GEDDES, ALEXANDER, LL.D., was born in 1737, at Arradowl, in the parish of Rnthven and county of Banff; Scotland. His parents, who were in humble circumstances, were enabled, by the kindness of the laird of the village, to glee their son a respectable education. After spending seven years at Scalars, a Roman Catholio seminary in the Highlands, he was removed at the age of twenty-one to the Scotch college in Paris, where he diligently studied theology, and made him self master of moat of the modern European language.. On his return to Scotland, he resided for some time in the house of the Earl of Traquaire ; and, after paying another visit to Paris, ho accepted, in 1769, the charge of a Catholic congregation at Auchinhalrig, in the county of Banff, where he remained for ten yearn, beloved by his people, and attentive to the duties of his station. He had resolved in the early years of his life to make a new translation of the Bible into the English language, for the use of the Roman Catholics, but pecu niary difficulties prevented him during his realdence at Auchinhalrig from obtaining the necessary books. On his removal to London, in 1779, he was introduced to Lord Petre, who warmly approved of hie purpose, and engaged to allow him 2001. a year for his life, and to pro cure for him all the works that he considered requisite. Thus encouraged, he published In 1780 a pamphlet, under the title of an ' Idea of a New Version of the Holy Bible, for the use of the English Catholics,' In which he proposed to make the Vulgate the basis of his new translation. This plan being afterwards abandoned, he resolved to make an entirely new translation from the Hebrew and Greek. In accomplishing this work, his fiat object was directed to obtaining an arourate text, and no labour was spared by this indefatigable scholar to render the translation as complete as possible. He consulted the most eminent biblical scholars of tho day, among whom were Dr. Kennicott, and Dr. Lowth, the bishop of London, who assisted him with their advice. The prospectus, which contained an account of his plan, was published in 1736; this was soon followed by a letter to the Bishop of London, containing Queries, doubts, and difficulties, relative to a vernacular versiou of the Holy Scriptures,' by a specimen of the work, and by a General Answer to the queries, counsels, and criticisms' which his prospectus and specimens had called forth. It was not however till'1792 that the first volume of the translation was published under the title of The Holy Bible, or the Books accounted Sacred by the Jews and Christians, otherwise called the Books of the Old and New Covenants, faithfully translated from corrected texts of the originals, with various readings, explanatory notes, and critical remarks;' the second, which contained the translation to the end of the historical books, appeared in 1793; and the third, which contained his critical remarks upon the Pentateuch, in 1800. The remainder of the work was never finished ; he was employed at the time of his death on a translation of the Psalms, which he had finished as far as the 118th Psalm, and which was published in 1807. He died at
London, on the 26th of February 1802, in the sixty-fifth year of his age.
In his commentary, Dr. Geddes maintained opinions very similar to those held by that class of divines in Germany denominated 'Rationalist,' and of whom Eichhorn and Paulus were the most cele brated in his day; and his translation was made in accordance with those opinions. He considered the writers of the Scriptures to have had the same degree of inspiration which has been granted to good men in all ages, and which, according to the common meaning attached to the word inspiration, amounts to none at all He disbelieved the divine mission of Moses, and asserted that "Moses only did what all other ancient legislators had done, required a greater or less degree of implicit obedience to their respective laws, and for that purpose feigned an intercourse with the Deity to make that obedience more palatable to the credulous multitude." He rejected the various miracles ascribed to him, or laboured to reduce them to the standard of natural phenomena. He explains the account the creation in the book of Genesis "as a most beautiful mythos or philosophical fiction, contrived with great wisdom, and dressed up in the garb of real history." These and similar opinions exposed the author to severe censure; and charges of infidelity, and of a desire to under mine the authority of the Scriptures, were widely circulated agaiust him. His own church was the first to condemn him ; a pastoral letter, signed by three out of four of the apostolical vicars of England, forbad the faithful from reading his translation ; and Dr. Geddes him. self was soon afterwards deposed by the apostolical vicar of the London district from the exercise of his duties as a priest. To vindi cate his character, Dr. Geddes published an Address to the Public on the publication of the first volume of his new translation of the Bible,' in which he most earnestly repelled the charge of iufidelity. His translation, which is for the most part plain and perspicuous, but unequal, was a valuable help to the acienco of biblical criticism in this country; and he had the consolation, In the midst of the virulence with which he was assailed in England, to know that such men as Paulus and Eichhorn appreciated his labours., In addition to his translation, Dr. Geddes published msny other works, most of which had only a temporary interest, as they were written on the politics of the day, or on some theological or literary dispute which has long since been settled. A complete catalogue of them is given in the beginning of Dr. Mason Good's Memoirs of the Life and Writings of tho Rev. Alexander Geddes, LL.D.,' published in 1803. (See Graves ' On the Pentateuch,' and the 4th, 14th, 19th, and 20th volumed of the 'British Critic,' old series, for a review of his theological opinions.)