The Durham daily globe., 1893-04-18
REvOLUEIONlzING THE GOSPELS

! No volume that was ever written or
compiled has furnished so broad field
| for speculation, such widely differing
| interpretations and such countless Op-
| posing theories as the Book which claims
| as its author no less q parsonage than
| the ALMIGHTY himself--a book which,
| the preachers tell us, furnishes the only
guide to truth and hOnesty-the only
teachings which man can live by and
die by and read his title clear to a corner
| lot in the New Jerusalem.
Notwithstanding the fact that in the
broader light of more enlightened age
scientific research is constantly knock
ing the props from under some tottering
| superstition, there are yet those who in
sist that the Bible cannot err, and who
wildly cling to the Truth, as the Truth
was taught to them, and refuse to admit
the possibility of any other version, and
it is their right and privilege so to DO.
After all these years of religious wrang-
ling and denOminatiOnal differences, it
seems that those delicate points and fine
distinctions upon which have hinged the
salvation of the human race, are to be at
last settled and forever disposed of, or
else the entire christian church undergo a
complete revolution in thought and doc
trine.
A most important and remarkable
find has just been made in the convent
at Mount Sinai in the form of palmp-
sest containing the comnlete Syrian or
original text of the four gospels.
"The gospels" said DIR. CYRUS ADLER
Of the Smithsonian Institution, "it is be-
lieved, were originally written in a dia-
lect current in Palestine and especially |
in Galilee, mixture Of the Hebrew and |
SyTiac. We know that it was not pure |
Hebrew from the presence of such ex-
pressions as the one CHRIST used on the |
Cross, 'Eloi, Eloi, lama Sabacthani,' My |
GoD, My GOD why hast Thou forsaken |
me- which is of Syrian origin SO, ever
since the modern search for the sources |
of the Scriptures begar, it has been di- |
rected in part to the discovery of what |
was believed to be this original text of the |
gospels. If that is what is now discov |
cred, its value and importance cannot
easily be estimated. The common ver-
sion is from Greek translations of the
original"
The news of this discovery, coming by
cablegram, was of course meagre of de.
tail, and further Developments are looked
forward to with much anxiety If it
proves what is claimed for it, and there
Il no reason why it should not, many OBJ
scure passages of scripture which have
heretofore had a tendency to mystify and
confuse the would be believer, will, in
all probability, be satisfactorily explained
and chris ianity be furnished with addi-
tional proofs upon which to found its
faith and anchor lis hope
Whatever the result of this truly great
find, to PROF. FENDEL HARRIS, formerly
OF Johns Hopkins University but now
OF Cambridge, belongs the credit. Pro
FEsSOR HARRIS is well known in this
country as a profound scholar and earn.
est student of biblical literature. He has
made several trips through the east in
search of antique manuscripts, and it
now appears that his labors have not
been in vain.
NOMINATED three times by acclama
tOu, and once by unanimous vote