as are all the manuscripts of it to this day which are read in the synagogues.

5. The Prophets were divided into the former and latter; the first class comprising the Books of Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Kings; the last two being each considered as one book. The latter Prophets embraced Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets, (so called from the brevity of their books,) which were reckoned as one book.

6. The Hagiographa, or Holy Writings, consisted of the Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, reckoned as one, and the two Books of Chronicles, also reckoned as one.

7. The division of the Bible into chapters and verses is of modern date. The division into chapters was made by Hugo, a Roman Catholic cardinal, in A. D. 1240. The Old Testament was separated into verses by a noted Jewish teacher, named Rabbi Mordecai Nathan, in 1445; the New Testament, by that noted printer of Paris, Robert Stephens, who lived in the sixteenth century.

8. These divisions are of course arbitrary, and not inspired, and oftentimes interrupt and even change the sense of the Scripture relations, and should therefore not be regarded in seeking the true meaning of the sacred record. But as it offers peculiar facilities for referring to

different parts of the Scriptures, and in preparing Concordances, the benefits may be considered as counterbalancing the evils. The Paragraph Bible, however, combines the favorable features of this division, without its imperfections; for, like the New Testament of Mr. Wesley, the sacred writings are divided into paragraphs according to the sense, while, in the margin, the old division of chapter and verse is retained for reference.

9. The commonly received opinion among both the Jews and Christians is, that all the books of the Old Testament were collected and arranged, and such additions as were necessarysuch as the deaths of the writers, the more modern names of the places-were made, by Ezra, under the guidance of the divine Spirit; with the exception of his own writings, the Book of Nehemiah, and Malachi, which were subsequently added by Simon the Just, who also made a few additions to the genealogies of the preceding books.

10. The books of the New Testament were considered of divine authority, as soon as they were written, by the churches to whom they were directed. The time and labor necessary to multiply copies would prevent their rapid circulation, but before the death of the apostles they had undoubtedly become well known to most of the Christian churches, as St. Peter speaks of St. Paul's Epistles as if they had been extensively circulated.

11. The first formal catalogue of the books

of the New Testament, which is now extant, is that by Origen, who lived about one hundred years after the death of the apostle John, and whose extensive Biblical knowledge fully qualified him to form a correct judgment of the authority of these writings.

12. His canon contains all the books now found in our copies of the New Testament, with the exception of James and Jude; but this omission was unintentional, for in other parts of his writings they are acknowledged as a part of the sacred canon. Besides these he mentions no other books, showing that in his day the canon of the New Testament was settled among the Christian churches. After his day, these catalogues were multiplied and confirmed by the most learned Bible students and critics of succeeding ages:

13. Translations of the Scriptures were made at an early date into the Syriac, Greek, and Latin, (called the Vulgate edition,) and from these sources, and the Hebrew Scriptures, the modern versions have been made. The discovery of the art of printing in the fifteenth century greatly facilitated the circulation of the Scriptures.

14. The first English version of the Bible was made in 1380, by Wiclif, but was never printed, through the opposition and persecution of the bishops, who feared to have the sacred Scriptures thus opened to the understandings of the unlearned in their own mother tongue. 15. The first printed English Bible was

made by William Tyndale in 1526, and was printed either at Hamburgh or Antwerp. Myles Coverdale made and printed another translation of the entire Bible in 1535, and dedicated it to Henry VIII.

16. Other versions followed until 1603, when King James I. determined upon a new, entire, and thorough translation of the Scriptures, as many objections were, with reason, made against the Bishops' Bible, so called, then in use.

17. In pursuance of this resolution, the following year the king gave orders that a new translation should be undertaken, and fifty-four men, pre-eminently distinguished for piety and learning, were appointed to execute this great work. Before it was commenced, seven of these persons dying, only forty-seven entered upon it.

18. These were divided into six classes, and each individual translated every book allotted to his division. The whole division then met and agreed upon the renderings which they would adopt. Their part, thus finished, was sent to each of the other companies to be again examined; and here the method was for one to read the translation aloud, while the others, holding each in his hand some other Bible, either in the original tongue or in some modern version, diligently compared what they heard with what was before their eyes, interrupting the reader by remarks whenever they deemed it necessary. In this way every precaution was taken to secure a faithful translation, as

the whole Bible underwent at least six different revisions by the most learned men in the kingdom.

19. The result of their labors was first published A. D. 1611. It has, subsequently, been frequently revised with great care, and many marginal additions made, but no changes attempted in the body of the work. It still remains not only the standard version, but, by the unanimous voice of the most competent judges, it is ranked among the very best translations of this or any other book in the world. In point

of fidelity, perspicuity, simplicity, energy, and dignity, it doubtless stands unrivaled. It cannot indeed be considered immaculate; but it may be doubted whether, taken as a whole, it could be surpassed by any translation which should now be attempted.

20. A distinguished Biblical critic of the last century, (Dr. Geddes,) in a work written with the express design of impugning the established version, and stating the reasons which had induced him to undertake a new one, is still constrained to acknowledge, that "if accuracy, fidelity, and the strictest attention to the letter of the text, be supposed to constitute the qualities of an excellent version, this, of all versions, must be accounted the most excellent. Every sentence, every word, every syllable, every letter and point seem to have been weighed with the nicest exactitude, and expressed, either in the text or margin, with the greatest precision. It was well remarked of it by Robertson, above