In JOHN, vii. 39, the Syr. has, The Spirit was not yet given; the Gk., The Spirit was not yet. In viii. 1—11, the Syr. has not the account of the adulteress. In the Gk., some copies are without it; but others have it. It probably is due to an addition made by John himself after his Greek Gospel was first issued. (See the remark of Dr. Scrivener, quoted p. xlviii, from his Introduction, p. 18.) It has in itself strong evidence of Apostolic origin.

In ACTs, iii. 21, Syr., until the completion of the times of all those things of which God has spoken; Gk., until the times of the restoration of all things, of which God has spoken. v. 37, Syr., in the days in which men were enrolled for the head-tax; Gk., in the days of the enrolment. x. 22, Syr., in a vision by a holy angel; Gk., by a holy angel. xii. 1, Syr., Herod the king, who is surnamed Agrippa; Gk., Herod the king. xii. 10, Syr., the iron gate; Gk., the iron gate which leads into the city. xiii. 13, Syr., Paul and Barnabas; Gk., those around Paul. xvii. 19, Syr., to the house of judgment which is called Areopagus; Gk., to the Areopagus. xviii. 5, Syr., was restricted in speech; some Gk. copies have, was pressed in spirit; others, was hindered in word; rendered in R. E. V., was constrained by the word. xviii. 7, Syr., Titus; Gk., Justus. xx. 4, Syr., Timothy, who was of Lystra; Gk., Timothy. xxviii. 13, Syr., Puteoli, a city of Italy; Gk., Puteoli. xxviii. 29, Syr., nothing; Gk., some copies, And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves. Other Gk. copies, and R. E. V., have nothing.

In ROMANS i. 1, Syr., Paul, called, and a Chief Messenger. The Gk. has not the word and. The Gk. meaning is uncertain. The Common and Revised E. Vs. have, called [to be] an Apostle; but the Gk. may be rendered, One called, an Apostle. v. 9, Syr., how much more shall we now be declared just; Gk., how much more, having now been declared just. xv. 6, Syr., God the Father; Gk., the God and Father. So also in 2 Cor. i. 3; Eph. i. 3 ; 1 Pet. i. 3. In 1 Cor. vii. 35, Syr., but that ye may be faithful to your Lord in a comely manner, not setting thought on the world; Gk., but for what is comely and serviceable to the Lord, without interruption. x. 2, Syr., were immersed by means of Moses; Gk., were immersed into Moses.

In PHILIPPIANS, ii. 13, Syr., to will and to do that which ye wish; Gk., to will and to do on behalf of [his] good pleasure. ü. 15, Syr., pure sons of God, who dwell among; Gk., children of God without blemish, in the midst of.

2 Thess. 1. 7, Syr., with the power of his angels; Gk., with the angels of his power.

1 Tim. ii. 15, Syr., but she is to have life [-bliss] by means of her children, if they, [the women], etc. Gk., but she will be saved by means of the bearing of children, if they, [the women], etc.

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In HEBREWS, ü. 6, Syr., the Scripture; Gk., one somewhere. vi. 2, Syr., the teaching of immersion; Gk., the teaching of immersions. vi. 4, Syr., have gone down into immersion; Gk., have been once enlightened. vii. 3, Syr., neither his father, nor his mother, was written in family records, nor the beginning of his days, nor the end of his life; Gk., without father, without mother, without family record, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life. x. 32. Syr., in which ye received immersion; Gk., in which, having been enlightened.

IN THE WORDS USED TO DESCRIBE CHURCH ELDERS, there is evidence that the Peshito is not a mere word-for-word translation, as some imagine, of the Greek Text. The Syrians sometimes used the Greek word episcopos, in the form of episcope. It is used in Acts xx. 28, "The church-the assembly, over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers;" for overseer is the meaning of episcopos, anglicised in the word bishop. But in 1 Tim. iii. 1. where the Greek has "the office of overseer,' "the Peshito has, "the office of elder." In verse 2, the Greek has overseer; the Peshito, elder. In Phil. i. 1, the Greek has, overseers, the Peshito, elders. In Titus i. 7, the Greek has overseer, the Peshito, elder. In 1 Pet. ii. 25, the Greek has overseer, the Peshito, care-taker. So that the difference of the words used for the same office in all these cases but one, shows that the Greek was not a mere translation of the Syriac.

IN THE NAMES OF PLACES, the Peshito shows the same independence of the Greek. In Matt. iv. 13, the Gk. has Capernaum; the Syr. has, The village of Nahum. In John iii. 23, the Gk. has, Enon; the Syr. has, The Fountain of the Dove. In John xix. 38, the Gk. has Arimathea; the Syr. has, Romtho; in Acts xxi. 7, the Gk. has, Ptolemais; the Syriac has, Acu.

