PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Gnomon of the New Testament — Volume 1
Bengel, Johann Albrecht, 1687-1752 · 248,436 words · 558 reading sections
Editor'S Preface,
^1 fflH • ••HHIn BHm r." V- _;-'•' C mm Ml sll£$ ifPfl Tiliiiii * I&ITIlt *Wl ; •i "TO GIVE SUBTILT7 TO THE SIMPLE, TO THE YOUNG MAN KNOWLEDGE AND DIS CRETION. A WISE MAN WILL HEAR, AND WILL INCREASE LEARNING; AND A MAN OP UNDERSTANDING SHALL ATTAIN UNTO WISE COUNSELS." — PROV. I. 4, ,3. EDINBURGH: T.…
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I have introduced additional notes of three kinds : I. Brief 1 Author of " Sermons," Devotional and Practical," " Lufra," and " Milton Davenant." EDITOR'S PREFACE. vii notes explanatory of Bengel's meaning, where, avoiding diffuse- ness, he falls into the opposite error, " Brevis esse laboro, Ob- scurus fio." II.…
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EDITOR'S PREFACE. ix avowedly quote the words, in such a way, that the point of their argument rests on the verbal accuracy of their quotation. The old MSS. differ often among themselves ; but this very difference makes their witness, where they all agree, the more forcible against the received text. Their differe…
415 wordsSECTION 4Secondary Authorities.
A = the Alexandrine MS. : in Brit. Museum : fifth century : publ. by Woide, 1786-1819 : O. and N. Test, defective. B = the Vatican MS., 1209 : in Vat. libr., Rome : fourth cent. : O. and N. Test. def. C = Ephrsemi Rescriptus : Royal libr., Paris : fifth or sixth cent. : publ. by Tisch. 1843 : O. and N. T. def. D …
254 wordsSECTION 5Fathers.
a = Vercellensis of the old ' Itala,' or Latin Version before Jerome's, probably made in Africa, in the second cen tury : the Gospels. 6 = Veronensis, do. c = Colbertinus, do. d = Cantabrigiensis, do. : the Gospels, Acts, and 3d Ep. John. e = Laudianus, do. : Acts. /= Claromontanus, do. : Paul's Epp. ff= Sanger…
290 wordsSECTION 64 The Author'S Preface.
FROM THE NATURAL FORCE OF THE WORDS, THE SIMPLICITY, DEPTH, CONSISTENCY,1 OF THE DIVINE REVELATION THEREIN CONTAINED IS INDICATED.2 1 " CONCINNITAS — SENSUUM ccELESTitiM," literally, "The symphonious harmony — of the heavenly meanings — (I. B.) 2 " Indicatur." — In allusion to, and explanation of the title Gnomon…
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THE word of the living God, which formed the rule of faith and practice to the primitive patriarchs, was committed to writing in the age of Moses, to whom the other prophets were successively added. Subsequently, those things which the Son of God preached, and the Paraclete spake through the apostles, were written…
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It follows, therefore, that those who have been intrusted with such an inestimable gift, should make a right use of it. Scrip ture itself teaches what that use is, namely, to perform it. In order to perform it, we require knowledge, knowledge which is open to all who possess rectitude of heart.2 Myriads of annotat…
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Writings and commentaries are chiefly available for the fol lowing purposes : to preserve, restore, or defend the purity of the text ; to exhibit the exact force of the language employed by any sacred writer ; to explain the circumstances under which any passage was uttered or written, or to which it refers ; to r…
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dating, and illustrating Scripture which is offered by Scripture itself, has not as yet prevailed to any great extent in the Church. Our rankly-abundant discrepancies of opinion, our dulness of sight in interpreting prophecy, prove this beyond all question. We are called upon, then, to advance further, till we arri…
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of the New Testament. I shall have, therefore, to repeat some things which I have already said, concerning each of these writings, and to add some remarks, which are entirely new, so that this work, now reduced to a single whole, may be rendered more complete and unassailable, by the addition of this preface,1 arm…
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question, from the existence and authority of various readings, lest we should either pass by, and thus fail to profit by the words of the apostles, or treat the words of copyists as if they were those of the apostles. I have endeavoured to furnish such a text, with all care and fidelity, in my larger edition of th…
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consueto in versiculos distinctus et bipartitis columnis inscriptus. Variantes lectiones a major! editione mutuo sumptse sunt, appositis notis valoris earum, et tabula, qua signa ipsa explicantur. Loca parallela editor ex eodem opere descripsit. — Bibliotheca Sacra, Pt. I., cap. II., sec. I., § 62, n. 7. — (I. B.) …
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and classified, by due attention to the following suggestions (Monita) : — 1. By far the more numerous portions of the Sacred Text (thanks be to GOD) labour under no variety of reading deserving notice. 2. These portions contain the whole scheme of salvation, and establish every particular of it by every test of …
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his preface to the New Testament), Syriac, etc., Latinizing Greek, or other languages, the clear quotations of Irenceus, etc., according as Divine Providence dispenses its bounty to each generation. We include all these under the title of Codices, which has sometimes as comprehensive a signification. 5. These codi…
