mmg^d tihvwy of Che theological ^tmimvy PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY •d^D* PRESENTED BY Mrs, Wintiirop w. Aldrich :K2i If CHABLES B ALEXANDER. || i^ 16 West 25th. street. NewYork- THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. TO ONDEK8TAND THE PBESENT WE MOST LOOK INTO THE PAST.' Merle jyAiitngne. fe' ^ ■ ' ^ •',/<:;:;; ■■ I-, - %•'" *^-.t -'- V , .•v,;.,,::.r:;'-^4. ,^^ *^^^^5fiS&fiSS^SSS^^^^L '^--■■■■"%^,,|| %'-»^..r'^ %'%-■■ I #.c^ iMyi L % THE BOOK AND ITS STORY: A NARRATIVE FOR THE YOUNG. ON OCCASION OF THE 3nUkz of tfje British antu jFoteign IStble ^octetg. BY L. N. R. WITH AN INTEODIJCTOEY PREFACE BY THE KEV. T. PHILLIPS, JUBILEE SECBETAEY. THIRD THOUSAND. L OND ON : SAMUEL BAGSTER AND SONS, 15, PATEENOSTEE EOW. M. DCCC. illl. PREFACE This volume needs no explanatory introduction; its object is fully expressed in its title-page; and tlie reader will find in tlie perusal that it is what it professes to be. The " Story" of the Book, in all ages, countries, and languages, is told with simplicity and truthfulness. The work contains the " Story" of the Bible from the first dawn of revelation to the completion of the sacred canon, with the interesting details of its translation and circulation, from the earliest efforts until the present time. To tell the Story of the Book in former days, a mul- titude of curious facts have been culled from works of difficult access ; and its later progress is illustrated by an abundant variety of statements drawn from numerous authentic sources. As the Bible Society is so identified with the Book whose Story is here attempted, the origin, progress, and remarkable prosperity of the Institution are given with VIU PREFACE. some minuteness of detail, and tliis little volume will be found to contain simple and interesting information about the Society's actual operations. It professes to be a narrative for the young ; but we are greatly mistaken if it be not regarded as a book suited to all ages, and perused witli interest by all who love the Book whose Story it gives. We are, indeed, anxious that the younger members of our families should look upon it as a volume intended for them, and peculiarly their ovm; and we are sanguine enough to expect a large circulation. It is our earnest desire that parents and in- structors of youth should be so fully convinced of the value of the Bible Society, as to lead them to embrace every opportunity to make its claims known ; and the re- commendation of this volume may be regarded, we think, as a likely means, under the Divine blessing, to interest the young in the great and glorious work of Bible-circulation. In this simple way they may be the means of raising up a multitude of " fellow-helpers" to the truth. If it is a satisfaction to be instrumental in causing the grass to grow, flowers to bloom, and trees to yield fruit, where all was barrenness and sterility before, how much greater the privilege to be the means of leading others, not only to possess the Bible themselves, but to labour and contribute towards its universal dissemination ! PKEFACE. IX The occasion of preparing this volume, as will be seen in the title-page, is the Jubilee of the Bible Society, — an occasion fraught with solemn reflections, and ac- companied with weighty responsibilities. The Narrative now introduced has peculiar claims upon the Mends of the Society — claims which no other un-offi- cial publication can possibly possess. It has been written by request, and solely with a view to promote the objects of the Institution. Great pains have been taken to render its varied contents as accurate as they are interesting. The Annual Eeports, the Monthly Extracts of Correspon- dence, the History of the Society so far as written, and many other documents have been studied with care, while, to ensure correctness, the technical facts and figures have been submitted to the best authorities. The work being completed, it is now presented as a free-will offering to the Society. It will be observed that the Book is published at an unusually low rate, with a view to more extensive circulation. Whatever may be the pecurdary advantage to the funds of the Institution, we are persuaded that the perusal of the Book will spread a large amount of information in families and schools, the value of which cannot be told in gold and silver. . It is our heart's desire that the readers of this volume may be led to value the sacred Scriptures more than ever. X PREFACE. to feel grateful for tlie possession of tlie inestimable trea- sure, and for the liberty and opportunity to engage with- out let or hindrance in labours of Christian usefulness. Finally, we pray, that all who possess the Bible may become more sensible of their obligations to impart to others — to millions still destitute — the privileges and blessings they so abundantly enjoy, — rememhering the words of the Lord Jesus ^ — " It IS MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE."^ T. P. London, 1853. CONTENTS. PAKT I. THE BIBLE IN PAST AGES. CHAPTER I. PAGE The Book and its circulation by means of the Bible Society. — The ages without the Bible. — ^Voices from Heaven. — Patri- archal tradition. — The flood. — Renewed corruptions. — Early idolatries. — Ancient Egypt. — The pyramids. — The oldest coffin. — Thebes, Karnak, hieroglyphics, Rosetta stone. — Inscriptions on tombs. — The bondage. — Moses. — Arabia.^ — The Arabs. — The book of Job. — The Pentateuch, how writ- ten.— The Exode. — Number of the people. — How supported. — Commencement of the age of miracle. — Amalek. — Wady Mokatteb 1 CHAPTER n. Mount Sinai. — The covenant, the giving of the Law. — The Jebel Mousa. — Jehovah. — Seven sins and their punishments. — Eleven months at Sinai. — The unknown thirty-eight years. Xii CONTENTS. PAGE — The last year of the wandering. — Mount Hor. — The death of Aaron. — The law as made known to the people. — Fiery serpents. — The death of Moses 20 CHAPTER III. Entrance to the land. — Joshua. — The Canaanites. — Joshua's victories. — Ebal and Gerizim. — The Judges. — The six ser- vitudes.— The times of the Kings. — David. — Solomon. — Divi- sion of the kingdom. — Shishak. — The prophets, their rolls. —Table of prophets. — The lost ten tribes. — The lost roll, the burnt roll. — Captivity and return. — Ezra's ministry. — Review of the history and prophecies concerning the fall of Israel, Nineveh, Judah, Tyre, Petra, Thebes, and Babylon . 32 CHAPTER IV. The Jewish Bible complete. — The Apocrypha. — The Septua- gint. — Daniel's two pictures. — Antiochus Epiphanes. — The Maccabees. — Judas Maccabeus. — The Roman power. — Pom- pey. — Caesar. — The Druids. — Their Hebrew origin. — Ser- pent-worship.— Druidical remains. — Greek philosophers. — Herod. — The temple. — The synagogues. — Traditions of the Pharisees. — Targums. — Pharisees and Sadducees. — The faithful few. — The rabbins. — John the Baptist. — His minis- try.— Our Lord's advent. — His mission. — Books of the New Testament. — The first century. — Its apostles and elders. — The Last Supper. — Violent death of all who partook of it, except John. — First and second pagan persecutions. — De- struction of Jerusalem 61 CHAPTER V. Gradual circulation of the New Testament. — Earliest heresies. — Uninspired teachers. — Progress of the gospel. — The Book becomes the guide. — Eight more pagan persecutions. — Par- CONTEJsTS. Xlll PAGE ticulars of these. — Dioclesian's medals. — Reign of Constan- tine the Great, his zeal. — The rise of monasteries. — Progress of the papacy. — Alaric. — Versions of Scripture. — The Alex- andrine version. — First protests. — Vigilantius. — Nestorius. — The Nestorian Christians. — The Armenian church. — The Paulicians. — The Abyssinian church. — The British church in Wales, in Scotland, in Ireland. — Succat. — Columba. — lona 86 CHAPTER VI. The fall of England's Protestantism. — Augustine's mission. — Bede. — King Alfred. — General ignorance. — The Vaudois church. — Early protests. — Claude of Turin. — Vaudois col- porteurs.— Waldo. — His translation of the Bible. — Sketch of the Vaudois people. — Their knowledge of Scripture. — Inno- cent III. — The inquisition. — Torments. — Steadfastness. — The vows of Luzerna. — The Bohemian Christians . .112 CHAPTER VII. The earthquake council. — John Wiclif. — The law made at Toulouse. — Romish revenge on Wiclif. — His translation of the Scriptures. — Lollard martyrs. — Sawtre. — Lady Jane Boughton. — Lord Cobham, — Black-friars' monastery. — Site of Bible-house. — Printing. — Anger of monks. — Use of mo- nasteries.— Reading and writing of the Scriptures at Clugni. — Translations preparing. — Gift of the Vaudois church to France. — Olivetan's version. — De Sacy's version. — Colpor- teurs.— Translations of the Bible extant up to the sixteenth century. — Particulars concerning each . . . .124 CHAPTER VIII. Tyndal. — Erasmus. — Tonstall. — More. — Wolsey.— Search for Testaments in London, Oxford, and Cambridge. — Scenes V CONTENTS. PAGE in St. Paul's cathedral, and at Paul's cross. — Deaths of Tyndal and of Wolsey. — Description of frontispiece, with martyrdom of Ann Askew. — Luther. — List of languages before 1804. — Summing up of the narrative . . . 148 PAKT II. THE BIBLE SOCIETY'S HOUSE. THE PRINTING AND BINDING OF THE BIBLE. CHAPTER L The Bible-house. — Its library. — Wiclif s Testament. — Tyndal's Bible.— Coverdale's Bible.— The Geneva Bible.— The Bi- shop's Bible. — Authorised version. — Welsh Bible. — Euro- pean languages. — Swedish Bible. — Polyglots. — Dutch Bible. — Luther's Bible. — Bohemian Bible. — Eastern languages. — Persian Testament. — Pali, Hinduwee, Bengalee, etc. — Chi- nese Bible. — Dr. Morrison. — Ancient Chinese version. — The Lord's Prayer in all languages. — The Douay version. — The Society's departed friends. — The manuscript library. — The Breton Bible. — Wales and Britanny. — Syrian, Persian, Chi- nese, and Amharic manuscripts. — The Amharic Bible. — Mr. Jowett's account of it. — How the Society obtains its trans- lations.— Their revision. — The general committee -room. — The ease of Bibles.— The Bible for the blind.— The sub- committee-room.— Portraits. — The Bible- warehouse . .177 CHAPTER IL Bible-printing at Shacklewell. — Ancient printing-office. — The compositor. — The reader. — Stereotyping. — Binding. — Num- ber employed 203 CONTENTS. PART III. THE BKITISH AND TOEEIGN BIBLE SOCIETY'S RISE, CHAPTER I. Rev. T. Charles. — Particulars of his youth. — His missionary spirit. — His usefulness to the young. — Scarcity of the Scrip- tures in Wales. — Circulating schools. — Committing the Bible to memory. — Grown-up scholars. — Meeting of twenty schools. — The little girl who had no Bible. — The twelve peasants. — Mr. Charles's visit to London. — Tract committee. — Wants of Wales, and of the world. — Formation of the British and Foreign Bible Society. — Collections in Wales. — Influential friends and supporters. — Objects and constitution of the Society, formed alike for home and the world. — Its principle. — Union and co-operation of all parties. — Rev. J. Owen.— Rev. J. Hughes 223 CHAPTER II. Arrival of Bibles in Wales. — Answer to prayer for Mr. Charles. — His visit to Ireland. — His funeral. — Want of the Scriptures in Scotland and in France. — Revocation of the edict of Nantes, and its results. — Sufferings of the Huguenots andYaudois. — Reaction of infidelity. — Desire of England to circulate the Bible in France. — Oberlin and the Ban de la Roche. — Scrip- ture-readers.— Bible Societies atWaldbach and Nuremberg. — Scarcity of the Scriptures even in Europe. — Their circula- tion among French and Spanish prisoners of war. — Bible Society at Berlin. — Willingness of a priest to distribute the XVI CONTENTS. PAGE New Testament. — The field of labour in Asia. — Chinese gospels in the British Museum. — India and the Tamil language. — Africa. — America 238 CHAPTER III. Reports of the Bible Society not dull books : what it is that they contain. — The sway of Great Britain and its purpose. — The world's inhabitants, in five classes. — The work of the Bible Society amongst each. — The way it is accomplished, by divi- sion of labour, and by various agents. — The Bible Society like the banyan tree, its fibres taking root in the Protestant countries, first in England, by the auxiliaries and Bible Asso- ciations.— The system gradually matured. — Arrangement of districts. — Ladies' committees. — The results of co-opera- tion.— Objections to the Society. — Lord Teignmouth's an- swer.— Mr. Dealtry's. — Mr. Ward's. — Operations at home. — Extracts from reports of collectors. — The dying child. — The old woman and the wool. — The Bible-bees. — The gun and the Bible. — Mr. Dudley's review. — The death of :Mr. Owen 251 CHAPTER IV. The Bible Society in Holland.— Ali Bey's Turkish Bible.— Prayer for Bible Societies. — Germany. — Its religious state previous to the existence of the Bible Society. — Dr. Schwabe's tour. — Mr. Owen's letters. — Prussia. — Royal patronage. — Switzerland. — Antistes Hess. — Dr. Steinkopflf's report. — Lausanne Bible Society. — Sweden. — Norway. — Iceland. — Mr. Henderson s letters. — Denmark .... 272 CHAPTER V. The Jews, after their dispersion, in Rome, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Turkey, England. — Their sufferings, and the remission of these. — Their numbers all over the world. — What the Society did for them in its first twenty-five years. CONTENTS. XVll PAGE — Letters of Dr. Pinkerton from Russia. — Jews of Thessa- lonica and Constantinople. — Jewish converts. — The Society's work among the Syrian Christians in the Armenian church, in the Nestorian, and in the Abyssinian. — Letters from Mr. * Pearce. — Grants to the Vaudois church. — Its gratitude . 293 CHAPTER VI. The work of the Bible Society among Roman Catholics. — The Greek church. — Distribution of the Bible by Roman- Catholic priests. — General willingness of the Roman-Catho- lic laity to receive it. — Anecdotes. — Leander Van Ess. — The work in Ireland. — Anecdotes. — France. — Professor KiefFer. — The dying sister's prayer, and its answer. — Austria, Hun- gary, and Belgium. — The Roman- Catholic portions of Ger- many, Prussia, Poland, and Switzerland. — Italy, Spain, and Portugal. — Russia: the Bible Society there; its extinction. — The tribe of Buriats. — Turkey, European and Asiatic; its mixed population. — The Turks. — Foreign agency. — Mr. Barker. — Greece. — South America. — Dr. Thomson. — A few words on the Apocrypha. — Mahomedan countries. — Heathen countries 316 CHAPTER VIL Death of Lord Teignmouth, and of Mr. Hughes. — Bible colpor- tage upon the continent. — Osee Derbecq. — Characteristics of colporteurs. — The young Bible-collector in Jersey. — Juve- nile Bible Associations. — Individual efforts to distribute the Scriptures, — The Testament among the fishing-people of Boulogne. — A tract the pioneer of the Bible. — Statistics of infidel publications 353 CHAPTER VIIL Jubilee review of the heathen countries of the world. — The Bible in India. — In China. — Japan, in all probability with- out a Bible 375 XVIU CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER IX. Jubilee review continued. — Circulation of the Bible in Austra- lia, Borneo, Tahiti, Rarotonga, Mangaia, New Zealand, and South America. — The Bible among Mahomedans, in Roman- Catholic countries, in Austria and Hungary, in Spain and Portugal, in Switzerland and Italy, in France and in Ireland. 402 CHAPTER X. The old fountain restored in Assyria. — The Nestorian church. — American missions. — Mr. Layard's testimony. — The Ar- menian, the Coptic, the Abyssinian, and the Waldensian churches. — The Jews. — Nazareth 427 CHAPTER XL The Protestant countries : Holland, Germany, Prussia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Great Britain. — Lord Bexley. — INIr. Brandram. — Wales. — Scotland. — England. — Home colpor- teurs and collectors. — Final appeal. — Motives for renewed exertion 452 THE BOOK AND ITS STOEY. PART I THE BIBLE IN PAST AGES. THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. CHAPTER I. THE BOOK AND ITS CIRCUI-ATION BY MEANS OF THE BIBLE SOCIETY. THE AGES WITHOIJT THE BIBLE. VOICES FROM HEAVEN. PA- TRIARCHAL TRADITION. THE FLOOD. RENEWED CORRUPTIONS. EARLY IDOLATRIES. ANCIENT EGYPT. THE PYRAMIDS. THE OLDEST COFFIN. THEBES, KARNAK, HIEROGLYPHICS, ROSETTA STONE. INSCRIPTIONS ON TOMBS. THE BONDAGE. MOSES. ARABIA. THE ARABS. THE BOOK OF JOB. — THE PENTATEUCH, HOW WRITTEN. THE EXODE. NUMBER OF THE PEOPLE. HOW SUPPORTED. COMMENCEMENT OF THE AGE OF MIRACLE. AM ALEK. WAD Y MOK ATTEB. THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. In almost all tlie houses in England, may now be found One Book, — the oldest and the most wonderful book in the world. This Book, the Bible, is a Revelation from God. The word revelation means the rolling back of a veil ; so the Bible unveils to man what otherwise he could not know of the Great God, of man, and of Jesus Christ, who is God and man " in one person for ever." God caused holy men to write on these subjects that which He taught them; and, being written. He meant it to be known throughout all the world, by every hu- man creature. But this Book did not always lie upon almost every 2 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. table in England. It is only witliin tlie last fifty years that it entered into the minds of some good men to help each other to print and send this Holy Bible forth to every land, and into every family ; and when they had united themselves for this great work, they were called The British and Foreign Bible Society. This Bible Society has a history, and they wish their history written for those who were not born when their Society arose. They are in this year, 1853, celebrating their Jubilee, — a year of public gladness and rejoicing over the work already done, and a year in which they wish to ask their young friends to help them to do very much more. Before, however, we begin to tell you the story of the Bible Society, which is a true and glorious tale, that will certainly stir all the young hearts that listen to it, to desire to work in this cause, it will be necessary for you that we go back for awhile to the story of the Book itself, and that we inquire what that Book is, and whence it came. And now, while we attempt to lead you to retrace the times of its beginning, we have one request to make, that you will read, with your Bible by your side, and turn to the references made to Scripture as they occur. You have not to search through " houses of rolls," and long files of ancient manuscripts, to see if the story be true ; for all the wonders that will be told you, concern a small volume that can be held in the hand of the youngest child capa- ble of understanding it. May the Holy Spirit of God lead us reverently to seek, throughout our lives, for " all truth" contained in his high and holy word, which is able to make us " wise," and " wise unto salvation" ! THE AGES WITHOUT THE BIBLE. You know, perhaps, that this world existed for 3000 years or more after its creation, without possessing a THE AGES WITHOUT THE BIBLE. 6 • written revelation ; and Moses tells us, tliat, during tliat period, the wickedness of man was " great upon the earth," — so that a just and holy God swept the whole human race away, and washed out their remembrance, with the exception of one family, saved in the ark, to be the founders of new nations. Did you ever think of the way in which the Almighty, in the midst of this abounding wickedness, preserved amongst the few, the knowledge of his Name ? He held immediate intercourse with one patriarch after another, by voices from heaven, and He had spoken much with Adam. Adam lived nearly 700 years after the birth of his grandson Enos, when it is said men "began to call themselves by the name of the Lord." With Adam, during the days of his long life, all who desired it might converse. Enos lived far into the days of the holy Enoch, of whom it is said that he " walked with God, and was not, for God took him." V Enoch would certainly teach the truth to his own son Methuselah, with whom he lived 300 years (in giving him his name, he uttered a prophecy, for the word means, " He dies, and it is sent"; and Methuselah died in the year of the flood): and Noaii, born 400 years after Methuselah, might have talked with him for 600 years before the flood, so that in a line of only five persons, all that Adam (who was made in God's own image) " knew of his Creator" would be handed down from tongiie to tongue ; and doubtless Adam, Enoch, and Noah, at least, were actual " preachers of righteousness" to all Mio would hear them. Shem, then, the ^n of Noah, who lived 500 years after he came out ^'the ark, and of whom it is said, " Blessed be the Lord God of Shem," would, with the other patriarchs, convey all that was known of God, to the people fast growing up around them ; and this know- ledge would at first, in all probability, be carried, at the dispersion of mankind, into the different districts in which they settled. It is thought by some, that Noah himself 4 THE BOOK AND ITS STOKY. went fortli into China, Ham into Africa, JapKetli into Europe, while Shem, who was the favoured son, remained in Asia, — some of his descendants peopling Arabia. But with this possible knowledge of the true God, we know that very soon there was mingled the "corruption" of a former world : men began to adore, in God's stead, the sun and moon, which they did, because they observed them as moving bodies, and thought them living ones, in the heavens. The Egyptians named their kings Pharaoh, from Phra, the sun, and worshipped them, when dead ; and very early, as we learn from the picture-writing, or hierogly- phics on the walls of their ancient temples, mixed up their true and noble notions of God, and of the past, and of the future, with base idolatries, not only of sun, moon, stars, and men, but of brutes, reptiles, plants, and even insects. They bowed down to bulls, crocodiles, lily- flowers, onions, and^.b^etles ; yet they were men of mighty thoughts, and their ideas of building were so vast, that at this day we should say the records of their structures were fables, did not their immense remains exist, to witness to the truth of history. What child has not heard of the pyramids, now believed to be older than Abraham ? Many think that Job spoke of them when he referred to " the ]nen who build desolate places for themselves." Three of these astonishing buildings stand eleven miles west of the Nile. The largest of them is built of hewn- stones, some thirty feet long. A French engineer has calQulated that the stones of that huge pile, called the "Great Pyramid," would suffice to build a wall all round France, measuring 1800 miles, — a wall one foot thick, and ten feet high. These vast mountains of stone appear to have been intended as tombs for the kings of Egypt. Since the year 1834, we have been sure of this, for in the third pyramid of Ghizeh has been found the coffin of the king for whom it was built, — the coffin of King'Myce- THE AGES WITHOUT THE BIBLE. 5 rinus. For tliis discovery, Europe is indebted to Colonel Howard Vyse. In its sepulchral chamber, he discovered a sarcophagus, or stone coffin, and on the floor, a mummy-case, or rather its broken lid (for the pyramid had been rifled hundreds of years before by the Saracens), which proved to be, from the picture-writing upon it, the sarcophagus and coffin of the builder. That ancient lid, perhaps 4000 years old, is now in the British Museum ; you can go and see it there ; and the far-ofl* time to which it belongs, and the certainty of the occupant, throw an awful interest round this relic of the first Pharaohs. These ancient and extraordinary Egyptians, whose thoughts seem always to have been occupied with their temples and their tombs, believed that the spirit, when it left the body, wandered on, never resting, giving life to some beast of the field, some fowl of the air, some fish of the sea, — waiting for the redemption of the original body; therefore they took such pains to preserve their bodies after death, in tim^e-proof mansions. They had no writ- ten revelation to which to refer, to set them right when they were wrong; and after the death of the patriarchs, they derived their knowledge from tradition, or that which one told another; for God never spoke to them by a voice from heaven. ^'■) Before we lea^e them, and with Israel " go up out of Egypt," under the care of Moses, "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," you would like to follow with us for a little while the steps of recent travellers into this region. You must take nineteen days' journey down the Nile, to the ancient Thebes, which was Egypt's old metro- polis, long before Israel was settled in the land of Goshen. Thebes or Theba means the ark; and the chief tem- ple there seems to have been built in commemoration of the deluge ; — a boat-like shrine was the most sacred ob- ject in most of the Egyptian temples. 6 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Thebes is a city that was thought worthy of mention in Scripture: it is there called, " No-Ammon," "popu- lous No," perhaps from No-ah. Its acres of ruins remain to this day. Belzoni says, that among them he felt as in a city that had been built by giants. Its situation is grander than even that of the seven-hilled city of Romex The whole valley of the Nile was not large enough to contain it, and its extremities rested on the bases of the mountains of Arabia and Africa. It stood upon a vast plain describing a circuit of thirty miles, and was called, " the City of the Hundred Gates," and the whole extent is still strewed with broken columns, avenues of sphinxes, colossal figures, obelisks, porticoes, blocks of polished granite ; and above these, in all the nakedness of desolation, tower the amazing pillars of the ancient temples. The largest and the oldest among these ruins is called "the Temple of Karnak"; and 134 of its pillars are still standing in rows, nine deep. There is no other such assembly of pillars in the world : they are covered with paintings of gods, kings, priests, and war- riors: the walls and roof are still glowing with the richest colours. Some parts of this temple, at least, are older than the days of Moses, — 1600 years before the birth of Christ. The interest of these ruins is unspeakable, because HIEROGLYPHICS. 7 those who are acquainted witli the subject know that the ancient history of Egypt is to be read in these vast old books of stone. Men have only lately acquired the power to read them. The picture-writing (or hieroglyphics) on their pillars and tablets is thought to have been known only to the priests, and has for 3000 years been a mys- tery to the world. Moses probably understood it, for "he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts 7. 22). Mr. Gliddon, formerly the American consul in Egypt, and who devoted his attention for many years to the study of hieroglyphics, has, we think, made clear even to a child how this kind of writing arose. He says, " Suppose we wished to write the word 'Ame- rica' in our language, in hieroglyphics, as the Egyptians did, we should draw a figure beginning with — A, for instance, an asp, the emblem of sove- '^ reignty ; %^ M, of military dominion, a mace ; T" E, the national arms, an eagle ; ^^^^ K, sign of intellectual power, horns of a ram ; 0W^ I, the juvenile age of the country, an infant ; jjK C, civilised religion, sacred cake ; L- -^ A, Tau, or Egyptian emblem of eternal life ; T^ THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. To show that by this we mean a country^ I add the , in Coptic ' Kah/ meaning a country. We thus obtain — A M E E I C A; COUNTRY. These are called pure hieroglyphics, and are found on the oldest monuments and papyri. The pure hieroglyphics afterwards became linear, or line-like, as reduced from the rude pictures — Pure. Linear. A reed^ used for letter A. K jackal^ symbol of a Priest. A goose ^ used for letter S, figuratively the bird goose — symbol of offspring. The pure class was always sculptured or painted, and, in general, both sculptured and painted were employed on public edifices. The linear was preferred in ordinary life and writing. This writing became known to the moderns through a slab of black marble, with inscriptions upon it, in three diiBTerent characters, but all meaning the same thing, dug ROSETTA STONE. up by a Frencli officer of engineers, on the western bank of the Nile, in August 1779, at Rosetta, not far from the mouth of the Nile. It is called the " Kosetta Stone," and is now in the British Museum. We have given you a drawing of it for those who can- not go and see it, and a specimen of the characters in which the three languages are written. Learned men found they could easily read the last inscription in Greek ; and then, letter by letter, and with much pains-taking they found the alphabet of the two others ; and so this stone, more valuable to them than the wonderful Koh-i- noor, has enabled them to read the histories of those grand, old, dead kings, on their tombs. The event recorded on the stone is not so wonderful in itself: it concerns the coronation of King Epiphanes, which took place at Memphis, 196 years before Christ; 10 THE BOOK AND ITS STOEY. but whatever be the inscription, it has proved the key to millions more. One of the most remarkable inscriptions on the tombs at Thebes is the balance scene^ which is laid in the world of spirits. Osiris, the chief god of the Egyptians, is seated on a throne of judgment, with Isis his consort by his side : a soul is conducted into his presence. Anubis, painted with the head of a jackal, superintends the balance, in which the good and bad actions of the soul are laid ; and Thoth, a kind of recording angel, having the head of a hawk, stands by, with a tablet and pen in his hand, to record the judgment given. There are also upon the walls of Thebes, inscriptions a thousand times more interesting than this, to the readers of the Bible, because they serve as proofs of the events which it records. The bondage of the children of Israel, in Egypt, is thus confirmed by a tablet representing them on the tomb of Kekshare. Kekshare is known to have been the chief architect of the temples and palaces at Thebes, under Pharaoh Moeris. The physiognomy of the Jews it is impossible to mistake : and the splashes of clay with which their bodies are covered, — the idea of labour that is conveyed — the Egyptian taskmaster seated with his heavy baton, whose blows would certainly visit some weary slave, resting a moment from his toilsome task of making bricks and spreading them to dry in the burning sun of Egypt, — all give proof of the exactness of the Scripture phrase, " all their service that they made them serve was with rigour." The inscription at the top of the picture to the right reads, " Captives brought by his majesty, to build the temples of the Great God." This probably means, that the family or gang of Israelites, here represented, had been marched up from Goshen, and attached to the building of the temples at Thebes. We know, from Exod. 1. 11, 12, that they were compelled to build "for Pharaoh, treasure-cities, Pithom and Raamses," ARABIA. 1 1 But tlie time of tliat bondage had an end, and the " sigh" and " cry" of the oppressed people came up unto God. They had not forgotten that they were the chil- dren of a Mighty Promise ; and God, too, looked down upon them, and heard their groaning, and remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. He had so ordered it, that eighty years before, one of the Hebrew babes doomed to destruction had, by its ex- ceeding beauty, won the favour of Pharaoh's daughter ; and the child, separated from its people, had grown up beneath the shadow of the Egyptian throne ; yet, nursed by its mother in its early days, and taught, while she nursed him, all she knew of the dealings of God with his people in the ages before the flood and after it, Moses had treasured her sayings in his heart. He could not be ignorant of the future prospects of his race ; and it seems that he considered he was raised up to deliver them at once, in the hour when he smote the Egyptians for their sake ; but they rejected his help, learned though he was, and " mighty in words and in deeds." He was then only forty years of age ; and God had lessons for him to learn for forty years more, in the soli- tudes of Midian, of a very different kind from those which he had learned in Egypt, but equally necessary to fit him to be the leader of this chosen people. Here, by a long process of quiet teaching, the ardent zeal of his youth was mellowed by that spirit of humility and patience which the Divine Being poured out upon him. This fresh " wisdom" was given to him in Arabia, and with Arabia we must begin a new section. ARABIA. The three great nations of remote antiquity are the Egyptians, the Arabians, and the Jews. The Arabs are a people who can bring monuments of their history almost from the very deluge. For the 12 THE BOOK AND ITS -STOKT. nature of tlieir country, its three divisions, its tliree evils, its three animals, and its three productions, we advise you to search in that beautiful book, called " Far Off,"* which is, or ought to be, in all our school-rooms ; and to the information you will there find, we will add a few more particulars, as we wish you to realize Arabia, especially the north-western part of it, as it was in the days of Moses. Arabia has been called " Africa in little." It was, as it is now, a country without a navigable river — the camel its ship of commerce, and its horses the finest in the world. *' An Arab, on a mare unrivalled for speed and endurance, is his own master," says Mr. Layard, " and can defy the world. Without his mare, money would be of no value to him : he could only keep the gold, by burying it in some secret place ; and he is himself never two days in the same spot, but wanders over three or four hundred miles in the space of a few months. Give him the desert, his mare, and his spear, with power to plunder and rob for the mere pleasure and excitement it affords, and he will not envy the wealth or power of the greatest of the earth." Such was and such is the Bedouin of the deserts — the Saracen of the middle ages — who has never by any con- quest been driven out of his country, — a vast space of winding sands, where those who travel now^ declare that not even a wolf can live three days unless he feeds on stone and granite. Perhaps, because it is such a country, the Arab has of necessity reaped the harvests of surround- ing lands, — " his hand against every man, and every man's hand against him." His fathers have been the conquerors of all modern eastern nations, and his language is spoken more or less from India to the Atlantic. The Arabs say that they are sprung from two sources, that a ^part of them are the sons of Ishmael, and are the naturalised Arabs, but that the pure Arabs, " Arab-el- Arab," are the sons of Joktan, the great-great-grandson of Shem. * By the author of " Line upon Line," and " Near Home." THE BOOK OF JOB. 13 We shall only notice, among their tribes, the Jobaritae, wlio are said to claim descent from Job of the Bible.* Now, it is by almost all learned men admitted, that the book of Job is of extreme antiquity. The Syrian Chris- tians place it as the first book in their Bibles. It may give you a new and very interesting view of this book if, after reading the first ten chapters of Genesis, the account of the creation and the flood, you read the history of this patriarch, before commencing the life of Abraham. Job is believed, by some of the most eminent eastern scholars, to have been an Arabian emir, or chief; and his story casts, we think, " a flood of light on an otherwise dark part of the world's history." f We can imagine Moses, in Midian, which was a neigh- bouring district to that in which Job had lived, centuries before, as finding in some written character, which he from his Egyptian wisdom understood, the records left of this great man, before whom " princes and nobles had been silent," and, under the immediate inspiration of God, casting these records into the form of a Hebrew poem, as a picture of patience and impatience, for the benefit of his suffering brethren. The book of Job is generally considered to have been written or translated by Moses. Possibly he also wrote in Midian, in the long days of his secluded shepherd-life, and also by God's teaching, the whole of the book of Genesis. We must give you a few reasons why it has been sup^ posed that the book of Job is so old : His long life of certainly two and perhaps three or four hundred years. The absence of any reference in the book to God's dealings with Abraham or his children ; and of any notice of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The worship of the sun and moon, being the only species of idolatry mentioned in the book (Job 31. 26). * Forster's '* Geography of Arabia." t Smith's "Patriarchal Age," p. 416. 14 THE BOOK AND ITS STOEY. The manners and customs described, whicli are those of the earliest patriarchs. And Job's religion, which is exactly and purely patri- archal. The learned men above referred to are of opinion that there is sufficient proof that Job lived between the deluge and the call of Abraham,* so that God never left the world at any period without a witness to his truth. The magnificence of the poetical thoughts uttered both by Job and his friends, and, above all, by God, when he answered Job out of the whirlwind, you will perceive more and more as you grow older ; and, as you are read- ing, you will indeed be ready to say, " How much these ancient Arabians knew of God ! " The patriarch Job and his friends, notwithstanding the mistakes they made, are men who seem to have conversed with the Invisible, to have read Him reverently in the vast volume of his works, and also to have received, from of old, the pro- phecies of the latter-day glory (Job 19. 25) ; while, as concerning worldly knowledge, — the art of mining (ch. 28) ; the art of weaving (ch. 7. 6) ; the conveyance of merchandise by caravans (ch. 6. 19); the refining of metals (ch. 28. 1); the coinage of money (ch. 42. 11); the use of musical instruments (ch. 21. 12), — all were understood and practised. It may be, you never thought of this state of things as existing before the giving of the Law on Sinai. We are now passing into the age when the Pentateuch began to be written. Perhaps you will like to think of the material it was written upon, and the character in which Moses wrote it. This is a piece of ancient Hebrew — the language in which the Law was written — * Job alludes to the deluge, ch. 9. 5, 6 ; also ch. 12. 15. THE PENTATEUCH. 15 The Bible was written by degrees, and by different persons: it took 1600 years to write. The first five books were written by Moses in the wilderness, as well as the book of Job ; viz. Genesis, Numbers, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Leviticus, called, by the Grecian Jews, "The Pentateuch." The (rest of the Old Testament books, thirty-three in number, were written by different inspired leaders, prophets, ; priests, and kings, of Israel, but all by Israelites, — the people whom God had chosen, and was now about to separate from the heathen nations, to be the keepers of his holy oracles : and as they were written, God Him- self made laws that they should be read, by the Levites, to the people continually. But at that time there were no books like our books. The time of Moses was 1550 years before Christ our Saviour came into the world. Our mode of printing or of making paper had not then been discovered. The old Egyptians made linen, in which they wrapped their mummies, and so prepared it, that they could trace hiero- glyphics upon it. They also wrote upon rolls made of j their rush-papyrus, that is, of the coats which surround jits stalk. The largest papyrus roll now known, is ten yards long: many of these are found in the tombs of Egypt, though not often of so great a length. A very valuable one has been taken from these tombs to the museum, at Turin, containing the names of King Myce- rinus, the builder of the third pyramid, and Rekshare, the architect of Thebes ; but the Pentateuch of Moses is not supposed to have been written on this rush-paper. It is thought that he must have used goat-skins, pre- pared and fastened together : the very oldest manuscripts of his five books known, are written on leather. There is one in the public library, at Cambridge, which was dis- covered by Dr. Buchanan, in the record-chest of a syna- 16 THE BOOK AND ITS STOEY. gogue of the Black Jews, in Malabar, in 1806 : it measures sixteen yards in length ; and, though not perfect, consists of thirty-seven skins, dyed red. There is another in the library of the British Museum, which we have seen. That is a large double roll of this description. It is written with great care, on forty thick brown skins, in 153 narrow columns : the writing is, of course, in He- brew. We looked upon it with great reverence, for it was, most probably, in this form that the world received the first part of the word of God, — ^his written voice from heaven. It was while feeding his flock among the mountains of the desert, that Moses was first made sensible of the visible and miraculous presence of God, by the voice out of the burning bush, and entered upon that wonderful life of actual converse with the Divine Being, which was like the life of no other mortal man, before or since his time. The opening of this intercourse took place at Horeb, — a name now applied to the mountain at whose base stands the convent of St. Catherine. The token of his mission given to Moses was, that "when he had brought the people out of Egypt, they should serve God upon that mountain.''-^ Here, therefore, they actually encamped; and tj^ §0ne place, with all its mighty memories, was the retreat of Elijah, 600 years after- wards, from the threats of Jezebel. We need not detail to you the rapid succession of plagues showered upon the oppressors of the Israelites, or speak ati any length upon what happened between the going ''up out of Egypt and the giving of the Law upon THE EXODE. 17 mount Sinai. There were great miracles comprised in this six weeks' history, and you will find them recorded from the 14th to the 17th chapters of Exodus. From this time the history of this wonderful people was marked by miracle : and going forth into the desert through those wondrous walls of water, formed by the Ked Sea, they had no sooner experienced hunger, than bread was rained from heaven for them, and the bitter spring of the wilderness was sweetened for their sake. This spring is yet existing, and is called Ain Howara, the bitter well. Have you ever thought of the numbers of the children of Israel who thus went up out of Egypt ? It was such an emigration as the world never saw, save on this occasion. There were between two and three millions of people, twice as many as inhabit the Principality of Wales, or far more than all the people contained in London and its neighbourhood, with all their property, goods, utensils, and cattle. No man, with merely human resources at his command, could ever have arranged the order of their march ; but "the I,ord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to -lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light ; to go by day and by night" (Exod. 13. 21) ; — a pillar ever before their eyes, high over the camp, where no mortal art could have placed it. At Rephidim, they were again distressed for want of water, and again it was provided for them by miracle. The thirst of which they complained, and which they said would "kill them," is best understood by persons who have travelled on foot, over a sandy desert, under a burn- ing sun. The pillar of cloud led the way for Moses and the elders, while the former went to smite the rock, in Horeb, which is found to be a day's journey from Re- phidim, and so situated at the head of a valley, that a stream of water from it would come flowing and rushing down to the faint and weary host at Rephidim : but, meaa- 18 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. while, the hindmost of them, "the feeble among them," had been attacked by Amalek, " who feared not God." Up to this period, we had not heard anything of the ancient Arabians, nor of what they felt towards the vast host of Israelites making a sudden incursion into their country. The tribe of Amalek is mentioned in history as in- habiting the deserts to the south of Palestine, and being one of the most famous Arab tribes. They had probably heard of the wealth of the Israelites — the spoils they had brought out of Egypt ; and as Bedouins (who in all ages have been famous for committing robberies on merchants and travellers) would do now, so these Amalekites then resolved to attack Israel. There were two descriptions of Arabs, — those who dwelt in cities and towns, and those who dwelt in tents. Job belonged to the former race, and these Amalekites to the latter. He describes his wild brethren in the 24th chapter of his book as " wild asses of the desert, rising be- times for a prey," etc. Their desert is still their kingdom : no travellers may pass through it without their leave, and without purchasing their guidance and protection. Arabs lead you up to the pyramids, and convey you to Sinai and Petra. You must rest when they suffer you to do so, and pass on when they please ; and many of them are terrible looking fellows, with swarthy complexions, piercing coal- black eyes, half-naked figures, enormous swords slung at their backs, and rusty matchlocks in their hands. You might travel with them for weeks, and never see one of them wash his face, or know that he washed or changed his clothes. What they live on, it would be difficult to say, for they are seldom seen to eat ; but they are active and vigorous, and can walk thirty miles a day, for week after week in succession. Against these wild people, the Israelites were directed by Moses to go out and fight, while he held up his hands at the top of the hill, and prayed. WADY MOKATTEB. 