sider this selection as perfect; and vastly superiour in this respect to any other that has come under our observation. The many and great changes in this edition must diminish in some views the value of the first; but we understand that the work is to be permanent in its present form. We commend its claims to those churches that are about adopting or introducing a new selection of hymns. A Discourse delivered before the Worcester Auxiliary Society for meliorating the Condition of the Jews, April 28, 1824. By Aaron Bancroft, D. D. Pastor of the Second Congregational Church in Worcester. Dr. Bancroft is President of the Worcester Society. He explains in this Sermon, with his accustomed conciseness and force, some of the circumstances which make the Jews a peculiarly interesting people, their claims to the attention of Christians, and the measures which have been hitherto adopted in their behalf. A Sermon, preached at the Ordination of the Rev. Ezra S. Gannett, Colleague Pastor of the Church in Federal Street, Boston. By Rev. William E. Channing, D. D. Pastor of said Church. A Valedictory Discourse, delivered before the First Religious Society in Weymouth, in two Parts, on the morning and afternoon of Lord's Day, July 4, 1824. By Rev. Jacob Norton. Charity at Home. A Sermon preached for the Benefit of the United Domestick Missionary Society, in the Church in Murray. Street, New York. By John H. Rice, D. D. Professor of Christian Theology in the Theological seminary in Virginia. Future Rewards and Punishments. A Sermon preached at the Funeral of the Rev. Moses C. Welsh, D. D. Pastor of the Second Church in Mansfield, April 28, 1824. By Rev. Samuel Nott, Pastor of the Church in Franklin. Twenty-fifth Annual Report of the Massachusetts Missionary Society. Read and accepted, May 25, 1824. Salem. A Treatise on the Divine Nature, exhibiting the Distinction of the The Religious Monitor. No. 1. 8vo. Albany. Missionary Herald. Vol. XX. Nos. 7 and 8. A Careful and Free Inquiry into the True Nature and Tendency ⚫ of the Religious Principles of the Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers. By William C. Brownlee, A. M. 8vo. Philadelphia. Minutes of the Baltimore Baptist Association, held in the Meeting House of the Ebenezer Church, in the City of Baltimore, May 18, 1824. The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, with References and a Key Sheet of Questions, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical. By Hervey Wilbur, A. M. Sermons and Plans of Sermons, on many of the most Important Texts of Scripture. By the late Rev. Joseph Benson. 12mo. pp. 302. Baltimore. Baptist Magazine for July. A Collection of Essays and Tracts in Theology. By Jared Sparks. No. 7. Containing Selections from William Penn's Works ;The Innocency of Errour Asserted and Vindicated. By Dr. Sykes;-Selections from the Writings of Dr. Benson. The Friend of Peace, No. 23. Gospel Advocate, Vol. VI. Nos. 5 and 6. Sermons on the Principal Events and Truths of Redemption. By John Henry Hobart, D. D. Sermons by the late Right Rev. Benjamin Moore, Bishop of the Diocess of New York. The Christian Advocate, Nos. 18 and 19, for June and July, 1824. Philadelphia. E. Littell. A Sermon preached June 9, 1824, at Falmouth, Mass. at the Ordination of the Rev. Benjamin Woodbury. By Leonard Woods, D. D. Abbot Professor of Christian Theology, Andover. Correspondence relative to the Prospects of Christianity and the Means of promoting its Reception in India. An Essay on Communion, being an Able and Candid Vindication of the Particular Communion of the Baptist Churches. By J. Merriam. Lincoln & Edmands. The Trials and Encouragements of Christ's Faithful Ministers; a Sermon delivered in the Baptist Literary and Theological Seminary, Hamilton, New York, March 19, 1824. By Nathaniel Kendrick, D. D. Professor of Theology in the Seminary. Published by the Students. The Duties, Trials, and Rewards of the Gospel Ministry; a Sermon preached in Pittsfield, Mass. at the Installation of the Rev. Rufus William Bailey, as Pastor of the Congregational Church in that town, April 15, 1824. By Absalom Peters, A. M. Pastor of the Church in Bennington, Vermont. Conversations on the Bible. Second Edition. Philadelphia. Harrison Hall. Flavel's Sacramental Meditations. Richmond. Joseph Martin. The Spanish Daughter, by the Rev. George Butt, late Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty. Revised and Completed by his Daughter, Mrs. Sherwood, Author of Stories on the Church Catechism. American Sunday School Magazine. No. 1. Two Discourses on the Atonement. By Moses Stuart of Andover. A Sermon, delivered July 13, 1823, at the Organization of the Third Presbyterian Church in the city of Charleston, S. C. By