Melito of Sardis(125) made it his special business to inquire among the Palestinian Jews about the number and names of their canonical books; and the result was the following list:—the five books of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, four books of Kings, two of Chronicles, the Psalms of David, the Proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, the twelve in one book, Daniel, Ezekiel, Ezra.(126) Here Ezra includes Nehemiah; and Esther is absent, because the Jews whom he consulted did not consider it canonical. Origen’s(127) list does not differ much from the Palestinian one. After the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Kings first and second, Samuel, Chronicles, come Ezra first and second, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Isaiah, Jeremiah with Lamentations and the epistle, Daniel, Ezekiel, Job, Esther. Besides these there are the Maccabees, which are inscribed _Sarbeth Sarbane el_.(128) The twelve prophets are omitted in the Greek; but the mistake is rectified in Rufinus’s Latin version, where they follow Canticles, as in Hilary and Cyril of Jerusalem. It is remarkable that Baruch is given, and why? Because Origen took it from the MSS. of the Septuagint he had before him, in which the epistle is attributed to Jeremiah. But the catalogue had no influence upon his practice. He followed the prevailing view of the extended canon. Sirach is introduced by “for this also _is written_”;(129) the book of Wisdom is cited as a _divine word_;(130) the writer is called a _prophet_;(131) _Christ_ is represented as speaking in it _through Solomon_;(132) and Wisdom vii. 17 is adduced as _the word of Christ himself_.(133) Tobit is cited as _Scripture_.(134) His view of the additions to the books of Daniel and Esther, as well as his opinion about Tobit, are sufficiently expressed in the epistle to Africanus, so that scattered quotations from these parts of Scripture can be properly estimated. Of the history of Susanna he ventures to say that the Jews withdrew it on purpose from the people.(135) He seems to argue in favor of books used and read in the churches, though they may be put out of the canon by the Jews. As divine Providence had preserved the sacred Scriptures, no alteration should be made in the ecclesiastical tradition respecting books sanctioned by the churches though they be external to the Hebrew canon. Most of the writings of Methodius, Bishop of Tyre(136) are lost, so that we know little of his opinions respecting the books of Scripture. But it is certain that he employed the Apocrypha like the other writings of the Old Testament. Thus Sirach (xviii. 30 and xix. 2) is quoted in the same way as the Proverbs.(137) Wisdom (iv. 1-3) is cited,(138) and Baruch (iii. 14).(139) CHAPTER VI. THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON IN THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES.