THE BEREAVED. followers, and became consistent and happy Christians. They now opened their house for social worship, and strove, by every means in their power, to redeem the time they had lost. These meetings, almost made up as they were of new converts, were truly spiritual. They called themselves Episcopalians, but in their zeal in their worship they resembled more a congregation of Methodists. I have witnessed the transporting and the transforming influence of grace upon the heart of more than one individual "born of the Spirit" in that assembly. Maria's conversion had been of a different stamp, more quiet and less signal. From her first religious impressions her character had been slowly ripening into the mature Christian. The portrait painter first spreads his canvass, and, after some preliminary arrangements, boldly strikes the outline and features of his subject; and then, by repeated and delicate touches, produces the coloring, the light, the shade, and the effect, the whole being the life-like expression intended; so like, perhaps, that the original himself acknowledges the resemblance. So was it with Maria-she had spread and prepared her heart for the impress of the Divine Spirit; and by subduing sin after sin, and adding grace unto grace, she at last effected her purpose, and was acknowledged by all to have attained some likeness to the Divine Original. And though she now appeared less gay than formerly, she was more established and more happythough she smiled less, she rejoiced more. voice, which was very fine, and by which she formerly made the house vocal with fashionable songs, might now be heard plaintively singing- "O, for a closer walk with God!” and the like sacred melodies. Her Her husband was constitutionally somewhat inclined to melancholy, and found it difficult to become social even at his own fireside. Their four elder, still living children, grew apace; and although no longer idolized, were still, perhaps, more indulged than formerly. Both parents watched over them with a vigilance that seldom lost sight of them for a moment. Although the boys were now old enough to become companionable, the father might often be seen walking the streets with the two younger by the hand, whilst the older would seek society of his own age. The mother and daughter were almost inseparable. At home and abroad they were ever together. And a sweet child she was, combining in disposition the vivacity of her mother with the feminine gentleness of a long departed relative-her mother's sister, Susan. But I must hasten on with my tragical narrative-so tragical, the whole simple truth, that human ingenuity could scarcely add exaggeration to it. 255 Thus guarded and indulged, the sons had now attained to the ages of seventeen, fifteen, and thirteen years, when, one bright Sabbath morning in early summer, after the family had made preparation for church, the brothers were left in the hall awaiting the ringing of the church-going bell, whilst the rest of the family were above stairs. When the parents were summoned below by its sound, the hall was found empty. This created surprise, but at first no alarm. A servant was sent into the garden to look them up, but they were not to be found. The father now took his hat and sallied forth in quest of them; but could learn nothing of their whereabouts. It was altogether a mysterious affair-they had never so committed themselves before. The parents now became excited-gave up going to church; and whilst the father again went out upon the search, the mother was waiting with agitation the tidings he might bring home. After about an hour of fruitless inquiry, he returned home to see if they were there. The whole neighborhood soon became informed of the matter. And it was now found that two other large boys, their intimates, were also missing. And they were finally traced to the water, where the whole five had been seen to put off in a boat two hours before. Neither of them, old as they were, was in the least acquainted with the management of a boat. The three distracted fathers now took a boat, and went down the river in pursuit of them, knowing that they must have taken that direction to avoid the city. After sailing about for an hour or more, they thought that they saw some object moving in the water at a great distance. They hastened rapidly on, but nothing was visible; and just as they concluded that they had been deceived, they discovered the same small object near to the shore. A few strokes of the oar and they reached it. Merciful Father! it was a dog dragging a lifeless body to the shore. It was one of the missing boys, but not one of Mr. B.'s. It was now pretty certain that their boat had been overturned; and at this assurance one deep groan of anguish went up from the rent hearts of those parents. Whilst the father of the boy drawn on the shore was hanging in agony over what he thought the corpse of his son, signs of life appeared, and the child was eventually resuscitated and restored. The dog, seeming to be assured of the care that would be taken of his young master, now plunged into