LECTURE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 163, 23 March 1871, Page 5

LECTURE.

On Thursday evening, the IGth inst., the I?ev. Smoult Smalley delivered a highly instructive and interesting lecture in the Athenre'im, Lawrence, in aid of the liquidation fund of the Wesleyan Church, the subject being " A few pages from the History of Biblical Literature." The rev. lecturer, in his prefatory remarks, proposed to commence — to use his own words — "At the tirot dawn of revelation ; watch the unfoldinglightgrowing more and more unto the perfect day, examining the record and following its growth through the centuries, till by a fearful anathema on him who shall add to it, or take from it, God pronounces it completed." The book of Job is supposed to have been the first portion of tli« OH Testament scriptures. The five books of Moses were writren by that patriarch during the foi ty years in the wilderness He wrote on goatskins, prepared and fastened together. Tne oldest M.S.S. of these books are on leather. One addition of this kind at present in the public library at Cambridge measures sixteen yards in length, and, though not complete, consists of 37 skins dyed red. There is another in the British Museum, written with great care on 40 thick, brown skins, in 153 narrow columns. The lecturer proceeded through the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Psalms, &c , explaining their origin, and how and by whom they were supposed to have been written, until he came to the New Testament, and having mentioned the insph'ed writers of the various epistles, who hafl finished the record of the truth of God, he said he had now come to the proper history of the Book. In the early days of the church the various epistles contained in the New Testament were scattered throughout the churches, and tradition has it that John collected them and gave them to the church, as a whole. Here the rev. lecturer gave a most interesting and graphic history of the Bible until its introduction into England. The story of its introduction is recorded as follows :— A British prince, named Caractacus, after opposing, the Roman power in Britain, was captured and taken to Rome, where the apostle Paul was at that time imprisoned. Caractacus and his family had then the opportunity of hearing the gospel preached by the apostle, and were converted to Christianity, and, on their return home, took with them some Christian teachers, who founded the first Christian church in England. The lecturer then gave an account of the sufferings and persecutions of the infant church in England ; of the death of the first British martyr, St. Albans ; of the decline of Christianity in that country ; of its revival ; and of the various translations of the Bible in the early days. A translation of the gospels in the reign of Alfred the Great has been preserved in the British Museum. There were many legends connected with the history of this book, one of which is the following : — When the monks of Lindisfarne were removing from their favourite monastery, to escape the depredations of the Danes, the vessel in ■which they embarked was upset, and the book fell into the sea, but was afterwards left high and dry on the beach by the receding tide. The next point touched upon was the state of Christianity in what are termed the Dark Ages. After reviewing the chief incidents of those times, the speiker came to the Reformation, which part of his subject he also handled in a masterly manner. He then referred to the Bible that we now possess. In the reign of James I. some difference having arisen between certain prelates of the church and few distinguished Puritans relative to certain renderings of extant versions of the Bible, and other matters connected with the church, the King- appointed a meeting to be held at Hampton Court for the purpose of determining upon these matters, when it was resolved, " That a translation be made of the whole Bible as consonant as can be to the original Hebrew and Graek, and this to be set out and printed without any marginal notes, and only to be used in all churches of Eugland during divine service. " Forty-se ven men of learning were chosen by Bishop

Bancroft to carry out^ the work of transla-" tion. After this was completed, the | volume was prefaced by the dedication to Jam ea and an address to the reader, which latter has been thrown out from recent I editions. The rev. gentleman concluded j his very eloquent and instructive lecture by taking a brief survey of our heritage — the heritage fur which our fathers fought and won — an open Bible, and resumed his seat amidst applause. A vote of thanks to the lecturer was proposed by Mr. Bloxham and seconded by Mr. Crow. A similar vote to the chairman, the Rev. Mr. Keall, was also passed.