WE have all, I think, made up our minds that the British Museum is by no means the dull, sleepy place we once thought it. This morning we will not linger among the "old stones" or picture-writing of Egypt or Babylon, but pay a visit to the manuscript room. Even Nora, the youngest of our party, has a Bible of her very own. "Yes," she says, she remembers her first Bible having been given. She was a very small child, not more than four or five years old; she could not read very well, so had to spell nearly all the long words; but only a few days ago she had a birthday, and her aunt Lucy sent her such a lovely present, a beautiful new Bible with gilt edges and shining leather covers.
Perhaps Nora is not the only one of my young friends who will be surprised to learn that even her new Bible is a very old book indeed. Most thoughtful readers of the word of God have at some time or other asked the question, "How did we get our Bible?" Perhaps we may find an answer to our question where we had not thought of looking for it—in the British Museum.
We already know that although the Bible is really one book, it is made up of sixty-six different parts, some longer and some shorter, but all alike in being the inspired word of God. These sixty-six parts were written at different times, and by different writers. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, with the exception of a very small part which was written in Chaldean, and the New in Greek.
But as we have not been taught either Hebrew or Greek, the Bible would have been a sealed book to us if it had not been for the work of translators. But where did they find the old, hand-written copies from which their translations were made? In one of the glass cases in the manuscript room is one of the greatest biblical treasures of the world: a copy of the Bible in Greek, believed to have been written in the fifth century, so it is rather more than fourteen hundred years old. It was kept for some hundreds of years in Egypt at Alexandria, but was brought to England and presented to the king when Charles the First was on the throne.
Another very old manuscript is not far away. It is a Greek copy of the Gospel by Luke. To translate from, or even to read it, could have been no easy task, as the first writing had been partly rubbed or washed out, and something of later date written upon the sheets of parchment.
There are also some curious manuscripts written upon papyrus, the paper made of reed so much used by the Egyptians. This Greek MS is believed to be the oldest in existence; in the same case there is also a very old copy of some of the psalms. There is a copy of the five books of Moses too, and also of the four gospels written in Syriac, and dated A.D. 464. This is interesting, as it is the earliest translation of any portion of scripture of which the exact date is known.
Two MS copies of the Bible bring us very near finding an answer to the question, "How did we get our Bible?" The first is in Latin, and is called the Vulgate Bible. The second in English is really Wycliffe's Bible. Most of us have heard or read of Bede, a monk of Jarrow, who translated the Gospel by John into the Saxon of the times in which he lived, rather more than a thousand years ago; and how the work was only finished when he lay dying. But we love and honor the name of Sir John de Wycliffe as the first to give the people of England the word of God in their own language. He is generally believed to have made his translation from the Latin Vulgate, and though we should not find Wycliffe's Bible easy to read on account of its quaint, old-fashioned spelling, we can and do thank God for the gleams of gospel light that through its pages were carried into many hearts and homes, so preparing the way for the clearer light of the Reformation.
There are very few old Hebrew copies of any part of the Old Testament; the reason being, we are told, that the Jews always destroyed any portion of the sacred writings that from long use had been torn or in any way injured.
In 1525 Tyndale was hard at work printing, not writing, his translation of the New Testament. He found that the work could not be safely attempted in England, so he went to Cologne. Three thousand of the first sheets had been printed, when finding that Cologne was no longer a safe place for them, the printers were obliged to leave, carrying their precious sheets with them, to go to Worms.
In 1526 the first copies of Tyndale's testament were secretly brought to England, and though the price was what we should now think very high, many were ready and willing to buy.
But the Roman Catholic bishops and many of the priests took fright. If the people had the scriptures in their own language, and were allowed to read them, they might find out that many of the things they had been taught were quite contrary to the teachings of the word of God. So Bishop Tunstall was quite willing that all the testaments that could be found should be bought, his object being to burn them at the first opportunity. Shortly afterward a public burning of testaments took place at Paul's Cross. When Tyndale heard of the burning of his books he did not seem at all troubled, but said good would come out of it, as the money paid for the books would enable him to pay what was owing to the friends who had kindly lent him money to pay the workmen he had employed, and what was left would, with the blessing of the Lord, give him the means to print a new and better edition of his testament, in which errors which had escaped notice in the first edition would be corrected. And so the work of translation went on.
In the year 1611, by royal command, the "Authorized Version," or as it is sometimes called, "King James's Bible," was printed. This is the Bible that we use to-day.
How thankful to God we all ought to be, that in spite of all the many attempts that have been made to destroy the Bible, God has so watched over and taken care of His own word that to-day the circulation of the scriptures is larger than it has ever been. May we each say from our hearts—
"We won't give up the Bible,
For pleasure or for pain;
We'll buy the truth, and sell it not,
Whatever we may gain.”