For he may be fully assured, that every phrase and expression is a precise copy of the Greek text, as it stood in the manuscript from which the version was made. But it is not prior to the sixth century; and as the Peschito was written either at the end of the first, or at the beginning of the second century, it is of less importance to know the readings of the Greek manuscript, that was used in the former, than those of the original employed in the latter.

EDITIONS AND MANUSCRIPTS OF THE HARCLENSIAN VERSION.

The Epistles, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, and Jude, as published by Pococke, in 1630, and thereafter printed in Syriac New Testaments, belong to the original Philoxenian version by Polycarp; but no portion of the Harclensian version was printed prior to the year 1778. Of course, up to that time, the learned had not the means of examining it, and ascertaining its true character. The Rev. Gloucester Ridley, LL. D., Prebend of Salisbury, about the middle of the last century, received a copy of the entire version, brought. from Amida in Mesopotamia, by a Mr. Palmer. Ridley immediately applied himself to the study of Syriac: and in 1761, published a learned Dissertation, de Syriacarum Novi Testamenti Versionum Indole et Usu; in which he gave the first good account of both translations, and a full description of the Harclensian, or Philoxenian as it was then generally called. He also prepared for the press, a copy of the four Gospels, transcribed from his Amidan manuscript, and collated with another found at Oxford. But he did not live to see it published. It was printed at Oxford, Syriac and Latin, with critical notes &c., by Joseph White, Professor of Arabic, in 1778, 2vols. in 1, 4to. Professor White then proceeded to prepare the remainder of the work for the press; and published the book of Acts and the seven Catholic Epistles, in 1799; and the fourteen Epistles of Paul, in 1803, uniform with the previous volumes. The whole is ordinarily bound in two large vols. 4to. This edition, is the only complete one ever printed. The Gospel of John was printed by George Henry Bernstein, Leipzig, 1853, 12mo.

OTHER SYRIAC VERSIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. Adler found in the Vatican at Rome, a manuscript lectionary in an idiom not pure Syriac, but approaching the Jewish Aramæan, and in characters approximate to the Hebrew. Adler supposed it to have been made by some Jewish Christian, about the fourth century. He called it the HIEROSOLYMITAN VERSION. It has been familiarly called the Jerusalem Syriac but is now generally called the Palestinian Version. The lectionary above mentioned was published by Count F. Miniscalchi Erizzo, 1861, at Verona, 4to; also, posthumous, by Paul de Lagarde, Göttingen, 1892, 4to. Fragments of both the Old and the New Testaments were published by Land, in tom. iv. of his Anecdota, 1875. Fragments were discovered at Sinai, by J. Rendel Harris and published by him in 1890. Dr. Harris also discovered a complete lectionary, and Mrs. Lewis another, at Mt. Sinai, which are passing through the press. In 1893, Rev. Dr. G. H. Gwilliam published five more fragments found at Cairo.

503

e have called the KARKAPHENSIAN VERSION, is merely a series Lassoretic notes, giving variants of Peshitto, Harklensian, and aorities, named from the monastery of Karkaphta.

SYRIAC TRANSLATIONS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

Passing on to the Old Testament, we find there two distinct translations of nearly the whole, with extant fragments of a third. One of them is likewise the Peshitto, and is very ancient. The other is more modern, resembles the Harclensian, and is called the Syriac Hexaplar. The known fragments of the Hierosolymitan Old Testament make it probable that the whole Bible existed in that version. Fragments were published by Gwilliam in 1893 and by Gwilliam, Burkitt and Stenning in 1896.

THE PESHITTO SYRIAC OLD TESTAMENT.

This version, as appears from internal evidence, was made directly from the Hebrew, and before the Massoretic points came into use. It is quoted and commented upon by Ephrem Syrus, in the fourth century; and has enjoyed the same reception among the Aramæan Christians, of whatever sect, as the Peshitto New Testament. The learned of modern times entertain different views respecting its age, some supposing it to be older, and some later, than the Peshitto New Testament; but the actual evidence goes no further back than the fourth century. From some diversities in the mode of translating the different books, it appears not to have been the work of one man. Its style of translation, too, varies from that of a close translation to a paraphrase like the Jewish Targums. Many think it, and with pretty good reason, to be "the earliest of the Targums." It is generally concluded to have a Christianized-Jewish character, and to be either the work of Jewish Christians; or of Jews originally, but revised by Christians. It is universally pronounced to be a judicious and faithful translation; and has been regarded as a sure guide to the true state of the Hebrew text probably as early as the second century. But at the present time, many competent scholars are very busy in studying the Old Testament Peshitto, the Septuagint, and the Hexaplar, with a thoroughness never done before; and it is not certain what result may be made manifest. The Peshitto Old Testament, however, does not yield precedence to the Septuagint or the Latin Vulgate for accuracy or fidelity, while its style is more easy and natural. It is more servile than the Peshitto New Testament, and throws less light on the meaning of the original; yet it is a noble version.

