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by T. K. Abbott, A Collation of Four Important MSS. of the Gospels (Dublin, 1877). It is best discussed by Rendel Harris's books, The Origin of the Leicester Codex (1887), The Origin of the Ferrar Group (1893), and The Ferrar Group (1900), all published at Cambridge; the text of fam.1 with a discussion of its textual relations is given in K. Lake's “Codex I and its Allies" (Texts and Studies, vii. 3, 1902): 565 was edited by J. Belsheim in Das Evang. des Marcus nach d. griech. Cod. Theodorae, &c. (Christiania, 1885), many corrections to which are published in the appendix to H. S. Cronin's "Codex Purpureus," Texts and Studies, v. 4: 700 was published by H. C. Hoskier in his collation of cod. Evan. 604, London, 1890; a 78 is edited by E. von der Goltz in Texte und Untersuchungen, N.F. ii. 4.]

(B) The Versions.-These are generally divided into (a) primary and (B) secondary; the former being those which represent translation made at an early period directly from Greek originals, and the latter being those which were made either from other versions or from late and unimportant Greck

texts.

(a) The primary versions are three-Latin, Syriac and Egyptian. Latin Versions.-1. The Old Latin. According to Jerome's letter to Pope Damasus in A.D. 384, there was in the 4th century a great variety of text in the Latin version, "Tol enim Old Latin. exemplaria pene quot codices." This verdict is confirmed by examination of the MSS. which have pre-Hieronymian texts. It is customary to quote these by small letters of the Latin alphabet, but there is a regrettable absence of unanimity in the details of the notation. We can distinguish two main types, African and European. The African version is best represented in the gospels by cod. Bobiensis (k) of the 5th (some say 6th) century at Turin, and cod. Palatinus (e) of the 5th century at Vienna, both of which are imperfect, especially k, which, however, is far the superior in quality; in the Acts and Catholic epistles by cod. Floriacensis (f, h. or reg.) of the 6th century, a palimpsest which once belonged to the monks of Fleury, and by the so-called speculum (m) or collection of quotations formerly attributed to Augustine but probably connected with Spain. This scanty evidence is dated and localized as African by the quotations of Cyprian, of Augustine (not from the gospels), and of Primasius, bishop of Hadrumetum (d. c. 560), from the Apocalypse. It is still a disputed point whether Tertullian's quotations may be regarded as evidence for a Latin version or as independent translations from the Greek, nor is it certain that this version is African in an exclusive sense; it was undoubtedly used in Africa and there is no evidence that it was known elsewhere originally, but on the other hand there is no proof that it was not. The European version is best represented in the gospels by cod. Vercellensis (a) of the 5th century and cod. Veronensis (b) of the same date (the latter being the better), and by others of less importance. It is possible that a later variety of it is found in cod. Monacensis (q) of the 7th century, and cod. Brixianus (1) of the 6th century, and this used to be called the Italic version, owing (as F. C. Burkitt has shown) to a misunderstanding of a remark of Augustine about the "Itala" which really refers to the Vulgate. In the Acts the European text is found in cod. Gigas (g or gig) of the 13th century at Stockholm, in a Perpignan MS. of the 12th century (p), published by S. Berger, and probably in cod. Laudianus (e) of the 7th century at Oxford. In the Catholic epistles it is found in cod. Corbeiensis (f or ff) of the 10th century at St Petersburg. In the Pauline epistles it is doubtful whether it is extant at all, though some have found it in the cod. Claromontanus (d) and its allies. In the Apocalypse it is found in cod. Gigas.

The main problem in connexion with the history of the African and European versions is whether they were originally one or two. As they stand at present they are undoubtedly two, and can be distinguished both by the readings which they imply in the underlying Greek, and by the renderings which they have adopted. But there is also a greater degree of similarity between them than can be explained by accidental coincidence, and there is thus an a priori case for the theory that one of the two is a revision of the other, or that there was an older version, now lost, which was the original of both. If one of the two is the original it is probably the African, for which there is older evidence, and of which the style both in reading and rendering seems purer. The chief argument against this is that it seems paradoxical to think of Africa rather than Rome as the home of the first Latin version; but it must be remembered that Roman Christianity was originally Greek, and that the beginnings of a Latin church in Rome seem to be surprisingly late. Éditions of Old Latin MSS. are to be found in Old Latin Biblical Texts, i-iv. (Oxford); in Migne's Patrologia Latina, tom. xii.; and their history is treated especially in F. C. Burkitt's "Old Latin and the Itala" (Texts and Studies, iv. 3), as well as in all books dealing with Textual Criticism generally; other important books are Ronsch's Itala und Vulgata (1875); Corssen's Der cyprianische Text der Acta Apostolorum (Berlin, 1892); Wordsworth and Sanday on the Corbey S. James " in Studia Biblica, i. (1885); the article

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on the "Old Latin Version," in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. For the textual character and importance of these versions see the section Textual Criticism below.] 2. The Vulgate or Hieronymian version. To remedy the confusion produced by the variations of the Latin text Pope Damasus asked Jerome to undertake a revision, and the latter Vulgate. published a new text of the New Testament in A.D. 384 and the rest of the Bible probably within two years. This version gradually became accepted as the standard text, and after a time was called the " Vulgata," the first to use this name as a title being, it is said, Roger Bacon. In the Old Testament Jerome made a new translation directly from the Hebrew, as the Old Latin was based on the LXX., but in the New Testament he revised the existing version. He did this fully and carefully in the gospels, but somewhat superficially in the epistles. He seems to have taken as the basis of his work the European version as it existed in his time, perhaps best represented by cod. Monacensis (q) of the 7th century, and by the quotations in Ambrosiaster, to which cod. Brixianus (f) of the 6th century would be added if it were not probable that it is merely a Vulgate MS. with intrusive elements. This type of text he revised with the help of Greek MSS. of a type which does not seem to correspond exactly to any now extant, but to resemble B more closely than any others.

