The Prayer of Manasseh.
The Prayer of Manasseh.
§ 176. The Prayer of Manasseh. That this book is outside the canon is obvious. (1) It is contained neither in the Hebrew text nor in the Greek Bible. (2) It lacks the testimony of the Church. (3) The Papists themselves reject it. Bellarmine, De verbo Dei, bk. 1, c. 20, § Enumerantur: “We seem to be able to say that the prayer of King Manasseh is apocryphal or not certainly canonical because it is not part of a sacred book nor does a council or pope or father place it by name in the canon nor is it contained in the Hebrew or Greek but only in the Latin version.” However, it is added to the Books of Chronicles as a part of them, and the fathers occasionally quote something from it. Therefore only Bellarmine’s third reason is firm and conclusive, that it is not canonical “because it is not contained in the Hebrew text.” (This reasoning, however, will force Bellarmine to take more books out of the canon that he nevertheless considers canonical.) (4) Some add that it conflicts with the analogy of faith because it denies that “repentance has been set for the righteous.” But this agrees with the statement of Christ in Luke 15:7 and should be explained in the same way, namely, that it should be taken not absolutely but comparatively, unless someone prefers to take “righteous” in Christ’s statement to mean those who consider themselves righteous. (See our Commonplace [XVIII,] On Repentance, § 138.)