at Paris-a fac-simile of which was edited by Tischendorf, Leip. 1845), and C. Cantabrigiensis, or C. Beza (given by Beza to the university of Cambridge, a fac-simile being issued by Th. Kipling, 1793). Of these, the Codex Vaticanus was long considered to be the oldest, but the discovery of the Codex Sinaitions by Tischendorf at the monastery of St. Catharine, Mount Sinai, in 1859, has now transferred the honour to that invaluable document, the age of which cannot be older than the middle of the 4th century. A fac-simile of the Coder Vaticanus, edited by Cardinal Mai, was published at Rome in 1858, and an English edition of the Testament, with foot-notes, from this Codex was published in 1869. The earliest division of the New Testament into verses of which we read is that made by Euthalius, Deacon of Alexandria, 462 A.D. He arranged those words that were related to each other by the sense into stichoi or lines. Subsequently, to save space, a colon or point was substituted, until, finally, a complete system of punctuation arose. In the 13th c., as we have already seen, the division into chapters took place, and in the 16th the versicular division was perfected by Stephens. The arguments or contents prefixed to the several chapters are also of modern origin.

of the Old Testament. It was undoubtedly executed from the original Hebrew text, to which it closely adheres. Several Arabic versions were founded on the Peshito.-5. The later Arabic versions, executed during the middle ages, partly from the Hebrew text, and partly from the Samaritan Pentateuch.—6. The Persian translation of the Pentateuch, made by a Jew named Jacob, not earlier than the 9th c.-7. Latin Vulgate (q. v.), from which a considerable number of fragmentary versions were made into that form of English commonly called Anglo-Saxon, the most noted translators being Adhelm, bishop of Sherborne, and Bede (8th c.); Alfred (9th c.); and Ælfric (10th c.).

Among ancient versions of the New Testament we may notice three in Syriac: the first is the Peshito, with a twofold secondary translation of the four gospels into Arabic and Persian. It does not, however, contain 2d Peter, 2d and 3d John, Jude, or the Apocalypse, which, at a later period, were classed among the antilegomena, or disputed books. The second, or Philoxenian, prepared in 508, under the direction of Philoxenius, Bishop of Hierapolis. It no longer exists, but a counterpart of it does, in the translation made in the following century (616 A.D.) by Thomas of Harkel or Heraclea, the successor of Philoxenius. The best MS. of this version is one which belonged to Ridley, and is now in the archives of the New College, Oxford. It includes all the books of the New Testament excepting the Apocalypse. The style is slavishly literal. It was edited

Syriac version, preserved in a Vatican MS., and, according to the superscription annexed to it, executed at Antioch in 1031. With the above Syriac versions we may class the Ethiopic translation; the Egyptian duplex version, made probably in the latter part of the 3d c., and of considerable critical value; the Armenian, Georgian, Persian, and CopticArabic. Besides these may be mentioned the old Italic; the Vulgate by Jerome; the Gothic translation by the Arian Bishop Ulphilas (about the middle of the 4th c.), of which the most famous MS. is preserved in the library of Upsal, in Sweden (this has only the four gospels, and not even these in perfect condition); the various Anglo-Saxon versions of parts of Scripture, which seem to have been executed during the years 709-995 A.D.; and the Slavonic.