Of Jerome's revision we possess at least 8000 MSS., of which the earliest may be divided (in the gospels at all events) into groups connected with various countries; the most important are the Northumbrian, Irish, Anglo-Irish and Spanish, but the first named might also be called the Italian, as it represents the text of good MSS. brought from Italy in the 7th century and copied in the great schools of Wearmouth and Jarrow. One of the most important, cod. Amiatinus, was copied in this way in the time of Ceolfrid, Benedict Biscop's successor, as a present for Pope Gregory in 716. From these MSS. the original Hieronymian text may be reconstructed with considerable certainty. The later history of the version is complicated, but fairly well known. The text soon began to deteriorate by admixture with the Old Latin, as well from the process of transcription, and several attempts at a revision were made before the invention of printing. Of these the earliest of note were undertaken in France in the 9th century by Alcuin in 801, and almost at the same time by Theodulf, bishop of Orleans (787-821). In the 11th century a similar task was undertaken by Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury (1069-1089); in the 12th century by Stephen Harding (1109), third abbot of Citeaux, and by Cardinal Nicolaus Maniacoria (1150), whose corrected Bible is preserved in the public library at Dijon. But these were not successful, and in the 13th century, instead of revisions, attempts were made to fix the text by providing correctoria, or lists of correct readings, which were the equivalent of critical editions; of these the chief are the Parisian, the Dominican (prepared under Hugo de S. Caro about 1240), and the Vatican. In the 15th century the history of the printed Vulgates begins. The earliest is the Mentz edition of 1452-1456 (the Mazarin or 42-line Bible), but the carliest of a critical nature were those of Robert Etienne in 1528 and 1538-1540. In 1546 the council of Trent decided that the Vulgate should be held as authentica, and in 1590 Pope Sixtus V. published a new and authoritative edition, which was, probably at the instigation of the Jesuits, recalled by Pope Clement VIII. in 1592. In the same year, however, the same pope published another edition under the name of Sixtus. This is, according to the Bull of 1592, the authoritative edition, and has since then been accepted as such in the Latin Church. The critical edition by J. Wordsworth (bishop of Salisbury) and H. J. White probably restores the text almost to the state in which Jerome left it.

"

The text of the Vulgate may be studied in Wordsworth and White, Novum Testamentum Latine; Corssen, Epistula ad Galatas. Its history is best given in S. Berger's Histoire de la Vulgate (Paris, 1893), in which a good bibliography is given on pp. xxxii.-xxxiv. The section in Kenyon's handbook to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament is particularly clear and full.]

Syriac Versions.-1. The Old Syriac. This is only known to us at present through two MSS. of the gospels, containing the Evangelion da-Mepharreshe, or separated gospel, probably so called in distinction to Tatian's Diatessaron. These Old MSS. are known as the Curetonian and Sinaitic. The Syriac. Curetonian is a MS. of the 5th century. The fragments of it which we possess are MS. Brit. Mus. addit. 14.451, which was brought in 1842 from the monastery of St Mary in the Nitrian desert, and was edited by Cureton in 1858; and three leaves in Berlin (MS. Orient. Quart. 528) which were bought in Egypt by H. Brugsch and published by A. Roediger in 1872. It was given to the monastery of St Mary in the 10th century, but its earlier history is unknown. It contained originally the four gospels in the order Mt.. Mk.. Jo., Lc. It is generally quoted as Syreur or Syr C. The Sinaitic was discovered in 1892 by Mrs Lewis and Mrs Gibson in the library of St Catherine's monastery on Mt. Sinai, where it still remains, and was published in 1894 by R. L. Bensly, J. Rendel Harris and F. C. Burkitt, with an introduction by Mrs Lewis. It is a palimpsest MS., and the upper writing (lives of saints), dated A.D. 778. is the work of John, the anchorite of Beth Mari Qanon, a monastery of Ma'arrath Meşrên city in the district of Antioch." This town is

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between Antioch and Aleppo; though the monastery is otherwise unknown, it seems probable that it was the source of many of the MSS. now at Sinai. The under writing seems to be a little earlier than that of the Curetonian; it contains the gospels in the order Mt., Mc., Lc., Jo. with a few lacunae. There is no evidence that this version was ever used in the Church services: the Diatessaron was always the normal Syriac text of the gospels until the introduction of the Peshito. But the quotations and references in Aphraates, Ephraem and the Acts of Judas Thomas show that it was known, even if not often used. It seems certain that the Old Syriac version also contained the Acts and Pauline epistles, as Aphraates and Ephraem agree in quoting a text which differs from the Peshito, but no MSS. containing this text are at present known to exist. [The text of this version is best given, with a literal English translation, in F.C. Burkitt's Evangelion da Mepharreshe (Cambridge, 1904).}

2. The Peshito (Simple) Version. This is represented by many MSS. dating from the 5th century. It has been proved almost to Peshito. demonstration by F. C. Burkitt that the portion containing the gospels was made by Rabbula, bishop of Edessa (411), to take the place of the Diatessaron, and was based on the Greek text which was at that time in current use at Antioch. The Old Testament Peshito is a much older and quite separate version. The exact limits of Rabbula's work are difficult to define. It seems probable that the Old Syriac version did not contain the Catholic epistles, and as these are found in the Peshito they were presumably added by Rabbula. But he never added 2 Peter, Jude, 2 and 3 John, or the Apocalypse, and the text of these books, which is sometimes bound up with the Peshito, really is that of the Philoxenian or of the Harklean version. A comparison of the Peshito with quotations in Aphraates and Ephraem shows that Rabbula revised the text of the Acts and Pauline epistles, but in the absence of MSS. of the Old Syriac for these books, it is difficult to define the extent or character of his work. The Peshito is quoted as Syr P, Pesh., and Syrsch (because Tischendorf followed the edition of Schaaf). [The best text of the Peshito is by G. H. Gwilliam, Tetraevangelium Sanctum (Oxford, 1901); its relations to Rabbula's revision are shown by F. C. Burkitt, S. Ephraim's quotations from the Gospel" (Texts and Studies, vii. 2, Cambridge, 1901), which renders out of date F. H. Woods's article on the same subject in Studia Biblica, iii. pp. 105-138]

Philox

3. The Philoxenian Version. This is known, from a note extant in MSS. of the Harklean version, to have been made in A.D. 508 for Philoxenus, bishop of Hierapolis, by Polycarpus, a chorepiscopus. No MSS. of it have survived except in enian. 2 Peter, Jude, 2 and 3 John and the Apocalypse. The four former are found in some MSS. of the Peshito, as the Philoxenian was used to supply these epistles which were not in the older version, and the Apocalypse was published in 1892 by Dr Gwynn from a MS. belonging to Lord Crawford.

