CHAPTER LVII.

BIBLE THE BOOK.

BIBLE is a name given by Christians, by way of eminence, to a collection of the sacred writings. The collection of the sacred writings, containing those of the Old and New Testaments, is justly looked upon as the foundation of the Jewish as well as the Christian religion. The Jews, it is true, acknowledge only the Scriptures of the Old Testament, the correcting and publishing of which, are unanimously ascribed, both by Jews and Christians, to Ezra, Some of the ancient Fathers, on no other foundation than that fabulous and apochryphal book, the second book of Esdras, pretend that the Scriptures were entirely lost in the Babylonish captivity, and that Ezra had restored them again by divine revelation. What is certain, is, that in the reign of Josiah there were no other books of the law extant, besides that found in the temple of Hilkiah; from which original, that pious king ordered copies to be immediately written out, and search made for all the parts of the Scriptures; by which means copies of the whole became pretty numerous among the people, who carried them with them into captivity.

After the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, Ezra got together as many copies as he could of the sacred writings, and out of them all prepared a correct edition, disposing the several books in their correct order, and settling the canon of the Scripture for his time; having published them, according to the opinion of most learned men, in the Chaldee character; as the Jews upon their return from captivity, brought with them. the Chaldee language, which from that time became their mother tongue, and probably gave birth to the Chaldee translation of their Scripture.

The Chaldee Bible is only the glosses, or expositions made by the Jews when they spoke the Chaldee tongue; whence it is called targumim, or paraphrases, as not being a strict version of the Scriptures.

Hebrew Bible.-There is in the church of St. Dominic, in Bononia, a copy of the Hebrew Scriptures, which they pretend is the original copy, written by Ezra himself. It is written in a fair character, upon a sort of leather, and made up into a roll, after the ancient manner; but having the vowel points annexed, and the writing being fresh and fair without any decay, are cir cumstances which prove the novelty of the copy.

Greek Bible. It is a dispute among authors, whether there was a Greek version of the Old Testament, more ancient than that of the seventy-two Jews employed by Ptolemy Pladelphus to translate that book. Before our Saviour's time, there was no other version of the Old Testament besides that which went under the name of the LXX. But after the establishment of Christianity, some authors undertook new translations of the Bible, under pretence of making them more conformable to the Hebrew text. There have been about six of these, some of whom are charged with having corrupted several passages of the prophets relating to Jesus Christ; others have been thought too free in their version, and others have been found fault with, for having confined themselves too severely to the letter.

Bible, Latin.-It is beyond dispute, that the Latin churches had, even in the first ages, a translation of the Bible in their language, which being the vulgar language, and consequently understood by every body, occasioned a vast number of Latin versions. Among these there was one which was generally received and called by St. Jerome, the vulgar or common translation. St. Austin gives this version the name of the Italic, and prefers it to all the rest. There were several other translations of the Bible in Latin, the most remarkable of which are the versions of St. Jerome, Sanctes Pagninus, Cardinal Cajetan, and Isidore Clarius, all from the Hebrew text. Besides these translations by Catholic authors, there are some made by Protestant translators from the Hebrew. The most eminent of their versions are those of Sebastian Munster, Leo Juda, Sebastian Castalio, Theodore Beza, Le Clerc, &c.

Bible, Syriac.-The Syrians have in their language a version of the Old Testament, which they pretend to be of great antiquity, most part of which they say was made in Solomon's time, and the rest in the time of Abgarus king of Edesa.

Bible, Arabic. The Arabic versions of the Bible are of two kinds, the one done by the Christians, the other by the Jews. There are also several Arabic versions of particular books of Scripture, as a translation of the Pentateuch from the Syriac, and another of the same from the Septuagint, and two other versions of the Pentateuch, the manuscripts of which are in the Bodleian Library.

The Gospel being preached in all nations, the Bible, which is the foudation of the Christian religion, was translated into the respective language of each nation; as the Egyptian or Coptic, the Indian. Persian, Arminian, Ethiopic, Scythian, Sarmatian, Sclavonian, Polish, Bohemian, German, English, &c.

The books of the Bible are divided by the Jews into three

classes, viz. the law, the prophets, and the hagiographia; a division which they are supposed to have borrowed from Ezra himself. Each book is subdivided into sections, or parasches; which some maintain to have been as old as Moses, though others, with more probability, ascribe it to the same Ezra. These were subdivided into verses, pesuchim, marked in the Hebrew Bible by two great points, called sophpasuch, at the end of each. But the division of the Bible into chapters, as we now have it, is of much later date. Divers of the ancient Bible-books appear to be irrecoverably lost, whether it be that the copies of them perished, or that they were thrown out of Ezra's canon. Hence

it is, that in the books still extant, we find divers citations of, and references to others, which are now no more; as the Book of Jasher, the Book of the Wars of the Lord, Annals of the Kings of Judea and Israel, part of Solomon's three thousand and five Proverbs, and his thousand and five Songs, besides his books on plants, animals, fishes, insects, &c. To which may be added a Book of Jeremiah, wherein he enjoined the captives, who went to Babylon, to take the sacred fire and conceal it; also, the precepts which that Prophet gave the Jews, to preserve them from idolatry, and his Lamentations on the death of king Josiah. The Jewish canon of Scripture was then sealed by Ezra; yet not so but that several variations have been since made in it. Malachi for instance could not be put into the Bible by him, since that prophet is supposed to have lived after Ezra; nor could Nehemiah be there, since mention is made in that Book, of Juddua as high priest, and of Darius Codomanus as king of Persia, who were at least a hundred years later than Ezra. It may be added, that, in the first book of Chronicles, the genealogy of the sons of Zerubbabel is carried down for so many generations, as must necessarily bring it to the time of Alexander; and consequently this book could not be in the canon in Ezra's days. It is probable the two books of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and Malachi were adopted into the Bible in the time of Simon the Just, the last of the men of the Great Synagogue.

