India, discovered and obtained numerous antient manuscripts of the Scriptures, which are now deposited in the public library at Cambridge. One of these, which was discovered in a remote Syrian church near the mountains, is particularly valuable: it contains the Old and New Testaments, engrossed with beautiful accuracy in the Estrangelo (or old Syriac,) character, on strong vellum, in large folio, and having three columns in a page. The words of every book are numbered: and the volume is illuminated, but not after the European manner, the initial letters having no ornament. Though somewhat injured by time or neglect, the ink being in certain places obliterated, still the letters can in general be distinctly traced from the impress of the pen, or from the partial corrosion of the ink. The Syrian church assigns a high date to this manuscript, which, in the opinion of Mr. Yeates, who has published a collation of the Pentateuch, was written about the seventh century. In looking over this manuscript, Dr. Buchanan found the very first emendation of the Hebrew text proposed by Dr. Kennicott, which doubtless is the true reading.

The first edition of this version of the Syriac Scriptures appeared in the Paris Polyglott; but, being taken from an imperfect MS., its deficiencies were supplied by Gabriel Sionita, who translated the passages wanting from the Latin Vulgate, and has been unjustly charged with having translated the whole from the Vulgate. This text was reprinted in Bishop Walton's Polyglott, with the addition of some apocryphal books. There have been numerous editions of particular parts of the Syriac Old Testament, which are minutely described by Masch. A new edition of the Syriac Version of the Old Testament is at this time printing under the editorial care of the Rev. Professor Lee, of Cambridge, under the patronage of the Church Missionary Society, and at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society. To his collation of the Travancore Manuscript has been added that of another manuscript belonging to the Rev. Dr. Adam Clarke, and one of the Pentateuch found by Mr. Lee in the Library of New College, Oxford, 4

The other Syriac versions being made from the Septuagint, it may suffice to offer a brief notice of the Syriac translation of Origen's Hexaplar edition of the LXX., which is the most celebrated and valuable. This translation was executed in the former part of the seventh century; the author of this version is unknown. The late Professor De Rossi, who published the first specimen of it,5 does not decide

1 In the Christian Observer, vol. xii. pp. 171-174, there is an account of Mr. Yeates's Collation; and in vol. ix. of the same Journal, pp. 273-275. 348-350, there is given a very interesting description of the Syriac manuscript above noticed. A short account of it also occurs in Dr. Buchanan's "Christian Researches respecting the Syrians, pp. 229–231. (edit. 1811.)

2 Gen. iv. 8. And Cain said unto Abel his brother, Let us go down into the plain. It may be satisfactory to the reader to know that this disputed addition is to be found in the Samaritan, Syriac, Septuagint, and Vulgate Versions, printed in Bishop Walton's Polyglott.

3 Part ii. vol. i. sect. iv. pp. 64-71.

4 Report of the Church Missionary Society for 1817-18, p. 154.

5 M. De Rossi's publication is entitled, Specimen inedita et Hexaplaris Bibliorum Versionis, Syro-Estranghela, cum simplici atque utriusque fontibus, Græco

whether it is to be attributed to Mar-Abba, James of Edessa, Paul, Bishop of Tela, or to Thomas of Heraclea. Assemanni ascribes it to Thomas, though other learned men affirm that he did no more than collate the Books of Scripture. This version, however, corresponds exactly with the text of the Septuagint, especially in those pas sages in which the latter differs from the Hebrew. A MS. of this version is in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, comprising the Books of Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Hosea, Amos, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Isaiah: it also contains the obelus and other marks of Origen's Hexapla; and a subscription at the end states it to have been literally translated from the Greek copy, corrected by Eusebius himself, with the assistance of Pamphilus, from the books of Origen, which were deposited in the library at Cæsarea. The conformity of this MS. with the account given by Masius in the preface to his learned Annotations on the Book of Joshua, affords strong grounds for believing that this is the second part of the MS. described by him as then being in his possession, and which, there is reason to fear, is irrecoverably lost. From this version M. Norberg edited the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel in 1787, 4to. Londini, Gothorum; and M. Bugati, the Book of Daniel, at Milan, 1788, 4to.1

