Daily Republican., 1888-02-09
The revsn Bibles of tho world.
by AMBROSE q oTTEy

BY Ambrose g. oTTEY.
The seven Bibles of the world are
the Koran of the Mohammedans, the
Edolas of the Scandinavians, the Try
Pitikes of the Buddhists the Five
Kings OF the Chinese, the three Vedas
OF the Hindooe, the Zendavesta, and
the Scriptures of the Christians. The
Koran is the most recent of these
seven Bibles, and not older than the
seventh century OF our era. 1t is a
compound of quotations from the Old
and New Testaments, the Talmud and
the Gospel of st, Barnabas. The Edo
las Of the Scandinavians were first
published in the fourteenth century
before Christ. There is nothing of ex
cellence in these sacred books moi
found in the Bible. The sacred writ.
ings OF the Chinese are called the Five
Kings, king meaning web of cloth, OF
the warp that keeps the threads In
their place. These sayings cannot be
traced 10 a period higher than the
eleventh century before Christ. The
three Vedas are the most ancient
books of the Hindoos. The Zenda
vesta of the Persians is the grandest OIL
all the sacred books next to our Bible,
Torooster, whose sayings it contains,
was born in the twelfth century before
Christ. Moses lived and wrote his
Pentateuch fifteen centuries before
Christ.
God made known himself and his
will, at first, to US by inspired men
good men as they were m oved by the
spirit. In course of time he caused
these revelations to be gathered into
an inspired hook. IAN scripture il
given by inspiration of God" For
twenty five centuries until the days oil
Moses, the meekest of men. written
scriptures commence with Moses, las
all Bible students knows In his day
God saw fit to take their lasting places
in the moral armament. 1t claims
God as It's author, yet all its pages
were written by human hands; written
at different periods, often with loup
lapses OF time between them. The
first five books were written by Moses,
namely Genesis, Exodus, Levlticus,
Numbers and Deuteronomy. These
books were wiitten more than thirty
three hundred years ago-fiiteen hun.
dred years before Christ; its last book,
called Revelations, is supposed "a
have been finished In the year of our
Lord one hundred So a period OF
sixteen hundred years passed away.
while the work Of revelation was
going on.
The oldest writings In the world arc
found in the Bible. The next oldest
ancient human histories now in ex.
istence are those of Herodotus and
lThucydides, written a thousand years
| after the days of Moses. The Bible
contains sixty.six different books,
thirty nine in the Old and twenty.
seven in the New Testament. These
were wrote by at least forty different
lauthors. These authors were men
who filled almost every position OF
life; such as shepherds, kings, fisher.
men, etc. From the lowest to the
greatest. These men wrote in their
own language and by their own illus
trations. as the spirit revealed the ideas
into their minds by God. Some of the
books are historical, genealogical, dra
matical, prophecies and poetical, com.
ing through all ages. The Bible, with
all lis mark of human hands and
human weakness, is not less a revela
tion OF the word and will OF God to
men.
The Old Testament was nearly all
Of 1t wrote in Hebrew. The portion
composed during and after the captiv-
ity of the Jews in Babylon, were
written in dialect very similar, and
called after the nations from whom
they learned it, the Chaldees. Thlr-
teen OF the Epistles bear the name OF
Panl as their author Nine of them
were addressed to public bodies, and
were openly read About two hund-
red and eighty years before Christ, a
Greek version of the Hebrew Bible
was made. This was called the Sep
tuagint, that is, tseventy from the ira
dition.) Seventy persons were en-.
gagged in writing it. II is supposed
that this is the version Oftbe Old Test
sment which WAS used by the Saw lur
and his Apostles, from which you will
find many quotations made use OF by
them throughout the New Testament.
During the early centuries, a few of
the books of the New Testament, such
as the Epistles OF James, Second Peter,
and Second and Third John, and tho
Revelation, were for time held in
doubt, but after careful examination
were received into the Canon.
The first manuscript version of tho
Bible In the E1sl,sh language was
made by John Wiclif a. d 1880. The
first printed copy OF any portion Of IL @
Scriptures In the English tongue WAs
published by William Is udall in tue
beginning OF the sixteenth ceutury.
he issued first the New Testament,
afterwards the Oil, He was for doinx
this burnt at the stake. His last words
we're utttred with terveBt zeal, and In
q loud voice, were these: "Lord, onen
the King of England 'Jsyes T. 10 1887
rhomAs MATTHEW published a Bible ,spd
IL Was called Matthew'S Bible. Tae
study CT the Bible WAS lifelong pas
sion with him The present version OF
the English Bible waN commenced In
1907 and o1mplstsd in 1911, although
many changes aad Improvements have
been made siuoa. L. VIVA undertaken
10 the reign OF James 7. By his oom.
mand forty seven Learned mon eutersd
upon the execution Of the work. $50
you see TyndA.e's PRAYER was apswer.
cd They were divided into six com.
panies, two OF which sat OF Westmlns.
tsr, two at Oxford, and two at Cam
bridge. The price OF Blb,e In the
time Of Edwarl l was thirty -ssY On
pounds.
The hire Of q laborer then wsB three
half pence q day, 80 1t would have
tAken . persons earnings o. 4 800 day 8,