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John Howe appears to have held the authenticity of the received reading, and refers with approbation to Hammond's note on the passage.t Hammond's note, though learned, will not satisfy any who are acquainted with the real merits and present state of the controversy. Mr. Oxlee gives the following very accurate account of Hammond's argument; to which he annexes an admirable answer.

"The grounds on which Dr. Hammond has erected his defence, are, first of all, That the ordinary reading hath the authority of many ancient, and all but one printed copies. That the omission might easily have been made by an error of transcription, owing to the Homeoteleuton. That many copies have, ev rg vi, on the earth, with out the former verse; which shows, that this error of omission was the first committed.-That it is not imaginable, if the manuscripts which contain it not, be correct; how the reading of the ordinary copies could have got in, except by gross fraud and forgery.-That, if any fraud were used, it were much more probable, that the Arians had thrust it out, than that it had been interpolated by the orthodox, who could have done very well without it. That in St. Cyprian the words are distinctly found; as also in Tertullian. That it is allowed of St. Jerome, that he asserted the truth of our reading from the Greek copies which he had; and defended it

* Porson's Letters to Travis, Pref, p. iii. Ed. 1790.

+ Howe's Works, vol. vii. p. 3, 4.

against all : publicly complaining and contesting it, that in those copies where it was wanted, it was omitted or erased by the fraud of the heretics.-That St. Ambrose saith, that the heretics did erase that place.

"Such are the arguments from which Dr. Hammond has constructed his learned defence; and of those eight arguments, six at least are wholly groundless, being bottomed in ignorance and mistake; whilst the remaining two are justly disputed. So far from the ordinary reading having the authority of many ancient copies, there is but one copy in all forthcoming, that contains it in any shape; and not even so much as one that exhibits it in its present form. Then as to the printed copies, instead of one, there are certainly five ancient editions, the first and second of Erasmus, one printed at Hagenau in 1521, another at Strazburg in 1524, and that of Colinaeus, in 1534, which have it not; and several more, including the Editio Princeps, in which the final clause of the eighth verse is removed from its proper place to eke out the seventh. Instead of many, there is not one copy which contains the ev rn yn of the eighth verse; whilst destitute of the seventh. So far from not being imaginable, it is both very imaginable and very clear, how the present reading got into the text; which was done first, by inserting the marginal gloss on the eighth verse into the body of some of the Latin manuscripts; and then by the Greek editors translating and re-translating the words from the Latin Vulgate, and inserting them into the printed Greek text. Nor is there any fraud chargeable either on the Arians, or on the orthodox of the fourth and fifth centuries;

during whose controversy, and for several ages after, the passage of the heavenly witnesses was exist ing only in the womb of futurity. The real fraud was committed by the Greek editors, who, about three hundred years ago, dared to insert it in their respective editions, contrary to the authority of the Greek manuscripts. More over, it is not true, that the words are either distinctly found, or alluded to in Tertullian; nor yet in St. Cyprian, if the matter be but duly considered. Neither is it at this day allowed of St. Jerome, whatever it may have been in the time of Dr. Hammond, that he asserted the truth of our reading from his Greek copies; and defended it against all opponents. This argument evidently rests on the false supposition, that the prologue to the Canonical Epistles was written by Jerome: whereas, ever since the Benedictine edition of his works, nearly every scholar and critic of eminence, including your Lordship amongst the number, have been convinced, that it is the composition of some sophisticator of the sixth or seventh century; and fabricated chiefly with the design to procure for the heavenly witnesses a place in the Latin Version. But, finally, what advocate of the text is there now to be found to confirm the statement, that ST. AMBROSE has charged the heretics vith the erasure of the passage? In what part of the works of that Father is any such declaration forthcoming; and on what authority has Dr. Hammond made this assertion? Nay, show me the place only where St. Ambrose has taken the least notice of the passage; and I will be ready to acknowledge, that it is not destitute of support, nor unworthy of being vindicated, as a genuine text of Scripture. Alas, this

learned defence of Dr. Hammond sets all learning at defiance; nor is there so much as one single argument made use of by him, which is not advanced upon grounds palpably mistaken and incorrect."*

In 1707, Dr. Mills published at Oxford his valuable edition of the Greek New Testament, containing at least 30,000 various readings. He admits the disputed passage into his text; but in his prolegomena and notes, he furnishes a mass of evidence, from which it is difficult to understand how he could draw an inference in favour of the passage. So it was, however. As an honest critic, he fairly adduces the evidence on both sides, and furnishes all his readers with data, which they may either receive or reject his opinion as a divine.