B. Versions or Translations.-These may be divided into ancient and modern. The ancient translations of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew may be classed as follows: 1. Greek. -The earliest of these is the Alexandrine or Septuagint (q. v.), after which come respective-by White, Oxford, 1778. The third, or Jerusalemly the translations by Aquila (q. v.), Theodotion and Symmachus. The whole of these, with fragments of others by unknown authors, were given by Origen in his Hexapla (q. v.). The Versio Veneta, a Greek translation of several books of the Old Testament, made in the 14th c., and preserved in the St. Mark's library, Venice, was published by Villoison at Strasburg, in 1784. Several early versions were also based on the Septuagint; but for that reason do not possess an independent value, being for the most part simply translations of a translation. Among these may be mentioned the old Latin version or Italic (q. v.), though the term Italic is strictly applicable to the New Testament only, improved by Jerome (382 A. D.); the Syriac, including the Versio Figurata, partially preserved and collated by Jacob of Edessa, in the beginning Modern Translations.-During the middle ages, of the 8th c.; and that by Paul, bishop of Tela when the laity were considered by the priesthood (617 A. D.): the Ethiopic, made by certain Christians unfit to be intrusted with the B. as a whole, various in the 4th c.: the threefold Egyptian (3d or 4th c.), poetical versions-such, as the Gospel History, by one being in the language of Lower Egypt, and Otfried von Weissenburg, and the version of Job termed the Coptic or Memphitic; another in the and of the Psalms by Notker-Labeo (980 A.D.)language of Upper Egypt, and termed the Sahidic served a very important object, and stimulated tho or Thebaic; and a third, the Basmuric, whose lo- desire for more biblical information. As early as cality is uncertain: the Armenian, by Miesrob and 1170, Petrus Waldus caused the New Testament his pupils in the 5th c.: the Georgian of the 6th c.: to be translated into the Provençal dialect by the Slavonian, commonly ascribed, but for unsatis- Etienne d'Anse. This important work was followed factory reasons, to the missionaries Methodius and by the translations made under Louis the Pious Cyrillus in the 9th c.: the Gothic, ascribed to Ul-(1227) and Charles the Wise (1380), the B. His philas, and executed in the 4th c., only some few tory (Bible ystorieus) by Guyars of Moulins (1286), fragments of which are extant: lastly, several Ara- the Spanish version under Alfonso V. in the 13th bic translations of the 10th and 11th centuries.- c., the English by Wickliffe, and the Bohemian

2. The Chaldaic translations or Targums. These had an early origin; but, with the exception of those of Onkelos and Ben Uzziel, are unsatisfactory in a critical point of view. See TARGUM.-3. The remarkably literal translation into the Aramaic, dialect of the later Samaritans, of the ancient copy of the Pentateuch, possessed by the Samaritans, and supposed to be derived from MSS. in use among the Israelites in the days of Rehoboam (see SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH).-4. The Church translation, known as the Peshito (q. v.), received by all the Syriac Christians, and originally including only the canon

version of John Huss. After the invention of

printing-especially after the latter part of the 15th c.-the harbingers of a new ecclesiastical era appeared in numerous republications of the translated B.-the Bohemian (Prague, 1448); the Italian, by the Benedictine Nic. Malherbi (1471); the French,

Des Moulins (1477-1546); the Dutch (Delf, 1477); the Spanish (1478-1515); but, above all, ia the seventeen German translations before Luther, of which five were printed before 1477, and the remainder in the Low-German dialect during 1477-

1518.

