GIFT OF 
 
FAC-8IMILE OF TITLE PAGE TYNDALE'S NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
OUR 
 
 Sixty-Six Sacred Books 
 
 HOW THEY CAME TO US, AND WHAT THEY ARE. 
 
 A POPULAR HAND-BOOK FOR COU,EGES, SUNDAY-SCHOOL, 
 
 NORMAL CLASSES AND STUDENTS, ON THE ORIGIN, AU- 
 
 THORSHIP, PRESERVATION, CHARACTER AND DIVINE 
 
 AUTHORITY OF THE CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. 
 
 FOUR? H EDITION. WITH ANALYSIS AND QUESTIONS. 
 SIXTH 
 
 BY EDWIN W. RICE, D. D., 
 
 Author of People's Commentaries on Matthew, Mark, Luke % 
 and John, etc. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 THE AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 
 
 1122 CHESTNUT STREET. 
 
 NEW YORK : 8 & 10 BIBLE HOUSE. 
 
 1893. 
 

 
 NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 
 
 IT is a gratifying evidence "of the increasing interest in 
 studies about the Bible that a third edition of this work has 
 been called for within a year of its first issue. 
 
 Portions of Chapters III. to VI. have been re-written 
 for this edition, after a fresh examination of recent writers 
 of learning and authority, and a thorough revision has 
 again been made of the entire book. 
 
 The author recognizes with thanks the criticisms of re- 
 viewers, and makes special acknowledgments to Prof. M. 
 B. Riddle, D. D., Prof. B. B. Warfield, D. D., LL. D., 
 Rev. T. W. Chambers, D. D., LL. D., Rev. W. H. Cobb, 
 D. D., and Rev. Samuel M. Jackson for many valuable sug- 
 gestions that have aided him in perfecting the book. It is 
 again sent forth in this improved form, in the hope that it 
 will continue to promote a more accurate knowledge of 
 the character and divine authority of our Christian Scrip- 
 tures. EDWIN W. RICE. 
 
 August, 1892. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO FIRST EDITION. 
 
 THE members of a Bible Study Circle, composed of advanced stu- 
 dents and teachers, requested the author to give a series of lessons or 
 studies upon the origin, authorship, preservation, character and divine 
 authority of the books of the Bible. These lectures were afterward 
 written out and issued in The Sunday-School World. The kindly re- 
 ception given to the studies, and the call for them by a wider circle of 
 BiBle students, has led the author to revise, enlarge and adapt them 
 to more general use. His hope is that they may lead to a more 
 intelligent knowledge of our sacred books, and a mure reverent 
 faith in the Christian Scriptures. EDWIN W. RICE. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, October, 1891. 
 
 [Copyright, 1891, by THE AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION.] 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ANGLO-AMERICAN AND KING JAMES VERSIONS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION, i. The three foremost nations of the 
 world in: (i) literature and learning; (2) science and dis- 
 covery ; (3) commerce and wealth, are Christian. They 
 are Great Britain, Germany and the United States of 
 America. 
 
 2. Ask these three great nations for their greatest book 
 in respect of:(i) its circulation and popularity; (2) its 
 influence on their national life ; (3) its deep hold on the 
 heart of the people, and they will unhesitatingly and 
 unitedly answer, The Bible. 1 
 
 3. The educated Mongolian or Malayan is eager to know 
 about this great book. The inquiring Asiatic mind bristles 
 with questions. What kind of a book is that Bible? 
 What is it about? How did you get it? Who wrote it? 
 How long ago was it written ? For whom was it made ? 
 Has everyone in Christian lands a copy? Is it found in 
 other languages ? In how many ? How was it written ? 
 How preserved ? Who translated it into your Christian 
 tongues ? Why is it not found in all languages ? Even 
 among Christians, thoughtful and wise, these and a hundred 
 
 1 Bible comes from the Greek Biblia, plural of Biblion, " little book," 
 a diminutive of Biblos, " book." The Latin plural also, Biblia, is used 
 by Chaucer in Canterbury Tales, and by Wyckliffe in the Preface to 
 his translation, and as a title by Coverdale. 
 
 (7) 
 
 : L' 
 
8 THE ANGLO-AMERICAN AND 
 
 other questions start up demanding intelligent answers. 
 In fact, every Christian ought to have some knowledge of 
 the history, the origin, contents, and purpose of the great- 
 est book in Christendom. These questions are worthy of 
 scholarly and clear answers. Let us address ourselves to 
 them. We will trace the history of the book up the stream 
 of time. Beginning with what is most familiar and best 
 known we will proceed step by step to what is less known. 
 
 4. THE ANGLO-AMERICAN VERSION. The latest English 
 translation of the Bible is the Anglo-American or Re- 
 vised Version, printed at Oxford and Cambridge, Eng- 
 land, 1881-1885. It is known as the Anglo-American or 
 Rrvised Version to distinguish it from the Common Version 
 frequently called also the Authorized Version, and the King 
 James Version.* 
 
 5. A revision of the Common Version was suggested by 
 Prof. W. Selwyn in 1856, but not then approved by scholars. 
 It was again urged by Bishops Wilberforce, Ellicott, Olli- 
 vant, and others of England, in 1870, and a committee 
 of 1 6 (8 from each house) was appointed by the Convoca- 
 tion of Canterbury, with authority to invite other eminent 
 Biblical scholars to join them in the revision. 8 A com- 
 mittee of American scholars of all the leading Protestant 
 bodies of America (as in Great Britain) was formed in 
 1871, to co-operate with the British committees in revis- 
 
 1 It is called the Common Version because it is the English transla- 
 tion now most widely used by English-speaking people; the Author- 
 ized Version because it was supposed (but erroneously) to have been 
 formally approved or authorized by royal authority, and King James 
 Vitsion because it was made during the reign of James I., King of 
 md. 
 
 he Convocation of York declined to join in the revision, but many 
 of the greatest scholars of England, Scotland and America were en- 
 gaged in the work. 
 
KING JAMES VERSIONS. 9 
 
 ing the Common Version of the Bible of 161 1. The whole 
 number of scholars engaged upon the Revised Version was 
 101, of whom 67 were British, and 34 American. 1 
 
 6. The revision of the New Testament was completed in 
 1 88 1 and issued May 17 in England and May 20 in America. 
 The Old Testament was finished and the entire revised Bible 
 issued in May, 1885. The issue of the revised New Testa- 
 ment in 1 88 1 awakened a profound interest among all Eng- 
 lish-speaking peoples. "It is the literary event of this 
 century," says Schaff. Millions of copies were sold in a 
 few months. 2 More than twenty reprints at once appeared 
 in the United States. For once popular interest in the 
 newspapers was supplanted by that in the revised Scrip- 
 tures. 3 The revised New Testament was sought by crowds 
 at the bookstores and news stands ; it was hawked on the 
 streets, and read on the cars, in the omnibus and in the 
 stage coach. The entire text of the revised Testament was 
 telegraphed to two daily newspapers in Chicago and printed 
 complete in morning editions ! When the revised Old 
 Testament was completed four years later the entire revised 
 Bible was issued, but its advent awakened comparatively 
 little interest. Public curiosity and excitement exhausted 
 itself apparently upon the New Testament. 
 
 7. Why Revise the King James Version ? (i) To remove 
 obsolete words and phrases, as "let" in the sense of 
 "hinder;" "ear" meaning "to plow;" "prevent" in 
 
 1 The active members (in 1879) were 79, namely, British 52, Amer- 
 ican 27. See Bible Revision, Philadelphia, pp. IO-I2. 
 
 2 Oxford had orders for a million of copies before publication ; 
 Cambridge probably for as many more. Two million copies were sold 
 in London. Nearly half a million were sold in New York and Phila- 
 delphia, besides many American reprints published soon after its com- 
 pletion. 
 
 3 See Schaff, Companion to Greek Testament, p. 403 ff. 
 
10 THE ANGLO-AMERICAN AND 
 
 the sense of "going before;" "carriages" meaning 
 " baggage " or " luggage." (2) To give the meaning of 
 the original with greater precision, to keep step with the 
 progress of knowledge in the Greek and Hebrew of the 
 original Scriptures. (3) To conform to a purer text now- 
 attained. More than 500 valuable MSS, a score of An- 
 cient Versions, and writings of 100 Christian Fathers have 
 been examined and collated, in order to perfect the origi- 
 nal text of Scripture. 
 
 8 . Will the Revision be Generally Accepted ? Ti me alone 
 can definitely answer. It is widely used with the Common 
 Version in Sunday-school lesson helps; some prominent re- 
 ligious journals use it instead of the Common Version, 
 and eminent Biblical scholars constantly refer to it in criti- 
 cal works. It has not, however, come into very general 
 use among the people, nor among the churches. 1 
 
 9. Objections to the Revised Version. Three serious obsta- 
 cles exist in. the popular mind to its general introduction : 
 (i) The omissions and changes in passages long familiar 
 and of forms of expression deeply endeared to the Chris- 
 tian heart.' (2) Printing- the text in paragraphs, disre- 
 garding the breaks of chapter and verse. Although the 
 new arrangement is a gain in getting the sense of a passage, 
 it hinders quick reference to a desired clause or verse. 
 
 1 The Baptist Convention at Saratoga, N. Y., 1883, agreed to adopt 
 and circulate the Anglo-American revision with the American changes 
 put into the text, along with the Bible Union Version. Some churches 
 among the Baptists and Congregationalists use the Revised Version, 
 and it is occasionally read from the pulpit in a few churches of other 
 denominations. 
 
 * One of the most serious omissions, to the common reader, is the 
 doxology to the Lord's Prayer, Matt. 6 : 13. Among other changes 
 are: " Every Scripture given by inspiration is profitable," etc., 2 Tim. 
 3: 16; " Ye search the Scriptures," John 5 : 39, and numerous texts 
 in the I'salmsand Prophets. 
 
KING JAMES VERSIONS. 11 
 
 Marking the chapters and verses in the margin does not 
 overcome this objection ; for the eye misses the familiar 
 breaks in the text and does not readily catch the verse or 
 clause desired. (3) The omission of chapter headings and 
 running head-lines at the top of each page. To satisfy 
 the ordinary reader, these must be inserted. He will not 
 accept the excuse that their insertion might lead the trans- 
 lator into "the province of the commentator." The 
 words added in the text (in italics) in the Revised and in 
 previous Versions are often equivalent to a comment. 
 The Revised Version is technically only a report. If chapter 
 headings are added, and other changes made when the re- 
 port is adopted by the Canterbury Convocation, it may 
 finally displace the Common Version. 
 
 10. It must be remembered, however, that the present 
 "Authorized Version" was also criticised and was from 
 thirty to fifty years in coming into popular and universal 
 use ; but it finally displaced the popular Genevan Version 
 and the Bishops' Bible, which had been favored by royal 
 and by ecclesiastical authority. 
 
 11. American scholarship was tardily, though on the 
 whole fairly, recognized in the work. Over 900 American 
 suggestions in the New Testament were adopted by the 
 British revisers. 1 
 
 1 Among the more important American renderings which the Eng- 
 lish revisers were unwilling to adopt were : (i) " demon " or " demons" 
 for " devil" or " devils" in such phrases as "to cast out devils." The 
 Bible speaks of many evil spirits, but of only one devil; (2) " who" 
 or "that" in place of "which" when applied to persons, and to substi- 
 tute modern forms of speech for such archaic forms as " wot," "wist," 
 'hale:" (3) "sheol" wherever it occurs in the Hebrew text for "grave,'* 
 "the pit," and "hell," and omit these words from the margin; also 
 put " Jehovah " where found in Hebrew, for the " LORD " and " God ; " 
 (4) a more accurate designation of coins; (5) omit the title " Saint" 
 and " Apostle " in the headings to New Testament books. See "Ap- 
 
12 THE ANGLO-AMERICAN AND 
 
 12. Conservative Plan. The principles guiding the re- 
 visers were very conservative. They were to make " as 
 few alterations as possible," as already stated. About 
 36,000 were made in the New Testament, but proportion- 
 ately fewer in the Old Testament. They were to limit the 
 "expression of such alterations to the language of the au- 
 thorized or earlier versions." About 6,000 changes were 
 made in the Greek text of the New Testament ; but com- 
 paratively few changes in the Hebrew and Chaldaic text 
 of the Old Testament. 1 The original text followed (He- 
 brew and Greek) was to "be that for which the evidence is 
 decidedly preponderating." No radical changes could be 
 made under the rules adopted, nor could an essentially new 
 translation be introduced under cover of revision. Even 
 those who criticise the infelicitous English it occasionally 
 uses, admit that the renderings generally represent the 
 original more accurately than previous English versions. 
 If this proves to be true, the Revision can afford to wait ; 
 truth is stronger than prejudice and error, and will finally 
 prevail. Let us now consider the translation upon which 
 the Revised Version was based. 
 
 13. THE KING JAMES OR "AUTHORIZED VERSION." This 
 version of the Bible was proposed by Dr. Reynolds, 3 of 
 
 pendix " to Revised Testament, and Companion to Revised Version 
 by A. Roberts, Am. ed., pp. 177 ff. Also Companion by Schaff. 
 
 1 Of the nearly 6,000 changes made in the Greek New Testament 
 text, and over 36,000 changes in the English New Testament of 
 the Authorized Version, the ^rrnt majority are of trivial or minor im- 
 re, and would not l>c noticed by the common reader. 
 
 Of the 179,914 words in the Revised New Testament 154,526 are 
 retained from the " Authorized Version." See R. Wendell, Revised 
 New Testament. 
 
 1 I)r. Reynolds was a Puritan and President of Corpus Christi Col- 
 lege, Oxford. He was stoutly opposed by Bishop Bancroft, but James 
 1. was vain, and aped Solomon for'wisdom. 
 
KING JAMES VERSIONS. 13 
 
 Oxford, and ordered by James I., in 1604. The king ap- 
 pointed fifty-four translators (probably suggested by the 
 universities) ; but the work was delayed for three years, 
 and the list we have gives only forty-seven scholars cer- 
 tainly known to have entered upon the work. They were 
 divided into six companies. Each company was assigned 
 a portion of the Bible (including the Apocrypha) to trans- 
 late ; two companies meeting at Westminster, two at Ox- 
 ford and two at Cambridge. 1 
 
 14. Principle of the Version of 1611. This translation 
 was to conform to the Hebrew and Greek texts; but the 
 then current Bishops' Version "was to be as little altered 
 as the truth of the original will admit. " The older versions, 
 as Tyndale's, Coverdale's, Whitchurch's and the Genevan, 
 might also be used when they agreed " better with the text 
 than the Bishops' Bible." 
 
 15. Kingjamc? Version a Revision. In fact, therefore, 
 the King James Version 'was a revision, rather than an en- 
 tirely new translation. This is also implied by the title-page 
 in our common Bibles. * When the scholars appointed by 
 King James had completed their revision or translation, six 
 of their number (some say twelve) met to review the work and 
 correct the printer's proofs. It was issued in a black-letter 
 folio volume by R. Barker, with a fulsome dedication to 
 
 1 The first company at Westminster had the books of the Old Testa- 
 ment to 2 Kings ; the second company had the Epistles of the New 
 Testament. The first company at Oxford had the prophetical books 
 from Isaiah to Malachi ; the second had the four Gospels, Acts and 
 Revelation. The first company at Cambridge had the other Old Testa- 
 ment books, and the second had the Old Testament Apochryphal 
 books. 
 
 2 "The Holy Bible, translated out of the original tongues; and 
 with the former translations diligently compared and revised." Some 
 English Bibles add, "By his majesty's special command." "Appointed 
 to be read in churches." 
 
14 THE ANGLO-AMERICAN AND 
 
 the king and a pedantic preface written by Dr. Miles 
 Smith, giving the reasons for the work and the principles 
 guiding those who did it. 
 
 1 6. Why called "Authorized Version" The King 
 James Version is popularly, though not accurately, called 
 the "Authorized Version." On the title-page as now 
 printed in England is a notice, "Appointed to be read in 
 churches." But this was not on the first edition of the 
 New Testament of 1611, nor on some (8) editions of the 
 Bible issued in the first five years after the issue of the 
 King James Version. The most diligent search of officials 
 and scholars has failed to find any evidence that the version, 
 was ever publicly sanctioned in 1611 by convocation, privy 
 council, parliament or by the king. It gained the title 
 possibly because the work was ordered by the king. The 
 version was so much better that it gradually displaced 
 the existing versions (the Bishops' and the Genevan), 
 and won its way to popular acceptance by its superior 
 merits. But the contest was a long one. The King James 
 Version was attacked for lack of fidelity to the Hebrew and 
 Greek text. Romanists likewise accused it of misrepre- 
 senting Scripture to favor Protestantism. Arminians 
 charged it with a Calvinistic bias, Puritans with a leaning 
 to the Church of England, and others with favoring mo- 
 narchical notions. (See i Pet. 2 : 13.) 
 
 17. For more than twenty years after the issue of the 
 King James Version the Genevan Version was widely, if 
 not generally, used in private and public worship. Though 
 no edition of the Bishops' Bible was issued after 1608, the 
 New Testament of the Bishops' Version appeared in at least 
 five editions from 1608 to 1618. Editions of the Genevan 
 Version of the New Testament and of the Bible continued 
 
HOLY 
 
 BIBLE. 
 
 C onioning the Old Tellament 
 
 FACSIMILE OF KING JAMES VERSION, 1611 
 
KING JAMES VERSIONS. 17 
 
 to be issued freely up to 1644. Texts for sermons were 
 chosen from the Genevan or other versions than the so- 
 called Authorized Version, even by bishops and those high 
 in authority, for many years after 1611. Even as late as 
 1653 parliament considered a bill for the appointment of a 
 committee to revise the King James Version. This project 
 failed, as parliament soon after dissolved. The house of 
 Stuarts was restored to the rule of England, and the version 
 of 1611 was left to win its way over all previous versions 
 and to remain the popular English version since that period. 
 18. Changes in the Version of 1611. Comparing a com- 
 mon English Bible of now with a copy of the first issue of 
 1611, marked differences are at once seen. Not only is a 
 difference seen in the forms of the letters and in the spell- 
 ing of many words, but in the readings of numerous pas- 
 sages. 1 After the folio edition of 1611, the King James 
 Version appeared in an octavo form in 1612, and in an 
 edition omitting the apocryphal books in 1629. The errors 
 of the earlier issues were corrected in editions of 1616, but 
 especially of 1629 and 1638." Bishop Lloyd's edition, of 
 London 1701, was the first that gave chronological dates 
 in the margin, based chiefly upon the chronology of Ussher. 
 
 1 For instances of this, see Scrivener's Preface to the Cambridge 
 Paragraph Bible. Even the folio edition of 1613 differs from that of 
 1611 in over four hundred places. 
 
 2 The errors of some editions gave them celebrity, as the " Vinegar 
 Bible" (a splendid and costly one), Oxford, 1717, so called from a 
 misprint of vinegar for vineyard in heading of Luke 20. The 
 "Wicked Bible" (8vo. 1631) was so called from the omission of 
 " not " in the seventh commandment, and Laud fined the king's 
 printers ^"300 for their carelessness in printing it. A copy of the 
 " Wicked Bible " is in the Lenox Library, New York. There is a 
 German Bible, 1731, with a similar blunder. The "Breeches Bible'-' 
 was so called from a reading of the Genevan version, " made them- 
 selves breeches," Gen. 3 : 7. 
 
18 THE ANGLO-AMERICAN AND KING JAMES VERSIONS. 
 
 Additional marginal references were inserted by Dr. Paris 
 in 1762, and by Dr. Blayney in 1769. Some words are 
 put in italics in our Bibles to show that they have no 
 equivalent words in the Hebrew and Greek texts, but were 
 added by translators, to make clear and complete sense. 
 These words were marked by brackets in Coverdale's Tes- 
 tament, 1538, by small Roman type in King James' Version, 
 1611, but later by italics. 1 
 
 19. No Standard Edition of the King James Version. 
 The Committee on Versions (1851-56) of the American 
 Bible Society found twenty-four thousand variations in 
 six different editions of the Authorized Version, and recom- 
 mended improvements, which were adopted, including re- 
 visions of the chapter headings. So great was the popular 
 opposition to these changes, that the society was compelled 
 to discontinue issuing the amended edition and return to 
 the old issues, with all their variations and imperfections. 
 This, however, shows how strong a hold the Bible has upon 
 the popular heart. We have therefore no standard edition 
 of the "Authorized Version " of the English Bible. The 
 King James Version of the English Bible belongs to the 
 golden age of English literature, the age of Shakespeare 
 and Milton and the greatest of English classics. It pos- 
 sesses the strength of the Saxon, the grace of the Norman 
 French, and the dignity of the Latin, harmoniously mingled 
 into vigorous and perspicuous English. 
 
 1 There is one notable exception in the King James Version, i John 
 2 : 23, last clause; this is in italics in our common Bibles because it 
 was not found in some of the old Greek manuscripts used by the trans- 
 lators, but the genuineness of the clause has since been proved be- 
 yond question. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 EARLY ENGLISH VERSIONS. 
 
 1. The Common Version a Growth. Our common Eng- 
 lish Bible, the King James or so-called "Authorized Ver- 
 sion," is the outgrowth of many preceding versions, and 
 the fruit of more than two centuries of labor by many 
 eminent Biblical scholars. 
 
 2. The Douai Version. The great eagerness of the 
 people for the Bible in their own tongue compelled the 
 Romanists to issue a version, as they state, " specially for 
 the discovery of the corruptions of divers late translations 
 and for clearing the controversies in religion of these 
 days." 1 The New Testament was published at Rheims, 
 1582. The Old Testament was translated about .the same 
 time, but was not published until 1609-10 at Douai or 
 Douay, and the Douai Bible complete at Rouen, 1633-35. 
 The work is believed to owe its origin to William Allen, 
 one of the founders of the college at Douai. The transla- 
 tion is from the Latin Vulgate, and was made by Gregory 
 Martin and three or four other English scholars. Modern 
 editions of the Douai Version differ widely from the orig- 
 inal version. Cardinal Wiseman says, " To call the Roman 
 Catholic version now in use the version of Rheims and 
 Douai is an abuse of terms. It has been altered and mod- 
 
 1 From title-page, Rhemish New Testament, 1582. 
 2 (19) 
 
20 EARLY ENGLISH VERSIONS. 
 
 ified till scarcely any verse remains as it was originally 
 published." l The Roman Church has never been friendly 
 to vernacular translations of the Bible, and hence the Douai 
 Version has had a comparatively small circulation. Though 
 it may have contributed some minor improvements to the 
 King James Version, it is not in the line of succession of 
 that version. The next link immediately back of the King 
 James Version is the Bishops' Bible. 
 
 3. THE BISHOPS' BIBLE was prepared by Matthew Parker, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, and ten or fifteen men of learn- 
 ing, most of whom were bishops ; hence its title Bishops' 
 Bible. It was completed, and a copy presented to Queen 
 Elizabeth, in 1568. Parker issued a revised edition in 
 1572. This version is also sometimes called Parker 1 s Bible. 
 
 4. Why Made. The Genevan Version (see p. 21) with 
 brief explanatory notes had become the Bible of the com- 
 mon people, having displaced the Great Bible of Cranmer, 
 used by the clergy and in the church services. As the Great 
 Bible was not as accurate a translation as the Genevan, and 
 could not regain its former popularity, a new version was 
 attempted which would be more acceptable to royalists 
 than the Calvin istic and republican ideas reflected in some 
 of the comments of the version by the Puritan reformers 
 of Geneva. 
 
 5. The Bishops' Bible was completed in about three 
 years. The rules laid down by Parker were conservative 
 and simple : (i) To follow the common English translation 
 used in the churches, except where it varied from the orig- 
 inal ; (2) to use chapter and verse divisions as in Pagninus 
 and Munster; (3) to make no "bitter notes;" (4) to 
 change indelicate words to " more convenient terms." It 
 
 1 Wiseman's Essays, vol. i. pp. 73-75. 
 
EARLY ENGLISH VERSIONS. 21 
 
 contained marginal notes, references and brief comments 
 explanatory of the text. 1 
 
 6. Several editions of the Bishops' Bible were issued j 
 the last in 1608. In 1571 Convocation ordered that every 
 archbishop and bishop should have a copy of this version, 
 " of the largest volume," placed in his hall or dining-room 
 for the use of servants or strangers, and also a copy in 
 every cathedral, and if possible in every church. This was 
 clearly at that time the so-called "Authorized Version." 
 It supplanted the Great Bible, but the Genevan held its 
 place with the people. 
 
 7. THE GENEVAN VERSION was made by English reform- 
 ers who found a refuge in Geneva from the persecution of 
 Queen Mary, and was published in 1560. 
 
 8. Genevan New Testament, 1557. Three years earlier 
 a translation of the New Testament into English was made 
 at Geneva by William Whittingham (aided perhaps by 
 others), who had married Calvin's sister. 
 
 9. The Genevan Bible was a distinct work, begun in 
 1558 and completed in 1560. The translation was the 
 joint work of a company of learned men, among whom 
 were Coverdale, Knox, Whittingham, Goodman and Cole. 
 But the translation of the New Testament in the Genevan 
 Bible was a careful revision of the Genevan New Testament 
 
 of 1557- 
 
 10. Popular Merits of the Genevan Bible. (i) The 
 translation was from the best original texts then known. 
 (2) Its form was a neat quarto instead of the clumsy folio. 
 
 1 Some of the comments are curious: Rom. II : 8 reads, " the spirit 
 of remorse ;" the comment is, " pricking and unquietness of conscience." 
 Isa. 66 : 3 reads, " he that killeth a sheep for me knetcheth a dog ; " the 
 note explains, "that is, cutteth off a dog's neck;" a much-needed 
 note ! 
 
22 EARLY ENGLISH VERSIONS. 
 
 (3) Explanatory notes on hard texts (Swiss in doctrine and 
 politics) were given in the margin. (4) The type was clear 
 Roman in place of the unsightly black letter formerly 
 used. (5) The text was broken into chapters and verses 
 after Stephens' Greek Testament (1551) and Pagninus' 
 Latin (1528), but adding numerals at the beginning of 
 each verse. (6) Chapter headings, references and (in 
 Henry's edition, 1578) a Bible dictionary ,of value. 
 
 11. A careful revision was made by L. Tomson, in 1576, 
 and the Genevan was the first Bible printed in Scotland, 
 1579. It was the first complete English translation of the 
 Bible direct from the Hebrew and Greek. 1 The comments 
 were lucid, vigorous, sometimes dogmatic, but generally 
 practical. It quickly gained a wide popularity. At the 
 accession of the Roman Catholic Mary, the public use of 
 the English Bible was forbidden in churches ; all copies 
 that could be found were burnt (with an army of martyrs), 
 and not a single Bible was printed in England during her 
 five years' rule. When Elizabeth became queen in 1558, 
 the Bible was again freely read. Not less than 130 editions 
 of the Genevan Bible were printed, over 90 of them before 
 1611. It retained its popularity for a generation after the 
 King James Version appeared.' 
 
 12. The Great Bible (1539) was edited by Miles Cover- 
 dale under direction of Thomas Crumwell. Paris was 
 
 1 The Old Testament shows that Coverdale's Great Bible was care- 
 fully consulted, and the New Testament that Tyndale's Version was 
 followed. It is nicknamed the " Breeches Bible," from its rendering 
 " made themselves breeches," Gen. 3 : 7. 
 
 1 Yet the King James editions of 1612-13 had a title-page the fac- 
 simile of the Genevan (heart-shaped oval with twelve tribes ami twelve 
 apostles in margin), and other editions copied the form and style of the 
 Bishops' Bible in order to supplant more easily these popular versions v 
 Eadic, /fist., vol. ii. p. 291. 
 
FAC-SIMILE (REDUCED) OF TITLE PAGE OP THE GREAT BIBLE. 
 
EARLY ENGLISH VERSIONS. 25 
 
 famous for the excellence of its paper and type. Cover- 
 dale went thither to have it printed. But the work was in- 
 terrupted by order of the Inquisition and many sheets 
 seized. Most of these were recovered, and, with types, 
 presses and men, brought to England, where the work was 
 issued in 1539. It has an elaborately engraved title-page 
 designed by Hans Holbein, the most famous wood-en- 
 graver of his day. 1 From its large size, 14 x 9 inches, this 
 work was called The Great Bible. A second edition in 
 1540 had a preface by Cranmer, from which it has been in- 
 accurately called Cranmer 1 s Bible. It is likewise called 
 WhitechurcK s or WhitchurcW s Bible, after the name of the 
 printer. The version is mainly a careful revision of Cover- 
 dale's Bible of 1535, and is of special interest because the 
 Psalter and the Scripture selections in the communion ser- 
 vice of the English Church Prayer-book are from the Great 
 Bible. It remained the "Authorized Version " for twenty- 
 eight years; indeed, strictly it is the only "Authorized 
 Version," for neither the Bishops' nor the King James Ver- 
 sion ever had formal royal approbation or authority. 2 
 
 13. Coverdale* s Bible, 1535, which the Great Bible 
 closely resembled, was based largely upon the Latin Vul- 
 gate and German Versions, as the title to his New Testa- 
 ment honestly states. 8 The German versions used were 
 doubtless Luther's and the Zurich ; Pagninus and the Latin 
 Vulgate, and Tyndale, probably make up the " five inter- 
 preters" Coverdale says he followed. The chief merit of 
 
 1 A fac-simile of the title-page is given from Moulton's History of 
 the English Bible. 
 
 2 See Eadie, Hist. Eng. Bible, vol. i. p. 383. 
 
 3 " Biblia the BiMe : that is the Holy Scripture of the Olde and 
 Newe Testament faithfully and truly translated out of Douche [i. e., 
 German] and Latyn in to Englishe MDXXXV." 
 
26 EARLY ENGLISH VERSIONS. 
 
 his version is its pure, strong English idiom, sometimes 
 quaint withal, but generally musical. Some of the most 
 rhythmical and familiar passages in the Psalms come to us 
 from Coverdale's Version. He also edited a New Testa- 
 ment, 1538, with the Latin and English side by side. 
 
 14. Matthew's Bible, 1537, which was issued soon after 
 Coverdale's, and before the Great Bible, was the reputed 
 work of Thomas Matthew. But this was clearly an as- 
 sumed name, and it is almost certain that the real author 
 was John Rogers the martyr. Rogers was a friend of Tyn- 
 dale, and the translation is substantially the version of 
 Tyndale except from Ezra to Malachi, which is almost 
 identical with Coverdale's, 1535. 
 
 15. Taverner's Bible, 1539, * s a comparatively unimpor- 
 tant revision of Matthew's Bible, the chief difference in 
 the Old Testament consisting in the omission or abridg- 
 ment of the notes. In the New Testament changes were 
 made in the text also, some of them valuable ; but his ver- 
 sion is of unequal merit. As a scholar Richard Taverner 
 was capricious. 
 
 16. TYNDALE'S NEW TESTAMENT VERSION, 1526. When 
 a learned papist declared with some zeal to William Tyn- 
 dale, "We were better be without God's law than the 
 pope's," Tyndale .replied, " If God spare my life, ere 
 many years I will cause a ploughboy to know more of the 
 Scripture than thou doest." Though he died a martyr, 
 1536, he was able to fulfill his declaration. But he was 
 compelled to leave England in 1524 and completed his 
 translation in exile. 
 
 1 7. Tyndale' s New Testament, 1526, was the first Eng- 
 lish version made directly from the Greek, (since Wyc- 
 liffc's version was from the Latin Vulgate), and the first 
 
fssSSp.*!!* 
 
 IK&Jfffs 
 
 ,5^-g;, -^3 3 g ra 
 
 ~</a^~>s~ 
 
 5' | ir3>Df^^ 
 
 pSk&S S:2^g 
 
 _3 ^^ ^^**^ an^. _*^ *^ ^r> 
 
 
 
 
 i-ff|i?flf|fflfe 
 
 ^s?TCTo-^> ' ^.<^ 
 
EARLY ENGLISH VERSIONS. 29 
 
 English New Testament printed. 1 It was issued at Worms 
 in two editions, a quarto and an octavo ; 3000 copies of 
 each were printed and sent to England in the spring of 
 1526. The title-page has an illuminated border showing 
 figures of the four Evangelists and the Apostles Peter, 
 Paul. James and Jude ; but it gives no clue to editor, 
 printer, place or date of publication. 
 
 1 8. Its Chief Features. The version is vigorous, clear 
 and simple enough in style for the " ploughboy " to under- 
 stand. The text is arranged in paragraphs, with chapter 
 divisions but no verses. It omits the doxology to the 
 Lord's Prayer. Tyndale also translated various portions 
 of the Old Testament, including all of the Pentateuch, 
 which were published after his death. Tyndale's work 
 was revised and incorporated into Matthew's Bible, 1537, 
 as already stated. 
 
 19. Our Common Version is more deeply indebted for 
 its felicities of language to Tyndale's than to any other 
 version. "Our English Testament," says Ellicott, "after 
 all its changes, revisions and remodellings, is still truly 
 and substantially the venerable version of Tyndale the 
 martyr." 2 "The peculiar genius," says Froude, " which 
 breathes through it [our English Bible], the mingled ten- 
 derness and majesty the Saxon simplicity the preternat- 
 ural grandeur unequalled, unapproached in the attempted 
 improvements of modern scholars, all are here, and bear 
 the impress of the mind of one man William Tyndale." 3 
 
 20. WYCLIFFE'S VERSION, 1382, was the first complete 
 
 1 The only portion of the Scriptures printed in English before this 
 was a portion of the Psalms, in 1505. 
 
 2 On Revision, p. 85. 
 
 8 Hist. Eng. t vol. iii. p. 84. 
 
30 EARLY ENGLISH VERSIONS. 
 
 translation of the Bible into English. 1 But it was made 
 from the Latin Vulgate, and as it was before the invention 
 of the art of printing, it was a manuscript or written Bible. 
 This translation of the New Testament was completed in 
 1380, and was entirely by John de Wycliffe or Wiclif. 2 
 The Old Testament was finished about 1382, Nich- 
 olas de Hereford aiding Wycliffe in this portion of the 
 work. 
 
