R)

OF

CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY:

PROOFS OF THE AUTHENTICITY AND INSPIRATION

OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES;

CONTAINING

A SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF THE JEWS;

A BRIEF STATEMENT OF THE CONTENTS

OF THE

SEVERAL BOOKS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS;

NEW-YORS

A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE

ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE

AND OF THE

LITURGY OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND;

AND

A SCRIPTURAL EXPOSITION OF THE THIRTY-NINE

ARTICLES OF RELIGION.

BY

GEORGE TOMLINE, D.D. F.R.S.

LORD BISHOP OF LINCOLN.

DESIGNED PRINCIPALLY FOR THE USE OF YOUNG STUDENTS
IN DIVINITY.

IN TWO VOLUMES.—VOL. II.

TWELFTH EDITION OF VOL. I.-NINTH EDITION OF VOL. II.

LONDON:

Printed by Luke Hansard & Sons,

FOR T. CADELL AND W. DAVIES, IN THE STRAND.

1818.

PART III.

CHAPTER THE FIRST:

OF THE

ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE.

THAT it was the practice, in the early ages of the Gospel, to translate the Scriptures into the language of every country in which they were received, is evident from a variety of testimonies; but the following passage in Theodoret, who lived in the beginning of the fifth century, may be considered as alone decisive: "We Christians are enabled to show the powers of apostolic and prophetic doctrines, which have filled all countries under heaven; for that which was formerly uttered in Hebrew is not only translated into the language of the Greeks, but also of the Romans, the Indians, Persians, Armenians, Scythians, Samaritans, Egyptians, and, in a word, into all the languages that are used by any nation (a)."—" For the sacred Writ being the foundation

(a) Theod. ad. Græc. Infid. Serm. 5. Vide Euseb. Dem. Evan. lib. 3. cap. ult. and Usser Hist. Dogm. Both the Old and New Testaments were very accu

VOL. II.

rately

B