Hereby it comes to pafs, that what is called the eleventh Psalm in the Hebrew and our English Bibles, is but the tenth in the LXX. And fo they proceed, the LXX still numbering every Pfalm one lefs than the Hebrew, until you come to the 113 according to the LXX, and 114 according to the Hebrew; and there the LXX again join that and the next Pfaim alfo into one: Whereby the 116, according to the Hebrew, is but the 114, according to the LXX. But then the LXX ends that 114 or 116 Pfalm with the ninth Verfe; and the tenth Verfe, according to the Hebrew, begins 115 Pfalm, according to the LXX. So that from thenceforth the Hebrew Numbers are but one more than thofe of the LXX, as they were before, and in that Manner they continue to proceed to Pfalm 146, according to the LXX, 147, according to the Hebrew. There the LXX conclude the Pfalm with the twelfth Verfe, and begin their 147 Pfalm with what is the thirteenth Verse in the Hebrew, and fo the three laft Pfalms, as well as the eight first, are numbered alike in both. The Divifion of the Pfalms alfo in the Latin Vulgate is the fame as in the LXX. So that all Chriftian Authors, from the Beginning to the Reformation, when they have quoted any Pfalm by its Number, have quoted it according to the Divifion of the LXX. Therefore the English Editors of the LXX did not rightly confider the Matter, when, in their Edition of the LXX, they divided the Pfalms according to the Hebrew. For by this I doubt not but they have puzzled fome young Divines, (I can fpeak experimentally for myself) who finding a Text, as quoted by fome ancient Author from a particular Palm, has looked in vain for it there as numbered in either the London or Cambridge Editions.

But even the Roman Edition itself, as published by the first Editors, is not fo pure and agreeable to the Vatican Copy, as it might have been: For they did not rightly diftinguish between what was therein written by the firft Copier, and what was after altered or added by a later Hand: fo that we are uncertain whether what we read was originally in the Vatican Copy or not. This the learned have very much complained of. And Dr. Grabe in the Letter to Dr. Milles mentions fevera! Pallages, wherein the Roman Edition differs from the Vatican MS. it pretends to have faithfully copied. Alfo as the Vatican MS. as well as all other MSS. of that Age, written in large Letters, have neither Words nor Sentences divided, but the Letters all follow clofe one to another, without any kind of Separation of one Word, or one Sentence from another; fo that great Care and Judgment is required rightly to diftinguish the Words and Sentences, and by this Means the beft Criticks fometimes make great Miftakes in tranfcribing thofe old MSS. One Inftance of which Dr. Grabe has given us in the Roman Edition, and in all that are taken from it, even that in Bifhop Walton's Polyglot. It is in 2 Kings (Hebrew and English, 2 Samuel) xiv. 17. The Words of the Woman to the King are in the Roman Edition ti ndn ô Xóyos tỹ xugia Baginées sis duoías, Si jam fermo Domini Regis in Sacrificia. Here is an hypothetical Propofition, without any Confequence, which is abfurd; which, if they had made but a proper Divifion of the first four Letters, had been easily avoided, en ♪ù ô háyös n. 7. 7. Sit quæfo ferma &c. which

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tion of it.

