ü. Versions. Many translations into various languages were made during the first few centuries of our era.

These are valuable as showing what Greek text the translators probably had before them.

iii. Quotations from early writers. It has been said, a little loosely, that if the New Testament had been lost it might have been compiled again in its entirety from the works of Origen alone. But the Fathers often quoted from memory or paraphrased; while in not a few cases it can be shown that copyists have changed the writer's quotations to agree with the text familiar to themselves-whence we may guess that they have done so in some other cases where we have no proof of the change. When, however, a Father cites the same passage in the same words in different parts of his works, or when his accompanying remarks prove what was the reading which he followed, then his testimony must be duly valued, as that of one who had access to many more early MSS. than we now possess, and, if he lived before the middle of the 4th cent., who read his New Testament from MSS. older than any now known to exist.

The MSS. quoted in this commentary are the 5 oldest and chiefest :

S* (commonly called N, Aleph '), the Sinaitic, discovered by Tischendorf in St. Katharine's monastery on Mt. Sinai in 1859now in the Imperial Library at St. Petersburg. It was clearly written not later than about 350 A.D.; there are some grounds for thinking that it may have been one of 50 copies which Constantine ordered to be made in 331 A.D. Its text is entire.

This MS. was corrected in places by another writer of about the same date, whom I shall call the corrector of S.' His corrections, whether right or wrong, are of course equal to the witness of a second MS.

V(commonly called B), the Vatican, in the Vatican Library at Rome. It is of about the same age as S. The text of the Gospels and Acts is entire.

In this MS. also there are alterations by another writer of the time, whom I shall call the corrector of V.'

A, the Alexandrine, in the British Museum. It was probably written between 400 and 450 a.d. It has been mutilated in places: of Matthew only xxv. 6 to the end is left.

C, the Codex Ephraemi ('MS. of Ephraem'), in the National Library at Paris, a MS. so called because it had been written over

* For the convenience of English readers I have given these two MSS. the symbols used by Tischendorf in the Tauchnitz edition of the English New Testament. They help the memory (S=Sinaitic, V = Vatican), and S does not frighten the tiro like N.

three

(in the 12th cent with some of the works of Ephraem Syrus, the former writing being as far as possible wiped out for that purpose, but not so fully as to prevent modern chemistry from bringing it back almost entire. This MS. was written between 400 and 500 a.d. Its state is fragmentary: of Matthew there are missing v. 16-vii. 4,

xvii. 27-xviii. 27, xxii. 21-xxiii. 16, xxiv. 11-44, xxv. 31-xxvi. $1,

xxvii. 12-46, xxviii. 15-20.

[Of these 4, V and S are the most valued.] ́

D, the Codex Bezae (Beza's MS:'), in Cambridge University Library. It was probably written between 500 and 600 A.D. Its text is not entire: of Matthew there are wanting i. 1-20, vi. 20-ix. 2, xxvii. 2-12.

A later hand has added iii. 7-16 and some leaves in Mark and John, but seemingly from the original MS. His work I shall call 'D-copied.'

D has on every other page a Latin translation of its Greek text, and sometimes where the Greek has been torn away the Latin is left. In such cases I shall still quote it among the Greek MSS. as 'DLatin.' It has some gaps filled by a later copyist, who, according to Tischendorf, did not follow the original MS.: as in the passages in question the Greek is left, there is no need to mark him in any way.

The text of D is remarkable, and is noted for its additions to the ordinary text. Among the Greek MSS. now known it stands alone in this latter respect: but it represents a text current in the 2nd cent. from which the First Latin version and Cureton's Syriac were rendered. In my note to Matt. xx. 28 will be found the longest of D's additions, supported by both these versions.

In my textual notes each of the above MSS. is kiwayy cited proof

it wants the passage in question.

The Versions quoted are the following 8:

The First Latin, made in N. Africa, probably not later than the middle of the 2nd cent. The translation is so literal as to violate the Latin for the sake of keeping the Greek idiom, and yields witness even for the order of words in the original. Text complete for the Gospels. Oldest MS. 4th cent.

The Second Latin, a 4th cent. revision of the First Latin, made in N. Italy. The text is nearly complete for the Gospels, quite so for

Commonly combined with the First Latin in the citations of textual editors and critics. Wherever ƒ and g are agreed I quote their witness as that of the Second Latin, wherever they disagree I do not name it, wherever one has a gap, or its rendering is not to be gathered from Tischendorf, I give the reading of the other as 'Second Latin (?).'

Matthew. Only two MSS. (ƒ and q) can seemingly be held distinct examples of this version. MSS. 6th cent.

The Latin Vulgate or Third Latin, a revision of the former Latin versions by Jerome at the end of the 4th cent.: for the Gospels at least old Greek MSS. were collated by him. Text complete. Oldest MS. about 541 A.D.

Cureton's Syriac, a version published by Dr. Cureton in 1858, probably as old as the 2nd cent. Text not complete. MS. 5th cent.

The Peshitta Syriac, less old in style and seemingly less unconventional in text, perhaps to be referred to the 3rd cent. Text complete for the Gospels. Oldest MS. 548 A.D.

The South Egyptian (commonly called the Thebaic or Sahidic), in the dialect of S. Egypt, maybe of the 2nd cent. Text in fragments. Oldest MS. 5th cent. or earlier (two small fragments only).

