CHAPTER XIV.

CAUSES OF CORRUPTION CHIEFLY INTENTIONAL.

X. CORRUPTION BY THE ORTHODOX.

§ 1.

ANOTHER cause why, in very early times, the Text of the Gospels underwent serious depravation, was mistaken solicitude on the part of the ancient orthodox for the purity of the Catholic faith. These persons, like certain of the moderns, Beza for example, evidently did not think it at all wrong to tamper with the inspired Text. If any expression seemed to them to have a dangerous tendency, they altered it, or transplanted it, or removed it bodily from the sacred page. About the uncritical nature of what they did, they entertained no suspicion: about the immorality of the proceeding, they evidently did not trouble themselves at all. On the contrary, the piety of the motive seems to have been held to constitute a sufficient excuse for any amount of licence. The copies which had undergone this process of castigation were even styled ‘corrected,’—and doubtless were popularly looked upon as ‘the correct copies’ [like our ‘critical texts’]. An illustration of this is afforded by a circumstance mentioned by Epiphanius.

He states (ii. 36) that the orthodox, out of jealousy for the Lord’s. Divinity, eliminated from St. Luke xix. 41 the record that our Saviour ‘wept.’ We will not pause to inquire what this statement may be worth. But when the same Father adds,—‘In the uncorrected copies (ἐν τοῖς ἀδιορθώτοις ἀντιγράφοις) is found “He wept,”’ Epiphanius is instructive. Perfectly well aware that the expression is genuine, he goes on to state that ‘Irenaeus quoted it in his work against Heresies, when he had to confute the error of the Docetae⁴⁹⁷⁴⁹⁷    Πρὸς τοὶς δοκήσει τὸν Χριστὸν πεφηνέναι λέγοντας..’ ‘Nevertheless,’ Epiphanius adds, the orthodox through fear erased the record.’

So then, the process of ‘correction’ was a critical process conducted on utterly erroneous principles by men who knew nothing whatever about Textual Criticism. Such recensions of the Text proved simply fatal to the Deposit. To ‘correct’ was in this and such like cases simply to ‘corrupt.’

Codexes BאD may be regarded as specimens of Codexes which have once and again passed through the hands of such a corrector or διορθωτής.

St. Luke (ii. 40) records concerning the infant Saviour that the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit.’ By repeating the selfsame expression which already,—viz. in chap. i. 80,—had been applied to the Childhood of the Forerunner⁴⁹⁸⁴⁹⁸    Τὸ δὲ παιδίον ηὔξανε, καὶ ἐκραταιοῦτο πνεύματι., it was clearly the design of the Author of Scripture to teach that the Word ‘made flesh’ submitted to the same laws of growth and increase as every other Son of Adam. The body ‘grew,’—the spiritual part ‘waxed strong.’ This statement was nevertheless laid hold of by the enemies of Christianity. How can it be pretended (they asked) that He was ‘perfect God’ (τέλειος Θεός), of whom it is related in respect of His spirit that 213he waxed strong⁴⁹⁹⁴⁹⁹    It is the twenty-fourth and the thirtieth question in the first Dialogus of pseudo-Caesarius (Gall. vi. 17, 20).’? The consequence might have been foreseen. Certain of the orthodox were ill-advised enough to erase the word πνεύματι from the copies of St. Luke ii. 40; and lo, at the end of 1,500 years, four ‘corrected’ copies, two Versions, one Greek Father, survive to bear witness to the ancient fraud. No need to inquire which, what, and who these be.

But because it is אBDL, Origen⁵⁰⁰⁵⁰⁰    Opp. 953, 954—with suspicious emphasis., and the Latin, the Egyptian and Lewis which are without the word πνεύματι, Lachmann, Tregelles, Tischendorf, and the Revisers jump to the conclusion that πνεύματι is a spurious accretion to the Text. They ought to reverse their proceeding; and recognize in the evidence one more indication of the untrustworthiness of the witnesses. For,—how then is it supposed that the word (πνεύματι) ever obtained its footing in the Gospel? For all reply we are assured that it has been imported hither from St. Luke i. 80. But, we rejoin, How does the existence of the phrase ἐκραταιοῦτο πνεύματι in i. 80 explain its existence in ii. 40, in every known copy of the Gospels except four, if in these 996 places, suppose, it be an interpolation? This is what has to be explained. Is it credible that all the remaining uncials, and every known cursive copy, besides all the lectionaries, should have been corrupted in this way: and that the truth should survive exclusively at this time only in the remaining four; viz. in B–א,—the sixth century Cod. D,—and the eighth century Cod. L?

