The third thing is, which in our
judgment must by all means be noted, is this: that not all the sacred books are
extant today; and it must certainly be believed that from these books no longer
extant were cited in the New Testament those testimonies that are not read
today in the books of the Old Testament—which, however, are very few indeed.
That many sacred books have perished is manifest from the fact that mention is
made of the words of Nathan the prophet and of Gad the seer in 1 Chronicles
29[:29], and in the ninth chapter of the second book of the same work, as
also of the words of Jeddo the seer in the same ninth chapter of the second
book of Chronicles—or rather, not of his words, but of his vision. In the same chapter,
moreover, mention is made of Ahijah the Shilonite. Besides this, in the twelfth
chapter of the same second book of Chronicles mention is made of the words of
Iddo the seer in the genealogies, and in the thirteenth chapter the Midrash of
the same prophet is named. In the same twelfth chapter, further mention is made
of the words of Shemaiah the prophet. Furthermore, in the tenth chapter of the
book of Joshua, and likewise in the tenth chapter of the second book of Samuel,
mention is made of the Book of the Upright, while in the twenty-first chapter
of the book of Numbers the Book of Wars of Jehovah is mentioned, although it is
not altogether certain that a particular book is meant in that passage. Moreover,
in Isaiah, chapter 34, the Book of Jehovah, or of the Lord, is named. Finally,
everyone knows that in the second book of Kings mention is repeatedly made of
the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah and of the Kings of Israel, to which the
writer of that book very often refers and to which he directs the reader. (Faustus
Socinus, Sacred Letters: On the Authority of Holy Scripture, Especially of
the New Covenant [trans. Marcin Poholski; 2026], 58-60; comment in square
brackets in original)
