A history of the work of redemption. Containing the outlines of a body of…

VIII. Ezra is supposed to have collected all the books of which the holy scriptures did then consist, and disposed them in their proper order. Ezra is often spoken of as a noted and eminent scribe of the law of God, and the canon of scripture in his time was manifestly under his special care; and the Jews, from the first accounts we have from them have always held, that the canon of scripture, so much of it as was then extant, was collected, and orderly disposed and settled by Ezra; and that from him they have delivered it down in the order in which he disposed it, […] Christ's time▪ when the Christian church received it from them, and have delivered it down to our times. The truth of this is allowed as undoubted by divines in general.

VIII. Ezra is supposed to have collected all the books of which the holy scriptures did then consist, and disposed them in their proper order. Ezra is often spoken of as a noted and eminent scribe of the law of God, and the canon of scripture in his time was manifestly under his special care; and the Jews, from the first accounts we have from them have always held, that the canon of scripture, so much of it as was then extant, was collected, and orderly disposed and settled by Ezra; and that from him they have delivered it down in the order in which he disposed it, 〈…〉 Christ's time▪ when the Christian church received it from them, and have delivered it down to our times. The truth of this is allowed as undoubted by divines in general.

IX The work of redemption was carried on and promoted in this period, by greatly multiplying the copies of the law, and appointing the constant public reading of them in all the cities of Israel in their synagogues. It is evident, that before the captivity, there were but few copies of the law. There was the original, laid up beside the ark; and the kings were requi•ed to wr•te out a copy of the law for their use, and the law was required to be read to the whole congregation of Israel once every seventh year. We have no account of any other state public reading of the law before the captivity but this. And it is manifest by several thig that might be mentioned, that copies of the law were exceeding rare before the captivity But after the […], the constant reading of the law was set up in every synagogue throughout th land. First, they began with readi the law, and then they proceeded to establish the constant readi […] the othe books of the Old Testament. Lessons were read out of the Old Testament, as