This version may be studied in Isaac H. Hall's Williams MS. (Baltimore, 1886); in the European editions of the Syriac Bible so far as the minor Catholic epistles are concerned; in Hermathena, vol. vii. (1890), pp. 281-314 (article by Gwynn); in Zeitschrift für Assyriologie, xii. and xiii. (series of articles by Merx); in Gwynn's The Apocalypse of St John in a Syriac Version (Dublin, 1897).]

4. The Harklean Version. This is a revision of the Philoxenian made in 616 by Thomas of Harkel (Heraclea), bishop of Hierapolis. Harklean. It was apparently an attempt to replace the literary free. dom of the Philoxenian by an extreme literalness. It represents in the main the text of the later Greek MSS., but it has important textual notes, and has adopted a system of asterisks and obeli from the Hexaplar LXX. The source of these notes seems to have been old MSS. from the library of the Enaton near Alexandria. The marginal readings are therefore valuable evidence for the Old Alexandrian text. This version is quoted as Syr H (and when necessary Syr Hc or Syr Hg) and by Tischendorf as Syrp (=Syra posterior). It should be noted that when Tischendorf speaks of Syrut he means the Peshito and the Harklean.

(There is no satisfactory critical edition of this version, nor have the Philoxenian and the Harklean been disentangled from each other. The printed text is that published in 1778-1803 by J. White at Oxford under the title Versio Philoxenia; for the marginal notes see esp. Westcott and Hort, Introduction, and for Acts, Pott's Abendlandische Text der Apostelgesch. (Leipzig, 1900).] 5. The Palestinian or Jerusalem Version. This is a lectionary which was once thought to have come from the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, but has been shown by Burkitt to come from that of Antioch. It was probably made in the 6th century in connexion with the attempts of Justinian to abolish Judaism. Usually quoted as SyrPa and by Tischendorf as Syrbier, [The text may be found in Lewis and Gibson's The Palestinian Syriac Lectionary (London, 1899), (Gospels), and in Studia Sinaitica, part vi. (Acts and Epistles): its origin is discussed best by F. C. Burkitt in the Journal of Theological Studies, vol. ii. (1901), pp. 174-183-1

Pales tiolan.

6. The Karkaphensian. This is not a version, but a Syriac "Massorah" of the New Testament, i.e. a collection of notes on the texts. Probably emanates from the monastery of the Skull. Little is known of it and it is unimportant.

[See Gwilliam's "Materials for the Criticism of the Peshito N.T.” in Studia Biblica, iii. esp. pp. 60-63.]

Tatian's

saren."

7. Tatian's Diatessaron. This is something more than a version It was originally a harmony of the four gospels made by Tatian, the pupil of Justin Martyr, towards the end of the 2nd century. In its original form it is no longer extant, but it "Diatcs exists in Arabic (published by Ciasca) and Latin (cod. Fuldensi.) translations, in both of which the text has unfortunately been almost entirely conformed to the ordinary type. These authorities are, therefore, only available for the reconstruction of the order of the selections from the gospels, not for textual criticism properly so called. For the latter purpose, however, we can use an Armenian translation of a commentary on the Diatessaron by Ephraem, and the quotations in Aphraates. The Diatessaren appears to have been the usual form in which the gospels were read until the beginning of the 5th century, when the Peshito was put in its place, and a systematic destruction of copies of the Diatessaren was undertaken.

[The Diatessaron may be studied in Zahn, "Evangelienharmonie," article in the Protestantische Realencyklopädie (1898)) J. H. Hill, The Earliest Life of Christ (Edinburgh, 1893); J. Rendel Harris, Fragments of the Commentary of Ephraim the Syrian (Lordia 1895); F. C. Burkitt, Evangelion da Mepharreshe (Cambridge, 1904, vol. ii.).] Inter-relation of Syriac Versions.-The relations which subsist between the various Syriac versions remain to be discussed. There is little room for doubt that the Harklean was based on the P oxenian, and the Philoxenian was based on the Peshito, the revision being made in each case by the help of the Greek MSS. of the day. but the relations which subsist between the Old Syriac, the Diates saron and the Peshito are a more difficult question. There are now but few, if any, scholars who think that the Peshito is an entirely separate version, and the majority have been convinced by Burkit and recognize (1) that the Peshito is based on a knowledge of the Old Syriac and the Diatessaron; (2) that it was made by Rabbula with the help of the contemporary Greek text of the Antiochene Church. But there is not yet the same degree of consensus as to the relations between the Old Syriac and the Diatessaron. Here it is necessary to distinguish between the original text of the Old Syriac and the existing MSS. of it-Cur. and Sin. There is no question that many passages in these show signs of Diatessaron influence, but this is only to be expected if we consider that from the end of the 2nd to the beginning of the 5th century the Diatessaron was the popular form of the gospels. A large discount has therefore to be made from the agreements between Diatessara and Syr. S and C. Still, it is improbable that this will explain everything, and it is generally conceded that the original Diatessaron and the original Old Syriac were in some way connected. The connexion is variously explained, and efforts have been made to show on which side the dependence is to be found. The most probable theory is that of Burkitt. He thinks that the first Syriac translation was that of Tatian (c. A.D. 175), who brought the Da tessaron from Rome and translated it into Syriac. There, in the last days of the 2nd century, when Serapion was bishop of Antioch (A.D. 190-203), a new start was made, and a translation of the separated Gospels" (Evangelion da Mepharreshe) was made from the MSS. which was in use at Antioch. Probably the maker of this version was partly guided, especially in his choice of renderings, by his knowledge of the Diatessaron. Nevertheless, the Diatessaron remained the more popular and was only driven out by Theodoret and Rabbula in the 5th century, when it was replaced by the Peshito. If this theory be correct the Syriac versions represent three distinct Greek texts:-(1) the 2nd-century Greek text from Rome, used by Tatian; (2) the 2nd-century Greek text from Antioch, used for the Old Syriac; (3) the 2nd-century Greek text from Antioch, used by Rabbula for the Peshito.

