casion, B. replied to one of his fellowcitizens, who expressed his astonishment that he made no preparations for his departure," I carry every thing with me." B. remained in his native country, where he died at a very advanced age. His countrymen buried him with splendor, and honored his memory. Some of his sayings and precepts are yet preserved. He was numbered among the seven sages of Greece.

BIBBIENA, Fernando; a painter and architect. His father, Giovanni Maria Galli (a less distinguished painter and architect), named his son B. from his native town in Tuscany. The son was born at Bologna, 1657. Carlo Cignani (q. v.) directed his studies. B. was afterwards invited to Barcelona. The duke of Parma subsequently made him director of his theatres. Charles VI afterwards invited him to Vienna. Several beautiful buildings were erected in Austria from his plans. In his theatrical paintings, he has continued the vicious style of Borromini and others. His writings display extent and accuracy of knowledge. When considerably advanced in life, his weak sight prevented him from painting, and he occupied himself with the revision of his works, which he published anew at Bologna, 1725 and 1731, in 2 vols.; the first, under the title Direzioni a' giovani Studenti nel Disegno dell Architettura civile: in the second, he treats of perspective. He finally became blind, and died 1743. His three sons extended their father's art through all Italy and Germany. Antonio succeeded to his father's place at the court of the emperor Charles VI. Giuseppe died at Berlin, and Alessandro in the service of the elector palatine. A collection of B.'s decorations has been published at Augsburg.

BIBLE; a book, from the Greek Bißos, which signifies the soft bark of a tree, on which the ancients wrote. The collection of the Sacred Writings, or Holy Scriptures of the Christians, is called the Bible, or the Book, by way of excellence. Some of these writings, which are also received by the Jews as the records of their faith, are called the Old Testament, or writings of the old covenant, because the Jewish religion was represented as a compact or covenant between God and the Jews, and the Greek word for covenant (dtaðñ«n) signifies also last will, or testament. The same figure was applied to the Christian religion, which was considered as an extension of the old covenant, or a covenant between God and the whole human race. The sacred writings peculiar to the Christians

are, therefore, called the Scriptures of the New Testament. (See Testament.) The order of the books of the Old Testament, as they are arranged in the editions of the Latin version, called the Vulgate (q. v.), according to the decree of the council of Trent (sess. 4), is as follows:-Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges and Ruth; I Samuel, or I Kings; II Samuel, or II Kings; I Kings, otherwise called III Kings; II Kings, otherwise called IV Kings; I Esdras (as it is called in the Septuagint (q. v.) and Vulgate), or Ezra; II Esdras, or (as we call it) Nehemiah; *Tobit, *Judith, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, *The Book of Wisdom, *Ecclesiasticus, Isaiah, Jeremiah and *Baruch; Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Nahum (which, in our editions, is placed after Micah and before Habakkuk), Jonah (which we place after Obadiah), Micah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, *I Maccabees and *II Maccabees. (Those to which an asterisk is prefixed are, by Protestants, considered apocryphal. q. v.) The books received by the Jews were divided by Ezra into three classes:-1. The Law, contained in the Pentateuch, (q. v.) or five books of Moses. 2. The Prophets, comprising Joshua, Judges and Ruth, I and II Samuel, I and II Kings, I and II Chronicles, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, the 12 minor prophets, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther. 3. The Cetubim, or Hagiographa, that is, holy writings, containing the Psalms, the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon. These books were written in the Hebrew language (q. v.), while those which are rejected from the canon as apocryphal by the Protestants, are found only in Greek or Latin. The books of Moses were deposited, according to the Bible, after his death, in the tabernacle, near the ark: the other sacred writings, it is further said, were successively deposited in the same place, as they were written. After the building of the temple, they were removed by Solomon to that edifice: on the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, the autographs probably perished, but numerous copies were preserved, as is inferred from allusions in writers subsequent to the Babylonish captivity. It is generally admitted, that the canon of the Old Testament was settled soon after the return from Babylon, and the reestablishment of the Jewish religion. This work was accomplished, according to the traditions of the Jews, by Ezra, with the

