A Very Valuable Book by W. H. Littlejohn

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 1, 1883

A Very Valuable Book.

By W. H. Littlejohn

"THE Life and Epistles of the Apostle Paul," by Conybeare and Howson, I regard as one of the most valuable books in my library. The scholarship and candor of its authors will not be questioned by any one who has read the work. Dean Howson is one of the English committee of scholars at present employed in the preparation of the new version of the Scriptures. In his selection to fill such a position, his learning has been most fully recognized by the Christians of Great Britain.

Great as the circulation of this work has been heretofore, it will be very largely increased for the year to come, as it so happens that the International Sunday-school lessons and the Sabbath-school lessons on the New Testament History, by G. H. Bell, will be devoted to the book of Acts during that period, thereby rendering it desirable that thousands should come into possession of the very information contained in the "Life and Epistles of Paul."

The great apostle to the Gentiles is the most conspicuous figure in the book of Acts. Indeed the larger portion of it is devoted to a narration of what he did and said. Quite full accounts are given of his travels through the Roman Empire, and mention is frequently made of nearly all the cities where he labored; this being true, the following brief, and by no means complete, statement of the subjects treated of in the book of Conybeare and Howson, will give something of an idea of the amount of information which it will furnish to Sabbath-school teachers and scholars in their earnest efforts to obtain all the knowledge possible concerning the persons, places, and things mentioned in the book of Acts.

The period of Christ's Apostles; The History and Civilizations of the Jews; The Preparation of the Roman Empire for Christianity; The Description of Tarsus, Cilicia, and Judea; The Description of the Sects and Parties of the Jews; The Family and Childhood of Paul; The Student life of Paul; Rabbinical Schools; The Early Manhood of Paul; Paul's Connection with Gamaliel, and Stephen; The Funeral of Stephen; Paul's Persecutions; The Vision of Christ; The Three Days at Damascus; The Baptism and First Preaching of Paul; Paul's Vision in the Temple; The Chronology of the Acts of the Apostles; The Reigns of Caligula, Claudius, and Herod Agrippa I.; The Conversion of the Gentiles; History of Paul's Visits to the Different Parts of the Roman Empire; The Stoning of Paul; Peter Rebuked by Paul; The Personal Appearance of Peter and Paul; The Quarrel and Separation of Paul and Barnabas; Paul in Prison; The Description of Athens; The Greek Religion and Philosophy; Spiritual Gifts; The Ordinances of the Christian Church; The Disciples of John the Baptist; The Lost Letter of Paul; Paul before the Sanhedrim; The Shipwreck of Paul; A Description of Rome; Paul's Imprisonment and Trial; Paul's Release; His Second Imprisonment; The Condemnation and Death of Paul; Legends Concerning the Same; A Free Translation of the Book of Acts and the Epistles of the Apostle Paul.

The value of the free translation can hardly be overestimated. In many cases a too literal rendering of the original, makes it difficult if not impossible for one not familiar with Greek idioms to grasp the exact thought of the inspired penman. To avoid this difficulty, Messrs. Conybeare and Howson have sought to give to the original of the writings of Paul and the book of Acts, a translation, which, though very free, nevertheless expresses as nearly as possible to the mind of the English scholar, the exact idea which a Greek in the days of the apostles would have obtained from the writings of Paul as given in his own tongue.

W. H. LITTLEJOHN.