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and the general complexion of their vernacular language. These peculiar idioms are termed Hebraisms; and their nature and classes have been treated at considerable length by various writers. A few examples will suffice to show the nature of these Hebraisms. Thus :

1. To be called, to arise, and to be found, are the same as to be. See Isa. lxi. 3. Matt. v. 9. 1 John iii, 1. Esth. iv. 14. Luke xxiv. 38. Dan. v. 12. Luke xvii. 18.

2. Verbs, expressive of a person's doing an action, are often used to sig. nify his supposing the thing or discovering and acknowledging the fact, or his declaring and foretelling the event. Matt. x. 39. 1 Cor. iii. 18. Isa. vi. 9, 10. Acts x. 15.

3. Negative verbs are often put for a strong positive affirmation. Psal. lxxxiv. 11. Rom. iv. 19. John xiv. 8.

4. The privileges of the first born among the Jews being very great, the chief or most eminent thing of any kind is called the first born. Job. xviii. 13. The first born of death is the most fatal and cruel death.

5. The words son, and children, have various peculiar significations: as, Sons of Belial, wicked men; Children of disobedience (Eph. ii.) are disobedient persons, &c.

6. Name is frequently synonymous with Persons. John i. 12. iii. 18. Rev. iii. 4.

7. The Jews, having but few adjectives and no superlatives, in their language, had recourse to substantives to supply their place. Thus king. dom and glory denote a glorious kingdom, 1. Thess. ii. 12; glory of his power, denotes glorious power. 2. Thess. i. 9; Mountains of God are exceeding high mountains, Psal. xxxvi. 7, &c.

8. According to the Hebrew idiom, a sword has a mouth; or, the edge of a sword is called a mouth. Luke xxi. 24. Heb. xi. 34.

9. The verb to know frequently denotes to approve; as in Psal. i. 6. Matt. vii. 23.

10. To hear denotes to understand, to attend to, and to regard what is said, Deut. xviii. 15, with Acts iii. 23. Matt. xvii. 5. Luke viii. 8.

Besides these Hebraisms there are found in the New Testament various Syriac, Chaldee, Latin, and other idioms and words, which are respectively denominated Syriasms, Persisms, Latinisms, &c. &c.

1. Syriasms are the idioms peculiar to the Syriac or West-Aramaan dialect; and Chaldaisms are those peculiar to the Chaldee or East-Aramæan dialect. Instances of these idioms occur in Rom. viii. 15. Matt. xxvii. 46. Mark v. 41. vii. 34.

2. Latinisms are those Latin words and phrases, which occur in the New Testament, in consequence of the intercourse of the Jews with the Romans, after Judæa had been reduced into a Roman province. See Matt. x. 29. John ii. 15. Acts. vi. 9, &c.

3. The number of words used by St. Paul in peculiar senses, as well as words not ordinarily occurring in Greek writers, are considered to be provincial idioms at that time used in Cilicia: whence they have been termed Cilicisms.

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SECTION I.-On the Hebrew Manuscripts of the Old Testament.

I. Hebrew Manuscripts are divided into two classes, viz. autographs, or those actually written by the inspired penmen, and apographs, or copies made from the originals, and multiplied by repeated transcription. The manuscripts still extant are of two descriptions; viz.

1. The Rolled Manuscripts used in the synagogues, which are transcribed with great care, and under various minute regulations designed to secure the purity of the sacred text. The form of one of these rolled manuscripts (from the original among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, No. 7619,) is given in the vignette at the head of this section. It is a large double roll, containing the Hebrew Pentateuch; written with very great care on forty brown African skins. These skins are of different breadths, some containing more columns than others. The columns are one hundred and fifty-three in number, each of which contains about sixty-three lines, is about twenty-two inches deep, and generally more than five inches broad. The letters have no points, apices, or flourishes about them. The initial words are not larger

than the rest; and a space equal to about four lines, is left between every two books. Altogether, this is one of the finest specimens of the synagogue-rolls that has been preserved to the present time.

2. The Square Manuscripts, which are in private use among the Jews, are written, after the manner of our printed books, on vellum, parchment, or paper of various sizes.

II. Among the Jews, five exemplars, or standard copies, have been particularly celebrated for their correctness; and from them all subsequent copies have been made. These are,

1. The Codex of Hillel, a manuscript seen by Rabbi Kimchi, in the 12th century, at Toledo.

2, 3. The Codices of Aaron Ben Asher, President of the Jewish Academy at Tiberias, and of Jacob Ben Naphtali, President of the Jewish Academy at Babylon; who, in the eleventh century, respectively collated the Manuscripts of the Oriental and Occidental Jews.

