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of the Jewish and Romish History, within this period. By George BENSON, D. D. London, 1735; Second and best edition, 1756. 3 vols. 4to.

Though this work does not profess to be a harmony of the Acts of the Apostles and of their Epistles, it may justly be considered as one. Besides illustrating the history of the Acts throughout, and most of the Epistles, by a view of the history of the times, the occasions of the several Epistles, and the state of the churches to which they were addressed, the learned author has incorporated a paraphrastic abstract of those Epistles in the order of time when they were written; and has also established the truth of the Christian religion on a number of facts, the most public, important, and incontestable. It is indeed a most valuable help to the study of the Epistles; but it is to be regretted that its scarcity renders it accessible to few.

3. The Life of the Apostle Paul, as related in Scripture; but in which his Epistles are inserted in that part of the History to which they are supposed respectively to belong; with select Notes, critical and explanatory, and relating to persons and places, and a Map of the countries in which the Apostle travelled. By Joseph Gurney BEVAN. London, 1807. 8vo.

The narrative of St. Paul's life is studiously related in the very words of Scripture, having only such additional matter as is necessary to introduce or connect the several parts. Attention, however, has been paid to the task of selecting, from different parts of the New Testament, such passages as belong to the regular chain of the history. The notes are principally selected from the best critics and commentators, and those which are geographical are the most conspicuous, and stamp a real value on the work; which, though designed for young persons of his own religious communion (The Society of Friends), may be studied with advantage by those of every other class of Christians, especially such as have not many commentators within their reach, “without danger of finding any thing introduced which can give the smallest bias towards any principle that is not really and truly Christian." (British Critic, O. S., vol. xxxiii. p. 477.)

4. A Harmony of the Epistles of the Holy Apostles, to which is added a Summary of the Entire. By the Rev. Peter ROBERTS, M.A. Cambridge, 1800. 4to. This Harmony of the Apostolic Epistles differs, in its form and structure, from the three publications last noticed. It "consists of two columns, in the first of which a kind of continued Epistle is formed, principally, but not entirely, from the Epistle to the Romans; which the author considers as intended more particularly for a delineation of the scheme of Christianity, as to the speculative part." This continued text or clue is printed in a narrow column and a large letter, which gives room for the introduction of all the parallel passages in the second column, which is much broader, and printed in a closer form and smaller type. The whole is digested under four principal divisions. 1. Introductory address. 2. Doctrinal instruction. 3. Practical precepts. 4. Conclusion. In this way the whole substance of the Apostolical Epistles is arranged; and any particular passages are found by means of a table at the end of the book. Subjoined to this Harmony is the "Summary of the Epistles; in which the view of the contents is designed to be completely conveyed, according to the author's system." This part is followed by a very useful selection of notes. "Mr. Roberts deserves the highest commendation for his zeal and diligence in thus illustrating the Epistles, and for the attention and acuteness manifested in digesting their very various contents." (British Critic, O. S., vol. xx. pp. 419-421)

5. Harmonia Paulina: being an arrangement, in the words of the Apostle, of the complete Scheme of Christian Faith and Practice, contained in the several Epistles of St. Paul. By the Rev. Henry LATHAM, M.A. London, 1837. 8vo.

This very valuable work (the title of which fully expresses its design) is an attempt to compile a full system of Christian Faith and Practice by an arrangement of St. Paul's Epistles in a continuous context; the object being to sum up, and exhibit in one view the perfect Christian character, in the same words in which St. Paul has from time to time exhibited its detached features." (Introd. p. 1.) In the prosecution of this design, the author has judiciously thrown into an Appendix all those parts of the several epistles, which, being addressed exclusively to a particular church or individual, are not contained in the Harmony. He has then condensed together several passages of St. Paul's Epistles, which are related to each other, so as to form sixteen continuous discourses in as many chapters; which treat on our Christian calling; on faith; on faith in God the Father; faith in God the Son, the atonement of his death, and our justification through his merits only, — bis resurrection, ascension, and return to judgment; faith in God the Holy Ghost, and our sanctification by him alone; on our duty to God; the social duties; the personal duties of the believer; Christian love or charity; Christian hope; the Church of Christ and its two Sacraments; the corruption of its doctrines and discipline; and the intention of the Jewish Dispensation. The passages from the Pauline Epistles are given in the words of the authorised version; and to the whole the author has prefixed a well-written introduction explanatory of the plan of his work.