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11. The Number of witnesses, who support each reading of every passage, ought to be carefully examined : and to that end, in so doing, we should separate those Codices which contain only the Gospels, from those which contain the Acts and the Epistles, with or without the Apocalypse, or those which contain that boo…
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carefully collated, or which are known to have been carelessly collated, as for instance the Vatican MS.,1 which, otherwise, would be almost without an equal. 12. And so, in fine, more witnesses are to be preferred to fewer ; and, which is more important, witnesses who differ in country, age, and language, are to …
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16. When these Criteria all concur, no doubt can exist, except in the mind of a sceptic. 17. When, however, it happens that some of these Criteria may be adduced in favour of one reading, and some in favour of another, the critic may be drawn sometimes in this, some times in that direction ; or, even should he dec…
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is THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. which some at the present day entertain. Even before the invention of printing, Scripture was entire ; nor has Divine Providence, ever watchful over Holy Scripture, bound itself down to the typography of the sixteenth century, the era, within whose narrow limits, the whole of the text defe…
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stance clearly exhibit the genuine reading, and leave not a single passage in dispute. The present age, however, cannot accomplish this ; and the more nearly any one of us has ap proached to primitive genuineness, so much the less does he obtain the assent of the generality. 22. I have determined, therefore, in th…
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stars, etc.] they are innumerable. I have therefore denoted these degrees by the Greek letters, a, j3, y, d, z. No one, I conceive, can be so obstinately hostile, or so slavishly devoted to the more received text, as to object to these sugges tions (Monita). Some of them are more fully explained here after, with t…
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In the year 1711, there appeared at Amsterdam, together with the Greek New Testament, the CRISIS or GERARD VON MAESTRICHT,2 in which he undertook to decide every various 1 Count Zinzendorf had made a translation of the New Testament, and Lad issued printed specimens of it, in which he acknowledges that he had avai…
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once, quoting the Canons themselves in full (by which I shall assuredly obtain the favour of those who admire them), accom modating my observations to both editions of the Crisis, endea vouring to be both easy and brief, and taking heed not to lose sight of becoming moderation, amongst the thorns [i.e. whilst empl…
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another. Never, to my remembrance, is this canon cited by the author in his margin, although, like many others, it deserves the name rather of an observation, than a Canon. 2. Transcribers have frequently erred, through carelessness, fancying, when repetitions of words occurred either in the same or in the followi…
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must not be considered as a various reading, nor is the text to be altered on such a ground. When equivalent phrases occur, this observation does not en able us to determine, which is that of the original autograph, which that of the Greek copyist or paraphrast, nor does it dis tinguish an omission from an additio…
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this observation does not in any case give the preference to one reading over another. It must also be remarked, that those instances are few indeed, where addition, subtraction, or muta tion leave the sense precisely the same. If I perceive no diffe rence, it is, perchance, perceived by another : if I see it not …
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of more importance than their number, which he adopts in discriminately ; and, in the second place, he leaves the very number in great obscurity and confusion — in one instance, sup posing that there are in support of a reading many MSS., where there are few or scarcely any — in another instance, that there are fe…
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which embrace different parts of the New Testament, for MSS. of the whole New Testament, pp. 600, 617, 618, 636. In the Oxford Excerpts,1 which Maastricht has subjected to his Crisis, one, two, three, or four MSS. are often said to have a read ing, which is in reality supported by many witnesses. With Maestricht h…
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observed, and subsequently corrected, the mistake : one Huiss, however, who collated the Codex Alexandrinus with a copy of Beza's edition printed with the mistake X«w, noted va& as a various reading of the Codex Alexandrimis. On which ground Maestricht has by this Canon condemned the reading va&, as if it were fou…
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Where Mill1 (says Maastricht in the last section of his pro legomena) adduces many Manuscripts, Versions, or Fathers, there, by a slight change in the number of Codices, three or four may, for example, be increased to six or seven : but not even that number ought to establish a various reading, in opposition to a …
