iJ PRIlSrCETON, N. J. ^' ^-z^^^.. division JD. 3).*^. .<— O Section \\ \Z^ / Number., THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH h \ nc '. '- thing down to Ezra that could not well be attrib- ted to Moses. But we know that the change was gradual, for we find it still in progress as late as the fourth century before Christ, and somewhat earlier upon monuments which show an Egyptian- Aramaic character, as well as upon coins and a fragment of papyrus in the British Museum.^ Moreover, the Samaritans did not have their Pentateuch written in the old character until at least a half century after Ezra. But however gradually the change was efiected, it may have * Driver: " Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel," xvii., seq. 58 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH begun indeed with the great Ezra, and progressed until it was completed at a date considerably before our era, for we are sure that the written Hebrew, with which Jesus was conversant and which was familiar to the men of his time, must have had the characters with v/hich we are familiar. He refers to the "jot and the tittle," \h^yodth^ the very smallest letter, which, however, in the ancient form was one of the largest, as our example shows ; and the tittle, the little crook found in many letters, such as the " L," "^," in the later writing, which afforded no trace of such a minute terminal in the older form. Then came the Massoretes, as we have said. Let us take an example of Hebrew in the square character and translate it into English, and we shall understand what the Massoretes did in the addition of the vowels. The Hebrew is read from right to left, but the example in English is printed in the usual way, and we take a passage that with the consonants alone might be read in two ways — I Kings 17 : 6 : NDTHRVNS BRGHT THM BRD NDFLSH NTHMRNNG a eae ou oi eaa ei eoi Without the vowels written beneath this would hardly be intelligible, especially as the conjunc- tions and prepositions are joined closely with the following words. But with the vowels we read easily : " And the ravens brought to him bread THE HEBREW MANUSCRIPTS 59 and flesh in the morning." But now if we re- member that the letter " V " in English is cognate with '^ B," and if we supply other possible vowels, we can read : NDTHRVNS BRGHT THM BRD NDFLSH NTHMRNNG a eaaia oa oiaia ei eoi " And the Arabians brous^ht to him a bird and flesh in the morning." In fact, in the original Hebrew, the consonants for the word ravens and those for the word Arabians are exactly the same, not needing even the slight change of pronuncia- tion indicated in English by the difference be- tween " B " and "V." In the Hebrew, however, the word bread could not be mistaken for the word bird^ as we have supposed in the English ; but the Hebrew consonants for bread might be supplied with vowels to make it read war^ and so, if the context allowed it, our words might be translated : " And the Arabians brought to him war in the morning." In most instances there could be no mistake made from the absence of the written vowels, for the sense of the whole passage would determine the right word ; but in many cases there might be a difference, and in fact, the passage that we have taken as an ex- ample is preferred by some as reading: *'The Arabians brought to him flesh," though it seems to us as if the older and traditional reading is preferable, particularly as it has 6o THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH always been so understood by the Jews them- selves. Another passage of similar nature is actually translated in the Bpistle to the Hebrews (ii : 2i), "Jacob worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff," following the Septuagint, which so understood the word in the original (Gen. 47 ; 31), "And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head ' ' ; the vowels were wanting, and the Jews supplied them to mean bed^ while the Septuagint supplied them for staff. It is true that the Jew would not find the great difficulty in reading his text without the vowel points that we should find in English, were all the vowels abolished ; but we can have some idea of the aid given by the intro- duction of these signs, and of the tendency they would have to fix the meaning in doubtful cases. But this was not the only service to the text rendered by the Massoretes. They supplied also minute signs, by which the emphasis upon certain words was expressed, and they introduced punc- tuation. Thus the sentences were not only easily determined, but even the tones in which the reader should chant the passage. They noted also the number of times which certain words occurred, and marked it in footnotes, and often by great care set passages over against each other by means of signs of reference, so that each passage received help from the other. They counted the verses in each book, the words, the letters, and THE HEBREW MANUSCRIPTS 6l noted the middle verse, word, and letter, and in many ways that seem to us entirely superfluous, made themselves acquainted with the text. We cannot understand of what possible value it could be to know that the first letter of the alphabet occurs (in the Hebrew) forty-two thousand three hundred and seventy-seven times ; but they knew it, and much else of the same sort. But we can see that this close knowledge of the Scriptures was an index of their unbounded reverence for them and a safeguard against any alterations. The rules for the copyist were exacting in the extreme. The Law must be transcribed from manuscripts of approved character only. The material of the rolls must be the skins of clean animals only, prepared for the express purpose by a Jew, and fastened with strings of the same ma- terial. Every skin must have a certain number of columns of a fixed length and breadth, com- prising a given number of lines and words. An entire roll must be ruled with regular lines, and if more than three words are written without a line, the whole manuscript must be rejected. Black ink alone can be used, and it must be made according to a particular recipe. Soot, charcoal, and honey are mixed into a paste, which is al- lowed to harden ; this is then dissolved in water, with an infusion of galls before using. The writer must never trust to memory. He is to look F 62 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH at the original before writing each word, and every word must be orally pronounced. Between all books three lines must be left. The fifth book of Moses must end exactly with the line. The transcriber must always be in full Jewish costume when at work. As often as the name of God ap- pears he must purify himself and wash the whole body, and his pen must not be dipped into the ink immediately before writing the name, but it must be washed, and then the word preceding the name must be written with sufficient ink in the pen so that at least the letter immediately before the sacred name shall be written with the same ink as the name itself. While writing the name, his devotion must be such that even if a king ad- dresses him he must take no notice till the task is done. Whether a mistake in copying the name of the Deity made a roll unfit for use in the synagogue was a matter of dispute among the Jews. The lack or redundance of a single letter, the writing of prose as verse, or of verse as prose, or two letters touching each other, spoiled a manu- script. When a copy was completed, it was ex- amined and corrected within thirty days, in order to determine whether it was to be approved or rejected. Such rules as these enumerated in the tract Sopherim^ a late addition to the Babylonian Talmud, show the views with which the task of the scribe was then regarded. And although THE HEBREW MANUSCRIPTS 63 it is not likely that so many regulations hedged the way against errors at an earlier period, yet probably the exactions were many, even at the beginning of our era. Notwithstanding this extreme reverence for their Bibles, it was thought necessary in some cases to suggest a correction of the text. There are some words, for example, which it was not thought quite proper to read aloud in public ; or some word was believed to be incorrect ; or a case of wrong spelling occurs ; or there are words whose last letter belongs to the following word ; or two words have been run together as one. But whatever these mistakes were, they must not be changed in the text itself. The reader had to pronounce a different word from what was written, or otherwise make the correc- tion in speech to which he was prompted by certain notes placed in the margin. These notes were called Keri, meaning "read," while the word actually written in the text was distinguished by the name Kethib, meaning "written." Thus in practice if the copyists found a wrong word in their original they wrote it, that is, the consonants only, with an asterisk over them ; then they put under these consonants the vowels of what they believed to be the right word, and wrote the consonants of the right word in the margin. This made the word in the text absurd, and the atten- 64 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH tioii was diverted to the margin, where the correct consonants for the vowels in the text were found. If a word was to be wholly omitted in reading it was left luipointed, and the note written but not read was put in the margin ; while, on the other hand, if a word was to be supplied its vowels were inserted in the text and its letters placed in the margin with the words read but not written. In such work as this the Massoretes labored for centuries, until at least eight hundred years after Christ. Their toil was invaluable for the student of the Bible, and to them we owe very largely both the preservation and the exposition of the original text. In their labors we find the explana- tion of the strange fact that in all existing Hebrew manuscripts the text is almost the same, word for word, so that it may be said that all copies of the Old Testament show a greater unanimity than the copies of any other ancient book, not ex- cepting even the New Testament. We have seen that the toil of modern scholars has given us a Greek New Testament upon whose text we may safely rely. While it cannot be said that the text of the Old Testament is as correct and secure, notwithstanding the agreement of ex- tant manuscripts, yet we know that out of the old Hebrew times the Scripture has come to us with all substantial correctness. The Old Testament originals so far away in antiquity, the early vicis- THE HEBREW MANUSCRIPTS 65 situdes of their transmission through copies, the very late date of all extant manuscripts, the de- fective testimony of secondary witnesses like the translations, the as yet unsettled questions concern- ing the Septuagint are sufficient explanations of the more incomplete results of Old Testament criticism. But such conclusions have been at- tained as to leave us no reasonable doubt as to the revealed truth of the old dispensation, and the Old Testament unites with the later Covenant to point us infallibly to the way of eternal life. Special passages may need the alteration of a word or a phrase. Perhaps Jacob leaned upon the head of his bed, perhaps upon the head of his staff; but the great facts and the great truths of Jacob's life are ours beyond alteration. The Bible is secure. It is a word tried by the fires of the most exacting critical scholarship after having been put to the test of actual living. It was found by the ancient Israel to be from God ; it was proved by the later church to have God's Spirit in it, as it shaped and sustained the spiritual life of his people. It is to-day and ever will be the fountain of truth to satisfy the thirst of the soul. IV. THE HEBREW MANUSCRIPTS {Continued) '^PHB Hebrew manuscripts are divided into two -■- classes, according to their form, the syna- gogue rolls and the private copies. The former, as the name indicates, are all in the form of rolls, made of parchment, and written with the care that we have indicated as prescribed in the tract Sopherhn. The text in these rolls has no vowels or accents, and the divisions of the text are want- ing. These manuscripts were made for one special purpose, and were never sold. Those found in the possession of Christians are supposed to be such as were rejected by the synagogues on account of some slight fault which vitiated them for public use. The private manuscripts are in the form of books, written on either vellum or paper, and are of various sizes. The text is in black ink with vowel points added, often by a second writer and in ink of a different shade. The upper and lower margins of these books contain Massoretic notes, and sometimes additional comments. Sections, verses, and other distinguishing traits are found. Sometimes a Targum, or interpretation in Chaldee, is written in alternate verses or parallel columns, 66 THE HEBREW MANUSCRIPTS 67 and sometimes this translation occupies the mar- gins of the pages. Another classification of Hebrew manuscripts is made according to the character of the letters. The Samaritan Pentateuch, which is to all intents a Hebrew document, though not recognized by the Jews and written in the archaic form of the Hebrew character, stands alone. But many other manuscripts can be recognized at once as similar, and belonging to certain localities. The Spanish documents have the writing upright, regular, square, simple, and elegant. The German text is a little inclined, sharp-pointed, crooked, intricate, and comparatively inelegant. The Italian manu- scripts occupy a sort of middle ground between the Spanish and the German in these respects. The Spanish and German differ from each other in the arrangement of the books, and several other divergencies occur. The Oriental copies are gen- erally similar to the Spanish and are assigned to the same class, while the French are generally placed with the Italian. The total immber of Hebrew manuscripts is very large ; over two thousand are well known. But it should be remembered that the great part of these documents contain only a portion of the Old Testament. The book of Esther has the largest number of copies ; the books of Ezra and Nehemiah the smallest number. Owino: to the 68 THE PARCHMKNTS OF THE FAITH wide dispersion of the Jews, these documents come to us from all lauds. If we could present a large number of illustrations of them, they would be seen to be of the most varied character, from the worn and tattered rolls to the almost fresh and very ornate volumes. But a brief description of a few examples must suffice, as our space must be ^iven chiefly to the more important documents of the New Testament and their wonderful history. The Samaritan Pentateuch has been said to be in all essentials a Hebrew manuscript, although it is written in the ancient Phoenician Hebrew, and differs in many important respects from the documents recognized as authoritative by the Jews. An approximate specimen of its text has been given in our illustration (page 55). It will be noticed that the letters are very rudely shaped, and to the unskilled eye appear to be almost a dis- tinct character, having no affinity with the beau- tiful square letters of the other example. This copy of the Pentateuch is the only Bible that the Samaritans recognize, and it is of importance in the history of the text of the Old Testament, though it holds but an inferior place in textual value. Omri, the sixth king of Israel, founded the city of Samaria, about b. c. 900. His residence at Tirzah had been burned, its position had been proved too easily assailable in war, and with a THE HEBREW MANUSCRIPTS 69 sagacity which has been declared comparable with that of Coustantine the Great in founding Con- stantinople, Omri selected the summit of the hill Shomeron for the capital of his kingdom. It was a place of great natural strength, and by its de- feats and desolations, no less than by its successful resistance to its foes, the city has often proved its military and political importance. In course of time, the ten tribes of Israel inhab- iting the district of which Omri's capital was the center, as well as the more northern section of Palestine, were carried away into a captivity in Assyria. In the second book of Kings, 17 : 24, we read that other nations were placed in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel, — " men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim. . . And so it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord ; therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them. ' ' The colonists complained to the king who had deported them thither, and he com- manded that one of the priests who had been carried away from Samaria should be sent back to teach the colonists "the manner of the God of the land." The result was a strange mixture of religions, well expressed by the words of the Bible : " So they feared the Lord and served their own gods. ' ' These then, were the New Samari- 70 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH tans, as we may call them, men not originally of the Jewish race, but from the far East. Doubt- less not all the New Samaritans were of unmixed foreign blood, for some of the original inhabitants may have remained, intermarried with the strangers, and thus perpetuated a strain of the Hebrew lineage in the later time. But essentially even these were foreigners, and the Samaritans were always considered as aliens by the Jews. When the tribe of Judah returned from captivity and sought to rebuild Jerusalem, these Samaritans desired to take part in the work and share in the privileges of the national worship. It is an evi- dence that they had by this time become more at home in the Jewish faith than they were at first. But the acute and strict Ezra refused to have any- thing to do with them. They were a corrupt people, and would only bring contamination into the Jewish State. This repulse emphasized the separation, and the Samaritans threw off every cloak of friendship, and the long and implacable hostility between the two peoples began. But the stern rejection by Ezra may have been beneficial in a religious view, for as the national hostility grew the Samaritans seem to have rejected idolatry more and more, and to have sought an approach to purity in the religion of Jehovah. About B. c. 419, a romance in real life led to an important crisis in the religion of Samaria. A young Jew, THE HEBREW MANUSCRIPTS 7 1 named Manasseh, a brother of the Jewish high priest, more faithful to his wife than many of his fellow-Jews were to theirs, refused to put her away because she was the daughter of a foreigner, San- ballat, when the elders in Jerusalem became uneasy about his sharing the high priest's office while entangled with such an alliance. Had not Ezra required the repudiation of all " strange wives " ? Manasseh refused to comply, and fled to Samaria.^ The Persian king was petitioned to allow the erection of a temple on Mount Gerizim, Manasseh became the high priest there, and from him, says the tradition, the Samaritans received a copy of the Law. This Pentateuch was really only a copy of the commonly received Hebrew text altered for the new exigencies " by impudent assertion and falsification," as Edersheim says. This book thus became the sole authority in the Samaritan religion. No other books of the Hebrew canon were ever admitted in Samaria. Of course the Samaritans' version of their own history and the origin of their sacred books differs considerably from that which we have given ; but it is colored by the necessities of their case and is readily proved unreliable. The temple upon Mount Gerizim fell into ruins long ago, and the religion of the Samaritans has almost disappeared from the face of the earth. In ^ Josephus, " Antiq.," xi., 8. 72 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH 1874, only one hundred and thirty-five persons re- mained in the little village of Nablous, upon the site of the ancient Shecheni, to carry on the ancient rites, so far as these are possible under such altered conditions. Their only synagogue is a little unadorned building in the most thickly settled portion of the town, and here in a veiled recess are kept three ancient copies of the lyaw, one of which is the famous scroll for which is claimed the highest antiquity and supreme authority. This celebrated scroll is written on the hair-side of fine ramskins about twenty-five by fifteen inches in size. The skins are much worn and stained, and holes appear in many places. The text is written in gold, which still preserves its lustre, and the manuscript must have been very magnifi- cent when new. It is kept in a cylindrical silvered case, opening on two sets of hinges. The outside of the case is richly embossed, and is pictured with the tabernacle of the wilderness, the ark of the covenant, altars, candlesticks, and other sacred implements. The case is declared to be Venetian, of the fourteenth or fifteenth century. The sacred roll is exhibited to the congregation with appro- priate ceremonies only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, and the people reverently kiss that part which bears the Aaronic blessings — to the detriment of the blessings. When restored to its case, the whole is wrapped in a gorgeous crim- THE HEBREW MANUSCRIPTS 73 son satin cover, embroidered in gold. The Sa- maritans themselves claim that this precious relic was written by Abisha, a great-grandson of Aaron, and bears the inscription : " I, Abisha, son of Phinehas, son of Bleazar, son of Aaron, the priest, upon whom be the grace of Jehovah ! to his honor have I written this holy law at the entrance of the tabernacle of testimony on the Mount Gerizim, Beth-El, in the thirteenth year of the taking of the land of Canaan and all its boundaries around it by the children of Israel. I praise Jehovah ! '* The completeness of the Samaritan claims in this inscription is enough to arouse suspicion, for it not only declares the antiquity of the document, but also of the place of worship on Mount Gerizim. As a matter of fact, the mere existence of the in- scription is more than doubtful, as the assertion of the Samaritans finds no confirmation from European research, except upon the dubious evi- dence afforded by a single traveler. It would be impossible to believe in such antiquity for the document, and it can hardly be assigned a date so early as the third century of our era. The existence of this ancient copy of the law was for a long time unknown. Scholars had been perplexed by references in the works of Origen, Jerome, and others, to the Hebrew according to the Samaritans, as differing somewhat from the Hebrew according to the Jews. The oblivion of G 74 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH fifteen centuries covered the Samaritan text, and it began to be considered a fiction, and various hypotheses were assumed to explain the allusions of the Fathers. But at last, in 1616, Pietro della Valle, a man learned in the Oriental languages, bought a copy of the Pentateuch from the Samari- tans of Damascus. This copy was purchased in the name of the ambassador of France to Con- stantinople, and he gave it, in 1623, to the lyibrary of the Oratory, in Paris. European interest was at once excited, and the manuscript was subjected to the most earnest scrutiny. Several other copies were soon discovered, and in 1630, Archbishop Ussher possessed six, and in 1790, a printed edi- tion was prepared. There are now sixteen manu- scripts of the Samaritan Pentateuch in the libra- ries of Europe. But now what is the value of this ancient roll in determining the text of our Bible ? At first it was supposed that it was of the greatest import- ance, on account of its age and the belief that it represented an original of far greater antiquity than any from which later copies were made. But gradually this belief was modified, and at last Gesenius thoroughly studied it and exposed so many weaknesses that it has never been considered an authority since that time. He showed its errors to consist chiefly of three sorts : first, grammatical blunders ; second, changes to explain passages THE HEBREW MANUSCRIPTS 75 that were obscure ; and third, bold corruptions for the sake of supporting the peculiar Samaritan views and usages. For these purposes history was deliberately falsified and teachings were twisted from their manifest meaning. And yet all these corruptions did not make the manuscript useless. It was found that its text was substantially that of the Massoretes, and just because the Samaritan text had been isolated for nearly two thousand years, and kept by intense hatred from any possi- ble contact with the Jewish text, its testimony to the substantial integrity of the latter is exceedingly strong, indicating a common origin for both. Again, it appears that certain of the translations of the Old Testament which are yet to be consid- ered by us, the Septuagint, the Syriac, the Vulgate, of which we have manuscripts of far earlier date than of any Hebrew text, agree with certain read- ings of the Samaritan manuscripts, and thus seem to indicate a partial corruption of the received He- brew text. In other ways, also, the Samaritan Pentateuch is useful to the textual critic, but we may not enter further into the details. But before we turn to other documents, we may note that this ancient scroll is the most interesting relic of the hostility which was so evident in our Saviour's time between the Jew and the Samaritan, And it is a proof of the power that has swept away all the old barriers between men, and borne onward the great 76 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH work of the world's regeneration beyond all such petty restraints as might be erected by either Jew or Gentile. The time has come when the true worship of the Father is aptly symbolized by the freedom and the vast multiplication of the Script- ures themselves. Now we depend not upon any copy of the law kept either in Jerusalem or Gerizim ; but with the printed Bible circulated all over the world, and with Hebrew and Samaritan manuscripts testifying to its truth, the hour has fully come, indeed, when men shall worship the Father everywhere in spirit and in truth. Of Hebrew manuscripts, strictly so called, sev- eral may be mentioned as of great value, and some of them have interesting histories. One especially, that is no longer in existence, was vQry famous, the subject of some adventure and much romance. It was believed by some to have been in the possession of Ezra himself, while others have thought it to be one of the three famous copies found in the court of the temple after the capture of Jerusalem by Titus, and sent to Rome among the spoils of war. But both of these surmises are unworthy of credit. We know that the roll was in the possession of the Jews in Toledo, Spain ; and that in A. d. 1367, when the city was taken by Edward, the Black Prince, it fell into the hands of the conquerors. But they preferred its value in money, and allowed the THE HEBREW MANUSCRIPTS 'J'] Jews to redeem it at a large price, and it returned to the care of the synagogue until it perished in the flames when the synagogue was burned. The document was of such sanctity that manuscripts from all parts of the world were sent to be tested by its text, and some codices are in our possession which are certified as having been compared at least with other manuscripts which had been verified by the Codex Ezras itself. It is a matter of great regret that the manuscript is no longer in existence. The oldest Hebrew codex extant is dated 916, a manuscript of the prophets, brought from the Crimea by a distinguished Karaite scholar, A. Firkowitch. It is in the Imperial Library of St. Petersburg, and has been edited in fac simile. The oldest manuscript of the whole Old Testament is dated loio. The Codex Laudianus in the Bodleian li- brary at Oxford, begins with Genesis 27 : 31, and is an important document. It originally formed only one volume, but now it is in two parts, folio, with plain, elegant letters, originally written without points. It is of the eleventh century, and is considered of high authority. It agrees to a remarkable extent with the Samaritan Pentateuch. The Codex Cesen^E is especially valuable as having in its margins some readings of still more ancient documents. The codex itself is placed 78 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH toward the end of the eleventh century. It is a vellum folio in the German character, and contains the Pentateuch, the Prophets, Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. It is in the Malatesta library in Bologna. The Codex Parisiensis, No. 27, in the Na- tional Library in Paris, is a quarto of the entire Old Testament, written on vellum in the Italian character. It is of high value, and dates from the twelfth century. A fragment, containing the Law from Genesis 43 : 14 to Deuteronomy 15 : 12, was treasured in the library of De Rossi. The leaves appear to be of different ages, some of them perhaps going back as far as the beginning of the tenth century. The characters are rudely formed and there are no traces of the Massorah. Another very interesting manuscript was brought to England by Dr. Buch- anan, in 1806. He discovered it in the record- chest of a synagogue of black Jews, in the interior of Malayala in India. The scroll measures forty- eight feet in length, but in its original unimpaired form it must have been at least ninety feet long. It now consists of thirty-seven skins twenty-two inches long, with one hundred and seventeen col- umns of clear and legible writing. Unfortunately, it was written by some comparatively careless scribe, and its mistakes are so numerous as to make it of little critical value. THE HEBREW MANUSCRIPTS 79 At Odessa, there is a roll brought from Derbend, in Daghestan, having such an appearance of age that its subscription, saying that it was corrected in the year 580, was for some time credited, though, as we have said, it is now well understood that the earliest extant Hebrew manuscript is not older than the year 916. One indication of a date at least as late as this is in the separation of the words in this manuscript. But some of the letters have a very ancient shape, and there are no vowels, accents, or Massorah. It contains the five books of Moses complete. A unique manuscript is described by Davidson. It contains the Minor Prophets, and Isaiah, Jere- miah, and Bzekiel. Every page is written in two columns, between which, as well as below and in the outer margins, the Massorah is found. After each verse there are two points, and the vowels and accents are very different from those usually known and are written above the letters, the first page, however, having them both above and below. The whole codex is very correctly written, and where variations occur their testimony is of importance. Codex 634 of De Rossi is on parchment with- out vowel points. The manuscript contains only a small portion of the Law. It is in a very dilapi- dated state, and like a similar roll, Codex 503 of De Rossi, was taken from a Gheniza at Lucca, where 8o THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH it had been buried to save it from falling into pro- fane hands. It were useless to describe further the manu- scripts of the Old Testament in the Hebrew, except to note that they vary greatly in their out- ward aspects, at which one might wonder, when the extreme conservatism with which the text was so long regarded is remembered. But there seemed to be no law regulating the size of the books, the amount of ornamentation that might be used, or the fancy of the copyist in arranging the marginal notes. The special rules concerning the copying of the text itself did not always ob- tain, and we have documents in which some liberty was taken with the letters themselves, but these are mostly from mediaeval times. Highly ornamented initial letters appear, fantastic bor- ders, and in some instances the " Keri " notes are woven together to fill the margin with forms of birds and flowers and beasts, and even of fabulous dragons. We have rolls of finest parchment and of rough leather. Some are not more than a score of feet long, while some are seven or eight times that length. They vary from a few inches to two feet in width. But whatever variations of this kind may appear, the agreement of all in the text itself is remarkable, as we have already indi- cated. V THE GREEK TRANSI.ATIONS IT is not only to the documents in the original Hebrew that the appeal must be made for the determination of the real text. It will be under- stood readily that a translation into any otlier tongue would be a witness to the text from which it was made, and that the value of this testimony would be in proportion to the age, fidelity, com- pleteness, and other characteristics of the transla- tion. For example, we have noted that the Hebrew manuscripts which we have are not of eariier date than the tenth century. Suppose, then, that a manuscript written in the fourth cen- tury were found, even if it were a traiislation from a Hebrew text, it would be nearer the origi- nal by at least six centuries, and if the matter of time were the only thing to be considered, it would be far more valuable than the Hebrew documents themselves. In reality there are sev- eral characteristics upon which the value of a manuscript depends more important than mere antiquity ; but if we find that the translation, of which we have this early copy, coincides in gen- 8i 82 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH eral with the Hebrew documents, it is in just so far a confirmation of their correctness. Moreover, the translation, of which we have this copy, for example, in Codex B of the Vatican, is of a date which we know exactly, carrying back our point of view to the third century before Christ, from which we see an original yet earlier from which the translation was made. Thus our copy be- comes an almost unimpeachable witness to a Hebrew text dating certainly more than three hundred years before Christ. Again, if in certain cases the text of this translation in our copy of the fourth century varies from that of the Hebrew manuscripts in our possession, a verse having been omitted or added, or some very considerable dif- ferences of reading appearing, the question is at once raised as to which document represents the earlier text most correctly. This question starts a long investigation, perhaps ; but it has the result of showing that even before the third century before Christ there were probably differences of reading in the manuscripts from which our docu- ments were made. All of these matters are of the very essence of textual criticism, and the im- portance of translations, and even of much more free paraphrases aiid commentaries becomes evi- dent. The SepTUAGInt is undoubtedly the most important translation of the Old Testament. It THK GREEK TRANSLATIONS 83 has already been referred to in these pages, but must now be more minutely described. I have shown how, by their varying political fortunes, the Jews had been scattered to all parts of the world, and through the conquests of Alexander the Great, of Macedon, the Greek language had come into common use two or three centuries before Christ. The great city founded by the conqueror in Egypt, and called after himself, Alexandria, rose to the first importance as a politi- cal and commercial center. The conqueror de- ported to this city a large number of Jews, and the Ptolemies encouraged the further settlement of Jews in their capital, so that Alexandria be- came almost another "Jerusalem in Egypt." It is said that at least one-third of the population was composed of Hebrews. It has been shown how these colonists, like their countrymen in Palestine, had lost the knowledge of the ancient Hebrew language ; but of course, these exiles in the midst of a Greek population would acquire the Greek language more easily and quickly than the Jews in Palestine. These colonists needed their sacred books in the language which they spoke, and both for the service of the synagogues and for private uses, the demand for a translation was made. Doubtless the Law, or Pentateuch, alone was first translated, and for the beginning of this work the date b. c. 275 may be assumed ; 84 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH but after the I^aw had found its place in the new tongue, the way became open for the gradual ex- tension of the work, and through a long period the rest of the Old Testament was added, the work ending at a time not later than B. c. 130. But this natural occasion is not the only expla- nation that has been given of the origin of the Septuagint, and we have other and conflicting accounts. On the one hand, the story begins with the second king of the Ptolemaic dynasty, Ptolemy Philadelphus, who was a liberal patron of literature and the arts. He desired, it is said, to know the real differences between the Jews and the Samaritans. He therefore engaged five trans- lators to prepare a copy of the Bible in Greek. Of the five, three were Samaritans, one was a Jew, and one a learned man neither Jew nor Sa- maritan. The Samaritans translated the Penta- teuch, and the rest of the work was done by the others. The king decided that the faith of the Samaritans was supported by the translation. This is evidently the Samaritan side of the story, and is doubtless unreliable. Another account, which may have more reason for our considera- tion, assigns the first desire for a translation to Demetrius Phalereus, the librarian of Ptolemy Philadelphus, that the work might find a place in the great library of Alexandria. A letter, un- doubtedly spurious, of Aristeas, gives the account THE GREEK TRANSLATIONS 85 of the la tier's part in the scheme, showing- how he warned the king of the difficulty of overcoming the prejudices of the Jews, and that it would be necessary to do something to gain their good pleas- ure. The king therefore liberated nearly two hundred thousand Jewish slaves, and these formed the large body of an embassy, of which Ptolemy's high officers were the leaders, bearing rich gifts to Jerusalem. In response to this prayer, seventy- two elders were set apart for the work and were received at Alexandria with great honors. They were divided into thirty-six companies. Bach pair was secluded in a separate cell, on the island of Pharos. When their work was done, it was found that they all agreed with each other in eveiy phrase and word ! A third version of the story declares that the task was accomplished by the seventy-two trauslators in seventy-two days, by independent toil ; but the miraculous agree- ment is wanting and the final result was gained by conference and comparison. Great rewards were bestowed on the translators by the king, '' for he loved to have such men and to spend his wealth upon them." These stories are certainly not true, at least in their details. The Greek of the translation is the Macedonian Greek which prevailed in Alexandria, and there are found many words of Egyptian origin, which would not be the case if the work II 86 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH had been done by learned men from Jerusalem. The Pentateuch is by far the best part of the translation, and it is not impossible that it may have been translated at one time in the convent cells on the seashore, the historic fact giving rise to the legends. The Law bears evidence of one authorship. Whether the books of Moses were all translated from one excellent Hebrew manuscript or not, it is evident