spiritual influences. To these doctrines he appends a variety of precepts and directions, teaching us how to walk and to please God. He enters into every minute particular of conduct by which we are bound as the disciples of Christ to glorify him and to prove the since rity of our profession. Nor does he more strenuously insist on the cordial reception of the doctrines, than he does on the necessity of a free, willing, uniform, and universal obedience to the precepts. The very grace which bringeth salvation teaches every true disciple to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; and those are not the disciples of Christ, nor entitled to the name of Christians, in whom it has not produced these effects in a greater or less degree, and who are not continually making progress in the divine life.

Now, if this statement be just, how utterly ignorant are most men of the very first rudiments of learning in the school of Christ, and how little progress have any of us made in acquiring them! We profess, perhaps, to have received the doctrines of his Gospel from early life. It might therefore have been justly expected that the truths thus embraced would have shewn themselves more and more in our lives, that we should have been increasingly intent from day to day on renouncing what is evil and pursuing what is good; on mortifying the flesh with its affections and lusts; on dying to sin and the world, and living unto God. But how far is this from being really the case with numbers who call themselves Christians! They are evidently thinking much more of the present changing scene, its honours and its pleasures and its pursuits, than of that far more important and durable scene which is soon to open upon us. How deeply does it concern such to examine carefully whether they be Christians more than in name!

4. In the time of the Apostles the change which was wrought in those who became Christians, was visible, not merely in the adoption. of a new name and a new profession, but in their new character and conduct.-The change was such, that the Apostles rejoiced, and gave thanks to God in beholding it. So must it be now. If we are Christians, we must have undergone a change which will be visible to those who are intimate with us, and which, above all, must be visible to ourselves; for even in those happy cases in which the heart has been gradually brought into subjection to God at an early period of childhood or youth, the effects of this blessed change of character will prove its reality. If we are affected as we ought to be by the truths of the Gospel-if we have been turned from the power of satan unto God-if we have been brought under the prevailing influence of his faith, fear, and love, and without this we have no title to be called Christians-the alteration, at whatever period it may have taken place, and however early or gradual its commencement, must still be evident. Our light will shine before men. The reality of the grace which bringeth salvation will appear in the purity, the peace, the obedience, the holy dispositions, the works of faith and labours of love in which it will issue, and in that unfeigned humility which will give the honour of all, not to ourselves, but to Him whose grace alone hath made us to differ.

Before I close this discourse, let us employ a few moments in inquiring what right we have to the name of Christian.—It is an honourable name marking our relation to Christ, and involving a participa tion in his happiness and glory. It is therefore the more incumbent upon us to examine our title to bear it. Are we diligent learners in the school of Christ? Have we learnt there to be no longer indifferent to the concerns of our souls;

no longer to bestow our main thoughts and cares on temporał objects, but on God, on Christ, on futurity, on the eternal world of happiness or woe which awaits us? Carelessness about these things cannot consist with a claim to the appellation of Christians. Have the lessons learnt in the school of Christ taught us to renounce all dependence on ourselves-to see that all we do is stained with sin, and when brought to the test of God's law and Christ's example, must be found miserably wanting;

and that therefore we cannot stand before God on the ground of our own merits and righteousness, but only on that of the merits and righteousness of our crucified Saviour? Humbled under a sense of guilt and weakness, have we been taught to value the mediation of Christ, and the light and influence and aid of his Holy Spirit, as indispensably necessary, not only to our entering on the divine life, but to our making any progress in holiness? Have we learnt more and more to lay aside the evils to which we are exposed, our darling and besetting sins; to sacrifice every sinful lust, though dear to us as a right hand or a right eye; to be ready to part with all, with life itself, rather than forfeit the favour of God? Let us not deceive ourselves in this matter. Whatever may be our estimation among our fellow-men; however high and forward may be our profession, and however ostentatious our zeal; while we cling to the world, while we knowingly barbour one sin in our hearts, we may have "a name to live," but we are are "spiritually dead; " we may be called Christians like the disciples of old, but we have no right to the name;" for the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his; and, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity."

DR. HOLMES ON THE SEPTUAGINT.

(Continued from page 615.)

Section VIII. Of the third edition of the LXX. after the Kow (or Vulgate) by Lucian; and of the plan which was adopted by that editor.

In succession to Origen, but after an interval of many years, Lucian, a Presbyter of Antioch, took the same ground. For a, summary of what has been recorded concerning him by Jerome, Simeon Metaphrastes, Suidas, the author of the Athanasian Synopsis, Nicetas and Euthymeus, the reader may consult Hody. It is evident that it was the object of Lucian so to remodel the Septuagint version, as that, when read in the churches of Antioch, it might clearly convey the sense of the Hebrew text to the general understanding of his people.

Concerning this edition, we must, in the first place, inquire whether Lucian adopted the Vulgate for his basis. That circumstance none of the ancient Greek writers has affirmed; nor does it seem to be clearly made out even from what Jerome attests,—namely," that the appellation of Korn (or the Vulgate) had been applied to the edition of Lucian." For the epithet Kou might perhaps have been given to the Lucianean edition, in order that this edition, whose basis was not placed in the text of the Hexapla, might be distinguished from the Hexaplar edition. To me indeed it seems, that Lucian did not make use of the simple Vulgate. Should we take it for granted, however, that he did fix on the Vulgate as the basis of his edition, and that he formed it in accommodation to the Hebrew text of that age, we may at once transfer all that has been said above respecting the plan of Origen to this undertaking of Lucian. It may suffice then to refer the reader to those observations. Let us proceed now to certain other points.

