A Plain Introduction To The Criticism Of The New Testament
Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener
63 chapters
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63 chapters
Preface To Fourth Edition.
Preface To Fourth Edition.
At the time of the lamented death of Dr. Scrivener a new edition of his standard work was called for, and it was supposed that the great Master of Textual Criticism had himself made sufficient corrections and additions for the purpose in the margin of his copy. When the publishers committed to me the task of preparation, I was fully aware of the absolute necessity of going far beyond the materials placed at my disposal, if the book were to be really useful as being abreast of the very great prog
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Addenda Et Corrigenda.
Addenda Et Corrigenda.
P. 7 , l. 25, for Chapter XI read Chapter XII. P. 14 , l. 20, for Chapter X read Chapter XI. P. 87 , l. 19, for Synaxaria read Menologies. P. 119 , ll. 11 and 12 from bottom, for 93 read 94; for Memoranda in our Addenda read ingenious argument in n. 1. P. 149 , T f Horner, add now in the Bodleian at Oxford. P. 214 , l. 3 from bottom, for 464 read iv. 64. P. 224 , Evan. 250, l. 3, for p. 144 read p. 150. P. 226 , Evan. 274, l. 2 from end, for Chapter IX read Chapter XII. P. 255 , l. 6 from bottom
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Chapter I. Preliminary Considerations.
Chapter I. Preliminary Considerations.
4. No one who has taken the trouble to examine any two editions of the Greek New Testament needs be told that this supposed complete resemblance in various copies of the holy books is not founded on fact. Even several impressions derived from the same standard edition, and professing to exhibit a text positively the same, differ from their archetype and from each other, in errors of the press which no amount of care or diligence has yet been able to get rid of. If we extend our researches to the
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Chapter II. General Character Of The Greek Manuscripts Of The New Testament.
Chapter II. General Character Of The Greek Manuscripts Of The New Testament.
2. The materials on which writing has been impressed at different periods and stages of civilization are the following:—Leaves, bark, especially of the lime ( liber ), linen, clay and pottery, wall-spaces, metals, lead, bronze, wood, waxen and other tablets, papyrus, skins, parchment and vellum, and from an early date amongst the Chinese, and in the West after the capture of Samarcand by the Arabs in a.d. 704, paper manufactured from fibrous substances 17 . The most ancient manuscripts of the Ne
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Chapter III. Divisions Of The Text, And Other Particulars.
Chapter III. Divisions Of The Text, And Other Particulars.
The τίτλοι in St. Matthew amount to sixty-eight, in St. Mark to forty-eight, in St. Luke to eighty-three, in St. John to eighteen. This mode of division, although not met with in the Vatican and Sinaitic manuscripts, is found in the Codices Alexandrinus and Ephraemi of the fifth century, and in the Codex Nitriensis of the sixth, each of which has tables of the τίτλοι prefixed to the several Gospels: but the Codices Alexandrinus, Rossanensis, and Dublinensis of St. Matthew, and that portion of th
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Appendix To Chapter III. Synaxarion And Eclogadion Of The Gospels And Apostolic Writings Daily Throughout The Year.
Appendix To Chapter III. Synaxarion And Eclogadion Of The Gospels And Apostolic Writings Daily Throughout The Year.
Τῇ ἁγίᾳ καὶ μεγάλῃ κυριακῇ τοῦ πάσχα. Κυριακῇ τῆς πεντηκοστῆς Ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ Ματθαῖον. Ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ Μάρκον. Ἀρχὴ τῆς ἰνδικτοῦ τοῦ νέου ἔτους, ἤγουν τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ λουκᾶ [Arund. 547, Parham 18]. Τῶν νηστειῶν (Lent). σαββάτῳ α´, Mark ii. 23-iii. 5. Heb. i. 1-12. Κυριακῇ α´, John i. 44-52. Heb. xi. 24-40. σαββάτῳ β´, Mark i. 35-44. iii. 12-14. Κυριακῇ β´, ii. 1-12. i. 10-ii. 3. σαββάτῳ γ´, 14-17. x. 32-37. Κυριακῇ γ´, viii. 34-ix 1. iv. 14-v. 6. σαββάτῳ δ´, vii. 31-37. vi. 9-12. Κυριακῇ δ´, ix. 17-31
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On The Menology, Or Calendar Of Immoveable Festivals And Saints' Days.
On The Menology, Or Calendar Of Immoveable Festivals And Saints' Days.
18. Theodora 109 , John viii. 3-11 (Parham). 24. Thecla, Matt. xxv. 1-13; 2 Tim. i. 3-9. Oct. 3. Dionysius the Areopagite, Matt. xiii. 45-54; Acts xvii. 16 (19, Cod. Bezae)-34 (16-23, 30, B-C, III. 24) (diff. in K). 6. Thomas the Apostle, John xx. 19-31; 1 Cor. iv. 9-16. 8. Pelagia, John viii. 3-11 110 . 9. James son of Alphaeus, Matt. x. 1-7, 14, 15. 18. Luke the Evangelist, Luke x. 16-21; Col. iv. 5-9, 14, 18. 23. James, ὁ ἀδελφόθεος, Mark vi. 1-7; James i. 1-12. Nov. 8. Michael and Archangels
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Chapter IV. The Larger Uncial Manuscripts Of The Greek Testament.