 21. A careful revision, called Purveys Version, has sev- 
 eral important changes, and as a marked feature, short 
 comments in the margin. These versions are anonymous. 
 A translator of the Bible was exposed to peril, making con- 
 cealment necessary. But the versions were not hid. They 
 were eagerly sought and read. Copies were made and 
 passed into the hands of all classes of people. The king 
 and the princes had them. Nearly 170 manuscript copies 
 of Purvey's Version made before 1430 have been preserved 
 and examined, although a strict inquisition in that age 
 searched for and burned all the writings of Wycliffe and 
 his followers which could be found. Of the character of 
 this first English Bible it must be said that it was baldly 
 
 1 Metrical versions and paraphrases of portions of the Bible were 
 made in English earlier than Wycliffe, and two prose versions of the 
 Psalms, one by William of Shoreham, 1327, and the other soon after 
 by Richard Rolle. Foxe, Johnson, Newcome and others, including Sir 
 Thomas More, have asserted that Bede translated the Scriptures com- 
 plete into the vernacular; but their assertion is not sup|>orted by his- 
 tory. More appears to have referred to portions of the Bible rendered 
 into Anglo-Saxon, and the statements of others rest upon mistaken in- 
 formation. See George P. Marsh, Lects. Eng. Lang. ; Preface to 
 Wyckliffe by Forshall and Madden. 
 
 2 His name was spelled about thirty different ways, giving an excel- 
 lent illustration of the unsettled condition of the English tongue at 
 that period. 
 
 A copy of the Bible in 1429 cost from 2 to 3, and for a few 
 leaves poor persons gladly gave a load of hay. 
 
fflltfiPWlR 1 - . 
 
 S3lH1ii-s?il8<Fi 
 
 -^j> fo ff~*Z *> 5 a? P> o S LJ -v< _!i C^^ *^ 
 
 M 
 
 > iR *- _* 
 
 ^ 
 ^ 
 
 
 S'sI'S&eliiS^liS 
 
EARLY ENGLISH VERSIONS. 
 
 literal. Yet, thrown into modern 
 . forms of spelling, the version has 
 ^ ^ many words and phrases that were 
 ~^o retained in later translations. It 
 g was the language of the people, and 
 ~ fed their hungry souls with the bread 
 2 1 from God. 
 
 |- s 22. Anglo-Saxon Versions. Most 
 g of the translations of portions -of the 
 5"i Bible, earlier than Wycliffe' s, were 
 I |< mere paraphrases, sometimes failing 
 s e to give the correct sense of Scrip- 
 x% ture. Such a paraphrase of the 
 M.O Gospels and the Acts in English, 
 H but written in the Saxon characters, 
 jy was made in the latter half of the 
 * twelfth century by Orme or Ormun, 
 'i and is called the "Ormulum." 
 .2 Several interlinear versions (Vul- 
 > 3 gate of Jerome and the Vernacular) 
 o 'g were made in the tenth and eleventh 
 < a centuries, a part of one known as 
 S^ the "Rushworth Gloss" being 
 J3 now in the Bodleian library. These 
 ta.S interlinear versions were probably 
 ^a made for the use of priests who 
 | did not understand the Latin. 
 |3 ^ King Alfred made a translation of 
 s the Ten Commandments, portions 
 of the Gospels, and he projected a 
 translation of the Psalter, but his 
 death prevented its completion. The Venerable Bede 
 
34 EARLY ENGLISH VERSIONS. 
 
 
 
 (672-755) completed a translation of the Gospel of John 
 into the vernacular and wrote commentaries on most of 
 the books of the Bible. His Church History was among 
 the first books printed in Germany (1474). The earliest 
 Anglo-Saxon paraphrases of portions of the Bible were in 
 verse, by Guthloe, Aldhelm, and the most noted one by 
 Caedmon, about 680. The Christian Scriptures were re- 
 puted to have been introduced into England by the 
 Monk Augustin, about 596, who used copies of the Old 
 Latin Version, from which the earlier Anglo-Saxon trans- 
 lations were made. 
 
 23. Language of English Bible. (i) In many paragraphs 
 of the common English Version 39 words in 40 'are of 
 Anglo-Saxon derivation. 
 
 (2) In the story of Joseph (Gen. 42 : 21-29), there are 
 only 7 words beside proper names which are not Anglo- 
 Saxon. 
 
 (3) In the parable of the Sower (Matt. 13, etc.), of 106 
 different words, only 3 are not Anglo-Saxon. 
 
 (4) The Lord's Prayer (Matt. 6 : 9-13) has 65 words 
 (" forever " one word), 59 are of Anglo-Saxon and 6 are 
 of Latin derivation. 
 
 (5) In John ii : 32-36, 70 words in 72 are of Anglo- 
 Saxon origin. In Milton's " Paradise Lost," Book IV: 
 639, etc., of 90 words only 74 are Anglo-Saxon. In the 
 famous passage of Shakespeare, " To be or not to be," of 
 8 1 words 13 are not Anglo-Saxon. This shows the great 
 comparative strength of the English Bible in words of 
 Anglo-Saxon origin. 
 
 24. Leading Facts about English Bibles. 
 
 (i) First complete Bible in English (by Wycliffe)//* 
 the La/in, 1382. 
 
EARLY ENGLISH VERSIONS. 35 
 
 (2) First complete New Testament in English (by Tyn- 
 dale) from the Greek, 1526. 
 
 (3) First printed English Bible, complete (Coverdale's), 
 
 I535- 1 
 
 (4) First English Testament divided into verses (Gene- 
 van), 1557. 
 
 (5) First English Bible divided into verses (Genevan), 
 1560. 
 
 (6) First English Bible, translated complete from the 
 original languages, Greek and Hebrew (the Genevan Ver- 
 sion), 1560. 
 
 (7) Cost of early English Bibles : two arches of the Lon- 
 don bridge, built in the thirteenth century, are reported to 
 have cost ^25 ; a written copy of the Bible cost ^30. A 
 laborer's wages was i$d. a day and board ; hence the cost 
 of a Bible would be equal to a laborer's wages for about 
 fifteen years. It was perilous for common people to read 
 or to own a Bible. For example, in 1429, Marjery Back- 
 ster was indicted for asking her maid to hear her husband 
 read the Bible by night. In 1514-1519, John Stevenson 
 was arrested for teaching the Ten Commandments, and 
 Thomas Collins had his father arrested for the same offence. 
 Robert Pope informed against his wife, son and father for 
 hearing the Gospel of Matthew read to them. 
 
 1 First Bible published in English with an American imprint, " R. 
 Aitken, Philadelphia, 1782." But Eliot's Bible in the Indian language 
 (Algonkin) was printed in Cambridge, * Mass., 1663. The " Saur 
 Bible " was printed, in the German language, at Germantown, Pa. k 
 I743- 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 MODERN VERSIONS OTHER THAN ENGLISH. 
 
 1. Next to a knowledge of our own versions, all English- 
 speaking peoples should gain some knowledge of the Ger- 
 man versions of the Bible. While the Common Version 
 of the English Bible is the growth of centuries, the mature 
 fruit of successive generations of Biblical scholars from 
 Wyckliffe to the King James revisers, the German version 
 bears largely the impress of one mind and one genius Mar- 
 tin Luther. There were earlier versions in German, but the 
 great version, the one version and the only popular one 
 that is truly German, is that made by the great reformer. 
 
 2. Earlier German Versions. Passing the Gothic ver- 
 sion of the fourth century, there was a translation of the 
 Bible made in the fourteenth century, by some unknown 
 scholars, 1 from the Latin Vulgate. No less than seventeen 
 editions of it were printed between 1462 and 1522 four- 
 teen of them in High German and three or four in Low 
 German dialect. Most of these were issued of folio size, 
 in two volumes, with wood engravings. The Archbishop 
 of Mainz in 1486 forbade the printing of sacred and 
 learned books, especially the German Bible, on the ground 
 that the German language was incapable of correctly rep- 
 
 1 Some have ascribed the earlier German version to the Waldenses 
 (Keller, Haupt), hut it may have sprung from a love of the word 
 within the Romish Church (Jostes, Schaflfand others). In the Munich 
 Library are twenty-one written copies of the Gospels and Epistles in 
 early German versions. 
 
 (3G) 
 
MODERN VERSIONS OTHER THAN ENGLISH. 37 
 
 resenting religious ideas and the profound sense of Greek 
 and Latin works ! 
 
 3. Luther's Version. While Luther was held a willing 
 prisoner in Wartburg Castle, he translated the New Testa- 
 ment into German, and it was published in 1522. Its title 
 was " Das Newe Testament Deutzsch. Wittemberg." It 
 was illustrated with wood engravings by the famous Lucas 
 Cranach, having one illustration at the beginning of each 
 book and twenty-one in the book of Revelation. It was 
 divided into chapters like the Latin Bible, and into para- 
 graphs, but not into verses. The Pentateuch appeared in 
 1523, the Psalms in 1524, and the entire Bible (including 
 the Apocrypha) in 1534. In translating the Old Testament, 
 Luther formed a committee (Bible club) of his colleagues, 
 Melanchthon, Justus Jonas and four others, who aided him 
 in the work. Luther continued to amend and improve the 
 version, issuing five successive revisions of it, the last in 
 1545. He retained a Latin form of title, Biblia, and the 
 translation was issued in folio, with numerous engravings. 
 
 4. Merits of Luther's Version. The German Bible was 
 received with great enthusiasm. A hundred thousand 
 copies an enormous number for that age were sold be- 
 tween 1534 and I574- 1 If his version did not form, it 
 may be said to have reformed, unified and crystallized the 
 German language. It gave it wings, and made it intelli- 
 gible to the common people in all parts of Germany. It 
 is the first great German classic. It brought one language 
 out of many dialects the language afterward of the golden 
 era of German literature, the speech of Lessing, Herder, 
 Goethe and Schiller. 2 
 
 1 See Schaflf, Hist. Christ. Ch., vol. vi. p. 350. 
 
 2 Heinrich Heine, the poet, critic and German Voltaire, says of 
 
38 MODERN VERSIONS OTHER THAN ENGLISH. 
 
 5. The original text of the New Testament, upon which 
 Luther based his version, was the Greek text edited by 
 Erasmus, 1519. The Old Testament was translated from 
 the Massoretic Hebrew text, edited by G. Ben Moseh, 
 1494 ; but the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate were often 
 consulted, and in the Apocrypha the latter was chiefly used 
 as a basis. 1 - 
 
 6. Revisions of Luther's Version. Besides Luther's own 
 revisions of his version, the latest is the Revision ordered 
 by the Eisenach Conference, 1863. This revision was be- 
 gun by a company of eminent Biblical scholars (eleven on 
 the New Testament and twenty on the Old Testament), 
 among whom were Tholuck, Riehm, Schiottmann, Dill- 
 man n, Delitzsch, Meyer, Dorner and Beyschlag. A so- 
 called Proof Bible {Probebiber) of this revision was issued 
 at Halle in 1883. The work was freely and sharply criti- 
 cised, and re-committed in 1886. A final revision was 
 made under the same conservative rules that governed the 
 first revision, and published in 1892 by the Canstein Bible 
 House. It must yet win popular acceptance over the cur- 
 rent Version of Luther. German scholars are bold in the- 
 ology, but conservative in Bible revision for the laity. 
 
 7. The Roman Catholics, though stoutly opposed to giv- 
 ing the people the Bible in the vernacular, were compelled 
 
 Luther, " He created the German language. He did this by his trans- 
 lation of the Bible." Hist, of Religion and Poetry in Germany t Lon- 
 don, vol. i. pp. 425, 427. 
 
 1 Luther omitted the famous text respecting the three heavenly wit- 
 nesses, i John 5 : 7, which appears first in the Frankfort edition of 
 Luther's version (from Erasmus' Greek text of 1522), nnd is rctnin'-d 
 in the revised vnVi-.n of Luther, 1883, but i-> pi ru-rd in brackets. The 
 popular text ol" Luther's Bible is that by the Canstein Bible 
 Society. 
 
MODERN VERSIONS OTHER THAN ENGLISH. 39 
 
 by Luther's work to issue rival versions in self-defence. 1 
 The chief German versions by Romanists were by Emser, 
 1527, Dietenberger, 1534, and Eck, 1537. They are all 
 from the Vulgate, and generally clumsy and stiff, lacking 
 the purity of German idiom which is found in Luther's 
 version. Dietenberger's revision was revised by Ulen- 
 berg, 1630, and re-revised by theologians of Mainz, 1662, 
 and has been issued as the Catholic Bible used in Ger- 
 many and by German Catholics. Among German versions 
 or translations of the Bible made for scholars, that by De 
 Wette, 1809, 4th ed. 1858, and that of the N. T. by 
 Weizsacker, Tubingen, 1875, are tne best. 
 
 8. Dutch Versions. The first complete translation of the 
 Bible into Dutch was made by Jacob Van Liesveldt, and 
 issued in two volumes folio, Antwerp, 1526. The second 
 edition cost the printer his head. The version was par- 
 tially supplanted by Utenhove's version in 1556. These 
 versions were not in Jhe best idiomatic Dutch. The first 
 was based on Luther's version and the Cologne Bible ; the 
 second upon Luther's German and Olivetan's French 
 version. 
 
 9. A new version was ordered by the Dutch synod in 
 1571 ; but owing to troubles and divisions in affairs, and to 
 the deaths of scholars, the work was twice interrupted and 
 long delayed. It was again ordered by the famous Synod 
 of Dort, 1618, which appointed three translators and four- 
 teen revisers ; but the new order was not approved by the 
 States General until 1624, and the work was begun in 1626 
 and was carried on at Leyden for eleven years. The new 
 
 1 Emser charged Luther with a thousand grammatical and heretical 
 errors, four being in the Lord's Prayer ; among them, that he added 
 the doxology, which is not in the Latin Vulgate. 
 
40 MODERN VERSIONS OTHER THAN ENGLISH. 
 
 translation finally appeared in two editions one with and 
 one without marginal readings and references in 1637. 
 It is called the States' Bible ; and so superior was its merit 
 that within fifteen years it gained unanimous popular favor 
 and ecclesiastical approval. It is remarkable for its felicity 
 of expression, and scholars regard it as one of the best of 
 existing versions. 
 
 10. The General Synod appointed a committee of four- 
 teen, in 1854, to revise the old translation, in view of the 
 progress in Biblical criticism. The New Testament re- 
 vision was completed and issued in 1867, but its reception 
 was not hearty ; indeed it was so adverse that the Old Tes- 
 tament part was indefinitely postponed. 
 
 11. French Versions. Pierre, about 1170, made a Bible 
 History in French, and^Gruars, in 1286-89, prepared a 
 similar French Bible History. The first complete French 
 version of the Bible was by Jean de Rely, a Roman Catho- 
 lic, in 1487, based on -the Vulgate and former partial ver- 
 sions. There were twelve editions of this version issued. 
 Another version was made by Lefevre d'Etaples, and 
 issued in Antwerp, 1530. Pierre Robert Olivetan with the 
 aid of that version made another, corrected by Calvin, 
 issued at the expense of the Waldenses in 1535, which is 
 known as the first Protestant version. The evangelical 
 pastors of Geneva appointed a company from their own 
 number (among them Beza) to issue a new version, which 
 was completed in 1588. This version was revised by Mar- 
 tin, Amsterdam, 1707, and by Ostervald, 1724. 
 
 12. Louis Segond issued a new version, Geneva, 1874, 
 third ed. 1879, being a direct translation from Hebrew and 
 Greek into French. This version is printed by the Oxford 
 press (fifty thousand copies first edition), with prose text in 
 
MODERN VERSIONS OTHER THAN ENGLISH. 41 
 
 paragraphs and the poetry in verse form, the verses being 
 noted in the margin. It also has brief notes and prefaces 
 to the books, and is regarded as a decided improvement 
 upon all previous French versions. The British and For- 
 eign Bible Society, however, circulates the older versions 
 by Martin and Ostervald, revised by the Bible Society of 
 France. 
 
 13. Italian Versions. There were several translations of 
 the Bible into Italian before the Reformation, the more im- 
 portant being that of Nicolo, Venice, 1471, and of Bruc- 
 ioli from the original texts New Testament, 1530, the 
 entire Bible, Venice, 1532. The latter translator was in- 
 dignant at the prohibition of the spread of the Bible 
 among the people in the vernacular, but his version was put 
 first in a Roman Catholic list of prohibited books. 
 
 14. The first Protestant version of the Bible complete in 
 Italian appeared in Geneva, 1562, but was displaced by 
 that of Deodati, made from the original texts, Geneva, 
 1607, in the Lucchese dialect and suited for the peasants. 
 Another version by Martini, Roman Catholic Archbishop 
 of Florence, made from a version of the Latin, was issued 
 at Turin, 1776, and is circulated by the British and 
 Foreign Bible Society (New Testament, ed. 1813, the Bible, 
 ed. 1821), along with the versions of Deodati and others. 
 
 15. Spanish Versions. The earliest known translation of 
 the New Testament into Spanish is that of Francisco, issued 
 at Antwerp, 1543, and by Juan Perez, Venice, 1556. The 
 whole Bible was translated by Cassidoro Regno and pub- 
 lished at Basel, 1569 ; was revised by Valera and issued at 
 Amsterdam, 1602. Another version was made by San 
 Miguel and published at Madrid, in 1794. This was in 
 nineteen volumes, and had the Latin and Spanish texts and 
 
 3 
 
42 MODERN VERSIONS OTHER THAN ENGLISH. 
 
 a commentary by the translator. The British and Foreign 
 Bible Society has distributed Valera's and San Miguel's 
 versions (the text only) since 1828 until the present (1891). 
 
 16. Danish Versions. The first complete Danish version 
 of the Bible was edited under the name of C. Pederson in 
 1550, and has been often revised, a thorough revision being 
 made in 1815 to 1824, which is still circulated by the 
 British and Foreign Bible Society along with a recent re- 
 vision, and a special revision known as the Norwegian 
 Bible, made by the Norwegian Bible Society and a commit- 
 tee of revision appointed in 1871. Until the division of 
 the kingdoms, in 1814, the Norwegians used the ordinary 
 Danish version. 
 
 17. A Swedish version was completed in 1541 by Lau- 
 rentius and Olaus Petri. This has been often revised and 
 is still in use. 
 
 1 8. Besides the versions in the principal languages of 
 Europe, there have been many versions and revisions made 
 in other European languages and dialects, as the Welsh, 
 Gaelic, Irish, Portuguese, Lap, Polish, Bohemian, Russ, 
 Slavonic, Modern Greek and many others. Of these, and 
 the two hundred to three hundred missionary translations, 
 particular notice cannot here be given. 
 
 19. The modern Arabic version begun by Eli Smith. 
 1847, and completed by his co-laborer, C. V. A. Van 
 Dyck, 1866, is a monument of patient, persevering and 
 profound scholarship. It is accounted one of the most 
 faithful and finished of all modern missionary versions. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 1. One book of religion the Bible has been valued 
 and loved by the learned and unlearned, by priest and 
 people, for more than eighteen centuries. No other 
 sacred book has been so deeply or so widely endeared to 
 the human heart. There is no other book with a history 
 like that of the Bible. In the early centuries of Christian- 
 ity, translations of the Bible into the vernacular or common 
 speech of the peoples were made and circulated wherever 
 the gospel gained a foothold among a nation or a people. 
 Several of the more important of these translations, or por- 
 tions of them, have been preserved to our times, and are 
 of value in establishing the early and often the true reading 
 of the original copy of the Christian Scriptures. Some of 
 these versions will now be briefly described. 
 
 2. The Armenian. The gospel was introduced into Ar- 
 menia from Cappadocia; and the translations of the Bible 
 into Armenian were probably made from Greek manuscripts 
 obtained from some portion of Asia Minor. At first the 
 Armenian disciples may have used Syriac copies of the 
 Scriptures ; but early in the fourth century they had a writ- 
 ten language, formed from an alphabet of thirty-six letters. 
 The earliest version of the Scriptures in Armenian appears 
 to have been made from the Peshito (Syriac). Later in 
 
 (43) 
 
44 ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 that century (431 to 450) a new translation, direct from 
 the Greek, was suggested by Miesroband Moses Chorenen- 
 sis, and was completed by two scholars, Joseph and Eznak, 
 who went to Alexandria to perfect their knowledge of the 
 Greek. The existing manuscripts of this version are not 
 very ancient, but they contain the entire Bible. The best 
 printed edition is by Zohrab, and is now issued by the 
 British and Foreign Bible Society. 
 
 3. The Gothic. The Goths, in their old home about 
 Moesia, were early led to accept Christianity. Their sec- 
 ond bishop, Ulphilas (Ulfilas or Wulfilas), 348 A. D., 
 who was an Arian, translated the Bible (except I., II. Sam. 
 and I., II. Kings) from Greek into Gothic. The gospels are 
 placed in the " western " order, that is, Matthew, John, 
 Luke, Mark. Seven manuscripts containing portions of 
 this version have been preserved ; but they are fragmentary, 
 large gaps occurring and missing leaves in both the Old 
 and New Testament portions. The best-printed editions 
 are: A. Uppstrom, Upsala, 1854-1868, and E. Bernhardt, 
 Halle, 1875, tne l atter being the Gothic and Greek, with 
 critical notes. 1 
 
 4. The Coptic or Egyptian Versions. Little has been 
 definitely known of these ancient Coptic translations until 
 recently. Three are known in three different dialects: (i) 
 The Memphitic or Bahiric dialect of lower Egypt. This 
 translation belongs to the second century. There are in 
 the various libraries of Europe twenty-eight manuscript 
 copies of the Gospels in the Memphitic dialect, seventeen 
 copies of the Pauline and catholic Epistles and the Acts 
 (the Acts follow instead of precede the Epistles), and ten 
 of the book of Revelation. This translation is regarded 
 as of great importance, because it is believed to indicate 
 
 Also Gothic Version by G. H. Balg, Ph.D., N. Y., 1891. 
 
ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE. 45 
 
 the text current at Alexandria, free from many corruptions 
 prevailing in the second century. (2) The Thebaic or Sa~ 
 hidic version, in the dialect of upper Egypt, also exists in 
 manuscripts, but only in a very fragmentary form. 1 The 
 best-printed edition of the Thebaic translation is by C. G. 
 Woide, completed by Ford, Oxford, 1799. (3) The Bash- 
 muric or Eleaarchian translation, probably belonging to 
 the third century, of which only fragments of John's Gos- 
 pel and of the Pauline Epistles have been found. This 
 version is based upon the Thebaic, the Bashmuric being a 
 modification of the Thebaic dialect, and the Bashmuric 
 translation is chiefly useful in texts where the Thebaic is 
 wanting. 
 
 5. An Ethiopic version was early made for use in Abys- 
 sinia, probably in the fourth century. The manuscript 
 copies of this version are not very ancient ; but the Ethi- 
 opic has now given place to a later dialect, the Amharic, 
 into which the Bible has been translated. 
 
 6. The Syriac Versions. The Syriac or Aramaean be- 
 longs to the Semitic family of languages, and is older than 
 the patriarch Jacob. It is copious, flexible and dignified, 
 and the Old and New Testaments were translated into that 
 tongue and used in public worship from the second century 
 downward. 
 
 1 These ancient Coptic translations show that the hooks then in- 
 cluded in the New Testament were the same as now, except the Apoc- 
 alypse. The order, however, was different ; the four Gospels were 
 first, but usually in this order John, Matthew, Mark, Luke; then 
 came the Pauline Epistles, including that to the Hebrews, next the 
 catholic or general epistles, and lastly Acts. In some of the manu- 
 scripts the book of Revelation appears at the end ; but there are lec- 
 tionaries or Scripture service lessons between the book of Acts and 
 the book of Revelation. This would indicate that Revelation was not 
 admitted to the New Testament in the opinion of those who made the 
 
46 ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 7. There are four versions in Syriac : (i) The Peshito 
 (Pe-shtt'-to), (or Pesbitto, or better, Peshitta), meaning 
 " simple " or faithful, so called from the character of the 
 version. In its present form it belongs to the third or 
 fourth century. It has been known to scholars for over 
 three centuries. 1 (2) The Curetorian is a fragment of the 
 Gospels, but now generally conceded to be the earliest of 
 all versions in Syriac. It was found in a convent in the 
 desert, seventy miles northwest of Cairo, in 1842, and 
 published, with an English translation by Dr. Cureton, in 
 1858, and with three added leaves (1871) by J. R. Crow- 
 foot in Greek, London, 1870-72. (3) The Philoxenian or 
 Harklean was a Syriac version made in the fifth century by 
 Xenias or Philoxenus, a heretical bishop of eastern Syria. 
 It was carefully revised by Thomas of Harkel or Heraclea, 
 6 1 6, who compared it with some ancient Greek copies. 
 The best existing manuscript of this version is from Mardin, 
 and belongs to the Protestant College at Beirut. (4) The 
 Jerusalem Syriac is an evangelistary, or selections from the 
 Gospels, found in five existing manuscripts in the Vatican 
 at Rome. The version belongs to the fifth century. 
 
 8. The Latin. The ancient versions of the Bible in 
 Latin may be classed in two groups: (i) Old Latin ; (2) 
 The Vulgate, by Jerome, in its varied recensions. The 
 Old Latin translation was known to the Latin fathers, as 
 Tertullian, Cyprian, the two Hilarys, Ambrose, Jerome, 
 Augustine, Pelagius and others. It dates back to the mid- 
 translation, or else that it belonged to a second canon, as we know was 
 the case for a time with some of ihe shorter epistles. 
 
 1 The best printed edition in England is by the Hriti^i and Foreign 
 Hiblc Society, and by Hamster. A better American edition is by Dr. 
 T. Perkins, ( iroominh, 1841, and New York, iS;4; also a literal trans- 
 lation from the Syriac Peshito, by Dr. Murdock, New York, 1857. 
 
ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE. 47 
 
 die or latter half of the second century. It was made 
 from the Septuagint, in the Old Testament, and is in the 
 rough Latin of the second century, which lacks classic pol- 
 ish, yet is not without vigor and terseness of expression. 
 
 9. Fragments of the Old Latin translations are still 
 extant, and indicate three variant types of the text an 
 African, a European, and one of the character which 
 Augustine commends as the Itala. Whether all these forms 
 are based upon one African translation or on different in- 
 dependent translations is an unsettled question. This 
 much seems to be generally agreed by the best critics, that 
 the earliest form "of the Old Latin version is of north Afri- 
 can origin. From thirty to forty manuscripts of portions 
 of the Old Latin version are known to be in existence. A 
 carefully-edited and- printed edition of these Old Latin 
 versions is a thing desired. Bishop J. Wordsworth is 
 issuing (1892) an edition of an old Latin version. 
 
 10. The Vulgate. Jerome, one of the most learned men of 
 his time, urged by the Roman bishop Damasus, about 383 
 A.D., undertook a thorough revision of the Old Latin ver- 
 sions, that he might make a Vulgate (Vulgata) or" Latin 
 text of the Bible which would be universally accepted by 
 Latin-speaking peoples. His work of revising the Old 
 Latin versions led Jerome to undertake a new and more 
 faithful translation of the Old Testament from the Hebrew. 
 He spent about twenty years (385 to 405) at Bethlehem, 
 the town in which our Saviour was born, in these labors. 1 
 Jerome's version was not at first regarded with favor; but 
 after some years its superior merit brought it into general 
 
 1 At Bethlehem, in the crypt under the Church. of the Nativity, is a 
 room called the " Chapel of St. Jerome," in which this great man is 
 said to have pursued his studies and work of translating the Bible. 
 
48 ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 use. For years it raised a howl of indignation. Jerome 
 was irritated by the attacks of the ignorant priests, whom 
 he calls bipedes asellos, " two-legged donkeys.'* Long after 
 Jerome's death his version was accepted, and 1000 years 
 later was counted superior to the original text ! The Latin 
 Bible which came thus into use as Jerome's version was in 
 fact a composite work. The Old Testament, excepting the 
 Psalms, was from his new translation made from the He- 
 brew. The Psalms were his revision of 'the Old Latin, 
 based not upon the original Hebrew but upon the Septua- 
 gint. 1 The Apocrypha was based on the Old Latin trans- 
 lation, excepting the two books of Judith and Tobit, which 
 were from Jerome's new version. The New Testament 
 books were revised from the Old Latin version. The text 
 became so corrupt that Charlemagne about 802 directed 
 Alcuin to collate the copies and revise the Latin text. 
 
 ii. The Council of Trent, 1546, decreed what books were 
 to be received as canonical, and that the text of the 
 Latin edition was authentic. But the question at once 
 arose, Which Latin text, and which edition of it, is the 
 authentic one? Pope Sixtus V. issued a revised edition of 
 the Vulgate text in 1590, which he decreed to be the au- 
 thoritative edition, and threatened excommunication against 
 any who used any other. Sixtus died that year. So many 
 errors, however, were pointed out in the Sixtine edition 
 that Bellarmin proposed to issue a corrected edition in Six- 
 tus' name, and this pious fraud was actually undertaken, 
 and in the new edition all the principal blunders in the 
 
 1 It was called the Roman Psalter, while Jerome's new translation 
 was known as the Galilean Psalter. The former was retained in the 
 Bibles until Pius V., 1566, when it was displaced by the Gallican 
 J'saller. 
 
ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE. 49 
 
 former edition were charged to the printers ! Clement 
 VIII. had the new edition of the Latin text prepared with 
 greater care and issued in 1592, in the face of the threat- 
 ened anathema of his predecessor, Sixtus V. 1 This Clem- 
 entine text is the standard Roman Catholic Bible, taking 
 precedence in that church of the Hebrew and Greek origi- 
 nal texts in questions of doctrine and life. A critical edi- 
 tion of Jerome's Latin version is wanting, though the 
 materials for it are abundant. 
 
 12. The Septuagint, or Greek version of the Old Testa- 
 ment, was made by Hellenistic Jews of Alexandria, be- 
 tween 285 and 247 B.C. According to Jewish tradition, it 
 was made by seventy or seventy-two elders (hence its title ; 
 Septuaginta, or seventy) sent from Jerusalem ; but great 
 obscurity rests upon the real time and history of its origin. 3 
 It is also very difficult now to ascertain precisely what was 
 the reading of the original Septuagint, but it is assumed 
 that the text we have is in the main that current in the days 
 of our Lord. From this version Jesus quotes, and so do 
 the apostles. It was the accepted Scriptures of the dis- 
 persed Jews, and is the basis of the Greek used by early 
 Christian writers. The Septuagint is in the main faithful to 
 the Hebrew text, although it cannot be said to be minutely 
 accurate, judged by the Hebrew now current, for it some- 
 
 1 These are known as the Sixtine or Clementine Lntin texts. 
 
 2 The importance of this translation is apparent not merely from its 
 great antiquity, which, between conflicting Hebrew readings, indicates 
 the one then current, but also from the fact that of 290 direct quota- 
 tions from the Old Testament in the New, the great majorit)^gree bet- 
 ter with the Septuagint than with the Hebrew. More exactly, accord- 
 ing to Turpie, 90 quotations agree with the Septuagint, of which 53 
 also agree with the Hebrew ; 10 agree with the Hebrew but not with 
 the Septuagint; 175 differ from both, but these generally are neareMo 
 the Septuagint than to the Hebrew. 
 
50 ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 times gives a paraphrase rather than a close translation of 
 the Hebrew text. It was freely used by the early Christian 
 fathers. The current text of the Greek Scriptures had be- 
 come corrupted from frequent copying during several 
 centuries. In order to attain a better text, Qrigen (184- 
 254) edited a tetrapla, or fourfold text, and later on his 
 hexapla, or sixfold Bible text. In the first he arranged in 
 parallel columns the Hebrew, the Septuagint and three 
 other Greek versions made in the second century by Aquila, 
 Symmachus and Theodotion. In the latter he added three 
 anonymous Greek translations, numbered fifth, sixth and 
 seventh, all in parallel columns in order to show the true 
 reading and meaning of the Hebrew Scriptures. 1 
 
 13. THE TARGUMS is the general term for the Chaldee or 
 Aramaic versions and paraphrases of portions of the Old 
 Testament. Eight are now extant, of which three are 
 upon the Pentateuch, two on Esther, and others upon the 
 prophets, poetical books and other portions of the Old 
 Testament. These are generally very free translations, and 
 often diffuse paraphrases. The so-called Targum of Onke- 
 los on the Pentateuch and of Jerushalmi in its first form 
 are the most literal versions. These works were a growth 
 from oral traditions and teachings, and of great interest to 
 Old Testament students. The earliest historic instance of 
 a targum is when Ezra, read the law to the returned exiles, 
 and the scribes were compelled to "give the sense and 
 
 1 Aquila was a Jewish proselyte of Pontus, who made a Greek ver- 
 sion of til* Hebrew Scriptures, 1 17-138 A.D., to use in discussions with 
 the Christians, because the Septuagint version was used against the 
 Jews. Theodotion made a revision of the Greek version of the Old 
 Testament about the same period as the work by Aquila, and his ver- 
 sion is retained in Greek Bibles. The version by Symmachus, an 
 Ebionitc disciple, was made somewhat later. 
 
ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE. 51 
 
 cause them to understand the reading," Neh. 8 : 8. From 
 these interpretations the targums grew. Their present 
 written form does not date earlier than the second century 
 of our era. They were written in the later Hebrew dialect, 
 the Aramaic. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 1. How Written. The oldest existing copies of the 
 books of the New Testament, in their original Greek, are 
 written upon fine vellum, .made from the skins of very 
 young calves. Some are written upon parchment, made 
 from the skins of sheep or goats. 
 
