Theodotion, contemporary with Aquila; and a third by Symmachus, in the early part of the third century of the Christian era, may here be noticed. Origen mentions three others, whose ages and authors are unknown. A Syriac version of the Hebrew Bible was made as early as the close of the first century, and is called the Peschito, or Literal version, from its close adherence to the original. It is of great value to the biblical critic; and was printed both in the Paris and London polyglotts. The other edition was published in 1592, by Clement VIII; but so different from that of Sixtus, as to contain two thousand variations, some of whole verses, and many others clearly contradictory in the sense; yet this edition is also pronounced authentic, and enforced by the same sentence of excommunication with the former. Modern versions are so multiplied, and are increasing so rapidly in various quarters, that we can only attempt to present the reader with a list of the principal ones: I. IN THE LANGUAGES OF MODERN A Coptic version was made from the Septuagint, probably in the second or third, and certainly before the seventh century. Of this version only the Pentateuch and book of Psalms are printed. A Sahidic version of the Old Tes- The New Testament, i. e. into the language of Upper Egypt, made at this time, does not appear to have been published. An Ethiopic or Abyssinian version was made from the Septuagint, it is supposed, about the second or third century. Only a few books and fragments of which remain. The Armenian version was executed towards the close of the fourth, or early in the fifth century: the Sclavonic, or old Russian, in the ninth century. The former was first printed in 1666, and the latter in 1519 and 1570. A Gothic version was executed about the middle of the fourth century by Ulphilas, a bishop of the Mæso-Goths. Signor Mai has recently discovered in the Ambrosian library at Milan, some fragments of the books of Kings in this version, which had been lost. An Arabic version of the Old Testament appeared about the tenth century; having for its translator R. Fuadía Gaon; but the Pentateuch and Isaiah are all that remain of it. Other Arabic translations are extant, but of little antiquity or authority. Several early Persian versions of the Septuagint seem to have been made, but most of them remain in MS. The translation of the Pentateuch, printed in the London Polyglott, was executed by a Jew in the eleventh or twelfth century The Italic was an ancient Latin version of the Septuagint, in common use in St. Jerome's time; a revision of it was undertaken by him, and gradually introduced throughout the Western church, until at length Pope Gregory the Great gave it the sanction of the popedom. It is this revision of the Italic version that now forms the wellknown Vulgate, and which the council of Trent has declared to be authentic, and commanded to be used in all sermons, expositions, &c. It alone, therefore, is used in the Romish church; but some passages of the ancient Vulgate are left in the Missal, and the Psalms. The two principal edi tament was The Old tions of the Vulgate are those of popes Sixtus { V. and Clement VIII. The former was printed in 1590, after the most ancient MSS. and best printed copies had been collated, as it was said, and the most learned men assembled out of all the nations of the Christian world: the pope himself presiding over the whole, and correcting the proof sheets. This edition was then published with a tremendous excommunication of every person, who should presume ever afterwards to alter the least particle of it. in In the Language or 1522 1536 German (Luther's.)* 1526 1534 English (Tindal's) 1535 French. 1534 1524 Grisons. Upper Lusatian. Manks. Samogitian. Judæo-Polish. Modern Russ. Karelian dialect, (St. Matt.) Mordwassian (4 Gos.) Tcheremissian, do. 1781 Greenlandish. III-IN THE LANGUAGES OF MODERN The New Testament was first printed in In the Language or The Old 1816 1815 Arabic. Pushtoo. Bulocha. Sanscrit. Sikh, or Punjabee. Kunkuna. Maruwar. Oojuvinee. Bundelkundee. Mahratta. Hindee. Hindoostanhee. The above have, of course, been in many instances made by missionaries, and, of the Asiatic Translations, the major part by the Baptist missionaries at Serampore. See BAPTIST MISSION. BIBLES, POLYGLOTT.