View source for Book:Memoir of the controversy respecting the three heavenly witnesses, I John v. 7. Orme, William, Ezra Abbott

Memoir of the controversy respecting the three heavenly witnesses, I John v. 7. Including critical notices of the principal writers on both sides of the discussion ...
Orme, William, 1787-1830.
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Page  I

MEMOIR
OF
THE CONTROVERSY
RESPECTING THE
I JOHN V. 7.
INCLUDING CRITICAL NOTICES OF THE PRINCIPAL WRITERS
ON BOTH SIDES OF THE DISCUSSION.
" A full and complete history of the controversy, which should enter, at large, into all it
particulars, would be an invaluable acquisition to literature."- CHARLES BUTLER.
BY CRITICUS.
A NEW EDITION, WITHI NOTES AND AN' APPENDIX,
BY EZRA ABBOT.
BOSTON:
NOYES, HOLMES, AND COMPANY.
I7' WASHINGTON STREET.
1872.




Page  II

Page  III

EDITORIAL NOTE.
THE "Memoir of the Controversy respecting the Three
Heavenly Witnesses" which is here reprinted consists of a
series of articles which originally appeared in the Congregational Magazine for 1829, under the signature of " Criticus,"
and were published at London in a separate volume in 1830.
The author, the Rev. William Orme, was born at Falkirk in
Scotland, in 1787, and became minister of a Congregational
church at Perth, in 1807. He afterwards removed to London, and became minister of a congregation at Camberwell,
and Foreign Secretary- to the London Missionary Society.
Mr. Orme was the author of several esteemed works, as the
"Memoirs of John Owen, D. D.," London, 1820; " Bibliotheca Biblica, a Select List of Books on Sacred Literature, with
Notices Biographical, Critical, and Bibliographical," Edinburgh, 1824; and especially the " Life and Times of Richard
Baxter, with a Critical Examination of his Writings," published at London in 1830, the year of his death. In his account of the controversy respecting 1 John v. 7, being a
Trinitarian, he will not be suspected of undervaluing the
arguments for its genuineness through theological prejudice;
and Horne justly praises "the candid spirit and diligent




Page  IV

iv EDITORIAL NOTE.
research which pervade every page of his able and wellwritten Memoir."
The republication of the present work is due to Frederic
Huidekoper, of Meadville, Pennsylvania, at whose instance
I undertook its editorship. Though the controversy itself is
a memorable one, and its history will always possess an interest both to the theological student and the student of human nature, it may seem to have been hardly worth while to
call attention to the matter at the present day. It may be
said that the question is obsolete; that the spuriousness of
the disputed passage has long been conceded by all intelligent
and fair-minded scholars. This is true; but a little investigation will show that great ignorance still exists on the subject among the less informed in the Christian community.
The passage is still quoted as a part of genuine Scripture in
volumes published by our Sunday School Societies, Tract
Societies, and other religious bodies; many of the popular
commentaries either give a false impression in regard to it,
or pass over it in silence; and it has been used as the text
for not a few sermons on the Trinity, which have been published even in the present century. Many Trinitarians, who
are aware that the passage has been disputed, have a vague
notion that it was at an early period fraudulently left out of
some manuscripts by the Arians, and that it is now rejected
by Unitarians on account of their hostility to the doctrine
involved; on the other hand, some Unitarians imagine it
to have been a deliberate forgery, devised for the purpose
of giving support to the doctrine of the Trinity. These




Page  V

EDITORIAL NOTE. v
errors do not tend to promote Christian charity. Those
who still quote the passage through ignorance should be
enlightened; those who know the facts in the case, and
conceal them, should be put to shame. The republication of
this Memoir may perhaps contribute something to both these
ends. It will also show that the interpolation did not originate in fraud, though "pious fraud" has done something to
give it currency.
In the present edition of this work the extracts made by
MIr. Orme from various writers have been carefully verified,
as far as possible, by comparison with the originals, and many
mistakes have thus been corrected; to the more important
quotations in foreign languages a translation has been subjoined, for the benefit of the unlearned reader; and a few
notes have been added, together with an Appendix, continuing the history of the controversy, and exhibiting the judgment of the best scholars at the present day in regard to the
subject. The original text has been reprinted without omission or change, except the correction of typographical errors:
the editorial additions are enclosed in brackets.
E. A.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS., December 20, 1866.




Page  VI

Page  VII

PREFACE.
THE sentence which has been placed on the title, from
the Horae Biblice of the venerable Charles Butler, is by no
means intended to apply to the following pages. The author is too sensible of their imperfections to lay claim to
the merit of presenting a full and complete history of the
controversy of which they treat. He has neither possessed
the leisure, nor the means, to enable him to accomplish so
desirable a work. If, however, his efforts should induce some
more favored individual; such a person as Crito Cantabrigiensis, whose acuteness and learning, calmness of temper, and
powers of argument, show that he possesses every requisite
qualification for such an undertaking, he will feel himself
amply rewarded, though the work of the pioneer should be
forgotten in the splendid triumph of the successful general.
The greater part of this Memoir of the Controversy was
originally drawn up by the author as a kind of recreation
from more severe labors, during hours both "few and far
between," which he occasionally thus employed. What gratified himself, he'imagined might afford some gratification to
others. Ile, therefore, extended his notes, and printed them




Page  VIII

viii PREFACE.
during the preceding year, in the successive numbers of a
monthly publication. He has understood they created some
interest in the subject; and that to a few their appearance
in a separate form would be acceptable.
In that form they are now presented to the public, with
some corrections and very considerable additions." Criticism
he neither courts nor deprecates. He who has freely expressed his opinion of others, may expect that others will
use the same freedom with him. And if this is done with
candor, and with due regard to the interests of truth, though
it should differ from his own, he will not complain, or be
offended.
LONDON, February, 1830.




Page  IX

CONTENTS.
PA GH
INTRODUCTION... 1, 2
Erasmus.. 2- 7
Complutensian Edition of the New Testament... 2, 3
Jortin......... 7
Colinaeus, Stephens, Beza, the Elzevirs. 7, 8
Ancient Versions.... 8, 9
Luther, Tyndale, &c.. 8, 9
Father Simon...9 - 13
Bishop Burnet.13- 16
Dr. Thomas Smith, Kettner.. 16, 17
Howe, Hammond.... 17 -19
Mill.. 19, 20
The Abbe Roger........ 20
Emlyn and Martin....... 20 - 23
Calamy....... 23, 24
Bishop Smalbroke....... 24 - 27
Bentley....... 27 - 31
Mace and Twells.......31- 34
Casley.......34
Bengel....... 34-36
Sloss and the Rev. T. P. of C 1..... 36 -38
Wetstein...38-41
CUsar de Missy.41, 42
Sir Isaac Newton... 42- 44




Page  X

x CONTENTS.
Benson...... 45 - 47
Bowyer....... 47
Gibbon.. 47 - 49
Travis.........49 - 55
Porson...... 55 - 60
Sosipater (Theophilus Lindsey)..60 60, 6
Robert Stephens's MSS. 61- 72
Bishop Marsh. 63
Travis's Answer..... 63 - 66
Marsh's Reply.... 66 - 73
Michaelis..... 74 - 78
Semler, Wagner, Ksnittel, Stresow..... 74, 75
Dr. Adam Clarke.78- 84
Dr. Smith on the MSS. used for the Complutensian Edition. 82, 83
Christian Observer (Dr. Joseph Jowett) 84-90
Dr. Charles Butler.... 90- 96
Bossuet.. 93, 94
Bishop Middleton.....96 - 98
Eclectic Review (Dr. John Pve Smith) 98-100
Pharez........ 99
Griesbach..... 100, 101
Nolan....... 101 - 111
Oxlee..... 111 -117
Hales..... 117 -121
Bishop Marsh again..... 121 -124
Black's Palceoromaica.... 124 - 130
Bishop Burgess..... 130 - 136
Quarterly Review... 136 - 143
Burgess again....'... 143-147
Oxlee's Strictures.....147 - 149
Ben David (Dr. John Jones)... 148, 150, 151




Page  XI

CONTENTS. xi
Burgess again.151 -153
Quarterly Review again.. 153-156
Cito Cantabrigiensis (Bishop Turton) 157-162
Rev. Francis Huyshe.. 162 - 165
Crito Cantabrigiensis in Reply.... 165 - 167
()xlee again........ 167 - 169
Burgess again........ 169, 170
Knittel's ",New Criticisms" translated by Evanson. 170-172
Oxlee's Summary of Points settled by the Controversy. 173-178
Clemens Anglicanus (Bishop Turton) on Evanson's Translation of Knittel.... 178-180
Eclectic Review on the Same.. 179, 180
Horne.....180 - 182
APPENDIX.
BY THE EDITOR.
Monthly Anthology (Buckminster) and the Panoplist 183, i84
Rev. Henry Ware, Jr...184
Br1itish Critic...... 185
Rickli.....185, 186
Bishop Burgess again..... 186
Cardinal Wiseman.. 186 -191
Cardinal Angelo Mai. 191
Iluyshe and Oxlee again....... 191
i)r. William Wright.. 191, 192
Rev. William W. Hunt....... 192
Scholz. 192, 193
Burgess again........ 193
Rev. F. A. Farley.... 193
Dr. Joseph Tuw"bull and Dr. S. P. Tregelles... 194, 195




Page  XII

xii CONTENTS.
Boston Review.195, 196
Critical Editions of the Greek Testament in the Present
Century.. 197
Translators and Commentators.198
Champions of the Doctrine of the Trinity - Wardlaw, Stuart,
John Pye Smith. 199
Critics - Lee, Horne, Porter, Davidson.. 199, 200
Tregelles.. 200, 201
Tischendorf..201
Green. 202
Scrivener........ 202, 203
Alford......... 203
Concluding Summary of the Evidence. 203 -205
Protest against the further Imposition of the Passage on the
Unlearned as a Part of Scripture. 205, 206
The Edinburgh Review and the New Englander (President
Woolsey) quoted on this Subject. 206, 207




Page  1

MEMO1 R
OF THE CONTROVERSY RESPECTING
THE THREE HEAVENLY WITNESSES,
1 JOHN v. 7.
T HE controversy which has been agitated from the commencement of the Reformation, respecting the testimony of the heavenly witnesses, in the fifth chapter of the
First Epistle of John, whether considered in a theological,
a critical, or a literary point of view, is of the highest importance. It involves one of the fundamental doctrines of
Christianity, embraces some of the nicest points in biblical
criticism, and has brought into the field men of the most distinguished talents and learning. Happily the subject may
now be examined dispassionately; as it has been admitted
both by the opposers and supporters of the disputed passage,
that, whichever conclusion is come to, the doctrine of the
Trinity remains unaffected.
It is the object of this historical memoir to present a brief
view of the progress of this interesting discussion. It is not
the intention of the author to bring forward all that has been
said on both sides, for that would require volumes; but to
notice the principal points in the debate, the parties who
have engaged in it, the subjects into which the controversy
has diverged, and the state in which the matter now appears
to stand.
1 A




Page  2

2 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
The learned reader does not require to be informed; but
for the sake of those who do, and to prevent mistakes, it is
necessary to state, that the whole controversy is, whether the
words in Greek and English, enclosed within brackets, in
the following passage, are a genuine part of the original text.
r' TpoL e lto-Lv o0,nap-vpovvT- [a, -7c of.pav,,,6 7raTnp, 6 X6yoo
KCil TO ~ayLvO TYveva Kal OUTOL O 7PTpEL EV ELVaL. Kal rpelE drl(y o0
LgOpTVpoVVTEg E;v Tj yw], TO 7rrVVWa, Kal TO V0p, Kat To, aay KaL
o01 TpaEL ENlS TOE' EL (aLCV.
" For there are three that bear record [in heaven, the
iFather, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are
one. And there are three that bear witness in earth], the
spirit,'and the water, and the blood; and these three agree in
one."
The words in dispute were omitted by Erasmus in the
first and second editions of the New Testament, published by
him in 1516 and 1519. This occasioned a dispute with Lee,
an Englishman, who was afterwards made Archbishop of
York by Henry VIII., and also with Stunica, one of the
divines employed on the Complutensian Polyglot; in the
course of which Erasmus promised, that if the passage were
found in a single Greek manuscript, he would insert it in his
next edition. An account of the controversy with Lee and.Stunica will be found in Burigni's Life of Erasmus, and also
in Jortin's. Stunica's attack and the defence of Erasmus
will be found in the ninth volume of the Critici Sacri. The
dispute with these individuals, it should be observed, was not
restricted to the passage in John. Both of them attacked
the editorial labors and learning of Erasmus generally,
which it was their great object to vilify. That learned person was not backward to reply in his own defence.
The Complutensian edition of the New Testament was
printed in 1514, though not published till 1522. In this




Page  3

ERASMUS. 3
edition the passage is inserted, whether from some Greek
MIS., or translated from the Latin into Greek, has been matter of dispute. At the same time, Erasmus was informed of
a MS. in England, which contained the passage. This MS.
has at length been found in Trinity College, Dublin, and is
now commonly known by the name of the Codex Montfortianuis. Michaelis asserts that this MS. was written after the
year 1500, and is therefore of no critical authority. Mill
thinks it is very modern; Wetstein ascribes it to the sixteenth century; Griesbach dates it in the fifteenth or sixteenth; and Dr. Adam Clarke, who examined it very particularly, thinks it cannot be older than the thirteenth century.
In consequence of these things, Erasmus inserted in his next,
and two following editions, published in 1522, 1527, and
1535, the words under dispute. While, from regard to his
promise, he inserted the passage, he took care to record his
reasons for doing so, and his opinion of the MS., in the fol
lowing words:- ",Ex hoc igitur Codice Britannico reposuimus, quod in nostris dicebatur deesse: ne cuii sit ansa calumniandi. Tametsi suspicor codicem ilium ad nostros esse
correctum."
While this sentence shows that the suspicions of Erasmus
respecting the authority of this passage were never removed,
it may be interesting to the English reader to know more
particularly how exceedingly careful he was in forming his
text of the New Testament, and that, on this very passage,
he bestowed no ordinary pains. From Jortin's Life of that
distinguished individual, I extract a passage, in which the
views of Erasmus on the disputed passage are clearly and
fully stated. In his note on the verse under discussion, he
observes:1. "That in the Greek, only these words are found: for
there are three that bear record, the spirit, and the water, and
the blood: and these three agree in one.




Page  4

4 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
2. "That this passage is so cited by Cyril in the 14th
book of his Thesaurus, and that an orthodox father, as he
was, would infallibly have cited the whole passage against
the Arians, if he had found it in any copies in his time.
3. "That the same may be said of Augustin, who also
cites it thus against Maximinus the Arian, although he omits
nothing to establish the consubstantiality of the Father and the
Son, and although he pretends that the spirit, the water, and
the blood, signify the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
4. "That Beda cites the passage in the same manner as
Augustin.
5. "That the controverted words are not in a manuscript
of the Minor Friers of Antwerp, which he had examined.
6. " That indeed the authority of Jerom is urged on this
occasion; but that this father seems to complain, in a preface
which is prefixed to the Catholic Epistles, not of the Greek
manuscripts, but of those who translated the Greek Testament into Latin; and that at present the words, which, as he
complains, were omitted, are not to be found in the Greek
manuscripts, but only in some of the Latin ones.
"'But,' says Erasmus,'whence could Jerom discover this
error of the translators? It must have been by the help of
the Greek copies. But these Greek copies either were or
were not conformable to our version. If they varied, as well
as the Latin versions, by what indications can he show whichl
is the best reading, and how the apostle wrote? especially
since the reading which he censures was publicly used in the
Church. If this were not the case, I know not what can be
made of the following words: Sed tu, virgo Christi,'Eustochium, dum a me impensius Scripturce veritatem inquiris,
meam quodammodo senectutem invidorum dentibus corroden.
dam exponis, qui me falsarium corruptorenquete sacrarum
pronunciant Scrptutrarum. For who would have called him




Page  5

ERASMUS. 5
a forger and a falsifier, unless he changed the common reading of the place? If Cyril amongst the Greeks did read
what we now read in our Greek manuscripts, if Augustin
and Beda did read so, or if they found both the one and the
other reading, I see not what reason Jerom could give to
prove that his way of reading was the true one. Some will
say, This text furnisheth us with a strong argument against
the Arians. But first, since it is certain that the manner of
reading this passage hath varied amongst the Greeks and
Latins, we cannot object it to them, because they will have
the same right to claim that reading which favors them.
But let it be supposed that the passage is incontestable, since
what is said of the testimony of the water, the blood, and the
spirit, that they are one (unum sunt, or rather that they
amount to one, eld o' ev oat), relates not to an unity of nature, but to an uniformity of testimony, could the Arians,
think we, be so stupid as not to interpret in the same manner
what is said of the Father, the Word, and the Spirit? especially since the orthodox explain in the same way a passage
in the Gospel of St. John; since Augustin rejects not this
interpretation, when he disputes with Maximinus the Arian;
and since the interlineary gloss explains it thus: Unum stint,
id est, de eadem re testantur. This is not the way to establish
the faith, but to make it suspected, by trusting to such weak
surmises. Perhaps it would be better to use our pious
endeavors to become one with God and with Christ, than
to discuss, with an over-curious zeal, how the Son differeth
from the Father, and how the Holy Ghost from the one and
the other. In truth, I see not how we can prove what the
Arians denied, except by satisfactory arguments. In a word,
this whole passage, being obscure, can be of small service for
the confutation of heretics, &c.
"' But not to dissemble anything, one single Greek man



Page  6

6 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING I JOHN V. 7.
uscript hath been discovered in England, wherein what is
wanting in other manuscripts is found thus: "OTt TrpeLS ELLV 01
papTvpo0vTrTE Ev Tr o'pavD, Hlarp, Ao'yos, Kal Ivevpa, Kal ovrot o
TpiE gS EL,oty. Kal Tpres Ef10tV Wprvpovre v y e Ev T,7 7, vvry a
KVO8p, Kal atl*a ely v /nprvpLav 7' cv tpOTr7vo, &c., yet, I
know not by what accident, what is in our Greek copies is
not repeated here, KaL ol TrpEls edl 7b & e(tv, and these three
agree in one. From this English manuscript we have supplied what is said to be deficient in our copies, that no one
might take occasion to calumniate us; although I suspect
that this manuscript bath been corrected and accommodated
to some of our [Latin] copies. I have consulted two Latin
manuscripts of very great antiquity in the library of St. Donatian at Bruges. Neither of them have the testimony of
the Father, the Word, and the Spirit; and in one of them
were not the words in earth: there was only There are three
who bear record, the Spirit, the Water, and the Blood. In
two manuscripts of Constance, after the testimony of the
fWater, the Blood, and the Spirit, were added these words;
as in heaven there are three, the Father, the Word, and the
Spirit, and three are one. There was neither testimonium
dant, nor the pronoun hi. In a manuscript which I had firom
the public library of the University of Basel, there was not
the testimony of the Spirit, the Water, and the Blood; Paulus Bombasius, at my request, copied out this passage from a
very old manuscript in the Vatican Library, which had not
the testimony of the Father, the Word, and the Spirit; and
with this manuscript agrees the edition of Aldus.'
"Erasmus proceeds to show that there are Spanish editions,
wherein variations are found, and that in reality nothing can
be here meant besides an unity of consent. I shall add no
more: this sufficeth to show how careful he was to settle the
* In this MS. it is e.




Page  7

JORTIN. 7
true reading of the text of the New Testament, without paying any regard to theological prejudices, which make men
seek in the Holy Scriptures only what seems proper, in their
opinion to establish the sentiments which they have adopted.
If Erasmus lived in these days, he would see with pleasure
that Jerom's pretended Preface to the Catholic Epistles,
upon which so much stress was once laid, is the work of an
impostor, as Father Martianai, although no extraordinary
critic, hath fully proved in his edition of Jerom's version.
HIe would see that on this particular occasion there was no
reason to blame Jerom, though the judgment which he passed
upon the fictitious Jerom be reasonable and just. At present
this passage, and all that relates to it, hath been so fully discussed, that none except stubborn and perverse people pretend to deny that the heavenly witnesses are an interpolation.
But there is the more reason to admire the sagacity and the
judiciousness of Erasmus, who discovered the false readinog."
While this quotation shows the opinion of Erasmus, and
the grounds on which that opinion was formed, it also conveys the opinion of his biographer, Dr. Jortin, on the merits
of' the passage. Jortin was a profound scholar, a critic of
great acuteness, whose acquaintance with ecclesiastical history was more extensive and accurate than that of most men
of his time. On biblical criticism he was also well qualified
to pronounce an opinion, and that opinion, whatever it was,
he was accustomed to express, as in the present instance, with
great decision and explicitness.
Colinteus, the father-in-law of Robert Stephens, in his
edition of 1534, printed at Paris, omitted the verse from
want of MS. authority, It is also omitted in editions pub* Jortin's Life of Erasmus, Vol. II. pp. 230-233.




Page  8

CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
lished at Hagenau in 1521, and at Strasburg in 1524. R.
Stephens, in his edition of 1550, inserted the passage; but
marked the words Ev r, o,3pav, as wanting in seven MSS.
Beza, suspecting no mistake, and supposing that these MSS.
contained the remaining words, inserted the whole passage
in his editions. The Elzevir editors, following these authorities, admitted the passage into their editions, and thus it
finally became a part of the received text.
In all the ancient versions it is wanting. In the Old Syrlac, or Peshito, made in the second or third century; in the
Philoxenian Syriac, made in the beginning of the sixth century; in the Coptic and Sahidic Versions, made between the
fourth and sixth centuries; in the Ethiopic Version, which
boasts a very high antiquity; in the Arabic MSS. and most
of the printed editions; and though inserted in the printed
editions of the Armenian, it does not exist in the best MSS.
of that translation. The same remark is applicable to the
Slavonian, the oldest editions of which do not contain it. It
is to be found in the printed text of the Latin Vulgate; but
some of the oldest Latin MSS. want it, and in others it is
interlined, or added in the margin. No satisfactory proof
has been afforded that it is quoted by any of the Greek
fathers; and even the adduced evidence of the Latin writers
is defective or unsatisfactory.
From all the editions of the German translation of the
New Testament by Luther, which were published by himself, it was excluded; a conclusive proof that the Reformer
$ [These two versions, otherwise called the Memphitic and the Thebaic,
are now generally supposed by scholars to have been made in the latter
part of the third or the beginning of the fourth century. Miinter and Woide
are disposed to assign the Sahidic even to the second century; it is probably, at any rate, the earlier of the two. The /Ethiopic version is usually
ascribed to the fourth century.- ED.]




Page  9

SIMON. 9
wanted faith in its authority. After his death, it was in
serted in his translation by some of the editors, and rejected
by others, till at last its insertion became general. The modern European versions for the most part contain the passage.
In the greater number of the editions of the English translation, from Tindal to the Bishops' Bible in 1568, the passage is printed either in a different character from the text,
or enclosed in brackets, to intimate that it was found in the
Latin Vulgate, but not in the Greek text. Calvin, Leo de
Juda, Castalio, all speak of it and treat it as doubtful.
In Father Simon's Critical History of the New Testanent, which was translated very incorrectly into English in
1689, the genuineness of the passage is attacked at some
length?* Simon examined very diligently the King's Library
at Paris, and likewise the Colbertine, containing many valuable Greek MSS.; but none of them contained the disputed
passage. He found it also wanting in some of the oldest
MSS. of the Latin Vulgate which he examined. His opinion is decidedly unfavorable to its genuineness; as even in
regard to the Latin MSS. which contain it, he expresses his
belief, that it was originally written on the margin, as a marginal note, and afterwards introduced into the text by some
of the transcribers.
The following extract contains the result of Simon's investigation, and also his opinion of the manner in which the
spurious words were introduced into the text, both of the
Greek and Latin MSS. which contain it.
" After the most diligent search in the King's Library, and
that of Colbert, in which there are a great many good manuscript volumes, I found no copy that had that passage in
it, though I read seven of them in the Royal Library, six
+ Part I. Chap. XVIII.; Part II. Chap. IX.
1 *




Page  10

10 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
whereof are marked 1885. 2247. 2248. 2870. 2871. 2872.
Some of the manuscripts have notes; but no scholiast or
annotator makes mention of that passage; neither have I
found it in five manuscript copies belonging to Colbert's Liblary, which are marked 871. 6123. 4785. 65.84. 2844. Yet
some of these manuscripts are only paper, and much later
than the rest. There is also one in 16mo, well written, and
I believe since the era of printing: yet the passage in question is not found therein, any more than in the rest of the
ancient copies.
"I could produce yet other Greek manuscript copies which
I have seen, whose various readings I observed; but that
which most deserves our notice is, that in the margin of some
of the King's and Colbert's copies there are small notes set
over against the said passage, which in all likelihood have
slipped afterwards into the body of the text. Take an example from the King's copy, marked 2247.; over against these
words,'OOT Tpeis ealGv oi!apTvpoGvrTEs EV Td 7.y7,, TO 7rvEvLa Kai
r 3cop Kal To alu/a, there is this remark, rovrTEaT rTO vrvvpa Tr
ayLOv, KaL 0 7raTrp, KaL avTov eavroS. By which we may perceive, that the author of the said remark understood the
Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost to be signified by the
three witnesses mentioned by St. John, the Spirit, the Water,
and the Blood: and what was formerly written by way of
note, passed afterwards into the text, as it often falls out.
In the same copy over against these other words, Kal on rpeIs
elS TOv EV sO-i, this note is added, To70VrretL a OO6S? E os,
that is, one Deity, one God. That manuscript is about 500
years old, and there are but very few places therein that have
notes. There is the like remark in one of the manuscripts
belonging to M. Colbert's Library, number 871.. For beside
these words that are set in the margin, ECs Oeo tziia OdrTq7,,
one God, one Deitfiy; the sclloliast lhas also added these, /ap



Page  11

SIMON. 11
vpla -roV OeoO roD T rarppos Kal ro7 dfyLov 7veVularoS, the testimony
of God the Father, and of the Holy Ghost.
"This, in my opinion, is the original of the passage in
question."
Speaking afterwards of the Latin Vulgate in the time of
Jerome, and of Jerome's controverted preface, and endeavoring to show that the passage did not exist in that version
then, nor was introduced by Jerome, he says:"And that which makes it further manifest, that St. Jerome was not the true author either of the preface or addition, is, that that addition is placed in the margin of most of
the ancient copies, in the body of which it is not extant. It
was no less than surprising, that the pretended St. Jerome
should in his preface commend his new edition of the Canonical Epistles, upon the account of the change he had
made, especially in the First of St. John, whilst there was
nothing of such change or amendment to be seen therein.
Upon which account the transcribers, or they to whom.the
copies did belong, thought fit to regulate the text according
to the preface, by supplying, in the margin, the verse concerning the witness of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost;
which, before that time, was extant in some ecclesiastical authors. But since it was a matter of difficulty for those who
placed that addition in the margin of their copies, to observe
a general and perfect uniformity of words, it so fell out, that
the expressions in the various copies did likewise vary. This
diversity evidently proVes that St. Jerome could not be the
author of the addition in controversy, but that it was done by
those who had a mind to adjust the text in St. John to the
preface. I shall here give some examples illustrative of the
manner how it was added to most of the old Latin copies of
St. Jerome's Bible.
" In that copy of the Royal Library, that is marked 3584.,




Page  12

12 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
in the margin over against these words, Tres sunt qzui testimonium dant, i. e. there are three which bear witness, there
are these other words added, In ceelo, Pater, Verbum, et Spiritus: et tres sunt qui testimoniumn dant' in terrad, et hi tres
unum sunt; i. e. in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the
ikpirit: and there are three which bear witness on earth, and
these three are one. The writing of the addition appears to
be no less ancient than that of the text. The like addition
is to be seen in a copy that is in Colbert's Library, that is
marked 158., where in the margin, over against these words,
Tres suent qui testimonitum dant, these are added, in calo,
Pater, Verbum, et Spiritus, et tres sunt qui testimonium dant
in terra, sanguis, aqua, et caro. And to make the text and
addition agree the better, there are some of the words of the
text amended or put out. There is nothing of this addition
to be read in the three anc(ient copies of the library belonging to the Benedictines of the Abbey of St. Germans, only
it is placed in the margin of one of these copies, and the addit.ion is as old therein as the text itself.
" It is true, that it is extant in a copy written eight hundred years ago, in the time of Lotharius II. But it is
strangely disfigured in that place; in that copy the reading
was formerly thus, Sunt tres qui testimonium dant, (the words
in terra.being interlined,) spiritus, aqua, et sanguis; et tres
unum sunt: et tres suent qui de ccelo testlficantur, pater, verbunm, et spiritus, et tres ununz sunt. But some time afterwards,
the words de ccelo testificantur, i. ce. bear witness of [or fromn]
heaven, were defaced, to make room for these, testimonium
dicunt in ecelo, i. e. bear witness in heaven.
"All which different alterations are evident proofs that there
was nothing of that addition in the first copies which were
published of St. Jerome's Bible; for which reason it is not
to be found in a certain version of the Frenclh Cillurch, which




Page  13

BURNET. 13
is at least a thousand years old, and whiJch was published by
Father AMabillon, a Benedictine monk, and the first who in
effect seems to have inserted that passage in his works, is
Victor, Bishop of Vite, who lived a hundred years after St.
Jerome."
Simon, though a Catholic, and either a sceptic or a blind
devotee, was a man of eminent talents and scholarship. In
all the departments of biblical literature he was profoundly
versed; while he was no less distinguished for his patient and
laborious researches, than for his learning and acuteness
l'here is at the same time generally so much Jesuitism about
his mode of reasoning, that it is frequently lifficult to ascertain his real opinions, or the object of his aim; so that while
often led to admire the scholar, we can rarely respect the
man. His works in one way tend to establish the authority
of Rome, and in another to sap the foundations of Revelation. On the subject of the disputed passage, however,
he writes clearly and forcibly, and, I believe, simply as a
critic.
Our learned countryman, Bishop Burnet, paid some attention to this subject, and in the course of his travels on the
Continent examined a number of MSS., both Greek and
Latin, of which he published the result. The Bishop, though
a respectable scholar and theologian, was not profound as a
critic. He could not account for several things in this controversy which are now easily explained. He seems to have
been a believer in the authenticity of the passage himself;
and was, therefore, very anxious to find it in some MIS. of
value. His travels are now, I believe, not very commonly
to be met with, and as the passage is curious in which he
speaks of this text, I will give it entire.
"' I have takeui somnce, ains in my trlavels to examine all the




Page  14

14 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
ancient manuscripts of the New Testament, concerning that
doubted passage of St. John's Epistle, There are three that
bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit;
and these three are one. Bullinger doubted much of it, because he found it not in an ancient Latin manuscript at
Zurich, which seems to be about 800 years old: for it is
written in that hand that began to be used in Charles the
Great's time. I turned the manuscript, and found the passage was not there: but this was certainly the error or omission of the copier: for before the General Epistles in that
manuscript, the preface of St. Jerome is to be found, in
which he says, that he was the more exact in that translation, that so he might discover the fraud of the Arians, who
hlad struck out that passage concerning tile Trinity. This
preface is printed in Lyra's Bible; but how it came to be left
out by Erasmus in his edition of that father's works, is that
of which I can give no account: for as on the one hand, Erasmus's sincerity ought not to be too rashly censured; so on the
other hand, that preface being in all the manuscripts ancient
or modern of those Bibles that have the other prefaces in
them, that I ever yet saw, it is not easy to imagine what made
Erasmus not to publish it; and it is in the manuscript Bibles
at Basil, where he printed his edition of St. Jerome's works.
In the old manuscript Bible of Geneva, that seems to be
above 700 years old, both the preface and the passage are
extant, but with this difference from the common editions,
that the common editions set the verse concerning the Father,
the Word, and the Spirit, before that of the Water, the Blood,
and the Spirit; which comes after it in this copy: and that
I may in this place end all the readings I found of this
passage in my travels, there is a manuscript in St. Mark's
library, in Venice, in three languages, Greek, Latin, and
ArIabic, that seems not above 400 years old, in which this




Page  15

BURNET. 1b
passage is not in the Greek, but it is in the Latin set after
the other three, with a sicut to join it to what goes before.
And in a manuscript Latin Bible in the library of St. Laurence at Florence, both St. Jerome's preface and this passage
are extant; but this, passage comes after the other, and is
pinned to it with a sicut, as is that of Venice; yet sicut is
not in the Geneva manuscript. There are two Greek manuscripts of the Epistles at Basil, that seem to be about 500
years old, in neither of which this passage is to be found:
they have also an ancient Latin Bible, which is about 800
years old, in which, though St. Jerome's prologue is inserted,
yet this passage is wanting. At Strasburg, I saw four very
ancient manuscripts of the New Testament in Latin: three
of these seemed to be about the time of Charles the Great,
but the fourth seemed to be much ancienter, and may belong
to the seventh century: in it neither the prologue nor the
place is extant; but it is added at the foot of the page with
another hand. In two of the other, the prologue is extant,
but the place is not; only in one of them it is added on
the margin. In the fourth, as the prologue is extant, so
is the place likewise, but it comes after the verse of the
other three, and is joined to it thus, Sicut tres sunt in ccelo.
"It seemed strange to me, and it is almost incredible, that;n the Vatican Library there are no ancient Latin Bibles,
where above all other places they ought to be looked for;
but I saw none above 400 years old. There is, indeed, the
falnous Greek manuscript of great value, which the Chanoine Shelstrat, that was library-keeper, asserted to be 1,400
years old, and proved it by the great similitude of the characters with those that are upon St. Hippolite's statue, which
is so evident, that if his statue was made about his time, the
antiquity of this manuscript is not to be disputed. If the
characters are not so fair, and have not all the marks of an



Page  16

16 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
tiquity that appear in the King's manuscript at St. James's,
yet this has been much better preserved, and is much -more
entire. The passage that has led me into this digression, is
not to be found in the Vatican manuscript, no more than it
is in the King's manuscript." *
Dr. Burnet seems not to have been aware of the reason
why Erasmus did not publish, in his edition of Jerome's
works, the preface before the General Epistles, or of the fact
which has been clearly ascertained, that Jerome never wrote
any such preface; but that it was the production of a future
age. Nor is he correct in saying, that all the ancient Latin
MISS. contain this preface. Father Sinion clearly proves
the contrary Burnet's account of the readings in the Latin
MSS. which he examnined, and its omission in the Greek
MSS., corroborates the testimony of all others who have examined the subject.
Our learned countryman, Dr. Tho:nas Smith, in his Latin
"Miscellanea," the first edition of which appeared in 1636,
has a dissertation in support of the received reading of this
text, in opposition to the views of Simon; and as Simon remarked on him, he defended himself in a second dissertation,
inserted in the next edition in 1690. Smith was a very considerable scholar, who had travelled much, and was we.ll acquainted with Greek and Oriental MSS.; but as " that which
is wanting cannot be numbered," he necessarily failed in his
attempt to maintain the argument which he espoused.
Kettner, a German writer, replied to Father Simon in
three publications, in which he produced most of the arguments usually alleged on his side, but mixed with many absurd and trifling observations. For instance, he reckons in
the second century, twenty-seven; in the third, twenty-nine;
* Dr. G. Burnet's Tracts, Vol. I. pp. 54-57, printed 1689.




Page  17

HAMMOND. 17
and in the fourth, forty-two reasons, which might hinder the
fathers from appealing to the heavenly witnesses.*
John Howe appears to have held the authenticity of the
received reading, and refers with approbation to Hammond's
note on the passage.t That note, though learned, will not
satisfy any who are acquainted with the real merits and present state of the controversy. Mr. Oxlee gives the following
very accurate account of Hammond's argument; to which he
annexes an admirable answer.
"'The grounds on which Dr. Hammond has erected his
defence, are, first of all, That the ordinary reading hath the
authority of many ancient, and all but one, printed copies;
That the omission might easily have been made by an error
of transcription, owing to the Homeoteleuton; That many
copies have Cv rT7 y7, on the earth, without the former ve:se;
which shows, that this error of omission was the first committed; That it is not imaginable, if the manuscripts which
contain it not, be correct, how the reading of the ordinary
copies could have got in, except by gross fraud and forgery;
That, if any fraud were used, it were much more probable
that the Arians had thrust it out, than that it had been interpolated by the orthodox, who could have done very well
without it; That in St. Cyprian the words are distinctly found,
as also in Tertullian; That it is allowed of St. Jerome, that
he asserted the truth of' our reading from the Greek copies
which he had; and defended it against all, publicly complaining and contesting it, that in those copies where it was
wanted, it was omitted or erased by the fraud of the heretics;
That St. Ambrose saith, that the heretics did erase that place.
* Poerson's Letters to Travis, Pref. p. iii. Ed. 1790. Kettner's works ap.
peared between the years 1696 and 1713.
i HIowe's Woorks, Vol. VII. pp. 3, 4.
B




Page  18

18 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
"Such are the arguments from which Dr. Hammond has
constructed his learned defence; and of those eight arguments, six at least are wholly groundless, being bottomed in
ignorance and mistake; whilst the remaining two are justly
disputed. So far from the ordinary reading having the authority of many ancienit copies, there is but one copy in all
forthcoming, that contains it in any shape; and not even so
much as one that exhibits it in its present form. Then as to
the printed copies, instead of one, there are certainly fve
ancient editions, thefirst and second of Erasmus, one printed
at Hagenau in 1521, another at Strasburg in 1524, and that
of Colinmus, in 1534, which have it not; and several more,
including the Editio Princeps, in which the final clause of
the eighth verse is removed from its proper place to eke out
the seventh. Instead of many, there is not one copy which
contains the ev r,q yfi of the eighth verse, whilst destitute of
the seventh. So far from not being imaginable, it is both.
very imaginable and very clear, how the present reading got
into the text; which was done first, by inserting the marginal gloss on the eighth verse into the body of some of the
Latin manuscripts; and then by the Greek editors translating
and re-translating the words from the Latin Vulgate, and inserting them into the printed Greek text. Nor is there any
fraud chargeable either on the Arians, or on the orthodox of
the fourth and fifth centuries; during whose controversy, and
for several ages after, the passage of the heavenly witnesses
was existing,only in the womb of futurity. The real fraud
was committed by the Greek editors, who, about three hundred years ago, dared to insert it in -their respective editions,
contrary to the authority of the Greek manuscripts. MAloreover, it is not true, that the words are either distinctly found
or alluded to in Tertullian; nor yet in St. Cyprian, if the
natter be but duly coilsidered. Neither is it at this day




Page  19

MILL. 19
allowed of St. Jerome, whatever it may have been in the time
of Dr. Hammond, that he asserted the truth of our reading
from his Greek copies; and defended it against all opponents.
This argument evidently rests on the false supposition, that
the prologue to the Canonical Epistles -was written by Jerome; whereas, ever since the Benedictine edition of his
works, nearly every scholar and critic of eminence, including
your Lordship amongst the number, have been convinced,
that it is the composition of some sophisticator of the sixth
or seventh century; and fabricated chiefly with the design to
procure for the heavenly witnesses a place in the Latin Version. But, finally, what advocate of the text is there now
to be found to confirm the statement; that ST. AMBROSE has
charged the heretics with the erasure of the passage? Ill
what part of the works of that Father is any such declaration forthcoming; and on what authority has Dr. Hammond
made this assertion? Nay, show me the place only where
St. Ambrose has taken the least notice of the passage; and
I will be ready to acknowledge, that it is not destitute of support, nor unworthy of being vindicated, as a genuine text of
Scripture. Alas, this learned defence of Dr. Hammond sets
all learning at defiance; nor is there so much as one single
argument made use of by him, which is not advanced upon
grounds palpably mistaken and incorrect." *
In 1707, Dr. Mill published at Oxford his valuable edition
of the Greek New Testament, containing at least 30,000
various readings. He admits the disputed passage into his
text; but in his prolegomena and notes, he furnishes a mass
of evidence, from which it is difficult to understand how he
could draw an inference in favor of the passage. So it was,
however. As an honest critic, he fairly adduces the evidence
* Oxlee's Letters to the Bishop of Salisbury, pp. 4-7.




Page  20

20 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
on both sides, and furnishes all his readers with data, on
which they may either receive or reject his opinion as a divine.
The Abbe L. Roger, Dean of Bourges, published at Paris,
in 1715, Two Dissertations; in the first of which he defends
I John v. 7. "It ought to be mentioned to his credit," says
Porson, " that having examined the MSS. in the Royal Library at Paris, he subscribed to the opinion of Lucas Brugensis, Simon, and Le Long, and ingenuously confessed that
the semicircle in Stephens's edition, which now follows the
words &v i, o'puav in the seventh verse, ought to be placed
after the words Ev Tr, v/. in the eighth." *
After the appearance of Mill's edition, Thomas Emlyn, a
Presbyterian minister of Dublin, published " A Full Enquiry
into the original Authority of that Text, 1 John v. 7. Containing all Account of Dr. Mill's Evidences from Antiquity,
for and against its being genuine. With an Examination
of his Judgment thereupon. Humbly addressed to both
Houses of Convocation." London, 1715, 1719, 8vo. This is
a bold and acute pamphlet; in which the author shows that
the passage is wanting in the ancient Greek MSS., the ancient versions, and is never cited by the primitive fathers;
and that the other arguments offered in support of the text
are insufficient. Whether it was in jest or in earnest that he
dedicated his work to the Convocation, I will not take it
upon me to say.
Father Simon and Emlyn were taken up by David Martin,
Pastor of the French Protestant Church at Utrecht. His
work first appeared in French in 1717; and in 1719, it was
i Letters to Travis, Preface, p. v.




Page  21

EMLYN. 21
translated, though incorrectly, into English, by Dr. Sam.
Jebb, with the following title:
"A Critical Dissertation upon the Seventh Verse of the
Fifth Chapter of St. John's First Epistle. Wherein the
Authentickness of this Text is fully proved against the Objections of Mr. Simon and the Modern Arians." London,
8vo.
Emlyn immediately published "An Answer to Mr. Martin's Critical Dissertation on 1 John v. 7, shewing the Insufficiency of his Proofs, and the Errors of his Suppositions;
by which he attempts to establish the Authority of that Text
from supposed Manuscripts." London, 1719, 8vo.
Martin, not intimidated, produced, without delay, " An
Examination of -Mr. Emlyn's Answer to the Dissertation,"
London, 1719, 8vo; which was closely followed by Emlyn,
in a " Reply to Mr. Martin's Examination of the Answer to
his Dissertation," London, 1720, 8vo.
Emlyn's pamphlets were first published anonymously;
they were afterwards collected, and, with other things, published with his name in 1719, and then in his Works, Vol.
II. 1746.
Martin, in another tract, was allowed to have the last
word. "The Genuineness of' 1 John v. 7. demonstrated by
Proofs which are beyond all Exceptions," &c. London,
1722, 8vo.
In this performance he further endeavored to maintain his
former positions by the testimony of the Greek and Latin
Churches, and particularly by a Greek MS. found in Ireland.
Thus the debate rested between these combatants.
Emlyn engaged in this controversy at the request of Dr.
Samuel Clarke and Mr. Whiston; the former being too wary
of his reputation to appear publicly in a discussion which
would have confirmed the suspicion of his Arianism; and




Page  22

22 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
the latter not deeming it proper, at the time, to appear on
the field. Whiston tells us that both Dr. Bentley and Dr.
Waterland approved of Emlyn's view of the subject. Waterland, though so zealous a Trinitarian, never quotes this
passage as genuine.
Emlyn was a man of undoubted talents and learning,
whose severe and unmerited sufferings, as an Arian, have
given considerable celebrity to his name. In his first work
on this subject, he professes to give only the evidence as
furnished by Dr. Mill, in his critical edition of the New
Testament, and his reasons for coming to a different conclusion from that evidence, from that which Mill himself had
adopted. His doctrinal sentiments, perhaps, naturally led
him to take the strongest view of the side of the question
which he espoused, and to rejoice in the strength which it
seemed to bring to the Arian cause. But, while the state of
his mind predisposed him to give all the weight possible to
the evidence against the passage, it would be unfair to charge
him with partiality or injustice in the discussion.
In the subsequent tracts which he published, he, of course,
followed the steps of his opponent; sometimes strengthening
his original position, by adding to the- negative evidence
against the passage; and at other times exposing the ignorance, the evasions, the false reasonings, and inconclusive
arguments of Martin.
Of David Martin it is proper to speak well, as of a man
who held sound views of the truth, and was zealously disposed to maintain them. In learning he was very inferior
to Simon, and much inferior to Emlyn; though far from being contemptible as a scholar. Considering the materials he
had to work with, and the opponents he encountered, it must
be confessed that he makes no despicable figure. His mode
of treating the subject, however, is more calculated to throw




Page  23

CALAMY. 23
dust in the eyes of his readers than to enlighten and convince them. His judgment was too weak, and his indignation at Arianism too ardent to enable him to do justice to a
subject which he treated with all the warmth of a theologian,
rather than with the coolness of a critic. It has been boasted,
that, in the controversy with Emltyn, he had the last word;
and that though Emlyn lived more than twenty years after
MIartin's last publication, he never attempted to reply. But
this needs excite no wonder. Emlyn thought there was no
honor to be acquired in " thrice slaying the slain;" and at
the close of his second reply thus takes leave of his opponent:-" When a controversy comes to consist only of tedious repetitions, and personal reflections,'tis a sign it either
is near to an end, or ought to be.so." If Martin had the
honor to be left in possession of the field, it has been thought
by many learned men the only honor he obtained.
Dr. Edmund Calamy, one of the most learned divines
among the English Dissenters of the period, was the next
person who took the field on the affirmative side of this controversy. He published, in 1722, "A Vindication of that
celebrated Text, 1 John v. 7, from being sjpurious; and an
Explication of it, upon the supposition of its being genuine.
In four Sermons." London. 8vo. These discourses were
occasioned by the Arian Controversy, which then so unhappily distracted both the Church and the Dissenters, and are
annexed to thirteen sermons on the Doctrine of the Trinity,
preached at Salter's Hall in 1719 and 1720. In these four
discourses, Dr. Calamy has chiefly in his eye Mr. Emlyn and
Father Simon, glancing occasionally at Whiston and some
others. The Doctor had no opportunity of examining MSS.
himself, and therefore on this part of the subject he reasons
entirely on the authority of others; but justice obliges me to




Page  24

24 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
state that this authority he does not always allege correctly.
The whole controversy is one of fact and evidence; when it
comes therefore to be observed that these are not fairly
stated, or are dexterously evaded, a suspicion is induced that
the cause is not good. It might be inferred from Dr. Calamy's reasonings, that a considerable number of Greek and
Latin MSS. and the consent of many Greek and Latin
fathers concurred in supporting this text. The contrary
had even then been very satisfactorily made out, and is now
completely proved.
The best of the four discourses is the last, in which, assuming the testimony to be authentic, he reasons on its nature
and design. The Christian reader will cordially concur in
his concluding observations. "Since the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost are witnesses in order to our confirmation, let us readily believe the truth of whatever they testify,
provided we have but good reason to believe that they have
testified it, though it seem ever so much to thwart our natural
sefntiments, or our inclinations. This is a thing that highly
becomes such closely dependent, and such dark and dimsighted creatures as we are; and it is what we cannot have
any occasion to be ashamed of. Where Father, Word, and
Holy Spirit have gone before, let us readily follow. What
light they are pleased to give us, let us thankfully receive,
and carefhlly improve; and from them jointly let us take our
measures. And then, if Father, Son, and Holy Spirit can
help us to happiness, we need not be apprehensive that we
shall miss of it, either in the life that now is, or in that which
is to come."
Some time after the publication of Dr. Calamy's Discourses, an anonymous tract appeared on the same side, with the
following title: " An Enquiry into the Authority of the




Page  25

SMALBROKE. 25
Primitive Complutensian Edition of the New Testament, as
principally founded on the most Ancient Vatican Manuscript; together with some Research of that Manuscript.
In order to decide the Dispute about 1 John v. 7. In a Letter to the Rev. Mr. Archdeacon Bentley, Master of Trinity
College in Cambridge." 1722.
My copy of this pamphlet is contained in Lord Somers's
Collection of Tracts,* in which it was reprinted, without
mentioning the date of the original edition, or the name of
the author.
The writer of this tract was [Richard] Smalbroke, Bishop
of Lichfield and Coventry, who distinguished himself both in
the Arian Controversy, and in that with Woolston. He was
not disposed to adopt the views of Emlyn, nor was he satisfied with the defence of the passage by Martin. Yet he
alleges very little that is new on the subject. His whole
argument is founded on the supposition, that the Complutensian editors inserted the passage from the Vatican manuscript. Hence, he expresses his strong desire, that this
manuscript should be sought out and re-examined. Should
it be found not to contain the disputed text, he admits it
would confute the reasonings of his essay; but contends, that
it still would not follow that the passage was spurious. The
following extract contains his argument: —
"Upon the whole, if it shall appear from the Vatican MS.
when retriev'd, that the Complutensian editors inserted the
disputed passage of St. John from that most ancient copy,
an end will be put effectually to the insults of the adversaries
of that passage. And if it cannot be discovered, but must
be given up for a lost or perish'd copy, yet still the strong
probabilities will continue, that the Complutensian editors
* [See Vol. I. pp. 489-506 of the edition of 1748, or Vol. Xm. pp. 458472, ed 1815.- ED.]