that the authority for the re- maining books was neither so good nor of such con- sistency. The book of Proverbs is considered to rank next to the Pentateuch in point of fidelity and style. The book of Job is thought to have been influenced by the acquaintance of the trans- lator with the Greek poets. Esther and the Psalms and the Prophets were translated during the reign of Ptolemy Philometer, b. c. 180-145, but no definite dates can be assigned in any case. Isaiah has many omissions and inter- polations, and the book of Daniel was so badly done that another by Theodotion was preferred by the Christian church. It is perfectly clear that the whole work covered a long period in its accom- plishment, and even if the royal favor may have smiled upon the origin, the real occasion and course of the production must be assigned to the natural need of the Jewish colonists. As it pro- gressed, and after its completion, it was adopted by those for whom it was intended, and rapidly THE GREEK TRANSLATIONS 87 won its way to almost universal acceptance, so that in the time of Christ and for a century after- ward it remained the chief authority among the Dispersion and the popular book of the Palestinian Jews, and was only discredited at last by them because the Christian church had taken possession of it, and was making use of it in its conflict with the Jewish faith. New Jewish translations then came into favor, as those of Aquila and Theodo- tion. For controversial purposes the Jews then denied the agreement of the Septuagint with the original Hebrew, but this was not until the second century of our era. The constant and wide use of the Septuagint naturally called a vast number of copies into existence. These were subject to the inevitable mistakes of all copies, and to-day the question of the correct reading is one of the most important connected with the textual study of the Old Tes- tament. Indeed, as early as the time of Origen (a. d. 230), the inaccuracies and the marginal notes had become so numerous and troublesome that a revision of the whole work was greatly de- sired. Origen undertook the enormous labor, which was not destined to reach completion until the expiration of twenty-eight years. He com- pared the Greek text then generally accepted with the Hebrew and with other Greek transla- tions, collecting for the purpose manuscripts from 88 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH every known source. The work was begun in Csesarea and finished in Tyre, and it was " epoch- making" in the study of the word. He prepared a Bible called the Hexapla, in which were written in six adjacent columns six texts, in the following order: (i) The Hebrew text in Hebrew charac- ters ; (2) the Hebrew text in Greek characters ; (3) the Greek translation of Aquila ; (4) that of Symmachus ; (5) the Septuagint ; (6) the transla- tion of Theodotion. Another edition, without the two Hebrew columns, was called the Tetrapla, and others were called Octapla and Knneapla, according to the eight or nine diiBferent texts displayed. It is probable, however, that the last named was not from Origen's hand. In this great work, how- ever, a colossal fault was committed, since Origen did not content himself with simply placing the text of the Septuagint beside the others. He also noted in the text itself its deviations from the Hebrew, furnishing such words, sentences, or paragraphs as were missing in the Hebrew with an obelus, or sign of erasure, and interpolating with an asterisk those found in the Hebrew and missing in the Septuagint, using for this purpose the readings found in other translations, princi- pally from Theodotion's. These and other inter- ferences became the source of many inaccuracies when the text of the Septuagint of the Hexapla came to be copied in the later years, often with THE GRKKK TRANSLATIONS 89 the neglect of Origeii's critical marks ; so that Origen in a measure defeated the purpose of his own great labors, and unwittingly transmitted many errors. But these it is now possible to cor- rect, since the critical notes of Origen are extant and can be applied. The principal manuscripts of the Septuagint are the Uncials, or those written in large letters throughout ; the Cotton fragments of the fourth century; the Vatican Codex, No. 1209, which holds the first rank with respect to the purity of the text ; the Sinai tic manuscript, in which the most of the Old Testament is preserved, with which should be reckoned the smaller portion of the same document, the Codex Friderico-Augustanus, discovered by Tischendorf in 1846, and placed in the University Library at Leipzig ; and the Alex- andrine Codex in the British Museum. Other manuscripts of less importance exist, but need not be mentioned, while those here named will be more fully described when we come to their interesting, almost romantic, stories in connection with the New Testament. The Septuagint was first /r2;//^<^ entire in Greek in the Compluteiisian Polyglot, 1514-1517. Considering the wonderful history of the Sep- tuagint, taking into account its early acceptance by the Jews and its almost universal use for at least a century before the advent of Christ, remem- 90 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH bering that Jesus himself was familiar with it, and that the writers of the New Testament constantly quoted from it instead of from the original Hebrew, so that it has thrown the potency of its language over all the Christian church ; in view too, of the great fact that the early successes of Christianity are almost inconceivable except as the way was prepared by the diffusion of the Old Testament in this version throughout the known world, we can hardly close our account of it without citing the language of Dean Stanley : "If the ' noble army of translators, ' as they have been sometimes called, may look with affectionate veneration on Jerome's cell of Bethlehem, on lyuther's study in the castle of the Wartburg, on the Jerusalem chamber, where twice over the majestic language of the English Bible has been revised, yet the place of their most sacred pilgrimage should be the narrow, rocky islet of the Alexandrian harbor, where was kindled a brighter and more enduring beacon in the intellectual and religious sphere even than the world-renowned Pharos, which in the maritime world has been the parent of all the lights that from shore to shore and sea to sea have guided the mariners of two thousand years." Other Greek translations are those of Aquila, Theodotion, and Symmachus, the last named being an Bbionite Christian, whose work is not of so much value for criticism upon the Old Tes- THE GREEK TRANSI.ATIONS 9 1 tament, as it is less literal than the others, and transfers the spirit of the original more faithfully than it does the letter. Aquila was a native of Sinope, in Asia Minor. His version was very literal and his scrupulous care was such that he made a second edition to bring it even nearer than the first to the Hebrew original. The work was highly esteemed by the Jews, who called it the " Hebrew Verity. " Irenaeus says that Aquila was a proselyte to Judaism, and he has been identified in the opinion of some scholars with the Aquila of Acts 18:2, but this is more than doubtful, not- withstanding the identity of birthplace in Pontus. We know his translation only through Origen's Hexapla. The critical value of it is great, as it is very close to the original, and a comparison shows that Aquila had very nearly the same text that our Hebrew Bibles have to-day. But the version has not been without suspicion, since Irenaeus and others of the Christian Fathers have accused Aquila of altering certain passages relat- ing to the Messianic hopes of the Jews, so that the latter were furnished with a powerful weapon against the church. But if Aquila was a convert to Christianity, as those who find him mentioned in Acts 18 : 2 believe, why should he have done this ? It can only be explained by giving some credit to the story that he was at first not a Jew, but a Roman, or Greek, and was sent by the Em- Q2 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH peror Hadrian to Jerusalem as a surveyor and archi- tect ; that while there he was converted to Chris- tianity, but insisting on the practice of some of his old pagan customs, was reprimanded by the church. This quenched his half- kindled zeal, and he immediately left the church and became a Jew ; and as is often the case with perverts, he became more zealous even than those whom he had joined, and devoted himself utterly to his new faith. Thus his translation was produced. It is quite true that the version shows some traces of dogmatic influence, and it stands as an indication of the hostilities of the early part of the second century between the Jews and the Christians. Indeed, the existence of all of these Greek ver- sions as against the Septuagint shows the same thing. The whole Jewish world was now becom- ing more closely allied to the Palestinian Syna- gogue. The rise of the new Christianity had concentrated attention upon the home land and its conflict. The appeal was more and more to the Palestinian Bible in its exact readings, rather than to the more free Greek Bible of the Disper- sion. The constant use of the latter by the Christians and the overwhelming force of their arguments from the Scriptures drove the Hellen- istic Jews from their own citadel to the refuge afforded by the Hebrew Bible itself. And so it came to pass that the Jews were once more cen- THE GREEK TRANSLATIONS 93 tralized in Palestine and its field of strife ; and the Hebrew Bible asserted again its supremacy. The new translations were imperatively demanded for the new emergency, and they thus mark in the most interesting manner the history of the struggle between Judaism and Christianity/ Theodotion's version needs but a few words after what has been said. He too was a proselyte and not a native Jew. His version was made about the same time as Aquila's, or in the first half of the second century. It is more a close revision of the Septuagint than an entirely new translation from the Hebrew. His work came into no very wide acceptance with the Jews, and is chiefly noteworthy for the adoption by the Christian church of his book of Daniel, which has been preserved to us complete in only one manuscript, the Codex Chisianus. It is to be re- marked that this translation of Daniel preserves the apocryphal additions to that book, and from this they were translated by Jerome in the Latin Vulgate, an account of which is given in another chapter. * Schiirer, " The Jewish People in the Time of Qirist,'' III., 3, 169. VI THE TARGUMS AND THE TAI.MUD TRANSIvATIONS of the Old Testament into foreign tongues were not the only documents besides the Hebrew manuscripts which were of use in the popular understanding of the Scriptures. We have described the very early practice of trans- lating or targuming the Hebrew, when it was read in the synagogues ; and while this custom gave rise to a wide knowledge of the sacred writings, and was supplemented by a sort of run- ning commentary, these translations were not com- mitted to writing for a very considerable space of time on account of the great reverence for the sacred rolls themselves. But as time went on and this prejudice decreased, while also the volume of comments very largely increased, it was found necessary to reduce to written form all this material, and this literature fell into the following classes : I. The Targums, or translations into the common language of the people, or Aramaic. II. The TaIvMUD (Ivcarning), a collection of writings consisting of paraphrases, various oral teachings, commentaries, and similar materials, gathered under two heads : 94 THK TARGUMS AND THE TALMUD 95 1. The MisJma (Repetition), oral teachings transmitted from earliest times and including ex- planations of Scripture ; and 2. The Gema7'a (Completion), comments upon the Mishna. We shall consider these in their order. The Targums are the earliest and most im- portant writings of this great mass of Jewish literature. Upon a previous page the doubt has been expressed about the earliest scene to which has been fondly assigned the distinction of being the first historical instance of targurning. The Jews have pointed back to Ezra and that affecting scene before the water gate in Jerusalem, when the copy of the Law was brought forth and read to the great congregation. If the people had not forgotten its language they had lost sight of its requirements, and knew only by dim tradition of the ancient glories of their nation. Then " Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people ' ' as he stood on the " pulpit of wood " erected for the occasion. But the people could not under- stand, and those who had been selected ''read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading." One would like to believe, as the legend has it, that this was the beginning of all the translations henceforth given in the syna- gogues so long as the Jewish worship should last. 96 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH Ezra is fondly called the first methurge^nan^ our word dragoman or interpreter. But whether the custom began with him or not, and whether it prevailed in the time of Jesus ^ or came in later, very early in our era every synagogue had its inter- preter, who followed the reader of the Scripture with a translation into the vernacular for the con- gregation. We have noted already how for centu- ries this practice of targuming prevailed without any writings lest the written words of the methurgeman might be mistaken for the real Scripture or supplant it in the reverence of the people. A late legend speaks of a targum of the book of Job found in the days of Gamaliel, who ordered it to be buried quickly under the very foundations of the walls of the temple, where cer- tainly it would be likely to do no harm. This prejudice against written translations was of long continuance ; " but we can easily imagine that in spite of it the continued repetitions in the syna- gogues would take on themselves a fixed form. At last some one was bold enough to break over the custom, either for the sake of convenience or to give a wider circulation to the sacred books, and the voluminous oral interpretations, which might ^ Compare Luke 4 : 16-20, where special mention of the methurgeman does not occur. 2 Kautzsch thinks the foundation fox the earUer Targums may have been laid in the first century before Christ. THE TARGUMS AND THE TALMUD 97 have become by this time even verbally crystal- ized in large measure, were written out. The value of the Targums for the criticism of the text, however, is but small, especially as the earliest which we possess was written after the Massoretic text was already established. They are also too free to allow the most exact comparisons. The most important of the Targums are the fol- lowing : I. The Targiun of Onkelos. It comprises the Pentateuch. Who was Onkelos? Various con- jectures have sought to answer the question. It has been held that he was a native of Babylon. Others have said that he was born in Sinope, in Pontus, and these have identified him with Aquila, whose translation into Greek has been mentioned, the name Onkelos being only another form of xA.quilas or Aquila. He has been described as a pupil of the great Rabbi Hillel, most famous a half-century before Christ, and this supposition would make the pupil perhaps a contemporary of Jesus. The Talmud speaks of an Onkelos as con- temporary with Gamaliel, possibly one of his pupils, and in that case he may have been contem- porary and perhaps a fellow-scholar with Paul. This Onkelos of the Talmud can be identified with the Greek translator Aquila. But to conclude that Aquila was the author of the Targum of Onke- los, or that this Onkelos was himself its author, I 98 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH seems to be without warrant. Geiger, as quoted by Prof. Wright/ maintains that this Targum, because of its extreme closeness to the Hebrew text, was called the Targum of Onkelos, not be- cause it was either written or edited by him. As the Greek of Onkelos (Aquila) was remarkable for its literal character, so this Targum was literal, of an Onkelos character, and thus became known as the Onkelos Targum. In reality it appears to have been the work of no single author or editor, but the production of many hands, perhaps of a school. In it there is a marked avoidance of the legends and stories so often found in the later Jewish works, making them almost unparalleled for their absurd fancies, a wilderness of rubbish. This Targum is simple, reserved, and dignified, and it thus occupies a place far above the level even of the Targums that follow it most closely in time. 2. Jonathan on the Prophets, Jonathan also is said to have been a scholar of Hillel. A wilder tradition says that he wrote from the personal dic- tation of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The Talmud says that when this Targum was given to Jonathan by the prophets the land of Israel was shaken by a great earthquake, and a voice was heard, asking : '' Who is this who has re- vealed my secrets unto the sons of men ? " To ^ " Introduction to the Old Testament," p. 43. THE TARGUMS AND THE TALMUD 99 which Jonathan answered with much boldness. It is much more free than the rendering of Onke- los, and is doubtless of later date. The English Authorized version of Isaiah 33 : 22, reads : "For the lyord is our judge, the I^ord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king ; he will save us," and the Targum enlarges the verse thus : ' ' For the Lord is our judge, who delivered us with his power from Mizraim ; the Lord is our teacher, for he has given us the doctrine of the Torah from Sinai ; the Lord is our king, he will deliver us and give us righteous restitution from the army of Gog." Another example offers from the familiar passage in the first book of Kings 19 : 11, 12 ; the Targum reads : "And he said (to Elijah), Arise and stand on the mountain before the Lord. And God re- vealed himself and before him a host of angels of the wind, cleaving the mountain and breaking the rocks before the Lord ; but not in the host of angels was the Shechinah. And after the host of angels of the wind came a host of angels of com- motion ; but not in the host of the angels of com- motion was the Shechinah of the Lord. And after the host of the angels of commotion came a host of angels of fire ; but not in the host of the angels of fire was the Shechinah of the Lord. But after the host of the angels of the fire came voices singing in the silence." These are good examples of the tendency to amplify the original lOO THE PARCHMENTS OK THE FAITH passages, a tendency which grew as time ad- vanced, resulting sometimes in grotesque perver- sions, and sometimes, as in the contrast of the last words of the above example with the preceding verses, in passages of great beauty. Several other Targums might be mentioned, but they are of slight importance, and a good idea of all is ob- tained from the two thus presented. There are eight in all. The Talmud is of very little value for any points of criticism as to the mere text of the Old Testament ; it can only be treated here in brief, as an interesting example of the later rabbinic freedom with respect to their Scriptures in matters of interpretation. It is well understood how the scribes, even before the time of Jesus, had *' hedged '' the Law all around with their tradi- tions, so that the Law itself was hardly regarded any longer in its purity, while the ^' hedge" by which it was protected made men miserable with its petty exactions. " Woe unto you, ye lawyers," cried Jesus, " for ye have taken away the key of knowledge : ye entered not in yourselves and them that were entering in ye hindered." *' Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, for ye tithe mint and anise and rue, and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God : these ought ye to have done and not left the other undone." This practice of minute definition, THE TARGUMS AND THE TALMUD lOI already established in the time of Christ, was the foundation of the later writings gathered into the Talmud, and it had become so exaggerated in aftertimes that the superiority of the Talmud in its various parts to the Scriptures themselves was openly taught. The Talmud compared with the Law was as wine to water ; one might neglect the reading of the Scriptures, but to read the Mishna was meritorious, and to read the Gemara would win the greatest rewards. The modern reader of the Talmud will not wonder that such recom- pense was promised to him who would peruse its pages, for they are a great mass of tedious and generally silly writings, having almost no histori- cal or philosophical value, with only occasional passages of force and beauty. Dr. J. B. Lightfoot, whose mastery of the rabbinic learning gives him a better right to speak of it, than any other, says : *' The almost unconquerable difficulties of style, the frightful roughness of the language, and the amazing emptiness and sophistry of the mat- ters handled, do torture, vex, and tire him that reads them." Add to this the fact that the work as printed fills twelve or thirteen folios, or quarto volumes, according to the edition, and the task of reading it can be appreciated better. And yet it is wrong to suppose that the Talmud has no oases of refreshment. Many of its sayings are closely the echo of Christ's words. IMany passages are I03 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH of great poetic beauty or suggestiveiiess. Pos- sibly some of Christ's teaching may have had its first human origin in the Talmudic traditions taught him when a boy, for in the Tahnud as written later are many peculiar words, phrases, and doctrines which he adapted to the large and new thought of Christianity. And there are pas- sages which point back to the old Scriptures with extreme reverence : " Turn them, and turn them again, for everything is to be found in them " ; " Moses was commanded to give six hundred and thirteen commandments to the people ; David in the fifteenth Psalm reduced them to eleven ; the prophet Micah reduced them to three : ' What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God ? ' Amos reduced them to one : ' Seek ye me and ye shall live.' " A page of the Talmud presents a strange ap- pearance. Somewhat nearer the top than the center of the page there is a quadrangular para- graph of ordinary Hebrew text such as may be seen in an ordinary octavo Hebrew Bible. Around this on every side is a mass of printing in much smaller type, in a dialect abounding in Aramaisms and printed in rabbinic characters of a late date. The patch of largest text is the Mishna, and the text all around it is the Gemara, or commentar5^ Many notes are added, and the whole appearance THE TARGUMS AND THE TALMUD I03 of the page thus divided is very extraordinary to one accustomed to the orderly page of an English book. The Talmud exists in two recensions, the Pales- tinian Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud, dif- fering from each other in many of the characteris- tics of the commentaries. It should also be noted that two distinct kinds of material are incorporated in the Talmud, the law and its strict interpreta- tion called "Halacha," and the legends developed from the sacred history, with various religious and ethical views, to which the general name " Hag- gada " was given. If the assignment of these terms is remembered further definition will be needless. The Mishna^ which is common to both Talmuds, contains the oldest codified traditional Jewish law that has come down to our time. It is arranged in six great sections, written in Hebrew, devoted almost wholly to the Halacha. The six sections comprise sixty-three different tracts, and a mere list of them is of value as showing the nature of the Mishna and the kind of life at the time. Section I. i. Formulas of blessings and prayers. 2. On rights of the poor in harvests. 3. The treatment of fruits and tithing them. 4. Illegal mixing of animals, vegetables, cloth- ing, etc. 5. The sabbatical year. 104 '^HE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH 6. The dues of the priests. 7. The tithes of the I^evites. 8. Secondary tithes to be paid at Jerusalem. 9. Dough offerings and rules for baking. 10. Against using fruits of newly planted trees. 11. Presentation of firstlings. Section II. i. The Sabbath festival. 2. Uniting of separate localities to allow freer journeys on the Sabbath. 3. The Passover. 4. The half-shekel tax. 5. The day of Atonement. 6. The feast of Tabernacles. 7. May one eat an egg laid on a feast day. 8. The New Year festival. 9. Fasting and mourning. 10. The reading of the ^^roll," that is, of the book of Esther on the feast of Purim. 11. The feast days between the first and last feast days of the great festivals. 12. The duty of going to the feasts at Jerusalem. Section III. i. I^evirate marriage with a brother-in-law. 2. Marriage contracts. 3. Women's vows. 4. The Nazarite vow. 5. Proceeding against suspected adulterers. 6. Divorces. 7. Betrothals. THE TARGUMS AND THE TALMUD 105 Section IV. i. Injuries and legal damages. 2. The same between masters and slaves, em- ployers and employed, borrowers and lenders. 3. Municipal and social regulations. 4. The Sanhedrin and criminal law. 5. Punishment by flogging. 6. Oaths and sacrilege. 7. Witnesses. 8. Idolatry and heathenism. 9. Sayings of famous scribes from B. c. 200 to A. D. 200. 10. Unintentional offenses. Section V. i. Sacrifices. 2. Meat offerings. 3 to II. Similar regulations concerning offer- ings. Section VI. i. Household furniture and its purifying. 2. Defilement of tents and houses. 3. Leprosy. 4. Pollution contracted from the dead. 5. Lesser defilements. 6. Water fitted for bathing. 7 to 12. Further regulations about defilements. It will be seen that the Mishna thus follows pretty closely the legal outlines of the penta- teuchal regulations. The Gemara professes to complete the Mishna by comments upon it, and there are two different forms I06 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH of the Gemara, the Jerusalem and the Babylonian. Its interpretatons are whimsical to the last deg^ree. "The Holy One — blessed be he! will in the future bring together Mount Sinai and Tabor upon Carmel, and place Jerusalem on the top of them ; for it is written, ' The mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains.' " The following is from the tract Sota : " Once when the Persian empire was at the summit of its power, an attempt was made to dis- cover the body of Moses. A countless host of Persian soldiers was sent to search Mt. Nebo. When they came to the top of the mountain they saw the sepulchre of Moses distinctly at the bottom. They hastened to the valley and then they saw it at the top. Thus the search went on until they were compelled to give it up." With regard to the manna in the desert and the belief that it was angels' food and was prepared by angels, it is written that "it is in the third firmament, called Schechakim, where the mills are in which the manna is ground. . . And when the manna fell, pearls and diamonds fell with it and heaped them- selves up on the mountains, so that they could be seen from far." Sometimes the tracts are merely childish, sometimes they approach the blas- phemous : " The day has twelve hours ; in the first three God sits and studies the Law ; in the ilext three he sits and judges the world ; in the THE TARGUMS AND THE TALMUD 107 next three he sits and nourishes the whole world : and in the last three he sits and plays with lyevia- than." Some of our modern nursery tales seem to have originated in early Jewish times, and to have found their first record in the Talmud. We find almost exactly " The House that Jack Built," so far as its structural form is concerned ; and the story has an allegorical force, the kid being Israel, the cat Babylon, the dog Persia, the staff Greece, the fire Rome, the water the Turks, the ox the European nations, who are to rescue the land of Palestine from the Mohammedans, the butcher, the angel of death, and the Holy One or Messiah, referring to successive victors by whom the tri- umph of God's kingdom is to be secured at last. We cannot give the whole story, but it goes on in the familiar fashion : A kid, a kid my father bought For two pieces of money : A kid, a kid. Then came the cat and ate the kid That my father bought For two pieces of money : A kid, a kid. Then came the dog and bit the cat That ate the kid that my father bought For two pieces of money : A kid, a kid. But the most extravagant of these tales arose Io8 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH only in the later times, when from the simpler age in which the Christian era began the world had passed into the darkness that soon deepened into the period known as the Dark Ages. It is peculiarly interesting to note that even this Jewish tradition at the time of Christ was not nearly so fanciful and exuberant as it became four centuries later. In common with the intellectual culture of the whole world at the time of the advent, the Jewish mind was comparatively clear, vigorous, and discriminating, and the new religion with its new Scriptures had to meet a keen and skeptical criticism in which Greek and Roman and Jew conspired to test the quality of the new faith to its utmost. We are again impelled to the conclusion that the period in which Christianity first brought its new faith to the world, was one peculiarly adapted to its reception, not only on account of the general spiritual hunger of mankind, but also because the intellectual condition of the time was one of strong vitality. VII OTHER VERSIONS AND LITERATURE ONLY brief mention need be made of other translations of the Old Testament and of the works of writers from which our knowledge of the text is aided. Many of these works are of even more significance in connection with the New Testament, and will be mentioned again in future chapters. The Syriac versions claim the first attention ; and of these the Peshito^ the Simple or Literal, is most noteworthy on account of its close adherence to the Hebrew original. Syria was a name ap- plied to a large extent of country west of the Euphrates River, and between it and the Mediter- ranean Sea. At one time Syria included Pales- tine, but at the time when this translation was made the latter was a separate province. By this time Christianity had widely spread, and Syria had received its missionaries and a knowledge of the truth. There is an interesting and beautiful legend told by Busebius, who wrote in the early part of the fourth centur}-, that somehow a king of Syria in the time of Christ, named Abgarus, had learned of the Saviour and sent a letter to him, K 109 no THK PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH requesting him to come and heal him of a disease, and teach him the truth. The letter beautifully says, in closing : " I have heard too, that the Jews murmur against thee, and are plotting to do thee harm. I have a very small but noble country, which is enough for us both. ' ' To this invitation Jesus is said to have answered kindly, but de- clining it on account of his mission : ' ' Blessed art thou, Abgarus, who hast not seen and yet hast be- lieved in me, for it is written concerning me that they who have seen me will not believe, that they who have not seen me may believe and live. But in regard to what thou hast written, that I should come to thee, it is needful that I should fulfill all things here for which I have been sent, and after this fulfillment to be received up again by him who sent me. And after I have been received up, I will send one of my disciples to thee, who may heal thy disease and give life both to thee and to those who are with thee." Doubtless these letters are of a date too late to be genuine ; nor is it necessary to seek any such origin of the Chris- tian faith in Syria. We have in the book of the Acts and other Scriptures full testimony to the early preaching of the gospel in Antioch and else- where within the boundaries of this country. And as Christianity spread it was natural that a demand for the apostolic writings should arise, and coupled with this a wish for the older Scriptures also, espe- OTHER VERSIONS AND LITERATURE III cially on the part of converts from Judaism. As will be seen later, there are remains of the Gospels in Syriac probably older than the Peshito ; but the Peshito of the Old Testament, dating probably in the latter half of the second century, is of greatest value for textual purposes and with ref- erence to the canon. In the case of disputed passages an appeal to this version would go far toward settling the question as to what the Christians of the sub-apostolic age read in their Bibles. The Peshito is of great value in connec- tion with the text of the New Testament. Other Syriac versions, like the Hexaplar Syriac transla- tion of the Septuagint (a. d. 616-618) are of less value as witnesses to the Hebrew text than in their relation to the Greek of the Septuagint. Versions in x\rabic, no less than eight, contain the whole or parts of the Old Testament, that of Saadis being the earliest and most important ; but when it is said that he died as late as A. d. 942, it may easily be seen that none of the Arabic versions come near enough to the ancient originals to be of great value in criticism. An interesting group of translations is the Egyptian, including the Coptic for I^ower Egypt, the Sahidic for Upper Eg>'pt, and the Bashmuric in a dialect spoken in a province of the Delta of the Nile. Versions are also found in Armenian, Persian, Ethiopic, and other tongues, but they are of such 112 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH secondary importance that a mere mention of them is enough. The ancient Latin versions, based on the Sep- tuagint, are of great value. The Old Latin is the oldest, made by unknown translators and widely used in Africa in the second century. Its docu- ments differed much in their texts, and Augustine gave preference to one to which, in the De Doc- trina Christi^ he applies the term Itala, a word often used since as applicable to the Old Latin in general. But it should not be so used. If it is not the error of a scribe, it might designate Italy as the place where Augustine believed the version was made. Only fragments remain, containing the whole books of the Psalms and Esther, with a part of the Apocrypha.^ The Vulgate is of special interest for many rea- sons. Its story is one of long and patient labor on the part of one man devoting himself to solitary toils that would have dismayed many, meeting with opposition and obloquy when the results were given to the world, but earning at last the accept- ance of his work by the people, and having the honor of its being the first book printed in Europe after the invention of the art. The older Latin had served its purpose well, but in the process of time its defects had increased and become better ^ See later pages of this book for the Old Latin of the New Testa- ment. OTIIKR VERSIONS AND LITERATURE II3 known, so that the need of revision, if not of a wholly new translation, was apparent. During the fourth century the I^atin churches grew rapidly in power and importance, as might have been fore- seen the moment when Constantine the Great espoused the cause of Christianity, declared him- self a convert, and made the new faith the religion of his empire. Many forces besides the imperial influence tended in the same direction, and the great leaders of thought were no longer confined to Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople. Rome was regnant in the West, and just at this time the Italian influence was exceedingly great. The I^atin scholars were anxiously looking for the means to translate anew the Bible. It was a great task. Who would undertake it? The answer was given by the arrival in Rome of a monk from Bethlehem, who was probably the man best fitted of all the scholars in the world for the work. He was Sophronius Eusebius Hieronymus, or as he is generally known, St. Jerome. He was born at Stridon in Dalmatia, A. d. 329. We need not tell the story of his earlier years, except to say that they were filled with the pursuits of a scholar, so that he was famous for his acquirements both in the Bast and the West when in 382 he arrived in Rome. There he at once assumed an important place, and became the secretary of Pope Damasus. He allied himself with the strong church party 114 'J^HE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH that favored monasticism, and in the strife of the time was the leading figure. He was a splendid fighter, and the pages of his writings teem with passages of a character either utterly to destroy or rapidly to make enemies. His austerities were marked, and his followers were famed for the cruel penances that he exacted. One of them, a tender young widow named Blesilla, died beneath her self-inflicted penalties, and the public verdict laid the responsibility for the tragedy at Jerome's door. "Why do we tolerate these accursed monks"? was the cry raised at Blesilla's funeral. ''Away with them, stone them, cast them into the Tiber ! " Jerome faced all the hostility with contempt, and often with outspoken denunciation, and showed himself not only a man who could subject himself to all manner of privation and hardship, but also compel others to recognize his power and go in his ways. It was this man, practically the architect of monasticism, who reluctantly at first, but after- ward with enthusiasm, gave himself to the pro- duction of the desired Latin translation which was destined to do more than any other one agent to shape Western Christianity during at least ten centuries. Dean Milman says^ : "Jerome's Bible is a wonderful work, still more as achieved by one man and that by a Western Christian, even with all tlie advantages of study and residence in the 1 " Latin Christianity," I., 2, 117. OTHER VERSIONS AND LITERATURE II 5 Bast. It almost created a new language.