-Polyglott Bibles contain the sacred text and versions of the Scriptures in various languages. In 1501 Aldus Manutius the elder, a celebrated printer, first. projected an undertaking of this kind, in collateral columns of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin; only one sheet however was printed. In 1516 appeared at Genoa the Pentaglott Psalter of Agostino Justiniani, bishop of Nebo it was in Hebrew, Arabic, Chaldee, Greek, and Latin, accompanied with glosses and scholia. In 1518 John Potken published at Cologne the Psalter in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Ethiopic. The Complutensian Polyglott, so called from the Latin name of Alcala in Spain, where it was printed, was the first polyglott edition of the whole Bible. This celebrated work was begun in 1502, and though completed in fifteen years, costing cardinal Ximenes (see ALCALA) the sum of 50,000 ducats, it was not published until 1522. It is complete in six folio volumes. The first four contain the Old Testament in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, with the Chaldee paraphrase at the bottom of each page: the fifth is occupied with the New Testament in Greek and Latin; and the sixth with critical apparatus. The Antwerp, sometimes called the Spanish and Royal Polyglott, was published in 1572 by Christopher Plantin of Antwerp, under the patronage of Philip II. of Spain. The Old Testament is printed in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Chaldee; and contains, beside the Complutensian versions, a Chaldee paraphrase left by cardinal Ximenes, in the public library at Alcala. The whole work forms eight vols. folio; and has a Syrian version of the New Testament, together with the Latin version of S. Pagninus, revised by Arius Montanus, the presiding editor. The first five contain the Old and New Testaments, and Telinga, or Teloogoo. the three last are filled with lexicons, graminars, Bengalee. 1808-14 1801 1801-5 1807 1809-14 Orissa. &c. Only 500 copies were printed; the greater part of which being lost in a voyage to Spain, complete sets are very rare. The Paris Polyglott of 1645, printed by Antoine Vitré, is in ten folio volumes, and is a magnificent work. It was executed at a ruinous expense by a M. Le Jay, and contains all that is inserted in the Complutensian and Antwerp Polyglotts, with the addition of the Samaritan Pentateuch and its version. It has no critical apparatus. The London Polyglott of bishop Walton was published in 1657 in six folio volumes. The first volume contains a very extensive critical apparatus (the Prolegomena itself, written by Bishop Walton, being a treasure of sacred criticism), and also the Pentateuch. The second and third volumes comprise the remaining books of the Old Testament; the fourth the Apocrypha, and a threefold Targum on the Pentateuch, viz. two in Chaldee, and one in Persic. The fifth the New Testament. The sixth contains various readings, and critical elucidations of the whole. The Pentateuch of this most noble work is in Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, with the Chaldee paraphrase, Hebræo-Samaritan, Samaritan, and Arabic, accompanied with the Latin Vulgate, and six other Latin versions of the various oriental ones. The Samaritan Pentateuch is the only part of the Old Testament in that language. The other volumes of the Old Testament are nearly similar, only that there is an Ethiopic version of the Psalms. The New Testament exhibits the Greek, Syriac, Persic, Vulgate, Arabic and Ethiopic versions, at least as far as the end of the Gospels, for here the Persic closes, and separate Latin versions accompany all the oriental ones. This work is not considered complete without the Lexicon Heptaglotton, published by Dr. Edmund Castell at London, in 1669, in two volumes folio. It contains a joint lexicon of the Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Samaritan, Ethiopic, and Arabic languages, together with a separate lexicon of the Persic, and brief grammars of the several tongues. The Leipsic Polyglott of 1750 is in three vols. folio, edited by C. Reineccius. The Old Testament is in Greek, Latin, and German: the New, in ancient and modern Greek, Syriac, and German. Our account of these important works must not close without noticing the spirited attempt of a respectable bookseller of this metropolis to add a second London Polyglott to the foregoing list. In 1816 Mr. S. Bagster commenced his 4to. and 8vo. Polyglott, comprising the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, from Van der Hooght's edition, the Samaritan Pentateuch from Dr. Kennicott's edition of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Septuagint Greek version of the Old Testament from Bos's edition of the Roman or Vatican text, the Latin Vulgate, and the authorised English version. The New Testament is given in Greek from Dr. Mill's edition, with the whole of the important various readings from Dr. Griesbach's edition, printed at Leipsic in 1805; and is accompanied by the Peschito, or old Syriac version, the Latin Vulgate, and the authorised English version. The Apocalypse, and such of the Epistles as are not found in the old Syriac, are given from the Philoxenian or new Syriac version. The text of the Latin Vul-. gate version is taken from the edition of Pope Clement VII. The authorised English version is accompanied with the marginal renderings, references, &c. The Hebrew of the 4to. copies is pointed; the 8vo. copies may be procured both with and without points. Price of the 4to. copies £5. 