When then, and where did the work of depravation take place? It must have been before the sixth century, because Leontius of Cyprus⁵⁰¹⁵⁰¹    Ed. Migne, vol. 93, p. 1581 a, b (Novum Auct. i. 700). quotes it three times and discusses the expression at length:—before the fifth, because, besides 214Cod. A, Cyril⁵⁰²⁵⁰²    When Cyril writes (Scholia, ed. Pusey, vol. vi. 568),—“Τὸ δὲ παιδίον ηὔξανε καὶ ἐκραταιοῦτο ΠΝΕΥΜΑΤΙ, πληρούμενον ΣΟΦΙΑ καὶ ΧΑΡΙΤΙ.” καίτοι κατὰ φύσιν παντέλειός ἐστιν ὡς Θεὸς καὶ ἐξ ἰδίου πληρώματος διανέμει τοῖς ἁγίοις τὰ ΠΝΕΥΜΑΤΙΚΑ, καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν ἡ ΣΟΦΙΑ, καὶ τῆς ΧΑΡΙΤΟΣ ὁ δοτήρ,—it is clear that πνεύματι must have stood in Cyril’s text. The same is the reading of Cyril’s Treatise, De Incarnatione (Mai, ii. 57): and of his Commentary on St. Luke (ibid. p. 136). One is surprised at Tischendorf’s perverse inference concerning the last-named place. Cyril had begun by quoting the whole of ver. 40 in exact conformity with the traditional text (Mai, ii. 136). At the close of some remarks (found both in Mai and in Cramer’s Catena), Cyril proceeds as follows, according to the latter:—ὁ Εὐαγγελιστὴς ἔφη “ηὔξανε καὶ ἐκραταιοῦτο” ΚΑΙ ΤΑ ΕΞΗΣ. Surely this constitutes no ground for supposing that he did not recognize the word πνεύματι, but rather that he did. On the other hand, it is undeniable that in V. P. ii. 138 and 139 (= Concilia iii. 241 d, 244 a), from Pusey’s account of what he found in the MSS. (vii. P. i. 277-8)) the word πνεύματι must be suspected of being an unauthorized addition to the text of Cyril’s treatise, De Rectâ fide ad Pulcheriam et Eudociam., Theodoret⁵⁰³⁵⁰³    ii. 152: iv. 112: v. 120, 121 (four times). and ps.-Caesarius⁵⁰⁴⁵⁰⁴    Εἰ τέλειός ἐστι Θεὸς ὁ Χριστός, πῶς ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς λέγει, τὸ δὲ παιδίον Ἰησοῦς ηὔξανε καὶ ἐκραταιοῦτο πνεύματι;—S. Caesarii, Dialogus I, Quaest. 24 (ap. Galland. vi. 17 c). And see Quaest. 30. recognize the word:—before the fourth, because Epiphanius⁵⁰⁵⁵⁰⁵    ii. 36 d., Theodore of Mopsuestia⁵⁰⁶⁵⁰⁶    Fragmenta Syriaca, ed. Sachau, p.53.—The only other Greek Fathers who quote the place are Euthymius and Theophylact., and the Gothic version have it:—before the third, before nearly all of the second century, because it is found in the Peshitto. What more plain than that we have before us one other instance of the injudicious zeal of the orthodox? one more sample of the infelicity of modern criticism?

§ 2.

Theodotus and his followers fastened on the first part of St. John viii. 40, when they pretended to shew from Scripture that Christ is mere Man⁵⁰⁷⁵⁰⁷    Ἢν ἤκουσα παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ Epiph. i. 463.. I am persuaded that the reading ‘of My Father⁵⁰⁸⁵⁰⁸    Instead of παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ.,’—which Origen⁵⁰⁹⁵⁰⁹    i. 410: iv. 294, 534. Elsewhere he defends and employs it., Epiphanius⁵¹⁰⁵¹⁰    i. 260, 463: 49., Athanasius⁵¹¹⁵¹¹    i. 705., Chrysostom⁵¹²⁵¹²    viii. 365., Cyril Alex.⁵¹³⁵¹³    (Glaph.) i. 18., 215and Theodoret⁵¹⁴⁵¹⁴    iv. 83, 430. But both Origen (1. 705: iv. 320, 402) and Cyril (iv. 554: v. 758) quote the traditional reading; and Cyril (iv. 549) distinctly says that the latter is right, and παρὰ τοῦ πατρός wrong. prove to have been acquainted,—was substituted by some of the orthodox in this place, with the pious intention of providing a remedy for the heretical teaching of their opponents. At the present day only six cursive copies are known to retain this trace of a corruption of Scripture which must date from the second century.

We now reach a most remarkable instance. It will be remembered that St. John in his grand preface does not rise to the full height of his sublime argument until he reaches the eighteenth verse. He had said (ver. 14) that the ‘Word was made flesh,’ &c.; a statement which Valentinus was willing to admit. But, as we have seen, the heresiarch and his followers denied that ‘the Word’ is also ‘the Son’ of God. As if in order to bar the door against this pretence, St. John announces (ver. 18) that ‘the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him’: thus establishing the identity of the Word and the Only begotten Son. What else could the Valentinians do with so plain a statement, but seek to deprave it? Accordingly, the very first time St. John i. 18 is quoted by any of the ancients, it is accompanied by the statement that the Valentinians in order to prove that the ‘only begotten’ is ‘the Beginning,’ and is ‘God,’ appeal to the words,—‘the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father⁵¹⁵⁵¹⁵    Excerpt. Theod. 968.—Heracleon’s name is also connected by Origen with this text. Valentinus (ap. Iren. 100) says, ὃν δὴ καὶ υἱὸν Μονογενῆ καὶ Θεὸν κέκληκεν.,’ &c. Inasmuch, said they, as the Father willed to become known to the worlds, the Spirit of Gnosis produced the ‘only begotten’ ‘Gnosis,’ and therefore gave birth to ‘Gnosis,’ that is to ;the Son’: in order that by ‘the Son’ ‘the Father’ might be made known. While then that ‘only begotten Son’ abode ‘in the bosom of the 216Father,’ He caused that here upon earth should be seen, alluding to ver. 14, one ‘as the only begotten Son.’ In which, by the way, the reader is requested to note that the author of the Excerpta Theodoti (a production of the second century) reads St. John i. 18 as we do.

