conclusion is inevitable, that his and y had not the seventh verse, because it is in neither of the MSS. with which they have been compared.

"These arguments amount to a very high degree of presumptive evidence; but great probabilities may be overcome by testimony. Let us then attend to the testimony produced upon this occasion.

"First. Robert Stephens in his Latin Testament, 1545, says that some Greek copies read thus; Tres sunt qui testimonium dant Pater, &c. omitting in cœlo.

"Secondly. In his Greek Testament of 1550, he includes ev T pav between marks, and, in the margin, names seven MSS., in which he says these words are wanting.

"Thirdly. In 1556 he printed Beza's Latin Testament, where, in a note on 1 John v. 7, are the following words: Legimus et nos in nonnullis Roberti nostri veteribus libris,' and on the words in cælo. 'Hoc deerat in 7 vetustis codicibus.' Now if Stephens had no such reading in his MSS. how can these repeated assertions be accounted for? We cannot suppose that he intended to deceive, where, as Mr. Porson observes, he has furnished every inquisitive reader with the means of detection. And

it is hard to conceive that, if an error had been committed in the position of his semicircle, it should never be detected by Stephens himself, or suggested to him by his friends or enemies. This however will appear less improbable if we attend to the following consideration, that Stephens returned his MSS. at least as soon as he had completed his edition of 1550, perhaps as soon as he had finished his collations. For when he presented a copy of that edition, immediately after it was printed, to the divines of the Sorbonne, and they re

quired him to produce a MS. with which they might compare it, he answered that his MSS. had already been returned to the Royal Library. If in the short and turbulent interval between that conference and his migration from Paris, from which city he was driven by the malice of his persecutors, he had discovered in his Greek Testament the unprecedented reading, which omits ev re épave, while it retains the rest of the disputed passage, he would naturally consult his book of collations, which would only confirm the printed copy; for, in those collations, it is probable that the mistake first arose.

"To draw a decisive conclusion, from the above mentioned facts, would require no small skill, in weighing and balancing opposite probabilities; and there is one material part of the evidence, which, from its nature, is not easily to be appreciated, but by persons who have had much experience in the collation of MSS. I mean that part which relates to the proof of identity from the coincidence of readings. However, the best critics unanimously agree in the opinion, that Stephens's MSS. had not the disputed passage; and among these Mill and Bengelius, whose orthodoxy is not doubted, and who were convinced of its authenticity."

After going over the Greek Fathers seriatim, he thus sums up his account of them.

"On a review of the Greek Fathers, we discover no proof that any of them were acquainted with the disputed passage. The omission of it in Justin Martyr, in the Adumbrations attributed to Clemens Alexandrinus, in the Epistle of the Bishops at Sardis, in the Sixty-second Oration of Epiphanius, in the Treatises on the Holy

* Christ. Observ. Vol. vi. pp. 227, 228.

Spirit by Basil, Gregory Nazian zen, and Didymus, is hardly to be reconciled with the supposition, that they had it in their copies. And Cyril clearly either had it not, or suspected its authenticity. And though we might allow the omission in a single Father to arise from some unknown cause, yet the universal silence of all the early Greek writers forms a presumption against its authenticity, to which I know not what can be opposed, unless it be suggested that they understood the words these three are one as relating merely to unity of testimony, not of essence; and therefore thought that no argument for the doctrine of the Trinity could be built upon it. But does it appear that they actually put such a construction upon these words? Is there any trace of such an interpretation in their works? Or is it at all probable from analogy, that they would unanimously refuse the aid of a passage, which almost all modern defenders of the Trinity have employed without scruple?

"Even if these Fathers approved the interpretation above mentioned, it remains still to be shown, why they never quoted 1 John v. 7, in proof of a trinity of persons, or as an example of Christ being called The WORD.”*

After examining very carefully the several Latin Fathers who quote or allude to this verse, he thus sums up his account of their testimony.

"From the foregoing extracts it is evident that the Latin Fathers are more favourable than the Greek to the authenticity of 1 John v. 7. For while not a single quotation or clear allusion to it is found among the latter, for the first thirteen centuries, we discover a reference to it in the third century by Cyprian,

* Ib. p. 289.

and in the fifth, express quotations by Fulgentius, and the author of the African Confession; in the sixth by Cassiodorus; in the eighth by Etherius and Beatus. And is not their positive testimony of greater weight than the merely negative testimony, the silence, of any number of Greek or Latin Fathers? It may be difficult indeed to account for their silence upon the supposition that they were acquainted with the disputed passage. Yet, if a single witness of unsuspected veracity affirm that it existed in his copy, his testimony may outweigh the argument drawn from the mere silence of great numbers. Since, therefore, a Latin writer of the third century has referred to it, will not his authority counterbalance the negative testimony of all the Greek Fathers?

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Many of the orthodox have thought so, and the anxious desire which some writers have shown to set aside this evidence, by the arbitrary and unsatisfactory hypothesis, that Cyprian's reference was to the eighth verse and not to the seventh, implies that they felt the superior force of affirmative testimony. For my own part, I freely confess, that if Cyprian had affirmed

that the seventh verse existed in his

Greek copy, I should have paid very little regard to the omission of it, by other Fathers of the same or a later century. But, is this the case? or have we any evidence that he was in possession of a single Greek copy of St. John's Epistle; or that he could even read Greek; or that if he could read it, he valued the Greek copies more than the Latin?