19 Laborde, a well-known traveller in Arabia Petrea, the desert district wliere all these events occurred, says, *' We passed through the Wady Mokatteb, which means written valley^ and beheld the rocks covered with in- scriptions for the length of an entire league. We after- wards passed mountains, called Jebel-el Mokatteb, which means written mountains; and, as we rode along, per- ceived, during a whole hour, hosts of inscriptions in an unknown character, carved in these hard rocks, to a height which was ten or twelve feet from the ground : and although we had men amongst us who understood the Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Coptic, Latin, Armenian, Turkish, English, Illyrian, German, French, and Bohe- mian languages, there was not one of us who had the slightest knowledge of the characters engraved on these rocks, with great labour, in a country where there is no- thing to be had either to eat or drink." The meaning of these inscriptions was thus, like their authorship, unknown. In a book lately published, how- 20 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. ever, called "The Voice of Israel, from tlie Eocks of Sinai," the Rev. Charles Forster, an English clergyman, and a man of much learning and patient research, has suggested that these are the " rock- tablet records" of the miracles wrought in the wilderness. We have now concluded our brief review of the ages that elapsed before the giving of the Law ; and with something of the reverence felt by the chosen people, let us realize the scenery of mount Sinai. CHAPTER II. MOUNT SINAI. THE COVENANT, THE GIVING OF THE LAW. THE JEBEIi MOUSA. — JEHOVAH. SEVEN SINS AND THEIR PUNISH- MENTS. ELEVEN MONTHS AT SINAI. THE UNKNOWN THIRTY- EIGHT YEARS. THE LAST YEAR OE THE WANDERING. MOUNT HOR. THE DEATH OF AARON. THE LAW AS MADE KNOWN TO THE PEOPLE. FIERY SERPENTS. THE DEATH OF MOSES. SINAI. It seems to be the testimony of all modem travellers, that the scenery of the mountain range of Sinai is of great extent, and of wild and awful grandeur. " I stand," says Mr. Stephens, *' upon the very peak of Sinai, where Moses stood when he talked with the Al- mighty. Can it be, or is it a mere dream? Can this naked rock have been the witness of that great interview between man and his Creator, on the morning that was ushered in with terrible thunders and lightnings, with the thick clouds resting on the mountain's brow ? Yes ! This is the holy mountain ; and not a place on all the earth could have been chosen, so fitted for the manifesta- MOUNT SINAI. 21 tion of Divine power. I have stood on tlie summit of the giant Etna, and looked over the clouds floating beneath it, — upon the bold scenery of Sicily, and the distant mountains of Calabria. I have climbed Vesuvius, and looked down upon the waves of lava, and the ruined and half recovered cities at its foot : but these are nothing compared to the terrific solitude and bleak majesty of Sinai." Another traveller has called it " a perfect sea of desolation. Not a tree, or shrub, or blade of grass is to be seen upon the bare and rugged sides of innumerable mountains, heaving their naked summits to the skies ; while the crumbling masses of granite around, and the distant view of the Syrian desert, with its boundless waste of sands, form the wildest and most dreary, the most ter- rific and desolate picture the imagination can conceive." It was in this solemn region that God claimed Israel for his own, and began to place the nation under a course of instruction and discipline, to prepare it for its high destiny. Here he called his chosen people into covenant relation with Himself. He told them, through Moses, that He had borne them on eagle's wings out of Egypt; and that if they would obey and keep his covenant, then they should be a peculiar treasure to Him above all peo- ple— a kingdom of priests and an holy nation. And all the people answered together, and said, " All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." No other such mighty shout of promise ever arose from earth to heaven; " and Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord" (Exod. 19. 8). When God descended to give the Law to his people, the Divine glory was revealed from Teman in the east of Edom, to Paran or Serbal in the west. It literally covered the heavens to this extent. Serbal has five principal peaks, which, like the lofty pinnacles of some stupendous temple, rise up into the calm, deep blue of heaven, lone, silent, and sublime. Let us read the description of Moses, — for who could 22 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. describe like Moses tlie scenery of Sinai! " TKe Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them ; He shined forth from mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands of saints : from his right hand went a fiery law for them. Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand : and they sat down at thy feet ; every one shall receive of thy words" (Deut. 33. 2, 3). King David refers to this hour, when, 500 years after- wards, he says in his 68th Psalm, verse 17, "The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them as in Sinai, on the holy mount." We will try and realize this — the most awfully sublime scene in the annals of the world 1 except the crucifixion. Moses " had brought the people forth out of the camp to meet with God": their tents were spread on the skirts of Horeb, where its narrow valleys widen gradually into high, dreary, undulating plains, hemmed in by low ridges of hills. Possibly these camping-grounds may have included all the vast plains round about the moun- tains El Rahah, Seba-iyeh, and El Leja — for two or three millions of persons required a great extent of space. Be- fore them all, rose to the height of 2000 feet (being 7000 above the Eed Sea), the Jebel Mousa, with its shattered pyramidal peak, like a mighty pulpit, fenced ofi* by a range of sharp up-heaving crags, 200 feet in height, and forming an almost impassable barrier to the Mount of God itself, though Moses had likewise " set bounds about it to sanctify it." While the people stood thus " at the nether part of the mount," let us imagine the effulgence reflected from the whole of the Arabian desert, and listen to the sounds of the trumpet, "exceeding loud," echoing round, all the mountains, preparing the way for the mighty angel- voices of the holy myriads uttering the Law ; and then let as remember who was this Jehovah upon Sinai, — the Jehovah of the Jewish Church in the wilderness. The martyr Stephen tells us, just before his death, that the SEVEN SINS AND THEIR PUNISHMENTS. 23 angel which spake to Moses in mount Sinai was none other than the angel of the burning bush — the angel of the Lord, who had said of Himself, " I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob," before whom Moses " trembled and durst not behold" (Acts 7. 32); and also none other than the Saviour, the afterwards crucified Redeemer of the world, whose voice (says Paul, Heb. 12. 26) " then shook the earth : but now He hath promised. Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven." Dear young friends, when you have thought of Jesus taking upon Him the form of a servant, have you also thought of that Jesus as one and the same with the awful Jehovah of Sinai? At both times it is said of Him, "yet He loved the people" (Deut. 33. 3), and " for his great love wherewith He loved us" (Eph. 2. 4). It is good to go back in thought to Sinai, and to realize that the Great God has actually spoken with men upon the earth. Many of the travellers who have visited these regions have enjoyed the privilege of opening their Bibles and reading, on the summits of Sinai and Horeb, the ac- counts which Moses gives, in the very scenes which they concern. OR, THE WILDERNESS LIFE. When God had thus spoken, in majesty and fire, to the ear and eye of the favoured people. He did not mean the impression of that day to pass away : He had given them a Revelation, — a- Law that was to separate them from all other people ; and his words to them were to endure for ever. "We have not undertaken the task of reviewing the whole history of Israel, except as concerns one particular, which we wish you especially to observe. 24 THE BOOK AND ITS STOEY. From tlie time that they became, through Moses, the keepers of the oracles of God, they were judged hy them, and they were expected to live by them ; they became The Chukch of the Book. They had subscribed to the covenant ; they had said, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." They were "under the Law"; and whenever they broke their promise, they incurred punishment and suffering, and this they continually did. They remained at their station in Horeb a few days longer than eleven months. During this time, Jehovah made them fully understand that He was their King, and He established the regular service of his royal court by the priests and Levites. He set apart more than a fiftieth portion of the whole nation to this office. They were to receive his Law from Moses, to copy it, and to read it to the people, — not only the Ten Commandments, as written by the finger of God upon the two tables of stone, but the Book of the Covenant also, which Moses had written (Exod. 24. 4), and read in the audience of the people for the first time, " by the altar under the hill." During these eleven months, their form of govern- ment in all things was appointed, their institutions estab- lished, and the Tabernacle fashioned and set up " accord- ing to the pattern shown to Moses in the mount," for the house or palace of their Divine King, who always visibly dwelt among them in the glory that was between the cherubim. The same period witnessed their breach of the first Commandment, " Thou shalt have none other gods but me," in the worship of the golden calf, and its punish- ment in the death of 3000 among the people. The second sin was committed by the two disobedient priests who offered the strange fire, and they also were consumed. The third transgression was of the third Command- ment : the son of an Egyptian father " blasphemed the SEVEN SINS AND THEIR PUNISHMENTS. 25 Name, and cursed." He was brought without the camp, and stoned to death. The fourth concerned murmuring about the manna, of which they began to get tired. In this case, the punishment was given by granting their desire : they were to have flesh for a whole month, which, beginning to eat greedily and ravenously, a great number of them died, and were buried on the spot. The fifth was upon Miriam, who was smitten with leprosy, for bearing false witness against her brother Moses. It is said, concerning this, that " the Lord heard." ^ The sixth sin was that of the unfaithful spies : they went up in the second year of the wandering to see the land of Palestine, and in consequence of their search, dis- couraged the people. They brought back glorious grapes from it, but they said the men of the land were giants, and that they should not be able to go up against them. The Syrian vine is still famous for the size of its clusters. There is one of these vines in the grounds of the Duke of Portland, at Welbeck, near Worksop, from which a cluster of grapes was gathered, in 1819, weigh- ing nineteen pounds ; and intelligent travellers aver, that those who have only seen the vines in France and Italy, can have no just idea of the size to which the clusters attain in Syria. The evil part of their report was not (probably) in itself incorrect, that they had seen people of great stature ; for Moses verifies their statement in speaking of the " Ana- kim, great and tall," and of other old gigantic tribes, with a reference to the sons of Anak ; and in the prophecy of Amos it is said (Amos 2. 9), " yet destroyed I the Amo- rite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and who was strong as the oaks." Goliath, whom David slew, was a son of Anak ; his stature may be taken at about nine feet : but they forgot that He who had dried up the Red Sea before them, and had overcome the 26 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Egyptians with his mighty plagues, — if his pillar of cloud and fire had pointed them towards the high-walled cities of the tall Anakim, — would have given them vic- tory in Palestine also ; but as Moses afterwards says to them (Deut. 1. 32), *' In this thing ye did not believe the Lord your God." The most formidable conspiracy against the authority of Moses and Aaron took place at Kadesh, soon after the doom of forty years' wandering had been pronounced. They, or rather their sons, only returned to this Kadesh after a period of thirty-eight years, during which we know nothing minutely of their proceedings. All that has been related, the present conspiracy included, which makes the seventh occasion of their punishment, occurred during the first two years after their leaving Egypt. Moses says, (Deut. 2. 14), "And the space in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we were come over the brook of Zered, was thirty and eight years ; until all the genera- tion of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the Lord sware unto them." The brook Zered enters the Dead Sea near the southern end ; and when that was crossed, they had ended their long pilgrimage, and entered into a cultivated and settled country. The conspiracy at Kadesh (Num. 16) was very bold. It arose among the children of Keuben, the elder tribe, and the children of Levi, the priestly tribe. Their encampments were side by side, at the south of the Tabernacle, and they seem to have indulged an envious spirit against Moses and Aaron, until at length their chiefs gathered themselves together, and said to these two men ordained of God, " Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, and the Lord is among them." The Lord was among them, however, to punish this desire of power which did not belong to them, and the earth opened upon Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and as they and all they had went down into the pit, all Israel fled at the cry of them, while at the same time 250 per- THE DEATH OF AARON. 27 sons more were consumed by fire : and because at tliis the people murmured, a plague raged on the morrow among them^ by which 14,700 died, besides those that died the day before with Korah. Thus you see many lives were lost in the repeated re- bellions of the people. They had multiplied rapidly in Egypt, but they were about 2000 less in number when about to enter the Promised Land. The new generation, though for so many years trained and tried, murmured like their fathers for the want of water, on their return to Kadesh, where Miriam died and was buried ; and Moses does not seem to have been prepared to expect such con- duct from them^ but was more irritated than on any former occasion. Even he, as David tells us, spake unadvisedly with his lips, — and, striking the rock instead of speaking to it (must it not have been struck with the rod which blossomed, taken from before the Lord ?), said angrily, " Hear now, ye rebels ! Must we fetch you water out of this rock?" For this impatience, he and Aaron, who appears to have shared in his sin, which God Himself says was unbelief, — *' because ye believed me not, to sanctify me before the people," — even these two great leaders were not permitted to guide Israel into the Pro- mised Land. Aaron went up first into mount Hor to die, from whose craggy summits may be seen on one side the wilderness in which the people had wandered, and from the other the mountains of Palestine, on which, doubtless, Aaron cast his last look. The American traveller, Mr. Stephens, visited mount Hor, and thus describes it : " The mountain is bare and rugged to its very summit, without even a tree or a bush growing on its sterile sides." He says, " If I had never stood on the summit of Sinai, I should say, that nothing could exceed the desolation of the view from mount Hor, — the mighty natural pyramid, on the top of which the high-priest of Israel was buried." 28 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Amid his other duties ordained by God, Aaron had, doubtless, not neglected that of copying the Law, and reading it to the people. This was especially ordered to be done for eight days together, once in every seven years ; but we know that during the training of Israel in the wilderness, this was not all they heard or knew of the Law; for Moses says to them (Deut. 30. 11-14), " The commandment which is written in this book of the Law is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it ? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it ? But the word is very nigh to thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou may est do it." " In thy mouth" seems to signify, that they learned portions of it. The last lofty song of Moses, he ordered the Levites to write, and to teach to the children of Israel, — " Put it in their mouths^ that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel, that when many evils and troubles are befallen them, this song shall testify against them as a witness ; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed" (Deut. 31. 19, 21). If an Israelite was in doubt as to any ordinance or duty, he was to inquire of the priest, the Levite, who was also the judge, and would show him the sentence of judgment (Deut. 17. 9), as written by Moses. Any one of the people who was able, might write a copy of the Law for himself; but the Levites were in general the learned class among this pastoral people, and were not only to make, but to give away, correct copies of it ; and probably they went about from tent to tent (as the Scrip- ture-reader does now from house to house), to read the Law to each family. It is always assumed that the people *' knew it"; and in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses threw its precepts into a new form^ for the generation FIERY SERPENTS. 29 wliicli liad been born since the entrance to the wilder- ness. This book of Deuteronomy appears to have been writ- ten by Moses, in the plains of Moab, a short time before his death, 1451 B.C.: his death itself, as recorded in the 34th chapter, was probably added by his successor, Joshua ; and the last four verses of that chapter, which concern Joshua, were, it is most likely, written by Ezra, when he collected the books of the Old Testament together. A little before the repeating of the Law, Moses had held up to the suffering people the serpent of brass upon a pole, that every one who was bitten, when he looked upon it, might live (Num. 21. 9), — the type, as John tells us (John 3. 14, 15), of the lifting up of the Son of Man, " that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." That shore of the Red Sea, where the Israelites were bitten, is still remarkable for abounding in serpents, as indeed the wilderness does generally. In Deut. 8. 15, Moses calls it " a great and terrible wilder- ness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought"; yet we never hear of the people being bitten and killed by them till now. They had been marvellously protected from this, as from other dangers of the way ; and the protection was only now withdrawn, on account of their oft-repeated sin of murmuring. They had, however, nearly finished their course in the wilderness, and Avould not much longer murmur against their great leader, for he was about to ascend mount Nebo, and to die ! He who had so long brought the word of the Lord to Israel, was to be seen by them no more; and he left them, saying, " Secret things belong to God ; but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of the Law" (Deut. 29. 29). Yes 1 he left behind him the revealed and written will of God for that people, besides the wonderful book of Job. 30 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Do you tliink that the very roll that Moses left is come down to us ? — that would be impossible. That very roll is supposed to have perished at the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, B. C. 586 ; if so, it was treasured and in existence for eight centuries and a half. Moses commanded the Levites to put it in the side of the ark of the covenant, " for a witness against the people." The final covenant made with the people in the plains of Moab, with the last lofty song and eloquent prophecy, seems to have been written on a separate skin ; and Dr. Adam Clarke thinks there is every reason to believe that this was the portion lost and found in the reign of Josiah, 800 years after it was written. This was called an auto- graph copy^ which means the very one that Moses wrote. It had been lost in the reign of the wicked kings that went before Josiah, who was a reforming king ; and when he set himself to repair the House of the Lord his God, and brought hewn-stone and timber to repair the floors which the kings of Judah had destroyed, Hilkiah, the priest, found a book of the Law of the Lord by the hand of Moses, and gave it to the king (2 Chron. 34. 14). What he did with it, we must leave till a further period of the history, for we must go up with Moses into mount Nebo, where he died. Having ordered the elders of Israel, on the day that they should pass over Jordan, to set up great stones, and plaister them with plaister, and themselves to write upon them all the words of the Law, very plainly (Deut. 27. 2), he ascended the mount, the highest peak in the Abarim range, which joins the Dead Sea to mount Seir. No tra- veller seems to have ascended or given any description of it, except that it is a barren mountain, on whose sum- mit may be perceived a heap of stones overshadowed by a tall pistachio tree. He went up, as he had often done before, to be alone with God, but to return to men no more. If our Saviour Himself had not told us, that the greatest man born of THE DEATH OF MOSES. 31 woman was his own forerunner, John the Baptist, we should have given this meed to Moses, who, denying liis personal desire, died without any regret of his own — all his thoughts fixed, as they had ever been, on the welfare of his people. There was no thought of self — " only let Jehovah, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, that they be not as sheep which have no shepherd" — and then he was ready. Farewell, then, to Moses ascending mount Nebo — his eye not dim, nor his natural force abated, though he had borne the burden of 120 years. He had looked upon all Egypt's glory. He had seen a nation fall before him in the wilderness ; he had been made the means of giving God's revelation to earth ; and now he passed himself into the fuller revelations of heaven. He was not sinless ; he was not to be worshipped ; and lest he should have been (for never was human being so visibly endued with Divine power), God marked his only recorded sin with punishment, — the great punish- ment of not entering the Promised Land ; but that cir- cumstance was employed as a type, that the Lmo^ which he personified, cannot conduct us into the heavenly Canaan. Joshua, who took possession, is, as his name signifies, the type of Jesus, through whom only is ob- tained the "abundant entrance" "by grace and not by works." 32 CHAPTER III. ENTRANCE TO THE I-AND. — JOSHUA. THE CANAANITES. — JOSHUA's VICTORIES. EBAL AND GERIZIM. THE JUDGES. — THE SIX SER- VITUDES. THE TIMES OF THE KINGS. DAVID. — SOLOMON. — DIVI- SION OF THE KINGDOM. SHISHAK. THE PROPHETS, THEIR ROLLS. TABLE OF PROPHETS. THE LOST TEN TRIBES. THE LOST ROLL, THE BURNT ROLL. CAPTIVITY AND RETURN. EZRA's MINISTRY. REVIEW OF THE HISTORY AND PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE TALL OF ISRAEL, NINEVEH, JUDAH, TYRE, PETRA, THEBES, AND BABYLON. The historical books of Scripture, from Joshua to Esther, contain the history of the Jewish nation from their first settlement in the Promised Land to their return thither, after seventy years' captivity in Babylon, comprising a period of about a thousand years. Why is it that this chapter in your " Jubilee Book" must be mainly taken up v^ith the history of this nation alone, v^^hile other great nations existed at that time in the world ? Will not Sinai and the wilderness have •taught you to answer, " Because through this nation, and none other, came down to us during this thousand years the written revelation from God." We shall divide this thousand years into three periods. I. The period of Joshua and the Judges, of 355 years. II. The period of the Kings, comprising 507 years. III. The Babylonian captivity and return, till Ezra republishes the Law and the Prophets, comprising 150 years. THE ENTRANCE TO THE LAND. You know that this was marked by the same miracle as their coming up out of Egypt. They might have pro- THE ENTRANCE TO THE LAND. 33 ceeded towards tlie Promised Land without crossing the Red Sea at all ; and tliey might have crossed the Jordan where it was a brook, near its source ; but they were ordered to cross its full stream, and then its waters were heaped up, like those of the Red Sea, in order that the nations they were going to conquer might perceive their mission from God; and it is said, "neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel." The next event was the celebration of the passover — a new observance to most of the people, the generation who had been educated in the free, pure air of the wilderness, while their fathers were dying out for their unbelief. The passover had been observed only once in Egypt, and once again at Sinai, and this was its third celebration. On the next morning, the manna ceased to fall : the *' old corn" of the Promised Land supplied its place. To Joshua, the new leader of Israel and successor to Moses, God promised help, on these conditions : " As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee ; only observe to do according to all the Law which Moses my servant com- manded thee. This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth : thou shalt meditate therein day and night ; then shalt thou make thy way prosperous." Each of these two great leaders of Israel was the guardian and student of the written revelation. Eacl^ read it to the people, and caused them to act upon it. Joshua lived thirty-two years after taking them into the land ; and as he died at 110, he must have known for thirty-eight years what was the bondage of Egypt, and must have seen all, except Caleb, die around him in the wilderness : and he was now appointed as the conquer- ing general of the people with whom God had made a covenant to destroy every other league and covenant existing among the Canaanitish nations. Let us further examine who the Canaanites were. There was a race among these heathen people, called the Anakim, or the Rephaim. It is said they were a 34 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. great and haughty people, with cities fenced up to the skies (Deut. 9. 1, 2) ; and the spies had said, they made them feel " as grasshoppers." The Anakim settlements lay along the mountain range which extends through the land of Palestine ; and it seems that, from superior size and wisdom too, they were the masters of another race of people, called the Amorites, — a degraded nation, and very wicked, and whose " iniquity was full" at the time that Israel entered the land. The Kephaim had military outposts and fortresses in strong positions among the mountains. They had even a city, Kirjath-sepher, or the book-city, the city of letters, or of archives. Joshua conquered it, and probably did not think its records worth keeping, so they are all lost — not come down to us. We know nothing of these " tall" and "haughty" rulers of old time, but what is said of them in the Bible, and, strange to say, what is carved and written about them on the old Egyptian temple of Karnak. Yes! they are there, — these men of " Onk" or Anak. They are supposed to have been the shepherd-kings who once conquered Egypt; and in the reign of Kameses III., Egypt conquered them in their own land. She never re- cords her own defeats, but she has described her conquests over the Kephaim as ranging through three centuries. Even in the early days of these Kephaim, Shalem (the same as Jerusalem) was the metropolis of Palestine ; whence came Melchisedek to meet Abraham after his defence of Lot (see Gen. 14). As, therefore, Melchisedek is said to be the priest of the Most High God, it might be concluded that these sons of Anak once held the true religion, like the ancient Arabians. In the time of Joshua, they still maintained their supremacy ; but it was then the supremacy of force. The Philistines were one of their branches, occupying the southern sea-side of the land. Another of their ancient cities, named on Karnak, was EBAL AND GERIZIM. 35 Hebron or Arba, wbere Abraham lived, died, and was buried. This city " was built seven years before Zoan, in Egypt" (Num. 13. 22).* The victories of Joshua comprise three distinct series of events. First, his campaign against the Amorite league, in which he swept round the mountain of Judah, returning by Hebron to Gilgal. Secondly, the campaign against the northern Canaanites, — "Joshua made war a long time with all those kings" (Josh. 11. 18). Finally, the general statements of particular expeditions against those tall Anakim, till destroyed in their cities and their forts, — " there were none of the Anakim left in all the land of the children of Israel," only the Philistines in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod ; and then Joshua took the whole land and gave it for an inheritance unto Israel by their tribes (Josh. 11. 22). Balaam the son of Beor had been slain in this war (Josh. 13. 22) : you can read the history of Balaam looking down upon Israel from the mountains of Moab, and obliged to bless them in spite of himself(Num. 22. 23, 24). Although Moses had never seen the Promised Land, he had chosen by inspiration the most fitting site for the fresh promulgation of the Law to the people, seven years after they passed the Jordan, on the blasted Ebal, and the fair and fertile Gerizim. The ark, attended by the priests, remained in the valley by which the twin mounts are separated. Up each side of either mountain stood the thousands of Israel, the chiefs, the judges, the Levites, the women, the children, and the stranger, — six tribes pronouncing the curses from the barren Ebal, — six uttering the blessings from the pleasant Gerizim ; and as each clause of curse and blessing was pronounced, there rose, with one vast voice rushing from the living hills, the "Amen" of the consenting multitude (Josh. 8. 33). * This is one of the many notices of facts, in the history of the old world, which are to be met with incidentally in the books of Moses. 36 THE BOOK AND ITS STOEY. When Joshua "went the way of all the earth," as he himself says, Israel was no more governed by one leader. He left the state on its proper and fixed foundations, with the Lord at its head as its Divine King abiding among them in his tabernacle, which had now been set up at Shiloh, twenty-five miles north of Jerusalem, and it con- tinued in this city for 450 years. THE JUDGES. From the time of Joshua to that of Eli and Samuel, comprises a period of 355 years, and this was called the times of the judges or elders of Israel. This body had been in existence from the time the people were in bondage, in Egypt (see Exod. 3. 16). Six were chosen from each tribe, making seventy- two senators ; and on these fell the government of the chief cities and towns. In the wilderness, these elders had sometimes prophesied (Num. 11. 25), and they were the expounders of the Law of Moses. The book of Judges forms the eighth book of Holy Scripture, reckoning Job as so early written. Its chapters chiefly record the instances in which Israel forsook the Divine Law, and were in consequence punished. When, by marrying heathen wives, they were led into idolatry, the Lord withdrew his protection from them, and they were oppressed by some neighbouring state, more or less severely, until they were humbled, and implored the mercy of their own ofiended King ; and then He heard them, raising them up time after time deliverers, such as Ehud, Barak, Gideon, Jephtha, and Samson, when the foreign yoke was broken from their necks for awhile, until, sinning again, they were again and again punished, — but it was always for the forsaking of the Law of the Lord. The book of Judges, however, gives no minute records of the periods when they did not break the Law, and THE SIX SEEVITUDES. 37 wlien tlie land enjoyed peace and safety : these periods are often passed over in a single verse. Dr. Graves, who has examined this subject, observes; that out of the 450 years under the judges, there were not less than 377 years during which the authority of the Law of Moses was acknowledged in Israel ; — a beautiful picture of which times of peace is to be found in the book of Ruth. The Jewish writers tell us, that in these good times the Levites went much about the country as teachers of the Law. Education among the Hebrews chiefly con- sisted in being taught to read the Law, and listening to those who could expound it. The priests were to offer sacrifices for sin, and not to teach : the Levites were to assist the priests in some por- tions of their duty, but were to teach and not to sacrifice. It appears that the Israelites endured six successive periods of servitude during the times of the judges : 1st, under the King of Mesopotamia, 8 years. 2nd, under the Moabites . . .18 years. 3rd, under the Canaanites . . 20 years. 4th, under the Midianites . . 7 years. 5th, under the Ammonites . 18 years. 6th, under the Philistines . . 40 years. During the twenty succeeding years, the people, though not under a foreign yoke, were perhaps under a worse bondage than any before, — " every man doing that which was right in his own eyes." THE TIMES OF THE KINGS. After their last deliverance by the Prophet Samuel, who ruled over the nation for twenty peaceful years, and *' caused them once more to serve the Lord only," the chief men of the nation, not wishing Samuel's sons to succeed him, "who walked not in his ways," demanded a king. 38 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Three kings in succession were given to them, who each reigned 40 years — Saul. David. Solomon. We have not space to enter into the details of their several reigns, but must remark, in passing, the portions of which the two latter added to the books of Scripture. It is believed that the Prophet Samuel compiled the books of Judges and of Kuth, and commenced the first book of Samuel, the latter part of which and the second book were written by succeeding prophets, probably Nathan and Gad. The books of Kings and Chronicles were compiled from the national records by various prophets and scribes, and were, it is most likely, completed by Ezra, when he collected them together, 500 years afterwards. King David wrote most of the Psalms, and King Solomon most of the Proverbs, with the books of the Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes. Before Moses bade farewell to the people in the wilder- ness, he had foreseen that they would desire a king at some future day, and had thus provided that he should be an enlightened king. When he sat upon his throne, he was to write him a copy of the Law in a book, out of that which is before the priests, the Levites. He was to do this for himself, and he was to read in it all the days of his life. It would scarcely seem that Saul kept this law, but King David did ; and. Oh how he loved it ! Who does not cherish the memory of David the poet- king, — "the man after God's own heart"? Inspired alike as prophet and historian, he summed up the history of his wonderful people in many a noble psalm that has commanded the world's sympathies for 3000 years. Some of his songs were composed for the Jewish festivals, the passover, the feast of tabernacles, etc. Some are war-songs, some songs of thanksgiving. We can find an appropriate psalm for almost every possible state THE DIVISION OF THE KINGDOM. 39 of mind and feeling ; but, after all, wliat is there so beautiful as the longest psalm, the 119th — the Bible Psalm — in which everyone of the 176 verses speaks with love and joy of the word of God ! That is David's contribution to this jubilee year ; and, if he were living on the earth now, would he not chant it to his own harp most gloriously ? Have you noticed that every verse, under the different names of testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, ordinances, judgments, law, refers to the Bible? — and , David's Bible comprised only the five books of Moses,;, Job, Joshua, Judges, and Euth, and the history of Israel \ by Samuel, to which, it may be, the king added some of ' his own Psalms. There is no time to dwell on the reigns of David and Solomon, or to picture to ourselves the high and palmy state of Judea for those eighty years. Gold was not then used as coin, but most profusely for ornament. When Solomon built the Temple, which was to stand in the stead of the Tabernacle, the gold consumed in overlaying its inside would make three millions of our money. This\ temple is supposed to have been built upon the very spot] where Abraham had offered Isaac ; and when Solomon and all his people were assembled for the first time to dedicate it to Jehovah, while the Levites in pure white robes lifted up their voice with the trumpets and the cymbals, then the house was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the House of the Lord. Thus was God visibly present among this favoured people. THE DIVISION or THE KINGDOM. This took place under Kehoboam, the son of Solomon, who at first reigned righteously, but afterwards fell into idolatry, and Jerusalem with him. Jerusalem was taken and spoiled by Shishak king of Egypt ; and here again 40 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. we must turn to the great old books of stone in the temple of Karnak, first reading 2 Chron. 12, and 1 Kings 14. 25, — narratives which, though they would need no testimony from the heathen to their truth, are yet sur- prisingly confirmed by the following sculptures. You have the privelege to live in an age, when, if you hear any one doubting the truth of the Bible, you must ask them if they have read or heard of God's great stone hooks ^ which are unanswerable, and which He has laid up in their dead languages for so many centuries, and is now per- mitting to be understood even by children. In the year 1828, the French stu- dent, Champollion, on his passage down the Nile, landed at Kamak and pointed out the accompanying figure, one of sixty-three prisoners presented to Sheshonk by his god Amunra. I ' I ¥ The turreted oval enclosing the ^~^ ■ ^ name means that it is a walled city. Shishak is depicted as a gigantic figure holding a captive by the hair of the head, with one hand, which he is going to strike off with the other: there are five rows of such captives as these, with features evi- dently Jewish. J U D A H M E L E K Kah. King of the Country or Judah. Our space forbids our even giving you a list of the names of the kings of the two kingdoms which, from THE PROPHETS. 41 Rehoboam's time, were set up among the Israelites, during the next hundred years after the conquest by Shishak. We must merely observe, that this national division proved a most disastrous event for them, and pass on to what chiefly concerns us, — to the class of persons who further added to the inspired books, for we must examine their character, and the nature of their teaching. THE PROPHETS. The prophets were messengers sent of God, and in- spired to declare his will to this nation, who foretold events long before they came to pass. Enoch, Noah, Jacob, and Moses, had delivered many prophecies. After the times of the judges, young men were especially trained as prophets, in schools ; and from this class, generally, but not always, did the Holy Spirit select those few, who were to be miraculously inspired. These were also called Seers, or men of God. This inspiration was a wonderful thing. The men to whom it was vouchsafed felt it come upon them as a power which they could not withstand. It took posses- sion of them, filled them, excited them, bore them along, taught them, enabled them to speak words which they could not have done at any other time. "The Spirit of God," it is said, " was upon them," and their spirits felt like a vessel impelled before the wind. This was the inspiration vouchsafed to the higher class of prophets, as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and also to those who were called the minor prophets, because they uttered short though great prophecies. The scribes wrote all these latter together on one roll, lest any of them should be lost. But prophets, in general, during the times of the kings, were the philosophers, divines, and guides of the nation. They stood as the bulwarks of reHgion against the im- piety of princes ; and although highly esteemed by the 42 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. pious kings, tliey were very poor men, and greatly exposed to persecution. They generally lived in some retired country place, and spent tlieir time in prayer, study, and manual labour. Elisha quitted his plough, when Elijah called him to be a prophet. Amos was a herdsman, and a gatherer of sycamore-fruit (Amos 7. 14). The sons of the prophets built their own dweUings, for which they cut down the timber (2 Kings 6. 1). They were dressed very singularly : Elijah was clothed with skins, and wore a leather girdle : Isaiah wore sack- cloth. Their habits were simple, and their food plain. The predictions of the earliest prophets are inserted in the historical books, together with their fulfilment ; such as those of Elijah, Elisha, Jehu, and Micaiah. But Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, were directed to /write their prophecies in a roll, as well as to utter them f in some public place, where all might hear. The roll ( was in many cases affixed to the gate of the temple, where all might read it ; and they often accompanied their message by some significant action on their own part. Jeremiah made a yoke and put it on his neck, to foretel the captivity at Babylon. Isaiah walked barefoot, and stripped off his rough prophet's garment, to show what was coming on Egypt. When the prophecy was not to be fulfilled for ages, they were commanded to seal it up, " it being requisite that the originals," says Mr. Home, " should be compared with the event when it occurred." It seems to have been a cus- tom for the prophets to de- posit their writings in the temple, and lay them up be- fore the Lord. There is a THE LOST TEN TEIBES. 43 belief among the Jews tliat all the sacred books were placed in the side of the ark. On the preceding page we have given you a picture of the cases in which written rolls were generally kept in this age, and long after it. The Paragraph Bible pubhshed by the Tract Society will now supply us with a table (see page 44) of the reigns of the kings, in which the sixteen prophets who wrote the separate books of Holy Scripture lived and wrote. The thick black lines present at once to the eye the length of the prophet's life. Before reading each prophecy, you should read the reign of the king in which it was delivered, given in the references at the bottom of the page. The idolatrous kings were always punished for the forsaking of the Law : those who observed the Law were prospered. The kingdom rose or fell according to that rule ; and this renders the history of the Jewish people especially interesting and instructive. The following table shows you at a glance that the< kingdom of Israel, comprising ten of the tribes, came toj an end 194 years before the kingdom of Judah. The exceeding wickedness of Israel caused God to send them into captivity among the Assyrians, B.C. 730. They are spoken of as' the lost ten tribes; and thus was Hosea's prophecy fulfilled, — " they shall be called Lo-ammi^ that is, not my people." But it is certain that God knows where their descendants are, and in his own time will recover the lost, and re-unite them with Judah, under one Head, even Christ (see Ezek. 37. 