ing of one hundred and twenty of the elders, | Judges, Samuel, and the Kings, which by whom the Jewish church was restored were called "the Former Prophets;" and and reformed. "Simon the Just," who Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve died in the year 292 B. C., was the last of minor prophetic books, from Hosea to them, a man of extraordinary wisdom Malachi, which were denominated "the and holiness; he is believed to have made Latter Prophets." "The Holy Writings" the last revision of the Old Testament, included the books of Psalms, Proverbs; completing the sacred canon, by adding Job, Solomon's Song, Ruth, Lamentathe books of Esther and Malachi. tions, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Chronicles. Slight differences from this plan, but not of any importance, were made by some of the learned Jews in their numbering and arrangement of the sacred books of the Old Testament. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the four Gospels, were written by the evangelists whose names they bear. Matthew and John were Apostles of Christ, and his personal attendants; Mark and Luke were intimately acquainted with some of the apostles, and the latter was a fellow- Originally, and for a long period, the laborer and companion of Paul. Luke sacred writings had no marks of punewas also the writer of the Acts of the tuation. As was the case in all profane Apostles. Romans and other books of writings, the words were not separated the New Testament were written by the | from each other, but letter followed letter, apostles to whom they are inscribed, as if every line were only a single word; there being the most satisfactory evi-a reader had, therefore, extreme diffidence that Hebrews was written by the apostle Paul, although it does not bear his name, and that the apostle John was the author of the book of Revelation. culty, as he was obliged, mentally, ts separate and combine the letters, so as to form the words, before he could perceive the sense of the writer; and this was the case so late as the fourth century with the writings of the New Testament. Readers of the Scriptures should know that the divisions of the sacred books into chapters and verses were human inventions, adopted for the convenience of Public reading rendered some puncreading and reference, and not an ar-tuation indispensable; and hence many rangement made by the Divine inspiration. This consideration may relieve the mind from a measure of difficulty in relation to some of the divisions, which interrupt the sense and obscure the meaning of the writer. Both parts of the sacred volume inelude sixty-six distinct books-thirtynine in the Old Testament, and twentyseven in the New Testament. Those in the former were classed by the ancient Jews in three divisions: I. The Law; II. The Prophets; III. The Holy Writings in Hebrew, Kethubim; in Greek, Hagiographa. believe that it was commenced by Ezra, and greatly extended by the Jewish Masorites, or writers of tradition, to the fourth or fifth century, whose notes and criticisms relate to the books, verses, words, letters, vowel-points, and accents of the Old Testament. The book of Psalms was always divided into its distinct compositions, as is evident from its several pieces, and from reference found in the New Testament; but originally no divisions are believed to have existed in any other of the sacred books. The following calculations in regard "The Law" comprised the five books to the contents of the Bible were pubof Moses, and was called, as before re-lished by an anonymous writer of the marked, the Pentateuch. "The Proph- last century, the fruit, it is said, of three ets" comprehended the books of Joshua, years' labor: In the Old Testament. In the New Testament. Total. Tyndale's translation of the New Tes 39 929 23,214 592,439 Letters.................. 2,725,100 Chapters, 133 APOCRYPHA. Verses, 6,081 27 260 7,959 181,253 838,380 66 773,692 3,566,480 1,189 tament, especially, is considered admi31,173 rable both for style and accuracy. To use the words of a profound modern scholar, "It is astonishing how little obsolete the language of it is, even at this day; and, in point of perspicuity and noble simplicity, propriety of idiom, and purity of style, no English version has yet surpassed it." The following are Tyndale's translations of the Magnificat and Lord's Prayer, in the spelling of the original edition: Words, 152,185 Some brief notices of the translation of the Scriptures will be found interesting. The Old Testament was first translated into Greek nearly three hundred years before Christ. This version is alled by scholars the Septuagint, frequently expressed in short thus, "LXX," from the number of seventy, or seventytwo Jewish elders, who were said to have