A compleat history of the canon and writers, of the books of the Old and New Testament, by way of dissertation, with useful remarks on that subject ... by L.E. Du Pin ... ; done into English from the French original.

SECT. VI. Principles and Rules whereby to judge which of the different Lections ought to be follow'd, and When the Greek Text ought to be preferr'd before the Vulgar Latin, or the Vulgar before the Greek.

THE Principles by which one may discover which of the different Lections of the Greek Text ought to have the preference, and whether one had best follow the Greek Original, or the Vulgar Version, when there is any Con∣trariety between them, may be reduc'd to these four Heads. (1.) Reason: (2.) The Testimonies of the ancient Ecclesiastical Writers both Greeks and Latins: (3.) The Greek and Latin Manuscripts. And (4.) the Versions, viz.

the Old and New Vulgar, and the Oriental Versions. Every Body will al∣low of these Principles, 'tis requisite to lay down some Rules for the Applica∣tion of them.

I. Reason or Criticism is certainly of very great Use to discover, among se∣veral Lections, which is the truest.

For (1.) There are some Faults which are very visible, such as the leaving out of a Word which takes away from the Sense; Repetitions of the same Word, some Letters put one for another, one Person for another, and one Number for another. A very little insight into the Greek is sufficient for the discovery of these Faults; nor are they to be reckoned among the various Readings. However there are a great many of that Nature in the Greek Ma∣nuscripts which we have mention'd.

2. Reason discovers to us (when there are any differences, either in the Greek Copies, or between the Greek and the vulgar Latin) which of the two Readings agrees best with that which goes before and comes after; and then no question that is to be preferred, which makes the best Sense. But here one ought to be very cautious that one is not deceiv'd, and rightly to discern whe∣ther the Sense one thinks to be the most proper and natural, be really so or no, and whether there are not other Reasons to turn the Scale on the other side. Additions are discovered, when that which is redundant interrupts; and Omissions, when that which is left out renders the Sense imperfect. When of two different Words, the one is good, and the other bad Sense, the former is to be adhered to: and when they are both good Sense, then recourse ought to be had to the following Rules, to the Fathers and Manuscripts.

3. We ought to consider which of the two faults might most easily have crept in, and in which of the two Languages it might have done so. Whether it be not a mistake that might have happen'd through the carelesness or inad∣vertency of the Interpreter: and whether the Copier might not have more easily been mistaken in the Latin, than in the Greek.

4. If it be such a Difference as was done designedly, we ought to enquire what might have been the Occasion why these rash Criticks have made such im∣proper Corrections: what Reason or Motive they might have had to induce them to make that Alteration: Whether it be an Addition or Omission made to render it more conformable to another Evangelist: And whether it be any thing which seem'd absurd or obscure, and which they were willing to alter to render the Sense more clear and softer.

II. The Testimony of the ancient Ecclesiastical Writers, both Greeks and Latins, is of great weight to find out the true Reading. There is no question, but that as they lived nearer to the Times wherein those Books were penn'd, they had the purest Copies of them: The passages which they cite out of the Scriptures, do shew how in their times the Copies were read. 'Tis true it might so happen that the Copiers, or those who have printed their Works, may have alter'd some places reforming them according to the Copies of their own time, but that is not very usual. In the Latin Fathers the very expressions of the Passages which they cite are still preserved. Now whether they themselves translated them from the Greek, or whether they took them from the common receiv'd Version of their Times, yet still 'tis a manifest proof of the manner wherein they were read. There are likewise in the Greek Commentators several varieties to be met with in the Citations, which inform us that they have not alter'd them. This principle therefore is the best and surest of any with respect to the matter in Hand: The Application of it is as follows,

1. When the Ancient Writers, both Greeks and Latins, are agreed as to such or such a Reading, That ought to be follow'd; at least if there be no stronger Reasons to be assign'd for the contrary Reading: No matter whether the Reading authoriz'd by the Ancients doth agree with most of the Greek Co∣pies or not, or whether it be in the Greek Original, or in the Latin Version:

For the Authority of the Ancient Fathers, is to be preferred to all the succeed∣ing Manuscripts.

2. When the Greek Fathers are for one Reading, and the Latins declare u∣nanimously for another; that of the Greek ought to be preferred, especially if it be in the most correct Greek Copies. For the Ancient Version of the La∣tin Fathers having been full of Faults, we must lay no great stress upon it; and the Vulgar Version being posterior to the first Greek Fathers, and to the Copies which they who liv'd in Saint Jerome's time made use of, it ought not to be pre∣ferr'd to the Greek Text of that Time.

3. If some of the Greek Fathers read after this manner, and others after that, recourse must be had to other Rules, and to other helps for the discovering of the Truth; always giving the preference as far as possible to the most Ancient, above the Modern.

III. The Greek and Latin Manuscripts are of much less Authority than the Fathers, for none of 'em is so ancient as the first Fathers; the most ancient, which are only a few, being not above a thousand Years old or thereabouts. However they are worthy of some Consideration, and are of great use to cor∣rect the Text, especially when there is any disagreement between the Fathers, or when we cannot meet with any Citations in their Works, to give us any Light whereby to determine our selves. I make no scruple, but that if all the Greek Copies, or the greatest part of them, and those the best, were for such or such a Reading, it ought to be preferr'd, (unless there was some other reason to the contrary,) before that Lection which is authoriz'd by the Latin Fa∣thers and the Vulgar Version. When there is any difference between the Ma∣nuscripts, in such a case the most ancient and the most correct ought to be fol∣low'd: When there are but a few Greek Manuscripts which favour the Lection of the Vulgar Version, then that Reading ought to be preferr'd which is au∣thoriz'd by the most and best Manuscripts. There are a great many Differences in the Vulgar, authoriz'd by some Greek Manuscripts, but some there be that are not founded upon any one Greek Manuscript; and others, that have only One, or Two, or Three, or Four Manuscripts to support them. There are likewise some few which are authoriz'd by a great number of Greek Manuscripts, so that if we have no other stronger Reason to incline us to follow the Vulgar Version, we ought not to do it.

IV. The Versions are the most uncertain Principle that can be, to discover the true Reading of the New Testament. For the old Vulgar Latin Version was full of Faults; as Saint Jerome has observ'd, and that Father was oblig'd to correct it from the Greek Text. And yet this very reform'd Version is not free from Faults. Among the Oriental Versions, none but the Syriac is considerable, all the rest being made from that. It may indeed be of some use, but no great stress ought to be laid upon it. The English-Saxon is made from the ancient Vulgar Latin. In short, the ordinary Rule is not to reform the Original by the Versions, but the Versions by the Original. yet some uses may be made of the Versions, such as follow: If the old Vulgar Version and the Oriental Ver∣sions are conformable to the Greek Text, or to such or such a Lection of the Greek Text, this adds some weight to that Reading: If 'tis found that Saint Je∣rome has read, as it was in the Greek Copies, and not as it was in the Vulgar Latin; 'tis a proof that the Greek Text was not corrupted, but that the Fault was rather in the Version: If the Vulgar on the contrary be found to be conforma∣ble to the other Versions, and to the Citations of the ancient Greek Fathers, tho' it differs from most of the Greek Copies which we have at present, yet no scruple ought to be made of preferring it before the Vulgar Greek Text. These are the Rules, of which 'tis no hard matter to make the Application, whereby to discover, which of the various Lections of the Greek Copies ought to be fol∣low'd, and when one ought to prefer the Greek before the Vulgar, or the Vul∣gar before the Greek.