Lames of the Bible. THE sacred volume is known by various and significant titles. It is called The Bible, or the book, from the Greek word, Bißhos, book, a name given. originally (like liber in Latin) to the inner bark of the linden, or teil-tree, and afterwards to the bark of the papyrus, the materials of which early books were sometimes made. So prevailing has been the sense of Holy Scripture being the Book, the worthiest and best, that one which explained all other books, standing up in their midst like Joseph's kingly sheaf, to which all the other sheaves did obeisance that this name of "bible" or "book" has come to be restricted to it alone: just as "scripture" means no more than "writing;" but this inspired writing has been felt to be so far above all other writings, that this name also it has challenged as exclusively its own. It is called the Old and New Testament; the word Testament signifying a will or covenant, and being given because the book contains the substance of God's covenant with the Jews under the legal dispensation, and the substance of the Christian covenant, which was sealed by the blood of Christ. It is called the Oracles of God, because it contains the answers which God has given from his holy place, to the inquiries of his people, or to indicate the place where, under the old dispensation, the will of God was revealed. It is sometimes called the canon of Scripture, from a Greek word which signified, primarily, a measuring rod, a rule, and which being first applied figuratively to the inspired Scriptures, as being the measure or model of religious conduct and belief, afterwards came to signify merely a list, or catalogue. "The Law" and "the Prophets" are each employed, and sometimes unitedly by a common figure of speech, to designate the whole of the Old Testa ment. The word holy is often connected with other titles, to express the pure quality, and the holy tendency of the inspired volume. Of all the titles which the Bible has received, the "Word of God" is perhaps the most impressive and complete. It is sufficient to justify the faith of the feeblest Christian, and it gathers up all that the most earnest search can unfold. We may say more at large what this title involves, but more than this we cannot say. It teaches us to regard the Bible as the utterance of Divine wisdom and love. The Books of the Bible. THE first five books of the Old Testament, which are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, are sometimes called the Pentateuch, from pente, five, and teuchos, an instrument or volume. They were written by Moses more than 3000 years ago, and are the most ancient writings in the world. GENESIS. The Hebrews call it, and the other books of Moses, from the first word or words, but the Greeks call it Genesis, or generation, because it relates the history of the creation, and about twenty-four generations descended from Adam. It extends to 2369 years; informs us of God's making the world; of man's happy state, and fall; of the propagation of mankind in the lines of Cain, the murderer of Abel, and of Seth; of the rise of religion, and the general apostasy from it; of the flood, the salvation of Noah's family by an ark, and their repeopling of the world; of the origin of nations, and the building of Babel; of the life, and death, and posterity of Nahor, Lot, Abraham, Isaac, Esau, Jacob, and Jo seph. No history but this affords any probable ac count of ancient things, and this has concurrent testimony of almost every authentic historian we have, as of Abydenus, Berosus, Magasthenes, Polyhister, Nicolaus, &c. Whether Moses wrote this book while in Midian, or rather when he led the Hebrews through the desert, is not agreed. In reading Genesis, we may discover intimations of Christ, not only in the promises, but in the characters described, many of whom were types or figures of the Saviour. See for example, Gen. ii. 7, &c., compared with 1 Cor. xv. 45-49, &c.; Gen. xiv. 18-20, compared with Heb. vii. i. 1; Heb. xi. 3. iii. 6; 1 Tim. ii. 14. iv. 8: 1 John iii. Jude 11. v. 24; Heb. xi. 5. vi. 12; 1 Pet. iii. 20. REFERENCES IN GENESIS. xii. 1; Heb. xi. 8. xiv. 18; Heb. vii. 1. xv. 6; Rom. iv. 3; James 12; xvi. 15; Gal. iv. 22. xviii. 10; Heb. xi. 11. vi. 14; Heb. xi. 7; 2 Pet. xix. 25; 2 Pet. ii. 6; xxi. 1, 3; Gal. iv. 28. xxii. 18; Luke i. 55. xxv. 22; Rom. ix. 10. XXV. 33; Heb. xii. 16. xxvii. 27; Heb. xi. 20. xlviii. 15; Heb. xi. 21. xlix. 10; John i. 49; Luke i. 32. 1. 24; Heb. xi. 22. This is the second book of Moses. The name is derived from ex, out, and odos, a way, and it is thus applied as denoting the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt. The book is a narrative of the transactions of about a hundred and forty-five years, from the death of Joseph, A. M. 2369, to the erection of |