of part of the New Testament presented by Bezain 1581 to the university of Cambridge; the Codex purpureus (X) written with silver letters on purple vellum; and other MSS. of great interest, From the 7th century we have only several fragments of MSS. To the 8th century are assigned 9 one of the most valuable being the MS. (I.) 62 in the imperial library at Paris used by Robert Stephens. The 9th century has left us 20 MSS., besides four which are assigned to the 9th or 10th. From the 10th century we have five.
These uncial MSS. (about 75) have been deciphered, some of them with great difficulty; most of them have been accurately collated, and the text of many has been published. Of them all, only one, the recently discovered Sinaitic MS., now has the New Testament complete, though three others originally had the whole, but now lack some parts. Four others have the gospels complete, and four nearly; and about 40 others have portions of the gospels, larger or smaller. The other New Testament books are found more or less complete in some, while in others they are wanting. Besides the 75 uncial MSS. above noticed, there are some 05 lectionaries, or select portions of the gospels or epistles for church services, written in uncial letters, and 1,215 MSS. of some portions of the New Testament and 248 lectionaries in cursive letters. - Most eminent scholars have aided in establishing the text of the New Testament: among the Greeks, Irenaeus, Clement, Origen, Athanasius, Eusebius, Epiphanius, the Cyrils, Chrysostom, and Theodoret; among the Latins, Cyprian, Tertullian, Ambrose, Augustine, and Rufinus. The name of Bede brings us nearer home. Alcuin endeavored to purify the Latin text, and Photius labored in the 9th century, Suidas in the 10th, and Theophylact, Oecumenius, and others in subsequent ages.
Yet 50 years after the invention of printing no attempt had been made to print the original text of the New Testament. The fifth volume of the Complutensian Polyglot contained the original Greek based on MSS. of no special value, so far as may be judged. This volume was printed first of the whole set in 1514, but was not issued until the rest were finished in 1522. Before this, in 1516, Erasmus had issued the first Greek and Latin edition of the New Testament at Basel, constructing his text from five MSS. there. A second edition, changed in some hundred passages, appeared in 1519, a third in 1522, and a fourth in 1527, further altered to conform to the Complutensian, and repeated in 1535 with little change. For 100 years the Complutensian and Erasmian texts were often reprinted with slight alterations. Famous editors of the text were Robert Stephens, a learned printer of Paris (1539-'51), and Theodore Beza (1565-'98). The Elzevirs at Leyden (1624-'41) and at Amsterdam (1656) gave what is known as the "received text," relying upon Stephens and Beza. Bishop Walton's London Polyglot of 1657, Bishop Fell's Greek Testament (Oxford, 1658) and Dr. John Mill's Greek New Testament (Oxford, 1707) gave various readings and versions from many ancient MSS. under the received text.
These were the precursors of modern critical editions. Bengel (Tubingen, 1734), Wetstein (Amsterdam, 1751), and Griesbach (Halle, 1744 and 1806) made great advances in critical perfection. The editions of Knapp, Tittmann, Hahn, and Theile are chiefly based on Griesbach's. Greenfield followed Mill, but gave Griesbach's principal variations. Scholz (Leipzig, 1830-'36) made a wide collation of MSS., and Lachmann a very critical study of a few MSS. The late Dean Alford and Dr. Tregelles in England, and Tischendorf in Germany, are among the most eminent laborers in our own day. Tischendorf's first edition (Leipzig, 1841) followed Griesbach and Lachmann, but subsequently he carried out a most elaborate plan of travel and investigation, and published its results in his second edition (Leipzig, 1849). Other editions have followed in 1850, 1854, and 1855-'9, the last giving valuable accounts of his- critical labors, and presenting the best text hitherto published. A new edition begun in 1864 is nearly completed (1873). Tregelles has published (1855-'70) an edition from collation and comparison of MSS. of all the Greek fathers down to the Nicene council. His edition is incomplete, being interrupted by the state of his health.