5s. After a most calamitous fire which happened in 1822, destroying an entire impression of a Polyglott Bibie in the modern languages, Mr. Bagster was induced to project a small folio Polyglott Bible to be completed in one volume, which he says will comprise the original Hebrew text, and the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament; the original Greek Text, and the venerable Peschito or old Syriac version of the New Testament, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Vulgate Latin, the authorised English version, Luther's German version, Ostervald's French version, Diodati's Italian version, and P. Scio's Spanish version. The types from which this Polyglott is printed are entirely new, and together with the paper of singular beauty. Mr. B. has lately added the modern languages to his 8vo. Polyglott; which, complete, is sold at £7. 3s. For a more particular account of the several translations of the Bible into the languages of the British isles, see ENGLISH, IRISH, and WELSH BIBLES. BIBLE SOCIETIES. BIBLE SOCIETIES.-The most striking characteristics of the times in which we live, are the voluntary religious associations to which they have given birth. Among these it will be readily admitted that Bible Societies are the first in magnitude and importance. How they arose? what has been their progress? and what will be their probable results? are questions which the patriot, the philanthropist, and the Christian, must frequently revolve. Indeed they have been discussed by men of all parties in politics and religion; and every variety of talent has been brought to their elucidation. In tracing their origin, the philosophical enquirer cannot fail to be struck with the felicitous combination of matured protestantism, and the unrestrained enjoyment of religious freedom, to which these institutions are mainly indebted for their existence. When the schism was first made, which broke the unity of the Catholic Church, and dissolved the charm of its infallibility, it was predicted that endless divisions among the reformed would be the disastrous consequence--and that thus the new religion would be exterminated by its own violence; or that the refractory sovereigns and kingdoms, which had thrown off their allegiance to the holy pontiff, would be driven, of necessity, to take refuge once more in his paternal bosom. And, it must be confessed, that the religious distractions and civil commotions which marked the early progress of the Reformation, and which, like heterogeneous elements, frequently threatened an explosion fatal to the existence of society, contributed not a little to encourage a belief that the prediction would be realised. It was the interest of the Papal See to extend and to strengthen this conviction; while protestant rulers, in church and state, unwittingly lent themselves to support this political manoeuvre of their arch adversary. Hence division, discord, and anarchy, became the hereditary reproach of Protestants-while it was bruited throughout the earth that the internal peace which universally prevailed, where the pope's authority was acknowledged, arose from that unity of faith which, in all Catholic states, was the bond of perfectness. It was reserved for later generations to discover that this loudly-boasted tranquillity was but the crouching of ignorant and besotted slaves at the feet of civil and ecclesiastical despotism; and that the convulsions which so long and so fearfully distracted the repose of protestant Europe, were the natural consequences of a mighty struggle between light and darknessbetween freedom and tyranny. The ecclesiastical Revolution, so suddenly effected by Luther, was the first dawn of liberty to Europe. It was, however, but a spark, feeble and vacillating, and sometimes on the point of extinction. It was long before it shone forth with a lustre, which bespoke the divinity of its origin, and the indestructibleness of its nature. The dæmons and the darkness united to smother it in its birth, and retired with that reluctance with which conquerors, in a thousand battles, at last yield up victory and life together. It was not till the principles of protestantism began to be well understood by the Protestants of England, and till they had worked out a good degree of civil liberty for their country, that its blessings could be very largely distributed, or extensively enjoyed. Its first introduction among us was very inauspicious.. It came merely as the engine of state policy, and was forced into an unnatural alliance with the lust and wilfulness of the most detestable tyrant that ever outraged the decencies of life, and insulted the patience of mankind. 