terest in preserving the purity of those writings, which are the foundation of their faith, the rule of their lives, and for which they have been ready to give up their lives. It is utterly incredible that sincere Christians should deliberately set themselves to falsify, and thus to destroy or weaken the authority of their own sacred books. And can we with much better reason imagine the task to be assumed by the enemies of Christianity? Why should they set themselves to alter and corrupt books, which it was so much easier for them to destroy? Why resort to a process so tedious and difficult, and of extremely precarious success, as that of attempting to weaken the authority, or pervert the design of the Scriptures by corrupting the text; while the far more obvious and practicable scheme for accomplishing their purpose was before them; that of destroying the writings themselves? This is not merely conjecture or opinion. It is a judgment founded on evidence and fact. In the persecutions to which the early Christians were exposed, we know that the destruction of their books was attempted, and as far as the civil power could do it, carried into effect. But we have no historical evidence that the plan of destroying their value and use by corrupting the text was ever thought of.

The only suspicion of such a design and attempt, which is entitled to a moment's consideration, falls upon those, who holding opinions different from other Christians, and separating from them on that account, had the name of Hereticks. We may well suppose that many of those, who in the first ages were converted to the Christian faith, would find it not easy to divest themselves immediately of all the prejudices of their previous heathen education. They would be inclined to retain and incorporate into their new religion, whatever opinions, connected with the old, they did not find explicitly condemned; and would naturally seek such support for them in the sacred writings, as could be derived from any fair interpretation of those writings. But should they be emboldened to proceed farther than this, should they, not satisfied with what could be effected by interpretation, venture to falsify the text itself, in order to bring their present to a conformity with their former faith, to what easy and certain detection must the fraud have been exposed! The real fact is, that the sects into which Christians were early divided, in

stead of giving us reason to suspect at the present day, that the Scriptures may have been corrupted for the purpose of giving support to the peculiar doctrines of any one party, assure us that no such corruption, had it been attempted, could have passed down undetected. The zeal of all to maintain their own peculiarities, and to find a support for them in the Scriptures, must have been an effectual security, if not against the attempt, at least against the success of an attempt by any to alter the sacred text, so as to make it speak the language of a party. All felt an equal interest in guarding the book, to which all alike appealed, against being corrupted by others. Now as there has never been a time since the first promulgation of the gospel, when there were not sects, which were a mutual check to each other, and which exercised a jealous vigilance to protect the sacred writings, which they all held in equal reverence, from suffering any change; so there never could have been a combination to alter the Scriptures for the purpose of adjusting them to any particular system of doctrines. And without such a combination, it is manifest that any attempt for such a purpose must be wholly ineffectual.

We have here then one of the instances, and many such there are, in which we are called to admire the wisdom of God, in converting human imperfection and even human depravity into instruments for accomplishing some of its kindest purposes. That variety of opinions, which grew out of the imperfection of the human faculties, and the unfaithful use of them, together with that jealousy, which awakens the suspicion of bad designs and unfair practices in those, who belong to an opposite party, or hold offensive opinions, have proved a more effectual restraint, than could otherwise have been imposed, upon a disposition to corrupt the sacred text; and have furnished the surest nieans of discovery, in case of an attempt to do it. However, therefore, we may have occasion to condemn the violence of sectarian zeal, by which Christians have sometimes disgraced their profession, and the spirit of mutual hostility and persecution with which they have been armed, and to lament the evils which they have drawn after them; we have yet to console ourselves, that they have not been without their important uses, since we owe to them one

of the most conclusive arguments for the integrity of our sacred books, and their unadulterated purity.

Besides the direct appeal to ancient copies, the general agreement of which in all important points furnishes so satisfactory a presumption of their purity, this presumption is strengthened in no small degree by the citations from these books, which are to be found in the writings of Christians of the early ages, and of every succeeding period down to the present time. These, as far as they go, and as far as they agree, prove that the text has undergone no change, and that it is now what it was at first. Nor is it to a small number of texts only, that this argument applies. The books of the New Testament were then, as they are now, the fountain, from which preachers and writers drew all their instructions. Constant appeals to their authority, and copious extracts from them appear in all their writings. It has even been asserted, that nearly a complete copy of the New Testament may be found in the quotations from it of three writers only of the third century, who lived in different countries, and whose works have come down to us. In these quotations we see what the text was at that time, at least as it stood in the copies, which were in their hands; and we have the most satisfactory evidence, that it is substantially the same now, that it was then.

