SUNDAY scHOoL LIBRARY, © South. Shields. iin” VaR Time allowed, a{ Fine per Week, Fortnight, One Penny. No 1X” na . Entered hay 2 d Hs. V > Paar fae, ae “ ~* 2 , 2 at _— = ey =. Sy As io Ais “ Wee ‘ ie a y am B ie = . 3 . 7 5 a) DUKE UNIVERSITY DIVINITY SCHOOL LIBRARY FRANK BAKER COLLECTION OF WESLEYANA AND BRITISH METHODISM ~ 7 iA ee ame! pis fe ms - i a ag) - ~~ ? dove ae fn, > a nd ge, 2 Meith ili So ha G Gecimen " QYILOTL PL Mas te a ¥ e ‘of te hurler V ihe; NG - Ag,’ ; 2s GFoom of te Md. (ol ec nda Fo 524 Be ae Wee. Mapes oe Gyjtean heced . ~ ILLUSTRATIVE OF) © THE WIS TORE 24 OF THE . LONDON:. ‘SOLD BY T. BLANSHARD, 14, CITY- Fleet-street, Bury.” ee ADVERTISEMENT. Tue following work is designed as an outline of the History of the Sacred Writings, and of the state of Biblical knowledge at different periods. The facts it records appeared to the Autho. to be important, and he believed the: As would be sodeemed by others. adopts the opinion, that all eolicaaatn knowledge originates i in Revelation ;— sentiment which he embraces | iv Preserver, and Governor of all things;— because the fact is indisputably esta- blished that the ancient sages travelled into the East, or drew much of their information from Eastern sources;—and because the most eminent Heathen phi- losophers have acknowledged themselves indebted. to Tradition, for their purest and most sublime notions of the Deity, and his worship. _-Endeared to the Writer by these and B, similar sentiments, the Worp or Gop has long been his delightful study, and fe every thing has interested him that re- 4 slated to his Bible. Hewas confident, a therefore, that if the views of others were congenial with his own, he should orgies an acceptable service to many, ve neither opportunity, nor Jei- | eS a consult scarce and expensive é Paapeeerescntg them with a series,» blical Anecdotes,” illnstr ates v _ of the History of the Holy Scriptures, and the early Translations of them into different languages. This he has at- tempted in the following pages, with what success the public must determine. - In page 85, the Author has offered a conjecture respecting the Books trans- mitted to Austin by the Roman Pontiff. This conjecture he has since found con- firmed, by a curious account of the books belonging to the first Christian Church, erected at Canterbury, by the Monkish missionary and his companions, extract- ed from the. Liber Cantuarensis, pre- served in the Library of Trinity College, © Cambridge. The following is an a- bridged translation : ie “ The Grecor1aN Bisrr, in 2 volumes. Ss the first volume, the Title of the Book of Genesis _ is written in red letters; aud in doth volumes, several splendid purple, or rose-coloured leaves, _ __ are inserted at the beginning of each Book.” pee) vai We vi “A Psaxter, called the Psalter of Augus- tine, from having been presented to, him By Gregory himself.” “The Four Gosprrs, denominated St. Mil- dred’s; and of which it is related, that a rustic in the Isle of Thanet having sworn falsely upon them, he was struck with blindness.” “A Psatrer, ornamented with a Miniature Painting of “‘Samuel the Priest ;” and adorned on the outside withthe Image of Christ, and the Four Evangelists, on a plate of silver. . The Four Gospets.” “A Martyrotocy, containing The Sufferings of the Apostles, The Life of St. John, and The Dispute of St. Peter and St. Paul, with Simon sg Magus ; ornamented with the Image of rie: embossed in silver.” “ A Marryrotoey, beginning with Apolli- naris, and terminating with Simplicius, Fausti- nus and Beatrice; and adorned with an Image of the Divine Majesty, i in silver gilt, and enriched with precious stones.” _ An Exposition or THE GosPELs AND Evistuzs Ae appointed to be read 1 from the third mies se 4 Vil the Octave of Easter, to the fourth Sunday after the Octave of Whitsunday; richly ornamented with a large beryl set round with diamonds and other precious stones.” “These,” adds the ancient writer, “are the First-fruits of the books belonging to the whole Anglican church.” (See Bede Hist. Eccles. a Smith.—Appendix. Num. 7. De Libris, p. 690. Cantab. 1722. ful.) In the references to the books consulted by the Author, he has been sometimes influenced by the importance and autho- rity of the works themselves, and some- times by a desire to afford assistance to the junior student who may wish to- pursue the subject more extensively: | to have increased the number of these would have been easy, but it was judged unnecessary. NORTHWICH, May 29, 1813. ee ee wl Vill On Bardic Ciiriting, 99 The following is a literal reading of the curious specimen of Barpre Wrirtne, exhibited in the” | Frontis; spiece, fig. 1. in modern orthography, with a correct translation. rar 5 Aa » Aryv y doeth yw pwyll: : ‘ J Bid ezain alitud: Cyvnewid a haelion : Diengid rhywan eid rhygadarn; = Enwawg meiciad oi voc: ers ou _ Goiaen awel yn nghyving: r _ ‘Hir oreistez i. ogan: Liawer car byw i Indeg. - © Sranstaton CN RE otha = The + weapon of the wise isreason, Let the exile be moving. est mmerce with generous ones, Fy * &= Let the very feeble run sways let the very powerful proceed. ~The swioeherd is proud of iin, Pa nost ice itp ear eine a ce to slander. : a 5 Ret Biblical Anecdotes. A Divine Reveration is of the utmost ims." portance to mankind, to discover to them their. . cont eetahved them with iio | needed ; and aly. mensof GOD have O] J 2 The first instance of Revelation committed to writing, is that of the Decalogue, or Ten Com- mandments, written on Tables of Stone, by the finger of GOD: exon. ch. xxxi. v.18. This has _ been considered by many learned men, as the ori- gin of Alphabetical Characters, and whether we ~ adopt this opinion or not, it is certain that the major part of the alphabets now in use, may be traced to the ancient Hebrew, or Samaritan. (1) @ : 24 Sito the Decalogue, succeeded the Ceremonial a ’ Law, about 1490 years before the Christian era, . on and. more than 500 years earlier than the age of My pe the most ancient of the Greek Poets. 4, at een phsci concluded the canon of the Old . Testar al 415 or according to ‘otherg 480. v: seo before the birth of our Lord and ne ; oe and sap Be “0 Gove Del bane des Loix 2 He: my. a os Waiton in Bib. Polyg. Proleg. 9 oe oO Prophets, and the Rabbins say, that from the time the latter Prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, . and Malachi died, the Holy Spirit was taken . away from Israel. The outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost afterwards, Was therefore a full proof that the Mosaic dispensa= tion was concluded, and that the new dispensation of the Messiah had restored the Prophetical Spi- rit according to the promise by Jort, ch. ii. v. 28. Contemporary with Malachi, or nearly so, was Ezra, the Scribe, Ezra. chi, vit. v. 6. He is allowed, by the universal consent of antiquity, to have been the restorer, collector and publisher of the canon of the Old Testament Scriptures, 4 “which had existed before only in separate parcels; i and had suffered much from the ignorance and ‘ carelessness of transcribers. A manuscript copy of the Pentateuch, written on Calf Skins was e sometime ago preserved in the. Library of the Dominicans at Bo/ogna in Italy, with the follow- ing inscription in it, in Hebrew: “ This is the Roll of the Law, written by Ezrathe Scribe; with his own hand, when the captivity returned under King Cyrus to Jerusalem, and built the second ae Temple, which was completed in forty-two yea rig st Soe oh B2 Be ey @) Kennicott’s Discert. onl Chron. xi &c. p. 309, ¥. * Lose ‘of an Indian copy of Heb. ae p- ‘Pri “Fy *, * 4 and lasted four hundred and twenty years.” It had been in the possession of the Christians from the time of Aymericus in the beginning of the fourteenth century. Dr. Kennicott who doubts the fact of its being the Autograph of Ezra, never- theless considers it as very ancient, and at least, not less than nine hundred years old. (2) Ezra having collected together all the books of which the Holy Scriptures then consisted, dis- posed them in their proper order, and divided them into three parts; The Law, The Prophets, and The Cetubim, or Hagiographa, i. e. the Holy Writings. This division our Saviour himself no- a tices, | in Luxe ch. xxiv. vy. 44. when he says _«& These are the words which I spake unto you : while I was yet with you, that all things might be - fulfilled, which are written in the Law, and in tlie Prophets, ‘and in the Psalms concerning me.” By the Psalms, he there means the whole third part called the Hagiographa; which, beginning with the Psalms, was for that reason then commonly peices by that name. (3) ; ‘Connection &c. Vol. 2. p (8) Prideaux’s Connection &c. vol. 2. p. 394. - 5 The five books of the Law are divided into fifty-four sections. One of these sections was read in the ancient Jewish synagogues every Sabbath day. The number of these sections was fifty-four, because in their intercalated years (a month being then added,) there were fifty-four — Sabbaths. ‘Till the time of the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, they read only the Law. But then being forbid to read it any more, they substituted fifty-four sections out of the prophets, the reading of which they ever after continued. So that, when the readin f e Law was again restored by the Maccabees, the” section which was read every Sabbath out of the Taw. ‘served for their first lesson, and the section out of the Fe Prophets for their second lesson; and so it wa§ es practised in the time of the apostles; and there- fore when Paul entered into the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, it is said that he stood up to preach, “ after the reading of the Law, and the — Prophets:” Acts, ch. xiii. v. 15. These sec- vey tions were divided into verses, which the Jews 3 called Peswkim. This division was most likely imvented by Ezra, for the sake of the Targu- mists, or Chaldee interpreters. For after the oe B3. _ Hebrew language ceased to be the mother tongue of the Jews, and the Chaldee grew up into use amongst them instead of it, (as was the case after their return from the Babylonish captivity,) their usage was, that in the public reading of the _ Law to the people, it was read to them, first in the original Hebrew, and after that rendered by an interpreter into the Chaldee language; and this was done period by period, Nenemian, ch. * viik vy. 8. The Christian practice of reading two lessons in the Churches, one out of the Old Tes- tament, and another out of the New Testament, owes its rise to this custom of the Jews. © The Targums of the Jews, originated also in the necessity of translating the Scriptures into a language understood by the people. The word Targum signifies the translation of a book from one language into another, and is applied by ~ the Jewish Rabbins to the translation of the Sacred writings from Hebrew into any ee oe 5 language, as Chaldee, Syriac, Persian, or Greek. There are several Targums, but the two principal ones are those of Onkelos and Jonathan. _ first by Onkelos, is a very literal translation 0 the five books of Moses into pure @haldee, athe 2 @ laa ll ail 7 was probably written prior to the Christian era; the latter is also.a paraphrastical translation of all the prophets into pure Chaldee, but not so elegant as the former, nor written at ‘so early a date. (4) The Materials upon which the Scriptures were first written, though not a point of essen- tial importance, is more than a matter of mere curiosity,--it is useful for the understanding of many passages in the Sacred Writings. The writing of the Decalogue, or Ten Com- mandments upon tablets or slabs of stene, has been already noticed. Hard substances such as stones and metals. were generally used by tife ancients for edicts and matters of public noto- riety; hence the celebrated laws of the, Twelve Tables among the Romans were so called from being written, or engraved on twelve slabs or ae tablets of brass, or ivory, or oak, and hung up ‘ for public inspection. Pliny (Lis 13. c. 11) tells us that the - most ancient writing was upon the Leaves of tle se yee eee SIA se SSP Ee eee —— (4) ‘Dr. A. Clarke’s Bibliog. Dict. vol. 6. and Suvecs- sa of Sacred Literature. vo). 1 p. 48, ~ B4 re ea ee 8 an. Palm Tree, and afterwards upon the inner Bark of Trees. This mode of writing is still common in.the East. Dr. Francis Buchanan in a most valuable essay ‘ On the Religion and Literature of the Burmas, ” informs us that “in their more elegant books, the Burmas write on sheets of ivory, or on very fine white palmira leaves. The ivory is stained black, and the margins are or- ‘namented with gilding, while the characters are enamelled or gilded. On the palmira leaves the ~ characters are in general of black enamel; and the ends of the leaves, and margins, are painted with flowers in various bright colours. In their more common books, the Burmas with an iron style engrave their writing on palmira leaves. A hole through both ends of each leaf, serves to con- nect the whole into a volume, by means of two strings, which also pass through the two wooden boards, that serve for binding. In the finer bind- ing of these kind of books the boards are lac- quered, the edges of the leaves cut smooth and gilded, and the title is written on the upper board, © the two cords are by a knot or jewel secured at a little distance from the boards, so as to prevent the book from falling to pieces, but aa 9 sufficiently distant to admit of the upper leaves being turned back, while the lower ones are read. The more elegant books are in general wrapped up in silk cloth, and bound round by a garter, in which the Burmas have the art to weave the title of the book.” (5) A beautifully written Indian manuscript now lies before me.. The characters are minute and neatly executed. They have been written or engraved so as to enter into the substance of the leaf. The ink is black. The whole is composed ~ of seven distinct portions of leaf, each portion: being 16 inches in length and 13? inch in breadth, the lines running parallel to each other from end to end of the leaf. Two holes are made in each leaf about six inches asunder. A string passed through the holes at each end secures the whole; but the leaves being written on both sides must be untied before they can be read. Father Simon, and Dr. Adam Clarke, suppose the former parts of the Scriptures to have been written in this manner, and that by some of the leaves, or portions of bark &c. having been dis- oe es Asiatic Researches, vol. 6. p. 396. Lond. Edit. x 5 eins ; — eam | ota ee ~ 19 ae t placed, transpositions have occured in some — places in the Pentateuch. (6) But Dr. Kennicott conjectures, that many of the first manuscripts were upon Skins sewed together, and that the trans- positions were occasioned by the separation. of the skins from each other. (7) Mr. Yeates even thinks it exceedingly probable that the very Auto- graph of the Law, written by the hand of Moses, was upon ees skins. (8) In Exonvé ch. * r. Cla ius ‘Pachanad obtained from ong Bi ot the yan e$ ofthe Black Jews, (*) in the interior of Malayala in India, a very ancient ma-— nuscript Roll, containing the major part of the Hebrew Scriptures, written upon Goats’ Skins, ‘mostly dyedred; and the Cabul Jews, who trayel annually into the interior of China, remarked,: : a —_, ee. 6) Simon Hist. Crit. du Vieux Testament. Livy. 1. ¢. 5. Clarke’s Commentary on Numb, ch. ix. y. 1. (7) Kennicott’s Dissertations &c. Dissert. 2, p. oat (8) Yeates’s “ Collation &c.” p. 2, ot (*) The Black Jews are those who haye been ‘settled in _. India from time immemorial, and assimilated in colour to the Hindoos. The White Jews are of later settlem: 2 ; _ » (See Buchanan's “ Christian Researches.”) : - ‘ 11 that in some Synagogues the Law is still found written on a roll of leather ; not on vellum,’ but on a soft flexible leather, made of goats’ skins, and dyed red. UDiodorus Siculus (Lib. 2. p. 84.) affirms, that the Persians of old wrote all their records’on skins ; and Herodotus who flourished more than five hundred and fifty years before the Christian wra, informs us (Lib. 5.) that sheep skins, and goat skins were made use of in writing by the ancient Ionians. < A eg From Jos ch. xix. v. 24. it appears to have "been usual in his day, to write or engrave u upon | plates of Lead, which might easily be done with 9 Pen, or Graver, or Style of Iron, or other hard metal. Montfaucon, (Antiq. Expliquée, tom. 2. p- 378.) assures us, that in 1699, he bought at Rome, abook entirely of lead, about 4 inches lo Mg by 3 inches wide. Not only the two pieces which © formed the cover, but also all the leaves, i in num- ber six, the stick inserted into the rings, which held the leaves together, the hinges arid the nails were all of lead without exception. tae! ‘con tained Egyptian Gnostic figures, and unintelli- gible writing. (9) ? < sget oo Fregments to Calmet’s Dict, by Taylor, No. 74. 12 It was also an ancient practice, to write upon thin smooth planks or Tables of Wood. Pliny says that table-books of wood were in use before the time of Homer. The Chinese, before the in- vention of paper, engraved with an iron tool upon thin boards, or upon bamboo; and in the Sloanian library at Oxford, are six specimens of Kufic or ancient Arabic writing, on boards about 2 feet in length, and 6 inches in depth. (10) ‘The original manner of Faaap among the ancient Britons was by cutting the letters with a nife upon sticks, which were most .commonly squared, and sometimes formed into three sides ; consequently a single stick contained either four or three lines. (See Ezex1eL, ch. xxxvii.v. 16.) Several sticks, with writing upon them, were put thzether, forming a kind of frame, which was called Peithynen or Elucidator, and was so con= structed, that each stick might be turned for the facility of reading, the end of each running out ~ alternately on both sides of the frame. (11) A continuation of this mode of writing may be found fe (10) Encyc. Perth, ‘ Writing.” Vol 23. eg (11) Davies’s Celtic Researches, p. 271. Fry’s “ Pantow _ graphia,” p. 304. 307. See Plate, fig, 1. re in the Runic or Log Almanacks of the Northern ; States of Europe, i in which the engraving on square pieces of wood, has been continued to so late a period as the 16th. century. Two curious speci- mens of the Runic Almanacks, are preserved in the Library belonging to Cheetham’s Hospital in Manchester. ‘The Scythians also conveyed their ideas, by marking, or cutting, certain figures and a variety of lines, upon splinters or billets of wood. Aulus Gellius says (Lib. 2. c. 12.) that the ancient laws of Solon, preserved at Athens, were cut in tablets of wood. Several of the Prophets also probably wrete upon tablets of wood or some similar substance. See Isarau, ch. xxx. v. 8. Hasaxxok, ch. ii. v. 2. Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, when required to name his son, “asked for a writing-table, and wrote, saying, His name is John.” Luxe ch. i. v. 63. The writing was at first upon the bare wood, but in Jater times these tables were usually waxed over, and written upon with an instrument called a Style, sharp at one end for writing with, and broad. at the other to erase any miswritten words. The Style was formed of different. materials, as Iron, Brass, Gold, Silver, or Ivory. Cassianus a rho 4 14 the Martyr, was assassinated by his Scholars with — their Iron Styles. The very old Egyptians used to write on Linen, things which they designed should last. There is. a piece of writing of this kind now in the British Museum, which was taken out of an Egyptian mummy, and a similar book was found in a mum- my by Mr. Denon, an engraved fac simile of which may be found in his travels. (12) About the time that Alexander the Great built Alexandria in Egypt, the use of the Papy- rus for writing on, was first t found out in that country. The papyrus, in is proper signification, is a sort of flag, or bulrush growing in the marshes of Egypt near the River Nile. * When the outer skin is taken off, there are next several films or inner skins, one within another, These when separated from the stalk were laid on a ta- ble, and moistened with the glutinous waters of the Nile. They were afterwards pressed together, and dried in the sun. From this papyrus it isy that what we now make use of to write upon, — (12) Clarke’s Harmer’s oueraiiiaad Vol. 3. pl 132 (*) See Plate, fig. 3. mi 15 hath also the name of papyr or paper, though of quite another nature from the ancient Papyrus. | Many of the manuscripts found in the ruins of Herculaneum are on this kind of Egyptian paper: Herculaneum was destroyed by an eruption of - Vesuvius in the year 79 of the Christian era. The invention of the Egyptian paper, nearly superseded the use of every other material for writing upon, till Eumenes, King of Pergamus, substituted Parchment instead of papyrus, in emulation of Ptolemy King of Egypt, whose li- | brary he was ambitious to excel by this invention, which carried the advantage over papyrus. Most of the ancient, manuscripts we now have, are writ- ten upon parchment. Josephus says (Antiq. B. 12. c. 2.) that the copy of the Law presented to Ptolemy King of Egypt was written upon parch- ment, in letters of gold. (13) But the invention of parchment did not entirely supersede the use of the Egyptian paper; thus Paul when writing to Timothy desires him to bring with him the Books, but especially the Parchments. 2 Tim. ch. iv. v. 13. Ce ache (13) See Prideaux’s Connection &c, Vol. p> Sai. and | Jalmet, Dissertation sur la forme des ie (eR —_ Co, 16 4 The Puper in use at present is made of linen — rags, and is comparatively a late discovery. No ' book has been found written on this paper, an-= : tecedent to A. D. 1270. The ancient writings upon papyrus, or skins, &c. were glued or sewed together, and rolled up, generally on cylinders of wood, and called Rolls, or Volumes, from the latin Volvendo, to rollup. To this form of the ancient writings there — are many references in Scripture: Ps. xl. v. 7. JeRemMIAu, ch. xxxvi.v.2. Ezex. ch. ii. v. 9. The literal rendering of Luxe, ch. iv. y. 17. would be, “ And unrolling the book he found the pas- - sage &c.” evidently attributing to our Lord, the action of unrolling a book, and afterwards rolling it upagain. Rev. ch. vi. v. 14. also refers to this mode of rolling up the,ancient writings. Hebrew manuscripts are generally writ- ten in columns, and are unrolled and read from the right hand to the left. * Most other oriental manuscripts which I have seen, are unrolled from the top to the bottom, or downwards. (*) See Plate, fig 2. 7 17 The etymology of many words now in use amongst us, may be traced to these ancient modes of writing. Not to mention Paper from Papyrus, | or Volume, from Volvendo; the very word BrBir, which means, by way of eminence, THE Boor, is derived from the Greek word Biblos, or Byblos, a book, but which originally signified the inner bark of atree. The word Book is also derived from the Saxon Boc, or Bocce, the Beach Tree, probably from tablets or leaves of that tree hav- ing been used for writing upon. Hence also the term Leaf, applied to apart of a book, and the use ofthe word Style for a person’s manner of writifig. Soon after the time of Ezra the celebrated Jewish critics, called MAsorrtes, or MAZORETES, began their criticisms and grammatical remarks upon the Sacred text. They had their name from the Hebrew word masar, to deliver from one to another, because they professed to deliver the Scriptures to posterity, in the state of purity in which they were found previous to the Babylo- nish captivity. To this end, they not only num- bered every verse, word, and letter, but even went so far as to ascertain how often each’ letter of the alphabet occurred in the whole Bible! Thus = Sp ete) ev hl 4 18 sacredly did they watch over their records in or. der to prevent every species of corruption. : These Jewish critics were not a society, but. a succession of men; and the Masora or Masore : tical criticisms, the work of many critics an grammarians who lived at different periods from the time of Ezra, to about the year of Christ 1030, when the two famous Rabbins Ben Asher, and Ben Naphtali, flourished: since whose time all that has been done, is to copy after them with- out making any more corrections, or Masoretical criticisms. Many of the principal observations of these critics are translated and printed in Dr. Adam Clarke’s valuable and learned commen- tary. (14) ; Even at this day the Jews bestow an excess of care on the copies of the Sacred writings, de- signed for their synagogues. It is a constant rule with them, that whatever is considered as corrupt, shall never be used, but shall be burnt or otherwise destroyed: a book of the law, want- (14) Clarke’s Succession of Sacred Literature, pis. and Commentary. Waltoni Proleg. 8, | Prideaux. Vol. 2, B.5. x Simon. Histoire. Critique, Lib. 1. c. 24. - 19 tig but one letter, with one letter too much, or with an error in one single letter, written with ny thing but ink, or written on parchment made of the hide of an unclean animal, or on parchment iot purposely prepared for that use, or prepared. vy any but an Israelite, or on skins of parchment tied together by unclean strings, shall be holden to be corrupt; that no word shall be written, without a line first drawn on the parchment ; no ord written by heart, or without having been first pronounced orally by the writer; that, be- fore he writes the name of Gop, he shall wash his pen; that no letter shall be joined to another; and that if the blank parchment cannot be seen all around each letter, the roll shall be corrupt. There are settled rules for the length and breadth of each sheet of parchment, and for the space to be left between each letter, each word, and each section. (15) | Those who have not seen the rolls used in the synagogues, can haye no conception of the exquisite beauty, correctness, and equality of the writing. I have seen Hebrew manuscripts, the (15) Butler’s Hore Biblice, Vol. 1. p. 47. writing of which, was equal to any Hebrew Ty. pography I ever saw, for beauty and regularity. The first printed edition of the whole of th Hebrew Scriptures was published at Soncino i Italy, in 1488, in folio. A part of the Hagiog pha, had been printed at Naples, the preceding year. Beside the various copies of the Hebrew scriptures preserved by the Jews, the descendants of the old Samaritans, who reside at Naplose, the ancient Sichem, have.also preserved copies in the ancient Hebrew, or Samaritan character, which are greatly esteemed amongst Biblical Critics. There is also a translation in the Samaritan dia- lect, made in all probability prior to the Chris- . tian era, and called the Samaritan Version. (16) ~ The celebrated Septuagint or Greek version of the Old Testament was-made in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, King of Egypt, who reign- ed about 285 years before Christ. Ptolemy, who was a monarch of great liberality, and a munificent patron of learning, having erected a grand library at Alexandria, which he intended to enrich with (16) Kennicot’s Dissertations, passim. Waltoni Proleg. 