^ The inflexible Latin became pliant and expansive, nat- uralizing foreign Eastern imagery, Eastern modes of expression and of thought, and Eastern relig- ious notions, most uncongenial to its own genius and character; and yet retaining much of its own peculiar strength, solidity, and majesty. . . The Vulgate was even more perhaps than the papal power the foundation of Latin Christianity. . . the great work of Jerome could not have been achieved at Rome, assuredly not by a pope. It was in his cell at Bethlehem, meditating and com- pleting the Vulgate, that Jerome fixed for centu- ries the dominion of Latin Christianity over the mind of man." . Jerome began the work of translation while in Rome, but Pope Damasus died and he soon de- serted that city, not defeated but wearied with its strifes, and content to fulminate from afar against the sins of that luxurious center of the world's life. He had begun upon the New Testament, which he revised, using the Old Latin (Itala) ver- sion as the basis, and the Greek versions and the collations of Origen as well as the original text as aids. This part was finished in the year 1 In this respect the Vulgate may be compared with the EngHsh versions and their influence upon the EngHsh language. See " The History of the English Bible,'' by Prof. T. Harwood Pattison, American Baptist Publication Society, pp. 131-144; 171-185. Il6 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH 385. Then the Old Testament was taken up and the Psalms were translated, and afterward several other books; but with growing dissatisfaction on the part both of the scholar himself and the world for which he was toiling, Jerome felt that he ought to be doing it more thoroughly, starting with the original Hebrew, and proceed- ing fearlessly and in full satisfaction of his con- science as a scholar. The clergy took the other view : Jerome was far too thorough ; the changes from the old version were too radical ; the familiar passages, endeared by long usage, were changed too much ; the people would get the idea that they could not trust their Bible ; and so all the objections that are always used at such times were hurled at the devoted scholar. But we have al- ready seen that Jerome was not made of timorous stuff. He hurled back his burning sentences against the "two-legged asses," and straightway resolved to follow his own judgment. He cast away the old sources from which he had been working, and went back to the Hebrew manu- scripts themselves. He was in Bethlehem and had peculiar facilities for the acquisition of He- brew and access to Hebrew documents, some of which doubtless were very ancient even then. And he went on year after year, honestly and boldly, doing his work as best he knew how, and producing at last a version of the Old Testament OTHER VERSIONS AND LITERATURE II7 which was to be the received text of the Latin church, and the basis of many other translations. But he did not live to see its triumph. It was not until a hundred and fifty years had passed after he was laid to rest, that Gregory the Great turned the tide in favor of Jerome's translation by using it in his *'Moralia." The papal example was enough, and at last the version found proper appreciation, and the Council of Trent (1546), declared it "authentic." This full adoption by the church demanded a publication of a standard text, and in the pontificate of Sixtus V., in 1590, an editio autheritica appeared. A papal Bull de- clared this edition to be ^'true, lawful, authentic, and authoritative in all public and private dispu- tations. ' ' But, alas even for papal infallibility ! the work had hardly come into use before serious errors appeared and emendations were made in some cases by pen and in others by printed slips pasted over the text. A new edition was inevita- ble, and one was issued in 1592 by Clement VIII., having about three thousand variations from the former edition. Other editions were issued in 1593 and 1598, but even to the present time no critical edition has been published which is of satisfactory value. The text of the Vulgate is not of uniform char- acter, some portions having much greater merit than others both as to sources and translation. Il8 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH The larger portion of the Old Testament is from the Hebrew, buc not without influence from other sources ; the Psalms and the apocryphal books of Baruch, Wisdom, Bcclesiasticus, and Maccabees, are from the Itala. The New Testament, which was first completed, is not so good as the Old Tes- tament. Jerome added to his text critical annota- tions, but these are lost from the Vulgate as we have it, greatly to the detriment of the work. The great version of the Roman church in mod- ern times, the Douay Bible, containing the Old Testament rendered in English at Douay in 1609, and the New Testament completed at Rheims in 1582, was made from the Vulgate by the Romanists who had fled from England upon the accession of Queen Elizabeth, and the Psalter and other portions of the English Prayer Book are also from this version. Even to-day, there- fore, and notwithstanding the larger learning that the centuries have brought, the labors of the solitary monk in the cell of Bethlehem are bear- ing fruit, and the faithfulness and heroism of the ancient scholar are influencing the life of this far- ofl" time. Albrecht Diirer, the artist c>f Nurem- berg, pictured St. Jerome in his cell with a fox and a lion, symbols of skill and strength, lying at his feet as he labored at his great task. Skill and strength were in it, and like every other good and genuine work, it endures the test of time. VIII MATERIALS FOR THE NEW TESTAMENT TEXT "l VHEN we come to the materials for the criti- » ' cism of the text of the New Testament, we not only reach the most important part of our study, but find the greatest satisfaction in their abundance and antiquity. It was said of the manuscripts of the Old Testament that none are extant of a date earlier than the tenth century of our era. If we turn to the great classics of antiquity we find almost an equal paucity of mate- rial from the earliest times. Of Homer there is no complete copy earlier than the thirteenth cen- tury of our era, though fragments have come down from the sixth centur}', and in 1891 a frag- ment on papyrus was found in Eg}'pt, dating as early as the first century B. c. Of Herodotus there is no manuscript earlier than the ninth cen- tury, and of the fifteen known to exist the major- ity are later than the fifteenth century. One Plato is dated before the ninth century, and a fragment of the Phaedo was found recently, and one of the lost plays of Euripides, " The Antiope,'^ which were written not later than the third cen- tury B. c. One copy of " Virgil " goes back to 119 I20 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH the fourth century A. D., and a fragment of Cicero to the same period. Such is the general state of the evidence for the classics. But for the New Testament we have two splendid manuscripts, one of them complete, of the fourth century, ten of the fifth, twenty-four of the sixth, and over three thousand in all,^ though in this number are included codices that are mere fragments. Besides these copies of the text itself there are many other important witnesses in the translations of early times, and also in the quotations and references found in the works of the early Chris- tian Fathers. It is evident, therefore, that we have far more evidence for the text of our New Testament, than for any other writings of antiq- uity whatsoever; and when we add that upon these abundant materials have been concentrated for the last hundred years the efforts of men of largest learning and most acute critical ability, we may feel more sure of our accurate knowledge of what the original documents must have been, than in the case of any other literary productions of ancient times. These great documents of the Christian Faith have come to us from many places, but some localities have been found especially rich in them. Alexandria in Egypt, as might have been ex- pected from its history as one of the earliest cen- * Scrivener's " Plain Introduction " reckons 3,791. See Vol. I., p. 8. MATERIALS FOR NEW TESTAMENT TEXT 121 ters of Christian learning, has furnished many manuscripts, while some that have been found elsewhere are the product of Alexandrine learning and skill. The manuscripts made at Constanti- nople, sometimes under the patronage of the Byzantine emperors, were famous for the beauty of their text and the regal elegance of their illuminations. Other works come from the islands of the ^gean Sea and from Cyprus. Three rocky promontories extend southward from the coast of Macedonia, and the most eastern one of these, or ]\Iount Athos, is especially famous as a locality producing manuscripts of great value to the Christian world. The rocky heights of this headland were the site of more than twenty important monasteries, over five hundred churches and chapels, and multitudes of cells of anchorites. Even now the monkish population is very numer- ous. Here during many centuries the time has been passed in religious occupations, and among these none has been so important as the produc- tion of books. Another celebrated group of monasteries is in Calabria, the most southern province of Italy, where nearly fifty religious establishments supplied the churches and libraries of Rome and Naples, Florence, Venice, and Milan. Still another group of these religious communities is in the Nitrian Desert, in the North of Egypt, whence many treasures have come into L 122 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH the possession of European scholars. But perhaps the most famous of all localities where manu- scripts have been discovered, is the Convent of St. Catherine/ at Mount Sinai, the scene of the romantic finding of the great Sinaitic manuscript by Tischendorf, which we have yet to narrate in full. It is a place of famed sanctity, dating from a very early period in the Christian era, and link- ing together by its traditions the earliest scenes of Old Testament history and the latest acquisi- tions of the New Testament Scriptures. It is, indeed, a strange providence which ordained the giving of the old Law from this awful peak, amid the tumultuous scenes of earthquake and fire, and also that upon this very spot should be preserved through the peace and calm of ages one of the two oldest copies and the only complete uncial of the New Covenant which Christendom to-day possesses. Hardly a monastery existed which did not have its scriptorium^ or writing room, attached to its library, and here through the quiet hours the patient toilers wrought at their task. They were not so strictly bound by rules for copyists as were the scribes in copying the Old Testament, accord- ing to the tract Sopherim, as a former page has narrated ; but their work was deemed to be of a sacred character, and it was done with the utmost Frontispiece. MATERIALS FOR NEW TESTAMENT TEXT 1 23 reverence. Probably even in the apostolic days the copyists were men who had had their train- ing in the Jewish schools, and after their conver- sion to Christianity found their best employment in transcribing the epistles, and other books meant for the use of the churches. At the very first there was probably no Christian guild of transcribers, and yet we know that few of the New Testament Scriptures were written by their authors themselves. Paul's scribe was named Tertius (Rom. 16 : j^), and the letter to the ^^ Colossians, as well as some other epistles, bears a subscription to the effect that Paul wrote that part of his letter with his own hand. To the Galatians Paul says : '^ Ye see with what large letters I have written unto you with my own hand" (Gal. 6 : 11), thereby calling attention to his peculiar chirography as a mark of the genuine- ness of the document, and showing, as Ellicott thinks, that in this epistle an exception to the general rule was indicated, the whole letter having been thus the autograph of the apostle. But after a little time this work of the copyist grew so important that a particular class or profession had it in charge, and two branches of the calling arose, the tachygraphers or qinck writers^ taking down swiftly the dictation of the author, and the kalligraphers^ or fair-hand writers^ writing out more slowly, and in beautiful text, what had been 124 'I'HE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH recorded with less pains at first. As time went on the work of these scribes was largely extended ; and as the monasteries and other religious estab- lishments became the repositories of learning, the classics of antiquity as well as ecclesiastical works were the objects of care, and thus Christi- anity preserved for the world also the great liter- ary productions of the ancient heathen times. The office of transcriber became of the highest esteem. It was not thought beneath the dignity of the highest officials of the church to devote themselves to making elegant copies of the sacred books. Special privileges were granted to those whose hands must be kept delicate for their exact- ing task, and they were often excused from the coarser employments of hewing wood, drawing water, or planting the gardens of the convents. It is pathetic to read in these later days of the pious care and affection with which the work was done and its results treasured, and no one can look at the stained and tattered pages of the old- est manuscripts, or turn the later leaves of dainty missals and splendidly illuminated Bibles, without having the mental picture arise before him of those still scriptoriums in which each task was begun with a prayer, and sometimes the Divine blessing invoked upon every stroke of the pen and brur^x. As we proceed to describe many of these manuscripts, the words of the Friar Pacificus ^^ MATERIALS FOR NEW TESTAMENT TEXT 1 25 in Ivongfellow's " Golden Legend " will recur to the mind : It is growing dark ! Yet one line more And then my work for the day is o'er. I come again to the name of the Lord ! Ere I that awful name record That is spoken so lightly among men, Let me pause awhile and wash my pen ; Pure from blemish and blot must it be When it writes that word of mystery ! Thus have I labored on and on Nearly through the Gospel of John. Can it be that from the lips Of this same gentle evangelist, That Christ himself perhaps has kissed, Came the dread Apocalypse ! It has a very awful look As it stands there at the end of the book Like the sun in an eclipse. Ah me ! when I think of that vision divine, Think of writing it, line by line, I stand in awe of the terrible curse Like the trump of doom in the closing verse God forgive me, if ever I Take aught from the book of that prophecy, Lest my part too should be taken away From the book of Life on the Judgment Day, There, now, is an initial letter ! Saint Ulric himself never made a better ! Finished down to the leaf and the snail, Down to the eyes on the peacock's tail ! And now as I turn the volume over, ^ ' And see what lies between cover and cover, 126 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH What treasures of art these pages hold, All ablaze with crimson and gold, God forgive me ! I seem to feel A certain satisfaction steal Into my heart and into my brain, As if my talent had not lain Wrapped in a napkin and all in vain. Yes, I might almost say to the Lord, Here is a copy of thy word Written out with much toil and pain ; Take it, O Lord, and let it be As something I have done for thee. Sometimes the completion of the book would be followed by the signature of the copyist, and a sentence or two descriptive of the circumstances in which he wrote. Apparently they were not all gentle spirits who thus toiled patiently or impatiently in the cloisters, for some anathema like the following is often found : ' ' Whosoever removeth this volume from this same mentioned convent, may the anger of the lyord overtake him in this world and in the next, to all eternity. Amen." Or in another case: " He who shall have stolen or sold this book, or in any manner withdrawn it from its place, or he who shall have been its buyer, may he be forever in the company of Judas, Pilate, and Caiaphas. Amen, amen. Fiat^fiaty Another subscription shows the gen- tler feeling of the transcriber : " This book belongs to Daniel, a secular presbyter and visitor of the province of Aniida, who gave diligence MATERIALS FOR NEW TESTAMENT TEXT 12; and procured it for the benefit of himself, and of those who, possessed with the same object of love of divine instruction, may approach it, and desire to profit their lives by the truth that is in it. But the poor Simeon, presbyter and a recluse, who is in the holy convent of my Lord, Symeon of Cartanim, transcribed it. May every one therefore who asks for it, that he may read in it or write from it, for the sake of the love of God, pray for him who gave diligence and obtained it, and for the scribe, that he may find mercy in the day of judgment, like the thief who was on the right hand (of the cross), through the prayers of all the saints, and more particularly of the holy and glorious and perpetual Virgin, the mother of God, Mary. Amen, and amen and amen." The celebrated Curetonian Gospels in Syriac close with a prayer, " Son of the Living God, at the hour of thy judgment spare the sinner who wrote this!" Another manuscript must have been transcribed with unusual difficulty, owing to the defect of the copyist, for he signs himself " the one-eyed Cyprian." Still another document, quoted by Scrivener, bears the couplet in Greek, of which the following is an equivalent : The hand that wrote now moulders in the tomb ; The book shall bide until the day of doom. It is difficult to conceive the labor of thus pro- ducine books in the ancient times. Our giant 128 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH presses turn oflf thousands of pages from stereo- typed plates in a brief time and with perfect accuracy ; but if the reader will try the simplest experiment he will see how tedious was the copy- ist's task and how surely it must have been marked with errors, which no care could wholly prevent. Try to reproduce one page of print, writing with pen and ink in capital letters the text before the eye. It will be found a wonder that the manuscripts of the New Testament are so free from blemish as they are. A man might have the most scrupulous conscience about his work and be most skilled in its performance, but he would be a man for all that, and liable to the infirmities of the flesh. Weariness, inattention, interruption would be sure to come even to the most faithful, and so we find wrong words written, sentences omitted or repeated, and many instances of errors that bear all the marks of mere inad- vertence ; while in some cases the mistake cannot be laid to inadvertence, but was plainly due to the purpose of the copyist to support some party doctrine, or elucidate some passage that the apos- tolic writer had thought plain enough. The latter case finds an instance in the famous passage concerning the Three Witnesses (i John 5 : 7, 8), where the words, *' in heaven^ the Father^ the Word^ and the Holy Ghost : and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in MATERIALS FOR NEW TESTAMENT TEXT 1 29 earth^^^ are to be omitted, having been supplied for controversial purposes ; while an example of inadvertence is found in the Revelation (10 : 10), where the copyist omitted a passage in the cele- brated Codex of Ephraem, though the omission does not appear in our English Bibles. If, how- ever, we had had no manuscript save the Codex of Ephraem from which to translate, that passage would have been sadly mixed in our version, for after a part of the tenth verse the copyist sud- denly changed to the last verse of chapter seven, whence the text runs smoothly on to the end of the fourth verse of the eighth chapter, when there is again a transition to the middle of the third verse of the eleventh chapter, making the passage read : ' ' And it was in my mouth sweet as honey, and as soon tears from their eyes. And when he opened the seventh seal there followed a silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stand before God ; and there were given unto them seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood over the altar, hav- ing a golden censer ; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should add it unto the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints went up before God a thousand two hundred and three- 130 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH score days, clothed in sackcloth." What was the. matter with this copyist we cannot say. The pas- sage reminds us of a similar inadvertence, where a repetition instead of an omission occurs, in the Old Testament (i Chron. 8 and 9). There the eye of the copyist noted the words, '* these dwelt at Jerusalem," in chapter nine, verse thirty-four, when he ceased working perhaps at evening and fixed it in his mind where to begin the next morn- ing. But when he returned to his task his eye caught the words, " these dwelt at Jerusalem," in verse twenty-eight of chapter eight, and he began with verse twenty-nine and calmly went on with the dry list of names which he had copied the day before, until he came to his senses at verse thirty-eight, when he found his proper place and began the tenth chapter ; all of which appears in the English version. Although the autographs of the Christian Scriptures were doubtless all in the form of rolls, the only manuscripts that are extant are in the form of books. We know from a word of the Latin poet. Martial, that until the latter half of the first century the old custom of writing in rolls was prevalent everywhere, and that in MartiaPs time the later, or book form, was just beginning to be used, but was regarded as a great novelty. It is evident from the labor and care bestowed on the production of books, that they were valued MATERIALS FOR NEW TESTAMKNT TKXT 131 most highly. In the monasteries the monks were not suffered to remove the volumes from the libra- ries to their cells except at certain seasons, as dur- ing Lent. Sometimes it was prescribed that the book should be wrapped in a handkerchief or cloth when not in use, and it is perhaps such an instance that received illustration when Tischen- dorf discovered the great Sinaitic Codex, which a monk had in his cell wrapped in a red cloth when Tischendorf first saw it. But if these books were deemed precious by those who made them, or in those early days used them, their value has grown immensely as time has passed, and the science of textual criticism has shown how indispensable they are for our knowledge of the Bible. Large prices have been paid for them. Imperial gifts to the Convent of St. Catharine purchased the Sinaitic Codex for the library in St. Petersburg ; and although many manuscripts have been gotten by way of gifts, or at small prices, from owners who did not understand their real value, it would now require more than imperial gifts to win them away from their European posses- sors. They are the proudest treasures of national museums and university libraries and private pa- trons of learning. Naturally the great value attached to these documents has stimulated the desire for gain la- tent in the human breast, and many persons un- 13a THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH worthy to be engaged in such a work have devoted themselves to the business of securing such docu- ments and ofifering them for sale. Nor have all such efforts been of an honorable character. Frauds have been attempted, which have come to be of recognized value themselves as going far to establish our confidence in the infallible judgment of the great librarians and scholars upon whom the attempt to deceive has been made, for no such effort has yet been successful in any important instance. No bolder attempts in this direction have been made than those which rendered the name of Constantine Simonides infamous, espe- cially in connection with the Sinaitic manuscript. This man, in 1856, sought to palm off upon the Academy of Berlin a manuscript purporting to be the ^'History of Egypt," by Uranios, son of Anaximenes. As a work of the kalligraphic art it was perfect ; but the careful study of the subject matter revealed its false character. The work was bought for twenty-five hundred thalers, how- ever, before the deceit was discovered, and a few leaves of the very important document, the "Shepherd of Hennas," were also purchased. Then came a message from Professor I^ykurgos, of Athens, that probably both the manuscripts were spurious, and Professor Tischendorf at once gave them critical examination and pronounced them false. Simonides next appeared at the Bod- MATERIALS FOR NEW TESTAMENT TEXT 1 33 leian Ivibrary in Oxford, England, and produced two or three genuine manuscripts of no very great value, and belonging to the tenth, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries. He then unrolled with much apparent anxiety a few fragments of vel- lum, which bore an uncial text of most venerable appearance. The librarian carefully inspected the crumbling leaves of vellum, then S7iielt of them, and gave them back with the single re- mark that they dated fro7n the middle of the 7iineteenth ce7iticry I The baffled Simonides gath- ered up his wares with many protestations, and departed, going straight to the railway station, whence he sped to the house of a well-known country gentlemen in Worcestershire, where he disposed of the whole lot at a satisfactory price. The most extraordinary performance of this Si- monides was doubtless prompted by a spirit of re- venge. It has been said that Tischendorf had been the means of detecting the fraud perpetrated in Berlin, and some other incidents had also brought him into collision with Simonides. No sooner had Tischendorf published his earliest fac similes of the newly discovered "Codex Sinaiticus," in i860, than Simonides declared that Tischendorf himself was at last deceived; that he, Simonides, had written the whole document I He appealed to his wonderful skill as a kalligrapher and said that while he was still a youth he had been em- 134 ^^^ PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH ployed by his uncle, Benedict, head of the monas- tery of Panteleemon on Mount Athos, to make in manuscript /rom a printed Moscow Bible^ a copy of the whole Scriptures, which might be worthy of presentation to the Russian Emperor Nicholas, in acknowledgment of benefits conferred upon the monastery. He had gone through the Old and the New Testaments, the Epistle of Barnabas, and a part of the ''Shepherd of Hermas," when his uncle died, his materials failed, and the plan to add the whole of the Apostolic Fathers had to be relinquished. The volume was presented by him later to Constantine, formerly Patriarch of Con- stantinople and Archbishop of Sinai, who had recognized the favor by giving him twenty-five thousand piastres, or not far from one thousand two hundred dollars. The book had been given by the patriarch to the Convent of St. Catharine, where Simonides had seen it in 1844, and again in 1852, and where Tischendorf discovered it in 1859. -^t ^^^ ^ marvelous story, requiring the most colossal impudence, and yet so cunningly planned, so boldly supported, with the manual skill of its author so well known, that for a time it found credit in some quarters. But its refutation was easy. The monks at Sinai, includ- ing the librarian who was in charge at the time covered by the story, gave testimony that they had never seen Simonides, and that the book had MATERIALS FOR NEW TESTAMENT TEXT 1 35 been catalogued from the earliest times. Accord- ing to Simonides himself, he could not have been more than fifteen years old in 1839, when he be- gan the task, and it was shown that to have fin- ished it at the time designated he must have written at least twenty thousand large and separate uncial letters every day, which was simply incred- ible. Moreover, the very mistakes of the codex show that it must have been copied from another manuscript, and not from a printed Bible, as for instance where omitted words are in several cases just enough to fill up a line in an old papyrus document, showing that the copyist had a roll or book like his own lying before him. It is not necessary to pursue the subject farther, except to say that the manuscript was easily and entirely vindicated from such imputations. Simonides was reported to have perished of leprosy in 1867 ; but two years later he was seen in St. Peters- burg, where he was still active under an assumed name. Still another attempt at fraud is yet fresh in the memory. In 1881, a dealer named Shapira, who had been of real service in securing valuable documents in the Bast, brought to Europe several manuscripts, among them a Moabite copy of the book of Deuteronomy, which was apparently genuine, bearing every mark of age and truthful- ness. Several weeks elapsed, during which the 136 THE PARCHMKNTS OF THE FAITH news spread over Europe and America, and the learned and religious public was thrown into great excitement, for, if genuine, the manuscript was beyond question the oldest in existence containing a biblical text. But after careful examination it was decided that the document did not belong to 800 B. c, but to a date as late as 1880 A. D. In the following week Sbapira committed suicide. In all probability he had been deceived himself, was of honorable intention, and could not sustain the odium which he felt -would be his in view of his connection with the fraud. The words of Scrivener are doubtless true : " With respect to biblical manuscripts we may confidently assert that there are fifty persons at least in England who, on internal grounds alone, from their inti- mate knowledge of what a genuine record ought to and must contain, would at once detect with perfect ease any — the most highly finished — imi- tation that dishonest skill could execute, provided the document extended beyond the length of a very few lines." ^ Probably at this day the num- ber of scholars in England thus competent is greater than when these words were written, while America is not now without many persons who would be equally discerning. The ancient docu- ments cannot be successfully simulated, and even if they could, our genuine materials are so rich 1 " Six Lectures," p. 22. MATHRIAI^ FOR NEW TESTAMENT TEXT 1 37 and so fully known, that the imposture would do little harm. The invention of printing in 1452 may be con- sidered as the close of the period of the production of manuscripts, though some books in the ancient form were made after that date. In 1455, the first printed Bible appeared in Latin, from the press of Gutenberg, in three folio volumes, with two columns of thirty-six lines each to a page. The text imitated that of the earlier manuscripts, and was printed on vellum and illuminated by hand. The rapid multiplication of books by Gutenberg, and by his former associates Faust and Schoeffer, their exact uniformity and low price excited the greatest wonder, and led to the belief that there was some magic in the case, so that the printers escaped the penalty of being in league with the devil only by revealing the processes of their art. Thus the secrets of the new invention were ex- posed, and a new era in the production of books was introduced. The work of the transcriber and illuminator did not pass away at once. Many manuscripts were still made, and many printed volumes were splendidly adorned by the work of the hand, but gradually the supremacy of the new art asserted itself, and the modern period of book- making was established. IX CLASSES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF MANUSCRIPTS. npiIB manuscripts of the New Testament thus J- far found are divided into classes, and dis- tinguished by certain marks whereby they are known to all scholars. Two great divisions are made according to the form of the characters employed, and are called Uncials (inch), and Cursives or Minuscules, the former being written in large capital letters throughout, and the latter in a small, running, or cursive hand. The uncials are about one hundred and ten in number, and none of them were written later than the tenth century ; of the cursives, however, there is a large number, and none were written earlier than the ninth century. So that the char- acter of the manuscript in this respect at once determines the period of its writing, though there is wide opportunity for judgment in deciding its place in that period. Uncial manuscripts generally have no breaks between their words, few of the letters trespass upon the margins of the page, and words are often arbitrarily divided at the ends of lines. A cor- 138 CLASSES AND CHARACTERISTICS 1 39 responding example in English may easily be given, and if it is remembered that four of these columns, or three, would usually appear on a page, as in the Sinaitic and Vatican codices respectively, the appearance of a page of uncial writing may be easily conceived ; the example is from the second Gospel at the beginning as it appears in the Vatican manuscript. BEGINNINGOFTHEGOSPBLO FJSCHTSONOFGDASITWASW RITTENINTHEPROPHETISAI AHBEHOLDISENDMYMESSE NGERBEFORETHYFACEWH OSHALLPREPARETHYWAYT HEVOICEOFONECRYINGINT HEDESERTPREPAREYETH EWAY Gradually attempts at ornamentation appear, at first an enlargement of initials, and ornamented head-pieces and tail-pieces at the beginning and end of books. Occasional breaks in the text were introduced ; punctuation, very rare at first, became more frequent ; and other attempts to facilitate the reading were made. The tendency to write more rapidly resulted in the cursive style, with the employment of small letters, but these on account of their later date and more rapid production are of less value, generally speaking, than the uncials. 140 THK PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH Many manuscripts of both classes are of the great- est elegance. It was not infrequently the fancy to dye the delicate vellum a rich red or purple, and then to write the text in silver or colored inks, and the so-called purple manuscripts are sumptuous folios, sometimes, as in the case of the Codex Rossanensis, illustrated with full-page sketches of scenes from the Gosj)els. Many manuscripts, some of which are of much importance for criticism, were prepared for service books, and contained only a part of the Script- ures, especially such passages as were appointed to be read upon certain days, so that they appear without regard to their proper order in the New Testament. These are Lectionaries, so-called, both uncial and cursive ; and they were Evmigel- istaria^ if they contained the lessons from the Gospels, or Praxapostoloi^ if they contained the readings from the Acts and epistles. The former are about three times more numerous than the latter. Sometimes entire copies of the New Testament were made by bringing together different manu- scripts of various parts, made perhaps by various hands, and at widely separated times and places. The fact therefore that a copy is entire does not necessarily show that the text of all its parts is of equal age and value. One part may have been made most accurately from an excellent prototype. CLASSES AND CHARACTERISTICS 14I while another part may have been carelessly writ- ten from a poor copy. But these characteristics easily explain themselves, and the critical scholar has little difficulty in assigning its true origin and value to each part of the document. The mode of writing, which left no spaces between the words and sentences and had no punctuation to aid the reader, was found at a very early period to be unnecessarily difficult. The oldest attempt at divisions in the text is that which appears in the Vatican manuscript, and the breaks occur irregularly and where there is some break in the sense of the passage. Hardly less ancient, and possibly to be ascribed to so early a writer as Tatian the harmonist, whose '''' Diatessaron''^ has recently been discovered, is the division of the Gospels into larger chapters or titles {rirXoi)^ so called because appended to the numeral of its designation is a title or summary of contents, generally in a table preceding each Gos- pel, or at the top and bottom of the pages, or even in both ways in the same manuscript. A reference to the illustration facing page 138 will show the '' titles " preceding the Gospel of Mark in the Alexandrine manuscript. In the same illustration appear the marginal rubrics designating the Am- monian-Eusebian sections, yet another method of dividing the text, but employed for the entirely different purpose of indicating parallel passages 142 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH in the other Gospels, just as the marginal refer- ences in our English Bibles are used. Ammonius of Alexandria, about A. D. 220, originally adopted this method of harmonizing the Gospels, and the plan was afterward followed by Busebius. Am- monius selected the Gospel of Matthew as his standard, and in that Gospel three hundred and fifty-five sections are marked, two hundred and thirty-six in Mark, three hundred and forty-two in Ivuke, and two hundred and thirty-two in John. The sections were designated by letters of the Greek alphabet having a fixed numerical equiva- lent. To complete the arrangement, ten canons or lists were made, to which another letter placed under the designation of the section referred. In these canons all the parallel passages were classi- fied, the first canon containing those common to all four Gospels *, the second, places in which the first three agree ; the third, passages in Matthew, Luke, and John ; the fourth, those in Matthew, Mark, and John ; the fifth to the ninth, contain- ing those common to any two, and the tenth con- taining those found only in one. The margin of a manuscript would then have the Greek letters of its section opposite a given passage, and be- neath these the letter signifying the proper canon ; the first, if the passage occurred in all four Gos- pels ; the second, if found in a particular two, and so on. For example, the illustration used by CLASSES AND CHARACTERISTICS 1 43 Scrivener in his " Plain Introduction " is from the Cotton fragment of the Gospels, where in the margin of John 15 : 20, we find the Greek letters thus arranged : ^'^®. This means that this section of John is one hundred thirty-nine, the numeri- cal equivalent of the upper letters, while the lower letter stands for three, the third canon. Referring to that canon we find the reference to this section of John, and joined with it are the signs which show that John 15 : 20 is parallel to Matthew 10 : 24 and Luke 6 : 40. These mar- ginal references were generally written in Ver- million as prescribed by Eusebius, though blue or green is occasionally found. The great advan- tage of such a system of notation is evident. Still another peculiarity was introduced by Buthalius, a deacon of Alexandria, who published the epis- tles of Paul in A. D. 458, and afterward the Acts and general epistles. Besides several other de- vices, he marked every fiftieth line by its appro- priate number, and these were called stichoi (flT£/o£)^ and not only aided the reader, but became a means of reckoning the amount of work done by the copyist, just as the eyns of a modern printer are reckoned. The same term stichoi was applied later to another division of the text called comma or colo7i^ which formed a clause according to the sense, very much as the modern verses are em- ployed. But this broke up the text, occasioned 144 'J'HE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH many spaces, and was too cumbersome to be uni- versally adopted. Various other methods of divi- sion and notation were used, but need not be enumerated here. It should only be added that none of these ancient divisions appear in our modern Bibles. The present chapters were prob- ably introduced by Stephen Langton in 1228 in the I^atin Vulgate, whence they were transferred to the printed Greek editions and so into the English version, while the verses were set ojQf by Robert Stephen, while journeying from Paris to Geneva, for his edition of the Greek Testament published in the year 1551.* It will be evident that the age of any document may be approximately determined by the presence or absence of these peculiarities, as well as by many other signs. It has already been said that the simple division into the uncials and cursives indicates two nearly distinct periods. Similarly, no codex which has the Eusebian canons can be older than his time. Sticho^netry would shov/ that the document possessing it was written later than 458, the year when Euthalius introduced the system in his edition of St. Paul's epistles. The mere materials of which a manuscript consists bear their witness to its age and the simplicity of the text indicates a proportionally early time. If ^ See an exhaustive paper in " Critical Essays," by Ezra Abbot, p. 464. ^„r-^-^- a ■•"/.