River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1908-04-30

Their history can be traced, beginning
with the Book of the Law, from
the time Of Moses to the present day.
In Exodus 17:14 we read: And the
Lord said unto Moses, Write this for
a memorial in a book AS to the
writing material Moses used we do
not know but we do know that in
Egypt papyrus plant, linen and cotton
CLOTH the skins of animals and stones
were used in making books OF various
kinds. The Ten Commandments were
written on tablets of stone, and with
Egyptian mummies we have preserved
even to this day cotton and linen
cloth such as was frequently used for
writing.
In Deuteronomy 31:9 we have the
historic record that Moses obeyed the
command of God: And Moses wrote
this law and delivered it unto the
priests And in verse "a Moses
commanded the Levites which bare
the ark of the covenant of the Lord,
saying, Take this book of the law and
put it in the side of the ark of the
covenant of the Lord your God" The
book was finished and placed in the
side of the ark for safe keeping.
Three differences.
From these and other Scriptures
three differences may be fairly drawn:
Cd The Bible is literature written
by the command of God. He certain
ly commanded Moses to write the
Book of the Law" To John
on the Isle of Patmos great
voice as of a trumpet said: What
thou seest write in a book and send
it unto the seven churches" And
before the vision vanished he is
commanded to Write the things
which thou hast seen, and the things
which are, and the things which shall
be hereafter" He is to write history
current events and predictions, and
much Of the Scriptures may be classi-
fed under these three heads.
ca The Bible is literature written
by the command of God and under the
guidance of God. In 2 Peter 1:21
we read: mo prophecy ever came
by the will of man, but man
Holy Spirit" Prophecy here means
more than prediction, indeed, every
thing spoken or written with the au-
thority of God. THE word of the
Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel"
Jeremiah, to whom the word of the
Lord came" The prophecy of Amos
begins: THE words of Amos, who
IF -
and in the third verse he says: ''Thus
saith the Lord" which indicates that
in the words Of Amos God was speak
ing. And thus through the book.
co The Bible is literature written
by the command of God, under the
guidance of God, and preserved by
the. providential care of God. Moses
commanded that the Book of the
Law" should be placed in the side Of
the ark No safer place could have
been found and the more | study the
history of the Bible the more pro-
foundry am I convinced that God has
kept his book in the side of some ark
through all the ages.
The Bible Preserved.
Let us now look at some arks in
which the Bible has been preserved.
Cd The ancient manuscripts. The
oldest of these is known as the Vati-
can manuscript, which has been in
the Vatican at Rome certainly 500 or
600 years, and dates back to the
third or fourth century. 1t lacks the
first four chapters of Genesis, 80 of
the Psalms, and all of the book of
Hebrew after Chapter 9:14. It has
been jealousy guarded. Until the
time of Pope Plus TX, who was broad
enough to have copies OF it made,
Protestant scholars were not allowed
to examine it.
Next in age to this is the Sinaitic
manuscript discovered by DR.. Tis-
chendroff in the year 1859. By the
help of the car of Russia he Sc.
cured it from the convent and it is
now in the National library at st.
Petersburg.
In the British museum is a copy of
the Alexandrian manuscript, not quite
SO old as the Vatican or Sinaitic, but
dating back certainly to the beginning
Of the fifth century. I have seen it
and was quite surprised by the fresh
ness of its appearance and the clear
ness of its letters. There are other
manuscripts in the British museum
not 500 years old that look much old
er than this manuscript, which has
been in existence for at least 1,500
years. When the King James ver-
sion was translated in 1911 the Vati-
can manuscript was inaccessible, the
Sinaitic manuscript had not been dis
covered, and the Alexandrian manu-
script, which was presented by Cyril
Lucar of Constantinople to Charles l.,
did not reach London until 1928, II
years after the appearance of the
King James version; and yet, the
King James translation is so perfect
that the light thrown upon it by these
ancient manuscripts does not change
a single doctrine or materially affect
q single important fact.
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