practice of interpreting in this way had considerable effect in those passages of the Old Testament where the word "Anointed," or Messiah," comes in; here, following the LXX, he boldly put "Christus," with the result that many more passages have a Messianic reference in the Vulgate than in our own A.V. Again, it may be asked, "What else could he have done?" Very likely it was inevitable; but still the fact, and its influence, remained. Psalm ii, 2, is an obvious instance: "Principes convenerunt in unum adversus Dominum et adversus Christum ejus," compare Acts iv, 27, where in the A.V. it is also rendered "against the Lord, and against his Christ," though the R.V. has "against his Anointed." Equally personal is the reference in Habakkuk iii, 18,* where "I will joy in the God of my salvation" appears as "Exsultabo in Deo Jesu meo"; also Lamentations iv, 20, where "The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits" appears as "Spiritus oris nostri, Christus Dominus, captus est in peccatis nostris." In some cases anxiety to find a reference to our Saviour in the Old Testament led Jerome to force the translation of the Hebrew, as in Isaiah xi, 10, where we read of the Root of Jesse that "unto him shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious," but Jerome translated "Ipsum gentes deprecabuntur, et erit sepulcrum ejus gloriosum"; or again, Isaiah xvi, 1, "Send ye the lambs for the ruler of the land from Sela, which is towards the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Sion," becomes in the Vulgate "Emitte agnum, Domine, dominatorem terrae de petra deserti ad montem filiae Sion"; again in Genesis xli, 45, it is said that Pharaoh gave to Joseph the name "Zaphenath-Paneah"; Jerome translated this "Vocavit eum lingua Egyptiaca, Salvatorem mundi," which makes the passage appear distinctly Messianic; according to Driver,† however, the name means "God (or "the God") spake and he (the bearer of the name) came into life," so that Jerome has strained the interpretation here.

I should like in conclusion to draw your attention to some very small points where, by its punctuation, the Clementine Vulgate has altered the sense of the original Greek. Time after time St. Paul in the greetings of his Epistles speaks of "The God and Father of our Lord Jesus

*See Kaulen, Geschichte der Vulgata, p. 175 (Mainz, 1868). + Commentary on Genesis (Westminster Commentaries), pp. 344, 345.

Christ"; this phrase is not incompatible with the fullest belief in our Lord's Divinity, and you will remember how the risen Saviour in St. John (xx, 17) said “I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God." In some cases (e.g., II Corinthians xi, 31, Ephesians i, 3, cf. I Peter i, 3) the phrase has been allowed to stand in the Clementine text; but in Colossians i, 3, a comma has been inserted "Gratias agimus deo, et Patri Domini nostri Iesu Christi," compare Ephesians i, 17, where the "Deus Domini nostri Iesu Christi pater gloriae" has been altered into "Deus, Domini nostri Iesu Christi pater, gloriae," in defiance of the sense; in both these passages the change has apparently been made in order to avoid speaking of "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ"; and in Colossians ii, 2, an "et" has been added after "Patris" with the same motive ("in agnitione mysterii Dei Patris et Christi Jesu ").

I may perhaps also be allowed to mention two very small cases which shew what a different sense can be given to a sentence by the use, or omission, of capital letters; there is no doctrinal significance here; I just mention them for their interest. In Acts xvii, 6, the Jews at Thessalonica, complaining of St. Paul's preaching, cry out "hi qui orbem concitant et huc venerunt" ("those that have turned the world upside down have come here also "); orbem very naturally got corrupted into urbem -the city-in a good many MSS., and the Clementine Vulgate adopts this reading; but not contented with that, it prints the word with a capital U, and "Urbem" in a Bible printed at Rome could hardly mean anything but the Eternal City itself.

In Acts xix, 9, exactly the contrary procedure is shewn: "quotidie disputans in schola Tyranni " means that St. Paul held forth daily in the school of a man named Tyrannus; but the Clementine Vulgate prints the word with a small t, and thus makes the word an epithet, not a proper name; St. Paul disputed in the school of a certain tyrant; and this was the interpretation of the passage amongst a good many of the mediæval commentators-De Lyra, Caietan, Vatablus, etc.