'The defender of the faith,' not contented with the flattering distinction of being a royal and favored son of the church, resolved to usurp the authority of its infallible head, and to subordinate to himself a hierarchy of his own, surrounded with the mists and darkness of popery. The nation was at the first scarcely conscious of any change they retained almost every thing of popery but the name-the monarch was as absolute as the pope, but not quite so crafty. The twilight of knowledge awakened the thrill of gladness in the hearts of a distinguished few who had been waiting for the morning, and who thought they saw, notwithstanding the gloom which yet prevailed, the indication of its approach. Still, protestantism had but an incipient existence. It was during the next reign that it seemed to emerge into conscious being; and then it was that freedom to think and judge in matters of religion, produced extravagancies and diver sities of opinion-for this, Protestants as they were, the ecclesiastical rulers were not prepared; and they fell upon the expedient, so constantly resorted to by the church which they had recently abandoned, namely, to extinguish heresy by the massacre of heretics. There was no civil freedom then to throw its ægis over the virtuous beings who had violated no law, and who, therefore, deserved no punishment: and they were committed to the flames. Popery returned with vengeance, and executed with fiendish satisfaction the lex talionis on the protestant murderers. For more than half a century, the protestant faith triumphed; but it was confined within the limits of the hierarchy, and under the absolute control of the sovereign It had no toleration, and therefore could exercise no charity. The clergy condemned, and the queen executed, all who dared to question the infallibility of either. In the subsequent reigns of James and the first Charles, the spirit of protestantism began to work. The translation and circulation of the Scriptures induced multitudes to read them; and the natural consequence was a diversity of opinions, and at length a variety of sects. Unhap pily, the notion of an exclusive church, and of absolute uniformity in matters of faith, which some of the early reformers imported from Rome, was the reigning dogma of them all; and hence the idea of mutual extermination commended itself to each of them as a sacred duty. Of course, the party that could wield the sword of power, and second its anathemas with the vengeance of the state, had the greatest facilities for the performance of their duty, and enjoyed, in the highest degree, the pious luxury of persecuting, even unto death, their unoffending fellow-subjects. It was not possible that such a state of things could long continue. Either ecclesiastical despotism must triumph in the annihilation of every sect but its own, or civil freedom must result from the struggles of the contending parties. The balance was long held in doubtful vacillation; but the religious spirit proved at last too mighty for the policy and the power that aimed to destroy it. The conflicts which mutual persecution provoked and inflamed, ended, happily for the protestant cause in Europe, in laying the foundation of a civil constitution, which, in its progress to perfection, will not fail to secure equal rights to all good subjects, whatever be their religious creed or ecclesiastical discipline. The throne, while the baby Charles' (the endearing terms in which the Royal Solomon used to speak of the heir apparent-the martyr of blessed memory) sat upon it, was placed as a barrier against the tide of religious freedom, then mightily setting in, and which would have moved on in its majestic course, a confluence of undisturbed and tributary streams, enriching and beautifying all around it, but for this unnatural and most impolitic obstruction. What was the consequence? pent up and confined, it became an impetuous and boiling torrent, bearing away, with irresistible fury, the monarch, and every vestige of his proud regalia. The Protectorate was a season of light, and to whatever desperate expedients the head of the commonwealth was impelled, by the necessity of circumstances, the principles of general freedom were industriously sown. Like the dragon's teeth of Cadmus, they came up armed men, at the period of the glorious Revolution, and drove into merited exile the last of the Stuarts. Then it was that the rights of conscience were expressly recognised by the law of the land; and freedom of worship was granted to all, without exception, on condition, however, that the seceders from the dominant church should submit to certain civil privations and disabilities. This change, though not in all respects what a liberal and just policy ought to have devised, and though it left something of the wormwood and the gall of a persecuting spirit to embitter religious differences, was yet fraught with the happiest consequences; which, during the lapse of nearly two centuries, have been accumulating the richest benefits upon the nation. Proscriptions, fines, and imprisonments, have given place to controversy, rivalry, and charity. The bigots of all parties content themselves with exuding harmless venom: the state has extracted their teeth, and they cannot bite. Too many