The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-03-03
The eldest Copy of the Scriptures. Prob
ably, In Existance.

lhONncehtA
It was in 1850 that met in Mobile, Ala,
the Sner of this Bible-Dr. j. r. Whittier
spoon, grandson of President Whitherspoon,
one of the signers of the declaration Of inde-
pendence. The doctor was an educated gen.
tleman, and urged me, if l ever came in the
region of Greensboro, Ala, to be sure and
call on him, and he would show me his
wonderful Bible. was not slow to accept
his invitation, and rode on horseback some
dozen miles out of my way to see the great
est wonder of the age, of this kind of book.
| found the venerable doctor living ele-
gantlv on broad acres, and with the slaves
alb 1ut him, for he did not seem to think
there was anything in his Bible against
slavery, though his grandfather signed the
declaration that sail men are created equal"
The book was soon brough out from a care
full keeping. and sure enough, though had
seen for years the great Van Ess library,
with Bibles having chan attached that
once held them to pulpit, and the Bible of
Philip Meancthon, with his autograph, l
had never seen any such Bible as this.
| took it in my hand with awe, for it was
written in the days of King Alfred, and by a
monk of Cornwall, England he worked at it
40 years-almost lifetime-and was
evidently on the very finest of parchment
little inferior to satin. How such finish
could be put upon when the binding of the
book was in oak boards, tied with buckskin
thongs, was R mystery and almost contra
diction.
But more wonderful yet was the writing
within. The pages were all ruled with great
accuracy and written as uniformly in the
lines of print, which was not then invented,
for some 500 years lay between that old
monk and Faust and Gutenberg. The style
was German text hand, and WAS an abbrevia-
ton from the Vulgate of Jerome, made in
the fourth century.
The first chapter of every book was written
with large capital, Of lmmitable beauty
and splendidly Illuminated with red, blue
and black ink, still in vivid letters, with no
two of the capital letters precisely alike.
Here was indeed Dore before him of our
age. Each chapter is divided into verses by
dot of red ink, though l do.not remember
when "the venerable Bede" made his division
of Scriptures into chapters and verses. This
dot of the Bible l speak of may have been
the work of 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 family in Alabama, and brought out at
see their Biblel This manuscript Bible of
WhitherspOon contained all the books of
the Old Testament except the Psalms and
the Apocrypha. Two chapters, the last of
Leviticus and the first of Numbers, contain
ing the most splendid capital letters in the
book, had been recently wantonly abstract d
or cut out in the house of DIR. Whitherspoon,
by some bibliomaniac, who did not dare to
steal the whole book. 1t contains also, the
whole Of the New Testament, except the
chapter where the disputed text occurs, about
"the three who bear record in Heaven"
In regard to the history of this Bible, the
doctor told me that it was found by friend
of his father among lot ofold books bought
at auction for a song-some 20s-and taken
to a clergyman, Rev. DIR. McCalla of South
Carolina, as book that the purchaser could
not make head or tail of, and which might
be of value to some book-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 vas happy in the exchange.
DR.. McCalla certainly was, for he had driven
sharp bargain, and had book that was
worth, when first written, $500; and
would be worth that now to any old book
worm-who deisreth 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
DIR. Whitherspoon, but he had the fore
thought to put the borrower under written
bonds to return it, and, the man dying, the
book was lent by his widow to some third
person, and finally found its way, as treas
ure, into some college-Harvard, 1 think
whence it was recovered, under threat OF
a suit on the bond.
left the sight and handling of this most
wonderful Bible of any in existence, perhaps
with many longing, lingering look, but not
| till had written its history very fully at the