Page images
PDF
EPUB

full of Indian corn; and a large bundle of Indian corn leaves, the substitute for hay in this country, being tied behind me on my horse, half as high as my shoulders.

On the banks of several streams, we saw parties of Indians, who had settled themselves there for a few days, to assist travellers in swimming their horses; but, as the waters had subsided, we did not require their assistance. Their rude dwellings were formed of four upright saplings, and a rough covering of pine bark, which they strip from the trees with a neatness and rapidity which we could not imitate. Before them, the women were sitting, dressing Indian corn or wild venison; the men lying by their side, with intelligent and happy countenances, graceful in their attitudes, and grave and dignified in their address. Some of the parties whom we passed in the glens at sunset, had a very picturesque appearance.

We rode nearly two hours, by moonlight, before we could find water for our horses; at length, observing some fires at a distance in the woods, we struck toward them; but they were surrounded by Indians, to whom we could not make ourselves intelligible.At last we discerned a stream of water, and near it two or three parties of travellers; who had already lighted their fires, by which they were toasting their bacon, and boiling their coffee. We invited ourselves to join one, consisting of a little Alabama cotton planter and his daughter, whom we had met in the course of the day. He was in a situation of life corresponding, perhaps, with that of our second or third rate farmers; and was bring ing his daughter from school at Milledgeville in Georgia, from 300 to 400 miles from hence. They travelled in a little Jersey wagon (or dear-bon, or carry-all, or carryhalf, as this humble vehicle is variously denominated)" camping out" every night, and cooking their bacon and coffee three times a day.

Some stragglers from the other parties joined us, for a little chat before bedtime; and were consulting on the propriety of proceeding directly to the end of their journey, or staying for a season, as is very common, to "make a crop" on some of the unappropriated publick lands. When they were gone, our Alabama friends sat reading by the fire, for an hour or two, before they retired to rest; when the little girl ascended the wagon, and her father covered her with a blanket, and spead an umbrella over her, to protect her from the dew. As for our selves, having secured our horses and given them their supper, and contributed our supply to the stock of wood for the night, we lay down in the blankets which we always put under the saddles to prevent our horses?

backs being galled; taking our saddle-bags for pillows, and placing our pistols by our side.

In the course of the night, a few Indians paid us a visit; walking round us, and examining us very attentively, but without speaking. The novelty of the scene, however, prevented my sleeping much. On my left hand, were my friend the Alabama planter, and his daughter with her coffee-pot and her "Tales of my Landlord," at her father's feet. About 100 yards from us, were the emigrants from Georgia and Carolina, with their five or six little fires; alternately decaying till they almost disappeared, and then bursting forth with a vivid flame, which illuminated the intervening space, and flashed on the horses and wagons ranged around: on our right, were the Indian wigwams; and, before us, at a great distance, some acres of pine woods on fire. Yet, notwithstanding the strong light which occasionally emanated from so many sources, and the features of the grotesque which the picture certainly contained, the stillness of the night, the deep blue of the sky above us, and the sombre colouring of the heavy forests in which we were enveloped, imparted to this novel scene a character of solemnity, which preponderated over every other expression.

We set off as soon as it was light; and, passing several creeks, arrived at the extremity of a ridge, from which we looked down into a savannah, in which is situated the Indian town of Cosito, on the Chatahouchy. It appeared to consist of about 100 houses, many of them elevated on poles from two to six feet high, and built of unhewn logs, with roofs of bark, and little patches of Indian corn before the doors. The women were hard at work digging the ground, pounding Indian corn, or carrying heavy loads of water from the river: the men were either setting out to the woods with their guns, or lying idle before the doors; and the children were amusing themselves in little groups. The whole scene reminded me strongly of some of the African towns, described by Mungo Park. In the centre of the town, we passed a large building, with a conical roof, supported by a circular wall about three feet high close to it was a quadrangular space, inclosed by four open buildings, with rows of benches rising above one another: the whole was appropriated, we were informed, to the great council of the town, who meet,under shelter or in the open air,according to the weather. Near the spot was a high pole, like our May-poles, with a bird at the top, round which the Indians celebrate their green-corn dance.

