that the New Testament was written-a language marvellously fitted for the purpose, both because of the wide prevalence of Greek among the civilised nations of the time (resulting from the conquests of Alexander the Great), and on account of its unrivalled clearness, richness, and flexibility. Hence the New Testament has been aptly described as having "a Greek body, a Hebrew soul, and a Christian spirit that animates them both."

Its Contents.-The New Testament Scriptures consist of twenty-seven different books, varying in their form and character-the first in order mainly historical, the next doctrinal, and the concluding portion relating to vision and prophecy. This is an order somewhat analogous to that found in the Old Testament, many of whose characteristics alike as regards thought and expression are reflected in the New Testament. The twentyseven books are the work of nine different authors (assuming the Epistle to the Hebrews to have been written by some other person than St. Paul), each book having its special characteristics corresponding to the personality of its writer and the circumstances in which it was written, but all forming part of one divine whole 1 centred in the Lord Jesus Christ and essentially related to an unseen world. They were written at various times, but all in the latter half of the first century-except perhaps the Epistle of James, which was probably written before 50 A.D.

Its Manuscripts.-The original MSS. have all perished. If written on papyrus they would not last, while those of a more durable substance would be in frequent danger of destruction at the hands of persecutors. Hence the vast majority of extant MSS. are of a comparatively modern date-anterior, however, to the invention of printing in 1450, when the copying of MSS. practically ceased. A few precious copies written on vellum or parchment have come down to us from a very early period, the most important of which are (1) the Vatican, styled Codex B, preserved in the Vatican Library at Rome, and dating from the fourth century;

1 "The most remarkable fact in literature as well as in religion."-Prof. Charteris, The New Testament Scriptures, p. 3.

(2) the Sinaitic (Codex N), discovered by Tischendorf in St. Catherine's Convent at the foot of Mount Sinai in 1859, now deposited at St. Petersburg, likewise of the fourth century; (3) the Alexandrine (Codex A), preserved in the British Museum, and dating from the fifth century. These and other ancient MSS. to the number of about a hundred are called Uncials, because written with capital letters without any separation between the words, the others of a more modern character being called Cursives, because written in a running hand. Of the latter there are about 2000-an immense array of witnesses compared with the few MSS. of classical works preserved to us, which can generally be counted on the ten fingers. Owing to the greater liability to error in copying with the hand than in the use of the printing press, about 200,000 Various Readings have been discovered in the extant MSS. of the New Testament. Happily the differences between the readings are for the most part so minute that they do not affect the substance of revealed truth. As it is the duty of the Church, however, to ascertain, as far as possible, the exact words of the sacred writers, a special department of study has been instituted commonly known as Biblical Criticism or Textual Criticism, which has for its aim to adjudicate on the rival claims of the various readings, with due regard to the age and special characteristics of the several manuscripts, as well as to the common risks of misapprehension and inadvertence to which all copyists were liable.

Other Witnesses. In the performance of the difficult and delicate task just mentioned attention must be paid to two other valuable sources of information. (1) Those writings of Church Fathers-ranging from the end of the first century to the fourth or fifth century of the Christian era-which contain quotations from the New Testament. The value of the Fathers as a help in determining the exact text of Scripture is a good deal impaired by the fact that, not having the advantage of a Concordance, or of our divisions into chapters and verses (an invention of the sixteenth century), they frequently quote from memory and not with strict accuracy. This

is of less moment, however, when the object is not so much to ascertain the precise language of Scripture as to prove the existence and general reception of the books of the New Testament at an early period in the history of the Church. (2) Ancient Versions or Translations, some of which (for example the Syriac and Old Latin) were made within a century after the time of the apostles.1