This qualification in the assertion of a pure text is not to be overlooked. The pretence that it is absolutely faultless, that no errours have crept into it, and have been transferred from one copy to another, while it existed for fourteen centuries in manuscript only, and during that period was transcribed so many thousand times, in the original language, and in the several languages into which it was translated, is too absurd to be entitled to a moment's consideration, contradicted as it is by the various readings, which are found in the different manuscript copies, that are preserved. For, of several various readings of the same word or sentence, it is certain that one only can be the right one, every deviation from which is a corruption. No single copy now existing is entitled to the distinction of being assumed as a standard, by which all others are to be judged, and every deviation from which is to be regarded as unquestionably a corruption. The suppo sition supported by the strongest presumption is, that although

some copies may be of far better authority than others, no one extant is entirely free from false readings.

In the beginning of the last century some alarm was excited by the great number of various readings, which were discovered by eminent criticks, in comparing together a vast number of ancient manuscripts; and no small uneasiness was expressed under the apprehension, that the foundation of the Christian faith would be affected, and that uncertainty would be introduced into the doctrines of the gospel. But these apprehensions have yielded to more just and enlightened views on the subject. It is now well understood, that the circumstance so alarming at first is of immense value; since it supplies at once one of the most convincing arguments for the general purity of the text of the New Testament, and the means of correcting it, wherever faults have crept in. For it proves to us, that no prevailing party in the Christian Church has been disposed, or if disposed, has been able to produce a uniformity in the sacred text by expunging from it, or altering to their purpose, whatever was unfavourable to their peculiar views of Christian doctrine. We see that "the several manuscripts are of separate and distinct authority, since they were evidently not copied from each other, but from different originals, and by persons who could not be suspected of mutual concert; since they were separated from each other by distance of time and place, and by diversity of opinions. They were not the works of a single faction, but of Christians of all denominations."* The means also which they furnish for correcting errours in the present text, and recovering a more perfect one, are invaluable. With respect to all other ancient writings, the value of an opportunity of comparing together a large number of copies, which vary from each other in their readings, has been long understood. It is well known, that those of the ancient classics, of which we have the fewest manuscript copies, have come down to us in the most imperfect state; and the discovery of a manuscript before unknown seldom fails, by some new readings, to improve the text, to throw new light on difficult passages, and to give meaning to some, which were unintelligible.

Now in proportion as there are more manuscript copies of the New Testament than of any other ancient book, because

* See Mich. Int, to the New Testament. Vol. I. Ch. vi. Sect. v.

no other book was ever so much read, by so many persons, and those scattered over so many and so distant countries were so often transcribed, translated into so many different languages, preserved with so much care, or deemed of so momentous importance; we may reasonably expect to find the number of various readings multiplied. And as these are multiplied, the suspicion of concert and fraud, for the purpose of accommodating them to the doctrines of a sect or the views of a party, will vanish; and the means will be supplied for correcting those errours, which design, or carelessness, or ignorance may have introduced into the text, and for recovering the true reading.

This use of the varieties, that are discovered in the manuscript copies of the New Testament, and their great value for the purposes I have stated, will be seen in the short account I shall now give, of the manner in which the printed text was formed, which has so long maintained its authority throughout the Christian world, and of a few of the most important attempts, which have been made in the course of three centuries, to correct the errours that have been discovered in it, and to restore it to its primitive purity.

With the invention of printing early in the fifteenth century, commenced the most important era in the annals of literature; and in nothing was that age more distinguished, than by the application of that art to the purpose of saving from oblivion and rendering permanent, whatever there then was of learning in the world. The benefits immediately felt by the ease and rapidity with which the copies of new works were multiplied, and the knowledge of new discoveries and inventions was communicated, were not greater, than that of rescuing from the decay into which they were passing, and preserving from the danger of further mutilation and corruption, and from final loss, the treasures, which were contained in ancient manuscripts. Among the books, which received at an early period the benefit of the new invention, were those of the Old and New Testaments. The first complete edition, which issued from the press, was that which was printed at Alcala in Spain, the ancient Complutum, thence called the Complutum edition. The printing of it, begun in 1502, was completed in 1514, under the inspection and at