•5' Ji:^^v1ci>«>Me'IlAo/M2_•>. , ^ --» ^ __ CODEX Ephraemi, C. (A Palimpsest. 1 Tim. 3 : 9-4 : 14.) Page 145. CLASSES AND CHARACTERISTICS 145 there are several columns on a page after the manner employed in the earlier papyrus rolls the manuscript may be adjudged to a period pretty near to that of the rolls themselves. Slight pecu- liarities in the letters and the use of additional marks that would quite escape the attention of an ordinary reader are enough to betray valuable secrets to the skilled eye, and by such means addi- tions to the original page by second, third, fourth, and even more scribes are detected. An extremely important class of manuscripts is found in the palimpsests, or documents that have been twice written. As time elapsed, and the supplies of vellum became scarce and dear while perhaps the reverence for the text of the Bible somewhat decreased, it was not unusual to erase as far as possible the first writing upon the vellum sheets and then to cover the page again with a later work, as appears in the case of the most famous palimpsest, C, where the ancient biblical text was erased and covered with the sermons of Ephraem Syrus. The vegetable ink used in the early times could be nearly obliterated — the word 'palim-ps&stinea.ns nodded away a^-azn — and the new text stood out nearly as distinct as if the vellum had not been previously used. But in process of time the action of the atmosphere brought out the older text again with more or less clearness, and so the vellum bore two texts, the one written 146 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH over the other and both to be deciphered only with difficulty. Sometimes even a triple writing is found. Where the ancient writing remained unusually obscure scholars have often attempted, usually with success, to restore it by the use of chemicals, and thus important aids to criticism have been secured. The palimpsests extant are comparatively few, but of great value. It almost seems as if the reappearance of their ancient texts was the mute protest of the vellum and ink against the blotting out of the sacred truths that they once declared; the eloquent though mute assertion that the word of God shall outlast every other. But that a multitude of precious documents have thus been lost is beyond doubt, for the prac- tice by the end of the seventh century had be- come so destructive to valuable literary works of all kinds, that a synod issued a decree forbidding the obliteration of biblical writings. Of the uncial manuscripts a hundred and ten are known already, and the number is likely to increase with new discoveries in a time when archaeological research in all departments is press- ing. We do not attempt to give a list of them here, as such a list would be of use only to schol- ars, who will readily find such material for their need. We may refer however to Scrivener's *' Plain Introduction," fourth edition ; to Mitchell's " Critical Handbook," for much valuable material, CLASSES AND CHARACTERISTICS 147 though the lists of documents must be revised ; and to the excellent little book upon the " Textual Criticism of the New Testament," by Prof. B. B. Warfield, d. d. Of these uncial manuscripts sixty-eight have the Gospels or parts of them ; sixteen have the Acts and general epistles ; twenty- one contain the epistles of Paul ; five have the Apocalypse. These are all indicated by the use of capital letters, as the Hebrew J< for the Sinaitic manuscript, B for the Vatican Codex No. 1209, A for the Codex Alexandrinus, C for the Codex of Ephraem, etc. The cursive manuscripts ranging in date from the ninth to the sixteenth centuries, are very numerous, but of comparatively small value, although some of them form remarkable excep- tions to this rule. Only about one hundred and fifty have been fully collated. They are desig- nated by the use of numerals. Very important among the cursives are a few that will be described more fully upon a future page. As for the ancient translations of the New Tes- tament, many have come down to us, and at least fragments of them are open to our study. These versions are especially valuable, because many of them were made at a date prior to that of any extant Greek copy of the text, and there- fore bear witness to a text considerably earlier than any document in our possession. Syriac, 148 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH Coptic, Armenian, Sahidic, Latin, and many other versions are extant, and while their texts are not to be relied upon as absolutely correct, one version is a valuable correction to another, so that their testimony is veiy strong. Used in connec- tion with each other and with the Greek manu- scripts, they present an array of evidence that is very valuable. Versions are cited by small letters of the alphabet, and abbreviations. Akin to the evidence of versions is that given by the early quotations from the Scriptures by the church Fathers, and although such quotations are generally somewhat free and give every appearance of being from memory, yet they find important place among critical materials. Such quotations are indicated in the critical references by a few letters of the names, as Porph for Por- phyry ; Epiph for Bpiphanius, Hier for Jerome or Hieronymus, etc. Manuscripts of the Christian Scriptures are deposited in all the countries of Europe, where scholars can have ready access to them. The largest collections are in Italy, England, France, and Turkey. It is strange that Germany, having fewer possessions of this kind than either France, Italy, or England, should have done more than any country except England in the discovery and critical use of them. In the fourth edition of Scrivener's " Introduction " the following state- CLASSES AND CHARACTERISTICS I49 meiit of the Greek manuscripts according to countries is made, rearranged however in the order of their numbers : Turkey (Oriental Monas- teries), seven hundred and twenty-four ; Italy, six hundred and forty-four ; British Empire, four hun- dred and thirty-eight ; France, three hundred and twenty-four ; Palestine, two hundred and sixty ; Greece, one hundred and ninety- seven ; Germany, one hundred and forty ; Russia, one hundred and four; Spain, thirty-four; Egypt, twenty-six. Smaller numbers are in Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Switzerland, the United States, while the present locality of at least thirty known manuscripts cannot be given. THE SCIENCE AND THE CRITICS AlyTHOUGH the science of textual criticism is of comparatively modern origin, it would be a mistake to suppose that it had no substantial foundations in antiquity. It has been shown that the age in which the New Testament writings were coming into being was not an uncritical age, as is so often somewhat flippantly asserted, and that in all matters of genuineness and authenticity the new Scriptures were subjected even then to discriminating scholarship, so that after three centuries of patient study and proof in the appli- cation of the biblical materials to life, both the question of inspiration and that of historic relia- bility were reasonably and satisfactorily settled. But many of the minds that were actively engaged upon these questions had had special training in matters of verbal criticism. Some of the keenest writers were of the school of Alex- andria, where especial attention had long been bestowed upon this very branch of study, particu- larly with reference to the Greek classics. We are not surprised, therefore, to find many of the Christian Fathers engaged in weighing the evi- 150 THE SCIENCE AND THE CRITICS I5I dence for a pure text of the Scriptures, not indeed according to modern methods, nor with that thor- oughness which alone satisfies the scholar to-day, but with a degree of efficiency which proves that their eyes were not blind to the importance of such study. The quotations of the earliest Fathers, to which reference was made in the last chapter, show that while they often quoted very freely, and with far more reference to the spirit than to the letter of a passage, they yet studied the documents in their possession with scrupulous care, comparing one with another and noting their differences, and weighing the evidence for the truth not only of every entire work, but of every reading of the various copies as well. Ori- gen, for example, well called the " Father of Criticism," was a discriminating student and edi- tor of the Septuagint, and his labors upon tlie text of the New Testament were the work of a trained scholar. Busebius was a man of great learning, and he spared no pains or expense in journeys and the collection of materials. We have already spoken of the work of Jerome, both upon the Old Testament and the New. Indeed, the very copies of the Scriptures in manuscript that have come down to our day give indisputable evidence of the desire to secure a text that should be full and complete, as nearly perfect as possible, for they are covered in manv instances with mar- 153 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH ginal notes, corrections, and suggestions, often entirely erroneous, but showing the desire to reach the truth if possible. When the Bible was first printed, the text used for the purpose was the Latin of the Vulgate, which of course went back to Jerome's use of the materials at his hand, and with very considerable variations represented the Bible as Jerome translated it ; but as we traced the work of Jerome we saw what difficulty he had in determining the text, and we find it impossible to be content with the results of his work, and least of all with its condition at the beginning of what may be termed the modern period marked by the invention of printing. In the year 1502, a new attempt was made to prepare an edition of the whole Bible in the original Hebrew and Greek, together with the Chaldee of the Targum of Onkelos, the Septuagint Greek, and the Vul- gate. Cardinal Ximenes called to his aid a large number of scholars to undertake the work, which was done at Complutum in Spain. The New Testament was finished in 15 14, and published in 1522. For this edition many manuscripts were put at the disposal of the scholars by the guard- ians of the papal library at Rome, but it has never been clearly understood what these documents were, though they seem to have been of compara- tively late dates. This edition received the name "The Complutensian Polyglott " from the place THE SCIENCE AND THE CRITICS 1 53 where it was made. Erasmus then undertook an edition in 1516, prepared with great haste chiefly from manuscripts preserved at Basle, dating from about the sixteenth century, with one or two others somewhat older, but not of first value. Numerous editions followed, varying much from each other in minor details, each serving, however, to increase interest in the subject and to emphasize the need of pursuing the study ; but all these edi- tions retained most of the characteristics of the edition of Erasmus, sometimes going back to the Complutensian authority. Then came two edi- tions brought out with great external elegance by two famous printers, a Paris folio in 1550, edited and printed by R. Estienne, and an edition by the Elzevirs, of Leyden, in 1624, which seemed to claim a certain superiority by their elegance which was not warranted by their text. However, the second edition of the Elzevir Bible, in 1633, announced boldly that its text was '' the text now received by all," and the claim seems to have remained undisputed ; the words passed into general use as designating the "received text," and so the term textus receptiis came into use, and is frequently before the eye of the reader to-day. But about the middle of the seventeenth cen- tury a new desire arose to pursue the inquiry to more complete and satisfactory issues. A great manuscript had been brought to Europe by Cyril 154 'I'HE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH IvUcar, the patriarch of Constantinople, in 1628, and given to the English monarch, as will be related more fully when we come to speak of the Alexandrine manuscript in the chapter upon the great uncials of the fifth century. English scholars became greatly interested, and Fell and Walton and Mill led the way, followed by Bentley and others. France and Germany advanced the work, Simon (i 689-1 695) contributing largely to the discontent with the received text, and Gries- bach, Scholz, and others appealing to larger sup- plies of materials, and employing better methods of study. But it was reserved for Lachmann, beginning in 1831, to apply the great principles of criticism which are generally followed at the present time, and which declare a complete emancipation from the received text in order to appeal to the most ancient and valuable manu- scripts, many of which had then come to light, while many others of the first value have since come into our possession. Henceforward a clearly scientific method was to be pursued, and other grekt scholars joined with Lachmann, and followed him in the pursuit of his great task. Tischendorf, in Germany, and Tregelles, in England, began their researches and publications, and their labors have been worthily succeeded by those of West- cott and Hort, resulting in a Greek text that is perhaps as near to the original autographs of the THE SCIENCE AND THE CRITICS 1 55 New Testament writers as can ever be pro- duced. The immense labor and the complete success of the textual critic may be imagined from the ac- counting of the various readings noted in existing documents, about two hundred thousand. But it must not be understood that this large number represents actually doubtful places in the New Testament, for nothing could be farther from the truth than such an impression. Bach document is compared in turn with one standard, and the number of variations noted ; these various sums are then added together to make the actual num- ber of variations. An immense number of these may be counted perhaps upon a single word or passage, and so the real variation is repeated many times. In fact, the results of modern criticism have shown that among these many variations comparatively very few are of great importance. Dr. Ezra Abbot, in an essay upon " The New Testament Greek Text,"^ in which he indicates very fully the character of the variations, setting their total number as then known at about one hundred and fifty thousand, says that we may dismiss nineteen-twentieths from consideration at once as being obviously of such a character, or sup- ported by so little authority, that no critic would regard them as having any claim to reception. ^ "Critical Essays," p. 208. 156 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH Nineteen-twentieths of the remainder are of no consequence as affecting the sense, as they relate merely to matters of spelling, grammatical construction, the order of the words, or similar questions. Perhaps about four hundred cases re- main which involve a difference of meaning, often very slight, but sometimes having a relative im- portance of some magnitude. It may, however, be safely said that no Christian doctrine or duty rests on those portions of the text which are affected by differences in the manuscripts ; still less is anything essential to Christianity touched by the various readings. Perhaps the only excep- tion to this statement would be the bearing of a few passages upon the doctrine of the Trinity, but the truth or falsity of that doctrine by no means depends upon the readmg of those passages alone. It has thus been determined definitely and upon adequate evidence, that the New Testament has been transmitted to us with no essential variation, and that we have it in its verity as it came from the writers of the first century. The reader cannot fail to find it of interest to know something beyond the mere names of the few great scholars of modern times who have contributed largely to this result. Their names will appear so frequently upon future pages, and their achievements will be so detailed, that brief sketches of tlieir lives are here given. Group op Biblical Scholars. Lachmann. Tregelles. Tischendorf. Abbott. Scrivener. Pages 157-170. THE SCIENCE AND THE CRITICS I57 Kari. IvACHMANN leads the whole band of modern scholars, as we have said, for he was the first to proclaim freedom from slavery to the re- ceived text, and to declare the necessity of going back to the most ancient materials accessible. He was born at Brunswick in Germany, March 4, 1793, and received his education at the uni- versities of Leipzig and Gottingen. Philological pursuits were his choice, and he soon won dis- tinction. He served in the army in the struggle against Napoleon from 1813 to 1815, after which he was appointed Professor Extraordinary at Konigsberg in 1818, and at Berlin in 1825. Here he did his great work- and won the honors of his career. From the year 181 6 to that of his death, 1851, his literary labors were without intermis- sion, and apart from his biblical studies he pub- lished many valuable editions of Greek, Latin, and German classics. But in the year 1831, his edition of the New Testament in Greek appeared and at once placed him among the first of biblical scholars. In this work he went back to the oldest Greek manuscripts then to be obtained, and made large use of the Greek Fathers, while he appealed to the earliest Latin whenever discordant readings in the Greek sources made it necessary to do so. Comparatively few Greek codices were then at his command, but the boldness of his plan, and the enunciation of an entirely new principle in o 158 THK PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH criticism of the New Testament text, were of quite as much value as the first edition of his work itself. A second edition soon appeared in which he carried the principle yet farther. To discard all traditional authority inhering in the Textus Receptus, to pass by the work of former editors and appeal directly to the most ancient manuscripts themselves, to question the Fathers and from their quotations to discover the Bible of their day, to summon as witnesses the earliest versions, and comparing all to prepare a text quite independent of that which had been relied upon previously, was the new effort of Lachmann, in which he laid the broad foundations of the modern science of textual criticism. He knew that his work was far from complete, and that others would have richer materials and larger knowledge with which to pursue the research ; he regarded himself as a pioneer, laying open the path in which others should tread more safely and with swifter progress ; but that pioneer work was necessary, and lyachmann has been regarded al- ways as the leader of the great band of scholars who have given us our best knowledge of the New Testament. lyOBEGOTT Friedrich Constantin Tischen- DORF, was born in Lengenfeld, Germany, January 18, 1815, the ninth child of his parents. The name lyobegott, or Praise God, was given to him THE SCIENCE AND THE CRITICS 1 59 by his mother, who had had a presentiment that her child would be born blind, and when lie was found to have good eyes, her thankful heart in- sisted that his name should testify to God's good- ness in this respect. The mother would have felt even more justified in thus naming her son if she could have foreseen that his remarkably keen sight and wonderful sagacity would enable him to de- cipher sacred documents that no other's eyes could read, and to become the first scholar of the world in the determination of the text of the Christian Scriptures. Tischendorf's early education was that usually given to a German boy, first in the common school at Lengenfeld, whence he went to the gymnasium at Plauen to prepare for the uni- versity, which he entered at I^eipzig in 1834. It was here that he first gained public notice, his scholarship winning attention, and his inclination to biblical studies becoming evident. An essay on "The Doctrine of the Apostle Paul as to the Value of Christ's Death as a Satisfaction," won for him a prize medal, and when published in 1837, brought to him the applause of the public. But he had not yet settled down to the work of his life, and several books of a lighter character appeared : a volume of poems, called ^^ Mai- k7iospen,'' or "May-buds" and a novel, '' Der junge Mystiker,''' ''The Young Mystic," for which he used the pseudonym, Dr. Fritz. After trradu- l6o THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH ation he taught a little while, but soon returned to lyeipzig with the avowed purpose of preparing an edition of the New Testament. Henceforth all his efforts were to be directed to the fulfillment of this one purpose with the pur- suit of the various researches which it made neces- sary. He secured the small grant of one hundred thalers a year for two years from the government of Saxony, effected a loan upon his life insurance policy as security, and set forth to visit the great libraries and study the documents. He was now twenty-five years old. "God helps those who help themselves," he wrote,^ "and full of faith that what is right must prosper, I resolved to set out for Paris, though I had not sufl&cient means to pay even for my traveling suit." In Paris he supported himself by his pen, meanwhile working assiduously in the library. The first edition of his New Testament appeared in 1841, was received with applause by the scholars, but it took eight years to sell an edition of fifteen hundred copies. In Paris his most noteworthy work was upon the Kphraem palimpsest, as described more fully on a later page. Many travels followed, with many labors in deciphering manuscripts, the publication of results, and the constant corrections of his New Testament. Among these toils the great achieve- ment of his genius and patience was the discovery * " Narrative of the Discovery of the Sinaitic Manuscript." THK SCIKNCK AND THE CRITICS l6l of the Codex Sinaiticus in the Convent of St. Catherine, and his publication of it in lithographic fac simile. His New Testament meanwhile advanced from edition to edition until the eighth critica major was nearly completed at the time of his death, and no less than twenty-two editions of the New Testament in all had appeared from his hand. This laborious life won high honors which were not, however, the highest joys that rewarded him. These he found in the pursuit of his studies itself, the satisfaction of the processes and of accomplishment, and in the fellowship of cul- tured minds. Honorary degrees were conferred upon him by many universities, and he was elected to membership in learned societies, and orders of knighthood were given him. After his discovery of the Sinaitic Codex he was made an hereditary noble of the Russian empire, and his own countrymen henceforth greeted him as Con- stantin vo7i Tischendorf. His titles were but the deserved recognition of his real nobility. In his will, written in 1863, Tischendorf wrote as follows : '' God has bestowed on me a happy life, richly adorned by his blessing. Trouble and toil it has been, but it was to me in truth precious. May God put his blessing also on that which I leave to posterity ; it is his own work. My hand has served only him, according to my best knowl- l6z THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH edge and conviction, even though in all weak- ness. In science I pursued no other aim than the truth ; to it I have unconditionally bowed the knee ; I never subordinated my conviction to applause on the right hand or the left ... I have purposed and sought only that which serves truth and the kingdom of the Lord." It was in the midst of his labors that he was stricken down by apoplexy on the fifth of May, 1873. For more than a year he lingered, until the seventh of December, 1874, when he who was at once a gieat scholar and a simple-hearted Christian, went away to receive his honors from his Lord. Dr. Caspar Ren^ Gregory, a distinguished American scholar, resident in Leipzig and honored as the successor to Tischendorf s labors in the completion of his last edition of the New Testament, and the preparation of its Prolego- mena, writes thus concerning the character and achievements of the great German^ : ' ' If greatness ^ Dr. Gregory's great work is completed, the Prolegomena to Tisch- endorf s Greek Testament, Vol. III., of the edi/io octava critica major, Leipzig, J. C. Hinrichs. " Almost thirty full years from the day when the first fascicle of this edition went forth, almost eighteen from that when I undertook the work of writing these Prolegomena, after the first part published in the year 1884, the second in the year 1890,1 offer the final part to the kind reader." Thus begins the Latin preface by Dr. Gregory, and thus patient and thorough is his scholarship. The volume is published just as this book goes to press. THE SCIENCE AND THE CRITICS 1 63 consists ill the unwearying pursuit of one idea, Tiscliendorf was great. If greatness consists in persistent and successful application to the study of difficult tilings, Tiscliendorf was great. If greatness consists in surmounting hindrances and prejudices, scholastic, religious, and national, Tiscliendorf was great. If greatness consists in the acquaintance with the use of, and the turning to general advantage of, the chief literary treas- ures of Europe and of the nearest East, Tisclien- dorf was great. If greatness consists in earning the gratitude of the scholars of all lands, Tischen- dorf was great. And if greatness consists in a participation alike in the favor of prince and scholar, of State and of Church, Tiscliendorf was great. "^ Dr. Gregory gives a list of the writings of Professor Tischendorf, which fills eleven closely printed pages. Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, the famous English critic, was born two years earlier and died four months later than Tischendorf, and thus his labors were almost exactly coincident in time with those of the German scholar. He was bom at Falmouth, England, January 30, 1813. His parents were Quakers, and their son was reared in the quiet life of that community. In later years he shared the views of the Plymouth Breth- ren, and afterward worshiped with the Presbyte- 1 " Bibliotheca Sacra," Vol. XXXIII., 153. 164 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH rians. His early education was meagre, being that which was offered by the Falmouth Classical School. After this period of school life was closed he labored for six years in the iron works at Neath Abbey, Glamorganshire, which must have been a severe test to a spirit in which the genius of a scholar was already making itself felt. He soon found more congenial occupation as a private tutor, and at an early age began to devote himself with special zeal to the study of the Bible in the original languages and some of the older versions, particularly the Syriac. His interest and profi- ciency in the study of Hebrew was shown by a translation of Gesenius' Hebrew Lexicon pub- lished in 1847, ^^^^ many works of a similar char- acter. As early as 1838, at the age of twenty-five, he had formed the plan of a critical edition of the New Testament to be founded solely on ancient authorities, and though he published the book of the Revelation in Greek in 1844, the prospectus of the whole work was not issued until 1848. The work was to appear in parts, the first of which containing Matthew and Mark was issued in 1857, and the closing part in 1872. About midway in this great work, Tregelles suffered a stroke of par- alysis, which rendered its completion a matter of great difficulty and heroic application. He had never had robust health, and through all his life was poor. In 1862, a grant of one hundred THE SCIENCE AND THE CRITICS 1 65 pounds a year was made to him from the govern- ment, and this was doubled in 1870 ; but even this aid did not place him beyond the reach of want, particularly with respect to the means necessary for the pursuit of his costly studies, which compelled him to take long journeys and live for considerable periods away from home. His labors were excessive and often without due recognition ; his eyesight, always poor, grew very dim in his later years, and wholly failed him a considerable time before his death, which occurred at Plymouth, April 24, 1875. It is pathetic to note the struggle of his later years, when the one absorbing purpose was to finish his New Testa- ment and place in the hands of subscribers the completed work, a struggle with disease and blindness, but successful, and worthy to win for him a place among the heroes as well as among scholars. Says Dr. Abbot of this work in 1875, before the edition of Westcott and Hort ap- peared : "It will not meet all the demand of the critical student. It ignores a considerable portion, though not often a decisive portion, of the evi- dence for the various readings ; but it is by far the most important original contribution which Eng- land has made in the present century to the estab- lishment of a pure text of the Greek Testament. It is a monument of the most conscientious, disinter- ested, and arduous labor, prosecuted with indomit- 1 66 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH able perseverance and zeal, under discouraging circumstances, for a high end. The author has earned a title to the warmest gratitude of all who are interested in the study of the New Testament. . . . Rare, indeed, are the examples of such patient, unwearied, self-sacrificing devotion to a noble object as his life presents ; and ever honored be his memory ! " Ezra Abbot, whose words have just been quoted, must be named as the foremost American scholar in this department of learning. His life and successful labors are one more example, not unlike that of Tregelles, of the rise of a lofty soul from circumstances not favorable to ambition. He was born in Jackson, Waldo County, Me., April 28, 1 8 19. His educational advantages were much greater than those of Tregelles. He was fitted for college at Phillips (Exeter) Academy, graduated at Bowdoin College in 1840, receiving its degree of A. M. in 1843 5 ^^^ removed to Cam- bridge in 1847, ^^^ after some time spent in teach- ing and in working in the libraries of Harvard College and the Boston Athenaeum, he became assistant librarian of Harvard College in 1856, a position which he retained until his appointment as the Bussey professor of New Testament Criti- cism and Interpretation in the Harvard Divinity School in 1872. His conspicuous ability and large attainments as a biblical scholar had been THE SCIENCE AND THE CRITICS 167 recognized many years previous to his election to this professorship. In 1852, he was made a mem- ber of the American Oriental Society, and from 1853 was ^^s recording secretary ; in 1861, a mem- ber of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences ; in 1871, he was appointed University Lecturer on the Textual Criticism of the New Testament ; and in the same year he was chosen as one of the American Company for the revision of the English Bible. Honorary degrees were conferred upon him by Harvard, Yale, and Bow- doin Colleges ; and the degree of Doctor of Divin- ity was tendered by the University of Edinburgh at its tercentenary, but he died before the celebra- tion occurred. Prof. J. H. Thayer, D. D., write; of " the variety and extent of his learning, the re- tentiveness and accuracy of his memory, and the penetration and fairness of his judgment, which won for him the highest place in the esteem of the learned world. His rare gifts and attainments, however, were .no more conspicuous than the moral qualities that endeared him to all who knew him. He was generous to a fault, giving time and strength and learning to those whose own acquisitions were inferior to his own." Presi- dent Woolsey said : " He surpassed all men wliom I ever knew in his readiness to serve others who had but few books on hand, and did not know where to look for information. '^ Another said : 1 68 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH ^'He has spent his life in reading other people's proof-sheets." In all his work he was wholly un- partisan. No more honest scholar ever lived, and he gave all his energies to a conscientious deter- mination of the truth. This great moral force of his character rendered his scholarship especially valuable in his chosen work of biblical criticism. His judgments were formed only after a perfectly candid examination of all the facts, and the re- sults obtained carried the more conviction to the minds of others. His great essay upon " The Au- thorship of the Fourth Gospel " is " the best illus- tration of biblical criticism which American sacred literature ajBfords." Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener was born very near the date of the birth of Tischen- dorf and Tregelles, September 29, 1813, at Ber- mondsey, England. He graduated at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1835. For a few years he was a teacher, but in 1839, ^^ took charge of the parish of Sandford Orcas in Somerset, and after- ward taught the Falmouth School at the same time that he served one of the churches of Falmouth, thus beginning the great labors that ceased only with his death. In 1861, he became rector of St. Gerrans in Cornwall, whence he removed to Ex- eter, and thence to lyondon, taking charge of the large parish of Hendon in 1876. As early as 1845 ^^ began the collection of manuscripts of the THE SCIENCE AND THE CRITICS. 169 New Testament. His ^^ Novmn Testament inn GrcEcnm^'^^ published in i860, and in a second edition in 1867, compared the work of several critics and found wide favor. But his great work is the ''Plain Introduction," just issued in its fourth edition as this page is written, under the care of the Rev. Edward Miller, m. a., of Oxford, and after the death of Dr. Scrivener. In London he had the care of a parish of more than five thou- sand inhabitants, whose numbers and needs were constantly increasing, and his literary labors were thus pursued amid great difficulties. After pre- paring about one hundred and twenty-five pages of the third edition of the "Introduction," he was stricken by paralysis and his future work sufiered still further hindrance, but it seems that the spirit of a scholar is indomitable, and he per- severed with his toil until his death. He occu- pied a conservative position as a critic, always favoring the received text, and often carrying this preference to an extreme. He was also a champion of the cursives, and generally gave them a higher place as authorities than was granted them by other scholars. Many names of prominent living critics, as well as those of others who have passed into the Silence, might be dwelt upon in these pages, and from them all could be learned the lessons of devotion which are of importance in these hurried and often p 170 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH selfish days. America is not without illustrious men whose labors have placed them in the front rank of biblical scholarship, and whose critical knowledge of the sacred texts is of high authority. To all such consecrated lives the Christian church owes a debt of gratitude that it can best repay by its reverence for the written word, and its loyalty to the Word in flesh, of whom it testifies. -r6f CI CTHN no AlWkfl-" A'x'kOfJT'-'*/. |i yf I » IK. ^yT-OY-»^Y*'"' ",'- ' -^ ''"' ■»'Ar ui>,or*i.'i/.» K/., -»-<»».y -I r>iro7^»#i.iY^,yM *. ». xn^'ci I vYTr,ic*.t I -»-■ eVo'oH noil iirj^Ci'»Y r.'t. .'M^>Y/-xNiiji.:Vi > + + + "■ •' 'YT'.OY. ^r, .>Y-'-."7 1 itMeYM^-roc^i^v,-,... «/ «i_HK-*.IIA.^Yt r.-M. I-.7 l-'r-'.'I'r',','"!'.'?,-"^",' M;'-r."f,^''v,'!-'!l^'iL:f,?^'r i^z:-;:-!:: •OAY<-> 'iMIl* 'VXHT< >Y'i'^l T-'Y''"','^"^'"' ' f^*:' -rt-no-r lOM iytc N<>i-i-*.-■> !■ ■- (.llll■.lMJ~) /. ■, "t>'lM f^fuhY") *• « -(-(JM k4l>wc*>'rii>i 1 'illO.' .11 .. >. •fiuj»ixY-i i'-, • IXIX K >! n : riKtMi^Y^ *Ti ^^ •rof KPi>*.irri«f -•Yy-< r/i'ni » A.rt'?«A.f, 1 - 1 1 . ■. • XMl.l "••'•' .