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The Abbé L. Roger, Dean of Bourges, published at Paris, in 1715, Two Dissertations; in the first of which he defends 1 John v. 7. "It ought to be mentioned to his credit," says Porson, "that having examined the MSS. in the Royal Library of Paris, he subscribed to the opinion of Lucas Brugensis, Simon, and Le Long, and ingenuously confessed that the semicircle in Stephen's edition which now follows the words ev των ουρανωῖ in the seventh verse, ought to be placed after the words év Tñ, yn, in the eighth.”†

After the appearance of Mill's edition, Thomas Emlyn, a Presbyterian minister of Dublin, published, "A Full Enquiry into the original Authority of that Text, 1 John v. 7. Containing an Account of Dr. Mill's Evidences from Antiquity, for and against its being genuine. With an Examination

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authentic, he reasons on its nature and design. The Christian reader will cordially concur in his concluding observations.

"Since the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost are witnesses, in order to our confirmation, let us readily believe the truth of whatever they testify, provided we have but good reason to believe that they have testified it, though it seem ever so much to thwart our natural sentiments, or our inclinations. This is a thing that highly becomes such closely dependent, and such dark and dim-sighted creatures as

we are; and it is what we cannot have any cccasion to be ashamed of. Where Father, Word, and Holy Spirit have gone before, let us readily follow. What light they are pleased to give us, let us thankfully receive, and carefully improve; and from them jointly let us take our measures. And then, if Father, Son, and Holy Spirit can help us to happiness, we need not be apprehensive that we shall miss it, either in this life, or in that which is to come." (To be continued.)

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THE JEWS.

To the Editors.-THE subject to which I would invite your attention, is one which has occupied many anxious moments, of my life, and, from the first time I became interested in the question, now thirty years since, I have continued to read the Scriptures in a very different point of view to which I had previously been accustomed; with members of the Hebrew nation constantly before my eyes, and meeting them, as every one may, at the corners of every street; I see the veracity of God exemplified, and his justice manifested in the fulfilment of those awful denunciations of wrath for transgression, contained in his word, and the consequent dispersion of a nation, once beloved, and chosen as his peculiar people. But I cannot read those remarkable delineations of wrath, thus exemplified, with out also tracing the loving kindness and mercy of God in the midst even of threatened and deserved judgments. The Spirit of God foresaw that there would be a dereliction from his law, and a departure from his paths;

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and proclaimed, that this nation, who were once to be considered in the eyes of all nations as a great, wise, and understanding people," in consequence of the wise, and righteous, and holy statutes given to them by the God of their fathers, would become the scorn and contempt of all nations; a proverb, a by-word, and a reproach of the people amongst whom they should be called to dwell: yet has He ever accompanied every sentence of his wrath with invitations to return and repent, and with the promises of abounding mercy and compassion, exceeding even their former condition. For he has said, that then "He will gather them, even were they cast out to the outmost parts of heaven, and bring them into the land which their fathers possessed, and will multiply them, and do them good, more than their fathers." There is no people upon earth, therefore, which have such special promises, and none upon whom christian labour may be bestowed with more hope of success. God will surely work with them who seek their

welfare, and who endeavour to bring back his people to a sense of their departure from him; and it may be believed that they are, at the present time, chiefly wrought upon by the frigid conceits of their rabbies; the strange and outrée interpretation of Isaiah liii. being, that they themselves are the party predicted, suffering for the sins of other nations. It may be questioned whether the knowledge they possess of the Scriptures of truth, limited, I admit, because chiefly confined to the Pentateuch, does not supply a better foundation on which to erect a superstructure, a living edifice of souls, to the glory of God our Saviour, than to any other people on the face of the earth.

