attributed to Simon ibn Yusef ibn Abraheem al Tabreezy, in the middle of the fifteenth century. Though the translation is loose, and not free from a certain Romanistic tendency, it is, nevertheless, well worthy of study. The diction is very commendable.*

The other translation was begun to be printed by Professor Wheeloc in 1652; (Quatuor Evangeliorum Domini nostri Jesu Christi Versio Persica, ad Numerum Situmque Verborum Latine data;) but he did not live to complete it. This was accomplished in 1657, by Pierson, who, in a new title-page, describes it as, Quatuor Evangeliorum D. N. J. C. Versio Persica, Syriacam et Arabicam suavissime redolens, ad verba et mentem Græci Textús fideliter et venuste concinnata. Londini. 1657. It was printed from a manuscript in the Bodleian, with occasional readings from two others, that formerly in the possession of Dr. Pococke, and a second in the University of Cambridge. The two editors were not agreed as to the text rendered by the Persian translator; but there is good evidence to conclude that he merely followed the Latin Vulgate.

VIII. HOLY SCRIPTURE IN GOTHIC.

THE Mæso-Goths, a people of Scandinavian origin, had first settled in Dacia, or Wallachia, from beyond the Borysthenes. They appear to have received the gospel in the latter part of the third century, as among the signatures of the fathers present at the council of Nice, in 325, is that of "Theophilus, bishop of the Goths." At the time when Arianism was in the ascendant, they were

*The REV. HENRY MARTYN, then writing at Shiraz, says on this point, "To my surprise, the old despised Polyglot version was not only spoken of as superior to the rest, that is, the two by Sabat, but it was asked, 'What fault is found in this? This is the language we speak."""Journals," vol. ii. p. 368.

induced to adopt the prevailing error. The eminent Ulfila, who became their chief pastor in 348, and on whom, according to Theodoret,* rests much of the blame. of their perversion, exhibited, nevertheless, great activity for their general improvement. He first reduced their language to a written form, and then translated into it the holy scriptures. This was about A.D. 360. His text was the Septuagint for the Old Testament, and the Greek for the New, though not without reference to the early Latin versions. He has the reputation of having been an upright as well as able translator. Large por

tions of this work are extant. Of the Old Testament only a fragment has been printed, a part of Nehemiah. The manuscript copy of the four Gospels at Upsal is well known by the name of the Codex Argenteus, from having been written in silver letters. It has been edited successively, at Dort in 1665, 4to. with a Glossary, and at Oxford in 1750. Fragments, also, of the Epistles have been printed by Knittel and Mai. But the most complete edition is, ULFILAS: Veteris et Novi Testamenti Versionis Gothica Fragmenta quæ supersunt, edd. H. C. de GABELENTZ ET DR. J. LOEBE. Altenburgi et Lips. 2 vols. 4to. 1836, 1843. Some interesting notices of this version, and of the silver-lettered manuscript of Upsal, may be found in MARSH'S Michaëlis, vol. ii. cap. 7.

* Historia Ecclesiastica, lib. iv. p. 33.

+ Ulfila is said to have been descended from Christian parents who had been taken captives by the Goths, in one of their incursions into Cappadocia, and carried away into Thrace. When it is affirmed that his doctrinal sentiments do not influence his biblical translation, it ought to be remembered that we are not in possession of the full means of determining, as the most important texts which bear upon the subject (as John i. and Romans ix. 5) in the Gothic version have not been preserved.

IX. THE ARMENIAN BIBLE.

As Ulfila was the founder of the literature of his people, so Miesrop, about sixty years later, introduced the art of writing among the Armenians. He invented their alphabet, and consecrated it to the service of religion, by making it the vehicle for a translation of the scriptures. A Christian church had been formed in Armenia so early as the third century, as we gather from the circumstance mentioned by Eusebius,* that Dionysius of Alexandria, A.D. 247,"wrote concerning penitence, to the brethren in Armenia, over whom Merouzanes was bishop." But in the reign of Tiridates, who himself became a convert, the gospel, through the agency of Gregory, surnamed Lusaworitsch, "the Illuminator," had well-nigh pervaded the land. The priesthood and partisans of the old Zendism, however, obtained a renewal of political power, when, in 428, Armenia became subject to the Persians; and the Christians found themselves exposed to the most decisive tests of fidelity, in the determined opposition of powerful enemies. A conflict of fifty years' duration sufficiently proved the implacable hatred of the one party to the gospel, and the steadfastness of the other in maintaining it. At length, in the year 485, the free exercise of Christian worship was accorded them.