Luther's translation of the B. is universally | layman belonging to the Inner Temple, published esteemed by the best German scholars as a master- an edition, the text of which is based on that of piece of general interpretation. It displays qualities Matthew's Bible. In 1557 appeared the famous far superior to those ordinarily expected in a trans- Geneva B., so called because the translation was lation--deep insight, true sympathy with the tone executed there by several English divines, who had of the Hebrew Scriptures, and a perfect command fled from the persecutions of the bloody Mary. of clear, popular language; indeed, every one who Among these may be mentioned Gilby and Whittingcan thoroughly appreciate the merits of this great ham. This edition-the first printed in Roman letwork, will be ready to excuse the boldness of the ter and divided into verses-was accompanied by assertion, that it was rather a re-writing than a notes, which showed a strong leaning to the views mere translation of the B.,' a transfusion of the of Calvin and Beza. It was, in consequence, long original spirit into a new language, rather than a the favourite version of the English Puritans and mere version of the letter. The New Testament was the Scotch Presbyterians. It is, however, best finished by Luther at Wartburg, and appeared in known as the Breeches B., on account of the renderSeptember 1522. In the following year, the five ing of Genesis iii. 7: Then the eyes of them both books of Moses appeared; and, in 1534, the remain- were opened, and they knew that they were naked, ing part of the Old Testament canon was completed and they sewed fig-tree leaves together, and made along with the Apocrypha. With wonderful rapidity, themselves breeches.' In 1568, the Bishop's B. was this translation was circulated throughout Germany. published at London. The text of this was comIn the course of forty years, one bookseller, Hans pared with the original by eight bishops, and Luft of Wittenberg, sold 100,000 copies; an astonish- several other scholars of reputation, who appended ing number, when we consider the price of books in their initials to their respective tasks; the whole the 16th c. It was reprinted thirty-eight times in being under the superintendence of Matthew Parker, Germany before 1559, and meanwhile, the New Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1582 appeared at Testament had been separately printed in seventy-Rheims, in France, an English version of the New two editions. Numerous other translations in Dutch, Testament, prepared by several Roman Catholic Swedish, &c., were based upon the work of Luther. exiles; and in 1609-1610, a similar version of the English Translations of the Bible.-England was Old Testament at Douay. Both were taken from the very late in commencing to print even portions Vulgate, and form the standard English Scriptures of Scripture. Long after Germany, France, Spain, of the Roman Catholics, being generally known as Italy, Holland, and other countries, had issued the Douay Bible. vernacular versions of the B., that land continued to sit in darkness. The earliest attempt was a translation of the seven penitential psalms in 1505. No doubt, a very considerable number of MSS. circulated among the people; but still we may well ask: What were these among so many?' Such a question the noble martyr, William Tyndale (q. v.), seems to have put to himself, and bravely he answered it, vowing that if God would spare his life, ere many years he would cause the boy who driveth the plough to know more of the Scriptures than did all the priests.' To accomplish his purpose, he passed over to the continent. Before 1526, he had completed an English translation of the New Testament, which appeared 'both in quarto and duodecimo. In the beginning of 1526, the volumes were secretly conveyed into England, where they were bought up and burned, which, however, only stimulated Tyndale to greater exertions. Of the admirable character of his translation, we have a sufficient testimony in this fact, that in our present version a very large portion of the New Testament is taken almost verbatim from Tyndale's Testament. Tyndale next proceeded to prepare a version of the Old Testament out of the original Hebrew, and in 1530, he published the Pentateuch, and in the following year, the book of Jonah. The first English version of the whole B. was that published by Miles Coverdale, a friend of Tyndale. It is dated 1535, and dedicated to Henry VIII., but where printed, is unknown. It is much inferior to Tyndale's. The next English B. issued was called Matthew's B., from the circumstance that the editor assumed the name of Thomas Matthew, but was simply Tyndale's version revised by his friend John Rogers, who also translated those books in the Old Testament which the martyr had not been able to overtake. It was finished in 1537, and Cranmer obtained for it the patronage of Henry, though that monarch had persecuted Tyndale some years before. Matthew's B. soon superseded Coverdale's. In April 1539, appeared the Great B., usually called Cranmer's, because he wrote a preface to it. It was a large volume for use in churches. The text was Tyndale's revised. In the same year, Richard Taverner, a learned but eccentric

We now come to the version which has been in common use for nearly 250 years, generally called King James's Bible. At the Hampton Court Conference in January 1604, Dr. Rainolds, an eminent Puritan, suggested a new translation as a great national want; and this, though opposed by the Bishop of London, was sanctioned by the king. Arrangements were at once made for carrying out the project. In July, the king wrote a letter, intimating the appointment of 54 scholars for the preparation of the version, and instructing the bishops that whenever a living of twenty pounds' became vacant, they should inform his majesty of the circumstance, in order that he might recommend one of the translators to the patron. This was all that James did on behalf of the translation which bears his name. The expenses seem to have been borne by Barker, the printer and patentee, who paid the sum of £3500. Of the 54 scholars who had been nominated to the work, only 47 undertook it. These were divided into six companies, two of which were to meet at Westminster, two at Cambridge, and two at Oxford. The first company at Westminster translated the Pentateuch and the historical books to the end of 2d Kings; the first at Cambridge, from the beginning of Chronicles to the end of Canticles; and the first at Oxford undertook the remaining books of the Old Testament canon. The second company at Westminster translated the apostolic epistles; the second at Cambridge, the Apocrypha; and the second at Oxford, the gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Apocalypse. According to Selden, they then met together, and one read the translation, the rest holding in their hands some B., either of the learned tongues, or French, Spanish, Italian, &c. If they found any fault, they spoke; if not, he read on.' When a portion was finished by one of the company, it was sent to all the others in succession for their deliberative examination; and whenever a difference of opinion was elicited, reference was made to a committee. The final revision of the whole was conducted in London by two delegates from each of the six companies. These twelve scholars, in the discharge of their critical functions, met daily

·

BIBLE-BIBLE SOCIETY.