Page  26

26 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
inserted the said passage from it. However, it is very just
and reasonable that the controversy about this passage should
be suspended, till the greatest diligence possible be used to
find out the celebrated Vatican MS. And then it will be
time enough to decide upon the authority of this passage.
In the mean time, as the method proposed by yourself, Sir,
of endeavoring to find out whether the said passage be genuine or not, by an accurate collation of the most ancient
Latin MSS. of the New Testament, as supposed to be translated from the most ancient uncorrupt Greek copies; as this
consequential method, I say, is subsidiary, and may contribute to give some new light in this dispute, (though it cannot
be allowed to be a decisive argument,) so is it highly probable that it is a method which will be serviceable towards the
establishment of this passage of St. John. For far the
greater number of those Latin MISS. that have been hitherto
collated by learned men, retain this passage; and many of
them, no doubt, are very ancient. Whatever be the result
of collating your own Latin MSS., asserted by you to be
very ancient, the public will be glad to be informed of it.
For though it should happen that they want this passage,
their authority will not be conclusive against that of a
multitude of other very ancient Latin MSS. that are not
[Query?] known to retain it.
"On the other side, if it shall appear from the Vatican
MS., when retriev'd, that the Complutensian editors did not
insert the disputed passage of St. John from that most ancient copy, but from Latin copies of great antiquity; though
such a discovery would confute the reasons assigned in this
discourse, yet agreeably to the method proposed by yourself,
Sir, of finding out the genuine Greek text by the concurrence of very ancient Latin copies, that were translated from
the most ancient and uncorrupt Greek MSS., I say upon this




Page  27

BENTLEY. 27
principle, neither the reputation of the Complutensian edition of the Greek Testament, nor the authority of this controverted text in particular, would be affected by such a discovery. For if Stunica and his brethren were persuaded
that most, if not all, the Greek MSS. of St. John that are
now extant, were corrupted, and that the Latin copies that
retain this controverted passage were agreeable to the most
ancient uncorrupted Greek copies, and that consequently this
passage ought justly to be inserted in that edition, as in fact
it was; I do not see why they ought to undergo any censure
from yourself, who pay so great a regard to, and lay so mighty
a stress upon, the ancient Latin copies of the New Testament,
whatever opinion the rest of the learned world might, on this
occasion, entertain, by way of diminution, of the authority of
the Complutensian editors."
That neither the Vatican MS., nor any other used by the
Complutensian editors, contains the passage, has been most
satisfactorily proved: consequently the main argument of
this pamphlet, by the Bishop's own admission, is overthrown.
The other argument, addressed to Dr. Bentley himself, on
the ad hominem principle, is worth very little. Bentley's
edition was never published, so that how the passage might
have appeared in it, may be matter of dispute; but that he
believed the passage to be spurious is well ascertained, from
a discourse which he delivered on the subject, which, it is
supposed, is still preserved. A letter also from Bentley to
an anonymous friend, shows that his sentiments were understood to be unfavorable to the authority of the verse; and
certainly was not intended to remove that unfavorable impression. The execution of his edition of the New Testament on the principle of that letter would undoubtedly have
left out the text. As this letter is important, both in reference to this dispute and to the. nature of the text of Bentley's
intended edition of the New Testament, it is here subjoined.




Page  28

28 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7," TRIN. COLL., Jan. 1, 1716-17.
Sir, -Yours of December the 20th came safely to my
hands, wherein you tell me from common fame, that in my
designed edition of the New Testament, I purpose to leave,
out the verse of John's Epistle I. chap. 5. v. 7.
"About a year ago, reflecting upon some passages of St.
Hierom, that he had adjusted and castigated the then Latin
Vulgate to the best Greek exemplars, and had kept the very
order of the words of the criginal: I formed a thought, a
priori, that if St. Jerom's true Latin Exemplar could now
be come at, it would be found to agree exactly with the
Greek text of the same age: and so the old copies of each
language (if so agreeing) would give mutual proof; and
even demonstration to each other. Whereupon rejecting the
printed editions of each, and the several manuscripts of seven
centuries and under, I made use of none but those of a thousand years ago or above (of which sort I have twenty now
in my study, that one with another make 20,000 years). I
had the pleasure to find, as I presaged, that they agreed exactly, like two tallies, or two indentures; and I am able fiomr
thence to lead men out of the labyrinth of 60,000 various
lections (for St. Jerom's Latin has as many varieties as the
Greek), and to give the text as it stood in the best copies in
the time of the Council of Nice, without the error of fifty
words.
"Now in this work I indulge nothing to any conjecture,
not even in a letter, but proceed solely upon authority of
copies and fathers of that age. And what will be the event
about the said verse of John, I myself know not yet; having
not used all the old copies that I have information of.
" But by this you see, that in my proposed work the fate
of that verse will be a mere question offact. You endeavor
to prove (and that's all you aspire to) that it may have been




Page  29

BENTLEY. 29
writ by the Apostle, being consonant to his other doctrine.
This I concede to you; and if the fourth century knew that
text, let it come in, in God's name: but if that age did not
know it, then Arianism in its height was beat down, without
the help of that verse: and let the fact prove as it will, the
doctrine is unshaken.
"Yours,
"RIC. BENTLEY."
As, among other things discussed in this controversy, the
opinion of Dr. Bentley respecting the authority of this verse
has been much debated, it may be proper shortly to advert
to it. Porson quotes Bentley as in opposition to the verse,
while Bishop Burgess manifests considerable anxiety to secure his suffrage in support of the passage; and Bishop Van
iMildert also inclines to doubt respecting Bentley's regarding
the passage as spurious.* Nor is it surprising that this concern should be felt to ascertain the opinion of so distinguished
a scholar, on a point he was so well qualified to determine.
That opinion, if fully formed, would be worth a host of Martins and Travises, men so little qualified to do justice to such
an investigation. Crito Cantabrigiensis has set the matter to
rest respecting Bentley. After giving some account of the
suspicions entertained at the time, that Dr. Bentley's opinion
was not in favor of. the authenticity of the passage, he thus
states the authority on which it can no longer be doubted
which side of the question was espoused by that eminent
scjholar.
"Mr. Whiston, in a letter to a friend (1724), mentions Dr.
Bentley'who read a very learned Lecture at Cambridge, to
prove 1 John v. 7. to be spurious.'' But he dares not now,'
continues Whiston,' wholly omit it in the text of his edition
* Life of Waterland, p. 26.




Page  30

30 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
Df the New Testament which he has promised:' — a proof
of the jealousy with which Dr. Bentley's proceedings were
watched. On another occasion, Mr. Whiston writes to the
same effect:'This treatise (Emlyn's Full Inquiry), as I
have been informed, was alluded to by Dr. Bentley in his
famous Lecture at Cambridge when he stood candidate for
the Chair of Regius Professor of Divinity, wherein he also
gave up that text, and publicly proved it to be spurious.'
Dr. MIiddleton, at the very time a resident member of the
University, asserts the same thing, as a matter perfectly notorious.'He (Bentley) has already, we know, determined
against the genuineness of the famous passage, 1 John v. 7.'
Such are the accounts which were delivered by the best informed of Dr. Bentley's contemporaries; and.have, till now,
been received as true, by persons not at all remarkable for
credulity. In what way then are these statements to be set
aside? Ancient testimony is opposed by modern argument,
after the following fashion. Dr. Bentley observed, in a Letter, that in his intended edition of the New Testament, he
should make great use of old Latin MSS.; that, not having
seen all the old copies he had information of, he knew not
at that time what would be the fate of the text in question:
and that if he found the text to have existed in the fourth century, he would admit it. ~ And thus, because Dr. Bentley, in
this letter, gave no opinion touching the verse, and attributed
great importance to the old Latin IMSS., it is inferred that
if he' read a Lecture to prove this verse spurious,'' the Lecture and the Letter must have been very much at variance.'
Now, in answer to all this, I would humbly suggest three
things: 1. That a person who will not decide a question
before inquiry is by no means incompetent to do so afterwards: 2. That, as the Letter was written on the first of
January, and the Lecture delivered about the first of May




Page  31

BENTLEY. 31
following, Dr. Bentley may have examined his MSS. and
made up his mind during the interval: and, 3. That as we
know not how Dr. Bentley reasoned, we ought to receive the
conclusion at which he arrived on the information of his
contemporaries. In truth, take the argument above mentioned as an argument upon a mere hypothetical case, and
its weakness is excessive; but consider its conclusion as in
direct opposition to a fact stated on evidence, and it disappears, like a bubble, the instant it is touched..... For the
purpose of ascertaining the tendency of a Lecture read in
1717, I must be excused for trusting to the testimony of
Conyers Middleton —who lived on the spot at the time
when the Lecture was delivered-in preference to the most
ingenious conjectures of the present day, although sanctioned
by the high authority of the Bishops of Durham and Salisbury." *
The first edition of the Greek New Testament published
in England, which omits the passage, appeared in 1729.
* Crito Cantab. pp. 154-158. [Bp. Monk, in his Life of Bentley, (London, 1830, pp. 349 - 351,) has placed the fact of Bentley's rejection of the
passage beyond the possibility of dispute. Referring to the letter of January 1, 1717, quoted above, he states that "Bentley, finding how much the
question interested the public mind, and perceiving that there was expected from the editor of the New Testament a clear expression of opinion
on this point, applied himself in the course of the four following months
to examine all the evidence on both sides. Having chosen this as the subject of his Pruelection, he gave a regular history of the verse, and an account of the manner in which the passage of St. John is quoted by ancient
writers; and concluded with a decided rejection of the verse; maintaining
at the same time the doctrine of the Trinrity in its orthodox acceptation,
and showing that it stood not in any need of such dubious support." After
citing the testimony of those who had heard the Lecture, he adds: " Dr.
Vinceilt, the late learned Dean of Westminster, had once the original of
this piece in his possession, lent to him by a relative of Bentley: a letter
of his now lies before me, containing the account of the contents which I
have just given, and adding, that to him'it was conviction.' " —ED.]




Page  32

32 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
" The New Testament in Greek and English. Containing
the Original Text corrected from the Authority of the most
Authentic Manuscripts: and a new Version form'd agreeably
to the Illustrations of the most learned Commentators and Critics: with Notes and various Readings." London, 2 vols., 8vo.
The editor and translator of this work was Dr. Mlace, of
whose history very little is known, but that he belonged to
the free school of theology. The Greek text is beautifully
printed, but its authority as a critical edition does not stand
high, as the editor appears to have been a rash and a vain
man, who took very unwarrantable liberties with the text,
and seldom assigns satisfactory reasons for the alterations,
which he made with much freedom. Indeed, his object
seems to have been to throw a degree of uncertainty over
the whole text and canonical authority of the New Testament. On the disputed verse, however, he enters at some
length. le gives a list of Greek MSS. in which it is not to
be found; of Latin MSS. in which it is omitted; of Greek
fathers who do not notice it; of Latin writers ill the first five
centuries who do not. mention it; and of printed editions
which want it. He then notices the Greek and Latin autlhorities which are supposed to be in its favor. He concludes his examination and comparison by exclaiming: " In a
word, if this evidence is not sufficient to prove that the controverted text in St. John is spurious, by what evidence can
it be prov'd that any text in St. John is genuine? The authority upon which any Greek text is founded, is only the
authority of the Greek fathers, and their authority is founded
upon that of the antient Greek MSS. Now ALL the Greek.fathers, not one excepted; ALL the Greek MSS., the Irish
one only excepted; ALL the antient Versions, the old Italic
and St. Jerom's, the Syriac, the IEthiopic, the Arabic, and
the Coptic; ALL the antient Latin fathers, and the most




Page  33

TWELLS. 33
antient Latin MSS. of the New Testament, do unanimously
exclaim against the controverted text." *
The publication of this work led to the following: - " A
Critical Examination of the late New Text and Version of.
the New Testament: wherein the Editor's corrupt Text,
false Version, and fallacious Notes are detected and censured.
By Leonard Twells, Vicar of St. Mary's. In Three Parts.
In the Second of which Justice is done to the famous Text of
1 John v. 7, against his partial Representation of that Matter." London, 1731.
Twells, the author of this examination, was a clergyman
of the Church of England, not very distinguished for the accuracy of his researches or the extent of his learning. It
was no hard task to expose the incorrectness of Mace's text,
and the blunders and absurdities of his translation. But
in attacking his omission of the disputed passage in John,
Twells had not Mace, but Mill's authorities to contend with.
In doing this, he flounders in the darkness of his own misconceptions, hazards the most groundless assumptions, and
dogmatically asserts what had been repeatedly disproved.
He concludes a long discussion by a passage precisely the
opposite of that quoted from Mace, in the latter part of.
which, it must be acknowledged, he has a just stroke at that
rash and vulgar critic: "The disputed passage of 1 John v.
7, has so many marks of genuineness, that if it had not contained a doctrine, to which the disputers of this world have
always showvn the utmost aversion, its authority had never
been called in question. An undoubted proof of which is
this, that many texts of Scripture, according to their present
reading, are worse supported than this, and yet receive no
molestation from critics. And of all others, the editor should
* Vol. II. p. 934.
2* X




Page  34

34 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
be the last to object to the disputed passage, as defective in
point of testimony, who admits some lections into his new
text upon the credit of simple vouchers, and others against
all authority wMhatever." (p. 154.)
David Casley published, in 1734, "A Catalogue of the
MISS. of the King's Library, together with 150 specimens of
the manner of writing in different ages, from the third to the
fifteenth century." In his preface to this Catalogue, he refers
to the controversy respecting the heavenly witnesses, and
gives his opinion, that tile Codex Britannicus is " a modern
MIS. probably translated, or corrected, from the Latin Vulgate."
Bengelius published his valuable critical edition of the
Greek Testament in 1734; in which the principles on which
he constructed his text led him to insert the passage. He
adopted no reading which had not previously appeared in
some printed edition, except in some cases in the Apocalypse.
In cohsequence of following a law, which he had laid down
for himself, more specious and better adapted to meet the
popular feeling on certain points than solid in itself, he admitted the passage; and yet the statements in his note seem
fatal to its authority. He allows that it exists in no genuine
manuscript; that the Complutensian editors interpolated it
from the Latin version; that the Codex Britannicus is good
for nothing; that Stephens's semicircle is misplaced; that no
ancient Greek writer cites the heavenly witnesses; that many
Latins omit them; that they were neither erased by the Arians, nor absorbed by the homeoteleuton. lie thought the
evidence afforded by the African Church, and some other
considerations, favorable to the passage, and therefore inserted it, but, on the whole, he had no strong conviction of
its authenticitv.




Page  35

BENGELIUS. 35
As a good deal, however, has been said of the weight of
Bengel's opinion, the following view of his conduct in this
matter seems to be characterized by great accuracy and candor. "Bengelius was, probably, the first advocate of the
verse who fairly gave up the notion that the Complutensian
editors and Robert Stephens printed the passage as they
found it in Greek MISS. He also allowed due weight to the
silence of the fathers with regard to the text. In fact, he
was a good workman; and, in the progress of his undertaking, he cleared the subject of many incumbrances. He condemned the principle of defending a text because it favored
a particular doctrine. He disdained to measure a person's
orthodoxy by his reception of the text of the heavenly witnesses. He contended that the great object of inquiry was,
whether what was held to have been written really had been
written. He censured the mode in which the verse had, in
many instances, been defended; and even mentioned its great
champion, Dr. Twells himself, with no great reverence. Towards the close of his inquiry, he seems to have considered
the subject as one on which learned men might justly hold
opposite opinions; and in his Greek Testament he stated his
wish, that the reader should suppose, as his own judgment
might direct, either the seventh verse to be erased, or the
eighth verse to precede the seventh; for his own part recommending the latter supposition. This mode of proceeding
was anything but agreeable to those who were resolved that
the text should be vindicated, at all events. In literary campaigns, the established rule seems to be, that he who first deserts a position as untenable, however valiantly he may fight
in other instances, shall be accounted as little better than one
of the enemy; and accordingly, Bengelius was, more than
once, obliged to defend himself from the charge of indifference to the cause in which he was engaged.'In vain,' says




Page  36

36 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
MIr. Porson,'may Simon, La Croze, Michaelis, and Griesbach, declare their belief of the doctrine [of the Trinity];
they must defend it in the Catholic manner, and with the
Catholic texts: nor is all this enough: but, in defending the
genuineness of a particular text, they must use every one of
the same arguments that have already been used, without
rejecting any upon the idle pretence that they are false or
trifling. I pity Bengelius. He had the weakness, which
fools call candor, to reject some of the arguments that had
been employed in defence of this celebrated verse, and
brought upon himself a severe, but just rebuke -from an
opposer of De Missy (Journ. Brit., X. 133); where he is
ranked with those'who, under pretext of defending the three
heavenly witnesses with moderation, defend them so gently
that a suspicious reader might doubt whether they defended
them in earnest; though God forbid that we should wish to
insinuate any suspicion of Mr. Bengelius's orthodoxy.' "
In 1734, a volume of discourses on the disputed passage
was published, with the following title: "The Doctrine of
the Trinity, as it is contained in the Scriptures, explained
and confirmed: its Consistency with the Principles of Natural
Religion cleared, and Objections to the Contrary answered,
&c." The author of these discourses was the Rev. James
Sloss, NI. A., a dissenting minister of the Independent denomination at Nottingham. He seems to have been a man
of respectable attainments as a scholar; and defends the doc.
trine of the Trinity with considerable ability, though not always with those arguments which will stand the test of a
critical examination. Of this his choice of the disputed passage for the text of the whole eighteen sermons is an illus* Crito Canta!brigiensis, pp. 311- 314. [Porson's Letters to Travis, pp.
18 - 20. - ED.]




Page  37

SLOSS. 37
tration. ~With his general views or defence of the doctrine
of the Trinity, however, I have at present nothing to do.
Our business is with his account of the testimony of the
heavenly witnesses. Dr. Burgess, who seems to have collected every name and authority bearing on his side of the
question, seems to have known nothing of James Sloss. This
will be my excuse for noticing him more particularly.
In the first sermon he engages." to trace the several ages
between this and the apostles, and to show how this text in
particular has been owned as authentic by the whole Christian Church, both Greek and Latin." Had he succeeded in
this attempt, we should never have heard of the sneers of
Gibbon, nor been favored with the debates of Travis and
Porson. But, alas! the words we have quoted, big with
promise, end in miserable disappointment. He quotes the
usual passages from Tertullian, Cyprian, Euclherius, Vigilius
Tapsensis, Eugenius, Fulgentius, &c., &c., and accordingly
arrives at his conclusion with great apparent ease, that the
passage has been disputed only by Arians and Socinians.
The discourses appear to have attracted some attention, as
they led to an epistolary controversy respecting the authority
of the text, which is printed at the end of the book. A
gentleman, whose name is only given as the Rev. T. P., of
C l, addressed a letter to Mr. Sloss, stating to him the
doubts which he entertained about this passage, and the general grounds of those doubts, and requesting his solution of
them. The letter is written very calmly and respectfully,
and shows that the writer of it knew very well the subject
on which lie requests information. To this MIr. Sloss replies
in a letter of considerable length, which contains some acute
observations on the doctrine of the Trinity, but utterly fails
in giving the information on certain matters of fact respecting the authenticity of the disputed verse. This his antag



Page  38

.3S CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
onist notices in a second letter to Mr. Sloss, which produced
two in reply. These were followed by another short epistle
from T. P., demanding whether 5Mr. Sloss knew "of any
other Greek manuscripts, beside that of Dublin, now in being, with the disputed verse in it; and, secondly, whether he
could prove that any editor of the printed copies ever had
any such MSS. in his possession." To this iMr. Sloss returned a final answer, but which does not contain the information wanted. Here the debate closed. The parties seem
to have been matched nearly as Emlyn and Martin were.
Sloss was, like Martin, an orthodox Trinitarian, and his correspondent was evidently of the school of Ernlyn. In learning and knowledge of the subject, however, both Slos.s and
his opponent were inferior to the two former controversialists.
The letters occupy seventy-eight pages.
In the critical edition of the New Testament published by
Wetstein in 1752, the passage is marked as spurious. There
is also attached to it a long and important note, in which the
mark is justified by a reference to a much greater number of
MSS. and versions than had ever before been quoted in the
controversy. The leaning of Wetstein's mind to the Unitarian hypothesis is well known, and has excited a suspicion that
he may have been influenced by it in his rejection of this
passage. This is scarcely candid, as he states fairly and fully
the evidence on which he formed his decision.
Part of the note, which contains Stephens's account of the
use he made of his MSS., and of his mode of referring to
them, with Wetstein's strictures on that account, it may be
useful to quote.
"In his preface to the third edition, Stephens says,'In the
inner margin I have added various readings of the MSS., to
each whereof the mark of the Greek numeral is subjoined,




Page  39

WETSTEIN. 89
which indicates the name of the MS. whence it is taken; or
of the MSS. when they are many. And I have put the
marks in succession fiom one to sixteen: so that the first
stands for the Complutensian edition; the second, for the
most ancient MS. in Italy, collated by my friends; the third,
fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, tenth, and fifteenth, the
copies which I had out of the King's Library; the others are
those which I was able to collect from all quarters.'
"To this account of things by R. Stephens, and of his own
great care and diligence, I have much to object," says Wetstein; "first, what this very edition of Stephens plainly
shows, that the editor has varied from all his MSS. and introduced a different reading, not only where he has marked
in his margin that a different reading from that which he
adopted was found in all the MSS.; but often when otherwise. Add to this, that his second edition, though it has the
same preface which is prefixed to the first, yet varies from it
in fifty places at the least.
"Secondly, I would observe, that Stephens had not the
use of sixteen MSS. of the First Epistle of John, but only of
seven. The first copy he made use of was not a MS., but
the Complutensian edition of the N. T. The second, which is
now the Cambridge MIS., contains only the Gospels and the
Acts. Tile third contains only the four Gospels, and is now
to be seen in the King of France's Library, marked 2867.
Also the sixth, in the King's Library, No. 2866. The eighth,
ditto, 2861. The twelfth, ditto, 2862, and the fourteenth,
ditto, 2865. Lastly, the sixteenth is cited by Stephens only
in the Revelation. There is indeed a various readinlg of
2 Pet. i. 4, produced from the fourteenth MS.; but as that
MS. is still in the King's Library, and contains the Gospels
only, it must have been a mistake of the compositors. Which
kind of mistakes occurs elsewhere, and much more frequently




Page  40

40 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
in this edition of Stephens's than is commonly imagined.
This any one will readily find, who compares the Complutensian edition with the various readings from it noted down
by Stephens.
" But, thirdly, what above all is to be noted, the inspection of' Stephens's MISS., and ocular demonstration show, not
only that in those MSS. the words in heaven, but all that follow so far as to the spirit in the 8th verse, are wanting [viz.
the words in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit:
and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness
in earth], so that Stephens's semicircle, which should have
been put after the words in earth (to mark the whole of what
was wanting, as it is put in his Latin editions), was placed
after the words in heaven, by the fault of the compositors.
This Lucas Brugensis had suspected to be the case; but
Father Simon, Le Long, and L. Roger have clearly demonstrated it. Consult the MISS. in the King's Library; the
2871st, which is Stephens's fourth; the 3425th, which is his
fifth; the 2242d, which is Stephens's seventh; the 2869th,
Stephens's fifteenth (which however he never seems to have
collated in the Epistles), 2870th, Stephens's tenth, and Coislinianus 200, Stephens's ninth; and it will be manifest to
every one, as it was to me who inspected these IMSS. after
those three eminent persons just named, that the whole of
that verse of the three heavenly witnesses was certainly wanting in five of Stephens's MSS. of the Catholic Epistles. As
to his two other IMSS., as they have never yet been found,
there is no determining about them.
"This mistake of the compositor," proceeds Wetstein, "led
Beza wrong: who gives this note upon the place, in his first
and second editions.' This (7th) verse seems to me by all
mleans to be retained:- Erasmus reads it so in a British illS.
[also have read it in some of our Robert's (Stephleis) ancient




Page  41

MISSY. 41
MSS.' Which is not to be understood, as if Beza with his
own eyes had seen those 3ISS., for how could it be, when
Stephens had left them behind him at Paris? but that he
made use of Stephens's third edition for the purpose. But
it may be said, that Stephens ought to have informed his
fiiend Beza of the mistake of the compositor, and should not
have suffered, that through this first edition of Beza, printed
with Stephens's types, and the editions that followed, a mistake in so serious and important a point should have been
propagated far and near. I confess there is a great deal in
this remark. But perhaps Stephens neglected to inform him
of it: or, how shall we ascertain, whether Beza's note was
approNved or disliked by Stephens?"
Soon after the publication of this important work, several
letters appeared against Martin and the disputed passage, in
the Journal Britannique.* They were written by Cesar de
Missy, a native of Berlin, French preacher in the Savoy, and
at St. James's. They discovered great learning and penetration, but were written, for the most part, in rather too ludicrous a tone for serious criticism. In these letters were
particularly exposed the ridiculous and false pretence of
Amelotte, that the disputed passage was contained in a Vatican MS., and the absurd inference which some persons had
deduced from Wetstein's correction of an erratum relative to
the three lectionaries belonging to Cesar de Missy; this correction having been converted into an acknowledgment, that
tile passage was contained in one of these three lectionaries.t
" De Missy's fate," says Porson, "has been somewhat hard.
lie was bold enough to attack Amelotte's veracity and Martin's understanding. This provoked a nest of hornets. Four
* [Tomnes VIII. and IX., 1752. —ED.]
t Marsh's Michaelis, Vol. VI. p. 414.




Page  42

42 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 -JOHN V. 7.
anonymous writers fell upon him; three with personal abuse,
the fourth with malignity, under the mask of moderation." *
Nothing more of importance on the subject occurred till
1754, when "Two Letters of Sir Isaac Newton to Mr. Le
Clerc, upon the reading of the Greek text, 1 John v. 7 and
1 Tim. iii. 16," appeared. They had been drawn up by Sir
Isaac so early as the beginning of the century, and were at
last published from the MSS. left by Le Clere in the Library
of the Remonstrants in Amsterdam. The first Letter is entirely devoted to the text of the heavenly witnesses. The
first four pages of the MS. being lost, the beginning is supplied by the editor, whose name does not appear. The MS.
was sent to Le Clere by Mr. Locke, and is said to have been
in his handwriting. It is almost entirely occupied with a
history of what Sir Isaac considered the manner in which the
testimony came to be surreptitiously inserted, first into the
Latin MSS., and then into the printed Greek text. Some
of his remarks bear very hard upon Beza, whom he calls a
dreamer, and almost justify the sneers of Gibbon. Sir Isaac
assigns several reasons for believing that the Complutensian
editors translated the passage from the Latinl Vulgate. And,
certainly, the marginal note attached to the passage in the
Complutensian edition, a practice which is adopted in that
edition only in two other places where the Greek MSS. are
defective, and the silence of Stunica, one of the editors, in
his controversy with Erasmus on the authority of Greek
MSS., are strong negative proofs that the passage was translated from the Vulgate. Sir Isaac also endeavors to explain
the passage and its context without the three heavenly witnesses. He considers the spirit, the water, and the blood,
to mean the promised spirit, the baptism of Christ, and his
l Letters to Travis, p. 19.




Page  43

NEWTON. 43
passion, in connection with his resurrection, all bearing testimony to his character and mission as the Son of God.
The attention which this eminent man'paid to biblical subjects must have been very considerable. The present tract
discovers a good deal of critical reading, which, considering
his circumstances and pursuits, would not have taken place,
had his taste for the Scriptures not been cultivated. His
leanings to Arianism, which were no doubt promoted by his
acquaintance with Clarke, Whiston, and other eminent persons of that school, are to be deplored. But his character
presents a noble contrast to that ruthless infidelity, or cheerless scepticism, which characterize men infinitely his inferiors
in all the attainments of genuine philosophy.
I cannot withhold from the reader, as Sir Isaac's tract is
not in many hands, his paraphrase of the verses in which the
words alleged to be spurious have been inserted. It is, at
least, a plausible interpretation of a very difficult passage.
" W/ho is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth
that Jesus is the Son of' God; that Son spoken of in the
Psalms, where he saith,'Thou art my Son, this day have T
begotten thee.' This is lHe that, after the Jews had long expected him, came, first in a mortal body, by baptism of water,
and then in an immortal one, by shedding his blood upon the
cross, and rising again from the dead; not by water only, but
by water and blood; being the Son of God, as well by his
resurrection from the dead (Acts xiii. 33) as by his supernatural birth of the Virgin. (Luke i. 35.) And it is the
Spirit also, that, together with the water and blood, beareth
witness of the truth of his coming; because the Spirit is truth;
and so a fit and unexceptionable witness.
".For there are three that bear record of his coming: the
Spirit, which he promised to send, and which was since shed
forth upon us in the form of cloven tongues, and in various




Page  44

44 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
gifts; the baptism of water, wherein God testified,'This is
my beloved Son'; and the shedding of his blood, accompanied
with his resurrection, whereby he became the most faithful
martyr, or witness, of this truth. And these three, the Spirit,
the baptism, and passion of Christ, agree in witnessing one
and the same thing, (namely, that the Son of God is come,)
and therefore their evidence is strong: for the law requires
but two consenting witnesses, and here we have three: and
if we receive the witness of men, the threefold witness of God,
which he bare of his Son, by declaring at his baptism,' This
is my beloved Son'; by raising him from the dead, and by
pouring out his Spirit on us, is greater, and therefore ought
to be more readily received.
"This [Thus?] is the sense plain and natural, and the argument full and strong; but, if you insert the testimony of'the three in heaven,' you interrupt and spoil it. For the
whole design of the Apostle being here to prove to men, by
witness, the truth of Christ's coming, I would ask, how the
testimony of'the three in heaven' makes to this purpose.
If their testimony be not given to men, how does it prove to
them the truth of Christ's coming? If it be, how is the testimony in heaven distinguished from that on earth? It is
the same Spirit which witnesses in heaven and in earth. If
in both cases it witnesses to us men wherein lies the difference between its witnessing in heaven, and its witnessing in
earth? If, in the first case, it does not witness to men, to
whom doth it witness? And to what purpose? And how
does its witnessing make to the design of St. John's discourse?
Let them make good sense of it who are able. For my part,
I can make none."
* Newton's Letters to Le Clerc, pp. 74 - 76. [This tract was published
more correctly in Vol. V. of Horsley's edition of Newton's Works (London, 1785, 4to), under the title, "An Historical Account of Two Notable




Page  45

BENSON. 45
In 1756, the second edition of Dr. Benson's work on the
Catholic Epistles was published.* In the second volume of
this learned and valuable Commentary, there is a Dissertation " Concerning the Genuineness of 1 John v. 7, 8." Dr.
Benson, as might be expected, took decided part against the
reading. His Dissertation does not contain much that is
original; but gives a very lucid view of the substance of the
evidence on which Dr. Benson formed his opinion. He begins with the fathers, and shows, that while Tertullian,
Cyprian, and Jerome have been referred to, no satisfactory
evidence exists in their writings that any of them had read
this passage. He next notices the Greek MSS., and alleges
that they furnish no authority for the insertion of the passage.
The ancient versions, he maintains, are all on the same side.
The evidence against the text is next produced, and "the
sumn of the whole matter" is thus given by the Doctor, in
the way of accounting for the introduction of the passage.
" To sum up the whole matter. The true state of the case
seems to have been this: As these words were not written
by St. John himself, they were not in any ancient MS. or
Version, nor known to any of the ancient fathers. But Tertullian applying these words of ver. 8 (These three are one)
to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Cyprian took that for the
mystical interpretation of ver. 8. By him, Facundus, Eucherius, Fulgentius, Austin, and others, were led into that
interpretation. And, very probably, Cyprian himself, or
Corruptions of Scripture. In a Letter to a Friend. Now first published
entire from a MS. in the Author's handwriting in the possession of the
Rev. Dr. Ekens, Dean of Carlisle." It was reprinted in Sparks's " Collectjon of Essays and Tracts in Theology," Vol. II. (Boston, 1823), and in a
separate volume, London, 1830, 8vo. The quotation given above is conformed to the text in Horsley's edition. - ED.]
* Mr. Butler strangely characterises this work as " a Paraphrase of the
Gospels." See Horm Bib. I. p. 378.




Page  46

46 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
rather some of his admirers, wrote that interpretation in the
margin, over-against ver. 8, as a-gloss. And by some future
transcriber it was incorporated into the text itself.
"There are, at this day, several MSS., both Greek and
Latin, which have it in the margin. And such insertions of
explanatory words, or phrases, from the margin, into the text,
are common in MSS. Jerome, in one of his letters, says,
that an explanatory note, which he himself had made in the
margin of his psalter, had been incorporated by some tran..
scriber into the text. And Dr. Mill points out many similar
instances.
"The English Polyglot, and six other editions of the Syriac New Testament, inform us that the Syriac Version has
not the seventh verse. Tremellius likewise observes the
same thing. But in a marginal note, he has translated the
seventh verse into Syriac; though he dared not insert it into
the text in his edition. However, Gutbirius inserted it, contrary to the authority of all the Syriac copies, both printed
and manuscript. And, after him, Schaaf, without the authority of one MS. copy of the New Testament in Syriac, hath
likewise, in his edition of the Syriac New Testament, boldly,
without any apology, and without any mark of distinction,
inserted Tremellius his translation into the text. Thus we
see by what steps it might be at first brought into the text.
Some zealous men have called it a grandforgery. And Gutbirius and Schaaf cannot easily be excused. But it is possible that the transcriber who first inserted it in the text might
apprehend, that, as he found it interlined, or in the margin,
it had been omitted by the former copyist; and that, therefore, he did well in supplying that omission. Others, again,
copied after him. And thus it got into some few (but not
into the generality) of Latin copies. From those Latin
copies, or quotations from thence, it was very probably trans



Page  47

GIBBON. 47
lated into Greek, and inserted into the text in some modern
manuscripts, and interlined, or put in the margin of MSS.
of an older date,- as it is now found to be in several MSS.,
Greek and Latin, in both public and private libraries.
"To make it spread, some busybody, about the eighth or
ninth century, by a pious fraud, forged the preface to the
Catholic Epistles, under the name of Jerome. And to give
it the authority of antiquity, ascribed the restoring of this
disputed text, in the Latin copies, to that learned father; at
the same time complaining of the unfaithfulness of the Latin
translators for leaving it out. From thence it appears, that
when that preface was forged, the disputed text was in very
few Latin copies. But such a preface, under the name of
Jerome, would induce many for the future to insert it.
"Thus it may be accounted for why it is not found in the
ancient Greek MSS. or the ancient versions; why it is not
quoted by the primitive fathers; why it appears more early
in the Latin than in the Greek MSS.; and how it comes to
be in our printed copies at this day." *
In the second edition of Bowyer's Conjectures on the New
Testament, 4to, 1784, there is a note of some length on the
passage, which shows that the opinions of the learned printer
were unfavorable to its authority. All the reasons which he
assigns are adduced at greater length by one or other of the
writers in the controversy, and therefore do not require to be
distinctly noticed.
We now come to the grand contrloversy on this important
passage, which originated in the following paragraph in
Gibbon's "History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire." Speaking of the Catholic frauds, he says, "The
* Benson's Paraphrase, Vol. II. pp. 644-646, 2d edit.
o




Page  48

48 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
memorable text which asserts the unity of the THREE who
bear witness in heaven, is condemned by the universal silence bf the orthodox fathers, ancient versions, and authentic MISS. It was first alleged by the Catholic Bishops whom
Hunneric summoned to the Conference of Carthage. An allegorical interpretation, in the form, perhaps, of a marginal
note, invaded the text of the Latin Bibles, which were renewed and corrected in a dark period of ten centuries. After
the invention of printing, the editors of the Greek Testament yielded to their own prejudices, or those of the times;
and the pious fraud, which was embraced with equal zeal at
Rome and at Geneva, has been infinitely multiplied in every
country and every language of modern Europe." In a note
to part of this passage, he adds,'" The three witnesses have
been established in our Greek Testaments by the prudence
of Erasmus; the honest bigotry of the Complutensian editors; the typographical fraud, or error, of Robert Stephens,
in the placing a crotchet; and the deliberate falsehood, or
strange misapprehension, of Theodore Beza." *
On this last sentence volumes of curious and angry controversy have been written. It shows how closely Gibbon had
looked into the matter, while the choice of his epithets at
once illustrates his knowledge of the subject, and the delight
he took in reproaching the professors of Christianity. The
infidelity of the writer is ill-disguised in the studied ambiguity of his phraseology, which insinuates that the doctrine
of the.Trinity is established by worldly prudence, bigotry,
fraud, or misapprehension. He well knew that this was not
the case. But that prejudiced enemy to Christianity was
ever regardless of decency and justice, where its claims and
its character were concerned. "He often makes, when he
cannot readily find, an occasion to insult our religion, which
* Rom. Emp., Ch. XXXVII. Vol. VI. pp. 291 - 293, Ed. 1807.




Page  49

TRAVIS. 49
he hates so cordially, that he might seem to revenge some
personal injury. Such is his eagerness in the cause, that he
stoops to the most despicable pun, or to the most awkward
perversion of language, for the pleasure of turning the Scripture into ribaldry, or of' calling Jesus an impostor." *
Had the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, however,
contained nothing more injurious to the doctrine or revelation of the Scriptures, this statement, and the insinuation
implied in it, might have been allowed to pass. Like many
other things of a similar nature, it would have silently floated
down the current of time, and would soon have been lost in
that oblivion to which all accusations against the Word of
God are doomed. But, unfortunately, Gibbon had a name,
and his works enjoyed celebrity. It was the fashion of the
day to write apologies for the Bible; and some men who
would never have risen to public notice otherwise, endeavored
to write themselves into fame or preferment by attacking'the
infidel historian.
In an evil hour, and prompted by some evil genius, the
Rev. George Travis, Archdeacon of Chester, took up his
pen, to defend, not the doctrine of the Trinity, but the testimony of the heavenly witnesses, against the charges preferred in the above passage. lie addressed three letters to
3Mr. Gibbon on this subject, in the Gentleman's Magazine for
1782. These lie reprinted separately, along with two more,
in a quarto volume, in 1784. In 1786, they appeared again
with additions. In the same Maglazine for 1788 and 1789,
Professor Porson replied to Travis. In 1790, Travis wrote
another letter on the subject, in the same Magazine, to which
Porson replied in the following month. And in 1794, the
Archdeacon published the whole, in a large octavo volume,
* Porson's Lettei-r to Travis, Pref., pp. xxviii., xxix.
3 D




Page  50

50 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
This is the best edition, and which has been consulted in
writing these observations.
In these letters, it is the object of the writer to defend
Erasmus, the Complutensian editors, Beza, and Stephens,
against Mr. Gibbon's charges; to maintain the authenticity
of' the disputed passage; to reply seriatim to the leading
writers who had disputed it; and to account for its omission
from so many MSS. and versions. That Travis undertook
a herculean task is very evident; that he sunk under it, can
excite no surprise. What he wanted in argument he made
up by boldness; and contrived to maintain an appearance of
truth and victory, by carefully avoiding to meet his enemy in
the face.
He succeeds in defending the first editors of the Greek
New Testament against the base insinuations of Gibbon;
for though the cause must be given against Mr. Archdeacon
Trhvis, no one will concede to the historian of the Roman
Empire, that the learned editors were bigots, hypocrites, or
fools. But when, from defending their character, he proceeds to defend their text, the ground becomes very different,
and the tactics entirely of' another order. Instead of pursuing a straightforward course, in order to reach his point, he
is obliged to follow one the most indirect and circuitous. In
place of beginning at the beginning, he begins at the end.
I-Ie commences with the writers and authorities next to the
period of the Reformation, and endeavors to trace the stream
up to the fountain head. Instead of the evidence becoming
clearer and stronger, however, it becomes the feebler and
more obscure the longer he pursues it; till, at last, notwithstanding his perpetual mistakes and misstatements, it is left
in uncertainty and darkness. His account of the testimony
of the writers whom he quotes in support of the passage is,
in many instances, not'to be depended on, as it is often quoted




Page  51

TRAVIS. 5i
at second-hand, or some circumstance is left out of view, which,
when understood, either in a great measure or entirely subverts it. His account of the MSS. of Valla and Stephens is
altogether erroneous; and the impression which he labors to
produce, that a great number of Greek and Latin MSS. contain the verse, is directly the reverse of the truth.
He makes a show, for it is often little better, of replying
to fifty-ftve arguments or objections of Dr. Benson; and pronounces that his Dissertation, "for intrepidity of assertion,
disingenuousness of quotation, and defectiveness of conclusion, has no equal, stands aloof beyond all parallel- as far
as his reading extends —either in ancient or in modern
times." This is something like the ass kicking the dead
lion; but which, as we shall'find, was destined to receive no
ordinary correction. The character given to Dr. Benson's
work, in the opinion of Porson, more properly belongs to the
production of Travis. In the same manner, he professes to
meet fifty-one arguments of Sir Isaac Newton; whose arguments were not more powerful than Benson's, but who is
treated with more courtesy than the Presbyterian divine.
Griesbach and Bowyer are dispatched in a very few pages,
and not more satisfactorily than the former.
In short, Archdeacon Travis, though a very respectable
clergyman, and an able "tythe-lawyer," was altogether disqualified by his prejudices, his ignorance, and his inijudiciousness, from rendering any important service to thle cause of
theological literature, in this important controversy. His
own summing up, in the following passage, will show the
nature of many of his proofs, or rather assumptions, and the
high tone of confidence with which he claims the victory.
"The result, then, from the whole is, -that THE VERSE in
question SEiEMS, BEYOND ALL DEGREE OF SERIOUS DOUBT,
TO HAVE STOOD IN TIIIS EPISTLE WHEN IT ORIGINALLY




Page  52

52 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
PROCEEDED FROM THE PEN OF ST. JOHN.* In the Latin,
or Western Church, the suffrages of Tertullian and Cyprian,
of Marcus Celedensis and Phaebadius, in its favor, aided by
the early, the solemn, the public appeal to its authority by
the African Bishops under Huneric; the Preface, Bible, awd
conscriptajfdes of Jerome; the frequent and direct citations
of the verse by Eucherius, Fulgentius, Vigilius, and Cassiodorius: — these, supported as to the Greek, or Eastern
Churches, by the Dialogue imputed to Arius and Athanasius,
as well as by the Synopsis of this Epistle; by the Armenian
Version, which was framed from Greek MSS.; by the very
early and constant use of the aoroTroXQos in the same Greek
Church, (an usage which seems to be deducible even from
the Apostles themselves,) and by its public Confession of
Faith: —all these evidences, arising within the limit of the
sixth century (to pass over the immense accumulation of
testimony which has been produced subsequent to that era),
offering themselves to the test of the judgment, combined in
one point of view, unchecked by a single negation, unrebuked by any positive contradiction, unresisted by any the
smallest direct impeachment of' the authenticity of the verse,
throughout all the annals of all antiquity: — ALL THESE CIRCUMSTANCES seize the mind as it were by violence, and compel it to acknowledge the verity, the original existence of the
verse in question. For although it undoubtedly appears
strange, on a first consideration of the subject, that several
ancient Greek and Latin Fathers have not quoted, or commented upon this verse, in those parts of their works which
have descended to the present age; although it appears, on
a primary view, still more strange, that those numerous
Greek MSS. (not Latin, for a vast majority of these have
always read the verse,) which formerly exhibited this pas* The capitals are Travis's.