11. 21 Ml the curious and important works of antiquity, rocured a translation into Greek of the Penta- uch, or Five Books of Moses. This translation as made from the most ancient copies that could ye procured, and therefore some learned men jaye supposed this version to have been made ‘om copies written in the Samaritan or old Hebrew character. It has generally obtained venty, from a tradition that 70 or 72 interpre- ers, were employed in this work, by order of the Jewish High-priest and Sanhedrim, or great Council of the Jews; and who completed ‘the . name of the Septuagint, or version of the translation in a’singular and miraculous manner. ¢ this traditionary and fabulous account is now >xploded, and amore probable account is, that ve learned and judicious men only, were engaged n the translation, which was afterwards examin- , approved, and allowed asa faithful version, by the 70 or 72 elders who constituted the Alexan- rim Sanhedrim. The other books of the Old festament were done at different times, by differ- mt hands, as the necessity of the case demanded, or the Providence of Gop appointed ; and being udded to the books already translated, were com- .. 99 : 2 £ prehended with them in the gence term Scptua gint or Septuagint Version. (17) This Version was used by the Hellenist Jews i. e. those who sojourned in the Grecian provin ces and spoke the Greek language, from the tim of its formation till about 100 years after the In. carnation of our Lord, when they began to disus: "it, and formed another for themselves. For a: this version grew into use among the Christians it grew out of credit with the Jews, and they be: , ing pressed in many particulars urged agains’ them out of this version by the Ghristians, resolv. ed to make a new one that might better serv their purpose. The person who undertook, thi work was Aquila a native of ‘Sinope, a City ° Pontus. He had been brought» up an Heat en. but becoming a Christian, was excommunicatet ~ fox addicting himself to magic and judicial astro. logy ; he then turned Jew, got himself admitted (17) Hody. De Bibliorum Textibus Originalibus &e Lib. 1.-& 2. be Waltoni Proleg.a Dathe.Prefat. p. 46,—51. cf Merieg D. Leusdeni Phitfelogus Hebro Mixtus, Disser . Ken's 7 Simon. Hist. Critique. du V. T. j. 12, Dr. A. Clarke’s Comment. Gen, P Pe RB. Lay y nto the school of Rabbi Akiba, the most cele- 23 rated Jewish teacher of his day, and having made onsiderable proficiency in Hebrew, was thought - ufficient for the translation, which he undertook, nd published in the year of our Lord 128. (18) By the translation of the Scriptures into zréek in the reign of Ptolemy, divine Providence wrepared the way for the preaching of the Gospel vhich was then approaching, facilitated the pro- aulgation of it amongst many nations, by the rumentality of the finest, most copious, and ee that was ever spoken, and ich became common to all the countries con- iuered by Alexanier:- ¥ The translation of the Psalms in the Continent 4 ny rayer book was oe from this venerable Greek ersion. A very ancient and celebrated copy of Septuagint, generally called the Codex Alex- ndrinus, or Alexandrian manusc “ipi, is pre- ervec’ at present in the British Museum. It was: Pesented to ‘King Charles I, by Sir Thomes ‘Ree, om Cyriltis Lucaris, Patriarch of Constantinople. | a eee Rien 24 It is on parchment, in uncial, or oe er without distinction of chapters, or verses, even of words, and in a note subjoined to it by Cyrillus is said to have been written by Thecla, | an Egyptian lady, soon after the council of Nic . in the fourth century; but some critics have decided it to be of a later date, though all agree that it! 1 very ancient. A fac simile edition of it was pub= lished by Dr. Woide ia 1786, Another valuable manuscript written about the same ti is preserved in the Vaticarf library at Rome, and is usually called the Codex ra or Vatican | manuscript. To this celebrated translation many of the Heathen Philosophers were indebte“for their me correct notions of the being and _perfections Gep, as well as for their best and purest sentis ments of moral duties. (19) ‘ In the year of the World 4000, or 4 JESUS, the CHRIST, i. e. the Mess1 an, appez amongst men, and became incarnate for us me (19). Gale’s Court of the Gentiles, passim. Ellis, On Knowledge of Divine T Christie’s Miscellanies, Vol. 1. | o e 2 and for our salvation. To him be gloty and do- © minion for ever and ever. Amen. The Writers of the New TresrAment, were the Apostles or Disciples of our Lord, or their cotemporaries. They wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, at different periods from A. D. 41, when it is most probable that St. Mat- thew wrote his Gospel, to A. D. 95 or 96, when it is generally supposed St. John wrote the Apo- calypse or Revelation. The following Synopsis of the times at which they wrote, will perhaps be acceptable, though ~ perfect accuracy cannot be expected. It is taken from Dr. Adam Clarke’s Succession of Sacred - Literature, vol.1. pp. 65, 99. Books in order of Time. : When written, . A. D. WEAEOICW, “sig be 5 se -w igre oe JAR Epistle to the Galatians, . . . . 49 1 Epistle to the Thessalonians, . . . 51 2 Epistle to the Thessalonians, . . . 51 Epistle to Titus, . . . + + + © 56 1 Epistle to the Corinthians,. . . . 57 1 Epistle to Timothy, . . . «. + * ST _ 2 Epistle to the Corinthians,. . . * 5 Ba *%, Epistle to the Romans, , . . + + 58. Leds Sar C “ cee 1 ae ————™ =a = $ ~ ; 26 Books in order of Time. When written. ; a : Luke, +», |, =i sane ete as Epistle of James, ) ae) sule ualnetanoe 1 Epistle of Peter," 7igs. hs (mmn= es) Oe - Epistle to the Ephesians, . between 62 and 65 Epistle to the Colossians, . between 62 and 65 q Epistle to Philemon, . . between62and65 ~- Epistle to the Philippians, between 62 and 65 Acts of the Apostles; | [iia 0. eames Mark, agi. oa. sc? on ae Epistle to the Hebrews, . . . . 64 2 Epistle of Peter, . ). 902 /. ange | oe: Epistle of Jude, . . . . between 64 and 70 2 Epistle to Timothy, .... 9. . . . 66 ‘John’s Gospel, . . . .. - - - 68or'0 “4 Epistle’ of Jota,” <'s er tee ena 2 Epistle of John, .) >...) its nae « .8.Epistle of John, ..... ... » ~ 80 Revelation |. 2... - 3" fe?a) erate te ee Ts om St. Matthew’s Gospel, and the Epistle to the q Hebrews, are. generally believed to have been written at first in Hebrew or Syro-Chaldaic, and | afterwards to have’ been translated ‘in to Greek, iP possibly by the Apostles themselves. ‘The ater parts of the New Testament were written in Greek originally. tf | 27 The Autographs or original manuscripts of the New Testament, “or at least some of them, were carefully preserved for many years amongst the ancient Christian churches; since Ignatius and _ Tertullian appeal to themin the first and second centuries, as does also Peter, an Alexandrian Bishop, of the fourth century. (20) But these original manuscripts have long been irrecoverably lost, and from hence has arisen the necessity of : collecting and collating manuscripts of the origi- nal Greek, and of the different early versions ; a measure pursued with much laudable industry _and perseverance in modern times, and which has completely proved the general accuracy of our Bpesent copies. R Transcriptions were very early made of most of the writings of the New Testament and circu. Tated amongst the Christian churches, but were not ‘regularly formed into a volume for a century or two; and so cautious were the first Christians not ‘to receive any writings as inspired without the most indubitable evidence, that it. was not till , a Michaelis’ Introduction to N. T, by Marsh, yol. 1. ch, 6. sect. 1. j C2 28 after a considerable lapse of time that the second Epistle of Peter, the second and third Epistles of t John, the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistles of James and Jude, and the Revelation of St. John were admitted into the Sacred Canon. (21) The attachment of the early Christians to the — Word of Gop was exceedingly strong, and mani- fested itself in various ways, according to the cir- , cumstances and inclinations of different persons. — Women wore it hanging at their necks. Children were trained up from their infancy to repeat it by heart. Most persons carried it about with them. | Some washed their hands before they took it up— to read. And many have been found buried with the Gospel lying on their breasts.. (22) “ i ‘Christianity continuing to diffuse its benig- nant influence through various partypf the world, | not only were copies of the original Scriptures. rhultiplied, but Translations also were made into. various languages fdr the accommodation of those who could not read 'the- Hebrew or Greek, or who _~ Ql) Jones’ New and Full Method of settling the Ca-_ Monical authority of the New Testament. passim. (22) Fleury. Moeurs des Chretiens. Sect. 7. 9 ‘é . (23) Michaelis’ Introduction &c. vol. 2, part 1, ¢.. pe 27- 29 yead them with difficulty. Thus within the first two centuries of the Christian wra, the whole or parts of the Sacred Writings were translated into the Syriac and Larry, the two most ancient versions of the New Testament, one of which was spread throughout Europe, and the North of Africa, the other propagated from Edessa to China. (23) This ancient Syriac translation is usually called the Peshito, or Literal Version, to distinguish it from the more modern cne made under the patronage of Philoxenus in A. D. 508, and from him called the Philoxenian. The old Latin translation has received the name of tala, and is thus distinguished from the revision of it by Jerome, usually called the Vulgate. Dr. Clau- dius Buchananin his late tour through British India, to examine into the state of Christianity, was presented by the Syrian Bishop in Angamalee, with a most valuable Syriac manuscript, which had been deposited in one of the remote churehes _near the mountains. It was supposed to have ; ‘been preserved for near a thousand years. “Tt contains the Old and New Testaments, engrossed ot 7 C3 30 “ on strong vellum, in large folio, having three co- : lumns in a page; and is written with beautiful — accuracy. The characteris Estrangelo (or large — ancient) Syriac ; and the words of every book are numbered. But the volume has suffered injury © from time or neglect. In certain places the ink has been totally obliterated from the page, and left the parchment in its state of natural white- ness; but the letters can, in general, be distinctly traced from the impress of the pen, or from the — partial corrosion of the ink.” (24) It is now de- posited in the public Library of the University of Cambridge. The Sauipic Version, or translation of the New Testament, (and probably also of the Old Testament,) into the language of Upper Egypt, is supposed to be as old as the second century. Manuscripts, or rather fragments of manuscripts, of the Sahidic version of the New Testament are preserved in the libraries of Rome, Paris, Oxford, — Berlin, and Venice. (25) There is also proof that a Copric Mes (24) Buchanan’s Christian Researches, p. 129," ~ ‘s (25) Michaelis Introduction to ay T. yoi. 2 | pp. 591, 595. 3] the New Testament, cr translation into thexcom- mon dialect of Egypt existed in the third century, for Antonius, an Egyptian monk, who resided in - a monastery of Alexandria where the Sahidic was not understood, had read the New Testament, and as he was ignorant of Greek, must have had a trans~ lation into his native dialect. Another proof of the existence ofa Coptic or vulgar Ngyptian trans- lation, is, that in one of the rules of Pachomius, for the conduct of the Egyptian monks, it is ordered, that, “all persons admitted to the order of monk, if unable to read, shall learn the letters of the A. B.C. that they may be able to read and writes after which they shall learn every day by heart: some passages of Scripture.” (26) Men therefore of such profound ignorance, would not have been able to read the Bible, unless they had possessed a translation in their native language. In the year 303 a dreadful persecution was raised against the Christians, by Dioclesian, the Roman. Emperor. When he first assumed the Purple in A. D. 284, he shewed himself favoura- ble to Christianity ; but instigated by the Heathen (26) Ibid. vol. 2. part 2. p. 587. C4 t \ 32 Priesthood, and counselled by his colleague Ga- lerius, he at length threw off the mask, and in the ‘mineteenth year of his reign commanded the churches to be rased, the Bibles to be burnt, those who had borne offices of honour to be degraded, and those of inferior stations, if they persisted in their avowal of Christianity, to be made slaves. This edict was followed by others ordaining that all who any where presided in the church should be imprisoned; and that they should by every means be compelled to sacrifice to the Heathen deities. In one month no fewer than seventeen thousand martyrs suffered death! In the province of Egypt alone no less than one hundred and forty-four thousand persons died by the violence of their persecutors ; and seven hundred thousand died through the fatigues of banishment, or of the public works to which they were condemned! Gildas the most ancient British historian we haye, relates, that by this persecution of Dioclesian, “The churches were thrown down, and ail the books of the Holy Scriptures that could be found were burnt in the streets, and the chosen priests of the flock of our Lord, with the innocent shee} _ murdered; so that in some parts of the Wis S 33 ‘no footsteps appeared of the Christian Religion.” (27) In this persecution St. Alban, the first per- son who suffered martyrdom for Christianity in England, was beheaded at Verulam in Hertford- shire, since: called St. Albans, from the Abbey founded in memory of the martyr, in A. D. 793, by Offa King of the Mercians. (28) Eusebius in his account of the martyrs who suffered in Palestine under this persecution, pre- sents us with some instances wherein those who suffered, discovered the ardour of their love to the Bible, by having committed the whole or con- siderable portions of it to memory. He particu- larly mentions Vaierns, a deacon of Alia, and Joun, an Egyptian. The former was an aged man, but ‘one above all others conversant in the Divine writings; so that when occasion offered, he could from memory repeat passages in any part of Scripture, as exactly as if he had un- folded the book and.read them.” The latter, “had been formerly béreaved of sight,---and was, together with the rest of the confessors, not only (27) Millar’s Hist. of Prapaeaiien of Christianity, ‘Works, vol. 7. p. 235 i Sat @) Bede Hist. Eccles. lib, 1. cap. 7. C5 34 ‘maimed in one foot, but he even had the heated iron thrust into his eyes, already blind. The transcendent perfection of his memory was such, that he had whole books of the Sacred Scriptures written, ‘not on tables of stone,’ as the divine apostle says, or on the skins of animals, or on pa- per, apt to be consumed by moths, and by time; but indeed ‘on the fleshly tables of his heart,’ so that whensoever he willed, he brought forth, as froma repository of science, and repeated, either the law of Moses, or the prophets, or the his- torical, evangelical, and apostolical parts of Scripture.”’ (29) The Tenaciousness of memory, exhibited by these ancient worthies, is almost without a paral- lel, in ancient or modern times, except ‘in that prodigy of memory, the late Rev. Tuomas Turet- KELD of Rochdale, in Lancashire. He wasa per- fect living concordance to the English Scriptures. _ If three words only were mentioned, except per- - : haps those words of mere connection which occur in hundreds of passages, he could immediately, J (29) Eusebius Of the Martyrs in Palestine, trans by Dalrymple, pp. 61, 87. 3 35 without hesitation, assign the chapter and verse where they were to be found. And, inversely, upon mentioning the chapter and verse, he could repeat the words. This power of retention en- abled him with ease to make himself master of many languages. Nine, or ten, it is certainly known that he read; not merely without diffi- culty, but with profound and critical skill. It is affirmed by a friend who lived near him, and was in the habits of intimacy with him, that he was familiarly acquainted with every language, in which he hada Bible, or New Testament. After his decease I had opportunity of examining his library, and noticed Bibles, or New Testaments in English, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French, Ita- lian, Spanish, German, Welch, Dutch, Swedish, Gaelic, and Manks, beside Grammars &c. in other languages, In the Greek Testament, his powers of immediate reference and quotation, were simi- lar to those he possessed in the English transla- tion ; since he could in a moment produce every place in which the same word occurred, in any of ; its forms, or affinities. In the Hebrew, with its several dialects, he was equally, that is, most pro- _foundly skilled ; and it is believed, that his talent of immediate reference was as great here, as iu the Greek, or even in the English. (30) The persecution under Dioclesian, and his suc- cessors continued for about ten years. The length and severity of it overpowered the constancy of some of the professors of Christianity, who to avoid the sufferings endured by others delivered up their Brass, and the utensils of the church, to the fury of the Heathen magistrates and soldiery. This base and cowardly conduct, met with merit- ed indignation from the more faithful Christians, who denominated them Traditores, or traitors, — as wil and anathematized them as guilty of profane and sacrilegious acts. The first council of Aq! held ‘immediately after this persecution, dee “that 4 —_ every clergyman, who had betrayed the Scrir~ d TURES, or any of the holy vessels, or the names of his brethren to the persecutors, should be de+ i ape from his office: (31) and St. Austin went so far : as to affirm, that if the charge of this crime could be made good against be this irae of Pod so (30) See ‘A Sermon preached at Rochdale, April 133; 5, 4 oe: on occasion of thedeath of the Rey. Thomas Threlkeld, ¢ -y Thomas Barnes, D, D. (31) Bingham’s ’ Antiquities of the Obri stian Church. ol. 7. B. 16. c. 6, p. 351. See bs . ; aes 37 Carthage, and those who ordained him, by the Donatists who threw out the reflection upon them, they should be anathematized even after death. ConsTANTINE, usually styled the Great, haying been declared First Augustus, or Chief Emperor, and Licinius, his associate, by the Roman Senate in A.D. 313; they published an edict in their joint names in favour of the Christians. In 324, Constantine defeated Licinius, and became sole Emperor. From that time he professsed himself a convert to the Religion of Jesus, and more than ever laboured, not only to defend the Christians, but also to spread Christianity itself. (32) The ‘methods he adopted, savoured more, however, of » the savage barbarity of a Pagan warrior, than of the mild and persuasive disposition of a true Chris- tian. Elmacin, or El-Makin relates, that as it was supposed many of the Jews, had professed to be Christians, while they ‘continued Jews in their hearts, Swine’s flesh was boiled, and cut into . mouthfuls, and a portion: placed at the doors of sry church. All, that entered were, obliged to ats piece pf, the flesh. Those that were Jews - (69 Dace Life of Constantine. Cambridge, 168s, Te is oe: uae 38 in their hearts refused: thus they were detected and immediately put to death. (33) A much wiser method, and one more congenial with the religion he professed, was adopted by him, when he placed — Bibles in the churches for the use of the people. Eusebius informs us that he himself was ordered by the Emperor, to provide Firry Breues at the public expense, for different churches. , The fol- lowing is a copy of Constantine’s letter to Eusebius: “Victor Constantinus Maximus Av- Gustus, to Evusesrus.” “Tn that City which bears Our Name,’ (Constantinople,) “by the assistance of God our “¢Saviour’s Providence, a vast multitade of men “have joined themselves to the most hely church. — “¢ Whereas therefore all things do there receivea “very great increase, it seems highly requisite, “that there should be more churches erected in that — “City. Wherefore do you most willingly receive — “that which I have determined to do. Forjit, “seemed ito signify to your prudence, that . ot (83) Bibliog. Dict. vol, 3. p. 167, _ Hottingeri Eccles, Hist. 4 39 ‘Scriptures, (the provision and use whereof ““you know to be chiefly necessary for the in- “struction of the church,) to be written on well- “prepared parchment, by artificial transcribers of “books, most skilful in the art of accurate and “fair writing ; which (copies) must be very legi- “ble and easily portable in order to their being “used. Moreover, letters are dispatched away “from Our Clemency to the Rationalist of the “ Diccesis, (*) that he should take care for the “ providing of all things necessary, in order to the _ “finishing of the said copies. This therefore shall “he the work of your diligence to see that the writ- “ten copies be forthwith provided. You are also . empowered, by the authority of this our letter, “to have the use of two public carriages, in order “to their conveyance. For by this means, those ‘ which are transcribed fair, may most commodi- “ously be conveyed even to our sight; to wit, one “of the Deacons of your church being employed _) _(*) Diocests, or Dic@cEsis, was originaily a civil ent composed of divers provinces dthe Ka- tholikon or RATIONALIST, one of the civil governors, or offic Hence the ecclesiastical term Diocese, for thé | jeri iction ofa Bishop, and Diocesan Sindear toa saree es elation to his Clergy. vad “in the performance hereof. Who when he 40 “comes to us, shall be made sensible of our “bounty. Gop preserve you, Dear Brother! ” This munificent order was immediately at- tended to, and completed, and in the words of Eusebius, “sent him in volumes magnificently adorned.” (34) The diffusion of Divine Truth, by the spread and translation of the Sacred Scriptures, was not however confined within the limits of the Roman Empire ; nations far remote from each other, had obtained translations of the whole, or parts of them, into their respective languages. Chrysos- : tem, the eloquent Patriarch of Constantinople, | who flourished towards the close of the roan century, informs us, that even at that early period, _ “the Syrians, Egyptians, Indians, Persians, Ethio-— pians, and many other nations, having translated — the Gospel into their own tongues, had learned though barbarians, the true philosophy. 7" C3) Ulphilas, Bishop of the Goths, about A. * 370, (34) Eusebius’s Life of Constantine, B. 4. chap. (35) Chrysostom, Hom. 2. in Johan. Perey Marsh’s Michaelis. vol, 2. part 1, p. 96. part 2, i B11. ¢ ‘ “wig Al not only introduced several new letters into the Gothic language, but with unwearied industry translated a very considerable part of the Old and New Testament into the Goruic toneur. Phi- lostorgius asserts, that Ulphilas omitted the book of Kings, from an apprehension that the martial spirit of his nation might be roused by the relation of the Jewish wars; but this circumstance has been controverted by several learned men, who consider Philostorgius unworthy of credit. Of this important version, the principal re- _ mains are contained in the famous Copex ARGEN- - ie revs, @ manuscript preserved in the library of the university of Upsal. It is written on vellum, and aa received the name of arcren revs from its stL- VER LETTERS, but the initials are conprn. The deep i impression of the Sfokes makes it probable that the letters were either imprinted with a warm iron, or cut with a graver and afterwards colour- ed. (36) This deep impression has been of use in discovering the letters, where the colour is faded. This part of the Gothic version has been several times printed. 42 | | The great confusion which began to prevail — in the copies of the Iraxa, or old Latin version, induced Pope Damasus to employ Jerome in cor- recting it. Jerome finished this useful work about the year 384. This revised and corrected version has since obtained the name of ruz VULGATE, and — been declared authentic, by the popish council of ~ Trent inthe sixteenth century. Every other ver- sion was, by the same council, forbidden to be read in the church, and no one permitted to de- liver from the pulpit any exposition not found in ~ this version. (37) Itis a ae translation, © and continues to be the only publicly authorized version of the Roman Catholic church. Most of the first European translations were made from it. Miesrob, or Moesrob, minister of state, and secretary to Warasdates, and Arsaces IV, Kings . of Arment, who lived at the end of the fourth — and in the beginning of the fifth century, was the inventor of the Armenian letters; and from the ; unanimous testimony of the Armenian writers, the church of that country, is indebted to him for q =—— eee | (37) Ibid. vol. 2. p.