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of Christopher Barker, Printer to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, Anno Dom. 1592, cum privilegio; and quite different, I apprehend, to the suggestion above, I found the title prefixed to the 45th Psalm to be as follows: "The majesty of Solomon-his honour-are praisedand also his marriage with the Egyptian blessed-Under the which figure, the wonderful majesty and increase of the kingdom of Christ, and of the Church his Spouse, now taken of the Gentiles, is described." On ver. 6, the marginal note is, " Under this figure of this kingdom of justice is set forth the everlasting kingdom of Christ" and, after several remarks to the same effect, the note on the last verse is," This must only be referred to Christ, and not to Solomon." Whatever therefore might be the opinion of Calvin, the editors of Queen Elizabeth's Bible did not interpret the 45th Psalm in a sense different from that which you justly assert is warranted by the concurrent judgment of antiquity *.

But I was willing to be satisfied *E. S. is mistaken in supposing the Bible from which he quotes to have been the anthorized Bible of Queen Elizabeth's reign: it is the Geneva Bible. A copy of it is now before us, printed also by Barker. The authorised Bible of Queen Elizabeth was what is called the Bishops' Bible, although the Geneva Bible was in common use. In the first folio edition of the Bishops' Bible, which is now on our table, the title of the 45th Psalm runs thus: "The Prophet, describing here the beauty, eloquence, &c. of King Solomon, his wife and children, settetl: forth Jesus Christ, and his Espouse the Church, whose eternal kingdom against sin, death, and hell, is notably figured here in this Psalm." E. S. does not seem to be aware shat Bishop Horsley, on whose authority we rested, quotes the very same passages from the Geneva Bible, in confirmation of his wensare of Calvin, which E. S. quotes in vindication of him. The Bishop thought Calvin altogether wrong in supposing the Psalm to tefer in any manner or measure to Solomon, brugh figuratively to Christ; his own view ing that it refers primarily and exclusively to Christ. And it is this error, as he deems it (though we may not have been sufficiently lear stating the point at issue) which the Bishop wracks. ED.

as to the opinion of Calvin on the subject, and I consulted his Institutes. I there found that he was so far from adopting the restrained sense suggested above, that he is very explicit indeed in his application of the 45th Psalm to the person and kingdom of Christ. In book i. cap. 13, sect. 9, I read as follows: "Quia tamen sine controversia inter omnes constare debet, Christum esse illum Sermonem carne indutum, buc optime convenient quæcunque deitatem Christo asserunt testimonia. Quum dicitur Psalmo 45. Solium tuum Deus in seculum et usque, tergiversantur Judæi, nomen Elohim competere etiam in angelos et summas potestates. Atqui nusquam extat similis in Scriptura locus, qui thronum æternum creaturæ erigat; neque enim simpliciter Deus vocatur, sed æternus quoque Dominator." Again, in book ii. cap. 15, sect. 5, the author, referring to the 45th Psalm, thus writes, "Hoc oleum est lætitiæ quo Psalmus prædicat eum (Christum) fuisse unctum præ consortibus suis." My copy of the Institutes was printed at Leyden, 1654.

But I examined also Calvin's

Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews: in the first chapter of which, ver. 8 and 9, the 45th Psalm is quoted by the apostle. Here the author observes, that the Psalm, in its primary and literal sense, refers to Solomon; but he very expressly applies it to Christ in its spiritual and prophetic sense. "Quisquis ergo composito animo et citra rixandi studium hunc versum leget non inficiabitur Messiam vocari Deum.” And again: "Hoc in Christum magis proprie competit qui nos sibi adoptavit consortes, tametsi jure proprio non eramus. Unctus autem fuit supra nos omnes," with much more to the same effect. So that I conceive there can be very little difference in the sense of the Psalm, as interpreted by Bishop Horsley, and that in which it was interpreted by Calvin.