assistance of the great synagogue, who collected and compared as many copies as could be found. From this collation a correct edition of the whole was prepared, with the exception of the writings of Ezra, Malachi and Nehemiah, which were added by Simon the Just. When Judas Maccabæus repaired the temple, which had been destroyed by Antiochus Epiphanes, he placed in it a correct copy of the Hebrew Scriptures, whether the autograph of Ezra or not is not known. This copy was carried to Rome by Titus. The division into chapters and verses is of modern origin. Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro, who flourished in the 13th century, having divided the Vulgate into chapters, for convenience of reference, similar divisions were made in the Hebrew text by rabbi Mordecai Nathan, in the 15th century. The present division into verses was made by Athias, a Jew of Amsterdam, in his edition of 1661. The punctuation is also the work of modern scholars. Biblical critics divide the Scriptures of the Old Testament into the Pentateuch, or five books of Moses; the historical books, from Joshua to Esther inclusive; the doctrinal or poetical books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon; the prophetical books.-The most esteemed manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible are those of the Spanish Jews. The most ancient are not more than seven or eight centuries old: the famous manuscript of the Samaritan Pentateuch, in the possession of the Samaritans of Sichem, is only 500 years old: a manuscript in the Bodleian library is thought to be 700 years old: one in the Vatican is supposed to have been written in 973. In some manuscripts, the Masora (q. v.) is added.—The printed editions of the Hebrew Bible are very numerous. The earliest were printed in Italy. The first edition of the entire Hebrew Bible was printed at Soncino, in 1488. The Brescian edition of 1494 was used by Luther, in making his German translation. The editions of Athias, a Jew of Amsterdam, 1661 and 1667, are much esteemed for their beauty and correctness. Van der Hooght followed the latter. Doctor Kennicott did more than any one of nis predecessors to settle the Hebrew text. His Hebrew Bible appeared at Oxford, in 1776-1780, 2 vols., folio. The text is from that of Van der Hooght, with which 630 MSS. were collated. De Rossi, who published a supplement to Kennicott's edition (Parma, 1784-99, 5 vols., 4to.), collated 958 MSS. The German Orien

91

talists, Gesenius, De Wette, &c., in recent times, have done very much towards correcting the Hebrew text. The earliest and most famous version of the Old Testament is the Septuagint, or Greek translation. The Syriac version, called the Peschito, was made early in the second century. It is celebrated for its fidelity. The Coptic version was made from the Septuagint, some time before the seventh century. The Gothic version, by Ulphilas, was also made from the Septuagint, in the fourth century. The most impor tant Latin version is the Vulgate. (For an account of the principal polyglots,_see Polyglot.)-The books of the New Testament were all written in Greek, unless it be true, as some critics suppose, that the Gospel of St. Matthew was originally written in Hebrew. Most of these writings have always been received as canonical; but the Epistle to the Hebrews, by an uncertain author, that of St. Jude, the second of Peter, the second and third of John, and the Apocalypse (q. v.) have been doubted. Eusebius distinguishes three sorts of books connected with the New Testament:-1. those which have always been unanimously received, namely, the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, 13 Epistles of Paul, the first Epistle of Peter, and the first of John: 2. those which were not received, at first, by all the churches; of these, some which have been already mentioned, though at first rejected by some churches, have been since universally received; others, such as the Books of the Shepherd, the Letter of St. Barnabas, the two Epistles of St. Clement, have not been generally acknowledged as canonical: 3. books forged by heretics, to maintain their doctrines; such are the Gospels of St. Thomas, St. Peter, &c. The division of the text of the New Testament, into chapters and verses was introduced earlier than that of the Old Testament; but it is not precisely known when, or by whom. (For the numerous translations of the Bible, in modern times, see the article Bible Societies, and the annual reports of these societies, particularly of the British and foreign Bible society.) In Biblical criticism, the Germans have, without doubt, done more than any other nation; and we should far exceed our limits, if we were to attempt an enumeration of their works in this department. (See Wette, Griesbach, Gesenius, Schleiermacher, Michaelis, &c.) The whole Bible was translated into Saxon by Bede, in the beginning of the eighth century. The first English translation, by an unknown

