HELPS TO THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE,

CONTAINING

ANALYTICAL NOTES, AND SUMMARIES OF THE SEVERAL BOOKS;

HISTORICAL, CHRONOLOGICAL, AND GEOGRAPHICAL TABLES;

LISTS OF ANIMALS, BIRDS, REPTILES, PLANTS, &c., FOUND IN SCRIPTURE;

TABLES OF WEIGHTS, MEASURES, TIME AND MONEY;

A GLOSSARY OF ANTIQUITIES, CUSTOMS, &c.;

WORDS OBSOLETE OR AMBIGUOUS;

TOGETHER WITH

A NEW INDEX TO THE BIBLE;

A NEW AND COMPLETE CONCORDANCE;

A DICTIONARY OF SCRIPTURE PROPER NAMES,

AND A SERIES OF MAPS.

OXFORD:

PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

LONDON: HENRY FROWDE.

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, 7, PATERNOSTER ROW.

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HELPS TO THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE.

CONTENTS.

NOTES ON THE OLD TESTAMENT.

THE BIBLE, as the title of the collected books of the Old and New Testaments, is not found earlier than the fifth century. In the New Testament occur the terms, "The Scripture" (Acts viii. 32; Gal. iii. 22; 2 Tim. iii. 16; James iv. 5), "The Scriptures" (Matt. xxi. 42; Luke xxiv. 27), "The Holy Scriptures" (2 Tim. iii. 15), applied to the Old Testament; and also "The Law" (Matt. v. 17; 1 Cor. xiv. 21), "Moses and the Law" (Acts xv. 5, 21), "Moses and the Prophets" (Luke xvi. 31), as the sacred books read in the synagogues on the Sabbath-day. A distinction is also made between the "Old" and the "New" Covenant (Heb. vii. 22; viii. 6; ix. 15), which gradually led to the extension of the former name to the whole books of the Hebrew Scriptures, and of the latter to those of the Christian Canon. Of "Covenant" (διαθήκη) the Latin "Testamentum" is the equivalent, and has passed into our phraseology. As the MSS. read in the synagogues, and afterwards in churches, were kept in some repository within the sacred edifice, they would naturally be called by the priests, who had charge of them, "the Books;" so the Greek word for Book (βίβλος, biblos) became naturalised in the various Western languages, as the title of this sacred compilation. It is not, however, found in Anglo-Saxon, though "Gospel" (good spell or tidings, or possibly God-spell, i.e. God-story, or the history of Jesus Christ) has come to us from that tongue.

Divisions of the Bible. The Hebrews divided their Scriptures into three parts:—

1. "THE LAW" (Acts xv. 5, 21), comprising the five books of Moses.
2. "THE PROPHETS" (John i. 45), containing the books of Joshua, Judges, I. and II. Samuel, I. and II. Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve Minor Prophets.
3. "THE SCRIPTURES" (John v. 39). The Poetical or Devotional Books, including:
   1. Job, Psalms, Proverbs.
   2. Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther.
   3. Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, I. and II. Chronicles.

I. The Law (Pentateuch, i.e. Five Books). The existence of a book bearing this title is traceable to the time of its compilation (Deut. xxxi. 24, 26; Josh. i. 8; viii. 34; xxiv. 26). The distinctness of the five portions shews they were designed to be separate, and so distinct names were found for each. The Hebrews marked them by the initial or chief word in the first verse of each; while in the LXX. they are denoted by words indicating the subject-matter, which latter titles have come down to us, e.g. Genesis, Exodus, &c.

II. The Prophets. This general appellation was given to these twenty-one books, because they were written by Prophets, who, as the Teachers of the people, were naturally the annalists also: e.g. Samuel, Nathan, Gad, Iddo, Isaiah, Jeremiah, &c. Living in communities they became a "caste," who cultivated literature, music, psalmody, &c.; and their writings (whether devotional or historical) were regarded as more or less prophetic (which means instructive, as well as predictive, Acts xiii. 1; I Cor. xiii. 2, 8). They were divided into Priores (Joshua, Judges, I. and II. Samuel, I. and II. Kings) and Posteriores; the latter being subdivided into Majores and Minores. The former designation was given to the writings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, because of their greater bulk, as well as prophetical prominence; the latter to the remaining twelve prophetical books. The Book of Daniel was excluded, partly on account of his having exercised no prophetic office amongst "the people," partly from its late reception into the Sacred Canon; and also, in later times, because it was quoted by Christians against the Jews.

III. The Scriptures (Kethubim) include the remaining books of the Hebrew Canon. The first group (a) were the devotional books used in the services of the synagogue (the Psalms and Proverbs weekly, Job on most of the great fasts). The second (b), called the "Five Rolls," formed the "Lessons" for the most part on special festivals; the third (c) was an Appendix, in which were placed those Canonical books which were not ranked amongst "The Prophets."

Divisions of the Books. The quotations made in the New Testament from the Old cite only the book (Acts ii. 16) from whence they are taken (excepting the Psalms, e.g. Acts xiii. 33, 35). They are mostly from the books read in the synagogue every Sabbath-day, of which there are indications of divisions into sections (Luke iv. 17; Acts xiii. 15, 33, 35; xv. 21; 2 Cor. iii. 14).

The Talmud divided "The Law" into fifty-four portions, one for each sabbath of the intercalary year. These were called Parshioth, which were subdivided into "Lesser Parshioth," being the sections of the Lesson taken by each individual Reader. These, again, were classed under two heads, viz. "Open" (Petuchoth), which marked a change of subject, like the modern paragraph, and began with a fresh line in the MSS.; and "Shut" (Satumoth), corresponding to minor divisions, like sentences, marked only by a space in the line. These breaks in the text were denoted by the initials "P" or "S" in the margin, to catch the Reader's eye; which would seem to be the origin of the ¶ placed before certain verses in the Authorised Version.

"The Prophets" are quoted in the New Testament as a distinct "book" (Acts vii. 42); but were also subdivided into Sabbath Lessons, though not with the same precision or authority. These portions were called "Haphtaroth" (dismissals, because they were read immediately before the close of the service). These were in the ninth century A.D. subdivided by the Masoretes into verses (Pesukim), the termination of each in the Hebrew MSS. being marked by a colon (:), which is retained in the Prayer Book version of the Psalms to point them for chanting. In the thirteenth century a more systematic division (ascribed to Archbishop Langton) was generally adopted to facilitate reference to the text. This combined Cardinal Hugo's division into Capitula (which is still retained in our "Chapters"), and the Masoretic division into verses; but it has no further importance.

Divisions of the English Bible. The books in our Old Testament are conveniently arranged according to their subject-matter, thus: I. The Pentateuch (or Five Books of Moses). II. The Historical Books (from Joshua to the end of Esther). III. The Poetical or Devotional Books (from Job to the Song of Solomon). IV. The Prophetical (from Isaiah to Malachi).

The Canon of Scripture. Canon (Greek, a straight rod), used figuratively of a testing rule in art, logic, grammar, or ethics, occurs in the sense of a "rule of life" (Gal. vi. 16; Phil. iii. 16), and as a gauge of excellence (2 Cor. x. 13, 16). In the early age of Christianity, the term was used generally to denote a standard of opinion and practice. Its first direct application to the Holy Scriptures occurs in the imprimatur appended by Amphilochius to his Catalogue (A.D. 380). From the time of Origen it has been applied to those books which Christians regard as genuine and of Divine authority. Uncanonical are those not specified in the Canon. Apocryphal are also uncanonical; but they are of higher value than some of the uncanonical books, and may be read for historical purposes, and for "instruction of manners." External and internal evidence alike is against their inspiration and Divine authority, and they are no part of the rule of faith. The Bible is the Canon, or authoritative standard of religion and morals.

The Jewish Canon. Before the Captivity there are only faint traces of the preservation of the sacred writings. Moses ordered "the book of the law" to be put "in the side of the ark" (Deut. xxxi. 26; cf. 2 Kings xxii. 8). To this was subsequently added that of Joshua and other annals; and later, Proverbs and some Prophecies, for Daniel refers to the "Books" (ix. 2), Zechariah to "the Law and former Prophets" (vii. 12), and Isaiah to "the Book of the Lord" (xxix. 18; xxxiv. 16). Ezra and the "Great Synagogue" most probably determined the Canon of the Law in its final shape; and Nehemiah "gathered together the acts of the kings and the prophets, and those of David," when "founding a library" for the second Temple (2 Macc. ii. 13), B.C. 247—226,*Pusey's "Daniel," p. 297: "Of the Old Testament," pp. 17, 305. Stanley Leathes' "Structure," p.18. or 169. The first notice of the "Old Testament" as a distinct compilation is in the "Prologue" of the Greek translation of "Ecclesiasticus" (B.C. 131), which specifies the "Law, Prophets, and the rest of the books." (Cp. Luke xxiv. 44; Acts xxvi. 22.) Philo-Judæ (B.C. 20—A.D. 40), in "Contemplativa, Life of Therapeutæ refers to constant use of "The laws and oracles, produced by the prophets, and hymns and other" (writings), Josephus (A.D. 38—97) enumerates twenty-two books as "divine," viz. five of Moses, thirteen of Prophets (in which Job was probably included), and four "hymns and directions of life." He mentions all the books of the Old Testament as Canonical, except Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon, to which he does not allude, as none of them furnished any materials for his work. He also adds, that, since the death of Artaxerxes (B.C. 424), "no one had dared, up to his day, to add anything to them, to take anything from them, or to make any change in them" (Against Apion, I. 8). Thus, the Jewish Canon was finally settled in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, and its contents are identical with our own, since our thirty-nine books were grouped by him so as to accord with the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet (the twelve minor prophets counting as one, Ruth being coupled with Judges, Ezra with Nehemiah, Lamentations with Jeremiah, while the two Books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, were reckoned as one each). That these did not constitute the entire Hebrew sacred literature is evident from the fact that reference is made in the Old Testament to fifteen other books, while others again are found in the Apocrypha which were all rejected from the Jewish Canon. They are all quoted in the New Testament as "Scripture," except Judges, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah; but, in addition, the "Book Of Enoch" is quoted by Jude (ver. 14). Our Lord also quotes from an unknown book (Luke xi. 49-51; John vii. 38), and so, too, James (iv. 5, 6). Jerome notices that the twenty-two books coincide with the letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and that the five double letters coincide with the five double books (Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, and Jeremiah). He gives the contents of the Law, Prophets, and Hagiographa in exact accordance with those of the Hebrew authorities, as mentioned above, classing Daniel with the last. The Talmud also agrees with the same, and gives the writers of each.

Preservation of the Old Testament. The "Book of the Law," placed by Moses in the side of the ark in the tabernacle (Deut. xxxi. 26), with the various "Annals" and prophetic books from Joshua to David, Solomon deposited in the Temple, where they remained till its destruction (2 Kings xxii. 8; Isa. xxxiv. 16). Daniel had a copy of "the books" in Babylon (Dan. ix. 2, 11), and also of "Jeremiah" (ix. 2). After the Temple was rebuilt, Nehemiah collected the sacred books and made "a library" of them (2 Macc. ii. 13), to which were added the writings of Ezra and his contemporaries (Nehemiah, and the later prophets).

The Christian Canon. The Books of the Jewish Canon were read from the first in Christian assemblies, as of Divine authority (Lardner II. 132, 526), and were largely quoted by ecclesiastical authors. Between A.D. 200 and 400, ten Catalogues of Canonical Books were published. Six of these agree with our present Canon, and three omit only the Book of Revelation.

THE AUTHENTICITY AND INTEGRITY OF THE SCRIPTURES.

In writings, which claim to command belief from the world in all ages, the following credentials are requisite:—1. Genuineness, i.e. that they are the works of the persons whose names they bear. 2. Authenticity, i.e. that they are the unaltered writings of those authors.

I. GENUINENESS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

1. External Evidence. The Jews, to whom these books were intrusted, have been in all ages unanimous in their testimony that the Pentateuch was the work of Moses; the Psalms, of David, and those whose names are affixed to them; Proverbs, of Solomon; and that others were written by those whose names they bear; and, with equal unanimity, testify to those books being genuine whose writers' names are lost. They are accredited by successive generations, till we come to the mention of them in the Prologue to Ecclesiasticus, the treatise of Josephus against Apion, and the writings of the New Testament. They are also constantly quoted by one another as authentic and genuine; and the Pentateuch, Psalms, and Prophets, as well as the historical books, are so quoted by our Lord Himself. They are all declared to be genuine by successive councils of the Christian Church.