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CHAPTER III.

APOCRYPHAL BOOKS AND WRITINGS.

SECTION I.

APOCRYPHAL BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

THE Apocryphal Books, attached to the Old Testament, are to be found in the various Polyglott editions of the Bible, and also in most of the larger editions of the Septuagint Version. Dr. Masch (Bibl. Sacr. part i. pp. 427436.) has described the various editions of the Apocryphal Books, as well collectively, as of particular Books. The following are the principal and more easily procurable editions, including some which have appeared subsequently to the date of his publication:

1. Libri Veteris Testamenti Apocryphi omnes, Græce, ad Exemplar Vaticanum emendatissime expressi. [Curâ Ludolphi LEUSDENII] Francofurti ad Mænum, 1694. 8vo.

2. Libri Apocryphi, Græce. Introductionem præmisit Georgius Johannes HENKIUS. Halæ, 1711. 8vo.

The Introduction was subsequently printed in a separate form, in 4to.

3. Libri Veteris Testamenti Apocryphi. Textum Græcum recognovit, et variarum Lectionum Delectum adjecit, Joannes Christianus Gulielmus AUGUSTI. Lipsiæ, 1804. 8vo.

4. The Books of the Apocrypha, with Critical and Historical Observations prefixed to each Book: also, two Introductory Discourses; the first explaining the Distinctions between Canonical and Apocryphal Writings, estimating the Value of the latter, and ascertaining the time when they were introduced as Ecclesiastical Books into the Service of the Church; the second illustrating the intimate connection between the Old and New Testament in religious and moral views, in matters of faith and practice, in style, composition, and allusion; with a Sketch of the History of the Jews from the cessation of Prophecy in Malachi, to the final dissolution of their State under the Emperor Vespasian, A.D. 70. By Charles WILSON, D.D. Edinburgh, 1801. 8vo.

5. The Five Books of Maccabees tions. By Henry COTTON, D.C.L.

in English. With Notes and IllustraOxford, 1832. 8vo.

Of the Apocryphal books which bear the name of the Maccabees, some account will be found in vol. iv. pp. 247-249. Dr. Cotton has collected them together in this beautifully printed volume, and has, for the first time, given an English translation of what are called the fourth and fifth books; and he has successfully adapted the style and language of his version to those of the preceding books, as closely as was consistent with a careful adherence to the original. The whole is illustrated with very numerous notes, a valuable critical Introduction, Genealogical Tables of the Families of the Maccabees and of Herod, together with a Chronological Table, and a copious Index. This work is a necessary supplement to every edition of our authorised English Version of the Bible.

6. Sapientia Jesu filii Sirachi, Græce. Textum ad fidem Codd. et Versionum emendavit et illustravit Joh. Guil. LINDE. Gedani, 1795. 8vo. 7. Liber Jesu, Siracidæ Græce: ad fidem Codicum et Versionum emendatus, et perpetua adnotatione illustratus, a Car. Gottl. BRETSCHNeider. Ratisbon, 1806. 8vo.

appeared on the Book of Eccle(Classical Journal, vol. v. p. 4.)