Aaron W. Leland, D. D. Christian Almanack for 1825. Lincoln & Edmands. Sixth Report of the Board of Directors of the Presbyterian Education Society; presented at the Annual Meeting, May 13, 1824. New York. J. Seymour. DEDICATED. July 6, The New Meeting House in Tewksbury. ORDAINED. Aug. 11, Rev. William Ford, Colleague Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Newburyport. June 30, Rev. Ezra S. Gannett, Colleague Pastor of the Church in Federal Street, Boston. The Introductory Prayer was offered by Rev. Mr. Palfrey; the Consecrating Prayer by the Rev. President of the University; and the Concluding Prayer by Rev. Mr. Pierpont. Rev Dr. Channing preached the Sermon; Rev. Mr Ware addressed the Church and Society; Rev. Dr. Porter of Roxbury gave the Charge, and Rev. Mr. Gannett of Cambridge the Right Hand of Fellowship. June 30, Rev. Calvin Lincoln, jr. Pastor of the First Congregational Church in Fitchburg. Rev. Mr. Brooks of Hingham offered the Introductory, Rev. Dr. Lowell of Boston the Consecrating, and Rev. Mr. Francis of Watertown the Concluding Prayer. Rev. Professor Ware of the University preached. Rev. Dr. Thayer of Lancaster addressed the Church and Society. Rev. Dr. Bancroft of Worcester gave the Charge, and Rev. Mr. Damon of Lunenburgh, the Right Hand of Fellowship. THE Christian Examiner. Examiner. No. V.] September and October, 1824. [VOL. I. Miscellany. NOTES UPON THE BIBLE.-No. V. SOME brief account of a few of the most important manuscript copies of the New Testament may be interesting to the readers of the Examiner. Their age, character and state of preservation, indeed, while they make an essential part of the literary history of that volume, constitute also a part of the grounds, on which the evidence of the purity of the text is to be estimated. It is therefore not a mere subject of curiosity, but of some utility to the biblical inquirer. Of the ancient manuscripts of the New Testament, which have survived the ravages of time and accident, and come down to us, the Alexandrine is that, which on several accounts deserves our first notice. The precedence over all the others has usually been given to it by critical writers, not for its age, its origin, or the care with which it was originally written; but because it is more entire than any other of equal age, was earlier and better known, has been more consulted, and more fully and critically examined. This venerable relick of an early age, now preserved in the library of the royal Museum in London, consists of four folio volumes; the three first containing the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, and the fourth the original Greek of the New. Like all the most ancient manuscripts, it is written on vellum. The page is divided into two columns. It is written in uncial characters throughout, without distinction of words, and without aspirates or accents. It is however divided into paragraphs, which are distinguished, when the first terminates with the end of a line, by the next commencing with a letter of much larger size, but of the same form, placed, not as we begin a paragraph within the line, but without in the margin. And, (what is still more peculiar, differing from any example of modern chirography,) when the paragraph ends in the middle of a line, the writing is continued, usually with a small interval of blank space, but sometimes without any, to the end of the line; and the first letter in the next line, though it be in the middle of a sentence, or even in the middle of a word, is distinguished by being of the large size, and, to denote the commencement of a paragraph, placed in the margin. This singularity has led to the supposition, that the transcript was made by a person wholly unacquainted with the Greek language. But this opinion has been shown by Montfaucon, Wetstein, and Woide, to be without foundation; and that it is to be attributed, not to the ignorance of the transcriber, but to the custom, strange as it is, of those times.* The volume of this manuscript, which contains the New Testament, is incomplete. Several of the first sheets are missing, containing the Gospel of Matthew, to the 6th verse of the xxvth chapter, where the page begins with the word εEXɛɛ in the middle of the verse, in the manner represented in the note below. There is again a chasm in the Gospel of John from the 50th verse of the vith chapter, to the * The following is an example taken from the 6th and 7th verses of the xxvth chapter of Matthew. They are the first sentences, as is afterwards mentioned, that remain in the Alexandrine Manuscript. εξέρχεσθε εις απαντησιν αυτου. Τοτε ηγέρθησαν πασαι αι παρθενοι εκείναι και εκοσμησαν, &c. In the Alexandrine manuscript it is thus written; |