2. Epistle to the Hebrews. 3. The first three Gospels. 4. Epistle of St. James. 5. The Revelation. 6. Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude. 7. Acts of the Apostles. 8. Gospel and Epistles of St. John.

Just when and by whom the books of the New Testament were collected together, is a disputed point. Some have argued that St. John did this work; at all events it was accomplished at an early date. The list, as we have it, first appeared in the Canons of the Council of Laodicea, A. D. 364. The Apocryphal Books, "so named from àлоxрúnτw (Apocrupto, to hide), because they were wont to be read, not openly and in common, but, as it were, in secret and apart" (Preface of Bible of 1539), were never admitted by the Jews as part of the Old Testament, nor are they ever quoted in the New Testament. Wanting authority, and of doubtful origin, they are, therefore, not included in the canon of Scripture. Like other uninspired writings, they contain much truth, and may be useful for edification; but, as Jerome observes, "the Church doth not apply them to establish any doctrine." Romanists, however, according to the Council of Trent, admit them as canonical.

Some one has observed the proportions of Bible matter as follows: Of 1,000 pages in the Bible, the Old Testament has 764 pages; and the New Testament 236 pages. Of the Old Testament, the Law has 200 pages; the Prophets have 200 pages; and the Psalms 364 pages. Of the New Testament, the Gospels have 104 pages; the Acts, 31 pages; the Epistles, 83 pages; and the Revelation has 15 pages.

Rev. J. G. Williamson, Jr., has said that "Christ, as far as we know, never penned a line nor told his disciples to. He simply sent them out, saying: 'Go, teach.' His sayings lived only in their memories. After his ascension, the danger of distortion or loss of Christ's words becoming evident, they recorded them in the Gospels. Soon after the Acts of the Apostles were added. Then, from time to time, epistles were written to the Churches. These were generally written by scribes or rapid writers at the dictation of the author. Only occasionally did the apostles pen them themselves. Once Paul said to the Galatians: 'See with how large letters I have written unto you with mine own hand,' calling attention to his bold hand. These New Testament writings were all in the Greek language.

"The material on which the Old and New Testament books were first written was papyrus, a frail kind of paper made from the reeds of the Nile. This was easily torn and tattered. After a time the more durable parchment came into use, made from the skins of antelopes and calves carefully prepared. Both papyrus and parchment

sheets were wound on sticks and called rolls, or stitched together and called books.

"None of the original Old Testament manuscripts or original New Testament manuscripts remain. They have all been lost or destroyed. Some say, How do we know, then, that we have the Old Testament or New Testament Scriptures?

"I answer: The Old Testament manuscripts and New Testament manuscripts were intrusted to the guardianship of a class religiously set apart for the purpose. The text was sacred to them all. During the ages while the Jews were persecuted and downtrodden, they were guarding these manuscripts. All copies, too, were made under their direction, and with a most marvelous devotion to the letter. Iron rules were enjoined upon them. There had to be on each parchment so many columns, and so many lines in each column, and so many words in each line. The ink had to be of a certain kind. The vowels, consonants, and accents had to be marked. So careful were they that they reproduced even the mistakes of the original manuscripts with such minute accuracy the one hundredth copy was as good as the original manuscripts.

"But more, we have hundreds of manuscripts of the Old Testament and hundreds of manuscripts of the New Testament. When we compare these manuscripts, some earlier, others later, copied by different copyists, we find substantial agreement. The differences amount to nothing; so in this way again we know that we have the original manuscripts.

"At a literary party in Edinburgh the question was asked: 'Supposing all the New Testaments in the world had been destroyed at the end of the third century, could their contents have been recovered from the writings of the first three centuries?' No one could answer. Lord Hailes, who was present, on going home, took down from his library all the writings of those centuries and set to work to cull out all quotations from the New Testament from them. He kept at it two months, and at the end of that time he had gathered from them the whole New Testament, with the exception of seven or eleven verses. Although we do not have the original manuscripts, yet in many ways we know that we have the words of the original. What do we care for the yellow and musty old parchments or papyrus rolls so long as we have their contents?"

It is probably a good thing that the original manuscripts were lost or destroyed. Such is the tendency of man to worship sacred things that if they were in existence they would be objects of idolatry. So

would the Bible, as we now have it, if it contained no marks of man's imperfect work upon it. We are to take the Bible for what it means, and this we can easily learn. The same blessed Spirit who inspired it will make it plain to every candid, diligent, prayerful student.

DEVELOPMENT OF OUR ENGLISH BIBLE.

The first translation of any portion of the Bible into the Saxon language was by Alfred in 761, consisting of the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, with the Apostles' Creed. Of the first printed Bible, by Faust, Chambers's Journal remarks as follows: "This magnificent work was executed with cut metal types on 637 leaves, some of the copies on fine paper, and others on vellum, and is sometimes called the Mazarin Bible,' a copy having been unexpectedly found in Cardinal Mazarin's library, at Paris. It is also called the 'forty-twoline Bible,' because each full column contains that number of lines; and, lastly, Gutenberg's Bible, because John Gutenberg was associated with Faust and Schoeffer in its issue. It was printed in Latin, and the letters were such an exact imitation of the work of an amanuensis, that the copies were passed off by Faust, when he visited Paris, as manuscript, the discovery of the art of printing being kept a profound secret. Faust sold a copy to the king of France for seven hundred crowns, and another to the archbishop of Paris for four hundred crowns; although he appears to have charged less noble customers as low as sixty crowns. The low price and a uniformity of the lettering of these Bibles caused universal astonishment. The capital letters in red ink were said to be printed with his blood; and as he could immediately produce new copies ad libitum, he was adjudged in league with Satan. Faust was apprehended, and was forced to reveal the newly discovered art of printing to save himself from the flames.'

