The Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel According to S. Mark

by John William Burgon

Footnotes

[1.]Abp. Tait's Harmony of Revelation and the Sciences, (1864,) p. 21.[2.]See by all means Hooker, E. P., v. xlii. 11-13.[3.]Abp. Tait is of opinion that it “should not retain its place in the public Service of the Church:” and Dean Stanley gives sixteen reasons for the same opinion,—the fifteenth of which is that “many excellent laymen, including King George III., have declined to take part in the recitation.” (Final) Report of the Ritual Commission, 1870, p. viii. and p. xvii.[4.]In the words of a thoughtful friend, (Rev. C. P. Eden),—“Condemnatory is just what these clauses are not. I understand myself, in uttering these words, not to condemn a fellow creature, but to acknowledge a truth of Scripture, God's judgment namely on the sin of unbelief. The further question,—In whom the sin of unbelief is found; that awful question I leave entirely in His hands who is the alone Judge of hearts; who made us, and knows our infirmities, and whose tender mercies are over all His works.”[5.]“The Athanasian Creed,” by the Dean of Westminster (Contemporary Review, Aug., 1870, pp. 158, 159).[6.]Commentarius Criticus, ii. 197.[7.]Quatuor Evangelia Graece cum variantibus a textu lectionibus Codd. MSS. Bibliothecae Vaticanae, etc. Jussu et sumtibus regiis edidit Andreas Birch, Havniae, 1788. A copy of this very rare and sumptuous folio may be seen in the King's Library (Brit. Mus.)[8.]Account of the Printed Text, p. 83.[9.]See above, p. [3].[10.]“Eam esse authenticam rationes internae et externae probant gravissimae.”[11.]I find it difficult to say what distress the sudden removal of this amiable and accomplished Scholar occasions me, just as I am finishing my task. I consign these pages to the press with a sense of downright reluctance,—(constrained however by the importance of the subject,)—seeing that he is no longer among us either to accept or to dispute a single proposition. All I can do is to erase every word which might have occasioned him the least annoyance; and indeed, as seldom as possible to introduce his respected name. An open grave reminds one of the nothingness of earthly controversy; as nothing else does, or indeed can do.[12.]Tischendorf, besides eight editions of his laborious critical revision of the Greek Text, has edited our English “Authorized Version” (Tauchnitz, 1869,) with an “Introduction” addressed to unlearned readers, and the various readings of Codd. א, B and A, set down in English at the foot of every page.—Tregelles, besides his edition of the Text of the N. T., is very full on the subject of S. Mark xvi. 9-20, in his “Account of the Printed Text,” and in his “Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the N. T.” (vol. iv. of Horne's Introd.)—Dean Alford, besides six editions of his Greek Testament, and an abridgment “for the upper forms of Schools and for passmen at the Universities,” put forth two editions of a “N. T. for English Readers,” and three editions of “the Authorized Version newly compared with the original Greek and revised;”—in every one of which it is stated that these twelve verses are “probably an addition, placed here in very early times.”[13.]The Rev. F. H. Scrivener, Bp. Ellicott, and Bp. Wordsworth, are honourable exceptions to this remark. The last-named excellent Divine reluctantly admitting that “this portion may not have been penned by S. Mark himself;” and Bishop Ellicott (Historical Lectures, pp. 26-7) asking “Why may not this portion have been written by S. Mark at a later period?;”—both alike resolutely insist on its genuineness and canonicity. To the honour of the best living master of Textual Criticism, the Rev. F. H. Scrivener, (of whom I desire to be understood to speak as a disciple of his master,) be it stated that he has never at any time given the least sanction to the popular outcry against this portion of the Gospel. “Without the slightest misgiving” he has uniformly maintained the genuineness of S. Mark xvi. 9-20. (Introduction, pp. 7 and 429-32.)[14.]“Hæc non a Marco scripta esse argumentis probatur idoneis,” (p. 320.) “Quæ testimonia aliis corroborantur argumentis, ut quod conlatis prioribus versu 9. parum apte adduntur verba αφ᾽ ἧς ἐκβεβ item quod singula multifariam a Marci ratione abhorrent.” (p. 322.)—I quote from the 7th Leipsic ed.; but in Tischendorf's 8th ed. (1866, pp. 403, 406,) the same verdict is repeated, with the following addition:—“Quæ quum ita sint, sanæ erga sacrum textum pietati adversari videntur qui pro apostolicis venditare pergunt qua a Marco aliena esse tam luculenter docemur.” (p. 407.)[15.]Evangelia Apocrypha, 1853, Proleg. p. lvi.[16.]Pp. 253, 7-9.[17.]In his first edition (1848, vol. i. p. 163) Dr. Davidson pronounced it “manifestly untenable” that S. Mark's Gospel was the last written; and assigned A.D. 64 as “its most probable” date. In his second (1868, vol. ii. p. 117), he says:—“When we consider that the Gospel was not written till the second century, internal evidence loses much of its force against the authenticity of these verses.”—Introduction to N.T.[18.]Vol. ii. p. 239.[19.]Developed Criticism, [1857], p. 53.[20.]Ed. 1847. i. p. 17. He recommends this view to his reader's acceptance in five pages,—pp. 216 to 221.[21.] Introduction to the Study of the Gospels, p. 311.[22.]Critical and Exegetical Commentary, 1855, 8vo. pp. 182, 186-92.[23.]In the Roman law this principle is thus expressed,—“Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat.” Taylor on the Law of Evidence, 1868, i. p. 369.[24.]This is freely allowed by all. “Certiores facti sumus hanc pericopam jam in secundo sæculo lectam fuisse tanquam hujus evangelii partem.” Tregelles N.T. p. 214.[25.]This in fact is how Bengel (N. T. p. 626) accounts for the phenomenon:—“Fieri potuit ut librarius, scripto versu 8, reliquam partem scribere differret, et id exemplar, casu non perfectum, alii quasi perfectum sequerentur, praesertim quum ea pars cum reliquâ historiâ evangelicâ minus congruere videretur.”[26.]It is thus that Tischendorf treats S. Luke xxiv. 12, and (in his latest edition) S. John xxi. 25.[27.]Chap. III.-VIII., also Chap. X.[28.]Chap. IX.[29.]Viz. E, L, [viii]: K, M, V, Γ, Δ, Λ (quære), Π (Tisch. ed. 8va.) [ix]: G, X, S, U [ix, x]. The following uncials are defective here,—F (ver. 9-19), H (ver. 9-14), I, N, O, P, Q, R, T, W, Y, Z.[30.]See [Appendix (A)], on the true reading of S. Luke ii. 14.[31.]Consider how Ignatius (ad Smyrn., c. 3) quotes S. Luke xxiv. 39; and how he refers to S. John xii. 3 in his Ep. ad Ephes. c. 17.[32.]Ἱστορεῖ [sc. Παπίας] ἕτερον παράδοξον περὶ Ἰοῦστον τὸν ἐπικληθέντα Βαρσαβᾶν γεγονὸς,—evidently a slip of the pen for Βαρσαβᾶν τὸν ἐπικληθέντα Ἰοῦστον (see Acts i. 23, quoted by Eusebius immediately afterwards,)—ὡς δηλητήριον φάρμακον ἐμπιόντος καὶ μηδὲν ἀηδὲς διὰ τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου χάριν ὑπομείναντος. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. iii. 39.[33.]Apol. I. c. 45.—The supposed quotations in c. 9 from the Fragment De Resurrectione (Westcott and others) are clearly references to S. Luke xxiv.,—not to S. Mark xvi.[34.]lib. iii. c. x. ad fin. (ed. Stieren, i. p. 462). “In fine autem Evangelii ait Marcus, et quidem Dominus Jesus, postquam locutus est sis, receptus est in caelos, et sedet ad dexteram Dei.” Accordingly, against S. Mark xvi. 19 in Harl. MS. 5647 ( = Evan. 72) occurs the following marginal scholium, which Cramer has already published:—Εἰρηναῖος ὁ τῶν Ἀποστόλων πλησίον, ἐν τῷ πρὸς τὰς αἱρέσεις γ᾽ λόγῳ τοῦτο ἀνήνεγκεν τὸ ῥητον ὡς Μάρκῳ ειρημένον.[35.]