"Till these questions are answered in the affirmative, all that we can infer from his quotation is, that the testimony of the heavenly witnesses was in his Latin copy. And although that version,' from its high antiquity, is deserving of

light untried, came at last to the conclusion, "Behold! all is vanity and vexation of spirit." Nor was this the effect of some sudden and galling disappointment, or the capricious dictate of a fit of melancholy. Every process, in compounding the ingredients of earthly enjoyment, sooner or later issues in the same result. Whenever, therefore, we think soberly, we instinctively look to the future. Now in the volume of inspiration, God is often called the God of hope; a designation peculiarly adapted to our dependent state. To Him we owe all the good in our possession, and all the good in prospect before us. O Hope of Israel! exclaims the Prophet, our Saviour in the time of trouble, wherefore shouldst thou be as a way-faring man, and as a stranger that turneth aside to tarry but for a night? The gracious Presence of Jehovah is the prime pledge and essence of felicity to every intelligent creature. His favour is life, and his loving kindness is better than life. It requires no acute power of reasoning to prove, that a man awake and alive to a sense of his future destiny, is, and necessarily must be, miserable without hope. Darkness and perplexity surround, distress and anguish overwhelm him. Nothing can be conceived more appalling and horrible than a state of absolute unmitigated despair. A few such cases have been known, and they have exhibited on earth a vivid image of the torment of hell. Sometimes the awakened sinner, under his first convictions, and the mountainous burden of guilt, may be nearly in this state; but let hope be imparted, and the gloom disperses, the pressure of his load is lightened. It is an interesting era in the life of a good man, when the dawn of heavenly day first breaks upon him. The

apprehensions and dire forebodings of eternal misery are banished. The internal tempest that agitated his soul subsides. He leaves the horrible pit, and finds his feet set upon a rock, and his goings established.

Christian hope is entirely from God as its author. It is found in different degrees of brightness, but even in its lowest degree, is invaluable. Ask a believer on what terms he would consent to part with this anchor of the soul, and he will reply, not for the collected treasures of a world. Yet we are not to rest satisfied with a faint and fluctuating hope. He that has given one drop of this cordial, can increase it an hundred-fold; he that has darted down one cheering ray, can pour forth such a stream of splendour as shall scatter every remaining cloud. It should therefore be our desire and prayer, that we may abound in hope, that is, possess a clear view and animating expectation of future felicity. The salutary effects produced by this principle are obvious at a glance to every one capable of discerning and judging in matters of this kind. A good hope, through grace, weakens the power of earthly attractions, fortifies us to suffer with patience, and prompts us to act with energy and decision. And is it not desirable to be loosed from the dangerous enchantments which bind us to the dust? Have we no need to have our purposes and resolutions fixed, and our affections raised and refined? The anticipation of future glory has made the martyr invincible in sufferings, and the philanthropist indefatigable in liberal and zealous exertions.

But it may be said, by what means is the Christian's hope increased in brightness and power?

Faith, prayer, and experience,

all contribute to that end. He that believeth on the Son of God, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation. Christian hope is the offspring of faith; and its life and vigour, in a great measure, depend on the growth and exercise of the parent grace. On the other hand, it cannot have escaped the attentive observer, that the declension of one is invariably accompanied by the languor and decay of the other. He that cometh unto God, must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. The grounds of faith are the great and precious promises of the divine word. The most prominent object presented in the Gospel is, a full and free salvation through the blood and righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. The message of heaven, the good news of pardon and life, has reached our ears, and the first thing is to give credit to the report. Nor is it a matter of small importance, at a time when sceptics and scoffers abound, to be fully satisfied with respect to the truth of the Gospel, so as unhesitatingly to receive the record which God hath given of his Son. Now faith is the substance of the things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We are here, and in other parts of Scripture, taught that there is an intimate and inseparable connexion between these kindred graces. The love, the power, the grace, and glory of Christ are vividly set before us in the sacred volume. But more, it is evident from the substance and spirit of the word itself, that the communication of divine truth is made directly to us, and avowedly for our benefit. Impressed with this solemn, yet pleasing idea, to Jesus we look, on Jesus we depend, and in Jesus rejoice. As the root of faith

N. S. No. 53.

grows in strength and firmness, hope rises, and flourishes, and blooms, and rich consolation is the precious mature fruit. Here we behold the secret sources of all that boldness, decision, zeal, and alacrity, which the first Christians displayed amidst all the privations and reproaches to which they were exposed. For which cause, said Paul, I suffer these things: nevertheless, I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded, that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

The Christian's hope is increased in vigour and brightness, by the exercise of prayer and supplication, whether offered to God by himself, or by those who are affectionately interested in his welfare. According to the appointment of infinite wisdom, an order of means is instituted, in the use of which we are warranted to expect both temporal and spiritual blessings. It is the will of God that we should be made to feel our own insufficiency, and our absolute subjection to his authority, as well as perpetual dependence on his grace. That there is a mysterious link which' connects the use of prayer, on our part, with divine agency, cannot be doubted, but we make no attempt to explain a subject which is inexplicable. The tender solicitude of the Apostle for the welfare of his brethren, led him to present at the heavenly mercyseat, a request on their behalf, from which we may learn both what is our duty, and what is our highest privilege. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." Rom. xv. 13. As we before intimated, faith is the sole medium through which all our heavenly comforts Kk