The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1881-02-26
THE NE
HOW THE NEW
DOWN

az
| From, Scfi5ner for Fcbrui IT,
\ large portion ~. rs, an,
some of the most il <Sof them
| which the forthcomg E. sion of tn
New Testament will Il n. IN the author
| lied version. will reSu lIrom correction
Of the Greek text. The text which wa
followed by King James translators
compared with that which scholars woul,
now unite in approving, was faulty Thi
circumstance may lend a higher degre,
of Importance to subject which in itsel
is not devoid of interest.
When an ordinary reader of the New
Testament is first informed that not :
single copy of it of all earlier date thar
the fourth century is extant, and that
few copies are earlier than the tenth cen
fury, he is at a loss to see what assurance
we can have that the book is essentially
the same as it was when it left the hands
of its authors. How do we know that in
the earliest existing manuscripts the
documents do not appear in y form essen
TALLY altered from the originals as they
were composed by the Apostles and their
companions? 1t will tend to quiet an
apprehension of this sort to remark at
the outset that the New Testament stands
much better in this respect than the
classical writings of antiquity, such as
orations of Cicero and the histories of
Polybius and of Livy. There is no COM
plete manuscript of Homer older than
the thirteenth century. although frag-
ments exist of much earlier date. How
do we know that we have the veritable
HAD and Odyssey, when we can compare
our editions of them with no copy of an
earlier date than some two thousand
years after they were composed and COM
mitted to writing? If we know that we
have substantially correct text of Ho
mer, as Homer was read at the opening
of the Christian era, we have much
stronger grounds for a like belief respect
ing the New Testament. The process of
reasoning on which this assurance is
founded can be easily comprchended. If
we go back to the last quarter of the
second century, we find abundant proof
that great number of copies of the New
Testament were i'll circulation in the
various Provinces of the Roman empire.
Professor Norton estimates that the num-
Der of COPIES of the Gospels then in cir
culation WIS not less than sixty thousand.
The sixteen hundred manuscripts of the
New Testament, or of parts of it. which
are now Known to exist, are copies, me-
date and immediate, of those which were
in use at that time. Since the extant
manuscripts are essentially in agreement
with one another. it follows that the
documents from which they sprang, in
various pieces and places distant from
one anothe. must have had a like agree
ment. Hal any material difference ex-
listed in tie copies of the Epistle to the
Romans, fr example, which the Chris
tians of Egypt, and Syria, and Rome, and
Gaul read oward the close of the second
century, tat difference would inevitably
have perptuated itself in the copies de-
rived fror them, and would necessarily
be manifet in those now existing. We
are NARRATED in the conclusion, then,
that the :opies used at that date were
substantially coincident with each other.
BY the SINE method of argument, we
are authdzed to conclude that the var
ious dement's from which the manu-
scripts imse in the second century were
TRANSCRIPT had the same essential har-
mony. e are thus carried back to the
life-timef the author, and of those who |
were corersant with him and with his |
productil. Mutilation or corruption of |
the origial manuscript. and Of the copies
of it firsput in circulation. was prevent
ed by tn presence of the writer and of |
those toShom his book was committed, |
and whwere interested in preserving it |
unaltere. No subsequent alteration |
could bnade in manuscript from which |
later manuscripts were transcribed with
out bet,ying itself the moment tbs com
parisiobhould be made with other repre-
sentati's of the original writing. 1t is
obviouthat the force of this argument |
is incresed in proportion to the number
of the manuscripts which survive, and
the diovery of their local origin. In
this p'ticular the writings of the New
Testaent are placed at a striking adj
vantae in comparison with the cele-
brat" works of heather antiquity.
TT books of the New Testament, in
all robability. We're written at first on
apus,-ancient paper made by gluins
togher the strips taken from the rind
dirtly under the bark of the plant bear
inghat name. BY beating these with a
meet and subjecting them to an even
prsure under roller they were con-
weed into convenient writing material.
B the papyrus lacked durability
Ahuscripts written upon it have been
rovered from the ruins of Herculaneum.
al have been found in great number in
t tombs of Egypt. But the New les
tnent books owe their preservation to
t, fact that they We're copied. from as
ely as the fourth century down through
t. Middle Ages, on more durable sub
Snce. This was sometimes yellum,
nicl means the skin Of young calf.
though the term is also applied to the
iinsof kids, and of some other animals.
he 'Codex SiniaticuS. the great dis
ovey of the German scholar Tischen-
orfis probably written on the skins of
nteopes or young asses. The manu-
criIs are generally written on parch-
men that is, on the skins of sheep or
goa, which have been prepared and
breed for the purpose. Before the time
Of imenes H., king Of Pergamus from
1917 l59 b. G.. from whom parchment-
a ccuption of pergamend-has its name.
thiubstance was in use: but he intro
dud some Improvement in the mode of
praring it. Even after the invention
clifton aud linen paper. Biblical man.
uspts were often of parchment. Prior
to e, thirteenth century, paper was sell
doused for this purpose. 1t was in the
mysteries that the work of transcrib-
inthe sacred books was chiefly done.
lnese establishments, there was usual
lYumiet room for he scrihes who xrotc