(To be continued.)

THE

GOSPEL ADVOCATE.

"Knowing that I am set for the defence of the Gospel." Phil. i. 17.

No. 19.]

JULY, 1822.

[No. 7. Vol. II.

THEOLOGICAL.

[blocks in formation]

THE controversy respecting the celebrated passage of the three heavenly witnesses has of late revived in Eng land with a degree of vigour, which, after the labours of Porson, Marsh, and Griesbach, we hardly supposed it capable. It seemed as if the learned had either abandoned the text as indefensible, or considered it at the least as doubtful; and until other manuscripts should be discovered and collated, or some additional proofs obtained with regard to the minor points of discussion, we had thought that the literary combatants would have retired exhausted from the field of warfare. But our expectations have not been realized. The laboured work of Mr. Nolan, on the integrity of the Greek Vulgate, published in 1815; the palinode of Dr. Hales, the chronologist, in his work on the trinity, which came to a second edition in 1818; the late vindication by bishop Burgess, of which our readers have seen an account in the 52d number of the Quarterly Review; the republication of old treatises on the same subject, which we understand he has been preparing for the press, and has by this time probably published ;* all show that the controversy is far

A learned and attentive correspondent in London has given us the following infor26 ADVOCATE, VOL. II.

from being terminated. We shall not at present enter into it, and shall wait patiently to see if any new light can be thrown on the subject. Hitherto, we are obliged to confess, we have seen nothing to shake our conviction, that the verse is spurious. On the contrary, that conviction has been rendered firmer by the forcible reasoning contained in the sixth part of the theological lectures of Dr. Marsh, the bishop of Peterborough, which we have lately received through the kind attention of the same frieup to whom we have just expressed our obligations in the margin. The bishop has, we think, exposed more strongly than we ever recollect to have seen, the suspicious character of the only Greek

mation, in a letter dated March 6, 1822. "There is very little new in biblical literature. Bishop Burgess has just announced that he has in the press, 1 Marci Presbyteri Celedenseparately published, with an English transsis Explanatio Fidei ad Cyrillum, now first lation, notes, and various readings. 2. Dr. Mills' annotation on 1 John, v. 7, with additions from his prolegomena, and from Wetstein, Bengel, and Sabatier; together with additional observations, by Dr. Bentley, Selden, Christopher Matthias Pfaff, and Christian Frederick Schmidt. 3. Observations on the government of the African church, by Dr. Maurice, Mr. Bingham, and bishop Stillingfleet; with remarks on the testimony

of the African bishops, at the 33d council of Carthage, (held A. D. 434,) to the authenticity of 1 John, v. 7, made by Calamy and Berriman, and Charles Butler, Esq."

witness which the advocates of this text have of late attempted to produce —the Dublin manuscript.

He has also placed in a clearer point of view, the source from which the interpolation has proceeded. He has laid down an important rule in criticism with respect to the value to be attached to internal evidence, when it is at variance with external. And above all, he has shown the danger of sacrificing, for the sake of this one verse, the important principle on which alone the general integrity of the new testament can, with perfect success, be maintain ed. The bishop makes a just distinction between the complete perfection of the text, as containing in all cases precisely the same words as were written by the authors, and the integrity of the text, with regard to the facts originally recorded and the doctrines originally delivered. If the latter are the same in the existing copies, we have all the integrity which is wanted to make the new testament the basis of our faith and morals. "Though the criticism therefore of the Greek testament is," he observes, " on various accounts, a matter of high importance, and has accordingly been treated as a primary branch of theology, we must not suffer the imperfections, to which all human exertions are exposed, to influence our reasoning upon subjects, to which those imperfections do not apply. That integrity, which is necessary to establish credibility, does not depend on a vari ation of words, if there is no variation in the sense. It will be sufficient, therefore, if we can prove, that the new testament has descended to us, upon the whole, in the same state, in which it was originally written; and that we may justly confide in every thing which relates to facts and to doctrines."