hand, is supposed to have been made near the end of the 13th century. Wickliffe's translation of the entire Bible from the Vulgate, 1380, was first printed 1731. The first printed edition of any part of the Scriptures in English was a translation of the New Testament from the original Greek, published by Tindal, 1526. The whole impression was bought up and burut by the bishop of London. The authorized version now in use, in England and America, was made by the command of James I, and is commonly called king James's Bible. Forty-seven distinguished scholars were appointed for this purpose, and divided into six classes. Ten at Westminster were to translate to the end of II Kings; eight at Cambridge were to finish the remaining historical books and the Hagiographa: at Oxford, seven were engaged on the Prophets: the four Gospels, Acts of the Apostles and Apocalypse were assigned to another company of eight at Oxford; and the Epistles were allotted to a company of seven at Westminster: the apocryphal books were to be translated by a company at Cambridge. Each individual translated all the books allotted to his class. The whole class then compared all the translations, and adopted the readings agreed on by the majority. The book, thus finished, was sent to each of the other classes. This translation occupied three years. Copies were then sent to London, one from each of the above-named places. Here a committee of six, one from each class, reviewed the whole, which was last of all revised by doctor Smith and doctor Bilson, bishop of Winchester. It was printed in 1611. The latest and most complete revision was made by doctor Blayney, Oxford, 1769. (For an account of the German translation, see Luther, and Reformation. As a general book of reference, relating to the literature of the Bible, Horne's Introduction to the Study of the Scriptures may be consulted. See also Harris's Natural History of the Bible.)

Bible, Geography of, describes Palestine, and gives an account of the Asiatic countries bordering on Palestine, and of the provinces of the Roman empire into which Christianity was introduced, during the age of the apostles. The sources of this science are the Scriptures, the writings of Josephus, the geographical authors of antiquity, Strabo, Ptolemy and Pomponius Mela, and the Onomasticon Urbium et Locorum Scripturæ Sacra, written by Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea, in the fourth century, in Greek, and translated by Je

rome into Latin. Among the learned moderns who have cultivated this science, so important for the interpreter of the Holy Scriptures, are Bachiene, Wells, and the Dutchman Ysbrand of Hamelsfeld. (See Geography.)

BIBLE SOCIETIES. A clergyman of Wales, whom the want of a Welsh Bible led to London, occasioned the establishment of the British and foreign Bible society, which was founded in London, March 7, 1804. It was called the Bible society, because its object was the distribution of the Bible; British, because its operations were first directed towards the poor of Great Britain; and foreign, because it proposed, as far as its means would permit, to send Bibles, in all languages, to all parts of the world. The Bibles distributed by the society were to be without additions and explanations, in order to give them a more universal circulation. In the same year, the first general meeting was held in London, which unanimously adopted the proposed plan. Lord Teignmouth was chosen president, and many bishops, lords and members of parliament accepted the office of vice-president. In 1815, 484 similar institutions had been formed in all parts of Great Britain, and connected with the former as a parent society, to support it with pecuniary contributions, and to receive, in return, a supply of Bibles. There are, besides, several Bible societies among the lower class of people, the inembers of which pay, weekly, a penny or a halfpenny to provide themselves, their children or other poor persons with Bibles. In Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, America, similar Bible societies have been formed, and are connected with the British. The 24th annual report of the British and foreign Bible society in London, 1828, gives a list of editions of the whole or parts of the Scriptures, printed for the society, in the following languages: English, Welsh, Gaelic, Irish, Manks, French, Basque, Breton, Flemish, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Hebrew, Swedish, German, Polish, Greek (ancient and modern), Armenian (ancient and modern), Arabic, Coptic, Indo-Portuguese, Syriac, Carshun, Esquimaux, Mohawk, Ethiopic, Malay, Turkish, Hindostanee, Greenlandish, Amharic, Persian, Bohemian, Latin, Albanian. The same report gives the following summary of languages and dialects, in which the distribution, printing or translation of the Scriptures, in whole or in part, has been promoted by the so