The first English translation of the Bible was that of Wicklif, about A. D. 1380-83. Here is a specimen: "If I speke with the tungis of men and of aungels, and I haue not charite, I am maad as bras sownynge, or a cymbal tynklynge; and if I haue profecie and knowe alle mysteries and al kynnynge, and if I haue al feith so that I moue hillis fro her place, and if I haue not charite, I am nought. And if I departe alle my goodis into the metis of pore men, and if I betake my bodi, so that I brenne, and if I haue not charite, it profitith to me no thing. Charite is pacient, it is benynge [i. e. benign]. Charite enuyeth not, it doith not wickidli, it is not blowun [i. e. puffed up], it seketh not those things that ben hise own."

In 1525 Tyndale translated the Pentateuch and New Testament into English. This was the first from the original tongues into English. When the papal legate said, "We had better do without God's laws than the pope's," Tyndale replied with indignation: "I defy the pope and all his laws. If God gives me life, ere many years the plowboys of England shall know more of the Scriptures, than you do." To him King James's version owes more than to all others.

After the invention of printing, various translations appeared, as follows: That of Miles Coverdale, A. D. 1535; that of Cranmer, 1539; the Geneva Bible, 1560; the Bishops' Bible, 1568, so-called from several bishops being employed in the translation; this is the first English version divided into chapters and verses. The authorized version appeared in 1611; and the Revised Version, 1881–5.

Several quaint and humorous titles have been given to certain old editions of the Scriptures: The "Bug" Bible was printed in London in 1551 by Nicholas Hyll. The nickname arose from the following: "So thou shalt not nede to be afraid for any Bugges by night." Now it is, "Thou shalt not be afraid of the terror by night." The "Breeches" Bible was printed in Geneva in 1560, and is so-called from that word being used in Gen. iii, 7, instead of "aprons." The "Treacle" Bible was printed in 1568 by Richard Jugge. It reads, "Is there no tryacle in Gilead?" In 1609 the word "tryacle" was changed to "rosin." "Is there no rosin in Gilead?" The word "balm " was not introduced until 1611. The "He" Bible, printed in London in 1611 by Robert Baker, takes its nickname from a curious error in Ruth iii, 15: “He measured six measures of barley and laid it on her, and he went into the city." In the same year, another and entirely distinct edition was printed, in which the word "she" was substituted for "he," above mentioned, and hence the name "She" Bible was given it, to distinguish it from the "He" Bible. The "Vinegar" Bible of 1717 is so-called because the head-line of Luke, chapter xx, read, "The parable of the vinegar" instead of "the vineyard." The printer of this edition was one J. Basket, of Oxford, and because of the numerous typographical faults, it was sometimes called the "Basketful of errors."

As showing what our Bible would now be, had no revisions and changes been allowed since the appearance of the defective English versions, let us take the Lord's Prayer and trace it back through its various forms. Here it is as it first appeared in the King James Version, A. D. 1611:

"Our Father which art in heauen, hallowed be thy Name. Thy

kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen. Giue us this day our dayly bread. And forgiue vs our debts as we forgiue our debtors. And lede vs not into temptation, but delieur vs from euil. For thine is the kingdome, and the power and the glory for euer. Amen."

Here we have it as it stood A. D. 1582:

"Our father which art in heauen, sanctified be thy name. Let thy 'kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven in earth also. Giue vs to-day our supersubstantial bread. And lead vs not into temptation. But deliuer us from evil. Amen."

In A. D. 1300 it was like this:

"Fadir our in hevene, Halewyd by hi name, thi kingdom come. Thi wille be done as in hevene and in erthe. Oure urche dayes bred give us to-day. And forgive us oure dettes, as we forgive our detAnd lede us not into temptation, Bote delyvere us of yvel.

toures. Amen."

In A. D. 1258 it had this form:

"Fader ure in heune, haleeweide beoth thi neune, cumen thi kuneriche, thi wille beoth idon in huene and in erthe. The euerych dawe bried git ous thilk dawe. And worzif ure dettes as vi vorzifen ure dettoures. And lede ous nought into temptation, bot delyvor us of uvel. Amen."

About A. D. 900, Alfred, Bishop of Durham, wrote a translation which read like this:

"Our Father which art in heaven, be hallowed thine name come thy kingdom be thy Will as in Heavens and in Earth. Our Loaf supersubstantial give us to-day and forgive us Debts our so we Forgive Debts ours, and do not lead us into Temptation, but deliver every one from evil-Amen."

Here is a text from the Old Testament (Psa. viii, 5), viz.: Authorized Version: "For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour." I. Wyclif: "Thou lassedest hym a litil lasse fro angelis; with glorie and worshipe thou crounedest hym." II. Wyclif: "Thou hast maad hym a litil lesse than aungels; thou hast crouned hym with glorie and onour." The two specimens from Wyclif are from the catalogue of Sir Richard R. Madden, in the British Museum. Miles Coverdale: "After thou haddest for a reason made him lower the angels thou crownedest him with honor and glory." Cranmer: "Thou madest hym lower then ye Angels, to croune hym with glory and worship." Matthews: "After thou haddest for a reason made him lower the Angels thou crownedest