2. Internal Evidence. (a) The Nationality of the writers. They all (with the probable exceptions of Job and the author of Esther) profess to be Jews of Palestine, a people peculiarly separated from the rest of mankind by religion, by unique customs, and by physical position. These peculiarities are implicitly maintained throughout the whole books, which shew no evidence of contact with the literature of any other countries, except those in which the writers profess to have been in temporary exile.

(b) The Language in which they are written is that of Palestine, and ceased to be a living language soon after the Babylonish Captivity; none of these writings, therefore, can be much later than that event. The difference between those which profess to be early, and the later ones, is precisely the same as that which marks literary progress in other languages, while foreign words are mingled with the native tongue, where the writers come into familiar intercourse with other nations (e.g. Egyptian words in the Book of Exodus; Chaldee, in Daniel, &c.).

(c) Circumstantiality. The records contain histories, frequent genealogies, and biographies, all of which are capable of more or less verification from other records, but no material discrepancy has been proved.

(d) The Undesigned Coincidences (see Blunt's work on this subject, and Paley's Horæ Paulinæ) are numerous. Then, again, the physical allusions belong exclusively to Palestine, whose geographical and geological conformation is unparalleled, while the flora and fauna, as gathered from the work itself, have been proved by modern explorers to correspond exactly with the phenomena of that country (see Tables of "Trees, Plants, &c.," p. 112).

II. INTEGRITY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES.

Hebrew Text. The scrupulous care taken by Ezra, and those who followed him, to preserve the text of the Old Testament, after its Canon was completed, is sufficiently evident from the zealous accuracy with which all the discrepancies in the text of parallel passages have been preserved, instead of assimilating them. This is more conspicuous in some Psalms, of which two distinct copies occur, containing in some instances as many as sixty variations in the text of the two copies. The ancient Hebrew, in which it was written, was, after the Captivity, superseded by the Aramaic (a mixture of Chaldee with Hebrew). For a time the former was retained as the sacred, while the latter was the vernacular, language: but shortly before the Christian era, portions of the Scriptures were written in Aramaic. In the time of Ezra, it is evident, that an Aramaic version followed the reading of the Hebrew original in the synagogues (Neh. viii. 8). These Aramaic interpretations, called "Targums," are valuable, as affording proofs of the correct versions of ancient MSS. of the Old Testament, and also of the precise meaning of obscure words.

Of these "Targums" ten have come down to us, all giving a complete interpretation of the whole books, except Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah (which were probably written mainly in Chaldee). The earliest are those of Jonathan (on the Prophets) and Onkelos (on the Pentateuch): the former is a paraphrase, the latter a literal translation, word for word, from the Hebrew; the former was written shortly before the Christian era, while Onkelos was contemporary with Christ, and a pupil of Gamaliel.

The Hebrew MSS. consist of the Synagogue Rolls, and copies for private reading. The former are the more important, and were written, as Josephus tells us, on fine skins (some of which, found in the Crimea, and therefore possibly belonging to the Jews of the Dispersion, are still preserved in the Imperial Library at St. Petersburg). The care with which they were transcribed is evident from the rules laid down in the Talmud. One scribe copied the consonants, another inserted the vowel-points and accents in a fainter ink, a third revised the copy, and a fourth wrote in the Masorah. These rolls consisted of, first, the Pentateuch (or Law); second, the Haphtaroth (dismissals); and third, Megilloth (rolls). It is from these and the Greek translations, made by the Alexandrian Jews, compared together, that a correct copy of the Scriptures must be derived, and the English A.V. was formed from the best recensions then known.

Although the various "different readings" in the MSS. and printed editions of the Hebrew Bible are very numerous, being estimated at 30,000, and by some scholars at 200,000, these are very unimportant. The Hebrew Bible of the present day is substantially the same as the recension made by Ezra and others, and was the "Textus Receptus" of our Lord's time. In it, however, the old phraseology has been sometimes modernised, obscure expressions explained by glosses, and the chronologies and genealogies have suffered, especially through the errors of transcribers. Thus there are many alterations in the language, yet none in the meaning of the original writers. We have no autographs and no perfect MSS. of either Hebrew or Greek Scriptures, neither have we of any Greek or Latin classic author; on the contrary, there is no ancient book (sacred or secular) of which the text is not somewhat imperfect. In this respect the Hebrew Scriptures stand in the same position as all other writings of antiquity. Dr. Bentley thus sums up the case:—"It is a fact undeniable, that the sacred books have suffered no more alterations than common or classic authors, and have no more variations than what must necessarily have happened from the nature of things; and it has been the common sense of men of letters, that numbers of MSS. do not make a text precarious, but are useful, nay necessary, to its establishment and certainty."

The Talmudists undertook a very critical collation of many different texts, which, however, they interpreted by a great mass of traditional commentary; but they collected together all that was known and approved of (both written and oral) respecting the sacred books, rejecting what was not supported by considerable weight of testimony. In the sixth century A.D., a school of Jewish Doctors at Tiberias, known as the "Masoretes," extracted from the Talmud the traditional comments ("Masorah") of criticism and grammatical emendations, in order to establish the genuine text of Hebrew Scriptures. The text, as so fixed by them, became the standard, from which others were multiplied. In the eleventh century a collation was made of the Masoretic text of Tiberias, known as the Palestine Codex, with the Babylonian text, between which there were found to be 800 different readings, none of them in any way affecting the sense of the subject-matter.

The Samaritan Pentateuch must belong to a date earlier than the Captivity of Judah, as the Samaritans had no intercourse with the Jews subsequently; but it is highly probable that it was prior to the separation of the two kingdoms. A careful comparison, in modern times, of its text with that of the Hebrew ("Textus Receptus"), has shewn that they agree in every material point, the differences being merely verbal.

Greek Versions. 1. Of these the Septuagint occupies the highest rank. According to tradition, it was translated from the Hebrew by seventy-two Jews, each of whom, in a separate cell, made a complete translation of the entire Old Testament, and when compared, these seventy-two copies were so identical, that they were deemed to be inspired. Jerome disbelieves this story; and the inequality of the rendering of different portions seems to afford convincing proof that they were the work of different persons and of different times. More probably it was begun in the time of Ptolemy Lagos, and finished in that of his successor Ptolemy Philadelphus (B.C. 285}. It would seem to be the only Scripture with which the Alexandrian Jews and the early Christian writers were familiar. It is not accurately translated from the Hebrew, the text having many important variations, both in words and phrases, as well as some additions to the Hebrew; and it contains many Coptic words. The Pentateuch possesses the highest literary merit, the Book of Proverbs ranks next, and Ecclesiastes occupies the lowest place; the Prophets, Psalms, and other books are poor productions, while the Book of Daniel was so incorrect as to be disused by the early Christian Church.

2. Aquila, at the instigation of the Alexandrian Jews, sought in the second century A.D. to correct the inaccuracy of the LXX. by a new translation, which was so literal as to be sometimes unintelligible; it was highly esteemed by the Jews, and is quoted in the Talmud, but is discredited by early Christian writers.

3. Theodotion, about the same time, revised the LXX., merely correcting its inaccuracies, and his translation of Daniel superseded that of the LXX.

4. Symmachus (cir. A.D. 200) gives his name to a new translation, which is paraphrastic, like the LXX., but displays more purity and elegance of language. It proceeded from the Ebionites, a sect of Christian heretics, who did not admit the divinity of Christ.

Three later versions (in Origen's Hexapla) probably emanated from the Ebionites; but little is known of them.

Syriac. The Peshito version, made at Edessa (in Mesopotamia) at the close of the first century A.D., is the most ancient copy of the whole Bible, containing all the Canonical Books of the Old Testament, as well as those of the New (except the latest, viz. the II. and III. Epistles of John, II. Peter, and that of Jude, and the Revelation). It was a "Simple" (Peshito) translation into Syriac from the Hebrew, and has been always accepted by all sections of the Syrian Church as authentic, and from it several Arabic translations have been made. Besides these, there are several other versions of various dates, such as the Ethiopic, Philoxenian, and Egyptian.

Latin Versions. Fragments of an ancient Latin Version of the African Church, translated from the LXX., of about the second century A.D., are found in ancient Christian writers.

The Vulgate, A.D. 382. Jerome translated the New Testament into Latin, and also the Old Testament from the Hebrew, for the purpose of making which he took up his residence at Bethlehem, and was occupied upon it for twenty-one years. Although at first the reverence for the LXX. militated against its reception, from the time of Gregory the Great it became the authorised version of the Western Church. This was gradually corrupted by intermixture with other Latin versions, till it was condemned as inaccurate by the Council of Trent. Several new revisions were issued in the sixteenth century, each authenticated by the reigning Pope, till in 1593 A.D. the present standard edition was issued by Clement VIII.

The above versions of the Bible, written at different times, and in countries widely separated one from another, are for the most part independent testimonies, and are not mere copies of some one common original, as their verbal differences sufficiently attest; but their complete agreement in all essential points demonstrates the care with which these various books have been preserved, while it establishes their authenticity far more satisfactorily than that of any other ancient book.

English Versions. A.D. 1290. A manuscript translation, of which three copies still exist.

1380. Wycliffe's translation from the Latin Vulgate, in manuscript, edited by Forshall and Madden for the Clarendon Press, 1850.

1527. Tyndale's New Testament, printed at Antwerp, which was publicly burnt by order of the Bishop of London.

1535. Miles Coverdale translated the whole Bible from the Latin Vulgate and the German. This was the first English version of the whole Bible, and was published by royal command.

1537. Matthew's Bible. A fusion of the two translations of Tyndale and Coverdale by John Rogers, published abroad under a fictitious name. 2,500 copies were burnt, by order of the Inquisition, at Paris.

1539. The Great Bible. A new edition of Matthew's Bible, revised, and compared with the Hebrew, by Coverdale and others, published in England under the sanction of Cranmer.

1539. Taverner's, an expurgated edition of Matthew's Bible, edited by Taverner at the instigation of the ecclesiastical authorities.

1560. The Geneva Bible. Published by the refugee reformers at Geneva.

1562. Parker's Bible was a revision of the Great Bible, made under the direction of Archbishop Parker.

1568. The Bishops' Bible. Another edition of the same, revised by fifteen theologians, eight of whom were Bishops.

1572. Matthew Parker's Bible. A corrected edition of the former.

1611. The Authorised Version, translated from the Hebrew and Greek (by order of James I.) by forty-seven divines, each taking a portion, which was revised by the whole body. This version, from its great excellence, superseded all preceding ones.

1881. The Authorised Version of the New Testament, Compared with the most ancient authorities and Revised. Printed for the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

I.—THE PENTATEUCH, or five books, is ascribed to Moses by all tradition. Jewish and heathen; and is quoted as such by nearly all the sacred writers, and by our Lord and His Apostles (Matt. v. 17, 18; xv. 3, 4).

In the Old Testament history, whenever mentioned, it is treated as one book, and as an original book of Moses, under the various titles,—"The Law of Moses" (Ezra vii. 6), "The Book of the Law of Moses" (Neh. viii. 1), "The Book of Moses" (Ezra vi. 18), "The Book of the Law of Jehovah by the hand of Moses" (2 Chron. xxxiv. 14), "The Book of the Covenant" (2 Chron. xxxiv. 30), "A Book of the Law of Jehovah" (2 Chron. xvii. 9). This designation extends from the days of Jehoshaphat (B.C. 915) to the time of Jesus the son of Sirach (B.C. cir. 250—200). There can be little doubt that the book so styled is virtually the same as our Pentateuch, and identical with the "Book of the Law" placed by Moses in the ark (Deut. xxxi. 26).

The Creation. There is no conflict between the Mosaic account of creation and geology. As regards the formation of the material globe, it is merely stated, in general terms, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." The distinction must be carefully observed between the words "created" and "made" throughout chap. i. The six days' work relates entirely to the Divine action on the earth's surface, and the objects visible from it, at the beginning of the present epoch of humanity: thus:—

1. A change from darkness to light.
2. The separation of waters above and below by the intervention of a firmament.
3. A further division of the waters below into seas and earth, followed by growth of vegetable life.
4. The appearance of sun, moon, and stars, visible from the earth's surface.
5. The production of living creatures out of the water and in the air.
6. The production of animals, including man, from the material earth.

The summary account of the Creation in Commandment IV. (Exod. xx.) refers, in general terms, only to the appearance under the Divine hand of visible phenomena above the earth's surface; but in neither of these accounts is there any allusion to the mode by which formations below the crust of the earth were made.

