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knows best when 'tis fittest to put a period to it.

I cannot say much of public matters yet; our Parliament are but just beginning, and 'tis hoped they will vigorously maintain the Revolution, and the present war, but especially in Spain; and if the publick credit and loans do but go on prosperously, we ma hope we are recovered from the late shock; but time must shew that

Mr. Whiston, after some years' open profession of the Ariau doctrine, and having published proposals for printing an account of the primitive faith, which, in manuscript, has been shewn to many of the learned clergy, has been lately expelled the University, and 'tis like to make some stir, but with what success, God only knows. He is allowed to be a person of great ability and sincerity: but truth and religion bath (have) not many sincere inquirers after them. I pray God fill you with joy and peace in believing, and that your inward man may still be renewed daily; and when the crazy earthly tabernacle is cast off, may be perfected among the spirits of the just.

I am, with all true affection,
Yours,

T. EMLYN.

Letter of Dr. Priestley's, communicated by Dr. Philipps.

THE

SIR, Sheffield, July 3, 1817. HE letters of pious and learned men constitute a most valuable treasure, and I am happy to find that many such precious relics of departed worth have found their way into your Repository. I send, for insertion in that work, a letter from my late friend the Rev. Dr. Priestley, which he wrote me a short time before he left England. It was written in consequence of a remittance of 301., which had been raised by subscription at the Annual Meeting of Protestant Dissenters of the county of Suffolk, held at Stowmarket, and which, as its chairman, I was directed to send him. I think it right to inform you, that the majority of persons who were present, whether ministers or laymen, were Calvinists, or of the Ludependent denomination of Dissenters, indeed, at the time which I refer to, there were only three Unitarian Societies in the county; but all the ministers of that district, of what ever denomination, and the Dissent

ing laity in general, were very friendly with each other, and being united in support of a society which was instituted for the relief of the necessitous widows and orphans of Protestant Dissenting Ministers, they had then, and still have, a yearly meeting for the purpose of receiving and applying the congregational collections, as well as promoting union and friendship among one another. I do not remember from what quarter the proposition came, which led to that offer of sympathy and respect to Dr. Priestley, which I had the honour of making in obedience to the general will: but this I know, that it met with the instant concurrence of every person in the room, There was at that time, and I trust there still remains, in the county of Suffolk, a spirit of true Christian liberality, which disdained to scowl on any man for his opinions, and which held all religious persecution in absolute abhorrence.

The following is the letter, so far as it relates to the writer himself, and is a proof, among many others, of the calmness, the resignation, and the benevolence of his mind, under the weight of that unprovoked hostility and persecution, which compelled him to leave his native country for ever. NATH. PHILIPPS.

DEAR SIR,

I AM much affected with the generosity of my friends in your neighbourhood, and beg you would return them my warmest thanks for their kind benefaction. It is with sincere regret that I leave this country; especially after flattering myself that I was fixed for life. But all my sons are already in America, and their situation, together with the state of things here, make it expedient for me to go to them. Our captain has fixed our departure for the 25th instant, but it will probably be about the beginning of April. However, I shall be ready in good time. I leave this country with every good wish, not only to my friends, but to my enemies; and hope that when prejudices are removed, we shall meet in a better state.

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MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS.

Critical Notice of Duncan's Edition of ment, published in 12mo. by Dakins,

SIR,

YOU

Griesbach.

Exeter, June 16th, 1817. YOU will oblige a constant reader and a sincere friend to the cause which is so warmly supported by your useful Miscellany, by the insertion of the following critical notice of Duncan's Edition of Griesbach. Your readers, Mr. Editor, have often been favoured with just eulogiums upon the late celebrated Professor Griesbach, whose life was devoted to the laborious and important pursuits of biblical criticism, but whose impartiality as an editor of the Greek Testament led him to adopt alterations by no means favourable to his own or thodox opinions. The Improved Version has given those whose study of the Scriptures is confined to the English language, a correct idea of the importance of his learned and impartial labours to the defence of pure and primitive Christianity; and numbers I have no doubt, who have never seen a work of Professor Griesbach's, have learnt to pay a just tribute of reverence and gratitude to his unwearied industry, profound learning and unsullied impartiality. Your learned readers are probably at this time deliberating on the force of the objections lately made to the system according to which this eminent man conducted his labours, although few can have failed to observe the extreme partiality and inferior learning by which his opponents have been denoted. As long, however, as Griesbach retains that exalted rank, which he at present holds in the estimation of every true critic, (and which he will continue to enjoy, till one mightier than he shall be found to attack his principles,) it will be the sacred duty of every friend to the progress of religious truth, to guard his unsullied reputation, and to defend the conquests he has so decidedly