I have gone into all these strange details,—derived, let it be remembered, from documents which carry us back to the former half of the second century,—because in no other way is the singular phenomenon which attends the text of St. John i. 18 to be explained and accounted for. Sufficiently plain and easy of transmission as it is, this verse of Scripture is observed to exhibit perturbations which are even extraordinary. Irenaeus once writes ὁ [?] μονογενὴς υἱός: once, ὁ [?] μονογενὴς Θεός: once, ὁ μονογενὴς υἱὸς Θεοῦ⁵¹⁶⁵¹⁶    Pp. 627, 630, 466.: Clemens Alex., ὁ μονογενὴς υἱὸς Θεὸς μόνος⁵¹⁷⁵¹⁷    P. 956.; which must be very nearly the reading of the Codex from which the text of the Vercelli Copy of the Old Latin was derived⁵¹⁸⁵¹⁸    ‘Deum nemo vidit umquam: nisi unicus filius solus, sinum patris ipse enarravit.’—(Comp. Tertullian:—‘Solus filius patrem novit et sinum patris ipse exposuit’ (Prax. c. 8. Cp. c. 21): but he elsewhere (ibid. c. 15) exhibits the passage in the usual way.) Clemens writes,—τότε ἐποπτεύσεις τὸν κόλπον τοῦ Πατρός, ὃν ὁ μονογενὴς υἱὸς Θεὸς μόνος ἐξηγήσατο (956), and in the Excerpt. Theod. we find οὖτος τὸν κόλπον τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐξηγήσατο ὁ Σωτήρ (969). But this is unintelligible until it is remembered that our Lord is often spoken of by the Fathers as ἡ δεξιά τοῦ ὑψίστου . . . κόλπος δέ τῆς δεξιᾶς ὁ Πατήρ.(Greg. Nyss. 192.). Eusebius four times writes 6ὁ μονογενὴς υἱός⁵¹⁹⁵¹⁹    Ps. 440 (–ὁ): Marcell. 165, 179, 273.: twice, μονογενὴς Θεός⁵²⁰⁵²⁰    Marcell. 334: Theoph. 14.: and on one occasion gives his reader the choice of either expression, explaining why both may stand⁵²¹⁵²¹    Marcell. 132. Read on to p. 134.. Gregory Nyss.⁵²²⁵²²    Opp. ii. 466. and Basil⁵²³⁵²³    Opp. iii. 23, 358., though they recognize the usual reading of the place, are evidently vastly more familiar with the reading ὁ μονογενὴς Θεός⁵²⁴⁵²⁴    Greg. Nyss. Opp. i. 192, 663 (θεὸς πάντως ὁ μονογενής, ὁ ἐν τοῖς κόλποις ὢν τοῦ Πατρός, οὕτως εἰπόντος τοῦ Ἰωάννου) Also ii. 432, 447, 450, 470, 506: (always ἐν τοῖς κόλποις). Basil, Opp. iii. 12.: for Basil 217adopts the expression thrice⁵²⁵⁵²⁵    Basil, Opp. iii. 14, 16, 117: and so Eunomius (ibid. i. 623)., and Gregory nearly thirty-three times as often⁵²⁶⁵²⁶    Contra Eunom. I have noted ninety-eight places.. This was also the reading of Cyril Alex.⁵²⁷⁵²⁷    Cyril (iv. 104) paraphrases St. John i. 18 thus:—αὐτὸς γὰρ Θεὸς ὢν ὁ μονογενὴς, ἐν κόλποις ὢν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ πατρός, ταύτην πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὲποιήσατο τὴν ἐξήγησιν. Presently (p. 105), he says that St. John καὶ “μονογενῆ Θεὸν” ἀποκαλεῖ τὸν υἱόν, καὶ “ἐν κόλποις” εἶναι φησὶ τοῦ πατρός But on p. 107 he speaks quite plainly: ὁ μονογενής,” φησί, “Θεός, ὁ ὣν εἰς τὸν κὸλπον τοῦ πατρός, ἐκεῖνος ἐξηγῇσατο.” ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἔφη “μονογενῆ” καὶ “Θεόν,” τίθησιν εὐθύς, “ὁ ὢν ἐν τοῖς κόλποις τοῦ πατρός.’—So v. 137, 768. And yet he reads υἱός in v. 365, 437: vi. 90., whose usual phrase however is ὁ μονογενὴς τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγος⁵²⁸⁵²⁸    He uses it seventeen times in his Comm.on Isaiah (ii. 4, 35, 122, &c.), and actually so reads St. John i. 18 in one place (Opp. vi. 587). Theodoret once adopts the phrase (Opp. v. 4).. Didymus has only [? cp. context] ὁ μονογενὴς Θεός, —for which he once writes ὁ μονογενὴς Θεὸς λόγος⁵²⁹⁵²⁹    De Trin. 76, 140, 372:—7.. Cyril of Jer. seems to have read ὁ μονογενὴς μόνος⁵³⁰⁵³⁰    P. 117..

[I have retained this valuable and suggestive passage in the form in which the Dean left it. It evidently has not the perfection that attends some of his papers, and would have been amplified and improved if his life had been spared. More passages than he noticed, though limited to the ante-Chrysostom period, are referred to in the companion volume⁵³¹⁵³¹    Traditional Text, p. 113, where the references are given.. The portentous number of mentions by Gregory of Nyssa escaped me, though I knew that there were several. Such repetitions of a phrase could only be admitted into my calculation in a restricted and representative number. Indeed, I often quoted at least on our side less than the real number of such reiterations occurring in one passage, because in course of repetition they came to assume for such a purpose a parrot-like value.

But the most important part of the Dean’s paper is found in his account of the origin of the expression. This inference is strongly confirmed by the employment of it 218in the Arian controversy. Arius reads Θεός (ap. Epiph. 73—Tischendorf), whilst his opponents read Υἱός. So Faustinus seven times (I noted him only thrice), and Victorinus Afer six (10) times in reply to the Arian Candidus⁵³²⁵³²    Who quoted Arius’ words:—‘Subsistit ante tempora et aeones plenus Deus, ungenitus, et immutabilis.’ But I cannot yet find Tischendorf’s reference.. Also Athanasius and Hilary of Poictiers four times each, and Ambrose eight (add Epp. I. xxii. 5). It is curious that with this history admirers of B and א should extol their reading over the Traditional reading on the score of orthodoxy. Heresy had and still retains associations which cannot be ignored: in this instance some of the orthodox weakly played into the hands of heretics⁵³³⁵³³    The reading Υἱός is established by unanswerable evidence.. None may read Holy Scripture just as the idea strikes them.]

§ 3.