Authenticity of the Pentateuch. Although some fragments claim a higher antiquity, GENESIS is acknowledged to be the most ancient complete book in existence. It must be viewed, however, in connexion with the four books that follow it, and of which it is an integral part, the scope of the whole being the foundation of a theocracy based upon the idea of a single family. Although there seem to be portions of more ancient narratives embodied by the writer in the book as it now stands (e.g. the story of Lamech and his two wives; a second account of the Creation, chap. ii.; the battle of the five kings against four in the Vale of Siddim; the meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek, &c.), so that some have supposed that the original narrative has been enlarged at various times by three or more subsequent compilers; yet it is allowed that the record in its present state is substantially that of Moses, with a few later additions in the time of the monarchy. Other commentators maintain, that two quite distinct narratives have been interwoven together: the one, more ancient, in which the Deity is throughout designated by the general term Elohim (God), and in the other, by the more mystic name, Jehovah (The Lord)—the former representing a general Divine influence in the material world, the latter a supernatural, overruling power creating and directing it, and requiring adoration in return. These two portions are known as the Elohistic and Jehovistic; the former teaching natural, and the latter, revealed, religion. There is throughout the Pentateuch an unity, which can only be ascribed satisfactorily to one writer.

In the Book of EXODUS, some critics have conjectured the existence also of two distinct documents (Elohistic and Jehovistic) blended together, though they find it much more difficult to accurately define them. The book, as a whole, is strongly impregnated with the atmosphere of Egypt, as made known to us by modern research. Its language shews a large infusion of Egyptian words; the Ten Plagues are directed, in three groups, against the three primary divinities of ancient Egypt, viz. water, heavenly bodies, and earth,—as also is the Second Commandment; the enactments of the Mosaic Law are based upon Egyptian life; the whole constitution of religious worship is antagonistic to Egyptian mythology (e.g. the sacrifice of sacred animals), and presupposes residence in a camp, and in a wilderness, as the established rule; and words, peculiar to such a life, remain stamped upon ordinances and accessories of worship throughout the religion of the nation (e.g. the place of worship is always "the Tabernacle," i.e. the tent; excommunication is, being "cast out of the Camp;" the scapegoat carries the sins of the people into the "Wilderness;" the Sabbath becomes a rest from the labour of "Bondage;" and the peculiar rites of the Passover, such as the posture of the eaters, the unleavened bread, and "the haste," possess their significance, as a memorial of a hasty flight; while the Divine Presence on Mount Sinai is commemorated at Jerusalem by the erection of an artificial mountain by Solomon, on which the figurative presence of the "Most High" is localised, and even the fence, placed round Mount Sinai by Moses, is perpetuated by a trellis at the foot of Mount Moriah). Hence, internal evidence strongly supports the belief, that the book was written at the time when, and under the circumstances under which, its author professes to have composed it. It is doubtful, however, whether we are to ascribe a period of 215, or of 400, years to the residence of the Israelites in Egypt, as the passages in the record are ambiguous; but the number of the people, at the time of the Exodus, would suggest the longer period.

In LEVITICUS and NUMBERS, the attempt to define two distinct Elohistic and Jehovistic portions has failed to command support; it is generally allowed, that there is but one narrative, in the main; though there may be some minor additions to it of a later date.

The apparent variation of style (from the historical to the hortatory), in the Book of DEUTERONOMY, as well as certain apparent discrepancies between it and the previous books, have raised doubts as to its authorship, some assigning it to Jeremiah, and others to an Alexandrine Jew, of the time of Manasseh. The majority of critics, however, favour the traditional theory, that it was the work of Moses, at the close of his life; since the writer evidently had in view the approaching entrance of the Israelites into their promised inheritance. The discrepancies are not irreconcileable, and the enactments, which provide for an established form of government, including even a monarchy and permanent settlement in cities, might well be prospective. On the other hand, there are many similarities between it and the rest of the Pentateuch (e.g. the use of peculiar Hebrew words and grammatical forms, the frequent reference to their slavery in Egypt, to Egyptian laws and customs, &c.), which are strong evidence in favour of its being the work of the same author, to which must be added the direct testimony of the writer himself in the book, and its frequent quotation as the "Law of Moses," in the New Testament. On the whole, the great preponderance of testimony, both from external and internal evidence, favours the view that the Pentateuch (with the exception of a few unimportant phrases) is the work of Moses.

NOTES ON THE APOCRYPHA.

These books form part of the sacred literature l held in high esteem by the Alexandrian Jews, and appended by them to the LXX. translation of the Old Testament. They are lor the most part, if not wholly, the product of the era subsequent to the commencement of the Captivity; part having their origin in Babylonia, during or after the Captivity, part belonging to the last three centuries B.C., when prophecy, oracles, and direct revelation had ceased. They form the historical link between the Old and New Testament, and have also a linguistic value in connection with the Hellenistic phraseology of the latter. They differ from the former in the marked absence of prophetic teaching, of Divine revelation, and of Hebrew poetry; while they point (as in the Book of Wisdom) to a spiritual kingdom which shall be eternal. The account there given of the "Exodus" suggests the existence of traditionary narratives, besides those from which Moses' record was written, but from which certain additions found in the New Testament (e.g. in Stephen's speech), were derived. The LXX. had been formed on a Hebraic mould, so that Hebraisms were sure to manifest themselves; but in the Apocrypha (much of which was written in Greek) we find the same Hebraic cast of thought and expression. Thus the Hellenistic phraseology of the New Testament was not a new thing, even when applied to the original composition, but had become habitual.

As to their Canonical authority, Josephus seems to reject it. The early Christians differed in opinion respecting them, but received them as part of the sacred literature. Melito, referring to the Hebrew Canon, separated them from the authoritative and Divine records. Jerome called them "apocryphal," affirming, as stated in Article VI., "the Church doth read them for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine."

In the Western Church they gradually rose in esteem, until the Council of Trent affirmed the Canonicity of the major part; but they are treated by the more critical Roman divines as Deutero-canonical.

It is not generally supposed that the books were written by those whose names they bear, but rather that the names of those illustrious in Hebrew history (e.g. Esdras and Solomon, whose writings were most in accord with these,) were affixed to them by the writers. They are valuable historically, as supplying us with the struggles of the Jews under the Syrian Kings, of which the records elsewhere are scanty.

THE BOOKS OF ESDRAS, although quoted largely by Josephus, Athanasius, and some early Christian writers, do not seem to have been ever regarded as strictly " Canonical."

THE FIRST BOOK OF ESDRAS appears to be a compilation of narratives by different authors, the original part of the document being confined to chapters iii.— v. 6. Chapter i. is a repetition of the last two chapters of 2 Chron., with some abridgments and variations of text. The rest of the book is a transcript of portions of Ezra and Nehemiah, with the apparent intention of narrating the legend about Zerubbabel, and of explaining the great obscurities of the Book of Ezra; but it is impossible to reconcile the various parts either with Holy Scripture or with one another, and therefore the latter portion of the

book is thought by many not to be the work of a single author. Only Greek and Latin versions of the book are known to exist.

THE SECOND BOOK OF ESDRAS. The more ancient title was, the " Revelation of Ezra," but it is more commonly known as the " Fourth Book of Ezra." The original text seems to have been in Greek, from ?hich Arabic, Ethiopic, and Latin translations have been made; and the English version has been entirely taken from the Latin, which contains the following interpolations (chaps, i., ii.; xv., xvi.), which seem to be of Christian origin, and also the omission of a long passage after chap. vii. 35, on the " intermediate state" and "intercession of departed souls," probably rejected on dogmatic grounds. From internal evidence it would seem to have been written in Egypt, by a Jew, between B.C. 100 and A.D. 100. It consists of angelic revelation and a series of visions, teaching some of the mysteries of the moral world, and the final triumph of the righteous.

Revelation I. On the unsearchableness of God's purposes, and the signs of the last age.

II. On the progress of the plan of Providence, and the growth of evil.

III. Answers objections to the narrow limits prescribed for the hope of regeneration; and foretells the second advent of the Messiah.

Vision I. A woman (Sion) lamenting the death of her only son on his bridal day (i.e. the city of Solomon); but her sorrow is turned into joy at the appearance of a newly built city.

II. An eagle (Rome), rising from the sea, spreads its wings over the earth, undergoes various transformations, is rebuked by a lion (Messiah), and is burnt up.

III.   A Man (Messiah), flying on the clouds, destroys by the blast of His mouth the opposing powers of the world, gathers the lost tribes of Israel, and gives them the city of Sion.

The last chapter records the appearance of the Lord in a burning bush, who gives to Ezra the books of the law which had been burnt; and Ezra dictates to the scribes the twenty-four Canonical books, and seventy books of secret mysteries.

THE BOOK OF ESTHER consists of certain interpolated passages found in the Septuagint Version of Esther, which are not in the original Hebrew copy. They fill up the narrative, and supply the Name of God as the Prime Mover in the events, which Name nowhere occurs in the original. These interpolated passages are supposed to have been inserted at a later date by the Alexandrine Jews. Jerome removed them from the text, and placed them, with some explanations, among the uncanonical books; but his notes have been swept away and these disconnected fragments printed consecutively, as if they formed a complete continuation of the Canonical book.

THE BOOK OF WISDOM. The original seems to be in Greek, which is found in the Codex Sinaiticus; but there is an ancient Latin version older than the time of Jerome, and translations in Armenian, Syriac, and Arabic (of which the last two are paraphrastic).

It consists of two main parts: I. (Chaps, i.-ix.). The praise of Wisdom in its moral and intellectual aspects: 1st, as the source of immortality in contradiction to the theory of sensualists; 2nd, as the practical guide of moral and intellectual life. II. (Chaps, x.-xix.). The doctrine of Wisdom in its historical aspect: 1. An illustration of the influence of Wisdom in the reward of the virtuous and the punishment of the vicious, both in the case, of individuals (from Adam to Moses), and of nations (e.g. the Egyptians and Canaan-ites); followed by (chaps, xv.-xix.) a contrast between the fortunes of idolatrous and religious people. The harmony pervading the whole book contradicts the opinion that it is a compilation of different authors and at distinct times, though some have attributed the former part to Solomon, and the latter to a subsequent translator of his work. It possesses the highest literary excellence, equal in rank for sublimity of language, rhetorical eloquence, and command of language, to the productions of classical antiquity.

Its diction, as well as its doctrine, points to a Greek original, unfettered by Hebrew idioms. The doctrine of the creation of the world from uncreated matter, the pre-existence of souls, the pervading influence of the Divine Spirit throughout the universe, the absence of the Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the body, and of any reference to the regeneration of humanity by the Messiah, while vividly depicting immortality as the reward and consequence of wisdom, all point to Alexandria as the place of its composition, and to a period anterior to Christianity, when Hebrew thought and Greek philosophy of various schools had become fused together.

Its date is variously conjectured, from B.C. 150—B.C. 50; but its style and diction seem to point to an earlier date than that of Philo, to whom it has been ascribed. Passages in Paul's writings suggest his acquaintance with this book, but no quotation is found from it earlier than the second century A.D., when it is treated as authentic inspired Scripture. With Proverbs and Ecclesiastes it forms a sacred trilogy, in which the doctrine of Wisdom is developed, as an eternal existence with the Creator, acting on created matter, as the source of life, and continuing in the land of spirits; thus laying the foundation for the Christian doctrine of the existence and influence of the Divine Word and Holy Spirit. All the questions connected with this book are fully treated bv the Rev. W. J. Deane, in his edition recently published.

ECCLESIASTICTUS is so called in the Vulgate and A.V. from its local name in the African Church, gained from its practical use as a Church Lectionary or "Reading Book." Its more general name is that of "The Wisdom" or "the Proverbs of Jesus the Son of Sirach." Both internal evidence and the testimony of Jerome sufficiently attest the existence of a Hebrew original (now lost), which was subsequently translated, with some additions, by the grandson of the author, resident in Alexandria, in the reign of Euergetes (see the Prologues). The date of this translation is rendered uncertain from there being two monarchs bearing that title, viz. Ptolemy III. and Ptolemy VII.; and this uncertainty is not corrected by the mention among Hebrew worthies of "Simon, the son of Onias" (chap. 1.1), since this appellation would apply equally to Simon I. and Simon II.

The book was not placed by the Hebrews among the Canonical Scriptures, nor is it so classed by Jerome; but it is quoted as such, and even attributed to Solomon, by many Christian writers after the second century. The version in the LXX., Vulgate, and A.V. is taken from the Alexandrian translation, but the order of its various portions is not uniform. It consists of a number of proverbs and wise sayings of ancient Hebrews, collected together by the compiler, who has appended to them additional ones of his own.

Its whole tone is Palestinian, without any trait of Greek philosophy. God is the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of the universe; the hope of restoration rests upon the future advent of Elias, and that of a resurrection seems fading away; religion has degenerated into minute external ritual observances: righteousness is imprisoned in innumerable legal enactments; and there is a tone of despondency underlying the exhortations to cheerfulness and resignation, which seem to point to a period between the termination of the "Great Synagogue" and the rise of the Maccabees.

