but as this seemed contrary to his vow, which allowed him nothing but coats, a cord, and hose, and in case of necessity only, shoes; he, after prayer, resorted to the Gospel, and meeting with that sentence, "It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given" (Matthew xiii. 11.) concluded that he should do well enough without books, and suffered none of his followers to have so much as a Bible, or Breviary, or Psalter !!*

Bibliomancy was also practiced, not only in the common occurrences of life, and by private individuals, but by the highest dignitaries of the church, on the most public occasions, and particularly in the election of bishops. When a bishop was to be elected, it was customary to appoint a fast, usually for three days; afterwards the Psalms, the Epistles of St. Paul, and the Gospels were placed on one side of the altar, and small billets, with the names of the candidates upon them, on the other; a child or some other person then drew one of the billets, and the candidate whose name was upon it, was declared to be duly elected. On one of these occasions, St. Euvert caused a child to be brought, which had not yet learned to speak; he then directed the infant to take up one of the billets, the little innocent obeyed, and took up one on which the name of St. Agnan was inscribed, who was proclaimed to be elected by the Lord. But for the more general satisfaction of the multitude, Euvert consulted the Sacred Volumes. On opening the Psalms, he read, "Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts." In the Epistles of St. Paul he found, "Other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." And in the Gospels he opened upon the words, "Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." These testimonies were accounted decisive in favour of Agnan, all the suffrages were united, and he was placed in the episcopal chair of Orleans, amid the acclamations of the people.t A similar mode was pursued at the installation of abbots, and the reception of

canons.

This usage was not confined to the Latins, it was equally adopted by the Greeks. Two facts may prove its existence, and injurious tendency. The firs is that of Caracalia, archbishop of Nicomedia, who consecrated Athanasius on his no

* Ibid. p. 346.

+ Memoires de l' Academie des Inscriptions: Recherches Historiques sur les Sorts appelés: Sortes Sanclorum; par M. l'Abbé du Resnel, XIX. pp. 287, 296. Paris 1753, 4to.

mination to the patriarchate of Constantinople, by the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus. Having opened the books of the Gospels upon the words, "For the devil and bis angels;" the Bishop of Nice first saw them, and adroitly turned over the leaf to another verse which was instantly read aloud, "The birds of the air may come and lodge in the branches thereof." But as this passage appeared to be irrelevant to so grave a ceremony, that which had first presented itself, became known to the public almost insensibly. To diminish the unpleasant impression it had produced, the people were reminded, that on a similar occasion, another archbishop of Constantinople had accidentally met with a circumstance equally inauspicious, by lighting upon the words, There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth," and yet his episcopate had neither been less happy, nor less tranquil than formerly. The historian, nevertheless, remarks, that whatever had been the case under former archbishops, the Church of Constantinople was violently agitated by the most fatal divisions during the patriarchate of Athanasius. The other instance, is that of the metropolitan of Chersonesus, the first prelate consecrated by Theophanes, after his translation from the metropolitan see of Cyzicus to the patriarchate of Constantinople, and who having received the book of the Gospels at his hands, and opened it, according to custom, met with these words, "If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch," which were regarded by the public as prognos.icating evil to both the patriarch, and the Metropolitan.*

The Abbé du Resnel informs us, that this custom was continued in the cathedral of Boulogne, and at Ypres, and St. Omer, so late as the year 1744, only with this difference, that at Boulogne, the newly chosen canon drew the lot from the Psalms, instead of the Gospels. The late M. de Langle, bishop of Boulogne, who regarded the custom as superstitious, and perceived, that when the new canons accidentally opened upon passages containing imprecations or reproaches, or traits of depravity, an unmerited stigma attached to their character, issued an order for its abrogation, in 1722. But the chapter, who claimed exemption from Episcopal jurisdiction, treated the order with contempt, and persevered in their superstition, except, that as it had been customary to insert in the letters of induction given to each canon, the verse which had been drawn for him, it should in future be added, that this was done according to the ancient custom of the church of Ter

*Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions, XIX. p. 303.

ouanne; out of which the churches of Boulogne, Ypres, and St. Omer, had risen, after its destruction by Charles V. “I have in my possession," says the Abbé, "one of these acts, dated in 1720, in which are the following words: Et secundum antiquam ecclesiæ Morinensis, nunc Boloniensis consuetudinem, hunc ex psalmo sortitus est versiculum: Ipsi peribunt, tu autem permanes, et omnes sicut vestimentum veterascent: "And according to the ancient custom of the church of Terouanne, (now Boulogne,) this verse was drawn from the Psalms: " They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment."*

