The next important edition for which the oldest and best MSS. were collated was that of Joseph Athias, printed at Amsterdam, 1661 and 1667. Among the later editions that have followed this, the most noted from their new collation of MSS., careful selection of readings, and thorough correction of points, are those of Jablonski, Berlin, 1699; Van der Hooght, Amsterdam, 1705; J. H. Michaelis, Halle, 1720; Houbigant, Paris, 1753; Simon, Halle, 1752, 1767; Kennicott, Oxford, 1776,1780; August Halm, 1831; and G. Theile, 1849. Besides these editions, which aim at bringing the Masoretic text near its perfection, critical helps are found. in the Masora contained in the rabbinical Bibles of Bomberg and Buxtorf, and the various readings which are found in all the best editions. The toil and treasure expended upon this long series of editions, each of which was a triumph in its time, have not been wasted. The result on the whole is a text of these ancient and venerable books, not indeed perfect in every point and particle, but more excellent than might have been expected, a text that nearly corresponds with that of the books which constituted the oldest Hebrew canon. - The task of purifying the Greek of the New Testament and bringing it to the perfection of our latest and best editions was much less difficult, yet a work of no small magnitude.
Not a fragment from the hand of an evangelist or an apostle survived the early generations that used, the original MSS. and wore them out. The early Christians did not feel the importance of laying them sacredly aside. The greater their value, the more extensive was their circulation, and the briefer consequently their existence. The books of the New. Testament were written after the custom of the time upon papyrus, or upon parchment, finer and more durable, which was beginning to take its place, and were in the roll form. The writing itself, done with a reed and ink, was in uncial or large letters, and ran in continuous lines, with no spaces between the words, no capitals or stops. The heading of the books, "According to Matthew," "According to Luke," etc, was added later. Some epistles had their address marked upon them, but in others it was inferred from the contents. The title "catholic" ("general" in our English Bibles) was given to certain epistles in the 4th century. As copies of these ancient books multiplied, they naturally varied more or less from the originals and from each other; the copyists confounding similar letters or words, substituting a synonym for a given term, introducing something from a parallel passage or marginal gloss, or making other alterations unintentional or even intentional, as the copyist tried to harmonize seeming discrepancies or to explain what seemed obscure.
These variations, small and great, number not less than 120,000; yet they are mostly variations of spelling or inflection, often impossible to express in a translation. There are not more than 1,600 or 2,000 places where the true reading is at all in doubt, while the doubtful readings which affect the sense are much fewer still, and those of any dogmatic importance can be easily numbered. The MSS. of the New Testament have been classified according to certain literary or geographical affinities. They were divided into the eastern and the western, or according to another description, into an Alexandrine and a Latin, an Asiatic and a Byzantine text. The Alexandrine type of the Greek text was in use among the oriental Jewish Christians who used the Greek version of the Old Testament. The Latin type is found not only in the Latin copies, but in the Greek copies which the Latins used. These groups were not wholly distinct from one another, and it is difficult to fix upon the peculiar reading that belongs to each. The MSS. of the Byzantine class are most uniform.
Toward the close of the 4th century no single MS. was known that comprised the whole New Testament. At a considerably later period they were rare, and most of these contained also the Old Testament in Greek. The four gospels were commonly written in one collection, and the Pauline epistles in one. The catholic epistles were classed with the Acts, though sometimes these last two collections and the Pauline were united. MSS. of the Apocalypse were the rarest. The gospels were generally found in the order in which we have them, though in some copies they were transposed. After the Acts usually came the catholic epistles. The order in which the letters of Paul stood varied much. The place of the Apocalypse was fixed by Athanasius at the end of the collection, as it stands at present. By the 4th century papyrus had given place to parchment, and the form of the roll to that of the book. Breaks in the line and simple points were used. To meet the convenience of the public lecture, the books were measured off into pauses and sentences by lines, after the same manner with the poetical books of the Old Testament. It was not long, however, before other divisions of the text were adopted.
In the 8th century Ammonias in making his harmony of the gospels had broken up the text into 1,165 sections, and after the 5th century his arrangement was indicated upon the margin of nearly all the MSS. The gospels were divided into chapters from a very early period, but the present arrangement originated in the 18th century with Cardinal Hugo, who devised it while making a Latin concordance. Erasmus used it in the margin of his Latin translation, and it was repeated in the Complutensian Polyglot. The subdivision of the chapters into verses was introduced by Robert Stephens in 1551. Cursive or small letters were not generally substituted for the uncial till the 10th century. Uncial MSS. of the New Testament arc numerous when compared with the ancient MSS. of other works; and year by year new ones are being discovered. The ages of these to within half a century have been ascertained. To the 11th century belong two or three: the Sinaitic codex (A), now at St. Petersburg, obtained by Tischendorf from the convent of St. Catharine, Mt. Sinai, in 1859, and since published in facsimile at the expense of the emperor of Russia (1862); the Vatican codex (B), containing all the New Testament except the Apocalypse, the epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, and the last four and a half chapters of Hebrews. This MS. was published by Teschendorf at Leipzig in 1807 and by papal authority at Rome in 1868. To this century perhaps belongs a palimpsest in the British museum containing fragments of John xiii. and xvi., published by Tischendorf. To the 5th century belong seven MSS.: the Alexandrian codes (A), presented by the patriarch of Constantinople-to Charles I. in 1628, and preserved in the British museum, and published in 1780 and 1860; the Ephrem palimpsest (C), in the imperial library at, Paris, containing in 64-leaves fragments of the Septuagint, and in 145 two thirds of the New Testament, over which had been written the works of St. Ephrem the Syrian, deciphered and published by Tischendorf in 1843.; and five other fragmentary MSS. To the 6th century belong 18 MSS.; among them Beza's codex (D), a Greek-Latin Ms. of part of the New Testament presented by Bezain 1581 to the university of Cambridge; the Codex purpureus (X) written with silver letters on purple vellum; and other MSS. of great interest, From the 7th century we have only several fragments of MSS. To the 8th century are assigned 9 one of the most valuable being the MS. (I.) 62 in the imperial library at Paris used by Robert Stephens. The 9th century has left us 20 MSS., besides four which are assigned to the 9th or 10th. From the 10th century we have five.
These uncial MSS. (about 75) have been deciphered, some of them with great difficulty; most of them have been accurately collated, and the text of many has been published. Of them all, only one, the recently discovered Sinaitic MS., now has the New Testament complete, though three others originally had the whole, but now lack some parts. Four others have the gospels complete, and four nearly; and about 40 others have portions of the gospels, larger or smaller. The other New Testament books are found more or less complete in some, while in others they are wanting. Besides the 75 uncial MSS. above noticed, there are some 05 lectionaries, or select portions of the gospels or epistles for church services, written in uncial letters, and 1,215 MSS. of some portions of the New Testament and 248 lectionaries in cursive letters. - Most eminent scholars have aided in establishing the text of the New Testament: among the Greeks, Irenaeus, Clement, Origen, Athanasius, Eusebius, Epiphanius, the Cyrils, Chrysostom, and Theodoret; among the Latins, Cyprian, Tertullian, Ambrose, Augustine, and Rufinus. The name of Bede brings us nearer home. Alcuin endeavored to purify the Latin text, and Photius labored in the 9th century, Suidas in the 10th, and Theophylact, Oecumenius, and others in subsequent ages.
Yet 50 years after the invention of printing no attempt had been made to print the original text of the New Testament. The fifth volume of the Complutensian Polyglot contained the original Greek based on MSS. of no special value, so far as may be judged. This volume was printed first of the whole set in 1514, but was not issued until the rest were finished in 1522. Before this, in 1516, Erasmus had issued the first Greek and Latin edition of the New Testament at Basel, constructing his text