Scripture. Thecla was expunged. But oral tradition of no very ancient date (memoria et traditio recens) has preserved the remembrance of it.

132 Account

of the Va tiran maHuscript.

But the reader will see that this account is merely traditional. Dr Semler very properly observes, that there is no more reason to rely on a tradition respecting the transcriber of an ancient manuscript, than on a tradition which relates to an ancient relic. The arguments which have been urged by Wetstein, Semler, Oudin, and Woide, to fix the date of this manuscript, are so many, that it would be tedious to repeat them. But, after all, its antiquity cannot be determined with certainty, though it appears from the formation of the letters, which resemble those of the fourth and fifth centuries, and the want of accents, that it was not written so late as the tenth century. In this century it was placed by Oudin, while Grabe and Schulze have referred it to the fourth, which is the very utmost period that can be allowed, because it contains the epistles of Athanasius. Wetstein, with more probability, has chosen a mean between these two extremes, and referred it to the fifth century: but we are not justified in drawing this inference from the information of the letters alone, for it is well known that the same mode of forming the letters was retained longer in some countries and in some monasteries than in others.

We are now in possession of a perfect impression of this manuscript, which is accompanied with so complete and so critical a collection of various readings, as is hardly to be expected from the edition of any other manuscript. Dr Woide published it in 1786, with types cast for that purpose, line for line, without intervals between the words, as in the manuscript itself: the copy is so perfect a resemblance of the original, that it may supply its place. Its title is Novum Testamentum Grecum è codice MS. Alexandrino qui Londini in Bibliotheca Musei Britannici asservatur descriptum. It is a very splendid folio; and the preface of the learned editor con tains an accurate description of the manuscript, with an exact list of all its various readings, that takes up no Jess than 89 pages; and each reading is accompanied with a remark, in which is given an account of what his predecessors Juninus, Walton, Fell, Mill, Grabe, and Wetstein, had performed or neglected.

The Vatican manuscript contained originally the whole Greek Bible, including both the Old and New Testament; and in this respect, as well as in regard to its antiquity, it resembles none so much as the Coder Alexandrinus, but no two manuscripts are more dissimilar in their readings, in the New Testament as well as in the Old. After the Gospels, which are placed in the usual order, come the Acts of the Apostles, which are immediately followed by the seven catholic epistles. This must be particularly noted, because some have contended that the second Epistle of St Peter, with the second and third of St John, were wanting. Professor Hwiid, in a letter dated Rome, April 12. 1781, assured Michaelis that he had seen them with his own eyes, that the second Epistle of St Peter is placed folio 1434, the second of St John fol. 1442, the third fol. 1443

then follow the Epistles of St Paul, but not in the Scripture. usual order; for the Epistle to the Hebrews is placed immediately after those to the Thessalonians: and it is not improbable, that in the more ancient manuscript, from which the Codex Vaticanus was copied, this Epistle was even placed before that to the Ephesians, and immediately after the Epistle to the Galatians (B); for the Epistles of St Paul are divided into 93 sections by figures written in the margin with red ink; but the Epistle to the Galatians ends with 59, and that to the Ephesians begins with 70; the Epistle to the Hebrews, on the contrary, begins with 60, and ends with 69. With the words auapov rã sã, Heb. ix. 14. the manuscript ceases, the remaining leaves being lost. There is wanting, therefore, not only the latter part of this Epistle, but the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, with the Revelation of St John: but this last book, as well as the latter part of the Epistle to the Hebrews, has been supplied by a modern hand in the 15th century. In many places the faded letters have been also retouched by a modern, but careful hand; and when the person who made these amendments, who appears to have been a man of learning, found a reading in his own manuscript which differed from that of the Codex Vaticanus, he has noted it in the margin, and has generally left the text itself untouched, though in some few examples he has ventured to erase it.

It is certain, that this manuscript is of very high antiquity, though it has been disputed which of the two in this respect is entitled to the preference, the Vaticanus or Alexandrinus. The editors of the Roman edition of the Septuagint, in 1587, referred the date of the Vatican manuscript to the fourth century, the period to which the advocates for its great rival refer the Codex Alexandrinus. More moderate, and perhaps more accurate, are the sentiments of that great judge of antiquity Montfaucon, who, in his Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum, p. 3. refers it to the fifth or sixth century; and adds, that though he had seen other manuscripts of equal antiquity, he had found none at the same time so complete.

