Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1880-09-02
TIE HERALD.
AN ANCIENT MANUSCRIPT.
TAs Gospel Of St. Matthew and st. MARI D iscsvsred
in Italy,

IN 4alys
Edinburgh Scotsman The gsner.
al feeling of scholars in regard to
manuscript Of ancient writers IS
that almost all have been discovered
that there 10 any hope of discover
ing. This feeling, however, has
been happily disappointed in many
cases. The recent find of a manu-
script of Clemens Romsnus and
other early scclsssisstioal writers in
CoRssantinople gave 50 agreeable
surprise 10 students of church his
tory. In no department. have such
discoveries been more surprisipg
and more valuable than those 10
connection with the New Testament.
Tischsadorf, in his vanderipgs
among libraries in all parts of the
world, came upon many leaves of
old New Testament manuscripts,
and crowned his Investigations by
unoarthing in the Sinaitic monastery
the most complete manuscript Of
the New Testament in existence
belonging to an early date. The
issuing of Trustworthy edition of
tho "Codsx Vaticsnus" in our age
may also be deemed real discov-
cry. la this wey ths two maui
scripts which will be hclI in fatuse
as most valuable in determining the
text Of the New TO.tamsat have
become known to scholars oEly in
the last twenty years. We havo
now 10 record the discovery Of
another manuscript OF portion Of
the New Testament, written ST
very early period. The merit Of
the discovery is due two German
scholars, Oscar V. Gobhordt aud
Adolph HsrBsch, whose edition Of
the Apostolic Fathers" haa DO
servedly received the warmest con-.
msndation. These scholars we're
enabled, through the muafiocnee OF
the German government aud IA en-
dowment attached to Leipzig Uai.
vsrsity, 10 make journey in March
Of this year to Southern Italy end
Sicily, in which they resolved to
search for manuscripts. Their q,
tention was specially directed q
notices of monastery q. ROsaDo,
near the Gulf of Tsrsntum, In which
important manuscripts wsrs said
onoe to have bean. They could
find no traces of the monastery, bu,
they heard that thsre vas very
old book in the palace OF the Arch.
bishop of RossaBo. Accordingly
they asked permission to see it, and
to their great joy found that it was
Q very valuable manuscript OF the
Gospels of St. Matthew sud ST.
Mark.
The leaves OF this manuscript. ara
msds of purple parchment, and the
material used throughout in writing
is silver, except in tho first shrOe
lines Of each gospel, where the let
ters are golden. There ia only one
other manuscript of this kind in OK
istsnce containing any portion Of
the Nsw Testament, and it ia in q
mutilstcd condition, four OF It's
lsaveS being in London, ak 10
Rome, two in Vienna, and thirty
three hayo more recently bean dis
covered in the Island of Patmos.
The present volume, on the ether
hand, consists of 1873 leaves, and
contains the whole OF the Gospel Of
ST. Matthew and the whels of the
gospel of st. Marx down TO the mid.
die Of the fourteenth verse of the
sixteenth chapter. All the oriteria
ussd in Judging OF manuscripts indi.
oats the end Of the fifth or beginning
of the sixth century as the date Of
this. The manuscript is written ia
uncial characters, with two columns
on each page. There 10 no separA-
ton Of words, no breathing, 20 &C.
cent snd only the slightest attempt
at nctustiOn. There are capitals
double the siz0 OF the unoials, the
Ammonium sections are indicated
and the Eusebian oan0ns must have
been given, for IL contains a portion
Of tho letter of EGsebus to Carpis
anus, and thers 10 good reason fer
oonjsoturing that this was followed
by table from tho EussbsR can.
ons. The LISTERS bear the closest
semblsnce TO those ing 10
manuscripts Of the iiith and sixth
centuries. The editors reserve their
remarks on the nature of the text
until they publish il Ia full. All
that they state now is, that it bears
a striking resemblance TO thAtfound
in the other manuscript OF purple
parchment, that il contains some
unique readings, and that it rather
goes with The later manuscripts
whore the Sinsisic sad Vatican dit.
fer from them. Considerable inter.
est attaches to this manuscript from
the circumstance thst II contains a
number of painted miniatures illus.
trsting the life Of Christ. These are
smoBg the earliest works of this
kind tina. are extast. The editors
have prepared outlines of thea, and
discuss their merits. Tbs subjects
are tbs "Rssurreotion Of LazarEs,"
the Entrance into jerusalem" the
Qualification of the Temple" she
"Wiss and Foolish Virgins" the
"Last Supper" and Washing she
Feet" "Distribation of Bread and
Wine" "Ohrist in GsthssRsns," she
Healing of the Blind" the kind
Samaritan" Christ before Pila.e,"
the Repentance aud Death Of
Judas" the "Jews bs|ors plate"
and "Christ and Barabbas." In ell
of them the grouping is doRe very
srtistioslly, and on ths whole she
figures are we'll drawn, with much
animation and expression. Some of
them are very interesting from on
historical point OF view, 90 that
whieh pertraYs the distribution of
bread and wine o. the Eucharist.
All of them throw light on early
Christian Art. and HsrBach thinks
that be ssss O closer connection be-
tween these works and Gio!to than
between later miniatures and that
artist. Besides the Now Testament
scenes there are forty heads of