been employed in this important work, to gratify Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt. The truc reason of this translation, according to the most learned men, was the dispersion of the Jews among the nations using the Greek language, by intercourse with whom they forgot their native tongue, and were unable to read the Scriptures or understand them in the original Hebrew. The first complete translation of the Bible into English was made by John Wickliffe, about the year 1380; and there exist several manuscript copies of his translation in public libraries. The translation of William Tyndale was the first ever printed. He was obliged, however, to withdraw to the continent to prosecute his work in security. His translation of the New Testament was published in 1526, at Antwerp or Hamburg, and a few years later the whole of the Bible. Tyndale was apprehended as a heretic by Charles V, and was burnt to ashes near Antwerp, in 1536. "King James's Bible," our present authorized version, was made by forty-seven learned divines, and published in 1611. They were engaged upon it for three years. Every sentence, every word, every syllable, every letter, and every point seemed to have been weighed with the nicest exactness. It is justly regarded by scholars as the most faithful translation made into any modern language. And Mary sayde, My soul magnifieth the Lorde, and my sprete reioyseth in God my Savioure. 66 For he hath loked on the povre degre of his honde mayden. Beholde nowe from hens forthe shall all genera cions call me blessed. "For he that is myghty hath done to me greate thinges, and blessed y's his name: "And hys mercy is always on them that feare him thorow oute all generacions. "He hath shewed strengthe with his arme; he hath scattered them that are proude in the ymaginacion of their hertes. "He hath putt doune the myghty from their seates, and bath exalthed them of lowe degre. "He hath filled the hungry with goode thinges, and hath sent away the ryche empty. "He hath remembered mercy, and hath holpen his servaunt Israhel. "Even as he promised to oure fathers, Abraham and to his seed forever. "Oure father which arte in heren, halowed be thy name. Let thy kingdom come. Thy wyll be fulfilled, as well in erth, as hit ys in heven. Geve vs this daye oure dayly breade. And forgeve vs oure treaspases, even as we forgeve them which treaspas vs. Leedo us not into temtacion, but delyvre vs from yvell. Amen." The first Bible translated in America was in the Indian language. Rev. John And ther is more worshipe and honour, Eliot, the celebrated missionary to the bridge in 1663, and is the first Bible The following is a part of the Lord's Prayer in the Indian tongue from Eliot's Bible: And ther is evere perfect love and charite; DELIGHT IN GOD ONLY. This poem is by Francis Quarles, who lived in the times of Charles T. whose cause he espoused. The opposite part so harrassed him, injuring his property, plundering him of his books, and destroying his rato manuscripts, that it brok; down his health and spirits, and is said to have occasion } is death. His book of Divine Emblems, with their quai found in the cottages of the peasants.] and grotesque illustrations, for a long time after, were I LOVE (and have some cause to love) the earth; But what's a creature, Lord, compared with Or what's my mother, or my nurse to me? I love the air: her dainty sweets refresh And with their many-toned notes delight me: I love the sea she is my fellow-creature, But, Lord of oceans, when compared with thee, To heaven's high city I direct my journey, These lines are from an ancient poem, entitled "The Transcends the crystal pavement of the sky: Pricks of Conscience," written by Richard Rolle, a hermit Ther is lyf withoute ony deth, And ther is nevere wynter in that countrie; But what is heaven, great God, compared to thee? Without thy presence, heaven's no heaven to me. Without thy presence earth gives no refection; The highest honors that the world can boast, The loudest flames that earth can kindle, be Without thy presence wealth is bags of cares; Wisdom but folly; joy disquiet-sadness; Friendship is treason, and delights are snares; Pleasures but pains, and mirth but pleasing madness; Without thee, Lord, things be not what they be, In having all things, and not thee, what have I? I wish nor sea nor land; nor would I be Possessed of heaven, heaven unpossessed of thee. THE EMPTINESS OF RICHES. EDWARD YOUNG. CAN gold calm passion, or make reason shine? THE NEW JERUSALEM, OR THE SOUL'S BREATHING AFTER THE HEAVENLY COUNTRY. [This grand old hymn, by an unknown author, has existed for centuries. "It has rung in triumphant notes through the arches of mighty cathedrals; it has been chanted by the lips of kings and queens and