4, 5. The Codex of Jericho and the Codex of Sinai are both in high repute for their correctness. Of the Codex Sanbouki nothing certain is known.

III. Various criteria, furnished by external testimony as well as by internal marks, have been laid down by learned men, for ascertaining the AGE of Hebrew Manuscripts: but these criteria have been questioned by other distinguished critics, who have advanced strong reasons to prove that they are uncertain guides in determining the age of manuscripts.

IV. The ORDER in which the Sacred Books are arranged varies in different manuscripts. Few of those which have been preserved contain the Old Testament entire; the greater part, indeed, comprise only particular portions of it; and many have become mutilated by the consuming hand of time.

V. As the Hebrew Manuscripts, which have been in use since the 11th century, have all been corrected after some particular recension or edition, they have, from this circumstance, been classed into three or four families, according to the country where such recension has obtained: viz.

1. The Spanish Manuscripts, which were corrected after the Codex of Hillel, follow the Masoretic System with great accuracy. They are beautifully written, and highly valued by the Jews, though some critics hold them in little estimation.

2. The Oriental Manuscripts are nearly the same as the Spanish MSS., and may be referred to the same class.

3. The German Manuscripts are less elegantly written than the Spanish MSS. They do not follow the Masoretic Notation, and frequently exhibit important various readings, that are not to be found in the Spanish MSS. This class, though little esteemed by the Jews, is highly valued by Biblical critics.

4. The Italian Manuscripts hold a middle place, both in execution and critical value, between the Spanish and German MSS.

VI. The total number of manuscripts collated by Dr. Kennicott, for his edition of the Hebrew Bible, is about 630 the total number collated by M. De Rossi, for his Collection of Various Readings, is 479 MSS., besides 288 printed editions.

Almost all the Hebrew Manuscripts of the Old Testament, at present known to be extant, were written between the years 1000 and 1457; whence Dr. Kennicott infers that all the MSS. written before the years 700 or 800 were destroyed by some decree of the Jewish senate, on account of their numerous differences from the copies then declared genuine.

VII. Among the valuable biblical manuscripts brought from India, by the late Rev. Dr. Claudius Buchanan, and now deposited in the University Library, at Cambridge, there is a roll of the Pentateuch, which he procured from the black Jews in Malabar, who (there is every reason to believe) are descended from the remains of the first dispersion of that nation by Nebuchadnezzar. The date of this MS. cannot be ascertained; but it is supposed to be derived from those copies which their ancestors brought with them into India. It agrees in all material points with our common printed Hebrew text, and affords an additional argument for the integrity of the Pentateuch.

SECTION II.-Account of Greek Manuscripts containing the Old and New Testaments.

I. MATERIALS of Greek Manuscripts.-These are twofold viz. 1. Vellum, of various thickness, which is either purple-coloured, or of its natural hue; and, 2. Paper, made of cotton or linen. MSS. on paper are of much later date than those on vellum.

II. FORM of Letters.-The letters are either CAPITAL, which in the time of Jerome were called uncial, i. e. initial, or cursive, that is, small. Greek MSS. were written in capital letters till the seventh century; and a few so lately even as the ninth century: but the small letters were generally adopted towards the close of the tenth century. The most ancient MSS. were written without accents, spirits, or indeed any separations of the words, until the ninth century.

III. Numerous ABBREVIATIONS exist in the earliest MSS. They are made by putting together the first and last letters, and sometimes also the middle letter: thus KC (KS) for Kuptos (Kurios) Lord,ΣHP (SER) for Ewing (sotēr,) Saviour, &c.

In the author's larger work, fac-simile specimens are given of some of the more ancient MSS. which could not be reduced within the size of this page, so as to convey an accurate idea of them but the following literal rendering of Matt. v. 1-3., according to the Codex Bezæ, or Cambridge MSS. of the Four Gospels and Acts, (which is described in p. 78, infra,) will convey to the English reader some idea of the manner in which manuscripts were anciently written and printed :

Matt. v. 1-3

ANDSEEING THEMULTITUDES HEWENTUPINTOAMOUNTAIN

ANDWHENHEWASSETDOWN'CAMETOHIM

HISDISCIPLES'ANDOPENINGHISMOUTH

HETAUGHTTHEMSAYING

BLESSEDARETHEPOORINSPT FORTHEIRSIS
THEKINGDOMOFHEAVEN.

SPT is contracted for spirit: the original Greek is IINI (pni) for IINEYMATI (PNeumatI.)

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