The Revision Revised.

Three Articles

Reprinted From The “Quarterly Review.”

I. The New Greek Text.

II. The New English Version.

III. Westcott and Hort's New Textual Theory.

To Which is Added A

Reply to Bishop Ellicott's Pamphlet

In Defence Of

The Revisers and Their Greek Text of the New Testament:

Including a Vindication of the Traditional Reading of 1 Timothy III. 16.

By John William Burgon, B.D.

Dean of Chichester.

“Little children,—Keep yourselves from idols.”—1 John v. 21.

Dover Publications, Inc.

New York

1971

Contents

Dedication.

Preface.

Article I. The New Greek Text.

Article II. The New English Version.

Article III. Westcott And Hort's New Textual Theory.

Letter To Bishop Ellicott, In Reply To His Pamphlet.

Appendix Of Sacred Codices.

Index I, of Texts of Scripture,—quoted, discussed, or only referred to in this volume.

Index II, of Fathers.

Index III, Persons, Places, and Subjects.

Footnotes

[pg iv]

[Transcriber's Note: This book contains much Greek text, which will not be well-rendered in plain text versions of this E-book. Also, there is much use of Greek characters with a vertical bar across the tops of the letters to indicate abbreviations; because the coding system used in this e-book does not have such an “overline”, they are rendered here with underlines. It also contains some text in Syriac, which is written right-to-left; for the sake of different transcription methods, it is transcribed here in both right-to-left and left-to-rights, so that regardless of the medium of this E-book, one or the other should be readable.]

The following is Prebendary Scrivener's recently published estimate of the System on which Drs. Westcott and Hort have constructed their “Revised Greek Text of the New Testament” (1881).—That System, the Chairman of the Revising Body (Bishop Ellicott) has entirely adopted (see below, pp. 391 to 397), and made the basis of his Defence of The Revisers and their “New Greek Text.”

(1.) “There is little hope for the stability of their imposing structure, if its foundations have been laid on the sandy ground of ingenious conjecture. And, since barely the smallest vestige of historical evidence has ever been alleged in support of the views of these accomplished Editors, their teaching must either be received as intuitively true, or dismissed from our consideration as precarious and even visionary.”

(2.) “Dr. Hort's System is entirely destitute of historical foundation.”

(3.) “We are compelled to repeat as emphatically as ever our strong conviction that the Hypothesis to whose proof he has devoted so many laborious years, is destitute not only of historical foundation, but of all probability, resulting from the internal goodness of the Text which its adoption would force upon us.”

(4.) “ ‘We cannot doubt’ (says Dr. Hort) ‘that S. Luke xxiii. 34 comes from an extraneous source.’ [Notes, p. 68.]—Nor can we, on our part, doubt,” (rejoins Dr. Scrivener,) “that the System which entails such consequences is hopelessly self-condemned.”

Scrivener's “Plain Introduction,” &c. [ed. 1883]: pp. 531, 537, 542, 604.

[pg v]

Dedication.

To The
Right Hon. Viscount Cranbrook, G.C.S.I.,
&c., &c., &c.

My dear Lord Cranbrook,

Allow me the gratification of dedicating the present Volume to yourself; but for whom—(I reserve the explanation for another day)—it would never have been written.

This is not, (as you will perceive at a glance,) the Treatise which a few years ago I told you I had in hand; and which, but for the present hindrance, might by this time have been completed. It has however grown out of that other work in the manner explained at the beginning of my Preface. Moreover it contains not a few specimens of the argumentation of which the work in question, when at last it sees the light, will be discovered to be full.

My one object has been to defeat the mischievous attempt which was made in 1881 to thrust upon this Church and Realm a Revision of the Sacred Text, which—recommended though it be by eminent names—I am thoroughly convinced, and am able to prove, is untrustworthy from beginning to end.

[pg vi]

The reason is plain. It has been constructed throughout on an utterly erroneous hypothesis. And I inscribe this Volume to you, my friend, as a conspicuous member of that body of faithful and learned Laity by whose deliberate verdict, when the whole of the evidence has been produced and the case has been fully argued out, I shall be quite willing that my contention may stand or fall.

The English (as well as the Greek) of the newly “Revised Version” is hopelessly at fault. It is to me simply unintelligible how a company of Scholars can have spent ten years in elaborating such a very unsatisfactory production. Their uncouth phraseology and their jerky sentences, their pedantic obscurity and their unidiomatic English, contrast painfully with “the happy turns of expression, the music of the cadences, the felicities of the rhythm” of our Authorized Version. The transition from one to the other, as the Bishop of Lincoln remarks, is like exchanging a well-built carriage for a vehicle without springs, in which you get jolted to death on a newly-mended and rarely-traversed road. But the “Revised Version” is inaccurate as well; exhibits defective scholarship, I mean, in countless places.

It is, however, the systematic depravation of the underlying Greek which does so grievously offend me: for this is nothing else but a poisoning of the River of Life at its sacred source. Our Revisers, (with the best and purest intentions, no doubt,) stand convicted of having deliberately rejected the words of [pg vii] Inspiration in every page, and of having substituted for them fabricated Readings which the Church has long since refused to acknowledge, or else has rejected with abhorrence; and which only survive at this time in a little handful of documents of the most depraved type.

As Critics they have had abundant warning. Twelve years ago (1871) a volume appeared on the “last Twelve Verses of the Gospel according to S. Mark,”—of which the declared object was to vindicate those Verses against certain critical objectors, and to establish them by an exhaustive argumentative process. Up to this hour, for a very obvious reason, no answer to that volume has been attempted. And yet, at the end of ten years (1881),—not only in the Revised English but also in the volume which professes to exhibit the underlying Greek, (which at least is indefensible,)—the Revisers are observed to separate off those Twelve precious Verses from their context, in token that they are no part of the genuine Gospel. Such a deliberate preference of “mumpsimus” to “sumpsimus” is by no means calculated to conciliate favour, or even to win respect. The Revisers have in fact been the dupes of an ingenious Theorist, concerning whose extraordinary views you are invited to read what Dr. Scrivener has recently put forth. The words of the last-named writer (who is facile princeps in Textual Criticism) will be found facing the beginning of the present Dedication.

If, therefore, any do complain that I have sometimes hit my opponents rather hard, I take leave to point out that “to everything [pg viii] there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the sun”: “a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embracing”: a time for speaking smoothly, and a time for speaking sharply. And that when the words of Inspiration are seriously imperilled, as now they are, it is scarcely possible for one who is determined effectually to preserve the Deposit in its integrity, to hit either too straight or too hard. In handling certain recent utterances of Bishop Ellicott, I considered throughout that it was the “Textual Critic”—not the Successor of the Apostles,—with whom I had to do.

And thus I commend my Volume, the fruit of many years of incessant anxious toil, to your indulgence: requesting that you will receive it as a token of my sincere respect and admiration; and desiring to be remembered, my dear Lord Cranbrook, as

Your grateful and affectionate
Friend and Servant,
John W. Burgon.

Deanery, Chichester,
All Saints' Day., 1883.

[pg ix]

Preface.

The ensuing three Articles from the “Quarterly Review,”—(wrung out of me by the publication [May 17th, 1881] of the “Revision” of our “Authorized Version of the New Testament,”)—appear in their present form in compliance with an amount of continuous solicitation that they should be separately published, which it would have been alike unreasonable and ungracious to disregard. I was not prepared for it. It has caused me—as letter after letter has reached my hands—mixed feelings; has revived all my original disinclination and regret. For, gratified as I cannot but feel by the reception my labours have met with,—(and only the Author of my being knows what an amount of antecedent toil is represented by the ensuing pages,)—I yet deplore more heartily than I am able to express, the injustice done to the cause of Truth by handling the subject in this fragmentary way, and by exhibiting the evidence for what is most certainly true, in such a very incomplete form. A systematic Treatise is the indispensable condition for securing cordial assent to the view for which I mainly contend. The cogency of the argument lies entirely in the cumulative character of the proof. It requires to be demonstrated by induction from a large collection of particular instances, as well as by the complex exhibition of many converging lines of evidence, that the testimony of one small group of documents, or rather, of one particular manuscript,—(namely [pg x] the Vatican Codex b, which, for some unexplained reason, it is just now the fashion to regard with superstitious deference,)—is the reverse of trustworthy. Nothing in fact but a considerable Treatise will ever effectually break the yoke of that iron tyranny to which the excellent Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol and his colleagues have recently bowed their necks; and are now for imposing on all English-speaking men. In brief, if I were not, on the one hand, thoroughly convinced of the strength of my position,—(and I know it to be absolutely impregnable);—yet more, if on the other hand, I did not cherish entire confidence in the practical good sense and fairness of the English mind;—I could not have brought myself to come before the public in the unsystematic way which alone is possible in the pages of a Review. I must have waited, at all hazards, till I had finished “my Book.”

But then, delay would have been fatal. I saw plainly that unless a sharp blow was delivered immediately, the Citadel would be in the enemy's hands. I knew also that it was just possible to condense into 60 or 70 closely-printed pages what must logically prove fatal to the “Revision.” So I set to work; and during the long summer days of 1881 (June to September) the foremost of these three Articles was elaborated. When the October number of “the Quarterly” appeared, I comforted myself with the secret consciousness that enough was by this time on record, even had my life been suddenly brought to a close, to secure the ultimate rejection of the “Revision” of 1881. I knew that the “New Greek Text,” (and therefore the “New English Version”), [pg xi] had received its death-blow. It might for a few years drag out a maimed existence; eagerly defended by some,—timidly pleaded for by others. But such efforts could be of no avail. Its days were already numbered. The effect of more and yet more learned investigation,—of more elaborate and more extended inquiry,—must be to convince mankind more and yet more thoroughly that the principles on which it had been constructed were radically unsound. In the end, when partisanship had cooled down, and passion had evaporated, and prejudice had ceased to find an auditory, the “Revision” of 1881 must come to be universally regarded as—what it most certainly is,—the most astonishing, as well as the most calamitous literary blunder of the Age.

I. I pointed out that “the New Greek Text,”—which, in defiance of their instructions,¹ the Revisionists of “the Authorized English Version” had been so ill-advised as to spend ten years in elaborating,—was a wholly untrustworthy performance: was full of the gravest errors from beginning to end: had been constructed throughout on an entirely mistaken Theory. Availing myself of the published confession of one of the Revisionists,² I explained the nature of the calamity which had befallen the Revision. I traced the mischief home to its true authors,—Drs. Westcott and Hort; a copy of whose unpublished Text of the N. T. (the most vicious in existence) had been confidentially, and under pledges of the strictest secrecy, placed in the hands of every [pg xii] member of the revising Body.³ I called attention to the fact that, unacquainted with the difficult and delicate science of Textual Criticism, the Revisionists had, in an evil hour, surrendered themselves to Dr. Hort's guidance: had preferred his counsels to those of Prebendary Scrivener, (an infinitely more trustworthy guide): and that the work before the public was the piteous—but inevitable—result. All this I explained in the October number of the “Quarterly Review” for 1881.4

II. In thus demonstrating the worthlessness of the “New Greek Text” of the Revisionists, I considered that I had destroyed the key of their position. And so perforce I had: for if the underlying Greek Text be mistaken, what else but incorrect must the English Translation be? But on examining the so-called “Revision of the Authorized Version,” I speedily made the further discovery that the Revised English would have been in itself intolerable, even had the Greek been let alone. In the first place, to my surprise and annoyance, it proved to be a New Translation (rather than a Revision of the Old) which had been attempted. Painfully apparent were the tokens which met me on every side that the Revisionists had been supremely eager not so much to correct none but “plain and clear errors,”—as to introduce as many changes into the English of the New Testament Scriptures as they conveniently could.⁵ A skittish impatience of the admirable work before them, and a strange inability [pg xiii] to appreciate its manifold excellences:—a singular imagination on the part of the promiscuous Company which met in the Jerusalem Chamber that they were competent to improve the Authorized Version in every part, and an unaccountable forgetfulness that the fundamental condition under which the task of Revision had been by themselves undertaken, was that they should abstain from all but “necessary” changes:—this proved to be only part of the offence which the Revisionists had committed. It was found that they had erred through defective Scholarship to an extent, and with a frequency, which to me is simply inexplicable. I accordingly made it my business to demonstrate all this in a second Article which appeared in the next (the January) number of the “Quarterly Review,” and was entitled “The New English Translation.”⁶

III. Thereupon, a pretence was set up in many quarters, (but only by the Revisionists and their friends,) that all my labour hitherto had been thrown away, because I had omitted to disprove the principles on which this “New Greek Text” is founded. I flattered myself indeed that quite enough had been said to make it logically certain that the underlying “Textual Theory” must be worthless. But I was not suffered to cherish this conviction in quiet. It was again and again cast in my teeth that I had not yet grappled with Drs. Westcott and Hort's “arguments.” “Instead of condemning their Text, why do you not disprove their Theory?” It was tauntingly insinuated that I knew better than to cross swords [pg xiv] with the two Cambridge Professors. This reduced me to the necessity of either leaving it to be inferred from my silence that I had found Drs. Westcott and Hort's “arguments” unanswerable; or else of coming forward with their book in my hand, and demonstrating that in their solemn pages an attentive reader finds himself encountered by nothing but a series of unsupported assumptions: that their (so called) “Theory” is in reality nothing else but a weak effort of the Imagination: that the tissue which these accomplished scholars have been thirty years in elaborating, proves on inspection to be as flimsy and as worthless as any spider's web.

I made it my business in consequence to expose, somewhat in detail, (in a third Article, which appeared in the “Quarterly Review” for April 1882), the absolute absurdity,—(I use the word advisedly)—of “Westcott and Hort's New Textual Theory;”⁷ and I now respectfully commend those 130 pages to the attention of candid and unprejudiced readers. It were idle to expect to convince any others. We have it on good authority (Dr. Westcott's) that “he who has long pondered over a train of Reasoning, becomes unable to detect its weak points.”⁸ A yet stranger phenomenon is, that those who have once committed themselves to an erroneous Theory, seem to be incapable of opening their eyes to the untrustworthiness of the fabric they have erected, even when it comes down in their sight, like a child's house built with playing-cards,—and presents to every eye but their own the appearance of a shapeless ruin.

[pg xv]

§ 1. Two full years have elapsed since the first of these Essays was published; and my Criticism—for the best of reasons—remains to this hour unanswered. The public has been assured indeed, (in the course of some hysterical remarks by Canon Farrar⁹), that “the ‘Quarterly Reviewer’ can be refuted as fully as he desires as soon as any scholar has the leisure to answer him.” The “Quarterly Reviewer” can afford to wait,—if the Revisers can. But they are reminded that it is no answer to one who has demolished their master's “Theory,” for the pupils to keep on reproducing fragments of it; and by their mistakes and exaggerations, to make both themselves and him, ridiculous.

[pg xvi]

§ 2. Thus, a writer in the “Church Quarterly” for January 1882, (whose knowledge of the subject is entirely derived from what Dr. Hort has taught him,)—being evidently much exercised by the first of my three Articles in the “Quarterly Review,”—gravely informs the public that “it is useless to parade such an array of venerable witnesses,” (meaning the enumerations of Fathers of the iiird, ivth, and vth centuries which are given below, at pp. 42-4: 80-1: 84: 133: 212-3: 359-60: 421: 423: 486-90:)—“for they have absolutely nothing to say which deserves a moment's hearing.”¹⁰—What a pity it is, (while he was about it), that the learned gentleman did not go on to explain that the moon is made of green cheese!

§ 3. Dr. Sanday,¹¹ in a kindred spirit, delivers it as his opinion, that “the one thing” I lack “is a grasp on the central condition of the problem:”—that I do “not seem to have the faintest glimmering of the principle of ‘Genealogy:’ ”—that I am “all at sea:”—that my “heaviest batteries are discharged at random:”—and a great deal more to the same effect. The learned Professor is quite welcome to think such things of me, if he pleases. Οὐ φροντὶς Ἱπποκλείδῃ.

§ 4. At the end of a year, a Reviewer of quite a different calibre made his appearance in the January number (1883) of the “Church Quarterly:” in return for whose not very [pg xvii] encouraging estimate of my labours, I gladly record my conviction that if he will seriously apply his powerful and accurate mind to the department of Textual Criticism, he will probably produce a work which will help materially to establish the study in which he takes such an intelligent interest, on a scientific basis. But then, he is invited to accept the friendly assurance that the indispensable condition of success in this department is, that a man should give to the subject, (which is a very intricate one and abounds in unexplored problems), his undivided attention for an extended period. I trust there is nothing unreasonable in the suggestion that one who has not done this, should be very circumspect when he sits in judgment on a neighbour of his who, for very many years past, has given to Textual Criticism the whole of his time;—has freely sacrificed health, ease, relaxation, even necessary rest, to this one object;—has made it his one business to acquire such an independent mastery of the subject as shall qualify him to do battle successfully for the imperilled letter of God's Word. My friend however thinks differently. He says of me,—

“In his first Article there was something amusing in the simplicity with which ‘Lloyd's Greek Testament’ (which is only a convenient little Oxford edition of the ordinary kind) was put forth as the final standard of appeal. It recalled to our recollection Bentley's sarcasm upon the text of Stephanus, which ‘your learned Whitbyus’ takes for the sacred original in every syllable.” (P. 354.)

§ 5. On referring to the passage where my “simplicity” has afforded amusement to a friend whose brilliant conversation is always a delight to me, I read as follows,—

[pg xviii]

“It is discovered that in the 111 (out of 320) pages of a copy of Lloyd's Greek Testament, in which alone these five manuscripts are collectively available for comparison in the Gospels,—the serious deflections of a from the Textus Receptus amount in all to only 842: whereas in c they amount to 1798: in b, to 2370: in א, to 3392: in d, to 4697. The readings peculiar to a within the same limits are 133: those peculiar to c are 170. But those of b amount to 197: while א exhibits 443: and the readings peculiar to d (within the same limits), are no fewer than 1829.... We submit that these facts are not altogether calculated to inspire confidence in codices b א c d.”¹²

§ 6. But how (let me ask) does it appear from this, that I have “put forth Lloyd's Greek Testament as the final standard of Appeal”? True, that, in order to exhibit clearly their respective divergences, I have referred five famous codices (a b א c d)—certain of which are found to have turned the brain of Critics of the new school—to one and the same familiar exhibition of the commonly received Text of the New Testament: but by so doing I have not by any means assumed the Textual purity of that common standard. In other words I have not made it “the final standard of Appeal.” All Critics,—wherever found,—at all times, have collated with the commonly received Text: but only as the most convenient standard of Comparison; not, surely, as the [pg xix] absolute standard of Excellence. The result of the experiment already referred to,—(and, I beg to say, it was an exceedingly laborious experiment,)—has been, to demonstrate that the five Manuscripts in question stand apart from one another in the following proportions:—

842 (a) : 1798 (c) : 2370 (b) : 3392 (א) : 4697 (d).

But would not the same result have been obtained if the “five old uncials” had been referred to any other common standard which can be named? In the meantime, what else is the inevitable inference from this phenomenon but that four out of the five must be—while all the five may be—outrageously depraved documents? instead of being fit to be made our exclusive guides to the Truth of Scripture,—as Critics of the school of Tischendorf and Tregelles would have us believe that they are?

§ 7. I cited a book which is in the hands of every schoolboy, (Lloyd's “Greek Testament,”) only in order to facilitate reference, and to make sure that my statements would be at once understood by the least learned person who could be supposed to have access to the “Quarterly.” I presumed every scholar to be aware that Bp. Lloyd (1827) professes to reproduce Mill's text; and that Mill (1707) reproduces the text of Stephens;¹³ and that Stephens (1550) exhibits with sufficient accuracy the Traditional text,—which is confessedly [pg xx] at least 1530 years old.¹⁴ Now, if a tolerable approximation to the text of a.d. 350 may not be accepted as a standard of Comparison,—will the writer in the “Church Quarterly” be so obliging as to inform us which exhibition of the sacred Text may?

§ 8. A pamphlet by the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol,¹⁵ which appeared in April 1882, remains to be considered. Written expressly in defence of the Revisers and their New Greek Text, this composition displays a slenderness of acquaintance with the subject now under discussion, for which I was little prepared. Inasmuch however as it is the production of the Chairman of the Revisionist body, and professes to be a reply to my first two Articles, I have bestowed upon it an elaborate and particular rejoinder extending to an hundred-and-fifty pages.¹⁶ I shall in consequence be very brief concerning it in this place.

§ 9. The respected writer does nothing else but reproduce Westcott and Hort's theory in Westcott and Hort's words. He contributes nothing of his own. The singular infelicity which attended his complaint that the “Quarterly Reviewer” “censures their [Westcott and Hort's] Text,” but, “has not attempted a serious examination of the arguments which they allege in its support,” I have sufficiently dwelt upon elsewhere.¹⁷ The rest of the Bishop's contention may be summed [pg xxi] up in two propositions:—The first, (I.) That if the Revisionists are wrong in their “New Greek Text,” then (not only Westcott and Hort, but) Lachmann, Tischendorf and Tregelles must be wrong also,—a statement which I hold to be incontrovertible.—The Bishop's other position is also undeniable: viz. (II.) That in order to pass an equitable judgment on ancient documents, they are to be carefully studied, closely compared, and tested by a more scientific process than rough comparison with the Textus Receptus.¹⁸... Thus, on both heads, I find myself entirely at one with Bp. Ellicott.

§ 10. And yet,—as the last 150 pages of the present volume show,—I have the misfortune to be at issue with the learned writer on almost every particular which he proposes for discussion. Thus,

§ 11. At page 64 of his pamphlet, he fastens resolutely upon the famous problem whether “God” (Θεός), or “who” (ὅς), is to be read in 1 Timothy iii. 16. I had upheld the former reading in eight pages. He contends for the latter, with something like acrimony, in twelve.¹⁹ I have been at the pains, in consequence, to write a “Dissertation” of seventy-six pages on this important subject,²⁰—the preparation of which (may I be allowed to record the circumstance in passing?) occupied me closely for six months,²¹ and taxed me severely. Thus, the only point which Bishop Ellicott has condescended to discuss argumentatively with me, will be found to enjoy full half of my letter to him in reply.

[pg xxii]

The “Dissertation” referred to, I submit with humble confidence to the judgment of educated Englishmen. It requires no learning to understand the case. And I have particularly to request that those who will be at the pains to look into this question, will remember,—(1) That the place of Scripture discussed (viz. 1 Tim. iii. 16) was deliberately selected for a trial of strength by the Bishop: (I should not have chosen it myself):—(2) That on the issue of the contention which he has thus himself invited, we have respectively staked our critical reputation. The discussion exhibits very fairly our two methods,—his and mine; and “is of great importance as an example,” “illustrating in a striking manner” our respective positions,—as the Bishop himself has been careful to remind his readers.²²

§ 12. One merely desirous of taking a general survey of this question, is invited to read from page 485 to 496 of the present volume. To understand the case thoroughly, he must submit to the labour of beginning at p. 424 and reading down to p. 501.

§ 13. A thoughtful person who has been at the pains to do this, will be apt on laying down the book to ask,—“But is it not very remarkable that so many as five of the ancient Versions should favour the reading ‘which,’ (μυστήριον; ὃ ἐφανερώθη,) instead of ‘God’ (Θεός)”?—“Yes, it is very remarkable,” I answer. “For though the Old Latin and the two Egyptian Versions are constantly observed to conspire [pg xxiii] in error, they rarely find allies in the Peschito and the Æthiopic. On the other hand, you are to remember that besides Versions, the Fathers have to be inquired after: while more important than either is the testimony of the Copies. Now, the combined witness to ‘God’ (Θεός),—so multitudinous, so respectable, so varied, so unequivocal,—of the Copies and of the Fathers (in addition to three of the Versions) is simply overwhelming. It becomes undeniable that Θεός is by far the best supported reading of the present place.”

§ 14. When, however, such an one as Tischendorf or Tregelles,—Hort or Ellicott,—would put me down by reminding me that half-a-dozen of the oldest Versions are against me,—“That argument” (I reply) “is not allowable on your lips. For if the united testimony of five of the Versions really be, in your account, decisive,—Why do you deny the genuineness of the last Twelve Verses of S. Mark's Gospel, which are recognized by every one of the Versions? Those Verses are besides attested by every known Copy, except two of bad character: by a mighty chorus of Fathers: by the unfaltering Tradition of the Church universal. First remove from S. Mark xvi. 20, your brand of suspicion, and then come back to me in order that we may discuss together how 1 Tim. iii. 16 is to be read. And yet, when you come back, it must not be to plead in favour of ‘who’ (ὅσ), in place of ‘God’ (Θεός). For not ‘who’ (ὅς), remember, but ‘which’ (ὅ) is the reading advocated by those five earliest Versions.” ... In other words,—the reading of 1 Tim. iii. 16, which the Revisers have adopted, enjoys, (as I have shown from page 428 to page 501), the feeblest attestation of any; besides [pg xxiv] being condemned by internal considerations and the universal Tradition of the Eastern Church.

§ 15. I pass on, after modestly asking,—Is it too much to hope, (I covet no other guerdon for my labour!) that we shall hear no more about substituting “who” for “God” in 1 Tim. iii. 16? We may not go on disputing for ever: and surely, until men are able to produce some more cogent evidence than has yet come to light in support of “the mystery of godliness, who” (τὸ τῆς εὐσβείας μυστήριον: ὅς),—all sincere inquirers after Truth are bound to accept that reading which has been demonstrated to be by far the best attested. Enough however on this head.

§ 16. It was said just now that I cordially concur with Bp. Ellicott in the second of his two propositions,—viz. That “no equitable judgment can be passed on ancient documents until they are carefully studied, and closely compared with each other, and tested by a more scientific process than rough comparison with” the Textus Receptus. I wish to add a few words on this subject: the rather, because what I am about to say will be found as applicable to my Reviewer in the “Church Quarterly” as to the Bishop. Both have misapprehended this matter, and in exactly the same way. Where such accomplished Scholars have erred, what wonder if ordinary readers should find themselves all a-field?

§ 17. In Textual Criticism then, “rough comparison” can seldom, if ever, be of any real use. On the other hand, the exact Collation of documents whether ancient or modern with [pg xxv] the received Text, is the necessary foundation of all scientific Criticism. I employ that Text,—(as Mill, Bentley, Wetstein; Griesbach, Matthæi, Scholz; Tischendorf, Tregelles, Scrivener, employed it before me,)—not as a criterion of Excellence, but as a standard of Comparison. All this will be found fully explained below, from page 383 to page 391. Whenever I would judge of the authenticity of any particular reading, I insist on bringing it, wherever found,—whether in Justin Martyr and Irenæus, on the one hand; or in Stephens and Elzevir, on the other;—to the test of Catholic Antiquity. If that witness is consentient, or very nearly so, whether for or against any given reading, I hold it to be decisive. To no other system of arbitration will I submit myself. I decline to recognise any other criterion of Truth.

§ 18. What compels me to repeat this so often, is the impatient self-sufficiency of these last days, which is for breaking away from the old restraints; and for erecting the individual conscience into an authority from which there shall be no appeal. I know but too well how laborious is the scientific method which I advocate. A long summer day disappears, while the student—with all his appliances about him—is resolutely threshing out some minute textual problem. Another, and yet another bright day vanishes. Comes Saturday evening at last, and a page of illegible manuscript is all that he has to show for a week's heavy toil. Quousque tandem? And yet, it is the indispensable condition of progress in an unexplored region, that a few should thus labour, until a path has been cut through the forest,—a road laid down,—huts built,—a modus vivendi established. In this department [pg xxvi] of sacred Science, men have been going on too long inventing their facts, and delivering themselves of oracular decrees, on the sole responsibility of their own inner consciousness. There is great convenience in such a method certainly,—a charming simplicity which is in a high degree attractive to flesh and blood. It dispenses with proof. It furnishes no evidence. It asserts when it ought to argue.²³ It reiterates when it is called upon to explain.²⁴ “I am sir Oracle.” ... This,—which I venture to style the unscientific method,—reached its culminating point when Professors Westcott and Hort recently put forth their Recension of the Greek Text. Their work is indeed quite a psychological curiosity. Incomprehensible to me is it how two able men of disciplined understandings can have seriously put forth the volume which they call “Introduction—Appendix.” It is the very Reductio ad absurdum of the uncritical method of the last fifty years. And it is especially in opposition to this new method of theirs that I so strenuously insist that the consentient voice of Catholic Antiquity is to be diligently inquired after and submissively listened to; for that this, in the end, will prove our only safe guide.

§ 19. Let this be a sufficient reply to my Reviewer in the “Church Quarterly”—who, I observe, notes, as a fundamental defect in my Articles, “the want of a consistent working Theory, such as would enable us to weigh, as well as count, the suffrages of MSS., Versions, and Fathers.”²⁵ He is reminded that it was no part of my business to propound a [pg xxvii] “Theory.” My method I have explained often and fully enough. My business was to prove that the theory of Drs. Westcott and Hort,—which (as Bp. Ellicott's pamphlet proves) has been mainly adopted by the Revisionists,—is not only a worthless, but an utterly absurd one. And I have proved it. The method I persistently advocate in every case of a supposed doubtful Reading, (I say it for the last time, and request that I may be no more misrepresented,) is, that an appeal shall be unreservedly made to Catholic Antiquity; and that the combined verdict of Manuscripts, Versions, Fathers, shall be regarded as decisive.

§ 20. I find myself, in the mean time, met by the scoffs, jeers, misrepresentations of the disciples of this new School; who, instead of producing historical facts and intelligible arguments, appeal to the decrees of their teachers,—which I disallow, and which they are unable to substantiate. They delight in announcing that Textual Criticism made “a fresh departure” with the edition of Drs. Westcott and Hort: that the work of those scholars “marks an era,” and is spoken of in Germany as “epoch-making.” My own belief is, that the Edition in question, if it be epoch-making at all, marks that epoch at which the current of critical thought, reversing its wayward course, began once more to flow in its ancient healthy channel. “Cloud-land” having been duly sighted on the 14th September 1881,26 “a fresh departure” was insisted upon by public opinion,—and a deliberate return was made,—to terra firma, and terra cognita, and common sense. So [pg xxviii] far from “its paramount claim to the respect of future generations,” being “the restitution of a more ancient and a purer Text,”—I venture to predict that the edition of the two Cambridge Professors will be hereafter remembered as indicating the furthest point ever reached by the self-evolved imaginations of English disciples of the school of Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles. The recoil promises to be complete. English good sense is ever observed to prevail in the long run; although for a few years a foreign fashion may acquire the ascendant, and beguile a few unstable wits.

§ 21. It only remains to state that in republishing these Essays I have availed myself of the opportunity to make several corrections and additions; as well as here and there to expand what before had been too briefly delivered. My learned friend and kind neighbour, the Rev. R. Cowley Powles, has ably helped me to correct the sheets. Much valuable assistance has been zealously rendered me throughout by my nephew, the Rev. William F. Rose, Vicar of Worle, Somersetshire. But the unwearied patience and consummate skill of my Secretary (M. W.) passes praise. Every syllable of the present volume has been transcribed by her for the press; and to her I am indebted for two of my Indices.—The obligations under which many learned men, both at home and abroad, have laid me, will be found faithfully acknowledged, in the proper place, at the foot of the page. I am sincerely grateful to them all.

§ 22. It will be readily believed that I have been sorely tempted to recast the whole and to strengthen my position [pg xxix] in every part: but then, the work would have no longer been,—“Three Articles reprinted from the Quarterly Review.” Earnestly have I desired, for many years past, to produce a systematic Treatise on this great subject. My aspiration all along has been, and still is, in place of the absolute Empiricism which has hitherto prevailed in Textual inquiry to exhibit the logical outlines of what, I am persuaded, is destined to become a truly delightful Science. But I more than long,—I fairly ache to have done with Controversy, and to be free to devote myself to the work of Interpretation. My apology for bestowing so large a portion of my time on Textual Criticism, is David's when he was reproached by his brethren for appearing on the field of battle,—“Is there not a cause?”

§ 23. For,—let it clearly be noted,—it is no longer the case that critical doubts concerning the sacred Text are confined to critical Editions of the Greek. So long as scholars were content to ventilate their crotchets in a little arena of their own,—however mistaken they might be, and even though they changed their opinions once in every ten years,—no great harm was likely to come of it. Students of the Greek Testament were sure to have their attention called to the subject,—which must always be in the highest degree desirable; and it was to be expected that in this, as in every other department of learning, the progress of Inquiry would result in gradual accessions of certain Knowledge. After many years it might be found practicable to put forth by authority a carefully considered Revision of the commonly received Greek Text.

[pg xxx]

§ 24. But instead of all this, a Revision of the English Authorised Version having been sanctioned by the Convocation of the Southern Province in 1871, the opportunity was eagerly snatched at by two irresponsible scholars of the University of Cambridge for obtaining the general sanction of the Revising body, and thus indirectly of Convocation, for a private venture of their own,—their own privately devised Revision of the Greek Text. On that Greek Text of theirs, (which I hold to be the most depraved which has ever appeared in print), with some slight modifications, our Authorised English Version has been silently revised: silently, I say, for in the margin of the English no record is preserved of the underlying Textual changes which have been introduced by the Revisionists. On the contrary. Use has been made of that margin to insinuate suspicion and distrust in countless particulars as to the authenticity of the Text which has been suffered to remain unaltered. In the meantime, the country has been flooded with two editions of the New Greek Text; and thus the door has been set wide open for universal mistrust of the Truth of Scripture to enter.

§ 25. Even schoolboys, it seems, are to have these crude views thrust upon them. Witness the “Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools,” edited by Dean Perowne,—who informs us at the outset that “the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press have not thought it desirable to reprint the text in common use.” A consensus of Drs. Tischendorf and Tregelles,—who confessedly employed the self-same mistaken major premiss in remodelling the Sacred Text,—seems, in a general way, to represent those Syndics' notion of Textual [pg xxxi] purity. By this means every most serious deformity in the edition of Drs. Westcott and Hort, becomes promoted to honour, and is being thrust on the unsuspecting youth of England as the genuine utterance of the Holy Ghost. Would it not have been the fairer, the more faithful as well as the more judicious course,—seeing that in respect of this abstruse and important question adhuc sub judice lis est,—to wait patiently awhile? Certainly not to snatch an opportunity “while men slept,” and in this way indirectly to prejudge the solemn issue! Not by such methods is the cause of God's Truth on earth to be promoted. Even this however is not all. Bishop Lightfoot has been informed that “the Bible Society has permitted its Translators to adopt the Text of the Revised Version where it commends itself to their judgment.”²⁷ In other words, persons wholly unacquainted with the dangers which beset this delicate and difficult problem are invited to determine, by the light of Nature and on the “solvere ambulando” principle, what is inspired Scripture, what not: and as a necessary consequence are encouraged to disseminate in heathen lands Readings which, a few years hence,—(so at least I venture to predict,)—will be universally recognized as worthless.

§ 26. If all this does not constitute a valid reason for descending into the arena of controversy, it would in my judgment be impossible to indicate an occasion when the Christian soldier is called upon to do so:—the rather, because certain of those who, from their rank and station in the [pg xxxii] Church, ought to be the champions of the Truth, are at this time found to be among its most vigorous assailants.

§ 27. Let me,—(and with this I conclude),—in giving the present Volume to the world, be allowed to request that it may be accepted as a sample of how Deans employ their time,—the use they make of their opportunities. Nowhere but under the shadow of a Cathedral, (or in a College,) can such laborious endeavours as the present pro Ecclesiâ Dei be successfully prosecuted.

J. W. B.

Deanery, Chichester,
All Saints' Day, 1883.

[pg 001]

Article I. The New Greek Text.

“One question in connexion with the Authorized Version I have purposely neglected. It seemed useless to discuss its Revision. The Revision of the original Texts must precede the Revision of the Translation: and the time for this, even in the New Testament, has not yet fully come.”—Dr. Westcott.²⁸

“It is my honest conviction that for any authoritative Revision, we are not yet mature; either in Biblical learning or Hellenistic scholarship. There is good scholarship in this country, ... but it has certainly not yet been sufficiently directed to the study of the New Testament ... to render any national attempt at Revision either hopeful or lastingly profitable.”—Bishop Ellicott.²⁹

“I am persuaded that a Revision ought to come: I am convinced that it will come. Not however, I would trust, as yet; for we are not as yet in any respect prepared for it. The Greek and the English which should enable us to bring this to a successful end, might, it is feared, be wanting alike.”—Archbishop Trench.³⁰

“It is happened unto them according to the true proverb, Κύων ἐπιστρέψας ἐπὶ τὸ ἴδιον ἐξέραμα; and Ὕς λουσαμένη εἰς κύλισμα βορβόρου.”—2 Peter ii. 22.

“Little children,—Keep yourselves from idols.”—1 John v. 21.

At a period of extraordinary intellectual activity like the present, it can occasion no surprise—although it may reasonably create anxiety—if the most sacred and cherished of our Institutions are constrained each in turn to submit to the ordeal of hostile scrutiny; sometimes even to bear the brunt of actual attack. When however at last the very citadel of revealed Truth is observed to have been reached, and to be undergoing systematic assault and battery, lookers-on may be excused if they show themselves more than usually solicitous, “ne quid detrimenti Civitas DEI capiat.” A Revision of the Authorized Version of the New Testament,³¹ purporting to have been executed by authority of the Convocation of the Southern Province, and declaring itself the exclusive property of our two ancient Universities, has recently (17th May, 1881) appeared; of which the essential feature proves to be, that it is founded on an [pg 002] entirely New Recension of the Greek Text.³² A claim is at the same time set up on behalf of the last-named production that it exhibits a closer approximation to the inspired Autographs than the world has hitherto seen. Not unreasonable therefore is the expectation entertained by its Authors that the “New English Version” founded on this “New Greek Text” is destined to supersede the “Authorized Version” of 1611. Quæ cum ita sint, it is clearly high time that every faithful man among us should bestir himself: and in particular that such as have made Greek Textual Criticism in any degree their study should address themselves to the investigation of the claims of this, the latest product of the combined Biblical learning of the Church and of the sects.

For it must be plain to all, that the issue which has been thus at last raised, is of the most serious character. The Authors of this new Revision of the Greek have either entitled themselves to the Church's profound reverence and abiding gratitude; or else they have laid themselves open to her gravest censure, and must experience at her hands nothing short of stern and well-merited rebuke. No middle course presents itself; since assuredly to construct a new Greek Text formed no part of the Instructions which the Revisionists received at the hands of the Convocation of the Southern Province. Rather were they warned against venturing on such an experiment; the fundamental principle of the entire undertaking having been declared at the outset to be—That [pg 003] “a Revision of the Authorized Version” is desirable; and the terms of the original Resolution of Feb. 10th, 1870, being, that the removal of “plain and clear errors” was alone contemplated,—“whether in the Greek Text originally adopted by the Translators, or in the Translation made from the same.” Such were in fact the limits formally imposed by Convocation, (10th Feb. and 3rd, 5th May, 1870,) on the work of Revision. Only necessary changes were to be made. The first Rule of the Committee (25th May) was similar in character: viz.—“To introduce as few alterations as possible into the Text of the Authorized Version, consistently with faithfulness.”

But further, we were reconciled to the prospect of a Revised Greek Text, by noting that a limit was prescribed to the amount of licence which could by possibility result, by the insertion of a proviso, which however is now discovered to have been entirely disregarded by the Revisionists. The condition was enjoined upon them that whenever “decidedly preponderating evidence” constrained their adoption of some change in “the Text from which the Authorized Version was made,” they should indicate such alteration in the margin. Will it be believed that, this notwithstanding, not one of the many alterations which have been introduced into the original Text is so commemorated? On the contrary: singular to relate, the Margin is disfigured throughout with ominous hints that, had “Some ancient authorities,” “Many ancient authorities,” “Many very ancient authorities,” been attended to, a vast many more changes might, could, would, or should have been introduced into the Greek Text than have been actually adopted. And yet, this is precisely the kind of record which we ought to have been spared:—

(1) First,—Because it was plainly external to the province of the Revisionists to introduce any such details into their margin at all: their very function being, on the contrary, to [pg 004] investigate Textual questions in conclave, and to present the ordinary Reader with the result of their deliberations. Their business was to correct “plain and clear errors;” not, certainly, to invent a fresh crop of unheard-of doubts and difficulties. This first.—Now,

(2) That a diversity of opinion would sometimes be found to exist in the revising body was to have been expected, but when once two-thirds of their number had finally “settled” any question, it is plainly unreasonable that the discomfited minority should claim the privilege of evermore parading their grievance before the public; and in effect should be allowed to represent that as a corporate doubt, which was in reality the result of individual idiosyncrasy. It is not reasonable that the echoes of a forgotten strife should be thus prolonged for ever; least of all in the margin of “the Gospel of peace.”

(3) In fact, the privilege of figuring in the margin of the N. T., (instead of standing in the Text,) is even attended by a fatal result: for, (as Bp. Ellicott remarks,) “the judgment commonly entertained in reference to our present margin,” (i.e. the margin of the A. V.) is, that its contents are “exegetically or critically superior to the Text.”³³ It will certainly be long before this popular estimate is unconditionally abandoned. But,

(4) Especially do we deprecate the introduction into the margin of all this strange lore, because we insist on behalf of unlearned persons that they ought not to be molested with information which cannot, by possibility, be of the slightest service to them: with vague statements about “ancient authorities,”—of the importance, or unimportance, of which they know absolutely nothing, nor indeed ever can know. Unlearned readers on taking the Revision into their hands, (i.e. at least 999 readers out of 1000,) will never be [pg 005] aware whether these (so-called) “Various Readings” are to be scornfully scouted, as nothing else but ancient perversions of the Truth; or else are to be lovingly cherished, as “alternative” [see the Revisers' Preface (iii. 1.)] exhibitions of the inspired Verity,—to their own abiding perplexity and infinite distress.

Undeniable at all events it is, that the effect which these ever-recurring announcements produce on the devout reader of Scripture is the reverse of edifying: is never helpful: is always bewildering. A man of ordinary acuteness can but exclaim,—“Yes, very likely. But what of it? My eye happens to alight on ‘Bethesda’ (in S. John v. 2); against which I find in the margin,—‘Some ancient authorities read Bethsaida, others Bethzatha.’ Am I then to understand that in the judgment of the Revisionists it is uncertain which of those three names is right?”... Not so the expert, who is overheard to moralize concerning the phenomena of the case after a less ceremonious fashion:—“ ‘Bethsaida’! Yes, the old Latin³⁴ and the Vulgate,³⁵ countenanced by one manuscript of bad character, so reads. ‘Bethzatha’! Yes, the blunder is found in two manuscripts, both of bad character. Why do you not go on to tell us that another manuscript exhibits ‘Belzetha’?—another (supported by Eusebius³⁶ and [in one place] by Cyril³⁷), ‘Bezatha’? Nay, why not say plainly that there are found to exist upwards of thirty blundering representations of this same word; but that ‘Bethesda’—(the reading of sixteen uncials and the whole body of the cursives, besides the Peschito and Cureton's Syriac, the Armenian, Georgian and Slavonic Versions,—Didymus,³⁸ Chrysostom,³⁹ and Cyril⁴⁰),—is the only reasonable way of exhibiting it? To [pg 006] speak plainly, Why encumber your margin with such a note at all?”... But we are moving forward too fast.

It can never be any question among scholars, that a fatal error was committed when a body of Divines, appointed to revise the Authorized English Version of the New Testament Scriptures, addressed themselves to the solution of an entirely different and far more intricate problem, namely the re-construction of the Greek Text. We are content to pass over much that is distressing in the antecedent history of their enterprise. We forbear at this time of day to investigate, by an appeal to documents and dates, certain proceedings in and out of Convocation, on which it is known that the gravest diversity of sentiment still prevails among Churchmen.⁴¹ This we do, not by any means as ourselves “halting between two opinions,” but only as sincerely desirous that the work before us may stand or fall, judged by its own intrinsic merits. Whether or no Convocation,—when it “nominated certain of its own members to undertake the work of Revision,” and authorized them “to refer when they considered it desirable to Divines, Scholars, and Literary men, at home or abroad, for their opinion;”—whether Convocation intended thereby to sanction the actual co-optation into the Company appointed by themselves, of members of the Presbyterian, the Wesleyan, the Baptist, the Congregationalist, the Socinian body; this we venture to think may fairly be doubted.—Whether again Convocation can have foreseen that of the ninety-nine Scholars in all who have taken part in this work of Revision, only forty-nine would be Churchmen, while the remaining fifty would belong to the sects:42—this also we [pg 007] venture to think may be reasonably called in question.—Whether lastly, the Canterbury Convocation, had it been appealed to with reference to “the Westminster-Abbey scandal” (June 22nd, 1870), would not have cleared itself of the suspicion of complicity, by an unequivocal resolution,—we entertain no manner of doubt.—But we decline to enter upon these, or any other like matters. Our business is exclusively with the result at which the Revisionists of the New Testament have arrived: and it is to this that we now address ourselves; with the mere avowal of our grave anxiety at the spectacle of an assembly of scholars, appointed to revise an English Translation, finding themselves called upon, as every fresh difficulty emerged, to develop the skill requisite for critically revising the original Greek Text. What else is implied by the very endeavour, but a singular expectation that experts in one Science may, at a moment's notice, show themselves proficients in another,—and that one of the most difficult and delicate imaginable?

Enough has been said to make it plain why, in the ensuing pages, we propose to pursue a different course from that which has been adopted by Reviewers generally, since the memorable day (May 17th, 1881) when the work of the Revisionists was for the first time submitted to public scrutiny. The one point which, with rare exceptions, has ever since monopolized attention, has been the merits or demerits of their English rendering of certain Greek words and expressions. But there is clearly a question of prior interest and infinitely greater importance, which has to be settled first: namely, the merits or demerits of the changes which the same Scholars have taken upon themselves to introduce into the Greek Text. Until it has been ascertained that the result of their labours exhibits a decided improvement upon what before was read, it is clearly a mere waste of time to enquire into the merits of their work as Revisers of a [pg 008] Translation. But in fact it has to be proved that the Revisionists have restricted themselves to the removal of “plain and clear errors” from the commonly received Text. We are distressed to discover that, on the contrary, they have done something quite different. The treatment which the N. T. has experienced at the hands of the Revisionists recals the fate of some ancient edifice which confessedly required to be painted, papered, scoured,—with a minimum of masons' and carpenters' work,—in order to be inhabited with comfort for the next hundred years: but those entrusted with the job were so ill-advised as to persuade themselves that it required to be to a great extent rebuilt. Accordingly, in an evil hour they set about removing foundations, and did so much structural mischief that in the end it became necessary to proceed against them for damages.

Without the remotest intention of imposing views of our own on the general Reader, but only to enable him to give his intelligent assent to much that is to follow, we find ourselves constrained in the first instance,—before conducting him over any part of the domain which the Revisionists have ventured uninvited to occupy,—to premise a few ordinary facts which lie on the threshold of the science of Textual Criticism. Until these have been clearly apprehended, no progress whatever is possible.

(1) The provision, then, which the Divine Author of Scripture is found to have made for the preservation in its integrity of His written Word, is of a peculiarly varied and highly complex description. First,—By causing that a vast multiplication of Copies should be required all down the ages,—beginning at the earliest period, and continuing in an ever-increasing ratio until the actual invention of Printing,—He provided the most effectual security imaginable against fraud. True, that millions of the copies so produced have long since [pg 009] perished: but it is nevertheless a plain fact that there survive of the Gospels alone upwards of one thousand copies to the present day.

(2) Next, Versions. The necessity of translating the Scriptures into divers languages for the use of different branches of the early Church, procured that many an authentic record has been preserved of the New Testament as it existed in the first few centuries of the Christian era. Thus, the Peschito Syriac and the old Latin version are believed to have been executed in the IInd century. “It is no stretch of imagination” (wrote Bp. Ellicott in 1870,) “to suppose that portions of the Peschito might have been in the hands of S. John, or that the Old Latin represented the current views of the Roman Christians of the IInd century.”⁴³ The two Egyptian translations are referred to the IIIrd and IVth. The Vulgate (or revised Latin) and the Gothic are also claimed for the IVth: the Armenian, and possibly the Æthiopic, belong to the Vth.

(3) Lastly, the requirements of assailants and apologists alike, the business of Commentators, the needs of controversialists and teachers in every age, have resulted in a vast accumulation of additional evidence, of which it is scarcely possible to over-estimate the importance. For in this way it has come to pass that every famous Doctor of the Church in turn has quoted more or less largely from the sacred writings, and thus has borne testimony to the contents of the codices with which he was individually familiar. Patristic Citations accordingly are a third mighty safeguard of the integrity of the deposit.

To weigh these three instruments of Criticism—Copies, Versions, Fathers—one against another, is obviously impossible [pg 010] on the present occasion. Such a discussion would grow at once into a treatise.⁴⁴ Certain explanatory details, together with a few words of caution, are as much as may be attempted.

I. And, first of all, the reader has need to be apprised (with reference to the first-named class of evidence) that most of our extant copies of the N. T. Scriptures are comparatively of recent date, ranging from the Xth to the XIVth century of our era. That these are in every instance copies of yet older manuscripts, is self-evident; and that in the main they represent faithfully the sacred autographs themselves, no reasonable person doubts.⁴⁵ Still, it is undeniable that [pg 011] they are thus separated by about a thousand years from their inspired archetypes. Readers are reminded, in passing, that the little handful of copies on which we rely for the texts of Herodotus and Thucydides, of Æschylus and Sophocles, are removed from their originals by full 500 years more: and that, instead of a thousand, or half a thousand copies, we are dependent for the text of certain of these authors on as many copies as may be counted on the fingers of one hand. In truth, the security which the Text of the New Testament enjoys is altogether unique and extraordinary. To specify one single consideration, which has never yet attracted nearly the amount of attention it deserves,—“Lectionaries” abound, which establish the Text which has been publicly read in the churches of the East, from at least a.d. 400 until the time of the invention of printing.

But here an important consideration claims special attention. We allude to the result of increased acquaintance with certain of the oldest extant codices of the N. T. Two of these,—viz. a copy in the Vatican technically indicated by the letter b, and the recently-discovered Sinaitic codex, styled after the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet א,—are thought to belong to the IVth century. Two are assigned to the Vth, viz. the Alexandrian (a) in the British Museum, and the rescript codex preserved at Paris, designated c. One is probably of the VIth, viz. the codex Bezæ (d) preserved at Cambridge. Singular to relate, the first, second, fourth, and fifth of these codices (b א c d), but especially b and א, have within the last twenty years established a tyrannical ascendency over the imagination of the Critics, which can only be fitly spoken of as a blind superstition. It matters nothing that all four are discovered on careful scrutiny to differ essentially, not only from ninety-nine out of a hundred of [pg 012] the whole body of extant MSS. besides, but even from one another. This last circumstance, obviously fatal to their corporate pretensions, is unaccountably overlooked. And yet it admits of only one satisfactory explanation: viz. that in different degrees they all five exhibit a fabricated text. Between the first two (b and א) there subsists an amount of sinister resemblance, which proves that they must have been derived at no very remote period from the same corrupt original. Tischendorf insists that they were partly written by the same scribe. Yet do they stand asunder in every page; as well as differ widely from the commonly received Text, with which they have been carefully collated. On being referred to this standard, in the Gospels alone, b is found to omit at least 2877 words: to add, 536: to substitute, 935: to transpose, 2098: to modify, 1132 (in all 7578):—the corresponding figures for א being severally 3455, 839, 1114, 2299, 1265 (in all 8972). And be it remembered that the omissions, additions, substitutions, transpositions, and modifications, are by no means the same in both. It is in fact easier to find two consecutive verses in which these two MSS. differ the one from the other, than two consecutive verses in which they entirely agree.

But by far the most depraved text is that exhibited by codex d. “No known manuscript contains so many bold and extensive interpolations. Its variations from the sacred Text are beyond all other example.”⁴⁶ This, however, is not the result of its being the most recent of the five, but (singular to relate) is due to quite an opposite cause. It is thought (not without reason) to exhibit a IInd-century text. “When we turn to the Acts of the [pg 013] Apostles,” (says the learned editor of the codex in question, Dr. Scrivener,⁴⁷)—

“We find ourselves confronted with a text, the like to which we have no experience of elsewhere. It is hardly an exaggeration to assert that codex d reproduces the Textus receptus much in the same way that one of the best Chaldee Targums does the Hebrew of the Old Testament: so wide are the variations in the diction, so constant and inveterate the practice of expounding the narrative by means of interpolations which seldom recommend themselves as genuine by even a semblance of internal probability.”

“Vix dici potest” (says Mill) “quam supra omnem modum licenter se gesserit, ac plane lasciverit Interpolator.” Though a large portion of the Gospels is missing, in what remains (tested by the same standard) we find 3704 words omitted: no less than 2213 added, and 2121 substituted. The words transposed amount to 3471: and 1772 have been modified: the deflections from the Received Text thus amounting in all to 13,281.—Next to d, the most untrustworthy codex is א, which bears on its front a memorable note of the evil repute under which it has always laboured: viz. it is found that at least ten revisers between the IVth and the XIIth centuries busied themselves with the task of correcting its many and extraordinary perversions of the truth of Scripture.⁴⁸—Next in [pg 014] impurity comes b:—then, the fragmentary codex c: our own a being, beyond all doubt, disfigured by the fewest blemishes of any.

What precedes admits to some extent of further numerical illustration. It is discovered that in the 111 (out of 320) pages of an ordinary copy of the Greek Testament, in which alone these five manuscripts are collectively available for comparison in the Gospels,—the serious deflections of a from the Textus receptus amount in all to only 842: whereas in c they amount to 1798: in b, to 2370: in א, to 3392: in d, to 4697. The readings peculiar to a within the same limits are 133: those peculiar to c are 170. But those of b amount to 197: while א exhibits 443: and the readings peculiar to d (within the same limits), are no fewer than 1829.... We submit that these facts—which result from merely referring five manuscripts to one and the same common standard—are by no means calculated to inspire confidence in codices b א c d:—codices, be it remembered, which come to us without a character, without a history, in fact without antecedents of any kind.

But let the learned chairman of the New Testament company of Revisionists (Bp. Ellicott) be heard on this subject. He is characterizing these same “old uncials,” which it is just now the fashion—or rather, the craze—to hold up as oracular, and to which his lordship is as devotedly and blindly attached as any of his neighbours:—

“The simplicity and dignified conciseness” (he says) “of the Vatican manuscript (b): the greater expansiveness of our own Alexandrian (a): the partially mixed characteristics of the Sinaitic (א): the paraphrastic tone of the singular codex Bezæ (d), are now brought home to the student.”⁴⁹

Could ingenuity have devised severer satire than such a [pg 015] description of four professing transcripts of a book; and that book, the everlasting Gospel itself?—transcripts, be it observed in passing, on which it is just now the fashion to rely implicitly for the very orthography of proper names,—the spelling of common words,—the minutiæ of grammar. What (we ask) would be thought of four such “copies” of Thucydides or of Shakspeare? Imagine it gravely proposed, by the aid of four such conflicting documents, to re-adjust the text of the funeral oration of Pericles, or to re-edit “Hamlet.” Risum teneatis amici? Why, some of the poet's most familiar lines would cease to be recognizable: e.g. a,—“Toby or not Toby; that is the question:” b,—“Tob or not, is the question:” א,—“To be a tub, or not to be a tub; the question is that:” c,—“The question is, to beat, or not to beat Toby?”: d (the “singular codex”),—“The only question is this: to beat that Toby, or to be a tub?”

And yet—without by any means subscribing to the precise terms in which the judicious Prelate characterizes those ignes fatui which have so persistently and egregiously led his lordship and his colleagues astray—(for indeed one seems rather to be reading a description of four styles of composition, or of as many fashions in ladies' dress, than of four copies of the Gospel)—we have already furnished indirect proof that his estimate of the codices in question is in the main correct. Further acquaintance with them does but intensify the bad character which he has given them. Let no one suppose that we deny their extraordinary value,—their unrivalled critical interest,—nay, their actual use in helping to settle the truth of Scripture. What we are just now insisting upon is only the depraved text of codices א a b c d,—especially of א b d. And because this is a matter which lies at the root of the whole controversy, and because we cannot afford that there shall exist in our reader's mind the slightest doubt on [pg 016] this part of the subject, we shall be constrained once and again to trouble him with detailed specimens of the contents of א b, &c., in proof of the justice of what we have been alleging. We venture to assure him, without a particle of hesitation, that א b d are three of the most scandalously corrupt copies extant:—exhibit the most shamefully mutilated texts which are anywhere to be met with:—have become, by whatever process (for their history is wholly unknown), the depositories of the largest amount of fabricated readings, ancient blunders, and intentional perversions of Truth,—which are discoverable in any known copies of the Word of God.

But in fact take a single page of any ordinary copy of the Greek Testament,—Bp. Lloyd's edition, suppose. Turn to page 184. It contains ten verses of S. Luke's Gospel, ch. viii. 35 to 44. Now, proceed to collate those ten verses. You will make the notable discovery that, within those narrow limits, by codex d alone the text has been depraved 53 times, resulting in no less than 103 corrupt readings, 93 of which are found only in d. The words omitted by d are 40: the words added are 4. Twenty-five words have been substituted for others, and 14 transposed. Variations of case, tense, &c., amount to 16; and the phrase of the Evangelist has been departed from 11 times. Happily, the other four “old uncials” are here available. And it is found that (within the same limits, and referred to the same test,) a exhibits 3 omissions, 2 of which are peculiar to a.—b omits 12 words, 6 of which are peculiar to b: substitutes 3 words: transposes 4: and exhibits 6 lesser changes—2 of them being its own peculiar property.—א has 5 readings (affecting 8 words) peculiar to itself. Its omissions are 7: its additions, 2: its substitutions, 4: 2 words are transposed; and it exhibits 4 lesser discrepancies.—c has 7 readings (affecting 15 words) peculiar to itself. Its omissions are 4: [pg 017] its additions, 7: its substitutions, 7: its words transposed, 7. It has 2 lesser discrepancies, and it alters the Evangelist's phrase 4 times.

But (we shall be asked) what amount of agreement, in respect of “Various Readings,” is discovered to subsist between these 5 codices? for that, after all, is the practical question. We answer,—a has been already shown to stand alone twice: b, 6 times: א, 8 times: c, 15 times; d, 93 times.—We have further to state that a b stand together by themselves once: b א, 4 times: b c, 1: b d, 1: א c, 1: c d, 1.—a א c conspire 1: b א c, 1: b א d, 1: a b א c, once (viz. in reading ἐρώτησεν, which Tischendorf admits to be a corrupt reading): b א c d, also once.—The 5 “old uncials” therefore (a b א c d) combine, and again stand apart, with singular impartiality.—Lastly, they are never once found to be in accord in respect of any single “various Reading”.—Will any one, after a candid survey of the premisses, deem us unreasonable, if we avow that such a specimen of the concordia discors which everywhere prevails between the oldest uncials, but which especially characterizes א b d, indisposes us greatly to suffer their unsupported authority to determine for us the Text of Scripture?

Let no one at all events obscure the one question at issue, by asking,—“Whether we consider the Textus Receptus infallible?” The merit or demerit of the Received Text has absolutely nothing whatever to do with the question. We care nothing about it. Any Text would equally suit our present purpose. Any Text would show the “old uncials” perpetually at discord among themselves. To raise an irrelevant discussion, at the outset, concerning the Textus Receptus:—to describe the haste with which Erasmus produced the first published edition of the N. T.:—to make sport about the [pg 018] copies which he employed:—all this kind of thing is the proceeding of one who seeks to mislead his readers:—to throw dust into their eyes:—to divert their attention from the problem actually before them:—not—(as we confidently expect when we have to do with such writers as these)—the method of a sincere lover of Truth. To proceed, however.

II. and III. Nothing has been said as yet concerning the Text exhibited by the earliest of the Versions and by the most ancient of the Fathers. But, for the purpose we have just now in hand, neither are such details necessary. We desire to hasten forward. A somewhat fuller review of certain of our oldest available materials might prove even more discouraging. But that would only be because it is impossible, within such narrow limits as the present, to give the reader any idea at all of the wealth of our actual resources; and to convince him of the extent to which the least trustworthy of our guides prove in turn invaluable helps in correcting the exorbitances of their fellows. The practical result in fact of what has been hitherto offered is after all but this, that we have to be on our guard against pinning our faith exclusively on two or three,—least of all on one or two ancient documents; and of adopting them exclusively for our guides. We are shown, in other words, that it is utterly out of the question to rely on any single set or group of authorities, much less on any single document, for the determination of the Text of Scripture. Happily, our Manuscripts are numerous: most of them are in the main trustworthy: all of them represent far older documents than themselves. Our Versions (two of which are more ancient by a couple of centuries than any sacred codex extant) severally correct and check one another. Lastly, in the writings of a host of Fathers,—the principal being Eusebius, Athanasius, Basil, the Gregories, Didymus, [pg 019] Epiphanius, Chrysostom, the Cyrils, Theodoret,—we are provided with contemporaneous evidence which, whenever it can be had, becomes an effectual safeguard against the unsupported decrees of our oldest codices, a b א c d, as well as the occasional vagaries of the Versions. In the writings of Irenæus, Clemens Alex., Origen, Dionysius Alex., Hippolytus, we meet with older evidence still. No more precarious foundation for a reading, in fact, can be named, than the unsupported advocacy of a single Manuscript, or Version, or Father; or even of two or three of these combined.

But indeed the principle involved in the foregoing remarks admits of being far more broadly stated. It even stands to reason that we may safely reject any reading which, out of the whole body of available authorities,—Manuscripts, Versions, Fathers,—finds support nowhere save in one and the same little handful of suspicious documents. For we resolutely maintain, that external Evidence must after all be our best, our only safe guide; and (to come to the point) we refuse to throw in our lot with those who, disregarding the witness of every other known Codex—every other Version—every other available Ecclesiastical Writer,—insist on following the dictates of a little group of authorities, of which nothing whatever is known with so much certainty as that often, when they concur exclusively, it is to mislead. We speak of codices b or א or d; the IXth-century codex l, and such cursives⁵⁰ as 13 or 33; a few copies of the old Latin and one of the Egyptian versions: perhaps Origen.—Not theory [pg 020] therefore:—not prejudice:—not conjecture:—not unproved assertion:—not any single codex, and certainly not codex b:—not an imaginary “Antiochene Recension” of another imaginary “Pre-Syrian Text:”—not antecedent fancies about the affinity of documents:—neither “the [purely arbitrary] method of genealogy,”—nor one man's notions (which may be reversed by another man's notions) of “Transcriptional Probability:”—not “instinctive processes of Criticism,”—least of all “the individual mind,” with its “supposed power of divining the Original Text”—of which no intelligible account can be rendered:—nothing of this sort,—(however specious and plausible it may sound, especially when set forth in confident language; advocated with a great show of unintelligible learning; supported by a formidable array of cabalistic symbols and mysterious contractions; above all when recommended by justly respected names,)—nothing of this sort, we say, must be allowed to determine for us the Text of Scripture. The very proposal should set us on our guard against the certainty of imposition.

We deem it even axiomatic, that, in every case of doubt or difficulty—supposed or real—our critical method must be the same: namely, after patiently collecting all the available evidence, then, without partiality or prejudice, to adjudicate between the conflicting authorities, and loyally to accept that verdict for which there is clearly the preponderating evidence. The best supported Reading, in other words, must always be held to be the true Reading: and nothing may be rejected from the commonly received Text, except on evidence which shall clearly outweigh the evidence for retaining it. We are glad to know that, so far at least, we once had Bp. Ellicott with us. He announced (in 1870) that the best way of proceeding with the work of Revision is, “to make the Textus Receptus the standard,—departing from it [pg 021] only when critical or grammatical considerations show that it is clearly necessary.”⁵¹ We ourselves mean no more. Whenever the evidence is about evenly balanced, few it is hoped will deny that the Text which has been “in possession” for three centuries and a half, and which rests on infinitely better manuscript evidence than that of any ancient work which can be named,—should, for every reason, be let alone.⁵²

But, (we shall perhaps be asked,) has any critical Editor of the N. T. seriously taught the reverse of all this? Yes indeed, we answer. Lachmann, Tregelles, Tischendorf,—the most recent and most famous of modern editors,—have all three adopted a directly opposite theory of textual revision. With the first-named, fifty years ago (1831), virtually originated the principle of recurring exclusively to a few ancient documents to the exclusion of the many. “Lachmann's text seldom rests on more than four Greek codices, very often on three, not unfrequently on two, sometimes on only one.”⁵³ Bishop Ellicott speaks of it as “a text composed on the narrowest and most exclusive principles.”⁵⁴ Of the Greek [pg 022] Fathers (Lachmann says) he employed only Origen.⁵⁵ Paying extraordinary deference to the Latin Version, he entirely disregarded the coëval Syriac translation. The result of such a system must needs prove satisfactory to no one except its author.

Lachmann's leading fallacy has perforce proved fatal to the value of the text put forth by Dr. Tregelles. Of the scrupulous accuracy, the indefatigable industry, the pious zeal of that estimable and devoted scholar, we speak not. All honour to his memory! As a specimen of conscientious labour, his edition of the N. T. (1857-72) passes praise, and will never lose its value. But it has only to be stated, that Tregelles effectually persuaded himself that “eighty-nine ninetieths” of our extant manuscripts and other authorities may safely be rejected and lost sight of when we come to amend the text and try to restore it to its primitive purity,⁵⁶—to make it plain that in Textual Criticism he must needs be regarded as an untrustworthy teacher. Why he should have condescended to employ no patristic authority later than Eusebius [fl. a.d. 320], he does not explain. “His critical principles,” (says Bishop Ellicott,) “especially his general principles of estimating and regarding modern manuscripts, are now perhaps justly called in question.”⁵⁷

“The case of Dr. Tischendorf” (proceeds Bp. Ellicott) “is still more easily disposed of. Which of this most inconstant Critic's texts are we to select? Surely not the last, in which an exaggerated preference for a single Manuscript which he has had the good fortune to discover, has betrayed him into [pg 023] an almost child-like infirmity of critical judgment. Surely also not his seventh edition, which ... exhibits all the instability which a comparatively recent recognition of the authority of cursive manuscripts might be supposed likely to introduce.”⁵⁸ With Dr. Tischendorf,—(whom one vastly his superior in learning, accuracy, and judgment, has generously styled “the first Biblical Critic in Europe”⁵⁹)—“the evidence of codex א, supported or even unsupported by one or two other authorities of any description, is sufficient to outweigh any other witnesses,—whether Manuscripts, Versions, or ecclesiastical Writers.”⁶⁰ We need say no more. Until the foregoing charge has been disproved, Dr. Tischendorf's last edition of the N. T., however precious as a vast storehouse of materials for criticism,—however admirable as a specimen of unwearied labour, critical learning, and first-rate ability,—must be admitted to be an utterly unsatisfactory exhibition of the inspired Text. It has been ascertained that his discovery of codex א caused his 8th edition (1865-72) to differ from his 7th in no less than 3505 places,—“to the scandal of the science of Comparative Criticism, as well as to his own grave discredit for discernment and consistency.”⁶¹ But, in fact, what is to be thought of a Critic who,—because the last verse of S. John's Gospel, in א, seemed to himself to be written with a different pen from the rest,—has actually omitted that verse (xxi. 25) entirely, in defiance of every known Copy, every known Version, and the explicit testimony of a host of Fathers? Such are Origen (in 11 places),—Eusebius (in 3),—Gregory Nyss. (in 2),—Gregory Nazian.,—ps.-Dionys. Alex.,⁶²—Nonnus,—Chrysostom (in 6 places),—Theodoras Mops. (in 2),—Isidorus,—Cyril Alex. (in 2),—Victor Ant.,—Ammonius,—Severus,—Maximus,—Andreas [pg 024] Cretensis,—Ambrose,—Gaudentius,—Philastrius,— Sedulius,—Jerome,—Augustine (in 6 places). That Tischendorf was a critic of amazing research, singular shrewdness, indefatigable industry; and that he enjoyed an unrivalled familiarity with ancient documents; no fair person will deny. But (in the words of Bishop Ellicott,⁶³ whom we quote so perseveringly for a reason not hard to divine,) his “great inconstancy,”—his “natural want of sobriety of critical judgment,”—and his “unreasonable deference to the readings found in his own codex Sinaiticus;”—to which should be added “the utter absence in him of any intelligible fixed critical principles;”—all this makes Tischendorf one of the worst of guides to the true Text of Scripture.

The last to enter the field are Drs. Westcott and Hort, whose beautifully-printed edition of “the New Testament in the original Greek”⁶⁴ was published within five days of the “Revised Authorized Version” itself; a “confidential” copy of their work having been already entrusted to every member of the New Test. company of Revisionists to guide them in their labours,—under pledge that they should neither show nor communicate its contents to any one else.—The learned Editors candidly avow, that they “have deliberately chosen on the whole to rely for documentary evidence on the stores accumulated by their predecessors, and to confine themselves to their proper work of editing the text itself.”⁶⁵ Nothing therefore has to be enquired after, except the critical principles on which they have proceeded. And, after assuring [pg 025] us that “the study of Grouping is the foundation of all enduring Criticism,”⁶⁶ they produce their secret: viz. That in “every one of our witnesses” except codex b, the “corruptions are innumerable;”⁶⁷ and that, in the Gospels, the one “group of witnesses” of “incomparable value”, is codex b in “combination with another primary Greek manuscript, as א b, b l, b c, b t, b d, b Ξ, a b, b z, b 33, and in S. Mark b Δ.”⁶⁸ This is “Textual Criticism made easy,” certainly. Well aware of the preposterous results to which such a major premiss must inevitably lead, we are not surprised to find a plea straightway put in for “instinctive processes of Criticism” of which the foundation “needs perpetual correction and recorrection”. But our confidence fairly gives way when, in the same breath, the accomplished Editors proceed as follows:—“But we are obliged to come to the individual mind at last; and canons of Criticism are useful only as warnings against natural illusions, and aids to circumspect consideration, not as absolute rules to prescribe the final decision. It is true that no individual mind can ever work with perfect uniformity, or free itself completely from its own idiosyncrasies. Yet a clear sense of the danger of unconscious caprice may do much towards excluding it. We trust also that the present Text has escaped some risks of this kind by being the joint production of two Editors of different habits of mind”⁶⁹ ... A somewhat insecure safeguard surely! May we be permitted without offence to point out that the “idiosyncrasies” of an “individual mind” (to which we learn with astonishment “we are obliged to come at last”) are probably the very worst foundation possible on which to build the recension of an inspired writing? With regret we record our conviction, that these accomplished scholars have succeeded in producing a Text vastly more remote from the inspired autographs of [pg 026] the Evangelists than any which has appeared since the invention of printing. When full Prolegomena have been furnished we shall know more about the matter;⁷⁰ but to [pg 027] judge from the Remarks (in pp. 541-62) which the learned Editors (Revisionists themselves) have subjoined to their elegantly-printed volume, it is to be feared that the fabric [pg 028] will be found to rest too exclusively on vague assumption and unproved hypothesis. In other words, a painful apprehension is created that their edition of “The New Testament in the original Greek” will be found to partake inconveniently [pg 029] of the nature of a work of the Imagination. As codex א proved fatal to Dr. Tischendorf, so is codex b evidently the rock on which Drs. Westcott and Hort have split. Did it ever occur to those learned men to enquire how the Septuagint Version of the Old Testament has fared at the hands of codex b? They are respectfully invited to address themselves to this very damaging enquiry.

But surely (rejoins the intelligent Reader, coming fresh to these studies), the oldest extant Manuscripts (b א a c d) must exhibit the purest text! Is it not so?

It ought to be so, no doubt (we answer); but it certainly need not be the case.

We know that Origen in Palestine, Lucian at Antioch, Hesychius in Egypt, “revised” the text of the N. T. Unfortunately, they did their work in an age when such fatal misapprehension prevailed on the subject, that each in turn will have inevitably imported a fresh assortment of monstra into the sacred writings. Add, the baneful influence of such spirits as Theophilus (sixth Bishop of Antioch, a.d. 168), Tatian, Ammonius, &c., of whom we know there were very many in the primitive age,—some of whose productions, we further know, were freely multiplied in every quarter of ancient Christendom:—add, the fabricated Gospels which anciently abounded; notably the Gospel of the Hebrews, about which Jerome is so communicative, and which (he says) he had translated into Greek and Latin:—lastly, freely grant that here and there, with well-meant assiduity, the orthodox themselves may have sought to prop up truths which the early heretics (Basilides, a.d. 134, Valentinus, a.d. 140, with his disciple Heracleon, Marcion, a.d. 150, and the rest,) most perseveringly assailed;—and we have sufficiently explained how it comes to pass that not a few of the codices of primitive Christendom must have exhibited Texts which [pg 030] were even scandalously corrupt. “It is no less true to fact than paradoxical in sound,” writes the most learned of the Revisionist body,

“that the worst corruptions, to which the New Testament has ever been subjected, originated within a hundred years after it was composed: that Irenæus [a.d. 150] and the African Fathers, and the whole Western, with a portion of the Syrian Church, used far inferior manuscripts to those employed by Stunica, or Erasmus, or Stephens thirteen centuries later, when moulding the Textus Receptus.”⁷¹

And what else are codices א b c d but specimens—in vastly different degrees—of the class thus characterized by Prebendary Scrivener? Nay, who will venture to deny that those codices are indebted for their preservation solely to the circumstance, that they were long since recognized as the depositories of Readings which rendered them utterly untrustworthy?

Only by singling out some definite portion of the Gospels, and attending closely to the handling it has experienced at the hands of a א b c d,—to the last four of which it is just now the fashion to bow down as to an oracular voice from which there shall be no appeal,—can the student become aware of the hopelessness of any attempt to construct the Text of the N. T. out of the materials which those codices exclusively supply. Let us this time take S. Mark's account of the healing of “the paralytic borne of four” (ch. ii. 1-12),—and confront their exhibition of it, with that of the commonly received Text. In the course of those 12 verses, (not reckoning 4 blunders and certain peculiarities of spelling,) there will be found to be 60 variations of reading,—of which [pg 031] 55 are nothing else but depravations of the text, the result of inattention or licentiousness. Westcott and Hort adopt 23 of these:—(18, in which א b conspire to vouch for a reading: 2, where א is unsupported by b: 2, where b is unsupported by א: 1, where c d are supported by neither א nor b). Now, in the present instance, the “five old uncials” cannot be the depositories of a tradition,—whether Western or Eastern,—because they render inconsistent testimony in every verse. It must further be admitted, (for this is really not a question of opinion, but a plain matter of fact,) that it is unreasonable to place confidence in such documents. What would be thought in a Court of Law of five witnesses, called up 47 times for examination, who should be observed to bear contradictory testimony every time?

But the whole of the problem does not by any means lie on the surface. All that appears is that the five oldest uncials are not trustworthy witnesses; which singly, in the course of 12 verses separate themselves from their fellows 33 times: viz. a, twice;—א, 5 times;—b, 6 times;—c, thrice;—d, 17 times: and which also enter into the 11 following combinations with one another in opposition to the ordinary Text:—a c, twice;—א b, 10 times;—א d, once;—c d, 3 times;—א b c, once;—א b d, 5 times;—א c d, once;—b c d, once;—a א c d, once;—a b c d, once;—a א b c d, once. (Note, that on this last occasion, which is the only time when they all 5 agree, they are certainly all 5 wrong.) But this, as was observed before, lies on the surface. On closer critical inspection, it is further discovered that their testimony betrays the baseness of their origin by its intrinsic worthlessness. Thus, in Mk. ii, 1, the delicate precision of the announcement ἠκούσθη ὅτι ΕἸΣ ΟἾΚΟΝ ἘΣΤΙ (that “He has gone in”), disappears from א b d:—as well as (in ver. 2) the circumstance that it became the signal for many “immediately” (א b) to assemble about the door.—In ver. 4, S. Mark explains his predecessor's concise [pg 032] statement that the paralytic was “brought to” our Saviour,⁷² by remarking that the thing was “impossible” by the ordinary method of approach. Accordingly, his account of the expedient resorted to by the bearers fills one entire verse (ver. 4) of his Gospel. In the mean time, א b by exhibiting (in S. Mark ii. 3,) “bringing unto Him one sick of the palsy” (φέροντες πρὸς αὐτὸν παραλυτικόν,—which is but a senseless transposition of πρὸς αὐτόν, παραλυτικὸν φέροντες), do their best to obliterate the exquisite significance of the second Evangelist's method.—In the next verse, the perplexity of the bearers, who, because they could not “come nigh Him” (προσεγγίσαι αὐτῷ), unroofed the house, is lost in א b,—whose προσενέγκαι has been obtained either from Matt. ix. 2, or else from Luke v. 18, 19 (εἰσενεγκεῖν, εἰσενέγκωσιν). “The bed where was the paralytic” (τὸν κράββατον ὍΠΟΥ ἮΝ ὁ παραλυτικός), in imitation of “the roof where was” Jesus (τὴν στέγην ὍΠΟΥ ἮΝ [ὁ Ἰησοῦς], which had immediately preceded), is just one of those tasteless depravations, for which א b, and especially d, are conspicuous among manuscripts.—In the last verse, the instantaneous rising of the paralytic, noticed by S. Mark (ἠγέρθη εὐθέως), and insisted upon by S. Luke (“and immediately he rose up before them,”—καὶ παραχρῆμα ἀναστὰς ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν), is obliterated by shifting εὐθέως in א b and c to a place where εὐθέως is not wanted, and where its significancy disappears.

Other instances of Assimilation are conspicuous. All must see that, in ver. 5, καὶ ἰδών (א b c) is derived from Matt. ix. 2 and Luke v. 20: as well as that “Son, be of good cheer” (c) is imported hither from Matt. ix. 2. “My son,” on the other hand (א), is a mere effort of the imagination. In the same verse, σου αἱ ἁμαρτίαι (א b d) is either from Matt. ix. 5 (sic); or [pg 033] else from ver. 9, lower down in S. Mark's narrative. Λέγοντες, in ver. 6 (d), is from S. Luke v. 21. Ὕπαγε (א) in ver. 9, and ὕπαγε εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου (d), are clearly importations from ver 11. The strange confusion in ver. 7,—“Because this man thus speaketh, he blasphemeth” (b),—and “Why doth this man thus speak? He blasphemeth” (א d),—is due solely to Mtt. ix. 3:—while the appendix proposed by א as a substitute for “We never saw it on this fashion” (οὐδέποτε οὕτως εἴδομεν), in ver 12 (viz. “It was never so seen in Israel,” οὐδέποτε οὕτως ἐφάνη ἐν τῷ Ἰσραήλ), has been transplanted hither from S. Matt. ix. 33.

We shall perhaps be told that, scandalously corrupt as the text of א b c d hereabouts may be, no reason has been shown as yet for suspecting that heretical depravation ever had anything to do with such phenomena. That (we answer) is only because the writings of the early depravers and fabricators of Gospels have universally perished. From the slender relics of their iniquitous performances which have survived to our time, we are sometimes able to lay our finger on a foul blot and to say, “This came from Tatian's Diatessaron; and that from Marcion's mutilated recension of the Gospel according to S. Luke.” The piercing of our Saviour's side, transplanted by codices א b c from S. John xix. 34 into S. Matt, xxvii. 49, is an instance of the former,—which it may reasonably create astonishment to find that Drs. Westcott and Hort (alone among Editors) have nevertheless admitted into their text, as equally trustworthy with the last 12 verses of S. Mark's Gospel. But it occasions a stronger sentiment than surprise to discover that this, “the gravest interpolation yet laid to the charge of b,”—this “sentence which neither they nor any other competent scholar can possibly believe that the Evangelist ever wrote,”⁷³—has been [pg 034] actually foisted into the margin of the Revised Version of S. Matthew xxvii. 49. Were not the Revisionists aware that such a disfigurement must prove fatal to their work? For whose benefit is the information volunteered that “many ancient authorities” are thus grossly interpolated?

An instructive specimen of depravation follows, which can be traced to Marcion's mutilated recension of S. Luke's Gospel. We venture to entreat the favour of the reader's sustained attention to the license with which the Lord's Prayer as given in S. Luke's Gospel (xi. 2-4), is exhibited by codices א a b c d. For every reason one would have expected that so precious a formula would have been found enshrined in the “old uncials” in peculiar safety; handled by copyists of the IVth, Vth, and VIth centuries with peculiar reverence. Let us ascertain exactly what has befallen it:—

(a) d introduces the Lord's Prayer by interpolating the following paraphrase of S. Matt. vi. 7:—“Use not vain repetitions as the rest: for some suppose that they shall be heard by their much speaking. But when ye pray” ... After which portentous exordium,

(b) b א omit the 5 words, “Our” “which art in heaven,” Then,

(c) d omits the article (τό) before “name:” and supplements the first petition with the words “upon us” (ἐφ᾽ ἡμᾶς). It must needs also transpose the words “Thy Kingdom” (ἡ βασιλεία σου).

(d) b in turn omits the third petition,—“Thy will be done, as in heaven, also on the earth;” which 11 words א retains, but adds “so” before “also,” and omits the article (τῆς); finding for once an ally in a c d.

(e) א d for δίδου write δός (from Matt.).

(f) א omits the article (τό) before “day by day.” And,

(g) d, instead of the 3 last-named words, writes “this day” (from Matt.): substitutes “debts” (τὰ ὀφειλήματα) for “sins” (τὰ [pg 035] ἁμαρτήματα,—also from Matt.): and in place of “for [we] ourselves” (καὶ γὰρ αὐτοί) writes “as also we” (ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς, again from Matt.).—But,

(h) א shows its sympathy with d by accepting two-thirds of this last blunder: exhibiting “as also [we] ourselves” (ὡς καὶ αὐτοί).

(i) d consistently reads “our debtors” (τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν) in place of “every one that is indebted to us” (παντὶ ὀφείλοντι ἡμῖν).—Finally,

(j) b א omit the last petition,—“but deliver us from evil” (ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ)—unsupported by a c or d. Of lesser discrepancies we decline to take account.

So then, these five “first-class authorities” are found to throw themselves into six different combinations in their departures from S. Luke's way of exhibiting the Lord's Prayer,—which, among them, they contrive to falsify in respect of no less than 45 words; and yet they are never able to agree among themselves as to any single various reading: while only once are more than two of them observed to stand together,—viz. in the unauthorized omission of the article. In respect of 32 (out of the 45) words, they bear in turn solitary evidence. What need to declare that it is certainly false in every instance? Such however is the infatuation of the Critics, that the vagaries of bare all taken for gospel. Besides omitting the 11 words which b omits jointly with א, Drs. Westcott and Hort erase from the Book of Life those other 11 precious words which are omitted by b only. And in this way it comes to pass that the mutilated condition to which the scalpel of Marcion the heretic reduced the Lord's Prayer some 1730 years ago,⁷⁴ (for the mischief can all be traced back [pg 036] to him!), is palmed off on the Church of England by the Revisionists as the work of the Holy Ghost!

(a) We may now proceed with our examination of their work, beginning—as Dr. Roberts (one of the Revisionists) does, when explaining the method and results of their labours—with what we hold to be the gravest blot of all, viz. the marks of serious suspicion which we find set against the last Twelve verses of S. Mark's Gospel. Well may the learned Presbyterian anticipate that—

“The reader will be struck by the appearance which this long paragraph presents in the Revised Version. Although inserted, it is marked off by a considerable space from the rest of the Gospel. A note is also placed in the margin containing a brief explanation of this.”⁷⁵

A very brief “explanation” certainly: for the note explains nothing. Allusion is made to the following words—

“The two oldest Greek manuscripts, and some other authorities, omit from ver. 9 to the end. Some other authorities have a different ending to the Gospel.”

But now,—For the use of whom has this piece of information been volunteered? Not for learned readers certainly: it being familiarly known to all, that codices b and א alone of manuscripts (to their own effectual condemnation) omit these 12 verses. But then scholars know something more about the matter. They also know that these 12 verses have been made the subject of a separate treatise extending to upwards of 300 pages,—which treatise has now been before the world for a full decade of years, and for the best of reasons has never yet been answered. Its object, stated on its title-page, was to vindicate against recent critical objectors, and to [pg 037] establish “the last Twelve Verses” of S. Mark's Gospel.⁷⁶ Moreover, competent judges at once admitted that the author had succeeded in doing what he undertook to do.⁷⁷ Can it then be right (we respectfully enquire) still to insinuate into unlearned minds distrust of twelve consecutive verses of the everlasting Gospel, which yet have been demonstrated to be as trustworthy as any other verses which can be named?

The question arises,—But how did it come to pass that such evil counsels were allowed to prevail in the Jerusalem Chamber? Light has been thrown on the subject by two of the New Test. company. And first by the learned Congregationalist, Dr. Newth, who has been at the pains to describe the method which was pursued on every occasion. The practice (he informs us) was as follows. The Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, as chairman, asks—

“Whether any Textual Changes are proposed? The evidence for and against is briefly stated, and the proposal considered. The duty of stating this evidence is by tacit consent devolved upon (sic) two members of the Company, who from their previous studies are specially entitled to speak with authority upon such questions,—Dr. Scrivener and Dr. Hort,—and who come prepared to enumerate particularly the authorities on either side. Dr. Scrivener opens up the matter by stating the facts of the case, and by giving his judgment on the bearings of the evidence. Dr. Hort follows, and mentions any additional matters that may call for notice; and, if differing from Dr. Scrivener's estimate of the weight of the evidence, gives his [pg 038] reasons and states his own view. After discussion, the vote of the Company is taken, and the proposed Reading accepted or rejected. The Text being thus settled, the Chairman asks for proposals on the Rendering.”⁷⁸

And thus, the men who were appointed to improve the English Translation are exhibited to us remodelling the original Greek. At a moment's notice, as if by intuition,—by an act which can only be described as the exercise of instinct,—these eminent Divines undertake to decide which shall be deemed the genuine utterances of the Holy Ghost,⁷⁹—which not. Each is called upon to give his vote, and he gives it. “The Text being thus settled” they proceed to do the only thing they were originally appointed to do; viz. to try their hands at improving our Authorized Version. But we venture respectfully to suggest, that by no such “rough and ready” process is that most delicate and difficult of all critical problems—the truth of Scripture—to be “settled.”

Sir Edmund Beckett remarks that if the description above given “of the process by which the Revisionists ‘settled’ the Greek alterations, is not a kind of joke, it is quite enough to ‘settle’ this Revised Greek Testament in a very different sense.”⁸⁰ And so, in truth, it clearly is.—“Such a proceeding appeared to me so strange,” (writes the learned and judicious Editor of the Speaker's Commentary,) “that I fully expected that the account would be corrected, or that some explanation would be given which might remove the very unpleasant impression.”⁸¹ We have since heard on the best authority, [pg 039] that namely of Bishop Ellicott himself,⁸² that Dr. Newth's account of the method of “settling” the text of the N. T., pursued in the Jerusalem Chamber, is correct.

But in fact, it proves to have been, from the very first, a definite part of the Programme. The chairman of the Revisionist body, Bishop Ellicott,—when he had “to consider the practical question,”—whether “(1), to construct a critical Text first: or (2), to use preferentially, though not exclusively, some current Text: or (3), simply to proceed onward with the work of Revision, whether of Text or Translation, making the current Textus Receptus the standard, and departing from it only when critical or grammatical considerations show that it is clearly necessary,—in fact, solvere ambulando;” announces, at the end of 19 pages,—“We are driven then to the third alternative.”⁸³

We naturally cast about for some evidence that the members of the New Testament company possess that mastery of the subject which alone could justify one of their number (Dr. Milligan) in asserting roundly that these 12 verses are “not from the pen of S. Mark himself;”⁸⁴ and another (Dr. Roberts) in maintaining that “the passage is not the immediate production of S. Mark.”⁸⁵ Dr. Roberts assures us that—

“Eusebius, Gregory of Nyssa, Victor of Antioch, Severus of Antioch, Jerome, as well as other writers, especially Greeks, testify that these verses were not written by S. Mark, or not found in the best copies.”⁸⁶

Will the learned writer permit us to assure him in return that he is entirely mistaken? He is requested to believe that Gregory of Nyssa says nothing of the sort—says [pg 040] nothing at all concerning these verses: that Victor of Antioch vouches emphatically for their genuineness: that Severus does but copy, while Jerome does but translate, a few random expressions of Eusebius: and that Eusebius himself nowhere “testifies that these verses were not written by S. Mark.” So far from it, Eusebius actually quotes the verses, quotes them as genuine. Dr. Roberts is further assured that there are no “other writers” whether Greek or Latin, who insinuate doubt concerning these verses. On the contrary, besides both the Latin and all the Syriac—besides the Gothic and the two Egyptian versions—there exist four authorities of the IInd century;—as many of the IIIrd;—five of the Vth;—four of the VIth;—as many of the VIIth;—together with at least ten of the IVth⁸⁷ (contemporaries therefore of codices b and א);—which actually recognize the verses in question. Now, when to every known Manuscript but two of bad character, besides every ancient Version, some one-and-thirty Fathers have been added, 18 of whom must have used copies at least as old as either b or א,—Dr. Roberts is assured that an amount of external authority has been accumulated which is simply overwhelming in discussions of this nature.

But the significance of a single feature of the Lectionary, of which up to this point nothing has been said, is alone sufficient to determine the controversy. We refer to the fact that in every part of Eastern Christendom these same 12 verses—neither more nor less—have been from the earliest recorded period, and still are, a proper lesson both for the Easter season and for Ascension Day.

[pg 041]

We pass on.

(b) A more grievous perversion of the truth of Scripture is scarcely to be found than occurs in the proposed revised exhibition of S. Luke ii. 14, in the Greek and English alike; for indeed not only is the proposed Greek text (ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκίας) impossible, but the English of the Revisionists (“peace among men in whom he is well pleased”) “can be arrived at” (as one of themselves has justly remarked) “only through some process which would make any phrase bear almost any meaning the translator might like to put upon it.”⁸⁸ More than that: the harmony of the exquisite three-part hymn, which the Angels sang on the night of the Nativity, becomes hopelessly marred, and its structural symmetry destroyed, by the welding of the second and third members of the sentence into one. Singular to relate, the addition of a single final letter (ς) has done all this mischief. Quite as singular is it that we should be able at the end of upwards of 1700 years to discover what occasioned its calamitous insertion. From the archetypal copy, by the aid of which the old Latin translation was made, (for the Latin copies all read “pax hominibus bonæ voluntatis,”) the preposition ἐν was evidently away,—absorbed apparently by the ἀν which immediately follows. In order therefore to make a sentence of some sort out of words which, without ἐν, are simply unintelligible, εὐδοκία was turned into εὐδοκίας. It is accordingly a significant circumstance that, whereas there exists no Greek copy of the Gospels which omits the ἐν, there is scarcely a Latin exhibition of the place to be found which contains it.⁸⁹ To return however to the genuine clause,—“Good-will towards men” (ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκία).

[pg 042]

Absolutely decisive of the true reading of the passage—irrespectively of internal considerations—ought to be the consideration that it is vouched for by every known copy of the Gospels of whatever sort, excepting only א a b d: the first and third of which, however, were anciently corrected and brought into conformity with the Received Text; while the second (a) is observed to be so inconstant in its testimony, that in the primitive “Morning-hymn” (given in another page of the same codex, and containing a quotation of S. Luke ii. 14), the correct reading of the place is found. d's complicity in error is the less important, because of the ascertained sympathy between that codex and the Latin. In the meantime the two Syriac Versions are a full set-off against the Latin copies; while the hostile evidence of the Gothic (which this time sides with the Latin) is more than neutralized by the unexpected desertion of the Coptic version from the opposite camp. The Armenian, Georgian, Æthiopic, Slavonic and Arabian versions, are besides all with the Received Text. It therefore comes to this:—We are invited to make our election between every other copy of the Gospels,—every known Lectionary,—and (not least of all) the ascertained ecclesiastical usage of the Eastern Church from the beginning,—on the one hand: and the testimony of four Codices without a history or a character, which concur in upholding a patent mistake, on the other. Will any one hesitate as to which of these two parties has the stronger claim on his allegiance?

Could doubt be supposed to be entertained in any quarter, it must at all events be borne away by the torrent of Patristic authority which is available on the present occasion:—

In the IInd century,—we have the testimony of (1) Irenæus.⁹⁰

[pg 043]

In the IIIrd,—that of (2) Origen⁹¹ in 3 places,—and of (3) the Apostolical Constitutions⁹² in 2.

In the IVth,—(4) Eusebius,⁹³—(5) Aphraates the Persian,⁹⁴—(6) Titus of Bostra,⁹⁵ each twice;—(7) Didymus⁹⁶ in 3 places;—(8) Gregory of Nazianzus,⁹⁷—(9) Cyril of Jerusalem,⁹⁸—(10) Epiphanius⁹⁹ twice;—(11) Gregory of Nyssa¹⁰⁰ 4 times,—(12) Ephraem Syrus,¹⁰¹—(13) Philo bishop of Carpasus,¹⁰²—(14) Chrysostom,¹⁰³ in 9 places,—and (15) a nameless preacher at Antioch,¹⁰⁴—all these, contemporaries (be it remembered) of b and א, are found to bear concurrent testimony in favour of the commonly received text.

In the Vth century,—(16) Cyril of Alexandria,¹⁰⁵ on no less than 14 occasions, vouches for it also;—(17) Theodoret¹⁰⁶ on 4;—(18) Theodotus of Ancyra¹⁰⁷ on 5 (once¹⁰⁸ in a homily preached before the Council of Ephesus on Christmas-day, a.d. 431);—(19) Proclus¹⁰⁹ archbishop of Constantinople;—(20) Paulus¹¹⁰ bishop of Emesa (in a sermon preached before Cyril of Alexandria on Christmas-day, a.d. 431);—(21) the Eastern bishops¹¹¹ at Ephesus collectively, a.d. 431 (an unusually weighty piece of evidence);—and lastly, (22) Basil [pg 044] of Seleucia.¹¹² Now, let it be remarked that these were contemporaries of codex a.

In the VIth century,—the Patristic witnesses are (23) Cosmas, the voyager,¹¹³ 5 times,—(24) Anastasius Sinaita,¹¹⁴—(25) Eulogius¹¹⁵ archbishop of Alexandria: contemporaries, be it remembered, of codex d.

In the VIIth,—(26) Andreas of Crete¹¹⁶ twice.

And in the VIIIth,—(27) Cosmas¹¹⁷ bishop of Maiuma near Gaza,—and his pupil (28) John Damascene,¹¹⁸—and (29) Germanus¹¹⁹ archbishop of Constantinople.

To these 29 illustrious names are to be added unknown writers of uncertain date, but all of considerable antiquity; and some¹²⁰ are proved by internal evidence to belong to the IVth or Vth century,—in short, to be of the date of the Fathers whose names 16 of them severally bear, but among whose genuine works their productions are probably not to be reckoned. One of these was anciently mistaken for (30) Gregory Thaumaturgus:121 a second, for (31) Methodius:122 a third, for (32) Basil.¹²³ Three others, with different degrees of reasonableness, have been supposed to be (33, 34, 35) Athanasius.¹²⁴ One has passed for (36) Gregory of Nyssa;¹²⁵ another for (37) Epiphanius;¹²⁶ while no less than eight (38 to 45) have been mistaken for Chrysostom,¹²⁷ some of them being certainly his contemporaries. Add (46) one anonymous Father,¹²⁸ and (47) the author of the apocryphal [pg 045] Acta Pilati,—and it will be perceived that 18 ancient authorities have been added to the list, every whit as competent to witness what was the text of S. Luke ii. 14 at the time when a b א d were written, as Basil or Athanasius, Epiphanius or Chrysostom themselves.¹²⁹ For our present purpose they are Codices of the IVth, Vth, and VIth centuries. In this way then, far more than forty-seven ancient witnesses have come back to testify to the men of this generation that the commonly received reading of S. Luke ii. 14 is the true reading, and that the text which the Revisionists are seeking to palm off upon us is a fabrication and a blunder. Will any one be found to maintain that the authority of b and א is appreciable, when confronted by the first 15 contemporary Ecclesiastical Writers above enumerated? or that a can stand against the 7 which follow?

This is not all however. Survey the preceding enumeration geographically, and note that, besides 1 name from Gaul,—at least 2 stand for Constantinople,—while 5 are dotted over Asia Minor:—10 at least represent Antioch; and—6, other parts of Syria:—3 stand for Palestine, and 12 for other Churches of the East:—at least 5 are Alexandrian,—2 are men of Cyprus, and—1 is from Crete. If the articulate voices of so many illustrious Bishops, coming back to us in this way from every part of ancient Christendom and all delivering the same unfaltering message,—if this be not allowed to be decisive on a point of the kind just now before us, then pray let us have it explained to us,—What amount of evidence will men accept as final? It is high time that this were known.... The plain truth is, that a case has [pg 046] been established against א a b d and the Latin version, which amounts to proof that those documents, even when they conspire to yield the self-same evidence, are not to be depended on as witnesses to the text of Scripture. The history of the reading advocated by the Revisionists is briefly this:—It emerges into notice in the IInd century; and in the Vth, disappears from sight entirely.

Enough and to spare has now been offered concerning the true reading of S. Luke ii. 14. But because we propose to ourselves that no uncertainty whatever shall remain on this subject, it will not be wasted labour if at parting we pour into the ruined citadel just enough of shot and shell to leave no dark corner standing for the ghost of a respectable doubt hereafter to hide in. Now, it is confessedly nothing else but the high estimate which Critics have conceived of the value of the testimony of the old uncials (א a b c d), which has occasioned any doubt at all to exist in this behalf. Let the learned Reader then ascertain for himself the character of codices א a b c d hereabouts, by collating the context in which S. Luke ii. 14 is found, viz. the 13 verses which precede and the one verse (ver. 15) which immediately follows. If the old uncials are observed all to sing in tune throughout, hereabouts, well and good: but if on the contrary, their voices prove utterly discordant, who sees not that the last pretence has been taken away for placing any confidence at all in their testimony concerning the text of ver. 14, turning as it does on the presence or absence of a single letter?... He will find, as the result of his analysis, that within the space of those 14 verses, the old uncials are responsible for 56 “various readings” (so-called): singly, for 41; in combination with one another, for 15. So diverse, however, is the testimony they respectively render, that they are found severally to differ from the Text of the cursives no [pg 047] less than 70 times. Among them, besides twice varying the phrase,—they contrive to omit 19 words:—to add 4:—to substitute 17:—to alter 10:—to transpose 24.—Lastly, these five codices are observed (within the same narrow limits) to fall into ten different combinations: viz. b א, for 5 readings;—b d, for 2;—א c, א d, a c, א b d, a א d, a b א d, b א c d, a b א c d, for 1 each. a therefore, which stands alone twice, is found in combination 4 times;—c, which stands alone once, is found in combination 4 times;¹³⁰—b, which stands alone 5 times, is found in combination 6 times;—א, which stands alone 11 times, is found in combination 8 times;—d, which stands alone 22 times, is found in combination 7 times.... And now,—for the last time we ask the question,—With what show of reason can the unintelligible εὐδοκίας (of א a b d) be upheld as genuine, in defiance of the whole body of Manuscripts, uncial and cursive,—the great bulk of the Versions,—and the mighty array of (upwards of fifty) Fathers exhibited above?

(c) We are at last able to proceed, with a promise that we shall rarely prove so tedious again. But it is absolutely necessary to begin by clearing the ground. We may not go on doubting for ever. The “Angelic hymn” and “The last 12 Verses” of S. Mark's Gospel, are convenient places for a trial of strength. It has now been proved that the commonly received text of S. Luke ii. 14 is the true text,—the Revisionists' emendation of the place, a palpable mistake. On behalf of the second Gospel, we claim to have also established that an important portion of the sacred narrative has been unjustly branded with a note of ignominy; from which we solemnly call upon the Revisionists to set the Evangelist free. The pretence that no harm has been done [pg 048] him by the mere statement of what is an undeniable fact,—(viz. that “the two oldest Greek manuscripts, and some other authorities, omit from verse 9 to the end;” and that “some other authorities have a different ending to the Gospel,”)—will not stand examination. Pin to the shoulder of an honourable man a hearsay libel on his character, and see what he will have to say to you! Besides,—Why have the 12 verses been further separated off from the rest of the Gospel? This at least is unjustifiable.

Those who, with Drs. Roberts and Milligan,¹³¹ have been taught to maintain “that the passage is not the immediate production of S. Mark,”—“can hardly be regarded as a part of the original Gospel; but is rather an addition made to it at a very early age, whether in the lifetime of the Evangelist or not, it is impossible to say:”—such Critics are informed that they stultify themselves when they proceed in the same breath to assure the offended reader that the passage “is nevertheless possessed of full canonical authority.”¹³² Men who so write show that they do not understand the question. For if these 12 verses are “canonical Scripture,”—as much inspired as the 12 verses which precede them, and as worthy of undoubting confidence,—then, whether they be “the production of S. Mark,” or of some other, is a purely irrelevant circumstance. The Authorship of the passage, as every one must see, is not the question. The last 12 verses of Deuteronomy, for instance, were probably not written by Moses. Do we therefore separate them off from the rest of Deuteronomy, and encumber the margin with a note expressive of our opinion? Our Revisionists, so far from holding what follows to be “canonical Scripture,” are careful to state that a rival ending to be found elsewhere merits serious attention. S. Mark xvi. 9-20, therefore (according to them), [pg 049] is not certainly a genuine part of the Gospel; may, after all, be nothing else but a spurious accretion to the text. And as long as such doubts are put forth by our Revisionists, they publish to the world that, in their account at all events, these verses are not “possessed of full canonical authority.” If “the two oldest Greek manuscripts” justly “omit from verse 9 to the end” (as stated in the margin), will any one deny that our printed Text ought to omit them also?¹³³ On the other hand, if the circumstance is a mere literary curiosity, will any one maintain that it is entitled to abiding record in the margin of the English Version of the everlasting page?—affords any warrant whatever for separating “the last Twelve Verses” from their context?

(d) We can probably render ordinary readers no more effectual service, than by offering now to guide them over a few select places, concerning the true reading of which the Revisionists either entertain such serious doubts that they have recorded their uncertainty in the margin of their work; or else, entertaining no doubts at all, have deliberately thrust a new reading into the body of their text, and that, without explanation, apology, or indeed record of any kind.¹³⁴ One remark should be premised, viz. that “various [pg 050] Readings” as they are (often most unreasonably) called, are seldom if ever the result of conscious fraud. An immense number are to be ascribed to sheer accident. It was through erroneous judgment, we repeat, not with evil intent, that men took liberties with the deposit. They imported into their copies whatever readings they considered highly recommended. By some of these ancient Critics it seems to have been thought allowable to abbreviate, by simply leaving out whatever did not appear to themselves strictly necessary: by others, to transpose the words—even the members—of a sentence, almost to any extent: by others, to substitute easy expressions for difficult ones. In this way it comes to pass that we are often presented, and in the oldest documents of all, with Readings which stand self-condemned; are clearly fabrications. That it was held allowable to assimilate one Gospel to another, is quite certain. Add, that as early as the IInd century there abounded in the Church documents,—“Diatessarons” they were sometimes called,—of which the avowed object was to weave one continuous and connected narrative “out of the four;”—and we shall find that as many heads have been provided, as will suffice for the classification of almost every various reading which we are likely to encounter in our study of the Gospels.

I. To accidental causes then we give the foremost place, [pg 051] and of these we have already furnished the reader with two notable and altogether dissimilar specimens. The first (viz. the omission of S. Mark xvi. 9-20 from certain ancient copies of the Gospel) seems to have originated in an unique circumstance. According to the Western order of the four, S. Mark occupies the last place. From the earliest period it had been customary to write τέλος (“end”) after the 8th verse of his last chapter, in token that there a famous ecclesiastical lection comes to a close. Let the last leaf of one very ancient archetypal copy have begun at ver. 9; and let that last leaf have perished;—and all is plain. A faithful copyist will have ended the Gospel perforce—as b and א have done—at S. Mark xvi. 8.... Our other example (S. Luke ii. 14) will have resulted from an accident of the most ordinary description,—as was explained at the outset.—To the foregoing, a few other specimens of erroneous readings resulting from Accident shall now be added.

(a) Always instructive, it is sometimes even entertaining to trace the history of a mistake which, dating from the IInd or IIIrd century, has remained without a patron all down the subsequent ages, until at last it has been suddenly taken up in our own times by an Editor of the sacred Text, and straightway palmed off upon an unlearned generation as the genuine work of the Holy Ghost. Thus, whereas the Church has hitherto supposed that S. Paul's company “were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls” (Acts xxvii. 37), Drs. Westcott and Hort (relying on the authority of b and the Sahidic version) insist that what S. Luke actually wrote was “about seventy-six.” In other words, instead of διακόσιαι ἑβδομηκονταέξ, we are invited henceforth to read ὩΣ ἑβδομηκονταέξ. What can have given rise to so formidable a discrepancy? Mere accident, we answer. First, whereas S. Luke certainly wrote ἦμεν δὲ ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ [pg 052] αἱ πᾶσαι ψυχαί, his last six words at some very early period underwent the familiar process of Transposition, and became, αἱ πᾶσαι ψυχαὶ ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ; whereby the word πλοίῳ and the numbers διακόσιαι ἑβδομηκονταέξ were brought into close proximity. (It is thus that Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, &c., wrongly exhibit the place.) But since “276” when represented in Greek numerals is ΣΟΣ, the inevitable consequence was that the words (written in uncials) ran thus: ΨΥΧΑΙΕΝΤΩΠΛΟΙΩΣΟΣ. Behold, the secret is out! Who sees not what has happened? There has been no intentional falsification of the text. There has been no critical disinclination to believe that “a corn-ship, presumably heavily laden, would contain so many souls,”—as an excellent judge supposes.¹³⁵ The discrepancy has been the result of sheer accident: is the merest blunder. Some IInd-century copyist connected the last letter of ΠΛΟΙΩ with the next ensuing numeral, which stands for 200 (viz. Σ); and made an independent word of it, viz. ὡς—i.e. “about.” But when Σ (i.e. 200) has been taken away from ΣΟΣ (i.e. 276), 76 is perforce all that remains. In other words, the result of so slight a blunder has been that instead of “two hundred and seventy-six” (ΣΟΣ), some one wrote ὡς ος´—i.e. “about seventy-six.” His blunder would have been diverting had it been confined to the pages of a codex which is full of blunders. When however it is adopted by the latest Editors of the N. T. (Drs. Westcott and Hort),—and by their influence has been foisted into the margin of our revised English Version—it becomes high time that we should reclaim against such a gratuitous depravation of Scripture.

All this ought not to have required explaining: the blunder is so gross,—its history so patent. But surely, had [pg 053] its origin been ever so obscure, the most elementary critical knowledge joined to a little mother-wit ought to convince a man that the reading ὡς ἑβδομηκονταέξ cannot be trustworthy. A reading discoverable only in codex b and one Egyptian version (which was evidently executed from codices of the same corrupt type as codex b) may always be dismissed as certainly spurious. But further,—Although a man might of course say “about seventy” or “about eighty,” (which is how Epiphanius¹³⁶ quotes the place,) who sees not that “about seventy-six” is an impossible expression? Lastly, the two false witnesses give divergent testimony even while they seem to be at one: for the Sahidic (or Thebaic) version arranges the words in an order peculiar to itself.

(b) Another corruption of the text, with which it is proposed henceforth to disfigure our Authorized Version, (originating like the last in sheer accident,) occurs in Acts xviii. 7. It is related concerning S. Paul, at Corinth, that having forsaken the synagogue of the Jews, “he entered into a certain man's house named Justus” (ὀνόματι Ἰούστου). That this is what S. Luke wrote, is to be inferred from the fact that it is found in almost every known copy of the Acts, beginning with a d g h l p. Chrysostom—the only ancient Greek Father who quotes the place—so quotes it. This is, in consequence, the reading of Lachmann, Tregelles, and Tischendorf in his 7th edition. But then, the last syllable of “name” (ΟΝΟΜΑΤΙ) and the first three letters of “Justus” (ΙΟΥΣΤΟΥ), in an uncial copy, may easily get mistaken for an independent word. Indeed it only wants a horizontal stroke (at the summit of the second Ι in ΤΙΙΟΥ) to produce “Titus” (ΤΙΤΟΥ). In the Syriac and Sahidic versions accordingly, “Titus” actually stands in place of “Justus,”—a reading [pg 054] no longer discoverable in any extant codex. As a matter of fact, the error resulted not in the substitution of “Titus” for “Justus,” but in the introduction of both names where S. Luke wrote but one. א and e, the Vulgate, and the Coptic version, exhibit “Titus Justus.” And that the foregoing is a true account of the birth and parentage of “Titus” is proved by the tell-tale circumstance, that in b the letters ΤΙ and ΙΟΥ are all religiously retained, and a supernumerary letter (Τ) has been thrust in between,—the result of which is to give us one more imaginary gentleman, viz. “Titius Justus;” with whose appearance,—(and he is found nowhere but in codex b,)—Tischendorf in his 8th ed., with Westcott and Hort in theirs, are so captivated, that they actually give him a place in their text. It was out of compassion (we presume) for the friendless stranger “Titus Justus” that our Revisionists have, in preference, promoted him to honour: in which act of humanity they stand alone. Their “new Greek Text” is the only one in existence in which the imaginary foreigner has been advanced to citizenship, and assigned “a local habitation and a name.” ... Those must have been wondrous drowsy days in the Jerusalem Chamber when such manipulations of the inspired text were possible!

(c) The two foregoing depravations grew out of the ancient practice of writing the Scriptures in uncial characters (i.e. in capital letters), no space being interposed between the words. Another striking instance is supplied by S. Matthew xi. 23 and S. Luke x. 15, where however the error is so transparent that the wonder is how it can ever have imposed upon any one. What makes the matter serious is, that it gives a turn to a certain Divine saying, of which it is incredible that either our Saviour or His Evangelists knew anything. We have hitherto believed that the solemn words ran as follows:—“And thou, Capernaum, [pg 055] which art exalted (ἡ ... ὑψωθεῖσα) unto heaven, shalt be brought down (καταβιβασθήσῃ) to hell.” For this, our Revisionists invite us to substitute, in S. Luke as well as in S. Matthew,—“And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted (μὴ ... ὑψωθήσῃ;) unto heaven?” And then, in S. Matthew, (but not in S. Luke,)—“Thou shalt go down (καταβήσῃ) into Hades.” Now, what can have happened to occasion such a curious perversion of our Lord's true utterance, and to cause Him to ask an unmeaning question about the future, when He was clearly announcing a fact, founded on the history of the past?

A stupid blunder has been made (we answer), of which traces survive (as usual) only in the same little handful of suspicious documents. The final letter of Capernaum (Μ) by cleaving to the next ensuing letter (Η) has made an independent word (ΜΗ); which new word necessitates a change in the construction, and causes the sentence to become interrogative. And yet, fourteen of the uncial manuscripts and the whole body of the cursives know nothing of this: neither does the Peschito—nor the Gothic version: no,—nor Chrysostom,—nor Cyril,—nor ps.-Cæsarius,—nor Theodoret,—the only Fathers who quote either place. The sole witnesses for μὴ ... ὑψωθήσῃ in both Gospels are א b, copies of the old Latin, Cureton's Syriac, the Coptic, and the Æthiopic versions,—a consensus of authorities which ought to be held fatal to any reading. c joins the conspiracy in Matthew xi. 23, but not in Luke x. 15: d l consent in Luke, but not in Matthew. The Vulgate, which sided with א b in S. Matthew, forsakes them in S. Luke. In writing both times καταβήσῃ (“thou shalt go down”), codex b (forsaken this time by א) is supported by a single manuscript, viz. d. But because, in Matthew xi. 23, b obtains the sanction of the Latin copies, καταβήσῃ is actually introduced into the Revised Text, and we are quietly informed in the margin that “Many ancient [pg 056] authorities read be brought down:” the truth being (as the reader has been made aware) that there are only two manuscripts in existence which read anything else. And (what deserves attention) those two manuscripts are convicted of having borrowed their quotation from the Septuagint,¹³⁷ and therefore stand self-condemned.... Were the occupants of the Jerusalem Chamber all—saving the two who in their published edition insist on reading (with b and d) καταβήσῃ in both places—all fast asleep when they became consenting parties to this sad mistake?

II. It is time to explain that, if the most serious depravations of Scripture are due to Accident, a vast number are unmistakably the result of Design, and are very clumsily executed too. The enumeration of a few of these may prove instructive: and we shall begin with something which is found in S. Mark xi. 3. With nothing perhaps will each several instance so much impress the devout student of Scripture, as with the exquisite structure of a narrative in which corrupt readings stand self-revealed and self-condemned, the instant they are ordered to come to the front and show themselves. But the point to which we especially invite his attention is, the sufficiency of the external evidence which Divine Wisdom is observed to have invariably provided for the establishment of the truth of His written Word.

(a) When our Lord was about to enter His capital in lowly triumph, He is observed to have given to “two of His disciples” directions well calculated to suggest the mysterious nature of the incident which was to follow. They were commanded to proceed to the entrance of a certain village,—to unloose a certain colt which they would find [pg 057] tied there,—and to bring the creature straightway to Jesus. Any obstacle which they might encounter would at once disappear before the simple announcement that “the Lord hath need of him.”¹³⁸ But, singular to relate, this transaction is found to have struck some third-rate IIIrd-century Critic as not altogether correct. The good man was evidently of opinion that the colt,—as soon as the purpose had been accomplished for which it had been obtained,—ought in common fairness to have been returned to “the owners thereof.” (S. Luke xix. 33.) Availing himself therefore of there being no nominative before “will send” (in S. Mark xi. 3), he assumed that it was of Himself that our Lord was still speaking: feigned that the sentence is to be explained thus:—“say ye, ‘that the Lord hath need of him and will straightway send him hither.’ ” According to this view of the case, our Saviour instructed His two Disciples to convey to the owner of the colt an undertaking from Himself that He would send the creature back as soon as He had done with it: would treat the colt, in short, as a loan. A more stupid imagination one has seldom had to deal with. But in the meantime, by way of clenching the matter, the Critic proceeded on his own responsibility to thrust into the text the word “again” (πάλιν). The fate of such an unauthorized accretion might have been confidently predicted. After skipping about in quest of a fixed resting-place for a few centuries (see the note at foot¹³⁹), πάλιν has shared the invariable fate of all such spurious adjuncts to the truth of Scripture, viz.: It has been effectually eliminated from the copies. Traces of it linger on only in those untrustworthy witnesses א b c d L Δ, and about twice as many cursive [pg 058] copies, also of depraved type. So transparent a fabrication ought in fact to have been long since forgotten. Yet have our Revisionists not been afraid to revive it. In S. Mark xi. 3, they invite us henceforth to read, “And if any one say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye, The Lord hath need of him, and straightway He (i.e. the Lord) will send him back hither.” ... Of what can they have been dreaming? They cannot pretend that they have Antiquity on their side: for, besides the whole mass of copies with a at their head, both the Syriac, both the Latin, and both the Egyptian versions, the Gothic, the Armenian,—all in fact except the Æthiopic,—are against them. Even Origen, who twice inserts πάλιν,¹⁴⁰ twice leaves it out.¹⁴¹ Quid plura?

(b) No need to look elsewhere for our next instance. A novel statement arrests attention five verses lower down: viz. that “Many spread their garments upon the way” [and why not “in the way”? εἰς does not mean “upon”]; “and others, branches which they had cut from the fields” (S. Mark xi. 8). But how in the world could they have done that? They must have been clever people certainly if they “cut branches from” anything except trees. Was it because our Revisionists felt this, that in the margin they volunteer the information, that the Greek for “branches” is in strictness “layers of leaves”? But what are “layers of leaves”? and what proof is there that στοιβάδες has that meaning? and how could “layers of leaves” have been suddenly procured from such a quarter? We turn to our Authorized Version, and are refreshed by the familiar and intelligible words: “And others cut down branches off the trees and strawed them in the way.” Why then has this been changed? In an ordinary sentence, consisting of 12 words, we find that 2 [pg 059] words have been substituted for other 2; that 1 has undergone modification; that 5 have been ejected. Why is all this? asks the unlearned Reader. He shall be told.

An instance is furnished us of the perplexity which a difficult word sometimes occasioned the ancients, as well as of the serious consequences which have sometimes resulted therefrom to the text of Scripture itself. S. Matthew, after narrating that “a very great multitude spread their garments in the way,” adds, “others cut branches (κλάδους) from the trees and strawed them in the way.”¹⁴² But would not branches of any considerable size have impeded progress, inconveniently encumbering the road? No doubt they would. Accordingly, as S. Mark (with S. Matthew's Gospel before him) is careful to explain, they were not “branches of any considerable size,” but “leafy twigs”—“foliage,” in fact it was—“cut from the trees and strawed in the way.” The word, however, which he employs (στοιβάδας) is an unique word—very like another of similar sound (στιβάδας), yet distinct from it in sense, if not in origin. Unfortunately, all this was not understood in a highly uncritical and most licentious age. With the best intentions, (for the good man was only seeking to reconcile two inconvenient parallel statements,) some Revisionist of the IInd century, having convinced himself that the latter word (στιβάδας) might with advantage take the place of S. Mark's word (στοιβάδας), substituted this for that. In consequence, it survives to this day in nine uncial copies headed by א b. But then, στιβάς does not mean “a branch” at all; no, nor a “layer of leaves” either; but a pallet—a floor-bed, in fact, of the humblest type, constructed of grass, rushes, straw, brushwood, leaves, or any similar substance. On the other hand, because such materials are not obtainable from trees exactly, the ancient [pg 060] Critic judged it expedient further to change δένδρων into ἀγρῶν (“fields”). Even this was not altogether satisfactory. Στιβάς, as explained already, in strictness means a “bed.” Only by a certain amount of license can it be supposed to denote the materials of which a bed is composed; whereas the Evangelist speaks of something “strawn.” The self-same copies, therefore, which exhibit “fields” (in lieu of “trees”), by introducing a slight change in the construction (κόψαντες for ἔκοπτον), and omitting the words “and strawed them in the way,” are observed—after a summary fashion of their own, (with which, however, readers of b א d are only too familiar)—to dispose of this difficulty by putting it nearly out of sight. The only result of all this misplaced officiousness is a miserable travestie of the sacred words:—ἄλλοι δὲ στιβάδας, κόψαντες ἐκ τῶν ἀγρῶν: 7 words in place of 12!

But the calamitous circumstance is that the Critics have all to a man fallen into the trap. True, that Origen (who once writes στοιβάδας and once στιβάδας), as well as the two Egyptian versions, side with א b c l Δ in reading ἐκ τῶν ἀγρῶν: but then both versions (with c) decline to alter the construction of the sentence; and (with Origen) decline to omit the clause ἐστρώννυον εἰς τὴν ὁδόν: while, against this little band of disunited witnesses, are marshalled all the remaining fourteen uncials, headed by a d—the Peschito and the Philoxenian Syriac; the Italic, the Vulgate, the Gothic, the Armenian, the Georgian, and the Æthiopic as well as the Slavonic versions, besides the whole body of the cursives. Whether therefore Antiquity, Variety, Respectability of witnesses, numbers, or the reason of the thing be appealed to, the case of our opponents breaks hopelessly down. Does any one seriously suppose that, if S. Mark had written the common word στΙβάδας, so vast a majority of the copies at this day would exhibit the improbable στΟΙβάδας? Had the same S. Mark expressed nothing else but ΚΌΨΑΝΤΕΣ ἐκ τῶν [pg 061] ἈΓΡΩ´Ν, will any one persuade us that every copy in existence but five would present us with ἜΚΟΠΤΟΝ ἐκ τῶν ΔΈΝΔΡΩΝ, καὶ ἘΣΤΡΏΝΝΥΟΝ ἘΙΣ ΤῊΝ ὉΔΌΝ? And let us not be told that there has been Assimilation here. There has been none. S. Matthew (xxi. 8) writes ἈΠῸ τῶν δένδρον ... ἘΝ τῇ ὡδῷ: S. Mark (xi. 8), ἘΚ τῶν δένδρων ... ἘΙΣ τὴν ὁδόν. The types are distinct, and have been faithfully retained all down the ages. The common reading is certainly correct. The Critics are certainly in error. And we exclaim (surely not without good reason) against the hardship of thus having an exploded corruption of the text of Scripture furbished up afresh and thrust upon us, after lying deservedly forgotten for upwards of a thousand years.

(c) Take a yet grosser specimen, which has nevertheless imposed just as completely upon our Revisionists. It is found in S. Luke's Gospel (xxiii. 45), and belongs to the history of the Crucifixion. All are aware that as, at the typical redemption out of Egypt, there had been a preternatural darkness over the land for three days,¹⁴³ so, preliminary to the actual Exodus of “the Israel of God,” “there was darkness over all the land” for three hours.¹⁴⁴ S. Luke adds the further statement,—“And the sun was darkened” (καὶ ἐσκοτίσθη ὁ ἥλιος). Now the proof that this is what S. Luke actually wrote, is the most obvious and conclusive possible. Ἐσκοτίσθη is found in all the most ancient documents. Marcion¹⁴⁵ (whose date is a.d. 130-50) so exhibits the place:—besides the old Latin¹⁴⁶ and the Vulgate:—the Peschito, Cureton's, and the Philoxenian Syriac versions:—the Armenian,—the Æthiopic,—the Georgian,—and the [pg 062] Slavonic.—Hippolytus¹⁴⁷ (a.d. 190-227),—Athanasius,¹⁴⁸—Ephraem Syr.,¹⁴⁹—Theodore Mops.,¹⁵⁰—Nilus the monk,¹⁵¹—Severianus, (in a homily preserved in Armenian, p. 439,)—Cyril of Alexandria,¹⁵²—the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus—and the Anaphora Pilati,¹⁵³—are all witnesses to the same effect. Add the Acta Pilati¹⁵⁴—and the Syriac Acts of the Apostles.¹⁵⁵—Let it suffice of the Latins to quote Tertullian.¹⁵⁶—But the most striking evidence is the consentient testimony of the manuscripts, viz. all the uncials but 3 and-a-half, and every known Evangelium.

That the darkness spoken of was a divine portent—not an eclipse of the sun, but an incident wholly out of the course of nature—the ancients clearly recognize. Origen,¹⁵⁷—Julius Africanus¹⁵⁸ (a.d. 220),—Macarius Magnes¹⁵⁹ (a.d. 330),—are even eloquent on the subject. Chrysostom's evidence is unequivocal.¹⁶⁰ It is, nevertheless, well known that this place of S. Luke's Gospel was tampered with from a very early period; and that Origen¹⁶¹ (a.d. 186-253), and perhaps Eusebius,¹⁶² [pg 063] employed copies which had been depraved. In some copies, writes Origen, instead of “and the sun was darkened” (καὶ ἐσκοτίσθη ὁ ἥλιος), is found “the sun having become eclipsed” (τοῦ ἡλίου ἐκλιπόντος). He points out with truth that the thing spoken of is a physical impossibility, and delivers it as his opinion that the corruption of the text was due either to some friendly hand in order to account for the darkness; or else, (which he,¹⁶³ and Jerome¹⁶⁴ after him, thought more likely,) to the enemies of Revelation, who sought in this way to provide themselves with a pretext for cavil. Either way, Origen and Jerome elaborately assert that ἐσκοτίσθη is the only true reading of S. Luke xxiii. 45. Will it be believed that this gross fabrication—for no other reason but because it is found in א b l, and probably once existed in c¹⁶⁵—has been resuscitated in 1881, and foisted into the sacred Text by our Revisionists?

It would be interesting to have this proceeding of theirs explained. Why should the truth dwell exclusively¹⁶⁶ with א b l? It cannot be pretended that between the IVth and Vth centuries, when the copies א b were made, and the Vth and VIth centuries, when the copies a q d r were executed, this [pg 064] corruption of the text arose: for (as was explained at the outset) the reading in question (καὶ ἐσκοτίσθη ὁ ἥλιος) is found in all the oldest and most famous documents. Our Revisionists cannot take their stand on “Antiquity,”—for as we have seen, all the Versions (with the single exception of the Coptic¹⁶⁷),—and the oldest Church writers, (Marcion, Origen, Julius Africanus, Hippolytus, Athanasius, Gregory Naz., Ephraem, &c.,) are all against them.—They cannot advance the claim of “clearly preponderating evidence;” for they have but a single Version,—not a single Father,—and but three-and-a-half Evangelia to appeal to, out of perhaps three hundred and fifty times that number.—They cannot pretend that essential probability is in favour of the reading of א b; seeing that the thing stated is astronomically impossible.—They will not tell us that critical opinion is with them: for their judgment is opposed to that of every Critic ancient and modern, except Tischendorf since his discovery of codex א.—Of what nature then will be their proof?... Nothing results from the discovery that א reads τοῦ ἡλίου ἐκλιπόντος, b ἐκλείποντος,—except that those two codices are of the same corrupt type as those which Origen deliberately condemned 1650 years ago. In the meantime, with more of ingenuity than of ingenuousness, our Revisionists attempt to conceal the foolishness of the text of their choice by translating it [pg 065] unfairly. They present us with, “the sun's light failing.” But this is a gloss of their own. There is no mention of “the sun's light” in the Greek. Nor perhaps, if the rationale of the original expression were accurately ascertained, would such a paraphrase of it prove correct¹⁶⁸. But, in fact, the phrase ἔκλειψις ἡλίου means “an eclipse of the sun” and no other thing. In like manner, τοῦ ἡλίου ἐκλείποντος¹⁶⁹ (as our Revisionists are perfectly well aware) means “the sun becoming eclipsed,” or “suffering eclipse.” It is easy for Revisionists to “emphatically deny that there is anything in the Greek word ἐκλείπειν, when associated with the sun, which involves necessarily the notion of an eclipse.”¹⁷⁰ The fact referred to may not be so disposed of. It lies outside the province of “emphatic denial.” Let them ask any Scholar in Europe what τοῦ ἡλίου ἐκλιπόντος means; and see if he does not tell them that it can only mean, “the sun having become eclipsed”! They know this every bit as well as their Reviewer. And they ought either to have had the manliness to render the words faithfully, or else the good sense to let the Greek alone,—which they are respectfully assured was their only proper course. Καί ἐσκοτίσθη ὁ ἥλιος is, in fact, clearly above suspicion. Τοῦ ἡλίου ἐκλείποντος, which these learned men (with the best intentions) have put in its place, is, to speak plainly, a transparent fabrication. That it enjoys “clearly preponderating evidence,” is what no person, fair or unfair, will for an instant venture to pretend.

III. Next, let us produce an instance of depravation of Scripture resulting from the practice of Assimilation, which [pg 066] prevailed anciently to an extent which baffles arithmetic. We choose the most famous instance that presents itself.

(a) It occurs in S. Mark vi. 20, and is more than unsuspected. The substitution (on the authority of א b l and the Coptic) of ἠπόρει for ἐποίει in that verse, (i.e. the statement that Herod “was much perplexed,”—instead of Herod “did many things,”) is even vaunted by the Critics as the recovery of the true reading of the place—long obscured by the “very singular expression” ἐποίει. To ourselves the only “very singular” thing is, how men of first-rate ability can fail to see that, on the contrary, the proposed substitute is simply fatal to the Spirit's teaching in this place. “Common sense is staggered by such a rendering,” (remarks the learned Bishop of Lincoln). “People are not wont to hear gladly those by whom they are much perplexed.”¹⁷¹ But in fact, the sacred writer's object clearly is, to record the striking circumstance that Herod was so moved by the discourses of John, (whom he used to “listen to with pleasure,”) that he even “did many things” (πολλὰ ἐποίει) in conformity with the Baptist's teaching.¹⁷²... And yet, if this be so, how (we shall be asked) has “he was much perplexed” (πολλὰ ἠπόρει) contrived to effect a lodgment in so many as three copies of the second Gospel?

