Now, the ancients, and indeed the moderns too, have hopelessly confused this pathetic story by identifying the “vinegar and gall” of St. Matt. xxvii. 34 with the “myrrhed wine” of St. Mark xv. 23; shewing therein a want of critical perception which may reasonably excite astonishment; for [pg 254] “wine” is not “vinegar,” neither is “myrrh” “gall.” And surely, the instinct of humanity which sought to alleviate the torture of crucifixion by administering to our Saviour a preliminary soporific draught, was entirely distinct from the fiendish malice which afterwards with a nauseous potion strove to aggravate the agony of dissolution. Least of all is it reasonable to identify the leisurely act of the insolent soldiery at the third hour[464], with what “one of them” (evidently appalled by the darkness) “ran” to do at the ninth[465]. Eusebius nevertheless, in his clumsy sectional system, brackets[466] together these three places (St. Matt. xxvii. 34, St. Mark xv. 23, St. John xix. 29): while moderns (as the excellent Isaac Williams) and ancients (as Cyril of Jerusalem)[467] alike strenuously contend that the two first must needs be identical. The consequence might have been foreseen. Besides the substitution of “wine” for “vinegar” (οἶνον for ὄξος) which survives to this day in nineteen copies of St. Matt. xxvii. 34, the words “and gall” are found improperly thrust into four or five copies of St. John xix. 29. As for Eusebius and Macarius Magnes, they read St. John xix. 29 after such a monstrous fashion of their own, that I propose to invite separate attention to it in another place. Since however the attempt to assimilate the fourth Gospel to the first (by exhibiting ὄξος μετὰ χολῆς in St. John xix. 29) is universally admitted to be indefensible, it need not occupy us further.
I return to the proposed substitution of οἶνον for ὄξος in St. Matt. xxvii. 34, and have only to point out that it is as [pg 255] plain an instance of enforced harmony as can be produced. That it exists in many copies of the Old-Latin, and lingers on in the Vulgate: is the reading of the Egyptian, Ethiopic, and Armenian Versions and the Lewis Cod.; and survives in BאDKLΠ, besides thirteen of the cursives[468];—all this will seem strange to those only who have hitherto failed to recognize the undeniable fact that Codd. B-א DL are among the foulest in existence. It does but prove how inveterately, as well as from how remote a period, the error under discussion has prevailed. And yet, the great and old Peshitto Version,—Barnabas[469],—Irenaeus[470],—Tertullian[471],—Celsus[472],—Origen[473],—the Sibylline verses in two places[474] (quoted by Lactantius),—and ps.-Tatian[475],—are more ancient [pg 256] authorities than any of the preceding, and they all yield adverse testimony.
Coming down to the fourth century, (to which B-א belong,) those two Codexes find themselves contradicted by Athanasius[476] in two places,—by another of the same name[477] who has been mistaken for the patriarch of Alexandria,—by Eusebius of Emesa[478],—by Theodore of Heraclea[479],—by Didymus[480],—by Gregory of Nyssa[481],—and by his namesake of Nazianzus[482],—by Ephraem Syrus[483],—by Lactantius[484],—by Jerome[485],—by Rufinus[486],—by Chrysostom[487],—by Severianus of Gabala[488],—by Theodore of Mopsuestia[489],—by Cyril of Alexandria[490],—and by Titus of Bostra[491]. Now these are more respectable contemporary witnesses to the text of Scripture by far than Codexes B-א and D (who also have to reckon with A, Φ, and Σ—C being mute at the place), as well as outnumber them in the proportion of 24 to 2. To these (8 + 16 =) 24 are to be added the [pg 257] Apocryphal “Gospel of Nicodemus[492],” which Tischendorf assigns to the third century; the “Acts of Philip[493],” and the Apocryphal “Acts of the Apostles[494],” which Dr. Wright claims for the fourth; besides Hesychius[495], Amphilochius[496], ps.-Chrysostom[497], Maximus[498], Severus of Antioch[499], and John Damascene[500],—nine names which far outweigh in antiquity and importance the eighth and ninth-century Codexes KLΠ. Those critics in fact who would substitute “wine” for “vinegar” in St. Matt. xxvii. 34 have clearly no case. That, however, which is absolutely decisive of the question against them is the fact that every uncial and every cursive copy in existence, except the very few specimens already quoted, attest that the oldest known reading of this place is the true reading. In fact, the Church has affirmed in the plainest manner, from the first, that ὄξος (not οἶνον) is to be read here. We are therefore astonished to find her deliberate decree disregarded by Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Westcott and Hort, in an attempt on their part to revive what is a manifest fabrication, which but for the Vulgate would long since have passed out of the memory of Christendom. Were they not aware that Jerome himself knew better? “Usque hodie” (he says) “Judaei et omnes increduli Dominicae resurrectionis, aceto et felle potant Jesum; et dant ei vinum myrrhatum ut eum consopiant, et mala eorum non videat[501]:”—whereby he both shews that he read St. Matt. xxvii. 34 according to the traditional text (see also p. 233 c), and that he bracketed together two incidents which he yet perceived were essentially distinct, and in marked contrast with one another. But what most offends me is the deliberate attempt of the Revisers in this place. Shall I be thought unreasonable [pg 258] if I avow that it exceeds my comprehension how such a body of men can have persuaded themselves that it is fair to eject the reading of an important place of Scripture like the present, and to substitute for it a reading resting upon so slight a testimony without furnishing ordinary Christian readers with at least a hint of what they had done? They have considered the evidence in favour of “wine” (in St. Matt. xxvii. 34) not only “decidedly preponderating,” but the evidence in favour of “vinegar” so slight as to render the word undeserving even of a place in the margin. Will they find a sane jury in Great Britain to be of the same opinion? Is this the candid and equitable action befitting those who were set to represent the Church in this momentous business?