Chapter IV. The Larger Uncial Manuscripts Of The Greek Testament.
The Codex Sinaiticus is 13-½ inches in length by 14-7/8 inches high, and consists of 346-½ leaves of the same beautiful vellum as the Cod. Friderico-Augustanus which is really a part of it whereof 199 contain portions of the Septuagint version, 147-½ the whole New Testament, Barnabas' Epistle, and a considerable fragment of Hermas' Shepherd. It has subsequently appeared that the Russian Archimandrite (afterwards Bishop) Porphyry had brought with him from Sinai in 1845 some pieces of Genesis xxii
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Chapter V. Uncial Manuscripts Of The Gospels.
Chapter V. Uncial Manuscripts Of The Gospels.
F. Codex Boreeli , now in the Public Library at Utrecht, once belonged to John Boreel [d. 1629], Dutch ambassador at the court of King James I. Wetstein obtained some readings from it in 1730, as far as Luke xi, but stated that he knew not where it then was. In 1830 Professor Heringa of Utrecht discovered it in private hands at Arnheim, and procured it for his University Library, where in 1850 Tregelles found it, though with some difficulty, the leaves being torn and all loose in a box, and he t
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I. Manuscripts of the Acts and Catholic Epistles.
I. Manuscripts of the Acts and Catholic Epistles.
E. Codex Laudianus 35 is one of the most precious treasures preserved in the Bodleian at Oxford. It is a Latin-Greek copy, with two columns on a page, the Latin version holding the post of honour on the left, and is written in very short στίχοι consisting of from one to three words each, the Latin words always standing opposite to the corresponding Greek. This peculiar arrangement points decisively to the West of Europe as its country, notwithstanding the abundance of Alexandrian forms has led s
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II. Manuscripts of the Pauline Epistles.
II. Manuscripts of the Pauline Epistles.
D. Cod. Claromontanus , No. 107 of the Royal Library at Paris, is a Greek-Latin copy of St. Paul's Epistles, one of the most ancient and important in existence. Like the Cod. Ephraemi in the same Library it has been fortunate in such an editor as Tischendorf, who published it in 1852 with complete Prolegomena, and a facsimile traced by Tregelles. This noble volume is in small quarto, written on 533 leaves of the thinnest and finest vellum: indeed its extraordinary delicacy has caused the writing
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III. Manuscripts of the Apocalypse.
III. Manuscripts of the Apocalypse.
א. Cod. Sinaiticus. A. Cod. Alexandrinus. B. Cod. Vaticanus 2066 (formerly 105 in the Library of the Basilian monks in the city) was judiciously substituted by Wetstein for the modern portion of the great Vatican MS., collated by Mico, and published in 1796 by Ford in his “Appendix” to Codex Alexandrinus, as also in 1868 by Vercellone and Cozza 224 . It is an uncial copy of about the end of the eighth century, and the volume also contains in the same hand Homilies of Basil the Great and of Grego
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(1) Manuscripts of the Gospels.
(1) Manuscripts of the Gospels.
2. Basil. A. N. iv. 1 [xv or earlier], 7-¾ × 6, ff. 248 (20), subscr. , κεφ. t. , κεφ. (not John), τίτλ., Am. , is the inferior manuscript chiefly used by Erasmus for his first edition of the N. T. (1516), with press corrections by his hand, and barbarously scored with red chalk to suit his pages. The monks at Basle had bought it for two Rhenish florins (Bengel, Wetstein, Burgon, Hoskier, Greg.). 3. (Act. 3, Paul. 3.) Cod. Corsendonck. [xii], 4to, 9-¾ × 7, ff. 451 (24), Carp., Eus. t. , κεφ. t.
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Chapter VIII. Cursive Manuscripts Of The Gospels. Part II.
Chapter VIII. Cursive Manuscripts Of The Gospels. Part II.
450. Ferrara, Univ. 119, NA. 4 [xiv], 8vo, ff. ?, κεφ. t. (Lat. later), Am. , lect. , syn. , men. (Lat. syn. later). (Greg. 581.) 451. (Act. 194, Paul. 222, Apoc. 102.) Ferr. Univ. 187, 188, N A. 7 [ a.d. 1334], 6-¾ × 4-¾, chart. , ff.?, capp. Lat., containing the whole New Testament: the only divisions recognized are those of the modern chapters in vermilion. (Greg. 582.) 452. Parma, Reg. 5 [xi or xii], 13-½ × 9-½, ff. 284 (21), Carp. , Eus. t. , argent. , κεφ. t. , κεφ., τίτλ., Am. , Eus. , le
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Chapter IX. Cursive Manuscripts Of The Gospels. Part III.