Bibles, Englis-Saxon.-If we inquire into the versions of the Bible of our own language and country, we shall find that Adelm, bishop of Shireburn, who lived in 709, made an English-Saxon version of the Psalms; and that Eadfrid or Ecbert, bishop of Lindisferne, who lived about the year 730, translated several of the books of the Scriptures into the same language. It is said likewise, that the venerable Bede, who died in 785, translated the whole Bible into Saxon. But Cuthbert, Bede's disciple, in the enumeration of his master's works, speaks only of the transJation of the Gospels, and says nothing of the rest of the Bible.

Some pretend that king Alfred, who lived in 890, translated a great part of the Scriptures. We find an old version in the Anglo-Saxon of several books of the Bible, made by Elfric, abbot of Malmesbury: it was published at Oxford in 1699. There is an old Anglo-Saxon version of the four Gospels, published by Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1571, the translator of which is unknown. Dr. Mill observes, that this version was made from a Latin copy of the old vulgate.

Bibles, Saxon.-The whole Scripture is said by some to have. been translated into the Anglo-Saxon by Bede, about the year 1701, though others contend he only translated the Gospels. We have certain books or parts of the Bible, by several other translators; as, 1st. The Psalms, by Adelm, bishop of Shireburn, contemporary with Bede: though by others this version is attributed to King Alfred, who lived 200 years after. Another version of the Psalms in Anglo-Saxon was published by Spelman, in 1640. 2nd. The Evangelists, still extant, done from the ancient vulgate, before it was revised by St. Jerome, by an author unknown, and published by Matthew Parker, in 1571. 3d. An old Saxon verson of several books of the Bible, made by Elfric, abbot of Malmesbury, several fragments of which were published by Wm. Lilly, in 1638; the genuine copy by Edmond Thwaites, in 1639, at Oxford.

Bibles, Indian.-A translation of the Bible into the N. American Indian language, by Elliot, was published in 4to, at Cambridge, in 1685.

Bibles, English.-The first English Bible we read of was that translated by J. Wickliffe, about the year 1360, but never printed, though there are manuscript copies of it in several public libraries. J. de Trevisa, who died about 1398, is also said to have translated the whole Bible; but whether any copies of it are remaining does not appear. The first printed Bible in our language was that translated by W. Tindal, assisted by Miles Coverdale, printed abroad in 1526; but most of the copies were bought up and burnt by Bishop Tunstal and Sir Thomas More. It only contained the New Testament, and was revised and republished by the same person in 1530. The pr logues and prefaces added to it, reflect on the bishops and clergy; but this edition was also suppressed, and the copies burnt. In 1532, Tindal and his associates finished the whole Bible, except the Apochrypha, and printed it abroad: but while he was afterwards preparing a second edition, he was taken up and burnt for heresy in Flanders. On Tindal's death, his work was carried on by Coverdale, and John Rogers, superintendant of an English church in Germany, and the first Martyr, in the reign

of Queen Mary, who translated the Apocrypha, and revised 'Tindal's translation, comparing it with the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and German, and adding prefaces and notes from Luther's Bible. He dedicated the whole to Henry VIII. in 1537, under the borrowed name of Thomas Matthews; whence this has been usually called Matthews' Bible. It was printed at Hamburgh, and license obtained for publishing it in England, by the favour of archbishop Cranmer, and the bishops Latimer and Shaxton. · Cranmer's Bible.-The first Bible printed by authority in England, and publicly set up in churches, was the same Tindal's version, revised and compared with the Hebrew, and in many places amended by Miles Coverdale, afterwards bishop of Exeter; and examined after him by archbishop Cranmer, who added a preface to it; whence this was called Cranmer's Bible. It was printed by Grafton, of the largest volume, and published in 1540; and by a royal proclamation, every parish was obliged to set one of the copies in their church, under the penalty of forty shillings a month; yet, two years after, the popish bishops obtained its suppression by the king. It was restored under Edward the VI., suppressed again under queen Mary's reign, and restored again in the first year of queen Elizabeth, and a new edition of it given in 1562.

Geneva Bible. Some English exiles at Geneva, in queen Ma. ry's reign, viz. Coverdale, Goodman, Gilbie, Sampson, Cole, Wittingham, and Knox, made a new translation, printed there in 1557; hence called the Geneva Bible, containing the variations of readings, marginal annotations, &c., on account of which it was much valued by the puritan party in that and the following reigns..

Bishop's Bible.-Archbishop Parker resolved on a new translation for the public use of the church; and engaged the bishops, and other learned men to take each a share or portion: these, being afterwards joined together and printed, with short annotations, in 1568, in large folio, made what was afterwards called the Great English Bible, and commonly the Bishop's Bible. In 1589, it was also published in octavo in a small but fine black letter; and here the chapters were divided into verses, but without any breaks for them, in which the method of the Geneva Bible was followed, which was the first English Bible where any distinction of verses was made. It was afterwards printed in large folio, with corrections, and several prolegomena in 1572: this is called Matthew Parker's Bible. The initial letters of each translator's name were put at the end of his part.

Rhemish Bible. After the translation of the Bible by the bishops, two other private versions had been made of the New Tes