The exclusive right to print the present authorised version has been claimed by the Crown, ever since the date of its first publication, and under this royal prerogative, the B. is printed in different forms, and sold wholesale by certain patentees and licensees in England, Scotland, and Ireland. This claim, which does not practically affect Bibles with notes, has lately been much remonstrated against as a monopoly injurious to the free circulation of the Scriptures at a moderate price, and a modification is now looked for (See BOOK TRADE).

The more liberal Catholics-especially the Jansenists De Sacy, Arnauld, and Nicole; the enlightened Richard Simon and Quesnel-also shared in the common zeal for diffusing a knowledge of the Scriptures; but though many versions have been prepared by Catholics, the Romish Church has consistently maintained an opposition to the general circulation of Holy Scripture without ecclesiastical

in the old hall of the Stationers' Company for nine | B.-reading by the laify. On the contrary, as the months. The work of translation and revision foundation on which the Church was built, and the occupied from 1607 to 1610. The superiority of the sole source of religious knowledge, the reading of authorised version soon proved itself; for though the B. formed an essential part of the instruction there were several rivals in the field, and no steps communicated by pastors to their congregations; were taken to secure for it a preference, it quickly and the greatest orators of the Church-especially gained the foremost place, and in the course of forty Chrysostom and Augustine-continually reminded years from its publication, all others had quietly their hearers that private reading and study of succumbed to it; it became, and has ever since re- the Scriptures should follow attendance on public mained the English Bible. Its ascendency, and its services. This great fact is by no means contraexclusive use among all classes in Great Britain, dicted by the warnings found, here and there, in and in her vast colonies, can only be traced to its the Fathers against abuse or mistake of the meanintrinsic excellence. Of late, however, and for some ing of Scripture; these warnings rather imply that years, there has been in course of preparation a new Scripture-reading was common among the laity. English version. The gradual widening of the distinction, or rather the separation, between the clergy and the laity, was the work of the middle ages; and, among other means of preserving traditions inviolate and maintaining the exclusive character and sacred authority of the hierarchy, the B. was held in the background, even while there was no direct prohibition of its common use. In 1080, Gregory VII. ordained that Latin should be the universal language of Catholic worship, and consequently excluded all vernacular readings of Scripture in public assemblies. Again, with regard to the Waldenses, Innocent III., in 1199, prohibited the private possession and reading of Scripture (excepting the portions contained in the Breviary and the Psalter) without priestly permission and supervision. Similar prohibitions were repeated at Toulouse (1229), at Béziers (1233), and with regard to Wickliffe, at the synod of Oxford (1383). Ültimately, the recognised Latin version, or Vulgate, was more and more decidedly made the sole authorised Church version. Indeed, as early as 1234, the synod of Tarragona denounced as a heretic any one who, having a translation of the B., refused to surrender it to be burned within the space of eight days. As, however, it soon appeared plain that little could be effected by such prohibitions, milder measures were employed. The Tridentine Council, being required to pronounce on the question of B. translations, purposely employed a word of ambiguous meaning in styling the Vulgate simply 'authentic;' but nothing was determined on B.-reading among the laity. was first done in the publication of the first Index Librorum Prohibitorum soon after the Tridentine Council. Afterwards, the rules of the Church, placing the use of the Scriptures under the supervision of the bishops, were more and more strictly defined. The publication of the New Testament with practical annotations by Paschasius Quesnel (1687), gave occasion to the Roman Catholic Church to speak more definitely on the reading of the B. by the laity in the bull Unigenitus Dei Filius, 1713. New ordinances were issued by Pope Pius VII. in his Brief to the Archbishop of Gnesen and Mohilew (1816) against translations formerly authorised; again, by Leo XII., in his condemnation of B. societies (1824), and by Pius VIII. All these ordinances of the Roman Catholic Church imply that it is dangerous to give the B. freely to the laity, and that, therefore, no vernacular versions ought to be used without interpretations taken from the Fathers, and an especial papal sanction.

comments.