THE BOOK OF BARUCH. This book, which bears the name of the companion of Jeremiah, was not regarded by the Jews as Canonical. No reference is made to it in the New Testament, or by the Apostolic Fathers; but subsequent Christian writers refer to it as the work of Jeremiah. No Hebrew version of it is known, and all others seem to be derived from a Greek original. It consists of two parts, the style and diction of the former being Hebraistic, and of the latter Hellenistic, which suggests that the former had a Hebrew original, and was probably written during the Persian period, and the latter in Greek, at Alexandria, about the time of the Liberation.

From the unity of the book, as it now stands, the writer of the second portion would seem at the same time to have translated the former; but the Epistle of Jeremiah (chap, vi.) is considered t© be the work of a later writer, not earlier than the first century B.C.

It is the only book in the Apocrypha formed on the model of the ancient prophets.

The first part (chaps, i.-iii. 8) consists of an introduction, followed by a confession and prayer. The second part (chap. iii. 9 to the end) contains a rebuke of Israel for their sins, with a lamentation of Jerusalem over her children, followed (by an abrupt transition) by a triumphant apostrophe to Jerusalem, foretelling the return of her children and their abiding glory.

APOCRYPHAL ADDITIONS TO DANIEL. These three fragments are not found in the original text of the Book of Daniel, but have their origin in the LXX. version, and seem to embody certain popular traditions, embellishing historical facts.

1. SONG OF THE THREE CHILDREN supplements the narrative in Daniel iii., and gives a supposed prayer of Azarias for deliverance from the fiery furnace, an account of the means by which the Three Children were saved* followed by a hymn of thanksgiving, sung by them in the fire, and which has been used in Christian worship, under the name of the " Benedicite," ever since the fourth century A.D. Both this prayer and hymn seem to have been similarly used in the Jewish Church after the Captivity.

2. HISTORY OF SUSANNA does not pretend to form part of the Book of Daniel, but only to be an appendix to it. It is, doubtless, founded on an historical fact of Daniel's early career in Babylon, which has been embodied in a narrative for moral purposes, and seems to have an echo in an incident in our Saviour's life, especially in the moral appeal which He emphasises in John (viii. 7 and 9). By Christian writers it is made to bear an allegorical form, Susanna representing the Church, tempted to infidelity by Jewish and Pagan adversaries, and crying to God for help.

3. BEL AND THE DRAGON, called in the LXX. "Part of the Prophecy of Habakkuk," forms a preface to the plot against Daniel to cast him into the den of lions, and supplies the motive, which seems wanting in the original narrative, with which, however, it incidentally coincides in one important feature, viz. a threatened revolution of a council of the people against the king, unless he ratifies what the popular assembly has decreed, which, in the Book of Daniel, appears a startling change from the autocratic power of his predecessors.

THE PRAYER OF MANASSES. The original prayer of the penitent king of Judah existed when the Book of Chronicles was written (2 Chron. xxxiii. 18), but is lost. This version is found in some copies of the LXX., and in the "Apostolic OonstAtttiions," with a legend of his miraculous deliverance from captivity. Its date and authorship are both uncertain; but it is thought, from internal evidence, to have been written by a Jew, well acquainted with the LXX. only; and the doctrine of repentance, therein displayed, suggests a date approximating to the Christian era.

TOBIT. The standard text is that of the LXX., from which all other known versions are derived; but the style and subject of the story would suggest a Hebrew or Chaldee original. It has the appearance of an Oriental story, as a medium of moral and religious instruction, rather than of an embellished historical event; but its general agreement with fact seems not to have been doubted until modern times, although no cor-roboration of any portion of the narrative is to be found in any historical work. The influence of good and evil spirits, here pourtrayed, on human affairs, belongs to the belief of a period later than the Babylonish Captivity.

From internal evidence the writer seems certainly to have been a Jew, resident in the East (probably at Babylon), while the kingdom of Media was still standing, and the complete restoration of Jerusalem not yet effected. The date, therefore, must be fixed between Nehemiah and Alexander, the Great, most probably about B.C. 350,

The book has been more highly esteemed by Christians than by Jews. It presents a most vivid and pleasing picture of domestic life, and the influence of religion upon it, among the cap-* tive Jews, and in this respect has a strong affinity to the historical part of the Book of Job.

JUDITH. Of existing texts, both a Greek and a Latin version seem to have equal claims to be regarded as genuine, since neither is a transla-: tion of the Qther, but they differ materially in words and expressions, and especially in names and numbers. Jerome mentions a Chaldee version, with which he had compared the others; and there vrould seem to have been some earlier original, most probably in Syro-Chaldaic. The geo-graphieal and historical references in the book are so irreconcileable with known facts, that there is little doubt that the book is an historical fiction, intended to revive a spirit of heroism in the Jews of Palestine, when it had been completely crushed out by a long period of oppression. It would seem as if the invasion of Judea by Anti-ochus Epiphanes (B.C. 168), and the atrocities committed by Athenaeus at Jerusalem, with the heroic resistance offered by the unknown mother and her seven sons., who all suffered martyrdom (2 Mace. vii. 27, &c., suggested this story, to stimulate others to follow their example, and that to it is due the patriotism which resulted in their deliverance under the Maceabees. It is probable that the leading characters were taken from real individuals of the period, disguised under fictitious names, though some have regarded them as purely allegorical.

MACCABEES. There are four books bearing this title, but only the first and second have beea regarded as worthy of a place among the sacred writings, because they supply the Hebrew history of the second century B.C., written after the model of the Books of Chronicles, though not under Divine inspiration. The origin of the name is doubtful, some attributing it to the initial letters of the war-cry, vide infra, p. 31, others to the final letters of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

FIRST BOOK OF MACCABEES. Both ancient testimony and internal evidence point to a Hebrew original, written in Palestine, most probably between B.C. 120 and 100; but the English version is taken from a Greek translation, made at Alexandria (by some unknown hand), and annexed to the LXX. It consists of an introduction, containing a brief sketch of Alexander's conquest, followed by the invasion and oppression of Antiochus Epiphanes, culminating in his attempt to extirpate Hebrew nationality and worship. The main body of the work narrates the struggle for independence, beginning with Mattathlas, and ending with Simon. It comprises a period of 33 years (B.C. 168-135). After an enumeration of the Maccabsean family, it relates-the exploits of Mattathias and bis five sons, by whom the struggle is carried on to a successful issue. The history divides itself into three distinct epochs, each stamped with the individuality of its leader,—first, Judas; second, Jonathan; third, Simon,—each of whom fell a victim to* his patriotism.

SECOND BOOK OF MACCABEES seems to be a compilation, made from some extant materials, furnished to the compiler at Alexandria. The main portion of the book is dern^red from, a previous work, called the "Five Books of Jason, of Cyrene " (probably the son of Eleazar). From internal evidence these books appear to have been written in Greek, between B.C. 125 and A.D. 70. The source from which the first two chapters are taken is very doubtful; and, from the extravagance of the legends contained in them, they are not believed to be authentic, but to be the work of the unknown compiler, who is supposed to have written his book at Alexandria about the end of the second century B.C.

It is the main sour.ee from which the history anterior to the Maccabees is derived, comprising, a period of 25 years from B.C. 185 (?)-161, so, that a portion of the narrative is chronologically anterior to the 1 Mace, another is contemporaneous, with it, and a third is supplementary. It may be thus divided:—1. The two introductory chapters, addressed by the Council at Jerusalem to the Jews at Alexandria. 2. The history of Heliodorus (chap. iii.). 3. The beginning and course of the great persecution (chaps, iv.-vii.). 4. The fortunes of Judas to. the restoration of the Temple service (chaps, viii,-x 9). 5. Reign of Antiochus Eupator (chaps, x. 10r-xiii.). 6. From the treachery of Alcimus to, the finaj triumph, of Judas (chaps, xiv. and xv.).

The main feature in the book is its high religious tone. In it are pourtrayed the Divine influence over human events, retributive justice, 'the connection between the visible and spiritual world, and the doctrine of a future resurrection. Holding these opinions, the compiler seems to* have used historical events in support of them rather than to have adhered to strict accuracy of detail, and hence there are many discrepancies between it and the 1 Maec. which are otherwise inexplicable*

BRIEF HISTORICAL SUMMARY OF THE

INTERVAL BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS,

TAKEN CHIEFLY FROM JOSEPHUS AND THE BOOKS OF MACCABEES.

Ezra and Nehemiah left a settled form of government in Palestine, the centre of which was Jerusalem. Here was established a council of elders and priests, who formed an ecclesiastical court, interpreting the Law, and enforcing its observance. These were called the "Great Synagogue." They were to the new settlement after the Captivity what the "elders that overlived Joshua" (Josh. xxiv. 31) were to the Israelites who came out of Egypt.

It was the Jewish theory that the Law was given in a twofold form, viz. the written and the oral; the former consisting of brief official enactments, the latter of more copious details. With the former code, immutably formalised by God, they said the latter was orally taught to Moses on Mount Sinai by the same Divine Author as the authoritative interpretation thereof, with the command to commit the one to writing, but to transmit the other only by word of mouth. This oral law was repeated by Moses to Joshua, who handed it on to the elders who succeeded him, and they to the prophets, who, in their turn, passed it from one to another till it reached Jeremiah, who, through the medium of Baruch, conveyed it to Ezra, and he to the Great Synagogue, whom Nehemiah also supplied with a library of all the sacred books he could collect (2 Macc. ii. 13). This body of elders lasted about 150 years, when it expired in its last survivor, the High Priest Simon the Just (B.C. 291). They are said to have numbered 120. To them the Jews owe the 613 Precepts; and this oral tradition may be considered the groundwork of the Talmud. This " Great Synagogue " and its oral tradition are spoken of with no great favour by our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount, alluding to them in the words, " it was said by them of old time" (Matt. v. 27); and elsewhere in His allusions to " the traditions of the elders."

Ezra and Nehemiah also set up synagogues in country towns, as places of worship on the sabbath, and as schools of instruction and for theological discussion during the week. Attached to each was a body of "Rulers," who were both civil magistrates and ecclesiastical presbyters. During all this time Palestine was subject to Persia, and formed only part of a province under the Satrap of Syria, these elders administering the government with the high priest as their responsible head.

(B.C. 331.) According to Jewish tradition, related by Josephus (Antiq. xi. 8. 1. ff.), and repeated in the Talmud (Joma f. 69; ap. Otho Lex. Rabb.), in later Jewish writers, and in the Chronicles of Abulfeda, and supported in some of its main features by historical facts (such as the freedom of Palestine from tribute during the Sabbatical years, &c., Alexander the Great visited Jerusalem to punish the Jews for their refusal to transfer their allegiance to him, when summoned to do so during his siege of Tyre. After the reduction of Tyre and Gaza, he is said to have approached Jerusalem with hostile intent; but Jaddua the high priest, in conformity with a dream, awaited his approach, clad in his priestly robes of hyacinth and gold, and accompanied by a train of priests and citizens arrayed in white. Alexander, moved by the novel spectacle, did reverence to the high priest and kissed the sacred inscription on his mitre, alleging that he had seen in a dream that same venerable form, who had promised him success in his Eastern campaign. To this incident are said to be due the peculiar privileges accorded by Alexander to the Jews in Palestine, Babylonia, and Media, which they continued to enjoy under his successors, and which were afterwards confirmed and enlarged by the Romans. After subduing Egypt, and building Alexandria, he invited a number of Jews to settle there, granting them many privileges and immunities.

Alexander's conquests broke down the barriers separating one kingdom from another, and especially those between the Eastern and Western Empires; and paganism fell before the greater diffusion of light, while Greek literature and intelligence spread over the East, and the Greek language became almost universal. After the battle of Ipsus (B.C. 301) Palestine became the neutral territory between the rival empires of Syria and Egypt; and while from time to time the prey of each, its strategic importance enabled it to make favourable terms with whichever empire it acknowledged to be supreme. Internally it was able to resist the revolution which Greek supremacy effected. Ezra's constitution was fully developed, a powerful hierarchy had substituted the idea of a Church for that of a nation, and the Jew mixed with other people and lived in other lands without losing any of his allegiance to his own Deity or peculiar customs; and, as a whole, the Jewish nation had realised their mission as the teachers of religion to the world, and were ready to fulfil it. The opportunity and power to do so were furnished by Alexander's conquests. While they learnt independence from the example of Greece, and soon became divided into sects (analogous to the typical forms of Greek philosophy), this freedom of thought was modified, in their case, by the contemplative temper of the East. Alexandria and Cyrene henceforth exercised a greater influence on Judaism, in its relation to other nations, than did Jerusalem, since that city was the point of contact between Eastern and Western thought. (B.C. 320.) Ptolemy Soter's invasion of Judaea led to a further settlement of Jews at Alexandria (partly by captives, partly by colonists). Under his successor, Ptolemy Philadelphus (B.C. 285), learning was fostered, and an alliance was attempted between Jewish revelation and Greek philosophy, each reacting on the other. The most important result of this was the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek (LXX.), which became known all over the world, and thus prepared the way for the universal spread of Christianity. So Egypt disciplined and educated anew these appointed teachers of religion. It first impressed upon a nation the firm unity of a family, and then, in due time, re-connected a mature people with the world, from which it had been called out.

