ne Jew, who
is generally placed by biblical scholars somewhere in the second century
before Christ. Though possessing no canonical authority, it is very
interesting and valuable for the view which it gives of the progress of
Jewish thought in both religion and philosophy. This writer is the first
who expressly identifies the serpent that deceived Eve with the devil:
"Through envy of the devil came death into the world." Chap. 2:24. He
teaches also the doctrine of the immortality of the soul and of a future
judgment. In a passage of great beauty he personifies Wisdom, after the
example of the book of Proverbs, as the worker of all things, and the
teacher and guide, of men. "She is the breath of the power of God, and a
pure efflux from the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled
can find entrance into her. For she is the effulgence of the everlasting
light, and the unspotted mirror of the divine might, and the image of
his goodness. And being but one she can do all things; and remaining in
herself [unchanged] she makes all things new. From age to age entering
into holy souls, she makes them friends of God and prophets." Chap.
7:25-27. But along with this true development of doctrine on the basis
of the Old Testament he holds the unscriptural doctrine of the
preexistence of souls (chap. 8:20), whether borrowed from the
Platonists, or taken from some other source. Some have thought that he
also holds matter to be eternal. But when he speaks of God's almighty
hand as having "created the world out of formless matter" (chap. 11:17),
he may have reference simply to the chaotic state described in Gen. 1:2.

Jerome left the Latin translation of this book unrevised. The text,
therefore, of our Latin Bibles is that of the "Old Latin" version, as it
existed before his day.

VI. ECCLESIASTICUS.

15. The Greek title of this book is, _The Wisdom of Jesus the son of
Sirach_, or more briefly: _The Wisdom of Sirach_. The Latin title,
_Ecclesiasticus_, that is, _Ecclesiastical_ book, designates it as a
book that was read for edification in the churches, though not included
in the Hebrew canon. We give, mainly from Keil, the summary of its
contents: This copious book is rich in its contents, embracing the whole
domain of practical wisdom, and, what is inseparable from this, the fear
of God. These virtues it describes, commends, and inculcates according
to their origin and nature, their characteristics and results, and their
re