Few manuscripts embrace the whole Peshitto Old Testament. Those containing the Psalms or the Pentateuch are most common, those containing the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Solomon's Song, Daniel, and certain of the Minor Prophets, are the most rare. Many contain sundry books of the Apocrypha; // but that called the Fifth Book of the Maccabees is merely the sixth book of the Jewish Wars of Josephus--whether his original Aramaic version or not, is quite doubtful.

The order of the books in the printed edition of our Syriac Bibles varies a

little from the Hebrew. First comes the Pentateuch; then Job, Joshua, Judges, the two books of Samuel, the two books of Kings, and the two books of Chronicles; then Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah; Isaiah, followed by the twelve Minor Prophets; Jeremiah and Lamentations; Ezekiel, and lastly, Daniel.

EDITIONS OF THE PESHITTO OLD TESTAMENT.

(1.) The first edition was in the Paris Polyglott, printed in 1645. The manuscript from which this was printed is imperfect, and Gabriel Sionita supplied its deficiencies by translations of his own from the Latin Vulgate. He also annexed vowel points.

(2.) Walton's Polyglott, 1657, contained the Peshitto Old Testament text, derived from four manuscripts, with the help of the Paris Polyglott.

(3.) The British and Foreign Bible Society published an edition of the Syriac text alone, in 1823 (dated 1824). This edition was prepared by Rev. Professor Samuel Lee, from three manuscripts, with great care. The three manuscripts were (1.) one brought from India by Dr. Buchanan; (2.) one belonging to Dr. Adam Clarke; and (3.) a Pentateuch belonging to a college library in Oxford. This edition was issued with different titles, and sometimes bound up with the New Testament.

(4.) In 1852 the American Missionaries at Oroomia published an edition of the Peshitto Old Testament, and their modern Syriac translation, in parallel columns. This volume is the standard for scholars of Nestorian vowel and diacritic-pointing. Its text was obtained from ancient Nestorian manuscripts (which cannot now be identified), some purchased and some borrowed; with the aid of Walton's Polyglott and the edition of Lee. For many purposes this is the best edition; but the book is now rare.

(5.) During the time from 1876 to 1885, Dr. Antonio M. Ceriani published in photolithographic fac-simile the oldest known manuscript of the Peshitto Old Testament; being a manuscript in the Ambrosian Library at Milan. A few portions are supplied from other ancient manuscripts. This contains also the Apocrypha.

(6.) The entire Peshitto Old Testament was published at Mosul by the Dominicans in 1887-8; 2 vols., and the New Testament in 1891.

Many editions of portions of the Peshitto Old Testament have been published, especially of the Psalms, which were first printed on Mt. Lebanon in 1585. The Pentateuch was published by Kirsch, Leipzig, 1787. The "first labor" of the American press at Oroomia was the Nestorian Psalter in 1841.

The Apocrypha were published by Paul de Lagarde, at Leipzig and London 1861. Various Apocryphal books were published by Ceriani, in the "Monumenta" of the Ambrosian Library, from 1871 onwards.

THE SYRIAC HEXAPLAR.

A few manuscripts, particularly one at Milan and one at Paris, contain a Syriac translation of the corrected Greek text of the Septuagint version in Origen's HEXAPLA, with all its marginal notes and various readings. Hence

its name, the Syriac Hexaplar. From the indorsements on the manuscripts of the Syriac Hexaplar we gather the following facts. The Greek Hexapla of Origen was left by him at Cesarea in Palestine, and fell into the hands of Eusebius, the ecclesiastical historian, who was bishop of Cesarea. Eusebius, aided by his friend Pamphilus, early in the fourth century, extracted a corrected Greek text of the Septuagint, with its marginal readings and glosses. Of this Eusebian text, with such a margin, indorsed by Eusebius himself, a copy was found at Alexandria in the beginning of the seventh century; and Athanasius, at the time that Jacobite Patriarch of Alexandria, caused one Mar Paulus, a monk and bishop, to translate that Greek Copy into Syriac, retaining all its marginal readings and glosses. This task Mar Paulus accomplished, at Alexandria, in the year a. D. 616.

TRANSLATIONS OF SOME OF THE SYRIAC ENDORSEMENTS.

