1. And thus we are presented with a mass of additional evidence,—so various, so weighty, so multitudinous, so venerable,—in support of this disputed portion of the Gospel, that it might well be deemed in itself decisive.
2. For these Versions do not so much shew what individuals held, as what Churches have believed and taught concerning the sacred Text,—mighty Churches in Syria and Mesopotamia, in Africa and Italy, in Palestine and Egypt.
3. We may here, in fact, conveniently review the progress which has been hitherto made in this investigation. And in order to bar the door against dispute and cavil, let us be content to waive the testimony of Papias as precarious, and that of Justin Martyr as too fragmentary to be decisive. Let us frankly admit that the citation of Vincentius à Thibari at the viith Carthaginian Council is sufficiently inexact to make it unsafe to build upon it. The “Acta Pilati” and the “Apostolical Constitutions,” since their date is somewhat doubtful, shall be claimed for the ivth century only, and not for the iiird. And now, how will the evidence stand for the last Twelve Verses of S. Mark's Gospel?
(a) In the vth century, to which Codex A and Codex C are referred, (for Codex D is certainly later,) at least three famous Greeks and the most illustrious of the Latin Fathers,—(four authorities in all,)—are observed to recognise these verses.
(b) In the ivth century, (to which Codex B and Codex א probably belong, five Greek writers, one Syriac, and two Latin Fathers,—besides the Vulgate, Gothic and Memphitic Versions,—(eleven authorities in all,)—testify to familiar acquaintance with this portion of S. Mark's Gospel.
(c) In the iiird century, (and by this time MS. evidence has entirely forsaken us,) we find Hippolytus, the Curetonian Syriac, and the Thebaic Version, bearing plain testimony that at that early period, in at least three distinct provinces of primitive Christendom, no suspicion whatever attached to these verses. Lastly,—
(d) In the iind century, Irenæus, the Peshito, and the Italic Version as plainly attest that in Gaul, in Mesopotamia and in the African province, the same verses were unhesitatingly received within a century (more or less) of the date of the inspired autograph of the Evangelist himself.
4. Thus, we are in possession of the testimony of at least six independent witnesses, of a date considerably anterior to the earliest extant Codex of the Gospels. They are all of the best class. They deliver themselves in the most unequivocal way. And their testimony to the genuineness of these Verses is unfaltering.
5. It is clear that nothing short of direct adverse evidence of the weightiest kind can sensibly affect so formidable an array of independent authorities as this. What must the evidence be which shall set it entirely aside, and induce us to believe, with the most recent editors of the inspired Text, that the last chapter of S. Mark's Gospel, as it came from the hands of its inspired author, ended abruptly at ver. 8?
The grounds for assuming that his “last Twelve Verses” are spurious, shall be exhibited in the ensuing chapter.