The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1903-09-24
MORE DISCOVERIES.
Interesting and Important Litsra.
ture OF Christ Is Uncovered.
oxyrhyacus, scene Of Former Dis
cOVericS, the I'lare-Fra= men. of
COLLECTION oG sayings ofJ
sus Among the HeIicz

The interesting discovery at Oxyrhyn-
Gus in 1897 by Messrs. Grenfeli and hunt
OF Oxford OF the logia of Christ, and
other important papyri. will doubtless
be remembered. Inc results of a brief
examination of other papyri discovered
by the same men in a second series of
excavations fully justify the hopes ex-
pressed in 1897. that Oxyrhyncus will
prove a richer mine than any other for
the recovery of early Christian litera-
ture. Two, or perhaps three. more sea-
sons work will be required TO exhaust
the moro promising portions of the site,
the mounds of which cover an area sur
passed by few ancient Egyption towns.
The most interesting. perhaps. of the
discoveries in the second excavations is
third-century fragment OF a collec-
ton OF the sayings OF Jesus. similar In
style TO the so-called logia discovered
In 1897 The separate sayings introduced
by the words Jesus saith" are for the
most part unrecorded elsewhere. though
some which occur In the Gospels as
The Kingdom Of God is written to you
and many, that the first shall be last. !"
etc, occur here In different surround
ings.
Six sayings are in perfect condition.
but the new logia papyrus supplies more
evidence of its origin than its prede-
cessor where II contains an Introductory
paragraph stating that what follows
consists Of The words which Jesus the
Living Lord spake." to two of His dis
ciples, and moreover one OF the uncan-
onical sayings is already extant in part,
the conclusion of ii: lie that wanders
shail reign, and he that reiens shall
rest, being quoted by Clement of
Alexandria. from the Gospel accord
ing to Hebews.
IL is indeed possible that this Gospel
was the source from which all this
second series Of the locia was derived.
or all. or some may have been taken
from the Gospel according to Egyptians,
TO which Prof. Harnack, of Berlin, and
others referred In speal Inc of the loeia
found In 1897. MeSsrs. Grenfell and
Hunt, howeyer, are disposed 10 regard
both series as collections Of savings
currently ascribed 70 the Lord. rather
than extracts from any one uncaronical
Gospel.
Latin papyri from Egypt are so rare
that one containing part OF an epitome
OF Liry, covering books 81 10 30 and 40
to -, is particularly Interesting. All
books later than the forthwith Of I.ivy's
history, have been lost. although an
epitome of them Is extant. The papv-
rus which has now been discovered.
however, differs from this epitnme very
largely In respect to events selected for
mention. The bacF of the Livy papyrns
was subsequently used for writing the
text of the Epistle 10 the Hebrews. Of
which a considerable portion is pre-
served, and is much the largest niece
of the New Testament on papvrus vet
discovered Another interesting Bibli-
cal fragment comes from the Septua-
gint version of Genesis. II is proba-
bly, century older than any of the ex-
tant vellum manuscripts. Among the
numerous fragments Of lost Greel, clas-
sizes. is a first century 3. c. papyrus.
containing an ode or odes. Of poetess.
perhaps Corinna. the rival and reputed
fnstructress of Pindar.