Page  53

TRAVIS. 53
sage of St. John, should be now in general (not totally) lost,
rather than those few which did not contain it: yet both
these objections, when aggravated to the utmost, are but presuamptions, amount to no more than negative evidence; and
they have been already, as it should seem, completely and
satisfactorily explained and avoided, or accounted for and
defeated. And from whethersoever of the sources, which
have been heretofore assigned, the partial occultation of this
verse, antecedent to the times of Jerome, proceeded, that
temporary obscuration was dispersed at once, and the verse
was summoned forth to shine in its proper sphere, by his
Preface and Version; which are confirmed and established
(if they could be said to need any confirmation or establishment) by the revision of Alcuinus under the direction of
Charlemagne. And this verse hath EVER SINCE (if we may
now descend to modern times) not only maintained its place
in every public version which bath been in use since the days
of Jerome; but it hath also been ever since uniformly quoted,
and referred to by individual writers of the first eminence for
learning and integrity, in Asia and in Africa, as well as in
Europe, without the least question, without the smallest interruption, EXCEPT the invasion of Erasmus, which, however,
was soon repelled, and of which he frequently repented and
was ashamed, unless his own paraphrase on this verse, and
his Ratio Vere Theologice, be the completest pieces of literary hypocrisy now subsisting;- and, except the assaults of
some more modern objectors, which, nevertheless, it is hoped
and trusted, have been repulsed in the preceding Dissertation, in a manner, although unequal to the subject, yet sufficiently adequate to the serious conviction of every unprejudiced inquirer after truth." *
Inaccurate and unsatisfactory to scholars as were the Let* Pages 455 - 459.




Page  54

54 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING I JOHN V. 7.
ters of Travis, they produced, when published, a considerable impression. "6 Nor is it difficult to account for their
success. The insidious speculations on religion, which distinguished the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, made that work an object of intense interest to
the literary public. The principles avowed in the first volume called forth adversaries in abundance; and the author,
notwithstanding his cool and philosophical temperament, was
at last instigated to take up arms in his own defence. Hostilities against the first volume had scarcely begun to abate,
when the publication of the second and third furnished
grounds for new engagements. Mr. Travis very adroitly
availed himself of the opportunity that was presented, and
thus obtained a degree of consequence as the opponent of
MA[r. Gibbon, which he could not have obtained as the mere
advocate of the controverted text. There was besides, in the
mode of conducting his attack, much that was very likely to
impose upon the generality of mankind. He proclaimed himself the champion of the great cause of orthodoxy; assumed
the boldest and most uncompromising language; represented
the early friends of the verse as having sustained the most
flagrant injuries from the hand of the historian; and called
upon the offender' to traverse or to acknowledge, - to re~sist
or to submit.' With regard to the composition of his work,
his expression was pointed; his style, as Dr. Hey thought,
was'spirited and eloquent,'- although, in the opinion of a
severer judge, too frequently gorgeous and declamatory; and
his sentiments seemed to indicate a high tone of moral and
religious feeling. The effect of all this was, that not being
in the least scrupulous about his premises, -but plausible in
his reasonings, and confident in his conclusions, - he left, I
have no doubt, an impression on many minds, that uncommon abilities and acquirements had, in his own person, been




Page  55

TRAVIS. 55
conscientiously employed in the vindication of truth. His
work, indeed, abounded in errors; but in errors obvious, for
the most part, only to those who were tolerably versed in
Scripture criticism. When, for instance, Mr. Travis asserted
that'the Latin MSS. had universally the concluding clause
of the eighth verse,' and that' the words Ev r7 yf7 were omitted in very few of the Greek MSS.,' how small a portion of
his readers would be aware that these assertions were in direct opposition to matter of fact!
"Assertions, moreover, can seldom be verified without
some trouble; and even well-informed persons, who possess
the means of investigation, are too often disposed to rely
upon an author's accuracy, to admit his statements, and go
on to his inferences, rather than to examine the positions
which are successively presented, for the purpose of ascertaining their real strength and bearings. On the whole, then,
there is no reason to wonder at the temporary popularity
which attended the Letters to Mr. Gibbon." X
From the extract and summary I have given, the reader
may form a tolerably correct idea of the argumentation and
manner of Archdeacon Travis. Never was an unfortunate
author doomed to pass such an ordeal, or to endure such a
flagellation as that which he was destined to undergo at the
hands of Professor Porson. His Letters to Travis first appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1788 and 1790.
And in the last of these years, they were all republished, to
the number of twelve, in an 8vo volume, entitled, " Letters
to Mr. Archdeacon Travis, in answer to his Defence of the
Three Heavenly Witnesses, I John v. 7." t
To speak of the learning, the talents, and the wit of Por* Crito Cantab., pp. 335 - 338.
t [Porson's Letters to Travis, now a scarce book, were reprinted in the
Classical Journal, Vols. XXXVI. - XXXIX. - ED.]




Page  56

5 6 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
son in this place, would be a work of supererogation. He
was, by universal suffrage, the most distinguished Grecian
of his time, and not less celebrated for his powers of satire
and invective, (unhappily too frequently exercised,) than for
his knowledge of Greek literature. For the talents and acquisitions of his opponent, he entertained the most profound
contempt; and for Porson to entertain an opinion, and to express it in all its strength, was a thing of course. The bearing of the dispute on any doctrine of Revelation was to him
a matter of perfect indifference. How far, therefore, the
doctrine of the Trinity might be affected by the discussion,
he cared nothing. I-Ie approached the controversy with the
reckless feelings of a giant called to crush a pygmy, and at
once rushed into the thickest of the battle, regardless of
everything but the accomplishment of his purpose, - the destruction of his adversary, and the expulsion from the sacred
text of the long disputed passage. Justice requires that it
should be said, that seldom has a more unsanctified temper
been displayed in a religious discussion, than that which Porson evinced in these Letters. The defence of truth, or Christianity, is not to be desired under such circumstances. So
that while our opinion coincides with that of the learned, but,
alas! the unhappy Porson, we deplore that one of the ablest
pieces of criticism and argument in our language should be
the production of one whom no Christian can regard as an
auxiliary or a friend. But it is not my business to expose
the ashes of the mighty dead, farther than to deprecate the
unhallowed association of impiety with a professed regard to
truth and to the Scriptures.
Though Porson was not a man of serious piety, it is proper
it should be stated, that he was not a Socinian. IHe evidently
cared nothing about the matter; but his understanding was
decidedly in favor of the orthodlox creed on the subject of




Page  57

PORSON. 57
the Trinity. A friend once asked him what he thought of
the evidence afforded by the New Testament in favor of the
Socinian doctrines. His answer was short and decisive, —
"If the New Testament is to determine the question, the
Socinians are wrong." *
In these celebrated letters, Porson discusses Travis's representations of Valla's Greek MSS., which he supposed contained the disputed verse, but whose collation is shown to
contain no reference to it, - his defence of the Complutensian Edition, which is proved to be unsatisfactory and futile,
— his account of the MSS. used by Robert Stephens and
Beza, which is exhibited as full of
"Phantoms bodiless and vain,
Empty visions of the brain," -
his representation of the MSS. supposed to be seen by the
Louvain divines, and of the Dublin and Berlin copies, and
his enumeration of all the Greek MSS. that omit the verse,
which are proved to be not less incorrect and fallacious, —
his account of the Latin Vulgate, the Syriac and Coptic, the
Arabic, Ethiopic, Armenian, and Slavonic Versions, all of
which are shown to be adverse to the authenticity of the witnesses, - and his representations of the Greek and Latin
writers who have quoted the verse, and of those who, though
they had sufficient occasion, have not quoted it.
These topics must be regarded as embracing every material point in this interesting and extended discussion. Porson
fully states, and fairly meets every objection to his argument,
which is most triumphantly maintained from the beginning
to the end of the volume. He writes like a man who felt
convinced of truth and assured of victory. He is often immeasurably severe, to which he appears to have been provoked by the ignorance and confidence of his antagonist.
* Quarterly Review, Vol. XXXTII. p. 99.
3*




Page  58

58 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
It is very singular that Travis never took notice of Porson's attack. It is impossible that he should not have known
it, and equally impossible that he should not have felt it; but
whether he wished his silence to be construed into contempt
for the character or hatred of the talents of his adversary,
cannot now be determined. Be this as it may, it is scarcely
possible not to feel satisfaction in the success of Polson's efforts, or not to admire the undaunted firmness with which he
meets every argument and every objection; together with
his disregard of personal consequences, and his contempt
for everything like chicane and subterfuge. The following,
which is one of the concluding paragraphs of these letters,
and which is supported by all the preceding reasonings of
the volume, so fully determines the controversy, that unless
it can be met and overthrown, all attempts at supporting the
verse must be abortive.
"If this verse be really genuine, notwithstanding its absence from all the visible Greek MSS. except two; one of
which awkwardly translates the verse from the Latin, and
the other transcribes it fiom a printed book; notwithstanding its absence fionim all the Versions except the Vulgate, and
even from many of the best and oldest MSS. of the Vulgate;
notwithstanding the deep and dead silence of all the Greek
writers down to the thirteenth and most of the Latins down
to the middle of the eighth century; — if; in spite of all these
objections, it be still genuine, no part of Scripture whatsoever
can be proved either spurious or genuine; and Satan has
been permitted, for many centuries, miraculously to banish
the finest passage in the New Testament from the eyes and
memories of almost all the Christian authors, translators, and
transcribers." -*
The general style in which Porson conducts the controrersy is fairly exhibited in the following passage:P r. 403.




Page  59

PORSON. 59
"Let us then inquire into the Greek MSS. supposed to
contain the disputed verse. You, sir, reckon up seven belonging to Valla, one to Erasmus, some (you are so modest
you will not say, p. 280, how many) to the Complutensian
editors, sixteen to Robert Stephens, and some that the Louvain divines had seen. You afterwards make, pp. 282 -285,
a very pretty calculation, (for you are an excellent arithmetician,) and find that' thirty-one [MSS.] out of eighty-one, or
(more than) three out of eight, or (nearly) one half of that
whole number, actually did exhibit, or do exhibit, the verse,
1 John v. 7!' Inquisitive people will say, how happens it
that none of these MSS. now remain, except the Dublin
copy, which Wetstein is so cruel as to attribute to the sixteenth century; for concerning the Berlin MS. they will, I
fear, rather choose to believe La Croze and Griesbach, than
Martin and IMr. Travis. But the answer is easy. They are
lost. Either they have been burned, or have been eaten by
the worms, or been gnawed in pieces by the rats, or been
rotted with the'damps, or been destroyed by those pestilent
fellows the Arians; which was very feasible; for they had
only to get into their power all the IMSS. of the New Testament in the world, and to mutilate or destroy those which
contained un des plus beaux passages dans l'Ecriture Sainte.
Or, if all these possibilities should fail, the Devil may play his
part in the drama to great advantage. Forl it is a fact of
which Beza positively assures us, that the Devil has been tampering with the text, I Tim. iii. 16; and that Erasmus lent
him an helping hand. Beza, indeed, being a man brimful of
candor, subjoins, that he believes Erasmus assisted Satan
unwittingly. This, perhaps, may be some excuse for Erasmus; but what hopes of salvation are left for your Wetsteins, your Griesbaclls, your Sosipaters, who have the front
to persist in their damnable errors; the two first, in spite of




Page  60

60 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 J01tN V. 7.
350 pages of Berriman; the other, in spite of 400 of Mr.
Travis. After all, I rather prefer the supposition, that the
Arians destroyed the said MISS., because it shows the orthodox in so superior a light; who have not, to my knowledge,
at least, destroyed a single MS. that omitted their darling
text, while the Arians, in less than a century and a half,
suppressed thirty that contained it. Yet let us heax what
may be said in their favor; not out of tenderness to them
(they deserve no mercy), but merely for our own justification." *
"These letters to Archdeacon Travis," to use the words
of an able critic, "form a masterpiece of literary investigation. They discover a power of discrimination to which,
perhaps, a parallel can be found only in the works of Bentley. A few inaccuracies may be detected, and a few expressions brought together inconsistent with each other; but the
decisions with which the volume abounds, are founded on
principles which insure their. stability. Mr. Porson - uni
equus virtuti atque ejuts amicis' — never conceals his abhorrence of disingenuous dealing in anything, but more especially in matters of religion; and he does not scruple to call
such instances of it as occur to him in his inquiry, by their
vulgar names." t
Sosipater, referred to in the above quotation from Porson's
letters, was a writer in a work entitled " Commentaries and
Essays, published by the Society for promoting the Knowledge of the Scriptures." Thle first volume of this work appeared without date, shortly after the publication of Travis's
letters, and contains a paper by Sosipater, designated, "A
Gleaning of Remarks on MIr. Travis's Attempt to revive
the exploded Text of 1 John v. 7." Its contents correspond
* Letters to Travis, pp. 22 - 24.
t Quarterly Review, Vol. XXXUII. p. 99,




Page  61

STEPHENS. 61
with the description, as they are literally gleanings, or short
observations on Emlyn and Martin, and particularly the mistakes of Travis, with some extracts from Wetstein arid Griesbach. lie concludes by saying, "I hope I shall be excused
in adding at the close of these remarks on the very extraordinary defence of this justly exploded text, that a more cornplete pattern of sophistical reasoning throughout, and of bold
assertion without proof, I never met with, and that if my
voice could extend itself to MIr. Gibbon, in his distant abode
on the lake Leman; to whom, it may be presumed, a series
of letters addressed to him have been communicated I would
entr6at that gentleman not to judge of his opponents, and of
all the defenders of Christianity, by this its present champion
and advocate, Mr. Travi."
The work in which this paper appeared extended only to
two volumes. I believe Dr. Disney was the conductor of it;
and the writers were mostly, if not entirely, Unitarians. Sosipater was the late Theophilus Lindsey, who wrote a considerable number of papers under that signature.
One of the leading points in this discussion relates to the
readings of' the Greek gMSS. employed by Robert Stephens,
in the construction of the text of his celebrated edition of
tlie New Testament, and to the placing of the crotchet referired to by Mr. Gibbon. From the complicated' nature of
this controversy, and the numerous minute points which it
involves, it is very difficult to give an abridged view of this
part of the argument. It appears that of the sixteen codices, including the Complutensian, used by Stephens, only
seven contained the Catholic Epistles; consequently no more
could be employed in his collation of the disputed verse. In
his text he shows the number of words omitted in any of his
MSS., by prefixing an obelus t before the first word, and a




Page  62

62 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
little crotchet ), or semicircle, after the last word. In the
disputed text, he places his obelus and crotchet as under:
i' Ev ro o'pavc5) 6 7rarrp, 6 XoyoV, K.7.X. By which he appears to
intimate that not the whole verse, but only the words ev Tr
ovpavZv were omitted in his seven MSS. Whether the placing
of the crotchet in this position, instead of the end of the
verse, was by design, or a mistake of Stephens, or his compositor, it is impossible now to ascertain. The latter is by
far the more probable supposition.
The friends of the disputed passage, among whom must
be ranked, in particular, Mr. Travis, consider it as most evident, that the IMSS. employed by Stephens contained- the
passage, and every possible effort has been made to maintain
this ground. It is clear, however, that if the Stephenic MSS.
remain, and can be identified, they must furnish the most
conclusive proof of the actual reading. And as Stephens
refers to all the seven by one indication, should even one of
the seven be found and thlat not contain the passage, it would
be conclusive aglainst the whole. It happens that no Greek
-IS., at present known, omits only the three words to which
the notation of' the Stephenic text is limited. Four of the
seven MSS. enployed by Stephens on the Catholic Epistles
Dwere borrowed friom the Royal Library at Paris, and returnedl after being used. It was found by Simon, more than
a hundlred yearns ago, that not a single IS. in the Royal Library at Paris co!!tained the disputed text. And as four of
Steph!ie!;s'S seven were included in those MSS., though which
four had not been ascertained, little doubt could be entertained of' Stephens's mistake.
Le Long, in 1720, undertook to ascertain the four very
IrSS. Ibelonging to the Royal Library used by Stephens.
lie slucceeded iri identifying them; and found they omitted
the whole verse. From this period Stephens's semicircle




Page  63

MARSH. 63
was abandoned to its fate, till Archdeacon Travis took a
journey to Paris, in 1791, with a view to recollate the MSS.
on which Le Long had fixed, as the seven which were used
by Stephens. The effect of his examination was a full confidence on his part that Le Long had been mistaken in the
ISS., that the crotchet stands in the proper place in the text
of Stephens, and " that the calumniated memory of Stephens
would be redeemed to its ancient honors." But all this is no
better than idle vaunting, for Travis only proved himself to
be totally unfit for the task of examining and collating Greek
MSS., as no doubt can be entertained of the identity of the
MISS. in question.
Four of the seven MSS. used by Stephens, containing the
Catholic Epistles, and referred to by the mistaken placing of
his crotchet, as if they read the disputed verse, being thus
ascertained, and found not to contain it; during the interval
of 1791 and 1794, when Travis's last edition of his letters
appeared, MIr., now Dr. Marsh, Bishop of Peterborough,
thought he discovered another of those MSS. in the Library
of the University of Cambridge. And in the year 1793, in
a note to the second volume of his Translation of Michaelis's
Introduction to the New Testament, he intimated this discovery. This MS. had once belonged to Vatablus, the friend
of' Stephens, and perfectly corresponds with the Codex Stephani ly. This MS. also omits the whole of the disputed
verse; and thus five of Stephens's seven MSS., containing
the Catholic Epistles, have been discovered, and are found to
want the passage. The two other MSS. have not yet, I believe, been found, but the question, as to all the MISS., must
be regarded as settled.
This note of Dr. Marsh, Travis attacked in the last edition
of his Letters to Gibbon. The following is the passage:"In addition to these adversaries, the learned translator




Page  64

64 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHIN V. 7.
of Michaelis has lately informed the world, that the MIS.
distinguished by the letters Ly by R. Stephens, is now in the
Library of the University of Cambridge, is there marked
Kk. 6. 4, and that it contains the Epistle of St. John, but not
the verse, 1 John v. 7. His argument on this subject may
be reduced to the following heads.
" 1. The readings which R. Stephens has produced from
the AMS. ry alone, throughout the Catholic Epistles, amount
to twenty.'2. These singular readings are all found'without any
exception, and without the least variation' in his MS. Kk.
"3. Several of these singular readings have been discovered in no MS. whatever since the days of R. Stephens.
"4. This extraordinary coincidence, united with the circumstance that the MS. Kk has the name of a contemporary,
and a friend of R. Stephens in it, affords the strongest proof
that the MS. now in question, and the MS. Ly of R. Stephens,
are one and the same book; and therefore,
"5. The semicircle of R. Stephens is misplaced.
"The observations on this argument, founded on an examination of the Catholic Epistles in this MS. Kk, shall follow
the order in which the several parts of that argument are
here arranged.
1. On referring to the margin of R. Stephens, it will ap:
pear that he has quoted his MS. ay solely, not merely in
twenty, but in twenty-five places.
" 2. One of these singular readings, which is not found in
the MBIS. Kk, is in James v. 7, in which passage this copy
reads ecov Xa13,q Kapwrov 7rpctqlov KtL oqtqov. But the MS. ty
reads the passage thus, ty Ecos av Xa3fq 7rpotL0Lov Kat ofqtrov, without Kaprov or any other substantive. This may, perhaps, be
one of those five passages whiclh Mr. M.arshl did not reckon.
It rende's his whole argument ineffective, althoulh tile other




Page  65

TRAVIS. 65
twenty-four singular readings should be (as on examination
they appear to be) in the MS. Kk.
"3. As to the assertion that several of these singular readings have been discovered in no MS. whatever since the days
of R. Stephens, it will appear, on consulting the various readings collected by Mill, Wetstein, and Griesbach, that the case
stands thus, or nearly thus. Of the twenty-four singular
readings in which the MS. Ly and Kk agree, tw'elve have
been discovered in other Greek MSS., six more have been
fbund in some of the oldest versions, and one more in Cyril
of Alexandria; so that there are only five singular readings
which have not yet been found any where except in the
MSS. Kk and ty.
"4. Mr. Marsh infers from this extraordinary coincidence,
(a coincidence of twelve readings,) and from the word Vatablus being written in the MS. Kk, that it must be the MS. Ly
of R. Stephens. It will instantly appear how insignificant
the latter circumstance is. And with regard to the former,
if it be a just inference that two MSS. are the same because
they agree in a certain number of passages, where they deviate from all other copies; it is surely reasonable to conclude,
that if one of' two given MSS. shall disagree, not only with
the other, but also with the rest of the MSS. which have
hitherto been collated, in a far greater number of passages,
they must be two different MSS.
"In'the MS. Kk, there are in all 135 deviations from the
text of tR. Stephens, each of them not less important than
those which he has produced from his MS. y7. In his margin the MS. Ly is quoted only 60 times. There are in the
IMS. Kk, therefore, 75 more various readings than R. Stephens has produced from the MIS. Ly.
"Among the 135 readings, just mentioned, there are 42
which are not to be met with, either in the margin of R.
E




Page  66

6 6 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
Stephens, or in the various readings of Mill, of Wetstein, or
of Griesbach i that is, there are 42 passages wherein the MS.
Kk differs, not only from the MS. ty, (as the fair presumption
is,) but from every other known MIS. But there are twelve
places alone in which the MS. ty is known to agree with the
MS. Kk, and to differ from every other copy. From all
which facts and circumstances taken together, it appears
most probable that the copies now in question are two different MSS. And therefore that
"X5. Mr. Marsh's argument does not shew that the semicircle of R. Stephens is misplaced.
" It will not be too strong an observation to remark, that
such accusations tarnish not his well-earned honors. They
prove nothing -but the precipitancy of his accusers." t
It was in defence of his note, therefore, and in farther support of his own views, and those of Michaelis,t on i John v.
7, that this learned writer published at Leipsic, where he was
then residing, the following able volume; "Letters to Mr.
Archdeacon Travis, in Vindication of one of the Translator's
Notes to Michaelis's Introduction, and in confirmation of the
opinion that a Greek MS. now preserved in the Public Library of the University of Cambridge, is one of the seven
which are quoted by R. Stephens, at 1 John v. 7. With an
Appendix, containing a Review of Mr. Travis's Collation of
the Greek MSS. which he examined in Paris; an Extract
from Mr. Pappelbaum's Treatise on the Berlin MS.; and' Travis's Letters, pp. 410-414.
t Mr. Butler, by mistake, represents Michaelis as at first an advocate
for the disputed verse, and refers to a book, by him, on that side of the
question, and to another also in opposition to it. - Horse Bibliem, Vol. I. p.
379. What he affirms of hMichaelis, belongs to Semler, who changed his
views, and wrote both the works which Mr. Butler ascribes to Michaelis. —
See Marsh's Michaelis, Vol. VL. p. 413.




Page  67

MARSH. 67
in Essay on the Origin and Object of the Velesian Readings." 8vo. 1795.
These letters, seven in number, with the appendices, supplied everything that was wanting to complete the discomfiture and disgrace of the unfortunate Archdeacon. They deprive him not only of every shadow of argument, but clearly
prove that he resorted to artifice to support the cause he had
rashly undertaken to defend. It is impossible to convey an
idea of the labor, research, and learning, which this admira..
ble volume displays. It is worth being consulted as an es
ercise of the understanding, and of being referred to as a
specimen of' the most admirably sustained argumentation.
The main positions are established by a superfluity of proof,
so that the reader has no option but to adopt the conclusion
respecting the identity of the MSS., the misplacing of the
crotchet, and consequently that none of the MSS. used by
Stephens really contained this passage. On every point, indeed, involved in this discussion, much curious and accurate
information is communicated, so that the reader will find it
one of the most valuable works in the whole range of biblical criticism. One of the most curious applications of mathematical science to moral evidence is contained in this work.
By the application of a mathematical theorem, in the fourth
letter, to the documents produced in the second and fifth letters, the learned writer endeavors to show that the probability
in favor of the MS. Kk. 6. 4, in the University of Cambridge,
being one of' the MSS. collated by Stephens, is, to the probability of the contrary, as two nonillions to unity. This he
conceives, if the calculation be correct,.every one will consider as amounting to a moral certainty.
Various opinions may be entertained respecting the propriety of applying mathematical science to such subjects;
and also respecting the perfect accuracy of the algebraic for



Page  68

68 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
mula on which ho reasons; but only one opinion can exist
respecting the point to which it is applied. Dr. MIarsh's account of the steps by which he was led to the result at which
he finally arrived, is singularly interesting, and though long,
as it affords a beautiful specimen of critical caution and acumen, and as the volume is now scarcely to be procured at any
price, the reader, I am sure, will be pleased to be furnished
with it.
"' In the beginning of the year 1793, while I was printing
my Notes to the second volume of Michaelis's Introduction,
I examined the manuscripts of the Greek Testament, preserved in the University Library, of ewhich I had made a
catalogue in the preceding summer. Mly attention was particularly engaged by that which was marked Kk. 6. 4.: a
manuscript containing the Acts of the Apostles, with the
Catholic Epistles, and those of St. Paul. I found, on examination, that it bore the appearance of a very respectable antiquity, that its readings were in numerous examples different from the common printed text, where the deviations were
supported by very few other authorities, and I was surprised
that so remarkable a manuscript should, as I at that time
supposed, have remained uncollated. Considering, however,
that manuscripts, after the death of their proprietors, are frequently transferred to diferent libraries, and sometimes even
to (listant countries, I thought it not improbable that this
manuscript, though never quoted as a Codex Cantabrigiensis,
might have been collated and quoted by a different name before it was purchased for the University Library, in the same
manner as the Codex Augiensis, now in Trinity College, was
in the beginning of this century collated by Wetstein, in the
library of Mar. Mieg at Hleidelberg. And that the very same
thing had really happened to the AtS. Kk. 6. 4., I was led to
co0nclude by the following circumstances. In the first place




Page  69

MARSH. 69
I observed the name of Vatablus (who was Hebrew Professor in the University of Paris, and died about the middle of
the sixteenth century) written on the inside of the cover, at
the beginning of the manuscript, in a place where the proprietors of books very frequently write their names. The
same name I saw likewise at the end of the manuscript, and
observed that in both places the name was written in the
middle of the page, and in the same hand. I perceived likewise the name of Hautin written at the beginning of the
manuscript, in the same page with the name of Vatablus, but
in a different hand, and in a different part of the page, namely, in one of the upper corners, which is likewise a place
where the proprietors of books very frequently write their.names. I concluded therefore that the manuscript had been
formerly in France, and successively the property of Vatablus and Hautin. I paid, however, little attention to the
name of HNutin: it was that of Vatablus which led me to,further inquiries, and first excited the suspicion that this
manuscript might have been one of those which were used
by R. Stephens for his editions of the Greek Testament,
printed in 1546, 1549, and 1550, because Vatablus was one
of Robert Stephens's intimate friends, and was likewise connected with him in his literary pursuits. Under these circumstances I thought it impossible that an ancient and valuable
manuscript, in the possession of Vatablus, could have been
unknown to Stephens: and, as he expressly declares in the
preface to his edition of 1550, that he procured six manuscripts from various quarters, in addition to the eight borrowed from the Royal Library (which with the Complutensian
edition and the manuscript collated in Italy make up the sixteen), it appeared' to me at least probable, that the Codex
Vatabli was one of the six. Further, this probability was
greatly increased by the strong expression which Stephens




Page  70

70 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
has used in speaking of these six manuscripts, for he says
that they were'ea, qum undique corrogare licuit.' The
word'undique' plainly denotes that he collected from various
quarters; and the addition of'licuit' is a proof that he collected at least such as he thought worthy of notice, where he
was able to procure them.
"Having thus considered the probability, that the Codex
Vatabli had been used by Stephens, derived from external
evidence, I proceeded to inquire what internal evidence might
be obtained in its favor. For this purpose, it was necessary
to fix upon some one of Stephens's manuscripts, and compare
the readings which Stephens had quoted from it, with the
readings of the Codex Vatabli: and I was led to fix on one
of the two marked la and ly, in the following manner. I
considered that if the Codex Vatabli had been used by Stephens, it must be one of the six'qum undique corrogare
licuit'; for, independently of the arguments already adduced
to show that it probably was one of those six, it could neither
be the Codex a nor 3, for reasons which it would be superfluous to mention: neither could it be one of the eight manuscripts marked by Stephens, y, 8, E, s, I,,1, L, LE, for these
eight, as he himself declares, were borrowed from the Royal
Library. If used at all, therefore, it could be only one of
the six which Stephens has noted by 0, a, iL/, Ly, t8, tr. But
it could neither be the 0, nor the L3, nor the L8; for the two
first of these have been discovered by XVetstein to be the
same as the Codex Coislinianus 200, and the Codex Regius
83; and the third has been found by Griesbach to be the
Codex Victorinus 774. The number therefore of the undiscovered Co(lices Stephanici were reduced to the three marked
La,,y, r-: but the Codex Lr is quoted by Stephens above fifty
times in the Apocalypse, a book which is not contained in the
Codex Vatabli. There remained therefore for trial only the




Page  71

MARSH. 71
ta and the ly, both of which, as appears from the quotations
in Stephens's margin, contained the very same books as the
Codex Vatabli, namely, the Acts of the Apostles, the Catholic Epistles, and those of St. Paul.
" Having discovered so far, that one of these two manuscripts might be the Codex Vatabli, I resolved further to
examine whether either of them actually were. To this end
I copied from Stephens's margin, throughout the Catholic
Epistles, (which I thought a sufficient portion for determining the question, without going also through the Acts of the
Apostles, and the Epistles of St. Paul,) all the singular
readings of the two MSS. ma and Ly, or, in other words, such
as Stephens had quoted friom each of these manuscripts
solely. Those of the former amounted to twenty, those of
the latter to twenty-five. Having formed in this manner,
from Stephens's margin, two separate catalogues of the characteristic readings of these two manuscripts, I went into the
Public Library to compare them with the Codex Vatabli:
and in case I found that this manuscript contained the whole
series of characteristic readings, either of the Codex La, or
of the Codex Ly, — all proper allowances being made for
typographical errors, from which Stephens's margin is by no
means free, —I thought I should be justified in concluding
that I had discovered one of the manuscripts of Robert Stephens, which had been buried in oblivion since the middle of
the sixteenth century. The first trial which I made, was
with the characteristic readings of the Codex La: but I soon
perceived that this could not be the manuscript, for not one
of its characteristic readings, as far as I compared, was-to be
found in the Codex Vatabli. My last resource therefore was
the Codex ty, and if the internal evidence had there likewise
been as unfavorable as to the Codex ta, I must have abandoned the opinion that the Codex Vatabli hadl been used by




Page  72

72 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
Stephens, notwithstanding the external evidence in its favor.
But to my great surprise, and I acknowledge to my great
satisfaction, I found in the Codex Vatabli all the singular
readings of the Codex ty, throughout the Catholic Epistles;
which is really more than I should have expected, even had
I known for certain before I made the comparison, that the
Codex Vatabli was the very manuscript which Stephens denoted by the mark Ly, since among twenty-five readings in
Stephens's margin, taken any where at a venture, we may
in general expect to find at least one error, either of the
collator, or of the printer. This extraordinary coincidence,
therefore, between the characteristic readings of the Codex
ty and those of the Codex Vatabli, united with the external
evidence derived from the manuscript's having been the
property of one of Stephens's intimate friends, afforded, as I
thought, and as I still think, a very satisfactory proof of their
identity. Further, upon consulting the editions of Mill,
Wetstein, and Griesbach, I found, 1st, that of the twenty-five
singular readings of the Codex qy, no manuscript at present
known,'beside the Codex Vatabli, contains even a sixth part;
2dly, that if we except the Codex Alexandrinus, which contains
four of them, and four only, there is no single manuscript at
present known which contains any two of them; and 3dly,
that all the manuscripts put together, which have been collated by Mill, Wetstein, and Griesbach (to whom, as I have
since learnt, may be added Matthai and Alter), contain only
two fifths of them. Whether under these circumstances I
rightly concluded, that if any one manuscript was found to
contain them all, it could be no other than the very manuscript from which they had been taken, or whether the inference was made with that'precipitancy' of which you have
thought proper to accuse me, I leave to be determined by
those who are competent judges." *
* Marsh's Letters, pp. 3 - 9.




Page  73

MARSH. 73
The following passage will show his views aind feelings respecting the moral and intellectual qualities of' his antagonist.
"Here I would willingly close this subj:ct; but as you,
yourself, are so extremely liberal of censure, even in cases
where you ought rather to applaud, you must not expect
to escape, where censure is justly due. The expression,'shameful debility,' which you apply to Le Long, Wetstein,
and Griesbach, might be retorted, not four but fourscore fbld
upon yourself; for of an hundred examples which you have
produced, pp. 220 - 241, and which have been the subject of
the preceding inquiry, there are more than seventy which
are either false, or prove nothing, or prove against yourself.
WVhen I find you arguing from Stephens's silence, and con
eluding that his MSS. agreed with his text, wherever he has
not specified the contrary, or when I see you gravely copying
Stephens's own words, and producing them as various readings of a Greek MIS., I have no other sensation than that of
pity for a man, who has imprudently engaged in sacred criticism, without possessing the necessary qualifications. But
when I meet with assertions that cannot be ascribed to want
of knowledge; when I find you quoting Stephens for evidence which he has not given, and suppressing that which
he really has, and consider that there are instances of the
former kind, in which you could hardly have been taken by
surprise, and examples of the latter, in which you neither
could have been ignorant of what Stephens had quoted, nor
of the impossibility of concealing that quotation, without
leading your readers into error, it is really difficult to avoid
giving way to the feelings of a just indignation." *
This volume may be considered as concluding the direct
controversy occasioned by Gibbon's attack. Travis never
returned to the charge. He died about this time, not without
* Pp. 238 - 240.
4




Page  74

74 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
a suspicion that the controversy severely affected his health,
and contributed to shorten his days.
In 1801, Dr. Marsh published the second part of the translation of Michaelis's Introduction. The last volume of this
work contains a Dissertation of that learned German on the
passage in question; in which, among other things, he gives
a short account of what had been published in Germany,
in defence of the passage, subsequently to 1750, the year in
which the first edition of his Introduction appeared, and in
which he had expressed his opinion that the passage was
spurious.
"' The first is a thesis written for a public disputation by
Dr. Semler, at Halle, in 1751, entitled,'Vindiciae plurium
prmcipuarum lectionum codicis Graeci Novi Testamenti, adversus Whistonum, atque ab eo latas leges criticas.' This
tract eminently distinguishes itself from the rest by its profound learning, and great moderation. It would be superfluous to make any reply to it at present, because the learned
author himself, who soon after altered his opinion, not only
confuted all the arguments which had been used in favor of
1 John v. 7, but wrote the most important work which we
have on this subject.+
"The next defence of 1 John v. 7 was written by Mr. J.
E. WVagner, in 1752, and entitled' Integritas commatis septimi capitis quinti prime Joannis epistolme ab impugnationibus
novatoris cujusdam denuo vindicata.' This treatise was directed particularly against me, whom the author meant by
* [The work referred to bears the following title: -" Historische und
kritische Sammlungen fiber-die so genannten Beweisstellen in der Dogmatik.
Erstes Stiick. Uber 1 Joh. 5, 7." I. e. Historical and Critical Collections
relating to the so-called Proof-texts in Dogmatic Theology. Part I. On
1 John v. 7. Halle und Helmstidt, 1764, 8vo. pp. 20, 429, besides Index.Part II., which I have not seen, appeared in 1768.- E;.]




Page  75

WAGNER, KNITTEL, STRESOW, MICHAELIS. 75
his'novator quidam.' But with such an adversary as Mr.
Wagner I never could persuade myself to enter into any
controversy.
"After a lapse of above thirty years, the learned Knittel
undertook another defence of the disputed passage in his'New Criticisms on 1 John v. 7,' printed at Brunswick, in
1785. This is a valuable work, and much useful information
may be derived from it; but in the proof of the principal
point the author has totally failed.
"In the same year, Mr. Travis published in London his'Letters to Gibbon'; and in the year following, Mr. Stresow
printed at Hamburgh his' Open Avowal of the Doctrine of
the Trinity, as delivered in 1 John v. 7.' But both of these
publications betrayed the utmost partiality and ignorance."
The greatest part of Michaelis's dissertation is occupied
in combating the ground on which Bengel had rested the
defence of the text, which is done in a very, masterly and
convincing manner. The sixth section is occupied with Mi;
chaelis's view of the manner in which the passage was introduced into the Latin copies, from which little doubt can be
entertained it was afterwards translated into Greek, and thus
obtained possession, first of one Greek MS., and then of the
Complutensian Edition. As the section is short, I shall give
it entire.
"When it has been proved, by satisfactory evidence, that a
passage is spurious, it is wholly unnecessary to show at what
time or in what manner the passage was first introduced.
There are many readings in our common printed text, which,
at present, are universally allowed to be false, though we
cannot ascertain by what copyist they were first written,
or what particular cause has given them birth. In such
cases we must be satisfied with probable conjecture; for his
* Marsh's Michaelis, Vol. VI. pp. 413, 414.




Page  76

7 6 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING I JOHN V. 7.
torical evidence is seldom to be expected, since interpolations
are in general clandestine facts, and are very rarely recorded.
But since the advocates of 1 John v. 7 contend that this passage would not have been contained in the Latin version
unless it had been contained likewise in the Greek, I will endeavor to show in what manner it was first introduced into
the Latin version.
" The simple fact, that it had its origin in the Latin, is indisputable, since it is contained in nlo ancient Greek manuscript, and in no other version. And the cause which gave it
birth was probably the following: It appears from the third
section of this chapter, that the African fathers interpreted
1 John v. 8 mystically, and considered'the spirit, the water,
and the blood,' as denoting the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost. Further it must be remarked, that the African fathers were the first who discovered 1 John v. 7 in the
Latin version. The combination of these two facts leads to
the following probable conclusion; that the spiritual interpretation of 1 John v. 8 was written in the margin of one or
more Latin manuscripts, and that in order to distinguish the
terrestrial from the celestial meaning, the words'in terra'
were added as a marginal gloss, in reference to' testimonium
dant' in the eighth verse, by which means both the literal
and the spiritual meaning were rendered perfect. According
to this representation the text and the margin stood thus: —
* in terra. ]" Quoniam tres sunt, qui
testimonium dant,* spiritu,; et
Et tres sunt, qui testimonium dant n
in ccelo, Pater, Verbum, et Spiritus aqula et sanguis: et hi tres
Sanctus: et hi tres unum sunt. unum sunt."
When a copy of this kind fell into the hands of ignorant
transcribers, who were making new transcripts of the Latin
Bible, they imagined that what was written in the margin
was a part of the text, which had been omitted by mistake




Page  77

MICHAELIS. 77
consequently they inserted it in the text of the manuscript
which they themselves were writing. But some of them inserted the marginal reading before the text, of which it was
the interpretation, others after it; and this is the reason why
the controverted passage has no fixed place in the Latin manuscripts, -the heavenly witnesses sometimes preceding, sometimes following the earthly witnesses.
"In this manner the passage having gained admittance into one or more Latin manuscripts written in Africa, it had
the undeserved good fortune to be quoted in the Confession
of Faith presented at the end of the fifth century by the African bishops to HTuneric, king of the Vandals. And as these
bishops became martyrs, and were said even to have performed a miracle, the passage, in consequence of its having
been quoted in their Confession, not only acquired celebrity,
but was stamped with authority. Hence other Latin transcribers, especially they who lived in Africa, were induced to
follow the example of those who transferred the passage from
the margin to the text. And, as the Carthaginian and Roman churches were closely allied, this example soon spread
itself to the transcribers who lived in Italy. It must be observed, however, that the example was not imitated universally; for Facundus, who lived in the sixth century, did not
find the passage in his manuscript of the Latin version. This
appears from the circumstance that he proves the doctrine
of the Trinity by a mystical interpretation of the eighth verse;
which he certainly would not have done if the seventh verse
had been contained in his manuscript, because in this verse
the doctrine which he intended to prove is literally and directly asserted. After the sixth century the whole Latin
Church was involved in ignorance and barbarism; all critical
inquiries were at an end; and both spurious and genuine passages were received withlout distinction. In the Middle-Ages,




Page  78

78 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
therefore, 1 John v. 7 was generally considered throughout the
West of Europe as a part of St. John's first Epistle, without
any further questions being asked about it." *
Such is the decided opinion of one of the most learned,
candid, and ingenious critics which Germany ever produced,
of the spuriousness of this passage, and of the method in
which it crept into the text. His explanation is not founded
on mere conjecture or hypothesis, but on circumstances belonging to the state of the Latin MSS. which strongly support the view which he has given.
In 1807, Dr. Adam Clarke published his useful work,
"The Succession of Sacred Literature";t to which he prefixes two fac-similes of the disputed passage; one taken from
the Complutensian Edition of' the New Testament, and the
other from the Codex Montfortii in Trinity College, Dublin.
In treating on the first Epistle of John, he makes some judicious observations on the text of the three witnesses, in
order to illustrate his plates. After stating his opinion of
the age of the Codex Montfortianus, which has been already
given, he proceeds as follows:"Though a conscientious advocate for the sacred doctrine
contained in the disputed text, and which I think expressly
enough revealed in several other parts of the sacred writings,
yet I must own the passage in question stands on a most dubious foundation. All the Greek manuscripts (the Codex
Montfortii alone excepted) omit the passage: so do all the
ancient versions, the Vulgate excepted: but in many of the
ancient MSS. even of this version it is wanting. There is
one in the British Museum, of the tenth or eleventh century,
where it is added by a more recent hand in the margin: for
* Pp. 434- 437.
t [A second edition, enlarged, was published in 1831. -ED.]




Page  79

CLARKE. 79
it is wanting also in the text. It is also variously written in
those manuscripts which retain it. This will appear more
plainly by comparing the following extracts, taken from four
manuscripts of the Vulgate in my own possession:-.
"1. Quoniarn tres sunt qui testimonium dant in ccelo Pater,
Verbum et Spiritus Sanctus et hii tres unum sunt. Et tres
sunt qui ttstimonium dant in terra, Spiritus, Sanguis et Aqua.
" 2. Quoniam tres sunt qui testimonium dant in terra,
Spiritus, Aqua et Sanguis, et tres unum sunt. Et tres sunt
qui testimonium dant in ccelo Pater Verbum et Spiritus Sanctus, et hii tres unum sunt.'" 3. Quoniam tres sunt qui testimonium dant in ccelo, Pater,
et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus, et hii tres unum sunt. Et tres
sunt qui testimonium dant in terra, Spiritus, Aqua et Sanguis.
"4. Quoniarn tres sunt qui testimonium dant in terra, spiritus, aqua et sanguis; et hii tres unum sunt. Et tres sunt qui
testimonium dant in Cielo, Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus,
et hii tres unum sunt.
"5. Quoniam tres sunt qui Testimonium dant in terra
Sp.iritus, Aqua et Sanguis, et tres sunt qui testimonium perhibent in Coelo Pater, Verbum, et Spiritus Sanctus et hi tres
unum sunt.
" This last I took from an ancient manuscript in Miarsh's
Library, St. Patrick's, Dublin.
" In the Bible printed by Fradin and Pinard, Paris, 1497,
fol., the text is the same with No. 2, only instead of testimonium dant, it reads dant testimnonium.
"The reader will observe, that in No. 2, 4, and 5, the
eighth verse is put before the seventh, and that 3 and 4 have
filius instead of verbumn. But both these readings are united
in an ancient English manuscript of my own, which contains
the Bible fiom the beginning of Proverbs to the end of the
New Testament, written on thick strong vellum, and evidently prior to the time of Wicliff.