He then proceeds to state, in proof of such an integrity, that a general corruption of the sacred text was rendered impracticable, 1. by the di

visions and disputes which arose in the Christian church, and which made each party watchful to preserve the integrity of those writings to which all appealed; 2. by the rapid increase of the number of copies; 3. by the separate existence of the original autographs, and the dispersion of the copies made from them through Palestine, Egypt, Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy; 4. by the ancient versions dispersed throughout the Roman empire; and 5. by the quotations contained in the voluminous writings of the Greek fathers. "The mutual and general check, therefore, which was afforded by the joint operation of manuscripts, fathers, and versions, must have preserved to us the new testament in the same state, upon the whole, which was given to it by the writers themselves." The bishop then proceeds as follows:

“But there is another argument, in favour of the position that the manuscripts of the Greek testament have descended to us without any material alteration, either in facts or in doctrines. The Greek manuscripts, which we now possess, were received, not through any channel which came from the ancient hereticks, but from the orthodox members of the ancient Greek church. And this church maintained the doctrine of the trinity, of the incarnation, of the atonement, and other leading articles of the Christian faith, in common with the church to which we ourselves belong. And though the Greek church could not guard against those accidental mistakes, which unavoidably arise from a multiplication of writ ten copies, we have sufficient reason to believe, that the ancient Greek church abstained, with the most scrupulous and conscientious exactness, from every wilful corruption of the sacred text.We cannot have a stronger proof of this assertion, than the conduct of the ancient Greek church, in regard to the seventh verse in the fifth chapter of St.

John's first epistle. That verse, which is wanting in the most ancient manuscripts even of the Latin version, and was no more known to Augustin, than it was to Chrysostom, was gradually introduced into the Latin Vulgate by the church of Rome. But it was never admitted by the ancient Greek church. Not a single Greek manuscript was ever known to contain the passage, till after the invention of printing: and that solitary manuscript, which does contain it, was certainly not written in Greece.* Now the conduct of the ancient Greek church, in regard to that memorable passage, shows its conscientious regard for the purity of the sacred text. And hence we may safe ly conclude, that the manuscripts of the new testament, which we have received from that church, have descended to us untainted by wilful corruptions, either in matters of fact, or in matters of doctrine.

"I am aware indeed, that this argument, and not only this argument, but every argument for the integrity of the new testament, which has been used in this lecture, must fal! at once to the ground, if it be true, that the passage in question proceeded from the pen of St. John. If that passage existed in Greek manuscripts anterior to those which have descended to the present age, and was expunged by adversaries of the doctrine which it contains, the extinction of the passage must have been universal. It must have affected

"By Erasmus it was called codex Britannicus, from the country where it was found, and where it was probably written. Having belonged to one Froy, a Franciscan friar, it came many years afterwards into the hands of Dr. Montfort, whence it acquired the name of codex Montfortianus. of Dr. Montfort the MS. was purchased by archbishop Usher, with whose other MSS. it was removed to Trinity College, Dublin, whence it is now called the Dublin MS.The codex Ravianus, which used to be quoted with the codex Montfortianus, has been abandoned since the discovery, that it is a copy of a printed edition.

the manuscripts in the hands of the orthodox, no less than the manuscripts It must belonging to the hereticks. have equally affected the manuscripts of the ancient versions. It must have equally affected the quotations of the Greek fathers, who quote the sixth and eighth verses in succession, without the words which begin with To cupave and end with wry Now if it was

really possible, that such corruption could, in spite of every impediment, be thus generally extended, what becomes of all the arguments, which have been employed in this lecture, to prove the general integrity of the new testament? Those arguments are founded on the supposed impossibility of doing that, which must have been done, if passage in question originally existed in Greek manuscripts.

