, 1879-01-19

his addresses to Hagar in the wilderness tovel
1850 years after the CreatioDG
Hugo de Sc1acto Caro-, Dominican friar aut
afterwards Cardinal {svho nourished about l24t
and died in 262), compiled the first concorilapc.
! Of the Bible, divided the matter into section.
| and tho sections into under divisions and thest
sections are now chapters. Psalms were alrcad,
divided, as at present. Rnbbi 1saac Nathan, Ii
1445, introduced regular verses. These nltcra
tions have since Seen much improved, The
books OF the New Testament, written in HELEN
istic Greek, were first collected abult the middle
Of the third century. The New Testament Is
divided into twenty-scyen books, containing 26s
chapters, 1853 verses lsl,s3s words, and s3s3SC
niaus. The middle chapters are Romans. IS and
4. The middle verse is Acts xvii, verse II.
The least verse is John Ii, verse 35. The word
"and " occurs l0,GA times. The whole number
al words III the Bible, 3,7lS, ,665. Afartin Luther
Iyp.e from, the New Testament, but Afterwards
the entirety were received rs cstllonical
The words immortal SOUL "deathless soul. J,
"dcathless splrit,' "undying soul.'' 'tdiscn-
bodied soul," ''disernbodied spirit 'seternal
torment" s'eternal suffering in conscious
n,isery,'' Everlasting woe" '.unendine tor
ment, y" endless woc," tncyer-dyiue soul,n and
all their kindred words are words thut never In
single instance, arc found IN the Bible. But
from the copious manner in which these words
uTE pl9SEu kO UE lT0Nj Ut pulpkt, anu t6r0ugtl
the press, one would think without examining
the Bible that it was. full OF them. The word
t5irnmortaln occurs but once in the whole Bjb1e
The English version OF the Scriptures now in
use Is itself the result Of repeated reYisions. In
the preface To tho Bishops Bible, 1868, distinct
reference is made to early Saxon versions, and
there are still extant parts Of the Bible in Saxon,
translated by Bcde, AMI By dIiricc, Of Captcr-
bury. The first complete translation OF the
Bible was made By Wycliffe about 1850. It cx-
istcd only in manuscript Tor many Years. The
work was regarded with grave suspicion, and q
hill was introduced into the House Of Lords for
suppressing it; but through the influence Of
John of Ga11nt this was rejected. In LAOS, how
ever, ip conyocation held ut Oxford, it was
resolved that no one should translate any text
and TINT no book Of the kind should be read,
This resolution led to great persecution.
The first printed edition OF the Bible in En-
glish was published by Tyndale. the New Testa-.
lnent III 1926, and the Bible in part in 1882
More took great pains to buy and burn thc 11t i'm.
preston, but with the effect thereby Of enabling
the translator to publish larger and improved
edition. The first Bible printed in Scotland was
Ill 1876. The carlicst edition of the Bible print
Nonntum {Natic) Indians. The translation was
by one man, known MS the APOSTLE t1ohu Eliot,
who laborc1 rs missionary among the Indians.
He was for many years engaged Ill the labor OF
Translation. It is ut all times task of great
difficulty to render the Biblc into foreign Ian
suaGe, even If the language is q written one;
but IN such iAnguagc US that Of the Indians,
which was never before written, the labor was
gigantic. None but q religious enthusiast such
as Eliot would ever have attended it. The
printing of this Bible was begun III 1660 and Tin
fsl4ed III 1904 The edition was 1000 copies. Of
which not more than fifteen are known to be
preserved in the United States. Twenty copies
were sent to England, IN which there was ded-
fcatfon to Charles II. a SECOND edition of this
Bible was called for, and the whole Work was
printer Of the first edition, i'll 1855. The work
slowly, as there was bnt one man, the
Indian printer, who was able to compose the
sheets aatl correct the proofs. The Indian title
read as follows:
Mamusse wunnetupanatamwe up Biblum God
Testament etc.
Tue first English Bible in America was Eript-
ed in Philadelphia by r. Aiken in 17S2. The
first German Bible i'll America was printed in
Germantown, Pa, By G. Saur, in lib. All the
hooks OF the Bible in French were first printed
in this country In 1916, In Spanish in 1924, in
Portuguese In 1850. The 1irst American edition
Of the Hebrew Bible without points was printed
in Philadelphia in 1914. In 1879 there will bc
completed the entire translation Of the Bible
into the Japanese language BY the Protestant
The Bible, especially the Old Testament,
lbounds with obsolete phrascology and with
,inglc words long since abandoned. The errors
If some editions OF the Bible are most innu- /
nerable- LII one Of the editions Of 1911 is the
".Then cometh Judas, with them
into place called Gethsenane.'' 4, folio Of |
III has received its name Of 'sThe Vinegar !
3iblc,'' from misprlnt it, the beading Of the !
parable of the vineyard; and all edition in |
63S makes tic heathen rex. the Israel |
tes, not with thcir 'swites," but with thcr |
wices,'' md ono in 1640 "rulcrs'' in The |
wilderness was substituted for ''n,ulcs.''
In St. Johns Lodge, No. l, 4. F. aud 4. NJ, Of !
Newark, n. J., there is all old black-letter Bible
,rinted in 1:j43. This Bible Is OF Matthews /
i folio ii, the gothic letter, and was
ras made Mason.
The Book of Job is superior to all Of the ga
red writings. As composition 1t is sublimc,
cautiful. and scientific, full OF sentiment aud |
bounding In grand lnctaphoricaI description.
he writer mag be said not to describe but to
cnder visible whatever he treats Of. In the
ast act, where Jehovah interposes and ad-
resses Job out Of whirlwind to decide the con-
roversy between him and Elinu, Is an idea Us
rand as poctical imagination can conceive. The
ook OF Job bears undoubtcl marks Of antiaui-
!, as the following astronomical nllusion will
how. It says, where God Is made to say to
oh in the style Of rcprinland, "Canst thou
ind the sweet influences OF Plelades:" In the !
ook OF Isaiah there is sweetness in the poet
al composition Of the sentences. As many
cople believe in dreams, we shall conclude this
fticle With the first two verses Of the thirty
'urth chapter OF Ecclcsiasticus:
The hopes OF man void of understanding are vain
I'd false and dreams lift mp fools.
Whoeo regnTdeth the dreams is like him that
|tchcth at q shadow and folsowcth after the wind.