Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by THEODORE PARKER, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. PS D413 1850 V-2 PART III. PARTICULAR INTRODUCTION TO THE CANONICAL BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. § 125. A SURVEY AND CLASSIFICATION OF THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. THE classification of the literary productions of a nation must be made in the spirit of that nation's history, and in accordance with an accurate conception of that history. Just, though not perfectly clear and pure ideas of classification may be found in the Jewish division into the Law, Prophets, and Other Writings. According to the most accurate principles, it seems the two first divisions the Law and the Prophetsmust be put together, for they contain a cyclus of theocratic writings. In this cyclus it is easy to separate the theocratic-historical from the theocratic-inspired writings. To the former belong the Law, the first Prophets, as they are called, that is, the historical books; and from the third miscellaneous division, the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Ruth, Esther, and Chronicles, are added as appendices and a supplement. To the latter belong the later Prophets, as they are called, and, from the third division, the later prophetical production, the book of Daniel. |