ciety, directly or indirectly:-Reprints, 42; retranslations, 5; languages and dialects in which the Scriptures had never been printed before the institution of the society, 58; new translations commenced or completed, 38; total, 143. The society provides many translations of single books of the Bible, or of the New Testament, in numerous languages and dialects of the nations of Middle and Eastern Asia, at Calcutta and Madras; as well as in the languages of the Levant, North Africa, &c. (e. g., the Arabic, Tartar, Syriac, and two dialects of the Ethiopic), at Smyrna, Malta, and other depôts of the Mediterranean; and aids all the Bible societies of the continent of Europe. It has agents in almost all parts of the inhabited globe, who travel at its expense, to discover the best means of diffusing the Bible, and to procure able translators and manuscripts of ancient translations for the use of the society. Pinkerton found, in Paris, translations of the Bible in the dialects of Northern Asia and Thibet, with the characters belonging to them, which had been brought to France, under Napoleon, from the archives of the propaganda at Rome. The most difficult translation was that into the Esquimaux language. According to the 24th report above-mentioned, published in 1828, there were issued in England, during the 24th year from the establishment of the society, Bibles, 137,162; Testaments, 199,108; purchased and issued for the society, in foreign parts, during the same period, Bibles, 212,024; Testaments, 818,834: total issued on account of the society, from its establishment, Bibles, 2,248,182; Testaments, 3,422,341; grand total, 5,670,523. In addition to this, the society has granted about £53,800 for distributing, in various parts of the European continent, French, German, Swedish and Danish Bibles and Testaments. The number of Bible societies throughout the world, given in the same report, is as follows:-In Great Britain and Ireland, connected with the British and foreign Bible society, 262 uxiliaries, 350 branches, and 1493 assoiations; in Ireland, connected with the Hibernian Bible society, 70 auxiliaries, 38 branches, and 18 associations; on the European continent and in the Ionian islands, 854 societies; in Asia, 13; in Africa, 4; in America, 549 (there are, in fact, 631 societies in America, in the present year, 1829); total, 3733.-In Germany, the following were the chief Bible societies in 1817:-1 at Hanover, where an edition of the Bible, of 10,000 copies,

93

has been completed; 1 at Berlin; 1 at Dresden, which, besides a stereotype edition of the German Bible, has also published an edition, in the Wendish tongue, for Lusatia; 1 at Frankfort on the Maine. In Bavaria, the distribution of the Bible has been confined to the efforts of individuals. (180,000 copies of the Catholic translations of the New Testament, by Gossner and van Ess, had been distributed in Germany and Switzerland, up to 1821. Many of these reached the Austrian provinces, which at present are closed against German Bibles.) The society at Stuttgart has printed an edition of 10,000 Bibles and 2000 Testaments, which have already been taken up. Societies exist at Hamburg, Baden, Weimar, Bremen, Lűbeck; at Schleswig-Holstein, Schwerin, Ratzeburg, Eutin, Brunswick, &c. (each of them having auxiliary societies). Protestant Switzerland has a Bible society of its own; so has the kingdom of the Netherlands, which provides its colonies with Bibles. In Paris, such a society was instituted, Dec. 6, 1818, for the Protestants in France. The means of this society were small (in 1820, not more than 58,212 francs had been received), and it had principally in view the supplying of schools, hospitals and prisons; but, as Catholics also have received the Bible, it has met with a strong opposition from the papal-jesuitical party in France. In Strasburg, an edition of 20,000 Bibles was printed for Alsace. In Sweden, the chief society in Stockholm have distributed a large number of Bibles and Testaments. In Norway and Denmark, editions have been published with the same view, and the Danish society has branches in Iceland and the West Indies. The Russian society in Petersburg has vied with the English, and some years since had printed the Bible in 31 languages and dialects spoken in the Russian dominions, among which is one in the modern Russian, since the translation of the church is in the Sclavonic, and unintelligible to laymen. This new translation has been joyfully received by the country people, and shows them the errors and many superstitions which disfigure the ritual of the Greek church. On this account, it will probably give rise to contests, which can hardly be terminated without a gradual reformation of the Greek church. Part of the clergy are opposed to the distribution of the Bible, and persecutions against zealous readers of the sacred book have already taken place in the more distant governments. The Gospels in the