Page  80

80 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN'. 7.
"flor tbree ben tbat gebrn iitnssfaing in- tejbn tlt fafir, tlet
aorb otr Zonu anb tlt 3aooI2 &qoosat, aub t{jtes t!reu tbn ona.
ltnb tjreE tben tijat gbeun Wiitnrssing it ertbe, ttlj'pirit, Iatcr,
anbti B[oo, attb tieju thrue ten ooan.
"As many suppose the Complutensian editors must have
had a manuscript or manuscripts which contained this disputed passage, I judge it necessary to add the note which they
subjoin at the bottom of the page, by which (though nothing
is clearly expressed) it appears they either had such a manuscript, or wished to have it thought they had such. However,
the note is curious, and shows us how this disputed passage
was read in the most approved manuscripts of the Vulgate
extant in the thirteenth century, when St. Thomas Aquinas
wrote, from whom this note is taken.
"'l'The following is the whole note literatim:"' Sanctus Thomas in expositione secunde Decretalis de
suma Trinitate et fide catholica tractans istum passum contra
Abbatem Joachim ut tres sunt qui testimonium dant in celo.
Pater: Verbum: et Spiritus Sanctus: dicit ad litteram verba
sequentia. Et ad insinuandam unitatem trium personarum
subditur, Et hii tres unum sunt. Quodquidem dicitur propter essentie unitatem. Sed hoc Joachim perverse trahere
volens ad unitatem charitatis et consensus inducebat consequeintetn auctoritatem. Nam subditur ibidem: Et tres sunt
qui testimonium dant in terra. s. Spiritus: Aqua: et Sanguis. Et in quibusdam libris additur: Et hii tres unum sunt.
Sed hoc in veris exemplaribus non habetur: sed dicitur esse
appositum ab hereticis Arrianis ad pervertendum intellectum
sanum auctoritatis premisse de unitate essentie trium personaruim. Hec beatus Thomas ubi supra.' *
* [That is: -" Saint Thomas, in his exposition of the second Decretal
concerning the Most High Trinity and the Catholic faith, treating of this
passage,''There are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the
Word, and the fIolly,Spirit,' in loppositini to the Abbot Jo..clhim, uses pie



Page  81

CLARKE. 81
" If the Complutensian editors translated the passage into
Greek from the Vulgate, it is strange they made no mention
of it in this place, where they had so fair an opportunity,
while speaking so very pointedly on the doctrine in question,
and forming a note for the occasion, which is indeed the only
theological note in the whole volume. It is again worthy of
note, that, when these editors found an important various
reading in any of their Greek manuscripts, they noted it in
the margin: an example occurs 1 Cor. xvi. 51. —Why was it
then that they took no notice of so important an omission as
the text of the three witnesses, if they really had no manuscript in which it was contained? Did they intend to deceive
the reader, and could they possibly imagine that the knavery
should never be detected? If they designed to deceive, they
took the most effectual way to conceal the fraud, as it is probable they destroyed the manuscripts from which they printed
their text; for the story of their being sold in 1749 to a
rocket-maker, (see Michaelis, Vol. II. p. 440,) is every way
so exceptionable and unlike the truth, that I really wonder
there should be found any person who would seriously give
it credit. It is more likely the manuscripts were destroyed
at first, or that they are still kept secret,'to prevent the forgerSr (if it be one) of the text of the three witnesses from being
detected; or the librarian already mentioned may have converted them to his own use. If they were not destroyed by
cisely the following language: —' And to teach the unity of the three persons it is subjoined, And these' three are one; which is said on account of
their unity of essence. But Joachim, wishing perversely to refer this to
a unity of affection and agreement, alleged the text that follows it. For
it is immediately subjoined, And there are three that bear witness on earth,
namely, the Spirit, the water, anld the blood. And in some books it is added,
4lnd these three are one. But this is notcontained in the true copies, but is
said to have been added by the Arian heretics to prevent the text that precedes from being correctly understood as relating to the unity of essence of
the three persons.'- Thus the blessed Thomas, as above referred to." - ED.]
4] F




Page  82

82 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHEN V. 7.
the Complutensian editors, I should not be surprised if the
same manuscripts should come to light in some other part of
the world, if not in the Alcala library itself." *
It is worthy of notice in this part of this important controversy, that Dr. Clarke's suspicion of the story of the rocketmaker, who is alleged to have purchased the MSS. from
which the Complutensian edition was formed, and who was
of course supposed to have exploded them long ago, turns
out to be well founded; and his anticipation that they might
one day be discovered has at length been realized. I copy
the following passage from a pamphlet recently published by
Dr. Smith.
"Mr. T. quotes the Bishop of Peterborough's third edition
of his translation of Michaelis, to show that the learned
Bishop has changed his opinion, and now believes the manuscripts from which the Complutensian text was taken to have
been more ancient and valuable than, agreeably to the general opinion, he had before supposed. This is, however, a
matter which does not at all affect our argument. Undoubtedly, for reasons of critical curiosity and satisfaction, we
should be gratified by knowing the character and history of
the Alcala manuscripts; yet there is the highest moral certainty that this knowledge would do nothing more than confirm what is already well enough known. In fact, the matter
is established: for there is good reason to believe that the
learned Germans, Moldenhauer and Tychsen, were the subjects of an imposition practised upon them by some people
in the Spanish University, who were not disposed to permit
their manuscript treasures to be scrutinized by Protestants.:A gentleman with whom I have the honor of acquaintance,
well known as a friend of rational freedom and a sufferer in
* Pp. 92- 97.




Page  83

SMITIH. 83
its cause, and whose extraordinary talents as a linguist and
a poet have eminently enriched our literature, John Bowring, FEsq., has spent much time in Spain, and was the intimate friend( of the most enlightened, learned, and patriotic
men in thlt country during its enjoyment of the blessing
(of which it has been so basely and cruelly robbed!) of a
constitutional government. He had the opportunity of carefully examining the manuscripts at Alcala; he has published
reasons amounting to a demonstration that no sate or destruction of manuscrTpts ever took place; by his personal examination he found THE SAMIE Scripture manuscripts which had
been described as being in the library, by Alvaro Gomez,
who died in 1580; and he adds,' That the manuscripts referred to are modern and valueless there can be no longer
any question.' To Mr. Bowring I am also indebted for the
information (which, had it been known to Michaelis, or to his
learned translator, would have been to them most welcome
intelligence, anti would have saved them a world of trouble)
that Gomez, in his Life of Cardinal Ximenes, states that'Leo X. lent to Ximetnes those [Greek manuscripts which] he
required from the Vatican; which were returned as soon as
the Polyglot was completed.' "X
According to this statement, unless some MSS. in the Vatican, yet unexamined, shall be found to contain the testimony
of' the heavenly witnesses, which is in the highest degree
improbable, it must be admitted that the Complutensian
editors translated the passage into Greek from the Latin
Vulgate; and thus one of the main arguments on which its
authenticity has been erected will be entirely overthrown.
The various readings of the Latin MISS. given by Dr.
Clarke, and which are only a specimen of the diversity that
obtains in this passage in the MhSS. of the Vulgate, create a
S Smith's Rejoinder to Taylor, 1829, pp. 48, 49.




Page  84

84 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
strong suspicion that there is something radically unsound in
the authority of the verse. The unique, theological note also
which Dr. Clarke gives from the Complutensian, in the very
ambiguity which pervades it, savors strongly of management.
It was felt desirable to support the authority of the Vulgate,
and yet it was deemed imprudent to assert that the passage
was found in the Greek MSS. Had the evidence been satisfactory, it would have been more distinctly indicated.
In the same year in which Dr. Clarke's work was published, a series of papers on the disputed passage, by an
acute and well-informed writer,* appeared in the Christian
Observer. These papers, had they been printed separately,
which they deserved to be, would have made a considerable
pamphlet. They give a very lucid view of the principal
points of evidence for and against the authenticity of the
passage; with the author's own observations on some of the
writers on both sides. He discusses very ably the state of
the first editions of the Greek Testament, the testimony of
the Greek MSS., that of the ancient fathers [versions], and
the Greek and Latin fathers, all of which he shows to be
unfavorable to the authority of the passage. His mode of accounting for the mistake, or supposed mistake, of Stephens,
in placing the crotchet, to which we have already referred,
seems very satisfactory.
"The arguments that have been urged in this and the
foregoing chapter concerning Stephens's MSS. may be thus
briefly stated.
"First. Neither the AMSS. of the Complutensian editors,
nor those of Erasmus, nor any of the 150 which now exist,
except two, both of modern date, contain 1 John v. 7. Hence
* [The Rev. Joseph Jowett, LL. D., Professor of Civil Law in the
University of Cambridge. See Horne's Introduction, Vol. IV. p. 386, 10th
edit. - ED.]




Page  85

CHRISTIAN OBSERVER. 8a
it seems highly improbable that it should be found in all Stephens's MSS., collected as they were from various quarters.
"Secondly. He returned to the Royal Library the MSS.
which he had borrowed from it. Yet Simon, after a diligent search in that library, did not discover that verse in a
single MS.
"Thirdly. Two AMSS. of the Epistles of St. John, which
have been compared with the collations of Stephens's 0 and
Ly, from an extraordinary coincidence of readings, are inferred
to be the very'MSS. employed by that editor. If this inference be allowed, the conclusion is inevitable that his 0 )nd
ty had not the seventh verse, because it is in neither of die
MSS. with which they have been compared.
"' These.arguments amount to a very high degree of,resumptive evidence; but great probabilities may be overcunle
by testimony. Let us then attend to the testimony produced
upon this occasion.
"First. Robert Stephens, in his Latin Testament, 154i,
says that some Greek copies read thus: Tres sunt qui testimonium dant Pater, &c., omitting in ccelo.
"Secondly. In his Greek Testament of 1550, he includes;v Tr oupav( between mnarks, and, in the margin, names seven
MSS., in which he says these word.s are wanting.
"Thirdly. In 1556 he printed Beza's Latin Testament,
where, in a note on 1 John v. 7, are the following words:' Legimus et nos in nonnullis Roberti nostri veteribus libris,'
and on the words in cclo,' Hoc deerat in 7 vetustis codicibus.' Now if Stephens had no such reading in his MSS.,
how can these repeated assertions be accounted for? We
cannot suppose that he intended to deceive, where, as Mr
Porson observes, he has furnished every inquisitive reader
with the means of detection. And it is hard to conceive
tlat, if an error had been coininitted in the position of iis




Page  86

86 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
semicircle, it should never be detected by Stephens himself,
or suggested to him by his fiiends or enemies. This, however, will appear less improbable if we attend to the following consideration, that Stephens returned his BISS. at least
as soon as he had completed his edition of 1550, perhaps
as soon as he had finished his collations. For when he
presented a copy of that edition, immediately after it was
printed, to the divines of the Sorbonne, and they required
him to produce a MS. with which they might compare it, he
answered that his MSS. had already been returned to the
Royal Library. If, in the short and turbulent interval between that conference and his migration from Paris, from
which city he was driven by the malice of his persecutors,
he had discovered in his Greek Testament the unprecedented
reading, which omits E'v r ovpavc while it retains the rest of
the disputed passage, he would naturally consult his book
of collations, which would only confirm the printed copy;
for, in those collations, it is probable that the mistake first
arose.
"To draw a decisive conclusion from the above-mentioned
facts, would require no small skill, in weighing and balancing
opposite probabilities; and there is one material part of the
evidence, which, from its nature, is not easily to be appreciated, but by persons who have had much experience in the
collation of I MSS. I mean that part which relates to the
proof of identity from the coincidence of readings. However, the best critics unanimously agree in the opinion, that
Stephens's MSS. had not the disputed passage; and among
these Mill and Bengelius, whose orthodoxy is not doubted,
and who were convinced of its authenticity." *
After going over the Greek fathers seriatim, he thus
sums up his account of them.
* Christian Observer, Vol. VI. pp. 227, 228.




Page  87

CHRISTIAN OBSERVER. 87
"On a review of the Greek fathers, we discover no proof
that any of them were acquainted with the disputed passage.
The omission of it in Justin Martyr, ivi the Adumbrations
attributed to Clemens Alexandrinus, in the Epistle of the
Bishops at Sardis, in the Sixty-second Oration of Epiphanius,
in the Treatises on the Holy Spirit by Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, and DidSrmus, is hardly to be reconciled with the supposition that they had it in their copies. And Cyril clearly
either had it not, or suspected its authenticity. And though
we might allow the omission in a single father to arise from
some unknown cause, yet the universal silence of all the
early Greek writers forms a presumption against its authenticity, to which I know not what can be opposed, unless it be
suggested that they understood the words these three are one
as relating' merely to unity of testimony, not of essence;
and therefore thought that no argument for the doctrine of
the Trinity could be built upon it. But does it appear that
they actually put such a construction upon these words? Is
there any trace of such an interpretation in their works? Or
is it at all probable from analogy, that they would unanimously refuse the aid of a passage, which almost all modern
defenders of the Trinity have employed without scruple?
" Even if these fathers approved the interpretation above
mentioned, it remains still to be shown, why they never quoted
1 John v. 7 in proof of a trinity of persons, or as an example of Christ being called The WORD." *
After examining very carefully the several Latin fathers
who quote or allude to this verse, he thus sums up his ancount of their testimony.
"From the foregoing extracts it is evident that the Latin
fathers are more favorable than the Greek to the authenticity
of 1 John v. 7. For while not a single quotation or clear
* Christian Observer, Vol. VI. p. 289.




Page  88

88 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1. JOHN V. 7.
allusion to it is found among the latter, for the first thirteen
centuries, wie discover a reference to it in the third century
by Cyprian, and in the fifth, express quotations by Fulgentius, and the author of the Aftican Confession; in the sixth,
by Cassiodorus; in the eighth, by Etherius and Beatus. And
is not their positive testimony of greater weight than the
merely negative testimony, the silence, of any number of
Greek or Latin fathers? It may be difficult indeed to account for their silence upon the supposition that they were
acquainted with the disputed passage. Yet, if a single witness of unsuspected veracity affirm that it existed in his copy,
his testimony may outweigh the argument drawn from the
mere silence of great numbers. Since, therefore, a Latin
writer of the third century has referred to it, will not his
authority counterbalance the negative testimony of all the
Greek fathers?
"' Many of the orthodox have thought so, and the anxious
desire which some writers have shown to set aside this evidence by the arbitrary and unsatisfactory hypothesis, that
Cyprian's reference was to the eighth verse and not to the
seventh, implies that they felt the superior force of affirmative testimony. For my own part, I freely confess that if
Cyprian had affirmed that the seventh verse existed in his
Greek copy, I should have paid very little regard to the
omission of it by other fathers of the same or a later centul'y. But, is this the case? or have we any evidence that
ble was in possession of a single Greek copy of St. John's
Epistle; or that he could even read Greek; or that, if he
could read it, he valued the Greek copies more than the
Latin?
"Till these questions are answered in the affirmative, all
that we can infer fiom his quotation is, that the testimony
of the heavenly witnesses was in his Latin copy. And al



Page  89

CHRISTIAN OBSERVER. 89
though that version, from its high antiquity, is deserving of
great respect; yet, among the innumerable and discordant
translations into the Latin, it is possible that the disputed
passage might be interpolated in some copies as early as the
age of Cyprian, and of course in those of Fulgentius, Vigilius, Cassiodorus, Etherius, and Beatus, though unknown to
Augustine, Jerome, Eucherius, Facundus, and Bede.
"When we reflect that the Latin fathers do not quote this
passage uniformly, either with respect to the words or the
order of the verses, it is natural to conclude that their guide
was not the Greek Original, but the Latin Version; in the
MISS. of which the same varieties have been observed.
"Though the charge of interpolation may be thought a
very serious one, much will depend upon the manner and
the motive. He who first inserted the seventh verse in the
margin of the Latin version, probably had no intention of
imposing upon the reader by giving his own comment for the
word of God. And when afterwards it obtained a place in
the text, the transcriber probably had no doubt but that he
was restoring a passage, which the former copyist having
through inadvertence omitted, upon the discovery of his mistake had inserted in the margin, for want of convenient space
in the text.
"It is urged that the verse must be genuine because an
interpolation of such magnitude and importance would have
been speedily detected and loudly complained of by the Ari~ans. But may we not on the other hand, with equal plausibility, contend that if a passage so decisively in favor of the
doctrine of the Trinity had been left out of the copies of St.
John's First Epistle, the omission would have been immediately discovered by the orthodox, and charged upon their
adversaries? Since then we find no complaints of this sort
in the ancient writers of either party, it is plain that no in



Page  90

90 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
ference can be drawn from a silence for which, on both sup.
positions, it is alike difficult to assign a probable cause." *
I have observed, what I had not attended to till the preceding sheets were printed, as my copy of Mr. Charles Butler's Horce Biblice is contained in his Miscellaneous Works,t
published in 1817, that his " Short Historical Outline of the
Disputes respecting the Authenticity of the Verse of the
Three Heavenly Witnesses" was first published in 1805;
some time before the two works which have just been noticed.
It is contained in two Letters " to the Rev. Herbert Marsh,"
and constitutes the second Appendix to the very interesting
work of MIr. Butler, which is known to every scholar.+ It
illustrates the extensive reading, the patient research, and
the great suavity which distinguish all the productions of one
of the oldest and most voluminous writers of the present
day.
This short outline gives a more brief view of the Controversy than has been presented in these papers, and omits
many things which have been introduced in them. There
are also a few inaccuracies which I have noticed, though they
are not of any material importance. The plan which. Mr.
Butler pursues is the following. He gives,
I. Some account of the state of the question; II. Of the
history of the general admission of The Verse into the printed
text; III. And of the principal disputes to which it has given
rise; IV. An inquiry whether the general sense of the text
is affected by the omission of The Verse; V. Some account
* Christian Observer, pp. 354, 855.
t [The correct title is " Philological and Biographical Works," of which
the Horwe Biblicce forms Vol. I.-ED.]
t [This " Historical Outline " is reprinted in Vol. II. of Sparks's "Colb
lection of Essays and Tracts in Theology," Boston, 1823. -ED.]




Page  91

BUTLER. 91
of the argument in favor of its authenticity from prescription;
VI. Some account of the arguments against it from its absence
from the Greek manuscripts; VII. Of the answers to those
arguments, from its supposed existence in the manuscripts of
Valla; VIII. From its supposed. existence in the manuscripts
of the Complutensian editors; IX. And from its supposed
existence in the manuscripts used by Robert Stephens; X.
Some observations on the argument arising on its not being
inserted in the Apostolos or Collection of Epistles read in
the Greek Church; XI. On its not being inserted in the
Oriental versions; XII. On its not being inserted in the most
ancient Latin manuscripts; XIIII. On the silence of all the
Greek fathers respecting it; XIV. On the silence of the
most ancient of the Latin fathers respecting it; XV. Some
account is then given of what has been written respecting its
first introduction into the Greek and Latin manuscripts.
Under these general topics, almost everything of importance in the controversy is noticed. Were I to, go over
them, it would be to repeat a great deal of what has been
already stated. He gives the evidence pro and con with
great candor and accuracy; but la)ys more stress on several
points than I conceive they will fairly bear. One or two
passages deserve to be quoted for the information which they
contain. As a Catholic, he feels himself in some difficulty
firom the Decree of the Council of Trent, which pronounces
the authenticity and correctness of the Latin Vulgate. The
following passage explains the process by which a good Catholic may escape from the anathema of the Council, though
he may dispute the authenticity of this verse. Dr. Geddes
would have cut the knot which Mr. Butler's reasoning does
not unloose.
"Here the communicant with the see of Rome takes an
higher ground. The Council of Trent, Session 4, declared




Page  92

92 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOIHN V. 7.
anathema to all'who should not receive for holy and canonical, all and every part of the Books of the Old and New
Testament, as they had been accustomably read in the Catholic Church, and as they stood in the old vulgate edition:'
And in the sixth session, declared' the Vulgate to be authentic, and that no one should, on any pretence, dare or presume
to reject it.'
"Now, when the Council of Trent made this decree, The
Verse had long been accustomably read in the Catholic
Church, and long made a part in the old vulgate edition;
those, therefore, in communion with the see of Rome, who
now reject The Verse, fall within the Council's anathema.
"To these objections the adversaries of The Verse reply:
" st, That, in the times of which we are now speaking,
there was little of biblical criticism, and that no works of
those times have reached us, in which such an objection
either would be made, or would be noticed.
"2dly, That, before too great a stress is laid on its insertion in the Vulgate, an accurate notion should be formed of
the edition denoted, in these cases, by the appellation of the
Latin Vulgate. It does not denote the edition, anterior to
St. Jerome, which, fiom its superior celebrity, was called the
Ancient Italic; it does not denote the edition published by
St. Jerome; it merely denotes that edition, which, at the
time of the Council of Trent, was generally in use; and
afterwards served as the ground-work of the editions published, first by Sixtus Quintus, afterwards by Clement the
Eighth, and which last edition is the archetype of the modern Vulgate: that this edition partook more of the modern
than of ancient versions; and that, standing by itself, it is, in
a matter of criticism, of no autlhority.
"3dly, To suppose that thie Council of Trent pronounced
the Vulgate to be wholly fi-ee from error, and that no one was




Page  93

BUTLER. 93
t liberty to vary from it, in translation or exposition, is got
ing to an extreme. In declaring it to be authentic, the CounCil did not declare the Vulgate to be inspired or inftllible;
he Council only pronounced it to be inerrant, where the
dogmata of faith or morals are concerned. In this decision,very Roman Catholic must acquiesce, as he receives the
Scripture from the Church, under her authority, and with her
nterpretation; but further than this, the Council leaves the
Vulgate, in mere matters of criticism, to the private judgment
_f every individual. To this effect Father Salmeron, who
was one of the ten first disciples of St. Ignatius, and who
assisted at the Council of Trent in the character of one of;he Pope's theologians, is cited by the Abbe de Vence, to
have expressed himself in the third of his prolegomena."
Mr. Butler does not seem quite satisfied with this reasonng, and hence he introduces Bossuet, who speaks in a much
higher tone of authority.
"In this stage of the argument, Bossuet takes very high
ground in one of his letters to Leibniz, published by Mr.
Dutens, in his edition of Leibniz's works; as, in that letter,
Bossuet seems to place the general acquiescence of the Roman Catholic Church in the authenticity of The Verse,
among the traditions which the Church receives, and the
faithful are therefore bound to adopt. As everything which
has fallen from the pen of that great man is important, and
the passage in question is little known, it is here transcribed
at length.
"'J'avoue au reste, Monsieur, ce vous dites des anciens
exemplaires Grecs sur le passage, Tres sunt,,'c.; mais vous
nsgavez aussi-bien que moi, que l'article contenu dans ce passage ne doit pas 6tre pour cela revoqud en doute, etant d'ail* Pp. 383 - 385.




Page  94

94 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING I JOHN V. 7.
leurs etabli, non-seulement par la Tradition des Eglises, mai
encore par 1'Ecriture tres evidemment. Vous sravez auss
sans doute, que ce passage se trouve regu dans tout l'Occi.
dent; ce qui paroit manifeste, sans meme remonter plus haut
par la production qu'en fait S. Fulgence dans ses Ecrits, &
meme dans une excellente Confession de foi prdsentee unani
mdment au Roi lHuneric par toute l'Eglise d'Afrique. C,
tdmoignage prodnit par un aussi grand Theologien, & pa}
cette sgavante Eglise, n'ayant point edt reprochd par les hedr
tiques, & au contraire dtant confirme par le sang de tant d(
martyrs, et encore par tant de miracles, dont cette Confessior
de foi fut suivie, est une demonstration de la Tradition, du
moins de toute l'Eglise d'Afrique, l'une des plus illustre:
du monde. On trouve meme dans S. Cyprien une allu.
sion manifeste h ce passage, qui a passe naturellement dan
notre Vulgate, & confirme la Tradition de tout l'Occidemn
Je suis, &c.
"'It J. BENIGNE, Eveque de Mlleaux.' " *
* Pp. 384, 385. [That is:-" I acknowledge moreover, Sir, the trutl
of what you say respecting the ancient Greek copies on the passage, There
are three, &c.; but you know as well as I do, that the article of faith contained in this passage ought not to be called in question on that account,
being otherwise established, not only by the tradition of the churches, but
very evidently by Scripture. You also know, without doubt, that this
passage has been received throughout the entire West; which is shown;
without going further back, by its citation in the writings of St. Fulgentius, and even in an excellent Confession of Faith unanimously presented
to King Huneric by the whole African Church. This testimony, produce(.
by so great a theologian, and by this learned Church, having not been objected to by the heretics, and, on the contrary, having been confirmed by
the blood of so many martyrs, and still further by so many miracles following this Confession of Faith, is a demonstration of the tradition at least
of the whole African Church, one of the most illustrious in the world.
We find even in Saint Cyprian a manifest allusion to this passage, whichl
naturally passed into our Vulgate, and confirms the tradition of the wholeJ
West. I am, &c.,
"t J. Bu,.NIGNE, Bishop of Mecaux."]




Page  95

BUTLER. 95
Tradition is no canon of criticism, and can therefore prove
iothing in matters where parchment and ink are the only
Authorities. Mr. Butler, with his characteristic caution, does
lot give his own opinion on this curious, and, to all well-inormed men, unsatisfactory mode of reasoning; nor does
Le give a positive opinion on the spuriousness or authenicity of the verse in question. He leaves the reader to;uess whether he doubts as a critic, but believes as a Catholic.
On another point a passage of some importance occurs,
md which has also a bearing on the critical authority of the
received and infallibly ascertained text of the Vulgate.
"The adversaries of The Verse contend that -IT IS
WAANTING IN FORTY OF THE MOST ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS
)F THE LATIN VERSION. This, they say, equipoises, if it do
iot overbalance the authority of those Latin manuscripts in
which it is contained.
"In 1743, Sabatier published, at Rheims, his " Bibliorum
3acrorum Latina3 versiones antiquae, seu vetus Italica, et ceterme quecunque in codicibus Manuscriptis reperiri potuerunt,
quum cum vulgata Latinat et cum textu Grwco comparantur."
The object of the work is to restore the text of the ancient
Italic by putting together the quotations of the Bible in the
works of the ancient fathers; where none can be found, Sabatier supplies the chasm firom the Vulgate. He was so
fortunate as to find, in different parts of the works of St.
Augustin, a sufficient number of quotations to form the
whole of the first four chapters, and likewise the beginning
of the fifth. But, when he comes to the seventh verse, this
very voluminous father, who wrote not less than ten treatises
on the Epistle in question, suddenly deserts him, though immediately after this critical place, he comles again to his
assistance. This chasm, therefore, Sabatier fills up by a




Page  96

96 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
quotation from Vigilius Tapsensis, who wrote at the end of
the fifth century." *
This fact is, I conceive, of great importance. It shows
very clearly, that even in the writings of the Latin fathers>
till the fifth century, beside being wanting in many of the.
best and oldest MSS., the verse did not exist.
Mr. Butler thinks that the principal argument in favor of
the verse, which has not been satisfactorily answered, is its
having a place in the Confession of Faith, presented by the
African Bishops to Huneric. This is part of the controversy between Travis and Porson, in which Mr. Butler thinks
the latter displayed his wit more than his logic or learning.,
His own argument on that passage in the creed, however.
appears to me very inconclusive. It is full of supposition and
hypothesis. But as this topic will occur again in our notice
of Bishop Burgess's publications, we shall advert to it nm
further at present.
The valuable work of the late Bishop Middleton on the
Greek Article, which was published in 1808, contains a long
and learned note, or rather disquisition, on this passage.
This volume displays more profound learning, laborious investigation, and critical acumen, than any critical or philological work on the New Testament published in this country
during the present century. It is impossible too highly to
estimate its value as an aid to the critical interpretation of
the New Testament. Independently of the labored and philosophical discussion of the doctrine of the Article, the application of the doctrine to the interpretation of many important;
passages has enabled the learned author to throw much light,
upon them. The way in which Dr. Middleton was led inteo
a discussion on the disputed passage, he thus explainss:* Pp. 395, 396.




Page  97

MIDDLETON. 97
"It has been insisted, that the omission of the rejected
passage rather embarrasses the context: Bengel regards the
two verses as being connected'adamantind coclerentia:' and
yet,.it must be allowed, that among the various interpretations there are some which will at least endure the absence
of the seventh verse. But the difficulty to which the preselnt
undertaking has directed my attention is of another kind:
it respects the Article in Ens r5o sv in the final clause of the
eighth verse: if the seventh verse had not been spurious,
nothing could have beefi plainer than that TO &v of verse 8
referred to fv of verse 7: as the case now stands, I do not
perceive the force or meaning of the article; and the same
difficulty is briefly noticed by Wolfius. In order to prove
that this is not merely nodum in scirpo quterere, I think it
right to examine at some length what are the occasions on
which before Je the article may be inserted." *
The nature of the argument which is pursued, in order to
account for the use of the article in the eighth verse, cannot
be understood unless I were to quote, what is impossible, the
whole dissertation. Nor is it necessary I should do so, as
Dr. Middleton himself is unable satisfactorily to account for
the occurrence of the article in the 8th verse consistently with
his doctrine, nor can he, on the other hand, satisfictorily get
rid of it. His own convictions seem, on the whole, to have
been unfavorable to the authority of the verse, and yet he
thinks the matter not yet entirely decide-d.
"In concluding this note," he snlys, "I think it rigllt to offer something towards its vindication. I am not ignorant,
that in the rejection of the controverted passage learned and
good men are.now, for the most part, agreed; and I contemplate with admirafion and delight the gigantic exertions
of intellect which have established this acquiescence: the
* Pp. 633, 634.
5 G




Page  98

98 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
objection, however, which has given rise to this discussion, I
could not consistently with my plan suppress. On the whole,
I am led to suspect, that though so much labor and critical
acuteness have been bestowed on these celebrated verses,
more is yet to be done before the mystery in which they are
involved can be wholly developed." *
Much as I respect the learning and talents of Bishop Middleton, I cannot allow that a difficulty, which may belong to
the use of the article by one of the inspired writers, and he
by no means invariably correct in his Greek phraseology,
ought materially to affect our judgment of the readings on
which an accurate text of the Scriptures must be founded.
Such difficulties may be a kind of subsidiary evidence on one
side or another; but can be no satisfactory proof of the real
reading. It is but justice to Dr. Mliddleton to say, that it is
only on this ground that he argues; for though he conceives
that something additional may yet be brought forward on the
disputed verse, the evident leaning of his mind was to the
evidence in opposition to its authenticity.
The controversy experienced a temporary revival in 1809
and 1810, by the appearance of an article in the Eclectic
Review. This able paper, which I believe I am justified in
ascribing to the pen of the Rev. Dr. J. P. Smith, of Homerton, is a review of the Improved Version of the New Testament, by some anonymous Unitarians. The disputed passage
here passes under review, in noticing the text firom whic'h the
Improved Version had been formed. In reference to it, the
learned writer says, "It is found in NO Greek MS., ancient
or recent, except one to which we shall presently advert; -
in no ancient version, being interpolated only in the later
transcripts of the Vulgate. Not one of the Greek fathers
* Pp. 652, 653.




Page  99

J. P. SMITH. 99
recognizes it, though many of them collect every species and
shadow of argument, down to the most allegorical and shockingly ridiculous, in favor of the doctrine of the Trinity, —
though they often cite the words immediately contiguous,
both before and after, -and though, with immense labor and
art, they extract from the next words the very sense which
this passage has in following times been adduced to furnish.
Of the Latin fathers, not one has quoted it, till Eucherius,
of Lyons, in the middle of the fifth century; and in his
works there is much reason to believe that it has been interpolated." *
The expression of this opinion roused the indignation of
an individual, who had more zeal than knowledge. Shortly
after there appeared " The Critique in the Eclectic Review,
on 1 John v. 7, confuted by Martin's Examination of Emlyn's Answer; to which is added, an Appendix, containing
remarks on Mr. Porson's Letters to Archdeacon Travis. By
J. Pharez." 8vo. 1809.'To this feeble champion of a lost
cause, the learned reviewer rejoined, in two able papers in
the months of January and February, 1810. After going
through the several steps of the argument in a very lucid
and masterly manner, he thus characterizes this production
of the Dunciad -" The pamphlet which has led us to this
discussion must be allowed to be an extraordinary production.
A Greek motto on the title-page is so happily managed, as to
suggest shrewd proof that the writer cannot construe a line
of that language. Grossly destitute of literature, and the
very lowest principles of critical science, he assaults the
greatest critic in Europe, and sings aloud his self-complacent
triumph. Actually ignorant what words are deemed spurious,
and what are held to be genuine, and equally ignorant on the
* Eclectic Review, Vol. V. p. 248.




Page  100

100 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
nature of the evidence and the minor points of the case, he
blunders through page after page with the most comfortable
fatuity. He truly deserves our pity; but as to feeling angry
with him, it is quite impossible." *
In 1810, the publication of a British edition of Griesbach's
Greek Testament, in an appendix to the second volume of
which is a valuable dissertation on 1 John v. 7, brought more
generally before British scholars the judgment and reasonings'of that distinguished critic. It contains a succinct and
correct statement of the whole case, which is decidedly uni
favorable to the authenticity of the verse. The substance
of the dissertation is, that the text -is not found in any Greek
MIS. except one of very recent date, - that it is not quoted
by any Greek father, -and that it rests chiefly on the authority of Vigilius Tapsensis. He sums up his discussion
by saying, "If vouchers so few, doubtful, suspected, and recent, and arguments so trifling, could suffice to establish the
genuineness of any reading, in opposition to so many weighty
testimonies and arguments, there would no longer be any criterion of truth and falsehood in criticism, and the whole text
of the New Testament would become wholly uncertain and
doubtful."
The authority of Griesbach in matters of criticism stands
deservedly high. His doctrinal sentiments are not suspected
of heterodoxy, his candor is generally acknowledged; and
of his learning, laborious diligence and soundness -of judz,ment, there can be but one opinion among competent judge:.
The influence of his decisions on the correctness of any reading may therefore be expected to be great. Indeed, I que -
tion whether the authority of any text, which he has decidedly
rejected, is likely to be restored. Doubts, it is true, exist re* Eclectic Review, Vol. VI. p. 162.




Page  101

NOLAN. 101
specting his mode of classifying the MSS. of the Greek Testament, and something very formidable has been adduced
both by Laurence and Nolan against his whole system of
recensions; but I do not know that the results, as to the text,
will be materially different, though a very different system
of classification should be adopted. His judgment as to the
age and authority of the various MSS. which have been examined, and of the collateral evidence, is likely to stand the
test of the most rigorous examination.
Previously to entering on the controversy in which Dr.
Burgess, formerly Bishop of St. David's, now of Salisbury,
has been so long engaged, and which still continues, it may
be proper to notice several worlks in which the subject occupies a prominent place, though it is a secondary, and not the
primary object. Such, however, is the importance attached
to the authority of this passage by the writers, that it is not
going too far, perhaps, to say, that had not this palssage, and
one or two others, been concerned, the volumes we are about
to refer to would never, probably, have been written. They
form an additional illustration of the manner in which the
controversy has branched off into other subjects.
The first of these works which deserves attention is one
of great labor and research. "An Inquiry into the Integrity
of the Greek Vulgate, or Received Text of the New Testament; in which the Greek Maiusecripts are newly classed,
the Integrity of the authorized Text vindicated, and the
various Readings traced to their Origin. By the Rev. Frederick Nolan, a Presbyter of the United Chlurch." London.
1815. The leading object of Mr. Nolan's work is to maintain the integrity or correctness of the common Greek text
against the objections of Griesbach, and especially to overthrow his classification of the Manusclipts. lie has done a




Page  102

102 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
good deal to shake the fabric on which the learned German
has constructed his ingenious system of classification; but not
much to establish the immaculate purity of the common text.
After making, in his preface, some objections to the elaborate
theories of those who maintain the imperfections of the text,
he proceeds to state his own theory, or plan of defence, and
the arrangement of his work.
"On these grounds the first notion was formed by the author of the following pages, that an Inquiry into the history
of the sacred text would most probably lead to the perfect
vindication of the vulgar edition. I-Ie was encouraged in this
expectation by the effect which he. perceived a few facts had
in solving some of the greatest difficulties which embarrassed
its history. At two periods only could he perceive the possibility of the ecclesiastical tradition having been interrupted;
during the ascendancy of the Arian party under Constantine,
and on its suppression under the elder Theodosius. The destruction of the sacred books in the Dioclesian persecution,
and the revisal of the sacred text by Eusebius, furnished an
adequate solution of the greatest difficulty which arose, from
the varieties in the copies of the original text, and of the
translations which differ from the Greek Vulgate.
"'To this point, of consequence, his first attention is turned;
and it forms the subject of the first section of the following
Inquiry. He_ has thence endeavored to show that the coincidence between the Eastern and Western texts, on which
the credit of the Corrected Edition is rested, must be attributed to the influence of Eusebius's revisal, which was published under the auspices of the Emperor Constantine.
"Thus far, however, a negative argument is deduced in
favor of the Received Text. The character of this text still
remains to be investigated: to this point the author next directs his attention, and lie prosecutes it through the two fol



Page  103

NOLAN. 103
lowing sections. As the integrity and purity of the Greek
and Latin Churches render their testimony of the highest
authority in ascertaining the genuine text; on their joint authority he has consequently ventured to distribute the Greek
Manuscripts into. Classes; and to vindicate that particular
class of text wlich exists in the vulgar edition.
"From the ground thus taken up, the whole subject may
be commanded almost at a glance. In the following sections,
the tradition of the Greek and Latin Churches is carefully
traced from the apostolical age; and on the concurring or
relative testimony of those witnesses, the general and doctrinal integrity of the Received Text is established. In vindication of the verbal integrity of' this text, the evidence of the
Syriac Church is called in; and on the joint testimony of
tihe primitive Version of this Church, and the primitive Ital-.c, a decisive argument is finally deduced in favor of the antiquity of the Greek Vulgate.
"In the last section, the author has endeavored to point
out the particular manner in which the remaining Classes of
Text, into which the Greek Manuscripts are distributed, have
originated friom a corruption of the vulgar edition. The
whole of the diversities in those manuscripts are traced to
three revisals of the sacred text, which were published in
Egypt, Palestine, and Constantinople. The number of various readings is thence easily accounted for; and a solution
offered of some objections which are raised to the doctrinal
and verbal integrity of the Received Text or Vulgar edition.
" From this brief sketch of the plan of the work, the reader
will easily comprehend in what manner the author has avoided
those consequences which he charges on the systems of his
opponents: and how the integrity of the Received Text may
be established independent of the objections which lie against
the Correlted Edition. An interruption in the tradition, by




Page  104

104 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
which the former text is supported, is admitted to have taken
place, when the scripture canon was revised by Eusebius,
and the Church became subject to the dominion of the Arians. But the tradition is carried above this period, which
did not exceed forty years, and the Received Text proved to
have existed previously, by its coincidence with those Versions of the Oriental and Western Churches which were
made before the text was revised by Eusebius. So that, although the tradition has been interrupted for this inconsiderable period, it has remained as unsophisticated in the two
centuries which preceded Constantine's age, as in the last
fourteen, during which it has confessedly remained uncorrupted." ~
All this may seem very plausible, and is very ingeniously
supported by the learned author; but it is one of the purest
hypotheses ever devised to support a favorite idea. It ascribes a great deal too much to the tradition of churches;
assumes that they took more pains to preserve or to corrupt
the text than there is any reason to believe they ever did;
and refers to revisals and editions, almost as if he were speaking of printed works. He contends for what I conceive to
be a very objectionable position, - the doctrinal purity of a
church, as the guaranty of the purity of the text of Scripture, instead of the text preserved by the providence of God,
the great means of correcting the errors and guiding the
opinions of all churches. Mr. Nolan certainly does not intend to serve the cause of Popery, but there is something
in his argument wh'ich a learned Roman Catholic would consider as very favorable to one of the leading doctrines of his
church, - the authority of ecclesiastical tradition.
It is not my business, however, to pronounce upon the
general. merits of Mr. Nolan's work further than they h:ave
* Nolan's Inquiry, Pref. pp. xii. - xv.




Page  105

NOLAN. 105
relation to the subject of our Memoir. I consider' Gries-,ch's classification of MSS. arbitrary and hypothetical; I,ve, the same opinion of No!an's hypothesis, which is placed
opposition to it. He has succeeded in demolishing the
bric of his opponent, but not in establishing his own. The
tegrity or incorrectness of the Greek text must be proved
disproved by facts and reasonings, independent of all such
hemes.
Mr. Nolan abandons the authority of the Greek MSS. and
e Greek Church in support of the disputed passage, and
sts its defence entirely on that of the Latin or African
hurch. I cannot give the whole of his argument, but the
llowing passage, I think, contains everythling of importance
it.
"With respect to 1 John v. 7. the case is materially differit. If this verse be received, it must be admitted on the
ngle testimony of the Western Church; as far at least as.spects the external evidence. And though it may seem
nwarrantable to set aside the authority of the Greek Church,
nd pay exclusive respect to the Latin, where a question
rises on the authenticity of a passage which properly belongs
the text of the former; yet, when the doctrine inculcated
that passage is taken into account, there may be good reaon for giving even a preference to the Western Church over
hat of the Eastern. The former was uncorrupted by the
ieresy of the Arians, who rejected the doctrine of the pasage in question; the latter was wholly resigned to that
Leresy for at least forty years, while the Western Church'etained its purity. And while the testimony borne by the
atter on the subject before us is consistent and full, that
)orne by the former is internally defective. It is delivered
n language which has not even the merit of being grammatcally correct; while the testimony of the latter is not only
5*




Page  106

106 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
unexceptionable in itself, but possesses the singular merit of
removing the forementioned imperfection, on being merely
turned into Greek, and inserted in the context of the original.
Under these circumstances there seems to be little reasonableness in allowing the Western Church any authority, and
denying it, in this instance, a preference over the Eastern.
"But numberless circumstances conspire to strengthen the
authority of the Latin Church in supporting the-authenticity
of this passagbe. The particular Church on whose testimony
principally we receive the disputed verse, is that of Africa.
And even at the first sight, it must be evident, that the most
implicit respect is due to its testimony.
"1. In those great convulsions which agitated the Eastern
and Western Churches for eight years, with scarcely any intermission; and which subjected the sacred text to the greatest changes, through that vast tract of' country which extends
round tile Levant, from Libya to Illyricum, the African provinces were explosed to the horrors of' persecution but for an
inconsiderable period. The Church, of course, which was
established in this region, neither required a new supply of
sacred books, nor received those which had been revised by
Eusebius and St. Jerome; as removed out of the range of
the influence of those ancient fathers.
"2. As the African Church possessed this competency to
deliver a pure unsophisticated testimony on the subject before
us; that which it has borne is as explicit as it is plenary:
since it is delivered in a Confession prepared by the whole
Church assembled in council. After the African provinces
had been overrun by the Vandals, Hunerick, their king, summoned the bishops of this Church, and of the adjacent isles;
to deliberate on the doctrine inculcated in the disputed passage. Between three and four hundred prelates attended
the Council, which met at C,-'thage; and Engenius, as bishop




Page  107

NOLAN. 107
of that see, drew up the Confession of the orthodox, in which
the contested verse is expressly quoted. That a whole church
should thus concur in quoting a verse which was not contained
in the received text, is wholly inconceivable: and admitting
that 1 John v. 7 was thus generally received, its universal prevalence in that text is only to be accounted for by supp,ssing
it to have existed in it from the beginning.
"3. The testimony which the African Church has borne on
the subject before us is not more strongly recommended by
the universal consent, than the immemorial tradition of the
evidence which attests the authenticity of the contested passage. Victor Vitensis and Fulgentius, Marcus Celedensis,
St. Cyprian, and Tertullian, were Africans, and have referred
to the verse before us. Of these witnesses, which follow
each other at almost equal intervals, the first is referred to
the age of Eugenius, the last to that nearly of the Apostles.
They thus form a traditionary chain, carrying up the testimony of the African Church until it loses itself in time immemorial.
" 4. The testimony of the Afriican Church, which possesses
these strong recommendations, receives confirmation fiom the
corroborating evidence of other churches, which were similarly circumstanced. Phcebadius and Eucherius, the latter
of whom had been translated from the Spanish to the Gallican Church, were members of the latter; and both these
churches had been exempt, not less than the Afiican, from
the effects of Diocletian's persecution. - Both these early
fathers, Phoebadius and Eucherius, attest the authenticity of
the contested passage: the testimony of the former is entitled
to the greater respect, as he boldly withstood the authlority
of Hosius, whose influence tended to extend the Arian opinions in the WVestern 5World, at the very period in wlhichi he
cited the contested paszsage. In addition to these witnesses,




Page  108

108 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
we have, in the testimony of M3aximus, the evidence of a person who visited the African Church; and tiwho there h: ecoming acquainted with the disputed passage, wrote a tract for
the purpose of employing it against the Arians. The testimony of these witnesses forms a valuable accession to that
of the African.Church.
"5. We may appeal to the testimony of the Greek Church
in confirmation of the African Churches. Not to inrsist at
present on positive testimonies, the disputed verse, though not
supported by the text of the original Greek, is clearly supported by its context. The latter does not agree so well with
itself, as it does with the testimony of the Afiican Church.
The grammatical structure, which is imperfect in itself, directly recovers its original integrity on being filled up with
the passage which is offered on the testimony of this witness.
Thus far the testimony of the Greek Church is plainly corroborative of that of the Western.
"6. In fine, as Origen and Eusebius have both thought
that one church becomes a sufficient voucher for one even of
the sacred boolks of' the Canon; and as Eusebius lias borne
the most unqualified evidence to the integrity and purity of
the Church of Africa, we can have no just grounds for rejecting its testimony, on a single verse of Scripture. And
when we consider the weight of the argument arising in favor of this ver,:e from the internal evidence; how forcibly
the subject of it' was pressed upon the attention of St. John;
and how amply it is attested by that external evidence which
is antecedent, thought deficient in that which is subsequent to
the times of the. Apostles, our conviction must rise that this
passage is authentic. But when we add thle very obvious
solution which this want of subsequent evidence receives
from the probability that Eusebius suppressed this passage in
the edition wMhich he revised; and whicb became the received




Page  109

NOLAN. 109
text of the Church, which remained in subjection to the Arians for the forty years that succeeded; I trust nothing further
can be wanting to convince any ingenuous mind that 1 John
v. 7 really proceeded fiom St. John the Evangelist." *
The notes of the author on this passage, which I cannot
quote, add some additional weight to his argument, and throw
sorne light on parts of his text, which to general readers must
appear obscure: but I cannot help again saying, that to maintain the purity of the text of Scripture by the testimony of
any church is dangerous ground. To refer to confessions
of faith in proof of what must have been the reading of the
sacred text while the readings of MISS. of the Scriptures
preserved by that very church are not in unison with the
confession, is a very clumsy mode of establishing thi point.
That Eusebius possessed the power, or the disposition, to
alter the sacred text; or that any alteration. made by him
should have found its way into all existing Greek MSS., is
altogether improbable, or at least destitute of any adequate
support.
Although I consider that iMr. Nolan fails in maintaining
the common reading in 1 John v. 7, and in supporting his
lhypotheses generally, it is due to him to say, that his work
contains much that is worthy of attention from the biblical
scholar, and is written throughout in a very commendable
spirit of moderation and candor. That I may not be considered as keeping back anything which belongs to the other
side. of the question from what I espouse, I extract the following note, in which Mr. Nolan gives some account of the
reading of the ancient French and Waldensian versions.
"Of the old versions which have been published in French,
two were made by the Waldenses; vid. Le Long, Bibl. Sacr.
Tom. I. p. 313, col. 2. e. Morland on the Church of the Val.
p rp. 293 - 305.




