CHAPTER V.

ON THE RESULT OF THAT BRANCH OF MR. FABER'S HYPOTHESIS, WHICH IDENTIFIES THE EPISÈMON S' WITH THE CONTRACTION s.

To set up and establish de novo, that because one form of the episèmon ', and the contraction 5, are somewhat similar in appearance, they are therefore the same in utility and purpose, is to do violence both to common sense and experience. It is contrary to all grammatical precedent as it respects orthography, and decidedly tends to undermine and vitiate the Integrity of the Greek characters, by confusing the LETTERS, CYPHERS, and CONTRACTIONS together, which have for generations past been preserved distinct, as well in use as in appellation. Moreover, such a commixture would lead the divinity student into the most useless and perplexing ambiguities upon SETTLED POINTS; and here I shall perhaps be excused for introducing some remarks upon the futility of Dr. Adam Clarke's endeavours to prove

from the ARABIC tongue that the original1 HEbrew word nachash, which the SEPTUAGINT translators have rendered by opus, was not the SERPENT, but the APE or OURAN-OUTANG. How preposterous truly are the modern criticisms vented both on a NAME and an EPISÈMON, against the most indubitable testimonies of Holy-writ, Grammar, and long-established use! How arrogant and contemptible the ingenuity, arguments, and assertions of learned men, who aspire to the appearance of more wisdom than ever the Spirit of Inspiration vouchsafed to Moses, or to CHRIST, and his APOSTLES, who, in allusion to the words of Moses, have applied the2 word "Opię (which has no other meaning than that of SERPENT,) to the DEVIL and SATAN. Whatever respect then, or deference may be due to the learning, piety, gifts, and opinions of Dr. Adam Clarke as an oriental scholar, Biblical critic, and commentator, it is nevertheless evident that the unprecedented latitude which the learned Doctor has taken in explaining the HEBREW word WTA NACHASH, "Ops, or SERPENT, which tempted3 EVE, has not contributed to the satisfaction of the religious world, any more than pleased those of his own communion. The Doctor, to supply a fancied deficiency in the HEBREW Original, has, by recourse to the ARABIC and its derivatives, (because IT seemed more to serve his particular purpose,) sacrificed truth to a vain imagination. To this end he has put his etymological

1 Gen. iii. i. 4. 2 Matt. x. 16. 2 Cor. xi. 3. Rev. xii. 9; xx. 2. 3 Gen. iii. 1, compared with 2 Cor. xi. 3.

genius to the stretch to find out meanings never contemplated by the sacred penmen. But as the Greek Septuagint has rendered the Hebrew word win by "Ops or SERPENT, and the Greek Text of the New Testament has admitted the same readingὡς ὁ ΟΦΙΣ Εὔαν ἐξηπάτησεν ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ αὐτῷ,— As the SERPENT beguiled EVE through his subtilty," &c. it must be the imperative duty of every Christian to receive this sure and infallible testimony of the HOLY SPIRIT by the hand of the Apostle PAUL, who, although he wrote his Epistles to the primitive Christian churches in Greek, was nevertheless, a JEW, as he says, in comparing himself with other apostles— "I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles." "Are they HEBREWS? so am I. Are they ISRAELITES? so am I. Are they the seed of ABRAHAM? So am I."1-And concerning circumcision, and the Tribe from which he sprung and the Sect to which he belonged-he says, "Circumcised the eighth day, of the STOCK of ISRAEL, of the TRIBE of BENJAMIN, an HEBREW of the HEBREWS; as touching the LAW a PHARISEE."2 Moreover, St. Paul in declaring his Conversion, has informed us of the name of the city in which he was born, the person by whom, and the manner in which he was educated, from which we may infer that he was learned in the "Law of the FATHERS," and in his defence of the Gospel he declares himself a JEW, and spoke to the people in the HEBREW TONGUE, after the following manner,-" And when there was made Philip. iii, 5.

1 2 Cor. xi. 5, 22.

2

a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew TONGUE, saying, Men, Brethren, and Fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you, (and when they heard that he spake in the HEBREW TONGUE to them, they kept the MORE SILENCE; and he saith,) I am verily a man which am a JEw, born in TARSUS, a City in CILICIA, yet brought up in this City," (viz. Jerusalem)" at the feet of Gamaliel, and TAUGHT according to the PERFECT MANNER of the LAW of the FATHERS," I &c. Now then it is most unreasonable to suppose that St. Paul, who was a Jew, and an inspired Apostle-and who calls himself an "HEBREW of the HEBREWS"—and declares that he was "taught according to the PERFECT MANNER of the Law of the FATHERS," could have been ignorant of the 3rd Chapter of the Book of Genesis, wherein the Original Curse was pronounced upon the Nachash or "Ops, or Serpent: seeing that the same Apostle WROTE his EPISTLES to the CHURCHES in GREEK, with which LANGUAGE, therefore, he must necessarily have been thoroughly conversant. It is clear enough what was the opinion of St. Paul concerning the Nachash or Serpent, and to disbelieve his Testimony is to invalidate the TRUTH of GOD'S WORD, which is a hazardous experiment. Furthermore-as ALL the APOSTLES were endued with the miraculous GIFT of TONGUES3 by the Agency of the HOLY SPIRIT, under whose immediate influences they spake with New Tongues on the day of Pentecost, and by whose instrumentality

1 Acts xxi. 40; xxii. 1-3.

2 2 Cor. xi. 3.

3 Acts ii.

they were subsequently enabled to write the NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES, (and ALL SCRIPTURE is given by INSPIRATION of GOD," 1) SO THEY would have been able, in enditing the GOSPELS, EPISTLES, and the Book of Revelation, to have discerned what was "the MIND of the SPIRIT," 2 in reference to the word Nachash, which, by the Septuagint, is translated "Ops, and to suppose the contrary of this, is to believe MAN rather than GOD, and to place Dr. Adam Clarke upon higher scriptural ground of INSPIRATION and INTERPRETATION, than CHRIST or his APOSTLES; for, if the HOLY SCRIPTURES be the STANDARD of divine knowledge and truth, then it is clear enough that the novel Opinion of the learned Doctor is GROUNDLESS; for it not only comes under the class of DOUBTFUL DISPUTATIONS; 3 but under the censure of God himself, con"St. Paul says,* cerning whose sacred" ORACLES "Let God be true, but every man a liar.”

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Again: ST. JOHN in his Revelations has afforded us an additional testimony to the word ooi as being originally applicable to the NACHASH or SERpent.5 Και ἐβλήθη ὁ Δράκων ὁ μέγας, ὁ ΟΦΙΣ ὁ ἀρχαιος, ὁ καλέμενος Διάβολος, καὶ ὁ Σατανᾶς, ὁ πλανῶν τὴν οἰκουμένην ὅλην, Καὶ ... ὁ ΟΦΙΣ, &c. "And the great DRAGON was cast out, that old SERPENT, called the DEVIL, and SATAN, which deceiveth the whole world: "-"And" SERPENT," &c. Also the same evangelist has repeated his testimony on this subject in similar words,6

12 Tim. iii. 16; 2 Peter i. 19-21. 2 Rom. viii. 27. 5 Rev. xii. 9, 15.

4 Rom, iii. 2 and 4.

...

"the

3 Rom. xiv. 1.

6 Rev. xx. 2.