expressed indeed, yet consciously entertained by us all,--which in fact
gives the appeal all its weight and cogency, and which must now by all
means be brought to the front. The fact that the Fathers of the Church
were not only her Doctors and Teachers, but also the living voices by
which alone her mind could be proclaimed to the world, and by which her
decrees used to be authoritatively promulgated;--this fact, I say, it is
which makes their words, whenever they deliver themselves, so very
important: their approval, if they approve, so weighty; their
condemnation, if they condemn, so fatal. But then, in the present
instance, they do not condemn. They neither approve nor condemn. They
simply say nothing. They are silent: and in what precedes, I have
explained the reason why. We wish it had been otherwise. We would give a
great deal to persuade those ancient oracles to speak on the subject of
these twelve verses: but they are all but inexorably silent. Nay, I am
overstating the case against myself. Two of the greatest Fathers
(Augustine and Ambrose) actually do utter a few words; and they are to
the effect that the verses are undoubtedly genuine:--'Be it known to all
men' (they say) 'that this passage _is_ genuine: but the nature of its
subject-matter has at once procured its ejection from MSS., and resulted
in the silence of Commentators.' The most learned of the Fathers in
addition practically endorses the passage; for Jerome not only leaves it
standing in the Vulgate where he found it in the Old Latin version, but
relates that it was supported by Greek as well as Latin authorities.
To proceed however with what I was about to say.
It is the authoritative sentence of the Church then on this difficult
subject that we desiderate. We resorted to the Fathers for that:
intending to regard any quotations of theirs, however brief, as their
practical endorsement of all the twelve verses: to infer from their
general recognition of the passage, that the Church in her collective
capacity accepted it likewise. As I have shewn, the Fathers decline,
almost to a man, to return any answer. But,--Are we then without the
Church's authoritative guidance on this subject? For this, I repeat, is
the only thing of which we are in search. It was only in order to get at
this that we adopted the laborious expedient of watching for the casual
utterances of any of the giants of old time. Are we, I say, left without
the Church's opinion?
Not so, I answer. The reverse is the truth. The great Eastern Church
speaks out on this subject in a voice of thunder. In all her
Patriarchates, as far back as the written records of her practice
reach,--and they reach back to the time of those very Fathers whose
silence we felt to be embarrassing,--the Eastern Church has selected
nine out of these twelve verses to be the special lesson for October 8.
A more significant circumstance it would be impossible to adduce in
evidence. Any pretence to fasten a charge of spuriousness on a portion
of Scripture so singled out by the Church for honour, were nothing else
but monstrous. It would be in fact to raise quite a distinct issue: viz.
to inquire what amount of respect is due to the Church's authority in
determining the authenticity of Scripture? I appeal not to an opinion,
but to _a fact_: and that fact is, that though the Fathers of the Church
for a very sufficient reason are very nearly silent on the subject of
these twelve verses, the Church herself has spoken with a voice of
authority so loud that none can affect not to hear it: so plain, that it
cannot possibly be misunderstood. And let me not be told that I am
hereby setting up the Lectionary as the true standard of appeal for the
Text of the New Testament: still less let me be suspected of charging on
the collective body of the faithful whatever irregularities are
discoverable in the Codexes which were employed for the public reading
of Scripture. Such a suspicion could only be entertained by one who has
hitherto failed to apprehend the precise point just now under
consideration. We are not examining the text of St. John vii. 53-viii.
11. We are only discussing whether those twelve verses _en bloc_ are to
be regarded as an integral part of the fourth Gospel, or as a spurious
accretion to it. And that is a point on which the Church in her
corporate character must needs be competent to pronounce; and in respect
of which her verdict must needs be decisive. She delivered her verdict
in favour of these twelve verses, remember, at a time when her copies of
the Gospels were of papyrus as well as 'old uncials' on vellum.--Nay,
before 'old uncials' on vellum were at least in any general use. True,
that the transcribers of Lectionaries have proved themselves just as
liable to error as the men who transcribed Evangelia. But then, it is
incredible that those men forged the Gospel for St. Pelagia's day:
impossible, if it were a forgery, that the Church should have adopted
it. And it is the significancy of the Church having adopted the
_pericope de adultera_ as the lection for October 8, which has never yet
been sufficiently attended to: and which I defy the Critics to account
for on any hypothesis but one: viz. that the pericope was recognized by
the ancient Eastern Church as an integral part of the Gospel.
Now when to this has been added what is implied in the rubrical
direction that a ceremonious respect should be shewn to the Festival of
Pentecost by dropping the twelve verses, I submit that I have fully
established my second position, viz. That by the very construction of
her Lectionary the Church in her corporate capacity and official
character has solemnly recognized the narrative in question, as an
integral part of St. John's Gospel, and as standing in its traditional
place, from an exceedingly remote time.
For,--(I entreat the candid reader's sustained attention),--the
circumstances of the present problem altogether refuse to accommodate
themselves to any hypothesis of a spurious original for these verses; as
I proceed to shew.
Repair in thought to any collection of MSS. you please; suppose to the
British Museum. Request to be shewn their seventy-three copies of St.
John's Gospel, and turn to the close of his seventh chapter. At that
particular place you will find, in sixty-one of these copies, these
twelve verses: and in thirty-five of them you will discover, after the
words [Greek: Prophêtês ek tês Galilaias ouk eg.] a rubrical note to the
effect that 'on Whitsunday, these twelve verses are to be dropped; and
the reader is to go on at ch. viii. 12.' What can be the meaning of this
respectful treatment of the Pericope in question? How can it ever have
come to pass that it has been thus ceremoniously handled all down the
ages? Surely on no possible view of the matter but one can the
phenomenon just now described be accounted for. Else, will any one
gravely pretend to tell me that at some indefinitely remote period, (1)
These verses were fabricated: (2) Were thrust into the place they at
present occupy in the sacred text: (3) Were unsuspectingly believed to
be genuine by the Church; and in consequence of which they were at once
passed over by her direction on Whitsunday as incongruous, and appointed
by the Church to be read on October 8, as appropriate to the occasion?
(3) But further. How is it proposed to explain why _one_ of St. John's
after-thoughts should have fared so badly at the Church's
hands;--another, so well? I find it suggested that perhaps the
subject-matter may sufficiently account for all that has happened to the
_pericope_ de adultera: And so it may, no doubt. But then, once admit
_this_, and the hypothesis under consideration becomes simply nugatory:
fails even to _touch_ the difficulty which it professes to remove. For
if men were capable of thinking scorn of these twelve verses when they
found them in the 'second and improved edition of St. John's Gospel,'
why may they not have been just as irreverent in respect of the same
verses, when they appeared in the _first_ edition? How is it one whit
more probable that every Greek Father for a thousand years should have
systematically overlooked the twelve verses in dispute when they
appeared in the second edition of St. John's Gospel, than that the same
Fathers should have done the same thing when they appeared in the
first[615]?
(4) But the hypothesis is gratuitous and nugatory: for it has been
invented in order to account for the phenomenon that whereas twelve
verses of St. John's Gospel are found in the large majority of the later
Copies,--the same verses are observed to be absent from all but one of
the five oldest Codexes. But how, (I wish to be informed,) is that
hypothesis supposed to square with these phenomena? It cannot be meant
that the 'second edition' of St. John did not come abroad until after
Codd. [Symbol: Aleph]ABCT were written? For we know that the old Italic
version (a document of the second century) contains all the three
portions of narrative which are claimed for the second edition. But if
this is not meant, it is plain that some further hypothesis must be
invented in order to explain why certain Greek MSS. of the fourth and
fifth centuries are without the verses in dispute. And this fresh
hypothesis will render that under consideration (as I said) nugatory and
shew that it was gratuitous.
What chiefly offends me however in this extraordinary suggestion is its
_irreverence_. It assumes that the Gospel according to St. John was
composed like any ordinary modern book: capable therefore of being
improved in the second edition, by recension, addition, omission,
retractation, or what not. For we may not presume to limit the changes
effected in a second edition. And yet the true Author of the Gospel is
confessedly God the Holy Ghost: and I know of no reason for supposing
that His works are imperfect when they proceed forth from His Hands.
