BENZEL, ERIC, D.D. Two Swedish scholars of this name, father and son, have distinguished themselves in biblical literature. The father was born in 1642, and after filling various offices both in the church and the university, be came archbishop of Upsala, in 1700. He wrote Breviarium Hi,rt. Eccles. V ac .N 7:, 12mo, Upsala, 1714, several treatises in theology and church history, and a Latin translation of some homilies of Chrysostom. He superintended the edition of the Swedish Bible, issued by order of Charles XII. in 1703, an edition prepared with much care, and which still forms the standard text, according to which all copies of the Scriptures printed in Sweden are conformed (Paterson, Book for every Land, p. i 14). He died in 1709.
Eric Benzel, the younger, was born 27th Jam 1675, and died archbishop of Upsala, in 1743. He wrote several works, but is chiefly known by the share he had in preparing the edition of the Gothic version of the Gospels issued by Lye.
This is a carefully executed edition, collated with the famous Codex Argenteus, preserved in the library at Upsala, of which Benzel for some years had the charge. Besides a valuable preface, Benzel fur nished a Latin version and critical notes. After his death, the publication of the work was under taken by Edward Lye, who added a Gothic gram mar and a few notes. It appeared with the follow ing title; Sacrorum Eva ngeliorum Versio Gothica ex Cod. Argent. emendata atque suppleta, cum interpretation Latina et annotationibus Erici Benzelii, etc. Edith, observations seas aayecit et Gram. Goth. pramisit, Edvardus Lye, A.M., Oxon. 175o. Until the edition of Zahn, Weis senfels 1805, this was the best edition of the Gothic Gospels ; it is still the most splendid.— W. L A.