Now, when it is considered that these seventeen Fathers of the Church[500] all concur in exhibiting the Angelic Hymn as our own Textus Receptus exhibits it,—(viz. ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκία,)—who does not see that the four oldest uncial authorities [pg 259] for εὐδοκίας are hopelessly outvoted by authorities yet older than themselves? Here is, to all intents and purposes, a record of what was once found in two Codices of the iiird century; in nine of the ivth; in three of the vth;—added to the testimony of the two Syriac, the Egyptian, the Ethiopic, and the Armenian versions. In this instance therefore the evidence of Antiquity is even overwhelming.
Most decisive of all, perhaps, is the fact this was the form in which the Churches of the East preserved the Angelic Hymn in their private, as well as their solemn public Devotions. Take it, from a document of the vth century:—
ΔΟΞΑ ΕΝ ΥΨΙΣΤΟΙΣ ΘΕΩ
ΚΑΙ ΕΠΙ ΓΗΣ ΕΙΡΗΝΗ
ΕΝ ΑΝΘΡΩΠΟΙΣ ΕΥΔΟΚΙΑ.[501]
But the text of this Hymn, as a Liturgical document, at a yet earlier period is unequivocally established by the combined testimony of the Apostolical Constitutions (already quoted,) and of Chrysostom, who says expressly:—Εὐχαριστοῦντες λέγομεν, Δόξα ἐν ὑψίστοις Θεῷ, καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς εἰρήνη, ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκία. [Opp. xi. 347 B.] Now this incontestably proves that the Church's established way of reciting the Angelic Hymn in the ivth century was in conformity with the reading of the Textus Receptus. And this fact infinitely outweighs the evidence of any extant MSS. which can be named: for it is the consentient evidence of hundreds,—or rather of thousands of copies of the Gospels of a date anterior to A.D. 400, which have long since perished.
To insist upon this, however, is not at all my present purpose. About the true reading of S. Luke ii. 14, (which is not the reading of Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Alford,) there is clearly no longer any room for doubt. It is perhaps one of the best established readings in the whole compass of the New Testament. My sole object is to call attention to the two following facts:—
(1) That the four oldest Codices which contain S. Luke ii. 14 (B, א, A, D, A.D. 320-520), and two of the oldest Versions, conspire in exhibiting the Angelic Hymn incorrectly.
(2) That we are indebted to fourteen of the Fathers (A.D. [pg 260] 240-434), and to the rest of the ancient Versions, for the true reading of that memorable place of Scripture.
II. Against all this, it is urged (by Tischendorf) that,—
1. Irenæus sides with the oldest uncials.—Now, the Greek of the place referred to is lost. A Latin translation is all that survives. According to that evidence, Irenæus, having quoted the place in conformity with the Vulgate reading (iii. c. x. § 41,—“Gloria in excelsis Deo et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis,”) presently adds,—“In eo quod dicunt, Gloria in altissimis Deo et in terra pax, eum qui sit altissimorum, hoc est, supercaelestium factor et eorum, quae super terram omnium conditor, his sermonibus glorificaverunt; qui suo plasmati, hoc est hominibus suam benignitatem salutis de caelo misit.” (ed. Stieren, i. 459).—But it must suffice to point out (1) that these words really prove nothing: and (2) that it would be very unsafe to build upon them, even if they did; since (3) it is plain that the Latin translator exhibits the place in the Latin form most familiar to himself: (consider his substitution of “excelsis” for “altissimis.”)
2. Next, Origen is claimed on the same side, on the strength of the following passage in (Jerome's version of) his lost Homilies on S. Luke:—“Si scriptum esset, Super terram pax, et hucusque esset finita sententia, recte quaestio nasceretur. Nunc vero in eo quod additum est, hoc est, quod post pacem dicitur, In hominibus bonae voluntatis, solvit quaestionem. Pax enim quam non dat Dominus super terram, non est pax bonae voluntatis.” (Opp. iii. p. 946.) “From this,” (says Tischendorf, who is followed by Tregelles,) “it is plain that Origen regarded εὐδοκίας as the true reading; not εὐδοκία—which is now thrice found in his Greek writings.”—But,