We must, in the second place, then inquire, whether Lucian, if he did make use of the Vulgate, went into a sufficiently extensive examination of manuscripts; and whether he employed them to effect a preliminary revision of that text, and to reconcile it, so far as such materials might be available, with the Hebrew.-But we find no record of any such measure delivered down to us by any writer. If then Lucian performed nothing of this kind, he was certainly more venturous than Origen himself; for he must of necessity have been frequently ignorant what the LXX. really had written, and what ought to be assigned to the interpolation or omission of others; since he could form no accurate opinion on these points, without a diligent investigation of the Septuagint text.

In the third place, we must in quire by what rules as respects the redundancies and deficiencies of the vulgar edition (provided he made use of it) he directed the plan of his revisal. With respect to the redundancies, he must evidently have chosen one of these alternatives; to retain them with some mark of disapprobation, or at once to remove them from the text. Which of these courses he pursued, no one has distinctly informed us : we must therefore decide from the facts themselves; and we shall state, in conclusion, in what manner he seems to have acted. But, with respect to the deficiencies, recourse must necessarily have been had to supplements; and to these Origen had previously betaken himself. But still it might happen, that in sup+ plying the defects of the Kou, the two editors would sometimes adopt different readings; and the less the difference may be in the supplements of this kind between the text of Lucian and the Hexaplar text, (and there does not appear to have been much difference,) the more probable it becomes, that Lucian, like Origen, preferred Theodotion

before the rest. And I think indeed that this was the fact.

Lastly, it is necessary to inquire, whether Lucian might not have directed his attention to the Te traplar text of Origen, rather than to the Vulgate; for there seems to have been no impediment to his doing so, nor was there any thing in the Tetrapla that could induce him to desist from the prosecution of his own undertaking. For the Tetraplar column of the LXX. had admitted no supplements in agree, ment with the Hebrew, from any foreign source; and therefore it was adopted solely for the private use of Christians, who, in their secluded studies, might bere and there pause in the course of their reading, and ascertain at their leis sure, how often, and in what manner, the Septuagint was to be supplied from the three versions occupying the parallel columns, in order that it might conform with the Hebrew.

But Lucian, to answer the end he had in view; stood in need of a Greek interpre tation, which should not only entirely correspond with the Hebrew, but which might also, in an assem. bly of Christians, be read without interruption to the end of the lesson appointed for the day. But the Tetraplar column of the LXX, as we have just said, was not of this kind. So far then as it ap pears from this, there is nothing to prevent the opinion, that Lucian laid the foundation of his edition in the Tetraplar text of the Seventy.

It is also to be observed, that whether he was guided by the Te traplar column of the LXX. or by the Korn, Lucian had the same duties to perform. Both had redundancies, which required equally the same method of correction, and supplements were similarly to be introduced into both from foreign sources, before the Greek could be made to agree with the Hebrew. It therefore does not seem that any discrepancies which might exist

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between the Tetraplar column of the LXX. and the Vulgate, were of such a nature as to induce Lucian to follow the text of the Vulgate, rather than that of the Tetrapla, in his edition. It may be added, moreover, that Lucian would find an easier and a smoother path which Origen had trodden before him. For the more closely Origen had reconciled the text of the LXX. from its own MSS. with the other versions, and through their medium with the Hebrew text, the less would Lucian have occasion to resort to foreign supplies. He would therefore gladly seize the helps which were at hand, already arranged in the places where he would desire to have them; and on that account likely to be of great service in his undertaking. On a careful consideration, therefore, of the facts hitherto noticed, my own opinion is, that the foundation of Lucian's edition was laid in the Tetraplar text of Origen. Yet although, as we conclude, Lucian made use of the Tetrapla, the appellation of "the Vulgate" might have been given to it, not only for the reason which I have before mentioned, namely, that it might be distinguished from the Hexaplar edition, but for another reason also, that the text of the Tetrapla had itself been formed out of manuscripts of the Vulgate alone.-Concerning the basis of the Lucianean edition, let what has been said suffice. By what rules Lucian was guided in the construction of it, shall next be enquired into.

Section IX.-That Lucian constructed his edition after the plan of the Hexaplar column. Lucian does not seem to have at all framed his edition from the column of the LXX. in the Hexapla; for if he had been in pos session of that work, he would certainly have seen that the object of which he was in pursuit had al

ready been accomplished. In that edition, the Hebrew text had already been fixed upon as the standard of correction, the redundancies of the LXX. had already been rejected, and their omissions already supplied from other Greek translations. In the Hexapla, therefore, Lucian would at once have dis covered the very thing which he stood in need of; a Greek interpretation, I mean, corresponding with the Hebrew text, and adapted for unpremeditated reading in the churches. He would surely then, on finding that every thing requi site had been achieved, have spared himself so tedious and burdensome a task, and would rather have committed to the scribes the Hexaplar column of the LXX. to be copied out for the use of the Antiocheans. I do not, however, imagine that Lucian ever had an opportunity of enjoying a sight of the Hexapla. In his days it would seem, the Hexapla had not been submitted to the public; but for about fifty years after the death of Origen, it lay concealed in the Cæsarian Library till it was first published by Eusebius and Pamphilus. But, indeed, unless I am mistaken, this very circumstance that Origen's Hexapla had never yet been published, was Lucian's chief inducement to the undertaking; for it is not credible that he should have been wholly ignorant concerning the Hexapla. The life of Origen was not of such a kind as to be easily withdrawn from the public view of Christians. The catechu mens, that they might have him for their instructor, had been accustomed to repair from every quarter to Alexandria. The intense study which he had devoted to the holy Scriptures, his sermons and homilies, the exhortations to a courageous endurance of martyrdom which he bad on repeated occasions delivered,-his journeys also from place to place, the persecutions and. the imprison