scripts considerably older than the Koran, and are accessible to any sceptic who may doubt the integrity of the Old Testament. As no dissentient voice then is heard, among all the witnesses that can be summoned by either party, the charge which Mohammed brought against the Jews, of corrupting their Scriptures, inevitably falls to the ground. But where, we may ask, is the Arabic version of the Old Testament? Chaldee Targumim, Syriac, Ethiopic, Egyptian, Greek, Latin, Armenian and Georgian translations were made at an early period, and circulated before even the name of Mohammed was heard of; and yet we seek in vain for an Arabic copy of the Hebrew Scriptures, in the East, before the tenth century of our era, when the Hebrew prophets were translated into Arabic by a Christian priest at Alexandria. 89 The books of Solomon, the book of Ezra, and the Psalms--which as well as the Prophets just now mentioned, are found in the Paris and London Polyglotts- were rendered into Arabic by Abdallah ben Alfadi, in the eleventh century. 90 Rabbi Saadias-Gaon 91 who died A. D. 942

89 Gabr. Sion. praef. ad Psalter. Syr. Par. 1625. In Spain indeed, we meet with an Arabic version in the middle of the eighth century, which had been made by John Bishop of Sevilia. "Joannes Hispalensis praesul divinos libros lingua arabica donabat utriusque nationis saluti consulens: quoniam Arabicae linguae multus usus erat Christianis aeque atque Mauris; latina passim ignorabatur. Ejus interpretationis exempla ad nostram aetatem conservata sunt; extantque non uno in loco in Hispanis." Mariana de rebus Hispan. lib. VII. cap. 3.

90 The psalms were printed at Haleb 1706.

91 Paulus Spec. vers. Pent. Arab. pag. 33.

92 He was a native of Fayum in Egypt, and president of a school at Sora in Babylon. Some ascribe to him a translation of Job and Hosea.

94

left an Arabic Pentateuch, and the book of Isaiah with Targumic and Rabbinical explanations. Another Pentateuch was translated by an African Jew, in the thirteenth century. 93 In the year A. D. 1468 Hareth ben Senan translated the Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Canticles, Sirach, the minor Prophets, with Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel and Isaiah. Lastly, Arabic versions were made in behalf of the Roman Catholic Christians in the East, from the Vulgata; but the first of these bears no earlier date than A. D. 1671.95 This version was reprinted by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1822. The fact of there being no Arabic version of the Old Testament prior to the tenth century, seems incredible. We know that the Jews were sufficiently powerful to found a Jewish kingdom in the south of Arabia; how is it that they here, neglected to do, what they invariably did during their sojourn in other lands? For in Babylon, they made a Chaldee, in Egypt, a Greek, in Syria, a Syriac version of their holy books. We also know that there existed several Bishoprics in Arabia, prior to the rise of Islamism; 96 and it is certain that some Churches were there planted by the Apostles themselves. The question therefore arises

93 Edited as "Pentateuchus Mosis Arabice "by Erpenius 1622.

94

Paris.

Copies are preserved in Manuscripts; 2 in Oxford, and 2 in

95 Biblia Sacra Arab. s. Congregationis de propaganda fide jussu edita ad usum Eccles. orientalium, additis e reg. Bibliis Lat. Rom. typis sanct. Congreg. 1671. Vol. III.

96 There was a Bishop of Dhafar, another of Hajran; the Jacobites had two Bishops, one at Akula, the other in Hira; and the Nestorians had one in the Peninsula. Sale's Prelim. Disc. pag. 17.

whether the Christians would not have translated the Old Testament into Arabic, within the space of 600 years, as they rendered them into the Syriac, Ethiopic, Egyptian, Armenian, Greek and Latin tongues. We can scarcely deem it possible, that a Church built upon the joint foundation of the Prophets and Apostles, could possibly exist for 600 years without a version of the Old Testament in the vernacular tongue!

