who are abruptly roused from the absorption connected with deep study, or occupied about some object requiring the application of profound attention. Some remarks, however, on the nature of his occupation, interspersed with a few technical phrases in Hebrew, soon excited his curiosity; and, laying aside his pen, he readily entered into a conversation respecting his business, and the difficulties inseparable from its proper and conscientious execution.

Unlike other employments, that of a Jewish copyist absolutely and religiously excludes all improvement. He is tied down to perform every part of the work exactly as it was done twelve or thirteen centuries ago, at the period of the composition of the Talmud, to the laws of writing prescribed in which, he must rigidly conform, even in the smallest minutiæ. The skins to be converted into parchment must be those of clean animals; and it is indispensable that they be prepared by the hands of Jews only. Should it be found that any part has been prepared by a Goi (a name by which Christians and all who are not Jews are designated), it is immediately thrown aside as unfit for use. When ready they are cut even, and joined together by means of thongs made of the same material. They are then regularly divided into columns, the breadth of which must never exceed the half of their length. The ink employed in writing the law, generally consists of a composition made of pitch, charcoal, and honey, which ingredients are first made up into a kind of paste, and after having remained some time in a state of induration, are dissolved in water with an infusion of galls.

Before the scribe begins his task, and after every interruption, he is required to compose his mind, that he may write under a sensible impression of the sanctity of the words he is transcribing. Particular care is taken that the letters be all equally formed; and so supreme is the authority of antiquity, that where letters are found in the exemplar of a larger or smaller size than the rest, or such as are turned upside down, or suspended above the line, or where a final-shaped letter occurs in the middle of a word, these blunders are to be copied with as great fidelity as any part of the text. Is it not passing strange, that even Christian editors of the Hebrew Bible, should have servilely followed these Jewish puerilities? It is well known what importance the genius of Rabbinical superstition has attached to such anomalies; and it is a fact, that many of them are interpreted in a manner highly reproachful to the religion of Christ.

", " from the

For instance, in Psalm lxxx. 14, the word wood," is written and printed, with the letter ain suspended, because it is the initial of the word y, "tree," and is explained by the Jews, of the cross; while the wild boar referred to in the context, they blasphemously interpret of our blessed Saviour. Yet this error of transcription is printed in the editions of Opitius, Michaelis, Van der Hooght, Frey, Leusden, and Jahn, although corrected in Menasseh Ben Israel's edition of 1635!

Faults that creep in during transcription may be rectified, provided it be done within the space of thirty days; but if more time has elapsed, the copy is declared to be posel, or forbiddena word (b) used in Scripture to denote a graven image, which the Israelites were taught to hold in utter detestation. Should Aleph-Lamed (3) or Jod-Hê (7) be wrongly written, it is unlawful to correct or erase them, because they form the sacred names; nor is it permitted to correct any of the Divine names, except when they are applied in an inferior sense. Of this an instance occurs, Gen. iii. 5, where the name, Elohim, is used twice. The Rabbins, regarding it as employed the second time to denote false objects of worship, permit its erasure; but prohibit it at the beginning of the verse, as being undeniably used of the true God. When transcribing the incommunicable name ", Jehovah, the scribe must continue writing it until it be finished, even although a king should enter the room; but if he be writing two or three of these names combined, such as was, Jehovah God of Hosts, he is at liberty, after having finished the first, to rise and salute bis visitant. Nor is the copyist allowed to begin the incommunicable name immediately after he has dipt his pen in the ink; when he is approaching it, he is required to take a fresh supply when proceeding to write the first letter of the preceding word.

Shackled by canons of such exquisite minuteness, it cannot be matter of surprise that the Dubno Scribe should exhibit an emaciated appearance, and affix a high price to the productions of his pen. For a copy of the law, fairly written in small characters, he asked ten louis-d'ors, and assured me that he had been sometimes paid at the rate of fifty. To the intrinsic value and spiritual beauty of the law of the Lord he appeared totally insensible!

Turning round the corner of a square, my attention was arrested by an immense number of books that were lying open Vol. IV. No. 16.

98

on the ground. Conceiving that they were exposed for sale, and finding, on reaching them, that they were Hebrew, I eagerly commenced an examination of the more bulky and respectable looking volumes; but I was soon undeceived by a Jew, who seemed to be watching them, by whom I was informed, that they belonged to the Synogogue, and were not to be sold. Besides several copies of the Talmud, there appeared to be a complete collection of all kinds of works in Rabbinical literature.