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which professed to be formed from the edition of Mill and Griesbach. Now, Mr. Editor, it is well known Mill's text, underneath which was given the great bulk of various read. ings, was not a professed critical edition, and differed very little from the Textus Receptus, being the third edition of Stephens. By the addition of Griesbach's name, one might reasonably suppose that his text formed the basis of alterations, whereas upon inspection it is found that all the aid which Griesbach could so richly furnish, is confined to a few insignificant readings which are placed in the margin. I cannot profess to have been much better gratified with the edition lately published by Dr. Valpy, especially considering the profession made by the Editor, and the time taken to prepare it for the press. I say nothing of the copious notes, nor of the nature of their selection, but object particularly to the authority assumed by the Editor over Professor Griesbach himself, in choosing to follow him in some places and to reject him in others, without regard to critical evidence. I leave these, however, to present to you, Mr. Editor, the observations which have occurred to me, while examining the edition of the Greek Testament, published this year by A. and J. Duncan, of Glasgow, which has in its titlepage, curâ Leusdenii et Griesbachii." I am not aware that the text of Leusden's Greek Testament differs from the received text, and cannot therefore conceive why his name should have been presented in the title-page, unless to decoy the unwary by the appearance of a double authority, or to reserve some latent excuse for a most unjust use of the name of Griesbach. In fact, Mr. Editor, on inspecting this edition, set off with the vaunted names of Leusden and Griesbach, so far from finding it a valuable aid to the biblical scholar and a benefit to the sacred interests of religion, it is found to have been conducted with the grossest partiality to preconceived theological opinions, to bid defiance to any system of se

received text. Matt. vi. 13, the doxology to the Lord's Prayer is retained as Scripture, contrary to Griesbach's judgment. Luke xi. 2. 4, the petitions in this evangelist's copy of the Lord's Prayer, which Griesbach has proved to be interpolated, are here in opposition to every principle of John vi. 69, correctness retained.

lection, and to be a confused mixture
of the received text of Griesbach, and
of other readings adopted in part from
both. In short, instead of the title
which it has assumed, its character
would have been appropriately ex-
pressed thus: "An Edition of the
Greek Testament in which Griesbach
is followed in all readings of no im-
portance, and disdainfully rejected
where his alterations might be sup-
posed to diminish the evidence for the
doctrine of the Trinity, the Deity of
Christ, or the Incarnation." Upon
the supposition that these doctrines
are a part of the Christian system, it
might indeed be granted to be a
politic thing to introduce, by degrees,
to the world those alterations in the
common text which might perhaps
weaken the evidence for revealed
truth in the mind. If this then were
the motive of the present editors,
why have they not in some way com-
municated it to the learned world?
And is it consistent with common ho-
nesty in the present state of religious
opinion, or with common justice to
the labours of Professor Griesbach,
to publish a mangled edition of such
a book, or to attempt to deprive, by
an unworthy artifice, the Unitarian
cause of the proofs which an un-
biassed and thoroughly competent
judge had deliberately bestowed upon
it? The language which I have used
may be thought strong, Mr. Editor,
but I apprehend it is called for by
the circumstances of the case, in
order not merely to preserve your
readers from imposition-this would
be an inferior concern-but to pre-
serve the sacred cause of Christian
truth, as it is served by the Unitarian
controversy, from suffering from this
ill-judged and unmanly behaviour.-
I shall notice then in the first place, as
being of the most importance, the
three passages-Acts. xx. 28, I Tim.
iii. 16, and 1 John v. 7, which are,
as all your readers well know, ma-
terially affected by Griesbach's edi-
tion, and, from speaking a language
consistent perhaps with orthodox:
Christianity, are deprived of every
iota inconsistent with Unitarianism.
All your readers will be able to un-
derstand the quality of this edition of
Griesbach, when they are informed
that these three passages are in it,
precisely as they are found in the