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ment, in his Notes on 1 Cor. vi. 5, that Courcelles should alone have been cited by the Oxford Editors, although Mill was in possession of thirty Manuscripts. It escapes him, therefore, that such things occur frequently, as, for example, on Matt. v. 48, and James ii. 18. Those even, who are devoid of the sense of s…
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where it is ascertained that their editors made use of Manu scripts. The author of the Canons approves of the Compluten- sian edition ; but he very frequently rejects its best readings. 15. From the character of the Manuscripts we must observe the character of the transcribers and their transcriptions, whether the…
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No genuine reading has ever yet sustained injury from any such slip of memory. 20. The Fathers also very frequently quote passages, which are not anywhere to he found. Let your reliance in each case depend upon the quoter.1 21. Those which are considered as real Various Readings by the Critics, and which alter th…
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27. On the other hand, when the meaning of a passage ap peared to the transcribers elliptical, obscure, or imperfect, they frequently supplied the noun, verb, or pronoun, etc., from the context. This also is audacity. 1 " Glossema." The meaning is, that where Canon 25 is cited in the Crisis, the author considers t…
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are affixed to this (sc. the thirty-fourth) Canon, to the imme diately preceding Reading, and from that Canon, or those Canons, deduce the value of that Reading.1 The author rightly calls this a Monitum. It is not a Canon. 35. Transcribers have frequently wished to express some thing more clearly than it stands in…
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date, is frequently the sign of a reading, that has been tampered with : brevity of style, together with antiquity of witnesses, is indicative of a genuine text." The men of this generation are so averse, and, in their own opinion, religiously opposed to con demning glosses, that there is considerable danger, lest …
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one rather for the commentator to expound and reconcile, than for the critic to decide. My last observation applies to this also. There are, however, many important Readings, no trace of which is to be found in Maestricht's Edition. See my Apparatus, p. 142 (Ed. ii. p. 78), where I have drawn attention to Mark x. …
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the fourth part, or even less, which is so far from being less, that it is really much greater, e.g., Acts xx. 28, and xxi. 15. Such being the case, it is evident, what little value can be attached to that examination of Various Readings on Matt, xxv., which the author of the Crisis has given as a specimen, in his…
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tary of Rumpaeus.1 As far as these rules treat of the value of ancient authorities, they are excellent : but the author does not always decide rightly in the case of particular passages of the N. T. He frequently blames Mill with justice, but, as often happens, falls himself into the opposite extreme. From not ob …
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to the most and best MSS., in the other Books of the N. T. to the best printed editions. But the Exegesis (which is the subject at present principally under consideration), is based, and that rightly, upon the genuine Reading, as far as it can be as certained up to the present time, whether I have placed that Read…
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Greek New Testament) will perceive that this statement has not been made without reason, and will, I trust, derive thence very great advantage. I should be unwilling, however, that any one should estimate my edition of the Greek New Testament from that which has been printed in imitation of it beyond the limits of…
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by means of His instruments Pie accommodates Himself to the grossness of our perceptions. It is not, however, our part arrogantly to define, but humbly to believe what is worthy of God, 1 Cor. ii. 1, and xiv. 21. The holy men of God, both in the Old and New Testaments, exhibit, not only an exact know ledge of the …
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already mentioned, which do not preserve that division. Where the divisions given in the tables are rather large, subdivisions (but not too many in number), are supplied in the notes. The tables at once utterly confute the ignorance, in some cases impious, of those who maintain that the Apostles gave im mediate ut…
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hension of those who hear it, that, rather, they seldom attain to its entire meaning. The Apostles frequently deduce conclu sions, more weighty than the world itself, from an epithet, from a grammatical accident, or even an adverb, as we have shown in our Apparatus, Part. I., Section I. Chrysostom interprets the p…
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pounds exTstpd^U)1 ex<ffop YEUW, fanmrrfof) btnfafxnfU) x.r.X., the mean ing of which does not in the Septuagint differ from that of the simple verbs, from which they are derived. Any degree what ever of acquaintance writh the Greek New Testament is useful and laudable : but they, who are less expert therein, frequ…