the water and swam midway into the river. At length he was seen returning to the shore with something in his mouth. O, heart-breaking sight! it was the hat of one of Mr. B.'s poor boys. When he saw it, he moved not, he spoke not; and the paleness and the rigidity of death was seen to pass over his features. He was carried home and put in his bed, from whence it was supposed he would never more arise. The spot indicated by the dog was examined, and two of his boys were dragged up from the depth of the channel. The other two boys were not found until after the lapse of several days. As the bodies of Mr. B.'s sons were brought into the house, the mother appeared awed and dismayed into silence. At length nature relented, and she hung in agony over them, and wept tears of such bitterness as few have ever been called to shed. The father never looked on them again. The boy that was saved revealed the whole adventure. It seemed as the two neighbor boys were going by stealth to take a sail, they passed by the open door of Mr. B.'s house; and seeing the boys in the hall, they enticed them to go with them, and they, who had been so faithfully warned to reverence the Sabbath day, consented; and for this act of disobedience they paid the forfeit of their lives. In this her deepest affliction, Maria missed the consoling and sustaining sympathy of her husband. A paralysis seemed to pervade his heart; and it was an endeavor to arouse him from this calm despair that now gave her energy to exert herself. She at length so far succeeded as to perceive his heart once more interested toward herself and their sole surviving child. But the shock had been tremendous. His interests in life never again awakened. He was in the world, but not of the world. Even business was no longer any thing to him, and he resigned his office to sit down at home and ponder over his bereavements, and weep for his lost ones. And thus it went on month after month, and year after year, until he was pronounced by the physicians a sad, despairing monomaniac. He would rove out looking for his lost boys, and then return home, seemingly conscious anew of their death. Without them life seemed a burden to him; and in his aberration of mind, he one day wandered off unperceived, took a boat, and pushed from the shore toward the place where they perished; and two days afterward his own lifeless body was drawn up from nearly the same spot. Poor Maria! The reader is doubtless anxious to know what became of her. Her tried heart did not break; for she had attained to genuine religion, and patience and resignation had in her their perfect work. She had her Savior's breast to lean upon, and still one dear child to live for. And she humbly thanked God that it was so, and looked upon this child at least as a solace and a companion of her coming age. Time sped on, and her daughter is a lovely young woman, promised in marriage to one worthy of her. All the arrangements for the occasion are made. The mother, by the wish of all parties, is to reside with her daughter. Their house is provided, and liberally furnished by the bridegroom. And now the wedding takes place, and they remove to their new habitation; and, in the fullness of her daughter's happiness, Maria seems once more to rejoice with something like an earthly joy. Alas! alas, for her! This young bride had not been two weeks married before she sickened of a fever; and in ten days more the grave had closed over her. She was the last child, and Maria was-alone. How few amidst the afflicted on earth can enter into the feelings of this desolate mourner! She felt like one who, having survived the earthquake, and recovered from her first dismay, looks around for her loved ones; but she finds they are gonethey have been its victims; and assured of this, she awaits without dread its second shock. She was ever after quiet and passive, but wore a frightened and pitcous look-never spoke of her griefs, and only once wept vehemently on hearing that chapter in the Bible read that enjoins the reapers not to glean all the sheaves, but to leave a portion for the poor. She exclaimed, "O, the reaper Death!" But she did not long survive this last afflictive stroke. Hardly more than middle-aged, without any specific disease, she wasted away, growing weaker day by day, until her summons came, and she, too, was called to lay down her weary dust beside that of her buried household. Her ransomed spirit, we trust, ascended to its God. I would remark, in conclusion, that these incidents, however uncommon, are strictly conformed to facts. The narrative will doubtless be recog nized by many of the readers of the Repository. AUGUSTA. EDITOR'S TABLE. To READERS.