Varick, Rudokphus Vox, a clergyman of the Re- formed (Dutch) Church, was settled upon Long Island. in what is now Kings County, over the churches of Brooklyn, Flatlands, Bushwick, Flatbush, New Utrecht, and (iravesend, 1C85-94. With dominies Selyns, Del- lius, and Daille, he stood firm against the high-handed proceedings of the usurping governor, .Jacob Leisler, and was ol)liged to flee to New Castle, Del. Upon liis re- turn, in 1790, he was charged with treasonable designs to rescue the fort from Leisler, and was dragged by armed men from his house, and imprisoned in the fort six months. He was also fined eighty pounds by a pre- tended judge, Lanoy; sentenced to jirison till the fine be paid, and to be deposed from the ministry. His friend Sclyus was refused as his bail, and threatened with imprisonment. The fine was not paid, and he was released, but died of his ill-treatment in August, 1694, and the perseciding Leisler was deposed and executed. ■ See Documentary History of New York, ii, 431,432; Letter of Gentlemen of Neic' York (1698); Corwin, Manual of the lief Church in America, s. v. (W. J. R. T.)
Varillas, Antoine, a French historiographer, who was liorn in 1(')24, and died in Paris, June 9, 1696, is the aullior of Uist.des Resolutions Arrivees en Europe en Miitiere de Religion (Paris, 1686-89, 6 vols.): — Histoire
du Wiclefianisme, ou de la Doctrine de Wiclef J. TIus, et Jerome de Prague, arec celle des (luerres de Hoheme qui en out etc les Suites (Lyons, 1682): — Xouvelles Accusa- tions contre Varillas, ou Remarques Critiques coidre vne Partie de son Lirre de I'l/istoire de V tieresie (Amsterd. 1687). See Winer, llaudhuch der iheolog. Lileraiur, ii, 637.734.738. (B. P.)
Various Readings ok the New Testament. By various readings (commonly abbreviated v. r. for tlie singular, and for the plural cf. ?•;•.) are meant the differ- ences observed in different manuscript copiesof the Holy Scriptures. Those found in the Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Test, will be considered below.
The writings of the New Test, were copied by hand, from the age of the apostles to tlie date of the first print- ing of the New Test., a period ofabout thirteen centuries. During that time copies were greatly multiplied. With the utmost care, there would of necessitv be occasional mistakes in copying. The errors of one manuscript might be repeated in the copy made from it. and others added, and thus the number be continually increasing.
The liability to mistake was greatly increased by the mode of writing in the oldest manuscripts. What is called "current band,"' in which a long word may be written without taking the pen from the paper, was not used. Each letter, of the size and general shape of our capitals, was made separately by itself, many with more than one separate stroke of the pen. There was no di- vision of words. All were written continuously in an unbroken line, as may be seen in the specimens given in vol. i, p. 155, and vol. ii, p. 389 of this Cyclojnvdia. As the eye could not readily distinguish words and clauses so run together, the scribe would naturally copy each letter by itself from its place in the line, often confound- ing letters similar in form. In these characters, termed uncial, all extant manuscripts dating prior to about the 10th century were written, and hence they are called un- cial manuscripts. See Manusciupts of the Greek Testasient : also Uncials.
Far more numerous are the cursive manuscripts, so called, written in current hand from about the 10th cen- tury and onward (see vol. v, p. 727, and specimens 2, 3, and 4 on p. 728). Their value«depends on the evidence that they are trustworthy copies of ancient manuscripts now lost, and contain readings of the true text of which these are now the only manuscript witnesses. On such evidence some of them are held in high estimation by all . the leading authorities in textual criticism. That these are of great value in deciding where ancient manuscripts disagree, and also where their united testimony may for just reasons be discredited, is held by a highly influen- tial class of critics, of whom Frederick II. Scrivener is the leading representative (see his Plain Introduction to the Criticism oftfte New Test. [2d ed. 1874]).
For the history of the text, and its variations in man- uscripts prior to the oldest now extant, see the art. New Testament; for the theoretic classification of various readings in extant ]MSS., sec the art. Recensions. It is proper to add here that the earliest of those varia- tions, however minute, are preserved in the primary documents that still remain, showing that the sacred text has suffered no important change that cannot now be detected (Westcott).
I. Origin and Nature. — Various readings have arisen from many different causes. These have been ascer- tained by careful comparison of manuscripts. They are mostly such as mii;lu be inferred from the nature of the case; and observation has shown that all variations in manuscripts may be referred to one or other of these causes, the knowledge of which often aids in determin- ing what is the true reading. (The materials for the following summary are derived in part from Westcott's articles '• New Testament," § .30-40, and " Language of the New Testament," p. 2141, § 1-4, in Smith, Diet, of the Bible [Amer. ed.J ; Scrivener, Introd. to Text. Crit. of New Test. ; Tregelles, Introd. to Text. Crit. of New Test., in vol. iv of Home's Introduction.)