First published as his by Fabricius (vol. i. 245.) Its authorship has never been disputed. In the enumeration of the works of Hippolytus (inscribed on the chair of his marble effigy in the Lateran Museum at Rome) is read,—ΠΕΡΙ ΧΑΡΙΣΜΑΤΩΝ; and by that name the fragment in question is actually designated in the third chapter of the (so called) “Apostolical Constitutions,” (τὰ μὲν σῦν πρῶτα τοῦ λόγου ἐξεθέμεθα περὶ τῶν Χαρισμάτων, κ.τ.λ.),—in which singular monument of Antiquity the fragment itself is also found. It is in fact nothing else but the first two chapters of the “Apostolical Constitutions;” of which the ivth chapter is also claimed for Hippolytus, (though with evidently far less reason,) and as such appears in the last edition of the Father's collected works, (Hippolyti Romani quæ feruntur omnia Græce, ed. Lagarde, 1858,)—p. 74.

The work thus assigned to Hippolytus, (evidently on the strength of the heading,—Διατάξεις τῶν ἀυτῶν ἁγίων Ἀποστόλων περὶ χειροτονιῶν, διὰ Ἱππολύτου,) is part of the “Octateuchus Clementinus,” concerning which Lagarde has several remarks in the preface to his Reliquiæ Juris Ecclesiastici Antiquissimæ, 1856. The composition in question extends from p. 5 to p. 18 of the last-named publication. The exact correspondence between the “Octateuchus Clementinus” and the Pseudo-Apostolical Constitutions will be found to extend no further than the single chapter (the ivth) specified in the text. In the meantime the fragment περὶ χαρισμάτων (containing S. Mark xvi. 17, 18,) is identical throughout. It forms the first article in Lagarde's Reliquiæ, extending from p. 1 to p. 4, and is there headed Διδασκαλία τῶν ἁγίων Ἁποστόλων περὶ χαρισμάτων.

