Bible Lore. By the Rev. J. Cowper Gray. (Hodder and
Stoughton). —This is a useful little baok, in which Mr. Gray puts together in a short compass the more striking facts which we find in a variety of works which treat of the authorship, the literary history, the interpre- tation, and the illustration of the Bible. The titles of some of his chapters will give an idea of the topics which he handles. Thus we have "Rare Manuscripts of the Bible," "Ancient Versions of the Bible,". " Remarkable Predictions in the Bible," and so forth.
This is done with care and industry, though there is need of some correction. Thus, in p. 26, Mr. Gray says of the Septuagint, that "in the form of the Vulgate the Church of Rome still reads it," though further on he tells us more correctly that the Vulgate was trans- lated by Jerome from the Hebrew. About the "Shepherd " of Hernias, again, he says, "Until very recently, only a few fragments of this work have been known as quotations in other authors ;" and then relates the discovery of a part of the original in the Codex Sinaiticus. No one would gather from this the real fact that the whole of the work exists in a Latin translation. And we should certainly advise the omission in any further edition of the reference, under the head of "Remarkable Predictions," to that very doubtful introduction of the name of Josiah in the prophecy delivered at Bethel. Such an introduction seems to us utterly at variance with the whole tone and spirit of true prophecy.
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