The cogency of what precedes has in fact weighed so powerfully with
thoughtful and learned Divines that they have felt themselves
constrained, as their last resource, to cast about for some hypothesis
which shall at once account for the absence of these verses from so many
copies of St. John's Gospel, and yet retain them for their rightful
owner and author,--St. John. Singular to relate, the assumption which
has best approved itself to their judgement has been, that there must
have existed two editions of St. John's Gospel,--the earlier edition
without, the later edition with, the incident under discussion. It is I
presume, in order to conciliate favour to this singular hypothesis, that
it has been further proposed to regard St. John v. 3, 4 and the whole of
St. John xxi, (besides St. John vii. 53-viii. 11), as after-thoughts of
the Evangelist.
1. But this is unreasonable: for nothing else but _the absence_ of St.
John vii. 53-viii. 11, from so many copies of the Gospel has constrained
the Critics to regard those verses with suspicion. Whereas, on the
contrary, there is not known to exist a copy in the world which omits so
much as a single verse of chap. xxi. Why then are we to assume that the
whole of that chapter was away from the original draft of the Gospel?
Where is the evidence for so extravagant an assumption?
2. So, concerning St. John v. 3, 4: to which there really attaches no
manner of doubt, as I have elsewhere shewn[616]. Thirty-two precious
words in that place are indeed omitted by [Symbol: Aleph]BC:
twenty-seven by D. But by this time the reader knows what degree of
importance is to be attached to such an amount of evidence. On the other
hand, they are found in _all other copies_: are vouched for by the
Syriac[617] and the Latin versions: in the Apostolic Constitutions, by
Chrysostom, Cyril, Didymus, and Ammonius, among the Greeks,--by
Tertullian, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine among the Latins. Why a passage
so attested is to be assumed to be an after-thought of the Evangelist
has never yet been explained: no, nor ever will be.
(5) Assuming, however, just for a moment the hypothesis correct for
argument's sake, viz. that in the second edition of St. John's Gospel
the history of the woman taken in adultery appeared for the first time.
Invite the authors of that hypothesis to consider what follows. The
discovery that five out of six of the oldest uncials extant (to reckon
here the fragment T) are without the verses in question; which yet are
contained in ninety-nine out of every hundred of the despised
cursives:--what other inference can be drawn from such premisses, but
that the cursives fortified by other evidence are by far the more
trustworthy witnesses of what St. John in his old age actually entrusted
to the Church's keeping?
[The MS. here leaves off, except that a few pencilled words are added in
an incomplete form. I have been afraid to finish so clever and
characteristic an essay.]
FOOTNOTES:
[576] Compare 1 Sam. xxiv. 22:--'And Saul went home: _but David and his
men gat them up into the hold_.' 1 Kings xviii. 42:--'So Ahab went up to
eat and to drink: _and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, and he cast
himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees_.'
Esther iii. 15:--'And the king and Haman sat down to drink; _but the
city of Shushan was perplexed_.' Such are the idioms of the Bible.
[577] Ammonius (Cord. Cat. p. 216), with evident reference to it,
remarks that our Lord's words in verses 37 and 38 were intended as a
_viaticum_ which all might take home with them, at the close of this,
'the last, the great day of the feast.'
[578] So Eusebius:--- [Greek: Ote kata to auto synachthentes hoi tôn
Ioudaiôn ethnous archontes epi tês Hierousalêm, synedrion epoiêsanto kai
skepsin opôs auton apolesôsin en hô hoi men thanaton autou
katepsêphisanto; heteroi de antelegon, ôs ho Nikodêmos, k.t.l.] (in
Psalmos, p. 230 a).
[579] Westcott and Hort's prefatory matter (1870) to their revised Text
of the New Testament, p. xxvii.
[580] So in the LXX. See Num. v. 11-31.
[581] Ver. 17. So the LXX.
[582] 2 Cor. iv. 7: v. 1.
[583] Compare ch. vi. 6, 71: vii. 39: xi. 13, 51: xii. 6, 33: xiii. 11,
28: xxi. 19.
[584] Consider ch. xix. 19, 20, 21, 22: xx. 30, 31: xxi. 24, 25.--1 John
i. 4: ii. 1, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 21, 26: v. 13.--2 John 5, 12.--3 John 9,
13.--Rev. _passim_, especially i. 11, 19: ii. 1, &c.: x. 4: xiv. 13:
xvii. 8: xix. 9: xx. 12, 15: xxi. 5, 27: xxii. 18, 19.
[585] Westcott and Hort, ibid. pp. xxvii, xxvi.
[586] Novum Testamentum, 1869, p. 829.
[587] Plain Introduction, 1894, ii. 364.
[588] Printed Texts, 1854, p. 341.
[589] Developed Criticism, p. 82.
[590] Outlines, &c., p. 103.
[591] Nicholson's Gospel according to the Hebrews, p. 141.
[592] Scrivener, ut supra, ii. 368.
[593] I insert this epithet on sufficient authority. Mr. Edw. A. Guy, an
intelligent young American,--himself a very accurate observer and a
competent judge,--collated a considerable part of Cod. A in 1875, and
assured me that he scarcely ever found any discrepancy between the Codex
and Woide's reprint. One instance of _italicism_ was in fact all that
had been overlooked in the course of many pages.
[594] It is inaccurate also. His five lines contain eight mistakes.
Praefat. p. xxx, § 86.
[595] ii. 630, addressing Rufinus, A.D. 403. Also ii. 748-9.
[596] i. 291, 692, 707, 1367: ii. 668, 894, 1082: iii. 892-3, 896-7.
[597] i. 30: ii. 527, 529-30: iii^{1}. 774: iii^{2}. 158, 183, 531-2
(where he quotes the place largely and comments upon it): iv. 149, 466
(largely quoted), 1120: v. 80, 1230 (largely quoted in both places): vi.
407, 413: viii. 377, 574.
[598] Pacian (A.D. 372) refers the Novations to the narrative as
something which all men knew. 'Nolite in Evangelio legere quod
pepercerit Dominus etiam adulterae confitenti, quam nemo damnarat?'
Pacianus, Op. Epist. iii. Contr. Novat. (A.D. 372). _Ap._ Galland. vii.
267.
[599] _Ap._ Augustin. viii. 463.
[600] In his translation of Eusebius. Nicholson, p. 53.
[601] Chrysologus, A.D. 433, Abp. of Ravenna. Venet. 1742. He mystically
explains the entire incident. Serm. cxv. § 5.
[602] Sedulius (A.D. 435) makes it the subject of a poem, and devotes a
whole chapter to it. _Ap._ Galland. ix. 553 and 590.
[603] 'Promiss.' De Promissionibus dimid. temp. (saec. iv). Quotes viii.
4, 5, 9. P. 2, c. 22, col. 147 b. Ignot. Auct., De Vocatione omnium
Gentium (circa, A.D. 440), _ap._ Opp. Prosper. Aquit. (1782), i. p.
460-1:--'Adulteram ex legis constitutione lapidandam ... liberavit ...
cum executores praecepti de conscientiis territi, trementem ream sub
illius iudicio reliquissent.... Et inclinatus, id est ad humana dimissus
... "digito scribebat in terram," ut legem mandatorum per gratiae
decreta vacuaret,' &c.
[604] Wrongly ascribed to Idacius.
[605] Gelasius P. A.D. 492. Conc. iv. 1235. Quotes viii. 3, 7, 10, 11.
[606] Cassiodorus, A.D. 514. Venet. 1729. Quotes viii. 11. See ii. p.
96, 3, 5-180.
[607] Dialogues, xiv. 15.
[608] ii. 748:--In evangelio secundum Ioannem in multis et Graecis et
Latinis codicibus invenitur de adultera muliere, quae accusata est apud
Dominum.
[609] [Greek: henos hekastou autôn tas hamartias]. Ev. 95, 40, 48, 64,
73, 100, 122, 127, 142, 234, 264, 267, 274, 433, 115, 121, 604, 736.
[610] Appendix, p. 88.
