books and sections of books, the number of verses, the notation of omissions, alterations, repetitions of words and verses, and other minutiæ. To this system also belong the marginal corrections found in Hebrew MSS. and printed editions of the Old Testament, termed Ketib, that is, written, and Keri, that is, read or reading, as if to intimate," write in this manner," but " read in that manner;" for instance, instead of the sacred name JEHOVAH, the Jews substitute Adonai or Elohim. Learned men are greatly divided in sentiment concerning the date of the Masora; but the most probable opinion is that which refers its commencement to the sixth century, when it was invented by the learned Jews of Tiberias, and continued at different times by various authors. Their chief design in this undertaking, appears to have been the establishment or preservation of the Hebrew text, without variations.

V. The Old Testament is now divided into four parts; viz.:

1. The Pentateuch, or five Books of Moses.

2. The Historical Books, comprising Joshua to Esther, inclusive.

3. The Doctrinal or Poetical Books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon; and

4. The Prophetical Books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, with his Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the twelve Minor Prophets.

These are severally divided into chapters and verses. The former were invented by Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro, about the middle of the thirteenth century: who, having projected a concordance to the Latin Vulgate translation, divided the Old and New Testaments into chapters, which are the same we now have. These, again, he subdivided into smaller sections, distinguished by the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The facility of reference, afforded by these subdivisions, suggested the idea of a Hebrew concordance, upon the same plan, to Rabbi Mordecai Nathan, a celebrated Jewish teacher in the fifteenth century, who retained the divisions of chapters, but substituted numeral figures for the Cardinal's marginal letters. The introduction of verses into the Hebrew Bible was first made, in 1661, by Athias, a Jewish printer at Amsterdam: and from him the division of verses has been adopted in all copies of the Bible in other languages

SECTION II.-On the Divisions and Marks of Distinction occurring in the New Testament.

I. ANCIENT DIVISIONS.-Before the fourth century the New Testament was divided into longer chapters, called τιτλοι (titloi,) and others which were shorter called κεφαλαια (kephalaia,) or heads, and also breves. The most celebrated division of the four Gospels into chapters was that of Ammonius, a learned Christian of Alexandria, in the third century, from whom they have been termed the Ammonian Sections. The Acts of the Apostles and the Catholic Epistles were similarly divided by Euthalius, an Egyptian Bishop, in the fifth century, after whom these divisions have been called the Euthalian Sections. Saint Paul's Epistles were divided in like manner, by some unknown author, in the fourth century. These divisions were superseded by Cardinal Hugo's chapters, in the thirteenth century.

II. PUNCTUATION and DIVISION OF VERSES.-Euthalius, who has just been mentioned, was the inventer of the division of the New Testament into 5xor (stichoi,) or lines regulated by the sense; so that each terminated where some pause was to be made in reading. The introduction of points or stops, to mark the sense, is a gradual improvement, commenced by Jerome in the fourth century, and continued and improved by succeeding critics. The verses at present found in the New Testament were invented (in imitation of those contrived by Rabbi Nathan) by Robert Stephens, a learned printer, who first introduced them into his edition of the New Testament published in 1551.

III. The Inscriptions, or TITLES, prefixed to the various books of the New Testament, are of great antiquity. They were added, in order to distinguish one book from another, after the canon of the New Testament was formed, but the author of them is not known.

IV. But the SUBSCRIPTIONS annexed to the epistles are manifestly spurious, for some of them contradict both chronology and history. For instance, according to the subscriptions to 1 and 2 Thessalonians, those epistles were written at Athens, whereas they were written at Corinth. The subscription to 1 Corinthians states that it was written at Philippi; notwithstanding it appears from

xvi. 8, and 19, that the apostle was at that very time in Asia. The subscription to the epistle to the Galatians purports that epistle to have been written from Rome; whereas Saint Paul did not go to Rome until ten years AFTER the conversion of the Galatians. And the subscription to the first epistle to Timothy evidently was not, and indeed could not have been, written by the apostle Paul for it states that epistle to have been written from Phrygia Pacatiana; whereas the country of Phrygia was not divided into the two provinces of Phrygia Pacatiana, or Prima, and Phrygia Secunda, until the fourth century. The author of these subscriptions, it is evident, was either grossly ignorant, or grossly inattentive.

CHAPTER IV.

ON THE ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES.