',

gives a perfect Senfe, exactly agreeable to the Hebrew Words and to the Aldin and Complutenfian Editions, and the Alexandrian MS. There being therefore fo many confiderable Faults in all thefe Editions of the LXX, the very learned and induftrious Dr. Grabe, about the Beginning of the prefent Century, refolved to publish a new EdiAnd as there were two MSS. near of equal Antiquity, the Vatican, of which I have already fpoken, and the Alexandrian in the Royal Library here at St. James's, which was a prefent to King Charles the First from Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria, from whence it hath taken its Name; he was for fome Time in Doubt which of thefe Copies he fhould follow. He thought as the Roman Edition was best known, and most in Ufe, it might not be fo proper to lay it afide; but only to correct the Mistakes of former Editors. But then confidering that there were three old Editions of the LXX by Origen, Hefychius, and Lucian, of which Origen's was allowed to be the beft, he refolved to examine which of thefe Editions the Vatican, and which the Alexandrian appeared to be a Tranfcript of. Whereupon he collected the Quotations from Scripture, which he found in the ancient Greek Fathers, and found they generally agreed with the royal Alexandrian MS. and from the Fragments of Origen's Hexapla ftill remaining, he found them alfo agreeable to this MS. but not with the Vatican MS. where it differed from this. From whence he concluded, that what we now cal the Alexandrian MS. was a Copy taken from Origen's Edition: And that the Vatican MS. was taken from the Edition of Hefychius or Lucian. And as Helychius's Edition was read in Egypt (as before obferved) he confulted St. Athanafius and St. Cyril's Works (both of them being Pa triarchs of Alexandria at the Time St. Jerom fays Hefychius's Edition of the LXX was there ufed) and found their Quotations of Scripture agreeable to the Vatican MS. from whence he inferred that MS. was a Copy of the Hefychian Edition. For which Reafon he refolved to publith the royal Alexandrian MS. which, until that Time, (though often wifhed for) nobody was willing to take the Pains to do.

He therefore being encouraged by a Royal Stipend of 100l. per Ann. in the first place fairly tranfcribed the whole MS. which like the Vatican was written without Diftin&tion of Words or Sentences, and thereby made it fo far ready for the Prefs, that if he fhould die before he could finish his Defign (as it pleafed God he did) thofe who fhould continue the Work might have the lefs Trouble in doing it. And having Reafon to believe, that the Afterisks and Obelisks of Origen were not fo irrecoverably loft, but that they might be found for the most Part in fcattered Fragments, here and there to be met with in old Libraries, he refolved to place them in his Edition. And accordingly haying procured them for feveral Books of the Holy Scripture, he published his firft Tome of the Septuagint, according to the Alexandrian Copy, in the Year 1707, containing the Books of Genefis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth. This was printed in a very fair, large, and neat Character, in a large Folio, in two Columns; So that the fame Types being moved and divided in the Middle of the Page of the Folio, made four Pages in Octavo. So that there was at

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the fame Time an Edition published both in Folio and Octavo, fo exactly agreeable to each other, as not to differ the one from the other in a Point. But not having been able to procure the Origenian Afterifks and Obelisks, for thofe Books, which in the Alexandrian MS. immediately followed the former, he in the year 1709 publifhed what he called the laft Tome of that Work, containing the metrical Books, that is, Pfalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclefiaftes, Canticles, Wisdom, and Ecclefiafticus, with Afterisks and Obelisks, as he had done the former.

About a Year after this, and before he could procure Asterisks and Obelisks for another Tome, he died: And it was nine Years before any more of this great Work appeared Then in the Year 1719 came out the fecond Tome, containing the Four Books of Kings, Two of Chronicles, Efther, Tobit, Judith, Two Books of Ezra, Nehemia, and Four Books of Maccabees. Thete were publifhed alfo (with as many Afterisks and Obelisks as could be procured from Dr. Grabe's MS. by Dr. Francis Lee, a very learned Phyfician, and well read in Divinity, through no profeffed Divine. But this very worthy and learned man died foon after he finished this good Work, viz. Aug. 12, 1719. However, in the Year 1720, the third Tome was published from Dr. Grabe's Tranfcript in the fame Manner as the former, which compleated the whole Work, both in Folio and O&avo. But who was the Editor of this laft published Tome I know not. This contained, Ofea, Amos, Micha, Joel, Obedia, Jona, Naum, Habakkuk, Zephania, Haggai, Zecharia, Malachi, Ifaia, Jeremia, Baruch, Lamentations, The Epistle of Jeremia, Ezekiel, and Daniel. There are Prolegomena to all thefe Tomes very useful: and which alfo give good Testimony of the very great Care and Pains this most useful Work coft Dr. Grabe more efpecially, and the other Editors who fucceeded to finish what he had fo well prepared. Dr. Grabe did intend to have added large Notes to this Work, but his Death has deprived us of them, and of many other Things he defigned for the Benefit of the learned World, if it had pleafed God to have granted him a longer Life. And this is all I need to fay, at least for the prefent, concerning the Tranflation of the LXX.

The Latin or Western Church had a great many Tranflations, all made from the LXX. But amongst all thefe various Tranflations, there was one more generally received and read in the Churches, and is therefore called Vulgata by St. Jerom; and St Augustin gives it the Name of the Italian, and prefers it to all the reft, as being more perfpicuous and literal: And this in all probability was ufed in the Roman Church, from the Apoftles Days downwards for fome Ages St. Jerom corrected this Tranflation from Origen's Hexapla, and published it with Asterisks and Obelisks, which he tells us, in his fecond Prologue prefixed to the Books of Chronicles, he placed to denote what was, or what was not in the Hebrew. And in an Epiitle to St. Auguftin, he fays, Quod in aliis quæris Epiftolis, cur prior mea in libris Canonicis interpretatio Afterijcos habeat et Virgulas prænotatas, et poftea aliam Tranflationem abfque iis ediderim, &c. He answers, Se non tam vetera conatum fuiffe abolere, quam linguæ fue bominibus emendata de Græco in Latinum tranftuliffe.

But St. Jerom, when he was a young Man, and followed a monaftick Life in the Defert, there learned the firft Rudiments of the He

brew Tongue from a converted Jew. And twenty Years after returning to Jerufalem, he made greater Improvements in that Language under Barrabanus, a Jew, whom he hired at a great Price to come every Night to inftruct him; the Man, like Nicodemus, not daring on fuch Occafion Afterwards he had to come to him by Day for Fear of the other Jews. another Mafter, a Doctor of the Law, from Tiberias. And then another very eminent Man, whom he hired at a very great Price. And laftly, another to inftruct him in the Chaldee Language. Of all these he fpeaks in one or other of his Epiftles. Having therefore made himself a Mafter both of the Hebrew and Chaldee, he judged himself fufficiently qualified to tranflate the Bible from the original Hebrew into Latin. And befides his Skill in the original Language, he had the Hexapla of Origen to affift him: Whereupon he fet upon the Work; and tranflated all the Books of the Old Teftament; that is, all thofe which our Church in her fixth Article declares and acknowledges to be canonical. This appears from the Prefaces or Prologues he has prefixed to thefe Books. He also tranflated the Books of Tobit and Judith; but not the Books of Wifdom, Ecclefiafticus, Maccabees, Baruch, the Epistle of Jeremia, the Additions to Ether and to Daniel, becaute they were not in the Hebrew, neither received by the Church as Parts of the canonical Scripture. But he confeffes that he had seen Ecclefiafticus, and the first Book of the Maccabees, and likewife Tobit, in the Hebrew Tongue. As to the New Teftament, St. Jerom did not tranflate it anew, but corrected the old Translation.

This Tranflation of St. Jerom, though difliked at firft, and blamed by many of his Cotemporaries, yet it gradually prevailed, and the greateft Part of it became the Verfion commonly ufed in the Latin Church. In the Time of Gregory the Great, which was about 200 Years after St. Jerom made this Tranflation, as appears from feveral Places of that Pope's Epiftles, St. Jerom's Verfion, and the old Italick, were both read in the Latin Churches; that is, as I fuppofe, fome Churches made ufe of one Verfion, and fome of the other: But at laft the Verfion of St. Jerom prevailed over the whole Western Church. Only the Pjaims, and other Hymns, which were read in the daily Offices of the Church, were there continued in the old Italick Verfion, whereby the Copies of that Verfion being neglected, were in Time all loft and deftroyed. But when the Roman Edition of the LXX was publifhed, Flaminius Nobilius of Luca, an eminent Divine, and great Critick, well verfed in the Writings of the Fathers, endeavoured to retrieve this ancient Italick Verfion from the Quotations which he collected out of all the Latin Fathers, who lived while that Tranflation was in Ufe. And when they failed him, he tranflated immediately from the LXX, making ufe of the fame Words and Phrafes, as far as he could, and the Matter would bear, which he found from his Quotations to have been ufed in that old Verfion. By this Means he has reftored, as well as poffibly could be done by fuch Means, the whole old Italick Verfion. And it is printed by Bifhop Walton, as the proper Tranflation of the LXX, in his Polyglot Bible.