°198. . Sacrosancta Concilia, Tom. 4. BP: TAT. Bait, Pe Labbei, 1671. sc a 43 a translation of the Scriptures, which La Croze calls “The Queen of Versions.” This bible has ever since remained in use amongst the Armenian people, and many illustrious instances of genuine and enlightened piety occur in their history. (38) In the seventeenth century, manuscript copies of . the Bible were become so scarce in Armenia, that a single one cost 1200 livres, or £50. (39) Such being the scarcity of copies of the Sacred Scrip- tures, a council”of Armenian bishops assembled in 1662, and resolved to call in the art of Printing, of which they had heard in Europe. For this. ‘purpose they applied first to France, but the ca- ~ tholic church having refused their request, an edi- - tion of the Bible was printed at Amsterdam in 1666, and afterwards two other editions in. 1668, and 1698; but at present the Armenian scriptures are very rare in that country; and in India, a copy is scarcely to be purchased at any price. (40) During the three preceding centuries, the sa- cred writings had been defended, and illustrated (38) Marsh’s Mithaelis, vol 2. p. 99 Buchanan’s Christian Researches, p. 244. (39) Simon, Hist. Critique du V. T. Liv. 2. c. 16. _ (40) Buchanan’s Christian Researches, p. 245. on a by the learned and critical labours of individuals of sincere piety, and multifarious learning. Ori GEN, Pamputtus, and Evusrsius. of Casarra were particularly distinguished for their biblical labours, and unwearied endeavours to promote an acquaintance with sacred literature. Oricen, was born at Alexandria in Egypt, A. D. 185. Leonidas his father, early taught him to exercise himself in searching the scriptures, en- joining it upon him as a daily task, to learn some portion of them by heart and repeat it. This laid the foundatien of an intimate acquaintance - with the holy writings, and probably of that d i> gent study of them, for which he.was nffonse so famed. a be >> aa When he was seventeen years ol is athe he: suffered martyrdom; leaving behind, gree % and six children. In his son Origen, ‘Leonidas | found a steady encourager in the faith. Gladly would the son have suffered with his father? and when to prevent him, his mother hid his clothes, he wrote a most persuasive letter exhorting him, * Father, take heed; let not your care mt you change your resolution.” 45 In his eighteenth year, he was chosen master of the catechetical, or grammar school, at Alexan- dria. This situation he afterwards relinquished, that hemight apply himself entirely to Theological studies. His library, containing the works of the the heathen philosophers, and poets &c. he sold _to a buyer who engaged to give him 4 Oboli (about six-pence) a day: and on this he subsisted for several years, sleeping on the floor, walking bare- foot, and going almost naked ; devoting not only the'day, but also the greater part of the night te the study of the holy scriptures. He was a most voluminous writer; but the rks which have immortalized his name, are his -APLA, or Collation of the Septuagint versi Father " Montfaucon supposes must mee y have made pian ‘aad his oe Inthe Collation of the Septuagint, he laboured and having acquired a perfect knowledge of the Hebrew tongue, and "purchased from the Jews the original, (perhaps — the Autograph of Ezra,) or most authentic opies 46 correct copy of the Septuagint, or Greek version, he transcribed them, and placed them in parallel columns. In the first column was the Hebrew text in Hebrew characters; in the second, the same text in Greek characters. In other columns, he placed the Septuagint and other Greek transla- ‘tions, particularly those of Aquila, (see p. 22) and . of Symmachus and Theodotion two Ebionite christians. The differences between the Hebrew copies and the Septuagint, were noted by various marks. The name Hexapra, or Sextuple was derived from the six principal Greek versions em- ployed in the collation. Some fraginpiate excepted, this work has been long irrecoy ly. lost. tt could be gathered from the works: of ancients was collected and published A. D. 17 by Montfaucon, in two volumes folio, (41). 0 tate An ancient manuscript of the book of Genesis, : written in Greek capitals, was brought from Phi- lippi by two Greek bishops, who presented it to King Henry VIII, telling him at the same time, — » (41) anak s Lire of the Church. B. 6. chap. 2,3, 16, 19, 23. . C. 1. Waltoni Proleg. 9, Clarke's Lee of Sacred Literature, Bs rae 4 Hody, De Bib, Text. Orig. Lib. 4.1 cap. 6 : AT that tradition reported it to have been Origen’s own book. Queen Elizabeth gave it to Sir John Fortescue her preceptor in Greek, who placed it in the Cottonian library, now in the British museum. Archbishop Usher considered it as the oldest ma- nuscript in the world; and although it is impossi- ble to ascertain whether this book belonged to Ori- gen, or not, it is certainly the oldest manuscript in England, and probably in Europe, unless it be sup- posed with Matthai, that the copy of the Gospels preserved at Moscow is more ancient, which is at me ag doubtful. It was almost destroyed ‘by a fire which happened in that library in the “year 1731. (42) i. manuscript contained 165 folios, and 250 most curious paintings, 21 fragments of which were engraven by the society of Antiquaries | of London. f Oricen finding that his Hexarra was too | expensive and unwieldy for general use, composed - _ what is called the Terrapia, or Quadruple, con- — taining only the Septuagint, and the versions of “Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion. . wee ) Astie’s Origin and Progress of Writing. chap. 5, p70: : le ‘He lived A. D. 294. In him were: Feustod? the e. fron the glare. of temporal grandeur, and spent his life in acts of the most disinterested benevo~ 4 48 4 He died a natural death in the 69th. year of his age, at Tyre, in 254; after having suffered much for the testimony of Christ. “A man,” says Mosheim, “of vast and uncommon abilities, and “the greatest luminary of the Christian world that “this age exhibited to view. Had the justness “of his judgment been equal to the immensity of “his genius, the fervour of his piety,-his indefa- “‘tigable patience, his extensive erudition, and his “other eminent and superior talents, all encomi- ‘Sums must have fallen short of his merit. Yet, “such as he was, his virtues and labours « deserve “the admiration of all ages; and his name wil “be transmitted with honour through, the aac “of time, as long as learning and geniu “be esteemed among men.” (43) PAMPHILUS, wasa Presbytinis oC Philosopher and the Christian. Of an eminent family. and large fortune, he might. have aspired to. ‘the highest honours, but he withdrew himsel volence. He was remarkable for Dig entciane d (48) Mosheim’s Eccles. Hist, vel l.p. ‘ 49 regard to the Sacred writings, and for his unwea- ried application in whatever he undertook. A great encourager of learning and piety, he not only dent hooks, especially copies of the Scrip- tures, to read, but when he found persons well disposed, made them presents of his manuscripts, some of which were transcribed with the areatest accuracy by his ownhand. ‘He erected a library at Cesarea, which according to Isidore of-Sevélle, contained 30,000 volumes. This collection seems to have been made merely for the good of the Church, and to lend out to religiously disposed people. St. Jerome particularly mentions. his "collecting books for the purpose of lending them to be read,” and ‘this is, if I mistake not,” says Ans ‘A. Clarke, “‘the first notice we have. of a. — Circuratine Lrsrary.” (44) hae Of this library some traces remain even to the Jesuits’ college at Paris, there is a beautiful i a Ciarke’s Succession of Sacred Literature, vol: 1. p. a Eccles, Basil. 1516, eB present day. Montfaucon assures us, that in the | manuscript of the prophets, in which there occurs — a note, signifying; that it was transcribed from, \ Hieronymi Opera. Tom... fol, 132. Caistcgs ca ns 50 the very copy made by Pamphilus, in which were written these words: ‘Transcribed from the a Hexapla, containing the translations; and cor-— “rected by Origen’s own Tetrapla, which also “had emendations and scholia in his own hand “writing. I Eusebius added the scholia; Pam- “‘philus and Eusebius corrected.” (45) The same learned writer mentions also a very ancient manuscript of some of St. Paul’s Epistles preserved in the French King’s library, which contains the following note: ‘ This book was compared with “the copy in the library. at Ceesarea, i in the hand writing of St. Pamphilus.” (46) The death of this eminent, holy, and useful man, did not discredit his life. For when a per= secution was raised against the Christians, and | Urbanus the Roman president of Czsarea, an unfeeling and brutal man, required him to re- nournce his religion or his life; Pamphilus, the gentle Pamphilus, made the lgtter choice, and cheerfully submitted to imprisonment, to torture, } and todeath. The reflections of a pveeed wi » (45). Montfancon, Prof. in Hex. Orig. p. 4. cited.by Christie, in Miscellanies: p, 25. (46) Montfaucon Bib. Coisin. Pp. 262, ut ape 51 on the death of Pamphilus, are so appropriate and impressive, that there can need no apology for inserting them. 4 “When I peruse the account which Eusebius “ sives of the cruelties, which this gentle and ami- “able spirit was forced to endure, and which he, “and eleven others, who were put to death with “him, suffered with the most noble bravery, and “undaunted fortitude, I am struck with admira- “tion at the greatness of that power, which could “raise men so much above themselves, and enable “them so wemnictely to overcome all the weak- “ness of humanity. * At all times there have been “men ignorant, ferocious, and ‘brutal, who have “set death at defiance, and despised pain; but it _ “was reserved for Christianity to exhibit a new “kind of sufferers,---men who joined cool reason “to heroic resolution, and tender sensibility to “inflexible fortitude. The tiger and the bear will “always retain their own manners; but where is _ “he, who shall give the feelings of the lion to the _ “CAN NOBLY SUFFER, WHO CAN TENDERLY FEEL, « Farewell then, excellent Pamphilus reluctant “we leave thee, bright Srar of Human EXcEr- D2 _ “modest deer, or the gentle lamb !---Tury onty ay comes down to the defeat of Licinus. In his q 52 ; . “‘nence! obscure in the register of men! illus-— ie ~ “trious in the CALENDAR of Heaven!” (47) - i Evsersivs, Bishop of Caesarea, the friend of Pamphilus, was probably born in Czesarea, about A. D.270. Through affection to his friend, he assumed his name, and was ever after termed . - .Evsegivs Pampnitus. Origen excepted, he was_ the most learned of all the writers of antiquity. § He is justly styled the Father of Ecclesiastical History. His most celebrated works are, his oe cLESIASTICAL History, EvanernicaL Prepa- RATION, and EvANGELICAL DEMONSTRATION. His History begins at the birth of our Lord, and Evangelical Preparation, he refutes the error Paganism, demonstrates the excellence of the Hi brew Scriptures, and shews that the most eminent and learned nations, the Greeks especially, tr ne } scribed from them whatever dignity. or truth _to be met with in their Philosophy. Rip Broncos lical. Demonstration, designed to prove that _Jzsus was the Mrss1au, is an invaluable works Dr. Harwood observes, “It is a treasure of (47). Miscellanies : P “supposed to be written by Ch 53 “knowledge, and good sense; and contains all the “arguments in favour of the credibility, and di- “vine authority of the Christian religion, that “have been advanced by Chandler, Leland, Ben~ . “son, Butler, Brown, and other modern advocates “of christianity against the Deists.’”’ (48) He was made Bishop of Antioch A. D. 313, . was present at the council of Nicein 325, and at the council of Antioch in 331. He was high in the favour of the Emperor Constantine, and is supposed to have died about A. D. 338, or 340. _ The indefatigable exertions of these and many other learned and pious Christians, to spread the Sacred Scriptures, amongst the most distant and Darbarous nations, in the first ages of Christianity were crowned with singular success, so that Theo- doret, a Syrian Bishop, who lived in the beginning of the fifth century, thus speaks (ad Grec. Infid. Serm. 5:) “The christians are enabled to shew the power of apostolié and prophetic doctrines, which - have filled all countries under heaven. For that (48) Clarke’s Bibliog. Dict. yol.3. p. 209. and succes- - a ce L, vol. 1. p. 965. d against Christianity, &c. p. 92. D3 ea, s Method of the Principal Authors who. rot, ; bt which was formerly uttered in the Hebrew, isnot — only translated into the language of the Grecians, — but also of the Romans, the Indians, Poroioiigel Armenians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Egyptians, — and ina word into all the languages that are used. by any nation’? (49) And even if we grant that some allowance ought to be made for the decla- matory style of an oriental writer, the fact remains beyond dispute, that the Sacred Writings had spread amazingly, and had been translated into many languages. But whilst the Scriptures of Truth, by these various translations, were becoming accessible to multitudes, who must otherwise have been debar- red from reading them, superstition in different — forms was insinuating itself into the Christian — church. ‘Being mingled among the, Heathen,” r) the Christians “learned their works.” Ps. 106. v. 35. Brstromancy, or Divination bythe Bible, d had become so common in the fifth century, that — several councils were obliged expressly to forbid it g as injurious to religion, and savouring of idolatry. 4 ae (49) Theodoret, quoted in Johnson's “Historical of the several English travsiations of the Bible Bishop Watson's Collection of Tracts, ye!. 3. p. GO. 5D This kind of Divination was named Sorres Sanctorum, or Sorres Sacrzx, Lots of | the Saints, or Sacred Lots ; and consisted in suddenly opening, or dipping into the Bible, and regarding the passage that first presented itself to the eye, as predicting the future Lot of the inquirer. The Sortes Sanctorum had succeeded the Sortes Ho- merice, and Sortes Virgiliane of the Pagans, among whom it was customary to take the work of some famous Poet, as Homer, or Virgil, and write out different verses on separate scrolls, and afterwards draw one of them; or else opening the book suddenly, consider the first verse that presented itself, as a prognostication of future events. Even the vagrant fortune-tellers,: like some of the Gipsies of our own times, adopted _ this method of imposing upon the credulity of the tf ignorant. The nations of the east retain the prac- tice to the present day. The late Persian Usur- per, Nadir Shah, twice decided upon besieging cities, by opening upon verses of the celebrated _ a ’ poet Hafiz. (50) This ae which was introduced into the church 5 oT = - (50) Sir W. Jones, Traite str la Poesie Orientale. wor. Ato. vol. 5. a A63 % D4 ee gan Be . 56 about the third century, by the superstition of the people, afterwards gained ground by the igno- rance of someofthe clergy who permitted prayers to be read in the churches for this very purpose. (51) It was therefore found necessany, to ordain in the council of Vannes, held A. D. 465; ‘That whoever of the clergy or laity should be detected in the practice of this art, should be cast out of the communion of the Church.”’ (52) In 506 the — council of Agde renewed the decree; and in 578 the council of Auxerre, amongst other kinds of divination, forbade the Lots te te as they » were-called, adding, “ Let x e dorfe in the name of the Lord.’2 at these ordinances did not effectually eter fost.we find them again noticed and condemned i ina Capitu- ; lary, or edict of Charlemagne im793.. Indeed, all endeavours to banish them fro ‘the: Christian” chureh, appear to have been ney a many | (51) Heingwles Nee Abridgment, of Hist. ol France. A. D. 506 (52) S.S. Concilia, Concil. Venet. Anne Chris sic) Tom. 4. p. 1057. Bingham’s. aaa vuities of the Christian Church. vol! B..16. C. 5. p. 278. ni Gataker, Of he Nature and Use of Lots. p, se i, (98) 8. S. Concilia. Tom. 7. p. 989. eis 57 ages, since in the twelfth century we find them adopted as a means of discovering heretical opi- nions! One Peter of Thoulouse being accused of Heresy, and having denied it upon oath, a person who stood near, took up tile Gospels on which he had sworn, and opening them suddenly, the first words he lighted upon were those of the Devil to our Saviour, MARK ch. i. y. 24,. “What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth ?”--. Which, says the relator, agreed well with such a Heretic, “‘who indeed hath nothing to do with | Christ < (54) Francis of Assise, who founded the order of Franciscans i in 1206, says of himself, that he was ~ tomptclt to. have a book: but as this seemed con- ry to his. vow, which allowed him nothing but cts, a cord, and hose, and, in case of necessity only, shoes ; he after prayer resorted to the Gos- pel, and meeting with that sentence, “It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom > of heaven, but to them it is not given;” (marr. ch. xiii. v. 11.) concluded that he should do well D5. z., wit out books, and suffered none of his” (54) ar Of the Nature and Use of Lots. ps Ea aN of 58 : : followers to have so much as a Bible, or Breviary, or Psalter!! (55) Another species of Bibliomancy, not very dissimilar from the Sortes Sanctorum of the Chris- tians, was the Batu-Kor, or- Daughter of the Voice, in use amongst the Jews. It consisted in appealing to the first words heard from any one, especially when reading the scriptures, and look- ing upon them as a Voice from Heaven directing them in the matter inquired about. The follow- ing is aninstance; Rabbi Acher having committed many crimes, was led into thirteen synagogues, © and in each synagogue a disciple was interrogated, and the verse he read. was. examined. In the “first school they read these words of 1sAram ch. Et ‘alviii. v. 22. There is no peace unto the wicked: + ‘another school read Ps. 1. v. 16. Unto the wicked God saith, what hast thou to do to declare... my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my cove= nant in thy mouth; and in all the synagogues ; something of this nature was heard against Acher, i from whence it was concluded he was heted of — ‘si Gop! (56) This species of divination (55) Ibid. p. 346. ; (56) Basnage’s dara of the bat) B, A C. 5. Ps 16 fol 59 its name from being supposed to succeed to the Oracular Voice, delivered from the Mercy-seat, when Gop was there consulted by Urim and Taummim, or Lightand Perfection, exon. ch. XXviii. v. 30. a term most probably used to express the clearness and perfection of the answers which Gop gave to the High-priest. The Jews have a saying amongst them, that the Holy Spirit spake to the Israelites, during the tabernacle, by Urim and Thummim; under the first temple by the prophets ; and under the second temple by Batu- Kou. (57) Nearly allied to the practice of Bibliomancy, | was the use of the Amulets or ‘Charms, termed | Perrarraand Puyxiacterta. They were formed - of Ribbands, with sentences of scripture written - upon them, and hung about the neck as magical preventatives of evil. They were worn by many of the Christians in the earlier ages, but considered by the wisest and most holy of the bishops and. clergy, as disgraceful to religion, and deserving the severest reprehension. Chrysostom f ela! eS Tewik's fahequiaes of the Heb. ina 8B Re 3, 14, pp. 112, 114, 198, vo. 1. 8v0, Rg) 60 mentions them, and always with the utmost detes- tation. The council of Laodicea, A. D. 364. — can. 36. condemns those of the clergy, who pre- tend to make them, declaring that such Phylacte- ries or Charms, are bonds and fetters to the soul; and ordering those who wore them to be cast out, of the church. And Augustine thus expostulates — with those who used them: *¢ When we are afflict- “ed with pains in our head, let us not run to én- “chanters, and fortune-tellers, and remedies of “vanity. I mourn for you, my brethren, for I “daily find these things done. And what ‘shall “Ido? I cannot yet persuade Christians to put “their trust only in Christ. With what face can “ 2 0 Du Cange Glossarium, sub. voc. “Aurigrafus,” To (65) D’ Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 5 ', See also Pocockii Specimen Hist. Arab, p. Asm * men Tograi, p, 234. F (66) Harmer’s Observations, by Clarke, ah 8. Pp 65 manuscripts in the British museum, is a noble ex- emplar of the four gospels, in capital letters of gold ‘written inthe eighth century. Every page of the Sacred Text, consisting of two separate columns, is enclosed within a broad and beautifully illumi- nated border. ‘The pictures of the Evangelists, with their symbolic animals, are curiously painted in the front of their respective Gospels; the initial letter of each gospel is richly illuminated, and so large as to fill an entire page. To the whole are prefixed the prologues, arguments, and breviaries; two letters of Jerome to Damasus; the canons of Eusebius ; his letters to Carpian ; and a capitular of the Gospels for the course of the year; all of them written in small golden characters. (67) Inthe same rich: collection, as wellas in the other princi- pal libraries i in Europe, are many other beautifully executed and illuminated manuscripts of the Gos- pels, Psalms, and other parts of the Sacred Writ: ings, forming altogether an invaluable treasure. The Illuminators of books probably borrowed their title from the ¢//umination which a bright ge- “nius ese to his werk. Writers i i tay ey z, Se “vol. 2. p. 66 of books first finished their part, and the illumi-" naters then embellished them. . Gerhardus Tychsen has formed a rule, from the ornamented manuscripts of Christians, by which to distinguish those written by Jews, from those written by Christians. He observes that all manuscripts of the Masorah, or Jewish criticisms, with figures of dragons, sphinxes, bears, hogs, or any other of the unclean animals; all manuscripts of the Old Testament, with the Vulgate transla- tion, or corrected to it, or to the Septuagint version; all manuscripts, not written with black ink, or in which there are words written in golden letters, or where the words, or the margin, are il- luminated; and all manuscripts, where the word ; > Apvonar is written instead of the word Jenovan, — * were written by Christians, and not by Jews. (68) The substitution of Aponar for Jzenovan, — in the Hebrew manuscripts, has arisen out of t —_ superstitious reverence of the Jews for the Te- TRAGRAMMATON, or word of four letters, as itis , frequently termed, from being formed of the four consonants J. H. V. H. The name Jen vAH t (68) Butler's Hore Biblice, p. 44. vol. 1 67 imports necessary, or self, existence, and is expres- sive of the incommunicable nature of the Divine Being: on this very account it is forbidden to be read by the Jews, who instead of it read Aponat, or Lord, a term denoting authority or dominion. The Septuagint also have employed the word Ky- rios, of similar impert with Adonai, probably from the superstitious opinion of the Jews; and the writers of the New Testament, who wrote in Greek, have so far conformed to the usage of their countrymen, that they have never introduced this name into their writings. The generality of Christian translators have in this imitated their practice. Our own, in particular, have only in four places of the Old Testament used the name Jeuovan. In all other places, which are almost innumerable, they render it rue Lorp. But, for distinction’s sake, when this word corresponds to JENovAn, it is printed in capitals. (69) Still we cannot but regret that any other word has been Substituted, since many passages are thereby ob- scured to the common reader, which would other- wise have clearly identified the Person of the (6) Campbell’ s Translation of the Four Gospels, Prelim, ~ Dissert. 7, vol. 1. p. 256, ; 68 Redeemer with the IncommunicaBLE Name, and — shewn more clearly the Gopueap of the ever- adorable Saviour. ; Origen, Jerome, and Eusebius mention that in their day the Jews wrote the name JEnovan, in their copies of the scriptures, in the ancient Sama- ritan characters, and not in the Chaldee or com- mon Hebrew letters, in order to conceal it more fully from other nations. (70) It was also in the ancient Hebrew or Samaritan letters that the ineflable name was embossed on the gold Plate of — the High-priest’s Mitre. The modern Jews either use the word Adonai, or express the name by cir- cumlocution, as The name of Four Letters, The Ineffable Name, &c ; or else make use of symbols, — as two Yods, (or J’s;) or three Yods in a circle, © and sometimes three Radii or Points. (71), They assure us that after the Babylonish captivity, it was ‘ never pronounced but by the High-priest, and by him only once a year, on the great day of expiati- on, and thea so as not to be heard by the people; ‘ and that after the destruction of Jerusalem it was (10) Calmet. Dict. de la Bible, “Jemovan.” Paris 1721 (71) Maurice’s Indian Antiquities, vol. 1p. 127, a vol, 4. p. 581. cae 1 ee 69 never pronounced, so that the true pronunciation of it is now lost, and cannot be recovered till their restoration to the holy city, when it will be taught them by the King Mzss1taAu. They do not even scruple to affirm, that he who should know how rightly to pronounce the word, would be able to work the most stupendous miracles; that it was by pronouncing this name that Moses slew the Egyptian ; and by its being written upon his Rod that he was enabled to perform his wonders before Pharaoh. And some of them, in the heat of oppo- sition to Christianity, have ventured to declare that Jusus stole this name out of the temple; secreted “it; and by it wrought his miracles. (72) So great i is the blindness which hath happened unto Israel! The chief part of the doctrines and opinions of the Jews is to be found in those voluminous _ compilations, Tue Tatmups. There are two Talmuds, The Jerusalem Talmud, and_ the — (72) Maimonidis More Nevochim, P. |. C. 61, 62. p. 106. Basil 1629, 4to. -Kennicott’s Dissert. on 1 Chron. ch. 11, &c. p. 321. ‘Buxtorfi Lex. Talmud. p. 2432. - Wagenseilii Tela Ignea in Lib ToLpos Jescuy, p, 6. _ Altdorf. 