The numerous recent translations of the Scriptures into languages beyond the pale of Christendom, have been executed chiefly under the auspices of Missionary and Bible Societies (q. v.).

As to the contents of the B., its one grand object, under whatever form it may appear in the various books, is to give an account of this world, both in its origin and government, as the work of an Almighty Creator, always and everywhere present; and especially to exhibit the relation of man to this Creator, and, in consequence of that relation, in what manner, and with what hopes he ought to live and die-subjects undeniably the most momentous that can occupy human thought. The sacred books of other religions have all an analogous aim; to account, namely, for the origin of all things, and to explain the nature and human relations of that something divine, which it is an instinct of the human mind to conceive as actuating and controlling all that moves. But so different-so immeasurably superior to all other sacred books is the B. in the conception it unfolds of the Divine nature as one personal God, exercising towards men the love and care of a parent to his offspring, and in the system of human duties springing therefrom, that on this consideration alone many rest its claim to being received as a direct revelation from heaven. The questions regarding the B., considered in this point of view, fall to be treated under the heads of Inspiration and Revelation. To attempt to analyse or give any detailed account of the contents of the Scriptures is beyond the scope of this article. The leading features of the doctrines and precepts, as a system, will be briefly sketched under the head of Christianity; while the chief individual doctrines receive notice under their respective names, and in the accounts of the controversies to which they have given rise.

BIBLE, PROHIBITION OF. This is one of the main points of opposition between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant Church. In the earliest times, we find no evidence of any prohibition of

This

BIBLE SOCIETY, an association having exclu sively for its object the diffusion of the sacred Scriptures. Such associations must be regarded as a natural form or expression of Christian benevolence, acting according to the principles of Protestantism, and seeking to take advantage of the facilities afforded by the art of printing: but a long period elapsed after the Reformation before a B. S. was formed; during which, however, an extensive diffu sion of the Scriptures took place, and partly by the

BIBLE SOCIETY.