is a bungling mixture of the received
text with Griesbach's: thus, σva O
αγιος του θεου του ζωντος. Acts
xxiii. 9, un boμaxwey is retained
in opposition to Griesbach. Rom.
viii. 1, the latter part of the verse is
retained xiii. 9, cu Leudoμagrupy-
els is retained. The change of the
verses at the end of the 16th chapter
of this epistle to the end of the 14th
chapter is adopted; but neglecting
the prudent plan of Griesbach, that
of retaining the old numbering of
the verses, the present edition has
given them a running order where
they now stand, so as to furnish oc-
casion for the most inconvenient mis-
takes. Phil. iv. 13, is a singular
proof of theological prejudice: Xp15 w
is retained after the words & T
εvduvaμLouvтi με. Col. ii. 2, is a glo-
rious proof of a determination to up-
hold the falling cause of orthodoxy,
by retaining the clause upon which
a pitifully slender argument has been
founded for the distinct divinity of
the Holy Spirit, so that it reads with
the received text, rou ℗ɛov, naι IIa-
pos και του Χριστου. I produce
these as a few specimens only, and let
it be repeated, the edition which
differs from Griesbach in these par-
ticulars agrees with him in almost all
readings of no importance. It is of
the more consequence to take this
public notice of Messrs. Duncans'
"Griesbach," from the local circum-
stances in which the work issues
from the press. With all the ad-
vantages of a small and beautiful
type, a moderate expense, and a
portable size, and with the high
sounding phrase ex prelo Academico,
it may be conceived that the students
of the Glasgow University might be
very likely to make a purchase of
this edition of Griesbach's Greek
Testament, to which so much atten-
tion has of late years been paid in
the learned world, and which no
liberal critic is found to disregard.

:

Without one word of preface, with no other information respecting the edition than that which is afforded in the title-page," curâ Leusdenii et Griesbachii," it is very conceivable, that many would flatter themselves with the idea that they would be able to examine the amount of the statements which the odious Unitariaus are sending throughout the island and what think you, Mr. Editor, would be the disdainful feelings, even of the ingenuous youth, who, upon referring to 1 Johu v. 7, finds the passage of the three heavenly witnesses, of whose spuriousness Unitarians are wont to feel so secure, staring him in the face even in the text formed by that "vaunted authority," Professor Griesbach himself? And how would his feelings be excited against this presumptuous sect, when, upon a reference to Acts xx. 28, and 1 Tim. iii. 16, he finds the wonted props of orthodoxy apparently unaffected by that artillery in which Unitarians had professed the securest confidence? In short, Mr. Editor, who can say to what extent the enmity excited even in a single mind by this manoeuvre of Messrs. Duncans, might proceed in confirming the minds of those who are already prejudiced, and in stifling the beginnings of free inquiry in those whose prejudices had received the shock of education and knowledge? It so happens, Sir, that in one instance, which has come under the writer's notice, a copy of Duncans' "Griesbach" was purchased by a student who possessed Griesbach's own edition already, but who was induced to buy so neatly printed and portable a copy of the text merely, and who was happily led in the course of reading with a friend, to detect some of those discrepancies which have occasioned the present communication. If the incident itself or the trifling investigation to which it has contributed on the writer's part, should at all tend to facilitate the spread of sound criticism and rational religious inquiry, your readers will be furnished with one of numerous proofs of every day's occurrence, in which great events are seen to spring from little causes.

GRIESBACHIANUS. P. S. Since writing the above, I have had the means. of knowing that

this Glasgow edition of Griesbach, contains the Greek Text of an edition reprinted in the same press from a continental edition of Leusden's. This will supply the reason for the employment of Leusden's name, though it also furnishes a striking proof of the ignorance of the printer, since he has, in the edition to which this paper refers, omitted the marks of the occurrence of the same word in his copy which were the only characteristics of Leusden's edition.

SIR,

July 4, 1817. YOUR Correspondent, Ignotus, in

the Repository for January, [XII. 82,] having quoted a passage from Whitelocke's Memorials, in which Mr. Patrick Young is mentioned, as “baving in his haud an original Tecta Bible of the Septuagint translation". very naturally subjoins this question: "Can any of your readers say what was a Tecta Bible" I am sorry that none of your readers have ventured to answer the question. It is certainly not undeserving of attention.

It has occurred to me, that the only answer to be given, is this:-That Tecta is a misprint, or a mistake of Whitelocke's, for Tecla, and that the Bible alluded to is the Alexandrine Manuscript; said to have been written by a Lady of the name of Thecla, or, according to the spelling we sometimes meet with in works of Young's days, Tecla.

