has been separated from the book of _Chronicles_, and
set together in two different orders; in one order in the book of _Ezra_,
received into the Canon, and in another order in the first book of
_Esdras_.

After the _Roman_ captivity, the _Jews_ for preserving their traditions,
put them in writing in their _Talmud_, and for preserving their scriptures,
agreed upon an Edition, and pointed it, and counted the letters of every
sort in every book: and by preserving only this Edition, the antienter
various lections, except what can be discovered by means of the
_Septuagint_ Version, are now lost; and such marginal notes, or other
corruptions, as by the errors of the transcribers, before this Edition was
made, had crept into the text, are now scarce to be corrected.

The _Jews_ before the _Roman_ captivity, distinguished the sacred books
into the Law, the Prophets, and the _Hagiographa_, or holy writings; and
read only the Law and the Prophets in their Synagogues. 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