Page  110

110 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
leys, p. 14. But one copy of this version has fallen into my
hands, which was printed at the native place of Peter Waldo;'Au Lyon, l'an de grace 1521.' The following is the reading of 1 Joh. v. 7, 8. fol. clxiv. b.'Trois choses sont qui
donnent tesmoing au ciel, le pere le filz et le sainct esperit,
et ces trois sont une chose. Et trois choses qui donnelit tesmoing en terre, esperit eaue et sang.' This testimony would
be of little importance until the character of the translation
was investigated by a comparison with other French Versions and the old Italic and modern Latin Vulgate; were it
not for the following considerations: (1.) It difers from the
Latin Vulgate; as it reads'le filz' for'Verbum.' (2.) It
agrees in this reading with an ancient Confession of Faith,
used by the Waldenses. Leger, IHist. Gen. des Eglis. Vaudois, P. 1. ch. viii. p. 50. ed. Leyd. 1669. Eschant. v. de
la Doctrine des VaZudois, contenant la fidele traduction de
1'Exposition qu'ils ont donne au Symbole des Ap6tres - oil
ils en prollvent toun les Articles par passages expres de la S.
Eriture. - Lequel Dieu est un Trinite, comme ii est ecrit
en la Loy,'O Israel ecoute,' &c. - Et S. Jean,'II y en a
trois qui rendent te'moinage au ciel, le Pere, le Fils, et le S.
JEsprit, et ces trois sont un.' The original of this passage, as
far as I can gather from M. Leger, may be found in le Sieur
du Perrin, Hist. des Vaudois et Albigeois, chap. v. p. 201.
sqq. The proof appears to me to be so far complete, that
this passage was adopted in the authorized text used by the
Waldenses. The following considerations seem adequate to
evince that it existed in the Latin Version revised by St.
Eusebius of Vercelli, who published the old translation which
prevailed in the Italic Diocese. (1.) In reading' Filius,' it
agrees with Tertullian and Cyprian, against the common testiimony of the Modern Vulgate, and the Latin Fathers; vid.
infr. p. 291. n. sqq. (2.) St. Eusebius might have hence




Page  111

OXLEE. 11l
adopted this reading, as he has adopted Dther readings from
those fathers, in his revisal: vid. infr. I. 146. n. (3.) The
French version agrees with the old Italic in possessing other
readings derived fiom the same source: in the Lord's Prayer,
we find, instead of'ne inducas nos in temptationem,' Lat.
Fulgg.,'ne nous mene mye en temptacion, cest a dire ne soft
fre mye que nous syonz temptez': conformably to Tertullian
and Cyprian: vid. infr. p. 330. n. (4.) The disputed passage, as read in the Waldensian Confession, and the French
Version, is accommodated to the state of religious opinion
which prevailed in the age of St. Eusebius. By changing
Verbum to Filius, in vers. 7. the Sabellian evasion of the
passage was obviated: vid. infr. p. 539. n. By cutting off'et hi tres (in) unum sunt,' in vers. 8. the Arian evasion of
the passsage was equally obviated. For this phrase furnished some countenance to the notion of those heretics who
asserted that'unum sunt' signified an unity, not of substance, but of will and testimony. As these are coincidences
which the Waldenses cannot be supposed to have created, I
thence conclude, that 1 John v. 7. not only existed in the revisal of the old Italic Version made by Eusebius Vercellensis; but that the peculiar reading of this text, which is found
in the French Version, and which has excited M. Porson's
notice, has been thus remotely adopted from St. Cyprian:
vidl. Porson. Lett. to Trav. p. 377. It thus easily made its
way into Wicklef's translation, through the Lollards, who
were disciples of the Waldenses; vid. Pors. ibid. Morl. ub.
supr. p. 184." *
The work of Mr. Nolan occasioned a controversy in the
Christian Remembrancer for 1822, between that gentleman
and the Rev. John Oxlee. It was carried on, as discussions
* Pref. pp. xviii., xix.




Page  112

112 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V.. 7.
of this nature in periodical works usually are, with a good
deal of warmth, but without the names of the parties appearing. It led at last to the publication of the following
pamphlet: "Three Letters addressed to the Rev. Frederic
Nolan, Vicar of Prittlewell, on his erroneous Criticisms and
MSiis-statements in the Christian Remembrancer, relative to
the Text of the Heavenly Witnesses; in which are contained,
also, Strictures on the Vindication of the spurious Passage
by the Bishop of St. David's: together with a new Translation of the Genuine Text, proposed and defended from every
Cavil. By tile Rev. John Oxlee, Rector of Scawton, and
Curate of Stonegrave." York. 1825.
At present I shall postpone any notice of the debate with
Dr. Burgess, till we come to that period of the controversy
in which the Bishop is more particularly concerned, when
MIr. Oxlee again appears; nor shall I say anything of the
style in which MSr. Oxlee has treated his opponent. His
language is that of unmeasured severity and. contempt. To
this he appears to have been provoked by some things said
by Mr. Nolan; but scarcely anything can justify the language
which he has, in several places, employed. Ite writes, however, like a man thoroughly at home in the whole debate; to
whom the vast range both of Oriental and Occidental learning
is familiar. He meets the views of his opponent on the testimony of the African Church, and likewise his reasoning on
the French and Waldensian versions, in the most triumphant
manner, leaving not the shadow of argument unanswered.
The reasonings for the authenticity of the prologue to the
Catholic Epistles, on which so much stress has been laid, lie
also very ably refutes. In his third letter he brings forward
a new translation of the genuine text, whilch he endeavors to
defend and illustrate. Mir. Oxlee(, like many other ingenious
and able men, succeeds better in overtlhrowing the system of




Page  113

OXLEE. 113
others than in sustaining his own. On a passage, however,
which involves so many difficnlties, and which is of hard interpretation, independently of what may be regarded as the
true reading, it becomes us to be modest, whether in objecting to the views of others or maintaining our own. I am
sorry I cannot give Mr. Oxlee's arguments in support of his
new translation at full length; but it is due to him to give
the principal passage.
"The connection of what is now the'eighth, with the sixth
verse, is so close that there is no understanding their import
without furnishing the whole context. This I shall do, according to the Alexandrine liwznuscript, which is supported
in its reading of the sixth verse, not only by Cyrillus Alexandrinus, but by the later Syriac, the Armenian, the Coptic, and the Ethiopic versions. It is here given with the
amended translation subjoined. Ovrdos ortLv o iXO&, Sta& varov
Kal atltaro KOaL 7rvevt/aroT0'Iero'os Xptoor'o OVK rp VLrtL bLovov,
aX a av r/ Jar&TL Kcal, EV O V7reVaL art' Ka 7 rvEV ea'lo-t To 5 taprvpov,,
OT, TO 7rvev/a LotaT 7) aX7OEL&a. "OrT rpel) EL tL ol i LapTvporvrTE, To
7vevE/ta, Kal TO V'3oCp, a atTlOa~ Kal of p i T OpE E'L v TO Flv. —' This
is he who came by water, and blood, and spirit, Jesus Christ;
not with the water only, but with the water and with the
spirit: and the spirit is that which beareth witness; for the
spirit is the truth. For there are three who attest or bear
witness, the spirit, and tile water, and the blood; and the
three are for one thing.' The Armenian version of the sixth
verse is as follows s: 6 This is he who came with water, and
with spirit, and with blood, Jesus Christ; not with water
only; but with blood and water: and the spirit is that which
beareth witness; for the spirit is truth.' The Coptic reads
thus: —'This is he who came by water, and blood, and
spirit, Jesus the Christ: not with the water alone, but with
the water and the blood; and the spirit beareth witness, for
tI




Page  114

114 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
the spirit is the truth.' The Philoxenian, or later Syriac
version, as edited by Professor White, agrees with the Coptic. The,Ethiopic version of this verse, in its present corrupt state, is evidently ungrammatical, and in the London
Polyglot very inaccurately translated; but by omitting the
prefix, Beth/, before the repetition of the term, IUanfes, Spirit,
it will then, with the context, yield the following grammatical
and consistent sense: -' And who is le that overcoineth the
world, except him who believes that the Lord Jesus is the
Son of God; Yacama, and that he came by water, and by
spirit, and by blood, Jesus Christ; and not by water only,
but by water and by blood; and it is the spirit which beareth
witness.'- That St. Cyrill, in the place above alleged, read
the verse as it now stands in the Alexandrine Manuscript, is
demonstrable from this circumstance, that, though he is made
to cite it first as it stands in the generality of the modern
Greek manuscripts; yet he soon after subjoins, AXXa Kal Ev
atyarl Kai ev 7aEIrLar,; But, also, with blood, and with spirit;
which is intelligible only on the supposition, that he had in
the verse all the three terms, water, blood, and spirit, as they
appear in that manuscript. It deserves to be remarked, too,
that in the text of the Witnedsges, instead of'Ort rtpes ELtvl ol
iLapTvpo0vreE, ]For there are three who bear witness; he has, Ort&
TrpE4 (,pTrvpO0Lt, For three bear witness; which. on being compared with the Latin version of the same verse, Quia tres
testimonium perhibent, in the tract, De Baptismo Hcereticorumn; warrants the conclusion, that, in some of the best
Greek manuscripts of those early times, this reading was
prevalent which we now find in St. Cyrill. So far as concerns the New Translation,-it is perfectly immaterial which
of the two readings should be preferred." *
The critical, grammatical, and theological objections to
Oxlee's Letters, pp. 86 - 88.




Page  115

OXLEE. 115
this version, Mr. Oxlee endeavors to meet. With what suecess must be left to the judgment of the reader of his
pamphlet.
The learned author of this reply to Mr. Nolan possesses
very considerable acquaintance with several of the Oriental
languages. It is evident both from this pamphlet, and from
his "Three Letters to the Archbishop of Cashel, respecting
his Grace's Apocryphal Publications," that he has a- profound
knowledge of the Rabbinical writings. He is also well acquainted with the Armenian version, which is rather an uncommon attainment in this country. The following passage
contains valuable information respecting the reading in 1
John v. 7 of the MISS. of this version, and its present state.
"There is no trace of it in the Armenian version, which,
as we now have it handed down to us, was made from Greek
manuscripts of the Origenian or Eusebian recension at Constantinople, about the year 432, during the episcopate, and
with the liberal assistance of the Constantinopolitan patriarch, Maximianus. In the first edition, indeed, of the Armenian Scriptures by Uscan, printed at Amsterdam in 1666,
the text of the Heavenly Witnesses is inserted; but for this,
as well as many other passages, Uscan has been severely
handled by succeeding editors; as having attempted to corrupt the text from the Latin Vulgate, contrary to the authority of the Armenian manuscripts. In the edition of the New
Testament printed at Venice in 1789, both the Earthly and
the Heavenly Witnesses are in{cluded in a parenthesis; with
the annotation in the margin, Th/at thus much is otherwise in
the manuscripts. Then, again, at the end of the volume, in
their Advertisement to the reader, where they take occasion
to explain their use of the parenthesis, the editors further
inform us that, in respect of the passage under dispute, all
their manuscripts, above ten in number, in conformity with




Page  116

116- CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
the old Greek text, as well as with the Syriac and Arabic
versions, exhibit the text in this short form. Because the
Spirit indeed is truth. These three there are who bear testimony, the spirit, and the water, and the blood; and the three
are one. If we admit the testimony, &c. That what was thus
wanted in the great majority of the manuscripts, and without any tendency to illustrate the context, they had included
within a-parenthesis, as wholly obstructing the sense of St.
John. In the critical edition, however, of the whole Bible
printed at Venice in 1805, the spurious passage is wholly
omitted; and the text restored, as above, according to the
reading of the manuscripts. Since very few of my countrymen can boast of possessing this edition of the Armenian
Scriptures, and still fewer, perhaps, of the ability to read it,
I shall be doing probably an acceptable service to the English scholar, if I translate the whole annotation of the editors on the place, which is as follows: -'Here, as well as in
many other places, Uscan hath interpolated and altered the
Armenian text fiom the Latin version, in this manner. Who
testifieth that Chrlist is truth. For there are three who bear
witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost;
and these three are one. And there are three which bear witness on earth, spirit, water, and blood; and the three are one.
If we admit the testimony of men, &c. But out of about
eighteen manuscript copies that we have, ancient as well as
modern, not to mention two commentaries of universal reception, one alone, which was transcribed in the year 1656,
about ten years before the printed edition of Uscan, exhibits
the text in this form. For the Spirit'indeed is the truth.
TZ'ese are the three who testjfy in heaven, the ]Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one. And there are
three which testify on earth, the spirit, the water, and the blood.
If we admit t/he testimony of men, &c. Thouglh there was




Page  117

HALES. 117
1so another manuscript copy, which on the surface had an
equal and similar reading with this; yet the original or first
reading had evidently been erased, and the intermediate space
thus exactly filled up in smaller characters by a more recent
scribe. But all the rest of our manuscripts, of whatever description, equally, and in accordance with a multitude of the
more ancient Greek manuscripts, uniformly exhibit the text
according to what we have found it our duty to give in tlhe
foregoing place.' — Thus in the beginning of the nineteenth
century, the Armenians have happily rescued the printed text
of their Scriptures from this audacious and manifest corruption of the language of St. John; and I have little doubt,
hat, could the authorized English version be again duly revised, the falsified text of which we complain would experince the same fate. In the interim, it is the duty of the
lergy of the Church of England not to be more culpably
iegligent than others in vindicating the purity of the Holy
Scriptures; and, if they cannot immediately remove firom
their version the spurious passage, at least not to be afraid to
give publicity to the fraud." *
To few writers of the present age is the theological and
critical reader more indebted than to the Rev. Dr. Hales, of
Trinity College, Dublin. Ihis "New Analysis of Chronology," which appeared in 1811 and following years, contains
an immense mass of most valuable learning, not merely relating to chronology, but to all matters of a biblical nature.
In the second volume of this work, pp. 905, 906, he has given
his opinion, that the verse in question is spurious. Six year.>
after this, however" Dr. Hales declared himself "at length
perfectly satisfied of the authenticity and credibility of the
disputed clause, from a more critical view of the whole of the
evidence, external and internal, for and against it."
* Pp. 130 - 132.




Page  118

118 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
The work in which this second opinion is avowed is ill'
"Faith in the Holy Trinity, the Doctrine of the Gospel,'
&c. London, 1818. 2 vols. 8vo. Second thoughts are some,
times best, and the learned Doctor had an undoubted right t(
change his mind, on obtaining another view of the evidenc(
from what he formerly had. But I cannot help expressing
my surprise that a man of the cool and accurate nmind of Di
Hales should avow so strongly his entire satisfaction of the
authenticity -of the passage, without being able to place th(
evidence on which that opinion is founded more satisfactorily
before his readers.
In the second volume of this learned work on the Trinity
(for learned it is, though I cannot assent to various parts o
it,) there is a dissertation of one hundred pages on the dis
puted verse. In the course'of the discussion contained ii
it, Dr. Hales travels over a great part of the ground with
out saying anything new, or placing the old argument ir
a more forcible light. He also commits some very con
siderable mistakes in parts of his statement. Speaking of
Griesbach's account of the Greek MISS. of the New Testa.
ment, he says: —
"Deducting several manuscripts that are either mutilated
or imperfect in this place, he counts 146 that omit the clause,
as collated either by himself; or by others; namely, Simon,
Wetstein, Matthlai, Blanchini, Birch, Lamy, Porson, Marsh,
Clarke, Goldhagen, Sinner, and Travis; and he thus closes
the account:
"'I may venture to assert confidently, that there is no
Greek manuscript, extant in Eutrope, id which the seventh
verse is read. For if such was anywhere found, a treasure
so rare and desirable would have been broullght to light long
ago.'
"But of these 146 manuscripts, there are no more thar




Page  119

HALES. 119'wo of the oldest class, namely, the Alexandrine A, and the
Vatican B, that omit the clause; for the Ephrem C is mutiated in this place, and the Cambridge D, the Laudian E,
and Coislinian F, do not contain the Catholic Epistles. The
rest are comparatively modern; none, probably, older than
the ninth century, and many of much later date.
"The entire number of manuscripts, wholly or partly collated hitherto, does not much exceed 400; and these bear
but a small proportion.to those that have not been collated
in the several libraries of Europe. There are many manuscripts in uncial letters, in the different libraries of Italy,
which have never been collated. Of the numbers in the
Vatican-Library, only thirty-four have been collated. And
since the death of Asseman, the celebrated Orientalist and
Librarian of the Vatican, the difficulty of access to the manuscripts is so great as to make it almost impossible for a critic
to derive, at present, any advantage from them. It is strictly
forbidden, not only to copy, but even to collate them. In the
year 1783, the Abbe Spoletti presented a memorial to the
Pope, requesting permission to print the whole of the celebrated Codex Vaticanus. Hle was referred, according to the
usual routine, to the Inquisition; whose permission was refused, under the plea, that'the Codex Vaticanus differed
from the Vulgate, and might, therefore, if made known to the
public, be prejudicial to the interests of the Christian reliigion.'
"In the Florence Library alone are at least a thousand
Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, two of which are)
of the Apocalypse; of these only twenty-four have been collated.
"In the Royal Library of Paris are 202 manuscripts. of
which only 49 have been collated. See Marsh's Notes to
Michaelis, Vol. II. pp. 642 - 647.




Page  120

120 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
"Griesbach, therefore, has hazarded an unguarded and
unfounded assertion, even with respect to the libraries of
Europe. And how many ancient and valuable manuscripts
may lie buried in the libraries of' Constantinople, it is impossible to judge. That there are many, indeed, appears from
the accounts given by the Abbe Toderini, in his Letteratura
Turchesca, published at Venice in 1787, in 3 vols. 8vo. Th~e
Pope and the MIufti are equally adverse to the publication of
hidden' treasure so rare and so desirable' to the Christian
world." *
Passing over other mistakes in this passage, there is one
so perfectly absurd, that it is surprising Dr. Hales should not
have perceived it. He gravely asserts, that " in the Florencee
Library alone there are at least a thousand manuscripts of the
New Testament." And he as gravely refers to Michaelis for
this fact. It is surprising it did not occur to Dr. Hales, that
it is not generally believed that there are a thousand manuscripts of the Greek Testament in existence in all the world.
The truth is, Michaelis, in the passage referred to, is speaking of Greek manuscripts in general, which Dr. Hales, by an
unfortunate mistake, applies to the New Testament in particular. The whole of his hypothetical argument, therefore,
is at once sowept away. Instead of there being many uncollated manuscripts, there is reason to believe that there are
comparatively few which have not been examined for evidence on this very passage; and all, with the exceptions that
are so well known, and so little regarded, are against it.
Towards the conclusion of his dissertation, he expresses
his confidence, that " it will be found exhaustive of the subject, and set the controversy at rest in future." t In this
the learned Doctor has already found himself to be mistaken.
The controversy still goes on, and must continue to do so,
* Vol. II. pp. 135-137. t P. 225.




Page  121

MARSH. 121
11 evidence is adduced of a very different kind, in favor of
Le verse, from what has ever yet been brought forward.
The next work I have to mention takes the opposite side
om Dr. Hiales, and is in all respects worthy of the critical
arning and acumen of its author. His former labors oil
ie subject have been already noticed. In the Sixth Part' Dr. Marsh's (now Bishop of Peterborough) Course of
heological Lectures, as Lady Margaret Professor of Diviny, which appeared in 1822, his Lordship again refers to this
)ntroversy, as affecting the credibility of the New Testaiment.
[e shows, as I conceive, with considerable force of argument
id ingenuity, " that if it be true in regard to the disputed
issage, that the ancient Greek manuscripts, which have de-:ended to the present age, with the works of the ancient,reek fathers, and the manuscripts of the ancient versions,
Le oldest of the Latin version not excepted, have descended
us in a mutilated state, there is an end to that security
hich is derived from their mutual agreement, for the integty of the New Testament in all other places. And we are
rought at length into this dilemma: either to relinquish a
art, or abandon the whole."
After noticing its absence from all the ancient Greek
ianuscripts and fathers, he thus endeavors to account for:s introduction. "At the end of the fourth century, the celbrated Latin father Augustin, who wrote ten treatises on
he First Epistle of St. Jolln, in all of which we seek in vainl
or the seventh verse ofrthe fifth chapter, was induced, in
lis controversy with Maximin, to compose a gloss upon the
ighth verse. Augustin gives it professedly as a gloss upon
e words of the eighth verse, and shows, by his own reasong, that the seventh verse did not then exist. The high
haracter of Augustin in the Latin Church'soon gave ce6




Page  122

122 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING I JOHN V. 7.
lebrity to his gloss; and, in a short time, it was generally
adopted. It appeared indeed under different forms; but it
was still the gloss of Augustin, though variously modified.
The gloss having once obtained credit in the Latin Church,
the possessors of Latin manuscripts began to note it in the
margin, by the side of the eighth verse. Hence the oldest
of those Latin manuscripts which have the passage in the
margin, have it in a different hand from that of the text. In
later manuscripts we find margin and text in the same hand;
for transcribers did not venture immediately to move it into
the body of the text, though in some it is interlined, but interlined by a later hand. After the eighth century the
insertion became'general. For Latin manuscripts written
after that period have generally, though not always, the passage in the body of the text. Further, when the seventh
verse made its first appearance in the Latin manuscripts, it
appeared in as many different forms as there were forms to
the gloss upon the eighth verse. And though it now precedes the eighth verse, it followed the eighth verse at its first
insertion, as a gloss would naturally follow the text upon
which it was made. It is not, therefore, matter of mere conjecture, that the seventh verse originated in a Latin gloss
upon the eighth verse: it is an historical fact, supported by
evidence which cannot be resisted.
"But many centuries elapsed before the passage was exhibited in Greek. The first Greek writer who has given it
is Manuel Calecas, who lived as late as the fourteenth century. And we need not wonder at finding the passage in his
works, as Calecas was a convert to the Church of Rome.
In the fifteenth century the passage was quoted by Bryennius, who was likewise so attached to the Church of Rome,
that he quoted other readings of the Vulgate which are not
found in the Greek manuscripts.




Page  123

MARSH. 123
"At length, in the sixteenth century, a Greek manuscript
of the New Testament appeared with 1 John v. 7. Its original appellation was Codex Britannicus: but it is now called
the Dublin manuscript. It made its first appearance about
the year 1520; and that the manuscript had just been written
when it first appeared is highly probable, because it appeared
at a critical juncture, and its appearance answered a particular purpose. But whether written for the occasion or not,
it could not have been written very long before the sixteenth
century. For this manuscript has the Latin chapters, though
the KECaXata of Eusebius are likewise noted. Now the Latin
chapters were foreign to the usage of the Greek Church, before the introduction of printed editions, in which the Latin
chapters were adopted, as well for the Greek as for the Latin
Testament.
"......The Dublin manuscript, therefore, if not written
for the purpose to which it was applied in the third edition
of Erasmus, could hardly have been written more than fifty
years before. And how widely those critics have erred in
their conjectures, who have supposed that it was written so
early as the twelfth century, appears from the fact, that the
Latin chapters were not invented till the thirteenth century.
1"But the influence of the Church of Rome in the composition of the Dublin manuscript is most conspicuous in the
text of that manuscript, which is a servile imitation of the
Latin Vulgate. It will be sufficient to mention how it follows the Vulgate at the place in question. It not only agrees
with. the Vulgate in the insertion of the seventh verse: it
follows the Vulgate also at the end of the sixth verse, having
XptCTOr, where all other Greek manuscripts have rveva: and
in the eighth verse it omits the final clause, which had never
been omitted in the Greek manuscripts, and was not omitted
even in the Latin manuscripts before the thirteenth century.




Page  124

124 CONTROVEIRSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
Such is the character of that solitary manuscript, which is
opposed to the united evidence of all former manuscripts,
including the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Alexandrinus." *
A singular work, in which this controversy is introduced,
appeared in 1822, under the technical title of " Palsoromaica: or HIistorical and Philological Disquisitions: inquirilng
whether the Hellenistic style is not Latin-Greek? whethler
the many new words in the Elzevir Greek Testament are
not formed from the Latin? and whether the hypothesis,
that the Greek Text of many MSS. of the New Testament
is a translation or re-translation from'the Latin, seems not
to elucidate numerous passages: to account for the different
Recensions: and to explain many Phenomena hitherto inexplicable to Biblical Critics?"
The author of this volume, who was long concealed, and
is not yet, I believe, generally. known, was the Rev. John
Black, Minister of Coylton, in the South of Scotland, and
Author of the Life and Translation of Tasso. It would
scarcely be supposed that the clergyman of a small and obscure parish north of the Tweed would be the author of a
work which has troubled both the Universities of England.
But the translator of Tasso was no ordinary man both in
genius and learning.
In this singular volume, the author endeavors to revive
something like the wild and exploded hypothesis of the Jesuit
Hardouin, who maintained that our Lord and his Apostles
spoke Latin, and that the Latin Vulgate was the original of
the New Testament. The anonymous author of the Paltcoromaica contends, that the Greek New Testament is a translation of a Latin original, the text of which is not preserved
in the Vulgate, or any Latin version in being. He also
g Lect. XXVII. pp. 16 - 26.




Page  125

PALEORONAICA. 125
maintains that it is a translation by an unknown writei,
imperfectly acquainted both with Latin and Greek.
The proofs of these fanciful and extravagant notions, the
leader will easily suppose, must be very extraordinary. The
writer is by no means deficient in ingenuity, and has evidently spared no pains to bolster up his theory. He argues from
the existence of certain analogous cases of translation from
the Latin, and particularly from the'Aldine edition of the
Greek Siinplicius: firom the fact that, in the days of the
Apostles, Latin, not Greek, was the prevailing language of
Judma, and other parts adjacent: and firom the existence
of numerous Latinisms, which, he thinks, he has discovered
in the New Testament. But it may be proper to give his
own analysis of his work.
"It consists," he says, "of six Disquisitions, in the first of
which he examines the opinion, that a knowledge of Greek
was general and almost universal in the age of the Apostles;
an opinion which is, perhaps, proved to be at once contrary
to probability, and contradictory to facts. In the second and
third Disquisitions it is submitted, that, considering that at
least one of the Gospels, and several of Paul's Epistles, were
addressed to Latins, it might have been expected that such
portions of the New Testament should have been sent to
them rather in Latin than in Greek. Whatever was the
primitive language, however, in which the Books of the New
Testament were originally composed, and admitting that it
was Greek, it is shown by numerous phenomena that at least
our Elzevir text, or its basis, and, indeed, that of several
other copies of the Greek Testament in the author's possession, (none of them, how-ever, so old as our received English
version,) bear marks of being a version from the Latin. It
is submitted, that it seems not improbable that a translated
or re-translated text may (as in Matthew's Gospel anid various




Page  126

126 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
Other remarkable instances which are exhibited) have sup
planted the original; and that the Elzevir Testament may,
like the Aldine Simpliciuts, be a Greek re-translation from
the Latin of an original Greek work. This the author proceeds to corroborate, in the fourth Disquisition, by a list of
words, phrases, &c., arranged into twelve different classes, all
(if he mistakes not) tending to establish that what is named
the Hellenistic style is not Hebrew, but Latin-Greek; and all
seeming to support the conclusion, that the peculiarities of
words and style in our Elzevir or Greek Vulgate are to be
derived from a Latin original. In this Disquisition the origin of whole cohorts of Roman-Greek words, which have
been singly the subjects of long dissertations, will be shown;
and many of them which have frightened philologists by their
portentous shapes, will be recognized as old acquaintances,
somewhat mutilated and disguised.' The author, in the fifth Disquisition, after attempting a
solution of some apparent objections to or difficulties in his
hypothesis, proceeds to show how much it seems to be supported by the sentiments and statements of some of the most
distinguished Editors of the New Testament. It will be
found that of these some have proceeded on the assumption
that even the Latin Vulgate (itself a version from the Greek)
is of greater authority than the modern Greek text; while
others accuse the most venerable Greek MSS. of the New
Testament, and, indeed, in proportion to their antiquity, of
Latinizing. In the sixth and last Disquisition, the author
applies his hypothesis to an elucidation of the German theory
of different families or recensions of the MSS. of the New
Testament; and here, as all along, he illustrates (if he mis.
takes not) numerous passages, and many various readings,
which have hitherto resisted the efforts of all critics to explain them."
* Preface, pp. viii. - xi.




Page  127

PALAEOROMAICA. 127
On these grounds chiefly he raises his visionary structure,
which, if true, would go far to endanger the whole fabric of
Christianity. His learning is evidently considerable, but his
love of paradox would seem to be still greater. The work
was regarded, on its first appearance, as dangerous, and immediately occasioned a considerable controversy.
In the British Critic for January, February, and April,
[1823,] a long and able article combated the main positions
of the Palaoromaica. In the course of the same year, it was
attacked by Bishop Burgess, in the Postscript to his Vindication of 1 John v. 7; by the Rev. J. T. Conybeare, in his
"Examination of certain Arguments in Palseoromaica"; by
Dr. Falconer, in the " Second Part of the Case of Eusebius"; and by the Rev. W. G. Broughton, in his "Examination of the Hypothesis advanced in a recent Publication,
entitled Palmoromaica."
The last is the ablest and fullest exposure of the fallacy
and absurdity of the whole scheme. The author, however,
far from being discouraged by the number and weight of his
opponents, again took the field against them all, in a " Supplement to Palmeoromaica, with Remarks on the Strictures
made on that Work by the Bishop of St. David's, the Rev.
J. T. Conybeare, the British Critic; also by the Rev. W. G.
Broughton, and Dr. Falconer." 1824.
To the second " Postscript" in this publication, Mr.
Broughton replied in 1825. And the whole subject was
again brought into review by IDr. Maltby, in a visitation sermonl, entitled, "The Original Greek of the New Testament
asserted and vindicated." Such is the present state of the
Paleoromaican Controversy. It is very curious as a display
of ingenuity, and as affording another proof that the text of
the New Testament is capable of bearing any ordeal to which
it is possible for the learning or genius of man to put it.




Page  128

128 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
Having noticed the work itself, and the discussion which
it occasioned, I must state how it came to be connected with
the dispute about the Heavenly Witnesses. The author considers the disputed verse a specimen of translation from Latin,
anld therefore one of the supports of.his argument fobr the
Latin origin of the New Testament. The following passage
contains the substance of his theory on this part of his subject.
"A still more appropriate example of the origin of recensiolns, arising from a diversity of versions from the Latin, may
be given from an interpolation in the Greek New Testament
itself. In his two first editions of the New Testament, Erasmus omitted the famous verse, 1 John v. 7, concerning the
three heavenly witnesses, but inserted it in his later editions
on the authority of a Codex Britannicus. This Cod. Brit.
is supposed to be the Cod. Montfortianus or Dublinensis, one
proof of which is, that the text of the third edition of Erasmus, printed in 1522, agrees verbatim in this interpolated
passage with the Dublin MS., while it differs from all other
editions, except such as were copied from itself. Nor does it
differ only from the usual text, but (as Michaelis observes)'is written in such Greek as manifestly betrays a translation from the Latin.' I shall transcribe the interpolated
words as they exist in the three celebrated editions of the
New Testament.
"' Cod. 2Jontfort. and Edit. Erasmi tertia, anni 15.22.
"ev T Ovpalv Warrlp) XkoyoS, KOa 7rvevlLa CyOWV, Ka& our ot OpetS
iv et oL. Kat 7peLE Eetlriv oS AiaprTpoVVTmE ev TV 7y.
"' Here (says Michaelis, ii. 286) the article is omitted before the words expressive of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
because there is no article in the Latin, and it. occurred not
to the translator that the usual Greek was 65 rar1p, 6 Xoyor,
T'o rvevyta. He has also ev r77 Iy, which is false Greek for erm
r"iS gym, because he found in the Latin in tf:rrd.'




Page  129

PALEOROMAICA. 129
"Editio Stephani tertia, anni 1550.
" e, TCr ovpavp, 6 7rarrp, 6 Xoyos, KCaL ro 6ytroy rrevVa, Kaal otro&
oi rpet els E LO'. KaL TpELE ELOLv o0 paprTVpOVv7fSE Ev Tq' y7.
"Heie Stephens, or rather, as Dr. Marsh observes, Erasmus himself, in his two last editions, has modelled the verse'into better Greek by the insertion of tile article.' Still,
however, we have the Latinism Ev rs yn. It has been proved
irrefragably by several critics, that tile Complutensian editors translated also the above verse from the Latin, and interpolated it into their Greek text.' And it is no more than
justice (says Porson) to allow that they at least did their
work like workmen. They made good Greek of their Latin,
— a task to which the translator of the Lateran Decrees,
and the writer of the Dublin MS. were unequal.' This Complutensian text is as follows:"Editio Complutensis, anni 1514.
ev Tro ovpavp, 6 Ka 6 yos, KtL 6 XOYOT, KIL To 7veIv ayLOV, KaL Ol
TpL ELE TO ro Ei ELOUL. Kat TpeL ECLoMv ol JOapTVpOVVTEE El T77E'yrlS.
"In the above text, translated fiom Latin into Greek, we
have a specimen of three different recensions arising from
three different versions from the Latin; or, at least, from two
immediate versions from that language, and an improvement
upon one of them by modelling it into better Greek. This
improvement is produced, in the first place, by an insertion
of the articles. I formerly [p. 297] endeavored to account
for the non-existence of the dual number in the Greek Scriptures, from the circumstance of its non-existence in the Latin,
whence our Vulgate Greek copies may have been translated;
and, in like manner, as the articles are wanting in tile Latin
language, there is usually a deficiency in this respect in every
literal Greek version from the Latin. Thus, as we have seen
above, we have in the Dublin MS., and in the edition of Erasmus, which was derived from it, 7rarolp and Xoyov and 7rvevia
6* I




Page  130

130 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOIIN V. 7.
without any article. It is stated by Erasmus, in one of his
Apologies, in speaking of his first edition,' In calce Apocalypsis in exemplari, quod tumrn nobis erat n'nicum, namn is liber
upud Grincos rarus est inventu, deerat unu.s catque alter versus.
Eos nos addidimus secuti Latinos Codices.' Wetstein, who
quotes this passage, remarks,'Accuratius tamen omnia rimanti satis constat, non, ut Erasmus scribit, perpauca fuisse,
qum ipse ex Latinis utcunque et festinanter Grwce reddidit,
sed a vers. 16 ad finem libri sex integros versus. In istis
enim omnibus Erasmi editio abit a Codicibus AISS., et ita
quidem, ut Grmca ipsius non obscurum sit ex Latinis fuisse
conversa. Hine enim profecta est perpetua illa omissio articulorum vers. 16, At~1a pro i'tlta; lXatzrpos pro 6 Xap7rpov;
vers. 18, 7rpor/,nTaE /31tXLOv pIrO r7S 7rpoqr77reaLU rTOV fiSXLOV, CY
L,3tXto pro ev T? 3qL3Xtp bis; vers. 19, 3tfsXov pro 7ov 3LSXLOV;
6'(Or pro rT? "?or ); rroXecos aiyta pro r? 7rOXEoEvE Tr alytas.' "
This, it must be confessed, is ingenious; but though it
should be proved that the disputed passage was first translated into Greek by the Complutensian editors, or the writer
of the Dublin manuscript, the argument of the Palmoromaica in favor of the Latin origin of the New Testament would
by no means follow, as I suppose the disputed verse is the
only passage in this particular situation. The author is
aware of this, and therefore supports his hypothesis by other
arguments, which it is no part of my business to answer.
Those who -wish to enter fully into this curious, and not uninteresting controversy, must consult the works on both sides
which have been enumerated.
Having noticed several works in which the subject of this
memoir is incidently discussed, we come now to the latest
stage of this important controversy, in which Dr. Burgess,
* Pp. 411 - 415.




Page  131

BURGESS. 131
formerly Bishop of St. David's, but now of Salisbury, makes
the principal figure.' Considering the learning and talents
which had previously expended their resources and power
on the merits of this question, a new aspirant to the honor
of finally determining it might be expected to possess more
than- ordinary claims to the attention of the literary republic.
Dr. Burgess was well known as a highly respectable clergyman; and as a prelate he was venerable for his years and his
moderation. But his publications had been numerous rahlter
than profound; neither distinguished by superior erudition,
nor any particular traits of genius and originality.
In 1820, the Bishop published a volume of tracts on the
Divinity of Christ, in which he expressed himself in favor
of the disputed passage, and enters into a short argument in
support of his opinion. But not:hing in this tract requires
particular notice.
In 1821, he commenced his labors in support of the testimony of the heavenly witnesses, by publishing "A Vindication of 1 John v. 7, from the Objections of M. Griesbach:
in which a New View is given of the external Evidence,
with Greek Authorities for the Authenticity of the Verse,
not hitherto adduced in its Defence." In this pamphlet he
endeavors to show that Griesbach's judgment on the text is
precipitate, partial, contrary to his own rules of criticism,
and untenable; — that Bengelius's. conviction of its authority
rested not on one argument, but on many; — and alleges that
various reasons, which he assigns, may account for the loss
of the verse in the ancient manuscripts. He argues that its
absence from manuscripts now extant is no proof of its spuriousness, if it can be proved it was ever read in the most
ancient Greek manuscripts. He maintains, on the authority
of Cyprian, and the ancient Latin version, that this was the
case. I-e argu(es both from the internal and external evi



Page  132

132 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
dence in support of the common reading, and has evidently
arrived at a very thorough conviction af its genuineness himself. Of Griesbach he says:"The substance of M. Griesbach's Diatribe consists of these
positions:- that the controverted verse is not found in any
Greek manuscript extant but one, and that a very recent
manuscript of the fifteenth or sixteenth century; that it is
not quoted by any of the Greek fathers; and that it rests
chiefly, if not solely, on the authority of Vigilius Tapsensis.
I have shown that he is mistaken in the last'of' these positions. He is also mistaken in the age of the Dullin manuscript, which Dr. Adam Clarke has shown to be a manuscript
of the thirteenth century. If the verse has not yet been
found in any other Greek manuscript, it may hereafter.
The Hymn to Ceres had been lost for sixteen centuries, when
it was discovered in a manuscript at Moscow, and that manuscript written as late as the end of the fourteenth century.
If the verse is not quoted by any of the Greek fathers, it has
been by two Latin fathers, who are more ancient than any
Greek manuscript of the New Testament that is now1 extant." ~
On the internal evidence of the verse he says:"Ernesti and Horsley were decided in their opinion of its
authenticity by the internal evidence. And though Griesbach in his Diatribe on the verse dismisses this evidence, as
I said before, hastily and contemptuously, yet he not only in
his general rule for judging of the true reading of a passage
gives the first place to the interna bonitas of the text, but on
another occasion, in estimating the value of Codex Paulin.
17. in his Symbola Critice, he takes the internal evidence
for his chief guide. Nay, in the Preface to his latest work,
his Commentarius Criticus in ]Nov. Test. Part II., he repre
* Vindication, 2d edit., p. 99.




Page  133

BURGESS. 133
sents the uSe of MSS. and his distinction of recensions as
of very secondary consideration, in comparison with the inter1na verezfalscvye lection'is indicia. I shall accordingly, in the
following pages, reverse the method of inquiry into the auihenticity of the verse which he observed in his Diatribe.
I shall first consider the internal evidence, and then the exterlnal; and shall take a new view of its external history by
dividing it into three periods: (1.) From the death of St. John
to the end of the third century; (2.) From the beginning of
the fourth century to the end of the ninth; (3.) From the
beginning of the tenth to the date of the Complutensian, or
first printed edition, in the sixteenth century; and shall apply
to the two first periods two Greek authorities not hitherto
adduced in defence of the verse."@
In speaking on the external evidence of the verse, to
which the Bishop alleges Griesbach has done much injustice, he refers to two or three additional Greek evidences of
great antiquity which he had to adduce. From this the
reader might be led to expect the testimony of some newly
discovered manuscripts, or the undoubted reading of some
ancient Greek fathers. But no such thing: the Bishop has
nothing of the kind to produce. His evidence is nothing but
hypothetical argument and supposition, from beginning to
end. In the first period of the Bishop's distribution no
manuscripts whatever now exist. This absence of all evidenlce his Lordship converts into positive evidence in favor
of the verse.
"In the view which we have taken of this first period,
everything is favorable to the authenticity of the controverted
verse. The internal evidence requires the verse; there is no
external evidence against it; for there is no manuscript extant so ancient as this period; and we have good evidence
* Vindication, pp. 108, 109.




Page  134

13.4 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
for it in the testimony of the Latin version of this period
preserved by the African Church; beside the prol)ability
arising fiom the rejection of St. John's Epistles by the Alogi.
These evidences cannot be invalidated by the absence of the
verse from manuscripts of a later period; nor is it incumbent
on the defenders of the verse to account for its loss, or for
the silence of the Greek fathers; though the former may be
accounted for from the homoeoteleuton, if not from the mutilation of this very Epistle by those who wished to sever the
humanity of Christ from his divinity; and the latter from
the reasons given by. Bengelius, and lately by ~Mr. Nolan, in
his view of the subjects of religious controversy during the
six first centuries."
His reasoning respecting the second period is of the same:
novel and extraordinary character.
" In the second period of the external history of the verse,
which comprehends six hundred years (A. D. 301 - 900),
while the clear light of the internal evidence continues in all
its tfrce, the external evidence assumes a somewhat different
character. In the former period there was no external evidence against the verse; in this there is some; but at the same
time there is some for it: negative evidence against the verse,
and positive for it. All the Greek manuscripts extant of this
period omit the verse. But they are so few (not more than
four) as to bear no proportion to the hundreds, perhaps thousands, that are lost, many of which might have contained it,
as some, we know, did.
" There can hardly be a doubt that the seventh verse was
extant in the Greek in the copies of Walafrid Strabo; and
none at all of its existence in the time of the writer of the
Prologue to the' Canonical Epistles.' Walafrid Strabo, who
lived in the ninth century, wrote a comment on the verse,
* Vindication, pp. 122, 123.




Page  135

BURGESS. 135
and the Prologue to the Epistles. I-He could not, therefore,
be ignorant either of the defects which the author of the
Prologue imputes to the Latin copies of his day, or of the
integrity of the Greek, as asserted by him; and he directs
his readers to correct the errors of the Latin by the Greek.
The testimony of the Prologue is very material to both
points." *
The Bishop's assertions respecting the Greek copies of
Strabo, and the Prologue to the Epistles of John, are totally
void of foundation, as both Porson and Marsh had successfully shown; yet on this untenable position the Bishop goes
on to argue, that he "had arrived at a certainty that the
controverted verse was extant in Greek manuscripts 5f the
sixth or seventh century." He sums up in the following
manner: —
" The authority of the African Church, as witnesses to the
authenticity of 1 John v. 7, is not diminished by the allegories either of Augustin or his follower, Facundus. Nor is
the validity of that testimony lessened by its being delivered
in Latin instead of Greek. That the Latin Church was in
possession of the Greek text, we know from Tertullian's appeal to the liters authenticce of the Apostles, (whether autographs or copies is of no consequence,) and the authenticum
Grcecunz of St. Paul, in the second and thir i centuries; from
the writer of the Prologue to the Epistles in the sixth or
seventh century, and from Walafrid Strabo's references, in
the ninth century, to the Greek text as the standard for correcting the imperfections of the Latin." t
It is deeply to be regretted that so respectable a person as
the Bishop of St. David's should have undertaken a cause
in which he so entirely fails; especially as he attaches so
much importance to the question, and speaks so confidently
* Pp. 123, 124. t Pp. 139, 140.




Page  136

136 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
of his success in establishing the claims of the passage.
Reasoning more unsatisfactory has rarely ever been employed on a critical and theological subject; and both the
evidence and the doctrines of revelation are affected by such
a method of defending them.
rihe Bishop met with an opponent worthy of him and of
the cause which fie espoused, not in a Unitarian or a Dissenter,
whom he appears to have considered the chief opponents of
the verse, but in a learned member of his own church, and
in a journal distinguished for its high-church principles and
spirit. In the Quarterly Review for March, 1822, there appeared a very able article on the Bishop's pamphlet. In this
critique his Lordship is treated with great courtesy and respect; but his evidence is entirely swept away, and his argument utterly demolished.
From the manner in which this article is written, arising
necessarily fiom the nature of the work in which it appears,
it is very difficult to separate the parts of the argument, so
as to give any accurate view of the point and bearing of the
whole. It glances at the controversy between Porson and
Travis, notices the work of Nolan, and exposes some of its
mistakes, objects to the mode of argument adopted, and
sanctioned by Dr. Burgess, adverts to his attack on Griesbach, and to Middleton's objection, which we have already
noticed. It then closes with the Bishop on the subject of
the external evidence, and the new testimony which his Lordship adduces. After replying to several points," The next authority appealed to is that of Cyprian,'upon
whom,' as Mr. Porson justly observed,' the whole labor of
supporting the verse is devolved.' In the treatise De Unitate Ecclesiee, by that ftlher, we read as follows:' Dixit
Dominus, Ego et Pafteir illum surnus; et iterun (de I'a:re et




Page  137

QUARTE;RLY REVIEW. 137
Filio et Spiritu Sancto scriptum est, Et hi tres unum sunt.' *
This passage presents by far the strongest evidence that has
been adduced in favor of the verse. The expression,'scripturn est,' certainly implies that the words which follow,'Et
hi tres unum sLnt,' were extant in Scripture; and, connected
as they are with the mention of the three persons of the
Trinity, the natural conclusion seems to be, that reference is
made to the seventh verse of this chapter. Yet all who are
conversant with the writings of the fathers must be welI
aware that their scriptural quotations are, for the most part,
made from memory, and without that formal exactness which
we now require. In the present instafice, Cyprian may have
had the above-cited passage of his master Tertullian in his
mind, especially as he uses Fillus (as Tertullian did) and not
Verbum; he may therefore easily have confounded the' qui
tres unum sunt' of that passage with the'hi tres unum
sunt' of the eighth verse; under the impression that Tertullian interpreted the eighth verse of the Trinity. It is quite
certain that Facundus conceived the passage in Cyprian to
refer to the eighth verse. This, indeed, the Bishop of St.
David's admits; but opposes to Facundus the authority of
Fulgentius, who also quotes the same passage, and represents
him as citing the seventh verse. Mr. Porson contends, that
Fulgentius, by his own confession, became acquainted with
the seventh verse solely by the means of Cyprian; but we
are far from being convinced by the learned professor's argumnents -on this subject. In our opinion, which yet may be
plausibly disputed, the legitimate inference from the words
of Fulgentius is, that he had the verse in his copy of the
Latin version. It does not, however, follow that he was
* [That is: — " The Lord has said, I and the Father are one; and again
it is written concerning the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, And these
three are one." - ED.]