II. Jewish Wedding. Illustration of Matt. XXV. From the same, p. 216.

Before retiring to rest [at Kamenetz in Podolia], we were stunned by the noise of a procession, led on by a band of musicians playing on tambourines and cymbals, which passed our windows. On inquiry, we learned that it consisted of a Jewish bridegroom, accompanied by his young friends, proceeding to the house of the bride's father, in order to convey her home to her future residence. In a short time, they returned with such a profusion of lights, as quite illuminated the street. The bride, deeply veiled, was led along in triumph, accompanied by her virgins, each with a candle in her hand, who, with the young men, sang and danced before her and the bridegroom. The scene presented us with an occular illustration of the important parable recorded in the twenty-fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew; and we were particularly reminded of the appropriate nature of the injunction which our Saviour gives us to watch and be ready, for the re-procession must have commenced immediately on the arrival of the bridegroom.

III. Further Notice of the Karaites. See p. 665 above.

We subjoin here, as an additional notice of the Karaites of Taurida, the following graphic description of their fortress, Djufut-Kalè, from the pen of the celebrated Russian traveller, Muriaviev-Apostol.*

"Venice is a city in the water, Djufut-Kalè a city in the air. The dwellings of the Karaites hang like eagles' nests around the summit of a steep inaccessible rock; within, the city is cleanly and neat; its pavement is the solid rock. The Karaim, or more

See p. 385 of this Vol.

correctly, the Karaites, are, in their customs and mode of living, Tartars; in their religion, Jews, genuine Jews, who have preserved the Mosaic law among them in greater purity than any other tribe. Since the fourth century a portion of the Jews have rejected the Talmud; but it was only in the eighth century that this led to a formal separation of the sects. The Karaites, under Aaron and Saul, declared off from the Rabbinists; but their sect remained small; and they are estimated in Europe and Asia at only 4430.* They reject the Kabbala and the Talmud; and observe the Sabbath still more strictly than the Rabbinic Jews. At the same time, they are more cleanly, more domestic, and more industrious than the latter; they daily descend from their nests, wander into Baghtchisarai, follow there traffic or trades, and return at night through wind and storm back to their nests. Zion and Jehoshaphat,† the enjoyments of life and the hopes of the grave, all centre for them upon this naked rock."

IV. Greek and English Lexicon of the New Testament.

The Editor would take this opportunity of accounting to the public for any apparent delay in the publication of the above named work, and also of making known some of the principles on which the preparation of it is conducted.

The work as first published in 1825, was, as it professed to be, mostly a translation of the first edition of Wahl's Clavis Philologica;' although several of the more important articles were rewritten, and the whole sedulously revised. It was the first attempt of Wahl; it was also the first labour of the translator; the lexicons of Bretschneider and Passow were not then accessible. Since that time the labours of eminent men abroad have been given to this subject; while the lexicography of the Greek language in general has received a new form from the hand of Passow. After the lapse of nine years, too, spent in this and kindred studies at home and abroad, and with free access to all the earlier stores as well as to what has recently appeared in this department, the Editor hopes that he himself may be in a better situation to make a work adapted to the present state of science and to the wants of our theologians, than before. It was his first hope, that a mere revision might suffice; so that the new Comp. p. 673 above. † Comp. p. 669 above.

*

edition might have appeared before the present time. But on examination, he has found it necessary to write the whole anew, on a plan more comprehensive than any of the existing lexicons; and combining in all cases a reference to both the elements of which the New Testament idiom is composed, the common dialect or later Greek on the one hand, and the Jewish or Hebrew influence on the other. The work is now in press, and is proceeding with all the rapidity which such an undertaking permits; but the writer will rejoice, if, by the blessing of God, be shall be able to complete it in another year. It is and will be the object of his daily, though not ungrateful toil; and not improbably may, under God, become the chief labour of his life. The number of pages will be very considerably enlarged; but, it is hoped, that no increase of price will be necessary.

The work was commenced, and has thus far been constructed, upon the general principles exemplified in the lexicons of Gesenius and Passow, so far as they are applicable to the New Testament. The following are some of the points of special

attention:

1. To exhibit the etymology of every word, and assign its primary signification, whether found in the N. T. or not; then, to deduce from this, in logical order, all the significations which occur in the N. T. but not others.

2. To keep ever in view the difference between signification and sense; and to shew in each case whether the apparent meaning of a word arises from itself, or from the influence of the adjuncts. In this way, the multiplicity of meanings given by Schleusner and other lexicographers, is greatly diminished.

3. To shew by proper illustrations and references, in what relation each word stands to the Attic and later Greek, and also to the Sept. and Hebrew; and whether it is common to all or any of these, or found in none. A purely historical mode of illustration is, of course, not adapted to the New Testament.

4. To shew particularly the force and power of the prepositions in composition; a point hitherto almost wholly overlooked. 5. To give in every instance the various construction of verbs, adjectives, etc. with their cases and other adjuncts. Unusual or difficult constructions, also, are every where noted and explained.

6. To exhibit, so far as is proper in a lexicon, the various forms and inflexions of words,-and particularly any variety or irregularity of form.

7. To make each article, so far as practicable, include a re