he coincidence also raise
our opinion of _the trustworthiness of the Text_, which these two MSS.
concur in exhibiting? for _that_ is the question which has to be
considered,--the _only_ question. The ancientness of a reading is one
thing: its genuineness, (as I have explained elsewhere,) quite another.
The questions are entirely distinct. It may even be added that while the
one is really of little moment, the latter is of all the importance in the
world. I am saying that it matters very little whether Codd. {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~} and B were
written in the beginning of the ivth century, or in the beginning of the
vth: whereas it matters much, or rather it matters _everything_, whether
they exhibit the Word of GOD faithfully, or occasionally with scandalous
license. How far the reading which results from the suppression of the
last two words in the phrase {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PSILI AND PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH YPOGEGRAMMENI~}, is
_critically allowable_ or not, I forbear to inquire. That is not the point
which we have to determine. The one question to be considered is,--May it
_possibly_ be the true reading of the text after all? Is it any way
_credible_ that S. Paul began his Epistle to the Ephesians as
follows:--{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRO