The romance of New Testament manuscripts is again enlarged; this time by the discovery of a papyrus fragment containing a part of the Gospel according to St. Matthew. The precious sheet was found in the Libyan desert, about one hundred and twenty miles south of Cairo, by Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt, the discoverers of the Logia. It is thought that this fragment may be older by a hundred years than any other manuscript of the New Testament hitherto available. Its value, had it been a whole book instead of two leaves, would have been priceless. Even so, it is of singular interest. Its actual history, of course, is beyond discovery, but its appearance amongst the world of scholars reminds us of the strangely varied channels through which Greek manuscripts of the New Testament have come down to us. There is the romantic story of the discovery, in a monastery on Mount Sinai, of the priceless manuscript known as the Codex Sinaiticus. There is the scarcely less valuable Codex Alexandrinus which the British Museum now guards; that came to England as a gift to King Charles I. from a Patriarch of Constantinople. There is the great manuscript which is one of the glories of the Vatican Library at Rome, where it is believed to have been ever since that library was founded. There is the Codex Ephraemi at Paris, its ancient writing partly legible beneath a much later work written over it—a manuscript which once belonged to Catherine de Medicis. There is another palimpsest brought to England from a convent in the Nubian desert. There is the manuscript presented by Laud to the Bodleian, and supposed to have been used by the Venerable Bede. In truth, the history of these treasures is full of romance, and it is but fitting that new discoveries should furnish other examples of the strange ways in which the text of the Holy Scriptures in various parts and forms has been preserved for us.
(From a Photograph.)
A GOD OF WAR.
Humours of Hymen.
While nothing can be so distressing to a clergyman, whose duty it is to solemnise marriages, as irreverence or flippancy, he can hardly fail to be amused, if many of his people are poor and his area is wide, at the occasional results of a genuine ignorance, or a legitimate nervousness. A well-known church in Central London can furnish several singular and recent experiences. It is not often that either of the contracting parties comes furnished with a prayer-book, but on a certain occasion the bride, a rather strong-minded-looking lady, did so, and insisted on holding it sternly and steadily under the nose of her future spouse. In repeating the passage in which "cherish" occurs, a bridegroom, in a faltering voice, expressed his willingness "to love and to 'perish.'" "Oh, sir, I do feel that nervous!" once pleaded another embarrassed swain in the middle of the service. A widower, who was extremely awkward and stupid in making the responses after the minister, apologised by saying, "Really, sir, it is so long since I was married last that I forget"! Another bridegroom, though middle-aged, seemed somewhat diffident with regard to his responsibilities, and answered to the inquiry, "Wilt thou love, comfort, honour, etc.?" "To the best of my abilities I will." A year or two ago, the roof of the particular church of which we are thinking was being renovated, and the interior was a maze of ladders. Under these a superstitious bride earnestly begged not to be compelled to go, so she was considerately conducted to the chancel by a circuitous route. There was a wedding last year at which a tiny bridesmaid made her appearance. As he had married her parents about six summers previously, the clergyman thought he might venture to take her by the arm and to place her in her proper position behind the bride. Considerably to his surprise, the small damsel hit out at him in a most workmanlike manner straight from the shoulder, and the edifice resounded with a terrific yell of defiance, "Me won't! Me "WON'T!"
(Photo supplied by the Church Missionary Society.)
INDIAN ORPHANS AT A BREAKFAST SUPPLIED BY MISSIONARIES.
(A scene during the recent famine.)