The third endorsement to the second book of Kings. "And (now) this (book) of four kingdoms, [this second book of Kings,] is added (to this volume), being translated from the Greek into Syriac. And this, here present, is from the Heptapla Codex, which has seven compartments, and which belongs to the library of Cæsarea, in Palestine; and from which, likewise, the interpretations [fragments of versions, or the various readings] are annexed. And it was collated carefully, with the Codex of seven compartments, there being at the end of it this inscription:-'Fourth Book of the Kingdoms, according to the Seventy: and I, Eusebius, have carefully corrected it, Pamphilus having commenced the correction.”—Immediately after, follows the fourth Indorsement, thus:—“This book is translated from the Greek tongue into Syriac, from the version of the Seventy-Two, by the religious monk, MAR PAULUS, Bishop of the Faithful, in the great city of Alexandria, by the injunction and solicitude of the holy and blessed ATHANASIUS, Patriarch of the Faithful, in the monastery of Mar Zacchaeus Callinicensis, while they resided at Alexandria, in the days of the religious Mar Theodorus, Prefect of the house of his monastery; in the year DCCCCXXVIII., in the fifth Indiction, [that is, in the year of the Greeks, 928, or a. D. 616.] Whoever reads, let him pray for the religious MAR THOMAS, Deacon, and Syncellus of the holy and blessed Patriarch, MAR ATHANASIUS, who labored and was at pains; and for the others who toiled and labored with him, that God may grant them the salvation of their souls, on account of their labor and pains, through the prayers of his [God's] Mother, and of all saints."At the end of most of the other books are Indorsements of much the same general import: thus, at the end of the Book of Isaiah, there is the following:-"End of the Prophecy of Isaiah. This is annexed (to the other books), from the Codex of EUSEBIUS and PAMPHILUS, which also they corrected from the Bibliotheca of ORIGEN."—See also the Indorsements at the end of the twelve minor Prophets, at the end of the book of Proverbs, end of the Book of Canticles, and of the Book of Ecclesiastes. In all these places, it is stated that the Syriac translation was made from a Codex, set forth by Eusebius and Pamphilus, from the Bibliotheca of Origen, containing various readings and marginal notes.

PUBLICATION OF THE SYRIAC HEXAPLAR.

Both manuscripts of the Syriac Hexaplar are written in the Estranghelo character; and apparently ancient. That of Paris contains only the 4th [2d] Book of Kings: and it was first brought into notice in 1770, by Paul Jacob Bruns. That in the Ambrosian library at Milan, contains nearly or quite all the Old Testament. To this valuable manuscript, John Baptist Branca, a doctor in the Ambrosian college, directed the attention of Dr. Kennicott and of J. P. Bruns, while on a visit to Milan, about the year 1767. A few years after, J. J. Bjornthal, of Sweden, visited Milan, examined the manuscript, sent some specimens of it to England and Sweden, and also published a description of it. De Rossi then became interested in it, and in 1778, published the first Psalm as a specimen, accompanied by a full account of the manuscript. In the same year, Matthew Norberg, of Sweden, visited Milan, and took a copy of a large part of it: and in the year 1787, he published at Lund, in 4to., the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, from his copy. The next year Cajetan Bugatus, of Milan, published the book of Daniel, Syriac and Latin, 4to. He also commenced the publication of the book of Psalms, about the same time; but it was not carried through the press till 1820. In the mean time, Bruns had procured a copy of the Paris manuscript. But neither he nor Norberg, met with sufficient encouragement to proceed with the publication of their copies. They left their manuscript in the hands of Eichhorn; who at length transferred them to Henry Middle dorpf, a professor in the university of Breslau, in Silesia; and he published so much of these transcripts as had not before been published, -viz. the 4th [2d] book of Kings, Isaiah, the twelve minor Prophets, Proverbs, Job, Canticles. Lamentations, and Ecclesiastes-in one large vol. 4to., Berlin, 1835; with a learned Preface, containing the facts above stated. "The books of Judges and Ruth were published at Copenhagen by Thomas Skat Rordam, 1859-1861. The entire Milan mauuscript was published in phototype fac-simile by A. M. Ceriani, 1861-1874. In 1880 Paul de Lagarde pub lished at Goettingen some fragments of the Syriac Hexaplar."

This Syriac version adheres very closely to the Greek; and therefore will aid us, so far as it extends, in ascertaining what text of the Septuagint was approved by Origen, and by Eusebius and Pamphilus. It may also help us. to recover some of the deviations from the Septuagint, in the several Greek versions collated by Origen. Of course, for criticism of the Septuagint Greek text, it is of great value. But for the interpretation of the Scriptures, it cannot be of much use, on account of its servility, and its adherence to the Septuagint. As a translation, it is very like the Harclensian New Testament: which Thomas Harclensis was revising at Alexandria at the very time when Mar Paulus was producing this version. As the Peshitto New Testa ment is far more valuable, for exegetical purposes, than the Harclensian ver. sion; so the Peshitto Old Testament, which is a faithful translation from the Hebrew, must be far more valuable to an interpreter, than the Syriac Hexaplar, which is a servile translation from the Septuagint Greek.

THE END.