V. Although the Christian religion was preached in Arabia, as well as in other countries of the East, at an early period, yet it never was the established religion of the country, as in Syria and Egypt; for even the temple at Mecca was a heathen temple till the time of Mohammed. Historical evidence, therefore, concerning the ARABIC VERSIONS, does not extend beyond the tenth century, when

1. Rabbi Saadias Gaon, a celebrated Jewish teacher at Babylon, translated, or rather, paraphrased, the Old Testament into Arabic: of this version the Pentateuch was printed at Constantinople, in folio, in the year 1546, in Hebrew characters; and in the Paris and London Polyglotts, in Arabic letters. —The prophecy of Isaiah was published by Paulus in 8vo. at Jena, in 1790, 1791.2 The remaining books of this translation have not hitherto been discovered. Besides this, there are several other Arabic Versions extant, made immediately from the Hebrew, either by Jews, Samaritans or Christians, of which the following are the principal, viz.

2. The Arabic version of the Pentateuch, published by Erpenius et Hebræo, collate cum duplici Latina versione et notis. Edidit, ac diatribam de rarissimo codice Ambrosiano, unde illud haustum est, præmisit Johannes Bern. Rossi. 8vo. Parma, 1778. The specimen consists of the first psalm printed in six columns. The first contains the Greek text of the Septuagint; the second, the Syro-Estrangelo text; the third, the Latin text translated from the Septuagint; the fourth, the Hebrew text; the fifth the Peschito or old Syriac text above noticed; and the sixth, the Latin text translated from this latter version.

1 Masch, part ii. vol. i. pp. 58-60. Jahn, Introd. ad Vet. Fad. pp. 76-73. Monthly Review, O. S. vol. lix. pp. 452-454. Some other Syriac versions of less note are described by Masch, ut supra pp. 60-62.

2 On this book some remarks have been published by Dr. C. D. Breithaupt at Rostock, entitled Commentationis in Saadianam versionem Jesaia Arabicam fasci culus primus, 1819. 8vo.

at Leyden in 1622, 4to., appears to have been executed in the thirteenth century by some African Jew, who has very closely adhered to the Hebrew.

3. The Arabic version of the book of Joshua, printed in the Paris and London Polyglotts, is, in the opinion of Bauer, made directly from the Hebrew. Its author and date are not known.

4. The Pentateuch, Psalms, and Prophecy of Daniel, were translated by Saadia Ben Levi Asnekot, who lived in the early part of the seventeenth century: they are extant only in MS. in the British Museum, and are of very little value.

Besides these versions, the Arab Christians have a translation of the Book of Job (printed in the Paris and London Polyglotts), and two versions of the Psalms, still in MS. which were respectively made from the Peschito or Old Syriac version. All the Arabic books of the Old Testament, (with the exception of the Pentateuch and Job), which are printed in those Polyglotts, were executed from Hesychius's recension of the Septuagint. The Psalms, inserted in Justiniani's Polyglott Psalter, and Gabriel Sionita's Arabic Psalter, were made from Lucian's recension of that version: and the Arabic

Psalter, printed at Aleppo in 1706, 4to., follows the Melchitic recension of the LXX.3

Besides the preceding Oriental versions, there are several others; which, though not of equal importance in the criticism and interpretation of the Sacred Writings, may still be occasionally consulted with advantage. Among these we may enumerate the Persic, Egyptian, Ethiopic, Armenian, and Sclavonic translations.

