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    tlan Examiner as a review of the publication above noticed . Its circulation amongst those whsoe minds are yet liable to alarm and confusion when they hear of various readings of the Scriptures , would be likely to do much good . The author thus unfolds his purpose :

    " We shall shew , first , that in the natural course of things , copies of the writings of the New Testament could not have been preserved from errors . We shall shew , secondly , that it is unreasonable to require that they should be exempted from this natural course .

    Thirdly , we shall exhibit the kind and degree of alteration which ought to be made in the received text , in consequence of the various readings of manuscripts . And fourthly , we shall state the advantages which we derive from the possession of numerous manuscripts , differing in their readings . "—P . 8 .

    The following illustrations are well put : " Errors multiplied in ancient writings with great rapidity , even soon after they were given to the world . Martial , in one of his epigrams , ( B . vii . Ep . 10 , ) mentions the circumstance , that a copy of his poems was sent to him by one of his friends , in order that it might be corrected by his own pen and hand . There

    can be no stronger proof than this fact , incidentally mentioned , of the immediate danger of corruption which all books at that time were in ; for we see here , that notwithstanding this author ' s works were in poetry , notwithstanding , also , they consisted of short detached epigrams , containing , on an average , about half a dozeu lines a piece , yet they stood in pressing need of correction iu their author ' s lifetime .

    " There is another consideration , which falls within the limits of every one ' s experience . There are few , probably , who have not observed how soon any piece of writing becomes filled with errors by being copied by various hands . Let any one send abroad a letter or an essay of his own , in manuscript , of which people may desire to keep copies , and let it be copied by friends and relations , by man ,

    woman , and child ; and then , at the end of a year or two , let a few of these copies be brought to him ; let him carefully read these copies , and compare them with each other , and with the original ; and when he has done , he will well understand what various readings are . He will soon be wearied of making a list of them , even though his essay might not be half the length of one of the books of

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    the New Testament . If he will then reflect that the New Testament is in prose ; that it is considerably voluminous ; that the original manuscripts , the autographs of the sacred penmen , have been long ago lost , and that therefore the manuscripts which we have are copies of copies , taken one from another , through a period of fourteen centuries , and never corrected from a common authority ,

    because that authority was not in existence : cause that authority was not in existence ; if he will reflect , that during a portion of that period the Christian religion was rapidly spreading , and consequently , that copies of the Christian Scriptures , being in great demand , must have been written in haste , and often by those who , from their ignorance , were incompetent to the task ; and that , moreover , every copyist must have copied at least some of the

    errors of the manuscript which he was transcribing , and at the same time have added some of his own ; if he will reflect on all this , he will be convinced that , in the natural course of things , the New Testament could not possibly have been preserved from a vast number of literal , verbal , and other errors . "—Pp . 9—11 . We add the note by Mr . F . B . Wright :

    " The various readings in the different editions of Shakspeare are well known to the learned , and great pains and much labour have been bestowed in attempts to restore the original text . In the different editions of the poetical works of Pope , there are many various readings , and the same remark will apply to most of our poets . " In the collation of two editions of

    the * Telemaque * of Fenelon , one printed in London , the other in Holland , I have discovered upwards of 2 , 000 different readings ; and it is very probable that , if collated with a third , more might have been found . Yet who would on this account cast away that beautiful and instructive volume ? If such numerous

    variations are to be found in printed copies , is it at all surprising that works multiplied by the pen should exhibit similar variations ?"—P . 10 . In the concluding appeal we cordially join : " It was not our intention , however , to enter into an examination of the

    English version as amended according to Griesbach ' s standard text , but to press its general adoption , on the firm , broad , and conceded ground of its genuineness . If it is an object that we should all possess , read , and study the Christian Scriptures in all possible purity , we cannot

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    Critical . Notices . — Theological * 395

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    2 f 2

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1831, page 395, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2598/page/35/