-The readers of this number of the Repository may desire to be informed who superintended the issue. The former editor, Bishop Hamline, was very unexpectedly called away from its pages. The supplies for the Repository were altogether exhausted before his departure for General conference, by printing beforehand at least one number. The recently elected editor, the Rev. E. Thomson, was as unexpectedly appointed editor as his predecessor was to another field of labor. It was impossible for him to arrive in Cincinnati in time to prepare any thing for the present number. Besides, the correspondents seem to have suspended, in general, their contributions until they would learn who was to be the future editor. The editor of the Western Christian Advocate was therefore compelled, from the circumstances of the case, to do the best he could to supply the unavoidable absence of the new editor. His own duties were about as much as he could well perform. He has selected the best articles in his possession. As a whole, we cannot pronounce it equal to many others. Nevertheless, we trust our friends will be satisfied; especially as the new editor is in every respect equal to the task of meeting their largest expectations. THE LADIES' REPOSITORY. CINCINNATI, SEPTEMBER, 1844. Original. HISTORY OF THE BIBLE. THE Bible, independently of its religious character, is an interesting book, whether we consider its antiquity, its origin, its wide circulation, or the events which it relates and predicts. a person declares his will in relation to his property after his death. This is not, however, its meaning when applied to the Scriptures. It is taken from the Greek translation of the Hebrew word meaning covenant, compact, or agreement. The word is applied to the covenant or compact which God made with the Jews to be their God; and thus pri Should an individual come among us, claiming to have lived in this world more than three thous-marily denotes the agreement, the compact, the and years to have had communications with the Deity, and to have been sent to us to reveal his will respecting our duty-bringing down to us the sayings and doings of many of the wisest and best men that have ever lived-giving us much information respecting the early ages of our race, and, indeed, the only information on which we could confidently rely-I say, should such a man appear among us, and take up his residence with us, we should feel a deep interest in him-we should be curious to know his origin-his education-where he had been-what he had done-in short, to know his history. Now, though we are acquainted with no individual of this description, yet we have a book which does answer to it in several particulars. Some portions of it are more than three thousand years old-it claims to be a revelation from Godit contains the only authentic records of the early history of man, and of the creation of the worldit tells us what wise and good men, in past ages, have thought, and how they have conducted-it makes us acquainted with some of the most astonishing and interesting events that have transpired in the world. Such a book is the Bible. Independently of its religious character-considered simply as a book of high antiquity-regarded merely in a literary point of view-it cannot fail to be interesting to those who are fond of acquiring knowledge. With these views, I have selected as the subject of this paper, the literary history of the Bible." I. The word Bible, as some of you may know, is the English form of the Greek word Biblos, which means book. It is called the Bible, or the book, by way of eminence, to distinguish it from all other books, as being infinitely superior to every uninspired production of the human mind. In the same way, the name Koran is given to the writings of Mohammed, intimating that they are the chief writings to be read, or, eminently, the reading. 2. The common division of the Bible is into the Old and New Testament. This word, with us, means a will, an instrument in writing, by which VOL. IV.-33 promises, the institutions of the old dispensation, and then the record of that compact in the writings of Moses and the prophets. The name Old Testament, or old covenant, therefore, denotes the record of the compact, or institution, made by Jehovah with his people, or his dispensation under the Jew. ish economy. The name New Testament denotes the record of his compact with his people under the Messiah, or since Christ came. By whom this title was given is not certainly known; yet it can be traced back to a very early date-to within two centuries of the Christian era. The Jews divided the Old Testament into three parts-the law, the prophets, and the Hagiographia, or holy writings. To this division reference is made by our Savior in Luke: "All things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me." The law comprised the first five books, called the Pentateuch-Hagiographia included the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Solomon's Song; and the prophets comprised all the rest. The books of the Old Testament were written in Hebrew, with the exception of Daniel and some parts of Ezra, which were written in Chaldee. The reason of this is, that these books were written after the captivity, during which many of the Jews had learned, by intercourse with the Chaldeans, or Babylonians, their language. The books of the New Testament were all written in Greek, except, perhaps, Matthew, whose Gospel is by some supposed to have been first written in Hebrew, or Syriac, the language then spoken in Judea. 