may express its true nature; that may express the mercy and grace which breathe through it, and the happy change of condition to which it points the way? I can think of no better name than St. Paul gave it. He was as glad to hear it himself, as any of those could be to whom he preached it. In his language, then, it is the word of salvation." Blessed be God, that we also have heard it! Of the nature of that salvation which the Bible makes known, a clear view will be obtained by those who seriously apply their hearts to understand it. All the parts of it cannot be fully explained in one discourse. For the present, how ever, let me observe, that it does not merely consist in escaping misery in the world to come. To escape the punishment of sin hereafter, is all that many people think of when salvation is mentioned; and this is all, perhaps, about which they are in any degree concerned. But the salvation of the Bible is a deliverance from the power of sin, as well as from its punishment. It is not only the being "delivered from the wrath to come," but it is a change of disposition, a change of heart and state, wrought in men before they leave this world. It is a salvation from the principles and practice of the world, from the dominion of wicked passions, and from the power of Satan, that spirit which "worketh in the children of disobedience." In short, the design of God's word is this: to bring inan back to God, and to give him, in returning to his once forgotten and disregarded Lord, all the comforts which can arise from a state of reconciliation with him. Is this, then, the kind of salvation that we are hoping for? Does this alvation appear to us most anxiously and earnestly to be desired? If to escape punishment hereafter be the whole of our desire, this says little in our favour. This may be merely our dislike of pain, in which alone there is nothing of true repentance, nothing really Christian, nothing but what is consistent with a rebellious state of heart towards God. The Bible speaks of no such salvation as this. But do we desire not only to be happy, but holy too? Then we may go to the Bible, as a book of comfort: for it was written to shew us how we may obtain our desire. The salvation we long for is the very salvation of which the Bible treats. In that case we may consider its promises as promises made to us. The Saviour it reveals, we may regard as our Saviour. Not a fact in his life, not a sorrow that he felt, not a pang that he endured, but we may say of it, This was for my benefit. Nor is there an instance of his mercy and grace recorded in his wonderful history, which we may not apply for our own encourageBut let us never forget that ment. the precepts of God's Word belong to the great subject of salvation no less than the promises; and therefore that they also are to be studied by us. These are given to direct our way, and we are bound to follow their directions; and the more faithfully we follow them, the more solid, abundant, and lasting will be the comfort we draw from the promises. I have now endeavoured to give you a concise view of the design of You see how important the Bible. its contents are. It is not a book to be trifled with. Ever remember this, that while other books are intended only for amusement, this is about business; and that, business of everlasting moment to us all; business too in which we ought to delight, for it has to do with the sa!vation of our perishing souls. When, therefore, we either read the Bible, or hear it read, we ought to read and listen to it, as the word of salvation. It conveys to us full and sutficient information on this most important subject. It does not merely hold forth some general hope of the possibility of salvation, but gives us plain and particular instructions how we may attain it. Here we have clearly revealed to us the only ground on which the hope of salvation must rest, namely, the mercy of God;-the Author of salvation, Jesus Christ, to whom we must look by faith;-the means of salvation, which we must diligently use, such as reading and hearing the Word of God, partaking of the Lord's Supper, meditation and prayer;-the hindrances of salvation, against which we must guard, as the love of the world, its cares and pleasures, evil company, indifference of mind, the desire of forbidden things, the lusts of the flesh, the devices of Satan. In all these points we should endeavour to be well in structed and well established. Let us not be trifling and superficial in affairs of such consequence as those of which the Bible treats. Let us read, meditate, and pray earnestly that we may understand and feel every truth which God condescends to teach us, that "the Word of Christ may dwell in us richly." To us, therefore, may be applied what Moses said on the same subject to the children of Israel: "Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day; for it is not a vain thing for you: IT IS YOUR LIFE." In an especial manner let our thoughts and meditations be often directed to what our Blessed Saviour hath done and suffered in order to work out this salvation for us. Let us contemplate his life of poverty and pain, his agony in the garden, and his death