LVI.—(7) At this stage of the argument, the Reviewer finds himself taken aside by a friendly Critic [F. C.], and privately remonstrated with somewhat as follows:—
F. C. “Do you consider, Sir, what it is you are about? Surely, you have been proving a vast deal too much! If the foregoing be a fair sample of the Text of the N. T. with which Clemens Alex. was best acquainted, it is plain that the testimony to the Truth of Scripture borne by one of the most ancient and most famous of the Fathers, is absolutely worthless. Is that your own deliberate conviction or not?”
Q. R. “Finish what you have to say, Sir. After that, you shall have a full reply.”
(8) F. C. “Well then. Pray understand, I nothing doubt that in your main contention you are right; but I yet cannot help thinking that this bringing in of a famous ancient Father—obiter—is a very damaging proceeding. What else is such an elaborate exposure of the badness of the Text which Clemens (a.d. 150) employed, but the hopeless perplexing of a question which was already sufficiently thorny and difficult? You have, as it seems to me, imported into these 15 verses an entirely fresh crop of ‘Various Readings.’ Do you seriously propose them as a contribution towards ascertaining the ipsissima verba of the Evangelist,—the true text of S. Mark x. 17-31?”
Q. R. “Come back, if you please, Sir, to the company. Fully appreciating the friendly spirit in which you just now drew me aside, I yet insist on so making my reply that all the world shall hear it. Forgive my plainness: but you are evidently profoundly unacquainted with the problem before you,—in which however you do not by any means enjoy the distinction of standing alone.
“The foulness of a Text which must have been penned within 70 or 80 years of the death of the last of the Evangelists, is a matter of fact—which must be loyally accepted, and made the best of. The phenomenon is surprising certainly; and may well be a warning to all who (like Dr. Tregelles) regard as oracular the solitary unsupported dicta of a Writer,—provided only he can claim to have lived in the IInd or IIIrd century. To myself it occasions no sort of inconvenience. You are to be told that the exorbitances of a single Father,—as Clemens; a single Version,—as the Egyptian: a single Copy,—as cod. b, are of no manner of significancy or use, except as warnings: are of no manner of interest, except as illustrating the depravation which systematically assailed the written Word in the age which immediately succeeded the Apostolic: are, in fact, of no [pg 330] importance whatever. To make them the basis of an induction is preposterous. It is not allowable to infer the universal from the particular. If the bones of Goliath were to be discovered to-morrow, would you propose as an induction therefrom that it was the fashion to wear four-and-twenty fingers and toes on one's hands and feet in the days of the giant of Gath? All the wild readings of the lost Codex before us may be unceremoniously dismissed. The critical importance and value of this stray leaf from a long-since-vanished Copy is entirely different, and remains to be explained.
“You are to remember then,—perhaps you have yet to learn,—that there are but 25 occasions in the course of these 15 verses, on which either Lachmann (L.), or Tischendorf (T.), or Tregelles (Tr.), or Westcott and Hort (W. H.), or our Revisionists (R. T.), advocate a departure from the Traditional Text. To those 25 places therefore our attention is now to be directed,—on them, our eyes are to be riveted,—exclusively. And the first thing which strikes us as worthy of notice is, that the 5 authorities above specified fall into no fewer than twelve distinct combinations in their advocacy of certain of those 25 readings: holding all 5 together only 4 times.[756] The one question of interest therefore which arises, [pg 331] is this,—What amount of sanction do any of them experience at the hands of Clemens Alexandrinus?
“I answer,—Only on 3 occasions does he agree with any of them.[757] The result of a careful analysis shows further that he sides with the Traditional Text 17 times:—witnessing against Lachmann, 9 times: against Tischendorf, 10 times: against Tregelles, 11 times: against Westcott and Hort, 12 times.[758]
“So far therefore from admitting that ‘the Testimony of Clemens Al.—one of the most ancient and most famous of the Fathers—is absolutely worthless,’—I have proved it to be of very great value. Instead of ‘hopelessly perplexing the question,’ his Evidence is found to have simplified matters considerably. So far from ‘importing into these 15 verses a fresh crop of Various Readings,’ he has helped us to get rid of no less than 17 of the existing ones.... ‘Damaging’ his evidence has certainly proved: but only to Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Westcott and Hort and our ill-starred Revisionists. And yet it remains undeniably true, that ‘it is impossible to produce a fouler exhibition of S. Mark x. 17-31 than is met with in a document full two centuries older than either b or א,—the property of one of the most famous of the Fathers.’[759] ... Have you anything further to ask?”
(9) F. C. “I should certainly like, in conclusion, to be informed whether we are to infer that the nearer we approach to the date of the sacred Autographs, the more corrupt we [pg 332] shall find the copies. For, if so, pray—Where and when did purity of Text begin?”