BIBLE (bib'1), (Gr. fli(3Xla, the small books), a name supposed to have been first applied in the fifth century to denote the collect ive volume of the sacred writings.
I. Name. The word occurs in the Prologue to Ecclesiasticus, 'the Law, the Prophets and the rest of the books,' and 2 Tun. iv :13, 'arid the books.' Before the adoption of this name the more usual terms in the Christian Church by which the sacred books were denominated were the Scripture or writing, the Scriptures, the sa cred writings and the sacred letters. These names arc thus frequently applied to the sacred books of the Old Testament by Josephus and Philo. as well as by the writers of the New Testament (2 Pet. I:20; Matt. xxii :29; Rom. 1:2; 2 TIM. III :15).
2. DiVisions. The Bible is divided into the Old and New Testaments. The name Old Testament is applied to the books of Moses by St. Paul (2 Cor. :14), inasmuch as the former covenant comprised the whole scheme of the Mosaic revelation, and the history of this is contained in them. This phrase, 'book of the covenant,' taken probably from Exod. xxiv :7; Mace. i:57, was transferred in the course of time by a metonymy to signify the writings themselves. The word diathaykay, which we now translate testament, signifies either a testament or a cove nant. but the translators of the old Latin version have by a Grecism always rendered it, even when it was used as a translation of the Hebrew Berith (covenant), by the word Testanzentum. The names given to the Old Testament were the Scrip tures (Matt. xxi :42), Scripture (2 Pet. 1:20), the Holy Scriptures (Rom. i :2), the sacred letters (2 Tim. in :15), the holy books (Sashed. xci :2), the law ( John xii :34), the law, the prophets and the psalms (Luke xxiv :44). the law and the prophets (Matt. v :17), the law, the prophets and the other books (Prot. Ecclus.), the books of the old covenant (Neh. viii :8), the book of the cove nant (1 Mace. 1:57 ; 2 Kings xxiii :2).
The other books onn in the canon) were called apocryphal, ecclesiastical and deutero-canonical The term New Testament has been in common use since the third century, and is employed by Eusebius in the same sense in which it is now commonly applied (Hist. Eccles. iii :23), Tertul
lian employs the same phrase, and also that of 'the Divine Instrument' in the same signification. (See ScairruttE, HOLY.) 3. Sixty- six Books. Although properly considered as a unit, the Bible is a collection of sixty-six books which were originally written in three languages—the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Greek, these being the most extensively used of all the tongues of antiquity.
These works were prepared in various locali ties, in different ages, and by men who varied as much in mental attainment as in worldly posi tion. They treat of the beginnings of earth and of primitive man ; they recite the history of in dividuals and of nations ; they furnish an ex tensive code of laws, civil, physical and moral; they include a wonderful collection of psalms or hymns ; they contain letters written for the com fort and instruction of believers ; they treat of Gods dealings with men ; they portray His sub lime patience and wisdom, and the physical em bodiment of Divine love in the person of the Christ ; they inculcate the whole ditty of man toward his fellow creatures and his God ; they describe his responsibilities and privileges, with the penalties and rewards which follow different lines of conduct.
Sn complete a volume is its own witness that it came from the same mind which planned the earth with its wonderful resources, and adap tation to the needs of humanity. The Bible fur nishes moral and spiritual food, while the earth gives home and sustenance to the children of men. They both respond quickly to the inquiry of the uncultured mind. and they both contain problems which the greatest minds of earth have failed to solve. The Bible has lived through centuries of criticism while other monuments of letters have gone into oblivion. The literary treasures of Greece and Rome have followed those of earlier times into the halls of forgetfulness, but the circulation of this wonderful book is greater to day than ever before. Thousands of volumes have been written in the effort to destroy its use fulness, but it still guides the living and com forts the dying, and thus it will continue to do until faith is swallowed up in victory.