It has resulted from nothing else, we reply, but the determination to assimilate a statement of S. Mark (vi. 20) concerning Herod and John the Baptist, with another and a distinct statement of S. Luke (ix. 7), having reference to Herod [pg 067] and our Lord. S. Luke, speaking of the fame of our Saviour's miracles at a period subsequent to the Baptist's murder, declares that when Herod “heard all things that were done by Him” (ἤκουσε τὰ γινόμενα ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ πάντα), “he was much perplexed” (διηπόρει).—Statements so entirely distinct and diverse from one another as this of S. Luke, and that (given above) of S. Mark, might surely (one would think) have been let alone. On the contrary. A glance at the foot of the page will show that in the IInd century S. Mark's words were solicited in all sorts of ways. A persistent determination existed to make him say that Herod having “heard of many things which the Baptist did,” &c.¹⁷³—a strange perversion of the Evangelist's meaning, truly, and only to be accounted for in one way.¹⁷⁴

[pg 068]

Had this been all, however, the matter would have attracted no attention. One such fabrication more or less in the Latin version, which abounds in fabricated readings, is of little moment. But then, the Greek scribes had recourse to a more subtle device for assimilating Mark vi. 20 to Luke ix. 7. They perceived that S. Mark's ἐποίει might be almost identified with S. Luke's διηπόρει, by merely changing two of the letters, viz. by substituting η for ε and ρ for ι. From this, there results in S. Mk. vi. 20: “and having heard many things of him, he was perplexed;” which is very nearly identical [pg 069] with what is found in S. Lu. ix. 7. This fatal substitution (of ἠπόρει for ἐποίει) survives happily only in codices א b l and the Coptic version—all of bad character. But (calamitous to relate) the Critics, having disinterred this long-since-forgotten fabrication, are making vigorous efforts to galvanize it, at the end of fifteen centuries, into ghastly life and activity. We venture to assure them that they will not succeed. Herod's “perplexity” did not begin until John had been beheaded, and the fame reached Herod of the miracles which our Saviour wrought. The apocryphal statement, now for the first time thrust into an English copy of the New Testament, may be summarily dismissed. But the marvel will for ever remain that a company of distinguished Scholars (a.d. 1881) could so effectually persuade themselves that ἐποίει (in S. Mark vi. 20) is a “plain and clear error,” and that there is “decidedly preponderating evidence” in favour of ἠπόρει,—as to venture to substitute the latter word for the former. This will for ever remain a marvel, we say; seeing that all the uncials except three of bad character, together with every known cursive without exception;—the old Latin and the Vulgate, the Peschito and the Philoxenian Syriac, the Armenian, Æthiopic, Slavonian and Georgian versions,—are with the traditional Text. (The Thebaic, the Gothic, and Cureton's Syriac are defective here. The ancient Fathers are silent.)

IV. More serious in its consequences, however, than any other source of mischief which can be named, is the process of Mutilation, to which, from the beginning, the Text of Scripture has been subjected. By the “Mutilation” of Scripture we do but mean the intentional Omission—from whatever cause proceeding—of genuine portions. And the causes of it have been numerous as well as diverse. Often, indeed, there seems to have been at work nothing else but a strange passion for getting rid of whatever portions of the [pg 070] inspired Text have seemed to anybody superfluous,—or at all events have appeared capable of being removed without manifest injury to the sense. But the estimate of the tasteless IInd-century Critic will never be that of the well-informed Reader, furnished with the ordinary instincts of piety and reverence. This barbarous mutilation of the Gospel, by the unceremonious excision of a multitude of little words, is often attended by no worse consequence than that thereby an extraordinary baldness is imparted to the Evangelical narrative. The removal of so many of the coupling-hooks is apt to cause the curtains of the Tabernacle to hang wondrous ungracefully; but often that is all. Sometimes, however, (as might have been confidently anticipated,) the result is calamitous in a high degree. Not only is the beauty of the narrative effectually marred, (as e.g. by the barbarous excision of καί—εὐθέως—μετὰ δακρύων—Κύριε, from S. Mark ix. 24):175—the doctrinal teaching of our Saviour's discourses in countless places, damaged, (as e.g. by the omission of καὶ νηστείᾳ from verse 29):—absurd expressions attributed to the Holy One which He certainly never uttered, (as e.g. by truncating of its last word the phrase τό, Εἰ δύνασαι πιστεῦσαι in verse 23):—but (i.) The narrative is often rendered in a manner unintelligible; or else (ii.), The entire point of a precious incident is made to disappear from sight; or else (iii.), An imaginary incident is fabricated: or lastly (iv.), Some precious saying of our Divine Lord is turned into absolute nonsense. Take a [pg 071] single short example of what has last been offered, from each of the Gospels in turn.

(i.) In S. Matthew xiv. 30, we are invited henceforth to submit to the information concerning Simon Peter, that “when he saw the wind, he was afraid.” The sight must have been peculiar, certainly. So, indeed, is the expression. But Simon Peter was as unconscious of the one as S. Matthew of the other. Such curiosities are the peculiar property of codices א b—the Coptic version—and the Revisionists. The predicate of the proposition (viz. “that it was strong,” contained in the single word ἰσχυρόν) has been wantonly excised. That is all!—although Dr. Hort succeeded in persuading his colleagues to the contrary. A more solemn—a far sadder instance, awaits us in the next Gospel.

(ii.) The first three Evangelists are careful to note “the loud cry” with which the Redeemer of the World expired. But it was reserved for S. Mark (as Chrysostom pointed out long since) to record (xv. 39) the memorable circumstance that this particular portent it was, which wrought conviction in the soul of the Roman soldier whose office it was to be present on that terrible occasion. The man had often witnessed death by Crucifixion, and must have been well acquainted with its ordinary phenomena. Never before had he witnessed anything like this. He was stationed where he could see and hear all that happened: “standing” (S. Mark says) “near” our Saviour,—“over against Him.” “Now, when the Centurion saw that it was after so crying out (κράξας), that He expired” (xv. 39) he uttered the memorable words, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” “What chiefly moved him to make that confession of his faith was that our Saviour evidently died with power.”¹⁷⁶ “The miracle” (says Bp. Pearson) “was not in the death, but in the voice. The [pg 072] strangeness was not that He should die, but that at the point of death He should cry out so loud. He died not by, but with a Miracle.”¹⁷⁷ ... All this however is lost in א b l, which literally stand alone¹⁷⁸ in leaving out the central and only important word, κράξας. Calamitous to relate, they are followed herein by our Revisionists: who (misled by Dr. Hort) invite us henceforth to read,—“Now when the Centurion saw that He so gave up the ghost.”

(iii.) In S. Luke xxiii. 42, by leaving out two little words (τω and κε), the same blind guides, under the same blind guidance, effectually misrepresent the record concerning the repentant malefactor. Henceforth they would have us believe that “he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when thou comest in thy Kingdom.’ ” (Dr. Hort was fortunately unable to persuade the Revisionists to follow him in further substituting “into thy kingdom” for “in thy kingdom;” and so converting what, in the A. V., is nothing worse than a palpable mistranslation,¹⁷⁹ into what would have been an indelible blot. The record of his discomfiture survives in the margin). Whereas none of the Churches of Christendom have ever yet doubted that S. Luke's record is, that the dying man “said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me,” &c.

(iv.) In S. John xiv. 4, by eliminating the second καί and the second οἴδατε, our Saviour is now made to say, “And whither I go, ye know the way;” which is really almost nonsense. What He actually said was, “And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know;” in consequence of which (as we all remember) “Thomas saith unto Him, Lord, we know [pg 073] not ‘whither’ Thou goest, and how can we know ‘the way’?” ... Let these four samples suffice of a style of depravation with which, at the end of 1800 years, it is deliberately proposed to disfigure every page of the everlasting Gospel; and for which, were it tolerated, the Church would have to thank no one so much as Drs. Westcott and Hort.

We cannot afford, however, so to dismiss the phenomena already opened up to the Reader's notice. For indeed, this astonishing taste for mutilating and maiming the Sacred Deposit, is perhaps the strangest phenomenon in the history of Textual Criticism.

It is in this way that a famous expression in S. Luke vi. 1 has disappeared from codices א b l. The reader may not be displeased to listen to an anecdote which has hitherto escaped the vigilance of the Critics:—

“I once asked my teacher, Gregory of Nazianzus,”—(the words are Jerome's in a letter to Nepotianus),—“to explain to me the meaning of S. Luke's expression σάββατον δευτερόπρωτον, literally the ‘second-first sabbath.’ ‘I will tell you all about it in church,’ he replied. ‘The congregation shall shout applause, and you shall have your choice,—either to stand silent and look like a fool, or else to pretend you understand what you do not.’ ” But “eleganter lusit,” says Jerome¹⁸⁰. The point of the joke was this: Gregory, being a great rhetorician and orator, would have descanted so elegantly on the signification of the word δευτερόπρωτον that the congregation would have been borne away by his mellifluous periods, quite regardless of the sense. In other words, Gregory of Nazianzus [a.d. 360] is found to have no more understood the word than Jerome did [370].

Ambrose¹⁸¹ of Milan [370] attempts to explain the difficult [pg 074] expression, but with indifferent success. Epiphanius¹⁸² of Cyprus [370] does the same;—and so, Isidorus¹⁸³ [400] called “Pelusiota” after the place of his residence in Lower Egypt.—Ps.-Cæsarius¹⁸⁴ also volunteers remarks on the word [a.d. 400?].—It is further explained in the Paschal Chronicle,¹⁸⁵—and by Chrysostom¹⁸⁶ [370] at Antioch.—“Sabbatum secundo-primum” is found in the old Latin, and is retained by the Vulgate. Earlier evidence on the subject does not exist. We venture to assume that a word so attested must at least be entitled to its place in the Gospel. Such a body of first-rate positive IVth-century testimony, coming from every part of ancient Christendom, added to the significant fact that δευτερόπρωτον is found in every codex extant except א b l, and half a dozen cursives of suspicious character, ought surely to be regarded as decisive. That an unintelligible word should have got omitted from a few copies, requires no explanation. Every one who has attended to the matter is aware that the negative evidence of certain of the Versions also is of little weight on such occasions as the present. They are observed constantly to leave out what they either failed quite to understand, or else found untranslateable. On the other hand, it would be inexplicable indeed, that an unique expression like the present should have established itself universally, if it were actually spurious. This is precisely an occasion for calling to mind the precept proclivi scriptioni præstat ardua. Apart from external evidence, it is a thousand times more likely that such a peculiar word as this should be genuine, than the reverse. Tischendorf accordingly retains it, moved by this very consideration.¹⁸⁷ It got excised, however, here and there from manuscripts at a very early date. And, incredible as it may appear, it is a fact, that in consequence of its absence from [pg 075] the mutilated codices above referred to, S. Luke's famous “second-first Sabbath” has been thrust out of his Gospel by our Revisionists.

But indeed, Mutilation has been practised throughout. By codex b (collated with the traditional Text), no less than 2877 words have been excised from the four Gospels alone: by codex א,—3455 words: by codex d,—3704 words.¹⁸⁸

As interesting a set of instances of this, as are to be anywhere met with, occurs within the compass of the last three chapters of S. Luke's Gospel, from which about 200 words have been either forcibly ejected by our Revisionists, or else served with “notice to quit.” We proceed to specify the chief of these:—

(1) S. Luke xxii. 19, 20. (Account of the Institution of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper,—from “which is given for you” to the end,—32 words.)

(2) ibid. 43, 44. (Our Saviour's Agony in the garden,—26 words.)

(3) xxiii. 17. (The custom of releasing one at the Passover,—8 words.)

(4) ibid. 34. (Our Lord's prayer on behalf of His murderers,—12 words.)

(5) ibid. 38. (The record that the title on the Cross was written in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew,—7 words.)

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(6) xxiv. 1. (“and certain with them,”—4 words.)

(7) ibid. 3. (“of the Lord Jesus,”—3 words.)

(8) ibid. 6. (“He is not here, but He is risen,”—5 words.)

(9) ibid. 9. (“from the sepulchre,”—3 words.)

(10) ibid. 12. (The mention of S. Peter's visit to the sepulchre,—22 words.)

(11) ibid. 36. (“and saith unto them, Peace be unto you!”—5 words.)

(12) ibid. 40. (“and when He had thus spoken, He showed them His hands and His feet,”—10 words.)

(13) ibid. 42. (“and of an honeycomb,”—4 words.)

(14) ibid. 51. (“and was carried up into Heaven,”—5.)

(15) ibid. 52. (“worshipped Him,”—2 words.)

(16) ibid. 53. (“praising and,”—2 words.)

On an attentive survey of the foregoing sixteen instances of unauthorized Omission, it will be perceived that the 1st passage (S. Luke xxii. 19, 20) must have been eliminated from the Text because the mention of two Cups seemed to create a difficulty.—The 2nd has been suppressed because (see p. 82) the incident was deemed derogatory to the majesty of God Incarnate.—The 3rd and 5th were held to be superfluous, because the information which they contain has been already conveyed by the parallel passages.—The 10th will have been omitted as apparently inconsistent with the strict letter of S. John xx. 1-10.—The 6th and 13th are certainly instances of enforced Harmony.—Most of the others (the 4th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th) seem to have been excised through mere wantonness,—the veriest licentiousness.—In the meantime, so far are Drs. Westcott and Hort from accepting the foregoing account of the matter, that they even style the 1st “a perverse interpolation:” in which view of the subject, however, they enjoy the distinction of standing entirely alone. With the same “moral certainty,” they further proceed to shut up within double [pg 077] brackets the 2nd, 4th, 7th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th: while the 3rd, 5th, 6th, 13th, and 16th, they exclude from their Text as indisputably spurious matter.

Now, we are not about to abuse our Readers' patience by an investigation of the several points raised by the foregoing statement. In fact, all should have been passed by in silence, but that unhappily the “Revision” of our Authorized Version is touched thereby very nearly indeed. So intimate (may we not say, so fatal?) proves to be the sympathy between the labours of Drs. Westcott and Hort and those of our Revisionists, that whatever the former have shut up within double brackets, the latter are discovered to have branded with a note of suspicion, conceived invariably in the same terms: viz., “Some ancient authorities omit.” And further, whatever those Editors have rejected from their Text, these Revisionists have rejected also. It becomes necessary, therefore, briefly to enquire after the precise amount of manuscript authority which underlies certain of the foregoing changes. And happily this may be done in a few words.

The sole authority for just half of the places above enumerated¹⁸⁹ is a single Greek codex,—and that, the most depraved of all,—viz. Beza's d.¹⁹⁰ It should further be stated that the only allies discoverable for d are a few copies of the old Latin. What we are saying will seem scarcely credible: but it is a plain fact, of which any one may convince himself who will be at the pains to inspect the critical apparatus at the foot of the pages of Tischendorf's last (8th) edition. Our Revisionists' notion, therefore, of what constitutes “weighty evidence” is now before the Reader. If, in his judgment, the testimony of one single manuscript, (and that manuscript the [pg 078] Codex Bezæ (d),)—does really invalidate that of all other Manuscripts and all other Versions in the world,—then of course, the Greek Text of the Revisionists will in his judgment be a thing to be rejoiced over. But what if he should be of opinion that such testimony, in and by itself, is simply worthless? We shrewdly suspect that the Revisionists' view of what constitutes “weighty Evidence” will be found to end where it began, viz. in the Jerusalem Chamber.

For, when we reach down codex d from the shelf, we are reminded that, within the space of the three chapters of S. Luke's Gospel now under consideration, there are in all no less than 354 words omitted; of which, 250 are omitted by d alone. May we have it explained to us why, of those 354 words, only 25 are singled out by Drs. Westcott and Hort for permanent excision from the sacred Text? Within the same compass, no less than 173 words have been added by d to the commonly Received Text,—146, substituted,—243, transposed. May we ask how it comes to pass that of those 562 words not one has been promoted to their margin by the Revisionists?... Return we, however, to our list of the changes which they actually have effected.

(1) Now, that ecclesiastical usage and the parallel places would seriously affect such precious words as are found in S. Luke xxii. 19, 20,—was to have been expected. Yet has the type been preserved all along, from the beginning, with singular exactness; except in one little handful of singularly licentious documents, viz. in d a ff2 i l, which leave all out;—in b e, which substitute verses 17 and 18;—and in “the singular and sometimes rather wild Curetonian Syriac Version,”¹⁹¹ which, retaining the 10 words of ver. 19, substitutes [pg 079] verses 17, 18 for ver. 20. Enough for the condemnation of d survives in Justin,¹⁹²—Basil,¹⁹³—Epiphanius,¹⁹⁴—Theodoret,¹⁹⁵—Cyril,¹⁹⁶—Maximus,¹⁹⁷—Jerome.¹⁹⁸ But why delay ourselves concerning a place vouched for by every known copy of the Gospels except d? Drs. Westcott and Hort entertain “no moral doubt that the [32] words [given at foot¹⁹⁹] were absent from the original text of S. Luke;” in which opinion, happily, they stand alone. But why did our Revisionists suffer themselves to be led astray by such blind guidance?

The next place is entitled to far graver attention, and may on no account be lightly dismissed, seeing that these two verses contain the sole record of that “Agony in the Garden” which the universal Church has almost erected into an article of the Faith.

(2) That the incident of the ministering Angel, the Agony and bloody sweat of the world's Redeemer (S. Luke xxii. 43, 44), was anciently absent from certain copies of the Gospels, is expressly recorded by Hilary,²⁰⁰ by Jerome,²⁰¹ and others. Only necessary is it to read the apologetic remarks which Ambrose introduces when he reaches S. Luke xxii. 43,202 to understand what has evidently led to this serious mutilation of Scripture,—traces of which survive at this day exclusively in four codices, viz. a b r t. Singular to relate, in the Gospel which was read on Maundy-Thursday these two verses of S. Luke's Gospel are thrust in between the 39th [pg 080] and the 40th verses of S. Matthew xxvi. Hence, 4 cursive copies, viz. 13-69-124-346—(confessedly derived from a common ancient archetype,²⁰³ and therefore not four witnesses but only one),—actually exhibit these two Verses in that place. But will any unprejudiced person of sound mind entertain a doubt concerning the genuineness of these two verses, witnessed to as they are by the whole body of the Manuscripts, uncial as well as cursive, and by every ancient Version?... If such a thing were possible, it is hoped that the following enumeration of ancient Fathers, who distinctly recognize the place under discussion, must at least be held to be decisive:—viz.

Justin M.,²⁰⁴—Irenæus²⁰⁵ in the IInd century:—

Hippolytus,²⁰⁶—Dionysius Alex.,²⁰⁷—ps. Tatian,²⁰⁸ in the IIIrd.—

Arius,²⁰⁹—Eusebius,²¹⁰—Athanasius,²¹¹—Ephraem Syr.,²¹²—Didymus,²¹³—Gregory Naz.,²¹⁴—Epiphanius,²¹⁵—Chrysostom,²¹⁶—ps.-Dionysius Areop.,²¹⁷ in the IVth:—

Julian the heretic,²¹⁸—Theodoras Mops.,²¹⁹—Nestorius,²²⁰—Cyril Alex.,²²¹—Paulus, bishop of Emesa,²²²—Gennadius,²²³—Theodoret,²²⁴—and several Oriental Bishops (a.d. 431),²²⁵ in the Vth:—besides [pg 081] Ps.-Cæsarius,²²⁶—Theodosius Alex.,²²⁷—John Damascene,²²⁸—Maximus,²²⁹—Theodorus hæret.,²³⁰—Leontius Byz.,²³¹—Anastasius Sin.,²³²—Photius:233 and of the Latins, Hilary,²³⁴—Jerome,²³⁵—Augustine,²³⁶—Cassian,²³⁷—Paulinus,²³⁸—Facundus.²³⁹

It will be seen that we have been enumerating upwards of forty famous personages from every part of ancient Christendom, who recognize these verses as genuine; fourteen of them being as old,—some of them, a great deal older,—than our oldest MSS.—Why therefore Drs. Westcott and Hort should insist on shutting up these 26 precious words—this article of the Faith—in double brackets, in token that it is “morally certain” that verses 43 and 44 are of spurious origin, we are at a loss to divine.²⁴⁰ We can but ejaculate (in the very words they proceed to disallow),—“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” But our especial concern is with our Revisionists; and we do not exceed our province when we come forward to reproach them sternly for having succumbed to such evil counsels, and deliberately branded these Verses with their own corporate expression of doubt. For unless that be the purpose of the marginal Note which they have set against these verses, we fail to understand the Revisers' language and are wholly at a loss to divine what purpose that note of theirs can be meant to serve. It is prefaced [pg 082] by a formula which, (as we learn from their own Preface,) offers to the reader the “alternative” of omitting the Verses in question: implies that “it would not be safe” any longer to accept them,—as the Church has hitherto done,—with undoubting confidence. In a word,—it brands them with suspicion.... We have been so full on this subject,—(not half of our references were known to Tischendorf,)—because of the unspeakable preciousness of the record; and because we desire to see an end at last to expressions of doubt and uncertainty on points which really afford not a shadow of pretence for either. These two Verses were excised through mistaken piety by certain of the orthodox,—jealous for the honour of their Lord, and alarmed by the use which the impugners of His Godhead freely made of them.²⁴¹ Hence Ephraem [Carmina Nisibena, p. 145] puts the following words into the mouth of Satan, addressing the host of Hell:—“One thing I witnessed in Him which especially comforts me. I saw Him praying; and I rejoiced, for His countenance changed and He was afraid. His sweat was drops of blood, for He had a presentiment that His day had come. This was the fairest sight of all,—unless, to be sure, He was practising deception on me. For verily if He hath deceived me, then it is all over,—both with me, and with you, my servants!”

(4) Next in importance after the preceding, comes the Prayer which the Saviour of the World breathed from the Cross on behalf of His murderers (S. Luke xxiii. 34). These twelve precious words,—(“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do,”)—like those twenty-six words in S. Luke xxii. 43, 44 which we have been considering already, Drs. Westcott and Hort enclose within double brackets in token of the “moral certainty” they entertain [pg 083] that the words are spurious.²⁴² And yet these words are found in every known uncial and in every known cursive Copy, except four; besides being found in every ancient Version. And what,—(we ask the question with sincere simplicity,)—what amount of evidence is calculated to inspire undoubting confidence in any existing Reading, if not such a concurrence of Authorities as this?... We forbear to insist upon the probabilities of the case. The Divine power and sweetness of the incident shall not be enlarged upon. We introduce no considerations resulting from Internal Evidence. True, that “few verses of the Gospels bear in themselves a surer witness to the Truth of what they record, than this.” (It is the admission of the very man²⁴³ who has nevertheless dared to brand it with suspicion.) But we reject his loathsome patronage with indignation. “Internal Evidence,”—“Transcriptional Probability,”—and all such “chaff and draff,” with which he fills his pages ad nauseam, and mystifies nobody but himself,—shall be allowed no place in the present discussion. Let this verse of Scripture stand or fall as it meets with sufficient external testimony, or is forsaken thereby. How then about the Patristic evidence,—for this is all that remains unexplored?

Only a fraction of it was known to Tischendorf. We find our Saviour's Prayer attested,—

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In the IInd century by Hegesippus,²⁴⁴—and by Irenæus:245—

In the IIIrd, by Hippolytus,²⁴⁶—by Origen,²⁴⁷—by the Apostolic Constitutions,²⁴⁸—by the Clementine Homilies,²⁴⁹—by ps.-Tatian,²⁵⁰—and by the disputation of Archelaus with Manes:251—

In the IVth, by Eusebius,²⁵²—by Athanasius,²⁵³—by Gregory Nyss.,²⁵⁴—by Theodoras Herac.,²⁵⁵—by Basil,²⁵⁶—by Chrysostom,²⁵⁷—by Ephraem Syr.,²⁵⁸—by ps.-Ephraim,²⁵⁹—by ps.-Dionysius Areop.,²⁶⁰—by the Apocryphal Acta Pilati,²⁶¹—by the Acta Philippi,²⁶²—and by the Syriac Acts of the App.,²⁶³—by ps.-Ignatius,²⁶⁴—and ps.-Justin:265—

In the Vth, by Theodoret,²⁶⁶—by Cyril,²⁶⁷—by Eutherius:268

In the VIth, by Anastasius Sin.,²⁶⁹—by Hesychius:270—

In the VIIth, by Antiochus mon.,²⁷¹—by Maximus,²⁷²—by Andreas Cret.:273—

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In the VIIIth, by John Damascene,²⁷⁴—besides ps.-Chrysostom,²⁷⁵—ps. Amphilochius,²⁷⁶—and the Opus imperf.²⁷⁷

Add to this, (since Latin authorities have been brought to the front),—Ambrose,²⁷⁸—Hilary,²⁷⁹—Jerome,²⁸⁰—Augustine,²⁸¹—and other earlier writers.²⁸²

We have thus again enumerated upwards of forty ancient Fathers. And again we ask, With what show of reason is the brand set upon these 12 words? Gravely to cite, as if there were anything in it, such counter-evidence as the following, to the foregoing torrent of Testimony from every part of ancient Christendom:—viz: “b d, 38, 435, a b d and one Egyptian version”—might really have been mistaken for a mauvaise plaisanterie, were it not that the gravity of the occasion effectually precludes the supposition. How could our Revisionists dare to insinuate doubts into wavering hearts and unlearned heads, where (as here) they were bound to know, there exists no manner of doubt at all?

(5) The record of the same Evangelist (S. Luke xxiii. 38) that the Inscription over our Saviour's Cross was “written ... in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew,” disappears entirely from our “Revised” version; and this, for no other reason, but because the incident is omitted by b c l, the corrupt Egyptian versions, and Cureton's depraved Syriac: the text of which (according to Bp. Ellicott²⁸³) “is of a very composite nature,—sometimes inclining to the shortness and simplicity of the Vatican manuscript” (b): e.g. on the present occasion. But surely the negative testimony of this little band of disreputable witnesses is entirely outweighed by the positive evidence of א a d q r with 13 other uncials,—the [pg 086] evidence of the entire body of the cursives,—the sanction of the Latin,—the Peschito and Philoxenian Syriac,—the Armenian,—Æthiopic,—and Georgian versions; besides Eusebius—whose testimony (which is express) has been hitherto strangely overlooked²⁸⁴—and Cyril.²⁸⁵ Against the threefold plea of Antiquity, Respectability of witnesses, Universality of testimony,—what have our Revisionists to show? (a) They cannot pretend that there has been Assimilation here; for the type of S. John xix. 20 is essentially different, and has retained its distinctive character all down the ages. (b) Nor can they pretend that the condition of the Text hereabouts bears traces of having been jealously guarded. We ask the Reader's attention to this matter just for a moment. There may be some of the occupants of the Jerusalem Chamber even, to whom what we are about to offer may not be altogether without the grace of novelty:—

That the Title on the Cross is diversely set down by each of the four Evangelists,—all men are aware. But perhaps all are not aware that S. Luke's record of the Title (in ch. xxiii. 38) is exhibited in four different ways by codices a b c d:—

a exhibits—ΟΥΤΟΣ ΕΣΤΙΝ Ο ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΤΩΝ ΙΟΥΔΑΙΩΝ

b (with א L and a) exhibits—Ο ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΤΩΝ ΙΟΥΔΑΙΩΝ ΟΥΤΟΣ

c exhibits—Ο ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΤΩΝ ΙΟΥΔΑΙΩΝ (which is Mk. xv. 26).

d (with e and ff2) exhibits—Ο ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΤΩΝ ΙΟΥΔΑΙΩΝ ΟΥΤΟΣ ΕΣΤΙΝ (which is the words of the Evangelist transposed).

We propose to recur to the foregoing specimens of licentiousness by-and-by.²⁸⁶ For the moment, let it be added that [pg 087] codex x and the Sahidic version conspire in a fifth variety, viz., ΟΥΤΟΣ ΕΣΤΙΝ ΙΗΣΟΥΣ Ο ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΤΩΝ ΙΟΥΔΑΙΩΝ (which is S. Matt. xxvii. 37); while Ambrose²⁸⁷ is found to have used a Latin copy which represented ΙΗΣΟΥΣ Ο ΝΑΖΩΡΑΙΟΣ Ο ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΤΩΝ ΙΟΥΔΑΙΩΝ (which is S. John xix. 18). We spare the reader any remarks of our own on all this. He is competent to draw his own painful inferences, and will not fail to make his own damaging reflections. He shall only be further informed that 14 uncials and the whole body of the cursive copies side with codex a in upholding the Traditional Text; that the Vulgate,²⁸⁸—the Peschito,—Cureton's Syriac,—the Philoxenian;—besides the Coptic,—Armenian,—and Æthiopic versions—are all on the same side: lastly, that Origen,²⁸⁹—Eusebius,—and Gregory of Nyssa²⁹⁰ are in addition consentient witnesses;—and we can hardly be mistaken if we venture to anticipate (1st),—That the Reader will agree with us that the Text with which we are best acquainted (as usual) is here deserving of all confidence; and (2ndly),—That the Revisionists who assure us “that they did not esteem it within their province to construct a continuous and complete Greek Text;” (and who were never authorized to construct a new Greek Text at all;) were not justified in the course they have pursued with regard to S. Luke xxiii. 38. “This is the King of the Jews” is the only idiomatic way of rendering into English the title according to S. Luke, whether the reading of a or of b be adopted; but, in order to make it plain that they reject the Greek of a in favour of b, the Revisionists have gone out of their way. They have instructed the two Editors of “The Greek Testament with the [pg 088] Readings adopted by the Revisers of the Authorized Version”²⁹¹ to exhibit S. Luke xxiii. 38 as it stands in the mutilated recension of Drs. Westcott and Hort.²⁹² And if this procedure, repeated many hundreds of times, be not constructing a “new Greek Text” of the N. T., we have yet to learn what is.

(6) From the first verse of the concluding chapter of S. Luke's Gospel, is excluded the familiar clause—“and certain others with them” (καί τινες σὺν αὐταῖς). And pray, why? For no other reason but because א b c l, with some Latin authorities, omit the clause;—and our Revisionists do the like, on the plea that they have only been getting rid of a “harmonistic insertion.”²⁹³ But it is nothing of the sort, as we proceed to explain.

Ammonius, or some predecessor of his early in the IInd century, saw fit (with perverse ingenuity) to seek to force S. Luke xxiii. 55 into agreement with S. Matt. xxvii. 61 and S. Mark xv. 47, by turning κατακολουθήσασαι δὲ καὶ γυναῖκες,—into κατηκολούθησαν δὲ ΔΎΟ γυναῖκες. This done, in order to produce “harmonistic” agreement and to be thorough, the same misguided individual proceeded to run his pen through the words “and certain with them” (καί τινες σὺν αὐταῖς) as inopportune; and his work was ended. 1750 years have rolled by since then, and—What traces remain of the man's foolishness? Of his first feat (we answer), Eusebius,²⁹⁴ d and Evan. 29, besides five copies of the old Latin (a b e ff2 q), are [pg 089] the sole surviving Witnesses. Of his second achievement, א b c l, 33, 124, have preserved a record; besides seven copies of the old Latin (a b c e ff2 g-1 1), together with the Vulgate, the Coptic, and Eusebius in one place²⁹⁵ though not in another.²⁹⁶ The Reader is therefore invited to notice that the tables have been unexpectedly turned upon our opponents. S. Luke introduced the words “and certain with them,” in order to prepare us for what he will have to say in xxiv. 10,—viz. “It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women with them, which told these things unto the Apostles.” Some stupid harmonizer in the IInd century omitted the words, because they were in his way. Calamitous however it is that a clause which the Church has long since deliberately reinstated should, in the year 1881, be as deliberately banished for the second time from the sacred page by our Revisionists; who under the plea of amending our English Authorized Version have (with the best intentions) falsified the Greek Text of the Gospels in countless places,—often, as here, without notice and without apology.

(10) We find it impossible to pass by in silence the treatment which S. Luke xxiv. 12 has experienced at their hands. They have branded with doubt S. Luke's memorable account of S. Peter's visit to the sepulchre. And why? Let the evidence for this precious portion of the narrative be first rehearsed. Nineteen uncials then, with א a b at their head, supported by every known cursive copy,—all these vouch for the genuineness of the verse in question. The Latin,—the Syriac,—and the Egyptian versions also contain it. Eusebius,²⁹⁷—Gregory of Nyssa,²⁹⁸—Cyril,²⁹⁹—Severus,³⁰⁰—Ammonius,³⁰¹ [pg 090] and others³⁰² refer to it: while no ancient writer is found to impugn it. Then, why the double brackets of Drs. Westcott and Hort? and why the correlative marginal note of our Revisionists?—Simply because d and 5 copies of the old Latin (a b e l fu) leave these 22 words out.

(11) On the same sorry evidence—(viz. d and 5 copies of the old Latin)—it is proposed henceforth to omit our Saviour's greeting to His disciples when He appeared among them in the upper chamber on the evening of the first Easter Day. And yet the precious words (“and saith unto them, Peace be unto you” [Lu. xxiv. 36],) are vouched for by 18 uncials (with א a b at their head), and every known cursive copy of the Gospels: by all the Versions: and (as before) by Eusebius,³⁰³—and Ambrose,³⁰⁴—by Chrysostom,³⁰⁵—and Cyril,³⁰⁶—and Augustine.³⁰⁷

(12) The same remarks suggest themselves on a survey of the evidence for S. Luke xxiv. 40:—“And when He had thus spoken, He showed them His hands and His feet.” The words are found in 18 uncials (beginning with א a b), and in every known cursive: in the Latin,³⁰⁸—the Syriac,—the Egyptian,—in short, in all the ancient Versions. Besides these, ps.-Justin,³⁰⁹—Eusebius,³¹⁰—Athanasius,³¹¹—Ambrose (in Greek),³¹²—Epiphanius,³¹³—Chrysostom,³¹⁴—Cyril,³¹⁵—Theodoret,³¹⁶—Ammonius,³¹⁷—and [pg 091] John Damascene³¹⁸—quote them. What but the veriest trifling is it, in the face of such a body of evidence, to bring forward the fact that d and 5 copies of the old Latin, with Cureton's Syriac (of which we have had the character already³¹⁹), omit the words in question?

The foregoing enumeration of instances of Mutilation might be enlarged to almost any extent. Take only three more short but striking specimens, before we pass on:—

(a) Thus, the precious verse (S. Matthew xvii. 21) which declares that “this kind [of evil spirit] goeth not out but by prayer and fasting,” is expunged by our Revisionists; although it is vouched for by every known uncial but two (b א), every known cursive but one (Evan. 33); is witnessed to by the Old Latin and the Vulgate,—the Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Georgian, Æthiopic, and Slavonic versions; by Origen,³²⁰—Athanasius,³²¹—Basil,³²²—Chrysostom,³²³—the Opus imperf.,³²⁴—the Syriac Clement,³²⁵—and John Damascene;³²⁶—by Tertullian,—Ambrose,—Hilary,—Juvencus,—Augustine,—Maximus Taur.,—and by the Syriac version of the Canons of Eusebius: above all by the Universal East,—having been read in all the churches of Oriental Christendom on the 10th Sunday after Pentecost, from the earliest period. Why, in the world, then (our readers will ask) have the Revisionists left those words out?... For no other reason, we answer, but because Drs. Westcott and Hort place them among the interpolations which they consider unworthy of being even [pg 092] “exceptionally retained in association with the true Text.”³²⁷ “Western and Syrian” is their oracular sentence.³²⁸

(b) The blessed declaration, “The Son of Man is come to save that which was lost,”—has in like manner been expunged by our Revisionists from S. Matth. xviii. 11; although it is attested by every known uncial except b א l, and every known cursive except three: by the old Latin and the Vulgate: by the Peschito, Cureton's and the Philoxenian Syriac: by the Coptic, Armenian, Æthiopic, Georgian and Slavonic versions:329—by Origen,³³⁰—Theodoras Heracl.,³³¹—Chrysostom³³²—and Jovius³³³ the monk;—by Tertullian,³³⁴—Ambrose,³³⁵—Hilary,³³⁶—Jerome,³³⁷—pope Damasus³³⁸—and Augustine:339—above all, by the Universal Eastern Church,—for it has been read in all assemblies of the faithful on the morrow of Pentecost, from the beginning. Why then (the reader will again ask) have the Revisionists expunged this verse? We can only answer as before,—because Drs. Westcott and Hort consign it to the limbus of their Appendix; class it among their “Rejected Readings” of the most hopeless type.³⁴⁰ As before, all their sentence is “Western and Syrian.” They add, “Interpolated either from Lu. xix. 10, or from an independent source, written or oral.”³⁴¹... Will the English Church suffer herself to be in this way defrauded of her priceless inheritance,—through the irreverent bungling of well-intentioned, but utterly misguided men?

[pg 093]

(c) In the same way, our Lord's important saying,—“Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of: for the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them” (S. Luke ix. 55, 56), has disappeared from our “Revised” Version; although Manuscripts, Versions, Fathers from the second century downwards, (as Tischendorf admits,) witness eloquently in its favour.

V. In conclusion, we propose to advert, just for a moment, to those five several mis-representations of S. Luke's “Title on the Cross,” which were rehearsed above, viz. in page 86. At so gross an exhibition of licentiousness, it is the mere instinct of Natural Piety to exclaim,—But then, could not those men even set down so sacred a record as that, correctly? They could, had they been so minded, no doubt, (we answer): but, marvellous to relate, the Transposition of words,—no matter how significant, sacred, solemn;—of short clauses,—even of whole sentences of Scripture;—was anciently accounted an allowable, even a graceful exercise of the critical faculty.

The thing alluded to is incredible at first sight; being so often done, apparently, without any reason whatever,—or rather in defiance of all reason. Let candidus lector be the judge whether we speak truly or not. Whereas S. Luke (xxiv. 41) says, “And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered,” the scribe of codex a (by way of improving upon the Evangelist) transposes his sentence into this, “And while they yet disbelieved Him, and wondered for joy:”³⁴² which is almost nonsense, or quite.

But take a less solemn example. Instead of,—“And His [pg 094] disciples plucked the ears of corn, and ate them, (τοὺς στάχυας, καὶ ἤσθιον,) rubbing them in their hands” (S. Luke vi. 1),—b c l r, by transposing four Greek words, present us with, “And His disciples plucked, and ate the ears of corn, (καὶ ἤσθιον τοὺς στάχυας,) rubbing them,” &c. Now this might have been an agreeable occupation for horses and for another quadruped, no doubt; but hardly for men. This curiosity, which (happily) proved indigestible to our Revisionists, is nevertheless swallowed whole by Drs. Westcott and Hort as genuine and wholesome Gospel. (O dura Doctorum ilia!)—But to proceed.

Then further, these preposterous Transpositions are of such perpetual recurrence,—are so utterly useless or else so exceedingly mischievous, always so tasteless,—that familiarity with the phenomenon rather increases than lessens our astonishment. What does astonish us, however, is to find learned men in the year of grace 1881, freely resuscitating these long-since-forgotten bêtises of long-since-forgotten Critics, and seeking to palm them off upon a busy and a careless age, as so many new revelations. That we may not be thought to have shown undue partiality for the xxiind, xxiiird, and xxivth chapters of S. Luke's Gospel by selecting our instances of Mutilation from those three chapters, we will now look for specimens of Transposition in the xixth and xxth chapters of the same Gospel. The reader is invited to collate the Text of the oldest uncials, throughout these two chapters, with the commonly Received Text. He will find that within the compass of 88 consecutive verses,³⁴³ codices א a b c d q exhibit no less than 74 instances of Transposition:—for 39 of which, d is responsible:—א b, for 14:—א and א b d, for 4 each:—a b and א a b, for 3 each:—a, for [pg 095] 2:—b, c, q, א A, and a d, each for 1.—In other words, he will find that in no less than 44 of these instances of Transposition, d is implicated:—א, in 26:—b, in 25:—a, in 10:—while c and q are concerned in only one a-piece.... It should be added that Drs. Westcott and Hort have adopted every one of the 25 in which codex b is concerned—a significant indication of the superstitious reverence in which they hold that demonstrably corrupt and most untrustworthy document.³⁴⁴ Every other case of Transposition they have rejected. By their own confession, therefore, 49 out of the 74 (i.e. two-thirds of the entire number) are instances of depravation. We turn with curiosity to the Revised Version; and discover that out of the 25 so retained, the Editors in question were only able to persuade the Revisionists to adopt 8. So that, in the judgment of the Revisionists, 66 out of 74, or eleven-twelfths, [pg 096] are instances of licentious tampering with the deposit.... O to participate in the verifying faculty which guided the teachers to discern in 25 cases of Transposition out of 74, the genuine work of the Holy Ghost! O, far more, to have been born with that loftier instinct which enabled the pupils (Doctors Roberts and Milligan, Newth and Moulton, Vance Smith and Brown, Angus and Eadie) to winnow out from the entire lot exactly 8, and to reject the remaining 66 as nothing worth!

According to our own best judgment, (and we have carefully examined them all,) every one of the 74 is worthless. But then we make it our fundamental rule to reason always from grounds of external Evidence,—never from postulates of the Imagination. Moreover, in the application of our rule, we begrudge no amount of labour: reckoning a long summer's day well spent if it has enabled us to ascertain the truth concerning one single controverted word of Scripture. Thus, when we find that our Revisionists, at the suggestion of Dr. Hort, have transposed the familiar Angelic utterance (in S. Luke xxiv. 7), λέγων ὅτι δεῖ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου παραδοθῆναι,—into this, λέγων τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὅτι δεῖ, &c., we at once enquire for the evidence. And when we find that no single Father, no single Version, and no Codex—except the notorious א b c l—advocates the proposed transposition; but on the contrary that every Father (from a.d. 150 downwards) who quotes the place, quotes it as it stands in the Textus receptus;³⁴⁵—we have no hesitation whatever in rejecting it. It is found in the midst of a very thicket of fabricated readings. It has nothing whatever to recommend it. It is condemned by the consentient voice of Antiquity. [pg 097] It is advocated only by four copies,—which never combine exclusively, except to misrepresent the truth of Scripture and to seduce the simple.

But the foregoing, which is a fair typical sample of countless other instances of unauthorized Transposition, may not be dismissed without a few words of serious remonstrance. Our contention is that, inasmuch as the effect of such transposition is incapable of being idiomatically represented in the English language,—(for, in all such cases, the Revised Version retains the rendering of the Authorized,)—our Revisionists have violated the spirit as well as the letter of their instructions, in putting forth a new Greek Text, and silently introducing into it a countless number of these and similar depravations of Scripture. These Textual curiosities (for they are nothing more) are absolutely out of place in a Revision of the English Version: achieve no lawful purpose: are sure to mislead the unwary. This first.—Secondly, we submit that,—strong as, no doubt, the temptation must have been, to secure the sanction of the N. T. Revisionists for their own private Recension of the Greek, (printed long since, but published simultaneously with the “Revised Version”)—it is to be regretted that Drs. Westcott and Hort should have yielded thereto. Man's impatience never promotes God's Truth. The interests of Textual Criticism would rather have suggested, that the Recension of that accomplished pair of Professors should have been submitted to public inspection in the first instance. The astonishing Text which it advocates might have been left with comparative safety to take its chance in the Jerusalem Chamber, after it had undergone the searching ordeal of competent Criticism, and been freely ventilated at home and abroad for a decade of years. But on the contrary. It was kept close. It might be seen only by the Revisers: and even they were tied down to secrecy as [pg 098] to the letter-press by which it was accompanied.... All this strikes us as painful in a high degree.

VI. Hitherto we have referred almost exclusively to the Gospels. In conclusion, we invite attention to our Revisionists' treatment of 1 Tim. iii. 16—the crux criticorum, as Prebendary Scrivener styles it.³⁴⁶ We cannot act more fairly than by inviting a learned member of the revising body to speak on behalf of his brethren. We shall in this way ascertain the amount of acquaintance with the subject enjoyed by some of those who have been so obliging as to furnish the Church with a new Recension of the Greek of the New Testament. Dr. Roberts says:—

“The English reader will probably be startled to find that the familiar text,—‘And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh,’ has been exchanged in the Revised Version for the following,—‘And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; He who was manifested in the flesh.’ A note on the margin states that ‘the word God, in place of He who, rests on no sufficient ancient evidence;’ and it may be well that, in a passage of so great importance, the reader should be convinced that such is the case.

“What, then, let us enquire, is the amount of evidence which can be produced in support of the reading ‘God’? This is soon stated. Not one of the early Fathers can be certainly quoted for it. None of the very ancient versions support it. No uncial witnesses to it, with the doubtful exception of a.... But even granting that the weighty suffrage of the Alexandrian manuscript is in favour of ‘God,’ far more evidence can be produced in support of ‘who.’ א and probably c witness to this reading, and it has also powerful testimony from the versions and Fathers. Moreover, the relative ‘who’ is a far more difficult reading than ‘God,’ and could hardly have been substituted for the latter. On every ground, therefore, we conclude that [pg 099] this interesting and important passage must stand as it has been given in the Revised Version.”³⁴⁷

And now, having heard the learned Presbyterian on behalf of his brother-Revisionists, we request that we may be ourselves listened to in reply.

The place of Scripture before us, the Reader is assured, presents a memorable instance of the mischief which occasionally resulted to the inspired Text from the ancient practice of executing copies of the Scriptures in uncial characters. S. Paul certainly wrote μέγα ἐστὶ τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον; Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί, (“Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh”) But it requires to be explained at the outset, that the holy Name when abbreviated (which it always was), thus,—ΘΣ (“God”), is only distinguishable from the relative pronoun “who” (ΟΣ), by two horizontal strokes,—which, in manuscripts of early date, it was often the practice to trace so faintly that at present they can scarcely be discerned.³⁴⁸ Need we go on? An archetypal copy in which one or both of these slight strokes had vanished from the word ΘΣ (“God”), gave rise to the reading ΟΣ (“who”),—of which nonsensical substitute, traces survive in only two³⁴⁹ manuscripts,—א and 17: not, for certain, in one single ancient Father,—no, nor for certain in one single ancient Version. So transparent, in fact, is the absurdity of writing τὸ μυστέριον ὅς (“the mystery who”), that copyists promptly substituted ὅ (“which”): thus furnishing another illustration of the well-known property of [pg 100] a fabricated reading, viz. sooner or later inevitably to become the parent of a second. Happily, to this second mistake the sole surviving witness is the Codex Claromontanus, of the VIth century (d): the only Patristic evidence in its favour being Gelasius of Cyzicus,³⁵⁰ (whose date is a.d. 476): and the unknown author of a homily in the appendix to Chrysostom.³⁵¹ The Versions—all but the Georgian and the Slavonic, which agree with the Received Text—favour it unquestionably; for they are observed invariably to make the relative pronoun agree in gender with the word which represents μυστήριον (“mystery”) which immediately precedes it. Thus, in the Syriac Versions, ὅς (“who”) is found,—but only because the Syriac equivalent for μυστήριον is of the masculine gender: in the Latin, quod (“which”)—but only because mysterium in Latin (like μυστήριον in Greek) is neuter. Over this latter reading, however, we need not linger; seeing that ὅ does not find a single patron at the present day. And yet, this was the reading which was eagerly upheld during the last century: Wetstein and Sir Isaac Newton being its most strenuous advocates.

It is time to pass under hasty review the direct evidence for the true reading. a and c exhibited ΘΣ until ink, thumbing, and the injurious use of chemicals, obliterated what once was patent. It is too late, by full 150 years, to contend on the negative side of this question.—f and g, which exhibit ΟΣ and ΟΣ respectively, were confessedly derived from a common archetype: in which archetype, it is evident that the horizontal stroke which distinguishes Θ from Ο must have been so faintly traced as to be scarcely discernible. The supposition that, in this place, the stroke in question represents the aspirate, is scarcely admissible. There is no single example of ὅς written ΟΣ in any part of [pg 101] either Cod. f or Cod. g. On the other hand, in the only place where ΟΣ represents ΘΣ, it is written ΟΣ in both. Prejudice herself may be safely called upon to accept the obvious and only lawful inference.

To come to the point,—Θεός is the reading of all the uncial copies extant but two (viz. א which exhibits ὅς, and d which exhibits ὅ), and of all the cursives but one (viz. 17). The universal consent of the Lectionaries proves that Θεός has been read in all the assemblies of the faithful from the IVth or Vth century of our era. At what earlier period of her existence is it supposed then that the Church (“the witness and keeper of Holy Writ,”) availed herself of her privilege to substitute Θεός for ὅς or ὅ,—whether in error or in fraud? Nothing short of a conspiracy, to which every region of the Eastern Church must have been a party, would account for the phenomenon.

We enquire next for the testimony of the Fathers; and we discover that—(1) Gregory of Nyssa quotes Θεός twenty-two times:352—that Θεός is also recognized by (2) his namesake of Nazianzus in two places;³⁵³—as well as by (3) Didymus of Alexandria;³⁵⁴—(4) by ps.-Dionysius Alex.;³⁵⁵—and (5) by Diodorus of Tarsus.³⁵⁶—(6) Chrysostom quotes 1 Tim. iii. 16 in conformity with the received text at least three times;³⁵⁷—and [pg 102] (7) Cyril Al. as often:358—(8) Theodoret, four times:359—(9) an unknown author of the age of Nestorius (a.d. 430), once:360—(10) Severus, Bp. of Antioch (a.d. 512), once.³⁶¹—(11) Macedonius (a.d. 506) patriarch of CP.,³⁶² of whom it has been absurdly related that he invented the reading, is a witness for Θεός perforce; so is—(12) Euthalius, and—(13) John Damascene on two occasions.³⁶³—(14) An unknown writer who has been mistaken for Athanasius,³⁶⁴—(15) besides not a few ancient scholiasts, close the list: for we pass by the testimony of—(16) Epiphanius at the 7th Nicene Council (a.d. 787),—of (17) Œcumenius,—of (18) Theophylact.

It will be observed that neither has anything been said about the many indirect allusions of earlier Fathers to this place of Scripture; and yet some of these are too striking to be overlooked: as when—(19) Basil, writing of our Saviour, says αὐτὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί:365—and (20) Gregory Thaum., καὶ ἔστι Θεὸς ἀληθινὸς ὁ ἄσαρκος ἐν σαρκὶ φανερωθείς:366—and before him, (21) Hippolytus, οὗτος προελθὼν εἰς κόσμον, Θεὸς ἐν σώματι ἐφανερώθη:367—and (22) Theodotus the Gnostic, ὁ Σωτὴρ ὤφθη κατιὼν τοῖς [pg 103] ἀγγέλοις:368—and (23) Barnabas, Ἰησοῦς ... ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ τύπῳ καὶ ἐν σαρκὶ φανερωθείς:369—and earlier still (24) Ignatius: Θεοῦ ἀνθρωπίνως φανερουμένον:—ἐν σαρκὶ γενόμενος Θεός:—εἶς Θεὸς ἔστιν ὁ φανερώσοας ἑαυτὸν διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ.³⁷⁰—Are we to suppose that none of these primitive writers read the place as we do?

Against this array of Testimony, the only evidence which the unwearied industry of 150 years has succeeded in eliciting, is as follows:—(1) The exploded Latin fable that Macedonius (a.d. 506) invented the reading:371—(2) the fact that Epiphanius,—professing to transcribe³⁷² from an earlier treatise of his own³⁷³ (in which ἐφανερώθη stands without a nominative), prefixes ὅς:—(3) the statement of an unknown scholiast, that in one particular place of Cyril's writings where the Greek is lost, Cyril wrote ὅς,—(which seems to be an entire mistake; but which, even if it were a fact, would be sufficiently explained by the discovery that in two other places of Cyril's writings the evidence fluctuates between ὅς and Θεός):—(4) a quotation in an epistle of Eutherius of Tyana (it exists only in Latin) where “qui” is found:—(5) a casual reference (in Jerome's commentary on Isaiah) to our Lord, as One “qui apparuit in carne, justificatus est in spiritu,”—which Bp. Pearson might have written.—Lastly, (6) a passage of Theodorus Mopsuest. (quoted at the Council of Constantinople, a.d. 553), where the reading is “qui,”—which is balanced by the discovery that in another place of his writings quoted at the same Council, the original is translated “quod.” And this closes the evidence. Will any unprejudiced person, on reviewing the premisses, seriously declare that ὅς is the better sustained reading of the two?

[pg 104]

For ourselves, we venture to deem it incredible that a Reading which—(a) Is not to be found in more than two copies (א and 17) of S. Paul's Epistles: which—(b) Is not certainly supported by a single Version:—(c) Nor is clearly advocated by a single Father,—can be genuine. It does not at all events admit of question, that until far stronger evidence can be produced in its favour, ὅς (“who”) may on no account be permitted to usurp the place of the commonly received Θεός (“God”) of 1 Tim. iii. 16. But the present exhibits in a striking and instructive way all the characteristic tokens of a depravation of the text. (1st) At an exceedingly early period it resulted in another deflection. (2nd) It is without the note of Continuity; having died out of the Church's memory well-nigh 1400 years ago. (3rd) It is deficient in Universality; having been all along denied the Church's corporate sanction. As a necessary consequence, (4th) It rests at this day on wholly insufficient Evidence: Manuscripts, Versions, Fathers being all against it. (5th) It carries on its front its own refutation. For, as all must see, ΘΣ might easily be mistaken for ΟΣ: but in order to make ΟΣ into ΘΣ, two horizontal lines must of set purpose be added to the copy. It is therefore a vast deal more likely that ΘΣ became ΟΣ, than that ΟΣ became ΘΣ. (6th) Lastly, it is condemned by internal considerations. Ὅς is in truth so grossly improbable—rather, so impossible—a reading, that under any circumstances we must have anxiously enquired whether no escape from it was discoverable: whether there exists no way of explaining how so patent an absurdity as μυστέριον ὅς may have arisen? And on being reminded that the disappearance of two faint horizontal strokes, or even of one, would fully account for the impossible reading,—(and thus much, at least, all admit,)—should we not have felt that it required an overwhelming consensus of authorities in favour of ὅς, to render such an alternative deserving of serious [pg 105] attention? It is a mere abuse of Bengel's famous axiom to recal it on occasions like the present. We shall be landed in a bathos indeed if we allow gross improbability to become a constraining motive with us in revising the sacred Text.

And thus much for the true reading of 1 Tim. iii. 16. We invite the reader to refer back³⁷⁴ to a Reviser's estimate of the evidence in favour of Θεός and ὅς respectively, and to contrast it with our own. If he is impressed with the strength of the cause of our opponents,—their mastery of the subject,—and the reasonableness of their contention,—we shall be surprised. And yet that is not the question just now before us. The only question (be it clearly remembered) which has to be considered, is this:—Can it be said with truth that the “evidence” for ὅς (as against Θεός) in 1 Tim. iii. 16 is “clearly preponderating”? Can it be maintained that Θεός is a “plain and clear error”? Unless this can be affirmed—cadit quæstio. The traditional reading of the place ought to have been let alone. May we be permitted to say without offence that, in our humble judgment, if the Church of England, at the Revisers' bidding, were to adopt this and thousands of other depravations of the sacred page,³⁷⁵—with which the Church Universal was once well acquainted, but which in her corporate character she has long since unconditionally condemned and abandoned,—she would deserve to be pointed at with scorn by the rest of Christendom? Yes, and to have that openly said of her [pg 106] which S. Peter openly said of the false teachers of his day who fell back into the very errors which they had already abjured. The place will be found in 2 S. Peter ii. 22. So singularly applicable is it to the matter in hand, that we can but invite attention to the quotation on our title-page and p. 1.

And here we make an end.

1. Those who may have taken up the present Article in expectation of being entertained with another of those discussions (of which we suspect the public must be already getting somewhat weary), concerning the degree of ability which the New Testament Revisionists have displayed in their rendering into English of the Greek, will at first experience disappointment. Readers of intelligence, however, who have been at the pains to follow us through the foregoing pages, will be constrained to admit that we have done more faithful service to the cause of Sacred Truth by the course we have been pursuing, than if we had merely multiplied instances of incorrect and unsatisfactory Translation. There is (and this we endeavoured to explain at the outset) a question of prior interest and far graver importance which has to be settled first, viz. the degree of confidence which is due to the underlying new Greek text which our Revisionists have constructed. In other words, before discussing their new Renderings, we have to examine their new Readings.³⁷⁶ The silence which Scholars have hitherto maintained on this part [pg 107] of the subject is to ourselves scarcely intelligible. But it makes us the more anxious to invite attention to this neglected aspect of the problem; the rather, because we have thoroughly convinced ourselves that the “new Greek Text” put forth by the Revisionists of our Authorized Version is utterly inadmissible. The traditional Text has been departed from by them nearly 6000 times,—almost invariably for the worse.

2. Fully to dispose of all these multitudinous corruptions would require a bulky Treatise. But the reader is requested to observe that, if we are right in the few instances we have culled out from the mass,—then we are right in all. If we have succeeded in proving that the little handful of authorities on which the “new Greek Text” depends, are the reverse of trustworthy,—are absolutely misleading,—then, we have cut away from under the Revisionists the very ground on which they have hitherto been standing. And in that case, the structure which they have built up throughout a decade of years, with such evident self-complacency, collapses “like the baseless fabric of a vision.”

3. For no one may flatter himself that, by undergoing a further process of “Revision,” the “Revised Version” may after all be rendered trustworthy. The eloquent and excellent Bishop of Derry is “convinced that, with all its undeniable merits, it will have to be somewhat extensively revised.” And so perhaps are we. But (what is a far more important circumstance) we are further convinced that a prior act of penance to be submitted to by the Revisers would be the restoration of the underlying Greek Text to very nearly—not quite—the state in which they found it when they entered upon their ill-advised undertaking. “Very nearly—not quite:” for, in not a few particulars, the “Textus receptus” does call for Revision, certainly; although Revision on entirely different principles from those which are found to have prevailed in the Jerusalem Chamber. To mention a [pg 108] single instance:—When our Lord first sent forth His Twelve Apostles, it was certainly no part of His ministerial commission to them to “raise the dead” (νεκροὺς ἐγείρετε, S. Matthew x. 8). This is easily demonstrable. Yet is the spurious clause retained by our Revisionists; because it is found in those corrupt witnesses—א b c d, and the Latin copies.³⁷⁷ When will men learn unconditionally to put away from themselves the weak superstition which is for investing with oracular authority the foregoing quaternion of demonstrably depraved Codices?

4. “It may be said”—(to quote again from Bp. Alexander's recent Charge),—“that there is a want of modesty in dissenting from the conclusions of a two-thirds majority of a body so learned. But the rough process of counting heads imposes unduly on the imagination. One could easily name eight in that assembly, whose unanimity would be practically almost decisive; but we have no means of knowing that these did not form the minority in resisting the changes which we most regret.” The Bishop is speaking of the English Revision. Having regard to the Greek Text exclusively, we also (strange to relate) had singled out exactly eight from the members of the New Testament company—Divines of undoubted orthodoxy, who for their splendid scholarship and proficiency in the best learning, or else for their refined taste and admirable judgment, might (as we humbly think), under certain safeguards, have been safely entrusted even with the responsibility of revising the Sacred Text. Under the guidance of Prebendary Scrivener (who among living Englishmen is facile princeps in these pursuits) it is scarcely to be anticipated that, when unanimous, such Divines would ever [pg 109] have materially erred. But then, of course, a previous life-long familiarity with the Science of Textual Criticism, or at least leisure for prosecuting it now, for ten or twenty years, with absolutely undivided attention,—would be the indispensable requisite for the success of such an undertaking; and this, undeniably, is a qualification rather to be desiderated than looked for at the hands of English Divines of note at the present day. On the other hand, (loyalty to our Master constrains us to make the avowal,) the motley assortment of names, twenty-eight in all, specified by Dr. Newth, at p. 125 of his interesting little volume, joined to the fact that the average attendance was not so many as sixteen,—concerning whom, moreover, the fact has transpired that some of the most judicious of their number often declined to give any vote at all,—is by no means calculated to inspire any sort of confidence. But, in truth, considerable familiarity with these pursuits may easily co-exist with a natural inaptitude for their successful cultivation, which shall prove simply fatal. In support of this remark, one has but to refer to the instance supplied by Dr. Hort. The Sacred Text has none to fear so much as those who feel rather than think: who imagine rather than reason: who rely on a supposed verifying faculty of their own, of which they are able to render no intelligible account; and who, (to use Bishop Ellicott's phrase,) have the misfortune to conceive themselves possessed of a “power of divining the Original Text,”—which would be even diverting, if the practical result of their self-deception were not so exceedingly serious.

5. In a future number, we may perhaps enquire into the measure of success which has attended the Revisers' Revision of the English of our Authorized Version of 1611. We have occupied ourselves at this time exclusively with a survey of the seriously mutilated and otherwise grossly depraved new Greek text, on which their edifice has been reared. [pg 110] And the circumstance which, in conclusion, we desire to impress upon our Readers, is this,—that the insecurity of that foundation is so alarming, that, except as a concession due to the solemnity of the undertaking just now under review, further Criticism might very well be dispensed with, as a thing superfluous. Even could it be proved concerning the superstructure, that “it had been [ever so] well builded,”³⁷⁸ (to adopt another of our Revisionists' unhappy perversions of Scripture,) the fatal objection would remain, viz. that it is not “founded upon the rock.”³⁷⁹ It has been the ruin of the present undertaking—as far as the Sacred Text is concerned—that the majority of the Revisionist body have been misled throughout by the oracular decrees and impetuous advocacy of Drs. Westcott and Hort; who, with the purest intentions and most laudable industry, have constructed a Text demonstrably more remote from the Evangelic verity, than any which has ever yet seen the light. “The old is good,”³⁸⁰ say the Revisionists: but we venture solemnly to assure them that “the old is better;”³⁸¹ and that this remark holds every bit as true of their Revision of the Greek throughout, as of their infelicitous exhibition of S. Luke v. 39. To attempt, as they have done, to build the Text of the New Testament on a tissue of unproved assertions and the eccentricities of a single codex of bad character, is about as hopeful a proceeding as would be the attempt to erect an Eddystone lighthouse on the Goodwin Sands.

[pg 112]

Article II. The New English Version.

“Such is the time-honoured Version which we have been called upon to revise! We have had to study this great Version carefully and minutely, line by line; and the longer we have been engaged upon it the more we have learned to admire its simplicity, its dignity, its power, its happy turns of expression, its general accuracy, and we must not fail to add, the music of its cadences, and the felicities of its rhythm. To render a work that had reached this high standard of excellence, still more excellent; to increase its fidelity, without destroying its charm; was the task committed to us.”—Preface To the Revised Version.

“To pass from the one to the other, is, as it were, to alight from a well-built and well-hung carriage which glides easily over a macadamized road,—and to get into one which has bad springs or none at all, and in which you are jolted in ruts with aching bones over the stones of a newly-mended and rarely traversed road, like some of the roads in our North Lincolnshire villages.”—Bishop Wordsworth.³⁸²

“No Revision at the present day could hope to meet with an hour's acceptance if it failed to preserve the tone, rhythm, and diction of the present Authorized Version.”—Bishop Ellicott.³⁸³

“I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this Book,—If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this Book.

“And if any man shall take away from the words of the Book of this prophecy, GOD shall take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of the holy City, and from the things which are written in this Book.”—Revelation xxii. 18, 19.

Whatever may be urged in favour of Biblical Revision, it is at least undeniable that the undertaking involves a tremendous risk. Our Authorized Version is the one religious link which at present binds together ninety millions of English-speaking men scattered over the earth's surface. Is it reasonable that so unutterably precious, so sacred a bond should be endangered, for the sake of representing certain words more accurately,—here and there translating a tense with greater precision,—getting rid of a few archaisms? It may be confidently assumed that no “Revision” of our Authorized Version, however judiciously executed, will ever occupy the place in public esteem which is actually enjoyed by the work of the Translators of 1611,—the noblest literary work in the Anglo-Saxon language. We shall in fact never have another “Authorized Version.” And this single consideration may be thought absolutely fatal to the project, except in a greatly modified form. To be brief,—As a companion in the study and for private edification: as a book of reference for critical purposes, especially in respect [pg 114] of difficult and controverted passages:—we hold that a revised edition of the Authorized Version of our English Bible, (if executed with consummate ability and learning,) would at any time be a work of inestimable value. The method of such a performance, whether by marginal Notes or in some other way, we forbear to determine. But certainly only as a handmaid is it to be desired. As something intended to supersede our present English Bible, we are thoroughly convinced that the project of a rival Translation is not to be entertained for a moment. For ourselves, we deprecate it entirely.

On the other hand, who could have possibly foreseen what has actually come to pass since the Convocation of the Southern Province (in Feb. 1870) declared itself favourable to “a Revision of the Authorized Version,” and appointed a Committee of Divines to undertake the work? Who was to suppose that the Instructions given to the Revisionists would be by them systematically disregarded? Who was to imagine that an utterly untrustworthy “new Greek Text,” constructed on mistaken principles,—(say rather, on no principles at all,)—would be the fatal result? To speak more truly,—Who could have anticipated that the opportunity would have been adroitly seized to inflict upon the Church the text of Drs. Westcott and Hort, in all its essential features,—a text which, as will be found elsewhere largely explained, we hold to be the most vicious Recension of the original Greek in existence? Above all,—Who was to foresee that instead of removing “plain and clear errors” from our Version, the Revisionists,—(besides systematically removing out of sight so many of the genuine utterances of the Spirit,)—would themselves introduce a countless number of blemishes, unknown to it before? Lastly, how was it to have been believed that the Revisionists would show themselves [pg 115] industrious in sowing broadcast over four continents doubts as to the Truth of Scripture, which it will never be in their power either to remove or to recal? Nescit vox missa reverti.

For, the ill-advised practice of recording, in the margin of an English Bible, certain of the blunders—(such things cannot by any stretch of courtesy be styled “Various Readings”)—which disfigure “some” or “many” “ancient authorities,” can only result in hopelessly unsettling the faith of millions. It cannot be defended on the plea of candour,—the candour which is determined that men shall “know the worst.” “The worst” has not been told: and it were dishonesty to insinuate that it has. If all the cases were faithfully exhibited where “a few,” “some,” or “many ancient authorities” read differently from what is exhibited in the actual Text, not only would the margin prove insufficient to contain the record, but the very page itself would not nearly suffice. Take a single instance (the first which comes to mind), of the thing referred to. Such illustrations might be multiplied to any extent:—

In S. Luke iii. 22, (in place of “Thou art my beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased,”) the following authorities of the IInd, IIIrd and IVth centuries, read,—“this day have I begotten Thee:” viz.—codex d and the most ancient copies of the old Latin (a, b, c, ff-2, 1),—Justin Martyr in three places³⁸⁴ (a.d. 140),—Clemens Alex.³⁸⁵ (a.d. 190),—and Methodius³⁸⁶ (a.d. 290) among the Greeks. Lactantius³⁸⁷ (a.d. 300),—Hilary³⁸⁸ (a.d. 350),—Juvencus³⁸⁹ (a.d. 330),—Faustus³⁹⁰ (a.d. 400), [pg 116] and—Augustine³⁹¹ amongst the Latins. The reading in question was doubtless derived from the Ebionite Gospel³⁹² (IInd cent.). Now, we desire to have it explained to us why an exhibition of the Text supported by such an amount of first-rate primitive testimony as the preceding, obtains no notice whatever in our Revisionists' margin,—if indeed it was the object of their perpetually recurring marginal annotations, to put the unlearned reader on a level with the critical Scholar; to keep nothing back from him; and so forth?... It is the gross one-sidedness, the patent unfairness, in a critical point of view, of this work, (which professes to be nothing else but a Revision of the English Version of 1611,)—which chiefly shocks and offends us.

For, on the other hand, of what possible use can it be to encumber the margin of S. Luke x. 41, 42 (for example), with the announcement that “A few ancient authorities read Martha, Martha, thou art troubled: Mary hath chosen &c.” (the fact being, that d alone of MSS. omits “careful and ... about many things. But one thing is needful, and” ...)? With the record of this circumstance, is it reasonable (we ask) to choke up our English margin,—to create perplexity and to insinuate doubt? The author of the foregoing [pg 117] marginal Annotation was of course aware that the same “singular codex” (as Bp. Ellicott styles cod. d) omits, in S. Luke's Gospel alone, no less than 1552 words: and he will of course have ascertained (by counting) that the words in S. Luke's Gospel amount to 19,941. Why then did he not tell the whole truth; and instead of “&c.,” proceed as follows?—“But inasmuch as cod. d is so scandalously corrupt that about one word in thirteen is missing throughout, the absence of nine words in this place is of no manner of importance or significancy. The precious saying omitted is above suspicion, and the first half of the present Annotation might have been spared.”... We submit that a Note like that, although rather “singular” in style, really would have been to some extent helpful,—if not to the learned, at least to the unlearned reader.

In the meantime, unlearned and learned readers alike are competent to see that the foregoing perturbation of S. Luke x. 41, 42 rests on the same manuscript authority as the perturbation of ch. iii. 22, which immediately preceded it. The Patristic attestation, on the other hand, of the reading which has been promoted to the margin, is almost nil: whereas that of the neglected place has been shown to be considerable, very ancient, and of high respectability.

But in fact,—(let the Truth be plainly stated; for, when God's Word is at stake, circumlocution is contemptible, while concealment would be a crime;)—“Faithfulness” towards the public, a stern resolve that the English reader “shall know the worst,” and all that kind of thing,—such considerations have had nothing whatever to do with the matter. A vastly different principle has prevailed with the Revisionists. Themselves the dupes of an utterly mistaken Theory of Textual Criticism, their supreme solicitude has [pg 118] been to impose that same Theory,—(which is Westcott and Hort's,)—with all its bitter consequences, on the unlearned and unsuspicious public.

We shall of course be indignantly called upon to explain what we mean by so injurious—so damning—an imputation? For all reply, we are content to refer to the sample of our meaning which will be found below, in pp. 137-8. The exposure of what has there been shown to be the method of the Revisionists in respect of S. Mark vi. 11, might be repeated hundreds of times. It would in fact fill a volume. We shall therefore pass on, when we have asked the Revisionists in turn—How they have dared so effectually to blot out those many precious words from the Book of Life, that no mere English reader, depending on the Revised Version for his knowledge of the Gospels, can by possibility suspect their existence?... Supposing even that it was the calamitous result of their mistaken principles that they found themselves constrained on countless occasions, to omit from their Text precious sayings of our Lord and His Apostles,—what possible excuse will they offer for not having preserved a record of words so amply attested, at least in their margin?

Even so, however, the whole amount of the mischief which has been effected by our Revisionists has not been stated. For the Greek Text which they have invented proves to be so hopelessly depraved throughout, that if it were to be thrust upon the Church's acceptance, we should be a thousand times worse off than we were with the Text which Erasmus and the Complutensian,—Stephens, and Beza, and the Elzevirs,—bequeathed to us upwards of three centuries ago. On this part of the subject we have remarked at length already [pp. 1-110]: yet shall we be constrained to recur once and again to the underlying Greek Text of the Revisionists, [pg 119] inasmuch as it is impossible to stir in any direction with the task before us, without being painfully reminded of its existence. Not only do the familiar Parables, Miracles, Discourses of our Lord, trip us up at every step, but we cannot open the first page of the Gospel—no, nor indeed read the first line—without being brought to a standstill. Thus,

1. S. Matthew begins,—“The book of the generation of Jesus Christ” (ver. 1).—Good. But here the margin volunteers two pieces of information: first,—“Or, birth: as in ver. 18.” We refer to ver. 18, and read—“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise.” Good again; but the margin says,—“Or, generation: as in ver. 1.” Are we then to understand that the same Greek word, diversely rendered in English, occurs in both places? We refer to the “new Greek Text:” and there it stands,—γένεσις in either verse. But if the word be the same, why (on the Revisers' theory) is it diversely rendered?

In the meantime, who knows not that there is all the difference in the world between S. Matthew's γέΝΕσις, in ver. 1,—and the same S. Matthew's γέΝΝΗσις, in ver. 18? The latter, the Evangelist's announcement of the circumstances of the human Nativity of Christ: the former, the Evangelist's unobtrusive way of recalling the Septuagintal rendering of Gen. ii. 4 and v. 1:393 the same Evangelist's calm method of guiding the devout and thoughtful student to discern in the Gospel the History of the “new Creation,”—by thus providing that when first the Gospel opens its lips, it shall syllable the name of the first book of the elder Covenant? We are pointing out that it more than startles—it supremely offends—one who is even slenderly acquainted [pg 120] with the treasures of wisdom hid in the very diction of the N. T. Scriptures, to discover that a deliberate effort has been made to get rid of the very foremost of those notes of Divine intelligence, by confounding two words which all down the ages have been carefully kept distinct; and that this effort is the result of an exaggerated estimate of a few codices which happen to be written in the uncial character, viz. two of the IVth century (b א); one of the Vth (c); two of the VIth (p z); one of the IXth (Δ); one of the Xth (s).

The Versions³⁹⁴—(which are our oldest witnesses)—are perforce only partially helpful here. Note however, that the only one which favours γένεσις is the heretical Harkleian Syriac, executed in the VIIth century. The Peschito and Cureton's Syriac distinguish between γένεσις in ver. 1 and γέννησις in ver. 18: as do the Slavonic and the Arabian Versions. The Egyptian, Armenian, Æthiopic and Georgian, have only one word for both. Let no one suppose however that therefore their testimony is ambiguous. It is γέννησις (not γένεσις) which they exhibit, both in ver. 1 and in ver. 18.395 The Latin (“generatio”) is an equivocal rendering certainly: but the earliest Latin writer who quotes the two places, (viz. Tertullian) employs the word “genitura” in S. Matth. i. 1,—but “nativitas” in ver. 18,—which no one seems to have noticed.³⁹⁶ Now, Tertullian, (as one who sometimes [pg 121] wrote in Greek,) is known to have been conversant with the Greek copies of his day; and “his day,” be it remembered, is a.d. 190. He evidently recognized the parallelism between S. Matt. i. 1 and Gen. ii. 4,—where the old Latin exhibits “liber creaturæ” or “facturæ,” as the rendering of βίβλος γενέσεως. And so much for the testimony of the Versions.

But on reference to Manuscript and to Patristic authority³⁹⁷ we are encountered by an overwhelming amount of testimony for γέννησις in ver. 18: and this, considering the nature of the case, is an extraordinary circumstance. Quite plain is it that the Ancients were wide awake to the difference between spelling the word with one N or with two,—as the little dissertation of the heretic Nestorius³⁹⁸ in itself would be enough to prove. Γέννησις, in the meantime, is the word employed by Justin M.,³⁹⁹—by Clemens Alex.,⁴⁰⁰—by Athanasius,⁴⁰¹—by Gregory of Nazianzus,⁴⁰²—by Cyril Alex.,⁴⁰³—by Nestorius,⁴⁰⁴—by Chrysostom,⁴⁰⁵—by Theodorus [pg 122] Mopsuest.,⁴⁰⁶—and by three other ancients.⁴⁰⁷ Even more deserving of attention is it that Irenæus⁴⁰⁸ (a.d. 170)—(whom Germanus⁴⁰⁹ copies at the end of 550 years)—calls attention to the difference between the spelling of ver. 1 and ver. 18. So does Didymus:410—so does Basil:411—so does Epiphanius.⁴¹²—Origen⁴¹³ (a.d. 210) is even eloquent on the subject.—Tertullian (a.d. 190) we have heard already.—It is a significant circumstance, that the only Patristic authorities discoverable on the other side are Eusebius, Theodoret, and the authors of an heretical Creed⁴¹⁴—whom Athanasius holds up to scorn.⁴¹⁵ ... Will the Revisionists still pretend to tell us that γέννησις in verse 18 is a “plain and clear error”?

2. This, however, is not all. Against the words “of Jesus Christ,” a further critical annotation is volunteered; to the effect that “Some ancient authorities read of the Christ.” In reply to which, we assert that not one single known MS. omits the word “Jesus:” whilst its presence is vouched for by ps.-Tatian,⁴¹⁶—Irenæus,—Origen,—Eusebius,—Didymus,— Epiphanius,—Chrysostom,—Cyril,—in addition to every known Greek copy of the Gospels, and not a few of the Versions, including the Peschito and both the Egyptian. What else but nugatory therefore is such a piece of information as this?

3. And so much for the first, second, and third Critical annotations, with which the margin of the revised N. T. is [pg 123] disfigured. Hoping that the worst is now over, we read on till we reach ver. 25, where we encounter a statement which fairly trips us up: viz.,—“And knew her not till she had brought forth a son.” No intimation is afforded of what has been here effected; but in the meantime every one's memory supplies the epithet (“her first-born”) which has been ejected. Whether something very like indignation is not excited by the discovery that these important words have been surreptitiously withdrawn from their place, let others say. For ourselves, when we find that only א b z and two cursive copies can be produced for the omission, we are at a loss to understand of what the Revisionists can have been dreaming. Did they know⁴¹⁷ that,—besides the Vulgate, the Peschito and Philoxenian Syriac, the Æthiopic, Armenian, Georgian, and Slavonian Versions,⁴¹⁸—a whole torrent of Fathers are at hand to vouch for the genuineness of the epithet they were so unceremoniously excising? They are invited to refer to ps.-Tatian,⁴¹⁹—to Athanasius,⁴²⁰—to Didymus,⁴²¹—to Cyril of Jer.,⁴²²—to Basil,⁴²³—to Greg. Nyss.,⁴²⁴—to Ephraem Syr.,⁴²⁵—to Epiphanius,⁴²⁶—to Chrysostom,⁴²⁷—to Proclus,⁴²⁸—to Isidorus Pelus.,⁴²⁹—to John Damasc.,⁴³⁰—to Photius,⁴³¹—to Nicetas:432—besides, of the Latins, Ambrose,⁴³³—the Opus imp.,—Augustine,—and not least to Jerome⁴³⁴—eighteen Fathers in all. And how is it possible, (we ask,) [pg 124] that two copies of the IVth century (b א) and one of the VIth (z)—all three without a character—backed by a few copies of the old Latin, should be supposed to be any counterpoise at all for such an array of first-rate contemporary evidence as the foregoing?

Enough has been offered by this time to prove that an authoritative Revision of the Greek Text will have to precede any future Revision of the English of the New Testament. Equally certain is it that for such an undertaking the time has not yet come. “It is my honest conviction,”—(remarks Bp. Ellicott, the Chairman of the Revisionists,)—“that for any authoritative Revision, we are not yet mature: either in Biblical learning or Hellenistic scholarship.”⁴³⁵ The same opinion precisely is found to have been cherished by Dr. Westcott till within about a year-and-a-half⁴³⁶ of the first assembling of the New Testament Company in the Jerusalem Chamber, 22nd June, 1870. True, that we enjoy access to—suppose from 1000 to 2000—more manuscripts than were available when the Textus Recept. was formed. But nineteen-twentieths of those documents, for any use which has been made of them, might just as well be still lying in the monastic libraries from which they were obtained.—True, that four out of our five oldest uncials have come to light since the year 1628; but, who knows how to use them?—True, that we have made acquaintance with certain ancient Versions, about which little or nothing was known 200 years ago: but,—(with the solitary exception of the Rev. Solomon Cæsar Malan, the learned Vicar of Broadwindsor,—who, by the way, is always ready to lend a torch to his benighted brethren,)—what living Englishman is able to tell [pg 125] us what they all contain? A smattering acquaintance with the languages of ancient Egypt,—the Gothic, Æthiopic, Armenian, Georgian and Slavonian Versions,—is of no manner of avail. In no department, probably, is “a little learning” more sure to prove “a dangerous thing.”—True, lastly, that the Fathers have been better edited within the last 250 years: during which period some fresh Patristic writings have also come to light. But, with the exception of Theodoret among the Greeks and Tertullian among the Latins, which of the Fathers has been satisfactorily indexed?

Even what precedes is not nearly all. The fundamental Principles of the Science of Textual Criticism are not yet apprehended. In proof of this assertion, we appeal to the new Greek Text of Drs. Westcott and Hort,—which, beyond all controversy, is more hopelessly remote from the inspired Original than any which has yet appeared. Let a generation of Students give themselves entirely up to this neglected branch of sacred Science. Let 500 more Copies of the Gospels, Acts, and Epistles, be diligently collated. Let at least 100 of the ancient Lectionaries be very exactly collated also. Let the most important of the ancient Versions be edited afresh, and let the languages in which these are written be for the first time really mastered by Englishmen. Above all, let the Fathers he called upon to give up their precious secrets. Let their writings be ransacked and indexed, and (where needful) let the MSS. of their works be diligently inspected, in order that we may know what actually is the evidence which they afford. Only so will it ever be possible to obtain a Greek Text on which absolute reliance may be placed, and which may serve as the basis for a satisfactory Revision of our Authorized Version. Nay, let whatever unpublished works of the ancient Greek Fathers are anywhere known to exist,—(and not a few precious remains [pg 126] of theirs are lying hid in great national libraries, both at home and abroad,)—let these be printed. The men could easily be found: the money, far more easily.—When all this has been done,—not before—then in God's Name, let the Church address herself to the great undertaking. Do but revive the arrangements which were adopted in King James's days: and we venture to predict that less than a third part of ten years will be found abundantly to suffice for the work. How the coming men will smile at the picture Dr. Newth⁴³⁷ has drawn of what was the method of procedure in the reign of Queen Victoria! Will they not peruse with downright merriment Bp. Ellicott's jaunty proposal “simply to proceed onward with the work”—[to wit, of constructing a new Greek Text,]—“in fact, solvere ambulando,” [necnon in laqueum cadendo]?⁴³⁸

I. We cannot, it is presumed, act more fairly by the Revisers' work,⁴³⁹ than by following them over some of the ground which they claim to have made their own, and which, at the conclusion of their labours, their Right [pg 127] Reverend Chairman evidently surveys with self-complacency. First, he invites attention to the Principle and Rule for their guidance agreed to by the Committee of Convocation (25th May, 1870), viz. “To introduce as few alterations as possible into the Text of the Authorized Version, consistently with faithfulness.” Words could not be more emphatic. “Plain and clear errors” were to be corrected. “Necessary emendations” were to be made. But (in the words of the Southern Convocation) “We do not contemplate any new Translation, or any alteration of the language, except where, in the judgment of the most competent Scholars, such change is necessary.” The watchword, therefore, given to the company of Revisionists was,—“Necessity.” Necessity was to determine whether they were to depart from the language of the Authorized Version, or not; for the alterations were to be as few as possible.

(a) Now it is idle to deny that this fundamental Principle has been utterly set at defiance. To such an extent is this the case, that even an unlettered Reader is competent to judge them. When we find “to” substituted for “unto” (passim):—“hereby” for “by this” (1 Jo. v. 2):—“all that are,” for “all that be” (Rom. i. 7):—“alway” for “always” (2 Thess. i. 3):—“we that,” “them that,” for “we which,” “them which” (1 Thess. iv. 15); and yet “every spirit which,” for “every spirit that” (1 Jo. iv. 3), and “he who is not of God,” for “he that is not of God” (ver. 6,—although “he that knoweth God” had preceded, in the same verse):—“my host” for “mine host” (Rom. xvi. 23); and “underneath” for “under” (Rev. vi. 9):—it becomes clear that the Revisers' notion of necessity is not that of the rest of mankind. But let the plain Truth be stated. Certain of them, when remonstrated with by their fellows for the manifest disregard they were showing to the Instructions subject to which they had undertaken the work [pg 128] of Revision, are reported to have even gloried in their shame. The majority, it is clear, have even ostentatiously set those Instructions at defiance.

Was the course they pursued,—(we ask the question respectfully,)—strictly honest? To decline the work entirely under the prescribed Conditions, was always in their power. But, first to accept the Conditions, and straightway to act in defiance of them,—this strikes us as a method of proceeding which it is difficult to reconcile with the high character of the occupants of the Jerusalem Chamber. To proceed however.

“Nevertheless” and “notwithstanding” have had a sad time of it. One or other of them has been turned out in favour of “howbeit” (S. Lu. x. 11, 20),—of “only” (Phil. iii. 16),—of “only that” (i. 18),—of “yet” (S. Matth. xi. 11),—of “but” (xvii. 27),—of “and yet” (James ii. 16).... We find “take heed” substituted for “beware” (Col. ii. 8):—“custom” for “manner” (S. Jo. xix. 40):—“he was amazed,” for “he was astonished:” (S. Lu. v. 9):—“Is it I, Lord?” for “Lord, is it I?” (S. Matth. xxvi. 22):—“straightway the cock crew,” for “immediately the cock crew” (S. Jo. xviii. 27):—“Then therefore he delivered Him,” for “Then delivered he Him therefore” (xix. 16):—“brought it to His mouth,” for “put it to His mouth” (ver. 29):—“He manifested Himself on this wise,” for “on this wise shewed He Himself” (xxi. 1):—“So when they got out upon the land,” for “As soon then as they were come to land” (ver. 9):—“the things concerning,” for “the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts i. 3):—“as God's steward,” for “as the steward of God” (Tit. i. 7): but “the belly of the whale” for “the whale's belly” (S. Matth. xii. 40), and “device of man” for “man's device” in Acts xvii. 29.—These, and hundreds of similar alterations have been evidently made out of the [pg 129] merest wantonness. After substituting “therefore” for “then” (as the rendering of οὖν) a score of times,—the Revisionists quite needlessly substitute “then” for “therefore” in S. Jo. xix. 42.—And why has the singularly beautiful greeting of “the elder unto the well-beloved Gaius,” been exchanged for “unto Gaius the beloved”? (3 John, ver. 1).

(b) We turn a few pages, and find “he that doeth sin,” substituted for “he that committeth sin;” and “To this end” put in the place of “For this purpose” (1 Jo. iii. 8):—“have beheld” and “bear witness,” for “have seen and do testify” (iv. 14):—“hereby” for “by this” (v. 2):—“Judas” for “Jude” (Jude ver. 1), although “Mark” was substituted for “Marcus” (in 1 Pet. v. 13), and “Timothy” for “Timotheus” (in Phil. i. 1):—“how that they said to you,” for “how that they told you” (Jude ver. 18).—But why go on? The substitution of “exceedingly” for “greatly” in Acts vi. 7:—“the birds” for “the fowls,” in Rev. xix. 21:—“Almighty” for “Omnipotent” in ver. 6:—“throw down” for “cast down,” in S. Luke iv. 29:—“inner chamber” for “closet,” in vi. 6:—these are not “necessary” changes.... We will give but three instances more:—In 1 S. Pet. v. 9, “whom resist, stedfast in the faith,” has been altered into “whom withstand.” But how is “withstand” a better rendering for ἀντίστητε, than “resist”? “Resist,” at all events, was the Revisionists' word in S. Matth. v. 39 and S. James iv. 7.—Why also substitute “the race” (for “the kindred”) “of Joseph” in Acts vii. 13, although γένος was rendered “kindred” in iv. 6?—Do the Revisionists think that “fastening their eyes on him” is a better rendering of ἀτενίσαντες εἰς αὐτόν (Acts vi. 15) than “looking stedfastly on him”? They certainly did not think so when they got to xxiii. 1. There, because they found “earnestly beholding the council,” they must needs alter the phrase into “looking stedfastly.” It is clear therefore that Caprice, not Necessity,—an [pg 130] itching impatience to introduce changes into the A. V., not the discovery of “plain and clear errors”—has determined the great bulk of the alterations which molest us in every part of the present unlearned and tasteless performance.

II. The next point to which the Revisionists direct our attention is their new Greek text,—“the necessary foundation of” their work. And here we must renew our protest against the wrong which has been done to English readers by the Revisionists' disregard of the IVth Rule laid down for their guidance, viz. that, whenever they adopted a new Textual reading, such alteration was to be “indicated in the margin.” This “proved inconvenient,” say the Revisionists. Yes, we reply: but only because you saw fit, in preference, to choke up your margin with a record of the preposterous readings you did not admit. Even so, however, the thing might to some extent have been done, if only by a system of signs in the margin wherever a change in the Text had been by yourselves effected. And, at whatever “inconvenience,” you were bound to do this,—partly because the Rule before you was express: but chiefly in fairness to the English Reader. How comes it to pass that you have never furnished him with the information you stood pledged to furnish; but have instead, volunteered in every page information, worthless in itself, which can only serve to unsettle the faith of unlettered millions, and to suggest unreasonable as well as miserable doubts to the minds of all?

For no one may for an instant imagine that the marginal statements of which we speak are a kind of equivalent for the Apparatus Criticus which is found in every principal edition of the Greek Testament—excepting always that of Drs. Westcott and Hort. So far are we from deprecating (with Daniel Whitby) the multiplication of “Various Readings,” [pg 131] that we rejoice in them exceedingly; knowing that they are the very foundation of our confidence and the secret of our strength. For this reason we consider Dr. Tischendorf's last (8th) edition to be furnished with not nearly enough of them, though he left all his predecessors (and himself in his 7th edition) far behind. Our quarrel with the Revisionists is not by any means that they have commemorated actual “alternative Readings” in their margin: but that, while they have given prominence throughout to patent Errors, they have unfairly excluded all mention of,—have not made the slightest allusion to,—hundreds of Readings which ought in fact rather to have stood in the Text.

The marginal readings, which our Revisers have been so ill-advised as to put prominently forward, and to introduce to the Reader's notice with the vague statement that they are sanctioned by “Some” (or by “Many”) “ancient authorities,”—are specimens arbitrarily selected out of an immense mass; are magisterially recommended to public attention and favour; seem to be invested with the sanction and authority of Convocation itself. And this becomes a very serious matter indeed. No hint is given which be the “ancient Authorities” so referred to:—nor what proportion they bear to the “ancient Authorities” producible on the opposite side:—nor whether they are the most “ancient Authorities” obtainable:—nor what amount of attention their testimony may reasonably claim. But in the meantime a fatal assertion is hazarded in the Preface (iii. 1.), to the effect that in cases where “it would not be safe to accept one Reading to the absolute exclusion of others,” “alternative Readings” have been given “in the margin.” So that the “Agony and bloody sweat” of the World's Redeemer (Lu. xxii. 43, 44),—and His Prayer for His murderers (xxiii. 34),—and much beside of transcendent importance and inestimable value, may, according to our Revisionists, prove to rest upon no foundation whatever. [pg 132] At all events, “it would not be safe,” (i.e. it is not safe) to place absolute reliance on them. Alas, how many a deadly blow at Revealed Truth hath been in this way aimed with fatal adroitness, which no amount of orthodox learning will ever be able hereafter to heal, much less to undo! Thus,—

(a) From the first verse of S. Mark's Gospel we are informed that “Some ancient authorities omit the Son of God.” Why are we not informed that every known uncial Copy except one of bad character,—every cursive but two,—every Version,—and the following Fathers,—all contain the precious clause: viz. Irenæus,—Porphyry,—Severianus of Gabala,—Cyril Alex.,—Victor Ant.,—and others,—besides Ambrose and Augustine among the Latins:—while the supposed adverse testimony of Serapion and Titus, Basil and Victorinus, Cyril of Jer. and Epiphanius, proves to be all a mistake? To speak plainly, since the clause is above suspicion, Why are we not rather told so?

(b) In the 3rd verse of the first chapter of S. John's Gospel, we are left to take our choice between,—“without Him was not anything made that hath been made. In him was life; and the life,” &c.,—and the following absurd alternative,—“Without him was not anything made. That which hath been made was life in him; and the life,” &c. But we are not informed that this latter monstrous figment is known to have been the importation of the Gnostic heretics in the IInd century, and to be as destitute of authority as it is of sense. Why is prominence given only to the lie?

(c) At S. John iii. 13, we are informed that the last clause of that famous verse (“No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man—which is in heaven”), is not found in “many ancient authorities.” [pg 133] But why, in the name of common fairness, are we not also reminded that this, (as will be found more fully explained in the note overleaf,) is a circumstance of no Textual significancy whatever?

Why, above all, are we not assured that the precious clause in question (ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ) is found in every MS. in the world, except five of bad character?—is recognized by all the Latin and all the Syriac versions; as well as by the Coptic,—Æthiopic,—Georgian,—and Armenian?⁴⁴⁰—is either quoted or insisted upon by Origen,⁴⁴¹—Hippolytus,⁴⁴²—Athanasius,⁴⁴³—Didymus,⁴⁴⁴—Aphraates the Persian,⁴⁴⁵—Basil the Great,⁴⁴⁶—Epiphanius,⁴⁴⁷—Nonnus,—ps.-Dionysius Alex.,⁴⁴⁸—Eustathius;⁴⁴⁹—by Chrysostom,⁴⁵⁰—Theodoret,⁴⁵¹—and Cyril,⁴⁵² each 4 times;—by Paulus, Bishop of Emesa⁴⁵³ (in a sermon on Christmas Day, a.d. 431);—by Theodoras Mops.,⁴⁵⁴—Amphilochius,⁴⁵⁵—Severus,⁴⁵⁶—Theodorus Heracl.,⁴⁵⁷—Basilius Cil.,⁴⁵⁸—Cosmas,⁴⁵⁹—John Damascene, in 3 places,⁴⁶⁰—and 4 other ancient Greek writers;⁴⁶¹—besides Ambrose,⁴⁶²—Novatian,⁴⁶³—Hilary,⁴⁶⁴—Lucifer,⁴⁶⁵—Victorinus,—Jerome,⁴⁶⁶—Cassian,—Vigilius,⁴⁶⁷—Zeno,⁴⁶⁸—Marius,⁴⁶⁹—Maximus Taur.,⁴⁷⁰—Capreolus,⁴⁷¹—Augustine, &c.:—is acknowledged by Lachmann, Tregelles, Tischendorf: in short, is quite above suspicion: why are we not told that? Those 10 Versions, [pg 134] those 38 Fathers, that host of Copies in the proportion of 995 to 5,—why, concerning all these is there not so much as a hint let fall that such a mass of counter-evidence exists?⁴⁷²... Shame,—yes, shame on the learning which comes abroad only to perplex the weak, and to unsettle the [pg 135] doubting, and to mislead the blind! Shame,—yes, shame on that two-thirds majority of well-intentioned but most incompetent men, who,—finding themselves (in an evil hour) appointed to correct “plain and clear errors” in the English “Authorized Version,”—occupied themselves instead with falsifying the inspired Greek Text in countless places, and branding with suspicion some of the most precious utterances of the Spirit! Shame,—yes, shame upon them!

Why then, (it will of course be asked,) is the margin—(a) of S. Mark i. 1 and—(b) of S. John i. 3, and—(c) of S. John iii. 13, encumbered after this discreditable fashion? It is (we answer) only because the Text of Drs. Westcott and Hort is thus depraved in all three places. Those Scholars enjoy the unenviable distinction of having dared to expel from S. John iii. 13 the words ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, which Lachmann, Tregelles and Tischendorf were afraid to touch. Well may Dean Stanley have bestowed upon Dr. Hort the epithet of “fearless”!... If report speaks truly, it is by the merest accident that the clause in question still retains its place in the Revised Text.

(d) Only once more. And this time we will turn to the very end of the blessed volume. Against Rev. xiii. 18—

“Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the Beast; for it is the number of a Man: and his number is six hundred and sixty and six.”

Against this, we find noted,—“Some ancient authorities read six hundred and sixteen.”

But why is not the whole Truth told? viz. why are we not informed that only one corrupt uncial (c):—only one cursive copy (11):—only one Father (Tichonius): and not one ancient Version—advocates this reading?—which, on the contrary, [pg 136] Irenæus (a.d. 170) knew, but rejected; remarking that 666, which is “found in all the best and oldest copies and is attested by men who saw John face to face,” is unquestionably the true reading.⁴⁷³ Why is not the ordinary Reader further informed that the same number (666) is expressly vouched for by Origen,⁴⁷⁴—by Hippolytus,⁴⁷⁵—by Eusebius:476—as well as by Victorinus—and Primasius,—not to mention Andreas and Arethas? To come to the moderns, as a matter of fact the established reading is accepted by Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles,—even by Westcott and Hort. Why therefore—for what possible reason—at the end of 1700 years and upwards, is this, which is so clearly nothing else but an ancient slip of the pen, to be forced upon the attention of 90 millions of English-speaking people?

Will Bishop Ellicott and his friends venture to tell us that it has been done because “it would not be safe to accept” 666, “to the absolute exclusion of” 616?... “We have given alternative Readings in the margin,” (say they,) “wherever they seem to be of sufficient importance or interest to deserve notice.” Will they venture to claim either “interest” or “importance” for this? or pretend that it is an “alternative Reading” at all? Has it been rescued from oblivion and paraded before universal Christendom in order to perplex, mystify, and discourage “those that have understanding,” and would fain “count the number of the Beast,” if they were able? Or was the intention only to insinuate one more wretched doubt—one more miserable suspicion—into minds which have been taught (and rightly) to place absolute reliance in the textual accuracy of all the gravest utterances of the Spirit: minds which are utterly incapable [pg 137] of dealing with the subtleties of Textual Criticism; and, from a one-sided statement like the present, will carry away none but entirely mistaken inferences, and the most unreasonable distrust?... Or, lastly, was it only because, in their opinion, the margin of every Englishman's N. T. is the fittest place for reviving the memory of obsolete blunders, and ventilating forgotten perversions of the Truth?... We really pause for an answer.

(e) But serious as this is, more serious (if possible) is the unfair Suppression systematically practised throughout the work before us. “We have given alternative Readings in the margin,”—(says Bishop Ellicott on behalf of his brother-Revisionists,)—“wherever they seem to be of sufficient importance or interest to deserve notice.” [iii. 1.] From which statement, readers have a right to infer that whenever “alternative Readings” are not “given in the margin,” it is because such Readings do not “seem to be of sufficient importance or interest to deserve notice.” Will the Revisionists venture to tell us that,—(to take the first instance of unfair Suppression which presents itself,)—our Lord's saying in S. Mark vi. 11 is not “of sufficient importance or interest to deserve notice”? We allude to the famous words,—“Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city:”—words which are not only omitted from the “New English Version,” but are not suffered to leave so much as a trace of themselves in the margin. And yet, the saying in question is attested by the Peschito and the Philoxenian Syriac Versions: by the Old Latin: by the Coptic, Æthiopic and Gothic Versions:—by 11 uncials and by the whole bulk of the cursives:—by Irenæus and by Victor of Antioch. So that whether Antiquity, or Variety of Attestation is considered,—whether we look for Numbers or for Respectability,—the genuineness [pg 138] of the passage may be regarded as certain. Our complaint however is not that the Revisionists entertain a different opinion on this head from ourselves: but that they give the reader to understand that the state of the Evidence is such, that it is quite “safe to accept” the shorter reading,—“to the absolute exclusion of the other.”—So vast is the field before us, that this single specimen of what we venture to call “unfair Suppression,” must suffice. (Some will not hesitate to bestow upon it a harsher epithet.) It is in truth by far the most damaging feature of the work before us, that its Authors should have so largely and so seriously falsified the Deposit; and yet, (in clear violation of the IVth Principle or Rule laid down for their guidance at the outset,) have suffered no trace to survive in the margin of the deadly mischief which they have effected.

III. From the Text, the Revisionists pass on to the Translation; and surprise us by the avowal, that “the character of the Revision was determined for us from the outset by the first Rule,—‘to introduce as few alterations as possible, consistently with faithfulness.’ Our task was Revision, not Retranslation.” (This is naïve certainly.) They proceed,—

“If the meaning was fairly expressed by the word or phrase that was before us in the Authorized Version, we made no change, even where rigid adherence to the rule of Translating, as far as possible, the same Greek word by the same English word might have prescribed some modification.”—[iii. 2 init.] (The italics are our own.)

To the “rule” thus introduced to our notice, we shall recur by and by [pp. 152-4: also pp. 187-202]. We proceed to remark on each of the five principal Classes of alterations indicated by the Revisionists: and first,—“Alterations [pg 139] positively required by change of reading in the Greek Text” (Ibid.).

(1) Thus, in S. John xii. 7, we find “Suffer her to keep it against the day of my burying;” and in the margin (as an alternative), “Let her alone: it was that she might keep it.”—Instead of “as soon as Jesus heard the word,”—we are invited to choose between “not heeding,” and “overhearing the word” (S. Mk. v. 36): these being intended for renderings of παρακούσας,—an expression which S. Mark certainly never employed.—“On earth, peace among men in whom he is well pleased” (S. Lu. ii. 14): where the margin informs us that “many ancient authorities read, good pleasure among men.” (And why not “good will,”—the rendering adopted in Phil. i. 15?) ... Take some more of the alterations which have resulted from the adoption of a corrupt Text:—“Why askest thou me concerning that which is good?” (Matth. xix. 17,—an absurd fabrication).—“He would fain have been filled with the husks,” &c.... “and I perish here with hunger!” (χορτασθῆναι, borrowed from Lu. xvi. 21: and εγΩΔΕωδε, a transparent error: S. Luke xv. 16, 17).—“When it shall fail, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles” (xvi. 9).——Elizabeth “lifted up her voice with a loud cry” (κραυγή—the private property of three bad MSS. and Origen: Lu. i. 42).—“And they stood still looking sad” (xxiv. 17,—a foolish transcriptional blunder).—“The multitude went up and began to ask him,” &c. (ἀναβάς for ἀναβοήσας, Mk. xv. 8).—“But is guilty of an eternal sin” (iii. 29).—“And the officers received Him with blows of their hands,”—marg. “or strokes of rods:” ΕΛΑΒΟΝ for ΕΒΑΛΟΝ (xiv. 65).—“Else, that which should fill it up taketh from it, the new from the old” (ii. 21): and “No man rendeth a piece from a new garment and putteth it upon an old garment; else he will rend the new,” &c. (Lu. v. 36).—“What is this? a new teaching!” (Mk. i. 27).—“Jesus saith unto him, If thou canst!” (Mk. ix. 23).—“Because of your little [pg 140] faith”(Matth. xvii. 20).—“We must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day” (Jo. ix. 4).—“The man that is called Jesus made clay” (ver. 11).—“If ye shall ask Me anything in My name” (xiv. 14).—“The Father abiding in Me doeth His works” (xiv. 10).—“If ye shall ask anything of the Father, He will give it you in My name” (xvi. 23).—“I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do” (xvii. 4).—“Holy Father, keep them in Thy Name which Thou hast given Me ... I kept them in Thy Name which Thou hast given me” (ver. 11, 12).—“She ... saith unto Him in Hebrew, Rabboni” (xx. 16).—“These things said Isaiah, because he saw his glory” (xii. 41,—ΟΤΙ for ΟΤΕ, a common itacism).—“In tables that are hearts of flesh” (ἐν πλαξὶ καρδίαις σαρκίναις, a “perfectly absurd reading,” as Scrivener remarks, p. 442: 2 Cor. iii. 3).—“Now if we put the horses' bridles [and pray, why not ‘the horses' bits’?] into their mouths” (ΕΙΔΕ, an ordinary itacism for ΙΔΕ, James iii. 3).—“Unto the sick were carried away from his body handkerchiefs,” &c. (Acts xix. 12).—“Ye know all things once for all” (Jude ver. 5).—“We love because he first loved us” (1 Jo. iv. 19).—“I have found no work of thine fulfilled before my God” (Rev. iii. 2).—“Seven Angels arrayed with [precious] stone” (xv. 6), instead of “clothed in linen,” λίθον for λίνον. (Fancy the Angels “clothed in stone”! “Precious” is an interpolation of the Revisers).—“Dwelling in the things which he hath seen:” for which the margin offers as an alternative, “taking his stand upon” (Colossians ii. 18). But ἐμβατεύων (the word here employed) clearly means neither the one nor the other. S. Paul is delivering a warning against unduly “prying into the things not seen.”⁴⁷⁷ A few MSS. of bad character omit the “not.” That is all!... These then are a handful of the less [pg 141] conspicuous instances of a change in the English “positively required by a change of reading in the Greek Text:” every one of them being either a pitiful blunder or else a gross fabrication.—Take only two more: “I neither know, nor understand: thou, what sayest thou?” (Mk. xiv. 68 margin):—“And whither I go, ye know the way” (Jo. xiv. 4).... The A. V. is better in every instance.

(2) and (3) Next, alterations made because the A. V. “appeared to be incorrect” or else “obscure.” They must needs be such as the following:—“He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet” (S. John xiii. 10).—“Lord, if he is fallen asleep he will recover” (σωθήσεται, xi. 12).—“Go ye therefore into the partings of the highways” (Matth. xxii. 9).—“Being grieved at the hardening of their heart” (Mk. iii. 5).—“Light a lamp and put it on the stand” (Matt. v. 15).—“Sitting at the place of toll” (ix. 9).—“The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working” (James v. 16).—“Awake up righteously” (1 Cor. xv. 34).—“Guarded through faith unto a salvation” (1 Pet. i. 5).—“Wandering in ... the holes of the earth” (Heb. xi. 38—very queer places certainly to be “wandering” in).—“She that is in Babylon, elect together with you, saluteth you” (1 Pet. v. 13).—“Therefore do these powers work in Him” (Matth. xiv. 2).—“In danger of the hell of fire” (v. 22).—“Put out into the deep” (Luke v. 4).—“The tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver” (Acts vii. 16).

With reference to every one of these places, (and they are but samples of what is to be met with in every page,) we venture to assert that they are either less intelligible, or else more inaccurate, than the expressions which they are severally intended to supersede; while, in some instances, they are both. Will any one seriously contend that “the hire of wrong-doing” [pg 142] is better than “the wages of unrighteousness” (2 Pet. ii. 15)? or, will he venture to deny that, “Come and dine”—“so when they had dined,”—is a hundred times better than “Come and break your fast”—“so when they had broken their fast” (Jo. xxi. 12, 15)?—expressions which are only introduced because the Revisionists were ashamed (as well they might be) to write “breakfast” and “breakfasted.” The seven had not been “fasting.” Then, why introduce so incongruous a notion here,—any more than into S. Luke xi. 37, 38, and xiv. 12?

Has the reader any appetite for more specimens of “incorrectness” remedied and “obscurity” removed? Rather, as it seems, have both been largely imported into a Translation which was singularly intelligible before. Why darken Rom. vii. 1 and xi. 2 by introducing the interrogative particle, and then, by mistranslating it “Or”?—Also, why translate γένος “race”? (“a man of Cyprus by race,” “a man of Pontus by race,” “an Alexandrian by race,” Acts iv. 36: xviii. 2, 24).—“If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body,” say the Revisionists: “O death, where is thy victory? O death where is thy sting?” (Could they not let even 1 Cor. xv. 44 and 55 alone?)—Why alter “For the bread of God is He,” into “For the bread of God is that which cometh down from Heaven”? (Jo. vi. 33).—“As long as I am in the world,” was surely better than “When I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (ix. 5).—Is “He went forth out of their hand” supposed to be an improvement upon “He escaped out of their hand”? (x. 39): and is “They loved the glory of men more than the glory of GOD” an improvement upon “the praise”? (xii. 43).—“Judas saith unto Him, Lord, what is come to pass that Thou wilt manifest Thyself to us”? Is that supposed to be an improvement upon xiv. 22?—How is “If then” an improvement on “Forasmuch then” in Acts xi. 17?—or how is this endurable in Rom. vii. 15,—“For that which I do, I [pg 143] know not: for not what I would, that do I practise:”—or this, in xvi. 25, “The mystery which hath been kept in silence through times eternal, but now is manifested,” &c.—“Thou therefore, my child,”—addressing the Bishop of Ephesus (2 Tim. ii. 1): and “Titus, my true child,”—addressing the Bishop of Crete (Tit. i. 4).

Are the following deemed improvements? “Every one that doeth sin doeth also lawlessness: and sin is lawlessness” (1 Jo. iii. 4): “I will move thy candlestick out of its place” (Rev. ii. 5):—“a glassy sea” (iv. 6):—“a great voice” (v. 12):—“Verily, not of Angels doth He take hold, but He taketh hold of the seed of Abraham:”—“He took hold of the blind man by the hand:”—“They took hold of him and brought him unto the Areopagus” (Heb. ii. 16: S. Mk. viii. 23: Acts xvii. 19):—“wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God” (Acts xi. 16):—“Counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God” (Phil. ii. 6).—Why are we to substitute “court” for “palace” in Matth. xxvi. 3 and Lu. xi. 21? (Consider Matth. xii. 29 and Mk. iii. 27).—“Women received their dead by a resurrection” (Heb. xi. 35):—“If ye forgive not every one his brother from their hearts” (Matth. xviii. 35):—“If because of meat thy brother is grieved, thou walkest no longer in love” (Rom. xiv. 15):—“which God, who cannot lie, promised before times eternal; but in his own seasons manifested his word in the message” (Tit. i. 2, 3):—“Your pleasures [and why not ‘lusts’?] that war in your members” (James iv. 1):—“Behold how much wood is kindled by how small a fire!” (iii. 5).—Are these really supposed to be less “obscure” than the passages they are intended to supersede?

(a) Not a few of the mistaken renderings of the Revisionists can only be established by an amount of illustration which is at once inconvenient to the Reviewer and unwelcome probably [pg 144] to the general Reader. Thus, we take leave to point out that,—“And coming up at that very hour” (in Lu. ii. 38),—as well as “she came up to Him” (in Lu. x. 40), are inexact renderings of the original. The verb ἐφιστάναι, which etymologically signifies “to stand upon,” or “over,” or “by,”—(but which retains its literal signification on only four out of the eighteen occasions⁴⁷⁸ when the word occurs in the Gospels and Acts,)—is found almost invariably to denote the “coming suddenly upon” a person. Hence, it is observed to be used five times to denote the sudden appearance of friendly visitants from the unseen world:479 and seven times, the sudden hostile approach of what is formidable.⁴⁸⁰ On the two remaining occasions, which are those before us,—(namely, the sudden coming of Anna into the Temple⁴⁸¹ and of Martha into the presence of our Lord,⁴⁸²)—“coming suddenly in” would probably represent S. Luke's ἐπιστᾶσα exactly. And yet, one would hesitate to import the word “suddenly” into the narrative. So that “coming in” would after all have to stand in the text, although the attentive student of Scripture would enjoy the knowledge that something more is implied. In other words,—the Revisionists would have done better if they had left both places alone.... These are many words; yet is it impossible to explain such matters at once satisfactorily and briefly.

(b) But more painful by far it is to discover that a morbid striving after etymological accuracy,—added to a [pg 145] calamitous preference for a depraved Text,—has proved the ruin of one of the most affecting scenes in S. John's Gospel. “Simon Peter beckoneth to him, and saith unto him, Tell us who it is of whom He speaketh” [a fabulous statement evidently; for Peter beckoned, because he might not speak]. “He leaning back, as he was,”—[a very bad rendering of οὕτως, by the way; and sure to recal inopportunely the rendering of ὡς ἦν in S. Mark iv. 36, instead of suggesting (as it obviously ought) the original of S. John iv. 6:]—“on Jesus' breast, saith unto Him, Lord who is it?” (S. John xiii. 24-5). Now, S. John's word concerning himself in this place is certainly ἐπιπεσών. He “just sank”—let his head “fall”—on his Master's breast, and whispered his question. For this, a few corrupt copies substitute ἀναπεσών. But ἀναπεσών never means “leaning back.” It is descriptive of the posture of one reclining at a meal (S. Jo. xiii. 12). Accordingly, it is 10 times rendered by the Revisionists to “sit down.” Why, in this place, and in chapter xxi. 20, a new meaning is thrust upon the word, it is for the Revisionists to explain. But they must explain the matter a vast deal better than Bp. Lightfoot has done in his interesting little work on Revision (pp. 72-3), or they will fail to persuade any,—except one another.

(c) Thus it happens that we never spend half-an-hour over the unfortunate production before us without exclaiming (with one in the Gospel), “The old is better.” Changes of any sort are unwelcome in such a book as the Bible; but the discovery that changes have been made for the worse, offends greatly. To take instances at random:—'Ὁ πλεῖστος ὄχλος (in Matth. xxi. 8) is rightly rendered in our A. V. “a very great multitude.”⁴⁸³ Why then has it been altered by the R. V. into [pg 146] “the most part of the multitude”?—Ὁ πολὺς ὄχλος (Mk. xii. 37), in like manner, is rightly rendered “the common people,” and ought not to have been glossed in the margin “the great multitude.”—In the R. V. of Acts x. 15, we find “Make thou not common,” introduced as an improvement on, “That call not thou common.” But “the old is better:” for, besides its idiomatic and helpful “That,”—the old alone states the case truly. Peter did not “make,” he only “called,” something “common.”—“All the male children,” as a translation of πάντας τοὺς παῖδας (in Matth. ii. 16) is an unauthorized statement. There is no reason for supposing that the female infants of Bethlehem were spared in the general massacre: and the Greek certainly conveys no such information.—“When he came into the house, Jesus spake first to him”—is really an incorrect rendering of Matth. xvii. 25: at least, it imports into the narrative a notion which is not found in the Greek, and does not exhibit faithfully what the Evangelist actually says. “Anticipated,” in modern English,—“prevented,” in ancient phraseology,—“was beforehand with him” in language neither new nor old,—conveys the sense of the original exactly.—In S. Lu. vi. 35, “Love your enemies, ... and lend, never despairing,” is simply a mistaken translation of ἀπελπίζοντες, as the context sufficiently proves. The old rendering is the true one.⁴⁸⁴ And so, learnedly, the Vulgate,—nihil inde sperantes. (Consider the use of ἀποβλέπειν [Heb. xi. 26]: ἀφορᾶν [Phil. ii. 23: Heb. xii. 2]: abutor, as used by Jerome for utor, &c.)—“Go with them making no distinction” is not the meaning of Acts xi. 12: which, however, was correctly translated before, viz. “nothing doubting.”—The mischievous change (“save” in place of “but”) in Gal. ii. 16 has been ably and faithfully exposed by Bp. Ollivant. In the words of the [pg 147] learned and pious Bp. of Lincoln, “it is illogical and erroneous, and contradicts the whole drift of S. Paul's Argument in that Epistle, and in the Epistle to the Romans.”

(d) We should be dealing insincerely with our Readers were we to conceal our grave dissatisfaction at not a few of the novel expressions which the Revisionists have sought to introduce into the English New Testament. That the malefactors between whom “the Lord of glory” was crucified were not ordinary “thieves” is obvious; yet would it have been wiser, we think, to leave the old designation undisturbed. We shall never learn to call them “robbers.”—“The king sent forth a soldier of his guard” is a gloss—not a translation of S. Mark vi. 27. “An executioner” surely is far preferable as the equivalent for σπεκουλάτωρ!⁴⁸⁵—“Assassins” (as the rendering of σικάριοι) is an objectionable substitute for “murderers.” A word which “belongs probably to a romantic chapter in the history of the Crusades”⁴⁸⁶ has no business in the N. T.—And what did these learned men suppose they should gain by substituting “the twin brothers” for “Castor and Pollux” in Acts xxviii. 11? The Greek (Διόσκουροι) is neither the one nor the other.—In the same spirit, instead of, “they that received tribute-money” (in S. Matth. xvii. 24), we are now presented with “they that received the half-shekel:” and in verse 27,—instead of “when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money,” we are favoured with “thou shalt find a shekel.” But why the change has been made, we fail to see. The margin is still obliged to explain that not one of these four words is found in the original: the Greek in the former place being τὰ δίδραχμα,—in the latter, στατήρ.—“Flute-players” [pg 148] (for “minstrels”) in S. Matthew ix. 23, is a mistake. An αὐλητής played the pipe (αὐλός, 1 Cor. xiv. 7),—hence “pipers” in Rev. xviii. 22; (where by the way μουσικοί [“musicians”] is perversely and less accurately rendered “minstrels”).—Once more. “Undressed cloth” (Mk. ii. 21), because it is an expression popularly understood only in certain districts of England, and a vox artis, ought not to have been introduced into the Gospels. “New” is preferable.—“Wine-skins” (Mtt. ix. 17: Mk. ii. 22: Lu. v. 37) is a term unintelligible to the generality; as the Revisionists confess, for they explain it by a note,—“That is, skins used as bottles.” What else is this but substituting a new difficulty for an old one?—“Silver,” now for the first time thrust into Acts viii. 20, is unreasonable. Like “argent” in French, ἀργύριον as much means “money,” here as in S. Matthew xxv. 18, 27, &c.—In S. James ii. 19, we should like to know what is gained by the introduction of the “shuddering” devils.—To take an example from a different class of words,—Who will say that “Thou mindest not the things of God” is a better rendering of οὐ φρονεῖς, than the old “Thou savourest not,”—which at least had no ambiguity about it?... A friend points out that Dr. Field (a “master in Israel”) has examined 104 of the changes made in the Revised Version; and finds 8 questionable: 13 unnecessary: 19 faulty (i.e. cases in which the A. V. required amendment, but which the R. V. has not succeeded in amending): 64 changes for the worse.⁴⁸⁷... This is surely a terrible indictment for such an one as Dr. Field to bring against the Revisers,—who were directed only to correct “plain and clear errors.”

(e) We really fail to understand how it has come to pass that, notwithstanding the amount of scholarship which [pg 149] sometimes sat in the Jerusalem Chamber, so many novelties are found in the present Revision which betoken a want of familiarity with the refinements of the Greek language on the one hand; and (what is even more inexcusable) only a slender acquaintance with the resources and proprieties of English speech, on the other. A fair average instance of this occurs in Acts xxi. 37, where (instead of “Canst thou speak Greek?”) Ἑλληνιστὶ γινώσκεις? is rendered “Dost thou know Greek?” That γινώσκειν means “to know” (and not “to speak”) is undeniable: and yet, in the account of all, except the driest and stupidest of pedagogues, Ἑλληνιστὶ γινώσκεις; must be translated “Canst thou speak Greek?” For (as every schoolboy is aware) Ἑλληνιστί is an adverb, and signifies “in Greek fashion:” so that something has to be supplied: and the full expression, if it must needs be given, would be, “Dost thou know [how to talk] in Greek?” But then, this condensation of phrase proves to be the established idiom of the language:488 so that the rejection of the learned rendering of Tyndale, Cranmer, the Geneva, the Rheims, and the Translators of 1611 (“Canst thou speak Greek?”)—the rejection of this, at the end of 270 years, in favour of “Dost thou know Greek?” really betrays ignorance. It is worse than bad Taste. It is a stupid and deliberate blunder.

(f) The substitution of “they weighed unto him” (in place of “they covenanted with him for”) “thirty pieces of silver” (S. Matth. xxvi. 15) is another of those plausible mistakes, into which a little learning (proverbially “a dangerous thing”) is for ever conducting its unfortunate possessor; but from which it was to have been expected that the undoubted [pg 150] attainments of some who frequented the Jerusalem Chamber would have effectually preserved the Revisionists. That ἔστησαν is intended to recal Zech. xi. 12, is obvious; as well as that there it refers to the ancient practice of weighing uncoined money. It does not, however, by any means follow, that it was customary to weigh shekels in the days of the Gospel. Coined money, in fact, was never weighed, but always counted; and these were shekels, i.e. didrachms (Matth. xvii. 24). The truth (it lies on the surface) is, that there exists a happy ambiguity about the word ἔστησαν, of which the Evangelist has not been slow to avail himself. In the particular case before us, it is expressly recorded that in the first instance money did not pass,—only a bargain was made, and a certain sum promised. S. Mark's record is that the chief priests were glad at the proposal of Judas, “and promised to give him money” (xiv. 11): S. Luke's, that “they covenanted” to do so (xxii. 5, 6). And with this, the statement of the first Evangelist is found to be in strictest agreement. The chief Priests “set” or “appointed”⁴⁸⁹ him a certain sum. The perfectly accurate rendering of S. Matth. xxvi. 15, therefore, exhibited by our Authorized Version, has been set aside to make way for a misrepresentation of the Evangelist's meaning. “In the judgment of the most competent scholars,” was “such change necessary”?

(g) We respectfully think that it would have been more becoming in such a company as that which assembled in the Jerusalem Chamber, as well as more consistent with their Instructions, if in doubtful cases they had abstained from touching the Authorized Version, but had recorded their own conjectural emendations in the margin. How rash and infelicitous, [pg 151] for example, is the following rendering of the famous words in Acts xxvi. 28, 29, which we find thrust upon us without apology or explanation; without, in fact, any marginal note at all:—“And Agrippa said unto Paul, With but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian. And Paul said, I would to God, that whether with little or with much,” &c. Now this is indefensible. For, in the first place, to get any such meaning out of the words, our Revisionists have been obliged to substitute the fabricated ποιῆσαι (the peculiar property of א a b and a few cursives) for γενέσθαι in ver. 28. Moreover, even so, the words do not yield the required sense. We venture to point out, that this is precisely one of the occasions where the opinion of a first-rate Greek Father is of paramount importance. The moderns confess themselves unable to discover a single instance of the phrase ἐν ὀλίγῳ in the sense of “within a little.” Cyril of Jerusalem (a.d. 350) and Chrysostom (a.d. 400), on the contrary, evidently considered that here the expression can mean nothing else; and they were competent judges, seeing that Greek was their native language: far better judges (be it remarked in passing) on a point of this kind than the whole body of Revisionists put together. “Such an amount of victorious grace and wisdom did Paul derive from the Holy Spirit” (says Cyril), “that even King Agrippa at last exclaimed,”⁴⁹⁰ &c. From which it is evident that Cyril regarded Agrippa's words as an avowal that he was well-nigh overcome by the Apostle's argument. And so Chrysostom,⁴⁹¹ who says plainly that ἐν ὀλίγῳ means “within a little,”⁴⁹² and assumes that “within a little” S. Paul had [pg 152] persuaded his judge.⁴⁹³ He even puts παρ᾽ ὀλίγον into Agrippa's mouth.⁴⁹⁴ So also, in effect, Theodoret.⁴⁹⁵ From all which it is reasonable, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, to infer that our A. V. reflects faithfully what was the Church's traditionary interpretation of Acts xxvi. 28 in the first half of the fourth century. Let it only be added that a better judge of such matters than any who frequented the Jerusalem Chamber—the late President of Magdalen, Dr. Routh,—writes: “Vertendum esse sequentia suadent, Me fere Christianum fieri suades. Interp. Vulgata habet, In modico suades me Christianum fieri.”⁴⁹⁶ Yes, the Apostle's rejoinder fixes the meaning of what Agrippa had said before.—And this shall suffice. We pass on, only repeating our devout wish that what the Revisionists failed to understand, or were unable materially and certainly to improve, they would have been so obliging as to let alone. In the present instance the A. V. is probably right; the R. V., probably wrong. No one, at all events, can pretend that the rendering with which we are all familiar is “a plain and clear error.” And confessedly, unless it was, it should have been left unmolested. But to proceed.

(4) and (5) There can be no question as to the absolute duty of rendering identical expressions in strictly parallel places of the Gospels by strictly identical language. So far we are wholly at one with the Revisionists. But “alterations [supposed to be] rendered necessary by consequence” (Preface, iii. 2.), are quite a different matter: and we venture to think that it is precisely in their pursuit of a mechanical uniformity of rendering, that our Revisionists have most often as well as most grievously lost their way. We differ from them in fact in limine. “When a particular word” (say they) “is found to [pg 153] recur with characteristic frequency in any one of the Sacred Writers, it is obviously desirable to adopt for it some uniform rendering” (iii. 2). “Desirable”! Yes, but in what sense? It is much to be desired, no doubt, that the English language always contained the exact counterparts of Greek words: and of course, if it did, it would be in the highest degree “desirable” that a Translator should always employ those words and no other. But then it happens unfortunately that precisely equivalent words do not exist. Τέκνον, nine times out of ten signifies nothing else but “child.” On the tenth occasion, however, (e.g. where Abraham is addressing the rich man in Hades,) it would be absurd so to render it. We translate “Son.” We are in fact without choice.—Take another ordinary Greek term, σπλάγχνα, which occurs 11 times in the N. T., and which the A. V. uniformly renders “bowels.” Well, and “bowels” confessedly σπλάγχνα are. Yet have our Revisionists felt themselves under the “necessity” of rendering the word “heart,” in Col. iii. 12,—“very heart,” in Philemon, ver. 12,—“affections” in 2 Cor. vi. 12,—“inward affection,” in vii. 15,—“tender mercies” in Phil. i. 8,—“compassion” in 1 Jo. iii. 17,—“bowels” only in Acts i. 18.—These learned men, however, put forward in illustration of their own principle of translation, the word εὐθέως,—which occurs about 80 times in the N. T.: nearly half the instances being found in S. Mark's Gospel. We accept their challenge; and assert that it is tasteless barbarism to seek to impose upon εὐθέως,—no matter what the context in which it stands,—the sense of “straightway,”—only because εὐθύς, the adjective, generally (not always) means “straight.” Where a miracle of healing is described (as in S. Matth. viii. 3: xx. 34. S. Lu. v. 13), since the benefit was no doubt instantaneous, it is surely the mere instinct of “faithfulness” to translate εὐθέως “immediately.” So, in respect of the sudden act which saved Peter from sinking (S. Matth. xiv. 31); and that punctual cock-crow [pg 154] (xxvi. 74), which (S. Luke says) did not so much follow, as accompany his denial (xxii. 60). But surely not so, when the growth of a seed is the thing spoken of (Matth. xiii. 5)! Acts again, which must needs have occupied some little time in the doing, reasonably suggest some such rendering as “forthwith” or “straightway,”—(e.g. S. Matth. xiv. 22: xxi. 2: and S. John vi. 21): while, in 3 John ver. 14, the meaning (as the Revisionists confess) can only be “shortly.”... So plain a matter really ought not to require so many words. We repeat, that the Revisionists set out with a mistaken Principle. They clearly do not understand their Trade.

They invite our attention to their rendering of certain of the Greek Tenses, and of the definite Article. We regret to discover that, in both respects, their work is disfigured throughout by changes which convict a majority of their body alike of an imperfect acquaintance with the genius of the Greek language, and of scarcely a moderate appreciation of the idiomatic proprieties of their own. Such a charge must of necessity, when it has been substantiated, press heavily upon such a work as the present; for it is not as when a solitary error has been detected, which may be rectified. A vicious system of rendering Tenses, and representing the Greek Article, is sure to crop up in every part of the undertaking, and must occasionally be attended by consequences of a serious nature.

1. Now, that we may not be misunderstood, we admit at once that, in teaching boys how to turn Greek into English, we insist that every tense shall be marked by its own appropriate sign. There is no telling how helpful it will prove in the end, that every word shall at first have been rendered with painful accuracy. Let the Article be [mis-]represented—the Prepositions caricatured—the Particles magnified,—let [pg 155] the very order of the words at first, (however impossible,) be religiously retained. Merciless accuracy having been in this way acquired, a youth has to be untaught these servile habits. He has to be reminded of the requirements of the English idiom, and speedily becomes aware that the idiomatic rendering of a Greek author into English, is a higher achievement by far, than his former slavish endeavour always to render the same word and tense in the same slavish way.

2. But what supremely annoys us in the work just now under review is, that the schoolboy method of translation already noticed is therein exhibited in constant operation throughout. It becomes oppressive. We are never permitted to believe that we are in the company of Scholars who are altogether masters of their own language. Their solicitude ever seems to be twofold:—(1) To exhibit a singular indifference to the proprieties of English speech, while they maintain a servile adherence (etymological or idiomatic, as the case may be) to the Greek:—(2) Right or wrong, to part company from William Tyndale and the giants who gave us our “Authorized Version.”