Calmuc language and the Persian New Testaments are much sought for. A translation of the Bible for the Booriaits, Mongol worshippers of the Lama, near lake Baikal, is preparing, with the assistance of two young Booriaits of high birth, who embraced Christianity at Petersburg. Auxiliary societies have been formed at Irkutsk, Tobolsk, among the Kirghises, Georgians, and Cossacks of the Don. The word of God is carried from Odessa to the Levant. The buil of Pius VII, June 28, 1816, obtained by the archbishop of Gnesen, did not prevent the Poles from forming a society in Warsaw, under the protection of Alexander. In 1817, the distribution of the Bible by such societics was forbidden in Austria, and those already existing in Hungary were suppressed. Italy, Spain and Portugal have had, as yet, no Bible societies; France only one; but the English have provided them with Bibles in their own tongues. In the U. States of America, the great American Bible society, formed in 1816, acts in concert with the auxiliary societies, of which, in 1829, there were 630. The management of the society is intrusted to a board of managers; stereotype plates have been procured, and Bibles are issued at a low price for the auxiliaries, and for gratuitous distribution among the poor. During the first year, 6,410 copies of Bibles and Testaments were distributed. In 1827, the number amounted to 134,000, and, during the first 8 months of 1828, to 146,000. The whole number issued since the organization of the society is about 700,000. These have been mostly in EngJish, Spanish and French, from the society's plates. The managers have occasionally purchased Bibles in Europe, and issued them to applicants, in German, Dutch, Welsh, Gaelic, Portuguese, modern Greek, and some other European languages. They have also furnished money to print translations into pagan languages, by American missionaries. They have in operation 8 power-presses and 20 handpresses, and copies are prepared at the rate of 300,000 a year. Many of the auxiliary societies have undertaken to discover the number of families in their vicinity destitute of the Bible, and to supply them. It is the object of the society to supply every family in the U. States, before devoting much attention to distribution abroad. Yet Spanish America and Ceylon, Greece and the Sandwich islands, have been furnished with Bibles by the society. The colonies also exert themselves in this cause. Hayti has offered her assistance,

and even the Esquimaux already read the Acts of the Apostles in their own language. A similar zeal for the distribution of the Bible has been awakened in Southern Africa and in India, where Bibles are published in the languages of the country even the islands on the castern coast of Asia are not neglected. In the Netherlands, there is a fraternal union of different sects for this purpose, as is also the case in other countries containing various sects. Such associations excite among different sects a feeling of mutual sympathy, by a consideration of their mutual participation in the most important truths of Christianity.—Such a general diffusion of the Bible is an event of great historical importance. Its translation into languages which have been hitherto destitute of all literature, and even of writing, must contribute greatly to the progress of intellectual cultivation throughout the earth, and must have an especial influence on the advancement of general philology. The Bible societies may be considered as assisting to pave the way for the introduction of European civilization into all the less enlightened regions of the earth. The societies adhere to the principle of publishing the Bible without notes, starting from the Protestant principle, that the Bible, and the Bible alone, is the foundation of Christian faith. Undoubtedly, the various sects of Christians, differing so greatly as they do, and always must, respecting certain points of faith and the interpretation of particular passages of the Scriptures, could not be made to co-operate with zeal in the distribution of the Bible, if the text were accompanied with commentaries. But now missionaries and ministers must supply, by verbal explanation, the place of notes, because it is clear to every body that the Bible cannot be understood without the explanation afforded by study. Thus the opinions of individuals, orally delivered, are substituted for the more precise and profound criticism of united commentators. It seems to us, that the friends of Bible societies and their opponents (a part of the Catholic clergy) have both run into extremes; the former by injudiciously distributing the Scriptures, in some cases, before people were fit to understand them; and the latter by an unqualified prohibition of the reading of the Bible by the laity. The order of the pope, that only certain editions and versions should be read by the Catholics, originated from views founded on the experience of all ages of Chris