The Codex Vaticanus has a great resemblance to the manuscripts noted by Wetstein, C. D. L. 1. 13. 33. 69. 102. and to the Latin, Coptic, and Ethiopic versions; but it is preferable to most of them, in being almost entirely free from those undeniable interpolations and arbitrary corrections which are very frequently found in the above-mentioned manuscripts, especially in D. 1. and 69. It may be applied, therefore, as a mean not only of confirming their genuine readings, but of detecting and correcting those that are spurious. It is written with great accuracy, and is evidently a faithful copy of the more ancient manuscript from which it was transcribed. Peculiar readings, or such as are found neither in other manuscripts nor ancient versions, are seldom discovered in the Codex Vaticanus; and of the few which have been actually found, the greatest part are of little importance. But in proportion as the number of such readings is small, the number of those is great; in support of which few only, though ancient authorities,

Scripture. authorities, have been hitherto produced: But this manuscript has not throughout the whole New Testament the same uniform text.

133

The best

editions of

the Greek

New Testa

ment are those of Mill,

As we have now a beautiful printed edition of the Alexandrian manuscript by Dr Woide, it is much to be wished that we had also an exact impression of the Vatican manuscript. From the superstitious fears and From the superstitious fears and intolerant spirit of the inquisition at Rome, all access to this manuscript was refused to the Abbé Spoletti, who presented a memorial for that purpose. Unless the pope interpose his authority, we must therefore despair of having our wishes gratified; but from the liberality of sentiment which the head of the Catholic church has shown on several occasions, we hope that the period is not far distant when the Vatican library will be open to the learned, and when the pope will think it his greatest honour to encourage their researches.

The most valuable editions of the Greek New Testament are those of Mill, Bengel, and Wetstein.

The edition of Mill, which was only finished 14 days before his death, occupied the attention of the author for 30 years.

:

The collections of various readings which had been made before the time of Mill, the Velesian, the Barberini, those of Stephens, the London Polyglot, and Fell's edition, with those which the bishop had left in manuscript, and whatever he was able to procure elsewhere, he brought together into one large collection. He made likewise very considerable additions to it. He collated several original editions more accurately than had been done before he procured extracts from Greek manuscripts which had never been collated; and of such as had been before collated, but not with sufficient attention, he obtained more complete extracts. It is said that he has collected from manuscripts, fathers, and versions, not fewer than 30,000 various readings. This collection, notwithstanding its many imperfections, and the superiority of that of Wetstein, is still absolutely necessary to every critic: for Wetstein has omitted a great number of readings which are to be found in Mill, especially those which are either taken from the Vulgate, or confirm its readings. Mill was indeed too much attached to this version; yet he cannot be accused of partiality in producing its evidence, because it is the duty of a critic to examine the witnesses on both sides of the question and Wetstein, by too frequently neglect. ing the evidence in favour of the Vulgate, has rendered his collection less perfect than it would otherwise have been. He likewise added, as far as he was able, readings from the ancient versions; and is much to be commended for the great attention which he paid to the quotations of the fathers; the importance of which he had sagacity enough to discern.

It cannot, however, be denied, that Mill's Greek Testament has many imperfections, and some of real importance. His extracts from manuscripts often are not only incomplete, but erroneous; and it is frequently necessary to correct his mistakes from the edition of Wetstein. His extracts from the oriental versions are also imperfect, because he was unacquainted with these languages; and in selecting readings from the Syriac, the Arabic, and Ethiopic, he was obliged to have recourse to the Latin translations, which are annexed to those versions in the London Polyglot.

The great diligence which Mill had shown in collec- S ting so many various readings, alarmed the clergy as if the Christian religion had been in danger of subversion. It gave occasion for a time to the triumphs of the deist, and exposed the author to many attacks. But it is now universally known, that not a single article of the Christian religion would be altered though a deist were allowed to select out of Mill's 30,000 readings whatever he should think most inimical to the Christian cause.

In 1734, Bengel abbot of Alpirspach, in the duchy Ben of Wurtemburg, published a new edition of the Greek Testament. The fears which Mill had excited began to subside on this new publication; for Bengel was universally esteemed a man of piety. Bengel was not only diligent in the examination of various readings, but in the strictest sense of the word conscientious; for he considered it as an oflence against the Deity, if, through his own fault, that is, through levity or carelessness, he introduced a false reading into the sacred text. His object was not merely to make a collection of readings, and leave the choice of them to the judgement of the reader, but to examine the evidence on both sides, and draw the inference; yet he has not given his own opinion so frequently as Mill, whom he resembled in his reverence for the Latin version, and in the preference which he gave to harsh and difficult readings, before those which were smooth and flowing. It may be observed in general, that he was a man of profound learning, and had a cool and sound judgment, though it did not prevent him from thinking too highly of the Latin readings, and of the Codex Alexandrinus, with other Latinizing manuscripts.