Take a few illustrations of what precedes from the second chapter of S. Matthew's Gospel:—

(1.) Thus, in ver. 2, the correct English rendering “we have seen” is made to give place to the incorrect “we saw his star in the east.”—In ver. 9, the idiomatic “when they had heard the king, they departed,” is rejected for the unidiomatic “And they, having heard the king, went their way.”—In ver. 15, we are treated to “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt did I call my son.” And yet who sees not, that in both instances the old rendering is better? Important [pg 156] as it may be, in the lecture-room, to insist on what is implied by τὸ ῥηθὲν ὙΠῸ τοῦ κυρίου ΔΙᾺ τοῦ προφήτου, it is simply preposterous to come abroad with such refinements. It is to stultify oneself and to render one's author unintelligible. Moreover, the attempt to be so wondrous literal is safe to break down at the end of a few verses. Thus, if διά is “through” in verse 15,—why not in verse 17 and in verse 23?

(2.) Note how infelicitously, in S. Matth. ii. 1, “there came wise men from the east” is changed into “wise men from the east came.”—In ver. 4, the accurate, “And when [Herod] had gathered together” (συναγαγών) &c., is displaced for the inaccurate, “And gathering together” &c.—In ver. 6, we are presented with the unintelligible, “And thou Bethlehem, land of Judah:” while in ver. 7, “Then Herod privily called the wise men, and learned of them carefully,” is improperly put in the place of “Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently” (ἠκρίβωσε παρ᾽ αὐτῶν).—In ver. 11, the familiar “And when they were come into the house, they saw” &c., is needlessly changed into “They came into the house, and saw:” while “and when they had opened (ἀνοίξαντες) their treasures,” is also needlessly altered into “and opening their treasures.”—In ver. 12, the R. V. is careful to print “of God” in italics, where italics are not necessary: seeing that χρηματισθέντες implies “being warned of God” (as the translators of 1611 were well aware⁴⁹⁷): whereas in countless other places the same Revisionists reject the use of italics where italics are absolutely required.—Their “until I tell thee” (in ver. 13) is a most unworthy substitute for “until I bring thee word.”—And will they pretend that they have improved the rendering of the [pg 157] concluding words of the chapter? If Ναζωραῖος κληθήσεται does not mean “He shall be called a Nazarene,” what in the world does it mean? The ὅτι of quotation they elsewhere omit. Then why, here,—“That it might be fulfilled ... that”?—Surely, every one of these is an alteration made for alteration's sake, and in every instance for the worse.

We began by surveying the Greek of the first chapter of S. Matthew's Gospel. We have now surveyed the English of the second chapter. What does the Reader think of the result?

IV. Next, the Revisionists invite attention to certain points of detail: and first, to their rendering of the Tenses of the Verb. They begin with the Greek Aorist,—(in their account) “perhaps the most important” detail of all:—

“We have not attempted to violate the idiom of our language by forms of expression which it would not bear. But we have often ventured to represent the Greek aorist by the English preterite, even when the reader may find some passing difficulty in such a rendering, because we have felt convinced that the true meaning of the original was obscured by the presence of the familiar auxiliary. A remarkable illustration may be found in the seventeenth chapter of S. John's Gospel.”—Preface, iii. 2,—(latter part).

(a) We turn to the place indicated, and are constrained to assure these well-intentioned men, that the phenomenon we there witness is absolutely fatal to their pretensions as “Revisers” of our Authorized Version. Were it only “some passing difficulty” which their method occasions us, we might have hoped that time would enable us to overcome it. But since it is the genius of the English language to which we find they have offered violence; the fixed and universally-understood idiom of our native tongue which they have systematically set at defiance; the matter is absolutely without remedy. The difference between the A. V. and the R. V. seems to ourselves to be simply this,—that [pg 158] the renderings in the former are the idiomatic English representations of certain well-understood Greek tenses: while the proposed substitutes are nothing else but the pedantic efforts of mere grammarians to reproduce in another language idioms which it abhors. But the Reader shall judge for himself: for this at least is a point on which every educated Englishman is fully competent to pass sentence.

When our Divine Lord, at the close of His Ministry,—(He had in fact reached the very last night of His earthly life, and it wanted but a few hours of His Passion,)—when He, at such a moment, addressing the Eternal Father, says, ἐγώ σε ἐδόξασα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς; τὸ ἔργον ἐτελείωσα ... ἐφανέρωσά σου τὸ ὄνομα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, &c. [Jo. xvii. 4, 6], there can be no doubt whatever that, had He pronounced those words in English, He would have said (with our A. V.) “I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work:” “I have manifested Thy Name.” The pedantry which (on the plea that the Evangelist employs the aorist, not the perfect tense,) would twist all this into the indefinite past,—“I glorified” ... “I finished” ... “I manifested,”—we pronounce altogether insufferable. We absolutely refuse it a hearing. Presently (in ver. 14) He says,—“I have given them Thy word; and the world hath hated them.” And in ver. 25,—“O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee; but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me.” Who would consent to substitute for these expressions,—“the world hated them:” and “the world knew Thee not, but I knew Thee; and these knew that Thou didst send Me”?—Or turn to another Gospel. Which is better,—“Some one hath touched Me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me,” (S. Lu. viii. 46):—or,—“Some one did touch Me: for I perceived that power had gone forth from Me”?

[pg 159]

When the reference is to an act so extremely recent, who is not aware that the second of these renderings is abhorrent to the genius of the English language? As for ἔγνων, it is (like novi in Latin) present in sense though past in form,—here as in S. Lu. xvi. 3.—But turn to yet another Gospel. Which is better in S. Matth. xvi. 7:—“we took no bread,” or “It is because we have taken no bread”?—Again. When Simon Peter (in reply to the command that he should thrust out into deep water and let down his net for a draught,) is heard to exclaim,—“Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net” (Lu. v. 5),—who would tolerate the proposal to put in the place of it,—“Master, we toiled all night, and took nothing: but at Thy word,” &c. It is not too much to declare that the idiom of the English language refuses peremptorily to submit to such handling. Quite in vain is it to encounter us with reminder that κοπιάσαντες and ἐλάβομεν are aorists. The answer is,—We know it: but we deny that it follows that the words are to be rendered “we toiled all night, and took nothing.” There are laws of English Idiom as well as laws of Greek Grammar: and when these clash in what is meant to be a translation into English out of Greek, the latter must perforce give way to the former,—or we make ourselves ridiculous, and misrepresent what we propose to translate.

All this is so undeniable that it ought not to require to be insisted upon. But in fact our Revisionists by their occasional practice show that they fully admit the Principle we are contending for. Thus, ἧραν (in S. Jo. xx. 2 and 13) is by them translated “they have taken:”—ἱνατί με ἐγκατέλιπες; (S. Matt. xxvii. 46) “Why hast Thou forsaken Me?”⁴⁹⁸:—ἔδειξα [pg 160] (S. Jo. x. 32) “have I showed:”—ἀπέστειλε (vi. 29) “He hath sent:”—ἠτιμάσατε (James ii. 6) “ye have dishonoured:”—ἐκαθάρισε (Acts x. 15) “hath cleansed:”—ἔστησεν (xvii. 31) “He hath appointed.” But indeed instances abound everywhere. In fact, the requirements of the case are often observed to force them to be idiomatic. Τί ἐποίησας; (in Jo. xviii. 35), they rightly render “What hast thou done?”:—and ἔγραψα (in 1 Jo. ii. 14, 21), “I have written;”—and ἤκουσα (in Acts ix. 13), “I have heard.”—On the other hand, by translating οὐκ εἴασεν (in Acts xxviii. 4), “hath not suffered,” they may be thought to have overshot the mark. They seem to have overlooked the fact that, when once S. Paul had been bitten by the viper, “the barbarians” looked upon him as a dead man; and therefore discoursed about what Justice “did not suffer,” as about an entirely past transaction.

But now, Who sees not that the admission, once and again deliberately made, that sometimes it is not only lawful, but even necessary, to accommodate the Greek aorist (when translated into English) with the sign of the perfect,—reduces the whole matter (of the signs of the tenses) to a mere question of Taste? In view of such instances as the foregoing, where severe logical necessity has compelled the Revisionists to abandon their position and fly, it is plain that their contention is at an end,—so far as right and wrong are concerned. They virtually admit that they have been all along unjustly forcing on an independent language an alien yoke.⁴⁹⁹ Henceforth, it simply becomes a question to be repeated, as every fresh emergency arises,—Which then is the more idiomatic of these two English renderings?... Conversely, twice at least (Heb. xi. 17 and 28), the Revisionists [pg 161] have represented the Greek perfect by the English indefinite preterite.

(b) Besides this offensive pedantry in respect of the Aorist, we are often annoyed by an unidiomatic rendering of the Imperfect. True enough it is that “the servants and the officers were standing ... and were warming themselves:” Peter also “was standing with them and was warming himself” (S. Jo. xviii. 18). But we do not so express ourselves in English, unless we are about to add something which shall account for our particularity and precision. Any one, for example, desirous of stating what had been for years his daily practice, would say—“I left my house.” Only when he wanted to explain that, on leaving it for the 1000th time, he met a friend coming up the steps to pay him a visit, would an Englishman think of saying, “I was leaving the house.” A Greek writer, on the other hand, would not trust this to the imperfect. He would use the present participle in the dative case, (“To me, leaving my house,”⁵⁰⁰ &c.). One is astonished to have to explain such things.... “If therefore thou art offering thy gift at the altar” (Matt. v. 23), may seem to some a clever translation. To ourselves, it reads like a senseless exaggeration of the original.⁵⁰¹ It sounds (and is) as unnatural as to say (in S. Lu. ii. 33) “And His father [a depravation of the text] and His mother were marvelling at the things which were spoken concerning Him:”—or (in Heb. xi. 17) “yea, he that had received the promises was offering up his only-begotten son:”—or, of the cripple at Lystra (Acts xiv. 9), “the same heard Paul speaking.”

(c) On the other hand, there are occasions confessedly when the Greek Aorist absolutely demands to be rendered [pg 162] into English by the sign of the Pluperfect. An instance meets us while we write: ὡς δὲ ἐπαύσατο λαλῶν (S. Lu. v. 4),—where our Revisionists are found to retain the idiomatic rendering of our Authorized Version,—“When He had left speaking.” Of what possible avail could it be, on such an occasion, to insist that, because ἐπαύσατο is not in the pluperfect tense, it may not be accommodated with the sign of the pluperfect when it is being translated into English?—The R. V. has shown less consideration in S. Jo. xviii. 24,—where “Now Annas had sent Him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest,” is right, and wanted no revision.—Such places as Matth. xxvii. 60, Jo. xxi. 15, Acts xii. 17, and Heb. iv. 8, on the other hand, simply defy the Revisionists. For perforce Joseph “had hewn out” (ἐλατόμησε) the new tomb which became our Lord's: and the seven Apostles, confessedly, “had dined” (ἠρίστησαν): and S. Peter, of course, “declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison” (ἐξήγαγεν): and it is impossible to substitute anything for “If Jesus [Joshua] had given them rest” (κατέπαυσεν).—Then of course there are occasions, (not a few,) where the Aorist (often an indefinite present in Greek) claims to be Englished by the sign of the present tense: as where S. John says (Rev. xix. 6), “The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth” (ἐβασίλευσε). There is no striving against such instances. They insist on being rendered according to the genius of the language into which it is proposed to render them:—as when ἔκειτο (in S. Jo. xx. 12) exacts for its rendering “had lain.”

(d) It shall only be pointed out here in addition, for the student's benefit, that there is one highly interesting place (viz. S. Matth. xxviii. 2), which in every age has misled Critics and Divines (as Origen and Eusebius); Poets (as Rogers); Painters (as West);—yes, and will continue to mislead readers for many a year to come:—and all because men [pg 163] have failed to perceive that the aorist is used there for the pluperfect. Translate,—“There had been a great earthquake:” [and so (1611-1881) our margin,—until in short “the Revisionists” interfered:] “for the Angel of the Lord had descended from heaven, and come and rolled away (ἀπεκύλισε) the stone from the door, and sat upon it.” Strange, that for 1800 years Commentators should have failed to perceive that the Evangelist is describing what terrified “the keepers.” “The women” saw no Angel sitting upon the stone!—though Origen,⁵⁰²—Dionysius of Alexandria,⁵⁰³—Eusebius,⁵⁰⁴—ps.-Gregory Naz.,⁵⁰⁵—Cyril Alex.,⁵⁰⁶—Hesychius,⁵⁰⁷—and so many others—have taken it for granted that they did.

(e) Then further, (to dismiss the subject and pass on,)—There are occasions where the Greek perfect exacts the sign of the present at the hands of the English translator: as when Martha says,—“Yea Lord, I believe that Thou art the Christ” (S. Jo. xi. 27).⁵⁰⁸ What else but the veriest pedantry is it to thrust in there “I have believed,” as the English equivalent for πεπίστευκα?—Just as intolerable is the officiousness which would thrust into the Lord's prayer (Matt. vi. 12), “as we also have forgiven (ἀφήκαμεν) our debtors.”⁵⁰⁹—On the other hand, there are Greek presents (whatever the Revisionists may think) which are just as peremptory in requiring the sign of the future, at the hands of the idiomatic translator into English. Three such cases are found in S. Jo. xvi. 16, 17, 19. Surely, the future is inherent in the present ἔρχομαι! In Jo. xiv. 18 (and many similar places), who can endure, “I will not leave you desolate: I come unto you”?

[pg 164]

(f) But instances abound. How does it happen that the inaccurate rendering of ἐκκόπτεται—ἐκβάλλεται—has been retained in S. Matth. iii. 10, S. Lu. iii. 9?

V. Next, concerning the definite Article; in the case of which, (say the Revisionists,)

“many changes have been made.” “We have been careful to observe the use of the Article wherever it seemed to be idiomatically possible: where it did not seem to be possible, we have yielded to necessity.”—(Preface, iii. 2,—ad fin.)

In reply, instead of offering counter-statements of our own we content ourselves with submitting a few specimens to the Reader's judgment; and invite him to decide between the Reviewer and the Reviewed ... “The sower went forth to sow” (Matth. xiii. 3).—“It is greater than the herbs” (ver. 32).—“Let him be to thee as the Gentile and the publican” (xviii. 17).—“The unclean spirit, when he is gone out of the man” (xii. 43).—“Did I not choose you the twelve?” (Jo. vi. 70).—“If I then, the Lord and the master” (xiii. 14).—“For the joy that a man is born into the world” (xvi. 21).—“But as touching Apollos the brother” (1 Cor. xvi. 12).—“The Bishop must be blameless ... able to exhort in the sound doctrine” (Titus i. 7, 9).—“The lust when it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin, when it is full grown” &c. (James i. 15).—“Doth the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet water and bitter?” (iii. 11).—“Speak thou the things which befit the sound doctrine” (Titus ii. 1).—“The time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine” (2 Tim. iv. 3).—“We had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us” (Heb. xii. 9).—“Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification” (ver. 14).—“Who is the liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?” (1 Jo. ii. 22).—“Not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood” (v. 6).—“He that hath the Son, hath the life: he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life” (ver. 12).

[pg 165]

To rejoin, as if it were a sufficient answer, that the definite Article is found in all these places in the original Greek,—is preposterous. In French also we say “Telle est la vie:” but, in translating from the French, we do not therefore say “Such is the life.” May we, without offence, suggest the study of Middleton On the Doctrine of the Greek Article to those members of the Revisionists' body who have favoured us with the foregoing crop of mistaken renderings?

So, in respect of the indefinite article, we are presented with,—“An eternal” (for “the everlasting”) “gospel to proclaim” (Rev. xiv. 6):—and “one like unto a son of man,” for “one like unto the Son of Man” in ver. 14.—Why “a Saviour” in Phil. iii. 20? There is but one! (Acts iv. 12).—On the other hand, Κρανίον is rendered “The skull” in S. Lu. xxiii. 33. It is hard to see why.—These instances taken at random must suffice. They might be multiplied to any extent. If the Reader considers that the idiomatic use of the English Article is understood by the authors of these specimen cases, we shall be surprised, and sorry—for him.

VI. The Revisionists announce that they “have been particularly careful” as to the Pronouns [iii. 2 ad fin.] We recal with regret that this is also a particular wherein we have been specially annoyed and offended. Annoyed—at their practice of repeating the nominative (e.g. in Mk. i. 13: Jo. xx. 12) to an extent unknown, abhorrent even, to our language, except indeed when a fresh substantive statement is made: offended—at their license of translation, when it suits them to be licentious.—Thus, (as the Bp. of S. Andrews has well pointed out,) “it is He that” is an incorrect translation of αὐτός in S. Matth. i. 21,—a famous passage. Even worse, because it is unfair, is “He who” as the rendering of ὅς in 1 Tim. iii. 16,—another famous passage, which we have discussed elsewhere.⁵¹⁰

[pg 166]

VII. 'In the case of the Particles' (say the Revisionists),

“we have been able to maintain a reasonable amount of consistency. The Particles in the Greek Testament are, as is well known, comparatively few, and they are commonly used with precision. It has therefore been the more necessary here to preserve a general uniformity of rendering.”—(iii. 2 ad fin.)

Such an announcement, we submit, is calculated to occasion nothing so much as uneasiness and astonishment. Of all the parts of speech, the Greek Particles,—(especially throughout the period when the Language was in its decadence,)—are the least capable of being drilled into “a general uniformity of rendering;” and he who tries the experiment ought to be the first to be aware of the fact. The refinement and delicacy which they impart to a narrative or a sentiment, are not to be told. But then, from the very nature of the case, “uniformity of rendering” is precisely the thing they will not submit to. They take their colour from their context: often mean two quite different things in the course of two successive verses: sometimes are best rendered by a long and formidable word;⁵¹¹ sometimes cannot (without a certain amount of impropriety or inconvenience) be rendered at all.⁵¹² Let us illustrate what we have been saying by actual appeals to Scripture.

(1) And first, we will derive our proofs from the use which the sacred Writers make of the particle of most [pg 167] frequent recurrence—δέ. It is said to be employed in the N. T. 3115 times. As for its meaning, we have the unimpeachable authority of the Revisionists themselves for saying that it may be represented by any of the following words:—“but,”—“and,”⁵¹³—“yea,”⁵¹⁴—“what,”⁵¹⁵—“now,”⁵¹⁶—“and that”,⁵¹⁷—“howbeit,”⁵¹⁸—“even,”⁵¹⁹—“therefore,”⁵²⁰—“I say,”⁵²¹—“also,”⁵²²—“yet,”⁵²³—“for.”⁵²⁴ To which 12 renderings, King James's translators (mostly following Tyndale) are observed to add at least these other 12:—“wherefore,”⁵²⁵—“so,”⁵²⁶—“moreover,”⁵²⁷—“yea and,”⁵²⁸—“furthermore,”⁵²⁹—“nevertheless,”⁵³⁰—“notwithstanding,”⁵³¹—“yet but,”⁵³²—“truly,”⁵³³—“or,”⁵³⁴—“as for,”⁵³⁵—“then,”⁵³⁶—“and yet.”⁵³⁷ It shall suffice to add that, by the pitiful substitution of “but” or “and” on most of the foregoing occasions, the freshness and freedom of almost every passage has been made to disappear: the plain fact being that the men of 1611—above all, that William Tyndale 77 years before them—produced a work of real genius; seizing with generous warmth the meaning and intention of the sacred Writers, and perpetually varying the phrase, as they felt, or fancied that Evangelists and Apostles would have varied it, had they had to express themselves in English: whereas the men of 1881 have fulfilled their task in what can only be described as a spirit of servile pedantry. The Grammarian (pure and simple) crops up everywhere. We seem never to rise above the atmosphere of the lecture-room,—the startling fact that μέν means “indeed,” and δέ “but.”

[pg 168]

We subjoin a single specimen of the countless changes introduced in the rendering of Particles, and then hasten on. In 1 Cor. xii. 20, for three centuries and a half, Englishmen have been contented to read (with William Tyndale), “But now are they many members, yet but one body.” Our Revisionists, (overcome by the knowledge that δέ means “but,” and yielding to the supposed “necessity for preserving a general uniformity of rendering,”) substitute,—“But now they are many members, but one body.” Comment ought to be superfluous. We neither overlook the fact that δέ occurs here twice, nor deny that it is fairly represented by “but” in the first instance. We assert nevertheless that, on the second occasion, “yet but” ought to have been let alone. And this is a fair sample of the changes which have been effected many times in every page. To proceed however.

(2) The interrogative particle ἤ occurs at the beginning of a sentence at least 8 or 10 times in the N. T.; first, in S. Matth. vii. 9. It is often scarcely translateable,—being apparently invested with with no more emphasis than belongs to our colloquial interrogative “Eh?” But sometimes it would evidently bear to be represented by “Pray,”⁵³⁸—being at least equivalent to φέρε in Greek or age in Latin. Once only (viz. in 1 Cor. xiv. 36) does this interrogative particle so eloquently plead for recognition in the text, that both our A. V. and the R. V. have rendered it “What?”—by which word, by the way, it might very fairly have been represented in S. Matth. xxvi. 53 and Rom. vi. 3: vii. 1. In five of the places where the particle occurs. King James's Translators are observed to have give it up in despair.⁵³⁹ But what is to be thought of the adventurous dulness which (with the single exception already indicated) has invariably rendered ἤ by [pg 169] the conjunction “or”? The blunder is the more inexcusable, because the intrusion of such an irrelevant conjunction into places where it is without either use or meaning cannot have failed to attract the notice of every member of the Revising body.

(3) At the risk of being wearisome, we must add a few words.—Καί, though no particle but a conjunction, may for our present purpose be reasonably spoken of under the same head; being diversely rendered “and,”—“and yet,”⁵⁴⁰—“then,”⁵⁴¹—“or,”⁵⁴²—“neither,”⁵⁴³—“though,”⁵⁴⁴—“so,”⁵⁴⁵—“but,”⁵⁴⁶—“for,”⁵⁴⁷—“that,”⁵⁴⁸—in conformity with what may be called the genius of the English language. The last six of these renderings, however, our Revisionists disallow; everywhere thrusting out the word which the argument seems rather to require, and with mechanical precision thrusting into its place every time the (perfectly safe, but often palpably inappropriate) word, “and.” With what amount of benefit this has been effected, one or two samples will sufficiently illustrate:—

(a) The Revisionists inform us that when “the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth,”—S. Paul exclaimed, “God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: and sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?”⁵⁴⁹... Do these learned men really imagine that they have improved upon the A. V. by their officiousness in altering “for” into “and”?

(b) The same Apostle, having ended his argument to the Hebrews, remarks,—“So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief” (Heb. iii. 19): for which, our Revisionists [pg 170] again substitute “And.” Begin the sentence with “and,” (instead of “So,”) and, in compensation for what you have clearly lost, what have you gained?... Once more:—

(c) Consider what S. Paul writes concerning Apollos (in 1 Cor. xvi. 12), and then say what possible advantage is obtained by writing “and” (instead of “but”) “his will was not at all to come at this time”.... Yet once more; and on this occasion, scholarship is to some extent involved:—

(d) When S. James (i. 11) says ἀνέτειλε γὰρ ὁ ἥλιος ... καὶ ἐξήρανε τὸν χόρτον,—who knows not that what his language strictly means in idiomatic English, is,—“No sooner does the sun arise,” “than it withereth the grass”? And so in effect our Translators of 1611. What possible improvement on this can it be to substitute, “For the sun ariseth ... and withereth the grass”?—Only once more:—

(e) Though καί undeniably means “and,” and πῶς, “how,”—who knows not that καὶ πῶς means “How then?” And yet, (as if a stupid little boy had been at work,) in two places,—(namely, in S. Mark iv. 13 and S. Luke xx. 44,)—“and how” is found mercilessly thrust in, to the great detriment of the discourse; while in other two,—(namely, in S. John xiv. 5 and 9,)—the text itself has been mercilessly deprived of its characteristic καί by the Revisionists.—Let this suffice. One might fill many quires of paper with such instances of tasteless, senseless, vexatious, and most unscholarlike innovation.

VIII. “Many changes” (we are informed) “have been introduced in the rendering of the Prepositions.” [Preface, iii. 2, ad fin.]:—and we are speedily reminded of the truth of the statement, for (as was shown above [pp. 155-6]) the second chapter of S. Matthew's Gospel exhibits the Revisionists “all a-field” in respect of διά. “We have rarely made any change” (they add) “where the true meaning of the original would be apparent to a Reader of ordinary intelligence.” It [pg 171] would of course ill become such an one as the present Reviewer to lay claim to the foregoing flattering designation: but really, when he now for the first time reads (in Acts ix. 25) that the disciples of Damascus let S. Paul down “through the wall,” he must be pardoned for regretting the absence of a marginal reference to the history of Pyramus and Thisbe in order to suggest how the operation was effected: for, as it stands, the R. V. is to him simply unintelligible. Inasmuch as the basket (σπυρίς) in which the Apostle effected his escape was of considerable size, do but think what an extravagantly large hole it must have been to enable them both to get through!... But let us look further.

Was it then in order to bring Scripture within the captus of “a Reader of ordinary intelligence” that the Revisers have introduced no less than thirty changes into eight-and-thirty words of S. Peter's 2nd Epistle? Particular attention is invited to the following interesting specimen of “Revision.” It is the only one we shall offer of the many contrasts we had marked for insertion. We venture also to enquire, whether the Revisers will consent to abide by it as a specimen of their skill in dealing with the Preposition ἐν?

A. V. | R. V.

“And beside all this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.”—[2 Pet. i. 5-7.]
“Yea (1), and for (2) this very (3) cause (4) adding (5) on (6) your part (7) all diligence, in (8) your faith supply (9) virtue; and in (10) your (11) virtue knowledge; and in (12) your (13) knowledge temperance; and in (14) your (15) temperance patience; and in (16) your (17) patience godliness; and in (18) your (19) godliness love (20) of (21) the (22) brethren (23); and in (24) your (25) love (26) of (27) the (28) brethren (29) love (30).”

[pg 172]

The foregoing strikes us as a singular illustration of the Revisionists' statement (Preface, iii. 2),—“We made no change if the meaning was fairly expressed by the word or phrase that was before us in the Authorized Version.” To ourselves it appears that every one of those 30 changes is a change for the worse; and that one of the most exquisite passages in the N. T. has been hopelessly spoiled,—rendered in fact well-nigh unintelligible,—by the pedantic officiousness of the Revisers. Were they—(if the question be allowable)—bent on removing none but “plain and clear errors,” when they substituted those 30 words? Was it in token of their stern resolve “to introduce into the Text as few alterations as possible,” that they spared the eight words which remain out of the eight-and-thirty?

As for their wooden rendering of ἐν, it ought to suffice to refer them to S. Mk. i. 23, S. Lu. xiv. 31, to prove that sometimes ἐν can only be rendered “with”:—and to S. Luke vii. 17, to show them that ἐν sometimes means “throughout”:—and to Col. i. 16, and Heb. i. 1, 2, in proof that sometimes it means “by.”—On the other hand, their suggestion that ἐν may be rendered “by” in S. Luke i. 51, convicts them of not being aware that “the proud-in-the-imagination-of-their-hearts” is a phrase—in which perforce “by” has no business whatever. One is surprised to have to teach professed Critics and Scholars an elementary fact like this.

In brief, these learned men are respectfully assured that there is not one of the “Parts of Speech” which will consent to be handled after the inhumane fashion which seems to be to themselves congenial. Whatever they may think of the matter, it is nothing else but absurd to speak of an Angel “casting his sickle into the earth” (Rev. xiv. 19).—As for his “pouring out his bowl upon the air” (xvi. 17),—we really fail to understand the nature of the operation.—And pray, [pg 173] What is supposed to be the meaning of “the things upon the heavens”—in Ephesians i. 10?

Returning to the preposition διά followed by the genitive,—(in respect of which the Revisionists challenge Criticism by complaining in their Preface [iii. 3 ad fin.] that in the A. V. “ideas of instrumentality or of mediate agency, distinctly marked in the original, have been confused or obscured in the Translation,”)—we have to point out:—

(1st) That these distinguished individuals seem not to be aware that the proprieties of English speech forbid the use of “through” (as a substitute for “by”) in certain expressions where instrumentality is concerned. Thus, “the Son of man” was not betrayed “through” Judas, but “by” him (Matt. xxvi. 24: Luke xxii. 22).—Still less is it allowable to say that a prophecy was “spoken,” nay “written,” “through the Prophet” (Matth. i. 22 and margin of ii. 5). “Who spake by the Prophets,” is even an article of the Faith.

And (2ndly),—That these scholars have in consequence adopted a see-saw method of rendering διά,—sometimes in one way, sometimes in the other. First, they give us “wonders and signs done by the Apostles” (Acts ii. 43; but in the margin, “Or, through”): presently, “a notable miracle hath been wrought through them” (iv. 16: and this time, the margin withholds the alternative, “Or, by”). Is then “the true meaning” of “by,” in the former place, “apparent to a Reader of ordinary intelligence”? but so obscure in the latter as to render necessary the alteration to “through”? Or (sit venia verbo),—Was it a mere “toss-up” with the Revisionists what is the proper rendering of διά?

(3rdly), In an earlier place (ii. 22), we read of “miracles, wonders, and signs” which “God did by” Jesus of Nazareth. Was it reverence, which, on that occasion, forbad the use of [pg 174] “through”—even in the margin? We hope so: but the preposition is still the same—διά not ὑπό.

Lastly (4thly),—The doctrine that Creation is the work of the Divine Word, all Scripture attests. “All things were made by Him” (S. Jo. i. 3):—“the world was made by Him” (ver. 10).—Why then, in Col. i. 16, where the same statement is repeated,—(“all things were created by Him and for Him,”)—do we find “through” substituted for “by”? And why is the same offence repeated in 1 Cor. vii. 6,—(where we ought to read,—“one God, the Father, of whom are all things ... and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things”)?—Why, especially, in Heb. i. 2, in place of “by whom also [viz. by the Son] He made the worlds,” do we find substituted “through whom”?... And why add to this glaring inconsistency the wretched vacillation of giving us the choice of “through” (in place of “by”) in the margin of S. John i. 3 and 10, and not even offering us the alternative of “by” (in place of “through”) in any of the other places,—although the preposition is διά on every occasion?

And thus much for the Revisers' handling of the Prepositions. We shall have said all that we can find room for, when we have further directed attention to the uncritical and unscholarlike Note with which they have disfigured the margin of S. Mark i. 9. We are there informed that, according to the Greek, our Saviour “was baptized into the Jordan,”—an unintelligible statement to English readers, as well as a misleading one. Especially on their guard should the Revisers have been hereabouts,—seeing that, in a place of vital importance on the opposite side of the open page (viz. in S. Matth. xxviii. 19), they had already substituted “into” for “in.” This latter alteration, one of the Revisers (Dr. Vance Smith) rejoices over, because it obliterates (in his account) the evidence for Trinitarian doctrine. That the [pg 175] Revisionists, as a body, intended nothing less,—who can doubt? But then, if they really deemed it necessary to append a note to S. Mark i. 9 in order to explain to the public that the preposition εἰς signifies “into” rather than “in,”—why did they not at least go on to record the elementary fact that εἰς has here (what grammarians call) a “pregnant signification”? that it implies—(every schoolboy knows it!)—and that it is used in order to imply—that the Holy One “went down into,” and so, “was baptized in the Jordan”?⁵⁵⁰... But why, in the name of common sense, did not the Revisionists let the Preposition alone?

IX. The Margin of the Revision is the last point to which our attention is invited, and in the following terms:—

“The subject of the Marginal Notes deserves special attention. They represent the results of a large amount of careful and elaborate discussion, and will, perhaps, by their very presence, indicate to some extent the intricacy of many of the questions that have almost daily come before us for decision. These Notes fall into four main groups:—First, Notes specifying such differences of reading as were judged to be of sufficient importance to require a particular notice;—Secondly, Notes indicating the exact rendering of words to which, for the sake of English idiom, we were obliged to give a less exact rendering in the text;—Thirdly, Notes, very few in number, affording some explanation which the original appeared to require;—Fourthly, Alternative Renderings in difficult or debateable passages. The Notes of this last group are numerous, and largely in excess of those which were admitted by our predecessors. In the 270 years that have passed away since their labours were concluded, the Sacred Text has been minutely examined, discussed in every detail, and analysed with a grammatical precision unknown in the days of the last Revision. There has thus been accumulated [pg 176] a large amount of materials that have prepared the way for different renderings, which necessarily came under discussion.”—(Preface, iii. 4.)

When a body of distinguished Scholars bespeak attention to a certain part of their work in such terms as these, it is painful for a Critic to be obliged to declare that he has surveyed this department of their undertaking with even less satisfaction than any other. So long, however, as he assigns the grounds of his dissatisfaction, the Reviewed cannot complain. The Reviewer puts himself into their power. If he is mistaken in his censure, his credit is gone. Let us take the groups in order:—

(1) Having already stated our objections against the many Notes which specify Textual errors which the Revisionists declined to adopt,—we shall here furnish only two instances of the mischief we deplore:—

(a) Against the words, “And while they abode in Galilee” (S. Matthew xvii. 22), we find it stated,—“Some ancient authorities read were gathering themselves together.” The plain English of which queer piece of information is that א and b exhibit in this place an impossible and untranslatable Reading,—the substitution of which for ἀναστρεφομένων δὲ ἀυτῶν can only have proceeded from some Western critic, who was sufficiently unacquainted with the Greek language to suppose that ΣΥΝ-στρεφομένων δὲ αὐτῶν, might possibly be the exact equivalent for Con-versantibus autem illis. This is not the place for discussing a kind of hallucination which prevailed largely in the earliest age, especially in regions where Greek was habitually read through Latin spectacles. (Thus it was, obviously, that the preposterous substitution of Euraquilo for “Euroclydon,” in Acts xxvii. 14, took its rise.) Such blunders would be laughable if encountered anywhere except on holy ground. Apart, however, from the lamentable lack [pg 177] of critical judgment which a marginal note like the present displays, what is to be thought of the scholarship which elicits “While they were gathering themselves together” out of συστρεφομένων δὲ αὐτῶν? Are we to suppose that the clue to the Revisers' rendering is to be found in (συστρέψαντος) Acts xxviii. 3? We should be sorry to think it. They are assured that the source of the Textual blunder which they mistranslate is to be found, instead, in Baruch iii. 38.551

(b) For what conceivable reason is the world now informed that, instead of Melita,—“some ancient authorities read Melitene,” in Acts xxviii. 1? Is every pitiful blunder of cod. b to live on in the margin of every Englishman's copy of the New Testament, for ever? Why, all other MSS.—the Syriac and the Latin versions,—Pamphilus of Cæsarea⁵⁵² (a.d. 294), the friend of Eusebius,—Cyril of Jerusalem,⁵⁵³—Chrysostom,⁵⁵⁴—John Damascene,⁵⁵⁵—all the Fathers in short who quote the place;—the coins, the ancient geographers;—all read Μελίτη; which has also been acquiesced in by every critical Editor of the N. T.—(excepting always Drs. Westcott and Hort), from the invention of Printing till now. But because these two misguided men, without apology, explanation, note or comment of any kind, have adopted “Melitene” into their text, is the Church of England to be dragged through the mire also, and made ridiculous in the eyes of Christendom? This blunder moreover is “gross as a mountain, open, palpable.” One glance at the place, written in uncials, explains how it arose:—ΜελιτηΗΝΗσοσκαλειται. Some stupid scribe (as the reader sees) has connected the first syllable of νῆσος with the last syllable of Μελίτη.⁵⁵⁶ That [pg 178] is all! The blunder—(for a blunder it most certainly is)—belongs to the age and country in which “Melitene” was by far the more familiar word, being the name of the metropolitan see of Armenia;⁵⁵⁷ mention of which crops up in the Concilia repeatedly.⁵⁵⁸

(2) and (4) The second and the fourth group may be considered together. The former comprises those words of which the less exact rendering finds place in the Text:—the latter, “Alternative renderings in difficult and debateable passages.”

We presume that here our attention is specially invited to such notes as the following. Against 1 Cor. xv. 34,—“Awake out of drunkenness righteously”:—against S. John i. 14,—“an only begotten from a father”:—against 1 Pet. iii. 20,—“into which few, that is, eight souls, were brought safely through water”:—against 2 Pet. iii. 7,—“stored with fire”:—against S. John xviii. 37,—“Thou sayest it, because I am a king”:—against Ephes. iii. 21,—“All the generations of the age of the ages”:—against Jude ver. 14,—“His holy myriads”:—against Heb. xii. 18,—“a palpable and kindled fire”:—against Lu. xv. 31,—“Child, thou art ever with me”:—against Matth. xxi. 28,—“Child, go work to-day in my vineyard”:—against xxiv. 3,—“What shall be the sign of Thy presence, and of the consummation of the age?”—against Tit. i. 2,—“before times eternal”: against Mk. iv. 29,—“When the fruit alloweth [and why not ‘yieldeth itself’?], straightway he sendeth forth the sickle”:—against Ephes. iv. 17,—“through every joint of the supply”:—against ver. 29,—“the building up of the need”:—against Lu. ii. 29,—“Master, now lettest thou Thy bondservant depart in peace”:—against Acts iv. 24,—“O Master, thou that didst make the heaven and the earth”:—against [pg 179] Lu. i. 78,—“Because of the heart of mercy of our God.” Concerning all such renderings we will but say, that although they are unquestionably better in the Margin than in the Text; it also admits no manner of doubt that they would have been best of all in neither. Were the Revisionists serious when they suggested as the more “exact” rendering of 2 Pet. i. 20,—“No prophecy of Scripture is of special interpretation”? And what did they mean (1 Pet. ii. 2) by “the spiritual milk which is without guile”?

Not a few marginal glosses might have been dispensed with. Thus, against διδάσκαλος, upwards of 50 times stands the Annotation, “Or, teacher.”—Ἄρτος, (another word of perpetual recurrence,) is every time explained to mean “a loaf.” But is this reasonable? seeing that φαγεῖν ἄρτον (Luke xiv. 1) can mean nothing else but “to eat bread”: not to mention the petition for “daily bread” in the Lord's prayer. These learned men, however, do not spare us even when mention is made of “taking the children's bread and casting it to the dogs” (Mk. vii. 27): while in the enquiry,—“If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father” (Lu. xi. 11), “loaf” is actually thrust into the text.—We cannot understand why such marked favour has been shown to similar easy words. Δοῦλος, occurring upwards of 100 times in the New Testament, is invariably honoured (sometimes [as in Jo. xv. 15] twice in the course of the same verse) with 2 lines to itself, to explain that in Greek it is “bondservant.”—About 60 times, δαιμόνιον is explained in the margin to be “demon” in the Greek.—It has been deemed necessary 15 times to devote three lines to explain the value of “a penny.”—Whenever τέκνον is rendered “Son,” we are molested with a marginal annotation, to the effect that the Greek word means “child.” Had the Revisionists been consistent, the margins would not nearly have sufficed for the many interesting details of this [pg 180] nature with which their knowledge of Greek would have furnished them.

May we be allowed to suggest, that it would have been better worth while to explain to the unlearned that ἀρχαι in S. Peter's vision (Acts x. 11; xi. 5) in strictness means not “corners,” but “beginnings” [cf. Gen. ii. 10]:—that τὴν πρώτην (in Lu. xv. 22) is literally “the first” [cf. Gen. iii. 7] (not “the best”) “robe”:—that ἀληθινός (e.g. in Lu. xvi. 11: Jo. i. 9: vi. 32; and especially in xv. 1 and Heb. viii. 2 and ix. 24) means “very” or “real,” rather than “true”?—And when two different words are employed in Greek (as in S. Jo. xxi. 15, 16, 17:—S. Mk. vii. 33, 35, &c. &c.), would it not have been as well to try to represent them in English? For want of such assistance, no unlearned reader of S. Matth. iv. 18, 20, 21: S. Mk. i. 16, 18, 19: S. Lu. v. 2,—will ever be able to understand the precise circumstances under which the first four Apostles left their “nets.”

(3) The third group consists of Explanatory Notes required by the obscurity of the original. Such must be the annotation against S. Luke i. 15 (explanatory of “strong drink”),—“Gr. sikera.” And yet, the word (σίκερα) happens to be not Greek, but Hebrew.—On the other hand, such must be the annotation against μωρέ, in S. Matth. v. 22:—“Or, Moreh, a Hebrew expression of condemnation;” which statement is incorrect. The word proves to be not Hebrew, but Greek.—And this, against “Maran atha” in 1 Cor. xvi. 22,—“That is, Our Lord cometh:” which also proves to be a mistake. The phrase means “Our Lord is come,”—which represents a widely different notion.⁵⁵⁹—Surely a room-full of learned men, volunteering to put the N. T. to-rights, ought to have made more [pg 181] sure of their elementary facts before they ventured to compromise the Church of England after this fashion!—Against “the husks which the swine did eat” (Lu. xv. 16), we find, “Gr. the pods of the carob tree,”—which is really not true. The Greek word is κεράτια,—which only signifies “the pods of the carob tree,” as “French beans” signifies “the pods of the Phaseolus vulgaris.”—By the way, it is quite certain that μύλος ὀνικός [in Matth. xviii. 6 and Lu. xvii. 2 (not Mk. xi. 42)] signifies “a mill-stone turned by an ass”? Hilary certainly thought so: but is that thing at all likely? What if it should appear that μύλος ὀνικός merely denotes the upper mill-stone (λίθος μυλικός, as S. Mark calls it,—the stone that grinds), and which we know was called ὄνος by the ancients?⁵⁶⁰—Why is “the brook Cedron” (Jo. xviii. 1) first spelt “Kidron,” and then explained to mean “ravine of the cedars”? which “Kidron” no more means that “Kishon” means “of the ivies,”—(though the Septuagintal usage [Judges iv. 13: Ps. lxxxiii. 9] shows that τῶν κισσῶν was in its common Hellenistic designation). As for calling the Kidron “a ravine,” you might as well call “Mercury” in “Tom quad” “a lake.” “Infelictious” is the mildest epithet we can bestow upon marginal annotations crude, questionable,—even inaccurate as these.

Then further, “Simon, the son of Jona” (in S. John i. 42 and xxi. 15), is for the first time introduced to our notice by the Revisionists as “the son of John:” with an officious marginal annotation that in Greek the name is written “Ioanes.” But is it fair in the Revisers (we modestly ask) to thrust in this way the bêtises of their favourite codex b upon us? In no codex in the world except the Vatican codex b, is “Ioannes” spelt “Ioanes” in this place. Besides, the name of Simon Peter's father was not “John” at all, but “Jona,”—as appears from S. Matth. xvi. 17, and the present [pg 182] two places in S. John's Gospel; where the evidence against “Ioannes” is overwhelming. This is in fact the handy-work of Dr. Hort. But surely the office of marginal notes ought to be to assist, not to mislead plain readers: honestly, to state facts,—not, by a side-wind, to commit the Church of England to a new (and absurd) Textual theory! The actual Truth, we insist, should be stated in the margin, whenever unnecessary information is gratuitously thrust upon unlearned and unsuspicious readers.... Thus, we avow that we are offended at reading (against S. John i. 18)—“Many very ancient authorities read ‘God only begotten’ ”: whereas the “authorities” alluded to read μονογενὴς Θεός,—(whether with or without the article [ὁ] prefixed,)—which (as the Revisionists are perfectly well aware) means “the only-begotten God,” and no other thing. Why then did they not say so? Because (we answer)—they were ashamed of the expression. But to proceed.—The information is volunteered (against Matth. xxvi. 36 and Mk. xiv. 32) that χωρίον means “an enclosed piece of ground,”—which is not true. The statement seems to have proceeded from the individual who translated ἄμφοδον (in Mk. xi. 4) the “open street:” whereas the word merely denotes the “highway,”—literally the “thoroughfare.”

A very little real familiarity with the Septuagint would have secured these Revisers against the perpetual exposure which they make of themselves in their marginal Notes.—(a) Πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας, for instance, is quite an ordinary expression for “always,” and therefore should not be exhibited (in the margin of S. Matth. xxviii. 20) as a curiosity,—“Gr. all the days.”—So (b) with respect to the word αἰών, which seems to have greatly exercised the Revisionists. What need, every time it occurs, to explain that εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων means literally “unto the ages of the ages”? Surely (as in Ps. xlv. 6, quoted Heb. i. 8,) the established rendering [pg 183] (“for ever and ever”) is plain enough and needs no gloss!—Again, (c) the numeral εἰς, representing the Hebrew substitute for the indefinite article, prevails throughout the Septuagint. Examples of its use occur in the N. T. in S. Matth. viii. 19 and ix. 18;-xxvi. 69 (μία παιδίσκη), Mk. xii. 42: and in Rev. viii. 13: ix. 13: xviii. 21 and xix. 17;—where “one scribe,” “one ruler,” “one widow,” “one eagle,” “one voice,” “one angel,” are really nothing else but mistranslations. True, that εἶς is found in the original Greek: but what then? Because “une” means “one,” will it be pretended that “Tu es une bête” would be properly rendered “Thou art one beast”?

(d) Far more serious is the substitution of “having a great priest over the house of God” (Heb. x. 21), for “having an high priest:” inasmuch as this obscures “the pointed reference to our Lord as the antitype of the Jewish high priest,”—who (except in Lev. iv. 3) is designated, not ἀρχιερεύς, but either ὁ ἱερεὺς ὁ μέγας, or else ὁ ἱερεύς only,—as in Acts v. 24⁵⁶¹.... And (e) why are we presented with “For no word from God shall be void of power” (in S. Luke i. 37)? Seeing that the Greek of that place has been fashioned on the Septuagintal rendering of Gen. xviii. 14 (“Is anything too hard for the Lord?”⁵⁶²), we venture to think that the A. V. (“for with God nothing shall be impossible”⁵⁶³) ought to have been let alone. It cannot be mended. One is surprised to discover that among so many respectable Divines there seems not to have been one sufficiently familiar with the Septuagint to preserve his brethren from perpetually falling into such mistakes as the foregoing. We really had no idea that the Hellenistic [pg 184] scholarship of those who represented the Church and the Sects in the Jerusalem Chamber, was so inconsiderable.

Two or three of the foregoing examples refer to matters of a recondite nature. Not so the majority of the Annotations which belong to this third group; which we have examined with real astonishment—and in fact have remarked upon already. Shall we be thought hard to please if we avow that we rather desiderate “Explanatory Notes” on matters which really do call for explanation? as, to be reminded of what kind was the “net” (ἀμφίβληστρον) mentioned in Matth. iv. 18 (not 20), and Mk. i. 16 (not 18):—to see it explained (against Matth. ii. 23) that netser (the root of “Nazareth”) denotes “Branch:”—and against Matth. iii. 5; Lu. iii. 3, that ἡ περίχωρος τοῦ Ἰορδάνου, signifies “the depressed valley of the Jordan,” as the usage of the LXX. proves.⁵⁶⁴ We should have been glad to see, against S. Lu. ix. 31,—“Gr. Exodus.”—At least in the margin, we might have been told that “Olivet” is the true rendering of Lu. xix. 29 and xxi. 37: (or were the Revisionists not aware of the fact? They are respectfully referred to the Bp. of Lincoln's note on the place last quoted.)—Nay, why not tell us (against Matth. i. 21) that “Jesus” means [not “Saviour,” but] “Jehovah is Salvation”?

But above all, surely so many learned men ought to have spared us the absurd Annotation set against “ointment of spikenard” (νάρδου πιστικῆς,) in S. Mark xiv. 3 and in S. John xii. 3. Their marginal Note is as follows:—

“Gr. pistic nard, pistic being perhaps a local name. Others take it to mean genuine; others liquid.”

Can Scholars require to be told that “liquid” is an impossible [pg 185] sense of πιστική in this place? The epithet so interpreted must be derived (like πιστός [Prom. V. v. 489]) from πίνω, and would mean drinkable: but since ointment cannot be drunk, it is certain that we must seek the etymology of the word elsewhere. And why should the weak ancient conjecture be retained that it is “perhaps a local name”? Do Divines require to have it explained to them that the one “locality” which effectually fixes the word's meaning, is its place in the everlasting Gospel?... Be silent on such lofty matters if you will, by all means; but “who are these that darken counsel by words without knowledge?” S. Mark and S. John (whose narratives by the way never touch exclusively except in this place⁵⁶⁵) are observed here to employ an ordinary word with lofty spiritual purpose. The pure faith (πίστις) in which that offering of the ointment was made, determines the choice of an unusual epithet (πιστικός) which shall signify “faithful” rather than “genuine,”—shall suggest a moral rather than a commercial quality: just as, presently, Mary's “breaking” the box (συντρίψασα) is designated by a word which has reference to a broken heart.⁵⁶⁶ She “contrited” it, S. Mark says; and S. John adds a statement which implies that the Church has been rendered fragrant by her act for ever.⁵⁶⁷ (We trust to be forgiven for having said a little more than the occasion absolutely requires.)

(5) Under which of the four previous “groups” certain Annotations which disfigure the margin of the first chapter of [pg 186] S. Matthew's Gospel, should fall,—we know not. Let them be briefly considered by themselves.

So dull of comprehension are we, that we fail to see on what principle it is stated that—“Ram,” “Asa,” “Amon,” “Shealtiel,” are in Greek (“Gr.”) “Aram,” “Asaph,” “Amos,” “Salathiel.” For (1),—Surely it was just as needful (or just as needless) to explain that “Perez,” “Zarah,” “Hezron,” “Nahson,” are in Greek “Phares,” “Zara,” “Esrom,” “Naasson.”—But (2), Through what “necessity” are the names, which we have been hitherto contented to read as the Evangelist wrote them, now exhibited on the first page of the Gospel in any other way?⁵⁶⁸—(3) Assuming, however, the O. T. spelling is to be adopted, then let us have it explained to us why “Jeconiah” in ver. 11 is not written “Jehoiakim”? (As for “Jeconiah” in ver. 12,—it was for the Revisionists to settle whether they would call him “Jehoiachin,” “Jeconiah,” or “Coniah.” [By the way,—Is it lawful to suppose that they did not know that “Jechonias” here represents two different persons?])—On the other hand, (4) “Amos” probably,—“Asaph” certainly,—are corrupt exhibitions of “Amon” and “Asa:” and, if noticed at all, should have been introduced to the reader's notice with the customary formula, “some ancient authorities,” &c.—To proceed—(5), Why substitute “Immanuel” (for “Emmanuel”) in ver. 23,—only to have to state in the margin that S. Matthew writes it “Emmanuel”? By strict parity of reasoning, against “Naphtali” (in ch. iv. 13, 15), the Revisionists ought to have written “Gr. Nephthaleim.”—And (6), If this is to be the rule, then why are we not told that [pg 187] “Mary is in ‘Gr. Mariam’ ”? and why is not Zacharias written “Zachariah”?... But (to conclude),—What is the object of all this officiousness? and (its unavoidable adjunct) all this inconsistency? Has the spelling of the 42 names been revolutionized, in order to sever with the Past and to make “a fresh departure”? Or were the four marginal notes added only for the sake of obtaining, by a side-wind, the (apparent) sanction of the Church to the preposterous notion that “Asa” was written “Asaph” by the Evangelist—in conformity with six MSS. of bad character, but in defiance of History, documentary Evidence, and internal Probability? Canon Cook [pp. 23-24] has some important remarks on this.

X. We must needs advert again to the ominous admission made in the Revisionists' Preface (iii. 2 init.), that to some extent they recognized the duty of a “rigid adherence to the rule of translating, as far as possible, the same Greek word by the same English word.” This mistaken principle of theirs lies at the root of so much of the mischief which has befallen the Authorized Version, that it calls for fuller consideration at our hands than it has hitherto (viz. at pp. 138 and 152) received.

The “Translators” of 1611, towards the close of their long and quaint Address “to the Reader,” offer the following statement concerning what had been their own practice:—“We have not tied ourselves” (say they) “to an uniformity of phrasing, or to an identity of words, as some peradventure would wish that we had done.” On this, they presently enlarge. We have been “especially careful,” have even “made a conscience,” “not to vary from the sense of that which we had translated before, if the word signified the same thing in both places.” But then, (as they shrewdly point out in passing,) “there be some words that be not of the [pg 188] same sense everywhere.” And had this been the sum of their avowal, no one with a spark of Taste, or with the least appreciation of what constitutes real Scholarship, would have been found to differ from them. Nay, even when they go on to explain that they have not thought it desirable to insist on invariably expressing “the same notion” by employing “the same particular word;”—(which they illustrate by instancing terms which, in their account, may with advantage be diversely rendered in different places;)—we are still disposed to avow ourselves of their mind. “If” (say they,) “we translate the Hebrew or Greek word once purpose, never to call it intent; if one where journeying, never travelling; if one where think, never suppose; if one where pain, never ache; if one where joy, never gladness;—thus to mince the matter, we thought to savour more of curiosity than of wisdom.” And yet it is plain that a different principle is here indicated from that which went before. The remark “that niceness in words was always counted the next step to trifling,” suggests that, in the Translators' opinion, it matters little which word, in the several pairs of words they instance, is employed; and that, for their own parts, they rather rejoice in the ease and freedom which an ample vocabulary supplies to a Translator of Holy Scripture. Here also however, as already hinted, we are disposed to go along with them. Rhythm, subtle associations of thought, proprieties of diction which are rather to be felt than analysed,—any of such causes may reasonably determine a Translator to reject “purpose,” “journey,” “think,” “pain,” “joy,”—in favour of “intent,” “travel,” “suppose,” “ache,” “gladness.”

But then it speedily becomes evident that, at the bottom of all this, there existed in the minds of the Revisionists of 1611 a profound (shall we not rather say a prophetic?) consciousness, that the fate of the English [pg 189] Language itself was bound up with the fate of their Translation. Hence their reluctance to incur the responsibility of tying themselves “to an uniformity of phrasing, or to an identity of words.” We should be liable to censure (such is their plain avowal), “if we should say, as it were, unto certain words, Stand up higher, have a place in the Bible always; and to others of like quality, Get you hence, be banished for ever.” But this, to say the least, is to introduce a distinct and a somewhat novel consideration. We would not be thought to deny that there is some—perhaps a great deal—of truth in it: but by this time we seem to have entirely shifted our ground. And we more than suspect that, if a jury of English scholars of the highest mark could be impanelled to declare their mind on the subject thus submitted to their judgment, there would be practical unanimity among them in declaring, that these learned men,—with whom all would avow hearty sympathy, and whose taste and skill all would eagerly acknowledge,—have occasionally pushed the license they enunciate so vigorously, a little—perhaps a great deal—too far. For ourselves, we are glad to be able to subscribe cordially to the sentiment on this head expressed by the author of the Preface of 1881:

“They seem”—(he says, speaking of the Revisionists of 1611)—“to have been guided by the feeling that their Version would secure for the words they used a lasting place in the language; and they express a fear lest they should ‘be charged (by scoffers) with some unequal dealing towards a great number of good English words,’ which, without this liberty on their part, would not have a place in the pages of the English Bible. Still it cannot be doubted that their studied avoidance of uniformity in the rendering of the same words, even when occurring in the same context, is one of the blemishes in their work.”—Preface, (i. 2).

Yes, it cannot be doubted. When S. Paul, in a long and familiar passage (2 Cor. i. 3-7), is observed studiously to [pg 190] linger over the same word (παράκλησις namely, which is generally rendered “comfort”);—to harp upon it;—to reproduce it ten times in the course of those five verses;—it seems unreasonable that a Translator, as if in defiance of the Apostle, should on four occasions (viz. when the word comes back for the 6th, 7th, 9th, and 10th times), for “comfort” substitute “consolation.” And this one example may serve as well as a hundred. It would really seem as if the Revisionists of 1611 had considered it a graceful achievement to vary the English phrase even on occasions where a marked identity of expression characterizes the original Greek. When we find them turning “goodly apparel,” (in S. James ii. 2,) into “gay clothing,” (in ver. 3,)—we can but conjecture that they conceived themselves at liberty to act exactly as S. James himself would (possibly) have acted had he been writing English.

But if the learned men who gave us our A. V. may be thought to have erred on the side of excess, there can be no doubt whatever, (at least among competent judges,) that our Revisionists have sinned far more grievously and with greater injury to the Deposit, by their slavish proclivity to the opposite form of error. We must needs speak out plainly: for the question before us is not, What defects are discoverable in our Authorized Version?—but, What amount of gain would be likely to accrue to the Church if the present Revision were accepted as a substitute? And we assert without hesitation, that the amount of certain loss would so largely outweigh the amount of possible gain, that the proposal may not be seriously entertained for a moment. As well on grounds of Scholarship and Taste, as of Textual Criticism (as explained at large in our former Article), the work before us is immensely inferior. To speak plainly, it is an utter failure.

[pg 191]

XI. For the respected Authors of it practically deny the truth of the principle enunciated by their predecessors of 1611, viz. that “there be some words that be not of the same sense everywhere.” On such a fundamental truism we are ashamed to enlarge: but it becomes necessary that we should do so. We proceed to illustrate, by two familiar instances,—the first which come to hand,—the mischievous result which is inevitable to an enforced uniformity of rendering.

(a) The verb αἰτεῖν confessedly means “to ask.” And perhaps no better general English equivalent could be suggested for it. But then, in a certain context, “ask” would be an inadequate rendering: in another, it would be improper: in a third, it would be simply intolerable. Of all this, the great Scholars of 1611 showed themselves profoundly conscious. Accordingly, when this same verb (in the middle voice) is employed to describe how the clamorous rabble, besieging Pilate, claimed their accustomed privilege, (viz. to have the prisoner of their choice released unto them,) those ancient men, with a fine instinct, retain Tyndale's rendering “desired”⁵⁶⁹ in S. Mark (xv. 8),—and his “required” in S. Luke (xxiii. 23).—When, however, the humble entreaty, which Joseph of Arimathea addressed to the same Pilate (viz. that he might be allowed to take away the Body of Jesus), is in question, then the same Scholars (following Tyndale and Cranmer), with the same propriety exhibit “begged.”—King David, inasmuch as he only “desired to find a habitation for the God of Jacob,” of course may not be said to have “asked” to do so; and yet S. Stephen (Acts vii. 46) does not hesitate to employ the verb ᾐτήσατο.—So again, when they of Tyre and Sidon approached Herod whom they had offended: they [pg 192] did but “desire” peace.⁵⁷⁰—S. Paul, in like manner, addressing the Ephesians: “I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you.”⁵⁷¹

But our Revisionists,—possessed with the single idea that αἰτεῖν means “to ask” and αἰτεῖσθαι “to ask for,”—have proceeded mechanically to inflict that rendering on every one of the foregoing passages. In defiance of propriety,—of reason,—even (in David's case) of historical truth,⁵⁷²—they have thrust in “asked” everywhere. At last, however, they are encountered by two places which absolutely refuse to submit to such iron bondage. The terror-stricken jailer of Philippi, when he “asked” for lights, must needs have done so after a truly imperious fashion. Accordingly, the “called for”⁵⁷³ of Tyndale and all subsequent translators, is pro hâc vice allowed by our Revisionists to stand. And to conclude,—When S. Paul, speaking of his supplications on behalf of the Christians at Colosse, uses this same verb (αἰτούμενοι) in a context where “to ask” would be intolerable, our Revisionists render the word “to make request;”⁵⁷⁴—though they might just as well have let alone the rendering of all their predecessors,—viz. “to desire.”

These are many words, but we know not how to make them fewer. Let this one example, (only because it is the first which presented itself,) stand for a thousand others. Apart from the grievous lack of Taste (not to say of Scholarship) which such a method betrays,—who sees not that the only excuse which could have been invented for it has [pg 193] disappeared by the time we reach the end of our investigation? If αἰτέω, αἰτοῦμαι had been invariably translated “ask,” “ask for,” it might at least have been pretended that “the English Reader is in this way put entirely on a level with the Greek Scholar;”—though it would have been a vain pretence, as all must admit who understand the power of language. Once make it apparent that just in a single place, perhaps in two, the Translator found himself forced to break through his rigid uniformity of rendering,—and what remains but an uneasy suspicion that then there must have been a strain put on the Evangelists' meaning in a vast proportion of the other seventy places where αἰτεῖν occurs? An unlearned reader's confidence in his guide vanishes; and he finds that he has had not a few deflections from the Authorized Version thrust upon him, of which he reasonably questions alike the taste and the necessity,—e.g. at S. Matth. xx. 20.

(b) But take a more interesting example. In S. Mark i. 18, the A. V. has, “and straightway they forsook” (which the Revisionists alter into “left”) “their nets.” Why? Because in verse 20, the same word ἀφέντες will recur; and because the Revisionists propose to let the statement (“they left their father Zebedee”) stand. They “level up” accordingly; and plume themselves on their consistency.

We venture to point out, however, that the verb ἀφιέναι is one of a large family of verbs which,—always retaining their own essential signification,—yet depend for their English rendering entirely on the context in which they occur. Thus, ἀφιέναι is rightly rendered “to suffer,” in S. Matth. iii. 15;—“to leave,” in iv. 11;—“to let have,” in v. 40;—“to forgive,” in vi. 12, 14, 15;—“to let,” in vii. 4;—“to yield up,” in xxvii. 50;—“to let go,” in S. Mark xi. 6;—“to let alone,” in xiv. 6. Here then, by the admission of the Revisionists, [pg 194] are eight diversities of meaning in the same word. But they make the admission grudgingly; and, in order to render ἀφιέναι as often as possible “leave,” they do violence to many a place of Scripture where some other word would have been more appropriate. Thus “laying aside” might have stood in S. Mark vii. 8. “Suffered” (or “let”) was preferable in S. Luke xii. 39. And, (to return to the place from which we started,) in S. Mark i. 18, “forsook” was better than “left.” And why? Because men “leave their father,” (as the Collect for S. James's Day bears witness); but “forsake all covetous desires” (as the Collect for S. Matthew's Day aptly attests). For which reason,—“And they all forsook Him” was infinitely preferable to “and they all left Him, and fled,” in S. Mark xiv. 50. We insist that a vast deal more is lost by this perpetual disregard of the idiomatic proprieties of the English language, than is gained by a pedantic striving after uniformity of rendering, only because the Greek word happens to be the same.

For it is sure sometimes to happen that what seems mere licentiousness proves on closer inspection to be unobtrusive Scholarship of the best kind. An illustration presents itself in connection with the word just now before us. It is found to have been our Saviour's practice to “send away” the multitude whom He had been feeding or teaching, in some formal manner,—whether with an act of solemn benediction, or words of commendatory prayer, or both. Accordingly, on the memorable occasion when, at the close of a long day of superhuman exertion, His bodily powers succumbed, and the Disciples were fain to take Him “as He was” in the ship, and at once He “fell asleep;”—on that solitary occasion, the Disciples are related to have “sent away the multitudes,”—i.e. to have formally dismissed them on His behalf, as they had often seen their Master do. The [pg 195] word employed to designate this practice on two memorable occasions is ἀπολύειν:575 on the other two, ἀφιέναι.⁵⁷⁶ This proves to have been perfectly well understood as well by the learned authors of the Latin Version of the N. T., as by the scholars who translated the Gospels into the vernacular of Palestine. It has been reserved for the boasted learning of the XIXth century to misunderstand this little circumstance entirely. The R. V. renders S. Matth. xiii. 36,—not “Then Jesus sent the multitude away” (“dimissis turbis” in every Latin copy,) but—“Then He left the multitudes.” Also S. Mark iv. 36,—not “And when they had sent away the multitude,” (which the Latin always renders “et dimittentes turbam,”) but—“And leaving the multitude.” Would it be altogether creditable, we respectfully ask, if at the end of 1800 years the Church of England were to put forth with authority such specimens of “Revision” as these?

(c) We will trouble our Readers with yet another illustration of the principle for which we are contending.—We are soon made conscious that there has been a fidgetty anxiety on the part of the Revisionists, everywhere to substitute “maid” for “damsel” as the rendering of παιδίσκη. It offends us. “A damsel named Rhoda,”⁵⁷⁷—and the “damsel possessed with a spirit of divination,”⁵⁷⁸—might (we think) have been let alone. But out of curiosity we look further, to see what these gentlemen will do when they come to S. Luke xii. 45. Here, because παῖδας has been (properly) rendered “menservants,” παιδίσκας, they (not unreasonably) render “maid-servants,”—whereby they break their rule. The crucial [pg 196] place is behind. What will they do with the Divine “Allegory” in Galatians, (iv. 21 to 31,)—where all turns on the contrast⁵⁷⁹ between the παιδίσκη and the ἐλευθέρα,—the fact that Hagar was a “bondmaid” whereas Sarah was a “free woman”? “Maid” clearly could not stand here. “Maid-servant” would be intolerable. What is to be done? The Revisionists adopt a third variety of reading,—thus surrendering their principle entirely. And what reader with a spark of taste, (we confidently ask the question,) does not resent their substitution of “handmaid” for “bondmaid” throughout these verses? Who will deny that the mention of “bondage” in verses 24 and 25 claims, at the hands of an intelligent English translator, that he shall avail himself of the admirable and helpful equivalent for παιδίσκη which, as it happens, the English language possesses? More than that. Who—(except one who is himself “in bondage—with his children”)—who does not respond gratefully to the exquisite taste and tact with which “bondmaid” itself has been exchanged for “bondwoman” by our translators of 1611, in verses 23, 30 and 31?... Verily, those men understood their craft! “There were giants in those days.” As little would they submit to be bound by the new cords of the Philistines as by their green withes. Upon occasion, they could shake themselves free from either. And why? For the selfsame reason: viz. because the Spirit of their God was mightily upon them.

Our contention, so far, has been but this,—that it does not by any means follow that identical Greek words and expressions, wherever occurring, are to be rendered by identical words and expressions in English. We desire to pass on to something of more importance.

[pg 197]

Let it not be supposed that we make light of the difficulties which our Revisionists have had to encounter; or are wanting in generous appreciation of the conscientious toil of many men for many years; or that we overlook the perils of the enterprise in which they have seen fit to adventure their reputation. If ever a severe expression escapes us, it is because our Revisionists themselves seem to have so very imperfectly realized the responsibility of their undertaking, and the peculiar difficulties by which it is unavoidably beset. The truth is,—as all who have given real thought to the subject must be aware,—the phenomena of Language are among the most subtle and delicate imaginable: the problem of Translation, one of the most manysided and difficult that can be named. And if this holds universally, in how much greater a degree when the book to be translated is the Bible! Here, anything like a mechanical levelling up of terms, every attempt to impose a pre-arranged system of uniform rendering on words,—every one of which has a history and (so to speak) a will of its own,—is inevitably destined to result in discomfiture and disappointment. But what makes this so very serious a matter is that, because Holy Scripture is the Book experimented upon, the loftiest interests that can be named become imperilled; and it will constantly happen that what is not perhaps in itself a very serious mistake may yet inflict irreparable injury. We subjoin an humble illustration of our meaning—the rather, because it will afford us an opportunity for penetrating a little deeper into the proprieties of Scriptural Translation:—

(d) The place of our Lord's Burial, which is mentioned upwards of 30 times in the Gospels, is styled in the original, μνημεῖον. This appellation is applied to it three times by S. Matthew;—six times by S. Mark;—eight times by [pg 198] S. Luke;⁵⁸⁰—eleven times by S. John. Only on four occasions, in close succession, does the first Evangelist call it by another name, viz. τάφος.⁵⁸¹ King James's translators (following Tyndale and Cranmer) decline to notice this diversity, and uniformly style it the “sepulchre.” So long as it belonged to Joseph of Arimathea, they call it a “tomb” (Matth. xxvii. 60): when once it has been appropriated by “the Lord of Glory,” in the same verse they give it a different English appellation. But our Revisionists of 1881, as if bent on “making a fresh departure,” everywhere substitute “tomb” for “sepulchre” as the rendering of μνημεῖον.

Does any one ask,—And why should they not? We answer, Because, in connection with “the Sepulchre” of our Lord, there has grown up such an ample literature and such a famous history, that we are no longer able to sever ourselves from those environments of the problem, even if we desired to do so. In all such cases as the present, we have to balance the Loss against the Gain. Quite idle is it for the pedant of 1881 to insist that τάφος and μνημεῖον are two different words. We do not dispute the fact. (Then, if he must, let him represent τάφος in some other way.) It remains true, notwithstanding, that the receptacle of our Saviour's Body after His dissolution will have to be spoken of as “the Holy Sepulchre” till the end of time; and it is altogether to be desired that its familiar designation should be suffered to survive unmolested on the eternal page, in consequence. There are, after all, mightier laws in the Universe than those of grammar. In the quaint language of our Translators of 1611: “For is the Kingdom of God become words or syllables? Why should we be in bondage to them [pg 199] if we may be free?”... As for considerations of etymological propriety, the nearest English equivalent for μνημεῖον (be it remembered) is not “tomb,” but “monument.”

(e) Our Revisionists seem not to be aware that 270 years of undisturbed possession have given to certain words rights to which they could not else have pretended, but of which it is impossible any more to dispossess them. It savours of folly as well as of pedantry even to make the attempt. Διδαχή occurs 30,—διδασκαλία 21 times,—in the N. T. Etymologically, both words alike mean “teaching;” and are therefore indifferently rendered “doctrina” in the Vulgate,⁵⁸²—for which reason, “doctrine” represents both words indifferently in our A. V.⁵⁸³ But the Revisers have well-nigh extirpated “doctrine” from the N. T.: (1st), By making “teaching,” the rendering of διδαχή,⁵⁸⁴—(reserving “doctrine” for διδασκαλία⁵⁸⁵): and (2ndly), By 6 times substituting “teaching” (once, “learning”) for “doctrine,” in places where διδασκαλία occurs.⁵⁸⁶ This is to be lamented every way. The word cannot be spared so often. The “teachings” of our Lord and of His Apostles were the “doctrines” of Christianity. When S. Paul speaks of “the doctrine of baptisms” (Heb. vi. 2), it is simply incomprehensible to us why “the teaching of baptisms” should be deemed a preferable expression. And if the warning against being “carried about with every wind of doctrine,” may stand in Ephes. iv. 14, why may it not be left standing in Heb. xiii. 9?

[pg 200]

(f) In the same spirit, we can but wonder at the extravagant bad taste which, at the end of 500 years, has ventured to substitute “bowls” for “vials” in the Book of Revelation.⁵⁸⁷ As a matter of fact, we venture to point out that φιάλη no more means “a bowl” than “saucer” means “a cup.” But, waiving this, we are confident that our Revisers would have shown more wisdom if they had let alone a word which, having no English equivalent, has passed into the sacred vocabulary of the language, and has acquired a conventional signification which will cleave to it for ever. “Vials of wrath” are understood to signify the outpouring of God's wrathful visitations on mankind: whereas “bowls” really conveys no meaning at all, except a mean and unworthy, not to say an inconveniently ambiguous one. What must be the impression made on persons of very humble station,—labouring-men,—when they hear of “the seven Angels that had the seven bowls”? (Rev. xvii. 1.) The φιάλη,—if we must needs talk like Antiquaries—is a circular, almost flat and very shallow vessel,—of which the contents can be discharged in an instant. It was used in pouring out libations. There is, at that back of it, in the centre, a hollow for the first joint of the forefinger to rest in. Patera the Latins called it. Specimens are to be seen in abundance.

The same Revisionists have also fallen foul of the “alabaster box of ointment.”—for which they have substituted “an alabaster cruse of ointment.”⁵⁸⁸ But what is a “cruse”? Their marginal note says, “Or, ‘a flask:’ ” but once more, what is “a flask”? Certainly, the receptacles to which that name is now commonly applied, (e.g. a powder-flask, a Florence flask, a flask of wine, &c.) bear no resemblance whatever to the vase called ἀλάβαστρον. The probability is [pg 201] that the receptacle for the precious ointment with which the sister of Lazarus provided herself, was likest of all to a small medicine-bottle (lecythus the ancients called it), made however of alabaster. Specimens of it abound. But why not let such words alone? The same Critics have had the good sense to leave standing “the bag,” for what was confessedly a box⁵⁸⁹ (S. John xii. 6: xiii. 29); and “your purses” for what in the Greek is unmistakably “your girdles”⁵⁹⁰ (S. Matth. x. 9). We can but repeat that possession for five centuries conveys rights which it is always useless, and sometimes dangerous, to dispute. “Vials” will certainly have to be put back into the Apocalypse.

(g) Having said so much about the proposed rendering of such unpromising vocables as μνημεῖον—διδαχή—φιάλη, it is time to invite the Reader's attention to the calamitous fate which has befallen certain other words of infinitely greater importance.

And first for Ἀγάπη—a substantive noun unknown to the heathen, even as the sentiment which the word expresses proves to be a grace of purely Christian growth. What else but a real calamity would be the sentence of perpetual banishment passed by our Revisionists on “that most excellent gift, the gift of Charity,” and the general substitution of “Love” in its place? Do not these learned men perceive that “Love” is not an equivalent term? Can they require to be told that, because of S. Paul's exquisite and life-like portrait of “Charity,” and the use which has been made of the word in sacred literature in consequence, it has come to pass that the word “Charity” connotes many ideas to which the word “Love” is an entire stranger? that “Love,” on the contrary, has come to connote many unworthy notions which in “Charity” find no place at all? And if this be [pg 202] so, how can our Revisionists expect that we shall endure the loss of the name of the very choicest of the Christian graces,—and which, if it is nowhere to be found in Scripture, will presently come to be only traditionally known among mankind, and will in the end cease to be a term clearly understood? Have the Revisionists of 1881 considered how firmly this word “Charity” has established itself in the phraseology of the Church,—ancient, mediæval, modern,—as well as in our Book of Common Prayer? how thoroughly it has vindicated for itself the right of citizenship in the English language? how it has entered into our common vocabulary, and become one of the best understood of “household words”? Of what can they have been thinking when they deliberately obliterated from the thirteenth chapter of S. Paul's 1st Epistle to the Corinthians the ninefold recurrence of the name of “that most excellent gift, the gift of Charity”?

(h) With equal displeasure, but with even sadder feelings, we recognize in the present Revision a resolute elimination of “Miracles” from the N. T.—Not so, (we shall be eagerly reminded,) but only of their Name. True, but the two perforce go together, as every thoughtful man knows. At all events, the getting rid of the Name,—(except in the few instances which are enumerated below,)—will in the account of millions be regarded as the getting rid of the thing. And in the esteem of all, learned and unlearned alike, the systematic obliteration of the signifying word from the pages of that Book to which we refer exclusively for our knowledge of the remarkable thing signified,—cannot but be looked upon as a memorable and momentous circumstance. Some, it may be, will be chiefly struck by the foolishness of the proceeding: for at the end of centuries of familiarity with such a word, we are no longer able to part company with it, even if we were inclined. The term [pg 203] has struck root firmly in our Literature: has established itself in the terminology of Divines: has grown into our common speech. But further, even were it possible to get rid of the words “Miracle” and “Miraculous,” what else but abiding inconvenience would be the result? for we must still desire to speak about the things; and it is a truism to remark that there are no other words in the language which connote the same ideas. What therefore has been gained by substituting “sign” for “miracle” on some 19 or 20 occasions—(“this beginning of his signs did Jesus,”—“this is again the second sign that Jesus did”)—we really fail to see.

That the word in the original is σημεῖον, and that σημεῖον means “a sign,” we are aware. But what then? Because ἄγγελος, in strictness, means “a messenger,”—γραφή, “a writing,”—ὑποκριτής, “an actor,”—ἐκκλησία, “an assembly,”—εὐαγγέλιον, “good tidings,”—ἐπίσκοπος, “an overseer,”—βαπτιστής, “one that dips,”—παράδεισος, “a garden,”—μαθητής, “a learner,”—χἁρις, “favour:”—are we to forego the established English equivalents for these words, and never more to hear of “grace,” “disciple,” “Paradise,” “Baptist,” “Bishop,” “Gospel,” “Church,” “hypocrite,” “Scripture,” “Angel”? Is it then desired to revolutionize our sacred terminology? or at all events to sever with the Past, and to translate the Scriptures into English on etymological principles? We are amazed that the first proposal to resort to such a preposterous method was not instantly scouted by a large majority of those who frequented the Jerusalem Chamber.

The words under consideration are not only not equivalent, but they are quite dissimilar. All “signs” are not “Miracles,”⁵⁹¹ though all “Miracles” are undeniably “signs.” [pg 204] Would not a marginal annotation concerning the original word, as at S. Luke xxiii. 8, have sufficed? And why was the term “Miracle” as the rendering of σημεῖον⁵⁹² spared only on that occasion in the Gospels; and only in connection with S. Peter's miracle of healing the impotent man, in the Acts?⁵⁹³ We ask the question not caring for an answer. We are merely bent on submitting to our Readers, whether,—especially in an age like the present of wide-spread unbelief in the Miraculous,—it was a judicious proceeding in our Revisionists almost everywhere to substitute “Sign” for “Miracle” as the rendering of σημεῖον.

(i) Every bit as offensive, in its way, is a marginal note respecting the Third Person in the Trinity, which does duty at S. Matth. i. 18: S. Mark i. 8: S. Luke i. 15: Acts i. 2: Rom. v. 5: Heb. ii. 4. As a rule, in short, against every fresh first mention of “the Holy Ghost,” five lines are punctually devoted to the remark,—“Or, Holy Spirit: and so throughout this book.” Now, as Canon Cook very fairly puts the case,—

“Does this imply that the marginists object to the word ‘Ghost’? If so, it must be asked, On what grounds? Certainly not as an archaism. The word is in every Churchman's mouth continually. For the sake of consistency? But Dr. Vance Smith complains bitterly of the inconsistency of his colleagues in reference to this very question,—see his Texts and Margins, pp. 7, 8, 45. I would not suggest a doctrinal bias: but to prove that it had no influence, a strong, if not unanimous, declaration on the part of the Revisers is called for. Dr. Vance Smith alleges this notice as one of the clearest proofs [pg 205] that the Revisers ought in consistency to discard the word as ‘a poor and almost obsolete equivalent for Spirit.’ ”⁵⁹⁴

But in fact when one of the Revisionists openly claims, on behalf of the Revision, that “in the most substantial sense,” (whatever that may happen to mean,) it is “contrary to fact” “that the doctrines of popular Theology remain unaffected, untouched by the results of the Revision,”⁵⁹⁵—Charity itself is constrained to use language which by a certain school will be deemed uncharitable. If doctrinal prepossession had no share in the production under review,—why is no protest publicly put forth against such language as the foregoing, when employed by a conspicuous Member of the Revisionist body?

(j) In a similar spirit to that which dictated our remarks on the attempted elimination of “Miracles” from the N. T. of the future,—we altogether disapprove of the attempt to introduce “is Epileptic,” as the rendering of σεληνιάζεται, in S. Matth. xvii. 15. The miracle performed on “the lunatic child” may never more come abroad under a different name. In a matter like this, 500 years of occupation, (or rather 1700, for “lunaticus” is the reading of all the Latin copies,) constitute a title which may not be disputed. “Epileptic” is a sorry gloss—not a translation. Even were it demonstrable that Epilepsy exclusively exhibits every feature related in connection with the present case;⁵⁹⁶ and that sufferers from Epilepsy are specially affected by the moon's changes, (neither of which things are certainly true): even so, the Revisionists would be wholly unwarranted in doing violence to the Evangelist's language, in order to bring into prominence [pg 206] their own private opinion that what is called “Lunacy” here (and in ch. iv. 24) is to be identified with the ordinary malady called “Epilepsy.” This was confessedly an extraordinary case of demoniacal possession⁵⁹⁷ besides. The Revisionists have in fact gone out of their way in order to introduce us to a set of difficulties with which before we had no acquaintance. And after all, the English reader desires to know—not, by any means, what two-thirds of the Revisionists conjecture was the matter with the child, but—what the child's Father actually said was the matter with him. Now, the Father undeniably did not say that the child was “Epileptic,” but that he was “Lunatic.” The man employed a term which (singular to relate) has its own precise English equivalent;—a term which embodies to this hour (as it did anciently) the popular belief that the moon influences certain forms of disease. With the advance of Science, civilized nations surrender such Beliefs; but they do not therefore revolutionize their Terminology. “The advance of Science,” however, has nothing whatever to do with the Translation of the word before us. The Author of this particular rendering (begging his pardon) is open to a process “de lunatico inquirendo” for having imagined the contrary.

(k) The foregoing instances suggest the remark, that the Ecclesiastical Historian of future years will point with concern [pg 207] to the sad evidences that the Church had fallen on evil days when the present Revision was undertaken. With fatal fidelity does it, every here and there, reflect the sickly hues of “modern Thought,” which is too often but another name for the latest phase of Unfaithfulness. Thus, in view of the present controversy about the Eternity of Future Punishment, which has brought into prominence a supposed distinction between the import of the epithets “eternal” and “everlasting,”—how painful is it to discover that the latter epithet, (which is the one objected to by the unbelieving school,) has been by our Revisionists diligently excluded⁵⁹⁸ every time it occurs as the translation of αἰώνιος, in favour of the more palatable epithel “eternal”! King James's Translators showed themselves impartial to a fault. As if to mark that, in their account, the words are of identical import, they even introduced both words into the same verse⁵⁹⁹ of Scripture. Is it fair that such a body of men as the Revisionists of 1881, claiming the sanction of the Convocation of the Southern Province, should, in a matter like the present, throw all their weight into the scale of Misbelief? They were authorized only to remove “plain and clear errors.” They were instructed to introduce “as few changes as possible.” Why have they needlessly gone out of their way, on the contrary, indirectly to show their sympathy with those who deny what has been the Church's teaching for 1800 years? Our Creeds, Te Deum, Litany, Offices, Articles,—our whole Prayer Book, breathes a different spirit and speaks a different language.... Have our Revisionists persuaded the Old Testament company to follow their example? It will be calamitous if they have. There will be serious [pg 208] discrepancy of teaching between the Old and the New Testament if they have not.

(l) What means also the fidgetty anxiety manifested throughout these pages to explain away, or at least to evacuate, expressions which have to do with Eternity? Why, for example, is “the world (αἰών) to come,” invariably glossed “the age to come”? and εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας so persistently explained in the margin to mean, “unto the ages”? (See the margin of Rom. ix. 5. Are we to read “God blessed unto the ages”?) Also εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων, “unto the ages of the ages”? Surely we, whose language furnishes expressions of precisely similar character (viz. “for ever,” and “for ever and ever”), might dispense with information hazy and unprofitable as this!

(m) Again. At a period of prevailing unbelief in the Inspiration of Scripture, nothing but real necessity could warrant any meddling with such a testimony on the subject as is found in 2 Tim. iii. 16. We have hitherto been taught to believe that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable,” &c. The ancients⁶⁰⁰ clearly so understood S. Paul's words: and so do the most learned and thoughtful of the moderns. Πᾶσα γραφή, even if it be interpreted “every Scripture,” can only mean every portion of those ἱερὰ γράμματα of which the Apostle had been speaking in the previous verse; and therefore must needs signify the whole of Scripture.⁶⁰¹ So that the expression “all Scripture” [pg 209] expresses S. Paul's meaning exactly, and should not have been disturbed.

But—“It is very difficult” (so at least thinks the Right Rev. Chairman of the Revisers) “to decide whether θεόπνευστος is a part of the predicate, καί being the simple copula; or whether it is a part of the subject. Lexicography and grammar contribute but little to a decision.” Not so thought Bishop Middleton. “I do not recollect” (he says) “any passage in the N. T. in which two Adjectives, apparently connected by the copulative, were intended by the writer to be so unnaturally disjoined. He who can produce such an instance, will do much towards establishing the plausibility of a translation, which otherwise must appear, to say the least of it, to be forced and improbable.”—And yet it is proposed to thrust this “forced and improbable” translation on the acceptance of all English-speaking people, wherever found, on the plea of necessity! Our Revisionists translate, “Every Scripture inspired of God is also profitable,” &c.,—which of course may be plausibly declared to imply that a distinction is drawn by the Apostle himself between inspired and uninspired Scripture. And pray, (we should be presently asked,) is not many a Scripture (or writing) “profitable for teaching,” &c. which is not commonly held to be “inspired of God”?... But in fact the proposed rendering is inadmissible, being without logical coherence and consistency. The utmost that could be pretended would be that S. Paul's assertion is that “every portion of Scripture being inspired” (i.e. inasmuch as it is—because it is—inspired); “is also profitable,” &c. Else there would be no meaning in the καί. But, in the name of common sense, if this be so, why have the blessed words been meddled with?

(n) All are unhappily familiar with the avidity with which the disciples of a certain School fasten upon a mysterious [pg 210] expression in S. Mark's Gospel (xiii. 32), which seems to predicate concerning the Eternal Son, limitation in respect of Knowledge. This is not the place for vindicating the Catholic Doctrine of the Son's “equality with the Father as touching His Godhead;” or for explaining that, in consequence, all things that the Father hath, (the knowledge of “that Day and Hour” included,) the Son hath likewise.⁶⁰² But this is the place for calling attention to the deplorable circumstance that the clause “neither the Son,” which has an indisputable right to its place in S. Mark's Gospel, has on insufficient authority by our Revisionists been thrust into S. Matth. xxvi. 36, where it has no business whatever, and from which the word “only” effectually excludes it.⁶⁰³ We call attention to this circumstance with sincere sorrow: but it is sorrow largely mixed with indignation. What else but the betrayal of a sacred trust is it when Divines appointed to correct manifest errors in the English of the N. T. go out of their way to introduce an error like this into the Greek Text which Catholic Antiquity would have repudiated with indignation, and for which certainly the plea of “necessity” cannot be pretended?

(o) A marginal annotation set over against Romans ix. 5 is the last thing of this kind to which we shall invite attention. S. Paul declares it to be Israel's highest boast and glory that of them, “as concerning the flesh [came] Christ, [pg 211] who is over all [things], God blessed for ever! Amen.” A grander or more unequivocal testimony to our Lord's eternal Godhead is nowhere to be found in Scripture. Accordingly, these words have been as confidently appealed to by faithful Doctors of the Church in every age, as they have been unsparingly assailed by unbelievers. The dishonest shifts by which the latter seek to evacuate the record which they are powerless to refute or deny, are paraded by our ill-starred Revisionists in the following terms:—

“Some modern Interpreters place a full stop after flesh, and translate, He who is God over all be (is) blessed for ever: or, He who is over all is God, blessed for ever. Others punctuate, flesh, who is over all. God be (is) blessed for ever.”

Now this is a matter,—let it be clearly observed,—which, (as Dr. Hort is aware,) “belongs to Interpretation,—and not to Textual Criticism.”⁶⁰⁴ What business then has it in these pages at all? Is it then the function of Divines appointed to revise the Authorized Version, to give information to the 90 millions of English-speaking Christians scattered throughout the world as to the unfaithfulness of “some modern Interpreters”?⁶⁰⁵ We have hitherto supposed that it was “Ancient authorities” exclusively,—(whether “a few,” or “some,” or “many,”)—to which we are invited to submit our judgment. How does it come to pass that the Socinian gloss on this grand text (Rom. ix. 5) has been brought into such extraordinary prominence? Did our Revisionists consider that their marginal note would travel to earth's remotest verge,—give universal currency to the view of “some modern Interpreters,”—and in the end “tell it out among the heathen” also? We refer to Manuscripts,—Versions,—Fathers: and what do we find? (1) It is demonstrable that the oldest [pg 212] Codices, besides the whole body of the cursives, know nothing about the method of “some modern Interpreters.”⁶⁰⁶—(2) “There is absolutely not a shadow, not a tittle of evidence, in any of the ancient Versions, to warrant what they do.”⁶⁰⁷—(3) How then, about the old Fathers? for the sentiments of our best modern Divines, as Pearson and Bull, we know by heart. We find that the expression “who is over all [things], God blessed for ever” is expressly acknowledged to refer to our Saviour by the following 60 illustrious names:—

Irenæus,⁶⁰⁸—Hippolytus in 3 places,⁶⁰⁹—Origen,⁶¹⁰—Malchion, in the name of six of the Bishops at the Council of Antioch, a.d. 269,611—ps.-Dionysius Alex., twice,⁶¹²—the Constt. App.,⁶¹³—Athanasius in 6 places,⁶¹⁴—Basil in 2 places,⁶¹⁵—Didymus in 5 places,⁶¹⁶—Greg. Nyssen. in 5 places,⁶¹⁷—Epiphanius in 5 places,⁶¹⁸—Theodoras Mops.,⁶¹⁹—Methodius,⁶²⁰—Eustathius,⁶²¹—Eulogius, twice,⁶²²—Cæsarius, 3 times,⁶²³—Theophilus Alex., twice,⁶²⁴—Nestorius,⁶²⁵—Theodotus of Ancyra,⁶²⁶—Proclus, twice,⁶²⁷—Severianus Bp. of Gabala,⁶²⁸—Chrysostom, 8 times,⁶²⁹—Cyril [pg 213] Alex., 15 times,⁶³⁰—Paulus Bp. of Emesa,⁶³¹—Theodoret, 12 times,⁶³²—Gennadius, Abp. of C. P.,⁶³³—Severus, Abp. of Antioch,⁶³⁴—Amphilochius,⁶³⁵—Gelasius Cyz.,⁶³⁶—Anastasius Ant.,⁶³⁷—Leontius Byz., 3 times,⁶³⁸—Maximus,⁶³⁹—J. Damascene, 3 times.⁶⁴⁰ Besides of the Latins, Tertullian, twice,⁶⁴¹—Cyprian,⁶⁴²—Novatian, twice,⁶⁴³—Ambrose, 5 times,⁶⁴⁴—Palladius the Arian at the Council of Aquileia,⁶⁴⁵—Hilary, 7 times,⁶⁴⁶—Jerome, twice,⁶⁴⁷—Augustine, about 30 times,—Victorinus,⁶⁴⁸—the Breviarium, twice,⁶⁴⁹—Marius Mercator,⁶⁵⁰—Cassian, twice,⁶⁵¹—Alcimus Avit.,⁶⁵²—Fulgentius, twice,⁶⁵³—Leo, Bp. of Rome, twice,⁶⁵⁴—Ferrandus, twice,⁶⁵⁵—Facundus:656—to whom must be added 6 ancient writers, of whom 3⁶⁵⁷ have been mistaken for Athanasius,—and 3⁶⁵⁸ for Chrysostom. All these see in Rom. ix. 5, a glorious assertion of the eternal Godhead of Christ.

Against such an overwhelming torrent of Patristic testimony,—for we have enumerated upwards of sixty ancient Fathers—it will not surely be pretended that the Socinian interpretation, to which our Revisionists give such prominence, [pg 214] can stand. But why has it been introduced at all? We shall have every Christian reader with us in our contention, that such perverse imaginations of “modern Interpreters” are not entitled to a place in the margin of the N. T. For our Revisionists to have even given them currency, and thereby a species of sanction, constitutes in our view a very grave offence.⁶⁵⁹ A public retraction and a very humble Apology we claim at their hands. Indifferent Scholarship, and mistaken views of Textual Criticism, are at least venial matters. But a Socinian gloss gratuitously thrust into the margin of every Englishman's N. T. admits of no excuse—is not to be tolerated on any terms. It would by itself, in our account, have been sufficient to determine the fate of the present Revision.

XII. Are we to regard it as a kind of set-off against all that goes before, that in an age when the personality of Satan is freely called in question, “the evil one” has been actually thrust into the Lord's Prayer? A more injudicious and unwarrantable innovation it would be impossible to indicate in any part of the present unhappy volume. The case has been argued out with much learning and ability by two eminent Divines, Bp. Lightfoot and Canon Cook. The Canon remains master of the field. That the change ought never to have been made is demonstrable. The grounds of this assertion are soon stated. To begin, (1) It is admitted on all hands that it must for ever remain a matter of opinion only whether in the expression ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ, the nominative case is τὸ πονηρόν (as in S. Matth. v. 37, 39: Rom. xii. 9), or ὁ πονηρός (as in S. Matth. xiii. 19, 38: Eph. vi. [pg 215] 16),—either of which yields a good sense. But then—(2) The Church of England in her formularies having emphatically declared that, for her part, she adheres to the former alternative, it was in a very high degree unbecoming for the Revisionists to pretend to the enjoyment of certain knowledge that the Church of England in so doing was mistaken: and unless “from evil” be “a clear and plain error,” the Revisionists were bound to let it alone. Next—(3), It can never be right to impose the narrower interpretation on words which have always been understood to bear the larger sense: especially when (as in the present instance) the larger meaning distinctly includes and covers the lesser: witness the paraphrase in our Church Catechism,—“and that He will keep us (a) from all sin and wickedness, and (b) from our ghostly enemy, and (c) from everlasting death.”—(4) But indeed Catholic Tradition claims to be heard in this behalf. Every Christian at his Baptism renounces not only “the Devil,” but also “all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, and the carnal desires of the flesh.”⁶⁶⁰ And at this point—(5), The voice of an inspired Apostle interposes in attestation that this is indeed the true acceptation of the last petition in the Lord's Prayer: for when S. Paul says—“the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen,”⁶⁶¹—what else is he referring to but to the words just [pg 216] now under consideration? He explains that in the Lord's Prayer it is “from every evil work” that we pray to be “delivered.” (Note also, that he retains the Doxology.) Compare the places:—

S. Matth. vi. 13.—ἀλλὰ ῬΎΣΑΙ ἩΜΆΣ ἈΠῸ ΤΟΎ ΠΟΝΗΡΟΎ. ὍΤΙ ΣΟΎ ἘΣΤΙΝ Ἡ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΊΑ ... καὶ Ἡ ΔΌΞΑ ἘΙΣ ΤΟΎΣ ἈΙΏΝΑΣ. ἈΜΉΝ.

2 Tim. iv. 18.—καὶ ῬΎΣΕΤΑΊ ΜΕ ὁ Κύριος ἈΠῸ ΠΑΝΤῸΣ ἜΡΓΟΥ ΠΟΝΗΡΟΥ καὶ σώσει εἰς ΤῊΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΊΑΝ ἈΥΤΟΥ ... ᾧ Ἡ ΔΌΞΑ ΕΊΣ ΤΟΥΣ ἈΙΏΝΑΣ.... ἈΜΉΝ.

Then further—(6), What more unlikely than that our Lord would end with giving such prominence to that rebel Angel whom by dying He is declared to have “destroyed”? (Heb. ii. 14: 1 John iii. 8.) For, take away the Doxology (as our Revisionists propose), and we shall begin the Lord's Prayer with “Our Father,” and literally end it with—the Devil!—But above all,—(7) Let it never be forgotten that this is the pattern Prayer, a portion of every Christian child's daily utterance,—the most sacred of all our formularies, and by far the most often repeated,—into which it is attempted in this way to introduce a startling novelty. Lastly—(8), When it is called to mind that nothing short of necessity has warranted the Revisionists in introducing a single change into the A. V.,—“clear and plain errors”—and that no such plea can be feigned on the present occasion, the liberty which they have taken in this place must be admitted to be absolutely without excuse.... Such at least are the grounds on which, for our own part, we refuse to entertain the proposed introduction of the Devil into the Lord's Prayer. From the position we have taken up, it will be found utterly impossible to dislodge us.

XIII. It is often urged on behalf of the Revisionists that over not a few dark places of S. Paul's Epistles their labours have thrown important light. Let it not be supposed [pg 217] that we deny this. Many a Scriptural difficulty vanishes the instant a place is accurately translated: a far greater number, when the rendering is idiomatic. It would be strange indeed if, at the end of ten years, the combined labours of upwards of twenty Scholars, whose raison d'être as Revisionists was to do this very thing, had not resulted in the removal of many an obscurity in the A. V. of Gospels and Epistles alike. What offends us is the discovery that, for every obscurity which has been removed, at least half a dozen others have been introduced: in other words, that the result of this Revision has been the planting in of a fresh crop of difficulties, before undreamed of; so that a perpetual wrestling with these is what hereafter awaits the diligent student of the New Testament.

We speak not now of passages which have been merely altered for the worse: as when, (in S. James i. 17, 18,) we are invited to read,—“Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning. Of his own will he brought us forth.” Grievous as such blemishes are, it is seen at a glance that they must be set down to nothing worse than tasteless assiduity. What we complain of is that, misled by a depraved Text, our Revisers have often made nonsense of what before was perfectly clear: and have not only thrust many of our Lord's precious utterances out of sight, (e.g. Matt. xvii. 21: Mark x. 21 and xi. 26: Luke ix. 55, 56); but have attributed to Him absurd sayings which He certainly never uttered, (e.g. Matt. xix. 17); or else, given such a twist to what He actually said, that His blessed words are no longer recognizable, (as in S. Matt. xi. 23: S. Mark ix. 23: xi. 3). Take a sample:—

(1.) The Church has always understood her Lord to say,—“Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, [pg 218] be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory.”⁶⁶² We reject with downright indignation the proposal henceforth to read instead,—“Father, that which Thou hast given Me I will that, where I am, they also may be with Me,” &c. We suspect a misprint. The passage reads like nonsense. Yes, and nonsense it is,—in Greek as well as in English: (ὅ has been written for οὕς—one of the countless bêtises for which א b d are exclusively responsible; and which the weak superstition of these last days is for erecting into a new Revelation). We appeal to the old Latin and to the Vulgate,—to the better Egyptian and to all the Syriac versions: to every known Lectionary: to Clemens Alex.,⁶⁶³—to Eusebius,⁶⁶⁴—to Nonnus,⁶⁶⁵—to Basil,⁶⁶⁶—to Chrysostom,⁶⁶⁷—to Cyril,⁶⁶⁸—to Cælestinus,⁶⁶⁹—to Theodoret:670 not to mention Cyprian,⁶⁷¹—Ambrose,⁶⁷²—Hilary,⁶⁷³ &c.:674 and above all, 16 uncials, beginning with a and c,—and the whole body of the cursives. So many words ought not to be required. If men prefer their “mumpsimus” to our “sumpsimus,” let them by all means have it: but pray let them keep their rubbish to themselves,—and at least leave our Saviour's words alone.

(2.) We shall be told that the foregoing is an outrageous instance. It is. Then take a few milder cases. They abound, turn whichever way we will. Thus, we are invited to believe that S. Luke relates concerning our Saviour that He “was led by the Spirit in the wilderness during forty days” (iv. 1). We stare at this new revelation, and refer to the familiar Greek. It proves to be the Greek of all the copies in the [pg 219] world but four; the Greek which supplied the Latin, the Syrian, the Coptic Churches, with the text of their respective Versions; the Greek which was familiar to Origen,⁶⁷⁵—to Eusebius,⁶⁷⁶—to Basil,⁶⁷⁷—to Didymus,⁶⁷⁸—to Theodoret,⁶⁷⁹—to Maximus,⁶⁸⁰—and to two other ancient writers, one of whom has been mistaken for Chrysostom,⁶⁸¹ the other for Basil.⁶⁸² It is therefore quite above suspicion. And it informs us that Jesus “was led by the Spirit into the wilderness;” and there was “forty days tempted of the Devil.” What then has happened to obscure so plain a statement? Nothing more serious than that—(1) Four copies of bad character (א b d l) exhibit “in” instead of “into:” and that—(2) Our Revisionists have been persuaded to believe that therefore S. Luke must needs have done the same. Accordingly they invite us to share their conviction that it was the leading about of our Lord, (and not His Temptation,) which lasted for 40 days. And this sorry misconception is to be thrust upon the 90 millions of English-speaking Christians throughout the world,—under the plea of “necessity”!... But let us turn to a more interesting specimen of the mischievous consequences which would ensue from the acceptance of the present so-called “Revision.”

(3.) What is to be thought of this, as a substitute for the familiar language of 2 Cor. xii. 7?—“And by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations—wherefore, that I should not be exalted overmuch, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh.” The word “wherefore” (διό), which occasions all the difficulty—(breaking the back of the sentence and necessitating the hypothesis of a change of construction)—is due solely to the influence of א a bb. The ordinary Text is recognized [pg 220] by almost every other copy; by the Latin,—Syriac,—Gothic,—Armenian Versions;—as well as by Irenæus,⁶⁸³—Origen,⁶⁸⁴—Macarius,⁶⁸⁵—Athanasius,⁶⁸⁶—Chrysostom,⁶⁸⁷—Theodoret,⁶⁸⁸—John Damascene.⁶⁸⁹ Even Tischendorf here makes a stand and refuses to follow his accustomed guides.⁶⁹⁰ In plain terms, the text of 2 Cor. xii. 7 is beyond the reach of suspicion. Scarcely intelligible is the infatuation of which our Revisers have been the dupes.—Quousque tandem?

(4.) Now this is the method of the Revising body throughout: viz. so seriously to maim the Text of many a familiar passage of Holy Writ as effectually to mar it. Even where they remedy an inaccuracy in the rendering of the A. V., they often inflict a more grievous injury than mistranslation on the inspired Text. An instance occurs at S. John x. 14, where the good Shepherd says,—“I know Mine own and am known of Mine, even as the Father knoweth Me and I know the Father.” By thrusting in here the Manichæan depravation (“and Mine own know Me”), our Revisionists have obliterated the exquisite diversity of expression in the original,—which implies that whereas the knowledge which subsists between the Father and the Son is identical on either side, not such is the knowledge which subsists between the creature and the Creator. The refinement in question has been faithfully retained all down the ages by every copy in existence except four of bad character,—א b d l. It is witnessed to by the Syriac,—by Macarius,⁶⁹¹—Gregory Naz.,⁶⁹²—Chrysostom,⁶⁹³—Cyril Alex.,⁶⁹⁴—Theodoret,⁶⁹⁵—Maximus.⁶⁹⁶

[pg 221]

But why go on? Does any one in his sober senses suppose that if S. John had written “Mine own know Me,” 996 manuscripts out of 1000, at the end of 1800 years, would be found to exhibit “I am known of Mine”?

(5.) The foregoing instances must suffice. A brief enumeration of many more has been given already, at pp. 144(b)-152.

Now, in view of the phenomenon just discovered to us,—(viz. for one crop of deformities weeded out, an infinitely larger crop of far grosser deformities as industriously planted in,)—we confess to a feeling of distress and annoyance which altogether indisposes us to accord to the Revisionists that language of congratulation with which it would have been so agreeable to receive their well-meant endeavours. The serious question at once arises,—Is it to be thought that upon the whole we are gainers, or losers, by the Revised Version? And there seems to be no certain way of resolving this doubt, but by opening a “Profit and Loss account” with the Revisers,—crediting them with every item of gain, and debiting them with every item of loss. But then,—(and we ask the question with sanguine simplicity,)—Why should it not be all gain and no loss, when, at the end of 270 years, a confessedly noble work, a truly unique specimen of genius, taste and learning, is submitted to a body of Scholars, equipped with every external advantage, only in order that they may improve upon it—if they are able? These learned individuals have had upwards of ten years wherein to do their work. They have enjoyed the benefit of the tentative labours of a host of predecessors,—some for their warning, some for their help and guidance. They have all along had before their eyes the solemn injunction that, whatever they were not able certainly to improve, they were to be supremely careful to let alone. [pg 222] They were warned at the outset against any but “necessary” changes. Their sole business was to remove “plain and clear errors.” They had pledged themselves to introduce “as few alterations as possible.” Why then, we again ask,—Why should not every single innovation which they introduced into the grand old exemplar before them, prove to be a manifest, an undeniable change for the better?⁶⁹⁷

XIV. The more we ponder over this unfortunate production, the more cordially do we regret that it was ever undertaken. Verily, the Northern Convocation displayed a far-sighted wisdom when it pronounced against the project from the first. We are constrained to declare that could we have conceived it possible that the persons originally appointed by the Southern Province would have co-opted into their body persons capable of executing their work with such extravagant licentiousness as well as such conspicuous bad taste, we should never have entertained one hopeful thought on the subject. For indeed every characteristic feature of the work of the Revisionists offends us,—as well [pg 223] in respect of what they have left undone, as of what they have been the first to venture to do:—

(a) Charged “to introduce as few alterations as possible into the Text of the Authorized Version,” they have on the contrary evidently acted throughout on the principle of making as many changes in it as they conveniently could.

(b) Directed “to limit, as far as possible, the expression of such alterations to the language of the Authorized and earlier English Versions,”—they have introduced such terms as “assassin,” “apparition,” “boon,” “disparagement,” “divinity,” “effulgence,” “epileptic,” “fickleness,” “gratulation,” “irksome,” “interpose,” “pitiable,” “sluggish,” “stupor,” “surpass,” “tranquil:” such compounds as “self-control,” “world-ruler:” such phrases as “draw up a narrative:” “the impulse of the steersman:” “in lack of daily food:” “exercising oversight.” These are but a very few samples of the offence committed by our Revisionists, of which we complain.

(c) Whereas they were required “to revise the Headings of the Chapters,” they have not even retained them. We demand at least to have our excellent “Headings” back.

(d) And what has become of our time-honoured “Marginal References,”—the very best Commentary on the Bible, as we believe,—certainly the very best help for the right understanding of Scripture,—which the wit of man hath ever yet devised? The “Marginal References” would be lost to the Church for ever, if the work of the Revisionists were allowed to stand: the space required for their insertion having been completely swallowed up by the senseless, and worse than senseless, Textual Annotations which at present infest the margin of every sacred page. We are beyond measure amazed that the Revisionists have even deprived the reader of the essential aid of references to the places of the Old Testament which are quoted in the New.

(e) Let the remark be added in passing, that we greatly [pg 224] dislike the affectation of printing certain quotations from the Old Testament after the strange method adopted by our Revisers from Drs. Westcott and Hort.

(f) The further external assimilation of the Sacred Volume to an ordinary book by getting rid of the division into Verses, we also hold to be a great mistake. In the Greek, by all means let the verses be merely noted in the margin: but, for more than one weighty reason, in the English Bible let the established and peculiar method of printing the Word of God, tide what tide, be scrupulously retained.

(g) But incomparably the gravest offence is behind. By far the most serious of all is that Error to the consideration of which we devoted our former Article. The New Greek Text which, in defiance of their Instructions,⁶⁹⁸ our Revisionists have constructed, has been proved to be utterly undeserving of confidence. Built up on a fallacy which since [pg 225] 1831 has been dominant in Germany, and which has lately found but too much favour among ourselves, it is in the main a reproduction of the recent labours of Doctors Westcott and Hort. But we have already recorded our conviction, that the results at which those eminent Scholars have arrived are wholly inadmissible. It follows that, in our account, the “New English Version,” has been all along a foredoomed thing. If the “New Greek Text” be indeed a tissue of fabricated Readings, the translation of these into English must needs prove lost labour. It is superfluous to enquire into the merits of the English rendering of words which Evangelists and Apostles demonstrably never wrote.

(h) Even this, however, is not nearly all. As Translators, full two-thirds of the Revisionists have shown themselves singularly deficient,—alike in their critical acquaintance with the language out of which they had to translate, and in their familiarity with the idiomatic requirements of their own tongue. They had a noble Version before them, which they have contrived to spoil in every part. Its dignified simplicity and essential faithfulness, its manly grace and its delightful rhythm, they have shown themselves alike unable to imitate and unwilling to retain. Their queer uncouth phraseology and their jerky sentences:—their pedantic obscurity and their stiff, constrained manner:—their fidgetty affectation of accuracy,—and their habitual achievement of English which fails to exhibit the spirit of the original Greek;—are sorry substitutes for the living freshness, and elastic freedom, and habitual fidelity of the grand old Version which we inherited from our Fathers, and which has sustained the spiritual life of the Church of England, and of all English-speaking Christians, for 350 years. Linked with all our holiest, happiest memories, and bound up with all our purest aspirations: part and parcel of [pg 226] whatever there is of good about us: fraught with men's hopes of a blessed Eternity and many a bright vision of the never-ending Life;—the Authorized Version, wherever it was possible, should have been jealously retained. But on the contrary. Every familiar cadence has been dislocated: the congenial flow of almost every verse of Scripture has been hopelessly marred: so many of those little connecting words, which give life and continuity to a narrative, have been vexatiously displaced, that a perpetual sense of annoyance is created. The countless minute alterations which have been needlessly introduced into every familiar page prove at last as tormenting as a swarm of flies to the weary traveller on a summer's day.⁶⁹⁹ To speak plainly, the book has been made unreadable.

But in fact the distinguished Chairman of the New Testament Company (Bishop Ellicott,) has delivered himself on this subject in language which leaves nothing to be desired, and which we willingly make our own. “No Revision” (he says) “in the present day could hope to meet with an hour's acceptance if it failed to preserve the tone, rhythm, and diction of the present Authorized Version.”⁷⁰⁰—What else is this but a vaticination,—of which the uninspired Author, by his own act and deed, has ensured the punctual fulfilment?

We lay the Revisers' volume down convinced that the case of their work is simply hopeless. Non ego paucis offendar maculis. Had the blemishes been capable of being reckoned up, it might have been worth while to try to remedy some of them. But when, instead of being disfigured [pg 227] by a few weeds scattered here and there, the whole field proves to be sown over in every direction with thorns and briars; above all when, deep beneath the surface, roots of bitterness to be counted by thousands, are found to have been silently planted in, which are sure to produce poisonous fruit after many days:—under such circumstances only one course can be prescribed. Let the entire area be ploughed up,—ploughed deep; and let the ground be left for a decent space of time without cultivation. It is idle—worse than idle—to dream of revising, with a view to retaining, this Revision. Another generation of students must be suffered to arise. Time must be given for Passion and Prejudice to cool effectually down. Partizanship, (which at present prevails to an extraordinary extent, but which is wondrously out of place in this department of Sacred Learning,)—Partizanship must be completely outlived,—before the Church can venture, with the remotest prospect of a successful issue, to organize another attempt at revising the Authorized Version of the New Testament Scriptures.

Yes, and in the meantime—(let it in all faithfulness be added)—the Science of Textual Criticism will have to be prosecuted, for the first time, in a scholarlike manner. Fundamental Principles,—sufficiently axiomatic to ensure general acceptance,—will have to be laid down for men's guidance. The time has quite gone by for vaunting “the now established Principles of Textual Criticism,”⁷⁰¹—as if they had an actual existence. Let us be shown, instead, which those Principles be. As for the weak superstition of these last days, which—without proof of any kind—would erect two IVth-century Copies of the New Testament, (demonstrably derived from one and the same utterly depraved archetype,) [pg 228] into an authority from which there shall be no appeal,—it cannot be too soon or too unconditionally abandoned. And, perhaps beyond all things, men must be invited to disabuse their minds of the singular imagination that it is in their power, when addressing themselves to that most difficult and delicate of problems,—the improvement of the Traditional Text,—“solvere ambulando.”⁷⁰² They are assured that they may not take to Textual Criticism as ducks take to the water. They will be drowned inevitably if they are so ill-advised as to make the attempt.

Then further, those who would interpret the New Testament Scriptures, are reminded that a thorough acquaintance with the Septuagintal Version of the Old Testament is one indispensable condition of success.⁷⁰³ And finally, the Revisionists of the future (if they desire that their labours should be crowned), will find it their wisdom to practise a severe self-denial; to confine themselves to the correction of “plain and clear errors;” and in fact to “introduce into the Text as few alterations as possible.”

On a review of all that has happened, from first to last, we can but feel greatly concerned: greatly surprised: most of all, disappointed. We had expected a vastly different result. It is partly (not quite) accounted for, by the rare attendance in the Jerusalem Chamber of some of the names on which we had chiefly relied. Bishop Moberly (of Salisbury) was [pg 229] present on only 121 occasions: Bishop Wordsworth (of S. Andrews) on only 109: Archbishop Trench (of Dublin) on only 63: Bishop Wilberforce on only one. The Archbishop, in his Charge, adverts to “the not unfrequent sacrifice of grace and ease to the rigorous requirements of a literal accuracy;” and regards them “as pushed to a faulty excess” (p. 22). Eleven years before the scheme for the present “Revision” had been matured, the same distinguished and judicious Prelate, (then Dean of Westminster,) persuaded as he was that a Revision ought to come, and convinced that in time it would come, deprecated its being attempted yet. His words were,—“Not however, I would trust, as yet: for we are not as yet in any respect prepared for it. The Greek, and the English which should enable us to bring this to a successful end might, it is to be feared, be wanting alike.”⁷⁰⁴ Archbishop Trench, with wise after-thought, in a second edition, explained himself to mean “that special Hellenistic Greek, here required.”

The Bp. of S. Andrews has long since, in the fullest manner, cleared himself from the suspicion of complicity in the errors of the work before us,—as well in respect of the “New Greek Text” as of the “New English Version.” In the Charge which he delivered at his Diocesan Synod, (22nd Sept. 1880,) he openly stated that two years before the work was finally completed, he had felt obliged to address a printed circular to each member of the Company, in which he strongly remonstrated against the excess to which changes had been carried; and that the remonstrance had been, for the most part, unheeded. Had this been otherwise, there is good reason to believe that the reception which the Revision has met with would have been far less unfavourable, and that many a controversy which it has stirred up, would have been avoided. We have been assured that the [pg 230] Bp. of S. Andrews would have actually resigned his place in the Company at that time, if he had not been led to expect that some opportunity would have been taken by the Minority, when the work was finished, to express their formal dissent from the course which had been followed, and many of the conclusions which had been adopted.

Were certain other excellent personages, (Scholars and Divines of the best type) who were often present, disposed at this late hour to come forward, they too would doubtless tell us that they heartily regretted what was done, but were powerless to prevent it. It is no secret that Dr. Lee,—the learned Archdeacon of Dublin,—(one of the few really competent members of the Revising body,)—found himself perpetually in the minority.

The same is to be recorded concerning Dr. Roberts, whose work on the Gospels (published in 1864) shows that he is not by any means so entirely a novice in the mysteries of Textual Criticism as certain of his colleagues.—One famous Scholar and excellent Divine,—a Dean whom we forbear to name,—with the modesty of real learning, often withheld what (had he given it) would have been an adverse vote.—Another learned and accomplished Dean (Dr. Merivale), after attending 19 meetings of the Revising body, withdrew in disgust from them entirely. He disapproved the method of his colleagues, and was determined to incur no share of responsibility for the probable result of their deliberations.—By the way,—What about a certain solemn Protest, by means of which the Minority had resolved liberare animas suas concerning the open disregard shown by the Majority for the conditions under which they had been entrusted with the work of Revision, but which was withheld at the last moment? Inasmuch as their reasons for the course they eventually adopted seemed sufficient to those high-minded and [pg 231] honourable men, we forbear to challenge it. Nothing however shall deter us from plainly avowing our own opinion that human regards scarcely deserve a hearing when God's Truth is imperilled. And that the Truth of God's Word in countless instances has been ignorantly sacrificed by a majority of the Revisionists—(out of deference to a worthless Theory, newly invented and passionately advocated by two of their body),—has been already demonstrated; as far, that is, as demonstration is possible in this subject matter.

As for Prebendary Scrivener,—the only really competent Textual Critic of the whole party,—it is well known that he found himself perpetually outvoted by two-thirds of those present. We look forward to the forthcoming new edition of his Plain Introduction, in the confident belief that he will there make it abundantly plain that he is in no degree responsible for the monstrous Text which it became his painful duty to conduct through the Press on behalf of the entire body, of which he continued to the last to be a member. It is no secret that, throughout, Dr. Scrivener pleaded in vain for the general view we have ourselves advocated in this and the preceding Article.

All alike may at least enjoy the real satisfaction of knowing that, besides having stimulated, to an extraordinary extent, public attention to the contents of the Book of Life, they have been instrumental in awakening a living interest in one important but neglected department of Sacred Science, which will not easily be again put to sleep. It may reasonably prove a solace to them to reflect that they have besides, although perhaps in ways they did not anticipate, rendered excellent service to mankind. A monument they have certainly erected to themselves,—though neither of their Taste nor yet of their Learning. Their well-meant endeavours have provided an admirable text-book for [pg 232] Teachers of Divinity,—who will henceforth instruct their pupils to beware of the Textual errors of the Revisionists of 1881, as well as of their tasteless, injudicious, and unsatisfactory essays in Translation. This work of theirs will discharge the office of a warning beacon to as many as shall hereafter embark on the same perilous enterprise with themselves. It will convince men of the danger of pursuing the same ill-omened course: trusting to the same unskilful guidance: venturing too near the same wreck-strewn shore.

Its effect will be to open men's eyes, as nothing else could possibly have done, to the dangers which beset the Revision of Scripture. It will teach faithful hearts to cling the closer to the priceless treasure which was bequeathed to them by the piety and wisdom of their fathers. It will dispel for ever the dream of those who have secretly imagined that a more exact Version, undertaken with the boasted helps of this nineteenth century of ours, would bring to light something which has been hitherto unfairly kept concealed or else misrepresented. Not the least service which the Revisionists have rendered has been the proof their work affords, how very seldom our Authorized Version is materially wrong: how faithful and trustworthy, on the contrary, it is throughout. Let it be also candidly admitted that, even where (in our judgment) the Revisionists have erred, they have never had the misfortune seriously to obscure a single feature of Divine Truth; nor have they in any quarter (as we hope) inflicted wounds which will be attended with worse results than to leave a hideous scar behind them. It is but fair to add that their work bears marks of an amount of conscientious (though misdirected) labour, which those only can fully appreciate who have made the same province of study to some extent their own.

[pg 234]

Article III. Westcott And Hort's New Textual Theory.

“In the determination of disputed readings, these Critics avail themselves of so small a portion of existing materials, or allow so little weight to others, that the Student who follows them has positively less ground for his convictions than former Scholars had at any period in the history of modern Criticism.”—Canon Cook, p. 16.

“We have no right, doubtless, to assume that our Principles are infallible: but we have a right to claim that any one who rejects them ... should confute the Arguments and rebut the Evidence on which the opposite conclusion has been founded. Strong expressions of Individual Opinion are not Arguments.”—Bp. Ellicott's Pamphlet, (1882,) p. 40.

Our “method involves vast research, unwearied patience.... It will therefore find but little favour with those who adopt the easy method ... of using some favourite Manuscript, or some supposed power of divining the Original Text.”—Bp. Ellicott, Ibid. p. 19.

“Non enim sumus sicut plurimi, adulterantes (καπηλεύοντες) verbum Dei.”—2 Cor. ii. 17.

[pg 235]

“Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?”—Job xxxviii. 2.

“Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?”—S. Luke vi. 39.

Proposing to ourselves (May 17th, 1881) to enquire into the merits of the recent Revision of the Authorized Version of the New Testament Scriptures, we speedily became aware that an entirely different problem awaited us and demanded preliminary investigation. We made the distressing discovery, that the underlying Greek Text had been completely refashioned throughout. It was accordingly not so much a “Revised English Version” as a “New Greek Text,” which was challenging public acceptance. Premature therefore,—not to say preposterous,—would have been any enquiry into the degree of ability with which the original Greek had been rendered into English by our Revisionists, until we had first satisfied ourselves that it was still “the original Greek” with which we had to deal: or whether it had been the supreme infelicity of a body of Scholars claiming to act by the authority of the sacred Synod of Canterbury, to put themselves into the hands of some ingenious theory-monger, and to become the dupes of any of the strange delusions which [pg 236] are found unhappily still to prevail in certain quarters, on the subject of Textual Criticism.

The correction of known Textual errors of course we eagerly expected: and on every occasion when the Traditional Text was altered, we as confidently depended on finding a record of the circumstance inserted with religious fidelity into the margin,—as agreed upon by the Revisionists at the outset. In both of these expectations however we found ourselves sadly disappointed. The Revisionists have not corrected the “known Textual errors.” On the other hand, besides silently adopting most of those wretched fabrications which are just now in favour with the German school, they have encumbered their margin with those other Readings which, after due examination, they had themselves deliberately rejected. For why? Because, in their collective judgment, “for the present, it would not be safe to accept one Reading to the absolute exclusion of others.”⁷⁰⁵ A fatal admission truly! What are found in the margin are therefore “alternative Readings,”—in the opinion of these self-constituted representatives of the Church and of the Sects.

It becomes evident that, by this ill-advised proceeding, our Revisionists would convert every Englishman's copy of the New Testament into a one-sided Introduction to the Critical difficulties of the Greek Text; a labyrinth, out of which they have not been at the pains to supply him with a single hint as to how he may find his way. On the contrary. By candidly avowing that they find themselves enveloped in the same Stygian darkness with the ordinary English Reader, they give him to understand that [pg 237] there is absolutely no escape from the difficulty. What else must be the result of all this but general uncertainty, confusion, distress? A hazy mistrust of all Scripture has been insinuated into the hearts and minds of countless millions, who in this way have been forced to become doubters,—yes, doubters in the Truth of Revelation itself. One recals sorrowfully the terrible woe denounced by the Author of Scripture on those who minister occasions of falling to others:—“It must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!”

For ourselves, shocked and offended at the unfaithfulness which could so deal with the sacred Deposit, we made it our business to expose, somewhat in detail, what had been the method of our Revisionists. In our October number⁷⁰⁶ we demonstrated, (as far as was possible within such narrow limits,) the utterly untrustworthy character of not a few of the results at which, after ten years of careful study, these distinguished Scholars proclaim to the civilized world that they have deliberately arrived. In our January number⁷⁰⁷ also, we found it impossible to avoid extending our enumeration of Textual errors and multiplying our proofs, while we were making it our business to show that, even had their Text been faultless, their Translation must needs be rejected as intolerable, on grounds of defective Scholarship and egregious bad Taste. The popular verdict has in the meantime been pronounced unmistakably. It is already admitted on all hands that the Revision has been a prodigious blunder. How it came about that, with such a first-rate textual Critic among them as Prebendary Scrivener,⁷⁰⁸ the Revisers of 1881 [pg 238] should have deliberately gone back to those vile fabrications from which the good Providence of God preserved Erasmus and Stunica,—Stephens and Beza and the Elzevirs,—three centuries ago:—how it happened that, with so many splendid Scholars sitting round their table, they should have produced a Translation which, for the most part, reads like a first-rate school-boy's crib,—tasteless, unlovely, harsh, unidiomatic;—servile without being really faithful,—pedantic without being really learned;—an unreadable Translation, in short; the result of a vast amount of labour indeed, but of wondrous little skill:—how all this has come about, it were utterly useless at this time of day to enquire.

[pg 239]

Unable to disprove the correctness of our Criticism on the Revised Greek Text, even in a single instance, certain partizans of the Revision,—singular to relate,—have been ever since industriously promulgating the notion, that the Reviewer's great misfortune and fatal disadvantage all along has been, that he wrote his first Article before the publication of Drs. Westcott and Hort's Critical “Introduction.” Had he but been so happy as to have been made aware by those eminent Scholars of the critical principles which have guided them in the construction of their Text, how differently must he have expressed himself throughout, and to what widely different conclusions must he have inevitably arrived! This is what has been once and again either openly declared, or else privately intimated, in many quarters. Some, in the warmth of their partizanship, have been so ill-advised as to insinuate that it argues either a deficiency of moral courage, or else of intellectual perception, in the Reviewer, that he has not long since grappled definitely with the Theory of Drs. Westcott and Hort,—and either published an Answer to it, or else frankly admitted that he finds it unanswerable.

(a) All of which strikes us as queer in a high degree. First, because as a matter of fact we were careful to make it plain that the Introduction in question had duly reached us before the first sheet of our earlier Article had left our hands. To be brief,—we made it our business to procure a copy and read it through, the instant we heard of its publication: and on our fourteenth page (see above, pp. 26-8) we endeavoured to compress into a long foot-note some account of a Theory which (we take leave to say) can appear formidable only to one who either lacks the patience to study it, or else the knowledge requisite to understand it. We found that, from a diligent perusal of the Preface prefixed to the “limited and private issue” of 1870, we had formed a perfectly correct [pg 240] estimate of the contents of the Introduction; and had already characterized it with entire accuracy at pp. 24 to 29 of our first Article. Drs. Westcott and Hort's New Testament in the original Greek was discovered to “partake inconveniently of the nature of a work of the Imagination,”—as we had anticipated. We became easily convinced that “those accomplished Scholars had succeeded in producing a Text vastly more remote from the inspired autographs of the Evangelists and Apostles of our Lord, than any which has appeared since the invention of Printing.”

(b) But the queerest circumstance is behind. How is it supposed that any amount of study of the last new Theory of Textual Revision can seriously affect a Reviewer's estimate of the evidential value of the historical facts on which he relies for his proof that a certain exhibition of the Greek Text is untrustworthy? The onus probandi rests clearly not with him, but with those who call those proofs of his in question. More of this, however, by and by. We are impatient to get on.

(c) And then, lastly,—What have we to do with the Theory of Drs. Westcott and Hort? or indeed with the Theory of any other person who can be named? We have been examining the new Greek Text of the Revisionists. We have condemned, after furnishing detailed proof, the results at which—by whatever means—that distinguished body of Scholars has arrived. Surely it is competent to us to upset their conclusion, without being constrained also to investigate in detail the illicit logical processes by which two of their number in a separate publication have arrived at far graver results, and often even stand hopelessly apart, the one from the other! We say it in no boastful spirit, but we have an undoubted right to assume, that unless the Revisionists are able by a [pg 241] stronger array of authorities to set aside the evidence we have already brought forward, the calamitous destiny of their “Revision,” so far as the New Testament is concerned, is simply a thing inevitable.

Let it not be imagined, however, from what goes before, that we desire to shirk the proposed encounter with the advocates of this last new Text, or that we entertain the slightest intention of doing so. We willingly accept the assurance, that it is only because Drs. Westcott and Hort are virtually responsible for the Revisers' Greek Text, that it is so imperiously demanded by the Revisers and their partizans, that the Theory of the two Cambridge Professors may be critically examined. We can sympathize also with the secret distress of certain of the body, who now, when it is all too late to remedy the mischief, begin to suspect that they have been led away by the hardihood of self-assertion;—overpowered by the facundia præceps of one who is at least a thorough believer in his own self-evolved opinions;—imposed upon by the seemingly consentient pages of Tischendorf and Tregelles, Westcott and Hort.—Without further preface we begin.

It is presumed that we shall be rendering acceptable service in certain quarters if,—before investigating the particular Theory which has been proposed for consideration,—we endeavour to give the unlearned English Reader some general notion, (it must perforce be a very imperfect one,) of the nature of the controversy to which the Theory now to be considered belongs, and out of which it has sprung. Claiming to be an attempt to determine the Truth of Scripture on scientific principles, the work before us may be regarded as the latest outcome of that violent recoil from the Traditional Greek Text,—that strange impatience of its authority, or [pg 242] rather denial that it possesses any authority at all,—which began with Lachmann just 50 years ago (viz. in 1831), and has prevailed ever since; its most conspicuous promoters being Tregelles (1857-72) and Tischendorf (1865-72).

The true nature of the Principles which respectively animate the two parties in this controversy is at this time as much as ever,—perhaps more than ever,—popularly misunderstood. The common view of the contention in which they are engaged, is certainly the reverse of complimentary to the school of which Dr. Scrivener is the most accomplished living exponent. We hear it confidently asserted that the contention is nothing else but an irrational endeavour on the one part to set up the many modern against the few ancient Witnesses;—the later cursive copies against the “old Uncials;”—inveterate traditional Error against undoubted primitive Truth. The disciples of the new popular school, on the contrary, are represented as relying exclusively on Antiquity. We respectfully assure as many as require the assurance, that the actual contention is of an entirely different nature. But, before we offer a single word in the way of explanation, let the position of our assailants at least be correctly ascertained and clearly established. We have already been constrained to some extent to go over this ground: but we will not repeat ourselves. The Reader is referred back, in the meantime, to pp. 21-24.

Lachmann's ruling principle then, was exclusive reliance on a very few ancient authorities—because they are “ancient.” He constructed his Text on three or four,—not unfrequently on one or two,—Greek codices. Of the Greek Fathers, he relied on Origen. Of the oldest Versions, he cared only for the Latin. To the Syriac (concerning which, see above, p. 9), he paid no attention. We venture to think his method [pg 243] irrational. But this is really a point on which the thoughtful reader is competent to judge for himself. He is invited to read the note at foot of the page.⁷⁰⁹

Tregelles adopted the same strange method. He resorted to a very few out of the entire mass of “ancient Authorities” for the construction of his Text. His proceeding is exactly that of a man, who—in order that he may the better explore a comparatively unknown region—begins by putting out both his eyes; and resolutely refuses the help of the natives to show him the way. Why he rejected the testimony of every Father of the IVth century, except Eusebius,—it were unprofitable to enquire.