21-28). The portion of Palestine inhabited by the ten tribes was called Samaria ; the King of Assyria re-peopled this dis- trict from Babylon, Cuth, Ava, etc., and these people, joined with the remnant of the Israelites, were called Samaritans. We hear of them in the time of our Lord, and that " the Jews had no dealings with them." They had asked to be allowed to assist in the re-building of the temple after the captivity, and, on being refused, became inveterate enemies to the work, and built a temple of TABULAR VIEW OF THE PROPHETS, SHOWING THE PEEIODS DFEING WHICH IT IS SUPPOSED THEIE PEOPHECIES WEEE DELIVEEED. Kings op JUDAH. B. C. » < •< H 4 1^ i 1-5 i •< < n < 5 n 1-9 S i. M < < 2 .1^ < K 1 1 Kings of ISRA£I. a Amaziah, 839 0 Jeroboam 11. b25 6 Uzziah, 810 1- 1 1 Interregnum, pMenahem,772 q Pekabiah, 761 e Jotham, 758 ■- — — -- — — - rPekah, 759 d Ahaz, 742 Anarchy, 739 e Hezekiah, 727 s Hoshea, 730 - — — — — — K -5 2. 1 1 i i! * Malachi. between 436 and 420. - i/Manasseh.698 r g Amon, 643 810 h Josiah, 641 .- — «■ Jehoahaz, 610 - — — — — — — — — ~ - ft Jehoiakim, 610 {Jeconiah,599 ~ m Dcst. of Je- rusalem, 588 ■ 1 nZerubbabel,536 ' 1 1 * The date after each king's name indicates the commencement of his reign Joel is placed twice, as it ia doubtful at which period he lived. a 2 Kl. 14 ; 2 Ch. 25. f 2 Ki. 21. 19 ; 2 Ch. 33. 21. n Ezra 3. 4, 5. A 2 Ki. 22. 1 ; 2 Ch. 34. 1. 0 2 Ki. 14. 28 ; 2 Ch. 13. 6. 6 2 Ki. 14. 21 ; 2 Ch. 26. 1, e 2 Kl. 15. 32 ; 2 Ch. 27. d 2 Ki. 16. I ; 2 Ch. 28. e 2 Ki. 18. 19 ; 2 Ch. 29 ; Is. 36, 37, 38, /2KL20. 1; 2 Cb 33. »■ 2 Ki. 23. 31. ft 2 Ki. 23. 36 ; 9 Ch. 36. 5. I 2 Ki. 24. 8 ; 2 Ch. 36. 9. r» 2 Ki. 25 J 2 Ch. 36. 17. p 2 Ki. 15. 14. q 2 Ki. 15. 22. r 2 Ki. 15. 25. « 2 Ki. 17. I. THE LOST TEN TKIBES. 45 tKeir own, upon mount Gerizim. Jesus himself " abode among this people for two days," after conversing with the woman of Samaria ; " and many believed, because of his own word" (John 4. 40, 41). The persecution of the Emperor Justinian almost extinguished the community of Samaritan Jews ; but yet, in the sixteenth century, a remnant of them were discovered in the neighbourhood of tl^eir holy mount, Gerizim, who still possessed the Law / in the Old Hebrew character (for they never adopted the 1 Chaldee), and this manuscript is called the Samaritanj Pentateuch. Learned men consider it a most valuable relic of antiquity. It had been lost sight of for 1000 years. It is now printed in the " London Polyglot," by Bishop Walton. These Samaritans exist to this day; they are very few in number ; they assert their descent from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, and say that their dialect is the true and original Hebrew in which the Law was given. The Jews do not acknowledge them, and contemp- tuously call them " alien colonists"; but, if so, it is very extraordinary that they possess this manuscript, which corresponds almost word for word with the Hebrew text. One of the copies may be seen in the British Museum. The missionary, Fisk, says, the Samaritans have also copies of the books of Joshua and Judges, in separate volumes. Before we pass on to the time of Ezra, it is essential to the Story of the Book that we refer to two or more of the kings of Judah, one of whom, Josiah, found a part of the word of God, when it was lost, and another, Jehoia- kim, dared to burn a part of it, in defiance of God and, his prophet, Jeremiah. The history of the lost roll may be found in 2 Kings 22 and 23. Josiah and Cyrus are the only two persons in Scripture prophesied of by name, long before their birth. You will find the prophecy concerning Josiah in 1 Kincrs 13. 2, and its literal fulfilment in 2 Chron. 34. 5, 46 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. When he found the roll, he honoured it, and caused- the people to " stand to it," as for thirteen years after- wards they did. With Josiah ended the peace, the pros- perity, and the piety of Judah ; and the history of that kingdom closes with— THE BURNT ROLL, ' ' . burnt in the reign of Jehoiakim, which lasted eleven evil years. He was the first •person who dared to destroy any part of the written word of God, and he might therefore well be Judah's last king. The reverence of the Jews in general for their Divine writings was so great, that if, in copying the manuscripts, they made a single error, they would reject the material thus spoiled, and have begun all again. They never permitted themselves to. retouch or erase ; and in coming to the name Jehovah^) they always wiped their pens and refilled them. When the manuscripts became at all old or injured, they reve4^ rently buried them in graves ; and this is the reason why\ there are not in existence any very old Hebrew manu-\ scripts of the Scriptures — none earlier than A.D. 1200. -^ Jehoiakim felt none of this reverence. He daringly sent his page, Jehudi, to fetch the roll of the prophecy which he heard Jeremiah had written against him, from the scribe's chamber in the temple, and then he also told Jehudi to read it to him. Jehudi, however, had read but three or four columns, when the king, who sat in his winter house with a fire burning before him, snatching it from the reader, cut it with a penknife, and cast it into the fire.* Two or three of the princes around begged him not to burn it, but he would not hear them. He was then about to seize the writers, Jeremiah and Baruch, but it is said, " the Lord hid them." For this crime it was decreed by God that Jehoiakim * See Jeremiah 36. 23. V THE CAPTIVITY AND EETURN. 47 should have none to sit upon the throne of Judah, and that his dead body should be cast out in the day to the hea^t,iand in the night to the frost, which was literally fulfilled, as recorded by Josephus in the eighth chapter of his tenth book, — " the body of the king was thrown into the fields without the walls of the city"; " his burial was as the burial of an ass, beyond the gates of Jerusalem": and then all the wealth of the city, its princes, its mighty men, and many thousands of captives, were carried away into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, for seventy years, to Babylon. THE CAPTIVITY AND RETURN. We know, from what is said of Daniel and Ezekiel, that, in the days of their exile, the people were not with- out their Scriptures. By the rivers of Babylon they sat down and wept ; they wept when they remembered Zion. It has been the constant tradition of the Jewish Church, that Ezra, the great reformer, with the assistance of the members of the great synagogue, amongst whom were the Prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, collected as many copies as possible of the sacred writings, and from them set forth the canon of the Old Testament. Ezra's own book, with that of Nehemiah and Malachi, was added 128 years afterwards, by Simon the Just, who was the last of that synagogue. He died B.C. 292. On the return of the people from captivity, and after they had rebuilt their temple, they having forgotten the Law, it was re-delivered to them by Ezra, of whom the Jews always speak as of a second Moses; and they say that he lived like Moses for 120 years. This forgetting of the Law, on the part of the people, argues that the copies of it had been very scarce, and that it had not been publicly read to them all the while they were in fabylon ; and yet, even there, Daniel, who wrote in kings' courts, and Ezekiel, on the river Chebar, in solitude, at thirty miles' distance from the city, had 48 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. been inspired to add to tlie sacred writings two of the most wonderful of the prophetical books — bearing their own names. At the appointed time, King Cyrus, having conquered Babylon, and being made to see, by Daniel, the pro- phecies that God had uttered concerning him, in the days of Hezekiah, as the deliverer of the Jews (Isaiah 44. 8), issued an edict, permitting them to return to Jerusalem. You must seek the history of their return in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Only the ''remnant" of the nation returned ; many, it seems, preferred staying in Babylon ; vast numbers went to Egypt. A hundred thousand earnest men (perhaps scarcely so many, for Ezra speaks of the return only as " giving us a nail in the holy place") sought once more the land of their fathers. The journey occupied four months, and was accomplished in two bodies, or caravans. They still suffered great distress on their arrival, and did not for twenty years begin to rebuild their temple ; and when it was completed, the elder Jews, who had seen the holy and beautiful house of Solomon, wept over this second temple in comparison with it, for, alas, in this temple four things were wanting ! There was no ark, — no sacred fire on the altar, — no Urim and Thummim, — no Shekinah, or cloud of glory, between the cherubim. Still they rejoiced in the re-establishment of the passover and the temple service ; and under Nehemiah the city walls were rebuilt on the old foundations. The republishing of the Law, by Ezra, did not take place till eighty years after the return of the first caravan of pilgrims from Babylon. We must try and realize the marked features of — EZRA'S MINISTRY. Upwards of 50,000 of the people were assembled in Jerusalem, in the square of the water-gate, as many as EZRA'S MINISTRY. 49 were assembled in Trafalgar-square, in London, at tlie funeral of tlie late Duke of Wellington. A surging sea of human faces is always a grand sight. On the day that Ezra preached, and it was early in the morning of the Jewish Sabbath, 50,000 faces were up- turned towards the pulpit of wood on which he stood, surrounded by thirteen more preachers on a platform or gallery, six on one side of him, and seven on the other. Thirteen other teachers seem to have been present on another platform, to read by turns, so that all the people might be addressed. When Ezra ascended the pulpit and opened the roll of the Law, the whole congregation stood up : then he offered prayer and praise to God, the people bowing their heads and worshipping, with their faces to the ground ; and at the close of the prayer with uplifted hands they said, "Amen." Then, all still standing, Ezra, assisted sometimes by the Levites, read the Law distinctly, gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading, — a model of what preaching still should be. The Law, as delivered by Ezra, so affected the hearers, that they wept exceedingly, and about noon Ezra and Nehemiah thought fit to restrain it. From the great ex- citement they evinced, it would seem that the reading of their Scriptures, in the language they understood (Chaldee), was a new thing to them. In the temple ser- vice, it had no doubt been read in the sacred language (Hebrew). On the second day the reading was resumed, they were again instructed in the Law, and they then appear to have arrived at the 31st chapter of Deuteronomy, when Moses commanded the keeping of the feast of Tabernacles, which they immediately prepared to obey. They gathered as of old, branches of palm-trees and willows of the brook, the pine, the myrtle, and the foliage of the mount of Olives, to make booths, and there was very great gladness. 50 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Under tKe shadow of tliese booths, for the space of seven days, they remembered all tlie toils of the wilderness ; and day by day Ezra read to them in the books of the Law of God : probably in all the books, — for the Old Testament was now complete, with the exception of the history of the current times. Doubtless the history of the nation was read ; and they were made to review God's dealings with them : very likely the psalms were sung re- lating to the events which David and others had cele- brated ; and we cannot but believe that Ezra also pointed to the prophets, and showed the people how minutely many of the words spoken by them had been fulfilled. They knew that the revelation was supported by the great pillars of miracle and prophecy ; and at this era, the common people under Ezra's teaching must have been taught to feel the strength of both. They stood in the midst of a circle of doomed countries, on all of which the threats of their sacred writings had been fulfilled, as well as most bitterly upon themselves. Nineveh, Tyre, Petra, Thebes, and Babylon,* as well as Jerusalem, had all been desolated v/ithin a space of forty years, chiefly by Nebuchadnezzar, the Chaldean king, called by Jeremiah " the hammer of the whole earth" (Jer. 50. 23). Judgment had begun at the House of God, as it always does ; and the divided kingdom of Israel had, as we have seen, fallen by the hand of the kings of Nineveh, 730 B.C. Hosea was the prophet who had especially foretold their troubles. If you look back to the table,! you will see that he lived during the reigns of several of the last wicked kings of Israel. The ten tribes were in his time frightfully corrupt ; the kings were murderers ; the very priests were idolaters. When you have read Hosea's prophecy, you can refer to its fulfilment, in the 17th chap- ter of 2 Kings. Before the carrying away of the nation * You should look for these on a map. t i^ee page 44. NINEVEH. 51 into Assyria, they had endured the deep miseries of a seven years' famine, when a woman slew and boiled her own son for food, as Moses had foretold (Deut. 28. 53). The kingdom of Israel existed 254 years distinct from; Judah, under nineteen kings, all of whom were wicked ' men, — the instruments of its punishment. Assyria, whose ' capital was Nineveh, was called by Isaiah " the rod of God's anger" (Isaiah 10. 5). Nineveh had long been an enemy to the Jewish nation. The kingdom of Assyria was as old a&that of Egypt. Noah himself may have seen its rise. His grandson Asshur went out of the land of Shinar, and builded Nineveh (Gen. 10. 11) ; and for 1300 years it had endured in power and glory, during all the periods of the Jewish history through which we have just Tenor eleven years ago, we knew a little about Nineveh, the gods she worshipped, the kings who ruled over her, her wealth and her wickedness, and more especially that she once repented for awhile at the preaching of a Jewish prophet, very rarely sent to a heathen city. We knew that the river Tigris flowed sluggishly along through the waste plains where the city once stood with all its palaces, that nothing was to be seen but desolate mounds, where great feasts had been held by conquering kings for 120 days together, that the mighty walls with their 1500 towers, and the vast multitude with their 120,000 little children, were all gone down into the grave of 3000 years. We had found much about Nineveh in the Jewish prophecies. Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Nahum, had foretold her ruin, and Diodorus, a Greek historian, had told us of the funeral pile of its King Sardanapalus in his own palace, when, heaping his gold and silver, garments and jewels, himself and his wives, on a great pile of wood (that he might not fall into the hands of his enemies), he con- sumed himself, his treasures, and his palace. We, who believed the Bible, had no doubt of all this in our childhood, but we had no idea that in this part of the earth, also, God had laid up a great stone library for you 52 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. of this generation to read, and to be convinced that the Book and its volumes agree : for Nineveh has been dis- entombed since you were born. Over its ruins, the sands of the desert had heaped themselves for ages, in which the Arabs had built villages, and made graves for generation after generation ; for had not God said to it, by Nahum, " Thou shalt be hid" (Nahum 3. 11) ; "I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and will make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing - stock " (Nahum 3. 6.) In the year 1842, a learned Frenchman and a wander- ing English scholar, Mons. Botta and Mr. Layard, sought the seat of this once powerful empire, and searched till they found the dead city. They threw off its shroud of sand and ruin, and revealed to an astonished and curious world the temples, the palaces, and the idols of that Nineveh of Scripture, in which the captive tribes of Israel had laboured and wept, — the twin-sister of Babylon, who was like a " cedar in Lebanon," and who made all the nations to shake at the sound of its fall. We are now able to realize this fall, with something of the same minute- ness with which Ezra could have depicted it to the Jews who had returned from the captivity ; and we dwell longer on the ruin of this heathen power than any other, because, through its means, we can show you what were the idolatries after which the nation of Israel went, and which were the cause of their rejection and their ruin. If you visit London or Paris, you may look with your own eyes on the vast stony forms which have come up from their long and solemn sleep in the depths of the earth, such as those in the national museums. The eyes of the Prophet Ezekiel may have looked upon those very sculptures. They were a kind of heathen cherubim. The eastern nations had derived their idea of them from the traditions concerning the cherubim at the gate of Eden, uniting in one the noblest forms of their kind, — the lion among wild beasts, the bull among tame ones, the eagle among the birds, and man as the lord of all. NINEVEH. 53 Winged Bull. Every day as Mr. Layard broke further into the earth, he found fresh wonders, which he has forwarded to the Museum ; and he has written two very interesting books to explain them. He found that these colossal forms "were placed at the entrance of the palace-temple, whose steps came down to the river's brink ; that every room in the palaces had been coated with slabs, on which were carved histories, not in words, but in figures standing out from the stone, called bas-reliefs ; and though some of these crumbled to powder as they were being dug out, because they had been calcined with fire, according to the pro- phecy of Nahum, — " then shall the fire devour thee," — still a great many slabs have been sent home to the Museum, where a beautiful hall has been prepared to re- ceive them ; and now we can walk among its long, light galleries, and read the story of Nineveh all in stone, dug up by the Arabs of the desert. There is some curious writing upon those vast bulls, all in arrow-headed character, and you cannot read it. Seve- ral learned men, however, have begun to do so ; and Mr. Layard tells us, that they have decyphered a complete history of the reign and character of Sennacherib, allusion to whom is made in the Bible, at 2 Kings 18. 13. There 54 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. is an kwful strangeness in being thus, as it were, brouglit face to face with the solemn antiquities of the Bible, and with our own earliest sacred recollections. Arrow-headed Character. [Translation.] ^ 'I Sennacherib, the mighty Icing, king of the country of Assyria, sitting on the throne of judgment, before (or at the entrance of) the city of Lachish (l^achisha), I give permission for its slaughter." Obelisk. JEEUSALEM. 55 A certain old obelisk, found also at Nineveh, is now in the British Museum : upon it are recorded, according to Major Rawlinson, the names of Jehu and Hazael, both known to you in Scripture. Many other names of kings, idols, countries, and cities, mentioned in the Old Testa- ment, occur in the Assyrian tablets, on which also are depicted continually images of the god Nisroch, the god of Sardanapalus, the hawk- headed deity. And when the Jews had had read to them the Prophet Nahum, when it was read in Hebrew and translated into Chaldee, they well knew how the prophet's words had been fulfilled. The cormorant and the bittern lodged in the upper lintels of the palaces of that rejoicing Nisroch. city, that had said in her heart, " I am, and there is none beside me"; God had uncovered the cedar- work (Zeph. 2. 14, 15). As we hope you will take time to refer to the chief prophecies which concern Assyria and Nineveh, we have given you a list of them : 4 Isaiah ch. 10. 15 - 19 ; ch. 31. Ezek. ch. 31. 3-17. The book of ^NTahum. Zeph. ch. 2. 13-15. The city of Nineveh had fallen 611 B.C., nearly 200 years before Ezra's re-publication of the Scriptures. It was 600 miles from Jerusalem. JEEUSALEM. Having looked on the destruction of Nineveh, the 56 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. sorrowful gaze of Judali must again have been turned upon herself^ — for she was the next who fell under the power of Nebuchadnezzar. Her idolatry had provoked the God of her fathers to jealousy, till He would bear with her no more. She had worshipped, after the manner of Eg3rpt, creep- ing things and abominable beasts (Ezek. 8), even close to the sanctuary of God, therefore He at last had dealt with her in fury; and Ezekiel (ch. 10. 8) had seen Him depart from off the threshold of the house on the cherubim's wings, " scattering coals of fire" over the devoted city, as he went to return no more in glory, in that dispen- sation. It was for her IDOLATRY that Judah lost her land. She rejected God, and his word ; and since the days of Jehoiakim, she has never possessed it, except as the servant of some foreign power. She held it under the Babylonians, the Persians, the Grecians, and the Eomans, — Daniel's " four beasts"; and now under the Roman power, in its papal form (the so-called " holy shrines" being scattered over all her mountains), Jerusalem still abides till the times be fulfilled, when, returning j^rs^ to that Moses and the prophets (Mai. 4. 4) whom her king then cast aside, she shall forswear the vain traditions with which she has overlaid the Law, and go up once more to build the old wastes, and repair the desolations of many generations ; and there, ^^ at Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and suppli- cation being poured upon her," as Zechariah tells us, at chapter 12. 10, " she shall look upon Him whom she hath pierced, and mourn"; and, as Malachi said, "all nations shall call her blessed in her delightsome land" (Mai. 3. 12). The prophecies, foretelling the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, will be found in — Isaiah chap. 3. Jer. chap. 27. Jer. chap. 25. 9 - 12. Ezek. chap. 12. r TYRE. — PETRA. 57 TYRE. We must now pass for a moment to Tyre, tlie city on the rock, overlooking tlie sea, — tke noblest colony of tlie sons of Anak, reposing beneatli the shadow of mount Lebanon. Four years after Nebuchadnezzar had been used to chastise the Jews, he was employed in punishing the sins of Tyre. Tyre, the merchant-city, was to the old world what London now is to the new. Her glory is described in the 27th chapter of Ezekiel : her fall is prophesied in the 28th. Of Nebuchadnezzar's army, during the siege, it is said, that by the toils of thirteen years before its walls, every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled, — a result arising from wearing their armour so long, and carrying burdens to build the high terraces from which they made their attack. Seldom has the deep gathered such a harvest to its treasures as when Tyre fell in the midst of its waters. Its ruined pillars of red and white marble lie scattered along the shore. Perhaps some day, another Mr. Layard may bring to light the ancient Tyre. For the prophecies of the destruction of Tyre see — Isaiah chap. 23. Ezek. chapters 26, 27, and 28. Tyre yielded to Nebuchadnezzar, B.C. 571, nineteen years after the prophecies against it. Like all the heathen cities. Tyre was wicked and proud. She had said, " I am perfect in beauty," and her heart was lifted up because of her beauty. There is a small book published by " The Tract Society," entitled, " Tyre ; its Eise, Glory, and Desolation," which contains a jich store of information, especially designed for young persons, and to which we must refer them. PETRA. This city is the Bozrah of the Bible, and was the southern capital of Edom. 58 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Wlien Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, tlie Edom- ites were almost as numerous as the Jews. Moses tells us (Gen. 36. 1), that Esau is Edom. Esau had hated Jacob, and their children were always at enmity. The Edomites had united with Nebuchadnezzar to besiege Jerusalem, and urged him to raze it even with the ground (Psalm 137. 7). The prophecies against Edom are very many, and are a continuation of God's wrath upon Amalek, which became the ascendant race and general name for all the children of Esau.* These prophecies are dis- tinct from those against Ishmael, whose children are spo- ken of as the tribes of Kedar and Nebaioth. On Esau, or Edom, the judgments pronounced are by far the most severe, and on his city, Petra, they were chiefly poured. Spoiler after spoiler ruined it. The people worshipped the sun and moon, and made their houses, palaces, and temples in the rocks and sides of the mountains which surround the valley in which Petra is situated. This wondrous city, with its rock-hewn pillars and statues of exquisite beauty, once the halting-place and mart of all the caravans of the wilderness, fell under the dominion of Jews, Greeks, Romans, and Arabs, till it became what it now is, — " an utter desolation," " none passing through it for ever." For 1200 years its very existence was un- known : it is approached only through a narrow defile of rocks, two miles in length, through which but two horse- men can ride abreast, under festoons of climbing plants and trees. At the end of the defile, Petra, the dead city, bursts upon you, silent and beautiful in its desert tomb. For the prophecies against Edom see — Jer. chap. 27. 3-11 ; chap: 49. 7-22. Joel, chap. 3. 19. Ezek. chap. 25. 12-14 ; chap. 32. 29. Obad. chap. 1. 8, 9. And that all these things were fulfilled before the time of Malachi, we know from Mai. 1. 2, 3. * Forster's " Geography of Arabia." EGYPT. — BABYLON. 59 EGYPT. In reflecting on the words of tlieir prophets, the Israel- ites would also turn to Egypt. This ancient kingdom, also, was intensely proud. Her king, Pharaoh Hophra, says Herodotus, " had boasted that it was not even in the power of God to dethrone him " ; and Ezekiel compared him to a great dragon lying in the midst of his streams, and saying, " My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself" (Ezek. 29. 3). Nebuchadnezzar caused him to be strangled in his own palace. He made dreadful havoc in the dominions of the Pharaohs. God had put the sword into his hand, and he was to break the images, and burn with fire the houses of the gods, while the Jews who had gone down to Egypt, and wickedly determined to burn incense to the queen of heaven, were to be con- sumed in these judgments, till there was an end of them (Jer. 44. 12). From that hour Egypt has been the basest of the kingdoms, and Israel has leant upon it as a staff no more. The prophecies against it are found in — Isaiah, ch. 19 ; ch. 30. 1-7. Ezek. chapters 29 and 30. Jer. chap. 46. „ chap. 31. 1-18 ; chap. 32. Joel, chap. 3. 19. And for their fulfilment, besides the destruction caused by Nebuchadnezzar, you must likewise refer to the times when the Persian war-cry rang through the crowded streets of Thebes, when Cambyses laid his destroying hand on Karnak and its sculptures, and when Alexander the Great completed the ruin his predecessors had begun. BABYLON. Once more the eye of the chosen people would turn to the fall of the all-conquering Babylon itself. You have heard of its brazen gates and its 676 squares, its walls and its hanging gardens, where Nebuchadnezzar said, " Is not 60 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. this great Babylon whicli I have built ?" You remember the hand that wrote in fire on the walls of Belshazzar's palace ; and having referred to the prophecies of the fall of this mighty empire in — Isaiah, chap. 13 ; chap. 21. 9; chap. 48. 14-20; Jer. chapters 50 and 51 ; — you will be prepared to read the sublime narration of Daniel, the eye-witness of all its horrors, in the fifth chapter of his own book. How deeply the lesson of all these vast fulfilments of the word of God were impressed upon the minds of the returned remnant of Judah, we may judge from the fact, which all history confirms, that they ever afterwards felt a profound dread and aversion for all the pagan idolatries. Ezra did much to cut oj0f this evil at its root, by causing them to put away at once their hfeathen wives. This was a severe and terrible measure, and it grieved him deeply to enforce it (see Ezra 9. 10) ; but he felt it was essential to their future existence as a nation. While Nehemiah was governor of Judea, the Jewess, Esther, was raised to the Persian throne ; and with her beautiful history, the records of the ancient world, as given to us in the Bible, are ended. 61 CHAPTER ly. THE JEWISH BIBLE COMPLETE. THE APOCRYPHA. THE SEPTUA- GiNT. — Daniel's two pictures. — antiochus epiphanes. — the MACCABEES. JUDAS MACCABEUS. THE ROMAN POWER. POM- PEY. — CAESAR. THE DRUIDS. THEIR HEBREW ORIGIN. SER- PENT-WORSHIP. DRUIDICAL REMAINS. — GREEK PHILOSOPHERS. HEROD. THE TEMPLE. THE SYNAGOGUES. — TRADITIONS OF THE PHARISEES. TARGUMS. PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES. THE FAITHFUL FEW. — THE RABBINS. — JOHN THE BAPTIST. HIS MINISTRY. — OUR LORd's ADVENT. ^HIS MISSION. — BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. THE FIRST CENTURY. ITS APOSTLES AND ELDERS. THE LAST SUPPER. ^VIOLENT DEATH OF ALL WHO PARTOOK OF IT, EXCEPT JOHN. FIRST AND SECOND PAGAN PERSECUTIONS. ^DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. We wisK to take you in this chapter tlirougli tlie Story of tlie Book for a period of 500 years, comprising the last four centuries of the Old Testament dispensation, and the first century of the New. The Hebrew people must still be regarded in one light, for the four centuries before the coming of the Lord, as the keepers of the word of God. They alone had re- ceived it, and they preserved it through this middle space of time between Malachi the last of their prophets, and the cry of John the Baptist in the wilderness of Judea, whose coming, as the forerunner of the Lord, Malachi's last words had foretold (see Mai. 4. 5, and Matt. 3. 1,2). The Bible of the Jews was complete. It is called the " Canon of the Old Testament." The word cano7i means a rule, a settled law ; and, as you may have heard of 62 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. some books not in this canon, whicli are generally called the Apocrypha^ and wliicli may be found in a few old Bibles, bound up between the Old and New Testaments, we must give you a short history of them. They were not inspired books: some were written by learned Jews at Alexandria, after the prophetic spirit had ceased with Malachi. Not even their writers say they are inspired : they were written in Greek and not in Hebrew, the ancient sacred language. They were never received as sacred by the ancient Jewish Church, and not a single passage in them is ever quoted by Jesus Christ, or by his apostles. A few of these books are considered valuable as a con- necting link in history, but a child may perceive the dijBPerence between them and the Holy Scriptures. These apocryphal or doubtful books were not added to the Hebrew copies of the Scriptures, but only to the /' Septuagint," or Greek version, made at Alexandria, B. C. /'277, by a council of seventy learned men, for the use of /the Jews in Egypt, who were accustomed to speak Greek. Alexandria was then a chief colony of the Jews : it is said that a hundred thousand of them resided there. It was at that time one of the greatest cities in the world. Learned men consider this translation, called the Sep- tuagint, very valuable. The evangelists and the apostles quoted from it as much as from the Hebrew. During the Babylonian captivity, the Prophet Daniel was inspired to give to the world two pictures of the fur- ther events that would occur in the 400 years which were to introduce the kingdom of the Messiah. The figures which compose his first picture had pre- viously been presented in a dream to the mind of Nebu- chadnezzar himself; and Daniel was called upon to declare what the king had seen, and to explain its meaning. Nebuchadnezzar had seen in his dream an image with a head of gold, its breast of silver, its middle of brass, and its legs of iron, the feet partly iron and partly clay, and DANIEL'S TWO PICTURES. 63 he had seen a stone cut out without hands smiting this image on its feet, and breaking the whole fabric to pieces. This dream Daniel thus explained. He told Nebuchad- nezzar that he, the King of Babylon, was himself the head of gold ; that after his kingdom should come three other kingdoms, each less glorious than his ; and that all four should be destroyed by a greater kingdom than any of them,— ^the kingdom of the God of Heaven, which should last for ever. You must read the dream and its interpretation in the second and third chapters of the book of Daniel. The prophet's second jjicture is contained in his seventh chapter ; and it is a picture of the same four great empires, but now represented under the form of four great beasts, who were also to succeed one another in dominion. Further visions in the eighth chapter informed Daniel, that the second kingdom was that of the Medes and Persians, the third that of the Grecians ; the fourth em- pire is not named, but it is fully described, and events proved it to be the mighty power of Eome. All ancient history confirms the truth of this magnifi- cent prophecy. The Babylonian empire passed away, as we have seen, at the taking of Babylon by Cyrus: the Persian empire fell wlien Darius was conquered, B. C. 330, by Alexander, who is the leopard of the picture, with four heads ; while the Grecian ceded to the Roman power about 150 years before Christ, which then began to eclipse all others ; and having conquered Carthage, soon became the sovereign of the world. It principally concerns us to know what became of the Jews during this period. Among themselves, the high- priests had the chief power. The sixth in succession from the time of their governor Nehemiah, was Simon the Just ; his most important work (according to tra- dition) was the final arrangement of the books of the Old Testament. He added to Ezra's collection the books of 64 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Ezra, NeKemiah, Esther, and Malaclii ; and thus, as we have said, completed the canon. About this time, from the intercourse of the Jews with the Greeks, and in imitation of their schools of wisdom, sprung up two sets of learned doctors in Jerusalem, called the Pharisees and the Sadducees. At this period also arose their very great enemy, Antiochus Epiphanes. The Jews have never forgotten his cruelties to this day. He was truly " a vile person"; and the accounts of heathen historians seem to prove that he answers to Daniel's description of the King of the North (Daniel 11. 21) : by the North, is intended Syria, which was north of Palestine. Antiochus caused a general massacre in Jerusalem, which lasted three days : 40, 000 Jews were killed, and as many made slaves. He then entered the temple to carry off its gold and silver, and caused swine to be sacrificed upon its altar. Shortly afterwards, he attacked the city on the Sab- bath, when the Jews were forbidden to fight ; slew many, and sold more ; shed blood within and without the temple; and building a strong fortress on mount Zion, caused such multitudes to flee, that the city was like a desert ; the daily sacrifices were discontinued, B. C. 168 ; the temple dedicated to Jupiter, an idol placed therein, and only those Jews favoured who worshipped it through fear of death. Yet even at this time many were found faithfiil. They would not forget their Law, and change its ordi- nances. " Then the wicked king rent in pieces the books of the Law which he found, and burnt them with fire ; and whoever possessed copies of these books, or consented to the Law, it was ordained that they should die ; wherefore they chose rather to die, that they might not profane the holy covenant." " So then, they died." They led the way in the long JUDAS MACCABEUS. 65 roll of names, of tlie martyrs for the Book. Among these, the most distinguished were seven brethren, and their mother, under the Maccabees, who, refusing to disobey the Law of Moses, underwent every possible torment, and were at last fried alive, in a brazen pan made redhot, one after the other, being supported of God, and each singing the words of Moses' Song (Deut. 32. 36-43), exhorting one another to die for the truth's sake. The mother entreated each son to be faithful unto death, and last of all she, like them, was tortured, and died also. In the midst of these troubles, God raised up for his people a deliverer as in old time, Judas Maccabeus, who trusted in the Lord, and in his name defeated the Syrian armies: then he cleansed the temple, and built a new altar in the place of that which was defiled : all the services and sacrifices were renewed three years and a half after they had been discontinued. Antiochus soon after this died in dreadful bodily tor- ments, with all the terrors of a guilty conscience ; but the Syrians still continued to make war on Judea, and Judas continued to overcome them through prayer, and God being with him as in the times of Israel of old. It was not in times of trouble that his faith failed. He became very rich, and a prince among the people. After many fresh victories, he grew weary of the further incursions of his enemies ; and this Chief of the Maccabees sent to Kome, and sought for help from those who were ignorant of the Living God. Ere the messenger of Judas returned to bring a pro- mise of help from the Eoman senate, he who had sought for other help than God's, was slain, B. C. 161. The failure in faith of this man of God was like that of Je- hoshaphat of old ; and by the step he took he hastened the ruin of his people. His death was bitterly lamented throughout Judea, as that of the greatest deliverer who had appeared since the days "of David. We must pass over the successors of Judas Maccabeus : 66 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. his nepKews were wild and wicked men, — murderous high-priests, who assumed also the royal diadem : one of them, named Jannaeus, was a monster of cruelty, having the word of God for a light, and despising its guidance. The sin of rejecting even the Mosaic Law was far greater than any that the heathen nations could commit ; and while such was the character of the high-priests, God might well desert the Jewish nation, as a nation^ as he did from this time forward. The Jewish history henceforth is closely connected with that of the Roman empire. Pompey, the general of the Roman armies, took ad- vantage of the constant quarrels the Jews had among themselves, to add Judea to his conquests ; and thus the fourth of the Gentile beasts of Daniel began to tread down the holy city. He took the temple by storm ; and the Pharisees, who were always fighting against the Sadducees, earnestly helped him. The priests engaged in the daily services were slain where they stood. Pompey entered the holiest place: he saw no visible glory, for it had long departed (Ezek. 10) ; but he was astonished at finding no image or statue of the Deity. However, he showed his respect for the place by touching none of its treasures ; and he ordered it to be cleansed and its services renewed. He then returned to Rome, entering it in his triumphal, glittering chariot, to which were yoked all the kings he" had conquered. He had overcome in that campaign fifteen kingdoms, taken 800 cities, and caused 1000 castles to acknowledge his empire ; and he brought back treasure to the amount of five millions of our money. Yet he was only a single general of Rome's armies. Was not that fourth beast " exceeding dreadful" (Daniel 7. 19), with his " teeth of iron and his nails of brass, de- vouring, breaking in pieces, and stamping the residue with his feet"? It is as trampled beneath these iron feet, that our ovm i THE DRUIDS. 67 country, Britain, is first hr ought into conjunction with Judea. While Pompey triumplied in the east, Caesar went forth and conquered the west. The people of the Swiss valleys were first subdued, then 80,000 Germans fell be- fore him ; the Belgae were defeated with such slaughter, that marshes and deep rivers were rendered impassable by heaps of dead bodies: then he subdued the Gauls, and only looked with the unsatisfied eye of a ravenous eagle (the standard of the Koman empire was an eagle), to the white clifis of Albion, as he stood upon the shore of France. He sailed from Calais, B. C. 66, and landed where the town of Deal now stands. The Britons were even . 330. When a Greek merchant, named Cosmas, who wrote a book called " Christian Topography," in which he men- tions the inscriptions on the rocks of Sinai,t visited Abys- * Sharon Turner's "History of England," vol. v., p. 119. t See page 19. 106 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. sinia, in A.D. 525, lie says it was completely^ Christian country, and well provided botli with ministers and churches. Mr. Salt, a modern traveller in Abyssinia, de- scribes the remains of ancient churches hewn out of the solid rock, the date of which he assigns to the sixth century. After this time, very little was known of the country till the Portuguese entered it, in 1490, and found there a body of Christians, who had received the Holy Scriptures, in the ancient Ethiopic version, or Geez language, made from the Greek Septuagint. Mr. Bruce, a traveller in these remote regions, brought with him a complete copy to Europe: the apocryphal books were, however, inter- mixed in this version with the canonical. You must bear these facts in mind respecting Abys- sinia, because in a future page we shall have very interesting particulars to relate of the translation of the Scriptures into Amharic, which is the modern language spoken in this country. This ancient Christian Church had mixed many errors with its faith ; and no wonder ; for it had fallen under the influence of the Jesuit mis- sionaries from the Portuguese; and a law had been made, that whoever dared to translate the Holy Scriptures from Geez into Amharic, should die. But, as we said we would follow the pilgrimage of Divine Truth from land to land, we must now leave the churches of the East, who maintained their long and arduous struggle against the corruptions of the West, and recur to the early progress of the gospel in Great Britain and Ireland. As Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, early in the second cen- tury, mentions the existence of churches among the Celtic nations, and Tertullian, about A.D. 200, says, that " those parts of the British Isles which were unapproached by the Romans were yet subject to Christ," these parts, which were most probably the mountainous seclusions of Wales, and perhaps of Scotland, must have received the faith, and doubtless the Old Testament, from Bran, the father PELAGIUS. 107 of Caractacus, and probable disciple of the Apostle Paul,* and the Old Testament would cause them to inquire for the New, as, by degrees, it was written. At any rate, Christian Churches were formed, and these shared in the Dioclesian persecution, A. D. 303. Two martyrs of this age, Julius and Aaron, were honoured in the British Church, which is recorded to have converted many of the ancient bards or Druids, from their old patriarchal but corrupted religion, to the gospel of Jesus Christ ; and Divine worship continued for awhile to be performed in the ancient Druidical circles. One of these is at Carn-y- groes, in Glamorganshire, where also stands an ancient cross. Pelagius, who was a British teacher from the monas- tery at Bangor-Iscoed, in a.d. 400, went to the continent and began to preach strange doctrine. Dr. D'Aubigne says, " It does not appear that he had a bad intention, but he had many of the old Druidical notions ; and finding fault with the moral indiiference of the Eastern Christians, he denied the doctrine of original sin, and said that if man made use of all his natural powers, he could become perfect." This was not preaching Christ Jesus : and the venerable historian, Bede, tells us, " the British Churches refused to receive this doctrine : they sent for two bishops from Armorica (now called Brittany), Germanus and Lupus, who came to their aid, and those who had wan- dered returned into the " way of truth." The Dioclesian persecution, in A. D. 303, as we have seen, drove many of the Christians to Scotland, and to the island of lona, where they built a church, called the Church of our Saviour, whose walls, it is said, still exist among the stately ruins of a later age. One parti- cular portion appears to be of primitive architecture. But we must now turn to Ireland ; — for that country also afforded the terrified British clergy an asylum from the Dioclesian persecution. * See page 84. 