1681, Ato, 70. Babylonish Talmud. The Jerusatem Tatmup, compiled principally for the Jews of Palestine, was composed about A. D. 230. The principal er BanyLonisH Tatmup, was begun by Rabbi Asse, and completed by his successors about A. D. 500. The Talmuds are divided into two parts, the Mishna, and the Gemara. The Misuwa is the Oral Law, which the Jews say Gop delivered to Moses on Sinai, as explanatory of the Written Law. These unwritten traditionary explanations were delivered, say they, by Moses to Joshua, by Joshua to the Elders, and so on to the year of Christ 150, or according to others 190; when Rabbi Judah Hakkadosh, or the Holy, collected all the traditions, and committed them to writing, that they might not be lost. These are the Tra- ditions which our Saviour condemned as destrac-_ tive of the law of Gop; mARk ch. vii. v. 7-13. English reader who is desirous to see a specimen of the vain and frivolous distinctions attributed to the Father of Lights, by the Tal may indulge his curiosity by perusi tion of two of the Misnic Titles, viz. On # bath ; and Sabbatical Mixtures, published by Wotton in his “Miscellaneous Discourses, 71 to the Traditions and Usages of the Scribes and Pharisees &c. vol. 2. The Gremara, or Comple- . tion as it is called, contains the commentaries and additions of succeeding Rabbins. “‘ The Mishna,” says a Jewish writer, “is the text, and the Ge- mara the comment; and both together, is what we call the Talmud;” a word signifying doctrine, or teaching. (73) Surenhusius, published the Mishna with a Latin translation, in 6 vols. folio, at Amsterdam, in 1698. . Amongst the uncanonical books frequently appended to the Bible, and called the Apocrypua, ‘or Private Writings, from not having been read in the Churches during the first ages, are some not “much superior to the fables of the Talmudists, such ‘Gre the stories of Bel and the Dragon; Susan- nah and the Elders; &c. Others of them wear 4 re the appearance of authenticity, as the books | of | ‘the Maccabees, especially the first of them. One of the earliest notices of the Apaeiees! A ee : ta ‘Ss Leyi’s Rites and Ceremonies of the Jews. p. 301. __ Leusdeni Philologus Hebrzeo—Mixtus, Disvert, 12, 13514, 15. . | Buxtorf Lex. Talmud. p. 1146. 72 4 Writings being read in the churches, is about the end of the fourth century, in Jerome’s preface to the books written by Solomon. He observes, “that as Judith, Tobit, and the books of Maccay bees, were read in some churches, though not re- ceived as canonical, so the books of Wisdom a Ecclesiasticus might be read for the edification the people; but not as authority in the doctrim of the Church (74) This judgment of Jere has been adopted by the Church of England in her sixth article of religion. The popish council of Trent, according to its general practice, decreed in 1546, ‘that several of the Apocryphal book should by the Romish Church be received Canonical. To return,---Such is the esstidion 3 in which the Tatmvn is held by the Jews, that the Rabbi i nical writers frequently prefer it/to the Scrip tures! They compare “the Beet. to iy ater, the Mishna to wine, and the Talmud or Gemara to aromatic spices.” The Oral Law,” say they “is the foundation of the Written Law;” ar (74) Biagtaets Antiq. of tis Chistian te C. 3: vol. 6 p. 433, | "3 exhort their disciples to “attend rather to the words of the Scribes, than to the words of the Law!” Very differently were the Talmudical collec- tions estimated by several Popés, who, too suspi- ious of their baneful tendency, and too violent in their measures, instituted processes by which immense numbers of Jewish writings were de- stroyed. In 1230, Gregory IX. condemned the Talmudical volumes, and ordered them to be burned. In 1244, Innocent IV. adopted the Same measures. At a later period, when by the invention of printing, copies of the Talmud had been greatly multiplied, Julius III. by a new edict, ordered inquiry to bé made after them; and ali the copies that could be met with in all the cities of Italy, to be seized and burned, whilst the Jews were celebrating the Feast of the Taber- /nacles, in September A. D. 1553: and according to the calculation of the Romish inquisition, 12,000 volumes of the Talmud were committed to the flames, by order of his successor, Paul IV. (75) The JervusALem Tatmup, was printed at (7) Leusdeni Philolog, Heb. Mixt, Dissert. 15. p. 105. : E TA Venice, by Dan. Bomberg, about the year 1523, in one vol. folio; and afterwards, with marginal notes, at Cracow in 1609. ; The BasyionisH Taxumup has been printed several times; the principal editions are those of Bomberg, in 12 vols. fol. printed at Venice, in 1520; and of Bebenisti, in 4to. printed at Am- apo in 1644. Beside the Misuna, the Jews pretend to have received from the Divine Author of their Law, another and more mystical interpretation of it. This mystical exposition they term Cappata, a word signifying Tradition, or Reception, and de- signed to intimate that this mystical comment was received from Gov by Moses, who transmitted it orally to posterity. The Mishna, say they, ex- plains the manner in which the rites and ceremo- nies of the law are to be performed; but the Cabbala teaches the mysteries couched under those rites and ceremonies, and hidden in the words and letters of the Scriptures. They give as an instance the precepts relating to Phy lacie ries. The Méshna teaches the materials of whic they are to be prepared, the form in which the: are to be made, and the manner in which the 75 are to be worn; but the Caubbala shews the mys- tical reasons of these directions, and informs them why the slips of parchment are to be inclosed in a black calf skin, in preference to any other colour ; why the Phylacteries for the head are to be separated into four divisions; why the leiters written upon them are to be of sucha particular form, &c. &c. ‘They divide this mystical science into thirteen different species, and by various transpositions, abbreviations, permutations, com- binations, and separations of words, and from the figures and numerical powers of letters, imagine the law sufficient to instruct the Cabbalistic Adept in every art and science. (76) Happy would it have been for the Christian Church, had the Cab- balistic Doctors of the Jews been the only inter- preters of Scripture who had substituted their own fancies for the Word of Gon! It is the excellent remark of one of the best Jewish writers, and deserves the attention of eve- Ty expositor of the Sacred Writings: ‘That in (76) Menasseh Ben Israe!, Conciliator, Quest. in Exod. 50. Waltoni Proleg. a Dathe, Proleg. 8. p. 319,---331. _ Basnage’s History of the Jews, B. 3. ch. 10,26. fol. EK 2 76 - explaining the Scriptures, and especially the Pa- rables, the general scope@md intention of the writer is to be regarded, and not oneny word and syllable of the Parable; else the Expositor will lose his time in evita iei to explain what is inexplicable, or make the author say many things he never intended.” (77) __ The principal interpretations and commen- taries of the Cabbalists, are contained in th book Zonar, said to have been written by Rabbi Simeon Ben Jochai, who died about the year of Christ 120, but is probably of a much later date. An edition of it was printed at Mantua A. D. 1558, in 4to.; and another at Cremona, in 1559, in folio. (78) Dispersed by the destruction of Jerusalem, and the heavy calamities that followed, the Jews, at an early period of the Christian zra, had been” scattered through various countries, and associ=, ated with nations of languages widely different from their own. Obliged, in their civil and coms mercial intercourse, to adopt the speech of the (71) Maimonides More Nevochim, in Prefat. (78) Buxtorf De Abbreviaturis Hebraicis, p. ex i; Rab, p. 55, 47 people among whom they dwelt, the Hebrew so | far ceased to be their vernacular tongue, that the _Hellenist, and other Jews, preferred the use of the Greek, and other versions, even in their Syna- —gogue Service. But in the reign of the Emperor Justinian A. D. 552, there arose disputes upon the subject. Some contended that the Law ought to be read in a language understood by the peo- | ple, many of whom were but imperfectly ac- | oe | with the Brstican Hesgew. Others insisted that the language in whichthe Law was originally written was sacred, and maintained that the Holy Scriptures ought not to be read in any other. The decision was referred to the Emperor, who ordered that the Scriprurezs should be read. in the language of the country, whether Hebrew, or Greek, or Latin, or any other. In the use of Greek Versions, he recommended the Septuagint, though he did not forbid the use of others. He also prohibited the use of the Misuwa, or Second Edition, as it was called, because it did not belong to the body of the Scripture, nor had been de- Tivered by the Prophets, but was merely the inven- tion of men, who had nothing divine in them, and who spake only of the earth. And lest the. aii E 3 78 AncuipuerAcites, or men of authority amongst the Jews, should frustrate the design of,his edict, he denounced corporal penalties, against those Priests or Rabbins who should, by Anathemas, and other censures, endeavour to prevent the peo- ple from reading the Scriptures (79) This dispute respecting the language in which the Law should be read in the Synagogues, origi- nated in the debates between the Christians and Jews. The Christians pressed the Jews with ar- | guments in favour of Christianity drawn from the Prophecies respecting the Mxssian; and the Rab- bins dreading the result of such arguments, for- bade the Scriptures to be read in any other lan- guage than the Hebrew. So true is it, that truth courts investigation and inquiry, and rejoices in thelight; whilst error fears examination, and seeks for refuge in darkness! (80) The Edict of Jus- tinian however was but transient in its influence # the Jews obstinately adhered to the practice of (79) eee ee Juris Civilis. Novel. 146, Tom. 2 p- 580. (80) Haein $ ee of the Jews, B. 3. ch. 6. p. 170. fol, Basnage, Histoire de l’ Eglise. Liy. 9. C, 3. Tom, 1. p. 464. fol a 79 reading the Scriptures in Hebrew, in their Syna- gogues; a practice which still continues to be universally adopted. (81) A few years afterwards, the Christian Church witnessed the rare example of a Roman Pontiff se- dulously endeavouring to promote an acquaintance with the Sacred Scriptures. Grecory I. sur- named the Great, had been called to the Papal Chair, A. D. 590, in defiance of his wishes, and most determined opposition. A man of rank, of education, and of talents, he had in early life distinguished himself in the senate, and been raised by the Emperor to be Prefect, or Governor of Rome; but finding courts, and the anxieties of Magistracy, unfavourable to religion, had aban- doned his worldly honours for retirement, and religious pursuits. The unanimous suifrages of the Papal electors, the voice of the people, and the decision of the civil power, at length forced : : : F - f him from his solitude, and obliged him to assume the Triple Mitre. On his elevation he adopted the title of Servant of the Servants of Jesus Christ; and distinguished himself by the earnestness with (81) Lightfoot’s Works, vol. 2. p. 798. fol. E 4 80 which he urged the reading of, the Scriptures. These he compared to a river; in some places so shallow, that a Lamb might easily pass through them ; in others so deep, that an Elephant might be drowned in them. “The Scrirrures,” said he “are infinitely elevated above all other in- “structions. They instruct us in the truth: they ‘call us to heaven: they change the heart of him “who reads them, by producing desires more “noble and excellent in their nature than what “were formerly experienced ;---formerly they srovelled in the dust, they are now directed to “Eternity. The sweetness and condescension “of the Holy Scriptures comfort the weak and “imperfect ; their obscurity exercises the strong. ‘¢ Not so superficial as to induce contempt, not so “mysterious as to deserve neglect ;---the use of “them redoubles our attachment to them; whilst, “assisted by the simplicity of their expressions, ‘Cand the depth of their mysteries, the more we “study them, the more we love them. They — “seem to expand and rise in proportion as those ? ‘C who read them rise and iicrease i in knowledge. ‘Understood by the most illiterate, they are al- “ways new to the most learned.” To eulogiu s 81 on the Sacred Writings, Gregory united the most animated persuasions. Writing to a Physician, he represents the Worn of Gop, as an Epistle addressed by the Creator to his creatures ; and as no one would disregard such an honour from his Prince, wherever he might be, or whatever might be his engagements, but would be eager to exa- mine its contents; so ought we never to neglect the Epistles sent to us by the Lord of angels and men, but on the contrary read them with ardour and attention. ‘‘Study, meditate,” said he, “‘the “words of your Creator, that from them you may ‘learn what is in the heart of Gop towards you, “and that your soul may be inflamed with the “most ardent desires after celestial and eternal “sood.”’ ‘This great man not only used per- suasions, but he adduced examples, and particu- larly referred to the conduct of a poor paralytic _ unable himself to read, purchased a Bible, and by entertaining religious persons whom he engaged to read to him, and at other times persuading his _ mother to perform the same office, had learned the _ Scriptures by heart ; and who, even when he ‘came c die, discovered his love to them, by: obliging 5 attendants to sing Pope with him. man who lived at Rome, called Servutus, who, _ 82 Gregory’s decided opposition to persecution, | was scarcely less remarkable than his love to the Scriptures. It was a maxim with him, that men should be won over to the Christian religion by gentleness, kindness, and diligent instruction, and not by menaces and terror. ‘‘Conversions ow- ing to force,” says he in one of his letters, “are never sincere; and such as are thus converted, scarcely ever fail to return to their vomit, when the force is removed that wrought their conversion.” Happy had it been for mankind, if the successors — of Gregory, had possessed the same attachment to. the Scriptures, and adopted the same views of — persecution! (82) It was this Gregory who, zealous for the con-— Xersion of the inhabitants of Britain, sent over the | momik Augustin or Austin, with forty compani- ‘ ons, on a mission to the Anglo-Saxons. (83) : Christianity indeed had been planted in Britain, at a very early period; either by the ae (82) See the different Works of Gregory, cited in Fae] nage, Hist. de |’ Eglise, Liv. 9. ch. 3. vol. 1. p. 465; in Bingham’s Antiquities of the Christian Church, B. 13. ch. 4A. pein a La 111; and Bower's History of the on , yol. 2 27 83 _ themselves as many have supposed ; or, according to those ancient British records, the Triads, by Bran or Brennvs, the father of Caradoc or Ca- ractacus, the famous British General ; who being taken prisoner with his son, and carried to Rome A. D. 51 or 52, embraced Christianity, and on his return became anxious to evangelize the country of the Sélures, or Britons who inhabited South Wales. (84) But such had been the cruelty and persecutions of the Saxons and others; united to the influence of Pagan conquests, that prior to the mission of Austin and his companions, Heathenism had again overspread the land, except in. Wales, Cornwall, and Cumberland, where the Britons still retained some footing. Austin and the other missionaries were fa- | vourably received by Ethelbert, King of Kent, who had married Birtha, a Christian princess of) _ great virtue and merit; an audience was granted. them in the open air; and afterwards, permission © _ given them to use their best endeavours to convert: (84) Henry’s Hist. of G. Britain, B. 1. C.2, Sect. 2, p. 183. vol |. 8vo. Edition. Theologica! Repository, No. 9. vol. 2.. New Series. Burder’s Missionary Anecdotes, p. 90, ~~ E 6 a the people from the worship of idols, and turn — them to the true and living Gop. Theattempt was to a certain extent successful, but was dis- graced by the directions received from the Roman Pontiff, to accommodate the ceremonies of the Christian worship, to the usages of the idolaters. Heathen temples, where they could he,obtained, — were to be preferred to Churches specially erected for Christian worship, that the new con- verts might not be startled by too greata c and because the Heathens had been patie ar | to sacrifice oxen to the Devil, and feast upon the sacrifices, Christians were to be allowed, « on cer- tain festivals, to erect booths or tabernacles near the churches, when oxen were to be killed, and the people to feast together to the honour of Gop. (85) Nay, so far was this principle of accom- — modation carried, that Venerable Bede, one of { our oldest Ecclesiastical Historians, who was born A. D. 672, assures us, that there was in the same — "hs temple, one altar for the sacrifices of idolatry, and i anotherfor the services of Christianity ; (86) and Procopius, who lived about the middle of the a * . eee Ww (85) Bed. Hist. Rech, ‘Lib. 1, Ge +h 5 aa (86) Ibid, Lib, Re CG 15, : ; 85 sixth century, affirms that, even Human Sacri- FicEs continued to be offered by those Franks who had embraced the Christian Religion!! (87) Gregory, who had been desirous to establish : this mission long before his advancement to the pontificate, neglected nothing which he supposed would contribute to its success ; that the mission- aries therefore might perform the public duties of religion with decency and propriety, he sent over a namber of vestments, sacred utensils, and relics, accompanied by a valuable present of Books; a present peculiarly wanted, from the impossibility of procuring Books in Britain; it being doubtful whether the Pagan conquerors had not utterly destroyed every thing of the sort, and by the time of the arrival of Austin, not left one book in the whole island. (88) And it is surely no impro- bable conjecture that a pontiff of Gregory’s well- known sentiments and zeal, would take care that a part, atleast, of the many volumes (codices plu. Timos,) which he sent, should consist of Corres oF THE SacrED ScripruREs. (87) Procopius De Bello Gothico, B. 2. quote in Bor- lase’s Antiquities of Cornwall, B. 2. C. 23. p. 154, _ (88) Bed. Hist. Eccles. Lib. 1. C, 29. P Heury’s Hist. of G, Britain, B. 2. C. 4. p. 20: Nol. 4A. . Ee a A ° 86 ' But, notwithstanding the zeal of Gregory and his attachment to the Sacred Writings, it does not appear that the Sixth Century was distinguished by any translations of the Scriptures into the vernacular tongues, except one into the Gronrer- AN3 some unimportant Latin ones, designed to accompany copies in other languages, and placed in parallel columns with them, as the Greek and Latin, and Gothic and Latin versions ; (89) anda new one into the Syr1ac, of the Psalms of David, and New Testament, completed in 508, under the patronage of Philoxenus, Bishop of Hierapolis; and from him termed the Pu1noxentan VeERsION- A singular occurrence is related by Gregory of Tours, as having taken place towards the close of this century. Childebert, King of Austrasia, in one of his victories over the Goths, having ob- tained possession of the treasures of the church E as.a part of the spoils, found among them several most valuable Chalices, and other Sacer ‘Uten- : sils, all of gold, and enriched with precious « (89) Marsh’s Michaelis, ch. 7. Sect. 31. p. 132. & ch, ae Sect. 32. p. 136. vol. 2. 4d Marsh's Hist. of the Translations of the Sect. 2. p. 32. 87 stones; but what formed a still more valuable , ‘part of the spoils, were Twenty Cortes or THE Gosrets, richly ornamented, like the Sacred Ves- sels, with gold and jewels. The celebrated copy ‘of the Gothic translation of the Gospels, called the Copex ArcentTeEvs, (90) has, with some pro- bability, been supposed to be one of them. There is also another noted fragment of the Gothic Ver- sion of Ulphilas, called the Copex Caro.xinus, in the library of Wolfenbuttel. It is accompanied with an old Latin Version of the Sixth century, ina parallel column. (91) This last singular fragment is a demonstrative proof of that Scarcity of Materials for writing upon, which prevailed during the middle ages, and of that barbarous ignorance which overspread Europe for several centuries. It is written on vellum, and is what is termed by Biblical critics, a Codex rescriptus, i. e. a manuscript which has been defficed, and another work written upon it, on the same parchment or vellum. The work written upon this manuscript is the ‘“Origines” (90) See p. 41 of this work. and Marsh’s Michaelis, ch. 7. Sect. 35. p. 146. Part 1. vol 2. ed Marsh’s Michaelis, ch. 7. Sect. 32. p. 136, Bert vol 2. 88 of Isidore of Spain, and appears to have been executed in the eighth or ninth century. A valuable manuscript also of this kind, dis- tinguished by the name Copex Epuremi, is pre- served in the Royal Library, in Paris. The first part of it contains several Greek works of - Ephrem the Syrian, written over some more an- cient writings, which had been erased. These more ancient writings are the whole Greex Br- BLE. The erasure of the New Testament has rendered it in many places illegible, and occa- sioned many chasms in the reading. Wetstein supposes the original manuscript of the Old and — New Testament, to have been written before A.D. - 542. (92) Dr. Barrett, of Trinity College, Dublin, pub- lished in 1801, an edition of part of Sr. Mar- THEW’s GospeL, in Greek, from a manuscript off this class, in the library of that College. The ; fragment thus preserved from perishing, by the : critical sagacity and labours of the learned editor, (92) Ibid. ch. 8. Sect ap.’ . 258, pert. vol, 2. & ps 732. part 2. vol. 2. 89 is small, ‘but is a valuable acquisition to Biblical - criticism. é i These literary depredations were occasioned, as has been already intimated, by that extraor- dinary scarcity and dearness of materials for writing upon, which existed during several ages, in most parts of Europe. Great estates were often transferred from one owner to another, by a mere verbal agreement, and the delivery of earth and stone before witnesses, without any written deed. (93) Parchment, in particular, on which all their books. were written, was so scarce, that. about the year 1120, one Master Hugh, being ap- pointed by the Convent of St. Edmondsbury, in Suffolk, to write and illuminate a grand copy of the Brene, for their library, could procure no parchment for this purpose in England! And in the Great Revenue-roll of John Gerveys, Bishop of Winchester, A. D. 1226, there is an item of Five Suintiines, expended for parchment in one year. (94) This for such a commodity was a con- siderable sum, at a period when wheat was only = (93) Henry’s Hist. of G. Britain, B. 2. ch. 4. p, 81. vol. 4, ic ne Warton’s Hist. of English Poetry. Dissert, On Learn- aist ing, &ce. vol. 1. si a 90 from two to three shillings a quarter oreight bush-— ~ els, and when within a few years. afterwards, in 1283, we find the following short entry in the annals of the priory of Dunstable: ‘This year, in. “the month of July, we sold our slave William «¢ Pyke, and received one mark,” (thirteen shil- _lings and four-pence) “from the buyer.” (95) But as there are always persons to be found with whom gain is godliness, some of the Ligra- Rit, or transcribers of books, scrupled not to ef- face even the Sacred Scriptures, and write more modern or more popular works, upon the parch- , ment which had been devoted to the Book of Gop. And so early had these erasures commenced, that the Council of Trullo, held in 692, found it ne- cessary to notice and condemn them. (96) By this practice, many works of value have most — probably been destroyed; for men who had the — temerity to obliterate the Sacred Records, for “filthy lucre,” would certainly not be prevented by any minor considerations, from ee other — writings, of infinitely less ines a oY a + @5) Henry’s Hist. of G. B. B.3. ch. 6. p. 805. B. 4. ch. 6. p. 340. vol. 8. a | (96) Wetsienii Proleg. cap. 1. p. 8. * eres 91 Ignorance, induced by the savage conquests of the Goths ! d Vandals, and other barbarous nations of the North, had now commenced its gloomy sway. Princes and prelates, clergy and laity, all felt its baneful influence. The eighth council of Toledo, in Spain, held about the year 653, found it necessary to forbid the ordination of any who were not, at least, acquainted with the psalms and hymns used in the services of the Church, aud with the ritual of baptism; and also to enjoin, that those who had already been or- dained, but were through ignorance incapable of the duties of their office, should either without any other injunction, learn to read, or be compelled to it by their superiors. (97) Withred, King of Kent, in a charter granted to the abbess Nabba, A. D. 693 or 695, acknowledges that, being illite- rate, he had marked it with the ségn of the Holy Cross. This is said to be the first charter that was ever granted in writing. (98) Archbishops and bishops were frequently too illiterate to write (97) S. S. Concil. Conc. Tolet. VIII. p. 406. Tom. 6. - _ (98) Whitaker's Hist. of Manchester, B. 2. ch. 7. p. 239. notes, vol. 2. Ato. *s Hist. of English Councils, and Convecations, p. 46. 92 their own names, and only made their marks to the acts of Councils. Hence th signing, for subscribing to a deed, is tak: om persons, who could not write, usually making the sign of the cross in place of their name, in confirmation of any legal deed; and strongly proves the univer- sality of the practice formerly. Towards the close of this century, the number of books was so inconsiderable, even in the papal library at Rome, that Pope Martin requested Sanctamond, bishop of Maestricht, if possible to supply this defect from the remotest parts of Ger- . many. (99) But nothing more completely proves the scarcity of books at this period, than the bar- gain which Benedict Biscop, a monk, and founder of the monastery of Weremouth, concluded a lit- tle before his death, 'A. D. 690 with Aldfrid, King of Northumberland, by which the King agreed to give an estate of eight hides of land, or as much as eight ploughs could labour, which is said to have been 800 acres, for one volume af cosmo= 4 graphy, or, original history of the world 00), (99) Warton’s Hist. of English Poetry, Di ert (100) Henry’s Hist. of G. Britain, B. 2. ch. 4, Russeli’s Hist. of Modern Hane rig Part p- 102. vol. 1. s 93 ms" The book was given, and the estate received by Benedict’s successor, Abbot Ceolfrid. The learning that remained, was chiefly con- fined to monasteries and other religious retire- ments. Proofs of the industry of some of the monks in the Seventh century, are still remaining. A fine manuscript is preserved in the church of Lichfield, called Texrus Scr Ceppa#, or St. Chad’s Gospels. This manuscript was many years ago presented to the church of Llandaff, by Gelhi, who gave for the purchase of it, one of his best horses; it was deposited in the Cathedral church of Lichfield, about the year 1020, which being dedicated to St. Chad, the fifth bishop of that see. The book has thence been called by his name. In the margin of it are several annotations in Latinand Saxon, and some in the ancient British or Welch, which last Mr- Edward Lhuyd supposes to be of about 900 years standing. (101) During this century also, the immense empire of Curna was favoured with the Sacred Writings, and a translation of them into the vernacular | tongue. From a curious monument discovered | — Go. Astle’s Origin and Progress of Writing, ch. 5. p. 100. 