It is probable that the Bible used among these primitive congregations was the Syrian Peschito. Yet from one place in the History of Moses of Chorene, it would appear that their liturgical service was performed in the Greek language. Such forms may have been introduced by Gregory from the church of Cæsarea in Cappadocia, with which he had been connected; and in their present Liturgy there are prayers attributed to Basil and Athanasius. Whether Miesrop translated from the Greek text

* Historia Ecclesiastica, lib. vi. p. 46.

of the scriptures, or the Syriac, has been debated. But from the plain testimony of Moses of Chorene, it appears that Miesrop and Isaac (the patriarch at that time) had twice translated the holy volume from the Syriac, and then, receiving a Greek copy on the return of certain of their fellow-labourers from the council of Ephesus, "they cheerfully submitted to the task of again translating it," that is, from the Greek. The work was revised shortly after by Moses of Chorene and others, who had resided "at the famous school of Alexandria" to perfect themselves in the Grecian tongue for that purpose.*

The version thus executed was based, in the opinion of Dr. Scholz, on old мss. of the recensions of Constantinople and Alexandria; and when we consider the sincere zeal and ability of the men engaged in the work, and the excellent adaptation of their language to express, word by word, the terms of the original, it will be perceived, that had the Armenian version come down to us as it proceeded from their pens, it would have been a most valuable possession to the biblical student. But, unhappily, the accession of the churches of the Lesser Armenia to the Romish communion led to an extensive alteration in their scripture text. Haitho, who came to the throne of the Lesser Armenia in 1224, after a reign of forty years became a Franciscan friar, and, among other labours for the advancement of Popery among the people, conformed the Armenian Bible to the Roman Vulgate. Hence the version itself has lost its distinctive character, and much of its critical value; as no copy of the original Armenian text of the New Testament is known to exist, though Adler mentions a manuscript of the Pentateuch, in the Bibliotheca Casanatensis at Rome, of an age anterior to the time of Haitho.

The Armenian Bible was first printed under the super

* Moys. Chor. Hist. lib. iii. cap. 61.

intendence of Uscan, bishop of Erivan, who had been deputed to this work by a council of his church,* and who accomplished it at Amsterdam in 1666, in quarto; and the New Testament separately in 1668. He, too, interpolated certain passages from the Vulgate. The Testament was beautifully reprinted in 1698, and again at Venice in 1789. There is an edition of the Bible at Constantinople, 1705, in quarto, and more esteemed than that of Amsterdam. The edition of Venice was published by Dr. Zohrab, a learned Armenian, who, in 1805, brought out from the press of the Lazarist monastery there, a critical edition of the entire Bible, in the preparation of which he had collated sixty-nine manuscripts of various parts of scripture. He also published, in 1825, the New Testament in ancient and modern Armenian, the latter of which is much commended for its correctness.

X. THE GEORGIAN BIBLE.

THE gospel, it is said, was first testified in Iberia, now Georgia, in the time of Constantine the Great, by a female slave, who, as Rufinus records,† made so good an impression on the minds of the king and queen themselves, that, abandoning their false gods, they embraced the faith of Christ, and sent to Constantinople for missionaries to preach it among their people. The scriptures were translated into the language of this Caucasian tribe in the sixth century; but the version, in the state in which it exists at present, takes but a low standard in

* At this time a copy of the scriptures in Armenia had reached the price of about fifty pounds sterling.

RUF. Hist. Eccl. lib. x. cap. 10; SOCRAT. SCHOL. lib. i. cap. 20; SOZOMEN. lib. xi. cap. 7; GIESLER, cap. viii. sect. 107. For more on the Georgian version, see HENDERSON'S "Biblical Researches in Russia," &c.; and EICHHORN's Allgemeine Bibliothek, vol. i. p. 153.