BISHOP COWIE'S LECTURE.

Thames Star, Volume IIII, Issue 1749, 11 August 1874, Page 2

BISHOP COWIE'S LECTURE.

His Lordship the Bishop 1 of Auckland delivered a lc'cture-.on the Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament in St, George's Church last evening, the attendance being tolerably good, though perhaps '. less\so than might have been expected. The right rev, gentleman was most impressive in hi* explanations, and sue ceeded unmistakeably in engaging the undivided attention of his hearers. He commenced by saying that the subject of his discourse, abounding as it div in the deepest interest, could not be f^lly treated in the time usually taken up hy lecturers : and he would, therefore, be enabled only to give hi« hearers a brief outline of the history of the Greek MSS. 'Firstly he would j[ive them an account of the three oldest complete Manuscripts of the New Testament, namely, the Alexandrina, Sinaitic, and Vatican;. and he would draw three conclusions : that those Manuscripts were a, true revelation of the teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were the three oldest-: Manuscripts, arid that they were probably written about the year 435, no more than one being written' for a certainty earlier than 331. He th*n proceeded to trace

the history of these Manuscripts in turn. The Alexandria was now- in the British Museum, and was kepi in a glass case, where it might bo examined; the Sinaitio was in the hands of the Emperor of Russia. There was no record to show in whit manner the third came to be in the library of the Vatican. The Vatican'was the'first that came into Europe, and wa9 pronounced to be ;the most correct copy of the Greek Manuscripts. The Sinaitic was the only one of the three that contained the .New Testament entire,, the others having lost portions; this ftlanuscript; also, bore pretty conclusive marks of having been copied from those more ancient still. The lecturer then went on to impress upon (hosepresent that the authenticity of the Bible and the time at which the Bible was written were questions of great importance. 'Thus they were in the happypossession of actual documentary evidence so far back, but beyond which point Christian students had not been able to prosecute their researches, and thus the question suggested itself, how were they to be certain that these manuscripts were not written by St. John. In advancing the authenticity of the „Bible, ho dwelt on the fact that though the Twelve Apostles did not until after they were scattered commit any record to writing, their preaching was a true description of the facts of the life and death of our Saviour.., As long as the Apostles... remained in : Jerusalem they were witnesses to the events recorded in the life of Jesus Christ; and after the death of our Saviour, when the Twelve were separated ihey committed the Gospel to writing. He then alluded to a few fragmentary documents and letters of a very early date, about 100, which were in preservation, in ...noticing which he referred to vthe evidence there was of the influence which St. John and St. Paul had upon the minds of the writers. There were other evidences of the genuineness of the New Testament. The Testament, as they now had it, was taken from what was called the Received Text, and was printed in 1633. In conclusion, Bishop Cowie, said, he, was-, unable, by reasons of his,,.limited . time, to follow, up link by link the chain of evidence which went unmistakeably to shew that what the-y. now/accepted as the Holy Scriptures wesre the writings bequeathed to the Church by the Apostles of Jesus Christ:- all «th,at he had been able to dp was to give them a general sketch of the subject. He .remarked finally on-the absence of Greek studies as a marked; feature in our colonial schools, and impressed upon his younger hearers the desirability, of such - study, which would prove to be one of inexhaustible interest throughout the whole of their lives.

.Suspended from the lecterne was a fae-simile of a portion of one of the Greek Manuscripts, and Bishop Cowie, during the ceurse of his address, expro sed his to .explain the tracings of the characters inscribed thereon to those who were so disposed. After the Doxology had been sung, a vote of thanks was accorded to the lecturer, and the audience dispersed. l