1. The PERSIC VERSION.-Although we have no authentic account of the conversion of the whole Persian nation to Christianity, yet we are informed by Chrysostom and Theodoret, that the Scriptures were very antiently translated into the Persian language. It does not appear, however, that any fragments of this antient version are extant. The translation of the Pentateuch, printed in the 4th volume of Bishop Walton's Polyglott, was executed by a Jew, for the benefit of the Jews, in the eleventh or twelth century. The Hebrew text is, for the most part, faithfully rendered. Bishop Walton mentions two Persic versions of the Psalms-one by a Portuguese monk at Ispahan in the year 1618, and another by some Jesuits from the vulgate Latin version. These are yet in MS.

1 Cat. Harl. MSS. vol. iii. num. 5505.

2 The Melchites were those Christians in Syria, Egypt, and the Levant, who, though not Greeks, followed the doctrines and ceremonies of the Greek church. They were called Melchites, that is, Royalists, by their adversaries, by way of reproach, on account of their implicit submission to the edict of the emperor Marcian, in favour of the council of Chalcedon. Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. vol. ii. p. 188. note (m.)

3 Carpzov. Crit. Sacr. pp. 640-644. Bauer, Crit. Sacr. pp. 321-324. Jahn, Introd. ad Vet. Fæd. pp. 78-80. Masch, part ii. vol. i. pp. 103-110. In pp. 110 -128. he has given an account of Arabic editions of the Old Testament, and detached parts of it. On Arabic editions, Schnurrer's Bibliotheca Arabica, pp. 339397, may also be advantageously consulted.

4 Walton, Prol. xvi. § 6-8. pp. 692–695. Kortholt, c. xix. pp. 301-303. Jahn, p. 80. For an account of editions consult Masch, part ii. vol. i. pp. 158-164.

2. EGYPTIAN VERSIONS. From the proximity of Egypt to Judæa, it appears that the knowledge of the Gospel was very early communicated to the inhabitants of that country, whose language was divided into two dialects-the Sahidic or dialect of Upper Egypt, and the Coptic or dialect of lower Egypt. In the former of these dialects the ninth chapter of Daniel was published by Münter at Rome in 1786; and Jeremiah, ch. ix. 17. to ch. xiii. by Mingarelli, in Reliquia Egyptiorum Codicum in Bibliotheca Naniana asservatæ, at Bologna, in 1785.

The Coptic language is a compound of the old Egyptian and Greek; into which the Old Testament was translated from the Septuagint, perhaps in the second or third century, and certainly before the seventh century. Of this version, the Pentateuch was published by Wilkins in 1731; and a Psalter, by the congregation de Propaganda Fide, at Rome, in 1744 and 1749. And in the course of the year 1816 M. Engelbreth published at Copenhagen, in quarto, some fragments of a Basmurico-Coptic version of the Old and New Testament (preserved in the Borgian Museum at Velitri), collated with other Egyptian versions. The editor has given a Latin version, and illustrated the work with critical and philological notes. No part of the Sahidic version of the Old Testament appears to have been published. The late Dr. Woide was of opinion that both the Coptic and Sahidic Versions were made from the Greek. They express the phrases of the Septuagint Version; and most of the additions, omissions, and transpositions, which distinguish the latter from the Hebrew, are discoverable in the Coptic and Sahidic Versions.

3. The ETHIOPIC or ABYSSINIAN VERSION, which is still extant, was made from the Septuagint: although its author and date are unknown, yet, from the marks of unquestionable antiquity which it bears, there is every reason to believe that it was executed in the second century. Some peculiar readings occur in this translation: but, where it seems to be exact, it derives considerable authority from its antiquity. Only a few books and fragments of this version have been printed. The first portions of the Ethiopic Scriptures that appeared in print, were the Psalms, and the Song of Solomon; edited at Rome, by John Potken, A. D. 1513. In 1548, the New Testament was also printed at Rome by some Abyssinian priests, and was afterwards reprinted in the London Polyglott: but as the manuscripts used in the Roman edition were old and mutilated, the editors restored such chasms as appeared in the text, by translations from the Latin Vulgate. These editions, therefore, are not of much value, as they do not present faithful copies of the antient Ethiopic text. About the