nobles; it has ascended in the still air above the cottage roofs of the poor; it has given utter ance to the hopes and expectations of the Christian on every continent, by every sea-shore, in hall and hovel, until it has become, in one or another of its forms, the possession of the whole Christian world. Innumerable lips that here have been touched by its beauty and power, have gone to sing other and nobler songs up yonder." "Since Christ's fair truth feeds no man's art, Take this rude song in better part." O MOTHER, dear Jerusalem, When shall I come to thee? When shall my sorrows have an end, Thy joys when shall I see? O happy harbor of God's saints, In thee no sickness is at all, No dimming cloud o'ershadows thee, There lust and lucre can not dwell, Thy walls are made of precious stones, Thy turrets and thy pinnacles Ah, my sweet home, Jerusalem, Would God I were in thee! Would God my woes were at an end, Thy joys that I might see! Thy saints are crowned with glory great; We that are here in banishment We sigh and sob, and weep and wail. Our sweet is mixed with bitter gall, 'Thy gardens and thy gallant walks Continually are green, There grow such sweet and pleasant flowers As nowhere else are seen. Quite through the streets, with silver sound, The flood of Life doth flow; Upon whose banks on every side The wood of Life doth grow. There trees for evermore bear fruit, Would God I were in thee! THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. ADDISON. [JOSEPH ADDISON, the son of an English dean, was born in bed, he sent for a friend whom he wished to reclaim from a Wiltshire, England, in 1672, and died in 1719. On his deathdissipated and licentious life. I have sent for you," he Bid, that you may see in what peace a Christian can die." The uniform tendency of his writings is so excellent, displaying, on his part, such qualities of mind and heart, that it is said that they convey the impression like being recalled to a sense of something like that original purity from which man has long been estranged." His style is regarded by scholars as a model of purest English.] Among other excellent arguments for the immortality of the soul, there is one drawn from the perpetual progress of the soul to its perfection, without a possibility of ever arriving at it, which is hint that I do not remember to have ween opened and improved by others who nave written on this subject, though it scems to me to carry a very great weight with it. How can it enter into the thoughts of man that the soul, which is capable of such immense perfections, and of receiving new improvements to all eternity, shall fall away into nothing almost as soon as it is created? Are such abilities made for no purpose? A brute arrives at a point of perfection that he can never pass; in a few years he has all the endowments he is capable of; and were he to live ten thousand more, would be the same thing he is at present. Were a human soul thus at a stand in her accomplishments; were her faculties to be full-blown, and incapable of further enlargements, I could imagine it might fall away insensible, and drop at once into a state of annihilation. But can we believe a thinking being, that is in a perpetual progress of improvements, and traveling on from perfection to perfection, after having just looked abroad into the works of its Creator, and made few discoveries of his infinite goodness, wisdom, and power, must perish at her first setting out, and in the very beginning of her inquiries? Man, considered in his present state, seems only sent into the world to propagate his kind. He provides himself with a successor, and immediately quits. his post to make room for him. -Heir crowds heir, as in a rolling flood Wave urges wave. He does not seem born to enjoy life, but to deliver down to others. This is not surprising to consider in animals, which are formed for our use, and can finish their business in a short life. The silk-worm, after having spun her task, lays her eggs and dies. But in this life man can never take in his full measure of knowledge; nor has he time to subdue his passions, establish his soul in virtue, and come up to the perfection of his nature before he is hurried off the stage. Would an infinitely-wise Being make such glorious creatures for so mean a purpose? Can he delight in the production of such abortive intelligence, such short-lived reasonable beings? Would he give us talents that are not to be exerted? capacities that are never to be gratified? How can we find that wisdom which shines through all his works, in the formation of man, without looking on this world as only a nursery for the next, and believing that the several generations of rational creatures, which rise up and disappear in such quick successions, are only to |