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The best discussion of this point is in vol. ii. of Burkitt's Enongelion da Mepharṛeshe.] ̧

Egyptian Versions.-Much less is known at present about the history of the Egyptian versions. They are found in varicus dialects of Coptic, the mutual relations of which are not Coptic yet certain, but the only ones which are preserved with any completeness are the Bohairic, or Lower Egyptian, and Sahidi. or Upper Egyptian, though it is certain that fragments of intermediate dialects such as Middle Egyptian, Fayumic, Akhminic and Memphitic also exist. The Bohairic has been edited by G Horner. It is well represented, as it became the official version of the Coptic Church; its history is unknown, but from internal evidence it seems to have been made from good Greek MSS. of the type of NBL, but the date to which this points depends largely on the general view taken of the history of the text of the New Testament. It need not, but may, be earlier than the 4th century. The Sahide is not so well preserved. G. Horner's researches tend to show that the Greek text on which it was based was different from that repre sented by the Bohairic, and probably was akin to the "Western text, perhaps of the type used by Clement of Alexandria. Un fortunately none of the MSS. seems to be good, and at present it is impossible to make very definite use of the version. It is possible that this is the oldest Coptic version, and this view is supported by the general probabilities of the spread of Christianity in Egypt

which suggest that the native church and native literature had their | scriptional and intrinsic probability. No book, however, presents strength at first chiefly in the southern parts of the country. It must be noted that Westcott and Hort called the Bohairic Memsuch a complicated problem or such a wealth of material for the phitic, and the Sahidic Thebaic, and Tischendorf called the Bohairic textual critic. Coptic. [See G. Horner's The Coptic Version of the New Testament in the Northern Dialect (Oxford); Scrivener's Introduction (ed. Miller). vol. ii. pp. 91-144; and especially an article on " Egyptian Verin Hastings Dictionary of the Bible, vol. i., by Forbes Robinson.] (8) Among the secondary versions the only one of real importance is the Armenian.

sions"

The Armenian Version.-The early history of this version is obscure, but it seems probable that there were two translations Armenian. made in the 4th century: (1) by Mesrop with the help of Hrofanos (Rufinus?) based on a Greek text; (2) by Sahak, based on Syriac. After the council of Ephesus (A. D. 430) Mesrop and Sahak compared and revised their work with the help of MSS. from Constantinople. The general character of the version is late, but there are many places in which the Old Syriac basis can be recognized, and in the Acts and Epistles, where the Old Syriac is no longer extant, this is sometimes very valuable evidence.

[See Scrivener (ed. Miller) vol. ii. pp. 148-154: Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, article on "The Armenian Versions of the New Testament," by F. C. Conybeare; J. A. Robinson, "Euthaliana (Texts and Studies, iii. 3), cap. 5; on the supposed connexion of Mark xvi. 8 ff. with Aristion mentioned in this version, see esp. Swete's The Gospel according to St Mark (London, 1902), p. cxi.]

Other secondary versions which are sometimes quoted are the Gothic, Ethiopic, Georgian, Arabic, Anglo-Saxon, Frankish and Persic. None has any real critical importance; details are given in Gregory's Prolegomena and in Scrivener's Introduction.

(C) Quotations in Patristic Writings.-The value of this source of evidence lies in the power which it gives us to date and localize texts. Its limitations are found in the inaccuracy of quotation of the writers, and often in the corrupt condition of their text. This latter point especially affects quotations which later scribes frequently forced into accord with the text they preferred.

In a certain wide sense the textual criticism of the New Testament began as soon as men consciously made recensions and versions, and in this sense Origen, Jerome, Augustine and many other ecclesiastical writers might be regarded as textual critics. But in practice it is general, and certainly convenient, to regard their work rather as material for criticism, and to begin the

history of textual criticism with the earliest printed editions which sought to establish a standard Greek Text. It is, of course, impossible here to give an account of all these, but the following may fairly be regarded as the epoch-making books from the beginning to the present time.

The Complutensian.-The first printed text of the Greek Testament is known as the Complutensian, because it was made under the direction of Cardinal Ximenes of Alcalá (Lat. Complutum). It was printed in 1514, and is thus the first printed text, but is not the first published, as it was not issued until 1522. It is not known what MSS. Ximenes used, but it is plain from the character of the text that they were not of great value. His text was reprinted in 1569 by Chr. Plantin at Antwerp.

Erasmus.-The first published text was that of Erasmus. It was undertaken at the request of Joannes Froben (Frobenius), the printer of Basel, who had heard of Cardinal Ximenes' project and wished to forestall it. In this he was successful, as it was issued in 1516. It was based chiefly on MSS. at Basel, of which the only really good one (cod. Evan. 1) was seldom followed. Erasmus issued new editions in 1519. 1522, 1527 and 1535, and the Aldine Greek Testament, printed at Venice in 1518, is a reproduction of the first edition.

