Essays on the work entitled "Supernatural Religion" Part 18

[5:4] Our author has already (II. p. 326) accused Tischendorf of 'deliberately falsifying the text by inserting, "say they."'

Tischendorf's words are, 'Und deshalb sagen sie habe der Herr den Ausspruch gethan.' He might have spared the 'sagen sie,' because the German idiom 'habe' enables him to express the main fact that the words are not Irenaeus' own, without this addition. But he has not altered any idea which the original contains; whereas our author himself has suppressed this all-important fact in his own translation. [On this treatment of Tischendorf see below, pp. 55 sq, 128, 138. The language is modified in ed. 4 (II. p. 326) 'Tischendorf renders the oblique construction of the text by inserting "say they" referring to the Presbyters of Papias,' where the point of grammar is silently conceded.]

The reader may compare _S.R._ II. p. 100, 'The lightness and inaccuracy with which the "Great African" proceeds is all the better ill.u.s.trated by the fact, that not only does he accuse Marcion falsely, but he actually defines the motives for which he expunged the pa.s.sage which never existed etc.... he actually repeats the same charge on two other occasions.'

[6:1] _S.R._ II. p. 334.

[6:2] [On the wording of this footnote in ed. 4 see below, p. 58. It is omitted in ed. 6, where see II. p. 333.]

[6:3] [See further on this subject below, pp. 53 sq, 126 sq.]

[7:1] _c. Cels._ i. 8.

[7:2] _c. Cels._ viii. 76.

[7:3] _S.R._ II. p. 231 sq. [So also the Complete Edition (1879) II. p.

229 sq.]

[7:4] There is also another aorist in the part of the sentence, which our author has not quoted, [Greek: allo suntagma ... en ho didaxein epengeilato.]

[8:1] [Tacitly corrected in ed. 6 (II. p. 46).]

[8:2] [Some of the grammatical errors are corrected in ed. 6 (II. p.

63), where however new mistranslations are introduced, as [Greek: pollachos] 'in divers parts', and [Greek: houto makarizetai ... hoti opsetai ton theon] 'becomes so blessed that he shall see G.o.d'.]

[8:3] [[Greek: to rhema] from 'Reason' becomes 'Word' in ed. 6, but [Greek: zetesantes] still remains 'they who inquire' (ii. p. 265).]

[8:4] II. p. 296 sq. [Corrected in ed. 6.]

[8:5] II. p. 193. [Corrected in ed. 6.]

[8:6] I. p. 448, comp. p. 455. [The latter pa.s.sage is struck out in ed.

6 (see I. p. 455); the former becomes 'committed no error'. See below, p. 163.]

[8:7] II. p. 384.

[8:8] [But in ed. 6 (II. p. 384) I see that my translation is tacitly subst.i.tuted.]

[8:9] [Defended as a 'paraphrase' (see below, p. 129), but corrected in ed. 6, which also omits the first clause.]

[9:1] [Other errors in translation are given below, p. 129.]

[9:2] I. p. 113. The last words ran 'certainly a late interpolation' in the first edition (I. p. 103). Thus the pa.s.sage has undergone revision, and yet the author has not discovered the contradiction. [The author's own explanation of this discrepancy is given below, p. 124. In ed. 6 (I.

p. 113) the sentence ends, 'and it is argued that it was probably a later interpolation,' while in the Complete Edition (I. p. 113) it is further qualified 'argued by some.']

[10:1] II. p. 421. [The argument in favour of the genuineness is expanded in the Complete Edition (II. pp. 419-423).]

[10:2] [See below, p. 163 sq.]

[11:1] _S.R._ I. p. 276. [And so throughout all the editions.]

[11:2] [See below, p. 111.]

[11:3] i. pp. 444-485.

[11:4] [The subject is treated at length below, p. 142 sq.]

[12:1] I. p. 441.

[12:2] [On Hegesippus see below, pp. 34 sq, 42.]

[12:3] [On Justin Martyr see below, p. 43.]

[12:4] In I. p. 360, there is a foot-note, 'For the arguments of apologetic criticism the reader may be referred to Canon Westcott's work _On the Canon_ pp. 112-139. Dr Westcott does not attempt to deny the fact that Justin's quotations are different from the text of our Gospels; but he accounts for his variations on grounds which are' ['seem to us' ed. 6] 'purely imaginary.' I can hardly suppose that our author had read the pa.s.sage to which he refers. Otherwise the last sentence would doubtless have run thus, 'but he accounts for his variations by arguments which it would give me some trouble to answer.'

[13:1] II. p. 411.

[13:2] Our author himself refers to this saying for a wholly different purpose later on (II. p. 416).

[14:1] II. p. 408. Our author says, 'It is clear that Paul is referred to in the address to the Church of Ephesus: "And thou didst try them which say that they are Apostles and are not, and didst find them false."' He seems to forget what he himself has said (p. 395), 'No result of criticism rests upon a more secure basis ... than the fact that the Apocalypse was written in A.D. 68, 69,' _i.e._, after St Paul's death. This theory moreover is directly at variance with the one definite fact which we know respecting the personal relations between the two Apostles; namely, that they gave to each other the right hands of fellowship (Gal. ii. 9). It is surprising therefore that this extravagant paradox should have been recently reproduced in an English review of high character.

[14:2] 1 Cor. x. 7, 8, 14, 21. When the season of persecution arrived, and the constancy of Christians was tested in this very way, St Paul's own principles would require a correspondingly rigid abstinence from even apparent complicity in idolatrous rites. There is every reason therefore to believe that, if St Paul had been living when the Apocalypse was written, he would have expressed himself not less strongly on the same side. On the other hand these early Gnostics who are denounced in the Apocalypse seem, like their successors in the next generation, to have held that a Christian might conform to Gentile practices in these matters to escape persecution. St Paul combats this spirit of license, then in its infancy, in the First Epistle to the Corinthians.

[14:3] [On the diction of the Fourth Gospel see below, p. 131 sq.]

[14:4] II. p. 445.

[15:1] [_The Authorship and Historical Character of the Fourth Gospel_ (1872). Macmillans.]

[15:2] Our author (II. p. 444) speaks of 'the works of imagination of which the world is full, and the singular realism of many of which is recognized by all.' Is this a true description of the world in the early Christian ages? If not, it is nothing to the purpose.

[15:3] II. p. 389. 'Apologists' lay stress on the _difference_ of theme.

[See below, p. 131 sq.]

[15:4] [He does however mention the term elsewhere; see below, p. 123.]

[15:5] II. p. 468, and elsewhere.

[16:1] II. p. 451.

[16:2] [These pa.s.sages are added without comment in the Complete Edition in a note on II. p. 453.]

[16:3] [On this point see below, p. 131.]

[17:1] II, p. 472 sq; comp. pp. 186 sq, 271. [The statement stands unchanged in the Complete Edition (II. p. 474 sq).]

[17:2] [See further, p. 99 sq.]

[17:3] II. p. 421. Travellers and 'apologists' alike now more commonly identify Sychar with the village bearing the Arabic name Askar. This fact is not mentioned by our author. He says moreover, 'It is admitted'

['evident' ed. 6] 'that there was no such place [as Sychar, [Greek: Suchar]], and apologetic ingenuity is severely taxed to explain the difficulty.' This is altogether untrue. Others besides 'apologists'