Chapter IX. Cursive Manuscripts Of The Gospels. Part III.
777. Ath. Nat. Sakkel. 6 (93) [xiv], 8-5/8 × 5-¾, ff. 185, pict. 778. Ath. Nat. Sakkel. 7 (80) [xiv], 9-½ × 6-¾, ff. 195, pict. 779. Ath. Nat. 1 (127) [xiv], 7-7/8 × 5-7/8, ff. 171, pict. 780. Ath. Nat. 5 (121) [xi], 8-¼ × 6-3/8, ff. 241, scholia in red. 781. Ath. Nat. 14 (110 ?) [xv], 8-5/8 × 5-7/8, ff. 197. 782. Ath. Nat. 16 (81?) [xiv], 9 × 7-1/8, ff. 277. 783. Ath. Nat. 17 (71 ?) [xiv], 11 × 8-5/8, ff. 211, pict. 784. Ath. Nat. 20 (87 ??) [xiv], 8-5/8 × 5-7/8, ff. 161, cotton , pict. Mut. be
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Chapter X. Cursive Manuscripts Of The Acts And Catholic Epistles.
Chapter X. Cursive Manuscripts Of The Acts And Catholic Epistles.
8. (Paul. 10.) Stephen's ια᾽, now missing, cited about 400 times by that editor, in 276 of which it supports the Latin versions (Mill, N. T., Proleg. § 1171). Stephen cites ια᾽ (apparently in error) four times in the Gospels, once in the Apocalypse (Matt. x. 8; 10; xii. 32; John ii. 17; Apoc. xiii. 4). 9. (Paul. 11.) Cambridge, Univ. Libr. Kk. 6. 4 [xi], 6-¾ × 4-¾, ff. 247 (22), lect. Mut. Acts iii. 6-17; 1 Tim. iv. 12-2 Tim. iv. 3; Heb. vii. 20-xi. 10; xi. 23-end. Bp. Marsh has fully proved tha
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Chapter XI. Cursive Manuscripts Of St. Paul's Epistles.
Chapter XI. Cursive Manuscripts Of St. Paul's Epistles.
8. (Act. 50.) 9. (Act. 7.) 10. (Act. 8.) 11. (Act. 9.) 12. (Act. 10.) See Act. 7. 13. Certain readings cited by J. le Fevre d'Etaples, in his commentary on St. Paul's Epistles, Paris, 1512. 14. (Evan. 90.) 15. A manuscript cited by Erasmus, belonging to Amandus of Louvain. 16. (Act. 12.) *17. (Evan. 33.) See Act. 7. 18. (Evan. 35.) 19. (Act. 16.) 20. Par. Nat. Coislin. Gr. 27, described (as is Cod. 23) by Montfaucon [x], 13-¾ × 10-½, ff. 252 (39), in bad condition, with prol. and a catena, from
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Chapter XII. Cursive Manuscripts Of The Apocalypse.
Chapter XII. Cursive Manuscripts Of The Apocalypse.
2. (Act. 10, Stephen's ιε᾽.) 3. Codex Stephani ιϛ᾽, unknown; cited only 77 times throughout the Apocalypse in Stephen's edition of 1550, and that very irregularly; only once (ch. xx. 3) after ch. xvii. 8. It was not one of the copies in the King's Library, and the four citations noticed by Mill (N. T., prol. § 1176) from Luke xxii. 30; 67; 2 Cor. xii. 11; 1 Tim. iii. 3, are probably mere errors of Stephen's press. 4. (Act. 12.) 5. Codices Laurentii Vallae ( see Evan. 82); the readings of which E
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Chapter XIII. Evangelistaries, Or Manuscript Service-Books Of The Gospels.
Chapter XIII. Evangelistaries, Or Manuscript Service-Books Of The Gospels.
[+]1. Par. Nat. Gr. 278 [x ? Omont xiv], 11-7/8 × 9-½, Unc. , ff. 265, 2 cols., mut. (Wetstein, Scholz). [+]2. Par. Nat. Gr. 280 [ix, Greg. x], 11-¼ × 8-½, Unc. , ff. 257 (18), 2 cols., mus. , mut. (Wetstein, Scholz). [+]3. Oxf. Lincoln Coll. Gr. ii. 15 [x, Greg. xi], 11-¼ × 9, Unc. , ff. 282 (19), mus. rubr. , men. , with coloured and gilt illuminations and capitals, and red crosses for stops: three leaves are lost near the end (Mill). 4. Cambr. Univ. Libr. Dd. 8. 49, or Moore 2 [xi], 10-¾ × 8-
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Additional Uncials.
Additional Uncials.