 The Sinaitic MS. is made of fine skins of antelopes. 
 The leaves of this MS. are so large that the skin of one 
 antelope would make only two leaves. As the MS. in its 
 present fragmentary state has 346$ leaves, and, adding the 
 43 previously discovered, 389 \ leaves, it must have required 
 195 antelopes to make the vellum on which it is written ! 
 The Vatican MS. is written upon vellum admired by all 
 who have seen it, for the beauty of its finish and texture. 
 It is supposed that earlier copies of the New Testament 
 books were written upon less durable papyrus, and hence 
 have perished. The manuscript copies of the New Testa- 
 ment are older than any existing written copias of the Old 
 Testament in Hebrew ; but the oldest MSS. of the New 
 Testament contain the whole or large portions of the Old 
 Testament in Greek. 
 
 2. Classes. These ancient MSS. 'of the New Testament 
 may be classified : 
 
 I. By their contents, as (i) those containing the whole 
 (52) 
 
ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS OF THE BIBLE. 53 
 
 of the New Testament ; (2) copies containing portions only ; 
 (3) those having church lessons. 
 
 II. By their supposed age, as (i) those of the fourth cen- 
 tury (the oldest now known) ; (2) of the fifth century ; (3) 
 of the sixth century, and so on. 
 
 Or, III. By the style of the writing, as, (i) Uncials, that is 
 those written in capitals ; (2) Cursives, that is, those writ- 
 ten in a running hand. 
 
 More recently they have also been classified by critical 
 scholars according to their genealogical origin, or the 
 source from which the text of each MS. was derived. 
 Thus MSS. of the New Testament are divided into 
 Alexandrian, Western and Neutral groups, to which 
 may be added the Syrian; there are mixed readings in 
 older MSS. as in the versions before 250 A. D. 
 
 3. The number of uncial MSS. of the New Testament 
 now known is about no, and of cursives over 3500. Scriv- 
 ener (1883) noted 97 uncials, and 1997 cursives; Abbot 
 (1885) 92 uncials, and 1600 cursives; Schaff (1888) 91 
 uncials. But Gregory (Suppl't to Prolegomena of N. T. 
 1890) noted 87 uncials, described 22 new ones, making 
 109 uncials, and gives a table of 3553 cursive manuscripts. 
 
 4. DIVISIONS OF THE TEXT. In the earliest manuscripts 
 there are no spaces between the words, and no marks be- 
 tween sentences except an occasional dot at the top of the 
 line. But there are divisions into paragraphs, and marks 
 indicating sections. For example, in the Gospels there are 
 numerals marking and dividing the text of Matthew into 
 170 unequal sections, Mark into 62, Luke into 150 and 
 John into 80. Similar sections, though not as ancient, are 
 found in the Acts and Epistles. 
 
 5. Titloi. In other MSS. of the fifth century and later 
 
54 ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 there are divisions into sections or chapters, called 
 titloi, as the title of the section is given with its number. 
 These differ from the former divisions, for in the Gospels 
 they uniformly begin with what we would regard as the 
 second section. The general title to the book was appar- 
 ently sufficient to designate the first section. Of these 
 titloi = titles, Matthew has 68, Mark 48, Luke 83 and John 
 1 8. There was a similar division of the Acts and Epistles 
 into "headings" or chapters, of a later origin. 
 
 6. The Ammonian or Eusebian sections of the Gospels 
 was another and' different grouping, made to facilitate the 
 finding of the different passages that were parallel in the 
 four Gospels ; hence some were long and some very short. 
 John 19 : 6, for example, is divided into three sections. 
 These sections were numbered in the margin consecutively 
 from the beginning of each Gospel. Matthew had 355 
 such sections, Mark (originally) 233, Luke 342 and John 
 232. Eusebius divided the numbers of these sections into 
 ten tables or " canons." The first, in four columns, notes 
 the sections that are parallel in all four Gospels ; the next 
 three, the sections that are parallel in three of the Gospels ; 
 the next five tables note the sections parallel in two of the 
 Gospels ; the last table gives the sections peculiar to each 
 Gospel. 
 
 7. Modern Divisions. These ancient divisions of the New 
 Testament text and similar divisions of the text of the Old 
 Testament, coupled with the necessity for some division to 
 facilitate ready and accurate reference, led to the modem 
 division of the Bible into chapters and verses. The chap- 
 ter divisions are ascribed to Langton, or Hugh of S. Cher 
 (1220); the verse divisions in the O. T., to the Mas- 
 soretes; and those in the N. T. to Stephens (iSSi). 1 The 
 
 1 But the origin of some of the divisions rests in obscurity. 
 
ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS OF THE BIBLE. 55 
 
 English Revised Version has restored the more ancient 
 method of division of the text into sections or paragraphs, 
 but has preserved the modern chapter-and-verse numerals 
 in the margin. 
 
 8. Uncial Manuscripts. Among the most important un- 
 cial manuscripts is the Sinaitic (known as N), found by 
 Prof. Constantine Tischendorf, in 1859, in the Convent of 
 St. Catherine, at Mount Sinai, and now in the Imperial libra- 
 ry," St. Petersburg, Russia. It contains the whole of the New 
 Testament in Greek, the Epistle of Barnabas and part of 
 the Shepherd of Hernias, and a large part of the Old Tes- 
 
 Fourth Cent. Codex Sinaiticus. I Tim. 3 : 16. 
 TO TTJS evcefieiac | /j.vorr/piov [6e late corr/]of e. 
 
 tament in the Greek version. It consists of 346 J leaves 1 
 of very fine thin vellum, 13^ inches long by 14? inches 
 wide. The text is written with four columns of 48 lines 
 each on a page, except in the poetical books of the Old 
 Testament, which have but two columns on a page. The 
 words have no spaces between them, and are often abbrevi- 
 ated by a line over the letters. There are corrections or 
 alterations by later hands in succession, noticeable from 
 the different form of the letters and different shades of 
 inks, so that JProf. Tischendorf distinguished the work of 
 ten different correctors. A fac-simile edition of the MS. 
 was printed at the expense of the emperor of Russia, and 
 
 1 To these are to be added 43 leaves found in 1844 and called Codex 
 Friderico-Augustamis, and two leaves and a fragment of a leaf found 
 in 1853 and belonging originally to this Sinaitic MS., making in all 
 upwards of 391^ leaves. 
 
56 ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 about a dozen copies came to the United States, to several 
 important libraries, as the Astor, Lenox and American 
 Bible Society libraries. The MS. belongs to the fourth 
 century, and Tischendorf supposed it might be one of the 
 fifty copies which Constantine had prepared in 331 A. D. 
 
 * 
 
 4L 
 
 t 
 
 Fourth Cent. Codex Vaticanus. Mark 16 : 8. 
 GTaait; KC.I ovdevi ov \ 6ev fiirov efoftow \ TO yap : 
 
 9. The Vatican manuscript (known as B) also belongs to 
 the fourth century, and contains most of the Old Testa- 
 ment in Greek and the New Testament to Heb. 9 : 14.* It 
 is written on fine vellum, in three columns of 42 lines each 
 to a page. It has 759 leaves, 10 by io inches, and is per- 
 haps more carefully written than the Sinai tic MS. It is be- 
 lieved to have been copied in Egypt, and was brought to 
 Rome in 1448. Early in this century it was for a time in 
 Paris, but was soon restored to Rome, and is kept in the 
 Vatican library. This MS. also shows numerous cor- 
 rections by different hands. Several editions of it have 
 been printed: Tischendorf 's, Vercellone and Cozza's, and 
 the best, a photographic facsimile, 1890-91. There is another 
 Vatican MS. B (No. 2066), containing the Book of Reve- 
 lation, which is of later origin and belongs to the eighth 
 
 'The rest of Heb., I and 2 Tim., Titus, Philemon, and Rev.,only 
 are wanting. The order of the books varies from that in English Uibles. 
 
ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS OF THE BIBLE. 57 
 
 century. The Vatican MS. is of the first importance in 
 critical study of the New Testament text ; and the Sinaitic 
 ranks next in value. 
 
 10. The Alexandrian manuscript was sent from the Patri- 
 arch of Constantinople as a present to Charles I. (1628), and 
 was placed in the British Museum, London, in 1753. It is 
 a vellum of 773 leaves, 12 \ by 10} inches, each page contain- 
 ing two columns of 50 lines each. It contains nearly the 
 whole of the Old Testament in Greek, and of the New 
 Testament except Matt, i to 25 : 26, two leaves from John's 
 Gospel, three from 2 Corinthians, and portions from the 
 edges of the leaves, carelessly cut away in binding, Added 
 to it are the first Epistle of Clement and a part of the sec- 
 
 TI poc-ro Mem* A i ac HNOOTO c _ 
 
 Fifth Cent. Codex Alexandrinus. John I : i. 
 
 rjv | Tiyjof TGV 6[eo]v: am tfeo] grjvo Aoyof. 
 
 ond also. It was probably written in Alexandria in the 
 fifth century, and has initial letters, and the first four lines 
 of each column of the first page of Genesis in bright ver- 
 milion ink. It was among the first of the uncial MSS. 
 used by critical scholars. A photographic fac-simile edition 
 has been published by the British Museum, 1879-82. 
 
 n. The Ephraem manuscript is in the National Library 
 at Paris, France, and consists of 209 leaves, 64 of the Old 
 Testament in Greek and 145 of the New. It was brought 
 to Florence from the East in the sixteenth century, and is 
 a rescript or palimpsest on vellum ; that is, the old writing 
 (the Bible text) has been partially effaced and some works 
 4 
 
68 ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 of Ephraem the Syrian were written over it in the twelfth 
 century. The original writing was known to Wetstein 
 (1716), and edited by Tischendorf (1843-45). Unfortu- 
 nately, large gaps occur in the New Testament text, so 
 that 37 chapters of the Gospels, 15 of the Acts, 45 chap- 
 ters of the Epistles and 1 1 of Revelation are missing. It 
 belongs to the fifth century. 
 
 12. The Greco-Latin manuscript of Beza, in Cambridge 
 University library, Eng., contains the Gospels and the Acts. 
 These are written on vellum, one column of 34 lines on a 
 page, the left-hand page presenting the Greek text and the 
 opposite right-hand page having the corresponding Latin 
 version. The great scholar and reformer Theodore Beza 
 says he found the MS. in Lyons (1562), and he gave it to 
 Cambridge University, England, in 1581. The text has 
 many interpolations, and has been boldly altered and cor- 
 rected by several hands. An edition has been edited in 
 ordinary type by Scrivener (1864), which represents the 
 MS. line for line. 
 
 13. New manuscripts. It is quite probable that new 
 manuscripts of importance may yet be discovered. Besides 
 the Sinaitic MS. found in 1859, the Codex Rossanensis 
 was found in Calabria in 1879, a purple vellum of 188 
 leaves, written in silver letters, having the Gospels of 
 Matthew and Mark; these Gospels are in the Beratinus 
 MS., an uncial found in Albania, and described in 1886, 
 by Batiffol. Like the Rossanensis, it has the doxology to 
 the Lord's Prayer. The report that a complete N. T. 
 MS. was found at Damascus, 1890-91, proved a hoax. 
 Yet new MSS. of some value have lately been found. 
 
 The remaining uncial MSS. are of secondary importance, 
 and do not call for particular description. 
 
ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS OF THE BIBLE. 59 
 
 14. THE CURSIVES (or Minuscules, "small letters ") are a 
 numerous class of manuscripts, written on vellum or parch- 
 ment, and some on cotton or linen paper. They are often 
 richly illuminated, and date from the ninth to the middle 
 of the fifteenth century, when they were superseded by 
 printed copies of the Bithe. About 30 of them are known 
 to contain the entire New Testament ; others have portions ; 
 as 600 the Gospels, 300 the Pauline Epistles, 200 the 
 Catholic Epistles, 100 the Book of Revelation, while there 
 are 350 Evangelistaries, that is, "lessons" from the Gos- 
 pels, and so on. A number have been critically collated, 
 but they do not throw as important light upon our present 
 text as the older uncial manuscripts. 
 
 15. HEBREW MANUSCRIPTS. Written copies of the He- 
 brew text of the Old Testament are of comparatively re- 
 cent age, the oldest of the Law not being older than 840 
 A.D. They have all been written since the period of the 
 Massoretes. The rule of the old Talmudists was that all 
 faulty or Imperfect MSS. of their sacred books should be 
 destroyed. This may partially account for the scarcity of 
 them. But about fourteen hundred different Hebrew MSS. 
 have been found and examined by Hebrew scholars chiefly 
 Kennicott and De Rossi. 
 
 1 6. The Hebrew MSS. are of two classes: those pre- 
 pared for use in the synagogue services, and those intended 
 for private reading. The rules for preparing the manu- 
 script copies of the Old Testament to be used in public 
 worship were many and very strict. The parchment must 
 be made by a Jew, from the skin of an animal that was 
 ceremonially clean. The writing must be in columns ex- 
 actly equal in length. If more than three words were off 
 the line, the whole work must be thrown aside. It must be 
 
60 ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 written with a black ink made according to a specific rec- 
 ipe, and the forms of the letters were minutely specified, 
 as also the spaces, points and use of the pen. The work 
 must be carefully revised within thirty days after the copy 
 was completed, and if then there was a letter wanting in a 
 word, or if one letter touched another, the manuscript was 
 condemned. Manuscripts for private use were subject to 
 less rigorous rules. Although these rules must have been 
 burdensome to copyists, they were very effective in promot- 
 ing the preservation of a purer text of the Hebrew Scrip- 
 tures. 
 
 17. The Hebrew Text. It is not easy to determine the 
 original reading of the text of the Old Testament for the 
 reasons already stated. It was formerly supposed that in 
 Hebrew the words were written continuously, as in the an- 
 cient Greek manuscripts, but the discovery of the ancient 
 writing on the Moabite stone indicates that this was not so. 
 The words on the Moabite stone are separated by points, 
 and the text is separated into parts or verses by vertical 
 strokes. There are about 7000 words in the old Hebrew 
 vocabulary. 
 
 1 8. The Massoraliis a collection of critical and other notes 
 relating to the Hebrew text of the Old Testament. These 
 were intended to preserve the text in a certain fixed charac- 
 ter. The notes of the Massorites referred to (i) What is in 
 the text? (2) What should be in the text? They counted 
 the letters ; they marked the waitv in Lev. 1 1 : 42 as the 
 middle letter in the Pentateuch. They noted that the let- 
 ter alefih (A) occurs 42,377 times, and beth (B) 35,288 
 times, and so on of each letter in the Hebrew alphabet. 
 They noted when a word occurred only once, and a multi- 
 tude of other minute points about the text. 
 
ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS OF THE BIBLE. 61 
 
 But in making a new copy, they sometimes found a word 
 in the written copy before them, which they had reason 
 to believe was incorrect. They would not alter it, but they 
 would write in the margin the consonants of the word they 
 believed to be the right one. Then they would add under 
 the word in the text the vowel points of the right word 
 which they had written in the margin. The word in the 
 text they called Kethibh " What is written ; " the word 
 in the margin Keri " What must be read." The ancient 
 Hebrew was written without vowel-points. These points 
 were the invention of the Massoretes between 500 and 1000 
 A.D. to represent and stereotype, as it were, the traditional 
 reading of the text which had come down to their time. 
 Hebrew can be read, though with greater difficulty, without 
 vowel points, or accents. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE NEW TESTAMENT : HOW AND WHEN ONE BOOK. 
 
 1. THE BOOK A GROWTH. The New Testament was a 
 growth. The gathering of the separate books into one 
 volume was a gradual process. Though the separate books 
 were written by apostles or apostolical men, they did not 
 gather the books into one collection. Nor was the collec- 
 tion formed by an official decree of any church council, 
 nor by a miracle, or inspired act of some single Christian 
 father or scholar, or of some local body of believers, like 
 the church at Antioch, Jerusalem or Rome. 
 
 2. The Result of a General Agreement. The collection 
 of the various writings into one book, now called the New 
 Testament, was the result of a general agreement among 
 all early Christians scattered over the then known civilized 
 world. The line between those writings which were re- 
 garded "sacred" and of divine authority, and those that 
 were "apocryphal," was sharply drawn in the fourth cen- 
 tury. The persecution of Christians under Diocletian (A.D. 
 303) was directed against their sacred books as well as 
 against their faith and person. The order was to burn all 
 copies of their Scriptures, and Christians were forced to 
 give them up or be condemned themselves. Some gave up 
 their Scriptures, and were branded as traditores (traitors) by 
 their fellow-disciples. Others apparently complied by giv- 
 ing up heretical or apocryphal writings, and thus escaped 
 
 (62) 
 
HOW AND WHEN ONE BOOK. 63 
 
 the censure of the church. This implied a general agree- 
 ment among Christians respecting what were and what were 
 not Scriptures of divine authority. 
 
 3. A Testing Process. Such an agreement was not 
 reached at once, nor without severely testing a few of the 
 writings finally admitted, as Hebrews in the western church, 
 and seven books (James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, He- 
 brews and Revelation) by some in the eastern church. But 
 by the end of the fourth century objections and doubts 
 respecting those books had ceased. The Latin church 
 of the north also concurred in the same list of sacred books, 
 and the collection as we now have it was universally re- 
 garded as closed. 1 
 
 4. The Tests. This collection remained "closed " un- 
 til the Reformation, in the sixteenth century, when Luther 
 and some reformers revived doubts in respect to some of 
 the antilegomena books, because of the doctrines they were 
 supposed to affect. Yet Protestant Christians have with 
 great unanimity accepted the strict collection of sacred 
 books as it was accepted and "closed" by the early Chris- 
 tian church in the third and fourth centuries. 
 
 The crucial tests which a book must pass before it could 
 be accepted as of divine authority do not come within the 
 scope of these papers. The purpose here is to state, histo- 
 rically, what writings were accepted. It may be proper, 
 however, to add that Protestants require more than the 
 external testimony of the church to certify what writings 
 are sacred and of divine authority. Thus Luther against 
 Eck said, "A council cannot make that to be of Scripture 
 
 1 See Weiss, Intro., vol. i. p. 119 ff. ; Schaff, Hist. Christn. Church, 
 vol. iii. p. 608 ff. ; Eusebius, H. E., bk. iii. 25, bk. vi. 25. 
 
64 THE NEW TESTAMENT: 
 
 which is not by nature Scripture." Calvin called it " a 
 most pernicious error" to hold "that the Scriptures have 
 only so much weight as is conceded to them by the suffrages 
 of the church; as though," he adds, "the eternal and in- 
 violable truth of God depended on the arbitrary will of 
 men." (Inst. 1:7.) Scripture must be God-given, by 
 men inspired of the Holy Spirit to declare a divine rule 
 of faith. Added to this, the test of the right of a book 
 to a place in the Scriptures may be stated as threefold : 
 
 (1) external evidence, as the historic testimony of the church; 
 
 (2) internal evidence from the book itself, determined in 
 part by the consensus of Christian scholarship ; and (3) wit- 
 ness of the Spirit to the truth and authority of the word in 
 the heart of believers. See 26. Helvetic Conf. , chaps, i., 
 ii. ; Gallican Conf., art. iv. ; Belgian, art. v. ; Thirty-nine 
 Articles, art. vi. ; Scotch Conf., 1560, art. xix. ; Westmin- 
 ster Conf., art. i., 2-5 ; Reuss, Hist. Canon, 313. 
 
 5. Fresh Examination. Biblical study is taken up afresh 
 with each new generation of scholars ; and the object is to 
 search for the external and internal evidence concerning 
 each New Testament book. The decision depends in part 
 upon the test of admission to the collection. The tendency 
 is to make this test apply not alone to what is apostolic, 
 but also to what was imposed as law upon the early church 
 by apostolic authority, and that was duly attested by the 
 general religious consciousness of early Christians. 
 
 6. Formation in the Western Church. In marking the 
 process of gathering apostolic writings into one New Tes- 
 tament, let it be noticed that councils and the great Chris- 
 tian Fathers did not decide nor so strongly discuss what 
 writings ought to be included, as declare what in fact were 
 accepted and included among those of divine authority. It 
 
HOW AND WHEN ONE BOOK. 65 
 
 appears, however, that generally, early Christians devoutly 
 applied substantially the same principles to test the nature 
 of each book of the New Testament as later Protestant 
 Christians have applied. The early Christians clearly re- 
 quired that the books must be written by an apostle or 
 apostolic men, and must have been adopted for reading in 
 public service. 
 
 In the western church all the writings now in the New 
 Testament were readily acknowledged, except Hebrews. 
 The hesitation in respect to Hebrews sprang largely from 
 the uncertainty as to the author. Some held that it was 
 written by Paul, but many doubted its Pauline authorship, 
 The frequent contact of western with eastern Christians, 
 however, and the studies of Origen, Ambrose, Augustine, 
 Rufinus and Jerome, led to the general acceptance of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews in the western church about the 
 close of the fourth century, and the New Testament col- 
 lection was "closed" as we now have it. The West had 
 no desire to include other writings beyond these in the 
 Scriptures. See Weiss, Intro., vol. i. p. 137. 
 
 7. Formaticm in the Eastern Church. It was a more dif- 
 ficult process to perfect the collection of New Testament 
 writings in the East. At a very early period at least twenty 
 books were admitted without question. These were some- 
 times spoken of as homolegoumena, that is," acknowledged." 
 Of the remaining seven books, two were received, five 
 were called antilegomena, literally, "spoken against," 
 meaning that some were in doubt whether they had a right 
 to a place in the collection or not. 1 
 
 Eusebius wrote a history of the church in the fourth 
 century. In his narrative of the first and second centuries 
 he gives a statement of the books of the New Testament. 
 
 1 See Eusebius, bk. iii. : 25 ; vi. : 25. 
 
66 THE NEW TESTAMENT: 
 
 He asserts that twenty books were acknowledged without 
 question. Some hesitated to accept Revelation, " but 
 others rank it among the genuine." Among the antilegom- 
 ena t or books that were questioned, although he says 
 " they are well known and approved by many," he men- 
 tions James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John in all five. He 
 then refers to several books as spurious as the Acts of Paul, 
 Shepherd of Hermas, Epistle of Barnabas, Revelation of 
 Peter, and Institutions of the Apostles. When Eusebius 
 comes to the period of Origen, lie quotes the testimony of 
 that Father, that the Revelation of John and the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews were then accepted, but reports that some 
 still have doubts respecting 2 Peter and 2 and 3 John, al- 
 though he implies that the many receive them as genuine 
 portions of Scripture. H. E. vi. 25. 
 
 8. EARLY CATALOGUE OF NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. In 
 the writings that have been preserved of the early Chris- 
 tian Fathers of the first four centuries, not less than eight 
 or ten catalogues, more or less complete, of the books of 
 the New Testament are given, and scores of writers quote 
 from the New Testament books as of divine authority. 1 
 When it is considered how very small a portion of those 
 early writings has come down to us, this "evidence will be 
 counted of great value. Augustine gives a full list corre- 
 sponding to those now accepted, as do Athanasius, Jerome 
 and Eusebius. Some of these omit Revelation, and some 
 Hebrews also. In all the Christian writings of importance 
 belonging to that early period that have come down to us, 
 the books of the New Testament are referred to, quoted or 
 accepted as sacred and of divine authority. The citations 
 
 1 Sec Lnnlner's works. 
 
HOW AND WHEN ONE BOOK. 67 
 
 by some of these early writers, as Justin Martyr of the sec- 
 ond century, and Origen, would fill a volume. These ref- 
 erences and quotations are widely distributed, including 
 writers of each century, from those of Clemens Romanus 
 and Ignatius of the first century to those of Augustine, 
 Chrysostom and Cyril of Alexandria, near the close of the 
 fourth century. 
 
 9. Process of Forming the Collection* The beginning and 
 the steps in the process of gathering the sacred writings 
 into one book of divine authority rest in some obscurity. 
 Yet the main features are indicated in the fragmentary 
 works of contemporary writers, and accord with similar 
 known facts of history. 
 
 While the apostles were proclaiming the gospel, Chris- 
 tians looked to them for authoritative instruction, and did 
 not feel the need of written teachings upon matters of faith 
 and belief. Yet Paul wrote brief instructions to the 
 churches he had planted at Thessalonica and in Galatia, 
 which are now generally acknowledged to be the earliest 
 written books in the form found in the New Testament, 
 and date from about the middle of the first century. 1 Most 
 of the books have internal evidence that they were written 
 before the fall of Jerusalem, A.D. 70; that all of them date 
 before the end of the first century has been successfully 
 shown. Some critical scholars of the destructive school 
 
 1 Papias, of Hierapolis, in the early part of the second century, 
 speaks of /fy&Ua books from which the commands of the Lord might 
 be known and alludes to a history written by Mark, and a collection 
 of "sayings" in Hebrew made by Matthew. Even the epistles of 
 Barnabas and of Clement clearly have statements in almost the exact 
 words of Matthew. The second epistle of Clement and the Didache 
 have clear evidence of the influence of Luke's Gospel. Compare 
 "Weiss, Intro., i. 38, 39. 
 
68 THE NEW TESTAMENT: 
 
 who have sought to maintain a later date have been forced 
 to abandon their position and concede a date not far from 
 the close of the first century. 
 
 As the number of Christians increased, and became too 
 numerous for the apostles and their immediate disciples to 
 instruct orally, there was a necessity for writings of authority 
 to preserve the church in purity and prevent serious here- 
 sies and unbelief. In fact, history tells us that divisions 
 and heretical views did prevail in many quarters, and even 
 that spurious works were written and circulated under the 
 cover of apostolic names. The true believers, therefore, 
 gathered the genuine writings of the apostolic age, and the 
 New Testament collection began to be formed. 1 In the 
 second century, Christian writers, as Dionysius of Corinth 
 and Theophilusof Antioch (A.D. 180), refer to the "Script- 
 ures of the Lord" as of the same authority as the Old 
 Testament. The testimony of history is clear that twenty 
 books, comprising eight-ninths of the entire New Testa- 
 ment, were thus generally accepted as Holy Scripture by 
 the early Christians from 170 A.D. and onward. 
 
 10. Completion of the New Testament. Although the 
 other seven books already mentioned were more slow in 
 securing universal acknowledgment, yet they were finally 
 so accepted, while others, as the Epistle of Barnabas and 
 the Shepherd of Hermas, were rejected. The sharp perse- 
 cutions which the early Christians endured, called for a 
 most careful and devout spiritual testing of every writing ; 
 for the acceptance of a work as "sacred " and of divine 
 authority might put their lives in jeopardy. It was only 
 natural that some should hesitate to accept a few books, 
 perhaps less known from their small size or the peculiar 
 character of their contents than were the other books. It 
 
 1 See I 1 2, p. 70. 
 
HOW AND WHEN ONE BOOK. 69 
 
 is not inconsistent with this natural process of gathering the 
 books of the New Testament to hold, as some do, that the 
 Gospels and Acts were early formed into one collection, to 
 which the apostolic teachings were added. Nor is it im- 
 probable that these apostolic epistles were circulated by 
 themselves for a brief period. But that they were finally 
 accepted in the face of such circumstances is strong proof 
 of their title to a place in the New Testament. The 
 Council of Carthage (397 A.D.) declared that "besides the 
 canonical Scriptures, nothing [is to] be read in the church 
 under the title of divine Scriptures." It then adds a list 
 of the books accepted as canonical, which besides the Old 
 Testament includes the twenty-seven New Testament books 
 and no others. 
 
 In this gradual process of sifting out of the mass of writ- 
 ings of the apostolic period, and of testing and settling which 
 were of divine authority, we find that while several books 
 were on the line of doubt and some were rejected, only 
 seven of the New Testament books were ever on that line, 
 and that these stood the test and were finally admitted. 
 The chief hesitation was over five of these books, compris- 
 ing only about one-thirty-sixth part of the entire New 
 Testament. 
 
 n. Attested by the Church and the Spirit. The conclu- 
 sion is that the great body of early Christians, the general 
 church of Jesus Christ, of every speech, East and West, 
 Syrian, Asiatic, African and European, devoutly seeking 
 to know the mind of Christ, was led by the Spirit of God 
 to fix upon these twenty-seven books and no others as the 
 New Testament Scriptures having divine authority as the 
 word of God. This is far more satisfactory, and gives us 
 a much stronger attestation and assurance of the purity 
 
70 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 and authority of this collection as the word of God, than if 
 it had been made and decreed by a church council, or only 
 by the early Christian Fathers, as Augustine, Jerome, Ter- 
 tullian, Origen, Irenaeus, Cyril, Justin Martyr or Polycarp. 
 They testify that the church universal, guided by the Spirit, 
 did receive these books as the word of God ; and thus the 
 promise of Christ to the apostles was fulfilled : " When he, 
 the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the 
 truth" (John 16: 13, Revised Version). 
 
 12. As to the Mode of the formation of the collection 
 of New Testament books, some maintain that as each 
 book was given to and imposed on the church by apostolic 
 authority, it was accepted and added to the O. T. collec- 
 tion then in use. 1 Others hold that the titles, "Gospels 
 and apostles" and "Apostolicon" by which some of the 
 collections of the new books were early known, implied a 
 collection or collections separate from the Old Testament. 
 As all books were then written out by hand, complete col- 
 lections of the O. T. books must have been comparatively 
 rare, while those of the new books, being less bulky, were 
 more widely circulated, and of special importance as a 
 rule of faith for infant Christian churches. But in either 
 view both the O. T. and the N. T. collections, wherever 
 known, were accepted as the authoritative rule of religion 
 and of faith. 2 
 
 'See Prof. B. B. Warfield, D. D., in S. S. World, Aug., 1892. 
 2 Alexander on the* Canon; Prof. F. R. Wynne, D. D., Literature 
 of the Second Century, N. T. Canon, pp. 79-89, N. Y., 1892. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WRITERS AND COMPOSITION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 1. Variety in Writing. All the books now in the New 
 Testament were extant and widely accepted as of divine 
 authority within one hundred years of the apostolic era. 
 The collection was " closed " and universally accepted as 
 "Holy Scriptures," of equal rank and authority with the 
 Old Testament, within two centuries after the apostolic 
 founding of Christian churches. 
 
 The twenty-seven New Testament books were written by 
 eight or nine different writers. They had widely different 
 temperaments, traits of character and physical circumstan- 
 ces, and had, moreover, widely different modes and degrees 
 of educational training. 
 
 Paul was the finished Jewish university student, a master 
 of logic and of argument. Luke was the Greek medical 
 scholar; Matthew the orderly, practical man of business, 
 conversing with equal ease and grace in Aramaic and Greek ; 
 while John was the well-to-do fisherman, earnest, medita- 
 tive, the man to make a profound Christian philosopher 
 when the opportunity came. 
 
 More definitely then, the questions before us are : When, 
 by whom, under what circumstances, and with what pur- 
 pose, were the twenty-seven books of the New Testament 
 originally written ? 
 
 2. Date of the Books. The thirteen Pauline Epistles 
 
 (71) 
 
72 WRITERS AND COMPOSITION OF 
 
 (excepting those to individuals) were among the earliest of 
 the present written books of the New Testament. They 
 may all be safely placed within a limit of fifteen years, 
 from A.D. 52 to A.D. 67. 
 
 The date of the Synoptic Gospels and of the Acts may 
 with much confidence be placed within the ten years from 
 A.D. 60 to A.D. 70. Within the same period may be safely 
 placed the pastoral Epistles of Paul, the Epistle to the He- 
 brews, and the general Epistles of James, Peter, and Jude. 
 
 The Gospel of John, his three Epistles and Revelation, 
 belong to the last quarter of the first century, the Gospel 
 probably written earliest, the epistles next, and the Reve- 
 lation last, from 90 to 95 ; but the Gospel probably pub- 
 lished last, 95 to 100 A.D. 
 
 3. Writers of the Books. The names of eight of the 
 writers of twenty-six of the New Testament books are cer- 
 tainly known. Six of the writers thus named have been 
 identified beyond reasonable question. Concerning two 
 of them, James and Jude, it is not yet agreed which of the 
 several persons called James, nor which of those called 
 Jude or Judas, is the author of the respective epistles bear- 
 ing these names. 
 
 In eighteen of the New Testament books the writers dis- 
 tinctly state their names in the body of their respective 
 books. In nine of the books the name of the writer is not 
 given in the works themselves. The authors of the nine 
 must be ascertained, if at all, from other sources, such as 
 the historic testimony of the early Christians immediately 
 following the apostolic period, and the internal evidences 
 found in the books themselves. For example, the book 
 may contain hints pointing to the identity of the critw, 
 such as are given in John 21 : 24; with 20 : 31 ; 13 . 23, 
 
THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 73 
 
 and in the " we " sections of Acts 21:1; 27:1, compared 
 with Acts i : i and Luke i : 3. The structure, style and 
 topics of a book, by agreeing with what is known of the 
 character .and circumstances of the person whom history 
 indicates as the writer, may confirm the authorship. 
 
 4. THE GOSPELS AND THE ACTS do not give the names \ 
 of their respective authors. Historical testimony from the 
 first half of the second century declares that the first Gos- 
 pel was written by Matthew, one of the twelve, and who 
 was first called Levi. Papias (A.D. 130-160) says, "Mat- 
 thew composed his history [of our Lord] in the Hebrew 
 dialect, and everyone translated it as he was able." 1 
 Irenaeus makes a similar statement, adding that the Gospel 
 was written while the apostles were preaching in Rome. 
 
