TEXT BOOKS OF RELIGION Bible Stories FROM THE New Testament To meet the requirements of the Course of Study in By REV. PETER C. YORKE, S. T. D. " San Francisco THE TEXT BOOK PUBLISHING CO. 21 Washburn Street 1925 57 PREFACE These Bible stories are put together to meet the requirements of the "Course of Study in Religion for Children of Elementary and Grammar Grades who do not attend Catholic Day Schools." The text is taken from the "Text Books of Religion, Fifth Grade." The teacher should understand that this is not a Bible History properly so called and is not to be taught as such. It is simply a reader and its main purpose is to furnish material for the illustration and enrichment of the Catechism according to the method explained in the "Introductory" to the "Course of Study," page 11, under the heading "Bible History." In reading "Bible Stories," couched as these are as far as possible in the very words of the Bible, we encounter two difficulties. First, the unusual words and the strange inflexions of usual words as "wist" for "know" and "spake" for "spoke." Second, the proper names. The teacher need not pay much attention to the first difficulty as the context usually brings out the meaning and the children find little difficulty in the old inflexions. Anyhow a good dictionary should be in the outfit of every teacher worth while. As to the proper names we are confronted with the fact that with the exception of a few there are several systems of pronouncing them. The system we use here is that which was adopted after much study and consideration for the "Text Books of Religion." Instead, however, of collecting the names into a vocabulary at the end of the book experience has shown that it is better to print them at the head of the story in which they occur. Inasmuch as it is practically impossible to tell by an inspection of the printed name how it is to be pronounced the Teacher should not let the children read the stories until they have been well drilled in the correct pronunciation. San Francisco, Calif., Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, September 8, 1924. PETER C. YORKE. 97975 Bible Stories FROM THE New Testament The Old Testament tells us how God prepared the world for the coming of the Redeemer. The New Testament tells us how the Redeemer came and saved mankind. The New Testament is written in Greek. Like the Old Testament, the New Testament contains books of history and books of instruction. As, however, our Lord is the fulfillment of prophecy, there is only one book of prophecy in the New Testament, and that deals chiefly with the end of the world. The historical books of the New Testament are the Four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The Books of Instruction are twenty-one in number, of which two-thirds, or fourteen, are Epistles or Letters of St. Paul. The other seven are letters by four other Apostles, namely, St. James, St. Peter, St. John and St. Jude. The Book of Prophecy was written by St. John, the Apostle, and is called the Apocalypse, or Revelation of St. John. The life of our Lord is contained in the Four Gospels. Gospel means good news. Our Lord told us the good news of our redemption. The first Gospel was written by St. Matthew, one of the Apostles; the second by St. Mark, a disciple of St. Peter; the third by St. Luke, a disciple of St. Paul, the fourth by St. John, the Apostle. Only two of the Gospels tell us anything about the 5 |