1 Masch, part ii. vol. i. pp. 182–190. Jahn, p. 81.

2 The following is the title of the work above noticed, of which the author has not been able to procure a sight:- Fragmenta Basmurico-Coptica Veteris et Novi Testamenti, quæ in Museo Borgiano Velitris asserventur, cum reliquis versionibus Ægyptiacis contulit, Latinè vertit, necnon criticis et philologicis adnotationibus illustravit W. F. Engelbreth, 4to. Hafnia, 1816. The only perfect copy of the Coptic Bible now in Europe, is said to be in the possession of Monsieur Marcel. See M. Quartrèmère's Recherches sur la Langue et la Littérature d'Egypte, p. 118.

middle of the seventeenth century appeared in print, the Book of Ruth; the Prophecies of Joel, Jonah, Zephaniah, and Malachi; the Song of Moses; that of Hannah (1 Sam. ii.); the Prayers of Hezekiah, Manasseh, Jonah, Azariah, and the three Children; Isaiah; Habakkuk; the Hymns of the Virgin Mary, Zechariah, and Simeon; and the first four chapters of Genesis. In 1815, the British and Foreign Bible Society published a reprint of Ludolf's edition of the Ethiopic Psalter. This is the whole of the Ethiopic Scriptures hitherto printed. It is not necessary here to enumerate all the reprints of the above portions of the Ethiopic Bible.1

There is, however, reason to expect that, in no long time, the gift of the entire Ethiopic Scriptures will be imparted to Abyssinia. A manuscript copy of this version, in fine preservation, has been purchased by the committee of the Church Missionary Society. From a memoir on this manuscript by Professor Lee, we learn, that it contains the first eight books of the Old Testament, written on vellum, in a bold and masterly hand, in two columns on each page. The length of a page is that of a large quarto: the width is not quite so great. The volume contains 285 folios, of which the text covers 282, very accurately written, and in high preservation. On the first page is written, in Ethiopic, the invocation usually found in the books of the eastern Christians: "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Then follows an account of the contents of the book, written in Latin by some former possessor, and a date A. D. 1696, 20th September. On the reverse of the first folio is found a table, not unlike the tables of genealogy in some of our old English Bibles, which seems to be intended to show the hours appointed for certain prayers. Then follows the Book of Genesis, as translated from the Greek of the Septuagint. On the reverse of the third folio is the following inscription in Arabic: "The poor Ribea, the Son of Elias, wrote it: O wine! to which nothing can be assimilated, either in reality or appearance: O excellent drink! of which our Lord said, having the cup in his hand, and giving thanks, 'This is my blood for the salvation of men."" Folios 7 and 8 have been supplied, in paper, by a more modern hand. On the reverse of folio 8 is a very humble attempt at drawing, in the figure of a person apparently in prayer, accompanied by an inscription in Ethiopic, at the side of the figure: "In the prayers of Moses and Aaron, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, am I, thy servant, O Lord, presented in the power of the

Jahn, p. 81. Masch, part ii. vol. i. pp. 140-143. In pp. 145–157. is a bibliographical notice of all the Ethiopic editions of the Scriptures, whether entire or in parts, that have been published. Walton, Prol. xv. § 10-12. pp. 679-685. Kortholt, pp. 298-301. In Mr. Bruce's Travels, vol. ii. pp. 416-420. (8vo. edit.) there is an interesting account of the Ethiopic Biblical books. It is not known in whose possession the manuscript copy of the Ethiopic Version now is, which was brought by Mr. B. from Abyssinia.

2 As this inscription, which occurs on the supplied leaves, savours of the errors of the Romish Church, it was probably written by some Abyssinian Catholic. The inscriptions of Isaac, the writer of the MSS., though mutilated, and sometimes obscare, seem free from these errors. The figure of St. Peter, mentioned below, was probably traced by the same hand.