Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1881-07-07

SCIdPto 10, very pIOpSIIys all dC-
count of the great condices above
mentioned.
The Alexandrine manuscsipt,
technically known as Codex A. was
the first to be thoroughly studied
by scholars for the purpose of cor
recting the text of the New Testa-
ment- It is, however, only the
third in point OF value and an
tlquity, being outranked IN both
respects by the Vatican and Sina-
itic documents. The Alexanirine
manuscript, which is now in the
British Museum, was presented to
Charles l., in 1923 by the Patri-
arch of Constantinople, who, ac-
cording to his own averment, had
brought 1t from Egypt. but who,
according to one of his deacons
had obtained it at Mount Athos.
1t is in four volumes. and the
fourth contains the New Testa-
ment; not however without many
defects. It commences with v. 6
OF the twenty-fifth chapter of
Matthew enaits the equivalent Of
the two chapters of Johns Gospel,
and about eight chapters from the
second Epistles to the Corinthians.
Nor should it be overlooked that
this manuscript embraces two doc
uments no longer included in the
canon, to wit, the Epistle of Gle
ment of Rome to the Corinthians
and part of another epistle whose
authorship is doubtful. This CO.
dex is written upon velIum, and
the letters, which, OF course, are
unical, are rounder and larger than
those in the Vatican codex to be
presently noticed. There is no
space between the words, nor are
there any accents of spirates, but
here some marks ofpunctuation ap-
pears. This manuscript is the most
ancient in which the initial letters
of paragraphs and periods are oc-
casionally made somewhat larger
than the rest. AS regards the date
of the manuscript, it is now &C i.
knowledge ON all hands that the in
diting of the characters cannot be
placed earlier than the beginning g
or later than the end Of the fifth
century. We are, perhaps, war
ranted in the assumption that the
copyist did his work about A. D.
$50.
Up to Tjschendorf's discovery of
the Sinaitic Bible the Vatican man
uscript, technically known as Co.
dex B. was accounted the most i'm
portant documents in the posses
sion of the Christian world. II
unquestionably was penned before
-. D. 34C and is probably a cen
tury older than the Alexandrine
manuscript. There are even grounds
for believing it to have been in ex
istence as early as the Council O
Nice in 325. The fact that it di-
vides paragraphs in a manner to
tally disused after the Eusebiar
canons were introduced, about thu
year 24O, proves that it must at al
events have been written befor,
the last named date. It does no
contain all the writings now in
cluded in the New Testament ca
non-the epistles to Philemon AM
! Titus, the two to Timothy, that t.
the Hebrews, after V. IA of char
tx, and the whole Of the Apoc
; alypse being absent. The character
! are, Of course, unical and bea
Il closer resem blance than those {
any other scriptural codex to tn
l. writings on the rolls discovered 6
> Herculaneum, and which we kno'
must have been Inscribed befor
= A. D. 20. This fact has an obvi
h Gus bearing on the date of th
+ Vatican manuscript. There is n
"a punctuation, there are no accent
no aspirates, and no divisions b
- tween the words, except whel
. there is a change from one subje
: to another, in which case the pa
- agrarhic transition is indicated b
: the space OF a letter. We shou
., add that the initial letters OF sci
tences and paragraphs are of Il
same size as the others. We a
~ ~ here speaking Of what is known
~ ~ be the original form of the man
le script, for, in all the respects, not
:. >" changes have been made by sor
ID later scribe, and in different in
70 1t was not until long after the c
IN ecution of the authorized Engli
~ version that any scholars exec
IT those who had official relations
:. the Vatican library were allow
j. access to this manuscript. Ihdet
h. it was not until 1864 that a col
na plete and trustworthy collation.
ITS this codex, SO far as it covers t
in New Testament, was made
ce Tischendorf. who thus added
,ot third achievement to the discove
IT. and publication Of the Slna
lat manuscript aud the debipherlng
no the kphraem Palimpsest. A
,I11 tie later 1ses1 the New Testame
of text of the Vatican codex v
,lv published in fac simile under