Tischendorf, the last and by far the ablest Critic of the three, knew better than to reject “eighty-nine ninetieths” of the extant witnesses. He had recourse to the ingenious expedient of adducing all the available evidence, but adopting just as little of it as he chose: and he chose to adopt those readings only, which are vouched for by the same little band of authorities whose partial testimony had already proved fatal to the decrees of Lachmann and Tregelles. Happy in having discovered (in 1859) an uncial codex (א) second in antiquity only to the oldest before known (b), and strongly [pg 244] resembling that famous IVth-century codex in the character of its contents, he suffered his judgment to be overpowered by the circumstance. He at once (1865-72) remodelled his 7th edition (1856-9) in 3505 places,—“to the scandal of the science of Comparative Criticism, as well as to his own grave discredit for discernment and consistency.”⁷¹⁰ And yet he knew concerning Cod. א, that at least ten different Revisers from the Vth century downwards had laboured to remedy the scandalously corrupt condition of a text which, “as it proceeded from the first scribe,” even Tregelles describes as “very rough.”⁷¹¹ But in fact the infatuation which prevails to this hour in this department of sacred Science can only be spoken of as incredible. Enough has been said to show—(the only point we are bent on establishing)—that the one distinctive tenet of the three most famous Critics since 1831 has been a superstitious reverence for whatever is found in the same little handful of early,—but not the earliest,—nor yet of necessity the purest,—documents.

Against this arbitrary method of theirs we solemnly, stiffly remonstrate. “Strange,” we venture to exclaim, (addressing the living representatives of the school of Lachmann, and Tregelles, and Tischendorf):—“Strange, that you should not perceive that you are the dupes of a fallacy which is even transparent. You talk of ‘Antiquity.’ But you must know very well that you actually mean something different. You fasten upon three, or perhaps four,—on two, or perhaps three,—on one, or perhaps two,—documents of the IVth or Vth century. But then, confessedly, these are one, two, three, or four specimens only of Antiquity,—not ‘Antiquity’ itself. And what if they should even prove to be unfair samples of Antiquity? Thus, you are observed always to [pg 245] quote cod. b or at least cod. א. Pray, why may not the Truth reside instead with a, or c, or d?—You quote the old Latin or the Coptic. Why may not the Peschito or the Sahidic be right rather?—You quote either Origen or else Eusebius,—but why not Didymus and Athanasius, Epiphanius and Basil, Chrysostom and Theodoret, the Gregories and the Cyrils?... It will appear therefore that we are every bit as strongly convinced as you can be of the paramount claims of ‘Antiquity:’ but that, eschewing prejudice and partiality, we differ from you only in this, viz. that we absolutely refuse to bow down before the particular specimens of Antiquity which you have arbitrarily selected as the objects of your superstition. You are illogical enough to propose to include within your list of ‘ancient Authorities,’ codd. 1, 33 and 69,—which are severally MSS. of the Xth, XIth, and XIVth centuries. And why? Only because the Text of those 3 copies is observed to bear a sinister resemblance to that of codex b. But then why, in the name of common sense, do you not show corresponding favour to the remaining 997 cursive Copies of the N. T.,—seeing that these are observed to bear the same general resemblance to codex a?... You are for ever talking about ‘old Readings.’ Have you not yet discovered that all ‘Readings’ are ‘old’?”

The last contribution to this department of sacred Science is a critical edition of the New Testament by Drs. Westcott and Hort. About this, we proceed to offer a few remarks.

I. The first thing here which unfavourably arrests attention is the circumstance that this proves to be the only Critical Edition of the New Testament since the days of Mill, which does not even pretend to contribute something to our previous critical knowledge of the subject. Mill it was (1707) who gave us the great bulk of our various Readings; [pg 246] which Bengel (1734) slightly, and Wetstein (1751-2) very considerably, enlarged.—The accurate Matthæi (1782-8) acquainted us with the contents of about 100 codices more; and was followed by Griesbach (1796-1806) with important additional materials.—Birch had in the meantime (1788) culled from the principal libraries of Europe a large assortment of new Readings: while truly marvellous was the accession of evidence which Scholz brought to light in 1830.—And though Lachmann (1842-50) did wondrous little in this department, he yet furnished the critical authority (such as it is) for his own unsatisfactory Text.—Tregelles (1857-72), by his exact collations of MSS. and examination of the earliest Fathers, has laid the Church under an abiding obligation: and what is to be said of Tischendorf (1856-72), who has contributed more to our knowledge than any other editor of the N. T. since the days of Mill?—Dr. Scrivener, though he has not independently edited the original Text, is clearly to be reckoned among those who have, by reason of his large, important, and accurate contributions to our knowledge of ancient documents. Transfer his collections of various Readings to the foot of the page of a copy of the commonly Received Text,—and “Scrivener's New Testament”⁷¹² might stand between the editions of Mill and of Wetstein. Let the truth be told. C. F. Matthæi and he are the only two Scholars who have collated any considerable number of sacred Codices with the needful amount of accuracy.⁷¹³

[pg 247]

Now, we trust we shall be forgiven if, at the close of the preceding enumeration, we confess to something like displeasure at the oracular tone assumed by Drs. Westcott and Hort in dealing with the Text of Scripture, though they admit (page 90) that they “rely for documentary evidence on the stores accumulated by their predecessors.” Confident as those distinguished Professors may reasonably feel of their ability to dispense with the ordinary appliances of Textual Criticism; and proud (as they must naturally be) of a verifying faculty which (although they are able to give no account of it) yet enables them infallibly to discriminate between the false and the true, as well as to assign “a local habitation and a name” to every word,—inspired or uninspired,—which purports to belong to the N. T.:—they must not be offended with us if we freely assure them at the outset that we shall decline to accept a single argumentative assertion of theirs for which they fail to offer sufficient proof. Their wholly unsupported decrees, at the risk of being thought uncivil, we shall unceremoniously reject, as soon as we have allowed them a hearing.

This resolve bodes ill, we freely admit, to harmonious progress. But it is inevitable. For, to speak plainly, we never before met with such a singular tissue of magisterial statements, unsupported by a particle of rational evidence, as we meet with here. The abstruse gravity, the long-winded earnestness of the writer's manner, contrast whimsically with the utterly inconsequential character of his antecedents [pg 248] and his consequents throughout. Professor Hort—(for “the writing of the volume and the other accompaniments of the Text devolved” on him,⁷¹⁴)—Dr. Hort seems to mistake his Opinions for facts,—his Assertions for arguments,—and a Reiteration of either for an accession of evidence. There is throughout the volume, apparently, a dread of Facts which is even extraordinary. An actual illustration of the learned Author's meaning,—a concrete case,—seems as if it were never forthcoming. At last it comes: but the phenomenon is straightway discovered to admit of at least two interpretations, and therefore never to prove the thing intended. In a person of high education,—in one accustomed to exact reasoning,—we should have supposed all this impossible.... But it is high time to unfold the Introduction at the first page, and to begin to read.

II. It opens (p. 1-11) with some unsatisfactory Remarks on “Transmission by Writing;” vague and inaccurate,—unsupported by one single Textual reference,—and labouring under the grave defect of leaving the most instructive phenomena of the problem wholly untouched. For, inasmuch as “Transmission by writing” involves two distinct classes of errors, (1st) Those which are the result of Accident,—and (2ndly) Those which are the result of Design,—it is to use a Reader badly not to take the earliest opportunity of explaining to him that what makes codd. b א d such utterly untrustworthy guides, (except when supported by a large amount of extraneous evidence,) is the circumstance that Design had evidently so much to do with a vast proportion of the peculiar errors in which they severally abound. In other words, each of those codices clearly exhibits a fabricated Text,—is the result of arbitrary and reckless Recension.

[pg 249]

Now, this is not a matter of opinion, but of fact. In S. Luke's Gospel alone (collated with the traditional Text) the transpositions in codex b amount to 228,—affecting 654 words: in codex d, to 464,—affecting 1401 words. Proceeding with our examination of the same Gospel according to S. Luke, we find that the words omitted in b are 757,—in d, 1552. The words substituted in b amount to 309,—in d, to 1006. The readings peculiar to b are 138, and affect 215 words;—those peculiar to d, are 1731, and affect 4090 words. Wondrous few of these can have been due to accidental causes. The Text of one or of both codices must needs be depraved. (As for א, it is so frequently found in accord with b, that out of consideration for our Readers, we omit the corresponding figures.)

We turn to codd. a and c—(executed, suppose, a hundred years after b, and a hundred years before d)—and the figures are found to be as follows:—

| In a. | In c.
The transpositions are | 75 | 67
affecting | 199 words | 197
The words omitted are | 208 | 175
The words substituted | 111 | 115
The peculiar readings | 90 | 87
affecting | 131 words | 127

Now, (as we had occasion to explain in a previous page,⁷¹⁵) it is entirely to misunderstand the question, to object that the preceding Collation has been made with the Text of Stephanus open before us. Robert Etienne in the XVIth century was not the cause why cod. b in the IVth, and cod. d in the VIth, are so widely discordant from one another; a and c, so utterly at variance with both. The simplest [pg 250] explanation of the phenomena is the truest; namely, that b and d exhibit grossly depraved Texts;—a circumstance of which it is impossible that the ordinary Reader should be too soon or too often reminded. But to proceed.

III. Some remarks follow, on what is strangely styled “Transmission by printed Editions:” in the course of which Dr. Hort informs us that Lachmann's Text of 1831 was “the first founded on documentary authority.”⁷¹⁶... On what then, pray, does the learned Professor imagine that the Texts of Erasmus (1516) and of Stunica (1522) were founded? His statement is incorrect. The actual difference between Lachmann's Text and those of the earlier Editors is, that his “documentary authority” is partial, narrow, self-contradictory; and is proved to be untrustworthy by a free appeal to Antiquity. Their documentary authority, derived from independent sources,—though partial and narrow as that on which Lachmann relied,—exhibits (under the good Providence of God,) a Traditional Text, the general purity of which is demonstrated by all the evidence which 350 years of subsequent research have succeeded in accumulating; and which is confessedly the Text of a.d. 375.

IV. We are favoured, in the third place, with the “History of this Edition:” in which the point that chiefly arrests attention is the explanation afforded of the many and serious occasions on which Dr. Westcott (“W.”) and Dr. Hort (“H.”), finding it impossible to agree, have set down their respective notions separately and subscribed them with their respective initial. We are reminded of what was wittily said concerning Richard Baxter: viz. that even if no one but himself existed in the Church, “Richard” would still be found to [pg 251] disagree with “Baxter,”—and “Baxter” with “Richard”.... We read with uneasiness that

“no individual mind can ever act with perfect uniformity, or free itself completely from its own Idiosyncrasies;” and that “the danger of unconscious Caprice is inseparable from personal judgment.”—(p. 17.)

All this reminds us painfully of certain statements made by the same Editors in 1870:—

“We are obliged to come to the individual mind at last; and Canons of Criticism are useful only as warnings against natural illusions, and aids to circumspect consideration, not as absolute rules to prescribe the final decision.”—(pp. xviii., xix.)

May we be permitted without offence to point out (not for the first time) that “idiosyncrasies” and “unconscious caprice,” and the fancies of the “individual mind,” can be allowed no place whatever in a problem of such gravity and importance as the present? Once admit such elements, and we are safe to find ourselves in cloud-land to-morrow. A weaker foundation on which to build, is not to be named. And when we find that the learned Professors “venture to hope that the present Text has escaped some risks of this kind by being the production of two Editors of different habits of mind, working independently and to a great extent on different plans,”—we can but avow our conviction that the safeguard is altogether inadequate. When two men, devoted to the same pursuit, are in daily confidential intercourse on such a subject, the “natural illusions” of either have a marvellous tendency to communicate themselves. Their Reader's only protection is rigidly to insist on the production of Proof for everything which these authors say.

V. The dissertation on “Intrinsic” and “Transcriptional Probability” which follows (pp. 20-30),—being unsupported by one single instance or illustration,—we pass by. It ignores [pg 252] throughout the fact, that the most serious corruptions of MSS. are due, not to “Scribes” or “Copyists,” (of whom, by the way, we find perpetual mention every time we open the page;) but to the persons who employed them. So far from thinking with Dr. Hort that “the value of the evidence obtained from Transcriptional Probability is incontestable,”—for that, “without its aid, Textual Criticism could rarely obtain a high degree of security,” (p. 24,)—we venture to declare that inasmuch as one expert's notions of what is “transcriptionally probable” prove to be the diametrical reverse of another expert's notions, the supposed evidence to be derived from this source may, with advantage, be neglected altogether. Let the study of Documentary Evidence be allowed to take its place. Notions of “Probability” are the very pest of those departments of Science which admit of an appeal to Fact.

VI. A signal proof of the justice of our last remark is furnished by the plea which is straightway put in (pp. 30-1) for the superior necessity of attending to “the relative antecedent credibility of Witnesses.” In other words, “The comparative trustworthiness of documentary Authorities” is proposed as a far weightier consideration than “Intrinsic” and “Transcriptional Probability.” Accordingly we are assured (in capital letters) that “Knowledge of Documents should precede final judgment upon readings” (p. 31).

“Knowledge”! Yes, but how acquired? Suppose two rival documents,—cod. a and cod. b. May we be informed how you would proceed with respect to them?

“Where one of the documents is found habitually to contain morally certain, or at least strongly preferred, Readings,—and the other habitually to contain their rejected rivals,—we [i.e. Dr. Hort] can have no doubt that the Text of the first has been [pg 253] transmitted in comparative purity; and that the Text of the second has suffered comparatively large corruption.”—(p. 32.)

But can such words have been written seriously? Is it gravely pretended that Readings become “morally certain,” because they are “strongly preferred”? Are we (in other words) seriously invited to admit that the “strong preference” of “the individual mind” is to be the ultimate standard of appeal? If so, though you (Dr. Hort) may “have no doubt” as to which is the purer manuscript,—see you not plainly that a man of different “idiosyncrasy” from yourself, may just as reasonably claim to “have no doubt”—that you are mistaken?... One is reminded of a passage in p. 61: viz.—

“If we find in any group of documents a succession of Readings exhibiting an exceptional purity of text, that is,—Readings which the fullest consideration of Internal Evidence pronounces to be right, in opposition to formidable arrays of Documentary Evidence; the cause must be that, as far at least as these Readings are concerned, some one exceptionally pure MS. was the common ancestor of all the members of the group.”

But how does that appear? “The cause” may be the erroneous judgment of the Critic,—may it not?... Dr. Hort is for setting up what his own inner consciousness “pronounces to be right,” against “Documentary Evidence,” however multitudinous. He claims that his own verifying faculty shall be supreme,—shall settle every question. Can he be in earnest?

VII. We are next introduced to the subject of “Genealogical Evidence” (p. 39); and are made attentive: for we speedily find ourselves challenged to admit that a “total change in the bearing of the evidence” is “made by the introduction of the factor of Genealogy” (p. 43). Presuming that the meaning of the learned Writer must rather be that if we did but know the genealogy of MSS., we should be in a position to reason more confidently concerning their Texts,—we [pg 254] read on: and speedily come to a second axiom (which is again printed in capital letters), viz. that “All trustworthy restoration of corrupted Texts is founded on the study of their History” (p. 40). We really read and wonder. Are we then engaged in the “restoration of corrupted Texts”? If so,—which be they? We require—(1) To be shown the “corrupted Texts” referred to: and then—(2) To be convinced that “the study of their History”—(as distinguished from an examination of the evidence for or against their Readings)—is a thing feasible.

“A simple instance” (says Dr. Hort) “will show at once the practical bearing” of “the principle here laid down.”—(p. 40.)

But (as usual) Dr. Hort produces no instance. He merely proceeds to “suppose” a case (§ 50), which he confesses (§ 53) does not exist. So that we are moving in a land of shadows. And this, he straightway follows up by the assertion that

“it would be difficult to insist too strongly on the transformation of the superficial aspects of numerical authority effected by recognition of Genealogy.”—(p. 43.)

Presently, he assures us that

“a few documents are not, by reason of their mere paucity, appreciably less likely to be right than a multitude opposed to them.” (p. 45.)

On this head, we take leave to entertain a somewhat different opinion. Apart from the character of the Witnesses, when 5 men say one thing, and 995 say the exact contradictory, we are apt to regard it even as axiomatic that, “by reason of their mere paucity,” the few “are appreciably far less likely to be right than the multitude opposed to them.” Dr. Hort seems to share our opinion; for he remarks,—

“A presumption indeed remains that a majority of extant documents is more likely to represent a majority of ancestral documents, than vice versâ.”

[pg 255]

Exactly so! We meant, and we mean that, and no other thing. But then, we venture to point out, that the learned Professor considerably understates the case: seeing that the “vice versâ presumption” is absolutely non-existent. On the other hand, apart from Proof to the contrary, we are disposed to maintain that “a majority of extant documents” in the proportion of 995 to 5,—and sometimes of 1999 to 1,—creates more than “a presumption.” It amounts to Proof of “a majority of ancestral documents”.

Not so thinks Dr. Hort. “This presumption,” (he seems to have persuaded himself,) may be disposed of by his mere assertion that it “is too minute to weigh against the smallest tangible evidence of other kinds” (Ibid.). As usual, however, he furnishes us with no evidence at all,—“tangible” or “intangible.” Can he wonder if we smile at his unsupported dictum, and pass on?... The argumentative import of his twenty weary pages on “Genealogical Evidence” (pp. 39-59), appears to be resolvable into the following barren truism: viz. That if, out of 10 copies of Scripture, 9 could be proved to have been executed from one and the same common original (p. 41), those 9 would cease to be regarded as 9 independent witnesses. But does the learned Critic really require to be told that we want no diagram of an imaginary case (p. 54) to convince us of that?

The one thing here which moves our astonishment, is, that Dr. Hort does not seem to reflect that therefore (indeed by his own showing) codices b and א, having been demonstrably “executed from one and the same common original,” are not to be reckoned as two independent witnesses to the Text of the New Testament, but as little more than one. (See p. 257.)

High time however is it to declare that, in strictness, all this talk about “Genealogical evidence,” when applied to [pg 256] Manuscripts, is—moonshine. The expression is metaphorical, and assumes that it has fared with MSS. as it fares with the successive generations of a family; and so, to a remarkable extent, no doubt, it has. But then, it happens, unfortunately, that we are unacquainted with one single instance of a known MS. copied from another known MS. And perforce all talk about “Genealogical evidence,” where no single step in the descent can be produced,—in other words, where no Genealogical evidence exists,—is absurd. The living inhabitants of a village, congregated in the churchyard where the bodies of their forgotten progenitors for 1000 years repose without memorials of any kind,—is a faint image of the relation which subsists between extant copies of the Gospels and the sources from which they were derived. That, in either case, there has been repeated mixture, is undeniable; but since the Parish-register is lost, and not a vestige of Tradition survives, it is idle to pretend to argue on that part of the subject. It may be reasonably assumed however that those 50 yeomen, bearing as many Saxon surnames, indicate as many remote ancestors of some sort. That they represent as many families, is at least a fact. Further we cannot go.

But the illustration is misleading, because inadequate. Assemble rather an Englishman, an Irishman, a Scot; a Frenchman, a German, a Spaniard; a Russian, a Pole, an Hungarian; an Italian, a Greek, a Turk. From Noah these 12 are all confessedly descended; but if they are silent, and you know nothing whatever about their antecedents,—your remarks about their respective “genealogies” must needs prove as barren—as Dr. Hort's about the “genealogies” of copies of Scripture. “The factor of Genealogy,” in short, in this discussion, represents a mere phantom of the brain: is the name of an imagination—not of a fact.

[pg 257]

The nearest approximation to the phenomenon about which Dr. Hort writes so glibly, is supplied—(1) by Codd. f and g of S. Paul, which are found to be independent transcripts of the same venerable lost original:—(2) by Codd. 13, 69, 124 and 346, which were confessedly derived from one and the same queer archetype: and especially—(3) by Codd. b and א. These two famous manuscripts, because they are disfigured exclusively by the self-same mistakes, are convicted of being descended (and not very remotely) from the self-same very corrupt original. By consequence, the combined evidence of f and g is but that of a single codex. Evan. 13, 69, 124, 346, when they agree, would be conveniently designated by a symbol, or a single capital letter. Codd. b and א, as already hinted (p. 255), are not to be reckoned as two witnesses. Certainly, they have not nearly the Textual significancy and importance of B in conjunction with a, or of a in conjunction with c. At best, they do but equal 1-½ copies. Nothing of this kind however is what Drs. Westcott and Hort intend to convey,—or indeed seem to understand.

VIII. It is not until we reach p. 94, that these learned men favour us with a single actual appeal to Scripture. At p. 90, Dr. Hort,—who has hitherto been skirmishing over the ground, and leaving us to wonder what in the world it can be that he is driving at,—announces a chapter on the “Results of Genealogical evidence proper;” and proposes to “determine the Genealogical relations of the chief ancient Texts.” Impatient for argument, (at page 92,) we read as follows:—

“The fundamental Text of late extant Greek MSS. generally is beyond all question identical with the dominant Antiochian or Græco-Syrian Text of the second half of the fourth century.”

We request, in passing, that the foregoing statement may be carefully noted. The Traditional Greek Text of the New [pg 258] Testament,—the Textus Receptus, in short,—is, according to Dr. Hort, “beyond all question” the “Text of the second half of the fourth century.” We shall gratefully avail ourselves of his candid admission, by and by.

Having thus assumed a “dominant Antiochian or Græco-Syrian text of the second half of the IVth century,” Dr. H. attempts, by an analysis of what he is pleased to call “conflate Readings,” to prove the “posteriority of ‘Syrian’ to ‘Western’ and other ‘Neutral’ readings.”... Strange method of procedure! seeing that, of those second and third classes of readings, we have not as yet so much as heard the names. Let us however without more delay be shown those specimens of “Conflation” which, in Dr. Hort's judgment, supply “the clearest evidence” (p. 94) that “Syrian” are posterior alike to “Western” and to “Neutral readings.” Of these, after 30 years of laborious research, Dr. Westcott and he flatter themselves that they have succeeded in detecting eight.

IX. Now because, on the one hand, it would be unreasonable to fill up the space at our disposal with details which none but professed students will care to read;—and because, on the other, we cannot afford to pass by anything in these pages which pretends to be of the nature of proof;—we have consigned our account of Dr. Hort's 8 instances of Conflation (which prove to be less than 7) to the foot of the page.⁷¹⁷

[pg 259]

And, after an attentive survey of the Textual phenomena connected with these 7 specimens, we are constrained to [pg 260] assert that the interpretation put upon them by Drs. Westcott and Hort, is purely arbitrary: a baseless imagination,—a [pg 261] dream and nothing more. Something has been attempted analogous to the familiar fallacy, in Divinity, of building a [pg 262] false and hitherto unheard-of doctrine on a few isolated places of Scripture, divorced from their context. The actual facts of the case shall be submitted to the judgement of learned and unlearned Readers alike: and we promise beforehand to abide by the unprejudiced verdict of either:—

(a) S. Mark's Gospel is found to contain in all 11,646 words: of which (collated with the Traditional Text) a omits 138: b, 762: א, 870: d, 900.—S. Luke contains 19,941 words: of which a omits 208: b, 757; א, 816: d, no less than 1552. (Let us not be told that the traditional Text is itself not altogether trustworthy. That is a matter entirely beside the question just now before the Reader,—as we have already, over and over again, had occasion to explain.⁷¹⁸ Codices must needs all alike be compared with something,—must perforce all alike be referred to some one common standard: and we, for our part, are content to employ (as every Critic has been content before us) the traditional Text, as the most convenient standard that can be named. So employed, (viz. as a standard of comparison, not of excellence,) the commonly Received Text, more conveniently than any other, reveals—certainly does not occasion—different degrees of discrepancy. And now, to proceed.)

[pg 263]

(b) Dr. Hort has detected four instances in S. Mark's Gospel, only three in S. Luke's—seven in all—where Codices b א and d happen to concur in making an omission at the same place, but not of the same words. We shall probably be best understood if we produce an instance of the thing spoken of: and no fairer example can be imagined than the last of the eight, of which Dr. Hort says,—“This simple instance needs no explanation” (p. 104). Instead of αἰνοῦντες καὶ εὐλογοῦντες,—(which is the reading of every known copy of the Gospels except five,)—א b c l exhibit only εὐλογοῦντες: d, only αἰνοῦντες. (To speak quite accurately, א b c l omit αἰνοῦντες καί and are followed by Westcott and Hort: d omits καὶ εὐλογοῦντες, and is followed by Tischendorf. Lachmann declines to follow either. Tregelles doubts.)

(c) Now, upon this (and the six other instances, which however prove to be a vast deal less apt for their purpose than the present), these learned men have gratuitously built up the following extravagant and astonishing theory:—

(d) They assume,—(they do not attempt to prove: in fact they never prove anything:)—(1) That αἰνοῦντες καί—and καὶ εὐλογοῦντες—are respectively fragments of two independent Primitive Texts, which they arbitrarily designate as “Western” and “Neutral,” respectively:—(2) That the latter of the two, [only however because it is vouched for by b and א,] must needs exhibit what the Evangelist actually wrote: [though why it must, these learned men forget to explain:]—(3) That in the middle of the IIIrd and of the IVth century the two Texts referred to were with design and by authority welded together, and became (what the same irresponsible Critics are pleased to call) the “Syrian text.”—(4) That αἰνοῦντες καὶ εὐλογοῦντες, being thus shown [?] to be “a Syrian Conflation,” may be rejected at once. (Notes, p. 73.)

[pg 264]

X. But we demur to this weak imagination, (which only by courtesy can be called “a Theory,”) on every ground, and are constrained to remonstrate with our would-be Guides at every step. They assume everything. They prove nothing. And the facts of the case lend them no favour at all. For first,—We only find εὐλογοῦντες standing alone, in two documents of the IVth century, in two of the Vth, and in one of the VIIIth: while, for αἰνοῦντες standing alone, the only Greek voucher producible is a notoriously corrupt copy of the VIth century. True, that here a few copies of the old Latin side with d: but then a few copies also side with the traditional Text: and Jerome is found to have adjudicated between their rival claims in favour of the latter. The probabilities of the case are in fact simply overwhelming; for, since d omits 1552 words out of 19,941 (i.e. about one word in 13), why may not καὶ εὐλογοῦντες be two of the words it omits,—in which case there has been no “Conflation”?

Nay, look into the matter a little more closely:—(for surely, before we put up with this queer illusion, it is our duty to look it very steadily in the face:)—and note, that in this last chapter of S. Luke's Gospel, which consists of 837 words, no less than 121 are omitted by cod. d. To state the case differently,—d is observed to leave out one word in seven in the very chapter of S. Luke which supplies the instance of “Conflation” under review. What possible significance therefore can be supposed to attach to its omission of the clause καὶ εὐλογοῦντες? And since, mutatis mutandis, the same remarks apply to the 6 remaining cases,—(for one, viz. the [7th], is clearly an oversight,)—will any Reader of ordinary fairness and intelligence be surprised to hear that we reject the assumed “Conflation” unconditionally, as a silly dream? It is founded entirely upon the omission of 21 (or at most 42) words out of a total of 31,587 from Codd. b א d. And [pg 265] yet it is demonstrable that out of that total, b omits 1519: א, 1686: d, 2452. The occasional coincidence in Omission of b + א and d, was in a manner inevitable, and is undeserving of notice. If,—(which is as likely as not,)—on six occasions, b + א and d have but omitted different words in the same sentence, then there has been no “Conflation”; and the (so-called) “Theory,” which was to have revolutionized the Text of the N. T., is discovered to rest absolutely upon nothing. It bursts, like a very thin bubble: floats away like a film of gossamer, and disappears from sight.

But further, as a matter of fact, at least five out of the eight instances cited,—viz. the [1st], [2nd], [5th], [6th], [7th],—fail to exhibit the alleged phenomena: conspicuously ought never to have been adduced. For, in the [1st], d merely abridges the sentence: in the [2nd], it paraphrases 11 words by 11; and in the [6th], it paraphrases 12 words by 9. In the [5th], b d merely abridge. The utmost residuum of fact which survives, is therefore as follows:—

[3rd]. In a sentence of 11 words, b א omit 4: d other 4.

[4th]. " " 9 words, b א omit 5: d other 5.

[8th]. " " 5 words, b א omit 2: d other 2.

But if this be “the clearest Evidence” (p. 94) producible for “the Theory of Conflation,”—then, the less said about the “Theory,” the better for the credit of its distinguished Inventors. How any rational Textual Theory is to be constructed out of the foregoing Omissions, we fail to divine. But indeed the whole matter is demonstrably a weak imagination,—a dream, and nothing more.

XI. In the meantime, Drs. Westcott and Hort, instead of realizing the insecurity of the ground under their feet, proceed gravely to build upon it, and to treat their hypothetical [pg 266] assumptions as well-ascertained facts. They imagine that they have already been led by “independent Evidence” to regard “the longer readings as conflate each from the two earlier readings:”—whereas, up to p. 105 (where the statement occurs), they have really failed to produce a single particle of evidence, direct or indirect, for their opinion. “We have found reason to believe” the Readings of א b l, (say they,) “to be the original Readings.”—But why, if this is the case, have they kept their “finding” so entirely to themselves?—No reason whatever have they assigned for their belief. The Reader is presently assured (p. 106) that “it is certain” that the Readings exhibited by the traditional Text in the eight supposed cases of “Conflation” are all posterior in date to the fragmentary readings exhibited by b and d. But, once more, What is the ground of this “certainty”?—Presently (viz. in p. 107), the Reader meets with the further assurance that

“the proved actual use of [shorter] documents in the conflate Readings renders their use elsewhere a vera causa in the Newtonian sense.”

But, once more,—Where and what is the “proof” referred to? May a plain man, sincerely in search of Truth,—after wasting many precious hours over these barren pages—be permitted to declare that he resents such solemn trifling? (He craves to be forgiven if he avows that “Pickwickian”—not “Newtonian”—was the epithet which solicited him, when he had to transcribe for the Printer the passage which immediately precedes.)

XII. Next come 8 pages (pp. 107-15) headed—“Posteriority of ‘Syrian’ to ‘Western’ and other (neutral and ‘Alexandrian’) Readings, shown by Ante-Nicene Patristic evidence.”

In which however we are really “shown” nothing of the sort. Bold Assertions abound, (as usual with this respected [pg 267] writer,) but Proof he never attempts any. Not a particle of “Evidence” is adduced.—Next come 5 pages headed,—“Posteriority of Syrian to Western, Alexandrian, and other (neutral) Readings, shown by Internal evidence of Syrian readings” (p. 115).

But again we are “shown” absolutely nothing: although we are treated to the assurance that we have been shown many wonders. Thus, “the Syrian conflate Readings have shown the Syrian text to be posterior to at least two ancient forms still extant” (p. 115): which is the very thing they have signally failed to do. Next,

“Patristic evidence has shown that these two ancient Texts, and also a third, must have already existed early in the third century, and suggested very strong grounds for believing that in the middle of the century the Syrian Text had not yet been formed.”

Whereas no single appeal has been made to the evidence supplied by one single ancient Father!—

“Another step is gained by a close examination of all Readings distinctively Syrian.”—(Ibid.)

And yet we are never told which the “Readings distinctively Syrian” are,—although they are henceforth referred to in every page. Neither are we instructed how to recognize them when we see them; which is unfortunate, since “it follows,”—(though we entirely fail to see from what,)—“that all distinctively Syrian Readings may be set aside at once as certainly originating after the middle of the third century.” (p. 117) ... Let us hear a little more on the subject:—

“The same Facts”—(though Dr. Hort has not hitherto favoured us with any)—“lead to another conclusion of equal or even greater importance respecting non-distinctive Syrian Readings ... Since the Syrian Text is only a modified eclectic combination of earlier Texts independently attested,”—

(for it is in this confident style that these eminent Scholars [pg 268] handle the problem they undertook to solve, but as yet have failed even to touch),—

“existing documents descended from it can attest nothing but itself.”—(p. 118.)

Presently, we are informed that “it follows from what has been said above,”—(though how it follows, we fail to see,)—“that all Readings in which the Pre-Syrian texts concur, must be accepted at once as the Apostolic Readings:” and that “all distinctively Syrian Readings must be at once rejected.”—(p. 119.)

Trenchant decrees of this kind at last arrest attention. It becomes apparent that we have to do with a Writer who has discovered a summary way of dealing with the Text of Scripture, and who is prepared to impart his secret to any who care to accept—without questioning—his views. We look back to see where this accession of confidence began, and are reminded that at p. 108 Dr. Hort announced that for convenience he should henceforth speak of certain “groups of documents,” by the conventional names “Western”—“Pre-Syrian”—“Alexandrian”—and so forth. Accordingly, ever since, (sometimes eight or ten times in the course of a single page,⁷¹⁹) we have encountered this arbitrary terminology: have been required to accept it as the expression of ascertained facts in Textual Science. Not till we find ourselves floundering in the deep mire, do we become fully aware of the absurdity of our position. Then at last, (and high time too!), we insist on knowing what on earth our Guide is about, and whither he is proposing to lead us?... More considerate to our Readers than he has been to us, we propose before going any further, (instead of mystifying the subject as Dr. Hort has done,) to state in a few plain words what [pg 269] the present Theory, divested of pedantry and circumlocution, proves to be; and what is Dr. Hort's actual contention.

XIII. The one great Fact, which especially troubles him and his joint Editor,⁷²⁰—(as well it may)—is The Traditional Greek Text of the New Testament Scriptures. Call this Text Erasmian or Complutensian,—the Text of Stephens, or of Beza, or of the Elzevirs,—call it the “Received,” or the Traditional Greek Text, or whatever other name you please;—the fact remains, that a Text has come down to us which is attested by a general consensus of ancient Copies, ancient Fathers, ancient Versions. This, at all events, is a point on which, (happily,) there exists entire conformity of opinion between Dr. Hort and ourselves. Our Readers cannot have yet forgotten his virtual admission that,—Beyond all question the Textus Receptus is the dominant Græco-Syrian Text of a.d. 350 to a.d. 400.721

Obtained from a variety of sources, this Text proves to be essentially the same in all. That it requires Revision in respect of many of its lesser details, is undeniable: but it is at least as certain that it is an excellent Text as it stands, and that the use of it will never lead critical students of Scripture seriously astray,—which is what no one will venture to predicate concerning any single Critical Edition of the N. T. which has been published since the days of Griesbach, by the disciples of Griesbach's school.

XIV. In marked contrast to the Text we speak of,—(which is identical with the Text of every extant Lectionary of the Greek Church, and may therefore reasonably claim to be spoken of as the Traditional Text,)—is that contained in a [pg 270] little handful of documents of which the most famous are codices b א, and the Coptic Version (as far as it is known), on the one hand,—cod. d and the old Latin copies, on the other. To magnify the merits of these, as helps and guides, and to ignore their many patent and scandalous defects and blemishes:—per fas et nefas to vindicate their paramount authority wherever it is in any way possible to do so; and when that is clearly impossible, then to treat their errors as the ancient Egyptians treated their cats, dogs, monkeys, and other vermin,—namely, to embalm them, and pay them Divine honours:—such for the last 50 years has been the practice of the dominant school of Textual Criticism among ourselves. The natural and even necessary correlative of this, has been the disparagement of the merits of the commonly Received Text: which has come to be spoken of, (we know not why,) as contemptuously, almost as bitterly, as if it had been at last ascertained to be untrustworthy in every respect: a thing undeserving alike of a place and of a name among the monuments of the Past. Even to have “used the Received Text as a basis for correction” (p. 184) is stigmatized by Dr. Hort as one “great cause” why Griesbach went astray.

XV. Drs. Westcott and Hort have in fact outstripped their predecessors in this singular race. Their absolute contempt for the Traditional Text,—their superstitious veneration for a few ancient documents; (which documents however they freely confess are not more ancient than the “Traditional Text” which they despise;)—knows no bounds. But the thing just now to be attended to is the argumentative process whereby they seek to justify their preference.—Lachmann avowedly took his stand on a very few of the oldest known documents: and though Tregelles slightly enlarged the area of his predecessor's observations, his method was practically identical with that of Lachmann.—Tischendorf, appealing to every [pg 271] known authority, invariably shows himself regardless of the evidence he has himself accumulated. Where certain of the uncials are,—there his verdict is sure also to be.... Anything more unscientific, more unphilosophical, more transparently foolish than such a method, can scarcely be conceived: but it has prevailed for 50 years, and is now at last more hotly than ever advocated by Drs. Westcott and Hort. Only, (to their credit be it recorded,) they have had the sense to perceive that it must needs be recommended by Arguments of some sort, or else it will inevitably fall to pieces the first fine day any one is found to charge it, with the necessary knowledge of the subject, and with sufficient resoluteness of purpose, to make him a formidable foe.

XVI. Their expedient has been as follows.—Aware that the Received or Traditional Greek Text (to quote their own words,) “is virtually identical with that used by Chrysostom and other Antiochian Fathers in the latter part of the IVth century:” and fully alive to the fact that it “must therefore have been represented by Manuscripts as old as any which are now surviving” (Text, p. 547),—they have invented an extraordinary Hypothesis in order to account for its existence:—

They assume that the writings of Origen “establish the prior existence of at least three types of Text:”—the most clearly marked of which, they call the “Western:”—another, less prominent, they designate as “Alexandrian:”—the third holds (they say) a middle or “Neutral” position. (That all this is mere moonshine,—a day-dream and no more,—we shall insist, until some proofs have been produced that the respected Authors are moving amid material forms,—not discoursing with the creations of their own brain.) “The priority of two at least of these three Texts just noticed to the Syrian Text,” they are confident has been established by the eight “conflate” [pg 272] Syrian Readings which they flatter themselves they have already resolved into their “Western” and “Neutral” elements (Text, p. 547). This, however, is a part of the subject on which we venture to hope that our Readers by this time have formed a tolerably clear opinion for themselves. The ground has been cleared of the flimsy superstructure which these Critics have been 30 years in raising, ever since we blew away (pp. 258-65) the airy foundation on which it rested.

At the end of some confident yet singularly hazy statements concerning the characteristics of “Western” (pp. 120-6), of “Neutral” (126-30), and of “Alexandrian” Readings (130-2), Dr. Hort favours us with the assurance that—

“The Syrian Text, to which the order of time now brings us,” “is the chief monument of a new period of textual history.”—(p. 132.)

“Now, the three great lines were brought together, and made to contribute to the formation of a new Text different from all.”—(p. 133.)

Let it only be carefully remembered that it is of something virtually identical with the Textus Receptus that we are just now reading an imaginary history, and it is presumed that the most careless will be made attentive.

“The Syrian Text must in fact be the result of a ‘Recension,’ ... performed deliberately by Editors, and not merely by Scribes.”—(Ibid.)

But why “must” it? Instead of “must in fact,” we are disposed to read “may—in fiction.” The learned Critic can but mean that, on comparing the Text of Fathers of the IVth century with the Text of cod. b, it becomes to himself self-evident that one of the two has been fabricated. Granted. Then,—Why should not the solitary Codex be the offending party? For what imaginable reason should cod. b,—which comes to us without a character, and which, when tried by [pg 273] the test of primitive Antiquity, stands convicted of “universa vitiositas,” (to use Tischendorf's expression);—why (we ask) should codex b be upheld “contra mundum”?... Dr. Hort proceeds—(still speaking of “the [imaginary] Syrian Text”),—

“It was probably initiated by the distracting and inconvenient currency of at least three conflicting Texts in the same region.”—(p. 133.)

Well but,—Would it not have been more methodical if “the currency of at least three conflicting Texts in the same region,” had been first demonstrated? or, at least, shown to be a thing probable? Till this “distracting” phenomenon has been to some extent proved to have any existence in fact, what possible “probability” can be claimed for the history of a “Recension,”—which very Recension, up to this point, has not been proved to have ever taken place at all?

“Each Text may perhaps have found a Patron in some leading personage or see, and thus have seemed to call for a conciliation of rival claims.”—(p. 134.)

Why yes, to be sure,—“each Text [if it existed] may perhaps [or perhaps may not] have found a Patron in some leading personage [as Dr. Hort or Dr. Scrivener in our own days]:” but then, be it remembered, this will only have been possible,—(a) If the Recension ever took place: and—(b) If it was conducted after the extraordinary fashion which prevailed in the Jerusalem Chamber from 1870 to 1881: for which we have the unimpeachable testimony of an eye-witness;⁷²² confirmed by the Chairman of the Revisionist body,—by whom in fact it was deliberately invented.⁷²³

But then, since not a shadow of proof is forthcoming that any such Recension as Dr. Hort imagines ever took place at all,—what else but a purely gratuitous exercise of [pg 274] the imaginative faculty is it, that Dr. Hort should proceed further to invent the method which might, or could, or would, or should have been pursued, if it had taken place?

Having however in this way (1) Assumed a “Syrian Recension,”—(2) Invented the cause of it,—and (3) Dreamed the process by which it was carried into execution,—the Critic hastens, more suo, to characterize the historical result in the following terms:—

“The qualities which the Authors of the Syrian text seem to have most desired to impress on it are lucidity and completeness. They were evidently anxious to remove all stumbling-blocks out of the way of the ordinary reader, so far as this could be done without recourse to violent measures. They were apparently equally desirous that he should have the benefit of instructive matter contained in all the existing Texts, provided it did not confuse the context or introduce seeming contradictions. New Omissions accordingly are rare, and where they occur are usually found to contribute to apparent simplicity. New Interpolations, on the other hand, are abundant, most of them being due to harmonistic or other assimilation, fortunately capricious and incomplete. Both in matter and in diction the Syrian Text is conspicuously a full Text. It delights in Pronouns, Conjunctions, and Expletives and supplied links of all kinds, as well as in more considerable Additions. As distinguished from the bold vigour of the ‘Western’ scribes, and the refined scholarship of the ‘Alexandrians,’ the spirit of its own corrections is at once sensible and feeble. Entirely blameless, on either literary or religious grounds, as regards vulgarized or unworthy diction, yet shewing no marks of either Critical or Spiritual insight, it presents the New Testament in a form smooth and attractive, but appreciably impoverished in sense and force; more fitted for cursory perusal or recitation than for repeated and diligent study.”—(pp. 134-5.)

XVII. We forbear to offer any remarks on this. We should be thought uncivil were we to declare our own candid estimate of “the critical and spiritual” perception of the man who could permit himself so to write. We prefer to proceed [pg 275] with our sketch of the Theory, (of the Dream rather,) which is intended to account for the existence of the Traditional Text of the N. T.: only venturing again to submit that surely it would have been high time to discuss the characteristics which “the Authors of the Syrian Text” impressed upon their work, when it had been first established—or at least rendered probable—that the supposed Operators and that the assumed Operation have any existence except in the fertile brain of this distinguished and highly imaginative writer.

XVIII. Now, the first consideration which strikes us as fatal to Dr. Hort's unsupported conjecture concerning the date of the Text he calls “Syrian” or “Antiochian,” is the fact that what he so designates bears a most inconvenient resemblance to the Peschito or ancient Syriac Version; which, like the old Latin, is (by consent of the Critics) generally assigned to the second century of our era. “It is at any rate no stretch of imagination,” (according to Bp. Ellicott,) “to suppose that portions of it might have been in the hands of S. John.” [p. 26.] Accordingly, these Editors assure us that—

“the only way of explaining the whole body of facts is to suppose that the Syriac, like the Latin Version, underwent Revision long after its origin; and that our ordinary Syriac MSS. represent not the primitive but the altered Syriac Text.”—(p. 136.)

“A Revision of the old Syriac Version appears to have taken place in the IVth century, or sooner; and doubtless in some connexion with the Syrian Revision of the Greek Text, the readings being to a very great extent coincident.”—(Text, 552.)

“Till recently, the Peschito has been known only in the form which it finally received by an evidently authoritative Revision,”—a Syriac “Vulgate” answering to the Latin “Vulgate.”—(p. 84.)

“Historical antecedents render it tolerably certain that the locality of such an authoritative Revision”—(which Revision however, be it observed, still rests wholly on unsupported conjecture)—“would be either Edessa or Nisibis.”—(p. 136.)

[pg 276]

In the meantime, the abominably corrupt document known as “Cureton's Syriac,” is, by another bold hypothesis, assumed to be the only surviving specimen of the unrevised Version, and is henceforth invariably designated by these authors as “the old Syriac;” and referred to, as “syr. vt.,”—(in imitation of the Latin “vetus”): the venerable Peschito being referred to as the “Vulgate Syriac,”—“syr. vg.”

“When therefore we find large and peculiar coincidences between the revised Syriac Text and the Text of the Antiochian Fathers of the latter part of the IVth century,”—[of which coincidences, (be it remarked in passing,) the obvious explanation is, that the Texts referred to are faithful traditional representations of the inspired autographs;]—“and strong indications that the Revision was deliberate and in some way authoritative in both cases,—it becomes natural to suppose that the two operations had some historical connexion.”—(pp. 136-7.)

XIX. But how does it happen—(let the question be asked without offence)—that a man of good abilities, bred in a University which is supposed to cultivate especially the Science of exact reasoning, should habitually allow himself in such slipshod writing as this? The very fact of a “Revision” of the Syriac has all to be proved; and until it has been demonstrated, cannot of course be reasoned upon as a fact. Instead of demonstration, we find ourselves invited (1)—“To suppose” that such a Revision took place: and (2)—“To suppose” that all our existing Manuscripts represent it. But (as we have said) not a shadow of reason is produced why we should be so complaisant as “to suppose” either the one thing or the other. In the meantime, the accomplished Critic hastens to assure us that there exist “strong indications”—(why are we not shown them?)—that the Revision he speaks of was “deliberate, and in some way authoritative.”

Out of this grows a “natural supposition” that “two [purely imaginary] operations,” “had some historical connexion.” [pg 277] Already therefore has the shadow thickened into a substance. “The Revised Syriac Text” has by this time come to be spoken of as an admitted fact. The process whereby it came into being is even assumed to have been “deliberate and authoritative.” These Editors henceforth style the Peschito the “Syriac Vulgate,”—as confidently as Jerome's Revision of the old Latin is styled the “Latin Vulgate.” They even assure us that “Cureton's Syriac” “renders the comparatively late and ‘revised’ character of the Syriac Vulgate a matter of certainty” (p. 84). The very city in which the latter underwent Revision, can, it seems, be fixed with “tolerable certainty” (p. 136).... Can Dr. Hort be serious?

At the end of a series of conjectures, (the foundation of which is the hypothesis of an Antiochian Recension of the Greek,) the learned writer announces that—“The textual elements of each principle document having being thus ascertained, it now becomes possible to determine the Genealogy of a much larger number of individual readings than before” (Text, p. 552).—We read and marvel.

So then, in brief, the Theory of Drs. Westcott and Hort is this:—that, somewhere between a.d. 250 and a.d. 350,

“(1) The growing diversity and confusion of Greek Texts led to an authoritative Revision at Antioch:—which (2) was then taken as standard for a similar authoritative Revision of the Syriac text:—and (3) was itself at a later time subjected to a second authoritative Revision”—this “final process” having been “apparently completed by [a.d.] 350 or thereabouts.”—(p. 137.)

XX. Now, instead of insisting that this entire Theory is made up of a series of purely gratuitous assumptions,—destitute alike of attestation and of probability: and that, as a mere effort of the Imagination, it is entitled to no manner of consideration or respect at our hands:—instead of dealing thus with what precedes, we propose to be most kind and [pg 278] accommodating to Dr. Hort. We proceed to accept his Theory in its entirety. We will, with the Reader's permission, assume that all he tells us is historically true: is an authentic narrative of what actually did take place. We shall in the end invite the same Reader to recognize the inevitable consequences of our admission: to which we shall inexorably pin the learned Editors—bind them hand and foot;—of course reserving to ourselves the right of disallowing for ourselves as much of the matter as we please.

Somewhere between a.d. 250 and 350 therefore,—(“it is impossible to say with confidence” [p. 137] what was the actual date, but these Editors evidently incline to the latter half of the IIIrd century, i.e. circa a.d. 275);—we are to believe that the Ecclesiastical heads of the four great Patriarchates of Eastern Christendom,—Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Constantinople,—had become so troubled at witnessing the prevalence of depraved copies of Holy Scripture in their respective churches, that they resolved by common consent on achieving an authoritative Revision which should henceforth become the standard Text of all the Patriarchates of the East. The same sentiment of distress—(by the hypothesis) penetrated into Syria proper; and the Bishops of Edessa or Nisibis, (“great centres of life and culture to the Churches whose language was Syriac,” [p. 136,]) lent themselves so effectually to the project, that a single fragmentary document is, at the present day, the only vestige remaining of the Text which before had been universally prevalent in the Syriac-speaking Churches of antiquity. “The almost total extinction of Old Syriac MSS., contrasted with the great number of extant Vulgate Syriac MSS.,”—(for it is thus that Dr. Hort habitually exhibits evidence!),—is to be attributed, it seems, to the power and influence of the Authors of the imaginary Syriac Revision. [ibid.] Bp. Ellicott, by [pg 279] the way (an unexceptionable witness), characterizes Cureton's Syriac as “singular and sometimes rather wild.” “The text, of a very composite nature; sometimes inclining to the shortness and simplicity of the Vatican manuscript, but more commonly presenting the same paraphrastic character of text as the Codex Bezæ.” [p. 42.] (It is, in fact, an utterly depraved and fabricated document.)

We venture to remark in passing that Textual matters must have everywhere reached a very alarming pass indeed to render intelligible the resort to so extraordinary a step as a representative Conference of the “leading Personages or Sees” (p. 134) of Eastern Christendom. The inference is at least inevitable, that men in high place at that time deemed themselves competent to grapple with the problem. Enough was familiarly known about the character and the sources of these corrupt Texts to make it certain that they would be recognizable when produced; and that, when condemned by authority, they would no longer be propagated, and in the end would cease to molest the Church. Thus much, at all events, is legitimately to be inferred from the hypothesis.

XXI. Behold then from every principal Diocese of ancient Christendom, and in the Church's palmiest days, the most famous of the ante-Nicene Fathers repair to Antioch. They go up by authority, and are attended by skilled Ecclesiastics of the highest theological attainment. Bearers are they perforce of a vast number of Copies of the Scriptures: and (by the hypothesis) the latest possible dates of any of these Copies must range between a.d. 250 and 350. But the Delegates of so many ancient Sees will have been supremely careful, before starting on so important and solemn an errand, to make diligent search for the oldest Copies anywhere discoverable: and when they reach the scene of their deliberations, we may be certain that they are able to appeal [pg 280] to not a few codices written within a hundred years of the date of the inspired Autographs themselves. Copies of the Scriptures authenticated as having belonged to the most famous of their predecessors,—and held by them in high repute for the presumed purity of their Texts—will have been freely produced: while, in select receptacles, will have been stowed away—for purposes of comparison and avoidance—specimens of those dreaded Texts whose existence has been the sole cause why (by the hypothesis) this extraordinary concourse of learned Ecclesiastics has taken place.

After solemnly invoking the Divine blessing, these men address themselves assiduously to their task; and (by the hypothesis) they proceed to condemn every codex which exhibits a “strictly Western,” or a “strictly Alexandrian,” or a “strictly Neutral” type. In plain English, if codices b, א, and d had been before them, they would have unceremoniously rejected all three; but then, (by the hypothesis) neither of the two first-named had yet come into being: while 200 years at least must roll out before Cod. d would see the light. In the meantime, the immediate ancestors of b א and d will perforce have come under judicial scrutiny; and, (by the hypothesis,) they will have been scornfully rejected by the general consent of the Judges.

XXII. Pass an interval—(are we to suppose of fifty years?)—and the work referred to is “subjected to a second authoritative Revision.” Again, therefore, behold the piety and learning of the four great Patriarchates of the East, formally represented at Antioch! The Church is now in her palmiest days. Some of her greatest men belong to the period of which we are speaking. Eusebius (a.d. 308-340) is in his glory. One whole generation has come and gone since the last Textual Conference was held, at Antioch. [pg 281] Yet is no inclination manifested to reverse the decrees of the earlier Conference. This second Recension of the Text of Scripture does but “carry out more completely the purposes of the first;” and “the final process was apparently completed by a.d. 350” (p. 137).—So far the Cambridge Professor.

XXIII. But the one important fact implied by this august deliberation concerning the Text of Scripture has been conveniently passed over by Dr. Hort in profound silence. We take leave to repair his omission by inviting the Reader's particular attention to it.

We request him to note that, by the hypothesis, there will have been submitted to the scrutiny of these many ancient Ecclesiastics not a few codices of exactly the same type as codices b and א: especially as codex b. We are able even to specify with precision certain features which the codices in question will have all concurred in exhibiting. Thus,—

(1) From S. Mark's Gospel, those depraved copies will have omitted the last Twelve Verses (xvi. 9-20).

(2) From S. Luke's Gospel the same corrupt copies will have omitted our Saviour's Agony in the Garden (xxii. 43, 44).

(3) His Prayer on behalf of His murderers (xxiii. 34), will have also been away.

(4) The Inscription on the Cross, in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew (xxiii. 38), will have been partly, misrepresented,—partly, away.

(5) And there will have been no account discoverable of S. Peter's Visit to the Sepulchre (xxiv. 12).

(6) Absent will have been also the record of our Lord's Ascension into Heaven (ibid. 51).

(7) Also, from S. John's Gospel, the codices in question [pg 282] will have omitted the incident of the troubling of the pool of Bethesda (v. 3, 4).

Now, we request that it may be clearly noted that, according to Dr. Hort, against every copy of the Gospels so maimed and mutilated, (i.e. against every copy of the Gospels of the same type as codices b and א,)—the many illustrious Bishops who, (still according to Dr. Hort,) assembled at Antioch, first in a.d. 250 and then in a.d. 350,—by common consent set a mark of condemnation. We are assured that those famous men,—those Fathers of the Church,—were emphatic in their sanction, instead, of codices of the type of Cod. a,—in which all these seven omitted passages (and many hundreds besides) are duly found in their proper places.

When, therefore, at the end of a thousand and half a thousand years, Dr. Hort (guided by his inner consciousness, and depending on an intellectual illumination of which he is able to give no intelligible account) proposes to reverse the deliberate sentence of Antiquity,—his position strikes us as bordering on the ludicrous. Concerning the seven places above referred to, which the assembled Fathers pronounce to be genuine Scripture, and declare to be worthy of all acceptation,—Dr. Hort expresses himself in terms which—could they have been heard at Antioch—must, it is thought, have brought down upon his head tokens of displeasure which might have even proved inconvenient. But let the respected gentleman by all means be allowed to speak for himself:—

(1) The last Twelve Verses of S. Mark (he would have been heard to say) are a “very early interpolation.” “Its authorship and precise date must remain unknown.” “It manifestly cannot claim any Apostolic authority.” “It is [pg 283] doubtless founded on some tradition of the Apostolic age.”—(Notes, pp. 46 and 51.)

(2) The Agony in the Garden (he would have told them) is “an early Western interpolation,” and “can only be a fragment from traditions, written or oral,”—“rescued from oblivion by the scribes of the second century.”—(pp. 66-7.)

(3) The Prayer of our Lord for His Murderers (Dr. Hort would have said),—“I cannot doubt comes from an extraneous source.” It is “a Western interpolation.”—(p.68.)

(4) To the Inscription on the Cross, in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew [S. Luke xxiii. 38], he would not have allowed so much as a hearing.

(5) The spuriousness of the narrative of S. Peter's Visit to the Sepulchre [S. Luke xxiv. 12] (the same Ante-Nicene Fathers would have learned) he regards as a “moral certainty.” He would have assured them that it is “a Western non-interpolation.”—(p. 71.)

(6) They would have learned that, in the account of the same Critic, S. Luke xxiv. 51 is another spurious addition to the inspired Text: another “Western non-interpolation.” Dr. Hort would have tried to persuade them that our Lord's Ascension into Heaven “was evidently inserted from an assumption that a separation from the disciples at the close of a Gospel must be the Ascension,” (Notes, p. 73).... (What the Ante-Nicene Fathers would have thought of their teacher we forbear to conjecture.)—(p. 71.)

(7) The Troubling of the pool of Bethesda [S. John v. 3, 4] is not even allowed a bracketed place in Dr. Hort's Text. How the accomplished Critic would have set about persuading the Ante-Nicene Fathers that they were in error for holding it to be genuine Scripture, it is hard to imagine.

XXIV. It is plain therefore that Dr. Hort is in direct antagonism with the collective mind of Patristic Antiquity. [pg 284] Why, when it suits him, he should appeal to the same Ancients for support,—we fail to understand. “If Baal be God, then follow him!” Dr. Hort has his codex b and his codex א to guide him. He informs us (p. 276) that “the fullest consideration does but increase the conviction that the pre-eminent relative purity” of those two codices “is approximately absolute,—a true approximate reproduction of the Text of the Autographs.” On the other hand, he has discovered that the Received Text is virtually the production of the Fathers of the Nicene Age (a.d. 250-a.d. 350),—exhibits a Text fabricated throughout by the united efforts of those well-intentioned but thoroughly misguided men. What is it to him, henceforth, how Athanasius, or Didymus, or Cyril exhibits a place?

Yes, we repeat it,—Dr. Hort is in direct antagonism with the Fathers of the IIIrd and the IVth Century. His own fantastic hypothesis of a “Syrian Text,”—the solemn expression of the collective wisdom and deliberate judgment of the Fathers of the Nicene Age (a.d. 250-a.d. 350),—is the best answer which can by possibility be invented to his own pages,—is, in our account, the one sufficient and conclusive refutation of his own Text.

Thus, his prolix and perverse discussion of S. Mark xvi. 9-20 (viz. from p. 28 to p. 51 of his Notes),—which, carefully analysed, is found merely to amount to “Thank you for showing us our mistake; but we mean to stick to our Mumpsimus!”:—those many inferences as well from what the Fathers do not say, as from what they do;—are all effectually disposed of by his own theory of a “Syrian text.” A mighty array of forgotten Bishops, Fathers, Doctors of the Nicene period, come back and calmly assure the accomplished Professor that the evidence on which he relies is but an insignificant [pg 285] fraction of the evidence which was before themselves when they delivered their judgment. “Had you known but the thousandth part of what we knew familiarly,” say they, “you would have spared yourself this exposure. You seem to have forgotten that Eusebius was one of the chief persons in our assembly; that Cyril of Jerusalem and Athanasius, Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus, as well as his namesake of Nyssa,—were all living when we held our Textual Conference, and some of them, though young men, were even parties to our decree.”... Now, as an argumentum ad hominem, this, be it observed, is decisive and admits of no rejoinder.

XXV. How then about those “Syrian Conflations” concerning which a few pages back we heard so much, and for which Dr. Hort considers the august tribunal of which we are now speaking to be responsible? He is convinced that the (so-called) Syrian Text (which he regards as the product of their deliberations), is “an eclectic text combining Readings from the three principal Texts” (p. 145): which Readings in consequence he calls “conflate.” How then is it to be supposed that these “Conflations” arose? The answer is obvious. As “Conflations,” they have no existence,—save in the fertile brain of Dr. Hort. Could the ante-Nicene fathers who never met at Antioch have been interrogated by him concerning this matter,—(let the Hibernian supposition be allowed for argument sake!)—they would perforce have made answer,—“You quite mistake the purpose for which we came together, learned sir! You are evidently thinking of your Jerusalem Chamber and of the unheard-of method devised by your Bishop” [see pp. 37 to 39: also p. 273] “for ascertaining the Truth of Scripture. Well may the resuscitation of so many forgotten blunders have occupied you and your colleagues for as long a period as was expended on the Siege of Troy! [pg 286] Our business was not to invent readings whether by ‘Conflation’ or otherwise, but only to distinguish between spurious Texts and genuine,—families of fabricated MSS., and those which we knew to be trustworthy,—mutilated and unmutilated Copies. Every one of what you are pleased to call ‘Conflate Readings,’ learned sir, we found—just as you find them—in 99 out of 100 of our copies: and we gave them our deliberate approval, and left them standing in the Text in consequence. We believed them to be,—we are confident that they are,—the very words of the Evangelists and Apostles of the Lord: the ipsissima verba of the Spirit: ‘the true sayings of the Holy Ghost.’ ” [See p. 38, note 2.]

All this however by the way. The essential thing to be borne in mind is that, according to Dr. Hort,—on two distinct occasions between a.d. 250 and 350—the whole Eastern Church, meeting by representation in her palmiest days, deliberately put forth that Traditional Text of the N. T. with which we at this day are chiefly familiar. That this is indeed his view of the matter, there can at least be no doubt. He says:—

“An authoritative Revision at Antioch ... was itself subjected to a second authoritative Revision carrying out more completely the purposes of the first.” “At what date between a.d. 250 and 350 the first process took place, it is impossible to say with confidence.” “The final process was apparently completed by a.d. 350 or thereabouts.”—(p. 137.)

“The fundamental text of late extant Greek MSS. generally is beyond all question identical with the dominant Antiochian or Græco-Syrian text of the second half of the IVth century.”—(p. 92.)

Be it so. It follows that the Text exhibited by such codices as b and א was deliberately condemned by the assembled piety, learning, and judgment of the four great Patriarchates of Eastern Christendom. At a period when there existed nothing more modern than Codices b and א,—nothing so modern as a and c,—all specimens of the former class were [pg 287] rejected: while such codices as bore a general resemblance to a were by common consent pointed out as deserving of confidence and recommended for repeated Transcription.

XXVI. Pass fifteen hundred years, and the Reader is invited to note attentively what has come to pass. Time has made a clean sweep, it may be, of every Greek codex belonging to either of the two dates above indicated. Every tradition belonging to the period has also long since utterly perished. When lo, in a.d. 1831, under the auspices of Dr. Lachmann, “a new departure” is made. Up springs what may be called the new German school of Textual Criticism,—of which the fundamental principle is a superstitious deference to the decrees of cod. b. The heresy prevails for fifty years (1831-81) and obtains many adherents. The practical result is, that its chief promoters make it their business to throw discredit on the result of the two great Antiochian Revisions already spoken of! The (so-called) “Syrian Text”—although assumed by Drs. Westcott and Hort to be the product of the combined wisdom, piety, and learning of the great Patriarchates of the East from a.d. 250 to a.d. 350; “a ‘Recension’ in the proper sense of the word; a work of attempted Criticism, performed deliberately by Editors and not merely by Scribes” (p. 133):—this “Syrian Text,” Doctors Westcott and Hort denounce as “showing no marks of either critical or spiritual insight:”—

It “presents” (say they) “the New Testament in a form smooth and attractive, but appreciably impoverished in sense and force; more fitted for cursory perusal or recitation than for repeated and diligent study.”—(p. 135.)

XXVII. We are content to leave this matter to the Reader's judgment. For ourselves, we make no secret of the grotesqueness of the contrast thus, for the second time, presented to the imagination. On that side, by the hypothesis, [pg 288] sit the greatest Doctors of primitive Christendom, assembled in solemn conclave. Every most illustrious name is there. By ingeniously drawing a purely arbitrary hard-and-fast line at the year a.d. 350, and so anticipating many a “floruit” by something between five and five-and-twenty years, Dr. Hort's intention is plain: but the expedient will not serve his turn. Quite content are we with the names secured to us within the proposed limits of time. On that side then, we behold congregated choice representatives of the wisdom, the piety, the learning of the Eastern Church, from a.d. 250 to a.d. 350.—On this side sits—Dr. Hort! ... An interval of 1532 years separates these two parties.

XXVIII. And first,—How may the former assemblage be supposed to have been occupying themselves? The object with which those distinguished personages came together was the loftiest, the purest, the holiest imaginable: viz. to purge out from the sacred Text the many corruptions by which, in their judgments, it had become depraved during the 250 (or at the utmost 300) years which have elapsed since it first came into existence; to detect the counterfeit and to eliminate the spurious. Not unaware by any means are they of the carelessness of Scribes, nor yet of the corruptions which have been brought in through the officiousness of critical “Correctors” of the Text. To what has resulted from the misdirected piety of the Orthodox, they are every bit as fully alive as to what has crept in through the malignity of Heretical Teachers. Moreover, while the memory survives in all its freshness of the depravations which the inspired Text has experienced from these and other similar corrupting influences, the means abound and are at hand of testing every suspected place of Scripture. Well, and next,—How have these holy men prospered in their holy enterprise?

[pg 289]

XXIX. According to Dr. Hort, by a strange fatality,—a most unaccountable and truly disastrous proclivity to error,—these illustrious Fathers of the Church have been at every instant substituting the spurious for the genuine,—a fabricated Text in place of the Evangelical Verity. Miserable men! In the Gospels alone they have interpolated about 3100 words: have omitted about 700: have substituted about 1000; have transposed about 2200: have altered (in respect of number, case, mood, tense, person, &c.) about 1200.724 This done, they have amused themselves with the give-and-take process of mutual accommodation which we are taught to call “Conflation:” in plain terms, they have been manufacturing Scripture. The Text, as it comes forth from their hands,—

(a) “Shews no marks of either critical or spiritual insight:”—

(b) “Presents the New Testament in a form smooth and attractive, but appreciably impoverished in sense and force:”—

(c) “Is more fitted for cursory perusal or recitation, than for repeated and diligent study.”

Moreover, the mischief has proved infectious,—has spread. In Syria also, at Edessa or Nisibis,—(for it is as well to be circumstantial in such matters,)—the self-same iniquity is about to be perpetrated; of which the Peschito will be the abiding monument: one solitary witness only to the pure Text being suffered to escape. Cureton's fragmentary Syriac will [pg 290] alone remain to exhibit to mankind the outlines of primitive Truth. (The reader is reminded of the character already given of the document in question at the summit of page 279. Its extravagance can only be fully appreciated by one who will be at the pains to read it steadily through.)

XXX. And pray, (we ask,)—Who says all this? Who is it who gravely puts forth all this egregious nonsense?... It is Dr. Hort, (we answer,) at pp. 134-5 of the volume now under review. In fact, according to him, those primitive Fathers have been the great falsifiers of Scripture; have proved the worst enemies of the pure Word of God; have shamefully betrayed their sacred trust; have done the diametrical reverse of what (by the hypothesis) they came together for the sole purpose of doing. They have depraved and corrupted that sacred Text which it was their aim, their duty, and their professed object to purge from its errors. And (by the hypothesis) Dr. Hort, at the end of 1532 years,—aided by codex b and his own self-evolved powers of divination,—has found them out, and now holds them up to the contempt and scorn of the British public.

XXXI. In the meantime the illustrious Professor invites us to believe that the mistaken textual judgment pronounced at Antioch in a.d. 350 had an immediate effect on the Text of Scripture throughout the world. We are requested to suppose that it resulted in the instantaneous extinction of codices the like of b א, wherever found; and caused codices of the a type to spring up like mushrooms in their place, and that, in every library of ancient Christendom. We are further required to assume that this extraordinary substitution of new evidence for old—the false for the true—fully explains why Irenæus and Hippolytus, Athanasius and Didymus, Gregory of [pg 291] Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa, Basil and Ephraem, Epiphanius and Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia and Isidore of Pelusium, Nilus and Nonnus, Proclus and Severianus, the two Cyrils and Theodoret—one and all—show themselves strangers to the text of b and א.... We read and marvel.

XXXII. For, (it is time to enquire,)—Does not the learned Professor see that, by thus getting rid of the testimony of the whole body of the Fathers, he leaves the Science which he is so good as to patronize in a most destitute condition,—besides placing himself in a most inconvenient state of isolation? If clear and consentient Patristic testimony to the Text of Scripture is not to be deemed forcible witness to its Truth,—whither shall a man betake himself for constraining Evidence? Dr. Hort has already set aside the Traditional Text as a thing of no manner of importance. The venerable Syriac Version he has also insisted on reducing very nearly to the level of the despised cursives. As for the copies of the old Latin, they had confessedly become so untrustworthy, at the time of which he speaks, that a modest Revision of the Text they embody, (the “Vulgate” namely,) became at last a measure of necessity. What remains to him therefore? Can he seriously suppose that the world will put up with the “idiosyncrasy” of a living Doctor—his “personal instincts” (p. xi.)—his “personal discernment” (p. 65),—his “instinctive processes of Criticism” (p. 66),—his “individual mind,”—in preference to articulate voices coming to us across the gulf of Time from every part of ancient Christendom? How—with the faintest chance of success—does Dr. Hort propose to remedy the absence of External Testimony? If mankind can afford to do without either consent of Copies or of Fathers, why does mankind any longer adhere to the ancient methods of proof? Why do Critics of every school still accumulate references to [pg 292] MSS., explore the ancient Versions, and ransack the Patristic writings in search of neglected citations of Scripture? That the ancients were indifferent Textual Critics, is true enough. The mischief done by Origen in this department,—through his fondness for a branch of Learning in which his remarks show that he was all unskilled,—is not to be told. But then, these men lived within a very few hundred years of the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ: and when they witness to the reading of their own copies, their testimony on the point, to say the least, is worthy of our most respectful attention. Dated codices, in fact are they, to all intents and purposes, as often as they bear clear witness to the Text of Scripture:—a fact, (we take leave to throw out the remark in passing,) which has not yet nearly attracted the degree of attention which it deserves.

XXXIII. For ourselves, having said so much on this subject, it is fair that we should add,—We devoutly wish that Dr. Hort's hypothesis of an authoritative and deliberate Recension of the Text of the New Testament achieved at Antioch first, about A.D. 250, and next, about a.d. 350, were indeed an historical fact. We desire no firmer basis on which to rest our confidence in the Traditional Text of Scripture than the deliberate verdict of Antiquity,—the ascertained sanction of the collective Church, in the Nicene age. The Latin “Vulgate” [a.d. 385] is the work of a single man—Jerome. The Syriac “Vulgate” [a.d. 616] was also the work of a single man—Thomas of Harkel. But this Greek “Vulgate” was (by the hypothesis) the product of the Church Catholic, [a.d. 250-a.d. 350,] in her corporate capacity. Not only should we hail such a monument of the collective piety and learning of the Church in her best days with unmingled reverence and joy, were it introduced to our notice; but we should insist that no important deviation from such a “Textus Receptus” as that [pg 293] would deserve to be listened to. In other words, if Dr. Hort's theory about the origin of the Textus Receptus have any foundation at all in fact, it is “all up” with Dr. Hort. He is absolutely nowhere. He has most ingeniously placed himself on the horns of a fatal dilemma.

For,—(let it be carefully noted,)—the entire discussion becomes, in this way, brought (so to speak) within the compass of a nutshell. To state the case briefly,—We are invited to make our election between the Fathers of the Church, a.d. 250 and a.d. 350,—and Dr. Hort, a.d. 1881. The issue is really reduced to that. The general question of the Text of Scripture being the matter at stake; (not any particular passage, remember, but the Text of Scripture as a whole;)—and the conflicting parties being but two;—Which are we to believe? the consentient Voice of Antiquity,—or the solitary modern Professor? Shall we accept the august Testimony of the whole body of the Fathers? or shall we prefer to be guided by the self-evolved imaginations of one who confessedly has nothing to offer but conjecture? The question before us is reduced to that single issue. But in fact the alternative admits of being yet more concisely stated. We are invited to make our election between fact and—fiction.... All this, of course, on the supposition that there is any truth at all in Dr. Hort's “New Textual Theory.”

XXXIV. Apart however from the gross intrinsic improbability of the supposed Recension,—the utter absence of one particle of evidence, traditional or otherwise, that it ever did take place, must be held to be fatal to the hypothesis that it did. It is simply incredible that an incident of such magnitude and interest would leave no trace of itself in history. As a conjecture—(and it only professes to be a conjecture)—Dr. Hort's notion of how the Text of the Fathers of [pg 294] the IIIrd, IVth, and Vth centuries,—which, as he truly remarks, is in the main identical with our own Received Text,—came into being, must be unconditionally abandoned. In the words of a learned living Prelate,—“the supposition” on which Drs. Westcott and Hort have staked their critical reputation, “is a manifest absurdity.”⁷²⁵

XXXV. We have been so full on the subject of this imaginary “Antiochian” or “Syrian text,” not (the reader may be sure) without sufficient reason. Scant satisfaction truly is there in scattering to the winds an airy tissue which its ingenious authors have been industriously weaving for 30 years. But it is clear that with this hypothesis of a “Syrian” text,—the immediate source and actual prototype of the commonly received Text of the N. T.,—stands or falls their entire Textual theory. Reject it, and the entire fabric is observed to collapse, and subside into a shapeless ruin. And with it, of necessity, goes the “New Greek Text,”—and therefore the “New English Version” of our Revisionists, which in the main has been founded on it.

XXXVI. In the meantime the phenomena upon which this phantom has been based, remain unchanged; and fairly interpreted, will be found to conduct us to the diametrically opposite result to that which has been arrived at by Drs. Westcott and Hort. With perfect truth has the latter remarked on the practical “identity of the Text, more especially in the Gospels and Pauline Epistles, in all the known cursive MSS., except a few” (p. 143). We fully admit the truth of his statement that—

“Before the close of the IVth century, a Greek Text not materially differing from the almost universal Text of the IXth,”—[and [pg 295] why not of the VIth? of the VIIth? of the VIIIth? or again of the Xth? of the XIth? of the XIIth?]—“century, was dominant at Antioch.”—(p. 142.)

And why not throughout the whole of Eastern Christendom? Why this continual mention of “Antioch”—this perpetual introduction of the epithet “Syrian”? Neither designation applies to Irenæus or to Hippolytus,—to Athanasius or to Didymus,—to Gregory of Nazianzus or to his namesake of Nyssa,—to Basil or to Epiphanius,—to Nonnus or to Macarius,—to Proclus or to Theodoras Mops.,—to the earlier or to the later Cyril.—In brief,

“The fundamental text of the late extant Greek MSS. generally is, beyond all question, identical with [what Dr. Hort chooses to call] the dominant Antiochian or Græco-Syrian text of the second half of the IVth century.... The Antiochian [and other] Fathers, and the bulk of extant MSS. written from about three or four, to ten or eleven centuries later, must have had, in the greater number of extant variations, a common original either contemporary with, or older than, our oldest extant MSS.”—(p. 92.)

XXXVII. So far then, happily, we are entirely agreed. The only question is,—How is this resemblance to be accounted for? Not, we answer,—not, certainly, by putting forward so violent and improbable—so irrational a conjecture as that, first, about a.d. 250,—and then again about a.d. 350,—an authoritative standard Text was fabricated at Antioch; of which all other known MSS. (except a very little handful) are nothing else but transcripts:—but rather, by loyally recognizing, in the practical identity of the Text exhibited by 99 out of 100 of our extant MSS., the probable general fidelity of those many transcripts to the inspired exemplars themselves from which remotely they are confessedly descended. And surely, if it be allowable to assume (with Dr. Hort) that for 1532 years, (viz. from a.d. 350 to a.d. 1882) the [pg 296] Antiochian standard has been faithfully retained and transmitted,—it will be impossible to assign any valid reason why the inspired Original itself, the Apostolic standard, should not have been as faithfully transmitted and retained from the Apostolic age to the Antiochian,⁷²⁶—i.e. throughout an interval of less than 250 years, or one-sixth of the period.

XXXVIII. Here, it will obviously occur to enquire,—But what has been Drs. Westcott and Hort's motive for inventing such an improbable hypothesis? and why is Dr. Hort so strenuous in maintaining it?... We reply by reminding the Reader of certain remarks which we made at the outset.⁷²⁷ The Traditional Text of the N. T. is a phenomenon which sorely exercises Critics of the new school. To depreciate it, is easy: to deny its critical authority, is easier still: to cast ridicule on the circumstances under which Erasmus produced his first (very faulty) edition of it (1516), is easiest of all. But to ignore the “Traditional Text,” is impossible. Equally impossible is it to overlook its practical identity with the Text of Chrysostom, who lived and taught at Antioch till a.d. 398, when he became Abp. of Constantinople. Now this is a very awkward circumstance, and must in some way be got over; for it transports us, at a bound, from the stifling atmosphere of Basle and Alcala,—from Erasmus and Stunica, Stephens and Beza and the Elzevirs,—to Antioch and Constantinople in the latter part of the IVth century. What is to be done?

XXXIX. Drs. Westcott and Hort assume that this “Antiochian text”—found in the later cursives and the Fathers of the latter half of the IVth century—must be an artificial, an arbitrarily invented standard; a text fabricated between [pg 297] a.d. 250 and a.d. 350. And if they may but be so fortunate as to persuade the world to adopt their hypothesis, then all will be easy; for they will have reduced the supposed “consent of Fathers” to the reproduction of one and the same single “primary documentary witness:”⁷²⁸—and “it is hardly necessary to point out the total change in the bearing of the evidence by the introduction of the factor of Genealogy” (p. 43) at this particular juncture. Upset the hypothesis on the other hand, and all is reversed in a moment. Every attesting Father is perceived to be a dated MS. and an independent authority; and the combined evidence of several of these becomes simply unmanageable. In like manner, “the approximate consent of the cursives” (see the foot-note), is perceived to be equivalent not to “A primary documentary witness,”—not to “ONE Antiochian original,”—but to be tantamount to the articulate speech of many witnesses of high character, coming to us from every quarter of primitive Christendom.

XL. But—(the further enquiry is sure to be made)—In favour of which document, or set of documents, have all these fantastic efforts been made to disparage the commonly received standards of excellence? The ordinary English Reader may require to be reminded that, prior to the IVth century, our Textual helps are few, fragmentary, and—to speak plainly—insufficient. As for sacred Codices of that date, we possess not one. Of our two primitive Versions, [pg 298] “the Syriac and the old Latin,” the second is grossly corrupt; owing (says Dr. Hort) “to a perilous confusion between transcription and reproduction;” “the preservation of a record and its supposed improvement” (p. 121). “Further acquaintance with it only increases our distrust” (ibid.). In plainer English, “the earliest readings which can be fixed chronologically” (p. 120) belong to a Version which is licentious and corrupt to an incredible extent. And though “there is no reason to doubt that the Peschito [or ancient Syriac] is at least as old as the Latin Version” (p. 84), yet (according to Dr. Hort) it is “impossible”—(he is nowhere so good as to explain to us wherein this supposed “impossibility” consists),—to regard “the present form of the Version as a true representation of the original Syriac text.” The date of it (according to him) may be as late as a.d. 350. Anyhow, we are assured (but only by Dr. Hort) that important “evidence for the Greek text is hardly to be looked for from this source” (p. 85).—The Fathers of the IIIrd century who have left behind them considerable remains in Greek are but two,—Clemens Alex. and Origen: and there are considerations attending the citations of either, which greatly detract from their value.

XLI. The question therefore recurs with redoubled emphasis,—In favour of which document, or set of documents, does Dr. Hort disparage the more considerable portion of that early evidence,—so much of it, namely, as belongs to the IVth century,—on which the Church has been hitherto accustomed confidently to rely? He asserts that,—

“Almost all Greek Fathers after Eusebius have texts so deeply affected by mixture that” they “cannot at most count for more than so many secondary Greek uncial MSS., inferior in most cases to the better sort of secondary uncial MSS. now existing.”—(p. 202.)

[pg 299]

And thus, at a stroke, behold, “almost all Greek Fathers after Eusebius”—(who died a.d. 340)—are disposed of! washed overboard! put clean out of sight! Athanasius and Didymus—the 2 Basils and the 2 Gregories—the 2 Cyrils and the 2 Theodores—Epiphanius and Macarius and Ephraem—Chrysostom and Severianus and Proclus—Nilus and Nonnus—Isidore of Pelusium and Theodoret: not to mention at least as many more who have left scanty, yet most precious, remains behind them:—all these are pronounced inferior in authority to as many IXth- or Xth-century copies!... We commend, in passing, the foregoing dictum of these accomplished Editors to the critical judgment of all candid and intelligent Readers. Not as dated manuscripts, therefore, at least equal in Antiquity to the oldest which we now possess:—not as the authentic utterances of famous Doctors and Fathers of the Church, (instead of being the work of unknown and irresponsible Scribes):—not as sure witnesses of what was accounted Scripture in a known region, by a famous personage, at a well-ascertained period, (instead of coming to us, as our codices universally do, without a history and without a character):—in no such light are we henceforth to regard Patristic citations of Scripture:—but only “as so many secondary MSS., inferior to the better sort of secondary uncials now existing.”

XLII. That the Testimony of the Fathers, in the lump, must perforce in some such way either be ignored or else flouted, if the Text of Drs. Westcott and Hort is to stand,—we were perfectly well aware. It is simply fatal to them: and they know it. But we were hardly prepared for such a demonstration as this. Let it all pass however. The question we propose is only the following,—If the Text “used by great Antiochian theologians not long after the middle of the [pg 300] IVth century” (p. 146) is undeserving of our confidence:—if we are to believe that a systematic depravation of Scripture was universally going on till about the end of the IIIrd century; and if at that time, an authoritative and deliberate recension of it—conducted on utterly erroneous principles—took place at Antioch, and resulted in the vicious “traditional Constantinopolitan” (p. 143), or (as Dr. Hort prefers to call it) the “eclectic Syrian Text:”—What remains to us? Are we henceforth to rely on our own “inner consciousness” for illumination? Or is it seriously expected that for the restoration of the inspired Verity we shall be content to surrender ourselves blindfold to the ipse dixit of an unknown and irresponsible nineteenth-century guide? If neither of these courses is expected of us, will these Editors be so good as to give us the names of the documents on which, in their judgment, we may rely?

XLIII. We are not suffered to remain long in a state of suspense. The assurance awaits us (at p. 150), that the Vatican codex,

“b—is found to hold a unique position. Its text is throughout Pre-Syrian, perhaps purely Pre-Syrian.... From distinctively Western readings it seems to be all but entirely free.... We have not been able to recognize as Alexandrian any readings of b in any book of the New Testament.... So that ... neither of the early streams of innovation has touched it to any appreciable extent.”—(p. 150.)

“The text of the Sinaitic codex (א)” also “seems to be entirely, or all but entirely, Pre-Syrian. A very large part of the text is in like manner free from Western or Alexandrian elements.”—(p. 151.)

“Every other known Greek manuscript has either a mixed or a Syrian text.”—(p. 151.)

Thus then, at last, at the end of exactly 150 weary pages, the secret comes out! The one point which the respected [pg 301] Editors are found to have been all along driving at:—the one aim of those many hazy disquisitions of theirs about “Intrinsic and Transcriptional Probability,”—“Genealogical evidence, simple and divergent,”—and “the study of Groups:”—the one reason of all their vague terminology,—and of their baseless theory of “Conflation,”—and their disparagement of the Fathers:—the one raison d'être of their fiction of a “Syrian” and a “Pre-Syrian” and a “Neutral” text:—the secret of it all comes out at last! A delightful, a truly Newtonian simplicity characterizes the final announcement. All is summed up in the curt formula—Codex b!

Behold then the altar at which Copies, Fathers, Versions, are all to be ruthlessly sacrificed:—the tribunal from which there shall be absolutely no appeal:—the Oracle which is to silence every doubt, resolve every riddle, smooth away every difficulty. All has been stated, where the name has been pronounced of—codex b. One is reminded of an enegmatical epitaph on the floor of the Chapel of S. John's College, “Verbum non amplius—Fisher”! To codex b all the Greek Fathers after Eusebius must give way. Even Patristic evidence of the ante-Nicene period “requires critical sifting” (p. 202),—must be distrusted, may be denied (pp. 202-5),—if it shall be found to contradict Cod. b! “b very far exceeds all other documents in neutrality of Text.”—(p. 171.)

XLIV. “At a long interval after B, but hardly a less interval before all other MSS., stands א” (p. 171).—Such is the sum of the matter!... A coarser,—a clumsier,—a more unscientific,—a more stupid expedient for settling the true Text of Scripture was surely never invented! But for the many foggy, or rather unreadable disquisitions with which the Introduction is encumbered, “Textual Criticism made easy,” might well have been the title of the little [pg 302] volume now under Review; of which at last it is discovered that the general Infallibility of Codex b is the fundamental principle. Let us however hear these learned men out.

XLV. They begin by offering us a chapter on the “General relations of b and א to other documents:” wherein we are assured that,—

“Two striking facts successively come out with especial clearness. Every group containing both א and b, is found ... to have an apparently more original Text than every opposed group containing neither; and every group containing b ... is found in a large preponderance of cases ... to have an apparently more original Text than every opposed group containing א.”—(p. 210.)

“Is found”! but pray,—By whom? And “apparently”! but pray,—To whom? and On what grounds of Evidence? For unless it be on certain grounds of Evidence, how can it be pretended that we have before us “two striking facts”?

Again, with what show of reason can it possibly be asserted that these “two striking facts” “come out with especial clearness”? so long as their very existence remains in nubibus,—has never been established, and is in fact emphatically denied? Expressions like the foregoing then only begin to be tolerable when it has been made plain that the Teacher has some solid foundation on which to build. Else, he occasions nothing but impatience and displeasure. Readers at first are simply annoyed at being trifled with: presently they grow restive: at last they become clamorous for demonstration, and will accept of nothing less. Let us go on however. We are still at p. 210:—

“We found א and b to stand alone in their almost complete immunity from distinctive Syriac readings ... and b to stand far above א in its apparent freedom from either Western or Alexandrian readings.”—(p. 210.)

[pg 303]

But pray, gentlemen,—Where and when did “we find” either of these two things? We have “found” nothing of the sort hitherto. The Reviewer is disposed to reproduce the Duke of Wellington's courteous reply to the Prince Regent, when the latter claimed the arrangements which resulted in the victory of Waterloo:—“I have heard your Royal Highness say so.”... At the end of a few pages,

“Having found א b the constant element in groups of every size, distinguished by internal excellence of readings, we found no less excellence in the readings in which they concur without other attestations of Greek MSS., or even of Versions or Fathers.”—(p. 219.)

What! again? Why, we “have found” nothing as yet but Reiteration. Up to this point we have not been favoured with one particle of Evidence!... In the meantime, the convictions of these accomplished Critics,—(but not, unfortunately, those of their Readers,)—are observed to strengthen as they proceed. On reaching p. 224, we are assured that,

“The independence [of b and א] can be carried back so far,”—(not a hint is given how,)—“that their concordant testimony may be treated as equivalent to that of a MS. older than א and b themselves by at least two centuries,—probably by a generation or two more.”

How that “independence” was established, and how this “probability” has been arrived at, we cannot even imagine. The point to be attended to however, is, that by the process indicated, some such early epoch as a.d. 100 has been reached. So that now we are not surprised to hear that,

“The respective ancestries of א and b must have diverged from a common parent extremely near the Apostolic autographs.”—(p. 220. See top of p. 221.)

Or that,—“The close approach to the time of the autographs raises the presumption of purity to an unusual strength.”—(p. 224.)

[pg 304]

And lo, before we turn the leaf, this “presumption” is found to have ripened into certainty:—

“This general immunity from substantive error ... in the common original of א b, in conjunction with its very high antiquity, provides in a multitude of cases a safe criterion of genuineness, not to be distrusted except on very clear internal evidence. Accordingly ... it is our belief, (1) That Readings of א b should be accepted as the true Readings until strong internal evidence is found to the contrary; and (2), That no Readings of א b can be safely rejected absolutely.”—(p. 225.)

XLVI. And thus, by an unscrupulous use of the process of Reiteration, accompanied by a boundless exercise of the Imaginative faculty, we have reached the goal to which all that went before has been steadily tending: viz. the absolute supremacy of codices b and א above all other codices,—and, when they differ, then of codex b.

And yet, the “immunity from substantive error” of a lost Codex of imaginary date and unknown history, cannot but be a pure imagination,—(a mistaken one, as we shall presently show,)—of these respected Critics: while their proposed practical inference from it,—(viz. to regard two remote and confessedly depraved Copies of that original, as “a safe criterion of genuineness,”)—this, at all events, is the reverse of logical. In the meantime, the presumed proximity of the Text of א and b to the Apostolic age is henceforth discoursed of as if it were no longer matter of conjecture:—

“The ancestries of both MSS. having started from a common source not much later than the Autographs,” &c.—(p. 247.)

And again:—

“Near as the divergence of the respective ancestries of b and א must have been to the Autographs,” &c.—(p. 273.)

[pg 305]

Until at last, we find it announced as a “moral certainty:”—

“It is morally certain that the ancestries of b and א diverged from a point near the Autographs, and never came into contact subsequently.”—(Text, p. 556.)

After which, of course, we have no right to complain if we are assured that:—

“The fullest comparison does but increase the conviction that their pre-eminent relative purity is approximately absolute,—a true approximate reproduction of the Text of the Autographs”—(p. 296.)

XLVII. But how does it happen—(we must needs repeat the enquiry, which however we make with unfeigned astonishment,)—How does it come to pass that a man of practised intellect, addressing persons as cultivated and perhaps as acute as himself, can handle a confessedly obscure problem like the present after this strangely incoherent, this foolish and wholly inconclusive fashion? One would have supposed that Dr. Hort's mathematical training would have made him an exact reasoner. But he writes as if he had no idea at all of the nature of demonstration, and of the process necessary in order to carry conviction home to a Reader's mind. Surely, (one tells oneself,) a minimum of “pass” Logic would have effectually protected so accomplished a gentleman from making such a damaging exhibition of himself! For surely he must be aware that, as yet, he has produced not one particle of evidence that his opinion concerning b and א is well founded. And yet, how can he possibly overlook the circumstance that, unless he is able to demonstrate that those two codices, and especially the former of them, has “preserved not only a very ancient Text, but a very pure line of ancient Text” also (p. 251), his entire work, (inasmuch as it reposes on that one assumption,) on being critically handled, crumbles to its base; or rather melts into thin air before the [pg 306] first puff of wind? He cannot, surely, require telling that those who look for Demonstration will refuse to put up with Rhetoric:—that, with no thoughtful person will Assertion pass for Argument:—nor mere Reiteration, however long persevered in, ever be mistaken for accumulated Proof.

“When I am taking a ride with Rouser,”—(quietly remarked Professor Saville to Bodley Coxe,)—“I observe that, if I ever demur to any of his views, Rouser's practice always is, to repeat the same thing over again in the same words,—only in a louder tone of voice” ... The delicate rhetorical device thus indicated proves to be not peculiar to Professors of the University of Oxford; but to be familiarly recognized as an instrument of conviction by the learned men who dwell on the banks of the Cam. To be serious however.—Dr. Hort has evidently failed to see that nothing short of a careful induction of particular instances,—a system of laborious footnotes, or an “Appendix” bristling with impregnable facts,—could sustain the portentous weight of his fundamental position, viz. that Codex b is so exceptionally pure a document as to deserve to be taken as a chief guide in determining the Truth of Scripture.

It is related of the illustrious architect, Sir Gilbert Scott,—when he had to rebuild the massive central tower of a southern Cathedral, and to rear up thereon a lofty spire of stone,—that he made preparations for the work which astonished the Dean and Chapter of the day. He caused the entire area to be excavated to what seemed a most unnecessary depth, and proceeded to lay a bed of concrete of fabulous solidity. The “wise master-builder” was determined that his work should last for ever. Not so Drs. Westcott and Hort. They are either troubled with no similar anxieties, or else too clear-sighted to cherish any similar hope. They are evidently of opinion that a cloud or a quagmire will serve [pg 307] their turn every bit as well as granite or Portland-stone. Dr. Hort (as we have seen already, namely in p. 252,) considers that his individual “strong preference” of one set of Readings above another, is sufficient to determine whether the Manuscript which contains those Readings is pure or the contrary. “Formidable arrays of [hostile] Documentary evidence,” he disregards and sets at defiance, when once his own “fullest consideration of Internal Evidence” has “pronounced certain Readings to be right” [p. 61].

The only indication we anywhere meet with of the actual ground of Dr. Hort's certainty, and reason of his preference, is contained in his claim that,—

“Every binary group [of MSS.] containing b is found to offer a large proportion of Readings, which, on the closest scrutiny, have the ring of genuineness: while it is difficult to find any Readings so attested which look suspicious after full consideration.”—(p. 227. Also vol. i. 557—where the dictum is repeated.)

XLVIII. And thus we have, at last, an honest confession of the ultimate principle which has determined the Text of the present edition of the N. T. “The ring of genuineness”! This it must be which was referred to when “instinctive processes of Criticism” were vaunted; and the candid avowal made that “the experience which is their foundation needs perpetual correction and recorrection.”⁷²⁹

“We are obliged” (say these accomplished writers) “to come to the individual mind at last.”⁷³⁰

And thus, behold, “at last” we have reached the goal!... Individual idiosyncrasy,—not external Evidence:—Readings “strongly preferred,”—not Readings strongly attested:—“personal discernment” (self! still self!) conscientiously exercising [pg 308] itself upon Codex b;—this is a true account of the Critical method pursued by these accomplished Scholars. They deliberately claim “personal discernment” as “the surest ground for confidence.”⁷³¹ Accordingly, they judge of Readings by their looks and by their sound. When, in their opinion, words “look suspicious,” words are to be rejected. If a word has “the ring of genuineness,”—(i.e. if it seems to them to have it,)—they claim that the word shall pass unchallenged.

XLIX. But it must be obvious that such a method is wholly inadmissible. It practically dispenses with Critical aids altogether; substituting individual caprice for external guidance. It can lead to no tangible result: for Readings which “look suspicious” to one expert, may easily not “look” so to another. A man's “inner consciousness” cannot possibly furnish trustworthy guidance in this subject matter. Justly does Bp. Ellicott ridicule “the easy method of ... using a favourite Manuscript,” combined with “some supposed power of divining the Original Text;”⁷³²—unconscious apparently that he is thereby aiming a cruel blow at certain of his friends.

As for the proposed test of Truth,—(the enquiry, namely, whether or no a reading has “the ring of genuineness”)—it is founded on a transparent mistake. The coarse operation alluded to may be described as a “rough and ready” expedient practised by receivers of money in the way of self-defence, and only for their own protection, lest base metal should be palmed off upon them unawares. But Dr. Hort is proposing an analogous test for the exclusive satisfaction of him who utters the suspected article. We therefore disallow the proposal entirely: not, of course, because we suppose that so excellent and honourable a man as Dr. Hort [pg 309] would attempt to pass off as genuine what he suspects to be fabricated; but because we are fully convinced—(for reasons “plenty as blackberries”)—that through some natural defect, or constitutional inaptitude, he is not a competent judge. The man who finds “no marks of either Critical or Spiritual insight” (p. 135) in the only Greek Text which was known to scholars till a.d. 1831,—(although he confesses that “the text of Chrysostom and other Syrian Fathers of the IVth century is substantially identical with it”⁷³³); and vaunts in preference “the bold vigour” and “refined scholarship” which is exclusively met with in certain depraved uncials of the same or later date:—the man who thinks it not unlikely that the incident of the piercing of our Saviour's side (ἄλλος δὲ λαβῶν λόγχην κ.τ.λ.) was actually found in the genuine Text of S. Matt. xxvii. 49, as well as in S. John xix. 34:734—the man who is of opinion that the incident of the Woman taken in Adultery (filling 12 verses), “presents serious differences from the diction of S. John's Gospel,”—treats it as “an insertion in a comparatively late Western text”⁷³⁵ and declines to retain it even within brackets, on the ground that it “would fatally interrupt” the course of the narrative if suffered to stand:—the man who can deliberately separate off from the end of S. Mark's Gospel, and print separately, S. Mark's last 12 verses, (on the plea that they “manifestly cannot claim any apostolic authority; but are doubtless founded on some tradition of the Apostolic age;”⁷³⁶)—yet who straightway proceeds to annex, as an alternative Conclusion (ἄλλως), “the wretched supplement derived from codex l:”⁷³⁷—the man (lastly) who, in defiance of “solid reason and pure taste,” finds music in the “utterly marred” “rhythmical arrangement” of the Angels' Hymn on the night of the [pg 310] Nativity:738—such an one is not entitled to a hearing when he talks about “the ring of genuineness.” He has already effectually put himself out of Court. He has convicted himself of a natural infirmity of judgment,—has given proof that he labours under a peculiar Critical inaptitude for this department of enquiry,—which renders his decrees nugatory, and his opinions worthless.

L. But apart from all this, the Reader's attention is invited to a little circumstance which Dr. Hort has unaccountably overlooked: but which, the instant it has been stated, is observed to cause his picturesque theory to melt away—like a snow-wreath in the sunshine.

On reflexion, it will be perceived that the most signal deformities of codices b א d l are instances of Omission. In the Gospels alone, b omits 2877 words.

How,—(we beg to enquire,)—How will you apply your proposed test to a Non-entity? How will you ascertain whether something which does not exist in the Text has “the ring of genuineness” or not? There can be no “ring of genuineness,” clearly, where there is nothing to ring with! Will any one pretend that the omission of the incident of the troubling of the pool has in it any “ring of genuineness”?—or dare to assert that “the ring of genuineness” is imparted to the history of our Saviour's Passion, by the omission of His Agony in the Garden?—or that the narrative of His Crucifixion becomes more musical, when our Lord's Prayer for His murderers has been omitted?—or that ἐφοβοῦντο γάρ (“for they were afraid”), has “the ring of genuineness” as the conclusion of the last chapter of the Gospel according to S. Mark?

But the strangest circumstance is behind. It is notorious [pg 311] that, on the contrary, Dr. Hort is frequently constrained to admit that the omitted words actually have “the ring of genuineness.” The words which he insists on thrusting out of the Text are often conspicuous for the very quality which (by the hypothesis) was the warrant for their exclusion. Of this, the Reader may convince himself by referring to the note at foot of the present page.⁷³⁹ In the meantime, the [pg 312] matter discoursed of may be conveniently illustrated by a short apologue:—

Somewhere in the fens of Ely diocese, stood a crazy old church (dedicated to S. Bee, of course,) the bells of which—according to a learned Cambridge Doctor—were the most musical in the world. “I have listened to those bells,” (he was accustomed to say,) “for 30 years. All other bells are cracked, harsh, out of tune. Commend me, for music, to the bells of S. Bee's! They alone have the ring of genuineness.” ... Accordingly, he published a treatise on Campanology, founding his theory on the musical properties of the bells of S. Bee's.—At this juncture, provokingly enough, some one directed attention to the singular fact that S. Bee's is one of the few churches in that district without bells: a discovery which, it is needless to add, pressed inconveniently on the learned Doctor's theory.

LI. But enough of this. We really have at last, (be it observed,) reached the end of our enquiry. Nothing comes after Dr. Hort's extravagant and unsupported estimate of Codices b and א. On the contrary. Those two documents are caused to cast their sombre shadows a long way ahead, and to darken all our future. Dr. Hort takes leave of the subject with the announcement that, whatever uncertainty may attach to the evidence for particular readings,

“The general course of future Criticism must be shaped by the happy circumstance that the fourth century has bequeathed to us two MSS. [b and א], of which even the less incorrupt [א] must have been of exceptional purity among its contemporaries: and which rise into greater pre-eminence of character the better the early history of the Text becomes known.”—(p. 287.)

[pg 313]

In other words, our guide assures us that in a dutiful submission to codices b and א,—(which, he naïvely remarks, “happen likewise to be the oldest extant Greek MSS. of the New Testament” [p. 212],)—lies all our hope of future progress. (Just as if we should ever have heard of these two codices, had their contents come down to us written in the ordinary cursive character,—in a dated MS. (suppose) of the XVth century!)... Moreover, Dr. Hort “must not hesitate to express” his own robust conviction,

“That no trustworthy improvement can be effected, except in accordance with the leading Principles of method which we have endeavoured to explain.”—(p. 285.)

LII. And this is the end of the matter. Behold our fate therefore:—(1) Codices b and א, with—(2) Drs. Westcott and Hort's Introduction and Notes on Select Readings in vindication of their contents! It is proposed to shut us up within those limits!... An uneasy suspicion however secretly suggests itself that perhaps, as the years roll out, something may come to light which will effectually dispel every dream of the new School, and reduce even prejudice itself to silence. So Dr. Hort hastens to frown it down:—

“It would be an illusion to anticipate important changes of Text [i.e. of the Text advocated by Drs. Westcott and Hort] from any acquisition of new Evidence.”—(p. 285.)

And yet, why the anticipation of important help from the acquisition of fresh documentary Evidence “would be an illusion,”—does not appear. That the recovery of certain of the exegetical works of Origen,—better still, of Tatian's Diatessaron,—best of all, of a couple of MSS. of the date of Codices b and א; but not, (like those two corrupt documents) derived from one and the same depraved archetype;—That any such windfall, (and it will come, some of these days,) would infallibly disturb Drs. Westcott and Hort's [pg 314] equanimity, as well as scatter to the winds not a few of their most confident conclusions,—we are well aware. So indeed are they. Hence, what those Critics earnestly deprecate, we as earnestly desire. We are therefore by no means inclined to admit, that

“Greater possibilities of improvement lie in a more exact study of the relations between the documents that we already possess;”—(Ibid.)

knowing well that “the documents” referred to are chiefly, (if not solely,) Codices b and א: knowing also, that it is further meant, that in estimating other evidence, of whatever kind, the only thing to be enquired after is whether or no the attesting document is generally in agreement with codex b.

For, according to these writers,—tide what tide,—codex b is to be the standard: itself not absolutely requiring confirmation from any extraneous quarter. Dr. Hort asserts, (but it is, as usual, mere assertion,) that,

“Even when b stands quite alone, its readings must never be lightly rejected.”—(p. 557.)

And yet,—Why a reading found only in codex b should experience greater indulgence than another reading found only in codex a, we entirely fail to see.

On the other hand, “an unique criterion is supplied by the concord of the independent attestation of b and א.”—(Notes, p. 46.)

But pray, how does that appear? Since b and א are derived from one and the same original—Why should not “the concord” spoken of be rather “an unique criterion” of the utter depravity of the archetype?

LIII. To conclude. We have already listened to Dr. Hort long enough. And now, since confessedly, a chain is no [pg 315] stronger than it is at its weakest link; nor an edifice more secure than the basis whereon it stands;—we must be allowed to point out that we have been dealing throughout with a dream, pure and simple; from which it is high time that we should wake up, now that we have been plainly shown on what an unsubstantial foundation these Editors have been all along building. A child's house, several stories high, constructed out of playing-cards,—is no unapt image of the frail erection before us. We began by carefully lifting off the topmost story; and then, the next: but we might as well have saved ourselves the trouble. The basement-story has to be removed bodily, which must bring the whole edifice down with a rush. In reply to the fantastic tissue of unproved assertions which go before, we assert as follows:—

(1) The impurity of the Texts exhibited by Codices b and א is not a matter of opinion, but a matter of fact.⁷⁴⁰ These are [pg 316] two of the least trustworthy documents in existence. So far from allowing Dr. Hort's position that—“A Text formed” by “taking Codex b as the sole authority,” “would be incomparably nearer the Truth than a Text similarly taken from any other Greek or other single document” (p. 251),—we venture to assert that it would be, on the contrary, by far the foulest Text that had ever seen the light: worse, that is to say, even than the Text of Drs. Westcott and Hort. And that is saying a great deal. In the brave and faithful words [pg 317] of Prebendary Scrivener (Introduction, p. 453),—words which deserve to become famous,—

“It is no less true to fact than paradoxical in sound, that the worst corruptions to which the New Testament has ever been subjected, originated within a hundred years after it was composed: that Irenæus [a.d. 150], and the African Fathers, and the whole Western, with a portion of the Syrian Church, used far inferior manuscripts to those employed by Stunica, or Erasmus, or Stephens thirteen centuries later, when moulding the Textus Receptus.”

And Codices b and א are, demonstrably, nothing else but specimens of the depraved class thus characterized.

Next—(2), We assert that, so manifest are the disfigurements jointly and exclusively exhibited by codices b and א,⁷⁴¹ [pg 318] that instead of accepting these codices as two “independent” Witnesses to the inspired Original, we are constrained to regard them as little more than a single reproduction of one and the same scandalously corrupt and (comparatively) late Copy. By consequence, we consider their joint and exclusive attestation of any particular reading, “an unique criterion” of its worthlessness; a sufficient reason—not for adopting, but—for unceremoniously rejecting it.

Then—(3), As for the origin of these two curiosities, it can perforce only be divined from their contents. That they exhibit fabricated Texts is demonstrable. No amount of honest copying,—persevered in for any number of centuries,—could by possibility have resulted in two such documents. Separated from one another in actual date by 50, perhaps by 100 years,⁷⁴² they must needs have branched off from a common corrupt ancestor, and straightway become exposed continuously to fresh depraving influences. The result is, that codex א, (which evidently has gone through more adventures and fallen into worse company than his rival,) has been corrupted to a far graver extent than codex b, and is [pg 319] even more untrustworthy. Thus, whereas (in the Gospels alone) b has 589 Readings quite peculiar to itself, affecting 858 words,—א has 1460 such Readings, affecting 2640 words.

One solid fact like the preceding, (let it be pointed out in passing,) is more helpful by far to one who would form a correct estimate of the value of a Codex, than any number of such “reckless and unverified assertions,” not to say peremptory and baseless decrees, as abound in the highly imaginative pages of Drs. Westcott and Hort.

(4) Lastly,—We suspect that these two Manuscripts are indebted for their preservation, solely to their ascertained evil character; which has occasioned that the one eventually found its way, four centuries ago, to a forgotten shelf in the Vatican library: while the other, after exercising the ingenuity of several generations of critical Correctors, eventually (viz. in a.d. 1844⁷⁴³) got deposited in the waste-paper basket of the Convent at the foot of Mount Sinai. Had b and א been copies of average purity, they must long since have shared the inevitable fate of books which are freely used and highly prized; namely, they would have fallen into decadence and disappeared from sight. But in the meantime, behold, their very Antiquity has come to be reckoned to their advantage; and (strange to relate) is even considered to constitute a sufficient reason why they should enjoy not merely extraordinary consideration, but the actual surrender of the critical judgment. Since 1831, Editors have vied with one another in the fulsomeness of the homage they have paid to these “two false Witnesses,”—for such b and א are, as the concurrent testimony of Copies, Fathers and Versions abundantly proves. Even superstitious reverence has been claimed [pg 320] for these two codices: and Drs. Westcott and Hort are so far in advance of their predecessors in the servility of their blind adulation, that they must be allowed to have easily won the race.

LIV. With this,—so far as the Greek Text under review is concerned,—we might, were we so minded, reasonably make an end. We undertook to show that Drs. Westcott and Hort, in the volumes before us, have built up an utterly worthless Textual fabric; and we consider that we have already sufficiently shown it. The Theory,—the Hypothesis rather, on which their Text is founded, we have demonstrated to be simply absurd. Remove that hypothesis, and a heap of unsightly ruins is all that is left behind,—except indeed astonishment (not unmingled with concern) at the simplicity of its accomplished Authors.

Here then, we might leave off. But we are unwilling so to leave the matter. Large consideration is due to ordinary English Readers; who must perforce look on with utter perplexity—not to say distress—at the strange spectacle presented by that Text (which is in the main the Text of the Revised English Version) on the one hand,—and this Review of it, on the other:—

(1) “And pray, which of you am I to believe?”—will inevitably be, in homely English, the exclamation with which not a few will lay down the present number of the “Quarterly.” “I pretend to no learning. I am not prepared to argue the question with you. But surely, the oldest Manuscript must be the purest! It even stands to reason: does it not?—Then further, I admit that you seem to have the best of the argument so far; yet, since the three most famous Editors of modern times are against you,—Lachmann, [pg 321] Tregelles, Tischendorf,—excuse me if I suspect that you must be in the wrong, after all.”

LV. With unfeigned humility, the Reviewer [Q. R.] proceeds to explain the matter to his supposed Objector [S. O.], in briefest outline, as follows:—

Q. R. “You are perfectly right. The oldest Manuscript must exhibit the purest text: must be the most trustworthy. But then, unfortunately, it happens that we do not possess it. ‘The oldest Manuscript’ is lost. You speak, of course, of the inspired Autographs. These, I say, have long since disappeared.”

(2) S. O. “No, I meant to say that the oldest Manuscript we possess, if it be but a very ancient one, must needs be the purest.”

Q. R. “O, but that is an entirely different proposition. Well, apart from experience, the probability that the oldest copy extant will prove the purest is, if you please, considerable. Reflection will convince you however that it is but a probability, at the utmost: a probability based upon more than one false assumption,—with which nevertheless you shall not be troubled. But in fact it clearly does not by any means follow that, because a MS. is very ancient, therefore the Text, which it exhibits will be very pure. That you may be thoroughly convinced of this,—(and it is really impossible for your mind to be too effectually disabused of a prepossession which has fatally misled so many,)—you are invited to enquire for a recent contribution to the learned French publication indicated at the foot of this page,⁷⁴⁴ in which is [pg 322] exhibited a fac-simile of 8 lines of the Medea of Euripides (ver. 5-12), written about b.c. 200 in small uncials (at Alexandria probably,) on papyrus. Collated with any printed copy, the verses, you will find, have been penned with scandalous, with incredible inaccuracy. But on this head let the learned Editor of the document in question be listened to, rather than the present Reviewer:—

“On voit que le texte du papyrus est hérissé des fautes les plus graves. Le plus récent et le plus mauvais de nos manuscrits d'Euripide vaut infiniment mieux que cette copie,—faite, il y a deux mille ans, dans le pays où florissaient l'érudition hellénique et la Critique des textes.”⁷⁴⁵—(p. 17.)

[pg 323]

“Why, the author of the foregoing remarks might have been writing concerning Codex b!”

(3) S. O. “Yes: but I want Christian evidence. The author of that scrap of papyrus may have been an illiterate slave. What if it should be a school-boy's exercise which has come down to us? The thing is not impossible.”

Q. R. “Not ‘impossible’ certainly: but surely highly improbable. However, let it drop. You insist on Christian evidence. You shall have it. What think you then of the following statement of a very ancient Father (Caius⁷⁴⁶) writing against the heresy of Theodotus and others who denied the Divinity of Christ? He is bearing his testimony to the liberties which had been freely taken with the Text of the New Testament in his own time, viz. about a.d. 175-200:—

“The Divine Scriptures,” he says, “these heretics have audaciously corrupted: ... laying violent hands upon them under pretence of correcting them. That I bring no false accusation, any one who is disposed may easily convince himself. He has but to collect the copies belonging to these persons severally; then, to compare one with another; and he will discover that their discrepancy is extraordinary. Those of Asclepiades, at all events, will be found discordant from those of Theodotus. Now, plenty of specimens of either sort are obtainable, inasmuch as these men's disciples have industriously multiplied the (so-called) ‘corrected’ copies of their respective teachers, which are in reality nothing else but ‘corrupted’ copies. With the foregoing copies again, those of Hermophilus will be found entirely at variance. As for the copies of Apollonides, they even contradict one another. Nay, let any one compare the fabricated text which these persons put forth in the first instance, with that which exhibits their latest perversions of the Truth, and he will discover that the disagreement between them is even excessive.

[pg 324]

“Of the enormity of the offence of which these men have been guilty, they must needs themselves be fully aware. Either they do not believe that the Divine Scriptures are the utterance of the Holy Ghost,—in which case they are to be regarded as unbelievers: or else, they account themselves wiser than the Holy Ghost,—and what is that, but to have the faith of devils? As for their denying their guilt, the thing is impossible, seeing that the copies under discussion are their own actual handywork; and they know full well that not such as these are the Scriptures which they received at the hands of their catechetical teachers. Else, let them produce the originals from which they made their transcripts. Certain of them indeed have not even condescended to falsify Scripture, but entirely reject Law and Prophets alike.”⁷⁴⁷

“Now, the foregoing statement is in a high decree suggestive. For here is an orthodox Father of the IInd century inviting attention to four well-known families of falsified manuscripts of the Sacred Writings;—complaining of the hopeless divergences which they exhibit (being not only inconsistent with one another, but with themselves);—and insisting that such corrected, are nothing else but shamefully corrupted copies. He speaks of the phenomenon as being in his day notorious: and appeals to Recensions, the very names of whose authors—Theodotus, Asclepiades, Hermophilus, Apollonides—have (all but the first) long since died out of the Church's memory. You will allow therefore, (will you not?), that by this time the claim of the oldest existing copies of Scripture to be the purest, has been effectually disposed of. For since there once prevailed such a multitude of corrupted copies, we have no security whatever that the oldest of our extant MSS. are not derived—remotely if not directly—from some of them.”

(4) S. O. “But at all events the chances are even. Are they not?”

[pg 325]

Q. R. “By no means. A copy like codex b, once recognized as belonging to a corrupt family,—once known to contain a depraved exhibition of the Sacred Text,—was more likely by far to remain unused, and so to escape destruction, than a copy highly prized and in daily use.—As for Codex א, it carries on its face its own effectual condemnation; aptly illustrating the precept fiat experimentum in corpore vili. It exhibits the efforts of many generations of men to restore its Text,—(which, ‘as proceeding from the first scribe,’ is admitted by one of its chief admirers to be ‘very rough,⁷⁴⁸’)—to something like purity. ‘At least ten different Revisers,’ from the IVth to the XIIth century, are found to have tried their hands upon it.⁷⁴⁹—Codex c, after having had ‘at least three correctors very busily at work upon it’⁷⁵⁰ (in the VIth and IXth centuries), finally (in the XIIth) was fairly obliterated,—literally scraped out,—to make room for the writings of a Syrian Father.—I am therefore led by à priori considerations to augur ill of the contents of b א c. But when I find them hopelessly at variance among themselves: above all, when I find (1) all other Manuscripts of whatever date,—(2) the most ancient Versions,—and (3), the whole body of the primitive Fathers, decidedly opposed to them,—I am (to speak plainly) at a loss to understand how any man of sound understanding, acquainted with all the facts of the case and accustomed to exact reasoning, can hesitate to regard the unsupported (or the slenderly supported) testimony of one or other of them as simply worthless. The craven homage which the foremost of the three habitually receives at the hands of Drs. Westcott and Hort, I can only describe as a weak superstition. It is something more than unreasonable. It becomes even ridiculous.—Tischendorf's preference (in his last edition) for the bêtises of his own codex א, [pg 326] can only be defended on the plea of parental partiality. But it is not on that account the less foolish. His ‘exaggerated preference for the single manuscript which he had the good fortune to discover, has betrayed him’—(in the opinion of Bishop Ellicott)—‘into an almost child-like infirmity of critical judgment’ ”⁷⁵¹

(5) O. S. “Well but,—be all that as it may,—Caius, remember, is speaking of heretical writers. When I said ‘I want Christian evidence,’ I meant orthodox evidence, of course. You would not assert (would you?) that b and א exhibit traces of heretical depravation?”

Q. R. “Reserving my opinion on that last head, good Sir, and determined to enjoy the pleasure of your company on any reasonable terms,—(for convince you, I both can and will, though you prolong the present discussion till tomorrow morning,)—I have to ask a little favour of you: viz. that you will bear me company in an imaginary expedition.

“I request that the clock of history may be put back seventeen hundred years. This is a.d. 183, if you please: and—(indulge me in the supposition!)—you and I are walking in Alexandria. We have reached the house of one Clemens,—a learned Athenian, who has long been a resident here. Let us step into his library,—he is from home. What a queer place! See, he has been reading his Bible, which is open at S. Mark x. Is it not a well-used copy? It must be at least 50 or 60 years old. Well, but suppose only 30 or 40. It was executed therefore within fifty years of the death of S. John the Evangelist. Come, let us transcribe two of the [pg 327] columns⁷⁵² (σελίδες) as faithfully as we possibly can, and be off.... We are back in England again, and the clock has been put right. Now let us sit down and examine our curiosity at leisure.⁷⁵³... It proves on inspection to be a transcript of the 15 verses (ver. 17 to ver. 31) which relate to the coming of the rich young Ruler to our Lord.

“We make a surprising discovery. There are but 297 words in those 15 verses,—according to the traditional Text: of which, in the copy which belonged to Clemens Alexandrinus, 39 prove to have been left out: 11 words are added: 22, substituted: 27, transposed: 13, varied; and the phrase has been altered at least 8 times. Now, 112 words out of a total of 297, is 38 per cent. What do you think of that?”

(6) S. O. “Think? O but, I disallow your entire proceeding! You have no business to collate with ‘a text of late and degenerate type, such as is the Received Text of the New Testament.’ When this ‘is taken as a standard, any document belonging to a purer stage of the Text must by the nature of the case have the appearance of being guilty of omissions: and the nearer the document stands to the autograph, the more numerous must be the omissions laid to its charge.’ I learnt that from Westcott and Hort. See page 235 of their luminous Introduction.”

Q. R. “Be it so! Collate the passage then for yourself with the Text of Drs. Westcott and Hort: which, (remember!) aspires to reproduce ‘the autographs themselves’ ‘with the utmost exactness which the evidence permits’ [pg 328] (pp. 288 and 289).⁷⁵⁴ You will find that this time the words omitted amount to 44. The words added are 13: the words substituted, 23: the words transposed, 34: the words varied 16. And the phrase has been altered 9 times at least. But, 130 on a total of 297, is 44 per cent. You will also bear in mind that Clement of Alexandria is one of our principal authorities for the Text of the Ante-Nicene period.⁷⁵⁵

“And thus, I venture to presume, the imagination has been at last effectually disposed of, that because Codices b and א are the two oldest Greek copies in existence, the Text exhibited by either must therefore be the purest Text which is anywhere to be met with. It is impossible to produce a fouler exhibition of S. Mark x. 17-31 than is contained in a document full two centuries older than either b or א,—itself the property of one of the most famous of the ante-Nicene Fathers.”

LVI.—(7) At this stage of the argument, the Reviewer finds himself taken aside by a friendly Critic [F. C.], and privately remonstrated with somewhat as follows:—

F. C. “Do you consider, Sir, what it is you are about? Surely, you have been proving a vast deal too much! If the foregoing be a fair sample of the Text of the N. T. with which Clemens Alex. was best acquainted, it is plain that the testimony to the Truth of Scripture borne by one of the most ancient and most famous of the Fathers, is absolutely worthless. Is that your own deliberate conviction or not?”

Q. R. “Finish what you have to say, Sir. After that, you shall have a full reply.”

[pg 329]

(8) F. C. “Well then. Pray understand, I nothing doubt that in your main contention you are right; but I yet cannot help thinking that this bringing in of a famous ancient Father—obiter—is a very damaging proceeding. What else is such an elaborate exposure of the badness of the Text which Clemens (a.d. 150) employed, but the hopeless perplexing of a question which was already sufficiently thorny and difficult? You have, as it seems to me, imported into these 15 verses an entirely fresh crop of ‘Various Readings.’ Do you seriously propose them as a contribution towards ascertaining the ipsissima verba of the Evangelist,—the true text of S. Mark x. 17-31?”

Q. R. “Come back, if you please, Sir, to the company. Fully appreciating the friendly spirit in which you just now drew me aside, I yet insist on so making my reply that all the world shall hear it. Forgive my plainness: but you are evidently profoundly unacquainted with the problem before you,—in which however you do not by any means enjoy the distinction of standing alone.

“The foulness of a Text which must have been penned within 70 or 80 years of the death of the last of the Evangelists, is a matter of fact—which must be loyally accepted, and made the best of. The phenomenon is surprising certainly; and may well be a warning to all who (like Dr. Tregelles) regard as oracular the solitary unsupported dicta of a Writer,—provided only he can claim to have lived in the IInd or IIIrd century. To myself it occasions no sort of inconvenience. You are to be told that the exorbitances of a single Father,—as Clemens; a single Version,—as the Egyptian: a single Copy,—as cod. b, are of no manner of significancy or use, except as warnings: are of no manner of interest, except as illustrating the depravation which systematically assailed the written Word in the age which immediately succeeded the Apostolic: are, in fact, of no [pg 330] importance whatever. To make them the basis of an induction is preposterous. It is not allowable to infer the universal from the particular. If the bones of Goliath were to be discovered to-morrow, would you propose as an induction therefrom that it was the fashion to wear four-and-twenty fingers and toes on one's hands and feet in the days of the giant of Gath? All the wild readings of the lost Codex before us may be unceremoniously dismissed. The critical importance and value of this stray leaf from a long-since-vanished Copy is entirely different, and remains to be explained.

“You are to remember then,—perhaps you have yet to learn,—that there are but 25 occasions in the course of these 15 verses, on which either Lachmann (L.), or Tischendorf (T.), or Tregelles (Tr.), or Westcott and Hort (W. H.), or our Revisionists (R. T.), advocate a departure from the Traditional Text. To those 25 places therefore our attention is now to be directed,—on them, our eyes are to be riveted,—exclusively. And the first thing which strikes us as worthy of notice is, that the 5 authorities above specified fall into no fewer than twelve distinct combinations in their advocacy of certain of those 25 readings: holding all 5 together only 4 times.⁷⁵⁶ The one question of interest therefore which arises, [pg 331] is this,—What amount of sanction do any of them experience at the hands of Clemens Alexandrinus?

“I answer,—Only on 3 occasions does he agree with any of them.⁷⁵⁷ The result of a careful analysis shows further that he sides with the Traditional Text 17 times:—witnessing against Lachmann, 9 times: against Tischendorf, 10 times: against Tregelles, 11 times: against Westcott and Hort, 12 times.⁷⁵⁸

“So far therefore from admitting that ‘the Testimony of Clemens Al.—one of the most ancient and most famous of the Fathers—is absolutely worthless,’—I have proved it to be of very great value. Instead of ‘hopelessly perplexing the question,’ his Evidence is found to have simplified matters considerably. So far from ‘importing into these 15 verses a fresh crop of Various Readings,’ he has helped us to get rid of no less than 17 of the existing ones.... ‘Damaging’ his evidence has certainly proved: but only to Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Westcott and Hort and our ill-starred Revisionists. And yet it remains undeniably true, that ‘it is impossible to produce a fouler exhibition of S. Mark x. 17-31 than is met with in a document full two centuries older than either b or א,—the property of one of the most famous of the Fathers.’⁷⁵⁹ ... Have you anything further to ask?”

(9) F. C. “I should certainly like, in conclusion, to be informed whether we are to infer that the nearer we approach to the date of the sacred Autographs, the more corrupt we [pg 332] shall find the copies. For, if so, pray—Where and when did purity of Text begin?”

Q. R. “You are not at liberty, logically, to draw any such inference from the premisses. The purest documents of all existed perforce in the first century: must have then existed. The spring is perforce purest at its source. My whole contention has been, and is,—That there is nothing at all unreasonable in the supposition that two stray copies of the IVth century,—coming down to our own times without a history and without a character,—may exhibit a thoroughly depraved text. More than this does not follow lawfully from the premisses. At the outset, remember, you delivered it as your opinion that ‘the oldest Manuscript we possess, if it be but a very ancient one, must needs be the purest.’ I asserted, in reply, that ‘it does not by any means follow, because a manuscript is very ancient, that therefore its text will be very pure’ (p. 321); and all that I have been since saying, has but had for its object to prove the truth of my assertion. Facts have been incidentally elicited, I admit, calculated to inspire distrust, rather than confidence, in very ancient documents generally. But I am neither responsible for these facts; nor for the inferences suggested by them.

“At all events, I have to request that you will not carry away so entirely erroneous a notion as that I am the advocate for Recent, in preference to Ancient, Evidence concerning the Text of Scripture. Be so obliging as not to say concerning me that I ‘count’ instead of ‘weighing’ my witnesses. If you have attended to the foregoing pages, and have understood them, you must by this time be aware that in every instance it is to Antiquity that I persistently make my appeal. I abide by its sentence, and I require that you shall do the same.

[pg 333]

“You and your friends, on the contrary, reject the Testimony of Antiquity. You set up, instead, some idol of your own. Thus, Tregelles worshipped ‘codex b.’ But ‘codex b’ is not ‘Antiquity’!—Tischendorf assigned the place of honour to ‘codex א.’ But once more, ‘codex א’ is not ‘Antiquity’!—You rejoice in the decrees of the VIth-century-codex d,—and of the VIIIth-century-codex l,—and of the Xth, XIth, and XIVth century codices, 1, 33, 69. But will you venture to tell me that any of these are ‘Antiquity’? Samples of Antiquity, at best, are any of these. No more! But then, it is demonstrable that they are unfair samples. Why are you regardless of all other Copies?—So, with respect to Versions, and Fathers. You single out one or two,—the one or two which suit your purpose; and you are for rejecting all the rest. But, once more,—The Coptic version is not ‘Antiquity,’—neither is Origen ‘Antiquity.’ The Syriac Version is a full set-off against the former,—Irenæus more than counterbalances the latter. Whatever is found in one of these ancient authorities must confessedly be an ‘ancient Reading:’ but it does not therefore follow that it is the ancient Reading of the place. Now, it is the ancient Reading, of which we are always in search. And he who sincerely desires to ascertain what actually is the Witness of Antiquity,—(i.e., what is the prevailing testimony of all the oldest documents,)—will begin by casting his prejudices and his predilections to the winds, and will devote himself conscientiously to an impartial survey of the whole field of Evidence.”

F. C. “Well but,—you have once and again admitted that the phenomena before us are extraordinary. Are you able to explain how it comes to pass that such an one as Clemens Alexandrinus employed such a scandalously corrupt copy of the Gospels as we have been considering?”

[pg 334]

Q. R. “You are quite at liberty to ask me any question you choose. And I, for my own part, am willing to return you the best answer I am able. You will please to remember however, that the phenomena will remain,—however infelicitous my attempts to explain them may seem to yourself. My view of the matter then—(think what you will about it!)—is as follows:—

LVII. “Vanquished by the word Incarnate, Satan next directed his subtle malice against the Word written. Hence, as I think,—hence the extraordinary fate which befel certain early transcripts of the Gospel. First, heretical assailants of Christianity,—then, orthodox defenders of the Truth,—lastly and above all, self-constituted Critics, who (like Dr. Hort) imagined themselves at liberty to resort to ‘instinctive processes’ of Criticism; and who, at first as well as ‘at last,’ freely made their appeal ‘to the individual mind:’—such were the corrupting influences which were actively at work throughout the first hundred and fifty years after the death of S. John the Divine. Profane literature has never known anything approaching to it,—can show nothing at all like it. Satan's arts were defeated indeed through the Church's faithfulness, because,—(the good Providence of God had so willed it,)—the perpetual multiplication, in every quarter, of copies required for Ecclesiastical use,—not to say the solicitude of faithful men in diverse regions of ancient Christendom to retain for themselves unadulterated specimens of the inspired Text,—proved a sufficient safeguard against the grosser forms of corruption. But this was not all.

“The Church, remember, hath been from the beginning the ‘Witness and Keeper of Holy Writ.’⁷⁶⁰ Did not her Divine Author pour out upon her, in largest measure, ‘the [pg 335] Spirit of Truth;’ and pledge Himself that it should be that Spirit's special function to ‘guide’ her children ‘into all the Truth’⁷⁶¹?... That by a perpetual miracle, Sacred Manuscripts would be protected all down the ages against depraving influences of whatever sort,—was not to have been expected; certainly, was never promised. But the Church, in her collective capacity, hath nevertheless—as a matter of fact—been perpetually purging herself of those shamefully depraved copies which once everywhere abounded within her pale: retaining only such an amount of discrepancy in her Text as might serve to remind her children that they carry their ‘treasure in earthen vessels,’—as well as to stimulate them to perpetual watchfulness and solicitude for the purity and integrity of the Deposit. Never, however, up to the present hour, hath there been any complete eradication of all traces of the attempted mischief,—any absolute getting rid of every depraved copy extant. These are found to have lingered on anciently in many quarters. A few such copies linger on to the present day. The wounds were healed, but the scars remained,—nay, the scars are discernible still.