Now, Sir, it must be acknowledged that your correspondents are generally much more ingenuous and tem

perate in their treatment of Calvin than most of their contemporaries; but yet I have sometimes suspected that some of them are little acquainted with Calvin and his works. The honourable mention repeatedly made of Calvin by Bishop Jewell, in his Defence of his Apology, and the estimation in which he was holden by Bishop Hall*, who reckons him "amongst the best expositors of Scripture since the apostles left the earth," might surely create a suspicion that there is some mistake amongst the moderns, in estimating his character both as an author and a man. I much doubt whether Bishop Horsley would have treated him with so little ceremony as he has shewn to certain modern commentators of great celebrity. The Bishop had, indeed, the daring to defend the political character of Calvin against the calumnies of Dr. Heylin, revived by Mr. Plowden; and his defence must be satisfactory to every ingenuous mind t. But even his Lordship seems to assert, somewhat too hastily, that, in disregard of an apostolic institution, and the example of the primitive ages," he endeavoured to fashion the government of all the Protestant churches upon republican principles.' It appears, from Beza's Life of Calvin, that Calvin did not first introduce the presbytery into Geneva. It subsisted when he came thither, Anno 1536. Farellus and Viretus constrained him to settle there. Farellus threatened him with the divine vengeance if he refused, as one that sought bis own, not the things of Jesus Christ. "Hac terribili denuntiatione territus Calvinus sese presbyterii et magistratus voluntati permisit," saith Beza. Moreover, in the year 1549, thirteen years after Calvin first settled at Geneva, Bullinger, Calvin, and others, in a letter to King Edward, offered to make him their defender, and to have bishops in their

* Vol. x. p. 88. Pratt's edition. + Appendix to Sermon on the Martyrdom of King Charles the First, preached 1793.

churches, as there were in England, with the tender of their services to assist and unite together. Vide Strype's Life of Abp. Cranmer, folio, 207*. This, surely, does not seem like an endeavour to fashion all the Protestant churches upon republican principles.

You will, I fear, suspect that the writer is a vehement and incorrigible Calvinist.-But he admires Calvin chiefly as a practical divine. As to those deep and mysterious doctrines which respect the coun sels of God, he thinks it becomes us φρονειν εις το σωφρονειν. With respect to those metaphysical subtleties which arise out of them, and too often minister questions and strifes of words, rather than godly edifying, he is decidedly of opinion with the moderate and candid Le Blanc" Forte, tamen consultius esset questiones hujusmodi, quæ nihil ad fructum pietatis faciunt, et nihilominus gravissimas contentiones excitant, nec movere nec determinare."

Your Friend, and

Constant Reader, E. S.

We are much obliged to E.S. for the above communication; indeed, we are always glad to be favoured with the fruit of his researches into Christian antiquity. With respect, however, to the main point now under discussion, he will perceive, from what we have already said, that he has misapprehended the drift of Bishop Horsley's argument; an error into which we

may have contributed to lead him. The Bishop does not affirm, as E. S. supposes, that Calvin denies that the 45th Psalm figures Christ under a description of Solomon; but he censures Calvin, and those who have followed him, for representing the Psalm as at all applicable to Solomon, but only to the Messiah, and his spouse, the Church. ED.

* Mr. Strype also shews how much this proposal alarmed the Papists, and the mea sures which they took to prevent its ef

fect.

MISCELLANEOUS.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. Is reply to a note of your correspondent, signed Oroniensis, inserted page 756 of your valuable miscellany for last November, I again remark, that the collation of the Indian roll there mentioned, with the printed text of Van. Hooght, affords not more than forty examples of variation; and that not one of the mid examples declares for any real corruption of the Hebrew text of the Pentateuch, but concerns only such letters of difference as affect neither the reading nor interpretation of the sacred text. Out of this number, which must be allowed to be indeed inconsiderable, twenty-five exactly agree with the edition of Athias's Bible, printed at Amsterdam 1661, and the remaining few are mostly supported by other Hebrew and Samaritan MSS., whose readings have been collected by the learned and laborious Dr. Kennicott.

With respect to the chronology of the patriarchal ages recorded in the book of Genesis, your correspondent inquires, "Whether the numbers in the Indian MS. are quite the same as in Vander Hooght's printed text." To which ingenious and important inquiry I answer, from the most careful inspection of the MS. text in this part of the sacred history, that the numbers stand in the MS. exactly the same as in V. Hooght's text.

