either of the Old or the New Testament. "Its style is incomparably superior to any thing which might be expected from the finical and perverted taste of our own age. It is simple; it is harmonious; it is energetic; and, which is of no small importance, use has made it familiar and time has rendered it sacred."*

CHAPTER VI.

OF THE VARIOUS READINGS OCCURRING IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS.

I. ORIGIN and Nature of VARIOUS READINGS.

The Old and New Testaments, in common with all other ancient writings, being preserved and diffused by transcription, the admission of mistakes was unavoidable: which, increasing with the multitude of copies, necessarily produced a great variety of different readings.

Among two or more different readings, one only can be the true reading; the rest must either be wilful corruptions, or the mistakes of the copyist. As it is often difficult to distinguish the genuine from the spurious, whenever the smallest doubts can be entertained, they all receive the appellation of Various Readings: but, where a transcriber has evidently written falsely, they receive the name of errata.

II. Sources of Various Readings.

As all manuscripts were either dictated to copyists, or transcribed by them: and, as all these persons were not supernaturally guarded against the possibility of error, different readings would naturally be produced, 1. By the negligence or mistakes of the transcribers; to which we may add, 2. The existence of errors or imperfections in the manuscript copied; 3. Critical emendations of the text made by the copyist without any authority; and 4. Wilful corruptions made to serve the purposes of a party. Mistakes thus produced in one copy, would of course be propagated through all succeeding copies made from it, each of which might have peculiar faults of its own; so that various readings would thus be increased, in proportion to the number of transcripts made.

⚫ Bishop Middleton on the Greek article, p. 328

III. The means by which the true reading is to be determined are, 1. Manuscripts; 2. The most ancient, and best Editions; 3. Ancient Versions; 4. Parallel Passages, (which, being an important help to interpretation, are noticed again in a subsequent page ;) 5. Quotations made from the Scriptures in the Writings of the early Fathers of the Christian Church; and 6. Conjectural Criticisms. All these sources are to be used with great judgment and caution; and the common reading ought not to be reject ed but upon the strongest evidence.

IV. Infidels have endeavoured to shake the faith of less informed Christians, by raising objections against the number of various readings. The unlettered Christian, however, need not be under any apprehension that they will diminish the certainty of his faith. Of all the many thousand various readings that have been discovered, none have been found that affect our faith, or destroy a single moral precept of the Gospel. They are mostly of a minute and trifling nature and by far the greatest number make no alteration whatever in the sense. Such are Δαβιδ (David) for Δαυιδ (David ;) Σολομωντα (Solomonra) for Lolopova (Solomona) Solomon; Kayw (kago) for και εγω (kai ego) for and I;) Nagaper (Nazaret) for Nagape (NazareтH) Nazareth; which, with many others, may be used indifferently.

CHAPTER VII

ON THE QUOTATIONS FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW.

A CONSIDERABLE difference of opinion exists among some learned men, whether the evangelists and other writers of the New Testament quoted the Old Testament from the Hebrew, or from the venerable Greek versions usually called the Septuagint. From an actual collation. of the passages thus cited, (which is given at length in Hebrew, Greek, and English, in the author's larger work,) it appears, that, though the sacred writers of the New Testament have in many instances quoted from the Hebrew Scriptures; yet they have very frequently made their citations from the Septuagint, because it was generally

known and read and as the apostles wrote for the use of communities, whose members were ignorant of Hebrew, it was necessary on that account that they should refer to the Greek version. But where this materially varied from the meaning of the Hebrew Scriptures, they either gave the sense of the passage cited, in their own words, or took as much of the Septuagint as was necessary, introducing the requisite alterations.

Difficulty sometimes arises, with respect to the application of the quotations made by the apostles and evangelists; when they are applied to a purpose to which they seem to have no relation, according to their original design. This difficulty is occasioned by the writers of the New Testament making quotations from the Old, with very different views. It is, therefore, necessary to distinguish accurately between such quotations as, being merely borrowed, are used in the words of the writer himself, and such as are quoted in proof of a doctrine, or the completion of a prophecy

The quotations from the Old Testament in the New are generally introduced by certain formulæ, such as, That it might be fulfilled As it is written &c., and various rules have been framed in order to account for their application. They may, however, be referred to the four following classes, viz.:

I. Quotations from the Old Testament in the New, in which the things predicted are literally accomplished. Direct Prophecies are those which relate exclusively to Christ and the Gospel, and cannot legitimately be taken

in

any other sense; and the Scripture is said to be fulfilled in the literal sense, when that event which it foretells is accomplished. The following table exhibits the principal quotations which belong to this class:

Gen. xii. 3. Xviii, 18, xxii, 18, quoted in Acts iii. 25. Gal. iii. 8,

Gen. xvii, 7. 19. xxii, 16, 17

Luke i. 55. 72, 73, 74.

Acts xii. 33. Heb. i. 5. v. 4..

Matt. xxi. 16.

· Heb. ii. 6-8.

Acts ii. 25-28. 31.

Acts xiii. 35.

Psalm xxii. 1.

Psalm xxii. 18.

Haggai ii. 6.

Zech. ix. 9.

Zech, xi. 13.

Zech. xii, 10.

Zech. xiii. 7.

Mal. iii. 1.

Matt. ii. 5, 6.

Acts xiii. 40.

John vii. 42.

Mal. iv. 5, 6.

Matt. xi. 10. Mark i. 2. Luke vii. 27. (Matt. xi. 13, 14. xvii. 10-13. Mark ix. 11-13. Luke i. 16, 17.

II. Quotations from the Old Testament in the New, in which that is said to have been done, of which the Scriptures have not spoken in a literal, but in a spiritual sense.

There are citations out of the Old Testament in the New, in a mediate and typical, or spiritual sense, respecting Christ and his mystical body, the Church. The Scripture is therefore said to be fulfilled, when that is

accomplished in the antitype which is written concerning the type. Thus, in John, xix. 36, we read, These things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, —“ a bone of him shall not be broken." These words, which were originally written of the paschal lamb, (Exod. xii. 46. Numb. ix. 12.) are said to be fulfilled in Christ, who is the antitype of that lamb. Additional examples of the same kind will be found in the annexed passages.

Gen. xiv. 18, 20. cited and applied in Heb. vii. 1—10.

Psalm XXXV. 19. lxix. 4. and cix. 3. John xv. 25.

III. Quotations from the Old Testament in the New, in which a thing is done neither in a literal nor in a spiritual sense, according to the fact referred to in the Scriptures, but is similar to that fact; in other words, where the passages referred to, are cited in the way of illustration.

Numerous passages of the Old Testament are cited and applied by the writers of the New Testament to an occurrence, which happened in their time, merely on account