On Old English Bibles.

Abif was the son of a widow of the tribe of Dan , and his ability as a craftsman is described in the identical words used in Exodus to describe the skill of one who occupied a similar relation to Moses , as Hiram Abif did to King Solomon . Most Masons will have noticed that in the quotations from the Bible which occur in our working no reference is made to verses ; for instance" In the

, latter part of the twentieth chapter of Exodus it is recorded ; " then follows a quotation from Matthew ' s Bible . The reason verses are not mentioned is that old English Bibles were divided into chapters only , and had no verses , the letters A . B . C D . and E . down the side afforded the only means of reference to any particular line or

passage . The first English Bible divided into verses was the Genevan version of 1560 , which we shall have subsequently to notice . A quaint rendering in the ninety-first Psalm , which is common to several early English Bibles , is as follows : — " So that thou shalt not nede to be afrated for eny bugges by nyghte , nor for the arowe that flyeth by daye . " The meaning of the word " bugge" in this passage has given rise to much

difference of opinion , but by turning to another place in the same book , in which the same word occurs , all difficulty vanishes . In the prologue- to the Exodus we find this sentence— " He which hath ye spirit of Christ is no more a child : he nether learneth or worketh now any longer for payne of ye rod , or for feare of bugges , or plesure of apples , but doth al thinges of his own courage . "

This clearl y shows that " bugges " is synonymous with the old English word " bogie , or boggart , " so all the learned explanations that have been given are unnecessary . Two folio reprints of this version were issued in 1549 . One printed by Reynalde and Hyll , the colophon of which is as follows : — " To the honoure and prayse of God was this Byble prynted and fynisshed in the yeare of oure

Lorde God a MDXXxvij . ; and nowe agayne imprented , ancl fynished the leaste daye Octobre , in the yeare of oure Lorde God MDXHX . at London , by Wylliam Hyll and Thomas Reynalde , typographers . God Save the kynge . —Cum . privilegio . " On the reverse of the title there is a table of contents , then " a Calendar and Almanac , " 4 pp . "An exhortacyon , " etc ., 1 p . ; "The summe , " etc ., 2 pp . "To the Christen readers , " and " a table of principal matters , " 27 pp . ; "The

names of all the bokes , " "A brief rehersal , " 1 p . ; " Unto the reader W . T ., " 3 pp . Genesis begins on the reverse of folio 1 . The other title pages are to the Psalms , Apocrypha , and New Testament . The first title is especially interesting , from the woodcut border being from the same blocks as the first English Bible of 1535 , only differing in the setting of the texts in the various cartouches . Unfortunatel y this is generall y missing , and has to be supplied in fac-simile .

At the end of the prologue to the book Exodus there is an explanation of the vestments ordered by the Most High , to be worn by the Priests wdien engaged in their respective offices at the tent or tabernacle erected on consecrated ground at the foot of Mount Horeb in the wilderness of Sinai : —

" Brestlappe , or bresflap , is soche a flap as thou seest in the breast of a cope . " " Ephod , is a garment somewhat lyke an amyce , sane the armes came throwe , and it was gyi'd to . " " Tunicle , moche like the uppermost garment of the deaken . " " Worship , by worslu ' ppyng whether whither it be in the old testamet or y * newe , understad the boweing of a mans self vpo the grounde , as we ( oftymes we knele in ouer prayers ) bowe our selves & lye on our armes and handes , wyth our face to the grounde . " As this Bible was issued in the second year of Edward the Sixth , the vestments then in use in the Church of England are plainly shown .