Page  138

138 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
correct in supposing that Cyprian quoted the seventh verse.
We have stated the difficulty attending the passage in Cyprian; and the question for the reader's consideration is,
whether the evidence which it supplies on the side of the
verse be so weighty as to overbalance the gireat mass of evidence in the opposite scale." *
This, the Bishop will admit, is candid. It concedes there
is difficulty respecting Cyprian; but after all, it leaves the
matter in great doubt whether Cyprian really refers to the
passage. It is perfectly absurd to found the authority of an
important sentence of the word of God on such a basis. In
reference to the novel'part of the Bishop's argument, the following passage in the article is quite conclusive:"We now proceed to consider the Right Reverend author's
new Greek authorities, of which, however, the first had been
noticed by Mr. Nolan (p. 568), viz.'the rejection of the
writings of St. John by certain heretics of this (i. e. the first)
period, whom Epiphanius calls ALOGI, on account of their
denial of the Apostle's doctrine of the divinity of the Logos,
or the Word.' Lardner has denied the existence of any
heretics so called. But Lardner, it may be thought, was
biassed by his peculiar opinions. Let us, therefore, grant
that such heretics did exist, and that they rejected the First
Epistle of St. John. Does it follow, as a necessary consequence, that 1 John v. 7 is genuine? Is not the very first
verse of the Epistle sufficient to account for the rejection?
Mr. Nolan, at least (p. 569), thinks that it is eveir more
strongly opposed to the peculiar tenets of the Alogi than
the disputed verse.
"With respect to the other Greek authority produced by
the Bishop of St. David's, from the Pseudo-Clemens Alexandrinus, which he connects with a passage in Tertullian; we
* Quarterly Review, Vol. XXVI. pp. 332, 333.




Page  139

QUARTERLY REVIEW. 139
can scarcely persuade ourselves that the learned prelate
places any confidence in such a witness to the genuineness
of the text in question. In return, however, for this'authority,' we will present the Bishop and our readers with a
short extract from a work printed in Potter's edition of Clemens. The work is entitled Adumbrationes; and is supposed by learned men to be a translation, by Cassiodorus, of
some Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles, by Clemens
Alexandrinus.' Iste est, inquit, qui venit per aquam et sanguinern; et iterum, quia tres sunt qui testificantur; spiritus,
quod est vita; et aqua, quod est regeneratio ac fides; et sanguis, quod est cognitio: et hi tres unum sunt. In Salvatore
quippe istea sunt virtutes salutiferae, et vita ipsa in ipso filio
ejus existit.' We do not ascribe any great weight td this extract, because there is much uncertainty respecting both the
author and the translator of the work firom which it was
taken. Our principal reasons for adducing it are, that the
testimony of Cassiodorus (to whom the translation is attributed) has been urged in defence of the 7th verse; and that
the extract affords a singular confirmation of Mr. Porson's
conjecture with regard to the reading which Cassiodorus
found in his copy of St. John's Epistle. - Letters to Travis,
p. 351.
"On the whole, it appears that the external evidence in
favor of the verse, during the Bishop's first period, is reduced
to the authority of Cyprian. Still, however, the learned prelate thinks that there is cause to triumph, inasmuch as the
same period exhibits no evidence against the verse. What
evidence of this kind can be required? It is admitted on all
hands that there is no Greek MS. extant, so old as this period: but we have two MSS. of the fourth century, which omit
the verse; and may we not justly infer that the MSS. from
which they were copied omitted it also? Again, the verse has




Page  140

140 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
not been quoted by any of the Greek fathers of the second
and third centuries. Does not this fact alone furnish strong
presumptive evidence that during those periods it awas not in
existence? Can it be expected that pas a-res should be produced from their writings expressly affirming the spuriousness of the verse, that is, the spuriousness of a verse, of the
existence of which they were utterly ignoorant??" *
No part of the discussion on this imnportant subject has
been more strenuously contended for on the one hand, or
more resolutely resisted on the other, than the alleged authority of sStrabo, in the Glossa Ordinaria, which Archdeacon Travis and Dr. Burgess maintain was written in the
ninth century, and which, it is alleged, furnishes unquestionable evidence of the authenticity of the text. After quoting
a passage from Travis to this effect, the present writer thus
proceeds: —
" - It is. well known to the learned in these matters, and may
easily be ascertained by those who will take the trouble to
inquire, that the title of Walafrid Strabo to be considered as
the author of the Glossa Ordinaria is, to use Mr. Porson's,
phrase,'exceedingly questionable'; and that still more'ques-'
tionable' is his right to the Commentary on the Prologue to'
the' Canonical Epistles.' Our present intention, however, is
to prove that Walafrid Strabo CERTAINLY WAS NOT the author of the sentence quoted in the preceding statement, —
a sentence fromn which so many consequences are deduced.
That sentence forms the conclusion of a short tract which is
prefixed to the Glossa Ordinaria, and entitled' Translatores
Bibliae.' Had Mr. Travis taken the precaution of reading
the entire tract, he would have found that the writer, in his
account of the Septuagint translation, quotes,.as his authority,
a person whom he calls' Magister in Historiis.' This appel* Pp. 333, 334.




Page  141

QUARTERLY PEVIEEW. 141
lation had been given to PETRUS COMrESTOR, who flourished
in the latter part of the twelfth century, and wrote a history
)f the Bible under the title of Iistoria Scholastica. The
tract in question, therefore, could not have been written by
Walafrid Strabo, who lived in the ninth century. What now
becomes of Mr. Travis's argument founded on the ancient
Greek MSS. which had been examined with the most critical
exactness by Walafrid Strabo?
"As much importance has, by several writers, been attached to the supposed testimony of Walafrid Strabo, we
have taken some pains to ascertain the real author of the
tract from which Mr. Travis drew his quotation. -We have
now before us an edition of the Vulgate Bible, with the Glowe and the Exposition of Nicholas de Lyra, printed at Vence by Pagninus, in the year 1495. Prefixed to the work is
letter addressed to Cardinal Francis Picolhomini, by Beiiardinus Gadolus, Brixianuz. In this letter Gadolus describes the great care and diligence which he had employed,
at the request of Pagninus, in preparing the edition; and
concludes with the following sentence:'Conscriipsi proeterea, sive ex multis auctoribus et prmcipue ex Hieronymo
excerpsi, tractatulum de Libris Biblike Canonicis et non Canonicis; qui si tuse reverendissimm dominationis judicio, cui
omnia subjicio, comprobatus fuerit, euln ad utilitatem legentium imprimi permittam; sin nimis (1. minus) cellula continebitur.'* Then follows the Tract alluded to in the letter,
entitled De Libris Canonicis et non Canonicis'; to which is
subjoined the Tract entitled Translatores Biblia, which fur* [That is:-" I have also written, or rather I have extracted froml
many authors, and especially from Jerome, a small treatise concerning the
canonical and uncanonical books of the Bible; and if this shall be ap.
proved by the judgment of your Most Reverend Lordship, to whom I
submit everything, I will allow it to be printed for the benefit of readers;
otherwise it shall be retained in my cell." - ED.]




Page  142

142 CONTROVERMSY R-,ESPECTING I JOIHN V. 7.
nished Mr. Travis with his quotation. If any of our readers
will take the trouble of examining these two tracts, we are
convinced that not one of them will hesitate in attributin'
them to the same pen. In both, the style of composition i.
precisely the same, and the same authorities are alluded to
viz. Origen, Jerome, Magister in Historiis. We must, thlere&
fore, conclude that, instead of affording a proof of the criti:
cal attention of Walafrid Strabo in the ninth century, 3Ii
Travis's quotation will be found to attest the editorial dili
gence of Bernardinus Gadolus at the close of the fifteenth.",
So much for Strabo, and the Glossa Ordinaria of the niizt
century, which we apprehend have now received their quietus
forever. It is very worthy of remark, how Divine Providence furnishes the means, not only of maintaining the at-,
thority of the true Scriptures, but of destroying the pretencet
oT what is false and apocryphal. We shall quote one mor'
short passage from this able article, before proceeding to th.
next stage in the controversy.
"Some persons may be disposed to ask,- if, on the one
hand, the agreement of the existing Greek manuscripts in
omitting the verse affords a presumptive proof that it wags
omitted in the earlier manuscripts from which they are
transcribed; and so on, till we arrive at the autograph of St.
John,-does not, on the other hand, the agreement of the
great majority of the manuscripts of the Vulgate in exhibiting the verse equally imply that it existed in the earlier
Latin manuscripts, and, consequently, in the original copy of
the Latin version? To this question we will reply by simply
stating the circumstances of the two cases; first with regard
to the Greek, and then with regard to the Latin manuscripts:.
On the Greek manuscripts we adopt the language of Matthai: -'Prseterea, bona fide testor, me in nullo codice hoc
* Pp. 336, 337.




Page  143

BURGESS. 143
loco lituram deprehendisse, nec hujus loci ulllm vest'g[ium
a nimadvertisse, nec in marginibus codicum, nec in scholiis,
nec in catenis; cum tamen ad manus mihi fuerint tres codices
cum scholiis ineditis orthodoxorum Theologorum, et unus,
Sum catena novendecimn nobilissimorum Ecclesioe Groecm Pairum, seculo ix scriptus.' * (Matthdii ad loc.) On the Latin
*nanuscripts we remark: — The more ancient of them omit
the verse: those manuscripts in which it appears, represent
t under very different forms; some having the seventh verse
before the eighth, and some after. In some manuscripts the
seventh verse is found only in the margin; and in a very
large portion the concluding clause of the eighth verse (et hi
tres unum sunt) is omitted. From this comparative view of
the state of the Greek and Latin manuscripts, as to the controverted text, we leave our readers to draw their own con-'lusions. In our own judgment there is but one conclusion;hat can fairly be drawn." t
As an auxiliary to the cause which he so warmly espouses,
Bishop Burgess published, in 1822, a small volume of Latin
tracts, with the following title: "'Adnotationes Millii auctee
et correctm ex Prolegomenis suis, Wetstenii, Bengelii, et Sabaterii, ad I. Joan v. 7. Una cum duabis epistolis Richardi
Bentleii et' Observationibus Joannis Seldeni, C. MI. Pf:iitii, J.
F. Buddei, et C. F. Schmidii de eodem loco," &c. As this
is merely a collection of tracts written in.support of the disputed passage long ago, containing no new argument, it requires no further notice. The Bishop's object is to show, that
* [That is: —" Moreover, I testify in good faith, that in no manuscript
have I found any erasure in this place, nor have I discovered any vestige
of the passage either in the margin of manuscripts, or in scholia, or in catenae; though I hakve had at hand three manuscripts with unpublished
scholia of orthodox theologians, and one, written in the ninth century, with
a catena of nineteen of the noblest fathers of the Greek Church." - ED.]
t Page 839.




Page  144

144 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
all the learned, at least, have not abandoned the defence of
the passage.
His Lordship produced, in 1823, a second edition of his
Vindication, to which are added, " A Preface in.reply to the
Quarterly Review, and a Postscript in answer to a recent
Publication, entitled, Palaoromaica." The preface is the;
only thing in this publication, beside an advertisement of,
forty-two pages, with which we have now to do. It consists
of sixty-eight pages. In this the Bishop professes to meet;
the Quarterly Review; but in reality never closes with the:
main argument of the controversy. There is a great deal
of petty skirmishing, — a large portion of dust raised; bu't;
little done to satisfy the objector, or to relieve the subject of
the difficulties under which it labors. His Lordship still
maintains, with a positiveness that is very extraordinary,"That while we have much positive evidence for the verse.
there is NO POSITIVE EVIDENCE AGAINST IT."
It is strange, in the present advanced stage of biblical literature, that it should be asserted there is no positive evidence against a sentence purporting to belong to the Bible,
which is to be found in no genuine manuscript, and unsupported by the ancient versions. Can his Lordship require to
be informed, that the only positive evidence in support of a
passage of Scripture is its existence in authentic copies? If
this be departed from, on the ground that we admit one verse,
we may admit a hundred; and thus the whole evidence and
character of revelation might be changed. The Bishop still
continues to reiterate and defend his two new authorities, and
actually adduces some others. But they are all of the same
questionable character; witnesses which do not admit of
cross-examination. These authorities are Diodorus, according to Theodorus Anagnosta, and quoted by Suidas. Mark
* Page 15.




Page  145

BURGESS. 145
the roundabout way in which we are furnished with his testimony; and mark still further what it is. Why, this Diodorus, who it seems was the Preceptor of Chrysostom, wrote
on the 1st Epistle of John, and on "Unity in the Trinity ";
from wh.ch the- Bishop infers 1 John v. 7 was in his Greek
copy of the New Testament! There is really no arguing
with this kind of evidence, even with the authority of Dorhout to bolster it up.
The Bishop has another new authority, Dionysius of Alexandria. But this is no better than the former. The disputed
verse is not quoted by Dionysius, nor any argument founded
upon it in his writings. If " remote conclusions may be thus
drawn at a jump," there is scarcely anything, however
destitute of foundation, which may not be proved or disproved.
In the conclusion of this preface, his Lordship recapitulates what he considers the substance of his argument, and
the leading grounds on which the genuineness of the passage
may be defended. The reader shall have the benefit of this
statement in his own words.
" For myself, I adhere, with increased conviction of its
authenticity, to the declaration which excited the Reviewer's'astonishment'; founded on the following reasons, with which
I recapitulate the substance of' this preface:"' 1. The connection of the verse with the context, and with
the general scope of the Epistle; which Bengelius says, omnenz codicum penuriam compensat [makes amends for all the
want of manuscripts].
"2. The evidence of the Latin Version, Gr&ecis omnibus
codicibus antiquior [more ancient than any Greek manuscript]. (Bengelius.)
"3. The testimony of Tertullian and Cyprian, which Mill
says is abundantly sufficient to authenticate the seventh verse;
7 J




Page  146

146 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
licet in nullis omznino ab illo tempore in hunc usque diem exemplaribus comparuerit [even if it has been found in no
copies from that day to this].
"4. The testimony of Fulgentius, who places beyond all
doubt Cyprian's direct citation of the seventh verse.
"5. The testimony of Eucherius and Cassiodorus, who
quote both verses.
"6. The testimony of the African Bishops, instar centenorum codicum, qui optim~e notce sunt seculi V. [equivalent to
that of a hundred of the best MSS. of the fifth century].
(Dorhout.)
"7. The quotations or allusions of the Greek fathers,
Clemens of Alexandria, Dionysius of Alexandria, Basil,
Athanasius the younger, Diodorus, the preceptor of Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria, Maximus, and the Greek Scholia.
" 8. The testimony of the Prologue of the Canonical Epistiles to the Greek text of the 7th verse, extant in the time of
the writer.
" To these positive reasons for the authenticity of the verse,
we may add the following negative arguments.
"If there are no Greek manuscripts but one, for the verse,
after the end of the third century, there are no Greek manuscripts against'the verse before that time.
"If no Greek fathers quote the Greek text, (which cannot
be admitted,) no Latin heretics object to the Latin text. The
Greek Church objected to the insertion of Filioque in the
Latin Creed, but never to the text of the seventh verse in
the Latin version.
" If no Greek father quoted 1 John v. 7, no Greek father
quoted 1 John v. 20 during the first three centuries, or 1 Tim.
~ii. 16 during the first four." *
* Burgess, pp. 66 - 68.




Page  147

OXLEE. 147
In further prosecution of what the Bishop appears to have
made a considerable part of the business of his latter years,
he published, in 1824, "A Selection of Tracts and Observations on 1 John v. 7." This, like his Latin collection, is a
useful compilation. It consists of Bishop Barlow's letter
to Mr. Hunt, now first published from a manuscript in the
Queen's College Library, Oxford; Bishop Smalbroke's Letter to Dr. Bentley, with Dr. Bentley's Answer; Extracts
from Martin's Examination of Emlyn's Answer relative to
that Letter; the Notes of Hammond and Whitby on the
controverted Verse; and Dr. Adam Clarke's Aicount of the
iIontfort Manuscript.
Though it is convenient to be furnished with all these,racts in one volume, they throw exceedingly little light?pon the controversy. The testimony of one undoubted
nanuscript of the New Testament, or a correct quotation of
the passage in any ancient Greek writer, would be worth a
whole host of opinions of modern writers, however learned
and ingenious.
Prefixed to these tracts are an introduction and preface of
seventy-two pages, by the Bishop himself, in which various
points in the controversy are adverted to, and some account
given of the several tracts which are introduced; but in which
I do not observe anything which calls for particular observation.
In the same cause, so warmly espoused by Dr. Burgess,
two other combatants, on opposite sides, appeared about the
same time. The first of these, Mr. Oxlee, of whom some
notice has already been taken, produced " Three Letters, addressed to the Rev. Fred. Nolan, on his erroneous Criticisms
and Mis-statements in the Christian Remembrancer, relative
to the text of the Heavenly Witnesses; in which are con



Page  148

148 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
tained, also, Strictures on the Vindication of the spurious
Passage by the Bishop of St. David's: together with a new
Translation of the genuine Text, proposed and defended from
every cavil," 1825.
The other, under the fictitious signature of Ben David,
addresses "Three Letters to the Editor of the Quarterly
Review, in which is demonstrated the Genuineness of the
Three Heavenly Witnesses," 1825.
To M3r. Oxlee's remarks on MIr. Nolan we have already
adverted, in noticing the work of that able and ingenious
writer. We have here only to do with his strictures on the
Bishop of St. David's. We are sorry to say, that they are
written in a tone and manner more resembling the spirit of
Porson, than the temper which always distinguishes Dr.
Burgess in his controversial works. Alr. Oxlee, in his second letter, endeavors to refute the arguments adduced by
Mr. Nolan and Dr. Burgess for the authenticity of Jerome's
Prologue to the Catholic Epistles: and in the third letter he
introduces what he considers a clear and connected view of
the text and its context. His amended translation has been
already given, with some of his remarks in its support. It
is due to Mr. Oxlee, perhaps, to give another extract from
his ingenious pamphlet, in which he supports his views of
the reading of the text, by arguments derived from the connection.
"To me the immediate connection of the three witnesses
with the sixth verse appears to have originated from a natural association of ideas in the mind of the holy Apostle.
Having asserted that the Spirit giveth testimony, because
it is the truth; he quickly calls to mind, that, as the Holy
Spirit bearing witness within us, is the truth; so also are the
Word, or the Son, and the Father, the truth; and so equally
concurring witnesses with the Spirit itself, which proceeds




Page  149

OXLEE. 149
from them both. The conjunction ore, therefore, as Grotius
has well observed on this text, has not so much a causative
as a continuative and argumentative signification; and consequently, as well here as in other places of the Syriac version, it is rendered by the simple copulative: and in the
Armenian Version is wholly omitted. The connection of
the sense is as though he had said, - Nay, there are even
three, the Father, the Word, or the Son, as well as the Spirit,
who are attesting witnesses of the water, the blood, and the
spirit, by which Christ came to erect his holy church; and
these three are for one thing, that is, are accounted EIs rL g,
7vEviv~a, for one and the same Spirit; the same Evangelist
having elsewhere declared, that God is a Spirit. If then we
receive the testimony of men, such as John the Baptist, who
testified of Christ, that he had descended from heaven, as the
Son of God, to baptize with water and the Holy Ghost,if, I say, we ale willing to admit such human testimony as
-this; the testimony of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost, unto whose name every Christian man is
baptized, and who dwell inseparably in the hearts of the
faithful, is still greater and more to be depended on, in that
they are the truth itself, and cannot possibly deceive us."
The pamphlet certainly abounds in very able and ingenious
reasonings, and displays no small portion of literature; but it
is offensively warm. There is little occasion for the odium
theologicum in a discussion, which, it is now well understood,
does not affect the doctrine of the Trinity, whichever side
gains the ascendency. Criticism may be erroneous, and mistakes may be unintentionally made, but they ought to be opposed with calmness and firmness: and where men of so much
eminence rank on different sides, a degree of modesty is more
becoming than fierceness and dogmatic confidence. To Mr.
Oxlee I shall have occasion to advert once more.




Page  150

150 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
The author'of Ben David, the late Dr. Jones, was a Socinian, and a man of considerable genius and learning, but
fond of paradox. A defence of the disputed passage from
such a quarter naturally suggests strong suspicions that there
was something under it.
"Timeo Danaos dona ferentes."
His object is to prove that the disputed verse forms the subject of the whole Epistle, and that the true sense places its
genuineness beyond all reasonable suspicion. In his first letter he endeavors to show that the object of the First Epistle
of John was to check the Gnostic heresy, which maintained
that the Creator is an evil, imperfect being, and that Christ
was a God, either dwelling for a season in the man Jesus, or
an empty phantom in his shape. The design of John, therefore, was to overthrow the divinity, and to assert the simple
humanity of Christ!
In the second letter he gives what he conceives to. be the
scope arid sense of the passage, "There are three bearing
testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy
Spirit; and these three are one."-" The meaning, then, is,"
he says, "that the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit,
which are in heaven, bear testimony; and these three testimonies are one testimony; or, as it is expressed in the parallelism in the next verse, agree in one testimony. The testimony meant is that which it is the burden of the Epistle to'
prove, namely, that JEsus IS THE CHRIST; meaning, in ppposition to the Antichristian teachers, that the man Jesus, and
not a God dwelling in the man Jesus, or in the empty form
of the man Jesus, is the Christ."
The object of the third letter is to prove the authenticity
of the verse; in which, as might be expected, there is an
entire failure. He acknowledges that he has no new evidence to adduce, and his hypothetical arguments and reason



Page  151

BURGESS. 151
ings are unworthy of any attention. If Ben David wrote in.
jest, he deserves the severest reprobation; if in earnest, his
folly deserves our pity.
Bishop Burgess published, in 1825, "A Letter to the
Clergy of the Diocese of St. David's on a Passage of the
Second Symbolum Antiochenum of the Fourth Century, as
evidence of the Authenticity of 1 John v. 7." This creed
was drawn up by a Council held at Antioch, consisting of
ninety-seven bishops, of whom nearly half were Arians.
After the declaration of faith in one God, our Lord Jesus,
and in the Holy Ghost, the Creed adds, s foTva r,er Ivy vrrooarerE Tpla, f 86' uvIQcovyia e'v. "So that they are three in
person, and one in consent." There is, no doubt, some similarity between this passage and 1 John v. 7; but similarity
and identity are very different things. It is as plain as possible that the words of the Creed are not a quotation from the
disputed text. And although his Lordship argues that there
is not a greater difference than sometimes obtains in the quotations made fiom the Old Testament in the New, we do not
think he proves his point, as scarcely any of the words in the
two passages are the same. Had the passage existed in the
text of John at the time, it is too plain and too important
not to have been quoted verbatim et literatim, instead of being only alluded to. I cannot perceive that the cause of the
authenticity of the text gains anything from the Antiochian
Creed.
In a large postscript, his Lordship endeavors to adduce
evidence from the accounts given by Euthymius and Socrates of the origin of tile Arian controversy, in support of his
view of the question. The reasoning, however, of Porson
jn this subject, from page 119 to 226 of his letters, I do not
conceive the Bishop has at all affected. It is not only not




Page  152

152 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
evident that Euthymius quotes the passage; but highly probable, as Porson shows, from another part of his works, that
it did not exist in the MS. he used. "So far," says Porson,
"therefore is Euthymius Zigabenus from having employed
this weapon against the heretics, that, on the contrary, it is
plain he never had it to employ. It was not to be found in
the shops of those artificers of faith, who furni'shed him with
lhe materials for his Panoply."
A considerable portion of the postscript is occupied with
replying to Oxlee's Three Letters to Mr. Nolan. In this
portion of his pamphlet his Lordship adduces another Greek
authority, —a Greek MS. too. What a EpKa would resound through the world if this document was forthcoming.
But, alas! it is only something which was seen: when looked
for again it was not to be found, -and is now gone. Such
seenms to be the fate of all the evidence of which the supporters of this passage boast. But hear the Bishop:" I must not here omit an important accession to the direct
evidence for the verse, which I add on the authority of the
present learned Rector of Lincoln College, in Oxford. Having heard it reported, that a Greek MS. of the New Testament containing the verse had been known to be extant in
the library of Lincoln College, not many years since, and
that the Rector of Lincoln had spoken of it in St. Mary's
pulpit, I wrote to the learned Rector on the subject, and received the following answer:'Porson's book never shook my
conviction of the authenticity of the important verse, which
has so long and laudably engaged your indefatigable study.
The artful and superficial way in which he treated the interesting subject, and his unmannerly behavior to Mr. Travis,
brought me some years ago into St. Mary's pulpit, with a
sermon upon the disputed text; which sermon I have mislaid, and cannot find. What I saoid about the MS. that I had




Page  153

QUARTERLY REVIEW. 153
seen, which contained the verse, I cannot accurately state.
It was a MS. in the College Library, and seen in the presence of Dr. Parsons, late Bishop of Peterborough; but on
looking for it when I preached the sermon, it was- not found,
nor can it be found at the present time." *
When this manuscript is produced, it will be time enough
to examine its character and pronounce on its pretensions.t
To the Bishop and Ben David the Quarterly replied in
an able and very respectful article in their Sixty-fifth INumher, for December, 1825. Here the learned Reviewer, after
some introductory remarks, combats his Lordship's assertion
after Travis, "that the verse was extant in the Greek in the
copies of Walafrid Strabo," by showing that there is no evidence that Strabo understood Greek, or that he was the author of Glossa Ordinaria, or that he was the author of the
Commentary on the Prologue to the Catholic Epistles, and
that the Preface to the Glossa Ordinaria, in which he directs
that the Latin MSS. should be corrected by the Greek, instead of being written by him, was written some centuries
after his death. This is one of the Bishop's main positions,
- at best it would not prove a great deal, but it really vanishes into smoke when touched by the finger of critical investigation. There are some good remarks in the article on the
impropriety of preferring the Latin to the Greek fathers, a
tendency which the views and classification of Griesbach has
tenided to produce. On the internal evidence which is supposed to be in favor of the verse, and the alleged grammatical
difficulties of the passage, on the supposition of the seventh
* Burgess's Letter, pp. 84, 85.
t [Scrivener, in his Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the Text of
the N. T., (1861,) p. 459, note, remarks: " There can be no question that
he meant Act, 33, which does not give the verse, but has long been known
to have some connection with the Codex Montfortianus, which does." See
also the Vindication of Porson by Crito Cant:tbrigiensis, pp. 358, 359. - ED.]
7 *




Page  154

1d54 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
verse being spurious, some good observations occur; particularly on a passage remarkably similar, from Gregory Nazianzen. The learned critic also offers some defence of Porson,
in reply to several of the remarks of Dr. Burgess on that
eminent scholar. The Bishop's Letter to the Clergy of St.
David's is satisfactorily shown to contain nothing that will
bear the test of close examination, or on which a defence of
the passage can be rested. Tilhe notice of Ben David is little more than an intimation that he is not in earnest on the
subject, and must have smiled on finding the Bishop of St.
David's so much concerned to defend a passage no longer capable of support on sonnd critical principles. The whole
discussion in the Quarterly Review is highly interesting. It
is carried on very dispassionately, and with great force of argument. I regret that my limits will not allow me to quote
several parts of the article; but the following passage, containing an answer to the Bishop's argument founded on the.Symbolum Antiochentim, deserves particular attention. The
Bishop's argument has been already given; the reply is conclusive.
" In justice to the cause which the Bishop defends, we
think it right to state, that, his Lordship having communicated
the substance of his work to several of his right reverend
brethren, the preceding argument appears to have had great
weight with them. In letters from which we are favored
with extracts, the Bishops of Winchester, Durham, and
Hereford, together with other prelates, whose names are not
mentioned, have expressed themselves either as almost, or as
entirely, persuaded that the verse is genuine. With the sincerest respect for the learning and judgment of these eminent persons, we shall now venture to examine the argument.
They are three in person, and one in consent, - savors much
mrore of an i'lative distinction of the fourth century, than of




Page  155

QUARTERLY REVIEW. 155
a simple dictum of the apostolic age. Accordingly, the
Bishop is obliged to omit' the terms by which the quotation
is disguised,' before he can imagine the expression to be derived from Scripture. And when the sentence has gone
through this process, what remains? Not, as his Lordship
states, the three are one; but they are three indeed, but also
one (cS elvat rplta Bev, Ev es). Now, without being fastidious
as to the gender of the numeral (rpEts or rpla), we affirm that
this is not a quotation of 1 John v. 7 (ol rpELs vM E(rL), -a
sentence of a totally different form. But this is not all.
The words so THAT, which introduce the expression they are
three in'person, and one in consent, would lead us to suspect
that the sentiment is an inference firom some scriptural authority just preceding; whereas we are to suppose, from the
Bishop's statement, that the avowal of a belief in the Father,
the Son, and the HIoly Spirit, is immediately followed by the
expression, so that they are three in person, and one in consent.
Let us therefore refer to the creed itself, as it appears in the
translation given by his Lordship.
"'We believe in one God.... and in one Lord Jesus
Christ..... and in the Holy Ghost, who is given to believers, for consolation, and sanctification, and perfection, according to our Lord Jesus Christ's direction to his disciples,
saying, Go ye unto all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost; the Father being truly a Father, the Son truly a Son, and the Holy Ghost
truly a IIoly Ghost; the names being given not vainly and
unmeaningly, but accurately expressing the respective subsistence (or person, TrrdTo-ro-(L), order, and glory of each of
those named (TrGv ovojazopivcov); SO ThAT they are three in
subsistence (or person, 7roOr-TadoF) and one in consent.'(p. 104.)
"And thus it is as clear as words can make it, that the ex



Page  156

156 CONTIOVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
pression, They are three in subsistence (or person), and one
in consent, is not a quotation of 1 John v. 7; but is derived,
solely and entirely, fiom the baptismal commission in St.
AMatthew. We have seen many weak arguments in defence
of the verse, but we trust his Lordship will excuse us if we
frankly say, that an argument less effective than this it has
never been our lot to meet with." *
From the ability and learning displayed in this last article
of the Quarterly Review, in which the arguments of Bishop
Burgess are most triumphantly met, it might have been anticipated that the Controversy was drawing to its close. But,
alas, how vain human expectations frequently prove! The
debate, judging from publications that have recently appeared, seems as far from a termination as ever. And, indeed, on the plan on which it is now conducted, it may go on
forever. This memoir, therefore, is likely to close, while the
warfare still rages. But as every important argument on
each side has already been noticed, the review of the remaining publications will be as brief as possible.
From the conspicuous and decided part which Professor
Poison took in this Controversy, his name has been more or
less mixed up with all the discussions which have since taken
place. One great object of Bishop Burgess, in his various
publications, has been to diminish the general confidence of
the literary republic, not in the scholarship of Porson, for
that it would have been vain to touch, but in the accuracy of
his acquaintance with biblical manuscripts, and the correctness of some of his data and reasonings in this celebrated
Controversy. The Bishop charges that distinguished scholar
with "mistakes," with unfounded opinions respecting the
"genius of the Greek language," with making " disingenuous
* Quarterly Review, Dec. 1825, pp. 101, 102.




Page  157

MRITO CANTABRIGIENSIS. 157
quotations," with "deficient knowledge of the Greek fathers,"
&c., &c.
It is not surprising, therefore, that among the friends, or
disciples, or admirers of Porson, some one should step forward in his defence. It was due to his character, as a scholar
of the first order, as a critic distinguished for his acuteness
and his comprehension, and for the fearless honesty with
which he avowed and defended his opinions, that his reputation should be vindicated from unmerited. charges. He has
met with a vindicator in all respects worthy of him, and of
the cause which he has undertaken to defend, —one whom
Porson himself would have been pleased to acknowledge as
a friend and a coadjutor. I refer to the author of the following work: —
"A Vindication of the Literary Character of Professor
Porson, from the Animadversions of the Right Rev. Thomas
Burgess, D.D. F.R.S. F.A.S. P.R.S.L. Lord Bishop of
Salisbury, in various Publications on I John v. 7. By Crito Cantabrigiensis. Cambridge, 1827." 8vo. Report ascribes
this learned and able volume to the Rev. Dr. [Thomas]
Turton, Regius Professor of Divinity in that University.@
H-Ie who studies the articles in the Quarterly Review, and
Ctito Cantabrigiensis, will not, I apprehend, be very wide of
the mark, if he ascribe both to the same individual. But
the writer, be who he may, is of less importance than the
book; though, certainly, he has no reason to be ashamed of
this production of his pen.
The discussion is throughout conducted in the most gentlemanly and delicate manner. In his mode of carrying on the
Controversy he has improved greatly upon Porson, as there
scarcely ever occurs an expression calculated to wound or of* [Afterwards (1842) Dean of Westminster, and (1845) Bishop of Ely.ED.]




Page  158

158 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING. 1 JOHN V. 7.
fend. He is calm and dignified; but firm and conclusive in
all his reasonings. I regret that it is impossible to do any
justice, even to the bare statement of his argument. The
work is by no means restricted to a defence or vindication
of Porson; on the contrary, it embraces the whole range of
the Controversy, and discovers the author's familiarity with
all its ramifications and details. The conclusion of the volume, in which Crito vindicates Porson's qualifications as a
Scripture critic, is all I shall quote as an illustration of the
style and manner of the author, rather than as a view of the
contents of his book. Those qualifications are thus called in
question by Bishop Burgess.
"The numbers in array against the verse are not so numnerous as the advocates for it. No one country has entered
so frequently and fully into this inquiry as our own. And
(excepting living writers) who is there to oppose to the learning, of Selden, Pearson, Hammond, Stillingfleet, Wallis, Bull,
Mill, Waterland, and Horsley? I do not except Mir. Porson,
when opposed to the great names before mentioned, on such
a subject as our present, which does not admit the exercise of
that peculiar sagacity which distinguished his conjectures on
the text of the ancient Greek Poets, and the laws of Greek
metre, and the peculiarities of Greek idiom; but requires
other aids of learning, human and divine, in which Pearson
and Bull had no superior. MIr. Porson, indeed, brought
nothing new to this inquiry but what is, in a great degree,
extraneous to it, —his wit, and humor, and dexterity in exposing the inaccuracy of his opponent. He has brought no
objection to the passage, which had not been anticipated by
Sir Isaac Newton, Whiston, Emlyn, or Dr. Benson." (Vind.
p. 57.)
"When Mr. Boyle mentioned some eminent writers, whose
sentiments he stated to be in accordance with his own, Dr.




Page  159

CRITO CANTABRIGIENSIS. 159
Bentley replied, - that,'if such were their opinion, yet it
signified nothing,- for he went not by authorities but by
truth. If they believed so, they were certainly mistaken.'
We know, indeed, that scholars of high character have frequently judged erroneously of ancient works.'What clumsy cheats,' as the same great critic remarkS,'those Sibylline
Oracles, now extant, and Aristeas's story of the Septuagint,
passed without control, even among very learned men.' Selden, the first writer on Bishop Burgess's list, founds an argument in Chronology upon the Letters of Phalaris, as if they
had really been written by the Tyrant: — shall we, on that
account, hesitate to reject them, as spurious productions?
Pearson draws up a long and learned note to vindicate the
orthodox reading of 1 Tim. iii. 16. After employing, on that
occasion, principles of criticism which would overturn 1 John
v. 7 in an instant, he quotes the latter incomparably more
dubious text, without a word in its support: — can that be a
reason why we should uphold it? — The learning of Hammond, Stillingfleet, Wallis, and Bull is readily acknowledged;
but if any one will examine their observations on the controverted text, he will find that but a scanty portion of it has
been brought to bear upon that point: - and what is their
aulthority compared with the arguments of Mill and Bengelius? - Waterland is said to have become a convert to the
opinion that the verse is genuine, in consequence of Twells's
defence of it, - a story which, for the credit of Waterland.
is, I hope, not true: —but what has Waterland produced in
behalf of the verse? — Pearson and Bull, indeed, are the
champions, whose very presence is deemed sufficient to put
an end to contention; and I cannot but suspect that, while
his Lordship is contemplating PORsoN on one side of the
question, and those great men on the other, a feeling gradually comes over him somewhat similar to that which pre



Page  160

160 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
vailed at the Council of Trent, —a sort of horror at the idea
that'Grammarians should take upon them to teach Bishops
and Divines.' En remn indignam, said the adversaries of
Erasmus, —Nos, qui jam tot annis sumus Doctores sacree
Th7eologiee, denuo cogimur adire ludos literarios.*
" But, accordinb to the learned prelate, an inquiry into the
genuineness of this famous text'does not admit the exercise
of that peculiar sagacity which distinguished Mr. Porson' in
other subjects. Now surely there is something very paradoxical in the notion, that sagacity, however refined, should
form an obstacle, as it were, to success in any department of
literature. If his Lordship had contented himself with saying
that inquiries like the present do not absolutely require an
extraordinary degree of sagacity, the truth of the position
might, perhaps, have been allowed. 3Much, no doubt, that
is deserving of attention, may be accomplished without it.
But when we consider the expanse over which even a partial view of the subject has actually conducted us, and the
dark and dreary regions through which we might have been
led, we cannot, I think, but, feel the advantages to be derived
fiom a critical sagacity like that of Mr. Porson. The acuteness of his understanding was not confined to'the laws of
Greek metre and the peculiarities of Greek idiom'; and in
researches into Ecclesiastical antiquity,- where there are
works of dubious origin to be estimated, — where, in productions of which the authenticity is undoubted, there are
obscure passages to be illustrated, and corrupt ones to be restored, - where, in fact, there are discrepancies of all kinds
to be reconciled, we may confidently assert that the leading qualities of Mr. Polrson's mind were exactly those from
which the world might have anticipated the happiest results.
* [That is: —".It is a shameful thing; -we, who for so many years have
been Doctors (or teachers) of sacred Theology, are again sent to school." -
ED.]




Page  161

CRITO CANTABRIGIENSIS. 161
"Pearson and Bull deserve all their fame for'learning,
human and divine'; but, as they never took a prominent part
in defence of the verse, why should their acquirements be
brought forward for the purpose of throwing those of Mr.
Porcon into the shade? The learned prelate has long been
acqu-inted with the Letters to Travis; he has had the most
ample means of discovering their vulnerable points; and he
has finally selected those, I conclude, which he considered
the most open to attack:- and yet I will venture to affirm,
that, numerous as are the observations on which he has
thought proper to animadvert, there is not one instance in
which Mr. Porson appears deficient in learning, human or
divine. Of the truth of this proposition the reader has now
an opportunity to judge for himself.
"But Mr. Porson, it is alleged, advanced no new objection to the verse. —His purpose was to state the principal
grounds of the controversy, and to examine Mr. Travis's
arguments. He hinted, however, that if anything which had
not been adduced should occur to him in the course of his
investigation, he would not fail to bring it to light; and in
this he fulfilled his promise. The truth is, that arguments
and objections, when urged by him, assume a new character,
and produce a new effect. He deals not in trite and vague
generalities. What had before been thrown out in the gross
is thoroughly sifted, and applied to its proper use. Whether
intent upon Greek manuscripts, or ancient versions, or early
fathers, his power of discrimination is constantly on the alert.
Nothing seems to escape him by its minuteness; and yet,
whatever subject he is discussing, he places the whole of it
before the reader, in all its bearings. Let a man read everything that had been written on the controverted text previously to the time of Mr. Porson, and when he has afterwards
perused tile' Letters to Travis,' he will confess that to be tho
KE




Page  162

162 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
work from which he has derived the fullest information OL
the subject. Such are the effects of great talents, when ex
ercised even on common materials.
"'There is one quality of the mind, unnoticed by Bishop
Burgess, in which it may be confidently maintained that Mr.
Porson'had no superior' — I mean, the most pure and inflexible love of truth. Under the influence of this principles
he was cautious, and patient, and persevering in his researches; and scrupulously accurate in stating facts as he found
them. All who were intimate with him bear witness to this
noble part of his character; and his works confirm the testi.
mony of his friends. In a word, if, in a General Council of
SCHOLARS, an individual were to be selected and sent forth
to take a survey of any region of antiquity, profane, or ecclesiastical, it is quite certain that the person who should be
found to possess Mr. Porson's endowments would command
every vote."'*
It would have been pleasant to have taken leave of the
Controversy with this very beautiful piece of writing and argument. But transitions are common in this world. From
the summits of Parnassus it is not uncommon to be at once
precipitated into the bogs and quagmires which surround its
base. Crito Cantabrigiensis produced a literary curiosity, —
a Reply to a book before it was published; which enabled
Crito to notice, in the answered book itself, the answer by anticipation. In acting thus, the author has given the chief
proof which he has furnished of his wisdom; for it was certainly much easier to answer Crito before he appeared, than
it would have been afterwards. "A Specimen of an intended Publication, which was to lhave been entitled, a Vindication of them that have the rule over us, for their not
Pp1. 341-348.




Page  163

HUYSHE. 163
having cut out the disputed Passage, 1 John v. 7, 8, from
the Authorized Version. Being an Examination of the first
six Pages of Professor Porson's IVth Letter to Archdeacon
Travis, of the MSS. used by R. Stephens. By Francis
Huyshe. London. 1827." 8vo.
The title-page alone of this singular, but vaporing pamphlet, I should think would satisfy most readers of the author's competence for the task he has undertaken. I apprehend, whether Mr. HIuyshe is aware of it or not, that the
time has passed away when " those who are over us" had
an exclusive right to determine what is or is not the Bible.
Does the man know that he lives in the nineteenth century?
Has he so little acquaintance with " the march of intellect," as
to be unaware that the authority of the whole bench of bishops
is, in such a question, not worth a straw? But to the question, - Mr. Huyshe has paid some attention to it, and, had he
possessed a portion of sobriety of mind, might have written
what would be worth reading; but he so revels and riots in
the subject as to excite serious alarms for the soundness of
his intellect. He defends "Stephanus," and his text too,
with some ingenuity, though without success, and with little
advantage to the apocryphal text. He deals about charges
of "falsifying, bandying, and gulling," at a great rate; and
"flays and splits open " the false charges preferred by Gibbon and Porson, and so ably answered by Travis and Burgess.
What is more, he threatens the world with another visitation.
But let his advertisement tell the story of his recent adventures, and of his futuire exploits, -
"And when he next doth ride abroad,
MIay we be there to see."
"This publication is occasioned by an advertisement in the
newspapers, whicli announced that we might expect a Defence of Mr. Porson against Bishop Burgess, by Crito Can



Page  164

164 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
tabrigiensis. My veneration of the abilities and acquire.
ments of' Mr. Porson is unbounded:'forty thousand' sons' could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum.'
I can speak of him only, as Dr. Parr does,' Richard Porson,
Tov?ravv Oavfuaorov.' But if you talk of'an invincible love
of truth, an inflexible probity,' you sap the foundation of my
idolatry; and he stands within the prospect of comparison
with his blundering correspondent. The reader has before
him a specimen of my reasons for saying, that, if the world
was taken captive by him at his will, his own understanding
did not bow to that will. And I have to make my grateful
acknowledgments to Crito Cantabrigiensis, for his irresistible
excitement to this part of my proposed work; as the whole
probably would otherwise have been deferred till the night
cometh when no man can work. Should he think this not
sufficient to establish my opinion, he shall have more of it;
and he shall have it too, upon the Complutensian edition, and
the Ravian MS.; upon Erasmus's third edition, and the MS.
that was sent to him from England; upon the kindred reading discovered in the lMontfortian MS.; upon the West African recension; and above all, upon the internal testimony of
the passage, - till he cries,'hold, enough.' But I am not
without my hopes that the favor conferred upon me by Crito
Cantabrigiensis may be repaid by my saving him the expense
of paper and print; and I feel confident of being allowed to
doze out whatever may yet remain of the evening of life,
with6ut interruption foro any other quarter. I have not to
learn the truth of what the Trojan lady said,
loyog yap EK T a8oOVvTrov Lov
KLK rOwv 8oKOVVTCV a7roE 0o Tavrarov 0EVL.
And I am satisfied with thus publicly entering my protest on
these heads; and with having furnished a clew, by which any




Page  165

CRITO CANTABRIGIENSIS. 165
one who will use a little industry may extricate himself from
that labyrinth of fraud, which nearly two centuries have now
been constructing round Stephanus and the received text."
So much importance did the author attach to his performance, nothing, by the way, peculiar to Mr. Huyshe, - that
he transmitted it, with a printed circular, to all " those who
have the rule over him." This was like a dutiful son of the
Church. We dare say that most of their Lordships would
allow him "to doze out the remains of the evening of his
life," without interruption on their part, always excepting the
ever-watchful Bishop of Salisbury; who certainly would not
fail to acknowledge the services of Mr. Huyshe. Crito is, in
his usual style, very civil, but very pointed. Whether he
has given Mr. Huyshe his quietus, I cannot say, but two
years have passed since he last roused himself; from which
-we should hope that the old gentleman is dozing on his evening very pleasantly. Peace be to his slumbers! May they
be lasting and undisturbed!
The following passage, at the end of the Appendix to Crito's Vindication, gives the sum of the Controversy with Mr.
Huyshe, and a satisfactory explanation of the whole difficulty
on which he makes such a parade of argument.
"We may here, for a moment, revert to the object of all
this zeal to have it believed that Robert Stephens had two
sets of MSS. -- Mr. Huyshe seeing, distinctly enough, that
none of the fifteen marked MSS. contained 1 John v. 7, was
resolved that Robert Stephens should have MS. authority
for the verse; and so, presented him with sixteen additional
MSS., some one or more of which contained the verse in the
form assigned to it by Stephens's press. Now, let us not attribute to imaginary causes effects which causes known to
have existed are sufficient to have produced. The fifth edi* Pp. iii., iv.