108 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. In tlie year 388, a captive youtli, named Succat, six- teen years of age, the child of Scotch parents, was sent into the green pastures of Ireland to keep swine. Here, as he led his herds over the mountains and through the forests, by night and by day, he called to mind the in- structions of a pious mother, which, up to this time of his distress, he had forgotten ; and when afterwards rescued from his captivity, he considered it his duty to carry the gospel to the people of that country, where he had himself found Christ Jesus. This boy, Succat, was afterwards known as St. Patrick, and sainted by the Romish Church. He collected the pagan tribes in the fields, by beat of drum, and there narrated to them in their own tongue the history of the Son of God. Ere long many souls were converted, and the Druidical hymns changed into can- ticles to Christ. This St. Patrick is said to have evange- lised Ireland, and after that period it was known by the name of " The Isle of Saints." Meantime the state of the British Churches was most afflicting. The warlike Anglo-Saxons, who were pagan idolaters, slew immense numbers of the Christians, though many hid themselves in Wales, and in the wild moors of Northumberland and Cornwall, and many fled into Brit- tany, in France, whose inhabitants still speak a language resembling the ancient British or Welsh. In one of the churches formed in Ireland by Succat's preaching, there arose, two centuries after him, a pious man, named Columba, in whose veins flowed royal blood. He resolved to repay to the country of Succat, what Succat had imparted to his, — to go and preach the word of God in Scotland. With some of his companions, he constructed a frail coracle of osiers and skins. " In this rude boat," says D'Aubigne, "they embarked in the year 565, and the little missionary band reached in safety the waters of the Hebrides." They landed in lona, and found the Christian Culdees, and also some Druids. The poor Druids were now to cede the ancient college of their order and the burial- lONA. 109 place of tKeir kings to another race, for whose sake, also, this wondrous little spot of earth is very famous. Conal, the Scotch king, granted lona to Columba, and it became "the Missionary Isle," "the light of the Western world." Columba was really a holy man ; he lived as in the sight of God ; he mortified the flesh, perhaps, unnecessarily, — sleeping on the ground with a stone for his pillow ; but he prayed and read, he wrote and taught, he preached, and he redeemed the time. He went from hut to hut, and also from kingdom to kingdom. Precious manu- scripts were conveyed to lona ; the holy word of God was studied there, and many received through faith the salvation which is in Christ Jesus. Columba maintained that it was the Holy Ghost which made a servant of God. When the youth of Scotland assembled round their elders, on these wild shores, they were taught that the Holy Scriptures are the only rule of faith. " Throw aside all merit of works, and look for salvation to the grace of God alone." " It is better to keep your heart pure before God, than to abstain from meats." " One alone is your head, — Jesus Christ." "Bishops and presbyters are equal : they should be the husbands of one wife, and have their children in subjection." These were Protestant doctrines. The sages of lona knew nothing of the bread in the Lord's Supper being changed into the actual body of Christ : they did not withdraw the cup from the laity, knew nothing of con- fession to priests, or prayers to the dead, or tapers, or incense. They celebrated Easter on a different day from Eome, and the supremacy of the pope was unknown. When the college in this islet sent out its missionaries, they knelt in the chapel of Icolmkill, and were set apart by the hands of the elders : they were called bishops, but remained obedient to the elder of lona. " lona and Bangor," continues the modern historian of the Keformation, " possessed a more lively faith than the 110 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. city of tlie Caesars ; and Britain in tlie sixth century was faithful in planting the standard of Christ in the heart of Europe." Columba is said to have possessed a most engaging ad- dress, a cheerful countenance, and a most powerful and commanding voice, so that he could be distinctly heard at a mile's distance when he chanted psalms. He appears to have been a man of much prayer, and to have earnestly believed that God answers prayer ; and in the strength of this belief, he did many mighty works. The historian, Bede, tells us, that he and his disciples brought religion at that time into such repute, that a monk was every- where received as God's servant. Columba was remark- able for his humility: he said that " no man ought to be praised till he had reached the goal, and finished his course." He greatly loved the study of the Scriptures, and was sometimes engaged for whole days and nights in exploring their dark and difiicult passages, with fasting and prayer. It is said of him, that " when any offended himself he forgave him, — when any offended God he prayed for him." The isle of Ion a continued to be, under Columba, as it always had been, the burial place of kings. Its " fair kirkyard" contains the tombs of forty-eight crowned Scotch kings, four Irish kings, the tombs of the kings of Norway, and the most part of the lords of the isles. These tombs are flat stones, with many an ancient carving sunk in the green sward. Dr. Johnson called this, "awful ground." In the corner of the ruined ca- thedral are the " black stones," held so sacred by the Highlanders, that an oath sworn on them was always kept. Many beautiful crosses were broken or carried off at the Reformation. Spottiswoode says, that in Columba's own lifetime, he founded 100 monasteries, and 365 churches, and ordained 3000 monks. He died in lona, after presiding there for thirty-four years ; and his fol- lowers, until the year 716, protested against the Church of Eome, and influenced the whole of Europe. Columba lONA. HI wrote to Pope Boniface, with great freedom : " It is your fault if you have deviated from the true faith." Clement of lona wrote a book against images in the end of the eighth century. lona. " Lone Isle ! though storms have round thy turrets rode, And their red shafts have seared thy marble brow, Thou wert the temple of the Living God, — Teaching earth's millions at the shrine to bow. Though desolation wraps thy glories now, Still thou wilt be a marvel through all time For what thou hast been : for the dead who rot Around the fragments of thy towers sublime, Once taught the w^orld, and sway'd the realm of thought. And ruled the warriors of each northern clime. Dear art thou for thy glories long gone by : Virtue and truth, religion's self must die, Ere thou canst perish from the chart of fame, Or darkness shroud the halo of thy name." Glasgow. D. M. 112 CHAPTER VI. THE FALL OF ENGLAND'S PROTESTANTISM. AUGUSTINE's MISSION. BEDE. KING ALFEED. GENERAL IGNORANCE. THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. NEARLY PROTESTS. CLAUDE OF TURIN. VAUDOIS COL- PORTEURS. WALDO. HIS TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE. — SKETCH OF THE VAUDOIS PEOPLE. THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF SCRIPTURE. — INNOCENT III. THE INQUISITION. TORMENTS. — STEADFASTNESS. THE VOWS OF LUZERNA. THE BOHEMIAN CHRISTIANS. In the last cliapter we gave you an outline of the early history of the Church of the Book, both in the East and the West, after the Christian era. We can now only sadly tell you, that in England, in the seventh century, she fell under the power of the church of the popes, who would have all the world to receive their laws. She received presents from Rome of the relics of the Apostles Peter and John, — " pretended fragments of their chains," and em- blems of her own. Pope Gregory desired her conversion from simple faith in Christ and his word, to faith in the Romish Church and its ceremonies, and he sent the arch- bishop, Augustine, to Canterbury, to convert her. This Augustine, who came to England in 597, must by no means be confounded with Augustine, bishop of Hippo, born 354, the son whose soul was given to his mother's prayers, after perseverance on her part, and apparently in vain, for thirty years, and who was, in most respects, " the highest ornament of the African Church." At that time there existed at Bangor-Iscoed, in Wales, a monastery of 3000 members, governed by faithful teachers. Augustine first met its bishop, Dionoth, under THE VENEKABLE BEDE. 113 an oak, at Wigornla,* and endeavoured by persuasion to cause him and his flock to acknowledge the pope; but this meeting and a second one were in vain. Even to a third appeal, the Britons said, "they knew no other Master but Christ." " Then," said Augustine, " if you will not imite with us to show the Saxons the way of life, you shall receive from them the stroke of death." " Argument had failed," says D'Aubigne ; " now for the sword." Shortly after the death of Augustine, Edelfrid, an Anglo-Saxon king, and a heathen, destroyed 1200 of these Christians, in the act of praying to God against his vio- lence, and razed Bangor, the chief seat of Christian learn- ing, to the ground. lona, too, the last citadel of liberty, gave up her free- dom ere long, through Romish persuasion ; and then came a dark night of superstition which lasted many hundred years. In English history, while this night endured, we must now only look for the few earnest souls that here and there awoke, and searched the Scriptures even under popish bondage, and then turn for awhile to the most interesting history of the Vaudois Church in the valleys of Piedmont. The earliest translation of the New Testament, into the tongue of the common people of England, was made by " the venerable Bede," whose " Church History" we have often quoted. He lived in the monastery of Jarrow, in Durham, and was a very learned monk, having uncom- mon skill in Greek and Hebrew. He studied the Scrip- tures diligently and prayerfully. He referred the Arch- bishop of York to Titus and Timothy, for rules of conduct -to be required from Christian ministers, and he evidently knew himself what it was to "fight the good fight of faith," by strength supplied from God. * Worcester. 114 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. In his last hour he was engaged in dictating to one of his disciples the last verse of the 20th chapter of John. " It is finished, master," said the scribe: " It is finished," replied the dying saint ; " lift up my head, let me sit in my cell, in the place where I have so often prayed ; and now, glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost"; and with these words his spirit fled. Could it have taken flight more happily than in the act of translating the word of God ? Would you like to read a piece of Anglo-Saxon, as it was spoken and written in the seventh century? " Fader uren thu arth in heofnum, sic gehalgud noma thin; to cymeth ric thin." " Our Father who art in heaven, hal- lowed be thy name; thy kingdom come." We should scarcely know this old Anglo-Saxon now for English ; but this was Enghsh in the days of King Alfred. Alfred the Great, who left behind him an undying name, whether as a Christian or a king, was also a trans- lator of the Scriptures. His early education was scanty : no master could be found in all Wessex to teach him Latin, when twelve years old; but when he grew up and reigned, he was called " the wisest man in all England." Being aware of his own ignorance, and seeing that igno- rance still deeper prevailed among his people, . he drew around him capable teachers. Asser, the first scholar in Wales, and a man of piety, after much persuasion, agreed to live at his court for six months in the year, and became his warmest friend. Alfred learned Latin of Asser, by carrying in his bosom a little manuscript book, in which every quotation of Scripture that pleased him was put down by his friend, and translated. These the king constantly studied, writ- ing them also himself. He turned Bede's valuable his- tory into English, and attempted to translate the whole Bible, though he only accomplished a portion of it. He was engaged upon a version of the Psalms, at the time of his death. He has left behind him some manu- THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS. 115 scripts, preserved as treasures in museums, and a most fragrant memory. We shall now pass to tlie Swiss valleys, and tlie Wal- denses. So early as A.D. 290, the Vaudois vaUeys were honoured with a martyr: this was in the times of pagan persecution, in the village of St. Legond, between Luzerna and San Martino. In A.D. 314, the arrogance of Sylvester, bishop of Eome, is said to have occasioned the first protest of the churches in these valleys. In A.D. 374, Ambrose, bishop of Milan and the North of Italy, protests against the introduction of images into churches, and shows that certain superstitions prevailing elsewhere had not been adopted in the mountainous regions of his diocese. At the close of the seventh century are found the traces of a small but pure church in these districts, which some suppose a branch of Paulicians. Ketiring from the insolence and oppression of the Romish clergy, they sought a hiding-place in the Pays de Yaud, embosomed in the Alps, where they might follow their consciences, and enjoy communion with God. In the ninth century, thirty years before the birth of our noble Alfred, Claude, a native of Spain, became Bishop of Turin. He was a reformer, and studied and preached the Scriptures. He found the churches full of images, and he fearlessly cast them out, and the crosses also, ordering them to be burned. He told the people, that if they painted or sculptured Peter or Paul upon their walls, and worshipped them, they might as well have continued to worship Jupiter and Saturn. " The bones of saints are no more to be reverenced," said he, " than the bones of cattle : and a piece of wood, even if it were of the true cross, is entitled to no veneration." This bishop was greatly opposed, but the doctrines he taught sank deep into the minds of many who cherished 116 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. them in secret, and handed them down to their children's children. He took great pains to explain Scripture, main- tained that faith alone saves us, and that all the other apostles were equal with Peter. He also denied that prayer after death could be of any use to anybody. This man laid, thus early, the solid foundation of the Reformation, which took place 700 years afterwards. He was called " the Bishop of the Valleys." " The papists own," says Dr. Allix, "that the valleys of Piedmont, which belonged to the bishopric of Turin, held the opi- nion of Claude, through the ninth and tenth centuries." Through these, as well as the eleventh and twelfth centuries, we must traverse what are called the dark ages, each one darker than the other, and watch the light, which had been shed abroad by such kings as Alfred and Charlemagne, dying out amid the personal ignorance of kings, priests, and people. Modern research, however, develops from time to time some bright particular excep- tions, in different countries, most often of such persons as possessed and studied the Scriptures, such as Anselm and Queen Margaret of Scotland, whose husband, Malcolm, used to handle with great respect and even kiss the books that he saw his wife peruse, though himself so illiterate as not to be able to understand them. Comparatively few priests, in those days, understood the Latin service of their own church, and many were made bishops (it is said) who could neither read nor write. It was about the year 1151, that in several parts of the continent were noticed little communities, chiefly of poor and labouring men, distinguished from the established Eoman Church, and who possessed, in the manuscript Eomaunt version, both the Old and New Testaments, "which they were fond of committing to memory. Their version resembled Latin: it was this : "In principio erat verbum, et verbum erat apud Deum, e Deus ora la paraula. Aiso era el comanzament amb Deu." " In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word PETER WALDO. 117 was Gocl. Tlie same was in tlie beginning witli God" (John 1. 1, 2). These persons were scattered all over Europe: in France they were called " Tisserands," or weavers; "Poor of Lyons"; " Waldenses," and " Albi- genses ; " in Germany, " Cathari." They existed in Spain, and even in Naples; they abounded near the Alps. It was in the following way that they spread abroad their opinions. " They show some merchandise, as rings or robes, to lords and ladies to buy. If they sell these, and are asked, ' Have you any more to sell?' the answer is, * I have far more precious jewels than these, which I will give you, if you w411 not betray me.' Safety being pro- mised, ' I have a gem shining from God, so radiant that it kindles the love of God in the hearts of those who possess it.' The travelling merchant then reads some chapter out of his manuscript of the Gospels " ; and most often left it with the listener. It is a mistake to suppose that Peter Waldo was the first founder of the little churches, whose messengers thus went forth. He was called " the good merchant of Lyons," and was himself an earnest inquirer after Divine Truth, who abandoned his merchandise, distributed his wealth to the poor, and desired further instruction. He could not find it from the Papal Church, but he did find it in the Scriptures themselves. He was a man of learning : he could read the Latin Bible, which was the only entire version at that time in Europe ; and he began to read and explain it to the poor people who crowded to hear him ; and it is certain that the Christian world is indebted to him for the first translation of parts of the Scriptures into a modern tongue, after the Latin ceased to be a living language. Waldo's translation, or that which is supposed to have been his, is called " the Proven9al, or Romaunt version," which was condemned and forbidden by the council of Toulouse, in 1229, because it was written in the tongue of the people. Would you like to see a specimen of this 118 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. version, so precious to tlie Waldenses ? "We shall take it for you from " The Bible of Every Land," which is a '' History of the Sacred Scriptures," as collected from all sources, with specimens of the versions.* If you can read French and Latin, you will be able to make out this Proven9al version : " Lo filh era al comencza- ment, e lo filh era enapres Dio, e Dio era lo filh. Aiczo era al comenczament enapres Dio." " In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." (Jno. 1. 1, 2). The Archbishop of Lyons endeavoured to silence and apprehend Peter Waldo, but he escaped, and his disciples followed him. The doctrines of Waldo, after this, spread widely through Europe. He himself retired to Dauphiny. Some of his people joined themselves to the Yaudois of Piedmont, and communicated to them their new transla- tion of parts of the Bible, — a rich addition to the spiritual treasures of that people. From a persecution raised by Pope Alexander III., and Philip Augustus of France, Waldo fled to Bohemia, where he died, A. D. 1179. He was a very extraordinary person. He has never found a biographer; but he turned many to righteousness, and shall shine as the stars for ever and ever. The Waldenses were a most simple and inoffensive people, yet their history has been little else than a series of persecutions, — so long and so bitter, that the records of even pagan cruelty are less horrible than those of papal vengeance. One of their enemies thus describes them in the twelfth century : " They are clothed," says he, " in the skins of sheep ; they have no linen ; they inhabit flint-stone huts with mud roofs, in common with their cattle; they have, besides, two large caves set apart, in which they conceal themselves, when hunted down for their heresies. * Samuel Bagster and Sons, Paternoster Eow. THE WALDENSES. 119" Poor as tliey are, they are content, and live separate from the rest of mankind. Though outwardly so savage and rude, they can all read and write: you can scarcely find a boy among them who cannot give you an intelligent account of the faith they profess." They never mixed in marriage with the Bomanists; but so well was their fidelity known, that many Eoman- Catholic lords preferred them as nurses for their children, and came far to seek them for that purpose. They were more remarkable than any other people on the face of the earth for the large portions of Scripture which they committed to memory. Scripture was their all: and as the Jews treasured the manuscripts of the Old Testament, and carried them everywhere in their wanderings, musing in sullen grief, as they read them, on the ancient glories of their race, often, as in the persecutions in Spain, winding tliem round their bodies, to part with them only with their lives, — and as the early Christians prized the Gospels and Epistles, gazing with intense afiection upon their title therein contained to " a kingdom yet to come," — so these Waldenses laid up rich portions alike from the Old and New Testaments in their hearts, so that they could not be taken from them. The preparation of their pastors for the ministry (whom they called " barbes," the Vaudoisterm for "uncle," per- haps the more to distinguish them from the " fathers," to whom the Eomish Church can trace so many of her cor- ruptions) consisted in learning by heart the Gospels of Matthew and John, all the Epistles, and most of the writings of David, Solomon, and the prophets. It was reckoned, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, that a fair copy of the Bible, from a convent, would have cost more than sixty pounds of our money, for the writ- ing only ; and that a skilful scribe could not complete one in less than ten months : very precious, therefore, was every single portion ; and as their enemies seized upon and burnt every copy of which they could hear, societies 120 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. of young persons were formed in tlie Vaudois valleys, every member of wliicli was trusted to preserve in his memory a certain number of chapters ; and when they assembled for worship, which they did with all possible precaution, from great distances, in some hidden moun- tain gorge, these new Levites, standing before the face of the minister, would recite, one after another, the chapters of the priceless Book, for which they often paid the price of blood. Keiner says, that he knew among them a rustic who could repeat the whole of the book of Job by heart, and many who repeated nearly the whole of the New Testament. They frequently put their enemies to shame. A monk who was sent to preach among them, to try and convince them of their errors, returned in confu- sion, saying, that he had never in all his life known so much of the Scriptures, as in those few days that he had been holding meetings with the heretics. And the children were worthy of their elders. When a number of doctors were sent among them from the Sorbonne, at Paris, one of these owned that he had un- derstood more of the doctrines of salvation from the answers of the little children, in their catechisms, than by all the disputations he had ever heard. Bernard says of them, that they " actually defended their heresies by the words of Christ and his apostles." Reneirius, the inquisitor, their bitter enemy, had, alas! been one of their community for seventeen years, and, afterwards turning against them, well knew how and where to direct his malice ; yet even he can witness no- thing worse against them than that " they instruct those amongst them who are teachable and eloquent, to get by heart the words of the Gospels, adorning their sect with the goodly words of the apostles also, that the doctrines they teach may be accounted sound." Upon this Church of the Book came down, for century after century, the heaviest vengeance of the Church of Rome, for they rejected all her ordinances, disbelieved all PERSECUTION. 121 her miracles, and said she was the Babylon described in the Revelation, maintaining also, that we ought to believe that the Holy Scriptures alone contain all things necessary to our salvation. On them, therefore, fell the full storm of the anger of Innocent III., who was pope at that time. For the sake of crushing this little church in the mountains, he estab- lished the Inquisition, and proclaimed a crusade against all who held their doctrines, which indeed were rapidly- extending. The pure faith, cradled in the Alps, was carried down into the surrounding plains ; multitudes in northern Italy, along the Rhine, through the south of France, and within the borders of Spain, walked by the blessed light of Scripture, working with their hands at the loom also. This was the church that did its duty to the world ; and it was going on peacefully, conquering and to conquer, when Rome perceived her own danger, and summoned all the kings, who laid their swords and treasures at her feet, to engage with her to cut off these people from the earth, and put out their light for ever. This, however, was no easy task : above 800,000 of them were scattered over Europe. It took 300 years to burn, to slay, and to destroy them ; and great as was the slaughter, frightful the tortures, inflicted, they lived on; they are living to this day. The doctrines of the Wal- denses were conveyed from France into England, at the time when the English were masters of Guienne, and were uttered in the thunders of our own Wiclif against the same papal domination. The snowy peaks of the Alps have been witnesses to thousands of murders. The people very often suffered for their faith, without resistance; but sometimes armed mth wooden crossbows, the men defended the narrow passes of their valleys, and repulsed their enemies, while the poor women and children on their knees entreated the Lord to protect his people and preserve their liberty: and even then their language was, " I will not /rws^ in my bow." * 122 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Occasionally they defended tKemselves with such cou- rage and success, that for a little while the persecutors left the country. The people had hitherto only the New Testament and some books of the Old, translated into the Waldensian tongue, of which we gave you a specimen ; but in 1535 they also participated in the benefits of the Eeformation, and possessed themselves of the whole Bible in a printed form. Their universal spirit spoke in the words of their heroic pastor, Geoffry Yaraille: "You will sooner want wood wherewith to burn us, than men ready to burn in witness of their faith: from day to day we multiply, and the word of God endure th for ever." Flayed alive, and then crushed with heavy stones, cast down from towers, their flesh shredded with iron whips, and then beaten to death with lighted brands, starved in the prisons, suffocated in vast numbers even in their caves of refuge, mothers and children driven up by hundreds to perish in the upper snows, their flesh cut alive from their bones, their bones broken between iron bars, their infants hurled from the heights, or dashed against the rocks, and their brains eaten by their mur- derers! "The tyrants of all past times and ages con- trived nothing, in comparison with these persecutions of the Yaudois, that might be called barbarous and in- human." This was the language of the remonstrance made, we rejoice to say, by the Commonwealth of Eng- land to the Duke of Savoy. We must close our sketch of their bitter history with one scene, which took place on the 21st of January, 1561, in the valley of Luzerna. The evening before, a proclamation had been published, that within twenty-four hours the inhabitants must decide on going to mass, or be subjected to fire, to sword, to cord, — the pope's three arguments, — and the inhabitants of two valleys met to consider what should be done. In the midst of the kneeling people, their ministers pronounced these words : " We here promise, our hands on the Bible, and in the THE BOHEMIAN CHRISTIANS. 123 solemn presence of God, to maintain tlie Bible whole and alone, though it be at the peril of our lives, in order that we may transmit it to our children, pure as we received it from our fathers. And we also promise help to our persecuted brothers, not relying upon man, but God." The next morning they rushed to the Protestant church, which the papists had filled with images, crosses, and beads, and, like Claude of Turin, threw them into the street, and trampled them under foot. We must not stay to tell of their further baptisms of blood, but merely mention, that 130 years afterwards, when they returned to the valleys from which they had been exiled, they met again on this very spot, the hill of Sibaond, and renewed the same oath to God and to each other.* We do not forget the Bohemian Christians, or the United Brethren ; they too were miserably persecuted. They said truly, that the rack was their breakfast, and the flames their dinner. They too were driven out of their villages, and their sick thrown into the open fields. They hid themselves in thickets and clefts of the rocks, making no fires, except by night, lest the smoke should lead the way to their abodes ; and around those night- fires they read the Scriptures for whole nights together, — *' men of whom the world was not worthy." And we do not forget the Huguenots in France, spring- ing from the same parent stem as the Waldenses, nor the massacre of St. Bartholomew, nor the revocation of the edict of Nantes ; but it is enough : you have seen enough of the martyrs of the valleys, dressed in robes of fire and blood, and we must pass onward and show you their descendants in our own island, — the men who gave us the Bible, — the men of the Reformation. " Avenge, Oh Lord! thy slaughter'd saints, whose bones Lie scatter d on the Alpine mountains cold ; E'eti them, who kept thy truth so pure of old, When all our fathers worshipp'd stocks and stones, * See " The Israel of the Alps," by Dr. Muston. 124 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Forget not ; in thy book record their groans, Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that roU'd Mother with infant down the rocks : their moans The vales redoubled to the hills, and they To heaven ; their martyr'd blood and ashes sow O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway The triple tyrant ; that from these may grow An hundred-fold, who, having learnt thy way, Early may fly the Babylonian woe !" Milton. CHAPTER VII. THE EARTHQUAKE COUNCIL. JOHN WICLIF. THE LAW MADE AT TOULOUSE. ROMISH REVENGE ON WICLIF. HIS TRANSLATION or THE SCRIPTURES. LOLLARD MARTYRS. SAWTRE. LADY JANE BOUGHTON. LORD COBHAM. BLACK-ERIARs' MONASTERY. SITE OF BIBLE-HOUSE. PRINTING. — ANGER OF MONKS. USE OF MONASTERIES. READING AND WRITING OF THE SCRIPTURES AT CLUGNI. TRANSLATIONS PREPARING GIFT OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH TO FRANCE. OLIVETAn's VERSION. DE SACy's VERSION. — COLPORTEURS. TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE EXTANT UP TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. PARTICULARS CONCERNING EACH. On the 17tli of May, in the year 1378, when King Richard II. was but seventeen years of age, being the year after the insurrection of Wat Tyler, a meeting took place at the monastery of the Black-friars, in London, composed of eight bishops, fourteen doctors of law and six of divinity, with fifteen friars and four monks, forming in all a council of forty-seven great men, to consider how they should put down certain opinions which were MONASTERY OF BLACK-FRIARS. 125 hateful to tliem, and prosecute tlie people suspected of holding til em, one of whom, and indeed their leader, was John Wiclif, a priest, who had been educated at Oxford. He had not only delivered many lectures on the corrup- tions of the Romish Church, to which he belonged, but he had also spent a great part of his life in translating, first the New Testament, and then the Old, out of Latin into English, for the use of the people. He was at this time about fifty-four years of age, and was called "the Gospel Doctor," famous for his disputes with the mendi- cant friars. These friars affected to be poor, and, with a wallet on their back, begged with a piteous air both from high and low, but at the same time they had great houses of their own, in which there was much waste, wore at home costly clothes, gave great feasts, and had many jewels and treasures. They would kidnap children from their parents, and shut them up in monasteries. It happened, however, just as this great synod at Black- friars began to discuss the four-and-tw^enty heresies and errors which they had met to consider, the city of London was shaken by an earthquake, when some of the assembled doctors doubted whether the object of their meeting might not be displeasing to heaven ; but their president, Archbishop Courtenay, declared that it needed an earth- quake of opinion, and a violent struggle to be made by the Roman Church, to remove such teachers as John Wiclif ; " whereat the meeting proceeded, and con- demned all his opinions, declaring that he should cer- tainly not be permitted to preach them any more." He was soon afterwards silenced from preaching in Oxford, which gave him the more leisure for his Bible- work. In a large circle of bishops, doctors, priests, and students, Wiclif raised his noble head, and turning a look on Archbishop Courtenay, which made him shrink away, uttered these simple, earnest words : " The truth shall prevail" Having thus spoken, he prepared to leave the court ; and, like his Divine Master, he passed through 126 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. the midst of them, and none ventured to stop him. He then withdrew to his cure at Lutterworth. He finished his translation in 1380, four years before he died, and gave one manuscript of the Old Testament, written on vellum with his own hand, to St. John's College in Oxford. At this time being ill, four friars and four aldermen, sup- posing him near death, came to his sick chamber, to in- quire if he would recant his opinions. Wiclif beckoned his servants to raise him in his bed, and fixing his eyes on his visitors, exclaimed, " I shall not die but live; and shall again declare the evil deeds of the friars ! " Lutterworth Church. England, Scotland, and Ireland, were at this time covered with monasteries, and filled with friars, who wore robes of black, white, and gray. The mendicant or begging friars, especially, were always gathering up wealth for their church, and binding the people with fresh chains of superstition. Wiclif saw that they tram- pled the Bible under foot, by their overbearing authority. WICLIF. 127 and lie resolved tliat the people of England should have the Bible, and compare it with the voice of the friars. Being a very learned and thoughtful man, he may probably have known for himself, from the page of his- tory gathered from all ages, the fact, that the great in- strument of human improvement was to be found in the circulation of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue. He recovered from his sickness, and completed his work : there is reason to believe that the whole was finished, and many copies transcribed and spread abroad, some time before the reformer's death, which happened in 1384 : and after his death, his doctrines spread so fast, that a writer of that day has angrily recorded, that a man could not meet two people on the road, but one of them was a disciple of John WicHf 's ; yet these poor followers, in that age of manuscript, could perhaps only copy parts of the precious Book which had been translated for them, which they often did into small volumes, that they might the easier hide them, for the having and reading ojf which, as in the times of old, people who were detected were burnt to death, with the little books hanging round their necks. The council of Toulouse, held in 1229, was the first that forbade, in definite form, the reading of the Bible. " We also forbid the common people to possess any of the hooks of the Old or New Testaments^ except perhaps the Psalter^ or the Breviary^ or the Hours of the Blessed Virgin^ which some out of devotion wish to have; but having any even of these hooks translated into the vulgar tongue, we strictly forbid^ Now, you know the "Breviary" and the "Hours of the Blessed Virgin" are not parts of the Bible at all, but this distinction the friars did not wish the illiterate and blinded people to perceive. They said, that " alas ! the gospel pearl was cast abroad and trodden under foot of swine, and that the gospel which Christ had given to be kept by the clergy was now made for ever common to the laity." 128 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Till Wiclif undertook this task, no one appears to have executed a complete version of the Bible for Eng- land. In spite of all the efforts made to deprive him of this honour, it remains his own. All the search made by antiquaries establishes the fact. He gave the w^hole Bible to the people, he gave it without note or comment, and he was the first man that did so. Ten years after Wiclif 's death, a bill was brought into the House of Lords, to forbid the reading of the English Bible. Twenty-four years after his death (1408), a convocation was held in St. Paul's, to ordain that no book of his should be read, either in public or private, under pain of excommunication ; but it was all in vain. Wiclif s Monument. His writings, and especially his translation of the Bible, found their way to all classes, and the latter became from that hour " the Book of the people." Forty-four years after his death, according to a decree of the council of Constance, his grave was ransacked for his " body and bones," which were burnt, and the ashes cast into the brook Swift, which runs near his church at Lutterworth. This brook conveyed them to the Avon, the Avon into the Severn, the Severn into the narrow seas, they into WICLIF. 129 the main ocean, and thus the ashes of Wiclif were the emblem of his doctrines, gathered from the Bible, and now dispersed all the world over. We have given you a sketch of the monument now erected in his church, the noble old church of St. Mary, ! Wiclif s pulpit ; the first from which the English Reformation was preached. Still standing at Lutterworth, and often visited for the reformer's sake ; and also, through the kindness of its present incumbent, you have the picture of his pulpit, — the first pulpit from which resounded the truths of the Reformation : it is finished within in the rough style of the time, the wood having been merely cut smooth with the axe. The table on which he wrote, the chair in which he died, and the velvet robe (now in shreds and 130 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. tatters) wMcli he used to wear, still remain. Nearly 300 of his sermons are preserved : they consist chiefly of simple expositions of Scripture, and treat much of the atonement of Christ, and the work of the Spirit. In Wiclif's days, the great doctrine proclaimed by the priests of Rome was, that to obtain pardon for sin, penance must be borne:' the people were to fast, to go bareheaded, to wear no linen, and to whip themselves. Sometimes twenty persons might be seen in procession, wearing hats with red crosses, and stripped to the waist, the first four lashing themselves as they went along with whips of knotted cord, which drew from them streams of blood. Twice a-day, in St. Paul's church, did these men fulfil their self-imposed torture ; tens of thousands went on pilgrimage to Rome, in pairs, visiting all the churches by the way, and giving money to the priests ; then the priests told them, that if they would give still more money, they might find indulgence from all this hardship : they might have indulgence even for murder, lying, and stealing, if they could pay for it. These indulgences were sold openly in the market-places of the chief cities of Europe. Wiclif preached the doctrine of reformation from all this, in his pulpit, as well as by his works. He was an earnest teacher of the Lutterworth poor. He visited them in their cottages. He was familiar with the home of poverty and the house of mourning. He was seized with insensibility, and fell upon the pave- ment while administering the Lord's Supper, and died two days afterwards, 29th December, A.D. 1384. You perceive he did not die a martyr, although he fully expected and was ready to do so. His followers did, in great numbers. William Sawtre was the first man burnt in England for the Reformation's sake. He was a clergyman in London, who openly taught the doctrines of Wiclif, and declared, that " a priest was more bound to preach the word of God, than to patter his prayers at certain LOLLARD MARTYRS. 131 hours," for which and other statements, glorying in the cross of Christ, and supported by Divine grace, he was cast into the flames of martyrdom, A.D. 1400. There is an account of a martyrdom, in 1410, of John Bradby, one of Wiclif's followers, who was carried to Smithfield, and there, in a cask, burnt to ashes. At his execution was present Henry V., then Prince of Wales, — the " Henry" of Shakspeare. The prince, pitying his sufferings, offered him pardon, if he would recant, and had him taken out of the fire, promising, as he was already lamed, to allow him threepence a-day during life ; but the martyr, rejecting the proffer, and refusing to deny his faith, was again thrown into the flames, and his soul ascended thence to heaven. The first female martyr in England, was Lady Jane Boughton. She was burnt at eighty years of age, being known to read the Scriptures. "Her daughter," says Southey, "the Lady Young, suffered afterwards the same cruel death with equal constancy." These sufferers were called " Lollards," and the most famous amongst them was Lord Cobham, in his younger days the gay and giddy favourite of Henry V., but who becoming acquainted with the Bible, through Wiclif's translation, "learned to abstain from sin." This noble soldier made no secret of his opinions. At a great expense he collected, copied, and dispersed the Scriptures among the common people, and even maintained preachers to travel about and declare Wiclif's doctrines. His life and trials are extremely interesting. He escaped from the Tower of London, by advantage of a dark night, and hid himself among the Black Mountains in South Wales for four years. He was at last taken and roasted to death over a slow fire, in St. Giles's-fields, in London, now covered with the abodes of poor Irish people, but which was then a thicket where the persecuted Lollards met for worship at the dead of night. We must only mention (to induce you to seek out their 132 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. histories) the names of John Huss and Jerome of Prague, who suffered on the continent for the same principles, and add a word or two more about the monastery of the Black-friars, where the " earthquake council" was held. This was built in the time of Edward I. and his queen, and comprised a very large territory, near the Old Castle Baynard. They had houses and shops within their bounds. It was surrendered to Henry YIII., in the thirtieth year of his reign, at the time of the suppression of monasteries, and he granted it to private persons for houses and gardens. The Black-friars' church was large and richly furnished with ornaments. " Herein," says Stow, the old chronicler, "divers parliaments and other great meetings have been holden. Parliaments begun at Westminster were adjourned to the Black-friars'. In 1522, the Emperor Charles V. was lodged there: in 1529, Cardinal Campeggio, with Cardinal Wolsey , sate at Black-friars' to question the king's marriage with Queen Catherine, before whom the king and queen were also cited to appear." The same year also sat there that parliament by which Cardinal Wolsey himself was condemned. Here also was buried the heart of Queen Eleanor, the foundress. One of the priors was constrained to pave the High-street round about the Channel walls, from the Fleur-de-lis towards the hill at Creed-lane end, as belonging to his demesne ; which particular, and others that might be found in the story of the persecution of these Black-friars by the White-friars, prove the large extent of ground within their liberty. It is very satisfactory to consider, that, 475 years after those friars and doctors held their council to cut off the doctrines of Wiclif from the earth, and to declare that he should not circulate the Bible, — those men being all dead, and their monastery and its cloisters entirely swept away, — there is standing in its stead, within their precincts and boundaries, in Earl- street, Blackfriars, the house OF the British and Foreign Bible Society, which now holds its PRINTING. 133 Jubilee, and renders joyful praise to God, who has caused it to spread, directly and indirectly, in the last fifty years, forty-six millions of copies of that precious word of God, and to give rise and assistance to some thousands of similar societies, both at home and abroad ! Wiclif " rests from his labours, and his works do follow him." His old version is very curious : " Therfore whanne Jhesus was borun in Bethleem of Juda, in the dayes of king Eroude : lo astronomyens camen fro the eest to Jerusalem and seiden, where is he that is borun king of Jewis? for we han seen his sterre in the eest ; and we comen for to worschipe hym" (Matt. 2. 