cases

agency of associations which included it among many years, of £70,000, but in 1875-76 it amounted other means for the advancement of Christianity. to £16,802, derived from donations, legacies, colIt necessarily became, along with the translation lections, &c., and applicable to the general purposes of the Scriptures, one of the objects to which mis- of the Society, besides £108 for a special object sionary societies directed their energy. But perhaps (the Roxburgh Fund'), and £105,410 derived from the first association ever formed for the sole and sales of Bibles and Testaments, Monthly Reporters, &c. specific purpose of providing copies of the Scriptures Auxiliary and branch societies and dependent asfor those who were destitute of them, was that sociations rapidly sprang up in all parts of Britain, founded by Baron Hildebrand von Canstein, an and in the colonies, the number of which at present intimate friend of Spener, in conjunction with amounts to more than 8000. Much more than oneFrancke at Halle, and which, down to 1834, when half of the expenditure of the British and Foreign other Bible Societies had begun to be established B. S. has been devoted to the diffusion of the authorin Germany, had distributed 2,754,350 copies of ised English version of the Bible, the only English the Bible, and about 2,000,000 copies of the New version with which its fundamental rules permit it Testament. The impulse, however, to the formation to have anything to do; it has also spent large sums of the Bible Societies now existing in all parts of in printing and circulating the Scriptures in the Protestant Christendom proceeded from England, different Celtic languages spoken in Great Britain where, in 1780, an association was formed for the and Ireland, and a very inportant branch of its distribution of Bibles among soldiers and sailors. operations has been the printing of translations of It was at first simply called The B. S.; it exists the Bible prepared by missionaries. The number to the present day, is now known as the Naval of translations of the Scripture-in many and Military B. S., and confining itself to its complete, in others extending only to the New original specific object, has accomplished much Testament, in some only to particular booksgood. It is not an uninteresting circumstance, that which have been printed at the expense of the the first ship in which Bibles were distributed by Society, amounts to not less than 190, the greater this Society was the ill-fated Royal George.-In part being translations never before printed, and the beginning of 1792, a similar association was many in languages possessing no previous literature. formed in London, under the name of the French -The British and Foreign Bible Society now issues B. S., with a similar limited and specific object annually more than two million copies of the Bible. of distributing Bibles in the French tongue. It the New Testament, or such portions of sacred was probably the attitude assumed by infidelity Scriptures as have been printed in languages not in France which gave occasion to the formation of possessing complete translations. The whole numthis Society, but the greater part of its funds having ber issued from the formation of the Society to 31st been remitted to Paris for the printing of the Bible March 1876, was 76,432,723. This Society has also there, were lost, and everything belonging to the employed, besides the officials necessary for the Society destroyed in the tumult of the Revolution. management of its funds and its extensive business, -It was not till 1802 that the first steps were agents of high education and Christian character, taken towards the formation of the BRITISH who have visited different countries for the promoAND FOREIGN B. S., the parent of a multitude tion of its great object. The names of Dr. Henderson of similar institutions, and the establishment of and Dr. Pinkerton must be familiar to many readers, which must be regarded as the great epoch in the and perhaps no instance could be mentioned more history of this branch of Christian beneficence; nor happily illustrative of the character of this branch was the Society fully organised and established till of the Society's operations than the visit of Dr. March 7, 1804. Its formation took place in conse- Henderson to Iceland, an account of which is given quence of the deep impression made upon the mind in his well-known and very interesting volume of of the Rev. Thomas Charles of Bala, in Wales, by travels in that country.-A controversy concerning the destitution of the sacred Scriptures which he the circulation of the books of the Apocrypha along found to exist in the sphere of his labours, and with the canonical Scriptures by the British and particularly by a circumstance strikingly illus- Foreign B. S. (see APOCRYPHA), led to a resolution trative of that destitution. Meeting a little girl in 1826 that its funds should be devoted, according to in one of the streets of the town, he inquired if she its original design, to the diffusion of the canonical could repeat the text from which he had preached books alone.-The EDINBURGH B. S. existed from. on the preceding Sunday. Instead of giving a that time forward as a separate Society till 1861, when. prompt reply, as she had been accustomed to do, all the Scotch Societies amalgamated to form the NAshe remained silent, and then weeping told him TIONAL BIBLE SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND. that the weather had been so bad she could not get to read the Bible. She had been accustomed to travel every week seven miles over the hills to a place where she could obtain access to a Welsh Bible. Mr. Charles, on his next visit to London, brought the subject of the want of Bibles in Wales under the notice of the committee of the Religious Tract Society (q. v.), when it was suggested by Mr. Hughes, a member of the committee, that a Society might be formed for the purpose of supplying Bibles not only in Wales, but wherever destitution existed throughout the world. The Society was constituted on the widest possible basis, churchmen and dissenters being alike included in it; and soon attained a greatness corresponding with that of the other two religious societies, the London Missionary Society (see MISSIONS), and the Religious Tract Society (q. v.), which had been formed on similar principles, a few years before. It was indeed able to expend only about £619 in the first year of its existence. Its annual income gradually increased to an average, for

The AMERICAN B. S. is in the magnitude and im portance of its operations, next to the British and Foreign Bible Society. It was founded at New York in 1817, and still has its head-quarters in that city,. in the Bible House,' a very large and magnificent building, erected by special subscription. It reckons over 2000 auxiliary societies, in all parts of the United States. Its income for the year ending March 31, 1874, amounted to more than 664,000 dollars, over one-half being derived from sales of Bibles and Testaments, and the rest from donations, collections, &c. The American B. S. has for some time issued annually more than 250,000 Bibles, and nearly twice that number of New Testaments and other portions of Scripture. The funds of the Society have been chiefly expended in supplying the wants of the inhabitants of the United States, amongst whom the Indian tribes have not been neglected. "The Bible Association of Friends in America,' founded at Phuladelphia in 1829, has distributed the Bible extensively among the members of that society and others.