CNT-03 OLD BIBLES IN OTHER LANGUAGES.
OLD BIBLES IN OTHER LANGUAGES.
Printed copies of this Book, equally ancient, also exist in other languages. I have in my library a copy of it in Latin, printed in the year 1501, every line of which is as readable as when it came from the press. But the Book is older than the art of printing, for the first volume of importance ever printed was the Latin Bible, 1450-1455, several copies of which are still in existence; and these are substantially the same book as we now have in English. But these Testaments in English or Latin were originally translated from the Greek; and there are also ancient translations into other languages, which claim a much greater antiquity than any printed copies. All these New Testaments, in the various languages, are traced back to manuscripts written in the Greek language many years ago, hundreds of which manuscripts, transcribed before the art of printing was discovered, still exist. During the dark ages these manuscripts were hidden in libraries, and copied and re-copied by devout men; till printing superseded this tedious labor.
Before that time manuscript copies of the New Testament were exceedingly expensive. Copies of Wycliffe’s English Testament sold in 1420 for four marks and forty pence, equal to about $14.50,—which, allowing for the difference in the value of money, would be equivalent to $200 at the present time. Greek and Latin manuscripts were, of course, proportionally valuable, until the art of printing was discovered, and the sacred books were scattered far and wide over an awakening world.
Since that time, the old manuscripts have only been needed to verify the text, and correct the translations and printed editions. When an error is found in a printed book, the same error will be found in every other copy in the whole edition. But though ten men copying one book would all be likely to make mistakes, no two would be likely to make the same mistakes; so one manuscript copy would serve to correct another. Hence the great advantage of having numerous manuscript copies of the New Testament, and the earlier and more numerous the manuscripts the better.