The same patronage was extended to the Jews, throughout his reign, by Ptolemy Euergetes, who conformed to the Mosaic rites by sacrificing at Jerusalem, and conferred privileges on the high priest which rendered him an almost independent tributary prince.

Thus there were two great centres of Judaism growing up contemporaneously, each exercising a distinctive influence, viz. the gradually-decaying Jerusalem, the capital of the Hebrew proper, —the home of the Pharisee,—whose ritual was that of Moses, and whose sacred and only literature was the Hebrew Scriptures and commentaries thereon; and Alexandria, the capital of the Hellenist, or alien Jew, who mingled Greek culture and independence with Jewish autonomy and Oriental contemplation and allegory. The latter infused a new spirit into Judaism, which became divided into two great parties, known, in Gospel times, as "Pharisees" and "Saddu-cees;" the former representing the extreme phase of Hebraism, and the latter the corresponding ultra-development of Hellenism.

A third element was introduced by the followers of Antiochus Epiphanes, who brought in a mixture of Greek and Roman paganism, and sought to break down the pure morality of Hebraism by the introduction of heathen licence. His father, Antiochus the Great, had alternately won and lost the Syrian provinces, in a succession of conflicts (from B.C. 223 to 198) with the Ptolemies. He was eventually successful, in combination with Philip III. of Macedon. He was hailed by the Jews as their deliverer from subjection to Egypt, and confirmed the privileges they had previously enjoyed under Alexander and his successors.

Under Antiochus Epiphanes (B.C. 173), the Hel-lenizing party were in the majority at Jerusalem, and the high-priesthood was obtained by purchase from Antiochus, who made use of his money and a victorious army to buy over the unscrupulous, and to massacre the faithful, until he established heathenism in the Holy City, proscribed the use of the Mosaic ritual, and promulgated those infamous "Decrees" which led to the revival of the ancient patriotism under the Maccabees. He erected the statue of Jupiter on the altar of burnt-offering, committed all books of Scripture to the flames, and prohibited the worship of God.

During these struggles, the high priests played a conspicuous, but not a very honourable part, too often being the creatures of the civil power, which, for the time, was in the ascendant.

Succession of High Priests. Those of the first century were of no political importance. Their names are Eliashib, Joiada, Jonathan or Johanan, and Jaddua (whose brother Manasseh married a Samaritan wife, for which he was banished from Jerusalem, and set up a spurious form of Jewish ritual in a temple built under his direction on Mount Gerizim. See John iv. 201. According to Josephus, it was this Jaddua who met Alexander the Great at Mizpeh. Onias I., son of Jaddua, succeeded his father about the time of the death of Alexander the Great. He was succeeded by Simon I. (said by Josephus to have been named "the Just," though this title is applied by others to Simon II.), who was the last teacher of the "Great Synagogue," and closes the list of the righteous in Ecclesias-ticus (ch. 50). He was followed by his brothers

Eleazar and Manasseh, in succession; after whom came Onias II., son of Simon I. (B.C. 240), whose avarice, and consequent refusal to pay the tribute, paved the way for the subsequent rupture with Egypt, which was temporarily averted by Joseph, who farmed the tribute from Ptolemy. He was succeeded by his son, Simon II. (supposed by some to be the "Simon the Just"), who was followed by Onias III. (B.C. 198), by whose prayers the intended spoliation of the Temple by Antiochus is said to have been averted. He was treacherously supplanted by his brother Jason (B.C. 175), who bought the office from Antiochus Epiphanes. But that monarch shortly after sold the office a second time to Menelaus (Onias IV.), Jason's brother, by whom the rightful high priest (Onias III.) was murdered, for which crime Menelaus was executed by command of Antiochus. These internal dissensions were the cause of a secession of the most faithful Jews under the lawful high priest (Onias V., son of Onias IV.), to Alexandria, where he sought to give to the Hellenistic Jews a unity which was no longer possible in Judaea; and the Mosaic ritual and polity were, for a time, transferred to the colony at Leontopolis (called Onias, after its founder), and its temple. The site of this temple is supposed to be (Joseph. Antiq. xiv. 8) Tel-el-Yahood, or Tel-el-Yahoodeezeh, twelve miles N.E. of Helio-polis, between Cairo and Zagazig.

In this period the prophecies of Daniel (viii. 20-25) were fulfilled. The one horn of the "he goat" was Alexander the Great, and the "four horns " which sprang up when it was broken were his four generals, among whom his kingdom was divided (Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus); and the "little horn" (yii. 8) was Antiochus Epiphanes, by whom the daily sacrifice was taken away for 2,300 days, and whose conquest of Egypt was stopped by ambassadors from Home (the Fourth Empire) landing at Alexandria (xi. 31, 32), and requiring him to withdraw from that country.

The determination of Antiochus to stamp out Judaism produced a recoil. It culminated in the attempt of Antiochus to force the Jews publicly to eat the flesh of swine sacrificed on God's altar to the honour of Jupiter. One aged scribe refused, and was followed by a mother and her seven sons, who all suffered martyrdom with the extremities of torture. This was followed by Mat-tathias, a priest of the Asmonasan family, who killed both a renegade Jew, when about to offer idolatrous sacrifice, and the royal officer who presided. Aided by his five sons, he rallied the faithful round him, threw down the heathen altars, fled to the mountains and raised the standard of liberty, on which were inscribed M.K.B.I., the initials of their Hebrew war-cry, Mi-KamoJca Bdelim, Ihovah, " Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods?" (Exod. xv. 11), from which the insurgents got the name of Maccabees, whence the eldest son and successor of Mattathias is known in history as Judas Mac-cabseus. Under him they were victorious. Antiochus, stricken by God, died of a loathsome disease. The Maccabees recovered Jerusalem, purified the Temple, and restored its worship, holding for eight days (in December, B.C. 165) the first "Feast of Dedication," which continued to be annually observed to our Lord's time (John x. 22).

Maccabean Period.

The Maccabaean family continued to hold the main sway over the people, who retained their local customs, but were obliged to make terms with the Eomans, under whose protection they retained considerable freedom. Although the Israelites were scattered over many countries, Jerusalem was still their religious and political centre, and in its Temple alone were sacrifices offered, and to it flowed the poll-tax of half a shekel from Jews all over the world. The Roman Government acknowledged and confirmed their independent local administration, as a peculiar "imperium in imperio," by the following decrees:--

(B.C. 47.) Julius Caesar (for services in Alexandrine war) gave to Hyrcanus and his heirs all rights accorded to the high priest by law or courtesy; all doubtful questions to be referred to him personally. ALSO, the privilege of being Patroni of all Jews that were aggrieved: hence all Jews throughout the world had a direct appeal to Caesar through the high priest, whose ambassadors had everywhere a free passage. ALSO, exemption from all tribute every seventh year, "because they neither sow nor reap." ALSO, peculiar liberty to "meet and assemble together, and comport themselves according to the custom of their fathers, and their own laws."

(B.C. 44.) On the death of Caesar and Hyrcanus, all the edicts of the former, whether recorded in the Treasury or not, were confirmed by the Senate, in the Consulate of Dolabella and Antony. Thus the Jews, wherever they lived, were exempt from taxation at certain times, free from military service, allowed to maintain their peculiar customs, and looked to their high priest in Jerusalem as their ecclesiastical and civil superior in all that related to religious or ceremonial observances. But, for maintenance of order and general political government, a Roman official, supported by military organization, presided over all Syria. This official at first was one allied to both interests, and to whom was delegated the nomination to the high priesthood, viz. Herod the Great (B.C, 37), an Idumaean by birth, but descended from a Philistine slave. With the aid of Roman troops he deposed the last Asmonsaean prince, Antigonus, married his niece Mariamne (granddaughter of Hyrcanus the high priest), and became a nominal sovereign, subject to Rome. A heathen at heart, a savage in character, a brute in passions, and a fawning slave to the Imperial Court, he made use of his position to betray his country to the Romans by fostering immorality, cultivating alien customs, sapping religious faith, encouraging mutual distrust, corrupting the priesthood, and massacring the nobles. He rebuilt the Temple on the most gorgeous scale, intending it to be the proud monument of his dynasty, but really it was the whitened sepulchre that concealed the foul impurity of his family and the loathsome corruption in which he had buried his people. This loss of temporal status drove the Jewish spirit to an inward self-exaltation and spiritual pride, with a senile fondness for dwelling on the glories of the past. They turned to minute interpretation of, and refinements on the Law, to exaggerated expectations of fulfilment of prophecy, and literal attention to even trivial acts of worship. Pharisees, Scribes, Lawyers, were more in esteem than Priests and Levites, and the teaching was oral and disputatious, rather than dogmatic and authoritative. Hence arose the two great rival schools of Gospel times, the Pharisees and Sadducees (see p. 34).

The literature of this period is confined to the Books of Apocrypha, the merit of which is unequal. Highest in rank are the two treatises "Wisdom" and "Ecclesiasticus," which possess high literary and moral excellence. Next are "Baruch," "Song of the Three Children," "Prayer of Manasses;" then the historical books; and last, the Babylonian stories, which shew the decline of faith and increase of superstition among those Jews who remained in Babylon.

FAMILY OF THE HERODS.

JEWISH SECTS, PARTIES, &c.

Essenes (? pure and holy; but derivation very doubtful) were a sect who sprang from Egypt, and numbered about 4,000 devotees, who renounced all pleasures of life; abstained from marriage, the use of meat, wine, and oil: had a community of goods; gave themselves wholly to the reading of Scripture, to united prayer and praise, to works of benevolence and mercy. They all wore white priestly dresses, lived in communities, shared the same toil; had no sacrifices, but daily lustrations; strictly observed the Law of Moses, whom they almost deified.

Galilaeans were a turbulent and seditious sect, to t$iom Josephus attributes a great part of the calamities of his country (see Luke xiii. 1). Their leader was Judas of Galilee (Acts v. 37), who attracted to him a few Pharisees; but eventually they swallowed up almost all the other sects, and were probably the "Zealots" so conspicuous at the siege of Jerusalem (see Acts xxi. 38). They taught that all foreign domination was unscrip-tural; they refused to pray for foreign princes, and performed their sacrifices apart.

Herodians were a political party, rather than a religious sect. They were the partisans of the Idumaean dynasty, which, springing from heathenism, remained in taste, inclination, barbarity, and licentiousness heathen still, though from state policy they outwardly conformed to the Jewish ritual observances. Supported in authority and position solely by Roman might, they endeavoured to repay their benefactors by performing their part of the compact in leavening the Jewish nation with laxity Of moral tone, religious indiffer-entism, and the policy of temporising to Roman ascendancy. Hence they joined the Sadducees in scepticism, the Greeks in licentiousness, pandered to the Herods in vice and cruelty, truckled to the Romans. Of this demoralising leaven our Lord warned His apostles (Mark viii. 15).

Nazarites (Heb. "Nazir," separated). They were of two sorts, viz. those devoted in infancy by their parents to God, and those who so devoted themselves, either for life or for a limited time. Of the former were Samson, Samuel, John the Baptist. The order was instituted by God Himself, and the laws respecting it are prescribed in Numb, yi., and consist mainly of abstinence from intoxicating liquors and from pollutions, and of the culture of an ascetic mien and dress.

Pharisees, a party whose name was derived from the Hebrew "Parush," separated, because they affected very great sanctity (John vii. 49; Acts xxyi. 5). They were strict observers of external rites and ceremonies beyond the requirements of the Law, placing the traditions of the elders on an equal footing with the written oracles. They were exclusive, formal, self-righteous; proud of their unblemished descent from Abraham; abjuring Greek culture, literature, and commerce; adhering to the land, language, and proud self-satisfaction of the ancient Hebrew race, erusalem was their capital, Aramaic their language, the Hebrew Scriptures their literature, the Temple their one centre of devotion. They held to the literal interpretation of the Law and the prophets; believed in spiritual manifestations, in the pre-existence and immortality of the soul, and in the resurrection of the body. They were already an influential body in the time of the Maccabee, John Hyrcanus (B.C. 108).