[611] vi. 407:--Sed hoc videlicet infidelium sensus exhorret, ita ut
nonnulli modicae fidei vel potius inimici verae fidei, (credo metuentes
peccandi impunitatem dari mulieribus suis), illud quod de adulterae
indulgentia Dominus fecit, auferrent de codicibus suis: quasi
permissionem peccandi tribuerit qui dixit, 'Iam deinceps noli peccare;'
aut ideo non debuerit mulier a medico Deo illius peccati remissione
sanari, ne offenderentur insani. De coniug. adult. ii. cap. 7. i.
707:--Fortasse non mediocrem scrupulum movere potuit imperitis Evangelii
lectio, quae decursa est, in quo advertistis adulteram Christo oblatam,
eamque sine damnatione dimissam. Nam profecto si quis en auribus
accipiat otiosis, incentivum erroris incurrit, cum leget quod Deus
censuerit adulterium non esse damnandum.
[612] Epist. 58. Quid scribebat? nisi illud Propheticum (Jer. xxii.
29-30), _Terra, terra, scribe hos vivos abdicatos_.
[613] Constt. App. (Gen. in. 49). Nicon (Gen. iii. 250). I am not
certain about these two references.
[614] Two precious verses (viz. the forty-third and forty-fourth) used
to be omitted from the lection for Tuesday before Quinquagesima,--viz.
St. Luke xxii. 39-xxiii. 1.
The lection for the preceding Sabbath (viz. St. Luke xxi. 8-36)
consisted of only the following verses,--ver. 8, 9, 25-27, 33-36. All
the rest (viz. verses 10-24 and 28-32) was omitted.
On the ensuing Thursday, St. Luke xxiii was handled in a similar style:
viz. ver. 1-31, 33, 44-56 alone were read,--all the other verses being
left out.
On the first Sabbath after Pentecost (All Saints'), the lesson consisted
of St. Matt. x. 32, 33, 37-38: xix. 27-30.
On the fifteenth Sabbath after Pentecost, the lesson was St. Matt. xxiv.
1-9, 13 (leaving out verses 10, 11, 12).
On the sixteenth Sabbath after Pentecost, the lesson was St. Matt. xxiv.
34-37, 42-44 (leaving out verses 38-41).
On the sixth Sabbath of St. Luke,--the lesson was ch. viii. 26-35
followed by verses 38 and 39.
[615] 'This celebrated paragraph ... was probably not contained in the
first edition of St. John's Gospel but added at the time when his last
chapter was annexed to what had once been the close of his
narrative,--xx. 30, 31.' Scrivener's Introduction to Cod. D, p. 50.
[616] In an unpublished paper.
[617] It is omitted in some MSS. of the Peshitto.
APPENDIX II.
CONFLATION AND THE SO-CALLED NEUTRAL TEXT.
Some of the most courteous of our critics, in reviewing the companion
volume to this, have expressed regret that we have not grappled more
closely than we have done with Dr. Hort's theory. I have already
expressed our reasons. Our object has been to describe and establish
what we conceive to be the true principles of Sacred Textual Science. We
are concerned only in a secondary degree with opposing principles. Where
they have come in our way, we have endeavoured to remove them. But it
has not entered within our design to pursue them into their fastnesses
and domiciles. Nevertheless, in compliance with a request which is both
proper and candid, I will do what I can to examine with all the equity
that I can command an essential part of Dr. Hort's system, which appears
to exercise great influence with his followers.
§ 1.
CONFLATION.
Dr. Hort's theory of 'Conflation' may be discovered on pp. 93-107. The
want of an index to his Introduction, notwithstanding his ample
'Contents,' makes it difficult to collect illustrations of his meaning
from the rest of his treatise. Nevertheless, the effect of Conflation
appears to be well described in his words on p. 133:--'Now however the
three great lines were brought together, and made to contribute to a
text different from all.' In other words, by means of a combination of
the Western, Alexandrian, and 'Neutral' Texts--'the great lines of
transmission ... to all appearance exclusively divergent,'--the 'Syrian'
text was constructed in a form different from any one and all of the
other three. Not that all these three were made to contribute on every
occasion. We find (p. 93) Conflation, or Conflate Readings, introduced
as proving the 'posteriority of Syrian to Western ... and other ...
readings.' And in the analysis of eight passages, which is added, only
in one case (St. Mark viii. 26) are more than two elements represented,
and in that the third class consists of 'different conflations' of the
first and second[618].
Perhaps I may present Dr. Hort's theory under the form of a diagram:--
Western Readings. Other Readings.
| |
---------------------
|
Syrian Text.
Our theory is the converse in main features to this. We utterly
repudiate the term 'Syrian' as being a most inadequate and untrue title
for the Text adopted and maintained by the Catholic Church with all her
intelligence and learning, during nearly fifteen centuries according to
Dr. Hort's admission: and we claim from the evidence that the
Traditional Text of the Gospels, under the true name, is that which came
fresh from the pens of the Evangelists; and that all variations from it,
however they have been entitled, are nothing else than corrupt forms of
the original readings. Our diagram in rough presentation will therefore
assume this character:--
Traditional Text.--|-
|-Western Readings.
|-w
|-x
|-y
|-z
|-etc.
|-Alexandrian Readings.
It should be added, that w, x, y, z, &c., denote forms of corruption. We
do not recognize the 'Neutral' at all, believing it to be a Caesarean
combination or recension, made from previous texts or readings of a
corrupt character.
The question is, which is the true theory, Dr. Hort's or ours?
The general points that strike us with reference to Dr. Hort's theory
are:--
(1) That it is very vague and indeterminate in nature. Given three
things, of which X includes what is in Y and Z, upon the face of the
theory either X may have arisen by synthesis from Y and Z, or X and Z
may owe their origin by analysis to X.
(2) Upon examination it is found that Dr. Hort's arguments for the
posteriority of D are mainly of an internal character, and are loose and
imaginative, depending largely upon personal or literary predilections.
(3) That it is exceedingly improbable that the Church of the fourth and
fifth centuries, which in a most able period had been occupied with
discussions on verbal accuracy, should have made the gross mistake of
adopting (what was then) a modern concoction from the original text of
the Gospels, which had been written less than three or four centuries
before; and that their error should have been acknowledged as truth, and
perpetuated by the ages that succeeded them down to the present time.
But we must draw nearer to Dr. Hort's argument.
He founds it upon a detailed examination of eight passages, viz. St.
Mark vi. 33; viii. 26; ix. 38; ix. 49; St. Luke ix. 10; xi. 54; xii. 18;
xxiv. 53.
1. Remark that eight is a round and divisible number. Did the author
decide upon it with a view of presenting two specimens from each Gospel?
To be sure, he gives four from the first two, and four from the two
last, only that he confines the batches severally to St. Mark and St.
Luke. Did the strong style of St. Matthew, with distinct meaning in
every word, yield no suitable example for treatment? Could no passage be
found in St. John's Gospel, where not without parallel, but to a
remarkable degree, extreme simplicity of language, even expressed in
alternative clauses, clothes soaring thought and philosophical
acuteness? True, that he quotes St. John v. 37 as an instance of
Conflation by the Codex Bezae which is anything but an embodiment of the
Traditional or 'Syrian' Text, and xiii. 24 which is similarly
irrelevant. Neither of these instances therefore fill up the gap, and
are accordingly not included in the selected eight. What can we infer
from this presentment, but that 'Conflation' is probably not of frequent
occurrence as has been imagined, but may indeed be--to admit for a
moment its existence--nothing more than an occasional incident? For
surely, if specimens in St. Matthew and St. John had abounded to his
hand, and accordingly 'Conflation' had been largely employed throughout
the Gospels, Dr. Hort would not have exercised so restricted, and yet so
round a choice.
2. But we must advance a step further. Dean Burgon as we have seen has
calculated the differences between B and the Received Text at 7,578, and
those which divide [Symbol: Aleph] and the Received Text as reaching
8,972. He divided these totals respectively under 2,877 and 3,455
omissions, 556 and 839 additions, 2,098 and 2,299 transpositions, and
2,067 and 2,379 substitutions and modifications combined. Of these
classes, it is evident that Conflation has nothing to do with Additions
or Transpositions. Nor indeed with Substitutions, although one of Dr.