 5, But the Gospel of Matthew, as we now have it, reads 
 like a Greek original. Certain passages in which it agrees 
 with Mark and Luke indicate that the writer used a Greek 
 source. How can it be that the Gospel was written in He* 
 brew, and yet our Greek copy not be a translation ? An 
 answer is not difficult. Matthew, as a tax collector, would 
 become familiar with Aramaic and Greek. For Hebrews, 
 he would naturally have first written his Gospel in Aramaic. 
 Then the Hellenistic Christians would desire it in Greek, 
 and he wrote it in Greek also for them. The Hebrew copy 
 has perished, and the Greek alone has been preserved. 
 There is a similar parallel in the writings of Josephus in 
 the same era. His history of the Jewish wars was first 
 written in Aramaic, but afterwards in Greek. The Ara- 
 maic copy has perished ; the one in Greek has been pre- 
 served to our time. 
 
 1 Eusebius, H. E. 3 : 39. 
 
74 WRITERS AND COMPOSITION OF 
 
 6. Historic testimony has uniformly fixed upon Mark as 
 the author of the second Gospel. 1 Nor is there any reason- 
 able doubt that he is the same as John Mark, 2 the son of 
 Mary, at whose house Peter found the disciples praying in 
 Jerusalem (Acts 12 : 12). His Gospel is frequently quoted 
 by Justin Martyr and Irenseus. The latter says, " Mark, 
 the disciple and interpreter of Peter, himself also wrote and 
 handed on to us what Peter had preached."^ 
 
 7. That the third Gospel and the Acts were written by the 
 same hand is fairly proven by the opening sentences of the 
 books themselves (compare Luke i : 3 with Acts i : i), and 
 by the construction, style and medical terms of the two 
 treatises. That Luke the physician and companion of 
 Paul is the writer, history testifies, and the circumstantial 
 evidence derived from the books as well as what we know 
 of Luke confirm that testimony. 
 
 / 8. The Fourth Gospel The authorship of the fourth 
 Gospel was for years the chief object of attack by skeptical 
 critics. If they could prove that to be not genuine, or not 
 trustworthy, they could then hope to destroy the other his- 
 toric foundations of Christianity. They signally failed. 
 That the apostle John was the writer of that Gospel has 
 been established against the severest and strongest critical 
 objections. 
 
 The authenticity of the Gospel has been established by 
 the fact of the general acceptance of it in the last part of 
 the second century, by citations from it as Apostolic 
 
 1 Pnpias states whnt John the Presbyter said. " Mark being the inter- 
 preter of Peter, whatsoever he recorded he wrote with great accuracy," 
 etc. (F.usebius, H. E. 3: 39). 
 
 1 " Without doubt he is identical with John Mark " (Weiss, Intro., 
 2:256). 
 
THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 75 
 
 Memoirs of Christ by Justin Martyr, by its use among 
 various Gnostic sects, and by evidence attached to the book 
 itself. See John 21 : 24, 25. l In the face of this irrefra- 
 gable evidence, the efforts to deny that John wrote the 
 fourth Gospel, because a plain fisherman could not be 
 fitted to write such a book, or could not be the author of 
 the book of Revelation and of so dissimilar a work as the 
 Gospel, are shallow reasonings, or mere " begging the 
 question " under color of specious argument. Few would 
 believe a priori that a poor tinker like Bunyan could have 
 written the most famous uninspired book in the world, the 
 Pilgrim* 's Progress ; yet no sane person doubts that Bunyan 
 did write it. And who can doubt that the apostle John, 
 taught three years by a divine Teacher, and also by a long 
 life of study, observation and experience in Christian 
 truth, and guided by the Holy Spirit, could write the Gos- 
 pel ascribed to him, and that he would also possess versa- 
 tility enough to write a work as different from the Gospel as 
 Revelation ? Literary writers on secular topics and of far 
 less training and experience show as wide a versatility. It 
 is unscientific and puerile to urge that a Christian writer 
 with the advantages and experience history assures us that 
 John possessed, and with the added power of the Holy 
 Spirit, was without equal versatility. The writer of that 
 Gospel was a Palestinian Jew, an eye-witness of the events 
 he narrates, and the book claims to be by the disciple whom 
 Jesus loved. These particulars apply best to the apostle 
 John and to him alone. 
 
 1 These verses are commonly held by critical scholars to have been 
 added to the Gospel by the elders of the church over which John was 
 pastor, and who provided the first copy of his Gospel for transcription. * 
 See Abbot, Authorship of the Fourth Gospel, p. 92. 
 
76 WRITERS AND COMPOSITION OF 
 
 9. Pauline Epistles. In each of the THIRTEEN EPIS- 
 TLES of Paul, the writer distinctly avows himself to be the 
 apostle of that name. If they were not by him, then they 
 are bold forgeries. Who believes that treatises of this kind 
 that were deliberate forgeries would have held or gained the 
 confidence of the church universal, and during the life-time 
 of many intimate pupils of that great apostle ? None, ex- 
 cept the critics of the destructive school of Baur and 
 of Renan, doubt that these epistles were all written by Paul. 
 Even they are compelled to admit some of them to be 
 genuine. The historic evidence is clear that they were the 
 writings of Paul. 
 
 10. The Hebrews. The writer of the book of Hebrews is 
 unknown, or at least undetermined. The authorship was 
 an open question as long ago as the days of Origen. In 
 the early eastern church the belief .was that Paul wrote it, 
 or that it was his treatise although it might have been 
 penned by Luke or Clement. But in the early western 
 church the author was believed to be Barnabas or some un- 
 known writer. In later times Luther advocated Apollos as 
 the author, while Erasmus urged Clement. 
 
 11. James. The Epistle of James could not have been 
 written by James, son of Zebedee and the brother of John, 
 for it was written after the persecution, and hence after 
 James was slain by Herod. The writer was a James whose 
 pastoral authority he assumed would not be questioned by 
 the Jewish Christians " scattered abroad." This fits well 
 with what history tells us of James the " bishop " of Jeru- 
 salem. Whether he was identical with James the son of 
 Alphaeus (which is doubtful) or James the brother of the 
 Lord, or was another James, cannot be discussed here for 
 want of space. It must suffice to say that it is not incon- 
 
THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 77 
 
 sistent with the main historic facts to regard James the 
 writer of this Epistle as identical with the "bishop" of 
 Jerusalem and with James the brother of the Lord. 
 
 12. Peter. THE TWO EPISTLES OF PETER are clearly as- 
 cribed to Simon Peter, one of the twelve. The first Epis- 
 tle was universally accepted by the early Church as the 
 work of Peter, which the style and contents strongly con- 
 firm. The author aims to comfort Christians who were 
 suffering for their religion. They were the Christian 
 Jews scattered through the Roman provinces of Asia 
 Minor. The second Epistle claims to be by Peter and 
 to be the "second " which he had written (2 Pet. 3 : i), 
 It was held among the doubtful books for some time, but, 
 after a careful sifting of the evidences for its Petrine author- 
 ship, it was accepted as genuine. The resemblances of 
 style between this and the first Epistle are greater than the 
 differences, and these differences spring chiefly from the 
 different purpose and persons for which the two books were 
 written. Hope is the keynote of the first, since those ad- 
 dressed were persecuted for their faith. Knowledge is em- 
 phasized in the second, since it was written to those ex- 
 posed to false teaching, but, in fact, holiness is the theme 
 of both Epistles. 
 
 13. John's Epistles. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN was 
 generally received by the early Church as written by John 
 the beloved disciple and one of the twelve. In contents 
 and style it agrees well with the fourth Gospel. It was in- 
 tended to guard against false teachings and to confirm the 
 faith of believers in Jesus as the Son of God. It was first 
 written for the church at Ephesus and for Christians in that 
 region. The two smaller epistles of John were widely, 
 though not universally, received as the letters of John in 
 
78 WRITERS AND COMPOSITION OF 
 
 the time of Origen, and, after long testing, were finally re- 
 ceived as genuine. The second is addressed to " the elect 
 lady and her children," which probably refers to some 
 church in a house, similar to that in the house of Aquila 
 and Priscilla (i Cor. 16:19; Rom. 16 : 3, 5). The third 
 Epistle of John was written to Gaius, perhaps one of those 
 elsewhere named (Rom. 16 : 23 ; i Cor. i : 14; Acts 19 : 
 29 ; 20 : 4). It describes the state of the Church near the 
 close of the first century. The date of all John's epistles 
 must be placed late in the first century, though possibly a 
 little earlier than that of Revelation. 
 
 14. Jude. THE SHORT EPISTLE OF JUDE is recognized 
 by writers who are silent respecting that of James. Pre- 
 cisely which Jude it was who was " the brother of James " 
 depends upon which James is intended. If Jude had been 
 an apostle, he would naturally have been expected to write 
 as an apostle. That he should designate himself as "the 
 brother of James " is incidental proof that he was not the 
 apostle Jude. He cites some apocryphal books, 1 but so Paul 
 also cites from heathen poets. His Epistle reminds one of 
 the second Epistle of Peter. These striking resemblances 
 have not been very satisfactorily explained. Formerly it 
 was suggested that the two writers used a common docu- 
 ment, but later critics regard the likenesses either as mere 
 coincidences, or possibly that the letter of Peter may have 
 unconsciously influenced the language and expression of 
 Jude. The letter was apparently written for Palestinian 
 Jews, about 67 to 70 A.D. 
 
 15. The Book of Revelation is a product of a period of 
 trial and of hope. Clearly it is largely prophetic, and it is 
 
 1 Book of Enoch, and, according to Origen, Assumption of Moses. 
 
THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 79 
 
 now generally conceded that it was written by the apostle 
 John. The integrity and unity of the book have been 
 sharply attacked by modern critics, but their arguments 
 have been shown to be weak and their view untenable. The 
 interpretation of the book is confessedly hedged about with 
 the most serious difficulties. It is the favorite field for the 
 mystic, the fanciful and the imaginative biblical expositors. 
 There is little doubt that it was first written to warn Chris- 
 tians of coming persecutions and to comfort them in their 
 terrible sufferings. It points the martyrs to the reward be- 
 yond this life and to the peace and glories of the celestial 
 
 home. 
 
 TABLE OF NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 By whom, to whom, when and where written, and the subject of each 
 
 book. 
 
 N. B. The dates are approximate only. The place of writing is also not certain. 
 The titles of the books and the statement at the end of the Epistles in our English 
 version are not by the original writer, but were added by some subsequent hand. 
 
 BOOK. 
 
 WRITER. 
 
 WHERE 
 WRITTEN. 
 
 DATE. 
 
 To WHOM. 
 
 TOPIC. 
 
 Matt 
 
 Matthew 
 
 Judaea 
 
 60-64.... 
 
 Jewish Chris'ns. 
 
 Jesus the Messiah. 
 
 Mark.... 
 
 Mark 
 
 Rome (?).. 
 
 60-67.... 
 
 Roman Chris'ns. 
 
 Jesus the Son of 
 Man. 
 
 Luke 
 
 Luke 
 
 Cassarea or 
 Rome (?). 
 
 58-65.... 
 
 Theophilus 
 
 Jesus the World's 
 Redeemer. 
 
 John 
 
 John 
 
 Ephesus or 
 Patmos l 
 
 90-981... 
 
 All Christians.... 
 
 Jesus the Eternal 
 Son of God. 
 
 Acts 
 
 Luke 
 
 Rome 
 
 65, 66 ... 
 
 Theophilus 
 
 Planting of Apos- 
 tolic Churches. 
 
 Rom 
 
 p al ,l 
 
 Corinth.... 
 
 58 
 
 Roman Chris'ns. 
 
 Sin and Grace. 
 
 i Cor.... 
 
 
 
 Ephesus ... 
 
 57 
 
 Ch. at Corinth... 
 
 Unity and Resur- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 rection in Christ. 
 
 2 Cor.... 
 
 
 
 Macedonia 
 
 CJ 
 
 a 
 
 Christian Graces. 
 
 Gal ... ~ 
 
 ft 
 
 Ephesus ... 
 
 56, 57 .... 
 
 Ch. at Galatia.... 
 
 Salvation by Faith. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Principles, Life 
 
 Eph 
 
 " 
 
 Rome 
 
 61-63.... 
 
 Ch.at Ephesus... 
 
 and Unity of the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Church. 
 
 Phil 
 
 
 
 tt 
 
 6i-6q ... 
 
 Ch. at Philippi... 
 
 Personal Counsels. 
 
 Col 
 
 , 
 
 
 
 61-63.... 
 
 Ch. at Colosse 
 
 Correcting False 
 
 i Thess. 
 
 
 Corinth.... 
 
 52 
 
 Ch. at Thessal'a. 
 
 Doctrines. 
 Holiness and Sec- 
 ond Coming. 
 
 1 Whether the last chapter is an appendix or not, it is quite clear that 21 : 24, 25 
 was added, probably by the Church at Ephesus, before the publication of the Gos- 
 pel. Thus it may have been written while John was first at Ephesus, but not cir- 
 culated until his exile in Patmos. 
 
80 
 
 WRITERS AND COMPOSITION. 
 
 TABLE OF NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS Continued. 
 
 BOOK. 
 
 WRITERS. 
 
 WHERB 
 WRITTEN. 
 
 DATE. 
 
 To WHOM. 
 
 TOPIC. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Correcting Wrong 
 
 2 Thess. 
 
 Paul 
 
 Corinth .... 
 
 c CO 
 
 Ch. at Thessal'a. 
 
 Vi e ws of F i r s t 
 
 
 
 
 , 
 
 
 Letter. 
 
 x Tim 
 
 
 
 Macedonia 
 
 57 or 65 1 
 
 Timothy 
 
 Duties of Church 
 Officers. 
 
 
 
 2 Tim... 
 
 
 
 Rome 
 
 64. or 6? 1 
 
 M 
 
 Triumphant Faith. 
 
 
 ,i 
 
 Macedonia 
 
 U T U * U / 
 
 65, ** 
 
 Titus 
 
 Special Rules for 
 the Pastor. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Philem.. 
 
 a 
 
 Rome 
 
 61-63.... 
 
 Philemon ,.... 
 
 Freedom and Sla- 
 very. 
 
 
 Paul, Barnabas 
 
 
 
 
 Christ's Priesthood 
 
 Heb 
 
 or Apollos (?) 2 
 
 Italy (?).... 
 
 63-66 
 
 Judaean Chris'ns 
 
 Superior to the 
 
 James... 
 
 James, brother 
 of the Lord (?) 
 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 62-63 .... 
 
 U II 
 
 Mosaic. 
 Works, Faith and 
 Prayer. 
 
 i Peter.. 
 
 Simon Peter 
 
 Babylon... 
 
 64 
 
 Scattered Jewish 
 Christians. 
 
 Duties of Christians 
 to One Another. 
 
 
 2 Peter.. 
 
 " " 
 
 
 66(?) 
 
 To all Christians 
 
 A New Heaven and 
 Earth. 
 
 i John.. 
 
 Apostle John 
 
 Ephesus... 
 
 903,5 . 
 
 Believers 
 Elect Lady 
 
 Redeeming Love. 
 Obedience to Christ* 
 
 2 |o n.. 
 
 "" 
 
 
 
 (( 
 
 
 Personal Piety. 
 
 3 Jonn. . 
 Jude 
 
 Jude 
 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 65-90 
 
 Jewish Chris'ns. 
 
 Against Dangerous 
 Doctrines. 
 
 Rer...... 
 
 Apostle John 
 
 Patmos (?) 
 
 95 -ioo(?) 
 
 Seven ch's, Asia. 
 
 The Church in Con- 
 flict and Glory. 
 
 l The date depends upon whether there was a second imprisonment of Paul at 
 Rome. If there was, the latter date is the correct one. 
 
 Opinions of critical scholars ar now divided between the thrae, with the ten- 
 dency not very strong against the Pauline authorship of Hebrews. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 THE OLD TESTAMENT: HOW AND WHEN ONE BOOK. 
 
 The several books composing the Old Testament were 
 written at different times, stretching over a period of about 
 one thousand years. They span the ten centuries from 
 Moses and the exodus to the return from the Babylonian 
 captivity and the era of Ezra and Malachi. Like the build- 
 ing of a vast, magnificent palace, the production and gath- 
 ering into one book of all these varied writings of the law, 
 the prophets and the psalms, was a slow process. 
 
 1. Books in Septuagint Bible. In the first centuries of 
 the Christian era the Septuagint or Greek version of the 
 Hebrew Scriptures was in common use. Along with this 
 version of the generally-accepted books of the Hebrew 
 Bible, certain other apocryphal works were placed for refer- 
 ence, and thus came into favor and were not infrequently 
 quoted as if those works possessed the authority of the sa- 
 cred books themselves. But the sharp controversies of the 
 Jews with their opponents caused them to point out precisely 
 the real difference between the Greek collection and their 
 Hebrew Bible, and to define more clearly the books which 
 were accepted as of divine authority that is, the books 
 really comprised in the Hebrew Old Testament. 
 
 2. Testimony of Origen and Josephus. The early Chris- 
 tians also saw the necessity of fixing upon a list in accord 
 with the historic belief of the Hebrews. Thus Origen 
 
 (81) 
 
82 THE OLD TESTAMENT: 
 
 (186-254 A.D.) made a list of these Old Testament books, 
 based upon the historic views prevailing among the Jews. 
 Josephus recognized a definite and distinct body of books as 
 sacred. The efforts recently made to belittle the testimony 
 of Josephus on this point indicate greater ingenuity than 
 candor. It is said that he does not furnish an "authentic 
 list." But from his definite statement it is certain there 
 was a body of sacred books well known and generally ac- 
 cepted ; and from other historic sources the books in the 
 main can be satisfactorily determined. His words are 
 worth citing: "We have not an innumerable multitude of 
 books among us, disagreeing and contradicting one another 
 [as the Greeks have], but only twenty-two books, which 
 contain the records of all the past times; which are justly 
 believed to be divine." He then describes them as five 
 books of Moses, thirteen written by the prophets, and four 
 books of poems and "precepts for the conduct of human 
 life." Contra Apion^ i : 8. By a common usage of the 
 Jews, the books were counted twenty-two (but more fre- 
 quently twenty-four), to correspond with the letters in the 
 Hebrew alphabet. As the two books of Samuel were reck- 
 oned one, and the two of Kings one, and the two of 
 Chronicles one, and Lamentations was a part of Jeremiah, 
 and the twelve minor prophets were counted one only, the 
 collection noted by Josephus is substantially that now ac- 
 cepted. It is conceded by Eichhorn and others that Jo- 
 sephus quotes all the books of the Talmudic canon except 
 four ; but two of these must be counted in his four books 
 of poetry, to wit, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. This leaves 
 only the Song of Solomon and possibly Job uncertain in 
 his list. 
 
 3. The Triple Division. Professor Strack, a foremost 
 
HOW AND WHfiN ONE BOOK. 83 
 
 Hebraist, holds the statement of Josephus to be the 
 " strongest testimony for the canon, and, as is evident, ex- 
 presses the national and not his private views." He further 
 urges that, in the twenty-two books, Josephus cotmted Job 
 and the Song of Solomon. Moreover Strack declares that 
 the triple division of the books in the Hebrew Old Testa- 
 ment is affirmed in the prologue to Sirach, and in the New 
 Testament, Luke 24: 44.* 
 
 4. Wfiat Philo and Talmudists say. The Talmud ists, 
 however, commonly reckoned the number of the Old Tes- 
 tament books twenty-four. This could easily be made by 
 separating some of the books counted as one in the Jewish 
 schools of Alexandria. Philo quotes as of divine authority 
 thirty of the thirty-nine books; so that, passing by the dis- 
 puted passage in his writings mentioning the books that 
 were in the Old Testament, he quotes all the books that we 
 would expect, from his topic and style, that he would cite, 
 except possibly two books. 
 
 5. What Christ and JVew Testament Writers Say. To 
 this must be added the direct if not conclusive testimony 
 of the New Testament. In the apostolic writings it is clear 
 that groups of works, and a body of books regarded as a 
 unit, are repeatedly alluded to as of divine authority. 
 What those separate writings were, may and can be ascer- 
 tained by evidence sufficient to satisfy a candid and an im- 
 partial mind. The Hebrew Scriptures are frequently re- 
 ferred to, or quoted under groups of books, as " the law," 
 " the law of Moses," or simply "Moses," "the prophets," 
 and the psalms, or sometimes " the writings," that is, " the 
 
 1 Professor Brings (Biblical Study, p. 131) objects to this, but his ob- 
 jection is inconclusive. See Buhl, Canon, O. 71, Eng. Ed., pp. 13-27. 
 
84 THE OLD TESTAMENT: 
 
 Scriptures " in the narrow sense. They are alluded to as a 
 unit, one divine record; "the Scriptures" in the broader 
 sense. 1 
 
 Christ quoted the Jewish "Scriptures" as sacred books 
 of divine authority. By "Scriptures" he did not refer 
 simply to the K'tubim or Hagiographa, that is, the so- 
 called third group ; for the passages thus cited were fre- 
 quently from the prophets, which belonged to the so-called 
 second group. For example, " not knowing the Script- 
 ures," Matt. 22: 29, 31, evidently has reference to Ex. 
 3:6; and " how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled ?" 
 refers to Isa. 53 : 10; and a similar phrase in Mark 15 : 28 
 is followed by a citation from Isa. 53 : 12. 
 
 6. OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS QUOTED IN THE NEW. Not 
 less than thirty of the thirty-nfhe Old Testament books 
 are quoted in the New Testament. Our Lord Himself 
 quotes from twenty of them. There are about 280 direct 
 quotations (including those in Revelation) of passages and 
 clauses, and about 220 references to incidents and indirect 
 quotations in the New Testament (exclusive of Revela- 
 tion)' from the Old Testament. The book of Revelation 
 
 1 For notice of the Old Testament books in the commonly-accepted 
 groups, see Matt. 5:17; 7 : 12 ; 12:5; 22 : 40; Mark I : 2 ; John 
 1:45; 7 :I 9J 8:5; 15:25; Luke 10:26; 24:44. For reference 
 to them as one work, see Matt. 21:42; 22:29; 26: 54 ' Mark 12:24; 
 14:49; Luke 24:27, 32, 45; John 5:39; Acts 17:2,11; 18:24; 
 Rom. 1:2; 15:4; 16:26; I Cor. 15:3; 2 Tim. 3:15; 2 IVt. 
 3 : 16. Those who assert that when Jesus referred to the group called 
 the Psalms, which included all the books not in the groups of the law 
 and of the prophets, he referred only to the single book of Psalms 
 and not to the group so called, are simply " begging the whole ques- 
 tion " at issue. 
 
 * Some older writers roughly counted 265 direct quotations and 350 
 allusions in the New Testament from the Old. The latest tables in 
 Bagster's new " Helps to Bible Study " note about 850 such direct 
 
HOW AND WHEN ONE BOOK. 86 
 
 is almost a mosaic of thoughts, figures and expressions, 
 from the prophetic books of the Old Testament. 1 
 
 Again, the numerous citations in the Gospels and Epistles 
 clearly indicate that some divisions in the Hebrew Script- 
 ures were recognized and well known in that era, while 
 at the same time all these groups were known as one work, 
 called, by way of eminence, " the Scriptures." 
 
 7. The Synod of Jamnia. It is generally agreed that 
 the books rightfully having a place in the O. T. Scriptures 
 were officially recognized by the Jewish council at 
 Jamnia, in the time of the Jewish war with Titus about 
 A.D. 70. There was a dissenting minority among the Es- 
 senes and Zealots, who would include apocryphal books, 
 and doubtless some among Sadducees and Samaritans, all 
 of whom held views of doctrines more or less heretical. 
 But the majority of the assembly agreed upon the gener- 
 ally accepted books held to be of divine authority. 
 
 Some of the Grecian Jews of Alexandria were broad in 
 their views, favoring the apocryphal books, and had placed 
 them in their Greek version of the Old Testament ; but 
 there was no Alexandrian canon. 2 The Sadducees would 
 naturally reject any book that favored future life and a 
 resurrection, doctrines which they denied ; while the Sa- 
 
 and indirect quotations and allusions. The tables in Oxford " Helps 
 to the Study of the Bible " give a good list of exact quotations and a 
 somewhat less complete list of indirect quotations and allusions. 
 
 1 From a careful examination of the book of Revelation, it appears 
 that in fifteen passages the book of Revelation uses the exact language 
 and expressions of some Old Testament book, besides 129 distinct 
 allusions to the Old Testament, and upwards of 100 less distinct refer- 
 ences. Bagster's " Helps " note only six citations, aside from " allu- 
 sions " in Revelation to the Old Testament. 
 
 3 " We cannot speak of a ' canon ' of the Alexandrines in the strict 
 sense of the word." Buhl, Canon, O. T., p. 47. The Syrian Church 
 did not accept the O. T. Apocrypha ; they are not in the Peshitta, 
 though found in later Syrian versions. 
 
86 THE OLD TESTAMENT: 
 
 maritan party was loth to accept any except the five books 
 of Moses as of divine authority. Yet the ablest Biblical 
 scholars maintain that the Jews of Egypt held that the 
 same books belonged to the Old Testament, as did the 
 Jews of Palestine. 1 
 
 8. How FORMED. It is natural to suppose that special 
 veneration of *sacred books written by authors of promi- 
 nence would first appear, and that too when the power of 
 the revealing spirit had been exceptionally clear and strong. 
 This would begin with the books of Moses and those asso- 
 ciated with them, and then extend to the more earnest and 
 spiritual of the prophets. 2 How much earlier than the 
 Council of Jamnia the entire collection of Old Testament 
 books was completed and fixed it is not possible definitely 
 to state. The statement of Josephus implies a date some 
 centuries before the Christian era. He says, after the pas- 
 sage quoted above, " How firmly we have given credit to 
 these books of our own nation is evident by what we do ; 
 for during so many ages as have already passed, no one has 
 been so bold as either to add anything to them, to take 
 anything from them, or to make any change in them; but 
 it is become natural to all Jews. ... to esteem these books 
 to contain divine doctrines, to persist in them, and if oc- 
 casion be, willingly to die for them." Contra Apion, i : 8. 
 
 Josephus here advocates the Hebrew Scriptures as 
 against Greeks, and appears to point to the persecution 
 against the sacred books of the Jews which followed the 
 Maccabaean wars about 160 B. c. It seems fair to infer, 
 therefore, that the Hebrew Scriptures, accepted in Jose- 
 
 * So Eichhorn, De Wette, Keil and Havernick. Bleek and some 
 others dissent. 
 
 * So Dr. Dillmann argues. 
 
HOW AND WHEN ONE BOOK. 87 
 
 phus' day were completed and accepted at the period of 
 this persecution. The Son of Sirach, in a prologue to 
 Ecclesiasticus, strengthens this view by his testimony. 
 
 9. Ezra and the Great Synagogue. There is, indeed, an 
 oral tradition, reduced to writing at a later period, that the 
 collection of Old Testament books was made under divine 
 appointment by Ezra, or by the hundred and twenty men 
 of the Great Synagogue ; but this tradition, though widely 
 prevalent among the Jews for centuries, has not been traced 
 to any satisfactory historical sources, and is stoutly dis- 
 puted by modern critical scholars. Whether the collection 
 of Old Testament books was or was not made by the Great 
 Synagogue, or by Ezra, Nehemiah or Malachi,.or some- of 
 the last of the prophets, it is certain that there was such a 
 complete collection for two or three centuries, at least, be- 
 fore the Christian era, and that there was a book of the 
 law, the germ of the collection of divine authority, known 
 eight or ten centuries earlier. 1 See 2 Chron. 34: 15 ; Josh, 
 i : 8 ; 8 : 34 ; Deut. 30 : 10 ; 31 : 26. 
 
 10. Slow Growth. The New Testament was the product 
 and result of a single century ; the Old Testament the 
 growth of ten centuries, and of great eras in the Hebrew 
 national life. It was certainly complete and well denned in 
 the period of persecution of Antiochus (168 B. c.) In 
 that period the sacred books were sought out and burnt, and 
 possession of a "book of the covenant" was punished by 
 death. 
 
 11. Objections Answered. The dissent from the strict 
 Jewish list of Old Testament books is only partial and ap- 
 parent, not real or partaking of any national character. 
 The unsettled state of the Hebrew people after the exile, 
 their persecutions and distracting wars, and the various 
 
 Buhl, Canon, O. T., p. 10 ff. 
 
88 THE OLD TESTAMENT: 
 
 heresies that sprang from interchanging with Gentile peo- 
 ples, account for the "controversies" respecting their 
 religion and sacred books. There was no serious question- 
 ing of the divine authority of the books ; nor are the few 
 references to the apocryphal books any conclusive proof 
 that they were regarded as Scriptures. Philo never uses 
 the apocryphal in the same way that he does the canonical 
 books. Josephus expressly disclaims divine authority for 
 the apocryphal writings. 1 
 
 / It is safe, therefore, to conclude, from historical and 
 other evidence, that the books of the Old Testament were 
 gathered into one and accepted as of divine authority by 
 the general consensus of godly Jewish people, and that the 
 collection was completed from two to three centuries be- 
 fore the Christian era. This collection has been generally 
 accepted as the entire books belonging to the Old Testa- 
 ment by the early Syrian Church and by all bodies of 
 modern evangelical and Protestant churches. The Latin 
 Church accepted the same also, with the addition of some 
 apocryphal books. 
 
 12. Order of the Books. The order of the Old Testa- 
 ment books in the Hebrew Bible is not the same as in our 
 common English Bibles. In the face of the rigid rules 
 for making copies of the Hebrew Scriptures, the variations 
 found in Hebrew manuscripts and in Hebrew printed 
 Bibles number about thirty thousand (some estimate two 
 hundred thousand), but they are mostly quite unimportant. 
 The Old Testament we have now is substantially that of 
 
 1 " It is true, our history hnth been written since Artaxerxes very 
 pnrticulaily, but it hath not been esteemed of the like authority with 
 the former by our forefnthers, because there hath not been an exact 
 succession of prophets since that time." Contra Apion, l ; 8. 
 
HOW AND WHEN ONE BOOK. 89 
 
 Ezra and Nehemiah and the " received text " of our Lord's 
 day, except as to the order of arranging the books. 
 
 13. The Hebrew order varied, but the following is a 
 common one : I. Pentateuch. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, 
 Numbers, Deuteronomy. 
 
 II. Earlier Prophets. Joshua, Judges, i and 2 Samuel, 
 
 1 and 2 Kings. 
 
 III. Later Prophets. (a) Greater: Isaiah, Jeremiah, 
 Ezekiel. () Lesser : Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, 
 Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, 
 Malachi. 
 
 IV. K'tubim or Hagiographa. (a)' Psalms, Proverbs, 
 Job. (^) Five Rolls; Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, 
 Ecclesiastes, Esther. (c) Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, i and 
 
 2 Chronicles. 1 
 
 It will be observed that the Hebrew Old Testament 
 closes with the Chronicles regarded as one book. This 
 will throw light on the reference to " Abel and Zachariah " 
 as the first and last-mentioned martyr (Matt. 23 : 35). An 
 earlier Hebrew arrangement, it is held, existed, by which 
 Ruth was a part of or appendix to Judges, and Lamentations 
 to Jeremiah. The books of Samuel were one, as also the 
 two books of Kings, and the twelve minor prophets one, 
 thus making twenty-four books in the Hebrew Bible. 
 
 14. Supposed Variations in the Lists of Books. The his- 
 torical facts in favor of the authority of the Old Testament 
 books now received by evangelical Christians, have not 
 really been weakened by exaggerating the variations from 
 that list. For example, it is asserted that there was (i) a 
 Saddueean, (2) a Samaritan, and (3) an Alexandrian canon 
 of the Old Testament. There is no historical proof that 
 
 1 Ezra I : 1-3 is the verbal duplicate of 2 Chron. 36 : 22, 23, com- 
 pleting the record with which 2 Chron. ends. 
 
 6 
 
90 THE OLD TESTAMENT: 
 
 the Sadducees received the books of Moses only, and 
 did not receive the other Old Testament books. The 
 Samaritan mixed population, which broke away from the 
 Jews and set up a worship and temple on Mt. Gerizim, did 
 restrict their Old Testament canon to the five books of 
 Moses. The Alexandrian Jews, on the other hand, did put 
 other books with the books of the ordinary Hebrew Old 
 Testament, without distinctly marking the difference ; but 
 it is not proven that the mass of even those Jews accepted 
 them all as of divine authority. Added to these three, are 
 others more recent as: (4) the Patristic list, that grew out 
 of the Alexandrian or Septuagint version, which failed to 
 draw a sharp line between the canonical and apocryphal 
 books. From this, again, came (5) the Roman Catholic 
 canon. The Council of Trent, 1546, declared for the larger 
 canon, including the Apocrypha, which it held were deserv- 
 ing of " equal veneration " with the other books ; but later 
 Romanists of intelligence have sought by various devices 
 to escape from this decisive decree. On the same side 
 some count (6) the Greek Church. But that church is di- 
 vided on the question, or at least is not consistent in its 
 edicts. The Synods of Constantinople, 1638, Jassy, 1642, 
 Jerusalem, 1672, refused to distinguish the canonical from 
 the apocryphal Old Testament books, although Cyril of 
 Constantinople did so mark them. The Larger Catechism 
 of that church, Moscow 1839, an authoritative doctrinal 
 standard of the church in Russia, excludes the apocryphal 
 Old Testament books on the ground that " they do not ex- 
 ist in Hebrew." The Old Catholic Union, 1874, declares 
 "that the apocryphal or deutero-canonical books of the 
 Old Testament are not of the same canonicity as the books 
 contained in the Hebrew canon." They also say that no 
 
HOW AND WHEN ONE BOOK. 91 
 
 translation can have superior authority to the original text. 
 (7) The Protestant canon conforms to the traditional He- 
 brew list, and is based on the most ancient and the highest 
 authority. Luther translated the Old Testament apocry- 
 phal books and commended them for private reading, but 
 did not count them of like divine authority with the books 
 in the ancient Hebrew canon. The church of England al- 
 lows the use of the apocryphal books " for example of life 
 in instruction of manners : but yet doth it not apply to 
 them to establish any doctrine." The Belgic Confession 
 holds a similar position. The Westminster Confession ex- 
 pressly declares them to be of no more value than other 
 human writings; " The books commonly called Apocrypha, 
 not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon 
 of Scripture; and therefore are of no authority in the 
 Church of God, nor to be otherwise approved or made 
 use of than other human writings." Chap. I. 3. The 
 various evangelical bodies of Christians clearly agree in 
 uniformly omitting the Apocrypha from the list of sacred 
 books. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE BOOKS OF THE LAW: THEIR AUTHORSHIP AND COM- 
 POSITION. 
 