All are familiar with the received text of 1 Cor. xv. 47:—ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος ἐκ γῆς χοϊκός· ὁ δεύτερος ἄνθρωπος ὁ Κύριος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ. That this place was so read in the first age is certain: for so it stands in the Syriac. These early heretics however of whom St. John speaks, who denied that ‘Jesus Christ had come in the flesh⁵³⁴⁵³⁴    The Gnostics Basilides and Valentinus were the direct precursors of Apolonius, Photinus, Nestorius, &c., in assailing the Catholic doctrine of the Incarnation. Their heresy must have been actively at work when St. John wrote his first (iv. 1, 2, 3) and second (ver. 7) Epistles.,’ and who are known to have freely ‘taken away from the words’ of Scripture⁵³⁵⁵³⁵    Rev. xxii. 19., are found to have made themselves busy here. If (they argued) ‘the second man’ was indeed ‘the Lord-from-Heaven,’ how can it be pretended that Christ took upon Himself human flesh⁵³⁶⁵³⁶    Ἐπιπηδῶσιν ἡμῖν οἱ αἱρετικοί λέγοντες· ἰδοὺ οὐκ ἀνέλαβε πάρκα ὁ Χριστός· ὁ δεύτ. γάρ φησιν ἄνθρ. ὁ κ. ἐξ οὐρανοῦ. Chrys. 114 b.? And to bring out this contention of theirs more plainly, they did not hesitate to remove as superfluous the word ‘man’ in the second 219clause of the sentence. There resulted,—‘The first man [was] of the earth, earthy: ὁ δεύτερος Κύριος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ⁵³⁷⁵³⁷    Τὴν γὰρ κατὰ σάρκα γέννησιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀνελεῖν βουλόμενοι, ἐνήλλαξαν τό, ὁ δεύτερος ἄνθρωπος· καὶ ἐποίησαν, ὁ δεύτερος Κύριος. Dial. [ap. Orig.] i. 868.—Marcion had in fact already substituted Κύριος for ἄνθρωπος in ver. 45: (‘the last Lord became a quickening spirit’:) [Tertull. ii. 304]—a fabricated reading which is also found to have been upheld by Marcion’s followers:—ὁ ἔσχατος Κύριος εἰς πν. ζω. Dial. ubi supra. ἔδει γὰρ αὐτούς, εἴ γε τὰ εὐαγγέλια ἐτίμων, μὴ περιτέμνειν τὰ εὐαγγέλια, μὴ μέρη τῶν εὐαγγελίων ἐξυφελεῖν, μὴ ἕτερα προσθῆναι, μήτε λόγῳ, μήτε ἰδίᾳ γνώμῃ τὰ εὐαγγέλια προσγράφειν . . . . προσγεγραφήκασι γοῦν ὅσα βεβούληνται, καὶ ἐξυφείλαντο ὅσα κακρίκασι. Titus of Bostra c. Manichaeos (Galland. v. 328).,’ It is thus that Marcion⁵³⁸⁵³⁸    Tertull. 304, (Primus homo de humo terrenus, secundus Dominus de Caelo). (A.D. 130) and his followers⁵³⁹⁵³⁹    Dial. [Orig. i.] 868, (ὁ δεύτερος Κύριος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ). read the place. But in this subject-matter extravagance in one direction is ever observed to beget extravagance in another. I suspect that it was in order to counteract the ejection by the heretics of ἄνθρωπος in. ver. 47, that, early in the second century, the orthodox retaining ἄνθρωπος, judged it expedient to leave out the expression ὁ Κύριος, which had been so unfairly pressed against them; and were contented to read,—‘the second man [was] from heaven.’ A calamitous exchange, truly. For first, (I), The text thus maimed afforded countenance to another form of misbelief. And next, (II), It necessitated a further change in 1 Cor. xv. 47.

(I) It furnished a pretext to those heretics who maintained that Christ was ‘Man’ before He came into the World. This heresy came to a head in the persons of Apolinarius⁵⁴⁰⁵⁴⁰    Τὸ δὲ πάντων χαλεπώτατον ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησιαστικαῖς συμφοραῖς, ἡ τῶν Ἀπολιναριστῶν ἐστὶ παρρησία. Greg. Naz. 167. and Photinus; in contending with whom, Greg. Naz.⁵⁴¹⁵⁴¹    ii. 168,—a very interesting place. See also p. 87. and Epiphanius⁵⁴²⁵⁴²    i. 831. are observed to argue with disadvantage from the mutilated text. Tertullian⁵⁴³⁵⁴³    ii. 443, 531., and Cyprian⁵⁴⁴⁵⁴⁴    Pp. 180, 209, 260, 289, 307 (primus homo de terrae limo, &c.). after him, knew no other reading but ‘secundus 220homo de Caelo,’—which is in fact the way this place stands in the Old Latin. And thus, from the second century downwards, two readings (for the Marcionite text was speedily forgotten) became current in the Church:—(1) The inspired language of the Apostle, cited at the outset,—which is retained by all the known copies, except nine; and is vouched for by Basil⁵⁴⁵⁵⁴⁵    iii. 40., Chrysostom⁵⁴⁶⁵⁴⁶    iii. 114 four times: x. 394, 395. Once (xi. 374) he has ὁ δεύτ. ἄνθρ. ἐξ οὐρανοῦ., Theodotus⁵⁴⁷⁵⁴⁷    iv. 1051., Eutherius⁵⁴⁸⁵⁴⁸    Ap. Thdt. v. 1135.; Theodorus Mops.⁵⁴⁹⁵⁴⁹    Ap. Galland. viii. 626, 627., Damascene⁵⁵⁰⁵⁵⁰    i. 222 (where for ἄνθρ. he reads Ἀδάμ), 563. Also ii. 120, 346. , Petrus Siculus⁵⁵¹⁵⁵¹    ’Adversus Manichaeos,’—ap. Mai, iv. 68, 69., and Theophylact⁵⁵²⁵⁵²    ii. 228:—οὐχ ὅτι ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἤτοι τὸ ἀνθρώπινον πρόσλημμα, ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἦν, ὡς ὁ ἄφρων Ἀπολιν8άριος ἐλήρει.: and (2) The corrected (i.e. the maimed) text of the orthodox;—ὁ δεύτερος· ἄνθρωπος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ: with which, besides the two Gregories⁵⁵³⁵⁵³    Naz. ii. 87 (= Thdt. iv. 62), 168.—Nyss. ii. 11., Photinus⁵⁵⁴⁵⁵⁴    Ap. Epiphan. i. 830. and Apolinarius the heretics were acquainted; but which at this day is only known to survive in א*BCD*EFG and two cursive copies. Origen⁵⁵⁵⁵⁵⁵    ii. 559 (with the Text. Recept.): iv. 302 not., and (long after him) Cyril, employed both readings⁵⁵⁶⁵⁵⁶    Hippolytus may not be cited in evidence, being read both ways. (Cp. ed. Fabr. ii. 30:—ed. Lagarde, 138. 15:—ed. Galland. ii. 483.)—Neither may the expression τοῦ δευτέρου ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἀνθρώπου in Pet. Alex. (ed. Routh, Rell. Sacr. iv. 48) be safely pressed..