Stephanus. Perhaps the most important of all early editions were those of Robert Etienne, or Stephanus, of Paris and afterwards of Geneva. His two first editions (1546, 1549) were based on Erasmus, the Complutensian, and collations of fifteen Greek MSS. These are 16mo volumes, but the third and most important edition (1550) was a folio with a revised text. It is this edition which is usually referred to as the text of Stephanus. A fourth edition (in 16mo) published at Geneva in 1551 is remarkable for giving the divi sion of the text into verses which has since been generally adopted. Beza.-Stephanus' work was continued by Theodore Beza, who published ten editions between 1565 and 1611. They did not greatly differ from the 1550 edition of Stephanus, but historically are important for the great part they played in spreading a knowledge of the Greek text, and as supplying the text which the Elzevirs made the standard on the continent.

All writers earlier than the 5th century are valuable, but particularly important are the following groups: (1) Greek writers in the West, especially Justin Martyr, Tatian, Marcion, Irenaeus and Hippolytus; (2) Latin writers in Italy, especially Novatian, the author of the de Rebaptismate and Ambrosiaster; (3) Latin writers in Africa, especially Tertullian and Cyprian; (4) Greek writers in Alexandria, especially Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Athanasius and Cyril; (5) Greek writers in the East, especially Methodius of Lycia and Eusebius of Caesarea; (6) Syriac writers, especially Aphraates and Ephraem; it is doubtful whether the Diatessaron of Tatian ought to be reckoned in this group or in (1). None of these groups bears witness to quite the same text, nor can all of them be identified with the texts found in existing MSS. or versions, but it may be said with some truth that group 2 used the European Latin version, group 3 the African Latin, and group 6 the Diatessaron in the gospels and the Old Syriac elsewhere, while group 1 has much in common with cod. Bezae, though the difference is here somewhat greater. In group 4 the situation is more complex; Clement used a text which has most in common with cod. Bezae, but is clearly far from identical; Origen in the main has the text of &B; Athan-pared the way for the next stage, in which scholars busied themasius a somewhat later variety of the same type, while Cyril has the so-called Alexandrian text found especially in L. Group 4 has a peculiar text which cannot be identified with any definite group of MSS. For further treatment of the importance of this evidence see the section Textual Criticism below.

[There is as yet but little satisfactory literature on this subject. Outstanding work is P. M. Barnard's "Clement of Alexandria's Biblical Text" (Texts and Studies, v. 5), 1899; Harnack's "Eine Schrift Novatians," in Texte und Untersuchungen, xiii. 4; Souter's "Ambrosiaster" in Texts and Studies, vii. 4: the Society of Historical Theology's New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers; an article by Kostschau, "Bibelcitate bei Origenes," in the Zeitschrift f. wissenschaftliche Theologie (1900), pp. 321-378; and on the general subject especially Nestle's Einführung in das griechische Neue Testament (Göttingen, 1909), pp. 159-167.] (K. L.)

3. Textual Criticism.

Elsevir.-The two brothers, Bonaventura and Abraham Elzevir. published two editions at Leiden in 1624 and 1633, based chiefly on Beza's text. In the preface to the second edition the first is referred to as "textum... nunc ab omnibus receptum," and this is the origin of the name "Textus Receptus" (or T.R.) often given to the ordinary Greek Text. The Elzevir text has formed the basis of all non-critical editions on the continent, but in England the 1550 edition of Stephanus has been more generally followed. The importance of both the Stephanus and Elzevir editions is that they formed a definite text for the purposes of comparison, and so preselves with the investigation and collation of other MSS.

Walton's Polyglot.-The first to begin this work was Brian Walton, bishop of Chester, who published in 1657 in the 5th and 6th volumes of his polyglot" Bible the text of Stephanus (1550) with the readings of fifteen new MSS. besides those employed by Stephanus himself. The collations were made for him by Archbishop Ussher.

John Fell.-In 1675 John Fell, dean of Christ Church, published the Elzevir text with an enlarged apparatus, but even more important was the help and advice which he gave to the next important editor-Mill.

John Mill, of Queen's College, Oxford, influenced by the advice, and supported by the purse of John Fell until the latter's death, published in 1707 a critical edition of the New Testament which has still a considerable value for the scholar. It gives the text of Stephanus (1550) with collations of 78 MSS., besides those of Stephanus, the readings of the Old Latin, so far as was then known, the Vulgate and Peshito, together with full and valuable prolegomena.

Bentley.-A little later Richard Bentley conceived the idea that it would be possible to reconstruct the original text of the New Testament by a comparison of the earliest Greek and Latin sources; he began to collect material for this purpose, and issued a scheme entitled "Proposals for Printing" in 1720, but though he amassed many notes nothing was ever printed.

The problem which faces the textual critic of the New Testament is to reconstruct the original text from the materials supplied by the MSS., versions, and quotations in early writers, which have been described in the preceding section on the apparatus criticus. His object, therefore, is to discover and remove the various corruptions which have crept into the text, by the usual methods of the textual critic-the collection of material, the grouping of MSS. and other authorities, the reconstruction of archetypes, and the consideration of tran-overlooked,

W. Mace.-Fairness forbids us to omit the name of William (or Daniel?) Mace, a Presbyterian minister who published The New Testament in Greek and English, in 2 vols. in 1729, and really anticipated many of the verdicts of later critics. He was, however, not in a position to obtain recognition, and his work has been generally

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J. A. Bengel, abbot of Alpirspach (a Lutheran community), published in 1734, at Tubingen, an edition of the New Testament which marks the beginning of a new era. For the first time an attempt was made to group the MSS., which were divided into African and Asiatic. The former group contained the few old MSS., the latter the many late MSS., and preference was given to the African. This innovation has been followed by almost all critics since Bengel's time, and it was developed by Griesbach.