“What, in the meantime, is to be thought of those blind guides—those deluded ones—who would now, if they could, persuade us to go back to those same codices of which the Church hath already purged herself? to go back in quest of those very Readings which, 15 or 1600 years ago, the Church in all lands is found to have rejected with loathing? Verily, it is ‘happening unto them according to the true proverb’—which S. Peter sets down in his 2nd Epistle,—chapter ii. verse 22. To proceed however.

“As for Clemens,—he lived at the very time and in the very country where the mischief referred to was most rife. For full two centuries after his era, heretical works were so [pg 336] industriously multiplied, that in a diocese consisting of 800 parishes (viz. Cyrus in Syria), the Bishop (viz. Theodoret, who was appointed in a.d. 423,) complains that he found no less than 200 copies of the Diatessaron of Tatian the heretic,—(Tatian's date being a.d. 173,)—honourably preserved in the Churches of his (Theodoret's) diocese, and mistaken by the orthodox for an authentic performance.⁷⁶² Clemens moreover would seem to have been a trifle too familiar with the works of Basilides, Marcion, Valentinus, Heracleon, and the rest of the Gnostic crew. He habitually mistakes apocryphal writings for inspired Scripture:763 and—with corrupted copies always at hand and before him—he is just the man to present us with a quotation like the present, and straightway to volunteer the assurance that he found it ‘so written in the Gospel according to S. Mark.’⁷⁶⁴ The archetype of Codices b and א,—especially the archetype from which Cod. d was copied,—is discovered to have experienced adulteration largely from the same pestilential source which must have corrupted the copies with which Clement (and his pupil Origen after him) were most familiar.—And thus you have explained to you the reason of the disgust and indignation with which I behold in these last days a resolute attempt made to revive and to palm off upon an unlearned generation the old exploded errors, under the pretence that they are the inspired Verity itself,—providentially recovered from a neglected shelf in the Vatican,—rescued from destruction by a chance visitor to Mount Sinai.”

F. C. “Will you then, in conclusion, tell us how you would have us proceed in order to ascertain the Truth of Scripture?”

[pg 337]

Q. R. “To answer that question fully would require a considerable Treatise. I will not, however, withhold a slight outline of what I conceive to be the only safe method of procedure. I could but fill up that outline, and illustrate that method, even if I had 500 pages at my disposal.

LVIII. “On first seriously applying ourselves to these studies, many years ago, we found it wondrous difficult to divest ourselves of prepossessions very like your own. Turn which way we would, we were encountered by the same confident terminology:—‘the best documents,’—‘primary manuscripts,’—‘first-rate authorities,’—‘primitive evidence,’—‘ancient readings,’—and so forth: and we found that thereby cod. a. or b,—cod. c or d—were invariably and exclusively meant. It was not until we had laboriously collated these documents (including א) for ourselves, that we became aware of their true character. Long before coming to the end of our task (and it occupied us, off and on, for eight years) we had become convinced that the supposed ‘best documents’ and ‘first-rate authorities’ are in reality among the worst:—that these Copies deserve to be called ‘primary,’ only because in any enumeration of manuscripts, they stand foremost;—and that their ‘Evidence,’ whether ‘primitive’ or not, is contradictory throughout.—All Readings, lastly, we discovered are ‘ancient.’

“A diligent inspection of a vast number of later Copies scattered throughout the principal libraries of Europe, and the exact Collation of a few, further convinced us that the deference generally claimed for b, א, c, d is nothing else but a weak superstition and a vulgar error:—that the date of a MS. is not of its essence, but is a mere accident of the problem:—and that later Copies, so far from ‘crumbling down salient points, softening irregularities, conforming [pg 338] differences,’⁷⁶⁵ and so forth,—on countless occasions, and as a rule,—preserve those delicate lineaments and minute refinements which the ‘old uncials’ are constantly observed to obliterate. And so, rising to a systematic survey of the entire field of Evidence, we found reason to suspect more and more the soundness of the conclusions at which Lachmann, Tregelles, and Tischendorf had arrived: while we seemed led, as if by the hand, to discern plain indications of the existence for ourselves of a far ‘more excellent way.’

LIX. “For, let the ample and highly complex provision which Divine Wisdom hath made for the effectual conservation of that crowning master-piece of His own creative skill,—The Written Word,—be duly considered; and surely a recoil is inevitable from the strange perversity which in these last days would shut us up within the limits of a very few documents to the neglect of all the rest,—as though a revelation from Heaven had proclaimed that the Truth is to be found exclusively in them. The good Providence of the Author of Scripture is discovered to have furnished His household, the Church, with (speaking roughly) 1000 copies of the Gospels:—with twenty Versions—two of which go back to the beginning of Christianity: and with the writings of a host of ancient Fathers. Why out of those 1000 MSS. two should be singled out by Drs. Westcott and Hort for special favour,—to the practical disregard of all the rest: why Versions and Fathers should by them be similarly dealt with,—should be practically set aside in fact in the lump,—we fail to discover. Certainly the pleas urged by the learned Editors⁷⁶⁶ can appear satisfactory to no one but to themselves.

LX. “For our method then,—It is the direct contradictory to that adopted by the two Cambridge Professors. Moreover, [pg 339] it conducts us throughout to directly opposite results. We hold it to be even axiomatic that a Reading which is supported by only one document,—out of the 1100 (more or less) already specified,—whether that solitary unit be a Father, a Version, or a Copy,—stands self-condemned; may be dismissed at once, without concern or enquiry.

“Nor is the case materially altered if (as generally happens) a few colleagues of bad character are observed to side with the else solitary document. Associated with the corrupt b, is often found the more corrupt א. Nay, six leaves of א are confidently declared by Tischendorf to have been written by the scribe of b. The sympathy between these two, and the Version of Lower Egypt, is even notorious. That Origen should sometimes join the conspiracy,—and that the same Reading should find allies in certain copies of the unrevised Latin, or perhaps in Cureton's Syriac:—all this we deem the reverse of encouraging. The attesting witnesses are, in our account, of so suspicious a character, that the Reading cannot be allowed. On such occasions, we are reminded that there is truth in Dr. Hort's dictum concerning the importance of noting the tendency of certain documents to fall into ‘groups:’ though his assertion that ‘it cannot be too often repeated that the study of grouping is the foundation of all enduring Criticism,’⁷⁶⁷ we hold to be as absurd as it is untrue.

LXI. “So far negatively.—A safer, the only trustworthy method, in fact, of ascertaining the Truth of Scripture, we hold to be the method which,—without prejudice or partiality,—simply ascertains which form of the text enjoys the earliest, the fullest, the widest, the most respectable, and—above all things—the most varied attestation. That a Reading should be freely recognized alike by the earliest [pg 340] and by the latest available evidence,—we hold to be a prime circumstance in its favour. That Copies, Versions, and Fathers, should all three concur in sanctioning it,—we hold to be even more conclusive. If several Fathers, living in different parts of ancient Christendom, are all observed to recognize the words, or to quote them in the same way,—we have met with all the additional confirmation we ordinarily require. Let it only be further discoverable how or why the rival Reading came into existence, and our confidence becomes absolute.

LXII. “An instance which we furnished in detail in a former article,⁷⁶⁸ may be conveniently appealed to in illustration of what goes before. Our Lord's ‘Agony and bloody sweat,’—first mentioned by Justin Martyr (a.d. 150), is found set down in every MS. in the world except four. It is duly exhibited by every known Version. It is recognized by upwards of forty famous Fathers writing without concert in remote parts of ancient Christendom. Whether therefore Antiquity,—Variety of testimony,—Respectability of witnesses,—or Number,—is considered, the evidence in favour of S. Luke xxii. 43, 44 is simply overwhelming. And yet out of superstitious deference to two Copies of bad character, Drs. Westcott and Hort (followed by the Revisionists) set the brand of spuriousness on those 26 precious words; professing themselves ‘morally certain’ that this is nothing else but a ‘Western Interpolation:’ whereas, mistaken zeal for the honour of Incarnate Jehovah alone occasioned the suppression of these two verses in a few early manuscripts. This has been explained already,—namely, in the middle of page 82.

LXIII. “Only one other instance shall be cited. The traditional reading of S. Luke ii. 14 is vouched for by every [pg 341] known copy of the Gospels but four—3 of which are of extremely bad character, viz. א b d. The Versions are divided: but not the Fathers: of whom more than forty-seven from every part of ancient Christendom,—(Syria, Palestine, Alexandria, Asia Minor, Cyprus, Crete, Gaul,)—come back to attest that the traditional reading (as usual) is the true one. Yet such is the infatuation of the new school, that Drs. Westcott and Hort are content to make nonsense of the Angelic Hymn on the night of the Nativity, rather than admit the possibility of complicity in error in א b d: error in respect of a single letter!... The Reader is invited to refer to what has already been offered on this subject, from p. 41 to p. 47.

LXIV. “It will be perceived therefore that the method we plead for consists merely in a loyal recognition of the whole of the Evidence: setting off one authority against another, laboriously and impartially; and adjudicating fairly between them all. Even so hopelessly corrupt a document as Clement of Alexandria's copy of the Gospels proves to have been—(described at pp. 326-31)—is by no means without critical value. Servilely followed, it would confessedly land us in hopeless error: but, judiciously employed, as a set-off against other evidence; regarded rather as a check upon the exorbitances of other foul documents, (e.g. b א c and especially d); resorted to as a protection against the prejudice and caprice of modern Critics;—that venerable document, with all its faults, proves invaluable. Thus, in spite of its own aberrations, it witnesses to the truth of the Traditional Text of S. Mark x. 17-31—(the place of Scripture above referred to⁷⁶⁹)—in several important particulars; siding with it against Lachmann, 9 times;—against Tischendorf, 10 times;—against Tregelles, 11 times;—against Westcott and Hort, 12 times.

[pg 342]

“We deem this laborious method the only true method, in our present state of imperfect knowledge: the method, namely, of adopting that Reading which has the fullest, the widest, and the most varied attestation. Antiquity, and Respectability of Witnesses, are thus secured. How men can persuade themselves that 19 Copies out of every 20 may be safely disregarded, if they be but written in minuscule characters,—we fail to understand. To ourselves it seems simply an irrational proceeding. But indeed we hold this to be no seeming truth. The fact is absolutely demonstrable. As for building up a Text, (as Drs. Westcott and Hort have done,) with special superstitious deference to a single codex,—we deem it about as reasonable as would be the attempt to build up a pyramid from its apex; in the expectation that it would stand firm on its extremity, and remain horizontal for ever.”

And thus much in reply to our supposed Questioner. We have now reached the end of a prolonged discussion, which began at page 320; more immediately, at page 337.

LXV. In the meantime, a pyramid balanced on its apex proves to be no unapt image of the Textual theory of Drs. Westcott and Hort. When we reach the end of their Introduction we find we have reached the point to which all that went before has been evidently converging: but we make the further awkward discovery that it is the point on which all that went before absolutely depends also. Apart from codex b, the present theory could have no existence. But for codex b, it would never have been excogitated. On codex b, it entirely rests. Out of codex b, it has entirely sprung.

Take away this one codex, and Dr. Hort's volume becomes absolutely without coherence, purpose, meaning. One-fifth [pg 343] of it⁷⁷⁰ is devoted to remarks on b and א. The fable of “the Syrian text” is invented solely for the glorification of b and א,—which are claimed, of course, to be “Pre-Syrian.” This fills 40 pages more.⁷⁷¹ And thus it would appear that the Truth of Scripture has run a very narrow risk of being lost for ever to mankind. Dr. Hort contends that it more than half lay perdu on a forgotten shelf in the Vatican Library;—Dr. Tischendorf, that it had been deposited in a waste-paper basket⁷⁷² in the convent of S. Catharine at the foot of Mount Sinai,—from which he rescued it on the 4th February, 1859:—neither, we venture to think, a very likely circumstance. We incline to believe that the Author of Scripture hath not by any means shown Himself so unmindful of the safety of the Deposit, as these distinguished gentlemen imagine.

Are we asked for the ground of our opinion? We point without hesitation to the 998 Copies which remain: to the many ancient Versions: to the many venerable Fathers,—any one of whom we hold to be a more trustworthy authority for the Text of Scripture, when he speaks out plainly, than either Codex b or Codex א,—aye, or than both of them put together. Behold, (we say,) the abundant provision which the All-wise One hath made for the safety of the Deposit: the “threefold cord” which “is not quickly broken”! We hope to be forgiven if we add, (not without a little warmth,) that we altogether wonder at the perversity, the infatuation, the blindness,—which is prepared to make light of all these precious helps, in order to magnify two of the most corrupt [pg 344] codices in existence; and that, for no other reason but because, (as Dr. Hort expresses it,) they “happen likewise to be the oldest extant Greek MSS. of the New Testament.” (p. 212.)

LXVI. And yet, had what precedes been the sum of the matter, we should for our own parts have been perfectly well content to pass it by without a syllable of comment. So long as nothing more is endangered than the personal reputation of a couple of Scholars—at home or abroad—we can afford to look on with indifference. Their private ventures are their private concern. What excites our indignation is the spectacle of the Church of England becoming to some extent involved in their discomfiture, because implicated in their mistakes: dragged through the mire, to speak plainly, at the chariot-wheels of these two infelicitous Doctors, and exposed with them to the ridicule of educated Christendom. Our Church has boasted till now of learned sons in abundance within her pale, ready at a moment's notice to do her right: to expose shallow sciolism, and to vindicate that precious thing which hath been committed to her trust.⁷⁷³ Where are the men now? What has come to her, that, on the contrary, certain of her own Bishops and Doctors have not scrupled to enter into an irregular alliance with Sectarians,—yes, have even taken into partnership with themselves one who openly denies the eternal Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ,—in order, as it would seem, to give proof to the world of the low ebb to which Taste, Scholarship, and Sacred Learning have sunk among us?

LXVII. Worse yet. We are so distressed, because the true sufferers after all by this ill-advised proceeding, are the 90 millions of English-speaking Christian folk scattered over [pg 345] the surface of the globe. These have had the title-deeds by which they hold their priceless birthright, shamefully tampered with. Who will venture to predict the amount of mischief which must follow, if the “New Greek Text” which has been put forth by the men who were appointed to revise the English Authorized Version, should become used in our Schools and in our Colleges,—should impose largely on the Clergy of the Church of England?... But to return from this, which however will scarcely be called a digression.

A pyramid poised on its apex then, we hold to be a fair emblem of the Theory just now under review. Only, unfortunately, its apex is found to be constructed of brick without straw: say rather of straw—without brick.

LXVIII. Why such partiality has been evinced latterly for Cod. b, none of the Critics have yet been so good as to explain; nor is it to be expected that, satisfactorily, any of them ever will. Why again Tischendorf should have suddenly transferred his allegiance from Cod. b to Cod. א,—unless, to be sure, he was the sport of parental partiality,—must also remain a riddle. If one of the “old uncials” must needs be taken as a guide,—(though we see no sufficient reason why one should be appointed to lord it over the rest,)—we should rather have expected that Cod. a would have been selected,⁷⁷⁴—the text of which “Stands in broad contrast to those of either b or א, though the interval of years [between it and them] is probably small.” [pg 346] (p. 152.) “By a curious and apparently unnoticed coincidence,” (proceeds Dr. Hort,) “its Text in several books agrees with the Latin Vulgate in so many peculiar readings devoid of old Latin attestation, as to leave little doubt that a Greek MS. largely employed by Jerome”—[and why not “the Greek copies employed by Jerome”?]—“in his Revision of the Latin version must have had to a great extent a common original with a.” (Ibid.)

Behold a further claim of this copy on the respectful consideration of the Critics! What would be thought of the Alexandrian Codex, if some attestation were discoverable in its pages that it actually had belonged to the learned Palestinian father? According to Dr. Hort,

“Apart from this individual affinity, a—both in the Gospels and elsewhere—may serve as a fair example of the Manuscripts that, to judge by Patristic quotations, were commonest in the IVth century.”—(p. 152.)

O but, the evidence in favour of Codex a thickens apace! Suppose then,—(for, after this admission, the supposition is at least allowable,)—suppose the discovery were made tomorrow of half-a-score of codices of the same date as Cod. b, but exhibiting the same Text as Cod. a. What a complete revolution would be thereby effected in men's minds on Textual matters! How impossible would it be, henceforth, for b and its henchman א, to obtain so much as a hearing! Such “an eleven” would safely defy the world! And yet, according to Dr. Hort, the supposition may any day become a fact; for he informs us,—(and we are glad to be able for once to declare that what he says is perfectly correct,)—that such manuscripts once abounded or rather prevailed;—“were commonest in the IVth century,” when codices b and א were written. We presume that then, as now, such codices prevailed universally, in the proportion of 99 to 1.

LXIX. But—what need to say it?—we entirely disallow any such narrowing of the platform which Divine Wisdom [pg 347] hath willed should be at once very varied and very ample. Cod. a is sometimes in error: sometimes even conspires in error exclusively with Cod. b. An instance occurs in 1 S. John v. 18,—a difficult passage, which we the more willingly proceed to remark upon, because the fact has transpired that it is one of the few places in which entire unanimity prevailed among the Revisionists,—who yet (as we shall show) have been, one and all, mistaken in substituting “him” (αὐτόν) for “himself” (ἑαυτόν).... We venture to bespeak the Reader's attention while we produce the passage in question, and briefly examine it. He is assured that it exhibits a fair average specimen of what has been the Revisionists' fatal method in every page:—

LXX. S. John in his first Epistle (v. 18) is distinguishing between the mere recipient of the new birth (ὁ ΓΕΝΝΗΘΕῚΣ ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ),—and the man who retains the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit which he received when he became regenerate (ὁ ΓΕΓΕΝΝΗΜΈΝΟΣ ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ). The latter (he says) “sinneth not:” the former, (he says,) “keepeth himself, and the Evil One toucheth him not.” So far, all is intelligible. The nominative is the same in both cases. Substitute however “keepeth him (αὐτόν),” for “keepeth himself (ἑαυτόν),” and (as Dr. Scrivener admits⁷⁷⁵), ὁ γεννηθεὶς ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ can be none other than the Only Begotten Son of God. And yet our Lord is nowhere in the New Testament designated as ὁ γεννηθεὶς ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ.⁷⁷⁶ Alford accordingly prefers to make nonsense of the place; which he translates,—“he that hath been begotten of God, it keepeth him.”

[pg 348]

LXXI. Now, on every occasion like the present,—(instead of tampering with the text, as Dr. Hort and our Revisionists have done without explanation or apology,)—our safety will be found to consist in enquiring,—But (1) What have the Copies to say to this? (2) What have the Versions? and (3) What, the Fathers?... The answer proves to be—(1) All the copies except three,⁷⁷⁷ read “himself.”—(2) So do the Syriac and the Latin;⁷⁷⁸—so do the Coptic, Sahidic, Georgian, Armenian, and Æthiopic versions.⁷⁷⁹—(3) So, Origen clearly thrice,⁷⁸⁰—Didymus clearly 4 times,⁷⁸¹—Ephraem Syrus clearly twice,⁷⁸²—Severus also twice,⁷⁸³—Theophylact expressly,⁷⁸⁴—and Œcumenius.⁷⁸⁵—So, indeed, Cod. a; for the original Scribe is found to have corrected himself.⁷⁸⁶ The sum of the adverse attestation therefore which prevailed with the Revisionists, is found to have been—Codex b and a single cursive copy at Moscow.

This does not certainly seem to the Reviewer, (as it seemed to the Revisionists,) “decidedly preponderating evidence.” In his account, “plain and clear error” dwells with their Revision. But this may be because,—(to quote words recently addressed by the President of the Revising body to the Clergy [pg 349] and Laity of the Diocese of Gloucester and Bristol,)—the “Quarterly Reviewer” is “innocently ignorant of the now established principles of Textual Criticism.”⁷⁸⁷

LXXII. “It is easy,”—(says the learned Prelate, speaking on his own behalf and that of his co-Revisionists,)—“to put forth to the world a sweeping condemnation of many of our changes of reading; and yet all the while to be innocently ignorant of the now established principles of Textual Criticism.”

May we venture to point out, that it is easier still to denounce adverse Criticism in the lump, instead of trying to refute it in any one particular:—to refer vaguely to “established principles of Textual Criticism,” instead of stating which they be:—to sneer contemptuously at endeavours, (which, even if unsuccessful, one is apt to suppose are entitled to sympathy at the hands of a successor of the Apostles,) instead of showing wherein such efforts are reprehensible? We are content to put the following question to any fair-minded man:—Whether of these two is the more facile and culpable proceeding;—(1) Lightly to blot out an inspired word from the Book of Life, and to impose a wrong sense on Scripture, as in this place the Bishop and his colleagues are found to have done:—or, (2) To fetch the same word industriously back: to establish its meaning by diligent and laborious enquiry: to restore both to their rightful honours: and to set them on a basis of (hitherto unobserved) evidence, from which (faxit DEUS!) it will be found impossible henceforth to dislodge them?

This only will the Reviewer add,—That if it be indeed one of the “now established principles of Textual Criticism,” [pg 350] that the evidence of two manuscripts and-a-half outweighs the evidence of (1) All the remaining 997-½,—(2) The whole body of the Versions,—(3) Every Father who quotes the place, from a.d. 210 to a.d. 1070,—and (4) The strongest possible internal Evidence:—if all this indeed be so,—he devoutly trusts that he may be permitted to retain his “Innocence” to the last; and in his “Ignorance,” when the days of his warfare are ended, to close his eyes in death.—And now to proceed.

LXXIII. The Nemesis of Superstition and Idolatry is ever the same. Phantoms of the imagination henceforth usurp the place of substantial forms. Interminable doubt,—wretched misbelief,—childish credulity,—judicial blindness,—are the inevitable sequel and penalty. The mind that has long allowed itself in a systematic trifling with Evidence, is observed to fall the easiest prey to Imposture. It has doubted what is demonstrably true: has rejected what is indubitably Divine. Henceforth, it is observed to mistake its own fantastic creations for historical facts: to believe things which rest on insufficient evidence, or on no evidence at all. Thus, these learned Professors,—who condemn the “last Twelve Verses of the Gospel according to S. Mark;” which have been accounted veritable Scripture by the Church Universal for more than 1800 years;—nevertheless accept as the genuine “Diatessaron of Tatian” [a.d. 170], a production which was discovered yesterday, and which does not even claim to be the work of that primitive writer.⁷⁸⁸

Yes, the Nemesis of Superstition and Idolatry is ever the same. General mistrust of all evidence is the sure result. In 1870, Drs. Westcott and Hort solemnly assured their [pg 351] brother-Revisionists that “the prevalent assumption that throughout the N. T. the true Text is to be found somewhere among recorded Readings, does not stand the test of experience.” They are evidently still haunted by the same spectral suspicion. They invent a ghost to be exorcised in every dark corner. Accordingly, Dr. Hort favours us with a chapter on the Art of “removing Corruptions of the sacred Text antecedent to extant documents” (p. 71). We are not surprised (though we are a little amused) to hear that,—

“The Art of Conjectural Emendation depends for its success so much on personal endowments, fertility of resource in the first instance, and even more an appreciation of language too delicate to acquiesce in merely plausible corrections, that it is easy to forget its true character as a critical operation founded on knowledge and method.”—(p. 71.)

LXXIV. Very “easy,” certainly. One sample of Dr. Hort's skill in this department, (it occurs at page 135 of his Notes on Select Readings,) shall be cited in illustration. We venture to commend it to the attention of our Readers:—

(a) S. Paul [2 Tim. i. 13] exhorts Timothy, (whom he had set as Bp. over the Church of Ephesus,) to “hold fast” a certain “form” or “pattern” (ὑποτύπωσιν) “of sound words, which” (said he) “thou hast heard of me.” The flexibility and delicate precision of the Greek language enables the Apostle to indicate exactly what was the prime object of his solicitude. It proves to have been the safety of the very words which he had syllabled, (ὑγιαινόντων λόγων ὯΝ παρ᾽ ἐμοῦ ἤκουσασ). As learned Bp. Beveridge well points out,—“which words, not which form, thou hast heard of me. So that it is not so much the form, as the words themselves, which the Apostle would have him to hold fast.”⁷⁸⁹

[pg 352]

All this however proves abhorrent to Dr. Hort. “This sense” (says the learned Professor) “cannot be obtained from the text except by treating ὧν as put in the genitive by an unusual and inexplicable attraction. It seems more probable that ὧν is a primitive corruption of ὅν after πάντων.”

Now, this is quite impossible, since neither ὅν nor πάντων occurs anywhere in the neighbourhood. And as for the supposed “unusual and inexplicable attraction,” it happens to be one of even common occurrence,—as every attentive reader of the New Testament is aware. Examples of it may be seen at 2 Cor. i. 4 and Ephes. iv. 1,—also (in Dr. Hort's text of) Ephes. i. 6 (ἧς in all 3 places). Again, in S. Luke v. 9 (whether ᾗ or ὧν is read): and vi. 38 (ῷ):—in S. Jo. xv. 20 (οὗ):—and xvii. 11 (ᾧ): in Acts ii. 22 (οἷς): vii. 17 (ἧς) and 45 (ὧν): in xxii. 15 (ὧν),&c.... But why entertain the question? There is absolutely no room for such Criticism in respect of a reading which is found in every known MS.,—in every known Version,—in every Father who quotes the place: a reading which Divines, and Scholars who were not Divines,—Critics of the Text, and grammarians who were without prepossessions concerning Scripture,—Editors of the Greek and Translators of the Greek into other languages,—all alike have acquiesced in, from the beginning until now.

We venture to assert that it is absolutely unlawful, in the entire absence of evidence, to call such a reading as the present in question. There is absolutely no safeguard for Scripture—no limit to Controversy—if a place like this may be solicited at the mere suggestion of individual caprice. (For it is worth observing that on this, and similar occasions, Dr. Hort is forsaken by Dr. Westcott. Such notes are enclosed in brackets, and subscribed “H.”) In the meantime, who can forbear smiling at the self-complacency of a Critic who [pg 353] puts forth remarks like those which precede; and yet congratulates himself on “personal endowments, fertility of resource, and a too delicate appreciation of language”?

(b) Another specimen of conjectural extravagance occurs at S. John vi. 4, where Dr. Hort labours to throw suspicion on “the Passover” (τὸ πάσχα),—in defiance of every known Manuscript,—every known Version,—and every Father who quotes or recognizes the place.⁷⁹⁰ We find nine columns devoted to his vindication of this weak imagination; although so partial are his Notes, that countless “various Readings” of great interest and importance are left wholly undiscussed. Nay, sometimes entire Epistles are dismissed with a single weak annotation (e.g. 1 and 2 Thessalonians),—or with none, as in the case of the Epistle to the Philippians.

(c) We charitably presume that it is in order to make amends for having conjecturally thrust out τὸ πάσχα from S. John vi. 4,—that Dr. Hort is for conjecturally thrusting into Acts xx. 28, Υἱοῦ (after τοῦ ἰδίου),—an imagination to which he devotes a column and-a-half, but for which he is not able to produce a particle of evidence. It would result in our reading, “to feed the Church of God, which He purchased”—(not “with His own blood,” but)—“with the blood of His own Son:” which has evidently been suggested by nothing so much as by the supposed necessity of getting rid of a text which unequivocally asserts that Christ is God.⁷⁹¹

[pg 354]

LXXV. Some will be chiefly struck by the conceit and presumption of such suggestions as the foregoing. A yet larger number, as we believe, will be astonished by their essential foolishness. For ourselves, what surprises us most is the fatal misapprehension they evince of the true office of Textual Criticism as applied to the New Testament. It never is to invent new Readings, but only to adjudicate between existing and conflicting ones. He who seeks to thrust out “the Passover” from S. John vi. 4, (where it may on no account be dispensed with⁷⁹²); and to thrust “the Son” into Acts xx. 28, (where His Name cannot stand without evacuating a grand Theological statement);—will do well to consider whether he does not bring himself directly under the awful malediction with which the beloved Disciple concludes and seals up the Canon of Scripture:—“I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this Book,—If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this Book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the Book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of the holy City, and from the things which are written in this Book.”⁷⁹³

May we be allowed to assure Dr. Hort that “Conjectural Emendation” can be allowed no place whatever in the Textual Criticism of the New Testament? He will no doubt disregard our counsel. May Dr. Scrivener then [pg 355] [p. 433] be permitted to remind him that “it is now agreed among competent judges that Conjectural emendation must never be resorted to,—even in passages of acknowledged difficulty”?

There is in fact no need for it,—nor can be: so very ample, as well as so very varied, is the evidence for the words of the New Testament.

LXXVI. Here however we regret to find we have both Editors against us. They propose “the definite question,”—

“ ‘Are there, as a matter of fact, places in which we are constrained by overwhelming evidence to recognize the existence of Textual error in all extant documents?’ To this question we have no hesitation in replying in the affirmative.”—(p. 279.)

Behold then the deliberate sentence of Drs. Westcott and Hort. They flatter themselves that they are able to produce “overwhelming evidence” in proof that there are places where every extant document is in error. The instance on which they both rely, is S. Peter's prophetic announcement (2 Pet. iii. 10), that in “the day of the Lord,” “the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (κατακαήσεται).

This statement is found to have been glossed or paraphrased in an age when men knew no better. Thus, Cod. c substitutes—“shall vanish away:”⁷⁹⁴ the Syriac and one Egyptian version,—“shall not be found,” (apparently in imitation of Rev. xvi. 20). But, either because the “not” was accidentally omitted⁷⁹⁵ in some very ancient exemplar;—or [pg 356] else because it was deemed a superfluity by some Occidental critic who in his simplicity supposed that εὑρεθήσεται might well represent the Latin urerentur,—(somewhat as Mrs. Quickly warranted “hang hog” to be Latin for “bacon,”)—codices א and b (with four others of later date) exhibit “shall be found,”⁷⁹⁶—which obviously makes utter nonsense of the place. (Εὑρεθήσεται appears, nevertheless, in Dr. Hort's text: in consequence of which, the margin of our “Revised Version” is disfigured with the statement that “The most ancient manuscripts read discovered.”) But what is there in all this to make one distrust the Traditional reading?—supported as it is by the whole mass of Copies: by the Latin,⁷⁹⁷—the Coptic,—the Harkleian,—and the Æthiopic Versions:—besides the only Fathers who quote the place; viz. Cyril seven times,⁷⁹⁸ and John Damascene⁷⁹⁹ once?... As for pretending, at the end of the foregoing enquiry, that “we are constrained by overwhelming evidence to recognize the existence of textual error in all extant documents,”—it is evidently a mistake. Nothing else is it but a misstatement of facts.

[pg 357]

LXXVII. And thus, in the entire absence of proof, Dr. Hort's view of “the existence of corruptions” of the Text “antecedent to all existing authority,”⁸⁰⁰—falls to the ground. His confident prediction, that such corruptions “will sooner or later have to be acknowledged,” may be dismissed with a smile. So indifferent an interpreter of the Past may not presume to forecast the Future.

The one “matter of fact,” which at every step more and more impresses an attentive student of the Text of Scripture, is,—(1st), The utterly depraved character of Codices b and א: and (2nd), The singular infatuation of Drs. Westcott and Hort in insisting that those 2 Codices “stand alone in their almost complete immunity from error:”⁸⁰¹—that “the fullest comparison does but increase the conviction that their pre-eminent relative purity is approximately absolute.”⁸⁰²

LXXVIII. Whence is it,—(we have often asked ourselves the question, while studying these laborious pages,)—How does it happen that a scholar like Dr. Hort, evidently accomplished and able, should habitually mistake the creations of his own brain for material forms? the echoes of his own voice while holding colloquy with himself, for oracular responses? We have not hitherto expressed our astonishment,—but must do so now before we make an end,—that a writer who desires to convince, can suppose that his own arbitrary use of such expressions as “Pre-Syrian” and “Neutral,”—“Western” and “Alexandrian,”—“Non-Western” and “Non-Alexandrian,”—“Non-Alexandrian Pre-Syrian” and “Pre-Syrian Non-Western,”—will produce any (except an irritating) effect on the mind of an intelligent reader.

The delusion of supposing that by the free use of such a vocabulary a Critic may dispense with the ordinary processes [pg 358] of logical proof, might possibly have its beginning in the retirement of the cloister, where there are few to listen and none to contradict: but it can only prove abiding if there has been no free ventilation of the individual fancy. Greatly is it to be regretted that instead of keeping his Text a profound secret for 30 years, Dr. Hort did not freely impart it to the public, and solicit the favour of candid criticism.

Has no friend ever reminded him that assertions concerning the presence or absence of a “Syrian” or a “Pre-Syrian,” a “Western” or a “Non-Western element,” are but wind,—the merest chaff and draff,—apart from proof? Repeated ad nauseam, and employed with as much peremptory precision as if they were recognized terms connoting distinct classes of Readings,—(whereas they are absolutely without significancy, except, let us charitably hope, to him who employs them);—such expressions would only be allowable on the part of the Critic, if he had first been at the pains to index every principal Father,—and to reduce Texts to families by a laborious process of Induction. Else, they are worse than foolish. More than an impertinence are they. They bewilder, and mislead, and for a while encumber and block the way.

LXXIX. This is not all however. Even when these Editors notice hostile evidence, they do so after a fashion which can satisfy no one but themselves. Take for example their note on the word εἰκῆ (“without a cause”) in S. Matthew v. 22 (“But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause”). The Reader's attention is specially invited to the treatment which this place has experienced at the hands of Drs. Westcott and Hort:—

(a) They unceremoniously eject the word from S. Matthew's Gospel with their oracular sentence, “Western and Syrian.”—Aware that εἰκῆ is recognized by “Iren. lat-3; Eus. D. E. Cyp.,” they yet claim for omitting it the authority of [pg 359] “Just. Ptolem. (? Iren. 242 fin.), Tert.; and certainly” (they proceed) “Orig. on Eph. iv. 31, noticing both readings, and similarly Hier. loc., who probably follows Origen: also Ath. Pasch. Syr. 11: Ps.-Ath. Cast. ii. 4; and others”.... Such is their “Note” on S. Matthew v. 22. It is found at p. 8 of their volume. In consequence, εἰκῆ (“without a cause”) disappears from their Text entirely.

(b) But these learned men are respectfully informed that neither Justin Martyr, nor Ptolemæus the Gnostic, nor Irenæus, no, nor Tertullian either,—that not one of these four writers,—supplies the wished-for evidence. As for Origen,—they are assured that he—not “probably” but certainly—is the cause of all the trouble. They are reminded that Athanasius⁸⁰³ quotes (not S. Matt. v. 22, but) 1 Jo. iii. 15. They are shown that what they call “ps.-Ath. Cast.” is nothing else but a paraphrastic translation (by Græculus quidam) of John Cassian's Institutes,—“ii. 4” in the Greek representing viii. 20 in the Latin.... And now, how much of the adverse Evidence remains?

(c) Only this:—Jerome's three books of Commentary on the Ephesians, are, in the main, a translation of Origen's lost 3 books on the same Epistle.⁸⁰⁴ Commenting on iv. 31, Origen says that εἰκῆ has been improperly added to the Text,⁸⁰⁵—which shows that in Origen's copy εἰκῆ was found there. A few ancient writers in consequence (but only in consequence) of what Jerome (or rather Origen) thus delivers, are observed to omit εἰκῆ.⁸⁰⁶ That is all!

(d) May we however respectfully ask these learned Editors why, besides Irenæus,⁸⁰⁷—Eusebius,⁸⁰⁸—and Cyprian,⁸⁰⁹—they [pg 360] do not mention that εἰκῆ is also the reading of Justin Martyr,⁸¹⁰—of Origen himself,⁸¹¹—of the Constitutiones App.,⁸¹²—of Basil three times,⁸¹³—of Gregory of Nyssa,⁸¹⁴—of Epiphanius,⁸¹⁵—of Ephraem Syrus twice,⁸¹⁶—of Isidorus twice,⁸¹⁷—of Theodore of Mops.,—of Chrysostom 18 times,—of the Opus imp. twice,⁸¹⁸—of Cyril⁸¹⁹—and of Theodoret⁸²⁰—(each in 3 places). It was also the reading of Severus, Abp. of Antioch:821—as well as of Hilary,⁸²²—Lucifer,⁸²³—Salvian,⁸²⁴—Philastrius,⁸²⁵—Augustine, and—Jerome,⁸²⁶—(although, when translating from Origen, he pronounces against εἰκῆ⁸²⁷):—not to mention Antiochus mon.,⁸²⁸—J. Damascene,⁸²⁹—Maximus,⁸³⁰—Photius,⁸³¹—Euthymius,—Theophylact,—and others?⁸³²... We have adduced no less than thirty ancient witnesses.

(e) Our present contention however is but this,—that a Reading which is attested by every uncial Copy of the Gospels except b and א; by a whole torrent of Fathers; by every known copy of the old Latin,—by all the Syriac, (for the Peschito inserts [not translates] the word εἰκῆ,)—by the [pg 361] Coptic,—as well as by the Gothic—and Armenian versions;—that such a reading is not to be set aside by the stupid dictum, “Western and Syrian.” By no such methods will the study of Textual Criticism be promoted, or any progress ever be made in determining the Truth of Scripture. There really can be no doubt whatever,—(that is to say, if we are to be guided by ancient Evidence,)—that εἰκῆ (“without a cause”) was our Saviour's actual word; and that our Revisers have been here, as in so many hundred other places, led astray by Dr. Hort. So true is that saying of the ancient poet,—“Evil company doth corrupt good manners.” “And if the blind lead the blind,”—(a greater than Menander hath said it,)—“both shall fall into the ditch.”⁸³³

(f) In the meantime, we have exhibited somewhat in detail, Drs. Westcott and Hort's Annotation on εἰκῆ, [S. Matth. v. 22,] in order to furnish our Readers with at least one definite specimen of the Editorial skill and Critical ability of these two accomplished Professors. Their general practice, as exhibited in the case of 1 Jo. v. 18, [see above, pp. 347-9,] is to tamper with the sacred Text, without assigning their authority,—indeed, without offering apology of any kind.

(g) The sum of the matter proves to be as follows: Codd. b and א (the “two false Witnesses”),—b and א, alone of MSS.—omit εἰκῆ. On the strength of this, Dr. Hort persuaded his fellow Revisers to omit “without a cause” from their Revised Version: and it is proposed, in consequence, that every Englishman's copy of S. Matthew v. 22 shall be mutilated in the same way for ever.... Delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi.

(h) But the question arises—Will the Church of England submit to have her immemorial heritage thus filched from [pg 362] her? We shall be astonished indeed if she proves so regardless of her birthright.

LXXX. Lastly, the intellectual habits of these Editors have led them so to handle evidence, that the sense of proportion seems to have forsaken them. “He who has long pondered over a train of Reasoning,”—(remarks the elder Critic,)—“becomes unable to detect its weak points.”⁸³⁴ Yes, the “idols of the den” exercise at last a terrible ascendency over the Critical judgment. It argues an utter want of mental perspective, when we find “the Man working on the Sabbath,” put on the same footing with “the Woman taken in Adultery,” and conjectured to have “come from the same source:”—the incident of “the Angel troubling the pool of Bethesda” dismissed, as having “no claim to any kind of association with the true Text:”⁸³⁵—and “the two Supplements” to S. Mark's Gospel declared to “stand on equal terms as independent attempts to fill up a gap;” and allowed to be possibly “of equal antiquity.”⁸³⁶ How can we wonder, after this, to find anything omitted,—anything inserted,—anything branded with suspicion? And the brand is very freely applied by Drs. Westcott and Hort. Their notion of the Text of the New Testament, is certainly the most extraordinary ever ventilated. It has at least the merit of entire originality. While they eagerly insist that many a passage is but “a Western interpolation” after all; is but an “Evangelic Tradition,” “rescued from oblivion by the Scribes of the second century;”—they yet incorporate those passages with the Gospel. Careful enough to clap them into fetters first, they then, (to use their own queer phrase,)—“provisionally associate them with the Text.”

[pg 363]

LXXXI. We submit, on the contrary, that Editors who “cannot doubt” that a certain verse “comes from an extraneous source,”—“do not believe that it belonged originally to the Book in which it is now included,”—are unreasonable if they proceed to assign to it any actual place there at all. When men have once thoroughly convinced themselves that two Verses of S. Luke's Gospel are not Scripture, but “only a fragment from the Traditions, written or oral, which were for a while locally current;”⁸³⁷—what else is it but the merest trifling with sacred Truth, to promote those two verses to a place in the inspired context? Is it not to be feared, that the conscious introduction of human Tradition into God's written Word will in the end destroy the soul's confidence in Scripture itself? opening the door for perplexity, and doubt, and presently for Unbelief itself to enter.

LXXXII. And let us not be told that the Verses stand there “provisionally” only; and for that reason are “enclosed within double brackets.” Suspected felons are “provisionally” locked up, it is true: but after trial, they are either convicted and removed out of sight; or else they are acquitted and suffered to come abroad like other men. Drs. Westcott and Hort have no right at the end of thirty years of investigation, still to encumber the Evangelists with “provisional” fetters. Those fetters either signify that the Judge is afraid to carry out his own righteous sentence: or else, that he entertains a secret suspicion that he has made a terrible mistake after all,—has condemned the innocent. Let these esteemed Scholars at least have “the courage of their own convictions,” and be throughout as consistent as, in two famous instances (viz. at pages 113 and 241), they have been. Else, in God's Name, let them have the manliness to avow themselves in [pg 364] error: abjure their πρῶτον ψεῦδος; and cast the fantastic Theory, which they have so industriously reared upon it, unreservedly, to the winds!

LXXXIII. To conclude.—It will be the abiding distinction of the Revised Version (thanks to Dr. Hort,) that it brought to the front a question which has slept for about 100 years; but which may not be suffered now to rest undisturbed any longer. It might have slumbered on for another half-century,—a subject of deep interest to a very little band of Divines and Scholars; of perplexity and distrust to all the World besides;—but for the incident which will make the 17th of May, 1881, for ever memorable in the Annals of the Church of England.

LXXXIV. The Publication on that day of the “Revised English Version of the New Testament” instantly concentrated public attention on the neglected problem: for men saw at a glance that the Traditional Text of 1530 years' standing,—(the exact number is Dr. Hort's, not ours,)—had been unceremoniously set aside in favour of an entirely different Recension. The true Authors of the mischief were not far to seek. Just five days before,—under the editorship of Drs. Westcott and Hort, (Revisionists themselves,)—had appeared the most extravagant Text which has seen the light since the invention of Printing. No secret was made of the fact that, under pledges of strictest secrecy,⁸³⁸ a copy of this wild performance (marked “Confidential”) had been entrusted to every member of the Revising body: and it has since transpired that Dr. Hort advocated his own peculiar views in the Jerusalem Chamber with so much volubility, eagerness, pertinacity, and plausibility, that in the end—notwithstanding [pg 365] the warnings, remonstrances, entreaties of Dr. Scrivener,—his counsels prevailed; and—the utter shipwreck of the “Revised Version” has been, (as might have been confidently predicted,) the disastrous consequence. Dr. Hort is calculated to have talked for three years out of the ten.

But in the meantime there has arisen this good out of the calamity,—namely, that men will at last require that the Textual problem shall be fairly threshed out. They will insist on having it proved to their satisfaction,—(1) That Codices b and א are indeed the oracular documents which their admirers pretend; and—(2) That a narrow selection of ancient documents is a secure foundation on which to build the Text of Scripture. Failing this,—(and the onus probandi rests wholly with those who are for setting aside the Traditional Text in favour of another, entirely dissimilar in character,)—failing this, we say, it is reasonable to hope that the counsels of the “Quarterly Review” will be suffered to prevail. In the meantime, we repeat that this question has now to be fought out: for to ignore it any longer is impossible. Compromise of any sort between the two conflicting parties, is impossible also; for they simply contradict one another. Codd. b and א are either among the purest of manuscripts,—or else they are among the very foulest. The Text of Drs. Westcott and Hort is either the very best which has ever appeared,—or else it is the very worst; the nearest to the sacred Autographs,—or the furthest from them. There is no room for both opinions; and there cannot exist any middle view.

The question will have to be fought out; and it must be fought out fairly. It may not be magisterially settled; but must be advocated, on either side, by the old logical method. If Continental Scholars join in the fray, England,—which [pg 366] in the last century took the lead in these studies,—will, it is to be hoped, maintain her ancient reputation and again occupy the front rank. The combatants may be sure that, in consequence of all that has happened, the public will be no longer indifferent spectators of the fray; for the issue concerns the inner life of the whole community,—touches men's very heart of hearts. Certain it is that—“God defend the Right!” will be the one aspiration of every faithful spirit among us. The Truth,—(we avow it on behalf of Drs. Westcott and Hort as eagerly as on our own behalf,)—God's Truth will be, as it has been throughout, the one object of all our striving. Αἴλινον αἴλινον εἰπέ, τὸ δ᾽ εὖ νικάτω.

I HAVE BEEN VERY JEALOUS FOR THE LORD GOD OF HOSTS.

[pg 367]

Letter To Bishop Ellicott, In Reply To His Pamphlet.

[pg 368]

“Nothing is more satisfactory at the present time than the evident feelings of veneration for our Authorized Version, and the very generally-felt desire for as little change as possible.”—Bishop Ellicott.⁸³⁹

“We may be satisfied with the attempt to correct plain and clear errors, but there it is our duty to stop.”—Bishop Ellicott.⁸⁴⁰

“We have now, at all events, no fear of an over-corrected Version.”—Bishop Ellicott.⁸⁴¹

“I fear we must say in candour that in the Revised Version we meet in every page with small changes, which are vexatious, teasing, and irritating, even the more so because they are small; which seem almost to be made for the sake of change.”—Bishop Wordsworth.⁸⁴²

[The question arises,]—“Whether the Church of England,—which in her Synod, so far as this Province is concerned, sanctioned a Revision of her Authorized Version under the express condition, which she most wisely imposed, that no Changes should be made in it except what were absolutely necessary,—could consistently accept a Version in which 36,000 changes have been made; not a fiftieth of which can be shown to be needed, or even desirable.”—Bishop Wordsworth.⁸⁴³

[pg 369]

Letter To
The Right Rev. Charles John Ellicott, D.D.,
Bishop Of Gloucester And Bristol,
In Reply To His Pamphlet In Defence Of
The Revisers And Their Greek Text Of
The New Testament.

“What course would Revisers have us to follow?... Would it be well for them to agree on a Critical Greek Text? To this question we venture to answer very unhesitatingly in the negative.

“Though we have much critical material, and a very fair amount of critical knowledge, we have certainly not yet acquired sufficient Critical Judgment for any body of Revisers hopefully to undertake such a work as this.”

Bishop Ellicott.⁸⁴⁴

My Lord Bishop,

Last May, you published a pamphlet of seventy-nine pages⁸⁴⁵ in vindication of the Greek Text recently put forth by [pg 370] the New Testament Company of Revisers. It was (you said) your Answer to the first and second of my Articles in the Quarterly Review:846—all three of which, corrected and enlarged, are now submitted to the public for the second time. See above, from page 1 to page 367.

[1] Preliminary Statement.

You may be quite sure that I examined your pamphlet as soon as it appeared, with attention. I have since read it through several times: and—I must add—with ever-increasing astonishment. First, because it is so evidently the production of one who has never made Textual Criticism seriously his study. Next, because your pamphlet is no refutation whatever of my two Articles. You flout me: you scold me: you lecture me. But I do not find that you ever answer me. You reproduce the theory of Drs. Westcott and Hort,—which I claim to have demolished.⁸⁴⁷ You seek to put me down by flourishing in my face the decrees of Lachmann, Tischendorf and Tregelles,—which, as you are well aware, I entirely disallow. Denunciation, my lord Bishop, is not Argument; neither is Reiteration, Proof. And then,—Why do you impute to me opinions which I do not hold? and charge me with a method of procedure of which I have never been guilty? Above all, why do you seek to prejudice the question at issue between us by importing irrelevant matter which can only impose upon the ignorant and mislead the unwary? Forgive my plainness, but really you are so conspicuously unfair,—and at the same time so manifestly unacquainted, [pg 371] (except at second-hand and only in an elementary way,) with the points actually under discussion,—that, were it not for the adventitious importance attaching to any utterance of yours, deliberately put forth at this time as Chairman of the New Testament body of Revisers, I should have taken no notice of your pamphlet.

[2] The Bishop's pamphlet was anticipated and effectually disposed of, three weeks before it appeared, by the Reviewer's Third Article.

I am bound, at the same time, to acknowledge that you have been singularly unlucky. While you were penning your Defence, (namely, throughout the first four months of 1882,) I was making a fatal inroad into your position, by showing how utterly without foundation is the “Textual Theory” to which you and your co-Revisers have been so rash as to commit yourselves.⁸⁴⁸ This fact I find duly recognized in your “Postscript.” “Since the foregoing pages were in print” (you say,) “a third article has appeared in the Quarterly Review, entitled ‘Westcott and Hort's Textual Theory.’ ”⁸⁴⁹ Yes. I came before the public on the 16th of April; you on the 4th of May, 1882. In this way, your pamphlet was anticipated,—had in fact been fully disposed of, three weeks before it appeared. “The Reviewer,” (you complain at page 4,) “censures their [Westcott and Hort's] Text: in neither Article has he attempted a serious examination of the arguments which they allege in its support.” But, (as explained,) the “serious examination” which you reproach me with having hitherto failed to produce,—had been already three weeks in the hands of readers of the Quarterly before your pamphlet saw the light. You would, in consequence, [pg 372] have best consulted your own reputation, I am persuaded, had you instantly recalled and suppressed your printed sheets. What, at all events, you can have possibly meant, while publishing them, by adding (in your “Postscript” at page 79,)—“In this controversy it is not for us to interpose:” and again,—“We find nothing in the Reviewer's third article to require further answer from us:”—passes my comprehension; seeing that your pamphlet (page 11 to page 29) is an elaborate avowal that you have made Westcott and Hort's theory entirely your own. The Editor of the Speaker's Commentary, I observe, takes precisely the same view of your position. “The two Revisers” (says Canon Cook) “actually add a Postscript to their pamphlet of a single short page noticing their unexpected anticipation by the third Quarterly Review article; with the remark that ‘in this controversy (between Westcott and Hort and the Reviewer) it is not for us to interfere:’—as if Westcott and Hort's theory of Greek Revision could be refuted, or seriously damaged, without cutting the ground from under the Committee of Revisers on the whole of this subject.”⁸⁵⁰

[3] Bp. Ellicott remonstrated with for his unfair method of procedure.

I should enter at once on an examination of your Reply, but that I am constrained at the outset to remonstrate with you on the exceeding unfairness of your entire method of procedure. Your business was to make it plain to the public that you have dealt faithfully with the Deposit: have strictly fulfilled the covenant into which you entered twelve years ago with [pg 373] the Convocation of the Southern Province: have corrected only “plain and clear errors.” Instead of this, you labour to enlist vulgar prejudice against me:—partly, by insisting that I am for determining disputed Readings by an appeal to the “Textus Receptus,”—which (according to you) I look upon as faultless:—partly, by exhibiting me in disagreement with Lachmann, Tischendorf and Tregelles. The irrelevancy of this latter contention,—the groundlessness of the former,—may not be passed over without a few words of serious remonstrance. For I claim that, in discussing the Greek Text, I have invariably filled my pages as full of Authorities for the opinions I advocate, as the limits of the page would allow. I may have been tediously demonstrative sometimes: but no one can fairly tax me with having shrunk from the severest method of evidential proof. To find myself therefore charged with “mere denunciation,”⁸⁵¹—with substituting “strong expressions of individual opinion” for “arguments,”⁸⁵²—and with “attempting to cut the cord by reckless and unverified assertions,” (p. 25,)—astonishes me. Such language is in fact even ridiculously unfair.

The misrepresentation of which I complain is not only conspicuous, but systematic. It runs through your whole pamphlet: is admitted by yourself at the close,—(viz. at p. 77,)—to be half the sum of your entire contention. Besides cropping up repeatedly,⁸⁵³ it finds deliberate and detailed expression when you reach the middle of your essay,—viz. at p. 41: where, with reference to certain charges which I not only bring against codices א b c l, but laboriously substantiate by a free appeal to the contemporary evidence of Copies, Versions, and Fathers,—you venture to express yourself concerning me as follows:—

[pg 374]

“To attempt to sustain such charges by a rough comparison of these ancient authorities with the Textus Receptus, and to measure the degree of their depravation by the amount of their divergence from such a text as we have shown this Received Text really to be, is to trifle with the subject of sacred Criticism.”—p. 41.

You add:—

“Until the depravation of these ancient Manuscripts has been demonstrated in a manner more consistent with the recognized principles of Criticism, such charges as those to which we allude must be regarded as expressions of passion, or prejudice, and set aside by every impartial reader as assertions for which no adequate evidence has yet been produced.”—pp. 41-2.

[4] (Which be “the recognized principles of Textual Criticism”?—a question asked in passing.)

But give me leave to ask in passing,—Which, pray, are “the recognized principles of Criticism” to which you refer? I profess I have never met with them yet; and I am sure it has not been for want of diligent enquiry. You have publicly charged me before your Diocese with being “innocently ignorant of the now established principles of Textual Criticism.”⁸⁵⁴ But why do you not state which those principles are? I am surprised. You are for ever vaunting “principles which have been established by the investigations and reasonings” of Lachmann, Tischendorf and Tregelles:855—“the principles of Textual Criticism which are accepted and recognized by the great majority of modern Textual Critics:”⁸⁵⁶—“the principles on which the Textual Criticism of the last fifty years has been based:”⁸⁵⁷—but you never condescend to explain which be the “principles” you refer to. For the last time,—Who established those “Principles”? and, Where are they to be seen “established”?

[pg 375]

I will be so candid with you as frankly to avow that the only two “principles” with which I am acquainted as held, with anything like consent, by “the modern Textual Critics” to whom you have surrendered your judgment, are—(1st) A robust confidence in the revelations of their own inner consciousness: and (2ndly) A superstitious partiality for two codices written in the uncial character,—for which partiality they are able to assign no intelligible reason. You put the matter as neatly as I could desire at page 19 of your Essay,—where you condemn, with excusable warmth, “those who adopt the easy method of using some favourite Manuscript,”—or of exercising “some supposed power of divining the original Text;”—as if those were “the only necessary agents for correcting the Received Text.” Why the evidence of codices b and א,—and perhaps the evidence of the VIth-century codex d,—(“the singular codex” as you call it; and it is certainly a very singular codex indeed:)—why, I say, the evidence of these two or three codices should be thought to outweigh the evidence of all other documents in existence,—whether Copies, Versions, or Fathers,—I have never been able to discover, nor have their admirers ever been able to tell me.

[5] Bp. Ellicott's and the Reviewer's respective methods, contrasted.

Waiving this however, (for it is beside the point,) I venture to ask,—With what show of reason can you pretend that I “sustain my charges” against codices א b c l, “by a rough comparison of these ancient authorities with the Textus Receptus”?⁸⁵⁸... Will you deny that it is a mere misrepresentation of the plain facts of the case, to say so? Have I not, on the contrary, on every occasion referred Readings in [pg 376] dispute,—the reading of א b c l on the one hand, the reading of the Textus Receptus on the other,—simultaneously to one and the same external standard? Have I not persistently enquired for the verdict—so far as it has been obtainable—of consentient Antiquity? If I have sometimes spoken of certain famous manuscripts (א b c d namely,) as exhibiting fabricated Texts, have I not been at the pains to establish the reasonableness of my assertion by showing that they yield divergent,—that is contradictory, testimony?

The task of laboriously collating the five “old uncials” throughout the Gospels, occupied me for five-and-a-half years, and taxed me severely. But I was rewarded. I rose from the investigation profoundly convinced that, however important they may be as instruments of Criticism, codices א b c d are among the most corrupt documents extant. It was a conviction derived from exact Knowledge and based on solid grounds of Reason. You, my lord Bishop, who have never gone deeply into the subject, repose simply on Prejudice. Never having at any time collated codices א a b c d for yourself, you are unable to gainsay a single statement of mine by a counter-appeal to facts. Your textual learning proves to have been all obtained at second-hand,—taken on trust. And so, instead of marshalling against me a corresponding array of Ancient Authorities,—you invariably attempt to put me down by an appeal to Modern Opinion. “The majority of modern Critics” (you say) have declared the manuscripts in question “not only to be wholly undeserving of such charges, but, on the contrary, to exhibit a text of comparative purity.”⁸⁵⁹

The sum of the difference therefore between our respective methods, my lord Bishop, proves to be this:—that [pg 377] whereas I endeavour by a laborious accumulation of ancient Evidence to demonstrate that the decrees of Lachmann, of Tischendorf and of Tregelles, are untrustworthy; your way of reducing me to silence, is to cast Lachmann, Tregelles and Tischendorf at every instant in my teeth. You make your appeal exclusively to them. “It would be difficult” (you say) “to find a recent English Commentator of any considerable reputation who has not been influenced, more or less consistently, by one or the other of these three Editors:”⁸⁶⁰ (as if that were any reason why I should do the same!) Because I pronounce the Revised reading of S. Luke ii. 14, “a grievous perversion of the truth of Scripture,” you bid me consider “that in so speaking I am censuring Lachmann, Tischendorf and Tregelles.” You seem in fact to have utterly missed the point of my contention: which is, that the ancient Fathers collectively (a.d. 150 to a.d. 450),—inasmuch as they must needs have known far better than Lachmann, Tregelles, or Tischendorf, (a.d. 1830 to a.d. 1880,) what was the Text of the New Testament in the earliest ages,—are perforce far more trustworthy guides than they. And further, that whenever it can be clearly shown that the Ancients as a body say one thing, and the Moderns another, the opinion of the Moderns may be safely disregarded.

When therefore I open your pamphlet at the first page, and read as follows:—“A bold assault has been made in recent numbers of the Quarterly Review upon the whole fabric of Criticism which has been built up during the last fifty years by the patient labour of successive editors of the New Testament,”⁸⁶¹—I fail to discover that any practical inconvenience results to myself from your announcement. The same plaintive strain reappears at p. 39; where, having [pg 378] pointed out “that the text of the Revisers is, in all essential features, the same as that text in which the best critical editors, during the past fifty years, are generally agreed,”—you insist “that thus, any attack made on the text of the Revisers is really an attack on the critical principles that have been carefully and laboriously established during the last half-century.” With the self-same pathetic remonstrance you conclude your labours. “If,” (you say) “the Revisers are wrong in the principles which they have applied to the determination of the Text, the principles on which the Textual Criticism of the last fifty years has been based, are wrong also.”⁸⁶²... Are you then not yet aware that the alternative which seems to you so alarming is in fact my whole contention? What else do you imagine it is that I am proposing to myself throughout, but effectually to dispel the vulgar prejudice,—say rather, to plant my heel upon the weak superstition,—which “for the last fifty years” has proved fatal to progress in this department of learning; and which, if it be suffered to prevail, will make a science of Textual Criticism impossible? A shallow empiricism has been the prevailing result, up to this hour, of the teaching of Lachmann, and Tischendorf, and Tregelles.

[6] Bp. Ellicott in May 1870, and in May 1882.

A word in your private ear, (by your leave) in passing. You seem to have forgotten that, at the time when you entered on the work of Revision, your own estimate of the Texts put forth by these Editors was the reverse of favourable; i.e. was scarcely distinguishable from that of your present correspondent. Lachmann's you described as “a text composed on the narrowest and most exclusive principles,”—“really based on little more than four manuscripts.”—“The [pg 379] case of Tischendorf” (you said) “is still more easily disposed of. Which of this most inconstant Critic's texts are we to select? Surely not the last, in which an exaggerated preference for a single manuscript has betrayed him into an almost childlike infirmity of judgment. Surely also not the seventh edition, which exhibits all the instability which a comparatively recent recognition of the authority of cursive manuscripts might be supposed likely to introduce.”—As for poor Tregelles, you said:—“His critical principles ... are now, perhaps justly, called in question.” His text “is rigid and mechanical, and sometimes fails to disclose that critical instinct and peculiar scholarly sagacity which”⁸⁶³ have since evidently disclosed themselves in perfection in those Members of the Revising body who, with Bp. Ellicott at their head, systematically outvoted Prebendary Scrivener in the Jerusalem Chamber. But with what consistency, my lord Bishop, do you to-day vaunt “the principles” of the very men whom yesterday you vilipended precisely because their “principles” then seemed to yourself so utterly unsatisfactory?

[7] “The fabric of modern Textual Criticism” (1831-81) rests on an insecure basis.

I have been guilty of little else than sacrilege, it seems, because I have ventured to send a shower of shot and shell into the flimsy decrees of these three Critics which now you are pleased grandiloquently to designate and describe as “the whole fabric of Criticism which has been built up within the last fifty years.” Permit me to remind you that the “fabric” you speak of,—(confessedly a creation of yesterday,)—rests upon a foundation of sand; and has been already so formidably assailed, or else so gravely condemned by a succession of famous Critics, that as “a fabric,” its very [pg 380] existence may be reasonably called in question. Tischendorf insists on the general depravity (“universa vitiositas”) of codex b; on which codex nevertheless Drs. Westcott and Hort chiefly rely,—regarding it as unique in its pre-eminent purity. The same pair of Critics depreciate the Traditional Text as “beyond all question identical with the dominant [Greek] Text of the second half of the fourth century:”—whereas, “to bring the sacred text back to the condition in which it existed during the fourth century,”⁸⁶⁴ was Lachmann's one object; the sum and substance of his striving. “The fancy of a Constantinopolitan text, and every inference that has been grounded on its presumed existence,”⁸⁶⁵ Tregelles declares to have been “swept away at once and for ever,” by Scrivener's published Collations. And yet, what else but this is “the fancy,” (as already explained,) on which Drs. Westcott and Hort have been for thirty years building up their visionary Theory of Textual Criticism?—What Griesbach attempted [1774-1805], was denounced [1782-1805] by C. F. Matthæi;—disapproved by Scholz;—demonstrated to be untenable by Abp. Laurence. Finally, in 1847, the learned J. G. Reiche, in some Observations prefixed to his Collations of MSS. in the Paris Library, eloquently and ably exposed the unreasonableness of any theory of “Recension,”—properly so called;⁸⁶⁶ thereby effectually [pg 381] anticipating Westcott and Hort's weak imagination of a “Syrian Text,” while he was demolishing the airy speculations of Griesbach and Hug. “There is no royal road” (he said) “to the Criticism of the N. T.: no plain and easy method, at once reposing on a firm foundation, and conducting securely to the wished for goal.”⁸⁶⁷... Scarcely therefore in Germany had the basement-story been laid of that “fabric of Criticism which has been built up during the last fifty years,” and which you superstitiously admire,—when a famous German scholar was heard denouncing the fabric as insecure. He foretold that the “regia via” of codices b and א would prove a deceit and a snare: which thing, at the end of four-and-thirty years, has punctually come to pass.

Seven years after, Lachmann's method was solemnly appealed from by the same J. G. Reiche:868 whose words of warning to his countrymen deserve the attention of every thoughtful scholar among ourselves at this day. Of the same general tenor and purport as Reiche's, are the utterances of those giants in Textual Criticism, Vercellone of Rome and Ceriani of Milan. Quite unmistakable is the verdict of our own Scrivener concerning the views of Lachmann, Tischendorf and Tregelles, and the results to which their system has severally conducted them.—If Alford adopted the prejudices of his three immediate predecessors, [pg 382] his authority has been neutralized by the far different teaching of one infinitely his superior in judgment and learning,—the present illustrious Bishop of Lincoln.—On the same side with the last named are found the late Philip E. Pusey and Archd. Lee,—Canon Cook and Dr. Field,—the Bishop of S. Andrews and Dr. S. C. Malan. Lastly, at the end of fifty-one years, (viz. in 1881,) Drs. Westcott and Hort have revived Lachmann's unsatisfactory method,—superadding thereto not a few extravagances of their own. That their views have been received with expressions of the gravest disapprobation, no one will deny. Indispensable to their contention is the grossly improbable hypothesis that the Peschito is to be regarded as the “Vulgate” (i.e. the Revised) Syriac; Cureton's, as the “Vetus” or original Syriac version. And yet, while I write, the Abbé Martin at Paris is giving it as the result of his labours on this subject, that Cureton's Version cannot be anything of the sort.⁸⁶⁹ Whether Westcott and Hort's theory of a “Syrian” Text has not received an effectual quietus, let posterity decide. Ἁμέραι δ᾽ ἐπίλοιποι μάρτυρες σοφώτατοι.

From which it becomes apparent that, at all events, “the fabric of Criticism which has been built up within the last fifty years” has not arisen without solemn and repeated protest,—as well from within as from without. It may not therefore be spoken of by you as something which men are bound to maintain inviolate,—like an Article of the Creed. It is quite competent, I mean, for any one to denounce the entire system of Lachmann, Tischendorf and Tregelles,—as I do now,—as an egregious blunder; if he will but be at the [pg 383] pains to establish on a severe logical basis the contradictory of not a few of their most important decrees. And you, my lord Bishop, are respectfully reminded that your defence of their system,—if you must needs defend what I deem worthless,—must be conducted, not by sneers and an affectation of superior enlightenment; still less by intimidation, scornful language, and all those other bad methods whereby it has been the way of Superstition in every age to rivet the fetters of intellectual bondage: but by severe reasoning, and calm discussion, and a free appeal to ancient Authority, and a patient investigation of all the external evidence accessible. I request therefore that we may hear no more of this form of argument. The Text of Lachmann and Tischendorf and Tregelles,—of Westcott and Hort and Ellicott, (i.e. of the Revisers,)—is just now on its trial before the world.⁸⁷⁰

[8] Bp. Ellicott's strange notions about the “Textus Receptus.”

Your strangest mistakes and misrepresentations however are connected with the “Textus Receptus.” It evidently exercises you sorely that “with the Quarterly Reviewer, the Received Text is a standard, by comparison with which all extant documents, however indisputable their antiquity, are measured.”⁸⁷¹ But pray,—

(1) By comparison with what other standard, if not by the Received Text, would you yourself obtain the measure [pg 384] of “all extant documents,” however ancient?... This first. And next,

(2) Why should the “indisputable antiquity” of a document be supposed to disqualify it from being measured by the same standard to which (but only for convenience) documents of whatever date,—by common consent of scholars, at home and abroad,—are invariably referred? And next,

(3) Surely, you cannot require to have it explained to you that a standard of comparison, is not therefore of necessity a standard of excellence. Did you ever take the trouble to collate a sacred manuscript? If you ever did, pray with what did you make your collation? In other words, what “standard” did you employ?... Like Walton and Ussher,—like Fell and Mill,—like Bentley, and Bengel, and Wetstein,—like Birch, and Matthæi, and Griesbach, and Scholz,—like Lachmann, and Tregelles, and Tischendorf, and Scrivener,—I venture to assume that you collated your manuscript,—whether it was of “disputable” or of “indisputable antiquity,”—with an ordinary copy of the Received Text. If you did not, your collation is of no manner of use. But, above all,

(4) How does it come to pass that you speak so scornfully of the Received Text, seeing that (at p. 12 of your pamphlet) you assure your readers that its pedigree may be traced back to a period perhaps antecedent to the oldest of our extant manuscripts? Surely, a traditional Text which (according to you) dates from about a.d. 300, is good enough for the purpose of Collation!

(5) At last you say,—

“If there were reason to suppose that the Received Text represented verbatim et literatim the text which was current at Antioch in the days of Chrysostom, it would still be impossible to regard it as a standard from which there was no appeal.”⁸⁷²

[pg 385]

Really, my lord Bishop, you must excuse me if I declare plainly that the more I attend to your critical utterances, the more I am astonished. From the confident style in which you deliver yourself upon such matters, and especially from your having undertaken to preside over a Revision of the Sacred Text, one would suppose that at some period of your life you must have given the subject a considerable amount of time and attention. But indeed the foregoing sentence virtually contains two propositions neither of which could possibly have been penned by one even moderately acquainted with the facts of Textual Criticism. For first,

(a) You speak of “representing verbatim et literatim the Text which was current at Antioch in the days of Chrysostom.” Do you then really suppose that there existed at Antioch, at any period between a.d. 354 and a.d. 407, some one definite Text of the N. T. capable of being so represented?—If you do, pray will you indulge us with the grounds for such an extraordinary supposition? Your “acquaintance” (Dr. Tregelles) will tell you that such a fancy has long since been swept away “at once and for ever.” And secondly,

(b) You say that, even if there were reason to suppose that the “Received Text” were such-and-such a thing,—“it would still be impossible to regard it as a standard from which there was no appeal.”

But pray, who in his senses,—what sane man in Great Britain,—ever dreamed of regarding the “Received,”—aye, or any other known “Text,”—as “a standard from which there shall be no appeal”? Have I ever done so? Have I ever implied as much? If I have, show me where. You refer your readers to the following passage in my first Article:—

“What precedes admits to some extent of further numerical illustration. It is discovered that, in 111 pages, ... the serious [pg 386] deflections of a from the Textus Receptus amount in all to only 842: whereas in c they amount to 1798: in b, to 2370: in א, to 3392: in d, to 4697. The readings peculiar to a within the same limits are 133: those peculiar to c are 170. But those of b amount to 197: while א exhibits 443: and the readings peculiar to d (within the same limits), are no fewer than 1829.... We submit that these facts are not altogether calculated to inspire confidence in codices b א c d.”—p. 14.

But, do you really require to have it explained to you that it is entirely to misunderstand the question to object to such a comparison of codices as is found above, (viz. in pages 14 and 17,) on the ground that it was made with the text of Stephanus lying open before me? Would not the self-same phenomenon have been evolved by collation with any other text? If you doubt it, sit down and try the experiment for yourself. Believe me, Robert Etienne in the XVIth century was not the cause why cod. b in the IVth and cod. d in the VIth are so widely discordant and divergent from one another: a and c so utterly at variance with both.⁸⁷³ We must have some standard whereby to test,—wherewith to compare,—Manuscripts. What is more, (give me leave to assure you,) to the end of time it will probably be the practice of scholars to compare MSS. of the N. T. with the “Received Text.” The hopeless discrepancies between our five “old uncials,” can in no more convenient way be exhibited, than by referring each of them in turn to one and the same common standard. And,—What standard more reasonable and more convenient than the Text which, by the good Providence of God, was universally employed throughout Europe for the first 300 years after the invention of printing? being practically identical with the Text which (as you yourself admit) was in popular use at the end of three centuries from the date of the sacred autographs themselves: in other word, being more than 1500 years old.

[pg 387]

[9] The Reviewer vindicates himself against Bp. Ellicott's misconceptions.

But you are quite determined that I shall mean something essentially different. The Quarterly Reviewer, (you say,) is one who “contends that the Received Text needs but little emendation; and may be used without emendation as a standard.”⁸⁷⁴ I am, (you say,) one of “those who adopt the easy method of making the Received Text a standard.”⁸⁷⁵ My “Criticism,” (it seems,) “often rests ultimately upon the notion that it is little else but sacrilege to impugn the tradition of the last three hundred years.”⁸⁷⁶ (“The last three hundred years:” as if the Traditional Text of the N. Testament dated from the 25th of Queen Elizabeth!)—I regard the “Textus Receptus” therefore, according to you, as the Ephesians regarded the image of the great goddess Diana; namely, as a thing which, one fine morning, “fell down from Jupiter.”⁸⁷⁷ I mistake the Received Text, (you imply,) for the Divine Original, the Sacred Autographs,—and erect it into “a standard from which there shall be no appeal,”—“a tradition which it is little else but sacrilege to impugn.” That is how you state my case and condition: hopelessly confusing the standard of Comparison with the standard of Excellence.

By this time, however, enough has been said to convince any fair person that you are without warrant in your present contention. Let any candid scholar cast an impartial eye over the preceding three hundred and fifty pages,—open the volume where he will, and read steadily on to the end of any textual discussion,—and then say whether, on the contrary, my criticism does not invariably rest on the principle that the Truth of Scripture is to be sought in that form of the Sacred Text which has the fullest, the widest, and the most varied attestation.⁸⁷⁸ Do I not invariably make the consentient [pg 388] voice of Antiquity my standard? If I do not,—if, on the contrary, I have ever once appealed to the “Received Text,” and made it my standard,—why do you not prove the truth of your allegation by adducing in evidence that one particular instance? instead of bringing against me a charge which is utterly without foundation, and which can have no other effect but to impose upon the ignorant; to mislead the unwary; and to prejudice the great Textual question which hopelessly divides you and me?... I trust that at least you will not again confound the standard of Comparison with the standard of Truth.

[10] Analysis of contents of Bp. Ellicott's pamphlet.

You state at page 6, that what you propose to yourself by your pamphlet, is,—

“First, to supply accurate information, in a popular form, concerning the Greek text of the Now Testament:

“Secondly, to establish, by means of the information so supplied, the soundness of the principles on which the Revisers have acted in their choice of readings; and by consequence, the importance of the ‘New Greek Text:’ ”—[or, as you phrase it at p. 29,]—“to enable the reader to form a fair judgment on the question of the trustworthiness of the readings adopted by the Revisers.”

To the former of these endeavours you devote twenty-three pages: (viz. p. 7 to p. 29):—to the latter, you devote forty-two; (viz. p. 37 to p. 78). The intervening eight pages are dedicated,—(a) To the constitution of the Revisionist body: and next, (b) To the amount of good faith with which you and your colleagues observed the conditions imposed upon you by the Southern Houses of Convocation. I propose to follow you over the ground in which you have thus entrenched yourself, and to drive you out of every position in turn.

[11] Bp. Ellicott's account of the “Textus Receptus.”

First then, for your strenuous endeavour (pp. 7-10) to [pg 389] prejudice the question by pouring contempt on the humblest ancestor of the Textus Receptus—namely, the first edition of Erasmus. You know very well that the “Textus Receptus” is not the first edition of Erasmus. Why then do you so describe its origin as to imply that it is? You ridicule the circumstances under which a certain ancestor of the family first saw the light. You reproduce with evident satisfaction a silly witticism of Michaelis, viz. that, in his judgment, the Evangelium on which Erasmus chiefly relied was not worth the two florins which the monks of Basle gave for it. Equally contemptible (according to you) were the copies of the Acts, the Epistles, and the Apocalypse which the same scholar employed for the rest of his first edition. Having in this way done your best to blacken a noble house by dilating on the low ebb to which its fortunes were reduced at a critical period of its history, some three centuries and a half ago,—you pause to make your own comment on the spectacle thus exhibited to the eyes of unlearned readers, lest any should fail to draw therefrom the injurious inference which is indispensable for your argument:—

“We have entered into these details, because we desire that the general reader should know fully the true pedigree of that printed text of the Greek Testament which has been in common use for the last three centuries. It will be observed that its documentary origin is not calculated to inspire any great confidence. Its parents, as we have seen, were two or three late manuscripts of little critical value, which accident seems to have brought into the hands of their first editor.”—p. 10.

Now, your account of the origin of the “Textus Receptus” shall be suffered to stand uncontradicted. But the important inference, which you intend that inattentive or incompetent readers should draw therefrom, shall be scattered to the winds by the unequivocal testimony of no less distinguished a witness than yourself. Notwithstanding all that has gone [pg 390] before, you are constrained to confess in the very next page that:—

“The manuscripts which Erasmus used differ, for the most part, only in small and insignificant details from the bulk of the cursive manuscripts. The general character of their text is the same. By this observation the pedigree of the Received Text is carried up beyond the individual manuscripts used by Erasmus.... That pedigree stretches back to a remote antiquity. The first ancestor of the Received Text was at least contemporary with the oldest of our extant manuscripts, if not older than any one of them.”—pp. 11, 12.

By your own showing therefore, the Textus Receptus is, “at least,” 1550 years old. Nay, we will have the fact over again, in words which you adopt from p. 92 of Westcott and Hort's Introduction [see above, p. 257], and clearly make your own:—

“The fundamental text of late extant Greek MSS. generally is beyond all question identical with the dominant Antiochian or Græco-Syrian Text of the second half of the fourth century.”—p. 12.

But, if this be so,—(and I am not concerned to dispute your statement in a single particular,)—of what possible significancy can it be to your present contention, that the ancestry of the written Word (like the ancestors of the Word incarnate) had at one time declined to the wondrous low estate on which you enlarged at first with such evident satisfaction? Though the fact be admitted that Joseph “the carpenter” was “the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ,”—what possible inconvenience results from that circumstance so long as the only thing contended for be loyally conceded,—namely, that the descent of Messiah is lineally traceable back to the patriarch Abraham, through David the King? And the genealogy of the written, no less than the genealogy of the Incarnate Word, [pg 391] is traceable back by two distinct lines of descent, remember: for the “Complutensian,” which was printed in 1514, exhibits the “Traditional Text” with the same general fidelity as the “Erasmian,” which did not see the light till two years later.

[12] Bp. Ellicott derives his estimate of the “Textus Receptus” from Westcott and Hart's fable of a “Syrian Text.”

Let us hear what comes next:—

“At this point a question suggests itself which we cannot refuse to consider. If the pedigree of the Received Text may be traced back to so early a period, does it not deserve the honour which is given to it by the Quarterly Reviewer?”—p. 12.

A very pertinent question truly. We are made attentive: the more so, because you announce that your reply to this question shall “go to the bottom of the controversy with which we are concerned.”⁸⁷⁹ That reply is as follows:—

“If there were reason to suppose that the Received Text represented verbatim et literatim the text which was current at Antioch in the days of Chrysostom, it would still be impossible to regard it as a standard from which there was no appeal. The reason why this would be impossible may be stated briefly as follows. In the ancient documents which have come down to us,—amongst which, as is well known, are manuscripts written in the fourth century,—we possess evidence that other texts of the Greek Testament existed in the age of Chrysostom, materially different from the text which he and the Antiochian writers generally employed. Moreover, a rigorous examination of extant documents shows that the Antiochian or (as we shall henceforth call it with Dr. Hort) the Syrian text did not represent an earlier tradition than those other texts, but was in fact of later origin than the rest. We cannot accept it therefore as a final standard.”—pp. 13, 14.

[pg 392]

“A final standard”!... Nay but, why do you suddenly introduce this unheard-of characteristic? Who, pray, since the invention of Printing was ever known to put forward any existing Text as “a final standard”? Not the Quarterly Reviewer certainly. “The honour which is given to the Textus Receptus by the Quarterly Reviewer” is no other than the honour which it has enjoyed at the hands of scholars, by universal consent, for the last three centuries. That is to say, he uses it as a standard of comparison, and employs it for habitual reference. So do you. You did so, at least, in the year 1870. You did more; for you proposed “to proceed with the work of Revision, whether of text or translation, making the current ‘Textus Receptus’ the standard.”⁸⁸⁰ We are perfectly agreed therefore. For my own part, being fully convinced, like yourself, that essentially the Received Text is full 1550 years old,—(yes, and a vast deal older,)—I esteem it quite good enough for all ordinary purposes. And yet, so far am I from pinning my faith to it, that I eagerly make my appeal from it to the threefold witness of Copies, Versions, Fathers, whenever I find its testimony challenged.—And with this renewed explanation of my sentiments,—(which one would have thought that no competent person could require,)—I proceed to consider the reply which you promise shall “go to the bottom of the controversy with which we are concerned.” I beg that you will not again seek to divert attention from that which is the real matter of dispute betwixt you and me.

What kind of argumentation then is this before us? You assure us that,—

(a) “A rigorous examination of extant documents,”—“shows” Dr. Hort—“that the Syrian text”—[which for all [pg 393] practical purposes may be considered as only another name for the “Textus Receptus”]—was of later origin than “other texts of the Greek Testament” which “existed in the age of Chrysostom.”

(b) “We cannot accept it therefore as a final standard.”

But,—Of what nature is the logical process by which you have succeeded in convincing yourself that this consequent can be got out of that antecedent? Put a parallel case:—“A careful analysis of herbs ‘shows’ Dr. Short that the only safe diet for Man is a particular kind of rank grass which grows in the Ely fens. We must therefore leave off eating butcher's meat.”—Does that seem to you altogether a satisfactory argument? To me, it is a mere non sequitur. Do but consider the matter for a moment. “A rigorous examination of extant documents shows” Dr. Hort—such and such things. “A rigorous examination of the” same “documents shows” me—that Dr. Hort is mistaken. A careful study of his book convinces me that his theory of a Syrian Recension, manufactured between a.d. 250 and a.d. 350, is a dream, pure and simple—a mere phantom of the brain. Dr. Hort's course is obvious. Let him first make his processes of proof intelligible, and then public. You cannot possibly suppose that the fable of “a Syrian text,” though it has evidently satisfied you, will be accepted by thoughtful Englishmen without proof. What prospect do you suppose you have of convincing the world that Dr. Hort is competent to assign a date to this creature of his own imagination; of which he has hitherto failed to demonstrate so much as the probable existence?

I have, for my own part, established by abundant references to his writings that he is one of those who, (through some intellectual peculiarity,) are for ever mistaking conjectures for facts,—assertions for arguments,—and reiterated [pg 394] asseveration for accumulated proof. He deserves sympathy, certainly: for,—(like the man who passed his life in trying to count how many grains of sand will exactly fill a quart pot;—or like his unfortunate brother, who made it his business to prove that nothing, multiplied by a sufficient number of figures, amounts to something;)—he has evidently taken a prodigious deal of useless trouble. The spectacle of an able and estimable man exhibiting such singular inaptitude for a province of study which, beyond all others, demands a clear head and a calm, dispassionate judgment,—creates distress.

[13] Bp. Ellicott has completely adopted Westcott and Hort's Theory.

But in the meantime, so confident are you of the existence of a “Syrian text,”—(only however because Dr. Hort is,)—that you inflict upon your readers all the consequences which “the Syrian text” is supposed to carry with it. Your method is certainly characterized by humility: for it consists in merely serving up to the British public a réchauffé of Westcott and Hort's Textual Theory. I cannot discover that you contribute anything of your own to the meagre outline you furnish of it. Everything is assumed—as before. Nothing is proved—as before. And we are referred to Dr. Hort for the resolution of every difficulty which Dr. Hort has created. “According to Dr. Hort,”—“as Dr. Hort observes,”—“to use Dr. Hort's language,”—“stated by Dr. Hort,”—“as Dr. Hort notices,”—“says Dr. Hort:” yes, from p. 14 of your pamphlet to p. 29 you do nothing else but reproduce—Dr. Hort!

First comes the fabulous account of the contents of the bulk of the cursives:881—then, the imaginary history of the [pg 395] “Syriac Vulgate;” which (it seems) bears “indisputable traces” of being a revision, of which you have learned from Dr. Hort the date:882—then comes the same disparagement of the ancient Greek Fathers,—“for reasons which have been stated by Dr. Hort with great clearness and cogency:”⁸⁸³—then, the same depreciatory estimate of writers subsequent to Eusebius,—whose evidence is declared to “stand at best on no higher level than the evidence of inferior manuscripts in the uncial class:”⁸⁸⁴ but only because it is discovered to be destructive of the theory of Dr. Hort.

Next comes “the Method of Genealogy,”—which you declare is the result of “vast research, unwearied patience, great critical sagacity;”⁸⁸⁵ but which I am prepared to prove is, on the contrary, a shallow expedient for dispensing with scientific Induction and the laborious accumulation of evidence. This same “Method of Genealogy,” you are not ashamed to announce as “the great contribution of our own times to a mastery over materials.” “For the full explanation of it, you must refer your reader to Dr. Hort's Introduction.”⁸⁸⁶ Can you be serious?

Then come the results to which “the application of this method has conducted Drs. Westcott and Hort.”⁸⁸⁷ And first, the fable of the “Syrian Text”—which “Dr. Hort considers to have been the result of a deliberate Recension,” conducted on erroneous principles. This fabricated product of the IIIrd and IVth centuries, (you say,) rose to supremacy,—became dominant at Antioch,—passed thence to Constantinople,—and once established there, soon vindicated its claim to be the N. T. of the East: whence it overran the West, and for 300 years as the “Textus Receptus,” has held undisputed [pg 396] sway.⁸⁸⁸ Really, my lord Bishop, you describe imaginary events in truly Oriental style. One seems to be reading not so much of the “Syrian Text” as of the Syrian Impostor. One expects every moment to hear of some feat of this fabulous Recension corresponding with the surrender of the British troops and Arabi's triumphant entry into Cairo with the head of Sir Beauchamp Seymour in his hand!

All this is followed, of course, by the weak fable of the “Neutral” Text, and of the absolute supremacy of Codex b,—which is “stated in Dr. Hort's own words:”⁸⁸⁹—viz. “b very far exceeds all other documents in neutrality of text, being in fact always, or nearly always, neutral.” (The fact being that codex b is demonstrably one of the most corrupt documents in existence.) The posteriority of the (imaginary) “Syrian,” to the (imaginary) “Neutral,” is insisted upon next in order, as a matter of course: and declared to rest upon three other considerations,—each one of which is found to be pure fable: viz. (1) On the fable of “Conflation,” which “seems to supply a proof” that Syrian readings are posterior both to Western and to Neutral readings—but, (as I have elsewhere⁸⁹⁰ shown, at considerable length,) most certainly does not:—(2) On Ante-Nicene Patristic evidence,—of which however not a syllable is produced:—(3) On “Transcriptional probability”—which is about as useful a substitute for proof as a sweet-pea for a walking-stick.

Widely dissimilar of course is your own view of the importance of the foregoing instruments of conviction. To you, “these three reasons taken together seem to make up an argument for the posteriority of the Syrian Text, which it is impossible to resist. They form” (you say) “a threefold cord of evidence which [you] believe will bear any amount [pg 397] of argumentative strain.” You rise with your subject, and at last break out into eloquence and vituperation:—“Writers like the Reviewer may attempt to cut the cord by reckless and unverified assertions: but the knife has not yet been fabricated that can equitably separate any one of its strands.”⁸⁹¹... So effectually, as well as so deliberately, have you lashed yourself—for better or for worse—to Westcott and Hort's New Textual Theory, that you must now of necessity either share its future triumphs, or else be a partaker in its coming humiliation. Am I to congratulate you on your prospects?

For my part, I make no secret of the fact that I look upon the entire speculation about which you are so enthusiastic, as an excursion into cloud-land: a dream and nothing more. My contention is,—not that the Theory of Drs. Westcott and Hort rests on an insecure foundation, but, that it rests on no foundation at all. Moreover, I am greatly mistaken if this has not been demonstrated in the foregoing pages.⁸⁹² On one point, at all events, there cannot exist a particle of doubt; namely, that so far from its “not being for you to interpose in this controversy”—you are without alternative. You must either come forward at once, and bring it to a successful issue: or else, you must submit to be told that you have suffered defeat, inasmuch as you are inextricably involved in Westcott and Hort's discomfiture. You are simply without remedy. You may “find nothing in the Reviewer's third article to require a further answer:” but readers of intelligence will tell you that your finding, since it does not proceed from stupidity, can only result from your consciousness that you have made a serious blunder: and that now, the less you say about “Westcott and Hort's new textual Theory,” the better.

[pg 398]

[14] The Question modestly proposed,—Whether Bp. Ellicott's adoption of Westcott and Hort's “new Textual Theory” does not amount to (what lawyers call) “Conspiracy”?

But, my lord Bishop, when I reach the end of your laborious avowal that you entirely accept “Westcott and Hort's new Textual Theory,”—I find it impossible to withhold the respectful enquiry,—Is such a proceeding on your part altogether allowable? I frankly confess that to me the wholesale adoption by the Chairman of the Revising body, of the theory of two of the Revisers,—and then, his exclusive reproduction and vindication of that theory, when he undertakes,

“to supply the reader with a few broad outlines of Textual Criticism, so as to enable him to form a fair judgment on the question of the trustworthiness of the readings adopted by the Revisers,”—p. 29,

all this, my lord Bishop, I frankly avow, to me, looks very much indeed like what, in the language of lawyers, is called “Conspiracy.” It appears then that instead of presiding over the deliberations of the Revisionists as an impartial arbiter, you have been throughout, heart and soul, an eager partizan. You have learned to employ freely Drs. Westcott and Hort's peculiar terminology. You adopt their scarcely-intelligible phrases: their wild hypotheses: their arbitrary notions about “Intrinsic” and “Transcriptional Probability:” their baseless theory of “Conflation:” their shallow “Method of Genealogy.” You have, in short, evidently swallowed their novel invention whole. I can no longer wonder at the result arrived at by the body of Revisionists. Well may Dr. Scrivener have pleaded in vain! He found Drs. Ellicott and Westcott and Hort too many for him.... But it is high time that I should pass on.

[pg 399]

[15] Proofs that the Revisers have outrageously exceeded the Instructions they received from the Convocation of the Southern Province.

It follows next to enquire whether your work as Revisers was conducted in conformity with the conditions imposed upon you by the Southern House of Convocation, or not. “Nothing” (you say)—

“can be more unjust on the part of the Reviewer than to suggest, as he has suggested in more than one passage,⁸⁹³ that the Revisers exceeded their Instructions in the course which they adopted with regard to the Greek Text. On the contrary, as we shall show, they adhered most closely to their Instructions; and did neither more nor less than they were required to do.”—(p. 32.)

“The Reviewer,” my lord Bishop, proceeds to demonstrate that you “exceeded your Instructions,” even to an extraordinary extent. But it will be convenient first to hear you out. You proceed,—

“Let us turn to the Rule. It is simply as follows:—‘That the text to be adopted be that for which the Evidence is decidedly preponderating: and that when the text so adopted differs from that from which the Authorized Version was made, the alteration be indicated in the margin.’ ”—(Ibid.)

But you seem to have forgotten that the “Rule” which you quote formed no part of the “Instructions” which were imposed upon you by Convocation. It was one of the “Principles agreed to by the Committee” (25 May, 1870),—a Rule of your own making therefore,—for which Convocation neither was nor is responsible. The “fundamental Resolutions adopted by the Convocation of Canterbury” (3rd and 5th May, 1870), five in number, contain no authorization whatever for making changes in the Greek Text. They have [pg 400] reference only to the work of revising “the Authorized Version:” an undertaking which the first Resolution declares to be “desirable.” “In order to ascertain what were the Revisers' Instructions with regard to the Greek Text,” we must refer to the original Resolution of Feb. 10th, 1870: in which the removal of “plain and clear errors, whether in the Greek Text originally adopted by the Translators, or in the Translation made from the same,”—is for the first and last time mentioned. That you yourself accepted this as the limit of your authority, is proved by your Speech in Convocation. “We may be satisfied” (you said) “with the attempt to correct plain and clear errors: but there, it is our duty to stop.”⁸⁹⁴

Now I venture to assert that not one in a hundred of the alterations you have actually made, “whether in the Greek Text originally adopted by the Translators, or in the Translation made from the same,” are corrections of “plain and clear errors.” Rather,—(to adopt the words of the learned Bishop of Lincoln,)—“I fear we must say in candour that in the Revised Version we meet in every page with changes which seem almost to be made for the sake of change.”⁸⁹⁵ May I trouble you to refer back to p. 112 of the present volume for a few words more on this subject from the pen of the same judicious Prelate?

(a) And first,—In respect of the New English Version.

For my own part, (see above, pp. 171-2,) I thought the best thing I could do would be to illustrate the nature of my complaint, by citing and commenting on an actual instance of your method. I showed how, in revising eight-and-thirty words (2 Pet. i. 5-7), you had contrived to introduce no fewer than thirty changes,—every one of them being clearly [pg 401] a change for the worse. You will perhaps say,—Find me another such case! I find it, my lord Bishop, in S. Luke viii. 45, 46,—where you have made nineteen changes in revising the translation of four-and-thirty words. I proceed to transcribe the passage; requesting you to bear in mind your own emphatic protestation,—“We made no change if the meaning was fairly expressed by the word or phrase before us.”

A.V. | R.V.
“Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.” | “Peter said [1], and they that were with him, Master the multitudes [2] press [3] thee and crush thee [5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.] But [11] Jesus said, Some one [12] did touch [14] me: for I perceived [15] that power [16] had [17] gone forth [18] from [19] me.”

Now pray,—Was not “the meaning fairly expressed” before? Will you tell me that in revising S. Luke viii. 45-6, you “made as few alterations as possible”? or will you venture to assert that you have removed none but “plain and clear errors”? On the contrary. I challenge any competent scholar in Great Britain to say whether every one of these changes be not either absolutely useless, or else decidedly a change for the worse: six of them being downright errors.

The transposition in the opening sentence is infelicitous, to say the least. (The English language will not bear such handling. Literally, no doubt, the words mean, “said Peter, and they that were with him.” But you may not so translate.)—The omission of the six interesting words, indicated within square brackets, is a serious blunder.⁸⁹⁶ The words are [pg 402] undoubtedly genuine. I wonder how you can have ventured thus to mutilate the Book of Life. And why did you not, out of common decency and reverence, at least in the margin, preserve a record of the striking clause which you thus,—with well-meant assiduity, but certainly with deplorable rashness,—forcibly ejected from the text? To proceed however.—“Multitudes,”—“but,”—“one,”—“did,”— “power,”—“forth,”—“from:”—are all seven either needless changes, or improper, or undesirable. “Did touch,”—“perceived,”—“had gone forth,”—are unidiomatic and incorrect expressions. I have already explained this elsewhere.⁸⁹⁷ The aorist (ἥψατο) has here a perfect signification, as in countless other places:—ἔγνων, (like “novi,”) is frequently (as here) to be Englished by the present (“I perceive”): and “is gone out of me” is the nearest rendering of ἐξελθοῦσαν⁸⁹⁸ ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ [pg 403] which our language will bear.—Lastly, “press” and “crush,” as renderings of συνέχουσι and ἀποθλίβουσι, are inexact and unscholarlike. Συνέχειν, (literally “to encompass” or “hem in,”) is here to “throng” or “crowd:” ἀποθλίβειν, (literally “to squeeze,”) is here to “press.” But in fact the words were perfectly well rendered by our Translators of 1611, and ought to have been let alone.—This specimen may suffice, (and it is a very fair specimen,) of what has been your calamitous method of revising the A. V. throughout.

So much then for the Revised English. The fate of the Revised Greek is even more extraordinary. I proceed to explain myself by instancing what has happened in respect of the Gospel according to S. Luke.

(b) Next,—In respect of the New Greek Text.

On examining the 836⁸⁹⁹ Greek Textual corrections which you have introduced into those 1151 verses, I find that at least 356 of them do not affect the English rendering at all. I mean to say that those 356 (supposed) emendations are either incapable of being represented in a Translation, or at least are not represented. Thus, in S. Luke iv. 3, whether εἶπε δέ or καὶ εἶπεν is read:—in ver. 7, whether ἐμοῦ or μου:—in ver. 8, whether Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου προσκυνήσες, or Προσκυνήσεις Κ. τὸν Θ. σου; whether ἤγαγε δέ or καὶ ἤγαγεν; whether υἱός or ὁ υἱός:—in ver. 17, whether τοῦ προφήτου Ἡσαïου or Ἡ. τοῦ προφήτου; whether ἀνοίξας or ἀναπτύξας:—in ver. 18, whether εὐαγγελίσασθαι or εὐαγγελίζεσθαι:—in ver. 20, whether οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ ἐν τῇ συναγωγῇ or ἐν τῇ συναγωγῇ οἱ ὀφθαλμοί:—in ver. 23, whether εἰς τήν or ἐν τῇ:—in ver. 27, whether ἐν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ ἐπὶ Ἐλισσαίου τοῦ προφήτου or ἐπὶ Ἐλισσ., τοῦ π. ἐν τῷ Ἰ.:—in ver. 29, whether ὀφρύος or τῆς ὀφρύος; whether ὥστε or εἰς τό:—in ver. 35, whether ἀπ᾽ or [pg 404] ἐξ:—in ver. 38, whether ἀπό or ἐκ; whether πενθερά or ἡ πενθερά:—in ver. 43, whether ἐπί or εἰς; whether ἀπεστάλην or ἀπέσταλμαι:—in ver. 44, whether εἰς τὰς συναγωγάς or ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς:—in every one of these cases, the English remains the same, whichever of the alternative readings is adopted. At least 19 therefore out of the 33 changes which you introduced into the Greek Text of S. Luke iv. are plainly gratuitous.

Thirteen of those 19, (or about two-thirds,) are also in my opinion changes for the worse: are nothing else, I mean, but substitutions of wrong for right Readings. But that is not my present contention. The point I am just now contending for is this:—That, since it certainly was no part of your “Instructions,” “Rules,” or “Principles” to invent a new Greek Text,—or indeed to meddle with the original Greek at all, except so far as was absolutely necessary for the Revision of the English Version,—it is surely a very grave form of inaccuracy to assert (as you now do) that you “adhered most closely to your Instructions, and did neither more nor less than you were required.”—You know that you did a vast deal more than you had any authority or right to do: a vast deal more than you had the shadow of a pretext for doing. Worse than that. You deliberately forsook the province to which you had been exclusively appointed by the Southern Convocation,—and you ostentatiously invaded another and a distinct province; viz. That of the critical Editorship of the Greek Text: for which, by your own confession,—(I take leave to remind you of your own honest avowal, quoted above at page 369,)—you and your colleagues knew yourselves to be incompetent.

For, when those 356 wholly gratuitous and uncalled-for changes in the Greek of S. Luke's Gospel come to be examined in detail, they are found to affect far more than [pg 405] 356 words. By the result, 92 words have been omitted; and 33 added. No less than 129 words have been substituted for others which stood in the text before; and there are 66 instances of Transposition, involving the dislocation of 185 words. The changes of case, mood, tense, &c., amount in addition to 123.900 The sum of the words which you have needlessly meddled with in the Greek Text of the third Gospel proves therefore to be 562.

At this rate,—(since, [excluding marginal notes and variations in stops,] Scrivener⁹⁰¹ counts 5337 various readings in his Notes,)—the number of alterations gratuitously and uselessly introduced by you into the Greek Text of the entire N. T., is to be estimated at 3590.

And if,—(as seems probable,)—the same general proportion prevails throughout your entire work,—it will appear that the words which, without a shadow of excuse, you have omitted from the Greek Text of the N. T., must amount to about 590: while you have added in the same gratuitous way about 210; and have needlessly substituted about 820. Your instances of uncalled-for transposition, (about 420 in number,) will have involved the gratuitous dislocation of full 1190 words:—while the occasions on which, at the bidding of Drs. Westcott and Hort, you have altered case, mood, tense, &c., must amount to about 780. In this way, the sum of the changes you have effected in the Greek Text of the N. T. in clear defiance of your Instructions,—would amount, as already stated, to 3590.

Now, when it is considered that not one of those 3590 [pg 406] changes in the least degree affects the English Revision,—it is undeniable, not only that you and your friends did what you were without authority for doing:—but also that you violated as well the spirit as the letter of your Instructions. As for your present assertion (at p. 32) that you “adhered most closely to the Instructions you received, and did neither more nor less than you were required to do,”—you must submit to be reminded that it savours strongly of the nature of pure fable. The history of the new Greek Text is briefly this:—A majority of the Revisers—including yourself, their Chairman,—are found to have put yourselves almost unreservedly into the hands of Drs. Westcott and Hort. The result was obvious. When the minority, headed by Dr. Scrivener, appealed to the chair, they found themselves confronted by a prejudiced Advocate. They ought to have been listened to by an impartial Judge. You, my lord Bishop, are in consequence (I regret to say) responsible for all the mischief which has occurred. The blame of it rests at your door.

And pray disabuse yourself of the imagination that in what precedes I have been stretching the numbers in order to make out a case against you. It would be easy to show that in estimating the amount of needless changes at 356 out of 836, I am greatly under the mark. I have not included such cases, for instance, as your substitution of ἡ μνᾶ σου, Κύριε for Κύριε, ἡ μνᾶ σου (in xix. 18), and of Τοίνυν ἀπόδοτε for Ἀπόδοτε τοίνυν (in xx. 25),⁹⁰²—only lest you should pretend that the transposition affects the English, and therefore was necessary. Had I desired to swell the number I could have easily shown that fully half the [pg 407] changes you effected in the Greek Text were wholly superfluous for the Revision of the English Translation, and therefore were entirely without excuse.

This, in fact,—(give me leave to remind you in passing,)—is the true reason why, at an early stage of your proceedings, you resolved that none of the changes you introduced into the Greek Text should find a record in your English margin. Had any been recorded, all must have appeared. And had this been done, you would have stood openly convicted of having utterly disregarded the “Instructions” you had received from Convocation. With what face, for example, could you, (in the margin of S. Luke xv. 17,) against the words “he said,”—have printed “ἔφη not εἶπε”? or, (at xxiv. 44,) against the words “unto them,”—must you not have been ashamed to encumber the already overcrowded margin with such an irrelevant statement as,—“πρὸς αὐτούς not αὐτοῖς”?

Now, if this were all, you might reply that by my own showing the Textual changes complained of, if they do no good, at least do no harm. But then, unhappily, you and your friends have not confined yourselves to colourless readings, when silently up and down every part of the N. T. you have introduced innovations. I open your New English Version at random (S. John iv. 15), and invite your attention to the first instance which catches my eye.

You have made the Woman of Samaria complain of the length of the walk from Sychar to Jacob's well:—“Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come all the way hither to draw.”—What has happened? For ἔρχωμαι, I discover that you have silently substituted ΔΙέρχωμαι. (Even διέρχωμαι has no such meaning: but let that pass.) What then was your authority for thrusting διέρχωμαι (which by the way is a patent absurdity) into the Text? The word [pg 408] is found (I discover) in only two Greek MSS. of had character⁹⁰³ (b א), which, being derived from a common corrupt original, can only reckon for one: and the reasoning which is supposed to justify this change is thus supplied by Tischendorf:—“If the Evangelist had written ἔρχ-, who would ever have dreamed of turning it into δι-έρχωμαι?”... No one, of course, (is the obvious answer,) except the inveterate blunderer who, some 1700 years ago, seeing ΜΗΔΕΕΡΧΩΜΑΙ before him, reduplicated the antecedent ΔΕ. The sum of the matter is that!... Pass 1700 years, and the long-since-forgotten blunder is furbished up afresh by Drs. Westcott and Hort,—is urged upon the wondering body of Revisers as the undoubted utterance of the Spirit,—is accepted by yourself;—finally, (in spite of many a remonstrance from Dr. Scrivener and his friends,) is thrust upon the acceptance of 90 millions of English-speaking men throughout the world, as the long-lost-sight-of, but at last happily recovered, utterance of the “Woman of Samaria!”... Ἄπαγε.

Ordinary readers, in the meantime, will of course assume that the change results from the Revisers' skill in translating,—the advances which have been made in the study of Greek; for no trace of the textual vagary before us survives in the English margin.

And thus I am reminded of what I hold to be your gravest fault of all. The rule of Committee subject to which you commenced operations,—the Rule which re-assured the public and reconciled the Church to the prospect of a Revised [pg 409] New Testament,—expressly provided that, whenever the underlying Greek Text was altered, such alteration should be indicated in the margin. This provision you entirely set at defiance from the very first. You have never indicated in the margin the alterations you introduced into the Greek Text. In fact, you made so many changes,—in other words, you seem to have so entirely lost sight of your pledge and your compact,—that compliance with this condition would have been simply impossible. I see not how your body is to be acquitted of a deliberate breach of faith.

(c) Fatal consequences of this mistaken officiousness.

How serious, in the meantime, the consequences have been, they only know who have been at the pains to examine your work with close attention. Not only have you, on countless occasions, thrust out words, clauses, entire sentences of genuine Scripture,—but you have been careful that no trace shall survive of the fatal injury which you have inflicted. I wonder you were not afraid. Can I be wrong in deeming such a proceeding in a high degree sinful? Has not the Spirit pronounced a tremendous doom⁹⁰⁴ against those who do such things? Were you not afraid, for instance, to leave out (from S. Mark vi. 11) those solemn words of our Saviour,—“Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city”? Surely you will not pretend to tell me that those fifteen precious words, witnessed to as they are by all the known copies but nine,—by the Old Latin, the Peschito and the Philoxenian Syriac, the Coptic, the Gothic and the Æthiopic Versions,—besides Irenæus⁹⁰⁵ and Victor⁹⁰⁶ of Antioch:—you will not venture to say (will you?) that words so attested are [pg 410] so evidently a “plain and clear error,” as not to deserve even a marginal note to attest to posterity “that such things were”! I say nothing of the witness of the Liturgical usage of the Eastern Church,—which appointed these verses to be read on S. Mark's Day:907 nor of Theophylact,⁹⁰⁸ nor of Euthymius.⁹⁰⁹ I appeal to the consentient testimony of Catholic antiquity. Find me older witnesses, if you can, than the “Elders” with whom Irenæus held converse,—men who must have been contemporaries of S. John the Divine: or again, than the old Latin, the Peschito, and the Coptic Versions. Then, for the MSS.,—Have you studied S. Mark's Text to so little purpose as not to have discovered that the six uncials on which you rely are the depositories of an abominably corrupt Recension of the second Gospel?

But you committed a yet more deplorable error when,—without leaving behind either note or comment of any sort,—you obliterated from S. Matth. v. 44, the solemn words which I proceed to underline:—“Bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.” You relied almost exclusively on those two false witnesses, of which you are so superstitiously fond, b and א: regardless of the testimony of almost all the other Copies besides:—of almost all the Versions:—and of a host of primitive Fathers: for the missing clauses are more or less recognized by Justin Mart. (a.d. 140),—by Theophilus Ant. (a.d. 168),—by Athenagoras (a.d. 177),—by Clemens Alexan. (a.d. 192),—by Origen (a.d. 210),—by the Apostolic Constt. (IIIrd cent.),—by Eusebius,—by Gregory Nyss.,—by Chrysostom,—by Isidorus,—by Nilus,—by Cyril,—by Theodoret, and certain others. Besides, of the Latins, by Tertullian,—by Lucifer,—by [pg 411] Ambrose,—by Hilary,—by Pacian,—by Augustine,—by Cassian, and many more.... Verily, my lord Bishop, your notion of what constitutes “clearly preponderating Evidence” must be freely admitted to be at once original and peculiar. I will but respectfully declare that if it be indeed one of “the now established Principles of Textual Criticism” that a bishop is at liberty to blot out from the Gospel such precepts of the Incarnate Word, as these: to reject, on the plea that they are “plain and clear errors,” sayings attested by twelve primitive Fathers,—half of whom lived and died before our two oldest manuscripts (b and א) came into being:—If all this be so indeed, permit me to declare that I would not exchange my “innocent ignorance”⁹¹⁰ of those “Principles” for your guilty knowledge of them,—no, not for anything in the wide world which yonder sun shines down upon.

As if what goes before had not been injury enough, you are found to have adopted the extraordinary practice of encumbering your margin with doubts as to the Readings which after due deliberation you had, as a body, retained. Strange perversity! You could not find room to retain a record in your margin of the many genuine words of our Divine Lord,—His Evangelists and Apostles,—to which Copies, Versions, Fathers lend the fullest attestation; but you could find room for an insinuation that His “Agony and bloody sweat,”—together with His “Prayer on behalf of His murderers,”—may after all prove to be nothing else but spurious accretions to the Text. And yet, the pretence for so regarding either S. Luke xxii. 43, 44, or xxiii. 34, is confessedly founded on a minimum of documentary evidence: while, as has been already shown elsewhere,⁹¹¹ an overwhelming amount of ancient testimony renders it certain that not a [pg 412] particle of doubt attaches to the Divine record of either of those stupendous incidents.... Room could not be found, it seems, for a hint in the margin that such ghastly wounds as those above specified had been inflicted on S. Mark vi. 11 and S. Matth. v. 44;912 but twenty-two lines could be spared against Rom. ix. 5 for the free ventilation of the vile Socinian gloss with which unbelievers in every age have sought to evacuate one of the grandest assertions of our Saviour's Godhead. May I be permitted, without offence, to avow myself utterly astonished?

Even this however is not all. The 7th of the Rules under which you undertook the work of Revision, was, that “the Headings of Chapters should be revised.” This Rule you have not only failed to comply with; but you have actually deprived us of those headings entirely. You have thereby done us a grievous wrong. We demand to have the headings of our chapters back.

You have further, without warrant of any sort, deprived us of our Marginal References. These we cannot afford to be without. We claim that they also may be restored. The very best Commentary on Holy Scripture are they, with which I am acquainted. They call for learned and judicious Revision, certainly; and they might be profitably enlarged. But they may never be taken away.

And now, my lord Bishop, if I have not succeeded in convincing you that the Revisers not only “exceeded their Instructions in the course which they adopted with regard to the Greek Text,” but even acted in open defiance of their Instructions; did both a vast deal more than they were authorized to do, and also a vast deal less;—it has certainly been no fault of mine. As for your original contention⁹¹³ that [pg 413] “nothing can be more unjust” than the charge brought against the Revisers of having exceeded their Instructions,—I venture to ask, on the contrary, whether anything can be more unreasonable (to give it no harsher name) than the denial?

[16] The calamity of the “New Greek Text” traced to its source.

There is no difficulty in accounting for the most serious of the foregoing phenomena. They are the inevitable consequence of your having so far succumbed at the outset to Drs. Westcott and Hort as to permit them to communicate bit by bit, under promise of secrecy, their own outrageous Revised Text of the N. T. to their colleagues, accompanied by a printed disquisition in advocacy of their own peculiar critical views. One would have expected in the Chairman of the Revising body, that the instant he became aware of any such manœuvre on the part of two of the society, he would have remonstrated with them somewhat as follows, or at least to this effect:—

“This cannot be permitted, Gentlemen, on any terms. We have not been appointed to revise the Greek Text of the N. T. Our one business is to revise the Authorized English Version,—introducing such changes only as are absolutely necessary. The Resolutions of Convocation are express on this head: and it is my duty to see that they are faithfully carried out. True, that we shall be obliged to avail ourselves of our skill in Textual Criticism—(such as it is)—to correct ‘plain and clear errors’ in the Greek: but there we shall be obliged to stop. I stand pledged to Convocation on this point by my own recent utterances. That two of our members should be solicitous (by a side-wind) to obtain for their own singular Revision of the Greek Text the sanction of our united body,—is [pg 414] intelligible enough: but I should consider myself guilty of a breach of Trust were I to lend myself to the promotion of their object. Let me hope that I have you all with me when I point out that on every occasion when Dr. Scrivener, on the one hand, (who in matters of Textual Criticism is facile princeps among us,) and Drs. Westcott and Hort on the other, prove to be irreconcileably opposed in their views,—there the Received Greek Text must by all means be let alone. We have agreed, you will remember, to ‘make the current Textus Receptus the standard; departing from it only when critical or grammatical considerations show that it is clearly necessary.’⁹¹⁴ It would be unreasonable, in my judgment, that anything in the Received Text should be claimed to be ‘a clear and plain error,’ on which those who represent the two antagonistic schools of Criticism find themselves utterly unable to come to any accord. In the meantime, Drs. Westcott and Hort are earnestly recommended to submit to public inspection that Text which they have been for twenty years elaborating, and which for some time past has been in print. Their labours cannot be too freely ventilated, too searchingly examined, too generally known: but I strongly deprecate their furtive production here. All too eager advocacy of the novel Theory of the two accomplished Professors, I shall think it my duty to discourage, and if need be to repress. A printed volume, enforced by the suasive rhetoric of its two producers, gives to one side an unfair advantage. But indeed I must end as I began, by respectfully inviting Drs. Westcott and Hort to remember that we meet here, not in order to fabricate a new Greek Text, but in order to revise our ‘Authorized English Version.’”... Such, in substance, is the kind of Allocution which it was to have been expected that the Episcopal Chairman of a Revising body would address to [pg 415] his fellow-labourers the first time he saw them enter the Jerusalem chamber furnished with the sheets of Westcott and Hort's N. T.; especially if he was aware that those Revisers had been individually talked over by the Editors of the work in question, (themselves Revisionists); and perceived that the result of the deliberations of the entire body was in consequence, in a fair way of becoming a foregone conclusion,—unless indeed, by earnest remonstrance, he might be yet in time to stave off the threatened danger.

But instead of saying anything of this kind, my lord Bishop, it is clear from your pamphlet that you made the Theory of Drs. Westcott and Hort your own Theory; and their Text, by necessary consequence, in the main your own Text. You lost sight of all the pledges you had given in Convocation. You suddenly became a partizan. Having secured the precious advocacy of Bp. Wilberforce,—whose sentiments on the subject you had before adopted,—you at once threw him and them overboard.⁹¹⁵... I can scarcely imagine, in a good man like yourself, conduct more reckless,—more disappointing,—more unintelligible. But I must hasten on.

[17] Bp. Ellicott's defence of the “New Greek Text,” in sixteen particulars, examined.

It follows to consider the strangest feature of your pamphlet: viz. those two-and-thirty pages (p. 43 to p. 75) in which, descending from generals, you venture to dispute in sixteen particulars the sentence passed upon your new Greek Text by the Quarterly Review. I call this part of your pamphlet “strange,” because it displays such singular inaptitude to appreciate the force of Evidence. But in fact, (sit venia verbo) your entire method is quite unworthy of you. Whereas I appeal throughout to Ancient Testimony, you seek [pg 416] to put me down by flaunting in my face Modern Opinion. This, with a great deal of Reiteration, proves to be literally the sum of your contention. Thus, concerning S. Matth. i. 25, the Quarterly Reviewer pointed out (suprà pp. 123-4) that the testimony of b א, together with that of the VIth-century fragment z, and two cursive copies of bad character,—cannot possibly stand against the testimony of all other copies. You plead in reply that on “those two oldest manuscripts the vast majority of Critics set a high value.” Very likely: but for all that, you are I suppose aware that b and א are two of the most corrupt documents in existence? And, inasmuch as they are confessedly derived from one and the same depraved original, you will I presume allow that they may not be adduced as two independent authorities? At all events, when I further show you that almost all the Versions, and literally every one of the Fathers who quote the place, (they are eighteen in number,) are against you,—how can you possibly think there is any force or relevancy whatever in your self-complacent announcement,—“We cannot hesitate to express our agreement with Tischendorf and Tregelles who see in these words an interpolation derived from S. Luke. The same appears to have been the judgment of Lachmann.” Do you desire that that should pass for argument?

To prolong a discussion of this nature with you, were plainly futile. Instead of repeating what I have already delivered—briefly indeed, yet sufficiently in detail,—I will content myself with humbly imitating what, if I remember rightly, was Nelson's plan when he fought the battle of the Nile. He brought his frigates, one by one, alongside those of the enemy;—lashed himself to the foe;—and poured in his broadsides. We remember with what result. The sixteen instances which you have yourself selected, shall now be indicated. First, on every occasion, reference shall be [pg 417] made to the place in the present volume where my own Criticism on your Greek Text is to be found in detail. Readers of your pamphlet are invited next to refer to your own several attempts at refutation, which shall also be indicated by a reference to your pages. I am quite contented to abide by the verdict of any unprejudiced person of average understanding and fair education:—

(1) Four words omitted in S. Matth. i. 25,—complained of, above, pp. 122-4.—You defend the omission in your pamphlet at pages 43-4,—falling back on Tischendorf, Tregelles and Lachmann, as explained on the opposite page. (p. 416.)

(2) The omission of S. Matth. xvii. 21,—proved to be indefensible, above, pp. 91-2.—The omission is defended by you at pp. 44-5,—on the ground, that although Lachmann retains the verse, and Tregelles only places it in brackets, (Tischendorf alone of the three omitting it entirely,)—“it must be remembered that here Lachmann and Tregelles were not acquainted with א.”

(3) The omission of S. Matth. xviii. 11,—shown to be unreasonable, above, p. 92.—You defend the omission in your pp. 45-7,—remarking that “here there is even less room for doubt than in the preceding cases. The three critical editors are all agreed in rejecting this verse.”

(4) The substitution of ἠπόρει for ἐποίει, in S. Mark vi. 20,—strongly complained of, above, pp. 66-9.—Your defence is at pp. 47-8. You urge that “in this case again the Revisers have Tischendorf only on their side, and not Lachmann nor Tregelles: but it must be remembered that these critics had not the reading of א before them.”

(5) The thrusting of πάλιν (after ἀποστελεῖ) into S. Mark xi. 3,—objected against, above, pp. 56-8.—You defend yourself [pg 418] at pp. 48-9,—and “cannot doubt that the Revisers were perfectly justified” in doing “as Tischendorf and Tregelles had done before them,”—viz. inventing a new Gospel incident.

(6) The mess you have made of S. Mark xi. 8,—exposed by the Quarterly Reviewer, above, pp. 58-61,—you defend at pp. 49-52. You have “preferred to read with Tischendorf and Tregelles.” About,

(7) S. Mark xvi. 9-20,—and (8) S. Luke ii. 14,—I shall have a few serious words to say immediately. About,

(9) the 20 certainly genuine words you have omitted from S. Luke ix. 55, 56,—I promise to give you at no distant date an elaborate lecture. “Are we to understand” (you ask) “that the Reviewer honestly believes the added words to have formed part of the Sacred Autograph?” (“The omitted words,” you mean.) To be sure you are!—I answer.

(10) The amazing blunder endorsed by the Revisers in S. Luke x. 15; which I have exposed above, at pp. 54-6.—You defend the blunder (as usual) at pp. 55-6, remarking that the Revisers, “with Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Tregelles, adopt the interrogative form.” (This seems to be a part of your style.)

(11) The depraved exhibition of the Lord's Prayer (S. Luke xi. 2-4) which I have commented on above, at pp. 34-6,—you applaud (as usual) at pp. 56-8 of your pamphlet, “with Tischendorf and Tregelles.”

(12) The omission of 7 important words in S. Luke xxiii. 38, I have commented on, above, at pp. 85-8.—You defend the omission, and “the texts of Tischendorf and Tregelles,” at pp. 58-9.

[pg 419]

(13) The gross fabrication in S. Luke xxiii. 45, I have exposed, above, at pp. 61-5.—You defend it, at pp. 59-61.

(14) A plain omission in S. John xiv. 4, I have pointed out, above, at pp. 72-3.—You defend it, at pp. 61-2 of your pamphlet.

(15) “Titus Justus,” thrust by the Revisers into Acts xviii. 7, I have shown to be an imaginary personage, above, at pp. 53-4.—You stand up for the interesting stranger at pp. 62-4 of your pamphlet. Lastly,

(16) My discussion of 1 Tim. iii. 16 (suprà pp. 98-106),—you contend against from p. 64 to p. 76.—The true reading of this important place, (which is not your reading,) you will find fully discussed from p. 424 to p. 501.

I have already stated why I dismiss thirteen out of your sixteen instances in this summary manner. The remaining three I have reserved for further discussion for a reason I proceed to explain.

[18] Bp. Ellicott's claim that the Revisers were guided by “the consentient testimony of the most ancient Authorities,”—disproved by an appeal to their handling of S. Luke ii. 14 and of S. Mark xvi. 9-20. The self-same claim,—(namely, of abiding by the verdict of Catholic Antiquity,)—vindicated, on the contrary, for the “Quarterly Reviewer.”

You labour hard throughout your pamphlet to make it appear that the point at which our methods, (yours and mine,) respectively diverge,—is, that I insist on making my appeal to the “Textus Receptus;” you, to Ancient Authority. But happily, my lord Bishop, this is a point which admits of being brought to issue by an appeal to fact. You shall first [pg 420] be heard: and you are observed to express yourself on behalf of the Revising body, as follows:

“It was impossible to mistake the conviction upon which its Textual decisions were based.

“It was a conviction that (1) The true Text was not to be sought in the Textus Receptus; or (2) In the bulk of the Cursive Manuscripts; or (3) In the Uncials (with or without the support of the Codex Alexandrinus;) or (4) In the Fathers who lived after Chrysostom; or (5) In Chrysostom himself and his contemporaries; but (6) In the consentient testimony of the most ancient authorities.”—(p. 28.)

In such terms you venture to contrast our respective methods. You want the public to believe that I make the “Textus Receptus” “a standard from which there shall be no appeal,”—entertain “the notion that it is little else than sacrilege to impugn the tradition of the last 300 years,”⁹¹⁶—and so forth;—while you and your colleagues act upon the conviction that the Truth is rather to be sought “in the consentient testimony of the most ancient Authorities.” I proceed to show you, by appealing to an actual instance, that neither of these statements is correct.

(a) And first, permit me to speak for myself. Finding that you challenge the Received reading of S. Luke ii. 14, (“good will towards men”);—and that, (on the authority of 4 Greek Codices [א a b d], all Latin documents, and the Gothic Version,) you contend that “peace among men in whom he is well pleased” ought to be read, instead;—I make my appeal unreservedly to Antiquity.⁹¹⁷ I request the Ancients to adjudicate between you and me by favouring us with their verdict. Accordingly, I find as follows:

That, in the IInd century,—the Syriac Versions and Irenæus support the Received Text:

[pg 421]

That, in the IIIrd century,—the Coptic Version,—Origen in 3 places, and—the Apostolical Constitutions in 2, do the same:

That, in the IVth century, (to which century, you are invited to remember, codices b and א belong,)—Eusebius,—Aphraates the Persian,—Titus of Bostra,—each in 2 places:—Didymus in 3:—Gregory of Nazianzus,—Cyril of Jer.,—Epiphanius 2—and Gregory of Nyssa—4 times: Ephraem Syr.,—Philo bp. of Carpasus,—Chrysostom 9 times,—and an unknown Antiochian contemporary of his:—these eleven, I once more find, are every one against you:

That, in the Vth century,—besides the Armenian Version, Cyril of Alex. in 14 places:—Theodoret in 4:—Theodotus of Ancyra in 5:—Proclus:—Paulus of Emesa:—the Eastern bishops of Ephesus collectively, a.d. 431;—and Basil of Seleucia:—these contemporaries of cod. a I find are all eight against you:

That, in the VIth century,—besides the Georgian—and Æthiopic Versions,—Cosmas, 5 times:—Anastasius Sinait. and Eulogius, (contemporaries of cod. d,) are all three with the Traditional Text:

That, in the VIIth and VIIIth centuries,—Andreas of Crete, 2:—pope Martinus at the Lat. Council:—Cosmas, bp. of Maiume near Gaza,—and his pupil John Damascene;—together with Germanus, abp. of Constantinople:—are again all five with the Traditional Text.

To these 35, must be added 18 other ancient authorities with which the reader has been already made acquainted (viz. at pp. 44-5): all of which bear the self-same evidence.

Thus I have enumerated fifty-three ancient Greek authorities,—of which sixteen belong to the IInd, IIIrd, and IVth centuries: and thirty-seven to the Vth, VIth, VIIth, and VIIIth.

[pg 422]

And now, which of us two is found to have made the fairer and the fuller appeal to “the consentient testimony of the most ancient authorities:” you or I?... This first.

And next, since the foregoing 53 names belong to some of the most famous personages in Ecclesiastical antiquity: are dotted over every region of ancient Christendom: in many instances are far more ancient than codices b and א:—with what show of reason will you pretend that the evidence concerning S. Luke ii. 14 “clearly preponderates” in favour of the reading which you and your friends prefer?

I claim at all events to have demonstrated that both your statements are unfounded: viz. (1) That I seek for the truth of Scripture in the “Textus Receptus:” and (2) That you seek it in “the consentient testimony of the most ancient authorities.”—(Why not frankly avow that you believe the Truth of Scripture is to be sought for, and found, in “the consentient testimony of codices א and b”?)

(b) Similarly, concerning the last 12 Verses of S. Mark, which you brand with suspicion and separate off from the rest of the Gospel, in token that, in your opinion, there is “a breach of continuity” (p. 53), (whatever that may mean,) between verses 8 and 9. Your ground for thus disallowing the last 12 Verses of the second Gospel, is, that b and א omit them:—that a few late MSS. exhibit a wretched alternative for them:—and that Eusebius says they were often away. Now, my method on the contrary is to refer all such questions to “the consentient testimony of the most ancient authorities.” And I invite you to note the result of such an appeal in the present instance. The Verses in question I find are recognized,

[pg 423]

In the IInd century,—By the Old Latin—and Syriac Verss.:—by Papias;—Justin M.;—Irenæus;—Tertullian.

In the IIIrd century,—By the Coptic—and the Sahidic Versions:—by Hippolytus;—by Vincentius at the seventh Council of Carthage;—by the “Acta Pilati;”—and by the “Apostolical Constitutions” in two places.

In the IVth century,—By Cureton's Syr. and the Gothic Verss.:—besides the Syriac Table of Canons;—Eusebius;—Macarius Magnes;—Aphraates;—Didymus;—the Syriac “Acts of the Ap.;”—Epiphanius;—Leontius;—ps.-Ephraem;—Ambrose;—Chrysostom;—Jerome;—Augustine.

In the Vth century,—Besides the Armenian Vers.,—by codices a and c;—by Leo;—Nestorius;—Cyril of Alexandria;—Victor of Antioch;—Patricius;—Marius Mercator.

In the VIth and VIIth centuries,—Besides cod. d,—the Georgian and Æthiopic Verss.:—by Hesychius;—Gregentius;—Prosper;—John, abp. of Thessalonica;—and Modestus, bishop of Jerusalem.... (See above, pages 36-40.)

And now, once more, my lord Bishop,—Pray which of us is it,—you or I,—who seeks for the truth of Scripture “in the consentient testimony of the most ancient authorities”? On my side there have been adduced in evidence six witnesses of the IInd century:—six of the IIIrd:—fifteen of the IVth:—nine of the Vth:—eight of the VIth and VIIth,—(44 in all): while you are found to rely on codices b and א (as before), supported by a single obiter dictum of Eusebius. I have said nothing as yet about the whole body of the Copies: nothing about universal, immemorial, Liturgical use. Do you seriously imagine that the testimony on your side is “decidedly preponderating”? Above all, will you venture again to exhibit our respective methods as in your pamphlet you have done? I protest solemnly that, in your pages, I recognize neither myself nor you.

[pg 424]

Permit me to declare that I hold your disallowance of S. Mark xvi. 9-20 to be the gravest and most damaging of all the many mistakes which you and your friends have committed. “The textual facts,” (say you, speaking of the last 12 Verses,)—“have been placed before the reader, because Truth itself demanded it.” This (with Canon Cook⁹¹⁸) I entirely deny. It is because “the textual facts have” not “been placed before the reader,” that I am offended. As usual, you present your readers with a one-sided statement,—a partial, and therefore inadmissible, exhibition of the facts,—facts which, fully stated and fairly explained, would, (as you cannot fail to be aware,) be fatal to your contention.

But, I forbear to state so much as one of them. The evidence has already filled a volume.⁹¹⁹ Even if I were to allow that in your marginal note, “the textual facts have been [fully and fairly] placed before the reader”—what possible pretence do you suppose they afford for severing the last 12 Verses from the rest of S. Mark, in token that they form no part of the genuine Gospel?... This, however, is only by the way. I have proved to you that it is I—not you—who rest my case on an appeal to Catholic Antiquity: and this is the only thing I am concerned just now to establish.

I proceed to contribute something to the Textual Criticism of a famous place in S. Paul's first Epistle to Timothy,—on which you have challenged me to a trial of strength.

[19] “GOD was manifested in the flesh” Shown To Be The True Reading Of 1 Timothy III. 16.

A Dissertation.

In conclusion, you insist on ripping up the discussion concerning 1 Tim. iii. 16. I had already devoted eight pages [pg 425] to this subject.⁹²⁰ You reply in twelve.⁹²¹ That I may not be thought wanting in courtesy, the present rejoinder shall extend to seventy-six. I propose, without repeating myself, to follow you over the ground you have re-opened. But it will be convenient that I should define at the outset what is precisely the point in dispute between you and me. I presume it to be undeniably this:—That whereas the Easterns from time immemorial, (and we with them, since Tyndale in 1534 gave us our English Version of the N. T.,) have read the place thus:—(I set the words down in plain English, because the issue admits of being every bit as clearly exhibited in the vernacular, as in Greek: and because I am determined that all who are at the pains to read the present Dissertation shall understand it also:)—Whereas, I say, we have hitherto read the place thus,

“Great is the mystery of godliness:—God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of Angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory:”

You insist that this is a “plain and clear error.” You contend that there is “decidedly preponderating evidence” for reading instead,

“Great Is the mystery of godliness, who was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit,” &c.:

Which contention of yours I hold to be demonstrably incorrect, and proceed to prove is a complete misconception.

