A ruin moreover it is which does not admit of being repaired or restored. And why? Because the mischief, [pg 517] which extends to every part of the edifice, takes its beginning, as already explained, in every part of the foundation.
And further, (to speak without a figure,) it cannot be too plainly stated that no compromise is possible between our respective methods,—yours and mine: between the new German system in its most aggravated and in fact intolerable form, to which you have incautiously and unconditionally given in your adhesion; and the old English school of Textual Criticism, of which I humbly avow myself a disciple. Between the theory of Drs. Westcott and Hort (which you have made your own) and the method of your present Correspondent, there can be no compromise, because the two are antagonistic throughout. We have, in fact, nothing in common,—except certain documents; which I insist on interpreting by the humble Inductive process: while you and your friends insist on your right of deducing your estimate of them from certain antecedent imaginations of your own,—every one of which I disallow, and some of which I am able to disprove.
Such, my lord Bishop, is your baseless imagination—(1) That the traditional Greek Text (which, without authority, you style “The Syrian text,”) is the result of a deliberate Recension made at Antioch, a.d. 250 and 350:[1144]—(2) That the Peschito, in like manner, is the result of a Recension made at Edessa or Nisibis about the same time:[1145]—(3) That Cureton's is the Syriac “Vetus,” and the Peschito the Syriac “Vulgate:”[1146]—(4) That the respective ancestries of our only two IVth-century Codices, b and א, “diverged from a common parent extremely near the apostolic autographs:”[1147]—(5) That this common [pg 518] original enjoyed a “general immunity from substantive error;” and by consequence—(6) That b and א provide “a safe criterion of genuineness,” so that “no readings of א b can be safely rejected absolutely.”[1148]—(7) Similar wild imaginations you cherish concerning c and d,—which, together with b and א you assume to be among the most trustworthy guides in existence; whereas I have convinced myself, by laborious collation, that they are the most corrupt of all. We are thus diametrically opposed throughout. Finally,—(8) You assume that you possess a power of divination which enables you to dispense with laborious processes of Induction; while I, on the contrary, insist that the Truth of the Text of Scripture is to be elicited exclusively from the consentient testimony of the largest number of the best Copies, Fathers, Versions.[1149] There is, I am persuaded, no royal road to the attainment of Truth in this department of Knowledge. Only through the lowly portal of humility,—only by self-renouncing labour,—may we ever hope to reach the innermost shrine. They do but go astray themselves and hopelessly mislead others, who first invent their facts, and then proceed to build thereupon their premisses.
Such builders are Drs. Westcott and Hort,—with whom (by your own avowal) you stand completely identified.[1150] I repeat, (for I wish it to be distinctly understood and remembered,) that what I assert concerning those Critics is,—not that their superstructure rests upon an insecure foundation; but that it rests on no foundation at all. My complaint is,—not that they are somewhat and frequently mistaken; but that they are mistaken entirely, and that they are mistaken throughout. There is no possibility of approximation [pg 519] between their mere assumptions and the results of my humble and laborious method of dealing with the Text of Scripture. We shall only then be able to begin to reason together with the slightest prospect of coming to any agreement, when they have unconditionally abandoned all their preconceived imaginations, and unreservedly scattered every one of their postulates to the four winds.
(7) Parting Counsels.
Let me be allowed, in conclusion, to recommend to your attention and that of your friends,—(I.) “The last Twelve Verses of S. Mark's Gospel:”—(II.) the Angelic Hymn on the night of the Nativity:—(III.) The text of 1 Timothy iii. 16,—these three,—(in respect of which up to this hour, you and I find ourselves to be hopelessly divided,)—as convenient Test places. When you are prepared frankly to admit,—(I.) That there is no reason whatever for doubting the genuineness of S. Mark xvi. 9-20:[1151]—(II.) That ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκία is unquestionably the Evangelical text of S. Luke ii. 14:[1152]—and (III.) That Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί is what the great Apostle must be held to have written in 1 Timothy iii 16,[1153]—we shall be in good time to proceed to something else. Until this happy result has been attained, it is a mere waste of time to break up fresh ground, and to extend the area of our differences.
I cannot however disguise from you the fact that such an avowal on your part will amount to an admission that “the whole fabric of Textual Criticism which has been built up during the last fifty years by successive editors of the New Testament,”—Lachmann namely, Tischendorf, and Tregelles,—is worthless. Neither may the inevitable consequence [pg 520] of this admission be concealed: viz. that your own work as Revisionists has been, to speak plainly, one gigantic blunder, from end to end.
(8) The subject dismissed.
The issue of this prolonged contention I now commend, with deep humility, to Almighty God. The Spirit of Truth will, (I know,) take good care of His own masterpiece,—the Written Word. May He have compassion on my ignorance, and graciously forgive me, if, (intending nothing less,) I shall prove to have anywhere erred in my strenuous endeavour to maintain the integrity of Scripture against the rashness of an impatient and unlearned generation.
But if, (as I humbly believe and confidently hope,) my conclusions are sound throughout, then may He enable men freely to recognize the Truth; and thus, effectually avert from our Church the supreme calamity with which, for a few months in 1881, it seemed threatened; namely, of having an utterly depraved Recension of the Greek Text of the New Testament thrust upon it, as the basis of a very questionable 'Revision' of the English.