J. J. Griesbach, a pupil at Halle of J. S. Semler (who in 1764 reprinted Wetstein's Prolegomena, and in comments of his own took over and expounded Bengel's views), collated many MSS., and distinguished three main groups: the Alexandrian or Origenian (which roughly corresponded to Bengel's African), found in ABCL, the Egyptian version and Origen; the Western, found in D and Latin authorities; and the Constantinopolitan (Bengel's Asiatic), found in the later MSS. and in Byzantine writers. His view was that the last group was the least valuable; but, except when internal evidence forbade (and he thought that it frequently did so), he followed the text found in any two groups against the third. His first edition was published in 1774-1775. his second and improved edition in 1796 (vol. i.) and 1806. For the second edition he had the advantage not merely of his own collection of material (published chiefly in his Symbolae Criticae, 1785-1793), but also of many collations by Birch, Matthaei and Adler, and an edition with new collations by F. K. Alter.

J. J. Wetstein, one of Bentley's assistants, when living in Basel in | New Testament to the methods of Griesbach. Their great work was 1730, published "Prolegomena to the Text, and in 1751-1752 (at published in 1881 under the title of 7 he New Testament in the Cripad Amsterdam) the text of Stephanus with enlarged Prolegomena and Greek. Their view of the history of the text is that a compars apparatus criticus. His textual views were peculiar; he preferred of the evidence shows that, while we can distinguish more than e to follow late MSS. on the ground that all the earlier copies had type of text, the most clearly discernible of all the varieties is first been contaminated by the Latin-almost reversing the teaching recognizable in the quotations of Chrysostom, and is preserved in of Bentley. His edition is historically very important as it intro-almost all the later MISS. Though found in so great a number of duced the system of notation which, in the amplified form given to witnesses, this type of text is shown not to be the earliest ce best it by Gregory, is still in general use. by the evidence of all the oldest MS. versions and Fathers, as vel as by internal evidence. Moreover, a comparison with the earlier sources of evidence shows that it was built up out of previously existing texts. This is proved by the "conflations" which are found in it. For instance in Mark ix. 38 the later MSS. read is où άkoλovlei ýμîv, kai ¿xwhúσaμev avròv ön cix dxahabei muir, a clumsy sentence which is clearly made up out of two earlier readings, xai ikwλloper avrov ötɩ our txokoide; huis, found in & ECL boh., and ὃς οὐκ ἀκολουθεῖ μεθ ̓ ἡμῶν, καὶ ἐκωλύομεν αὐτόν, found in DX fam., fam." 28 latt. It is impossible, in face of the fact that the evidence of the oldest witnesses of all sorts is constantly opposed to the longer readings, to doubt that WH were right in arguing that these phenomena prove that the later text was made up by a process of revision and conflation of the earlier forma, Influenced by the use of the later text by Chrysostom, WH called it the Syrian or Antiochene text, and refer to the revision which produced it as the Syrian revision. They suggested that it might perhaps be attributed to Lucian, who is known to have made a revision of the text of the LXX. The earlier texts which were used for the Syrian revision may, according to WH, be divided into three:-(1) the Western text, used especially by Latin writers, and found also in cod. Bezae and in Syr C; (2) the Alexandrine text used by Cyril of Alexandria and found especially in CL3 and (3) a text which differs from both the above mentioned and is therefore called by WH the Neutral text, found especially in B and the quotations of Origen. Of these three types WH thought that the Neutral was decidedly the best. The Alexandrian was clearly a literary recension of it, and WH strove to show that the Western was merely due to the non-literary efforts of scribes in other parts to improve the narrative. The only exception which they allowed to this general rule was in the case of certain passages, especially in the last chapters of Luke, where the "Western authorities omit words which are found in the Neutral and Alexandrian texts. Their reason was that omission seems to be contrary to the genius of the Western text, and that it is therefore probable that these passages represent interpolations made in the text ca the Neutral side after the division between it and the Western They might be called Neutral interpolations, but WH preferred the rather clumsy expression "Western non-interpolations." Having thus decided that the Neutral text was almost always right, it only remained for WH to choose between the various authorities which preserved this type. They decided that the two best authorities were and B, and that when these differed the reading of B, except when obviously an accidental blunder, was probably right. The great importance of this work of WH lies in the facts that it not merely condemns but explains the late Antiochene text, and that it attempts to consider in an objective manner all the existing evidence and to explain it historically and genealogically. Opinions differ as to the correctness of the results reached by WH, but there is scarcely room for doubt that as an example of method their work is quite unrivalled at present and is the necessary starting-point for all modern investigations. Since Westcott and Hort no work of the same importance appeared up till 1909. Various useful texts have been issued, among which those of Nestle (Novum Testamentum Graece, Stuttgart, 1904), based on a comparison of the texts of Tischendorf, WH and Weiss, and of Baljon (Novum Testamentum Graece, Groningen, 1898), are the best. The only serious attempt as yet published to print a complete text independently of other editors is that of B. Weiss (Das Neut Testament, Leipzig, 1894-1900), but the method followed in this is so subjective and pays so little attention to the evidence of the versions that it is not likely to be permanently important. The text reached is not widely different from that of WH. The new work in course of preparation by von Soden at Berlin, which peomises to take the place of Tischendorf's edition, must certainly do this so far as Greek MSS. are concerned, for the whole field has been reinvestigated by a band of assistants who have grouped and collated specimens of all known MSS.

J. L. Hug, Roman Catholic professor of theology at Freiburg, published (Stuttgart and Tubingen) his Einleitung in die Schriften des N. T. (1808); he is chiefly remarkable for the curious way in which he introduced many critical ideas which were not appreciated at the time but have since been revived. He accepted Griesbach's views as a whole, but starting from the known recensions of the LXX. he identified Griesbach's Alexandrian text with the work of Hesychius, and the Constantinopolitan with that of Lucian, while he described Griesbach's Western text as the Kov Ekdools. J. M. A. Schols, a pupil of Hug, inspected and partially collated nearly a thousand MSS. and assigned numbers to them which have since been generally adopted. His work is for this reason important, but is unfortunately inaccurate.