The imperfections of Bengel's edition arise chiefly from his diffidence and caution. He did not venture to insert into the text any reading which had not already appeared in some printed edition, even though he believed it to be the genuine reading. In the book of Revelation indeed he took the liberty to insert readings which had never been printed; because few manuscripts had been used in the printing of that book.

135

The celebrated edition of John James Wetstein, and of W which is the most important of all, and the most neces- stein. sary to those engaged in sacred criticism, was published at Amsterdam in 1751 and 1752, in two volumes folio. No man will deny that Wetstein's Prolegomena discover profound erudition, critical penetration, and an intimate acquaintance with the Greek manuscripts. It is a work which in many respects has given a new turn to sacred criticism, and no man engaged in that study can dispense with it. Wherever Wetstein has delivered his sentiments respecting a Greek manuscript, which he has done less frequently than Mill, and indeed less frequently than we could have wished, he shows himself an experienced and sagacious critic. He is likewise more concise than Mill in delivering his opinion, and does not support it by producing so great a number of readings from the manuscript in question. This conciseness is the consequence of that warmth and haste which were peculiar to Wetstein's character, and which have sometimes given birth to mistakes. The fire of his disposition was likewise the cause of his advancing conjectures, in regard to the history of his manuscripts, which exceed the bounds of probability. But the cri

Scripture. points arbitrarily, probably without bestowing the ne. cessary attention; and Stephens, in particular, varied his points in every edition (D).

337 Division

lers.

The meaning of many passages in the Scripture has been altered by false pointing. We shall produce one instance of this: Mat. v. 34. is commonly pointed in this manner, εγω δε λέγω υμίν, μη ομόσαι όλως μητε εν τῷ seara, and consequently translated, "But I say unto you, swear not at all." But if, instead of the colon placed after oλws, we substitute a comma, the translation will be, "But I say to you that you ought by no means to swear, either by heaven, for it is his throne, or by earth, for it is his footstool." The command of Christ therefore applies particularly to the abuse of caths among the Pharisees, who on every trivial occasion swore by the heaven, the earth, the temple, the head, &c. but it implies no prohibition to take an oath in the name of the Deity on solemn and important occasions.

The ancients divided the New Testament into two into chap- kinds of chapters, some longer and some shorter. This method appears to be more ancient than St Jerome, for he expunged a passage from the New Testament, which makes an entire chapter. The longer kind of chapters were called breves, the shorter capitula. St Matthew contained, according to Jerome, 68 breves; Mark contained 48; Luke 83; and John 18. All the evange lists together consisted of 217 breves and 1126 capitula. The inventor of our modern division into chapters was Hugo de S. Caro, a French Dominican friar, who lived in the 13th century.

138 Division

into verses,

The ancients had two kinds of verses, one of which they called six, and the other enμata. The remata were lines which contained a certain number of letters, like our printed books, and therefore often broke off in the middle of a word. Josephus's 20 books of Antiquities contained 60,000 of them, though in Ittiquis's edition there are only 40,000 broken lines.

Stichi were lines measured by the sense: according to an ancient written list mentioned by Father Simin, there were in the New Testament 18,612 of these.

The verses into which the New Testament is now divided are more modern, and an imitation of the division of the Old Testament. Robert Stephens, the first inventor, introduced them in his edition in the year

1551. He made this division on a journey from Lyons Scrip! to Paris; and, as his son Henry tells us in the preface to the Concordance of the New Testament, he made it inter equitandum. This phrase probably means, that when he was weary of riding, he amused himself with this work at his inn.

139

This invention of the learned printer was soon intro- Its disa duced into all the editions of the New Testament ; and vantage it must be confessed, that in consulting and quoting the Scriptures, and in framing concordances for them, a subdivision into minute parts is of the greatest utility. But all the purposes of utility could surely have been gained, without adopting the hasty and indigested division of Stephens, which often breaks the sense in pieces, renders plain passages obscure, and difficult passages unintelligible. To the injudicious division of Stephens we may ascribe a great part of the difficulties which attend the interpretation of the New Testament, and a great many of those absurd opinions which have disgraced the ages of the Reformation. For as separate verses appear to the eyes of the learned, and to the minds of the unlearned, as so many detached sentences, they have been supposed to contain complete sense, and they have accordingly been explained without any regard to the context, and often in direct opposition to it. Were any modern history or continued discourse divided into fragments with as little regard to the sense, we should soon find, that as many opposite meanings could be forced upon them as have been forced upon the books of the New Testament. The division into verses has been still more injurious to the Epistles than to the Gospels, for there is a close connection between the different parts of the Epistles, which the verses entirely dissolve. It is therefore to be wished that this division into verses were laid aside. The Scriptures ought to be divided into paragraphs, according to the sense; and the figures ought to be thrown into the margin. In this way, the figures will retain their utility without their disadvantages. Dr Campbell, in his beautiful translation of the Gospels, has adopted this method with great judgment and success; and he who will read that translation, will perceive that this single alteration renders the Gospels much more intelligible, and, we may add, more entertaining (E).