ג. At Kosinitsa, Ἁγία Μονή 124 [x], 10-7/8 × 7, ff. 339, Evan., Act., Cath., Apoc., Paul. ( sic ). Written by Sabbas, a monk, in tenth century, with marginal writing [xiii]. ד. At Kosinitsa, Ἁγ. Μον. 375 [ix-x], 7-1/8 × 13, ff. 301 (16, 19, or 21). The two first gatherings are mice-eaten. Τίτλοι in vermilion, ἀναγνώσματα, κεφ. t. , subscr. , Evan. Mut. Matt. i. 1-ix. 1. ה. a. Athos, Protaton 13 [vi], 4to, ff. 2, appended to Homilies of Chrysostom, and containing fragments of the Evangelists. b.
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Total Number Of Greek Manuscripts As Reckoned In The Six Classes
Total Number Of Greek Manuscripts As Reckoned In The Six Classes
The chief authorities used in corrections and additions in this Edition have been as follows:— 1. MS. Notes and other remains of Dr. Scrivener, such as “Adversaria Critica Sacra,” just being published. 2. My own examination of the MSS. in London, Oxford, and Cambridge, with obliging help as to those in the British Museum from Mr. G. F. Warner, of the MSS. Department. 3. Burgon's Letters to the Guardian , 1873-74, 1882, and 1884. 4. As to Parisian MSS., the Abbé Martin's “Description technique de
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Appendix A. Chief Authorities.
Appendix A. Chief Authorities.
5. Κατάλογος τῶν Χειρογράφων τῆς Ἐθνικῆς Βιβλιοθήκης τῆς Ἕλλαδος ὑπὸ Ἰωάννου Σακκελίωνος καὶ Ἀλκιβιάδου Ἰ. Σακκελίωνος. Ἐν Ἀθήναις, 1892. 6. Ἱεροσολυμιτικὴ Βιβλιοθήκη, ἤτοι Κατάλογος τῶν ἐν ταῖς Βιβλιοθήκαις τοῦ ἁγιωτάτου ἀποστολικοῦ τε καὶ καθολικοῦ ὀρθοδόξου πατριαρχικοῦ θρόνου τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων καὶ πάσης Παλαιστίνης ἀποκειμένων Ἑλληνίκων Κωδίκων, κ.τ.λ.: ὑπὸ Παπαδοπούλου Κεραμέως, κ.τ.λ. Ἐν Πετροπόλει, 1891. 7. Ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει Ἑλληνικὸς Φιλολογικὸς Σύλλογος. Μαυρογορδάτειος Βιβλιοθήκη. Παρ
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Appendix B. On Facsimiles.
Appendix B. On Facsimiles.
Series II. 2. A considerable selection from the large assemblage of MSS. at Paris has been issued in facsimile by M. Omont, in his three volumes, published in 1887, 1890, and 1892 respectively, viz. Facsimilés des Manuscrits Grecs des xv et xiv siècles, reproduits en photolithographie d'après les originaux de la Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 4to. Facsimilés des Manuscrits Grecs datés de la Bibliothèque Nationale du ix e au xiv e siècle, Paris, fol. Facsimilés des plus anciens Manuscrits Grecs e
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Appendix C. On Dating By Indiction.
Appendix C. On Dating By Indiction.
“ii. The Imperial or Caesarian Indiction (commonly used in England and France), beginning on the 24th of September, a.d. 312. “iii. The Roman or Pontifical Indiction (commonly used in dating papal bulls from the ninth to the fourteenth century), beginning on the 1st of January (or the 25th of December, when that day was reckoned as the first day of the year), a.d. 313. “iv. The Indiction used in the register of the parliament of Paris, beginning in October. “The Greeks made use of the Indiction
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Appendix D. On The ῥηματα.
Appendix D. On The ῥηματα.
“These figures are derived from MSS. of the Gospels, in which we frequently find the attestation given both of the ῥήματα and the στίχοι: e.g. Cod. Ev. 173 gives for while the corresponding figures for Mark and Luke are “No explanation, as far as I know, has ever been given of these curiously numbered ῥήματα. The word is, certainly, a peculiar one to use, if short sentences are intended, such as are commonly known by the terms ‘cola and commata.’ “It has occurred to me that perhaps the explanati
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Appendix E. Table Of Differences Between The Fourth Edition Of Dr. Scrivener's Plain Introduction And Dr. Gregory's Prolegomena.
Appendix E. Table Of Differences Between The Fourth Edition Of Dr. Scrivener's Plain Introduction And Dr. Gregory's Prolegomena.
IV. Apocalypse. V. Evangelistaries...
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Addenda Et Corrigenda.
Addenda Et Corrigenda.
Page 167 , l. 16. I am convinced that it is only just measure to a book, which from a strong prejudice is not known nearly as much amongst Textualists as its great merit deserves, to draw more attention to “The Revision Revised” by the late Dean Burgon. Those who have really studied it, to whichever school they belong, know how it teems with suggestion all through its striking pages. The present book owes a vast debt to him. P. 248 , ll. 8, 9 from bottom, for Sir Edmund Beckett read Lord Grimtho
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Chapter I. Ancient Versions.
Chapter I. Ancient Versions.
