The Northern Pacific farmer., 1880-03-25
AN OLD BIBLE.
The Oldest Copy Of the Scriptures
Probably in Existence.
Rochester Express.

AAe OAueSC COpy Ol Cne scriptures
Probably in Existence.
Rochester Express.
It was in 1850 that met in Mobile.
Ala, the owner of this book-Dr. J. r.
Witherspoon, grandson of President
Witherspoon, one of the signers of the
Declaration .of Independence. The
Doctor was an educated gentleman, and
urged me if I ever came in the region
OF Greensboro, Ala., to be sure and call
on him and he would show me this
wonderful Bible. I was not slow to &C.
cept his invitation, and rode on horse
back some dozen miles out of my way
to see the greatest wonder of the age
Of this kind of book.
founo the venerable Doctor living
elegantly on broad acres and with the
slaves about him, for he did not seem
to think that there was anything in his
Bible against slavery, though his grand
father signed the declaration that "all
men are created equal" The book was
brought out from careful keeping,
and sure enough, though had seen for
years the great Van Ess library, with
Bibles having a chain attached that
once held them to the pulpit, and the
Bible of Philip Melanchthou, with his
autograph, I had never seen any such
Bible as this.
I took it in hand with awe, for it was
written in the days of King Alfred, and
by a monk of Cornwall, England, who
worked at it forty years,-almost life
time,-and was evidently on the very
finest of parchment, little inferior to
satin. How such finish could be
put on skin of any beast in the days
so long ago, when the binding of the
book was oak boards tied with buckskin
thongs, was q mystery and almost 8
contradiction.
But more wonderful yet was the
writing within. The pages were all ruled
with great accuracy, and written as uni.
formly in the lines as print, which
was not then invented. The style was
German text-hand, and was an abbrevi-
alton from the vulgate OF Jerome, made
in the fourth century.
The first chapter of every book was
written with large capital, of mimi.
table beauty and splendidly illuminated
with red, blue, and black ink, still in
vivid letters, with no two of the capi-
tails precisely alike. Here was indeed
a Dore before him of our age. Each
chapter is divided into verses by dot
of red ink, though I do not remember
whether ''the venerable Bede" made his
division of Scriptures into chapters
and verses. This dot of the Bible I
speak of may have been the work of q
subsequent age.
AS to the size of the book, it was
about that of an old Ainsworth Latin
dictionary-the kind that was mistaken
for Bible once by a family in Ala
bama, and brought out at the request
of q celporteur who wished to see their
Bible! This manuscript Bible of With
erspoon's contained all the books of
the Old Testament except the Psalms
and the Apocrypha. Two chapters, the
last of Leviticus and the first of Num-
bers, containing the most splendid
capital letters in the book, had been
recently wantonly abstracted or cut out
in the house of DR.. Witherspoon, by
some biblomaniac who did not dare
steal the whole book. It contains, also,
the whole of the New Testament ex-
cept the chapters where the disputed
record in Heaven"
In regard to the history of this Bible,
the doctor told me that it was found by
a friend of his father among a lot of
old books bought at auction for song
some twenty shillings-and taken to q
clergyman, the Rev. DIR. McCalla, of
South Carolina, as book that the pur-
chaser could not make head nor tail of,
and which might be of value to some
learned man. The clergyman readily
gave him some half a dozen books for
it from his library, such as could be
easily understood by the people," and
the man was happy in the exchange.
DR.. McCalla certainly was, for he had
driven cheap bargain, and had book
that was worth, when first written.
$4,000, and would be worth that now to
any old bookworm-who desireth not
new books any more than new wine,
''for he saith the old is better"
This heirloom barely escaped getting
out of the family line, for it was once
loaned by DR.. Witherspoon, but he had
the forethought to put the borrower un-
der written bonds to return it, and the
nan dying, the book was lent by his
widow to some third person, and finally
found its way, as a rare treasure, into
some college,-Harvard, I think
it was recovered under threat
If a suit on the bond.
I left the sight of this most wonder
'ul Bible of any in existence, perhaps,
with many q longing, lingering look,
out not till had written its history very
July at the request and dicta,ion of
he venerable owner.
How suggestive Parisian signs are!
Che Devil seems to be chief patron