Perhaps your correspondent, or some other learned reader, Sir, may wish to know" whether the Indian MS. affords any authority for the mention of Cainan, son of Arphaxad, recorded Luke, chap. iii. ver. 36." Among numerous other points of critical inquiry, I have diligently sought for this article respecting the post-diluvian Cainan, but it is not supported by the Indian copy; and

is this valuable MS. from countehence we may conclude, that so far nancing any new and improved form of the Hebrew text, that its agreement and uniformity with all other the most perfect copies extant, shews it to have had, together with them, one and the same origin, and to have been derived from the same common fountain.

Should this collation be published, which occupies thirty quarto pages, and comprehends a transcript of nearly 600 lines, after the exact form observed in the MS., a new and improved method will offer itself for, the more accurate and satisfactory collation and investigation of Hebrew MSS. in general, to the great improvement of this branch of sacred literature.

Yours, respectfully,

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Dabis autem, Vir excellentissime, mibi hanc veniam, ut ad epistolam Tuam Anglice scriptam, Latine rescribam. Neque enim ea in me facultas est linguæ Tibi vernaculæ, ut illa in loquendo scribendoque uti possim.

"Jam ad quæstiones a Te propositas breviter strictimque respondebo. Ac primum quidem valde probo consilium Tuum de edenda tali versione Novi Test. Hebraica, quæ, ut omnibus inter omnes nationes dispersis Judæis, pariter prosit, ad idiomata linguæ in libris Veteris Test. usurpatæ, quoad fieri possit, quam proxime accedat. Eodem consilio etiam superiori sæculo Callenbergius, Professor Halensis, duo libros Novi Test. in puram et antiquam illam dialectum Hebraicam translatos, typis exscribi jussit, cosque cum aliis libellis ab se editis per præcones Evangelii seu Missionarios, qui ad Judæos iter facerent, in plures provincias Europa, Asia, et Africa, misit. Et quamvis pervicax gens Israelitica ex hoc Instituto Judaico (ita enim illud apellari solebat), eum fructum tunc quidem non perceperit, quem pius conditor exspectabat, tamen dubitari non potest, quin ejus studia nonnullis ex hoc populo ad meliorem cognitionem et vero etiam ad æternam salutem profuerint. Mihi enim plane persuasum est, ejusmodi consilia et instituta, quæ in honorem Dei et Domini nostri Jesu Christi, pia mente suscipiuntur et conduntur, si qualemcumque progressum cepta rei Deus dederit, haudquaquam frusta suscepta esse et condita. Certe illa aliis, qui postea vel idem plane, vel simile opus moliuntur, hactenus prosunt, ut iis expeditiorem magisque tritam viam monstrent ac muniant. Quæ cum ita sint, Te non dubito adhortari, ut cœptum opus gnaviter, perficias; perficies enim, si Deus annuerit, fe liciter, pro Tua peritia Hebraicæ linguæ et naturali ingenii dexteritate, quam ex tradito niihi specimine Tuo satis perspexi. Quod de mediocritate versionis Hutteriana ju

dicas, in eo me Tecum plane consentientem habes; nec minus hoc probo, quod Græcum textum Novi Test. Hebraice convertens, veterem interpretem Syrum atque adeo Rabbinorum scripta sedulo comparanda duxeris. Nam eo imprimis subsidio, quod ex Rabbinicis libris paratur, carere nemo potest, qui in Hebraice transferendo Novo Test. operam suam peritis harum rerum existimatoribus probari cupiat. Ceterum id mihi perplacet, quod non omnes statim libros Novi Test. uno volu mine comprehensos, sed initio unum tantum alterumve libellum, ac deinde, si Deus cœptis Tuis adspiraverit, singulos singulatim edere statueris.