English Versions.-The first English Version was completed by John Wycliff in 1383. It was, how. ever, only the translation of a translation (the Latin Vulgate of St. Jerome). The first English translation from the Greek was finished by William Tyndale in 1525, and put in print the following year at Worms. This was followed by Miles Coverdale's translation of the whole Bible in 1535, the Great Bible, usually called Cranmer's (for use in Churches), in 1539, the Geneva Bible in 1557, the Bishops' Bible in 1568, and King James's Bible (the Authorised Version) in 1611. The most recent and reliable results of Biblical criticism are embodied in the Revised Version of 1881, which has in this respect, as in regard to accuracy of translation, an unquestionable superiority over the Authorised Version, the latter having been made at a time when the science was still in its infancy, and before any of the three great MSS. above referred to were available for reference. Possibly the next generation may see further improvements, as the result of a closer examination of MSS., Versions, and other ancient writings, as well as through an enhanced appreciation of the language of the New Testament, in the light of the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) and other Hellenistic literature; but after all, any points in which our English Bible is capable of improvement are infinitesimal compared with the general trustworthiness of its contents. Of its imperfections as a translation it may be said, with scarcely less truth than of obscurities in the original, that "like the spots upon the surface of the sun, they neither mar the symmetry nor impair the glory of the great Source of our Life and Light which is imaged in them."

1 For Notes on the Canon, MSS. and Versions, and Textual Criticism, see enlarged edition of this book, pp. 8-18.

THE

CHAPTER II

THE GOSPELS

HEIR Name and Nature.-At the head of the New Testament stand the four Gospels. This position has been fitly assigned to them, because, although by no means the earliest written of the New Testament Books, they contain a record of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ which forms the corner-stone of the whole fabric-Christianity being essentially a historical religion, basing its doctrines not on fancy but on fact. The name gospel, which is the Saxon equivalent for a word in the original meaning "good tidings," was originally applied to Christ's preaching (Matt. iv. 23; Mark i. 15), and that of the apostles (1 Cor. ix. 16). In course of time it came to be applied also to the books containing a record of the great facts and truths which formed the substance of that preaching. One of the earliest writers to use the word in this sense is Justin Martyr, who wrote about the middle of the second century. He frequently refers to Memoirs composed by the apostles and their companions, to which he applies the name of "Gospels"; and he informs us that they were read along with the writings of the prophets at the meetings for Christian worship each Lord's Day.

1 Basilides (125 A.D.), quoted by Hippolytus, cites John i. 9 as "said in the Gospels," but some think, without much reason, that the words are to be referred to one of Basilides' school merely. Another instance has been found in the newly-discovered Apology of Aristides (125-40 A.D.) which mentions "the sacred writing which among them (the Christians) is called Gospel" (literally "evangelic").

Their Authenticity.-That the Memoirs to which justin refers are the same as the Gospels which we now possess may be inferred from the circumstance that almost all the facts concerning Christ's life which he mentions in about 200 scattered passages of his writings are found in one or other of the four Gospels, while in all the express quotations-seven in number-which he makes from the Memoirs the words quoted are also to be found in our Gospels. This conclusion is strengthened by the fact that about twenty years later (170 A.D.) a disciple of Justin named Tatian, a well-informed and far-travelled man, drew up in the Syriac language a sort of harmony of the four Gospels (called Diatessaron), which had a very large circulation in the East. An Arabic translation of this work and a Syriac commentary on it have recently been discovered, from which it is evident that the four Gospels on which Tatian's work was founded were identical with ours. In the Muratorian Fragment, also, there is a list of New Testament books, which most critics assign to about 170 A.D., where the Gospels of Luke and John are mentioned as third and fourth, the other two being apparently mentioned in a part of the MS. now lost. If further corroboration be needed, we have it in the universally-admitted fact that fifteen years later (185 A.D.) the four Gospels which we possess were circulated in all parts of Christendomin Europe, Asia, and Africa—in thousands of copies for the use of the innumerable Christians who heard them read at their weekly meetings for worship.

For these reasons it seems to admit of no doubt that Justin Martyr's Gospels were the same as ours; and it is easy to trace them back through a series of still earlier writers to the testimony of the apostles. We know that Marcion the Gnostic1 (140 A.D.) built his system

1 The Gnostics (who derived their name from a Greek word meaning knowledge) claimed a deeper insight into the mysteries of religion than was possessed by the ordinary believer. But they always professed to be indebted for this knowledge to their fuller comprehension of the meaning of Scripture. Hence the frequency of their appeals to the New Testament writings.