Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-20
The New Testament o Thoroughly
Authenticated Document.
HISTORY OF THE MANUSCRIPTS
Testimony Of Writers Of the EARLY Cen
turies Completes Chain
THAT LINKS THE PAST AND PRESENT
WRITTEN FOR THE D1srArcH.I

tians believe Him to have been?
The answer to this question is wrapped
up in the authenticity Of the gospels. IF
these are cotemporary records, as Chris
tians hold them to be, then the matter is
settled, for the Christ OF the evangelists is
the Christ of the Christian creed. 1t is
worth while to notice here that the very
first appearance and mention of Christ in
Christian literature comedies with the
Christian belief in Him, and has no stand
ing room for rationalistic theories about
Him. There is no doubt in the mind
of any scholar as to the genuineness of at
least four of the epistles of st. Paul. But
the Christ of st. Paul is the Christ of Chris
tian theology. Here in these epistles, written
before a word Of one of the four gospels was
set on paper, is the divinity oil Jesus OF
Nazareth, held and declared with all the
| clearness of the creed. And when we come
| to the earliest Christian writers, here is the
same idea of Christ. There are no Unitarians
among them. They believe and teach about
| Him exactly what we believe and teach to-
| day. This is worth thinking about. The
| Christian Church has never in all these CEN
| turies wavered in its adherence to the divine
| Christ.
OUTSIDE THE TESTAMENT.
Go back to the earliest fragmentary remains
| of Christian writing outside of the New
Testlment, to Clement of Rome, to Igna-
titus, to Polycarp, to Justin, and
come down all the long course
of the ages, past the prosecutions
past the manifold endeavors OF heretics,
past the varied and persistent attacks of
sceptics from century number one to century
number nineteen, you will find that Christ
ian faith in Christ is perfectly straight
line. Nothing has ever pushed the Church
to one side or the other of it. The assaults
which are being made upon the creed to-day
are nothing new. The Church, by long e1-
perience, has grown e1pectant of attack,
and has always prospered under it. The
beseigers always fail, and always will fail.
Nothing can destroy truth.
When 1 say that the relation of the
"Jesus of history" to the "Christ Of dogma"
Is very closely connected with the question
of the authenticity OF the gospels, would
| not be understood to mean that the Christian
religion rests upon any book whatsoever. The
| Church In her sermons and her sacraments
taught the gospel long before there were
any gospels" heard OF. The Church is the
living witness to the life and person of
Jesus Christ. But the gospels are the record
OF the Church's earliest teaching. And they
serve to detect any possible departures from
it. 1t is of Importance that we should
know as nearly as we can who wrote these
gospels. and when.
1t is with this In mind that purpose to
consider in two articles one Of the gospels
that which bears the name of Matthew.
And what want to do to-day is to trace
the history of this gospel as book. have
nothing to say about its contents. My con-
sideration is oil the book itself. Here is
record OF the lie and deeds of Jesus OF
Nazareth. Where did it come from?
Matthews name is written at the
top of these pages, but Matthew
did not write it then He did not sign his
name to it. Nor is there in the gospel itself
any indication of its authorship. How do
we know that Matthew wrote it? How do
we know when it was written? What is
the history of this history?
PRINTED, WRITTEN AND UNwRITTEN.
The history of st. Matthews gospel falls
into three stages. The period of print, the
period of manuscript and the period OF
patriotic reference. The first two periods
are perfectly plain. The gospel of St.
Matthew is in print to-day, and has been in
print since the year 1456. In that year
John Gutenberg, whom some account to
lished an edition of the Bible in Latin. 1t
contains this same gospel which we read to-
day.
Before the middle of the fifteenth century
the Bible was in manuscript. Nobody could
count the number of printed New Testa-
ments which are in the world, but the num-
Der OF manuscript New Testaments which |
remain is not so difficult of reckoning.
There are in existence about /, 500 manu- |
scripts, most Of them written before the year |
1856
These manuscript New Testaments are of
two kinds, some earlier and some more |
recent. The difference can be readily seen |
by different fashion of writing. Part of |
these manuscripts were written entirely in |
capital letters and with no spaces between |
either the sentences or even the words. Part |
of them were written, as we write to-day, in !
both capitals and small letters. The manu-
scripts which were written In capitals are |
called uncials. The manuscripts which |
were written in running hand are |
called cursives. The difference in the |
letters may be seen by looking at |
the omega which Is painted on |
the ceiling Of the chancel of Calvary |
Church, which is an unciaI, and then at the |
omega which is painted in the chancel |
window which is cursive. The division
in time is about the middle of the tenth |
century. Manuscripts witten before that |
date were all written in uncials.
TORN AND TATTERED FRAGMENTS.
There are great differences among the
uncial manuscripts. Of these manuscripts, |
written before the year $50 there remain
only about 30, and of these some are but
fragments. A good many of them con tain
only page or two; that is, in the DAYS when
paper was scarce. The ink of st. Mat
thew's gospel, for example, might be erased
as much as was possible, and then some
thing else written over it, and all that re-
mains is the dim impression of the old
letters family seen under a microscope;
one is little bundle of small
bits of paper found in the binding of
some old book. The binder had cut up New
Testament manuscript and used it, like any
common parchment in his trade. Scholars
are able to distinguish among these various
as to their dates. partly BY the
partly by the fashion of forming the letters,
which varied from century to century.
OF these uncial manuscripts of the New
Testament there are three of surprising
value. One, which is called the Codex
CA, is in the British Museum.
1t dates back to the fifth century. The first
part is torn off, so that 1t begins with the
sixth verse o. the twenty-ffth cha pter of st.
Matthew. Another (B), which is called the
Codex Vaticanus, is in the Vatican Library at
Rome. The last part is torn off from this
so that it comes abruptly to an
end with the fourteenth verse of the fourth
chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. St.
Matthews gospel is here entire This
goes back to the fourth century.
The third (A), which is called the Codex
Sinaiticus, is in the Imperial Library at ST.