The Old Latin was made long before any of the manuscripts which we now possess,

and takes us back to within a generation of the time when the original Scriptures of the

N.T. were penned. Three groups of this Old Latin can be traced and have been named:

the African, the European, and the Italian.  Thirty-eight manuscripts of this version

exist to-day. As a certain amount of confusion was caused by the existence of these three

families of the Old Latin, Pope Damascus commissioned Jerome to produce a revision of

this version.

The Vulgate.--This is the name given to the new Latin version produced by Jerome.

The N.T. was completed first. The O.T., which was translated from the Hebrew--a

further step forward--was not finished until twenty years later. There are countless

copies of the Vulgate in existence, and for centuries it was the Bible of Western

Christendom. To attempt to trace the history of the Latin Vulgate would be to give the

history of the Church during the Middle Ages; this we cannot do. Though access to the

Greek and Hebrew Scriptures is our prized privilege, no one who has any sense of

proportion can look upon Jerome's great work without respect and thankfulness.

Our task is now finished. With all the evidence available of all ages and countries, in

many languages and dialects, we have abundant means of checking and counterchecking

the manuscripts and of arriving so near to the original as to approach almost to complete

certainty.

In conclusion, we will briefly give the history of the English versions and so bring our

story up to date. It may be said that for twelve hundred years, the English people have

not been entirely without an English Bible. Let us watch the growth of this version in the

English tongue.

The Paraphrase of Caedmon, written in the dialect called Anglo-Saxon, about

The Psalter of Aldhlem (about A.D.700).--This is the first true translation of any part

of the Bible into the English language.

Bede (A.D.674-735).--At the time of his death he was engaged in the translation of

the Gospel of John. Cuthbert, his disciple, tells the never-dying story of the conclusion of

the Gospel.

On the eve of Ascension Day 735, the great scholar lay dying. The closing chapters of

the Gospel translation were dictated by his dying lips. On the Ascension morning one

chapter remained unfinished. At evening the youth who was taking down the translation

said, "There is yet one sentence unwritten, dear Master". "Write it quickly", was the

answer. "It is written now", said the boy. "You speak truth", answered the dying man.

"It is finished now." And so he died.