1, 2). When "Wiclif made his translation, he could not fore- see the wonderful invention which, occurring seventy years after his death, would in the present times enable the Bible Society to print the whole Bible, and sell it for less than one shilling ! In his time, the price of a Bible, fairly written in manuscript, with a commentary, was not less than thirty pounds, — a most enormous sum, for it would have more than built two arches of London-bridge, and no working- man could ever have attained it, with his pay of three- halfpence a-day, unless, indeed, he had been fifteen years in working for it. Yet still Wiclif 's version spread widely, even in ma- nuscript, in distinct portions, throughout England. The art of printing was invented by John Gutenburg, at May- ence on the Ehine, in whose mind the idea had been secretly working for twenty years ; but being very poor, he was obliged to confide his secret to Faust, a goldsmith of that place, who agreed to find the money necessary to make types and presses. In 1450, the first book in the world was printed, and it is believed that that book was a Bible. But it was a Bible in Latin : it was called " the Mazarin Bible." It was beautifully printed ; and when offered for sale, not a human being except the artists themselves 134 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. could tell how the work had been done. It was in two volumes, and only eighteen copies of it are known to exist, — four on vellum and fourteen on paper. In 1827, one of the vellum copies sold for five hundred pounds. These were the Bibles which were said to have caused Faust to have been suspected, in Paris, where he sold, several of them, as a practiser of magic, which obliged him to reveal his secret. When the Bible had been thus first printed in Latin, it was soon followed by other translations. In 1488, the Old Testament was printed in Hebrew, the original lan- guage in which God had caused it to be written ; and thirty years after that time, the New Testament also was printed in its original language, Greek, by the learned Erasmus, of Kotterdam, who, while he was raised up of God, as the most accomplished scholar of his time, to perform this particular work, would not (as he says) have ventured upon it, had he foreseen the " horrible tempest" of conflicting opinions that its publication would raise. It was thus treated by the papal party: some of the monks were so ignorant as to preach from their pulpits, " that there was now a new language discovered, called Greek, and another new language, called Hebrew, and that people must beware of them, since these languages produced all the heresies." A vicar of Croydon, in Sur- rey, in a sermon, which he preached at Paul's-cross about this time, declared, '' We must certainly root out printing, or printing will root out W5," in which conclusion the friar was tolerably right, in more ways than one. Printing did at once interfere with the most innocent and praiseworthy occupation of those who spent their lives in convents, — transcription of the Bible and other works, which was also a great source of gain to the writers. As much reference has been made to the cor- ruptions of the system of which monkery formed a part, it IS but just to point out to you what had been, through THE MONKS OF CLUGNI. 135 all the dark ages, the real use of convents, with regard to the preservation of the Scriptures. There had lived, in the year 927, a noble Frank, named Odo, who became abbot of Clugni, in Burgundy, who was a reformer in his way; that is, he introduced among monks in general more rigid discipline. His convent and its rules became so famous, that many other convents followed the same. Hugh, another abbot of Clugni, had 10,000 monks under his superintendence. They set out well, by saying, that the most perfect rule of life is contained in the Old and New Testaments ; and though they invented a great variety of forms, and placed heavy burdens on men's shoulders, which the word of God had not ordered them to bear, still their rule enjoined the assiduous study of the Bible. The monks who could read well, were appointed in turn as the readers at meals. They read the writings of the fathers in turn with the Bible. The winter evenings at Clugni were really spent in listening to large portions of the word of God. The book of Genesis, in the long winter nights, was read through in a week ; Isaiah, in six evenings ; and the Epistle to the Komans, at two sittings. The monks la- boured with their hands, as by the rule of Zona ; and great care was taken, that, during the reading, no one should be overcome of sleep. The reader sat in an elevated place, and the hearers on benches ranged along the wall; and as there was no light except where the reader sat, one of the monks was appointed to walk round with a wooden lantern, open only at one side, to perceive if any brother had fallen asleep. If any one was asleep, nothing was said, but the lantern was set down with the light towards his face to awaken him, and directly he awoke, he knew he was to take the place of the lantern-bearer, and make the round till he found another monk asleep. " Every monk was expected to know the book of Psalms by heart, and some rules required the learning of the New Testament. The number of psalms required to 136 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. be repeated daily, was 138 ; but at Clugni, fourteen were taken away, on account of weak brethren."* These proceedings are really so like those that were customary at lona, that they cause us to look back once more to the records of the ancient British Church, among which we find the following : " Before Columba died, his chief seminary, lona, was in such a state, that he was able to speak with confidence of its future fame. His disciples supported its credit for many ages, and supplied not only their own but other nations with learned and pious teachers." " From this nest of Columba," says Odo-nellus, " these sacred doves took their flight to all quarters. Wherever they went, they carried learning and true religion, and seem to have done much towards the revival of both when at the lowest ebb." Next to the reading, we would thankfully notice the writing, of the Scriptures, which was carried on in the convents, through the dark ages. In most of them, a room, called " the Scriptorium," was set apart for the purpose. A manuscript of the eighth century contains a prayer used at the consecration of such an apartment, that what was written there might take good efiect. Sometimes the monks wrote in separate cells, made round the calefactory, which was a contrivance for dis- tributing heat to all. In the monastery of Tournay, in France, a dozen young men might be seen in such cells writing in perfect silence, for silence was enjoined in the Scriptorium, in order to secure accuracy as well as despatch. Many nuns were remarkable for the legible and beautiful character in which they wrote. One Diemudis wrote and ornamented ten missals, besides copying two Bibles and many writings of the fathers. Often this labour cost them the early loss of eye-sight. Perhaps, during a lifetime, the result of this industry might be forty or fifty folio books. * " Essays on the Dark Ages," by Maitland. olivetan's version. 137 It is deeply interesting to look upon these quiet sources of the world's literature, whereby the darkness of its night was interspersed with many stars, till the dawning of the day in which arose THE PEINTING PRESS,— the tongue of nations, the terror of tyrants, — and then the full day in which THE BIBLE SOCIETY employs this mighty instrumentality to utter to all lands the written voice of God. If we look at the first five-and- twenty years of the six- teenth century, Lefevre in France, Zuinglius in Switzer- land, Luther in Germany, and Tyndal in England, ap- pear before the world. They were all living at this time, in their respective countries, Lefevre being by far the oldest of the four. They were all engaged in the same work, independently of each other, — the translation of the Scriptures into different languages, each being evi- dently prepared of God as the instrument for the purpose; for God's hour was come, and his holy word, which had been 1600 years in writing (from the time of Moses till the close of the life of John), and then for 1300 years made known only sparingly, as copied by hand-labour, manuscript from manuscript, was now to be made acces- sible to all, and was to have free course, and prevail. We must return for a moment to the Vaudois Church, which had hitherto possessed parts of the sacred volume, translated by Peter Waldo, and from time immemorial the manuscript Romaunt version. In 1523, Lefevre com- pleted his fresh translation of the four Gospels ; and some of the Vaudois Christians, in the midst of their own deep troubles and persecutions, having some years previously visited the Christian Churches of France, and having seen that the copies of the Old and New Testaments in the tongue of the people, written hy hand^ were extremely scarce, and that moreover the translation hitherto made needed much revision and improvement, they invited Robert Olivetan to translate the Bible according to the Hebrew and Greek languages, revised by the Romaunt ver- 138 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. sion, into the French tongue. This being accomplished, the Yaudois Churches collected among themselves the enormous sum of 1500 golden crowns; and forming them- selves into a kind of Vaudois and Foreign Bible Society, they had the new translation printed in Gothic characters, at the press of Peter de Wingle, at Neufchatel, in Switzer- land, and caused numbers of copies to be circulated in France, at a greatly-reduced price, among those poor French Christians whom persecution had then previously despoiled and ruined. It is this very version of the Bible, translated by Robert Olivetan, and afterwards revised by Calvin, his relative, by the pastors of Geneva, by Martin, and by Ostervald, which the British and Foreign Bible Society is still unceasingly endeavouring to render more and more popular in France. But there is another French translation of the Bible, which appeared 130 years later, and which was an event as memorable as the one to which we have just referred. It was made in the year 1666, by Le Maistre de Sacy, the director of the monastery of Port Royal des Champs. The version of Robert Olivetan, even though perfected by successive revisions made up to the time of Ostervald, as coming from a Protestant, was never widely circulated among Roman Catholics. But, in the providence of God, it was ordered, that from the bosom of the Roman Church itself, from a section of her members who had made the nearest ap- proaches to the truth, and who were called "Jansenists," certain men were raised up in an especial manner qualified for the translation of his word. At the head of these was he who gave his name- to the translation, Le Maistre de Sacy, who first put his hand to this noble work, during his three years' imprisonment, on a charge of heresy, in the prison of the Bastile. It is very remarkable that Luther, the reformer of Germany (of whom more must be said presently), commenced his translation of the Scriptures in the prison of the Wart- DE s act's version. 139 burg. This employment made De Sacy happy in a cell of the Bastile. " How happy," said he, " I am in being here ! God shows me that He wishes me to be here." When De Sacy came out of prison, he finished the entire translation of the Bible into French, with his pious fellow-labourers ; and whilst they were carrying forward this great work, it is very interesting to know what was also passing in the convent of Port Royal. The nuns, animated by a spirit not hitherto very usual among nuns, had divided themselves into groups, and in the same manner that sentinels relieve each other at night, in order to maintain a strict watch over a town, they had established a course of unceasing prayer. When one group had finished, another immediately came to occupy its place. Kneeling down, they ofiered fervent prayers to the Lord, beseeching Him to pour down on the translators of his word the spirit of wisdom, light, and understanding, that none other than a holy and pure translation of the inspired volume — in fact, one like the original text itself — might issue from their pens. As soon as the version was ready, the good men who had been engaged in it took care to have it published, with the Greek and Latin text by its side, that all who were able might judge at once of the scrupulous fidelity of their translation. They despatched from Paris a large number of colpor- teurs who spread themselves over every province of the kingdom, being commissioned to sell the copies at cost price^ and even, according to circumstances, at reduced prices. This act of the friends of the word of God was supported by voluntary donations and subscriptions. The version of Eobert Olivetan, also, which you will take notice was printed 130 years earlier than that of De Sacy, was spread abroad in the same manner: indeed, it is to the appearance of that Bible that the origin of Bible colportage must be attributed, — a work which you will understand, we hope, when you have read the third 140 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. portion of our story. These colporteurs were tlien called " portes paniers," or " porteurs de livres," and followed in the train of those travelling merchants, whom you will remember as described among the Yaudois, as distribut- ing secretly " the gem shining from God," in manuscript. Once more, ere we approach that, to us, most interest- ing subject — the full translation and printing of our own English version, which was to have so vast an influence on the whole world — we must again recur to the " Bible of Every Land," and see, in one brief view, what lan- guages had sprung from the five great roots of transla- tion, from the first to the sixteenth century. By the end of the first century, A. D.,the Scriptures were written in — Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldee, Latin. Greek, By the end of the sixteenth, translations of large portions if not of the whole of the Old and New Testaments had been made in — Coptic, for Egypt, in the third century. * Gothic, for the Goths, in the fourth century. Ethiopic, for Abyssinia, in the fourth century. Persic, for the Persians, in the fourth century. Ancient Armenian, for the Armenians, in the fifth century. Syro-Chaldaic, for the Nestorians, in the sixth century. Arabic, for Arabia, in the seventh century. Georgian, for Iberia, in the eighth century. * Sclavonic, for Sclavonia, in the ninth century. * Yaudois, for the Waldenses, in the twelfth century. * Erse, for the Irish, in the thirteenth century. * Polish, for Poland, in the fourteenth century. * English, by Wiclif, in the fourteenth century. Six of these versions (marked *) you perceive were for Europe, five for Asia, and two for Africa; and some particulars of interest, that you would like to remember, attaches to all of them. PARTICULAES OF VARIOUS TRANSLATIONS. 141 Wherever the Bible was thus translated into the lan- guage of the people, reformation ensued, and churches were founded, and all, though in ruins, remain to this day, and are now experiencing revival from the free circula- tion of the Divine word which at first gave them birth. We have not much space for detail, but we must give you some information concerning each version. THE COPTIC. Aa Bb rr Aa Eh Z^i Hh 0e li a b, V g d e z i, e th i Kk AA Mm Mn ^i Go Hit Pp k 1 m n X op, br Cc Tt Tr V-p '\-t 'Vt 1?^ .«t hj VjL a P k t je s e e f<)»/3^ ,1.<^ b/i 1^ y,lu \)»* iij ^^ th sh i 1 ch ds g h a-^ 'L-L 7<^ \y-r i\j n.^ c^ n- z gh dseh m h, j n sch uo '^L »\h S.L M'- IJ" W-L 8- JV tsh b dsh rh 3 w d r t\3 h- ^ ^P-^ ()° (|>* tz u, V p k o f The Armenian Alphabet. This is a very old and faithful translation, and is called 144 THE BOOK AND ITS STOET. the " queen of versions," on account of its exactness and eloquent simplicity. THE ETHIOPIC, OR GHEEZ. ba la ba ma sa ra sa ka ba tba cba na a ka ®OHPj??mAAe/{;T wa a za ja da ga ta pa tza za fa pa The Ethiopic, or Gheez, Alphabet. This was once the common dialect of Abyssinia, but is now supplanted by the Amharic. We have mentioned this translation in the account of the early Abyssinian Church. SYRO-CHALDAIC. 2o6j uo^oA^Z 24^A>o oo;o John 1. 1. This is the version which existed in the interesting Nestorian Church, among the dwellers in the mountains of Assyria. Several ancient manuscripts of the gospels have been brought to Europe in this character, which the Bible Society have printed. Up to the year 1826, these people had no printed Scriptures : they said, " We have heard that the English are able to write a thousand copies in one day; would they not write for us several thousand copies and send them to us? We become wild, like Kurds, for we have so few copies of the Bible." The desire of this simple people has already been fulfilled. PARTICULARS OF VARIOUS TRANSLATIONS. 145 ARABIC. \ \ ^ «^ ^ ^ r* 7^ J '^ J J U'^ a, e, i, 0, u b t s, th dsch h.' ch d ds r z 3 o^ U^ U^ ^ ^ ^ ^ «J J iJ is J sch S3 z, dh t z 'a, 'o, 'u gh f k kj.k ng 1 m n w, u h, t j, i The Arabic Alphabet. This is the tongue not only of Arabia, but Syria, Per- sia, Tartary, part of India and China, half of Africa, and all the sea-coast of the Mediterranean and Turkey. This version is said to have been made during the lifetime of Mahomet, which may account for the knowledge of the Scripture he displays in his Koran, mixed with such fables as " Adam being several miles long when he laid himself down." Long indeed has been the reign of the false prophet. His fables have hidden the true Revela- tion for many ages from his benighted followers ; but the Arabic version is now going forth, no more in the rare form of manuscript, but easy to be carried and read wherever Arabic is spoken ; and it is said the sons of Kedar willingly buy and read the word of God. THE GEORGIAN, OR IBERIAN. a b g d e w s h th i k 1 m n i o psh rstuwiplikgh q sell tscli ts ds z dsch kh kkh dsli li The Georgian, or Iberian, Alphabet. 146 THE BOOK AND ITS STOKY. This would have been very precious to the learned had it not become corrupted. The women of Georgia are noted for the zeal with which they devote themselves to the acquisition of religious knowledge. THE SCLAVONIAN. fla Kb Rb Vrtt Aa Be ^>k Ss 33 a b w, V h d e sh (z) 8 Hh Hh Ii Kk Aa Mm Hh Oo lln Pp ijikl mnopr Gc Tt OVov^S ^^ ^X C5w U,u. Hh s t u f ch ot z (c) tsch lOiu Jjlijj Tiz Uki hk l^tGe lOic sch schtsch (mute) y (soft) je ju Mia/ftA QwOo g§ ^i|r Ba Vir ja o (soft) psi th v The Sclavonic Alphabet. This tongue was in use among the Servians and Mora- vians. The Bible was translated by two Greek monks, Cyrilles and Methodius, in the ninth century, and these were the founders of the Moravian Church, afterwards sheltered by Count Zinzendorf. Of the Vaudois you have heard already. Of the Polish there is little to say at present, except that it was made for Queen Sophia, who is said to have pos- sessed the whole Bible in that language. THE ERSE, OR IRISH. a a 6b Cc t)b ee pp 55 Hh li CI mm abcdefghilm Mn Oo pp R\\ Sr ^^ Uu 4 n n* n o p r 3 t u ar nn rr The Erse, or Irish, Alphabet. ERSE, OR IRISH, TRANSLATION. 147 This was once the tongue of literature and science. It is believed that the Scriptures were translated into Irish, very soon after the introduction of Christianity ; and the Venerable Bede informs us, that in his time, " the Scrip- tures were read in five dialects of Great Britain, by the Angles, Britons, Scots, Picts,and Latins"; and though the Erse version may possibly have died out during the in- terval, it appeared again in the age immediately before that of Wiclif, when a New Testament in Irish is stated to have been in the possession of a bishop of Armagh, who is supposed to have himself translated it. He left a memoir of himself, in which he declares " how the Lord taught him, and brought him out of the net of heathen philosophy, to the study of the Scriptures of God." Although he was remarkable for the boldness with which he opposed the corruptions of the Church of Rome, yet he was compelled by the troubles of the times to conceal his New Testament. He deposited the pre- cious volume inside one of the walls of his church, and wrote the following note on the last leaf: "When this book is found, truth will be revealed to the world, or Christ will shortly appear."* One hundred and seventy years after his death, that is to say, about the year 1530, the church of Armagh was repaired, and the manuscript discovered, at the very time in which Tyndal's New Testaments began to spread through Britain, in the tongue of the people ; and so truth was revealed, as in- deed it had never been before. er's "Bible of Every Land," p. 139. 148 CHAPTER VIII. TYNDAL. ERASMUS. TONSTALL. — MORE. WOLSET. SEARCH FOR TESTAMENTS IN LONDON, OXFORD, AND CAMBRIDGE. — SCENES IN ST. PAUIi's CATHEDRAL, AND AT PAUl's CROSS. DEATHS OF TYNDAL AND OF WOLSEY. DESCRIPTION OF FRONTISPIECE, WITH MARTYRDOM OF ANN ASKEW. LUTHER. LIST OF LANGUAGES BEFORE 1804. SUMMING UP OF THE NARRATIVE. THE PRINTED ENGLISH BIBLE. And wlio was William Tyndal, — tlie man wlio gave to England its greatest treasure — the English Bible ? There is a book call- ed "Anderson's Annals of the English Bible," which contains his life at length. It was a life devoted entirely to this great object. From his youth, he felt he had this one thing to do^ — to translate the word of God into his native tongue, and print it. He did so, and was martyred for its sake. He was born in 1484 , 100 years after Wicklif died, and about a year after the birth of Luther, and also of Zuingle. He passed his TYNDAL. TYNDAL. 149 youth in the midst of monks and friars, and was sent early to Oxford, where he made great progress, especially in languages. Now, Oxford was the city in which the New Testa- ment, just published in Greek by Erasmus, met with its warmest welcome, and William Tyndal read it, — first only as a work of learning, but soon he found it to be something more. That Book spoke to him of God, of Christ, and of being born again, till it completely subdued him. He felt that he had in his hand the Divine Eeve- lation, and that he could not keep the treasure to himself. He therefore read these Greek and Latin Gospels with many of his fellow-students, at Oxford, He then went to Cambridge, and, forming new friendships, became, it is said, " well ripened in God's word." There were two young men at Cambridge, who had also been reading this Greek New Testament, — Thomas Bilney, and John Frith, — both afterwards martyrs. When Tyndal joined them, they gained fresh courage, and be- gan to address to all around them that saying of Christ's, " Kepent and be converted:" " Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Bilney and Tyndal left Cambridge, in 1519. The friars had not then finished their persecution of the Lollards ; and that same year, Thomas Man, one of their number, who had preached to the conversion of many persons under the great oaks of Windsor Forest, was burnt alive for his doctrine, as well as Dame Hawkins, the mother of several little children, for having in her possession a parchment, on which were written the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, and the Ten Commandments, in English. But of what avail was it to silence these obscure lips, while the New Testament of Erasmus could speak? And God so ordered it, that Erasmus was a favourite with Henry VIIL, King of England, who whispered in the ear of a bishop very wroth with the Greek Testament, and at the same time ignorant enough to declare that Paul's 150 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Epistles had been written in Hebrew, " The beetle must not attack the eagle " ; so that even preaching in St. Paul's cathedral against the book was, as is said, " of no avail." Erasmus was so highly esteemed, that he was called " the king of the schools." What he had given to the learned, Tyndal was about to bestow upon the people. When he was between thirty and forty years of age, he was engaged as tutor and chaplain in the house of Sir John Walsh, a knight of Gloucestershire, and at his table he met with many of the neighbouring priests, at whose ignorance he was deeply grieved. He exhorted them also to read the Scriptures, keeping, it is said, Erasmus's New Testament always within reach, to prove what he ad- vanced. The priests disliked to see that book appear, and said it only served to make heretics, adding, " Why even we don't understand God's word, as you call it, and how should the vulgar understand it? It is a conjuring book, wherein everybody finds what he wants." " Ah !" said Tyndal; " you read it without Jesus Christ ; that is why it is obscure to you." " Nothing is obscure to us," said another priest; *' we only can explain the Scriptures." "No," said Tyndal; "you hide them, you burn those who teach them, and, if you could, you would burn the Scriptures themselves." This kind of talk is said to have induced the priests rather to give up Squire Walsh's good cheer, at Sodbury Hall, than encounter " the sour sauce" of Master Tyndal's company. They soon declared themselves his open enemies ; and if he preached, they threatened to expel from the church those who listened to him. " Oh !" said Tyndal; " while I am sowing in one place, they ravage the field I have just left. I cannot be everywhere. If Christians had the Scriptures in their own tongue, they could themselves withstand these sophists : without the Bible it is impossible to establish the laity in the truth." He went on arguing with all whom he met, in favour TYNDAL. 151 of translating the Scriptures, till one day a popish doctor, angry with the strength of his arguments, said: " Well ; we had better be without God's laws than the pope's." This fired the spirit of Tyndal, and he answered with righteous indignation: " I defy the pope and all his laws; and if God give me life, ere many years the ploughboys shall know more of the Scriptures than you do." He henceforth passed the greater part of his time in the library, and avoided these conversations. He prayed, he read, and carried on his translation, and seems to have read it, as he proceeded, to Sir John and Lady Walsh, who were determined to protect him. He soon, however, left them, for the sake of their safety, and proceeded to London, to seek another retreat, where he might follow out his work. He found a quiet room in the house of Humphrey Monmouth, a pious and benevolent alderman, near Temple Bar, and dwelt with him six months, " studying most part of the day and night at his book." Humphrey Mon- mouth was afterwards sent to the Tower, on a charge of having aided Tyndal ; but he thus justified himself: "When I heard my Lord of London preach at Paul's-cross, that Sir William Tyndal had translated the New Testament into English, and that it was naughtily translated, that was the first time that ever I suspected or knew any evil of himy The worthy citizen was soon set free. It seems he afterwards contributed largely to the printing of the New Testament. T3aidal began to fear lest the stake should interrupt his labour. " Alas !" he exclaimed; " is there then no place where I can translate the Bible ? It is not the bishop's house alone that is closed upon me, but all England." There lay at that moment, in the river Thames, a vessel loading for Hamburg : Humphrey Monmouth gave him ten pounds for his voyage ; and, carrying with him only his New Testament, he went on board. " Our priests have buried the Testament of God," said he ; " and all 152 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. their study is to keep it down, that it rise not again ; but the hour of the Lord is come, and nothing can hinder the word of God, as nothing could hinder Jesus Christ of old from issuing from the tomb." " That poor man, then sailing towards Germany, was to send back, even from the banks of the Elbe, the eternal gospel to his countrymen." He left England in 1523, and never returned to it. Humphrey Monmouth and other kind friends supplied his simple wants while sitting down to his work in a foreign land. He had now entered with great vigour on the two most important years of his life. He seems to have printed first, the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, and in 1524, he sent them to his friend Monmouth, and then re- moved to Cologne. Being again disturbed, in the midst of printing the whole New Testament, he gathered up the ten already printed sheets, and fled to Worms, where he finished it. It crossed the sea to England in 1526. Cochloeus, that enemy who had desired to strangle it in its birth at Cologne, wrote home to King Henry and the bishops, to watch closely all the ports against the entrance of " the pernicious book"; while the Bishop of London, having gained possession of one of the copies, took care to tell the people, in case they met with such a book, that he had found in it upwards of 2000 errors and heresies. Moreover, he at once entered into a secret speculation to buy it up, through a merchant, named Packington, saying, " Gentle Master Packington, do your diligence and get them, and I will pay for them whatso- ever they cost you; for the books are naughty, and I in- tend surely to destroy them all, and to burn them at Paul's- cross." So you see the Eoman Church burnt men^ and hones ^ and hooks^ but all to no purpose. William Tyndal, under- standing this purpose of Bishop Tonstall, sold him the books, saying, " I shall gette moneye of him for these JOHN TYNDAL. — SIR THOMAS MORE. 153 bokes, to bryng myself out of debt, and the whole world shall cry out, at the brunninge of God's worde, and the overplus of the nioneye that shall remain to me shall make me more studious, to correct againe, and newly to imprint the same." And so forward went the bargain : the bishop had the books; Packington had the thanks; and Tyndal had the money ; and afterwards more New Testa- ments came thick and threefold into England. The more these New Testaments were suppressed, the greater was the desire of men to possess them, and to ex- amine their contents, and this in spite of punishment. The sentence on John Tyndal, a merchant of London, and brother to William, by Sir Thomas More, was, " that he should be set upon a horse with his face to the tail, and have a paper pinned upon his head, and many sheets of New Testaments sewn to his cloak, to be afterwards thrown into a great fire kindled in Cheapside, and then pay to the king a fine which should ruin him." What would the citizens of London think now, if they saw one of its wealthy and honourable merchants thus treated for having a New Testament in his possession ? Tyndal's own words about the persecution raised were, — " In brunninge the New Testament, they did none other thing than I looked for : no more shall they do, if they brunne me also, if it be God's will that it shall be so. I purpose, with God's help, to maintain unto the death, if need be; and therefore, all Christian men and women, praye that the worde of God may he unhounde and runne to and fro among his people : Amen." The great Lord Chancellor More published seven large volumes against Tyndal. He held the error of the an- cient Pharisees, that the Bible did not contain the whole revealed will of God, but that the traditions of the church are of as great authority ; and he said that Satan had marked both Luther and Tyndal with an "H" in the forehead, for denying it, " with a faire hotte irone, fetched out of the flames of hell." These are the very 154 THE BOOK AND ITS STOKY. words of tlie friend of Erasmus, — the learned, witty, and eloquent Sir Thomas More. Tyndal only answered him, that the written word of God contains all his revealed will, perfect as its Divine Author; and that " if any man add to it, or take away from it, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things that are written in the book." The clergy, delighted with More, their champion, pressed upon him the acceptance of five thousand pounds. He was a noble-minded man, and refused to accept a penny of it ; and he seems to have foreseen that the " New Learning," as he called it, would eventually pre- vail. He himself chose a violent death rather than deny his conscience concerning King Henry's second marriage ; and, in reviewing his life in comparison with Tyndal's, one cannot but discern so much that is similarly great in their characters, that, had their souls been truly and in- timately known to each other, we are ready to believe they would have been united in the bonds of the highest friendship, and that when More gave up to his " dear daughter Margaret," on her visiting him in prison, the knotted whip with which he had chastised himself from his youth, and the hair shirt he had worn constantly to aggravate the stripes, he had (enlightened by the reading of the forbidden New Testament) seen the way to heaven clear, through Christ alone, and renounced his faith in penance and self-torture. If so, he must have had much to forgive himself with regard to Tyndal and many others.* In the year 1527, great rains having fallen at the seed- time, bread became extremely dear, and it was necessary to import corn. The merchants who did this, brought with them also 500 copies of Tyndal's New Testaments, secretly, which was the fourth edition that reached Eng- * Sir Thomas More was beheaded on the 6th of July, 1535, the year before the martyrdom of Tyndal. THOMAS GARRETT. — ANTHONY DALABER. 155 land. Wolsey, the prime minister, became aware that many were earnestly reading them, and resolved to make search suddenly, and at one time, in London, Oxford, and Cambridge. In London he found that a certain Thomas Garrett, curate of All- Hallows, in Honey-lane, Cheapside, was a receiver and distributer of these New Testaments, and that he had even then gone down to Oxford to make sale of them there. He was soon seized, and in the safe keeping of his enemies. Let us, meanwhile, look into the chamber from which he had gone forth, in Oxford, and see there Anthony Dalaber, one of the students devotedly attached to him. " When he was gone forth down the stairs from ray chamber," says Dalaber, " I shut the door, and went into my study, and took the New Testament in my hands, kneeled down upon my knees, and with many a bitter sigh and salt tear, I read over the 10th chapter of Mat- thew's Gospel (in which Christ tells his early disciples of all they would have to suffer for his sake). And when I had so done, with fervent prayer I did commit to God that dearly-beloved brother Garrett, and prayed also that he would endue that tender and lately-born little flock in Oxford, with all godly patience, to bear Christ's heavy cross, which I now saw was presently to be laid upon their young and weak backs, — unable to bear so huge a burden, without the great help of his Holy Spirit. This done, I laid aside my book safer This Garrett and this Dalaber were made to carry a faggot, in open procession, from St. Mary's to Cardinal College, and compelled to cast their books into the large fire which had been kindled at the meeting of four ways to consume them. They were then imprisoned in Osney Isle. The crown of martyrdom awaited Garrett, but not for sixteen years afterwards. He and Dr. Barnes were consumed in the same flames, in 1540. Eighteen young men besides these were captured in the 156 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. secret searcli for New Testaments at Oxford : among them was Fry til, the especial friend of Tyndal. He appears, like his friend, to have availed himself of the advantages of both the universities. The prohibited books had been found under the flooring of their rooms ; and, as a punish- ment, they were all immured in a deep cell under Car- dinal College, the common keeping-place for their salt fish, — a noisome dungeon, where the air and the food to- gether proved fatal to four of them. The rest were kept in this miserable abode from the beginning of March till the middle of August, eating nothing but salt fish : the names of those who died were Clarke, Sumner, Bailey, and Goodman : their record is in heaven ! And we may believe that it was given them, according to Anthony Dalaber's prayer, " quietly with all godly patience to bear Christ's heavy cross, by the great help of his Holy Spirit, and to receive from Him their crown." Now, let us see what were the fruits of the search at Cambridge. You remember Thomas Bilney, who, ten years before, had been reading, with Tyndal, Erasmus's Greek Testament. He had been the means of the con- version of Hugh, afterwards Bishop Latimer, and Dr. Barnes ; for it is a very remarkable feature belonging to the love of the word of God, that neither a man nor a child can love it alone. He who has tasted a pure foun- tain,— he who has looked upon a land of promise, must say to others, " Come and see it." No one ever loved the Bible, and suffered from read- ing it, but he caused some one or more besides himself to love it, and sufier for it too. It was long before the persecutors perceived, that the more men they persecuted, and the more books they burned, the greater torch they kindled in England. In these modern times, even papists, if enlightened, see with their champion. Dr. Geddes, that "burning suspicious books is the readiest way to make more of them, as persecuting for any kind of reHgion is the surest means of spreading it." OLD ST. Paul's cathedral. 15: The sergeant-at-arms arrived at Cambridge to make search for EngHsh New Testaments. " God be praised," says Foxe, *' the books were conveyed away from the thirty suspected rooms." He found therefore no hooks, but carried off. to London, Dr. Barnes, who had greatly offended the Cardinal Wolsey by speaking against his golden shoes and scarlet gloves. He was made to bear a faggot at St. Paul's-cross, and, for the time, was so far compelled, by fear and bad advisers, as to abjure what he had said, rather than burn, though he was burnt, as we have said, sixteen years afterwards. Shall we try and fancy St. Paul's and its neighbour- hood at the era of the Keformation ? We must shut our eyes, and bid the present mighty dome vanish away. There is a Gothic cathedral in its place, whose bold and Old St. Paul's Cathedral. 158 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. elegant spire seems to pierce the sky. It is worthily called " a famous building," and arose in the middle of the twelfth century, over the ruins of a still older church, which had been burnt in the first year of King Stephen, at a time when boys stole apples out of the orchards in Paternoster-row and Ivy -lane. This original church had been built, by Ethelbert, in 610, again on the ruins of a temple raised to Diana, in the time of the Romans, whose funeral urns have been found in the churchyard, so that we seem scarcely able to go back to the time when there was not a temple raised for worship, pagan or Christian, on this spot. The St. Paul's of the Reformation looked down, as now, from the top of Ludgate-hill, upon the smaller churches, and on the rich convents within the city's bounds,-^ on St. Bartholomew's, in Smithfield, on the Grey-friars, in Newgate-street, on the Black-friars, the White-friars, the Austin-friars, and the Crutched-friars, from whose monasteries issued the men in sad-coloured robes, who might be seen in every street mingling with the gayer multitude. People were accustomed, in those days, to meet in St. Paul's cathedral to transact their business. The sergeant- at-law, in his scarlet robe, white furred hood and coif on his head, gave his advices to his clients there. Each sergeant had his pillar in St. Paul's, and made his notes upon his knee ; and the old church was often the scene of most riotous conflict. This it also was when Bishop Courtenay had cited Wiclif to defend himself in this cathedral, which was densely crowded by the people. Lord Percy and John of Gaunt could scarcely secure an avenue of entrance for the reformer: these were his avowed friends, and Courte- nay began to quarrel with them. Wiclif was a silent spectator, John of Gaunt claiming for him a seat, Courte- nay saying, he should not sit there, — " each party so ex- celling," says the quaint old John Foxe, " in bawling SCENE IN ST. PAUL'S CATHEDEAL. 159 and railing, threatening and menacing, that, without doing anything, the council was broken up before nine of the clock." "We must show you another scene in St. Paul's. On Sunday, the 11th of February, 1526, there was to be seen, Fisher, bishop of Eochester, in the pulpit, set to preach against Luther and Dr. Barnes, and there sat Wolsey in all his glory, on a scaffold at the top of the stairs, among abbots and priors, and mitred bishops, in gowns of satin and damask, and Wolsey in his robes of purple, with his golden shoes and scarlet gloves, — all beneath a canopy of cloth of gold. Before the pulpit, within the rails, stood great baskets full of books, — the books gathered up from the search in London, Oxford, and Cambridge, — ready to be burnt in the great fire before the crucifix, at the north gate of St. Paul's. After the sermon, the heretics were to go three times round the blazing fire, with a faggot on their backs, and were to cast in the books. Thus Testament after Testa- ment was consumed, angels and men looking on at the deed. Burnet, the historian, says: " This burning had a hateful appearance in it ; and the people thence concluded that their church and those books taught different things, whereby their desire of reading the New Testament was increased." This was a day to which Wolsey had looked forward for three years. The preacher, Fisher, announced to the people how many days of pardon and indulgence were accorded to all those who were present at that sermon, and afterwards the cardinal and all the bishops went home to dinner. Yet, on that very spot where stood the celebrated Paul's-cross, on the north side of the cathedral, is situated at this moment the Depository of the Religious Tract Society, whence, after an interval of somewhat more than 300 years, the writings of Wiclif, Tyndal, and Luther, 160 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. with many others to which they have given birth, go forth throughout all the world. St. Paul's Cross. Half a century since, that Society could only afford to rent one side of a shop, and on the other side were sold China and earthenware; but, by degrees, the "little one has become a thousand," under the Divine blessing; and you who have seen, or may see, its fine premises, at 65, St. Paul's-churchyard, inclusive of eight houses once oc- OLD ST. PAUL'S CROSS. 161 cupied by tlie monks of St. Paul's, may call up in your minds this picture of Wolsey in ermine and purple, once dooming tlie Scriptures and Tracts to the flames, where in this Jubilee year of the Bible Society, the Primate of England has considered it his glory to advocate the "sow- ing beside all waters" of the seed of Divine truth. From the cathedral pulpit of our capital city, he has borne his testimony that " God's word is truth," and fitted to the dispersion of all " vain traditions," and has not hesitated to say of those who devised a scheme for its general circulation, that " it was well that it was in their heart," and that their exertions have his heartiest sym- pathy. May the word from his lips have free course and prevail I * On the 4th of May, 1530, a similar scene of burning Bibles also took place under Wolsey's eye. He had begun to burn Luther's books, at Paul's-cross, in 1521. Three burnings, therefore, were witnessed on this spot, which has been well called " the Thermopylae of the Reforma- tion." But the people still went on reading the words of life. Here the reformers preached Christ and his gospel. Multitudes gathered round the rude old rostrum, in seats or standing, while even the king and his court, the lord mayor and dignified citizens, had their covered galleries, in which to listen. Wlien it was stormy, the crowd sheltered under what were called the shrouds of the cathedral. The churchyard was then much larger than at present. It was bounded by a wall which ran along Ave Maria- lane, Carter-lane, and Creed-lane. Within was a spaci- ous grass-plot, and on the north side of the church the famous cross, " built to put passengers in mind to pray for the souls of the people interred in that church- * See the Archbishop of Canterbury's sermon at St. Paul's, on the occasion of the Jubilee of the British and Foreign Bible Society. 162 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. yard." * This cross was destroyed, in 1 643, in consequence of a vote of Parliament. To return to the last days of Tyndal. He was made aware, in some way, of the storm that was raging in Eng- land, and went on the more earnestly with his translation of the Old Testament from the Hebrew. He was now favoured with the company and assistance of his dear Christian friend, John Fryth, who was to him what Timothy was to Paul of old. They were settled at Ant- werp, and Tyndal was chaplain to the English merchants there ; yet his abode was a hidden, and probably a chang- ing one, on account of his enemies. One to whom we are all so deeply indebted, was living in painful and perilous hiding-places, afflicted with cold, hunger, and every privation, in addition to the hindrances continually thrown in his way to the prosecution of his work. Yet a heavenly atmosphere so appeared to surround him, that the messengers sent by King Henry VIII. to entrap him and bring him to England, could not talk with him, without being ready to be converted to his sentiments. When the last successful plot against his life was laid, the persons who executed it were obliged to bring with them officers from Brussels, for they could not trust those at Antwerp, where Tyndal was so much beloved. He was not aware of his betrayers, and was thrown into prison at Yilvoord, a village near Brussels, where he remained two years, and whence he wrote his beautiful letters to his friend Fryth, who was martyred in Smithfield. Part of his work also in the prison was that edition of the New Testament which he had promised to give to the ploughboys of Gloucestershire. It was on Friday the 6th day of October, in the year 1536, that Tyndal was led forth to be put to death. He was fastened to the stake, crying out with a loud voice, * Pennant's "London." wolsey's dying wokds. 