(II) But then, (as all must see) such a maimed exhibition of the text was intolerable. The balance of the sentence had been destroyed. Against ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος, St. Paul had set ὁ δεύτερος ἄνθρωπος: against ἐκ γῆς—ἐξ οὐρανοῦ: against χοϊκός—ὁ Κύριος:. Remove ὁ Κύριος, and some substitute for it must be invented as a counterpoise to χοϊκός. Taking a hint from what is found in ver. 48, some one (plausibly enough,) suggested ἐπουράνιος: and this gloss so effectually recommended 221itself to Western Christendom, that having been adopted by Ambrose⁵⁵⁷⁵⁵⁷    Primus homo de terra, terrenus: secundus homo de caelo caelestis.—i. 1168, 1363: ii. 265, 975. And so ps.-Ambr. 166, 437., by Jerome⁵⁵⁸⁵⁵⁸     ii. 298: iv. 930: vii. 296. (and later by Augustine⁵⁵⁹⁵⁵⁹    The places are given by Sabatier in loc.,) it established itself in the Vulgate⁵⁶⁰⁵⁶⁰    Only because it is the Vulgate reading, I am persuaded, does this reading appear in Orig. interp. ii. 84, 85: iii. 951: iv. 546., and is found in all the later Latin writers⁵⁶¹⁵⁶¹    As Philastrius (ap. Galland. vii. 492, 516).—Pacianus (ib. 275).—Marius Mercator (ib. viii. 664).—Capreolus (ib. ix. 493). But see the end of the next ensuing note.. Thus then, a third rival reading enters the field,—which because it has well-nigh disappeared from Greek MSS., no longer finds an advocate. Our choice lies therefore between the two former:—viz. (a) the received, which is the only well-attested reading of the place: and (b) the maimed text of the Old Latin, which Jerome deliberately rejected (A.D. 380), and for which he substituted another even worse attested reading. (Note, that these two Western fabrications effectually dispose of one another.) It should be added that Athanasius⁵⁶²⁵⁶²    Vol. i. p. 1275,—ὁ δεύτερος ἄνθρ. ὁ Κύριος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ οὐράνιος:—on which he remarks, (if indeed it be he), ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἀμφοτέρωθεν οὐράνιος ἄνθρωπος ὀνομάζεται. And lower down,—Κύριος, διὰ τὴν μίαν ὑπόστασιν· δεύτ. μὲν ἄνθρ., κατὰ τὴν ἑνωμένην ἀνθρωπότητα. ἐξ οὐρανοῦ δέ, κατὰ τὴν θεότητα.—P. 448,—ὁ δεύτερος ἄνθρ. ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἐπουράνιος.—Ap. Montf. ii. 13 (= Galland. v. 167),—ὁ δεύτ. ἄνθρ. ἐξ οὐρανοῦ.—Note that Maximinus, an Arian bishop, A.D. 427-8 (ap. Augustin. viii. 663) is found to have possessed a text identical with the first of the preceding:—‘Ait ipse Paulus, Primus homo Adam de terra terrenus, secundus homo Dominus de Caelo caelestis advenit.’ lends his countenance to all the three readings.

But now, let me ask,—Will any one be disposed, after a careful survey of the premisses, to accept the verdict of Tischendorf, Tregelles and the rest, who are for bringing the Church back to the maimed text of which I began by giving the history and explaining the origin? Let it be noted that the one question is,—shall ὁ Κύριος be retained in the 222second clause, or not? But there it stood within thirty years of the death of St. John: and there it stands, at the end of eighteen centuries in every extant copy (including AK LP) except nine. It has been excellently witnessed to all down the ages,—viz. By Origen, Hippolytus, Athanasius, Basil, Chrysostom, Cyril, Theodotus, Eutherius, Theodore Mops., Damascene and others. On what principle would you now reject it? . . . With critics who assume that a reading found in אBCDEFG must needs be genuine,—it is vain to argue. And yet the most robust faith ought to be effectually shaken by the discovery that four, if not five (אACFG) of these same MSS., by reading ‘we shall all sleep; but we shall not all be changed,’ contradict St. Paul’s solemn announcement in ver. 51: while a sixth (D) stands alone in substituting ‘we shall all rise; but we shall not all be changed.’—In this very verse, C is for introducing Ἀδάμ into the first clause of the sentence: FG, for subjoining ὁ οὐράνιος. When will men believe that guides like these are to be entertained with habitual distrust? to be listened tog with the greatest caution? to be followed, for their own sakes,—never?

I have been the fuller on this place, because it affords an instructive example of what has occasionally befallen the words of Scripture. Very seldom indeed are we able to handle a text in this way. Only when the heretics assailed, did the orthodox defend: whereby it came to pass that a record was preserved of how the text was read by the ancient Father. The attentive reader will note (a) That all the changes which we have been considering belong to the earliest age of all:—(א) That the corrupt reading is retained by אBC and their following: the genuine text, in the great bulk of the copies:—(c) That the first mention of the text is found in the writings of an early heretic:—(d) That [the orthodox introduced a change in the interests, as they fancied, of truth, but from utter misapprehension 223of the nature and authority of the Word of God:—and (e) that under the Divine Providence that change was so effectually thrown out, that decisive witness is found on the other side].

§ 4.

