(3.) A Concordance to the Greek Testament, with the English version to each word; the principal Hebrew roots corresponding to the Greek words of the Septuagint; with short critical notes, and an Index. By John Williams, LL. D. 4to. London, 1767.

"The lovers of sacred literature will find this work very useful in many respects: it is compiled with great pains and accuracy." — (Monthly Rev. O. S. vol. xxxvi. p. 400.)

(iv.) Concordances to the English Bible.

These are of two kinds, Concordances of words, which are numerous, and Concordances of parallel passages. Of the former class those of Cruden and Butterworth are by far the best; and of the latter the Concordances of Crutwell, Bagster, Bishop Gastrell, Locke, Warden, Talbot, and Strutt, claim the notice of the biblical student.

(1.) A Complete Concordance to the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, or a Dictionary and Alphabetical Index to the Bible. In two parts. By Alexander Cruden, M. A. London, 1763. 4to. 1810. 4to.

The first edition of this well known and most useful Concordance appeared at London in 1737. The edition of 1763 is the third and last of those corrected by the author, and is usually considered as the best, from his known diligence and ac curacy in correcting the press. The value of Cruden's Concordance has caused it to be repeatedly printed, but not always with due regard to accuracy. The London edition of 1810, however, is an honourable exception; every word, with its references, having been most carefully examined by Mr. Deodatus Bye (for merly a respectable printer), who voluntarily employed some years in this arduous task; for which he is justly entitled to the thanks of every reader of the Holy Scriptures. Another very accurate edition was printed a few years since at the press of Messrs. Nuttall and Co. of Liverpool, who employed a person to collate and verify every word and reference.

(2.) A New Concordance to the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament: or a Dictionary and Alphabetical Index to the Bible, together with the various significations of the principal words, by which the true mea ing of many passages is shown. By the Rev. John Butterworth. London, 1767; 1785; 1816; Svo.

This is in a great measure a judicious and valuable abridgment of Mr. Cruden's Concordance. Singular pains were bestowed by its compiler, in order to ensure correctness, by collating every word and reference in the proof sheets with the several texts of the Bible. The second edition of 1785 is considerably improved. The third impression of 1816 has some alterations in the definitions, made by Dr. A. Clarke; who has reprinted the original of the passages so altered. Those who cannot afford to purchase Cruden's work, will find this of Mr. Butterworth extremely valuable.

(3.) A Concordance of Parallels collected from Bibles and Commentaries, which have been published in Hebrew, Latin, French, Spanish, and other Languages, with the Authorities of each. By the Rev. C. Crutwell. 4to. London, 1790.

This is a very elaborate work, and will amply repay the labour of consulting; though the parallelisms are not always to be traced, and are sometimes very fanciful. But for this the industrious author is not to be censured, as he every where eites his authorities, which are very numerous.

(4.) The Scripture Harmony: or Concordance of Parallel Passages, being a Commentary on the Bible from its own Resources: consisting of an extensive Collection of References from all the most esteemed Commentators, &c. &c. 4to. royal 8vo. and 18mo. London, 1818.

The contents of this useful compilation are comprised in three particulars: viz. 1. The Chronology, in which Dr. Blayney is followed, his being deemed the best fitted for general utility. 2. The various readings, in the giving of which great

care has been bestowed. These various readings are stated to be "printed on a plan which to the unlearned reader will be more clear than the usual method, and which the narrow limits of the margin of a Bible could not admit : in this the very words of the text are printed at length, and the various readings are presented in a different type; so that while both are at one view before the reader for his choice, as the connection and analogy of faith may direct, the usefulness of the work is increased, because it becomes thereby adapted to every edition of the Bible:" and, 3. The Scripture References, a laborious compilation of half a million of Scripture references, chiefly from the Latin Vulgate, Dr. Blayney, Canne, Brown, Scott, and other valuable writers, who have devoted their services to this useful mode of illustrating the Scriptures. It is proper to remark, that in this compilation of references the publisher professes only to have collected a mass of texts from various authors of the highest character for success in this useful and pious labour, and then to have arranged their varied contributions into regular order; the verse of the chapter under illustration is first marked; then follow the parallel passages in the book itself in which the chapter stands; afterwards the references are placed regularly in the order of the books of Scripture. The remark on Mr. Crutwell's Concordance of Parallels may be extended to the present work.

(5.) Christian Institutes, or the Sincere Word of God collected out of the Old and New Testaments, digested under proper heads, and delivered in the very words of Scripture. By Francis Gastrell, D. D. Bishop of Chester.

This valuable little work, which may perhaps be considered as a Concordance of parallel passages at full length, was first published in 1707, and has since been repeatedly printed in 12mo. It may be very advantageously substituted for any of the subsequent larger and more expensive works.

(6.) A Common-Place Book to the Holy Bible, or the Scripture's Sufficiency practically demonstrated: wherein the substance of Scripture respecting doctrine, worship, and manners, is reduced to its proper heads. By John Locke, Esq. A new edition, revised and improved by the Rev. William Dodd, LL. D. 4to. London, 1805.