It will be seen then that versions by themselves cannot be taken to establish any reading, because manuscripts are necessarily first authorities, and there is no lack of abundance in such testimony. Yet they confirm, or help to decide, the conclusions or the leanings of manuscriptal evidence: and taken in connexion with other witnesses, they have much independent force, varying of course according to the character of the version or versions, and the nature and extent of their agreement. In this
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1. The Peshitto.
1. The Peshitto.
The first printed edition of this most venerable monument of the Christian faith was published in quarto at Vienna in the year 1555 (some copies are re-dated 1562), at the expense of the Emperor Ferdinand I, on the recommendation and with the active aid of his Chancellor, Albert Widmanstadt, an accomplished person, whose travelling name in Italy was John Lucretius. It was undertaken at the instance of Moses of Mardin, legate from the Monophysite Patriarch Ignatius to Pope Julius III (1550-55), w
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2. The Curetonian Syriac.
2. The Curetonian Syriac.
The volume which contained the greater part of the Curetonian portions of the Gospels was brought by Archdeacon Tattam in 1842 from the Monastery of St. Mary Deipara in the Nitrian Desert (p. 140). Eighty leaves and a half were picked out by Dr. Cureton, then one of the officers in the Manuscript department of the British Museum, from a mass of other matter which had been bound up with them by unlearned possessors, and comprise the Additional MS. 14,451 of the Library they adorn, and two more re
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3. The Harkleian or Philoxenian Syriac.
3. The Harkleian or Philoxenian Syriac.
Our next account of the work is even more definite. At the end of the manuscripts of the Gospels from which the printed text is derived, we read a subscription by the first hand, importing that “this book of the four holy Gospels was translated out of the Greek into Syriac with great diligence and labour ... first in the city of Mabug, in the year of Alexander of Macedon 819 ( a.d. 508), in the days of the pious Mar Philoxenus, confessor, Bishop of that city. Afterwards it was collated with much
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4. The Palestinian or Jerusalem Syriac.
4. The Palestinian or Jerusalem Syriac.
There are extant several scattered fragments of the Old and New Testaments, in a form of Syriac entirely distinct from the versions already described. These fragments are all in one dialect, and are apparently parts of a single version. The most considerable portion is an Evangelistarium which was discovered virtually by Adler, who collated, described, and copied a portion of it (Matt. xxvii. 3-32) for that great work in a small compass, his “N. T. Versiones Syriacae” (1789): S. E. Assemani the
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5. The Karkaphensian or Syriac Massorah.
5. The Karkaphensian or Syriac Massorah.
Assemani (Biblioth. Orient., tom. ii. p. 283), on the authority of Gregory Bar-Hebraeus, mentions what has been supposed to have been a Syriac “version” of the N. T., other than the Peshitto and Harkleian, which was named “Karkaphensian” (ܩܪܩܦܢܬܐ or ܐܬܢܦܩܪܩ), whether, as he thought, because it was used by Syrians of the mountains , or from Carcuf , a city of Mesopotamia. Adler (Vers. Syr., p. 33) was inclined to believe that Bar-Hebraeus meant rather a revised manuscript than a separate translat
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(1) The Old Latin, previous to Jerome's Revision.
(1) The Old Latin, previous to Jerome's Revision.
When, however, the surviving codices of the version or versions previous to Jerome's revision came to be studied and published by Sabatier 56 and Bianchini 57 , it was obvious that though there were many points of difference, there were still traces of a source common to many, if not to all of them; and on a question of this kind, occasional divergency, however extensive, cannot weaken the impression produced by resemblance, if it be too close and constant to be attributable to chance, as we hav
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(2) Jerome's revised Latin Version, commonly called the Vulgate.
(2) Jerome's revised Latin Version, commonly called the Vulgate.
But it was not a pure Vulgate text that was thus used; the old versions went on side by side with it for centuries, and even when they were thus nominally superseded, fragments of them found their way into probably all existing MSS. We have already remarked (in c g &c.) how the same MS. will present us with an Old Latin text in some books of the New Testament, and with a Vulgate text in others; we shall note the same phenomenon in other MSS., especially the British and Irish (see the MSS
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(1) The Egyptian or Coptic Versions.
(1) The Egyptian or Coptic Versions.
These two modes of writing, however—the sacred and the vulgar—besides the difference in external character exhibit also two different languages, or rather (to speak more correctly) two different forms of the same language. Of ancient writers indeed the Egyptian Manetho alone mentions the existence of two such forms (Joseph. c. Ap. i. 14), saying that in the word Hyksos the first syllable is taken from “the sacred tongue” (τὴν ἱερὰν γλῶσσαν), the second from the “common dialect” (τὴν κοινὴν διάλε
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(2) The Bohairic Version101.
(2) The Bohairic Version101.
In 1829 the British and Foreign Bible Society published an edition of the Four Gospels in Coptic (Bohairic) and Arabic. It is a handsomely printed 4to, intended for the use of the native Christians of Egypt. In the Coptic portion, which was edited by Tattam, the text of Wilkins was followed for the most part, but it was corrected here and there from a recent MS. which will be described below, Evang. 14. This edition has no critical value. Between the edition of Wilkins and those of Schwartze and
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(3) The Sahidic (or Thebaic) Version.