"This work is, without contradiction, the best that has siasticus; and the Commentary is an excellent critique." It "deserves to be introduced into the library of every theological scholar. The Greek text has, undoubtedly, been very much corrupted. .. Dr. Bretschneider has spared no labour in his valuable collection of readings from the Vatican and Alexandrian MSS., from that manuscript on which the text of the Complutensian Polyglott was founded, and from various other sources. Much interesting matter will be found in his elaborate Prolegomena, and in the five dissertations at the close of the volume. His perpetual annotations on the text afford evidence of great critical ability and theological information, but perhaps exhibit

a little of that tedious prolixity which is not uncommon in the German school." (Christian Remembrancer, vol. ix. p. 263.)

8. Liber Ecclesiasticus. The Book of the Church; or, Ecclesiasticus: translated from the Latin Vulgate. By Luke Howard. London, 1827. royal 8vo.

"It is a miserable attempt at an English version of Ecclesiasticus, from the Latin translation of the Vulgate." (Christ. Rememb. vol. ix. p. 263.) In pp. 266–272. there is an analysis, with specimens of this publication.

9 a The Book of Jasher. With

Testimonies and Notes explanatory of the Text.

To which is Prefixed Various Readings.

Translated into English from the
Hebrew, by Alcuin, of Britain,
who went a Pilgrimage into the
Holy Land.

This Book is twice mentioned in Holy Scripture, viz. in Josh. x. 13., and in 2 Sam. i. 18. ; in both which Places it is appealed to as a Work of Credit and Reputation, and as such was at that Time had in great Esteem.

Printed in the Year MDCCLI.

4to.

9 b. The Book of Jasher. With Testimonies and Notes, Critical and Historical, explanatory of the Text.

To which is prefixed Various Readings, and a Preliminary Dissertation, proving the Authenticity of the Work.

Translated into English from the

Hebrew, by Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus of Britain, Abbot of Canterbury. Who went a Pilgrimage into the Holy Land, and Persia, where he discovered this volume, in the City of Gazna.

"Is not this written in the Book of Jasher?" Joshua x. 13.

66

"Behold it is written in the Book of
"Jasher." 2 Sam. i. 18.

Bristol: Printed for the Editor1, by
Philip Rose, 20. Broadmead.
MDCCCXXIX. 4to.

Of the literary forgery contained in the volume or rather pamphlet printed in the year 1751 (9 a), the following account is given by Mr. Rowe-Mores, a diligent topographer and antiquary of the eighteenth century, in his " Dissertation upon English Typographical Founders and Founderies," published in 1778 (page 65.). "In the year 1751, Mr. Ilive published "a pretended translation of the Book of Jasher, said to have been made by one Alcuin of "Britain. The account given of the translation is full of glaring absurdities: but of the "publication this we can say, from the information of the Only-One who is capable of "informing us, because the business was a secret between the Two: Mr. Ilive in the night"time had constantly an Hebrew Bible before him (sed qu. de hoc), and cases in his closet. "He produced the copy for Jasher, and it was composed in private, and the forms worked "off in the night-time in a private press-room by these two, after the men of the Printing "House had left their work."

Jacob Ilive, the person here mentioned, was a type-founder and printer, who carried on business in London between the years 1730 and 1763, in which last year he died. "Being "not perfectly sound in his mind, he produced some strange works. In 1733, he published "an Oration, intended to prove the plurality of worlds, and asserting that this earth is hell, "that the souls of men are apostate angels, and that the fire to punish those confined to this "world at the day of judgment will be immaterial. In this strange performance "the author unveils his deistical principles, and takes no small liberty with the sacred Scrip"tures, and especially with the character of Moses. Emboldened by this first adventure, "he determined to become the public teacher of infidelity. For this purpose he hired the use of Carpenters' Hall, where for some time he delivered his orations, which consisted "chiefly of scraps from Tindal and other similar writers." (Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary, vol. xix. p. 228.)