upon the cross. Let us view these things not merely as the sorrows of afflicted innocence, or as the sufferings of a martyr, but as the means by which our salvation was effected. It was for us and for our sakes that he underwent all this. "He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed." While we trace these mournful transactions with an enlightened eye and an affectionate heart, can we forbear exclaiming, “Behold what man ner of love is this!" O let me live to Him who lived and died for me! Let me join with those Prophets who foretold these things, and with those Evangelists who have recorded them, and with the redeemed above, who shall for ever triumph in them, in saying, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive blessing and honour, and power, and dominion, for ever and ever. Amen." To the Editor of the Christian Observer, As the testimony of an enemy to the truth is of the most unexceptionable kind, and the best calculated to produce the highest degree of conviction to the mind, I here present you with a translation of Rousseau's celebrated parallel between Socrates and our Saviour, hoping that it will find a place in your excellent work. Those who are best acquainted with the inimitable beauties of the original, will know how to excuse the imperfections of the translation. J. B. C. "I confess to you, also, that the majesty of the Scriptures astonishes me, the holiness of the Gospel touches my heart. Examine the books of philosophers, with all their pomp: what are they, even when remotely compared with this! "Can a book at once so sublime and simple, be the work of men? Can he, whose history it records, be but a mere man? Does it contain the language of an enthusiast, or of an ambitious partisan? What mildness, what purity, in his manners; what persuasive grace in his instructions; what elevation in his maxims; what profound wisdom in his discourses; what quickness, what ingenuity, and what justice, in his answers; what control over his passions! Where is the man, where is the sage, who knows thus to act, to suffer, and to die, without weakness and without ostentation? nary just man covered with all the disgrace of vice and worthy of the highest reward of virtue, he drew the exact picture of Jesus Christ: The resemblance is so striking, that all the fathers perceived it: and indeed it is impossible to mistake it. What prejudice, what blindness, is be guilty of, who dares to compare the son of Sophroniscus with the son of Mary! What a distance is there between them! Socrates, dying without pain, without ignominy, easily sustained to the last his character; and if this composed death had not honoured his life, one would have doubted whether Socrates, with all his genius, was any better than a sophist. He invented morals,' says one. Others had put them in practice before him: he did no more than recommend what they had executed; he merely formed precepts drawn from their examples. Aristides had been just, before Socrates had said what justice was: Leonidas had died for his country, before Socrates had made patriotism a duty: Sparta was sober, before Socrates had commended sobriety: before he had defined virtue, Greece abounded with virtuous characters. But where did Jesus obtain his sublime and pure morals, of which he alone has given us the lesson and the example?* From See, in the discourse on the mountain, the parallel which he himself draws between his morality and that of Moses. Matt. v. -21, &c." the bosom of the most furious fanaticism the highest wisdom made itself heard; and the simplicity of the most heroic virtue honoured the vilest of the human race. "The death of Socrates, tranquilly moralizing with his friends, is the mildest one could wish: that of Jesus, expiring in torments, blasphemed, railed at and execrated by all ranks, is the most horrible one could anticipate. Socrates, upon receiving the poisoned cup, blessed him who presented it, and who wept: Jesus, in the midst of agonizing punishment, prayed for his blood-thirsty murderers. Yes; if the death of Socrates be that of a sage, the life and death of Jesus is that of a God. "Do we say that the history of the Gospel is invented to entrap? My friend, it is not thus that men invent: and the deeds of Socrates, of which no one has the least doubt, are less attested than those of Jesus Christ. In fact, it is merely avoiding the difficulty without overcoming it: it would be more inconceivable that a number of men should have agreed to form such a book, than that a single man should have furnished them with the subject. No Jewish authors had ever before discovered either this Janguage or these morals: and the Gospel has such great, striking, and perfectly inimitable marks of truth, that the inventor would be a much greater man than the hero."