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discourse, and to whom the Greek translation of the Old Testa ment (which Hebraizes to a very great degree) was evidently familiar, — that translation, which acted in subservience to the Divine design of making the Greek language the vehicle of the Divine Word. The Apostles and Evangelists, therefore, were right i…
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Greek New Testament and the ancients ; lastly, and that very rarely, with profane authors. Where passages of the Old Testament are cited in the New, I have given in full the words of the LXX., especially those from which the New Testament differs, that the comparison might be the more easy. Where any difficulty ha…
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able word "Mores"1 The Feelings, absolutely so called, are vehement : the " Mores" are calmer feelings quiet and composed. I would recommend the reader to peruse on this subject, Quin- tilian VI. 2 : for the whole disquisition cannot be introduced into this Preface.2 The styles of the writers of the New Testa ment…
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" Id, quod Grsece Ttpknov dicitur, decorum dici Latine potest ; hujus vis ea est, ut ab honesto non queat separari." — Cic. Off. I. 27. — (Eu.) " Caput artis est," says Quinctilian, " decere." " The first principle of art is to observe decorum." No one should ever rise to speak in public, without forming to himself…
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of words ; this, the succession of arguments ; this, the emotion of the minds, etc." He who comprehends the intention of this work, will not ex pect to find differences of opinion carefully enumerated and laboriously refuted, with the names of their advocates and the titles of their works. It is expedient indeed t…
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Nothing is more frequent in commentaries than the title " Harmonia EvangeUca." Under this title, however, I have felt it necessary to produce something exceedingly different from the generality of compositions which have hitherto appeared with this name. The basis of my Harmony is the recognition of the fact that …
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having happened between that phenomenon and the Passover of that year. 3. The fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius cannot begin before the month Tisri,1 of the twenty-seventh year of the Dionysian Era. 4. Our Lord, when He was about thirty years old, was bap tized, and, after forty days, tempted of the Devil, …
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on the Life of our Lord Jesus Christ, frequently finds fault with me ; but neither of them has brought into play the chrono logical mainsprings of the Gospels. The Gospel chronology has been studiously treated of, in our day, by Campegius Vitringa,1 Peter Allix,2 Count Camillus de Sylvestris,3 Nicasius,4 J. J. Hot…
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Mark and St Luke), the identity1 of which is recognised by the Three Passover system. The ternarian hypothesis admits, in the history of merely a very few months, the principle of chrono logical transposition? either in Matthew, or in Mark and Luke, especially the two latter, and that with great adA'antage : the q…
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render the remaining consideration of the Gospels so much the easier. The Harmony has a table (a Monotessaron } as it were), compiled from all the Evangelists ; but the GNOMON exhibits the separate Gospels in the tables, severally accommodated to them. The Acts of the Apostles are intimately connected with the Epi…
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" Preservative against Popery," which he has translated into the vernacular tongue, under the title of " Mantissa1 Apocali/ptica." The " Critical Examination" however, coincides with what the author has said on the subject in his Latin Commentary on the Glory of Christ. I have thought it expedient, therefore, to ta…
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author by name, and I had written there these words — " Whoso ever seeks the truth, should most diligently examine this" And yet, he is entirely silent on the whole of that my examination, nor does he even touch upon pp. 107, 108, 123, 124, 214, 215, 285, 295, and by far the greater part of those, which I had col …
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the bad will be before the first of these two advents, the good in the Millennium (see his commentary on the Apocalypse, p. 239): although that consistency cannot be maintained (if we are to retain our belief in the unity of Christ's advent), except by supposing two periods of a thousand years each, concerning whic…
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Apocalypse, had I not felt sure that somewhat had trickled from the inexhaustible fountain of Apocalyptical Wisdom into my channel, which it became my duty to communicate to the world at large. 9. With singular kindness he declares his opinion (p. 428), that I may be able to produce something towards interpreting …
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the whole matter in question ; and whosoever shall consider the arguments of this veteran interpreter to be satisfactory in this instance, will be the less easily terrified by the attacks of others on my Apocalyptical views. The matter will become clearer hereafter as I had said l in sec. xv. of the Preface to the …
425 wordsSource & rights
Public domain historical edition (1857-1858); scan/OCR from Internet Archive.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.