cise and humble us by his labour; and which he discovers to us when it pleases him, in order that they may be the joy and support of our hearts."

This same saint (whose mind, as humble as it was exalted, penetrated with more light than any other, into the spirit and meaning of the Sacred Scriptures, which St. Gregory calls "the mind of God,") adds to what we have said of another very important truth, and which affords much consolation to minds not fully enlightened. It is, that that multiplicity of precepts and mysteries which is spread in so many different ways through these holy books, are all in conformity to that one commandment, " to love God with all our heart, and our neighbour as ourself." "For Holy Scripture," says that great doctor, "forbids but one thing, which is covetousness and love of the creature; and it commands but one thing, which is charity and the love of God. Upon this double rule is established all Christian morality."

Say

On this hang, according to the words of Jesus Christ, all the Law and the Prophets; and, we may add, all the mysteries and instructions of the new law; for love, as says St. Paul, is the fulfilment of the law. "It is that love," adds Augustin, "which is the root; all the truths are as the branches and fruit." "If you cannot understand," says he, "all these branches which have so great an extent, content yourself with the root which contains them all. He who loves knows all, for he possesses that to which they all tend. not, then, that you cannot understand the Scriptures. Love God, and there is nothing which you shall not comprehend. When Scripture is clear, it plainly points out the love of God; and when it is obscure, it points it out obscurely. He then knows what is clear and what is obscure in Scripture, who knows how to love God, and whose life is regulated by that love." It is with this disposition that we ought to read the word of Jesus Christ; and it is this love which, purifying our heart, will dissipate by degrees those obscurities which we find, and which will increase our light more and more. According to the assurance of the same father, when he says, "It is love which asks; it is love which seeks; it is love which knocks at the door, and causes it to be opened; and it is by love that we shall remain stedfast in those truths which the spirit of God has revealed to us."

Let us

Let us never separate the word from the spirit of Christ. invoke his Spirit whilst reading his word, that it may not be to us a dead and barren letter, but living and efficacious; being accompanied by the unction and influence of his grace.

But that which is a great consolation to us, and which ought to give us a peculiar love for the word of Jesus Christ, is, that in whatsoever state we are, it is always salutary and profitable. The word of Jesus Christ may be read profitably by those even who are still in sin; provided they make use of it to discover their maladies, to have a fear of the judgment of God, to hope in his mercy, and to place

themselves in the hands of him who can heal them. Thus it is not only the food of healthy souls, and of those established in grace; but it is also the consolation of sinners, the light of the blind, the remedy of the diseased, and life to the dead.

The meditation of evangelical and apostolic truths may be continual. At all times, in every condition; however weak, we may nourish ourselves with this bread of life, which is "the food of the blessed," as says St. Augustin; we may have the law of God in our hearts, in our minds, and in our mouths, and draw from his Scripture, according to St. Paul (see Romans xv. 5.), the "comfort" which will confirm us in "patience" and "hope" of good to come.

Biblical Gleanings.

Controversy on 1 John v. 7.

THE last number of the Quarterly Review (No. LXV.) contains an able article on this interminable question, în a Review of the Bishop of St. David's (now of Salisbury) "Vindication," and a Letter to the Clergy of his late diocese, on a passage of the Second Symbolum Antiochenum of the fourth century, as an evidence of the authenticity of the disputed passage. Our readers well know, that the Quarterly has taken the negative side of the question in debate, which has been sustained with much learning and ability; and in the article under consideration, the Critic states that he has now avowed his sentiments "fully and finally." The former part of the critique is taken up with an enquiry into the opinion of Dr. Bentley, on the subject of dispute, whom the Bishop of St. David's had attempted to strike off from the list of learned men who had opposed the genuineness of the text. This question, we believe, will now be considered as decided, and Dr. Bentley be numbered among the dissentients. The bishop having adduced, in proof of the existence of the text in the early Greek MSS. a passage from the preface to the Glossa Ordinaria, which has been generally attributed to the pen of Walafrid Strabo, of the ninth century, the Reviewer in a former article demonstrated, that the preface to that work must have been written at a much later period than Walafrid's time. In his second edition of the Vindication, the bishop, convinced by the Reviewer's arguments, abandoned the preface, but still held by a passage in the Commentaria on the disputed verse. In the article before us, therefore, the Critic has resumed the enquiry, and the arguments which he has adduced are quite convincing to our minds, that the comment in question can with no greater certainty than the preface which the bishop has abandoned, be attributed to the pen of Walafrid. With reference to the passages from the early Latin fathers, which the bishop has produced as quotations of the disputed verse, the Critic here shews that they are too vague for the purpose intended; that they are

not, in fact, quotations of the text, though declarations of the same doctrine; and that the passage is not to be found in any of the Latin fathers prior to the close of the fifth century, though so admirably adapted to silence their adversaries in the Arian controversy, did it really exist. We cannot resist the temptation to give the Reviewer's examination of the logical and grammatical structure of the verse, in opposition to the internal evidence which has been urged in its favour.

