223 



rous — whose whole Hfe was, at it were, dcdicatetl and devoted 

 to the pursuit of Biblical criticism, and the elucidation of tlie 

 difficulties that might present themselves to the student : is it 

 not extraordinary that such a man should be deceived — 

 should never have remarked this passage as doubtful or sup- 

 posititious — should have overlooked the deceitful exposition 

 of the Jews — and should have neglected to reprehend, or to 

 animadvert, upon the adherence of Eusebius to a reading, 

 which he must or ought to have known Mas spurious and 

 false. In the age of MSS. we know what care and attention 

 was employed, to preserve the earlier and more approved 

 copies of the Scriptures; and is it to be supposed, that 

 Jerome, living for so many years iu the *very centre of the 

 Holy-land, in the principal resort of the whole Christian 

 world, and distinguished as the seat of the eoenobitical in- 

 stitutions of the East, from the apostolic ages, and where of 

 course, many of the ohlest copies and versions would have 

 been preserved — could have remained ignorant that the 

 verse, or the interval, was not in the most ancient MS. or 

 was falsely interpreted by the Jewish commentators 'i We 

 have found it so very easy, to detect the infidelities of the 

 Jews in every other point, where they have attempted by- 

 wresting the sense, or falsifying the chronology of Scripture, 

 to elude the application of the prophecies to our Saviour, 

 voE. XI. 2 G that 



• At Bethlehem, where he died, aged 90, an. 4-22, \a the reign of Theodosius. 