94 by the Jesuits at Si-ghan-fu, in the province of Xen-Si, in 1625, we learn that u e reign of the Emperor Tuat--cum, a Christian missionary named Oxoren visited the imperial-residence at — Cham-ghan, or Si-ghan-fu. Having heard of his arrival, the emperor sent his prime minister and other noblemen of his court to meet him, and after discoursing with him on the object of his mission, to conduct him into the imperial pre- sence. The result was important; Fam-hiven- lim, the prime minister, one of the most learn- ed men in the empire, was ordered ‘to translate Tue Scriprurts, which had been brought by Olopen, into the Chinese language; and the doc- trines of the Gospel were commanded to be di- vulged and preached, (102) Succeeding emperors, alas! pursued a different conduct; the Bonzes or pagan priests raised violent persecutions ; the } Holy Scriptures were ultimately destroyed or lost, — (102), D’ Herbvelot’s Bibliotheque oe p. 165. fol. 1780. Beausobre. Hist. de Manicheisme, Liv. Tom. I. 4to, Mosheim’s Eccles. Hist. p. 152. vol. 2. Fabricii Lux Evangelii &c. cap, 39. } and for many ages that vast empire, containing . 7 J j 31 * 95 333 millions of inhabitants, has remained without a complete copy of the Brerr, and almost with- “out the smallest portion of the Sacred Scriptures. A short time ago an imperial mandate was issued, forbidding the Christian Scriptures to be read, under the penalty of death. Early in the succeeding century, some parts of the Bible were translated in this Island, into “Saxon. Anuetm, or Arpuerm, the first bishop of Sherborn in Dorsetshire, a dignity conferred upon him for his uncommon merits, translated the Psaxrer into the Saxon tongue, about the year 706; and in his book De Virginitate praises the nuns to whom he wrote, for their imdustry and attention in dail y reading and studying the "Holy Scriptures. (103) This excellent bishop was not only one of the “most learned men of the age in which he lived, but also one of the first poets. King Alfred the © Great declared that he was the best poet of all “the Boeons, and that one of his pieces was ohnson’s Historical Account of the several Eng. fs of the Bible; in Bishop Watson’s rink tae 23 pelgiects. p. él. vol. 3, 96 universally sung in his time, near 200 years after its author’s death. He was also the first of our English nation who wrote in Latin, and attempted Latin verse. THis fine poetic genius he employed” for the most pious and benevolent purposes, Before his advancement to tle bishopric, when he was abbot of Malmsbury in Wiltshire, observ- ing the backwardness of his barbarous country- men to grave instructions, he composeda number of little poems ingeniously interspersed with allu- sions to passages of Scripture; and having an ex- cellent voice and great skill in music, frequently sung them himself, in the sweetest manner, to the populace in the streets, with a design of alluring the ignorant and idle, by so specious a mode of instruction, to a sense of duty, and a knowledge of religious subjects. (104) | Nor was this great and good man selotcdl with only personally promoting the knowledge of the Bible, he strove to persuade others to engage actively in the same blessed work. The copy a letter is still‘extant, which he wrote to Egh rt, (104) Henry’s Hist. of G. B. B, 2. ch. 4, P Warton’s Hist. of Eng, Poetry, Diss 97 or Eadfrid, bishop of Landisfarn, or Holy Island, in the North of England, exhorting him to trans- late the Scriptures into the vulgar tongue, for the common benefit and use of the people. ‘This advice appears to have been adopted, since Arch- bishop Usher, tells us in his Historia Dogmatica, that a Saxon Translation of the Evangelists done by Egbert, without distinction of chapters, was, in his day, in the possession of Mr. Robert Bowyer: and in the Cottonian Library, in the British Mu- Seum, is a manuscript of the Four EvaNnce ists, in Latin, most exquisitely written by Egbert himself, with a Saxon interlineary version, added by Aldred, a priest. It is a fine specimen of Sax- on caligraphy and decorations. Ethelwold, his successor, did the illuminations, the capital letters, the picture of the cross, and the evange- lists, with the utmost labour and elegance: and Bilfrid the Anchoret, covered the book thus writ- ten and adorned, with gold and silver plates, and precious stones. (105) ' Bena, or Beve the celebrated Ecclesiastical te Ss 5) Jobnson’s Historical Account &c. udi sup. : ’ arton’s Hist. of Eng. Poetry. Dissert. 2, vol. 1. , erii Hist. Dogmat. p. 103. ; F 98 Historian, and the great ornament of his age and country, flourished during this century. Born at Weremouth, in the then kingdom of Northumber- land, A. D. 672, and educated in the monastery of St. Peter in that place, he spent a long life in the diligent pursuit and communication of useful knowledge, and in the practice of every virtue. He died in his cell at Jarrow, in a most devout and pious manner, May 26th. A. D. 735. One of the last acts of his life was the translation of the Gosrrt or St. Jonny into Saxon, the vulgar language at that time of this kingdom. Having been confined for some weeks by sickness, during which he had been employed in the translation, and death now seizing upon him, one of his de- yout scholars who had acted as his amanuensis, or secretary, said to him, “My beloved mastony there remains yet one sentence unwritten,” | “Write it then quickly,” “replied Bede; and a moning all his spirits together, he indited it,---an expired. Dr. Henry observes of him; ‘‘He was 4 amongst mankind, the memory of Beda must be “revered.” (106) Axcutnus, or Atcur1n, was another learned native of this island, and a cotemporary pupil with Aldhelm. Invited from England to France to superintend the studies of Charlemagne, he instructed him in logic, rhetoric, and astronomy. He was likewise employed by that monarch to re- gulate the lectures and discipline of the universi- ties which that prudent and magnificent potentate had newly constituted. To a knowledge of the Greek and Latin, he is said to have joihed an ac- quaintance with the Hebrew; and, in the latter part of his life, was engaged by his great patron Charlemagne, in a revision of the Latin transla- tion of the Bible. He and Pavius Draconus _ were also employed by the same monarch in com»: { liar discourses, which were ordered to be ¢om= : Wee | mitted to memory, and recited by the priests to | the people. After he had spent many years, in (106) Henry’s Hist. of G. B..B. 2. ch. 4. p. 30. vol. 4. ee Actsand Monuments &c.-p, 141, vol. 1. fol. SRG A 5 Anecdotes, p. 235. vol, I. “et F 2 piling a number of Homixtzs, or plain and fami-’- 100 the most intimate familiarity, with the greatest prince of his age, he retired to the abbey of St. Martin’s, at Tours in France, where he onied his days, A. D. 804. (107) In Trinity College, Cambridge, there is an Hesrew Psarter, with an interlineary version — in the old Norman Frencu of great antiquity ; but whether by Alcuin or not, is uncertain. (108) Ernarp, or Ecinuarp, the famous author of the Life of Charlemagne, is also said to have abridged the Psatms, by extracting such verses as contain- ed petitions; and then to have translated his abridgment into Frencu. (109) The ezghth century is also remarkable for the first AnAnic translation of the Scriptures of which we have any certain date. The conquests of the Saracens or Moors, had rendered the Arabic common in Spain; and Jonny, Archbishop of Seville, desirous that the people should read an understand the Holy Scriptures, bpp py a (107) Hody, De Bib. Text. Orig. P. 2. Lib. 3. p. 409,” Henry’s Hist. of G. B. B. 2, ch. 4. ps 33. vol. 4. Mosheim’s Eccles, Hist. p. 254, vol. 2. Bs (108) Warton’s Hist. of English Poetry, Disser' (109) Hody, udi sup. 101 translation of them into that tongue, which he completed about A. D. 717. (110) The late celebrated traveller, Mr. Parke, informs us in his journal, that he discovered the Mandingo Ne- groes “to be in possession (among other manu- “scripts)of an Arazic Verston of the Pentateuch “of Moses, which they call Tawretala Moosa.” “This,” says he, ‘‘is so highly esteemed, that it is “often sold for the value of a prime slave. They “haye likewise a Version of the Psalms of David, **¢ Zabora Dawidi, ) and lastly the Book of Isaiah, “which they call Lingeeli la Isa, and is in very” “high esteem.’ These manuscripts were purchased by the Negroes, principally from the trading Moors. There are also several other Arabic trans- lations extant, but the exact date of them cannot be ascertained. “Ifa conjecture is allowable,” says Dr. Herbert Marsh, ‘‘on a subject where “history leaves us in the dark, we may suppose’ “that most of the Arabic versions were made “during the period that elapsed between the | “conquests of the Saracens in the seventh century,’ (110) Basnage Hist. de ’ Eglise, Liv.9.ch.4.p.471.Tomly _ Brerewood’s Enquiries touching the Diversity of ; Tangtages, &c. p. 237. a ae ieee dtiatitae: F3 102 “and the crusades in the eleventh 5 especially “about the middle of this period, when the Sy- “riac and the Coptic, though they had ceased to “be living languages, were still understood by “‘men of education ; and Arabic literature, under “the patronage of Al Mamon, and his successors, - “had arrived at its highest pitch.” (111) CuAr.emaAene, theillustrious emperor of the West, and king of France, marked the close of — the eighth, and the commencement of the ninth century, by the military prowess, magnificence, and liberality of his reign. A monarch of a most vigorous and comprehensive mind, and the great patron of learning, and learned men; yet so neg- lected in his education, that he could not write, — and was forty-five years of age when he began to study the sciences under Alcuin. Superior tothe prejudices, and contempt of learning, shewn by the laity of all classes, he assembled the learned from. all parts of Europe; and “established schools in “the cathedrals and principal abbeys, for ‘teach- “ing writing, arithmetic, grammar, and church- “music; certainly no very elevated sciences, | 103 le at a time when many dignified ec- tlesiastics could not subscribe the canons of Sthose councils in which they sat as members ; Gand when it was deemed a sufficient qualifica- “tion fora priest, te be able to read the Gospels, “and understand the Lord’s Prayer. (112) ‘ Led on by a blind zeal for the propagation of ‘Christianity, the character of Charlemagne re- _ ceived an indelible stain, by frequently endea- “vouring to dragoon the Pagan nations, into a pro- fession of the Gospel. At other times, in a spirit ‘more congenial with religion, he laboured to pro- ‘mote amongst the clersy, an attention to learning, and the duties of their cffice; and to spread a “knowledge of the Scriptures and morality amongst the laity. With these views he encouraged the _ more learned among the clergy, to direct their pious labours towards the illustration of the S- d Writings; ordered Homies to be com- ; and confirmed the ancient practice ef “Feading and explaining to the people, in the pub- lic assemblies, certain portions of the Scriptures. » Errsrnes and Gospets still read in the g a > . ; 104 churches, are the same as those selected by order of Charlemagne. (113) In his Admonition to the Presbyters in 804, he charges the Priests to ac- quaint themselves with the Scriptures, to gain right views of the doctrine of the Trinity, to be ready to teach others, and to fulfil the duties of their office; to commit the whole of the Psalms to memory, and the Baptismal office. (114) Andin the council of Tours in which he presided, in 813, it was ordained that the bishops should take par- ticular care to translate the Homilies into Rustic Roman, or Teutonic, (German,) that the people might more easily understand the doctrines in which they were instructed. (115) His son and successor, Louis the DesonnaiRE, , (so called on account of the gentleness of his manners, ) wishful that. all persons should read the Scriptures, not only provided HarmoniEs oF THE ; Gosrrts, but gave it in charge toa Saxon to translate both the Orp and New Testament into GerMAN, which is said to have been done with ee (113) Mosheim’s Eccles, Hist. p. 253. vol, jo ! (114) S. S. Concilia, p. 1182. Tom. 7. bs ity (115) S. 8. Concilia, p. 1263. Tom. 7. “at we 105 elegance. (116) Calmet calls this in question, and thinks the evidence not decisive, but says that a Psaurer and the Book of Jos, translated by Norxar Laszzon, abbot of the abbey of St. Gall, in Switzerland, who lived in the reign of the emperor Arnoud, about the year 890, were formerly kept in the library of that town;---a library noted for the many valuable manuscript copies of the classic authors contained in it; and from whence Poggio, the Florentine, an eminent restorer of learning in the 15th. century, drew many valuable ancient authors from oblivion, and brought them into general notice, by causing them to be printed. A curious copy of Quinti- lian’s Institutes of the Orator, found by him at the bottom of a dark neglected tower in that monastery, is said to be in Lord Sunderland’s library, at Blenheim. (117) A translation of the Gosprns into GerMAN, or Dourcn, is also attributed to VaLpo, or Waxpo, oe of Freising, about A. D. 900, and is said (116) Usserii Hist. Dogmat. p. 112. be Stillingfleet’s Council of Trent examined and ne __.. proved; Works, p. 464. vol. 6. d snage Hist. de P Egiise, Liv. 9, ci. 3. p. 466. Tom. % (117) Calmet Dictionnaire de la Bible, “‘ Bibles ee eS et ‘2 ede Hist. of Eng. Poetry, "Dissert. 2. F 5 106 to have been in rhyme. (118). And the famous Orrrrip, Bishop of Weissenbourg, was not only the first who composed a book of Homilies in the Teutonic, or German language; but also one of the first who favoured the Germans with a trans- lation of the Gospens, in their mother tongue. His work, like that of Valdo, was in rhyme. (119) ALFRED, justly surnamed the Great, a prince not inferior in talent to Charlemagne, and infi- nitely his superior in piety, and suavity of man- ners, ascended the throne of England in the year 871. Born when his country was involved in the most profound. darkness, and deplorable confu- sion ; and when learning was considered rather as a. reproach than an honour to a prince, he was not taught to know one letter from another, till he was above twelve years of age, when a book was put into his hand by a kind of accident, more than by previous design, The queen, his mother, one day being in company with her four sons, of whom Alfred was the youngest, and hay- (118) Translators’ Preface to K. James’s Bible. a. Stillingfleet’s Council of Trent &c. ubi sup. + (119) Marsh’s Michaelis, ch. 7. sect. 34. p, 141, yol.2. Stillingfleet’s Council of Trent &c. p.464, Usserii Hist, Dogmat. p, 120, and ¥ Auctarium &c, p. 369, ‘ 107 ing a book of Saxon poems in her hand, beautifully written and illuminated, observed that the Royal Youths were charmed with the beauty of the book; upon which she said, “I will make a pre- sent of this book to him who shall learn to read it soonest.”” Alfred immediately took fire, and applied to learn to read with such ardour, that in a very little time he both read and repeated the poem to the queen, and received it for his reward. From that moment he was seized with an insati- able thirst for knowledge; and reading and study became his chief delight. But great difficulties were thrown in his way. For not only was his kingdom for many years the seat of war, during which he is said to have fought in person fifty- six battles, by sea and land; but at that time few or none among the West-Saxons had any learning, or could so much as read with propriety and ease. ‘At my accession to the throne,’ observes Al- fred in a letter to Wulfsig, bishop of Worcester, _ “all knowledge and learning was extinguished _ “in the English nation, insomuch that there were «very few to the south of the Humber, who un- bE “derstood the common prayers of the church, or 4 were capable of translating a single sentence of Be F 6 ~~ 108 “Tatin into English; but to the south of the “Thames. Lcannot recollect so much as one who “could do this.” (120) The prayers of the church were then read in Latin, and continued to be so until the period of the Reformation by Luther. The wise and pious Alfred, solicitous for the improvement of his subjects, gave every encou- ragement to learning, adding the powerful influ- ence of his own example. He carried a book containing the Psalms of David, and other prayers copied by himself, continually in his bosom, to which he applied whenever he had opportunity. He was accustomed daily to attend divine service, especially the Eucharist; making use also of prayers, and psalms, in private. He kept the es- tablished hours of prayer, being every third hour both night and day, and frequently entered the 4 churches secretly in the night for prayer; cm lamenting with sighs his want of more acquaint- careful solicitude, to hear the Scriptures " Ge ance with Divine Wisdom. He used also, with a 2 (120) Henry’s Hist. of G. B. B. 2. ch. 4. vol. be * : Russel’s Hist, of Modern Europe, partJ. Fk i 109 from the recitations of natives, or even (if by chance any arrived from abroad) to hear prayers equally from foreigners. (121) To bend the minds of his subjects to the love of letters, and the practice of virtue, he composed a variety of poems, fables, aud apt stories. For the same purpose he translated from the Greek, the Fables of Esop. He also gave Saxon trans- lations of Gregory on the Pastoral Office, of the histories of Orosius and Bede, and of ‘the conso- lation of philosophy by Boétius. The last liter- ary work in which he engaged, was a translation of the Psarms or Davip into AnceLo-Saxon, which however he did not live to finish, but which was afterwards completed by another hand. This last work appears to have been part of a princely design to have the whole of the Old and New Testaments translated into the Anglo-Saxon, or vulgar tongue, for the general benefit of his subjects. The old Chronicle of Ely, affirms this’ - tohave been done. Several fragments of the An- — Bible have been published at different #4 (121) Asser de Alfredi Rebus Gestis, p. 43. — in “¥ Whitaker’s Life of St. Neot. p. 161. A 110 times, by John Fox, the Martyrologist, William Lisle, John Spelman, and others. (122) This extraordinary prince, justly considered as one of the wisest and best that ever adorned the annals of any nation, died in the vigour of his age, and the full strength of his faculties, in October A. D. 900, after a life of 51 years, and a glorious reign of twenty-nine years anda half. To him Englishmen are indebted for the TRIAL BY JURY, for the foundation of their common Law, and for the division of the kingdom into Hundreds and Tythings; and the sentiment expressed by him in his Will, will never be forgotten. “Ir 1s Just,” says he, “THat THE ENGLISH sHOULD FOR EVER. REMAIN FREE AS THEIR ore THOUGHTS. (123) Ht re Directing our views to the other states of Eu- rope, we find, thatabout the year 840, two Greek ; monks, Meruopivus and Cyrix, natives of Thes- salonica, introduced Christianity amongst several - of the more Northern nations, wae regarded r - (122). Fox’s Acts and Monuments &c, vol, 1p 160, Bibliog. Dict. vol. 6. p. 230. Gray ’'s Key to the O!d Testament. p. 27. (123) Russel’s Hist. of Modern Europe, vol. pal0e, ‘ ap! as the authors of a translation of the Bible into the Stavonran, or Ancient Russtan. The oldest Russian version, however, whichis now extant, is one of the New Testament, written in the time of the Grand Duke Wladimir, in the tenth cen- tury. Of the whole Bible, the most ancient copy remaining, is one preserved till lately in the li- brary of the Holy Synod, at Moscow, written in the year 1499, in the time of the Grand Duke Iwan Wasiljewitsh. .Cyrin was also the inventor of the Slavonian, or Russian letters, which from him have been denominated Cyroulique. They were principally formed from the Greek capitals. (124) The oldest printed edition of the Russian Scriptures, is one of the PenraTerucn, in quarto. It was translated by Francis Scorino, a Doctor of Physic, and printed at Prague, in 1519. It _ is printed on good paper, in beautiful Cyroulique characters, and with few or no abbreviations. The second page of the title is ornamented, or. : rather disgraced, with a representation of angels combatting with infernal spirits; and above, the ° 24) Bacmeister Essai sur la Bibliotheque &c. deR . Academie des Sciences de St. Petersbourg, p. 5. — . Marsh’s. Michaelis, vol. 2. part.1..ch, 7, P1546 *) .* 112 Holy Trinity is represented under the form of-an old man with three faces, lifting up his hand to bless them ; whilst angels are offering him crowns. There is a preface to each book, and a sum- mary of contents to each chapter. The chapters are not divided into verses. ‘The whole is adorn- ed with cuts, capitals, and vignettes. Scorino also translated the Acts or Tue Aposties, which were printed at Wilna, in octavo. (125) Various other editions have been since printed. The Slavonian, or ancient Russian, is still the authorised version of the Russian church; but as this yersion is no longer intelligible to the common people, a translation of the Bible into the modern Russian, was made by Gliick, a Li- vonian clergyman, aud printed at Amsterdam, in 1698; and we are informed that about the year — ' 1723, the Czar also ordered the Bible to be q printed in the more modern Russian, and enjoin- ed that every person should learn to read the Scriptures of the. Old and New Testaments; and that none should be allowed to marry but those _ ‘ (125) Bacmeister Essai sur la Bibliotheque ¢ 113 who could read them. (126) Such, however, was the Jamentable ignorance of the people in 1806, 7 that it was supposed not one in a thousand could read ; and so extremely scarce were Bibles, that people generally knew it a hundred versts off; (nearly 70 miles,) when the treasure of a Bible was to be met with! (127) The Tenth century, was an age of the pro- foundest ignorance, and degrading superstition. All: the nations of Europe were enveloped in a cloud of thick darkness, never fully dissipated for several succeeding centuries. Some who filled the highest stations in the church could not so ‘much as read, while others who pretended to be better scholars, and attempted to perform the ‘public offices, committed the most egregious blun- ders. In Spain, books were become so scarce, ‘that at the beginning of this century, one and the “same copy of the Bisxre, St. Jerom’s Epistles, ‘and some volumes‘of Ecclesiastical Offices, and — “Martyrologies, often served several different (126) Marsh's Hist. of Trans’ations, p. 5. 3 _ Millar's Hist. es Propagation of Christianity ’ Works. vol. 8, p. 325. 7) Dealtry's Vindication of the British and Foreign ‘ates Society, p. 29. 2nd. Edit. 1I4 monasteries ; and inan inventory of the goods of John de Pontissara, Bishop of Winchester, con- tained in his capital palace of Wulvesey, all the books which appear are nothing more, than “parts of seventeen books on different sciences.” This was in the year 1294. The same prelate, in the year 1299, borrows of his cathedral convent of St. Swithin at Winchester, BrisLiAM BENE GLOS- sATAM, that is, THE Bratz, witH MArcinat ANNOTATIONS, in two large folio volumes; but gives a bond for due return of the loan, drawn up with great solemnity. A copy of the bond may be seen in the Dissertation on Learning, in the first volume of Warton’s History of English Poe- try. This Bible had been bequeathed by Pontise. sara’s predecessor, Bishop Nicholas de Ely: and in consideration of so important a bequest, 7 one hundred marks in money, the monks found- ed a daily mass for the soul of the donor. When a book was bought, the affair was of so mucl importance, that it was customary to assemb persons of consequence and character, and { make a formal record that they were prese and the disputed property of a book o: casioned the most violent altercatio $ 115 so common to lend money on the deposit of a oot, and in the universities there were public ests, for receiving the books so deposited. The Prices of books in the middle ages, were conse- quently excessive. In the year 1174, Walter, Prior of St. Swithin’s, at Winchester, afterwards elected abbot of Westminster, purchased of the monks of Dorchester in Oxfordshire, Bede’s Ho- Mires, and St. Austin’s Psanrer, for twelve measures of barley, and a pall on which was em- broidered in silver, the history of St. Birinus con- verting a Saxon King. (128) In 1274, "the price ofa Brsre with a commentary, fairly writ- , was thirty pounds! (129) A most enormous sum! For in 1272, the pay of a labouring man, was only three-half-pence per day ; (130) so that such a work would have cost him more than fifteen years labour ; and the expense have been greater than building two arches of London idge, which in 1240, cost twenty-five pounds. 7» And even, if we regard this Bible as (28) Warton’s Hist. of Eng. Poetry. Dissert. 2. vol. 1. © (129) Stowe’s Annals, p. ‘416. cited in Evang. Mag. a. for 1897, p. 121. nee Dugdale’s Warwickshire, quoted in Evang. 