To those who possess ability, means, and leisure of consulting them, the Ancient Versions of the Old Testament are a very important source of criticism and interpretation of the sacred writing; the value of them, however, varies according to the age and country of their respective authors, the purity of the text whence these versions were made, and the ability and fidelity of the translators.

SECTION I-Of the Targums, or Chaldee Paraphrases.

TARGUM is a Chaldee word, signifying generally any version or explanation; but this appellation is particularly restricted to the versions or paraphrases of the Old Testament, which have been composed in the Chaldee Dialect. Ten of these expositions have been preserved to our times: viz.

I. The TARGUM of ONKELOS on the Pentateuch, or five books of Moses, was composed by a learned Jewish rabbi of the same name, who is supposed to have been contemporary with our Saviour. It is preferred to every other, on account of the purity of its style, and its general freedom from idle legends.

II. The TARGUM of the PSEUDO-JONATHAN, so called from being erroneously ascribed to Jonathan Ben Uzziel, is a more liberal paraphrase of the Pentateuch than the preceding, but abounds with the most idle Jewish legends. From internal evidence, learned men concur in referring its date to the seventh or eight century of the Christian Æra.

III. The JERUSALEM TARGUM, also on the five books of Moses, in many respects agrees with that of the PseudoJonathan, in the impurity of its style, legendary tales, &c. It was most probably written in the eighth or ninth century. IV. The TARGUM of JONATHAN BEN UZZIEL, on the Prophets (that is according to the Jewish Division of the sacred books mentioned in p. 79,) is held in the highest estimation. Its date cannot be exactly ascertained; some learned men making it nearly coeval with the time of Christ, while others place it three or four hundred years later.

V. The barbarous, and in many places, obscure TARGUM on the CETUBIM, or Holy Writings, though ascribed to Rabbi Joseph, surnamed the Blind, in the third century, is evidently a compilation of much later date.

VI. The TARGUM on the MEGILLOTH, or five books of Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Ruth, and Esther, could not be written before the sixth century. It is of very little value. The same remark is applicable to

VII-IX. Three TARGUMS on THE BOOK of ESTHER; and X. a TARGUM ON THE BOOKS of CHRONICLES; all of which are of very recent date.

XI. Of all these Chaldee Paraphrases, the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel are held in the highest estimation by the Jews; but it is in establishing the genuine meaning of particular prophecies relative to the Messiah, in opposition to the false explications of the Jews and the erroneous expositions of Anti-Trinitarians, that these paraphrases are pre-eminently useful.

SECTION II.-Ancient Greek Versions of the Old Testament.

I. Among the Greek Versions of the Old Testament, the most ancient and valuable is that usually designated

the SEPTUAGINT, from the tradition (now generally rejected) of one Aristeas, who related that it was made in seventy-two days, and by seventy learned Jews, who had been sent by the Jewish High Priest Eleazar to Alexandria, at the request of Ptolemy Philadelphus, King of Egypt. It is, however, most probable, that this version was really executed during the joint reigns of Ptolemy Lagus, and his son Philadelphus, and about 285 or 286 years before the Christian Era.

II. The introduction of Coptic, or pure Egyptian words, and the rendering of Hebrew ideas in the Egyptian manner, clearly prove that the translators were natives of Egypt; as the difference of style and various ability, with which particular books have been rendered into Greek, evince this version to have been the work, not of one, but of several individuals.

III. The Septuagint Version, though originally made for the use of the Egyptian Jews, gradually acquired the highest authority among the Jews of Palestine, who were acquainted with the Greek language, and subsequently also among Christians. It retained its authority, even with the rulers of the Jewish Synagogue, until the commencement of the first century after Christ; when the Jews being unable to resist the arguments from prophecy which were urged against them by Christians, in order to deprive these of the benefit of that authority, began to deny that it agreed with the Hebrew Text, and, ultimately abandoning it they adopted the Greek Version of Aquila, which is noticed in p. 86, infra.

IV. Numerous errors having in the lapse of ages crept into the Septuagint, by the inaccuracy of transcribers and other circumstances, Origen, a learned Christian Father, in the early part of the third century, undertook the laborious task of collating the Greek Text then in use, with the original Hebrew, and with other Greek Translations then extant, and from the whole to produce a new recension or revisal. Twenty-eight years were devoted to this great critical work, which ancient writers have variously termed the Tetrapla, Hexapla, Octapla, and Enneapla. Tetrapla contained the four Greek Versions of Aquila, Symmachus, the Septuagint, and Theodotion: when he subsequently added, in two columns, the Hebrew Text, in