In November 1751 he published "The Book of Jasher," of which the following account was given in the Monthly Review for December in the same year (vol. v. p. 250.) :—“The "publisher, in order to give a sanction to this pretended Book of Jasher, refers to the "mention made to such a book in Josh. x. 13., and 2 Sam. i. 18. In both which places, says "he, it is appealed to as a work of credit and reputation, and as such was at that time had

1 In a prospectus for a second edition of this reprint, which was circulated in London in 1833, the editor announced himself as "the Reverend C. R. Bond, formerly of Em. Col. Cantab."

" in great esteem. But the work now published does not in the least appear to be that "book referred to in the Scriptures; but a palpable piece of contrivance, intended to impose "on the credulous and the ignorant, to sap the credit of the books of Moses, and to blacken "the character of Moses himself. Hence it is no wonder that the editor or author has had "the precaution to conceal his name. He has trumped up an idle story of the means, by "which the MS. fell into his hands, which he relates in a prefatory epistle to a nameless "earl. He has also prefixed a history of Alcuin's pilgrimage to the Holy Land, of the "manner of his procuring a sight of the Book of Jasher, and the means by which he "obtained permission to translate it into English. But the whole is so full of blunders, "inconsistencies, and absurdities, that we think it beneath any further notice."

With this quotation from the Monthly Review, in addition to the contemporary evidence above given, the author would have dismissed the pretended Book of Jasher, had it not come to his knowledge that very many individuals have been induced to purchase the reprint of this forgery, executed at Bristol in 1829 1(9b.), of which an account is given in pages 145-147. infra, under the idea of its being the genuine long lost Book of Jasher. In the hope of preventing future unwary purchasers from being similarly misled, he now subjoins a few specimens of the falsehoods, anachronisms, and contradictions of the Holy Scriptures, which characterise this nocturnal production of the non-sane infidel author, Jacob Ilive. 1. The assertion, in the title-page, that Alcuin of Britain "went a pilgrimage into the "Holy Land and Persia, where he discovered this volume in the city of Gazna," is contrary to historical fact. Alcuin neither visited the Holy Land nor travelled into Persia: to which we may add, that there is a geographical falsehood in stating Gazna to be in Persia: there is a city of that name in Caubul. Alcuin was born in Yorkshire about the middle of the eighth century, and was educated at York, where probably he embraced the monastic profession. It is not known what preferments he held before he left England; though some accounts state that he was a deacon of the church at York, and others, that he was abbot of Canterbury. His earlier years were wholly spent in England; and having been sent on an embassy from Offa king of Mercia to the emperor Charlemagne (who formed so high an opinion of his acquirements and character as to become his pupil), he was induced, by the emperor's intreaties, to settle in France. In that country, accordingly, with the exception of one short visit to England, he spent the remainder (the chief part) of his life, having rendered essential services to the cause of religion and learning, and there he died, A. D. 804, in the abbey of St. Martin, at Tours, without ever quitting Europe. (Cave, Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Historia Literaria, pp. 420, 421. Coloniæ, 1720. Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary; article, Alcuin.)

2. All the genuine writings of Alcuin are printed in Latin, as well as some doubtful and spurious pieces which have been ascribed to him. 2 If he had composed any treatise in any other language, it would doubtless have been written in the then vernacular language of England, that is, the Anglo-Saxon; fragments of which language have come down to our time in some portions of the Anglo-Saxon version of the Scriptures, executed in the eighth century. Whereas the WHOLE of this pretended Book of Jasher is in MODERN ENGLISH, and not a few passages of it are verbatim the same as our present authorised English version of the Bible, which was first published in 1611, only eight hundred and seven years after Alcuin's death; and what is not copied from our English Bible, is a lame and studied imitation of its style and diction, both to conceal the fraud and to allure readers.

3. In "the translator's preface" (p. iv.) Alcuin is made to say,-"I took unto me two "companions, who learned with me, in the University of Oxford, all those languages "which the people of the East speak." But the University of Oxford, according to the earliest date which has been stated by its historians, was not founded by King Alfred before the year 886; that is to say, only eighty-two years AFTER Alcuin's decease!