807. addox’s Hist. of the Exchequer, , a ‘ig E, M. 1807 ~ Saet | 116 ‘ expensive, on account of the beauty of its writing &c.; it is nevertheless certain, that common trans- criptions of books were excessively dear. In a_ valuation of books bequeathed to Merton College at Oxford, before the year 1300, a Psarrer with, glosses, or marginal annotations, is valued at fem shillings, a sum equivalent to at least 7.10s. Qd. at present: Sr. Austin on Genesis, and a Con- corDANTIA, or Harmony, are each valued at the same price. (132) Illiteracy and ignorance pre= vailed universally, and whole nations sank into, the most abject and deplorable superstition. ; Of the degraded state of religion in the tenth. century, and of the wretched superstition, that reigned in that, and some of the following ages, no stronger proof can be adduced than the insti- tution of the Feast of the Ass, celebrated i in seve- ral churclres of France, in commemoration of ad Virgin Mary’s flight into Egypt. x young girl richly dressed, with a child oe arms, w was placed upon an ass superbly | isoned. Th . ass was led to the Altar in solemn proce ic High Maas was said with great pomp. 117 was taught to kneel at proper places; a hymn, no less childish than impious, was sung in his praise; and when the ceremony was ended, the priest, instead of the usual words with which he dismiss- ed the people; brayed three times like an ass; and the people, instead of the usual response, brayed three times in return. (133) But in the midst of illiteracy and superstition, justice claims our acknowldgments to those in- stitutions, which, during them iddle ages preserved literature from utter extinction in Europe. Let our views be what they may of the general utility of monastic institutions, it is an acknowledged fact, that when literature was crushed every where else, it found a refuge in monasteries. In every great abbey there was an apartment called the Scrirrorium, where many writers were con- stantly busied in transcribing not only the service books for the choir, but also books for the library. Those who were thus employed, were chiefly boys, and novices. But the Missals, and Brzies, were ordered to be written by monks of mature oo In this country, the cae ssel’s Hist. of Modern Barapa vol. l. p. 169, u-Cange, ad voc. Festum. ~ ge —Ctz ial Saxon artists possessed eminent skill in the execution of their books, and the character they used, had the honour of giving rise to. the modern small beautiful Roman letter. In Spain also, Ca- ligraphy, or the art of beautiful writing, attained uncommon excellence. The Missals, and other books of divine Offices, or prayers, were curi- ously done, agreeably to an injunction, that no books should be brought into places of devotion which could not be easily read: (134) and “in some manuscripts, the letters throughout are so equal, that the whole has the appearance of print.” “¢ Frequently, after reflecting on this singular cir- “cumstance,” says a learned man, (135) « Ihave “been inclined to think, that the monks, who “cultivated the study of caligraphy with great “ eagerness, had the forms ofall the letters of the “alphabet, impressed into, or engraved out of “thin plates; that whole pages or columns of these plates were placed under the parchment “or zelom, on which it was intended to write is = (134) Fosbrooke’s British Mowe vol. am 178. Warton’s Hist. of Eng. Poetry. ubi sup. (185) Gerhard Tychsew in his Tentamen de variis Co Heb. V. T. MSS. quoted by: Baten, Biblice vol. I. p. 46. 119 “so that, by drawing a pencil over them, the were able to produce this surprising ity of letters; or, it may have been that the shapes, or forms, of the letters were first im- printed upon the parchment or vellum, and af- &terwards filled up.” The industrious men thus ‘continually occupied in making new copies of ‘old books, either for the use of the monastery, or their own emolument, were distinguished by the mame of ANTIQUARIT. - : Some of the monks also were engaged in illu- minating, and others in binding the manuscripts, ‘when written. Gold and Azure were the favour- 2 coloars of the IIluminators. In binding their ks, they adorned some with gold, silver, ivory, precious stones, or painted velvet; but the most mmon binding was a rough white sheep-skin, yon a wooden board; and sometimes the covers About the year 790, Charlemagne grat s of Sithia, for making their gloves and rdl x of the skins of the deer they killed, and Ca os for their books. h or without immense bosses of brass, pasted 2 of plain wood, carved in scroll and similar a unlimited, right of hunting to the abbot aie as 120 * q : A tolerably correct idea may ae of | the superb manner in which those works were bound, which were designed for the use of the principal churches, from the following extract 4 from an inventory of copies of the Gospets, be-— longing to the Cathedral church of Lincoln, taken in 1536. §, “ Imprimis. A text after Matthew, covered “ with a plate, silver and gilt, having an image of — “the Majesty,” (i.e. of the Saviour,) “‘with the ; “four Evangelists, and four agnels, about the said — “image, having at every corner an image of an “man with divers stones, great and small; begin- ” “ning in the second Less: anda transmigration ; “wanting divers stones, and little pieces of the “plate. Jtem. One other text after John, covered “ with a plate, silver and gilt, with an image of the “crucifix, Mary, and John, having twenty-two “stones of divers colours, wanting four.”’ (136) But neither the writing, nor the illuminating, ~ nor even the binding of books, was the work inferior monks only. Ervene, one of the teach .' (136) Dugdale’s Monast, Anglic, vol. 3. P- 21. fol. 1673. : a 121 of Wolstan, bishop of Worcester, was famous for caligraphy and skill in colours. To invite his pupils to read, he made use of a Psarrer, and Sacramentary, whose capital letters he had richly illuminated with gold. This was about the year 980. Herman, one of the Norman bishops of Sa- lisbury, about A.D. 1080, condescended to write, bind, and illuminate books.» The Gospel written by Eadfrid, and illuminated by Ethelwold, has been already noticed. (137) Dark however as were the tenth and eleventh centuries, a few individuals discovered the rare occurrence of attachment to learning and to learn- ‘ed men; amongst whom must be ranked ArueL- stan, King of England, and grandson of Alfred the Great. During his reign a law was passed, which enacted, “that if any man made such pro- “ ficiency in learning as to obtain priest’s orders, Kea he shonld enjoy all the honours of a Thane,” ‘ornobleman. It.has also been asserted that this prince employed certain Jews, who then resided L Englaud, to translate the OLp Testament out © of Hebrew into Anglo-Saxon. (138) This, arch- _ (137) Warton, ut sup. (138) Henry’s Hist. of G. B. vol. 4. p. Tl. Mey fe Bib. Text. Lib, 3. p. 415. G 122 bishop Usher places to the year 930. In the Cottonian library is a copy of the Four Gosprets, in Latin, which formerly belonged to Athelstan, and was by him appointed to be used by the succeeding Kings of England, at the time of their coronation oath; and is remarkable for having the genealogy of our blessed Saviour dis- tinct, or separated from St. Matthew’s Gospel; so that the Gospel begins at the 18th. verse of the first chapter. (139) Exrric, or E:rrip, another learned man of the same century, at first abbot of Malmsbury, but raised in 995, to the Archbishopric of Canterbury, translated several parts of the Otp Testament, and also of the Apocrypha, into Anglo-Saxon, particularly the Pentateuch, Joshua, part of the books of Kings, Esther, Judith, and Maccabees. He died in 1006. The Penrateven, Josuva, and Jupces, of this translation, were preserved in the Cottonian library, and published at Oxford in 1699, by Edmund Thwaites. (140) 2 The Eleventh century was rendered remarkable | (139) Selections foak Gent. Mag. vol.2.p. ~ (140) Gray’s Key to Old Testament, p. 27. 123 by the conduct of Hirpesrann, who was elected Pope, A. D. 1073. On his accession to the Pon- tificate; he assumed the name of Grecory VII., and has transmitted it to after ages branded with the character of fierce impetuosity, and boundless ambition. The famous sentences, relating to the supreme authority of the Roman Pontiffs over the universal church, and the kingdoms of the world, said to have been composed by him, and from him termed the Dicrates or H1LpEBRAND, sufficiently shew his restless spirit and character. The 12th. of these Dictates affirms, ‘ That it is lawful (for the Pope) to dethrone Sovereigns;” the 17th. “ That no book is to be deemed Canonical, with- out his authority ;”’ and the 27th. “ That he may absolve the subjects of heretical princes (iniquo- rum) from their oath of fidelity. (141) _ In 1080, the King of Bohemia expressed a wish to Gregory, to have the offices or prayers of the church, translated into the SLAvonrIAN, at that time the common language of the North of Europe; but the Pontiff forbade it, and haughtily replied ; ” ae) Usserii Gravissime Questionis &c. c. 5. p. 124, Lond. 1613. 4to. Mosheim’s Eccles, Hist. vol. 2. p. 491, G2 124 ‘¢ J will never consent for service to be performed “in the Slavonian tongue. It is the will of God ‘¢ that his Word should be hidden, lest it should be “ despised if read by every one; and if; in con- *¢ descension to the weakness of the people, the *¢ contrary has been permitted, it is a fault which “ ought to be corrected. The demand of your * subjects is imprudent. I shall oppose it with “ the authority of St. Peter; and you ought, for “the glory of God, to resist it with all your * power.”” (142) ‘Next to the declension of the Latin tongue, this refusal was the first step towards the disuse of the Sacred Scriptures in the vernacular languages, amongst the members of the church of Rome. Another occurrence which hastened that unhappy event, was the establishment of the inquisition, ; under Pope Innocent III. and the subsequent council of Thoulouse in 1229, which published the following canon: ‘¢We also forbid the laity to * possess any of the books of the Old or New ee Testament; except, that for purposes of devo- “ tion they are permitted to haye the Psalter, ( 42) Basnage, Hist. de? Bglise, Tom. 2 * 125 * Breviary, or Hours of the Blessed Virgin,” (i. e. in Latin). “ But we straightly forbid them “ having any of these books translated into the “ vulgar tongue.” (143) ; The council of Trent completed the nefarious business. In the 25th. session of that celebrated council, a decree passed on December 4th. 1563, by which the making of the Invex, or list of pro- hibited books, was ‘referred to the Pope; and in -the 4th. rule of that index, by Pius IV. dated March 24th. 1564, ‘ All persons are forbidden the use of the Scriptures in the Vulgar Tongue, without a particular licence; and whoever pre- sumes to possess or read them without such licence, sha]l not receive absolution until he has delivered them up to the Ordinary; and the bookseller who sells, or otherwise disposes of such translations, shall forfeit the value of the books, and be subject to such other punishment, as the Bishop shall judge suitable to the nature of the offence.” (144) _ The idolatrous worshippers of Brama in Hin- (143) S, 8. Concilia, Tom. 11. pars 1. p. 430. | | Stillingfleet’s Works, vol. 6. p. 466, (144) S. 8. Concilia, Tom. 14, p. 953. Stillingficet’s Works, vol. 6. p. 450. G 3 126 — dostan, have adopted a policy similar to that of the church of Rome, since none but the Brah- mins, or Sacred Tribe, may read the VepAs, or Sacred Books; and none but the Khatries, or military men, may hear them read; while, to the ether two more populous Castes, or Tribes, the Bhyse and the Sudra, or merchants and husband- men, the Sastras only, or commentaries upon the Vedas, are accessible. (145) From the bishops of Rome, and the idolaters of India, we turn, with heart-felt satisfaction, to those genuine adherents to the Gospel, the War- DENsEs. With them originated the first transla- tion of the Bible into Frencu. About A.D. 1160, Peter de Vaux, or Waldo, a learned and rich merchant éf Lyons in France, convinced by read- ing the Scriptures, of the vanity of the world, for- sook his secular pursuits, and devoted himself to — the dissemination of Gospel truths. By him, or by his desire, a translation was made of the Four — Gosrets, and probably of other parts of the Sa- cred Scriptures, into French. Pope Innocent III. 1: (145) Wrangham’s Sermon, preached before the Univer: of Cambridge, May 10, 1807. p. 37. Note. — -Butler’s Hore Biblice, part 2,p. 167. ee 7 127 seems to have referred to this translation, when in a letter to Bertram, bishop of Metz, about the year 1200, he informed him, that seve- ral of the laity had procured translations into French, of the Four Gospels, the Epistles of St. Paul, the Psalms, the Book of Job, and other _parts of the Sacred Writings, and ordered that those who read them should be driven out, and persecuted with extreme barbarity. That the Waldenses were intimately acquainted with the Worp or Gop, is allowed by their most virulent opponents. A cotemporary writer against them, acknowledges that he saw and heard an illiterate rustic, repeat the whole of the book of Jos, from memory; and it was alledged against them as a crime, that they affirmed, ‘‘ That whenever any preacher advanced any doctrine, which he did not _ prove either from the Old or New Testament, it { 4 . a ought to be regarded as false.’ (146) The Teachers amongst these early reformers, privately travelled up and down, two and two (146) See Usserii Gravissimz Questionis &c, cap. 8, passim. Calmet Dict. de la Bible, art. ‘‘ Bible”? © _Allix’s Remarks upon the Eccles. Hist. of the Ancient ian of Piedmont, pp. 216, 263. G4 4 128 together, dressed in coarse habits and barefooted. Each of them carried with him, a small volume containing the Four Gospels, and some other parts of the Scriptures, which they took every opportunity to read and explain to the persons by whom they were entertained. In the process in- stituted by the Inquisitor General, against Pie- ronetta, a widow ; she acknowledged “That there came to the house of Peter Fornerius, her hus- band, two strangers in grey clothes, who, as it seemed to her, spake Italian, or the dialect of Lombardy, whom her husband received into his house for the love of God. That whilst they © were there, at night after supper, one of them be- gan to read a godly book, which he carried about — with him, saying, that therein were contained the — Gosrrts, and other precepts of the law;---and — that he would explain and preach the same in the — presence of all who were present; Gop having ; sent him to go up and down the world like the Apostles, to reform the Catholic faith, and to preach to the good and simple, sheving thong how to worship Gop, and keep his command ments,” (147) } (147) Basnage Hist. de Eglise, Tom. 2.4 Allix’s Remarks, pp. 277, 322. Ro 129 Another French translation of the Bible from the Latin, was made by Gurars pes Mou tins, priest and canon of Aire, in the diocese of Tero- yane, in France, in the year 1294. In Enexanp also, several metrical translations _ were made from the Vulgate or Latin Bible, dur- ing the eleventh and twelfth centuries, which, in ‘some measure, contributed to the preservation of Scriptural knowledge from utter extinction. One Ea errl of the volumes, in which, amongst other poetical attempts, several of these Bisticat Ruymes are contained, is in the Bodleian library at Oxford; itisa prodigious folio, beautifully written on vel- Jum, and elegantly illuminated, with the follow- ‘ing title: ‘‘ Here begynnen the tytles of the book | that is cald in Latyn tonge Sarus Anime, and in . Englysh tonge SowLE-HELE.” (148) \ In Sean, James I. King of Arragon, who died in 1276 » passed a law, that whoever possessed any of the books of the Old, or New Testament, in the Romance, or vulgar tongue, and did not bring them to the bishop of the place to be burned, Should be considered as suspected of -Heresy, : (48) Warton’s Hist. of Eng. Poetry, vol. 1. p: 14. G5 130 whether they were of the clergy or laity. The translations thus condemned, had probably been made by those early opponents of Hapensittien, the Albigenses. , But whilst one part of Spain was interdicted the Word of God, another was favoured with it ; for Alphonsus King of Castile, who lived A. D. 1280, with pious liberality took care to have the Sacrep Books translated into the Castilian, his native dialect, and thereby rendered them acces- sible to the most illiterate. (149) In the same century, James de Voragine, Arch- bishop of Genoa, is supposed to have first trans- lated the whole Bible into Irar1an; but ashe has not mentioned it in the list of his works, given by himself in 1292, and as no copy of it is to be met with in any of the celebrated libraries in Italy, Calmet (Dict. de 1a Bible) ime whether such translation ever existed. It is perhaps worthy of remark, that in the . thirteenth century, the first ConcorpDance of the (149) Usserii Historia Disc de Seripearis : Sacris Vernaculis, 4to. p. 154. — Rr occ" Calmet Dict. de la Bible. art. Bibles Espagnoles, & a ——— 13] Sacred Scriptures was compiled, under the direc- tion of Cardinal Hueco pr S. Caro, or according to his French name, Hucuts px St. Cuer ; who is said to have employed 500 monks, in his very useful and laborious undertaking. He was born at Vienne in Dauphiné, and studied at Paris, where he became a Dominican friar, in 1225. He was afterwards made Cardinal ; and died in 1263. His Concordance was a Latin one. The first English Concordance was by Marbeck, and de- dicated to the pious King Edward VI. in 1550, but it referred only to Chapters, not to Verses. Weare also indebted to Cardinal Hugo, for the division of the Bible into the present Cuaprers ‘These were. first formed for the convenience ,of quotations and references in a Latin Bible, pub- lished by him with Postizs, (as they were called) or Remarxs. The chapters he subdivided again, by adding in ilie margin, the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G. (150} But the present Verses, were the invention of Robert Stephens, a learned French printer, and introduced by him into an €150) Marsh’s Michaelis, vol..2, ch, Good 1, ve 526, “a pemce Bye 08. 9 Rhke as 132 edition of the Greek Testament, printed by him in 1551, by placing numeral figures in the margin. Printing the verses separately, and placing the number at the beginning of every break or verse, was the work -of the editors of an English New Testament, printed at Geneva, in 1557. (151) The following masoretical analysis, of an anonymous English author, may perhaps amuse the reader. The author terms it, Tae Oxp ano ‘New Testament pissectep. It contains an enumeration of all the books, chapters, verses, words, and letters, which. occur in the English Bible, and Apocrypha. It is said to have prremed three years of the author’s life. i Books in the Old, 39,‘-—- In the New, 27, — Total, . 66 3 -Chapters,. . , 929, a. ae 260, — » =>, 1189 “Werses,... "93.914. es ogee ‘ (Words, sis | 592,439, — “Letters, . 2,728,100, — In the Apocrypha ela as ver The word ANp occurs in the Old Testam ' The word JEHOVAH oceurs 6 ,855 time 8 The 2lst- verse of the 7th. chapter of letters of the Alphabet. (152) - 51) Cratwell’s Pref. to Wilson’s E ible. Théolog. Repository. No. ‘10. vol 2, 1807. (152.) Encye ‘Perth, Art, “Seripture,”. c+ eb 133 © Reverting to the thirteenth century, we find that “towards the close of it, a translation was made, “into the Tartar language, of the New Testa- “went and Psatms or Davin, by JowAnNes A “Monte Corvino: in order to accelerate the pro- ' pagation of the Gospel, among the dark and idol- ‘atrous nations to whom he had been sent as a ‘missionary, by Pope Nicholas IV. He was ‘originally an Italian Friar ; but after having been ‘a missionary for many years, was appointed Arch- bishop of Cambalu, the same with Pekin; at that : ‘time the celebrated metropolis of C athay, but ‘now the capital city of the Chinese empire; a city _erected into an Archbishopric, and conferred upon eeenres a Monte Corvino, by Clement VII. in 71307, an honour -which that laborious mono ner enjoyed till his decease, A. D. 1330. (153) _ ting the laity were, at this period, enter- stance of this, isafforded by RicHarp oF Bury, Europe, the most contemptuous sentiments ed and inculcated by the clergy. A curious. pr Ricuarp AUNGERVILLE, successively bishop — 4 Durham, and treasurer of England. A man ~ pore “s prelate died in 1345. (154) 5 3 A Consistent with these views of the laity, were aa “the means adopted to entertain, certainly not to 134 singularly learned, and so devoted to literature, that he kept transcribers, binders, and illuminators in his palaces, and expended the whole of his am- ple income, in purchasing scarce and curious ma= nuscripts; and who justly complained, that the knowledge of the Hebrew and Greek, in which the Old and New Testaments were written, and without which the true doctrines of Christianity could not be fully comprehended, was nearly extinct; yet so influenced by the prejudices Of his day, as to affirm “Laici omnium librorum com- munione indigni sunt:” “The laity are unwor- thy of all commerce with books.” This learned instruct, the people, by many ef the monks other ecclesiastics, during what have be tically called the dark ages. These co certain theatrical exhibitions ef Scriprus rorses, or Miracles, or Moral Allegori which profanity and buffoonery frequentl (154) Philobiblion; ¢. 17. p. 55. quoted in Warton ._ Hist. of Eng. Poetry, vol. 1, Diss.2. ree Moratities. Inthe year 1298, on the feast of Pentecost, and the two following holidays, the representation of the Pray of Curist, that is, of his passion, resurrection, ascension, judgment, and the mission of the Holy Ghost, was perform- ed by the clergy of Civita Vecchia, in Italy. These Mysteries, or plays, were frequently performed jm the churches; and so lateas 1580, a Puritan writer says, the players are “permitted to publish their mamettrie in everie temple of God, and that _ 185 predominated. T hey were called Mysteries, or : throughout England.” (155) __ Much more wisely, and far more suitably to _ their office, did the clergy act, at the council of _ Vienne, in Dauphiné in France, held A.D. 1311, ' when they decreed that the oriental languages, . the ‘Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldee, Arabic, and the \e should be taught in public schools; and t the Sacrep Scriptures in those languages, should be applied to the conversion of the Sa- “Facens. (156) iiosary' 's Mag. p. 81, 158. _— 's Discourses on Prophecy, vol. 2, p. 368. —=" 136 It does not appear, however, that this decree produced any extraordinary exertions in favour of the Eastern Christians, since the only oriental version executed during the fourteenth century, was a PersrAn translation of the Four Gosrets, made by order of the Prince Ign Saum ApDAULA Inn Scrrana. The translator was Simon Inn Josern, Inn Iprauim Av’ Tamrizte, a Christian of the Roman Catholic perstiasion. He completed his work in July, 1341. (157) Directing our attention again to 5 the West; a singular occurrence, in IRELAND, deserves our notice. About the year 1358, Richard Fitzralph, Archbishop of Armagh, is said to have possessed a translation, probably made by himself, of the New Testament in Irisu. This copy is report- ed to have been hidden by him in a certain wall — in his church, with the following note written by himself; “¢ When this book is found, Truth will be revealed to the world; or Christ shortly ap- pear.” This, observes the relator, was written in the spirit of prophecy, for this book was found — (157) Waltoni ?roleg. 16. Bibliog. Dict. vol. 6. p. 226. a. ey , 137 | repairing the church, about the year of ‘1530. (158) ‘Ricuagp Frrzeatrs, or Fitzeacr, “a man” ys Fox, “worthy, for his Christian zeal, of im- ; commendation,” was first Archdeacon of Lichfield, then made Chancellor of Oxford, and a promoted te the Archbishepric ef Ar- mash, in 1347, and died in 1360. He was the and professed antagonist of the Mendicant — In Benet College, Cambridze, there is 2 ious Manuscript of one of Fitzralph’s sermons; im the first leaf of which there is a drawing of fe devils, hugging four mendicant friars, one of each of thé four orders, Dominican, Francis- ean, Carmelite, and Augustine, with great fami- liarity and affection. In another discourse de- rered before the Pope at Avignon, ‘in 1357, the there were thirty thousand scholars at Oxford, but then not more than six thousand. (159) 158) Balens Script. Brit. Ceot. 14. p. 246; cited in | ~ Archbishop Usier’s Histeria Degmatica &e. p. 156, ___. Fox's Acts and Monuments, vol_ lb. p. 473. : 2) Jobusen’s Historical Accownt of Png. translations, in Bp. Watson's cal'eciion of wee vol. 3. p. 63, ~ peartan's Hist. ef Eng. Poetry, vel. 1. Ba a Ag; Se ae bishop remarks that when he was young, ©- un s ad * 138 Severe as were the invectives of the Archbishop against the mendicant orders, he nevertheless did them the justice to acknowledge, that the mendi- cant convents were furnished with noble libraries (grandis et nobilis libraria). But whether amongst their various manuscripts there were many copies of the Sacred Scriptures, may be justly doubted; for when some secular priests of Armagh, were ‘sent by the Archbishop to study divimity at Ox ford, about A. D. 1357, they were obliged to re. turn, because they could no where find a Latin Bible; and notwithstanding the service of the church was to be read in Latin, many of the clergy were unable to read, or at most translate it. (160) Wiciirr, who flourished im England a fey years afterwards, urged a similar complaint, a firming that there were then many curates whe knew not the Ten Commandments, and could no read one single verse in the Psalter. (161) (169) Usserii Historia Dogmatica &e. p. 156. ij Gray’s Key to O. T. Introduction, p. 28. Fox’s Acts and Monuments, vol. 1. p. 469. _ {161) Great Sentence of Curse expounded, C. 3. cite Young’s Historical Dissertation on Idol jatrous ¢ roptions in Religion, vol. 2. p. 289. 139 mongst thefew who enlightened this era of rkness, by their pious and learned labours, couas pe Lyra, or Nicuoras Harper, 2 converted Jew of Normandy, claims our regard, - He is particularly celebrated for his Latin Postil- _ fe, or short comments, on the whole Bible, which are allowed. to be very judicious, and in which he reprehends many reiguing abuses. Luther is sup- posed to have borrowed from this work many of those objections which he so forcibly urged against the church of Rome. Hence it has been said,. Si Lyra non lyrasset ; ‘ Lutherus non saléasset. _ _If Lyra had not harp’d on Profanation, ___ Luther had never p/ann’d the Reformation. ¥RA flourished about the close of the ¢hérteenth, and commencement of the fourteenth century. 