Hort's instances appears to prove that it has. Conflation is the
combination of two (or more) different expressions into one. If
therefore both expressions occur in one of the elements, the Conflation
has been made beforehand, and a substitution then occurs instead of a
conflation. So in St. Luke xii. 18, B, &c, read [Greek: ton siton kai ta
agatha mou] which Dr. Hort[619] considers to be made by Conflation into
[Greek: ta genêmata mou kai ta agatha mou], because [Greek: ta genêmata
mou] is found in Western documents. The logic is strange, but as Dr.
Hort has claimed it, we must perhaps allow him to have intended to
include with this strange incongruity some though not many Substitutions
in his class of instances, only that we should like to know definitely
what substitutions were to be comprised in this class. For I shrewdly
suspect that there were actually none. Omissions are now left to us, of
which the greater specimens can hardly have been produced by Conflation.
How, for instance, could you get the last Twelve Verses of St. Mark's
Gospel, or the Pericope de Adultera, or St. Luke xxii. 43-44, or any of
the rest of the forty-five whole verses in the Gospels upon which a slur
is cast by the Neologian school? Consequently, the area of Conflation is
greatly reduced. And I venture to think, that supposing for a moment the
theory to be sound, it could not account for any large number of
variations, but would at the best only be a sign or symptom found every
now and then of the derivation attributed to the Received Text.
3. But we must go on towards the heart of the question. And first to
examine Dr. Hort's eight instances. Unfortunately, the early patristic
evidence on these verses is scanty. We have little evidence of a direct
character to light up the dark sea of conjecture.
(1) St. Mark (vi. 22) relates that on a certain occasion the multitude,
when they beheld our Saviour and his disciples on their way in a ship
crossing to the other side of the lake, ran together ([Greek:
synedramon]) from all their cities to the point which He was making for
([Greek: ekei]), and arrived there before the Lord and His followers
([Greek: proêlthon autous]), and on His approach came in a body to Him
([Greek: synêlthon pros auton]). And on disembarking ([Greek: kai
exelthôn]), i.e. ([Greek: ek tou ploiou], ver. 32), &c. It should be
observed, that it was only the Apostles who knew that His ultimate
object was 'a desert place' (ver. 31, 30): the indiscriminate multitude
could only discern the bay or cape towards which the boat was going: and
up to what I have described as the disembarkation (ver. 34), nothing has
been said of His movements, except that He was in the boat upon the
lake. The account is pictorial. We see the little craft toiling on the
lake, the people on the shores running all in one direction, and on
their reaching the heights above the place of landing watching His
approach, and then descending together to Him to the point where He is
going to land. There is nothing weak or superfluous in the description.
Though condensed (what would a modern history have made of it?), it is
all natural and in due place.
Now for Dr. Hort. He observes that one clause ([Greek: kai proêlthon
autous]) is attested by B[Symbol: Aleph] and their followers; another
([Greek: kai synêlthon autou] or [Greek: êlthon autou], which is very
different from the 'Syrian' [Greek: synêlthon pros auton]) by some
Western documents; and he argues that the entire form in the Received
Text, [Greek: kai proêlthon autous, kai synêlthon pros auton], was
formed by Conflation from the other two. I cannot help observing that it
is a suspicious mark, that even in the case of the most favoured of his
chosen examples he is obliged to take such a liberty with one of his
elements of Conflation as virtually to doctor it in order to bring it
strictly to the prescribed pattern. When we come to his arguments he
candidly admits, that 'it is evident that either [Symbol: delta] (the
Received Text) is conflate from [Symbol: alpha] (B[Symbol: Aleph]) and
[Symbol: beta] (Western), or [Symbol: alpha] and [Symbol: beta] are
independent simplifications of [Symbol: delta]'; and that 'there is
nothing in the sense of [Symbol: delta] that would tempt to alteration,'
and that 'accidental' omission of one or other clause would 'be easy.'
But he argues with an ingenuity that denotes a bad cause that the
difference between [Greek: autou] and [Greek: pros auton] is really in
his favour, chiefly because [Greek: autou] would very likely _if_ it had
previously existed been changed into [Greek: pros auton]--which no one
can doubt; and that '[Greek: synêlthon pros auton] is certainly otiose
after [Greek: synedramon ekei],' which shews that he did not understand
the whole meaning of the passage. His argument upon what he terms
'Intrinsic Probability' leads to a similar inference. For simply [Greek:
exelthôn] cannot mean that 'He "came out" of His retirement in some
sequestered nook to meet them,' such a nook being not mentioned by St.
Mark, whereas [Greek: ploion] is; nor can [Greek: ekei] denote 'the
desert region.' Indeed the position of that region or nook was known
before it was reached solely to our Lord and His Apostles: the multitude
was guided only by what they saw, or at least by vague surmise.
Accordingly, Dr. Hort's conclusion must be reversed. 'The balance of
Internal Evidence of Readings, alike from Transcriptional and from
Intrinsic Probability, is decidedly' _not_ 'in favour of [Symbol: delta]
from [Symbol: alpha] and [Symbol: beta],' _but_ 'of [Symbol: alpha] and
[Symbol: beta] from [Symbol: delta].' The reading of the Traditional
Text is the superior both as regards the meaning, and as to the
probability of its pre-existence. The derivation of the two others from
that is explained by that besetting fault of transcribers which is
termed Omission. Above all, the Traditional reading is proved by a
largely over-balancing weight of evidence.
(2) 'To examine other passages equally in detail would occupy too much
space.' So says Dr. Hort: but we must examine points that require
attention.
St. Mark viii. 26. After curing the blind man outside Bethsaida, our
Lord in that remarkable period of His career directed him, according to
the Traditional reading, ([Symbol: alpha]) neither to enter into that
place, [Greek: mêde eis tên kômên eiselthês], nor ([Symbol: beta]) to
tell what had happened to any inhabitant of Bethsaida ([Greek: mêde
eipês tini en tê kômê]). Either some one who did not understand the
Greek, or some matter-of-fact and officious scholar, or both, thought or
maintained that [Greek: tini en tê kômê] must mean some one who was at
the moment actually in the place. So the second clause got to be omitted
from the text of B[Symbol: Aleph], who are followed only by one cursive
and a half (the first reading of 1 being afterwards corrected), and the
Bohairic version, and the Lewis MS. The Traditional reading is attested
by ACN[Symbol: Sigma] and thirteen other Uncials, all Cursives except
eight, of which six with [Symbol: Phi] read a consolidation of both
clauses, by several versions, and by Theophylact (i. 210) who is the
only Father that quotes the place. This evidence ought amply to ensure
the genuineness of this reading.
But what says Dr. Hort? 'Here [Symbol: alpha] is simple and vigorous,
and it is unique in the New Testament: the peculiar [Greek: Mêde] has
the terse force of many sayings as given by St. Mark, but the softening
into [Greek: Mê] by [Symbol: Aleph]* shews that it might trouble
scribes.' It is surely not necessary to controvert this. It may be said
however that [Symbol: alpha] is bald as well as simple, and that the
very difficulty in [Symbol: beta] makes it probable that that clause was
not invented. To take [Greek: tini en tê kômê] Hebraistically for
[Greek: tini tôn en tê kômê], like the [Greek: tis en hymin] of St.
James v. 19[620], need not trouble scholars, I think. Otherwise they can
follow Meyer, according to Winer's Grammar (II. 511), and translate the
second [Greek: mêde] _nor even_. At all events, this is a poor pillar to
support a great theory.
(3) St. Mark ix. 38. 'Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy name,
([Symbol: beta]) who doth not follow us, and we forbad him ([Symbol:
alpha]) because he followeth not us.'