"Let us read the passage without the seventh verse. (6.) 'This is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; and not by water only, but by water and blood; and it is the spirit that beareth witness, because the spirit is truth. (8.) For there are three that bear witness, the spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree in one. (9.) If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God, which he hath testified of his Son.'

"When St. John says, 'He came by water and blood,' it is to affirm that 6 water and blood' are the witnesses of His coming. In the sixth verse, there. fore, St. John introduces the three of which he is about to speak. In the eighth verse he describes them as giving a joint and accordant testimony. In the ninth verse he asserts that this testimony, being the testimony of God, ought to be received; inasmuch as, in other cases, we receive man's testimony. Now, whatever signification we attach to the spirit, the water, and the blood, the logical structure of the passage is complete: there is a continued sense: there is a unity of design. But introduce the seventh verse, between the mention of the three and the account of their joint witness, and the continuity of meaning is instantly broken. A new subject, quite foreign to the writer's purpose, is brought in by main force. We are, indeed, convinced, that nothing but long familiarity could reconcile us to the seventh verse. If this verse must be inserted, we agree with Bengelius and many Latin manuscripts, in inverting the order of the seventh and eighth verses, and then connecting them with a sicut: sicut in cœlo, tres sunt, &c.' It then becomes a deduction (thrown in parenthetically) from the preceding verse. But even in this case, the whole passage sustains great injury; for the ninth verse is violently torn from that with which it is immediately connected. If, therefore, internal evidence is to decide the question-we say, the verse is spurious.

"The introduction of the Word, as it appears in the seventh verse, is remarkable on two accounts: (1.) In that part of his Epistle, St. John is all along discoursing of the Son; why, then, is he here called the Word? (2.) The word is here connected with the Father. Now ὁ πατηρ and ὁ ὑιος, or ὁ θεος and ὁ λογος, are the correlative terms. For some reason or other, Bengelius, in the margin of his Greek Testament, has given us as a reading of equal authority with λoyos. But mark his inconsistency. In his note on the seventh verse, he maintains that whenever, in the enumeration of the persons of the Trinity, the second person is called the Word, there is an allusion to 1 John v. 7; and he is supported by the Bishop of St. David's in this opinion. To a plain understanding, then, it would seem to follow that, whenever the second person is called the Son, there is an allusion to the baptismal form in Matt. xxviii. 20. By no means; for, according to the advocates of the verse, whether we find Pater, Verbum, et Spiritus Sanctus, or Pater, Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus; in either case, there is a quotation of 1 John v. 7. Surely this is not a very accurate method of conducting a critical inquiry. In fact, whichever reading may be

adopted, the advocates of the verse are placed in an awkward dilemma. Let tor, and Filius, take possession of the text: what then becomes of the Latin Vulgate their sheet anchor-which authorizes Verbum? Let λoys and Verbum be the true reading: how then comes it to pass that the passages adduced from Tertullian, Cyprian, Phœbadius, Marcus Celedensis, and Cassiodorus, as quotations of the seventh verse, involve the form, Pater, Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus ?

"Efforts have been made, by dwelling upon the grammatical difficulties of the passage, to show the necessity of the seventh verse. Whatever those difficulties may be, we have never been able to perceive that they are removed by its introduction. We will give an instance of this kind of reasoning from the Bishop of St. David's.

"If we admit the reading of all Greek MSS, known to be extant, but one, we must admit the following reading, in defiance of grammar and the context. Τρεις εἰσιν οἱ μαρτυρούντες, Το πνευμα, και το ύδως, και το αίμα. And thus πνευμα, which in ver. 6, has itself a neuter participle, is, in the next verse, when accompanied with two other neuter nouns, most unexpectedly and solecistically connected with a masculine participle.'-Second Edit. p. 113.

"Instead of submitting to our readers any observations of our own, in reply to the preceding objection, we will extract a passage from an author who understood Greek much better than ourselves—we mean Gregory Nazianzen.

