Aristeas, on a special embassy to Eleazar the highpriest, the brother and successor of Simon the Just, at Jerusalem, desiring him to send certain of the scribes, learned men of Israel, to translate the Scriptures, that they might be added to his library. Seventy-two scribes, of whom six, according to some accounts, were chosen out of each tribe, were sent into Egypt, and there translated the Law of Moses in the space of seventy-two days. Many marvellous features were added to this story in after-times; one of them being, that each one of the interpreters was shut up in a separate cell, and translated the whole Scripture, and that on their versions being compared at the end of their labours, they were all found to be exactly alike word for word. It appears, however, certain that the Law of Moses was translated into Greek by seventy-two scribes, or Rabbis, in Egypt, during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, from which circumstance this version has always had the name of the Septuagint, the Seventy, or the LXX.; and that the Prophets, Psalms, and historical books were translated by the same scribes, or by others of equal learning, at the same time, or very shortly after, either at the king's request, or for the use of the Jews in Egypt and other foreign countries. The Septuagint translation, though lamented as an evil by the Hebrew Rabbis, soon acquired great popularity. It was received and used in the public service of those synagogues in all parts of the world which were frequented by the Jews who did not understand Chaldee, and who were therefore called Hellenistic,

or Grecizing Jews; and by the time of our Lord it was received and quoted, if we may judge from the example of the Evangelists and Apostles, as of nearly equal authority with the Hebrew original.

After the establishment of the Church of the New Covenant, the translation of the LXX. came into universal use among the Christians who spoke Greek: it was read in the churches, and the comments of all the Greek Fathers are made upon this version; while in the western parts of the world a translation was made from the LXX. at a very early period, which was known by the name of 'the Ancient Italic' Version. This translation was used by the Latin Fathers before the time of St. Jerome: but St. Jerome, having acquired a knowledge of Hebrew, made with great care and industry a new translation of the whole Bible, which, though based in some degree upon the Ancient Italic,' yet was far more correct. This, with some few variations, constitutes what is now called 'the Vulgate,' and is the authorized version of the Churches under the obedience of Rome. But of the Psalms, St. Jerome made two translations: the first he prepared at Rome, under the directions of Pope Damasus; it was little more than a correction of the Italic version already existing. This has still the name of the Roman or Italic Psalter. The second translation was made by him afterwards in Palestine, and is that which is contained in the Vulgate. Of these two Psalters, the Roman was very long in use in the western part of the Church, but it gradually gave way to the second version, which, from being

first used in Gaul, was called the Gallican; and at length was only used in that part of Italy which is immediately in the neighbourhood of Rome. At present its use is confined to some few churches in Rome and at Milan: everywhere else in the Latin Church, except perhaps occasionally in Spain, the Gallican version of the Psalms is used.

In the English Church, also, we possess two Psalters the one being that in the Prayer-book, which is used in the daily Offices of the Church; the other being the one in the authorized translation of the whole Bible. The preface to the Prayer-book tells us that the Psalter followeth the division of the Hebrews,'-that is, that the Psalms are numbered as they are in the Hebrew Bible, and not according to the LXX, and the Vulgate,-' and the translation of the great English Bible set forth and used in the time of King Henry VIII. and Edward VI.' This Psalter, which we use in our daily prayers, is taken from the Bible which was printed in London in 1539, under the authority of Archbishop Cranmer and Bishop Coverdale: it was ordered to be used in churches, and from its size was usually called 'the Great Bible.' This translation was made by comparing the Vulgate and the Hebrew, or rather by correcting the Vulgate by the Hebrew; and it is most justly esteemed for its majestic grandeur, its musical flow of style, and its being admirably adapted for chanting. For these reasons, it was always preserved when the other portions of Scripture in the Prayerbook were made to conform to the authorized ver

sion. Though this version is not rendered quite so accurately from the Hebrew as the Bible version, yet it gives the sense upon the whole with equal correctness; and though it contains a few obsolete words,for instance, 'runagates,' in Psalm lxviii. 6, which is an old form of 'renegades;' 'leasing,' meaning 'lies,' in Psalm v. 6; and 'wink,' in Psalm xxxv. 19, which is used in the sense of closing the eyes demurely and hypocritically,―together with some expressions which we now consider homely, yet, upon the whole, it has become so dear to the affections of English Churchmen, that it would be impossible now that it should be changed. It has been truly said that the three noblest versions of the Psalter in existence are St. Jerome's Latin version, Luther's German version, and last in order of time, though not in merit or in beauty, the version of our English Prayer-book.

§ 3. THE USE OF THE PSALMS IN DIVINE WORSHIP. Ir is clear from the Psalms themselves, as well as from many passages in the books of Kings, of Chronicles, and of Ezra and Nehemiah, that the chanting of the Psalms formed a part of the solemn Service and worship of God in the tabernacle on Mount Sion, and in the temple built by Solomon on Moriah. The titles of many of the Psalms, which describe them to have been composed for the chief musician,' or the leader of the choir,' prove that they were from the first intended for the service of the temple. 'In the days of David and Asaph of old there were

chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God.' David with great care and judgment, and with the help of the priests and of the Levites, regulated the manner in which the ark was to be brought to Mount Sion, and also gave them the Psalms to be chanted on the occasion, and afterwards fixed the order in which the Services were to be performed in the new Tabernacle. In doing this, he certainly only restored and enlarged upon the original order which he had learned from Samuel, and which had remained traditionally from the time of Moses. Solomon in the temple preserved the same order of divine service and of Psalmody which David his father has arranged; and Hezekiah, when he, in his pious reformation of religion, commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the Seer,' did no more than restore the form of festival-worship which had become neglected and disused. Nehemiah and Ezra, after the return from the captivity, followed in the same course. They did not institute any new order of public worship, but set the Levites 'to praise and to give thanks, according to the commandment of David, the man of God.' That the Psalter formed the whole, or a great part, of the liturgy of the Church of Israel is very probable, though we have no positive tradition, and indeed but a few scattered notices, as to the mode in which its various portions were used. It is

c Neh. xii. 46.

e 1 Chron. ix. 22.

d See 1 Chron. xv., xvi., xxiii.-xxv.

1

2 Chron. xxix. 30.

g Neh. xii. 24.