^ Codex Vaticanus, B. I Matt 2 ■! : 11-Mark 1 : 9.) Pas?e 171. XI THE TWO OLDEST GREEK MANUSCRIPTS (Fourth Century) ''PHE two most remarkable and valuable Greek A manuscripts are the Codex Vaticanus, B, and the Codex Sinaiticus, both dating from about the middle of the fourth century, or possibly even earlier. The Vatican Codex is so called from the Vatican Library in Rome, of which it is the chief treasure. This library was founded by Pope Nicholas V., in the year 1448, and it contains one of the most re- markable collection of books in the world, num- bering over one hundred thousand, of which more than one-quarter are manuscripts. The first cata- logue of this collection was published in 1475 and the Codex B appears in the catalogue of that date. The manuscript, therefore, may be considered to have been one of the original volumes of the col- lection. It seems to be of Alexandrine origin, but this cannot be determined with certainty. It has been said to have belonged to a learned Greek ec- clesiastic, named Bessarion, who became estranged* from the Greek church through the debates of the 171 172 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH Councils of Ferrara and Florence, sought residence in Italy, and was raised to the cardinalate by Pope Bugenius IV., who was the immediate predecessor of the founder of the Vatican L/ibrary. His house in Rome was the repository of a great collection of manuscripts, and the resort of a learned circle. At his death he bequeathed his books to the city of Venice, thus beginning the library of St. Mark in that city ; but it is hardly probable that the manu- script went to Venice and afterward returned to Rome, and we cannot be sure whence it came into possession of the Vatican. Tischendorf believed it to be of about the same date as the Sinaitic man- uscript ; but others have thought it older, and Tregelles placed its possible existence as early as the Council of Nicsea, in 325, and certainly before 340. Scrivener speaks of it as "probably the oldest vellum manuscript in existence," and Westcott and Hort give it the first place in im- portance. The Vatican manuscript, No. 1209 of the class catalogue of the library, contains the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, of which, however, considerable portions have been lost : all the book of Genesis to chapter 46 : 28, and Psalms 105 to 137 inclusive ; and the New Testament with the exception of the epistles to Philemon and Titus, the two to Timothy, that to the Hebrews after the fourteenth verse of chapter nine, and the whole THE TWO OLDEST GREEK MANUSCRIPTS 1 73 of the Revelation. These lost books have been said to be in the codex in a later hand, but in fact the Revelation alone is supplied thus, being the product of the fifteenth century. The whole of the text of this ancient manu- script is in the uncial characters, in three narrow columns to a page, and the letters are clear, sim- ple, and beautiful. There are seven hundred and fifty-nine very thin and delicate leaves of vellum, of which one hundred and forty-six belong to the New Testament, and all are bound in one volume of red morocco about ten and one-half inches in length, ten inches in breadth, and from four to five inches in thickness. There are no divisions between the words, but a change from one subject to another is sometimes marked by a space of a letter, or of only half a letter. Originally the ini- tial letters were of the same size as all the others, but a later hand has written larger initials by the side of the simpler characters. Punctuation rarely appears, except as interpolated by later scribes, and even thus it is rare, occurring only four times in the first six chapters of the Gospel of Matthew. At present the text is provided with accents and other marks which were once considered the work of the original writer. A dispute upon this mat- ter once raged, but it was at last determined by the aid of very powerful glasses that the accents and breathings were in a different ink from the 174 'I'HE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH main body of the text. Titles to the various books are written above them, and subscriptions also appear. Sometimes later copyists have added a few words, as to the Epistle to the Romans the words, // was writteit from Corinth are added to the genuine subscription to the Romans. The ink is now faded, and at some early date the letters were retouched by a careful hand throughout the whole of the manuscript, which gives it a peculiar appearance and renders the difficulty of its critical examination much greater. This ancient codex has always been considered of the higest value in the determination of the true readings of Scripture, and yet it has been with the greatest difficulty until recently that scholars have gained access to it. The present pontiff. Pope Leo XIII. , has pursued a far more liberal policy than that of his predecessors, and a splendid fac simile edition by phototype has been published and it may be seen in many of the well- equipped libraries of Europe and America. But for a long time the manuscript remained hidden away in its case, and was used only by scholars of the Roman church. Its first collation was made by Bartolocci in 1669 ; another followed in 1725 by an Italian named Mico, who prepared it for the aid of the English scholar, Bentley, who was projecting an edition of the New Testament in Greek. Other attempts, all unsatisfactory, were THE TWO OLDEST GREEK MANUSCRIPTS 1 75 made, notably by Cardinal Mai in 1838, whose work was pnblislied in 1857, three years after his death. Vercellone, a monk of St. Barnabas, com- pleted a better edition in 1859. But Protestant scholars had not been content with these efforts made under the grudging pat- ronage of the Roman church, and several times attempted to study the precious volume. The extreme jealousy with which it was guarded is well illustrated by their attempts to gain the privi- lege of using the codex. Dr. Tregelles, in 1845, went to Rome with this sole design. Armed with a letter from Cardinal Wiseman he succeeded at last in receiving the coveted permission ; but two prelates were assigned to the duty of watching him and they would not even permit him to open the volume without searching his pockets and taking away all implemeuts by which he could copy the text. They interfered with any pro- longed study, and often took the book hurriedly away from him. But by a little craft and patience he succeeded in making a few notes on his cuffs and finger nails ! Dean Alford made a similar attempt in 1861, and Cardinal Antonelli gave him a special permit to use the manuscript for the pur- pose of verifying passages ; but the librarian in- terpreted this as a permission merely to look at the book. Tischendorf, in 1843, ^^^^ years previ- ous to the attempt of Tregelles, spent some months 176 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH in the great libraries of many European cities, and after he had become well-known as a critic, applied at the Vatican for permission to study its treasures. Tischendorf describes his difficulties in the most interesting way in an article in the Leipsiger Zeitung^ of May 31, 1866 : " I had been commended in the most earnest manner by Guizot to the French ambassador, Count Latour Mau- bourg ; I was also favored with many letters of introduction from Prince John of Saxony to his personal friends of high rank ; and in addition with a very flattering note from the Archbishop Affi-e, of Paris, directed to Gregory XVI. The latter, after a prolonged audience granted to me, took an ardent interest in my undertaking ; Car- dinal Mai received me with kind recognition ; Cardinal Mezzofanti honored me with some Greek verses composed in my praise ; but notwithstand- ing I had to content myself with six hours for a hasty examination of the Codex Vaticanus and the transcription va fac simile of a few lines." Twenty - three years later, Tischendorf made another attempt. In the meantime he had dis- covered and published the Codex Sinaiticus, and the wide fame of that achievement undoubtedly aided him now, when he once more requested access to the only manuscript of equal value in the world. He presented himself in February, 1866, ^ " Wissenschaftliche Beilage^'' pp. 189-192. THE TWO OLDEST GREEK MANUSCRIPTS 177 before the papal authorities, and after much trou- ble gained the desired permission, and even special concessions were given by which he could have the use of a private room, with the extension of his time bevond the usual workino^ hours of the library. Even some of the many Roman feast- days when the library would be closed were to be disregarded for Tischendorf s benefit. But many of these privileges were speedily restricted, if not withdrawn altogether, and he came near losing all by his unwary zeal which led him to copy very copiously, until a suspicion was aroused that he was gathering materials enough to compromise seriously the papal edition of Cozza and Vercellone, then in preparation and soon to be published. In fact, the manuscript was taken from him ; but he pleaded so well and made such liberal promises of aid to those editors in producing their work, that he was permitted to resume his task. By in- credible diligence and dexterity, for the volume was subject to his inspection only forty-two hours altogether, he succeeded in collating the whole text and in making a transcript of twenty pages. But all these great labors, and all publications of this manuscript have now been largely superseded by the magnificent edition in five volumes, already referred to, reproducing \nfac simile every page of the codex. It is a splendid work, and was a worthy gift of the pope to the late World's Fair in 178 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH Chicago, where the volumes were exhibited in the convent of Santa Maria de la Rabida. The text is thus given to the world in all its completeness ; but the work upon the text done by the great critics before this publication loses none of its value thereby, but is only made more accessible and more intelligible on that account. The difficulty attending the study of this man- uscript in the past renders one item of its history of peculiar interest. In the year 1808, the papal dominions were made an appendage of the French empire. The conqueror, Napoleon I., caused many of the treasures of the Roman museums and libraries to be carried to Paris, and among them was this precious codex. Deposited in the French capital it might have been studied freely, had any scholar of the requisite skill been disposed to apply himself to the task. Such critics were not ready, however, and when Napoleon was overthrown at Waterloo in 1815, the manuscript with many other treasures in Paris was returned to Rome. If only Tregelles or Tischendorf could have seen the famous volume in red morocco before it went back to its seclusion, what years of the history of textual criticism might have been anticipated ! But in 1815, when the volume was sent back to Rome, Tregelles was only three years old, and Tischendorf, a baby of two years, was still the petted child of a humble home in lyengenfeld. THE TWO OLDEST GREEK MANUSCRIPTS 1 79 God has his own times in which his great pur- poses shall be accomplished. This is seen even more strangely in the in- tensely interesting story, now oft told, of the dis- covery of the other great authority of the fourth century, the Sinaitic Manuscript, X. Among all the wonderful achievements of Tisch- endorf, the finding and the publication of this doc- ument will ever hold the prominent place. Dur- ing all the years in which he gave himself to the critical study of the New Testament text, he was haunted by the thought that many libraries in the convents of the East must contain works of the greatest value in his department of labor, and he formed the project of journeying thither to explore the recesses of Greek, Coptic, Syrian, and Arme- nian monasteries. It was not until the year 1843 that he could put his plan into execution, and then only with difiiculty, on account of the poverty which harassed all of his earlier labors. But at length he was able to start, making it his first employment to examine many of the Euro- pean libraries, and it was at this time that he sought access to the Vatican manuscript as related. Sailing at last from Leghorn, in March, 1844, he arrived on the 4th of April at Alexandria, whence he proceeded to Cairo. Though he visited many conventual establishments in the vicinity, he found nothing of value, and he set out from Cairo l8o THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH on May I2tli for Suez and the Sinaitic Penin- sula. Near the base of Mt. Sinai stands the convent of St. Catherine, dating from the time of the By- zantine emperor, Justinian (a. d. 527-565), who protected the little church erected here by Helena, the mother of Constantine, by a fortification, and so endowed it that from this early time it has been an object of great interest, and has afforded hospitality to many travelers. According to the legend, St. Catherine, a virgin of noble birth and great attainments as a scholar, suffered martyrdom in Alexandria, November 25, 313, under the per- secution of Maximin. Five hundred years later her body was discovered, and angels transported it through the air from the scene of her cruel death to the top of a lofty peak near Sinai,where the pious monks of the convent received it and carried it down to its final resting-place within the walls. Up to this time the convent had been dedicated to the Transfiguration, but its name was now changed to St. Catherine. Here through many centuries the brotherhood has devoted itself to worship and quiet study, and a rich library has grown up in the course of time. Once the convent was the resort of many pil- grims, drawn thither on account of the sanctity of the spot, and chapels were erected within the walls for the various sects ; and it may be that THE TWO OLDEST GREEK MANUSCRIPTS l8l some of the literary treasures were brought by these pilgrims as an ofifering to the brotherhood. It is noteworthy, however, that the mouks have never made any considerable contribution to the cause of learning, and the strange ignorance and neglect found there by modern travelers has been the subject of much comment. Tischendorf arrived at St. Catherine's on the 24th of May.^ He describes his first view of the convent as very inviting, with its buttressed walls, and its fine gardens of cypress, pomegranate, and orange trees. The walls were without entrance except through a door elevated about forty feet from the ground. Arriving beneath this aperture, the Bedouins of his party gave utterance to shrill cries, and discharged a volley of musketry to announce the arrival to the inmates, who soon appeared above, and sought the name and creden- tials of the traveler. After considerable parley- ing these were found satisfactory, a rope was lowered, and Tischendorf was drawn up into the convent. He was allowed free access to the library, which was rich in manuscripts. For some time, how- ever, it seemed that his researches would be unre- warded by any discovery of value. At last his eye fell upon a large basket full of old parchments, standing on the floor, waiting to serve as kindlings 1" /^eise in den Orient'' (Leipzig, 1846) I, 2i6 seq. Q l82 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH when the next fire should require their use. Two basketfuls of similar fragments had aheady been employed for this purpose. But these mouldering leaves were destined to start a blaze of wonder and delight which should yet throw its glow over all the civilized world, for as Tischendorf turned over the pieces he found that there were a number of leaves of the Old Testament in Greek, which bore evidence of being more ancient than any he had ever seen. His quick exclamation and his trembling hands revealed somewhat of his feelings and threw suspicion into the minds of his watch- ful companions ; but they allowed him to appropri- ate a small portion of the fragments, consisting of forty-three leaves, though no persuasions could induce the monks to part with the remainder, which only a few moments before they had been so ready to burn. The scholar carried the rescued portions away to his cell, and found them to con- tain parts of I Chronicles, all of Nehemiah and Esther, parts of Jeremiah and Lamentations, and parts of the apocryphal books of Tobit and 2 Bsdras. He afterward added a copy of a single page containing text from Isaiah and Jeremiah, which he was enabled to make. All his efforts, however, to gain possession of the remainder of the manuscript met with failure. His satisfaction had been too plainly expressed, and the brother- hood had become convinced that they had in their THE TWO OI.DEST GREEK MANUSCRIPTS 1 83 hands a treasure which ought not to be lightly surrendered. Tischendorf was obliged to take his departure, content yet not content, with the forty- three leaves. This fragment, a small part only of the great manuscript which was destined to lie hidden yet many years, was borne to lyeipzig, where it was deposited in the University Library, and was named by its discoverer the Codex Friderico- Augustanus, in acknowledgment of the patronage of the king of Saxony, under which the Eastern journeys were conducted. Many years passed away, in which the labors of Tischendorf were unremitted, and many publi- cations of lasting value to students of the Bible were issued. But through all the pressure of these duties, he never forgot the treasure that had been left at Sinai, nor gave up the hope of one day getting possession of it. He made attempts to secure the manuscript through the intercession of a friend in Egypt, who was physician to the Viceroy, but the only response was : "The monks of the convent have learned the value of these sheets of parchment since your departure, and will not part with them at any price." But hope refused to die in the breast of the ardent scholar, and he determined to return to the East for the purpose of copying the document, if he could not secure the original. Accordingly, in February, 184 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH 1853, ^^ stood once more beneath the walls of tlie convent and was welcomed by the brotherhood. But the welcome did not mean success ; not the slightest trace of the coveted parchment could be found, and he was obliged to return to Europe. Tischendorf could not rest. Engaged in pre- paring a multitude of publications, he was haunted by the thought that somewhere^ however jealously guarded, was what he believed to be the most precious manuscript in the world. It might not be at St. Catherine's any longer. Perhaps the archbishop had demanded its removal to some securer depository. Perhaps it had been wholly lost through the carelessness of the ignorant monks. But so long as effort could be made to secure it, so long did the plan remain in the mind of Tischendorf to search further for it until he should learn with certainty that it could not be obtained. The convent at Sinai, like many other establish- ments of the kind in the East, was under the ecclesiastical system of the Greek Church, of which the Emperor of Russia is the nominal head. It was believed that if a journey were undertaken under the patronage of the Czar himself, that the authority of his commission would outweigh all other considerations with the custodians of libra- ries, and wherever the precious document might be hidden away it would be produced at the THE TWO OLDEST GREEK MANUSCRIPTS 1 85 imperial command. In the autumn of 1856 the scheme was broached at the Russian court, but many vexatious hindrances offered, and it was not till January, 1859, that Tischendorf was enabled to start once more for the convent at Sinai, this time armed with documents which must avail, if any could, in opening to him the most secret alcoves of the buildings. It should be remarked that, during the whole interval since his first jour- ney and notwithstanding the interest excited by the Codex Friderico-Augustanus, he had kept the secret of the place in which he had found it, hav- ing imparted it only to the two or three friends who aided him in his search. On the 31st of January, 1859, he entered the convent for the third time. The familiar rooms of the library were thrown open to him, and Cyril of Atlios, the custodian of the books, showed him every cour- tesy. Many valuable manuscripts, some of which he had not seen in his previous visits, were put into his hands ; but nowhere was the one treasure he desired, and every inquiry was met with sin- cere denials of its existence in the monastery. Tischendorf was forced to the conclusion that it had either been destroyed, or removed to some other library, and on the 4th of February he gave orders to his Bedouins to have the camels ready on the 7th to start for Cairo. On the afternoon of the same day he took a long walk with the stew- 1 86 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH ard of the convent, returning about sunset, and accepting an invitation to sup with the steward in his own apartment. They had been talking of their studies, and as they entered the steward said, "I too have been reading the Septuagint lately," and he went to a corner of the cell and brought a bulky volume, wrapped in a red cloth, and laid it in Tischendorf s hands. The scholar opened the book and saw at a glance that the wish of years was attained. But how much more than he had dared hope ! For here were indeed the fragments that he had left in the waste-basket fifteen years before, and also other parts of the Old Testament ; but, better than all, the whole of the New Testament, to which was added a copy of the Epistle of Barnabas and a part of the Shep- herd of Hermas, books not of canonical authority, but of great value among the earliest works of Christian authorship. With that night the German scholar began a task that was continued with never flagging zeal during the next fourteen years. He concealed his feelings as well as he could, profiting by his former experience, and asked carelessly if he might take the volume to his room to examine it a little more leisurely. Permission was readily granted, and after the supper he hastened to depart. Once in his cell alone, he gave way to unchecked expressions of his joy. " I knew," he THE TWO OLDEST GREEK MANUSCRIPTS 187 says, *' that I held in my hands the most precious biblical treasure in existence — a document whose age and importance exceeded that of any of the manuscripts J had ever examined during twenty years' study of the subject. I cannot now, I con- fess, recall all the emotions which I felt in that exciting moment, with such a diamond in my possession." There was no sleep for him that night. By the dim light of a candle he set to work to copy the Bpistle of Barnabas, the original Greek of which had never been discovered before, and which was known only through a Latin trans- lation. Early the next morning he applied to the steward for permission to take the manuscript to Cairo to have it copied in full ; but the steward had no authority to grant such a favor, and the prior had just departed for Cairo upon his way to Constantinople to share in the election of a new archbishop. Tischendorf at once started to over- take him. The Russian flag was hoisted and a salute fired as the scholar rode away. He found the prior at Cairo, and his consent was readily gained, and at the end of nine days the book, brought by a special messenger with a swift dromedary, was once more in Tischendorf s pos- session. With the aid of two German friends, and with almost incredible toil, the whole manuscript was copied within the space of two months. But l88 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH Tischendorf now treasured the hope that the origi- nal itself might be transferred to Europe. A young Englishman, who learned of the precious document, offered to buy it ; but the prior of the monastery said that the brotherhood preferred to give it to the Russian emperor. This was just what Tischendorf desired, but the consent of the new archbishop must be obtained before the trans- fer could be effected, and the archbishop was not yet elected. Unfortunately, there were many difficulties connected with the election, and a long delay ensued ; but Tischendorf was enabled to assist in the settlement of the dispute, and at last he sailed for Europe with the Sinaitic manuscript and many other treasures in his possession. Now followed the labor of preparing an edition of the codex in fac simile. The work was pub- lished in 1862 in four volumes, and copies were sent by imperial gift to the great institutions of learning and libraries throughout the world. Subsequently copies were sold, and several of them are to be seen in America. Without pausing to notice the honors that poured in upon the great scholar, whose sagacity and perseverance had accomplished so great a work, we must pass to a brief description of the manuscript itself. The Sinaitic Codex has three hundred and forty-six and a half leaves, thirteen and a half THE TWO OLDEST GREEK MANUSCRIPTS 1 89 inches wide by nearly fifteen inches long. One hundred and ninety-nine of these leaves contain parts of the Old Testament, with the poetical por- tions written (stichometrically) in two columns upon a page, but the other pages with four col- umns. The New Testament is complete, and with the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hennas occupies the remainder of the volume. The parchment is of a very fine quality — Tisch- endorf says it is made from the skins of young antelopes — and the text is written in beautiful uncial letters, without accents or breathings, with no spaces between the words and no large initials. The margins have the Ammonian sections and Eusebian canons. Tischendorf declared that he could detect the corrections of at least ten difier- ent revisers, extending over a period ending in the twelfth century. It should be said in conclusion that modern travelers are often misled by the discontent which they find at the convent of St. Catherine, the monks complaining that their most precious liter- ary treasure was taken from them by some trick- ery, and assertions in books of travel are not infre- quent to the efiect that the great Tischendorf did not deal quite fairly with the monks, who had re- ceived him to their hospitality. Dr. Philip SchafF, in his introduction to the first volume of Westcott and Hort's New Testament in Greek, says that 190 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH in 1877 lie was at the convent, and mentioned the name of Tischendorf, when ''the sub-prior kindled up in indignation," and said that "he had stolen their greatest treasure on the pretext of a temporary loan " ; and when reminded of the splendid new silver shrine given to the monastery by the Emperor of Russia in exchange for the manuscript, only answered that "they did not want the silver, but the manuscript " — the manu- script which these monks could not read, and were at one time ready to throw into the fire. The facts of the case seem to be that at first the document was taken "as a loan," Tischendorf himself having recorded that fact. But later negotiations ensued, which resulted in a change of the loan to a .gift, and the transfer of the book was perfectly fair and conclusive. It may be that the rank and file of the brotherhood of St. Cather- ine never knew all the steps, perhaps not the con- cluding steps, of the transaction ; the real author- ity to transfer the manuscript rested in other hands than theirs, and the document consigning it to the Emperor of Russia was duly signed by Archbishop Callistratos, as well as by the fathers of the monasteries of St. Catherine and Cairo. In addition, the archbishop wrote letters to Tisch- endorf, thanking him hi the name of the brother- hood for his kind endeavors in their behalf. Whatever misunderstanding may still prevail at THE TWO OLDEST GREEK MANUSCRIPTS 19I the convent, it is clear that the principals engaged in the transaction are free from reproach.^ Tisch- endorf was aware of the aspersions upon his integrity, and indignantly answered them in his work, " Die Sinaibibel^ Ihre Entdeckiuig^ Heraus- gabe^ und Erwerbung^^'' pp. 91, 92. So did this priceless volume come forth from the obscurity of ages, henceforth to be regarded by Christian scholars as sharing with the Codex Vaticanus the first place in the ranks of all the witnesses to the original text of the Scriptures. Its value as compared with that of the Vatican manuscript is variously estimated, and perhaps it is impossible to tell which is the more important. In one respect at least the Codex found at Mount Sinai stands in the lead : it contains the New Testament complete, while the Vatican Codex 1 Mrs, Lewis in her journal published in the volume " How the Codex was Found," that is, the new codex of the Gospels in Syriac, repeats that Tischendorf got the Sinaitic manuscript " not without guile," and that his success has left to this day unpleasant remem- brances and suspicions in the minds of the brotherhood ; and even Prof. J. Rendel Harris in his " Biblical Fragments from Mt. Sinai," p. 4, writes : " In 1857, ihe Sinaitic Codex was still lying in its time-honored retreat, where in fact it would be to-day, if the ordinary conventions concerning the rights of property had been scrupulously regarded." But Prof. C. R. Gregory, in his Prolegomena to Tischen- dorfs N. T. (Part I., p. 351), gives the letters from the Russian gov- ernment and from the archbishop and representative brethren of the monks themselves, which establish the truth as we have presented it above. ^> 192 THfi; PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH has suffered many mutilations. It is indeed won- derful that a discovery, the whole history of which covers a period of at least fifteen years, should have resulted so happily at last, that not mere fragments, but a noble volume brings its testi- mony to the text of the Christian Scriptures. The finding of the codex was a great achieve- ment of man ; its preservation a marked provi- dence of God. There is a tradition that the first Christian em- peror, Constantine, commanded Busebius to have prepared fifty splendid copies of the Greek Script- ures, which he might present to the principal churches and monasteries of Christendom. The finest materials were to be used and only the best workmen were to be employed ; and when the volumes were completed they were to be trans- ported from Csesarea to Constantinople in govern- ment wagons under strong escort. These manu- scripts were inspected by the emperor himself, and then distributed according to his original purpose. It has been believed by some, and it is said that Tischendorf was at one time among the number, that the Sinaitic and Vatican codices may have been, if not of the original copies made by the royal command, yet only one remove from them. However this may be, it is quite certain that both these manuscripts came from an antiquity which would make such origin possible. The differences THE TWO OLDEST GREEK MANUSCRIPTS 1 93 in their text, however, seem to show that they are not so intimately related to each other ; and though Tischendorf gave it as his decided opinion, that the two manuscripts are not only of about the same age with the greater antiquity, if there is any difference, on the side of the Sinaitic Codex, but that the same scribe who wrote B is one of the four who wrote K ; other scholars doubt the latter conclusion. ]\Iany, as Tregelles, Scrivener, and Westcott and Hort believe that B is somewhat older than >^, and the last named editors give the preference in general to its readings, while they consider the agreement of the two documents of prime authority. R XII THE GREAT UNCIALS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY T ^EN manuscripts dating from the fifth century are extant, known as follows : Codex Alexandrinus, sign A. Codex Ephraemi, sign C. Codex Guelpherbytanus B, sign Q. Codex Borgianus I. , sign T. Codex Woidii, sign T^°^ Codex Tischendorfianus II., sign V' ^' ^ Codex Musei Britannici, sign I^ Codex Porfirianus Chiovensis, sign Q^ °' ^ Of these codices, with the exception of A and C, little need be said in this chapter. Q is a palimpsest consisting of only thirteen leaves, con- taining two hundred and thirty-five verses of lyuke and John. T is a fragment containing one hundred and seventy-seven verses from the same Gospels. T"^"', a distinct manuscript but very similar to T, has also parts of the third and fourth Gospels. I represents seven different fragments of palimpsests, of which the first three belong to this century, and the others to the sixth 194 ,*<^«,, ^ • '>! '^-^ "''Wt I , ! ; i S .9 S S PQ 4) "^ fan J 'S ^ 0.S GREAT UNCIALS OF FIFTH CENTURY 1 95 and seventh. P, in the British Museum, con- sists of four leaves of a volume brought from the Nitrian desert, a palimpsest in which passages from the fourth Gospel are written over with hymns of Severus in Syriac. Qp"'^^ ^^ ^j^^ library of Archibishop Porfiri of St. Petersburg, is a papyrus document containing a few fragments of I Cor. I : 6, 7. All of these codices are of im- portance, but the two great manuscripts of this century are A and C. The Alexandrine manuscript A, as already re- marked upon a previous page, is of special interest as the first of all the great codices which was crit- ically studied and applied to the correction of the received text. It was presented to Charles I., in 1628, by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, who brought it from Egypt. When the British Museum was established in 1753, it was sent im- mediately to this depository from the Royal col- lection, and it may be seen there to-day, preserved in a glass case with the leaves of the New Testa- ment open for inspection, though no hand is allowed to touch it except in rare instances and for the purposes of scholarly investigation. It is in four volumes, the last containing the New Tes- tament with many defects, beginning only with the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew, at ver. 6 ; and the others, the Septuagint of the Old Testa- ment. At the close of the New Testament is 196 the: parchments of thk faith appended a work of rare value, for a long time the only extant copy of the earliest of the Apostolic Fathers, the Epistle of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians, together with a fragment of a second epistle, whose authorship is more doubtful. As to the exact origin of this manuscript noth- ing can be positively determined, except that it is Egyptian and probably Alexandrian. Notes upon the volumes assert that a Saint Thecla copied the whole with her own hand, but this is not likely for various reasons ; and the supposition of Tre- gelles is probably correct, that this legend of its origin arose from the fact that the first remaining page of the New Testament held the appointed lesson in the Greek church for the festival of St. Thecla, for this Scripture is in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew ; and perhaps the saint's name may once have been written at the top of the page, for the margins have been somewhat nar- rowed in the binding, and the name may thus have disappeared. The vellum of this ancient book is well pre- served, though in many places age has crumbled the leaves. The letters of the text are larger, rounder, and more elegant uncials than those of the Vatican Codex. There are no spaces between the words, no accents or breathings, and but few cases of punctuation or abbreviation. The text is divided into sections, however, which are noted in GREAT UNCIALS OF FIFTH CENTURY 1 97 the margin. This is the oldest manuscript with capital letters by the first hand. In several places at the beginning of books the first line is written in vermillion. Each page has two columns, each of fifty lines, with about twenty letters to the line. The first seven verses of John's Gospel put into corresponding English would present an ap- pearance as follows, serving to illustrate the large initials, and also a singular way in which a new section is marked by a break in the middle of a line, the first letter of the next line being large, like an initial, though it occurs in the middle of a word. Several contractions also occur, marked by the horizontal line drawn over the letters. 1 NTHEBEGINNINGWASTHEVVORD AND THEWORDWASWITHGD -ANDGDWAS THEWORD -HEWASINTHEBEGINNING WITHGDAIvETHINGSBYHIMWERE MADE • ANDWITHOUTHIMWASM ADE NOTONETHINGTHATWASMADEINHIM LIFEWAS-ANDTHELIFEWASTHE LIGHTOFMNANDTHEIvIGHTlNTHE DARKNESSSHINETH-ANDTHEDARK RNESSITNOTCOMPREHENDED THE EWASAMNSENTFROMGDTHENAMEOF HIMWASJOHN -THISONECAME FORAWITNESSTHATHEMIGHTWIT NESSCONCERNINGTHEIvIGHT- 198 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE EAlTH The principal editions of this manuscript are that of Woide in 1786, and a splendid autotype fac simile in 1879-80, from which our illustration, page 138, is reduced. By far the most important of the biblical pal- impsests is the Codex C, or the Codex of Eph- raem the Syrian, now deposited in the National I/ibrary at Paris. Some time in the fifth cen- tury the volume was first made, containing prob- ably the whole of the Old and New Testaments. Where the book was used and how cared for none may now tell, though it was doubtless made in Egypt, and the hands of revisers indicate that it was long in Alexandria, or in the possession of some one who had been educated in the Alexan- drian schools. In the twelfth, perhaps the thir- teenth, century the writing was erased with a sponge, and in its place several works of Ephraem, a bishop and celebrated preacher who lived at Edessa in the fourth century, were written upon the vellum. For this purpose the leaves were taken without any reference to their original positions in the biblical volume. It resulted that when the older writing began to appear again it was found to be in a most confused state. There were large omissions of the sacred text ; passages widely separated in the Scripture were found in juxta- position ; leaves were often upside down. The book as it now exists contains two hundred and GREAT UNCIALS OF FIFTH CENTURY 1 99 forty-nine leaves in all, one hundred and forty-five of which belong to the New Testament. But the whole of the second Epistle of John, the whole of the second Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians, thirty-seven chapters of the Gospels, ten of the Acts, forty-two of the Epistles, and eight of the Revelation are wanting. But the text which re- mains ranks high as a critical authority, and the manuscript is one of the greatest literary treasures of Christendom. The book was first brought to Europe by Johan- nes lyascaris, who had devoted much toil to the examination of libraries in the East. From his collection, after he died at Rome in 1535, it passed into the hands of Cardinal Nicola Ridolfi, of Flo- rence, and then, with his whole library, it was bought by Pietro Strozzi. Then the famous fam- ily of the Medici added it to their treasures, and it was carried by Catharine de Medici to France, that she might regale her spiritual life upon the sermons of Ephraem, which it contained. All this time the existence of the older and more precious writing remained unsuspected ; but in the latter part of the seventeenth century, Peter Allix, a careful student working in the Royal I/ibrary, to which the book had been transferred, thought he saw traces of a text beneath that of Ephraem. It was very faint, but closer investi- gation proved it to be there. The discovery 200 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH caused much interest among scholars. Several passages were deciphered and were used in the reprint of Mill's Greek Testament, which ap- peared in 1710. In 1830, Ivachmann, a celebrated German critic, said that if any Parisian had the courage for the task, he could immortalize his name by deciphering and publishing the text of this Codex. Capperonier, a former head of the library had declared that no mortal could read the old writing. In 1834, a chemical preparation known as the Giobertine Tincture was applied to about one hundred leaves, bringing out the writ- ing somewhat more clearly, but spotting the pages badly. After this was done a critic named Fleck succeeded in reading many pages hitherto unde- cipherable. But in 1840, Tischendorf went to Paris and applied himself to the work with his characteristic skill, energy, and perseverance. From December of that year to September of 1 84 1 he worked assiduously, and in December of 1842 the results were published. The great scholar had been successful in reading almost every word.