The times., 1899-01-15
MANUSCRIPTS OF THE BIBLE.

| To the Editor OF The Times;
| The Oldest Greek manuscripts of the
Bible are alleged to be the Vatican, the
| Alexandrine and the Sinaitic. The first
named Is in the Vatican library, which
was founded by Sixtus ", nfIl-liS4).
| Whence the codeX was acquired is not
known, but it appears in the first cata-
| lOgue of that collection. which dates from
| the year 1475. Nicholas V Gi4I 1859 be-
| gan to collect manuscripts for his library,
| which may have been the beginning OF the
| Vatican collection. No practical use was
| made of the Vatican CodeX until 1887,
when a translation of the New Testament
| portion was published. The codex lacks
| the Epistles to Timothy, Titus and Phile-
mon. the Revelations and the last four
| chapters of Hebrews. Its execution is as
| signed to the middle CT the fourth century
| by some, to the sixth by others and to
| much later period by the more skepttcal
| critics.
| The Alexandrine Codex was presented to
| Charles I Of England In 1928, by the Patri-
| arch CT Constantinople, who had brought ii
| from Alexandria. of which he was former
| ly patriarch. II lacks the first twenty
| four chapters of Matthew, three chapters
I of John vivid and seven OF Second Co
rinthians (v-xD. 1t contains the Epistle
OF Clement of Rome (the only known
I
tise OF Eusebius on the Psalms. The ex-
ecution of this codex is assigned by some
to the middle Of the fifth century, by 9TH
ers to the sixth and by the more skeptical
| critics to much later period.
The Sinaitic Codex was discovered in
1874 by Constantine Tischendorf, at the
Convent Of ST. Catherine, on Mount Sinai.
In 1859 Tischendorf under the auspices of
the Emperor Alexander II OF Russia. made
second journey to Mount Sinai where he
rescued the manuscript. just ready to be
/ burned as fuel, and brought it to mis- inn
perial majesty. This last discovered codex
is perfect. without the loss OF leaf. In
addition to cur canonical books il has the
Epistle Of Barnabas and portion of the
Shepherd of Hermas. Tischendorf believed
that this codeX was little older than that
of the Vatican. both of which he assigned
to the middle OF the fourth century.
Tischendorf's New Testament 1858,
gives in footnotes the variations OF the
three above named manuscripts. An Eng
lish edition was issued in 1869. l con-
slider it Of more practical value than the
revision of 1880.
The Latin Vulgate Bibie nrst published
in 1890. was declared by Pope Sixtus V
to be the very one decreed by the Council
of Trent 15f5-1563) and alleged to have
been in existence for ages. But the Six
tine edition had to be superseded Cardl-
nal Bellarmine proposed that its errors
should be corrected and laid to the charge
of the printers and that the work should
be credited to Sixtus. Then followed the
| Clementinc edition of 1892, which itself
| had to be revised in turn.
The Council OF Trent must have been
a secret conclave. How could a large body
of bishops and doctors have met passed
and published to the world decree re-
ferring to book which had been many
ages in existence" and yet could not be
found?
The learned Jesuit Hardouin believed
that the New Testament was originally
written in Latin. Why should Paul write
to the Romans in Greek? It does seem
more likely that the earliest ccdces we're
| in Latin. from which the monks made
! translatious into Greek, many Latin
word appearing in Greek characters
King James's translation of the Bible
was made in 1911 from manuscripts of
late date-as late as the tenth century,
says Tischendcrf. bur much later in the
| judgment Of experts, who say there is no
satisfactory criterion for determining the
age Cf manuscripts. and that few il any
can be assigned to an earlier date than the
twelfth century. There are no manu-
scripts more than four hundred years old.
save those Of the sacred Scriptures. said
Hardouin. writing in 1928 As a Catholic
/ he could not of course admit that the
sacred Scriptures. like the pretended writ
ings Of the Christian fathers. were fabri-
Gated by the Benedictine monks after the
revival OF learning. w H. BURR