The Causes Of Corruption Of The Text Of The Holy Gospels

Chapter IV. The Vatican And Sinaitic Manuscripts. § 1.

No progress is possible in the department of “Textual Criticism” until the superstition—for we are persuaded that it is nothing less—which at present prevails concerning certain of “the old uncials” (as they are called) has been abandoned. By “the old uncials” are generally meant, [1] The Vatican Codex (B),—and [2] the Sinaitic Codex ( ),—which by common consent are assigned to the fourth century: [3] the Alexandrian (A), and [4] the Cod. Ephraemi rescriptus (C),—which are given to the fifth century: and [5] the Codex Bezae (D),—which is claimed for the sixth century: to which must now be added [6] the Codex Beratinus (¦), at the end of the fifth, and [7] the Codex Rossanensis (£), at the beginning of the sixth century. Five of these seven Codexes for some unexplained reason, although the latest of them (D) is sundered from the great bulk of the copies, uncial and cursive, by about as many centuries as the earliest of them (B ) are sundered from the last of their group, have been invested with oracular authority and are supposed to be the vehicles of imperial decrees. It is pretended that what is found in either B or in or in D, although unsupported by any other manuscript, may reasonably be claimed to exhibit the truth of scripture, in defiance of the combined evidence of all other documents to the contrary. Let a reading be advocated by B and in conjunction, and it is assumed as a matter of course that