Here the authority for [Symbol: alpha] is [Symbol: Aleph]BCL[Symbol:
Delta], four Cursives, f, Bohairic, Peshitto, Ethiopic, and the Lewis
MS. For [Symbol: beta] there are D, two Cursives, all the Old Latin but
f and the Vulgate. For the Traditional Text, i.e. the whole passage,
A[Symbol: Phi][Symbol: Sigma]N + eleven Uncials, all the Cursives but
six, the Harkleian (yet obelizes [Symbol: alpha]) and Gothic versions,
Basil (ii. 252), Victor of Antioch (Cramer, Cat. i. 365), Theophylact
(i. 219): and Augustine quotes separately both omissions ([Symbol:
alpha] ix. 533, and [Symbol: beta] III. ii. 153). No other Fathers, so
far as I can find, quote the passage.
Dr. Hort appears to advance no special arguments on his side, relying
apparently upon the obvious repetition. In the first part of the verse,
St. John describes the case of the man: in the second he reports for our
Lord's judgement the grounds of the prohibition which the Apostles gave
him. Is it so certain that the original text of the passage contained
only the description, and omitted the reason of the prohibition as it
was given to the non-follower of our Lord? To me it seems that the
simplicity of St. Mark's style is best preserved by the inclusion of
both. The Apostles did not curtly forbid the man: they treated him with
reasonableness, and in the same spirit St. John reported to his Master
all that occurred. Besides this, the evidence on the Traditional side is
too strong to admit of it not being the genuine reading.
(4) St. Mark ix. 49. 'For ([Symbol: alpha]) every one shall be salted
with fire, ([Symbol: beta]) and every sacrifice shall be salted with
salt.' The authorities are--
[Symbol: alpha]. [Symbol: Aleph]BL[Symbol: Delta], fifteen
Cursives, some MSS. of the Bohairic, some of the Armenian, and
the Lewis.
[Symbol: beta]. D, six copies of the Old Latin, three MSS. of
the Vulgate. Chromatius of Aquileia (Galland. viii. 338).
Trad. Text. AC[Symbol: Phi][Symbol: Sigma]N and twelve more
Uncials, all Cursives except fifteen, two Old Latin, Vulgate,
Peshitto, Harkleian, some MSS. of Ethiopic and Armenian, Gothic,
Victor of Antioch (Cramer's Cat. i. 368), Theophylact (i. 221).
This evidence must surely be conclusive of the genuineness of the
Traditional reading. But now for Dr. Hort.
'A reminiscence of Lev. vii. 13 ... has created [Symbol: beta] out of
[Symbol: alpha].' But why should not the reminiscence have been our
Lord's? The passage appears like a quotation, or an adaptation, of some
authoritative saying. He positively advances no other argument than the
one just quoted, beyond stating two points in which the alteration might
be easily effected.
(5) St. Luke ix. 10. 'He took (His Apostles) and withdrew privately
[Symbol: alpha]. Into a city called Bethsaida [Greek: (eis polin
kaloumenên] B.).
[Symbol: beta]. Into a desert place ([Greek: eis topon erêmon]),
or Into a desert place called Bethsaida, or of Bethsaida.
Trad. Text. Into a desert place belonging to a city called
Bethsaida.'
The evidence for these readings respectively is--
[Symbol: alpha]. BLX[Symbol: Xi], with one correction of
[Symbol: Aleph] (C^{a}), one Cursive, the Bohairic and Sahidic.
D reads [Greek: kômên].
[Symbol: beta]. The first and later readings (C^{b}) of [Symbol:
Aleph], four Cursives?, Curetonian, some variant Old Latin
([Symbol: beta]^{2}), Peshitto also variant ([Symbol:
beta]^{3}).
Trad. Text. A (with [Greek: erêmon topon]) C + twelve Uncials,
all Cursives except three or five, Harkleian, Lewis (omits
[Greek: erêmon]), Ethiopic, Armenian, Gothic, with Theophylact
(i. 33).
Remark the curious character of [Symbol: alpha] and [Symbol: beta]. In
Dr. Hort's Neutral Text, which he maintains to have been the original
text of the Gospels, our Lord is represented here as having withdrawn in
private ([Greek: kat' idian], which the Revisers shirking the difficulty
translate inaccurately 'apart') _into the city called Bethsaida_. How
could there have been privacy of life _in_ a city in those days? In
fact, [Greek: kat' idian] necessitates the adoption of [Greek: topon
erêmon], as to which the Peshitto ([Symbol: beta]^{3}) is in substantial
agreement with the Traditional Text. Bethsaida is represented as the
capital of a district, which included, at sufficient distance from the
city, a desert or retired spot. The group arranged under [Symbol: beta]
is so weakly supported, and is evidently such a group of fragments, that
it can come into no sort of competition with the Traditional reading.
Dr. Hort confines himself to shewing _how_ the process he advocates
might have arisen, not _that_ it did actually arise. Indeed, this
position can only be held by assuming the conclusion to be established
that it _did_ so arise.
(6) St. Luke xi. 54. 'The Scribes and Pharisees began to urge Him
vehemently and to provoke Him to speak of many things ([Greek:
enedreuontes thêreusai]),
[Symbol: alpha]. Laying wait for Him to catch something out of
His mouth.
[Symbol: beta]. Seeking to get some opportunity ([Greek:
aphormên tina]) for finding out how to accuse Him ([Greek: hina
eurôsin katêgorêsai]); or, for accusing Him ([Greek: hina
katêgorêsôsin autou]).
Trad. Text. Laying wait for Him, _and_ seeking to catch
something ([Greek: zêtountes thêreusai ti]) out of His mouth,
that they might accuse Him.'
The evidence is--
[Symbol: alpha]. [Symbol: Aleph]BL, Bohairic, Ethiopic, Cyril
Alex. (Mai, Nov. Pp. Bibliotheca, ii. 87, iii. 249, not
accurately).
[Symbol: beta]. D, Old Latin except f, Curetonian.
Trad. Text. AC + twelve Uncials, all Cursives (except five which
omit [Greek: zêtountes]), Peshitto, Lewis (with omission),
Vulgate, Harkleian, Theophylact (i. 363).
As to genuineness, the evidence is decisive. The reading [Symbol: Alpha]
is Alexandrian, adopted by B[Symbol: Aleph], and is bad Greek into the
bargain, [Greek: enedreuontes thêreusai] being very rough, and being
probably due to incompetent acquaintance with the Greek language. If
[Symbol: alpha] was the original, it is hard to see how [Symbol: beta]
could have come from it. That the figurative language of [Symbol: alpha]
was replaced in [Symbol: beta] by a simply descriptive paraphrase, as
Dr. Hort suggests, seems scarcely probable. On the other hand, the
derivation of either [Symbol: alpha] or [Symbol: beta] from the
Traditional Text is much easier. A scribe would without difficulty pass
over one of the participles lying contiguously with no connecting
conjunction, and having a kind of Homoeoteleuton. And as to [Symbol:
beta], the distinguishing [Greek: aphormên tina] would be a very natural
gloss, requiring for completeness of the phrase the accompanying [Greek:
labein]. This is surely a more probable solution of the question of the
mutual relationship of the readings than the laboured account of Dr.
Hort, which is too long to be produced here.
(7) St. Luke xii. 18. 'I will pull down my barns, and build greater, and
there will I bestow all
[Symbol: alpha]. My corn and my goods.
[Symbol: beta]. My crops ([Greek: ta genêmata mou]). My fruits
([Greek: tous karpous mou]).
Trad. Text. My crops ([Greek: ta genêmata mou]) and my goods.'
This is a faulty instance, because it is simply a substitution, as Dr.
Hort admitted, in [Symbol: alpha] of the more comprehensive word [Greek:
genêmata] for [Greek: siton], and a simple omission of [Greek: kai ta
agatha mou] in [Symbol: beta]. And the admission of it into the selected
eight shews the difficulty that Dr. Hort must have experienced in
choosing his examples. The evidence is--
[Symbol: alpha]. BTLX and a correction of [Symbol:
Aleph](a^{c}), eight Cursives, Peshitto, Bohairic, Sahidic,
Armenian, Ethiopic.
[Symbol: beta]. [Symbol: Aleph]*D, three Cursives, b ff i q,
Curetonian and Lewis, St. Ambrose (i. 573).