Though this work is ascribed to the celebrated philosopher Mr. Locke, we have not been able to ascertain whether it was really compiled by him. An edition of it was published by the unfortunate Dr. Dodd, from which the present impression was made. It certainly is a very useful book.

(7.) A System of Revealed Religion, digested under proper heads, and composed in the express words of Scripture; containing all that the Sacred Records reveal with respect to Doctrine and Deity. By John Warden, M. A. London, 1769. 4to. 1819. 2 vols. 8vo.

This work is exceedingly valuable as a common-place book, or harmony of pas sages of Scripture. It was recommended by Dr. Robertson the historian, and other eminent divines of the Scottish church. In this work the author has collected all that the Scriptures contain relating to any one article of faith or prac tice under each respective head, in the very words of the sacred writers, with the occasional insertion of a brief note at the foot of a page, and a remark or two at the end of some few chapters. The texts are so arranged as to add to their perspicuity, and at the same time to illustrate the subject; and the chapters are so constructed and disposed, that each may form a regular and continued discourse. The work is executed with singular ability and fidelity, and the late reprint of it is truly an acquisition to biblical students.

(8.) An Analysis of the Holy Bible; containing the whole of the Old and New Testaments, collected and arranged systematically. By Matthew Talbot. Leeds and London, 1800. 4to.

This work has been justly characterised as "a book of good arrangement and convenient reference, and calculated to augment, by very easy application, our stores of sacred knowledge." (British Critic, O. S. vol. xviii. pp. iii. 88, 89.) It is divided into thirty books, which are subdivided into 285 chapters, and 4144 sections. This" Analysis" is of great rarity and high price.

(9.) Common-Place Book; or Companion to the Old and NewTestaments; being a Scripture Account of the Faith and Practice

of Christians; consisting of an ample Collection of pertinent Texts on the sundry Articles of Revealed Religion. A new edition, corrected, compared, and enlarged, by Joseph Strutt. 8vo. London, 1813.

This is a reprint, with corrections and additions, of a work originally printed as Dublin in the year 1763. The arrangement, though not equally good with that of some of the works above noticed, is clear; the selection of texts is sufficiently ample and a useful index will enable the reader to find passages of Scripture arranged on almost every topic he can desire. The book is neatly printed:" and as it is of easy purchase, it may be substituted for any of the larger common-place books already noticed.

SECTION III.

SCHOLIASTS AND GLOSSOGRAPHERS.

I. Nature of Scholia. - II. And of Glossaries.-III. Rules for consulting them to advantage in the interpretation of the Scriptures. THE preceding are the more excellent and certain helps by which to ascertain the meaning of the original words and phrases of Scripture; and which will doubtless be resorted to by every one who is desirous of searching the Bible for himself. As however it is impracticable for the generality of students to obtain and to collate all the versions, and to acquire a thorough knowledge of all the kindred languages, it becomes necessary to avail ourselves of the labours of learned men, who have diligently applied themselves to the study and illustration of the Scriptures. We have already stated that scholiasts and glossographers afford direct testimonies for finding out or fixing the meaning of words: it now remains that we briefly notice the nature of the assistance to be derived from these helps.

I. SCHOLIA are short notes on antient authors, and are of two kinds-exegetical or explanatory, and grammatical. The former briefly explain the sense of passages, and are in fact a species of commentary; the latter, which are here to be considered, illustrate the force and meaning of words by other words which are better known. Such scholia are extant on most of the antient classics, as Ho mer, Thucydides, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Horace, Juvenal, Persius, &c. &c.

On the Old Testament, we believe, there are no antient scholia extant: but on the New Testament there are several collections, which present themselves under three classes.

1. Scholia taken from the writings of the Greek fathers, who in their homilies and commentaries have often briefly explained the force of particular words.

The homilies of Chrysostom, in particular, abound with these scholia; and from his works, as well as those of Origen and other fathers, the more modern Greeks have extracted what those illustrious men had concisely stated relative to the meaning of words. Similar grammatical expositions, omitting whatever was rhetorical and doctrinal, have been collected from Chrysostom by Theodoret in a commentary on the fourteen Epistles of Saint Paul; by Theophylact, in an indifferent commentary on the four Evangelists; and, to mention no more, by Euthy mius in a similar commentary executed with better judgment. There are extant numerous collections of this kind of explanations, made from the writings of the

fathers, and known by the appellation of Catena, which follow the order of the books comprised in the New Testament. Many such scholia have been published by Matthæi in his edition of the New Testament.

2. Scholia, written either in the margin, within the text, or at the end of manuscripts.

Many of this description have been published separately by Father Simon,2 by Wetstein in the notes to his elaborate edition of the Greek Testament, and particularly by Matthæi in his edition of the New Testament already noticed.