 That part of the Bible which begins with the creation 
 and ends with the death of Moses, in early times was writ- 
 ten in one Hebrew roll, or book. In the Greek translation 
 it was arranged in five books, as now in our English Bibles. 
 
 1. Name. These five books are often called " The Pen- 
 tateuch," from the Greek 6 Trevrdm^of (Jw pentateuchos} t 
 meaning " the^five-volumed " book. The Hebrews call it 
 Torah, "Law," and, more fully, "The Law of Moses." 
 The unity of this entire portion of the Scriptures is 
 founded upon history and the close continuity of the con- 
 tents of the books. For example, in Hebrew manuscripts, 
 Genesis is reckoned not as one of five books, but as one part 
 of one book. A Hebrew conjunctive word connects Exo- 
 dus with Genesis, as it does each of the five books except 
 Deuteronomy. 
 
 2. DIVISION. The division into five books is ascribed 
 by some to the Alexandrian translators (285 B.C.), and by 
 others to the Maccabaean period, or possibly to the era of 
 Ezra. The one roll, however, continued to be referred to 
 as " The Law " even to the time of Christ ; for under this 
 title he quoted several of the first five books. 1 The title of 
 
 1 Matt. 12:5, e -K>* refers to Numbers; Luke 10: 26, 27 to Deuter- 
 onomy and Leviticus ; Luke 2 : 22, 23 to Exodus and Leviticus, etc., but 
 under the one designation, The Law. 
 (92) 
 
THE BOOKS OF THE LAW. 93 
 
 each of the five separate books in our English version is 
 derived through the Latin from the Alexandrian Greek 
 version. These titles indicate the topic or contents of the 
 respective books. Genesis tells of the birth or creation of 
 the world ; Exodus, of the exodus or departure of the He- 
 brews from Egypt ; Leviticus, of the law or rules of worship; 
 Numbers, of the census of the people in the wilderness; 
 and Deuteronomy meaning " the second law " is a sum- 
 mary or re-statement of the law. The Hebrew title for 
 each of these books (when they note any division) was the 
 first words with which each book began. The writers often 
 referred to the roll as "Moses "or "The Law," and 
 pointed out the place by the first word or words of the 
 section, as "the bush," Luke 20: 37, which is the phrase 
 there used to refer to the section in Ex. 3 : 6. This ap- 
 pears clearly in the Revised Version. 
 
 The Talmud and Ancient Jewish Bibles divided " The 
 Law " into fifty-four sections called Pershioth; and these 
 were again subdivided into smaller sections and classed 
 under two heads, " Open " sections, and " Shut." These 
 were marked by P or S to catch the reader's eye. Possibly 
 this is the origin of the " \ " in modern. Bibles. One of 
 these longer sections was to be read each Sabbath of the year. 
 Broadly, then, Genesis may be called the book of beginnings; 
 Exodus, the book of deliverance ; Leviticus, the priestly 
 book ; Numbers, the book of marches and of wars; Deuter- 
 onomy, the statute or code book of the Hebrew people. 
 
 3. Authorship. The uniform historic testimony of early 
 Christian, of Hebrew and of heathen writers is that Moses 
 was believed to be the writer of the Pentateuch or first 
 five books of the Bible. This view has been held, practi- 
 cally without question, until comparatively recent times. 
 
94 THE BOOKS OF THE LAW: 
 
 The Talmud says, " Moses wrote his book, the Pentateuch, 
 with the exception of eight verses, the last eight verses, 
 which were written by Joshua." Philo and Josephus held 
 that these books were written by Moses. "Newer crit- 
 icism" has reopened the question. It concedes that He- 
 brew testimony and tradition say Moses was the author j 
 but is tradition right? or was the "Law" compiled by 
 Samuel, Solomon, Josiah, Ezra, or by some unknown "re- 
 dactor " of a later period? 1 These theories have been 
 varied, progressing from one hypothesis to another, or dis- 
 agreeing among themselves as to the authorship and com- 
 position of the books. 
 
 Astruc (1760) held that Genesis was composed of two 
 different documents by two writers. Then this "docu- 
 mentary" character was declared to run through the three 
 books following Genesis; the documents being loosely put 
 together. Then came a "fragmentary" theory, which 
 pushed aside the documentary one. It was claimed that 
 the " Elohistic " portion was the possible basis, but that 
 there was a multitude of other fragments. This was again 
 changed to the view that the three or more so-called orig- 
 inal "documents" were themselves composite works, and 
 were wrought into one composite work by some unknown 
 "redactor," and probably two or three successive " redac- 
 tors." No sooner are the difficulties of the position on 
 one theory shown than objectors shift to another theory.* 
 
 1 Hen Ezra, of the twefth century, feebly raised this inquiry. It \vas 
 revived by Cnrlstadt, Spinoza, Astruc, Eichhorn and Hupfeld. These 
 have been followed by Uleek, Graf, Wellhausen, Robertson Smith and 
 others of the more or less destructive and radical schools of critics. 
 It i> not unfair to charge that the tendency of this criticism is to deny 
 or minify the divine element, the supernatural, in the Scriptures. 
 
 1 In general it may be stated that according to this " newer criti. 
 
THEIR AUTHORSHIP AND COMPOSITION. 96 
 
 Closely related to the author and mode of composition 
 of the five books is the date of these several portions. 
 Some have urged that the "priestly code" (Elohistic) was 
 the oldest; others have as stoutly maintained that it was 
 the newest and surely belonged to the post-exilic era. 
 
 4. Composition. This uncertain sea of speculation may 
 be left 'to its own tossings. Aside from inferences, what 
 do the books definitely say respecting their authorship and 
 composition ? 
 
 (1) There is no definite avowal of authorship that can 
 surely apply to the entire Pentateuch ; but it must apply 
 to a very large portion, especially of the code. For ex- 
 ample, God commanded Moses to write the words of the 
 covenant (Ex. 34: 27); Moses declared these words to 
 Israel (Ex. 35 : i). Again, it is declared in Deut. 31 : 24, 
 26, that "when Moses had made an end of writing the 
 words of this law in a book, until they were finished, that 
 Moses commanded the Levites, . . . Take this book of the 
 law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of 
 the Lord your God." This is a distinct assertion that 
 Moses was the writer of some Hebrew code of laws. 
 
 (2) The whole history is chiefly given in the third 
 person. " The Lord spake unto Moses " frequently occurs. 
 "And Moses commanded," "Moses said," or "the words 
 of Moses," are other expressions frequently found in the 
 Pentateuch. 
 
 (3) Deut. 34 records the death of Moses. This was 
 added by a later hand (see "unto this day" of v. 6), 
 probably during the period of the judges. 
 
 cism " the Pentateuch was composed in three or more portions, called 
 the Elohistic, Jehovistic and Deuteronomic. 
 
* 
 
 96 THE BOOKS OF THE LAW: 
 
 (4) The five books contain several remarkably graphic 
 and interesting biographies. Yet obviously the main pur- 
 pose of these books is not biography, nor personal or 
 local history. The object is clearly to record the origin 
 of the Hebrew people and to chronicle their early national 
 annals. 
 
 (5) Is this form not the one most suitable for national 
 annals ? Indeed, if these books were intended as authentic 
 theocratic records of the origin of the race, and of the 
 Hebrew nation in particular, would not the impersonal 
 form be the most natural one ? In official annals of gov- 
 ernment, the identity of the writer is of smaller importance 
 than the authenticity of the record. Moses, as the great 
 lawgiver of Israel, would be expected to leave some au- 
 thorized copy of the laws received for the people. Hebrew 
 writers say he did leave such a record in the Pentateuch. 
 There is nothing in the books themselves against their 
 general Mosaic authorship. There are many incidental 
 evidences in favor of it, particularly that they were 
 written as national annals by direction and authority of 
 Moses ; the death of Moses being added by an authorized 
 successor. Since, however, the discussions respecting the 
 composition and date of the Pentateuch are pressing upon 
 popular attention, a few leading points may be helpful in 
 showing the character of the conflict. 
 
 5. Against the traditional view, beside the literary and 
 linguistic argument, the newer criticism urges (i) That 
 the Pentateuch sanctions one central place of worship. 
 But it is said that several places were allowed up to the time 
 of Josiah. To this it may be said, one, the tent, prevailed 
 in the wilderness. (2) Leviticus requires priests to be of 
 the family of Aaron, while Deuteronomy and Judges ap- 
 
THEIR AUTHORSHIP AND COMPOSITION. 97 
 
 pear to treat Levites as priests. (3) The Levitical cities 
 named in the Pentateuch, it is asserted, are not to be found 
 as such in history. (4) The feasts were not observed as 
 the Pentateuch required. (5) The details of the narrative 
 and history of the Hebrew worship are said to be against 
 the early Mosaic date. 
 
 6. In favor of the antiquity and Mosaic authority of the 
 Pentateuch is urged (i) The uniform testimony of past 
 ages, as already noted. .It is remarkable that a non-Mosaic 
 origin and a late date for the Pentateuch should be left for 
 a few recent critics to discover, and this throws suspicion 
 upon the theory. 
 
 (2) The use of any existent documents that were acces- 
 sible in composing the theocratic history in the Pentateuch 
 does not impair the divine authority, or Mosaic authorship, 
 of the books. But the critics cannot agree upon criteria 
 that will enable us to determine definitely any of these 
 fragments; hence they cannot demonstrate that any were 
 incorporated, though they may have been used in com- 
 posing the Mosaic books. 
 
 (3) If the books were written as the destructive critics 
 claim, it is difficult to clear the authors of literary fraud. 
 It is well-nigh inconceivable that writings cast in such a 
 high moral, solemn and spiritual tone could be written by 
 those who would deliberately deceive readers. 
 
 (4) There is no historic evidence of the existence of 
 separate documents. The opposers to the Mosaic origin 
 of the books have had no agreement among themselves 
 about them. They do not agree upon the number or limit 
 of the original "fragments," nor upon their age. Those 
 that are claimed as latest by some are also asserted to cort- 
 tain some earliest records by others. 
 
98 THE BOOKS OF THE LAW! 
 
 (5) The Hebrew people must have had laws and a his- 
 tory for ages previous to the exilic period. The new theory 
 of the Pentateuch leaves them practically without either. 
 The records of the five books of Moses, however, fit well 
 with what we know of Egypt and other nations in the Mo- 
 saic era. Grant for a moment that this is not history : 
 here stands Moses, the greatest name in ancient records as 
 lawgiver, reformer and general, to be accounted for. How 
 did he get into history ? 
 
 (6) Early Hebrews, though enslaved in Egypt, were not 
 a savage horde. The monumental records of the Mosaic 
 age constantly coming to light are confirming the civiliza- 
 tion existing in the land where they dwelt and the accuracy 
 of the Mosaic records. 
 
 (7) The weight of literary and linguistic facts, in truth, 
 tells strongly for the Mosaic composition and antiquity of 
 the Pentateuch. The language has an infusion of Egyptian 
 words ; yet the system of religious worship is in sharp 
 contrast with Egyptian sacrifices and worship. The place 
 of worship is the tent (tabernacle) ; excommunication is to 
 be "cast out of the camp; " the scapegoat goes into the 
 wilderness; all the ritual speaks of the wandering life, 
 consistent with the belief that the main portion of the Pen- 
 tateuch was written at the period and in the region where 
 it professes to have been written. The ark had the law; 
 and the ark certainly dates back to the wilderness life. 
 
 (8) Finally, the archaic quality in the language of the 
 Pentateuch is marked ; the apparent tinges of a later speech 
 are too few to weigh against the weightier evidence for the 
 antiquity of the writing. Recent discoveries are increasing 
 the proofs for the Mosaic age and composition ; while all 
 the material objections of modern criticism can be ex- 
 
THEIR AUTHORSHIP AND COMPOSITION. 99 
 
 plained upon the Mosaic theory. The objectors are beset 
 with more numerous and far greater difficulties. They 
 must reconstruct Hebrew history, account for the long- 
 existing belief in regard to that history as popularly ac- 
 cepted, and explain the monumental and other records 
 which fit well into Hebrew history as hitherto understood, 
 and which imply the early existence of the Hebrew people 
 in conditions similar to those described in the Mosaic 
 books. 
 
 (9) The change in the style and character of the latter 
 portion of the Pentateuch, in comparison with the first, is 
 readily accounted for by the supposition that forty years 
 intervened between the composition of the first portion, 
 up to the report of the spies and the consequent judgment, 
 and the latter, including the Deuteronomic portion. The 
 writer, after forty years of added experience, would natu- 
 rally take on new forms and expressions in his compo- 
 sition. 
 
 (10) The annals bear marks of being composed at or near 
 the period of their occurrence. A writer making such a 
 record centuries later would almost surely fall into errors 
 and anachronisms which the earlier monumental records 
 would expose. Such a composition without errors would 
 itself be a greater miracle than the gift of supernatural 
 guidance by divine inspiration. 
 
 (n) The New Testament evidence cannot be blown 
 aside by a breath. Jesus says of Moses, " He wrote of 
 me" (John 5: 46, 47). So also, "beginning at Moses, 
 . . . he," etc. (Luke 24: 27). The conclusion then is 
 that the historic evidence respecting the Mosaic authorship 
 and antiquity of the first five books of the Bible is entirely 
 trustworthy, and modern research and adverse criticism 
 
100 THE BOOKS OF THE LAWo 
 
 have caused new and yet stronger evidence to be brought 
 to light in support of that view. 1 
 
 1 The literature on this subject is abundant. Those who desire a 
 brief statement of the Welhausen theory, which is prominent in cer- 
 tain schools of destructive criticism, may refer to the article 
 " Pentateuch" in the Encyclopedia Britannica, gih ed. For the evan- 
 gelical view, see Bissell's Pentateuch : its Origin and Structure, 1885 ; 
 also Pentateuchal discussions, Profs. Harper, Green and others, in He- 
 braica 9 vols. v. and vi., 1889-90. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 HISTORICAL (O. T.) BOOKS I AUTHORSHIP AND COMPOSITION. 
 
 Grouping the Old Testament books according to their 
 contents, there are twelve almost wholly historical. In the 
 order of the books found in English Bibles these twelve 
 historical books follow the five books of the law. They 
 begin with Joshua and end with Esther. 
 
 1. Hebrew Order. In the Hebrew Bible six of these 
 books, from Joshua to 2 Kings inclusive (not counting 
 Ruth), are in a separate division called " Earlier Prophets." 
 They were so named by the Massorites, because these 
 books recount the deeds ,of prophets, and Jewish tradition 
 declared that they were written by prophets. The other 
 six historical books are placed in the last division, the 
 Hagiographa of the Hebrew Bible, following the Psalms, 
 Ruth having the 5th place in that division, Esther the 8th, 
 Ezra the loth, Nehemiah the nth and the Chronicles the 
 last and closing one of the Hebrew Scriptures. 
 
 2. Period Covered. These twelve historical books cover 
 about 1000 years of Hebrew history from the death of 
 Moses to the restoration and rebuilding of the temple after 
 the great exile. This history of ten centuries may be di- 
 vided into three unequal periods : from the death of Moses 
 to Saul, about 350 years; from Saul's accession to the fall 
 of Samaria, about 375 years; from the fall of Samaria to 
 the restoration of the temple and Jerusalem after Nehemiah, 
 
 (101) 
 
102 HISTORICAL (O. T.) BOOKS! 
 
 about 300 years. Or, again, the era covered by the his- 
 torical books may be divided into (i) the Conquest of 
 Canaan (Joshua) ; (2) The Rule of Judges (Judges, Ruth 
 and i Sam. i to 12); (3) The United Monarchy (i Sam. 
 12 to i Kings 12, and i Chron. i to 2 Chron. 10) ; (4) 
 The Two Monarchies (i Kings 12 to 2 Kings 25 and 2 
 Chron. 10 to 36) ; (5) The Exile and Restoration (Esther, 
 Ezra and Nehemiah). The books have little regard to 
 periods in the history. 
 
 3. Authors. The authors of the twelve historical books 
 are not definitely known. According to Jewish tradition 
 the chief writers of them were Joshua, Samuel, Jeremiah, 
 Ezra and Nehemiah. Only a brief notice of each book 
 can be given. 
 
 4. Joshua is so named from the exploits of the hero de- 
 scribed in it, and not as a mark of authorship. Modern 
 critics have grouped it with the five books of Moses, and 
 called the whole "The Hexateuch." Some would also 
 date its composition near the exilic or even post-exilic era 
 and by some unknown writer. Jewish and Christian tradi- 
 tion and conservative scholars assign its authorship to Joshua 
 (except the last five verses), and say that it was composed 
 at the period of the conquest by an eye-witness, and from 
 documents of that time. See for example the address of 
 Joshua in chaps. 23, 24, and the record of his interviews 
 with Jehovah, chaps, i, 3, 5, 7. The few single clauses 
 which destructive critics urge as proving a later date may 
 have been marginal notes by Samuel or some prophet of 
 Saul or David's time. They fail to prove a later composi- 
 tion of the book. A careful study of Joshua is the best 
 foundation for a right mastery of Hebrew history. 
 
 5. Judges. This book is so named because it records 
 
AUTHORSHIP AND COMPOSITION. 103 
 
 the deeds of some of the early judges (about thirteen) who 
 were raised up to deliver Israel from the oppression of 
 hostile nations and tribes on its borders. The length of 
 the period covered by this book is variously computed from 
 250 to 450 years. The supposed reference to the length 
 of this period in the speech of Paul (Acts 13 : 19, 20) is 
 now generally regarded as referring not alone to the period 
 of the judges, but to the possession of the land from the 
 Abraham ic promise to Joshua. " He gave them their land 
 for an inheritance, for about four hundred and fifty years : 
 and after these things he gave them judges until Samuel" 
 (Acts 13 : 19, 20, Revised Version). It is evidently a book 
 of annals. The author is not known, though the Talmud 
 ascribes it to Samuel, and this is a popular belief. It ap- 
 pears to have been gathered from various documents, to 
 impress moral and religious lessons. The difficulties of the 
 book are the chronology, apparently two introductions, and 
 the adjustment of the rule of the several judges. It con- 
 tains some of the most deeply interesting biographical 
 sketches in the Old Testament. The reader never wearies 
 of the stories of Gideon, Samson, Deborah and Jeph- 
 thah. 
 
 6. RUTH. The book itself fixes the period when the 
 beautiful heroine lived. It was " in the days when the 
 judges ruled" (Ruth i: i). But this does not fix the 
 date of its composition. Unless the closing verses were 
 added by another than the original author, it cannot have 
 been written before the time of David. In the Hebrew 
 Bible it is placed as the fifth book after the Psalms. In the 
 Septuagint it follows Judges, as in English Bibles. His- 
 torically it may be counted an appendix to Judges and an in- 
 troduction to the books of Samuel. It may have been written 
 
104 HISTORICAL (O. T.) BOOKS: 
 
 by Samuel, as one Jewish tradition asserts. The Arama- 
 isms, which are supposed by some to indicate a later date, 
 are represented as spoken by foreigners and are not in the 
 language of the author. They are not conclusive against 
 an early date. Nor is the mention of " plucking off the 
 shoe" against, but rather in favor of, its composition as 
 early as the period of David. The book is a touching and 
 dramatic picture of domestic life in that period. 
 
 7. SAMUEL. The two books of Samuel were originally 
 one in the Hebrew Bible. Even the Massoretic note at the 
 end of the second book, giving the number of verses, treats 
 them as one book. The Septuagint regarded the books of 
 Samuel and of Kings as a complete history of the Hebrew 
 kingdom, and divided them into four, calling them " Books 
 of the Kingdoms." This division is followed in the Latin 
 and Douay versions, where they are named the ist, 2d, 3d 
 and 4th Books of Kings. The division was introduced 
 into Hebrew printed Bibles in 1518. 
 
 The author of the first two, now called i and 2 Samuel, 
 is unknown. The name of the books probably arises from 
 the fact that Samuel is the hero of the first part. Samuel 
 could have written only twenty-four chapters of the first 
 book, since the twenty-fifth chapter records his death. 
 The contents indicate that official records may have been 
 consulted by the writer, and national hymns were incor- 
 porated in the work, as the song of Hannah (i Sam. 2 : i- 
 10); David's song over Abner (2 Sam. 3:33, 34); his 
 thanksgiving song, and his farewell song (2 Sam. 22 ; 23 : 
 
 i-7). 
 
 The date of composition was not later than Solomon s 
 time, as the language proves. ' It is pure Hebrew, 
 free from Aramaisms and late forms. Constructions such 
 
AUTHORSHIP AND COMPOSITION. 105 
 
 as are found in Kings are not found in Samuel." 1 The 
 difficulties are not important, being the adjustment of the 
 chronology, the variations between the Hebrew and Greek 
 texts, and the apparent discrepancies, as i Sam. 23 : 19 ; 24 : 
 22, and ch. 26. 
 
 8. KINGS. The two books of Kings (one in Hebrew) 
 are a continuation of the history in the books of Samuel. 
 The author is not certainly known. Jewish tradition 
 names Jeremiah, and the language and style favor the tra- 
 dition. Later scholars have conjectured that the author 
 was Ezra or Bartich. The writer used existing records, as 
 "Acts of Solomon," " Chronicles of the Kings of Judah " 
 and " Chronicles of the Kings of Israel " (i Kings n : 41 ; 
 14:19, 29). Yet there is a unity, a peculiar plan and 
 symmetry of purpose in the books, indicative of a well- 
 wrought work, and not a mere compilation. The date can- 
 not be earlier than the exile. It probably belongs to the 
 last half of the period of the exile. Recent Assyrian dis- 
 coveries have thrown much new light upon the various 
 dynasties mentioned in the books. The obscurities are not 
 many nor important, and scholars have suggested various 
 reasonable explanations. These books close the " Earlier 
 Prophets" of the Hebrew Bible. 
 
 9. CHRONICLES. These two books were also originally 
 one, and are placed at the end of the Hebrew Bible. The 
 Hebrew title is "The Diaries" or "The Affairs of the 
 Times." The Septuagint calls them " Paralipomena" or 
 "Things Omitted," under the erroneous idea that they 
 were intended to supply omissions in the history in the four 
 books of Kings. Jerome named them "Chronicles," and 
 
 1 Prof. O. S. Stearns, Introduction to the Old Testament, p. 37. 
 7 
 
106 HISTORICAL (O. T.) BOOKS: 
 
 was followed by Luther and by the English translators. 
 Their composition is ascribed to Ezra by Jewish and Chris- 
 tian tradition, and in language and style they resemble the 
 book of Ezra. The Chronicles are clearly independent 
 history, not written to supply omissions in Kings, but to 
 give the returned exiles information needful for them in re- 
 settling the land of Canaan. The tribal and family de- 
 scent would be very important in settling inheritances. 
 Critics who wish to fix the composition of the Pentateuch 
 after the exile have very sharply, but most unsuccessfully, 
 assailed the books of Chronicles. The accounts of the tem- 
 ple service, the covenant, the reforms under Josiah and 
 Hezekiah, are strong confirmations of the earlier origin of 
 the Pentateuch. The date of Chronicles cannot be fixed 
 earlier than the restoration from exile ; and as the history 
 ends with the decree of Cyrus, that may be assumed as the 
 time of their composition. Much of the work is evidently 
 based upon existing and apparently official documents. 
 For example, the first nine chapters appear to cite tribal 
 genealogical records ; and in chaps. 23-26 the priestly 
 records seem to be the basis of the history. In fact, eleven 
 sources are distinctly named : " the book of Samuel the 
 seer," "of Nathan the prophet, " " of Gad the seer," "the 
 prophecy of Ahijah," "the visions" or "the story" of 
 *'Iddo the seer against Jeroboam," another by him "con- 
 cerning genealogies," " the book of Shemaiah the proph- 
 et," "the book of Jehu," "the book of the kings of 
 Israel," " the book of the kings of Israel and Judah," and 
 a book by Isaiah ; see i Chron. 29 : 29 ; 2 Chron. 9 : 29 ; 
 12: 15; 13: 22; 16: ii ; 20: 34; 26 122; 27: 7; 32: 32. 
 These numerous references to existing books containing 
 more full records ,of the events very briefly mentioned in 
 
AUTHORSHIP AND COMPOSITION. 107 
 
 the Chronicles show how abundant were the written 
 sources to which the author had access, and how familiar 
 he was with the contents of those original records. They 
 tend strongly to confirm the trustworthiness of his 
 chronicle ; and this being maintained, the strongest attacks 
 of the newer criticism will fall or can be effectively repelled. 
 
 10. EZRA. This book in the Hebrew Bible is the tenth 
 after the Psalms. The Jews (Josephus and the Talmud), 
 Origen and Jerome, regard Ezra and Nehemiah as one 
 book in two parts. But Nehemiah has its own title in He- 
 brew. The two books are called Esdras and Nehemiah 
 in the Septuagint, and i and 2 Esdras in the Vulgate. 
 Historically Ezra follows close after Chronicles ; hence the 
 order in our Bibles is in better accord with the contents 
 than the order in Hebrew Bibles. The author, according 
 to the Jews, was Ezra. Modern critics admit that he wrote 
 a portion, but deem the whole a compilation by some un- 
 known though contemporaneous writer. A portion of it is 
 written in Chaldee or Aramaic, e. g., chaps. 4 : 8 to 6 : 6 
 and 7 : 1-26 ; but these are probably from public records. 
 The varying use of the first and third persons in the last 
 portion of chaps. 6 to 10 has a parallel in Daniel and Isaiah. 
 The writer in the latter case speaks of himself historically ; 
 in the former he whites of events which he witnessed. That 
 Ezra was the author has been fairly sustained. The date must 
 be placed in the fifth century before Christ, in the age of Cy- 
 rus, etc. , and after Ezra's return to Jerusalem with the exiles. 
 
 11. NEHEMIAH. This book is the eleventh in order after 
 Psalms in the Hebrew Bible. The author of the first seven 
 chapters was surely Nehemiah, for it is so avowed in the 
 book itself. The writer of chaps. 8-13 is questioned by 
 many, although Keil accepts Nehemiah as their author. 
 
108 HISTORICAL (O. T.) BOOKS ! 
 
 The objections urged against his authorship of this portion 
 are that the narrative changes to the third person, and Ne- 
 hemiah is spoken of as " Tirshatha" (Neh. 8 : 9), and that 
 the name of Jaddua appears as high priest (Neh. 12-: i- 
 26), who lived in the time of Alexander, a century later 
 than Nehemiah. But the other portions of chap. 12 and 
 chap. 13 are usually credited to Nehemiah. The language 
 of the book has a strong infusion of Aramaisms and of words 
 of Persian origin. After an interval of about twelve years, 
 it carries on the history of Ezra for about thirty years, un- 
 til the temple of Zerubbabel was rebuilt. It is the latest of 
 the historical books of the Old Testament. 
 
 12. ESTHER. Historically this book belongs to the 
 period of the exiles, previous to Nehemiah and a portion 
 of Ezra. Some regard it as an episode in the history of 
 those Israelites that did not return from exile, and an illus- 
 tration of their moral decline. The incident related in the 
 book of Esther gave rise to the feast of Purim, still cele- 
 brated among the Jews. This book is the eighth following 
 the Psalms in the Hebrew Bible. It appears to have been 
 regarded as an appendix to the history of the exilic period, 
 as Ruth was to Judges, and hence in the Septuagint was 
 added to Ezra and Nehemiah. It does not contain the 
 name of God. Perhaps the name was intentionally 
 omitted, so that the book could be read at a joyous 
 festival without irreverence. It forcibly illustrates God's 
 providence. The author, some say, was Ezra ; others say 
 Mordecai. The date cannot be definitely stated, although 
 the events surely occurred between 480 and 430 B.C. As it 
 seems to have been written by an eye-witness, internal evi- 
 dence favors Mordecai as author and 480 to 470 B.C. as the 
 date. The book contains many Persian words; but the 
 
AUTHORSHIP AND COMPOSITION. 109 
 
 literary character is high, and the style lively. The sum- 
 mary execution of Haman and the sudden elevation of 
 Mordecai find frequent illustrations in later history of Orien- 
 tal courts. 
 
 13. These twelve books of the Old Testament contain 
 the richest history of a race. Written by men illumined 
 by the Holy Spirit, the grand purposes of God's provi- 
 denc*e are unfolded with marvellous compactness and clear- 
 ness. The long succession of bloody struggles, the aston- 
 ishing deliverances of God's people, their weak and wicked 
 relapses into sin, the glorious power of Jehovah manifested 
 to them, and preparing them for the future advent of Mes- 
 siah, the promised Redeemer, give diversity and charm to 
 the history and instruction to the devout mind. 
 
 Of the purpose and mission of the two Testaments Mr. 
 Gladstone says : 
 
 14. GENERAL CHARACTER. "As the heavens cover tha 
 earth from east to west, so the Scripture covers and com- 
 prehends the whole field of the destiny of man. The 
 whole field is reached by its moral and potential energy, as 
 a provision enduring to the end of time. But it is marvel- 
 lous to consider how large a portion of it lies directly 
 within the domain of the Old Testament. . . . The cor- 
 roborative legends of Assyria, ascertained by modern re- 
 search, concerning the Creation and the FUod, to which 
 we know not what further additions may still progressively 
 be made, carry us up, it may be finally said, 
 
 " To the first syllable of recorded time.' 
 
 " Historic evidence does not warrant our carrying back- 
 wards the probable existence of the Adamic race for more 
 than some such epoch as from 4000 to 6000 years anterior 
 
110 HISTORICAL (0. T.) BOOKS! 
 
 to the advent of Christ. And if, as appears likely, the 
 Creation story has come down from the beginning, the 
 Christian may feel a lively interest in observing that, for by 
 far the larger portion of human history, the refreshing rain 
 of divine inspiration has descended, with comparatively 
 short intervals, from heaven upon earth, and the records 
 of it have been collected and preserved in the Sacred Vol- 
 ume. Apart from every question of literary form and of 
 detail, we now trace the probable origins of our Sacred 
 Books far back beyond Moses and his time. And so we 
 have a marvellous picture presented to us, not only all-pre- 
 vailing for the imagination and the heart of man, but as I 
 suppose quite unexampled in its historical appeal to the hu- 
 man intelligence. The whole human record is covered and 
 bound together in that same unwearied and inviolable con- 
 tinuity, which weaves into a tissue the six Mosaic days of 
 gradually advancing creations, and fastens them on at the 
 hither end to the advancing stages of Adamic, and, in due 
 course, of subsequent history. 
 
 "We find then that, apart from the question of moral 
 purity and elevation, the Scriptures of the Old Testament 
 appear to be distinguished from the sacred books possessed 
 by various nations in several vital particulars. They deal 
 with the Adamic race as a whole. They begin with the 
 preparation of the earth for the habitation and use of man. 
 They then, from his first origin, draw downwards a thread 
 of personal history. This thread is enlarged into a web as, 
 from being personal, the narrative becornje^natiojial, and 
 eventually includes the whole race of man. They are not 
 given once for all, as by Confucius or Zoroaster in their 
 respective spheres ; they do not deliver a mere code of 
 morals or of legislation, but they purport to disclose a close 
 
AUTHORSHIP AND COMPOSITION. Ill 
 
 and continuing superintendence from on high over human 
 affairs. And the whole is doubly woven into one : first, by 
 a chain of divine action, and of human instructors acting 
 under divine authority, which is never broken until the 
 time whea political servitude, like another Egyptian cap- 
 tivity, has become the appointed destiny of the nation; 
 secondly, by the Messianic bond, by the light of prophecy 
 shining in a dark place, and directing onwards the minds 
 of devout men to the "fulness of time " and the birth of 
 the wondrous Child, so as effectually to link the old sacred 
 books to the dispensation of the Advent, and to carry for- 
 ward their office until the final day of doom. May it not 
 boldly be asked, what parallel to such an outline as this can 
 be supplied by any of the sacred books preserved among 
 any other of the races of the world ? So far, then, the 
 office and work of the Old Testament, as presented to us 
 by its own contents, is without a compeer among the o.ld 
 religions. It deals with the case of man as a whole. . . . 
 It is a history of sin, and of redemption." Good Words, 
 PP- 383-4, 1890. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 HEBREW POETRY AND POETICAL BOOKS. 
 
 1. The Oriental mind delights in figures, metaphors and 
 in brilliantly-imaginative forms of speech. The Hebrews 
 were also in surroundings exceedingly favorable for sub- 
 lime poetic creations. Poetry was their delight from the 
 earliest beginnings of their history. More than one third 
 of the entire Old Testament is poetry. Its poetry is among 
 the oldest, the purest and the most sublime in the world. 
 It is fitted to stir the deepest spiritual nature of man in all 
 ages. In other languages much of the poetry relates, to 
 the temporal interests of the people; Hebrew poetry *is 
 truly the daughter of religion. 
 
 2. Forms of Hebrew Poetry. Strictly there is neither 
 epic nor dramatic poetry in Hebrew. The reason is ob- 
 vious. Epic poetry springs from an effort to glorify human 
 greatness the heroic in man ; the Hebrew was taught to 
 glorify God. Hebrew poetry is almost wholly lyric and 
 (didactic, and some ad'd also gnomic. There are no lyrics. 
 hi the world comparable with the ^salms__o/ D.ivirlj no 
 
 to the Proverb^ and no didactic poem 
 
 so perfect in fornTj so proJp"f>H flnrl majt'stjr ir> thought or 
 so exalted and spiritual in conception us the buuk uf Job. 
 
