3. To Griesbach must be assigned the merit of being the earliest editor of the Greek Testament who saw, or at least who acted upon the principle, that it is far more profitable as well as more scholarlike to do one thing well, than to attempt more than can be performed completely and with accuracy. He was led by certain textual theories he had adopted, and which we shall best describe hereafter, to a close examination of the works of Origen, the most celebrated Biblical critic of antiquity. The result, published in the second volume of his Symbolae Criticae, is a lasting monument both of his industry and acuteness; and, if not quite faultless in point of correctness, deserves to be taken as a model by his successors. Tregelles, of whose Greek Testament we shall presently speak, has evidently bestowed much pains on his Patristic citations; to Eusebius of Caesarea, especially to those portions of his works which have been recently edited or brought to light, he has paid great attention: but besides many others, Chrysostom has been grievously neglected, although the subjects of a large portion of his writings, the early date of some of his codices[142], the extensive collations of Matthaei, and the excellent modern editions of most of his Homilies, might have sufficed to commend him to our particular regard. The custom, commenced by Lachmann, and adopted by Tregelles (though not uniformly by Tischendorf), of recording the exact edition, volume, and page of the writer [pg 171] quoted, and in important cases of copying his very words, cannot be too much praised: we would suggest, however, the expediency of further indicating, by an asterisk or some such mark, those passages about which there can be no ambiguity as to the reading adopted by the author, in order to distinguish them from others which are of infinitely less weight and importance.
4. But the greatest step of all towards an extended use of Patristic testimony has been taken by Dean Burgon, and since his much lamented death the results of his labours have been made public. In the early stages of his studies in Sacred Textual Criticism, Burgon saw the extreme value—afterwards recognized by Dr. Scrivener—of an exhaustive use of citations from the Fathers and other ecclesiastical authors; and after a conversation with the Earl of Cranbrook, then Mr. Gathorne Hardy, he set himself upon the vast task of collecting indices of New Testament quotations occurring in the books of those writers. “This involved his looking through all the Greek and Latin folios of the Fathers, and marking the texts in the margin. Then the folios passed into the hands of his assistants, who arranged the references in the order of the Books of the New Testament, and copied them out; so that it might be only the work of a minute to ascertain how Cyril, or Eusebius, or Gregory of Nyssa quoted such a text[143],” and how many times it was quoted by the Father in question. They were revised and enlarged some years after their first collection. The striking use to which Burgon put his own indices has been already noticed. After his death the sixteen stout volumes containing them were acquired by the authorities of the British Museum, where they have been found to be of much use in cataloguing. Steps have been already taken for the publication of the part relating to the Gospels with Dean Burgon's other works on this great subject.
5. It may be convenient to subjoin an alphabetical list of the ecclesiastical writers, both in Greek and Latin and in other languages (with the usual abridgements for their names), which are the most often cited in critical editions of the New Testament. The Latin authors are printed in italics, and unless they happen to appeal unequivocally to the evidence of Greek codices, are available only for the correction of their vernacular translation. [pg 172] The dates annexed generally indicate the death of the persons they refer to, except when “fl.” ( = floruit) is prefixed.
Alcimus (Avitus), fl. 360.
Ambrose, Bp. of Milan, a.d. 397 (Ambr.).
Ambrosiaster, the false Ambrose, perhaps Hilary the Deacon, of the fourth century (Ambrst.).
Ammonius of Alexandria, circa 438 (Ammon.) in Catenis.
Amphilochius, fl. 380.
Anastasius, Abbot, fl. 650.
Anastasius Sinaita, fl. 570.