"I do not hear," says Sir H. Bourchier to Archbishop Usher, “of any books, brought by Sir Thomas Rowe, besides the ancient Greek Bíble, which was sent to his Majesty, by him, from Cyrill, the old Patriarch, some time of Alexandria, but now of Constantinople. It is that which went amongst them, by tradition, to be written by St. Tecla, the Martyr, and scholar of the Apostles," &c. &c.

Dr. Brian Walton also, writing to the Archbishop, and mentiong a scheme of Whelock's relating to the Polyglott, that all the homogeneal languages should be published with one Latin translation for them all, says, " So the Roman LXX. with the Complutense and that of Tecla's, and our Latin translation," &c. Usher himself, in a letter to Lud. Cappellus, describes this M.S. in a similar mannner: "Codicem

Tvó Alexandria a Cyrillo Patriarchâ in Angliam transmissum (quem Thecla vocant) edere cæpit eruditissimus Patricius Junius."

It is well known that the Alexandrian M.S. upon being brought into England, A. D. 1628, was placed in the King's Library, of which Patriek Young had the care; that he communicated readings from it to Usher, Grotius, and others; that he published the text of Job from that M.S. at the end of a Catena on Job; and that he long meditated a complete copy of it, but, by various untoward circumstances, was prevented from proceed. ing further than a short specimen of his proposed edition, consisting of the first chapter of Genesis. But I will not intrude further upon your valuable pages, which may be much more usefully occupied. Ignotus, and others, who may wish to see more upon this subject, will have recourse to Dr. T. Smith's interesting Life of Young, in his "Vitæ quorundam Eruditiss. et illustr. Virorum." And, as for the conjecture which I have advanced, I will only add, in the often cited words of the poet

Si quid novisti rectius istis, Candidus imperti; si non, his utere mecum. PAMPHILUS.

SIR,

Feb. 3, 1817.

At p. 15, On Friendship in Ab. sence, the 6th stanza begins thus:Friendship is less apparent when too nigh, Like objects, if they touch the eye.

Dr. Young has applied the same allusion to a very serious purpose, where he says

-like objects pressing on the sight, Death has advanc'd too near us to be seen.

In the Davideis, Book 1., it is said of heaven

On no smooth sphere the restless seasons
slide,

No circling motion doth swift time divide;
Nothing is there to come and nothing past,
But an eternal now does ever last.

Watts, on God's Eternity, Book II.
H. 17, says-

While like a tide our minutes flow,
The present and the past,
He fills his own immortal Now,
And sees our ages waste.

Those who have read Watts's Elegy on Gunston, may perceive that he was not unacquainted with Cowley's Ode on the Death of Mr. William Harvey. Lyttelton was also probably indebted to that Ode for some turns of expression in his Monody.

In the Davideis, Book III., it is said of the young Son of Jesse→→→→ Bless me! how swift and growing was his wit,

ILATELY found a paper written The wings of time flagg'd dully after it.

more than twenty years ago, when on reading the poetical works of Cowley, I was occasionally reminded of some passages in more modern poets. I will offer a few instances to those of your readers who pursue such harmless amusements. My edition of Cowley is the 12th, 1721.

At p. 7, On the Death of Sir Henry
Wotton, is the following couplet :---
Justly each nation's speech to him was
known,

Who for the world was made, not us alone.
Pope may have thought of the first
line, when he said of Roscommon,
To him the wit of Greece and Rome was
known.

And Goldsmith of the second, when
he described Burke, in his Retaliation,

as one

Who born for the universe narrowed his mind,

I know not whether Johnson might think of the last line, when he said of Shakspeare, that

panting time toil'd after him in vain. I omit a few instances already noticed by Bishop Hurd, in his Cowley, and Mr. Wakefield on Pope and Gray. OTIOSUS.

SIR,

June 6th, 1817.

F your Correspondent, Mr. Hoiden, sult the General Biography, he may find that the Life of Dr. Caleb Fleming has not been wholly withheld from the public.

SIR,

T. M.

July 10th, 1817.

HE admirable letter of Mr. Fox

To the Old Unitarian, [p. 883,] has

noticed most ofhis remarks; but has not

And to party gave up what was meant for paid such an attention to one of them

mankind.

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as it seems to merit. The Old Unitarian

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