several ages, confined within the country: it was spread by the Mahometans over all the countries that were conquered by their arms; and thus, from the gulph of Arabia, it was spoken, as far as Portugal on the west, and Malacca on the east. must be ranked among the most ancient languages; and excels all languages in copiousness. It is of the utmost use in Biblical criticism.

It

An Arabic version of the four Gospels was published at Rome in 1590-1591, in one volume folio. It was printed with a version of the remaining books of the New Testament, in the Paris and London Polyglotts. Erpenius published the Arabic New Testament at Leyden, in 1616, in one volume 4to. from a manuscript written in the Upper Egypt, in the year 1342. The Roman congregation de propagandá fide published, in 1671, an Arabic and Latin Bible, under the inspection of Sergius Risius, bishop of Damascus, in three volumes folio. The English society for promoting Christian knowledge published, in 1727, in one volume 4to. an Arabic New Testament, for the use of the Christians in Asia. Ten thousand copies were printed of this edition. But none of these editions, nor any Arabic manuscript, that has yet been discovered, is of any importance in Biblical criticism, as no satisfactory evidence has yet been produced of their antiquity. The general opinion is, that none of them are earlier than the Mahomet.

age

of

XIII. 6. While the ancient empire of Persia subsisted, Persia had a language of her own. In the course of time it became successively subject to the Greeks, the Romans, the Saracens, and the Turks; and each of them introduced some alterations into the language of the Persians. The modern language of Persia is a mixture of all these, together with a considerable portion of Gothic, or Teutonic, (Persæ fuerunt originitus Scythæ, says Ammianus Marcellinus, L. xxxi. 11.) but the Arabic and Turkish predominate. A Persic version of the four gospels is printed in the London Polyglott. A new translation of it was printed by Professor Bode at Helmstadt, in 1750 -1751, with a Preface, containing historical and critical remarks on the Persic versions. Another Persic version was printed in London. It has two title pages, the one by Wheloc, dated 1652, the other by Piersone, dated 1657. These versions, more particularly the former, are thought to be translations from the Syriac, so that their chief use is in ascertaining the readings of that version. It is observable that, of the Old Testament, a Persic translation of the Pentateuch only is published in the London Polyglott.

XIII. 7. Ernesti in his Institutio says, that Ulphilas, bishop of the Goths, translated the New Testament into the Gothic language, in the fourth century: and that this version is supposed to be the version of the Gospels, which was published

at Dordrect, with an excellent Glossary, in 1665, by Junius and Marschall; at Amsterdam, in 1684; by Stiernhielm, at Stockholm, in 1672, with a Glossary and with the Swedish and Icelandic versions; and at Oxford, in 1750, by Edward Lye. The last edition was prepared for the press by Benzel, archbishop of Upsal: but, as he died before the work could be sent to the press at Upsal, where it was to have been printed, the care of the impression was intrusted to Lye at Oxford.

The Codex Argenteus, in the public library of the university of Upsal, considered to be a thousand years old, is written on vellum: the letters are silver, except the initials, which are gold. It has been much doubted, whether the version should be called Gothic or Francic, and whether it was taken from the Greek or the Latin: but Michaelis seems to prove that it is a Gothic version, that it was taken immediately from the Greek; but that the translator had frequent recourse to the Latin.

For the history and illustration of this version, the following collection is recommended: Joh. Ab. Thre. Scripta versionem Ulphilanam Maso-Gothicam illustrantia, ab ipso doctissimo auctore emendata, novisque accessionibus aucta, jam vero ob præstantiam et raritatem collecta, et una cum aliis scriptis, similis argumenti, edita ab. Ant. Irid. Busching. Berolini, 1773, 4to. Some fragments of this version, discovered by Knittel in a Coder rescriptus, in the library at Wolfenbuttell, were

first published by him, at Brunswic, 1763, 4to. and afterwards republished by Ihre, with his own observations the same year, at Upsal, likewise in 4to. with the following title: Fragmenta Versionis Ulphelana continentia particulas aliquot Epistolæ ad Romanos haud pridem ex codice rescripto Bibliothecæ Guelpherbetana a Fran. Ant. Knittell edita, nunc cum aliquot annotationibus typis reddita a Johanne Ihre. Accedunt duæ dissertationes ad philologiam Maso-Gothicam spectantes. Upsaliæ, 1763, 4to.

XIII. 8. The Russian or Slavonian version was made from the Greek.

It is observable that, except the Arabians, no people has been so extensively diffused as the Slavonians; they have spread themselves over all the countries between the Adriatic and the Frozen Ocean, and from the Baltic, over the whole length of northern Asia, to America.

The most ancient copy of the whole Bible, in the Russian language, was written in the year 1499, in the time of the Grand Duke Wasiljewitch. But of the New Testament there are copies of the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries. A still more ancient manuscript of the New Testament was given by the Czar Iwan Wasiljewitch to Garabunda, secretary to the dutchy of Lithuania; it was written in the time of the Grand Duke Wlademir, who reigned from 972 to 1015. The oldest printed edition is that of Prague, in

1519. It has been since printed at Ostrog, in 1581; at Moscow, in 1663, 1751, 1756, 1757, 1766, in folio; in 1759, in large octavo; and at Kiow, in 1758, in folio. Accurate extracts from this version have been given by Professor Alter, in his edition of the Greek Testament, 8vo. Vienna, 1787: but the best account of this version is given by Debrowsky in Michaelis, Oriental und exeget Biblioth. Th. viii. pp. 155-167.

Concerning the Georgian Version, which was published at Moscow, in 1743, folio, the reader may consult a tract, Uber die Georgianische Litteratur, Vienna 1798, written by Professor Alter, who collated the version for Dr. Holmes's edition of the Septuagint.

XIV.

To obtain an accurate notion of what is called THE LATIN VULGATE TRANSLATION of the Scriptures, (a term often used inaccurately, when it is not particularly explained), it is necessary to enquire into the nature of the Latin versions, made before the time of St. Jerom, particularly the version called the Vetus Italica, or Itala, existing probably before the middle of the second century, and to consider the different versions published by St. Jerom, as they came immediately from his hands, as they were corrupted in the middle ages, and as they have been corrected and promulgated by papal authority.