New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-11-22
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
a VALUABLE WORK FOR BIBLICAL
SCHOLARS.

THE PALEsTINIAN sYRIAC LECTloNARGS ,S or
THE GOSPELS. Re-edited from Two SINAI nal
"EvanseIiarium Hierosoiynitanum." BY Agnes
smith Lewis, NJ. r: a. s. and Margareta o Dunlop
don: Kesan Paul. Trench Trubner Co.. Ltd
In this volume Mrs Lewis and Mrs Gibson
present the results Of their long labor upon the
three cod,ces Of the Reactionary The work is
OF fine scholarly quality. and places the reaoer
IN a position TO obtain a thorough knowledge
NJ n document which is most important ooth as
q monument OF Syriac and in its bearing on the
s,udv OF New Testament literature. The intro
duction gives a history OF the various manu-
scr,nts and a description Of them; there is an
elaborate list OF the variations between the
tbrae cod;ces and the Greek text OF Westcott
and Hort: while the body OF the book contains
an admirable reproduction OF the text or one OF
the goddess the variants Of the other TWO oeihs
printed in parallel columns
AS regards the history Of the three one the
.'Evangeliarium Herosolymitanum 'here
marked Codex AZ, has long been known III was
written according TO an inscription-now iost-
in the MS. copied by AssemanD in looo a ~
at the monastery OF the Abbot Moses IN the CITY
OF Antioch cot the Arabs'O. and passed III SUM
way unknown TO the Vatican Library "here II
now is Assemani and Adler described It IN the
last century, and in 1864 Count Mlhscaion'
Erizzo published a sumptuous edition OF 'he
text. with a Latin translation. secoho '"eie
marked b. which is made the foundation 'e"''
was discovered. as is well known by Mrs' E"-'
,orso,. IN tho Convent Of St Catherine. in Mount
Sinai. in 1892. While devoting hersel1 'here -
tho examination Of the celebrated palimpsest OF
the Syriac Gospels. the librarian fa'her "a
,or,eon showed her beautiful codex" which
na1impsest. and whose value he wished to as
certain Investigation revealed it's true charac-
ter and Importance The third (Codex @ was
d,scovered in the same place in 1898 by Dr.
Rendel Harris.
The dates assigned to Goddess and are
11O4 A. D and Ills A. D. respectively. with
regard 10 the antiquity OF the version OF the
gospels which they represent, nothing very posi-
tive is asserted. Observation-Disclosures, indeed
was confident that II was Older than either the
Peshitta or the Curetonian, and approached
very nearly to the original Of ST. Matthew's
Gospel" his argument resting In the main upon
the antiquity Of the language and the SUPPOSE
ton that there would have been no neeu lor
the production of this version after the Peshit'a
had become the authorized version OF the Syrlac
o.h,,rcb &" Rut upon this the editor remarks
that too little weight Is given TO the lact Ihat
the Peshitta was. in the early centuries ac-
cepted by the Monophysite section OF tha'
church while this was the dictionary OF tne
Malkites" Dr. N6ldeke's assertion that 1t is not
earlier than 800 A. D. is taken as the more prop
able. Even if it be proved adds the editor'
that it represents the Gallean dialect OF syriac
which was probably spoken by our LORD :
this is not conclusive Of its antiquity; 1or II l'he
dialect has survived. in very corrupt lorhi'
down TO our own day in several villages OF the
Lebanon near to Damascus" However mere
can be no doubt as to its value as periectly
independent witness to the text OF the OospeiS'