AND EDITIONS edition of th at Lyons by S Fon of the Ne ough the pre rp. A revise of Brucciol Zed in Italian f Protestants his as an ene Bible, in printed a his old city tronage of ond to but d by the he build entioned Roman Roman Huns bards, chate e it 11th vith der sa. -' ' great ability, and to the perfect satisfaction of the people. A duke of Mantua opened the way for Kafvenaki, to give to his subjects an edition of the Bible printed in their vernacular language, and this ruler distinguished himself more by the performance of this imperative duty than by the splendor of his court. Wiedmanstadius printed the New Testament in Syriac, at Vienna, and Diodatis published, in French, a translation of his Italian version. An edition of the New Testament made its appearance at Geneva, the same having passed through the press of Barbier and Courteau. 1563. Another edition of the New Testament in German was published at Antwerp, a copy of which is in the City Library at Ypres, Belgium. Merlin and Desboys printed at Paris, in French, an edition of the Bible. The "Radzivil" Bible, in Polish, executed from the original text by an anonymous translator, appeared at Bryesc, Poland, but it passed through only one edition, for Prince Radzivil, at whose expense it had been translated and printed, died soon after its publication. His son, who was a Roman Catholic, bought up all the copies and burned them. He may truly be called an ignoble son of a noble sire. Happily, the copy in the Reference Library at Manchester, England, escaped the vigilant search of this hotheaded individual, whose zeal was not tempered with wisdom. An edition of the New Testament was printed in German at Antwerp, and at Lyons, Rovillian published an illustrated edition of the Bible. 1564. An edition of the New Testament was printed at Antwerp by Plantin, another edition of Dietenberger's Bible was published at Cologne, and Isidori Clarii's second edition of the Bible was printed at Venice. Through the press of Gryphius, at Lyons, passed an edition of the New Testament, and at the same place an edition of the Bible was published, in French, by Tornasius. An edition of the New Testament by Crispin, and one by Reuss, was printed in Greek and Latin. The typographical work of the former was done at Lyons, and the latter was printed at Basle. An edition of the New Testament was published at Lyons by Hylaire and Cloquemin, and the Bible of Rene Benoit was printed at Paris. Another edition of the Bible, bearing the name of the printers, passed through the press of Merlin and Desboys at Paris. In this eventful year died John Calvin, the greatest of all Protestant commentators, and to him the French language owes a debt like that which is due by the German language to Martin Luther. Calvin taught some things certainly that should not be in the confession of the Presbyterian Church, but the General Assembly which met at Saratoga in May, 1890, harmoniously considered this matter, and appointed a competent committee to report on the subject of revision. Many persons expected that the Assembly would be a scene of strife, but . He who rules the hearts of His servants disappointed the fears of its friends and the hopes of its enemies. The delegates favoring revision, who were in the majority, were forbearing and magnanimous, while those in the minority bowed gracefully to a movement which could not successfully be resisted. There is no fear of any division in the Presbyterian Church, and the chapter of amendments added to the form of government preserves the integrity and expounds the meaning of the Adopting Act beyond all possibility of future misunderstanding. It ratifies and confirms the precedents of a century, and prevents hasty legislation in connection with our venerable confession of faith. 1565. Beza, who reprinted, with fifty emendations, the third edition of Stephens' New Testament, in Greek, had the advantage of possessing two valuable MSS. from which to intro duce improvements in the text, viz., the Codex Bezae and the Codex Claromontanus. The latter is a Greek and Latin copy of St. Paul's Epistles, and derives its name from the fact that it was procured by Beza from Clermont, France. It belongs either to the seventh or eighth century. Several sheets were cut from it by some vandal early in the eighteenth century, but Lord Oxford subsequently recovered them in England, and they were deposited in 1729 with the librarian of the Royal Library of Paris. In this reprint Beza had also for reference the Syriac version which had been published by Tremellius, and these critical MSS. were employed in the drawing-up of the polemical disquisitions which he inserted in the notes of his edition. Beza, a native of France, and a Protestant, sought refuge in Geneva against persecution, and there his works were published. His several editions are accompanied by the Latin Vulgate, and by a Latin version executed by himself. An edition of the Bible was printed in Dutch by Arnold Birckman, and another in the same language by Nic. Biestkeno. An edition of the Bible was printed in Greek, at Basle, by Hervagius, and a very handsome edition of the Bible, in Latin, was