 3. Rhyme and metre, common in modern poetry, are 
 seldom found in Hebrew. Josephus tried to find hexame- 
 ters in the songs of Ex. 15 and Deut. 32, and trimeters or 
 012) 
 
HEBREW POETRY AND POETICAL BOOKS. 113 
 
 pentameters in the Psalms. Eusebius sought an heroic 
 measure of sixteen syllables; while Jerome represented 
 Job as written in dactyls and spondees, comparing Hebrew 
 poetry with the Greek poems of Pindar, Alcseus and Sap- 
 pho. Later scholars, as Sir W. Jones, Grove and Saal- 
 schiitz, have applied similar rules ; but no such system of 
 metres can be found in Hebrew on any method of vocal- 
 izing now known, nor without destroying the Massoretic 
 pointing. Bickell would make it conform to the Syriac, 
 which is plausible, but has not found much favor with 
 scholars. 
 
 4. Parallelisms. Hebrew poetry, as Lowth and others 
 have shown, consists chiefly of parallelisms and a certain 
 swing and balance in the sentences which give an inde- 
 scribable charm to their poetic compositions. 
 
 The parallelisms in Hebrew have been roughly divided 
 into three kinds : (i) Synonymous, that is, where each line 
 of the distich or tristich has the same thought, but in 
 varied expression ; (2) Antithetic, where the thought of the 
 second member of the parallelism is in contrast with that 
 of the first ; and (3) Synthetic, where the thought is cumu- 
 lative upon the same topic. 
 
 5. Alliteration and assonance are frequently used in 
 Hebrew poetry, and rhyme occasionally, but the latter 
 seldom runs beyond two or three lines. 
 
 The Hebrew poetic writers delighted in the older and 
 sometimes the fuller forms of words. They use not the 
 learned or artificial, but the simpler and more archaic 
 speech, giving strength and music to the movement of their 
 sentences. 
 
 6. Poetic Books^ There are five so-called poetical books 
 in the Old Testament : Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, 
 
114 HEBREW POETRY AND POETICAL BOOKS. 
 
 and Song of Solomon. But beside these, large portions 
 of other books are in poetic language. The prophetical books 
 except Daniel are chiefly poetry. The girls of Shiloh sang 
 as they gathered grapes ; the maidens of Gilead chanted 
 the story of Jephthah's daughter; the boys learned David's 
 song of lament over Jonathan, and hunters and shepherds 
 whiled away the tediousness of the hunt and watch, by 
 songs and the flute. 1 
 
 7. Early Songs. The earliest specimen of poetry in the 
 Old Testament is Lamech's Sword Song. Some of the 
 most noted of Hebrew songs, outside the poetical books, 
 are those of Moses and Miriam, of Balaam, Deborah and 
 Hannah. The following list, though incomplete, will be 
 helpful to the student : 
 
 Lamech's Sword Song Gen. 4 : 23, 24. ^ 
 
 Noah's Song Gen. 9: 25-27. 
 
 About Rebekah Gen. 25 : 23. 
 
 Isaac's Blessings Gen. 27 : 27-29, 39, 40. 
 
 Jacob's Farewell Gen. 49 : 2-27. 
 
 Moses* and Miriam's Song Ex. 15 : 1-19, 21. 
 
 War Songs, etc Num. 21 : 14, 15, 17, 18, 27-30. 
 
 Balaam's Prophecies Num. 23 : 7-10, 18-24; 24 : 3-9, 15-24. 
 
 Moses' Prophetic Song Deut. 32 : 1-43. 
 
 Moses' Blessing Deut. 33 : 2-29. 
 
 Joshua to the Sun Josh. 10 : 12, 13. 
 
 Song of Deborah and Barak.Judg. 5 : 2-21. 
 
 Samson's Riddle Song Judg. 15 : 16. 
 
 I lannah's Magnificat I Sam. 2 : I-IO. 
 
 David's Song of the Bow. . . .2 Sam. I : 19-27. 
 
 David's Song over Abner 2 Sam. 3 : 33, 34. 
 
 David's Deliverance 2 Sam. 22: 2-51 (cf. Ps. 18). 
 
 David's Last Words 2 Sam. 23 : 1-7. 
 
 David's Thanksgiving I Chron. 16 : 8-36. 
 
 1 See Reuss, Hebrew Poetry, Herzog's Enc. 
 
HEBREW POETRY AND POETICAL BOOKS. 115 
 
 Hezekiah's Song Isa. 38 : 10-20. 
 
 Jonah's Prayer Song Jonah 2 : 2-9. 
 
 Habakkuk's Prayer Song Hab. 3 : 2-19. 
 
 There are four original songs in the New Testament cast 
 in the spirit of Hebrew poetry : the so-called, 
 
 Magnificat Luke I : 46-55. 
 
 Benedictus Luke I : 68-80. 
 
 Gloria in Excelsis Luke 2 : 14. 
 
 Nunc Dimittis Luke 2 : 29-33. 
 
 8. THE PSALMS. The book of Psalms in the Hebrew Bible 
 was the first of the K'thubim, or " Writings." The Psalms, 
 Proverbs and Job were regarded as pre-eminently poetical 
 books, and the Massorites distinguished them by a peculiar 
 accentuation. The Psalms were called "Sepher T'hellim" 
 or " Book of Praises." The Greeks called it " Psalmos," 
 from which the English " Psalms " is derived. 
 
 9. Groups of Psalms. The Psalms, counted commonly 
 one book, in the Hebrew Bible are divided into five collec- 
 tions, rather inaptly termed "books" in the Revised 
 English Version. 
 
 The end of each of the first four " books " is indicated 
 by a doxology. 
 
 The books are: (I.) Ps. 1-41; (II.) Ps. 42-72; (III.) 
 Ps. 73-89; (IV.) Ps. 90-106; (V.) Ps. 107-150. The 
 topics of the Psalms have been compared to an oratorio in 
 five parts : (i) Decline of man ; (2) Revival ; (3) Plain tiye 
 complaint^ (4) Response tp^ the complaintj (5) Final^ 
 thanksgiving and triumph. 
 
 This five-fold division of the Psalms is very ancient, 
 but when or by whom it was made is uncertain. Some 
 ascribe it to Nehemiah or his time ; it certainly is two or 
 
116 HEBREW POETRY AND POETICAL BOOKS. 
 
 three centuries older than the Christian era. The division 
 appears in the Septuagint. Why it was made is not clear. 
 Some conjecture that it was in accord with the supposed 
 chronological order of the Psalms, or was an arrangement 
 according to authors, topics, or for liturgical use. The col- 
 lection could not have been completed 'before the time of 
 Ezra. About fifty Psalms are quoted in the New Testament. 
 
 10. Authors. The titles or inscriptions of the Psalms are 
 not by the original authors, but belong to an early age. 
 They are attached to 101 psalms. The 49 not having titles, 
 the Talmud calls "Orphan Psalms." According to these 
 titles, 73 psalms are ascribed to David, 1 12 to Asaph one 
 of David's singers, 12 to the sons of Korah 2 a priestly 
 family of singers of David's time, 2 (72d and i27th) to 
 Solomon, i (poth) to Moses, and i (Spth) to Ethan. 
 The other 49 are anonymous. But the Septuagint assigns 
 the 1 2 7th to Jeremiah, the i46th to Haggai, and the i47th 
 to Zechariah. It is worthy of note that the great Hallel 
 songs, Ps. 115-118, and the famous alphabetic hymn, the 
 H9th, are among the anonymous songs. 
 
 1 1 . Classification of Songs. The most ancient classification, 
 aside from the division into five collections, is also found 
 in the titles. The meaning of these is obscure. Some are 
 termed Shir, a solo for the voice ; Mizmor, song of praise 
 accompanied with an instrument ; Maschil, ode or didactic 
 song; Michtam, a catch -word poem (Deli tzsch); Shiggaion, 
 an excited ode ; T' phi Hah, a prayer-song; Shir jedidoth, 
 
 1 The Septuagint ascribes 85 psalms to David. The New Testament 
 cites I'ss. 2 and 95 as his. This reduces the number by anonymous 
 writers to 34. But Delitzsch thinks only 50 can be defended as I tarid'l 
 from internal evidence. 
 
 1 If, however, Ps. 88 is ascribed to Ileman, as some render the title, 
 then only 1 1 were by the sons of Korah. 
 
HEBREW*POETRY AND POETICAL BOOKS. 117 
 
 a song of loves ; Shir hamma'aloth, a song of ascent or 
 pilgrim songs; Kinah, dirge or elegy. Modern groups 
 are based upon the contents, as seven (some say eight) 
 penitential (6th, 25th, 32d [38th], 5ist, io2d, i3oth, i43d), 
 seven, imprecatory psalms (35th, 52d, 58th, 59th, 691)1, 
 I09th, I37th), pilgrim songs, psalms of thanksgiving, of 
 adoration, of faith and hope, Messianic psalms, and historic 
 psalms. 
 
 Some psalms have parallelisms or longer stanzas, each' 
 beginning with an initial letter corresponding to the twenty- 
 two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. There are seven of 
 these alphabetic psalms and five other alphabetic poems 
 in the Old Testament. Some psalms are choral, as 24th, 
 H5th, i35th; some gradational, as i2ist, i24th. Of the 
 psalms ascribed to David, several have Chaldaic or Aramaic 
 forms that betray a later author. 
 
 12. Proverbs. The Hebrew title to this book is Mishle 
 SNlomOi "Proverbs of Solomon," so called from the in- 
 troductory words. The Hebrew word for proverbs is used 
 in a variety of meanings, as pithy saying, parable, aphorism 
 or maxim, and for more extended illustration. (See Micah 
 2:4; Hab. 2 : 6 ; i Sam. 10 : 12 ; Prov. i : i ; Eccles. 12 : 
 9 ; and Num. 23 : 7-10.) The soul of a proverb is brevity 
 and great wisdom. It condenses the result of a life of wise 
 observation and varied experience into a few words, a single 
 parallelism. With Orientals it was and is popular, because 
 easily remembered. Secular literature has several collec- 
 tions of proverbs, as the " Sayings of the Seven Wise Men 
 of Greece," the " Golden Songs ascribed to Pythagoras," 
 and Arabic proverbs. But the Proverbs of the Bible are 
 unequalled in wit and wisdom. They abound in polished 
 and sparkling gems of wisdom, bearing the stamp of in- 
 
118 HEBREW POETRY AND POETICAL BOOKS. 
 
 spiration (Prov. i : 7). The Proverbs are divided into 
 seven parts: (i) chap, i : 1-6 ; (2) i : 7 to chap. 9; (3) 
 chaps. 10 to 22 : 1 6; (4) 22 : 17 to chap. 24; (5) chaps. 25 
 to 29 ; (6) chap. 30 to 31 : 9 ; (7) chap. 31 : 10-31. 
 
 13. Authors of Proverbs. The Proverbs are ascribed to 
 Solomon, 1 and it is clear he wrote or compiled the most of 
 them. Yet there were several other authors of the latter 
 portion, as the men of Hezekiah, Agur, Lemuel. (See 
 Prov. i : i ; 10 : i ; 25 : i ; 30 : i ; 31 : i.) 
 
 14. The date of the complete collection is certainly not 
 older than Hezekiah, though the greater portion was in ex- 
 istence from the time of Solomon. 
 
 15. The Structure is that of poetic parallelisms, in lines 
 of single, double, triple or more couplets. The sense or 
 thought is usually either synonymous or antithetic in these 
 couplets. For example 
 
 " Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, 
 And the man that getteth understanding " (3 : 13), 
 
 is synonymous in thought. 
 
 " A wise son maketh a glad father: 
 But a foolish son is the heaviness [grief] of his mother" (10: i), 
 
 is an antithetic parallelism. 
 
 " As a bird that wandercth from her nest, 
 So is a man that wandereth from his place " (27 : 8), 
 
 is an instance of simple comparison. 
 
 11 Wine is a mocker, strong drink a lir.iwler; 
 And whosoever erreth [reeleth] thereby is not wise" (20 : i), 
 
 'There it a Jewish tradition that Solomon composed the Song of 
 Songs in his youth, 1'rovcrbs in mature manhood, and Ecclesiastes in 
 bis old age. 
 
HEBREW POETRY AND POETICAL BOOKS. 119 
 
 is an example of amplification of thought, containing a 
 reason for the warning. (See also 3:3; 27:10.) 
 
 The book of Proverbs is the storehouse whence all Chris- \s 
 tians and some heathen peoples have drawn practical wis- 
 dom, and it teaches that the true source of wisdom is Je- 
 hovah. 
 
 1 6. JOB. This book is so named not as indicating the 
 author, but the hero. 
 
 Author. The book itself does not indicate the author. 
 The Jews and early Christian writers ascribed it to Moses. 
 He was well fitted to write such a work, and in Midian 
 would be wont to meditate on such a theme. The contents 
 in the main indicate that it was written before the priest- 
 hood, ceremonial worship and law were instituted. Some 
 say the writer was Job. Later scholars ascribe it to the age 
 ,of Solomon, chiefly on the ground that the artistic structure 
 presupposes higher training than the Mosaic period, and 
 that there are some Aramaisms and allusions to the Mosaic 
 law. Advanced critics would assign it to the exilic age, 
 depending mainly on the linguistic peculiarities to support 
 their view. Proofs from recent discoveries have appeared 
 of an exceeding high state of art and knowledge existing 
 in Assyria and in Egypt earlier than the Mosaic era, weak- 
 ening the argument for a late origin. The Aramaisms may 
 be accounted for on the view that the book was written in 
 Edom, Arabia or the Euphrates valley, and the supposed 
 allusions to the Mosaic law are obscure, probably only co- 
 incidences of thought. The language fits the eastern re- 
 gion. Compare Moabite Stone inscription. The date of 
 the book depends upon the authorship. 
 
 17. The Structure of Job. It is a didactic, almost dra- 
 matic, poem, in five parts. It might be counted a drama 
 
120 HEBREW POETRY AND POETICAL BOOKS. 
 
 of life, a tragedy with a happy and not a tragic end. The 
 dramatis persona or characters are Jehovah, Satan, Job, 
 Job's wife and his children, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar and 
 Elihu. The five parts are: (i) Prologue (chaps, i, 2); (2) 
 Interviews with three friends (3-32); (3) with Elihu (32- 
 38); (4) with Jehovah (38-41); (5) Job's submission (41, 42). 
 
 1 8. The object of the book is not to solve the problem of 
 evil, though it throws some side light upon it. It shows 
 that all calamities do not come as judgments for sin. It 
 teaches the doctrine of a future life. The main object is 
 indicated by the prologue and the tart question of Satan, 
 " t)oth Job serve God for naught ? " The chief purpose of 
 the book is to show that true religion does not spring from 
 any form of selfishness. It also shows the rectitude of the 
 divine government when the righteous are afflicted. Spe- 
 cial trials do not imply special guilt. They may exhibit 
 God's benevolent design toward the sufferer, and they are 
 intended to beget submission to God's holy will. 
 
 19. Is the Book History ? This is answered yes, strictly 
 so, by Josephus, Jewish rabbins and early Christian writers. 
 Some modern critics say decisively no, but a mere poetic 
 creation. The more reverent, thoughtful scholars accept 
 it as based on historical facts, embellished or draped by 
 rich Oriental figures and inspired poetic descriptions. Job 
 was an historic person (Ezek. 14: 14, 20; James 5 : n), 
 eminent for faith and piety. The trials were real, the 
 Satanic influence, the losses, the complaints, the restoration, 
 were all historical, we may well believe. The construction 
 of the poem, the order and forms of the thought are 
 wrought out by the inspired poet, so as to show how human 
 
 >ry is related lo the divine purposes, for the comfort 
 and instruction of suffering humanity in all ages. 
 
HEBREW POETRY AND POETICAL BOOKS. 121 
 
 20. Ecclesiastes. This is the seventh book following the 
 Psalms.. in. -the.. Hebrew Scriptures, where it is called Kohc- 
 letk^^ It is a didactic poem, teaching that to obey GocTis 
 the summum bonum, the highest good. In a series of poetic 
 soliloquies the writer depicts the vanities of earthly things, 
 and the eternal verities above the sun. It represents a soul 
 perplexed and tinged with scepticism, in the spirit of mod- 
 erate Hebrew faith reaching out after Jehovah and eternal 
 blessedness. 
 
 21. The author ; according to the general belief of Jews 
 and Christians, was Solomon. It is not widely inconsistent 
 with his age, knowledge, experience and language. The 
 Aramaisms are not numerous, and he might acquire them 
 from familiarity with foreign nations. Some modern 
 scholars (as EwalcT, Delitzsch and Ginsburg) suppose the 
 author was of the exilic or post-exilic age, and personated 
 Solomon. But Pusey, Tayler Lewis, Dean Milman and 
 others maintain that it belongs to the age of Solomon. It 
 gives the impressions of one who has had a long life of 
 broad observation and of great folly. It must be admitted 
 that the arguments against its Solomonic authorship are 
 weighty, but the difficulties in the way of the later theory 
 are also great. 
 
 22. The Song of Songs. This is the Hebrew name of the 
 fourth book after the Psalms. It means the most beautiful 
 of songs, " which is Solomon's." It appears as a remark- 
 able cantata in five parts : a drama celebrating the excel- 
 lence and purity of true wedded love. 
 
 23. The author was almost universally conceded to be 
 Solomon until the last century. This was based on the title 
 to the book itself, the evident knowledge of Solomon, his 
 reign and royalty. The linguistic forms found in it appear 
 
 8 
 
122 HEBREW POETRY AND POETICAL BOOKS. 
 
 also in the song of Deborah, in Job and in Amos. Those 
 who deny that it was written by Solomon rely largely upon 
 the internal and linguistic evidences to support their view. 
 The book illustrates what is said of Solomon in i Kings, 
 4 : 33, and describes a regal state and glory which was true 
 in the reign of Solomon. 
 
 24. The structure is variously defined. Some hold that 
 it is an antiphonal song between two lovers, attended by a 
 chorus ; the Shulamite a shepherdess, and a shepherd her 
 royal lover; that it describes (i) mutual love, (2) lovers 
 seeking and finding each other, (3) the marriage, (4) a 
 separation and return, (5) praises of lovers and love. 
 
 25. Interpretations have been many, chiefly along three 
 lines: (i) allegorical, full of fancies of every sort; (2) 
 the literal, a poetic representation of pure love ; (3) the 
 typical, that it represents the Church and Christ as her 
 spotless Husband. Whatever may be the spiritual lessons 
 that it illustrates, it graphically shows the Hebrew idea of 
 true bridal and conjugal love. It is aromatic with the 
 fragrance of spring flowers, singing birds, and the charms 
 of a sweet and strong love. It is fitting that one book of 
 Scriptures should breathe the joy, peace and beauty that 
 spring from domestic life of human love, a symbol and 
 reflex of that divine love Christ has for His people. 
 
 The prophecies, which are also poetry, must be treated 
 under Prophetical Books. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PROPHECY AND PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 
 
 1. The Prophets were a large class of religious teachers 
 among the Hebrews. Many of them ^vere inspired to in- 
 terpret and declare the will of God to the people. Prophet, 
 in the popular and modern sense, means a person inspired 
 to foretell future events. This was not the chief work of 
 the Hebrew prophets. They were preachers of righteous- 
 ness, and some of them were divinely authorized to utter 
 and to record God's will, relating either to the past, pres- 
 ent or future. Moses was a prophet, and prophets existed 
 from the earliest period. 
 
 Later, the schools of the Hebrew prophets sprang up in 
 the time of Samuel. They were a professional class. 
 Many of this class were not divinely inspired or authorized, 
 but were false prophets (Jer. 14: 14; 23: 21; Ezek. 13: 
 2; 22:28; Micah 9:11). True prophets were often 
 called from outside of the professional class to declare the 
 word of the Lord and to interpret his dealings with the 
 Hebrew and other nations. They were even authorized to 
 denounce the professional prophets for false teachings. 
 
 2. The Great Work of the true prophets may be divided 
 into five historical periods or crises : (i) To unify the 
 nation in the age of Samuel ; (2) To suppress Baal-worship 
 and the worship of strange gods in the time of Elijah and 
 Elisha; (3) To teach that righteousness was required to re- 
 
 (123) , 
 
124 PROPHECY AND PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 
 
 tain God's favor, under Amos and the shepherd prophets ; 
 
 (4) That Israel was spared to secure a holy people for the 
 Messiah, as in the age of Isaiah and his contemporaries ; 
 
 (5) That God wanted reformation of the heart, and not 
 merely of outward national or personal manners, as in the 
 age of Jeremiah to Malachi. The nation might be de- 
 stroyed, but Jehovah still desired personal holiness and 
 purity of heart. 
 
 3. Prophetical Books. The great mass of the prophetic 
 instructions to the Hebrew people has been lost. That 
 which has been preserved may, however, contain the sub- 
 stance of the divine messages for more than a thousand 
 years. The books which the Hebrews called the "Earlier 
 Prophets " have already been considered. There remain 
 sixteen books, which they called the "Later Prophets" 
 (excepting Daniel), 1 and that are pre-eminently prophetical 
 books. The prophecies in these books, except Daniel, 
 Jonah, Haggai and some of Malachi, are poetry or poetic 
 in form. Portions of them are among the finest lyrics in 
 the language, as the prayer of Habakkuk, the Lamentations 
 of Jeremiah, and the Messianic odes in the 52d and 53d 
 chapters of Isaiah. 
 
 4. Division. The sixteen prophetic books are divided 
 into four Major or greater, and twelve Minor or lesser, 
 prophets. The Major or greater, were not so called from 
 any belief that they were greater in character or in impor- 
 tance, but simply because the length of their recorded 
 prophecies was greater than those called Minor or lesser. 
 
 The prophetic books may also be grouped in periods, as 
 (i) Before the great captivity, Jonah, Joel, Amos, Hosea, 
 
 Daniel was placed ammii; the K'lhubim, or " Writings," and in 
 order ranked ninth after the 1'salms. 
 
PROPHECY AND PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 125 
 
 Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Habak- 
 kuk. (2) During the captivity, Daniel, Ezekiel and Oba- 
 diah (?). (3) After the captivity, Haggai, Zechariah 
 and Malachi. It will be convenient briefly to notice the 
 books in the order in which they are found in the 
 English Bibles. 
 
 5. ISAIAH^ -The title means " Salvation of Jehovah." 
 The prophecies recorded under his name rank second in 
 quantity, being exceeded only by those of Jeremiah. The 
 latter has about one-tenth more matter than Isaiah. 
 
 Author. Jewish and Christian tradition, the apocryphal 
 Old Testament book, Ecclus. 48 : 24, 25, and Josephus, 
 say the book was by the prophet Isaiah. The work is quoted 
 in the New Testament as by Isaiah about 120 times, the 
 quotations being about equally divided between the earlier 
 and later prophecies. The style is conceded to be similar 
 by all competent critics; technical expressions and hymns 
 are common to both and peculiar. But Ewald assigned the 
 book to seven authors ; some modern critics to many more. 
 Others say there were two, the first and a " pseudo " or 
 "deutero" Isaiah. Against the unity of authorship, it is 
 asserted that the writer of chapters 40 to 66 describes his 
 own cities in ruin, and therefore lived after the Babylonian 
 captivity, about 150 years after Isaiah's death; that he 
 names the future deliverer, Cyrus, and so wrote post even- 
 tum ; that prophets did not usually " project themselves 
 into a distant future, filling their pages with details of that 
 future." This proves too much. 1 To say that Isaiah could 
 not write prophecy which would prove to be true history, is 
 to deny all prophecy. Who was the " great unknown? " 
 This question is unsolved. There is no trace of him in 
 Hebrew history or tradition. The book is conceded to be 
 
 *See Prof. W. H. Green, in Pres. and Ref. Review, p. 229 ff, 1892. 
 
126 PROPHECY AND PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Scripture. It is the nature of prophecy to look into the 
 future as if it were present. Surely the description of the 
 servant of God who suffers and dies for the sins of his 
 people as described in the 53d chapter, fits no other per- 
 son in history as it does Jesus Christ. It is then, not very 
 material to the divine character of this prophecy whether 
 it was spoken 750 or 450 years before Christ. Whoever 
 the author or authors, it was inspired of God and is of di- 
 vine authority. 
 
 The Structure. It consists of a series of predictions 
 expressed with an unction, pathos, holy rapture and poetic 
 majesty unequalled in literature. ^ The prophecies, which 
 are poetry, are connected by narrative in prose. The con- 
 tents centre about three leading topics, redemption prom- 
 ised, redemption provided, redemption accomplished. 
 
 6. JEREMIAH. These prophecies were spoken by the son 
 of Hilkiah, of a priestly family of Anathoth, a small town 
 about three miles northeast of Jerusalem. TJis ^ropjiecies 
 grjgprfcH n VPr ahnntjnrty yenrs, and relate to the southern 
 kingdom of Judah_from the period of Jn^jah tn 7.pHpVinh 
 (621 to about 585 B.C.). The author of the book is held 
 to be Jeremiah himself, though he dictated portions of it 
 to Baruch the scribe, who wrote it out. (Jer. 36 : 4 ; 45 : i.) 
 The last chapter appears to be an appendix, probably by 
 another prophetic author. 
 
 The ttnicturf i 
 
 righteousness to a sinning people. Some have 
 likened htm to Dante proclaiming coming judgments, and 
 to the Trojan Cassandra. Jte t is_thepoet of desolatiqnjind 
 
 th** 
 
 Portions of the book were in- 
 tended to instruct and comfort the Jewish captives at 
 
PROPHECY AND PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 127 
 
 Babylon, and later portions were warnings to foreign na- 
 tions. 
 
 T.LAMENTATIOJSS^. by the same prophet, were called 
 Echoh ("How?") in Hebrew. It is composed of five 
 pathetic elegies lamenting over the destruction of Judah 
 and Jerusalem by the Chaldaeans. The five are parts of 
 one great theme. The first two poems are alphabetic. They 
 consist of twenty-two stanzas, each beginning with a letter 
 of the Hebrew alphabet. The third chapter has sixty-six 
 verses, the first three beginning with the first letter of the 
 Hebrew alphabet, and the second three with the second 
 letter, and so on to the end. The fourth chapter is ar- 
 ranged similar to the first and second, except that the verses 
 have two clauses each. 
 
 _8. EZEKIEL. Jjis^name means " God strengthens." He 
 was of a priestly family, and a prophet during the Baby- 
 lonian exile. He lived in captivity at Tel-Abib, on the 
 banks of the rjver Chebar, about two hundred miles north 
 of Babylon. The book of his prophecy is diffuse, artistic, 
 and abounds in allegory, symbols and obscurity. Its diffi- 
 culties caused the Jews to declare that no one should read 
 it until thirty years of age. Jerome called it "an ocean 
 and labyrinth of the mysteries of God." But the difficul- 
 ties are chiefly those of exposition. 
 
 The methods of interpretation applied to Ezekiel may 
 be designated as four: (i) Allegorical, dangerous in ten- 
 dency; (2) historical, essentially destructive; (3) symbolical, 
 requires careful and guarded qualifications ; (4) typical, the 
 more safe method. 1 
 
 9. JJANIEL js_ not placed among the prophetical books 
 
 * See Stearns, Intro. Books of O. T. t 1889. 
 
128 PROPHECY AND PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 
 
 in the Hebrew Bible, but with the K'thubim, being the 
 ninth book after the Psalms. Various reasons have been 
 offered to explain this, but the real ground is not known. 
 
 Author. The book itself implies that it was written by 
 Daniel, the prophet of the captivity. This is the testi- 
 mony of i Mace, i : 54; 2 : 59, 60, confirmed by the book 
 of Baruch and the references in the New Testament. Jo- 
 sephus also states the current belief of his time that it was 
 by Daniel, "one of the greatest of the prophets." (Jew. 
 Wars, 6:2, i ; Antiq., n : 8, 5.) Some modern critics 
 ascribe it to a pseudo Daniel of the Maccabaean age. They 
 urge that it was not among prophetical books ; is written 
 partly in Aramaic ; is not mentioned in Ecclus. 49, which 
 notices some great prophets. But that also omits Ezra and 
 Mordecai and the twelve Minor prophets (for 49 : 10 is 
 regarded as spurious). Many of the historical difficulties 
 have been removed by late discoveries in the Euphrates 
 valley. The objection to Daniel as the author, sprang at 
 first largely from a wish to get rid of the miracles and 
 prophecies it contains. The testimony continues too 
 strong for the severest criticism seriously to weaken. The 
 unity of the book is generally conceded. 
 
 In structure it is complex, partly history and partly 
 prophecy. This may account for its position in the Hebrew 
 Bible. Chapters 2 : 4 to 7 are in Aramaic ; the other por- 
 tions in Hebrew. The introduction and the Aramaic por- 
 tion are written in the third person. This may be ac- 
 counted for by the change in the matter ; the former is his- 
 tory, the latter prophetic vision. 
 
 In interpreting the prophetical portion of the book, 
 the first empire is generally agreed to be the Babylonian, 
 but as to the other three, some combine the Medes and 
 
PROPHECY AND PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 129 
 
 Persians into one, while some divide them. Others regard 
 the prophecy as covering a wide sweep of the world- 
 empires before and after Christ. 
 
 10. THE MINOR PROPHETS. These twelve books are 
 counted one in the Hebrew Bible. The order there is the 
 same as in English Bibles. The Septuagint changes the or- 
 der of the first six thus, Hosea, Amos, Micah, Joel, Oba- 
 diah, Jonah. Among the twelve are tKe earliest and the 
 latest of the prophetic books. They exhibit wide diversi- 
 ties of style, thought and illustration. Here is the uncul- 
 tured herdman Amos, the erratic, passionate Jonah, the 
 finished and elegant poet Habakkuk, and the cultured and 
 graceful Joel. 
 
 ji. HOSEA means the same as Jehoshtia, "salvation." 
 Stanley calls him the Jeremiah of the northern kingdom (Is- 
 rael). His prophetic work covered at least fifty (some say 
 seventy) years. 1 His style is sententious and concise, his 
 language original and often quaint. Of the several modes of 
 interpretation, there are (i) The literal or modified literal, 
 that the prophet actually married a profligate woman, or one 
 that became profligate ; (2) That it was a vision which the 
 prophet describes ; (3) That typically he states the relation 
 of Israel to Jehovah as that of an unfaithful wife to a hus- 
 band. There are several references to this book in the New 
 Testament. See Matt. 2:15; 9:13; 12:7; Rom. 9 : 
 25, 26. 
 
 _i2._Jo_ELjs pure Hebrew, easy-flowing, elegant and clas- 
 sical in style, having bold, sublime imagery, vividness and 
 power of description, bearing the impress of high culture. 
 All these point to an early period of the monarchy as Jts 
 
 1 See Pusey, Minor Prophets. 
 
130 PROPHECY AND PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 
 
 date not later than 800 B.C. Peter cites a prediction 
 of Joel as fulfilled in the Pentecostal revival and gift 
 of the Holy Spirit. Compare Joel 2 : 28-32 with Acts 2 : 
 16-21. 
 
 13. AMOS was a herdman of Tekoa, a small town about 
 twelve mileT'south of Jerusalem. His name means " bur- 
 den" or "burdensome." His style is in strong contrast 
 with that of Joel, and yet it charms the reader by a cer- 
 tain rugged simplicity and even sublimity and freshness, 
 with imagery fragrant of the pasture and rural scenes. 
 The date of the prophecies and of the book probably 
 follows that of Joel (about 810 to 780 B.C.). An old tra- 
 dition, not very trustworthy, declares that he died a mar- 
 tyr's death. 
 
 14. OBADIAH> The smallest of the prophetic books re- 
 minds the reader of the old feud between Jacob and Esau. 
 It is a sweeping declaration of judgment against Edom for 
 its unnatural conduct toward Judah in its day of misfortune. 
 The date is uncertain. It turns on vs. 11-14. Someplace 
 it in 889-884 B.C. ; others 606-588 B.C. or later. There is 
 a strong resemblance in this book to Jer. 49 : 7-21, where, 
 there is a similar prophecy against Edom. 
 
 i I _JoNAH_was of Gath-hepher, a town of northern Pal- 
 estine between Nazareth and Tiberias. The book is a sim- 
 ple, natural and graphic story, bearing the marks of true 
 history unless the reader discards miracles. The miracle 
 of the "great fish" (it does not say "whale") has been 
 made the butt of ridicule by sceptics since the days of 
 Julian the Apostate. As a type of Christ, the narrative of 
 Jonah must include the miracle of the fish, and Christ him- 
 self points to it as such a type. (Matt. 12 : 39-41 ; Luke 
 ii : 29-32.) The book reads like history. It may be de- 
 
PROPHECY AND PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 131 
 
 nied a historic character, but only "on the ground that all 
 records of the supernatural are unhistoric." l 
 
 1 6. MICAH was a prophet of the Mediterranean plains 
 near Gath. He is generally assigned to a period between 
 758 and 698 B.C. ; but some, depending on internal evi- 
 dence, regard this as rather too early, and would place him 
 las contemporary with Isaiah. His style is bold, energetic, 
 sometimes vehement and abrupt. He abounds in images, 
 and his sudden transitions and conciseness make his mean- 
 ing often obscure. He was counted a Messianic prophet, 
 and his predictions are caught up and echoed in the Song 
 of Zacharias (Luke i : 72, 73), and by the chief priests of 
 Jerusalem (Matt. 2 : 5, 6). 
 
 __T._NAHUM is a poetic book of great sublimity and with a 
 beautiful imagery. Says Prof. B. B. Edwards, " In grandeur 
 of style, in condensed energy, in elevation of sentiment 
 and rapid transitions, and in a certain completeness of rep- 
 resentation, Nahum stands, if not the first, yet near the 
 first, of the Hebrew prophets." The writer was probably 
 of Galilee, though some have thought he was from the 
 valley of the Tigris. He gives a sublime picture of the 
 invasion of foes and the desolation of Nineveh. 
 