— Rousseau's Emilius. MISCELLANEOUS. To the Editor of the Christian Observer. Your obliging insertion of a notice of an Indian copy of the Pentateuch in your number for March, induces me to announce to your literary readers, through the channel of your valuable publication, that the same CARIST. OBSERV. No. 101. is now collating in the Public Library. Your readers may expect an early account of this collation. The next article of importance in the Buchanan Collection, is the Syriac copy of the Bible. There are many MS. copies of the Syriac Pentateuch, many of the Prophets, 2 M and many of the Gospels and of the Epistles, extant in different European libraries; but of the whole Bible, including the Old and New Testament, with the apocryphal books, the copies are extremely rare. I only know of one other copy (noticed by the learned Montfaucon) of which any mention has been made; and that is a copy which he saw in the Ambrosian Library at Milan: "There is," says he, "in this library, a Syriac Bible of great antiquity, in the character called Estrangelo." Vide Travels in Italy, ch. ii. p. 17. The Syriac copy in Dr. Bucha nan's Collection is written in the Estrangelo character, or Syriac capitals; and was brought from the Christians of Travancore; being a present from Mar Dionysius, the resident Bishop at Cadenatte, to Dr. Buchanan. It is understood to have been given by the Patriarch of Antioch, of a former age, as a present to his Indian Church. The size is large folio, in parchment: the pages are written in three columns; each column containing sixty lines. Most of the books have coloured drawings, with appropriate inscriptions in Sy riac, Greek, and Armenian charac ters. The antiquity of this MS, can only be judged of from a comparison of it with others of a known date; and it is supposed to have been written about the seventh century. Many parts are decayed by age and other accidents, but the greater part is in a state of complete preservation. The order of the books is not the same as in our copies. Here follows a brief description, in the order they are found. Genesis. The text is in black; the preface and subscript in red let ters. This book has a coloured drawing, representing Moses with the Pentateuch in his hand, and the burning bush at Sinai. Under neath are these words of the scribe: "In the name of God the Lord of all: one in essence, and three in person; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," &c. That disputed addition, ch. iv. ver. 8, reads in this copy as it is in the printed text of the Polyglott: " And Cain said unto Abel his brother, Let us go down into the plain." Deuteronomy.-Subscript; "Here ends the fifth book of the Law," &c. "written by Moses, and sealed by Joshua the son of Nun." Job." The Book of Job the Just is ascribed to Moses, but is not joined with his books." Underneath the drawing of this patriarch, are his pedigree, country, age in which he lived, and how long before the incarnation; but the letters are so worn off and broken as not to be deciphered. There is something very similar in the Greek subscript to this book. Joshua. In the subscript, "Joshua the son of Nun was governor in Ramah twenty-seven years: he prophesied, and wrote these things of his own time." Judges.-Preface: "The Book of the Judges bears no signature of the name of the writer; although it is known that one of the priests the sons of Aaron wrote it. And because mention is made of it in the Old and New Testament, it is considered to have been written by the Spirit of prophecy." Samuel: two books. Psalms.-Under the drawing is a Syriac inscription; "David prophesied 40 years, and lived before the coming of our Lord in the flesh 915 years;" and, "The book of Psalms, dictated by the Holy Spirit, and written by David, King and prophet." Down the margin of the Psalms is an exact register of the number o words, expressed in Syriac charac ters. Subscript: "There are in the whole 150 psalms and hymns, &c. David prophesied 40 years, and be fore the incarnation of our Lor 995 years." * The difference of years mentiened i the title and subscript, shews that the Syna Bell and Dragon. Ruth. Esther. Ezra and Nehemiah: one book. Ecclesiasticus. 1 Maccabees. 2 Maccabees. 3 Maccabees. Josippon: or, History of Eleazar and his seven Sons. 1 Esdras." The first book of Esdras, according to the canon of the Seventy." Tobit. According to the canon of the Seventy. It is to be noted, that subjoined to the subscript of each book of the Old Testament is the number of words contained in each book respectively, which number is expressed in words at length, and written in red characters. This care and accuracy of the Syrian scribes in these matters so much resembling that of the Jews in their Masorah, and masoretic copies of the Bible, shew them to be alike guardians and conservators of the sacred text against error, corruption, and mutilation. The description of the books of the New Testament, according to their order, titles, and subscripts, is unavoidably postponed to the next number. (To be continued.) To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I HAVE read many of the Jubilee sermons, and different reviews of the others; but one circumstance, which to me appears a peculiar honour of his Majesty's long reign, has not, that I can find, been so much as hinted at: I mean, the extraordinary circumstance of so very few lives having been taken away for state crimes; that is, for any kind of treaThe last fifty years have embraced many most turbulent and violent scenes. The scaffolds on the son. |
