The bee., 1883-11-10
Manuscripts 0n which The Bible Re.
vision is Based.

In sermon on the revision of the Bible,
Rev. DR.. Rylance, of st. Mark S Church,
New York, made the following interesting
statement respecting the existing early
manuscripts of the New Testament The
learned doctor spoke apprOvingly of the
new version, remarking that the revision
was necessary in order that the common
people as we'll us the learned might under
stand exactly on what ground they stood.
Hitherto it has been thought that every
word of the English version of the Bible
was inspired; this belief is passing away
rs people become educated and know that
no work of translator can be perfect.
The autographs of the Apostles have long
since faded and disappeared. All we have
to depend upon for our translatlOns are
copies, ancient versions, translations, and
the quotations made by the Fathers of the
Church. The manuscripts OF the New
Testament are of two kinds-the unclal,
the oldest class of manuscripts, written III
capitals and without punctuation, and the
Ieursive" manuscripts, so called from their
being written in a running hand that be-
gan to be used in the tenth century. Those
of the old class were written between the
fourth and tenth centuries the others after
the tenth century.
Of the old there are 130 in existence; of
the new about 1900 The very old and
very valuable manuscripts are only i've
Of these the Alexandrian COdex was orlgl-
nally discovered at Alexandria, and was
sent to King Charles 1. in 1923. 1t Is now
in the British museum. Nothing is known
of the origin of this, but it is usually as
signed to the middle of the fifth century.
1t is much mutilated, twenty -four chapters
of the first Gospel, two of She fourth, and
eight of one of the Epistles being missing
The next is the Vatican manuscript, sup
posed to have been written In the fourth
century. A copy of this was never made
| till 1863, when fac simile was issued.
The condition of this is much more per-
feet. The third manuscript is that in the
| National Library at Paris, whittier 1t Was
| brought by Catherine de Medici. This had
| been overwritten-that is, the parchment
had been used for other writings; but,
| spite of that, the original has been deciph-
cred 1t is assigned to the early part OF the
| fifth century. The fourth manuscript is
now at Cambridge. This is the least val
| liable, as it is much mutilated. 1t belongs
to the sixth century The manuscript
found in 1874 in the Convent of st. Catha-
rine on Mount Sinai by TisehendOrf, and
| copied by him in 1859, is the most valua-
BILE of the five, as it contains the New Tes-
lament complete. This is supposed to have
been written in the fourth century. None
of these most valuable authorities were
consulted in any of the English versions
of the Bible, even in making that of King
James time. The Latin Vulgate, the plen-
tiful cursive manuscripts were used. En-
rors like the DoxolOgy at the end of the
Lords Prayer erept into the translatiOns,
even into the Syrian, which is as old as the
second century. The Latin Yulgate was
! probably an excellent translation, as it
| must have been made within few years
| of the death of st. john The changes that
have Just been made have only been made
when the weight of authority left no doubt
of their necessity. The text is not ques-
| tion of taste, of like and dislike, but of
historic testimony. l expect to see the
| corrected version win its way into the con-
fidence and the respect of the English
| speaking people.