 _i8. HABAKKmc-. His name means "embracing." He 
 was a Levite, but from whence h'e came and where he lived 
 are unknown. The theme of the book is the overthrow of 
 Judaea by the Chaldaeans, and then the overthrow of the 
 Chaldseans. The style is strong and the thoughts original. 
 Ewald says that he "is master of a beautiful style, of pow- 
 erful description, and an artistic power that enlivens and 
 orders everything with charming effect." Of his eloquent 
 
 1 Prof. Barrows, Intro. Study of the Bible, London, p. 274. 
 
132 PROPHECY AND PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 
 
 and sublime prayer-song (chapter 3), upon the majesty of 
 Jehovah, Bishop Lowth says : " This anthem is unequalled 
 in majesty and splendor of language and imagery." From 
 this book Paul cites the famous text " the just shall live by 
 his faith" (Hab. 2:4; Rom. 1:17), which was caught up 
 by Luther and became the ringing watchword of the great 
 Reformation. 
 
 19. ZEPHANiAHj-according to the heading of the book, 
 belonged tothe period of the great revival under Josiah, 
 641-610 B.C. It has been called the great judgment hymn. 
 That marvellous description beginning " The great day of 
 Jehovah is near, . . . That day ... of wrath" (Zeph. 
 i : 14, 15), furnished the keynote to that sublime Latin 
 hymn ascribed to Thomas of Celano (1250), Dies tree, dies 
 i//a, esteemed the grandest hymn of the middle ages a 
 hymn more frequently translated than any other, yet never 
 equalled, and which brings before us, with thrilling power, 
 the final judgment as an awful impending reality. 1 
 _JJQ HAP.P.AT ; a,prnphpf o f the restoration. His book is 
 plain prose, in a series of four or five discourses. It re- 
 lates to the repair of the Temple, i : 1-12 ; 2 : 10-20 ; to 
 the glory of the second temple, 2 : 1-9, and Zerubbabel's 
 triumph over his enemies, 2 : 20-23. The second chapter 
 contains a distinct reference to Christ as the "desire of 
 all nations;" or, "the desirable things of all nations." 
 (Hag. 2:7.) 
 
 21. ZECHARIAH is accounted the second in order and the 
 greatest prophet of the restoration. The thought is essen- 
 tially Messianic throughout the book. The theme is one, 
 but under two (some say five or six) heads. The authorship 
 
 1 See SchafT, Dictionary of the Bible, p. 915. 
 
PROPHECY AND PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 133 
 
 has been sharply questioned, some ascribing it to Jeremiah, 
 because of the passage in Matt. 27 19, 10; but lately this 
 theory has been virtually abandoned. Others would sepa- 
 rate the book into many sections of different ages ; but the 
 authority and inspiration of the book are admitted by all 
 reverent scholars. Testimony is strong in favor of the 
 unity of authorship. The Septuagint credits it to Zechariah. 
 Christ and the New Testament writers recognize but one 
 author for it. The book has six specific references to 
 Christ Zech. 3:8; 6:12; 9:9; 11:12; 12 : 10; 13 17. 
 y _22. .MALACHi, meaning " my messenger," is the closing 
 prophet of the Old Testament. The book " is broken up 
 into Socratic aphorisms, abounds in ellipses, is crisp and 
 terse." It is bold and denunciatory in its messages, yet 
 consoles the believer by rich Messianic promises. It dis- 
 tinctly foretells that Elijah will come as the forerunner of 
 the Messiah. Should the forerunner not come, or fail in 
 his mission, the prophet threatens that Jehovah -will come 
 and "smite the earth with a curse." And thus prophecy 
 in the Old Testament closes with a terrific warning, await- 
 ing the opening of the New Testament with an angelic 
 song, the Gloria in Excelsis. 
 
SUPPLEMENT 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CIRCULATION OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 1. Languages and Dialects. It is estimated that at the beginning of 
 the nineteenth century, the Bible and portions of it, had been issued in 
 less than fifty languages and dialects. These were chiefly European, 
 with a few languages of Western Asia, Northern Africa and North 
 America. The American Bible Society states that the Bible or por- 
 tions of it are printed in 363 versions and 287 dialects. 1 In 1890, 
 according to the Reports of the British and Foreign Bible Society, the 
 Bible in whole or in part .was translated and published in 510 versions, 
 in upwards of 300 languages and dialects. 1 The work is distributed 
 as follows : 
 
 In languages or dialects directly aided by the B. & F. Soc., 225 
 
 " " " indirectly aided " " " 65 
 
 In languages and dialects by other Societies (estimated), 100 
 
 Total languages and dialects in 1890 . . 390 
 
 In 1889 there were portions of the Scriptures translated into four 
 new languages not before having the Bible. The first eighteen centuries 
 of the Christian era produced less than fifty new versions of the Bible. 
 In eleven years, from 1878 to 1889, one society, the British and Foreign 
 Bible Society, added over sixty new versions of the Bible. The same 
 Society has been engaged in the translation and revision of the Bible 
 in 1 66 languages. 
 
 2. Distribution of the Bible. It has been computed that 60,000 
 Copies of the Gospels were circulated among Christians by the end of 
 the second century.* Origen multiplied copies of the sacred books 
 
 1 Manual (Revised Ed.). Am. Bib. Soc., t>. 35. 
 
 Sec Report British and Foreign Bible Society, 1889, pp. 453 to 463, and Report 
 for 1890. Alto Hagster's " Bihlc in Kvcry Land," which gives specimens of the 
 Bible in about ^ ., l.-in^u.-iccs and dialects. Also Reports, Miklmuy Conference, 
 pp. 414-428, and Kxctcr Mission Conference. 
 
 Norton, Genuineness of Gospels, Vol. I., pp. 28-36. 
 
 (134) 
 
CIRCULATION OF THE BIBLE. 135 
 
 by employing virgins skilled in calligraphy. Eusebius made fifty copies 
 of the entire Bible by order of the Emperor Constantine. Great num. 
 bers of copies of portions were written out for private use. But before 
 the invention of printing the multiplication of copies of the Bible was 
 slow, tedious and expensive. When Luther issued his German Version 
 of the Bible, 100,000 copies were sold within forty years, besides 
 probably ten times as many portions of the Bible. 1 In three years 
 after the issue of the Great Bible in England (1539) 21,000 copies 
 were printed, and between 1524 and 1611 not less than 278 editions 
 of Bibles and Testaments in English were printed. In two years, after 
 1611, five editions of King James' Version were printed, besides 
 separate editions of the New Testament, and there are now known to 
 be in existence over seventy different issues of 1611, issued about this 
 time. 2 
 
 In the first fifteen years of this century, private publishers in Amer- 
 ica issued 134 editions of the Bible, and sixty-five editions of the 
 New Testament. In the first sixty-five years of this century, there 
 were issued in this country about 600 different editions of the Bible, 
 and 200 editions of the New Testament, besides 100 editions of the 
 Scriptures in foreign languages, and 100 editions of portions of the 
 Bible. Some of these editions had a very large circulation. 
 
 At the end of the first half of the nineteenth century there were 
 over thirty firms in this country, some of them having a large capital, 
 engaged in publishing Bibles and portions of it, and issuing not less 
 than 400,000 copies annually. Of these more than 200,000 copies 
 were large family Bibles. At the same period, it is estimated that 
 the importation of Bibles from England equalled the combined issues 
 of all the Bible Societies and private publishers of the United States. 3 
 
 3. Copies Circulated. Since the beginning of this century Bibles, 
 Testaments and portions of the Bible have been issued as follows : 
 
 The British and Foreign Bible Society has issued Bibles, 
 
 Testaments, and parts ..... 134,000,000* 
 
 The American Bible Society has issued Bibles and Testa- 
 ments ....... 55,000,000 5 
 
 Other Bible Societies have issued Bibles and Testaments 
 
 about ....... 45,000,000 
 
 Private publishers, of the world, have issued Bibles and 
 
 Testaments (estimated) .... 60,000,000 
 
 Total circulation in nineteenth century . 294,000,000 
 
 * Schaff. Hist. Christ. Ch. Vol. VI., p. 350. 
 8 Manual, Am. Bib. Soc., pp. 33, 34. 
 3 Mannal, Am. Bib. Soc., p. 34. 
 
 4 See W. Wright's report London Conf. Vol. I., p. 148. Reports British and 
 Foreign Bible Soc., 1889, 1891, 1892. 
 Report Am. Bible Soc., 1891, and Report of Penna. Bible Soc., 1891, p. xx. 
 
136 CIRCULATION OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 There are about 1,450,000,000 population in the world. If we 
 count five persons to each family, all these copies might be sufficient 
 to furnish one copy of a Bible or some portion of it to each family in 
 the world, but they would not supply each adult. 
 
 4. 7 he total annual issues of all the Bible and Mission Societies of the 
 world number about 6,500,000 volumes. The yearly circulation of the 
 entire Bible and portions by private publishers, has been estimated as 
 equal to that of all the Bi!>le Societies. But this 'is perhaps an over- 
 estimate. Yet when the Revised New Testament of 1881 was issued 
 Oxford had orders for 1,000,000 copies before it was published, and 
 Cambridge for as many more. Over 2,ooo,coo copies were sold in 
 London, and over 500,000 copies in New York and Philadelphia. 
 None of these were issued by Bible Societies, but all by private pub- 
 lishing houses. Over twenty editions were reprinted within a year in 
 the United States. In view of what leading presses like the Oxford 
 and Cambridge Presses of England, and many similar publishers in 
 England, America and Germany are doing, it is surely an under- 
 estimate to place their united issues at one-half that of the Societies, or 
 say 4,000,000 copies yearly. Yet this swtlls the annual supply of Bibles 
 and portions of God's word to over 10,000,000 copies. 
 
 5. The copies of the Scriptures circulated in heathen lands during this 
 century are said to exceed in number all that were in the world from 
 Moses to Martin Luther. 
 
 In one year nearly 500,000 volumes of the Bible, in whole or in 
 pails, were circulated among the Chinese, about 300,000 in India, 
 14,000 in Persia, 300,000 in Russia, 125,000 in Turkey, 137,000 in 
 Italy, and 50,000 in Egypt and Madagascar. More than 100,000 copies 
 of the Scriptures go into South American countries each year. 
 
 An enterprising Italian publisher lately began the issue of the Bible 
 in serial numbers, at about one cent per number, which reached a 
 circulation of over 50,000 copies by subscription on the first issue. 
 
 Of the different translations made for mission fields Asia has 95 ; 
 Africa, 31 ; America, 24; and the Pacific Islands, 22. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CARE OF BIBLE TEXT. 
 
 Chapters, Words and Letters. 
 
 1. To the statements on pp. 60, 61, it maybe added that the Jews not 
 only counted the books, sections and paragraphs in their Hebrew 
 Scriptures, the Old Testament, but also marked the number of times 
 the same word occurred in each paragraph, the middle verse or para- 
 graph of each book, every verse where words were supposed to be 
 changed, or something forgotten, any letters deemed superfluous, letters 
 that were inverted, not pronounced, or did not hang perpendicular, 
 and counted and recorded the number of each. 
 
 2. The Massoretes also noted how many times each letter occurred in 
 the Hebrew Bible. Walton in his Prolegomena gives the table of the 
 Massoretes : 
 
 LETTERS. 
 
 TIMES. 
 
 LETTERS. 
 
 TIMES. 
 
 {< Aleph 
 
 in Hebrew 
 
 Bible 42,377 
 
 ^J Lamedh in 
 
 HebrewBibIe4i,5i7 
 
 3 Beth 
 
 
 
 " 38,218 
 
 Q Mem 
 
 
 
 
 
 < 
 
 77,778 
 
 J Gimel 
 
 
 
 " 29,537 
 
 3 Nun 
 
 < 
 
 M 
 
 M 
 
 41,696 
 
 "1 Daleth 
 
 
 
 " 32,530 
 
 Q Samekh 
 
 
 M 
 
 " 
 
 13,580 
 
 H He 
 
 < < 
 
 " 47,504 
 
 y Ayin 
 
 < 
 
 
 
 ( 
 
 20,175 
 
 t Vau 
 
 < 
 
 76,922 
 
 ) Pe 
 
 " 
 
 " 
 
 H 
 
 22,725 
 
 f Zayin 
 
 
 
 " 22,876 
 
 ^ Tsadhe 
 
 
 
 
 
 JM 
 
 21,882 
 
 H Hheth 
 
 " 
 
 " 23,447 
 
 p Koph 
 
 < 
 
 
 
 
 
 22,972 
 
 ft Teth 
 
 
 
 " 1 1 ,052 
 
 ") Resh 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 M 
 
 22,147 
 
 * Yodh 
 
 
 
 " 66,420 
 
 JJ^ Shin 
 
 < 
 
 M 
 
 < 
 
 32,148 
 
 3 Kaph 
 
 
 
 " 48,253 
 
 /"I Tau 
 
 u 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 59,343 
 
 When a word was found in the text with a small circle annexed to 
 it, then a word they supposed to be the true one would be written in 
 the margin. 
 
 (137) 
 
138 CARE OF BIBLE TEXT. 
 
 3. The Massoretes had a cabalistic way of noting the number of the 
 sections, words, letters and the like in the Hebrew text, as putting the 
 number of a congregation in one verse and the number of animals in 
 the next, and the two added together made the number of times the 
 letter indicated occurred in the book or in the Old Testament. Then 
 they noted that two verses of the law began with the letter Mem ; 
 eleven verses began and ended with the letter Nun ; forty verses had 
 the word " Lo " three times, and so on. 
 
 4. As a curious specimen of what this minuteness of the Massoretes 
 stimulated others to do, it is said that some anonymous writer of the 
 last century spent three years in counting and recording similar facts in 
 respect to the Common English, or King James' Version of the Scrip- 
 tures. As the English text varies in spelling and form, not having the 
 fixed type of the old Hebrew, such a count of the English text must vary 
 considerable, at different periods. The Revised English Version from 
 various omissions of verses, portions of verses, and change of words 
 in italics, which the English translators insert to make the sense 
 clearer to the common reader, would vary more widely than would 
 different editions of King James' Version. The compiler called his 
 work Old and New Testament Dissected, and gave the following sum- 
 mary of the English Bible : 
 
 
 Old Testament. 
 
 New Testament. Total. 
 
 Books 
 
 39 
 
 27 
 
 66 
 
 Chapters.. 
 
 929 
 
 260 
 
 1,189 
 
 Verses.... 
 
 23,214 
 
 7,959 
 
 3M73 
 
 Words.... 
 
 592,439 
 
 181,253 
 
 773,692* 
 
 Letters 
 
 2,728,110 
 
 838,380 
 
 
 The shortest and the middle chapter in the Bible is Ps. 117. The 
 middle verse of the Bible is Ps. 118 : 8. The word and occurs in the 
 Old Testament 35,543 times. The same word occurs in the New 
 Testament 6,853 times. The word Jehovah occurs 6,853 times. 
 
 The middle book of the Old Testament is Proverbs. The middle 
 chapter of the Old Testament, Job 29. The middle of the verses in 
 the Old Testament is between 2 Chron. 20; 17 and 2 Chron. 20 : 18. 
 
 The shortest verse in the Old Testament is I Chron. I : 25. 
 
 The middle book of the New Testament is 2 Thess. 
 
 The middle of the chapters of the New Testament is between the 
 I3th and I4th chapters of Romans. 
 
 The middle verse of the New Testament is Acts 17 : 17. 
 
 The shortest verse in the New Testament and in the Bible is John 
 
 1 The American Bible Society Manual fcivoa the total number of words in the 
 English liil.l.-, 77^.746; and the total number of letters, 3,566,480. This is doubtless 
 tin'- t n <lifT<-rrnt division, as counting some compounds as two words, which 
 some Bibles print as one word. 
 
CARE OF BIBLE TEXT. 139 
 
 Ezra 7 : 21 has all the letters of the alphabet except/ 
 
 There are several passages of some length alike, as Isa. 37 is like 
 2 Kings 19. 
 
 5. The Greek words. In the Greek text of the first three Gospels, 
 Matthew contains 18,370 words (Revised Greek Text, Oxford, 1881) ; 
 Mark 10,981 words; Luke 19,496 words, a total of 48,847 Greek 
 words in the three synoptic Gospels. 
 
 The Revised English New Testament according to Rev. Rufus Wen- 
 dell (Student's Edition, Albany, 1882) contains: 
 
 No. of paragraphs 1,128 
 
 No. of verses 7,943 
 
 No. of words 179,914 
 
 The total number of words belonging to each writer is as follows : 
 
 Paul (fourteen books) 50,649 
 
 Luke (two books) 49,865 
 
 John (five books) 34,236 
 
 Mark (one book) '4,854 
 
 Peter (two books) 3,966 
 
 James (one book) 2,306 
 
 Matthew (one book) 23,407 | Jude (one book) 631 
 
 6. The vocabulary, or number of different Greek words used by 
 each writer, is much smaller. For example, while the total number of 
 Greek words in the first three Gospels is 48,847, the number of different 
 Greek words used by these three writers in the Gospels is only about 
 2400, of which Luke uses nearly 1800. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 ANALYSIS AND QUESTIONS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ANGLO-AMERICAN, AND KING JAMES VERSIONS, pp. 8-1 8. 
 
 1. What is the religion of three foremost nations of the world ? In 
 What six things are they foremost ? Name the three nations. 
 
 2. What is the greatest book of these great nations? What are 
 three distinguishing marks of the greatness of the Bible among them ? 
 From what is the title Bible derived in Greek ? By whom was the 
 Latin title first used ? How ? Who used it in a preface ? Who first 
 used it as a title to the Christian Scriptures? 
 
 3. What would a Mongolian, Malayan, and Christian wish to know 
 about the Bible ? What ought every Christian to know about the 
 Bible ? In what order is the history here traced ? With what facts 
 do we begin ? 
 
 4. Anglo- American Version. What is one of the latest English Ver- 
 sions of the Bible called ? When was it first printed ? Why is it 
 called the Revised Version ? Why is the older one called the Common 
 
 Version ? [See note p. 8.] Why called Authorized Version ? Was 
 it ever formally authorized '? Why called King James Version ? 
 
 5. By whom was a revision of the Common Version suggested? 
 When ? By whom again proposed ? In what year ? When and by 
 whom was a revision committee appointed ? What convocation de- 
 clined to join in it? When was an American committee appointed ? 
 How many men were employed upon the revision ? How many were 
 British scholars ? How many were American ? How many of these 
 were active members ? [See note p. 9.] 
 
 6. When was the revision of the N. T. completed ? When issued ? 
 When was the whole Bible issued ? How is this event characterized ? 
 How was the translation of the New Testament received? Was the 
 *ame interest shown in the revised Old Testament? 
 
 7. What is the first reason given for revising the Common Version ? 
 What is the second ? What is the third ? How has a better text been 
 attained? 
 
 (140) 
 
APPENDIX. 141 
 
 8. Will the Revision be generally accepted ? How is it now used ? 
 Is it often read in churches ? 
 
 9. State three of the popular objections to it. What omissions 
 should be supplied ? 
 
 10. How long did it take the King James Version to displace earlier 
 ones? 
 
 11. Did American scholarship have great influence in the revision? 
 How many American suggestions were adopted ? What are some 
 changes not adopted by British scholars ? How many were made in 
 the New Testament ? 
 
 12. What were the principles governing the revisers ? How were 
 radical changes prevented ? How many in the Greek text ? What 
 Hebrew text was followed ? What is generally admitted respecting 
 the revision ? Is the English as felicitous as the old version ? 
 
 13. Upon what version was this revision based ? By whom was 
 the King James Version proposed ? By whom ordered, and when ? 
 How many translators were appointed ? When was the work begun ? 
 By how many scholars ? How were they divided ? Where did each 
 company meet ? How was the work divided among them ? [See 
 note.] 
 
 14. What were the principles on which King James' revision was 
 made? What other versions might be used ? 
 
 15. Was it then a new translation ? How many of them reviewed 
 the finished work ? How was it issued ? Who wrote the introduc- 
 tion ? 
 
 16. Why is it called "Authorized?" Was it ever formally and 
 officially sanctioned ? Was it cordially received ? How was it at- 
 tacked ? 
 
 17. How long was it before it finally won acceptance ? What other 
 version* were in use at that time? Why did an early proposal to re- 
 vise King James' Version fail ? 
 
 1 8. What changes have been made in the King James Version ? 
 What editions of this version are mentioned ? Mention some noted 
 editions. Which was the first to contain chronological notes in the 
 margin ? Upon whose chronology were they based ? By whom were 
 other marginal references inserted, and when ? Why are some words 
 put in italics in our Bibles? 
 
 19. What was done by the Committee on Versions of the American 
 Bible Society in 1851-56? Why was the amended edition discon- 
 tinued? What is said of the English of the King James Version? 
 
APPENDIX. 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE BIBLE IN ENGLISH, pp. 19-35. 
 
 (Douai, Bishops', Genevan, Coverdale's, Cranmer, Taverner, Tyndale 
 and Wycliffe Versions.) 
 
 1. Of what was the Common Version the outgrowth? Of how 
 many centuries' labor ? 
 
 2. What is meant by the Douai Version ? Why was it issued? 
 When and where was the Rheims or Douai New Testament published? 
 "When and where was the Douai Old Testament issued ? The whole 
 Bible ? To whom does this work owe its origin ? What was the basis 
 of this translation ? By whom was it made ? On what was the Douai 
 Version based ? How has it been changed ? Has it been much used ? 
 Why ? Is there any connection between this and the King James 
 Version ? 
 
 3. The Bishops' Bible, why so called ? By whom was it prepared 
 When was it completed ? When and by whom was it revised ? 
 what other name is it sometimes called ? 
 
 4. Why was it made? Why was the Great Bible not satisfactory? 
 
 5. How long a time was spent upon the Bishops' Version? By 
 what four rules were its translators governed ? What did this Bible 
 contain beside the text ? 
 
 6. When was the last edition issued ? What rule was made by Con- 
 vocation concerning it? Was it popular? 
 
 7. The Genevan version, made in what era? When and by 
 whom was this version made ? Whence does it derive its name ? 
 
 8. In what year was the Genevan New Testament made ? Where 
 was it translated, by whom, and when ? 
 
 9. Was that New Testament version made a part of the Genevan 
 Bible ? Where was the Genevan Bible made ? Mention the names 
 of some of the translators of the Genevan Bible. Was the New Tes- 
 tament in this work a translation directly from the original ? 
 
 10. What were some of the merits of this translation ? What kind 
 of notes were made ? How was the text printed ? 
 
 11. When was it first printed in Scotland? By whom revised ? 
 How is it distinguished from others ? What nickname was given to it, 
 and why ? Was it popular ? How long was it under Queen Mary's 
 ban? I low many editions of the Genevan Bible were printed ? ll<>\\ 
 long did it retain its popularity? What was done in the first editions 
 of King James' Version to win popularity? 
 
 12. The Great Bible, why so called ? When was this version issued ? 
 By whom was the translation made? Where was it printed ? What 
 difficulties were met by the translator in its printing? What is meant 
 by Cranmer's Bible? Whitechurch's? What was its relation to 
 Coverdalc's Bible ? Where may selections from the Great Bible be 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 143 
 
 found ? For how many years was the Great Bible the " Authorized 
 Version ? " 
 
 13. When was Coverdale's Bible translated? Upon what was it 
 based ? What German versions is it probable that he used ? What 
 merits had this version ? What other work was done by him ? 
 
 14. When was Matthew's Bible issued ? Who is Matthew thought 
 to have been ? What other versions does this resemble ? In what 
 respects ? 9 
 
 15. On what was Taverner's Bible based? Of what value is his 
 version ? 
 
 16. Tyndale's New Testament Version, when issued ? What aim did 
 Tyndale keep before him ? Did he fulfil this declaration ? W f hen 
 did he die, and how? When did he leave England? 
 
 17. Which was the first translation of the New Testament from 
 Greek into English ? Where was it issued ? Describe the title page. 
 
 1 8. What are some characteristics of its style ? How is the text ar- 
 ranged ? How does the Lord's Prayer in it differ from other versions ? 
 Did Tyndale translate only the New Testament ? 
 
 19. What do we owe to Tyndale's Version? What does Froude say 
 of his talent ? What part of the Bible was printed before this ? 
 
 20. When was Wycliflfe's Version made ? What text was the basis 
 of the translation ? How was it issued ? Who assisted Wycliffe in 
 translating the Old Testament? 
 
 21. What is meant by Purvey's Version ? Why were these versions 
 anonymous ? How many copies of Purvey's Version have been pre- 
 served ? What is said of the character of this early English version ? 
 What earlier metrical versions are mentioned ? By whom made ? In 
 how many ways is the name of Wycliffe spelled ? What is said of the 
 cost of a Bible in 1429 ? 
 
 22. Mention three important Anglo-Saxon versions of portions of the 
 Bible. By whom were they made ? What translator wrote a church 
 history ? 
 
 23. What is said of the Anglo-Saxon words in the Common English 
 Version ? Give examples of the proportion of Anglo-Saxon words in 
 the story of Joseph. The parable of the Sower. The Lord's Prayer. 
 How does the proportion of Anglo-Saxon of the Bible compare with 
 that in Milton? 
 
 24. When was the first complete English Bible made ? From what 
 text? When was the New Testament in English first translated from 
 the Greek? When was the first English Bible printed? When was 
 the English New Testament first divided into verses? When was the 
 English Bible so divided? State comparative cost of early English 
 Bibles. 
 
144 APPENDIX. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MODERN VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE OTHER THAN ENGLISH, pp. 36-42. 
 
 1. Of what other versions of the Bible should English readers have 
 some knowledge? Who chiefly made the German Version of the 
 Bible? 
 
 2. What earlier versions of the Bible in German are noticed ? What 
 are the two theories wffh regard to the earlier translations? In what 
 form was this version issued ? What objections were made to the trans- 
 lation of religious works into German ? 
 
 3. When and where was Luther's version made? Describe its title, 
 form and illustrations. Who assisted Luther' in the work? 
 
 4. How was Luther's Bible received ? What did it do for the Ger- 
 man language ? 
 
 5. What original text of the New Testament did Luther use ? From 
 what was his Old Testament translated? What does Heine say of 
 Luther ? 
 
 6. What is meant by the Probebibel? When was it published? 
 Mention some of the scholars connected with it. How was it received ? 
 
 7. What effect did Luther's version have upon the Roman Catholics ? 
 Mention the chief Catholic versions. How do they compare with 
 Luther's translation ? Which one is now used ? 
 
 8. When was the first complete translation of the Bible into Dutch 
 made ? By whom was it made ? What did its printer suffer for his 
 work ? By whom was the next version made ? On what were these 
 versions based ? 
 
 9. How long was it before another was made? How delayed? 
 When finally begun ? How long was it carried on ? What name was 
 given to this new version ? What is its character ? 
 
 10. Why was a new revision ordered in 1854? When completed? 
 How received ? 
 
 1 1. When and by whom was the first French version made ? When 
 was the first French Protestant version made ? Where and by whom 
 was it made ? Mention some other French versions. 
 
 12. Describe the version by Louis Segond. Where was it printed? 
 How many copies of the first edition ? 
 
 13. What Italian versions were made before the Reformation? 
 Whose version was prohibited by the Roman Church ? 
 
 14. When and where did the first Italian Protestant version appear? 
 In what dialect? Which versions are circulated by the Bible Society? 
 
 15. Which is the earliest of Spanish versions? Where was Regno's 
 Version published ? By whom revised ? When? Descril>e the version 
 published .-it Madrid in 1794. Which versions are now published? 
 
 16. Give the history of the I).misli I'.ililo. 
 
 17. When and by whom was the Bible translated into Swedish ? 
 
APPENDIX. 145 
 
 18. Into how many other languages has it been translated ? Men- 
 tion some of the important languages. 
 
 19. Who made the modern Arabic version ? What is said of its 
 merits ? 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE, pp. 43~5I. 
 
 1. Of what value are ancient translations of the Bible to us? 
 
 2. Whence was the gospel introduced into Armenia? What wai 
 the basis of the translations of the Bible into Armenian ? When did 
 the Armenians have a written language ? What version did they first 
 use ? From what manuscript does the first Armenian version seem to 
 have been translated ? By whom and where was the next translation 
 made ? What virtue does this translation possess ? 
 
 3. Who translated the Bible into Gothic ? What is meant by the 
 " Western order" of the Gospels ? What books are missing from this 
 version ? 
 
 4. The Coptic or Egyptian versions, in how many dialects? What 
 versions of the Bible exist in Egypt ? To what century does the first 
 belong ? How many and what manuscripts of this dialect exist ? 
 What are the advantages of this translation ? What does the second 
 version lack ? How do these Coptic versions differ from ours ? [See 
 note.] What part of the Bible still exists in the Bashmuric dialect ? 
 Where is this version chiefly useful ? 
 
 5. When was the Ethiopic version first made? What has now dis- 
 placed it? 
 
 6. The Syriac versions : to what family of languages belong? What 
 are the characteristics of the Syriac language ? 
 
 7. Name the four Syriac versions. What is the meaning of Peshito ? 
 Which is the earliest of the four versions? Is it complete? Where 
 and when was it found? How old is the third? Where is the best 
 manuscript of this version? What is the date of the fourth version? 
 Describe it. 
 
 8. In what groups may the Latin versions be 'classed ? How old is 
 the first of these groups? What is the bnsis of this translation? 
 
 9. What three types of the text are indicated ? How many manu- 
 scripts are in existence ? 
 
 10. Who undertook the revision of these texts, known as the Vul- 
 gate? Into what did his work develope? How long did he work 
 and where? What are the names of the two Psalters Jerome made ? 
 How was the whole Bible finally made up? How received ? 
 
 11. What is meant by the Sixtine text ? Its history ? The Clemen- 
 tine text ? What is the standard text in the Roman Church? 
 
 12. When and by whom was the Septuagint version made? Why 
 
146 APPENDIX. 
 
 is it called Septuagint ? In what language is it ? Why is this trans- 
 lation very important? How was it regarded by the Jews? By New 
 Testament writers? What version did Jesus often quote? Describe 
 Origen's Hexapla. Who were Aquila, Theodotion and Symmachus? 
 
 13. What is meant by the Targums? How many are now in exist- 
 ence? What are they? How have they been preserved? Of what 
 value are they in reading the Old Testament ? 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS OF THE BIBLE, pp. 52-6l. 
 
 1. Upon what are the oldest existing copies of the New Testament 
 written ? Of what is the parchment of the Sinaitic manuscript made ? 
 For what is the Vatican manuscript admired ? Upon what were other 
 early copies of the New Testament written? Why have many 
 perished ? What do the oldest manuscripts contain beside the New 
 Testament ? 
 
 2. How are ancient manuscripts of the New Testament classified ? 
 What three divisions were made by their contents? What three by 
 their supposed age ? How divided by the style of their writing ? 
 State a more recent division. 
 
 3. How many uncial MSS. are now known? Why are they called 
 nncial ? How many cursives are known ? Why so called ? 
 
 4. How was the text written in the early MSS. ? What marks of 
 division were found ? Into how many sections was Matthew divided ? 
 Mark? Luke? John? What is said of Acts and the Epistles? 
 
 5. What is meant by titloi? Why not given to the first section in 
 each book ? 
 
 6. What is meant by the Ammonian or Eusebian sections ? How 
 many of these sections were there in each Gospel ? How did Eusebius 
 classify them ? 
 
 7. To whom do we owe the chapter divisions in our modern Bibles? 
 To whom the verse divisions ? 
 
 8. Name the uncial manuscripts mentioned here. When, where 
 and by whom was the fcinaitic manuscript found ? Describe it. What 
 is the Codex Augustanus ? Where may printed copies of the Sinaitic 
 manuscript be seen ? What is Tischendorf 's conjecture about it ? 
 
 9. Of what age is the Vatican MS. ? Describe it. What part of 
 the Bible does it contain? How is it written? \Vhnt is sup|x>sed to 
 be its origin? How long has it been known to modern scholars? 
 Whose is the last edition of this text ? What is meant by the Vatican 
 manuscript B. No. 2066? 
 
 10. Where is the Alexandrian manuscript? How long has it been 
 there? Describe it. When and where is it probable that it was 
 written ? What docs it contain beside the New Testament ? 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 147 
 
 11. Which uncial MS. is in Paris ? What is meant by a palimpsest ? 
 How long has that been known ? What parts of the Bible are missing 
 from it ? To what century does it belong > 
 
 12. What does the Greco-Latin manuscript of Beza contain? De- 
 scribe it. Where is it ? How long has it been there ? By whom 
 was it placed there ? 
 
 13. What is said of new MSS. ? What new one is mentioned? 
 Where was it found ? 
 
 14. Why are some MSS. called cursives ? To what centuries do they 
 belong ? How many are there ? How classed ? 
 
 15. What is the probable date of the oldest Hebrew MS. f What 
 was the rule of the old Talmudists regarding faulty or imperfect manu- 
 scripts? How many have been found? 
 
 16. What are the two classes of Hebrew MSS.? What rules governed 
 the copying of MSS. for synagogue use ? What for private use ? What 
 do we owe to this care ? 
 
 17. How was the ancient Hebrew formerly supposed to have been 
 written? How was the true form discovered ? 
 
 18. What is the Massorah ? To what do the notes of the Massorites 
 refer ? How did they make corrections ? Did they correct the text 
 itself? 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE NEW TESTAMENT : HOW AND WHEN ONE BOOK, pp. 62-70. 
 
 1. What is said of the New Testament as a book? How were the 
 books made up ? Was there any single decree selecting the books in 
 it? 
 