K. Lachmann, the famous classical scholar, opened a new era in textual criticism in 1842-1850, in his N.T. Graece et Latine. In this great book a break was made for the first time with the traditional text and the evidence of the late MSS., and an attempt was made to reconstruct the text according to the oldest authorities. This was a great step forward, but unfortunately it was accompanied by a retrogression to the pre-Griesbachian (or rather pre-Bengelian) days; for Lachmann rejected the idea of grouping MSS., and having selected a small number of the oldest authorities undertook always to follow the reading of the majority.

C. Tischendorf, the most famous follower of Lachmann, besides editions of many MSS. and the collation of many more, published between 1841 and 1869-1872 eight editions of the New Testament with full critical notes. The eighth edition, which for the first time contained the readings of 8, has not yet been equalled, and together with the Prolegomena, supplied by C. R. Gregory after Tischendorf's death, is the standard critical edition which is used by scholars all over the world. At the same time it must be admitted that it gradually became antiquated. Fresh collations of MSS., and especially fresh discoveries and investigations into the text of the versions and Fathers, have given much new information which entirely changed the character of the evidence for many readings, and rendered a new edition necessary (see SODEN, H. VON). As a collector and publisher of evidence Tischendorf was marvellous, but as an editor of the text he added little to the principles of Lachmann, and like Lachmann does not seem to have appreciated the value of the Griesbachian system of grouping MSS.

S. P. Tregelles, an English scholar, like Tischendorf, spent almost his whole life in the collection of material, and published a critical edition, based on the earliest authorities, at intervals between 1857 and 1872. His work was eclipsed by Tischendorf's, and his critical principles were almost the same as the German scholar's, so that his work has obtained less recognition than would otherwise have been the case. Tischendorf and Tregelles finished the work which Lachmann began. They finally exploded the pretensions of the Textus Receptus to be the original text; but neither of them gave any explanation of the relations of the later text to the earlier, nor developed Griesbach's system of dealing with groups of MSS. rather than with single copies.

B. F. Westcott and F. J. A. Hort (commonly quoted as WH), the Cambridge scholars, supplied the deficiencies of Lachmann, and without giving up the advantages of his system, and its development by Tischendorf, brought back the study of the text of the

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Besides these works the chief efforts of textual critics since WH have been directed towards the elucidation of minor problems, and the promulgation of certain hypotheses to explain the characteristics either of individual MSS. or of groups of MSS. Among these the works of Sanday, Corssen, Wordsworth, White, Burkitt and Harris on the history of the Old Latin and Vulgate, and especially the work of Burkitt on the Old Syriac, have given most light on the subject. These lines of research have been described in the preceding section on the apparatus criticus. Other noteworthy and interesting, though in the end probably less important, work has been done by Blass, Bousset, Schmidtke, Rendel Harris and Chase. The outline of the chief works is as follows:

F. Blass. In his various books on the Acts and third gospel Blass has propounded a new theory as to the "Western" text." He was

N.T. CRITICISM]

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struck by the fact that neither the Western can be shown to be derived from the Neutral, nor the Neutral from the Western. He therefore conceived the idea that perhaps both texts were Lucan, and represented two recensions by the original writer, and he reconstructed the history as follows. Luke wrote the first edition of the Gospel for Theophilus from Caesarea; this is the Neutral text of the Gospel. Afterwards he went to Rome and there revised the text of the Gospel and reissued it for the Church in that city; this is the Western (or, as Blass calls it, Roman) text of the Gospel. At the same time he continued his narrative for the benefit of the Roman Church, and published the Western text of the Acts. Finally he revised the Acts and sent a copy to Theophilus; this is the Neutral text of the Acts. This ingenious theory met with consider able approval when it was first advanced, but it has gradually been text does not possess the unity which Blass's seen that "Western theory requires it to have. Still, Blass's textual notes are very important, and there is a mass of material in his books. Bousset and Schmidtke.-These two scholars have done much work in trying to identify smaller groups of MSS. with local texts. Bousset has argued that the readings in the Pauline epistles found in H and a few minuscules represent the text used by Pamphilus, and on the whole this view seems to be highly probable. Another group which Bousset has tried to identify is that headed by B, which he connects with the recension of Hesychius, but this theory, though widely accepted in Germany, does not seem to rest on a very solid basis. To some extent influenced by and using Bousset's results, Schmidtke has tried to show that certain small lines in the margin of B point to a connexion between that MS. and a Gospel harmony, which, by assuming that the text of B is Hesychian, he identifies with that of Ammonius. If true, this is exceedingly important. Nestle, however, and other scholars think that the lines in B are merely indications of a division of the text into senseparagraphs and have nothing to do with any harmony. Rendel Harris and Chase.-Two investigations, which attracted much notice when they were published, tried to explain the phenomena of the Western text as due to retranslation from early versions into Greek. Rendel Harris argued for the influence of Latin, and Chase for that of Syriac. While both threw valuable light on obscure points, it seems probable that they exaggerated the extent to which retranslation can be traced; that they ranked Codex Bezae somewhat too highly as the best witness to the "Western" text; and that some of their work was rendered defective by their failure to recognize quite clearly that the "Western" text is not a unity. At the same time, however little of Rendel Harris's results may ultimately be accepted by the textual critics of the future, his work will always remain historically of the first importance as having done more than anything else to stimulate thought and open new lines of research in textual criticism in the last decade of the 19th century. The time has not yet come when any final attempt can be made to bring all these separate studies together and estimate exactly how far they necessitate serious modification of the views of Westcott and Hort; but a tentative and provisional judgment would The work probably have to be on somewhat the following lines. of WH may be summed up into two theorems: (1) The text preserved in the later MSS. is not primitive, but built up out of earlier texts; (2) these earlier texts may be classified as Western, Alexandrian and Neutral, of which the Neutral is the primitive form. The former of these theorems has been generally accepted and may be taken as proved, but the second has been closely criticized and probably must be modified. It has been approached from two sides, according as critics have considered the Western or the Neutral and Alexandrian texts.

not to one.