Trad. Text. AQ + thirteen Uncials. All Cursives except twelve,
_f_, Vulgate, Harkleian, Cyril Alex. (Mai, ii. 294-5) _bis_,
Theophylact (i. 370), Peter Chrysologus (Migne 52, 490-1) _bis_.
No more need be said: substitutions and omissions are too common to
require justification.
(8) St. Luke xxiv. 53. 'They were continually in the temple
[Symbol: alpha]. Blessing God ([Greek: eulogountes]).
[Symbol: beta]. Praising God ([Greek: ainountes]).
Trad. Text. Praising and blessing God.'
The evidence is--
[Symbol: alpha]. [Symbol: Aleph]BC*L, Bohairic, Palestinian,
Lewis.
[Symbol: beta]. D, seven Old Latin.
Trad. Text. AC^{2} + twelve Uncials, all Cursives, c f q,
Vulgate, Peshitto, Harkleian, Armenian, Ethiopic, Theophylact
(i. 497).
Dr. Hort adds no remarks. He seems to have thought, that because he had
got an instance which outwardly met all the requirements laid down,
therefore it would prove the conclusion it was intended to prove. Now it
is evidently an instance of the omission of either of two words from the
complete account by different witnesses. The Evangelist employed both
words in order to emphasize the gratitude of the Apostles. The words are
not tautological. [Greek: Ainos] is the set praise of God, drawn out in
more or less length, properly as offered in addresses to Him[621].
[Greek: Eulogia] includes all speaking well of Him, especially when
uttered before other men. Thus the two expressions describe in
combination the life of gratitude exhibited unceasingly by the expectant
and the infant Church. Continually in the temple they praised Him in
devotion, and told the people of His glorious works.
4. Such are the eight weak pillars upon which Dr. Hort built his theory
which was to account for the existence of his Neutral Text, and the
relation of it towards other Texts or classes of readings. If his eight
picked examples can be thus demolished, then surely the theory of
Conflation must be utterly unsound. Or if in the opinion of some of my
readers my contention goes too far, then at any rate they must admit
that it is far from being firm, if it does not actually reel and totter.
The opposite theory of omission appears to be much more easy and
natural.
But the curious phenomenon that Dr. Hort has rested his case upon so
small an induction as is supplied by only eight examples--if they are
not in fact only seven--has not yet received due explanation. Why, he
ought to have referred to twenty-five or thirty at least. If Conflation
is so common, he might have produced a large number of references
without working out more than was enough for illustration as patterns.
This question must be investigated further. And I do not know how to
carry out such an investigation better, than to examine some instances
which come naturally to hand from the earlier parts of each Gospel.
It must be borne in mind, that for Conflation two differently-attested
phrases or words must be produced which are found in combination in some
passage of the Traditional Text. If there is only one which is omitted,
it is clear that there can be no Conflation because there must be at
least two elements to conflate: accordingly our instances must be cases,
not of single omission, but of double or alternative omission. If again
there is no Western reading, it is not a Conflation in Dr. Hort's sense.
And finally, if the remaining reading is not a 'Neutral' one, it is not
to Dr. Hort's liking. I do not say that my instances will conform with
these conditions. Indeed, after making a list of all the omissions in
the Gospels, except those which are of too petty a character such as
leaving out a pronoun, and having searched the list with all the care
that I can command, I do not think that such instances can be found.
Nevertheless, I shall take eight, starting from the beginning of St.
Matthew, and choosing the most salient examples, being such also that,
if Dr. Hort's theory be sound, they ought to conform to his
requirements. Similarly, there will come then four from either of St.
Mark and St. Luke, and eight from St. John. This course of proceeding
will extend operations from the eight which form Dr. Hort's total to
thirty-two.
A. In St. Matthew we have (1) i. 25, [Greek: autês ton prôtotokon] and
[Greek: ton Huion]; (2) v. 22, [Greek: eikê] and [Greek: tô adelphô
autou]; (3) ix. 13, [Greek: eis metanoian]; (4) x. 3, [Greek: Lebbaios]
and [Greek: Thaddaios]; (5) xii. 22, [Greek: typhlon kai] and [Greek:
kôphon]; (6) xv. 5, [Greek: ton patera autou] and [Greek: (hê) tên
mêtera autou], (7) xviii. 35, [Greek: apo tôn kardiôn hymôn] and [Greek:
ta paraptômata autôn]; and (8) xxvi. 3, [Greek: hoi presbyteroi (kai)
hoi Grammateis]. I have had some difficulty in making up the number. Of
those selected as well as I could, seven are cases of single omission or
of one pure omission apiece, though their structure presents a
possibility of two members for Conflation; whilst the Western element
comes in sparsely or appears in favour of both the omission and the
retention; and, thirdly, in some cases, as in (2) and (3), the support
is not only Western, but universal. Consequently, all but (4) are
excluded. Of (4) Dr. Hort remarks, (Notes on Select Readings, p. 11)
that it is 'a case of Conflation of the true and the chief Western
Texts,' and accordingly it does not come within the charmed circle.
B. From St. Mark we get, (1) i. 1, [Greek: Huiou tou Theou] and [Greek:
Iêsou Christou]; (2) i. 2, [Greek: emprosthen sou] and [Greek: pro
prosôpou sou] (cp. ix. 38); (3) iii. 15, [Greek: therapeuein tas nosous
(kai)] and [Greek: ekballein ta daimonia]; (4) xiii. 33, [Greek:
agrypneite] and [Greek: (kai) proseuchesthe]. All these instances turn
out to be cases of the omission of only one of the parallel expressions.
The omission in the first is due mainly to Origen (_see_ Traditional
Text, Appendix IV): in the three last there is Western evidence on both
sides.
C. St. Luke yields us, (1) ii. 5, [Greek: gynaiki] and [Greek:
memnêsteumenê]; (2) iv. 4, [Greek: epi panti rhêmati Theou], or [Greek:
ep' artô monô]; (3) viii. 54, [Greek: ekbalôn exô pantas (kai)], or
[Greek: kratêsas tês cheiros autês]; xi. 4, [Greek: (alla) rhysai hêmas
apo tou ponêrou], or [Greek: mê eisenenkês hêmas eis peirasmon]. In all
these cases, examination discloses that they are examples of pure
omission of only one of the alternatives. The only evidence against this
is the solitary rejection of [Greek: memnêsteumenê] by the Lewis Codex.
D. We now come to St. John. See (1) iii. 15, [Greek: mê apolêtai], or
[Greek: echê zôên aiônion]; (2) iv. 14, [Greek: ou mê dipsêsê eis ton
aiôna], or [Greek: to hydôr ho dôsô autô genêsetai en autô pêgê hydatos,
k.t.l.]; (3) iv. 42, [Greek: ho Christos], or [Greek: ho sôtêr tou
kosmou]; (4) iv. 51, [Greek: kai apêngeilan] and [Greek: legontes]; (5)
v. 16, [Greek: kai ezêtoun auton apokteinai] and [Greek: ediôkon auton];
(6) vi. 51, [Greek: hên egô dôsô], or [Greek: hou egô dôsô]; (7) ix. 1,
25, [Greek: kai eipen] or [Greek: apekrithê]; (8) xiii. 31, 32, [Greek:
ei ho Theos edoxasthê en autô], and [Greek: kai ho Theos edoxasthê en
autô]. All these instances turn out to be single omissions:--a fact
which is the more remarkable, because St. John's style so readily lends
itself to parallel or antithetical expressions involving the same result
in meaning, that we should expect conflations to shew themselves
constantly if the Traditional Text had so coalesced.
How surprising a result:--almost too surprising. Does it not immensely
strengthen my contention that Dr. Hort took wrongly Conflation for the
reverse process? That in the earliest ages, when the Church did not
include in her ranks so much learning as it has possessed ever since,
the wear and tear of time, aided by unfaith and carelessness, made
itself felt in many an instance of destructiveness which involved a
temporary chipping of the Sacred Text all through the Holy Gospels? And,
in fact, that Conflation at least as an extensive process, if not
altogether, did not really exist.
§ 2.
THE NEUTRAL TEXT.
Here we are brought face to face with the question respecting the
Neutral Text. What in fact is it, and does it deserve the name which Dr.
