, 1881-03-27

fur parts, the SAME letter may be used four
times to designate manuscripts greatly diff
the famous VATICAN tnahuscript Of: the Cos
pels. Acts, and Epistles, or it may mean an
inferior manuscript Of the Apocalypse. Z
|; 1esisnates Col; Basfllensis for the Gospels,
Cod. Laudicnsis for the Acts; and Cod. San.
germanen'siS Tor the Eplsrles Of Paul. 1t viii
wardness results from this peculiar system,
1t gives rise to little real confusion. A few
critics have adopted the eXpedient Of placing
! small numera! to the right ef the letter be-
low the line to distinguish between the four
divisions Of the Testament.
III treating at length Of 4 few Of, the most
valuable of the codices, the famous treasure
Of the Vatican Library deserves the first
place, as the Oldest and most relable OF the
New Testament manuscripts, The origin OF
this manuscript Is unknown, but it has prob
ably been in the library Of the Vatican since
its foundation Itappears III the first catalog
Ut the library, published i'll l4s3, and Is
| assigned by most critics to as early a date as
first mention Of it appears in the CORE
spondence between Sepurela and Erasmus
upon the publication Of the first printed
Testament 1t contains part OF the Septua-
gint Old Testament and the Whole Of the
New Testament. with the exception of the
Apocalypse, Paui's Epistles to Timothy,
Titus, and Philemon. Hebrews is also de
fective from the ninth chapter, fourteenth
verse, to the end of the epistle. These de-
hciencies haye been supplied by fifteenth
century hand.
LII form the manuscript is Quarto, ten by
ten and one-llalf inches, and contains 759
pages. Its leaves are Ut the most delicate
ye1lunl, and are arranged with three columns
to q page. Later hands lave changed its
original appearance and lharred its beauty.
The larger part Of it has been retraced two
or three times, and breathings, punctuation,
accents, and capitals added. The divisions
Of its text are peculiar to itself. Matthew 1t
divides into seventeen parts, Mark sixty-two,
Luke 152. and John eighty.
The Papal Government has always fully
recognized the yaue of this ancient manu-
script, and no one Of its many treasures has
it more jealousy guarded. Various COLA
tlons of it have been made under the anthor-
its OF the Pope, but they are of little value.
4 complete transcript Of it appeared in 1855
prepared under the direction of Cardinal
Mai This edition. however, was very de-
fectiye, and in lSUG Tiscllend0rf made its de-
fects known to the Pope. and requested per-
The Pope evaded the direct request,
but finally gave him access to the
precious volume for the purpose OF
comparing some disputed passages. Tiscll-
endorf took advantage , Of this privilege to
Regard as 4 breach of trust and withdrew his
permission. Upon further application con-
sent to examine it was again granted, and
during the forty-tWo hours i'll which he
worked over the manuscript 1ischendorf
performed the wonderful feat Of fully co1at-
ing the first three Gospels and all doubtful
passages, besides copying in fac-simile some
twenty pages. 1t is to this hasty collation.
that we owe our best knowledge of the CodeN
HancanuS.
Although the most reliable OF the manu-
scripts, CodeN 3 is by no means infallible.
Its peculiar faults are the omission of words
{the number Of which is estimated at 2,55U),
and ttucis17l, the substitution Of one letter for
another Of similar, sound or appearance.
Codex 3 would have us read end,tsa,,tes,
And they they clothed him, and put on him a
We now turn TO the famous Sinai MSS,
codeX X Mhie for its E5e2t value and ro
In 1S44, while TischendOrf was travelling in
the East, he found, i'll the Convent Of st.
Catherine on Mt. Sinai, forty-three leaves Of
the Septuasint version Of the Old Testament.
He at once recognized them IS very oid and
basket to which they had been consigned,
begged them Of the monks. He made in
quiries regarding the other leaves Of the
manuscript, but having given the monks an
idea Of theiF valve, they carefully concealed
He finally returned to Saxony with his forty
three leaves. and called them i'll honor of the
Elector the Cod. FREDERICK o-Augustanus. LII
1853 Tlsclendort vas again at the convent
manuscript. But the monks were as jealous
of 1t as before. a third visit, however, was
made in 1853, this time under the patronage
Of the Emperor of Russia AS curiosity
the steward OF the CO convent 9 brought forward
cell. What was Tischendorf's Joy to find it
the missing manuscript All the following
night he pored over its pages, decming it a
sin to sleep: Or! leaving the East the nionks
pre- sented the volume tq him to bear as 2
brought it to Europe and deposited it at St.
Ptersburg, where it is now preserved. 1t
is the only rnclal containing the New Testa-
1nent entire. It furthermore gives US the
ehy sopy Of the Epste tps S @ ha and the
uscript bears every mark Of great age. It is
written, four columns to the page, on skins
larger and coarser than those Of
Cod. 3. Its uncial characters bear striking
but are somewhat larger. The date of its
TRANSCRIPTION can hardly be placed later than
the middle Of the fourth century. The pres
ence Of the two uncanOnicu epistles points
to the time whel the canon was unsettled.
Nor. OIL the other hand, can we place tmucl
earlier, since it contains the divisions into
the Eusebian canons which came into use
about $50 4. D. Some critics suppose it to
be one Of tile fifty copies, of the Scriptures
wie tue Eapef2r c9nsfante ; 1rqered E
The sheets Of the manu-
scripts are arranged III sets of four, and Eu-
sebius tells lis that the arrangement Of the
leaves Of the fifty copies obtained by him |
was III threes and fonrs tern |
ZONES ct Quaterniones). If this supposi- |
ton is correct, its date is not later |
than $40 A. D., the year of Eusebius' |
death. This manuscripts, therefore, slight |
Iy inferior to Cod. B in age. 1t Is also ill., !
ferior III some other respects. It is more |
careleslS transcribed. Many lines are wholly |
omitted. The scribe also undertook to |
amend the text In Mark, xiv, the text is !
altered in order to reconcile tue |
discrepancy between its account and that of |
In verse 80 the word s'twice ~ Is |!
omitted; "and the cock crew. in verse 6,
while the words twice. and 1.-THE second !
ime" do not appear in verse =. The man
lscript bears marks of ten reysions, and the
Whole text has been retraccd BY All eighth
century hand.
Under the patronage Of the Emperor.
flschendorf published a fac-simile edition
II the parchment III 1SG2.
Codex Aiexandrinus, il of less intrinsic !
'alue than its older fellows. has proved the
most useful OF our manuscripts. Its native
'lace is Alexandria, whence it was carried
" patriarch Of Constantinoplc, and by him
resent ted to Charles l. Of England. It |
orlned part of the Kings private library ]
Until l1:3, when it was transferred to the H.
'rary Of the British Museum, then recently
Quuded |