163 ''Lord, open the King of England's eyes !" and was then immediately strangled, and his body consumed to ashes. Mr. Offor says, that he appears to have been sacrificed in spite of the most earnest efforts of all the friends of truth and liberty. Let us contrast for a moment the death of Wolsey, six years before that of Tyndal, on the 29th of November, 1530: he expired with the language of a persecutor on his lips. After the well-known words, " Had I but served God as diligently as I have served my king, he would not have given me over in my gray hairs," he said, " Com- mend me to his royal majesty, and request him, in God's name, that he be on the watch to depress this new sect of Lutherans, from whose mischief God in his mercy defend us 1 " And with these words, his eyes being set in his head, his sight failed him, and his spirit passed into another world, to give account of the things he had done in this. He had indeed been clothed in purple and scarlet, he had had the highest nobles for his household servants, his steward and treasurer had waited on him in white robes, and his master-cook in damask satin, as they did in kings' palaces. He had been for twenty years the favourite of all the princes in Europe ; but he died in disgrace, in Leicester abbey, and his very tomb there is unknown. In 1787, as a labourer was digging for potatoes upon the spot where the high altar of this abbey is supposed to have stood, he found a human skull, with the bones all perfect: it was conjectured at the time that this might be the skull of Wolsey. Of Wolsey! — who burned the Bible ! It is a fact to be noticed, that he thus died in disgrace, in the year 1530, the year of its third and great burning at Paul's Cross.* The dying voice of the martyr Tyndal had scarcely been uttered, before liis prayer was answered, and the * See " London in the Olden Time." 164 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. eyes of the King of England were opened so far, tliat he ordered that the Bible should be placed in every church, for the free use of the people : but his caprice did not allow this permission to last long. The scene depicted in the Frontispiece of this Jubilee Book, took place in the crypt of St. Paul's church, four years after Tyndal's death. The Bible chained to a pillar is very large. It was called the " Great Bible," and was a revisal of Tyndal's translation, made by Coverdale, and printed at Paris. • The reader's name is Porter : he was chosen as reader, because he could read well and had an audible voice. So many listened to him, that he was brought before Bonner, and accused of making tumults. Bonner sent him to Newgate, where, for teaching his fellow-prisoners what he had learned in the Scripture, he was laid in the lower dungeon of all, fastened by his neck to the wall, and was so oppressed with bolts and irons, that in eight days, this tall, strong, young man was found dead. The most conspicuous among the listeners in the pic- ture is Humphrey Monmouth, Tyndal's friend, of whom we have spoken previously. Behind him is seated Ann Askew, her head leaning on her hand ; her child in her servant's arms is by her side. She had been turned out of doors by her husband, a furious zealot of the " Old Learning," for studying the Scriptures. She was a beautiful and an educated woman, and her history is most touching. You see she is here listening earnestly to the Book for which she has suffered. Six years afterwards, she was called before Bonner, who examined her for five hours, and then without judge or jury told her she should be burnt. " I have searched all the Scriptures," said she, " yet could I never find that either Christ or his apostles put any creature to death." Before this hasty condemnation, she had been nearly MARTYKDOM OF ANN ASKEW. 165 starved in tlie prison, where she was kept for eleven days, what sustenance she got, being as she says, " through means of her maid, who, as she went along the streets with the child, made moan to the prentices, and they by her did send money, but who they were I never knew." Then, strange to say, after the passing of this sentence, with unheard-of cruelty she was racked, to make her discover other persons of her sect. You shall have the history of her sufferings from her own lips. " Then they did put me on the rack, because I con- fessed no ladies or gentlemen to be of my opinion, and thereon they kept me for a long time ; and because I lay still and did not cry, my Lord Chancellor Wriothesley and Mr. Rich took pains to rack me with their own hands till I was well-nigh dead; then the lieutenant, Sir Anthony Knevett, caused me to be loosed, and I swooned, and then they recovered me again. After that, I sat two long hours, reasoning with my lord chancellor, on the bare floor, where he with many flattering words persuaded me to alter my opinion ; then was I brought to a house and laid on a bed, with as weary and painful bones as ever had patient Job." Three days afterwards this tragedy came to an end. The burning, like those of Nero, was deferred till nightfall. Smithfield was bright with torch-light. On a bench, elevated above the crowd, sat that man Wriothesley, and his grace of Norfolk (who, in the picture, is standing resting on his sword, behind Ann Askew's chair), and beside them sat Bowes, the lord mayor. To the spot, Ann (her bones being all dislocated) required to be carried in a chair, and there she was joined on the gloomy pile by three fellow-sufierers, — the last group of martyrs in the reign of Henry VIII., the miscalled father of our Reformation. These three martyrs are, in the picture, standing near the Duke of Norfolk. John Adams (the first) is leaning with his back to the pillar ; John Lascelles (the second). 166 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. and one of the king's houseliold, is earnestly listening to the reading of Porter ; and Belenians (the third) is a little behind Adams. "Wriothesley then presented to Ann the king's pardon, if she would recant. " I came not hither," said she, " to deny my Lord and Master." Then were the flames kindled, and the spirits of the martyrs ascended to heaven ! Behind Ann Askew's chair, in the picture, is the wife of a London citizen, listening with deep attention. An aged man is led in, leaning on the arm of his daughter, whose little boy bears a chair for his grandfather. A blind beggar, in the foreground, has also crept in to hear the reading. On the right, in the shadowy part of the picture, Bonner is the most conspicuous, accompanied by his archdeacon, and Drs. Hugh Weston, and Storey. The bishop looks vexed at this public reading, and a monk near him aids him in the resolve to put it down. On the left, wearing a long beard, is Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, and Lord Cromwell, who had promoted this reading : beside them stand Miles Coverdale and Eichard Grafton. This beautiful picture was painted by George Harvey, K. S. A., and has been exquisitely engraved by Kobert Graves, A. E. A. It has been reduced for this book by that prince of engravers, the Sun, through the wonderful art of Photography, and is now used with the kind per- mission of the proprietors.* While all this was passing in England, there had been born in an obscure village in Saxony, a remarkable man, named Martin Luther. He was born November 10, 1483, about 100 years after the death of Wiclif. It is not necessary for us to enter into the detail of his history, for * The original large engraving, which is richly worth the pur- chase, is to be had of Messrs. Graves and Co., 6, Pall Mall, London, LUTHER. 167 the simple reason tliat it is already so well known. Who has not heard of Martin Luther ? — the child brought up in poverty and hard- ship, singing Christmas carols for a morsel of bread, afterwards the studious young monk in the library of Er- furth monastery, por- ing over the Latin Bi- ble, then newly print- ed, and " finding there much more than he had ever seen in his missal," and still, years after, resorting to the chained Bible in the church of his convent, and, while he learned I- u T H E E . portions of it by heart, resolving that he would unchain it for the world. If you do not know the history of this great German reformer, you must seek to know it. The whole reading- time of your future lives might be well occupied in filling up this mere outline of the „ Story of the Book, which cannot even name the names, much less give definite sketches, of the lives of all the men of the Book. It is enough here to say, that Luther was raised' up of God, on the continent of Europe, in the sixteenth cen- tury, to struggle manfully with that great Eoman system, of which you have so long been reading. He was a man of mighty mind, and of much prayer, who cast ofi" gradually the worst superstitions of his order, and at last, as has been beautifully said, by the author of " Universal History on Scriptural Principles,"* " rushed like a torrent Samuel Bagster and Sons, Paternoster Eow, London. 168 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. from the mountains, througli the channels of the water- courses of the Divine word (stopped up for ages by Satan and foolish men), and carried away with his force those blocks and barriers, so that ever since, that word has had free course, and prevailed." This was a mighty deed for mortal man. It was not accomplished in his own strength. We again advise you to see how he performed it, during his life of sixty-three years. Notwithstanding all his aggressions on the papacy (for he even burnt its bulls, or decrees), he died in peace in his native town, in 1546, the year of the martyrdom of Ann Askew. And now, with regard to the 300 years which have elapsed since this memorable era, they will come into review, more or less, in the history of the Bible and the Bible Society for the last fifty years. The newly Reformed Church in all lands, with its printed Bible in its hand, had its many martyrs. It also needed to be purified by suffering ; but " the king who cast into prison, or gave to the flames, men like Hitton, Bennet, Patmore, Bayfield, Bilney, and Fryth, should never have been called ' the father of the Reformation in England.' He was its executioner." And he was worthy to be the father of a queen like Mary, who thought to quench in blood, once more, the dawning light of Divine truth. But it was unquenchable. Between the years 1380 and 1804, that is, between Wiclif's first English version of the Scriptures, in manuscript, and the establishment of the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Scriptures were not only translated but printed in the ancient languages which were the roots of all the others : 1. In Latin, printed at Mayence, in 1462. 2. In Hebrew, printed at Brescia, in 1488. 3. In Greek, the New Testament of Erasmus, in 1516. 4. In Syriac, the Peshito version, in 1552. VERSIONS PREVIOUS TO 1804. 169 These were chiefly combined in Polyglot Bibles for the learned. The whole Bible was also printed, in the fol- lowing European versions: 1. Bohemian, by the United Brethren, in 1488. 2. Belgic, or Flemish, in 1518. 3. French, by Le Fevre, in 1530. 4. German, by Luther, in 1530. 5. English, by Tyndal and Coverdale, in 1535. 6. Swedish, by Laurentius, in 1541. 7. Danish, ordered by King Christian III., in 1550. 8. Polish, or old Cracow Bible, in 1561. 9. Spanish, by De Keyna, in 1569. 10. Sclavonic, ordered by the Duke of Ostrog, in 1581. 11. Carniolan, by Dalmatin, in 1584. 12. Icelandic, or Norse, in 1584. 13. Welsh, by Dr. Morgan, in 1588. 14. Hungarian, by Pastor Caroli, in 1589. 15. Dutch, in the year of the plague at Leyden, in 1637. 16. Italian, by Diodati, in 1641. 17. Wallachian, or Moldavian, in 1668. 18. Romanese, in 1679. 19. Irish, by Bishop Bedell, in 1686. 20. Livonian, or Lettish, by Ernest Gluck, in 1689. 21. Esthonian, by Fisher, in 1689. 22. Gaelic, in Roman characters, in 1690. 23. Wendish, or Lusatian, by four Lutheran pastors, in 1728. 24. Reval-Esthonian, at the expense of Count Zinzen- dorf, in 1739. 25. Portuguese, in 1751. 26. Manks, for the Isle of Man, by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, in 1767. The Xew Testament or parts of the Scriptures had also been translated or printed in — 27. Servian, in 1493 ; 170 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. 28. Eussian, by Skorina, in 1525 ; 29. Finnish, by the Bishop of Abo, in 1548 ; 30. Judeo- Spanish, in 1553 ; 31. French Basque, at the expense of the Queen of Navarre, in 1571; 32. Lapponese, in 1755 ; comprising thirty-two versions for Europe, in the com- mon tongue, and four for the learned world. The New Testament had been printed — FOR AFRICA. 1. In Coptic, in 1716. 2. In Sahidic (one-third of New Testament), in 1799. FOR AMERICA. 1. In New- England- Indian (the whole Bible), by Eliot, in 1663. 2. For the Mohawks (a small portion), in 1769. 3. For Greenland (the New Testament), by Hans Egede and Fabricius, in 1799. FOR ASIA. 1. In Turkish-Tartar, by an Englishman, in 1666. 2. Karaite-Tartar, date unknown. 3. In Arabic (whole Bible), in 1700. 4. In Tamil, by Schultze, in 1724. 5. In Malayan (whole Bible), by Leidekker, in 1733. 6. In Cingalese (the four Gospels), in 1739. 7. In Calmuc (various portions), in 1750. 8. In Hindustani, by Schultze, in 1758. 9. In Bengalee, in 1801. In ancient languages .... 4 For Europe 32 For Africa 2 For America 3 For Asia 9 Total . . 50 VEKSIONS PREVIOUS TO 1804. 171 completing the number of fifty different languages, in which the Archbishop of Canterbury said, in his sermon at St. Paul's, "the Society at its establishment found ex- isting versions." We thought you would like to know what these versions were, and have abstracted the list of them for you, from that most valuable work of Messrs. Bagster and Sons, " The Bible of Every Land," in which may be found a mass of that kind of information, concern- ing the spread of God's word, which even " the angels might desire to look into," and which has never, in one view, been presented to the world before. This list may possibly seem to you to contain mere names of books and men, but to those who could cast tke eye of their minds over the most interesting histories which hang upon each line of it, it would appear, as it is, a record which will assuredly be thought worthy of remembrance even in the world to come. Some of the versions have been already noticed. The Dutch, at Leyden, was the work of twenty-eight transla- tors, who always met and entered upon their task with prayer. Six hours were daily devoted to it, while the plague was raging round them. Not one was attacked by the disease, yet not one long survived the completion of the sacred volume. They were all men of great learn- ing, and many declared that they had never before laboured as they did at the translation of the Bible. In Turkish-Tartary, the missionaries while at work had to contend with all the inclemency of the weather; and often, from the incursions of the robbers, were obliged to bury their types. The meetings for the translation of the Malayan version were always begun with prayer and concluded with thanks- giving, and every difference of opinion reconsidered in solitude, with the greatest care. The history of the Tamil version is extremely inte- resting. This language is spoken in Southern India, by more than six milEons of people. It was begun by the 172 THE BOOK AND ITS STOEY. Danish missionary, Ziegenbalg, who died at thirty-six, in the midst of his earnest labours ; also by the indefatigable Schultze, a missionary from the Society in England for Promoting Christian Knowledge. He devoted to this translation six hours a-day, amid the heats of India ; and the result of the first distribution of that Bible was such, that when the Bible Society arose, the ten or twelve thousand Protestant Christians were clamorous for more, saying to Dr. Buchanan, " We do not want bread or money from you, but we want the word of God." Then the New-England-Indian, translated by the English missionary, John Eliot, who had first, with the assistance of the native Mohicans, to create the language, without any aid from books, and executed a translation of the entire Scriptures ! " The secret of his success is made known in a few lines which are inscribed at the close of his grammar of the New England language, published in 1666, ' Prayers and pains, through faith in Christ Jesus, will accomplish anything.'" But although, when the Society was first established, the translations of the Bible, in whole or in part, may have been about fifty, and it was considered that some- thing like four millions of Bibles had been circulated in the world since the invention of printing, you must think what is meant by the words " four millions." Think first of a hundred Bibles ; then of ten hundred, or a thou- sand; then of a thousand thousand; then of four times that. It seems a great many. It takes a very long while to count a million, straight-forward. But then you have also to think of the number of people in the world, — not four thousand thousand, but ten hundred thousand thousand ! And what are 4 to 1000? These four millions of Bibles were in circulation from various sources. Many persons had bought them of booksellers. There were some societies, both in England and in foreign countries, which arose in the eighteenth century, among the separate sections of the Christian REVIEW OF THE NAREATIVE. 173 Churcli, Having in view missions to tlie lieatlien and the local diffusion of the word of God, and their eflPorts, made separately from each other, had done much. It only remained for their united efforts to do more; and the one only object in which they could all unite was, the circulation throughout the world of the sacred Book, without note or comment. How this idea of union for that word's sake arose, and how it prospered and has received the blessing of God, is the Story that remains to be told, and we hope you wish to hear it. . We shall sum up what we have already set before you, in something like the words of Dr. Gaussen, of Geneva; for they contain a review of our whole narrative. Wlien one thinks that the Bible has been copied during thirty centuries, as no book of man ever was, or ever will be, that it was subjected to all the wandering experience of Israel, that it was transported seventy years to Babylon, that it had seen itself so often persecuted, or forgotten, or forbidden, or burnt, — when one thinks that it has had to traverse the first three centuries of pagan persecutions, when persons found in possession of the holy books were thrown to the wild beasts, — next the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, when false books and false legends were everywhere multiplied, — the tenth and eleventh cen- turies, when so few could read even among princes, — the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, when the use of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue was punished with death, and when the books of the ancient fathers were mutilated, — then we can perceive how certain it is that, on the one hand, the providence of God has put forth its mighty power, causing the Church of the Jews to give us, in its integrity, the very book which records its revolts, which predicts its ruin, which describes Jesus Christ; — and, on the other hand, that that same Provi- dence has caused the Roman Church (which in particular forbade its people to read the sacred books, and gave them in the stead of the word of God the traditions of 174 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. the middle ages) to transmit to us, in all tlieir purity, those very Scriptures, which say that Kome would be the seat of a terrible apostasy, which say of images, " thou shalt not make or bow down to them," of unknown tongues, " thou shalt not use them," of the cup, " Drink ye all of it," of marriage, " it is honourable in all," and of the virgin Mary, " woman, what have I to do with thee?" " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Matt. 24. 35); "The grass" wither- eth the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand for ever" (Isaiah 40. 8). THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. PART II THE BIBLE SOCIETTS HOUSE. THE PRINTING AND BINDING OP THE BIBLE. CHAPTER I. THE BIBLE HOUSE. ITS LIBRARY. — WICLIF's TESTAMENT. TYN- DAl's bible. COVERDALE's BIBLE. THE GENEVA BIBLE. THE bishop's bible. AUTHORISED VERSION. — WELSH BIBLE. EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. SWEDISH BIBLE. POLYGLOTS. DUTCH BIBLE. LUTHEr's BIBLE. BOHEMIAN BIBLE. EASTERN LAN- GUAGES. PERSIAN TESTAMENT. — PALI, HINDUWEE, BENGALEE, ETC. CHINESE BIBLE. DR. MORRISON. ANCIENT CHINESE VER- SION.— THE lord's PRAYER IN ALL LANGUAGES. THE DOUAY VERSION. THE SOCIETY'S DEPARTED FRIENDS. THE MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY. THE BRETON BIBLE. WALES AND BRITANNY. SYRIAN, PERSIAN, CHINESE, AND AMHARIC, MANUSCRIPTS. THE AMHARIC BIBLE. MR. JOWETT's ACCOUNT OF IT. HOW THE SOCIETY OBTAINS ITS TRANSLATIONS. THEIR REVISION, THE GENERAL COMMITTEE ROOM. THE CASE OF BIBLES. THE BIBLE FOR THE BLIND. THE SUB-COMMITTEE ROOM, PORTRAITS. THE BIBLE WAREHOUSE. We have now given you the history of what are called " the manuscript ages of the Bible," when it could only be written out with great labour, and much cost ; and we have alluded to the years in which it was first multiplied by printing, but not in any measure adequately to the wants of the world. You have, therefore, it is probable, some desire to hear all you can about the House of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in Earl-street, built within the precincts of the old monastery of the Black-friars, — the spot from which the word of God now goes out to all the earth. 178 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Do you think, as we did, that there are warehouses and workshops, somewhere in the back premises of this Bible House, where they print all their own books, and bind them before they send them away, at the rate of many thou- sands a week, all over the world, and all the year round ? Well, then, this was a mistake; for the Bible House it- self consists only of warehouses for its Bibles, offices for its depositary and accountant, rooms for its committees and resident secreta- ries, and a library of the various The Bible Society's House. editions of the Scriptures, and works relating to translations. THE LIBRARY contains some curious literary treasures. You would find there at least one copy of the Scriptures in every lan- guage in which they have been printed, and in many cases several editions of each. Here is Wiclif's New Testament, printed in 1810, — 426 years after his death. The spelling is very different to that which we now use. The following is a specimen ; John 1. 1-5 : — VERSIONS OF AVICLIF, TYNDAL, AND COVERDALE. 179 1 IN the bigynnynge was the word and the word was at god, and god was the word, 2 this was in the bigynnynge at god, 3 alle thingis weren made bi hym : and withouten hym was made no thing, that thing that was made ^ in him was liif, and the liif was the lijt of men, 5 and the lijt schyneth in derknessis i and derknessis com- prehendiden not it. You may also see Tyndal's Bible in black letter, ot whicb the following is a specimen ; Jno. 1. 1-5 : — 1 3Ii^ tfte beginngnrje toas tje ijjortJe, anb tje iooxtiz tarn initj ®oti : antJ tj)c iDortJe Inas (3oti. 2 ^^^ g^me irras in i^z ie- ginngnge initfj ©oti. ^ ^u tljinrjes toere matie h^ it, anb ioitfj out it, ij3as matie nntjittge, {Jat Inas matie. * En it inas Igfe, anti tf)£ Igfe Inas t^e Iggftt of mm, ^ anti tfje Igsfjt sjgnet]^ in t{)£ liardtncs, but tje tiardtnes comprrfjmtieti it not. This is the version which our forefathers welcomed so warmly, and for which they suffered so much, — the New Testament which Antony Dalaber "read on his knees, with many a deep sigh and salt tear." The date of this is 1524. Then there is Coverdale's Bible, printed in 1535, dedicated to Henry VIII. This is the version of which it was said, by that capricious king, " Let it go abroad among my people," — "the Boke of the whole Bible in English," which was laid in the choir of every church " for every man that willed to look and read thereon," — not that Henry continued his permission to the end of his own reign, for the clergy persuaded him that the people made a bad use of it. By another act which he passed, he forbade the lower classes to read it, but allowed it as an indulgence to " noblemen, gentlemen, and ladies of quality, in their houses, orchards, and gardens, quietly; and to read it to themselves alone, not to others." Still, from 1526 to 1546, when Henry VIII. died, a period of twenty years, thirty-one impressions of the Bible or New 180 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Testament issued from tlie press, besides several editions of separate books of Scripture. In his son Edward VI.'s short reign of seven years, the word of God was read with greediness, and every one that could read bought the Book, and busily read it, or heard it read, — many elderly persons learning to read on purpose. Eleven editions of the Bible and seven of the New Testament were published in Edward's reign. Then, as w^e know, in the reign of Mary, the Bible was once more banished from the churches, and its friends exiled or brought to the stake. Many of these exiles, however, took refuge in Geneva, and thence, after Mary's death,, came the English Geneva Bible, which was only a revision of Tyndal's version, executed after his immortal work had been diligently compared with the Hebrew and Greek texts. This whole Bible was published at Geneva, in 1560, the second year of Elizabeth's reign. This was the Bible most generally used in private houses, and was the first English Bible divided into verses. In this library may be seen the " Bishop's Bible," a folio book, one of the two new translations published in the reign of Elizabeth, under the superintendence of Archbishop Parker, who employed in the work eight bishops, and six other persons, himself revising the whole, — a work that occupied three years. It was published in 1568, and when finished, the archbishop said, with good old Simeon, " Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." The copy of this Bible, belonging to the Bible Society, is much worm-eaten, but has been pre- served by a new binding, in the style of the olden time. Then, of course, there is the Authorised English ver- sion, made in the reign of King James, — the only one which the British and Foreign Bible Society has ever circulated : all others it keeps as curiosities in its library* as well as for the purpose of collation and reference. This WELSH VEKSION. 181 version was compiled from all previous translations, col- lated or compared with the original versions, by forty- seven of the most eminent scholars of that time, and the basis of the version was still Tyndal's. It was published in 1611, and continues to be our Bible to the present day. Here also you will find the first Welsh Bible ever printed, — the version of Dr. Morgan, afterwards bishop of St. Asaph. It was printed in 1588, and is in black letter. Here is a specimen; John 1. 1-5: — gi^ 2 berfjreuati gr oetiti g gair, a'r gair oetiti sgti a JBuiu, a 2 f^inn oetiti gn g tiecfjreuati ggti a Buto. 3 CrhJgtitJfl ti 2 giBnaetfjptDgti pob pet^, ac Jcititio zi ni ijjtiaeb tJim a'r a innaetjjphjsti. \ gntftJO ti gr oetiti bgtogti, a'r bgtostJ oetiti oleuni tigniott* 5 ^*r 50leiini a leingrcfjotiti gn g tgiBgltoclj, a'r tgbjglted^ nft( 0£titi gn ei amggfixetJ, But now, you must look round on the cases of Bibles in all the various European languages. Am.ongst them you will see an old Swedish Bible, which is a remarkable curiosity in binding. A picture has been painted on the edges of the leaves, which you cannot see when the book is closed, but one cover being thrown back, and the leaves sHghtly separated, you perceive an antique picture of " Christian" on his journey up the straight and narrow way to the heavenly city. Not far oif, is a case of " Polyglots," a word which signifies, the Bible printed in four or more languages at once^ in separate columns ; for instance, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, very necessary for learned persons to compare. If you were making a fresh translation of the Bible, you would find it very convenient to consult a Polyglot. These books, as you may imagine, are very large. Here is a Bible in Dutch, weighing forty pounds, with its brazen clasps, and cover of solid wood, "bound in 182 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. boards," whicli did not mean pasteboards in the days when that was printed, — a great contrast to the pocket Bibles of the present times weighing only eight or nine ounces, and to the tiny edition of the book of Psalms in shorthand, found in this library. Would you like to see Luther's German Bible ? The following is a specimen ; Jolm 1.1-5 : — 3m 5lttfang voax baa SSort, unb ba§ ^ort voax Beip ©ott, imb ©ott wax bag SBort. 2 5)affelBige voax tnt 5(nfang h^ @ott. 3 5llle 2)inge finb butcE) baffelbige gemac^t, unb o^ne baffet^tge i^ nic^tg gcmac^t, wag geniad)t ifi 4 3tt i^m Wiax ba§ ^etcn, unb baS J^eBen trat bag Hd^t ber 3Jienfc(;en. 5 Unb bag ^ic^^t fd;einet in ber B'infternig, unb bic i^infterni^ ^abm eg nic^t Begrifm. Here is his Testament of 1524, and the whole Bible of 1567. He was the man " ordained to present his nation with the written word." He was shut up on purpose to do it, in the solitary old castle of the Wartburg, where the narrow windows of his turret looked out on " dark, untrodden, boundless forests," and here he sat down to his Hebrew and Greek Bibles, as he would never have been able to do in the city of Wittemberg, to fashion that weapon of heavenly temper — the Scripture — in the tongue of the common people, without which all his battles against the corruptions of the Church of Eome would have been in vain. He brought forth from his seclusion a deeper faith in God's word than ever, and with it, as the " sword of the Spirit," he cut asunder the bonds of Christendom. This version was, however, before it went forth among the families of Germany, revised most diligently by Luther and his learned friends. They were knowm sometimes to return for fourteen days to the re- consideration of a single BOHEMIAN AND PEKSIAN VEESIONS. 183 line, and even a word. Melancthon assisted in tliis re- vision. Lutlier's oiun copy of the edition of 1541 is now deposited in the British Museum. Here is the version of the Bible for Bohemia, — that important section of Austria, which will make you think of the poor, persecuted Bohemian Christians. They were the very first people who turned to account the art of printing for the more general distribution of the Scrip- tures, A.D. 1488. This fact is stated in a letter recently addressed by the Eev. P. La Trobe to the committee of the Bible Society, enclosing one hundred pounds as a Jubilee offering from the Brethren's Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel. The Bohemian version in this library is dated 1596. The following is a specimen; John 1. 1-5 : — 0la :pDcatfu ^V^ (SCorco, a to ©I'otro b^Co i? 95o^a, a to ©foico l^^V SBii^. 2 %^ i^Vq na ^ocdtfu i? «o^a. ^ gBjjecfi^ njeci) ffr^e ne ijcinen'9 fau, a Bcj nc()o rtic nenj ijcineno, co^ ijcineno geft. ^ 9B nem I'itrot Bl)!', a jircot ^"CjV fmtl'o libi. ^ U to ftcetl'o vo temno- fte(f> \vo\ii, ale tmi) ge neoBfd^l'!:). On another side of the room are versions of Scripture in the Asiatic languages, the tongues of the sons of Shem. This is th§ Persian Testament translated by that be- loved missionary, the Eev. Henry Martyn, published by the Bible Society in 1827, also in 1837, and in 1847: John 1. 1-5:— *^>u, Jvil> ^3 jL> ^l^^j* J JaA>-jt)^^ lA^^' J"^ cil-^j^ 184 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. A recent traveller, Mr. Southgate, declares that he found copies of this version in every city in Persia through which he passed. Ah ! how this result would have cheered the heart of that " man of God," as, feeble and lonely, in the garden beneath the walls of Shiraz, he sacrificed his life to his determination to accomplish the translation of this Testament! How interesting is the history of the conversion of the Persian Mollah Mahomet Kamah, from the gift of this New Testament ! We will give it you, in his own words: " There came to Persia, an Englishman, who taught the religion of Christ, with a boldness we had never seen, in the midst of much scorn and ill-treatment from the rabble. He was young, and feeble with disease. I was then a decided enemy to infidels, and I, too, visited this teacher to treat him with scorn and contempt. These evil feelings left me beneath the influence of his gentleness ; and before I quitted Shiraz, I paid him a parting visit. The memory of our conversation will never fade from my mind : it sealed my conversion. He gave me a book; it has ever been my constant companion, — the study of it my most delightful occupation. On one of the blank leaves was written, ' There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth (signed) Henry Marty n^ " This is the Pali version, the language of the Buddhists of India: John 1. 1, 2: — sqosqoog^ooSoog^oddoogsoIcSgooooog^ogsgoI oS '^COQ03QOOO0G3O, One of the Buddhist priests became a sincere convert while translating it, and finished and revised the work after the sudden death of his teacher, Mr. Tolfrey. The great translators for the continent of India have been Dr. Carey, Dr. Marshman, and the Rev. W. Ward, Baptist missionaries at Serampore. They reached India CHINESE VEESION. 185 in 1793 ; and in 1806 they were engaged in printing or translating the Scriptures in six languages. In 1819, they were printing the word of God in twenty-seven languages. This great and glorious work was carried on chiefly at the expense of the Bible Society. The result of these vast labours in India, as of the Chinese Scriptures in China, is yet to be seen in full ; but it is beginning to appear. The whole arose from the quiet proposition of one man, who was then obtaining a live- lihood by the labour of his hands, to an association of ministers, '* whether it was not a practicable duty to attempt the conversion of the heathen." This man, Mr., afterwards Dr., Carey, had been teaching himself a language as he sat at his work. God was preparing him to become the first of oriental scholars, for the sake of his word. The first collection for this magnificent object, among the Baptists, amounted to 13Z. 2^. 6d., which was collected in 1793 ; but since then the British and Foreign Bible Society have afforded assistance to Dr. Carey and his associates, and to the various Bible Societies of India, to the amount of more than two hundred thousand pounds ! Two or three days before the death of Dr. Carey, in 1834, he was carried down-stairs in a state of extreme exhaustion; and the Rev. G. Gogerley, then a missionary in Bengal, and his intimate friend, tells us, that the last- revised sheets of the last language into which he had translated the Scriptures, lay upon the table. His work was done and he was ready to depart. He had laboured in India for forty years, and had given to her the word of God, in whole or in part, in about thirty different languages. His simple faith in Jesus, and his deep humility in that last hour, were very beautiful. Here is the Chinese Bible, — the book that might be read by 360 millions of people, who are almost all yet ignorant of its message. See, in what curious characters it is written. The following specimen is a portion of the beginning of the first chapter of St. John's Gospel. 186 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. M A ^"^ 7fe„ z m A ^ m Bf # M Mo # M Ji ^ # ^ z i?^ Iff ^ M - m yj. M The Cliinese have no alphabet : every written character is a word. In different parts of China they speak the language very differently, but it is everywhere loritten in the same way. Three thousand different characters are in very general use. Some of them are simple, as ^ a field, ^j a horse, :^ a sheep ; and some are complex, as ^|J le, which means gain or profit. So it must be a difficult task to learn Chinese. Dr. Morrison's dictionary contains 40,000 characters. This also is found in the library of the Bible Society, in six volumes : it was printed in Malacca, and cost him ten years' labour. He was unable to print it in Canton, from the jealousy of the Chinese. Dr. Morrison was a missionary of the London Mission- ANCIENT CHINESE VEKSION. 187 ary Society, and he tauglit himself this difficult language, that he might translate the Bible, which he accomplished in the year 1814, after seven years' incessant labour, in a cellar, by the light of an earthenware lamp, to avoid observation ! The first Chinese convert found a blessing to his own soul, while assisting Dr. Morrison to print his New Testament. While thus engaged in preparing the Bible for his countrymen, "he began to see Jesus, and hence believed on Him, — the Holy Spirit printing the word upon his heart." In May, 1814, by the sea-side, at a spring of water issuing from the foot of a lofty hill, far away from all human notice, was baptised by his rejoicing teacher, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Tsae-ako, — the first-fruits, doubtless, of a great harvest of souls yet to be gathered in, after the sowing of the seed of the word. A famous marble tablet was dug up at Se-gnan-foo, in the province of Shense, in China, in the year 1625 : upon it was a cross resembling that used by the Syrians in Malabar, accompanied by an inscription in the Chinese and Syriac languages, describing the principal doctrines of the gospel, and recording the translation of the sacred Scriptures into Chinese. It would appear that, in A.D. 637, Olopen, a Christian missionary, arrived in China, and obtained an interview with the emperor, who ordered his minister, the most learned of Chinese scholars, to translate the sacred books brought by Olopen. This is very interesting, if true ; but not one of the copies of such a Chinese translation is now in existence. The tablet which gives this record was erected, accord- ing to its own authority, in A.D. 782. The Chinese themselves discovered it in 1625 ; and neither they, nor the Jesuits, who were then their teachers, understood the Syrian part of the inscription, till it was translated in Malabar, which is not a small evidence in favour of its authenticity. It may, therefore, possibly be concluded, 188 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. that the old Nestorian Church — that purest primitive church of the East — sent one of its missionaries to China, in the seventh century, which accords with the assertion of Mosheim's "Church History," that "in the seventh century, the Nestorians penetrated into China, where they estabUshed several churches." Mosheim likewise says, that the Nestorian Christians were found in China till the beginning of the fifteenth century. But, to return to the moderns. The Chinese Testa- ment can now be printed in China, in all these intricate characters, for the small sum of threepence-halfpenny. The library of the Bible House also contains a present from the Emperor of Austria, — a specimen of the Lord's Prayer written in every known language of the world, and in every dialect of the language, and in every age of the dialect. These large sheets give you a very com- prehensive impression of earth's many tongues. You can read the Lord's Prayer in English, as it was written in the year 1160, in 1370, in 1430, in 1526, and so on, with slight variations, up to the year 1800, which is the last given. This collection is called the " Sprachenhalle." We will now look at the Douay Bible, which is also contained in this collection, for you may often hear it mentioned, and it is right that you should have a little history of this translation. The Douay version was made by the Eomanists them- selves; for, as they found "by the Bible being printed so often in English, that it was impossible to keep it out of the hands of the common people," they resolved to have an English translation of their own. The New Testament they first printed at Kheims, in 1582, " translated out of Latin, with notes and necessary helps (as they say) for the better understanding of the text, and the discovery of the corruption of other trans- lations." It is not^ you perceive, the Bible without note or comment. The Old Testament was printed at Douay, in 1609. THE MANUSCETPT LIBRARY. 189 Fuller says of it: " It is a translation that had need to be translated"; a great number of Greek words, such as azymes^pasche^ etc., are left untranslated, which perplexes common readers ; and the learned Fulke observes, " that it is not truly translated ; that the translators have always laboured to suppress the light of truth, under one pre- tence or another." The notes connected with this Douay version are considered by Protestants as even more in- jurious than the text itself, which has been frequently re- vised and reprinted to this day, for circulation among Eoman Catholics, and is somewhat more conformed than it was to our own Authorised version, but it always con- tains the apocryphal books. If any persons possessing rare editions of the Scriptures wish to present them to this library, they may confer a benefit on the Society, and are sure to have their gifts carefully preserved. To those who have long known this Bible House, the library is hallowed ground, as having witnessed, from time tt> time, the presence of so many of its beloved friends and founders, now gathered to their rest. Of the latter, two only, and those near the end of their pilgrim- age, have survived to witness its Jubilee, — Dr. Steinkopff, and the venerable Wm. Alers Hankey. The devotedness of those who first laboured in this noble cause, was illustrated in the sentiment expressed by its first president. Lord Teignmouth, who, in his dying hours, said, " I would rather have been President of the Bible Society than Governor-general of India." This de- votedness, it is evident, still animates those who are so honourably employed in conducting the proceedings of the Society, — and never may it be wanting ! THE MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY. Adjoining this interesting apartment (the library) is a lesser one, called the Manuscript Library, and here, in 190 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. fifty-eight locked and numbered cases, are contained the written versions in the possession of the Society, — some of them yet unprinted, and some the treasured originals from which the Bibles circulated by the Society have been printed. The Old Testament in the language of Lower Bri- tanny is here. It is called the " Breton Bible." Bri- tanny is a large country in the north-west of France, 800,000 of whose people speak or understand a language very like Welsh. Those who live in the large towns can imderstand French, but nearly half a million of persons in the country villages can only speak the Breton lan- guage, in which, as yet, the Old Testament has never been printed. The manuscript version in this library was made more than twenty years ago, by Legonidec, a learned Breton, who also made one of the New Testa- ment, which was printed in 1827. Though in many respects an excellent version, it is not an intelligible one to the common people in general, and the Bible Society in 1847 printed, and has since circu- lated, another version of the New Testament, made by the Rev. J. Jenkins, missionary of the Baptist Missionary Society, labouring in that country ; and this version is found to be better understood. Let us hope that very soon this locked-up jewel, the Old Testament of Legonidec's translation, may be called for by the people of Britanny, revised, simplified, if need be, and distributed throughout the country. A Welshman requires but little study to enable him to converse, read, and write, in the Breton language. It might please you to see the 1st verse of the 1st chapter of John in the Welsh and in the Breton tongues. John 1. 1 :— Welsh. — "Yn y dechreuad yr oedd y Gair, a'r Gair oedd gyd a Duw, a Duw oedd y Gair." Breton. — " Er gommansamant e oa ar Ger, hag ar Ger oa gand Doue, hag ar Ger a oa Done." VAKIOUS MANUSCRIPT VERSIONS. 