The Western Text.-This was regarded by WH as a definite text, found in D, the Old Latin and the Old Syriac; and it is an essential part of their theory that in the main these three witnesses represent one text. On the evidence which they had WH were undoubtedly justified, but discoveries and investigation have gone far to make it impossible to hold this view any longer. We now know more about the Old Latin, and, thanks to Mrs Lewis' discovery, much more about the Old Syriac. The result is that the authorities on which WH relied for their Western text are seen to bear witness to two texts, The Old Latin, if we take the African form as the oldest, as compared with the Neutral text has a series of interpolations and a series of omissions. The Old Syriac, if we take the Sinaitic MS. as the purest form, compared in the same way, has a similar double series of interpolations and omissions, but neither the omissions nor the interpolations are the same in the Old Latin as in the Old Syriac. Such a line of research suggests that instead of being able, as WH thought, to set the Western against the Neutral text (the Alexandrian being merely a develop ment of the latter), we must consider the problem as the comparison of at least three texts, a Western (geographically), an Eastern and the Neutral. This makes the matter much more difficult; and an answer is demanded to the problem afforded by the agreement of two of these texts against the third. The obvious solution would be to say that where two agree their reading is probably correct, It is difficult to see but the followers of WH maintain that the agreement of the Western and Eastern is often an agreement in error. how texts, geographically so wide apart as the Old Latin and Old Syriac would seem to be, are likely to agree in error, but it is certainly

true that some readings found in both texts seem to have little prob-
ability. Sanday, followed by Chase and a few other English
scholars, has suggested that the Old Latin may have been made
originally in Antioch, but this paradoxical view has met with little
support. A more probable suggestion is Burkitt's, who thinks that
many readings in our present Old Syriac MSS. are due to the Dia-
It may be
tessaron, which was a geographically Western text.
that this suggestion will solve the difficulty, but at present it is
impossible to say.

The Neutral and Alexandrian Texts.-WH made it plain that the
Alexandrian text was a literary development of the Neutral, but
they always maintained that the latter text was not confined to,
though chiefly used in Alexandria. More recent investigations
have confirmed their view as to the relation of the Alexandrian
to the Neutral text, but have thrown doubt on the age and wide-
of Codex Vaticanus it is plain that its archetype had the Pauline
spread use of the latter. Whatever view be taken of the provenance
far no one has been able to discover any non-Alexandrian writer
epistles in a peculiar order which is only found in Egypt, and so
who used the Neutral text. Moreover, Barnard's researches into
the Biblical text of Clement of Alexandria show that there is reason
to doubt whether even in Alexandria the Neutral text was used
in the earliest times. We have no evidence earlier than Clement,
geographically Western" text
common with the Old Latin or
and the text of the New Testament which he quotes has more in
than with the Neutral, though it definitely agrees with no known
Neutral text in a different light. It would seem as though we could
type preserved in MSS. or versions. This discovery has put the
roughly divide the history of the text in Alexandria into three
periods. The earliest is that which is represented by the quotations
in Clement, and must have been in use in Alexandria at the end of
the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century. It is unfortunately
not found in any extant MS. The second stage is that found in the
quotations of Origen which is fairly well represented in B, though
Origen seems at times to have used MSS. of the earlier type. The
third stage is WH's Alexandrian, found in the quotations of Cyril
of Alexandria and a few MSS. (esp. CL ZAV). It is clearly a re-
vision of the second stage, as WH saw, but we can now add that it
was not merely a literary revision but was influenced by the tendency
to revive readings which are found in the first stage but rejected in
the second.

It thus seems probable that WH's theory must be modified, both as regards the "Western" text, which is seen not to be a single text at all, and as regards the "Neutral" text, which seems to be text in Alexandria. But the importance of these modifications is nothing more than the second stage of the development of the theories: they have really shifted the centre of gravity of the textual something more than the doubt which they have thrown on WH's problem.

Formerly the Greek uncials, which go back to the 4th century, were regarded as the most important source of evidence, and were supposed to have the decisive vote; but now it is becoming plain that still more important, though unfortunately much less complete, is the evidence of the versions and of quotations by early writers. Both of these point to the existence in the 3rd and even 2nd century of types of text which differ in very many points from anything preserved in Greek MSS. Yet there is no doubt that both of them ultimately represent Greek MSS. which are no longer extant. The question, therefore, is whether we ought not to base our text on the versions and ecclesiastical quotations rather than on the extant text based on the best existing Greek MSS. by the argument that Greek MSS. Two positions are possible: (1) We may defend a these represent the text which was approved by competent judges we possessed them. The weak point of this argument is the lack in the 4th century, and would be found to exist in earlier MSS. if of evidence, apart from the discovery of fresh MSS., are the versions, of evidence in support of the second part. The only possible sources texts agreeing with the great uncials. It is also possible to argue, and they do not point to existence in the 2nd or 3rd century of as WH did, on the same side, that the purest form of text was preserved in Alexandria, from which the oldest uncials are directly or indirectly derived, but this argument has been weakened if not finally disposed of by the evidence of Clement of Alexandria. It that there were other MSS. which he might have used, agreeing is, of course, conceivable that Clement merely used bad MSS., and with the great uncials, but there is no evidence for this view. (2) If we reject this position we must accept the evidence as giving the great uncials much the same secondary importance as Westcott and Hort gave to the later MSS., and make an attempt to reconstruct a text on the basis of versions and Fathers. The adoption of this in their work must be the establishment of the earliest form of each view sets textual critics a peculiarly difficult task. The first stage version, and the collection and examination of the quotations in all the early writers. This has not yet been done, but enough has be the establishment of at least three main types of texts, reprebeen accomplished to point to the probability that the result will sented by the Old Syriac, the Old Latin and Clement's quotations, while it is doubtful how far Tatian's Diatessaron, the quotations in Justin and a few other sources may be used to reconstruct the type of Greek text used in Rome in the 2nd century when Rome was still

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