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Gaussen, in his book on the Canon, adduces sixteen facts. We give a summary here:
(1)
Almost every crime is charged against Israel except one. They were never
charged with the falsification of the sacred books. "To them were
entrusted the oracles of God."
(2)
Christ said that they did not `believe' Moses, but that they `trusted' Moses
who condemned them.
(3)
The Apostles never accused Israel of unfaithfulness to their trust as custodians
of the Holy Scriptures.
(4)
Two witnesses of repute confirm this: Josephus and Philo. Both of them
were learned men, both men of repute, both Pharisees, both of the line of
Aaron.
(5)
From the dawn of the Christian era, for nineteen centuries of rebellion,
scattering and persecution, Israel has never relinquished the Scriptures.
(6)
After thirty four centuries, the Jews from every quarter of the world receive
only one canon. This identity of the copies of the Hebrew Scriptures is an
astonishing phenomenon.
(7)
In contrast stands the rapid deterioration of the many versions.
(8)
While the Jews are divided into different and conflicting sects, all alike hold
the canonical Scriptures.
(9)
The law was placed in the Ark; death penalty was pronounced against the
false prophet; the law was publicly read every seven years; the newly
crowned king had to make a copy with his own hand.
(10)
An unbroken chain of witnesses (the prophets) kept the canon alive.
(11)
The calamities of the Jews: (a) Destruction of the Temple; this gave rise to
"the synagogue in every city". (b) Their signatures; this gives a check on
the text. (c) Loss of their language; this led to the formation of the class
called "Scribes", the Targums (Chaldee paraphrases). (d) Oppression led
to the Greek version known as the Septuagint. (e) The dispersion led to
the Massorah, a collection of traditions, grammatical and other details
relative to the sacred text, or called "The Fence of the Law".
(12)
The miraculous preservation of the Jew is a pledge that his sacred Scriptures
will be as faithfully preserved.
(13)
No pressure or inducement could persuade the Jew to accept the Apocryphal
books foisted upon the canon by Rome.
(14)
"The Trent Catechism of the Orthodox Catholic Eastern Church" protests
against including the Apocrypha.
(15)
This was also the testimony of the whole Western Church until the Council of
Trent.
(16)
Neither the Septuagint nor the Latin versions could keep the Apocrypha out,
but Israel did.