But, Gentlemen, I would remind our Christian friends of the mass of misery which exists amongst the Jews resident in this country, even from the influence of our own statute and municipal laws; shut out, as they also are, from parochial relief, and therefore not capable of reaping the common advantages of society, to which, as a body, they proportionally contribute. Nor are they allowed, by the laws of the land, the law of God, in reference to the Sabbath, or seventh day, which they feel bound to observe, and their own rabbinical injunctions of fasts and festivals, to devote more than 200 out of the 365 days of the year to their daily maintenance. I know that many of these people feel it to be a burden to be compelled to such observances, but, conscientiously so acting, and not led away so completely as many suppose in this world's dirt and dross, as if their whole soul were bound up in its gain, I would ask, Are they not then precisely the characters on which christian benevolence might hope to act with infinite

N. S. No. 49.

force? I am not ambitious of the distinctive titles of fanatic and enthusiast, which there is too much reason to believe have been so denounced, even from the assumed chair of God, on those who have presumed to advocate such a cause. "N'importe." I shall remain precisely the same being in believing that of the Jews to be the cause of God and of truth. All that occurs to my mind at this moment is, whether our Dissenting or Congregational friends are not bound more deeply to consider, whether they have discharged the character of the Good Samaritan, or are now, or have been, pouring oil and wine into the wounds of their afflicted brother, Israel; and whether they have conducted him to the inn, and pledged themselves to the Great Giver of all good, that they would provide, out of the abundance bestowed on them by the God of mercies, those means needful for their distressed friend and neighbour.

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Need I call to your recollection, Gentlemen, the benefits which Christians have received at the hands of the Jewish nation; their only God and Saviour; Bible; and those Missionaries who first promulgated the grace of God to our pagan ancestors? Do you imagine, Gentlemen, that the Apostles, or apostolic men, sent to you, were so sent without cost? or that the Scriptures were transcribed for your information without expense? Are we not also in possession of the personal spoils of the people of Israel, and yet boasting ourselves of being the Zion of the whole earth, and pretending to the glory of being the most enlightened and polished Christian nation of the habitable globe? And after all, Gentlemen, I would ask, What have we done for the Jews? the very

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I am not ignorant of all the circumstances which have attended the eventful history of the London Society, nor of its present concerns; but, whatever difficulties arose in the progress of that cause, I know full well that those engaged in it, abating circumstances, were actuated by the honest desire of promoting the welfare of Israel, according to the best of their judgment and ability; and I do not think that men should be judged too harshly, even though they might be mistaken in the adoption of the measures pursued. It was then new question, new ground was to be tracked, and, in such a wilderness, if men lose themselves, the dictation of a sound mind would be to run to their succour. What would the London Society now be, if one man, acting no doubt according to his best judgment, had not then come to their help, and dictated, under pressing circumstances, the terms. on which he would render aid? It was not the act of the Church of England which rescued the Society from its difficulties, but of an individual member of that Church, who has lived, I believe, to see his folly. That cause might have remained as it then stood, had the wealthier class of dissidents flown to its aid. Were

no good men of other communions, at that time, quite as capable of devoting themselves to the Jewish cause, as those to whom it was consigned? The London Society is not now what it then was, for they have barred the access to every distressed Jew, and can say, "Be ye warmed and filled, but dare not give the things which are needful." Is there therefore no scope left for the action of other bodies; or are we to be sealed in the regions of despair, and in dungeons of impenetrable darkness ? But, admitting every disadvantageous circumstance, were the principle of love on which the dissenting body originally acted good; and I would contend that they had been for years the main support of the Society; on what ground, I would ask, have they departed from their first love, and cast out the daughter of Zion, as a widow, or woman forsaken; unless they can prove her recent crimes, and are compelled to adjudge her to final separation? Alas! Gentlemen, I fear that we are enveloping ourselves in webs of our own weaving, and forget that the same beloved wife of youth is perishing for lack of comfort. O ! she is still precious in the sight of God; though the gold has become dim, and the fine gold changed, she will shine in the future day in the resplendent glory of her Saviour's righteousness, and in the beauteous garments of his holiness.

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It would be to impeach your general knowledge of ecclesiastical affairs, to suppose you ignorant that the Missionary Society embraced the Jewish cause of their objects, in the early stage of their proceedings, and appointed a missionary to that people; that they sacrificed this object, only in consideration of a separate Institution being established; and,

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