published at Antwerp by Plantin. An edition of the New Testament, in Latin, with full-page cuts in Revelation, was printed by Mayer, and the Psalms of David were published in English, at Edinburgh, by Robert Lekprevik. This is the earliest edition of the Sternhold and Hopkins prepared for the Church of Scotland. A Psalter, in Armenian, was printed in Venice, by Abgar, and this is believed to be the first portion of the Bible printed in this language. In the Seventeenth Century MSS. copies of the Armenian Scriptures had become so scarce that a council of Ar sited in 1729 with eRoyal Library eprint Beza had as Syriac version whi hed by Tremelli ISS. were employe of the polemica he inserted in the n. Beza, a native Protestant, sough against persec works were pub ditions are ac in Vulgate, and ecuted by him le was printed irckman, and uage by Nic was printed vagius, and the Bible Antwerp estament, in Reve er, and blished Robert st edi pkins land. nted be the In es menian bishops assembled to consult on account of its exactness and eloquent simplicity has been called by La Croze, the "Queen of Versions." There are two sources of information from which the early history of this valuable translation may be derived, one of which is an Armenian Biography of the Saints, preserved in the public library of Paris, and the other in the History of Armenia, by Moses Choronensis, printed with a Latin translation, at Cambridge, in 1736. From the combined testimony of these two sources it would appear that the origin of the Armenian version is nearly contemporaneous with the Armenian alphabet. Miesrob, after communicating his discovery to King Uram Scavu, and to Isaac the patriarch of Armenia, traveled throughout the country in order to establish schools for disseminating instruction in reading and writing, and on his return he found the patriarch engaged in the application of the newly invented characters to a translation of the Scriptures from Syriac into Armenian. By the joint efforts of Miesrob and Isaac, a version of the entire Scriptures was effected, but it was executed from the Syriac because no Greek MSS. were then attainable in Armenia. Meruzan, a Persian general had caused all the Greek books to be burned, and the Persians had prohibited the use of any language for religious purposes among the Armenians, except the Syriac. At a meeting of the Council of Ephesus, in 431, Miesrob and Isaac sent two of their pupils to that assembly to recount the progress that had been made in the translation of the Scriptures, and the members of that council sent back the young men with a complete copy of the Septuagint Bible and the Greek New Testament for the use of the translators. On receiving this welcome gift, Isaac and Miesrob, who had already produced two different translations from the Syriac, proceeded to the formation of an Armenian version. Finding themselves impeded by their imperfect acquaintance with the Greek language, they sent some of their students to Alexandria to study that language. On the return of these students from the Alexandrian school of Greek learning and literature, the work of translation was recommenced from the Greek, and when the version was completed it was modified by Isaac according to the Syriac. An edition of the Bible was printed in Greek and Latin, at Geneva, by Stephens. 1566. The Codex Vaticanus, a fourth century MSS. is known to have been copied in Mexico, by Pedro de los Rios, during this year. Some feeble efforts were made at an early period to bestow on Mexicans a portion of the Word of God in their own language, and about this time fragments of the Epistles and Gospels were translated into Mexican, by Rodriguez and Diadacus de S. Maria. The people of this country, even at the brightest period of their history, seem not to have possessed the art of writ ing, unless a rude kind of picture writing, consisting of figures of animals, be worthy of that name. Alphabetical characters they had none, but since the Spanish conquest the Roman letters, and the Spanish system of orthography, have been adopted in writing this language. It is true, however, that many monuments of architectural skill remain to prove that at one period the Mexicans had attained to a high degree of civilization, and had made considerable progress in the cultivation of both useful and ornamental art; yet, whatever may have been their advance in the arts of life, it is certain that the light which can only come from above, was not vouchsafed to this race. It is a well known fact in history that the Mexicans offered human victims, and even their own children, to their imaginary deities, but such revolting practices long ago fell into disuse, while apathetic indolence and superstition continue to prevail. A large proportion of the population of the people of Mexico to-day, have merely exchanged their ancient idolatrous rites for the shows and mummeries of the Romish Church, and they are still in blind subjection to their superiors. An edition of the New Testament was printed in Greek, by Freschover, at Zurich, and an edition of the Bible was published at Geneva by Bonnefry. Rovillius printed another edition |