Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-26
PRECAUTIONARY OF THE BIBLE
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Written for star and the Chicago Record Herald

| E. CURTIS.
he Chicago Record Herald.
on one hundred and foEty-five leaves OF
parchment. over which had been written
the works OF st. Ephrem the Syrian. as
was customary in those days when parch-
ment was scarce and expensive.
The BeZa CodeX contains the greater
part OF the New Testament. partially IN
Greek and partially in Latin. in the
library Of the University of Cambridge.
There are altogether forty manuscript
copies of the New Testament more or
less complete. and more than twelve hum
dred manuscripts Of different gospels or
epistles, all of them having been written
before the eighth century.
x 4
The first complete translation OF the
New Testament was made In Latin by
Erasmus in 1916, and
Original was reprinted in vari-
m-,4: Gus places during the
AIdns1atioA. next century, in the
modern languages. Martin Luther spent
ten labcrious years. from 1922 to 1852.
translating the Bible into German, using
the text of Erasmus as the foundation
for the New Testament and the Latin
version Of st. Jerome from the Hebrew
of the Old Testament.
The present version Of the Old Tesla
ment IN Greek Is based upon 6ompila-
ton made by Jews of Alexandria, COM
menced about go B. c. and completed
fifty years later. This was called the
Septuagint because it was the work Of
seventy-two men and Is the parent OF the
various TRANSACTIONS in Latin, Coptic, Ara
bic, Syriac. Arm MAN and Persian.
After the invention of printing, when
ever a new press was set up. the Bible
was usually the first book to be publish
Cd. and after that geography. During
the sixteenth century more than a
hundred editions appeared in different
cities of Europe, chiefly in the Latin
languages, which were paid for by kings,
archbishops and other rich men. The
Society for the Propagation Of the Cos
pei IN New England bore the expense of
printing John Ell1ott's translation in the
Indian language in 1863. The Society for
Promoting Christian knowledge publish
ed a cheap edition for general circulation
as early as the year 100, and in ILL.,
the Franche Institute of Halle, Germany,
which was described not long ago in a
letter from that place. began to print and
circulate cheap editions of Luther's trans
latfon In German. 1t continues to do SO
until this day, and has issued altogether
nearly 100000 copies of the complete
Scriptures and 100000 copies Of the
New Testament.
< <
The Naval and Military Bible Society
was formed in London In 1880 to supply
the British army and
Bible navy. The French Bible
co.;.4;., Society was organized in
~SSA~'A~"' 1892 to distribute the
Scriptures in France. and the British and
Foreign Bible Society was organized in
nd
with a subscribed capital Of Sc, 800. Sim
liar institutions have since been organ
lied in almost every country OF Europe
and in the United States.
The British and Foreign Bible Society.
however. has been the most COM
prehensive i'll its work. and, since its
foundation in 1904 has issued more than
222.OOO. 900 copies of the Scriptures in III
different languages. OF which 72,OOO.pO
nave been in English. Last year (l91O)
It issued 6,620,CD copies; the Scotch and
American Bible Society. c.SoG.OOO: the
German societies about 10000; the Dutch
and Scandinavian societies about 100000
and private publishers about 1000 OpO
copies, making the total number of Bibles
issued for single year approximately
1900 Geo.
Although 1t is frequently asserted that
the world is losing interest in religion,
more Bibles were purchased last year
than in any previous year by nearly
passed the six-million mark for tho first
time In its history. and its total issue
was $4,000 copies in excess Of that or
any previous year.
I will give the record of the American
society I'm another letter.
The Bible continues to he 1.-The best
seller In every department store and
every book store, as 1t always has been.
The number Of languages in which 1t is
printed was Increased by six during the
made by the scholars and linguists who
are always busy improving the transla-
lions In strange tongues and dialects OF
the savage races as their knowledge
The Bible is now printed In 424 lam
guages. Is in Europe. 152 in Asia. 1903 In
Africa, Sc in America and
Dialect " in Australasia. New
rd;+;or. translations put out In 1910
were the gospel Of st. Mat
thew in the dialect Of a powerful tribe
inhabiting the basin Of the Gabun river
in French kongo. 1t Is called the Om-
gom. The second new translation was
the gospels Of st. Matthew and St. John
In tho Namau dialect, which is spoken
by the cannibals in British New Guinea;
the gospels OF ST. Mark and st. John
were published III 1Ianailou for the tribes
of New Caledonia: the gospel Of st.
Luke In Raga, the language Of the new
Hebrides. and a complete New Tesla
ment was published in Tigrinya, a
Semitic language spoken by 5000, coo peo-
pie in the Tigri province OF Abyssinia.
The most important revisions during
the year were the TRANSACTIONS into ko-
rean, Chinese and in the Marathi and
kanareso dialects Of lndia.
During the year 1910, tho British and
Foreign Bible Society issued 5000 VOL
umes In embossed type for the use Of the
blind. A complete Bible In this type re-
quired thtrty-nine volumes of 1886 pages
In all, which occupy shelf seven feet
long. The whole, or portions OF the BIZ
bic for the blind. are published in Eng.
lish Welsh, Spanish, German, Italian and
two Chinese dialects
Several biblical forgeries have been
made with great care and skill for the
purpose of defrauding libraries. museums
and other collectors. The most notable
OF these fOrgeries was offered to the
British Museum about twenty years ago
for the sum Of 100000 by a Jewish