The various critical editions of the New Testament bear conclusive witness to the genuineness of the text in every matter of importance. There has been no material corruption in the sacred record. - The ancient translations of the Old and New Testaments are in some respects of great value. The oldest of these and the most celebrated is the Greek version of the Old Testament called the Septuagint (LXX.) from its 72 translators, or perhaps from the 72 members of the Sanhedrim who sanctioned it. It was commenced by Jews of Alexandria about 280 B. C, and was finished in the course of years evidently by different hands. The Pentateuch is pronounced by scholars the best portion of the work; other portions are unequal; here and there it is considered to betray an imperfect knowledge of the Hebrew language. It contains most of the books called the Apocrypha. The Greek Jews, in the declining state of the Hebrew tongue, made great use of the Septuagint, and even the Jews of Palestine held it in high esteem until the Christians in the second century quoted it against them. They then denied its agreement with the Hebrew, and it became odious to them.
In Jerome's day there were three differing yet authorized editions of the Septuagint in use: one in Palestine, one at Alexandria, and one in Constantinople. Hence the corruptions that mar the MSS. in our possession. The Septuagint was the parent of many translations in Latin, Syriac, Ethiopic, Coptic, Armenian, Georgian, Slavonic, and Arabic. Many oriental versions were made from the Hebrew, of uncertain date; among them the Targums in Chaldee, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Syriac translation called the Peshito or "simple," one of the oldest translations of the Bible, several in Arabic, and one in Persian. There were also other Greek versions, of which the most celebrated was that of Aquila, made about A. D. 135, and valuable on account of its anxious literalness.
Fragments of it are preserved in Origen's Hexapla. But after the Septuagint the most famous version from the Hebrew was the Latin version of Jerome, the basis of the present Vulgate. Jerome, who had previously undertaken a revision of the old Latin translation of the New Testament, called the Itala, revised the Psalter also from the Septuagint about 383. About 389 he began a new version from the Hebrew, and completed the work about 405. The work, though in parts hastily, was on the whole well done. The translator made use of the Greek versions that were before him, as well as of the Arabic and the Syriac, always, however, comparing them with the Hebrew. The translation, having to contend with a superstitious reverence for the Septuagint, met with a doubtful reception, and made its way slowly into favor, but in the course of 200 or 300 years it was highly regarded at Rome and in other places, but not so highly as to escape corruption from careless copyists, indiscreet revisers, ambitious critics, and reckless theologians. The old Vulgate (the Itala) and the new injured each other. Alcuin, early in the 9th century, bidden, and as some think aided by Charlemagne, revised and corrected Jerome's version by the Hebrew and Greek originals.
Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury in the 11th century, revised it again. The council of Trent (1546), having received a report from a commission that the text was very corrupt, so that only the pope could restore it, declared that "the old and Vulgate edition . . . shall be held as authentic, . . . and that no one, on any pretext whatever, may dare or presume to reject it." The council also decreed that the edition " should be printed as accurately as possible." As it had become necessary to prepare an authentic edition of the authorized version, two popes, Pius IV. and V., addressed themselves to this task; learned men were assembled, a printing press was erected in the Vatican, a pontiff looked over the printed sheets, and the work was published in 1590; but it proved to be so imperfect that Gregory XIV. called another assembly of scholars to make another revision. This time the duty was more thoroughly discharged, and the Biblia Sacra Vulg. Ed. Test. V. Pont. Max. jussu recog., etc, the basis of every subsequent edition, was issued in 1592. The famous Bellarmin, one of the translators, wrote the preface. - Translations of the New Testament were made very early into all the tongues then spoken by Christians. A few words upon some of the more modern versions will be in place here.
In Germany, Martin Luther spent ten laborious years, from 1522 to 1532, in executing that wonderful translation which has done so much for the Bible and for the language into which it was rendered. Several portions of the Scriptures he had translated into German before, for the use of the people, viz., the penitential and other Psalms, the Lord's prayer, the Ten Commandments, and other pottages, which were often printed. It was I not till toward
