Book

BOOK; in Latin Liber, in Hebrew, Sepher, in Greek Biblos¹. Several sorts of Materials were used formerly in making Books. Plates of Lead and Copper, the Barks of Trees, Bricks, Stone and Wood, were the first Matter imployed to engrave such things and Monuments upon, as Men were willing to have transmitted to Posterity. Josephus speaks of² two Columns, one of Stone, the other of Brick, upon which the Children of Seth wrote their Inventions, and astronomical Discoveries. Porphyry³ makes mention of some Pillars preserved in Crete, on which the Ceremonies were recorded that were practised by the Corybantes in their Sacrifices. Hesiod’s Works were at first written upon Tables of Lead, which were preserved in the Temple of the Muses in Bœotia. God’s Laws were written upon Stone, and Solon’s upon wooden Planks.⁴ Tables of Wood, Box, and Ivory, were likewise very common among the Antients. When they were of Wood only, they were oftentimes covered with Wax, that any one might write on them with more ease, or blot out what they had written with a Style.

The Leaves of the Palm-Tree were used afterwards in the room of wooden Planks, and the finest and thinnest Bark of such Trees as the Lime, the Ash, the Maple and the Elm. From hence comes the word Liber, which signifies the inner Bark of Trees. And as these Barks were rolled up, in order to be removed with more ease, these Rolls were called Volumen a Volume; a name given likewise to such Rolls of Paper or Parchments as we are going to speak of.

Paper, Papyrus,⁵ is a kind of Reed which grows upon the Banks of the Nile. The Trunk of this Plant is composed of several leaves lying one upon the other, which are taken off with a Needle. They are afterwards spread upon a Table, so much whereof is moistned, as is equal to the Size, which it is intended that the leaves of the Papyrus shall be of. This first bed of leaves is covered with a layer of fine Paste, or with the muddy Water of the Nile warmed: Then a second bed of Paper leaves is laid on upon this Paste, and so the whole left to dry in the Sun.⁶ Such was the Egyptian Papyrus, from whence our Paper takes its Name, tho’ it be so very different from it.

The Kings of Egypt having collected a great Library at Alexandria, the Kings of Pergamus were inclined to imitate their example: But the Egyptian Monarchs, either out of Envy, or for some other Reason, prohibited the Exportation of Paper out of their Dominions, which obliged the Kings of Pergamus to invent Parchment, called Pergamenum from the City of Pergamus; or Membrana, because made of the skin wherewith beasts and the several members of them are covered. With these leaves of Vellum or Parchment, two sorts of Books were made; the one were rolls composed of many leaves of Vellum sewed or glewed together at the end. These Books were written on upon one side only, and they were to be unroll’d and spread before they could be read. The others were like ours made up of many leaves fastened to one another, were written upon both sides, and were opened like our Books. The Jews still make use of rolls in their Synagogues, and the Bibles which they read there in a solemn manner, are made after the manner of the old Volumes.

The Antients wrote likewise upon linen. Pliny says⁷, the Parthians even in his time wrote upon their clothes; and Livy⁸ speaks of certain Books made of linen, lintei libri; upon which the names of Magistrates, and the history of the Roman Commonwealth were written, and preserved in the Temple of the Goddess Moneta.

As to the paper at present used by us, which is made of rotten rags beaten small, and reduced to a kind of pulp; the original of it is what we are not acquainted with⁹. We see no Book written on this paper which is above five hundred years old; and perhaps the most antient Author wherein there is any mention of it, is Peter the Venerable¹⁰, who speaks of paper made of old rags, ex rasuris veterum pannorum. F. Bernard de Montfaucon has treated likewise of cotton paper, charta bombycina, which he shews to have been in use above six hundred years ago¹¹. The original of this paper is not very well known; but the matter of it is certainly cotton, and the use of it has been very common ever since the tenth Age.