the

'If it be true in regard to that passage, that the ancient Greek manuscripts, which have descended to the present age, with the works of the ancient Greek fathers, and the manuscripts of the ancient versions, the oldest of the Latin version not excepted, have descended to us in a mutilated state, there is an end to that security, which is derived from their mutual agreement, for the integrity of the new testament in all other places. And we are brought at length into this dilemeither to relinquish a part, or ma : abandon the whole.†

[blocks in formation]

"Whether the passage be genuine, or not, the doctrine of the trinity stands, in either case, unshaken. For the sake, therefore, of the passage itself, I should think it unnecessary to make another remark on it. But if the defence of that passage requires the sacrifice of a principle, without which we cannot maintain the general integrity of the new testament, it then behooves us to inquire, whether the passage deserves to be maintained, and maintained at so great a price.

66

Though every library in Europe has been searched for Greek manuscripts containing the catholick epistles, there is only one Greek manuscript in which the passage has been found: and this solitary manuscript, as will presently appear, has no pretension to be numbered among the ancient Greek manuscripts. As all other Greek manuscripts, which are now extant, are destitute of the passage, it is of less importance to know the precise num. ber of those which have been quoted by name, especially as they do not constitute the whole number. They amount, however, to not less than ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-TWO. The Greek fathers have never quoted the passage, which they certainly would have done, if it had existed in their manuscripts. Now the manuscripts which were used by Irenæus and Clement of Alexandria, could not have been written later than the second

century. The manuscripts used by Origen, could not have been written later than the third century. The manuscripts used by the Greek fathers, who attended the Nicene council, could not have been written later than the fourth century." In this manner we may prove that the Greek manuscripts in every century were destitute of the passage, till we come to the period when the oldest of our existing manuscripts were written. Further, the

is no part of the Greek original, as represented by the Greek MSS. and the Greek fathers.

passage is wanting, not only in the manuscripts of all other ancient versions,* beside the Latin: it is wanting also in the most ancient manuscripts of the Latin version itself. Latin manuscripts, which have not the passage in the text, are still preserved to the amount of more than fifty.t Some of them indeed have the passage in the margin, added by a later hand; but it is the reading of the text, which constitutes the reading of the manuscript. And as the oldest Latin manuscripts were destitute of the passage, so it was never quoted by the Latin fathers during the four first centuries.

"I designedly use the expression 'manuscripts of all other ancient versions:' for it has been inserted in printed editions of the Syriack and Armenian versions in opposition to the Syriack and Armenian manuscripts.See preface to my letters to archdeacon Travis, notes 8, 9, 10, 11.

"Forty was the number of which I gave an account in the 13th note of the preface to my letters to archdeacon Travis, which were Griesbach's last edition, published in 1806, published in 1795. But it appears from that many more Latin MSS. have been discovered, which have not the passage in the text.

"An exception has been claimed for Cyprian, who lived in the middle of the third century. Now there is really no pretext for saying that Cyprian quoted 1 John, v. 7.The utmost that can be said is, that he referred to it: and it will presently appear, that even in so saying we should be mistaken. The words of Cyprian, in his treatise de unibeen laid, are as follows. tate ecclesiæ, on which so much stress has Dicit Dominus, Ego et Pater unum sumus. Et iterum de Patre et Filio et Spiritu Sancto, scriptum est: Et hi tres unum sunt. The passage is so worded in bishop Pearson's edition, tom. i. P. 109. but manuscripts of Cyprian have tres unum sunt, without hi.-The first quotation which Cyprian has here made is, Ego et Pater unum sumus, which is taken from John x. 30. His second quotation is, hi tres unum sunt, or as manuscripts have it, tres

unum sunt. For the words de Patre et Filio et Spiritu Sancto scriptum est' are Cyprian's own words, and can, in no sense, be called a quotation. Since then the words which Cyprian has quoted from the place in question are not only words of the eighth verse, but are quoted by Augustin from the eighth

« PreviousContinue »