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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERG
ever given to humanity. At most, it could only
be one of
the books of God, for there are many other sacred writings
which have a claim to recognition and cannot be ruled out
of court by a few wiseacres such as those who have
delegated the so-called apocryphal books to the literary
scrap heap.
In the first place, it should be remembered that the Old
Testament was written in Hebrew at various times and by
numerous writers, and that no collection of these writings
was made prior to Ezra. Of these Hebrew writings, there
is not now a single scrap in existence. Even as long ago
as 280 B. C. the Hebrew language had been abandoned, so
far as scriptural writing was concerned, and the Septuagint,
or Greek Translation, was in general use. That
was the only Bible in existence at the time of the birth of
Christ. Later some of the Hebrew writings have been col-
lected and collated by the Masoretes, a sect which existed
about 700 A. D. This is the best and most accurate text.
The English translation, most in use today, is the King
James Version, but His Majesty was not so much after
accuracy in translation as after peace, and the act which
authorized the translation of the Bible prohibited the
translators from translating any passages in such a way
that it would interfere with existing beliefs. This was
done to avoid any uprising or dissension in his kingdom,
and of the forty-seven translators, only three were Hebrew
scholars and two of them died before the Psalms had been
translated. A number of the books were thrown aside as
apocryphal, and altogether words were wrenched out of
their original meaning to conform to the superstition of
the age. Martin Luther, in Germany, translated from the
Latin text which had itself been translated from the Greek
and thus the chances of conveying wrong meanings. have