The Tranflation of St. Jerom was the firft Latin Tranflation made immediately from the Hebrew Original, and continued the only one for

above

above a thousand Years. And after it became the only Verfion ufed in the Latin Church, it received alio the Name of Biblia Vulgata, which was given before to the Italick Verfion. Thofe Books, which we (according with St. Jerom and the primitive Church) account Apocrypha, though the Church of Rome hold them canonical, ftill retain the old Italick Verfion, as do the Pfalms and Hymns ufed in the Liturgy: So likewife in our Liturgy, the Palms and Hymns are retained according to the old Tranflation of Tindal and Coverdale, which was afterwards fupervised and corrected by the Bishops Tunftal and Heath, though there be a very different Tranflation of the Pfalms and the Hymns taken from the Scripture in our common Bibles, tranflated in the Reign of King James the Firft. And here it may not be improper to obferve, that all we of the Clergy give our Affent and Confent to this old Tranflation; but not to the latter, which is in our Bibles. However, there is no material Difference between them, the Senfe is the fame, though the Words are often different. Indeed there is fometimes a Sentence, or a Verfe, to be found in the Pfalms as they are in the CommonPrayer, which is not in that Place to be found in the Bible-Pialms, but then they are to be found in other Pfalms, or other Places of Scripture. And particularly Pfal. xiv. there are eleven Verfes in that Pfalm in the Common-Prayer, and but feven in the Bible: Yet thofe four additional verses are not only in the LXX, and Latin Vulgate, but are all cited by St. Paul, Rom. iii. 14, 15, 16, 17. very probably from this Pfalm, though the Verfes be not now in our prefent Hebrew Bibles. As therefore this Tranflation is what we Clergymen give our Affent and Confent to, and as it is alfo daily read in our Churches, and our People are beft acquainted with it, I cannot but wonder that the Generality, when they choose a Text out of the Pfalms, take it from the Tranflation in the Bible, and not from that in the Common-Prayer. All the Objections made by the Prefbyterians, and others, against this Tranflation, have been well anfwered, and the whole defended against their Cavils, by your and my late good Friend, Mr. Johnson of Cranbrook, in his Holy David, and his old English Tranflators cleared. Printed for R. Knaplock 1706. But to return from this Digreffion.

As St. Jerom's Bible was the firft that was tranflated into Latin immediately from the Hebrew, fo it continued the only one fo tranflated until the Time of the Reformation; that is, about 1100 Years. It is true, Nicolas de Lyra, a converted Jew of Normandy, who flourished about the Year 1320, and Paul de Burgos, who flourished about the Year 1415, corrected many Paffages in the Vulgate Verfion, according to the true Senfe of the Hebrew Text; but they never attempted to give an intire Verfion of the Bible.

Sandles Pagninus, a Dominican Monk, was the firft who attempted to make a new Tranflation from the Modern Hebrew Text. His Defign was encouraged by Pope Leo X, who promifed to defray the Charges of the Impreffion. He was employed in this great Work near thirty Years, which was the firft Time printed at Lyons in the Year 1527, authorized by a Bull of Pope Adrian VI, and another of Pope Clement VII, which are prefixed to it. He declares he has receded as little as poffibly could be from the Vulgate, and only in thofe Places

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