^ and he had noted even the revisions of the manuscript, announcing that no less than four hands had been employed to bring the text to its present condition, though the work of the fourth was very rare. It is one of the greatest of Tischendorf 's great achievements, and the work has added largely to our knowledge of the sacred text. XIII A CORRUPT CODEX AND AN ILI^USTRATED MAN- USCRIPT (Sixth Century) WITH the sixth century the number of the uncial manuscripts increases to twenty- four ; then in the two following centuries it falls off somewhat strangely to nine in the seventh and eight in the eighth ; in the ninth century the number rises again to thirty-four ; but in the tenth it is dimin- ished to six. Very many of these manuscripts are mere fragments. Of those of the sixth century two of considerable importance are selected for description in this chapter, one especially inter- esting on account of its many interpolations ; the other as being the earliest illustrated manuscript extant. Codex Bezae, or D, is known also as the Co- dex Cantabrigiensis, because Beza, its discoverer, presented it to the University of Cambridge, Eng- land, where it is now the chief treasure of the library. Theodore Beza was a man eminent in the sixteenth century as a preacher, professor, 202 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH and reformer. Karly in his career he was ban- ished with other Protestants from France, but afterward he returned and among the attendants of Coligni became widely known as a man of learning. In 1562, he obtained this manuscript from a monastery in Ivyons. It has been conject- ured that it was rescued from the flames when the city was sacked by the Huguenots under the Baron of Adrets, and that its preserver gave it to Beza, as at once a token of esteem and a compliment to his learning. Beza collated portions of the Codex for his own use, but in 1581 transferred it to the university, where it is now treasured. Codex Bezae dates from the sixth century, though some have thought it should be placed in the fifth. It is thus of much importance in text- ual criticism. It is a large quarto volume of four hundred and fifteen leaves, now very elegantly bound. Originally there were five hundred and twelve leaves. Nine of the leaves preserved do not belong to the original volume, but are as late as the tenth century. The Codex contains the Gospels and the Acts with omissions, and the order of the Gospels is Matthew, John, lyuke, and Mark. The text is composed of square upright uncials in a single column upon the left hand page, while a L^atin translation, by the same hand which wrote the Greek, occupies the right hand page. There are no spaces, accents, or breathings ; A CORRUPT CODEX 203 but punctuation appears more frequently in the I^atin than in the Greek. This manuscript affords a good example of stichometrical writing — the text being so arranged that only a few words are contained in each line, to assist the reader in pronunciation and in dividing the text according to the sense with more ease than when the words have no spaces between them. This manuscript is the oldest which contains the passage relating the story of the woman taken in adultery (John 7 : 53-8 : 11). The Canterbury Revision puts this passage in brackets, with the note that most of the ancient authorities omit it, while those which contain it vary much from each other. But that it appears in this codex is evi- dence of an extremely early origin for the story and its incorporation in the Gospel, though doubt- less it was not written by the inspired author. The Acts contain no less than six hundred inter- polations, more or less extensive. In the second Gospel one passage occurs only in this codex, fol- lowing Luke 6 : 4, on the leaf usually kept open at Cambridge for the inspection of visitors. It runs thus : * ' On the same day he beheld a certain man working on the Sabbath, and said unto him, Man, blessed art thou if thou knowest what thou doest, but if thou knowest not, thou art cursed and a transgressor of the law." 204 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH "I was present," says Dr. Scrivener, "when this passage was shown at Cambridge to a learned Greek Archimandrite, Philippos Schulati, of Kus- tandje. He had never heard either of it or of the manuscript before, but after a moment's thought his comment was ready : ' This cannot be ; the lyord cursed no man.' " Codex Bezae is known by the sign D. The same letter is also applied to a copy of Paul's Epistles, No. 107 of the National I^ibrary in Paris, called the Codex Claromontanus, from Clermont in the north of France, where it was discovered by Beza twenty years after the more famous man- uscript, so often called by his own name, came into his possession. An extremely interesting manuscript of the sixth century is the superb codex discovered by the German scholars, Oscar von Gebhardt, of Gottin- gen, and Adolph Harnack, now of Berlin, who were pursuing researches in the interest of the Univer- sity of Leipzig, already so rich in ancient docu- ments through the labors of Tischendorf and others. They were on their way, in March of the year 1879, ^^ ^^^ island of Sicily, when they diverged from their course to visit the little town of Rossano, a few miles from the shore of the Gulf of Taranto, which sets up into the southern coast of Italy. They hoped to find traces of certain writings of Hippolytus and others, which had A CORRUPT CODEX 205 been reckoned among the treasures of the convent that had formerly stood just outside the town. In this respect, however, they were doomed to dis- appointment. No one could show them any such books ; no one could tell them of libraries where they might be hidden. Finally, they received a hint of a certain an- cient volume that was in the possession of the Archbishop. They immediately proceeded to the episcopal residence, where they were courteously received, and their request to see the book was cordially granted. Conducted to the library, they were shown a thick quarto volume in a stout binding of black leather. Monsignor Pietro Cilento, the archbishop, laid it before them and opened it, turning leaf after leaf. What was their amazement to see that it was an elegant purple manuscript of the Gospels, with double columns of silver text upon each page, the fii^st three lines of each Gospel written in gold, and with a large number of miniatures, or illustrations, interspersed, still preserving the rich and vivid colors. It was evidently of the sixth centur>', or, at the latest, the early part of the seventh. Doctors Gebhardt and Harnack begged permission to study the volume at length, and they devoted several weeks of residence at Rossano to collating the text and making fac similes of the pages for future publi- cation. Upon their return to Leipzig they issued 2o6 THK PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH a thin quarto containing a description of the volume, the circumstances attending its preserva- tion and discovery, and tracings of many of its plates. They gave it the sign I. The Codex Rossanensis has one hundred and eighty-eight leaves of vellum, containg the whole of the first Gospel, and all of Mark's to the middle of the fourteenth verse of the last chapter. It cannot be determined how much Scripture was originally contained in the volume, though it is likely that it had the Gospels complete. It now contains, in addition to Matthew and Mark, an epistle of Busebius to Carpianus, the chirography showing that it was not written by the same hand as the biblical portion. As already remarked, the document is of only secondary importance for the criticism of the text of the New Testament, since it agrees mainly with the manuscripts of the fifth and later centuries, rather than with those of the fourth. The discoverers state that the text is an agreement, to a surprising degree, with that of Codex N, which is mentioned below, that other purple manuscript written in silver and gold, which was the most important of all thus adorned until this treasure-trove came to light at Rossano. This manuscript is the earliest but one to con- tain the words at the close of the Lord's Prayer in Matt. 6 : 14 : " For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen. ' ' See, how- A CORRUPT CODEX 207 ever, page 278 of this book for earlier evidence of this doxology. But the remarkable pictures in this volume make it of the greatest interest not only to the art-historian, but even to the casual reader. In the book published at lycipzig, by the discoverers, after two purple plates showing passages of the text in/ac simile^ and certain signs of contractions and marginal helps to the reading, seventeen out- line plates follow, showing the title-page to the whole volume, an ornamental circle enclosing miniatures of the four evangelists, and also the title-page to the second Gospel. If we take ex- amples of the pictures, we may speak especially of the entry into Jerusalem, with the Saviour seated upon the ass, the people strewing clothing and palms in the way, one man still up in the palm tree gathering the boughs, and on the ex- treme right, the city of Jerusalem with the people leaning forth from w^indows and towers and the children singing hosannas before the gate. Another plate shows Judas carrying back the thirty pieces of silver to the two high priests, while in the sa^ne picture^ at the extreme right, the same traitor is seen hanging from the bough of a tree. This synchronous method of representing consecutive actions is also employed in the plate which shows the agony in Gethsemane, for at the right the Saviour bows in prayer alone, and at the left he 208 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH is waking the three disciples from their sleep. Two plates show the method in which the I^ord's Supper was administered in the sixth century, the disciples going in procession to receive the ele- ments from the I^ord's hands, while another plate gives the original form with the whole company- reclining upon couches around a semi-circular table, Judas reaching forth his hand to fulfill the lyord's word, " Whosoever dippeth with me in the dish, the same shall betray me." The cleansing of the temple gives us an interesting indication of the date of the manuscript, for the rude sketch of the temple, hardly more than a mere shed, gives a composite structure in which two of the columns are Doric, and the third a perfect instance of the Corinthian. The artist must have had be- fore his eye those churches, of which some ex- amples are yet to be seen in Italy, that had drawn upon the ruins of the old heathen temples for their adornment. As lyiibke has shown in his history of art, this heterogeneous architecture, growing out of poverty of such materials, belongs to a comparatively late date. The earlier attempts to change the old basilicas into churches, and to construct new buildings like them, found a great wealth of spoils from the ruined heathen temples, which enabled the builders to use, for instance, all Doric or all Corinthian pillars in the same colonnade. But '' the later the date, the poorer, "mm, :pi>0--ij^ w t ¥^-. m -••^^js J Jesus Cleansing the Temple and The Good Samaritan. ^From the Codex Rossanensis. > Page 2C A CORRUPT CODKX 209 ruder, and more heterogeneous they become," and the same arcade exhibits the most varied styles and materials crowded together. It is evi- dent, therefore, that this picture must have been drawn after this kind of architecture had become known, and no matter how early the text of this codex must be placed, this one picture would be sufficient to prove that the artist who illuminated the volume must have done his work at a period approximate to the date assigned by the discoverers. Text and plates agree in marking the time at which the book was made. We have chosen for our reproduction of these outlines two plates, the one showing the cleansing of the temple to which reference has just been made. The other illustrates the parable of the good Samaritan, and is an instance of the double picture. The good Samaritan, evidently con- ceived by the artist to be the Saviour himself, is ministering to the wounded man, and an angel is introduced to assist him. Then in the right-hand part of the picture the concluding part of the parable is depicted ; the rescued man is sitting upon the ass, and the rescuer is paying the money into the hand of the inn-keeper. The art is rude both in conception and execution but the meaning of the pictures appears at once. Shortly after the discovery of the Codex Ros- sanensis a rumor went abroad that a similar 210 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH document had been discovered, and in 1881 an account of it was published by the Abbe Duchesne in the ''''Bulletin Critique ^^^ of Paris. The new manuscript proved to be indeed very similar to the one found at Rossano. It contained the Gos- pels of Matthew and Mark, and was written in silver letters upon purple vellum. The Abb^ Duchesne had learned of the existence of this book while he was in the Isle of Patmos studying a few important leaves of another purple codex, and upon his return to Europe he sent another scholar, M. Pierre BatifFol, to find it if he could. It was found at Berat in the interior of Albania, and is in the possession of the Archbishop Anthimus Alexoudis, who had written an account of it pre- vious to its announcement to European scholars. It has been given the sign ^. M. Batifibl as- signs the codex to the sixth century, but Prof. J. R. Harris thinks the date too early by perhaps a century, which may also be the case, he thinks, with the Codex Rossanensis. This new codex has a text of much higher character than I^ and be- longs probably to the so-called Ferrar group of manuscripts, which are supposed to have been de- rived from a common lost original of great value. Occasionally it adds a considerable passage which has only survived in a few other very ancient and rich authorities, like Codex Bezae, or the Cu- retonian Syriac, and it is thus seen to be of great A CORRUPT CODEX 211 importance. It belongs to the Church of St. George at Berat. Like the Codex Rossanensis, it has two cohimns to a page, with seventeen lines to a column. Tables of chapters, and Eusebian and Ammonian sections are marked in the usual way. It is not complete even in the two Gospels it contains, for it begins with Matthew 6 : 3 and ends with Mark 14 : 62. Other manuscripts were also found at Berat : a fine cursive of the eleventh century, containing the Gospels ; another cursive of the Gospels, of the twelfth century ; a splendid purple manuscript of the Gospels, with gold let- ters, the writing in a single column to a page and upon four hundred and thirteen leaves, probably dating from the tenth century. Two other fine cursives were also found by i\I. Batiffol. ' ' Six new manuscripts in all, and one of them — a lion ! ' ' How many more may yet remain hidden in this distant region, who may say ? After the sixth century, many documents of much importance are extant. One such codex as the fa- mous L, of the eighth century, the Codex Regius, is royal indeed, though of rude workmanship and much injured by use. '' By far the most remark- able document of its age and class," says Scriv- ener of it, and its authority is high among the witnesses to the text. But other manuscripts must be passed in silence, except as very peculiar char- acteristics are to be noticed. XIV CURIOUS FRAGMENTS AND DISCOVERIES THE ignorance and carelessness of some of the custodians of these documents in the monas- teries of the Bast can hardly be credited. It has already been narrated how the invaluable Codex Sinai ticus was barely saved from the flames at St. Catherine's, and the practice of washing out the ink to replace the older text with a new one in the palimpsests shows the same lack of appre- ciation of the value of the documents. Many pages might be written detailing similar careless- ness, and showing the skill that in later times has discovered and rescued valuable treasures, but only a few instances can be given here. The Codex N, or the Purple Manuscript, as it is called, because for a long time it was the most important text in our possession written upon pur- ple vellum, is in four parts. Many manuscripts have been discovered thus made of beautifully dyed skins, and with the text in silver letters. Codex N has the names of the deity, wherever they occur, written in gold, but the main body of the text, which was once silver, is now turned black with age. Coming down to us from the CURIOUS FRAGMENTS AND DISCOVERIES 2 13 latter part of the sixth century, it is no wonder that it has suffered dilapidation in the long inter- val. Four leaves found their way at an early day into the British Museum, and were collated by Wetstein on his visit to England in 17 15. Six leaves belong to the Vatican Library, and were first published in full by Tischendorf in 1846, and were shown by him to belong to the same manu- script. Two leaves had long been known in Vienna, and had received attention from several scholars, who had published imperfect collations of the fragment. In or about the year 1864, Sakke- lion discovered at the monastery of St. John, in Patmos, thirty-three other leaves containing parts of Mark's Gospel, and clearly belonging to the same document. Probably the fewer leaves so widely scattered in London, Vienna, and Rome, were stolen from Patmos, and had been hastily disposed of by the thief as his opportunities oc- curred. The Abb^ Duchesne, already referred to as the discoverer of the Purple Manuscript Beratinus, was in Patmos studying this Codex N when he was first told of Beratinus. There he collated the fragments discovered in 1864, render- ing an invaluable assistance to our knowledge of Codex Purpureus by these labors, so that now these widely separated fragments are as well understood as if they were united in their original form. 214 I^HB PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH Another instance that bears tribute to the skill of modern scholarship is the identification of two fragments as parts of one document, though sep- arated by the distance between lyondon and Ham- burg. Two folio leaves containing parts of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and written in bright red ink, whence they were called the Codex Ruber, or Red Manuscript, M^, were in the Public lyi- brary of Hamburg. There the great scholar Gries- bach became acquainted with them. In the British Museum, among the Harleian collection, was a volume of comparatively little value, and in the preparation of this volume some ancient vellum had been used for fly-leaves. When Griesbach visited I^ondon, he at once recognized these fly- leaves, covered with the peculiar red writing, as fellows of the Codex M^ upon the continent. He collated them and published the results. They contained parts of the first and second Corinthians, making the whole number of verses in both frag- ments one hundred and ninety-six. Tischendorf afterward discovered another leaf Perhaps the most wonderful exhibition of skill is shown in the rescue of four leaves of Mark's Gospel, at Trinity College, Cambridge. These leaves were in twenty-seven different pieces^ and had been employed in the binding of a volume of the works of Gres^ory of Nazianzus. The librarian of the University, Mr. Bradshaw, detected the ^'3 CURIOUS FRAGMENTS AND DISCOVERIES 215 true character of the fragments, picked them out of the binding, arranged them in order between sheets of glass, and so preserved to us a valuable reading of several verses of Mark, from the early part of the ninth century. This codex, W^, in its present condition has been photographed and published, and our illustration shows two of the four leaves as they are restored. The text is very similar to Codices K, B, D, L,, J, and one reading, Mark 7 : 33, appears to be unique : ' ' He took him aside from the multitude privately and spat upon his fingers, and put them into the ears of the deaf man, and he touched the tongue of the man of thick speech." It is not infrequent that the bindings of books have thus employed valuable fragments, probably in a multitude of cases eluding discovery, and in many instances almost depriving us of them, but yielding them up at last. Codex O, or Mosquen- sis, at Moscow, is composed of eight leaves thus used in binding Chrysostom's "Homilies" ; and the Codex Coislinianus of Paul's epistles, the whole number of leaves now known being twenty- nine, was also rescued from the binding of other books. This codex is widely separated : twelve leaves are in Paris, two at Moscow, four in one library and two in another at St. Petersburg, and nine are at Mount Athos. Many other instances might be given, but these 2l6 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH are sufficient to show how ignorant or careless the custodians of these documents were in the Middle Ages, and how skillful modern scholarship is in discovering and making use of what has been so nearly lost. Narratives are told by travelers of the strange confusion and neglect observable in Eastern monasteries to-day where the search for valuable documents has been prosecuted. A scholar/ who visited a convent in the Nitrian Desert, in Egypt, was shown a sort of vaulted cellar, whose only entrance was through a trap in the floor above, and the unlighted apartment was heaped with old volumes and loose leaves of every description. The monks gave him a candle and a stick, and he was left to stir up the rubbish as he pleased, pursuing investigations which resulted in the discovery of several valuable works of vari- ous kinds. Another traveler, having a curiosity to see the monks at their devotions, was roused early from sleep, and going to the chapel found its floor dotted at regular intervals with huge books. Wondering what they could mean, he was soon satisfied by seeing the bare-footed monks enter for their matins, each one jumping up on a book to keep his feet from contact with the cold stone floor while he prayed. The traveler de- parted, had some warm hassocks made and sent ^ Archdeacon Tattam, as more particularly related on a later page, the " Curetonian Syriac Version.' ' CURIOUS FRAGMENTS AND DISCOVERIES 21/ back to the convent, for which the monks were quite wilHng to exchano^e their ancient vohiines. Still another scholar details the rescue of certain scraps of manuscript which had been kept only to cover the mouths of pickle-jars. With such treatment the only wonder is that so many precious fragments have been delivered from oblivion, and are now contributing to our knowl- edge of the Scriptures, and of other departments of learning. Two other codices, of the sixth century, may be mentioned merely. Both are palimpsests. In the year 1847, about forty manuscripts of a large number that had been found by Archdeacon Tattam in the convents of the Nitrian Desert, in Egypt, were placed in the British jNIuseum, and were entrusted to the care of a discerning scholar, the Rev. William Cureton. One of these docu- ments was discovered to be a palimpsest of much importance. Two ancient works had been ex- punged for the sake of providing vellum for a new treatise, a work of Severus of Antioch, against Grammaticus. The two older works were por- tions of the Iliad with a fragment of Euclid, and a part of the Gospel of Luke. This fragment of the Gospel was studied by Tregelles and Tischen- dorf, and at the suggestion of the latter was given the sign R. Canon Cureton published it in 1858, with a translation and valuable notes. It 2l8 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH is said that the older text is so very faint that it can only be read upon a bright day, and with a very powerful lens to bnng out certain portions that are unusually obscure. In some places the erased writing can only be discerned by holding the page between the eye and the light, and catching thus the marks of the stylus where the vellum was scratched by it a little thinner than elsewhere. The detection of such a text testifies to the exceeding skill of the scholars. Among this lot of manuscripts were also found the Syriac Gospels, which are known by the name of the Curetonian Syriac, of which mention will again be made under the head of versions. The only other palimpsest of which special mention may here be made is the Codex Dublin- ENSiS, Z. As its name indicates it is in Dub- lin, in the librar}^ of Trinity College. It contains, in addition to a part of the prophecy of Isaiah and certain orations of Gregory of Nazianzus, a large portion of the Gospel of Matthew. Dr. Barrett, a Fellow of the college, was one day examining the manuscript when he thought he discerned very faint traces of letters beneath the principal text. A more careful inspection con- vinced him and others of the truth of his dis- covery, and after long study Dr. Barrett published an edition of the New Testament portion in 1801. The work was unsatisfactory, however, and in CURIOUS FRAGMENTS AND DISCO VKRIES 219 1853, Tregelles devoted himself to the task. The same chemical process that had been used on the Codex Ephraem was applied with perfect success, and the older text became plainly legible. The value of this codex is great, since it dates from the sixth century. Several fragments were found in 1889, by Pro- fessor Harris, at Mt. Sinai, which are of great antiquity, and are the merest fractions of former splendid books. In his work, '' Biblical Frag- ments from Mt. Sinai," he gives an account of these curious and valuable bits of text, as well as of the more considerable portions of Scripture dis- covered. A single leaf containing two verses of Numbers thirty-two, dates from the seventh cen- tury ; a few words are rescued that are very simi- lar to the Vatican Codex, and are undoubtedly of the fourth century, while a separate page with passages from Judges and Ruth, also from the fourth century, probably belongs to the same original document as the other of that date. Nine little fragments are nailed upon a board and make a document of value, the ver}- delicate writing being on extremely thin vellum, and dat- ing from the fourth century. Thus shreds and fragments are of use in their testimony to the sacred text. XV THE CURSIVES OR MINUSCUI.ES T N an earlier chapter (IX.) it was said that the ■■- manuscripts are divided into two great classes, according to the characters in which they are written. Thus far attention has been given only to uncials. The second class is composed of cursives or minuscules^ written in a current, small letter. The change from one style of writing to the other was gradual. The capitals became less elegantly made; they were a little inclined, then became smaller ; and finally a distinct method was employed in which the characters could be written far more easily and rapidly, the small letters of ordinary literature. All manuscripts written thus are of comparatively late date, not earlier in any case than the ninth century. They are very numerous, and a few of them are of great importance. Only about one hundred and fifty have been fully collated, although many more have been subjected to careful study. The cur- sives are distinguished by the Arabic numerals, as Codex 33, Codex 61. It is impossible to give a complete list of them in these pages, but such a list with much information concerning each that 220 THE CURSIVES OR MINUSCULES 221 has been published will be found in the fourth edition of Scrivener's " Plain Introduction." The second part of Dr. C. R. Gregory's ''Prolego- mena" to Tischendorf's New Testament also affords the fullest and most exact account of the minuscules, and its publication was greeted with great interest. A few of the cursives may be enumerated here. Codex I, or Basiliensis, so called from Basle, where it is deposited, was the first cursive to render important aid to the criticism of the New Testament. Erasmus employed it in the prepara- tion of his Greek text, and yet he did not value it as it deserved, and its influence in his work was comparatively slight. The text of the Gospels adheres closely to that of the uncials B and L and others of the same class, and is highly esteemed by critics. The volume was once bril- liantly illuminated, containing portraits among which were those of the Emperor Leo the Wise and his son Constantine Porphyrogenitus, but with the single exception of one before Luke's Gospel, all the miniatures were stolen previous to i860. Codex 33 is called the Queen of the Cursives. It is as late as the eleventh century, but only four or five uncials of the earliest dates are superior to it for critical purposes. The manuscript has suffered greatly from want of care, the pages have decayed with dampness, the leaves have stuck 222 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH together so closely that in many cases they have been separated only at the cost of transferring all the ink from one page to another, so that the text can be read only by this set-off^ backward, and mingled with the original writing of the opposite leaf. Tregelles says that the task of deciphering it tried his eyesight more than any other work of the kind that he had ever done. Yet the whole document has been accurately read, and is of great value. It is a beautiful folio in the National Library at Paris. Codex 6i, or Montfortianus, so called from one of its former possessors, Rev. Thomas Montfort, D. D., of Cambridge, is now in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. This manuscript is of special interest as respects its testimony to the interpolated verse in the first Epistle of John (5 : 7), about the " Three Heavenly Witnesses.'* It happens that the page containing this verse is covered with a sort of glaze, or gloss, as if to pro- tect the writing from injury, and it is the only page of the four hundred and fifty-five which is so treated. A witty Irish prelate quoted by Scrivener says of this circumstance: "We often hear that the text of the Three Heavenly Witnesses is a gloss^ and any one who will go into the College Library may see as much for himself ! " When Erasmus published his earliest editions of the New Testament he did not insert this verse and was THE CURSIVES OR MINUSCULES 223 severely criticised for the omission, whereupon he pledged himself that whenever the verse could be found in a good Greek manuscript he would insert it. Accordingly in his third edition he printed the verse (in 1522), with the note that he had found it in a Greek manuscript, which, he called the Codex Britannicus, but which has been identified as this Codex 61. The document is further noteworthy as having the Revelation copied (probably) from Codex 69, or the Codex of Leicester, which will be described next. These codices were both at one time in the possession of William Chark, and it would be a strong tempta- tion to have the opportunity of supplying such a defect in the one from the text of the other. Codex 69, Leicestrensis, belongs to the town of Leicester in England, and is treasured in the Town Library, to which it was given by a clergyman, Thomas Heyne, who had himself received it from William Chark. It is a folio volume, with leaves both of paper and vellum so arranged as to give two of parchment followed by three of paper in regular order. The writing is rough and in some places almost illegible from carelessness ; it was done with the calamus^ or reed pen, 'such as is spoken of in John's third epistle (ver. 13) in- stead of the stylus, comparatively few of the cursive manuscripts being written with this in- strument. The codex dates from the fourteenth 224 ^^^ PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH century, but though it is so late it contains many readings varying from the received text, and scholars place it in critical value above the later uncials. It is also one of the few cursives contain- ing the whole of the New Testament. It is very similar to three other important cursives, Codex 13 of the Gospels at Paris, Codex 124 at Vienna, and Codex 346 at Milan, and it is believed that the four must have been made from the same original, whose date was probably as early as the sixth century. These cursives are therefore a good example of the critical law by which a manuscript is valued for its testimony not accord- ing to its own age alone, but far more according to the age and value of the text it represents. It will be seen readily that if these codices were copied directly from a document of the sixth cen- tury their witness to the text of that date, espe- cially as it is fourfold, must be very strong. Codex 95 is interesting alike because it was so nearly lost, and because it affords what Tregelles and Alford considered one of the most valuable cursive texts of the Revelation in existence. It contains the Revelation alone and has an epitome of the commentary of Arethas, in a cramped and indistinct text, which ends with the eleventh verse of the twentieth chapter. . This was the manuscript, already referred to, which was rescued by Lord de la Zouche in 1837, at Caracalla on Mount Athos, THE CURSIVES OR MINUSCULES 225 where it would soon have been used as a covering for pickle-jars. Lately Prof. J. Rendel Harris brought to the notice of the New Testament students an interest- ing collection of Greek manuscripts in the cursive character in America, brought from Canea in Crete about fifty years ago, and now owned by the sons of their purchaser. Prof. Benton of Newark, in Delaware, and Mr. R. A. Benton of Sewickley, in Alleghany County, Pennsylvania. Four of these manuscripts are found to be of sufficient value to be noted among the classified codices. The one which is most important is one of the very early cursives of the Gospels, not later than the tenth century. It has uncial titles of the several chap- ters in a beautiful hand and is described as an exquisite specimen of exact calligraphy. The number of known cursives has largely in- creased in late years. It is likely that the dis- covery of these documents will proceed even more rapidly, at least for a time, and that large num- bers of the cursives and not a few uncials will yet be added to the present resources. XVI VERSIONS AND FATHERS IF the translations of the New Testament have not been of the almost supreme importance that attached to the Septuagint Greek of the Old Testament in the spreading and the preservation of the religion of which they are the written records, it is nevertheless true that they are of very great value as witnesses to the sacred text. Several of these versions were made at a time long anterior to the date of our earliest extant Greek manuscripts, and the Greek text which they translate must have been to a certainty very ancient. There are perhaps a dozen of these important witnesses that stand ready for the questioning of modern science. But while such evidence is of a high order, there are certain cautions to be observed. We always wish to know something of the character of any alleged witnesses. How trustworthy are they in themselves as well as in the circumstances which have made them witnesses ? A man may have been eye-witness to some fact, but his general character may be such that his word cannot be trusted for an instant. In the case of this class 226 VERSIONS AND FATHERS 227 of documents it is not enough to know that they come very near to the original Scriptures ; it must be asked whether their own text is trustworthy, and whether the foreign tongue has caught the exact meaning of the originaL Copyists of translations are liable to the same faults as copyists of the Greek manuscripts themselves, while there is the additional diffi- culty that the translator brings to his work upon the original text a foreign mind, con- ceptions alien to those of the first writer, idioms wholly unlike those which he has to translate, and shades of meaning in the words he may use as equivalents which do not inhere in the original terms. For example, the very writing of the New Testament autographs themselves had the difficulty of assigning Greek words to Jewish ideas which had thus far had their native expres- sion only in Hebrew and Aramaic. As we have seen, the religious books of the Jews were in Hebrew, and their common speech was Aramaic, so that in writing in Greek it might be a very important question just how to make the strange Greek word correspond to the Jewish con- ception. L/Ct the reader try a simple experiment, and he will understand the difficulty. The words in English, / love my horne^ convey a very dis- tinct idea to an American ; they summon to the mind the peace and love and all the tender graces 228 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH that make an American home delightful. But a Frenchman would hardly have the same idea of a home, and to a native of Dahomey the words would scarcely be intelligible in their first sense. So in our Scriptures the word law^ so often used, might have one meaning to the Jew, another to the Roman, a third to the dweller in Gaul or Britain ; it would perhaps take a nice sense of dis- crimination for the writer in Greek to apply the exact word which would be an equivalent of the Jewish conception. Let the case then be applied to the Syrian or Arabic, the Coptic or Abyssinian, the Armenian or Slavonic tongues ; each trans- lation would have its own peculiar difficulty, and in some cases might quite miss the meaning, and therefore the language of a word or passage. It is plain that a translation must be cross-ques- tioned, and its evidence accepted only as it is proved reliable. But all of these difficulties dis- appear as the translations are compared with each other, and with the Greek manuscripts which have been the theme of the preceding pages. The same errors of a copyist will not be likely to occur in two or more different documents. The very differences of conception in different lan- guages will correct each other, and lead almost without fail to the proper reading of the original. One trouble is still more difficult to correct, the tampering with the integrity of the version-texts VERSIONS AND FATHERS 229 themselves. These have sufifered the common lot of manuscripts in corrections, emendations, and marginal notes, so that a great need is found to- day of critical examination of these documents with a view to their own textual integrity. The Christian faith spread with great rapidity through all known countries. The early journeys of St. Paul through Asia Minor and to Greece and Italy, the unrecorded journeys of the other apostles, and the various letters of them all, car- ried the good news to the farthest lands. Churches sprang into being everywhere, and as time went on the demand for the Scriptures both of the Old Testament and the New became uni- versal. We have already described in the case of the former how for example the Syriac version came into being, and how Jerome translated both Testaments into the Latin of the Vulgate. But the same need called aloud from Africa, from Armenia, from the middle and north of Europe. The day of Pentecost had been prophetic of the time when " every man in his own tongue " must hear the word of life, and thus at last the fulfill- ment came, and each country had its own Bible, the beginning of the great work which in our own time has translated the word into three hundred and eighty-five different languages and dialects. The principal versions are two of the first half of the second century, the Old or African Latin, 230 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH and the Curetoiiian Syriac ; two of the latter half of the second century, the Memphitic and the Thebaic ; two of the third century, the European Latin^ and the Peshito Syriac ; four of the fourth century, the Italian Latin^ the Vulgate^ the Gothic^ and the Ethiopic ; two of the fifth century, the Arrnenian and the Jerusalem Syriac ; and one of the sixth century, the Philoxenian Syriac. The Harclean Syriac and other versions are of later dates. The Old Latin is a term that has been some- what loosely applied to all the Latin antedating Jerome's Vulgate, but it should be used only of the African translation, which was the earliest of all versions in this language. At the time in which the Old Latin was made, perhaps at Carth- age, but surely from that western province of Africa of which Carthage was the principal city, Rome was still using a Greek liturgy, and its church was presided over by bishops with Greek names and who wrote in the Greek language. The Christians around Carthage, however, spoke Latin, and Tertullian, who wrote at Carthage at the end of the second century, refers to the general use of a Latin New Testament, and quotes pas- sages from it. This would place the date of the version certainly as early as the middle of that century. In addition to the quotations by Ter- tullian, we have those by Cyprian, who seems to VERSIONS AND FATHERS 23 1 have used it exclusively, so that the peculiarities of the version are pretty well understood, and the extant manuscripts which show these peculiarities are thus distinguished. It is probable, however, that the African Latin was very variable, thus accounting for the differences in the Latin texts that are supposed to have come from it, like the Italian Latin, and others. Augustine writes of the " boundless variety of Latin translations," and Jerome speaks of there being "almost as many types as codices." In fact, at this time, a great freedom was observed with reference to copying the texts, a translator using a wide judgment and annotations often finding their way into the text itself. Among all these varied translations Augustine refers to one text, which he designates the Itala^ as more literal than any other ; but the term Itala has since and more correctly been di- verted from this, its first application, to designate the Italian Latin of the fourth centur}^, in which Jerome set out to produce the Vulgate. The Afri- can Latin has several witnesses extant besides the quotations already noted, as in the Codex Bobiensis, k, of the fifth century, the fine Codex Palatinus, e, of the fifth century, and some others. The European Latin^ is the earliest Latin translation used in Europe, and is represented by * We now follow these translations by groups rather than by theii dates. 