(A) Preliminary explanations and cautions.

But English readers will require to have it explained to them at the outset, that inasmuch as ΘΕΟΣ (God) is invariably [pg 426] written ΘΣ in manuscripts, the only difference between the word “God” and the word “who” (ΟΣ) consists of two horizontal strokes,—one, which distinguishes Θ from Ο; and another similar stroke (above the letters ΘΣ) which indicates that a word has been contracted. And further, that it was the custom to trace these two horizontal lines so wondrous faintly that they sometimes actually elude observation. Throughout cod. a, in fact, the letter Θ is often scarcely distinguishable from the letter Ο.

It requires also to be explained for the benefit of the same English reader,—(and it will do learned readers no harm to be reminded,)—that “mystery” (μυστήριον) being a neuter noun, cannot be followed by the masculine pronoun (ὅς),—“who.” Such an expression is abhorrent alike to Grammar and to Logic,—is intolerable, in Greek as in English. By consequence, ὅς (“who”) is found to have been early exchanged for ὅ (“which”). From a copy so depraved, the Latin Version was executed in the second century. Accordingly, every known copy or quotation⁹²² of the Latin exhibits “quod.” Greek authorities for this reading (ὅ) are few enough. They have been specified already, viz. at page 100. And with this brief statement, the reading in question might have been dismissed, seeing that it has found no patron since Griesbach declared against it. It was however very hotly contended for during the last century,—Sir Isaac Newton and Wetstein being its most strenuous advocates; and it would be unfair entirely to lose sight of it now.

The two rival readings, however, in 1 Tim. iii. 16, are,—Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη (“God was manifested”), on the one hand; and τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον, ὅς (“the mystery of godliness, who”), on the other. These are the two readings, I say, [pg 427] between whose conflicting claims we are to adjudicate. For I request that it may be loyally admitted at the outset,—(though it has been conveniently overlooked by the Critics whom you follow,)—that the expression ὂς ἐφανερώθη in Patristic quotations, unless it be immediately preceded by the word μυστήριον, is nothing to the purpose; at all events, does not prove the thing which you are bent on proving. English readers will see this at a glance. An Anglican divine,—with reference to 1 Timothy iii. 16,—may surely speak of our Saviour as One “who was manifested in the flesh,”—without risk of being straightway suspected of employing a copy of the English Version which exhibits “the mystery of godliness who.” “Ex hujusmodi locis” (as Matthæi truly remarks) “nemo, nisi mente captus, in contextu sacro probabit ὅς.”⁹²³

When Epiphanius therefore,—professing to transcribe⁹²⁴ from an earlier treatise of his own⁹²⁵ where ἐφανερώθη stands without a nominative,⁹²⁶ writes (if he really does write) ὂς ἐφανερώθη,⁹²⁷—we are not at liberty to infer therefrom that Epiphanius is opposed to the reading Θεός.—Still less is it lawful to draw the same inference from the Latin Version of a letter of Eutherius [a.d. 431] in which the expression “qui manifestatus est in carne,”⁹²⁸ occurs.—Least of all should we be warranted in citing Jerome as a witness for reading ὅς in [pg 428] this place, because (in his Commentary on Isaiah) he speaks of our Saviour as One who “was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit.”⁹²⁹

As for reasoning thus concerning Cyril of Alexandria, it is demonstrably inadmissible: seeing that at the least on two distinct occasions, this Father exhibits Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη. I am not unaware that in a certain place, apostrophizing the Docetæ, he says,—“Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor indeed the great mystery of godliness, that is Christ, who (ὅς) was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit,”⁹³⁰ &c. &c. And presently, “I consider the mystery of godliness to be no other thing but the Word of God the Father, who (ὅς) Himself was manifested in the flesh.”⁹³¹ But there is nothing whatever in this to invalidate the testimony of those other places in which Θεός actually occurs. It is logically inadmissible, I mean, to set aside the places where Cyril is found actually to write Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη, because in other places he employs 1 Tim. iii. 16 less precisely; leaving it to be inferred—(which indeed is abundantly plain)—that Θεός is always his reading, from the course of his argument and from the nature of the matter in hand. But to proceed.

(B) Bp. Ellicott invited to state the evidence for reading ὅς in 1 Tim. iii. 16.

[a] “The state of the evidence,” as declared by Bp. Ellicott.

When last the evidence for this question came before us, I introduced it by inviting a member of the Revising body (Dr. Roberts) to be spokesman on behalf of his brethren.⁹³² This time, I shall call upon a more distinguished, a wholly unexceptionable witness, viz. yourself,—who are, of course, [pg 429] greatly in advance of your fellow-Revisers in respect of critical attainments. The extent of your individual familiarity with the subject when (in 1870 namely) you proposed to revise the Greek Text of the N. T. for the Church of England on the solvere-ambulando principle,—may I presume be lawfully inferred from the following annotation in your “Critical and Grammatical Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles.” I quote from the last Edition of 1869; only taking the liberty—(1) To break it up into short paragraphs: and—(2) To give in extenso the proper names which you abbreviate. Thus, instead of “Theod.” (which I take leave to point out to you might mean either Theodore of Heraclea or his namesake of Mopsuestia,—either Theodotus the Gnostic or his namesake of Ancyra,) “Euthal.,” I write “Theodoret, Euthalius.” And now for the external testimony, as you give it, concerning 1 Timothy iii. 16. You inform your readers that,—

“The state of the evidence is briefly as follows:—

(1) Ὅς is read with a1 [indisputably; after minute personal inspection; see note, p. 104.] c1 [Tischendorf Prol. Cod. Ephraemi, § 7, p. 39.] F G א (see below); 17, 73, 181; Syr.-Philoxenian, Coptic, Sahidic, Gothic; also (ὅς or ὅ) Syriac, Arabic (Erpenius), Æthiopic, Armenian; Cyril, Theodorus Mopsuest., Epiphanius, Gelasius, Hieronymus in Esaiam liii. 11.

(2) ὅ, with d1 (Claromontanus), Vulgate; nearly all Latin Fathers.

(3) Θεός, with d3 k l; nearly all MSS.; Arabic (Polyglott), Slavonic; Didymus, Chrysostom (? see Tregelles, p. 227 note), Theodoret, Euthalius, Damascene, Theophylact, Œcumenius,—Ignatius Ephes. 29, (but very doubtful). A hand of the 12th century has prefixed θε to ος, the reading of א; see Tischendorf edit. major, Plate xvii. of Scrivener's Collation of א, facsimile (13).

On reviewing this evidence, as not only the most important uncial MSS., but all the Versions older than the 7th century are distinctly in favour of a relative,—as ὅ seems only a Latinizing [pg 430] variation of ὅς,—and lastly, as ὅς is the more difficult, though really the more intelligible, reading (Hofmann, Schriftb. Vol. I. p. 143), and on every reason more likely to have been changed into Θεός (Macedonius is actually said to have been expelled for making the change, Liberati Diaconi Breviarium cap. 19) than vice versâ, we unhesitatingly decide in favour of ὅς.”—(Pastoral Epistles, ed. 1869, pp. 51-2.)

Such then is your own statement of the evidence on this subject. I proceed to demonstrate to you that you are completely mistaken:—mistaken as to what you say about ὅς,—mistaken as to ὅ,—mistaken as to Θεός:—mistaken in respect of Codices,—mistaken in respect of Versions,—mistaken in respect of Fathers. Your slipshod, inaccurate statements, (all obtained at second-hand,) will occasion me, I foresee, a vast deal of trouble; but I am determined, now at last, if the thing be possible, to set this question at rest. And that I may not be misunderstood, I beg to repeat that all I propose to myself is to prove—beyond the possibility of denial—that the evidence for Θεός (in 1 Timothy iii. 16) vastly preponderates over the evidence for either ὅς or ὅ. It will be for you, afterwards, to come forward and prove that, on the contrary, Θεός is a “plain and clear error:” so plain and so clear that you and your fellow-Revisers felt yourselves constrained to thrust it out from the place it has confessedly occupied in the New Testament for at least 1530 years.

You are further reminded, my lord Bishop, that unless you do this, you will be considered by the whole Church to have dealt unfaithfully with the Word of God. For, (as I shall remind you in the sequel,) it is yourself who have invited and provoked this enquiry. You devote twelve pages to it (pp. 64 to 76),—“compelled to do so by the Reviewer.” “Moreover” (you announce) “this case is of great importance as an example. It illustrates in a striking manner the [pg 431] complete isolation of the Reviewer's position. If he is right all other Critics are wrong,” &c., &c., &c.—Permit me to remind you of the warning—“Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.”

[b] Testimony of the Manuscripts concerning 1 Tim. iii. 16: and first as to the testimony of Codex a.

You begin then with the Manuscript evidence; and you venture to assert that ΟΣ is “indisputably” the reading of Codex a. I am at a loss to understand how a “professed Critic,”—(who must be presumed to be acquainted with the facts of the case, and who is a lover of Truth,)—can permit himself to make such an assertion. Your certainty is based, you say, on “minute personal inspection.” In other words, you are so good as to explain that you once tried a coarse experiment,⁹³³ by which you succeeded in convincing yourself that the suspected diameter of the Ο is exactly coincident with the sagitta of an epsilon (Ε) which happens to stand on the back of the page. But do you not see that unless you start with this for your major premiss,—“Theta cannot exist on one side of a page if epsilon stands immediately behind it on the other side,”—your experiment is nihil ad rem, and proves absolutely nothing?

Your “inspection” happens however to be inaccurate besides. You performed your experiment unskilfully. A man need only hold up the leaf to the light on a very brilliant day,—as Tregelles, Scrivener, and many besides (including your present correspondent) have done,—to be aware that the sagitta of the epsilon on fol. 145b does not cover much more than a third of the area of the theta on fol. 145a. Dr. Scrivener further points out that it cuts the circle too [pg 432] high to have been reasonably mistaken by a careful observer for the diameter of the theta (Θ). The experiment which you describe with such circumstantial gravity was simply nugatory therefore.

How is it, my lord Bishop, that you do not perceive that the way to ascertain the reading of Codex a at 1 Tim. iii. 16, is,—(1) To investigate not what is found at the back of the leaf, but what is written on the front of it? and (2), Not so much to enquire what can be deciphered of the original writing by the aid of a powerful lens now, as to ascertain what was apparent to the eye of competent observers when the Codex was first brought into this country, viz. 250 years ago? That Patrick Young, the first custodian and collator of the Codex [1628-1652], read ΘΣ, is certain.—Young communicated the “various Readings” of a to Abp. Ussher:—and the latter, prior to 1653, communicated them to Hammond, who clearly knew nothing of ΟΣ.—It is plain that ΘΣ was the reading seen by Huish—when he sent his collation of the Codex (made, according to Bentley, with great exactness,⁹³⁴) to Brian Walton, who published the fifth volume of his Polyglott in 1657.—Bp. Pearson, who was very curious in such matters, says “we find not ὅς in any copy,”—a sufficient proof how he read the place in 1659.—Bp. Fell, who published an edition of the N. T. in 1675, certainly considered ΘΣ the reading of Cod. a.—Mill, who was at work on the Text of the N. T. from 1677 to 1707, expressly declares that he saw the remains of ΘΣ in this place.⁹³⁵ Bentley, who had himself [pg 433] (1716) collated the MS. with the utmost accuracy (“accuratissime ipse contuli”), knew nothing of any other reading.—Emphatic testimony on the subject is borne by Wotton in 1718:—“There can be no doubt” (he says) “that this MS. always exhibited ΘΣ. Of this, any one may easily convince himself who will be at the pains to examine the place with attention.”⁹³⁶—Two years earlier,—(we have it on the testimony of Mr. John Creyk, of S. John's Coll., Cambridge,)—“the old line in the letter θ was plainly to be seen.”⁹³⁷—It was “much about the same time,” also, (viz. about 1716) that Wetstein acknowledged to the Rev. John Kippax,—“who took it down in writing from his own mouth,—that though the middle stroke of the θ has been evidently retouched, yet the fine stroke which was originally in the body of the θ is discoverable at each end of the fuller stroke of the corrector.”⁹³⁸—And Berriman himself, (who delivered a course of Lectures on the true reading of 1 Tim. iii. 16, in 1737-8,) attests emphatically that he had seen it also. “If therefore” (he adds) “at any time hereafter the old line should become altogether undiscoverable, there will never be just cause to doubt but that the genuine, and original reading of the MS. was ΘΣ: and that the new strokes, added at the top and in the middle by the corrector were not designed to corrupt and falsify, but to preserve and perpetuate the true reading, which was in danger of being lost by the decay of Time.”⁹³⁹—Those memorable words (which I respectfully commend to your notice) were written in a.d. 1741. How you (a.d. 1882), after surveying all this [pg 434] accumulated and consistent testimony (borne a.d. 1628 to a.d. 1741) by eye-witnesses as competent to observe a fact of this kind as yourself; and fully as deserving of credit, when they solemnly declare what they have seen:—how you, I say, after a survey of this evidence, can gravely sit down and inform the world that “there is no sufficient evidence that there was ever a time when this reading was patent as the reading which came from the original scribe” (p. 72):—this passes my comprehension.—It shall only be added that Bengel, who was a very careful enquirer, had already cited the Codex Alexandrinus as a witness for Θεός in 1734:940—and that Woide, the learned and conscientious editor of the Codex, declares that so late as 1765 he had seen traces of the θ which twenty years later (viz. in 1785) were visible to him no longer.⁹⁴¹

That Wetstein subsequently changed his mind, I am not unaware. He was one of those miserable men whose visual organs return a false report to their possessor whenever they are shown a text which witnesses inconveniently to the God-head of Jesus Christ.⁹⁴² I know too that Griesbach in 1785 announced himself of Wetstein's opinion. It is suggestive [pg 435] however that ten years before, (N. T. ed. 1775,) he had rested the fact not on the testimony borne by the MS. itself, but on “the consent of Versions, Copies, and Fathers which exhibit the Alexandrian Recension.”⁹⁴³—Since Griesbach's time, Davidson, Tregelles, Tischendorf, Westcott and Hort, and Ellicott have announced their opinion that ΘΣ was never written at 1 Tim. iii. 16: confessedly only because ΘΣ is to them invisible one hundred years after ΘΣ has disappeared from sight. The fact remains for all that, that the original reading of a is attested so amply, that no sincere lover of Truth can ever hereafter pretend to doubt it. “Omnia testimonia,” (my lord Bishop,) “omnemque historicam veritatem in suspicionem adducere non licet; nec mirum est nos ea nunc non discernere, quæ, antequam nos Codicem vidissemus, evanuerant.”⁹⁴⁴

The sum of the matter, (as I pointed out to you on a former occasion,⁹⁴⁵) is this,—That it is too late by 150 years to contend on the negative side of this question. Nay, a famous living Critic (long may he live!) assures us that when his eyes were 20 years younger (Feb. 7, 1861) he actually discerned, still lingering, a faint trace of the diameter of the Θ which Berriman in 1741 had seen so plainly. “I have examined Codex a at least twenty times within as many years” (wrote Prebendary Scrivener in 1874⁹⁴⁶), “and ... seeing (as every one must) with my own eyes, I have always felt convinced that it reads ΘΣ”.... For you to assert, in reply to all this mass of positive evidence, that the reading is “indisputably” ΟΣ,—and to contend that what makes this indisputable, is the fact that behind part of the theta (Θ), [but too high to mislead a skilful observer,] an epsilon stands on the reverse side of the page;—strikes me as bordering inconveniently on the ridiculous. If this be your notion of [pg 436] what does constitute “sufficient evidence,” well may the testimony of so many testes oculati seem to you to lack sufficiency. Your notions on these subjects are, I should think, peculiar to yourself. You even fail to see that your statement (in Scrivener's words) is “not relevant to the point at issue.”⁹⁴⁷ The plain fact concerning cod. a is this:—That at 1 Tim. iii. 16, two delicate horizontal strokes in ΘΣ which were thoroughly patent in 1628,—which could be seen plainly down to 1737,—and which were discernible by an expert (Dr. Woide) so late as A.D. 1765,948—have for the last hundred years entirely disappeared; which is precisely what Berriman (in 1741) predicted would be the case. Moreover, he solemnly warned men against drawing from this circumstance the mistaken inference which you, my lord Bishop, nevertheless insist on drawing, and representing as an “indisputable” fact.

I have treated so largely of the reading of the Codex Alexandrinus, not because I consider the testimony of a solitary copy, whether uncial or cursive, a matter of much importance,—certainly not the testimony of Codex a, which (in defiance of every other authority extant) exhibits “the body of God” in S. John xix. 40:—but because you insist that a is a witness on your side: whereas it is demonstrable, [pg 437] (and I claim to have demonstrated,) that you cannot honestly do so; and (I trust) you will never do so any more.

[c] Testimony of Codices א and c concerning 1 Tim. iii. 16.

That א reads ΟΣ is admitted.—Not so Codex c, which the excessive application of chemicals has rendered no longer decipherable in this place. Tischendorf (of course) insists, that the original reading was ΟΣ.⁹⁴⁹ Wetstein and Griesbach (just as we should expect,) avow the same opinion,—Woide, Mill, Weber and Parquoi being just as confident that the original reading was ΘΣ. As in the case of cod. a, it is too late by full 100 years to re-open this question. Observable it is that the witnesses yield contradictory evidence. Wetstein, writing 150 years ago, before the original writing had become so greatly defaced,—(and Wetstein, inasmuch as he collated the MS. for Bentley [1716], must have been thoroughly familiar with its contents,)—only “thought” that he read ΟΣ; “because the delicate horizontal stroke which makes Θ out of Ο,” was to him “not apparent.”⁹⁵⁰ Woide on the contrary was convinced that ΘΣ had been written by the first hand: “for” (said he) “though there exists no vestige of the delicate stroke which out of Ο makes Θ, the stroke written above the letters is by the first hand.” What however to Wetstein and to Woide was not apparent, was visible enough to Weber, Wetstein's contemporary. And Tischendorf, so late as 1843, expressed his astonishment that the stroke in question had hitherto escaped the eyes of every one; “having been repeatedly seen by himself.”⁹⁵¹ He attributes it, (just as we [pg 438] should expect) to a corrector of the MS.; partly, because of its colour, (“subnigra”); partly, because of its inclining upwards to the right. And yet, who sees not that an argument derived from the colour of a line which is already well-nigh invisible, must needs be in a high degree precarious? while Scrivener aptly points out that the cross line in Θ,—the ninth letter further on, (which has never been questioned,)—also “ascends towards the right.” The hostile evidence collapses therefore. In the meantime, what at least is certain is, that the subscribed musical notation indicates that a thousand years ago, a word of two syllables was read here. From a review of all of which, it is clear that the utmost which can be pretended is that some degree of uncertainty attaches to the testimony of cod. c. Yet, why such a plea should be either set up or allowed, I really see not—except indeed by men who have made up their minds beforehand that ΟΣ shall be the reading of 1 Tim. iii. 16. Let the sign of uncertainty however follow the notation of c for this text, if you will. That cod. c is an indubitable witness for ΟΣ, I venture at least to think that no fair person will ever any more pretend.

[d] Testimony of Codices F and G of S. Paul, concerning 1 Tim. iii. 16.

The next dispute is about the reading of the two IXth-century codices, f and g,—concerning which I propose to trouble you with a few words in addition to what has been already offered on this subject at pp. 100-1: the rather, because you have yourself devoted one entire page of your pamphlet to the testimony yielded by these two codices; and because you therein have recourse to what (if it proceeded from any one but a Bishop,) I should designate the insolent method of trying to put me down by authority,—instead of seeking to convince me of my error by producing some good [pg 439] reasons for your opinion. You seem to think it enough to hurl Wetstein, Griesbach, Lachmann, Tregelles, Tischendorf, and (cruellest of all) my friend Scrivener, at my head. Permit me to point out that this, as an argument, is the feeblest to which a Critic can have recourse. He shouts so lustily for help only because he is unable to take care of himself.

f and g then are confessedly independent copies of one and the same archetype: and “both f and g” (you say) “exhibit ΟΣ.”⁹⁵² Be it so. The question arises,—What does the stroke above the ΟΣ signify? I venture to believe that these two codices represent a copy which originally exhibited ΘΣ, but from which the diameter of the Θ had disappeared—(as very often is the case in codex a)—through tract of time. The effect of this would be that f and g are in reality witnesses for Θεός. Not so, you say. That slanting stroke represents the aspirate, and proves that these two codices are witnesses for ὅς.⁹⁵³ Let us look a little more closely into this matter.

Here are two documents, of which it has been said that they “were separately derived from some early codex, in which there was probably no interval between the words.”⁹⁵⁴ They were not immediately derived from such a codex, I remark: it being quite incredible that two independent copyists could have hit on the same extravagantly absurd way of dividing the uncial letters.⁹⁵⁵ The common archetype [pg 440] which both employed must have been the work of a late Western scribe every bit as licentious and as unacquainted with Greek as themselves.⁹⁵⁶ That archetype however may very well have been obtained from a primitive codex of the kind first supposed, in which the words were written continuously, as in codex b. Such Manuscripts were furnished with neither breathings nor accents: accordingly, “of the ordinary breathings or accents there are no traces”⁹⁵⁷ in either f or g.

But then, cod. f occasionally,—g much oftener,—exhibits a little straight stroke, nearly horizontal, over the initial vowel of certain words. Some have supposed that this was designed to represent the aspirate: but it is not so. The proof is, that it is found consistently introduced over the same vowels in the interlinear Latin. Thus, the Latin preposition “a” always has the slanting stroke above it:958 and the Latin interjection “o” is furnished with the same appendage,—alike in the Gospels and in the Epistles.⁹⁵⁹ This observation [pg 441] evacuates the supposed significance of the few instances where ἃ is written Α:960 as well as of the much fewer places where ὁ or ὃ are written Ο:961 especially when account is taken of the many hundred occasions, (often in rapid succession,) when nothing at all is to be seen above the “ο.”⁹⁶² As for the fact that ἵνα is always written ΙΝΑ (or ΪΝΑ),—let it only be noted that besides ιδωμεν, ιχθυς, ισχυρος, &c., Ιακωβος, Ιωαννης, Ιουδας, &c., (which are all distinguished in the same way,)—Latin words also beginning with an “I” are similarly adorned,—and we become convinced that the little stroke in question is to be explained on some entirely different principle. At last, we discover (from the example of “sī,” “sīc,” “etsī,” “servītus,” “saeculīs,” “idolīs,” &c.) that the supposed sign of the rough breathing is nothing else but an ancient substitute for the modern dot over the “I.”—We may now return to the case actually before us.

It has been pointed out that the line above the ΟΣ in both f and g “is not horizontal, but rises a little towards the right.” I beg to call attention to the fact that there are 38 instances of the slight super-imposed “line” here spoken of, in the page of cod. f where the reading under discussion appears: 7 in the Greek, 31 in the Latin. In the corresponding page of cod. g, the instances are 44: 8 in the Greek, 36 in the Latin.⁹⁶³ These short horizontal strokes [pg 442] (they can hardly be called lines) generally—not by any means always—slant upwards; and they are invariably the sign of contraction.

The problem before us has in this way been divested of a needless encumbrance. The suspicion that the horizontal line above the word ΟΣ may possibly represent the aspirate, has been disposed of. It has been demonstrated that throughout these two codices a horizontal line slanting upwards, set over a vowel, is either—(1) The sign of contraction; or else—(2) A clerical peculiarity. In the place before us, then, which of the two is it?

The sign of contraction, I answer: seeing that whereas there are, in the page before us, 9 aspirated, and (including ΟΣ) 8 contracted Greek words, not one of those nine aspirated words has any mark at all above its initial letter; while every one of the eight contracted words is duly furnished with the symbol of contraction. I further submit that inasmuch as ὅς is nowhere else written ΟΣ in either codex, it is unreasonable to assume that it is so written in this place. Now, that almost every codex in the world reads ΘΣ in 1 Tim. iii. 16,—is a plain fact; and that ΟΣ (in verse 16) would be Θεός if the delicate horizontal stroke which distinguishes Θ from Ο, were not away,—no one denies. Surely, therefore, the only thing which remains to be enquired after, is,—Are there any other such substitutions of one letter for another discoverable in these two codices? And it is notorious that instances of the phenomenon abound. The letters Σ, Ε, Ο, Θ are confused throughout.⁹⁶⁴ And what else are ΠΕΝΟΟΥΝΤΕΣ for πενθουντες (Matth. v. 4),—ΕΚΡΙΖΩΟΗΤΙ for εκριζωθητι (Luc. xvii. 16),—ΚΑΤΑΒΗΟΙ for καταβηθι (xix. 6),—but [pg 443] instances of the self-same mistake which (as I contend) has in this place turned ΘΣ into ΟΣ?

My lord Bishop, I have submitted to all this painful drudgery, not, you may be sure, without a sufficient reason. Never any more must we hear of “breathings” in connexion with codices f and g. The stroke above the ΟΣ in 1 Tim. iii. 16 has been proved to be probably the sign of contraction. I forbear, of course, to insist that the two codices are witnesses on my side. I require that you, in the same spirit of fairness, will abstain from claiming them as certainly witnessing on yours. The Vth-century codex c, and the IXth-century codex f-g must be regarded as equivocal in the testimony they render, and are therefore not to be reckoned to either of the contending parties.

These are many words about the two singularly corrupt IXth-century documents, concerning which so much has been written already. But I sincerely desire,—(and so I trust do you, as a Christian Bishop,)—to see the end of a controversy which those only have any right to re-open (pace tuâ dixerim) who have something new to offer on the subject: and certain it is that the bearing of f and g on this matter has never before been fully stated. I dismiss those two codices with the trite remark that they are, at all events, but one codex: and that against them are to be set k l p,—the only uncials which remain; for d (of “Paul”) exhibits ὅ, and the Vatican codex b no longer serves us.

[fe] Testimony of the cursive copies: and specially of “Paul 17,” “73” and “181,” concerning 1 Tim. iii. 16.

Next, for the cursive Copies. You claim without enquiry,—and only because you find that men have claimed them before you,—Nos. 17, 73, 181, as witnesses for ὅς. Will you permit me to point out that no progress will ever be made in these [pg 444] studies so long as “professed Critics” will persevere in the evil practice of transcribing one another's references, and thus appropriating one another's blunders?

About the reading of “Paul 17,” (the notorious “33” of the Gospels,) there is indeed no doubt.—Mindful however of President Routh's advice to me always “to verify my references,”—concerning “Paul 73” I wrote a letter of enquiry to Upsala (July 28, 1879), and for all answer (Sept. 6th) received a beautiful tracing of what my correspondent called the “1 Thim. iii. 16 paraphe.” It proved to be an abridged exhibition of 21 lines of Œcumenius. I instantly wrote to enquire whether this was really all that the codex in question has to say to 1 Tim. iii. 16? but to this I received no reply. I presumed therefore that I had got to the bottom of the business. But in July 1882, I addressed a fresh enquiry to Dr. Belsheim of Christiania, and got his answer last October. By that time he had visited Upsala: had verified for me readings in other MSS., and reported that the reading here is ὅς. I instantly wrote to enquire whether he had seen the word with his own eyes? He replied that he desired to look further into this matter on some future occasion,—the MS. in question being (he says) a difficult one to handle. I am still awaiting his final report, which he promises to send me when next he visits Upsala. (“Aurivillius” says nothing about it.) Let “Paul 73” in the meantime stand with a note of interrogation, or how you will.

About “Paul 181,” (which Scholz describes as “vi. 36” in the Laurentian library at Florence,) I take leave to repeat (in a foot-note) what (in a letter to Dr. Scrivener) I explained in the “Guardian” ten years ago.⁹⁶⁵ In consequence however [pg 445] of your discourteous remarks (which you will be gratified to find quoted at foot,⁹⁶⁶) I have written (not for the first time) to the learned custos of the Laurentian library on the subject; stating the entire case and reminding him of my pertinacity in 1871. He replies,—“Scholz fallitur huic bibliothecæ tribuendo codicem sign. ‘plut. vi. n. 36.’ Nec est in præsenti, nec fuit antea, neque exstat in aliâ bibliothecâ apud nos.”... On a review of what goes before, I submit that one who has taken so much pains with the subject does not deserve to be flouted as I find myself flouted by the Bp. of Gloucester and Bristol,—who has not been at the pains to verify one single point in this entire controversy for himself.

Every other known copy of S. Paul's Epistles, (written in the cursive character,) I have ascertained (by laborious correspondence with the chiefs of foreign libraries) concurs in exhibiting Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί. The importance of this [pg 446] testimony ought to be supremely evident to yourself who contend so strenuously for the support of Paul 73 and 181. But because, in my judgment, this practical unanimity of the manuscripts is not only “important” but conclusive, I shall presently recur to it (viz. at pages 494-5,) more in detail. For do but consider that these copies were one and all derived from yet older MSS. than themselves; and that the remote originals of those older MSS. were perforce of higher antiquity still, and were executed in every part of primitive Christendom. How is it credible that they should, one and all, conspire to mislead? I cannot in fact express better than Dr. Berriman did 140 years ago, the logical result of such a concord of the copies:—“From whence can it be supposed that this general, I may say this universal consent of the Greek MSS. should arise, but from hence,—That Θεός is the genuine original reading of this Text?” (p. 325.)

In the meantime, you owe me a debt of gratitude: for, in the course of an enquiry which I have endeavoured to make exhaustive, I have discovered three specimens of the book called “Apostolus,” or “Praxapostolus” (i.e. Lections from the Epistles and Acts) which also exhibit ὅς in this place. One of these is Reg. 375 (our “Apost. 12”) in the French collection, a Western codex, dated a.d. 1022.967 The story of the discovery of the other two (to be numbered “Praxapost.” 85, 86,) is interesting, and will enliven this dull page.

At Tusculum, near Rome,—(the locality which Cicero [pg 447] rendered illustrious, and where he loved to reside surrounded by his books,)—was founded early in the XIth century a Christian library which in process of time became exceedingly famous. It retains, in fact, its ancient reputation to this day. Nilus “Rossanensis” it was, who, driven with his monks from Calabria by invading hordes, established in a.d. 1004 a monastery at Tusculum, to which either he, or his successors, gave the name of “Crypta Ferrata.” It became the headquarters of the Basilian monks in the XVIIth century. Hither habitually resorted those illustrious men, Sirletus, Mabillon, Zacagni, Ciampini, Montfaucon,—and more lately Mai and Dom Pitra. To Signor Cozza-Luzi, the present learned and enlightened chief of the Vatican library, (who is himself “Abbas Monachorum Basiliensium Cryptæ Ferratæ,”) I am indebted for my copy of the Catalogue (now in process of publication⁹⁶⁸) of the extraordinary collection of MSS. belonging to the society over which he presides.

In consequence of the information which the Abbate Cozza-Luzi sent me, I put myself in communication with the learned librarian of the monastery, the “Hieromonachus” D. Antonio Rocchi, (author of the Catalogue in question,) whom I cannot sufficiently thank for his courtesy and kindness. The sum of the matter is briefly this:—There are still preserved in the library of the Basilian monks of Crypta Ferrata,—(notwithstanding that many of its ancient treasures have found their way into other repositories,⁹⁶⁹)—4 manuscripts of S. Paul's Epistles, which I number 290, -1, -2, -3: and 7 copies of the book called “Praxapostolus,” which I [pg 448] number 83, -4, -5, -6, -7, -8, -9. Of these eleven, 3 are defective hereabouts: 5 read Θεός: 2 (Praxapost.) exhibit ὅς; and 1 (Apost. 83) contains an only not unique reading, to be mentioned at p. 478. Hieromonachus Rocchi furnishes me with references besides to 3 Liturgical Codices out of a total of 22, (Ἀποστολοευαγγέλια), which also exhibit Θεός.⁹⁷⁰ I number them Apost. 106, 108, 110.

And now, we may proceed to consider the Versions.

[f] Testimony of the Versions to the reading of 1 Tim. iii. 16.

“Turning to the ancient Versions” (you assert) “we find them almost unanimous against Θεός” (p. 65). But your business, my lord Bishop, was to show that some of them witness in favour of ὅς. If you cannot show that several ancient Versions,—besides a fair proportion of ancient Fathers,—are clearly on your side, your contention is unreasonable as well as hopeless. What then do the Versions say?

(a) Now, it is allowed on all hands that the Latin Version was made from copies which must have exhibited μυστήριον ὅ ἐφανερώθη. The agreement of the Latin copies is absolute. The Latin Fathers also conspire in reading “mysterium quod:” though some of them seem to have regarded “quod” as a conjunction. Occasionally, (as by the Translator of Origen,⁹⁷¹) we even find “quia” substituted for “quod.” Estius conjectures that “quod” is a conjunction in this place. But in fact the reasoning of the Latin Fathers is observed invariably to proceed as if they had found nothing else but “Deus” in the text before them. They bravely assume that the Eternal Word, the second Person in the [pg 449] Trinity, is designated by the expression “magnum pietatis sacramentum.”

(b) It is, I admit, a striking circumstance that such a mistake as this in the old Latin should have been retained in the Vulgate. But if you ever study this subject with attention, you will find that Jerome,—although no doubt he “professedly corrected the old Latin Version by the help of ancient Greek manuscripts,” (p. 69,)—on many occasions retains readings which it is nevertheless demonstrable that he individually disapproved. No certain inference therefore as to what Jerome found in ancient Greek MSS. can be safely drawn from the text of the Vulgate.

(c) Next, for the Syriac (Peschito) Version. I beg to subjoin the view of the late loved and lamented P. E. Pusey,—the editor of Cyril, and who at the time of his death was engaged in re-editing the Peschito. He says,—“In 1 Tim. iii. 16, the Syriac has ‘qui manifestatus est.’ The relative is indeterminate, but the verb is not. In Syriac however μυστήριον is masculine; and thus, the natural way would be to take μυστήριον as the antecedent, and translate ‘quod manifestatum est.’ No one would have thought of any other way of translating the Syriac—but for the existence of the various reading ὅς in the Greek, and the possibility of its affecting the translation into Syriac. But the Peschito is so really a translation into good Syriac, (not into word-for-word Syriac,) that if the translator had wanted to express the Greek ὅς, in so difficult a passage, he would have turned it differently.”⁹⁷²—The Peschito therefore yields the same testimony as the Latin; and may not be declared (as you declare it) to be indeterminate. Still less may it be represented as witnessing to ὅς.

[pg 450]

(d) It follows to enquire concerning the rendering of 1 Tim. iii. 16 in the Philoxenian, or rather the Harkleian Version (VIIth cent.), concerning which I have had recourse to the learned Editor of that Version. He writes:—“There can be no doubt that the authors of this Version had either Θεός or Θεοῦ before them: while their marginal note shows that they were aware of the reading ὅς. They exhibit,—‘Great is the mystery of the goodness of the fear (feminine) of God, who-was-manifested (masculine) in the flesh.’ The marginal addition [ܗܘ before ܕܐܬܓܠܝ (or ܘܗ before ܝܠܓܬܐܕ)] makes the reference to God all the plainer.”⁹⁷³ See more below, at p. 489.

Now this introduction of the word Θεός into the text, however inartistic it may seem to you and to me, is a fatal circumstance to those who would contend on your side. It shows translators divided between two rival and conflicting readings: but determined to give prominence to the circumstance which constituted the greatness of the mystery: viz. God incarnate. “May I suggest” (adds the witty scholar in his Post-script) “that there would be no mystery in ‘a man being manifested in the flesh’?”

The facts concerning the Harkleian Version being such, you will not be surprised to hear me say that I am at a loss to understand how, without a syllable expressive of doubt, you should claim this version (the “Philoxenian” you call it—but it is rather the Harkleian), as a witness on your side,—a witness for ὅς.⁹⁷⁴ It not only witnesses against you, (for the Latin and the Peschito do that,) but, as I have shown you, it is a witness on my side.

(e) and (f). Next, for the Versions of Lower and Upper Egypt.

[pg 451]

“We are content” (you say) to “refer our readers to Tischendorf and Tregelles, who unhesitatingly claim the Memphitic [or Coptic] and the Thebaic [or Sahidic] for ὅς.”⁹⁷⁵ But surely, in a matter of this kind, my lord Bishop—(I mean, when we are discussing some nicety of a language of which personally we know absolutely nothing,)—we may never “be content to refer our readers” to individuals who are every bit as ignorant of the matter as ourselves. Rather should we be at the pains to obtain for those whom we propose to instruct the deliberate verdict of those who have made the subject their special study. Dr. Malan (who must be heartily sick of me by this time), in reply to my repeated enquiries, assures me that in Coptic and in Sahidic alike, “the relative pronoun always takes the gender of the Greek antecedent. But, inasmuch as there is properly speaking no neuter in either language, the masculine does duty for the neuter; the gender of the definite article and relative pronoun being determined by the gender of the word referred to. Thus, in S. John xv. 26, the Coptic ‘pi’ and ‘phè’ respectively represent the definite article and the relative, alike in the expression ὁ Παράκλητος ὅν, and in the expression τὸ Πνεῦμα ὅ: and so throughout. In 1 Tim. iii. 16, therefore, ‘pi mustèrion phè,’ must perforce be rendered, τὸ μυστήριον ὅ:—not, surely, ὁ μυστήριον ὅς. And yet, if the relative may be masculine, why not the article also? But in fact, we have no more right to render the Coptic (or the Sahidic) relative by ὅς in 1 Tim. iii. 16, than in any other similar passage where a neuter noun (e.g. πνεῦμα or σῶμα) has gone before. In this particular case, of course a pretence may be set up that the gender of the relative shall be regarded as an open question: but in strictness of grammar, it is far otherwise. No Coptic or Sahidic scholar, in fact, having to translate the Coptic or Sahidic back into Greek, [pg 452] would ever dream of writing anything else but τὸ μυστήριον ὅ.”⁹⁷⁶ And now I trust I have made it plain to you that you are mistaken in your statement (p. 69),—that “Ὅς is supported by the two Egyptian Versions.” It is supported by neither. You have been shown that they both witness against you. You will therefore not be astonished to hear me again declare that I am at a loss to understand how you can cite the “Philoxenian, Coptic and Sahidic,”⁹⁷⁷—as witnesses on your side. It is not in this way, my lord Bishop, that God's Truth is to be established.

(g) As for the Gothic Version,—dissatisfied with the verdict of De Gabelentz and Loebe,⁹⁷⁸ I addressed myself to Dr. Ceriani of Milan, the learned and most helpful chief of the Ambrosian Library: in which by the way is preserved the only known copy of Ulphilas for 1 Tim. iii. 16. He inclines to the opinion that “saei” is to be read,—the rather, because Andreas Uppström, the recent editor of the codex, a diligent and able scholar, has decided in favour of that “obscure” reading.⁹⁷⁹ The Gothic therefore must be considered to [pg 453] witness to the (more than) extraordinary combination;—μέγΑΣ ... μυστήριον ... ὍΣ. (See the footnote 4 p. 452.)

I obtain at the same time, the same verdict, and on the same grounds, from that distinguished and obliging scholar, Dr. John Belsheim of Christiania. “But” (he adds) “the reading is a little dubious. H. F. Massmann, in the notes to his edition,⁹⁸⁰ at page 657, says,—‘saei [qui] is altogether obliterated.’ ”—In claiming the Gothic therefore as a witness for ὅς, you will (I trust) agree with me that a single scarcely legible copy of a Version is not altogether satisfactory testimony:—while certainly “magnus est pietatis sacramentum, qui manifestatus est in corpore”—is not a rendering of 1 Tim. iii. 16 which you are prepared to accept.

(h) For the Æthiopic. Version,—Dr. Hoerning, (of the British Museum,) has at my request consulted six copies of 1 Timothy, and informs me that they present no variety of text. The antecedent, as well as the relative, is masculine in all. The Æthiopic must therefore be considered to favour the reading μυστήριον; ὅ ἐφανερώθη, and to represent the same Greek text which underlies the Latin and the Peschito Versions. The Æthiopic therefore is against you.

(i) “The Armenian Version,” (writes Dr. Malan) “from the very nature of the language, is indeterminate. There is no grammatical distinction of genders in Armenian.”

(j) The Arabic Version, (so Dr. Ch. Rieu⁹⁸¹ informs me,) [pg 454] exhibits,—“In truth the mystery of this justice is great. It is that he” (or “it,” for the Arabic has no distinction between masculine and neuter) “was manifested in the body, and was justified in the spirit” &c.—This version therefore witnesses for neither “who,” “which,” nor “God.”

(k) and (l). There only remain the Georgian Version, which is of the VIth century,—and the Slavonic, which is of the IXth. Now, both of these (Dr. Malan informs me) unequivocally witness to Θεός.

Thus far then for the testimony yielded by ancient Manuscripts and Versions of S. Paul's Epistles.

[g] Review of the progress which has been hitherto made in the present Enquiry.

Up to this point, you must admit that wondrous little sanction has been obtained for the reading for which you contend, (viz. μυστήριον; ὅς ἐφανερώθη,) as the true reading of 1 Tim. iii. 16. Undisturbed in your enjoyment of the testimony borne by Cod. א, you cannot but feel that such testimony is fully counterbalanced by the witness of Cod. a: and further, that the conjoined evidence of the Harkleian, the Georgian, and the Slavonic Versions outweighs the single evidence of the Gothic.

But what is to be said about the consent of the manuscripts of S. Paul's Epistles for reading Θεός in this place, in the proportion of 125 to 1? You must surely see that, (as I explained above at pp. 445-6,) such multitudinous testimony is absolutely decisive of the question before us. At [pg 455] p. 30 of your pamphlet, you announce it as a “lesson of primary importance, often reiterated but often forgotten, ponderari debere testes, non numerari.” You might have added with advantage,—“and oftenest of all, misunderstood.” For are you not aware that, generally speaking, “Number” constitutes “Weight”? If you have discovered some “regia via” which renders the general consent of Copies,—the general consent of Versions,—the general consent of Fathers, a consideration of secondary importance, why do you not at once communicate the precious secret to mankind, and thereby save us all a world of trouble?

You will perhaps propose to fall back on Hort's wild theory of a “Syrian Text,”—executed by authority at Antioch somewhere between a.d. 250 and a.d. 350.982 Be it so. Let that fable be argued upon as if it were a fact. And what follows? That at a period antecedent to the date of any existing copy of the Epistle before us, the Church in her corporate capacity declared Θεός (not ὅς) to be the true reading of 1 Tim. iii. 16.

Only one other head of Evidence (the Patristic) remains to be explored; after which, we shall be able to sum up, and to conclude the present Dissertation.

[h] Testimony of the Fathers concerning the true reading of 1 Tim. iii. 16:—Gregory of Nyssa,—Didymus,—Theodoret,—John Damascene,—Chrysostom,—Gregory Naz.,—Severus Of Antioch,—Diodorus of Tarsus.

It only remains to ascertain what the Fathers have to say on this subject. And when we turn our eyes in this direction, we are encountered by a mass of evidence which effectually [pg 456] closes this discussion. You contended just now as eagerly for the Vth-century Codex a, as if its witness were a point of vital importance to you. But I am prepared to show that Gregory of Nyssa (a full century before Codex a was produced), in at least 22 places, knew of no other reading but Θεός.⁹⁸³ Of his weighty testimony you appear to have been wholly unaware in 1869, for you did not even mention Gregory by name (see p. 429). Since however you now admit that his evidence is unequivocally against you, I am willing to hasten forward,—only supplying you (at foot) with the means of verifying what I have stated above concerning the testimony of this illustrious Father.

You are besides aware that Didymus,⁹⁸⁴ another illustrious witness, is against you; and that he delivers unquestionable testimony.

You are also aware that Theodoret,⁹⁸⁵ in four places, is certainly to be reckoned on the same side:

[pg 457]

And further, that John Damascene⁹⁸⁶ twice adds his famous evidence to the rest,—and is also against you.

Chrysostom⁹⁸⁷ again, whose testimony you called in question in 1869, you now admit is another of your opponents. I will not linger over his name therefore,—except to remark, that how you can witness a gathering host of ancient Fathers illustrious as these, without misgiving, passes my comprehension. Chrysostom is three times a witness.

Next come two quotations from Gregory of Nazianzus,—which I observe you treat as “inconclusive.” I retain them all the same.⁹⁸⁸ You are reminded that this most rhetorical of Fathers is seldom more precise in quoting Scripture.

And to the same century which Gregory of Nazianzus adorned, is probably to be referred,—(it cannot possibly be later than a.d. 350, though it may be a vast deal more ancient,)—the title bestowed, in the way of summary, on that portion of S. Paul's first Epistle to Timothy which is contained between chap. iii. 16 and chap. iv. 7,—viz., Περὶ [pg 458] ΘΕΊΑΣ ΣΑΡΚώσεως. We commonly speak of this as the seventh of the “Euthalian” κεφάλαια or chapters: but Euthalius himself declares that those 18 titles were “devised by a certain very wise and pious Father;”⁹⁸⁹ and this particular title (Περὶ θείας σαρκώσεως) is freely employed and discussed in Gregory of Nyssa's treatise against Apolinaris,⁹⁹⁰—which latter had, in fact, made it part of the title of his own heretical treatise.⁹⁹¹ That the present is a very weighty attestation of the reading, ΘΕῸΣ ἐφανερώθη ἐν ΣΑΡΚΊ no one probably will deny: a memorable proof moreover that Θεός⁹⁹² must have been universally read in 1 Tim. iii. 16 throughout the century which witnessed the production of codices b and א.

Severus, bp. of Antioch, you also consider a “not unambiguous” witness. I venture to point out to you that when a Father of the Church, who has been already insisting on the Godhead of Christ (καθ᾽ ὅ γὰρ ὑπῆρχε Θεός,) goes on to speak of Him as τὸν ἐν σαρκὶ φανερωθέντα Θεόν, there is no “ambiguity” whatever about the fact that he is quoting from 1 Tim. iii. 16.993

And why are we only “perhaps” to add the testimony of Diodorus of Tarsus; seeing that Diodorus adduces S. Paul's [pg 459] actual words (Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί), and expressly says that he finds them in S. Paul's Epistle to Timothy?⁹⁹⁴ How—may I be permitted to ask—would you have a quotation made plainer?

[i] Bp. Ellicott as a controversialist. The case of Euthalius.

Forgive me, my lord Bishop, if I declare that the animus you display in conducting the present critical disquisition not only astonishes, but even shocks me. You seem to say,—Non persuadebis, etiamsi persuaseris. The plainest testimony you reckon doubtful, if it goes against you: an unsatisfactory quotation, if it makes for your side, you roundly declare to be “evidence” which “stands the test of examination.”⁹⁹⁵... “We have examined his references carefully” (you say). “Gregory of Nyssa, Didymus of Alexandria, Theodoret and John Damascene (who died severally about 394, 396, 457 and 756a.d.) seem unquestionably to have read Θεός.”⁹⁹⁶ Excuse me for telling you that this is not the language of a candid enquirer after Truth. Your grudging admission of the unequivocal evidence borne by these four illustrious Fathers:—your attempt to detract from the importance of their testimony by screwing down their date “to the sticking place:”—your assertion that the testimony of a fifth Father “is not unambiguous:”—your insinuation that the emphatic witness of a sixth may “perhaps” be inadmissible:—all this kind of thing is not only quite unworthy of a Bishop when he turns disputant, but effectually indisposes his opponent to receive his argumentation with that respectful deference which else would have been undoubtedly its due.

Need I remind you that men do not write their books when they are in articulo mortis? Didymus died in a.d. 394, to be [pg 460] sure: but he was then 85 years of age. He was therefore born in a.d. 309, and is said to have flourished in 347. How old do you suppose were the sacred codices he had employed till then? See you not that such testimony as his to the Text of Scripture must in fairness be held to belong to the first quarter of the IVth century?—is more ancient in short (and infinitely more important) than that of any written codex with which we are acquainted?

Pressed by my “cloud of witnesses,” you seek to get rid of them by insulting me. “We pass over” (you say) “names brought in to swell the number, such as Euthalius,—for whom no reference is given.”⁹⁹⁷ Do you then suspect me of the baseness,—nay, do you mean seriously to impute it to me,—of introducing “names” “to swell the number” of witnesses on my side? Do you mean further to insinuate that I prudently gave no reference in the case of “Euthalius,” because I was unable to specify any place where his testimony is found?... I should really pause for an answer, but that a trifling circumstance solicits me, which, if it does not entertain the Bp. of Gloucester and Bristol, will certainly entertain every one else who takes the trouble to read these pages.

“Such as Euthalius”! You had evidently forgotten when you penned that offensive sentence, that Euthalius is one of the few Fathers adduced by yourself⁹⁹⁸ (but for whom you “gave no reference,”) in 1869,—when you were setting down the Patristic evidence in favour of Θεός.... This little incident is really in a high degree suggestive. Your practice has evidently been to appropriate Patristic references⁹⁹⁹ without thought or verification,—prudently to abstain from dropping [pg 461] a hint how you came by them,—but to use them like dummies, for show. At the end of a few years, (naturally enough,) you entirely forget the circumstance,—and proceed vigorously to box the ears of the first unlucky Dean who comes in your way, whom you suspect of having come by his learning (such as it is) in the same slovenly manner. Forgive me for declaring (while my ears are yet tingling) that if you were even moderately acquainted with this department of Sacred Science, you would see at a glance that my Patristic references are never obtained at second hand: for the sufficient reason that elsewhere they are not to be met with. But waiving this, you have made it luce clarius to all the world that so late as the year 1882, to you “Euthalius” was nothing else but “a name.” And this really does astonish me: for not only was he a famous Ecclesiastical personage, (a Bishop like yourself,) but his work (the date of which is a.d. 458,) is one with which no Author of a “Critical Commentary” on S. Paul's Epistles can afford to be unacquainted. Pray read what Berriman has written concerning Euthalius (pp. 217 to 222) in his admirable “Dissertation on 1 Tim. iii. 16.” Turn also, if you please, to the Bibliotheca of Gallandius (vol. x. 197-323), and you will recognize the plain fact that the only reason why, in the “Quarterly Review,” “no reference is given for Euthalius,” is because the only reference possible is—1 Tim. iii. 16.

[j] The testimony of the letter ascribed to Dionysius Of Alexandria. Six other primitive witnesses to 1 Tim. iii. 16, specified.

Then further, you absolutely take no notice of the remarkable testimony which I adduced (p. 101) from a famous Epistle purporting to have been addressed by Dionysius of Alexandria (a.d. 264) to Paul of Samosata. That the long and [pg 462] interesting composition in question¹⁰⁰⁰ was not actually the work of the great Dionysius, is inferred—(whether rightly or wrongly I am not concerned to enquire)—from the fact that the Antiochian Fathers say expressly that Dionysius did not deign to address Paul personally. But you are requested to remember that the epistle must needs have been written by somebody:1001 that it may safely be referred to the IIIrd century; and that it certainly witnesses to Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη,¹⁰⁰²—which is the only matter of any real importance to my argument. Its testimony is, in fact, as express and emphatic as words can make it.

And here, let me call your attention to the circumstance that there are at least six other primitive witnesses, some of whom must needs have recognized the reading for which I am here contending, (viz. Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί,) though not one of them quotes the place in extenso, nor indeed refers to it in such a way as effectually to bar the door against reasonable dispute. The present is in fact just the kind of text which, from its undeniable grandeur,—its striking rhythm,—and yet more its dogmatic importance,—was sure to attract the attention of the earliest, no less than the latest of the Fathers. Accordingly, the author of the Epistle ad Diognetum¹⁰⁰³ clearly refers to it early in the IInd century; [pg 463] though not in a way to be helpful to us in our present enquiry. I cannot feel surprised at the circumstance.

The yet earlier references in the epistles of (1) Ignatius (three in number) are helpful, and may not be overlooked. They are as follows:—Θεοῦ ἀνθρωπίνως φανερουμένου:—ἐν σαρκὶ γενόμενος Θεός—εἶς Θεός ἐστιν ὁ φανερώσας ἑαυτὸν διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ, ὅς ἐστιν αὐτοῦ Λόγος ἀΐδιος.¹⁰⁰⁴ It is to be wished, no doubt, that these references had been a little more full and explicit: but the very early Fathers are ever observed to quote Scripture thus partially,—allusively,—elliptically.

(2) Barnabas has just such another allusive reference to the words in dispute, which seems to show that he must have read Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί: viz. Ἰησοῦς ... ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ τύπῳ καὶ ἐν σαρκὶ φανερωθείς.¹⁰⁰⁵—(3) Hippolytus, on two occasions, even more unequivocally refers to this reading. Once, while engaged in proving that Christ is God, he says:—Οὗτος προελθὼν εἰς κόσμον Θεὸς ἐν σώματι ἐφανερώθη:1006—and again, in a very similar passage which Theodoret quotes from the same Father's lost work on the Psalms:—Οὗτος ὁ προελθὼν εἰς τὸν κόσμον, Θεὸς καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἐφανερώθη.¹⁰⁰⁷—(4) Gregory Thaumaturgus, (if it really be he,) seems also to refer directly to this place when he says (in a passage quoted by Photius¹⁰⁰⁸),—καὶ ἔστι Θεὸς ἀληθινὸς ὁ ἄσαρκος ἐν σαρκὶ φανερωθείς.—Further, (5) in the Apostolical Constitutions, we meet with the expression,—Θεὸς Κύριος ὁ ἐπιφανεὶς ἡμῖν εν σαρκί.¹⁰⁰⁹

[pg 464]

And when (6) Basil the Great [a.d. 377], writing to the men of Sozopolis whose faith the Arians had assailed, remarks that such teaching “subverts the saving Dispensation of our Lord Jesus Christ;” and, blending Rom. xvi. 25, 26 with “the great mystery” of 1 Tim. iii. 16,—(in order to afford himself an opportunity of passing in review our Saviour's work for His Church in ancient days,)—viz. “After all these, at the end of the day, αὐτὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί, γενόμενος ἐκ γυναικός:”¹⁰¹⁰—who will deny that such an one probably found neither ὅς nor ὅ, but Θεός, in the copy before him?

I have thought it due to the enquiry I have in hand to give a distinct place to the foregoing evidence—such as it is—of Ignatius, Barnabas, Hippolytus, Gregory Thaumaturgus, the Apostolical Constitutions, and Basil. But I shall not build upon such foundations. Let me go on with what is indisputable.

[k] The testimony of Cyril of Alexandria.

Next, for Cyril of Alexandria, whom you decline to accept as a witness for Θεός. You are prepared, I trust, to submit to the logic of facts?

In a treatise addressed to the Empresses Arcadia and Marina, Cyril is undertaking to prove that our Lord is very and eternal God.¹⁰¹¹ His method is to establish several short theses all tending to this one object, by citing from the several books of the N. T., in turn, the principal texts which make for his purpose. Presently, (viz. at page 117,) he announces as his thesis,—“Faith in Christ as God;” and when he comes to 1 Timothy, he quotes iii. 16 at length; [pg 465] reasons upon it, and points out that Θεὸς ἐν σαρκί is here spoken of.¹⁰¹² There can be no doubt about this quotation, which exhibits no essential variety of reading;—a quotation which Euthymius Zigabenus reproduces in his “Panoplia,”—and which C. F. Matthæi has with painful accuracy edited from that source.¹⁰¹³—Once more. In a newly recovered treatise of Cyril, 1 Tim. iii. 16 is again quoted at length with Θεός,—followed by the remark that “our Nature was justified, by God manifested in Him.”¹⁰¹⁴ I really see not how you would have Cyril more distinctly recognize Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί as the reading of 1 Tim. iii. 16.1015

You are requested to observe that in order to prevent cavil, I forbear to build on two other famous places in Cyril's writings where the evidence for reading Θεός is about balanced by a corresponding amount of evidence which has been discovered for reading ὅς. Not but what the context renders it plain that Θεός must have been Cyril's word on both occasions. Of this let the reader himself be judge:—

(1) In a treatise, addressed to the Empresses Eudocia and Pulcheria, Cyril quotes 1 Tim. iii. 16 in extenso.¹⁰¹⁶ “If” (he begins)—“the Word, being God, could be said to inhabit [pg 466] Man's nature (ἐπανθρωπῆσαι) without yet ceasing to be God, but remained for ever what He was before,—then, great indeed is the mystery of Godliness.”¹⁰¹⁷ He proceeds in the same strain at much length.¹⁰¹⁸ Next (2) the same place of Timothy is just as fully quoted in Cyril's Explanatio xii. capitum: where not only the Thesis,¹⁰¹⁹ but also the context constrains belief that Cyril wrote Θεός:—“What then means ‘was manifested in the flesh’? It means that the Word of God the Father was made flesh.... In this way therefore we say that He was both God and Man.... Thus” (Cyril concludes) “is He God and Lord of all.”¹⁰²⁰

But, as aforesaid, I do not propose to rest my case on either of these passages; but on those two other places concerning which there exists no variety of tradition as to the reading. Whether the passages in which the reading is certain ought not to be held to determine the reading of the passages concerning which the evidence is about evenly balanced;—whether in doubtful cases, the requirements of the context should not be allowed to turn the scale;—I forbear to enquire. I take my stand on what is clear and undeniable. On the other hand you are challenged to produce a single instance in Cyril of μυστηριον; ὅς ἐφανερώθη, where the reading is not equally [pg 467] balanced by μυστήριον Θεός. And (as already explained) of course it makes nothing for ὅς that Cyril should sometimes say that “the mystery” here spoken of is Christ who “was manifested in the flesh,” &c. A man with nothing else but the A. V. of the “Textus Receptus” before him might equally well say that. See above, pages 427-8.

Not unaware am I of a certain brief Scholium¹⁰²¹ which the Critics freely allege in proof that Cyril wrote ὅς (not Θεός), and which as they quote it, (viz. so mutilated as effectually to conceal its meaning,) certainly seems to be express in its testimony. But the thing is all a mistake. Rightly understood, the Scholium in question renders no testimony at all;—as I proceed to explain. The only wonder is that such critics as Bentley,¹⁰²² Wetstein,¹⁰²³ Birch,¹⁰²⁴ Tischendorf,¹⁰²⁵ or even Tregelles,¹⁰²⁶ should not have seen this for themselves.

The author, (whether Photius, or some other,) is insisting on our Lord's absolute exemption from sin, although for our sakes He became very Man. In support of this, he quotes Is. liii. 9, (or rather, 1 Pet. ii. 22)—“Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.” “S. Cyril” (he proceeds) “in the 12th ch. of his Scholia says,—‘Who was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit;’ for He was in no way subject to our infirmities,” and so on. Now, every one must see at a glance that it is entirely to misapprehend the matter to suppose that it is any part of the Scholiast's object, in what precedes, to invite attention to so irrelevant a circumstance as that Cyril began his quotation of 1 Tim. iii. 16, with ὅς instead of [pg 468] Θεός.¹⁰²⁷ As Waterland remarked to Berriman 150 years ago,¹⁰²⁸ the Scholiast's one object was to show how Cyril interpreted the expression “justified in the Spirit.” Altogether misleading is it to quote only the first line, beginning at ὅς and ending at πνεύματι, as the Critics invariably do. The point to which in this way prominence is exclusively given, was clearly, to the Commentator, a matter of no concern at all. He quotes from Cyril's “Scholia de Incarnatione Unigeniti,”¹⁰²⁹ in preference to any other of Cyril's writings, for a vastly different reason.¹⁰³⁰ And yet this—(viz. Cyril's supposed substitution of ὅς for Θεός)—is, in the account of the Critics, the one thing which the Scholiast was desirous of putting on record.

In the meanwhile, on referring to the place in Cyril, we make an important discovery. The Greek of the Scholium in question being lost, we depend for our knowledge of its contents on the Latin translation of Marius Mercator, Cyril's contemporary. And in that translation, no trace is discoverable of either ὅς or ὅ.¹⁰³¹ The quotation from Timothy begins abruptly at ἐφανερώθη. The Latin is as follows:—“Divinus Paulus magnum quidem ait esse mysterium pietatis. Et vere ita se res habet: manifestatus est enim in carne, cum sit Deus Verbum.”¹⁰³² The supposed hostile evidence from this quarter proves therefore to be non-existent. I pass on.

[pg 469]

[l] The argument e silentio considered.

The argument e silentio,—(of all arguments the most precarious,)—has not been neglected.—“But we cannot stop here,” you say:1033 “Wetstein observed long ago that Cyril does not produce this text when he does produce Rom. ix. 5 in answer to the allegation which he quotes from Julian that S. Paul never employed the word Θεός of our Lord.”¹⁰³⁴ Well but, neither does Gregory of Nyssa produce this text when he is writing a Treatise expressly to prove the Godhead of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. “Grave est,”—says Tischendorf.¹⁰³⁵ No, not “grave” at all, I answer: but whether “grave” or not, that Gregory of Nyssa read Θεός in this place, is at least certain. As for Wetstein, you have been reminded already, that “ubi de Divinitate Christi agitur, ibi profecto sui dissimilior deprehenditur.”¹⁰³⁶ Examine the place in Cyril Alex. for yourself, reading steadily on from p. 327 a to p. 333 b. Better still, read—paying special attention to his Scriptural proofs—Cyril's two Treatises “De rectâ Fide.”¹⁰³⁷ But in fact attend to the method of Athanasius, of Basil, or of whomsoever else you will;¹⁰³⁸ and you will speedily convince yourself that the argument e silentio is next to valueless on occasions like the present.

[pg 470]

Certain of the Critics have jumped to the conclusion that the other Cyril cannot have been acquainted with S. Mark xvi. 19 (and therefore with the “last Twelve Verses” of his Gospel), because when, in his Catechetical Lectures, he comes to the “Resurrection,” “Ascension,” and “Session at the Right Hand,”—he does not quote S. Mark xvi. 19. And yet,—(as it has been elsewhere¹⁰³⁹ fully shown, and in fact the reason is assigned by Cyril himself,)—this is only because, on the previous day, being Sunday, Cyril of Jerusalem had enlarged upon the Scriptural evidence for those august verities, (viz. S. Mark xvi. 19,—S. Luke xxiv. 51,—Acts i. 9); and therefore was unwilling to say over again before the same auditory what he had so recently delivered.

But indeed,—(the remark is worth making in passing,)—many of our modern Critics seem to forget that the heretics with whom Athanasius, Basil, the Gregories, &c., were chiefly in conflict, did not by any means deny the Godhead of our Lord. Arians and Apolinarians alike admitted that Christ was God. This, in fact, has been pointed out already. Very differently indeed would the ancient Fathers have expressed themselves, could they have imagined the calamitous use which, at the end of 1500 years, perverse wits would make of their writings,—the astonishing inferences they would propose to extract from their very silence. I may not go further into the subject in this place.

[m] The story about Macedonius. His testimony.

It follows to say a few words concerning Macedonius II., patriarch of Constantinople [a.d. 496-511], of whom it has been absurdly declared that he was the inventor of the reading for which I contend. I pointed out on a former occasion [pg 471] that it would follow from that very circumstance, (as far as it is true,) that Macedonius “is a witness for Θεός—perforce.”¹⁰⁴⁰

Instead of either assenting to this, (which is surely a self-evident proposition!),—or else disproving it,—you are at the pains to furbish up afresh, as if it were a novelty, the stale and stupid figment propagated by Liberatus of Carthage, that Macedonius was expelled from his see by the Emperor Anastasius for falsifying 1 Timothy iii. 16. This exploded fable you preface by announcing it as “a remarkable fact,” that “it was the distinct belief of Latin writers as early as the VIth century that the reading of this passage had been corrupted by the Greeks.”¹⁰⁴¹ How you get your “remarkable fact,” out of your premiss,—“the distinct belief of Latin writers,” out of the indistinct rumour [“dicitur”] vouched for by a single individual,—I see not. But let that pass.

“The story shows” (you proceed) “that the Latins in the sixth century believed ὅς to be the reading of the older Greek manuscripts, and regarded Θεός as a false reading made out of it.” (p. 69.)—My lord Bishop, I venture to declare that the story shows nothing of the sort. The Latins in the VIth (and every other) century believed that—not ὅς, but—ὅ, was the right reading of the Greek in this place. Their belief on this subject however has nothing whatever to do with the story before us. Liberatus was not the spokesman of “the Latins of the VIth,” (or any other bygone) “century:” but (as Bp. Pearson points out) a singularly ill-informed Archdeacon of Carthage; who, had he taken ever so little pains with the subject, would have become aware that for no such reason as he assigns was Macedonius [a.d. 511] thrust out of his bishopric. If, however, there were at least thus much of truth in the story,—namely, that one of the charges brought against Macedonius [pg 472] was his having corrupted Scripture, and notably his having altered ὅς into Θεός in 1 Tim. iii. 16;—surely, the most obvious of all inferences would be, that Θεός was found in copies of S. Paul's epistles put forth at Constantinople by archiepiscopal authority between a.d. 496 and a.d. 511. To say the least,—Macedonius, by his writings or by his discourses, certainly by his influence, must have shown himself favourable to Θεός (not ὅς) ἐφανερώθη. Else, with what show of reason could the charge have been brought against him? “I suppose” (says our learned Dr. John Mill) “that the fable before us arose out of the fact that Macedonius, on hearing that in several MSS. of the Constantinopolitan Church the text of 1 Tim. iii. 16 (which witnesses expressly to the Godhead of Christ) had been depraved, was careful that those copies should be corrected in conformity with the best exemplars.”¹⁰⁴²

But, in fact, I suspect you completely misunderstand the whole matter. You speak of “the story.” But pray,—Which “story” do you mean? “The story” which Liberatus told in the VIth century? or the ingenious gloss which Hincmar, Abp. of Rheims, put upon it in the IXth? You mention the first,—you reason from the second. Either will suit me equally well. But—una la volta, per carità!

Hincmar, (whom the critics generally follow,) relates that Macedonius turned ΟΣ into ΘΕΟΣ (i.e. ΘΣ).¹⁰⁴³ If Macedonius did, he preferred Θεός to ὅς.... But the story which Liberatus promulgated is quite different.¹⁰⁴⁴ Let him be heard:—

“At this time, Macedonius, bp. of CP., is said to have been deposed by the emperor Anastasius on a charge of having falsified the Gospels, and notably that saying of the Apostle, [pg 473] ‘Quia apparuit in carne, justificatus est in spiritu.’ He was charged with having turned the Greek monosyllable ΟΣ (i.e. ‘qui’), by the change of a single letter (Ω for Ο) into ΩΣ: i.e. ‘ut esset Deus apparuit per carnem.’ ”

Now, that this is a very lame story, all must see. In reciting the passage in Latin, Liberatus himself exhibits neither “qui,” nor “quod,” nor “Deus,”—but “quia apparuit in carne.” (The translator of Origen, by the way, does the same thing.¹⁰⁴⁵) And yet, Liberatus straightway adds (as the effect of the change) “ut esset Deus apparuit per carnem:” as if that were possible, unless “Deus” stood in the text already! Quite plain in the meantime is it, that, according to Liberatus, ὡς was the word which Macedonius introduced into 1 Tim. iii. 16. And it is worth observing that the scribe who rendered into Greek Pope Martin I.'s fifth Letter (written on the occasion of the Lateran Council a.d. 649),—having to translate the Pope's quotation from the Vulgate (“quod manifestatus est,”)—exhibits ὡς ἐφανερώθη in this place.¹⁰⁴⁶

High time it becomes that I should offer it as my opinion that those Critics are right (Cornelius à Lapide [1614] and Cotelerius [1681]) who, reasoning from what Liberatus actually says, shrewdly infer that there must have existed codices in the time of Macedonius which exhibited ΟΣ ΘΕΟΣ in this place; and that this must be the reading to which Liberatus refers.¹⁰⁴⁷ Such codices exist still. One, is preserved in the library of the Basilian monks at Crypta Ferrata, [pg 474] already spoken of at pp. 446-8: another, is at Paris. I call them respectively “Apost. 83” and “Paul 282.”¹⁰⁴⁸ This is new.

Enough of all this however. Too much in fact. I must hasten on. The entire fable, by whomsoever fabricated, has been treated with well-merited contempt by a succession of learned men ever since the days of Bp. Pearson.¹⁰⁴⁹ And although during the last century several writers of the unbelieving school (chiefly Socinians¹⁰⁵⁰) revived and embellished the silly story, in order if possible to get rid of a text which witnesses inconveniently to the Godhead of Christ, one would have hoped that, in these enlightened days, a Christian Bishop of the same Church which the learned, pious, and judicious John Berriman adorned a century and a-half ago, would have been ashamed to rekindle the ancient strife and to swell the Socinian [pg 475] chorus. I shall be satisfied if I have at least convinced you that Macedonius is a witness for Θεός in 1 Tim. iii. 16.

[n] The testimony of an Anonymous writer (a.d. 430),—of Epiphanius (a.d. 787),—of Theodorus Studita (a.d. 795?),—of Scholia,—of Œcumenius,—of Theophylact,—of Euthymius.

The evidence of an Anonymous Author who has been mistaken for Athanasius,—you pass by in silence. That this writer lived in the days when the Nestorian Controversy was raging,—namely, in the first half of the Vth century,—is at all events evident. He is therefore at least as ancient a witness for the text of Scripture as codex a itself: and Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη is clearly what he found written in this place.¹⁰⁵¹ Why do you make such a fuss about Cod. a, and yet ignore this contemporary witness? We do not know who wrote the Epistle in question,—true. Neither do we know who wrote Codex a. What then?

Another eminent witness for Θεός, whom also you do not condescend to notice, is Epiphanius, deacon of Catana in Sicily,—who represented Thomas, Abp. of Sardinia, at the 2nd Nicene Council, a.d. 787. A long discourse of this Ecclesiastic may be seen in the Acts of the Council, translated into Latin,—which makes his testimony so striking. But in fact his words are express,¹⁰⁵² and the more valuable because they come from a region of Western Christendom from which textual utterances are rare.

A far more conspicuous writer of nearly the same date, Theodorus Studita of CP, [a.d. 759-826,] is also a witness [pg 476] for Θεός.¹⁰⁵³ How does it happen, my lord Bishop, that you contend so eagerly for the testimony of codices f and g, which are but one IXth-century witness after all,—and yet entirely disregard living utterances like these, of known men,—who belonged to known places,—and wrote at a known time? Is it because they witness unequivocally against you?

Several ancient Scholiasts, expressing themselves diversely, deserve enumeration here, who are all witnesses for Θεός exclusively.¹⁰⁵⁴ Lastly,—

Œcumenius¹⁰⁵⁵ (a.d. 990),—Theophylact¹⁰⁵⁶ (a.d. 1077),—Euthymius¹⁰⁵⁷ (a.d. 1116),—close this enumeration. They are all three clear witnesses for reading not ὅς but Θεός.

[o] The testimony of Ecclesiastical Tradition.

Nothing has been hitherto said concerning the Ecclesiastical usage with respect to this place of Scripture. 1 Tim. iii. 16 occurs in a lection consisting of nine verses (1 Tim. iii. 13-iv. 5), which used to be publicly read in almost all the Churches of Eastern Christendom on the Saturday before Epiphany.¹⁰⁵⁸ It was also read, in not a few Churches, on the 34th Saturday of the year.¹⁰⁵⁹ Unfortunately, the book which [pg 477] contains lections from S. Paul's Epistles, (“Apostolus” it is technically called,) is of comparatively rare occurrence,—is often found in a mutilated condition,—and (for this and other reasons) is, as often as not, without this particular lesson.¹⁰⁶⁰ Thus, an analysis of 90 copies of the “Apostolus” (No. 1 to 90), is attended by the following result:—10 are found to have been set down in error;¹⁰⁶¹ while 41 are declared—(sometimes, I fear, through the unskilfulness of those who profess to have examined them),—not to contain 1 Tim. iii. 16.1062 Of 7, I have not been able to obtain tidings.¹⁰⁶³ Thus, there are but 32 copies of the book called “Apostolus” available for our present purpose.

But of these thirty-two, twenty-seven exhibit Θεός.¹⁰⁶⁴ You will be interested to hear that one rejoices in the unique [pg 478] reading Θεοῦ:1065 while another Copy of the 'Apostolus' keeps “Paul 282” in countenance by reading ὅς Θεός.¹⁰⁶⁶ In other words, “God” is found in 29 copies out of 32: while “who” (ὅς) is observed to survive in only 3,—and they, Western documents of suspicious character. Two of these were produced in one and the same Calabrian monastery; and they still stand, side by side, in the library of Crypta Ferrata:1067 being exclusively in sympathy with the very suspicious Western document at Paris, already described at page 446.

Ecclesiastical Tradition is therefore clearly against you, in respect of the reading of 1 Tim. iii. 16. How you estimate this head of Evidence, I know not. For my own part, I hold it to be of superlative importance. It transports us back, at once, to the primitive age; and is found to be infinitely better deserving of attention than the witness of any extant uncial documents which can be produced. And why? For the plain reason that it must needs have been once attested by an indefinitely large number of codices more ancient by far than any which we now possess. In fact, Ecclesiastical Tradition, when superadded to the testimony of Manuscripts and Fathers, becomes an overwhelming consideration.

And now we may at last proceed to sum up. Let me gather out the result of the foregoing fifty pages; and remind [pg 479] the reader briefly of the amount of external testimony producible in support of each of these rival readings:—ὅ,—ὅς—Θεός.

[I.] Sum of the Evidence of Versions, Copies, Fathers, in favour of reading μυστήριον; ὅ ἐφανερώθη in 1 Tim. iii. 16.

(α) The reading μυστήριον; ὅ ἐφανερώθη,—(which Wetstein strove hard to bring into favour, and which was highly popular with the Socinian party down to the third quarter of the last century,)—enjoys, as we have seen, (pp. 448-53,) the weighty attestation of the Latin and of the Peschito,—of the Coptic, of the Sahidic, and of the Æthiopic Versions.

No one may presume to speak slightingly of such evidence as this. It is the oldest which can be produced for the truth of anything in the inspired Text of the New Testament; and it comes from the East as well as from the West. Yet is it, in and by itself, clearly inadequate. Two characteristics of Truth are wanting to it,—two credentials,—unfurnished with which, it cannot be so much as seriously entertained. It demands Variety as well as Largeness of attestation. It should be able to exhibit in support of its claims the additional witness of Copies and Fathers. But,

(β) On the contrary, ὅ is found besides in only one Greek Manuscript,—viz. the VIth-century codex Claromontanus, D. And further,

(γ) Two ancient writers alone bear witness to this reading, viz. Gelasius of Cyzicus,¹⁰⁶⁸ whose date is a.d. 476;1069 and the Unknown Author of a homily of uncertain date in the [pg 480] Appendix to Chrysostom¹⁰⁷⁰.... It is scarcely intelligible how, on such evidence, the Critics of the last century can have persuaded themselves (with Grotius) that μυστήριον; ὅ ἐφανερώθη is the true reading of 1 Timothy iii. 16. And yet, in order to maintain this thesis, Sir Isaac Newton descended from the starry sphere and tried his hand at Textual Criticism. Wetstein (1752) freely transferred the astronomer's labours to his own pages, and thus gave renewed currency to an opinion which the labours of the learned Berriman (1741) had already demonstrated to be untenable.

Whether Theodore of Mopsuestia (in his work “de Incarnatione”) wrote ὅς or ὅ, must remain uncertain till a sight has been obtained of his Greek together with its context. I find that he quotes 1 Tim iii. 16 at least three times:—Of the first place, there is only a Latin translation, which begins “Quod justificatus est in spiritu.”¹⁰⁷¹ The second place comes to us in Latin, Greek, and Syriac: but unsatisfactorily in all three:—(a) The Latin version introduces the quotation thus,—“Consonantia et Apostolus dicit, Et manifeste magnum est pietatis mysterium, qui¹⁰⁷² (or quod¹⁰⁷³) manifestatus (or tum) est in carne, justificatus (or tum) est in spiritu:”—(b) The Greek, (for which we are indebted to Leontius Byzantinus, a.d. 610,) reads,—Ὅς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί, ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι¹⁰⁷⁴—divested of all [pg 481] preface.¹⁰⁷⁵ Those seven words, thus isolated from their context, are accordingly printed by Migne as a heading only:—(c) The Syriac translation unmistakably reads, “Et Apostolus dixit, Vere sublime est hoc mysterium, quod,”—omitting τῆς εὐσεβείας.¹⁰⁷⁶ The third quotation, which is found only in Syriac,¹⁰⁷⁷ begins,—“For truly great is the-mystery of-the-fear-of God, who was manifested in-the-flesh and-was-justified in-the-spirit.” This differs from the received text of the Peschito by substituting a different word for εὐσέβεια, and by employing the emphatic state “the-flesh,” “the-spirit” where the Peschito has the absolute state “flesh,” “spirit.” The two later clauses agree with the Harkleian or Philoxenian.¹⁰⁷⁸—I find it difficult from all this to know what precisely to do with Theodore's evidence. It has a truly oracular ambiguity; wavering between ὅ—ὅς—and even Θεός. You, I observe, (who are only acquainted with the second of the three places above cited, and but imperfectly with that,) do not hesitate to cut the knot by simply claiming the heretic's authority for the reading you advocate,—viz. ὅς. I have thought it due to my readers to tell [pg 482] them all that is known about the evidence furnished by Theodore of Mopsuestia. At all events, the utmost which can be advanced in favour of reading μυστήριον; ὅ in 1 Timothy iii. 16, has now been freely stated. I am therefore at liberty to pass on to the next opinion.

[II.] Sum of the Evidence of Versions, Copies, Fathers in favour of reading μυστήριον; ὅς ἐφανερώθη in 1 Timothy iii. 16.

Remarkable it is how completely Griesbach succeeded in diverting the current of opinion with respect to the place before us, into a new channel. At first indeed (viz. in 1777) he retained Θεός in his Text, timidly printing ὅς in small type above it; and remarking,—“Judicium de hâc lectionis varietate lectoribus liberum relinquere placuit.” But, at the end of thirty years (viz. in 1806), waxing bolder, Griesbach substituted ὅς for Θεός,—“ut ipsi” (as he says) “nobis constaremus.” Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Westcott and Hort, and the Revisers, under your guidance, have followed him: which is to me unaccountable,—seeing that even less authority is producible for ὅς, than for ὅ, in this place. But let the evidence for μυστήριον; ὅς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί be briefly recapitulated:—

(α) It consists of a single uncial copy, viz. the corrupt cod. א,—(for, as was fully explained above,¹⁰⁷⁹ codd. c and f-g yield uncertain testimony): and perhaps two cursive copies, viz. Paul 17, (the notorious “33” of the Gospels,)—and a copy at Upsala (No. 73), which is held to require further verification.¹⁰⁸⁰ To these, are to be added three other liturgical witnesses in the cursive character—being Western copies of the book called “Apostolus,” which have only recently come to [pg 483] light. Two of the codices in question are of Calabrian origin.¹⁰⁸¹ A few words more on this subject will be found above, at pages 477 and 478.

(β) The only Version which certainly witnesses in favour of ὅς, is the Gothic: which, (as explained at pp. 452-3) exhibits a hopelessly obscure construction, and rests on the evidence of a single copy in the Ambrosian library.

(γ) Of Patristic testimonies (to μυστήριον; ὅς ἐφανερώθη) there exists not one. That Epiphanius [a.d. 360] professing to transcribe from an early treatise of his own, in which ἐφανερώθη stands without a nominative, should prefix ὅς—proves nothing, as I have fully explained elsewhere.¹⁰⁸²—The equivocal testimony rendered by Theodore of Mopsuestia [a.d. 390] is already before the reader.¹⁰⁸³

And this exhausts the evidence for a reading which came in,—and (I venture to predict) will go out,—with the present century. My only wonder is, how an exhibition of 1 Tim. iii. 16 so feebly attested,—so almost without attestation,—can have come to be seriously entertained by any. “Si,”—(as Griesbach remarks concerning 1 John v. 7)—“si tam pauci ... testes ... sufficerent ad demonstrandam lectionis cujusdam γνησιότητα, licet obstent tam multa tamque gravia et testimonia et argumenta; nullum prorsus superesset in re criticâ veri falsique criterium, et textus Novi Testamenti universus plane incertus esset atque dubius.”¹⁰⁸⁴

Yet this is the Reading which you, my lord Bishop, not only stiffly maintain, but which you insist is no longer so [pg 484] much as “open to reconsideration.” You are, it seems, for introducing the clôture into Textual debate. But in fact you are for inflicting pains and penalties as well, on those who have the misfortune to differ in opinion from yourself. You discharge all the vials of the united sees of Gloucester and Bristol on me for my presumption in daring to challenge the verdict of “the Textual Criticism of the last fifty years,”—of the Revisers,—and of yourself;—my folly, in venturing to believe that the traditional reading of 1 Tim. iii. 16, (which you admit is at least 1530 years old,) is the right reading after all. You hold me up to public indignation. “He has made” (you say) “an elaborate effort to shake conclusions about which no professed Scholar has any doubt whatever; but which an ordinary reader (and to such we address ourselves) might regard as still open to reconsideration.”—“Moreover” (you proceed) “this case is of great importance as an example. It illustrates in a striking manner the complete isolation of the Reviewer's position. If he is right, all other Critics are wrong.”¹⁰⁸⁵

Will you permit me, my lord Bishop, as an ordinary writer, addressing (like yourself) “ordinary readers,”—respectfully to point out that you entirely mistake the problem in hand? The Greek Text of the N. T. is not to be settled by Modern Opinion, but by Ancient Authority.¹⁰⁸⁶ In this department of enquiry therefore, “complete isolation” is his, and his only, who is forsaken by Copies, Versions, Fathers. The man who is able, on the contrary, to point to an overwhelming company of Ancient Witnesses, and is contented modestly to take up his station at their feet,—such an one can afford to disregard “The Textual Criticism of the last fifty years,” if it presumes to contradict their plain [pg 485] decrees; can even afford to smile at the confidence of “professed Scholars” and “Critics,” if they are so ill advised as to set themselves in battle array against that host of ancient men.

To say therefore of such an one, (as you now say of me,) “If he is right, all other Critics are wrong,”—is to present an irrelevant issue, and to perplex a plain question. The business of Textual Criticism (as you state at page 28 of your pamphlet) is nothing else but to ascertain “the consentient testimony of the most ancient Authorities.” The office of the Textual Critic is none other but to interpret rightly the solemn verdict of Antiquity. Do I then interpret that verdict rightly,—or do I not? The whole question resolves itself into that! If I do not,—pray show me wherein I have mistaken the facts of the case. But if I do,—why do you not come over instantly to my side? “Since he is right,” (I shall expect to hear you say,) “it stands to reason that the ‘professed Critics’ whom he has been combating,—myself among the number,—must be wrong.”... I am, you see, loyally accepting the logical issue you have yourself raised. I do but seek to reconcile your dilemma with the actual facts of the problem.

And now, will you listen while I state the grounds on which I am convinced that your substitution of ὅς for Θεός in 1 Tim. iii. 16 is nothing else but a calamitous perversion of the Truth? May I be allowed at least to exhibit, in the same summary way as before, the evidence for reading in this place neither ὅ nor ὅς,—but Θεός?

[III.] Sum of the Evidence of Versions, Copies, Fathers, in favour of reading Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη in 1 Tim. iii 16.

Entirely different,—in respect of variety, of quantity and [pg 486] of quality,—from what has gone before, is the witness of Antiquity to the Received Text of 1 Timothy iii. 16: viz. καὶ ὁμολογουμένως μέγα ἐστὶ τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον; ΘΕῸΣ ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί, κ.τ.λ.... I proceed to rehearse it in outline, having already dwelt in detail upon so much of it as has been made the subject of controversy.¹⁰⁸⁷ The reader is fully aware¹⁰⁸⁸ that I do not propose to make argumentative use of the first six names in the ensuing enumeration. To those names, [enclosed within square brackets,] I forbear even to assign numbers; not as entertaining doubt concerning the testimony they furnish, but as resolved to build exclusively on facts which are incontrovertible. Yet is it but reasonable that the whole of the Evidence for Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη should be placed before the reader: and he is in my judgment a wondrous unfair disputant who can attentively survey the evidence which I thus forego, without secretly acknowledging that its combined Weight is considerable; while its Antiquity makes it a serious question whether it is not simply contrary to reason that it should be dispensed with in an enquiry like the present.

[(a) In the Ist century then,—it has been already shown (at page 463) that Ignatius (a.d. 90) probably recognized the reading before us in three places.]

[(b) The brief but significant testimony of Barnabas will be found in the same page.]

[(c) In the IInd century,—Hippolytus [a.d. 190] (as was explained at page 463,) twice comes forward as a witness on the same side.]

[(d) In the IIIrd century,—Gregory Thaumaturgus, (if [pg 487] it be indeed he) has been already shown (at page 463) probably to testify to the reading Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη.]

[(e) To the same century is referred the work entitled Constitutiones Apostolicæ: which seems also to witness to the same reading. See above, p. 463.]

[(f) Basil the Great also [a.d. 355], as will be found explained at page 464, must be held to witness to Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη in 1 Tim. iii. 16: though his testimony, like that of the five names which go before, being open to cavil, is not here insisted on.]—And now to get upon terra firma.

(1) To the IIIrd century then [a.d. 264?], belongs the Epistle ascribed to Dionysius of Alexandria, (spoken of above, at pages 461-2,) in which 1 Tim. iii. 16 is distinctly quoted in the same way.

(2) In the next, (the IVth) century, unequivocal Patristic witnesses to Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη abound. Foremost is Didymus, who presided over the Catechetical School of Alexandria,—the teacher of Jerome and Rufinus. Born a.d. 309, and becoming early famous, he clearly witnesses to what was the reading of the first quarter of the IVth century. His testimony has been set forth at page 456.

(3) Gregory, Bishop of Nazianzus [a.d. 355], a contemporary of Basil, in two places is found to bear similar witness. See above page 457.

(4) Diodorus, (or “Theodorus” as Photius writes his name,) the teacher of Chrysostom,—first of Antioch, afterwards the heretical bishop of Tarsus in Cilicia,—is next to be cited [a.d. 370]. His testimony is given above at pages 458-9.

[pg 488]

(5) The next is perhaps our most illustrious witness,—viz. Gregory, bishop of Nyssa in Cappadocia [a.d. 370]. References to at least twenty-two places of his writings have been already given at page 456.

(6) Scarcely less important than the last-named Father, is Chrysostom [a.d. 380], first of Antioch,—afterwards Patriarch of Constantinople,—who in three places witnesses plainly to Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη. See above, page 457.

(7) And to this century, (not later certainly than the last half of it,) is to be referred the title of that κεφάλαιον, or chapter, of St. Paul's First Epistle to Timothy which contains chap. iii. 16,—(indeed, which begins with it,) viz. Περὶ θείας σαρκώσεως. Very eloquently does that title witness to the fact that Θεός was the established reading of the place under discussion, before either cod. b or cod. א was produced. See above, pages 457-8.

(8) In the Vth century,—besides the Codex Alexandrinus (cod. a,) concerning which so much has been said already (page 431 to page 437),—we are able to appeal for the reading Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη, to,

(9) Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria, [a.d. 410,] who in at least two places witnesses to it unequivocally. See above, pp. 464 to 470. So does,

(10) Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus in Syria, [a.d. 420]: who, in at least four places, (see above, page 456) renders unequivocal and important witness on the same side.

(11) Next, the Anonymous Author claims notice [a.d. 430], whose composition is found in the Appendix to the works of Athanasius. See above, page 475.

[pg 489]

(12) You will be anxious to see your friend Euthalius, bishop of Sulca, duly recognized in this enumeration. He comes next. [a.d. 458.] The discussion concerning him will be found above, at page 459 to page 461.

(13) Macedonius II, Patriarch of CP. [a.d. 496] must of necessity be mentioned here, as I have very fully explained at page 470 to page 474.

(14) To the VIth century belongs the Georgian Version, as already noted at page 454.

(15) And hither is to be referred the testimony of Severus, bishop of Antioch [a.d. 512], which has been already particularly set down at page 458.

(16) To the VIIth century [a.d. 616] belongs the Harkleian (or Philoxenian) Version; concerning which, see above, page 450. “That Θεός was the reading of the manuscripts from which this Version was made, is put beyond reach of doubt by the fact that in twelve of the other places where εὐσέβεια occurs,¹⁰⁸⁹ the words ܩܦܝܕܘܐ ܕܗܬܐ (or ܐܬܗܕ ܐܘܕܝܦܩ) (‘beauty-of-fear’) are found without the addition of ܐܠܚܐ (or ܐܚܠܐ) (‘God’). It is noteworthy, that on the thirteenth occasion (1 Tim. ii. 2), where the Peschito reads ‘fear of God,’ the Harkleian reads ‘fear’ only. On the other hand, the Harkleian margin of Acts iii. 12 expressly states that εὐσέβια is the Greek equivalent of ܩܦܝܕܘܐ ܕܗܬܐ (or ܐܬܗܕ ܐܘܕܝܦܩ) (‘beauty-of-fear’). This effectually establishes the fact that the author of the Harkleian recension found Θεός in his Greek manuscript of 1 Tim. iii. 16.”¹⁰⁹⁰

[pg 490]

(17) In the VIIIth century, John Damascene [a.d. 730] pre-eminently claims attention. He is twice a witness for Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη, as was explained at page 457.

(18) Next to be mentioned is Epiphanius, deacon Of Catana; whose memorable testimony at the 2nd Nicene Council [a.d. 787] has been set down above, at page 475. And then,

(19) Theodorus Studita of CP. [a.d. 790],—concerning whom, see above, at pages 475-6.

(20), (21) and (22). To the IXth century belong the three remaining uncial codices, which alike witness to Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί:—viz. the “Cod. Mosquensis” (k); the “Cod. Angelicus” (l); and the “Cod. Porphyrianus” (p).

(23) The Slavonic Version belongs to the same century, and exhibits the same reading.

(24) Hither also may be referred several ancient Scholia which all witness to Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί, as I explained at page 476.

(25) To the Xth century belongs Œcumenius [a.d. 990], who is also a witness on the same side. See page 476.

(26) To the XIth century, Theophylact [a.d. 1077], who bears express testimony to the same reading. See page 476.

(27) To the XIIth century, Euthymius [a.d. 1116], who closes the list with his approving verdict. See page 476.

And thus we reach a period when there awaits us a mass of testimony which transports us back (per saltum) to the Church's palmiest days; testimony, which rightly understood, [pg 491] is absolutely decisive of the point now under discussion. I allude to the testimony of every known copy of S. Paul's Epistles except the three, or four, already specified, viz. d of S. Paul; א, 17, and perhaps 73. A few words on this last head of Evidence may not be without the grace of novelty even to yourself. They are supplementary to what has already been offered on the same subject from page 443 to page 446.

The copies of S. Paul's Epistles (in cursive writing) supposed to exist in European libraries,—not including those in the monasteries of Greece and the Levant,¹⁰⁹¹—amount to at least 302.1092 Out of this number, 2 are fabulous:1093—1 has been destroyed by fire:1094—and 6 have strayed into unknown localities.¹⁰⁹⁵ Add, that 37 (for various reasons) are said not to contain the verse in question;¹⁰⁹⁶ while of 2, I [pg 492] have been hitherto unsuccessful in obtaining any account:1097—and it will be seen that the sum of the available cursive copies of S. Paul's Epistles is exactly 254.

Now, that 2 of these 254 cursive copies (viz. Paul 17 and 73)—exhibit ὅς,—you have been so eager (at pp. 71-2 of your pamphlet) to establish, that I am unwilling to do more than refer you back to pages 443, -4, -5, where a few words have been already offered in reply. Permit me, however, to submit to your consideration, as a set-off against those two copies of S. Paul's Epistles which read ὅς,—the following two-hundred and fifty-two copies which read Θεός.¹⁰⁹⁸ To speak [pg 493] with perfect accuracy,—4 of these (252) exhibit ὁ Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη;¹⁰⁹⁹—1, ὅς Θεός;¹¹⁰⁰—and 247, Θεός absolutely. The numbers follow:—

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 16. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 52. 55. 56. 57. 59. 62. 63. 65. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 74. 75. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96. 97. 98. 99. 100. 101. 102. 103. 104. 105. 106. 107. 108. 109. 110. 111. 112. 113. 114. 115. 116. 117. 120. 121. 122. 123. 125. 126. 128. 129. 130. 131. 132. 133. 134. 135. 136. 137. 138. 139. 140. 141. 142. 143. 144. 145. 149. 150. 151. 153. 154. 155. 156. 157. 158. 159. 164. 165. 166. 167. 168. 169. 170. 171. 173. 174. 175. 176. 177. 178. 179. 180. 182. 183. 184. 185. 186. 188. 189. 190. 192. 193. 194. 195. 196. 197. 198. 199. 200. 201. 203. 204. 205. 206. 207. 208. 211. 212. [pg 494] 213. 215. 216. 217. 218.1101 219. 220. 221. 222. 223. 224. 226. 227. 228. 229. 230. 231. 232. 233. 234. 235. 236. 237. 238. 239. 240. 241. 242. 243. 244. 245. 246. 247. 249. 250. 251. 252. 253. 255. 256. 257. 258. 260. 262. 264. 265. 266. 267. 268. 269. 270. 272. 273. 274. 276. 277. 278. 279. 280. 281. 282.1102 283. 285. 288. 289. 290. 291. 292. 294. 295. 296. 297. 298. 299. 300. 301.

Behold then the provision which the Author of Scripture has made for the effectual conservation in its integrity of this portion of His written Word! Upwards of eighteen hundred years have run their course since the Holy Ghost by His servant, Paul, rehearsed the “mystery of Godliness;” declaring this to be the great foundation-fact,—namely, that “God was manifested in the flesh.” And lo, out of two hundred and fifty-four copies of S. Paul's Epistles no less than two hundred and fifty-two are discovered to have preserved that expression. Such “Consent” amounts to Unanimity; and, (as I explained at pp. 454-5,) unanimity in this subject-matter, is conclusive.

The copies of which we speak, (you are requested to observe,) were produced in every part of ancient Christendom,—being derived in every instance from copies older than themselves; which again were transcripts of copies older still. They have since found their way, without design or contrivance, into the libraries of every country of Europe,—where, for hundreds of years they have been jealously guarded. And,—(I repeat the question already hazarded at pp. 445-6, and now respectfully propose it to you, my [pg 495] lord Bishop; requesting you at your convenience to favour me publicly with an answer;)—For what conceivable reason can this multitude of witnesses be supposed to have entered into a wicked conspiracy to deceive mankind?

True, that no miracle has guarded the sacred Text in this, or in any other place. On the other hand, for the last 150 years, Unbelief has been carping resolutely at this grand proclamation of the Divinity of Christ,—in order to prove that not this, but some other thing, it must have been, which the Apostle wrote. And yet (as I have fully shown) the result of all the evidence procurable is to establish that the Apostle must be held to have written no other thing but this.

To the overwhelming evidence thus furnished by 252 out of 254 cursive Copies of S. Paul's Epistles,—is to be added the evidence supplied by the Lectionaries. It has been already explained (viz. at pp. 477-8) that out of 32 copies of the “Apostolus,” 29 concur in witnessing to Θεός. I have just (May 7th) heard of another in the Vatican.¹¹⁰³ To these 30, should be added the 3 Liturgical codices referred to at pp. 448 and 474, note 1. Now this is emphatically the voice of ancient Ecclesiastical Tradition. The numerical result of our entire enquiry, proves therefore to be briefly this:—

(I.) In 1 Timothy iii. 16, the reading Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί, is witnessed to by 289 Manuscripts:1104—by 3 Versions:1105—by upwards of 20 Greek Fathers.¹¹⁰⁶

[pg 496]

(II) The reading ὅ (in place of Θεός) is supported by a single MS. (D):—by 5 ancient Versions:1107—by 2 late Greek Fathers.¹¹⁰⁸

(III.) The reading ὅς (also in place of Θεός) is countenanced by 6 Manuscripts in all (א, Paul 17, 73: Apost. 12, 85, 86):—by only one Version for certain (viz. the Gothic¹¹⁰⁹):—not for certain by a single Greek Father.¹¹¹⁰

I will not repeat the remarks I made before on a general survey of the evidence in favour of ὅς ἐφανερώθη: but I must request you to refer back to those remarks, now that we have reached the end of the entire discussion. They extend from the middle of p. 483 to the bottom of p. 485.

The unhappy Logic which, on a survey of what goes before, can first persuade itself, and then seek to persuade others, that Θεός is a “plain and clear error;” and that there is “decidedly preponderating evidence,” in favour of reading ὅς in 1 Timothy iii. 16;—must needs be of a sort with which I neither have, nor desire to have, any acquaintance. I commend the case between you and myself to the judgment of Mankind; and trust you are able to await the common verdict with the same serene confidence as I am.

Will you excuse me if I venture, in the homely vernacular, to assure you that in your present contention you “have not a leg to stand upon”? “Moreover” (to quote from your own pamphlet [p. 76],) “this case is of great importance as an example.” You made deliberate choice of it in order to convict me of error. I have accepted your challenge, you see. Let the present, by all means, be regarded by the public as [pg 497] a trial-place,—a test of our respective methods, yours and mine. I cheerfully abide the issue,

(p) Internal Evidence for reading Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη in 1 Tim. iii. 16, absolutely overwhelming.

In all that precedes, I have abstained from pleading the probabilities of the case; and for a sufficient reason. Men's notions of what is “probable” are observed to differ so seriously. “Facile intelligitur” (says Wetstein) “lectiones ὅς et Θεός esse interpretamenta pronominis ὅ: sed nec ὅ nec ὅς posse esse interpretamentum vocis Θεός.” Now, I should have thought that the exact reverse is as clear as the day. What more obvious than that ΘΣ, by exhibiting indistinctly either of its delicate horizontal strokes, (and they were often so traced as to be scarcely discernible,¹¹¹¹) would become mistaken for ΟΣ? What more natural again than that the masculine relative should be forced into agreement with its neuter antecedent? Why, the thing has actually happened at Coloss. i. 27; where ὍΣ ἐστι Χριστός has been altered into ὅ, only because μυστήριον is the antecedent. But waiving this, the internal evidence in favour of Θεός must surely be admitted to be overwhelming, by all save one determined that the reading shall be ὅς or ὅ. I trust we are at least agreed that the maxim “proclivi lectioni præstat ardua,” does not enunciate so foolish a proposition as that in choosing between two or more conflicting readings, we are to prefer that one which has the feeblest external attestation,—provided it be but in itself almost unintelligible?

And yet, in the present instance,—How (give me leave to ask) will you translate? To those who acquiesce in the [pg 498] notion that the μέγα μυστήριον τῆς εὐσεβείας means our Saviour Christ Himself, (consider Coloss. i. 27,) it is obvious to translate “who:” yet how harsh, or rather how intolerable is this! I should have thought that there could be no real doubt that “the mystery” here spoken of must needs be that complex exhibition of Divine condescension which the Apostle proceeds to rehearse in outline: and of which the essence is that it was very and eternal God who was the subject of the transaction. Those who see this, and yet adopt the reading ὅς, are obliged to refer it to the remote antecedent Θεός. You do not advocate this view: neither do I. For reasons of their own, Alford¹¹¹² and Lightfoot¹¹¹³ both translate “who.”

Tregelles (who always shows to least advantage when a point of taste or scholarship is under discussion) proposes to render:—

“He who was manifested in the flesh, (he who) was justified in the spirit, (he who) was seen by angels, (he who) was preached among Gentiles, (he who) was believed on in the world, (he who) was received up in glory.”¹¹¹⁴

I question if his motion will find a seconder. You yourself lay it down magisterially that ὅς “is not emphatic (‘He who,’ &c.): nor, by a constructio ad sensum, is it the relative to μυστήριον; but is a relative to an omitted though easily recognized antecedent, viz. Christ.” You add that it is not improbable “that the words are quoted from some known hymn, or probably from some familiar Confession of Faith.” Accordingly, in your Commentary you venture to exhibit the words within inverted commas as a quotation:—“And confessedly great is the mystery of godliness: ‘who [pg 499] was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit,’ ” &c.,¹¹¹⁵—for which you are without warrant of any kind, and which you have no right to do. Westcott and Hort (the “chartered libertines”) are even more licentious. Acting on their own suggestion that these clauses are “a quotation from an early Christian hymn,” they proceed to print the conclusion of 1 Tim. iii. 16 stichometrically, as if it were a six-line stanza.

This notwithstanding, the Revising body have adopted “He who,” as the rendering of ὅς; a mistaken rendering as it seems to me, and (I am glad to learn) to yourself also. Their translation is quite a curiosity in its way. I proceed to transcribe it:—

“He who was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, received up in glory.”

But this does not even pretend to be a sentence: nor do I understand what the proposed construction is. Any arrangement which results in making the six clauses last quoted part of the subject, and “great” the predicate of one long proposition,—is unworthy.—Bentley's wild remedy testifies far more eloquently to his distress than to his aptitude for revising the text of Scripture. He suggests,—“Christ was put to death in the flesh, justified in the spirit, ... seen by Apostles.”¹¹¹⁶—“According to the ancient view,” (says the Rev. T. S. Green,) “the sense would be: ‘and confessedly great is the mystery of godliness [in the person of him], who [mystery notwithstanding] was manifested in the flesh, &c.’ ”¹¹¹⁷... But, with submission, “the ancient view” was not this. The Latins,—calamitously shut up within the [pg 500] limits of their “pietatis sacramentum, quod,”—are found to have habitually broken away from that iron bondage, and to have discoursed of our Saviour Christ, as being Himself the “sacramentum” spoken of. The “sacramentum,” in their view, was the incarnate Word.¹¹¹⁸—Not so the Greek Fathers. These all, without exception, understood S. Paul to say,—what Ecclesiastical Tradition hath all down the ages faithfully attested, and what to this hour the copies of his Epistles prove that he actually wrote,—viz. “And confessedly great is the mystery of godliness:—God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit,” and so on. Moreover this is the view of the matter in which all the learning and all the piety of the English Church has thankfully acquiesced for the last 350 years. It has commended itself to Andrewes and Pearson, Bull and Hammond, Hall and Stillingfleet, Ussher and Beveridge, Mill and Bengel, Waterland and Berriman. The enumeration of names is easily brought down to our own times. Dr. Henderson, (the learned non-conformist commentator,) in 1830 published a volume with the following title:—

“The great mystery of godliness incontrovertible: or, Sir Isaac Newton and the Socinians foiled in the attempt to prove a corruption in the text 1 Tim. iii. 16: containing a review of the [pg 501] charges brought against the passage; an examination of the various readings; and a confirmation of that in the received text on principles of general and biblical criticism.”

And,—to turn one's eyes in quite a different direction,—“Veruntamen,” wrote venerable President Routh, at the end of a life-long critical study of Holy Writ,—(and his days were prolonged till he reached his hundredth year,)—

“Veruntamen, quidquid ex sacri textûs historia, illud vero haud certum, critici collegerunt, me tamen interna cogunt argumenta præferre lectionem Θεός, quem quidem agnoscunt veteres interpretes, Theodoretus cæterique, duabus alteris ὅς et ὅ.”¹¹¹⁹

And here I bring my Dissertation on 1 Tim. iii. 16 to a close. It began at p. 424, and I little thought would extend to seventy-six pages. Let it be clearly understood that I rest my contention not at all on Internal, but entirely on External Evidence; although, to the best of my judgment, they are alike conclusive as to the matter in debate.—Having now incontrovertibly, as I believe, established ΘΕΌΣ as the best attested Reading of the place,—I shall conclude the present Letter as speedily as I can.

(1) “Composition of the Body which is responsible for the ‘New Greek Text.’ ”

There remains, I believe, but one head of discourse into which I have not yet followed you. I allude to your “few words about the composition of the body which is responsible for the ‘New Greek Text,’ ”¹¹²⁰—which extend from the latter part of p. 29 to the beginning of p. 32 of your pamphlet. “Among the sixteen most regular attendants at your meetings,” (you say) “were to be found most of those persons who [pg 502] were presumably best acquainted with the subject of Textual Criticism.”¹¹²¹ And with this insinuation that you had “all the talents” with you, you seek to put me down.

But (as you truly say) “the number of living Scholars in England who have connected their names with the study of the Textual Criticism of the New Testament is exceedingly small.”¹¹²² And, “of that exceedingly small number,” you would be puzzled to name so much as one, besides the three you proceed to specify (viz. Dr. Scrivener, Dr. Westcott, and Dr. Hort,)—who were members of the Revision company. On the other hand,—(to quote the words of the most learned of our living Prelates,)—“it is well known that there are two opposite Schools of Biblical Criticism among us, with very different opinions as to the comparative value of our Manuscripts of the Greek Testament.”¹¹²³ And in proof of his statement, the Bishop of Lincoln cites “on the one side”—Drs. Westcott and Hort; “and on the other”—Dr. Scrivener.

Now, let the account be read which Dr. Newth gives (and which you admit to be correct) of the extraordinary method by which the “New Greek Text” was “settled,”¹¹²⁴ “for the most part at the First Revision,”¹¹²⁵—and it becomes plain that it was not by any means the product of the independently-formed opinions of 16 experts, (as your words imply); but resulted from the aptitude of 13 of your body to be guided by the sober counsels of Dr. Scrivener on the one hand, or to be carried away by the eager advocacy of Dr. Hort, (supported as he ever was by his respected colleague Dr. Westcott,) on the other. As Canon Cook well puts it,—“The question really is, Were the members competent to form a correct judgment?”¹¹²⁶ “In most cases,” “a [pg 503] simple majority”¹¹²⁷ determined what the text should be. But ponderari debent testes, my lord Bishop, non numerari.¹¹²⁸ The vote of the joint Editors should have been reckoned practically as only one vote. And whenever Dr. Scrivener and they were irreconcilably opposed, the existing Traditional Text ought to have been let alone. All pretence that it was plainly and clearly erroneous was removed, when the only experts present were hopelessly divided in opinion. As for the rest of the Revising Body, inasmuch as they extemporized their opinions, they were scarcely qualified to vote at all. Certainly they were not entitled individually to an equal voice with Dr. Scrivener in determining what the text should be. Caprice or Prejudice, in short, it was, not Deliberation and Learning, which prevailed in the Jerusalem Chamber. A more unscientific,—to speak truly, a coarser and a clumsier way of manipulating the sacred Deposit, than that which you yourself invented, it would be impossible, in my judgment, to devise.

(2) An Unitarian Revisionist intolerable.—The Westminster-Abbey Scandal.

But this is not nearly all. You invite attention to the constituent elements of the Revising body, and congratulate yourself on its miscellaneous character as providing a guarantee that it has been impartial.

I frankly avow, my lord Bishop, that the challenge you thus deliberately offer, surprises me greatly. To have observed severe silence on this part of the subject, would have seemed to me your discreeter course. Moreover, had you not, in this marked way, invited attention to the component elements of the Revising body, I was prepared to give the subject the go-by. The “New Greek Text,” no less than the “New [pg 504] English Version,” must stand or fall on its own merits; and I have no wish to prejudice the discussion by importing into it foreign elements. Of this, you have had some proof already; for, (with the exception of what is offered above, in pages 6 and 7,) the subject has been, by your present correspondent, nowhere brought prominently forward.

Far be it from me, however, to decline the enquiry which you evidently court. And so, I candidly avow that it was in my account a serious breach of Church order that, on engaging in so solemn an undertaking as the Revision of the Authorized Version, a body of Divines professing to act under the authority of the Southern Convocation should spontaneously associate with themselves Ministers of various denominations,¹¹²⁹—Baptists, Congregationalists, Wesleyan [pg 505] Methodists, Independents, and the like: and especially that a successor of the Apostles should have presided over the deliberations of this assemblage of Separatists. In my humble judgment, we shall in vain teach the sinfulness of Schism, if we show ourselves practically indifferent on the subject, and even set an example of irregularity to our flocks. My Divinity may appear unaccommodating and old-fashioned: but I am not prepared to unlearn the lessons long since got by heart in the school of Andrewes and Hooker, of Pearson and Bull, of Hammond and Sanderson, of Beveridge and Bramhall. I am much mistaken, moreover, if I may not claim the authority of a greater doctor than any of these,—I mean S. Paul,—for the fixed views I entertain on this head.

All this, however, is as nothing in comparison of the scandal occasioned by the co-optation into your body of [pg 506] Dr. G. Vance Smith, the Unitarian Minister of S. Saviour's Gate Chapel, York. That, while engaged in the work of interpreting the everlasting Gospel, you should have knowingly and by choice associated with yourselves one who, not only openly denies the eternal Godhead of our Lord, but in a recent publication is the avowed assailant of that fundamental doctrine of the Christian Religion, as well as of the Inspiration of Holy Scripture itself,¹¹³⁰—filled me (and many besides myself) with astonishment and sorrow. You were respectfully memorialized on the subject;¹¹³¹ but you treated the representations which reached you with scornful indifference.

Now therefore that you re-open the question, I will not scruple publicly to repeat that it seems to me nothing else but an insult to our Divine Master and a wrong to the Church, that the most precious part of our common Christian heritage, the pure Word of God, should day by day, week by week, month by month, year after year, have been thus handled; for the avowed purpose of producing a Translation which should supersede our Authorized Version. That the individual in question contributed aught to your deliberations has never been pretended. On the contrary. No secret has been made of the fact that he was, (as might have been anticipated from his published writings,) the most unprofitable member of the Revising body. Why then was he at first surreptitiously elected? and why was his election afterwards stiffly maintained? The one purpose achieved by his continued presence among you was that it might be thereby made to appear that the Church of England no [pg 507] longer insists on Belief in the eternal Godhead of our Lord, as essential; but is prepared to surrender her claim to definite and unequivocal dogmatic teaching in respect of Faith in the Blessed Trinity.

But even if this Unitarian had been an eminent Scholar, my objection would remain in full force; for I hold, (and surely so do you!), that the right Interpretation of God's Word may not be attained without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, whose aid must first be invoked by faithful prayer.

In the meantime, this same person was invited to communicate with his fellow-Revisers in Westminster-Abbey, and did accordingly, on the 22nd of June, 1870, receive the Holy Communion, in Henry VII.'s Chapel, at the hands of Dean Stanley: declaring, next day, that he received the Sacrament on this occasion without “joining in reciting the Nicene Creed” and without “compromise” (as he expressed it,) of his principles as an “Unitarian.”¹¹³² So conspicuous a sacrilege led to a public Protest signed by some thousands of the Clergy.¹¹³³ It also resulted, in the next ensuing Session of Convocation, in a Resolution whereby the Upper House cleared itself of complicity in the scandal.¹¹³⁴...

[pg 508]

How a good man like you can revive the memory of these many painful incidents without anguish, is to me unintelligible. That no blessing from Him, “sine Quo nihil validum, nihil sanctum,” could be expected to attend an undertaking commenced under such auspices,—was but too plain. The Revision was a foredoomed thing—in the account of many besides myself—from the outset.

(3) The probable Future of the Revision of 1881.

Not unaware am I that it has nevertheless been once and again confidently predicted in public Addresses, Lectures, Pamphlets, that ultimate success is in store for the Revision of 1881. I cannot but regard it as a suspicious circumstance that these vaticinations have hitherto invariably proceeded from members of the Revising body.

It would ill become such an one as myself to pretend to skill in forecasting the future. But of this at least I feel certain:—that if, in an evil hour, (quod absit!), the Church of England shall ever be induced to commit herself to the adoption of the present Revision, she will by so doing expose herself to the ridicule of the rest of Christendom, as well as incur irreparable harm and loss. And such a proceeding on her part will be inexcusable, for she has been at least faithfully forewarned. Moreover, in the end, she will most certainly have to retrace her steps with sorrow and confusion.

Those persons evidently overlook the facts of the problem, who refer to what happened in the case of the Authorized Version when it originally appeared, some 270 years ago; and argue that as the Revision of 1611 at first encountered opposition, which yet it ultimately overcame, so must it fare in the end with the present Revised Version also. Those who so reason forget that the cases are essentially dissimilar.

[pg 509]

If the difference between the Authorized Version of 1611 and the Revision of 1881 were only this.—That the latter is characterized by a mechanical, unidiomatic, and even repulsive method of rendering; which was not only unattempted, but repudiated by the Authors of the earlier work;—there would have been something to urge on behalf of the later performance. The plea of zeal for God's Word,—a determination at all hazards to represent with even servile precision the ipsissima verba of Evangelists and Apostles,—this plea might have been plausibly put forward: and, to some extent, it must have been allowed,—although a grave diversity of opinion might reasonably have been entertained as to what constitutes “accuracy” and “fidelity” of translation.

But when once it has been made plain that the underlying Greek of the Revision of 1881 is an entirely new thing,—is a manufactured article throughout,—all must see that the contention has entirely changed its character. The question immediately arises, (and it is the only question which remains to be asked,)—Were then the Authors of this “New Greek Text” competent to undertake so perilous an enterprise? And when, in the words of the distinguished Chairman of the Revising body—(words quoted above, at page 369,)—“To this question, we venture to answer very unhesitatingly in the negative,”—What remains but, with blank astonishment, not unmingled with disgust, to close the volume? Your own ingenuous admission,—(volunteered by yourself a few days before you and your allies “proceeded to the actual details of the Revision,”)—that “we have certainly not acquired sufficient Critical Judgment for any body of Revisers hopefully to undertake such a work as this,”—is decisive on the subject.

The gravity of the issue thus raised, it is impossible to over-estimate. We find ourselves at once and entirely [pg 510] lifted out of the region originally proposed for investigation. It is no longer a question of the degree of skill which has been exhibited in translating the title-deeds of our heavenly inheritance out of Greek into English. Those title-deeds themselves have been empirically submitted to a process which, rightly or wrongly, seriously affects their integrity. Not only has a fringe of most unreasonable textual mistrust been tacked on to the margin of every inspired page, (as from S. Luke x. 41 to xi. 11):—not only has many a grand doctrinal statement been evacuated of its authority, (as, by the shameful mis-statement found in the margin against S. John iii. 13,1135 and the vile Socinian gloss which disfigures the margin of Rom. ix. 5¹¹³⁶):—but we entirely miss many a solemn utterance of the Spirit,—as when we are assured that verses 44 and 46 of S. Mark ix. are omitted by “the best ancient authorities,” (whereas, on the contrary, the MSS. referred to are the worst). Let the thing complained of be illustrated by a few actual examples. Only five shall be subjoined. The words in the first column represent what you are pleased to designate as among “the most certain conclusions of modern Textual Criticism” (p. 78),—but what I assert to be nothing else but mutilated exhibitions of the inspired Text. The second column contains the indubitable Truth of Scripture,—the words which have been read by our Fathers' Fathers for the last 500 years, and which we propose, (God helping us,) to hand on unimpaired to our Children, and to our Children's Children, for many a century to come:—

Revised (1881). | Authorized (1611).
“And come, follow me.” | “And come, take up the cross and follow me.”¹¹³⁷
“And they blindfolded him, and asked him, saying, Prophesy.” | “And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy.”¹¹³⁸
“And there was also a superscription over him, This is the King of the Jews.” | “And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, This is the King of the Jews.”¹¹³⁹
“And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish.” | “And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.”¹¹⁴⁰

But the next (S. Luke ix. 54-6,) is a far more serious loss:—

“ ‘Lord, wilt thou that we bid fire to come down from heaven, and consume them?’ But he turned and rebuked them. And they went to another village.” | “ ‘Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?’ But he turned and rebuked them, and said, ‘Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them’. And they went to another village.”

The unlearned reader sees at a glance that the only difference of Translation here is the substitution of “bid” for “command.”—which by the way, is not only uncalled for, but is a change for the worse.¹¹⁴¹ On the other hand, how [pg 512] grievous an injury has been done by the mutilation of the blessed record in respect of those (3 + 5 + 7 + 4 + 24 = ) forty-three (in English fifty-seven) undoubtedly inspired as well as most precious words,—even “ordinary Readers” are competent to discern.

I am saying that the systematic, and sometimes serious,—always inexcusable,—liberties which have been taken with the Greek Text by the Revisionists of 1881, constitute a ground of offence against their work for which no pretext was afforded by the Revision of 1611. To argue therefore from what has been the fate of the one, to what is likely to be the fate of the other, is illogical. The cases are not only not parallel: they are even wholly dissimilar.

[pg 513]

The cheapest copies of our Authorized Version at least exhibit the Word of God faithfully and helpfully. Could the same be said of a cheap edition of the work of the Revisionists,—destitute of headings to the Chapters, and containing no record of the extent to which the Sacred Text has undergone depravation throughout?

Let it be further recollected that the greatest Scholars and the most learned Divines of which our Church could boast, conducted the work of Revision in King James' days; and it will be acknowledged that the promiscuous assemblage which met in the Jerusalem Chamber cannot urge any corresponding claim on public attention. Then, the Bishops of Lincoln of 1611 were Revisers: the Vance Smiths stood without and found fault. But in the affair of 1881, Dr. Vance Smith revises, and ventilates heresy from within:1142 the Bp. of Lincoln stands outside, and is one of the severest Critics of the work.—Disappointed men are said to have been conspicuous among the few assailants of our “Authorized Version,”—Scholars (as Hugh Broughton) who considered themselves unjustly overlooked and excluded. But on the present occasion, among the multitude of hostile voices, there is not a single instance known of a man excluded from the deliberations of the Jerusalem Chamber, who desired to share them.

[pg 514]

To argue therefore concerning the prospects of the Revision of 1881 from the known history of our Authorized Version of 1611, is to argue concerning things essentially dissimilar. With every advance made in the knowledge of the subject, it may be confidently predicted that there will spring up increased distrust of the Revision of 1881, and an ever increasing aversion from it.

(4) Review of the entire subject, and of the respective positions of Bp. Ellicott and myself.

Here I lay down my pen,—glad to have completed what (because I have endeavoured to do my work thoroughly) has proved a very laborious task indeed. The present rejoinder to your Pamphlet covers all the ground you have yourself traversed, and will be found to have disposed of your entire contention.

I take leave to point out, in conclusion, that it places you individually in a somewhat embarrassing predicament. For you have now no alternative but to come forward and disprove my statements as well as refute my arguments: or to admit, by your silence, that you have sustained defeat in the cause of which you constituted yourself the champion. You constrained me to reduce you to this alternative when you stood forth on behalf of the Revising body, and saw fit to provoke me to a personal encounter.

But you must come provided with something vastly more formidable, remember, than denunciations,—which are but wind: and vague generalities,—which prove nothing and persuade nobody: and appeals to the authority of “Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Tregelles,”—which I disallow and disregard. You must produce a counter-array of well-ascertained facts; and you must build thereupon irrefragable [pg 515] arguments. In other words, you must conduct your cause with learning and ability. Else, believe me, you will make the painful discovery that “the last error is worse than the first.” You had better a thousand times, even now, ingenuously admit that you made a grievous mistake when you put yourself into the hands of those ingenious theorists, Drs. Westcott and Hort, and embraced their arbitrary decrees,—than persevere in your present downward course, only to sink deeper and deeper in the mire.

(5) Anticipated effect of the present contention on the Text of 1 Timothy iii. 16.

I like to believe, in the meantime, that this passage of arms has resulted in such a vindication¹¹⁴³ of the traditional Reading of 1 Timothy iii. 16, as will effectually secure that famous place of Scripture against further molestation. Faxit Deus!... In the margin of the Revision of 1881, I observe that you have ventured to state as follows,—

“The word God, in place of He who, rests on no sufficient ancient evidence.”

In the words of your Unitarian ally, Dr. Vance Smith,—

“The old reading is pronounced untenable by the Revisers, as it has long been known to be by all careful students of the New Testament.... It is in truth another example of the facility with which ancient copiers could introduce the word God into their manuscripts,—a reading which was the natural result of the growing tendency in early Christian times ... to look upon the humble Teacher as the incarnate Word, and therefore as ‘God manifested in the flesh’ ” (p. 39).

Such remarks proceeding from such a quarter create no surprise. But, pray, my lord Bishop, of what were you thinking when you permitted yourself to make the serious [pg 516] mis-statement which stands in the margin? You must needs have meant thereby that,—“The word He who in place of God, on the contrary, does rest on sufficient ancient evidence.” I solemnly call upon you, in the Name of Him by whose Spirit Holy Scripture was given, to prove the truth of your marginal Note of which the foregoing 70 pages are a refutation.—You add,

“Some ancient authorities read which.”

But why did you suppress the fact, which is undeniable, viz.: that a great many “More ancient authorities” read “which” (ὅ), than read “who” (ὅς)?

(6) The nature of this contention explained.

And yet, it was no isolated place which I was eager to establish, when at first I took up my pen. It was the general trustworthiness of the Traditional Text,—(the Text which you admit to be upwards of 1500 years old,)—which I aimed at illustrating: the essential rottenness of the foundation on which the Greek Text of the Revision of 1881 has been constructed by yourself and your fellow Revisers,—which I was determined to expose. I claim to have proved not only that your entire superstructure is tasteless and unlovely to a degree,—but also that you have reared it up on a foundation of sand. In no vaunting spirit, (God is my witness!), but out of sincere and sober zeal for the truth of Scripture I say it,—your work, whether you know it or not, has been so handled in the course of the present volume of 500 pages that its essential deformity must be apparent to every unprejudiced beholder. It can only be spoken of at this time of day as a shapeless ruin.

A ruin moreover it is which does not admit of being repaired or restored. And why? Because the mischief, [pg 517] which extends to every part of the edifice, takes its beginning, as already explained, in every part of the foundation.

And further, (to speak without a figure,) it cannot be too plainly stated that no compromise is possible between our respective methods,—yours and mine: between the new German system in its most aggravated and in fact intolerable form, to which you have incautiously and unconditionally given in your adhesion; and the old English school of Textual Criticism, of which I humbly avow myself a disciple. Between the theory of Drs. Westcott and Hort (which you have made your own) and the method of your present Correspondent, there can be no compromise, because the two are antagonistic throughout. We have, in fact, nothing in common,—except certain documents; which I insist on interpreting by the humble Inductive process: while you and your friends insist on your right of deducing your estimate of them from certain antecedent imaginations of your own,—every one of which I disallow, and some of which I am able to disprove.

Such, my lord Bishop, is your baseless imagination—(1) That the traditional Greek Text (which, without authority, you style “The Syrian text,”) is the result of a deliberate Recension made at Antioch, a.d. 250 and 350:1144—(2) That the Peschito, in like manner, is the result of a Recension made at Edessa or Nisibis about the same time:1145—(3) That Cureton's is the Syriac “Vetus,” and the Peschito the Syriac “Vulgate:”¹¹⁴⁶—(4) That the respective ancestries of our only two IVth-century Codices, b and א, “diverged from a common parent extremely near the apostolic autographs:”¹¹⁴⁷—(5) That this common [pg 518] original enjoyed a “general immunity from substantive error;” and by consequence—(6) That b and א provide “a safe criterion of genuineness,” so that “no readings of א b can be safely rejected absolutely.”¹¹⁴⁸—(7) Similar wild imaginations you cherish concerning c and d,—which, together with b and א you assume to be among the most trustworthy guides in existence; whereas I have convinced myself, by laborious collation, that they are the most corrupt of all. We are thus diametrically opposed throughout. Finally,—(8) You assume that you possess a power of divination which enables you to dispense with laborious processes of Induction; while I, on the contrary, insist that the Truth of the Text of Scripture is to be elicited exclusively from the consentient testimony of the largest number of the best Copies, Fathers, Versions.¹¹⁴⁹ There is, I am persuaded, no royal road to the attainment of Truth in this department of Knowledge. Only through the lowly portal of humility,—only by self-renouncing labour,—may we ever hope to reach the innermost shrine. They do but go astray themselves and hopelessly mislead others, who first invent their facts, and then proceed to build thereupon their premisses.

Such builders are Drs. Westcott and Hort,—with whom (by your own avowal) you stand completely identified.¹¹⁵⁰ I repeat, (for I wish it to be distinctly understood and remembered,) that what I assert concerning those Critics is,—not that their superstructure rests upon an insecure foundation; but that it rests on no foundation at all. My complaint is,—not that they are somewhat and frequently mistaken; but that they are mistaken entirely, and that they are mistaken throughout. There is no possibility of approximation [pg 519] between their mere assumptions and the results of my humble and laborious method of dealing with the Text of Scripture. We shall only then be able to begin to reason together with the slightest prospect of coming to any agreement, when they have unconditionally abandoned all their preconceived imaginations, and unreservedly scattered every one of their postulates to the four winds.

(7) Parting Counsels.

Let me be allowed, in conclusion, to recommend to your attention and that of your friends,—(I.) “The last Twelve Verses of S. Mark's Gospel:”—(II.) the Angelic Hymn on the night of the Nativity:—(III.) The text of 1 Timothy iii. 16,—these three,—(in respect of which up to this hour, you and I find ourselves to be hopelessly divided,)—as convenient Test places. When you are prepared frankly to admit,—(I.) That there is no reason whatever for doubting the genuineness of S. Mark xvi. 9-20:1151—(II.) That ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκία is unquestionably the Evangelical text of S. Luke ii. 14:1152—and (III.) That Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί is what the great Apostle must be held to have written in 1 Timothy iii 16,1153—we shall be in good time to proceed to something else. Until this happy result has been attained, it is a mere waste of time to break up fresh ground, and to extend the area of our differences.

I cannot however disguise from you the fact that such an avowal on your part will amount to an admission that “the whole fabric of Textual Criticism which has been built up during the last fifty years by successive editors of the New Testament,”—Lachmann namely, Tischendorf, and Tregelles,—is worthless. Neither may the inevitable consequence [pg 520] of this admission be concealed: viz. that your own work as Revisionists has been, to speak plainly, one gigantic blunder, from end to end.

(8) The subject dismissed.

The issue of this prolonged contention I now commend, with deep humility, to Almighty God. The Spirit of Truth will, (I know,) take good care of His own masterpiece,—the Written Word. May He have compassion on my ignorance, and graciously forgive me, if, (intending nothing less,) I shall prove to have anywhere erred in my strenuous endeavour to maintain the integrity of Scripture against the rashness of an impatient and unlearned generation.

But if, (as I humbly believe and confidently hope,) my conclusions are sound throughout, then may He enable men freely to recognize the Truth; and thus, effectually avert from our Church the supreme calamity with which, for a few months in 1881, it seemed threatened; namely, of having an utterly depraved Recension of the Greek Text of the New Testament thrust upon it, as the basis of a very questionable 'Revision' of the English.

My lord Bishop,—I have the honour to wish you respectfully farewell.

J. W. B.

Deanery, Chichester,
July, 1883.

THE GRASS WITHERETH: THE FLOWER FADETH: BUT THE WORD OF OUR GOD SHALL STAND FOR EVER.

[pg 521]

Appendix Of Sacred Codices.

The inquiries into which I was led (January to June 1883) by my Dissertation in vindication of the Traditional Reading of 1 Tim. iii. 16, have resulted in my being made aware of the existence of a vast number of Sacred Codices which had eluded the vigilance of previous Critics.

I had already assisted my friend Prebendary Scrivener in greatly enlarging Scholz's list. We had in fact raised the enumeration of “Evangelia” to 621: of “Acts and Catholic Epistles” to 239: of “Paul” to 281: of “Apocalypse” to 108: of “Evangelistaria” to 299: of the book called “Apostolus” to 81:—making a total of 1629.—But at the end of a protracted and somewhat laborious correspondence with the custodians of not a few great Continental Libraries, I am able to state that our available “Evangelia” amount to at least 739¹¹⁵⁴: our “Acts and Cath. Epp.” to 261: our “Paul” to 338: our “Apoc.” to 122: our “Evstt.” to 415¹¹⁵⁵: our copies of the “Apostolus” to 128¹¹⁵⁶: making a total of 2003. This shows an increase of three hundred and seventy-four.