(3) The Sahidic (or Thebaic) Version.
In 1785, J. A. Mingarelli published two fasciculi of an account of the Egyptian MSS. in the Nanian Library under the title “Aegyptiorum codicum reliquiae Venetiis in Bibliotheca Naniana asservatae, Bononiae.” In these he printed at length two portions of the Sahidic New Testament, Matt. xviii. 27-xxi. 15, and John ix. 17-xiii. 1. In 1789, A. A. Giorgi (Georgius), an Augustinian eremite, brought out a work entitled “Fragmentum Evangelii S. Joannis Graeco-Copto-Thebaicum Saeculi iv. &c., R
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[(4) The Fayoum Version.]
[(4) The Fayoum Version.]
[The history of the discovery of the third Egyptian version, and the reasons that have caused it to be assigned to the district of the Fayoum, have been given above. The Fayoum (ⲫⲓⲟⲙ: ⲡⲓⲟⲙ: ⲡⲓⲁⲙ) is a district of Egypt situated to the west of the Nile valley, from which it is separated by a narrow strip of desert, and lying about eighty miles to the south of the apex of the Delta. It is a large depression in the desert, which has been reclaimed and fertilized by an offshoot of the Nile, now call
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[(5) The Middle Egyptian116 or Lower Sahidic Version.]
[(5) The Middle Egyptian116 or Lower Sahidic Version.]
Specimens of this version may be found in— 1. Mémoires de l'Institut égyptien, II. ii, edited by Bouriant. 2. Mittheilungen, ii. p. 69. 3. Coptic MSS. brought from the Fayoum by W. M. Flinders Petrie, Esq., D.C.L., edited by W. E. Crum, p. 1. 4. It is also said to be contained in some Graeco-Coptic fragments recently acquired by the British Museum. The lines between this dialect and version and that of the Fayoum are not, however, clearly defined, and further research may make it necessary to re
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[(6) The Akhmîm Dialect.]
[(6) The Akhmîm Dialect.]
[It would have probably been more scientific to have begun our discussion of the versions of Upper Egypt with a description of the Akhmîm dialect. It certainly represents the language in an older form than any other dialect we have examined; unfortunately such a very small fragment of the New Testament version exists that its importance at present can hardly be estimated. The Akhmîm dialect is known to us by a series of Apocryphal and Biblical fragments published by M. Bouriant (Mémoires, i. p.
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(1) The Gothic Version (Goth.).
(1) The Gothic Version (Goth.).
1. Codex Argenteus , the most precious treasure of the University of Upsal, in the mother-country of the Gothic tribes. It appears to be the same copy as Ant. Morillon saw at Werden in Westphalia towards the end of the sixteenth century, and was taken by the Swedes at the siege of Prague in 1648. Queen Christina gave it to her librarian, Isaac Vossius, and from him it was very rightly purchased about 1662 by the Swedish nation and deposited at Upsal. This superb codex contains fragments of the G
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(2) The Armenian Version.
(2) The Armenian Version.
The existing Armenian version is a recension made shortly after the Council of Ephesus of a still earlier version, which was based in part upon a Syriac, in part upon a Greek original. This latest recension was made according to “accurate and reliable copies” of the Greek Bible, which, along with the Canons of the Council of Ephesus, were brought from Constantinople about the year 433. One would naturally wish for more details than the above brief statement contains; yet it is all that one can d
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(3) The Ethiopic Version (Eth.).
(3) The Ethiopic Version (Eth.).
The Ethiopic translation of the Bible is assigned by Guidi to the end of the fifth, or beginning of the sixth century, the time at which Christianity became the dominant religion in Abyssinia. That religion after a period of decadence began to flourish again in the twelfth century, but in dependence on the Patriarchate of Alexandria. The two principal classes of Ethiopic Biblical MSS. are connected with these periods respectively; the first class being derived from the Greek text before, and the
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(4) The Georgian Version (Georg.).
(4) The Georgian Version (Georg.).
The Church of the Iberians was founded during the reign of Constantine according to tradition; though, if we consider how intimate and frequent had been from a much earlier period their intercourse with the Greeks, we may safely infer that the seeds of Christianity had been long before sown among them. There is no certain evidence of the date at which they translated the Scriptures; but it is probable that their version of the New Testament was made in the fifth and sixth centuries; and that it
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(5) The Slavonic Version (Slav.129).
(5) The Slavonic Version (Slav.129).
This version of the Bible is ascribed to Cyril and Methodius, who lived at the end of the ninth century. It is uncertain, however, how much of the New Testament was translated at that date, and how much was the work of a later time. The manuscripts of the version exist in two characters called Glagolitic and Cyrillic: of these it is now generally agreed that the former is the earlier. In considering the version from the point of view of the textual criticism of the New Testament, we need not dea
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(6) The Arabic Version (Arab.).
