The Warwickshire Herald. — 1893-06-15 (Birmingham, West Midlands, England)

THE SINAITIC MANUSCRIPT.  Codex Aleph, called the Sinaitic manuscript, was discovered in 1859 by the German scholar, Dr. Tischendorf, in the neighbourhood of Mount Sinai. The story of its finding is a veritable romance of history. In 1844 Dr. Tischendorf was travelling in the East, on the look-out for rare and precious manuscripts. In the May of that year, he came to the convent of St. Catherine, at the foot of Mount Sinai. Here at the foot of that mountain, so intimately connected with the Old Testament, he was to And the most complete copy of the New Testament. The convent was inhabited by monks belonging to the Greek Church. These monks were the degenerate descendants of that noble race of monks of an earlier date, who had rendered such signal service to Biblical knowlege. Tischendorf noticed in the convent hall a basket of parchment., and he was told that two heaps of similar old manuscripts had already fed the fire. Looking into the basket the German scholar discovered several sheets ot a copy of the Septuagint of an extremely ancient character. He was allowed to take forty sheets, but when he unwarily expressed his delight, and pressed for more material of the same kind, he aroused the envious suspicions of the monks, and met with a stubborn refusal. Tischendorf came home to Germany, and acquainted the literary world with his "find." He spoke only in a general way about the whereabouts of the place where he had found so much, and hoped some day to find still more. He wished to keep his secret to himself, and so he said vaguely that "somewhere in the East" was the scene of his discovery. Thereupon the English Government sent out experts to search in the East for manuscripts, but at length they returned home empty-handed, and Tischendorf was relieved to think that no one had forestalled him. For IS long years the German scholar tried to put himself into a position from which he could successfully assail the selfish cupidity of the monks of Mount Sinai. At length, in 1859, having obtained the patronage of the Czar Alexander, he revisited the monastery. He came, armed with an Imperial order from the temporal head of the Greek Church, which the Doctor thought would carry weight with the Greek monks. But he was mistaken. The monks remained unmoved, and Tischendorf seemed still far enough off from the attainment of his cherished hope. It was the evening before his departure, and be walked with the steward oi the convent in the grounds. The monk called him into his cell to partake of some refreihment. When the two were together and the door was closed—"l, too," said the steward, "have read a copy of that Septuagint." With these words he took down a bundle wrapped in red cloth and laid it upon the table. When the parcel was uncovered, lo! and behold, there were the very f ragmerits that he had only seen for a moment 15 years before, other parts of the Old Testament in the Greek translation, some of the Apocryphal books, and the whole New Testament. This time the doctor carefully concealed his intense interest and excitement. He carelessly* asked that he might inspect the volume more at leisure in his bedroom. "There, by myself," says Tischendorf, "I gave way to transports of joy. I knew that I bad in my hand one of the most precious Biblical treasures in existence, a document whose age and importance exceeded that of any I had ever seen, after 20 years' study of the subject." At last, by the Emperor of Russia's influence, the manuscript was brought to the Imperial Library at Petersburg. Facsimiles of it can be seen in all the chest libraries of Europe. The age of this manuscript is generally supposed to be about the same as that of the Vatican—i.e., about the fourth century.—" Our Bible: How It Has Come To Cs." By Rev. R. T. Talbot, M.A., Honorary Canon of Durham Cathedral and Lecturer in Church History and Doctrine in the Dioceses of Durham, Ripon, and Newcastle. (London: Lsbistes and Co.)  1 A private telegram nom atessina-announces a shocking discovery *ear bere. /tie body of a men was found on Saturday close to the Ali River, and shortly afterwards the mutilated remains of s young woman, who by her clothing evidently belonged to the wall-to-do class, were also diseoveimd close by on the bank of the Pindeausi River. The circumstances of the case point to a ander and suicide.