Page  166

166 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
tion of Erasmus was the basis of Robert Steplhens's editions.
The Complutensian edition, which was a MS. in Stephens's
estimation, contained the disputed passage; and therefore,
with him, was authority for its insertion. Erasmus had
finally brought the verse into the best shape'in which it had
then appeared; and accordingly Robert Stephens inserted
the verse, with only one variation from the text of Erasmus: — changing rT 7rveIya aytov into TrO aytov rv lta, which,
as a scholar, he knew to be the better Greek, and, as a critic,
to be the reading of the Complutensian edition. This surely
is an easy and obvious method of accounting for Robert Stephens's proceeding with regard to the verse.
"In subordination to his grand object, Mr. Huyshe has
stated his opinions on a variety of topics, the discussion of
which would lead me beyond the limits I have prescribed to
myself. Whether Stephens's semicircle was misplaced by the
collator of the manuscripts, or the compositor of' the volume;
and whether by accident or from design, - whether the MSS.
were collated solely by Henry Stephens, or by Henry Stephens with the assistance of others,- whether Robert Stephens's MS. /f was one and the same with the Beza MS. now
at Cambridge, or merely'the same for all critical purposes,' —
these points, and others of still less consequence, the reader
will easily forgive me if I do not attempt to determine. It
may be sufficient to observe that, according to the best of my
judgment, the decisions of Mr. Huyshe on these subjects —
although accompanied by the most unwarrantable reflections
upon the living and the dead- are not often supported by a
substantial reason.
"To conclude, Mr. Huiyshe has mentioned the Complutensian edition, the third edition of Erasmus, the Berlin and
Dublin MSS., the African recension, and the internal evidence, - as matters about which he is quite prepared for




Page  167

OXLEE. 167
ontention. Happily, however, he has given the form of
7ords by which he may be induced to cherish the thoughts
f peace. Availing myself, therefore, of that form, I say,
iith the utmost sincerity, -' Hold, Enough."' *
In defence of himself and of his former publication, the
rev. John Oxlee published, in 1828, "Two Letters, respectally addressed to the Lord Bishop of Salisbury, in defence
f certain Positions of the Author, relative to 1 John v. 7;
i which, also, the recent Arguments of his Lordship for the
Terse are shown to be groundless Surmises, and evident Misakes, as well in Church History as in Criticism." To Mr.
)xlee's views and labors in this Controversy we have aleady adverted. His Lordship had remarked on the temper
a which he had conducted the discussion, which was proba-!ly felt to be the more offensive from the weight of Mr. Oxle's talents and learning. In the two letters now addressed
a Bishop Burgess, he defends the ground taken in his former,etters very ably and very dispassionately. Every point ad-'erted to by the Bishop, either in his animadversions on Oxee, or otherwise, in support of the passage, is discussed and
hown to be either incorrect oi' inapplicable, - to be founded
ri ignorance, or to leave out of view some circumstance which
ntirely alters its nature,,- the new evidence, as well Is the
Ild, is disposed of in a manner that admits not of successful
eply. The Montfort MS., the Panoplia Dogmatica of Euhymius Zigabenus, the Complexiones of Cassiodorus, the
Dritical Edition of Jerome's Version by Vallarsils, the Veona, Harleian, Wolfenbtittel, and other MSS. are shown to,fford no satisfactory evidence in support of the passage.
rihe reasoning of his Lordship respecting the Symbolum
kntiochenum and Fulgentius is also entirely demolished.
* Crito Cantab., pp. 402 - 404.




Page  168

168 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
His notice of Mr. Huyshe is worthy of a. place in this review.
"Though I cannot congratulate him on the display either
of his learning or of his reasoning, nor yet of his modesty,
it would be extremely invidious not to notice his prudence
and his foresight, in endeavoring to secure to himself the admiration of the bishops; and in furnishing the particulars of
his address, so that, whenever he shall be wanted, they may
know where to find him. The CIRCULAR, he may rest satisfied, for the sake of this one circumstance only, will be carefully deposited amongst the most valuable of their papers.
Champions of his calibre, who can dare to penetrate the
camp of the enemy, and can fetch away the OPIMA SPOLIA,
are invaluable coadjutors in the field of controversy; and, as
the Hookers of their day, are sure to be drawn out of theiI
retirement, from their little sequestered parishes, in order tc
fight the battles of the Church, and to receive at her hand,
that preferment which she has to bestow, as the reward of
their prowess. Indeed, it is scarcely possible to conceive f
design more worthy of the pencil than this feat, intimated t(
us in the circular, of Mir. Huyshe dragging forth to the light
completely vanquished and put in chains, that infernal dog
PROFESSOR PORSON; whilst, in another part, we behold th(
OPIAMA SPOLIA, modestly laid by our champion at the feet of
the Church; who, justly proud of her son, is preparing t
decorate his valor with the first honors at her disposal.
"Before taking leave of Mr. Iluyshe, I would beg to ask
on what Christian principle he has attempted to connect the
defence of the disputed passage with that of the Church;.an(
to treat its opponents as inimical to their mother? If I maj
be allowed to state my own case, I can say with much truth
that, in opposing it, I have acted with a view to nothing els{
than to the honor of the Christian Church. The conduct of




Page  169

BURGESS. 169
Mr. Huyshe and his fellow-champions is what the fathers of
the Church would have universally condemned. They would
have deemed it a crime of no ordinary magnitude to deliver
to posterity, for the original sacred text, what they themselves
had not duly received from their predecessors, nor could
find in their Greek manuscripts. Their memory is grossly
insulted by the supposition, that they suffered a text of such
vast importance in the Trinitarian controversy to be lost
from their copies of the Greek Scriptures. The character
of the Church docent as the guardian of Holy Writ is no
otherwise to be defended, than by denying the possibility of
such an occurrence taking place. I maintain, therefore, that
in this instance the opponents of the verse are the true sons
of the Church; and that they alone deserve well at her hands
for having used their best endeavors to remove the interpolation." *
I must now hasten to a conclusion of this lengthened series
of articles, by briefly noticing the remaining publications. In
the present year appeared, "A Letter to the Rev. Thos. Beynon, Archdeacon of' Cardigan, in reply to a Vindication of the
Literary Character of Professor Porson, by Crito Cantabrigiensis: and in further proof of the Authenticity of 1 John
v. 7. By Thomas Burgess, D.D., Bishop of Salisbury." 8vo.
His Lordship's tenacity of life in this cause is certainly the
most remarkable feature in his character. LHe is entitled to
much credit for the sincerity and zeal with which he maintains and avows his convictions. But with every disposition
to respect his motives and intentions, it is impossible to feel
respect for his judgment after so much has been done to produce conviction without any avail. His Lordship persists in
repeating the same things, after they have been explained or
* Pp. 120-122.
8




Page  170

170 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING I JOHN V. 7.
confuted, till his opponents have nothing further to say. In
the most unaccountable manner, he converts the negative
evidence in opposition to the verse- that is, its absence
from manuscripts, versions, and fathers - into positive evidence in its support; and on this strange fallacy builds the
principal part of his whole superstructure of defence. There
is no arguing with this kind of proof.
The plan of the Bishop's publications is admirably calculated to raise a cloud of dust around the question. It is
scarcely possible to get a clear view of it, from the multitude of points which are introduced. For instance, in the
last publication, we have first an introduction; then follows a
series of tables of contents; then comes a preface of thirtyfive pages; after this are forty pages of notes on this introduction; we have then the Letter, which, though announced
as the publication, is literally buried between the introduction
and the appendix of the work, and is the least part of the
whole; after the letter, which consists of thirty-two pages, is
a postscript of twenty-two pages; and after TANTUM comes
another sort of postscript of thirteen pages more. If this is
not writing " about it and about it" till all men may justly be
led "to doubt it," we do not know what the tendency of such
sort of writing and reasoning is. It is injurious to the Bishop's reputation for learning and candor, and much more injurious to the cause of truth than he seems to be aware of.
Having, I apprehend, tired my readers, and nearly tired
myself, I thought here to have shortly summed up and concluded. But I have just procured and read, with all the attention and impartiality in my power, a publication for which
Bishop Burgess has expressed many an anxious desire. On
which, therefore, I must bestow a few remarks.
"New Criticisms on the celebrated Text, 1 John v. 7. A
Synodical Lecture by Francis Anthony Knittel, Counsellor




Page  171

KNITTEL. 171.
to the Consistory, and General Superintendent of the Grand
Duchy of Brunswick Lunebourg. Published at Brunswick
in 1785. Translated from the original German, by William
Alleyn Evanson, M.A. London." [1829.] 8vo. All parties
must feel their obligations to Mr. Evanson for having brought
out, in an English translation, this curious work. The subject seems rather a strange one for "a synodical lecture,"
which I fancy must have been the exemplar of Bishop Burgess, when he made it the subject of a charge to his clergy.
That charge, by the by, his Lordship has promised to publish; so that something more may still be expected from the
fruitful pen of the Bishop of Salisbury. Had Mr. Evanson
not prefixed a preface to Knittel, he would have consulted
his reputation as a scholar; had he suppressed the conclusion of it, he would have consulted his reputation as a man
of candor and a Christian. That conclusion can sting none
but the writer himself. Let him reflect on his own consistency in denouncing the Apocrypha, and yet -reading it as
the lessons of instruction to the Church of God; protesting
against its incorporation and circulation among the inspired
Scriptures, and defending a text as certainly spurious as any
of the apocryphal books, before he presume to denounce men
whose character for integrity and zeal for truth are at least
as well known and as much entitled to respect as his own.
Of Knittel, after patiently examining his statements and
arguments, I can come to no other conclusion than that at
which Michaelis arrived, "that he throws no additional light
on the subject." Apart from the controversy, his work contains some useful information on various subjects, elicited
with genuine German industry, and set forth with due parade
of logic, of learned textual stuffing, and marginal reftrence
and quotation. Under the head of " Greek and Latin Manuscripts discovered which support 1 John v. 7," I expected to




Page  172

172 CONTROVEIRSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
find something about MSS. which contained the text; but,
to my great surprise, he refers to three MSS. which, by his
own account, only swell the number of' codices which do not
contain the passage. On the first of these manuscripts, after
a great many words, he says:" This codex augments the list of those which omit 1 John
v. 7. At the same time I must observe, that the copyist frequently omits passages of the text of 1 John, but in such a
manner as evinces both his negligence and haste; e. g. 1 John
ii. 22 wants the last words of the verse rov IaTepa Ka& TOy Ylov:
in like manner, the 7rag, with which verse 23 begins, is wanting. Again, verse 27 wants the conclusion, tIevYtre ev avrT:
verse 28 wants the beginning, Kal vvv r'eKvta: 1 John iv. 16
wants the conclusion, Kat 6 eos Ev avrco. From these examples, we perceive that the copyist's omission of certain passages of the text may have been occasioned, not always by
the various readings of codices, but also by words of similar
sound. Therefore he is not a perfectly safe witness in this
matter."
On the second he says:"This codex may be called Guelpherbytanus D. True, its
testimony, as far as hitherto known, is of very little weight;
but still it contains something remarkable, and deserving further attention."
The reader may accept of these as specimens taken almost at random from this volume, in illustration of the light
which is to be found in the " New Criticisms " of the learned
Knittel on I John v. 7.
Instead of dilating further on this subject myself, I cannot
better sum up the whole, than by placing before the reader
the following luminous view of the facts which have been
elicited and fully established in the course of this extended




Page  173

OXLEE. 173
discussion. The controversy, I should observe, leaves the
doctrine of the Trinity unaffected; has tended to establish
the authenticity of the inspired writings, and to illustrate the
powerful evidence by which their genuineness is ascertained.
But till the following positions are fairly met, and satisfactorily answered, it is unnecessary to write or read another book
in support of I John v. 7.
"There are three ways of ascertaining the genuineness of
any particular text of the New Testament; - from its being
found in the Greek manuscripts; preserved in the ancient
Versions; or cited and commented on in the writings of the
fathers. The absence of all this testimony in behalf of the
heavenly witnesses, your Lordship has been pleased to denominate the negative evidence against the verse; whereas I
am prepared to maintain, that such testimony is the only positive evidence which we can have of any passage either now
being, or ever having been, at any time past, a genuine part
of the New Testament; and that, in proportion as this sort
of evidence either increases or decreases, the genuineness or
spuriousness of the passage is rendered more or less doubtful.
"Thus much being premised, it will be no difficult labor to
reverse the statement of your Lordship, and to demonstrate
to the impartial reader, that since the close of the seventeenth century the novelties of discoveries against the passage have been manifold and important; but the novelties
for it worse than nothing.
"1. Great weight used to be laid on the Greek manuscripts made use of by Robert Stephens for his edition of
the Greek Testament; but of that argument we now hear
less and less. By the industry of Lelong, Wetstein, Marsh,
and Griesbach, most of the manuscripts have been recognized; and afford evidence, not for, but against the disputed
text, in that they contain it not.




Page  174

174 CONTROVERSY RESVECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
"2. During the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the
G(reek manuscripts consulted, though they all conspired in
furnishing evidence against the verse, were but few in num
ber; whereas, by the indefatigable industry of Dr. Griesbach
and of other critics of the last century, there are now reckoned up no less than about one hundred and fifty, which have
been inspected with a special reference to the passage, and
are known not to contain it; whilst, for the verse, there is
still extant only the same individual manuscript from which
Erasmus, three hundred years ago, so reluctantly interpolated
his third edition of the Greek Scriptures. The Codex Ravianus cannot be considered as an exception; being evidently posterior to the invention of printing, and even copied
from the Complutensian Polyglot.
" 3. By the labor of Mr. Porson and other critics, the fact
has been ascertained, that in no Greek manuscript, hitherto
examined, are the words'v rf7 y, found making a part of the
eighth, and indicating the loss of the seventh verse; so that
one -chief argument formerly made use of has been wholly
done away with.
" 4. The Syriac Version, which in antiquity and authority
may well contend with the Latin, though it made its appearance without the foisted text, had been printed in a manner
from one or two manuscripts only; so that there might still
have remained a rational doubt, whether at some future time
the passage would not be found in some of the Syriac as well
as of the Latin manuscripts. But, within the last century, a
multitude of Syriac manuscripts, in various parts of Christendom, have been examined, and still found not to contain
it; so that the evidence arising from this most ancient version has become much more decisive than it was.
"5. In the beginning of the eighteenth century there came
forth, edited on the authority of various manuscripts, the Cop



Page  175

OXLEE. 175
tic Version of the New Testament. This version, in the opinion of the learned editor himself, was made from the Greek
in the beginning of' the third century; and since it coincides, as well in the Sahidic as in the Memphitic dialect, with
the existing state of the Greek manuscripts, it has contributed much to the evidence against the disputed text, and that,
too, within the last century; Mill being about the first of our
sacred critics who -had the opportunity to mention it.
" 6. Of the erroneous persuasion respecting its existence
in the Armenian Version, even till after the time of Mill, I
have already taken notice. Neither Porson, nor Griesbach,
nor Marsh professes to have understood anything of the Armenian tongue themselves; but they correctly judged that
the passage had been foisted into it contrary to the authority
of its manuscripts. In my Letters to Mr. Nolan I have
afforded, what your Lordship will not easily find elsewhere,
some more certain information respecting the state of the
Armenian text; and have there demonstrated its evidence
to be not for, but wholly against the authority of the verse;
and that its appearance in the printed edition of Uscan was
an interpolation from the Latin.
"7. The Philoxenian, or later Syriac, is another independent version; and wholly distinct from the Simplex. It was
made at the first, probably, from manuscripts of the fifth century; and afterwards collated with others a century or two
later. Since the translation is highly literal, it has preserved to us, with the utmost certainty, the state of the Greek
text at the time of its being made. It retains, however, no
trace of the heavenly witnesses; and, as the whole of this
version of the New Testament was not published till within
these thirty years, it may well be considered as novel evidence against the verse, and that in the course of the lat
century.




Page  176

176 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
" 8. I profess to have no acquaintance with the Slavonic
Version myself; but to the learned its history is not unknown: that it was made from the Greek towards the close
of the ninth century; and afterwards either amended or retranslated, in the thirteenth or fourteenth, by Alexius, the
Metropolitan. In this version from the Greek, as well as in
all others which have the least pretensions to antiquity, the
text of the heavenly witnesses is said to be absent; and, since
all the critical inquiries into the state of the Slavonic are of
a very recent date, its evidence against the passage must be
regarded as another novelty within the period prescribed.' 9. Before the commencement of the preceding century,
the Prologue to the Catholic Epistles was universally believed to have had Jerome for its author. Neither Socinus
nor any of his immediate followers ever dared to question its
authenticity; and, though they objected to the text of the
heavenly witnesses, they were constrained to acknowledge
that at least Jerome, the ablest critic of the fourth century,
had publicly defended it. But since the works of Jerome
have been more accurately and critically edited, that document has been judged to be the forgery of some sophisticator
of the sixth or seventh century; and there is scarcely a critic
to be found, since the time of Mill, who has not added his
voice to that sentence of condemnation. Behold, then, within the last hundred years, another novelty against the verse;
and that of great weight and importance.
" 10. It is equally well known to the learned, that, before
the close of the seventeenth century, the books to Theophilus, in which the passage under dispute once or twice appears,
were usually ascribed to Athanasius, whose title they bear
before them. But since the publication of the Benedictine
edition of his works, in which these spurious tracts are more
Epointedly condemned, and separated from the genuine, the




Page  177

OXLEE. 177
authority of Athanasius for the verse has ceased to be Lrought
forward.
"11. In all the more ancient Latin tracts containing any
trace of it, including the books to Theophilus on the Trinity,
and the Liber adversus Varimadum, there are circumstances
attending its insertion which clearly indicate that the writers
themselves were wholly ignorant of its existence as a text of
Scripture; whilst, as I have shown in my Letters to Mr.
Nolan, they furnish the very best evidence against its authenticity, in that the words are adduced, not as the very
language, but only as the demonstrated sense of the language of St. John.
" 12. The supposed citation of it by Fulgentius is an argument on which, up to this very hour, great stress has been
laid. But, in my Letters to Mr. Nolan, I have alleged
some strong reasons to prove, that for its appearance in the
Responsio contra Arrianos we are probably indebted, not to
any knowledge which the learned father himself had of the
text, but to the dexterity of Cochlseus. I have been informed of a late edition of the works of Fulgentius, printed
at Venice, in 1742; the editor of which professes to have
collated manuscripts, &c., but I have not been able to procure a copy of it. To that editor, then, the reader must be
referred for more satisfactory information on the point at
issue; and, if he finds nothing more in its behalf than the
authority of the editio princeps of Cochleus, the supposed
testimony of Fulgentius must take its place beside that of
Jerome, as being equally bottomed in fraud and mistake.
" Such, my Lord, are the novelties or discoveries against
the verse in the course of the last century. They are of
such a nature as to leave its advocates not so much as one
firm prop on which to rest their defence; and have fairly reduced them to ththe dire necessity of fetching from the works
~8* ~L




Page  178

178 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
of the fathers a few coincidences of thought and expression,
which they would be happy to palm on our credulity for allusions to the text. To one already conversant in the history
of this dispute, a minute detail of what has been going on
may seem tedious and void of interest; but the extraordinary
statement of your Lordship, that the cumulative evidence of
modern date had brought nothing important against the verse,
in addition to the materials of Sandius and Simon, was not
otherwise to be refuted than by an appeal to these facts." *
After the preceding sheets had been printed, and published
in the work in which they originally appeared, I received another pamphlet on the controversy, which bears strong evidence of proceeding from the pen of Crito Cantabrigiensis,
though it appears under another designation: "Remarks
upon Mr. Evanson's Preface to his Translation of Knittel's
New Criticisms on 1 John v. 7. By Clemens Anglicanus.
Cambridge, 1829."
The author of this acute and well-written tract does not
enter into the general discussion with Knittel. This he
deemed unnecessary, as every argument adduced by the
learned German deserving of attention had been disposed of
before. His attention is exclusively directed to the preface,
the misstatements and inaccuracies of which he has detected
and exhibited in a manner that, I should suppose, will make
the translator regret he ever attempted anything original on
a subject he so imperfectly understands. Clemens Anglicanus, at the same time, writes in the most gentlemanly manner. With the most perfect command of his temper and his
pen, he analyses MIr. Evanson's reasonings, and entirely demolishes them. Without quoting a large part of the pamphlet, I could not place the argument of it before the reader,
* Oxlee's Two Letters to the Bishop of Salisbury, pp. 13-18.




Page  179

CLEMENS ANGLICANUS. 179
so as to enable him to appreciate its merits. I must, therefore, content myself with extracting the concluding paragraphs, in which lie gives his opinion of Knittel's work, and
of part of his translator's preface. Those who wish to examine the subject more fully, will refer to the pamphlet itself;
or to a very able critique on Knittel and Clemens Anglicanus
in the Eclectic Review for the present montlk(February, 1830).
"Mr. Evanson has done good service by his translation of
the'New Criticisms.' M. Knittel, the author of the work,
is manifestly a very learned man; but his ingenuity - perhaps I might say, his imagination -fairly overpowers his
judgment. He finds scarcely anything but resemblances
between objects which present to the common eye little
besides dissimilitude. The consequence is, that his book
contains as weak arguments, perhaps, as ever were advanced
in favor of the disputed text; but they are frequently managed with uncommon dexterity. He affects, in his discussion,
the smartness of dialogue, and is somewhat rhapsodical in
his style of writing. The best part of his book relates to
Cyprian. As for his argument depending upon the $Ev ra
rpLa and raT rpla v, —which, from Griesbach's notice, we
were previously-aware that Knittel had employed, it only
shows that the Greek fathers who used such expressions
were accustomed to express, in the briefest manner, the received doctrine of a Trinity in Unity..... Let me add, that
I think it much to be lamented that the translator should
have retained the algebraical proof or illustration of the
doctrine just mentioned, - which forms appendix (G).....
That the' New Criticisms' present no very distinct view of
the subject discussed, may, I think, be collected from Mr.
Evanson's preface. Had'Mr. Evanson translated any one
of the dissertations of Mill, Bengelius, Wetstein, or Griesbach, his preface could scarcely have contained so many inaccuracies.




Page  180

180 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING I JOHN V. 7.
"Mr. Evanson devotes several pages of his preface to observations on the mode of criticism adopted by'the Deistical
Wetstein, the Pelagian, Utilitarian Semler, and their servile
imitators'; from the tenor of which observations I naturally
conclude that he does not aspire after the character of a discreet and temperate writer.
4 "Mr. Evanson apprehends that'the transition, from our
conclusion to that of the Unitarians is natural and easy.' —'You,' says the learned writer,'reject one verse of John's
First Epistle: they reject the first fourteen verses of his Gospel.' -' It is,' he adds,' but a step, and we reject the Sacred
Canon altogether.' Now the only method, as it appears to
me, by which all this can be effected, must be by disregarding our present Greek manuscripts, as'few and suspicious
witnesses'; and referring to'the many thousand uncollated
Greek manuscripts which are probably in existence.' If the
Unitarians should manifest any disposition to take this course,
which has been chosen by Mr. Evanson himself, I trust that
he will be able to produce good reasons why they ought not
to follow his example." *
I should have stated, in the regular course of the memoirs,
the views taken of the controverted passage by Mr. Horne,
in his valuable Introduction to the Scriptures, —a work no
less distin.guished for the laborious diligence which it displays,
than for the amiable candor which pervades it. Of this the
present controversy affords an illustration. In his earlier
editions, the mind of the author either hung in doubt, or it
leaned to the side of the authenticity of the passage. In his
sixth edition, however, he fairly surrenders it, as no longer
defensible. After giving, which he had done in all his editions, an admirable statement of the evidence on both sides,
he concludes thus:* Clemens Anglicanus's Remarks, pp. 44-46.




Page  181

HORNE. 181
"Upon a review of all the preceding arguments, the disputed clause (we think) must be abandoned as spurious: nor
can anything less than the positive authority of unsuspected
manuscripts justify the admission of so important a passage
into the sacred canon. Much stress, it is true, has been laid
upon some points in the internal evidence, and particularly
the supposed grammatical arguments (Nos. 2 and 3), and the
reasons assigned for the omission of this clause. But some
of these reasons have been shown to be destitute of the support alleged in their behalf; and the remainder are wholly
hypothetical, and unsustained by any satisfactory evidence.
Internal evidence,' indeed, (as Bishop Marsh forcibly argues,)' may show that a passage is spurious, though external
evidence is in its favor; for instance, if it contain allusions to
thlings which did not exist in the time of the repluted author.
BUT NO INTERNAL EVIDENCE CAN PROVE A PASSAGE TO
BE GENUINE, WHEN EXTERNAL EVIDENCE IS DECIDEDLY
AGAINST IT. A spurious passage may be fitted to the context as well as a genuine passage. No arguments, therefore,
from internal evidence, however ingenious they may appear,
can outweigh the mass of external evidence which applies to
the case in question.' " *
I must not omit to mention, that IMr. Horne was the first,
so far as I have observed, to bring before the British public
the testimony of the Codex Oltobonianus, as containing the
disputed clause. It adds, however, nothing to the authority
of the passage. The following is his account of this manuscript, derived from Professor Scholz's communication in the
" Biblisch-Kritische Reise."
"The Codex Ottobonianus 298, in the Vatican Library, is
the only other manuscript in which the disputed clause is to
be found. According to Dr. Scholz it is as follows: oTrL rpEts
~ Horne's Introduction, Vol. IV. p. 485.




Page  182

182 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING 1 JOHN V. 7.
elftcv otr LaprTpovYreg aiwo 7Tov ovpavov, araTlp, Xoyos, Kat 7rfvlzva
aylov KatL Or TpEL Et To ev eEtLL. Ka& rpetL ELcL' oL taprTVpOVVTre
afro rqs Y71, TO r7rvevfua, &c., &c. It is worthy of remark that
this manuscript has a7ro roV ovpavov, fi'om heaven, instead of ev
Ir ovpaow), in heaven, and a7ro Trq yt,, from earth,* instead of ev
Dr y,, on earth, which words occur in the Codex 3Iontfortianus; and the absence of the article (as in that manuscript)
before the words expressive of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
manifestly indicates the Latin origin of the Codex Ottobonianus; which has further been altered in many places to make
it agree with the Latin Vulgate. And as this manuscript is
stated to have been written in the fifteenth century, this late
date, in addition to the very doubtful internal evidence which
it affords, renders its testimony of no force whatever." t
* [Horne has been led into error by Scholz. The manuscript reads'rrI
r7 yis, on earth, instead of & r ob,T~ yS, as appears by the fac-simile given
in the later editions of Hcrne's Introduction.- ED.]
t Horne's Introduction, Vol IV. p. 486.




Page  183

APPENDIX
BY THE EDITOR.
TIiE principal object of the following Appendix is to continue
the history of the controversy respecting 1 John v. 7, from the
year 1830, the date of Mr. Orme's Memoir, to the present time. Notice will also be taken of some earlier publications on the subject.
TILE Monthly Anthology and Boston Review for February,
1811, contained an article on Griesbach's Greek Testament, now
known to have been written by the Rev. Joseph S. Buckminster,
in which the question was asked, " To what is it to be attributed
that even at the present day 1 John v. 7 is quoted in piroof of the
doctrine of the Trinity, and even taken as a text of discourses,
when it-ought to be known that it has not more authority in its
favor than the famous reading of the seventh commandment, in
one of the editions of King James's Bible: Thou shalt commit
adultery?" (p. 110.) This strong statement, followed by a remark placing Acts xx. 28 and 1 Tim. iii. 16 in the same category,
gave occasion to a critical discussion of the various readings of
these passages in the Panoplist for April and May, 1811, the latter
of the,two articles being mainly devoted to 1 John v. 7. The
writer in the Panoplist, while admitting "great doubts " respecting this passage, urges the quotation of the text in the Confession
of Faith presented by the Catholic bishops to Huneric, A. D. 484,
and the use of the article before Eg in the last clause of the eighth
verse, as important arguments for its genuineness; and observes:
"Until these [circumstances] are fairly considered and fairly
explained, we cannot deem the spuriousness of the passage to be
settled beyond dispute." (p. 539.) The argument on the former
point is quoted from Charles Butler's Letters to Professor Marsh,




Page  184

184 APPENDIX.
and on the latter from Middleton's work on the Greek Article.
In the Anthology for June, 1811, Mr. Buckminster replied, remarking that there was " not a single argument in Mr. Butler's
letter, which had not been already brought forward by Travis, and
considered by Porson and Griesbach"; and propounding four
questions, which he says the advocates of the verse must answer,.
1)efore this African Confession can be offered as good authority
for the existence of the verse in Latin copies at the end of the
fifth century; The argument that the use of the article before'v implies the existence of a previous ev, to be found only in ver.
7, he meets by referring to the use of ro E'v in Phil. ii. 2. The
Panoplist for August, 1811, contains a rejoinder; but there is no
reply to the four questions, nor any notice of the passage adduced
in illustration of the use of the article before ('v.
In the year 1820 the Rev. Henry Ware, Jr., published " Two
Letters to the Rev. Alexander McLeod, D. D., Pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, containing Remarks upon the Texts
from which he preached on the Evenings of April 30, and May
7." New York, 1820, Svo. pp. 24. The text of Dr. McLeod's
first discourse was I John v. 7, which was assumed to be genuine.
Mr. Ware protests against this assumption, and quotes in opposition tile concessions of a numnber of eminent Trinitarian writers,
who had expressed in the strongest terms their conviction of its
spuriousness. Among these quotations, the following extract from
a Latin letter of Bishop Lowth to Michaelis, first published in
Michaelis's Literarischer Briefwechsel, or " Literary Correspondence," Vol. II. p. 428, may deserve to be repeated here, as the
work from which it was taken is probably accessible to few English readers. "W We have," says the Bishop, " some wranglers in
theology, sworn to follow their master, who are prepared to defend
anything, however absurd, should there be occasion. But I believe there is no one among us in the least degree conversant with
sacred criticism, and having the use of his understanding, who
would be willing to contend for the genuineness of the verse, 1
John v. 7." * In 1823 a third edition of Mr. Ware's tract was
"Habemus in theologia rabulas quosdam in magistri alicujus verba
juratos; nihil est tam absurdum quod illi, si res et occasio ferat, non




Page  185

BRITISH CRITIC. — RICKLI. 185
published in Boston, with additions; and it is reprinted in his
Works, Vol. II. pp. 303-330. Boston, 1846, 12mo.
The British Critic, Quarterly Theological Review and Ecclesiastical Record for July, 1828, Vol. IV. pp. 1- 32, in a review of
the Vindication of Porson by Crito Cantabrigiensis, contains a full
and able discussion of the genuineness of the disputed text.
Speaking of Bishop Burgess, the reviewer says: " In the various
pu)blications enumerated above, he has brought forward, indeed,
almost every argument, good, bad, and indifferent, that has ever
suggested itself to any of the defenders of the verse, and has
most entirely failed of producing the desired effect. The causes
of this bad success are not to be looked for in the want of zeal
and talents in the advocate, but in the utter hopelessness of the
cause which he has attempted to maintain." (pp. 2, 3.) The
British Critic was at this time the leading organ of the High
Church party in England.
In 1828 Karl Rickli published a commentary, in German, on
the First Epistle of John, with the following title: -" The First
Epistle of John, explained and applied in Sermons delivered
before the Evangelical Reformed Church at Lucerne, with an
Historical Preface, and an Exegetical Appendix." * He rejects
1 John v. 7 without hesitation as spurious, and gives in his Appendix (pp. 29 -44) an interesting account of its introduction into
the various modern translations of the New Testament. He
states that the verse was regarded as supposititious by Luther,
Zwingli, (Ecolampadius, Bullinger, and Bugenhagen; that it did
not appear in Luther's version till 1593, (not 1574 as erroneously
stated by Panzer and others,) when it was inserted in the edition
printed at Frankfort, from which the corruption rapidly spread,
and after 1620 became universal. This interpolation of Luther's
parati sint defendere. Sed neminem credo jam apud nos esse, in critica
sacra paulum modo versatum, et cui sanum sit sinciput, qui pro sinceritate commatis 7mi 1 Joh: v. propugnare velit." - See Christian Disciple
for Malrch, 1819; New Series, I. 109.
* "Johannis erster Brief, erkl.irt und angewendet in Predigten,... mit
historischem Vorbericht, und exegetischem Anhange.".... Luzern,
1828, 8vo. pp. xxxiv., 399, 48.




Page  186

186 APPENDIX.
version was in direct opposition to his solemn charge, in the
Preface to the edition published in the year of his death (1546),
that no alteration should be made in his work. The first edition
of his translation of the New Testament was published in 1522.
In 1831 another volume appeared from the pen of the indefatigable Bishop Burgess, entitled "Remarks on the General Tenour
of the New Testament regarding the Nature and Dignity of Jesus
Christ, addressed to Mrs. Joanna Baillie," in which, of course, the
genuineness of 1 John v. 7 was defended; and in 1835 he published at Salisbury the following work: "An Introduction to
the Controversy on the Disputed Verse of St. John, as revived
by Mr. Gibbon: to which is added Christian Theocracy: a
Second Letter to Mrs. Joanna Baillie." The Introduction was
first privately printed in 1833. It throws no new light on the
subject.
In 1835 Cardinal Wiseman published at Rome "Two Letters
on some Parts of the Controversy concerning the Genuineness of
1 John v. 7: containing also an Inquiry into the Origin of the first
Latin Version of Scripture, commonly called'the Itala."' These
Letters first appeared in the Catholic Magazine for 1832 and
1833, Vols. II. and III. The Roman edition contains some additions. They are reprinted, with a few verbal changes, in Vol.
I. of Wiseman's Essays on Various Subjects, London, 1853; and
this is the edition from which I shall quote.
In these Letters the Cardinal maintains that the first Latin
version of the Greek Testament originated in the Roman province of North Africa; that the so-called intei~pretatio Itala, which
Augustine preferred for its closeness and perspicuity, was a revision or recension of this primary Latin version, and consequently
inferior in critical authority. He further maintains that, though
the disputed passage was wanting in the manuscripts used in Italy,
and does not appear in the writings of the Italian fathers, it
belonged to the original Latin version, made in Africa; whence
" we are led to conclude that the manuscripts used in making this
version possessed the verse; and these were necessarily manuscripts of far greater antiquity than any we can now inspect." X.
" Wiseman's Essays, I. 66.




Page  187

WISEMAN. 187
That the passage in question belonged originally to the Old
Latin version, Dr. Wiseman infers from its being" quoted or referred to by the African fathers, Tertullian, Cyprian, Marcus
Celedensis, Victor Vitensis, the four hundred bishops assembled
under Huneric at Carthage, Vigilius Tapsensis, and Fulgentius.
A new argument in favor of this thesis is based on an anonymous
work called the Speculum, or "Mirror," found in a manuscript
assigned by Wiseman to the sixth or seventh century, belonging
to the library of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome. This
work consists wholly of quotations from Scripture, arranged
under one hundred and forty-four heads, embracing the chief
points of Christian belief and practice. The text is that of the
Old Latin version, and generally agrees with the quotations of
the African fathers. It has been published by Cardinal Mai in
his Nova Bibliotheca Patrum, Tom. I. Pars II., Rome, 1852, 4to.
No title is given to the manuscript by the original transcriber, but
several different and later hands have prefixed inscriptions erroneously identifying it with a treatise of Augustine's against the
Donatists, which Possidius, in his list of that father's works,
entitles De Testimoniis Scripturarum contra Donatistas et Idola:
One of the four titles, however, thus prefixed to the work, reads
simply Libri de Speculo. We know that Augustine made a collection of practical extracts from Scripture which bore the name
of Speculum, serving the reader as a " mirror" of character; and
WNiseman and Mai argue that the present compilation is no other
than that work. To discuss the question fully, and to consider
the comparative claims of the two other Specula which have been
attributed by different editors to Augustine, would occupy too
much space. I would only observe that compilations of this kind
were peculiarly liable to alteration and interpolation by transcribers,* and that there are strong presumptions against the supposi* For an illustration of this fact we need go no further than the work
which forms a part of the same manuscript which contains the Speculum,
namely, Cyprian's Testimozia adversus Judceos. The Benedictine editors
complain that the manuscripts of this work vary so much, that it is impossible to determine what part of it is Cyprian's. - Cypriani Opera,
Paris, 1726, fol., p. 596.




Page  188

188 APPENDIX.
tion that Augustine was the author of the present work in its present form. The Speculum of Augustine, as his biographer Possidius
informs us, was accompanied by a Preface; this has none: Augustine in his quotations from the Old Latin version used the Italian
text; in this the African recension is followed: Augustine has not
only never quoted 1 John v. 7 in his voluminous writings, but his
comments on the verse following show that he cannot have been
acquainted with it; in this Speculurm it is quoted twice.*
Dr. Tregelles well remarks, that "even if all Wiseman's primary positions were good, they would only show that some Latin
copies had the passage very early. An addition in some one
version is of itself no authority for the adoption of the passage as
genuine." t But the reasoning of Dr. WViseman rests on assumptions altogether false. The pretended unanimity of the African
fathers in support of the verse is purely imaginary. The supposed allusion to 1 John v. 7 in Tertullian, the earliest Latin
father, really "furnishes," as Bishop Kaye has observed, "most
decisive proof that he knew nothing of the verse";: the supposed quotation from Cyprian proves nothing to the purpose, and
other portions of his writings raise a very strong presumption
against his acquaintance with the disputed text; ~ the passage
adduced from Marcus Celedensis contains no quotation, and affords no ground for the supposition that he knew the text of the
Three Heavenly Witnesses; a later African father, Facundus,
was clearly ignorant of it, and derives the doctrine of the Trinity
from a mystical interpretation of the eighth verse, as Augustine
had done before him. The earliest quotation of the text is to be
Once in connection with the eighth verse, which precedes the 6eventh,
as follows: — " Quoniam tres sunt qui testimonium dicunt in terra, spiritus,
iqna, et sanguis; et hii tres unum sunt in Christo Jesu. Et tres sunt qui
testimnonium dicunt in caelo, Pater, Verbum, et Spiritus; et hii tres unum
sunt." (Cap. 2; see also c. 3.)
t Textual Criticism of the New Testament, in Horne's Introduction,
10th edition, IV. 363, 364.
t Ecclesiastical History, etc., illustrated fiom the Writings of Tertullian,
3d edition, p. 515.
~ On this point see Crito Cantatbrigiensis, Vindication of Person, pp.
881 - 385.




Page  189

WISEMAN. 189
found in the writings of Vigilius Tapsensis, in the latter part of the
fifth century; and from that time it appears with such a variety of
readings as to suggest at once its character as an interpolation,
derived from a marginal gloss. Its occurrence in the Speculum
proves only that it existed in some Latin manuscripts as early as
the seventh century.
Dr. Wiseman further gives an account of a manuscript of the
Latin Vulgate preserved in the Benedictine monastery of La Cava,
which contains the text of the Three Heavenly Witnesses, but
with some peculiar readings. Cardinal Mai regards it as belonging to the seventh century at latest; Tischendorf assigns it to the
eighth.
The Cardinal finally entertains us with some reports of Greek
manuscripts containing the passage. He states that in the Angelica Library at Rome is preserved the copy of the Bible used
by Angelo Rocca, the secretary of the Congregation appointed by
Clement VII. for the correction of the Vulgate. Upon the text
of St. John in this volume is the following marginal note:"Hmec verba sunt certissime de textu et allegantur contra haereticos ab Athanasio, Gregorio Nazianzeno, Cyrillo et Cypriano; et
Hieronymus in prologo dicit ab infidelibus scriptoribus fuisse
prmetermissa. In Greco etiam quodam antiquissimo exemplari
quod habetur Venetiis leguntur; unde colligitur Groeca, quoe
passim feruntur, in hac parte esse mendosa, et omnia Latina
manuscripta in quibus non habentur illa verba signata." * That
is, "These words certainly belong to the text, and are alleged
against the heretics by Athanasius, Gregory Nazianzen, Cyril, and
Cyprian; and Jerome in his Prologue says they were omitted by
unfaithful transcribers. They are also read in a very ancient
Greek copy preserved at Venice; whence it is inferred that the
ordinary Greek copies are faulty in this place, and likewise all
the Latin manuscripts in which the marked words are not contained."
On this statement it may be sufficient to quote the remarks of
Dr. William Wright, in the Appendix to his translation of Seiler's
Biblical Hermeneutics, pp. 635, 636:-" But we know that it
* Wiseman's Essays, I. 68.




Page  190

190 APPENDIX.
was not quoted by Athanasius, nor by Gregory Nazianzen, nor by
Cyril; and that Jerome did not write the Prologue, which was
forged three or four hundred years after that father was dead.
The Greek copy at Venice has also long since shrunk from inspection."
In regard to this Greek copy at Venice I would venture the
conjecture that it is the inanuscript belonging to the Library of
St. Mark, described by Bishop Burnet in his Travels in a passage
already quoted in this volume (pp. 14, 15). This manuscript
contains the Acts and Epistles in Greek, Latin, and Arabic. It
is numbered 96 in Scholz's list of manuscripts of the Acts and
Catholic Epistles, and is assigned by him to the eleventh century.
The text of the Three Heavenly Witnesses is found in it, but
unfortunately only in the Latin portion, which is taken from the
Vulgate.*
Dr. WViseman next adduces the oral testimony of a gentleman,'Don Leopoldo Sebastiani, who had travelled over a great part of
Greece expressly with the view of collating manuscripts of the
New Testament for a Latin version of it, which he afterwards
published. "His statement is, that he has seen several manuscripts with the verse erased, and two in which it is written
prima manu, in the margin. One was at Nicosia in Cyprus, in
possession of a Greek of abilities, a merchant as I understood
him. It was in uncial letters, large; on the margin, by the same
hand, although in smaller characters, was the verse, with an annotation that it belonged to the text." t
The hope expressed by Dr. Wiseman that "some traveller may
be able to verify this testimony" has not yet been realized.
These- Letters of Cardinal Wiseman are a valuable contribution
to the history of the Old Latin version; but scholars generally,
I think, will acquiesce in the judgment of the North British Review, that, in respect to 1 John v. 7, " his vindication is merely a
piece of feeble ingenuity, - designed at the same time to uphold
the authority of the Latin or Romish Church." $ It is worthy of
* See Rinck's Lucubratio Critica, pp. 30, 41, 109.
t Wiseman's Essays, I. 68, 69.
t North British Review, Aug. 1853; XIX. 435.




Page  191

MAI. - HUYSHE. - WRIGHT. 191
note that the prudent Cardinal, though presenting certain arguments in favor of the disputed text, " as materials for scholars to
consider," nowhere expresses a positive belief in its genuineness.
He professes to treat only of "' some parts of the controversy."
It should be here mentioned, perhaps, that Cardinal Angelo
Mai, in his note on the passage of the Speculum before referred to,
contends for the genuineness of 1 John v. 7, - it being sanctioned,
in his view, by " a solemn decree " of the Council of Trent, - and
says, pathetically, "I am deeply grieved that some celebrated
editors of the present age have not hesitated to omit this verse,
and have thus thrown away an excellent weapon against the
Socinians and Antichristians." * There is no argument in the
note that calls for remark, except perhaps the extraordinary
blunder of referring to Wetstein's Greek Testament as an authority in favor of the genuineness of the passage. Cardinal Mai has
rendered great service to literature by the publication of manuscripts which might otherwise have long remained entombed in
the Vatican; his industry was indefatigable; but he has a poor
reputation among scholars for critical acumen and accuracy.
In 1833-35 the Rev. Francis Huyshe, who has been already
introduced to us by Mr. Orme, published a long series of articles
in the British Magazine, Vols. III. -VII., entitled "A Vindication of the Early Parisian Greek Press," which have a bearing on
the evidence for 1 John v. 7, the writer maintaining that the passage must have been contained in one or more of the manuscripts
used by Robert Stephens (Estienne) for his editions of the Greek
Testament printed in 1546, 1549, and 1550. Mir. Huyshe also
published in the same magazine, Vol. V. pp. 702- 707, a notice of
Dr. Wiseman's Letters on 1 John v. 7. His baseless hypotheses
were demolished by the Rev. John Oxlee in three articles printed
in the British Magazine, 1835, Vol. VII. pp. 60 -63, 298-302.
and 544 - 549.
The Rev. William Wright, LL. D., of Trinity College, Dublin,
published in 1835 a translation of Seiler's Biblical Hermeneutics,
with additional notes. He treats of the disputed passage in an
Appendix to the volume, pp). 613- 652, which is valuable for its
* Mai's Nova Bibl. Patr:um, Torn. I. Pars II. p. 7.




Page  192

192 APPENDIX.
full account of the readings of the Latin manuscripts, and its
refutation of some of Wiseman's arguments. In regard to the
Speculum he observes: —
"Dr. Wiseman is further of opinion, that, under any circumstances, whoever might have been the author of this anonymous
work, the use of the old version will not allow us to assign it to a
much later age than the middle of the fourth century.
"But Pope Leo the Great made use of the old version in the
fifth century, and even of an impure copy; and Gregory the Great,
in the sixth century, says that he used at one time the old, at another the new version, just as the one or the other happened to be
better adapted to demonstration, since the apostolical chair, which
he filled, recognized both. -Letter to Leander, Bishop of Seville." *
In the Literary and Theological Review (New York) for March,
1835, Vol. II. pp. 141 -148, there is an article on the " Authenticity of 1 John v. 7, 8," by the Rev. William W. Hunt, of Amherst, Mass., in which the genuineness of the passage is maintained.
The essay is not creditable to the learning or ability of the
author. His acquaintance with the subject may be judged of by
the assertions that the words V TR^ yj7 in the eighth verse are
"generally allowed to be genuine," and "found in some early
Greek manuscripts "; and that " there is not a little evidence that
the passage is quoted or referred to by distinguished Greek writers of the third or fourth century, and it is found in all the printed
editions of the Greek Testament!" (pp. 143, 145, 146.) The
following is mentioned among the considerations which should
incline us to receive the disputed text:-"The Bible is the
revelation of God, and the only one which he has given to men.... It is immensely important that this book, as a whole, have all
the weight of Divine authority. Now what is the influence upon
the community of rejecting a part of it, -.of calling a verse, here
and there, spurious? Other verses are soon suspected, especially
if they reveal an unpleasant doctrine, or inculcate an unpleasant
duty. The public confidence is shaken, and infidelity is encouraged." (p. 147.)
In 1836 Dr. J. M. A. Scholz, Professor of Theology in the
* Seller's Biblical Hermeneutics, p. 634.