2^2 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH extant manuscripts lettered a, b, c, ff, etc. Per- haps it was not an independent effort, but the Old Latin may have crossed the sea and become the parent of the versions henceforth to be used in Europe. This European Latin perpetuated itself in many codices, and in course of time suffered a revision, which became known as the Italian Latin^ or as it is now generally termed the Itala^ which, as we have said, often groups all the I^atin versions preceding Jerome's Vulgate under its one name. The Vulgate of Jerome has been described upon a preceding page, where it was necessary to introduce the subject in connection with the Old Testament. It need only be added that the manuscripts of the Vulgate in the libraries of Western Europe are almost countless, and from the study of some of them Lachmann and Tre- gelles have succeeded, by indefatigable labors, in restoring very nearly the original text as it came from Jerome's hand. The codices of the Vulgate best known and used for criticism, are generally cited by a few letters abbreviating their names, as "am.," for Codex Amiatanus, brought into the Ivaurentian Eibrary at Florence from the Cis- tercian Monastery of Monte Amiata in Tuscany, and of date from the sixth to the ninth century ; "fuld." or "fu.," the Codex Fuldensis, in the Abbey of Fulda in Hesse Cassel, written about VERSIONS AND FATHERS 233 the middle of the sixth century; "tol.," the Codex Toletanus at Toledo ; "harl.," the Codex Harleianus, much valued by Westcott for critical merit, etc. The Syriac group of versions is very interesting, though its earliest history is more indefinite than that of any other group, not excepting the Latin. It is, however, perfectly evident that the Syrian Christians received the Scriptures in their own tongue at a very early date, and the Syriac trans- lations represent a Greek text far older than that of the oldest Greek manuscript extant, and cer- tainly very near to the autographs of the apos- tolic age. ^ The Curetonian Syriac is now considered the older Syriac version • the Peshito the later, or re- vised text. The Curetonian Syriac has been known only through one example until very lately (April, 1893), when another document con- taining the same text was discovered at Mt. Sinai by an English lady. Both discoveries were of a remarkable character. In the seventeenth cen- tury in England a spirited controversy arose con- cerning the epistles of Ignatius, seven of which were extant, and five that were falsely ascribed to him. The nature of this controversy need not occupy the attention now, but it is mentioned to explain the circumstance that an anxious search ^See preceding pages, 1 09-1 11. 234 ^HE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH was instituted about that time for new literary relics of Ignatius, which was continued for many years. Through the influence of Archbishop Ussher, all the sea captains who left England for the Orient were commanded to bring home at least one manuscript, in the hope that something might be found to assist the scholars in determin- ing this and other great questions. Most of these captains brought back copies of the Koran, which they could obtain with ease, and were of no value to biblical scholars. L^etters were also sent to the principal Greek ecclesiastics in the East, asking them to assist in the search for valuable docu- ments. One locality in particular was considered to be of hopeful fertility in this respect, absolutely barren as it was in every other. The great Ni- trian Desert lay about seventy miles northward from Cairo, a resort from the earliest times of re- ligious recluses, who had been drawn thither by some superstition that their holiness would be promoted by bathing in the water of the adjacent lakes, which was strongly impregnated with nitre. It is said that no less than three hundred and sixty monasteries were once grouped in this region. In a time of common danger many of these were surrounded by a wall, which served at once to ward off danger from without and to solidify the brotherhood within. It was believed in Europe that this fortified monastery might VERSIONS AND FATHERS 235 contain many valuable literary treasures, placed here for safe keeping as well as for the use of the monks, and in 1679 the Rev. Robert Huntington sought the place, but was not permitted to visit the libraries. He reported, however, that he had seen enough to confirm the expectations in Europe. Some years afterward, Pope Clement XI. , sent a native Syrian to the Nitrian Desert upon the same errand. But though he was re- ceived cordially, he was allowed only to visit a cellar which was full of manuscripts that the monks themselves could not read. Forty of these parchments were sold to the visitor, and he took them to Rome where they were deposited in the Vatican Library and, as was to be expected at that time, nothing more was heard of them. Other attempts were made with the only result of exciting the interest and cupidity of the Nitrian monks, who now obstinately refused to part with any of their treasures. In 1838, however. Arch- deacon Tattam himself went to Egypt, and suc- ceeded in persuading the monks to sell him such books as did not have written in them any curses — such as we have described upon a former page, 126 — forbidding any one to sell them. He was taken to a vaulted room which had neither door nor windows, and could be entered only by a trap door from above. He was lowered down into this cellar, furnished with a candle, and left to make 236 THK PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH his own investigation of a large mass of manu- scripts covering the floor to a depth of one or two feet. He secured from this room and some other places five hundred and fifty documents in all, which he took away to England. Forty of these manuscripts found their way into the British Museum, and came under the care of the Rev. William Cureton, whose discovery of the Palimp- sest R was narrated in a former chapter. He studied the collection with great care, and found among the documents parts of the Gospels written upon a fragment containing eighty-two and a half leaves, which were in Syriac. The passages thus preserved were chapters of the first Gospel I to 8 : 22 ; 10 : 31 to 23 : 25 ; of St. Mark only four verses, 16 : 17-20 ; of St. Luke 2 : 48 to 3 : 16 ; 7 : 33 to 15 : 21 ; 17 : 24 to 24 : 44 ; and of St. John I : 1-42 and 3 : 6 to 7 : 37, with a few scattered verses of the fourteenth chapter. A few more passages were supplied by the discovery in 1 87 1 of three other leaves, which were deposited in the Imperial Library in Berlin ; these additions were St. Luke 15 : 22 to 16 : 12 ; 17 : 1-23 ; and in the fourth Gospel 7 : 38 to 8 : 19 except the verses containing the story of the woman taken in adultery. The Syriac version contained in these fragments bears a very striking resemblance to the text of Codex Bezae, D and has been, though perhaps wrongly, considered as made from VKRSIONS AND FATHERS 237 the same original as that remarkable manuscript. The Syriac Codex was written about the middle of the fifth century, but the far greater age of the Greek text from which it was made has been con- firmed lately by the discovery of Tatian's " Diates- saron^^^ ^ a Gospel harmony of the second century. The text of the harmony is Arabic, based upon the Curetonian Syriac, and as the harmony is be- yond doubt as early as A. D. 160, the Curetonian Syriac must be earlier than that, and the Greek text from which the Syriac was made considerably earlier still. Tatian's work will be more fully considered upon a later page. It can be seen that the Curetonian Syriac is of the first importance among translations as a testimony to the apostolic writings. The great value but fragmentary character of the Curetonian Gospels had led scholars to hope that some further discovery might be made to supplement this Syriac text, but it had almost become a vain wish until suddenly the news was given out that an English lady, Mrs. A. S. lycwis, with her twin sister, Mrs. M. D. Gibson, had brought a manuscript to Europe containing the long desired testimony. These ladies in the spring of 1892 visited the East, intending par- ^ This important work has been translated into English with a valuable introduction and appendices, by J. Hamlin Hill, B. D. Edinburgh, T. & T. Clark. 238 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH ticularly to explore some of the ancient convents and libraries, for which they were well fitted by a knowledge of Greek, and a long friendship with several of the most noted English scholars in biblical departments. Their attention had been turned especially to the convent at Mt. Sinai, where Tischendorf had found the Sinai tic manu- script, and to the Syriac department of its library by the recent discovery there of the " Apology of Aris tides," an important early Christian work. This discovery had been made by Prof. J. Rendel Harris, and he urged Mrs. I^ewis to examine the library further, and he insisted upon her taking an equipment for photography, in which he gave her a few lessons. Upon reaching the convent of St. Catherine, the two ladies were received with cordiality, and access to the Syriac books was readily granted. In an article in the " Independ- ent ' ' Mrs. Lewis tells her own story, which we give with omissions and further explanations : " Among the Syriac books which they showed us, I soon picked out a volume of a hundred and seventy- eight leaves, nearly all glued together with some greasy substance. I separated them partly with my fingers and partly with the steam of a kettle. They had the more fascination for me that no human eye had evidently looked on them for centuries ; and I soon perceived that it was a palimpsest, whose upper or later writing VERSIONS AND FATHERS 239 contained the stories of women saints, whilst the under or earlier one was the four Gospels, as I knew from many pages being headed ' Evan- gelion,' 'Matthi,' 'Marcus,' or ' Luca.' I could also read detached words or lines where they appeared on the margins. I therefore at once determined to photograph the whole of this palimpsest." Difficulties at once arose from inexperience in the practice of photography and serious defects in the apparatus with which Mrs. Lewis had been provided, and the work progressed slowly. She adds : " Besides this, my sister, who seconded me with great assiduity, sometimes lost her place in tm-n- ing over the leaves, and thus put me in possession of at least thirty-three duplicates, which I did not want, as they increased both my work and her own. " We returned home in the end of March, and developed most of our photographs successfully, with the exception of some which were sent to the Eastman Company and were spoiled. The box which contained these had been picked out at random from among over forty similar ones ; yet, strangely enough, it contained those of which my sister's mistakes had furnished us with dupli- cates. " When the three hundred and fifty-six pages 240 THE PARCHMENTS OK THE FAITH of our palimpsest were completed, I read the upper writing, and found that it contained the stories of Tliecla, Eugenia, Pelagia, Marina, Buphrosyna, Onesima, Drosis, Barbara, Maria, Irene, Buphemia, Sophia, Theodosia, Theodota, a short creed, and the stories of Susanna, and Cyprian and Justina. As my eyes were not keen enough to read the under writing, which ran between and underneath the lines of the upper, and was of course much more minute than the original, I showed my photographs to several Syriac scholars, asking if they could help me to find out to which version these Gospels belonged." With the aid of these scholars, and the careful transcription of a page or two, it was at last determined that the version was one closely allied to the Curetonian. It was seen that the photo- graphs brought to England were quite insufiicient for a successful transcription of the whole docu- ment, and in company with Prof Harris, Prof. Bensley, and Mr. F. C. Barkitt, Mrs. I^ewis and Mrs. Gibson returned to the convent. For more than a month this little company worked assidu- ously from sunrise to sunset, both upon this palimpsest and in cataloguing the Syriac library, with the following results briefly stated. The upper writing of the palimpsest, in one column, was made about A. d. 778, and to supply the vel- lum on which it was written, an older book was VERSIONS AND FATHERS 241 taken to pieces and arranged so that the Gospels of that older volume are interleaved with each other. The older writing is exceedingly faint, and in parts almost illegible, but the whole of the Gospels seems to be present. The text is in two columns, and in many instances comes more clearly to view under the action of a chemical reviver. Nearly the whole of the Gospel of Mark was transcribed, and it is noted that the last twelve verses of that Gospel are wanting, as in some of the older Greek codices. The Curetonian Gospels contain these verses, which may indicate that the new codex is older than the Curetonian. The old reading of the song of the angels in Ivuke 2 : 14 is also restored: "Good will towards men." Moreover, the colophon of the manuscript links it to the Curetonian, describing it as " the separated Gospels," possibly such a harmony or " Diatessaron " as that of Tatian. It is evident that the discovery by Mrs. lycwis and Mrs. Gibson is of great importance, and some have written that it should be considered to rank next to the achievement of Tischendorf at the same place in bringing to light the Codex Sinaiti- cus. But unfortunately for these pages the publi- cation of the full results of the study of the document is delayed, and the learned world does not yet know the complete value of the manu- script. The little volume ' ' How the Codex was 242 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH Found," by Mrs. Gibson is hardly more than a publication of Mrs. L^ewis' journals of the two visits to Sinai, and while it is interesting, is wholly unsatisfying so far as any description of the codex is concerned. The Peshito or the Simple Syriac, is a revision of the earlier version, of which the Curetonian and the I^ewis' documents are examples. It became the translation generally accepted and used by the Syrian churches, and its position has not inaptly been characterized by the term the ^' Syrian Vulgate," so fully did it play the same part for the Syrian Christians that was served by the Vulgate for the Latin Christians all over the world. It is a very careful and faithful version, avoiding allegorical interpretations and all changes of a similar sort so frequent in the transcriptions of the Old Testament in the commentaries of the time. The Peshito covers both the Old and the New Testaments. All of the canonical books of the Old Testament were originally found, but from the New Testament the second and third Epistles of John, the second of Peter, that of Jude, and the Revelation are wanting. This version is read to-day by the various divisions of the Syrian church. The Nestorians among the mountain recesses of Kurdistan, the Monophysites, who dwell upon the widespread plains of Syria, the Maronites upon the sloping terraces of Mount VERSIONS AND FATHERS 243 Lebanon, and far away upon the shores of IMala- bar the Christians of St. Thomas, dwell equally upon its pages and use it in their public assem- blies. From all these communities manuscripts of the Peshito have come to light, exhibiting texts of no important diflference, and testifying to the one parent of them all, which was used in Palestine and S>'ria long before the division of the Syrian church into its present hostile sects. The Philoxeiitan Syriac^ made in the sixth cen- tury under the patronage of Philoxenus, Bishop of Mabug (Hierapolis), is another version, yet not wholly independent of the Peshito. It has very few remains in the original form, though perhaps the Gospels in this version are to be identified in a manu- script lately discovered and in the possession of the Syrian Protestant College in Beirut. The version is probably the most servile in its exact adherence to the literal meaning ever made. iVn interesting note appended to the manuscripts of the Gospels from which the printed text is derived shows the labor necessary for the production of such a vol- ume, and excites sympathy for every copyist like " Poor Thomas," who wrote the note : '' This is the book of the four holy Evangelists, which was turned out of the Greek language into Syriac with great diligence and much labour, first in the city of Mabug in the year 819, of Alexander of Macedon (a. d. 508), in the days of the pious Mar 244 I'HE parchm?:nts of the faith Philoxenus, confessor, bishop of that city. But it was afterward collated with great care by me, Poor Thomas, with the aid of two highly approved and accurate Greek MSS. in Antonia, of the great city of Alexandria, in the holy monastery of the Antonians. It was again written out and collated in the aforesaid place in the year 927 of the same Alexander (a. d. 616), in the fourth in- diction. How much toil and diligence I spent upon it and its companions^ the Lord only knows, who will reward every man according to his works in his just and righteous judgment, in which may we be counted worthy of his mercy. Amen." The Jerusalem Syriac is preserved in certain lesson books, or Lectionaries, representing a very peculiar dialect, and it has been supposed to have been used in a region contiguous to Palestine, where the Syrian speech and idiom were not pure. The lessons are from the Gospels, in addition to which only a few verses from the Acts are known. Only one manuscript of this version was in our possession until the late visits of Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Gibson to Mt. Sinai, where, in connection with Prof. Harris, they found two other copies dating from 11 16 and 1120 respectively. The codex in the Vatican Library was written in the year 1030. The term Jerusalem Syriac is used ^ Other parts of the New Testament. This version is also called Harkleian from Harkel, the birthplace of " Poor Thomas." VERSIONS AND FATHERS 245 because the grammatical forms resemble the Chaldee more than the Syriac, and the most ordi- nary words employed are illustrated only from the Chaldee portions of the Old Testament, from the Jerusalem Targum, or the Talmud. Two independent versions of the early Egyptian church have come down to modern times, known as the Memphitic and the Thebaic. The former is also known as the Coptic, and is so cited by Tischendorf by the abbreviation "cop.," while the latter is also called the Sahidic and has the abbreviation "sah. " We know that Christianity gained a strong position in Egypt from the very earliest times. Here monasticism established itself most firmly, and Paul of Thebes with his disciple Pachomius, and especially the great Antony, whose fame was established in Europe by his biography written by Athanasius, and many other noted monks like Ammonius and Hilarion, gave a very distinct character to the Egyptian church, their communities of monks exercising a strong influence upon the life of the Egyptian cities and affecting the imperial court even in far-off Constantinople. The Greek lan- guage after the conquest by Alexander, laid hold upon the native dialects, and either in part drove them out or mingled with them, so that when at last the Greek ceased to be spoken as a separate tongue, there was a marked difference between 246 THE PARCHMENTS OE THE FAITH the dialect of Upper Egypt, remote from Alexan- dria and the seat of the Greek culture, and the tongue spoken in lyower Egypt in the region nearer the court of the Ptolemies. When Christian- ity spread everywhere, the monks and anchorites bore their religion far up the Nile and to the bor- ders of the I^ibyian deserts, and in both dialects a demand arose for the Scriptures of the faith. Thus these translations came into being, and though most of the manuscripts of the Memphitic dialect that are extant date no earlier than the tenth century, Dr. I^ightfoot, through whose labors they are chiefly known, considers the Egyptian versions to be among the most impor- tant witnesses in textual criticism. " Of all the versions," he says, "the Memphitic is perhaps the most important for the textual critic," and he ranks the Thebaic as ' ' only second to the Mem- phitic in value. " The manuscripts of the The- baic are fewer than the Memphitic, but they go back in some fragments and quotations to an earlier age. There is a third translation in the Egyption group called the Bashmuric (bash) made for the use of scattered tribes of herdsmen living chiefly in the delta of the Nile. But it is rather an adaptation of the Thebaic than an independent version, and is chiefly useful in supplying the gaps in the Thebaic from the three hundred and thirty verses of John and Paul of which it consists. VERSIONS AND FATHERS 247 Other versions may be passed by with brief mention. The Ethiopic or Abyssinian was made directly from the Greek, probably in the fourth century'-, although its earliest manuscripts that remain are of the fifteenth centur\\ It contains the whole of the New Testament. It is not of the first value for criticism, and the same is to be said of the Gothic by which the gospel was given to the tribes of northern Europe by the great Ulfilas, the A7'7ne7iian version, dating about A. D. 433, the Slavonic and others. The early quotations from the New Testament by Christian writers are nearly akin to the trans- lations as evidence to the text of the original, al- though in general they are likely to be more free and indefinite than the text of a version. The early Fathers often quoted with a gTcater reliance upon memor}' than would be found in most mod- ern books. Their copies of the Bible were fewer, more costly, more cumbersome than ours, and they did not have that extreme reverence for the very word and letter of the original which many Christians have attached in later days to the verses of the English Bible. If they got the meaning, if they quoted without violence to the real sense of a passage, it often sufiiced them, even if they did not repeat more than a few words that were written. Yet in most instances the quota- tions are suflBciently exact to bear valuable witness 248 THK PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH to the Bible in use at that time and place, so that at least its corroborative or corrective force may be added to our materials for criticism. It is probable that the whole teaching of the New Testament could be recovered from these ancient Fathers if our Bibles were blotted out of exist- ence, so copious are their quotations and com- ments ; but this cannot be said of a possible re- construction of the continuous text of the New Testament, for there are many passages that re- ceive almost no mention at all, while we must re- member that the texts of the Fathers themselves have been subjected to the same perils of trans- mission which attended the other documents of which we have been speaking. Moreover, if we have determined exactly the original text of the Father, and that he quoted word for word the passage in question, even then his testimony is good only for the reading of that original copy^ and this manuscript reading must then be tested in the ordinary way. It is thus seen that the testimony of the Fathers, while of great value, is nevertheless two or three removes from prime im- portance. There are two great classes of early Christian writings, according to the character of the document as Greek or L^atin. The Greek Fathers are direct witnesses, the L^atin indirect. To these should be added a few Syriac writers of importance, like Bphraem. The list in the ap- VERSIONS AND FATHERS 249 pended note will show some of the names of most importance for textual criticism, though it should be remembered that many others should be named, especially if other questions, as that of the canon, are considered.^ * In the list the Latin writers are marked with a star. Smyrna. (In Ar. and Syr.) Harmonist. Bishop of Lyons. Catechetical Teacher. Translator of Irenceus. (Per- haps about 300.) Disciple of Irenseus. Carthage and Hippo, Africa. Catechetical Teacher. Alex- andria. Bishop of Carthage, Africa. Bishop of Ccesarea. Bishop of Alexandria. Bishop of Jerusalem. The Translator. Bethlehem. Bishop of Milan. Of Aquileia. Perhaps Hilary the Deacon. Bishop of Cagliari. Bishop of Cjesarea. Bishop of Poitiers. Bishop of Antioch and Con- stantinople. Bishop of Alexandria. Bishop of Salamis in Cyprus. Bishop of Hippo, Africa. Bishop of Mopsuestia, Cilicia. Bishop. Commentator. Bishop of Sulci. Archbishop of Crete. The dates in the list are sometimes only approximate. The method of citing these writers is by the first few letters of their names, as Tert. for Tertullian, Did. for Didymus, Epiph. for Epiph- anius, Aug. for Augustine, Chrys. for Chrysostom. 103-168 Justin Martyr -172 Tatian the Syrian 120-190 Irenaeus -220 Clement of Alexandria -180? Irenaeus (Interpreter) * -225 Hippolytus 160-240 Tertullian * 186-253 Origen -258 Cyprian * 264-340 Eusebius 296-373 Athanasius 315-386 Cyril of Jerusalem 340-420 Jerome * 340-397 Ambrose * 345-410 Rufinus * -360 Ambrosiaster * -370 Lucifer * 329-379 Basil the Great -368 Hilary * 347-407 Chrysostom -396 Didymus -402 Epiphanius 354-430 Augustine * -429 Theodore of Mopsuestia * -444 C)Til of Alexandria -450 Euthalius 635-700 Andreas XVII THK LATKR DISCOVERIES 'T^HK very recent discovery of Syriac Gospels A and Syriac lyectionaries at Mt. Sinai has been narrated ; but several other important works have been brought to light in late years, and though they are not to be ranked with the Greek manuscripts, or the important versions as of value for critical work upon the original text, they are of sufficient note, as bearing upon many questions of the greatest interest to the student of the New Testament, to find mention in this volume. Only a few of the most important are selected for description. In the year 1875 a manuscript dated A. D. 1056 was brought to light by the publication of a part of it by Philotheos Bryennios, Metropolitan of Serrae in ancient Mesopotamia. He had dis- covered the manuscript in the library of the Most Holy Sepulchre in Fanar of Constantinople, and had selected the two epistles of Clement of Rome for publication, which added to our previous knowledge of these epistles the last six chapters of the first and the last eight sections of the second. The whole volume, an octavo in form, 250 THE LATER DISCOVERIES 25 1 consisted of one hundred and twenty leaves of parchment, written in cursive characters, and con- taining the following works : Chrysostom's *' Synopsis of the Books of the Bible"; "The Epistle of Barnabas" ; "The Two Epistles of Clement of Rome"; "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles"; "The Epistle of Mary of Cassobelae to Ignatius" ; and "Twelve Epistles of Ignatius," that is, the current seven, one to the Virgin Mar}^, and four others. The announce- ment of the contents of the manuscript at the time of the publication of the Clementine letters excited some interest, but not a tithe of that which was at once aroused when Bryennios, now removed to the See of Nicomedia in Asia Minor, published ' ' The Teaching of the Twelve Apos- tles," in 1883. This work occupied leaves 76 to 80 of the manuscript, and was at once recognized as a long-lost document, which had been cited very early by Clement and Eusebius and others, and which must have belonged to a date possibly as early as A. D. 120, and surely not later than A. D. 160. It has a sub-title : Teac/mtg of the Lord^ through the Twelve Apostles^ to the Nations^ and consists of sixteen chapters. The teaching opens with a beautiful definition of the two ways, the way of life and the way of death, and the first four chapters are taken up with a description of the former, largely a repetition of the com- 252 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH mandments in the Sermon on the Mount with many other precepts. Chapter five defines the way of death, and closes with the tender words : " May ye be delivered, children, from all these." The sixth chapter is an exhortation to keep the preceding teachings. The next four chapters are occupied with matters of ritual, showing that as yet there were only the most exceptional and simple departures from the practice of the apos- tolic church, baptism by pouring being permitted only when water in sufficient quantity for immer- sion could not be obtained, and particular stress being laid upon the giving of the Eucharist to none '' except those baptized into the I^ord's name." Rules for fasting and prayers are also given. The eleventh chapter concerns true and false prophets ; the twelfth is for the reception of strangers who come in the name of the lyord ; and the thirteenth provides for the support of prophets. Then follow the chapters upon the Lord's Day, and the appointment of bishops and deacons ; while the last chapter is taken up with a beautiful exhortation to live in watchfulness, expecting the coming of the Lord. In the course of the whole document Bryennios finds three references to the Old Testament, and four to the Apocrypha, while there are thirty to the New Testament, of which twenty appear to be to the Gospel of Matthew. THE LATER DISCOVERIES 253 The " Teaching," as it is generally called, or the Didache in the Greek, is one of the most import- ant non-canonical writings in its bearings upon the history and customs of the early Christian church. In common with similar writings as well as with the versions, it bears testimony to the books from which it quotes as in common use at the time ; but this testimony, certain as it is for the Scriptures quoted, must not be misused by making its omissions indicative of the non-exist- ence of canonical books. For example, it does not quote the Gospel of John, nor the second epis- tle of Peter, nor the Revelation, but in such a case as this the *' argument from silence" is worthless, as will be seen when we speak below of the clear and abundant testimony to the fourth Gospel borne by the '''' Diatessaro7t " of Tatian, of about the same date with the " Teaching. " Indeed it may be said that the " Teaching," and all the other late discoveries, conspire to settle the questions of the antiquity of the canonical books in accord- ance with what has been in general the unwaver- ing opinion of conservative scholarship. The announcement of the discovery of this document at once aroused the greatest interest. Attempts to see the original manuscript and to obtain copies, and if possible fac similes by photograph were made, but owing to the jealousy with which it was guarded in the Jerusalem Monastery of the w 254 "^^^ PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH Holy Sepulchre, in Constantinople, they were frustrated for a long time, a photograph of a single page being secured at last. But the publi- cation of the document took place in 1883. The " Apology of Aristides " is another early Christian work discovered by Prof. J. Rendel Har- ris, in the library of the Convent of St. Catherine at Mt. Sinai, in the year 1889. Its bearing upon the New Testament is slight, but it may be classed properly with the documents that throw light upon the sacred writings in many ways. It is one of the earliest apologies or defenses made by the Christians to the Roman emperor, and is said to have been presented to Hadrian by an Athen- ian philosopher, Aristides. The discovery of the Greek text was brought about in an interesting way through the finding of the Syriac translation by Prof. Harris. He was carrying his monograph upon the Apology through the press, and Prof. J. A. Robinson, of Christ's College, Cambridge, was reading the proof-sheets of the new volume. Shortly after he was in Vienna turning over Latin Passionals in a fruitless search for a lost manu- script of the " Passion of Saint Perpetua," and he found himself reading a Latin version of the " Life of Barlaam and Joshaphat," a religious romance probably written by St. John of Damascus. Prof. Robinson detected a strange similarity of thought and expression with what he had been THE LATER DISCOVERIES 255 reading in Prof. Harris' proof-sheets. Examining more carefully he found indeed the very words, but in Latin, of tlie Apology. This sent him at once to tlie works of St. John of Damascus, in Greek, and there, incorporated as a part of the story of Barlaam and Joshaphat, he read the Apology itself in Greek, diflfering somewhat from the Syriac, but only in inconsiderable portions. The ^^Diatessaron " of Tatian, a harmony of the four Gospels, is a most important product of the second century, dating as early as A. d. 160, and given now to the English reader in a translation by the Rev. J. Hamlyn Hill, B. D., entitled, ' ' The Earliest Life of Christ ever compiled from the Four Gospels." A great many references to such a work had long been known before it was brought to the attention of the modern world. Eusebius, in A. D. 325, said : " Tatian, their former leader, composed a sort of connection and compilation, I know not how, of the Gospels, and called it the ' Diatessaron. ' This work is cur- rent with some persons even to the present day." This would seem to imply that even then the work was ancient, and indeed an apocryphal work called *'The Doctrine of Addai " supposed to date before the middle of the third centur>^ said : *' Moreover, much people day by day assembled and came together for prayer and for the reading of the Old Testament and the New, the ' Diates- 256 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH saron, ' " These references might be greatly multi- plied, but it is plain that by them all the curiosity of scholars to see the work of Tatian itself must have been great, and this makes it the more strange that for a long while a manuscript of it in Arabic lay in comparative neglect in the Vati- can library at Rome. This Arabic manuscript, numbered 14, originally had one hundred and twenty-five leaves, but the seventeenth and the one hundred and eigliteenth are now wanting. It is supposed to have been written in Egypt at some time from the twelfth to the fourteenth century. On the last page the copyist has written in Latin : " Here endeth, by the help of God, the sacred Gospel which Tatian collected out of the four Gospels, and which is called the ^ Diatessaron.'' '' The manuscript was brought to the Vatican about A. D. 1 7 19 by Joseph Assemani, and short accounts of it were given by him and others, but little was done to concentrate upon it the attention of the learned world. In 1881, Zahn, a German scholar, made an attempt to reconstruct the ^'' Diatessaron^'^ from the quotations from it which were found chiefly in the Commentary of Kphraem the Syrian and the Homilies of Aphraates, but he seems to have made no use of this manuscript, strangely enough since he referred to it in his publication. But Zahn's words directed the attention of one of the Guild of Writers to the THE LATER DISCOVERIES 257 Vatican to the manuscript, and he announced his intention of publishing it at some future time. This scholar, Ciasca, one day showed the manu- script to a visitor from the Bast, Antonius Morcos, Visitor-Apostolic of the Catholic Copts, who at once said he had seen a similar copy in Egypt, which he could obtain for him. The promise was fulfilled, and in 1886 the document arrived as a present to the Borgian Museum in Rome. This second manuscript dates from the fourteenth cen- tury, has three hundred and fifty-five leaves, with the eleven lines of writing inclosed by gold, blue, and red lines in a rectangle upon the page. This work was published by Ciasca in honor of the pope's jubilee, in 1888, in the original Arabic, with a translation in lyatin, the text being based upon a comparison of the Vatican and the Borgian manuscripts. The " Diatessaron " affords another witness to the authorship of the fourth Gospel, for it begins with the prologue of that Gospel, and thus proves its use and general acceptance in the time of Tatian, which must throw back its origin very near, if not quite, to the time that has always been claimed for it by conservative scholarship. In many similar ways the work is valuable; though simply as a harmony, in which a correct mingling of the four distinct stories is secured, it is not kA such value as many modern attempts. m^ 258 THK PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH And as a testimony to the original Greek text, it is very insufl&cient, since the Arabic was a trans- lation from the Syriac, the native tongue of Tatian and of the churches for which the har- mony was originally made. Some have thought that the Syriac was probably preceded by the composition of the harmony in Greek, but of this we cannot be sure. At all events the manuscripts extant are at least two removes from the Greek, a translation of a translation, and thus of slight textual authority. But the work is one of highest interest as the earliest attempt to bring the four Gospels into one, and to make the story of the life of Jesus a connected whole for the use of Christians in the second century. It is the work of a man whose whole history testifies to his sin- cere desire for truth, and the consecration of all his energies to obtain it. One of the most remarkable discoveries of later days is that of the apocryphal " Gospel and Apoca- lypse of Peter. " These are but fragments found as parts of the same manuscript, which also contains thirty chapters of the pre-Christian Greek Book of Enoch. The Apocalypse is not of very great importance, but is of great interest as meeting predictions of its character almost exactly, for its former existence was known. It is largely given to descriptions of heaven and hell, more particu- larly the latter, and seems to be an anticipation of THE LATER DISCOVERIES 259 Dante by many centuries. The Gospel alone need hold our attention, and this is valuable more on account of its testimony to the date of the canonical Gospels than to direct bearing upon the sacred text. The story is as follows : Akhmim is a large market town in Upper Egypt upon the east bank of the Nile. It is upon the site of one of the most ancient cities, the Chemmis of Herodotus, and was the stronghold of the worship of Chem ; but in Christian times it became the center of the monastic life of the region, and a large Christian necropolis begmi in the fifth century shows the ecclesiastical import- ance of the city before the time of the Arab inva- sion. It is said to have a large Christian popula- tion at the present day. During the winter of 1886-87, some workmen under the charge of M. Grebaut, who was pursuing researches for the French Archaeological ^lission, opened some graves, and in one of them found a little book, six inches by four and a half, having thirty-three leaves of parchment roughly cased in leather. The grave was of the eighth or ninth century, the manuscript itself is of a date not earlier than the eighth century, while the work it contains must be placed certainly as early as the last half of the second century. The most probable date is about 165. The Gospel begins with the words, ..." But 26o THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH of the Jews no one washed his hands, not even Herod, nor one of his judges, even of those who were minded to wash. Pilate rose up, and then Herod the king commands the lyord to be taken away, saying. What I commanded you to do, do to him." This, with other passages, is taken as evidence of an anti-Jewish spirit in the writer, who seems to lose no chance to impress upon the reader the guilt of the Jews. The fragment goes on to narrate the story of the passion and resur- rection of Jesus, with which alone it has to do. Many peculiarities appear. Some of these are thought to mark the writer as one of the Docetse, a heretical sect that arose very early, as we have evidence in the second Epistle of St. John, where the Christian is warned against those called anti- Christ, who deny that Jesus came in the flesh, the docetic heresy asserting that his body was only an appearance, a sort of phantasm and not real flesh and blood. In the Gospel of Peter such a phrase as : "But he was silent, as if having no pain" may have such reference, though it does not seem necessary. Another passage reads : " And the Ivord cried out saying, Power, my Power, hast thou forsaken me ? And when he had spoken he was taken up." Here the word Power substituted for God, and "he was taken up " for " he gave up the ghost," are peculiarly docetic, since it was taught that the Christ was entirely distinct from THE LATER DISCOVERIES 261 the man Jesus, and had descended upon him in baptism, leaving him again before his passion. But even this is not a necessary inference, since the author may have had in mind, perhaps even before his eye, the Hebrew or Aramaic in which this cry even in our Gospels is written, where the Hebrew word El means strength and so becomes the name of the Omnipotent. The Gospel of Peter does not write the Aramaic words in the text, as the canonical writers do ; but it translates, and losing sight of the personal reference uses the Greek word dbva!u^^ or Power. But a full discus- sion of the docetic tendency of the fragment would require more space than can be given here. Far more important is the witness borne to the fourth Gospel. At least five passages indicate a reference to John, those which refer to the garden of Joseph (ver. 24) ; the Jewish law (ver. 5 and 15) ; the nails piercing the hands (ver. 21) but not the feet ; and the account of the breaking of the bones. John is the only one of the four evangelists record- ing these things. It is possible but not likely that all of these references came from some other source now lost to us, but the general inference must be that the writer had the fourth Gospel before him. Prof Harnack, however, finds it doubtful and concludes that if he did know the fourth Gospel he did not pay much attention to it ; but Prof. J. Rendell Harris is of the contrary' opinion ; Prof. 26Z THK PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH Robinson declares the references unquestionable ; and Prof. J. H. Thayer writes very strongly that " half a century of discussion is swept away by the recent discovery at a stroke. Brief as is the recovered fragment it attests indubitably all four of our canonical books." In fact the concurrence of testimony oflfered by this fragment and the Diatessaron of Tatian seems to close the question concerning the authorship of the fourth Gospel, or at least to make it immeasurably more probable that John wrote it rather than any other. If the date of the gospel of Peter is in the latter half of the second century, or considerably earlier, it places the date of the latest of the four canonical Gospels very early, reasonably within the limits of the first century. It is very interesting to note that Zahn and Hilgenfeld and Sanday had already shown the probability that Justin (103 to 168), must have had a fifth Gospel, as well as the four canonical Gospels, from which he drew statements not to be found in our evangelists. These are found in the fragment now discovered, and it is most likely that this is the document whose existence had been conjectured. Prof Harnack shows that this is the fact by many citations, as he also concludes concerning the Apocalypse also contained in this manuscript, that it is not only ait Apocalypse of Peter, which we have before us, but the Apoc- alypse ot Peter which, at the close of the second THE LATER DISCOVERIES 263 century was known in Rome and Alexandria, as cited by Eusebius among the Aiitilegomeiia- Notha^ or spurious books. Harnack has divided both the Gospel and the Apocalypse into verses, by which the fragments will doubtless be cited by scholars. ^ The discovery of ancient manuscripts, together with valuable testimony from the monuments of antiquity, may be expected to add to our knowl- edge of the Bible every year, and with ever- increasing frequency and amplitude. Such docu- ments as the tablets discovered at Tel el-Amarna and L/achish do not come properly within the scope of this work ; but the spades that are un- covering such remains are frequently turning up also documents on papyrus and parchment, among which are many of biblical interest, as the Petrine Gospel and Apocalypse found in an Egyptian tomb. In 1891, many classical remains of the greatest value were found and published besides the 1 It would be of great interest, if space allowed the appearance here of an English translation of these fragments. Special and full discussion of the subject will be found in Adolf Hamack's " Bruch- stucke des Evangeliums und der Apokolypse des Fetriis,^' Leipzig, 1893; "The Gospel according to Peter" and the " Revelation ot Peter," two lectures by J. A. Robinson and M. R. James, London, 1892; also the original publication of U. Bouriant in the memorials published by the members of the French Archaeological Mission at Cairo, T., IX., fasc. I, 1892; especially the important work of H. B. Sweete : " The Gospel According to Peter." 