Proselytes were Gentiles converted to Judaism. They were of two kinds, viz. "Proselytes of the Temple," and "Proselytes of the Gate." The former were circumcised, admitted to the full religious privileges, and charged with the entire obligations of the Mosaic covenant, but were not esteemed to be heirs of the promises made to Abraham and his seed. The latter were allowed to join in the worship of God, standing in the outer "court of the Gentiles;" they were not bound by the ceremonial laws of Moses, but only the moral ones, or, as they were called, the Seven Precepts of Noah. They were uncircumcised, and were admitted into the Jewish Church by baptism. They are usually called "devout men" in the Acts of the Apostles. A difference was made between various nations, no heathens being admitted direct into the condition of Proselytes of the Temple. Edomites and Egyptians had this privilege in the third generation, while Ammonites and Moabites were excluded till the tenth, before which they had none of the civil rights and advantages peculiar to the Jew by descent. This stricture caused the controversy in the Christian Church as to the admission of Gentile converts without circumcision (Acts xv.).

Publicans were neither a sect nor a party, but a social class. They were the tax-collectors of the civil power. The taxes were farmed by rich Roman citizens of the Equestrian Order, or sometimes by a joint-stock company at Rome, who had agents in the provinces to arrange the actual collection from the people. These agents divided the country into districts, and offered each district to public competition, which was farmed by the highest bidder. The purchaser was usually required to pay the purchase-money, either wholly or by instalments, in advance, and he must recoup himself. He was always a native of the country, well versed in its resources and the temper of its people; using his knowledge and power to extort as much as possible for his own profit. In this he was backed by the Equestrian Order at Rome, who carried most oppressive decrees in the Senate against defaulters. Such were the "Publicans;" despised throughout the world, branded as "plunderers," classed as beasts of prey, with "bears and lions;" amongst the "most ferocious of wild beasts" in this world, and with the vilest characters in the next. As much of the tax was an "ad valorem" duty on property and produce, which the publican gauged, there was ample opportunity for unjust exaction. T.o this general odium must be added the peculiar sting to "Abraham's seed, in bondage to no man," that they were no longer free; and the question was ever rife, whether it were "lawful to pay tribute to Caesar." Even our Lord classes them with "heathen men" (Matt. xviii. 17); and the Jews forbade marriage with the family in which there was one publican, which thereby became polluted.

Sadducees, a party who were said to have got their name either from "Tsedek," righteousness, or from Zadok, disciple of Antigonus Sochseus, a president of the Sanhedrin (B.C. 200-170). They were the very opposite of the Pharisees, denying the authority of all revelation and tradition subsequent to Moses; sceptical with regard to the miraculous and supernatural, they denied the existence of spiritual beings, the immortality of the soul, and resurrection of the body. Hence they were Deists, viewing the Supreme Being as a quiescent Providence, calmly surveying and ruling the regular working of natural laws, and the creatures which spontaneously reproduced themselves from the original germs. They gave themselves up to ease, luxury, self-indulgence; accepted Greek culture and intercourse; mingled with foreigners, and were not indisposed to view with indifferent liberality the laxity of heathen morals and profanity of idol worship. They divided, the hierarchy with the Pharisees, and the chief council seems to have been equally balanced between the two (Acts xxiii. 6) • the family of Annas belonging to the Saddu-cean faction in our Lord's time (Acts v. 17).

Samaritans were colonists, sent by the king of Assyria to people the land after he had carried captive the Israelites (2 Kings xvii.). They were a mixed people, from various eastern'nations conquered by him; and they brought with them their various forms of national idolatry, until the plagues sent amongst them by God led them to petition for a priest of the God of the country to teach them the old form of worship. He was stationed at Beth-el, and they endeavoured to combine a formal reverence of God with the practice of their own heathen rites; but after the captivity of Judah they sought an alliance with the returned Jews, with whom they intermarried. On Ezra enforcing the Mosaic law as to mixed marriages, Manasses, a Jewish priest, who had married the daughter of Sanballat, chief of the Samaritans, headed a secession to Shechem, taught them the Mosaic ritual, erected a rival temple on Mount Gerizim; and this mixed community began to claim descent from the patriarchs, and a share in the promises, adopting the Pentateuch and Books of Joshua and Judges as their sacred books. Having the advantage of occupying the most sacred historical ground (Shechem), surrounded by the tombs and memorials of the patriarchs, and intercepting the two portions of the Israelite people (Galilasans and Jews), they held a strong vantage ground, which they used to annoy their neighbours. They erected false beacons to render nugatory the announcements of the great festivals, refused a passage through their territory to pilgrims going up to the feasts, defiled the temple by scattering dead men's bones upon its altar, and finally welcomed the invasion of Alexander the Great, and offered to him their temple for a heathen fane, which resulted in its final destruction by the Jews under John Hyrcanus (B. C. 130).

The old feud between the ten tribes- and the house of David was renewed with double hostility by the Samaritans, Shechem and Jerusalem being the centres of animosity, each having rival claims to sanctity. Hence the point of the Samaritan woman's questions to our Lord (John iv.), and the readiness with which her fellow^T-citizens accepted the overture of one "being a Jew" to receive them into full religious communion. The Samaritans now scarcely number 100 persons, living at Nabulus (Shechem), preserving an ancient copy of the Pentateuch, keeping up an annual sacrifice of the Passover on Mount Gerizim, living peaceful, moral lives, and observing, with some peculiar variations, the Mosaic Law.

Sanhedrin, or "The Council" of the Jewish Church and people, was a theocratic oligarchy, which, after the return from the Captivity, ruled the new settlement, being " in all causes and over all persons, ecclesiastical and civil, supreme." It was suggested by the old institution of 72 elders (six from each tribe), appointed by Moses, at Jethro's suggestion, to relieve him in the administration of justice (Ex. xviii. 14; Numb. xi. 16, 17). Having died out in the age succeeding Joshua, and being superseded under the monarchy, it was revived either by Ezra, or after the Macedonian ascendancy. It consisted of an equal number (twenty-four) of priests, scribes, elders, all of whom must be married, above thirty years of age, well-instructed in the law, and of good report among the people. This constituted the Supreme Court of Judicature, and Administrative Council, taking cognisance of false doctrine and teaching, as well as breaches of the Mosaic Law, and regulating both civil and ecclesiastical observances peculiar to the Jewish nation. The power of life and death had been taken from it by the Roman government (John xviii. 31; xix. 7), which in other respects covenanted to respect its decrees; though during the interval between the death of Tiberius and accession of Caligula, and in the absence of Pilate at Rome, the opportunity was seized to stone Stephen, in contravention of this compact.

The Sanhedrin usually met in the hall Gazith, within the Temple precincts, though special meetings were sometimes held in the house of the high priest (Matt. xxvi.*-3), who was generally (though not necessarily) the president. There were also two vice-presidents, and two scribes, or " heralds," one registering the votes of acquittal (or noes), and the other those of conviction (or ayes), and a body of lictors, or attendants (Matt. xxyi. 58). The assembly sat in the form of a semicircle, the president occupying the centre of the arc, the prisoner that of the centre of the chord, while the two heralds sat a little in advance of the president, on his right hand and his left.

Scribes {writers) were a learned profession, neither a party nor a sect. They devoted themselves to the study of the Law, of which they were the authorised expositors and transcribers. They were the lawyers and notaries public of the community (Matt. xxii. 35; Mark vii. 2; Luke v. 17, 21). Such were Gamaliel and Saul. In doctrine and practice they favoured the Pharisees, with whom they are often classed (Matt. xxiii. 2). From being transcribers and expounders of the Law, they supplied, after the Captivity, the place of the prophets and inspired oracles, which had ceased; and from them arose those glosses and interpretations which our Lord rebukes under the term "traditions." These became so numerous, that they were collected by the Ilabbi Judah (A.D. 200) into six books, called the Mishna (Repetition of the oral law), to which was subsequently added a book of comments {Gemara), which completed the whole traditionary doctrine of the Jewish Church. The Mishna and the Gemara together constitute the Talmud, of which there are two, one by the Jews in Judasa (called the Jerusalem Talmud), the other by those in Babylon (called the Babylonian).

The Synagogue was a term applied bo^h to the congregation in a provincial town, and to the room in which it met during the week for mutual instruction, disputation, administration of justice, and on the sabbath for prayer and praise (not sacrifice). These buildings were the schools of the children, debating clubs and libraries of the youths; there were 480 in Jerusalem.

Each Jewish community had its officers, viz.:—

1. Ten Batlanim, or "men of leisure," who devoted themselves to the interests of the community (see Jer. iii. 15). They were the provincial council, administering both ecclesiastical and civil affairs. These were the " rulers of the synagogue," and had special seats of honour assigned them during Divine worship (Matt. xxiii. 6; Acts xiii. 15).

2. The Legate, or Apostle. He was a layman, delegated by the chief shepherd (Parnas) to recite the most sacred portions of the liturgy. The office was not permanently vested in one person, but one so delegated was the mouthpiece, for the time, of the congregation (Heb. iii. 1). In large towns the qualifications were very strict, and became the groundwork of those required for Christian bishops (1 Tim. iii. 1-7). Our Lord seems to have held this office at Nazareth (Luke iv. 16). From hence arose Christian "prophets" or "presbyters."

3. Chazan, the minister or attendant, whose duties were partly ecclesiastical, partly civil:—

(a) To unrobe the priests of their sacerdotal

vestments.

(b) To blow the trumpet for public announce-

ments. ' ' (e) To hand the roll of the Law to the Reader.

(d)  To act as messenger to " the rulers," when

dispensing justice.

(e)  To inflict scourging (40 stripes save one). {/) To take charge of the furniture, light the

sabbath lamp, clean the synagogue.

These Chazanim are mentioned twenty times in the New Testament, but under three different words in our translation:—viz. Officer in eleven passages (Matt. v. 25; John vii. 32, 45, 46; xviii. 3, 12, 18, 22; xix. 6; Acts v. 22, 26). Servant in four passages (Matt. xxvi. 58; Mark xiv. 54, 65; John xviii. 36). Minister in five passages (Luke i. 2; iv. 20; Acts xiii. 5; xxvi. 16; 1 Cor. iv. 1). It was with them Peter sat and warmed himself;

and it was they who smote Jesus with the palms of their hands.

4. Meturgeman (Interpreter). As the synagogue oame mainly into use after the Captivity, when Hebrew was not well known, and Greek was more used in common life, the Law was interpreted to the congregation by an interpreter, selected for his learning and knowledge of languages. To guard against false interpretation, the learned formed a guild of interpreters, who drew up a Book of Paraphrases on the hebdomadal lessons, which from them was called the "Targum;" and the guild of Meturgemans, or Turgemans, has been corrupted into the modern Dragoman.

The Great Synagogue was a council of distinguished men, on whom, after the cessation of prophecy, devolved the authoritative teaching of the Jewish Church. They sat in "Moses' seat;" and it was their duty to watch over the purity of doctrine, and sacred usages, define them more accurately, and pronounce judicial decisions in matters affecting them. To them was due the foundation of the profession of scribes, and those traditionary precepts accompanying the Law which were ultimately incorporated in the Mishna.

DIVIDED MONARCHY.

ITINERARY OF THE JOURNEYINGS OF THE ISRAELITES TO THEIR SETTLEMENT IN CANAAN.

STATIONS.

HISTORICAL SUMMARY.

From the fall of man, the promise of a restorer of the race was given and at intervals renewed; but it was open to the whole of mankind, "the seed of the woman," until the time of Abram, when it was restricted to his family, "in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Abram, called by God to leave his native place Ur (at that time the capital of Chaldæa), retires to Haran, with his father and the rest of his family. On his father's death, five years later, he is again bidden to travel to the S.W., passes through Damascus, and reaches Shechem (in the centre of the land, in the pass between Ebal and Gerizim), where God meets him and makes a covenant. Pursuing his journey he stops at Beth-el, where God renews the covenant. He still goes southward till he reaches Egypt, whence he is bidden to return; and he retraces his steps to Beth-el, where Lot leaves him, after which God promises him the whole land. He then removes southward to Mamre, where Ishmael is born, circumcision instituted, Isaac promised by the angel, and the destruction of Sodom revealed. After that event Abraham removed to Beer-sheba, where he lived the last seventy-five years of his life. Here Isaac was born and spent all his days. Jacob, at seventy-seven years of age, fled to Padan-Aram, returning after twenty years; settled at Shechem, removed to Beer-sheba, and was driven by famine into Egypt, where his descendants remained 215 years. Moses, by God's command, led them to the wilderness of Sinai, where they received from God a code of laws,—social, political, and religious,—and a complete constitution, with civil and ecclesiastical officers. After forty years' training by God in the wilderness, they entered Canaan, conquering on their way the aboriginal inhabitants E. of Jordan, but sparing those akin to them. The extermination of the Canaanites from Palestine was miraculous, but incomplete, because of the lethargy of the invaders. The succeeding 400 years of occupation was a period of listless anarchy, both priests and people being faithless to the theocracy, content with the indolent enjoyment of an exuberant land, of which the surviving remnants of the Canaanites (Philistines), and the kindred tribes of Hebrews (Amalekites, Edomites, Moabites, Midianites) tried to dispossess them. This warfare continued, until David subjugated the latter and made the former peaceful subjects, and Israel obtained full inheritance of the promise from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates, a sovereignty which lasted till the end of Solomon's reign.