Page  193

SCHOIZ.- FARLEY. 193
University of Bonn, published at Leipsic the second volume of
his edition of the Greek Testament, for which he had examined,
more or- less, several hundreds of manuscripts which had never
before been used for critical purposes. Though a Catholic, and
though, as Archbishop Kenrick remarks in the note on 1 John v. 7
in his translation of the New Testament, the genuineness of
this verse is generally maintained by Catholics, "being read in
the Vulgate, which, in all its parts, was sanctioned by the Council
of Trent," Scholz rejects the disputed passage as spurious, as he
had before done in his German translation of the New Testament,
published in 1830. This gave occasion to " Three Letters to the
Rev. Dr. Scholz... on the Contents of his Note on 1 John v. 7.
By the Bishop of Salisbury." Southampton, 1837, 8vo. In
these Letters, which were privately printed, Bishop Burgess, as we
are told by his biographer, " pointed out some remarkable contradictions between certain passages in the Prolegomena to that
work [Scholz's edition of the Greek Testament] and the statements of his note on 1 John v. 7, respecting the age and date of
the Greek MSS. containing the disputed verse." We are further
informed that Dr. Scholz " acknowledged, in very respectful terms,
the receipt of the letters; he observed that the MS. [MSS.] in
question [the Codex Ottobonianus 298, and a Neapolitan manuscript which has the verse in the margin in a handwriting of the
sixteenth or seventeenth century] added something to the evidence in favor of the authenticity of the verse, but maintained that
they were of very little weight when compared in authority and
antiquity with the multitude omitting it."*
In 1845 the Rev. Frederick A. Farley published a tract entitled " Grounds for rejecting the Text of the Three Heavenly
Witnesses; I. John, v. 7. With Concessions of Trinitarians upon
the Same." Boston, April, 1845, 12mo. pp. 24. This was printed
for the American Unitarian Association as No. 213 of the First
Series of its " Tracts." The. author acknowledges his great
indebtedness for his materials to Mr. John Wilson's " Concessions
of Trinitarians," Manchester, Eng., 1842, 8vo; a remarkable
work, to which I would also refer the curious reader for some
* Harford's-Life of Bishop Burgess, p. 477.
9




Page  194

194 APPENDIX.
Trinitarian authorities for rejecting the disputed passage, which
it does not seem worth while to mention here.
In 1858 Dr. Joseph Turnbull published in London "The
Seven Epistles of James, Peter, John, and Jude, and the
Revelation. Translated from the Original Greek, with Critical
Notes, and a Dissertation on 1 John v. 7, 8." This dissertation,
which maintains the genuineness of the passage, was reviewed by
Dr. S. P. Tregelles in the Journal of Sacred Literature and
Biblical Record for April, 1858, pp. 167-178. He remarks:" Dr. Turnbull's dissertation has one merit,- brevity, - for it is
rather less than ten pages; but in these ten pages there is hardly
a statement that is worthy of implicit confidence. This may
sound like a harsh judgment, but I will give proofs." (p. 168.)
The proofs given are ample. There is nothing new in Dr.
Turnbull's dissertation but mistakes, one of the most remarkable
of which is an argument for the genuineness of the passage
founded on its supposed existence in a Wolfenbiittel manuscript
assigned by Griesbach to the eleventh or twelfth century. Dr.
Turnbull has confounded the Codex Guelpherbytanus XVI. 7,
(No. 69 in the Acts and Catholic Epistles,) to which Griesbach
assigns the date above mentioned, and which omits the disputed
text, (though it has been added in the margin by a very recent
hand,) with the Codex Guelpherbytanus D, described by Knittel,
which contains it, but also contains in the same handwriting the
Latin versions of Vatable, Castalio, and Beza, showing that it
was not written before the latter part of the sixteenth century.*
This blunder is accompanied with censure of Griesbach for supposed inconsistency in his account of the manuscript; on which
Tregelles quaintly remarks:"Griesbach was certainly right in each thing that he said; but
if' an extract from a catalogue at the beginning of a volume may
be made the nominative case to a verb at the end of the book,
then will no author be safe."
In respect to another point Tregelles observes: -" Dr. Turnbull next seeks, by mere assertion and by a reference to an in* See Griesbach's Diatribe on 1 John v. 7, p. 7; Knittel's Neue Kritike",
or " New Criticisms," pp. 124, 127.




Page  195

TURNBULL- BOSTON REVIEW. 195
correct statement of Dr. Adam Clarke, to claim a high place for
the Codex Montfortianus at Dublin. I have recently discussed
this manuscript (see Horne's Introd. IV. 213 - 217), and therefore
I shall now only repeat that it contains the Latin chapters; that in
other parts of the chapter 1 John v. it shows that its accordance
with Latin copies is peculiar; that the Gospels could not be older
than the latter part of the fifteenth century; the Epistles and
Acts were afterwards added (sometime between the year 1500
and the middle of the reign -of Elizabeth); and that last of all
the Apocalypse was appended in the reign of that queen." *
The Boston Review for May, 1864, Vol. IV. pp. 258- 273,
contains an article on "The Greek Text in Acts, xx. 28; 1
Timothy, iii. 16; and 1 John, v. 7, 8," defending the reading of
the Received Text in each of these passages. The writer is so inaccurate as to represent, at the very beginning of his essay, the words
" in earth," in 1 John v. 8, as undisputed; though they are omitted
in all the known Greek manuscripts written before the invention
of printing, and are rejected as spurious by all the scholars who
reject the rest of the passage in question. His account of the
various readings of Acts xx. 28, and of the evidence for them, is
also grossly inaccurate. Indeed, the article is full of misstatements, and appears to have been written by some one wholly
ignorant of the literature of the last thirty years. The arguments
adduced in favor of the genuineness of 1 John v. 7 are founded
on the incorrect assertions and utterly exploded hypotheses of
such writers as Nolan and Hales. The absence of the passage
from all existing Greek manuscripts of a'ny authority and from
the ancient versions is explained by a reference to the order given
to Eusebius by the Emperor Constantine, to have fifty copies of
the Scriptures carefully transcribed for the use of the new
churches in Constantinople.t Eusebius is supposed, on account
of his " Arian proclivities," and " for a sinister purpose," to have
omitted 1 John v. 7 from these copies. To complete the solution
of the problem, we have only further to suppose that, though this
remarkable text was before contained in all the Greek copies of
* Journal of Sacred Literature, April, 1858, pp. 171, 172.
t See Eusebius's Life of Constantine, IV. 36.




Page  196

196 APPENDIX..
the Epistle possessed by Christians in Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Greece, Italyi Gaul, and other parts of the world, to
say nothing of the early versions, it was eliminated from all the
manuscripts in the hands of the orthodox as well as of the
Arians, without discovery, in an age of heated controversy on the
subject of the Trinity. The corrupted copies were palmed off
upon Athanasius and his followers, and the ancient versions made
in the second and third centuries in Syria and Egypt were
mutilated to correspond to them, so that no trace of the passage
has been found in any manuscript copy of those versions, or in any
Greek manuscript written before the invention of printing, or in
the writings of any Greek father before the middle of the fourteenth century. Nobody ever missed it; and the fraud of Eusebius was first detected, some fifteen hundred years after its
perpetration, by the sagacity of the Rev. Frederick Nolan!
After this satisfactory removal of the difficulty about the Greek
manuscripts and the ancient versions, the reviewer complacently
remarks, " If such is the light that Bishop Bloomfield is waiting for,
we hope that his next edition may have it"; confounding, with
the carelessness which characterizes the whole article, the Rev.
S. T. Bloomfield, the editor of the Greek Testament, with Blomfield, the Bishop of London, and ignorant that Bloomfield, to
whom he refers as "decidedly in favor of the passage," had
twenty-five years ago abandoned the defence of it as hopeless.
Bishop Blomfield had also long before expressed his belief of its
spuriousness.*
In justice to the editors of the Boston Review, though they say
that " evidently the time has not come to close the case," it should
be stated that they supplement the article by giving quotations
from Alford and Tregelles, which present the facts as they are.
The existence of such defences of the disputed passage as we
have had occasion to notice must not mislead us as to the real
state of the case. In the judgment of all scholars whose opinion
is worthy of respect, the question, I believe, has long been regarded as settled. This statement, however, it may be well to
X See W. D. Coyhbeare's Theological Lecture- 2d edit.. p 209.




Page  197

CRITICAL EDITORS. 197
confirm by definite references, and by quotations from the writings of the most eminent critics.
The text of the Three Heavenly Witnesses has been rejected
as spurious in all the editions of the Greek Testament published
within the present century which have any critical reputation
among scholars; for example, in those of Knapp (1797, 5th edit.
1840), Matthmi (1804), Griesbach (smaller edit. 1805, larger 1806),
Schott (1805, 4th edit. 1839), Tittmann (stereotype edit. 1820),
Vater (1824), Lachmann (1831, larger edit. 1850), Bloomfield (in
his 3d edit. 1839, and later editions),* Hahn (1840, new edit.
1861), Tischendorf (1841, 7th edit. 1859), Theile (1844, 8th
stereotype edit. 1865), Wordsworth (1860),t Alford (1861, 2d
edit. 1862), T. S. Green, Twofold New Testament (1865), and
in the editions by the Catholics Gratz (1821, new edit. 1828)
and Scholz (1836), whom I have already had occasion to mention.
* Bioomfield says in his Recensio Synoptica, Vol. VIII. p. 776 (London,
1828), " To me it appears probable that the verses are genuine "; in his
first edition of the Greek Testament (1831), he regarded " the authenticity
of the verses as, though doubtful, yet verging to probability "; in his
second edition (1836), reprinted and stereotyped in this country in 1837, he
thinks " we are neither authorized to receive the passage as indubitably
genuine, nor, on the other hand, to reject it as indubitably spurious, but to
wait for further evidence "; in his third edition (1839) he marks the words
as spurious, and rejects them decidedly in his notes; in the ninth edition
(1855) he expresses tis conclusion as follows: " In short, the words cannot,
with any due regard to those canons of criticism acted upon in all other cases
throughout the writings of the New Testament, be regarded otherwise than
as spurious. I find not a vestige of them in any one of the numerous
Lamb. and Alus. manuscripts which I have collated."
The Rev. Edward Burton, D. D., Regins Professor of Divinity in the
University at Oxford, in his edition of the Greek Testament (1831, 3d
edit. 1848), brackets the passage, and remarks in a note, " There is great
reason to think that all the words from iv r oeipav; [in heaven] to iv Ar Try
[on earth] are an interpolation." In his Bampton Lectures, p. 523, he rejects them, though with confessed reluctance, as spurious.
[ Though Wordsworth rejects the disputed text as a gloss, he finds the
doctrine. of the Trinity, as Augustine and others had done before him, in
the eighth verse, understanding by " the water" the Father, and by " the
blood " the Son i




Page  198

198 APPENDIX.
There is nearly the same agreement among all the translators
and commentators of the present century, who have any reputa.
tion for learning and judgment. Accordingly the disputed passage is treated as spurious by Stolz (4th edit. 1804), Augusti
(1805), Seiler (1806), Rosenmiller (5th edit. 1808), our countryman Charles Thomson in his translation of the Bible (1808),
HIewlett (1812, also 1816), Adam Clarke (1817), Jaspis (2d
edit. 1821), Boothroyd (1824, new edit. 1843), LUcke (1825,
2d edit. 1836), Rickli (1828), H. A. W. Meyer (1829), Paulus
(1829), Grashof (1830), Granville Penn (1836,'37), De WYette
(1837, 5th edit. by Bruckner, 1863), Jachmann (1838), Baumgarten-Crusius (1845), Barnes (1847), Dr. Edward Ash (1849),
Neander (1851, Eng. trans. 1852), Huther (1855, 2d edit.
1861), Diisterdieck (1856), Bunsen, Bibelwerk-, Abth. I. Theil I.
pp. clxxxvii. -cxciii. (1858), Ebrard (1859), Ewald (1861), Holtzmann, in Bunsen's Bibelwerk (1864), and the American Bible
Union in its revised translation of the New Testament (1864).
The only recent commentators whom I have seen referred to
as maintaining the genuineness of the passage in debate are J. E.
F. Sander (1851), WT. F. Besser (1851), and G. K. Mayer (1851),
- all German writers. Sander speaks of the passage doubtfully,
and enters into no full discussion of the question, merely opposing
Griesbach's view of the testimony of Cyprian and one or two
other Latin fathers. Besser and Mayer I have not examined;
the latter is a Catholic. Sander and Besser are Lutheran clergymen, who have published a good many small popular and controversial worlis; but I am not aware that either of them has any
reputation for critical scholarship.
Of the commllentators whom I have named on the writings of
John, the most universally esteemed, perhaps, is Liicke, Professor
of Theology in the University of Bonn, and afterwards in that of
Gdttingen. In reference to 1 John v. 7, he observes -" No
result of modern criticism is more certain than that this passage
is spurious." X
Most of the populcar commentaries current in this country and
* Comm. fiber die Briefe des Ev. Johannes, 2e Aufl., pp. 294, 295;
or p. 267, Eng. translation.




Page  199

STUART. - SMITH. - LEE.- HORNE. 199
England either belong to the last century, or are the production
of writers, like Thomas Scott, who have no pretension to critical
learning.
The principal writers in defence of the doctrine of the Trinity
in the present century, as Wardlaw, Stuart, and Dr. John Pye
Smith, likewise agree in its rejection. Thus Professor Stuart says,
"The text in 1 John v. 7 is beyond all question indefensible."
Dr. John Pye Smith, whose " Scripture Testimony to the Messiah"
is perhaps the most learned and elaborate treatise in the English
language on the deity of Christ, observes: " That some learned
writers have of late professed themselves satisfied of the authenticity of this passage, while they advance nothing but surmises
and conjectures, and mistakes almost incredible in the statement
of facts, to counterbalance the weight of evidence on the other
side, excites my astonishment and concern..... The attempt to
set aside the decision of impartial and honest criticism is painfully
discreditable." t
Instead of giving, as it would be easy to do, a long list of the
names of eminent Trinitarian scholars and divines of the present
century, who have expressed incidentally their conviction of the
spuriousness of this famous proof-text, I shall confine myself, in
what follows, to those who have specially devoted themselves to
the textual criticism of the New Testament in general, or who
have elaborately discussed this subject in particular, since the
publication of Mr. Orme's Memoir.
Dr. Samuel Lee, Regius Professor of Hebrew in the University
of Cambridge, in his Prolegomena to Bagster's Polyglott Bible,
also prefixed to his Novumn Testamentum Syriacum, London,
[ 133,] 4to, discusses the genuineness of our "greatly vexed passage," and repudiates it as spurious. (Prol. vi. ~ 2, pp. 71- 74.)
The Rev. Thomas Hartwell Horne, in his Introduction to the
HIoly Scriptures, has given a very full account of the evidence and
Letters to Channing, new edition, in his "Miscellanies," Andover,
1846, p. 137.
t Scripture Testimony to the Messiah, third edition, Lond. 1837, Vol.
III. pp. 127, 128; fifth edition (1859), Vol. II. pp. 253, 254. See also
Wardlaw's Discourses on the Socinian Controversy, pp. 15, 16, Amler. edit.




Page  200

200 APPENDIX.
arguments on both sides of the question respecting the controverted text. In the fourth edition of that work (London, 1824),
reprinted at Philadelphia in 1825 in four volumes, octavo, he
favored the genuineness of the passage, being misled by the inaccurate statements of Nolan, Hales, and Bishop Burgess. But the
errors of these writers having been fully exposed by Oxlee, Turton, and others, he had the candor and honesty, in later editions,
among them the eighth (1839), reprinted at Philadelphia in 1840,
to abandon the passage as spurious. In the tenth edition of this
work (1856), Vol. IV. pp. 355- 384, Dr. Tregelles has made some
valuable additions to Horne's account of the controversy. The
literature of the subject is given in a bibliographical Appendix,
pp. 384-388.
The Rev. J. Scott Porter, Professor of Sacred Criticism and
Theology to the Association of Non-subscribing Presbyterians in
Ireland, has given a good account of the facts of the case in his
Principles of Textual Criticism (London, 1848), pp. 494 -512. It
is hardly necessary to say that he regards the disputed text as a
manifest interpolation. Professor Porter, however, is a Unitarian.
I mention this work particularly on account of the interesting information which it gives respecting the readings of the passage in
certain ancient Latin manuscripts in the British Museum.
Dr. Samuel Davidson, in his Treatise on Biblical Criticism
(1852), Vol. II. pp. 403 - 426, after a full discussion of the evidence on the subject, comes to the conclusion that the passage is
"certainly spurious."
No English scholar of the present century has made so important contributions to the textual criticism of the New Testament,
or has done so much to awaken a new interest in the subject, as
Dr. Samuel Prideaux Tregelles. He has devoted himnself with
unwearied zeal and diligence for more than twenty-five years to
the collation of manuscripts and the collection of materials for a
new edition of the Greek Testament, of which the first part only,
containing the Gospels, has yet been published. His treatise on
the Textual Criticism of the New Testament, contained: in Vol.
IV. of Horne's Introduction, tenth edition, and also published
sepalrately, is an original work of the lhighest authority and




Page  201

TREGELLES. - TISCHENDORF. 201
value. Bleek, in, his Introduction to the New Testament (Berlin, 1862), p. 34, strongly expresses the wish that it might be
translated into German.* What, then, does Dr. Tregelles say
of our passage?
"To enter into a formal discussion of the genuineness of the
testimony of the Heavenly Witnesses, 1 John v. 7," he observes,
"is really superfluous; for it would only be doing over again what
has been done so repeatedly that there cannot be two opinions in
the minds of those who now know the evidence, and are capable
of appreciating its force..... I only add, that if the words be
considered genuine, then any addition of any kind, found in any
manuscript (however recent), and supported by the later copies of
any one version, in opposition to the more ancient, possesses as good
a claim to be received and used as a portion of Holy Scripture." 4
The most distinguished of the recent critical editors of the
Greek Testament is Constantine Tischendorf, Professor of Theology in the University of Leipsic. Speaking of the text of the
Three Heavenly Witnesses, he says:"That this spurious addition should continue to be published as
a part of the Epistle, I regard as an impiety as well as an act of
ignorance or rather of fraud. The relation of the passage to
criticism is such, that we must exclude it without hesitation from
the sacred volume, unless the entire art of criticism, with all its
apparatus of ancient witnesses, is to be regarded as worthless and
rejected. Such being the case, what temerity it is, what contempt of the truth delivered by the sacred writers, to insert those
words into the text, through fear that by their removal the doctrine of the divine Trinity may be endangered!" J
5 I may mention incidentally, that Bleek, whose " History of the Text
of the New Testament," in the work referred to, may be regarded as
the best recent German treatise on the subject, emphatically rejects 1
John v. 7 as spurious. - Einleit. in d. N. T., p. 593. So Reuss, Geschichte
der heiligen Schriften Neuen Testaments, i. e.'" History of the- Sacred
Writings of the New Testament," third edition (1860, fourth edition
1864), ~ 360.
t Account of the Printed Text of the Greek New Testament, London,
1854, 8vo, pp. 226, 227.: Novum Testamentum Triglottum, 1854, Prolegom., p. cx.
9 *




Page  202

202 APPENDIX.
One of the best books illustrating the application of critical
principles to the text of the New Testament is the " Course of
Developed Criticism on Passages of the New Testament materially affected by Various Readings," published at London in 1856
by the Rev. Thomas Sheldon Green, late Fellow of Christ's
College, Cambridge, the author of a " Treatise on the Grammar
of the New Testament," and, more recently, of a new translation
of the Greek Testament accompanied by a critical edition of the
original text, entitled " The Twofold New Testament," &c. In
regard to 1 John v. 7, Mr. Green observes:" It is not too much to say that, if a critic could be supposed to
be debarred from all documentary evidence on either side in the
present case, except those few MSS. which exhibit the verse, and
the only version that has it, namely, the common text of the Vulgate, the circumstances which even thus would come under his
notice, would form a sufficient ground for its condemnation as a
spurious accretion." *
In 1861 the Rev. Frederick Henry Scrivener, of Trinity College,
Cambridge, Rector of St. Gerrans, Cornwall, published "A Plain
Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament," containing
much valuable information, the result of the author's personal
investigations. Mr. Scrivener has also earned the gratitude of
biblical students by his published collations of manuscripts, and
his very careful and scholarly editions of the Codex Auyiensis
and the Codex Bezel. In speaking of the controversy on 1 John
v. 7, after referring to Porson, he adds: —
"The Letters of that prince of scholars, and the contemporaneous researches of Herbert Marsh, have completely decided
the contest: Bishop Burgess alone, while yet among us [d. 18371,
clung obstinately to a few scattered outposts after the main field
of battle had been lost beyond recovery.
" On the whole, therefore, we need not hesitate to declare our
conviction that the disputed words were not written by St. John:
that they were originally brought into Latin copies in Africa from
the margin, where they had been placed as a pious and orthodox
gloss on v. 8: that fiom the Latin they crept into two or three
* Counise of Developed Criticism, pp. 183, 184.




Page  203

ALFORD. - GREEK MANUSCRIPTS. 203
late Greek codices, and thence into the printed Greek text, a
place to which they had no rightful claim." *
The best critical edition of the Greek Testament with English
notes is, I believe, universally admitted to be that of the Rev.
Henry Alford, D. D., Dean of Canterbury, the first volume of
which was published in 1849, and has already passed through at
least five editions. The volume containing the Epistles of John
(Vol. IV. Part II. of the work) first appeared in 1861; 2d edit.,
1862. The following extract from his note on the passage is sufficiently explicit:"The question of the genuineness of the words read in the
Received Text at the end of verse 7, has been discussed, as far
as external grounds are concerned, in the digest; and it has been
seen, that unless pure caprice is to be followed in the criticism of
the sacred text, there is not the shadow of a reason for supposing
them genuine. Even the supposed citations of them in early
Latin Fathers have now, on closer examination, disappeared.
Something remains to be said on internal grounds, on which we
have full right to enter, now that the other is secured. And on
these grounds it must appear, on any fair and unprejudiced consideration, that the words are 1) alien from the context: 2) in
themselves incoherent, and betraying another hand than the
Apostle's." This Alford proceeds to show.
Since the date of Mr. Orme's Memoir (1830) many Greek
manuscripts containing the First Epistle of John have been
brought to light, or collated for the first time, by Scholz, Tischendorf, Scrivener, and others. It may be well, therefore, to give
here a brief summary of the present state of the evidence for and
against the genuineness of the disputed text. For details, one may
consult the recent critical editions of Tischendorf and Alford.
The number of Greek manuscripts, including lectionaries,
which are known to omit the text of the Heavenly WVitnesses,
is more than two hundred and twenty-five, and probably not less
than two hundred and Jify.t Among these are the Sinaitic and the
* Plain Introd. to the Criticism of the New Test., pp. 462, 463.
t See the Rev. A. W. Grafton's statement in Alford's Greek Test., Vol.
IV. pp. 269, 270, 2d edit.; Scrivener's Plain Introduction, p. 459.




Page  204

204 APPENDIX.
Vatican, of the fourth century, and the Alexandrine, of the fifth.
The disputed words, on the other hand, are found in the text of
but two Greek manuscripts, one (No. 162) of the fifteenth or sixteenth century, the other (34) of the sixteenth, and neither of
any critical importance. (See before, pp. 181, 195.) The variations in the readings of these two manuscripts, the omission of the.
article, and their conformity to the Latin Vulgate in other places,
make it in the highest degree probable that they derived the passage by translation from that version. The disputed text is also
found in the margin of two other Greek manuscripts (Nos. 69 and
173) in writing not earlier than the sixteenth century. In this
account I have not noticed the Codex Ravianus at Berlin, which
has been proved to be a forgery; or a Wolfenbiittel manuscript
of the seventeenth century, the Codex Guelpherbytanus D, already
referred to (see p. 194), both of which, as not possessing the
slightest authority, are excluded by the critical editors from their
lists.
The disputed words are also wanting in all the ancient versions
namely, in the Peshito Syriac (Cent. ii.), the Thebaic or Sahidioe
(ii. or iii.), the Memphitic or Coptic (iii. or iv.), the AEthiopic
iv. or v.), the Armenian (v.), the Harelean or Philoxenian Syriac
(made A. D. 508, revised 616), the several Arabic versions, and
the Slavonic (ix.), though it has been foisted into some editions of
the Peshito, the Armenian, and the Slavonic, in opposition to the
authority of the manuscripts.* Nor do they properly belong
either to the Old Latin (Cent. ii.), or to the Vulgate (Cent. iv.),
though these versions have been claimed by the advocates of the
passage. The Old Latin has already been spoken of, in the remarks on Wiseman's theory (see before, p. 188). That the pas* The history of its introduction into several printed editions of the
Syvriac is instructive. Tremellius, in his edition of the Peshito published
in 1569, left a blank space for it in the text, and placed his oton translation
of it into Syinac in a note; Gutbier (1664) inserted this translation in his
text, and in his Notes (1667) remarks:-" Since it is well known that the
Arians have in this place neither spared the Greek text itself, nor the
Oriental versions, we have inserted this verse, which is wanting in other
editions, from the Notes of Tremellius." After him, Schaaf inserted it in
his edition (1709 and 1717).




Page  205

CONCLUDING SUMMARY. 205
sage is also an interpolation in the Latin Vulgate is proved by the
fact, that, though contained in a large majority of the manuscripts
of that version, it is wanting in the two oldest and best, the Codex
Amiatinus written about A. D. 541, and the Codex Fuldensis of
about the same age, and in more than fJifty others, many of them
of high antiquity; by its various readings and uncertain position
in the manuscripts which do contain it, in many of the older ones
it being found only in the margin, or after the eighth verse; and
finally, by the total want of reference to it in the writings of very
many of the older Latin fathers who had occasion to cite it, including Jerome, the author of the version. The first Latin writer
who has clearly quoted it is Vigilius Tapsensis, who flourished
near the end of the fifth century; it is quoted by a few other
Latin writers previous to the ninth century, and by many after
that date. The oldest manuscript of the Vulgate which contains
it belongs probably to the seventh or eighth century.*
This unanimous testimony of ALL THE KNOWN GREEK MANUSCRIPTS WRITTEN BEFORE THE INVENTION OF PRINTING, and
of ALL THE ANCIENT VERSIONS, is strikingly confirmed by the
absence of the passage from the Scripture quotations of ALL THI
GREEK FATHERS BEFORE THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY, though
several of them, as Gregory Nazianzen and Cyril of Alexandria,
with great ingenuity extract proofs of the Trinity from the verses
before and-after it.
SUCH being the state of the case, what must we think of those
who in this nineteenth century quote the passage as a proof-text
in sermons preached to the unlearned, or publish it in books designed for popular circulation, for Sunday Schools and Bible
Classes, without a hint of its spuriousness? What must we think
of those, who, noticing the fact that its genuineness has been
disputed, denounce their fellow-Christians as arbitrarily and
* I refer to the La Cava manuscript; see before, p. 189. It is remarkable,
that both this manuscript, and the other oldest Latin manuscript which contains 1 John v. 7,- the Speculum published by Mai, - support also the
spurious Epistle of Paul to the Laodiceans. So No. 11,852 (9th cent.)
of the Additional MSS. in the British Museum. See Westcott's art. on the
Vulgate in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, III. 1713, note q.




Page  206

206 APPENDIX.
wickedly rejecting it from repugnance to the doctrine it is supposed to teach? What must we think of the managers of religious Societies, who publish editions of the New Testament for
family use, "with notes designed to give the results of critical investigation," * in which there is no note on a passage like this? We
may not assume to pass judgment on the character of the persons
concerned, for our knowledge of their motives and circumstances
is necessarily imperfect; but there would seem to be room for
but one opinion among honest and intelligent men, when their
attention is directed to the subject, in respect to the practices
themselves.
Again; how long shall this notorious interpolation be circulated
in the popular versions of the Bible without mark of doubt, and
be imposed upon the unlearned as a part of what they are taught
to revere as "the word of God"? In regard to Luther's German version, in which it is well known to have been inserted long
after his death in defiance of his expressed wishes, it would seem
that there could be no hesitation in striking it from the text. The
question in regard to the common English version presents greater
difficulty. But I will quote, for the benefit of those interested,
two expressions of opinion on the matter.
" Fear of the Church of Rome on the one hand," says a recent
writer in the Edinburgh Review, "and of the Socinians on
the other, appears to have induced the half-hearted authorities
of the Church of England to retain this known interpolation in a
version which was to be the sole appeal of the unlearned vulgar.
And we cannot consider it creditable to our Church, that this
spurious passage is annually read to the laity in the Epistle for
the First Sunday after Easter, and in one of the lessons on
Trinity Sunday."t
The following is from an article on "The Ethics of Editorship,"
by a writer whose name will command universal respect: —
"It is difficult to decide how far a received text ought to be
altered upon the discovery of its incorrectness. And with regard
* These words are from the title-page of an edition of the New Testament recently published by the American Tract Society, New York.
t Edinburgh Review for July, 1865; CXXII. 113.




Page  207

WOOLSEY. 207
to the text of the Scriptures this question becomes one of great
delicacy and importance..... But what shall we say of a passage
like 1 John v. 7, in which all competent judges concede that there
is an interpolation, and which many persons omit when they read
the context in public. Do not truth and honesty require that such
a passage should be struck out of our English Bibles, a passage
which Luther would not express in his translation, and which did
not creep into the German Bible until nearly fifty years after his
death? Would the shock of its insertion in brackets, or of its
disappearance from our version, do as much harm as the display
of Christian honesty and of true reverence to the genuine word
of God Gwould do good? We suggest that a number of biblical
critics, of approved character for orthodoxy, should move in this
matter, and demand at least a careful consideration of this text.
We cannot but believe that the state of the case is so plain as
to admit of but one conclusion. And we cannot think that
anything would prevent the change from being effected, but an
unworthy timidity, which is neither Christian nor upright." *
* The Rev. Theodore D. Woolsey, D.D., President of Yale College, in
the New Englander for August, 1852; X. 384.




Page  208

NOTE TO PAGE 185, LINE 27.
IT has since been shown, by the researches of Dr. Klose, that
1 John v. 7 was interpolated in Luther's version as early as 1582,
in an edition published at Frankfort, in quarto. See the note on
the passage in Huther's Commentary (in German), 2d edit., 1861,
p. 211. Tanzer in Huther's note is a misprint for Panzer.




Page  209

INDEX.
ETMIIOPIC version, 8, 57, 114, 204. Berlin manuscript. See Codex Ravi.
African fathers on 1 John v. 7, 105 - anus.
108, 187-189. Besser, W. F., 198.,Alexandrine manuscript, 16, 113, 204. Beza, or de BBze, Theodore, 8, 40, 41,
Alford, Henry, 197; quoted, 203. 42, 48, 50, 57, 59.
Alogi, 134, 138. Black, Rev. John, author of Pal eoroAmbrose, Saint, 17, 19. maica, quoted, 124-130; 144.
Amelotte, Father Denis, 41. Bleek, Friedrich, 201, and note.
American Bible Union, 198. Blomfield, C. J., Bp,. of London, 196.
American Tract Societv's edition of Bloomfield, S. T., 196; quoted, 197.
the New Testament, 206 n. Boothroyd, Benjamin, 198.
Antioch, Second Council of (4th Bossuet, J. B., Bp., quoted, 93, 94.
cent.), 151, 154 - 156, 167. Boston Review, 195, 196.
Apostolos, 52. Boivyer, William, 47, 51.
Aquinas, Thomas, Saint. See Thomas British Critic, 127; quoted, 185.
Aquinas. Bryennius, Josephus, 122.
Arabic versions, 8, 57, 204. Buckminstei, J. S., 183, 184.
Arians, 14, 17, 18, 34, 59, 60, 195, 196. Bugenhagen, Johann, 185.
Arius, 52. Bull, George, Bp., 158, 159, 161.
Armenian version, 115 - 117; 8, 52, Bullinger, Heinrich, 14, 185.
57, 113, 175, 204. Bunsen, C. C. J., Baron von, 198.
Article, the Greek, before ev in Burgess, Thomas, Bp., 130-147, 151
1 John v. 8, 97, 183, 184. -162, 169. 170, 186, 193; 112, 127,
Ash, Edward, 198. 167, 185, 202.
Athanasius, 189, 190. Burnet, Gilbert, Bp., 13-16, 190.
Athanasius, Pseudlo-, 52, 176,177. Burton, Edward, quoted, 197 n.
Atllanasius the younger, 146. Butler, Charles, quoted, 90-96; 66
Augusti, J. C. W., 198. n., 183, 184.
Augustine or Austin, Saint, 95, 121,
122; 4, 5, 45, 89, 135, 186, 197 n. CALAMY, Edmund, quoted, 23, 24.
Speculuma ascribed to 1iim, 187, 188. Calecas, Manuel, 122.
Calvin, Jean, 9.
BARLOW, Thomas, Bp., 147. Carthage, Council of, under Huneric,
Barnes, Albert, 198. f067, 107; 48, 52, 77, 94, 96, 146,
Basil the Great, 87, 146. 183, 184, 187.
Baumgarten-Crusius, L. F. 0., 198. Casley, David, 34.
Beatus, 88, 89. Cassiodorus. or Cassiodorius, 52, 88,
Beda, or Bede, 4, 89. 89, 139, 146, 167.
Ben David, pseudon. See Jones, John, Castalio, or Castellio, Sebastian, 9.
D. D. Clhristiron Observer (Joseph Jowett),
Bengel (Lat. Berngelius), J. A., 34 - quoted, 84 - 90.
36, 75, 97, 143, 145. Clarke, Adam, quoted, 78-84; 132,
Benson, George, quoted, 45-47; 147, 198.
51. Clarke, Samuel, D.D., 21.
Bentley, Richard, 27-31; 22, 25, Clemens Alexandrinus, 87, 138, 139,
143, 147, 159. 146.
N




Page  210

210 INDEX.
Cochlaeus, Johannes, 177. Epiphanius, 87.
Codex Amniatinus, 205. Erasmus, Desiderius, quoted, 2-6;
Codex Fuldensis, 205. 14, 48, 50, 53, 59, 128, 130.
Codex Guelpherbytanus (Wolfenbii)- Ernesti, J. A., 132.
tel) D, 194, 204; 167,172. Etherius, 88, 89.
Codex Guelpherbytanus XVI. 7, (No. Ethiopic version. Se, -Ethiopic
69,) 194, 204; 167, 172. Eucherius, 45, 52, 89, 107, 146.
Codex Ly of Stephels, or Codex Vatabli, Eugenius, Ccrlhaginensis, 106, 107.
identified by Marsh with IMS. Kk. See also Carthage, Council of.
6. 4. in the Library of the Univer- Eusebius Ccesariensis, 106, 103, 109,
Sity of Cambridge, 63 - 73. 195, 196.
Codex Mont.fortianus, alias Britanni- Eusebius Vercellensis, 110, 111.
cus, or Dublinensis, (No. 34,) 3, 123, Euthymius Zigabenus, 151, 152, 167
124, 195; 6, 34, 57, 59, 78, 128, Evanson, W. A., 171, 178-180.
132, 147, 167, 182, 204. Ewald, (G.) H. (A.), 198.
Codex Ottobonianue z.98, in the Vatican Library, (No. 162,) 181, 182, FACUNDUS, 45, 77, 89, 135, 137, 188.
193, 204. Farley, F. A., 193.
Codex Ravianus, at Berlin,59, 174, 204. Fraud, pious, 47, 48.
Colinasus, Simon, 7. French verisions, Old, 109 - 111.
Complutensian edition of the New Tes- Fulgentius, 45, 52, 88, 89, 94, 107,
tament, 2, 3, 25 - 7, 34, 35, 42, 48, 137, 146, 167, 177, 187.
50, 57, 80 - 84, 129, 130.
Conybeare, W. D., 196 n. GADOLUS, Bernardinus, quoted, 141,
Coptic or Memuphitic version, 8, 57, 113, 142.
175, 204. Gibbon, Edward, quoted, 47 - 49.
Crito Cantabrigiensis, pseudon. See Glossa Ordinaria, 140-142, 153.
Turton, Thomas. Grafton, A. W., 203 n.
Cyprian, 136 -138, 188; 17, 18, 45, Grashof, J. W., 198.
52, 88, 89, 94, 107, 131, 145, 146, Gratz, Aloys, 197.
187, 189, 198. Greek Church, its Confession of
Cyril of Alezandria, 4, 87, 113, 114, ficith, 52.
146, 189, 190, 205. Greek fathers ignorant of 1 John v.
7, 87, 146, 205.
I)AVIDSON, Samuel, quoted, 200. Greek manuscripts on 1 John v. 7,
I)e Missy. See Missy. 9 - 11, 118 - 120, 174, 189, 190, 193,
Devil's agency in corrupting the text 194, 195, 196, 197 n., 203, 204.
of Scripture, 58, 59. Greek Testament, critical editions of
Dia(logue between Arius and Athana- the, 7, 8, 197.
sins, 52. Green, T. S., 197; quoted, 202.
Didvmus, 87. Gregory Nazianzen, 87, 154, 189, 190,
Diocletian's persecution, 107. 205.
Diodorus qf Antioch, 144, 145, 146. Griesbach, J. J., quoted, 100, 101;
Dionysius of Alexandria, 145, 146. 51, 105, 13L- 133, 194, 197.
Dorhout, Ambrosius, 145. Gutbier, Egidius, 46, 204 n.
Dublin nanuscript. See Codex Mont-.trticnus. HAHN, (H.) A., 197.
Diisterdieck, F. (A. C.), 198. Hales, William, quoted, 117-120, 195.
Hammond, Henry, 17 - 19, 147, 158
EBRARD, J. H. A., 198. Harford,J. S., Life of Bp. Burgess, 193.
E.c'lectic Review (J. P. Smith), quoted, Hewlett, John, 198.
98 - 100; 180. Holtzmann, H. (J.), 198.
Edinburgh Review, quoted, 206. Horne, T. H., quoted, 180 - 182; 199,
Elzevir (properly Elsevier) editors, 8. 200.
Fmnln,'Ihomas, 20 - 23. Horsley, Samuel, Bp., 132, 158.
England, Church of, 206. Howe, John, 17.




Page  211

INDEX. 211
Huneric, or Hunneric, Council of Af- Lee, Edward, Abp., 2.
rican Bishops summoned by. See Lee, Samuel, 199.
Carthage, Council of. Le Long, Jacques, 62, 63.
Hunt, W. W., 192. Liber adversus Vatrimadum, 177. See
Huther, J. E., 198, 208. also Vigilius Tapsensis.
Huyshe, Francis, quoted, 162-167; Lincoln College, Rector of. See Ta169, 191. tham, Edward.
Lindsey, Theophilus, (Sosipater,) 60,
ITALIC version. See Latin version, Old. 61.
Louvain divines, 57.
JACHMANN, K. R., 198. Lowth, Robert, Bp., quoted, 184.
Jaspis, G. S., 198. Liicke, (G. C.) F., quoted, 198.
Jerome (Lat. Hieronymus), 89, 205; Luther, Martin, 8, 185, 186, 206, 207,
Preface to the Catholic Epistles 208 n.
falsely ascribed to him, 4, 5, 7, 11,
14 - 16, 17, 19, 47, 52, 112, 134, 135. MACE, William, 32, 33.
146, 176, 189, 190. McLeod, Alexander, 184.
Joachim, the Abbot, 80 n. Mai, Cardinal Angelo, 187, 189;
1 John v. 7, how introduced into the quoted, 191.
Latin version, 18, 45- 47, 76, 77, Marcus Celedensis, 52, 107, 187, 188.
89, 121, 122, 202, 203. Summary Marsh, Herbert, Bp., quoted, 63 - 73,
of the evidence against it, by Por- 121 - 124, 181; 202.
son, 60; the Eclectic Review, 98, Martin, David. 20 - 23, 41, 147.
99; Oxlee, 173 - 177; concluding Matthsei, C. F. von, quoted, 142, 143;
summary, 203 - 205. 197.
Jones, John, D. D., (Ben David,) 150, Maximus the Confessor, 108, 146.
151, 153, 154.' M'ayer, G. K., 198.
Jortin, John, his Life of Erasnius Meyer, H. A. W., 198.
quoted, 3 - 7. He rejects 1 John v. Michaelis, J. D., quoted, 74 - 78, 128;
7; 7. 66 n.
Jowett, Joseph, quoted, 84 - 90. Middleton, Conyers, 30, 31.
Juda, Leo de, 9. Middleton, T. F., Bp., quoted, 96Justin Martyr, 87. 98; 184.
Mill, John, 19, 20, 143.
KAYE, John, Bp., quoted, 188. Missy, Cdsar de, 41.
Kenrick, F. P., Abp., quoted, 193. Monk, J. H., Bp., quoted, 31 n.
Kettner, F. E., 16, 17. Ml-onthly Anthology (J. S. B.4ckminKnapp, G. C., 197. ster), 183, 184.
Knittel, F. A., 75, 170-172, 178-180,
194. NEANDER, (J.) A. (W.), 198.
Neapolitan manuscript, (No. 173,) 193,
LA CAVA manuscript, 189, 205 n. 204.
Lachmann, Karl, 197. Newton, Sir Isaac, quoted, 42-44, 51.
Laodiceans, Epistle of Paul to the, Nolan, Frederick, quoted, 101-111;
205 n. 138, 147. 195, 196.
Latin fathers on 1 John v. 7, 87 - 89, North British Review, quoted, 190.
105 - 108, 187 - 189, 205.
Iatin manuscripts on 1 John v. 7, 8, ECOLAMPADIUS, Johannes,.185.
11-15, 78, 79, 95, 190, 192, 200, Oxlee, John, quoted, 17-19, 111205. See also La Cava manuscript, 117, 147 - 149, 167 - 169; 191. His
Speculum. sulnmary of the evidence against
Latin version, Old, or Italic, 95, 131, 1 John v. 7, 173 - 178.
186 - 189, 204.
Latin Vulgate version, 8, 11, 12, 14 - P., Rev. T., of C-l, 37, 38.
16, 52, 57, 58, 75 - 81, 83, 84, 95, Palceoromaica. See Black, Rev. John,
167, 189, 190, 200, 204, 205. Panoplist, 183, 184.




Page  212

212 INDEX.
Paulus, H. E. G., 198. Smith, John Pye, quoted, 82, 83, 199.
Pearson, John, Bp., 158, 159.. See also Eclectic Review.
Penn. Granville, 198. Smith, Thomas, 16.
Peshito Syriac version, 8, 46, 47, 57, Socinians, Porson's opinion of the, 56,
174, 204. 57.
Petrus Comesto', M1agister in Histo- Sosipater, pseudon. See Lindsey,
riis, 141. Theophilus.
Pfaff, C. M., 143. Speculumn, the, edited by Mai, 187 -
Phimbadius, or l'hcebadius, 52, 107. 189, 192, 205 n.
Philoxenian or Harclean Syriac ver- Stephens (properly Estienne), Robsion, 8, 114, 175, 204. ert, 38 -41, 61 - 73, 84- 86, 163Porson, RiChard, quoted, 36, 55 - 60, 166, 191; 8, 20, 34, 35, 48, 50, 51,
152; 29, 49, 51, 129, 136, 137, 139, 57, 129, 173.
140, 151, 154, 202. Vindicated by Stillingfleet, Edward, Bp., 158, 159.
Crito Cantabrigielnsis, 156 - 162. Stolz, J. J., 198.
Porter, J. Scott, 200. Strabo, Walafrid, 134, 135, 140 - 142,
Possidius, 187, 188. 153.
Stresow, K. F., 75.
QUARTERLY Review (Thomas Tur- Stuart, Moses, quoted, 199.
ton), quoted, 60, 136- 144, 153- Stunica (Span. Zufiiga), J. L., 2, 42.
156. Symbolurn Antiochenum. See Antioch, Second Council of.
RECEIVED Text of the New Testa- Syriac versions, 8. See also Peshito,
ment, defended by Nolan, 101 - Philoxenian.
108.
Reuss, Eduard, 201. TATHAM, Edward, Rector of Lincoln
Rickli, Karl, 185, 198. College, 152, 153.
Rinck, W. F., 190 n. Tertullian, 17, 18, 45, 52, 107, 137,
Rocca, Angelo, 189. 138, 145, 187, 188.
Roger, the Abbd Louis, 20. Theile, C. G. W., 197.
Rosenmiiller, J. G., 198. Theophilus, Books to, falsely ascribed
to Athanasius, 176, 177. See also
SABATIER, 0o Sabbathier, Pierre, 95, Vigilius Tapsensis.
143. Thomas Aquinas, Saint, 80.
Sahidlic or Thebaic version, 8, 175, Thomson, Charles, 198.
204. Tischendorf, (L. F.) C., 197; quoted,
Sander,'. E. F., 198. 201.
Sardlis, Epistle of the Bishops at, 87. Tittmann, J. A. H., 197.
Schaaf, Carolus, 46, 204 n. Travis, George, quoted, 49 - 55, 63 -
Schmid, C. F., 143. 73; 75, 140, 141.
Scholz, J. 5i. A., 181, 182, 192, 193, Tregelles, S. P., quoted, 188, 194, 195,
197. 200, 201.
Schott, H. A., 197. Tremellius, Immanuel, 46, 204 n.
Scott, Thomas, 199. Trent, Council of, 91-93, 191, 193.
Scrivener, F. H., quoted, 153 n., 202. Turnbull, Joseph, 194, 195.
Sebastiani, Don Leopoldo, 190. Turton, Thomas, Bp., (C,1ito CantaSeiler, G F., 198. brigiensis and Clemens Anglicanus,)
Selden, John, 143, 158, 159. quoted, 29 - 31, 35, 36, 54, 55, 157 -
Semler, J. S., 66 n., 74. 169, 180; 188 n. See also Quarterly
Si-non, Father Richard, quoted, 9- Review.
13; 16, 20, 21. Twells, Leonard, 33, 35.
Sinaitic nmanuscript, 203, 204.
Slavonic version, 8, 57, 176, 204. USCAN, 115, 116, 175.
Sloss, James, 36.
Smaibroke. Richard, Bp., quoted, VALLA'S Greek MSS., 51, 57.
25 - 27; 147. Vater, J. S., 197.




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INDEX. 213
Vatican manuscript (No. 1209), 6, 15, Westcott, B. F., 205 n.
16, 25 - 27, 41, 204. Wetstein, J. J., 38 - 41, 130; 143, 191.
Venice manuscript, 14, 15, 189, 190. Wette, W. M. L. de, 198.
Versions, ancient, 8, 195, 196, 204, Whiston, William, 21, 29, 30, 74.
205. Whitby, Daniel, 147.
Versions, modern, 8, 9, 185, 186. Wilson, John, 193, 194.
Victor Vitensis, 13, 107, 187. Wiseman, Cardinal Nicholas, 186Vigilius Ttapsensis, 52, 89, 95, 100, 191.
132, 187, 189, 205. Wolfenbiiltel MS. See Codex GuelphVinlcent, William, 31 n. erbytanus.
Vulgate version. See Latin Vulgate. Woolsey, Theodore, Pres. of Yale
College, quoted, 206, 207.
WAGNER, J. E., 74, 75. Wordsworth, Christopher, 197, and
Walafrid Strabo. See Strabo. note.
Waldenses, 109 -111. Wright, William, quoted, 189, 190,
Wallis, John, 158, 159. 191, 192.
Wardlaw, Ralph, 199.
Ware, Henry, Jr., 184. ZURIGA, D. L. See Stunica.
Waterland, Daniel, 22, 158, 159. Zwingli, Huldreich or Ulrich, 185.