BOO 



whatever th:)' wanted to inter in the earth, and which, with- 

 out fuch cave, would have been foon deftroyed. We need 

 not woiidcr then, that the prophet Jeremiah fliould think. 

 it iieceffary to e;iclofe thofe writings in an earthen pot, 

 which were to be buried in JuJjia, in fonie place where they 

 might be found without ir.uch ditTicuky on the return of the 

 Jeivs from captivity. Accordingly two dilTerent writings, or 

 imall rolls of writi:ig, called books ia the original Hebrew, 

 were dtligntd to be enclofcd in fnch an earthen vcflcl ; but 

 commentators have been much embarraded in giving any pro- 

 bable account of the r.eceffity of two writings, one fealed, 

 the other open ; or, as the palTage has been conimdhly un- 

 derftood, the one fsalcd iifi, the other left open for any one 

 to read : more efpecially, as both were to be alike buried in 

 the earth and concealed from every eye, and both were to be 

 examined at the return from the captivity. In order to folve 

 this difficulty, the ingenious Mr. liarmer (Obf. on Script. 

 vol. iv. p. 4.) remarks, that though one of them is faid to 

 huJiakJ, it doth not follow that it was fealed in fuch a 

 manner as not to be opened. Like modern deeds for the 

 conveyance of land, it might have been fealed, though not 

 with wax, yet, according to the prefent eallern man- 

 ner, with ink, fa as to be valid. Moreover, the v.-ord 

 tranflatcd 6/>fn, in reference to the evidence, or book which 

 was open, is not the fame that is twice ufed by Nchemiali, 

 ch. viii. J. ; but it is a word, which fignities (l Sam. iii. 7. 

 21. Dan. ii. 19, 30. x. i.) the revealing of future events to 

 the minds of men by a divine agency ; and it is particularly 

 ufed in the book of Ellher, (ch. viii. 13.) to exprefs a 

 book's making knov.-n the decree of an earthly king. Con- 

 fequently the o/>en hiok of Jeremiah feems to iignify, not its 

 bein-i- then lying open or unrolled before them, while the 

 other was fealed up ; but the book that had revealed the 

 will of God, to bring back Ifrael into their own country, 

 and to caufe buying and felling of houfcs and lands again to 

 take place among them. This was a looL of prophecy, open- 

 ing and revealing the future return of Ifrael ; and tlie other 

 little book, which was ordered to be buried along with it, 

 was the purchafe-deed. By adverting to the different 

 modes of writing in the Eaft, we obtain a fatisfaftory inter, 

 prctation of a paffage in the book of Job, (ch. xix. 23, 24.) 

 and a diilinct view of the beautiful gradation which is loil 

 in our traiiflation : " O that my words were now written ! 

 O that they were printed (written) in a book ! that they 

 ■were graven — in the rock for ever!" In the Eall there 

 is a mode of writing, which is defigned to fix words in the 

 memory, but the writing is not intended for duration. Ac- 

 cordingly, we are informed by Dr. Shaw, (Trav. p. 194.) 

 that children learn to write in B.'.rbary by means of a fmootii, 

 thin board, (lightly covered with whiting, which may be 

 wiped off, or renewed at pleafure. As many occurrences 

 were effaced from the memory of the Arabs in tlie time of 

 Job, as Well as from their writing-tables, as it now often 

 happens in Barbary ; Job expreffes his ivifh not only that 

 his words were written, and written in a book, from which 

 they fliould not be blotted out, and graven in a rock, the 

 moll permanent mode of recording tliem, and much more 

 effeftual for perpetuating them than a book. 



We find in Signior Callaguatta's account of the afbeftos, 

 a fcheme lor the making of a book, which from its im- 

 perifliable nature, he is for calling the bo-jl- of elernity. Tlse 

 leaves of this book were to be of the afbellos paper, the 

 covers of a thicker fort of work of the fame matter, and the 

 whole fewed together with thread fpun from the fame fub- 

 ftance. The things to be commemorated in this bool; were 

 to be written in letters of gold, fo that the whole matter of 

 the book being incombuftible and evcrlaltingly permanent 



BOO 



againft the force of all the elements, and fubjeft to no 

 changes from fire, water, or air, mull remain for ever, and 

 always preferve the writing committed to it. See Papei^. 



