Page:The New Testament in the original Greek - 1881.djvu/91

 INTRODUCTION TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. Uxxiii

Mary. I had transmitted to him, in the name of the Amer- ican branch, two free tickets for himself and his son, and provided comfortable lodgings, when a fatal stroke of apo- plexy suddenly arrested his earthly labours, May 5, 1873, although he lingered till Dec. 7, 1874.*

Tischendorf started from the basis of Lachmann, but with a less rigorous application of his principle, and with a much larger number of authorities, lie intended to give not only the oldest, but also the best, text, with the aid of all authorities. His judgment was influenced by subjec- tive considerations and a very impulsive temper; hence frequent changes in his many editions, which he honest- ly confessed, quoting Tischendorf versus Tischendorf, but they mark the progress in the range of his resources and knowledge. In his last and best edition he returns agaia to the uncial authorities, after a temporary departure to later documents, and gives full credit to his own greatest discovery, the MS. from the Mount of Legislation.

��* See J. RVolbeding, Constantin Ti&hendorf in seiner rigen chrifttetteri*chcn Wirktamkeit, Leips. 1862; Dr. Abbot's article on Tischendorf in the Unitarian Retieio for March, 1875; Dr. Gregory's article in the BiblMhfca, Safra for January, 1876: and for his moral and religious character, the addresses of his pastor, Dr. Ahlfeld, and his colleagues Drs. Kahnis and Lu- thardt, Am Sarge Tuchendorf's, with a list of his writings, Leips. 1874. These addresses bring into prominence his noble quali- ties, which were somewhat concealed to the superficial olwerver by a skin disease his personal vanity and overfondness for his many and well-earned titles and twenty or more decorations from sovereigns which were displayed in his parlor. He took a prominent part in the united deputations of the Evangelical Alliance to the Czar and Prince Gortschakoff, at Friedrichs- hafen, in tohalf of the persecuted Lutherans in the Baltic prov- inces, in 1871, at the risk of his popularity at the Russian court.

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