Closely allied to the foregoing, and constantly referred to in connexion with it by those Fathers who undertook to refute the heresy of Apolinarius, is our Lord’s declaration to Nicodemus,—‘No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven’ (St. John iii. 13). Christ ‘came down from heaven’ when He became incarnate: and having become incarnate, is said to have ‘ascended up to Heaven,’ and ‘to be in Heaven,’ because ‘the Son of Man,’ who was not in heaven before, by virtue of the hypostatical union was thenceforward evermore ‘in heaven.’ But the Evangelist’s language was very differently taken by those heretics who systematically ‘maimed and misinterpreted that which belongeth to the human nature of Christ.’ Apolinarius, who relied on the present place, is found to have read it without the final clause (ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανοῷ); and certain of the orthodox (as Greg. Naz., Greg. Nyssa, Epiphanius, while contending with him,) shew themselves not unwilling to argue from the text so mutilated. Origen and the author of the Dialogus once, Eusebius twice, Cyril not fewer than nineteen times, also leave off at the words even the Son of Man’: from which it is insecurely gathered that those Fathers disallowed the clause which follows. On the other hand, thirty-eight Fathers and ten Versions maintain the genuineness of the words ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανοῷ⁵⁶³⁵⁶³    See Revision Revised, pp. 132-5: and The Traditional Text, p. 114.. But the decisive circumstance is that,—besides the Syriac and the Latin copies which 224all witness to the existence of the clause,—the whole body of the uncials, four only excepted (אBLT^b), and every known cursive but one (33)—are for retaining it.

No thoughtful reader will rise from a discussion like the foregoing without inferring from the facts which have emerged in the course of it the exceeding antiquity of depravations of the inspired verity. For let me not be supposed to have asserted that the present depravation was the work of Apolinarius. Like the rest, it is probably older by at least 150 years. Apolinarius, in whose person the heresy which bears his name came to a head, did but inherit the tenets of his predecessors in error; and these had already in various ways resulted in the corruption of the deposit.

§ 5⁵⁶⁴⁵⁶⁴    This paper is marked as having been written at Chichester in 1877, and is therefore earlier than the Dean’s later series.

The matter in hand will be conveniently illustrated by inviting the reader’s attention to another famous place. There is a singular consent among the Critics for eliminating from St. Luke ix. 54-6, twenty-four words which embody two memorable sayings of the Son of Man. The entire context is as follows:—‘Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, (as Elias did)? But he turned, and rebuked them. (and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.) (For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.) And they went to another village.’ The three bracketed clauses contain the twenty-four words in dispute.

The first of these clauses (ὡς καὶ Ἡλίας ἐποίησε), which claims to be part of the inquiry of St. John and St. James, Mill rejected as an obvious interpolation. ‘Res ipsa clamat. 225Quis enim sanus tam insignia deleverit⁵⁶⁵⁵⁶⁵    Proleg. 418.?’ Griesbach retained it as probably genuine.—The second clause (καὶ εἶπεν, Οὐκ οἴδατε οἵου πνεύματός ἐστε ὑμεῖς) he obelized as probably not genuine:—the third (ὁ γὰρ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἦλθε ψυχὰς ἀνθρώπων ἀπολέσαι, ἀλλὰ σῶσαι) he rejected entirely. Lachmann also retains the first clause, but rejects the other two. Alford, not without misgiving, does the same. Westcott and Hort, without any misgiving about the third clause, are ‘morally certain’ that the first and second clauses are a Western interpolation. Tischendorf and Tregelles are thorough. They agree, and the Revisers of 1881, in rejecting unceremoniously all the three clauses and exhibiting the place curtly, thus.—Κύριε, θέλεις εἴπωμεν πῦρ καταβῆναι ἀπὸ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ ἀναλῶσαι αὐτούς; στραφεὶς δὲ ἐπετίμησεν αὐτοῖς. καὶ ἐπορεύθησαν εἰς ἑτέραν κώμην.⁵⁶⁶⁵⁶⁶    The text of St. Luke ix. 51-6 prefixed to Cyril’s fifty-sixth Sermon (p. 253) is the text of B and א,—an important testimony to what I suppose may be regarded as the Alexandrine Textus Receptus of this place in the fifth century. But then no one supposes that Cyril is individually responsible for the headings of his Sermons. We therefore refer to the body of his discourse; and discover that the Syriac translator has rendered it (as usual) with exceeding licence. He has omitted to render some such words as the following which certainly stood in the original text:—εἰδέναι γὰρ χρή, ὅτι ὡς μήπω τῆς νέας κακρατηκότες χάριτος, ἀλλ???? ἔτι τῆς προτέρας ἐχόμενοι συνηθείας, τοῦτο εἶπον, πρὸς Ἠλίαν ἀφορῶντες τὸν πυρὶ καταφλέξαντα δὶς τοὺς πεντήκοντα καὶ τοὺς ἡγουμένους αὐτῶν. (Cramer’s Cat. ii. p. 81. Cf. Corderii, Cat. p. 263. Also Matthaei, N. T. in loc., pp. 223-4.) Now the man who wrote that, must surely have read St. Luke ix. 54, 55 as we do.

Now it may as well be declared at once that Codd. אBLΞ 1 g^l Cyr^{luc 2}, two MSS. of the Bohairic (d 3, d 2), the Lewis, and two cursives (71, 157) are literally the only authority, ancient or modern, for so exhibiting the text [in all its bare crudeness]. Against them are arrayed the whole body of MSS. uncial and cursive, including ACD; every known lectionary; all the Latin, the Syriac (Cur. om. Clause 1), and indeed every other known version: besides seven good Greek Fathers beginning 226with Clemens Alex. (A.D. 190), and five Latin Fathers beginning with Tertullian (A.D. 190): Cyprian’s testimony being in fact the voice of the Fourth Council of Carthage, A.D. 253. If on a survey of this body of evidence any one will gravely tell me that the preponderance of authority still seems to him to be in favour of the shorter reason, I can but suggest that the sooner he communicates to the world the grounds for his opinion, the better.

(1) In the meantime it becomes necessary to consider the disputed clauses separately, because ancient authorities, rivalling modern critics, are unable to agree as to which they will reject, which they will retain. I begin with the second. What persuades so many critics to omit the precious words καὶ εἶπεν, Οὐκ οἴδατε οἵου πνεύματός ἐστε ὑμεῖς, is the discovery that these words are absent from many uncial MSS.,—אABC and nine others; besides, as might have been confidently anticipated from that fact, also from a fair proportion of the cursive copies. It is impossible to deny that prima facie such an amount of evidence against any words of Scripture is exceedingly weighty. Pseudo-Basil (ii. 271) is found to have read the passage in the same curt way. Cyril, on the other hand, seems to have read it differently.