Numb. xxi. 14.Book of the Wars of the Lord. This Book is cited by Moses, where he is speaking of his passing the river Arnon with the Israelites, in their way to the country of the Amorites. The particular passage which he quotes is this, What he did in the Red-Sea, and in the brooks of Arnon, and at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, and lieth upon the border of Moab. This description is adapted only to the brook or river Arnon, which flows round the City of Ar, and sets bounds to the land of Moab. The Book of the Wars of the Lord related some particulars which happened when the Hebrews passed this brook. It declared that this river became dry, and retired as the Red-Sea had done, a circumstance which we read no where else.

Enquiry has been made what this Book of the Wars of the Lord was¹²; some think it was a work of greater antiquity than Moses, and contained a recital of those Wars, which the Israelites had begun or carried on in Egypt, or out of Egypt, before their withdrawing out of this country under Moses. Indeed it is not natural to quote a Book, which is not more antient than the Author who is writing, particularly when any extraordinary and miraculous Fact is to be supported and confirm’d. The Hebrew of this passage in the printed Bibles is perplexed. As it is written in the Book of the Wars of the Lord; at Vaheb in Suphah and in the brooks of Arnon, and at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, and lieth upon the border of Moab. We do not know who or what this Vaheb is. M. Boivin the elder is of opinion, that some Prince is meant by it, who had the government of the Country, watered by the river Arnon, and was defeated by the Israelites, before they came out of Egypt. Others think, that Vaheb was a certain King of Moab, who was overcome by Sihon King of the Amorites.

Grotius, instead of Vaheb, reads Moab, and translates it, Sihon beat Moab at Suphah. I should rather read Zared instead of Vaheb after this manner, As it is written in the book of the wars of the Lord, the Hebrews came from Zared and incamped at Suphah, and about the stream of the brook of Arnon, which reaches as far as the dwelling of Ar, and leaneth upon the frontiers of Moab. Zared we know; see Numb. xxi. 12, 13. from thence they came to Suphah, which too is mentioned in Deut. i. 1. and perhaps in Numb. xxii. 36. From thence they came to the brook of Arnon, which flows down to Ar the capital City of the Moabites. All this is cited very seasonably in this place, to confirm what is said in the preceding Verses; whereas if we explain this Quotation after any other manner, we cannot find to what purpose Moses here produced it. Zared may easily be made from Vaheb in the Hebrew¹³.

Jos. x. 13.Others¹⁴ are of opinion, that the Book of the Wars of the Lord, is the very Book of Numbers, wherein this passage is cited, or that of Joshua, or Judges; they do not translate as we do, It is written in the book of the wars of the Lord, but thus only, It is said in the recital of the wars of the Lord, &c. Others assert, that this Narration of the Wars of the Lord is contained in the hundred thirty fifth, and the hundred thirty sixth Psalms. Tostatus will have it, that the Book of the Wars of the Lord, and the book of Jasher, referr’d to in Joshua, are the same. Cornelius a Lapide conjectures, that this place and citation are here added to the Text of Moses, and that the Book of the Wars of the Lord, contained the Wars which the Israelites carried on under the conduct of Moses, Joshua, the Judges, &c. that therefore it was later than Moses. S. Austin¹⁵ supposes, that this Book might possibly be written by the Moabits, and contain an historical account of the Wars, which they had been ingaged in, and in particular what happened when the Israelites came upon their frontiers Lastly, It may be said, Moses either wrote himself, or procured a Book to be written, wherein he took care to have all the Wars of the Lord inserted. This Book was continued under the Judges and the Kings, and was called Annals; and from these Annals came those Sacred Books, which contain the Histories of the Old Testament. But however this may be, this Book of the Wars of the Lord is not now in being; and we have no reason to doubt of its being very certain and authentick, at least in the particular passage, which is here cited. The Reader may consult the Commentators on Numb. xi. 14.

