Eons-Hommes. See Boni Homines.
Bonzes, priests of Buddha or Fo, particularly in Japan. They live together in monasteries under a vow of celibacy, and the system agrees in many re- spects with that of the Romanists. They do penance, and pray for the sins of the laity, who secure them from want by endowments and alms. The female bonzes may be compared to the Christian nuns, as the religion of Fo admits of no priestesses, but allows of the social union of pious virgins and widows, under monastic vows, for the performance of religious exer- cises.— Buck, Theolog. Dictionary, s. v. See Buddh- ism ; China ; Japan.
Boolr (120, se'pher; Gr. /3</3Xi'oj', Bat. liber). This Heb. term is more comprehensive than the correspond- ing English word with us. It signifies properly a writing, either the art (lsa. xxix, 11, 12) or the form (Dan. i, 4); then whatever is written, e. g. a bill of sale (Jer. xxxii, 12), of accusation (Job xxxi, 35), of divorce (Deut. xxiv, 1, 3) ; hence a letter or epistle (2 Sam. xi, 14; 2 Kings x, 6; xix, 14, etc.); and finally a volume (Exod. xvii, 14 ; Deut. xxviii, 58 ; xxix, 20, 20; 1 Sam. x, 25; Job xix, 23, and often), i. e. a roll
BOOK
551
BOOK
(Jer. xxxvi, 2, 4; Ezek. ii, 9), often with reference to the contents (e. g. of the law, Josh, i, 8 ; viii, M4 ; 2 Kings xxii, 8; 2 Chron. xxxiv, 14; of the covenant, Exod. xxiv, 7 ; 2 Kings xxiii, 2, 21 ; of the kings, 2 Chron. xvi, 11; xxiv, 27; of annals, or of an individ- ual reign or personal history), especially and by way of eminence of the sacred Word or Law (q. v.).
Books are mentioned as known so early as the time of the patriarch Job (xix, 23). They were written on skins, or linen, or cotton cloth, or the Egyptian papy- rus ; the latter is commonly supposed to be the oldest material for writing on, whence our word paper is de- rived. Tablets of wood, of lead, and of brass were also employed, the latter of which were considered the most durable. See Writing.
If the book were large, it was, of course, formed of a number of skins, etc., connected together. The leaves were generally written in small columns, called mrb'l, delathoth', " doors" or valves (Jer. xxxvi, 23), and were rarely written over on both sides (Ezek. ii, 10), except when the inside would not contain all the writing.
Books, among the Hebrews, being usually written on very flexible materials, were rolled round a stick or cylinder ; and if they were very lon<r, round two cylin- ders from the two extremities. The reader therefore unrolled the book to the place which he wanted (see fig. 1), and rolled it up again when he had read it (Luke iv, 17-20), whence the name megillah (Isa. xxxiv, 4). The leaves thus rolled round the stick, and bound with a string, could be easily sealed (Isa. xxix, 11 ; Dan. xii, 4). Those books which were inscribed on
^— wj.
]
Hi
Tfl^X
^3 hj /
/^/../
^^77
f^fcS
^^v//
|,
1
Ancient To >k*: 1, Hull ; '.', Tablets.
tablets (see fig. 2) were sometimes connected together by rings at the back, through which a rod was passed to carry them by.
At first the letters in books were only divided into lines, then into separate words, which by degrees were
I marked with accents, and distributed by points and stops into periods and paragraphs. Among the Orien-
: tals the lines began from the right hand and ran on to the left hand ; with the Northern and Western nations,
| from the left to the right hand ; but the Greeks some- times followed both directions alternately, going in the one and returning in the other, which they termed boustixiphcdon, because it was after the manner of oxen turning when at plough ; an example of this occurs in the Sigean and some of the Etruscan inscriptions. In Chinese books the lines run from top to bottom. See Bible.
J The Orientals took great pleasure in giving figura- tive or enigmatical titles to their books. The titles prefixed to the 56th, GOth, and 80th Psalms appear to be of this description ; nor can there be a doubt that
' David's elegy upon Saul and Jonathan (1 Sam. i, 18) is called the bow in conformity with this peculiar taste. See Psalms.
In times of war, devastation, and rapine, it was nec- essary to bury in the earth whatever was thought de- sirable to be preserved. With this view Jeremiah ordered the writings which he delivered to Baruch to be put into an earthen vessel (Jer. xxxii, 14). In the same manner the ancient Egyptians made, use of earth- en pots of a proper shape, hermetically sealed, for con- taining whatever they wanted to bury in the earth, and which, without such care, would have been soon destroyed. Erom the paintings on the monuments, it would appear that the Egyptian scribes wrote on tab- lets composed of some hard material (perhaps wood), though it cannot be precisely determined what it was. The remark of the wise man in Eccl. xii, 12, on the subject of making books, is supposed to amount to this : That the propensity of some men to write books, and of others to collect and amass them for libraries, is in- satiable ; that it is a business to which there is no end. Innumerable treatises have been written on all kinds of subjects, and no one subject is yet exhausted; the designation of one leading to that of another, and that again of another, and so on interminably ; and that the "much study" connected with this endless labor and "weariness of the flesh" may render its votary a fit subject of the admonition, that "the conclusion of the whole matter," or the great end of life, is to "fear God and keep his commandments." (See Clarke, Comment, in loc.)