Gothic BIBLES.—It is generally said that Ulphilas, a Gothic bishop, who lived in the fourth century, made a version of the whole Bible, excepting the book of Kings, for the use of his countrymen. That book he omitted, because of the frequent mention of the wars therein; as fearing to inspire too much of the military genius into that people. We have nothing remaining of this version but the four Evangelists, printed in 4to, at Dort, in 1665, from a very ancient MS.
WHILST the Roman empire subsisted in Europe, the reading of the Scriptures in the Latin tongue, which was the universal language of that empire prevailed everywhere. But since the face of affairs in Europe has been changed, and so many different monarchies erected upon the ruins of the Roman empire, the Latin tongue has by degrees grown into disuse: whence has arisen a necessity of translating the Bible into the respective languages of each people; and this has produced
ced as many different versions of the Scriptures in the modern languages, as there are different nations professing the Christian religion. Hence we meet with French, Italian, Spanish, German, Flemish, Danish, Slavonian, Polish, Bohemian, and Russian or Muscovite Bibles; besides the Anglo-Saxon, and modern English and Irish Bibles.