258 HISTORY OF THE BIBLE. of those used by the Jewish Rabbi in the thirteenth century. This division was invented and used by Robert Stephens, in an edition of the New Testament in 1561. It was made while he was on his of rest from traveling. You will perceive, then, that these divisions are wholly of human invention-made solely for the sake of more convenient reference. It is evident that they were not, in all cases, judiciously made. The sense is often interrupted by the close of a chapter, and still oftener whose names they bear; and the historical parts were written by different individuals, whose names have not come down to us. But this circumstance does not weaken their authority as inspired writings; because we have the strongest historical tes-journey from Lyons to Paris, during the intervals timony possible, that the same books which compose our Bible were originally received as the inspired oracles of God by the Jews, who had full evidence of their Divine original. The absence of the name of the writer does not invalidate the claim of the book to inspiration, any more than the same circumstance would go to prove the false-by the break in the verses. In reading the Bible, ness of history. A true history of a country, or of an event, may be written by an unknown person; and if they who live at the time such a history makes its appearance, and who, therefore, have the means of ascertaining its truth, receive it as true, then there is no reason why those who come after them should reject it. The Old Testament, you will see, was not written all at once. Moses wrote his books about fifteen hundred years before Christ, and Malachi lived about four hundred prior to that event. The books, then, were written at different intervals, extending through a period of more than one thousand years. 4. These books were collected, it is supposed, into one volume by Ezra, soon after the return from the Babylonian captivity, B. C. 456, with the exception of Zechariah and Malachi, which, as these prophets did not write till after the death of Ezra, could not have been included till after this period. The books of the New Testament were all written within about sixty years after the death of Christ. Of all the various opinions that have been maintained concerning the person who first collected the books of the New Testament, the most general seems to be that this was done by St. John, nearly at the close of the first century of the Chris tian era. 5. The books of the Bible were anciently written without any breaks, or divisions into chapters and verses. For convenience, the Jews early divided the Old Testament into greater and smaller sections. These sections, in the law and prophets, were read in the worship of the synagogue, and corresponded in number to the Sabbaths of the year. The division of the Old Testament into chapters, as we at present have them, is of modern date. It was first adopted by Cardinal Hugo, who wrote a celebrated commentary on the Scriptures about the middle of the thirteenth century. But he did not subdivide the chapters into verses as they now are. This was done by Mordecai Nathan, a famous Jewish Rabbi, who flourished about the time of Hugo. The verses into which the New Testament is divided are still more modern, and are an imitation therefore, little regard should be had to this division. The only use is for reference; and as all the books that have been printed for three hundred years, that refer to the Bible, have made their references to these chapters and verses, any attempt to alter them for general use would be to introduce endless confusion in quoting the Scriptures. 6. Translations of the Bible. After the Hebrew had ceased to be spoken, and had become a dead language, in the second century before Christ, and still more after the spread of Christianity, translations of the Hebrew Scriptures into the prevailing languages of the age became a thing of necessity, both to Jews and Christians, in Palestine and other countries. Accordingly, almost every language then current received at least one version, which became of ecclesiastical authority, and was used instead of the original Hebrew. In this way there arose, almost cotemporaneously, the Alexandrian version, for the Grecian and Egyptian Jews, and the earliest Chaldee versions, for those who dwelt in Palestine and Babylonia. After the introduc tion of Christianity, the Syrian Christians made the Syriac version; and the Latin Christians procured a Latin version, which, at the close of the fourth century, was superseded by the version of Jerome, called the Vulgate. After the wide exten sion of the Arabic language, produced by the Arabian conquests, both Jews and Christians began to translate the Scriptures into Arabic also. The Alexandrian translation, or Septuagint, as it is more generally called, is the oldest of all the Greek, or, indeed, of all the versions whatever of the Old Testament. The origin of this version is, in some degree, vailed in Jewish legends. According to them, Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt