The Bible is called the "Word of God" because the authors wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, Heb. i.i; Acts iv.25; 2 Peter i.21; &c. It is important to remember that we do not claim a _verbal_ inspiration, for the writers, but simply that God put into their minds what they should write. Inspiration did not preserve them from errors in grammar, or natural philosophy, or anything else foreign to the actual design of the Bible, which is the revelation of God, and of His will to man. Thus, it is most important that we should know what books are inspired, and have a right to form a part of the Holy Scriptures, in other words what books are _canonical_. The Old Testament, as we have it now, was used by the Jews in the time of our Lord, who often quotes from its various books Himself, thus stamping them with the divine authority which they claimed. Ezra seems to have determined the canon of Old Testament Scriptures. With regard to the New Testament, the question of the authenticity and canonicity of some books was very much more difficult to determine, and an enormous amount of labour and scholarship has been expended on the subject. There can be no reasonable doubt now with regard to any of the _books_ of the New Testament; the only thing now doubtful is what the original words were in the places where the ancient manuscripts differ. These differences are called _various readings_. The publication of the Revised Version of the New Testament in 1881 was partly an attempt to settle this question. The differences, as a rule, are very unimportant. The chief translations of the Bible into English are Wiclif's, 1360; Tindal (or Tyndale) and Coverdale's, 1526; The Geneva Bible, 1560; The Bishops' Bible, 1568. The Translation we use now, called the Authorized Version, was published in 1611. About 50 learned men were appointed by King James 1st for the task. We will now proceed to consider the contents of the Bible, first remarking that the division into Chapters and verses does not date back beyond the 13th century, that it rests on no authority, and very often spoils the sense. The Old Testament consists of 39 books, which may be thus classified:--The Books of the Law; The Historical Books; The Holy Writings, or Poetical Books; and the Prophetical Books. _The Books of the Law_, five in number, were written by Moses, and are called the Pentateuch; they are:--Genesis. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. _The Historical Books_ are twelve. Where the name of the Author differs from the name of the Book it is given in brackets,--Joshua, Judges (Samuel?), Ruth (Samuel or Ezra), 1st and 2nd Samuel (Samuel, Nathan, and Gad), 1st and 2nd Kings (Jeremiah), 1st and 2nd Chronicles (Ezra?), Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (author not known).