140

The word EYATTEAION signifies any joyful tidings, Meaning of and the word Gospel.

Scripture, and exactly corresponds to our English word GOSPEL. In the New Testament this term is confined to "The glad tidings of the coming of the Messiah." Thus, in Mat. xi. 5. our Lord says, "The poor have the Gospel preached" that is, The coming of the Messiah is preached to the poor. Hence the name of Gospel was given to the histories of Christ, in which the good news of the coming of the Messiah, with all its joyful circumstances, are recorded.

141

Gospel ac

St Mat

thew.

That the Gospel according to Matthew was compocording to sed, says Dr Campbell, by one born a Jew, familiarly acquainted with the opinions, ceremonies, and customs of his countrymen; that it was composed by one conversant in the sacred writings, and habituated to their idiom; a man of plain sense, but of little or no learning, except what he derived from the Scriptures of the Old Testament; and finally, that it was the production of a man who wrote from conviction, and had attended closely to the facts and speeches which he related, but who in writing entertained not the most distant view of setting off himself-we have as strong internal evidence as the nature of the thing will admit, and much stronger than that wherein the mind ninety-nine cases out of a hundred acquiesces.

142

Its authenticity.

That the author of this history of our blessed Saviour was Matthew, appears from the testimony of the early Christians. It is attested by Jerome, Augustin, Epiphanius, and Chrysostom, and in such a manner as shews that they knew the fact to be uncontroverted, and judged it to be uncontrovertible. Origen, who flourished in the former part of the 3d century, is also respectable authority. He is quoted by Eusebius in a *Hist. lib. chapter* wherein he specially treats of Origen's account vi. cap. 25. of the sacred canon. "As I have learned (says Ori. gen) by tradition concerning the four gospels, which alone are received without dispute by the whole church of God under heaven; the first was written by Matthew, once a publican, afterwards an apostle of Jesus Chrst, who delivered it to the Jewish believers, composed in the Hebrew language." In another place he says, "Matthew writing for the Hebrews who expected him who was to descend from Abraham and David, says

the lineage of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abra- Scripture. ham." It must be observed, that the Greek word agadors does not exactly correspond to the English word tradition, which signifies any thing delivered orally from age to age. Пagadoris properly implies any thing transmitted from former ages, whether by oral or written testimony. In this acceptation we find it used in Scripturet: Scripturet: "Hold the traditions (ras wagadorus) which † Thess. ii. ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle." ." 15. The next authority to which we shall have recourse is that of Irenæus bishop of Lyons, who had been a disciple of Polycarp. He says, in the only book of his extant, that Matthew, among the Hebrews, wrote a Euseb. Hist. gospel in their own language, whilst Peter and Paul Eccl. lib, v were preaching the gospel at Rome and founding the cap. 8. church there."

66

To the testimony of these writers it may be objected, that, except Irenæus, they all lived in the third and fourth centuries, and consequently their evidence is of little importance. But there is such unanimity in the testimony, that it must have been derived from some authentic source. And is it fair to question the veracity of respectable men merely because we knew not from what writings they received their information? Many books which were then extant are now lost; and how do we know but these might have contained sufficient evidence? Irenæus at least had the best opportunities of information, having been well acquainted in his youth with Polycarp, the disciple of John; no objection can therefore be made to his evidence. But we can quote an authority still nearer the times of the apostles. Papias bishop of Hierapolis, in Cæsarea, who flourished about A. D. 116, affirms that Matthew wrote his gospel in the Hebrew tongue, which every one interpreted as he was able §. Papias was the companion Euseb. of Polycarp, and besides must have been acquainted with Hist. Ecct. many persons who lived in the time of the apostles. The fact therefore is fully established, that Matthew, the apostle of our Saviour, was the author of that gospel which is placed first in our editions of the New Testament.

The next subject of inquiry respects the language in

which

lib. iii. cap.

39.

The middle Book is Proverbs.

The middle Chapter is Job 29th.