centuries before Muhammad's time, and of these I shall soon speak. Besides this, we
have the Samaritan Pentateuch in Hebrew, but in very ancient characters. This was
preserved by the Samaritans, enemies of the Jews, from the time of the Babylonian
Captivity under Nebuchadnezzar. The modern Samaritans still keep it safe, and have even an
ancient translation 1 of it into a later form of their own spoken language,
that is to say, into the language they used to speak hundreds of years ago, before they
learned to speak Arabic.
20. M. Have you any other proof that the Bible has not been corrupted since
Muhammad's time?
C. Our second proof is afforded by the existence of versions of the
Bible which were made ages before Muhammad's birth. These languages have long ceased to be
spoken, but we have the translations of the Bible into them, and our learned men can read
them all. The principal of these ancient versions are:
(1) The Septuagint (Greek), which I have already mentioned.
(2) Three versions of the New Testament and one of the Old into Syriac. Of these, two
are of especial value. The first of these is called the Curetonian, from the name
of the discoverer of the ancient MS. which contains it. This version was made at latest in
the second century after Christ: