Later in the monarchy, slingers formed part of the regular army (2 Kings iii, 25), though it would seem that the slings there mentioned must have been more ponckrous than in earlier times, and that those which could break down the fortifications of so strong a place as Kir-haraseth must have been more like the engines which king Uzziah contrived to "shoot great stones" (2 Chron. xxvi, 15). In ver. 14 of the same chapter we find an allusion (concealed in the A. Y. by two in- terpolated words) to stones specially adapted for slings, " Uzziah prepared throughout all the host shields and spears . . . bows and sling-stones." — Smith.
Shepherd life in Syria and Arabia affords peculiar fa- cilities for the cultivation and acquirement of this art; and Burckhardt notes of the modern Bedawin that "the shepherds who tend flocks at a distance from the camp are armed with short lances, and also with slings, which they use very dexterously in throwing stones as large as a man's fist" (Xotes on the Bed. i, 57). Tliomson speaks of the extraordinary skill of the lads of Ilasbeya with this weapon {Land and Bool; ii, 372). In various other countries the use of the sling was much i)racticed in ancient times; the inhabitants of the Balcarcs (Ma- jorca and Minorca) were particularly distinguished for it. See Ak.mok.
Slitb, in Norse mythology, was one of the thirty- seven rivers of Hell, which rise in the well Hoergelmer, and flow around Nittheim.
SLOANE CODEX
810
SLUYTER
Sloane Codex (Heb.). This codex, formerly known as Kcnn. 1 •_*(), is now designateil as Sloane 4708. It (iriijiually belonged to Da Costa of Amsterdam, and is now in the library of the British IMuseum. It con- tains the later prophets. It has no Masoretic notes; but the Keri, vowels, and accents have been added by a later hand. According to Heidenheim, this codex was written between the 6th and 8th centnries; but Strack says, " Hunc codicera esse antiipumi libenter concedinins, minime vero plus undecim siecala eum ha- bere domoMstratum est, cum e sola literarum ligura de librorum llebraicornm ittate accurate concludi nequeat." Whatever may be the age, tlie Sloane codex contains a great many various readings as well as omissions. Thus, e. g., we notice :
Isaiah i, 30, IT^br, V. D. II. WiV.
ii, 6, i-TpiDI, V. D. H. inbiSt iii, 6, -]1^^ V. D. H. "jnT iii, IS, mni -11D^ V. D. II. iJlX t^cji. iv, 4, i;-is mn"', V. D. II. ^:ix.
vi, 5, D'^P.S'i' S^ii: ZV ~^^Z^ omitted, vii, 14, nsn omitted, xi, 11, ■'^IX omitted, svii, 10, n"'3-l^:.-3, V. D. H. CiJ^SS.
XX, 1, "|15"1D omitted. XXV, 11, nn'i'n omitted. xxvii, 9, np""^ omitted.
li, ts, mbi -I'rx, V. D. n. mbi.
liii, 11, nX-11 and pin:j omitted.
ivi, 2, ibbn^ rna n^sTr omitted.
Ivi, 7, n'^S omitted.
Ivi, 11, vj-ii xb Qi:;-! n^m nra'r omitted.
Ivii, 7, a'U, V. D. H. ni20. Ivii, 15, 33 omitted. Ivii, 18, lb omitted.
Ix, 10, -JJinniT'i omitted.
Ix, 19, "|b omitted. Ixiv, 8, !13 omitted. Ixv, 3, "^rX omitted. Ixv, S, i"I3" omitted.
These readings we have taken from Heidenheim's JJeutsrhe Vicrleljiihrsxchrift fur em/lisch - f/ieofdz/isr/ie Forxchiinf/ und Krilik, where in i, 2t;8-'274, 398-405, 553-5(J2; ii, 73-7!t, the variations and omissions oi this coiiex are noted down. See also Strack, Prolegomena Crilicd (Lips. 1873), p. 47. (B. 1'.)
Sloss, .Ta.mks Lono, a Presl)yterian minister, was born in tlie i)arish of Bellaghy, County of Derry, Ire- land, March 13, 17!)l. He enjoyed good O[)portunities for early education in his native country, emigrated to the United States with his father's family in 1803, and settled in Lexington, Va. He was apiirenticed to tlie printer's trade for seven years; after this he pursued his studios under private instruction, at the same time teach- ing as an assistant, and completed his preparatory course for tlie ministry under the care of Kev. Dr. jMoses Wad- del, of Willington, S. C. Ho was licensed i)y the Pres- bytery of South Carolina Nov. 18, 1817; the next day received a commission as a missionary tiirough portions of (Jeorgia and the newly formed sottlomonts of tlie tlion Alabama Territory; and was ordained Oct. 3, 1818. Sul)sc(piently he became pastor of the following charges : The Church at St. Stejihen.s, (Jlarko Co., Ala., for tiirc'c years; the throe churches of Selma, Pleasant Valley, and Cahawba, three years; at Somerville, Morgan Co., 8ix years; at Plorence, Lauderdale Co., eleven years, where he died, Aug. 5, 1841. Mr. Sloss was a man of fine intellectual abilities — every exercise of his mind
evincing a clear, logical, and discriminating judgment. As a pastor he had few, if any, equals, being always intensely devoted to the spiritual interests of his peo- ple. See Sprague, A nnals of the A mer. Pulpit, iv, 581.
(J.L.S.)
Slovenian Version. Slovenian is a South-Sla- vic dialect, spoken in parts of Styria, and in Carinthia, Carniola, Croatia, etc. In all the southern provinces of the present empire of Austria, the doctrines of the Kef- ormation made rapid progress in the beginning of the l(>th century. In 1599, according to a letter written by a Pomish bishop to pope Paul Y, only one fifth of the pojHilation of the capital city of Laybach was left to the Romish Church, and that small portion consisted main- ly of the poor and ignorant. In 1572 primus Truber, once a Romish priest, afterwards a minister of the Gos- pel, completed the first translation of the New Test, into the Slovenian, which was inihlislied in 1577. In 1584 Truber's successor, George Dalmatin, pul)listied at Wit- tenberg the first entire Slovenian Bible, based on Lu- ther's translation. In 1628 the empress of Austria per- emptorily ordered "all non- Catholic gentlemen and farmers, and all nobles (male and female)," to leave the realm within the space of one year. Tliis was the end of the Reformation in those parts, and Rome succeeded in putting out the light of the glorious Gospel. The Slovenian language, never fully developed, but since then greatly neglected, has of late years revived in a remarkable degree. One sign of this revival appears in the translation into this dialect of the gospels of IMatthew and Mark, which were printed in 1869. The Roman Catholic priests, who for the last two hundred years have had things all their own way, did certainly not look with a kindly eye on this small book ; but the success which attended the circulation of these two gos- pels encouraged the committee of the British and For- eign Bible Society to go on, and subsequently, in 1871, the remaining gospels and the Acts of the Apostle.s, forming together the first volume of the New Test., were added. As to the translation itself, and its effect, the sixty-seventh Annual Report (1871) of the British and Foreign Bible Society states: "It would be idle to set up a plea for perfection in a first translation ; but the fruits of honest and competent criticism will be avail- able for improvement in sub.sequeiit editions, which, it is hoped, may be speedily in .demand. The appear- ance of the version has produced some consternation, and it is regarded as an uncomfortable sign that, after the Bible had been successfully suppressed for ages, it should again emerge in the 19th century clothed in the vernacular of the Slovenian race." But the consterna- tion thus produced seems to be without any effect upon the arduous and important task of rekindling this lamp of life; for not onlj' is the New Test, almost complete, but the Psalms also are in preparation. That there is a groat demand for this translation may be seen from the fact tiiat from the publication of the parts of the Now Test, up to March 30, 1878, 23,500' copies had i)een disposed of. For this version comp. the Annual Pcporls of the British and Foreign Bible Society since 1869. (B. P.) Sec Slavonic Ykusions.