Thus far then for the testimony yielded by ancient Manuscripts and Versions of S. Paul's Epistles.
[g] Review of the progress which has been hitherto made in the present Enquiry.
Up to this point, you must admit that wondrous little sanction has been obtained for the reading for which you contend, (viz. μυστήριον; ὅς ἐφανερώθη,) as the true reading of 1 Tim. iii. 16. Undisturbed in your enjoyment of the testimony borne by Cod. א, you cannot but feel that such testimony is fully counterbalanced by the witness of Cod. a: and further, that the conjoined evidence of the Harkleian, the Georgian, and the Slavonic Versions outweighs the single evidence of the Gothic.
But what is to be said about the consent of the manuscripts of S. Paul's Epistles for reading Θεός in this place, in the proportion of 125 to 1? You must surely see that, (as I explained above at pp. [445-6],) such multitudinous testimony is absolutely decisive of the question before us. At [pg 455] p. 30 of your pamphlet, you announce it as a “lesson of primary importance, often reiterated but often forgotten, ponderari debere testes, non numerari.” You might have added with advantage,—“and oftenest of all, misunderstood.” For are you not aware that, generally speaking, “Number” constitutes “Weight”? If you have discovered some “regia via” which renders the general consent of Copies,—the general consent of Versions,—the general consent of Fathers, a consideration of secondary importance, why do you not at once communicate the precious secret to mankind, and thereby save us all a world of trouble?
You will perhaps propose to fall back on Hort's wild theory of a “Syrian Text,”—executed by authority at Antioch somewhere between a.d. 250 and a.d. 350.[982] Be it so. Let that fable be argued upon as if it were a fact. And what follows? That at a period antecedent to the date of any existing copy of the Epistle before us, the Church in her corporate capacity declared Θεός (not ὅς) to be the true reading of 1 Tim. iii. 16.
Only one other head of Evidence (the Patristic) remains to be explored; after which, we shall be able to sum up, and to conclude the present Dissertation.
[h] Testimony of the Fathers concerning the true reading of 1 Tim. iii. 16:—Gregory of Nyssa,—Didymus,—Theodoret,—John Damascene,—Chrysostom,—Gregory Naz.,—Severus Of Antioch,—Diodorus of Tarsus.
It only remains to ascertain what the Fathers have to say on this subject. And when we turn our eyes in this direction, we are encountered by a mass of evidence which effectually [pg 456] closes this discussion. You contended just now as eagerly for the Vth-century Codex a, as if its witness were a point of vital importance to you. But I am prepared to show that Gregory of Nyssa (a full century before Codex a was produced), in at least 22 places, knew of no other reading but Θεός.[983] Of his weighty testimony you appear to have been wholly unaware in 1869, for you did not even mention Gregory by name (see p. [429]). Since however you now admit that his evidence is unequivocally against you, I am willing to hasten forward,—only supplying you (at foot) with the means of verifying what I have stated above concerning the testimony of this illustrious Father.
You are besides aware that Didymus,[984] another illustrious witness, is against you; and that he delivers unquestionable testimony.
You are also aware that Theodoret,[985] in four places, is certainly to be reckoned on the same side: