Page images
PDF
EPUB

lar manner to his own hopes and those of individual Christians.

1. We may understand the Apostle, as expressing generally an assurance that there is a state of happiness in reserve for true believers. He might indulge a hope to this effect, from a consideration of the afflictions which he had been describing in the last chapter. For he might reasonably argue, that the moral Governor of all things would make a distinction between the righteous and the wicked; between those who serve him and those who rebel against him; and since this is not always done in the present world, he might justly conclude that there would be a future state of rewards

and punishments. He might also further gather some hope of such a state from that desire after immortality which is common to all men, and which he proceeds to describe, in the verses that follow the text, as operating with such peculiar strength upon sincere Christians. "We know," he says, "that we have a building of God;" for in this tabernacle we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven." And he adds; "He that hath wrought us to this self-same thing is God," who would not have put such a desire into our minds, and have prepared us for its accomplishment, if he had intended to frustrate our hopes. The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of Gød. The whole creation travaileth in pain together until now; and not they only, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit; even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, even the redemption, of the body.

But besides these natural arguments for the resurrection, at which the Apostle may seem indirectly to glance, he brings forward a scriptural and convincing proof from the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

"We believe," he says, "knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus." Or, as he remarks elsewhere; "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept;"-" If we believe, that Jesus died and rose again, even so them who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." Thus, what reason rendered credible, the resurrection of Jesus Christ has verified; in addition to which, we have the frequent promises of God in his word to the same effect; so that the Apostle had the strongest possible ground for expressing his firm belief in the fundamental doctrine of the resurrection of the dead.

2. But he seems also, in the words under consideration, to express a strong persuasion not only of the resurrection generally, but of his own interest and that of the faithful to whom he was writing, in the happiness of a future life. His confidence rested on the proDises of God, united to a humble hope that he had a scriptural warrantto apply to them his own case, and that of his fellow-converts. And how is uch a hope to be attained? Doubtles, by examining ourselves whether or character is such as is pourtrayed the descriptions which accompany tose promises. Thus, "Blessed are the pure in heart; for they," and hey only, "shall see God." "Ghath given us exceeding great a precious promises, that by then we might be partakers of a divinemature, hav ing escaped the pollutions that are in the world through lu» Again; "Having these promise let us," both in devout gratitude f them, and as the test of our intest in them, "cleanse ourselves fru all filthiness of the flesh and rit, perfecting holiness in the fea of the Lord." The more we abou in the fruits of righteousness, t more justly may we cherish a scrip tural confidence of our own final happiness. If our characters are not such as become the Gospel of

Christ, instead of presumptuously such frequent deadness to God,

taking to ourselves the assurance in the text, let us rather lay to heart the exhortation of the Apostle, to "fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into rest, we should come short of it." The sure and certain hope of a resurrection to eternal life which the Scriptures teach, and which our church expresses so strongly in the Burial Service, will not profit us, unless we are ourselves heirs of everlasting blessedness. We must examine then the ground of our hopes: we must beware of self-deception: we must inquire, whether our souls are prepared for the enjoyments of the future world; whether we have already begun to maintain spiritual communion with God; whether we love his word and his worship; whether we conform to the mind that was in Christ Jesus; and whether we are living in a spirit of affection to our fellow-Christians, and of justice and benevolence to all mankind.

The confidence expressed by the Apostle, is not to be viewed as of sudden growth; or to be expected by means of any miraculous reve lation, or fanciful impression on the mind. No; it must be the product of much prayer, and vigilance, and self-examination. We must not suppose, the moment we feel some hopeful symptom of repentance and turning to God, that the work is at once completed; we must bring forth fruits meet for repentance; we must be fully proved; we must give much diligence to make our calling and election sure, before we may venture on strong expressions of confidence and even then, our confidence must be not in ourselves, not in our supposed attainments, but in our Saviour alone, and in his willingness to receive and pardon all who repent and turn to him, however evil may have been their past characters. The most advanced Christian will still feel so much remaining imperfection, CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 241.

such indolence in duty, such inward temptations, such attachment to self and the world, as often to awaken painful fears in his mind, lest after all he should prove a cast-away. How suspicious then must be the self-confidence of those who take up their assurance of final salvation lightly and hastily; and who build their hopes on their supposed conversion, while they are destitute of that best evidence of its reality, a humble and longcontinued course of prayer and inward scrutiny, and devout obedience to the commands of God! Our Heavenly Parent is indeed willing to receive his prodigal child the very moment he returns; but to judge of our own sincerity in returning, requires a longer experience of our hearts. The work of repentance must be deep and continued; our faith must be put to the test; and our conversion must shew itself in an habitual temper of soul, devoted to the love and the service of God. The only safe evidence of our interest in the blessedness which has been described is, that qualification for admission into the glorious presence of God which arises from an assimilation to his character; that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. We must have renounced all known sin; we must be growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and be bringing forth the fruits of a Christian life, before we can scripturally adopt the personal confidence which the Apostle seems to express in the text. The right way to maintain the hope of the Christian is to exemplify the Christian's temper. While we remain careless in our frame of mind, any hope which we may profess is but a delusion; we are building not on a rock but on the sand, Even should some show of religion mix itself with our vain confidence, the case is not at all altered for the better; for the religion that renC

ders men presumptuous or selfrighteous, or careless of sin or negligent of duty, is a false religion, and worse even than none.

For the Christian Observer.
ON THE TEXT OF THE VATICAN

MANU

AND ALEXANDRINE
SCRIPTS, WITH REMARKS ON

THE COMPLUTENSIAN, AL-
DINE, AND ALEXANDRINE
EDITIONS OF THE LXX. (FROM
DR. HOLMES'S PREFACE.)

IN the second and third chapters of the preface to the Pentateuch, Dr. Holmes has given an account of the several manuscripts which were collated for his edition of the Septuagint; describing, in the first of these chapters, such only as are written in the Uncial character. The most important by far among this class are unquestionably the celebrated Vatican and Alexandrine manuscripts; and a brief description of these, so far as to ascertain what text they respectively exhibit, may perhaps not be unacceptable to your readers.

Codex Vaticanus." This manuscript," Dr. Holmes remarks," belongs to the Vatican Library, and is there numbered 1209. It is of the quarto size, and is written on the finest vellum. Through the Pentateuch and other bistorical books, the pages are divided into three columns; in the remaining books only into two. It has accents; but they have been added by a later hand. (Professor Birch says they had been affixed a prima manu.)

"An opinion prevails very generally, and indeed, as it seems to me, not without reason, so far as concerns the Pentateuch, that the text of the Kon is preserved in this manuscript, free, perhaps, from many of the faults which have pervaded certain manuscripts made use of by Origen. However this may be, one thing I deemed of great importance to be pointed out;

namely, whether there were any differences between the Codex Vaticanus, and the Vatican edition. Accordingly I have noted all the variations which exist between them in the Pentateuch."

Codex Alexandrinus. "This manuscript is preserved in the British Museum. It was written, as it appears to me, in Egypt, not long before the close of the fifth century. Grabe, in his letter to Mills, gives it the preference over the Vatican manuscript, but without producing any examples from the Mosaic Books. This manuscript omits, in the Pentateuch, a great many things which Grabe has supplied in his edition. Of these, some are found in the Vatican text: but a great many more he borrowed from a genuine Hexaplar manuscript, in which they were preserved under the asterisk. He seems to have done this, with the view of defining the peculiar character of the Alexandrine manuscript; but if it were really a Hexaplar copy in the Pentateuch, how happens it to have been necesreadings? Should any person, sary to supply so many Hexaplar therefore, be of opinion that the text of the Alexandrine manuscript in the Pentateuch is Tetraplar rather than Hexaplar, (and even that not the most excellent of its kind,) I should not hesitate to concur with him."

The fourth chapter of the preface is devoted to a specification of the editions, fathers, and versions, from which assistance had been derived, and applied to the use of Dr. Holmes's edition.

With respect to the texts of the Complutensian and Aldine editions, as Dr. Holmes has advanced an opinion concerning them materially differing from that which is generally entertained by the learned, no apology, I trust, is requisite for submitting it in this place, especially as that opinion, notwithstanding its novelty, seems to me to be extremely reasonable.

I may here observe, that Dr. Holmes has adopted, for his own edition, the text of the Vatican edition of 1587, which was formed principally from the Codex Vaticanus; but as some readings were introduced into the Vatican edition from other manuscripts, Dr Holmes has been careful every where to notice the variations existing between the manuscript and the edition.

Editio Complutensis,1514.-"It has been said that the manuscripts made use of by the Complutensian editors have perished; but that all have not been lost, may now be considered as certain. Of the manuscripts collated for this work, there seem to be three*, which, unless I am deceived, contain the very text of the Complutensian edition, in the Pentateuch. Consequently this edition, equally with the rest, may lay claim to the authority of a manuscript in the Mosaic text.

"But if the editors thus discharged their duty with respect to the Old, how is it to be presumed that they treated the New Testament ?"

Editio Aldina, 1518.-" Of this edition let us attend to the editor's own words: Ego multis vetustissimis exemplaribus collatis, adhibita etiam quorundam eruditissimorum hominum cura, Biblia, ut vulgo appellant, Græca cuncta descripsi, atque in unum volumen reponenda curari.””

