edition, or received text, as it is commonly called, published at Leyden in 1624.

Beza's edition of 1598 was the groundwork of the English AUTHORIZED VERSION of the New Testament, published in 1611, and "appointed to be read in Churches."

Here two remarks may be made.

The ENGLISH AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION of the APOCALYPSE does not rest upon the same sound foundation of MS. authority as the Authorized Translation of the other books of the New Testament. It stands in a place by itself, and ought to be regarded accordingly *.

Let me not, however, be supposed to impute any serious errors to that Version. If the Apocalypse now existed only in the single MS. of Erasmus, no one article of Christian Doctrine would be in the

third and chief edition) copied solely from the fifth edition of Erasmus, except in the Revelation, where he followed sometimes Erasmus, sometimes the Complutensian edition. The text, therefore, in daily use resolves itself at last into the Complutensian and the Erasmian editions. But neither Erasmus nor the Complutensian editors printed from ancient Greek manuscripts; and the remainder of their critical apparatus included little more than the latest of the Greek Fathers and the Latin Vulgate."

* Lectio recepta Apocalypseos (says Wetstein, A. D. 1752, l. c. p. 741) quæ ab Erasmianis profluxit admodum infirmo nititur tibicine. Et tamen per integrum quod ab editione Stephanicâ elapsum est sæculum, viri docti etiam in corruptâ lectione quidlibet potius invenire, quàm lectionem receptam vel confirmare

vel emendare maluerunt.

least degree different from what it is. The numerous MSS. of the Apocalypse which have been collated since it was first printed have not affected any Doctrine of Christianity; but they have placed the received Articles of the Faith on a more solid basis.

In the interval of time which has elapsed between the publication of the AUTHORIZED VERSION and the present day, much has been effected for the confirmation and establishment of the Original Text of the APOCALYPSE by the labours of BISHOP FELL, DR. JOHN MILL, BENTLEY, WETSTEIN, BENGEL, MATTHÆI, ALTER, BIRCH, WOIDE, GRIESBACH, SCHOLZ, TISCHENDORF, and TREGELLES; and little now remains but to use diligently and faithfully the materials collected by them.

Their attention has been devoted mainly to the critical examination of Manuscripts; and it is due to them that at this time' nearly a HUNDRED MSS. of the APOCALYPSE have been collated, some of which are of great antiquity and value.

Of these the three most ancient are *

1. The ALEXANDRINE, in the British Museum; probably of the fourth century. A fac-simile of it was published by Woide in 1786; a magnificent work, reflecting great honour upon the Editor and on those who generously assisted him.

2. The BASILIAN, in the Vatican at Rome; of

* Fac-similes of these three MSS. are prefixed to the present Volume.

the sixth or seventh century. A transcript of it was published by Tischendorf in 1846.

3. The PALIMPSEST MS. of St. Ephraim the Syrian; so called from its having certain works of St. Ephraim written over the Greek Testament; probably of the fourth century *. A transcript was published by Tischendorf in 1843.

It has pleased Divine Providence that these three invaluable MSS. containing the Book of Revelation have been preserved to our own age, and have been made generally accessible at this day by means of transcripts. In this respect we of the present generation enjoy a privilege which was not granted to our forefathers-the ENGLISH TRANSLATORS,—nor indeed to any of our predecessors.

This circumstance will appear the more striking when we recollect that one of these three Ancient Manuscripts the EPHRAIM PALIMPSEST,- which about a century ago was almost illegible †, has now, within the last eight years, been restored, as it were, to life by a chemical process, so that the reading of every letter of it can be clearly ascertained ‡.

* See, below, "Monitum Editoris," prefixed to part ii., and Mr. Hartwell Horne's Introduction, vol. ii. part i. ch. iii. sect. ii. Let me take this opportunity of acknowledging my own obligations to the learned author of the Introduction for personal kindness and assistance in the present work.

It is described as such by Montfaucon, in the year 1708. Palæogr. Gr. p. 213.

In 1842. See, below, "Monitum Editoris," pars ii. p. xvii.

Let me now state the design of the present Volume.

In preparing his Hulsean Lectures on the Apocalypse the Author was forcibly impressed with the absolute necessity of a scrupulous and unremitting attention to the words of the Original, as determined by the best MSS.

It is his deliberate conviction that the more carefully the Apocalypse is studied, the more clearly it will be perceived that every word and every syllable of this divine Book ought to be accurately weighed. Such is the precision with which it is written.

If the original words of St. John had been more minutely examined, the Interpreters of the Apocalypse would not have differed so widely among themselves as they now do: and the Editor is persuaded that all will readily acknowledge, that the best way to secure uniformity of Interpretation is to consult the genuine text of the Book itself.

This caution is the more necessary, on account of the imperfections by which many popular Editions and Versions of the Apocalypse are blemished, which have often misled the Expositor.

His own experience convinced the present writer that the student of the Book of Revelation ought to be provided with a critical Edition, embodying the results of the labours of all the collators of MSS., together with a revised English Version.

This has been in part effected already by Mr. S. P. Tregelles; and had it not been for his valuable

assistance, the Editor of the present publication would have experienced much more difficulty in accomplishing what is performed in this Volume.

The plan of my own work is, however, somewhat different from that of Mr. Tregelles, both in the Greek portion and the English.

The present publication commences with the Preface of SCHOLZ. It contains the GREEK TEXT of the Apocalypse as exhibited by him, and the entire critical apparatus of his edition.

*

To this the Editor of the present Volume has added a Supplement, called "SUPPLEMENTUM EDITIONIS SCHOLZIANE," containing the principal various readings supplied by WETSTEIN, MATTHÆI, ALTER, BIRCH, and others, but omitted by Scholz; and thus he has endeavoured, in that part of the work, to render the edition of Scholz complete, as far as the Manuscripts in cursive or minor characters are concerned.

Such are the contents of PART the FIRST of this Volume.

Another important task now remained to be performed.

The text of Scholz is here reprinted, as before stated. His notes would not have been intelligible without his text. Besides this, an Interpreter of the Apocalypse ought to guard himself against temp

*See, below, the "Monitum Editoris" prefixed to that "Supplementum."