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    reluctance , abandons to Us me ^ rited fate * He however cont ; ei > ds for a higher antiquity of the £ > ublin MS . ( the only MS . containing the verse . which has even the slightest tirte to notice , ) than the opponents of its authority are

    willing to allow . In support of his opinipn he furnishes a facsimile of the spurious passage , and the two following verses , which he says , and we h ' < ave no dpubt

    with truth , is executed with greater accuracy than any pn ceding copy . Comparing this with the specimens of Greek palaeography in Montfaucon , he supposes the Codex . Montfortii to be of the

    thirteenth century . On the other hand * the best judges , and among them a critic who is more conversant with Greek MSS . than any other of the age > without hesitation say , that this Dublin copy , from its internal characters , can ^

    not possibly be referred to a higher period than the fifteenth , and was most probably written . in the sixteenth century * We are wholly disposed to abide by their d ^ ecisi-. on . The opinion is perfectly unbiassed , for the age of the Dublin MS . is a circumstance of no mo *

    ment in the general controversy . If written a thousand years ago , its testin&QDy would . be of no more weight than if written yesterday , for the interpolation , whenever inserted , was inserted by .. translation from the Vulgate , by some

    writer , who betrays himself by his language not to have been a native Greek , a > nd has in the preceding verse introduced a corruption , the cause of which tis obvious in the Latin copies , but which could uot ^ possibly have happened in the Greek .

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    Since therefore tliis passage , which we should tje ashamed anjr longer to call the disputed . text , is wanting in all the Greek M&S , ( the exceptions which have - beea

    made , we scarcely need , say , are unworthy of notice , ) is . unsupported through the whole of Greek antiquity , is found in no ancient version but the Latin , a » cL

    is wanting in many of the best copied even of that version , w < e are at a loss to conceive on , wh&t grounds Mr . Clarke can say itk his Preface , ' I would not hav $ my readers imagine , that the " proofs against the authenticity of this passage are detmmstrative ^ —*

    to me they are not so ; yet they are strongly presumptive . " We at least find it difficult to conceive of-moral evidence approaching more . nearly tp demonstration ., We cannot avoid on this ocl casion expressing some surprise , that © ur , ecclesiastical rulers suffer

    this text still to disgrace our bibles as printed by public authority . Let them seriously reflect on this sentence of Griesbach . " Si tain pauci , dubii , suspecti , rccentes testes , et argumenta tarn levia sufficerent ad demonstrandam

    lectionis cujusdam yvr ^ < riorr ) ra licet obstent tarn multa , tamque gravia et testimonia et argumenta , nuU lum prorsus superesset in re critica veri falsique criterium , et textus Nopi TestamcHti universus plane incer ^ us esse t atyue dubiusS * We perfectly agree with this writer ,

    that if by" such evidence the genuineness of this text is . not disproved ^ there exist no laws q £ evidence by which the truth of Christianity itself can , fee proved * We must return to nSysticism , arcci inward , unintelligible prinofci pies of faith .

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    Review . —fC 2 arJce * $ Succession of Sacred Literature , S 3 JT

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1808, page 337, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2393/page/45/