hatred of everything Jewish, refused
to follow their example. The Jews had cut them off, and they would
take nothing from the Jews; they would keep to the old style of
letters; they would not allow a single word of the Books of the
Prophets or the Psalms or History Books to have a place among their
sacred writings. The Jews accepted these Books as inspired; therefore
the Samaritans rejected them.

Thus Jewish pride and Samaritan littleness raised a terrible barrier
between the two nations, which grew more hopeless every year.

[Illustration: THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF THE LAW AT NABLOUS]

Yet these hidden Samaritan documents, falsified as they had been, have
had a work to do for God's Word within comparatively recent times.

For in the year 1616 A.D., just as some people were beginning to attack
the Bible, and to declare that they could find no evidence that the Old
Testament was so ancient after all, the world was suddenly startled to
hear of a great discovery--an ancient copy of the Law had been found in
Syria.

Other copies soon afterwards came to light: the world had rediscovered
the Samaritan Bible!

At Nablous, in Samaria, known in Old Testament times as Shechem, a
traveller was allowed to look at the oldest Samaritan copy of the
altered books of the Law. Its queer letter signs are traced on
parchment rolls, which are said to have been formed from the skins of
rams offered in sacrifice. They are kept in a silver cylinder, covered
with crimson satin, heavily embroidered with gold.

But out of this discovery a new difficulty arose. Some of the critics
decided that this was the original copy written by Moses, and therefore
more correct than the Jewish Scriptures. They would have done better
to wait, and to have trusted the Bible a little more.

True, the discovery was of great importance, for these documents proved
beyond all doubt that the Book of the Law dated back to a time when the
ancient form of letters were still in use, and so they bore a strong
witness to the great age of the first five Books of our Bible.

But learned scholars were soon able to prove that the oldest Samaritan
copy was probably not older than the tenth or eleventh century of our
era, and that the form of the letters was so ancient merely because the
Samaritans refused to imitate the improved Jewish writing. A hundred
years ago, for instance, books with long 's's' were printed in England;
but the old form of letter was tiresome t