, 1881-05-30

ntrntiot,. Hut "tho Greek of tho New 'tcstA-
n,snt writer's" IS I'e Wit says: "ts not p!!r,s.
tie Christian" .-,7~
The iirst writings Of the Now Testament
were doubtless inntle upon pnryris rolls pre-
Eel. cut !SnFtlwlsc @ from, tho Inner ssetlo,
These rolls were mt durable nrl lFilst havo
hse.t SCUM wnri, ni't " llsc; Ihn writ!efs
characters employed In tlusc tl,.,eS werG what
Tlsry v wers f writisr wi.lnnt nuy dlsisoii of
wUrtls or marks NJ punctuation. Thu hest
comparison We could lnnke ~ TINT stylo 0t
wrlting to,day Is one Of tne frat nlien,Gts Of
father. iou chi, reatilly. understand how
easlly er,nrS might be n'a'le III copying such
III course cf time II larre number Of yer;
y|'s %s!''nxs Se'S the % %ssS1!est ,0 Y W's%; % NV
version, whicl, wns used in the CHURCHES nf
Syria. ain! the. OH l.attn III Africa. Tae old
III From s',5' il,9 pcs,,l!o version sprans one In
Arabic md one II, tl!o Persian tnmgt!r.
rl" tthe Kew Testament was iranslnted Into
tho Mnttye Egyptian or CUptle. Versions
we're also made u ths Upper EEgyptt9m ,,! ai,a
Wfs SSs yl;sya EsyS'fp of s nses IT'S o aS fn"q's II s
fourth century, tho latin 'X,Ilgate of
Mian IN tho ilfll,, tho =. tieor.
Eian n th9 ,s slxtn; H.; , the o.,, s,ayonis n1nn
came the Anglo Saxoi,.
THUS We ssc t|.at Egypt, from. whose hard
hol.lage a1 lh.lntfy lsra@l ,,, i,n.t ns'i. m%w
later, Enve ller allegiance. 10 N[oha,nnieti MS
tiotl's chosen prophet, showed xrpnt dcro-
tlon to tho work of trai,slating tho Christian
t'oSpel Into l,er r. nat'vo tonEl!e. - A.. xo,..
Testament were grutl,lnlly introduced.
Tho writings were ,nlnAu from! rarcll-
,incnt. a. few punctuation marks wero
sss, sss,;r,cs, IL md oSat 1ns S asi c q fr tho ' @
century Ons Entl,nitus, ~ Alexandria. ti!tf,,.
ducetl the systeu Ut writing. Tho text IN short
lines {cnItl the stechOMlctric .systein), to fa-
ciittate readinx.. Another Alexantlrlnn DE-
shurt cllnptcrs Or SECTIONS, IN order 70 nuke
rcutlicr comparisons Of similar nnssnEts., It
was not untl! the thirteenth century thnt the
arrangement r. S;hapers which ,oy "ntnnS
by Cariinal Hugo: NM! not until
Verses Wa Ws.s adopted b fby 1Iabcrt Stephens,
1t Is TO 1,e remarked tint, with the m,utirl:,
| the New Testament, errors. multiplied nlSu.
| These were doubtless tor tho most part tho
| result Of Cnrelrsness. Aud when Ole set Ut
| COpylsts undertook TO- correct thesn Grrars,
they were likely 10 lliitkr others, by AttttL
pt their awlI. IL is nlsO very reasonably held.
tllat tho notes Which some translunrs .WrOle
III the margins were not infreal.ontl $ adopted
Init. tlle text by their successors. And thus,
III the cntlrse Ot several centttries, tic original
text becanse much corrupted by il!ls
large number Of various uhdings," ns they
arc called. This is It fact to be honestly NIL
mltteh.
And now If It be askc.l. 1lavc biblical
scl.nlars been ab1c to rcctity titeso great
errors at1h to form Il correct Judgment Ill rt-
gard 10 the original text' answer, fcs, TO n
| very large extent.
Whit tic study Of comparative anatomy
SCIENCE, the stndyof comparative phi!o!oEy,
OF archaeology, and Blblicn1 criticism
has dune To SECURE Il Durer and nloro reliable
text In thy New Testament;
men Of careful a.ltl W!se Judgment, lave ~.
voted their lives 10 this wurk. Gushing nsiuH
nil pri,lr of scct. and prejulicg, they l,uvo
lslAt(s the "scarclt after truth" their ono,
With tue nil Of the oldest. md best i,t,clal
MSS. tof which I havo spokcs,) anti the tes-
tIm0nics borne by tho best minds III tile enrly
Christian Church 1t Its various branclleS,
they !,aye carefully compared tho NUMEROUS M
reylsl0ns, ui,d thus have bGcn nble to find
tho key VI Internal evidence IT the gtNuhle-
hess Ut tho New Testament writings, wlile
bus Enabled tea to separate thy orig!;49'
remarkable accuracy. They ssn not clAlnn t.
hnvu securcll either complete or IL pErfectt,
accnrate text. That VIII. douottess; nsIe'
be dane. But they l1nyn rendered M lllynl!l
their faithful lnb0rs have nclIlevcE.
It is from tho invention Of printing thai
not only tic Erentest Incentives batt ALSO tlle
most efficient !,olus TOR ths rresGstion, .;, q
| tires 1InvH bean derived. Elb tjrrSS las {lUlIk