Another species of Bibliomancy, not very dissimilar from the Sortes Sanctorum of the Christians, was the BATH-KOL, or Daughter of the Voice, in use amongst the Jews. It consisted in appealing to the first words heard from any one, especially when reading the Scriptures, and looking upon them as a Voice from Heaven, directing them in the matter inquired about. The following is an instance: Rabbi Acher, having committed many crimes, was led into thirteen synagogues, and in each synagogue a disciple was interrogated, and the verse he read was examined. In the first school they read these words of Isaiah, (ch. xlviii. 22.) There is no peace unto the wicked: another school read, (Psalm 1. 16.) Unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shoultest take my covenant in thy mouth? and in all the synagogues something of this nature was heard against Acher, from whence it was concluded he was hated of God! This species of divination received its name from being supposed to succeed to the Oracular Voice, delivered from the mercy-seat, when GoD was there consulted by URIM and THUMMIM, or Light and Perfection, (Exodus xxviii. 30.) a term, most probably, used to express the clearness and perfection of the answers which God gave to the high-priest. The Jews have a saying amongst them, that the Holy Spirit spake to the Israelites, during the tabernacle, by Urim and Thummim ; under the first temple by the prophets; and under the second temple by BATH-KOL.‡

* Memoires de l' Academie des Inscriptions, ubi sup.

+ Basnage's History of the Jews, B. iii. ch. v. p 165, fol.

Lewis's Antiquities of the Heb. Republic, B. ii. ch. iii, pp. 112. 114. 198. vol. I.

III. On the Peshito* and other Versions of the New Testament; from Marsh's Michaelis Vol. II. pt. I. c. VIII. § VIII.

The Peshito is the very best translation of the Greek Testament that I have ever read; that of Luther, though in some respects inferior to his translation of the Old Testament, holding the second rank. Of all the Syriac authors with which I am acquainted, not excepting Ephrem and Bar-Heraeus, its language is the most elegant and pure, not loaded with foreign words, like the Philoxenian version, and other later writings, and discovers the hand of a master in rendering those passages, where the two idioms deviate from each other. It has no marks of the stiffness of a translation, but is written with the ease and fluency of an original; and this excellence of style must be ascribed to its antiquity, and to its being written in a city that was the residence of Syrian kings.

*

*

* * * *

It is true that the Syriac version, like all human productions, is not destitute of faults, and, what is not to be regarded as a blemish, differs frequently from the modern modes of explanation: but I know of none that is so free from error, and none that I consult with so much confidence, in cases of difficulty and doubt.

*The ancient Syriac version. The translation, made under the patronage of Philoxenus, A. D. 508, is styled the Philoxenian version. (Ed.)

IV. Church Music; From the Quarterly Theological Review for Sept. 1326. Vol. IV. p. 400.

That we must trace the origin of all Church music to the Jews, or to the Hebrew ritual, seems sufficiently proved by the researches of musical antiquaries; and there can be little reason to doubt, that, in the early Christian Church, the Psalms of David were sung to the very melodies to which they had been associated in the Temple. There is here a chasm in the rigid evidence as to the descent of those melodies to a later age, from the want or the imperfections of musical notation, every where; among the Greeks as elsewhere. Whether they descended traditionally, through the ear, or by a Hebrew notation, or, as is not impossible, by a Greek one, has not been satisfactorily made out; but antiquaries entertain no doubt that the music of the early Latin Church was construct

ed out of those, by pure borrowing, as well as by copying or imitation. And thus, in the ancient chants still used, as in the Ambrosian and Gregorian music, we may believe that we hear, even now, the melodies of the Hebrew temple.

V. Testimony of Profane Writers to facts recorded by the Sacred Historians; from Gray's Connexion between the Sacred Writings and Jewish and Profane Literature. Vol. I. ch. XVI. p. 176.

There are numberless passages in the profane writings of antiquity, which bear a direct testimony to the truth of many facts recorded by the sacred historians. A few only of these need be produced. Many representations, which bear evidence to the creation, the flood, and other particulars which took place in the early ages of the world, have already been brought forward; and many others will be produced in the remarks upon the works of individual writers. Manetho, Berosus, Hestiaeus, Hecataeus, and others relate, that those who succeeded the first man lived to a thousand years, and confirm many other particulars too numerous to mention with respect to the early ages of the world.

Nicolaus of Damascus mentions Abraham as a stranger who had rule in Damascus, to which city he came from Chaldea, and that upon a tumult he went to Canaan, where he had a numerous offspring.*

Tacitus admits that distinguished cities had been burnt by fire from Heaven on the plains where Sodom and Gomorrah stood.t

Josephus refers to writers who speak of the race of giants in Assyria and Canaan, and Eusebius presents us with passages which repeat accounts concerning them, particularly from Abydenuss and Eupolemus.

The passage through the Red Sea was remembered among the people of the Syrian Hierapolis, and is related by Artapanus.

Euseb. Praep. Evang. Lib. ix. c. 16.

+ Hist. Lib. v. § 7.

Lib. v. c. 2. Lib. vii. c. 12.

Praep. Evang. Lib. ix. c. 14. Grot. de Verit. Lib. 1. note XL. Plin. Nat. Hist. Lib. vii. c. 16.

Praep. Evang. Lib. ix. c. 17.

Eusch. Praep. Evang. Lib, ix. c. 27.