5 comment, begun in 1293, was completed in "1880. He was the first of the Christian commen- tators since St. Jerome, who brought Rabbinical : learning to illustrate the Sacred Writings. His work has been long and deservedly esteemed. Al- sus, King of Arragon, is said to have read the of the Bible fourteen times, accompanied th Lyra’s Notes. About the year 1430, one " printed with the Vulgate, or Latin Bible. (16 | 2b 140 hundred marks were paid for transcribing Hel Notes in two volumes, to be chained in the nian. of the a Friars in London. (162) The N of Lyra were appended toan editio of the Lat Igate, printed at Rome in” 1 and were “the first comment ever printed. Th were als frequently afterwards joined ‘to the Glosse Ordinarie, or comment of .Walfridus Strabus, or Strabo ; the additions of Paul, bish of Burgos; and the replies of Matthias Donec; a The propriety and necessity of illustrating the Sacred Scriptures by Comments has been univer. sally allowed. “At first the insertion of a wo “or sentence in the margin, explaining some par “ticular word in the Text, appears to have con “ stituted the whole of the comment. _ Afterward: « these were mingled with mates but Ww id “ such roa as*served to disti = the . s they were in toi (162) Dr. A. Clarke’s Commentary. Gen. Pref, p Hody, de Bib, Text. Orig. Lib. 3. Par. Warton’s Hist.of E. P. vol. Bp. 202. (163) Simon, Hist. Crit. du. V. T. se . 141 3 and at other times it occupied a space at bottom of the page.” _ Ancient comments, written in all these vari- “ous ways, I have often seen,’ says Dr. A. Clarke, “and a Bible now lies before me, written “ probably before the time of Wicliff, where the: Glosses are all incorporated with the Text, and, “only distinguished from it by a dine ondérnestliat “the line evidently added by a later hand. 39. ¢ ‘2, The following are specimens ; RS Blpnde men seen, crokid men Wwan- Bren, mesels ben maad clene, Deef men on, Deed men cpsen agem, pore men taken to prechprae of the gospel, ben saat kepers of the gespel. 4 _ berate tetraarcha, that (8, prince an Bete Sut uth parte, Luke ti, 1. . Gy multitudes of the various ‘ean ‘ i anuscripts: for, the notesoef — ~ d by ancient manuscripts : for, 10 es of < Psy I , 142 distinction being omitted or neglected, the gloss was often considered a8.an integral part of the Text, and entered accordingly | by tobnctalin copyists.”’ pet The+terms anciently used to adedifiate: notes) or comments, on the Sacred Writings, were vari-— ous, as Postitta, Grossa, Catena, &c. PostiLix, were generally composed of Scholia, ; or short remarks upon the text. The name was probably adopted from the explanatory notes be- ‘ing placed after the text; and derived from the Latin. Postea, or Post illa, (se. verba). oa The Catenx, were compilations fil the” pores of preceding commentators. ¢ The etymology and application of the tortie Text and Gross, are well explained-i in the fol- lowing remarks of a late learned _antiquary ; a (165) “There are few who are’ iguora “sense and sec of the word | ‘¢perhaps, would be glad to nih ‘¢ from the Romans, who, from the similitude S (165) Rev. S. Pegge. See Letter to Edito Oct. 1753. under signature of “ } Du Cange, Glossarium,--Postii 143 “sisting between spinning and weaving, and the “art of composing, both in verse and prose, ap- “plied to the latter several expressiens proper to “the former; Hence Horace, _ ——tenui deducta poemata filo: “ That fine spun thread, with which our poem’s wrought ;” Ep. 2. 1. 225. “and Cicero texere orationem, and contexere “carmen. Amongst the later Roman. writers “vExTUs occurs often in the sense of a piece, or “ composition, and by excellence came to denote “the Worn or Gon, just as the general word “Scriprura also did. But this is not all; the “method of writing the Scriptures (and some few “ other books) before the art of printing was in- “ vented, was thus, as I here represent it, from an old manuscript of the New Testament, of the “ Vulgate version, now before me. Martuew vit. 23. Et tunc confitebor illis, quia fonnovit lux in nullo approbavi, sed reprobavi. non ety aa nunguam novi vos. dis- ton dit ul operati estis, nonesent-cedite a me OMNES QUI Opera-netollatpani- quia tentiam, sed non hos noyvit, ergo eos, qui mandata ejus custodiunt ba ‘too he? beatis ‘ita- ‘mini iniquitatem. tem peecandi of. % tamen habetis 144 * The sentences at the sides are the gloss ; the “middle, which is in Jarger hand, is the Text; “and between the lines of that, is put the Inrer- “ zrneary Gtoss, in which place a translation “or version, in some ancient manuscripts in the ‘¢ Cottonian and other libraries, is sometimes in-_ “serted. The Text here means the Worp or “Gon, as opposed to the gloss, both the lateral “and the énterlineary gloss; and because the text — “¢ was usually written, as in this manuscript, in a ‘“‘ very large and masterly hand, from thence, a “Jarge and strong hand of that sort came to be © “called Tvxt-hand.---By Gross is meant a com- “mentary or exposition, generally taken out of — “ the Latin fathers, St. Hieronyme, St. Augustine, © “ &c. It is originally a Greek word, and at first © “ meant a single word put to explain anofher, as” <“ appears from the ancient Greek and Latin Glos- oe but afterwards it came to agit! any ex- “ gloss upon a thing, that is, a favourable i in er “pretation or construction ; gloss, a fair shini ng “ outside ; and to glose, to flatter.” - = Valuable however as were these endeavou 145 explain and illustrate the Sacred Writings, their utility was considerably lessened by being writ- ten in a language nearly obsolete, since but few in the fourteenth century were able to read any works written in Latin, except the more learned of the Clergy. It was therefore a wise and popu- Jar method of instruction which was adopted by Cuarxes tue 5th. or France, when he caused the Scriptures to be translated into the various Dialects of his Kingdom. The person principally engaged in this great work, is said to have been Raoul de Presle, who completed the undertak- ing about A. D. 1370, or 1380. Antonius Moli- neus professes to have hada copy in his posses- Sion, written upon parchment, in the dialect of Picarpy. But it is to be lamented that when it was found that copies of these translations were procured by the Waldenses, and used by them in the defence and promotion of their sentiments, an order was obtained to suppress them. (166) A translation of the Scriptures, also into Swr- DIsH, is said to have been made in the fourteenth (166) vee Hist. Dogmat. de Scrip. et Sac, Vernac. p- yey Dict. de la Bible, Bibles Francoises. H Pig fehl = A 146 £ century, for the use of St. Bripeer or Briparr, daughter of King Birgines of Upland, and founder of the Brigittins or Bridgettins, who being a— Swede, and exceedingly diligent in reading a Bible, procured a translation of it into her native - tongue. The translator was Matthias, Canon of Lindkoping, and confessor to the Saint. No copy of this translation is now to be found. (167) The jirst Polish Version with which we are acquainted, is one by Hepwice, wife of Jagellon, Duke of Lithuania, who embraced Christianity in the year 1390.--Another Polish Version is report- ed to have been made by Andrew de Jassowitz, in” 1455, by order of Sornta, wife of Jagellon, King” of Poland.---Nor ought it to be forgotten that Po- land was indebted to female piety, for the intro- duction of Christianity ; Dambrowka, daughter of Boleslaus Duke of Bohemia, having by bere exhortations, persuaded her husband Miceslaus, Duke of Poland, to abandon Paganism and em } brace the Gospel, which ams 965. a: (167) Calmet. Dict. deta Bible, Bibles Sucttatsea.’ (168) Calmet. Dict. de Ja Bible, Bibles Po Fabricii Lax Evangelii toti orbi exo Hamb, 4to. Mosheim’s Eccles, Hist. vol. 2 P- ry Ss a i a a ¢ s _ It is difficult, perhaps impossible, te decide en the Jirst translation was made into Exeutisx, E spoken after the conquest. Archbishop Usher “assigns a translation of the whole Bible, to the "year 1290, and says that several copies of it were "preserved at Oxford. These copies have by others ‘been regarded as genuine, or corrected ones, of Wicliff’s version; but Wharton thinks errone- “ously, and is inclined to attribute this translation t Trevisa. (169) Ricuarp Rorze, an hermit of Hampole in “Yorkshire, who died A. D. 1349, translated and “wrote a gloss upon the Seven Penrrenrrar /Psaxus, (Lewis (170) says upon the whole of the Psalms), 2 metrical paraphrase of the Lorp’s Prayer, and part of the book of Jos. ‘if we may judge of the merit of these, from — nother of our hermit’s poetical compositions, en- x se 147 The Pricke of Conscience, we shall be ned to rank him higher as 2 man of piety, than as‘a man of genius. The following lines om 75} 5a - sit Hist. Dozmat. p. 155. ee oni Auctarium &e. ab. an. 1290. _ — * Jobnson’s Historical Account &e. in W: "Tracts, vol. 3. p. 63. = 0) Lewis His. of Hog Trnaion: of Ble, p12 5 H2 ; Rie ct - es 1387, Joun Trevisa, a Cornish man, cant Ovv and New Tzsraments, at the desire, of | 148 the love of Gop to man, are an ext fro God made mon of most dignite . he Of all creatures most fre ~ And namely to his owne liknes As bifore tolde hit es And most hath gyven and yit gyveth Than to any creature that lyveth And more hath het (*) hym yet therte Hevene blis yif he wel do And yit when he had don amys- And hadde loste that ilke blis God tok monkynde for his sake And for his love deth wolde take And with his blod boughte hem ayene — To his blisse fro endeles peyne Ags L i _ In the year 1357, or according to Whar on “Westbury i in Wiltshire, and vicar of Berkle Yorkshire, and one whohad been’a great veller, is’said'to have finished a translation of # munificent patron Thomas Lord Ber: (171) Warton’s Hist. of Eng. Poetry x Gray’s Key to O. T. Introd. p Usserii Hist. Dogmat. p. 162 (172) Ibid. p. 157. (*) het, 149 \ 4 ‘sentences, painted on the chapel walls in Berkley | “Castle, or interspersed in his writings. (173) _ Treytsa was also the translator of several other works from the Latin, particularly of some pieces of the famous Richard F itzralph, Archbishop of Armagh, and of Higden’s Potycuronicon, an historical work. To his version of the Po/ychro- nicon, he prefixed a tract on the Uriniry oF Transiations, in a Dialogue between a Clergy- man and his Patron. (174) Warton ( Hist. of Eng. Poetry, vol. 1. p. 343.) observes, respecting his translation of the Scrip- ‘tures: “I do not find his Enexisu Brste in any ‘of our libraries, nor do I believe that any copy «“ of it now remains. Caxton,” (the first English F inter, and who printed the frst work certainly cnown to be printed in England, in 1474,) “men- « tions it in the ‘preface to his edition of the inh Beet Poly rer. Ws) Lewis's Hist. of English Translations, p. 66, 61 * Lond. Octavo. 1739. 2nd. Edit. : = 74) Warton’s Hist of E. P, vel. Ll. p. 343. Pie H3 - . “a = 150 the translation by Trevisa, all are agreed that Wicuirr, the Morning Star of the Reformation, engaged in a translation of the whole Bisxx into English, which he completed in 1380. His ver. sion was made from the Latin, probably not be- ing sufficiently. skilled in Hebrew and Greek, to translate from the original tongues. Amongst the Harleian MSS. in the British Mu- seum, are three very fair copies of the New Trs- . TAMENT of Wicliff’s translation, all written in his - time, and one of them, as is supposed, by his own hand. (175) Joun Wiciirr or Wick.iFre, was born A. D. 1324, at Wickliff, in Yorkshire. Educated at Oxford, he was successively master of Baliol Hall, Warden of Canterbury College, and professor of Divinity in that University. In 1374, he was sent by Edward III. ambassador to the see of Rome. He was afterwards made Prebendary o Aust, in the Collegiate church of Westbury, inthe | county of Gloucester, and Rector of Lutterworth, 4 in Leicestershire. Equally eminent for his pict and wisdom, and for his great parts and ext eusive ey | learning, his singular abilities and eminent virtue gained him universal reputation; whilst his de- cided opposition to the idolatry and superstition of the church of Rome, drew down upon him the vengeance of the prelates and clergy of that church, and involved him in a series of troubles, which in all probability would have ended in his death, had he not been protected by John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, Uncle to Richard II. Plain in his dress, and indefatigable in his la- bours, his enemies alleged against him as a crime, that “he and his fellows usually accustomed in “their preaching, to go about barefoot and in “simple russet gowns.” The clergy were particularly angry with hin for translating the Scriptures, which he tells us himself, in his tract entitled the “Wicket,” they looked upon as Heresy. But protected by the ; good hand of Providence, he was brought to the ' grave in peace, notwithstanding the rage of his _ enemies, and their violence against him. He died ofa paralytic attack, December 28th. 1384, and _ was buried at Lutterworth, where he was Rector. But the malice of his enemies pursued him after ; death, and 41 years afterwards his bones were % H 4 152 dug up and burnt, and his ashes thrown into the neighbouring river, by Richard Flemyng, bishop — of London, according to a decree of the infamous — council of Constance;---a council which con- demned John Huss, and Jerome of Prague to the flames, and decreed “‘ That the most solemn pledge of a sovereign might be violated for the punish- ment of heretics.”’ (176) An edition of Wicliff’s New Testament, was published in folio, by Rev. John Lewis, M. A. in 1731; and another in 1810, in quarto, by the © Rev. Henry Harvey Baber, M. A. | In 1390, ina parliament held under Richard IT. a bill was brought into the house of lords, to pro- hibit the use of Enexiisn Brisies, but being strongly reprobated and opposed, particularly by the Duke of Lancaster, Wicliff’s patron, it was— thrown out again. (177) Wicliff’s followers were called Loriarps, od (176) Fox’s Acts and Mower vol. 1. p. 483, 529, Henry’s Hist. of G. B. vol. 8. p. 66, 231. Young’s Historical Dissertation, p. 316. vol. 2. S. S. Concilia, Tom. 12, p. 169, Concilium Constantiense. Sessio 19. MW ’ (177) Usserii Hist. Dogmat. p. 162. i bee “but was also instructed of the full meaning of | a Paul, who repeateth so many times this sentence, We are justified by Faith. And having read the expositions of many upon this 13 ‘eth thee in thy heart, saying, Thy sins are for- “tle, that man is freely justified by faith. By _ “these words Luther was not only strengthened, i: BY a7 . 174 “place, he then perceived, as well by the pur- “pose of the old man, as by the comfort he re- “ ceived in his spirit, the vanity of those inter- “pretations, which he had read before of the “schoolmen. And so reading by little and little, ‘with conferring the sayings and examples of “the Prophets and Apostles, and continual in- “vocation of God, and excitation of faith by “force of prayer, he perceived that doctrine “ most evidently.” (203) — = In this Monastery he unexpectedly founda neg- _ lected copy of the Latin Version oF THE Brsxe. Delighted with the discovery, he hid himself, as frequently as he could, in the library with his Bible, the only book, as he often said, wherein he could find comfort; and studied it with such ap- plication, that he could turn at once to any pas- sage it contained. From the first hour he met P with the Bible, he esteemed it above all other books in the world, and frequently begged of God, that he might sometime or other have ore — of his own. (204) Wat i This diligence in reading and studying the Holy (203) Fox’s Acts and Monuments, &c. vol. 2 2. p. AC (204) Life of Martin Luther, by J. D. Heranschr : Armin. Mag, vol. 1, P- 71. 72. 175 _ Scriptures, gradually enlightened his mind, and eventually led to that astonishing and blessed change which took place in the christian church. The amiable Putnie Scuwarrzerpe, or Me- LANCTHON, whose extraordinary learning and abi- lities had caused him to be chosen Greek professor of Wittemberg, in 1518, at the juvenile age of 21, was one of Luther’s earliest, most learned, and most constant friends in the work of the Reforma- tion. From a youth he had been accustomed to carry about with him, a small Bible, printed by Frobenius, and presented to him by Reuchlin, which he read wherever he came. But in general the Word of God was so scarce, andso seldom to be obtained, especially in the original languages, that. when he began to proclaim the Trutu at Wittemberg, he was obliged to print select parts a of the Greek Testament, for the use of the stu- dents in the university, that he might be able to explain the Scriptures to his hearers. The Epistle to the Romans was edited by him, in 1520. The first Epistle to the Corinthians, in 1521. The second Epistle separately, the same year; and also the Epistle to the Colossians. (205) “-. (905) Bibliog, Dict. volv6.;p. 194 ‘ Lh 4.» aera > : é I 176 As the Reformation proceeded, the Reformers i became more aud more convinced of the necessity of furnishing the people with the Sacred Writings in the vulgar tongue. In a work, however, of such importance, much caution and circumspec- ~ tion were necessary, as well as ability, zeal, per- severance, and fidelity; so that although the Reformers had early and diligently applied them- selves to the study of the Scriptures in the original languages, it was not till eleven years had elapsed that an entire translation of them was presented to the world. Lurtuer wisely called in to his assistance Mr- LANCTHON and other professors, that each might ? contribute towards the perfection of the wholes — Their method was to assemble from time to time, when each came prepared, by having previously studied the particular parts of the Bible then un- der consideration. Some of the professors excel- led in an acquaintance with the Chaldee Para- — phrases or Targums; others in the Rabbinical writ- ers, while others brought various lights from the Greek Septuagint, and the fragments of the Greek translations of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodo- tia. Luther, who presided, had always before — 177 him the Hebrew Bible, the Latin Vulgate, and his own manuscript version. Thus they proceeded to examine the whole, sentence by sentence, till after sufficient deliberation, it was agreed, either to confirm, to alter, correct, or improve the trans- lation, as occasion required. Nothing could exceed the zeal and fidelity of Luther in the prosecution of this work. He exa- mined various Gems in the Elector’s palace, in or- der that he might be able the better to translate those parts where Precious Stones are mentioned. He obtained much information from the librarian respecting different species of Insects and Reptiles, as well as of Wild Beasts, and Rapacious Birds. Various Animals were also dissected at his house, that by examining their different parts he might represent the ancient Scriptures with more accu- racy ; and so anxious was he conscientiously to discharge lis duty, that he declared to his friends, that he had sometimes employed 14 or 15 days before he could satisfy himself in translating a single word. It was by such a gradual progression, that at length, thro’ the blessing of God, the German _ version was completed, which is to this day 1) 178 received with admiration by the most learned and judicious men, and to which many of the modern European versions bear a strong resemblance. _— oe oe The New Testament was published by Luther, — after it had been revised by Melancthon, in 1522. Different parts of the Orv TrstaAmENT were published in different years, but we do not find that the whole Bible was collected together till 1534. (206) Luther died in 1546, and was buried at Wit- temberg, with the greatest pomp that perhaps ever happened to any private man; princes, earls, nobles, and students without number, attended the procession; and Melancthon made his fu- neral oration. The influence of the Reformation, combined with the invention of printing, soon promoted the trans- lation of the Scriptures into several languages. In the year 1526, William Tyndal, a native of Wales, printed the jirst edition of his Enexisu New Testament, in octavo, without aname. It . was printed at Antwerp, where Tyndal had for in Armin, Mag, vol. 20, p. 602. (206) Life of Philip Melancthon, by Rev, P. Dickinson, ‘ 179 some time been maintained by an annuity of £10 per annum, which was thena sufficient allowance for a single man, allowed him by Mr. Monmouth, a merchant in London. This edition is very scarce, for soon after its first appearance, bishop Tonstal being at Antwerp, desired Augustus Pack- ington, an English merchant to buy up all the copies that remained unsold; and on the bishop’s | return to England, they with many other books _ were burned at Paul’s Cross. (207) The sale of these copies, however, enabled Tyndal to pre- pare another and more correct edition for the press, which was printed in 1534. He also pub- lished an English translation of the PENTATEUCH, in octavo, in 1530; and about 1531, translated and printed the prophecy of “Jonas.” There were also several pirated editions of Tyndal’s New Testament, printed by Dutch printers, in duodecimo, and sold at about thirteen pence a piece. Tyndal’s own edition was‘sold at about: three shillings and six-pence per volume ; George Joye, an English refugee, who corrected the Dutch editions, received only 44d. a sheet, or (207) Lewis’s Hist. of the English Translations, p. 78. Crutweli’s preface to Wilson’s Bible. Bath 1785, Ato. 180 i 14s. for the whole of his labour. (208) In England, the importers angaenders of Tyn- dal’s translations were con jed to ride with their faces to the horses’ tails papers on their heads, and with the books : had dis- ~. persed tied about them, to the standard in Cheap- side, and they themselves were compelled to , throw them into the fire, and were afterwards amerced in a considerable fine. (209) Tyndal himself, was afterwards, through the treachery of Henry Philips, strangled and burnt for heresy, in 1536, at Filford in Flanders. (210) At the request of the clergy, several severe proclamations were issued by King Henry VIII. against all who read, or kept by them, Tyndal’s translation of the New Testament, so that a copy of this book found in the possession of any per- son was sufficient to convict him of heresy, and subject him to the flames. (211) In the early part of this King’s reign, many suffered severely _ (208) Lewis, p. 67. Crutwell, Pref. to Wi'son’s Bible. Gray’s Key to O. T. p. 31, 32. (209) Lewis, p. 66. (210) Fox’s Acts and Monuments, vol. 2. p. 305. if (211) Henry’s Hist. of G. B. vol. 12,p.59, ISl for their attachment to the Scriptures. The houses of those who were:suspected of /eresy, as it was called, were séarched for prohibited books. Children were subdrned against their parents, and wives against - their husbands. Many were imprisoned, and obliged todo penance, and many * were burnt. “But the fervent zeal of those Chris- “tian days,”’ says the good old Martyrologist, “¢seemed much superior to these our days and “ times, as manifestly may appear by their sitting ypall night, inreading and hearing; also by their “expenses and charges in buying of books in “English, of whom, some gave I"ive Marks, some “more, some less, for a book; and some gave a “ Load of Hay, for a few chapters of St. James, “or of Str. Paut in English.” (212) In 1535, the first translation of the whole Bible u ever printed in English, was completed abroad, under the direction of Myles Coverdale, and therefore is generally called CoverpAtt’s Biss. Itis in folio, and is dedicated to K. Henry VIII. Mytes CoverpALe, was born in Yorkshire, about the year 1484. He was first an Augustine (212) Fox’s Acts and Monuments, vol. 2. p. 23. 182 Td ~* monk, but embracing the Reformation, entered into holy orders, and in the year 1551, was consecrat-~ ed Bishop of Exeter. In Q. Mary’s time he was ejected from his see, and banished, but after her death he returned to England, and died in peace at the advanced age of 81. Dr. Cranmer, who was favourable to the spread of the Scriptures, having been advanced to the primacy, exerted his influence with the King to procure permission for the laity to read the Bible in English, which so far succeeded that, in 1537, the King issued injunctions to the clergy, the 7th. article of which commands ; ** That every person, “ or proprietary of any Parish Church, within this “¢ Realm, shall on this side the Feast of S¢. Peter “ ad vincula ( August 1.) next coming, provide a “hook of the whole Bible, both in Latin, and al- “so in English, and lay the same in the choir ‘* for every man that will to look and read there- * on.”? (213) This had formerly been done in some choirs, or chancels, with the Latin Bibles, since John _Radyng, or Rudyng, who was archdeacon of ~ (213) Lewis, p. 103. ee 183 . a Lincoln in 1471, is said to have founded the chan- cel of the church of Buckingham, and to have given a Bible to be chained on the principal desk below the chancel. (214) Another noted edition of the Bible in English, was printed in 1537, in folio, and is generally called Mattruews’ Biste, from the name affixed to it as the editor. It was printed abroad, at the expense of the English Printers, Richard Grafton and Edward Whitchurch. The name of Thomas Matthews, affixed to it as the editor, is said to have been fictitious, and us- ed by the real editor, John Rogers, from motives of prudence or fear. Joun Rocers was a na- tive of Lancashire, and the first martyr who suffer- ed in Q. Mary’s reign, being burnt at Smithfield, February 4th. 1555. In the year 1539, Grafton and Whitchurch, published a new edition of the English Bible, in large folio, which was stated in the Title, to be “truly translated after the veryte of the Hebrue and Greke textes;”? and was the firs rs »glish translation that professed to be waden a verity of the originals. Fs oa (214) Lewis, p. 103. note from Kennett’s Paroch. Antiq. 