Enough of all this however. Too much in fact. I must hasten on. The entire fable, by whomsoever fabricated, has been treated with well-merited contempt by a succession of learned men ever since the days of Bp. Pearson.[1049] And although during the last century several writers of the unbelieving school (chiefly Socinians[1050]) revived and embellished the silly story, in order if possible to get rid of a text which witnesses inconveniently to the Godhead of Christ, one would have hoped that, in these enlightened days, a Christian Bishop of the same Church which the learned, pious, and judicious John Berriman adorned a century and a-half ago, would have been ashamed to rekindle the ancient strife and to swell the Socinian [pg 475] chorus. I shall be satisfied if I have at least convinced you that Macedonius is a witness for Θεός in 1 Tim. iii. 16.
[n] The testimony of an Anonymous writer (a.d. 430),—of Epiphanius (a.d. 787),—of Theodorus Studita (a.d. 795?),—of Scholia,—of Œcumenius,—of Theophylact,—of Euthymius.
The evidence of an Anonymous Author who has been mistaken for Athanasius,—you pass by in silence. That this writer lived in the days when the Nestorian Controversy was raging,—namely, in the first half of the Vth century,—is at all events evident. He is therefore at least as ancient a witness for the text of Scripture as codex a itself: and Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη is clearly what he found written in this place.[1051] Why do you make such a fuss about Cod. a, and yet ignore this contemporary witness? We do not know who wrote the Epistle in question,—true. Neither do we know who wrote Codex a. What then?
Another eminent witness for Θεός, whom also you do not condescend to notice, is Epiphanius, deacon of Catana in Sicily,—who represented Thomas, Abp. of Sardinia, at the 2nd Nicene Council, a.d. 787. A long discourse of this Ecclesiastic may be seen in the Acts of the Council, translated into Latin,—which makes his testimony so striking. But in fact his words are express,[1052] and the more valuable because they come from a region of Western Christendom from which textual utterances are rare.
A far more conspicuous writer of nearly the same date, Theodorus Studita of CP, [a.d. 759-826,] is also a witness [pg 476] for Θεός.[1053] How does it happen, my lord Bishop, that you contend so eagerly for the testimony of codices f and g, which are but one IXth-century witness after all,—and yet entirely disregard living utterances like these, of known men,—who belonged to known places,—and wrote at a known time? Is it because they witness unequivocally against you?
Several ancient Scholiasts, expressing themselves diversely, deserve enumeration here, who are all witnesses for Θεός exclusively.[1054] Lastly,—
Œcumenius[1055] (a.d. 990),—Theophylact[1056] (a.d. 1077),—Euthymius[1057] (a.d. 1116),—close this enumeration. They are all three clear witnesses for reading not ὅς but Θεός.
[o] The testimony of Ecclesiastical Tradition.
Nothing has been hitherto said concerning the Ecclesiastical usage with respect to this place of Scripture. 1 Tim. iii. 16 occurs in a lection consisting of nine verses (1 Tim. iii. 13-iv. 5), which used to be publicly read in almost all the Churches of Eastern Christendom on the Saturday before Epiphany.[1058] It was also read, in not a few Churches, on the 34th Saturday of the year.[1059] Unfortunately, the book which [pg 477] contains lections from S. Paul's Epistles, (“Apostolus” it is technically called,) is of comparatively rare occurrence,—is often found in a mutilated condition,—and (for this and other reasons) is, as often as not, without this particular lesson.[1060] Thus, an analysis of 90 copies of the “Apostolus” (No. 1 to 90), is attended by the following result:—10 are found to have been set down in error;[1061] while 41 are declared—(sometimes, I fear, through the unskilfulness of those who profess to have examined them),—not to contain 1 Tim. iii. 16.[1062] Of 7, I have not been able to obtain tidings.[1063] Thus, there are but 32 copies of the book called “Apostolus” available for our present purpose.
But of these thirty-two, twenty-seven exhibit Θεός.[1064] You will be interested to hear that one rejoices in the unique [pg 478] reading Θεοῦ:[1065] while another Copy of the 'Apostolus' keeps “Paul 282” in countenance by reading ὅς Θεός.[1066] In other words, “God” is found in 29 copies out of 32: while “who” (ὅς) is observed to survive in only 3,—and they, Western documents of suspicious character. Two of these were produced in one and the same Calabrian monastery; and they still stand, side by side, in the library of Crypta Ferrata:[1067] being exclusively in sympathy with the very suspicious Western document at Paris, already described at page [446].