We have moreover the testimony of the learned Theodoretus, who lived A. D. 450. that the Old Testament in his day, was translated into every language then spoken. We may then take it for granted, that the Jews and Christians, both of whom so strongly mustered in Arabia, would have made versions of the Old Testament, and that the Arabic though not specified by Theodoretus, A. D. 450 was included. That he did not mention all the translations by name is clear, from his omitting the Chaldee, Ethiopic and Syriac.

97

Inference may in some cases amount to a moral certainty, and in this particular, it seems to justify our assumption of the existence of an Arabic version of Scripture. We have however direct and historical evidence, that the Old Testament had been translated into Arabic at the time when the Ethiopic version was being made. A poem and also a martyrology

97 "Hebraici libri non modo in Graecum idioma conversi sunt, sed in Romanam quoque linguam, Aegypticam, Persicam, Indicam, Armenicam, et Scythicam, atque adeo Sauromaticam, semelque ut dicam in linguas omnes, quibus ad hanc diem nationes utuntur," s πάσας τὰς γλώττας ἁῖς ἅπαντα τὰ ἔθνη κεχρημένα διατελεῖ. Theodoretus lib. V. de Curan. Graecor. tom. II. pag. 521.

in Ethiopic, both bear testimony that Aba Salama 98 translated the Scriptures into Geez, and that he made his version from an Arabic text. 99 The conclusion then to which we are driven by our argument is this, that there was an Arabic version of the Scriptures in existence before the rise of Islamism; and but little doubt can exist that Mohammed or his followers destroyed it, to remove the possibility of his charge against the "Scripturalists" being refuted.

9. If the Old Testament Scriptures be corrupted, as the Mohammedans will have it, then it must follow: that God either would not or could not preserve His own word in its original purity, which is opposed to either His goodness or power; again, the only source of our faith is for ever contaminated, since neither the original nor versions can be depended on; Christ and His Apostles stand convicted of blaming the Jews for minor offences, whilst they allowed so great a crime to pass unnoticed; the toil and study of Hebrew scholars in investigating and scrutinising the editions of the original have proved utterly unavailing; all that Philo, Josephus, Eusebius, Origen, Augustine, and others have stated of the scrupulous care of the Jews touching their Scriptures, is false, or the testimonies of these men have likewise been corrupted; the ho98 Jobi Ludolphi historia Aethiop. Lib. III. cap. 2.

99

“Die Habessinier nennen unter ihren ersten Glaubenspredigern mit vorzüglichem Ruhme einen gewissen Aba Salama, und diesem schreibt es auch ein inländischer Dichter und ein äthiopisches Martyrologium zu, daß er die Bücher des Gefeßes und Evangeliums aus der Arabischen in ihre Sprache übersezt habe." Dr. Hug's Einleitung in die Schriften des neuen Testamentes. Vol. I. pag. 375. See also Ludolphi commentar, in histor. Aethiop. lib. III. cap. 4. pag. 295.

nour of keeping the oracles of God, as ascribed by St. Paul to the Jews, is nothing less than a cruel and unseemly satire; and Mohammed himself, in seeking to build upon Moses and the prophets has chosen but a rotten foundation. As these necessary sequences are utterly opposed to all sense and reason, still more absurd must be the assumption from which they are deduced.1

CHAPTER II.

THE INTEGRITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

"Heaven and earth shall pass away but MY words shall not pass away." Mark XIII. 31.

1. Having repelled the charge of Mohammed against the Jews, we shall now proceed to remove the aspersions which he endeavoured to cast upon the Christians, who are likewise accused of having suppressed some of their Scriptures and corrupted others. In the time of Nero, the Christian Religion had spread not only over Palestine, but throughout the vast Empire of the Romans, aspiring to become, in the full acceptation of the word, the dominant creed of the world.2

That the New Testament Scriptures were written in the respective countries and ages ascribed to them by the Church, has been satisfactorily tested and in

1 Gerhardi Loci Theologici tom. II. pag. 261.

2 Vide Tacitum lib. XV. Annal. cap. 44. Also: Suetonium in Nerone cap. 16. Plinii lib. X. Ep. 97.