Books, form of. The full books were in the form of 

 blocks, and tables, of which we find frequent mention in 

 Scripture, under the appellation _/J-/)Zi«-, which the Septua- 

 gint render a|i»:;, q. d. fquare tablet : of wliich form the 

 book of the covenant, book of the law, book, or bill of 

 divorce, book of curfes, &c. appear to liave been. As 

 flexible matters came to be wrote on, they found it more 

 convenient to make their books in form of rolls, caUed 

 by the Greeks xovrxxtx, by the Lafns voluminii, which ap- 

 pear to have been in ufe among the ancient Jews a.s well as 

 Grecians, Romans, Perfiaus, and even Indians. And of 

 fuch did the libraries chiefly confill, till fome centuries after 

 Chrift. The form which obtains among us is the iquare, 

 compofed of feparate leaves; which was alio known, though 

 little ufed, among the ancients ; having been invented by 

 Attains, king of Pcrgamus, the fame alfo who invented 

 parchment : but it has now been fo long in poiieffion, 

 that the oldeft manufcripts are found in it. Montfaucon 

 affures us, that of all the ancient Greek manufciipts he has 

 leen, there are but two in the roll form ; the reil being 

 made up m.uch after the manner of the modern books. See 

 Book-binding. 



The rolls, or volumes, were compofed of feveral fheets, 

 faftencd to each other, and rolled upon a fticic, or unibiluus ; 

 the whole making a kind of column, or cylinder, which wn» 

 to be managed by the umbi/icus, as a handle ; it being re- 

 puted a kind of crime to take hold of the roll itltlf. The 

 outlide of the volunie was cnWed front ; the ends of the 

 vmhilicus, were called corr.ua, horns ; which were nfualiy 

 carved and adorned likewife with bits of filver, ivory, or 

 even gold and precious Hones. The title 'ZvXXx.So^ wa'. 

 ftuck on the outfidc. The whole volume, when extended, 

 might make a yard and a haif wide, and fifty long. Fabric. 

 Bibl. Antiq. c. 19. § 7. p. 607. 



Sir John Chardin informs us, in a note on If. viii. i. that 

 the eaflern people roll their papers, and do not fold them, 

 becaufe their paper is apt to fret. ^Vhdll the ^Egyptian 

 papyrus was in common ufe, its brittle nature made it 

 proper to roll up wliat they wrote : and as this had 

 been a cuflomary pratlice, many continued it vs-hen 

 they ufed other materials, which might very fafely 

 have been treated in a different manner. This method of 

 rolling up their books is referred to in the New Teflament ; 

 and that they were of the fame form much more anciently, 

 we learn from Jer. xxxvi. 2. Pf. xl. 7, &:c. Sec. 



It is cuflomary not only to wrap up Oriental books and 

 letters, which are rolled up, in an elegant and collly cover- 

 ing ; but to infcribe words on thefe coverings, which give a 

 general notion of their contents. This pratlice of wiitin<r 

 on the outfide of the cafe of a letter, or book rolled up, fccnrs 

 to be at leaft as ancient as the time of Chryfoftom, as we 

 learn from a note of Lambert Bos on Pf. xxxix. 7. as it 

 occurs in the LXX. v. 40. in our verflon. Chryfoitom re. 

 marks, that they call a wrapper (nXniix) the Kftp^Aic, which 

 is the word the Septuagint tranllators make ufe of to ex- 

 prefs the Hebrew word we tranflate volume : " In the 

 volume of the book it is written of me." The learned 

 father feems to fnppofe, that there was written in or on 

 the covering of the facred volume, a word or words which 

 fignified the " coming of the MeiTiah." But Chryfollom 

 would hardly have thought of fuch an interpretation, if it 

 had not been frequently done at Conftantinople in bis time, 

 or by the more eaflern princes that had buiinefs to tranfaft 

 with the Greek emperors, or been known to have been 



praeliled 