Book of Jasher or the Upright. There is a citation from this Book in Joshua, and in the Book of Samuel, and the same difficulties almost are proposed concerning this, as concerning the Book lately mentioned of the Wars of the Lord. Joshua, after having related how miraculously he put a stop to the course both of the Sun and Moon, adds, Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. There is a great diversity of opinions concerning this Book¹⁶. Some will have it to be the same with that of the Wars of the Lord, whereof we have been speaking; others that it is the Book of Genesis, which contains the lives of the Patriarchs, and other good Men¹⁷; others again comprehend under this name all the Books of Moses. But the opinion which seems most probable is this, viz. that there were publick persons among the Hebrews from the very beginning of their Commonwealth, who were imployed in writing the Annals of their Nation, and the most memorable Events which at any time happened to it. These Monuments were lodged in the Temple or Tabernacle, whither upon occasion recourse was had to them. The Book, therefore, of the Wars of the Lord, the Book of Days or Chronicles, and the Book of Jasher or the Righteous, are properly speaking the same thing differently express’d according to the difference of times. Before there were any Kings over the Hebrews, these monuments were intitled, The Book of the Wars of the Lord, or the Book of Jasher, or Right. After the reign of Saul they were called the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel or Judah.

It is matter of dispute with some, whether the citation from the Book of Jasher, were inserted by Joshua himself, or by those who digested his Memoirs, and put his Book into the form wherein we now find it. It is very credible, that this passage was inserted afterwards, and we may easily observe, that the Book of Joshua is not in the condition that he himself left it, but that some additions have been made to it. This Book of Jasher is intirely lost. See the Commentators upon Joshua x. 13.

The Book of Chronicles or Days, in Hebrew, Deberei Jamim¹⁸. This Book contained the Annals and Journals which were written in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah. These Memoirs or Journals are not now in being, but are cited in every page almost of the Books of Kings and Chronicles, which are composed chiefly from such old Memoirs as the Author had in his possession, and which in all probability were still subsisting even after the return of the Jews from the Babylonish Captivity. See our Preface to the two Books of Chronicles, and those of Kings. The Authors of the Books of the Days, or Chronicles, were generally Prophets, and inspired Persons.

Book of Life, or Book of the Living, or Book of the Lord. It is very probable, that these several ways of speaking, which are Exod. xxxii. 32. Psalm. lxviii. 29. Psalm cxxxviii. 16. Philip. iv. 3. Ecclus. xxiv. 33. Rev. iii. 6. Rom. ix. 3.frequent in Scripture, are taken from the custom observed generally in the Courts of Princes, of keeping a State, a List of all those who are in their Service, of the Provinces which obey them; of the Officers of their Armies, of the number of their Troops, and sometimes even of the names of their Soldiers. Thus Moses’s begging of God rather to blot him out of his Book, than to reject his People Israel, is the same almost as S. Paul’s expression, when he declared, that he would consent in some sort to be accursed, separated from the company of the Saints, and struck out of the Book of the Lord, if thereby he might be able to procure the Salvation of his People. And when it is said, that any one is written in the Book of Life, nothing more is meant by it, than that such an one in a particular manner belongs to God, that he is in the number of his Friends and Servants. And on the contrary, when it is said, that such an one is blotted out of the Book of Life, this signifies, that he is razed out of the List of God’s Friends and Servants, in like manner as they who die, or are guilty of any sort of Treachery, for which they are dismissed the Court, are struck off the Roll of Officers belonging to the Prince.

In a more exalted sense, the Book of Life, signifies the Book of Predestination to Glory, Faith and Grace. They who are predestinated to Faith or Grace only, may fall, and be blotted out of the Book of Life, but they cannot, who are predestinated to Glory. This Predestination is absolute and irrevocable; and if the Elect sometimes incur the Guilt of mortal Sins, God never finally forsakes them, but gives them Grace to repent, and so to return to him.