184 , This Bible being printed with types of a great- er size than common, and in a large folio, with a fine emblematical frontispiece, said to be designed © by Hans Holbein, and beautifully cut in wood, it was called Tue Great Biste. (215) Grafton and Whitchurch had obtained permis- sion of K. Henry VIII. in 1538, to print the Bible at Paris; but when the work was nearly finished, by an order of the inquisition’ dated 17th. December the same year, the printers were inhibited under canonical pains to proceed, and the whole impression of 2500 copies was seized and confiscated; however, by the encouragement of Lord Cromwell, some Englishmen returned to Paris, recovered the presses, types, &c. and brought them to London, where the work was re- sumed, and the Bible finished as already men- tioned, in 1539. A few copies also of the edi- tion, which had been seized, and that an officer of the inquisition had secreted in some Dry-Vats, and sold as waste paper toa Haberdasher, were recovered. (216) (215) Macknight’s Literal Translation of the Apostolical Epistles, vol. 1. Gen. Pref. ; Lewis, p. 122; where there is a Copper-plate repre- sentation of the F rontispiece of the Great Bible. } (216) Fox’s Acts and Monuments, vol, 2, p. 434, _ “4 185 In 1540, another edition of the English Bible was printed, in folio, which, on account of the prologue to it, written by archbishop Cranmer, and some few corrections by him, is called Cran- MER’s Biste. Itdiffers but little from the great Bible, except that in the curious frontispiece, Lord Cromwell’s arms are defaced. (217) These editions are frequently considered as the same, and denominated in the King’s injunctions &c. the Bible of the larger, or largest volume. Lord Cromwell had already in 1539, procured permission to a]] the King’s subjects, to purchase copies of the great Bible, for the use of them- selves and their families; and in 1540, a procla- mation was issued, ordering this Bible to be bought and placed in the churches, under the pe- nalty of 40s. a month, for every month they should be without it after the next Ali Saints Day. The King.also fixed the price of the Bible at ten shillings unbound, and not to be above twelve shillings well bound and clasped. (218) — This proclamation to set up Bibles in the church- — es was renewedin 1541. (217) Macknight, and Lewis, ut sup. (218) Henry’s Hist. of G. B. voi, 12. p. 77. Lewis, pp. 137, 142. 186 od “Tt was wonderful,” says a valuable writer, “to see with what joy this Book of God was re- “ ceived, not only among the learneder sort, and “those that were noted for lovers of the Refor- ‘mation, but generally all England over, among ‘all the vulgar and common people; and with ‘¢ what greediness God’s Word was read, and what — ‘“‘resort to places where the reading of it was, ‘Every body that could, bought the Book, or “busily read it, or got others to read it to them, ‘if they could not themselves; and divers more “elderly people learned to read on purpose, “and even little boys flocked among the rest to “to hear portions of the Holy Scriptures read.” One William Maldon mentions, that “ when the *¢ King had allowed the Bible to be set forth to “be read in the churches, immediately several 4 | : * poor men in the town of Chelmsford in Essex, “¢ where his father lived, and he was born, bought “the New Trstament, and on sundays sat read- _ “ing it in the lower end of the church. Many : “would flock about them to hear their reading; “Cand he among the rest, being then but 15 years “old, came every sunday to hear the glad and “sweet tidings of the gospel. But his father ob- ~ ‘serving it once, angrily fetched him ways and ven ee 187 ‘ would have him say the Latin Mattins with him, “ which grieved him much. Andas he returned at “ other times'to hear the Scriptures read, his father ‘ still would fetch him away. This put him upon “ the thought of learning to read English, that he “might read the New Testament himself, which ‘¢ when he had by diligence effected, he and his “father’s apprentice bought a New Testament, “joining their stocks together; and to conceal it ‘jaid it under the bed-straw, and read it at con- “venient times.”? (219) Great, however, as was the joy which these trans- lations of the Scriptures, and the permission ge- nerally to read and possess them, occasioned a- mongst sincere enquirers after Truth, they met with the most yiolent opposition from those who continued their attachment to the church of Rome. For the adherents to Popery condemned the trans- lations themselves in the most virulent terms, and treated those who were in the habit of reading them with severity and contempt. In a work entitled England’s Reformation, written in (219) Strype’s Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, B, 1. p. 64. Lond. 1694. Dedltry’s Vindication of Brit. & For, Bib, Society. p. 32. Hudibrastic rhyme by Thomas Ward, a zealous Roman Catholic, who was born in Yorkshire in 1652, and died in France in 1708, the same sub- ject is treated with the lowest wit and ribaldry. as the following verses, which are far from being the worst, will indisputably prove: . . Their Bisies thus fit to a hair, For every one was left to cite : \ = to his fancy, wrong or right, put what sense he pleases on ‘em. Canto IIL. In 1543, an Act of Parliament was obtained by the adversaries of translations, condemning Tyn- - dal’s Bible, and the prefaces and notes of all other editions. The plea for this act was, the conten- tionsand quarrels which had been occasioned by the use the people made of having and reading the ec It was therefore farther enacted “That “no women (except noblewomen and gentlewo- , 5 who might read to themselves alone, and not - ters any texts of the Bible, &e.) nor artifi-. cers, *prentises, journeymen, serving-men, hus- “ ‘bandmen, nor labourers, were to read the Bible “ or New Testament in Englishe to himselfe, or to =~ —_ ~~ 1y other privately or openly, upon paine of — ‘one monith’s i imprisonment.” (220) A similar ES 5 190 act was also passed in 1546, prohibiting Cover- dale’s, as wellas Tyndal’s Bible. On the passing of these acts, the following singu- lar note was made by a poor,shepherd, in a spare leaf of Polydore Virgil’s work on the Invention of Things, printed by Grafton, 1546. “ At Ox- “ forde the yere 1546, browt down to Seynbury “by John Darbye pryce 14d. When I kepe Mr. “¢ Letymers shype I bout thys boke when the tes-- “‘tament was obberagatyd that shepeherdys “myght not red hit, I prey god amende that “blyndnes. Wryt by Robert Wyllyams keppynge “ shepe uppon Seynbury hill, 1546.” (221) Henry dying in January 1547, was succeeded by his son Edward VI, the young King favoured the Reformation, and repealed the Acts which . prohibited the translation of the Scriptures. Injunctions were also issued and sent into every part of the kingdom, enjoining that within three months, a Bible of the largest volume, in English ; and within twelve months, Erasmus’s Paraphrase of the Gospels, should be provided and set up in (221) Lewis, p> 150. ne Dibdin’s Bibliomania, p. 154, Lond. Isl. es Ly ve 191 some convenient place in every church, where the parishioners might most conveniently resort, in order to read them. (222) A pleasing anecdote has been often related, of this amiable and youthful Sovereign’s reverence for th@ Scriptures. Upon a certain occasion, a paper which was called for in the council cham- ber, happened to be out of reach; the person concerned to produce it, took a Bible that lay by, and standing upon it, reached down the paper. The King, observing what was done, ran himself to the place, and taking the Bible in his hands, kissed it, and laid it up again. About this time, the metrical version of the Psaums, by Sternnoxp and Horxins, began to be used in churches. Thomas Sternhold had been groom of the Robes _ to Henry VIII. and had received from him a lega- _ cy of 100 marks, and was continued in his post _ by Edward ¥ , He appears to have been a pious man, since it was from a dislike to the loose and wanton ballads, sung bythe courtiers of Edward, p that he first undertook his version of the Psalms, ‘ eo (222) Lewis, p. 156. es, 192 “thinking thereby that the courtiers would sing “them instead of their sonnets, but did not, only “ some few excepted.” He was assisted by John Hopkins, an obscure clergyman and schoolmaster of Suffolk. The chief merit of this version con- sists in preserving the expressions of the prose. The following lines in the 18th, Psalm, have oan long and generally admired: The Lord descended from above, And bowde the heay’ns most high; And underneath his feet he cast” The darkness of the sky. On cherubs and on cherubim Full royally he rode; ; And on the wings of mighty windes Came flying all abroad.’ On the death of King Edward in 1553, his: half sister Mary ascended the throne, and ~ soon discovered the most determined attachment to the church of Rome. The Bibles that had | been placed in the churches were removed, and d the texts of Scripture on the walls defaced. “The | acts in favour of the Reformation of religion y were ¥ repealed ; and many of the ioe to o esape 4 a hd 19 is 3 t Geneva, setting about a new translation of _ the Scriptures, the New Testamenr was there E printed in 12mo. in 1557, and is the first New - Testament in English with the distinction of vers- es by numerical figures. (223) Amongst many who glorified God, by suffering martyrdom in the reign of Q. Mary, Joan WAste, a poor woman, deserves never to be for- _ gotten. Though blind from her birth, she learned, at an early age, to knit stockings and sleeves, and * to assist her father in his business of rope-mak- ing; and always discovered the utmost aversion _ to idleness or sloth. After the death of her pa- 4 rents she lived with her brother; and by daily at- % tendanceat church, and hearing divine service read inthe vulgar tongue during the reign of K. Edward, Mads deeply impressed with religious princi- ples. This rendered her desirous of possessing the Word of God; so that at length, having by her labour earned and saved as much money as would | ‘purchase a New Testament, she procured one; and as she could not read it herself, got others to read ‘it to her, especially an old man, 70 years of age, (223) Lewis, p. 207. 194 a prisoner for debt in the Common Hall at Derby, and the clerk of the parish, who read a chapter to her almost every day. She would also sometimes give a penny or two (as she could spare) to those who would not’read to her with- out pay. By these means she became well ac- quainted with the New Testament, and could repeat many chapters without book; and daily increasing in sacred knowledge exhibited its influ- ence in her life, till when she was about 22 years - ofage, she was condemhed for not believing the doctrine of Transubstantiation, and burnt at, Der- by, August Ist. 1556. (224) But it was not only in England, that the trans- lation of the Scriptures into the vulgar tongue met with opposition; for in Germany, France, and Spain, the most cruel tortures were inflicted upon the fayourers of the Reformation ; and they, and the Sacred Scriptures were frequently consigned to the flames. (225) 3 The storm, however, which had been raised in England by the inhuman Mary and the popish par ty, happily soon blew over, for the Queen yi : in November 1558, she was succeeded: tb eis (224) Fox, vol. 3. p. 634, cE (225) Fox's Acts and Monuments, yol. 2, 3, 7 195 BETH, who resolving to tread in the steps ef her brother Edward, issued injunctions similar to. his, by which the Bible in English, was again placed in the churchesand permitted to be read by the people. In the year 1563, an act was passed, for the translating of the whole of the Holy Scriptures | into Wetsu. The New Testament came out in a small quarto, in 1567; translated principally by Mr. William Salisbury of Lansannan, in the coun- ty of Denbigh, assisted by Dr. Richard Davis, bishop of St. Davids. In 1588, the whole Bible was published in Welsh, under the superintendence of Dr. William Morgan of Penmachno, in Caernarvonshire, aided by several of his learned countrymen. This edi- tion was in folio, and the typographical execution elegant and correct. But this splendid work being designed principally for the churches, a common edition was still wanting for general use, which however was not afforded till the year 1620, when Dr. R. Parry, bishop of St. Asaph, published one in a portable volume, and at a - moderate price. (*) The necessity of this latter (*) For this account of the Welsh editions of the Bible, pe? Lam indebted to my worthy friend, the Rev, ‘Joba. Hughes, of Macclesfield. ; K 2 edition is fully proved by the following statement of Biographer of Wrotu,a noted minister, and the person who first formed a congregation of dissen-_ ters at Llanvaches, in South-Wales. “Sermons,” says he, “were but very seldom preached in the “Churches in Wales in those times; mor was “there a Bible to be had throughout the whole “ country, excepting those in the churches.” (See Martyrologia Ezvangelica, p. 344.) - Archbishop Parker also revised and published an edition of the Scriptures in English, in 1568; and as he employed several bishops inthe revision, it is often called the Bisnors’ Brste ; and some- times Parnxer’s Brexe. Directing our views to the East, we discover _ a number of Christians inhabiting the interior of the South of India, dating their settlement there from the early ages of Christianity. Originally a” colony from Syria, their Scriptures, and books are still written in the Syriac lan, On the first arrival of the Portuguese in India, at the commencement of the 16th. century, they found upwards of 100 of these Christian church- on the coast of Malabar. But the purity and simplicity of their worship, and thei 197 acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope, ilf agreed with the haughty and inquisitorial spirit of their invaders; who, when their power became sufficient, lighted up the fires of the inquisition at Goa, seized some of the clergy, and devoted them to the death of heretics. (226) In 1599, Menezes, who had been appointed to - the Archbishopric of Goa, convened a Synod at Diamper, in which it was decreed, that all the Syrian and Chaldean books in their churches, should be burnt; in order, said the inquisitors, “that no pretended apostolical monuments may remain.” And during the subsequent circuit of the Archbishop, as soon as he entered into any of - these Syrian churches, he ordered all their books and records to be laid before him, and committed most of them to the flames. The Bisie gene- rally was saved; but ordered to be altered and rendered every where conformable to the Latin vulgate; yet many Bibles were secreted, and never produced at all, and by that means escaped being corrupted. The Syriac Version of the,Scriptures ) Buchanan’s Christian Researches, p 99. and Eccle- siastical Establishment for India, part 3, chap. 1. K 3 198 1 was brought into India, according to popular be- lief, before the year 325. (227) These violent measures produced however only | a temporary submission in the St. Thomé Chris- tians, as they are usually called, for the greater part of them soon proclaimed eternal war against the inquisition, hid their books, fled to the moun- tains, and sought the protection of the native . princes, who had always been proud of their alliance. — In 1812, there were said to be upwards of one hundred and fifty thousand natives on the coast of Malabar, who professed Christianity; a con- siderable number of whom belonged to churches not subject to papal jurisdiction. The latter still preserve the Syriac Scriptures amongst them, and entertain for them the highest veneration. Many of their copies are of very ancient date, some of . which Dr. Claudius Buchanan was happy enough to obtain, and has presented them along with many other valuable MSS. to the pelle er at Cambridge. (228) 4 ie) Asiatic Researches, vol. 7. p. 372. 8yo. : Malabarian Conferences, transiated by J. tT. Phil- ; : lips, Pref. Lond. 1719. (228) Bthanan’ s Christian Researches, pp. 128, 132, 8y0. : . “ = 7 - 4 199 About the time that the Portuguese first invaded India, the illustrious Axsar, was Emperor of the Moguls, and, though by profession a Mohamme- dan, addressed a letter to the King of Portugal, in which, after censuring in the strongest terms, the slavish propensity of mankind to adopt the religion of their fathers without investigation, he requested Translations of the Heavenly Books (the Pentateucu, Psavms, and GospEts,) or any others of general utility. (229) During the sixteent century also, translations of the New Testament were made into Hz- BREW, by different persons, with the pious inten- tion of enlightening and converting the Jews. Dr. C. Buchanan in his late tour into the interior of India, obtained a very singular copy from that peo- ple. It is written in the small Rabbinical or Jeru- salem character. The translator wasa learned Rab- bi, and the translation is in general faithful. The design of the translator was to make an accurate, yersion of the New Testament, for the express purpose of confuting it, and of repelling the ar- guments of his neighbours the Syrian, or St. (229) Wrangham’s Sermon on the Translation of the Scrip- tures into the Oriental Languages, p. 43. notes, Thomé Christians. “ But behold the Providence “of God! the translator became himself a con- “vert to Christianity : his own work subdued his — “unbelief; and he lived and died in the faith of “Christ.” This manuscript is now in the library at Cambridge. A copy of it has also been made © at the expense of Dr. B. and presented to the library at the Jews’ chapel in London. (230) In again recurring to the state of Scriptural knowledge in the West, we remark with plea- sure, the revival of learning in Europe by the retreat of the studious Greeks with their books from Constantinople, on the taking of that city by the Turks, in 1453; and the munificent pa- tronage of men of letters by the Mepicr and others; a circumstance which afforded consider- able aid to the Reformation, by promoting Bibli- cal criticism and New translations of the Scrip- tures, as well as the revision of former transla- tions; so that not only were there revisions, and new translations of the Sacred Writings, in Ene.isu, German, Frencn, &c. but editions of the whole, or parts of the Bible, were also =_—— (230) Fourth Report of the London Sobicty for promot- ing Christianity amongst the Jews, App. P45. 3 Neth - 201 printed in Swepisu, Fremisu, Danisu, Finnisn, _ Croatian, Scravontan, Hetvetian, Saxon, Pouisu, Basqur, Huncarran, WiNpDEN or VE- NEDI, PomeRANIAN, IceLanpic, Eruioric, and Modern Greex. (231) In 1599, Elias Hutter, published a Poryciorr Testament in Twelve languages; Syriac, Italian, Hebrew, Spanish, Greek, French, Latin, English, German, Danish, Bohemian, and Polish. It was printed at Nuremberg, in ¢wo volumes in folio. Early in the seventeenth century, a new transla- tion or rather revision of the Bible was deter- mined upon in Enexranp. For in 1604, King James I. in consequence of a request made by _ Dr. Reynolds, the head of the Nonconformist party, at a Conference held at Hampton Court in 1603, appointed 54 learned persons, chosen from both the Universities, to make a new and more correct translation; seven of whom probably _ either declined the work from diffidence, or were prevented engaging in it by death, as only forty _ seven appear in the list of translators. (232) The translation was begun in 1607, and com- (231) Marsh’s History of Translations. (232) Lewis, p. 306, &c. uf 202 pleted in 1611. This is the present authorized English Version; and competent judges scruple not to affirm, that it is accurate and faithful, that the translators have seized the very spirit and soul of the original, and impressed this almost every where with pathos and energy. About the middle of this century, the Bible was translated into Ir1sa, by a person of the name of King, under the inspection, and at the expense of the pious Bishop Bedell. It was printed at > London after his death, in 1685. (233) ‘In the horrid Rebellion,” says Lewis, “which ‘the Irish Roman Catholics raised in that King- “dom, A. D. 1641, among other instances : of their “hatred of the protestant religion, which they then “ save, this was one, their tearing, burning, wal- “lowing in the mire, and cursing the English Bi- | “bles, of which they burnt no fewer than 140 at ‘one time, saying when they were in the fire, << that it was hell-fire that burned.” (234). ; We gladly turn from this scene of horrible (233) Gillies’ Historical Collections, vol. 1. p. 166.° (234) Lewis, p. 325. 203 ‘profanity, to notice the publication of the cele- brated Poryetott Brisre of Le Jay, in 1645, in 10 vols. large folio. It is an extremely mag- nificent work. The Samaritan Pentateuch, was first printed in this Polyglott.---This was followed by the less beautiful, but more accurate, compre- hensive, and useful Polyglott Bible of Bryan Watton, afterwards Bishop of Chester. It isin 6 vols. folio. and contains the Scriptures, or parts ‘ of them, in the Hebrew, Samaritan, Chaldee, Greek, Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic, Persic, and La- tin languages. It was printed in 1653---1657. The Lexicon Heptaglotton of Castell, in 2 vols. folio, was designed to accompany it. In this century the Bible, or portions of it was Jirst printedin the Ersror GArLic, WALLACHIAN, Laronest, Romanese, LitHuanran, TurKIsH, Portucurse, Livontan or Lertisu, Estnoni- AN, Mopern Russian, Maayan, Formosan, Armentan, Coptic and VIRGINIAN. The Eighteenth century was favoured with an extensive diffusion of the Holy Scriptures, and -the establishment of several Institutions for the purpose of printing and dispersing Bibles in va- 204 rious languages. The principal of these Institu- tions was the celebrated establishment at Halle, in Germany, founded in 1712, by Charles Hilde- brand, Baron of Canstein, for the sole purpose of printing Bibles, especially German Bibles, and selling them at a moderate price. This Institu- tion has been ina state of never-ceasing activity. In the Printing Office, the fgames are kept con- stantly set for the whole Bible, of various sizes from the folio to the duodecimo; and the Bibles and Testaments which have emanated from this institution, amount to more than three millions of copies. (235) Beside almost innumerable new editions of Bibles before translated; the following were printed for the first time during this century ; the Grisons, the Upper Lusatran, the Manks, - Grorcran, Tamoot, Crincaesr, Hinpoos- TANEE, BencarLer, MaAssacnuset, Creo.r, Mouawk, and GREENLANDISH. Nor ought we to pass over in silence, those extensive and important CoLtiations of manu- (235) Gillies’ Historical Collections, vol. 1, p. 417. Second ep of Brit. and For, Bib. Society. App. No. 9. omg 205 scripts of the original texts of the Old and New Testaments, which were made during this cen- tury, at immense labour and expense, by Mill, Wetstein, Kennicott, Griesbach, and _ other indefatigable and judicious critics, and by which _the general Integrity of the Sacred Text is indubitably established. For although about 600 manuscripts of the Hebrew Text of the Old Testament, and more than 350 Greek Manu- scripts of the Gospels, and 150 of St. Paul’s Epistles, beside many of the General Epistles, _and Revelation, written by different persons, at many thousand miles distance from each other, and at different periods of time through a series of many hundred years, have been examined and compared with each other, with the early Ver- sions, and with the Quotations of Scripture made in various ages by Jewish, Christian and Heathen writers, and every sentence, word, and even letter noted in which they differed; not one variation or “different reading has been discovered, by which a single important doctrine has either been al- tered or destroyed. ‘They all agree,” ‘says ‘Dr. Herbert Marsh, “in the important doctrines “ of the Christian Faith; they all declare with L 206 * one accord, the doctrine of the Trinity, and “ the doctrine. of the AronemMEenT By Jesus “ Curist.?%: (236) The most eminent edition of the Hebrew Bible, which exhibits the various readings, is by Dr. Benj. Kennicott, of Oxford, in 2 volumes folio; the first volume printed in 1776, and the second in 1780. The most complete edition of the Greek New Testament, is by Dr. Griesbach, Pro- fessor of Divinity at Jena, in Saxony, in 2 vols. octavo; the first volume printed in 1796, the second in 1806. But, how different a scene presents itself in the South of France; where, in 1744, a violent persecution was raised against the Protestants, in which considerable numbers suffered im- prisonment and.death, and many were condemned .to the gallies for life, or sentenced to perpetual - Danishment ; and the Word of God treated with the utmost contempt. - One instance shall suffice: + “Stephen Arnaud, for teaching some young pers sons te sing Davip’s Psarms, was branded es - (236) Marsh's peut, part 1, Lect. b p, 86. and ‘ ect p Griesbach, Noy. Text, Grec. Proleg, Sects I.p. 3h 207 a hot iron, and set on the pillory, with his New Testament, and Boox or Psaums about his neck. (237) How striking is the contrast formed by the conduct of EncLanp, towards the emigrant Ro- man Catholic Clergy, when the late sanguinary revolution obliged them to escape from their ill-fated country. A private subscription of £33775. 15s. 91d. was immediately made for them. When that was exhausted, a second was collected under the auspices of his Majesty, and produced £41304. 12s. 63d. and afterwards a monthly allowance of about £8000. was appro- priated for their support. The University of ‘Oxford added nobly to the boon, by printing for — them at her sole expense, 2000 copies of the Latin Vulgate of the New Testament ; but this number not being deemed sufficient to satisfy. 7 their demand, 2000 more were added at the exe pense of the Marquis of Buckingham. (238) To conclude.---The commencement of the pre- sent, or nineteenth century, has, in England, been , (237) Lockman’s Mist. of Persecutions, p. 233. (238) Hore Biblica, vol. 1. p, 233, 235, i 208 illustriously marked, by the establishment of the Britisu anp Foreign Bisre Sociery, in 1804, Simple, original, and comprehensive in its plan, this Institution knows no distinction of sect or party. Equally open to “Jew and Gentile, Barbarian, Scythian, Bond and Free” to aid its exertions, or receive its benefits, it calculates up- on unparalleled utility, and embraces in its vast design the communication of the Worp or Gop, to “ every nation, and kindred, and people,. and tongue.” HALLELUJAH. Amen. # Be go> = Fs, B. Crompton, Printer, Bury. i re Fa “we DEMCO 38-297 | Duke Univers j | D02472812Q