The Vatican, no-Sixth Century. In the Royal Library at Written, probably, by the Some of the leaves are wanting Unitarian editors of The Cambridge, Perhaps of all In the University Li-Theodore Beza used it for his Uncial letters; no intervals between Unitarian editors, or Cordex Bezce. the manuscripts brary at Cambridge. edition of the N. T. It was the words; is ungrammatical, as side and Bishop Marsh, now extant this The Clermont, (Seventh Century. In the Royal Library It was first found in the mo-Is Greek and Latin; contains the Wetstein, Unitarian or Regius, 2245. at Paris. nastery of Cluny, called Cler- Epistles, but that to the Hebrews editors. mont, from Clermont in Beau-by a later hand; like other Græco-Schweyhäusen, vais, where it was preserved; Latin codices the Greek has been quoted by Bishop 36 leaves of it were stolen by accommodated to the Latin. one John Aymon, and sold in Besides these, there are above twenty other manuscripts in large letters, of different portions of the New Testament, and some hundreds in small characters. It appears from the subscriptions of very many manuscripts of which we are in possession, that they were written on Mount Athos, where the monks employed themselves in writing copies of the Greek Testament. Some manuscripts, ascribed to the highest antiquity, have been discovered to be the composition of impositors, as late as the 17th century, for the purpose of foisting in favourite doctrines, and imposing on Christian credulity. The Montford and Berlin MSS. for instance.-Marsh, v. 2, p. 295. ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, 1. Now The PESHITO, the most ancient Syriac version, brought into Europe, A. D. 1552. Printed at Vienna, at the expence of the Emperor Maximilian. 2. The PHILOXENIAN, a later Syriac version, made in the sixth century, under the inspection of Philozenus, Bishop of Hierapolis. Published at Oxford, by Professor White, A. D. 1778. 3. The COPTIC, in the ancient dialect of the Lower Egypt. Still read, though it is not understood. 4. The SAHIDIC, in the ancient dialect of the Upper Egypt. 5. The ETHIOPIC, used in Abyssinia. First published at Rome, A. D. 1548, by three Ethiopian editors. 6. The ARMENIAN, made in the fifth century. No genuine copies in existence. 7. The PERSIC, there are two of this class: neither very ancient; the one a translation from the Syriac, the other from the Greek. 8. The LATIN, sometimes in distinction, called the Italic. These very translations of the Greek text as it stood in the most ancient manuscripts, were in general use in an age that precedes the date of any manuscript now extant. 9. The VULGATE is that Latin first corrected and published by the monk St. Jerome, A. D. 384, by order of Pope Damasus, and by the Council of Trent pronounced authentic; so that no one may dare or presume, under any pretext, to reject it. All the French, Italian, and Spanish bibles that were published before the sixteenth century, were taken wholly from the Latin.-Marsh's Michaelis, vol. 2. p. 7. I conclude this general synopsis of the ancient versions of the New Testament, by a striking and spirited censure, (as applicable to the great author from whom I quote so largely, as to the most bigotted of his fraternity,) which I find in a very able work, entitled Palæoromaica, published by Murray, 1822, professing to inquire whether the Hellenistic style (that of the Greek Testament) is not Latin Greek. "The opinion that the Epistle to the Romans was originally composed in Latin, is not only supported by the Syrian scholiast, but has been conjectured by several theologians, chiefly of the Roman church ;* which, to the shame of Protestantism, has allowed far greater freedom of discussion to its members than has ever been enjoyed in those churches which profess to make free inquiry the boon which they offer, and the very badge of their distinction. In fact, it is difficult to say, what has been secretly discovered or not discovered in biblical criticism and theology, as authors, on these topics, have hitherto written in fetters and many of them, probably, have suppressed much of their real sentiments, from an anxiety for their repose."-Palæoromaica, p. 186. Could this learned writer have more significantly given us to understand, that divines have never yet had courage enough to be honest men? EDITIONS OF THE GREEK TESTAMENT. 1. The COMPLUTENSIAN POLYGLOT, so called from Complutum,the ancient name for Alcala, a Spanish University, and polyglot, of many tongues. Published at the expence and under the management of the celebrated cardinal, statesman, and warrior, Francis Ximenes de Cisneros, the 22nd of March, 1520, by permission of Pope Leo X. Only 600 impressions were taken off. 2. A. D. 1516.-ERASMUS, at Basle in Switzerland, published an edition, from a few manuscripts found in that neighbourhood-a second, a third, and, lastly, in A. D. 1527, a fourth, in which, to obviate the clamour of bigots, he introduced many alterations, to make it agree with the edition of Cardinal Ximenes. 3. A. D. 1550.-ROBERT STEPHENS,† a learned printer, at Paris, published a splendid edition, in which he availed himself of the Complutensian Polyglot. It abounds with errors, though long supposed to be a correct and immaculate work. 4. A. D. 1589.-THEODORE BEZA, successor to John Calvin, at Geneva, published a critical edition, in which he made use of Robert Stephen's own copy, with many *Were common sense consulted in matters of biblical criticism, what would it say to the supposition that an Epistle to the Romans should be written in a language of which the Romans were utterly ignorant? or to the fact, of the many words in the Greek Testament which are nothing more than Latin words written in Greek characters, and such as no Greek writer of those times would either have used or known the use of? † He first introduced the present division of the text of the New Testament into verses.-Michaelis, vol. 2, pt. I, p. 527. additional various readings,* from fifteen manuscripts, which had been entrusted to the collation of Henry Stephens, the son of Robert, a youth of eighteen years of age. 5. A. D. 1624.-The ELZEVIR EDITION, published at Leyden, at the office of the Elzevirs, who were the most eminent printers of their time. The editor is unknown. This edition differs very little from the text of Robert Stephens; a few variations are admitted from the edition of Beza, and a very few more upon some unknown authority; but it does not appear that the editor was in possession of any manuscripts. The reputation of the Elzevirs for correctness of typography, and the beauty of this specimen, raised it to the pinnacle-it was unaccountably taken for granted, that it exhibited a pure and perfect text. This, therefore, became the standard of all succeeding editions, and constitutes at this day the received text. EUROPEAN TRANSLATIONS. A. D. 900.-Valdo, Bishop of Frising, caused the gospels to be translated into Dutch rhyme. 1160.-Valdus, Bishop of —, caused them to be turned into French rhyme. We may guess how closely the original would be adhered to in these poems. 1360.-Charles the Wise is said to have caused them to be turned into French prose. 1377.-John Trevisa translated them into English. The art of printing was discovered A. D, 1444; the first printed book in England was published by Caxton, A. D. 1474, the 13th of the reign of our Edward IV. Before this time our Christian countrymen, generally, must have been entirely ignorant of the text of Scripture. 1517.-William Tyndal made the best English translation of the New Testament, and was put to death for having done so. 1611.-The seventh of our King James I., that is, 217 years since, is the date of our present English translation; in the preface to which, the translators admit, that they themselves did not know whether there were any translation, or correction of a translation, in existence, in King Henry the Eighth or King Edward's time. The ground of * The number of the various readings is admitted to be at least one hundred and thirty thousand; the total number of words is one hundred and eighty one thousand two hundred and fifty-three. |