Page:The New Testament in the original Greek - 1881.djvu/58

 1 INTRODUCTION* TO THE AMERICAN EDITION".

doing a service when they corrected their quotations that it is at all times difficult to tell just what the text was be- fore them. Dr. Tregellcs* plainly puts the case, and shows the true principles which should guide the critic. The chief benefit of patristic quotations consists not so much in their independent value as in their corroborative force, by establishing a reading which rests on good authority of MSS. or versions. When they are single and unsupport- ed, they deserve little or no credit.

The most valuable works for critical purposes are com- mentaries and homilies which explain the text consecu- tively. Origen, Eusebius, and Jerome are by far the most learned Biblical scholars among the ancient fathers, and have more weight than all the rest as witnesses- for the text. The number of ecclesiastical writers that have been consulted by various critics considerably exceeds one hun- dred, but only a few yield substantial results. We confine our list to the first five centuries.f

A. Greek fathers.

First century : The apostolic fathers, so called Clement of Rome, Polycarp, Ignatius, Barnabas would, as pupils of the apostles, be the oldest and most important witnesses; but they still lived in the element of oral tradition within the hearing of the apostles, and hence they quote few pas- sages from the New Testament.

329-343.
 * In Home's Introduction (14th ed. London, 1877), vol. iv. pp.

f Alford (i. 140-143) gives an alphabetical list of over one hun- dred and fifty ancient writers. See also the lists in Scholz, Tischendorf, Scrivener (p. 372 sq.), and Mitchell (Tables XI. and XII. X

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