sequence of the additional number of manuscripts and versions, which have been since discovered and collated. These various readings, though very numerous, do not in any degree affect the general credit and integrity of the text; the general uniformity of which, in so many copies, scattered through almost all countries in the known world, and in so great a variety of languages, is truly astonishing, and demonstrates both the veneration in which the Scriptures were held, and the great care which was taken in transcribing them. Of the hundred and thirty thousand various readings which have been discovered by the sagacity and diligence of collators, not one tenth, nor one hundredth part, make any perceptible, or at least any material, variation in the This will appear credible, if we consider that every, the minutest, deviation from the Received Text has been carefully noted, so that the insertion or omission of an article, the substitution of a word for its equivalent, the transposition of a word or two in a sentence, and even variations in orthography, have been added to the catalogue of various readings. sense. In those variations, which in some measure affect the sense, the true reading often shines forth with a lustre of evidence which is perfectly satisfactory to the judicious inquirer. In other cases, where the true reading cannot be exactly ascertained, it is of little or no consequence which of the readings is adopted, e. g. whether we read 'Paul the servant,' or 'Paul the prisoner' of Jesus Christ, Philem. ver. 1. Also, where the various readings are of considerable importance, consisting, for example, in the omission or addition of sentences or paragraphs, the authenticity of the rest of the book re mains wholly unaffected, whatever decision may be passed upon the passages in question. The various readings which affect the doctrines of Christianity are very few : yet some of these are of great importance; viz. Acts xx. 28; 1 Tim. iii. 16; 1 John v. 7. Of those passages which can be justly regarded as wilful interpolations, the number is very small indeed; and of these, the last mentioned text, 1 John v. 7. is by far the most notorious, and most universally acknowledged and reprobated. Upon the whole, we may remark, that the number and antiquity of the manuscripts which contain the whole or different parts of the New Testament, the variety of ancient versions, and the multitude of quotations from these sacred books in the early christian writers, from the second century downwards, constitute a body of evidence in favor of the genuineness and authenticity of the Christian Scriptures, far beyond that of any other book of equal antiquity. Nevertheless, the immense number of various readings in the text of the New Testament, many of which cannot be satisfactorily settled by the most unwearied assiduity or the acutest sagacity of critical investigation, demonstrates, that no superstitious regard is due to the mere language of the Received Text, which, like the works of other ancient authors, is open to rational and liberal criticism. Ignorant and injudicious persons are sometimes apprehensive, that men's regard to the christian religion will be impaired, and their veneration for the Scriptures diminished, if the infallibilty of the Received Text is called in question. But intelligent and well-informed readers are apprized, that the great practical truths of the christian religion do not rest upon verbal niceties, but consist in obvious conclusions from notorious and well-established facts. The apostolic summary of the christian faith is, that God will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance to all men in that he hath raised him from the dead.' This doctrine beams forth with unclouded splendor from every page of the New Testament, whatever becomes of the correctness and accuracy of the Received Text. And whether greater respect be shown to the writers of the Christian Scriptures and to their works, by adopting, as infallible, the imperfect editions of Erasmus and Stephens, of Beza and Elzevir, than by endeavouring to approximate as nearly as possible to the apostolic originals, by a sober and judicious use of the ample materials, which the labors of the learned have supplied for the purpose of rational criticism, let candor and good sense determine. In some few instances the alteration of the Received Text is indispensably requisite, in order to correct the erroneous impression conveyed by a false reading and in all cases a change is desirable, where the proposed alteration is supported by competent evidence. If it be justly regarded as a useful and an honorable office to publish a correct edition of the works of a classical author, it cannot surely be reckoned less important, or less honorable, to exhibit the text of the sacred writings in a form as nearly as possible approaching to the original standard. |