They were very particular about the copies of the sacred writings designed for their synagogues, it being a constant rule with them, that whatever is considered as corrupt shall never be used, but shall be burned or otherwise destroyed; a book of the law wanting but one letter, with one letter too much, or with an error in one single letter, written with anything but ink, or written on parchment made of the hide of an unclean animal, or on parchment not purposely prepared for that use, or prepared by any but an Israelite, or on skins of parchment tied together by unclean strings, shall be holden to be corrupt; that no word shall be written without a line first drawn on the parchment; no word written by heart or without having been first pronounced orally by the writer; that before he writes the name of God he shall wash his pen; that no letter shall be joined to another; and that if the blank parchment cannot be seen all around each letter, the roll shall be corrupt. They had also settled rules for the length and breadth of each sheet of parchment, and for the space to be left between each letter, each word, and each section. The following masoretical analysis, called the Old and New Testament Dissected, is by an anonymous English writer. It contains an enumeration of all the books, chapters, verses, words, and letters which occur in the English Bible and Apocrypha. For its accuracy, however, no one will venture to vouch, unless he has followed the steps of the painfully laborious author of it, who is said to have spent In the Apocrypha, chapters 183, verses 6081, words 152,185. The middle chapter, and least in the whole Bible, is Psalm cxvii. The middle verse is Psalm cxviii. 8. The middle chapter of the Old Testament is Job xxix. The middle verse would be Chronicles xxix. 17, if there were a verse more, and 18, if a verse less. The shortest verse is 1 Chronicles i. 25. The word Jehovah occurs 6855 times. The word and 35,543 times. The 21st verse of the 7th chapter of Ezra contains all the letters of the alphabet. The 19th chapter of the second book of Kings and the 37th chapter of Isaiah are alike. The middle book in the New Testament is 2 Thessalonians. The middle chapter would be Romans xiii., if there were a chapter more, and xiv., if a chapter less. The middle verse is Acts xvii. 17. The following descriptive character of the several books of the Old and New Testaments is from a tract entitled "A Design about disposing the Bible into an Harmony; or an Essay concerning the Transposing the Order of Books and Chapters of the Holy Scriptures, for the reducing of all into a Continued History. By Samuel Torshell." This work was published during the grand rebellion, and is now exceedingly scarce. Genesis..... .The cabinet of the greatest antiquities. .........The sacred rule of law and justice. .The mirror of magistrates and tyrants. Ruth ............................ The picture of a pious widew. Chronicles........ .The holy annals. Ezra-Nehemiah.. An idea of church and state reformation. Job..... Psalms......... The soul's soliloquies, the little Bible, the ana- Proverbs............. Divine ethics, politics, economy. Canticles .The mystical bride-song. Isaiah....... .The evangelical prophet. Jeremiah. .The pathetical mourner. Lamentations ...The voice of the turtle. Ezekiel.. Daniel.. Hosea.. Joel.. Amos..... Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk.. Zephaniah.. Haggai.......... Zechariah Malachi........ .The bound-stone of the two Testaments. Matthew, Mark,{ The four trumpeters proclaiming the title of the Luke, John....... Great King. Acts...... ..................................... The treasury of ecclesiastical story. Romans..... {The principles of Christian faith; the catholic 1 Corinthians catechism. ..Apostolical reformation. 2 Corinthians.......A pattern of just apologies. Galatians.. ....The epistle of the Romans epitomised. Ephesians........ ......The opening of the great mystery of salvation. Philippians. .......... An apostolical paraemesis. Colossians............A brief rule of faith and manners. 1 Thessalonians..... Practical theology. 2 Thessalonians .... Polemic theology. 1 Timothy 2 Timothy....... Titus. Philemon.......... Hebrews......... .The sacred pastoral. .The title of the Scripture pleaded. ...The rule of relations. A commentary upon Leviticus. James........ 1 Peter 2 Peter 1 John..... .....A theological summary. .......... ..The encouragement of a spiritual warrior. 2 John ......................................... The pattern of a pious matron. 3 John Jude............. Revelation .A picture of false prophets. Daniel Redivimus. The opening of the treasury of future events. THE FIRST ENTIRE PROTESTANT ENGLISH VERSION OF THE BIBLE. PUBLISHED BY MYLES COVERDALE, BISHOP OF EXETER, IN the year 1535, this most valuable present to English Protestants was completed abroad, under the direction of Myles Coverdale, a man greatly and deservedly esteemed for piety, knowledge of the Scriptures, and diligent preaching; on account of which qualities King Edward VI. advanced him to the see of Exeter. This first translation of the whole Bible ever printed in English is generally called "Coverdale's Bible." It is a folio volume; and, from the appearance of the types, it is now generally considered to have been printed at Zurich, in the printing-office of Christopher Froschover. The following is the title-page of this extremely rare and curious volume: "Biblia. The Bible, that is, the Holy Scripture of the Olde and New Testament, faithfully and truly translated out of the Douche and Latyn into Englishe, M.D.XXXV." This translation is dedicated to King Henry VIII., whom Coverdale in his dedication honestly tells, that the Pope gave him the title of Defender of the Faith, "only because his highness suffered his bishops to burne God's word, the root of faith, and to persecute the lovers and ministers of it;" but |