he king, yet will I and my sons walk in the
covenant of our fathers. God forbid that we should forsake His Law.'

As he spoke a backsliding Jew stepped up to the altar to sacrifice.
The old priest's eyes flashed fire, and in an instant he had struck him
down, and the Greek officer with him.

Quivering with indignation Mattathias then turned to the startled
people: 'Whosoever loves God, let him follow me!'

And he turned and fled swiftly through the streets of the city.

Many followed him at once. Others joined him later in the strong camp
he formed in the mountains, until at last he was at the head of an army.

Wonderful it is to read how, little by little, this army of God's
people drove the heathen from the cities of Judah; how they overturned
the heathen altars, and cast down the images of the false gods; and
how, at last, they came to Jerusalem, cleansed the Temple, and purified
the golden altar from the stains of heathen sacrifices.

Then, tenderly and reverently, they gathered together all that was left
of the copies of their Scriptures, weeping as they saw the poor
fragments, blackened with fire, stained with blood, and scrawled all
over with the horrible figures of heathen gods.

As to-day we read in the clean white pages of our Bible, let us
remember this scene and of the time when those torn and blood-stained
fragments were all that remained to the world.

But, thank God, when all the pieces had been collected together, there
was plenty of material from which to make fresh copies; and no sooner
had peace been restored to the city than the scribes set to work, with
eager, loving care.

The Book had become doubly precious now! Its written words were indeed
sacred, for the blood of martyrs had fallen upon them, and men and
women, and little children, too, had chosen to die by hundreds rather
than to deny them.

[1] With all his cleverness, Alexander, while still quite young, drank
himself to death.

[2] In the days of Joshua, who bought the office of High Priest under
the reign of Antiochus, so many priests took part in the games that the
regularity of the Temple services suffered.

[3] From 'Maccabees,' an old Jewish history, which is sometimes bound
up with our Bible.

[4] This is taken from 'Maccabees.'

CHAPTER VII

TWO FAMOUS VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES

[Illustration: (drop cap B) Samaritan Book of the Law]

By the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea, on the coast of Egypt,