4. "The Words of Alcuin, which are read before the book of Jasher," are further convicted of falsehood by the anachronisms they contain.

[i.] In p. v. mention is made of "the paper on which it is wrote" only three hundred years before the art of making cotton-paper was introduced into Europe (the use of which did not become general until the thirteenth century), and considerably more than three hundred years before paper, made from linen rags, was in use.

1 In the prospectus for a second edition of the reprint above alluded to, it is stated that "the first edition has been honoured with the autographs of NEARLY ONE THOUSAND of "the most literary characters as subscribers; among whom are many PRELATES and other "DIGNITARIES, as well as most of the public Establishments of the country."

2 The best and most complete collection of Alcuin's works was published at Ratisbon, in 1777, in two large volumes, folio; it was edited by M. Frobenius (or Froben), abbot of Saint Emmeran, near that city, who has carefully distinguished the doubtful and spurious pieces from Alcuin's genuine writings, all of which are in Latin. It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to state, that there is not a single word or allusion to the Book of Jasher, as being translated by him.

[ii.] In p. vi. he mentions stationers upwards of four centuries before bookselling was known. Stationers were not heard of, in Europe, before the middle of the thirteenth century. (Ducange, Glossarium, voce Stationarii, vol. vi. col. 716.) And the Company of Stationers, who were the first booksellers in London, was not incorporated until May, 1557, in the third and fourth year of the reign of Philip and Mary; that is, only seven hundred and fifty-three years AFTER Alcuin's death.

are contradicted by

JASHER.

5. The book itself is replete with falsehoods, and with contradictions of the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua. The restricted limits necessarily allotted to this article will only allow the specification of a few examples. The books of Moses and of JOSHUA GEN. xxii. 2. 11-13. And He [God] said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.... And the angel of the LORD called unto him [Abraham] out of heaven.... And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him.... And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son.

Exod. ii. 1-5. relates the birth and exposure of Moses in an ark of bulrushes on the banks of the river Nile, and the discovery of him by Pharaoh's daughter :

5-8. And when she [Pharaoh's daughter] saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrew's children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it.

Exod. i. 22. And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river.

Concerning the particular subjects of Moses's education the book of Exodus is silent.

Numb. xxxii. 11, 12. Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upwards, shall see the land which I swear unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me; save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun.

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CHAP. iii. 19-21. And when Isaac was twenty and five years old, Abraham heard a voice saying, Take thy son, and slay him, and offer him up a burnt-offering in the land wherein he was born. And Sarah spake unto Abraham, and said, The holy voice hath not so spoken: for remember thou the words of that voice which said unto thee, I will make of thee a great nation. And Abraham repented him of the evil he purposed to do unto his son: his only son Isaac.

v. 9-12. And Jochebed the mother of Moses, with Miriam his sister, came unto Pharaoh's daughter: and Jochebed said Behold here the son of thy hand maid! And Pharaoh's daughter said, What wist ye? And they said, Thy father hath commanded that this infant be slain: yea, and that all the Hebrew males as soon as they are born be slain also. And Pharaoh's daughter said, Give unto me the child. And they did so. And she said, This shall be my son.

iii. 13. And it came to pass, that the wrath of Pharaoh was turned away from slaying the males of the Hebrews.

iii. 14. And the child Moses grew and increased in stature: and was learned in all the magic of the Egyptians.

xxxv. 3. 4. It is affirmed that, after the death of Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, the people were without a leader, and that Phinehas and the elders of Israel "named Jasher the son of Caleb, by Azuba, seeing he is an upright man. And moreover this we know, that he hath seen all the wonders wrought in Egypt, in the wilderness: even all the mighty works that have been done."

xxvii. 8. Rahab is styled "one of the princesses of Jericho ;" and in v. 8. she is represented as saying, "I also am the daughter of an Israelite by a woman of Midian."

xxviii. 10. And the wood whereon the children of Israel passed over Jordan stayed

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