Mr. Jer. Jones, in his work on the Canon, 1798, contends that the use of the name Acu, for Ptolemais, is a decisive proof that the Peshito must have been made not far in time from A.D. 70, when Jerusalem was destroyed. (vol. i. p. 103.) He says that the most ancient name of this place among the Israelites was Aco, or Acco, Judges i. 31; that this name was afterwards changed to Ptolemais; that some say it had its new name from Ptolemy Philadelphus, about 250 B.C. He says it is certain that the old name Aco, was antiquated and out of use in the time of the Romans, and that the use of the old name Acu, in the Peshito, can be accounted for in no other way, but by supposing that the persons for whom the version was made were more acquainted with it, than with the new name Ptolemais; that upon any other supposition it would have been absurd for him to have used Acu. He says, that until the destruction of Jerusalem, one may suppose that the Jews may have retained the old name Aco still, out of fondness for its antiquity; but, he says, "how they, or any other part of Syria, could, after

the Roman conquest, call it by a name different from the Romans, seems to me impossible to conceive... To suppose, therefore, that this translation, in which we meet with this old name, instead of the new one, was made at any great distance of time after the destruction of Jerusalem, is to suppose the translator to have substituted an antiquated name known to but few, for a name well known to all." (pp. 104, 105.)

Mr. Jones says that a similar proof that the Peshito cannot have been made much after A.D. 70, is found in the fact that the Peshito often calls the Gentiles, as the Jews were accustomed to do, profane persons, where the Greek calls them the nations, that is, the Gentiles. The Peshito calls them profane, in Matt. vi. 7; x. 5; xviii. 17; Mark vii. 26; John vii. 35; Acts xviii. 4, 17; 1 Cor. v. 1; x. 20, 27 ; xii. 2; 1 Pet. iv. 3. The expression is used, therefore, throughout the Peshito. Mr. Jones says, that it shows that the writer was a Jew, for no other person would have called all the world profane; and that after the destruction of the temple, all Hebrew Christians must have seen that other nations were not to be reckoned unclean and profane in the Jewish sense, and that therefore this version must have been made either before, or soon after, A.D. 70. (On Canon, Vol. i., pp. 106–110.)

It must be admitted, I think, that the above differences are not inconsistent with the proof given by Syrian testimony that "the Peshito was written by Apostolic authority." (Wichelhaus, p. 153.) Those differences seem to indicate that the Apostles, who had authority to deviate from their own words in one language, when writing or revising copies in another, did so deviate with respect to the Peshito text, and the Greek text. And it is evident that Wichelhaus and others, not only reject the evidence on which we must rely in order to know the true origin of the Peshito, but also create for themselves a difficulty which they do not solve; namely, that an uninspired translator, whom they praise for his great general exactness, has to be accused by them of practising, in some places, a "licentious" freedom of which no mere translator, if faithful, can be supposed to have been guilty.

VII. CHARACTERISTIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE PESHITOSYRIAC AND THE GREEK.

The following passages, as well as the preceding, tend to illustrate differences between the Syriac and the Greek. In some of them, it will probably be thought that the Syriac has the truer meaning, or expresses the true meaning more clearly than the Greek does.. The translation of the Greek is that of the Revised E. Version, the marginal readings of which imply some obscurity or ambiguity in the Greek text.

D2

The Peshito-Syriac.

1Pet. ii. 21. And he bore our sins, all of them, and carried them up in his body to the cross, that we might be dead to sin, and have life [-bliss] by his righteousness.

III. 20, 21. Into which [ark] only eight persons entered, and were kept alive by the waters. In likeness to which example, ye also have life [-bliss] through immersion, (not when ye wash the body from filth, but when ye profess God with a pure conscience,) etc.

V. 2. Take care [of the flock] spiritually.

1 John iii. 1. Who has called us sons, and has also made us sons.

The Greek.

Who his own self, bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness. Margin. Or, carried up our sins to the tree.

Wherein few, that is eight souls, were saved through water; which also, after a true likeness, doch now save you, [even] baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, etc. Margin. Were saved, or, were brought safely through water. Interrogation, or inquiry, or appeal.

Exercising the oversight.

That we should be called children of God.

The different translations given by the Revisers, show how unable they were to decide what is the right meaning of the Greek in some of the above passages. The different meanings given, leave the reader in utter uncertainty as to what the right meaning is. The meanings given by the Peshito are not only clear, but most of them have the appearance of being also correct.

VIII. THE RESULT OF TRUSTING CHIEFLY TO CERTAIN FAULTY GREEK COPIES, AND SLIGHTING THE PESHITO-SYRIAC.

The Greek copies, from having been less carefully written than those of the Peshito, abound with various readings, some of which make the meaning of important passages uncertain. The result is, that the infallible teaching of those parts of Scripture is said to be destroyed.

Dr. PHILIP SCHAFF, who was President of the American committee which took part in preparing the Revised English Version of 1881, says in his Companion to it, 1883, that, as most of the variations" of the Greek text "date from early transcription in the first two centuries, AN INFALLIBLE TEXT IS IMPOSSIBLE. (p. 420.) He says this, as one who believes that the Scriptures were given to be an Infallible Guide in all matters of Christian faith and duty." (p. 494.)

Dr. SCRIVENER suggests, that in the 2094 Greek manuscripts now known, the variations may amount to more than 100,000. Comparatively few of them affect the meaning of Scripture on points of great importance. But a sufficient number of them do so, to afford those who undermine the authority of Scripture, some seeming reason for saying that if Divine guidance made it infallible at first, it has ceased to be so now. The aim of Biblical critics has