of the clergy of different churches are still good haters;' but they can now only imprecate the vengeance they were formerly accustomed to inflict and it is the prayer of the righteous only that availeth much. The haughty and exclusive assumption of the church is consistently abandoned by Protestants, and is claimed only by the mother of harlots. The Church of England, in her article on this subject, speaks the language of every Christian community. She claims indeed pre-eminence, and this is cheerfully conceded to her learning, her wealth, and her numbers; but the churches of dissent have also a local habitation, and a name.' The spirit of emulation which has long prevailed among both the established and the protected churches, is of the right kind, and has, among them all, promoted, in a very eminent degree the interests of true religion. Every extension of toleration, every step in advance towards perfect freedom, has allayed the animosities of party. and in proportion as Christians of various denominations have been brought upon equal terms into civil contact with each other, mutual good will, brotherhood, and charity, have been the happy consequences. The most perfect state of society is where the right of private judgment, in matters of religion, is equally claimed and conceded through all the extent of its probable and practical results; and where the civil government extends equal protection to all who exercise that right, whether they conform to the creed of their rulers or dissent from it. To this state public opinion at least was rapidly approximating at the period when the British and Foreign Bible Society began its splendid and marvellous career; nor could it have obtained existence among us under different circumstances. If there had been less of liberal feeling and sentiment in the British churches, or less of tolerance in the government, or less of freedom in the spirit of our laws, the plan of such an institution could never have been conceived; or, if conceived, it must have appeared altogether absurd and impracticable. But the more proximate and immediate causes which led to its formation, may be traced to the moral wants of the people, created by that system of universal instruction, which had, for several years, been in active operation. To which we may likewise add the zealous efforts of the clergy, both in and out of the establishment, to diffuse throughout the land the spirit and the principles of religion. A reading population, and a population awakened to a powerful conviction of the truth and value of the Holy Scriptures, must, of necessity, produce an unusual demand for the sacred volume; and, at least, multitudes would be thus prepared to give it a prompt and cordial welcome. At this period, too, the spirit of active and inquisitive benevolence was abroad the moral wants of the British empire were not contemplated with a partial or an exclusive eye: but commercial energy and missionary zeal had laid bare the forlorn and wretched condition of the greatest part of Christendom, and of the whole pagan world; while facilities of communication were opened by these means with every quarter of the globe. All these circumstances will account for the rapid growth of the Bible Society, and for the grand principle on which it is founded, and on which its usefulness, its permanency, and prosperity depend. The object, namely, the circulation of the Scriptures, was pressed upon the attention of the original founders of the institution by an occurrence of a very trivial nature; then the magnitude of that object, as embracing the whole habitable world, impressed them with the conviction that it could not be achieved on ordinary principles, nor by ordinary means. The principles and the means required they found in the catholicism which prevailed among British Protestants; and in the divine inspiration and sufficiency of the Scriptures themselves, on which that catholicism might erect its noble superstructure of spiritual benevolence. At the time the project of this great society was contemplated, the sources in existence, from which a distribution of the Scriptures might be expected, were few, and certainly, from their constitution, inadequate to supply the biblical necessities of the world. The principal societies which made the dispersion of the Scriptures a collateral or an exclusive object, are the following. The figures subjoined denote the year in which each was founded:The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge : The Society for the Propagation of the Gos- The Society in Scotland for Propagating The Society for Promoting Religious The Society for the Support and Encou- 1698 1701 1709 1750 1780 1785 1792 For an account of the principal operations of these associations, see CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING, GOSPEL, SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING THE,-NAVAL AND MILITARY BIBLE SOCIETY, &c. &c. |