Hort and his followers have attempted to confer permanently upon it?
What is the relation that it bears to other so-called Texts?
So much has been already advanced upon this subject in the companion
volume and in the present, that great conciseness is here both possible
and expedient. But it may be useful to bring the sum or substance of
those discussions into one focus.
1. The so-called Neutral Text, as any reader of Dr. Hort's Introduction
will see, is the text of B and [Symbol: Aleph] and their small
following. That following is made up of Z in St. Matthew, [Symbol:
Delta] in St. Mark, the fragmentary [Symbol: Xi] in St. Luke, with
frequent agreement with them of D, and of the eighth century L; with
occasional support from some of the group of Cursives, consisting of 1,
33, 118, 131, 157, 205, 209, and from the Ferrar group, or now and then
from some others, as well as from the Latin k, and the Egyptian or other
versions. This perhaps appears to be a larger number than our readers
may have supposed, but rarely are more than ten MSS. found together, and
generally speaking less, and often much less than that. To all general
intents and purposes, the Neutral Text is the text of B-[Symbol: Aleph].
2. Following facts and avoiding speculation, the Neutral Text appears
hardly in history except at the Semiarian period. It was almost disowned
ever after: and there is no certainty--nothing more than inference which
we hold, and claim to have proved, to be imaginary and delusive,--that,
except as represented in the corruption which it gathered out of the
chaos of the earliest times, it made any appearance.
3. Thus, as a matter of history acknowledged by Dr. Hort, it was mainly
superseded before the end of the century of its emergence by the
Traditional Text, which, except in the tenets of a school of critics in
the nineteenth century, has reigned supreme ever since.
4. That it was not the original text of the Gospels, as maintained by
Dr. Hort, I claim to have established from an examination of the
quotations from the Gospels made by the Fathers. It has been proved that
not only in number, but still more conclusively in quality, the
Traditional Text enjoyed a great superiority of attestation over all the
kinds of corruption advocated by some critics which I have just now
mentioned[622]. This conclusion is strengthened by the verdict of the
early versions.
5. The inferiority of the 'Neutral Text' is demonstrated by the
overwhelming weight of evidence which is marshalled against it on
passages under dispute. This glaring contrast is increased by the
disagreement among themselves of the supporters of that Text, or class
of readings. As to antiquity, number, variety, weight, and continuity,
that Text falls hopelessly behind: and by internal evidence also the
texts of B and [Symbol: Aleph], and still more the eccentric text of the
Western D, are proved to be manifestly inferior.
6. It has been shewn also by evidence, direct as well as inferential,
that B and [Symbol: Aleph] issued nearly together from the library or
school of Caesarea. The fact of their being the oldest MSS. of the New
Testament in existence, which has naturally misled people and caused
them to be credited with extraordinary value, has been referred, as
being mainly due, to their having been written on vellum according to
the fashion introduced in that school, instead of the ordinary papyrus.
The fact of such preservation is really to their discredit, instead of
resounding to their honour, because if they had enjoyed general
approval, they would probably have perished creditably many centuries
ago in the constant use for which they were intended.
Such are the main points in the indictment and in the history of the
Neutral Text, or rather--to speak with more appropriate accuracy,
avoiding the danger of drawing with too definite a form and too deep a
shade--of the class of readings represented by B and [Symbol: Aleph]. It
is interesting to trace further, though very summarily, the connexion
between this class of readings and the corruptions of the Original Text
which existed previously to the early middle of the fourth century. Such
brief tracing will lead us to a view of some causes of the development
of Dr. Hort's theory.
The analysis of Corruption supplied as to the various kinds of it by
Dean Burgon has taught us how they severally arose. This is fresh in the
mind of readers, and I will not spoil it by repetition. But the studies
of textual critics have led them to combine all kinds of corruption
chiefly under the two heads of the Western or Syrio-Low-Latin class, and
in a less prominent province of the Alexandrian. Dr. Hort's Neutral is
really a combination of those two, with all the accuracy that these
phenomena admit. But of course, if the Neutral were indeed the original
Text, it would not do for it to be too closely connected with one of
such bad reputation as the Western, which must be kept in the distance
at all hazards. Therefore he represented it--all unconsciously no doubt
and with the best intention--as one of the sources of the Traditional,
or as he called it the 'Syrian' Text. Hence this imputed connexion
between the Western and the Traditional Text became the essential part
of his framework of Conflation, which could not exist without it. For
any permanent purpose, all this handiwork was in vain. To say no more,
D, which is the chief representative of the Western Text, is too
constant a supporter of the peculiar readings of B and [Symbol: Aleph]
not to prove its near relationship to them. The 'Neutral' Text derives
the chief part of its support from Western sources. It is useless for
Dr. Hort to disown his leading constituents. And on the other hand, the
Syrio-Low-Latin Text is too alien to the Traditional to be the chief
element in any process, Conflate or other, out of which it could have
been constructed. The occasional support of some of the Old Latin MSS.
is nothing to the point in such a proof. They are so fitful and
uncertain, that some of them may witness to almost anything. If Dr.
Hort's theory of Conflation had been sounder, there would have been no
lack of examples.
'Naturam expellas furca: tamen usque recurret.'
He was tempted to the impossible task of driving water uphill. Therefore
I claim, not only to have refuted Dr. Hort, whose theory is proved to be
even more baseless than I ever imagined, but by excavating more deeply
than he did, to have discovered the cause of his error.
No: the true theory is, that the Traditional Text--not in superhuman
perfection, though under some superhuman Guidance--is the embodiment of
the original Text of the New Testament. In the earliest times, just as
false doctrines were widely spread, so corrupt readings prevailed in
many places. Later on, when Christianity was better understood, and the
Church reckoned amongst the learned and holy of her members the finest
natures and intellects of the world, and many clever men of inferior
character endeavoured to vitiate Doctrine and lower Christian life, evil
rose to the surface, and was in due time after a severe struggle removed
by the sound and faithful of the day. So heresy was rampant for a while,
and was then replaced by true and well-grounded belief. With great
ability and with wise discretion, the Deposit whether of Faith or Word
was verified and established. General Councils decided in those days
upon the Faith, and the Creed when accepted and approved by the
universal voice was enacted for good and bequeathed to future ages. So
it was both as to the Canon and the Words of Holy Scripture, only that
all was done quietly. As to the latter, hardly a footfall was heard. But
none the less, corruption after short-lived prominence sank into deep
and still deeper obscurity, whilst the teaching of fifteen centuries
placed the true Text upon a firm and lasting basis.
And so I venture to hold, now that the question has been raised, both
the learned and the well-informed will come gradually to see, that no
other course respecting the Words of the New Testament is so strongly
justified by the evidence, none so sound and large-minded, none so
reasonable in every way, none so consonant with intelligent faith, none
so productive of guidance and comfort and hope, as to maintain against
all the assaults of corruption
THE TRADITIONAL TEXT.
FOOTNOTES:
[618] Dr. Hort has represented Neutral readings by [Symbol: alpha],
Western by [Symbol: beta], as far as I can understand, 'other' by
[Symbol: gamma], and 'Syrian' (=Traditional) by [Symbol: delta]. But he
nowhere gives an example of [Symbol: gamma].
[619] Introduction, p. 103.
[620] Cp. St. Luke xviii. 2, 3. [Greek: Tis] is used with [Greek: ex],
St. Luke xi. 15, xxiv. 24; St. John vi. 64, vii. 25, ix. 16, xi. 37, 46;
Acts xi. 20, xiii. 1, &c.
[621] Thus [Greek: epainos] is used for a public encomium, or panegyric.
[622] An attempt in the _Guardian_ has been made in a review full of
errors to weaken the effect of my list by an examination of an unique
set of details. A correction both of the reviewer's figures in one
instance and of my own may be found above, pp. 144-153. There is no
virtue in an exact proportion of 3: 2, or of 6: 1. A great majority will
ultimately be found on our side.
GENERAL INDEX.
A.
[Symbol: Aleph] or Sinaitic MS., 2, 196.
Accident, 8; pure A., 34-35.
Addition, 166-7, 270.
Ages, earliest, 2.
