A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, Vol. I.Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose
Religion
A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, Vol. I.
Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose
Bible. New Testament -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
9. We have not thought it needful to insert in this place either a list of
the τίτλοι of the Gospels, or of the κεφάλαια of the rest of the New
Testament, or the tables of the Eusebian canons, inasmuch as they are all
accessible in such ordinary books as Stephen’s Greek Testament 1550 and
Mill’s of 1707, 1710. The Eusebian canons are given in Bishop Lloyd’s
Oxford Greek Test. of 1827 &c. and in Tischendorf’s of 1859. We exhibit,
however, for the sake of comparison, a tabular view of “Ancient and Modern
Divisions of the New Testament.” The numbers of the ῥήματα and στίχοι in
the Gospels are derived from the most approved sources, but a synopsis of
the variations of manuscripts in this respect has been drawn up by Scholz,
Prolegomena N. T. vol. i. Cap. v, pp. xxviii, xxix(84). A computation of
their number, as also of that of the ἀναγνώσματα, is often given in the
subscription at the end of a book.
10. On the divisions into chapters and verses prevailing in our modern
Bibles we need not dwell long. For many centuries the Latin Church used
the Greek τίτλοι (which they called _breves_) with the Euthalian κεφάλαια,
and some of their copies even retained the calculation by στίχοι: but
about A.D. 1248 Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro, while preparing a
Concordance, or index of declinable words, for the _whole Bible_, divided
it into its present chapters, subdividing them in turn into several parts
by placing the letters A, B, C, D &c. in the margin, at equal distances
from each other, as we still see in many old printed books, e.g. Stephen’s
N. T. of 1550. Cardinal Hugo’s divisions, unless indeed he merely adopted
them from Lanfranc or some other scholar, such as was very probably
Stephen Langton the celebrated Archbishop of Canterbury, soon took
possession of copies of the Latin Vulgate; they gradually obtained a place
in later Greek manuscripts, especially those written in the West of
Europe, and are found in the earliest printed and all later editions of
the Greek Testament, though still unknown to the Eastern Church. They
certainly possess no strong claim on our preference, although they cannot
now be superseded. The chapters are inconveniently and capriciously
unequal in length; occasionally too they are distributed with much lack of
judgement. Thus Matt. xv. 39 belongs to ch. xvi, and perhaps ch. xix. 30
to ch. xx; Mark ix. 1 properly appertains to the preceding chapter; Luke
xxi. 1-4 had better be united with ch. xx, as in Mark xii. 41-44; Acts v
might as well commence with Acts iv. 32; Acts viii. 1 (or at least its
first clause) should not have been separated from ch. vii; Acts xxi
concludes with strange abruptness. Bp. Terrot (on Ernesti’s Institutes,
vol. ii. p. 21) rightly affixes 1 Cor. iv. 1-5 to ch. iii. Add that 1 Cor.
xi. 1 belongs to ch. x; 2 Cor. iv. 18 and vi. 18 to ch. v and ch. vii
respectively: Col. iv. 1 must clearly go with ch. iii.
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