In dismissing this enumeration, let me be allowed to point out that there must exist many more Patristic citations which I have overlooked. The necessity one is under, on occasions like the present, of depending to a great extent on “Indices,” is fatal; so scandalously inaccurate is almost every Index of Texts that can be named. To judge from the Index in Oehler's edition of Tertullian, that Father quotes these twelve verses not less than eight times. According to the Benedictine Index, Ambrose does not quote them so much as once. Ambrose, nevertheless, quotes five of these verses no less than fourteen times; while Tertullian, as far as I am able to discover, does not quote S. Mark xvi. 9-20 at all.

Again. One hoped that the Index of Texts in Dindorf's new Oxford ed. of Clemens Alex. was going to remedy the sadly defective Index in Potter's ed. But we are still exactly where we were. S. John i. 3 (or 4), so remarkably quoted in vol. iii. 433, l. 8: S. John i. 18, 50, memorably represented in vol. iii. 412, l. 26: S. Mark i. 13, interestingly referred to in vol. iii. 455, lines 5, 6, 7:—are nowhere noticed in the Index. The Voice from Heaven at our Saviour's Baptism,—a famous misquotation (vol. i. 145, l. 14),—does not appear in the Index of quotations from S. Matthew (iii. 17), S. Mark (i. 11), or S. Luke (iii. 22.)]

Mai quotes the following from Latinus Latinius (Opp. ii. 116.) to Andreas Masius. Sirletus (Cardinalis) “scire te vult in Siciliâ inventos esse ... libros tres Eusebii Cæsariensis de Evangeliorum Diaphoniâ, qui ut ipse sperat brevi in lucem prodibunt.” The letter is dated 1563.

I suspect that when the original of this work is recovered, it will be found that Eusebius digested his “Questions” under heads: e.g. περὶ το τάφου, καὶ τῆς δοκούσης διαφωνίας (p. 264): περὶ τῆς δοκούσης περὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως διαφωνίας. (p. 299.)

“Hujus quæstionis duplex solutio est. [Τοῦτου διττὴ ἂν εἴν ἡ λύσεις.] Aut enim non recipimus Marci testimonium, quod in raris fertur [σπανίωσ ἔν τισι φερόμενα] Evangeliis, omnibus Græciæ libris pene hec capitulum [τὸ κεφάλαιον αὐτὸ] in fine non habentibus; [ἐν τουτῷ γὰρ σχεδὸν ἐν ἅπασι τοῖς ἀντιγράφοις τοῦ κατὰ Μάρκον εὐαγγελίου περιγέγραπται τὸ τέλος]; præsertim cum diversa atque contraria Evangelistis ceteris narrare videntur [μάλιστα εἴπερ ἔχοιεν ἀντιλογίαν τῇ τῶν λοιπῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν μαρτυρίᾳ.] Aut hoc respondendum, quod uterque verum dixerit [ἐκατέραν παραδεκτέαν ὑπάρϗειν ... συγχωρουμένου εἶναι ἀληθοῦς.] Matthæus, quando Dominus surrexerit vespere sabbati: Marcus autem, quando tum viderit Maria Magdalena, id est, mane prima sabbati. Ita enim distinguendum est, Cum autem resurrexisset: [μετὰ διαστολῆς ἀναγνωστέον Ἀναστὰς δέ:] et, parumper, spiritu coarctato inferendum, Prima sabbati mane apparuit Mariæ Magdalenæ: [εἶτα ὑποστίξαντες ῥητέον, Πρωι τῇ μιᾷ τῶν σαββάτων ἐφάνη Μαρίᾳ τῇ Μαγδαληνῇ.] Ut qui vespere sabbati, juxta Matthæum surrexerat, [παρὰ τῷ Ματθαίῳ, ὀψὲ σαββάτων, τοτε γὰρ ἐγήγερατο.] ipse mane prima sabbati, juxta Marcum, apparuerit Mariæ Magdalenæ. [προί γὰρ τῇ μιᾷ τοῦ σαββάτου ἐφάνη Μαρίᾳ τῇ Μαγδαληνῇ.] Quod quidem et Joannes Evangelista significat, mane Eum alterius diei visum esse demonstrans.” [τοῦτο γοῦν ἐδήλωσε καὶ ὁ Ἰωάννης προί καὶ αὐτὸς τῇ μιᾷ τοῦ σαββάτου ὦφθαι αὐτὸν μαρτυρήσας.]