Bible Readings for the Home Circle.
The Word Of G.o.d. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Ps. 119:105.
THE BIBLE; ITS ORIGIN, HISTORY, AND PLACE IN THE WORLD
The Bible contains proof in itself of its divine origin. No other book can answer the questionings of the mind or satisfy the longings of the heart as does the Bible. It is adapted to every age and condition of life, and is full of that knowledge which enlightens the mind and sanctifies the soul.
In the Bible we have a revelation of the living G.o.d. Received by faith, it has power to transform the life. During all its history a divine watch-care has been over it, and preserved it for the world.
How, When, and Why Written
After the flood, as men became numerous, and darkness was again settling over the world, holy men wrote as they were moved by the Spirit of G.o.d.
Thus G.o.d spoke to His people, and through them to the world, that a knowledge of G.o.d and of His will might not perish from the earth.
For centuries this work went on, until Christ, the promised Seed, came.
With Him, and the blessed message of light and salvation proclaimed by Him and by His apostles, the Scripture record closed, and the Word of G.o.d was complete.
Original Writings and Translations
The Old Testament Scriptures were first written in Hebrew, upon scrolls, or rolls of parchment, linen, or papyrus. These were later translated into Greek, the oldest translation being known as the Septuagint, or "Version of the Seventy," made at Alexandria, for the Alexandrian Library, by a company of seventy learned Jews, under the patronage of Ptolemy Philadelphus, about 285 B.C. The original order for this translation is said to have been given by Alexander the Great, who previously, upon visiting Jerusalem in 332 B.C., had learned from the prophecy of Daniel that Grecia was to overthrow the Persian kingdom. See Josephus"s "Antiquities of the Jews," book 11, chap. 8, par. 5. This was the version in common use in the time of Christ.
The New Testament was all originally written in Greek, except Matthew, which was first written in Hebrew, and later translated into Greek.
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Gutenberg Printing The Bible
At an early date, Latin translations, both of the Septuagint and of the Greek New Testament, were made by different individuals, and the more carefully prepared Latin Vulgate of Jerome, the Bible complete, was made A.D. 383-405.
Printing and the Bible
Printing, however, being yet unknown, copies of the Bible could be produced only by the slow, laborious, and expensive process of handwriting. This necessarily greatly limited its circulation. Worse still, its illuminating and saving truths were largely hidden for centuries by the errors, superst.i.tions, and apostasy of the dark ages.
During this time the common people knew little of its contents.
But with the invention of the art of printing about the middle of the fifteenth century, and with the dawn of the great Reformation in the century following, the Bible entered upon a new era, preparatory to the final proclamation of the gospel throughout the world.
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Luther Translating The Bible
Not a little significant is the fact that the first book printed from movable type was the Bible in Latin, which came from the press of John Gutenberg, at Mentz, Germany, in 1456, a copy of which, in 1911, was sold in New York City for fifty thousand dollars, the highest price ever paid for a single book.
The Bible in Native Tongues
Thus far, however, the Bible had been published only in ancient tongues, now little understood by the common people. Without the Word of G.o.d in their hands, the good seed sown among them was easily destroyed. "O," said the advocates of its pure teachings, "if the people only had the Word of G.o.d in their own language, this would not happen! Without this it will be impossible to establish the laity in the truth."
And why should they not have it in their own tongue? they reasoned. Moses wrote in the language of the people of his time; the prophets spoke in the tongue familiar to the men whom they addressed; and the New Testament was written in the language then current throughout the Roman world.
The translation of the Bible into English by John Wyclif, in 1380, was the chief event in the beginning of the Reformation. It also prepared the way for the revival of Christianity in England, and the multiplying there of the Word by the millions, for all the world, that has followed.
To make such a translation at that time, says Neander, "required a bold spirit which no danger could appal." For making it Wyclif was attacked from various quarters, because, it was claimed, "he was introducing among the mult.i.tude a book reserved exclusively for the use of the priests." In the general denunciation it was declared that "thus was the gospel by him laid more open to the laity, and to women who could read, than it had formerly been to the most learned of the clergy; and in this way the gospel pearl is cast abroad, and trodden underfoot of swine." In the preface to his translation, Wyclif exhorted all the people to read the Scriptures.
A sense of awe and a thrill of joy filled the heart of the great German Reformer, when, at the age of twenty, while examining the volumes in the library of the university of Erfurt, he held in his hands, for the first time in his life, a complete copy of the Bible. "O G.o.d," he murmured, "could I but have one of these books, I would ask no other treasure." A little later he found in a convent a chained Bible. To this he had constant recourse.
But all these Bibles here, as elsewhere, save in England, were in an ancient tongue, and could be read only by the educated. Why, thought Luther, should the living Word be confined to dead languages? Like Wyclif, therefore, he resolved to give his countrymen the Bible in their own tongue. This he did, the New Testament in 1522, and the Bible complete, the crowning work of his life, in 1534.
Impressed with the idea that the people should read the Scriptures in their mother tongue, William Tyndale, likewise, in 1525, gave to the English his translation of the New Testament, and later, of portions of the Old Testament Scriptures. His ardent desire that they should know the Bible was well expressed in the statement that if G.o.d spared his life he would cause the boy that drives the plow to know more of the Scriptures than was commonly known by the divines of his day.
The first complete printed English Bible was that of Miles Coverdale, printed at Zurich, Switzerland, in 1535. Matthew"s Bible, Taverner"s Bible, and The Great Bible prepared at the suggestion of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Ess.e.x, appeared soon after. Thus the light of truth began to shine forth once more; but not without opposition.
Burning of Bibles
As Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes under King Zedekiah showed their contempt for G.o.d by burning the writings of Jeremiah, and confining the prophet in a dungeon (Jer. 36:20-23; 38:1-6), so now men sought to stem the rising tide of reform by burning the Bible and its translators.
Bible burning was inaugurated in England by the destruction of copies of the Antwerp edition of Tyndale"s New Testament, at St. Paul"s Cross, London, in 1527, followed by the burning of a second edition in 1530. A little later there were wholesale burnings of the writings and translations of Wyclif, Tyndale, Basil, Barnes, Coverdale, and others.
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Burning Of Bibles At St. Paul"s Cross, London