NOTE III.

The New Testament: kawǹ dɩalýên (ch. xxvi. 28), more correctly the New Covenant, a rendering which preserves the sense of a continuity between the past history of Israel and the future history of the Church as revealed by the Gospel. In the Saviour's words, God renewed the ancient Covenant which He made with the patriarchs. The universal adoption of the other possible rendering of dialýкn, Testament, has obscured this connection, which St Matthew places in the greatest prominence throughout his Gospel.

Gospel (Good News): a most felicitous translation into a Saxon compound of the Greek evayyéλov, which means: (1) reward for good news, (2) good news. The Continental languages have naturalised the Greek word: évangile (French), evangelium (German), evangelo (Italian). A similar instance of felicitous word-formation is passover"; see note, ch. xxvi. 2.

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According to the Gospel is more correctly spoken of as according to than as of St Matthew. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but it is variously presented according to the plan and aims of the different writers inspired to meet the requirements of particular readers, and to satisfy special needs.

Synoptic: a term applied to the first three Gospels, because they take a synopsis or conspectus of the same group and succession of events. The fourth Gospel deals mainly with the works of Christ in Judæa as distinct from His circuits in Galilee and His life_at_Capernaum. The great discourses of that Gospel are also supplementary to the records of the Synoptists.

NOTE IV.

ON THE MSS. OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

No Classical work has so many valuable ancient MSS. on which to establish its text as the New Testament. The earliest of these MSS. are beautifully written on fine vellum, (prepared skin of calves or kids) in uncial or large capital letters. The later MSS. are called cursive, from being written in a cursive (curro) or running hand.

The subjoined brief account of the five oldest uncial MSS. of the N. T. will be of interest.

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Codex Sinaiticus. This is probably the oldest MS. of the N. T. now extant, and is assigned to the fourth century. It was discovered by Tischendorf in the Convent of St Catharine on Mount Sinai, in 1859. "It contains both Old and New Testaments-the latter perfect without the loss of a single leaf. In addition it contains the entire Epistle of Barnabas and a portion of the ‘Shepherd' of Hermas" (Tischendorf). This Codex is now at St Petersburg.

A. Codex Alexandrinus. This MS. belongs to the fifth century. It contains, with very few exceptions, the whole of the LXX. version of the O. T.; in the N. T. the missing portions are Matt. i. 1-xxv. 6, John vi. 50-viii. 52, 2 Cor. iv. 13-xii. 6. It is now in the British Museum, having been presented to Charles I. by Cyrillus Lucaris, Patriarch of Constantinople, who had previously brought it from Alexandria in Egypt.

B. Codex Vaticanus also contains the LXX. Version of the O. T. with the exception of a large portion of Genesis and Psalms cv-cxxxvii ; in the N. T. the latter part of the Epistle to the Hebrews is lacking (from ch. ix. 14-end), also the Pastoral Epistles and the Apocalypse. It is probably either contemporary with, or a little later. This MS. is now, as the name implies, in the Vatican Library.

C. Codex Ephraemi rescriptus: a palimpsest; i. e. on the vellum which contained the worn-out ancient letters (the value of the MS. not being recognised) were written the works of the Syrian Saint Ephraem. In the seventeenth century the older writing was observed beneath the more modern words, and a great portion of this valuable fifth-century codex has been recovered and published. It contains portions of the LXX. Version of the O. T., and fragments of every book of the N. T. with the exception of 2 John and 2 Thessalonians, which are entirely lost. This Codex is in the National Library of Paris.

D. Codex Beza: a MS. of the sixth or seventh century, containing the Gospels and Acts, between which the Catholic Epistles once stood. Of these, 3 John. vv. 11-15 is the only extant portion. The interpolations and various readings of this MS. are of a remarkable character. There are several lacunæ. It is now in the Cambridge University Library, to which it was presented by Beza in 1581. (See Wetstein's Proleg. in N. T. pp. 28-101. Scrivener, Introduction to the Criticism of the N. T. pp. 83-118. Tischendorf, Introduction to the Tauchnitz Edition of the N. T. Smith's Dictionary of the Bible; Art. New Testament, pp. 513, 514.)

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THE HOLY LAND.

Palestine (Philistia) or the Holy Land was about 140 miles in length. The distance from Dan to Beersheba was less than that between London and Manchester; the distance from Capernaum to Jerusalem was nearly the same as that from Rugby to London. The average breadth was 40 miles.

The political divisions are indicated as they existed during our Lord's ministry. At the date of His birth all the districts included in this map were comprised in the Kingdom of Herod the Great. After Herod's death, Archelaus ruled over Samaria and Judæa. When Archelaus was banished these divisions were placed under the rule of a Roman Pro

curator.

Mount Hermon, called also Sirion (the Glitterer), and Shenir (Deut. iii. 9), and Sion (Deut. iv. 48), ch. xvii. 1.

Casarea Philippi, ch. xvi. 13.

Syro-Phenicia or Canaan, ch. xv. 22 and Mark vii. 26.

Nazareth, ch. ii. 23.

Mount Tabor, the traditional scene of the Transfiguration; at this time its summit was probably occupied by a fortress. Ch. xvii. I.

Gerasa, not mentioned in this gospel; see ch. viii. 28, and cp. Mark v. I, where one reading is Gerasenes, inhabitants of a different Gerasa or Gergesa.

Ephraim, the supposed site of the Ephraim mentioned John xi. 54, to which Jesus retired shortly before his last Passover.

Ramah, ch. ii. 18.

Arimathæa, ch. xxvii. 57.

Jericho, ch. xx. 29.

Bethphage, ch. xxi. 1.

Bethany, ch. xxi. 17, xxvi. 6.

Bethlehem, ch. ii. I.

Macharus, the scene of John Baptist's imprisonment and death, ch. iv. 12 and xiv. 10.

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PHILIP