WETTSTEIN, wet'stain or vet'stain (WETSTENIUS, WETSTEIN), JOHANN JAKOB: New-Testament scholar; b. at Basel Mar. 5, 1693 (old style);

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d. at Amsterdam Mar. 9, 1754. In 1706 he began to study philosophy at Basel; then, in 1709, he changed to the study of theology. At the suggestion of Johann Ludwig Frey, he began work on the criticism of the New-Testament text. In 1714 he undertook a journey by way of Zurich, Bern, Geneva, and Lyons to Paris and thence, in Aug., 1715, to England, searching for manuscripts of the New Testament. In Cambridge he made the acquaintance of Richard Bentley, who aided him in his researches and secured for him a position as fieldchaplain in a regiment of Swiss soldiers on service in England; in 1716 Wettstein removed to Holland, where his regiment had gone in the mean time, and in 1717~was called back to Basel as assistant preacher. After three years he became diaconus at St. Leonhard and thus colleague and successor of his father, who shortly before had become preacher in the same church. He soon became exceedingly popular as a preacher. During this period he continued his studies and resolved to publish a critical edition of the Greek New Testament. During his preparatory work on this edition the report gained currency that he intended to use the work to assail the doctrine of the divinity of Christ, and in 1730 he was in consequence dismissed from his office. Wettstein then went to Amsterdam, where Johann Heinrich Wettstein, a brother of his uncle, had founded a bookseller's shop. Here he published [anonymously] a separate edition of the Prolegomena, which he had intended to add to his edition of the Greek New Testament, under the title, Prolegomena ad Novi Testaments grceci editionem accuratissimam,a vetustissimis codd. mss. denuo procurandam, in quibus agitur de codd. mss. Novi Testaments, scriptoribus grcecis, gui Novo Testamento usi suet, versionib2cs veteribus, editionibus prioribus et elaris interpretibus; et proponuntur animadversiones et cautiones ad examen variarum lectionum Novi Testaments necessarice (Amsterdam, 1730). In 1731 Wettstein was offered the position of professor of philosophy at the college of Remonstrants in Amsterdam under the condition that he should clear himself of the suspicion of holding heterodox views. He therefore went back in the same year to Basel, where his case was again investigated with the result that the government on Mar. 22, 1732, rejected its former judgment, admitting Wettstein "to the office of preaching and the administration of all spiritual functions." But his foes still pressed their case against him, and he returned to Amsterdam, where he was allowed to teach Hebrew and philosophy, but only under the conditions of not expressing Socinian views, not publishing his New Testament, of submitting such works as he desired to publish to the supervision of the Remonstrants, and of printing no apology for his cause. Wettstein submitted to these conditions. Nevertheless, his edition of the New Testament appeared in two volumes at Amsterdam, 1751-52, under the title, Novum Testamenlum grcecum editionis receptce cum lectionibus variantibus codicum mss., editionum aliarum., versionum et patrum neenon eommentario pleniore ex scriptoribus veteribws hebräeis, grcecis et latinis historiam et vim verborum itlustrante opera et studio Joannis Jacobi Wetstenii. It is in very beautiful, but not always correct, print.

y~ # II l , s s!. , n . ~f ~.7: .. It! i P, 1 The text chosen was [for reasons of expediency] essentially the same as that of the Elzevir edition of 1624 or 1633. The readings preferred by Wett stein stand between the text and the list of variant readings. The principal value of the edition lies in the extensive prolegomena and in the commentary which in consequence of its comparisons from clas sical and Jewish literature is still a rich treasury. At the same time they reveal Wettstein's inclina tion to rationalistic explanations so that Tregellea justly said of them, "While some parts are useful, others are such as only excite surprise at their ap pearance on the same page as the text of the New Testament" (Account of the Printed Text, p. 76, London, 1854). Wettstein himself compared more than a hundred manuscripts, others compared others for him.

(Carl Bertheau†.)

Bibliography: The funeral sermon by J. Krightout was printed at Amsterdam, 1754. Consult: J. G. de Chauffepi6, Nouveau Dietionnaire, iv. &88 sqq., Amsterdam, 1756; Athena Rauricce, pp. 379 sqq., Basel, 1778; J. D. Michaelis Einleitung in die gSttlichen Schriften des neuen Bundes, i. 805 sqq., Göttingen, 1788; K. R. Hagenbach, Die theologische Schule Bawls und ihre Lehrer, p. 65, Basel, 1860; S. P. Tregelles, Account of the Printed Text of the Greek N. T., pp. 73 sqq., London, 1854; E. G. E. Reuss; Geschichte der heiligen Schriften des Neuen Testaments, ii. 145, 5th ed., Brunswick, 1874; C. R. Gregory, Prolegomena, iii. 1, 243 sqq., Leipsic, 1884; idem, Canon and Text of the N. T., pp. 447-448, New York, 1907; P. Schaff, Companion to the Greek Testament and the English Version, pp. 82, 247-249, ib. 1883; G. Salmon, Introduction to .

N. T., pp. 488-544, London, 1892; F. H. Scrivener, Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the N. T., pp. 213-216 et passim, ib. 1894; ADB, alii. 251.