And yet, the entire aspect of the case becomes changed the instant it is perceived that this disputed clause is recognized by Clemens⁵⁶⁷⁵⁶⁷    See the fragment (and Potter’s note), Opp. p. 1019: also Galland. 157. First in Hippolyt., Opp. ed. Fabric. ii. 71. (A.D. 190); as well as by the Old Latin, by the Peshitto, and by the Curetonian Syriac: for the fact is thus established that as well in Eastern as in Western Christendom the words under discussion were actually recognized as genuine full a hundred and fifty years before the oldest of the extant uncials came into existence. When it is further found that (besides Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine,) the Vulgate, the Old Egyptian, the Harkleian 227Syriac and the Gothic versions also contain the words in question; and especially that Chrysostom in four places, Didymus, Epiphanius, Cyril and Theodoret, besides Antiochus, familiarly quote them, it is evident that the testimony of antiquity in their favour is even overwhelming. Add that in eight uncial MSS. (beginning with D) the words in dispute form part of the text of St. Luke, and that they are recognized by the great mass of the cursive copies,—(only six out of the twenty which Scrivener has collated being without them,)—and it is plain that at least five tests of genuineness have been fully satisfied.

(2) The third clause (ὁ γὰρ ὑιὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἦλθε ψυχὰς ἀνθρώπων ἀπολέσαι, ἀλλὰ σῶσαι) rests on precisely the same solid evidence as the second; except that the testimony of Clemens is no longer available,—but only because his quotation does not extend so far. Cod. D also omits this third clause; which on the other hand is upheld by Tertullian, Cyprian and Ambrose. Tischendorf suggests that it has surreptitiously found its way into the text from St. Luke xix. 10, or St. Matt. xviii. 11. But this is impossible; simply because what is found in those two places is essentially different: namely,—ἦλθε γὰρ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ζητῆσαι καὶ⁵⁶⁸⁵⁶⁸    In St. Matt. xviii. 11, the words ζητῆσαι και do not occur. σῶσαι τὸ ἀπολωλός.

(3) We are at liberty in the meantime to note how apt an illustration is here afforded of the amount of consensus which subsists between documents of the oldest class. This divergence becomes most conspicuous when we direct our attention to the grounds for omitting the foremost clause of the three, ὡς καὶ Ἠλίας ἐποίησεν: for here we make the notable discovery that the evidence is not only less weighty, but also different. Codexes B and א are now forsaken by all their former allies except LΞ and a single cursive copy. True, they are supported by the Curetonian Syriac, the Vulgate and two copies of the Old Latin. But this time 228they find themselves confronted by Codexes ACD with thirteen other uncials and the whole body of the cursives; the Peshitto, Coptic, Gothic, and Harkleian versions; by Clemens, Jerome, Chrysostom, Cyril and pseudo-Basil. In respect of antiquity, variety, respectability, numbers,. they are therefore hopelessly outvoted.

Do any inquire, How then has all this contradiction and depravation of Codexes אABC(D) come about? I answer as follows:—

It was a favourite tenet with the Gnostic heretics that the Law and the Gospel are at variance. In order to establish this, Marcion (in a work called Antitheses) set passages of the New Testament against passages of the Old; from the seeming disagreement between which his followers were taught to infer that the Law and the Gospel cannot have proceeded from one and the same author⁵⁶⁹⁵⁶⁹    Bp. Kaye’s Tertullian, p. 468. ‘Agnosco iudicis severitatem. E contrario Christi in eandem animadversionem destinantes discipulos super illum viculum Samaritarum.’ Marc. iv. 23 (see p. 221). He adds,—‘Let Marcion also confess that by the same terribly severe judge Christ’s leniency was foretold;’ and he cites in proof Is. xlii. 2 and 1 Kings xix. 12 (‘sed in spiritu miti’).. Now here was a place exactly suited to his purpose. The God of the Old Testament had twice sent down fire from heaven to consume fifty men. But ‘the Son of Man,’ said our Saviour, when invited to do the like, ‘came not to destroy men’s lives but to save them.’ Accordingly, Tertullian in his fourth book against Marcion, refuting this teaching, acquaints us that one of Marcion’s ‘Contrasts’ was Elijah’s severity in calling down fire from Heaven,—and the gentleness of Christ. ‘I acknowledge the severity of the judge,’ Tertullian replies; but I recognize the same severity on the part of Christ towards His Disciples when they proposed to bring down a similar calamity on a Samaritan village⁵⁷⁰⁵⁷⁰    Augustine (viii. 111-150, 151-182) writes a book against him. And he discusses St. Luke ix. 54-5 on p. 139.
   Addas Adimantus (a disciple of Manes) was the author of a work of the same kind. Augustine (viii. 606 c) says of it,—‘ubi de utroque Testamento velut inter se contraria testimonia proferuntur versipelli dolositate, velut inde ostendatur utrumque ab uno Deo esse non posse, sed alterum ab altero.’ Cerdon was the first to promulgate this pestilential tenet (605 a). Then Marcion his pupil, then Apelles, and then Patricius..’ From all of which it 229is plain that within seventy years of the time when the Gospel was published, the text of St. Luke ix. 54-6 stood very much as at present.

But then it is further discovered that at the same remote period (about A.D. 130) this place of Scripture was much fastened on by the enemies of the Gospel. The Manichaean heretics pressed believers with it⁵⁷¹⁵⁷¹    Titus Bostr. adv. Manichaeos (ap. Galland. v. 329 b), leaving others to note the correspondences between the New and the Old Testament, proposes to handle the ‘Contrasts’: πρὸς αὐτὰς τὰς ἀντιθέσεις τῶν λογίων χωρήσωμεν. At pp. 339 e, 340 a, b, he confirms what Tertullian says about the calling down of fire from heaven.. The disciples’ appeal to the example of Elijah, and the reproof they incurred, became inconvenient facts. The consequence might be foreseen. With commendable solicitude for God’s honour, but through mistaken piety, certain of the orthodox (without suspicion of the evil they were committing) were so ill-advised as to erase from their copies the twenty-four words which had been turned to mischievous account as well as to cause copies to be made of the books so mutilated: and behold, at the end of 1,700 years, the calamitous result !

