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RIRLE SOCIETIES BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



300,000 a yrnr. Many of the auxiliary societies have 

 undertaken to disc-over tin- 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 United Slate-, liefore devoting much attention 

 to distribution abroad. Vet 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 seal for the distribution of the 

 Bible lias !)( n awakened in Southern Africa and in 

 India, when- B.hles are published in the languages 

 of the country : even the islands on the eastern 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 con- 

 taining 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 .. (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 in- 

 fluence 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 the Christian faith. Un- 

 doubtedly, the various sects of Christians, differing 

 so greatly as they do, and always must, respecting 

 certain points of faith, and the interpretation of par- 

 ticular 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 commen- 

 taries. But now missionaries and ministers must 

 supply, by verbal explanation, the place of notes, 

 because it is clear to every body that the Bible can- 

 not 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 dis- 

 tributing 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 Christianity, that men of pure intentions 

 often fall into dreadful errors and absurdities from 

 want of just direction in the study of the Bible. 

 And it remains a fact not to be disputed by the most 

 ardent defender of immediate and supernatural assist- 

 ance to the reader of the Bible, that, being composed 

 of parts extremely various in their character, written 

 in times and countries very remote from us, often in 

 metaphorical language, and intimately connected 

 with the customs, views, history, and language of 

 particular nations, and even individuals, its real 

 meaning is not to be found without an extensive 

 study of many different branches of science, the re- 

 sults of which may be used to assist the less informed 

 reader. History shows us, that the blackest crimes 

 and the most egregious follies have been defended 

 by the misapplication of the text of the Sacred 



Scriptures. It must be left to time to show what 

 will be the ultimate effect of Bible societies. Un- 

 doubtedly it will be found, that some portion of their 

 efforts have been made in vain, as was, indeed, to be 

 expected ; r.nd, in many instances, they appear to us 

 to have been made injudiciously. The extension of 

 the habit of rending through so many parts of the 

 world, we imagine, will be one of the greatest and 

 most lasting consequences of the exertions of these 

 societies. 



BIBLICAL ARCH.EOLOGY, is the science which de- 

 scribes the political state, manners, and customs of 

 the Jewish nation, as well as the usages of the early 

 Christian church; consequently, the antiquities o'f 

 the Bible. Civil relations, religious ceremonies, holy 

 places, domestic customs and utensils, modes of 

 dress, and other external circumstances, form the 

 subject of this science. The antiquities of the Bible 

 are partly Jewish, partly Christian. The sources of 

 the former are the Old Testament, the works of 

 Josephus and Philo, the Talmud, and the writings of 

 the rabbins. The sources of Christian antiquities are 

 the New Testament and the writings of the fathers, 

 who lived and wrote soon after the age of the 

 apostles. Without the knowledge of the manners 

 and customs of a nation, many passages of their 

 authors, which contain allusions to them, remain un- 

 intelligible, and, on this account, the knowledge of 

 the antiquities of the Bible is necessary to the inter- 

 preter of the Holy Scriptures. Among the modern 

 authors, who have written on Jewish antiquities, 

 Voland, John Simonis, Ernst Aug. Schulz, George 

 Lawrence Bauer, Warnekros de Wette, and John 

 Jahn, particularly deserve to be mentioned. We may 

 find information concerning Christian antiquities in 

 the commentaries on the New Testament, and in the 

 historians of the church. The Germans have particu- 

 larly distinguished themselves in this department. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY (from /5</3Xia, a book, and yjap*, 1 

 describe) was originally a branch of archeeograp/iy, 

 or the art of describing or explaining antiquities, and 

 denoted skill in the perusing and judging of ancient 

 manuscripts ; but in its modern and more extended 

 sense, it signifies the knowledge of books, in refer- 

 ence to the subjects discussed in them, their different 

 degrees of rarity, curiosity, reputed and real value, 

 the materials of which they are composed, and the 

 rank which they ought to held in the classification of 

 a library. It is, therefore, divided into two branches, 

 the first of which has reference to the contents of 

 books, and may be called, for want of a better phrase, 

 intellectual bibliography ; the second treats of their 

 external character, the history of particular copies, 

 &c., and may be termed material bibliography. The 

 object of the first kind is to acquaint literary men 

 with the most valuable books in every department of 

 study, either by means of catalogues raisonnfcs 

 simply, or by similar catalogues accompanied with 

 critical remarks. 



Bibliography belongs to those sciences, the pro- 

 gress of which is dependent, in a great degree, on 

 external circumstances. It has been, and still is. 

 cultivated most successfully in France. This is 

 owing not only to the riches of the great, and daily 

 increasing public libraries, liberally thrown open to 

 the use of the public, the large number of fine private 

 collections, and the familiarity of its numerous 

 literary men with books of all ages and countries, 

 but, in a great degree, to the practical spirit of the 

 nation, which induces their bibliographers to keep 

 constantly in view the supply or existing wants. 

 Brunei's Manuel du Libraire was the first important 

 work which contained, in an alphabetical form, a list 

 of the most valuable and costly books of all litera- 

 tures ; Barbier's Dictionnaire des Ouvrages Anony- 