The North Egyptian (commonly called the Coptic or Memphitic), in the dialect of N. Egypt, probably of the 3rd, perhaps even of the 2nd cent. Text complete for the Gospels. Oldest MS. ? 10th cent.

The Gothic, made in the latter half of the 4th cent. Text in fragments: of Matthew we have only iii. 11, v. 8, v. 15-vi., vii. 12-x. 1, x. 23–xi. 25, xxv. 38-xxvi. 3, xxvi. 65-xxvii. 19, xxvii. 42-65. Oldest MS. 5th cent.

Of the above versions the First Latin, both Syriac, and both Egyptian are earlier than our earliest MSS., S and V; the Second Latin and Gothic may be a few years earlier or later; the Latin Vulgate is about half a century later-but is earlier than A, C, and D. It must however be borne in mind that the existing MSS. of these versions are not so old as the versions themselves.

Each one of the above versions is always gufted unless

i. it has a gap at the passage in question,

or ii. its reading (as sometimes with the Egyptian versions).
has not been well enough ascertained,

or iii. its rendering is too ambiguous.

Early writers quoted in textual notes to this Gospel :

Aramaic.

:

Gospel according to the Hebrews. Probably 1st cent. A.D., at least

in part.

Only pragments remain, and those translated.

32/

Greek.

Marcion, of Sinope in Asia Minor. Flourished about 130-40?
Justin Martyr,' of Samaria and Rome.

Died about 150?

Pseudo-Justin, writer once wrongly identified with Justin.

Tatian, of Syria. Flourished after 150.

Ptolemaeus. Flourished about 160?

Irenaeus, of Smyrna, Bp. of Lyon. Flourished at end of 2nd cent. Clementine Homilies, falsely set down to Clement of Rome. 2nd or early 3rd cent.

Clement of Alexandria. Died 2131 218?

Hippolytus, Bp. of Portus near Rome. Died about 236-8.

Origen, of Alexandria and Caesarea. Wrote 226-54.
Dialogue against the Marcionites. 3rd cent.

Apostolic Constitutions. 3rd cent. and later?

Porphyrius, of Rome and Sicily.

268 and before 306.

Methodius, of Patara, Bp. of Tyre.

Wrote against Christianity after

Died 312.

Eusebius, Bp. of Caesarea. Died 339 340?

Caesarius [ of Constantinople, who died about 368].

Athanasius, Bp. of Alexandria. Died 373.

Pseudo-Athanasius, writer once wrongly identified with Athanasius. Basil, Bp. of Caesarea in Cappadocia. Died 379? 380?

Cyril, Bp. of Jerusalem. Died 386 388?

Hesychius the lexicographer, of Alexandria. Flourished before 389.

Diodorus, of Antioch, Bp. of Tarsus, 378-86?

Didymus, of Alexandria. Died 394 396 399 ?

Gregory, Bp. of Nyssa in Cappadocia. Died 396 ?

Epiphanius, of Palestine, Bp. of Constantia in Cyprus. Died 403. Chrysostom, of Antioch, Bp. of Constantinople. Died 407. Hesychius of Jerusalem. Died 434?

Cyril, Bp. of Alexandria. Died 444.

Isidore of Pelusium, in Egypt. Died 450.

Theodoret, of Antioch, Bp. of Cyrus in Syria. Died 457 458? Basil, Bp. of Seleucia in Asia Minor. Flourished in middle of 5th cent. 'Dionysius Areopagita.' 5th cent.?

Latin.

Translator of Irenaeus. End of 2nd cent.

Tertullian, born at Carthage. Wrote 'Apology,' 198.

Cyprian, Bp. of Carthage. Wrote 246-8.

Novatian, Bp. of Rome in 251.

Translator of Origen. 3rd cent.

Arnobius, of Africa.

Wrote somewhere between 296 and 313.

こん

Phoebadius, Bp. of Agen in S. France. Flourished in latter half of

Quaestiones ex utroque Testamento. 4th cent.

Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum. 4th or 5th cent.

Chromatius, Bp. of Aquileia (Aglar, at the head of the Adriatic).

The Greek authors are quoted first, then the translators of Irenaeus and Origen, then the rest of the Latin writers. Latin writers (except the two translators) are only quoted when they appeal to Greek MSS., or when their readings are opposed to those of one or more of the Latin versions current in their time, or when the reading of any of those versions cannot be at all surely deduced from our MSS. of it. It must be borne in mind that the Latin Vulgate was the work of Jerome, and that where he agrees with it he agrees with himself.

Causes of textual corruption. The reader who is without foreknowledge of the results of New Testament textual criticism will probably wonder that books held so holy by their copyists should not be free from a very great number of various readings.

The bulk of wrong readings are undoubtedly owing to copyists' mistakes, which may be thus shortly classed :

(i.) Mistakes of sight. (a) The copyist, having for a moment taken his eye off his exemplar, has, on coming back to it, caught the same word at which he left off (or the same ending of a word) a line or two below, and has copied on from that point, having overlooked the words between. (b) He has sometimes mistaken like letters: e.g., in the uncial (inch-long,' capital) alphabet in which MSS. up to the 9th cent. #fre Amary written, the letters A A A (ad 1), and a/

OOC (e tho s), are so far alike that, if the copyist's sight were bad or the ink faded, he might easily confound them. (c) He has sometimes repeated, left out, or transposed letters.

(ii) Mistakes of the ear, and phonetic spelling. At the time when our MSS. were written, au and & were sounded alike, and there was

all N.T.