The Friend of India, Nide 1
your fellow-creatures, and you may safely trust the result to that God who watches over the operation of Charity with a parental solicitude-Yes, under his direction you may safely commit to the earth of Ireland, the seed of cultivation – He will not fail to cast upon it the sunshine and rain of his peculiar protection, and in whatever age it may spring and be nurtured, it will be a nobler bequest to posterity than the sword of conquest ever transmitted, and will cover your memories with the most enduring of all decorations-that of moral and intellectual victory."
VIII. Edinburgh Mission continued. In our last we gave an extract from the Report of this Society relative to Astracan, the first and the chief seat of that missi. on. The following extract respecting Orenburgh, is not wholly uninteresting, nor Mr. Paterson's journey into Crim-Tartary. It is highly pleasing to see the efforts almost simultaneously made in nearly every part of the heathen world to fulfil that great command of the Saviour of men, "Go ye into all the world, and preash the gospel to every creature."
Orenburgh, "Though perhaps not so interesting, on account of its novelty, as it was last year, is such as to give no discouragement to the hopes which were then expressed as being entertained with regard to the Kirghisians. Among these ignorant and degraded ro. vers through the great Steppe to the east and south of that city, Mr. Macalpine, with his constant and zealous attenda.it, Walter Buchanan, the converted Cabardian, have been unremittingly continuing their labours; and the progress which severa of them, notwithstanding all their disadvantages, arising from natural indolence, acquired listlessness, and deplorable poverty, have made in religious knowledge, is one of the most gratifying circumstances which can be conceived. Dirabi, to whom may now be adda ed, Sunchbye, Janeen, and some others of the most intelligent
of them, are steady in their attachment to the Missionaries, earnest in listening to their instructions, and most solicitous to 3. bring their neighbours and acquaintance to hear the truths which they themselves openly acknowledge to be the truths of God. Perhaps, it cannot as yet be said that any of them have given de. cided evidence of genuine conversion to the faith and holiness of the gospel; but all who had discontinued the observance of the stated Mahomedan Sacrifices, have remained firm in their renunciation of their superstitious service; and were there only more Missionaries among them, of whom some might particularly de vote their attention to the young, great things might be expected, through the accompanying influences of Divine grace, from the favourable disposition which they have uniformly and persevering. ly discovered, to attend to the message of reconciliation by Jesus Christ."
Mr. Paterson's journey through the Crimea. " Leaving Karass on the 10th of May, along with Andrew Skir. vine Hay, one of the ransomed slaves, and carrying along with them three hundred copies of the Tartar New Testament, and a great number of Tracts in the same language, they proceeded toward the Peninsula, through the Steppe between the Kuma and Tcherkask on the Don ; visited Rostof and Mariupol, on the Sea of Asoph; entered the Crimea, at Perecop; traversed it southward by Koslov and Sympheropol, then eastward by Theodosia or Kaffa, and Kertch; whence, crossing the Straits of Jenicale to the Isle of Taman, they returned homeward by the Kuban ; reaching Karass in safety on the 18th of July: though Mr. Paterson's health was considerably injured by the fatigue of travelling, and the state of the weather. His spirits, however, were continually revived, and his thanksgivings to God were called forth, by the reception which he himself, and the object of his journey, met with ; not only from the friends of the Bible Society, of whom there are many, and not a few
of them most active members of Bible Come mittees, in Taurida ; but by the population of every description.
" The interest excited by his conversation was almost universal, and by no means confined to the professors of any one religion in particular. During the whole of his itineracy through Little or Crim-Tartary, till he reached Perecop, only three Priests refused the New Testament, one of whom did not return the coa py, which he received to examine, till after he had it nearly a day in his possession. Mollas, and Effendis, and Imams, in every district of the country, welcomed the precious gift: several natives of Turkey carried it along with them to the places of their residence; and not only Greeks, but Jews, and Mahomedans, and Pagans, seem prepared to receive the Gospel."
