lx. 14.
The empire was again divided into two parts, which were held by two
brothers. Valentinian, who had the eastern half, was an Arian; and
Valens, who ruled at Rome, was a Catholic. Though all the empire was
Christian, still there were sad disputes; for many had fallen away into
the heresy, and there was so great a love of arguing in a light careless
manner in market-places, baths, feasts, and places of common resort,
that it was a great distress to the truly devout to hear the most sacred
mysteries discoursed of so freely.
The great and learned Saint Jerome hid himself away from this strife of
tongues, to pray and study in a hermitage at Bethlehem. By the desire of
the Pope, he did the same work for the New Testament as Simon the Great
had done for the Old Testament: he examined into the history of all the
writings that professed to have come down from the Apostles' time, and
proved clearly which had been really written under the inspiration of
God, and had been always held as Holy Scriptures by the Church. Then
he translated the whole Bible into Latin, and wrote an account of each
book, setting apart those old writings of the Jews that are called
the Apocrypha, and are read as wise instruction, though they be not
certainly known to be the Word of God, in the same manner as the Holy
Scriptures themselves.
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