These words, however, are not to be so understood as though the Aldine text had been composed of readings selected from a great many manuscripts; for Dr. Holmes's colation embraces some manuscripts + which exhibit almost the very text of the Aldine edition.

Editio Alexandrina, 1706."The whole of the text of this edition was transcribed from the

* (19.) Codex Chigianus circa. § x. (108.) Codex Vaticanus 330. § xiv. (118.) Codex Paris. Reg. vi. § xiii. † (29) Codex Venetus II. § x. vel xi.

Codex Alexandrinus, and carefully collated with it by Grabe, who himself left it ready for the press. I shall only remark, concerning the Alexandrine edition, that, in the Pentateuch, it was sometimes supplied out of the text of the Vatican edition, but more frequently from the Complutensian. Thus the editor seems to have mixed with the text of one family the texts of two other recensions; but this has not been attended with any ill consequence, since he has introduced no supplementary matter except in a smaller character."

But what greatly enhances the value of this chapter of Dr. Holmes's preface, is, the very clear and interesting account which is there given, of the several VERSIONS derived from the Septuagint text; namely, 1. The old Italic; 2 Coptic; 3 Sahidic; 4 Syriac (Philoxenian); 5 Arabic; 6 Slavonic; 7 Armenian ; & Georgian.

The account of the three last mentioned, from the pen of Professor Atter of Vienna, is doubtless a masterly performance, and is delivered nearly in the Professor's own words. It enters deeply into the subject, and offers a rich treat to the Biblical student.

Having finished his narrative of the versions, the editor thus concludes his preface with a recapitulation of his labours.

"I have now mentioned every thing concerning the MANUSCRIPT EDITIONS, FATHERS, and VERSIONS, which have been applied to the service of this work: it remains for me only to apprize the reader, that the whole of the collations which, for these fifteenyears past, have been collecting for this edition, are deposited in the Bodleian Library; and will be published, either by myself, if life is spared me, or, if it should happen otherwise, by some other editor, under the auspices of the Curators of the Clarendon Press at Oxford."

Dr. Holmes died in 1806. At that time only the Pentateuch and

the Book of Daniel had been published. It is much to be lamented that his valuable life was not spared to have edited the remainder of the prophetical books himself; a task which it appears he was extremely anxious to accomplish. The work has however been continued to the present time, and is still in a course of publication, under the direction of the learned Dr. James Parsons; but the nature of this laborious undertaking precludes all hope of its speedy completion. The Book of Job (part 3d of vol. 3.) was published in the summer of 1820. When the work is finished, it will remain a lasting monument of the attention of the learned and higher orders in this country to the cause of sacred learning; and cannot but reflect great honour on the memory of the learned editor who originally projected these col lations, as well as on the public who, for such a number of years, have so munificently upheld it with their patronage.

Φτῶν ό.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

I TRUST I shall not misemploy the time of your readers, by calling their attention for a moment to a subject which is in some measure connected with practical Christianity, and on which I am constrained to differ from some valuable Christian friends. I refer to the practice of drawing lots; and the question I would submit to your readers is, Whether it is consistent with the spirit of Christianity for persons in the present day to draw lots, in any case, in order to settle a doubtful or disputed point. The practice has at different times been employed, among various bodies of Christians, on solemn occasions; particularly among the Wesleyan Methodists, at the earlier periods of their history, to determine questions in which the members of their society were divided in opinion.

To begin with the arguments employed in favour of the practice: It is affirmed by some religious persons, that it rests on the authority of Scripture; since the Jews, under the Mosaic dispensation, resorted to this method of deciding very important questions relating to their temporal interest. It is moreover urged, that even in the time of the Apostles lots were drawn on a memorable occasion; namely, the election of Matthias, as successor to the traitor Judas. On these two distinct grounds, it is inferred, that there can be nothing criminal in the practice, though it is not directly sanctioned in the writings of the New Testament.

Yet, notwithstanding this appeal to Scripture in vindication of the practice, its advocates would confine it within strict and defined limits. They would shudder, for instance, at the thought of countenancing public lotteries, or of drawing lots with a view to obtain any considerable sum of money; and they would strongly reprobate the practice, whenever it might appear to sanction the destructive principle of gambling. Yet it is somewhat inconsistently maintained, that there are certain cases of a minute and indifferent nature, in which the most holy follower of Jesus Christ may innocently draw lots; namely, such, for example, as where it is wished to decide, without jealousy or offence, to which of several apparently equal claimants some slight article of property shall belong, or which individual of a party present shall take the lead in some benevolent or useful undertaking. In these and similar cases, it is pretended, that without such a device it would be nearly impossible to come to a satisfactory decision; and that at all events the practice is too indifferent to be the subject of either serious censure or approbation.

Now it appears to me, that the ground thus confidently taken by the advocates of the practice is

« PreviousContinue »