I must now close this long paper; long as it is, I cannot claim to have treated the subject exhaustively or even very methodically. I have done little more than jot down and discuss the instances-mainly from the New Testament-which I have gradually collected during my years of work at the Vulgate; that work has been carried on with a different object,

and the instances have been noted by the way. No doubt a more systematic examination would detect more and more striking cases; but I trust that I have brought forward enough material to shew how interesting the study is, and to prepare the way for a fuller and more satisfactory treatment.

DISCUSSION.

The CHAIRMAN could confirm from his own experience one of the points of the lecture. Several years ago he had been brought into connection with a Roman Catholic, an Italian priest who was seeking the light. They were unable to converse, but they read the Vulgate together, and in one verse which Professor White had alluded to, the priest took a different view of the meaning of the word poenitentia from that which he (the Chairman) did. The priest thought that he must suffer something in order to receive the grace of God. But when the Greek word, μeтávoia, was pointed out to him, it gave him an entirely new thought. He asked, "Have I nothing to pay for it?" It was the moment of a change in his life; he understood then that eternal life is the gift of God. He is now a faithful missionary of the Church Missionary Society in India.

Mr. MAURICE GREGORY was reminded by the last word of the Chairman that he was recently present at a funeral of a poor Belgian refugee. The poor people attending the funeral were astonished to find that there was "nothing to pay " for the burial service.

He would like to ask concerning the word ériovorios in Matthew vi, 11, and Luke xi, 3: "Give us this day our daily bread." Is there any justification for translating it "daily"? ought it not to be rather "supersubstantial," thus making the petition in our Lord's Prayer wholly spiritual?

Mr. M. L. ROUSE said the Lecturer had reminded us that the Lutheran Church, equally with the Roman Catholic, so divides the Commandments as to make "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife" the ninth, and a tenth out of all the other prohibitions against coveting. But the Lutheran Reformers may simply have retained this division as a remnant of unreformed tradition deeply engrained by custom. Valid evidence as to the original form could be obtained by referring to the other branches of the historic Catholic Church—

Greek, Coptic, Abyssinian, Armenian and Nestorian, which were in accord on this point with the Anglican and Calvinistic Churches.

Mr. GRAHAM desired to express his great gratitude to the Lecturer. He had shown how much we could learn from the Roman Catholics, and how much, on the other hand, they could learn from us. A little over two years ago the Rev. T. H. Darlow, Literary Superintendent of the Bible Society, in the lecture which he gave the Institute on Versions of the Bible, showed how the spiritual power of Holy Scripture came out in languages which previously had possessed no equivalent in words for the ideas which had to be conveyed. This was present to his mind while Professor White was delivering his lecture. The inspired Word could take care of itself, and it was well for us to make ourselves acquainted with the differences which exist between the different versions, and to learn from them.

The CHAIRMAN called upon the Meeting to return their sincere thanks to the Lecturer for his most interesting and instructive paper, and the LECTURER, in acknowledging the vote, said that it was not quite certain to this day how Jerome wished to translate the word èοúσios, since he was not quite consistent in his usage. Probably he intended to use the word "supersubstantial” in St. Matthew. In the Vulgate, as we have it now, we get both renderings; è is frequently translated by "super" in the Vulgate.

The Lecturer further added, with regard to the second Commandment and to prayers for the dead, that he had restricted his paper to the Vulgate itself, and had not included in it developments which might have arisen out of the Vulgate.

The Meeting adjourned at 6 p.m.

THANKSGIVING SERVICE.

HELD IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBER, CAXTON HALL, WESTMINSTER, S.W., ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 24TH, 1916,

AT 3 P.M.

BEING THE OCCASION OF

THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY

OF THE FIRST GENERAL MEETING.

ORDER OF SERVICE.

HYMN.

Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom.”—Newman.

The Ven. Archdeacon BERESFORD POTTER read THE GENERAL CONFESSION, the congregation following.

COLLECT.

O GOD, whose nature and property is ever to have mercy and to forgive, receive our humble petitions; and though we be tied and bound with the chain of our sins, yet let the pitifulness of thy great mercy loose us; for the honour of Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Advocate. Amen.

THE LORD'S PRAYER.

O Lord, open thou our lips.

And our mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

O God, make speed to save us.

O Lord, make haste to help us.

:

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost;

:

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be world without end. Amen.

Praise ye the Lord.

The Lord's Name be praised.

The Rev. JOHN TUCKWELL read the xixth Psalm, as in the Authorized Version, the congregation taking the alternate verses, and concluding with the Gloria Patri.