Of these three clauses then, which are closely interdependent, and as Tischendorf admits⁵⁷²⁵⁷²    Verba ὡς καὶ Ἠ. ἐποίησε cur quis addiderit, planum. Eidem interpolatori debentur quae verba στρ. δὲ ἐπετί. αὐτοῖς excipiunt. Gravissimum est quod testium additamentum ὁ γὰρ υἱός, &c. ab eadem manu derivandum est, nec per se solum pro spurio haberi potest; cohaeret enim cum argumento tum auctoritate arctissime cum prioribus. (N. T. ed. 1869, p. 544.) must all three stand or all three fall together, the first is found with ACD, the Old Latin, Peshitto, Clement, Chrysostom, Cyril, Jerome,—not with KB the Vulgate or Curetonian. The second and third clauses are found with Old Latin, Vulgate, Peshitto, Harkleian, six Greek and five Latin Fathers,—not with אABCD. 230While א and B are alone in refusing to recognize either first, second or third clause. And this is a fair sample of that ‘singular agreement’ which is sometimes said to subsist between ‘the lesser group of witnesses.’ Is it not plain on the contrary that at a very remote period there existed a fierce conflict, and consequent hopeless divergence of testimony about the present passage; of which 1,700 years⁵⁷³⁵⁷³   Secundo iam saeculo quin in codicibus omnis haec interpolatio circumferri consueverit, dubitari nequit. (Ibid.) have failed to obliterate the traces? Had אB been our only ancient guides, it might of course have been contended that there has been no act of spoliation committed: but seeing that one half of the missing treasure is found with their allies, ACD, Clement Alex., Chrysostom, Cyril, Jerome,—the other half with their allies, Old Latin, Harkleian, Clement, Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose, Didymus, Epiphanius, Chrysostom, Cyril, Theodoret, Jerome, Augustine⁵⁷⁴⁵⁷⁴    The following are the references left by the Dean. I have not had time or strength to search out those which are left unspecified in this MS. and the last.
   Jerome.—Apostoli in Lege versati . . . ulcisci nituntur iniuriam, et imitari Eliam, &c. Dominus, qui non ad iudicandum venerat, sed ad salvandum, &c. . . . increpat eos quod non meminerint doctrinae suae et bonitatis Evangelicae, &c. (i. 857 b, c, d.)
   Cyprian, Synodical Epistle.—‘Filius hominis non venit animas hominum perdere, sed salvare.’ p. 98. A.D. 253.
   Tatian.—Veni, inquit, animam salvam facere. (Cam. c. 12 et 10: and Anim. c. 13.)
   Augustine gives a long extract from the same letter and thus quotes the words twice,—x. 76, 482. Cp. ii. 593 a.
   Καὶ ὁ Κύριος πρὸς τοὺς ἀποστόλους εἰπόντας ἐν πυρὶ κολάσαι τοὺς μὴ δεξαμένους αὐτοὺς κατὰ τὸν Ἠλίαν· Οὐκ οἴδατε φησὶ ποίου πνεύματός ἐστε. (p. 1019.)
   Theodoret, iii. 1119. (ποίου.)
   Epiph. ii. 31. (οἵου.)
   Basil, ii. 271 (Eth.) quotes the whole place.
   Augustine.—Respondit eis Dominus, dicens eos nescire cuius spiritus filii essent, et quod ipse liberare venisset, non perdere. viii. 139 b. Cp. iii. (2), 194 b.
   Cyril Al.—Μήπω τῆς νέας κεκρατηκότες χάριτος . . . τοῦτο εἶπον, τὸ Ἠλίαν ἀφορῶντες τὸν πυρὶ κ.τ.λ. Cord. Cat. 263 = Cram. Cat. 81. Also iv. 1017.—By a strange slip of memory, Cyril sets down a reproof found in St. Matthew: but this is enough to shew that he admits that some reproof finds record in the Gospel.
   Chrys. vii. 567 e: x. 305 d: vii. 346 a: ix. 677 c.
   Opus Imp. ap. Chrys. vi. 211, 219.
   Didymus.—Οὐκ οἴδατε οἵου πνεύματός ἐστιν ὁ ὑιὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. De Trin. p. 188.,—it is clear that no such pretence can any longer be set up.

The endeavour to establish agreement among the witnesses by a skilful distribution or rather dislocation of their evidence, a favourite device with the Critics, involves a fallacy which in any other subject would be denied a place. I trust that henceforth St. Luke ix. 54-6 will be left in undisputed possession of its place in the sacred Text,—to which it has an undoubted right.

A thoughtful person may still inquire, Can it however be explained further how it has come to pass that the evidence for omitting the first clause and the two last is so unequally divided? I answer, the disparity is due to the influence of the Lectionaries.

Let it be observed then that an ancient Ecclesiastical Lection which used to begin either at St. Luke ix. 44, or else at verse 49 and to extend down to the end of verse 56⁵⁷⁵⁵⁷⁵    Evst. 48 (Matthaei’s c): Evst. 150 (Harl. 5598)., ended thus,—ὡς καὶ Ἠλίας ἐποίησε; στραφεὶς δὲ ἐπετίμησεν αὐτοῖς. καὶ ἐπορεύθησαν εἰς ἑτέραν κώμνν⁵⁷⁶⁵⁷⁶    See Matthaei, N. T. 1786, vol. p. 17.. It was the Lection for Thursday in the fifth week of the new year; and as the reader sees, it omitted the two last clauses exactly as Codd. אABC do. Another Ecclesiastical. Lection began at verse 51 and extended down to verse 57, and is found to have contained the two last clauses⁵⁷⁷⁵⁷⁷    [I have been unable to discover this Lection.]. I wish therefore to inquire:—May it not fairly be presumed that it is the Lectionary practice of the primitive age which has led to the irregularity in this perturbation of the sacred Text?