191 It is said, by those wlio have visited that country, that Britanny is the darkest part of France, and the most under the dominion of the priests of Kome. The priests read the liturgy in Latin ; but in the country districts they preach in Breton. They do not favour the growth of the French language ; and Breton will yet probably long be spoken by the common people. Here; is another treasure — a Bible in manuscript, once belonging to the Nestorian Christians, bearing the marks of water, fire, smoke, and hard usage. We cannot but look with great interest on the precious book in its old manuscript form, — in the form which it took long years so carefully to transcribe, and which was then preserved in its pocket of thick leather, and slung to the shoulder of the pilgrim-missionary, and carried by him, perhaps, many hundred miles. Look at this ancient Syrian Pentateuch, written on vellum. It has been badly used before it came here ; its edges are stained with damp and mould. These beautiful characters delicately emblazoned in red, and black, and gold, are Persian. And here is a copy of the Amharic Scriptures, in manuscript ; the penmanship of which is most beautifully executed. Every page is guiltless of blot or erasure. Another Amharic manuscript, emblazoned with grim figures, has been presented to the Bible Society by that kindred institution, the Church Missionary Society. The Rev. William Jowett, in an admirable paper he has written for the Bible Society, concerning its Jubilee year, tells some interesting particulars concerning this Amharic version, which we think you may like copied into this Jubilee Book. More than forty years ago, the French consul at Cairo, M. Asselin, met with a learned old Abyssinian, who had been the instructor of Bruce, the traveller, and of Sir William Jones. M. AsseHn, having saved this man's life, employed him afterwards in translating the Scriptures, 192 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. book after book, from tbe ancient into tbe modern tongue of Abyssinia. You will remember tbat, into the ancient language, Glieez, tbej had been translated by Frumentius, A.D. 330. When finished, the work long remained on M. As- selin's hands. He offered it to the French King, to the Emperor of Russia, and to the Vatican library, in Rome ; but they all looked coolly upon it. At last, in the year 1820, the Bible Society, having heard of this version from Mr. Jowett, who had resided in the East, asked him to return to Egypt, and purchase it for them. He ascer- tained its accuracy by comparing the first, middle, and final verse of every chapter, — a process which occupied him eleven days : the purchase-money was 1250/. It was then revised by T. P. Piatt, Esq., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and printed, and is now distributed in Abyssinia. There are many instances recorded of the readiness with which the people there are now receiving the word of God. Mr. Gobat, the missionary, persuaded some of their own priests to distribute it. He says, " If I had had some thousands of New Testaments, I could have given them all away to eager readers. I know some in- stances where persons have given all their property to purchase a New Testament. One man gave two oxen for a copy of the four Gospels, and another gave four oxen for the same." Mr. Jowett also tells us, with regard to the Turkish- Greek and Arabic versions, that remarkable and pro- vidential circumstances have prepared and placed these also in the hands of the Bible Society, — circumstances which the Society could not have ordered for itself, — showing that the finger of God had prepared, in different parts of the world, the persons competent to translate the Scripture (which is indeed no easy task), and all in readi- ness for these times of its universal circulation. Do you wish to know the way in which the Bible HOW TKANSLATIONS ARE OBTAINED. 193 Society has generally obtained its translations ? It is in this manner : the missionaries who are sent to preach the gospel in heathen countries, make it their first care to learn the language of those countries, and to translate the Scriptures into it, if they do not already exist, — for the missionary is nothing without the Bible. The mis- sionaries translate, and through the Societies with which they are connected, they present the manuscript trans- lation to the Bible Society, with a request that the same may be printed. If the translation is approved of, this is readily done, or else a grant of money is made to get the translation printed, at the missionary station, under the eye of the translator himself. The Bible Society not only bears the expense of printing, but in many cases the expense of making the translations by difierent missionaries. It does not trust the excellence of the version, how- ever, to the judgment of the missionaries only, but has its own Editorial committee and translating superintendent, who minutely examine and report upon every version. When a second edition of any Bible is called for, the first edition is thoroughly revised, and re-revised, and so each version improves by degrees. Such men as the late T. P. Piatt, Esq., Mr. W. Green- field, and the Rev. Joseph Jowett, who were very learned in languages, assisted the Bible Society in this particular portion of its work. Many other gentlemen not ofiicially connected with it have also rendered essential service in this department. The greatest literary talent will find its highest occupa- tion in the service of the Bible Society. Buchanan says, " He who produces a new version of the Scriptures is a greater man than he who founds a kingdom." A mis- sionary tutor, at Basle, used to give this excellent advice to his pupils: "Whatever you are studying, even if it be the driest grammar, think that you are doing it for Christ, and you will find it easy and pleasant." 194 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Professor Gaussen lias given us a thought concerning these translations, which we will give you as briefly as possible, ere we bid farewell to the library : " If some friend, returning from the East Indies, brings you a letter from your father, written in Bengalee, and you do not understand it, you will get it translated ; you will not be indifferent to it, because it is in Bengalee. You might have translations of it made into several other languages that you do understand, — into English, French, Latin, German, Spanish, Dutch, till you had no more doubt of the original meaning of the letter, than if you had been a Hindoo, and could have read it in the original. Every separate translation casts light on what the original must have been." In this place you have stood in the midst of all these lights upon the letter, — the letter from " our Father who is in heaven." It is now written in 150 languages, and in 177 versions, — the hghts of the dark world. The let- ter can never now be hid, lost, or destroyed ! We may now pass on to — THE COMMITTEE ROOMS ; and, first, begin with that of the General committee. There is a long table in the middle of this room, covered with purple cloth, — the president's chair being somewhat raised at one end of it ; and down the sides are fixed benches, retiring row behind row, on a raised stage, till the room is filled up. In this room, a committee of thirty-six gentlemen meet together, on every alternate Monday, in every month, and oftener if necessary, to transact the general business of the Society. Six of them must be foreigners, living in or near London, for it is a British and Foreign Bible Society. Fifteen must be members of the Church of England, and fifteen belong to other denominations of Christians. Such is the constitution of the Society — a noble illustration of the maxim, " Union is Strength." PLEASING INCIDENTS AT THE CEYSTAL PALACE. 195 These gentiemen are all laymen; but every clergyman or dissenting minister wKo becomes a member of tbe Society, by subscription, may attend and vote at all meetings of the committee. At the upper end of this room is the case of Bibles which was exhibited in the Crystal Palace, in Hyde Park, in 1851. All these Bibles of the Society, in the differ- ent versions, are open, with a small ticket appended to each, defining its language to unlearned eyes, and stating the number of Bibles which the Society has printed in that particular language. The attendant at the stall in the "Palace" says, that he found the existence of the Bible Society was compara- tively little known by those world-wide visitors. Many, when it was explained to them, said, " This is a noble work, indeed ! " and some among the poorest, possessing little of this world's goods, exulted as they passed it, say- ing, " This is the glory of the whole Exhibition ! and how it is hidden in a corner, when it ought to have had a place like the Koh-i-noor ! " We can quite understand how the friends of deceased translators were anxious to see the work of those they loved, and who had rendered such great service to the Society. One said, " My husband, now in glory, trans- lated this." Kussian, Dutch, German, Norwegian, Italian, Welsh, and even Chinese visitors, looked on the Bibles with gladness, while two French ladies asked for papers to take home with them, saying, " We are looking to Eng- land : France, Switzerland, all the nations are looking to England : the pope has put his foot into England, but we look to you and your Bible." Ah ! how high a position is this for England ! Will not every one of you help her to send her Bible to the nations who are looking for it ? — who are looking with wonder on her peace and prosperity founded on her Bible, and who expect to see her conquer with her Bible, and with nothing else, even the Pope of Kome ! 196 THE BOOK AND ITS STOKY. This committee-room in the Bible House is a glorious room in the eyes of angels. They see the word of God sent forth from it to all the world. If they could envy any among mankind, it would be those who sit at this table, and dispense the bread of life, sent down from heaven ! Memory can people this room with the forms of the good men who have sat here in days gone by, but whose tongues are now silent in the grave, — who always thought of the days when they met here as their best days, as the happiest days of the week. Perhaps some of the youths who read this book may have the honour to sit here in days to come ; and we really cannot wish them a higher honour, though their descent were from England's oldest nobles ! There are a few things in this committee-room to which we must call attention. Over the fire-place, and beneath the clock, you may observe Mr. Wyld's Bible Society map, showing the moral state of the world by the aid of colours, and pointing out where Bibles have been circulated, how many copies, in what language, and other valuable statistics. There is the portrait of William Tyndal, whose grave, mild countenance seems to look down with complacency on those who are carrying out the work which he began : there also are the portraits of the former presidents. Lord Teignmouth, and Lord Bexley, the old and tried friends of the Society, both gone also to their reward. A portrait of Wiclif ought certainly to be found there also. We noticed on the table a large book, loosely bound, like a series of papers slightly tacked together, and, on opening it, found that the characters, instead of being as usual printed in black on a white ground, were un- coloured, but large, and raised in relief upon the paper, like the impression of a seal. On the under side of the paper, the letters seemed pressed in, as on a seal. Those who have ever seen these raised characters, will know at once that this was a book printed for the blind. It was THE BIBLE FOR THE BLIND. 197 tlie Gospel of John, in English, and in a new and very simple character. This new and simple character is the invention of Mr. Moon, the master of the blind-school, at Brighton, him- self a blind man ; and his system is said to be so great an improvement upon those previously invented, that blind persons, who have been for years endeavouring in vain to learn to read on other systems, have in ten days ac- complished their desire by the help of this. It is a very good work, and within the power even of children to purchase for any poor blind person they may know. An alphabet of these new letters, with instruc- tions by Mr. Moon, costs threepence, and a card con- taining the Lord's Prayer in raised letters, fourpence: with them, a man who has learned to read before he be- came blind, may read with his fingers in a week. For those who were born blind, some kind of spelling- book in the same character is necessary, and you should ask for " Freeman's Card for Teaching the Adult," and *' Scripture Texts in Easy Words,"* which will cost \s. 6d. When the blind person has by these means learned to read, at the small cost of two shillings and a penny, the four Gospels, the Acts, the Epistles, and the Psalms may be had at the Bible Society's House, at the cost price. The Gospel of John costs eight shillings ; but you would not wonder at this, if you saw its size, for it looks like a great Bible. There are supposed to be about 27,000 blind persons in Great Britain, of whom only about 2000 are under instruction in schools. What, then, becomes of the othep 25,000? They spend many weary, solitary hours, which might be relieved and cheered, if they were enabled to read, and ponder over (as only a blind person can) the word of God. It is computed that not more than 1350 out of this 27,000 were born blind. Blind persons are * These may all be had in Paternoster Row. 198 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. very numerous in tlie neighbourhood of mines and manu- factories. We hope that our young readers will endea- vour in this way to become " eyes to the blind." A blind girl, in France, who gained her livelihood by manual labour, had obtained a copy of Mark's Gospel, and also an alphabet for the blind. Being quick and intelligent, she was able in the course of a few days to decipher a whole page ; but being herself desirous of making even faster progress, she took a penknife, and pared the skin from the tips of her fingers, thinking to render their touch more sensitive. Alas ! this only rendered them in a few days more callous, and she found she could no longer read at all. In a moment of despair, she took up her treasured volume, and pressed it to her lips, to bid it a last farewell; when, lo ! to her great joy, she discovered that she could thereby discern the letters, and from that time forth she has been reading with her lips. She has not only read the whole of Mark's Gospel, but has actually committed it to memory. Let us now pass on to — THE SMALLER COMMITTEE ROOM. The General committee of the Bible Society resolves itself into several sections, which are called by different names. The Editorial committee is composed of those who are able to judge of the translations. The Depositary com- mittee is that which superintends the printing and bind^ ing of the Bibles. The Agency committee is that which directs the operations of the agents of the Society. There are also House and Finance committees, conducted by men of business. Each member of the General committee is placed on that Sub-committee for which his talents best fit him. It is Bible-work in which they all find themselves engaged, and it is conducted in a Bible-spirit. THE BIBLE WAEEHOUSE. 199 The Society has always owed very much to its secre- taries. They have been men of unwearied energy and tried wisdom, who have served it by day, and often by night, — never finding their work done, for they con- stantly arrange work for others, while they diligently perform their own. Around this Sub-committee room are hung more por- traits of the Society's faithful servants and friends, to some of whom it has been said, " Enter ye into the joy of your Lord." Here are those of the three first secre- taries, the Eev. John Owen, the Rev. Joseph Hughes, and the Rev. Dr. Steinkopfi'. Here are also those of its warm friends, — of Wilber force, Granville Sharp, Admiral Gambler, the Bishop of Winchester, Charles of Bala, Broadley Wilson, Dr. Adam Clarke with his Buddhist priests, and of Oberlin, the pastor of the Ban de la Roche, of Mr. W. Greenfield, of the King of Prussia, and one of a Belgian colporteur, — a portrait esteemed worthy of a place, even here. But we must now leave what is called the " Bible Society's House," and enter — THE BIBLE WAEEHOUSE. Here the ever-varying stock of Bibles, in various lan- guages, is kept, and from hence they are sent, east and west, north and south, by land and by water, as they may be ordered by Auxiliaries, or, as the benevolence of the committee may direct their distribution in this and other countries. One compartment consists of English Pamily-Bibles : they are most beautiful volumes, and their price is one sovereign each. From the largest, let us turn to the smallest. This Diamond Bible, with marginal references, bound in roan, and with gilt edges, is sold at the low price of 1^. Sd, : the same book, handsomely bound in morocco, sells for Is., lid. These are the Bibles that weigh eight and nine 200 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. ounces, and this is their cost price ; for it is not the object of the Society to make any profit hy the sale^ but to extend the circulation as widely as possible. Ascending the stairs, we shall find ourselves still in a true place of business. As from the lower floor, so also from this. Bibles go out to all the world. See the wagon standing below to receive its precious load, to be taken to the docks, or perhaps to the railway stations, thence to give joy and spread light in our own country, or in some far-distant land. One feels something akin to reverence for that great iron crane. No " crane" in all London lifts such true riches. Close to the trap-door in this floor lies a pile of Italian Bibles. One of the warehousemen said to us, " Those don't move now. Since the pope has come back to Eome, he will not let Bibles into Italy. That lot, too, are Spanish, and this, Malagassy: they are both very dead. English Bibles are lively, and move away as fast as they are ready." " We sent out 9000 of these Diamonds last month," added our guide. Precious " Pearls," " Rubies," and " Diamonds" (for these are really the names of the different types in which the Bibles are printed), may the demand for them con- tinually increase ! Blessed be God ! Malagassy Bibles are dead no longer ! After seventeen years of bitter perse- cution, on the part of the queen of that country, instigated by her prime minister, the God who rules over aU has removed the blind and wicked man, and made the queen willing that her son, her own son, whose heart the Lord has turned to Himself, shall, with his prime minister, — the son of the very minister who persecuted and sent the missionaries out of the island, — recall them, and all the Christians, and open the ports to English commerce. And so the blood of the martyrs has been the seed of the church, as it always was. The sufiering Christians have wandered about in forests, and dwelt in caves, have been obliged to bury their Bibles, have been poisoned, THE BIBLE WAREHOUSE. 201 beaten, and slain, but in spite of all, have multiplied; and it is said, there are 5000 now, in Madagascar, who love the Lord Jesus, out of a population of 4,000,000, and 500 native teachers ready to go back to them from the Mauritius. Speed, then, over the deep, Malagassy Bibles, in the hands of devoted English missionaries ! May one of your number win its way to the eye and the heart of the queei^ herself, leading her to weep like Saul over her work of persecution, and to apply for pardon to Him who alone has power to forgive ! These are the Chinese Testaments. The words are not arranged across the page, but in columns from top to bottom. The paper is very thin, and printed only on one side, and the plain sides of two pages are folded together, like one of our uncut books. The paper for these is made, and the books are printed, in China. The cover also is Chinese, made of yellow paper, like silk, shot with gold dust. They are printed from wooden blocks, on which the characters are cut, after the manner of our wood-cuts. It is said that these Chinese Testa- ments can be prepared and sold in China for less than sixpence each! Here, again, is a Chinese book, printed in this country, on English paper, on both sides of the sheet, and bound after the English fashion. From this circumstance it may become, perhaps, an attractive book to the Chinese themselves. More piles of books of all sizes, and another floor of them! Swedish Bibles, Portuguese, French, Eussian, Amharic, Tahitian, Malay, etc. " This stack of English,** said our companion, " came from Oxford this morning. The boxes which strew the warehouse contain 20,000 Bibles for Toronto. Yesterday we could scarcely get ready as many more for Ireland, chiefly for the use of the schools of the Hibernian Society." There is a little room on the second floor, which be- longed to Mr. Cockle, known for thirty years at this 202 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Bible House, as its faithful and unwearied depositary: when, during his latter years, he was most busily engaged, he sought refuge from intrusion in this place. We have often found him here, in past time, but now we find him not. He, too, is " gone up on high," having devoted the greater part of his life to the service of the Bible Society. His little, empty, desolate room was the only sad corner of this rich storehouse. When the attendants were all gone, we stood alone for awhile among the great piles of Bibles, — alone with all those written voices of God, — the voice that answered Job out of the whirlwind, that thundered in the deserts of Sinai, that spoke by the prophets, and in the sweet harp of David; — the voice that clothed its majesty in tenderness from the lips of the Redeemer of the world, and through evangelists and apostles is come down even to us — to our homes, to our hearts, and daily lives ! Without ascending another floor, still more heavily laden with unbound Bibles, in various languages, you have noticed enough for the present at the Bible Society's House and warehouse, and you are invited to accompany us to those interesting places, where the Holy Scriptures are " printed," and " bound." 203 CHAPTER II. BIBLE-PRINTING AT SHACKLEWELL. — ANCIENT PRINTING-OFFICE. THE COMPOSITOR. THE READER. THE PRINTING AND BINDING OF THE BIBLE. Those who live near Oxford and Cambridge, where a great part of the Bibles circulated by the British and Foreign Bible Society are printed, may visit the Bible presses in those celebrated universities : there are others who may find it more convenient to visit a third great Bible-printing establishment, that of the Queen's Printers' at Shacklewell, in the suburbs of London. At this place a very large proportion of the Society's Bibles, both in English and Welsh, are printed. Most young persons in the present day have seen a printing-office : but we must suppose that we are describ- ing one to children in the age of Wiclif, when there was not one to be seen. In the early ages of Printing, in the latter end of the sixteenth century, it was reckoned so far one of the liberal arts, that it was only practised by men of birth and education. The compositors, or persons who set up the types, had an ancient privelege, which proves this, — they were allowed to wear swords. In old pictures of a printing-office, you may see the master-printer, a grave and bearded personage, dressed in a fur-trimmed robe, apparently giving directions to the workmen. These consist of several compositors, comfortably seated on cushioned stools, their dirks and swords resting against 204 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. a column by their side. Near them is an old man in spectacles, probably the reader ; others are working at rude presses. We have been astonished in remarking the beauty and perfection of the type of some of those early Bibles, printed with so few aids from that principle of division of labour which is now so thoroughly understood ; but then the impressions were not required in the numbers they now are. It would be possible to print 4500 Bibles a-day at this one establishment of Messrs. Ep-e and Spottiswoode. Now, let us see what the compositors do towards it. They each work at a desk, or frame, and they work silently, in a room by themselves. It is not now thought necessary that they should be gentlemen by condition, or even ambitious men ; — they must be those who are content to begin the work at its beginning, and to do it steadily and patiently. Their desk or frame contains two pairs of cases, one furnished with Koman letters, and the other with Italic. These cases are divided into nearly 100 partitions, some larger than the rest, for the letters that are sure to be most wanted. The letters 1, m, n, a, e, i, o, u, are far more frequently needed than j, k, q, x, z. These partitions are not labelled. A stranger to the art is surprised at the accuracy with which a compositor dips his fingers into the division containing the letter he requires ; but it is a fact, that the youngest boy in a printing-office very soon learns the places of the letters, without any difficulty. Those letters which he will want most are placed in the divisions nearest to his hand ; and standing be- fore the pair of cases Composing Stick. which coutain the Ko- man letters, he holds in his left hand what is called a composing-stick. THE COMPOSITOR. 205 This is a little iron or brass frame, one side of which is movable, so that it may be adjusted to the required width of the page or column which the workman has to set up. It is made perfectly true and square, and will hold about twelve lines of such type as the present. The copy of the Scriptures, which the compositor we saw at work was imitating, lay on the least-used part of the upper case. He seemed to take into his mind a line at a time, which it is easier to do from a printed book than if he had been reading very care- lessly-written manuscript, though even this can be done by a prac- tised eye. One by one, he places the letters for each word into his stick, his right hand going to the box, and his left securing each letter. He showed us that in every letter there was a nick which he always placed downwards the mo- ment he touched it, without look- ing at it. This nick is one of those pretty contrivances for sa- ving labour, which experience has introduced into every art. His mind was now fully engaged with his work : he had to attend to the right spelling of the words, the right placing of the capital letters, the right positions for the stops, the placing of the words at right distances in his stick, without crowding, or giving them too much space; for, as the letters are not all of the same thickness, the spaces necessarily vary, though, on the whole, they are regular ; and regularity in spacing distinguishes a good compositor. When he had filled his stick, he cleverly grasped all the type, and took it out, as if it had been one solid piece of metal. A practised compositor can do this, but Compositor. 206 THE BOOK AND ITS STOKY. a young apprentice has his patience tasked to the utmost, if, after toiling for an hour or two in picking up several hundred letters, he drops the whole while moving them, as he has then to mourn over the broken heap, which printers call pie, in the same way as children sometimes mourn over their fallen towers of bricks. The words are now lifted out into what is called a galley, and the galley is filled by the contents of succes- sive sticks. When as many lines are set up as will fill a page, they are bound tightly round with cord, and placed under the frame, and when as many pages are set up as will fill a sheet, they are arranged in proper order upon the imposing-stone. Each page is surrounded with a piece of wood, c'aW.Qdi furniture, which provides an equal margin for every page, and the whole is wedged tightly together in a stout iron frame. This is termed a form, and being perfectly tight and compact, it can be carried about with as much ease as if it were composed of solid plates of metal, instead of being made up of forty or fifty thousand movable pieces. From this form a proof is taken for the reader, — the first sheet printed is called a proof The first portion of the compositor's work is now com- pleted ; and if it has been well and carefully done, the reader will have very little trouble with it. It may pre- sent, and often does, a specimen of what industry and care can efiect at once : there will not be a wrong letter in twenty lines, — a gross mistake, never. The printer's reader looks over the proof while another person reads the manuscript aloud : he marks in the margin all the errors, and then returns the proof to the compositor, when he commences a second portion of labour and difficulty. If he has omitted a whole sentence, it will perhaps compel him to alter many pages, in order to insert it. In this new process, new blunders are often committed, and, when again revised by the reader, it is once more given back to the compositor, who has need of much patience and perseverance ; indeed, he is a very principal STEEEOTTPING. 207 person in tlie production of a Bible or any other book : it will require a little patience, on your part, even to read the account of his labours. Tlie proof being now tolerably perfect, the labour of a second reader is called in. It is his business to read " for press," that is, to search for the minutest errors, with the most industrious criticism. The form of type being at last corrected for press, the work of the compositor is at an end ; and when the desired number of copies are printed off, it is a part of his business to return the type to the cases, in order to furnish material for another sheet, and this operation is called distributing the type. This is a beautiful process in the hands of an expert compositor, who shows the dexterity acquired by long practice. He will distribute four times as fast as he com- poses, and, if necessary, return to their places 50,000 let- ters a-day. To know his p's from his q's is considered a great difficulty for a beginner. We expected to find, that, as the Bible is a book in very large and constant demand, we should hear that it was generally printed from what are called stereotype- plates. These are made by taking a mould in plaster from each page of movable type, and then casting metal into the mould. This is altogether rather a delicate and difficult operation : the types must first be thoroughly cleaned, and then rubbed over with an oily composition, to prevent the adhesion of the plaster. If the least morsel does adhere, and it often does, the mould is spoiled. If when removed, it is found perfect, the mould is baked, and this also is critical, for, if the oven be too hot, the moulds warp : then there is the casting, and the very best casting of metal into the mould cannot prevent oc- casional defects on the surface of the plate, which requires afterwards minute examination by a workman called a picker. He removes the small globules of metal which occasionally fill up such letters as the a and the e, in- 208 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. serts here and there a new letter, by soldering, and re- moves with his graver any impurities which fill up the lines ; this workman must possess a keen eye and steady hand. You may judge, from this description, that stereotyp- ing, or making a sheet of metal types all in one piece, is a process which requires much skill and experience. Still, as the Bible is constantly in request, we thought we should find it was mostly printed from stereotype- plates : but it is not. It is considered that stereotyping is the more expensive mode of printing of the two ; because, with all the improvements that have now taken place, in hardening the metal of which the plate is composed, a set of stereotype-plates will only print 150,000 copies of the Bible before they require to be renewed. On the other hand, from movable type, or type set up letter by letter in its form, it is possible, without renewal, to print a million copies. Here, however, there is revision made of the types, after every edition of about 5000 copies. Perhaps you would not imagine the value of the type required for a Bible : it astonished us. The value of the A D. 31. I 24 Verily, verily, 1 sa^ unto you, ;,He that typC for a DlamOUd BiWc, of which this a specimen, is several thousand pounds ; therefore type, of course, is carefully preserved. We inquired whether Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode now printed any Bibles with the Apocrypha ; because these gentlemen print for other parties besides the Bible Society. The reply was, that the copies printed with the Apocrypha decreased in number from year to year, and that not a thousand copies were printed in the space of two years. heareth my word, and beli )ch.3.16,18. 1 sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not & 6. 40, 47. come into condemnation; ybut is passed & 8.51., etc. I from death unto life. ANCIENT SCRIPTORIUM. — MODERN PRINTING. 209 THE PRINTING ROOM. The contrast between the Ancient Scriptorium and the Modern Printing Machine. 15 210 THE BOOK AND ITS STOKY. You would now wisli to pass into the printing-room. Here we did not find a cylinder-press, as for tlie printing of the The Times newspaper, but twelve steam-presses, of considerable cost, and each one attended by a man and four boys. These presses are set in motion separately, but all by one steam-engine in an adjoining room : the ages of the boys employed to attend them are from fourteen to sixteen, and they are said to become, from habit, almost a part of the machinery. This is an interesting fact to the young, is it not ? — that the actual printing of. the word of God (after the careful labours of the compositors and cor- rectors of the press) is accomplished hy young persons! This used not to be the case, when hand-presses only were used, which, in this establishment, are still worked in another department. About 150 persons are now employed upon the print- ing of the Bible, at Shackle well, instead of fifty, which used to be the number formerly, — showing the increased demand for the Holy Scriptures. But now let us begin to print. • On the solid iron table at each end of the machine, lie the forms of type from which both sides of the sheet are printed. At each end of the machine is a pile of wet paper : this paper is wetted, quire by quire, before it comes to the machine-room. It is dipped two or three times, according to its thickness, in a trough of water, and then opened, and powerfully pressed, to diffuse the moisture ; for, if not thus moistened, the printer's ink would lie upon the surface of the paper, and smear. By this pile of paper, at each side of the press, stand two boys; they are called laying-on boys; they feed the press with the paper, sheet by sheet, and two other boys, standing below them, take away each sheet as it is printed : some ten or twenty spoiled sheets are first passed over the types to remove any dirt or moisture. At the first movement of the great wheel, the inking- MACHINE-PRINTING. 211 apparatus at each end has been set in motion, and the steel cylinder attached to the reservoir of ink has begun to move. Printer's ink is not fluid Uke writing ink, but a stiff, soft paste. The ink-receivers are long, soft, elastic rollers, and are composed of a mixture of glue and treacle; they|ire renewed every week: a number of fresh rollers were hanging up again^ the wall. Two engineers are in constant attendance to keep the engine, the machines, and all other pdrts in daily repair. The first roller is C2ii}^di*the' doctor : it turns over on the surface of the ink-^reservoir, and takes up a small quantity, which it communicates to an inking-tahle^ over the surface of which three or four distributing rollers spread it equally. This even surface thm communicates to two inking- rollers that which they« shall impart to the forms which are to be printed : the ink is thus conveyed from roller to roller, that it' may be all of an equal fineness or con- sistency, and to prevent blots, and faint places, techni- cally called monks and friars. All these beautiful operations are accomplished in the sixteenth part of a mini].te, by the travelling backward or forward of the table upon which the forms rest, while each roller revolves on a fixed axis. The moment the form, or mass of type, has passed under the inking-r oilers, one of the boys places the damp sheet upon a frame, when it and the form are conveyed together under a smooth iron flat-surface, which power- fully presses the damp sheet upon the face of the types. After being thus printed, it is conveyed back to its former place, and the sheet is then removed by another boy to a heap at the side. When the ink becomes firm or set, the other side of the sheet is printed by the same process. It is so contrived that each page shall be printed exactly at the back of another page. If there be no extraordinary hindrance or obstruction, one man and four boys can print 500 sheets in an hour ; 212 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. indeed, there is not much for them to do, except to attend upon and watch this wonderful, unconscious giant, the steam -press, in his operations. They feed him with paper, which he takes, adjusts, prints, and renders back, always supplying himself with fresh ink for the printing of every sheet ; and all so quickly, that the boys can scarcely move fast enough to give and receive the work from his hand ; and when we think what is the work he is doing at Shacklewell, how glorious is the outlay of his strength ! If these twelve presses were all at full work (thirteen sheets being necessary to the printing of a Bible), 450 of these written voices of God might go forth from this room in one hour, — 4500 might be issued in a day. Oh! that the British and Foreign Bible Society might ever have occasion to order so many I Twenty-seven thousand might be issued in a week, nearly one million and a half in a year, from this one source of supply alone ; and it must be remembered, that this is but one of the establishments at work for the British and Foreign Bible Society. It can employ the giant, when needful, in all quarters of the world at once ; for, by the wonderful inventions and improve- ments of this nineteenth century, the books can be pro- duced at the cheapest possible rate, and circulated with the greatest possible speed. In the process of placing the pages of type for the formation of the sheet, a small mark is inserted at ^'ra- duated intervals on each sheet, so that when the book is folded and gathered together, a diagonal line is formed by these little printed marks across the back, thus enabling the binder's collator to detect at a glance a missing or a misplaced sheet. After the sheets are printed, they must be dried, which is done by hanging them in rooms and passages fitted with hot-air pipes ; and they are lifted with an instru- ment called a printer's peel. HANDS REQUIRED TO PRINT A BIBLE. 213 They are then pressed in a hydraulic press, and after- wards laid down in piles of about 1000 of each signature, on boards forming a square, in alphabetical order, and then gathered^ as it is called, by a boy, who stands in the middle of a square space, and collects the sheets in succession, according to the letter which is printed at the bottom of the page, called a signature^ for the guidance of the binder. Every sheet is then collated, to see that they are in proper alphabetical order, that no sheet is wanting, or one too many : when collated, the sheets are folded, separated into books, again pressed, and then tied up to go to the Bible Society's warehouse. The number of hands the Bible passes through in the course of printing are as follows :* — Compositor, Cold-presser, Four readers, Gatherer, Reviser for press, Collator, Corrector, Folder, One pressman and four boys, Booker, Looker-over, Presser, Hanger-up, Tier-up, — twenty-one persons in all; not to speak of — Type-founders, Printer's-joiners, Iron-founders, Printing-ink-makers, Wholesale-stationers, Paper-makers, and Composition-roller-makers, Engineers, who must each, with the whole series of workmen in their several factories, have combined to the production of the Book. Tliere are about fourteen processes, in the making of the printing-paper alone ; — and we have yet to bind it. * Furnished by Mr. Leighton. 214 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. THE BINDING OF THE BIBLE. It is a sort of principle among bookbinders, tbat the subject of a book shall be known by its cover. This^ however, refers to ornament, and. the Bible Society do not provide ornamented Bibles ; their great aim is ex- treme cheapness combined with good and strong work ; and they take every means to secure this. They have all their books bound by contract. We paid an interesting visit to the premises of the present contractor (Mr. Wat- kins), and found ourselves in a large, airy, and well- warmed room, furnished with long tables, at which sat numbers of neat, healthy, and happy-looking girls, their ages from twelve to eighteen, not sitting crowded to- gether, but each having room for her work — her pleasant work. As we looked at them and inspected their proceedings in detail, that we might describe them to you, we thought how much rather we would choose to work for our living as Bible-binders, than as milliners — Fashion's poor, pale slaves. Working to their graves — with so few hours' rest allowed in the twenty-four. At Mr. Watkins's establishment, the girls work ten hours a-day, and they are paid according to the quantity of the work they get through, and this tends to make them industrious. They have many checks over their performance, and the contractor is under an engagement to replace, at his own cost, any books found to be badly bound ; therefore, for bad folding and stitching they are fined; that they are, however, generally careful, is proved by the fact, that the fines do not amount to five pounds a-year among 200 workpeople. When you think that the Bible is printed in large sheets, sometimes sixty-four pages in a sheet, you will, of FOLDING AND SEWING. 215 course, perceive that these large sheets will need folding, even if the printer folds them once, for the convenience of tying up. They are received at the binder's by a warehouseman, who gives thera out to each folder, in as many successive sheets as will form the whole Bible. Each folder sits by a table, on which she spreads out the sheets. In her right hand she holds a small ivory or bone folding- knife, with which she flattens the foldings of the sheet : this folding seemed to us very quickly done, but it is so only from practice, for it requires ac- curacy, as the first and last lines of the print must range evenly with the opposite page. In taking up the sheet she looks merely at what is called the signature^ — a letter standing by itself at the bottom of the page, which you perhaps have never noticed. It is placed there chiefly as a direction to the binder. She takes up first letter A, folds the sheet down the middle and then across, and also once more down the middle; she then takes up the next sheet, letter B, folds it in the same manner, and lays it upon letter A; and proceeds in the same way with all the letters of the alphabet, till she begins it again ; only to the second A is attached a small a, to the second B, a small b, and so on : you can find these printer's marks, if you look through the Bible. After these folded sheets have been placed in a rolling- press, to flatten them for binding, the collator takes the groupe in hand, to see that they are laid in proper order, that no sheet is wanting, and that the folding is correct, and this is very expertly done : the sheets are held at one corner, and allowed to spring back, one after another, leaving, to the experienced eye, just time enough to catch the signature letters : this collation takes place in a sepa- rate room, and any error is at once adjusted. And now the book is to be sewn. A girl, sitting side- ways against the table on which the sheets are laid, takes 216 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Sewing. up that marked A, and places tlie back of it against three strings or tapes (or if it be a large book against four tapes), fixed in a sewing-press, then passing her needle, filled with strong thread, through, the sheet, from the inside, she brings it out at the back, and carries it over one of the tapes, pushing the needle through the paper again from the outside, — thus causing the thread to embrace the tape. Her left arm, as you see in the vignette, passes round the press, and returns the needle from one side to the other ; thus sheet by sheet is fastened to the tapes. This process is conducted with wonderful quickness: the polished needle flies in and out and over the tapes, in far less time than it takes to tell about it, for practice makes perfect, and this is the sewer's whole employ from day to day, and from week to week ; and her wages depend not on the number of hours she sits at her press, but on the number of books she sews. One little girl we accidentally selected, who was a learner, and only thirteen years of age, told us she had been in the establishment nearly three months : she said she had earned Is. Sd. the day before ; but we found she was considered, by the forewoman, a naturally quick as well as a steady child. The young people get accustomed by degrees to the close attention that the work requires, and that is necessary to ensure good wages. After the Bibles are sewn, they are again taken to the re-collating-room to be examined. Every sheet is looked at, to see if it may have been torn by accident, carelessly, or improperly stitched : this examination requires, also, that the mind be entirely fixed on its occupation, for the least distraction may cause an error to be overlooked. CUTTING, GILDING, AND POLISHING. 