(6) The Arabic Version (Arab.).
Arabic versions (Arab.) are many, though of the slightest possible critical importance; their literary history, therefore, need not be traced with much minuteness. A notice is quoted from Bar-hebraeus (Assemani, Bibl. Or., ii. 335) to the effect that John, Patriarch of the Monophysites from 631-640, translated the “Gospel” from Syriac into Arabic; and some scholars have believed in the existence of a pre-Mohammedan version of parts at least of the New Testament on other grounds; from such a vers
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(7) The Anglo-Saxon Version (Sax.).
(7) The Anglo-Saxon Version (Sax.).
There is but one known version of the four Gospels (the only portion of the N. T. that was translated into A.-S.); this version was made, probably in the South-West of England at or near Bath, in the last quarter of the tenth century. It is preserved in four MSS.: (Corp.) Corpus Christi Coll. Camb. MS. 140; (B) Bodleian Lib. MS. 441; (C) Cotton MS. Otho C. I (seriously injured by fire), and (A) Camb. Univ. Lib. MS. Ii. 2. 11. Of these the first three may be dated, in round number, about the year
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(8) The Frankish Version (Fr.).
(8) The Frankish Version (Fr.).
A Frankish version of St. Matthew, from a manuscript of the ninth century at St. Gall, in the Frankish dialect of the Teutonic, was published by J. A. Schmeller in 1827. Tischendorf (N. T., Proleg., p. 225) thinks it worthy of examination, but does not state whether it was translated from the Greek or Latin: the latter supposition is the more probable....
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(9) Persic Versions (Pers.).
(9) Persic Versions (Pers.).
Persic versions of the Gospels only, in print, are two: (1) one in Walton's Polyglott (pers. p ) with a Latin version by Samuel Clarke (which C. A. Bode thought it worth his while to reconstruct, Helmstedt, 1750-51, with a learned Preface), obviously made from the Peshitto Syriac, which the Persians had long used ( “yet often so paraphrastic as to claim a character of its own,” Malan, ubi supra , p. xi), “interprete Symone F. Joseph Taurinensi,” and taken from a single manuscript belonging to E.
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Chapter VI. On The Citations From The Greek New Testament Or Its Versions Made By Early Ecclesiastical Writers, Especially By The Christian Fathers.
Chapter VI. On The Citations From The Greek New Testament Or Its Versions Made By Early Ecclesiastical Writers, Especially By The Christian Fathers.
2. The practice of illustrating the various readings of Scripture from the reliques of Christian antiquity is so obvious and reasonable, that all who have written critical annotations on the sacred text have resorted to it, from Erasmus downwards: the Greek or Latin commentators are appealed to in four out of the five marginal notes found in the Complutensian N. T. When Bishop Fell, however, came to prepare the first edition of the Greek Testament attended with any considerable apparatus for imp
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Chapter VII. Printed Editions and Critical Editions.
Chapter VII. Printed Editions and Critical Editions.
1. The Complutensian Polyglott 149 (6 vols., folio), the munificent design of Francis Ximenes de Cisneros [1437-1517], Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo, and Regent of Castile (1506-1517). This truly eminent person, six years of whose humble youth were spent in a dungeon through the caprice of one of his predecessors in the Primacy of Spain, experienced what we have seen so conspicuously illustrated in other instances, that long imprisonment ripens the intellect which it fails to extinguish. Enterin
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Chapter VIII. Internal Evidence.
Chapter VIII. Internal Evidence.
In no wise less dangerous than bare conjecture destitute of external evidence, is the device of Lachmann for unsettling by means of emendation ( emendando ), without reference to the balance of conflicting testimony, the very text he had previously fixed by revision ( recensendo ) through the means of critical authorities: in fact the earlier process is but so much trouble misemployed, if its results are liable to be put aside by abstract judgement or individual prejudices. Not that the most sob
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Chapter IX. History Of The Text.
Chapter IX. History Of The Text.
2. Besides the undesigned and, to a great extent, unavoidable differences subsisting between manuscripts of the New Testament within a century of its being written, the wilful corruptions introduced by heretics soon became a cause of loud complaint in the primitive ages of the Church 268 . Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, addressing the Church of Rome and Soter its Bishop ( a.d. 168-176), complains that even his own letters had been tampered with: καὶ ταύτας οἱ τοῦ διαβόλου ἀπόστολοι ζιζανίων γεγέμ
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Appendix To Chapter X.
Appendix To Chapter X.
Matt. xvi. 21. Ἀπὸ τότε ἤρξατο ἰησοῦς χριστός: so the first hands of א and B, with the Bohairic version only, their very frequent companion. Matt. xxvii. 28. On the impossible reading of א c BD, a b c ff 2 q , and a few others, enough has been said in Chap. VII. p. 234 . Ver. 49. We are here brought face to face with the gravest interpolation yet laid to the charge of B, whose tendency is usually in the opposite direction. Westcott and Hort alone among the editors feel constrained to insert in t
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Chapter XI. Considerations Derived From The Peculiar Character And Grammatical Form Of The Dialect Of The Greek Testament.
