, 1879-06-01

the sixth century, and says Of the Greeks:
ssFor BY changing into Ihs, the abbrcviation |
Of Theo*, m they now read, sGrcat is the mystery
of eodliuess; GoD manifested in the lesb.' |
Whereas all the churches for the first 400 or 500
years, and the authors Of all the ancient YER
sions, jerome as we'll as the rest, read, .dreat
is the mystery Of godl1ness nt!cn was manifested
IN the hesh.'''
with the anctenter versions agree the writer's
of the first five centuries, both Greeks anu
Latus F9r they IN 81 on ae neyer aese this
text, that I can f1ud, as they would all nave
done, and some OF them frequently, nad they
rcad God manifested in the desh"; and there.
fore they read 'o' (which.
"in all the times Of the hot and lasting Arian
controversy it never came into play; though
now those disputes are over, they that reaa
IGoa manifested in the flesh think It one OF
the most obvious and pertinent texts Tor the
busiuess.n ...- --
1The churches, therefore, Of those ages were
absolute strangers to this rendlng. fo1. on Ile
contrary, their writer's rs ol1eu as thes uase
any occasion to cite the reading then IN use, dis
cover that 1t was ~ For, Though tney cue ~
not to prove the Deity of the Son, yet in their
commentaries, and sometimes in other dis
Alter proving the truth of this assertion By
numerous citations of the early fathers OF the
Church, Newton goes on to say:
oAnd the man that first began thus to alter
the sacred text was Macedonius, the Patriarch
of Constantiuoplc, in the beginning OF the SIKH
century: for the Emperor Anastastus banlshed
him for corruptipg il a. D. S1s .r...;5na Bat
defended him, as ii oppressed By calumnies:
and so received that reading for genuine, winch
he had put about among them For now READY
arc all parties to receive Wnat tiiey reckon on
| m their side Jerome we'll knew when he recon-
mepded the testimony of the Three IN Heaven
r. john, T., y by its usefulness; and ne have a
notable instance Of this In the last age when
the churches, both Eastern and Western, re-
Greclz Testamcnts, and still continue with great
zeal md passion to defend it for the ancient
reading, against the authority Of oil the Greek
manuscripts" ..-....
| co]hcrt,s and Cyrl read tos.' So there are
] so,ne ancient Greek manuscripts which read O.
and others 'os'; but I do not hear OF any Latin
| ones, either ancient or modern, which read
tTheos.'"
| obscure and difficult. For how can it properly
be said that God was justified in the spirit g
Rut to read so' (chich), and interpret OF Christ,
as the ancient Christians did, without restrain
ing it to His divinity, makes the sense very easy
| For the promised and long-expected lessIas,
| the none OF Israel, is to Us the great mystery
| of ro3iiness. And this mystery was at length
! manifested to the Jews from the time OF HIS
baptism and justified to be. the person whom
| they expected" ,7n..,>,a
hook give only his conclusions; they afford but
| a faint idea of the wealth Of learning manifest
| in his quotations, or the force OF his argument
| which impres5cs the candid reader rs an aoso-
| lute demonstration; at least. were anything lur-
thsr needed to nuke an absolute demonstra-
ton. NC have it in the discovery, nearly 2 cen
| tury since Newton's day, OF the Siualtlc todeH.
| the earliest and best manuscripts OF both OId
and New Tcstaments now kno"n 70 e1se; ~. neaq ~
I At.o LAT DHCt
God; as in all Of the other early manuscripts OF
the Bible. 4,,o
common reading, God was manifested IN inc ne
de5h,'' has proved too much Tor even ortnoooA
commentators Of the present day.
.Olshausen admits that " The reading Navers
between = os,' theos,''o,' and that the weight
Of external evidence leans to the side OF 'os
nAo). &c also 1ayors referring ,ne p1onoun bne osl
sumes that Il mystery'' must mean Christ. lnls
Of roursc is the assumption Of all Trinltarlans
but in an argument as to the dlVlnnS OF tnllsA
i. is simply begging the quesuonn at issne ~
eratcd from the critics mind, submit that the
most natural rendering would be IN me neuIel
form, !. tu2ich was manifested in the nesn," ete
| Chrysostom aud Nestorius evidently rcaa "a1c"'
and the authority for this Is quae as gooI sa a. 1s
writings Of the early fathers were changed = 1l
the later manuscripts, in order to SUSTAIN Int
corruption OF the Scripture text.
Again, Dr.. Van OsterZee, anotner ortaouo.
! commentator Gncluded in DR.: Schatt' s. transia
tions Of German commentators), admits that tht
t To9er Siuait;cns has settled the question II
! favor Of the reading lato or, srhieh, instead o
God, and says that Cyril never uses this text Il
reply to the eaa Epe5ar Chr vs. be ae1 saPs
would have doue had be known OF the received
version. r,,,h,,,, Z,