from 284 to 296, B. C., having formed the wish, through the advice of his librarian, Demetrius Phalerius, to possess a Greek translation of the Mosaic writings for the Alexandrian library, sent an embassy to Jerusalem for this object, and obtained a Hebrew manuscript, and seventy-two learned Jews to translate it. These all labored together in the translation, which, after mutual consultation, they dictated to Demetrius. A more probable supposition is, that, after the Jews had settled in Egypt HISTORY OF THE BIBLE. in great numbers, and had forgotten, in a great measure, the Hebrew language, a Greek translation of the Scriptures became necessary for the use of the public worship in their synagogues. This would, in all probability, be prepared under the authority of the Sanhedrim, which consisted of seventy-two members. But whatever may be the truth respecting the origin of this translation, there was such a one made about two hundred and forty years before Christ. It is called the Septuagint, from the number engaged in translating it-that being the Latin name for seventy. Other translations were made in the various languages then prevalent; but, as it would transcend our limits to notice them, I pass to a subject more particularly interesting to us-the history of the English translation of the Bible. It would be difficult to ascertain precisely when the Scriptures were first translated into the language of Great Britian. It is well settled that the Saxons read the Bible in their own language, some parts having been translated as early as the eighth century. It is supposed, though not absolutely certain, that the whole Bible was translated into that language by the venerable Bede, about the year 730. 259 Wickliffe, or since, or thereafter to be composed, The art of printing was discovered in 1457. The Latin Bible was printed in 1462. In 1488, the Old Testament was printed in Hebrew, and in 1516, the New Testament in Greek. In 1474, the art of printing was brought into England, and a press was set up at Westminster. The monks were greatly alarmed by these proceedings. They de claimed from their pulpits that there was now a new language discovered, called Greck, of which people should beware, since it was that which produced all the heresies; that in this language was come forth a book, called the New Testament, which was in every body's hands, and was full of thorns and briars; that there was also now another language started up, which they called Hebrew, and those who learned it were termed Hebrews. The Vicar of Croydon, preaching at Paul's Cross, said, "We must root out printing, or printing will root out us." The first translation of the whole Bible into the English tongue was made by some unknown individual, about the year 1290. About ninety years afterward, John Wickliffe, the morning star of the Reformation, translated the entire Scriptures into English from the Latin. This was about eighty years before the invention of printing; and the labor and expense of transcribing it probably prevented a very extensive circulation among the people. This expense was so great that the price of a New Testament was not less than £40 sterling, or $177.76 of our money. Yet this translation is known to have produced a powerful effect on the minds of the people. Knowledge was beginning to be sought for with avidity-the eyes of the pcople were beginning to be opened to the abominations of the Church of Rome, and the national mind was preparing for the great change which followed in the days of Luther. So deep was the impression made by Wickliffe's translation, and so dangerous was it thought to be to the interest of the Catholic religion, that a bill was brought into the House of Lords for the purpose of suppressing it. The bill was rejected through the influence of the Duke of Lancaster; and this gave encouragement to the friends of Wickliffe to publish a more correct translation of the Bible. At a convocation, however, held at Oxford, in 1408, it was de-¦ creed that no one should translate any text of holy The first edition appeared in 1526. Copies of it Scripture into English, or any other tongue, in the were imported into London, where it was very inway of book, tract, or treatise; and that no publi-dustriously circulated and read. Archbishop War. cation of this sort, composed in the time of John ham and the Bishop of London immediately issued For the first printed English translation of any portion of the Bible, we are indebted to William Tyndal. This faithful confessor was born on the borders of Wales, and was educated at the Univer sity of Oxford. Having in vain attempted to introduce himself into the Bishop of London's family, in order that he might there prosecute, with greater security, his design of translating the New Testament into English, he repaired to Flanders, at the pense of a Mr. Monmouth, of London. At Antwerp, with the assistance of two other learned men, both afterward put to death for their opinions, he applied himself closely to the work of translating the New Testament from the original Greek. |