New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-12-28
THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
HISTORY OF THE SACRED VOLUME.

DERS-TYPOGRApIIfCAL MISTAKES.
To the Edttor Of The Tribune.
SIR: At this time, when the revision Of the ou
thorized version Of the Scriptures is engaging the
attention of of the ripest and best known
Biblical scholars on both sides of the Atlantic. II
will not be out of season 10 give brief account oil
the sacred volume, whose history, from the earliest
times down 10 our own day, is long series OF curl
Gus aud interesting facts and narratives Moreover
1t behooves Englisl-speaking men and women TO DC
familiar with the chief points in the history oil tHat
Book whose growth into its present shape Is lnsep-
arably connected with the development OF the Eng
lish tongue and il may also be said. with tie nm
doubted supremacy among the nations of the Eng
disappearing races.
IL was not until the nth century that the collect
i've nane Ta BiJiiG, 80 the books which originally
sgnifed both in Latin aud Greek. the inner bark OF
trees used for making papyrus and from which our
word Bible Is derived. was conferred by st. Chry-
session. upon all those writings which we now recog-
MIC and believe IN as containing all that has been
revealed 10 by God OF His divine will and plan of
government. In the Old Testament we find the
sacred writings referred to as the Law the Proph
cts. and the other books" i'll the New Testament "a
1.-THE Law ard the Prophets.p and 81 Law, the
Prophets, aud the Psalms" 1t is WORTHY OF note
that the bible" does not appear IN Anglo-Saxon
was first used but the use of it rather than any
other term by the great tTanslat0rs Wyc,iife Luther
aud Coverdale gave it Il place in our language be-
yond all possibility of change; and there can be no
doubt that standing for Tie Cook it il peculiarly
ADAPTED to the high use to which 1t has been put
When the Jews. by virtue of the decree of Cyrus,
returned from the Babylonish captivity. about 53J
b. Co. King Ezra collected or caused to be collected,
and arranged IN chronological order, all the sacred
writings then known 10 him, dividing the whole
into three parts the Law, the Prophets and the
Hagi0grapa. The first division embraced the first
five hooks of Moses, otherwise called the Penta-
teuch the second contained the BOOKS OF Joshua
judges and Ruth. Samuel l. and H.. Kings !. and
H.. Chronicles |. and H.. Daniel, Ezra and Nehe-
mIah Esther job. Isaiah. Ezekiel, jeremiah and
Lamentations. and the writings of the twelve minor
prophets; the HagOgrapha C'sacred writings'l
included the Psalms Proverbs, Song OF Solomon,
and Ecclesiastes making the number of books cor
respond to the number Of letters in the Hebrew
alphlbet-twonty-twO. Josephus, the great his
toran Of the Jews, refers as follows to this
arrangement, a. well as to the Divine author
ity and character OF the books themselves ::
"We have not thousands of books dis
cordant, but We have only twenty-five which
comprehend the history Of all former ages
and are justly regarded divine. Five OF them pro-
coed from Moses they include as We'll the laws as
al account of the creation of man, extending to the
time of his Moses's death THIS period cOmprehends
nearly 3 900 years. From the death OF Moses to
that Of Artaxerxes who was king of Persia after
Xerxes, the prophets who succeeded Moses COM
United to writing in thirteen books what was done
in their days. The remaining four books contain
hymns to God and instructions of life for man."
This treble division of tho Scriptures was also
cognIzed by Christ and expressly acknowledged
by New Testament writers before the time of
Josephus. The earliest reference to it is believed to
be that of AristObuus. who lived In the second cen
tnry before Christ.
Between the completion of the Old Testament by
Malachi, and the commencement Of the New, there
elapsed about 40 years. About the time of Christ
"a translation of the Pcntateuch was made into Ara
naio language with which the Jews in their cap
tivities had become familiar, and which, In Christs
day, was the common tongue of the Jews. almost to
the total exclusion of Hebrew. The cradle of
this Aramac language was in the plains of Baby
lonia and Chaldea, but by the course of conquest
and other political events, 1t had gradually spread
from tho Tigris to the Mediterranean, and in con-
trary direction from Armenia to Arabia. AT this
day. however, it survives as living tongue only
among a small tribe of Christians in the vicinity of
Mogul Subsequently other portions of the Scrip
lures were translated into this Aramean tongue
such TRANSACTIONS being called 1drgams, and being
ten in number.
We now come to the most important Of all the
versions of the Old Testament-that OF the Septua-
gint in Greek, so-caed because. as the story goes
seventy or seventy-two learned jews were engaged
upon It for seventy-two days. This, upon which
our Authorized Version is founded, Justly regarded
as the most trustworthy translation Of the original
Il hav he IA saiI nv Aria "a
courtier at Alexandria, to have been begun by au-
thorty of Ptolemy Phadelphus, about $50 b. c.,
Who wishing to procure q correct copy of the He
brew Scriptures for the library he had founded at
Alexandria, sent to Jerusalem and obtained the ser
vices OF seyentytwo learned jews six from each of
the twelve tribes, skilled in Greek and Hebrew to
whom he intrusted the compilation of all the laws
of their nation. These scholars secluded in
the Island of Pharos where the Librarian of the King
took down their version as they rendered it to him.
accomplishing the work in seventy-twO days.
Whatever the differences of opinion among critics
rs to the time anG manner of the Septuagint trans
lation there Is but scanty doubt to its validity
as well from its own internal evidences as from tho
fact that in the time of Christ it was quoted as an
authority both by Him and by the Apostles.
The Sepmpilaton of the New Testament,
which was spread over period of
nearly one hundred years the work of six of the
Apostles and two of the disciples who attended them
in their joumeyings. The four Gospels were the
work of who were contemporary with Christ
the first of them was published few years after his
ascension. and circulated among the very people in
whose midst his life was passed. The Epistes were
written separately by five of the Apostles, from
fifteen TO thrtyve years after the Saviour left this
earth. The history known as the Acts of the Apos-
ties was published about the year 60 a. ID. The
Book of Revelation was written and made known
by John. one of the five above referred to. about
the year O6A. d., and though Martin Luther. among
Others equally eminent. doubted that John really
,vrote IL the weight of modern critical opiuion IA