My original intention had been to publish this enumeration of Sacred Codices in its entirety as an Appendix to the present volume: but finding that the third edition of Dr. Scrivener's “Introduction” would appear some months before my own pages could possibly see the light, I eagerly communicated my discoveries to my friend. I have indeed proposed to myself no [pg 522] other object throughout but the advancement of the study of Textual Criticism: and it was reasonable to hope that by means of his widely circulated volume, the great enlargement which our previously ascertained stores have suddenly experienced would become more generally known to scholars. I should of course still have it in my power to reproduce here the same enumeration of Sacred Codices.

The great bulk however which the present volume has acquired, induces me to limit myself in this place to some account of those Codices which have been expressly announced and discoursed about in my Text (as at pp. 474 and 492-5). Some other occasion must be found for enlarging on the rest of my budget.

It only remains to state that for most of my recent discoveries I am indebted to the Abbate Cozza-Luzi, Prefect of the Vatican; who on being informed of the object of my solicitude, with extraordinary liberality and consideration at once set three competent young men to work in the principal libraries of Rome. To him I am further indebted for my introduction to the MS. treasures belonging to the Basilian monks of Crypta-Ferrata, the ancient Tusculum. Concerning the precious library of that monastery so much has been offered already (viz. at pp. 446-448, and again at pp. 473-4), as well as concerning its learned chief, the Hieromonachus Antonio Rocchi, that I must be content to refer my readers to those earlier parts of the present volume. I cannot however sufficiently acknowledge the patient help which the librarian of Crypta Ferrata has rendered me in the course of these researches.

For my knowledge of the sacred Codices preserved at Messina, I am indebted to the good offices and learning of Papas Filippo Matranga. In respect of those at Milan, my learned friend Dr. Ceriani has (not for the first time) been my efficient helper. M. Wescher has kindly assisted me at Paris; and Dr. C. de Boor at Berlin. It must suffice, for the rest, to refer to the Notes at foot of pp. 491-2 and 477-8.

[pg 523]

Additional Codices of S. Paul's Epistles.

282. ( = Act. 240. Apoc. 109). Paris, “Arménien 9” (olim Reg. 2247). membr. foll. 323. This bilingual codex (Greek and Armenian) is described by the Abbé Martin in his Introduction à la Critique Textuelle du N. T. (1883), p. 660-1. See above, p. 474, note 1. An Italian version is added from the Cath. Epp. onwards. Mut. at beginning (Acts iv. 14) and end. (For its extraordinary reading at 1 Tim. iii. 16, see above, p. 473-4.)

283. ( = Act. 241). Messina p k z (i.e. 127) [xii.], chart. foll. 224. Mut. begins at Acts viii. 2,—ends at Hebr. viii. 2; also a leaf is lost between foll. 90 and 91. Has ὑποθθ. and Commentary of an unknown author.

284. ( = Act. 195). Modena, ii. a. 13 [xiii.?], Mut. at the end.

285. ( = Act. 196), Modena, ii. cf. 4 [xi. or xii.]. Sig. Ant. Cappelli (sub-librarian) sends me a tracing of 1 Tim. iii. 16.

286. Ambrosian library, e. 2, inf.the Catena of Nicetas. “Textus particulatim præmittit Commentariis.”

287. Ambrosian a. 241, inf., “est Catena ejusdem auctoris ex initio, sed non complectitur totum opus.”

288. Ambrosian d. 541 inf. [x. or xi.] membr. Text and Catena on all S. Paul's Epp. “Textus continuatus. Catena in marginibus.” It was brought from Thessaly.

289. Milan c. 295 inf. [x. or xi.] membr. with a Catena. “Textus continuatus. Catena in marginibus.”

290. ( = Evan. 622. Act. 242. Apoc. 110). Crypta Ferrata, a. α. i. [xiii. or xiv.] foll. 386: chart. a beautiful codex of the entire N. T. described by Rocchi, p. 1-2. Menolog. Mut. 1 Nov. to 16 Dec.

291. ( = Act. 243). Crypta Ferrata, a. β. i. [x.] foll. 139: in two columns,—letters almost uncial. Particularly described by Rocchi, pp. 15, 16. Zacagni used this codex when writing about Euthalius. Mut., beginning with the argument for 1 S. John and ending with 2 Tim.

†292. ( = Act. 244). Crypta Ferrata, a. β. iii. [xi. or xii.]. Membr., foll. 172. in 2 columns beautifully illuminated: described by Rocchi, p. 18-9. Zacagni employed this codex while treating of Euthalius. Menolog.

293. ( = Act. 245). Crypta Ferrata, a. β. vi. [xi.], foll. 193. Mut. at the end, Described by Rocchi, p. 22-3.

294. ( = Act. 246). Vat. 1208. Abbate Cozzi-Luzi confirms Berriman's account [p. 98-9] of the splendour of this codex. It is written in gold letters, and is said to have belonged to Carlotta, Queen of Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Armenia, who died at Rome a.d. 1487, and probably gave the book to Pope Innocent VIII., whose arms are printed at the beginning. It contains effigies of S. Luke, S. James, S. Peter, S. John, S. Jude, S. Paul.

295. ( = Act 247). Palatino-Vat. 38 [xi.] membr. foll. 35. Berriman (p. 100) says it is of quarto size, and refers it to the IXth cent.

296. Barberini iv. 85 (olim 19), dated a.d. 1324. For my knowledge of this codex I am entirely indebted to Berriman, who says that it contains “the arguments and marginal scholia written” (p. 102).

[pg 524]

297. Barberini, vi. 13 (olim 229), membr. [xi.] foll. 195: contains S. Paul's 14 Epp. This codex also was known to Berriman, who relates (p. 102), that it is furnished “with the old marginal scholia.”

298. (= Act. 248), Berlin (Hamilton: No 625 in the English printed catalogue, where it is erroneously described as a “Lectionarium.”) It contains Acts, Cath. Epp. and S. Paul,—as Dr. C. de Boor informs me.

299. (= Act. 249), Berlin, 4to. 40 [xiii.]: same contents as the preceding.

300. (= Act. 250), Berlin, 4to. 43 [xi.], same contents as the preceding, but commences with the Psalms.

301. (= Act. 251), Berlin, 4to. 57 [xiv.], chart. Same contents as Paul 298.

302. (= Evan. 642. Act. 252.) Berlin, 8vo. 9 [xi.], probably once contained all the N. T. It now begins with S. Luke XXIV. 53, and is mut. after 1 Thess.

303. Milan, n. 272 inf. “Excerpti loci.”

304. (= Act. 253) Vat. 369 [xiv.] foll. 226, chart.

305. Vat. 549, membr. [xii.] foll. 380. S. Paul's Epistles, with Theophylact's Commentary.

306. Vat. 550, membr. [xii.] foll. 290; contains Romans with Comm. of Chrysostom.

307. Vat 551, membr. [x.] foll. 283. A large codex, containing some of S. Paul's Epp. with Comm. of Chrysostom.

308. Vat. 552, membr. [xi.] foll. 155. Contains Hebrews with Comm. of Chrysostom.

309. Vat. 582, membr. [xiv.] foll. 146. S. Paul's Epistles with Comm. of Chrysostom.

310. Vat. 646 [xiv.], foll. 250: “cum supplementis.” Chart. S. Paul's Epp. with Comm. of Theophylact and Euthymius. Pars i. et ii.

311. (= Evan. 671). Vat. 647. Chart. foll. 338 [xv.]. S. Paul's Epistles and the Gospels, with Theophylact's Commentary.

312. Vat. 648, written a.d. 1232, at Jerusalem, by Simeon, “qui et Saba dicitur:” foll. 338, chart. S. Paul's Epistles, with Comm. of Theophylact.

313. (= Act. 239). Vat. 652, chart. [xv.] foll. 105. The Acts and Epistles with Commentary. See the Preface to Theophylact, ed. 1758, vol. iii. p. v.-viii., also “Acts 239” in Scrivener's 3rd. edit. (p. 263).

314. Vat. 692, membr. [xii.] foll. 93, mut. Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, with Commentary.

315. Vat. 1222, chart. [xvi.] foll. 437. S. Paul's Epp. with Theophylact's Comm.

316. (= Act. 255). Vat. 1654, membr. [x. or xi.], foll. 211. Acts and Epistles of S. Paul with Chrysostom's Comm.

317. Vat. 1656, membr. [xii.], foll. 182. Hebrews with Comm. of Chrysostom, folio.

318. Vat. 1659, membr. [xi.] foll. 444. S. Paul's Epp. with Comm. of Chrysostom.

319. Vat. 1971 (Basil 10) membr. [x.] foll. 247. Ἐπιστολαὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων σὺν τοῖς τοῦ Εὐθαλίου.

320. Vat. 2055 (Basil 94), membr. [x.] foll. 292. S. Paul's Epp. with Comm. of Chrysostom.

[pg 525]

321. Vat. 2065 (Basil 104), [x.] membr. foll. 358. Romans with Comm. of Chrysostom.

322. (= Act. 256) Vat. 2099 (Basil 138) membr. foll. 120 [x.]. Note that though numbered for the Acts, this code only contains ἐπιστολαὶ ιδ᾽ καὶ καθολικαὶ, σὺν ταῖς σημειώσεσι λειτουργικαῖς περὶ τῶν ἡμερῶν ἐν αἷς λεκτέαι.

323. Vat. 2180 [xv.] foll. 294, chart. With Comm. of Theophylact.

324. Alexand. Vat. 4 [x.] foll. 256, membr. “Optimæ notæ.” Romans with Comm. of Chrysostom, λογ. κβ᾽. “Fuit monasterii dicti τοῦ Περιβλέπτου.”

325. (= Evan. 698. Apoc. 117). Alexand. Vat. 6. chart. foll. 336 [xvi.], a large codex. The Gospels with Comm. of Nicetas: S. Paul's Epp. with Comm. of Theophylact: Apocalypse with an anonymous Comm.

326. Vat. Ottob. 74 [xv.] foll. 291, chart. Romans with Theodoret's Comm.

327. Palatino-Vat. 10 [x.] membr. foll. 268. S. Paul's Epp. with a Patristic Commentary. “Felkman adnotat.”

328. Palatino-Vat. 204 [x.] foll. 181, cum additamentis. With the interpretation of Œcumenius.

329. Palatino-Vat. 325 [x.] membr. foll. 163, mut. Inter alia adest εἰς ἐπιστ. πρὸς Τιμόθεον ὁμιλεῖαι τινες Χρυσοστόμου.

330. Palatino-Vat. 423 [xii.], partly chart. Codex miscell. habet ἐπιστολῶν πρὸς Κολασσαεῖς καὶ Θεσσαλονικεῖς περικοπὰς σὺν τῇ ἑρμηνείᾳ.

331. Angelic. t. 8, 6 [xii.] foll. 326. S. Paul's Epp. with Comm. of Chrysostom.

332. (= Act. 259). Barberini iii. 36 (olim 22): membr. foll. 328 [xi.]. Inter alia ἐπιτομαὶ κεφαλ. τῶν Πράξεων καὶ ἐπιστολῶν τῶν ἁγ. ἀποστόλων.

333. (= Act. 260). Barberini iii. 10 (olim 259) chart. foll. 296 [xiv.]. Excerpta ἐκ Πράξ. (f. 152): Ἰακώβου (f. 159): Πέτρου (f. 162): Ἰωάνν. (f. 165): Ἰούδ. (f. 166): πρὸς Ρωμ. (f. 167): πρὸς Κορ. (f. 179): πρὸς Κολ. (fol. 189): πρὸς Θεσς. (f. 193): πρὸς Τιμ. α᾽ (def. infin.).

334. Barb. v. 38 (olim 30) [xi.] foll. 219, mut. Hebrews with Comm. of Chrysostom.

335. Vallicell. f. [xv.], chart. miscell. Inter alia, εἰς τὰς ἐπιστολὰς τῶν Ἀποστόλων ἐξηγήσεις τινες.

336. (= Act. 261), Casanatensis, g. 11, 6.—Note, that though numbered for “Acts,” it contains only the Catholic Epp. and those of S. Paul with a Catena.

337. Ottob. 328. [All I know as yet of this and of the next codex is that Θεός is read in both at 1 Tim. iii. 16].

338. Borg. f. vi. 16. [See note on the preceding.]

Additional copies of the “Apostolus.”

82. Messina ΠΓ (i.e. 83) foll. 331, 8vo. Perfect.

83. Crypta Ferrata, a. β. iv. [x.] membr. foll. 139, Praxapostolus. Rocchi gives an interesting account of this codex, pp. 19-20. It seems to be an adaptation of the liturgical use of C P. to the requirements of the Basilian monks in the Calabrian Church. This particular codex is mut. in the beginning and at the end. (For its extraordinary reading at 1 Tim. iii. 16, see above, p. 473-4).

[pg 526]

84. Crypta Ferrata, Α. β. v. [xi.], membr. foll. 245, a most beautiful codex. Rocchi describes it carefully, pp. 20-2. At the end of the Menology is some liturgical matter. “Patet Menologium esse merum ἀπόγραφον alicujus Menologii CPtani, in usum. si velis, forte redacti Ecclesiae Rossanensis in Calabria.” A suggestive remark follows that from this source “rituum rubricarumque magnum segetem colligi posse, nec non Commemorationem Sanctorum mirum sane numerum, quas in aliis Menologiis vix invenies.”

85. Crypta Ferrata Α. β. vii. [xi.] membr. foll. 64, Praxapostolus. This codex and the next exhibit ὅς ἐφανερώθη in 1 Tim. iii. 16. The Menology is mut. after 17 Dec.

86. Crypta Ferrata Α. β. viii. [xii. or xiii.] fragments of foll. 127. membr. Praxapostolus. (See the preceding.) Interestingly described by Rocchi, p. 23-4.

87. Crypta Ferrata Α. β. ix. [xii.], foll. 104, membr. Praxapostolus. Interestingly described by Rocchi, p. 24-5. The Menology is unfortunately defective after 9th November.

88. Crypta Ferrata, Α. β. x. [xiii.?] membr. 16 fragmentary leaves. “Vere lamentanda est quæ huic Eclogadio calamitas evenit” (says the learned Rocchi, p. 25), “quoniam ex ejus residuis, multa Sanctorum nomina reperies quæ alibi frustra quæsieris.”

89. Crypta Ferrata Α. β. xi. [xi.] membr. foll. 291, mut., written in two columns. The Menology is defective after 12 June, and elsewhere. Described by Rocchi, p. 26.

90. (= Evst. 322) Crypta Ferrata, Α. β. ii. [xi.] membr. foll. 259, with many excerpts from the Fathers, fully described by Rocchi, p. 17-8, fragmentary and imperfect.

91. (= Evst. 323) Crypta Ferrata, Α. δ. ii. [x.] membr. foll. 155, a singularly full lectionary. Described by Rocchi, p. 38-40.

92. (= Evst. 325) Crypta Ferrata, Α. δ. iv. [xiii.] membr. foll. 257, a beautiful and interesting codex, “Calligrapho Joanne Rossanensi Hieromonacho Cryptæferratæ”: fully described by Rocchi, p. 40-3. Like many other in the same collection, it is a palimpsest.

93. (= Evst. 327) Crypta Ferrata, Α. δ. vi. [xiii.] membr. foll. 37, mut. at beginning and end, and otherwise much injured: described by Rocchi, p. 45-6.

94. (= Evst. 328) Crypta Ferrata, Α. δ. ix. [xii.], membr. foll. 117, mut. at beginning and end.

95. (= Evst. 334) Crypta Ferrata, Α. δ. xx. [xii.] membr. foll. 21, a mere fragment. (Rocchi, p. 51.)

96. (= Evst. 337) Crypta Ferrata, Α. δ. xxiv. A collection of fragments. (Rocchi, p. 53.)

97. (= Evst. 339) Crypta Ferrata, Γ. β. ii. [xi.] membr. foll. 151, elaborately described by Rocchi, p. 244-9. This codex once belonged to Thomasius.

98. (= Evst. 340) Crypta Ferrata, Γ. β iii. [xiv.] membr. foll. 201. Goar used this codex: described by Rocchi, p. 249-51.

99. (= Evst. 341) Crypta Ferrata, Γ. β. vi. [xiii. or xiv.], membr. foll. 101: described by Rocchi, p. 255-7.

[pg 527]

100. (= Evst. 344) Crypta Ferrata, Γ. β. ix. [xvi.], membr. foll. 95, mut. at beginning and end, and much injured.

101. (= Evst. 346) Crypta Ferrata, Γ. β. xii. [xiv.], membr. foll. 98, mut. at beginning and end.

102. (= Evst. 347) Crypta Ferrata, Γ. β. xiii. [xiii.] membr. foll. 188: written by John of Rossano, Hieromonachus of Cryptaferrata, described by Rocchi, p. 265-7.

103. (= Evst. 349) Crypta Ferrata, Γ. β. xv. [xi. to xiv.] membr. foll. 41.—Described p. 268-9.

104. (= Evst. 350) Crypta Ferrata, Γ. β. xvii. [xvi.]. Chart. foll. 269. Described, p. 269-70.

105. (= Evst. 351), Crypta Ferrata, Γ. β. xviii. [xiv.] chart. foll. 54.

106. (= Evst. 352) Crypta Ferrata, Γ. β. xix. [xvi.] chart., foll. 195, described p. 271.

107. (= Evst. 353) Crypta Ferrata, Γ. β. xxiii. [xvii.], membr. foll. 75,—the work of Basilius Falasca, Hieromonachus, and head of the monastery, a.d. 1641,—described p. 273-4.

108. (= Evst. 354) Crypta Ferrata, Γ. β. xxiv. [xvi.] chart. foll. 302,—the work of Lucas Felix, head of the monastery; described, p. 274-5.

109. (= Evst. 356) Crypta Ferrata, Γ. β. xxxviii. [xvii.]. chart. foll. 91, the work of “Romanus Vasselli” and “Michael Lodolinus.”

110. (= Evst. 357) Crypta Ferrata, Γ. β. xlii. [xvi.] chart. foll. 344.

111. (= Evst. 358) Crypta Ferrata, Δ. β. xxii. [xviii.] chart. foll. 77,—described foll. 365-6.

112. (= Evst. 312) Messina, membr. in 8vo. foll. 60 [xiii.],—“fragmentum parvi momenti.”

113. Syracuse (“Seminario”) chart. foll. 219, mut. given by the Cav. Landolina.

114. (= Evan. 155) Alex. Vat.

115. [I have led Scrivener into error by assigning this number (Apost. 115) to “Vat. 2068 (Basil 107).” See above, p. 495, note 1. I did not advert to the fact that “Basil 107” had already been numbered “Apost. 49.”]

116. Vat. 368 (Praxapostolus) [xiii.] foll. 136, membr.

117. (= Evst. 381) Vat. 774 [xiii.], foll. 160, membr.

118. (= Evst. 387) Vat. 2012 (Basil 51), foll. 211 [xv.] chart.

119. Vat. 2116 (Basil 155) [xiii.] foll. 111.

120. Alexand. Vat. 11 (Praxapostolus), [xiv.] membr. foll. 169.

121. (= Evst. 395) Alexand. Vat. 59 [xii.] foll. 137.

122. Alexand. Vat. 70, a.d. 1544, foll. 18: “in fronte pronunciatio Græca Latinis literis descripta.”

123. (= Evst. 400) Palatino-Vat. 241 [xv.] chart. foll. 149.

124. (= Evst. 410) Barb. iii. 129 (olim 234) chart. [xiv.] foll. 189.

125. Barb. iv. 11 (olim 193), a.d. 1566, chart. foll. 158, Praxapostolus.

126. Barb. iv. 60 (olim 116) [xi.] foll. 322, a fine codex with menologium. Praxapostolus.

127. Barb. iv. 84 (olim 117) [xiii.] foll. 185, with menologium. Mut.

[pg 528]

128. Paris, Reg. Greek, 13, membr. [xiii. or xiv.], a huge folio of Liturgical Miscellanies, consisting of between 6 and 900 unnumbered leaves. (At the σαββ. πρὸ των φωτων, line 11, θς ἐφα.) Communicated by the Abbé Martin.

Postscript (Nov. 1883.)

It will be found stated at p. 495 (line 10 from the bottom) that the Codices (of “Paul” and “Apost.”) which exhibit Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη amount in all to 289.

From this sum (for the reason already assigned above), one must be deducted, viz., “Apost. 115.”

On the other hand, 8 copies of “Paul” (communicated by the Abbate Cozza-Luzi) are to be added: viz. Vat. 646 (Paul 310): 647 (Paul 311): 1971 (Paul 319). Palat. Vat. 10 (Paul 327): 204 (Paul 328). Casanat. g. 11, 16 (Paul 336). Ottob. 328 (Paul 337). Borg. f. vi. 16 (Paul 338). So that no less than 260 out of 262 cursive copies of St. Paul's Epistle,—[not 252 out of 254, as stated in p. 495 (line 21 from the bottom)],—are found to witness to the Reading here contended for. The enumeration of Codices at page 494 is therefore to be continued as follows:—310, 311, 319, 327, 328, 336, 337, 338.

To the foregoing are also to be added 4 copies of the “Apostolus,” viz. Vat. 2116 (Apost. 119). Palat. Vat. 241 (Apost. 123). Barb. iv. 11 [olim 193] (Apost. 125). Paris, Reg. Gr. 13 (Apost. 128).

From all which, it appears that, (including copies of the “Apostolus,”) the codices which are known to witness to ΘΕῸΣ ἘΦΑΝΕΡΏΘΗ in 1 Tim. iii. 16, amount [289-1+8+4] to exactly three hundred.

[pg 529]

Index I, of Texts of Scripture,—quoted, discussed, or only referred to in this volume.

Note, that an asterisk (*) distinguishes references to the Greek Text from references to the English Translation. [Where either the Reading of the Original, or the English Translation is largely discussed, the sign is doubled (** or ++).]

Genesis ii. 4, 119

10, 180

iii. 7, 180

v. 1, 119

xviii. 14, 183

Exodus x. 21-23, 61

Leviticus iv. 3, 183

Deut. xxxiv. 1-12, 48

Judges iv. 13, 181

2 Sam. vii. 2, 3, 192

1 Kings viii. 17, 18, 192

1 Chron. xvii. 1, 2, 192

2 Chron. xxiv. 8, 10, 11, 201

Job xxxviii. 2, 235

Psalms xxxiii. 18, 185

xlv. 6, 182

lxxxiii. 9, 181

Isaiah xiv. 15, 56

lvii. 15, 185

liii. 9, 467

Jeremiah xv. 9, 64

Amos viii. 9, 64

Zecharia xi. 12, 150

Apocrypha—Baruch iii. 38 [or 37] 177*

S. Matt. i. (genealogy), 167+

1, 119-21+

3, 7, 10, 12, 186+

18, 119-22+**, 204+, 224+

21, 165+, 184+

22, 173+

23, 186

25, 123-4**+, 311*, 315*, 416*, 417

ii. 1, 156+

2, 155+

4, 156+

5, 173+

6, 7, 156+

9, 155+

11, 12, 13, 156+

15, 155+

16, 146+

17, 156+

22, 167+

23, 156+, 157+, 184+

iii. 5, 184+

6, 175+

10, 164+

15, 193+

16, 175+

iv. 3, 511+

11, 193+

13, 15, 186

18, 184+

18, 20, 21, 180+

v. 15, 141+

22, 141+, 180+, 317*, 358-61**

23, 161+

37, 214+

39, 129+, 214+

40, 193+

44, 410-1**, 412

vi. 8, 317*

12, 163+

12, 14, 15, 193+

13, 105, 311*, 316*

[pg 530]

vi. 29, 167+

30, 167+

vii. 4, 193+

9, 168+

28, 199+

viii. 3, 153+

4, 259

8, 511+

13, 316*

19, 183+

ix. 2, 32

3, 33

5, 32

6, 259

9, 141+

17, 148+

ix. 18, 183+

23, 148+

33, 33

x. 8, 108*

9, 201+

21, 511+

35, 317*

xi. 11, 128+, 166+

23, 54-56**, 217*

29, 317*

xii. 24, 27, 317*

29, 143+, 168+

38, 204+

40, 128+

43, 164+

47, 311*, 315*

xiii. 3, 164+

5, 154+

19, 38, 214+

32, 164+

35, 316*

36, 195++

xiv. 2, 141+

2, 3, 13, 68

15, 22, 23, 195+

22, 154+

30, 71*, 317*

31, 153+

xv. 14, 361

32, 39, 195+

xvi. 2, 3, 105, 311*, 316*

7, 159+

12, 199+

17, 181

21, 317*

xvii. 15, 205++

20, 139*+, 317*

21, 91-2**, 206**, 217+, 311*, 317*, 417

22, 176*+, 317*

24, 147+, 150

25, 146+

27, 128+, 147+

xviii. 6, 181+

11, 92**, 311*, 315*, 417

17, 164+

35, 143+

xix. 17, 105, 139*+, 217, 316*

xx. 15, 168+

20, 193+, 512+

21, 512+

34, 153+

xxi. 1-3, 57

2, 154+

8, 59, 61, 145+

28, 178+

31, 316*

xxii. 9, 141+

33, 199+

xxiii. 35, 316*

xxiv. 3, 178+

xxv. 18, 27, 148+

39, 167+

46, 207+

xxvi. 3, 143+

7, 200++

15, 149-150++

22, 128+

24, 173+

36, 182+, 210*

48, 203+

53, 168+

69, 183+

74, 154

xxvii. 34, 315*

37, 87

45, 61, 64

46, 159+

49, 33-4*, 309*, 315*

50, 193+

60, 162+, 198++

61, 88

[pg 531]

xxvii. 61, 64, 66, 198+

xxviii. 1, 198+

2, 162+

19, 174+, 316*

20, 182+

S. Mark i. 1, 132**, 135, 316*

8, 204+

9, 174+, 175+

13, 165+

16, 184+

16, 18, 19, 180+

18, 193+, 194+

22, 199+

23, 172+

27, 105, 139+

28, 316*

44, 259

ii. 1-12, 30-33**

11, 259

21, 139*+, 148+

22, 148+

iii. 5, 141+

14, 16, 316*

27, 143+

29, 139*+

iv. 13, 170+

29, 178+

36, 145+, 195+

v. 31, 402*

36, 139*+, 316*

43, 511*

vi. 11, 118, 137-8**, 409-10**, 412*

14, 16, 68

16, 70

17, 68

20, 66-69**, 315*, 417

22, 68, 315*

24, 25, 68

27, 147+

29, 167+

30, 32, 68

33, 258*

36, 45, 195+

vii. 8, 194+

27, 179+

31, 315*

33, 35, &c., 180+

viii. 7, 511+

viii. 9, 195+

23, 143+

26, 259*

ix. 1, 316*

18, 20, 22, 26, 205+

23, 139*+, 217*

23, 24, 29, 69-71*

38, 260*

39, 169+

42, 181

44, 46, 510

49, 260*

x. 17-31, 326-31**

21, 217*, 510*

35, 37, 512*

44, 46, 105

xi. 1-6, 57

3, 56-58**, 217*, 417

4, 182+

6, 193+

8, 58-61**, 418, 439*

26, 217*

xii. 37, 146+

42, 183+

xiii. 19, 160+

32, 210**

xiv. 3, 200++, 184-5++*

6, 193+

8, 185

11, 150

30, 71**

30, 68, 72, 316*

32, 182+

50, 194+

65, 139*

68, 141+, 316*

72, 316*

xv. 8, 139*, 191+

31, 167+

33, 61

39, 71-2**

47, 89

xvi. 9-20, 33, 36-40**, 47-9**, 51*, 281-4*, 311*, 317*, 418, 419, 422-4**, 519*

17, 20, 204+

19, 470

S. Luke i. 15, 180+, 204+

[pg 532]

26, 316*

37, 183+

42, 139*+

51, 172+

78, 179+

ii. 9, 144+

12, 203+

14, 41-7**, 51, 139+, 316*, 340-1**, 418, 419, 420-2**, 519*

29, 178+

33, 161+

38, 144+

iii. 3, 184+

9, 164+

20, 68

22, 115**

iv. 1, 218-219*+

3, 403*+, 511+

7, 8, 17, 18, 21, 23, 27, 35, 403*+

29, 129+, 403+*

32, 199+

38, 43, 404*+

39, 144

44, 315*, 404*+

v. 2, 180+

4, 141+, 162+

5, 159+

9, 128+, 352

13, 153+

18, 19, 32

20, 32

21, 33

36, 139+

37, 148+

39, 110

vi. 1 (δευτ.) 73-5**, 311*, 316*

1 (ἤσθ.) 93-4*

6, 129+

35, 146+

38, 352

39, 235

48, 110, 315*

vii. 7, 511*

17, 172+

37, 200++

viii. 35-44, 16-7**

45-6, 401-3**+

46, 158+

ix. 7, 66-9**, 405*

7, 8, 68

10, 68, 260-1*

12, 195+

31, 184+

39, 42, 205+

54-6, 311*, 315*, 511*

55, 56, 93*, 217, 418

x. 1, 316*

10, 68

11, 128+

15, 54-6**, 418

20, 128+

40, 144+

41, 42, 116-117* , 311*

41 to xi. 11, 510*

42, 315*

xi. 2-4, 34-6**, 418

4, 163+, 317*

11, 179+

15, 18, 19, 317*

21, 143+

54, 261*

xii. 2, 169+

18, 261*

39, 194+

45, 195-6++

xiv. 1, 179+

21, 169+

xv. 16, 181+

16, 17, 139+*

17, 407*+

21, 315*

22, 180+

23, 405*

31, 178+

xvi. 3, 159+

9, 139+*

11, 180+

12, 316*

21, 139+*

xvii. 2, 181+

xviii. 7, 169+

xix. 10, 92

18, 406*+

23, 169+

29, 184+

[pg 533]

29-34, 33, 57

xix., xx., 94-5**

xx. 1, 144+

25, 406*+

44, 170+

xxi. 24, 316*

34, 144+

37, 184+

xxii. 5, 6, 150

19, 20 to xxiv. 53 75-7*

19, 20, 78-9**

22, 173+

43-4, 75, 76, 79-82**, 131, 281*, 311*, 316*, 340**, 411*

60, 154

64, 511*

xxiii. 8, 204+

17, 75, 76, 311*

23, 25, 191+

32, 317*

33, 165+

34, reverse of title, 75, 76, 82-5**, 131, 281-3*, 311*, 316*, 411*

38, 75, 76, 85-8**, 281-3, 311*, 418, 511*

42, 72*

45, 61-5**, 315* 419

55, 88-9**

xxiv. 1, 75, 76, 88-9**

3, 76

4, 144+

6, 76

7, 96-7**

9, 76

10, 89

12, 76, 89-90**, 281-3*, 311*

13, 316*

17, 105, 139*+

36, 40, 76, 90-1**

41, 93*

42, 76, 511*

44, 407*+

51, 76, 281-3*, 470

52, 76

53, 76, 261-2*

S. John i. 1, 469

3, 132*+, 135, 174+

3, 10, 174

4, 316*

9, 180+

10, 174+

13, 347

14, 178+

18, 182+, 315*

34, 316*

42, 181+*

ii. 3, 316*

iii. 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 347

13, 132-5**, 311*, 315*, 510*

iv. 6, 145

15, 407-8**+

v. 2, 5-6**

3, 4, 282-3, 311*, 316*

34, 105

vi. 4, 353**, 354*

21, 154+

29, 160+

32, 180+

33, 142+

51, 316*

70, 164+

vii. 39, 316*

53 to viii. 11, 311*

ix. 4, 139+*, 316*

5, 142+

11, 140+*, 316*

35, 315*

38, 316*

x. 14, 220-1**+, 315*

32, 160+

39, 142+

xi. 12, 141+

27, 163+

xii. 3, 184-5*++

6, 201+

7, 139*+, 185

41, 140*+

43, 142+

xiii. 10, 141+, 316*

12, 145+

14, 164+

21-6, 105

[pg 534]

24, 316*

24-5, 145*+

29, 201+

xiv. 4, 72-3*+, 141+, 419

5, 9, 170+

10, 14, 140+*

18, 163+

22, 142+

xv. 1, 180+

15, 179+

20, 352

26, 451*

xvi. 13, 335

15, 210

16, 17, 19, 163+

21, τ 164+

23, 140*+

32, 169+

xvii. 4, 140*+

4, 6, 158+

11, 352

11, 12, 140*+

14, 158+

24, 217-8**+

25, 158+

xviii. 1, 181+

5, 316*

18, 161+

24, 162+

27, 128+

35, 160+

37, 178+

xix. 16, 128+

18, 87

20, 86

29, 128+

34, 33, 309*

39, 317*

40, 128+, 436

41, 317*

42, 129+

xx. 2, 159+

4, 167+

12, 162+, 165+

13, 159+

16, 140+

28, 469

30, 204+

xxi. 1, 9, 128+

xxi. 12, 15, 142+

15, 162+, 181*+

15, 16, 17, 180+

25, 23-4**, 317

Acts i. 2, 204+

3, 128+

5, 317*

9, 470

18, 153+

19, 316*

23, 150

ii. 22, 173+, 352

43, 173+

iii. 6, 316*

14, 191+

iv. 1, 144+

6, 129+

16, 173+

16, 22, 204+

24, 178+

36, 142+

v. 24, 183+

vi. 7, 129+

12, 144+

15, 129+

vii. 13, 129+

16, 141+

17, 352

45, 186+, 352

46, 191+

viii. 3, 167+

5, 316*

20, 148+

ix. 13, 160+

25, 171+

x. 11, 180+

15, 146+, 160+

17, 144

19, 316*

xi. 5, 180+

11, 144+

12, 146+

16, 143+

17, 142+

xii. 7, 144+

13, 195+

17, 162+

20, 192+

25, 316*

[pg 535]

xiii. 28, 191+

xiv. 9, 161+

xvi. 16, 195+

29, 192+

xvii. 5, 144+

19, 143+

28, 316*

29, 128+

31, 150+, 160+

xviii. 2, 24, 142+

7, 53-4**

xix. 12, 140+

xx. 28, 353-4*

xxi. 37, 149++

xxii. 13, 144+

15, 352

20, 144+

xxiii. 1, 129+

3, 169+

11, 27, 144+

xxv. 13, 316*

xxvi. 28, 29, 151-2*++

xxvii. 14, 176+

26, 167+

37, 51-3**, 316*

xxviii. 1, 177-8**+

2, 144+

3, 177+

4, 160+

11, 147+

13, 317*

Rom. i. 7, 127*

7-xiii. 1, 440*

20, 207+

iii. 22, 167+

29, 168+

iv. 8, 315*

v. 5, 204+

vi. 2, 160

3, 168+

vii. 1, 142+, 168+

15, 142-3+

ix. 5., 208++, 210-4**++, 354*, 412*, 469, 510

13, 160

22, 167+

xi. 2, 142+

4, 156+

xii. 6, 167+

xii. 9, 214+

xiv. 4, 167+

15, 143+

xv. 20, 167+

xvi. 23, 127+

25, 143+

25, 26, 464

1 Cor. i. 27, 160

iv. 21, 441*

vi. 20, 160

viii. 6, 174+

ix. 11, 160

x. 1, 167+

xii. 8-10, 166+

20, 167+, 168+

27, 167+

xiii., 201-2++

3, 316*

xiv. 7, 148+

36, 168+

xv. 34, 141+, 178+

44, 142+

55, 142+, 440*

xvi. 12, 164*, 170+

22, 180+

2 Cor. i. 3-7, 189+

4, 352

23, 167+

ii. 12, 167+

iii. 3, 140*+

v. 8, 167+

17, 19, 440*

vi. 11, 440*

12, 153+

13, 167+

15, 153+

viii. 11, 14, 441*

xii. 7, 219-20**+

xiii. 1, 169+

Gal. ii. 4, 167+

16, 146+

iii. 1, 440*

iv. 21-31, 196++

Eph. i. 1., 317*

6, 352

10, 173+

iii. 13, 192+

21, 178+

iv. 1, 167+, 352

[pg 536]

14, 199+

17, 178+

20, 160

29, 178+

vi. 16, 214+

Phil. i. 1, 129+

8, 153+

15, 139+

18, 128+

ii. 6, 143+

10, 513*

23, 146+

iii. 16, 128+

iv. 3, 440*

Col. i. 9, 192+

16, 172+, 174+

23, 441*

27, 497-8*

ii. 8, 128+

18, 355-6**, 140+

22, 23, 441*

iii. 2, 441*

12, 153+

1 Thess. i. 9, 441*

iv. 15, 127+

2 Thess. i. 3, 127+

1 Tim. ii. 2, 489*

10, 440*

17, 440*

19, 439*

iii. 1, 441*

13 to iv. 5, 476

16, 98-106***, 165+, 316*, 353, 419, 424-501***, 515, 519*

iv. 1, 2, 440*

10, 439*

14, 441*

v. 13, 441*

vi. 15, 441*

20, 344

20, 440*

2 Tim. i. 13, 28, 351*

ii. 1, 143+

17, 25, 440*

iii. 6, 441*

16, 208-9++

iv. 3, 164+

17, 166+

18, 215

Titus i. 2, 178+*

2, 3, 143+

4, 143+

7, 128+

7, 9, 164+

13, 439*

ii. 1, 164+

Philemon, ver. 12, 153+

Heb. i. 1, 2, 172+

2, 174+

8, 182

ii. 4, 204+

14, 216

16, 143+

iii. 19, 169+

iv. 8, 162+, 186+

vi. 2, 199+

viii. 2, 180+

ix. 24, 180+

x. 21, 183+

xi. 17, 160+, 161+

17, 28, 163+

26, 146+

28, 160+

35, 143+

38, 141+

xii. 2, 146+

9, 164+

14, 164+

18, 178+

xiii. 9, 199+

S. James i. 11, 163+, 170+

15, 164+

17, 317*

17, 18, 217+

ii. 2, 3, 190+

6, 160+

11, 511*

16, 128+

19, 148+

iii. 3, 140+

5, 143+

11, 164+

iv. 1, 143+

7, 129+

v. 16, 141+

1 S. Peter i. 5, 141+

[pg 537]

23, 216*

ii. 2, 179+

22, 467

iii. 20, 178+

v. 9, 129+

13, 129+, 141+

2 S. Peter i. 5-7, 174+, 400

20, 179+

ii. 15, 142

22, 106, 335

iii. 7, 178+

10, 355-6**

13, 167+

1 S. John i. 2, 169+

3, 167+

ii. 14, 160*

22, 164+

27, 169+

29, 347

iii. 4, 143+

8, 129+, 216

9, 347

15, 359

17, 153+

iv. 3, 6, 127+

7, 347

14, 129+

19, 140+

v. 1, 347

2, 127+, 129+

4, 347

6, 164+

7, 483

12, 164+

18, 347-50**

20, 469

3 S. John 1, 129+

14, 154+

S. Jude 1, 129+

5, 140+

6, 207+

14, 178+

18, 129+

Rev. ii. 5, 143+

iii. 2, 140+

iv. 6, 143+

v. 12, 143+

vi. 9, 127+

viii. 13, 183+

ix. 13, 183+

xiii. 18, 135-7**

xiv. 6, 165+

14, 165+

19, 172+

xv. 6, 140+

xvi. 17, 172+, 199++

xvii. 1, 200++

xviii. 21, 183+

22, 148+

xix. 6, 129+, 162+

17, 183+

21, 129+

xxii. 18, 19, 1

19, 409

[pg 538]

Index II, of Fathers.

Fathers referred to, or else quoted(*), in this volume. For the chief Editions employed, see the note at p. 121.

Acta Apostt. (Syriac), 40, 62, 84, 423

Philippi, 84

Pilati, 45, 62, 84, 423

Alcimus Avit., 213

Ambrosius, 24, 40, 73, 79, 85, 87, 90, 91, 92, 123, 132, 133, 213, 215*, 218, 410, 423

Ammonius, 23, 29, 88*, 89, 91

Amphilochius, 133, 213 [ed. Combefis]

ps. ----, 85

Anaphora Pilati, 62

Anastasius Ant., 213 [ed. Migne]

Sin., 44, 81, 84, 421 [ed. Migne]

Andreas Cret., 23, 44, 84, 421 [ed. Combefis]

Anonymous, 43, 100, 102

Antiochus mon., 84, 360 [ed. Migne]

Aphraates, 40, 43, 133, 421, 423

Apostolical, see “Constitutiones.”

Archelaus (with Manes), 84

Arius, 80

Athenagoras, 410

Athanasius, 44, 62, 64, 80, 84, 90, 91, 121, 122, 123, 133, 212, 220, 359

ps. ——, 133, 402, 475

Augustinus, 24, 40, 81, 85, 90, 91, 92, 116*, 123, 132, 133, 213, 356, 360, 410, 423, 500*

Barnabas, 103*, 463*

Basilius M., 44, 79, 84, 91, 102*, 108, 122, 123, 133, 210*, 212, 218, 219, 360, 402, 464*

—— Cil., 133

—— Sel., 43, 421

Breviarium, 213

Capreolus, 133

Cassianus, 81, 133, 213, 348, 411 [ed. 1611]

Cælestinus, 218

Cæsarius, 212, 215*

ps. ——, 55, 74, 81

Catena (Cramer's), 353

Chromatius, 348

Chronicon Paschale, 40, 74, 353 [ed. Du Fresne]

Chrysostomus, 5, 23, 26, 27, 40, 43, 44, 53, 55, 62*, 71*, 72, 74, 80, 84, 90, 91, 92, 99, 101*, 108, 121, 122, 123, 133, 151*, 152*, 177, 212, 218, 219, 220, 353, 356, 360, 402, 410, 421, 423, 457

ps. ——, 85, 90, 133, 218, 360, 402, 427

Clemens, Alex., 115, 121, 208*, 218, 327, 336*, 410

—— Rom, 38*

—— —— (Syriac), 91

Clementina, 84

Concilia [ed. Labbe et Cossart] passim.

Constitutiones Apostolicæ, 43, 84, 212, 360, 410, 421, 423, 463*

Cosmas Indicopleustes, 44, 63, 133, 421 [ed. Montfaucon]

—— ep. Maiumæ, 44, 421

Cramer, see Catena.

Cyprianus, 213, 218, 359

[pg 539]

Cyrillus Alex., 5, 23, 43, 55, 62, 79, 80, 84, 86, 89, 90, 96, 102*, 103, 121, 122, 132, 133, 163, 213, 218, 219, 220, 353, 356, 360, 402, 410, 421, 423, 427, 428*, 464-469**

—— Hieros, 43, 62, 72, 123, 151*, 177, 421, 470

Damascenus, see “Johannes.”

Damasus, P. 92

Dialogus, 208*, 402

Didymus, 5, 40, 43, 80, 101, 122, 123, 133, 212, 219, 348, 402, 421, 423, 427, 456

Diodorus Tars., 101, 458

Dionysius Alex., 163

ps. —— ——, 23, 80, 101, 133, 212, 462*

ps. —— —— Areop., 80, 84

Eastern Bishops at Ephesus collectively (a.d. 431), 43, 80, 421

Epiphanius, 40, 43, 44, 74, 79, 80, 90, 96, 116, 122, 123, 133, 212, 360, 402, 421, 423, 427

ps. ——, 427

—— diac. Catan. [a.d. 787], 102, 103, 475

Ephraemus Syrus, 43, 62, 64, 80, 82*, 84, 122, 123, 215*, 348, 360, 421

ps. —— ——, 84, 353, 423

Eulogius, 44, 212, 421

Eusebius Cæs., 5, 23, 40, 43, 62*, 72, 80, 84, 86, 87, 88*, 89, 90, 96, 108, 122, 136, 163, 218, 219, 323-324**, 353, 359, 410, 421, 423

—— His Canons, 91

Eustathius, 133, 212

Euthalius, 102, 458, 459-461**

Eutherius, 84, 103, 427

Euthymius Zig., 360, 410, 465, 476* [ed. Matthæi]

Facundus, 81, 213

Faustus, 115

Ferrandus, 213, 500*

Fulgentius, 213, 500*

Gaudentius, 24

Gelasius Cyzic., 100, 213, 479

Gennadius, 80, 213

Germanus CP., 44, 122, 421

Gospel of Nicodemus, 62

Gregentius, 423

Gregorius Nazianz., 23, 43, 73*, 80, 101*, 121, 134, 421, 457

ps —— ——, 163, 220

—— Nyssen., 23, 40, 43, 44, 84, 87, 89, 101*, 123, 134, 208*, 212, 360, 410, 421, 456, 458

—— Thaum., 44, 45, 102*, 463*

Hegesippus, 84

Hesychius, 84, 163, 423

Hieronymus, 24, 40, 41, 63*, 64*, 73*, 79*, 81, 85, 90, 92, 103*, 108, 123*, 133, 213, 348, 356, 359, 360*, 423, 427

Hilarius, 79, 81, 85, 91, 92, 115, 133, 213, 218, 281, 360, 410

Hippolytus, 62, 64, 80, 84, 102*, 133, 136, 212, 353, 423, 463*

Ignatius, 103*, 463*

ps. ——, 84

Johannes Damascenus, 44, 81, 85, 91, 102, 123, 133, 177, 213, 220, 356, 360, 421, 457

—— Thessal., 96, 423

Irenæus, 42, 64*, 80, 84, 122, 132, 212, 220, 353, 356, 359, 409, 420, 423

Isidorus, 23, 74, 123*, 360, 410

Jovius mon., 92

Julian hæret., 80

Julius Africanus, 62*, 64

Justinus Mart., 79, 80, 115, 121, 360, 410, 423

ps. —— ——, 84, 90

Juvencus, 91, 108, 115

Lactantius, 115

Leo ep., 213, 423

—— ap. Sabatier, 41

[pg 540]

Leontius Byz., 81, 213, 423, 480

Liberatus of Carthage, 471-3

Lucifer Calarit, 133, 360, 410

Macarius Magnes, 40, 62*, 220, 423 [ed. 1876]

Macedonius, 470-475**, 102, 103

Malchion, 212

Marcion, 34, 35, 61, 64, 96, 402

Marius Mercator, 133, 213, 423, 468

—— Victorinus, 500*

Martinus P., 421, 473

Maximus, 23, 79, 81, 84

—— Taurin, 91, 133, 213, 219, 220, 360

Methodius, 44, 115, 212 [ed. Combefis]

Modestus Hier., 423

Nestorius, 80, 121, 212, 423, 427

Nicetas, 123

Nilus mon., 62, 359, 410

Nonnus, 23, 133, 218, 353

Novatianus, 133, 213

Œcumenius, 102, 348, 476

Origenes, 23, 41, 43, 58, 60, 62*, 63**, 64, 72, 84, 87, 92, 122*, 133, 136, 163, 208*, 212, 219, 220, 348, 353, 356, 359, 360, 402, 410, 421, 427

Opus imperf., 85, 91

Pacianus, 410

Palladius, the Arian, 213

Pamphilus Cæs., 177

Papias, 423

Paschale, see “Chronicon.”

Patricius, 423

Paulinus, 81

Paulus Emes., 43, 80, 133, 213, 421

Philastrius, 24, 360

Philo, 43, 421

Photius CP., 81, 123, 360

Porphyrius, 132

Proclus CP., 43, 123

Prosper, 423

Salvianus, 360

Sedulius, 24

Severianus Gabal., 132, 212

Severus Ant., 23, 40, 89, 102*, 133, 213, 348, 360, 458

ps. Tatianus, 80, 84, 122, 123, 402 [ed. Moesinger, 1876]

Tertullianus, 62*, 90*, 91, 92, 120, 122, 208*, 213*, 215*, 410, 423

Titus Bostr., 43, 421

Theodoretus, 43, 55, 79, 80, 84, 91, 102, 122, 133, 152*, 213, 218, 219, 220, 336, 356, 360, 410, 421, 456, 458*

Theodorus Herac., 84, 92, 133

—— hæret., 81

—— Mops., 23, 62, 80, 103, 121, 133, 212, 356, 360, 480-482*

—— Studita [ed. Sirmondi], 475

Theodosius Alex., 81

Theodotus Ancyr., 43, 212, 421

—— Gnosticus, 102*

Theophilus Alex., 212

—— Ant., 410

Theophylactus, 102, 147, 348, 360, 410, 476 [ed. Venet. 1755]

Victor Antioch., 23, 40, 66*, 132, 409, 423

Victorinus, 133, 213

Victricius, 218

Vigilius, 133, 348

Vincentius, 423

Zeno, 133

[pg 541]

Index III, Persons, Places, and Subjects.

General Index of Persons, Places, and Subjects referred to in this Volume. But Scriptural References are to be sought in Index I.; and Patristic References, in Index II. 'New Codices' will be found enumerated in the Appendix.

“a,” see “Alexandrinus.”

א and b: see “b,” and “Antiquity.”

א a b c d, in conflict, 12, 13, 14, 16-7, 30-1, 46-7, 75-8, 94-5, 117, 249, 262, 265, 289, 386

“Abutor”, 146

Acacius, Bp. of Melitene, 178

Accident, 50-6

Æthiopic, see “Version.”

ἀγάπη, 201-2

ἀΐδιος, 207

αἰτεῖν, 191-3

αἰών, 182, 208

αἰώνιος, 207

ἀλάβαστρον, 200-1

Alexander (Dr.), Bp. of Derry, 107-8

“Alexandrian” readings, 271-2, 357

Alexandrinus (cod.) (a), 11-17, 345-347, 431-7

ἀληθινός, 180

Alford (Dean), 381, 456, 498

Allocution, 413-5

Alterations, yet not improvements, 139-143

Ammonius, 29

Amos (in S. Matt, i.), 186

ἀμφίβληστρον, 184

Amphilochius, 210

ἄμφοδον, 182

ἀναβάς, 139

ἀναπεσών, 145

Anastasius (Imp.), 472-3

Ancient Authority, see “Ellicott.”

“Ancoratus”, 427

Andrewes, Bp., 500

Antioch, 385, 391

“Antiochian,” see “Syrian.”

“Antiquity”, 333

ἀντίστητε, 129

Anziani (Dr.), 445, 492

Aorist, 158-60, 162

ἀπελπίζοντες, 146

ἀφιέναι, 193-5

Apolinaris, 456, 458

Apollonides, 323-4

ἀπολύειν, 195

ἀποστολοευαγγέλια, 448

“Apostolus”, 446-8, 476-8, 482, 491. See the Appendix.

Aram (in S. Matt. i.), 186

Argument e silentio, 469

Armenian, see Version.

Article, the, 164-5

Articles (Three) in the “Quarterly Review,” their history pref. ix-xiv

ἄρτος, 179

ἀρχαί, 180

Asaph (in S. Matt. i.), 186-7

Asclepiades, 323-4

“Ask” (αἰτεῖν), 171-3

“Assassins”, 147

Assimilation, 32, 65-69

——, proofs of, 66

ἀτενίσαντες, 129

“Attraction”, 351-2

αὐληταί, 148

Authority, (ancient) see “Ellicott.”

αὐτός, 165

[pg 542]

“b,” see “Vaticanus.”

b and א (codd.), sinister resemblance, 12

b and א, 12, 255-7, 315-20, 333, 357, 361, 365, 408, 410

Bandinel (Dr.), 445

“Baptist” Revisers, 504-5

Baptismal Renunciation, 215

Basil to Amphilochius, 210

Basilides, 29

Beckett, Sir Edmund, 38, 222

Belsheim, Dr. J., 444, 453, 493

Bengel (J. A.), 246, 500

Bentley, Dr. R., 432, 467, 499

Berlin (see “De Boor”), 492, 493

Berriman, Dr. J., 432, 433, 446, 468, 474, 480, 500

Bethesda, 5

Beveridge (Bp.), 351, 500

Beyer (Dr.), 477

Bezæ, cod. (d), 11-7, 77-9, 117, 264-5

Birch (Andreas), 246, 383, 467

Blunders, 149, 150, 180, 181;—172, 176, 177, &c.

Bois (John), 228

“Bondmaid”, 196

“Boon”, 217

“Bowls”, 200

“Branch”, 184

Broughton (Hugh), 513

Bull (Bp.), 212, 500

“c,” see “Ephraemi.”

Caius (a.d. 175) on the Text, 323-4

Cambridge, Codex (d), see, Bezæ.

“—— Greek Text”, Pref. xxviii

Capper (S. Herbert), Esq., 492

Cappilli (Sig.), 491-2

Carob tree, 181

Castan (M.), 477

Castiglione, 452

Catalogue of Crypta Ferrata, 447

Cedron, 181

Ceriani (Dr.), 381, 452, 477, 491-2-3. See the Appendix.

Changes (licentious), 127, 403-7

“Charity”, 201-2

χωρίον, 182

Chronicle of Convocation, 507

“Church Quarterly” (1882), Pref. xvi

“Church Quarterly,” (1883), Pref. xvi-xx., xxiv-vii.

Citations, see “Fathers.”

Clemens, Alex., 326-7, 327-31

Codd. b—א—a—c—d, 11-17, 30, 108, 249, 262, 269-71

—— f and g, 438-43

—— Paul 73, 444

—— —— 181, 444-5

—— new, see the Appendix.

Collation of MSS., 125, 246-7;

with the Received Text, 249-50, 262

Complutensian, 391

“Conflate readings”, 258-65

“Conflation” examined, 258-65, 285

“Congregationalist” Revisers, 504-5

Conjectural emendation, 351-7

Consent of copies (see “Fathers”), 454-5

“Conversantibus”, 176

Cook, (Canon), 204-5, 214, 234, 372, 381, 470, 502

Cornelius à Lapide, 473

Corruptions in the N. T., 334-5

Cotelerius, 473

Coxe (Rev. H. O.), 306, 445, 491

Cozza-Luzi (Abbate), 447, 477, 491-2-3, see the Appendix.

Cranbrook, Viscount, page v-viii

Creyk (John), 433

“Crib”, 238

Cross, title on, 85-8

Crux criticorum, the, 98

Crypta Ferrata, 447, 473-4, 478, 521

“d,” see “Bezæ.”

δαιμόνιον, 179

Darkness, 62-4

Dartige (M.), 493

Dated codices, 292

δέ, 167-8

Deane (Rev. H.), 450, 481, 489

De Boor (Dr. C.), 492-3

Definite, see Article.

Delicate distinction, 402

Demoniacal possession, 206

Denis (M.), 493

Derry (Bp. of), see Alexander.

Design, 56-65

δευτερόπρωτον, 73

[pg 543]

“Devil”, 214-6

διά, 170, 173-4, see ὑπό

Dialogue (supposed), 320-8, 328-42

Diatessaron, see “Tatian.”

διδασκαλία, 199

διδάσκαλος, 179

διδαχή, 199

διέρχωμαι, 407

Dionysius Alex., 461-2

Διόσκουροι, 147

Dissertation on 1 Tim. iii. 16 Pref. xxi-iv, 424-501

Divination. See “Verifying faculty.”

“Doctrine” extirpated, 199

δοῦλος, 179

δύναμις, 204

Dublin (Abp. of), see Trench.

ἤ interrogative, 168-9

Ebionite Gospel, 116

Ecclesiastical Tradition, 495

Eclipse, 63-5

Editions of Fathers, 121

ἔγνων, 159

Egyptian, see Version.

ειδε for ιδε, 140

εἰκῆ, 359-61

εἰπεῖν, 511-2

εἶς, 183

ἐκλείποντος, 63-5

ἔλαβον, 139

ἑλληνιστί, 149

Ellicott (Bp. of Gloucester), on the “old uncials”, 14-5

—— on the A. V., 112, 368

—— on “Revision” xlii, 112, 124, 126, 226-8, 368

—— on “Marginal Readings”, 136-7

—— on “Textus Receptus”, 383-8, 389-91

—— on 1 Tim. iii. 16, 428-31

—— on 2 Tim. iii. 16, 209

—— on Textual Criticism, 234

—— on “innocent Ignorance”, 349-50

—— on the Greek Text, 369, 509

—— on “Euthalius”, 460-1

—— his jaunty proposal, 216

—— his Pamphlet Pref. xx-xxii, 369 seq.

Ellicott, his critical knowledge, 370, 376, 385, 430, 457, 459-61, 471-2, Dedication p. viii

—— his requirement anticipated, 371, 397

—— his method of procedure, 372-4, 419-24, 459-61

—— method of his Reviewer, 375-383, 496-7, 517, Pref. xxiv-vii

—— appeals to Modern Opinion, instead of to Ancient Authority, 376-8, 415-6, 438-9, 483-5, 514-5

—— follows Dr. Hort, 391-8, 455, 517-8

—— complains of Injustice, 399, 400-13

—— suggested Allocution, 413-5

—— his defence of the “New Greek Text,” examined 415-9, 419-24

ἐμβατεύων, 140

ἐν, its different renderings, 171-2

ἐν ὀλίγῳ, 151-2

English idiom, 154-5, 158-75

ἐφανερώθη, 427, 468

ἐφιστάναι, 144

Ephraemi cod. (c), 11-17, 325

“Epileptic”, 205-6

ἐπιπεσών, 145

Epiphanius, 427

ἐπιστᾶσα, 144

ἠπόρει [see Scrivener, ed. 3, pp. 581-2], 66-9

Errors (plain and clear), 3, 4, 105, 148, 172, 216, 222-3, 228, 348, 400-1, 430, 496, 512

Escher (Dr.), 493

ἐσκοτίσθη, 61

ἔστησαν, 150

“Eternal”, 207

Eternity, 208

Ethiopic, see “Version.”

Eudocia, 465

“Euraquilo”, 176

εὐρεθήσεται, 356

Euripides (papyrus of), 321-2

“Euroclydon”, 176

Euthalius, 429, 460-1

[pg 544]

Eutherius, 427

εὐθέως, 153-4

Euthymius Zigabenus. See Index II.

“Everlasting”, 207

“Evil One”, 214-6

ἐξελθοῦσαν, 402

ἔξοδος, 184

Exodus, 184

External evidence, 19-20

“f” and “g” (codd.), 257

“Factor of Genealogy”, 256

Farrar, Canon (now Archd.), Pref. xv

Fathers, 121, 125-6, see Index II.

Fell (Bp.), 432

Field (Dr.), 146, 148, 163, 177, 180, 382

Florence, see “Anziani.”

Flute-players, 148

Forstemann (Dr.), 441, 493

Future sense, 163-4

Gabelentz and Loebe, 452

Gandell (Professor), 184

Gardiani (Sig.), 492

γεγεννημένος, 347

Gelasius of Cyzicus, 479, see Index II.

“Genealogical Evidence”, 253

γένεσις and γέννησις, 119-22

γεννηθείς, 347

γένος, 142

Geographical distribution of Patristic Testimony, 45, 134

Gifford (Dr.), 214

γινώσκεις, 149

Gloucester (Bp. of), see “Ellicott.”

γλωσσόκομον, 201

“God blessed for ever”!, 211

Gorresio (Sig.), 492

Gospel incident, 194-5

—— (the Ebionite), 116

—— of the Hebrews, 29

Gothic, see Version.

“Græco-Syrian,” see “Syrian.”

“Great priest”, 182

Green, Rev. T. S., 499

Gregory (Dr. C. R.), 477

Gregory Naz., 73

Griesbach (J. J.), 380, 456, 482, 483

Hall, Bp., 500

Hammond (Dr.), 432, 500

Headings of the Chapters, 223, 412

Hellenistic Greek, 182-4, See “Septuagint.”

Henderson (Dr.), 500

Heracleon, 29

Hermophilus, 323-4

Herodotus, 65

Hesychius, 29, 163

Hilary on μύλος ὀνικός, 281

Hincmar, Abp. of Rheims, 472

Hoerning (Dr.), 453

'Holy Ghost', 204

Hort, Dr., 37, 135, 182, 211, 248, 394, (see Westcott and Hort).

—— hypothesis and system, see reverse of Title-page.

—— his “Introduction” analyzed, 246-69

—— “strong preference” for codd. b and א, 252, 269-271, 298-305, 307-8, 312-14

—— mistaken estimate of b and א, 315-20

—— divining and verifying faculty, 253, 290, 291, 307-8

—— imaginary history of the Traditional Greek Text, 271-88, 296-8

—— antagonism with Patristic Antiquity, 283-5, 298-300

—— fatal dilemma, 292-3

—— Reiteration, 306

—— ultimate appeal to his own individual mind, 307-8

—— “Art of Conjectural Emendation”, 351-7

—— absurd Textual hypothesis, 293-4

—— intellectual peculiarity, 362

—— method of editing the Greek Text, 363

—— Text of the N. T., 364-5

—— often forsaken by Dr. Westcott, 352

Hug (J. L.), 381

[pg 545]

Huish (Alex.), 432

Idiom, see “English.”

ἱερεὺς (ὁ μέγας), 182

Imperfect tense, 161

Incident (unsuspected), 194-5

“Independent” Reviewers, 504-5

“Innocent ignorance” of the Reviewer, 347-9, 411

Inspiration, 208

“Instructions,” see “Revisers.”

Instrumentality (ideas of), 173

Internal Evidence, 253

Interpreters, (modern), 211

“Intrinsic probability”, 251-2

Jacobson (Dr. W.) Bp. of Chester, 37

Jechonias (in Matt. i.), 186

Jerome, 73, 427, 449

“Jesus”, 184

“Joanes”, 181

John (S.) and S. Mark, 185

Jona (son of), 181-2

Josephus, 52

καί, 169-70

—— its force, 209

καὶ πῶς, 170

Kaye (Bp.) on Clemens Al., 336

κέδρων, 181

κενεμβατεύων, 356

κεράτια, 181

Kidron, 181

Kippax (Rev. John), 433

Kishon, 181

κισσῶν, 181

Knowledge of Christ not limited, 210

κράξας, 71-2

Lachmann's Text, 21, 242-3, 246, 270, 380-1

Lagarde (P. A. de), 493

—— Analecta Syr., 481

Latin Version, 9

Laubmann (Dr.), 493

Lawrence (Abp.), 380

“Layers of leaves”, 58-61

“Lecythus”, 201

Lee (Archd.) on Inspiration, 208, 230, 382

Leontius Byzantinus, 480, see Index II.

Liberatus of Carthage, 471-3

Licentious, see “Changes.”

Lightfoot (Dr.) Bp. of Durham, 145, 498, Pref. xxxi.

Limitation of our Saviour's knowledge, 210

Lincoln (Bp. of), see Wordsworth.

λίθος μυλικός, 181

Lloyd (Bp.) ed. of N. T., Pref. xvii-ix, 16

Lord's Prayer, 34-6, 214-6

“Love”, 201-2

Lucian, 29

Luke (Gospel according to S.), 16, 34-5, 75-91, 249, 403-7

“Lunaticus”, 205-6

Macedonius, 103, 470-5, 489

Mai (Card.), 121

Malan (Dr. S. C.), 67, 120, 123, 124, 348, 356, 382, 451, 453-4

Manichæan depravation, 220

“Maranatha”, 180

Marcion, 29, 34-5, 61

Margin, 3-6, 33, 115, 130, 131, 137, 175, 236-7

Marginal References, 223, 412

Marius Mercator, 468

Mark (Gospel according to S.), 30, 262

—— collation of 15 verses, 327-31

—— last Twelve Verses, 36-7, 39-40, 48, 49, 51, Ded. vii, Pref. xxiii

—— and S. John, 185

Martin (Abbé), 382, 446, 474, 477, 478, 492, 528

Martin I. (Pope), 421, 473

Massmann (H. F.), 453

Matranga (Papas Filippo), 477, 492, see the Appendix, p. 522-3

Matthæi (C. F.), 246

—— —— Scholia, 348, 380, 427, 434, 465, 468

Matthew (S.) chap. i. (Greek), 119-24, 186

—— —— (English), 156-7, 186

Medial agency, 173

Melita and Melitene, 177-8

Menander, 361

Merivale (Dean), 230

Messina, see “Matranga”: and p. 523

μία, 183

[pg 546]

Middleton (Bp.), 165, 209

Milan (see “Ceriani”), 452, 477, 491-2-3

Mill (Dr. John), 245, 383, 432, 437, 472, 500

—— on cod. d, 13

—— (Dr. W. H.), 354

Milligan (Dr.), 39, 48

“Miracle”, 202-4

μνημεῖον, 197-9

Moberly (Dr.) Bp. of Salisbury, 106, 228-9

Modena, see “Cappilli”: and p. 523

Modern Interpreters, 411

—— Opinion, see “Ellicott.”

μονογενὴς Θεύς, 182

Montfaucon, 121

“Moreh”, 180

Morier (Sir Robert), 492

μωρέ, 180

μύλος ὀνικός, 181

Mutilation, 69-93

Mystical interpretation, 185

νάρδου πιστικῆς, 184-5

Nazareth, 184

“Necessity” of Revision, 127, 150, 223, 228

Needless changes, 87-8, 224-5; 97, 224-5, 399, 403-7

νεκροὺς ἐγείρετε, 108

Nemesis of superstition, 350

“Netser”, 184

“Neutral” readings, 271-2, 357

“New English Version”, 225-6

“New Greek Text”, 130, 224-5

Newth (Dr.), 37-9, 109, 126, 369, 502

Newton (Sir Isaac), 426, 480, 500

Nilus Rossanensis, 447

Nineteen changes in 34 words, 401

Nominative repeated, 165

“Non-Alexandrian” readings, 357

“Non-Alexandrian Pre-Syrian”, 357

Nonsensical rendering, 218

“Non-Western”, 357-8

Notes in the margin, 175

Numerals in MSS., 52-3

“Number of the Beast”, 135

ὁ ὤν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, 133

Occupation (Right of), 199-206

ωδε, 139

“Olivet”, 184

Ollivant (Bp.), 146

Omission, intentional, 69-93

ὄνος, 181

“Or” not meant by ἤ, 168-9

Opinion, (modern) see “Ellicott.”

Origen, as a textual critic, 292

ὅς, 165

ὅς and θεός, in MSS., 99-105

ὅτι for ὅτε, 140

“Otium Norvicense,” see “Field.”

οὕτως, 145

παιδίσκη, 195-6

πάλιν, 57

Palmer (Archd.), 49, 126

Papyrus, 321-2

παραδῷ, 178

παράκλησις, 190

Paralytic borne of four, 30-3

Paris cod., see “Ephraemi.”

——, see “Wescher,” “Martin.”

Parquoi (M.), 437

Particles (Greek), 166

πᾶσα γραφή, 208-9

πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας, 152

πάσχα, τὸ, 353

Paul “17,” “73,” “181”, 443-8

—— (S.), Codd., 493-4

—— New Codd., see the Appendix.

Pearson (Bp.), 212, 432, 471, 500

Peckover (Alex.), Esq., 493

Penerino (Sig.), 492

Perfect (English), 158-60

—— (Greek), 163

περίχωρος, 184

Perowne, (Dean), Pref. xxx

Perverted sense, 218-9

“Phaseolus vulgaris”, 181

Phavorinus, 140

Photius, 467

φιάλη, 200

“Pistic nard”, 184

“Plain and clear,” see “Errors.”

πλεῖστος ὄχλος, 145

Pluperfect sense of Aorist, 162

Ponderari debent testes, 455

πονηροῦ, (ἀπὸ τοῦ), 214-6

Possession (Demoniacal), 206

[pg 547]

Possession (right of), 199-206

Powles (Rev. R. Cowley), Pref. xxviii, 322

“Praxapostolus,” see “Apostolus.”

“Pre-Syrian”, 357-8

“Pre-Syrian Non-Western”, 357

Preface of 1611, 187-91, 198-9

—— 1881, 189

Preponderating evidence, 411, 496

Prepositions, 170-5

“Present” (Greek), sometimes a Future, 163-4

—— sense of “perfect”, 163

Principle of translation, mistaken, 187-96

“Principles of Textual Criticism”, 125-6, 227, 349-50, 374-5, 411

Probability, 497

Proper names in S. Matt. i. 186

“Proud-in-the-imagination-of-their-hearts”, 172

Provision (God's) for the safety of His Word, 8, 9, 338, 494

προέφθασεν, 146

Pronouns, 165

πρώτη, 180

Pulcheria, 465

Pusey (P. E.), 345, 382, 449, 468

Pyramus and Thisbe, 171

Pyramid poised on its apex, 342-5

“Quarterly Review”, Pref. ix-xiv

Quia, 448, 473

Quod (in 1 Tim. iii. 16), 448

Quotations, see “Fathers.”

Randell (Rev. T.), 481, 493

“Ravine”, 181

“Readings,” see “Various.”

—— before “Renderings”, 106, 225

Received Text, see “Textus.”

Recension (imaginary), 271-88

Reiche (J. G.), 380-1

Reiteration not Proof, 306-7

Rendering of the same word, 138, 152-4, 187-202

Result of acquaintance with documents, 337

Rettig (H. C. M.), 442

“Revised Version,” see “Revision.”

Revisers exceeded their Instructions:—

(1) In respect of the English, 112, 127-30, 155-7, 225-6, 368, 400-3

(2) In respect of the Greek, 57-8, 97, 118-26, 224, 399, 403-6

Revising body (composition of), 504-5

Revision, original Resolution and Rules concerning, 3, 97, 114, 127, 130

—— of 1611, 167, 508-14

—— of 1881, how it was conducted, 37, 117-8, 369

—— unfair in its method, 116, 131-8

—— essentially different from that of 1611, 508-14

—— rests on a foundation of sand, 110, 516

—— incapable of being further revised, 107

—— its case hopeless, 226-7

—— characterized, 238

—— its probable fate, 508-14

—— unfavourable to Orthodoxy, 513

—— interesting specimens, 171, 401

Rhythm in translation, 188

Rieu (Dr.), 453

Right of possession, 199

“Ring of genuineness”, 307, 309-12

Roberts (Dr.), 36, 39-40, 48, 98, 230

Rocchi (Hieromonachus), 447-8, 474, 492, see the Appendix.

Rogers, the poet, 162

Romans ix. 5, 210-4

Rome, (See “Cozza Luzi,” “Escher”), 521

Rose, (Rev. W. F.), of Worle, Somersetshire, Pref. xxviii

Rouser (Professor), 306

Routh (President), 152, 211, 444, 452, 501

Sachau, 481

S. Andrews (Bp. of), see “Wordsworth.”

Salisbury (Bp. of), see “Moberly.”

[pg 548]

Samaria, (woman of), 407-8

Sanday, (Dr.), Pref. xvi

Saville (Prof.), 306

Scholium misunderstood, 467, 468

Scholz (Dr.), 246, 380, 445, 456

Scott (Sir Gilbert), 306

Scripture, God's provision for its safety 8, 9, 338, 494

—— depraved by heretics, 336

Scrivener (Prebendary), 13, 30, 37, 49, 106, 108, 126, 231, 237-8, 243, 246, 317, 381, 405, 431, 474, 477, 493, 502-3, see back of Title.

Septuagint, 182, 183, 184, 228

“Sepulchre,” the Holy, 198

σημεῖον, 203-4

σικάριοι, 147

Sieber (M.), 493

σίκερα, 180

Sinaiticus, cod. (א), 11-17, 265, 286,,²⁸⁹, 291, 314-5, 325-6, 343-5

Sixteen places, 415-9

Smith (Dr. Vance), 174, 204-5, 503-8, 513, 515

Socinian gloss, 210-4

“Solvere ambulando”, 126, 228, xxxi

σπεκουλάτωρ, 147

Spelling of proper names, 186-7

σπλάγχνα, 153

σπυρίς, 171, 180

Stanley (Dean), 135, 507

Stillingfleet (Bp.), 500

στιβάς and στοιβάδες, 58-60

συντρίψασα, 185

συστρεφομένων, 176-7

Syndics of Cambridge Press, xxx-i

Syracuse, 494

Syriac Version, 9

“Syrian,” “Antiochian,” “Græco-Syrian,”—Dr. Hort's designations of the Traditional Greek Text 257-65, 269

—— its assumed origin, 272-88

—— and history, 290-1

—— characterized, 87, 288-290

τάφος, 298

Tatian (see Index II.) 29, 336, 350

“Teaching”, 199

τέκνον, 153, 179

τέλος, 51

Tenses, 157-64, see “Aorist,” “Imperfect,” “Perfect,” “Pluperfect,” “Present.”

—— unidiomatically rendered, 402

Test-places (three), 47, 519

Text to be determined by external evidence, 19-20, 45

—— provision for its security, 10

—— (Received), see “Textus Receptus” and “Syrian.”

Texts, see Index I.

'Textus Receptus', 12-3, 17-8, 107, 118

—— (Bp. Ellicott on), 388

—— needs correction 21, 107

—— see “Syrian,” “Traditional.”

Theodore of Mopsuestia, 480, see Index II.

Theodotus, the Gnostic, 323-4

Theophilus, Bp. of Antioch, 29

θεόπνευστος, 208-9

Θεός and ὅς in MSS., 99-105, 425-6

—— , not ὅς, to be read in 1 Tim. iii. 16, Pref. xxi-iv, 424-501

Thierry (M.), 493

Thirty changes in 38 words, 171

1 Timothy iii. 16. See Θεός

Tischendorf (Dr.) 22-4, 45, 243-4, 246, 270-1, 370, 383, 437-8, 451, 467

Title on the Cross, 85-8

“Titus Justus”, 53-4

“Tomb”, 198

Tradition (Ecclesiastical), 495

Traditional Text departed from 6000 times, 107

—— see “Syrian.”

—— meaning of S. Mark xiii. 32, 209-10

“Transcriptional probability”, 251-2

Translators of 1611, 187-91, 207

—— of 1881, mistaken principle of 138, 187-96

Transposition, 93-7

[pg 549]

Tregelles (Dr.), 22, 45, 243, 246, 270, 370, 380, 383, 431, 451, 467, 498

Trench (Abp.), xlii, 106, 229

Trinitarian doctrine, 174-5

True Text, (only safe way of ascertaining), 339-42

Tusculum, 446

Tyndale (William), 167, 191, 192

Uncials (depravity of the old), 12-17, 30-5, 46-7, 75-6, 94-5

Uniformity of rendering, 166, 187

“Unitarian” Reviser, intolerable, 503-8

ὑπό and διά, 156

ὑποτύπωσις, 351

Uppström (Andr.), 452

Upsala, 444, see “Belsheim.”

Ussher (Abp.), 432, 469, 500

Valckenaer, 228

Valentinus, 29

Various Readings, 49-50, 56, 65, 130-1

Vaticanus, codex (b), 11-17, 265, 273, 286, 289, 291, 314-5, 325, 342-5, see “b and א.”

Veludo (Sig.), 492

Vercellone (C.), 381

Verifying faculty, 95-6, 109, 253, 290-1, 307-8

Version (Authorized), 112-4

—— (old Latin), 9, 448

—— (Vulgate), 9, 419

—— (Peschito), 9, 449-50

—— (Harkleian), 450

—— (Coptic), 9, 451-2

—— (Sahidic), 9, 451-2

—— (Gothic), 9, 452-3

—— (Armenian), 9, 453

—— (Æthiopic), 9, 453

—— (Georgian), 454

—— (Arabic), 453-4

—— (Slavonian), 454

“Vials”, 200

Von Heinemann (Dr.), 493

Vulgate, see “Version.”

W. (M.), Pref. xxviii

Walton (Bp. Brian), 432

Waterland (Dr.), 500

Way (only safe) of ascertaining the True Test, 339-42

Weber (M.), 437

Wescher (M.), 492

“Wesleyan Methodist” Revisers, 504-5

West the painter, 162

Westcott (Dr.), xlii, 124, see “Hort.”

Westcott and Hort (Drs.), 24-9, 33, 49, 51, 72, 83, 91, 92, 94, 95, 97, 110, 114, 125, 134-5, 177, 239-41, 245, 247, 370, 380, 382, 499, 502, 518-9, See reverse of Title-page, and Pref. xi-iv, xxvi-viii, xxxi

“Western,”, 357

—— readings, 271-2

—— and “Syrian”, 361

“Westminster Abbey scandal”, 507

Wetstein (J. J.), 246, 383, 426, 456, 467, 469, 480, 497

Wilberforce (Bp.), 229, 415, 505, 507

Woide (C. G.), 434-7

Wolfii Anecd. Græca, 458

Wood (C. F. B.), 183

Word, incarnate and written, 334-5, 390-1

Wordsworth (Dr. Charles), Bp. of S. Andrews, 106, 165, 229-30, 382

—— (Dr. Christopher), Bp. of Lincoln, 37, 112, 147, 184, 226, 368, 382, 400, 502, 505, 513, Ded. vi

Wotton (Henry), 433

Xenophon, 149

Young (Patrick), 432

—— (Dr.), of Glasgow, 477

ζώνη, 201

Footnotes

1.

Any one who desires to see this charge established, is invited to read from page 399 to page 413 of what follows.

2.

Dr. Newth. See pp. 37-9.

3.

See pp. 24-9: 97, &c.

4.

See below, pp. 1 to 110.

5.

This will be found more fully explained from pp. 127 to 130: pp. 154 to 164: also pp. 400 to 403. See also the quotations on pp. 112 and 368.

6.

See below, pp. 113 to 232.

7.

See below, pp. 235 to 366.

8.

Gospel of the Resurrection, p. viii.

9.

Reference is made to a vulgar effusion in the “Contemporary Review” for March 1882: from which it chiefly appears that Canon (now Archdeacon) Farrar is unable to forgive S. Mark the Evangelist for having written the 16th verse of his concluding chapter. The Venerable writer is in consequence for ever denouncing those “last Twelve Verses.” In March 1882, (pretending to review my Articles in the “Quarterly,”) he says:—“In spite of Dean Burgon's Essay on the subject, the minds of most scholars are quite unalterably made up on such questions as the authenticity of the last twelve verses of S. Mark.” [Contemporary Review, vol. xli. p. 365.] And in the ensuing October,—“If, among positive results, any one should set down such facts as that ... Mark xvi. 9-20 ... formed no part of the original apostolic autograph ... He, I say, who should enumerate these points as being beyond the reach of serious dispute ... would be expressing the views which are regarded as indisputable by the vast majority of such recent critics as have established any claim to serious attention.” [Expositor, p. 173.]

It may not be without use to the Venerable writer that he should be reminded that critical questions, instead of being disposed of by such language as the foregoing, are not even touched thereby. One is surprised to have to tell a “fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge,” so obvious a truth as that by such writing he does but effectually put himself out of court. By proclaiming that his mind is “quite unalterably made up” that the end of S. Mark's Gospel is not authentic, he admits that he is impervious to argument and therefore incapable of understanding proof. It is a mere waste of time to reason with an unfortunate who announces that he is beyond the reach of conviction.

10.

No. xxviii., page 436. If any one cares to know what the teaching was which the writer in the “Church Quarterly” was intending to reproduce, he is invited to read from p. 296 to p. 300 of the present volume.

11.

Contemporary Review, (Dec. 1881),—p. 985 seq.

12.

Q. R. (No. 304,) p. 313.—The passage referred to will be found below (at p. 14),—slightly modified, in order to protect myself against the risk of future misconception. My Reviewer refers to four other places. He will find that my only object in them all was to prove that codices a b א c d yield divergent testimony; and therefore, so habitually contradict one another, as effectually to invalidate their own evidence throughout. This has never been proved before. It can only be proved, in fact, by one who has laboriously collated the codices in question, and submitted to the drudgery of exactly tabulating the result.

13.

“Damus tibi in manus Novum Testamentum idem profecto, quod ad textum attinet, cum ed. Millianâ,”—are the well known opening words of the “Monitum” prefixed to Lloyd's N. T.—And Mill, according to Scrivener, [Introduction, p. 399,] “only aims at reproducing Stephens' text of 1550, though in a few places he departs from it, whether by accident or design.” Such places are found to amount in all to twenty-nine.

14.

See below, pp. 257-8: also p. 390.

15.

The Revisers and the Greek Text of the New Testament, &c.—Macmillan, pp. 79.

16.

See below, pp. 369 to 520.

17.

Pages 371-2.

18.

Pamphlet, pp. 77: 39, 40, 41.

19.

See below, p. 425.

20.

Pages 424-501.

21.

From January till June 1883.

22.

Pamphlet, p. 76.

23.

E.g. pages 252-268: 269-277: 305-308.

24.

E.g. pages 302-306.

25.

Page 354.

26.

On that day appeared Dr. Hort's “Introduction and Appendix” to the N. T. as edited by himself and Dr. Westcott.

27.

“Charge,” published in the Guardian, Dec. 20, 1882, p. 1813.

28.

Preface to History of the English Bible (p. ix.),—1868.

29.

Preface to Pastoral Epistles (p. xiv.),—1861.

30.

The Authorized Version of the N. T. (p. 3),—1858.

31.

The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ translated out of the Greek: being the Version set forth a.d. 1611, compared with the most ancient Authorities, and Revised a.d. 1881. Printed for the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, 1881.

32.

The New Testament in the Original Greek, according to the Text followed in the Authorized Version, together with the Variations adopted in the Revised Version. Edited for the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press, by F. H. A. Scrivener, M.A., D.C.L., LL.D., Prebendary of Exeter and Vicar of Hendon. Cambridge, 1881.

Ἡ ΚΑΙΝΗ ΔΙΑΘΗΚΗ. The Greek Testament, with the Readings adopted by the Revisers of the Authorized Version. [Edited by the Ven. Archdeacon Palmer, D.D.] Oxford, 1881.

33.

On Revision,—pp. 215-6.

34.

Tertullian, bis.

35.

Hieron. Opp. ii. 177 c (see the note).

36.

Apud Hieron. iii. 121.

37.

iv. 617 c (ed. Pusey).

38.

P. 272.

39.

i. 548 c; viii. 207 a.

40.

iv. 205.

41.

A reference to the Journal of Convocation, for a twelvemonth after the proposal for a Revision of the Authorized Version was seriously entertained, will reveal more than it would be convenient in this place even to allude to.

42.

We derive our information from the learned Congregationalist, Dr. Newth,—Lectures on Bible Revision (1881), p. 116.

43.

On Revision, pp. 26-7.

44.

Dr. Scrivener's Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, 2nd edition, 1874 (pp. 607), may be confidently recommended to any one who desires to master the outlines of Textual Criticism under the guidance of a judicious, impartial, and thoroughly competent guide. A new and revised edition of this excellent treatise will appear shortly.

45.

Studious readers are invited to enquire for Dr. Scrivener's Full and exact Collation of about Twenty Greek Manuscripts of the Holy Gospels (hitherto unexamined), deposited in the British Museum, the Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth, &c., with a Critical Introduction. (Pp. lxxiv. and 178.) 1853. The introductory matter deserves very attentive perusal.—With equal confidence we beg to recommend his Exact Transcript of the Codex Augiensis, a Græco-Latin Manuscript of S. Paul's Epistles, deposited in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge; to which is added a full Collation of Fifty Manuscripts, containing various portions of the Greek New Testament, in the Libraries of Cambridge, Parham, Leicester, Oxford, Lambeth, the British Museum, &c. With a Critical Introduction (which must also be carefully studied). (Pp. lxxx. and 563.) 1859.—Learned readers can scarcely require to be told of the same learned scholar's Novum Testamentum Textûs Stephanici, a.d. 1550. Accedunt variæ Lectiones Editionum Bezæ, Elzeviri, Lachmanni, Tischendorfii, Tregellesii. Curante F. H. A. Scrivener, A.M., D.C.L., LL.D. [1860.] Editio auctior et emendatior. 1877.—Those who merely wish for a short popular Introduction to the subject may be grateful to be told of Dr. Scrivener's Six Lectures on the Text of the N. T. and the Ancient MSS. which contain it, chiefly addressed to those who do not read Greek. 1875.

46.

Scrivener's Plain Introduction,—p. 118.

47.

Bezæ Codex Cantabrigiensis: being an exact Copy, in ordinary Type, of the celebrated Uncial Græco-Latin Manuscript of the Four Gospels and Acts of the Apostles, written early in the Sixth Century, and presented to the University of Cambridge by Theodore Beza, a.d. 1581. Edited, with a Critical Introduction, Annotations, and Facsimiles, by Frederick H. Scrivener, M.A., Rector of S. Gerrans, Cornwall. (Pp. lxiv. and 453.) Cambridge, 1864. No one who aspires to a competent acquaintance with Textual Criticism can afford to be without this book.

48.

On the subject of codex א we beg (once for all) to refer scholars to Scrivener's Full Collation of the Codex Sinaiticus with the Received Text of the New Testament. To which is prefixed a Critical Introduction. [1863.] 2nd Edition, revised. (Pp. lxxii. and 163.) 1867.

49.

Bishop Ellicott's Considerations on Revision, &c. (1870), p. 40.

50.

The epithet “cursive,” is used to denote manuscripts written in “running-hand,” of which the oldest known specimens belong to the IXth century. “Uncial” manuscripts are those which are written in capital letters. A “codex” popularly signifies a manuscript. A “version” is a translation. A “recension” is a revision. (We have been requested to explain these terms.)

51.

Considerations on Revision, p. 30.

52.

Once for all, we request it may be clearly understood that we do not, by any means, claim perfection for the Received Text. We entertain no extravagant notions on this subject. Again and again we shall have occasion to point out (e.g. at page 107) that the Textus Receptus needs correction. We do but insist, (1) That it is an incomparably better text than that which either Lachmann, or Tischendorf, or Tregelles has produced: infinitely preferable to the “New Greek Text” of the Revisionists. And, (2) That to be improved, the Textus Receptus will have to be revised on entirely different “principles” from those which are just now in fashion. Men must begin by unlearning the German prejudices of the last fifty years; and address themselves, instead, to the stern logic of facts.

53.

Scrivener's Introduction, pp. 342-4.

54.

Ut suprà, p. 46. We prefer to quote the indictment against Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, from the pages of Revisionists.

55.

“Ex scriptoribus Græcis tantisper Origene solo usi sumus.”—Præfatio, p. xxi.

56.

Scrivener's Plain Introd. p. 397.

57.

Ut suprà, p. 48.

58.

Ut suprà, p. 47.

59.

Prebendary Scrivener, ibid. (ed. 1874), p. 429.

60.

Ibid. p. 470.

61.

Ibid.

62.

Concilia, i. 852.

63.

Ut suprà, p. 47.

64.

The New Testament in the Original Greek. The Text revised by Brooke Foss Westcott, D.D., and Fenton John Anthony Hort, D.D. Cambridge and London, 1881.

65.

From the Preface prefixed to the “limited and private issue” of 1870, p. vi.

66.

Ut suprà, p. xv.

67.

Ibid. p. xviii.

68.

Ibid. p. xvi.

69.

Ibid. pp. xviii., xix.

70.

[Note,—that I have thought it best, for many reasons, to retain the ensuing note as it originally appeared; merely restoring [within brackets] those printed portions of it for which there really was no room. The third Article in the present volume will be found to supply an ample exposure of the shallowness of Drs. Westcott and Hort's Textual Theory.]

While these sheets are passing through the press, a copy of the long-expected volume reaches us. The theory of the respected authors proves to be the shallowest imaginable. It is briefly this:—Fastening on the two oldest codices extant (b and א, both of the IVth century), they invent the following hypothesis:—“That the ancestries of those two manuscripts diverged from a point near the autographs, and never came into contact subsequently.” [No reason is produced for this opinion.]

Having thus secured two independent witnesses of what was in the sacred autographs, the Editors claim that the coincidence of א and b must “mark those portions of text in which two primitive and entirely separate lines of transmission had not come to differ from each other through independent corruption:” and therefore that, “in the absence of specially strong internal evidence to the contrary,” “the readings of א and b combined may safely be accepted as genuine.”

But what is to be done when the same two codices diverge one from the other?—In all such cases (we are assured) the readings of any “binary combination” of b are to be preferred; because “on the closest scrutiny,” they generally “have the ring of genuineness;” hardly ever “look suspicious after full consideration.” “Even when b stands quite alone, its readings must never be lightly rejected.” [We are not told why.]

But, (rejoins the student who, after careful collation of codex b, has arrived at a vastly different estimate of its character,)—What is to be done when internal and external evidence alike condemn a reading of B? How is “mumpsimus” for example to be treated?—“Mumpsimus” (the Editors solemnly reply) as “the better attested reading”—(by which they mean the reading attested by b,)—we place in our margin. “Sumpsimus,” apparently the right reading, we place in the text within ††; in token that it is probably “a successful ancient conjecture.”

We smile, and resume:—But how is the fact to be accounted for that the text of Chrysostom and (in the main) of the rest of the IVth-century Fathers, to whom we are so largely indebted for our critical materials, and who must have employed codices fully as old as b and א: how is it, we ask, that the text of all these, including codex a, differs essentially from the text exhibited by codices b and א?—The editors reply,—The text of Chrysostom and the rest, we designate “Syrian,” and assume to have been the result of an “editorial Revision,” which we conjecturally assign to the second half of the IIIrd century. It is the “Pre-Syrian” text that we are in search of; and we recognize the object of our search in codex b.

We stare, and smile again. But how then does it come to pass (we rejoin) that the Peschito, or primitive Syriac, which is older by full a century and a half than the last-named date, is practically still the same text?—This fatal circumstance (not overlooked by the learned Editors) they encounter with another conjectural assumption. “A Revision” (say they) “of the Old Syriac version appears to have taken place early in the IVth century, or sooner; and doubtless in some connexion with the Syrian revision of the Greek text, the readings being to a very great extent coincident.”

And pray, where is “the Old Syriac version” of which you speak?—It is (reply the Editors) our way of designating the fragmentary Syriac MS. commonly known as “Cureton's.”—Your way (we rejoin) of manipulating facts, and disposing of evidence is certainly the most convenient, as it is the most extraordinary, imaginable: yet is it altogether inadmissible in a grave enquiry like the present. Syriac scholars are of a widely different opinion from yourselves. Do you not perceive that you have been drawing upon your imagination for every one of your facts?

We decline in short on the mere conjectural ipse dixit of these two respected scholars to admit either that the Peschito is a Revision of Cureton's Syriac Version;—or that it was executed about a.d. 325;—or that the text of Chrysostom and the other principal IVth-century Fathers is the result of an unrecorded “Antiochian Revision” which took place about the year a.d. 275.

[But instead of troubling ourselves with removing the upper story of the visionary structure before us,—which reminds us painfully of a house which we once remember building with playing-cards,—we begin by removing the basement-story, which brings the entire superstructure in an instant to the ground.]

For we decline to admit that the texts exhibited by b א can have “diverged from a point near the sacred autographs, and never come into contact subsequently.” We are able to show, on the contrary, that the readings they jointly embody afford the strongest presumption that the MSS. which contain them are nothing else but specimens of those “corrected,” i.e. corrupted copies, which are known to have abounded in the earliest ages of the Church. From the prevalence of identical depravations in either, we infer that they are, on the contrary, derived from the same not very remote depraved original: and therefore, that their coincidence, when they differ from all (or nearly all) other MSS., so far from marking “two primitive and entirely separate lines of transmission” of the inspired autographs, does but mark what was derived from the same corrupt common ancestor; whereby the supposed two independent witnesses to the Evangelic verity become resolved into a single witness to a fabricated text of the IIIrd century.

It is impossible in the meantime to withhold from these learned and excellent men (who are infinitely better than their theory) the tribute of our sympathy and concern at the evident perplexity and constant distress to which their own fatal major premiss has reduced them. The Nemesis of Superstition and Idolatry is ever the same. Doubt,—unbelief,—credulity,—general mistrust of all evidence, is the inevitable sequel and penalty. In 1870, Drs. Westcott and Hort solemnly assured their brother Revisionists that “the prevalent assumption, that throughout the N. T. the true text is to be found somewhere among recorded readings, does not stand the test of experience;”[P. xxi.] and they are evidently still haunted by the same spectral suspicion. They see a ghost to be exorcised in every dark corner. “The Art of Conjectural Emendation” (says Dr. Hort) “depends for its success so much on personal endowments, fertility of resource in the first instance, and even more an appreciation of language too delicate to acquiesce in merely plausible corrections, that it is easy to forget its true character as a critical operation founded on knowledge and method.”[Introd. p. 71.] Specimens of the writer's skill in this department abound. One occurs at p. 135 (App.) where, in defiance of every known document, he seeks to evacuate S. Paul's memorable injunction to Timothy (2 Tim. i. 13) of all its significance. [A fuller exposure of Dr. Hort's handling of this important text will be found later in the present volume.] May we be allowed to assure the accomplished writer that in Biblical Textual Criticism, “Conjectural Emendation” has no place?

71.

Scrivener, Introduction, p. 453.—Stunica, it will be remembered, was the chief editor of the Complutensian, or first printed edition of the New Testament, (1514).

72.

προσέφορον αὐτῷ,—S. Matt. ix. 2.

73.

Scrivener, Plain Introd. p. 472.

74.

The words omitted are therefore the following 22:—ἡμῶν, ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ... γενηθήτω τὸ θελημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ... ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ.

75.

Companion to the Revised Version, p. 61.

76.

The last Twelve Verses of the Gospel according to S. Mark, vindicated against recent critical Objectors and established, by the Rev. J. W. Burgon,—pp. 334, published by Parker, Oxford, 1871.

77.

As Dr. Jacobson and Dr. Chr. Wordsworth,—the learned Bishops of Chester and Lincoln. It is right to state that Bp. Ellicott “considers the passage doubtful.” (On Revision, p. 36.) Dr. Scrivener (it is well known) differs entirely from Bp. Ellicott on this important point.

78.

Lectures on Bible Revision, pp. 119-20.

79.

τὰς ἀληθεῖς ῥήσεις Πνεύματος τοῦ Ἁγίου.—Clemens Rom., c. 45.

80.

Should the Revised New Testament be authorized?—p. 42.

81.

Revised Version of the first three Gospels, considered,—by Canon Cook,—pp. 221-2.

82.

At p. 34 of his pamphlet in reply to the first two of the present Articles.

83.

On Revision, pp. 30 and 49.

84.

Words of the N. T. p. 193.

85.

Companion to the Revised Version, p. 63.

86.

Ibid. p. 62.

87.

Viz. Eusebius,—Macarius Magnes,—Aphraates,—Didymus,—the Syriac Acts of the App.,—Epiphanius,—Ambrose,—Chrysostom,—Jerome,—Augustine. It happens that the disputation of Macarius Magnes (a.d. 300-350) with a heathen philosopher, which has recently come to light, contains an elaborate discussion of S. Mark xvi. 17, 18. Add the curious story related by the author of the Paschal Chronicle (a.d. 628) concerning Leontius, Bishop of Antioch (a.d. 348),—p. 289. This has been hitherto overlooked.

88.

Scrivener's Introduction, p. 515.

89.

Tisch. specifies 7 Latin copies. Origen (iii. 946 f.), Jerome (vii. 282), and Leo (ap. Sabatier) are the only patristic quotations discoverable.

90.

i. 459

91.

i. 374; ii. 714; iv. 15.

92.

vii. 47; viii. 13.

93.

Dem. Ev. pp. 163, 342.

94.

i. 180, 385.

95.

In loc. Also in Luc. xix. 29 (Cat. Ox. 141).

96.

De Trin. p. 84; Cord. Cat. in Ps. ii. 450, 745.

97.

i. 845,—which is reproduced in the Paschal Chronicle, p. 374.

98.

P. 180; cf. p. 162.

99.

i. 154, 1047.

100.

i. 355, 696, 6; 97 iii. 346.

101.

Gr. iii. 434.

102.

Ap. Galland. ix. 754.

103.

i. 587; ii. 453, 454; vi. 393; vii. 311, 674; viii. 85; xi. 347. Also Cat. in Ps. iii. 139.

104.

Ap. Chrys. vi. 424; cf. p. 417.

105.

In Luc. pp. 12, 16, 502 ( = Mai, ii. 128). Also Mai, ii. 343, Hom. de Incarn. p. 109. Opp. ii. 593; v.1 681, 30, 128, 380, 402, 154; vi. 398. Maii, iii.2 286.

106.

i. 290, 1298; ii. 18; iii. 480.

107.

Ap. Galland. ix. 446, 476. Concil. iii. 1001, 1023.

108.

Concil. iii. 1002.

109.

Ap. Galland. ix. 629.

110.

Concil. iii. 1095.

111.

Concil. iii. 829 = Cyr. Opp. vi. 159.

112.

Nov. Auctar. i. 596.

113.

Montf. ii. 152, 160, 247, 269.

114.

Hexaem. ed. Migne, vol. 89, p. 899.

115.

Ap. Galland. xii. 308.

116.

Ed. Combefis, 14, 54; ap. Galland. xiii. 100, 123.

117.

Ap. Galland. xiii. 235.

118.

ii. 836.

119.

Ap. Galland. xiii. 212.

120.

E.g. Chrys. Opp. viii.; Append. 214.

121.

P. 6 d.

122.

Ap. Galland. iii. 809.

123.

ii. 602.

124.

ii. 101, 122, 407.

125.

iii. 447.

126.

ii. 298.

127.

ii. 804; iii. 783; v. 638, 670, 788; viii. 214, 285; x. 754, 821.

128.

Cord. Cat. in Ps. ii. 960.

129.

Of the ninety-two places above quoted, Tischendorf knew of only eleven, Tregelles adduces only six.—Neither critic seems to have been aware that “Gregory Thaum.” is not the author of the citation they ascribe to him. And why does Tischendorf quote as Basil's what is known not to have been his?

130.

But then, note that c is only available for comparison down to the end of ver. 5. In the 9 verses which have been lost, who shall say how many more eccentricities would have been discoverable?

131.

Companion to the Revised Version, pp. 62, 63. Words of the N. T. p. 193.

132.

Words of the N. T. p. 193.

133.

Drs. Westcott and Hort (consistently enough) put them on the self-same footing with the evidently spurious ending found in l.

134.

True, that a separate volume of Greek Text has been put forth, showing every change which has been either actually accepted, or else suggested for future possible acceptance. But (in the words of the accomplished editor), “the Revisers are not responsible for its publication.” Moreover, (and this is the chief point,) it is a sealed book to all but Scholars.

It were unhandsome, however, to take leave of the learned labours of Prebendary Scrivener and Archdeacon Palmer, without a few words of sympathy and admiration. Their volumes (mentioned at the beginning of the present Article) are all that was to have been expected from the exquisite scholarship of their respective editors, and will be of abiding interest and value. Both volumes should be in the hands of every scholar, for neither of them supersedes the other. Dr. Scrivener has (with rare ability and immense labour) set before the Church, for the first time, the Greek Text which was followed by the Revisers of 1611, viz. Beza's N. T. of 1598, supplemented in above 190 places from other sources; every one of which the editor traces out in his Appendix, pp. 648-56. At the foot of each page, he shows what changes have been introduced into the Text by the Revisers of 1881.—Dr. Palmer, taking the Text of Stephens (1550) as his basis, presents us with the Readings adopted by the Revisers of the “Authorized Version,” and relegates the displaced Readings (of 1611) to the foot of each page.—We cordially congratulate them both, and thank them for the good service they have rendered.

135.

The number is not excessive. There were about 600 persons aboard the ship in which Josephus traversed the same waters. (Life, c. iii.)

136.

ii. 61 and 83.

137.

Isaiah xiv. 15.

138.

S. Matthew xxi. 1-3. S. Mark xi. 1-6. S. Luke xix. 29-34.

139.

א d l read—αὐτον ἀποστελλει ΠΑΛΙΝ ὡδε: C*,—αὐτον ΠΑΛΙΝ ἀποστελλει ὡδε: b,—ἀποστελλει ΠΑΛΙΝ αὐτον ὡδε: Δ,—ἀποστελλει ΠΑΛΙΝ ὡδε: yscr—αὐτον ἀποστελλει ΠΑΛΙΝ.

140.

iii. 722, 740.

141.

iii. 737, iv. 181.

142.

S. Matt. xxi. 8.

143.

Exod. x. 21-23.

144.

S. Matth. xxvii. 45; S. Mark xv. 33; S. Lu. xxiii. 44.

145.

Ap. Epiphan. i. 317 and 347.

146.

Intenebricatus est sol—a: obscuratus est sol—b: tenebricavit sol—c.

147.

Ap. Routh, Opusc. i. 79.

148.

i. 90, 913; ap. Epiph. i. 1006.

149.

Syr. ii. 48. So also Evan. Conc. pp. 245, 256, 257.

150.

Mai, Scriptt. Vett. vi. 64.

151.

i. 305.

152.

Ap. Mai, ii. 436; iii. 395. Also Luc. 722.

153.

i. 288, 417.

154.

P. 233.

155.

Ed. by Wright, p. 16.

156.

“Sol mediâ die tenebricavit.” Adv. Jud. c. xiii.

157.

iii. 922-4. Read the whole of cap. 134. See also ap. Galland. xiv. 82, append., which by the way deserves to be compared with Chrys. vii. 825 a.

158.

ἀλλ᾽ ἦν σκότος θεοποίητον, διότι τὸν Κύριον συνέβη παθεῖν.—Routh, ii. 298.

159.

εἶτ᾽ ἐξαίφνης κατενεχθὲν ψηλαφητὸν σκότος, ἡλίου τὴν οἰκείαν αὐγὴν ἀποκρύψαντος, p. 29.

160.

ὅτι γὰρ οὐκ ἠν ἔκλειψις [sc. τὸ σκότος ἐκεῖνο] οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν μόνον δῆλον ἦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ καιροῦ. τρεῖς γὰρ ὥρας παρέμεινιν; ἡ δὲ ἔκλειψις ἐν μιᾷ καιροῦ γίνεται ῥοπῇ.—vii. 825 a.

161.

i. 414, 415; iii. 56.

162.

Ap. Mai, iv. 206. But further on he says: αὐτίκα γοῦν ἐπὶ τῷ πάθει οὐχ ἥλιος μόνον ἐσκότασεν κ.τ.λ.—Cyril of Jerusalem (pp. 57, 146, 199, 201, 202) and Cosmas (ap. Montf. ii. 177 bis) were apparently acquainted with the same reading, but neither of them actually quotes Luke xxiii. 45.

163.

“In quibusdam exemplaribus non habetur tenebræ factæ sunt, et obscuratus est sol: sed ita, tenebræ factæ sunt super omnem terram, sole deficiente. Et forsitan ausus est aliquis quasi manifestius aliquid dicere volens, pro, et obscuratus est sol, ponere deficiente sole, existimans quod non aliter potuissent fieri tenebræ, nisi sole deficiente. Puto autem magis quod insidiatores ecclesiæ Christi mutaverunt hoc verbum, quoniam tenebræ factæ sunt sole deficiente, ut verisimiliter evangelia argui possint secundum adinventiones volentium arguere illa.” (iii. 923 f. a.)

164.

vii. 235. “Qui scripserunt contra Evangelia, suspicantur deliquium solis,” &c.

165.

This rests on little more than conjecture. Tisch. Cod. Ephr. Syr. p. 327.

166.

Ἐκλείποντος is only found besides in eleven lectionaries.

167.

The Thebaic represents “the sun setting;” which, (like the mention of “eclipse,”) is only another interpretation of the darkness,—derived from Jer. xv. 9 or Amos viii. 9 (“occidit sol meridie”). Compare Irenæus iv. 33. 12, (p. 273,) who says that these two prophecies found fulfilment in “eum occasum solis qui, crucifixo eo, fuit ab horâ sextâ.” He alludes to the same places in iv. 34. 3 (p. 275). So does Jerome (on Matt. xxvii. 45),—“Et hoc factum reor, ut compleatur prophetia,” and then he quotes Amos and Jeremiah; finely adding (from some ancient source),—“Videturque mihi clarissimum lumen mundi, hoc est luminare majus, retraxisse radios suos, ne aut pendentem videret Dominum; aut impii blasphemantes suâ luce fruerentur.”

168.

Our old friend of Halicarnassus (vii. 37), speaking of an eclipse which happened b.c. 481, remarks: ὁ ἥλιος ἐκλιπὼν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἕδρην.

169.

For it will be perceived that our Revisionists have adopted the reading vouched for only by codex b. What c* once read is as uncertain as it is unimportant.

170.

Bp. Ellicott's pamphlet, p. 60.

171.

On the Revised Version, p. 14.

172.

πολλὰ κατὰ γνώμην αὐτοῦ διεπράττετο, as (probably) Victor of Antioch (Cat. p. 128), explains the place. He cites some one else (p. 129) who exhibits ἠπόρει; and who explains it of Herod's difficulty about getting rid of Herodias.

173.

καὶ ἀκούσας αὐτοῦ πολλὰ ἂ ἐποίει, καὶ ἡδέως αὐτοῦ ἤκουεν, will have been the reading of that lost venerable codex of the Gospels which is chiefly represented at this day by Evann. 13-69-124-346,—as explained by Professor Abbott in his Introduction to Prof. Ferrar's Collation of four important MSS., etc. (Dublin 1877). The same reading is also found in Evann. 28 : 122 : 541 : 572, and Evst. 196.

Different must have been the reading of that other venerable exemplar which supplied the Latin Church with its earliest Text. But of this let the reader judge:—“Et cum audisset illum multa facere, libenter,” &c. (c: also “Codex Aureus” and γ, both at Stockholm): “et audito eo quod multa faciebat, et libenter,” &c. (g2 q): “et audiens illum quia multa faciebat, et libenter,” &c. (b). The Anglo-Saxon, (“and he heard that he many wonders wrought, and he gladly heard him”) approaches nearest to the last two.

The Peschito Syriac (which is without variety of reading here) in strictness exhibits:—“And many things he was hearing [from] him and doing; and gladly he was hearing him.” But this, by competent Syriac scholars, is considered to represent,—καὶ πολλὰ ἀκούων αὐτοῦ, ἐποίει; καὶ ἡδέως ἤκουεν αὐτοῦ.—Cod. Δ is peculiar in exhibiting καὶ ἀκούσας αὐτοῦ πολλά, ἡδέως αὐτοῦ ἤκουεν,—omitting ἐποίει, καί.—The Coptic also renders, “et audiebat multa ab eo, et anxio erat corde.” From all this, it becomes clear that the actual intention of the blundering author of the text exhibited by א b l was, to connect πολλά, not with ἠπόρει, but with ἀκούσας. So the Arabian version: but not the Gothic, Armenian, Sclavonic, or Georgian,—as Dr. S. C. Malan informs the Reviewer.

174.

Note, that tokens abound of a determination anciently to assimilate the Gospels hereabouts. Thus, because the first half of Luke ix. 10 (ϟα / η) and the whole of Mk. vi. 30 (ξα / η) are bracketed together by Eusebius, the former place in codex a is found brought into conformity with the latter by the unauthorized insertion of the clause καὶ ὅσα ἐδίδαξαν.—The parallelism of Mtt. xiv. 13 and Lu. ix. 10 is the reason why d exhibits in the latter place ἀν- (instead of ὑπ)εχώρησε.—In like manner, in Lu. ix. 10, codex a exhibits εἰς ἔρημον τόπον, instead of εἰς τόπον ἔρημον; only because ἔρημον τόπον is the order of Mtt. xiv. 13 and Mk. vi. 32.—So again, codex א, in the same verse of S. Luke, entirely omits the final clause πόλεως καλουμένης Βηθσαῖδά, only in order to assimilate its text to that of the two earlier Gospels.—But there is no need to look beyond the limits of S. Mark vi. 14-16, for proofs of Assimilation. Instead of ἐκ νεκρῶν ἠγέρθη (in ver. 14), b and א exhibit ἐγήγερται ἐκ νεκρῶν—only because those words are found in Lu. ix. 7. a substitutes ἀνέστη (for ἠγέρθη)—only because that word is found in Lu. ix. 8. For ἠγέρθη ἐκ νεκρῶν, c substitutes ἠγέρθη ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν—only because S. Matth. so writes in ch. xiv. 2. d inserts καὶ ἔβαλεν εἰς φυλακήν into ver. 17—only because of Mtt. xiv. 3 and Lu. iii. 20. In א b l Δ, βαπτίζοντος (for βαπτιστοῦ) stands in ver. 24—only by Assimilation with ver. 14. (l is for assimilating ver. 25 likewise), Κ Δ Π, the Syr., and copies of the old Latin, transpose ἐνεργοῦσιν αἱ δυνάμεις (in ver. 14)—only because those words are transposed in Mtt. xiv. 2.... If facts like these do not open men's eyes to the danger of following the fashionable guides, it is to be feared that nothing ever will. The foulest blot of all remains to be noticed. Will it be believed that in ver. 22, codices א b d l Δ conspire in representing the dancer (whose name is known to have been “Salome”) as another “Herodias”—Herod's own daughter? This gross perversion of the truth, alike of Scripture and of history—a reading as preposterous as it is revolting, and therefore rejected hitherto by all the editors and all the critics—finds undoubting favour with Drs. Westcott and Hort. Calamitous to relate, it also disfigures the margin of our Revised Version of S. Mark vi. 22, in consequence.

175.

i.e. “And” is omitted by b l Δ: “immediately” by א c: “with tears” by א a b c l Δ: “Lord” by א a b c d l.—In S. Mark vi. 16—(viz. “But when Herod heard thereof, he said [This is] John whom I beheaded. He is risen [from the dead],”)—the five words in brackets are omitted by our Revisers on the authority of א b (d) l Δ. But א d further omit Ἰωάννην: c d omit ὁ: א b d l omit ὅτι. To enumerate and explain the effects of all the barbarous Mutilations which the Gospels alone have sustained at the hands of א, of b, and of d—would fill many volumes like the present.

176.

Chrysostom, vii. 825.

177.

On the Creed, Art. iv. “Dead:” about half-way through.

178.

The Coptic represents ὅτι ἐξέπνευσε.

179.

Namely, of ἘΝ τῇ Βας. σου, which is the reading of every known copy but two; besides Origen, Eusebius, Cyril Jer., Chrysostom, &c. Only b l read ΕἸΣ,—which Westcott and Hort adopt.

180.

i. 261.

181.

i. 936, 1363.

182.

i. 158.

183.

P. 301.

184.

Ap. Galland. vi. 53.

185.

P. 396.

186.

vii. 431.

187.

“Ut ab additamenti ratione alienum est, ita cur omiserint in promptu est.”

188.

But then, 25 (out of 320) pages of d are lost: d's omissions in the Gospels may therefore be estimated at 4000. Codex a does not admit of comparison, the first 24 chapters of S. Matthew having perished; but, from examining the way it exhibits the other three Gospels, it is found that 650 would about represent the number of words omitted from its text.—The discrepancy between the texts of b א d, thus for the first time brought distinctly into notice, let it be distinctly borne in mind, is a matter wholly irrespective of the merits or demerits of the Textus Receptus,—which, for convenience only, is adopted as a standard: not, of course, of Excellence but only of Comparison.

189.

Viz. the 1st, the 7th to 12th inclusive, and the 15th.

190.

Concerning “the singular codex d,”—as Bp. Ellicott phrases it,—see back, pages 14 and 15.

191.

Bp. Ellicott On Revision,—p. 42. Concerning the value of the last-named authority, it is a satisfaction to enjoy the deliberate testimony of the Chairman of the Revisionist body. See below, p. 85.

192.

i. 156.

193.

ii. 254.

194.

i. 344

195.

iv. 220, 1218.

196.

In Luc. 664 (Mai, iv. 1105).

197.

ii. 653.

198.

“In Lucâ legimus duos calices, quibus discipulis propinavit,” vii. 216.

199.

Τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν διδόμενον; τοῦτο ποιεῖτε εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν ἀνάμνησιν. ὡσαύτως καὶ τὸ ποτήριον μετὰ τὸ δειπνῆσαι, λέγων, Τοῦτο τὸ ποτήριον, ἡ καινὴ διαθήκη ἐν τῷ αἵματί μου, τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἐκχυνόμενον.

200.

P. 1062.

201.

ii. 747.

202.

i. 1516. See below, p. 82.

203.

Abbott's Collation of four important Manuscripts, &c., 1877.

204.

ii. 354.

205.

Pp. 543 and 681 ( = ed. Mass. 219 and 277).

206.

Contra Noet. c. 18; also ap. Theodoret iv. 132-3.

207.

Ap. Galland. xix.; Append. 116, 117.

208.

Evan. Conc. pp. 55, 235.

209.

Ap. Epiph. i. 742, 785.

210.

It is § 283 in his sectional system.

211.

P. 1121.

212.

ii. 43; v. 392; vi. 604. Also Evan. Conc. 235. And see below, p. 82.

213.

Pp. 394, 402.

214.

i. 551.

215.

[i. 742, 785;] ii. 36, 42.

216.

v. 263; vii. 791; viii. 377.

217.

ii. 39.

218.

Ap. Theod. Mops.

219.

In loc. bis; ap. Galland. xii. 693; and Mai, Scriptt. Vett. vi. 306.

220.

Concilia, iii. 327 a.

221.

Ap. Mai, iii. 389.

222.

Concilia, iii. 1101 d.

223.

Schol. 34.

224.

i. 692; iv. 271, 429; v. 23. Conc. iii. 907 e.

225.

Concilia, iii. 740 d.

226.

Ap. Galland. vi. 16, 17, 19.

227.

Ap. Cosmam, ii. 331.

228.

i. 544.

229.

In Dionys. ii. 18, 30.

230.

Ap. Galland. xii. 693.

231.

Ibid. 688.

232.

Pp. 108, 1028, 1048.

233.

Epist. 138

234.

P. 1061.

235.

ii. 747.

236.

iv. 901, 902, 1013, 1564.

237.

P. 373.

238.

Ap. Galland. ix. 40.

239.

Ibid. xi. 693.

240.

Let their own account of the matter be heard:—“The documentary evidence clearly designates [these verses] as an early Western interpolation, adopted in eclectic texts.”—“They can only be a fragment from the Traditions, written or oral, which were for a while at least locally current:”—an “evangelic Tradition,” therefore, “rescued from oblivion by the Scribes of the second century.”

241.

Consider the places referred to in Epiphanius.

242.

The Editors shall speak for themselves concerning this, the first of the “Seven last Words:”—“We cannot doubt that it comes from an extraneous source:”—“need not have belonged originally to the book in which it is now included:”—is “a Western interpolation.”

Dr. Hort,—unconscious apparently that he is at the bar, not on the bench,—passes sentence (in his usual imperial style)—“Text, Western and Syrian” (p. 67).—But then, (1st) It happens that our Lord's intercession on behalf of His murderers is attested by upwards of forty Patristic witnesses from every part of ancient Christendom: while, (2ndly) On the contrary, the places in which it is not found are certain copies of the old Latin, and codex d, which is supposed to be our great “Western” witness.

243.

Dr. Hort's N. T. vol. ii. Note, p. 68.

244.

Ap. Eus. Hist. Eccl. ii. 23.

245.

P. 521 and ... [Mass. 210 and 277.]

246.

Ed. Lagarde, p. 65 line 3.

247.

ii. 188. Hær. iii. 18 p. 5.

248.

Ap. Gall. iii. 38, 127.

249.

Ibid. ii. 714. (Hom. xi. 20.)

250.

Evan. Conc. 275.

251.

Ap. Routh, v. 161.

252.

He places the verses in Can. x.

253.

i. 1120.

254.

iii. 289.

255.

Cat. in Ps. iii. 219.

256.

i. 290.

257.

15 times.

258.

ii. 48, 321, 428; ii. (syr.) 233.

259.

Evan. Conc. 117, 256.

260.

i. 607.

261.

Pp. 232, 286.

262.

P. 85.

263.

Pp. 11, 16. Dr. Wright assigns them to the IVth century.

264.

Eph. c. x.

265.

ii. 166, 168, 226.

266.

6 times.

267.

Ap. Mai, ii. 197 ( = Cramer 52); iii. 392.—Dr. Hort's strenuous pleading for the authority of Cyril on this occasion (who however is plainly against him) is amusing. So is his claim to have the cursive “82” on his side. He is certainly reduced to terrible straits throughout his ingenious volume. Yet are we scarcely prepared to find an upright and honourable man contending so hotly, and almost on any pretext, for the support of those very Fathers which, when they are against him, (as, 99 times out of 100, they are,) he treats with utter contumely. He is observed to put up with any ally, however insignificant, who even seems to be on his side.

268.

Ap. Theod. v. 1152.

269.

Pp. 423, 457.

270.

Cat. in Ps. i. 768; ii. 663.

271.

Pp. 1109, 1134.

272.

i. 374.

273.

P. 93.

274.

ii. 67, 747.

275.

i. 814; ii. 819; v. 735.

276.

P. 88.

277.

Ap. Chrys. vi. 191.

278.

11 times.

279.

P. 782 f.

280.

12 times.

281.

More than 60 times.

282.

Ap. Cypr. (ed. Baluze), &c. &c.

283.

On Revision,—p. 42 note. See above, p. 78 note.

284.

Eclog. Proph. p. 89.

285.

In Luc. 435 and 718.

286.

See pages 93 to 97.

287.

i. 1528.

288.

So Sedulius Paschalis, ap. Galland. ix. 595.

289.

iii. 2.

290.

Euseb. Ecl. Proph. p. 89: Greg. Nyss. i. 570.—These last two places have hitherto escaped observation.

291.

See above, pp. 49-50, note 2.

292.

Viz., thus:—ἦν δὲ καὶ ἐπιγραφὴ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ, Ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων οὗτος.

293.

Dean Alford, in loc.

294.

ὁ Λουκᾶς μιᾷ λέγει τῶν σαββάτων ὄρθρου βαθέος φέρειν ἀρώματα γυναῖκας ΔΎΟ τὰς ἀκολουθησάσας ἀυτῷ, αἵ τινες ἦσαν ἀπὸ τῆς Γαλιλαίας συνακολουθήσασαι, ὅτε ἔθαπτον αὐτὸν ἐλθοῦσαι ἐπὶ τὸ μνῆμα; αἵτινες ΔΎΟ, κ.τ.λ.,—ad Marinum, ap. Mai, iv. 266.

295.

Ps. i. 79.

296.

Dem. 492.

297.

Ap. Mai, iv. 287, 293.

298.

i. 364.

299.

Ap. Mai, ii. 439.

300.

Ap. Galland. xi. 224.

301.

Cat. in Joann. p. 453.

302.

Ps.-Chrys. viii. 161-2. Johannes Thessal. ap. Galland. xiii. 189.

303.

Ap. Mai, iv. 293 bis; 294 diserte.

304.

i. 506, 1541.

305.

iii. 91.

306.

iv. 1108, and Luc. 728 ( = Mai, ii. 441).

307.

iii.2 142; viii. 472.

308.

So Tertullian:—“Manus et pedes suos inspiciendos offert” (Carn. c. 5). “Inspectui eorum manus et pedes suos offert” (Marc. iv. c. 43). Also Jerome i. 712.

309.

De Resur. 240 (quoted by J. Damascene, ii. 762).

310.

Ap. Mai, iv. 294.

311.

i. 906, quoted by Epiph. i. 1003.

312.

Ap. Theodoret, iv. 141.

313.

i. 49.

314.

i. 510; ii. 408, 418; iii. 91.

315.

iv. 1108; vi. 23 (Trin.). Ap. Mai, ii. 442 ter.

316.

iv. 272.

317.

Cat. in Joan. 462, 3.

318.

i. 303.

319.

See above, pp. 78 and 85.

320.

iii. 579.

321.

ii. 114 (ed. 1698).

322.

ii. 9, 362, 622.

323.

ii. 309; iv. 30; v. 531; vii. 581.

324.

vi. 79.

325.

Ep. i. (ap. Gall. i. p. xii.)

326.

ii. 464.

327.

Text, pp. 565 and 571.

328.

Append. p. 14.

329.

We depend for our Versions on Dr. S. C. Malan: pp. 31, 44.

330.

ii. 147. Conc. v. 675.

331.

Cord. Cat. i. 376.

332.

vii. 599, 600 diserte.

333.

Ap. Photium, p. 644.

334.

Three times.

335.

i. 663, 1461, ii. 1137.

336.

Pp. 367, 699.

337.

vii. 139.

338.

Ap. Galland. vi. 324.

339.

iii. P. i. 760.

340.

Text, p. 572.

341.

Append. p. 14.

342.

ἔτι δὲ ἀπιστούντων αὐτῷ, καὶ θαυμαζόντων ἀπὸ τῆς χαρᾶς.

343.

Viz. from ch. xix. 7 to xx. 46.

344.

We take leave to point out that, however favourable the estimate Drs. Westcott and Hort may have personally formed of the value and importance of the Vatican Codex (b), nothing can excuse their summary handling, not to say their contemptuous disregard, of all evidence adverse to that of their own favourite guide. They pass by whatever makes against the reading they adopt, with the oracular announcement that the rival reading is “Syrian,” “Western,” “Western and Syrian,” as the case may be.

But we respectfully submit that “Syrian,” “Western,” “Western and Syrian,” as Critical expressions, are absolutely without meaning, as well as without use to a student in this difficult department of sacred Science. They supply no information. They are never supported by a particle of intelligible evidence. They are often demonstrably wrong, and always unreasonable. They are Dictation, not Criticism. When at last it is discovered that they do but signify that certain words are not found in codex b,—they are perceived to be the veriest foolishness also.

Progress is impossible while this method is permitted to prevail. If these distinguished Professors have enjoyed a Revelation as to what the Evangelists actually wrote, they would do well to acquaint the world with the fact at the earliest possible moment. If, on the contrary, they are merely relying on their own inner consciousness for the power of divining the truth of Scripture at a glance,—they must be prepared to find their decrees treated with the contumely which is due to imposture, of whatever kind.

345.

Marcion (Epiph. i. 317);—Eusebius (Mai, iv. 266);—Epiphanius (i. 348);—Cyril (Mai, ii. 438);—John Thessal. (Galland. xiii. 188).

346.

[The discussion of this text has been left very nearly as it originally stood,—the rather, because the reading of 1 Tim. iii. 16 will be found fully discussed at the end of the present volume. See Index of Texts.]

347.

Companion to the Revised Version, &c., by Alex. Roberts, D.D. (2nd edit.), pp. 66-8.

348.

Of this, any one may convince himself by merely inspecting the 2 pages of codex a which are exposed to view at the British Museum.

349.

For, of the 3 cursives usually cited for the same reading (17, 73, 181), the second proves (on enquiry at Upsala) to be merely an abridgment of Œcumenius, who certainly read Θεός; and the last is non-existent.

350.

Concilia, ii. 217 c.

351.

viii. 214 b.

352.

A single quotation is better than many references. Among a multitude of proofs that Christ is God, Gregory says:—Τιμοθέῳ δὲ διαῤῥήδῃν βοᾷ; ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί, ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι. ii. 693.

353.

Τοῦτο ἡμῖν τὸ μέγα μυστήριον ... ὁ ἐνανθρωπήσας δι᾽ ἡμᾶς καὶ πτωχεύσας Θεός, ἵνα ἀναστήσῃ τὴν σάρκα. (i. 215 a.)—Τί τὸ μέγα μυστήριον?... Θεὸς ἄνθρωπος γίνεται. (i. 685 b.)

354.

De Trin. p. 83—where the testimony is express.

355.

Θεὸς γὰρ ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί.—Concilia, i. 853 d.

356.

Cramer's Cat. in Rom. p. 124.

357.

One quotation may suffice:—Τὸ δὲ Θεὸν ὄντα, ἄνθρωπον θελῆσαι γενέσθαι καὶ ἀνεσχέσθαι καταβῆναι τοσοῦτον ... τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ ἐκπλήξεως γέμον. ὂ δὴ καὶ Παῦλος θαυμάζων ἔλεγεν; καὶ ὁμολογουμένως μέγα ἐστὶ τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστέριον; ποῖον μέγα; Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί; καὶ πάλιν ἀλλαχοῦ; οὐ γὰρ ἀγγέλων ἐπιλαμβάνεται ὁ Θεός, κ.τ.λ. i. 497. = Galland. xiv. 141.

358.

The following may suffice:—μέγα γὰρ τότε τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον; πεφανέρωται γὰρ ἐν σαρκὶ Θεὸς ὢν καὶ ὁ Λόγος; ἐδικαιώθη δὲ καὶ ἐν πνεύματι. v. p. ii.; p. 154 c d.—In a newly-recovered treatise of Cyril, 1 Tim. iii. 16 is quoted at length with Θεός, followed by a remark on the ἐν ἀυτῷ φανερωθεὶς Θεός. This at least is decisive. The place has been hitherto overlooked.

359.

i. 92; iii. 657; iv. 19, 23.

360.

Apud Athanasium, Opp. ii. 33, where see Garnier's prefatory note.

361.

Καθ᾽ ὂ γὰρ ὑπῆρχε Θεὸς [sc. ὁ Χριστὸς] τοῦτον ᾔτει τὸν νομοθέτην δοθῆναι πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι ... τοιγαροῦν καὶ δεξάμενα τὰ ἔθνη τὸν νομοθέτην, τὸν ἐν σαρκὶ φανερωθέντα Θεόν. Cramer's Cat. iii. 69. The quotation is from the lost work of Severus against Julian of Halicarnassus.

362.

Galland. xii. 152 e, 153 e, with the notes both of Garnier and Gallandius.

363.

i. 313; ii. 263.

364.

Ap. Athanas. i. 706.

365.

iii. 401-2.

366.

Ap. Phot. 230.

367.

Contra Hær. Noet. c. 17.

368.

Ap. Clem. Al. 973.

369.

Cap. xii.

370.

Ad Eph. c. 19, 7; ad Magn. c. 8.

371.

See Scrivener's Plain Introd. pp. 555-6, and Berriman's Dissertation, pp. 229-263. Also the end of this volume.

372.

i. 887 c.

373.

ii. 74 b.

374.

See above, p. 98.

375.

As, that stupid fabrication, Τί με ἐρωτᾷς περὶ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ; (in S. Matth. xix. 17):—the new incidents and sayings proposed for adoption, as in S. Mark i. 27 (in the Synagogue of Capernaum): in S. John xiii. 21-6 (at the last supper): in S. Luke xxiv. 17 (on the way to Emmaus):—the many proposed omissions, as in S. Matth. vi. 13 (the Doxology): in xvi. 2, 3 (the signs of the weather): in S. Mark ix. 44 & 46 (the words of woe): in S. John v. 3, 4 (the Angel troubling the pool), &c. &c. &c.

376.

It cannot be too plainly or too often stated that learned Prebendary Scrivener is wholly guiltless of the many spurious “Readings” with which a majority of his co-Revisionists have corrupted the Word of God. He pleaded faithfully,—but he pleaded in vain.—It is right also to state that the scholarlike Bp. of S. Andrews (Dr. Charles Wordsworth) has fully purged himself of the suspicion of complicity, by his printed (not published) remonstrances with his colleagues.—The excellent Bp. of Salisbury (Dr. Moberly) attended only 121 of their 407 meetings; and that judicious scholar, the Abp. of Dublin (Dr. Trench) only 63. The reader will find more on this subject at the close of Art. II.,—pp. 228-30.

377.

Eusebius,—Basil,—Chrysostom (in loc.),—Jerome,—Juvencus,—omit the words. P. E. Pusey found them in no Syriac copy. But the conclusive evidence is supplied by the Manuscripts; not more than 1 out of 20 of which contain this clause.

378.

“Revised Text” of S. Luke vi. 48.

379.

“Authorized Version,” supported by a c d and 12 other uncials, the whole body of the cursives, the Syriac, Latin, and Gothic versions.

380.

“Revised Text” of S. Luke v. 39.

381.

“Authorized Version,” supported by a c and 14 other uncials, the whole body of the cursives, and all the versions except the Peschito and the Coptic.

382.

Address at Lincoln Diocesan Conference,—p. 16.

383.

On Revision,—p. 99.

384.

Dial. capp. 88 and 103 (pp. 306, 310, 352).

385.

P. 113.

386.

Ap. Galland. iii. 719, c d.

387.

iv. 15 (ap. Gall. iv. 296 b).

388.