3. Antient Scholia which are also exegetical or explanatory; these in fact are short commentaries, and therefore are discussed infra, in the Appendix to this volume, No. VI. Sect. I.

II. A GLOSSARY differs from a lexicon in this respect, that the former treats only of words that really require explanation, while the fatter gives the general meaning of words. The authors of the most antient Glossaries are Hesychius, Suidas, Phavorinus, Photius, and Cyril of Alexandria. The celebrated Ernesti selected from the three first of these writers, and also from the Etymologicon Magnum, whatever related to the New Testament, and published the result of his researches in two octavo volumes, with the following titles:

1. Glossæ Sacræ Hesychii, Græcè; excerpsit emendavit, notisque illustravit, Joh. Christ. Ernesti. Lipsiæ, 1786. 8vo.

2. Suidæ et Phavorini Glossæ Sacræ, Græcè, cum spicilegio Gloss. SS. Hesychii et Etymologici Magni: congessit, emendavit, et notis illustravit, J. C. G. Ernesti. Lipsiæ, 1786. 8vo.

Schleusner has extracted the most valuable matter from these works, and inserted it in his well known and excellent Greek Lexicon to the New Testament. III. In estimating the value of scholiasts and glossographers, and also the weight of their testimony, for ascertaining the force and meaning of words, it is of importance to consider, first, whether they wrote from their own knowledge of the language, and have given us the result of their own learning, or whether they compiled from others. Almost all the scholia now extant are compiled from Chrysostom, Origen, or some other fathers of the third and fourth centuries; if the scholiast have compiled from good authorities, his labours have a claim to our attention.

In proportion, therefore, to the learning of a scholiast (and the same remark will equally apply to the glossographer), he becomes the more deserving of our confidence: but this point can only be determined by daily and constant use. The Greek fathers, for instance, are admirable interpreters of the New Testament, being intimately acquainted with its language; notwithstanding they are sometimes mistaken in the exposition of its Hebraisms. But the Latin fathers, many of whom were but indifferently skilled in Hebrew and Greek, are less to be depended on, and are in fact only wretched interpreters of comparatively ill executed versions.

Again, our confidence in a scholiast, or in the author of a glossary, increases in proportion to his antiquity, at least in the explanation of every thing concerning antient history, rites, or civil life. But in investigating the force and meaning of words, the antiquity of scholia

1 See an account of the principal Catena, infra, in the Appendix, No. VI. Sect. III. § 7.

2 Histoire Critique du Texte du Nouveau Testament. Rotterdam, 1684. 4to:

and glossaries proves nothing; as their authors are liable to error notwithstanding they lived near the time when the author flourished, whose writings they profess to elucidate. It not unfrequently happens that a more recent interpreter, availing himself of all former helps, perceives the force of words much better than one that is more antient, and is consequently enabled to elicit the sense more correctly. The result, therefore, of our inquiry into the relative value of scholiasts and compilers of glossaries is, that in perusing their labours, we must examine them for ourselves, and form our judgment accordingly, whether they have succeeded, or failed, in their attempts to explain an author.

SECTION IV.

OF THE SUBJECT-MATTER.

ALTHOUGH, in interpreting words that have various meanings, some degree of uncertainty may exist as to which of their different senses is to be preferred; yet the ambiguity in such cases is not so great but that it may in general be removed, and the proper significa tion of the passage in question may be determined: for the subjectmatter that is, the topic of which the author is treating-plainly shows the sense that is to be attached to any particular word. For there is a great variety of agents introduced in the Scriptures, whose words and actions are recorded. Some parts of the Bible are written in a responsive or dialogue form; as the twenty-fourth psalm, Isa. vi. 3. and Rom. iii. 1-9. And the sense of a text is frequently mistaken, by not observing who is the speaker, and what is the specific topic of which he treats. One or two examples will illustrate the necessity of considering the subject-matter.

The Hebrew word (Be-SHER) literally signifies the skin; by a metonymy, the flesh beneath the skin; and by a synecdoche it denotes every animal, especially man considered as infirm or weak, as in Jer. xvii. 5. Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh FLESH his arm; there are also several other meanings derived from these, which it is not material now to notice. But that the word flesh is to be understood of man only in Gen. vi. 12. Psal. lxv. 2. and Job x. 4. will be evident on the slightest inspection of the subjectmatter. All flesh had corrupted his way—that is, all men had wholly departed from the rule of righteousness, or had made their way of life abominable throughout the world. And, in the psalm above cited, who can doubt but that by the word flesh men are intended: 0 thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh, that is, all mankind, come. In like manner also, in Job x. 4. it is evident that flesh has the same meaning; if indeed the passage were at all ob scure, the parallelism would explain it - Hast thou the eyes of a man (Heb. of flesh)? or seest thou as man seest?

But it is not merely with reference to the meaning of particular passages that a consideration of the subject-matter becomes necessary to the right understanding of Scripture. It is further of the greatest