Appendix III. The Rich Young Man.
The eternal Godhead of Christ was the mark at which, in the earliest age of all, Satan persistently aimed his most envenomed shafts. St. John, in many a well-known place, notices this; begins and ends his Gospel by proclaiming our Saviour's Eternal Godhead[502]; denounces as “deceivers,” “liars,” and “antichrists,” the heretical teachers of his own day who denied this[503];—which shews that their malice was in full activity before the end of the first century of our era; ere yet, in fact, the echoes of the Divine Voice had entirely died out of the memory of very ancient men. These Gnostics found something singularly apt for their purpose in a famous place of the Gospel, where the blessed Speaker seems to disclaim for Himself the attribute of “goodness,”—in fact seems to distinguish between Himself and God. Allusion is made to an incident recorded with remarkable sameness of expression by St. Matthew (xix. 16, 17), St. Mark (x. 17, 18) and St. Luke (xviii. 18, 19), concerning a certain rich young Ruler. This man is declared by all three to have approached our Lord with one and the same question,—to have prefaced it with one and the same glozing address, “Good Master!”—and to [pg 260] have been checked by the object of his adulation with one and the same reproof;—“Why dost thou [who takest me for an ordinary mortal like thyself[504]] call me good? No one is good [essentially good[505]] save one,” that is “God.” ... See, said some old teachers, fastening blindly on the letter,—He disclaims being good: ascribes goodness exclusively to the Father: separates Himself from very and eternal God[506].... The place was accordingly eagerly fastened on by the enemies of the Gospel[507]: while, to vindicate the Divine utterance against the purpose to which it was freely perverted, and to establish its true meaning, is found to have been the endeavour of each of the most illustrious of the Fathers in turn. Their pious eloquence would fill a volume[508]. Gregory of Nyssa devotes to this subject the eleventh book of his treatise against Eunomius[509].
In order to emphasize this impious as well as shallow gloss the heretic Valentinus (a.d. 120),—with his [pg 261] disciples, Heracleon and Ptolemaeus, the Marcosians, the Naassenes, Marcion (a.d. 150), and the rest of the Gnostic crew,—not only substituted “One is good” for “No one is good but one,”—but evidently made it a great point besides to introduce the name of the Father, either in place of, or else in addition to, the name of “God[510].” So plausible a depravation of the text was unsuspiciously adopted by not a few of the orthodox. It is found in Justin Martyr[511],—in pseudo-Tatian[512],—in the Clementine homilies[513]. And many who, like Clemens Alex.,—Origen,—the Dialogus,—and pseudo-Tatian (in five places), are careful to retain the Evangelical phrase “No one is good but one [that is] God,”—even they are observed to conclude the sentence with the heretical addition “the Father[514].” I am not of course denying that the expression is theologically correct: but only am requesting the reader to note that, [pg 262] on the present occasion, it is clearly inadmissible; seeing that it was no part of our Saviour's purpose, as Didymus, Ambrose, Chrysostom, Theodoret point out, to reveal Himself to such an one as the rich young ruler in His own essential relation to the Eternal Father[515],—to proclaim in short, in this chance way, the great mystery of the Godhead: but only (as the ancients are fond of pointing out) to reprove the man for his fulsomeness in addressing one of his fellows (as he supposed) as “good[516].” In the meantime, the extent to which the appendix under discussion prevails in the Patristic writings is a singular illustration of the success with which, within 60 or 70 years of its coming into being, the text of Scripture was assailed; and the calamitous depravation to which it was liable. Surprising as well as grievous to relate, in every recent critical recension of the Greek text of St. Matthew's Gospel, the first four words of the heretical gloss (εἶς ἐστιν ὁ ἀγαθός) have been already substituted for the seven words before found there (οὐδεὶς ἀγαθὸς εἰ μὴ εἶς, ὁ Θεός); and (more grievous still) now, at the end of 1700 years, an effort is being made to establish this unauthorized formula in our English Bibles also. This is done, be it observed, in opposition to the following torrent of ancient testimony:—viz., in the second century, the Peshitto Version,—Justin [pg 263] Martyr[517],—ps.-Tatian (5 times)[518],—Clemens Alex. (twice)[519]:—in the third century, the Sahidic Version,—ps.-Dionysius Areopag.[520]:—in the fourth century, Eusebius (3 times)[521], Macarius Magnes (4 times)[522],—Basil[523],—Chrysostom[524]:—Athanasius[525],—Gregory Nyss. (3 times)[526],—and Didymus apparently (twice)[527]:—in the fifth century, Cod. C,—Augustine in many places[528],—Cyril Alex.[529],—and Theodoret (8 times)[530]:—in the sixth century, Antiochus mon.[531],—the Opus imperf.[532]—with the Harkleian and the Ethiopic Version. ... When to these 21 authorities have been added all the known copies, except six of dissentients,—an amount of ancient evidence has been adduced which must be held to be altogether decisive of a question like the present[533].