The Washington times., 1922-09-03
Based on Dubious Text.

to the specific demand of Canon IL.
w.
Based on Dubious Text.
The canon is based on a text in
the New Testament, which is ~ dis
puted and (2) racial.
The basis for the position of the
Protestant Episcopal Church Is to
be found In the supposed words of
Christ:
"Whosoever shall put away his
wife, saving for the cause of forni-
cation, causeth her to commit adul-
terry"
A writer who has gone over twen-
ty-eight or twenty-nine of the thirty.
odd manuscripts of the New Testa-
ment In existence makes the follow.
ing statement:
I'm the Gospels Christ speaks of
divorce on two occasions only-once
In the Sermon on the Mount (St.
Matthew, ". 32). and once in answer
to a question of the Pharfsees (St.
Matthew, XIX. o; ST. Mark. 4, IL, IL;
st. Luke, xvi. 1s). In the Sermon on
the Mount the English Bible reads:
Whosoever shall put away his wife,
saving for the cause OF fornication.
her to commit adultery
And II adds: And whosoever shall
marry her that Is divorced commit.
eth adultery
Not In Latin MSS.
This addition I did not find in
the celebrated Codex Bezae Greek
and Latin), nor in the Codex Veron-
ensis, nor in the Codex Corbiensis
these last two edited by myself. nor
In the Codex Vercellensis (seen by me
at VercellD, nor in the Codex Bobbi.
ensis photographic edition inspected,
nor in the Codex Palatinus (collated
by me in Vienna)-which are the
five most ancient Old Latin MSS.
now In existence. and, seeing that
their copying dates from the Fourth
Century, they equal In age our olies.
extant Greek MSS, while the text
they hand down to us is at least
two hundred years earlier.
Moreover. the translators of our
English Bible, owing to the infiu.
ence OF the Vulgate, are guilty in st.
Matthew ". 80 of a serious mistrars-
lation. The original text should be
translated: He that sendeth away
his wife, except on an accusation Of
fornication, causeth her to commit
adultery This is the only meaning
the Latin version will bear, and Pro-
fessor Burkitt, of Cambridge, trans
lates thus from the Syriac of DR..
Cureon's MS: He that leaveth his
wife, concerning whom there hath
not been alleged adultery, he causeth
her to commit adultery
And, therefore, according to the
earliest known text of st. Matthew,
Christ would sanction a man leaving
his wife IL a mere charge of infidelity
Is brought against her."
F'rom "Christ's Teaching on Di.
vorce According to the Earliest
MSS" by e. s. Buchanan, M. A.,
b. &c., pages s and o.
Christ's Attitude.
I do not believe Jesus ever said
any such thing. In His personal
relations to women who had suf.
fered at the hands of men He was
not only tender and forgiving but
sympathetic. His talk to the
woman, to Mary Magda.
lene and to the woman taken in
adultery were consistent attitudes
of interest, sympathy and tender.
ness. II must also be remembered
that Mary Magadalene was more OF
less OF companion of our Lord
after their first meeting.
On one notable occasion He an
parently convicted q large number
of men of adultery. challenged BY
their own consciences. II any such
proportion Of His fellow country
men were as a matter of physical
fact already under this ban why
should He wish to increase the mum.
Der by moral imputation?
The truth Of the matter 10 He
was irritated at the hardness of
the hearts Of the men of His day
who. as It is not, perhaps, generally
known. could themselves personally
write q few words which consti.
tuted by a husbands own will and
act. bill Of divorcement: no courts,
no proofs. nothing which represent.
ed the woman's side of the question
or the Interests OF the community.
v.
New Testament Texts.
You cannot make the Bible
handbook for modern lawmakers,
Puritan New England attempted 10
do that, but In its original form
that experiment lasted only about
fifty years. The liberal needs uf
A...A sA.D..-A