217 Presuming tliat no such faults have been discovered, the books are carried into another building, occupied solely by men. Here they are first placed in piles, a sheet of iron or zinc between each book, in a hydraulic- press, and pressed with immense force. In this press they are left some time ; and, when taken from it, are passed into the cutting-room. There a cutting-press, with a large, sharp knife, is employed. The books are very carefully placed under the knife, the size to which they are to be cut being regulated by a scale at the side of the machine, and then, by the power of a lever, the whole quantity are cut by one stroke of the knife. The gilder next receives the books, and screws them up in a powerful horizontal press ; the edges are then scraped, washed with a composition of red chalk and water ; and while this is drying, the leaf-gold is blown out from the book in which it is sold by the goldbeater, on to a cushion covered with leather, where it is placed smoothly, by the aid of a knife. On the work-bench is a cup containing white of egg, beaten up with water, a little of which is laid by a camel's-hair pencil on the still damp surface of chalk and water. The gold is then taken up, piece after piece, and laid on the book-edge ; this is done to all the three edges in succession, and to many books together, all squeezed tightly in the press, to pro- duce a solid and even surface. After a few minutes, the gold has become sufficiently dry and set, for polishing, by a process which would seem adapted to rub off every atom of gold, but it does not do so. The workman holds in his hand a long-handled bur- nisher, at the lower end of which is fixed a very smooth, straight-edged piece of agate ; this, he places on the gilt surface, and, with his left elbow resting on the work- bench, and the handle of the burnisher resting on his right shoulder, he rubs the gold with great force, not along the edge, but across it : no gold is rubbed off, but 218 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. the whole is highly polished by this treatment ; and when the gilding is complete, paper is wrapped round the edges to prevent their being soiled while the book is finishing. When Bibles are required with sprinkled edges, the books are tied up in quantities between two boards : they are then placed edges upwards, and a man holding a brush dipped in ochre and water, or umber and water, and sometimes in Venetian red, high in the air over the books, with one hand strikes the brush with a stick held in the other, and thus sprinkles a fine shower of the co- louring matter over the edges ; this is often repeated with another colour, and the cheap, bufi'-coloured sheep covers of Testaments for schools, are sprinkled in the same way. The marbled edges of books are produced by sprink- ling pigments of several colours upon a fluid preparation, contained in a large trough, where they float, the colours being mixed with oil ; and the edges of the books, being placed for a moment upon this surface, take up the colour. After the edges have been prepared, the books are then each singly hammered, to give a rounded form to the back, and a concave surface to the front: the back, being pre- viously covered with glue, re- tains the shape thus given to it. It is then placed between two boards, and again in a press, with the back uppermost, and the back once more hammered, so that it shall flatly incline over the boards ; and after va- rious minor processes, the book which seemed to lie passive in Eounding. ^^^ hauds of the workmen, to be moulded round or square by turns, as they pleased, emerges from all its battering, into the care of its " case- HANDS REQUIRED TO BIND A BIBLE. 219 maker," who will dress it in sheep, calf, or morocco, according to the price at which it must be sold. The leather, of whatever kind, being cut half an inch larger than the book, all round, is pared at the edges with a keen knife : this leather is partly stamped, before it is attached to the book, which attachment is an affair of very great nicety, for the over -lapping edges, and the turning in the corners, all require finishing with the greatest exactness, otherwise the book would be spoiled. The little head-band of bright silk or calico, crimson or purple, is now applied. The granulated appearance of the morocco bindings is produced by a curious mode of rubbing the leather against itself. If the book is to be stamped or embossed, the progress is aided by heat, and performed by a machine. We cannot enter into any further detail of the " decora- tion," as it is called, of the cover of the Bible. From time to time, new patterns and devices are presented for this purpose; and, after all this inspection, it is a greater wonder to us than ever, that a book, which requires the aid of — 14 persons to make its paper, 21 persons to print it correctly, 19 persons to bind it neatly, 54 persons in all, (not to speak of those of other trades, who must have combined to its production,) can be sold by the Bible Society for one shilling ! The number of hands which a Bible, with gilt edges, bound in roan, passes through, in process of binding, is as follows : * — Binder's warehouseman, First collator. Folder, Sewer, Koller, Second collator, * Furnished by Mr. Watkins. 220 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Paperer, Forwarder, Presser, Letterer, Cutter, Yarnislier, Examiner of cutting, General examiner of binding, Gilder, Wrapper in paper covers, and Cutter out of cover. Packer. Embosser, When the books are sent home to the Bible House, Avhich they are to the number (on an average) of nearly three thousand daily, another examination takes place, and frequently defective copies are returned to the binder to be made good. Any person finding an error in a Bible printed for the British and Foreign Bible Society, confers a benefit on them by returning it to the Bible House, as it makes all the parties employed more careful. No Bibles are voted by the British and Foreign Bible Society to other societies, or for any purpose whatever, in sheets. Every Bible it sends forth is bound: this is to prevent the possibility of the book afterwards being bound up with any of the apocryphal books, or with any note or preface whatsoever. The Society circulates the word of God alone, " without note or comment." And, now, farewell to the Externals of the sacred Book. We hope it has pleased you to examine even these, in contrast to the age of ancient manuscript. We pass on to the history of the Bible in the nineteenth century. THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. PART IIL THE BEITISH AND FOEEiaN BIBLE SOCIETY'S EISE, PEOGEESS, AND PEESENT OPEEATIONS. CHAPTER I. REV. T. CHARLES. PARTICULARS OF HIS YOUTH. — HIS MISSIONARY SPIRIT. HIS USEFULNESS TO THE YOUNG. SCARCITY OF THE SCRIPTURES IN WALES. CIRCULATING SCHOOLS. COMMITTING THE BIBLE TO MEMORY. GROWN-UP SCHOLARS. MEETING OF TWENTY SCHOOLS. THE LITTLE GIRL WHO HAD NO BIBLE. THE TWELVE PEASANTS. MR. CHARLEs's VISIT TO LONDON. — TRACT COMMITTEE. WANTS OF WALES, AND OF THE WORLD. FORMA- TION OF THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY. COLLEC- TIONS IN WALES. INFLUENTIAL FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS. — OBJECTS AND CONSTITUTION OF THE SOCIETY, FORMED ALIKE FOR HOME AND THE WORLD. ITS PRINCIPLE. UNION AND CO-OPERA- TION OF ALL PARTIES. REV. J. OWEN. REV. J. HUGHES. We are coming at last to the sunshiny portion of the Story of the Book, — having now nothing but bright and happy work before us. We have been obliged to go and weep over the graves of the ancient martyrs and trans- lators, that we might know the price which had been paid for our precious Bible, We hope that many young persons will henceforth take the treasure into their hands, with loving, reverent, and grateful hearts; and perhaps with more gladness than they ever felt before, and pass on to the true and wonderful tale of the last fifty years. If we were to tell you one-tenth of what there is to be told, of the times in which this Book has been allowed and enabled to travel freely round the world, our book would be too large for you to buy, or read. You will wish to know, first, how the British and Foreign Bible Society arose. It has been said, very truly, that it " grew out of a want," — the loant of the Bible in Wales. You will best perceive this want, if we recount to you 224 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. some incidents in the life of the Eev. Thomas Charles, and more especially those circumstances which led to the formation of the Bri- tish and Foreign Bible Society, He has been called the "Apostolic Charles of Bala" (a town in Merioneth- shire), and was a man of a truly missionary spirit. At the begin- ning of this century, he was about fifty years of age, and had been twenty years labour- ing in Wales, " wan- dering up and down," as he says, " that cold and barren country, to preach the everlasting gospel." The following is a sketch of his life, and of his labours : — At the age of eighteen, being deeply impressed with the value of his own soul, and of the glorious plan of salvation set forth in the gospel, he became anxious also for the salvation of others. His first efforts to this end began at home, in his father's family, and being naturally of a mild temper and disposition, he was beloved by all his relations ; notwithstanding his age, and, as he says, his little knowledge, he was enabled to maintain much influence for good, and by his means family- worship was soon established in his father's house. His education commenced at Carmarthen, and was continued at Oxford, by remarkable supplies of God's providence, afforded as he needed them, in the detail of which, he remarks, " There are no difficulties with God: difficulties exist wholly in our unbelieving hearts." CHARLES, ME. CHARLES. 225 In tKe year 1777, lie spent liis vacation with the Eev. John Newton, that well-known and excellent clergyman, the friend of the poet Cowper, and he seems greatly to have valued this visit, during which he also heard Mr. Eomaine preach. Intercourse with men such as these, in early life, is a great privilege, and often fixes the character and pursuits of young persons. If these two good men could have foreseen in young- Charles, one of the fathers and founders of the noblest Society in the world, they would still more have rejoiced to take him by the hand, and speed him on his way. His character was evidently remarkable for ingenuous- ness and humility, — the sweet fruits of true piety. He was ordained deacon at the age of twenty-three, at Ox- ford; and he says, " I felt, on that day, an earnest desire that God would enable me to devote myself wholly to his service, for the rest of my days on earth." We cannot go into all the details of Mr. Charles's history. He had an excellent wife, for whom he waited several years. His income from his curacy, at one time, was not more than forty pounds a year, but this did not prevent his doing much good among his parishioners; for if he had not silver and gold to give, he could offer medicine for the healing of the soul, and hold forth the promise of eternal life in Christ Jesus. He was made especially useful to children and young people. Finding many of them at Bala very ignorant, he invited them to his house, where he gave them religious instruction, and catechised them on the Sabbath even- ings. His preaching, being of a deeply-impressive and faithful character, had given offence to many who were not willing to live according to its standard. His services were rejected, to his great grief, by three churches in the establishment, — a circumstance which we mention to show the state of religion at that time in North Wales. He was, therefore, though a churchman, as he says, from educa- tion and principle, compelled to remain unemployed, and 226 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. feel liimself an " unprofitable servant," (fc else to itinerate, which means, to preach from place to place; and, in choosing the latter course, he especially devoted himself to the spiritual good of children and young people. The fruits of his labours, in this way, and the result of his long and toilsome journeys, are still visible in Wales, in the superior knowledge of the Scriptures possessed by many whom he taught as children. Many thousands, at the great day of account, will probably acknowledge him as the instrument of their salvation, during the thirty years of his earnest ministry. In many parts of the country the sound of the gospel had scarcely been heard for centuries, and the people were as ignorant as those in a heathen land. The Bible, though printed long before, and in Welsh, by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, instituted in 1698, was scarcely to be found in any poor cottage in Wales, in the year 1783. In many parishes, not ten persons could read. Where such darkness existed, of course the works of darkness would be carried on, and the people were to a great extent immoral and ungodly. In 1785, Mr. Charles preached at Llangeitho, and the great and venerable Rowland, a Welsh minister of great celebrity, when he heard him, said, " Mr. Charles is a gift from the Lord to North Wales"; and so, certainly, he proved to be, for he was the instrument of leading very many to say, " What shall we do to be saved?" He soon perceived, that, in order to do any permanent good, the children must be regularly instructed ; this, therefore, he undertook as his special work. There had been established a few years before, by the liberality of a lady, named Mrs. Bevan (who left ten thousand pounds in her will for the purpose), what were called " circulating schools," movable from one place to another, at the end of nine or twelve months. These schools are still to be found in diflferent parts of Wales ; PROGRESS OF EDUCATION IN WALES. 227 but, at tlie peridfi we refer to, tliey liad ceased, owing to the property being disputed in Chancery. Mr. Charles wished to re-establish such schools, to pro- cure teachers, and to raise money to support them. Some of the first teachers he taught himself. You have heard it said, " If you want anything done thoroughly, you must do it yourself" He raised the money by the help of benevolent English friends ; and he began with one teacher, — a small beginning for the great and glorious re- sults afterwards attained; for there is now no corner of that country without the means of learning to read the word of God, either in week-day or Sunday schools. Mr. Charles wished chiefly to teach those children to read the Bible in their own language ; and as the work progressed, the principles and morals of the people where the schools had been instituted, visibly improved: soon the whole country was filled with schools of one kind or other, and then a general concern for eternal things began to appear in many large districts. He paid every teacher 12/. a-year. Three quarters of a year were found sufficient to teach the children to read the Bible well, in Welsh ; and then Mr. Charles visited the schools by turns, and catechised publicly, — a plan suited to a wild and mountainous district. After a while, the parents also began to attend the schools, and the teachers did not refuse to accept grown-up scholars. Many an old person was obliged to buy spectacles for the sake of learning to read the word of God, and neither age nor dimness of sight deterred them. The young often spent the greatest part of the night in learning chapters, or searching the Scriptures on points given them to seek out and prove. Boys and girls from eight to sixteen learned whole books of the Bible ; parents and children recited together; and one little girl is mentioned, who, at five years old, could repeat a hundred chapters, and went on learning another every week. This will remind you of the children of the Vaudois, 228 THE BOOK AJiTD ITS STORY. before mentioned, whose parents taught them so to lay up the word in their hearts, that it could not be taken away from them. They, too, lived among mountains and rocks, as these Welsh children did; but the poor, persecuted Vaudois could never enjoy meetings such as were sometimes held, in North Wales, of all these schools, that they might be publicly catechised together. They were held frequently on a fine Sabbath, when the children, accompanied by their teachers, walked, perhaps, ten miles in the quiet, early morning, to the appointed place, from many a cottage hidden among the hills. Twenty schools would thus be assembled " in the still valley, with the moun- tains round"; and to this vast concourse of persons, Mr. Charles preached, after the examination of the children. We are told, that, in the year 1802, he was walking in the streets of Bala, when he met with a child who attended his ministry. He inquired if she could repeat the text from which he had preached on the previous Sunday : she was silent, and the inquiry was repeated. At length she answered, " The weather has been so bad that I could not get to read the Bible." The reason of this was soon ascertained : there was no copy to which she could gain access, either at her own home, or among her friends; and she was accustomed to walk seven miles over the hills, every week, to a place where she could obtain a Welsh Bible, to read the chapter from which the minister took his text. During that week the cold and stormy weather, it seems, had hindered her journey. Are we, who have Bibles of our own, always so anxious to consult them, after we have listened to a sermon? Another incident, proving the want of the Scriptures in Wales, may be mentioned. Twelve Welsh peasants subscribed together to purchase a copy of the Bible which, like the schools, was to cir- culate among the hills. Each family was to keep it a month at a time, and then pass it forward. On its arrival among them, an old man, who had been the last sub- ORIGIN OF THE BIBLE SOCIETY. 229 scriber, finding his narae last upon tlie list, wept bitterly, saying, "Alas! alas! It will be twelve months before it comes to me, and I dare say I shall be gone, before that time, into another world!" Mr. Charles was deeply grieved that there were so few Bibles in Wales, — so lew in comparison with the wants of the people. The Society for Prom.oting Christian Knowledge had, after long consideration, printed 10,000 Bibles, and in the year 1799 this edition was distributed. They were no sooner published than sold. Not a single copy was left, and still not a fourth part of the country was supplied. The Society above named hesitated about printing another edition; and notwithstanding the ear- nest entreaties of the Rev. T. Jones of Creaton (who, like Mr. Charles, felt for his countrymen), seconded by the Bishop of Peterborough and others, all hopes of receiv- ing further supplies from that quarter were abandoned. Hence it became necessary to devise some other means to provide Bibles for Wales. ' ' The j oy of those who received the Bibles amounted to exultation, while the grief of such as could not obtain a copy fell little short of anguish." * In December, 1802, Mr. Charles visited London, in- tending to interest his friends in certain plans for securing his object. The subject of the Bibles was much on his mind; and, one morning, lying awake and thinking, the idea of having a society for distributing the Bible alone, similar to the Tract Society, established in London, occurred to him. He was so pleased with it, that he instantly arose, and went out to consult with friends, with a view to carry out this idea. The first friend he met with was Mr. Tarn, who was one of the committee of the Tract Society; and at the next meeting of the Society Mr. Charles was introduced, and represented, with all the ardour of his character, the dearth of Bibles in his native Princi- * Owen's "History of the Bible Society," p. 11. 230 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. pality, and tlie longing desire of tlie Welsli to have them. At the moment when this appeal was made for Bibles for the Principality, the Rev. Joseph Hughes, who was at that time one of the secretaries of the Tract Society, gave expressions to these memorable words : " Surely^ a society might he formed for the purpose ; and if for Wales, why not also for the empire and the ivorld?" In this thought, all present shared and rejoiced. The meeting instructed its secretary to follow out his own suggestion, and prepare a letter, inviting Christians of every name to unite to form a society to send the word of God, without note or comment, all over the world. On the 7th of March, 1804, the British and Foreign Bible Society was actually established, at a meeting held in a room at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate-street, about 300 persons being present. On that very spot, at the commencement of this its Jubilee year, its friends met once more, but there was only one out of this number ( the venerable Dr. SteinkopfF) spared to join hands with the present supporters of the old and tried Society, — a Society which has furnished a platform on which Christians of all de- nominations could harmoniously unite in one labour of love, and which has gone on, notwithstanding difficulties and objections, doing its own work, conquering and to conquer, in every region to which its operations have been extended. STEINKOPFF. THE FTEST MEETING. — ITS HAPPY EFFECT. 231 In Ms liistory of tlie British and Foreign Bible Society, tlie Kev. John Owen, a clergyman of the Church of England, who early became one of its secretaries, has given a most touching account of the effect of this first meeting on his own mind. He had received during the previous summer, from Mr. Hughes, two copies of his essay, entitled, " The Excellence of the Hol;^ Scriptures: an Argument for their more General Dispersion," with a request that he would accept one for his own use, and present the other to the Bishop of London. He did pre- sent the one copy as requested, but himself " took little pains either to understand or recommend the other"; in fact, he scarcely thought of it again, until he received a circular inviting him to attend the meeting for the forma- tion of the Society ; and then, perceiving the name of his intimate and valued friend, Granville Sharp, at the head of the signatures, he was induced to attend, though almost against his will. On entering the room, he had scarcely taken the station assigned him by the committee, before he perceived, as he says, to his great astonishment, that three of this committee, from their dress, and from their wearing their hats, were Quakers. Now, Mr. Owen at that time shared deeply in the popular prejudice and belief, that the Quakers, or, more properly, " Members of the Society of Friends," did not read or love the Bible ; and noble is his confession, that his after-experience of their conduct in the British and Foreign Bible Society repeatedly made him ashamed of this prejudice. The business of the day was opened by Eobert Cowie, Esq. ; William Alers Hankey followed (who is still living), and was succeeded by Samuel Mills, Esq., and the Kev. J. Hughes. Each spoke of the want of the Holy Scrip- tures throughout the world, and urged the necessity of fresh means of supply, in a strain of good sense and temperate zeal. Mr. Owen sat and listened, and felt that he must give 232 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. assent, tliougli with half reluctance; for the thought of uniting with all denominations of Dissenters, for any purpose on earth, was exceedingly distasteful to him ; but when good Dr. SteinkopfF, a German Lutheran cler- gyman, arose, the representation he gave of the scarcity of the Scriptures, which he had himself observed in fo- reign parts, the unaffected simplicity and tender ^^athos of his appeal for his own countrymen, subdued at once the mind and heart of Mr. Owen ; and, "by an impulse which he had neither the inclination nor the power to disobey," he rose and expressed his conviction that such a society was needed, and that its establishment should not be delayed. There had been hitherto no point, where Christians, for ages kept asunder through different systems of disci- pline in their communities, and regarding each other too often with a sort of pious horror, could meet, to make one united and loving effort against the evil which is in the world ; but Mr. Owen now felt, that the British and Foreign Bible Society would afford this meeting-point ; for that, whatever might be the differences of opinion and discipline, all who became its members would declare that they belonged to the most ancient and venerable Church of the Book ; and, in the desire to give it to all nations, " the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul." In a letter from Mr. Tarn to Mr. Charles, describing this first meeting, and telling him that 700Z. had been subscribed upon the spot, he says, " The Eev. John Owen did the cause great service. He spoke, of his own accord, after the other friends, and, in a most powerful, argumentative, and scriptural manner showed that the So- ciety was founded on the sure word and promises of God." Mr. Charles was not present at this first meeting. He was at home among his schools and his people ; but he rejoiced to hear of it, and took no honour to himself. He exerted all his influence to obtain subscriptions for ME. OWEN. — ME. PEATT. 233 the support of the new Society, and he and his Welsh friends prayed much for it:* so that the contributions of the Principality, in the first year, amounted to nearly 1900/., "contributed chiefly," says Mr. Owen, " by the plain and lower orders of people." Around this point of union soon rallied many of the noble and the good, who were content to come back to the two grand, simple principles of union which prevailed in the early church, to " holdfast the faithful ivord,'' and to " love one another T Mr. Owen took care to make Bishop Porteus, the bishop of London, with whom he was on intimate terms, regularly acquainted with the proceedings of the com- mittee ; and the bishop, who felt a lively interest in their affairs, recommended Lord Teignmouth to become their president. Wilberforce, too, the never-to-be-forgotten friend of the slave, at their second general meeting, en- couraged the Society to " proceed in its work with an ardour and a discretion becoming its object and its end." We can never sufficiently admire the overruling power and grace of God, who had provided instruments so fitted to the great work of conducting the arrangements of this Society, as Mr. Owen and Mr. Hughes, its first secretaries. These good men are now beyond the award of human praise, therefore we may look back upon the points of character which constituted their fitness, first noticing, however, the fact, that for six weeks after the memorable meeting of the 7th of March, 1804, the Eev. Josiah Pratt (a clergyman who likewise filled the office of secretary to the Church Missionary Society for one- and-twenty years), had kindly consented to fill the office of clerical secretary, till a suitable person could be found to undertake it. During this short period he effected the re-organisation of the committee, which was to consist of * Dr. Warren, the bishop of Bangor, gave it also his influential support. 234 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. thirty-six members of all denominations of Christians, and concerted a plan which should define their respective proportions. Having established this point, Mr. Pratt begged to pre- sent to the committee the Kev. John Owen, in his own stead, — the duties of his other secretaryship being found, by himself, more than sufficient ; and though he thus voluntarily ceased to be connected officially with the concerns of the Bible Society, he continued its firm friend and advocate to the close of his life. There is, we are sorry to say, no biography of Mr. Owen, which we can condense for your benefit ; but his name will live for ever on the records of the Bible Society. For the last eighteen years of his life, he devoted him- self entirely to its interests, " with talents that enlivened every topic, and a temper that conciliated every heart." From the time that, under the influence of the Spirit of God, at its first meeting, he felt the necessity for such a union of Christians, and such a forgetting of personal prejudices, for the sake of the wide circulation of the Divine word, he never wavered. He had " enthroned the Bible Society in his heart, and he thought, and spoke, and wrote, from day to day, as if all his interests were staked on its support and advancement." God had endowed him eminently with the tongue of an eloquent speaker, and the " pen of a ready writer." He had the higher praise of a disciplined judgment, and a piercing intelligence, combined with frankness, can- dour, urbanity, and diligence, which hardly allowed it- self a pause. As in this chapter we have only to speak of Mr. Owen as connected with the infancy of the Society, we may leave you to form an idea of his superior qualifications and accomplishments, when we come to an after-era of its history. "Whether he ascended the pulpit, or entered the crowded hall, or prosecuted the details of business, or carried on a vast correspondence, or undertook the task ME. HUGHES. 235 of tlie historian, or became a fellow-traveller, or spared a few hours to the social circle, or rejoined his family, he was still the gifted, the judicious, the admirable Owen." These particulars are chiefly derived from the affec- tionate yet considerate statements of the man who knew him best, in connection with the Society which they both served and loved, — the Eev. Joseph Hughes, minister of a Baptist church, at Bat- tersea, who for almost thirty years was also the faithful and in- valuable secretary of the British and Fo- reign Bible Society. It was he whose warm heart and en- larged views first dic- tated the expression, " If for Wales, why not for the world?" — he who wrote the essay which first announced the plan of "the proposed society," deeply interesting to read now that his voice is silent in the grave, while the Society keeps its Jubilee, and is fulfilling its promise to the whole earth. In this essay Mr. Hughes enumerated the Societies which had already begun to distribute the Scriptures — The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, founded in 1698; The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Fo- reign Parts, in 1701 ; The Society, in Scotland, for Propagating Christian Knowledge, in 1709; The Society for Promoting Keligious Knowledge among the Poor, in 1750; Htr GHES. 236 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. The Bible Society for the Use of the Army and Navy, in 1780; The Society for Support and Encouragement of Sun- day Schools, 1785; and after describing their arrangements, which, though excellent, were insufficient to meet the wants even of Christendom alone, he sketches the idea of the Society which " should be supported by Christians in general, should smile alike on Britons and on Foreigners, should conquer the wide empire of darkness, and, by the light of truth, should scatter the watchful spirits that guard its frontier." The " universal effort," which Mr. Hughes suggested, has been made, and the light of truth has gone forth, and is welcomed by "the nations"; but it is for you of this generation to take up the work which your fathers have begun. We hope to show you what fifty years have seen accomplished ; hut it is as nothing to the magnitude of that which remains to be done. We need more men like Hughes, and Owen, and Steinkopff, with their self-denying energy, and their sanctified temper, for the service of the British and Foreign Bible Society. We need also that the gold of this world should flow into this noble channel, with something like the tide which attends a single scene of festive pleasure, — such as the race-course at Epsom : and we believe that, when God sees fit, we shall have it; for, at the close of this fifty years, are not China and India, with their 500 millions of souls, yet unevangelised, though the Scriptures are translated into their languages, and many of the barriers to their circulation have been removed ? With this fact before our eyes, is one hundred thousand pounds anything too much to look for from this age of gold, as its Jubilee-offering to the Book of God, from all the world ? Is there any one who can consider the Book itself, and mark its history, although only struck in broad outline THE SOCIETY THE RESULT OF EDUCATION. 237 to arouse young minds to seek it further, and yet refuse to aid in this noble cause ? We know that the class to whom this volume is more particularly addressed, prefer facts to inferences, example to precept, anecdotes to statistics, and that prin- ciples sink deepest into their minds by the power of biography and narrative. They must, however, follow us for a little while into the statements of the first pro- ceedings of the Society, before we claim their further attention and interest in the lives and histories of its secretaries, from the time they became connected with the institution. In concluding this chapter, we may observe, that the Bible Society would not have been, at the commencement of the nineteenth century, the want of the age^ but for the processes of education among the masses, which had then begun to prepare the world to receive the seed of God's holy word. The Sunday-school Societies, the Missionary Institutions, the National and British and Foreign School Societies, the design of which is to educate the labouring and manufacturing classes, all arose about this time, and in one luminous host led the way into the kingdom of darkness ; each and all called upon the Bible Society to supply them with the Scriptures, that they might dispense them abroad. The schools could not do without cheap Bibles. The missionaries required the Bible in ancient and modern versions. The acting of all these Societies together has distinguished the nineteenth century as rich in privilege above every other. It is the age in which people are educated, and the age in which provision is made to supply them freely with the Holy Scriptures. 238 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. CHAPTER IL ARRIVAL OF BIBLES IN WALES. — ANSWER TO PRAYER FOR MR. CHARLES. HIS VISIT TO IRELAND. HIS FUNERAL. WANT OF THE SCRIPTURES IN SCOTLAND AND IN FRANCE. — REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES, AND ITS RESULTS, SUFFERINGS OF THE HUGUENOTS AND VAUDOIS. REACTION OF INFIDELITY. DESIRE OF ENGLAND TO CIRCULATE THE BIBLE IN FRANCE. OBERLIN AND THE BAN DE LA ROCHE. SCRIPTURE-READERS. BIBLE SOCIETIES AT WALDBACH AND NUREMBERG. — SCARCITY OF THE SCRIPTURES EVEN IN EUROPE. THEIR CIRCULATION AMONG FRENCH AND SPANISH PRISONERS OF WAR. BIBLE SOCIETY AT BERLIN. WILLINGNESS OF A PRIEST TO DISTRIBUTE THE NEW TESTAMENT. THE FIELD OF LABOUR IN ASIA. — CHINESE GOSPELS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. INDIA AND THE TAMIL LANGUAGE. AFRICA. AMERICA. One of tlie earliest efforts of tlie committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society was, naturally, to provide an edition of Welsh Bibles and Testaments : they first in- quired, as has ever been their practice in similar circum- stances, whether a previous revision might not be neces- sary in the translation ; and, this being the fact, some delay necessarily took place, so that the supply of 20,000 Biblesj and 5000 large Testaments, printed for the first time by stereotype-plates, was not ready for distribution until July, 1806, when an eye-witness thus describes its reception: " When the arrival of the cart was announced, which carried the first sacred load, the Welsh peasants went out in crowds to meet it, welcomed it as the Israel- ites did the ark of old, drew it into the town, and eagerly bore off every copy as rapidly as they could be dispersed. ANSWER TO PRAYER FOR MR. CHARLES. 239 Tlie young people consumed tlie whole niglit in reading it, and labourers carried it witK them to the fields, that they might enjoy it during the intervals of their labour." We will here introduce a remarkable incident men- tioned in the life of Mr. Charles, with whose memory we cannot but connect these Welsh Bibles. While travelling in the autumn of 1799, over a mountain in Merioneth- shire, one frosty night, he had his hand frost-bitten ; an illness followed, and his life was in danger. While this was the case, his friends met to pray for his restoration, and one person in particular was noticed at the time for the very urgent and importunate manner in which he prayed. Alluding to the fifteen, years added to Heze- kiah's life of old, he entreated God to spa^e Mr. Charles's life also fifteen years. " Fifteen years, Oh Lord ! add but fifteen years to the life of thy servant ! Spare him for fifteen years more to thy church and thy people !" Mr. Charles heard of this prayer, and it made a deep impres- sion on his mind. He mentioned it to several friends during the last year of his life, for his death did occur just at the close of the fifteen years. It was during this period of fifteen years that the most important acts of his life took place — the most valuable of his works were written — the complete establishment of the Sunday- schools was effected, — and it was during this period he was made one of the honoured instruments employed by Providence to originate the Bible Society. What great and glorious answers were these to the fervent prayer of a poor, simple, old Christian pilgrim at Bala ! Mr. Charles was a most industrious man, usually rising between four and five in the morning. He lived ten years after the commencement of the Bible Society. His visit to Ireland was paid, in company with Mr. Hughes, Dr. Bogue, and S. Mills, Esq., for the Hibernian Society, taking with them one thousand Testaments to distribute on their way. He noticed that the poor in their cabins were very civil and communicative, but entirely ignorant 240 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. of tlie Bible* He was of opinion that religion could not be diffused among tbem without Bibles, and preaching in their own language, and schools to teach them to read Irish. " We have not met," says he, " with one person who could read Irish, and there are no elementary books in the language. Circulating schools might do wonders here." All these four measures of improvement have been adopted. Bibles have been printed in Irish, schools have been opened to teach it. Scripture-readers are appointed, and the gospel is preached to the people in their own tongue. Much of this good has issued from the visit of Mr. Charles, Mr. Hughes, and their companions. The former was called not long after this visit to re- ceive his reward. He died in the fifty -ninth year of his age, and his good wife followed him three weeks after- wards. All who had ever known him, spoke of him as " the good Mr. Charles." Vast multitudes attended his funeral, and in procession sang hymns from Bala to Llanycil, the parish-church, about a mile distant. He had been an " epistle of Christ, known and read of all men." His very countenance was heavenly in its expression, and showed the serene mind within. By his works "he, being dead, yet speaketh." Having thus ascertained the state of Wales and of Ire- land, at the commencement of its operations, the atten- tion of the British and Foreign Bible Society was about this time called also to the Gaelic Scriptures; and it was ascertained that in the Highlands of Scotland very few persons were in possession of a complete Bible. The Gaelic Bible had been published in four volumes, and about one in forty persons might possess one of these. * In Ireland, at this time, not above a third even of Protestant families possessed a Bible, while, amongst Roman Catholics, far more numerous, a Bible was probably not to be found in more than one out of 500 families. THE GAELIC BIBLE. — FRANCE. 241 The price of a complete copy was quite beyond the ability of any poor person, and, in fact, was not easily to be pro- cured at any price. In the isle of Skye, then containing about 15,000 persons, and since so memorable for misery and famine, scarcely one Gaelic Bible was to be found. A circular, signed by Lord Teignmouth, was in the summer of 1807 despatched to the ministers of the Church of Scotland throughout the Highlands, saying, that the whole Gaelic Bible would be sold to subscribers, in October, at 35. 3of., and the Testament at 10^.; — infor- mation which excited the liveliest joy and gratitude in every manse and cottage. " I do not suppose," says one minister, "that, among 4000 souls under my pastoral care, there are a dozen Gaelic Bibles." Another says, " We are very grateful for this prospect of providing our- selves with the Holy Scriptures in our native mother- language, — a thing long wished for over all the High- lands of Scotland. Many of the poor of Glasgow, on hearing of these cheap Scriptures in their native tongue, expressed their gratitude with tears of joy, considering that each copy had hitherto cost 255. at least." There was, therefore, proof enough that the Society was wanted at home. But while it began to fulfil its mission through- out the isles of Britain, it had also to look abroad, and in Roman-Catholic, Mahomedan, and Heathen countries, to find the word of God comparatively and almost utterly unknown. We propose to give, in the first place, a pic- ture of the want of it in — FRANCE. You have heard of the two translations of the Bible which had been made in the sixteenth century, by Olive- tan and De Sacy, and carried forth to a wide extent by colporteurs. There were various horrible decrees issued by the parliament at Paris against these book-carriers, who had travelled all over the country, and excited there- 242 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. by, to the fullest extent, the wrath of all those who wished to hide the Book. Beza, in^his ''Ecclesiastical History of the Reformed Churches," quotes the names of several Bible-colporteurs, who expiated in the flames, and by the most dreadful tortures, the crime of having distributed the word of God. ... After this, the very existence of colporteurs, in France, ceased ; and then, towards the close of the seventeenth century, on the 2nd of October, 1685, came the fatal re- vocation of the edict of Nantes. Nantes is a town in Britanny, where Henry lY. had signed an edict in their favour, proclaiming liberty of conscience, and appointing places of safety for the Huguenots : this edict had passed in 1598. The old chancellor of Louis XIV., Le Tellier, at the age of 83, being a violent Romanist, and thinking he did God service, requested the king to afford him the conso- lation, before he died, of signing the revocation of this edict. His desire was accomplished, and all the Hu- guenots in the kingdom were abandoned to military execution. The dying chancellor, on signing the edict, actually quoted the beautiful words of Simeon. Then began the destruction of the Protestant churches, the shutting up of the schools, and the banishment of all ministers of the reformed faith, within fifteen days. Compliance was to be enforced with the sword ; troops were spread over Normandy, Britanny, Languedoc, and Provence; and by their bitter cruelties, a fourth of the kingdom was depopulated, its trade ruined, the whole country being abandoned to the pillage of dragoons. " By this edict," says St. Simon, " punishment and torture awaited thousands, families were stripped of their possessions, relations armed against each other, our manu- factures transferred to the stranger. The world saw crowds of their fellow-creatures proscribed, naked, fugi- tive, guilty of no crime, and yet driven to seek an asylum in foreign lands. Their own country was, in the mean- REVOCATION^OF THE EDICT OF NANTES. 243 time, subjecting to the lask and thr galleys, the noble, the affluent, the aged, the v^sd^, often distinguished by their rank no less than by tl^^^ v'^^Mf ^^^ virtue; — and all this on no other account maif tlia^ of their religion. Meanwhile, vast numblj-s wefe eith^- forced to conform, or feigned to do so, an^sacrificed thoii: conscience to their worldly interests. Witliin twenty-four hours, the same persons were frequently conflicted from tortures to ab- juration, from abjuration to the i?©mmunion-table, at- tended to each alike by the (fcmmon executioner."* " On the most moderate computation, the number who left the kingdom were 400,000, ^Wlilc an equal number perished, on going into exile, of fafmne or fatigue, in prison, in the galleys,''and oii the scaffold ; and a million besides, seemingly cory^eijted^ maintained in secret, amid tears and desolation, tb