A civil rupture rent the kingdom in twain. Ten tribes revolting sought to consolidate a separate sovereignty by establishing a rival worship, of which the two great shrines were at Dan and Beth-el. This rapidly declined into Baalism, which attained its zenith under Ahab, and was punished first by incursions of the Syrians, and afterwards by the invasion of the Assyrians, who carried the people captive, and colonised the country with a mixed idolatrous race, who mingled their native worship with that of Israel. From these sprang the "Samaritans," who intermarried with some of the Jews, borrowed their rites, accepted the Pentateuch, and set up a false temple on Gerizim. The two tribes, 133 years later, were carried captive by the Babylonians; but after seventy years (B.C. 536), a portion of them returned, and rebuilt Jerusalem and the temple, the government being vested in a Persian Satrap, resident at Damascus.

As the faith of Abraham had been rewarded by the inheritance of Canaan, the unfaithfulness of his descendants had forfeited it, and they were all sent back to that heathen land "between the rivers," from which their progenitor was Divinely called; from which exile ten tribes never returned, but the remnant (principally of the tribe of Judah) came back, cured of idolatry, and looking hopefully for the restoration of their kingdom, and the birth of the promised seed.

As the early undivided monarchy produced the devotional books of Holy Scripture, the later monarchy brought forth the earlier, and the Captivity the later prophets, with warnings from the past, and encouragement for the future; but the glorious picture in which they represented the Messiah's kingdom raised a mistaken conception of a temporal sovereignty, which the oppression of successive tyrants (between the Captivity and the birth of Christ) was intended to correct. The fiery trial through which the people passed, and the new life which it evoked, are recorded in the Books of the Maccabees; while the moral decline of those who remained in exile, and their substitution of superstition for religion, are painfully exhibited in the Book of Esther, and those apocryphal narratives, which are valuable literary remains, but have been rejected from the Canon of Holy Scripture.

MIRACLES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

PARABLES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.

OUR LORD'S PARABLES.

N.B.—These miracles and parables are grouped according to their record by the Evangelists; for their chronological position reference must be made to tlie "Harmony."

42

THE NAMES, TITLES, AND OFFICES OF CHRIST.

Adam, the Second, 1 Cor. 15. 45, 47, Advocate, an, 1 John 2.1.

1 Alpha and Omega, Rev. 1. 8; 22; 13. Amen, Rev. 3.14.                                  * _s

2 Author and Finisher of our faith, Heb: 12. 2. Author of eternal salvation, Heb. 5. 9.

Beginning of the creation of God, Rev. 3.14. Blessed and only Potentate, 1 Tim. 6.15. Branch, Zech. 3. 8; 6.12. Bread of God, John 6. 33. Bread of Life, John 6. 35.

3 Captain of Salvation, Heb. 2.10.

4 Child, Holy, Acts 4; 27. Child, Little, Isa. 11. 6.

5 Christ, the, Matt. 16.16; Mark 8. 29; Luke 9. 20:

John 6. 69.

Corner-stone, Eph. 2. 20; 1 Pet. 2. 6. Counsellor, Isa. 9. 6.

David, Jer. 30. 9; Ezek. 34. 23; 37. 24; Hos. 3. 5. David, Son of, Matt. 9. 27; 21. 9. Day-spring, Luke 1. 78. Deliverer, Rom. 11. 26. Desire of all nations, Hag. 2. 7.

6 Emmanuel, Isa. 7.14; Matt. 1. 23. Everlasting Father, Isa. 9. 6.

Faithful witness, Rev. 1. 5; 3.14. First and Last, Rev. 1.17.

7 First-begotten of the dead, Rev. 1. 5.

God, Isa. 40. 9; John 20. 28; 1 John 5. 20.

God blessed for ever, Rom. 9. 5.

Good Shepherd, John 10.11.

Governor, Matt. 2. 6.

Great High Priest, Heb. 4.14.

High Priest, Heb. 5.10.

8 Holy child Jesus, Acts 4. 27. Holy, the most, Dan. 9. 24.

9 Holy One, Luke 4. 34; Acts 3.14; Rev. 3, 7.

10 Holy Thing, Luke 1. 35. Horn of Salvation, Luke 1. 69.

I AM, Ex. 3.14, with John 8. 58. Image of God, 2 Cor. 4. 4.

Jehovah, Isa. 26. 4.

Jesus, Matt. 1. 21; 1 Thess. 1.10.

HJust One, Acts 3.14; 1. 52; 22. 14.

King of Israel, John 1. 49.

King of the Jews, Matt. 2. 2.

Xinflr of Icings, 1 Tim. 6.15; Rev. 17.14; 19.16.

Lamb of God, John 1.29, 36.

Lawgiver. Isa. 33. 22.

Life, the, John 14. 6.

Life, Bread of, John 6. 35.

Light of the world, John 8.12; 9. 5.

Light, True, John 1. 9; 12. 35.

Lion of the tribe ofJudah, Rev. 5. 5. Living stone, 1 Pet; 2. 4. Lord, Matt. 3. 3; Mark 11. 3. Lord God, Almighty, Rev; 15.3; 12 — of Holy Prophets, Rev. 22. 6. Lord of all, Acts 10r36. Lord of Glory, 1 Cor. 2. 8. Lord of lords, 1 Tim. 6.15; Rev. 17.14; 19.16. Lord our Bighteousness, Jer. 23. 6.

Maker and Preserver of all things, John 1. 3, 10;

1 Cot. 8. 6; Col. 1.16; Heb. 1. 2,10; Rev. 4.11. Mediator, 1 Tim. 2. 5.

13 Mediator of the new covenant, Hefa. 12. 24. Messiah, Dan. 9. 25; John 1. 41.

Mighty God, Isa. 9. 6.

Mighty One of Jacob, Isa. 60.16.

Morning star, Rev. 22.16.

Nazarene, Matt; 2. 23.

Passover, Our, 1 Cor. 5. 7. Priest for ever, Heb. 5. 6. Prince, Acts 5. 31. Prince of Life; Acts 3.15. Prince of Peace, Isa. 9. 6;

14 p_ri_nce of the Mngs of the earth, Rev. 1. 5. Prophet, Deut. 18.15; Luke 24.19.

Redeemer; Job 19. 25; Isa. 59. 20.

Righteous, the, 1 John 2.1.

Boot and offspring of David, Rev. 22.16.

Boot of David, Rev. 5. 5.

Buler in Israel, Mic. 5. 2.

Same yesterday, to day, and for ever, Heb. 13. 8. Saviour, Luke 2.11; Acts 5. 31. Shepherd and Bishop of souls, 1 Pet. 2. 25. Shepherd in the land, Zech. 11.16. Shepherd of the sheep, Great, Heb. 13. 20. Shiloh, Gen. 49.10. Son, a, Heb. 3. 6.

15 Son, My beloved, Matt. 3.17; 17. 5; Luke 9. 35. Son of David, Matt. 9. 27; 21. 9.

Son of God, Matt. 8. 29; Luke 1. 35.

Son of Man, Matt. 8. 20; John 1. 51; Acts 7. 56.

lQSon of the Highest, Luke 1. 32.

Son, Only-begotten, John 1; 14,18; 3.16,18.

Son, the, Ps. 2.12.

Star and Sceptre, Num. 24.17.

W Star, bright and mornings Rev. 22.16.

Truth, the, John 14. 6.

Vine, the, John 15. 5. Vine, true, John 15.1.

Way, John 14. 6.

Witness, faithful and true, Rev. 3.14.

Wonderful, Isa. 9. 6.

Word, John 1.1.

Word of God, Rev. 19.13.

K.B.—In the Kevised New Testament, 1881 > the lines to which figures are prefixed

are given as follows :—

1 The Alpha and the Omega. 2 Author and Perfecter. 3 Author of Salvation. 4 Holy Servant. 5 The Holy One of God (John 6. 69). 6 Immanuel. 7 Firstborn. 8 Holy Servant Jesus. 9 Holy and Righteous One (Acts 3. 14) • He that is holy (Rev. 3. 7). 10 (In margin only.) 11 Bighteous One. 12 The Lord, the God of the Spirits of the Prophets. 13 Mediator of a new covenant. 1± Buler of the kings of the earth. 15 My Son, My chosen (Luke 9. 35). 16 Son of the Most High, 17 The bright, the morning Star.

PROPHECIES RELATING TO CHRIST.

Adoration by Magi, Ps. 72.10,15; Isa. 60. 3, 6.

Advent, Gen. 3.15; Deut. 18.15; Ps. 89. 20; Isa. 2.2; 9. 6; 28. 16; 32. 1; 35. 4; 42. 6; 49. 1; 55. 4; Ezek. 34. 24; Dan. 2. 44; Mic. 4.1; Zech. 3. 8.

Advent, time of, Gen. 49. 10; Num. 24.17; Dan. 9.24; Hag. 2. 7; Mai. 3.1. .

Ascension and exaltation, Ps. 16.11; 24.7; 68.18; 110.1; 118.19.

Betrayal for thirty pieces, Zech. 11.12.

„ by own friend, Ps. 41. 9; 55.13.

Betrayer's death, Ps. 55.15, 23; 109.17.

Bone not to be brojcen, Ps. 34. 20.

Burial ivith the rich, Isa. 53. 9.

Casting lots for vesture, Ps. 22.18.

Conversion of Gentiles, Isa. 11.10; 42.1.

Crucifixion, 'Ps. 22.14,17.

Death with malefactors, Isa. 53.9,12.

„ in prime of life, Ps. 89. 45; 102. 24.

„ attested by convulsions of nature, Amos 5. 20; 8. 9; Zech. 14. 4, 6.

Descent into Egypt, Hos. 11.1.

Desertion by disciples, Zech. 13. 7.

Divinity, Ps. 2. 11; 45. 7; 72. 8; 110.1; Isa. 9i 6; 25. 9; 40.10; Jer. 23. 6; Mic. 5. 2; Mai. 3.1.

Dominion universal and everlasting, Ps. 72-. 8; Isa. 9. 7 ; Dan. 7.14.

False accusation. Ps. 27.12; 35.11; 109. 2.

Forerunner of Christ, Isa. 40. 3; Mai. 3.1; 4. 5.

Galilee, ministry in, Isa. 9.1, 2.

Gall and vinegar, offer of, Ps. 69. 21.

Generation, human, Gen. 12. 3; 18. 18; 21. 12; 22.18; 26. 4; 28.14; 49.10; Ps. 18. 50; 89. 4, 29, 36; 132.11; Isa. 11.1; Jer. 23. 5; 33.15.

Insult, buffeting, spitting, scourging, Ps. 35. 15, 21; Isa. 50. 6.

Massacre of Innocents, Jer. 31.15.

Miraculous power, Isa. 35. 5.

Mission, Gen. 12. 3; 49.10; Num. 24.19; Deut. 18. 18; Ps. 21.1; Isa. 59. 20; Jer. 33.16.

Mocking, Ps. 22.16; 109. 25.

Nativity, place of, Num. 24.17,19; Mic. 5.2.

„ from virgin, Gen. 3.15; Isa. 7.14; Jer. 31. 22.

Patience under suffering, Isa. 53. 7, 9.

Persecution, Ps. 22. 6; 35. 7,12; 109. 2; Isa. 49.7; 53. 3.

Piercing, Ps. 22.16; Zech. 12.10; 13. 6.

Prayer for enemies, Ps. 109. 4.

Preacher, Ps. 2. 7; Isa. 2. 3; 61.1; Mic. 4. 2.

Priest like Melchizedek, Ps. 110. 4.

Prophet like Moses, Deut. 18.15.

Purchase of potter's field, Zech. 11.13.

Purification of temple, Ps. 69. 9.