IX. Ethiopic Manuscript. While efforts are making to translate the Scriptures into those languages of Asia and Africa which have been hitherto without them, it is pleasing to observe that Divine Providence is constantly bringing forth to view those translations of the Sacred Scriptures which are already in being. This, as we have mentioned, has been the case with the Armenian and the Malay versions, of which editions have been printed by the Calcutta Bible Society. But it is a circumstance which demands our gratitude, that a most valuable Manuscript of that ancient and highly esteemed version the Ethiopic, should be now brought to light containing the whole of the Pentateuch, of which only the first four chapters of Genesis have yet been printed, with the next three books of the Old Testament. This valuable Manuscript, which the Church Missionary Society possess has been kindly of fered to the British and Foreign Bible Sotiety. The following is an account of the Manuscript drawn up by Mr. Lee, wbo has offered his services to bring it through the press. •
"It is remarkable, that, notwithstanding the great repute of the Ethiopic version among the learned in Europe for more than two hundred years, the far greater part of the Bible has never
appeared in print. It is probable, indeed, that Ludolf, the great Ethiopic scholar and grammarian, would have printed many portions, and perhaps the whole of the Old Testament, had sufficient encouragement been afforded him : but, in those times, neither the love of letters, nor the superior desire of giving the waters of life freely, had obtained an ascendancy over the minds of men, sufficient to bring to light so valuable a portion of the Sacred Scriptures. Still we are much indebted to Ludolf and his excellent cotemporaries, both for the portions of Scripture which they did print, and for the Elementary books which they left behind them. Much, however, remains to be done, in this very interesting department of literature ; which has now, for more than a hundred years, scarcely been so much as named, much less in. quired into
« The first portions of the Ethiopic Scriptures that appeared in print, were the Psalms, and the Song of Solomon; edited at Rome, by John Potken, A. D. 1513. In 1548, the New Testament was also printed at Roine, by some Abyssinian priests; and was afterward reprinted in the London Polyglott : but, as the Manuscripts used in the Roman edition were old and mutilated, the editors restored such chasms as appeared in the text, by translations from the Latin Vulgate. These editions, therefore, , are not of much value, as they do not present faithful copies of the ancient Ethiopic text. About the middle of the seventeenth century appeared in print, the Book of Ruth; the Prophecies of Joel, Jonah, Zephaniah, and Malachi ; the Song of Moses ; that of Hannah (1 Sam. ii.); the Prayers of Hezekiah, Manasseh, Jonah, Azariah, and the three Children; Isaiah; Habakkuk; the Hymns of the Virgin Mary, Zachariah, and Simeon ; and the first four chapters of Genesis. In 1815, the British and Foreign Bible Society pub ished a reprint of Ludolf's Psalter. This is the whole of the Ethiopic Scriptures bitherto printed. It does not seem necessary here to enumerate all the reprints of the above portions of the Ethiopic Bib.e.
By the help of the invaluable MS. which has come into the
Society's possession, we hope, through the blessing of God on our endeavours, to add something to the very scanty stock above enumerated ; and, what is far better, to multiply copies of the Word of God for the benefit of the Churches in Abyssinia. This MS. contains the first eight books of the Old Testament, written on vellum, in a bold and masterly hand, in two columns on each page. The length of the page is that of a large quarto : the width is not quite so great. The volume contains 285 folios, of which the text covers 282, very accurately written, and in high preservation. On the first page is written, in Ethiopic, the invo. cation usually found in the books of the Eastern Christians ; " In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Then follows an account of the contents of the book, written in Latin by some former possessor, and a date, A. D. 1696, 20th Sept. On the reverse of the first folio is found a table, not un'ike the ta les of genea'ogy in some of our Old English Bibles, which seems to be intended to shew the hours appointed for certain prayers.
Then foliows the Book of Genesis, as translated from the Greek of the Septuagint. On the reverse of the third folio is the following inscription, in Arabic: "The poor Ribea, the Son of Elias, wrote it: O wine! to which nothing can be assimilated, either in reality or appearance: O excellent drink! of which our Lord said, having the cup in his hand, and giving thanks, "This is my blood for the salvation of men.' Folios 7 and 8 have been supp'ied, in paper, by a more modern hand. On the reverse of fol. 8 is a very humble attempt at drawing, in the fie gure of a person apparently in prayer, accompanied by an inscrip.. tion, in Ethiopic, at the side of the figure : "In the prayers of Moses and Aaron, to * Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, am I, thy servant, O Lord, presented in the power of the Trinity, a weak, infirm, and defiled sinner. Let them implore Christ." Under
* As this inscription, which occurs on the supplied leaves, savours of the errors of the Romish Church, it was probably written by some Abyssinian Catholic. The inscriptions of Isaac, the writer of the MS. though muti. lated, and sometimes obscure, seem free from tliese errors. The figure of St. Peter, mentioned below, was probably traced by the same hand.