264 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH Petrine fragments, the French Mission at Cairo having published valuable Coptic fragments con- taining passages ranging from Genesis to Tobit obtained from what are described as " the appar- ently inexhaustible treasures of the ' White Mon- astery,' " while much light has been thrown upon many side questions of biblical history and geog- raphy. Altogether there is every reason for believing that each year will add largely to our store of materials, from which an intenser light will be thrown upon the Bible from without, and by which a clearer and whiter radiance will stream forth from the sacred pages themselves. XVIII ILIvUSTRATlONS OF CRITICISM nPHE materials of the science of textual criticism ^ have been the main subject of the preceding pages ; but the reader will wish to know something of the processes by which the scholars, in the use of these materials, reach the results which are given to the Christian world in splendid editions of the Greek text and the English translations, which have been published in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.^ Though it can only be a glance into the workshop, we can bear away some knowledere of the craft. Having gathered the materials upon which the work is to be done, the character of all the sources of information must be determined. In the earli- est times a mere numerical preponderance of authorities was sometimes deemed sufficient to settle a vexed question. With three or four man- uscripts in the case, two agreeing would be al- lowed the verdict against the one or the two of ^ In this chapter examples of criticism in the New Testament alone are given. The same processes, mtitatis mtdandis, are applicable to the Old Testament. 265 266 THK PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH variant readings. Plainly this was the crudest kind of criticism, for the two agreeing might be of very inferior quality, and one of the variants might bear to the more discerning vision many marks of superiority. Again, the antiquity of a document has been allowed by some scholars to outweigh almost every other consideration. But the mere age of a manuscript is not enough to determine its value for critical purposes. A docu- ment of later date may be better than one of very early date, because the former may have been pro- duced by the comparison of many valuable codices, and its readings may be the result of great acu- men and wide investigation, by which errors have been eliminated to a large degree. It is the same consideration which makes the efforts of modern scholars of any value. Why is it possible that the text of Westcott and Hort, or that of Tischen- dorf, or one made up from the combination of the best results of these two editions, may be better than that of any single copy, even the oldest, like the Vatican Manuscript B ? Why does Scriv- ener say of the Vulgate that "it is decidedly superior as an instrument of criticism to its proto- type " in the older Latin ? Scrivener says it is because " it does not, like its predecessor, bring be- fore us the testimony, good or bad, of documents of the second century, but only that of manuscripts which Jerome deemed correct and ancient at II.I.USTRATIONS OK CRITICISM 267 the end of the fourth. ' ' A great many questions are to be asked concerning every witness before the exact value of its testimony is to be finally known. And the kinds of evidence that are offered must be properly distinguished. It is not at all the function of this book to enter into the full exposition of the methods by which textual criticism comes to its conclusions ; nor can the general rules by which the science proceeds be laid down here. It must sufl&ce to enumerate a few of them only, as an index to their general character, and then to set before the reader one or two specimens of criticisms in which the text of a familiar passage is elucidated.^ In general it may be said that of two or more readings the more difficult and obscure is to be pre- ferred to the plainer a7id simpler one. This rule is based upon the very reasonable supposition that any change made from an original passage, thus producing a false reading, would be for the pur- pose of throwing light upon a dark passage rather than to obscure what was already quite simple and clear. For example in Matt. 5 : 22 : "But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be in danger of the judgment." A reference to the Revised New 1 The most accessible and, on the whole, the best book for the beginner in practical criticism is Warfield's " Textual Criticism of the New Testament,' ' Whittaker, New York. 268 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH Testament shows that the two words "without cause '•' are left out of the text in that version, and the note is put into the margin: "Many ancient authorities insert without caused The reader's Variorum Bible will direct him to the margin, where he will find that the uncial man- uscripts D and ^*, the versions Old lyatin, Curetonian, Peshito, and Memphitic, and two or three Fathers contain the words, while the Sina- itic and the Vatican manuscripts omit them, as also the Vulgate and several Fathers. Of course the mere documentary evidence in this instance is strongly against the words, and it is enforced by the canon in favor of the harder reading, for it is far more likely that the words without cause were added to explain the difiicult severity of the pas- sage, than that having been originally there they were left out with the result of adding to the ob- scurity. Another law is that the style peculiar to each author should be used as a test of a varied read- ing. Plainly an interpolation by a copyist would be likely to betray itself by its method of expres- sion. In Matt. 12 : 14, the three editors, lyach- mann, Tregelles, and Tischendorf, change the order of the Greek words in the received text to make them conform to readings which are more in the style of Matthew. This canon, however, is used with caution, for an author might use an ex- ILLUSTRATIONS OF CRITICISM 269 pression only once, and in that case it might seem at variance with his usual methods of thought and speech. A shorter reading is to be preferred to a longer^ at least whenever the longer seeins to be given in explanation of the shorter for77i. This rule is of near kin to the one first given. Readings which may have arisen from contro- versial reaso7is are to be rejected in favor of those that do not bear that suspicion. The celebrated passage in i John 5 : 7, 8, is an instance in point, where some copyist saw a good chance to intro- duce the words that would be a strong support to the doctrine of the Trinity : " For there are three that bear record in heaven^ the Father^ the Word^ and the Holy Ghost^ and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness i7t earthy the Spirit and the water and the blood, and the three agree in one." The words in italics are the words to be rejected. They are supported by only three very late manuscripts of little value, but they are omitted by }^, A, B , and all Greek man- uscripts before the fifteenth century ; they appear in African Fathers as early as the fifth century and in later copies of the Vulgate. Modem edi- tors reject the words without hesitation. Another common rule is that the reading out of several is preferable^ from which all the rest may have bee7i derived^ although it could not be derived 270 THE PARCHMKNTS OI^ THK FAITH fro7n them. Tischendorf cautions against the use of this rule lest it be easily abused, but it is plain for example that a rude or defective sentence might be more likely be the original reading than a more polished one, especially if the introduc- tion of a word or two would accomplish the change. Attention must be paid to the genius and usage of each several authority in assigning the weight due to it in a particular instance. For example, the Vatican codex tends always to the abridge- ment of the text, while Codex Bezae shows a strong impulse to amplify. If then in a particu- lar instance B favors a shorter reading against an ampler text in several authorities, the ten- dency of B in this direction must be given due weight. On the other hand D amplifies largely, and there are many readings in this manuscript found nowhere else. In like manner the character of the versions and of ecclesiastical writers must be carefully considered. Are they prone to admit easily a reading, and are they care- less or critical in the use of their authorities ? Moreover, the genealogical connections offnanu- scripts are of great importance. The Introduc- tion to Westcott and Hort's Greek Testament declares that " all trustworthy restoration of cor- rupted texts is founded upon the study of their history^ that is, of the relations of descent or affinity which connect the several documents." ILLUSTRATIONS OF CRITICISM 27 1 The question of the source of a manuscript, or of a whole group of manuscripts, may be a simple one, or it may be exceedingly complex. But a very simple case may be taken to explain the force of this law. Suppose that ten manuscripts contain a passage, nine of them agreeing but the tenth presenting a rival reading. Now the nine manuscripts may prove on investigation to have all been copied directly or indirectly from the tenth. In that case it is the nine that show cor- ruption, and other things being equal the one document is to be preferred to all the others. On the other hand the nine may be found to have been derived from still another manuscript not in our possession, but which must have dated earlier than the tenth, and been of superior quality, and thus the reading of the nine may be better than that of the tenth. It will thus be seen that the genealogical relations of a document are very important, and presumably more so as the com- plexity of the case is increased. Still another important question is that concern- ing the class of manuscripts to which a given authority belongs, as having Western origin and peculiarities, or Alexandrine characteristics, or as belonging to some other group whose origin and nature may have been influenced by the prevail- ing texts, habits of transcription, methods of thought, and many other forces prevailing in the 272 THE PARCHMENTS OF THK FAITH locality where it arose. It is clear how the weight of authority must be affected by such a question as this. Without delaying for the further specification of such principles of criticism, we may pass at once to a few examples which will show their application in the practical work. The Greek will not be quoted, but the English translation of King James, from which the variation will be marked. Matthew 19 : 17. For '' Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is God," the editors Griesbach, lyachmann, Tregelles, Tischendorf, Alford, and Westcott and Hort read : " Why askest thou me concerning the good. One is the good," or perhaps it may be translated, '' there is but one that is good. " The parallel pas- sages in Mark 10 : 18 and lyuke 18 : 19 read in the same way as in the Common version, and the verse in Matthew, if it is to be read with these editors, is the variant ; which might mean either that the autograph of Matthew was probably like the other two Gospels and became corrupted ; or that Matthew wrote independently and quoted with a slight difference. But a change in Matthew's passage, supposing the common reading to be right, may have arisen from a willful interference of some copyist, who did not like the appearance of the verse as teaching the Son's inferiority to ILLUSTRATIONS OF CRITICISM 273 the Father, so that this may be a case for the application of the rule against adopting readings influenced by dogmatic tendencies. Referring to the textual sources we find the testimony divided as follows : For the common reading, " Why callest thou me good," all extant codices except six support it, though A is defective in this place, and two or three omit a word, as J omits callest, but C, B, F, G, H, K, M, S, U, V, ^, are agreed ; so also cursives 33 and 69, and the Peshito, the Philoxenian, the Thebaic, the Old Latin in some codices, and the Arabic versions ; against the common version, and in favor of the reading, "Why askest thou me concerning the good," the greatest uncials J< and B agree, also D and L, the cursives i, 22, and the Cure- tonian Syriac, the Jerusalem Syriac, the Old Latin a, b, c, e, flf,^'-' 1, the Vulgate, the ^lem- phitic and Armenian versions. Some manuscripts have both readiuQ^s. It is thus seen that while the mere number of codices favors the common reading, the oldest and best texts support the reading of the editors. We need not follow out criticism of the rest of the verse, as sufficient has been said to show the orounds for the two readino-s in its principal clause, and why the choice of the editors is made. Luke 2 : 14 gives the song of the angels at the Nativity: "Glory to God in the highest and on 274 '^^HK PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH earth peace, good will toward men." In the Re- vised version we read : " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men in whom he is well pleased. ' ' But two marginal notes are added: "Many ancient authorities read peace^ good pleasure among men^\- and "Greek, men of good pleasured It would seem as if the differ- ence in the original must be very considerable, but in fact it consists only in the presence or ab- sence of a single letter. The last word of the verse in Greek is sbdoxCa^ or eddoxia^, the former is a nominative, the latter a genitive. The first question is plainly one of the reading. What are the reasons of the revisers for reading " eudokias," of good pleasure^ instead of "eudokia," good pleasure? Now of the five greatest uncials C is defective in this place ; but K in the first hand. A, B first hand, and D read " men of good will," but no other Greek manuscript whatever. All the other uncials, including J^ as amended by its seventh century corrector, and B by the sixth century corrector, are for the Common text, and with them all the cursives agree, and also the Memphitic, the three extant Syriac,^ the Armenian, and the Kthiopic versions. On the other hand the Vulgate, all the old Latin, ' As we noted on p. 241, the new Syriac Gospel, discovered by Mrs. Lewis agrees with these witnesses ; especially important in the defectiveness of the Curetonian Syriac. ILLUSTRATIONS OF CRITICISM 275 and the Gothic versions read ' ' among men of good will." The Latin Fathers naturally do the same, and the Greek Father Origen throws his weight for the same form. But apart from Origen the almost unanimous evidence of the Greek Fathers, twenty-two of whom flourished before the end of the fifth century and who must have used codices as pure as the Sinaitic and Vatican manu- scripts, is for the common reading ' ' good will toward or among men." The great editors, ex- cept Scrivener, give their preference to the read- ing of the principal uncials, eudokias^ although the overwhelming number of authorities is upon the other side. It would seem that there is some room for Scrivener's conjecture that the very early use of the nominative eudokia by so many writers (ninety-two places in all) could hardly have been possible unless some good manuscript had the passage in this form, while the almost unanimous testimony of the later codices would point in the same direction. Possibly it was the error of a copyist which led to the addition of the single letter ''s" in the Vatican, the Sinaitic, the Alex- andrine, and the Bezae codices, and the question of the original reading may never be wholly settled. But accepting the revisers' decision as to the Greek reading, their longer translation is mani- festly for the sake of clearness. The passage, if translated simply " men of good pleasure " might 276 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH be taken to mean men who are well-disposed toward each other, or men who receive the mes- sage of God with good favor. The revisers con- sider it to refer to the condition of mind of the Deity; it is God's good pleasure, and therefore they translate " peace among men in whom he is well pleased." Scrivener contests both their read- ing of the Greek and their translation, saying : " ' Among men in whom he is well pleased ' (com- pare Ivuke 3 : 22) can be arrived at only through some process which would make any phrase bear almost any meaning the translator might like to put upon it." As the question is thus left, the passage is a good one to show how criticism is itself sometimes indeterminate, and how so slight a variation as that of a single letter may array authorities in almost hopeless antagonism. In the present instance, however, we may conclude by regretting that, if the revisers are correct in writing ' ' peace among men in whom he is well pleased," the old words could not be left, "peace, good will toward men,'' for they convey the same thought of God's good will in simpler and more beautiful words. Mark 16 : 9-20. The critical discussion of this passage would be far too intricate and ex- tended for these pages, and the passage can only be referred to as one of the most interesting of all those in dispute. Codices J< and B, the two ILLUSTRATIONS OF CRITICISM 2/7 oldest Greek manuscripts, omit the verses. B, however, as will be seen from oyxrfac simile repro- duction facing this page, "betrays consciousness on the scribe's part that something is left out, inasmuch as after Icpo^ow-o ydp^ verse 8, a whole column is left perfectly blank," the only blank column in the whole New Testament volume. X does not show this peculiarity. Only a very few unimportant translations also omit the words, and the almost universal testimony of the manu- script witnesses except {< and B is for their admission. It would seem possible that some scribe left his copy of Mark unfinished. That cop}^ became the exemplar for B and {< and per- haps others that are not extant, the scribes not daring to insert what did not appear in their exemplar, but the scribe of B indicating his knowledge of the verses by leaving a column vacant. The Canterbury revisers indicate their doubt of the verses, and Tischendorf and Hort are decided in their rejection of them. Dean Burgon and Scrivener, on the other hand, are em- phatic for their genuineness, and many others share this opinion. The whole history of this passage is of the most interesting character.^ 1 A discovery by F. C. Conybeare of an Armenian manuscript dated in the year 986, seems to indicate that these twelve verses were writ- ten by one Aristion, " a disciple of the Lord" at a very early date. See " The Expositor," Oct., 1893. 278 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH We conclude these examples with the very in- teresting case of the doxology at the close of the I^ord's Prayer. Matt. 6 : 13. " For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen." Kven in the King James version these words are want- ing in the prayer as given by lyuke 11:4, and a reader of the English might query whether they had been dropped inadvertently from the third Gospel or added to the first Gospel. For the ad- mission of the words in Matthew, as was pointed out in speaking of the Codex Rossanensis (page 206), that manuscript of the sixth century and the Beratinus of the same century, but prob- ably a little earlier, are the earliest uncials to con- tain them. Their admission is supported by many other uncials, by far the larger number, of which L, is the best. Nearly all the cursives give the words, and the Syriac, the Thebaic, and the Armenian versions also have them. Some of the versions, however, seem to hesitate, as the Cure- tonian which omits "and the power," the The- baic which omits "and the glory," and the Old Latin which omits ' ' the kingdom and the glory." The Didache has the words, and Chry- sostom (398) includes them. But B, D, and Z omit them, while A and C are defective and bear no witness. The principal copies of the Old I^atin and the Vulgate omit them. Origen ILLUSTRATIONS OF CRITICISM 279 (230) and Cyril of Jerusalem (350) omit them, when giving a very thorough exposition of the prayer. Thus it appears that the highest uncial authority is for omission, with only later uncials and the cursives for admission, while the versions are perhaps about equally divided and the Fathers seem to oppose. But apart from these sources of information, the doxology appears in other wit- nesses as early as the second century, particularly in service books in use at a very early date, though in as many differing forms as there are documents containing it; and this fact leads to the conclusion that it early found its way into some copies of the Scriptures, perhaps about the end of the third or the opening of the fourth century, but was very rarely met with until a considerably later time. It should not appear as a part of the sacred text, and has only its great antiquity and the beauty of its thought to recommend it as an addition to the prayer in modern use. Such examples might be increased almost indefi- nitely, if space allowed, but it is clearly beyond the function of the present work to enter upon the labors of the critics save by way of brief illustra- tion. From what has been said the reader can gain a slight appreciation of the skill and toil by which a correct reading of the Bible is secured. XIX CONCI.USION IT would be of special interest if from this point we could go on to trace the history of the various English translations by which the Bible has come down to the present time ; but here the stream is broad and our boats are sailing on it every day, and our knowledge of it is more easily attainable ; to describe what is known of this part of the great river flowing down to us from remote ages would require a volume by itself.^ It is only to be noted in conclusion that the tracing of the stream to its sources, has proved beyond question that the Bible comes to us from Jesus and his apostles with no substantial change through all the centuries. That Jesus knew and used the Old Testament as we have it we are sure. It is a joy to know that he fed his spiritual life upon its truths, and that when he began "from Moses and from all the prophets and interpreted in all the Scriptures the things concerning him- ^ The reader can be referred to no better book of recent date than " The History of the EngUsh Bible,' ' by Prof. T. Harwood Pattison. American Baptist Publication Society. 280 CONCLUSION 281 self," ^ he appealed to no strange book, or to pages that were then essentially different from what they are now, but to these same writings that are before our eyes, although now every man reads them " in his own language wherein he was born." And to have traced the testimony for the New Testament ; to have found that we have to rely concerning it upon no mere theories, but on his- toric facts ; to have had recourse to the various documents preserved often by almost miraculous means ; to have tested the various readings and elucidated every passage, detecting even the slightest marks of deviation whether in accent, or spelling, or serious interpolation, or careless omis- sion ; to have collected a vast mass of evidence to the competent exactness of the text, and to have noted how discovery after discovery has confirmed the dates of our Gospels and Epistles as comprised within the apostolic time ; this has brought to us a reasonable faith, that cannot be shaken, in the later revelation which was given to teach the world that "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself." As Tischendorf wrote :^ ** A single, well-established fact weighs more in the scale of good sense than the most dazzling wit, the most ingenious sophistr}^ with which they 1 Luke 24: 27. 2 " When our Gospels were Written," translated. American Tract Society, p. 131. 282 THK PARCHMENTS OF THK FAITH torture and twist the facts which occurred eighteen hundred years ago." It is easy to start with a theory, as many have done concerning the date of the fourth Gospel, assigning to it a very late origin which would remove it far from the lifetime of the apostle whose name it bears, and by similar assumptions support the theory until a fabric is built up that may seem fair and strong to those who have little opportunity to prove its weakness. But it is hard to do all this in the light of cold, well-ascertained facts. The historical method of study in this department has strengthened im- measurably the grounds for our confidence in the Bible, so far as its genuineness and authenticity are concerned. Of course, apart from this ques- tion is that other ground for belief in the Script- ure, which is quite enough for their acceptance as authoritative in all matters of spiritual instruction, that they actually are sufficient for the satisfaction of our souls in this respect ; they actually build up character and set before men the highest ideals ; they are quite competent for the ethical advance- ment of society ; in all matters essential to real godliness, they never fail to lead the soul aright, revealing Gk)d's saving love and redeeming power in Jesus Christ. But the calm scholar lays his hand upon the pages that teach thus and through the toil of a lifetime shows us that they really came from holy men of God, who walked under CONCLUSION 283 the shadow of the Almighty. They were men who lived in the midst of the stirring scenes of which they wrote. They were men who walked with Jesns "the blessed fields" of Palestine and heard from his own lips the words he uttered. And it is something of the highest value to every one who feels^ as well as to those whose critical faculties are largely developed, to know that the very words of testimony of these men have come down to us in their essential integrity. " That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld and our hands have handled concerning the word of life (and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear wit- ness, and declare unto you the life, the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us) ; that which we have seen and heard de- clare we unto you also that ye also may have fel- lowship with us : Yea, and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ ; and these things we write that our joy may be fulfilled. " These sentences, written by the Apostle John in his first epistle, express the truth in few words. In this very passage the critics read, as it is here quoted, "that oicr ]oy may be fulfilled," while the Authorized version reads in more familiar way, " ^2Xyour joy may be fulfilled." The testimony is about equally divided ; but surely it is indeed 284 THE PARCHMENTS OF THE FAITH for the joy both of the writer and the reader, that what was written should spring from intimate, personal acquaintance with Jesus, and should be given accurately to the follower of Christ. The joy is only enhanced, if through all the Christian centuries the word has come down to us unharmed. It is of this that we are assured. With radiance undimmed by the lapse of the ages, God's word is still ' ' a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path." INDEX. PARE Abbot, Ezra: cited 155 life of 166 Abgarus: letter of... HO Akhmini 259 Alexandria 17,36, 83 Alexoudis 210 Alford 175, 224, 272 Allix, Peter 199 Ammonias 142 Antonelli 175 Apocrvpba 20,21 Aquila: Greek version of. 90-93 identified with Onkelos 97 Aramaic: in Palestine 14 origin of - 14 no written Bible in 26 slight use of, in Hebrew Bible 16 influenceof,on Greek in Bible. 227 Aristides: apology of. 238, 254 Armenian Version 230, 247 Augustine 231 Babylon 50 Barnabas: Epistle of. 34, 187 Barrett 218 Bashmuric 246 Battifol 210, 211 Benton 225 Beza 201 Bible: origin of Greek 20 order in, of lx)Oks in Hebrew. 24 order in,of Jesus and apostles.22, 26 of early church 28 PAGE Bilile: early hostility to 37 first printed 152 Bradshaw 214 Bryennios 250 Callistratos 190 Canon: Old Testament 25 New Testament.- 34, 38, 39 human determination of. 35 Canterbury Pvevision 203, 274, 277 Carthage..! 230 Catherine, St. : Convent of. 131, 181 189, 238 Chapters 144 Chark ~ 223 Ciasca 257 Cilento 205 Clement 34, 196,250 Codex : of Old Testament 77-80 Alexandrinus 34, 154, 19»-198 illustration of 138 Basiliensis 221 Bez« 201-204, 236, 270 Beratinus 210,213 Claromontanus ?04 Coislinianus 215 Dublinensis 218 Ephrsemi 145 described 198-200, 219 Friderico Augustanus, 182, 183, 189 Leicestrensis 223 Montfortianus 222 Mosquensis 215 2S5 286 INDEX PAGE Codex: Number 33 221 Number 95 224 Purpureus 206, 212 K 217 Kegius 211 Eossanensis 140 described 204-211 illustration 209 Ruber 214 Sinaiticus 131 attempt to discredit 132 description of 179-193 Vaticanus: described 171-179 illustrations of. 171, 276 Wd 214 illustration of 215 Complutensian Polyglott 152 Constantine 192 Copyist 61, 122-131, 243 Cozza 177 Criticism: science of.. 150, 151 illustrations of 265-279 Culture: in first three centuries... 36 Jewish centers of 50 after Christ 53, 108, 150 Cureton 217, 236 Curetonian Syriac 230 Cursive 138, 139, 147, 2'20-225 Cyprian 230 Diatessarou 141, 237, 241, 253, 262 Didache 251, 278 Duchesne, Abbe du 210, 213 Ephraem Syrus 145, 198, 256 Erasmus 153, 221, 222 Ethiopic Version 320 Eusebius 109, 143, 151, 192, 206, 255 Euthalius 143 Evangelistaria 140 Ezra 7 Fathers : earliest writings of. 34 value of. 148 names of, abbreviated 148 quotations from 247-249 PAGE Fathers: list of. 24 Faust 137 Ferrar group of MSS 210 Fragments 212-216 in book-bindings 215, 219 Frauds 131-137 detection of certain 136 Gebhardt 204 Gemara: origin of 54,95 description of 105-107 Gibson, Mrs. M.D 237-242, 244 Giobertine Tincture 200, 219 Grebaut 259 Greek : in Palestine 17 the world's language 18 translations in 81 affected by Aramaic and He- brew 227 in Egypt 245 Gregory, C. R 162, 191 Griesbach 214, 272 Gothic Version 230 Gutenberg 137 Ilaggada 103 Halacha 103 Ilarnack 204,261-263 Harris, J. R 191, 210, 219, 225, 238 244, 254, 261 Hebrew: a sacred language 14 in formal speech 16 earlier and later forms of. 55 vowels in 55 gradual change in 57 example of use of vowels in. ... 58 reading of Gen. 47 : 31 60 Hermas, Shepherd of 34, 189 Hippolytus 204 Huntington, R 235 Ignatius , Jerome 93, 113-118, 151, 231, 232 Jerusalem Syriac 230 INDEX 287 Jonathan: Targum of.. Justin Keri and Kethib 63 Lachmann 157, 158, 232, 268, 272 Lascar 199 Latin: European, Ital., Vul 230 African 229, 231 Lectionaries 140 Lewis, Mrs. A. S 191, 237-242, 244 Lightfoot 101,246 Lucar, Cyril 195 Lyons 202 Manuscripts : see also Codex. earliest modes of writing 41 variations of 41 materials of. 43, 145 destruction of. 44 vitiated by errors 45 strangely rescued 212 in America 225 Old Testament 40 late date of 77 agreement of text of 64 classes of. 66, 67 number of. 67 of various kinds 77-80 appearance of. 80 illustrated 140 age of 144 number of uncial 146 signs of 147 cursive. 147 places of 148 Marcion 37 Massorah 54 Massoretes 55, 58, 60, 64 Medici 199 Memphitic Version 230, 245 Milman: on the Vulgate 114 Minuscules 138, 220 Miflhna .54, 95, 103 PAGE Moabite Stone 55 Monks 190, 216, 245, 246 Muratori 37 New Testament : growth of 30 Gospels of, lost 32 earliest writings of. 33 first so called 38 modern editions of, in Greek.. 41 materials for text of 119-136 abundance of textual author- ity for 119 principal sources of manu- scripts of. 120-122 their places 148 MSS. of. 138-149 Nitrian Desert 235,217 Old Testament: growth of. 47 completion of 53 reverence for 53 Onkelos: Targum of. 97 Origen : his Hexaplar ...S7-S9, 115 father of criticism 151 Palestine: languages of, illus- trated by modern examples 19 Palimpsest 145, 146, 217 Papyrus 43 Patmos 210, 213 Peshito 109-111, 230, 242 Peter: Apocalypse of 37 Gospel and Apocalypse of 258 Praxapostoloi 140 Philoxenian Syriac 230 Printing 137 Robinson 262 Rossano 204 Sakkelion 213 Samaria _... 68-71 Samaritan Pentateuch. ..47,67,68, 72-74 textual value of. 74,75 Schaff, Philip 189 288 INDEX PAGE Schceflfer 137 Schulati 204 Scribes 46, 51, 61 Scriptorium 122 Scrivener: life of 168,169,204 Septuagint: origin of 13 in Palestine 20 the Bible of Jesus and Apos- tles ...11-27 description of 82-90 manuscripts of. 89 Shapira 135 Siloam, Pool of: inscription at 56 Simonides 132-135 Sinai 180,184, 238 Sopherim, Tract of. 62 Stanley, A. P. : on the Septuagint, 90 Stichometry 143, 144 Synagogue: Hebrew used in 15 predecessor of churches 52 Great Synagogue 52 Talmud 54, 94, 100, 245 Targum 94 origin of. 95, 96, 245 of Onkelos 97 of Jonathan 98 Tatian 141, 241, 255, 257 Tattam 216, 217, 235 Teaching of the Twelve, The....251-253 278 Tertullian 230 Textus Receptus 153 Thayer, Prof. J. H 262 Thebaic Version 230, 245 Thecla, St 196 Theodotion: Greek version of... 90, 93 Tischendorf 87, 132, 133, 154 life of..... 158-163, 175, 176, 179, 183 185, 200, 204, 214, 238, 268, 272, 281 Toledo: MSS. of. 76 Tregelles 154 life of 163-166, 175, 219, 222, 224 232, 268, 272 PAGE Uncial 188, 139 number of manuscripts in 146 Variations in readings 41, 155 Vatican Library 171 Vercellone 175, 177 Verses 14# Versions: need of 229 value of. 147, 226-228 signs of, 148 described 226-247 dates of. 229, 23U Arabic Ill Armenian 247 Aquila's Greek 90-93 Bashmuric 246 European Latin 231 Ethiopic 230, 247 Gothic 230, 247 Itala 115, 231, 232 Italian Latin 230-232 Memphitic 245, 246 Old Latin 112, 229-232 Septuagint Greek 13, 20, 23, 82- 90,89 Syriac 109-111, 218, 230 Jerusalem 230, 244 Curetonian 233, 241 Peshito 230, 233, 242 Harclean 230, 244 Philoxenian 230,243 Lewis Codex 237-242 Thebaic 245,246 Theodotion's Greek 90-93 Vulgate Latin 112, 152, 230, 232 Vowel Points 58, 59 Westcott and Hort's Greek 189, 266 270, 272 Writing : early art and remains of. 42 Ximenes 152 Zouche, Lord de la 224 >-