Chapter XI. Considerations Derived From The Peculiar Character And Grammatical Form Of The Dialect Of The Greek Testament.
3. Hence may be seen the exceeding practical difficulty of fixing the orthography, or even the grammatical forms, prevailing in the Greek Testament, a difficulty arising not only from the fluctuation of manuscript authorities, but even more from the varying circumstances of the respective authors. To St. John, for example, Greek must have been an alien tongue; the very construction of his sentences and the subtil current of his thoughts amidst all his simplicity of mere diction, render it eviden
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First Series. Gospels.
First Series. Gospels.
We do not deny the importance of Irenaeus' express testimony 338 (a little impaired though it be by the fanciful distinction which he had taken up with), had it been supported by something more trustworthy than the Old Latin versions and their constant associate, the Curetonian Syriac. On the other hand, all uncial and cursive codices (אCΣEKLMPSUVZΓΔΠ: ADFGΦ &c. being defective here), the Syriac of the Peshitto, Harkleian, and Jerusalem (δέ only being omitted, since the Church Lesson beg
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Second Series. Acts.
Second Series. Acts.
24. Acts xi. 20. We are here in a manner forced by the sense to adopt, with Griesbach, Bp. Chr. Wordsworth, Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Tregelles, the reading Ἕλληνας in the room of Ἑλληνιστάς of the Received text, retained by Westcott and Hort 413 . Immediately after the call of the Gentiles to the privileges of the Gospel was acknowledged and acquiesced in at Jerusalem (ver. 18), we read that some of those who had been scattered abroad years ago went about preaching the word to Jews only (ver.
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Third Series. St. Paul.
Third Series. St. Paul.
33. Rom. v. 1. Δικαιωθέντες οὖν ἐκ πίστεως εἰρήνην ἔχομεν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν. Here, as in 2 Cor. iii. 3, we find the chief uncials supporting a reading which is manifestly unsuitable to the context, although, since it does not absolutely destroy the sense, it does not (nor indeed does that other passage) lack strenuous defenders. Codd. אB for ἔχομεν have primâ manu ἔχωμεν, and though some doubt has been thrown on the primitive reading of B, yet Mai and Tregelles (An Account of the Printed Text, p. 15
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Fourth Series. Catholic Epistles.
Fourth Series. Catholic Epistles.
45. James iv. 5. The variation between κατῴκισεν and κατῴκησεν is plainly to be attributed to a mere itacism, whichsoever is to be regarded as the true form. We find ι in אAB, 101, 104 only, nor is it quite accurate to say with Tischendorf that collators are apt to overlook such points. In KLP, and apparently in all other manuscripts of every class, η is read, and so the catenas, with Theophylact and Œcumenius, understand this difficult passage. That all the versions (Latin, Syriac, Egyptian, &a
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Fifth Series. Apocalypse.
Fifth Series. Apocalypse.
53. apoc. xiii. 10. Εἴ τις αἰχμαλωσίαν συνάγει, εἰς αἰχμαλωσίαν ὑπάγει. This reading of the Received text is perfectly clear; indeed, when compared with what is found in the best manuscripts, it is too simple to be true (Canon I, Chap. VIII). We read in Codd. אBC: ει (C) τις εις αιχμαλωσιαν ὑπαγει (ὑπάγῃ B), the reading also of those excellent cursives 28, 38, 79, 95, and of a manuscript of Andreas: εἰς is further omitted in 14 ( sic ), and in 92 its echo, in 32, 47, the Bohairic (?), Arabic (Po
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Appendix A. On Syriac Lectionaries.
Appendix A. On Syriac Lectionaries.
The majority of the Syriac MS. Lectionaries are comparatively late, but others possess an antiquity which, in the case of some MSS., would be considered remarkable. The British Museum copies, Add. 14,485 and 14,486, are each dated a. gr. 1135 = a.d. 824. Others must be referred to the same century. Add. 14,528, foll. 152-228 (an Index), and the leaf in Add. 17,217, appear to be three centuries older. Another sixth century MS., Add. 14,455 (the Four Gospels), contains many Rubrics, a pr. m. in th
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Appendix B. Additional Bohairic Manuscripts In Egypt (1893).
Appendix B. Additional Bohairic Manuscripts In Egypt (1893).
Cairo 2 [1291], fol., chart. , ff. 409, 26·9 × 18 (24, 25), κεφ., Copt. Gr., Am. , Eus. , pict. (pictures of SS. Mark, Luke, and John). Evann. Copt. Arab. Written by Deacon Barsuma, mended by Michael of Akhmîm, monk of monastery of Siryani (Nitrian), under patronage of Cyril, 112th Patriarch, 1878. Dedication to monastery of St. Barsuma, called Al Shahrân, 1329; now in the library of the Patriarch in Cairo, numbered 12 and 14. Quires numbered in Syriac. Same text as Paris 15. Cairo 3 [xviii], fo
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