upplied the wants of an entire monastery, and in
others, as I have said before, only some detached portions were to be
found in their libraries. Sometimes they were more plentiful, and the
monastery could boast of two or three copies, besides a few separate
portions, and occasionally I have met with instances where besides
several _Biblia Optima_, they enjoyed Hebrew codices and translations,
with numerous copies of the gospels. We must not forget, however, that
the transcription of a Bible was a work of time, and required the outlay
of much industry and wealth. "Brother Tedynton," a monk of Ely, commenced
a Bible in 1396, and was several years before he completed it. The
magnitude of the undertaking can scarcely be imagined by those
unpractised in the art of copying, but when the monk saw the long labor
of his pen before him, and looked upon the well bound strong clasped
volumes, with their clean vellum folios and fine illuminations, he seemed
well repaid for his years of toil and tedious labor, and felt a glow of
pious pleasure as he contemplated his happy acquisition, and the comfort
and solace which he should hereafter derive from its holy pages! We are
not surprised then, that a Bible in those days should be esteemed so
valuable, and capable of realizing a considerable sum. The monk,
independent of its spiritual value, regarded it as a great possession,
worthy of being bestowed at his death, with all the solemnity of a
testamentary process, and of being gratefully acknowledged by the fervent
prayers of the monkish brethren. Kings and nobles offered it as an
appropriate and generous gift, and bishops were deemed benefactors to
their church by adding it to the library. On its covers were written
earnest exhortations to the Bible student, admonishing the greatest care
in its use, and leveling anathemas and excommunications upon any one who
should dare to purloin it. For its greater security it was frequently
chained to a reading desk, and if a duplicate copy was lent to a
neighboring monastery they required a large deposit, or a formal bond
for its safe return.[56] These facts, while they show its value, also
prove how highly it was esteemed among them, and how much the monks loved
the Book of Life.

But how different is the picture now--how opposite all this appears to
the aspect of bible propagation in our own time. Thanks to the
printing-press, to bible societies, and to the benevolence of God, we
cannot enter the