Telegram-herald., 1889-11-22

" -t9t41 FcdA4o - A 80 , Sa& 80 a. -
ssvsnsy q the wise ms2 u Alsx4ndria
engaged thereselyes IA compiling and
coilztiax the Hebrew Scriptures INTO
their present united form snd further
sim plifying tie works BY trsnslAting
them INTO Greek for the benefit Of the
Jews then 10 Egypt The results Of their
l4bors have since bsen known collective
ly as the ssFtlagint. from the fact that
it 10 the work 0f ths seventy tranSlat,us.
About 40 years later. IN the Second
century. A. D.. the books Of the New
Testzment wsrs added and the whole
translated into Latin
The Itzla. or Latin version. soon be
came the standard OF the primitive
Christians. and was used 70 the exslu-
sion of both the Hebrew and Greek Ger
sions for two centuries. until the 81
Jerome revision Of A ID. 405. After ST
Jerome had finished his crOwning work
a great deal OF which be performed In
the village of Bethlehem, almost il sight
OF the birthplace Of Jesus. the DalInatian
and PannOnian monks Ind away their
old versions Of the Bible and would use
40 other except the one which had been
given them by their patron. Jerome, him
self
The Jerome revision was as superior 70
the work OF the seventy a. their work
was 10 the Old semi-barbaric work which
existed prior 70 the translation Of 2S5
Be
ST. JEROME.
The most carefully written copies OF
the Bible obtainable were consulted by
the scholarly saint and compared with
the Arabic. Hebrew and Syriac versions,
in all OF which he made emendations
and corrections which have stood the
test OF all subsequent time. The hercu-
lean task undertaken by st. Jerome viii
be better understood when the reader
has been informed that over 200 versions
OF the Evangelists. each differing from
the other in many Of its essential de
tails, were presented for the considera-
ton Of the sages at the council of Nice,
in 825 A d. For hundreds Of years
copyists had added to and taken from
the Scriptures TO such an extent is 10
make il extremely difficult for even the
most learned 70 decide what should re-
main for the edifcation Of future gener>
atoms or what should be eliminated from
the sacred pages as apocryphal.
The word "bible," meaning book, or
as applied by the early writers, "the
book" was first used by Chrysostom as
early as the fifth century, where he
-Doal-g ,r H. SocroI ,x--,t;,,r-- ooilo-s.-.
ly az the Biblia, or 1.-The Books" The
infinite variations which occurred in the
manuscripts written by the early Chris
tian fathers have caused great deal Of
contention among churchmen, some ad
mitting certain books as canonical which
are rejected by others as apocryphal
This you can find illustrated by compar-
ing Douay and King James Bible Of
today; the former admits several books
which the King James trauslators would
not, as they considered them uncanoni-
cal.
The several books as arranged and ac-
cepted at present are the results OF years
of labor and of countless councils and
revision assemblages. For 1900 years
after the Saviour Of Men ended his brief
career on the rugged heights Of Calvary,
the touching details of which are known
to over 700, 900, 900 Of people and in every
land on the globe, each book Of tho Bible
was one continued story, undivided into
chapters, paragraphs or verses.
DIVISIONS OF TIE BIBLE.
Prior to the time of the Spanish rabbi,
the Jew had employed system Of divid-
ing the chapters into verses in the Old
Testament, a system which had never
been adopted by the Christians, and
which was discarded for that Of the
learned Spaniard by the JevN themselves.
The New Testament was not divided
into verses until after the invention of
the art OF printing, by the Robert Steph-
ems Greek edition in lJ51.
OF the early translatiOus Of the Bible
the most important, aside from the Sept
uagint and the st. jerome versions. are
the threefold Egyptian translation of tho
fourth century. This remarkable work
OF the copyIst was in three languages,
and was Intended for all parts of Egypt;
the VERSO FiSurata, collated by Jacob,
Of EdeSsa. in the eighth century; that IF
Paul, bishop Of Teia, In 6l7, and the
eighth. ninth end tenth century transla-
tons, made respectively by Bede, Alfred
and Hlfric.
During The dark ages, and on down 70
the time Luther gavo his masterpiece 10
the wcrld, several translations were
made, including that Of No.kcr-Labeo.
ESQ A. D.; that prepared un1er the super-
vision Of Pct-us Waldus, ITO; the i'm
portant work Of Louis tho Pious. 1927;
that Of Charles the Wise, 1880. the
GuTars version Of 1880: the thirteenth
century vcrsion IN Spanish during the
reign 4 AlDhonso =, and the two excel
lent works Of WicklifTe and Huss. ths
latter for the Bohem.ans and the former
for the English speaking people With
the invention Of printing every person
VINO bad ever laid claim % literary
abilities seemed 20 think that he had
been specially commissioned from on
high - retranslate the Word ~ God. as
one would naturally infer frcm the fact
that not less than seventeen German
TRANSACTIONS alone we're given the public
between the time = Gutenberg and
Faust and that of Martin Lu-hcr.
Tie early Vriated editions of the Bible
remind one Of what the phi'osoVbe- said
about the human frarc-thev wers
"curiously snd wonderfully male" The
Wickhffe (sonCtines spei led NTcifel
version u 1884 was the frat English
translation. John Wicklif7a. the trans
lat0r. was condemned 70 be burned for
the cor sent of the cier~v. buf v-as finally
allowed % 10 a natural death Tia
Bible vas never rri-tsd. however thers
q 4