Dan. vii. 10.Book of Judgment. Daniel speaking of God’s Judgment, says, The Judges were seated, and the Books opened, Judicium sedit, & Libri aperti sunt. Judgment was set, and the Books were opened. This is an allusion to what is practised, when a Prince calls his Servants to account. The Accounts are produced, and what every one owes is inquired into. It is possible he might allude also to a custom of the Persians, among whom it was a constant practice every day to write down what happened, the Services which Esth. iv. 1, 2, 3, 4.were done the King, and the Rewards given to those who had performed them, as we see in the History of Ahasuerus and Mordecai. When therefore the King sits in Judgment, the Books are opened, he obliges all his Servants to reckon with him; he punishes those who have been failing in their duty, or erases their name out of his Register; he compels those to pay who are indebted to him, and rewards those who have done him any important Services. There will be in Proportion the same way of proceeding at the day of God’s final Judgment.

Isa. xxxvii. 14.Book is sometimes put for Letters, Memoirs, an Edict, or Contract; in short, the word Book, in Hebrew, Sepher, is much more extensive than the Latin, Liber. The Letters which Rabshakeh delivered from Sennacherib to Hezekiah, are called a Book¹⁹. The Contract which Jeremiah confirmed Jerem. xxxii. 10, 11, &c.for the purchase of a Field, is called by the same name. Ahasuerus’s Edict in favour of the Jews, is likewise called a Book. Job Esth. ix. 20, 30, &c. Job xxxi. 35.writes, that his Judge or his Adversary would himself write his Sentence. Librum scribat ipse qui judicat. (Hebr. homo litis meæ) ut in humero meo portem illum, &c. The Writing likewise which a Man gave to his Wife when he divorced her, was called a Deut. xxiv.Book of Divorce . See our Dissertation concerning the matter and form of old Books, prefixed to our Comment upon Genesis.

Isai. xxix. Rev. v. 1, 2, 3.The Book that is sealed, mentioned by Isaiah, and the Book sealed with seven Seals, spoken of in the Revelations, are Isaiah’s and S. John’s Prophesies, which were written in a Book or Roll after the manner of the Antients, and were sealed; that is to say, were unknown enigmatical, obscure and mysterious, had respect to Times remote, and Events that were to come; so that no knowledge could be had of them, till after that which was foretold should happen, and the Seals were taken off. In old times, Letters, and other Writings that were to be sealed, were first wraped up with Thread or Flax, and then the Seal was applied to them; to read them, it was necessary to cut the Thread and Flax, or Zech. v. 1, 2.break the Seals.

Book, or flying Roll, spoken of in Zachary, Volumen volans, twenty Cubits long, and ten wide, was one of those old Rolls, composed of many Skins or Parchments glewed or sewed together at the end. This Volume which appeared to Zachary in a Vision, in all probability never had any real existence. Tho’ some of these Volumes were very long, yet none were ever made of such a size. This was written, and contained the Curses, Menaces and Calamities which should fall upon the Jews. The extreme length and breadth of it shew the excessive enormity of their Sins, and the terrible nature of the Evils with which they were threatned.

Gen. i. 1.The Book of the Generation of Adam signifies the History of his Life, in like manner as the Book of the Generation of Noah, or of Jesus Christ, signifies in the Stile of the Hebrews, their History, what has happened to them, and what they have done,

Nehem. vii. 5.Liber census, signifies the Roll, and enumeration of those who returned from the Captivity of Babylon. For, as has been already observed, Liber with the Hebrews signifies all sorts of Writings, Letters, Ordinances, Memoirs, Rolls, &c.

Eccl. xii. 52.Solomon said so long ago as his time, that there was no end of composing Books. Faciendi plures libros nullus est finis; that is to say, that to write upon all sorts of Subjects, and to compose Discourses upon theological as well as natural things, was an infinite Work; but that it was a grand Point, and the Sum of all, to fear God, and observe his Precepts. This cuts short an infinite number of Discourses, Writings, and difficult and curious Questions: Of making many Books there is no end. Les us hear the conclusion of the whole matter; Fear God and keep his Commandments; for this is the whole Duty of Man.