Alexandrian error, 45;
readings, App. II. 268, 284.
Alford, _passim_.
Ammonius, 200.
Antiquity, our appeal always made to, 194-5.
Apolinarius, or-is (or Apoll.), 224, 257.
Arians, 204, 218.
Assimilation, 100-127;
what it was, 101-2;
must be delicately handled, 115
Attraction, 123-7.
B.
B or Vatican MS., 2, 8, 196;
kakigraphy of, 64 note:
virtually with [Symbol: Aleph] the 'Neutral' text, 282.
Basilides, 195, 197-9, 218 note 2.
Blunder, history of a, 24-7.
Bohairic Version, 249, and _passim_.
C.
Caesarea, library of, 284.
Cerinthus, 201.
Clement of Alexandria, 193.
Conflation, 266-82.
Correctors of MSS., 21.
Corruption, first origin of, 3-8;
classes of 8-9, 23;
general, 10-23;
prevailed from the first, 12;
the most corrupt authorities, 8, 14;
in early Fathers, 193-4.
Curetonian Version, _passim. See_ Traditional Text.
Cursive MSS., a group of eccentric, 283;
Ferrar group, 282.
D.
D or Codex Bezae, 8.
[Symbol: Delta], or Sangallensis, 8.
Damascus, 5.
Diatessarons, 89, 96-8, 101. _See_ Tatian.
Doxology, in the Lord's Prayer, 81-8.
E.
Eclogadion, 69.
Epiphanius, 305, 211-2.
Erasmus, 10.
Error, slight clerical, 37-31.
Euroclydon, 46.
Evangelistaria (the right name), 67.
F.
Falconer's St. Paul's voyage, 46-7.
Fathers, _passim_; earliest, 193.
Faustinus, 218.
Ferrar group of Cursives, 282.
Field, Dr., 28 note 5, 30 and note 2.
G.
Galilee of the Gentiles, 4-5.
Genealogy, 22. _See_ Traditional Text.
Glosses, 94-5, 98, 172-90;
described, 172.
Gospels, the four, probable date of, 7.
Guardian, review in, Pref., 150-2, 283 note.
Gwilliam, Rev. G. H., 115 note.
H.
Harmonistic influence, 89-99.
Heracleon, 190, 202, 204, 215 note 2.
Heretics, corruptions by, 199-210;
not always dishonest, 191;
very numerous, 199 &c.
Homoeoteleuton, 36-41; explained, 8
I.
Inadvertency, 21, 23.
Internal evidence, Pref.
Interpolations, 166-7.
Irenaeus, St., 193.
Itacism, 8, 56-86.
J.
Justin Martyr, St., 193.
L.
L or Codex Regius, 8.
Lachmann, _passim_.
Last Twelve Verses, 72, 129-30.
Latin MSS., Old, _passim_; Low-Latin, 8. _See_ Traditional Text.
Lectionaries, 67-81;
ecclesiastical prefaces to, 71.
Lewis MS., _passim_, 194.
Liturgical influence, 67-88.
M.
Macedonians, 204.
Manes, 207.
Manichaeans, 206.
Manuscripts, six classes of, 12;
existing number of, 12;
frequent inaccuracies in, 12;
more serious faults, 20-1; and _passim_.
Marcion, 70, 195, 197, 199, 200, 219.
Matrimony, 208.
Menologion, 69.
N.
Naaseni, 204.
'Neutral Text,' 267, 282-6.
O.
Omissions, 128-156;
the largest of all classes, 128;
not 'various readings,' 128;
prejudice in favour of, 130-1;
proof of, 131-2;
natural cause of corruption, 270.
Origen, 53-5, 98, 101, 111-3, 190, 193, 209.
Orthodox, corruption by, 211-31,
misguided, 211.
P.
Papyrus MSS., 2. _See_ Traditional Text.
Parallel passages, 95.
Pella, 7.
Pericope de Adultera, 232-65.
Peshitto Version, _passim. See_ Traditional Text.
Porphyry, 114.
R.
Revision, 10-13.
Rose, Rev. W. F., 61 note 3.
S.
[Greek: Sabbatokuriakai], 68.
Sahidic Version, 194.
Saturninue, or Saturnilus, 208 and note 3.
Scrivener's Introduction (4th Ed.), Miller's, _passim_.
Semiarianism, 2.
Substitution, 164-5, 270, 277.
Synaxarion, 69.
T.
Tatian's Diatessaron, 8, 98, 101, 196, 200.
Textualism of the Gospels, different from T. of profane writings, 14.
Theodotus, 205, 214.
Tischendorf, 112-3, 176, 182, and _passim_;
misuse of Assimilation, 118.
Traditional Text, 1-4;
not = Received Text, 1. _See_ Volume on it.
Transcriptional Mistakes, 55.
Transposition, 157-63;
character of, 163, 270.
Tregelles, 34, 136, 138.
U.
Uncials, 42-55.
V.
Valentinus, 197-9, 201, 202-5, 215, 218 note 2.
Various readings, 14-16.
Vellum, 2.
Vercellone, 47 note.
Versions, _passim_.
Victorinus Afer, 218.
W.
Western Readings or Text, 6, 266-85.
Z.
Z or Dublin palimpsest, 8.
INDEX II.
PASSAGES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT DISCUSSED.
St. Matthew:
i. 19 209
iii. 6 102
16 170-1
iv. 23 51-2
v. 44 144-53
vi. 13 81-8
18 171
vii. 4 102
viii. 9 102
13 167-8
26 103
29 102
ix. 24 104
35 74
x. 12 103
xi. 23 27
xii. 10 117
xiii. 36 173
44 80-1
xv. 8 136-44
xvi. 8 103
xix. 9 39
16 103
xx. 24 103
28 175
xxi. 9 99
44 134-6
xxii. 23 49-50
xxiii. 14 38
xxiv. 15 116
31 179-80
36 169-70
xxv. 13 171
xxvii. 15 103
17 53-5
25-6 91
35 171
St. Mark:
i. 2 111-5
5 157-8
ii. 3 158-9
iv. 6 63-4
v. 36 188
vi. 11 118-9, 181-2
32 32-3
33 271-3
vii. 14 35
19 61-3
31 73-3
viii. 1 34
26 273-4
ix. 38 271
49 275
x. 16 48
xii. 17 48
xiv. 40 48
41 182-3
70 119-22
xv. 6 32
28 75-8
xvi. 9-20 72, 129-30
St. Luke:
i. 66 188-9
ii. 14 21-2, 31-2
15 36
iii. 14 201
29 165
iv. 1-13 94
v. 7 108
14 104
vi. 1 132-3
4 167
26 153
vii. 3 174
21 50
ix. 1 74
10 275-6
54-6 224-31
x. 15 28
25 75
xi. 54 276-7
xii. 18 277-8
39 155
xiii. 9 160-1
xiv. 3 117
xv. 16 117
17 43-5
24 61
32 61
xvi. 21 40
25 60
xvii. 37 48-9
xix. 21 103
41 212
xxii. 67-8 210
xxiii. 11 50-1
27 51
42 57
xxiv. 1 92-4
7 161
53 278
St. John:
i. 3-4 203
18 215-8, 165
ii. 40 212-4
iii. 13 223-4
iv. 15 48
v. 4 50
27 162
v. 44 45
vi. 11 37-8
15 38, 178
55 153-4
71 124
viii. 40 214-5
ix. 22 183
x. 14-15 206-8
29 24-7
xii. 1, 2 57-9
7 184-6
13 99
xiii. 21-5 106-11
24 179
25 60
26 124
37 35
xvi. 16 105
xvii. 4 186-8
xviii. 14 180-1
xx. 11 90-2
Acts:
ii. 45-6 159
iii. 1 78-80
xviii. 6 27
xx. 4 190
24 28, 124-5
xxvii. 14 46-7
37 27
xxviii. 1 28
1 Cor.:
xv. 47 219-23
2 Cor.:
iii. 3 125-7
Titus:
ii. 5 65-6
Heb.:
vii. 1 53
2 Pet.:
i. 21 52-3
Rev.
i. 5 59-60
THE END.