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In numero eorum, qui superiori ætate aliquot libros N. T. Hebraice reddere tentarunt (quorum quosdam Te quoque consuluisse scribis), haud dubie etiam Sebast. Münsterus (Professor Basileasis Sæc. XVI.) Tibi innotuit, cujus exstat libellus, paullo rarior ille quidem, sed in bibliothecis tamen passim inveniendus, qui sic inscribitur: mwon mn, Evangel. secundum Matthæum in lingua Hebraica, cum versione Lat. atque annotationibus Seb. Münsteri. Una cum Epistola D. Pauli ad Hebræos, Hebraice et Latine; (Basilea, M.D.LVII., octonis); cui libello, præter annotationes bonæ frugis plenas, simul alia insunt, quæ Te legisse atque in usum Judæorum convertisse non pœnitebit. Præterea operæ pretium fuerit, conferre Hebraicam versionem illam Epistolæ ad Hebræos et Evangelii Lucæ quam idem ille, cujus supra mentionem feci, Callenbergius, edendam curavit. Quam cum valde dubitem etiam nunc in bibliopoliis Londinensibus reperiri, una cum hac epistola ad Te mittendam putavi, persuasus, eam Tibi nec injucundam, nec inutilem futuram. Videbis enim, Proselytum illum pressius interdum atque ad strictius textum archetypum sequi, itemque subinde feliciter ipsi successisse studium, quod in eligendis propriis vocabulis atque in dilucide declaranda verborun sententia.

rumque consecutione posuit; quamquam multis in locis palmam Tibi lubens defero.-His libellis adjeci etiam Catalogum librorum, maximam partem a Callenbergio in usum Judæorum, Muhammedanorum et Christianorum Orientalium evulgatorum; quorum notitia, ut spero, et Tibi, et aliis in Anglia amicis, qui bonæ causæ Christi favent, haud ingrata erit.

"Quod reliquum est, Deum O.M. supplex precor, ut Tua, Vir excellentissime, conata fortunet, atque in honorem et gloriam optimi Soteris nostri cedere jubeat. De me vero sic existimes ac Tibi persuadeas vehementer veliin, me, quibuscum que rebus potero, commodis studisque et Tuis et aliorum in Britannia amicorum (quibuscum, fretus una atque eadem spe et fiducia in Christo reposita, quamvis absens, mente tamen animoque conjunctissimus vivo), lubentissimum inserviturum. Vale, et, quo facere nihil jucundius poteris, Tuam mihi favorem conserva. Scribebam Halæ, die xxv Novembris, clɔlɔccc. "Si quid peccatum a me fuerit in exteriori hujus epistolæ inscriptione, lubens, ut spero veniam, mihi dabis titulum Tuum ignoranti. Quæ Tuæ epistolæ ad me data inscripsisti, ea recte si habent ac plane sufficiunt. Neque enim hodie in Germania moris est, epistolis multa inscribere.-Præter Regiam Professionem Theologiæ in Academia Halensi, mihi etiam demandatum est curæ et laboris plenum munus Directoris Pædagogii Regii, Orphanotrophei, ceterorumque institutorum, quæ b. Aug. Herm. Frankius condidit; et propter commissam mihi curam Missionum evangelicarum, quæ sunt in India Orientali, etiam Societati Londinensi de promovenda cognitione Christi, adscriptus sum."

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I HAVE been highly gratified by your Quotations from the Old Testament in the New, collated with

the LXX. but could wish that you had uniformly given an English translation of the Greek, for the sake of unlearned readers. I am more convinced than ever, by this part of your publication, of the great value of the LXX. and my frequent wish is thereby renewed to see a good English translation from the best edition of that work. I have some idea of having seen a proposal for a new edition of it. I should be glad if you can favour us with any information, whether such a work is likely to appear. I could also wish you to recommend it to some of your learned correspondents to undertake a literal and faithful translation of the LXX. to be printed in the least expensive form, for the benefit of common readers. It would be highly acceptable to many, and I cannot but think it would throw great light upon the Old Testament. I am,

Yours most respectfully,

THEOLOGUS.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. Is maintaining the superiority of the English above the Scotch universities, it is said, in your number for November last, p. 721," If the respective claims of the two systems are to be adjusted by considering their active influence in the production of great men, it is certain that the claims of the English universities may challenge a comparison with all the world." I am not inclined to dispute the justice of this assertion; but I must take the liberty to observe, that one of the examples produced in the next sentence to confirm the position, is an unfortunate mistake. "Our dissenting brethren," you say, "6 Owe to them their Baxters, and Calamies, and Owens, and Howes; such risen upon the horizon of their reluminaries as have at no period spective assemblies." I readily acquiesce in your encomium on these men, but I must take leave to in

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