Produced by Al Haines [Illustration: Cover art] THE BIBLE IN ITS MAKING The most Wonderful Book in the World BY MILDRED DUFF AND NOEL HOPE COMPANION VOLUME TO '_Where Moses went to School,_' '_When Moses learnt to Rule,_' '_Esther the Queen,_' _'Daniel the Prophet,' and_ '_Hezekiah the King._' ILLUSTRATED BY NOEL HOPE With Sketches of the Original Monuments and Stone Pictures MARSHALL BROTHERS, LTD., PUBLISHERS, LONDON, EDINBURGH & NEW YORK 1912 _Uniform with this Volume_ PRICE ONE SHILLING Where Moses went to School Where Moses learnt to Rule Esther the Queen Daniel the Prophet Hezekiah the King _All fully Illustrated_ MARSHALL BROTHERS, LTD., PUBLISHERS, LONDON, EDINBURGH & NEW YORK FOREWORD One great universal law runs through the realm of nature. Our Saviour gave it in a sentence: 'First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.' It is with the desire to show that the same law rules in another of God's creations--The Bible--that this little volume has been prepared. The Bible has as literally 'grown' as has an oak tree; and probably there is no more likeness between the Bible as we know it to-day and its earliest beginning, than we find between the mighty tree, and the acorn from which it sprang. The subject is so vast that we have not attempted anything beyond the briefest outline. Our purpose has been merely to give some idea of the origin of the Bible books, up to the measure of our present light upon the subject, and also to show the purpose for which they were written. But if our readers, by seeing something of the wonder and glory of the Holy Scriptures, are able to catch a glimpse of the Creator's mind behind the whole, our work will not have been in vain. MILDRED DUFF. CONTENTS CHAP. I. A LIVING BOOK II. THE SECRET OF ITS GREATNESS III. MOSES AND HIS WRITINGS IV. THE HISTORY BOOKS V. THE SCATTERING OF THE PEOPLE VI. THE ATTACK ON THE SCRIPTURES VII. TWO FAMOUS VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES VIII. THE BIBLE IN THE DAYS OF JESUS CHRIST IX. THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM X. THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW TESTAMENT XI. HOW THE GOSPELS CAME TO BE WRITTEN XII. SOME OTHER WRITERS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT XIII. THE FIRST BIBLE PICTURES THE BIBLE IN ITS MAKING CHAPTER I A LIVING BOOK [Illustration: (drop cap T) Symbol of "Asshur", the principal Assyrian idol.] There is only one Book that never grows old. For thousands of years men have been writing books. Most books are forgotten soon after they are written; a few of the best and wisest are remembered for a time. But all at last grow old; new discoveries are made; new ideas arise; the old books are out of date; their usefulness is at an end. Students are the only people who still care to read them.