n whether a considerable passage of Scripture is genuine or
not; is to be rejected or retained; was known or was not known in the
earliest ages of the Church; then, instead of supplying the least
important evidence, Fathers become by far the most valuable witnesses of
all. This entire subject may be conveniently illustrated by an appeal to
the problem before us.

4. Of course, if we possessed copies of the Gospels coeval with their
authors, nothing could compete with such evidence. But then unhappily
nothing of the kind is the case. The facts admit of being stated within
the compass of a few lines. We have one Codex (the Vatican, B) which is
thought to belong to the first half of the ivth century; and another, the
newly discovered Codex Sinaiticus, (at St. Petersburg, {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}) which is
certainly not quite so old,--perhaps by 50 years. Next come two famous
codices; the Alexandrine (in the British Museum, A) and the Codex Ephraemi
(in the Paris Library, C), which are probably from 50 to 100 years more
recent still. The Codex Bezae (at Cambridge, D) is considered by competent
judges to be the depository of a recension of the text as ancient as any
of the others. Notwithstanding its strangely depraved condition
therefore,--the many "monstra potius quam variae lectiones" which it
contains,--it may be reckoned with the preceding four, though it must be 50
or 100 years later than the latest of them. After this, we drop down, (as
far as S. Mark is concerned,) to 2 uncial MSS. of the viiith century,--7 of
the ixth,--4 of the ixth or xth,(29) while cursives of the xith and xiith
centuries are very numerous indeed,--the copies increasing in number in a
rapid ratio as we descend the stream of Time. Our primitive manuscript
witnesses, therefore, are but _five_ in number at the utmost. And of these
it has never been pretended that the oldest is to be referred to an
earlier date than the beginning of the ivth century, while it is thought
by competent judges that the last named may very possibly have been
written quite late in the vith.

5. Are we then reduced to this fourfold, (or at most fivefold,) evidence
concerning the text of the Gospels,--on evidence of not quite certain date,
and yet (as we all believe) not reaching further back than to the ivth
century of our aera? Certainly not. Here, FATHERS come to our aid. There
are perhaps as many as an hundred Ecclesiastical Writers older than the
oldest extant Codex of th