42 b, 961 e, 1094 a.

389.

Ap. Galland. iv. 605 (ver. 365-6).

390.

Ap. Aug. viii. 423 e.

391.

“Vox illa Patris, quæ super baptizatum facta est Ego hodie genui te,” (Enchirid. c. 49 [Opp. vi. 215 a]):—

“Illud vero quod nonnulli codices habent secundum Lucam, hoc illa voce sonuisse quod in Psalmo scriptum est, Filius meus es tu: ego hodie genui te, quanquam in antiquioribus codicibus Græcis non inveniri perhibeatur, tamen si aliquibus fide dignis exemplaribus confirmari possit, quid aliud quam utrumque intelligendum est quolibet verborum ordine de cælo sonuisse?” (De Cons. Ev. ii. c. 14 [Opp. iii. P. ii. 46 d e]). Augustine seems to allude to what is found to have existed in the Ebionite Gospel.

392.

Epiphanius (i. 138 b) quotes the passage which contains the statement.

393.

Αὕτη ἡ βίβλος γενέσεως—οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς: also—ἀνθρώπων.

394.

For my information on this subject, I am entirely indebted to one who is always liberal in communicating the lore of which he is perhaps the sole living depositary in England,—the Rev. Dr. S. C. Malan. See his Seven Chapters of the Revision of 1881, revised,—p. 3. But especially should the reader be referred to Dr. Malan's learned dissertation on this very subject in his Select Readings in Westcott and Hort's Gr. Text of S. Matth.,—pp. 1 to 22.

395.

So Dr. Malan in his Select Readings (see above note 1),—pp. 15, 17, 19.

396.

“Liber genituræ Jesu Christi filii David, filii Abraham” ... “Gradatim ordo deducitur ad Christi nativitatem.”—De Carne Christi, c. 22.

397.

A friendly critic complains that we do not specify which editions of the Fathers we quote. Our reply is—This [was] a Review, not a Treatise. We are constrained to omit such details. Briefly, we always quote the best Edition. Critical readers can experience no difficulty in verifying our references. A few details shall however be added: Justin (Otto): Irenæus (Stieren): Clemens Al. (Potter): Tertullian (Oehler): Cyprian (Baluze): Eusebius (Gaisford): Athanas. (1698): Greg. Nyss. (1638): Epiphan. (1622): Didymus (1769): Ephraem Syr. (1732): Jerome (Vallarsi): Nilus (1668-73): Chrysostom (Montfaucon): Cyril (Aubert): Isidorus (1638): Theodoret (Schulze): Maximus (1675): John Damascene (Lequien): Photius (1653). Most of the others (as Origen, Greg. Nazianz., Basil, Cyril of Jer., Ambrose, Hilary, Augustine), are quoted from the Benedictine editions. When we say “Mai,” we always mean his Nova Biblioth. PP. 1852-71. By “Montfaucon,” we mean the Nov. Coll. PP. 1707. It is necessity that makes us so brief.

398.

Concilia, iii. 521 a to d.

399.

i.2 340.

400.

P. 889 line 37 (γένησιν).

401.

i. 943 c.

402.

i. 735.

403.

v.1 363, 676.

404.

Concil. iii. 325 ( = Cyril v.2 28 a).

405.

vii. 48; viii. 314.

406.

In Matth. ii. 16.

407.

Ps.-Athanas. ii. 306 and 700: ps.-Chrysost. xii. 694.

408.

P. 470.

409.

Gall. ix. 215.

410.

Trin. 188.

411.

i. 250 b.

412.

i. 426 a (γένησις).

413.

Διαφέρει γένεσις καὶ γέννησις; γένεσις μὲν γάρ ἐστι παρὰ Θεοῦ πρώτη πλάσις, γέννησις δὲ ἡ ἐκ καταδίκης τοῦ θανάτου διὰ τὴν παράβασιν ἐξ ἀλλήλων διαδοχή.—Galland. xiv. Append. pp. 73, 74.

414.

[dated 22 May a.d. 359] ap. Athan. i. 721 d.

415.

i. 722 c.

416.

P. 20 of the newly-recovered Diatessaron, translated from the Armenian. The Exposition is claimed for Ephraem Syrus.

417.

Dr. Malan, Seven Chapters of the Revision, revised, p. 7.

418.

See below, note 13.

419.

See p. 122, note 11.

420.

i. 938, 952. Also ps.-Athan. ii. 409, excellently.

421.

Trin. 349.

422.

P. 116.

423.

i. 392; ii. 599, 600.

424.

ii. 229.

425.

See p. 122, note 11.

426.

i. 426, 1049 (5 times), 1052-3.

427.

vii. 76.

428.

Galland. ix. 636.

429.

P. 6 (τὸν υἱὸν αὐτῆς: which is also the reading of Syrev and of the Sahidic. The Memphitic version represents τὸν υἱόν.)

430.

i. 276.

431.

Gal. xiii. 662.

432.

In Cat.

433.

ii. 462.

434.

“Ex hoc loco quidam perversissime suspicantur et alios filios habuisse Mariam, dicentes primogenitum non dici nisi qui habeat et fratres” (vii. 14). He refers to his treatise against Helvidius, ii. 210.

435.

Preface to Pastoral Epistles,—more fully quoted facing p. 1.

436.

The Preface (quoted above facing p. 1,) is dated 3rd Nov. 1868.

437.

Lectures on Biblical Revision, (1881) pp. 116 seqq. See above, pp. 37-9.

438.

On Revision, pp. 30 and 49.

439.

The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST, translated out of the Greek: being the Version set forth a.d. 1611, compared with the most ancient Authorities, and Revised a.d. 1881. Printed for the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, 1881.

The New Testament in the Original Greek, according to the Text followed in the Authorized Version, together with the Variations adopted in the Revised Version. Edited for the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press, by F. H. A. Scrivener, M.A., D.C.L., LL.D., Prebendary of Exeter and Vicar of Hendon. Cambridge, 1881.

Ἡ ΚΑΙΝΗ ΔΙΑΘΗΚΗ. The Greek Testament, with the Readings adopted by the Revisers of the Authorized Version. [Edited by the Ven. Archdeacon Palmer, D.D.] Oxford, 1881.

The New Testament in the Original Greek. The Text revised by Brooke Foss Westcott, D.D., and Fenton John Anthony Hort, D.D. Cambridge and London, 1881.

440.

Malan's Gospel of S. John translated from the Eleven oldest Versions.

441.

Int. ii. 72; iv. 622 dis.

442.

C. Noet. § 4.

443.

i. 1275.

444.

Trin. 363.

445.

Ap. Gall. v. 67.

446.

i. 282.

447.

i. 486.

448.

Ep. ad Paul. Sam. Concil. i. 872 e; 889 e.

449.

Ap. Galland. iv. 563.

450.

vii. 546; viii. 153, 154, 277.

451.

iii. 570; iv. 226, 1049, 1153.

452.

iv. 150 (text); vi. 30, 169. Mai, ii. 69.

453.

Concilia, iii. 1102 d.

454.

Quoted by Leontius (Gall. xii. 693).

455.

In Cat. Cord. 96.

456.

Ibid. p. 94.

457.

Cat. in Ps. ii. 323 and 343.

458.

Ap. Photium, p. 281.

459.

Montf. ii. 286.

460.

i. 288, 559, 567.

461.

Ps.-Athan. ii. 464. Another, 625. Another, 630. Ps.-Epiphan. ii. 287.

462.

i. 863, 903, 1428.

463.

Gall. iii. 296.

464.

32 dis.; 514; 1045 dis.

465.

Gall. vi. 192.

466.

iv. 679.

467.

Ap. Athan. ii. 646.

468.

Gall. v. 124.

469.

Ibid. iii. 628, 675.

470.

Ibid. ix. 367.

471.

Ibid. ix. 493.

472.

Let the Reader, with a map spread before him, survey the whereabouts of the several Versions above enumerated, and mentally assign each Father to his own approximate locality: then let him bear in mind that 995 out of 1000 of the extant Manuscripts agree with those Fathers and Versions; and let him further recognize that those MSS. (executed at different dates in different countries) must severally represent independent remote originals, inasmuch as no two of them are found to be quite alike.—Next, let him consider that, in all the Churches of the East, these words from the earliest period were read as part of the Gospel for the Thursday in Easter week.—This done, let him decide whether it is reasonable that two worshippers of codex b—a.d. 1881—should attempt to thrust all this mass of ancient evidence clean out of sight by their peremptory sentence of exclusion,—“Western and Syrian.”

Drs. Westcott and Hort inform us that “the character of the attestation marks” the clause (ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ), “as a Western gloss.” But the “attestation” for retaining that clause—(a) Comes demonstrably from every quarter of ancient Christendom:—(b) Is more ancient (by 200 years) than the evidence for omitting it:—(c) Is more numerous, in the proportion of 99 to 1:—(d) In point of respectability, stands absolutely alone. For since we have proved that Origen and Didymus, Epiphanius and Cyril, Ambrose and Jerome, recognize the words in dispute, of what possible Textual significancy can it be if presently (because it is sufficient for their purpose) the same Fathers are observed to quote S. John iii. 13 no further than down to the words “Son of Man”? No person, (least of all a professed Critic,) who adds to his learning a few grains of common sense and a little candour, can be misled by such a circumstance. Origen, Eusebius, Proclus, Ephraim Syrus, Jerome, Marius, when they are only insisting on the doctrinal significancy of the earlier words, naturally end their quotation at this place. The two Gregories (Naz. [ii. 87, 168]: Nyss. [Galland. vi. 522]), writing against the Apolinarian heresy, of course quoted the verse no further than Apolinaris himself was accustomed (for his heresy) to adduce it.... About the internal evidence for the clause, nothing has been said; but this is simply overwhelming. We make our appeal to Catholic Antiquity; and are content to rest our cause on External Evidence;—on Copies, on Versions, on Fathers.

473.

Pp. 798, 799.

474.

iii. 414.

475.

Ant. c. 50; Consum. c. 28.

476.

Hist. Eccl. v. 8.

477.

Ἐμβατεῦσαι;—Ἐπιβῆναι τὰ ἔνδον ἐξερευνῆσαι ἣ σκοπῆσαι. Phavorinus, quoted by Brüder.

478.

Viz. S. Luke iv. 39: Acts x. 17: xi. 11: xxii. 20.

479.

S. Luke ii. 9 (where “came upon” is better than “stood by them,” and should have been left): xxiv. 4: Acts xii. 7: xxii. 13: xxiii. 11.

480.

S. Luke xx. 1: xxi. 34 (last Day): Acts iv. 1: vi. 12: xvii. 5 (“assault”): xxiii. 27: xxviii. 2 (a rain-storm,—which, by the way, suggests for τὸν ἐφεστῶτα a different rendering from “the present”).

481.

S. Luke ii. 38.

482.

S. Luke x. 40.

483.

Cf. ch. xi. 20. So in Latin, Illa plurima sacrificia. (Cic. De Fin. 2. 20. 63.)

484.

“The context” (says learned Dr. Field) “is too strong for philological quibbles.” The words “can by no possibility bear any other meaning.”—Otium Norvicense, p. 40.

485.

Στρατιώτης ὂς πρὸς τὸ φονεύειν τέτακται,—Theophylact, i. 201 e. Boys quotes Seneca De Irá:—Tunc centurio supplicio præpositus condere gladium speculatorem jussit.

486.

Trench, Study of Words, p. 106.

487.

Otium Norvicense, pars tertia, 1881, pp. 155.

488.

Compare Xenophon (Cyrop. vii. 6. 8), τοὺς Συριστὶ ἐπισταμένους. The plena locutio is found in Nehem. xiii. 24,—οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτῶν ἥμισυ λαλοῦντες Ἁζωτιστί, καὶ οὐκ εἰσὶν ἐπιγινώσκοντες λαλεῖν Ἰουδαιστί (quoted by Wetstein).

489.

Cf. Acts i. 23; xvii. 31. The Latin is “statuerunt” or “constituerunt.” The Revisionists give “appointed” in the second of these places, and “put forward” in the first. In both,—What becomes of their uniformity?

490.

P. 279.

491.

καὶ τὸν δικαστὴν εἷλεν ὁ τέως κατάδικος εἶναι νομιζόμενος καὶ τὴν νίκην αὐτὸς ὁ χειρωθεὶς ὁμολογεῖ λαμπρᾷ τῇ φωνῇ παρόντων ἁπάντων λέγων, ἐν ὀλίγῳ κ.τ.λ. x. 307 b. (= xii. 433 a).

492.

ἐν ὀλίγῳ; τουτέστι παρὰ μικρόν. ix. 391 a.

493.

καὶ τὸν δικάζοντα μικροῦ μεταπεῖσαι, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον λέγειν, ἐν ὀλίγῳ κ.τ.λ. ii. 516 d.

494.

iii. 399 d.

495.

v. 930 (παρ᾽ ὀλίγον).

496.

MS. Note in his copy of the N. T.

497.

And the Revisionists: for see Rom. xi. 4.

498.

Yet even here they cannot abstain from putting in the margin the peculiarly infelicitous alternative,—“Why didst thou forsake Me?”

499.

As in Rom. vi. 2: ix. 13. 1 Cor. i. 27: vi. 20: ix. 11. Ephes. iv. 20, &c. &c.

500.

Comp. S. Matth. viii. 1, 5, 23, 28; ix. 27, 28; xxi. 23.

501.

Ἐὰν οὖν προσφέρῃς.

502.

ii. 155.

503.

Routh, Rell. iii. 226 ad calc.

504.

Ap. Mai, iv. 266.

505.

ii. 1324.

506.

ii. 380.

507.

Ap. Greg. Nyss. iii. 403.

508.

So also Heb. xi. 17, 28. And see the Revision of S. James i. 11.

509.

Comp. ἀφίεμεν in S. Lu. xi. 4. In the case of certain Greek verbs, the preterite in form is invariably present in signification. See Dr. Field's delightful Otium Norvicense, p. 65.

510.

See above, pp. 98-106. Also infra, towards the end.

511.

As in S. Matth. xi. 11 and 2 Tim. iv. 17, where δέ is rendered “notwithstanding:”—Phil. i. 24 and Heb. xii. 11, where it is “nevertheless.”

512.

Eight times in succession in 1 Cor. xii. 8-10, δέ is not represented in the A. V. The ancients felt so keenly what Tyndale, Cranmer, the Geneva, the Rheims, and the A. V. ventured to exhibit, that as often as not they leave out the δέ,—in which our Revisionists twice follow them. The reader of taste is invited to note the precious result of inserting “and,” as the Revisionists have done six times, where according to the genius of the English language it is not wanted at all.

513.

38 times in the Genealogy, S. Matth. i.

514.

Rom. xiv. 4: xv. 20.

515.

Rom. ix. 22.

516.

1 Cor. xii. 27.

517.

Gal. ii. 4.

518.

Act xxvii. 26.

519.

Rom. iii. 22.

520.

Ephes. iv. 1.

521.

2 Cor. v. 8.

522.

S. Mark xv. 31.

523.

S. Mark vi. 29.

524.

1 Cor. x. 1.

525.

S. Matth. vi. 30.

526.

S. John xx. 4.

527.

2 Cor. i. 23.

528.

2 Cor. vii. 13.

529.

2 Cor. ii. 12.

530.

2 Pet. iii. 13.

531.

S. Matth. ii. 22.

532.

1 Cor. xii. 20.

533.

1 S. John i. 3.

534.

S. Matth. xxv. 39.

535.

Acts viii. 3.

536.

Rom. xii. 6.

537.

S. Matth. vi. 29.

538.

As in S. Matth. vii. 9: xii. 29: xx. 15. Rom. iii. 29.

539.

S. Matth. xx. 15: xxvi. 53. Rom. iii. 29: vi. 3: vii. 1.

540.

S. John xvi. 32.

541.

S. Luke xix. 23.

542.

2 Cor. xiii. 1.

543.

S. Luke xii. 2.

544.

S. Luke xviii. 7.

545.

S Luke xiv. 21.

546.

1 S. John ii. 27.

547.

1 S. John i. 2.

548.

S. Mark ix. 39.

549.

Acts xxiii. 3.

550.

Consider S. Matth. iii. 16,—ἀνέβη ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος: and ver. 6,—ἐβαπτίζοντο ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ.

551.

ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνανεστράφη.

552.

Galland. iv. 6 b bis.

553.

P. 279.

554.

ix. 400.

555.

ii. 707.

556.

The circumstance is noticed and explained in the same way by Dr. Field in his delightful Otium Norvicense.

557.

Concilia, iv. 79 e.

558.

Thus Cyril addresses one of his Epistles to Acacius Bp. of Melitene,—Concilia, iii. 1111.

559.

See Dr. Field's delightful Otium Norvicense (Pars tertia), 1881, pp. 1-4 and 110, 111. This masterly contribution to Sacred Criticism ought to be in the hands of every student of Scripture.

560.

See Hesychius, and the notes on the place.

561.

Notes designed to illustrate some expressions in the Gk. Test. by a reference to the lxx., &c. By C. F. B. Wood, Præcentor of Llandaff,—Rivingtons, 1882, (pp. 21,)—p. 17:—an admirable performance, only far too brief.

562.

Μὴ ἀδυνατήσει παρὰ τῷ θεῷ ῥῆμα?

563.

Οὐκ ἀδυνατήσει παρὰ τῷ θεῷ πᾶν ῥῆμα.

564.

[Pointed out to me by Professor Gandell,—whose exquisite familiarity with Scripture is only equalled by his readiness to communicate his knowledge to others.]

565.

μύρου νάρδου πιστικῆς and ἐνταφιασμός,—S. Mark xiv. 3 and 8: S. John xii. 3 and 7. Hear Origen (apud Hieron. iii. 517):—“Non de nardo propositum est nunc Spiritui Sancto dicere, neque de hoc quod oculis intuemur, Evangelista scribit, unguento; sed de nardo spirituali.” And so Jerome himself, vii. 212.

566.

Ps. xxxiii. 18 (ἐγγὺς Κύριος τοῖς συντετριμμένοις τὴν καρδίαν): Is. lvii. 15.

567.

Consider Ignatius, ad Ephes. c. xvii. Also, the exquisite remark of Theod. Heracl. in Cramer's Cat.

568.

We prefer that readers should be reminded, by the varied form, of the Greek original. In the extreme case (Acts vii. 45: Hebr. iv. 8), is it not far more edifying that attention should be in this way directed to the identity of the names “Joshua” and “Jesus,” than that the latter word should be entirely obliterated by the former;—and this, only for the sake of unmistakeably proclaiming, (what yet must needs be perfectly manifest, viz.) that “Joshua” is the personage spoken of?

569.

So, in S. Luke xxiii. 25, and Acts iii. 14: xiii. 28,—still following Tyndale.

570.

Acts xii. 20.

571.

Eph. iii. 13.

572.

For, as the story plainly shows (2 Sam. vii. 2, 3; 1 Chron. xvii. 1, 2), it was only “in his heart” to build God an house (1 Kings viii. 17, 18). Hence Cranmer's “he would fain” have done so.

573.

Acts xvi. 29.

574.

Col. i. 9.

575.

S. Matth. xiv. 15, 22, 23 (= S. Mark vi. 36, 45, [and note the substitution of ἀποταξάμενος in ver. 46]: S. Luke ix. 12): and xv. 32, 39 (= S. Mark viii. 9).

576.

S. Matt. xiii. 36: and S. Mark iv. 36.

577.

Acts xii. 13.

578.

Acts xvi. 16.

579.

Verses 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 30, 31.

580.

Twice he calls it μνῆμα.

581.

Ch. xxvii. 61, 64, 66; xxviii. 1.

582.

Except in 2 Tim. iii. 16,—where πρὸς διδασκαλίαν is rendered ad docendum.

583.

Except in Rom. xii. 7,—where ἐν τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ is rendered “on teaching.”

584.

Except in Rom. xvi. 17, where they render it “doctrine.”

585.

And yet, since upwards of 50 times we are molested with a marginal note to inform us that διδάσκαλος means “Teacher”—διδασκαλία (rather than διδαχή) might have claimed to be rendered “teaching.”

586.

Viz. Rom. xii. 7: 1 Tim. iv. 13, 16: v. 17: 2 Tim. iii. 10, 16.—Rom. xv. 4.

587.

Eight times in Rev. xvi.

588.

S. Matth. xxvi. 7. S. Mark xiv. 3. S. Luke vii. 37.

589.

γλωσσόκομον. Consider the LXX. of 2 Chron. xxiv. 8, 10, 11.

590.

ζώνας.

591.

E.g. S. Matth. xxvi. 48. S. Luke ii. 12.

592.

Δύναμις is rendered “miracle” in the R. V. about half-a-dozen times.

593.

Acts iv. 16, 22.—On the other hand, “sign” was allowed to represent σημεῖον repeatedly in the A. V., as in S. Matth. xii. 38, &c., and the parallel places: S. Mark xvi. 17, 20: S. John xx. 30.

594.

Canon Cook's Revised Version of the first three Gospels considered, &c.—p. 26: an admirable performance,—unanswered, because unanswerable.

595.

Dr. Vance Smith's Revised Texts and Margins,—p. 45.

596.

S. Matth. xvii. 15: S. Mk. ix. 18, 20, 22, 26: S. Lu. ix. 39, 42.

597.

Consider our Lord's solemn words in Mtt. xvii. 21,—“But this kind goeth not out save by prayer and fasting,”—12 words left out by the R. V., though witnessed to by all the Copies but 3: by the Latin, Syriac, Coptic, and Armenian Versions: and by the following Fathers:—(1) Origen, (2) Tertullian, (3) the Syriac Clement, (4) the Syriac Canons of Eusebius, (5) Athanasius, (6) Basil, (7) Ambrose, (8) Juvencus, (9) Chrysostom, (10) Opus imp., (11) Hilary, (12) Augustine, (13) J. Damascene, and others. Then (it will be asked), why have the Revisionists left them out? Because (we answer) they have been misled by b and א, Cureton's Syriac and the Sahidic,—as untrustworthy a quaternion of witnesses to the text of Scripture as could be named.

598.

The word is only not banished entirely from the N. T. It occurs twice (viz. in Rom. i. 20, and Jude ver. 6), but only as the rendering of ἀῖδιος.

599.

S. Matth. xxv. 46.

600.

Clemens Al. (p. 71) says:—τὰσ γραφὰς ὁ Ἀπόστολος Θεοπνεύστους καλεῖ, ὠφελίμους οὔσας. Tertullian,—Legimus omnem Scripturam ædificationi habilem, divinitus inspirari. Origen (ii. 443),—πᾶσα γραφὴ θεόπνευστος οὖσα ὠφελιμός ἐστι. Gregory Nyss. (ii. 605),—πᾶσα γραφὴ θεόπνευστος λέγεται. Dial. (ap. Orig. i. 808),—πᾶσα γραφὴ θεόπνευστος λέγεται παρὰ τοῦ Ἀποστόλου. So Basil, Chrysostom, Cyril, Theodoret, &c.

601.

See Archdeacon Lee on Inspiration, pp. 261-3, reading his notes.

602.

S. John xvi. 15.

603.

Study by all means Basil's letter to Amphilochius, (vol. iii. p. 360 to 362.)—Ἔστιν οὖν ὁ νοῦς ὁ παρὰ τῷ Μάρκῳ τοιοῦτος; Περὶ δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης ἢ ὥρας, οὐδεὶς οἶδεν, οὔτε οἱ ἄγγελοι τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ἄν ὁ Υἱὸς ἔγνω, εἰ μὴ ὁ Πατέρ; ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ Πατρὸς αὐτῷ ὑπῆρχε δεδομένη ἡ γνῶσις ... τουτέστιν, ἡ αἰτία τοῦ εἰδέναι τὸν Υἱὸν παρὰ τοῦ Πατρός; καὶ ἀβίαστός ἐστι τῷ εὐγνωμόνως ἀκούοντι ἡ ἐξήγησις αὕτη. ἐπειδὴ οὐ πρόσκειται τὸ μόνος; ὡς καὶ παρὰ τῷ Ματθαίῳ.—(p. 362 c.) Basil says of this interpretation—ἂ τοίνυν ἐκ παιδὸς παρὰ τῶν πατέρων ἠκούσαμεν.

604.

Notes, p. 109.

605.

Celebre effugium, (as Dr. Routh calls it,) quod ex falsâ verborum constructione Critici quidam hæreticis pararunt. Reliqq. iii. 322-3.

606.

c alone has a point between ὁ ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων and Θεὸς εὐλογητὸς εἰς τους αἰῶνας. But this is an entirely different thing from what is noted in the margin.

607.

MS. communication from the Rev. S. C. Malan.

608.

i. 506.

609.

Opusc. i. 52, 58; Phil. 339.

610.

iv. 612.

611.

Routh, Reliqq. Sac. iii. 292, and 287. (Concil. i. 845 b. c.)

612.

Concilia, i. 873 d: 876 a.

613.

vi. c. 26.

614.

i. 414, 415, 429, 617, 684, 908.

615.

i. 282. And in Cat. 317.

616.

Trin. 21, 29, 327, 392. Mai, vii. 303.

617.

ii. 596 a, (quoted by the Emp. Justinian [Concil. v. 697] and the Chronicon Paschale, 355), 693, 697; iii. 287. Galland. vi. 575.

618.

i. 481, 487, 894, 978; ii. 74.

619.

Ap. Cyril (ed. Pusey), v. 534.

620.

Ap. Gall. iii. 805.

621.

Ap. Gall. iv. 576.

622.

Ap. Phot. col. 761, 853.

623.

Ap. Gall. vi. 8, 9, 80.

624.

Ap. Gall. vii. 618, and ap. Hieron. i. 560.

625.

Concilia, iii. 522 e ( = iv. 297 d = ap. Gall. viii. 667). Also, Concilia (Harduin), i. 1413 a.

626.

Ap. Gall. ix. 474.

627.

Ap. Gall. ix. 690, 691 ( = Concil. iii. 1230, 1231).

628.

Homilia (Arm.), p. 165 and 249.

629.

i. 464, 483; vi. 534; vii. 51; viii. 191; ix. 604, 653; x. 172.

630.

v.1 20, 503, 765, 792; v.2 58, 105, 118, 148; vi. 328. Ap. Mai, ii. 70, 86, 96, 104; iii. 84 in Luc. 26.

631.

Concilia, iii. 1099 b.

632.

i. 103; ii. 1355; iii. 215, 470; iv. 17, 433, 1148, 1264, 1295, 1309; v. 67, 1093.

633.

Cramer's Cat. 160.

634.

Ibid. in Act. 40.

635.

P. 166.

636.

Concilia, ii. 195.

637.

Ap. Gall. xii. 251.

638.

Ap. Gall. xii. 682.

639.

ii. 64.

640.

i. 557; ii. 35, 88.

641.

Prax. 13, 15—“Christum autem et ipse Deum cognominavit, Quorum patres, et ex quibus Christus secundum carnem, qui est super omnia Deus benedictus in ævum.”

642.

P. 287.

643.

Ap. Gall. iii. 296, 313.

644.

i. 1470; ii. 457, 546, 609, 790.

645.

Concilia, ii. 982 c.

646.

78, 155, 393, 850, 970, 1125, 1232.

647.

i. 870, 872.

648.

Ap. Gall. viii. 157.

649.

Ap. Gall. vii. 589, 590.

650.

Ap. Gall. viii. 627.

651.

709, 711.

652.

Ap. Gall. x. 722.

653.

Ap. Gall. xi. 233, 237.

654.

Concilia, iii. 1364, 1382.

655.

Ap. Gall. 352, 357.

656.

Ibid. 674.

657.

ii. 16, 215, 413.

658.

i. 839; v. 769; xii. 421.

659.

Those of our readers who wish to pursue this subject further may consult with advantage Dr. Gifford's learned note on the passage in the Speaker's Commentary. Dr. Gifford justly remarks that “it is the natural and simple construction, which every Greek scholar would adopt without hesitation, if no question of doctrine were involved.”

660.

Note, that this has been the language of the Church from the beginning. Thus Tertullian,—“Aquam adituri ... contestamur nos renuntiare diabolo, et pompæ et angelis ejus” (i. 421): and Ambrose,—“Quando te interrogavit, Abrenuntias diabolo et operibus ejus, quid respondisti? Abrenuntio. Abrenuntias sæculo et voluptatibus ejus, quid respondisti? Abrenuntio” (ii. 350 c): and Ephraem Syrus,—Ἀποτάσσομαι τῷ Σατανᾷ καὶ πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔργοις αὐτοῦ (ii. 195 and iii. 399). And Cæsarius of Arles,—“Abrenuntias diabolo, pompis et operibus ejus ... Abrenuntio” (Galland. xi. 18 e).

661.

2 Tim. iv. 18.

662.

S. John xvii. 24.

663.

P. 140.

664.

Marcell. p. 192.

665.

In loc. diserte.

666.

Eth. ii. 297.

667.

viii. 485.

668.

Text, iv. 1003; Comm. 1007, which are two distinct authorities, as learned readers of Cyril are aware.

669.

Concilia, iii. 356 d.

670.

iv. 450.

671.

Pp. 235, 321.

672.

i. 412; ii. 566, 649.

673.

Pp. 1017, 1033.

674.

Victricius ap. Gall. viii. 230. Also ps.-Chrys. v. 680.

675.

iii. 966 dis.

676.

Dem. 92.

677.

i. 319.

678.

Trin. 190.

679.

v. 1039, 1069.

680.

ii. 460.

681.

v. 615.

682.

ii. 584. Cyril read the place both ways:—v.2 156, and in Luc. p. 52.

683.

i. 720.

684.

ii. 381; iii. 962; iv. 601.

685.

Ap. Galland. vii. 183.

686.

Ap. Montf. ii. 67.

687.

iii. 333; v. 444; x. 498, 620; xii. 329.

688.

ii. 77; iii. 349.

689.

ii. 252.

690.

“Deseruimus fere quos sequi solemus codices.”

691.

P. 38 ( = Gall. vii. 26).

692.

i. 298, 613.

693.

viii. 351, 352.

694.

iv. 652 c, 653 a, 654 d.

695.

i. 748; iv. 274, 550.

696.

In Dionys. Ar. ii. 192.

697.

As these sheets are passing through the press, we have received a book by Sir Edmund Beckett, entitled, Should the Revised New Testament be Authorized? In four Chapters, the author discusses with characteristic vigour, first, the principles and method of the Revisers, and then the Gospel of S. Matthew, the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the Apocalypse, as fair samples of their work, with a union of sound sense, forensic skill, and scholarship more skilful than to deserve his cautious disclaimer. Amidst details open, of course, to discussion, abundant proofs are set forth, in a most telling style, that the plea of “necessity” and “faithfulness” utterly fails, in justification of a mass of alterations, which, in point of English composition, carry their condemnation on their face, and, to sum up the great distinction between the two Versions, illustrate “the difference between working by discretion and by rules—by which no great thing was ever done or ever will be.” Sir Edmund Beckett is very happy in his exposure of the abuse of the famous canon of preferring the stranger reading to the more obvious, as if copyists never made stupid blunders or perpetrated wilful absurdities. The work deserves the notice of all English readers.

698.

It has been objected by certain of the Revisionists that it is not fair to say that “they were appointed to do one thing, and have done another.” We are glad of this opportunity to explain.

That some corrections of the Text were necessary, we are well aware: and had those necessary changes been made, we should only have had words of commendation and thanks to offer. But it is found that by Dr. Hort's eager advocacy two-thirds of the Revisionists have made a vast number of perfectly needless changes:—(1) Changes which are incapable of being represented in a Translation: as ἐμοῦ for μου,—πάντες for ἅπαντες,—ὅτε for ὁπότε. Again, since γέννησις, at least as much as γένεσις, means “birth,” why γένεσις in S. Matth. i. 18? Why, also, inform us that instead of ἐν τῷ ἀμπελῶνι αὐτοῦ πεφυτευμένην, they prefer πεφυτευμένην ἐν τῷ ἀμπελῶνι αὐτοῦ? and instead of καρπὸν ζητῶν,—ζητῶν καρπόν? Now this they have done throughout,—at least 341 times in S. Luke alone. But (what is far worse), (2) They suggest in the margin changes which yet they do not adopt. These numerous changes are, by their own confession, not “necessary:” and yet they are of a most serious character. In fact, it is of these we chiefly complain.—But, indeed (3), How many of their other alterations of the Text will the Revisionists undertake to defend publicly on the plea of “Necessity”?

[A vast deal more will be found on this subject towards the close of the present volume. In the meantime, see above, pages 87-88.]

699.

“We meet in every page” (says Dr. Wordsworth, the learned Bishop of Lincoln,) “with small changes which are vexatious, teasing, and irritating; even the more so because they are small (as small insects sting most sharply), which seem almost to be made merely for the sake of change.”—p. 25.

700.

On the Revision of the English Version, &c. (1870), p. 99.

701.

Bp. Ellicott, Diocesan Progress, Jan. 1882,—p. 19.

702.

Bp. Ellicott, On Revision,—p. 49.

703.

“Qui lxx interpretes non legit, aut minus legit accurate, is sciat se non adeo idoneum, qui Scripta Evangelica Apostolica de Græco in Latinum, aut alium aliquem sermonem transferat, ut ut in aliis Græcis scriptoribus multum diuque fuerit versatus.” (John Bois, 1619.)—“Græcum N. T. contextum rite intellecturo nihil est utilius quam diligenter versasse Alexandrinam antiqui Fœderis interpretationem, e quâ unâ plus peti poterit auxilii, quam ex veteribus Scriptoribus Græcis simul sumtis. Centena reperientur in N. T. nusquam obvia in scriptis Græcorum veterum, sed frequentata in Alexandrinâ versione.” (Valcknaer, 1715-85.)

704.

On the Authorized Version,—p. 3.

705.

Preface, p. xiv.

706.

Quarterly Review, No. 304.

707.

Quarterly Review, No. 305.

708.

At the head of the present Article, as it originally appeared, will be found enumerated Dr. Scrivener's principal works. It shall but be said of them, that they are wholly unrivalled, or rather unapproached, in their particular department. Himself an exact and elegant Scholar,—a most patient and accurate observer of Textual phenomena, as well as an interesting and judicious expositor of their significance and value;—guarded in his statements, temperate in his language, fair and impartial (even kind) to all who come in his way:—Dr. Scrivener is the very best teacher and guide to whom a beginner can resort, who desires to be led by the hand, as it were, through the intricate mazes of Textual Criticism. His Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament for the use of Biblical Students, (of which a third edition is now in the press,) is perforce the most generally useful, because the most comprehensive, of his works; but we strenuously recommend the three prefatory chapters of his Full and Exact Collation of about twenty Greek Manuscripts of the Gospels [pp. lxxiv. and 178,—1853], and the two prefatory chapters of his Exact Transcript of the Codex Augiensis, &c., to which is added a full Collation of Fifty Manuscripts, [pp. lxxx. and 563,—1859,] to the attention of students. His Collation of Codex Bezæ (d) is perhaps the greatest of his works: but whatever he has done, he has done best. It is instructive to compare his collation of Cod. א with Tischendorf's. No reader of the Greek Testament can afford to be without his reprint of Stephens' ed. of 1550: and English readers are reminded that Dr. Scrivener's is the only classical edition of the English Bible,—The Cambridge Paragraph Bible, &c., 1870-3. His Preface or “Introduction” (pp. ix.-cxx.) passes praise. Ordinary English readers should enquire for his Six Lectures on the Text of the N. T., &c., 1875,—which is in fact an attempt to popularize the Plain Introduction. The reader is referred to note 1 at the foot of page 243.

709.

“Agmen ducit Carolus Lachmannus (N. T. Berolini 1842-50), ingenii viribus et elegantiâ doctrinæ haud pluribus impar; editor N. T. audacior quam limatior: cujus textum, a recepto longè decedentem, tantopere judicibus quibusdam subtilioribus placuisse jamdudum miramur: quippe qui, abjectâ tot cæterorum codicum Græcorum ope, perpaucis antiquissimis (nec iis integris, nec per eum satis accuratè collatis) innixus, libros sacros ad sæculi post Christum quarti normam restituisse sibi videatur; versionum porrò (cujuslibet codicis ætatem facilè superantium) Syriacæ atque Ægyptiacarum contemptor, neutrius linguæ peritus; Latinarum contrà nimius fautor, præ Bentleio ipso Bentleianus.”—Scrivener's Preface to Nov. Test, textûs Stephanici, &c. See above, p. 238, note.

710.

Scrivener's Introduction, p. 429.

711.

N. T. Part II. p. 2.

712.

No one who attends ever so little to the subject can require to be assured that “The New Testament in the Original Greek, according to the text followed in the Authorized Version, together with the variations adopted in the Revised Version,” edited by Dr. Scrivener for the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press, 1881, does not by any means represent his own views. The learned Prebendary merely edited the decisions of the two-thirds majority of the Revisionists,—which were not his own.

713.

Those who have never tried the experiment, can have no idea of the strain on the attention which such works as those enumerated in p. 238 (note) occasion. At the same time, it cannot be too clearly understood that it is chiefly by the multiplication of exact collations of MSS. that an abiding foundation will some day be laid on which to build up the Science of Textual Criticism. We may safely keep our “Theories” back till we have collated our MSS.,—re-edited our Versions,—indexed our Fathers. They will be abundantly in time then.

714.

Introduction, p. 18.

715.

See lower part of page 17. Also note at p. 75 and middle of p. 262.

716.

P. 13, cf. p. viii.

717.

They are as follows:—

[1st] S. Mark (vi. 33) relates that on a certain occasion the multitude, when they beheld our Saviour and His Disciples departing in order to cross over unto the other side of the lake, ran on foot thither,—(α) “and outwent them—(β) and came together unto Him” (i.e. on His stepping out of the boat: not, as Dr. Hort strangely imagines [p. 99], on His emerging from the scene of His “retirement” in “some sequestered nook”).

Now here, a substitutes συνέδραμον [sic] for συνῆλθον.—א b with the Coptic and the Vulg. omit clause (β).—d omits clause (α), but substitutes “there” (αὐτοῦ) for “unto Him” in clause (β),—exhibits therefore a fabricated text.—The Syriac condenses the two clauses thus:—“got there before Him.”—l, Δ, 69, and 4 or 5 of the old Latin copies, read diversely from all the rest and from one another. The present is, in fact, one of those many places in S. Mark's Gospel where all is contradiction in those depraved witnesses which Lachmann made it his business to bring into fashion. Of Confusion there is plenty. “Conflation”—as the Reader sees—there is none.

[2nd] In S. Mark viii. 26, our Saviour (after restoring sight to the blind man of Bethsaida) is related to have said,—(α) “Neither enter into the village”—(β) “nor tell it to any one—(γ) in the village.” (And let it be noted that the trustworthiness of this way of exhibiting the text is vouched for by a c n Δ and 12 other uncials: by the whole body of the cursives: by the Peschito and Harklensian, the Gothic, Armenian, and Æthiopic Versions: and by the only Father who quotes the place—Victor of Antioch. [Cramer's Cat. p. 345, lines 3 and 8.])

But it is found that the “two false witnesses” (א b) omit clauses (β) and (γ), retaining only clause (α). One of these two however (א), aware that under such circumstances μηδέ is intolerable, [Dr. Hort, on the contrary, (only because he finds it in b,) considers μηδέ “simple and vigorous” as well as “unique” and “peculiar” (p. 100).] substitutes μή. As for d and the Vulg., they substitute and paraphrase, importing from Matt. ix. 6 (or Mk. ii. 11), “Depart unto thine house.” d proceeds,—“and tell it to no one [μηδενὶ εἴπῃς, from Matth. viii. 4,] in the village.” Six copies of the old Latin (b f ff-2 g-1-2 l), with the Vulgate, exhibit the following paraphrase of the entire place:—“Depart unto thine house, and if thou enterest into the village, tell it to no one.” The same reading exactly is found in Evan. 13-69-346: 28, 61, 473, and i, (except that 28, 61, 346 exhibit “say nothing [from Mk. i. 44] to no one.”) All six however add at the end,—“not even in the village.” Evan. 124 and a stand alone in exhibiting,—“Depart unto thine house; and enter not into the village; neither tell it to any one,”—to which 124 [not a] adds,—“in the village.”... Why all this contradiction and confusion is now to be called “Conflation,”—and what “clear evidence” is to be elicited therefrom that “Syrian” are posterior alike to “Western” and to “neutral” readings,—passes our powers of comprehension.

We shall be content to hasten forward when we have further informed our Readers that while Lachmann and Tregelles abide by the Received Text in this place; Tischendorf, alone of Editors, adopts the reading of א (μη εις την κωμην εισελθης): while Westcott and Hort, alone of Editors, adopt the reading of b (μηδε εις την κωμην εισελθης),—so ending the sentence. What else however but calamitous is it to find that Westcott and Hort have persuaded their fellow Revisers to adopt the same mutilated exhibition of the Sacred Text? The consequence is, that henceforth,—instead of “Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town,”—we are invited to read, “Do not even enter into the village.”

[3rd] In S. Mk. ix. 38,—S. John, speaking of one who cast out devils in Christ's Name, says—(α) “who followeth not us, and we forbad him—(β) because he followeth not us.”

Here, א b c l Δ the Syriac, Coptic, and Æthiopic, omit clause (α), retaining (β). d with the old Latin and the Vulg. omit clause (β), but retain (α).—Both clauses are found in a n with 11 other uncials and the whole body of the cursives, besides the Gothic, and the only Father who quotes the place,—Basil [ii. 252].—Why should the pretence be set up that there has been “Conflation” here? Two Omissions do not make one Conflation.

[4th] In Mk. ix. 49,—our Saviour says,—“For (α) every one shall be salted with fire—and (β) every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.”

Here, clause (α) is omitted by d and a few copies of the old Latin; clause (β) by א b L Δ.

But such an ordinary circumstance as the omission of half-a-dozen words by Cod. d is so nearly without textual significancy, as scarcely to merit commemoration. And do Drs. Westcott and Hort really propose to build their huge and unwieldy hypothesis on so flimsy a circumstance as the concurrence in error of א b l Δ,—especially in S. Mark's Gospel, which those codices exhibit more unfaithfully than any other codices that can be named? Against them, are to be set on the present occasion a c d n with 12 other uncials and the whole body of the cursives: the Ital. and Vulgate; both Syriac; the Coptic, Gothic, Armenian, and Æthiopic Versions; besides the only Father who quotes the place,—Victor of Antioch. [Also “Anon.” p. 206: and see Cramer's Cat. p. 368.]

[5th] S. Luke (ix. 10) relates how, on a certain occasion, our Saviour “withdrew to a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida:” which S. Luke expresses in six words: viz. [1] εἰς [2] τόπον [3] ἔρημον [4] πόλεως [5] καλουμένης [6] Βηθσαϊδά: of which six words,—

(a)—א and Syrcu retain but three,—1, 2, 3.

(b)—The Peschito retains but four,—1, 2, 3, 6.

(c)—b l x Ξ d and the 2 Egyptian versions retain other four,—1, 4, 5, 6: but for πόλεως καλουμένης d exhibits κώμην λεγομένην.

(d)—The old Latin and Vulg. retain five,—1, 2, 3, 5, 6: but for “qui (or quod) vocabatur,” the Vulg. b and c exhibit “qui (or quod) est.”

(e)—3 cursives retain other five, viz. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6: while,

(f)—a c Δ e, with 9 more uncials and the great bulk of the cursives,—the Harklensian, Gothic, Armenian, and Æthiopic Versions,—retain all the six words.

In view of which facts, it probably never occurred to any one before to suggest that the best attested reading of all is the result of “conflation,” i.e. of spurious mixture. Note, that א and d have, this time, changed sides.

[6th] S. Luke (xi. 54) speaks of the Scribes and Pharisees as (α) “lying in wait for Him,” (β) seeking (γ) to catch something out of His mouth (δ) “that they might accuse Him.” This is the reading of 14 uncials headed by a c, and of the whole body of the cursives: the reading of the Vulgate also and of the Syriac. What is to be said against it?

It is found that א b l with the Coptic and Æthiopic Versions omit clauses (β) and (δ), but retain clauses (α) and (γ).—Cod. d, in conjunction with Cureton's Syriac and the old Latin, retains clause (β), and paraphrases all the rest of the sentence. How then can it be pretended that there has been any “Conflation” here?

In the meantime, how unreasonable is the excision from the Revised Text of clauses (β) and (δ)—(ζητοῦντες ... ἵνα κατηγορήσωσιν αὐτόν)—which are attested by a c d and 12 other uncials, together with the whole body of the cursives; by all the Syriac and by all the Latin copies!... Are we then to understand that א b, and the Coptic Version, outweigh every other authority which can be named?

[7th] The “rich fool” in the parable (S. Lu. xii. 18), speaks of (α) πάντα τὰ γενήματά μου, καὶ (β) τὰ ἀγαθά μου. (So a q and 13 other uncials, besides the whole body of the cursives; the Vulgate, Basil, and Cyril.)

But א d (with the old Latin and Cureton's Syriac [which however drops the πάντα]), retaining clause (α), omit clause (β).—On the other hand, b t, (with the Egyptian Versions, the Syriac, the Armenian, and Æthiopic,) retaining clause (β), substitute τὸν σῖτον (a gloss) for τὰ γενήματα in clause (α). Lachmann, Tisch., and Alford, accordingly retain the traditional text in this place. So does Tregelles, and so do Westcott and Hort,—only substituting τὸν σῖτον for τὰ γενήματα. Confessedly therefore there has been no “Syrian conflation” here: for all that has happened has been the substitution by b of τὸν σῖτον for τὰ γενήματα; and the omission of 4 words by א d. This instance must therefore have been an oversight.—Only once more.

[8th] S. Luke's Gospel ends (xxiv. 53) with the record that the Apostles were continually in the Temple, “(α) praising and (β) blessing God.” Such is the reading of 13 uncials headed by A and every known cursive: a few copies of the old Lat., the Vulg., Syraic, Philox., Æthiopic, and Armenian Versions. But it is found that א b c omit clause (α): while d and seven copies of the old Latin omit clause (β).

And this completes the evidence for “Conflation.” We have displayed it thus minutely, lest we should be suspected of unfairness towards the esteemed writers on the only occasion which they have attempted argumentative proof. Their theory has at last forced them to make an appeal to Scripture, and to produce some actual specimens of their meaning. After ransacking the Gospels for 30 years, they have at last fastened upon eight: of which (as we have seen), several have really no business to be cited,—as not fulfilling the necessary conditions of the problem. To prevent cavil however, let all but one, the [7th], pass unchallenged.

718.

The Reader is referred to pp. 17, 75, 249.

719.

E.g. pp. 115, 116, 117, 118, &c.

720.

Referred to below, p. 296.

721.

See above, pages 257 (bottom) and 258 (top).

722.

See above, pp. 37 to 38.

723.

Ibid. p. 39.

724.

To speak with entire accuracy, Drs. Westcott and Hort require us to believe that the Authors of the [imaginary] Syrian Revisions of a.d. 250 and a.d. 350, interpolated the genuine Text of the Gospels, with between 2877 (b) and 3455 (א) spurious words; mutilated the genuine Text in respect of between 536 (b) and 839 (א) words:—substituted for as many genuine words, between 935 (b) and 1114 (א) uninspired words:—licentiously transposed between 2098 (b) and 2299 (א):—and in respect of number, case, mood, tense, person, &c., altered without authority between 1132 (B) and 1265 (א) words.

725.

Quoted by Canon Cook, Revised Version Considered,—p. 202.

726.

i.e. say from a.d. 90 to a.d. 250-350.

727.

See above, p. 269.

728.

“If,” says Dr. Hort, “an editor were for any purpose to make it his aim to restore as completely as possible the New Testament of Antioch in a.d. 350, he could not help taking the approximate consent of the cursives as equivalent to a primary documentary witness. And he would not be the less justified in so doing for being unable to say precisely by what historical agencies the one Antiochian original”—[note the fallacy!]—“was multiplied into the cursive hosts of the later ages.”—Pp. 143-4.

729.

Preface to the “limited and private issue” of 1870, p. xviii.: reprinted in the Introduction (1881), p. 66.

730.

Ibid.

731.

P. 65 (§ 84). In the Table of Contents (p. xi.), “Personal instincts” are substituted for “Personal discernment.”

732.

The Revisers and the Greek Text,—p. 19.

733.

Introduction,—p. xiii.

734.

Notes, p. 22.

735.

Notes, p. 88.

736.

Notes,—p. 51.

737.

Scrivener's Plain Introduction,—pp. 507-8.

738.

Scrivener's “Introduction,” pp. 513-4.

739.

In S. Matth. i. 25,—the omission of “her first-born:”—in vi. 13, the omission of the Doxology:—in xii. 47, the omission of the whole verse:—in xvi. 2, 3, the omission of our Lord's memorable words concerning the signs of the weather:—in xvii. 21, the omission of the mysterious statement, “But this kind goeth not out save by prayer and fasting:”—in xviii. 11, the omission of the precious words “For the Son of man came to save that which was lost.”

In S. Mark xvi. 9-20, the omission of the “last Twelve Verses,”—(“the contents of which are not such as could have been invented by any scribe or editor of the Gospel,”—W. and H. p. 57). All admit that ἐφοβοῦντο γάρ is an impossible ending.

In S. Luke vi. 1, the suppression of the unique δευτεροπρώτῳ; (“the very obscurity of the expression attesting strongly to its genuineness,”—Scrivener, p. 516, and so W. and H. p. 58):—ix. 54-56, the omitted rebuke to the “disciples James and John:”—in x. 41, 42, the omitted words concerning Martha and Mary:—in xxii. 43, 44, the omission of the Agony in the Garden,—(which nevertheless, “it would be impossible to regard as a product of the inventiveness of scribes,”—W. and H. p. 67):—in xxiii. 17, a memorable clause omitted:—in xxiii. 34, the omission of our Lord's prayer for His murderers,—(concerning which Westcott and Hort remark that “few verses of the Gospels bear in themselves a surer witness to the truth of what they record than this”—p. 68):—in xxiii. 38, the statement that the Inscription on the Cross was “in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew:”—in xxiv. 12, the visit of S. Peter to the Sepulchre. Bishop Lightfoot remarks concerning S. Luke ix. 56: xxii. 43, 44: and xxiii. 34,—“It seems impossible to believe that these incidents are other than authentic,”—(p. 28.)

In S. John iii. 13, the solemn clause “which is in heaven:”—in v. 3, 4, the omitted incident of the troubling of the pool:—in vii. 53 to viii. 11, the narrative concerning the woman taken in adultery omitted,—concerning which Drs. W. and H. remark that “the argument which has always told most in its favour in modern times is its own internal character. The story itself has justly seemed to vouch for its own substantial truth, and the words in which it is clothed to harmonize with those of other Gospel narratives”—(p. 87). Bishop Lightfoot remarks that “the narrative bears on its face the highest credentials of authentic history”—(p. 28).

740.

To some extent, even the unlearned Reader may easily convince himself of this, by examining the rejected “alternative” Readings in the margin of the “Revised Version.” The “Many” and the “Some ancient authorities,” there spoken of, almost invariably include—sometimes denote—codd. b א, one or both of them. These constitute the merest fraction of the entire amount of corrupt readings exhibited by b א; but they will give English readers some notion of the problem just now under consideration.

Besides the details already supplied [see above, pages 16 and 17:—30 and 31:—46 and 47:—75:—249:—262:—289:—316 to 319] concerning b and א,—(the result of laborious collation,)—some particulars shall now be added. The piercing of our Saviour's side, thrust in after Matt. xxvii. 49:—the eclipse of the sun when the moon was full, in Lu. xxiii. 45:—the monstrous figment concerning Herod's daughter, thrust into Mk. vi. 22:—the precious clauses omitted in Matt. i. 25 and xviii. 11:—in Lu. ix. 54-6, and in Jo. iii. 13:—the wretched glosses in Lu. vi. 48: x. 42: xv. 21: Jo. x. 14 and Mk. vi. 20:—the substitution of οινον (for οξος) in Matt. xxvii. 34,—of Θεος (for υιος) in Jo. i. 18,—of ανθρωπου (for Θεου) in ix. 35,—of οὑ (for ῷ) in Rom. iv. 8:—the geographical blunder in Mk. vii. 31: in Lu. iv. 44:—the omission in Matt. xii. 47,—and of two important verses in Matt. xvi. 2, 3:—of ιδια in Acts i. 19:—of εγειραι και in iii. 6;—and of δευτεροπρωτω in Lu. vi. 1:—the two spurious clauses in Mk. iii. 14, 16:—the obvious blunders in Jo. ix. 4 and 11:—in Acts xii. 25—besides the impossible reading in 1 Cor. xiii. 3,—make up a heavy indictment against b and א jointly—which are here found in company with just a very few disreputable allies. Add, the plain error at Lu. ii. 14:—the gloss at Mk. v. 36:—the mere fabrication at Matt. xix. 17:—the omissions at Matt. vi. 13: Jo. v. 3, 4.

b (in company with others, but apart from א) by exhibiting βαπτισαντες in Matt. xxviii. 19:—ὡδε των in Mk. ix. 1:—“seventy-two,” in Lu. x. 1:—the blunder in Lu. xvi. 12:—and the grievous omissions in Lu. xxii. 43, 44 (Christ's Agony in the Garden),—and xxiii. 34 (His prayer for His murderers),—enjoys unenviable distinction.—b, singly, is remarkable for an obvious blunder in Matt. xxi. 31:—Lu. xxi. 24:—Jo. xviii. 5:—Acts x. 19—and xvii. 28:—xxvii. 37:—not to mention the insertion of δεδομενον in Jo. vii. 39.

א (in company with others, but apart from b) is conspicuous for its sorry interpolation of Matt. viii. 13:—its substitution of εστιν (for ην) in S. John i. 4:—its geographical blunder in S. Luke xxiv. 13:—its textual blunder at 1 Pet. i. 23.—א, singly, is remarkable for its sorry paraphrase in Jo. ii. 3:—its addition to i. 34:—its omissions in Matt. xxiii. 35:—Mk. i. 1:—Jo. ix. 38:—its insertion of Ησαιου in Matt. xiii. 35:—its geographical blunders in Mk. i. 28:—Lu. i. 26:—Acts viii. 5:—besides the blunders in Jo. vi. 51—and xiii. 10:—1 Tim. iii. 16:—Acts xxv. 13:—and the clearly fabricated narrative of Jo. xiii. 24. Add the fabricated text at Mk. xiv. 30, 68, 72; of which the object was “so far to assimilate the narrative of Peter's denials with those of the other Evangelists, as to suppress the fact, vouched for by S. Mark only, that the cock crowed twice.”

741.

Characteristic, and fatal beyond anything that can be named are, (1) The exclusive omission by b and א of Mark xvi. 9-20:—(2) The omission of εν Εφεσῳ, from Ephes. i. 1:—(3) The blunder, αποσκιασματος, in James i. 17:—(4) The nonsensical συστρεφομενων in Matt. xvii. 22:—(5) That “vile error,” (as Scrivener calls it,) περιελοντες, in Acts xxviii. 13:—(6) The impossible order of words in Lu. xxiii. 32; and (7) The extraordinary order in Acts i. 5:—(8) The omission of the last clause of the Lord's prayer, in Lu. xi. 4; and (9) Of that solemn verse, Matt. xvii. 21; and (10) Of ισχυρον in Matt. xiv. 30:—(11) The substitution of εργων (for τεκνων) in Matt. xi. 29:—(12) Of ελιγμα (for μιγμα) in Jo. xix. 39,—and (13) of ην τεθειμενος (for ετεθη) in John xix. 41. Then, (14) The thrusting of Χριστος into Matt. xvi. 21,—and (15) Of ὁ Θεος into vi. 8:—besides (16) So minute a peculiarity as Βεεζεβουλ in Matt. x. 35: xii. 24, 27: Lu. xi. 15, 18, 19. (17) Add, the gloss at Matt. xvii. 20, and (18) The omissions at Matt. v. 22: xvii. 21.—It must be admitted that such peculiar blemishes, taken collectively, constitute a proof of affinity of origin,—community of descent from one and the same disreputable ancestor. But space fails us.

The Reader will be interested to learn that although, in the Gospels, b combines exclusively with a, but 11 times; and with c, but 38 times: with d, it combines exclusively 141 times, and with א, 239 times: (viz. in Matt. 121,—in Mk. 26,—in Lu. 51,—in Jo. 41 times).

Contrast it with a:—which combines exclusively with d, 21 times: with א 13 times: with b, 11 times: with c, 4 times.

742.

The Reviewer speaks from actual inspection of both documents. They are essentially dissimilar. The learned Ceriani assured the Reviewer (in 1872) that whereas the Vatican Codex must certainly have been written in Italy,—the birthplace of the Sinaitic was [not Egypt, but] either Palestine or Syria. Thus, considerations of time and place effectually dispose of Tischendorf's preposterous notion that the Scribe of Codex b wrote six leaves of א: an imagination which solely resulted from the anxiety of the Critic to secure for his own cod. א the same antiquity which is claimed for the vaunted cod. b.

This opinion of Dr. Tischendorf's rests on the same fanciful basis as his notion that the last verse of S. John's Gospel in א was not written by the same hand which wrote the rest of the Gospel. There is no manner of difference: though of course it is possible that the scribe took a new pen, preliminary to writing that last verse, and executing the curious and delicate ornament which follows. Concerning S. Jo. xxi. 25, see above, pp. 23-4.

743.

Tischendorf's narrative of the discovery of the Sinaitic manuscript (“When were our Gospels written?”), [1866,] p. 23.

744.

“Papyrus Inédit de la Bibliothèque de M. Ambroise Firmin-Didot. Nouveaux fragments d'Euripide et d'autres Poètes Grecs, publiés par M. Henri Weil. (Extrait des Monumens Grecs publiés par l'Association pour l'encouragement des Etudes Grecques en France. Année 1879.)” Pp. 36.

745.

The rest of the passage may not be without interest to classical readers:—“Ce n'est pas à dire qu'elle soit tout à fait sans intérêt, sans importance: pour la constitution du texte. Elle nous apprend que, au vers 5, ἀρίστων, pour ἀριστέων (correction de Wakefield) était déjà l'ancienne vulgate; et que les vers 11 et 12, s'ils sont altérés, comme l'assurent quelques éditeurs d'Euripide, l'étaient déjà dans l'antiquité.

“L'homme ... était aussi ignorant que négligent. Je le prends pour un Egyptien n'ayant qu'une connoissance très imparfaite de la langue grecque, et ne possédant aucune notion ni sur l'orthographe, ni sur les règles les plus élémentaires du trimètre iambique. Le plus singulier est qu'il commence sa copie au milieu d'un vers et qu'il la finisse de même. Il oublie des lettres nécessaires, il en ajoute de parasites, il les met les unes pour les autres, il tronque les mots ou il les altère, au point de détruire quelquefois la suite de la construction et le sens du passage.” A faithful copy of the verses in minuscule characters is subjoined for the gratification of Scholars. We have but divided the words and inserted capital letters:—

“ανδρων αριστων οι δε πανχρυσον δερος
Πελεια μετηλθον ου γαρ τον δεσπονα εμην
Μηδια πυργους γης επλευσε Ειολκιας
ερωτι θυμωδ εγπλαγις Ιανοσονος
οτ αν κτανει πισας Πελειαδας κουρας
πατερα κατοικη τηνδε γην Κορινθιαν
συν ανδρι και τεκνοισιν ανδανοισα μεν
φυγη πολιτων ων αφηκετο χθονος.”

An excellent scholar (R. C. P.) remarks,—“The fragment must have been written from dictation (of small parts, as it seems to me); and by an illiterate scribe. It is just such a result as one might expect from a half-educated reader enunciating Milton for a half-educated writer.”

746.

See p. 324 note 1.—Photius [cod. 48] says that “Gaius” was a presbyter of Rome, and ἐθνῶν ἐπίσκοπος. See Routh's Reliqq. ii. 125.

747.

Eusebius, Hist. Ecol. v. 28 (ap. Routh's Reliqq. ii. 132-4).

748.

Tregelles, Part ii. p. 2.

749.

Scrivener's prefatory Introduction,—p. xix.

750.

Ibid. p. iii.

751.

On Revision,—p. 47.

752.

Singular to relate, S. Mark x. 17 to 31 exactly fills two columns of cod. א. (See Tischendorf's reprint, 4to, p. 24*.)

753.

Clemens Al. (ed. Potter),—pp. 937-8.... Note, how Clemens begins § v. (p. 938, line 30). This will be found noticed below, viz. at p. 336, note 3.

754.

“This Text” (say the Editors) “is an attempt to reproduce at once the autograph Text.”—Introduction, p. xxviii.

755.

Westcott and Hort's Introduction, pp. 112-3.

756.

Besides,—All but L. conspire 5 times.
All but T. 3 times.
All but Tr. 1 time.
Then,—T. Tr. WH. combine 2 times
T. WH. RT. 1 time
Tr. WH. RT. 1 time
L. Tr. WH. 1 time
Then,—L. T. stand by themselves 1 time
L. Tr. 1 time
T. WH. 1 time
Lastly,—L. stands alone 4 times.
Total: 21.

757.

Twice he agrees with all 5: viz. omitting ἄρας τὸν σταυρόν in ver. 21; and in omitting ῆ γυναῖκα (in ver. 29):—Once he agrees with only Lachmann: viz. in transposing ταῦτα πάντα (in ver. 20).

758.

On the remaining 5 occasions (17 + 3 + 5 = 25), Clemens exhibits peculiar readings of his own,—sides with no one.

759.

Q. R. p. 360.

760.

Article xx. § 1.

761.

Εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν.—S. John xvi. 13.

762.

Theodoret, Opp. iv. 208.—Comp. Clinton, F. R. ii. Appendix, p. 473.

763.

The reader is invited to enquire for Bp. Kaye (of Lincoln)'s Account of the writings of Clement of Alexandria,—and to read the vith and viiith chapters.

764.

Ταῦτα μὲν ἐν τῷ κατὰ Μάρκον εὐαγγελίῳ γέγραπται. (§ v.),—p. 938.

765.

Alford's N. T. vol. i. proleg. p. 92.

766.

See p. 197 (§ 269): and p. 201 (§ 275-9):—and p. 205 (§ 280).

767.

Preface (1870), p. xv.

768.

See above, pp. 79 to 85.

769.

Pp. 359-60.

770.

P. 210 to p. 287. See the Contents, pp. xxiii.-xxviii.

771.

Pp. 91-119 and pp. 133-146.

772.

“I perceived a large and wide basket full of old parchments; and the librarian told me that two heaps like this had been already committed to the flames. What was my surprise to find amid this heap of papers,” &c.—(Narrative of the discovery of the Sinaitic Manuscript, p. 23.)

773.

τὴν παρακαταθήκην.—1 Tim. vi. 20.

774.

[While this sheet is passing through the press, I find among my papers a note (written in 1876) by the learned, loved, and lamented Editor of Cyril,—Philip E. Pusey,—with whom I used to be in constant communication:—“It is not obvious to me, looking at the subject from outside, why b c l, constituting a class of MSS. allied to each other, and therefore nearly = 1-½ MSS., are to be held to be superior to a. It is still less obvious to me why —— showing up (as he does) very many grave faults of b, should yet consider b superior in character to a.”]

775.

Introduction, p. 567.

776.

Let the following places be considered: S. Jo. i. 13; iii. 3, 5, 6, 7, 8; 1 Jo. ii. 29; iii. 9 bis, iv. 7; v. 1 bis, 4, 18 bis. Why is it to be supposed that on this last occasion the Eternal Son should be intended?

777.

a*, b, 105.

778.

The paraphrase is interesting. The Vulgate, Jerome [ii. 321, 691], Cassian [p. 409],—“Sed generatio Dei conservat eum:” Chromatius [Gall. viii. 347], and Vigilius Taps. [ap. Athanas. ii. 646],—“Quia (quoniam) nativitas Dei custodit (servat) illum.” In a letter of 5 Bishops to Innocentius I. (a.d. 410) [Galland. viii. 598 b], it is,—“Nativitas quæ ex Deo est.” Such a rendering (viz. “his having been born of God”) amounts to an interpretation of the place.

779.

From the Rev. S. C. Malan, D.D.

780.

iv. 326 b c.

781.

Gall. viii. 347,—of which the Greek is to be seen in Cramer's Cat. pp. 143-4. Many portions of the lost Text of this Father, (the present passage included [p. 231]) are to be found in the Scholia published by C. F. Matthæi [N. T. xi. 181 to 245-7].

782.

i. 94, 97.

783.

In Cat. p. 124, repeated p. 144.

784.

iii. 433 c.

785.

ii. 601 d.

786.

By putting a small uncial Ε above the Α.

787.

Diocesan Progress, Jan. 1882.—[pp. 20] p. 19.

788.

Introduction, p. 283. Notes, pp. 3, 22, and passim.

789.

Sermons, vol. i. 132,—(“A form of sound words to be used by Ministers.”)

790.

Quoted by ps.-Ephraem Evan. Conc. p. 135 l. 2:—Nonnus:—Chrys. viii. 248:—Cyril iv. 269 e, 270 a, 273:—Cramer's Cat. p. 242 l. 25 (which is not from Chrys.):—Chron. Paschale 217 a (diserte).—Recognized by Melito (a.d. 170):—Irenæus (a.d. 177):—Hippolytus (a.d. 190):—Origen:—Eusebius:—Apollinarius Laod., &c.

791.

This is the true reason of the eagerness which has been displayed in certain quarters to find ὅς, (not Θεός) in 1 Tim. iii. 16:—just as nothing else but a determination that Christ shall not be spoken of as ὁ ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων Θεός, has occasioned the supposed doubt as to the construction of Rom. ix. 5,—in which we rejoice to find that Dr. Westcott refuses to concur with Dr. Hort.

792.

See Dr. W. H. Mill's University Sermons (1845),—pp. 301-2 and 305:—a volume which should be found in every clergyman's library.

793.

Rev. xxii. 18, 19.

794.

ἀφανισθήσονται.

795.

This happens not unfrequently in codices of the type of א and b. A famous instance occurs at Col. ii. 18, (ἂ μὴ ἑώρακεν ἐμβατεύων,—“prying into the things he hath not seen”); where א* a b d* and a little handful of suspicious documents leave out the “not.” Our Editors, rather than recognize this blunder (so obvious and ordinary!), are for conjecturing Α ΕΟΡΑΚΕΝ ΕΜΒΑΤΕΥΩΝ into ΑΕΡΑ ΚΕΝΕΜΒΑΤΕΥΩΝ; which (if it means anything at all) may as well mean,—“proceeding on an airy foundation to offer an empty conjecture.” Dismissing that conjecture as worthless, we have to set off the whole mass of the copies—against some 6 or 7:—Irenæus (i. 847), Theodoras Mops, (in loc.), Chrys. (xi. 372), Theodoret (iii. 489, 490), John Damascene (ii. 211)—against no Fathers at all (for Origen once has μή [iv. 665]; once, has it not [iii. 63]; and once is doubtful [i. 583]). Jerome and Augustine both take notice of the diversity of reading, but only to reject it.—The Syriac versions, the Vulgate, Gothic, Georgian, Sclavonic, Æthiopic, Arabic and Armenian—(we owe the information, as usual, to Dr. Malan)—are to be set against the suspicious Coptic. All these then are with the Traditional Text: which cannot seriously be suspected of error.

796.

εὑρεθήσεται.

797.

Augustin, vii. 595.

798.

ii. 467: iii. 865:—ii. 707: iii. 800:—ii. 901. In Luc. pp. 428, 654.

799.

ii. 347.

800.

Preface to “Provisional issue,” p. xxi.

801.

Introduction, p. 210.

802.

Ibid. p. 276.

803.

Apud Mai, vi. 105.

804.

Opp. vii. 543. Comp. 369.

805.

Ap. Cramer, Cat. vi. 187.

806.

So, Nilus, i. 270.

807.

Interp. 595: 607.

808.

Dem. Evan. p. 444.

809.

P. 306.

810.

Epist. ad Zen. iii. 1. 78. Note, that our learned Cave considered this to be a genuine work of Justin M. (a.d. 150).

811.

Cantic. (an early work) interp. iii. 39,—though elsewhere (i. 112, 181 [?]: ii. 305 int. [but not ii. 419]) he is for leaving out εἰκῆ.

812.

Gall. iii. 72 and 161.

813.

ii. 89 b and e (partly quoted in the Cat. of Nicetas) expressly: 265.

814.

i. 818 expressly.

815.

ii. 312 (preserved in Jerome's Latin translation, i. 240).

816.

i. 132; iii. 442.

817.

472, 634.

818.

Ap. Chrys.

819.

iii. 768: apud Mai, ii. 6 and iii. 268.

820.

i. 48, 664; iv. 946.

821.

Cramer's Cat. viii. 12, line 14.

822.

128, 625.

823.

Gall. vi. 181.

824.

Gall. x. 14.

825.

Gall. vii. 509.

826.

i. 27, written when he was 42; and ii. 733, 739, written when he was 84.

827.

vii. 26,—“Radendum est ergo sine causâ.” And so, at p. 636.

828.

1064.

829.

ii. 261.

830.

ii. 592.

831.

Amphilochia, (Athens, 1858,)—p. 317. Also in Cat.

832.

Apophthegm. PP. [ap. Cotel. Eccl. Gr. Mon. i. 622].

833.

S. Matth. xv. 14.

834.

Gospel of the Resurrection,—p. vii.

835.

Introduction, pp. 300-2.

836.

Ibid. p. 299.

837.

Appendix, p. 66.

838.

See Scrivener's Introduction, p. 432.

839.

On Revision,—p. 99.

840.

Speech in Convocation, Feb. 1870, (p. 83.)

841.

On Revision,—p. 205.

842.

Address to Lincoln Diocesan Conference,—p. 25.

843.

Ibid.,—p. 27.

844.

Considerations on Revision,—p. 44. The Preface is dated 23rd May, 1870. The Revisers met on the 22nd of June.

We learn from Dr. Newth's Lectures on Bible Revision (1881), that,—“As the general Rules under which the Revision was to be carried out had been carefully prepared, no need existed for any lengthened discussion of preliminary arrangements, and the Company upon its first meeting was able to enter at once upon its work” (p. 118) ... “The portion prescribed for the first session was Matt. i. to iv.” (p. 119) ... “The question of the spelling of proper names ... being settled, the Company proceeded to the actual details of the Revision, and in a surprisingly short time settled down to an established method of procedure.”—“All proposals made at the first Revision were decided by simple majorities” (p. 122) ... “The questions which concerned the Greek Text were decided for the most part at the First Revision.” (Bp. Ellicott's Pamphlet, p. 34.)

845.

The Revisers and the Greek Text of the New Testament, by two Members of the New Testament Company,—1882. Macmillan, pp. 79, price two shillings and sixpence.

846.

“To these two articles—so far, at least, as they are concerned with the Greek Text adopted by the Revisers—our Essay is intended for an answer.”—p. 79.

847.

See above, pages 235 to 366.

848.

Article III.,—see last note.

849.

Pamphlet, p. 79.

850.

The Revised Version of the first three Gospels, considered in its bearings upon the record of our Lord's Words and of incidents in His Life,—(1882. pp. 250. Murray,)—p. 232. Canon Cook's temperate and very interesting volume will be found simply unanswerable.

851.

P. 40.

852.

Ibid.

853.

As at p. 4, and p. 12, and p. 13, and p. 19, and p. 40.

854.

See above, pp. 348-350.

855.

P. 40.

856.

P. 40.

857.

P. 77.

858.

P. 41, and so at p. 77.

859.

P. 41.

860.

P. 5.

861.

P. 3.

862.

P. 77.

863.

On Revision, pp. 47-8.

864.

Scrivener's Introduction,—p. 423.

865.

Ibid. p. 421.

866.

“Non tantum totius Antiquitatis altum de tali opere suscepto silentium,—sed etiam frequentes Patrum, usque ad quartum seculum viventium, de textu N. T. liberius tractato, impuneque corrupto, deque summâ Codicum dissonantiâ querelæ, nec non ipsæ corruptiones inde a primis temporibus continuo propagatæ,—satis sunt documento, neminem opus tam arduum, scrupulorum plenum, atque invidiæ et calumniis obnoxium, aggressum fuisse; etiamsi doctiorum Patrum de singulis locis disputationes ostendant, eos non prorsus rudes in rebus criticis fuisse.”—Codd. MSS. N. T. Græcorum &c. nova descriptio, et cum textu vulgo recepto Collatio, &c. 4to. Gottingæ, 1847. (p. 4.)

867.

He proceeds:—“Hucusque nemini contigit, nec in posterum, puto, continget, monumentorum nostrorum, tanquam totidem testium singulorum, ingens agmen ad tres quatuorve, e quibus omnium testimonium pendeat, testes referre; aut e testium grege innumero aliquot duces auctoresque secernere, quorum testimonium tam plenum, certum firmumque sit, ut sine damno ceterorum testimonio careamus.”—Ibid. (p. 19.)

868.

Commentarius Criticus in N. T. (in his Preface to the Ep. to the Hebrews). We are indebted to Canon Cook for calling attention to this. See by all means his Revised Text of the first three Gospels,—pp. 4-8.

869.

It requires to be stated, that, (as explained by the Abbé to the present writer,) the “Post-scriptum” of his Fascic. IV., (viz. from p. 234 to p. 236,) is a jeu d'esprit only,—intended to enliven a dry subject, and to entertain his pupils.

870.

It seems to have escaped Bishop Ellicott's notice, (and yet the fact well deserves commemoration) that the claims of Tischendorf and Tregelles on the Church's gratitude, are not by any means founded on the Texts which they severally put forth. As in the case of Mill, Wetstein and Birch, their merit is that they patiently accumulated evidence. “Tischendorf's reputation as a Biblical scholar rests less on his critical editions of the N. T., than on the texts of the chief uncial authorities which in rapid succession he gave to the world.” (Scrivener's Introduction,—p. 427.)

871.

P. 12.

872.

P. 13.

873.

See above, pp. 12: 30-3: 34-5: 46-7: 75: 94-6: 249: 262: 289: 319.

874.

P. 40.

875.

P. 19.

876.

P. 4.

877.

Acts xix. 35.

878.

Suprà, pp. 339-41.

879.

P. 13.

880.

Bp. Ellicott, On Revision, &c.—p. 30.

881.

P. 15.

882.

P. 16.

883.

P. 17.

884.

P. 18.

885.

P. 19.

886.

P. 19.

887.

P. 20.

888.

P. 21.

889.

Pp. 23-4.

890.

Supra, pp. 258-266.

891.

Pp. 25-7.

892.

See Art. III.,—viz. from p. 235 to p. 366.

893.

You refer to such places as pp. 87-8 and 224, where see the Notes.

894.

Chronicle of Convocation, Feb. 1870, p. 83.

895.

See above, p. 368.

896.

The clause (“and sayest thou, Who touched me?”) is witnessed to by a c d p r x Γ Δ Λ Ξ Π and every other known uncial except three of bad character: by every known cursive but four:—by the Old Latin and Vulgate: by all the four Syriac: by the Gothic and the Æthiopic Versions; as well as by ps.-Tatian (Evan. Concord, p. 77) and Chrysostom (vii. 359 a). It cannot be pretended that the words are derived from S. Mark's Gospel (as Tischendorf coarsely imagined);—for the sufficient reason that the words are not found there. In S. Mark (v. 31) it is,—καὶ λέγεις, Τίς μου ἥψατο; in S. Luke (viii. 45), καὶ λέγεις, Τίς ὁ ἁψάμενός μου. Moreover, this delicate distinction has been maintained all down the ages.

897.

Page 154 to p. 164.

898.

You will perhaps remind me that you do not read ἐξελθοῦσαν. I am aware that you have tacitly substituted ἐξεληλυθυῖαν,—which is only supported by four manuscripts of bad character: being disallowed by eighteen uncials, (with a c d at their head,) and every known cursive but one; besides the following Fathers:—Marcion (Epiph. i. 313 a, 327 a.) (a.d. 150),—Origen (iii. 466 e.),—the author of the Dialogus (Orig. i. 853 d.) (a.d. 325),—Epiphanius (i. 327 b.),—Didymus (pp. 124, 413.), in two places,—Basil (iii. 8 c.),—Chrysostom (vii. 532 a.),—Cyril (Opp. vi. 99 e. Mai, ii. 226.) in two places,—ps.-Athanasius (ii. 14 c.) (a.d. 400),—ps.-Chrysostom (xiii. 212 e f.).... Is it tolerable that the Sacred Text should be put to wrongs after this fashion, by a body of men who are avowedly (for see page 369) unskilled in Textual Criticism, and who were appointed only to revise the authorized English Version?

899.

This I make the actual sum, after deducting for marginal notes and variations in stops.

900.

I mean such changes as ἠγέρθη for ἐγήγερται (ix. 7),—φέρετε for ἐνένκαντες (xv. 23), &c. These are generally the result of a change of construction.

901.

MS. communication from my friend, the Editor

902.

I desire to keep out of sight the critical impropriety of such corrections of the text. And yet, it is worth stating that א b l are the only witnesses discoverable for the former, and almost the only witnesses to be found for the latter of these two utterly unmeaning changes.

903.

Characteristic of these two false-witnesses is it, that they are not able to convey even this short message correctly. In reporting the two words ἔρχωμαι ἐνθάδε, they contrive to make two blunders. b substitutes διέρχομαι for διέρχωμαι: א, ὦδε for ἐνθάδε,—which latter eccentricity Tischendorf (characteristically) does not allude to in his note ... “These be thy gods, O Israel!”

904.

Rev. xxii. 19.

905.

iv. 28, c. 1 (p. 655 = Mass. 265). Note that the reference is not to S. Matt. x. 15.

906.

P. 123.

907.

Viz. vi. 7-13.

908.

i. 199 and 200.

909.

In loc.

910.

See above, pp. 347-9.

911.

See above, pp. 79-85.

912.

See above, pp. 409-411.

913.

See above, p. 399.

914.

Bp. Ellicott on Revision, p. 30.

915.

The Bp. attended only one meeting of the Revisers. (Newth, p. 125.)

916.

Page 4.

917.

See above, pp. 41 to 47.

918.

Pages 17, 18.

919.

See above, p. 37, note 1.

920.

Pages 98-106.

921.

Pages 64-76.

922.

The exceptions are not worth noticing here.

923.

N. T. ed. 2da. 1807, iii. 442-3.

924.

i. 887 c.

925.

Called Ancoratus, written in Pamphylia, a.d. 373. The extract in Adv. Hær. extends from p. 887 to p. 899 (= Ancor. ii. 67-79).

926.

ii. 74 b. Note, that to begin the quotation at the word ἐφανερώθη was a frequent practice with the ancients, especially when enough had been said already to make it plain that it was of the Son they were speaking, or when it would have been nothing to the purpose to begin with Θεός. Thus Origen, iv. 465 c:—Didymus on 1 John apud Galland. vi. 301 a:—Nestorius, apud Cyril, vi. 103 e:—ps-Chrysost. x. 763 c, 764 c:—and the Latin of Cyril v.1 785. So indeed ps-Epiphanius, ii. 307 c.

927.

i. 894 c.

928.

Apud Theodoret, v. 719.

929.

iv. 622 a,—qui apparuit in carne, justificatus est in spiritu.

930.

De incarn. Unig. v. part i. 680 d e = De rectâ fide, v. part ii. b c.

931.

Ibid. 681 a = ibid. 6 d e.

932.

Page 98.

933.

Note at the end of Bishop Ellicott's Commentary on 1 Timothy.

934.

Berriman's MS. Note in the British Museum copy of his Dissertation,—p. 154. Another annotated copy is in the Bodleian.

935.

“Certe quidem in exemplari Alexandrino nostro, linea illa transversa quam loquor, adeo exilis ac plane evanida est, ut primo intuitu haud dubitarim ipse scriptum ΟΣ, quod proinde in variantes lectiones conjeceram.... Verum postea perlustrato attentius loco, lineolæ, quæ primam aciem fugerat, ductus quosdam ac vestigia satis certa deprehendi, præsertim ad partem sinistram, quæ peripheriam literæ pertingit,” &c.—In loco.

936.

Clem. Rom. ed. Wotton, p. 27.

937.

Berriman, pp. 154-5.

938.

Ibid. (MS. Note.) Berriman adds other important testimony, p. 156.

939.

Dissertation, p. 156. Berriman refers to the fact that some one in recent times, with a view apparently to establish the actual reading of the place, has clumsily thickened the superior stroke with common black ink, and introduced a rude dot into the middle of the θ. There has been no attempt at fraud. Such a line and such a dot could deceive no one.

940.

“Quanquam lineola, quæ Θεός compendiose scriptum ab ὅς distinguitur, sublesta videtur nonnullis.”—N. T. p. 710.

941.

Griesbach in 1785 makes the same report:—“Manibus hominum inepte curiosorum ea folii pars quæ dictum controversum continet, adeo detrita est, ut nemo mortalium hodie certi quidquam discernere possit ... Non oculos tantum sed digitos etiam adhibuisse videntur, ut primitivam illius loci lectionem eruerent et velut exsculperent.” (Symb. Crit. i. p. x.) The MS. was evidently in precisely the same state when the Rev. J. C. Velthusen (Observations on Various Subjects, pp. 74-87) inspected it in 1773.

942.

As C. F. Matthæi [N. T. m. xi. Præfat. pp. lii.-iii.] remarks:—“cum de Divinitate Christi agitur, ibi profecto sui dissimilior deprehenditur.” Woide instances it as an example of the force of prejudice, that Wetstein “apparitionem lineolæ alii causæ adscripsisse, quia eam abesse volebat.” [Præfat. p. xxxi.]

943.

“Patet, ut alia mittamus, e consensu Versionum,” &c.—ii. 149.

944.

Woide, ibid.

945.

Supra, p. 100.

946.

Introduction, p. 553.

947.

Introd. p. 553.

948.

Any one desirous of understanding this question fully, should (besides Berriman's admirable Dissertation) read Woide's Præfatio to his edition of Codex A, pp. xxx. to xxxii. (§ 87).—“Erunt fortasse quidam” (he writes in conclusion) “qui suspicabuntur, nonnullos hanc lineolam diametralem in medio Θ vidisse, quoniam eam videre volebant. Nec negari potest præsumptarum opinionum esse vim permagnam. Sed idem, etiam Wetstenio, nec immerito, objici potest, eam apparitionem lineolæ alii causæ adscripsisse, quia eam abesse volebat. Et eruditissimis placere aliquando, quæ vitiosa sunt, scio: sed omnia testimonia, omnemque historicam veritatem in suspicionem adducere non licet: nec mirum est nos ea nunc non discernere, quæ, antequam nos Codicem vidissemus, evanuerant.”

949.

Prolegomena to his ed. of Cod. c,—pp. 39-42.

950.

“Ος habet codex c, ut puto; nam lineola illa tenuis, quæ ex Ο facit Θ, non apparet.” (In loc.) And so Griesbach, Symb. Crit. i. p. viii. (1785).

951.

“Quotiescunque locum inspiciebam (inspexi autem per hoc biennium sæpissime) mihi prorsus apparebat.” “Quam [lineolam] miror hucusque omnium oculos fugisse.” [Prolegg. p. 41].... Equidem miror sane.

952.

Page 75.

953.

Pages 64, 69, 71, 75.—Some have pointed out that opposite ΟΣ in f—above ΟΣ in g,—is written “quod.” Yes, but not “qui.” The Latin version is independent of the Greek. In S. Mark xi. 8, above ΑΓΡΩΝ is written “arboribus;” and in 1 Tim. iv. 10, ΑΓΩΝΙΖΟΜΕΘΑ is translated by f “maledicimur,”—by g, “exprobramur vel maledicimur.”

954.

Introduction to Cod. Augiensis, p. xxviij.

955.

E.g. Out of ΟΜΕΝΤΟΙΣΤΕΡΕΟΣ [2 Tim. ii. 19], they both make Ο · μεν · το · ισ · τεραιος. For ὑγιαίνωσιν [Tit. i. 13], both write υγει · ενωσειν:—for καινὴ κτίσις [2 Cor. v. 17] both give και · νηκτισις:—for ἀνέγκλητοι ὄντες [1 Tim. iii. 10], both exhibit ανευ · κλητοιον · εχοντες (“nullum crimen habentes”):—for ὡς γάγγραινα νομὴν ἕξει [2 Tim. ii. 17], both exhibit ως · γανγρα · ινα · (F G) νομηνεξει, (G, who writes above the words “sicut cancer ut serpat”).

956.

He must be held responsible for ὝΠΟΚΡΙΣΙ in place of ὑποκρίσει [1 Tim. iv. 2]: ΑΣΤΙΖΟΜΕΝΟΣ instead of λογιζόμενος [2 Cor. v. 19]: ΠΡΙΧΟΤΗΤΙ instead of πραότητι [2 Tim. ii. 25]. And he was the author of ΓΕΡΜΑΝΕ in Phil. iv. 3: as well as of Ο δε πνευμα in 1 Tim. iv. 1.

But the scribes of f and g also were curiously innocent of Greek. g suggests that γυναιξειν (in 1 Tim. ii. 10) may be “infinitivus”—(of course from γυναίκω).

957.

Introduction, p. 155.

958.

Thirteen times between Rom. i. 7 and xiii. 1.

959.

E.g. Gal. iii. 1; 1 Cor. xv. 55; 2 Cor. vi. 11 (ος and ο). Those who have Matthæi's reprint of g at hand are invited to refer to the last line of fol. 91: (1 Tim. vi. 20) where Ὦ Τιμόθεε is exhibited thus:—Ο Ὦ ΤΙΜΟΘΕΕ.

960.

Col. ii. 22, 23: iii. 2.

961.

As 1 Tim. iii. 1: iv. 14: vi. 15. Consider the practice of f in 1 Thess. i. 9 (Ο; ΠΟΙΑΝ): in 2 Cor. viii. 11, 14 (Ο; ΠΩΣ).

962.

Rarest of all are instances of this mark over the Latin “e”: but we meet with “spē” (Col. i. 23): “sē” (ii. 18): rēpēntes (2 Tim. iii. 6), &c. So, in the Greek, ἡ or ᾗ written Η are most unusual.—A few instances are found of “u” with this appendage, as “domūs” (1 Tim. v. 13): “spiritū” (1 Cor. iv. 21), &c.

963.

This information is obtained from a photograph of the page procured from Dresden through the kindness of the librarian, Counsellor Dr. Forstemann.

964.

See Rettig's Prolegg. pp. xxiv.-v.

965.

“You will perceive that I have now succeeded in identifying every Evangelium hitherto spoken of as existing in Florence, with the exception of Evan 365 [Act. 145, Paul 181] (Laurent vi. 36), &c., which is said to ‘contain also the Psalms.’ I assure you no such Codex exists in the Laurentian Library; no, nor ever did exist there. Dr. Anziani devoted full an hour to the enquiry, allowing me [for I was very incredulous] to see the process whereby he convinced himself that Scholz is in error. It was just such an intelligent and exhaustive process as Coxe of the Bodleian, or dear old Dr. Bandinel before him, would have gone through under similar circumstances. Pray strike that Codex off your list; and with it ‘Acts 145’ and ‘Paul 181.’ I need hardly say that Bandini's Catalogue knows nothing of it. It annoys me to be obliged to add that I cannot even find out the history of Scholz's mistake.”—Guardian, August 27, 1873.

966.

“Whose word on such matters is entitled to most credit,—the word of the Reviewer, or the word of the most famous manuscript collators of this century?... Those who have had occasion to seek in public libraries for manuscripts which are not famous for antiquity or beauty or completeness (sic), know that the answer ‘non est inventus’ is no conclusive reason for believing that the object of their quest has not been seen and collated in former years by those who profess to have actually seen and collated it. That 181 ‘is non-existent’ must be considered unproven.”—Bp. Ellicott's Pamphlet, p. 72.

967.

The learned Abbé Martin, who has obligingly inspected for me the 18 copies of the “Praxapostolus” in the Paris library, reports as follows concerning “Apost. 12” ( = Reg. 375),—“A very foul MS. of small value, I believe: but a curious specimen of bad Occidental scholarship. It was copied for the monks of S. Denys, and exhibits many Latin words; having been apparently revised on the Latin. The lection is assigned to Σαββάτῳ λ᾽ (not λδ᾽) in this codex.”

968.

“Codices Cryptenses seu Abbatiæ Cryptæ Ferratæ in Tusculano, digesti et illustrati cura et studio D. Antonii Rocchi, Hieromonachi Basiliani Bibliothecæ custodis,”—Tusculani, fol. 1882.—I have received 424 pages (1 May, 1883).

969.

Not a few of the Basilian Codices have been transferred to the Vatican.

970.

In an Appendix to the present volume, I will give fuller information. I am still (3rd May, 1883) awaiting replies to my troublesome interrogatories addressed to the heads of not a few continental libraries.

971.

Rufinus, namely (fl. a.d. 395). Opp. iv. 465

972.

MS. letter to myself, August 11, 1879.

973.

MS. letter from the Rev. Henry Deane, of S. John's College, Oxford.

974.

See above, page 429.

975.

Page 71. And so p. 65 and 69.

976.

MS. letter to myself.

977.

See above, page 429.

978.

Ulfilas. Veteris et Novi Test. Versionis Goth. fragmenta quæ supersunt, &c. 4to. 1843.

979.

“Si tamen Uppström ‘obscurum’ dixit, non ‘incertum,’ fides illi adhiberi potest, quia diligentissime apices omnes investigabat; me enim præsente in aula codicem tractabat.”—(Private letter to myself.)

Ceriani proceeds,—“Quæris quomodo componatur cum textu 1 Tim. iii. 16, nota 54 Proleg. Gabelentz Gothicam versionem legens Θεός. Putarem ex loco Castillionæi in notis ad Philip. ii. 6, locutos fuisse doctos illos Germanos, oblitos illius Routh præcepti ‘Let me recommend to you the practice of always verifying your references, sir.’ ”

The reader will be interested to be informed that Castiglione, the former editor of the codex, was in favour of “God” in 1835, and of “soei” (quæ [ = ὅ], to agree with “runa,” i.e. “mystery,” which is feminine in Gothic) in 1839. Gabelentz, in 1843, ventured to print “saei” = ὅς. “Et ‘saei’ legit etiam diligentissimus Andreas Uppström nuperus codicis Ambrosiani investigator et editor, in opere Codicis Gothici Ambrosiani sive Epist. Pauli, &c. Holmiæ et Lipsiæ, 1868.”

980.

Stuttgard, 1857.

981.

Of the department of Oriental MSS. in the Brit. Mus., who derives his text from “the three Museum MSS. which contain the Arabic Version of the Epistles: viz. Harl. 5474 (dated a.d. 1332):—Oriental 1328 (Xth cent.):—Arundel Orient. 19 (dated a.d. 1616).”—Walton's Polyglott, he says, exhibits “a garbled version, quite distinct from the genuine Arabic: viz. ‘These glories commemorate them in the greatness of the mystery of fair piety. God appeared in the flesh,’ ” &c.

982.

See above, pp. 271 to 294.

983.

i. 387 a: 551 a: 663 a bis.—ii. 430 a: 536 c: 581 c: 594 a, 595 b (these two, of the 2nd pagination): 693 d [ = ii. 265, ed. 1615, from which Tisch. quotes it. The place may be seen in full, supra, p. 101.]—iii. 39 b bis: 67 a b.—Ap. Galland. vi. 518 c: 519 d: 520 b: 526 d: 532 a: 562 b: 566 d: 571 a. All but five of these places, I believe, exhibit ὁ Θεός,—which seems to have been the reading of this Father. The article is seldom seen in MSS. Only four instances of it,—(they will be found distinctly specified below, page 493, note 1),—are known to exist. More places must have been overlooked.

Note, that Griesbach only mentions Gregory of Nyssa (whose name Tregelles omits entirely) to remark that he is not to be cited for Θεός; seeing that, according to him, 1 Tim. iii. 16 is to be read thus:—τὸ μυστήριον ἐν σαρκὶ ἐφανερώθη. Griesbach borrowed that quotation and that blunder from Wetstein; to be blindly followed in turn by Scholz and Alford. And yet, the words in question are not the words of Gregory Nyss. at all; but of Apolinaris, against whom Gregory is writing,—as Gregory himself explains. [Antirrh. adv. Apol. apud Galland. vi. 522 d.]

984.

De Trin. p. 83. The testimony is express.

985.

i. 92: iii. 657.-iv. 19, 23.

986.

i. 313:—ii. 263.

987.

i. 497 c d e.—viii. 85 e: 86 a.—xi. 605 f: 606 a b d e.—(The first of these places occurs in the Homily de Beato Philogonio, which Matthæi in the main [viz. from p. 497, line 20, to the end] edited from an independent source [Lectt. Mosqq. 1779]. Gallandius [xiv. Append. 141-4] reprints Matthæi's labours).—Concerning this place of Chrysostom (vide suprà, p. 101), Bp. Ellicott says (p. 66),—“The passage which he [the Quarterly Reviewer] does allege, deserves to be placed before our readers in full, as an illustration of the precarious character of patristic evidence. If this passage attests the reading θεός in 1 Tim. iii. 16, does it not also attest the reading ὁ θεός in Heb. ii. 16, where no copyist or translator has introduced it?”... I can but say, in reply,—“No, certainly not.” May I be permitted to add, that it is to me simply unintelligible how Bp. Ellicott can show himself so planè hospes in this department of sacred Science as to be capable of gravely asking such a very foolish question?

988.

i. 215 a: 685 b. The places may be seen quoted suprà, p. 101.

989.

The place is quoted in Scrivener's Introduction, p. 59.

990.

Antirrheticus, ap. Galland. vi. 517-77.

991.

The full title was,—Ἀπόδειξις περὶ τῆς θείας σαρκώσεως τῆς καθ᾽ ὁμοίωσιν ἀνθρώπου. Ibid. 518 b, c: 519 a.

992.

Apolinaris did not deny that Christ was very God. His heresy (like that of Arius) turned upon the nature of the conjunction of the Godhead with the Manhood. Hear Theodoret:—Α. Θεὸς Λόγος σαρκὶ ἑνωθεὶς ἄνθρωπον ἀπετέλεσεν Θεόν. Ο. Τοῦτο οὖν λέγεις θείαν ἐμψυχίαν? Α. Καὶ πάνυ. Ο. Ἀντὶ ψυχῆς οὖν ὁ Λόγος? Α. Ναί. Dial. vi. adv. Apol. (Opp. v. 1080 = Athanas. ii. 525 d.)

993.

Cramer's Cat. in Actus, iii. 69. It is also met with in the Catena on the Acts which J. C. Wolf published in his Anecdota Græca, iii. 137-8. The place is quoted above, p. 102.

994.

Cramer's Cat. in Rom. p. 124.

995.

P. 67.

996.

P. 65.

997.

P. 65.

998.

See above, p. 429.

999.

Bentley, Scholz, Tischendorf, Alford and others adduce “Euthalius.”

1000.

Concilia, i. 849-893. The place is quoted below in note 3.

1001.

“Verum ex illis verbis illud tantum inferri debet false eam epistolam Dionysio Alexandrino attribui: non autem scriptum non fuisse ab aliquo ex Episcopis qui Synodis adversus Paulum Antiochenum celebratis interfuerant. Innumeris enim exemplis constat indubitatæ antiquitatis Epistolas ex Scriptorum errore falsos titulos præferre.”—(Pagi ad a.d. 264, apud Mansi, Concil. i. 1039.)

1002.

εἶς ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός, ὁ ῶν ἐν τῷ Πατρι συναΐδιος λόγος, ἕν αὐτοῦ πρόσωπον, ἀόρατος Θεός, καὶ ὁρατὸς γενόμενος; ΘΕῸΣ ΓᾺΡ ἘΦΑΝΕΡΏΘΗ ἘΝ ΣΑΡΚΊ, γενόμενος ἐκ γυναικός, ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς γεννηθεὶς ἐκ γαστρὸς πρὸ ἑωσφόρου—Concilia, i. 853 a.

1003.

Cap. xi.

1004.

Ad Ephes. c. 19: c. 7. Ad Magnes. c. 8.

1005.

Cap. xii.

1006.

Contra Hæresim Noeti, c. xvii. (Routh's Opuscula, i. 76.) Read the antecedent chapters.

1007.

Dialog. ii. 'Inconfusus.'—Opp. iv. 132.

1008.

Cod. 230,—p. 845, line 40.

1009.

vii. 26, ap. Galland. iii. 182 a.

1010.

iii. 401-2, Epist. 261 ( = 65). A quotation from Gal. iv. 4 follows.

1011.

μαθήσεται γὰρ ὅτι φύσει μὲν καὶ ἀληθείᾳ Θεός ἐστιν ὁ Ἐμμανουήλ, θεοτόκος δὲ δι᾽ αὐτὸν καὶ ἡ τεκοῦσα παρθένος.—Vol. v. Part ii. 48 e.

1012.

καὶ οὔτι που φαμὲν ὅτι καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ἄνθρωπος ἁπλῶς, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς Θεὸς ἐν σαρκὶ καὶ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς γεγονώς.—Opp. V. Part 2, p. 124 c d. (= Concilia, iii. 221 c d.)

1013.

N. T. vol. xi. Præfat. p. xli.

1014.

διὰ τοῦ ἐν ἀυτῷ φανερωθέντος Θεοῦ.—De Incarnatione Domini, Mai, Nov. PP. Bibliotheca, ii. 68.

1015.

Earlier in the same Treatise, Cyril thus grandly paraphrases 1 Tim. iii. 16:—τότε δὴ τότε τὸ μέγα καὶ ἄῤῥητον γίνεται τῆς οἰκονομίας μυστήριον; αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ Λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ δημιουργὸς ἁπάσης τῆς κτίσεως, ὁ ἀχώρητος, ὁ ἀπερίγραπτος, ὁ ἀναλλοίωτος, ἡ πηγὴ τῆς ζωῆς, τὸ ἐκ τοῦ φωτὸς φῶς, ἡ ζῶσα τοῦ Πατρὸς εἰκών, τὸ ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης, ὁ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως, τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν ἀναλαμβάνει.—Ibid. p. 37.

1016.

P. 153 d. (= Concilia, iii. 264 c d.)

1017.

Ibid, d e.

1018.

εἰ μὲν γὰρ ὡς ἕνα τῶν καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς, ἄνθρωπον ἁπλῶς, καὶ οὐχὶ δὴ μᾶλλον Θεὸν ἐνηνθρωπηκότα διεκήρυξαν οἰ μαθηταί κ.τ.λ. Presently,—μέγα γὰρ τότε τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἐστὶ μυστήριον, πεφανέρωται γὰρ ἐν σαρκὶ Θεὸς ὢν ὁ Λόγος. p. 154 a b c.—In a subsequent page,—ὅ γε μὴν ἐνανθρωπήσας Θεός, καίτοι νομισθεὶς οὐδὲν ἕτερον εἶναι πλὴν ὅτι μόνον ἄνθρωπος ... ἐκηρύχθη ἐν ἔθνεσιν, ἐπιστεύθη ἐν κόσμῳ, τετίμηται δὲ καὶ ὡς Υἱὸς ἀληθῶς τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρός ... Θεὸς εἶναι πεπιστευμένος.—Ibid. p. 170 d e.

1019.

Ἀναθεματισμὸς β᾽.—Εἴ τις οὐχ ὁμολογεῖ σαρκὶ καθ᾽ ὑπόστασιν ἡνῶσθαι τὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς Λόγον, ἕνα τε εἶναι Χριστὸν μετὰ τῆς ἰδίας σαρκός, τὸν αὐτὸν δηλονότι Θεόν τε ὁμοῦ καὶ ἄνθρωπον, ἀνάθεμα ἔστω.—vi. 148 a.

1020.

Ibid. b, c, down to 149 a. (= Concilia, iii. 815 b-e.)

1021.

Preserved by Œcumenius in his Catena, 1631, ii. 228.

1022.

Ellis, p. 67.

1023.

In loc.

1024.

Variæ Lect. ii. 232. He enumerates ten MSS. in which he found it,—but he only quotes down to ἐφανερώθη.

1025.

In loc.

1026.

P. 227 note.

1027.

Pointed out long since by Matthæi, N. T. vol. xi. Præfat. p. xlviii. Also in his ed. of 1807,—iii. 443-4. “Nec ideo laudatus est, ut doceret Cyrillum loco Θεός legisse ὅς, sed ideo, ne quis si Deum factum legeret hominem, humanis peccatis etiam obnoxium esse crederet.”

1028.

See Berriman's Dissertation, p. 189.—(MS. note of the Author.)

1029.

Not from the 2nd article of his Explanatio xii. capitum, as Tischendorf supposes.

1030.

See how P. E. Pusey characterizes the “Scholia,” in his Preface to vol. vi. of his edition,—pp. xii. xiii.

1031.

Cyril's Greek, (to judge from Mercator's Latin,) must have run somewhat as follows:—Ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος ὁμολογουμένως μέγα φησὶν εἶναι τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον. Καὶ ὄντως οὔτως ἔξει; ἐφανερώθη γὰρ ἐν σαρκί, Θεὸς ὢν ὁ Λόγος.

1032.

Opp. vol. v. P. i. p. 785 d.—The original scholium (of which the extant Greek proves to be only a garbled fragment, [see Pusey's ed. vi. p. 520,]) abounds in expressions which imply, (if they do not require,) that Θεός went before: e.g. quasi Deus homo factus:—erant ergo gentes in mundo sine Deo, cum absque Christo essent:—Deus enim erat incarnatus:—in humanitate tamen Deus remansit: Deus enim Verbum, carne assumptâ, non deposuit quod erat; intelligitur tamen idem Deus simul et homo, &c.

1033.

P. 67.

1034.

Opp. vi. 327.

1035.

ii. 852.

1036.

Matthæi, N. T. xi. Præfat. pp. lii.-iii.

1037.

Vol. V. P. ii. pp. 55-180.

1038.

“How is the Godhead of Christ proved?” (asks Ussher in his Body of Divinity, ed. 1653, p. 161). And he adduces out of the N. T. only Jo. i. 1, xx. 28; Rom. ix. 5; 1 Jo. v. 20.—He had quoted 1 Tim. iii. 16 in p. 160 (with Rom. ix. 5) to prove the union of the two natures.

1039.

Burgon's Last Twelve Verses, &c., p. 195 and note. See Canon Cook on this subject,—pp. 146-7.

1040.

Suprà, p. 102.

1041.

Pp. 68-9.

1042.

Proleg. in N. T.,—§ 1013.

1043.

Opp. (ed. 1645) ii. 447.

1044.

Concilia, v. 772 a. I quote from Garnier's ed. of the Breviarium, reprinted by Gallandius, xii. 1532.

1045.

iv. 465 c.

1046.

Concilia, vi. 28 e [= iii. 645 c (ed. Harduin)].

1047.

“Ex sequentibus colligo quædam exemplaria tempore Anastasii et Macedonii habuisse ὅς Θεός; ut, mutatione factâ ὅς in ὡς, intelligeretur ut esset Deus.” (Cotelerii, Eccl. Gr. Mon. iii. 663)—“Q. d. Ut hic homo, qui dicitur Jesus, esset et dici posset Deus,” &c. (Cornelius, in loc. He declares absolutely “olim legerunt ... ὅς Θεός.”)—All this was noticed long since by Berriman, pp. 243-4.

1048.

“Apost. 83,” is “Crypta-Ferrat. A. β. iv.” described in the Appendix. I owe the information to the learned librarian of Crypta Ferrata, the Hieromonachus A. Rocchi. It is a pleasure to transcribe the letter which conveyed information which the writer knew would be acceptable to me:—“Clme Rme Domine. Quod erat in votis, plures loci illius Paulini non modo in nostris codd. lectiones, sed et in his ipsis variationes, adsequutus es. Modo ego operi meo finem imponam, descriptis prope sexcentis et quinquaginta quinque vel codicibus vel MSS. Tres autem, quos primum nunc notatos tibi exhibeo, pertinent ad Liturgicorum ordinem. Jam felici omine tuas prosoquere elucubrationes, cautus tantum ne studio et labore nimio valetudinem tuam defatiges. Vale. De Tusculano, xi. kal. Maias, an. R. S. mdccclxxxiii. Antonius Rocchi, Hieromonachus Basilianus.”

For “Paul 282,” (a bilingual MS. at Paris, known as “Arménien 9,”) I am indebted to the Abbé Martin, who describes it in his Introduction à la Critique Textuelle du N. T., 1883,—pp. 660-1. See Appendix.

1049.

Prebendary Scrivener (p. 555) ably closes the list. Any one desirous of mastering the entire literature of the subject should study the Rev. John Berriman's interesting and exhaustive Dissertation,—pp. 229-263.

1050.

The reader is invited to read what Berriman, (who was engaged on his “Dissertation” while Bp. Butler was writing the “Advertisement” prefixed to his “Analogy” [1736],) has written on this part of the subject,—pp. 120-9, 173-198, 231-240, 259-60, 262, &c.

1051.

Apud Athanasium, Opp. ii. 33; and see Garnier's introductory Note.

1052.

“Audi Paulum magnâ voce clamantem: Deus manifestatus est in carne [down to] assumptus est in gloriâ. O magni doctoris affatum! Deus, inquit, manifestatus est in carne,” &c.—Concilia, vii. p. 618 e.

1053.

Theodori Studitæ, Epistt. lib. ii. 36, and 156. (Sirmondi's Opera Varia, vol. v. pp. 349 e and 498 b,—Venet. 1728.)

1054.

Paul 113, (Matthæi's a) contains two Scholia which witness to Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη:—Paul 115, (Matthæi's d) also contains two Scholia.—Paul 118, (Matthæi's h).—Paul 123, (Matthæi's n). See Matthæi's N. T. vol. xi. Præfat. pp. xlii.-iii.

1055.

ii. 228 a.

1056.

ii. 569 e: 570 a.

1057.

Panoplia,—Tergobyst, 1710, fol. ρκγ᾽. p. 2, col. 1.

1058.

Σαββάτῳ πρὸ τῶν φώτων.

1059.

But in Apost. 12 (Reg. 375) it is the lection for the 30th (λ᾽) Saturday.—In Apost. 33 (Reg. 382), for the 31st (λα᾽).—In Apost. 26 (Reg. 320), the lection for the 34th Saturday begins at 1 Tim. vi. 11.—Apostt. 26 and 27 (Regg. 320-1) are said to have a peculiar order of lessons.

1060.

For convenience, many codices are reckoned under this head (viz. of “Apostolus”) which are rather Ἀπόστολο-εὐαγγέλια. Many again which are but fragmentary, or contain only a very few lessons from the Epistles: such are Apostt. 97 to 103. See the Appendix.

1061.

No. 21, 28, 31 are said to be Gospel lessons (“Evstt.”). No. 29, 35 and 36 are Euchologia; “the two latter probably Melchite, for the codices exhibit some Arabic words” (Abbé Martin). No. 43 and 48 must be erased. No. 70 and 81 are identical with 52 (B. M. Addit. 32051).

1062.

Viz. Apost. 1: 3: 6: 9 & 10 (which are Menologies with a few Gospel lections): 15: 16: 17: 19: 20: 24: 26: 27: 32: 37: 39: 44: 47: 50: 53: 55: 56: 59: 60: 61: 63: 64: 66: 67: 68: 71: 72: 73: 75: 76: 78: 79: 80: 87: 88: 90.

1063.

Viz. Apost. 4 at Florence: 8 at Copenhagen: 40, 41, 42 at Rome: 54 at St. Petersburg: 74 in America.

1064.

Viz. Apost. 2 and 52 (Addit. 32051) in the B. Mus., also 69 (Addit. 29714 verified by Dr. C. R. Gregory): 5 at Gottingen: 7 at the Propaganda (verified by Dr. Beyer): 11, 22, 23, 25, 30, 33 at Paris (verified by Abbé Martin): 13, 14, 18 at Moscow: 38, 49 in the Vatican (verified by Signor Cozza-Luzi): 45 at Glasgow (verified by Dr. Young): 46 at Milan (verified by Dr. Ceriani): 51 at Besançon (verified by M. Castan): 57 and 62 at Lambeth, also 65 b-c (all three verified by Scrivener): 58 at Ch. Ch., Oxford: 77 at Moscow: 82 at Messina (verified by Papas Matranga): 84 and 89 at Crypta Ferrata (verified by Hieromonachus Rocchi).

1065.

Viz. Apost. 34 (Reg. 383), a XVth-century Codex. The Abbé Martin assures me that this copy exhibits μυστήριον; | θῢ ἐφανερώθη. Note however that the position of the point, as well as the accentuation, proves that nothing else but θς was intended. This is very instructive. What if the same slip of the pen had been found in Cod. b?

1066.

Viz. Apost 83 (Crypta Ferrata, A. β. iv.)

1067.

Viz. Praxapost. 85 and 86 (Crypta Ferrata, A. β. vii. which exhibits μυστήριον; ὅς ἐφα | νερώθη ἐν σαρκί; and A. β. viii., which exhibits μυστίριον; ὅς ἐ ... νερώθη | ἐν σαρκύ. [sic.]). Concerning these codices, see above, pp. 446 to 448.

1068.

Concilia, ii. 217 c ( = ed. Hard. i. 418 b).

1069.

He wrote a history of the Council of Nicæa, in which he introduces the discussions of the several Bishops present,—all the product (as Cave thinks) of his own brain.

1070.

viii. 214 b.

1071.

Cited at the Council of CP. (a.d. 553). [Concilia, ed. Labbe et Cossart, v. 447 b c = ed. Harduin, iii. 29 c and 82 e.]

1072.

Concilia, Labbe, v. 449 a, and Harduin, iii. 84 d.

1073.

Harduin, iii. 32 d.

1074.

A Latin translation of the work of Leontius (Contra Nestor. et Eutych.), wherein it is stated that the present place was found in lib. xiii., may be seen in Gallandius [xii. 660-99: the passage under consideration being given at p. 694 c d]: but Mai (Script. Vett. vi. 290-312), having discovered in the Vatican the original text of the excerpts from Theod. Mops., published (from the xiith book of Theod. de Incarnatione) the Greek of the passage [vi. 308]. From this source, Migne [Patr. Gr. vol. 66, col. 988] seems to have obtained his quotation.

1075.

Either as given by Mai, or as represented in the Latin translation of Leontius (obtained from a different codex) by Canisius [Antiquæ Lectt., 1601, vol. iv.], from whose work Gallandius simply reprinted it in 1788.

1076.

Theodori Mops. Fragmenta Syriaca, vertit Ed. Sachau, Lips. 1869,—p. 53.—I am indebted for much zealous help in respect of these Syriac quotations to the Rev. Thomas Randell of Oxford,—who, I venture to predict, will some day make his mark in these studies.

1077.

Ibid. p. 64. The context of the place (which is derived from Lagarde's Analecta Syriaca, p. 102, top,) is as follows: “Deitas enim inhabitans hæc omnia gubernare incepit. Et in hac re etiam gratia Spiritus Sancti adjuvabat ad hunc effectum, ut beatus quoque Apostolus dixit: ‘Vere grande ... in spiritu;’ quoniam nos quoque auxilium Spiritûs accepturi sumus ad perfectionem justitiæ.” A further reference to 1 Tim. iii. 16 at page 69, does not help us.

1078.

I owe this, and more help than I can express in a foot-note, to my learned friend the Rev. Henry Deane, of S. John's.

1079.

Pages 437-43.

1080.

See above, p. 444.

1081.

See above, pp. 446-8; also the Appendix.

1082.

See pp. 426-8.

1083.

See pp. 480-2.

1084.

N. T. 1806 ii. ad calcem, p. [25].

1085.

Page 76.

1086.

See above, pp. 376-8.

1087.

Viz. from p. 431 to p. 478.

1088.

See above, pp. 462-4.

1089.

Viz. Acts iii. 12; 1 Tim. iv. 7, 8; vi. 3, 5, 6; 2 Tim. iii. 5; Tit. i. 1; 2 Pet. i. 3, 6, 7; iii. 11.

1090.

From the friend whose help is acknowledged at foot of pp. 450, 481.

1091.

Scholz enumerates 8 of these copies: Coxe, 15. But there must exist a vast many more; as, at M. Athos, in the convent of S. Catharine, at Meteora, &c., &c.

1092.

In explanation of this statement, the reader is invited to refer to the Appendix at the end of the present volume. [Since the foregoing words have been in print I have obtained from Rome tidings of about 34 more copies of S. Paul's Epistles; raising the present total to 336. The known copies of the book called “Apostolus” now amount to 127.]

1093.

Viz. Paul 61 (see Scrivener's Introduction, 3rd ed. p. 251): and Paul 181 (see above, at pp. 444-5).

1094.

Viz. Paul 248, at Strasburg.

1095.

Viz. Paul 8 (see Scrivener's Introduction): 15 (which is not in the University library at Louvain): 50 and 51 (in Scrivener's Introduction): 209 and 210 (which, I find on repeated enquiry, are no longer preserved in the Collegio Romano; nor, since the suppression of the Jesuits, is any one able to tell what has become of them).

1096.

Viz. Paul 42: 53: 54: 58 (Vat. 165,—from Sig. Cozza-Luzi): 60: 64: 66: 76: 82: 89: 118: 119: 124: 127: 146: 147: 148: 152: 160: 161: 162: 163: 172: 187: 191: 202: 214: 225 (Milan N. 272 sup.,—from Dr. Ceriani): 259: 263: 271: 275: 284 (Modena II. a. 13,—from Sig. Cappilli [Acts, 195—see Appendix]): 286 (Milan e. 2 inf.—from Dr. Ceriani [see Appendix]): 287 (Milan a. 241 inf.—from Dr. Ceriani [see Appendix]): 293 (Crypta Ferrata, a. β. vi.—from the Hieromonachus A. Rocchi [see Appendix]): 302 (Berlin, MS. Græc. 8vo. No. 9.—from Dr. C. de Boor [see Appendix]).

1097.

Viz. Paul 254 (restored to CP., see Scrivener's Introduction): and Paul 261 (Muralt's 8: Petrop. xi. 1. 2. 330).

1098.

I found the reading of 150 copies of S. Paul's Epistles at 1 Tim. iii. 16, ascertained ready to my hand,—chiefly the result of the labours of Mill, Kuster, Walker, Berriman, Birch, Matthæi, Scholz, Reiche, and Scrivener. The following 102 I am enabled to contribute to the number,—thanks to the many friendly helpers whose names follow:—

In the Vatican (Abbate Cozza-Luzi, keeper of the library, whose friendly forwardness and enlightened zeal I cannot sufficiently acknowledge. See the Appendix) No. 185, 186, 196, 204, 207, 294, 295, 296, 297.—Propaganda (Dr. Beyer) No. 92.—Crypta Ferrata (the Hieromonachus A. Rocchi. See the Appendix,) No. 290, 291, 292.—Venice (Sig. Veludo) No. 215.—Milan (Dr. Ceriani, the most learned and helpful of friends,) No. 173, 174, 175, 176, 223, 288, 289.—Ferrara, (Sig. Gennari) No. 222.—Modena (Sig. Cappilli) No. 285.—Bologna (Sig. Gardiani) No. 105.—Turin (Sig. Gorresio) No. 165, 168.—Florence (Dr. Anziani) No. 182, 226, 239.—Messina (Papas Filippo Matranga. See the Appendix,) No. 216, 283.—Palermo (Sig. Penerino) No. 217.—The Escurial (S. Herbert Capper, Esq., of the British Legation. He executed a difficult task with rare ability, at the instance of his Excellency, Sir Robert Morier, who is requested to accept this expression of my thanks,) No. 228, 229.—Paris (M. Wescher, who is as obliging as he is learned in this department,) No. 16, 65, 136, 142, 150, 151, 154, 155, 156, 157, 164.—(L'Abbé Martin. See the Appendix) No. 282. Arsenal (M. Thierry) No. 130.—S. Genevieve (M. Denis) No. 247.—Poictiers (M. Dartige) No. 276.—Berlin (Dr. C. de Boor) No. 220, 298, 299, 300, 301.—Dresden (Dr. Forstemann) No. 237.—Munich (Dr. Laubmann) No. 55, 125, 126, 128.—Gottingen (Dr. Lagarde) No. 243.—Wolfenbuttel (Dr. von Heinemann) No. 74, 241.—Basle (Mons. Sieber) No. 7.—Upsala (Dr. Belsheim) No. 273, 274.—Lincoping (the same) No. 272.—Zurich (Dr. Escher) No. 56.—Prebendary Scrivener verified for me Paul 252: 253: 255: 256: 257: 258: 260: 264: 265: 277.—Rev. T. Randell, has verified No. 13.—Alex. Peckover, Esq., No. 278.—Personally, I have inspected No. 24: 34: 62: 63: 224: 227: 234: 235: 236: 240: 242: 249: 250: 251: 262: 266: 267: 268: 269: 270: 279: 280: 281.

1099.

Viz. Paul 37 (the Codex Leicest., 69 of the Gospels):—Paul 85 (Vat. 1136), observed by Abbate Cozza-Luzi:—Paul 93 (Naples 1. b. 12) which is 83 of the Acts,—noticed by Birch:—Paul 175 (Ambros. f. 125 sup.) at Milan; as I learn from Dr. Ceriani. See above, p. 456 note 1.

1100.

Viz. Paul 282,—concerning which, see above, p. 474, note 1.

1101.

The present locality of this codex (Evan. 421 = Acts 176 = Paul 218) is unknown. The only Greek codices in the public library of the “Seminario” at Syracuse are an “Evst.” and an “Apost.” (which I number respectively 362 and 113). My authority for Θεός in Paul 218, is Birch [Proleg. p. xcviii.], to whom Munter communicated his collations.

1102.

For the ensuing codices, see the Appendix.

1103.

Vat. 2068 (Basil. 107),—which I number “Apost. 115” (see Appendix.)

1104.

Viz. by 4 uncials (a, k, l, p), + (247 Paul + 31 Apost. = ) 278 cursive manuscripts reading Θεός: + 4 (Paul) reading ὁ Θεός: + 2 (1 Paul, 1 Apost.) reading ὅς Θεός: + 1 (Apost.) reading Θῢ = 289. (See above, pp. 473-4: 478.)

1105.

The Harkleian (see pp. 450, 489): the Georgian, and the Slavonic (p. 454).

1106.

See above, pp. 487-490,—which is the summary of what will be found more largely delivered from page 455 to page 476.

1107.

See above, pp. 448-453: also p. 479.

1108.

See above, pp. 479-480.

1109.

See above, pp. 452-3.

1110.

See above, pp. 482, 483.

1111.

See above, page 436, and middle of page 439.

1112.

See his long and singular note.

1113.

Fresh Revision, p. 27.

1114.

Printed Text, p. 231.

1115.

P. 226.

1116.

“Forte μυστήριον; ὁ χς ἐθανατώθη ἐν σαρκί ... ἐν πνεύματι, ὤφθη ἀποστόλοις.”—Bentleii Critica Sacra, p. 67.

1117.

Developed Criticism, p. 160.

1118.

Thus Augustine (viii. 828 f.) paraphrases,—“In carne manifestatus est Filius Dei.”—And Marius Victorinus, a.d. 390 (ap. Galland. viii. 161),—“Hoc enim est magnum sacramentum, quod Deus exanimavit semet ipsum cum esset in Dei formá:” “fuit ergo antequam esset in carne, sed manifestatum dixit in carne.”—And Fulgentius, a.d. 513, thus expands the text (ap. Galland. xi. 232):—“quia scilicet Verbum quod in principio erat, et apud Deum erat, et Deus erat, id est Dei unigenitus Filius, Dei virtus et sapientia, per quem et in quo facta sunt omnia, ... idem Deus unigenitus,” &c. &c.—And Ferrandus, a.d. 356 (ibid. p. 356):—“ita pro redemtione humani generis humanam naturam credimus suscepisse, ut ille qui Trinitate perfecta Deus unigenitus permanebat ac permanet, ipse ex Maria fieret primogenitus in multis fratribus,” &c.

1119.

MS. note in his interleaved copy of the N. T. He adds, “Hæc addenda posui Notis ad S. Hippolytum contra Noetum p. 93, vol. i. Scriptor. Ecclesiast. Opusculorum.”

1120.

Page 29.

1121.

P. 29.

1122.

P. 30.

1123.

Address, on the Revised Version, p. 10.

1124.

See above, pp. 37 to 39.

1125.

Bp. Ellicott's pamphlet, p. 34.

1126.

P. 231.

1127.

Fifth Rule of the Committee.

1128.

Bp. Ellicott's pamphlet, p. 30.

1129.

No fair person will mistake the spirit in which the next ensuing paragraphs (in the Text) are written. But I will add what shall effectually protect me from being misunderstood.

Against the respectability and personal worth of any member of the Revisionist body, let me not be supposed to breathe a syllable. All, (for aught I know to the contrary,) may be men of ability and attainment, as well as of high moral excellence. I will add that, in early life, I numbered several professing Unitarians among my friends. It were base in me to forget how wondrous kind I found them: how much I loved them: how fondly I cherish their memory.

Further. That in order to come at the truth of Scripture, we are bound to seek help at the hands of any who are able to render help,—who ever doubted? If a worshipper of the false prophet,—if a devotee of Buddha,—could contribute anything,—who would hesitate to sue to him for enlightenment? As for Abraham's descendants,—they are our very brethren.

But it is quite a different thing when Revisionists appointed by the Convocation of the Southern Province, co-opt Separatists and even Unitarians into their body, where they shall determine the sense of Scripture and vote upon its translation on equal terms. Surely, when the Lower House of Convocation accepted the 5th “Resolution” of the Upper House,—viz., that the Revising body “shall be at liberty to invite the co-operation of any eminent for scholarship, to whatever nation or religious body they may belong;”—the Synod of Canterbury did not suppose that it was pledging itself to sanction such “co-operation” as is implied by actual co-optation!

It should be added that Bp. Wilberforce, (the actual framer of the 5th fundamental Resolution,) has himself informed us that “in framing it, it never occurred to him that it would apply to the admission of any member of the Socinian body.” Chronicle of Convocation (Feb. 1871,) p. 4.

“I am aware,” (says our learned and pious bishop of Lincoln,) “that the ancient Church did not scruple to avail herself of the translation of a renegade Jew, like Aquila; and of Ebionitish heretics, like Symmachus and Theodotion; and that St. Augustine profited by the expository rules of Tychonius the Donatist. But I very much doubt whether the ancient Church would have looked for a large outpouring of a blessing from God on a work of translating His Word, where the workmen were not all joined together in a spirit of Christian unity, and in the profession of the true Faith; and in which the opinions of the several translators were to be counted and not weighed; and where everything was to be decided by numerical majorities; and where the votes of an Arius or a Nestorius were to be reckoned as of equal value with those of an Athanasius or a Cyril.” (Address on the Revised Version, 1881, pp. 38.)

1130.

The Bible and Popular Theology, by G. Vance Smith, 1871.

1131.

An Unitarian Reviser of our Authorized Version, intolerable: an earnest Remonstrance and Petition,—addressed to yourself by your present correspondent:—Oxford, Parker, 1872, pp. 8.

1132.

See letter of “One of the Revisionists, G. V. S.” in the Times of July 11, 1870.

1133.

Protest against the Communion of an Unitarian in Westminster Abbey on June 22nd, 1870:—Oxford, 1870, pp. 64.

1134.

See the Chronicle of Convocation (Feb. 1871), pp. 3-28,—when a Resolution was moved and carried by the Bp. (Wilberforce) of Winchester,—“That it is the judgment of this House that no person who denies the Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ ought to be invited to join either company to which is committed the Revision of the Authorized Version of Holy Scripture: and that it is further the judgment of this House that any such person now on either Company should cease to act therewith.

“And that this Resolution be communicated to the Lower House, and their concurrence requested:”—which was done. See p. 143.

1135.

The Reader is invited to refer back to pp. 132-135.

1136.

The Reader is requested to refer back to pp. 210-214.

1137.

S. Mark x. 21.

1138.

S. Luke xxii. 64.

1139.

S. Luke xxiii. 38.

1140.

S. Luke xxiv. 42.

1141.

Εἰπεῖν is “to command” in S. Matth. (and S. Luke) iv. 3: in S. Mark v. 43: viii. 7, and in many other places. On the other hand, the Revisers have thrust “command” into S. Matth. xx. 21, where “grant” had far better have been let alone: and have overlooked other places (as S. Matth. xxii. 24, S. James ii. 11), where “command” might perhaps have been introduced with advantage. (I nothing doubt that when the Centurion of Capernaum said to our Lord μόνον εἰπὲ λόγῳ [Mtt. viii. 8 = Lu. vii. 7], he entreated Him “only to give the word of command.”)

We all see, of course, that it was because Δός is rendered “grant” in the (very nearly) parallel place to S. Matth. xx. 21 (viz. S. Mark x. 37), that the Revisers thought it incumbent on them to represent Εἰπέ in the earlier Gospel differently; and so they bethought themselves of “command.” (Infelicitously enough, as I humbly think. “Promise” would evidently have been a preferable substitute: the word in the original (εἰπεῖν) being one of that large family of Greek verbs which vary their shade of signification according to their context.) But it is plainly impracticable to level up after this rigid fashion,—to translate in this mechanical way. Far more is lost than is gained by this straining after an impossible closeness of rendering. The spirit becomes inevitably sacrificed to the letter. All this has been largely remarked upon above, at pp. 187-206.

Take the case before us in illustration. S. James and S. John with their Mother, have evidently agreed together to “ask a favour” of their Lord (cf. Mtt. xx. 20, Mk. x. 35). The Mother begins Εἰπέ,—the sons begin, Δός. Why are we to assume that the request is made by the Mother in a different spirit from the sons? Why are we to impose upon her language the imperious sentiment which the very mention of “command” unavoidably suggests to an English ear?

A prior, and yet more fatal objection, remains in full force. The Revisers, (I say it for the last time,) were clearly going beyond their prescribed duty when they set about handling the Authorized Version after this merciless fashion. Their business was to correct “plain and clear errors,”—not to produce a “New English Version.”

1142.

Take the following as a sample, which is one of the Author's proofs that the “Results of the Revision” are “unfavourable to Orthodoxy:”—“The only instance in the N. T. in which the religious worship or adoration of Christ was apparently implied, has been altered by the Revision: ‘At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow,’ [Philipp. ii. 10] is now to be read ‘in the name.’ Moreover, no alteration of text or of translation will be found anywhere to make up for this loss; as indeed it is well understood that the N. T. contains neither precept nor example which really sanctions the religious worship of Jesus Christ.”—Texts and Margins,—p. 47.

1143.

Supra, p. 424 to p. 501.

1144.

See above, pp. 272-275, pp. 278-281.

1145.

See above, p. 275.

1146.

See above, pp. 276-7.

1147.

See above, pp. 303-305.

1148.

See above, p. 304.

1149.

See above, pp. 339-42; also pp. 422, 423.

1150.

See above, pp. 391-7.

1151.

See above, pp. 36-40: 47-9: 422-4.

1152.

See above, pp. 41-7: 420-2.

1153.

See above, pp. 98-106: 424-501.

1154.

Evan. 738 belongs to Oriel College, Oxford, [xii.], small 4to. of 130 foll. slightly mut. Evan. 739, Bodl. Greek Miscell. 323 [xiii.], 8vo. membr. foll. 183, mut. Brought from Ephesus, and obtained for the Bodleian in 1883.

1155.

Evst. 415 belongs to Lieut. Bate, [xiii.], chart. foll. 219, mutilated throughout. He obtained it in 1878 from a Cyprus villager at Kikos, near Mount Trovodos (i.e. Olympus.) It came from a monastery on the mountain.

1156.

Apost. 128 will be found described, for the first time, below, at p. 528.