“ - Τρία ἐν ταῖς παροιμίαις ἐστιν, ὁ εὐοδως πορεύεται, λέων, και τραγος καὶ ἀλεκτρυων. . . . . Τι δαι ὁ Ἰωάννης, τρεις είναι τους μαρτυροῦντας λέγων ἐν ταις καθολικαίς, το πνευμα, το ύδωρ, το αίμα, άρα σοι λήξειν φαίνεται ; πρωτον μεν, ότι τα μη ὁμοουσια συναριθμησαι τετολμηκεν, ὁ τοις ὁμοουσίοις συ δίδως, τις γαρ ἂν ἐιποι ταυτα μιας ούσιας; δευτερον δε, ότι μη καταλληλος ἔχων ἀπήντησεν, άλλα το τρεις ἀῤῥενικως προθείς, τα τρία οὐδετερως ἐπηνεγκε, παρά τους σους, και της γραμματικης όρους και νόμους.’Op. vol. i. p. 603. ed. 1630. 'In the Proverbs (xxx. 29.) are mentioned three things (Tpia) which go well,' a lion, a goat, and a cock (three masculines)...... What, then, when John in his Catholic Epistle says, that there are three (ps) that bear witness, the Spirit, the water, and the blood (all of them neuters), do you think that he writes absurdly in the first place, because he has ventured to connumerate things not of the same essence, which you would do only with regard to things which are of the same essence, for who will say that those things are of the same essence? -or, secondly, because, with some irregularity of construction, having first used "pus (in the masculine), he subjoins three things (in the neuter) contrary to your canons, and the rules of grammar.'

"From this extract we learn three things: (1.) That the grammatical difficulty was well known to Gregory Nazianzen :-(2.) that he was less disturbed by it than modern critics appear to be:-(3.) that the critics of the fourth century had not discovered the true remedy for the disorder; to wit, the introduction of the seventh verse."

The observations which occur at p. 75, &c. on the principles upon which the point at issue must be finally determined, are worthy the most serious consideration, involving, as they do, a most important canon of Sacred criticism.

Oriental Literature.

THE Oriental Herald for December, contains "No. II." of "Illustrations of various Customs, Phrases, and Opinions, of the Ancients-from Oriental

injures and overturns the dogmas of our holy religion. Grasp, therefore, animated with one mind and the same sentiments, grasp the sword of faith, and cover yourselves with its shield, in order to repulse the envenomed arrows of an active and fierce enemy—fight as heroes.” After assuring them that all catholic kings and princes will assist in effecting this purpose, it adds "you are surrounded by a crowd of false prophets, who, under the deceitful appearance of piety, try to destroy virtue. They affect to destroy abuse and superstition, while they exert themselves to overturn, completely, all the foundations of religion, AND THEY INVITE YOU TO LIBERTY, AND TO SHAKE OF THE YOKE OF PRINCES. Reject far from you all sorts of impious books, because they represent the golden cup of the Babylonians; a cup full of all sorts of abominations, in which a mortal poison is given to the imprudent to drink. Feel no repugnance to imitate the faith and example of the first Christians, who intrusted to the apostles, 'TO BE CAST INTO THE FIRE,' all the books which they could meet with containing vain and fallacious doctrines."

Characteristic Notices of Biblical Publications.

A NEW FAMILY Bible, and Improved VersiON, from corrected Texts of the Originals; with Notes, critical and explanatory; and short practical Reflections on each Chapter; together with a general Introduction, on the authenticity and inspiration of the Sacred Books; and a complete View of the Mosaic Laws, Rites, and Customs. By B. BOOTHROYD, L.L.D. In 3 vols. 4to. 1824. Price £7. 16s.

[Concluded from p. 48.]

THE "Preface" to Vol. II. contains some useful Bibliographical information, from which it may be desirable to make a few selections. The learned Doctor, it is regretted, is not always so judicious as could be wished; nor are his observations untinctured with vanity and egotism. As forming the "Contents of Vol. II." the names of the several books with their chapters are given, from Job to Malachi - certainly worth preserving in an "Improved Version," for the sake of antiquity and high value!

JOB." In the opinion of many, this is the oldest book extant; and its sentiments, language, customs, &c. suit only the patriarchal age. From its great antiquity, it might be expected, and it is actually found on trial, that it contains many terms which occur in no other books of the Old Testament; that, on this account, many passages are obscure, and have exercised the genius, talents, and pious labours of many of the first biblical critics, and occasioned a variety of renderings and opinions. To, Schultens' oriental learning, and patient toils on this book, I have been much indebted; but most of all, to a pious poet, T. Scott, who has, in my opinion, excelled all others, in catching the spirit of the original, both in his version and notes. I have, however, used my own