 2. How was the collection made? When was the line between 
 " sacred " and " apochryphal " books first sharply drawn ? What caused 
 the drawing of this line? 
 
 3. Were all books accepted with equal readiness ? How were 
 some books finally admitted ? What books were so tested in the 
 Eastern church? What book was questioned in the Western church? 
 When was the New Testament finally " closed " ? 
 
 4. How long was it allowed to remain closed? Who revived the 
 discussion and on what grounds? What has been the general belief 
 among Protestants in all times ? What tests are applied to a book to ' 
 decide its right to be considered one of the sacred books? What did 
 Luther and Calvin say with regard to the decree of a council as a test 
 of the sacred books? What creeds substantially agree in the tests? 
 
 5. Are modern scholars disposed to accept without examination the 
 decision of former generations? Are they inclined to insist upon the 
 apostolic authorship of what they examine ? 
 
 6. What is the nature of the declarations of Councils and the Fathers 
 
148 APPENDIX. 
 
 concerning the books ? What tests did early Christians apply ? Which 
 book caused the Western church to hesitate ? Why did they hesitate ? 
 When was it finally accepted ? Whose studies lead to its acceptance ? 
 How did the Western church regard other writings than those nuw in 
 the New Testament ? 
 
 7. How many books were early admitted by the Eastern church ? 
 What were they called? What were the others called ? How many 
 were there ? When did Eusebius write a history of the church ? \\hat 
 does he say of the accepted books? Which books does he mention as 
 questioned? Which were questioned by Origen ? 
 
 8. What light is thrown on this research by the Fathers of the first 
 four centuries? What adds to the value of their testimony ? What 
 list is given by Augustine ? By Athanasius, Jerome and Eusebius ? 
 How are citations made by these writers ? What writers are included 
 in this reference ? 
 
 9. Why were not books of the New Testament written sooner? 
 Which two are considered the first ? What allusions were made by 
 Papias of Hierapolis ? In what books is Luke's influence traceable ? 
 When were most of the New Testament books written ? What made 
 written instructions necessary? Were there heresies in the early 
 church ? By what name is the New Testament called by second cen- 
 tury writers ? How early were the twenty unquestioned books col- 
 lected as Scriptures ? 
 
 10. Why were the early Christians so careful in their selection ? Is 
 it improbable that the Gospels and Acts were first combined, the others 
 being separate ? What evidence is added by the circumstances under 
 which the selections were made ? What declaration concerning them 
 was made by the Council of Carthage ? Over what proportion was 
 there any hesitation ? 
 
 11. What advantage is there in this gradual sifting of the writings ? 
 What promise of Christ was fulfilled ? 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WRITERS AND COMPOSITION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS, 
 pp. 71-80. 
 
 1. How early were the books of the New Testament extant? How 
 long was it before they were universally accepted ? 1 low many persons 
 were engaged in writing the New Testament books? Were they sim- 
 ilar in any respect to one another? What were some of Paul's charac- 
 teristics ? Luke's? Matthew's? John's? 
 
 2. Which were the earliest books written? Between what years 
 may they be placed ? What arc the probable dates of the Synoptic 
 Gospels and the Acts? Ol the Pastoral Katies of Paul? Of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews ? Of the General Epistles of James, Peter and 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Jude ? To what period do the writings of John belong ? Which 
 the earliest ? Next ? Last ? 
 
 3. The names of how many New Testament writers are certainly 
 known? How many of these have been positively identified ? \Vi,y 
 is there doubt concerning the others ? How are the authors of eigh- 
 teen of the books known ? How can the authors of the other books 
 be found out ? 
 
 4. How is it known that Matthew wrote the book called by his 
 name ? By what other name was he probably called ? What does 
 Papias say about it? What does Irenaeus add to this statement? 
 
 5. What is the explanation of the fact that the Greek Gospel of 
 Matthew reads like an original ? Is there any parallel to this ? 
 
 6. Who is recognized as the author of the second Gospel ? With 
 whom is he identified ? With whom does Papias declare him to have 
 been associated ? What does Irenceus say of him ? 
 
 7. How is it proved that the third Gospel and the Acts were from the 
 same pen ? What was the profession of their author, and how was he 
 associnted with Paul ? 
 
 8. Which book was for years the chief object of attack by critics? 
 How has the authenticity of John's Gospel been established ? What 
 objections have been made to its authorship? How can they be met? 
 What illustration of a modern book is given ? What are some charac- 
 
 teristics that its author must have possessed, which belong only to 
 John ? 
 
 9. How many Epistles are ascribed to Paul, and on what ground? 
 Has this evidence ever been questioned? 
 
 10. Who wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews ? What was the belief 
 in the early Eastern Church ? 
 
 11. Was the Epistle of James written by John's brother? How 
 many men bearing that name are mentioned in the Bible ? 
 
 12. Is there any doubt regarding the authorship of the first Epistle 
 of Peter? To whom was it addressed, and what was its aim? Why 
 was the second Epistle finally accepted ? What is the keynote of each 
 book ? What is the theme of both ? 
 
 13. How was i John received by the early church ? Why was it 
 written and for whom ? When was the authorship of the second and 
 third Epistles established ? To whom is the second Epistle addressed ? 
 To whom the third ? When were all these Epistles written ? 
 
 14. Was Jude an apostle? What incidental evidence is there 
 respecting it ? What apocryphal books does he cite ? What other 
 Epistle does this resemble? What and for whom was this letter 
 written ? 
 
 15. By whom was the Book of Revelation written? What is the 
 character of the book ? Why was it written ? State the topic of each 
 New Testament book. 
 
150 APPENDIX. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 THE OLD TESTAMENT: HOW AND WHEN ONE BOOK, pp. 81-91. 
 
 1. During how many years was the Old Testament in process of 
 formation ? What period do the books cover? 
 
 2. What version of the Old Testament was in, common use in the 
 first centuries of the Christian era? What finally separated apocry- 
 phal from sacred books ? When and by whom was an early list of 
 Old Testament books made by a Christian writer ? What statement is 
 made by Josephus concerning the Jewi>h sacred books? How and 
 why could the Old Testament books be counted twenty-two or twenty- 
 four? Which two books are possibly uncertain in Josephus' list? 
 
 3. \Vhat does Strack say of this? Why is Josephus' evidence valu- 
 able ? What of the triple division of the Old Testament? 
 
 4. How many books were counted by the Talmudists ? What is the 
 testimony of Philo r%arding them ? 
 
 5. How are these writings spoken of in the New Testament ? Under 
 what names are they referred to ? How did Christ refer to portions of 
 the Old Testament ? What books were referred to under the name of 
 Psalms ? 
 
 6. From how many Old Testament books are quotations given in the 
 New Testament ? From how many books did our Lord quote directly ? 
 How many references are there to the Old Testament in the New 
 Testament ? What is said of Revelation in this regard ? How was 
 the Old Testament apparently divided in New Testament days ? 
 
 7. When and by whom were these books definitely settled ? Who 
 were the dissenting minority ? What were the views of the Alexan- 
 drian Jews? Why would the Sadducees reject some books? Where 
 did the Samaritans stand ? 
 
 8. What does Dillman consider the order of acceptance of the sacred 
 books? What does Josephus imply as to the time when these books 
 were all acknowleged ? 
 
 9. What is the tradition regarding their selection and combination? 
 Is this generally accepted ? 
 
 10. What is the conclusion ? 
 
 11. What causes account for the dissent of certain Jews from the 
 strict list? What does Josephus say of the apocryphal books? 
 What is the conclusion from all this evidence? 
 
 12. Is the order of the Old Testament books in the Hebrew Bible 
 the same as in the F.n^lish Bible? How many variations are noted in 
 Hebrew copies? Are they important ? 
 
 13. What was the Hebrew order of the Pentateuch? What books 
 were included under the name " Earlier Prophets ? " Under the name 
 "Later Prophets?" What was meant by the Hagiographa? What 
 earlier Hebrew arrangmcnt is spoken of? 
 
 14. What assertions have been made as to variations from the list? 
 
APPENDIX. 151 
 
 How do these affect the authority of the text ? What is meant by the 
 Patristic list ? When and where was the Roman Catholic canon 
 declared ? In what regard do these two lists agree with that of the 
 Greek Church ? What inconsistencies are noted in the declarations of 
 the Greek Church ? To what list does the Protestant canon conform ? 
 What were Luther's views regarding the apocryphal books? Whnt 
 is the declaration of the Church of England concerning them? Of 
 the Belgic and Westminster Confessions? 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE BOOKS OF THE LAW I THEIR AUTHORSHIP AND COMPOSITION, 
 pp. 92-100. 
 
 With what event does the " Law " begin ? With what event does 
 it close ? How was it originally written ? By whom arranged as now ? 
 
 1. What name is often given to these books ? What is its derivation ? 
 By what names did the Hebrews call them ? Upon what is the unity 
 of these books based ? How are they connected in the original ? 
 
 2. What differences of opinion as to the division of these books are 
 mentioned? How did Christ speak of them? Whence are their 
 English titles derived ? What is the meaning of each name ? What 
 were their Hebrew titles ? What is the meaning of the word Pfra- 
 shioth ? How were these again subdivided ? How often were the 
 selections from the Law read ? Designate broadly each of the books 
 by its contents. 
 
 3. By whom were these books written? By whom is the question 
 of authorship reopened? To whom would these critics ascribe them? 
 How early was this inquiry raised ? What was Astruc's theory ? What 
 was the " fragmentary " theory ? What is a third theory mentioned ? 
 What general division of the Pentateuch is made by this " newer criti- 
 cism ? " What differences of opinion have been expressed as to the 
 date of the Pentateuch ? 
 
 4. Is there a definite avowal of authorship of the whole Pentateuch ? 
 Quote verses to show that Moses was the author of at lenst a large part 
 of the work. In what person is the book written ? What event is 
 recorded in Deut. 34? What is the object of the writings ? What do 
 they contain besides the fulfilment of this object? What form would 
 be most natural for the authentic record of the origin of the race ? Is 
 knowledge of the writer of government annals of great importance? 
 Why not ? What would be expected of Moses as the great lawgiver 
 of Israel ? What is the testimony of Hebrew writers as to his having 
 done so ? 
 
 5. What evidences in the books themselves against their Mosaic 
 authorship are urged ? 
 
 6. What evidences in favor of it? Is there historic evidence of 
 the existence of separate documents? Do the critics agree among 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 themselves ? Is it probable that the Hebrews had no written laws be- 
 fore the exile ? Do these records agree with what we know of Egypt 
 and other nations in the Mosaic era? 
 
 What must be accounted for on any theory ? What is said of the 
 civilization of Egypt in the Mosaic era? What is the evidence from 
 language ? Is the religious system copied from the Egyptian ? What 
 peculiarities of the worship indicate the wilderness life ? Are there 
 many characteristics of later speech in the language of the Pentateuch ? 
 What accounts for the differences between earlier and later portions? 
 What is said of New Testament evidence ? 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 HISTORICAL (O. T.) BOOKS : AUTHORSHIP AND COMPOSITION, 
 pp. IOI-III. 
 
 How many historical books are there in the Old Testament ? In 
 what order do they come in the English Bible ? Which is first and 
 which last ? 
 
 1. What is the Hebrew order? Which were called the Earlier 
 Prophets, and why ? How were the other six books placed ? Which 
 were the closing books ? 
 
 2. How many years are covered by these books ? What event opens 
 and what closes the period ? Into how many periods can the time be 
 divided? What are they? Into what five periods may the time be 
 divided ? Give the portions of the text included in each period. 
 
 3. Who are mentioned by Jewish tradition as the chief writers of 
 these books ? 
 
 4. Whence does the book of Joshua derive its name ? What do 
 modern critics say concerning it ? To whom do tradition and reverent 
 scholars assign its authorship ? When do they think it was composed ? 
 How can the clauses urged to prove a later date be accounted for ? Of 
 what importance is this lxx>k to the Bible student ? 
 
 5. Whence does Judges take its name ? How many judges were 
 there? How long was this period ? What reference is made by Paul 
 to this period? To whom does the Talmud ascribe this book ? Whence 
 was it gathered ? for what reason ? What are the difficulties of the 
 book? 
 
 6. When did Ruth live? When was the book probably written ? 
 Where is it placed in the Hebrew Bible ? What is its historical value ? 
 What is the Jewish tradition concerning its writer ? Are the arguments 
 against an early date tenable ? 
 
 7. How were the two books of .fawtt^/ originally written? Howwere 
 the books of Samuel and Kings divided by the Septuagint ? When 
 was this division introduced into Hebrew Bihles? What is known of 
 the author of I and 2 Samuel ? Whence arises the name? Why could 
 Samuel not have written both ? Mention some national songs incor- 
 porated into the work. What is its date ? State some difficulties. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 153 
 
 8. What history do the two books of Kings continue ? Whom does 
 Jewish tradition name as the author of Kings? Who else has been 
 named ? Do they refer to older documents? What is their probable 
 date? What new light has recently been thrown on the dynasties 
 mentioned by these books ? What difficulties are there ? 
 
 9. Where were the Chronicles originally placed? What is the 
 Hebrew title ? What does the Septuagint call them ? Who named 
 them Chronicles? By whom were they probably written ? Why were 
 they written ? What do they contain confirmatory of the Pentateuch ? 
 What date is assigned to them ? How many sources are named in 
 them ? Mention them. What value have the numerous references to 
 other sources ? 
 
 10. Where was Ezra placed in the Hebrew Bible ? What names 
 are given to Ezra and Nehemiah in the Septuagint ? In the Vulgate ? 
 Who was the author of Ezra? When was it written ? 
 
 11. Where is Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible? Who wrote it? 
 What doubts are there as to its authorship ? What peculiarities arff 
 mentioned in its language ? 
 
 12. To what era does Esther belong ? What peculiarity is noted in 
 it ? Why ? When written ? Who are named as the probable authors ? 
 
 13. What is said of the twelve historical books? 
 
 14. Give the substance of Mr. Gladstone's remarks on the general 
 character of the Old Testament books. With what does it deal ? 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 HEBREW POETRY AND POETICAL BOOKS, pp. 1 1 2-1 22. 
 
 1. What is a leading characteristic of the Oriental mind? Were 
 the Hebrew people affected by these feelings ? What portion of the 
 Old Testament is poetry? How does Hebrew poetry differ from that 
 of other nations ? 
 
 2. Why is there no epic poetry among them ? What kinds of poe- 
 try were written in Hebrew ? How does it compare with other 
 poetry ? 
 
 3. Are rhyme and meter found in Hebrew poetry ? What attempts, 
 have been made to find them ? Have they succeeded ? 
 
 4. Of what does Hebrew poetry consist chiefly ? Name and define 
 the three kinds of parallelisms. 
 
 5. Are alliteration and assonance used? What kind of language is 
 used by these writers ? 
 
 6. How many poetical books are there in the Old Testament ? 
 Name them. Are these the only ones that contain poetry ? Mention 
 five of the most noted songs outside of these books. 
 
 7. Which is the earliest specimen of poetry in the Old Testament ? 
 How many songs are mentioned in the Old Testament ? How many 
 
154 APPENDIX. 
 
 are found in the New Testament? Mention them. Where are they 
 found ? 
 
 8. Where is the book of Psalms in the Hebrew Bible? Which 
 books were regarded as preeminently poetical ? What names have 
 been given to the Psalms? Whence is the name Psalms derived? 
 
 9. How are the Psalms divided in the Hebrew ? How are these 
 divisions marked ? What are the groups ? To what have the topics 
 of the Psalms been compared ? How old is this division ? What sugges- 
 tions have been made as to the reasons for its existence ? How many 
 Psalms are quoted in the New Testament ? 
 
 10. Were the titles of the Psalms made by their authors ? To how many 
 are they attached ? What name is given by the Talmud to the others ? 
 How many Psalms are ascribed to David ? To whom are the others 
 assigned ? How many are anonymous ? To whom does the Septua- 
 gint ascribe the I2yth? the I46th ? the I47th? What famous ones are 
 anonymous ? What is said of the Hallel Songs ? 
 
 11. How are the Psalms divided by their contents? How many 
 alphabetic Psalms are there ? Mention other classifications. 
 
 12. What is the Hebrew title of Proverbs? What is meant by the 
 Hebrew word for proverbs ? What is the essence of a proverb ? What 
 collections of proverbs are there beside the one in the Bible? How 
 do they compare with Solomon's ? 
 
 13. Was Solomon the only author of the Proverbs? Mention 
 others. 
 
 14. How old is the complete collection? 
 
 15. What is the structure? Give examples. What is taught in this 
 book? 
 
 16. From whom does the book of Job derive its name? To whom 
 is the book ascribed ? What indications are there in the book itself 
 that it may have been written by Moses ? To whom would modern 
 critics ascribe it? and why? 
 
 17. What is its structure? What may it be called? Who are the 
 dramatis personae ? What are the divisions of the book ? 
 
 1 8. What is the object of the book ? Its theme ? 
 
 19. Is the book history? 
 
 20. What name is given to Ecclesiastes in the original ? Why was 
 it written ? How is the idea brought out? 
 
 21. Who wrote it? Where would modern critics place it? How 
 are the apparent discrepancies explained? 
 
 22. What is the Hebrew name of the Song of Solomon? What is 
 its form ? 
 
 23. Who wrote it ? Upon what is the general belief as to its author 
 based? 
 
 24. How is the structure of the book here defined ? 
 
 25. Along what lines have interpretations been made ? 
 
APPENDIX. 155 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PROPHECY AND PROPHETICAL BOOKS, pp. 123-133. 
 
 1. Who were the prophets? When were schools of the prophets 
 established ? Were all prophets thereafter taken from these schools ? 
 
 2. Into how many periods may the work of the prophets be divided ? 
 What were these periods ? 
 
 3. Have all the writings of the prophets been preserved? Over how 
 many years did the existing prophecies extend ? How many so-called 
 " Later Prophets " are there ? Which one was not put with the 
 prophets by the Jews ? In what form are these prophecies written ? 
 
 4. How are these books divided as to form ? How as to time ? 
 
 5. What is the meaning of Isaiah? How does Isaiah rank? Who 
 wrote the book ? What evidence is there for his authorship of the 
 book ? What arguments are brought to bear against it ? How may 
 they be answered ? Describe the structure of the book. 
 
 6. Where did Jeremiah live ? To what class did he belong ? Over 
 how long a time did his prophecies extend ? Who was his scribe ? 
 Describe the structure of the book. 
 
 7. Who wrote Lamentations ? Of what does the book consist ? 
 What peculiarities of form are mentioned ? 
 
 8. Who was Ezekiel ? What is the meaning of his name ? Where 
 did he live ? What is the style of his prophecy ? What did the Jews 
 declare concerning it ? What are the methods of interpretation applied 
 to Ezekiel ? 
 
 9. How was Daniel classed by the Jews ? What is the Bible testi- 
 mony as to the author ? What objections are urged to this ? Whence 
 sprang these objections ? Describe its structure. In what languages 
 is it written ? 
 
 10. How are the minor prophets counted in the Hebrew Bible ? How 
 do they differ among themselves ? 
 
 11. Who was Hosea? For how many years did he prophesy? 
 What are the modes of interpretation of Hosea ? 
 
 12. Describe Joel. What is its probable date? Where is Joel 
 quoted in the New Testament ? 
 
 13. Who was Amos? How does his stylt compare with that of 
 Joel? When did he live? What is the tradition concerning his 
 death ? 
 
 14. What is the character of Obadiah's prophecy? Its date? 
 Topic ? 
 
 15. Where did Jonah live? What is the character of the book 
 called by his name? What evidence leads us to believe the story of 
 the great fish ? Of whom was Jonah a type ? 
 
 16. When and where did Micah live ? Describe his style. What 
 quotations are made from Micah in the New Testament ? 
 
 17. Describe Nahum. Where did he live ? His object in prophecy ? 
 
156 APPENDIX. \ 
 
 18. Who was Habakkuk? Describe his book. What quotation 
 from Habakkuk is made in Romans ? 
 
 19. What is the date of Zephaniah ? What name has been given to 
 it? What great hymn is based upon it? 
 
 20. When did Haggai write ? What is the style of his book ? 
 
 21. How does Zechariah rank among the propheis? What is 
 the theme of the book ? What is the Biblical testimony as to its 
 author ? 
 
 22. Which is the closing prophet? What is the meaning of his 
 name ? Describe the style of the book. Mention some of the proph- 
 ecies contained in it. How does it close ? 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CIRCULATION OF THE BIBLE, pp. 134-136. 
 
 1. Into how many languages and dialects was the Bible issued at the 
 beginning of the nineteenth century ? Into how many now ? 
 
 2. How many copies of the Scriptures were circulated during the 
 first half of the nineteenth century ? 
 
 3. How many have been issued during the nineteenth century? 
 
 4. What is said of the annual issue of Bibles? 
 
 5. What is said of the circulation in heathen lands? How many 
 added copies are needed to give each family of the world a Bible ? 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CARE OF BIBLE TEXT, pp. I37-139 
 
 1. What did the Jews note concerning their Scripture text besides 
 the number of books ? 
 
 2. What table is given in section two? 
 
 3. How did the Massoretes number the words and letters of the 
 Hebrew text ? 
 
 4. What did their minuteness lead some to do for the text of the 
 English Bible ? State the number of books, chapters and verses in the 
 English Bible. 
 
 5. How many Greek words are there in the text of the first three 
 Gospels? How many Greek words are used in the Pauline writings? 
 I low many by Luke? 
 
 6. What is the number of Greek words in the vocabulary of Luke's 
 Gospel ? How many in the first three Gospels? 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Acts, 74 
 
 Alexandrian MS., 57. See MSS. 
 
 Alliteration, see Hebrew Poetry. 
 
 Amos, 130. 
 
 Ancient MSS., 52. 
 
 Ancient Versions, 43. 
 
 Anglo-American Versions, 7, 8. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Versions, 33. 
 
 Armenian translations (see Versions), 43. 
 
 Authorship of Gospels and Acts, 73. 
 
 Authorized Version, why so called,8. 
 
 Beza's MS., 58. 
 Books of the Law, 92. 
 
 authorship of, 93, 94. 
 
 composition of, 95. 
 
 division of, 92. 
 
 Mosaic authorship of, 96, 97. 
 
 name of, 92. 
 Bible, Alexandrian (written), 57. 
 
 Anglo-American, 8-18. 
 
 Anglo Saxon, 33. 
 
 Armenian, 43. 
 
 Authorized Version of, 13. 
 
 Biblh by Chaucer, 7. 
 
 Bishops', 20. 
 
 Cambridge Paragraph, 17. 
 
 chapters and verses in, 138. 
 
 circulation of, 134. 
 
 Coptic, 44. 
 
 Coverdale's, 25. 
 
 Cranmer's, 25. 
 
 Danish, 42. 
 
 divisions of, 54, 93, 137. 
 
 Douai, 19. 
 
 Dutch, 39. 
 
 Egyptian, 44. 
 
 English, facts about, 34. 
 
 Ethiopic, 45. 
 
 French, 40. 
 
 Genevan. 21. 
 
 German, 36. 
 
 Gladstone upon the, 109. 
 
 Gothic, 44. 
 
 Great, 22, 23. 
 
 greatest book, 7. 
 
 Greek Septuagint, 49, 8r. 
 -Hebrew. 50, 59, 60, 81-9, 101, 137. 
 
 Holy, English title, 15. 
 
 Bible, Italian, 41. 
 
 languages translated into, 134. 
 
 Latin, 47. 
 
 Luther's, 37. 
 
 Matthew's, 26. 
 
 Purvey 's, 30. 
 
 Taverner's, 26. 
 
 Sinaitic (written), 52. 
 
 Societies, 135. 
 
 Spanish, 41. 
 
 Swedish, 42. 
 
 Syriac, 45, 46. 
 
 Vatican (written), 56. 
 
 Vulgate, 47. 
 Whitechurch's, 25. 
 Wyckliffe's, 29. 
 
 Chronicles, 105. 
 
 Colossians, 76-79. 
 
 Coptic or Egyptian Versions, 44. 
 
 Corinthians, 76, 79. 
 
 Coverdale's Bible, 25. 
 
 Cranmer's Bible, 25. 
 
 Cursive MSS., the, how written, 59, 
 
 Daniel, Book of, 127, 128. 
 Danish Versions, 42. 
 Date of N. T. Books, 71. 
 Deuteronomy (see Pentateuch), 95. 
 Douai Version, the, 19. 
 Dutch Versions, 39. 
 
 Eastern Church on N. T. Books, 65. 
 
 Ecclesiastes, 121. 
 
 Ephesians (see Pauline Eps.), 76. 
 
 Ephraem MS., 58. 
 
 Esther, 108. 
 
 Ethiopic Versions, 45. 
 
 Exodus (see Pentateuch), 95. 
 
 Ezekiel, 127. 
 
 Ezra, 87, 107. 
 
 Fac-Simile 
 
 Tyndale's New Testament, 
 
 Frontispiece. 
 King James's Version, 15. 
 Great Bible, 23. 
 Matt. 13 : 1-15, Tyndale, 27. 
 Isaiah, Chap. 13, Tyndale, 13. 
 
 (157) 
 
158 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Fac-Simile 
 
 early English MS. Bibles, 31. 
 Rushworth Gospels, John 13 : 2, 33. 
 Fourth Cent. Codex Smaiticus, 55. 
 Fifth Cent. Codex Alexandrinus, 57. 
 
 Galntians (see Pauline Eps.), 76. 
 Gladstone, quotation from, 109. 
 Gothic Versions, 44. 
 Great Bible, 22. 
 
 Habakkuk, 131. 
 
 Haggai, 132. 
 
 Hebrew MS. (see MS.) 
 
 poetry, 112. 
 
 alliteration in, 113. 
 
 early songs in, list of, 114, 115. 
 
 forms of, 112. 
 
 Orientals' delight in, 112. 
 
 parallelisms of, 113. 
 
 rhyme and metre in, 112. 
 Hebrews, book of, 76. 
 Historical O. T. Books, 101. 
 
 authors of, 102-109. 
 
 general character, 109. 
 
 order of, in Hebrew, 101. 
 
 period covered by, 101. 
 Hosea, 129. 
 
 Isaiah, book of, 125. 
 
 Chap. 12, fac-simile of, 31. 
 Italian Versions, 41. 
 
 amnia, Synod of, 85. 
 ames, Epistle of, 76. 
 eremiah, 126. 
 
 Lamentations of, 127. 
 ob, book of, 119, 120. 
 OCl,MQ. _ 
 ohn's Kpistles, 78. 
 ohn. Gospel by, 74. 
 onah, 130. 
 oshua, 102. 
 udges, 102, 103. 
 ude, 78. 
 
 Kings, book of, 105. 
 
 34. 
 
 Lamentations, 127. 
 Language of English Bibles, 
 
 Versions. 46. 
 Leviticus (see Pentateuch), 97. 
 Luther's Version, 37, 38, 63,64. 
 
 M..la< hi, book of. . 
 Manuscripts, Ancient, 52. 
 Alexandrian, 57. 
 (,'iirsiv<-s, the, 59. 
 divisions of, modern, 54. 
 
 m, 58. 
 
 Greco-Latin, 58. 
 Hebrew, 59. 
 
 classes of, 59. 
 
 Manuscripts, Hebrew, strict rules for 
 
 preparing, 59. 
 N. T., how written, 52. 
 how classified, 52. 
 new, 58. 
 sections in, Ammonian, or Eusebian, 
 
 54 
 
 how numbered, 54. 
 Sinaitic, 52. 
 text, Divisions of, 53. 
 Titloi-titles, number of, 54. 
 Uncial, number of, 53, 55. 
 Sinaitic, how found, 55. 
 Vatican, beauty of, 52. 
 
 character of, 56. 
 Mark, 74. 
 
 Massorah, the, 60. 
 Massoretes,care of Bible, 137, 138. 
 Matthew, 69, 73. - 
 Matthew's Bible, 26. 
 Micah, book of, 131. 
 
 Nahum, 131. 
 
 Nehcmiah, 107. 
 
 Nations, three foremost of the world, 7. 
 
 greatest book of, 7. 
 New MSS. of Bible, 58. 
 New Testament^ one book, 62. 
 
 completion of, 68. 
 
 conclusions regarding, 69. 
 
 Eastern Church on, 65. 
 
 fresh examination of list, 64. 
 
 Luther on, 63. 
 
 Process of forming Collection 
 of, 67. 
 
 unanimity of its acceptance, 63. 
 
 Western Church on, 64. 
 
 b'>oks, 71. 
 
 authorship of Gospels and Acts, 
 
 character of writers, 71. 
 Date of the books, 71 , 79, 80. 
 early catalogue of, 66. 
 Hebrews, 76. 
 
 J. -uiics. Epistle by, 76. 
 ohn, Kpistles by, 78. 
 ude, 78. 
 
 names of writers known, 72. 
 Pauline Epistles, 76. 
 Peter, 2 Kpistles by, 77. 
 Revelation, book of, 78, 79. 
 T..Me of, 79,80. 
 
 . of writing in, 71. 
 writers of, 72. 
 Numbers (see Pentateuch), 92. 
 
 Oludiah, 130. 
 
 Old Testament, one book. 81. 
 
 hooks quoted in the New,84. 
 
 E/ra and the Great Synagogue, 87. 
 
 how formed, 86, 87. 
 
 Joseph ub on, 8 1, 86. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 159 
 
 Old Testament, order of books, He- 
 brew, 88, 89. 
 
 Septuagint, Books in, 81. 
 
 Synod of Jamnia on, 85. 
 
 testimony of Origen and Josephus 
 to, 81. 
 
 triple Division of, 82. 
 
 variations, Supposed, in the lists, 89. 
 
 what Philo and Talmudists say, 83. 
 Christ and N. T. writers say, 83. 
 
 Pauline Epistles, 76. 
 Peter, Epistles by, 77. 
 Philippians (see above), 76. 
 Philemon (see above), 76. 
 Poetic books O. T., 113. 
 Prophecy and Prophetical Books, 123, 
 124. 
 
 Ezekiel, 127. 
 
 Daniel, author, &c., 127, 128. 
 
 division, 124. 
 
 Isaiah, author of, 125. 
 structure of, 126. 
 
 e-emiah, character of, 126. 
 mentations, 127. 
 Minor Prophets, 129-133. 
 Prophets, great work of, 123. 
 Proverbs, 117, 118. 
 Psalms, 115, 116. 
 Purvey's Version, 30. 
 
 Revelation, book of, 78, 79. 
 Rhyme and Metre in Hebrew, 112. 
 Romans, Epistle to (see Pauline Eps.), 
 
 76. 
 
 Rushworth Gospels, fac-simile, 33. 
 Ruth, 103. 
 
 Samuel, book of, 104. 
 
 Septuagint (Greek O. T.),49, 50, 81. 
 
 Sinaitic MS., 52. 
 
 Solomon's Song, 121. 
 
 Song of Songs, 121, 122. 
 
 Spanish Versions, 41. 
 
 Syriac Versions, 45, 46. 
 
 Swedish Versions, 42. 
 
 Table of N. T. books, 79, 80. 
 Targums, their character, 50. 
 Taverner's Bible, 26. 
 Text, Early Divisions of, 53. 
 Thessalonians,Eps.to (see Pauline Eps.), 
 
 76. 
 
 Timqthy, Eps. to (see Pauline Eps.), 7 6 - 
 Tischendorf, 56. 
 
 Titus, Eps. to (see Pauline Eps.), 76. 
 Tyndale s N. T. Version, 26-29. 
 Tyndale's N. T., fac-simile, 
 
 Frontispiece. 
 
 Uncial MS., 53-55- 
 Vatican MSS., 52-56- 
 
 Versions, Ancient, 43. 
 Armenian. 43. 
 Coptic or Egyptian, three, 44. 
 
 (1) Memphitic or B hiric, 44. 
 
 (2) Thebaic or Sahidic, 45. 
 (3)Bashmuric or Eleaarchian,45. 
 
 Ethiopic, 45. 
 
 Gothic, 44. 
 
 Latin, (i) old Latin, (2) Vulgate, 46, 
 
 47- . 
 
 Septuagint, 49. 
 Syriac, character of, 45. 
 Vulgate, by Jerome, 47. 
 
 Council of Trent on, 48. 
 Sixtine edition, corrected, 48. 
 Clementine Text, 49. 
 Versions, authorized, 8, 14. 
 changes in, 17. 
 charges against, 14. 
 Versions, Common, why so called, 8. 
 editions, noted mistakes in, 17. 
 principles of, 13. 
 title page, fac-simile of, 15. 
 why revise, o. 
 
 Versions, Early English, 19. 
 Anglo-Saxon, 33. 
 Bishop's, 20. 
 Coverdale's, 25. 
 Cranmer's, 25. 
 Douai, 19. 
 Early English MSS. Bibles, 29. 
 
 fac-simile, 31. 
 Genevan, by English reformers, 21. 
 
 New Testament, 21. 
 Great Bible, 22. 
 
 fac-simile of title page, 23. 
 Matthew's, 26. 
 Purvey's, 30. 
 Tavener's, 26. 
 Tyndale's New Testament, 1526, 26, 
 
 29. 
 
 first, directly from Greek, 26. 
 fac-simile of Matt. xiii. 1-15, 27. 
 Wycliffe's, 1382, 29. 
 
 Versions, Modern, etc., not English, 36. 
 Danish, 42. 
 Dutch, 39. 
 
 States 1 Bible, Excellence of, 40. 
 French, 40. 
 
 German, Earlier, by Romanists, 39. 
 Italian, 41. 
 Luther's, 37, 38. 
 Arabic, 42. 
 Spanish, 41. 
 Swedish, 42. 
 Version, Revised, 8, xo. 
 Vulgate, 47, 48. 
 
 Western church on N. T.,64, 
 Writers of N. T., 72. 
 Wyclifle's Version, 1382, 29. 
 

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