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superior to that which is conferred by the pursuits of ambition, or the luftre of events creating only a temporary intereft in the paffions of men; and his name will probably be remembered with veneration, as long as the ftudy of divine truth continues to be cultivated in the Christian world.

GENE.

TH

GENERAL PREFACE.

HE new tranflation of the apoftolical epifties being the principal part of the work now offered to the public, it will, no doubt, be expected that the author should give the reasons which induced him to undertake a performance of this fort, after the many verfions of the fcriptures already publifhed. The principles alfo on which this tranflation is formed, must be explained, that the reader may understand in what respects it will differ from other verfions.-And as the commentary and notes, with the prefaces and effays, have greatly increased the fize of the work, fome account must be given of what is done in them towards explaining the meaning of the facred oracles.

SECT. I. Of the ancient tranflations of the Scriptures; and of their influence on the modern verfions.

With refpect to the reafons which induced the author to attempt a new translation of the apoftolical epiftles, he acknow ledges, that the verfions of the scriptures used at prefent by the different nations of Europe, have been faithfully made, according to the skill of the perfons who made them; and that the common people who read any of these versions can be at no lofs to know the fundamental articles of the chriftian faith. Nevertheless, a new tranflation of these divinely inspired writings cannot be thought fuperfluous, unlefs it could be faid with truth of fome one of the versions extant, that it is every where accurate, intelligiblę, and unambiguous. But this, it is fupposed, no good judge will take upon him to affirm.

The learned, in reading the ancient and modern versions of the fcriptures, must be fenfible that there is a remarkable agreeVOL. I.

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ment among them, efpecially in their tranflations of the difficult paffages. Now, though at firft fight this may be thought a proof of their accuracy, the inference is by no means safe. That agreement may have proceeded, not from the justness of the tranflation, but from the subsequent tranflators treading in the steps of thofe who went before them. And that they actually did so, will appear from what follows.

During the first and following age, the disciples of Chrift being numerous in the countries where the Syriac was the vulgar language, a tranflation of the writings of the apostles and evangelifts into that language became absolutely necessary, after the gift of tongues, and of the interpretation of tongues, had ceased in the church. Wherefore, a Syriac translation of the books of the new teftament was very early made, for the use of the chriftians in the east, who did not understand the Greek. This, with the Syriac tranflation of the Hebrew fcriptures, is what the Maronites, who ufe that tranflation, call The pure and ancient Syriac verfion, (fimplicem et antiquam. Mill's Prolegomena, No. 1237. Kufter's edition.) But the Maronites fpeak without proof, when they say a part of that verfion was made in the time of Solomon, and the reft by Thaddeus, or fome other of the apoftles, in the time of Agbarus. It is certain, however, that the Syriac verfion of the new teftament is very ancient. For, from its wanting the fecond epiftle of Peter, the fecond and third of John, the epiftle of Jude, and the revelation, and from fome other marks of antiquity, Walton and Mill, with great probability, infer that it was made before the whole of the facred writings were generally known; confequently, that it was made in the beginning of the second century. (See 2 Pet. Pref. Sect. i.) This Syriac verfion, on account of its antiquity, and because it is in a language not materially different from that which our Lord and his apoftles used, was held in great esteem, in the early ages, by all the eaftern churches. But it was not known among us till the fixteenth century, at which time it was brought into Europe, from Ignatius, the patriarch of Antioch, by an eastern priest; and falling into the hands of Albert Widmanstad, he printed it at Vienna, in the year 1555; fince which it hath been well known

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known to the learned in Europe, and well received by them all*.

The reasons which occafioned a Syriac tranflation of the fcriptures to be made in the east, operated likewise in producing a Latin translation of the fame writings, for the use of the christians in the weft. This is what hath been called the old Italic verfion, which, as Mill conjectures, (No. 308.) was made in the time of Pope Pius I. that is, in the middle of the fecond century, not long after the firft Syriac verfion was made. In the Italic verfion, the new teftament was tranflated from the Greek, and the old, not from the Hebrew, but from the Septuagint, which at that time was generally believed to have been made by inspiration, and was esteemed of equal authority with the Hebrew itself. But the edition of the Septuagint from which it was made being very incorrect, Jerome, about the year 382, at the defire of pope Damafus, tranflated the old teftament into Latin from the LXX. as fet forth in Origen's Hexapla; and, at the fame time, corrected the Italic tranflation of the new teftament by the Greek. (See Mill, No. 852, 853.) In his preface, however, Jerome informs us, (No. 1356.) that he corrected it only in those paffages where he thought the meaning of the Greek text was mifreprefented. The other paffages, in which the deviations from the original were of less importance, he suffered to remain as he found them, that his might not appear to be very different from the former edition of the Italic verfion, which at that time was universally used. Afterwards, between the years 392 and 405, Jerome tranflated all the books of the old teftament from the Hebrew. This fecond verfion, as well as his corrections of the Italic tranflation of the new teftament, being difapproved by many of the bishops and learned men of that age, as leffening the credit of the old

* Mill, by teftimonies perfectly convincing, (No. 1237.) hath established the antiquity and authenticity of the firft Syriac verfion. Afterwards, in the fifth century, as is fuppofed, a fecond Syriac tranflation of the old teftament was made from the Septuagint, as fet forth in Origen's Hexapla, and of the new, according to Mill, from a Greek copy precifely the fame with that from which the Italic or vulgate verfion was taken. But, for the reafons afterwards to be mentioned, (page 5.) it is more probable that it was taken from the vulgate itself. In this fecond Syriac verfion, the epiftles wanting in the firft, together with the history of the adulterefs, John viii. are tranflated.

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