Isai. xxxiv. 4.Isaiah describing the Effects of God’s Wrath, says, that the Heavens shall be folded up like a Book, Complicabuntur sicut liber cœli. He alludes to the way among the Antients, of rolling up Books, when they had a mind to close them again. A Volume of several Foot in length, was on a sudden reduced to a very small one. Thus the Heavens should be shrunk into themselves, and disappear in some sort from the Eyes of God, when his Wrath should be kindled. These ways of speaking are figurative, and full of Energy.

Macc. iii. 48.It is said in the Books of Maccabees, that the Jews, under the Persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, laid open the Book of the Law, wherein the Gentiles endeavoured to find the Figures of Idols: Expanderunt libros legis de quibus scrutabantur Gentes similitudinem simulacrorum suorum. Some believe, that the Jews laid open before the Lord the Sacred Books, wherein the Gentiles in vain sought for something wherewithal to support their Idolatry; others, that they laid open the Sacred Writings, wherein the Gentiles were desirous to paint their Idols. Or otherwise; the Hebrews laid open their Sacred Books, wherein the Gentiles had sought diligently if they could not find some Figures which the Jews adored. The Heathens imagined that they should discover some Flourishes or Figures in the front of some Jewish Books, which would manifest to them what was the God whom they adored; for the Gentiles were very uneasy on this Article, some believing that they worshipped an Ass, or a living Man, or Bacchus, or something else which they would not own. With some small variation in the Greek Text, it might be translated thus, They laid open the Book of the Law at the same time that the Gentiles consulted the Images of their false Gods.

Ps. xxxix. 11. Vulg.We read in Psalm xl. 7. In the volume of the Book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God. In capite libri scriptum est de me ut facerem voluntatem tuam. S. Paul has left us no room to question the sense of this passage, since he applies it to the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. Some of the antient Fathers²⁰ have explained this in capite libri of the Book of Genesis, which imports, that in the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth; that is to say, God created the whole Universe by his Son, his Word, his Wisdom, which in this sense is the beginning of all things. Others, as Chrysostom, &c. explain it of S. John’s Gospel, which begins with these words. In principio erat Verbum. The Hebrew reads²¹ In the volume of the Book it is written of me; that is to say, in the Body of the Sacred Writings in general: The Greek may receive the same sense: Kephalis i, which is rendred Caput, or beginning, signifies likewise a Roll, a Volume.

The Book of Heaven. Some of the Antients have asserted, that Heaven was as it were a great Book wherein every thing was written which was to happen upon Earth. The²² Rabbins, and some Christian Authors have revived this opinion, and improved upon it, by saying, that there were Hebrew Characters to be distinguished in the Vault of Heaven, which form’d a certain Writing legible, and intelligible to those who understood it, wherein whatever is in Nature may be found. Picus of Mirandola²³ says upon this matter, that as the Astrologers see certain Images in Heaven, from which they draw their Consequences, the Jewish Masters have likewise their Alphabet in Heaven, and maintain that they find there the Elements and Characters of their Language. Agrippa²⁴ asserts the same thing, and Gaffarel²⁵ adds to their opinion the Authority of many celebrated Rabbins, such as Maimonides, Nachman, Aben-ezra, Kimchi, Abrabanel. Among the Antients Origen²⁶ has advanc’d, that what is to come may be written in Heaven, which is as it were a great prophetick Volume; for this reason, adds he, Jacob said to his Sons, Read in the leaves of Heaven what is to befall you and your Children. He says further, that the Book is with difficulty enough legible to Men, but that Angels have the advantage of knowing perfectly this Writing.

Books Sacred, or Canonical, are those printed in our Bibles. See Bible and Canon, and enquire under the names of the several Books and Sacred Writers, for a critical account and Judgment of their Books.

Books Apocryphal. See above Apocryphal.

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