Rejection by Jews and Gentiles, Ps. 2.1; 22.12; 41.5.

Resurrection, Ps. 16. 10; 30. 3; 41. 10; 118. 17; Hos. 6.2.

Silence against accusation, Ps. 38.13; Isa. 53. 7.

Spiritual graces, Ps. 45. 7; Isa. 11. 2; 42.1; 61.1.

Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Ps. 8. 2; Zech. 9.9.

Vicarious suffering, Isa. 53.4—6,12; Dan. 9.26.

45

ALPHABETICAL TABLE OF THE FIRST LINE OF EACH PSALM.

MATTHEW (cont).

MARK.

LUKE.

JOHN.

The appearance of an angel to him in a burning bush, in the wilderness of Sinai ........ Acts 7. 30.—Ex. 3. 2.

God's mission to Moses — 7. 35—Ex. 3.15-18; 4.

The miracles in Egypt by Moses' mission .. — 7. 36.—Ex. 7-12.

The miracle by Moses in the Red Sea..........— 7. 36.—Ex. 14. 21, &c.

The exodus ............— 7. 36.—Ex. 12. 41.

Miracles in the wilderness................ Acts 7. 36.—Ex. 15. 23; 16, &c.

The forty years' wandering in the wilderness.................— 7.36.-Num.l4.33;Ps.95.10,11.

Thriving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai — 7. 38.—Ex. 20.—24.18.

The worship of the golden calf............ — 7. 41—Ex. 32.19.

The making of the tabernacle in the wilderness — 7.44.—Ex. 25.40; 26.30.

The erection of the tabernacle in Canaan......— 7.45.—Josh. 18.1.

David's desire to build a tabernacle............ — 7.46.-2 Sam. 7.

The building of Solomon's Temple........— 7. 47.—1 Kin. 8.

The exodus ............— 13.17.—Ex. 12. 41.

The forty years' wandering in the wilderness — 13. 18.—Num. 14. 33; Ps. 95.10.

God's expulsion of seven nations from Canaan.. — 13.19.—Deut. 7.1.

The division of Canaan amongst the Israelites by lot ................— 13; 19.—Josh. 14. 2.

The rule of the judges .. — 13.2O.-Judg. 2.16.

The judgeship of Samuel the prophet .......... — 13.20.—1 Sam. 3. 20.

The desire of Israel for a kingdom..............— 13.21.—1 Sam. 8. 5.

The forty years' reign of Saul, son of Kish, the Benjamite............ — 13.21.—1 Sam. 10. 21.

God's removal of Saul from the kingdom, and selection of David to succeed him.......... — 13. 22.—1 Car. 10.14.

The pillar df a cloud, guiding Israel........ 1 Cor. 10.1.—Ex. 13. 21.

The passage through the RedSea.............. — 10.1.—Ex. 14. 22.

The Israelites fed by manna................ — 10.3— Ex. 16. 3-35.

Moses bringing water out of the rock........— 10.4.—Ex. 17. 6.

Birth of Ishmael from Abraham and Hagar.. Gal. 4.23,25.—Gen. 16.15.

The creation of Adam and Eve.............. 1 Tim. 2.13.—Gen. 2.7,21,22.

The priority of Eve's fall — 2.14.—Gen. 3.12.

The opposition of the Egyptian magicians to Moses................ 2 Tim. 3.8.—Ex. 7.11.

The tabernacle and its furniture ............ Heb. 9.2,3.—Ex. 25. & 26.

The pot of manna, Aaron's rod, and the two tables, in the Ark of the Covenant ........ — 9.4.—Ex.16.33,34; 2516; Num. 17.10.

The high priest's offering on Day of Atonement — 9. 7.—Ex. 30.10.

Moses' sprinkling the people with the blood of the testament......— 9.20.—Ex. 24. 8.

The daily sacrifice...... — 10.12.—Ex. 29. 38.

The creation of the world — 11.3.—Gen. 1.

God's acceptance of Abel's sacrifice........— 11. 4.—Gen. 4.4.

Enoch's translation .... — 11.5.—Gen.5.24.

Noah's preparation of the ark, and the salvation of himself and family Heb. 11. 7.—Gen. 6.15-18.

The call of Abraham .. — 1L 8.—Gen. 12.1.

His sojourn in Canaan.. — 11. 9.—Gen. 12; 5, &c.

The sojourn of Isaac and Jacob in Canaan ..... — 11. 9—Gen, 27.

The birth of Isaac from Sarah in her old age.. —11.11.—Gen. 18.11,12,14.

Abraham offering up Isaac.................. — 11.17.-Gen. 22.

Isaac blessing Jacob and Esau.................. — 11. 2O.-Gen. 27.

Jacob blessing Joseph's sons before his death.. — 11.21.—Gen. 48.15.

Joseph's dying command concerning his bones, &c..................... — 11 22-Gen. 50. 25.

Moses' return to his own people from Pharaoh's daughter.............. — 11. 25.-Ex. 2.11.

His flight from Egypt .. — 11. 27.—Ex. 2.15.

The Passover in Egypt, and slaughter of the firstborn.............. - 11. 28.—Ex. 12. 21- 29.

The passage of the Red Sea, and destruction of the Egyptian army .. — 11.29.—Ex. 14.

The compassing Jericho for seven days, and the fall of its walls........— 11.30.—Josh. 6.12-20.

The sparing of Rahab and her household... — 11,31.—Josh. 6. 23.

The exploits of the judges, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, Samuel — — 11.32.-Judg.andlSam.

„ of David ..........— 11.32.-2 Sam.

Deliverance of DsLniel in the lions' den ........— 11. 33.—Dan. 6; 22.

Deliverance of the three children from the fiery furnace .............. — 11. 34.—Dan. 3; 27.

Restoration of children to life by Elijah and Elisha....................— 11. 35.-1 Kin. 17. 23; 2 Kin. 4. 37.

The visit of angels to Abraham and Lot .... — 13. 2.—Gen. 18; 2; 19.1.

Rahab's reception and deliverance of the spies James 2. 25.—Josh. 2.1.

The patience of Job.... — 5.11.—Job 1. 21.

Elijah's prayer for a dearth on Israel......— 5.17.—1 Kin. 17.1.

The deluge, the disobedience of the world, and salvation of Noah and his family.. 1 Pet. 3. 20.—Gen. 6. 3; 2 Pet. 2. 5.—Gen. 7.1.

Sarah's deference to Abraham, calling him lord .................. 1 Pet. 3. 6.—Gen. 18.12.

The destruction of Sodom and the cities of the plain.................. 2 Pet. 2. 6.—Gen. 19.

Balaam rebuked by his ass.................... — 2.15.—Num. 22.

Cain's murder of Abel.. 1 John 3.12.—Gen, 4. 8.

The exodus of Israel from Egypt ................ Jude5.—Ex.12.41.

The death of unbelievers in the wilderness... — 5.—Num.l4. 32.

The destruction of Sodom, Gomorrha, &c... — 7.—Gen. 19

The body of Moses —  9.—Deut. 34. 5, 6.

"The way of Cain' .... —  11.—Gen 4.8.

The error of Balaam for reward .......... — 11.—Num. 22.

The gainsaying of Core (Korah) .............. — 11-Num 16.

Enoch, the seventh from Adam ................— 14.—Gen 5.18.

NOTES ON THE NEW TESTAMENT.

Its Genuineness.

1. External evidence. Although we have no complete catalogue for the Canonical Books previously to the fourth century, we have constant quotations from most of them by various Christian writers up to the time of the Apostles themselves. It will be best to trace this backwards. In the fourth century A.D. there are ten catalogues, in six of which all the books are counted Canonical, viz.: those of Augustine, Jerome, Rufinus, Council of Carthage, Epiphanius, and Athanasius; and three, which omit only the Book of Revelation, viz.: those of Gregory Nazianzen, Council of Laodicea, and Cyril of Jerusalem; and that of Philaster, which omits both the Epistle to the Hebrews and the Revelation. Of these the testimony of Jerome is the most important, from his great learning, his protracted residence in Palestine, and his life-long devotion to the work of verifying the Scriptures and the localities of Bible history. To all the books of the New Testament he assigns the same authors as those whose names they bear, giving the Acts of the Apostles to Luke, and the Epistle to the Hebrews to Paul, though he mentions that some doubt the authorship of the latter. Eusebius of Cæsarea, 315 A.D., in his. "Ecclesiastical History," after carefully investigating the history of his time, affirms it to be universally admitted that the following are genuine, viz.: the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the fourteen Epistles of Paul, the first Epistles of John and Peter, and "(if it so seem good) the Revelation of John." Origen, A.D. 243, gives a catalogue identical with that of Eusebius. Tertullian, A.D. 150—220, mentions the four Gospels and most of the books of the New Testament as genuine, as also does Irenæus. Papias, a disciple of Polycarp, expressly assigns the Gospels of Matthew and Mark to those writers; and Clemens Romanus, the fellow-labourer of Paul, refers as expressly to I. Corinthians as the work of that Apostle.

Besides this general consent of Christian writers, there is a complete absence in the works of their opponents (whether Jewish or heretical), of any satisfactory evidence that any of these books were spurious.

II. Authenticity of the New Testament.

Early Copies. There is no existing original MS. of the New Testament written in the first three centuries. Fragments of an early Syriac Version of the Four Gospels were found by Mr. Cureton in the Nitrian Monasteries, and published by him in London A.D. 1858. This copy is considerably anterior to the Peshito, which had previously been considered the oldest document. There is abundant evidence that, in the first two centuries, copies of the New Testament only existed in separate books, or in volumes containing such portions as the Gospels, the Catholic Epistles, the Pastoral Epistles, &c., respectively, but that no copy of the New Testament, as a whole, existed in one book. The first witnesses to the apostolic text are the early Syriac Peshito (Cent. i.), and Latin (Cent, ii.) versions; and the rich quotations of Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 220), and of Origen (A.D. 184—254). The most important early MSS. of the New Testament are the following:—

A. Sinaitic (Cent. iv.), in the Library of St. Petersburg, found by Tischendorf in the convent of St. Catherine, Mount Sinai, in 1859. The New Testament is entire, with the Epistle of Barnabas, and part of the "Shepherd of Hermes."

B. Alexandrine (the first half of Cent, v.), in the Library of the British Museum, given by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, to Charles I. in 1628. It contained the entire Bible in Greek, with the addition of the Epistles of St. Clement; but there are some parts of the New Testament missing (Matt. i.—xxv. 6; John vi. 50—viii. 52; 2 Cor. iv. 13—xii. 6).

C. Vatican (supposed to be of Cent, iv.), in the Vatican Library ever since its foundation, A.D. 1450. It is a MS. of the entire Greek Bible, as far as Heb. ix. 14, the remainder being added in Cent. xv.

D. Ephrem's (supposed to be written in the early part of Cent. v.), now in the Library of Paris. It was brought from the East to Florence early in Cent. xvi., and came to Paris with Catherine de Medicis in the middle of that century. It contains fragments of the LXX., and of each book of the New Testament. In Cent. xii. the original writing was effaced, and some Greek writings of "Ephrem Syrus" were written over it.

E. Beza's (Cent, vi.), found by Beza in the Monastery of St. Irenseus at Lyons, A.D. 1562, and presented by him to the University Library, Cambridge. It is a Graeco-Latin MS. of the Gospels and Acts, with small fragments of the Epistles of John. It abounds in interpolations, especially in the Acts of the Apostles.

F. Parisian Imperial (Cent, viii.), one of the most important of the late Uncial MSS. It contains the four Gospels (except Matt. iv. 22—v. 14; xxviii. 17—20; Mark x. 16—20; Xv. 2—20; John xxi. 15—25). It agrees in a remarkable manner with the quotations of Origen, and with the Vatican MS.

List of New Testament MSS.:—

  Uncial.—Gospels, 34; Acts and Catholic Epistles, 10; Paul's Epistles, 14; Evangelistaria, 58.

  Cursive.—Gospels, 601; Acts and Catholic Epistles, 229; Paul's Epistles, 283; Evangelistaria, 183.

The New Testament is the Sacred Scripture of the Last Dispensation, in which a New Covenant is made between God and man, by which all mankind are offered the privileges of (1) adoption to be the sons of God, (2) incorporation into Christ's Church, (3) inheritance in the kingdom of heaven. As no preference is given to any particular family or people, but these privileges are freely offered to all, the offer, the incorporated society who accept it, the faith (or terms of membership), are all said to be Catholic, or universal, viz. open to all, not necessarily accepted by all. This offer is called the Gospel, the Preacher of which is Christ; the Head also of the Society, which is called the Church, or "Body of the Lord."