existing ]MSS. as C L (comp. Griesbach, Symbolce Cri- ticce, i, Ixxvi sq. ; cxxx sq.). In thirteen cases (Nor- ton, Genuineness of the Gospels, i, 234-236) Origen has expressly noticed varieties of reading in the Gospels (Matt, viii, 28; xvi, 20; xviii, 1; xxi, 5, 9, 15; xxvii, 17; Mark iii, 18; Luke i, 46; ix,48; xiv,19; xxiii, 45; John i, 3, 4, 28). In three of these passages the varia- tions which he notices are no longer found in our Greek copies (Matt, xxi, 9 or 15, oikh) for vuij ; Tregelles, ad loc; Mark iii, 18 [ii, 14], Ae/j/yi- rov tov 'A\<p. ['?] ; Luke i, 46; 'E\i.adl3ir for Mapia^t; so in some Latin copies) ; in seven our copies are still divided ; in two (Matt, viii, 28, raSapTjvuiv ; John i, 28, Bij^ajSapa) the reading which was only found in a few MSS. is now widely spread; in the remaining place (Matt, xxvii, 17, 'h](joi)v 'Bapaftfiav) a few copies of no great age retain the interpolation which was found in his time " in very ancient copies." It is more remarkable that Origen asserts, in answer to Celsus, that our Lord is no- where called " the carpenter" in the Gospels circulated in the churches, though this is undoubtedly the true reading in Mark vi, 3 (Origen, c. Cels. vi, 36). The evangelic quotations of Origen are not wholly free from the admixture of traditional glosses which have been noticed in Clement, and often present a confusion of liarallel passages (Matt, v, 44; vi, [33]; vii, 21 sq. ; xiii, 11 ; xxvi, 27 sq. ; 1 Tim. iv, 1) ; but there is little difficult}' in separating his genuine text from these nat- ural corruptions, and a few references are sufficient to indicate its extreme importance (JIatt, iv, 10; vi, 13; XV, 8, 35 ; Mark i, 2 ; x, 29 ; Luke xxi, 19 ; John vii, 39 ; Acts X, 10 ; Rom. viii, 28). In the Epistles Origen once notices a striking variation in Ileb. ii, 9, X'^'^P'S Sriou for x«P'~' Stoi/, which is still attested; but, apart from the specific references to variations, it is evident that he himself used MSS. at different times which va- ried in many details (Mill, Proleg. § 687). Griesbach, who has investigated this fact with the greatest care (^Meletema, i, appended to Comm. Crit. ii, ix-xl), seems to have exaggerated the extent of these differences, while he establishes their existence satisfactorily. There can be no doubt that in Origen's time the variations in the N.-T. MSS., which we have seen to have existed from the earliest attainable date, and which Origen de- scribes as considerable and widespread, were beginning to lead to the formation of specific groups of copies.
Although the materials for the history of the text during the first three centuries are abundant, nothing has been written in detail on the subject since the time of Mill (Prole</. p. 240 sq.) and R. Simon (Ilistoire Cri- tique . . . 1685-93). What is wanted is nothing less than a complete collection at full length, from MS. au- thority, of all the ante-Nicene Greek quotations. These would form a centre round which the variations of the versions and Latin quotations might be grouped. A first step towards this has been made by Anger in his Synopsis Err. Matt. Marc. Luc. . . . 1851. T\\& Latin quotations are wcU given by Sabatier {Bibliorum Sacro- rum Latinm versiones antiquce, 1751).
III. Characteristics of the Earhj Copies. — From the consideration of the earliest history of the N.-T. text we now pass to the fera of MSS. The quotations of Dionysius Alex, (f A.D. 264), Petrus Alex, (f cir. A.D. 312)," Methodius (f A.D. 311), and Eusebius (f A.D. 340), confirm the prevalence of the ancient tj'pe of text; but the public establishment of Christianity in the Ro- man empire necessarily led to important changes. Not only were more copies of the N. T. required for public use, but the nominal or real adherence of the higher ranks to the Christian faith must have largely increased the demand for costly MSS. As a natural consequence, the rude Hellenistic forms gave way before the current (ireek, and at the same time it is reasonable to believe that smoother and fuller constructions were substituted for the rougher turns of the apostolic language. In this way the foundation of the Byzantine text was laid, and the same influence which thus began to work continued
NEW TESTAMENT
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NEW TESTAMENT
nninterrnptedly till the fall of the Eastern empire. Meanwhile the multiplication of copies in Africa and Syria was checked by Mohammedan conquests. The Greek language ceased to be current in the West. The progress of the Alexandrine and Occidental families of MSS. was thus checked; and the mass of recent copies necessarily represent the accumulated results of one tendency.
The ajjpearance of the oldest MSS. has already been described. The MSS. of the 4th century, of which Cod. Vatican. (B) may be taken as a type, present a close resemblance to these. The writing is in elegant continuous (capitals) uncials, in three columns, without initial letters, or iota subscript or ascript. A small in- terv^al serves as a simple punctuation ; and there are no accents or breathings by the hand of the first writer, though these have been added subsequently. Uncial writing continued in general use till the middle of the 10th century. One uncial MS. (S), the earliest dated copy, bears the date 949; and for service-books the same style was retained a century later. From the 11th century downwards cursive writing prevailed, but this passed through several forms sufficiently distinct to fix the date of a MS. with tolerable certainty. The earliest cursive Biblical MS. is dated A.D. 964 (Gosp. 14, Scriv- ener, Introduction, p. 36, note), though cursive writing was used a century before (A.D. 888, Scrivener, /. c). The MSS. of the 14th and 15th centuries abound in the contractions which afterwards passed into the early printed books. The material as well as the writing of MSS. underwent successive changes. The oldest MSS. are written on the thinnest and finest vellum ; in later copies the parchment is thick and coarse. Sometimes, as in Cod. Cotton. (N=J), the vellum is stained. Pa- pyrus was very rarely used after the 9th century. In the 10th century cotton paper (charta bomhycina, or Damascena) was generally employed in Europe; and one example at least occurs of its use in the 9th century (Tischendorf, Not. Cod. Sin. p. 54, quoted by Scrivener, Introduction, p. 21). In the 12th century the common linen or rag paper came into use-, but paper was "sel- dom used for Biblical IMSS. earlier than the 13th cen- tury, and had not entirely displaced parchment at the sera of the invention of printing, cir. A.D. 1450" (Scriv- ener, Introduction, p. 21). One other kind of material re- quires notice, redressed parchment (jraXifiipi](jroc, charta dekticia). Even at a very early period the original text of a parchment MS. w-as often erased, that the ma- terial might be used afresh (Cic. Ad Fam. vii, 18; Ca- tull. xii). In lapse of time the original writing fre- quently reappears in faint lines below the later text, and in til is way many precious fragments of Biblical MSS. which had been once obliterated for the transcription of other works have been recovered. Of these palimp- sest MSS. the most famous are those designated by the letters C, E, Z, S. The earliest Biblical pahmpsest is not older than the 5th century.