Part 18

There are three different versions of the complete Old Testament—viz., the Hebrew, the Greek Septuagint, and the Latin Vulgate, and two Samaritan versions of the Pentateuch, one written in Aramæn and the other in Arabic. The MSS. of the Hebrew version are all written in modern or Masoretic Hebrew, which dates from about the year 1,000 A.D. The original language of the Hebrews, which was derived from the Egyptians and afterwards modified by contact with the Chaldeans, was very different from that we are accustomed to read to-day in Hebrew Bibles: instead of each word being separated from its neighbour, and vowel points being subscribed to assist in the reading, sentences, paragraphs, and even pages were written as though the whole formed but one long word; and, considering that the Hebrew alphabet consists of consonants only, the absence of the vowel points and final letters afterwards introduced rendered the meaning of the writer most obscure. For instance, the first verse of Genesis would have been written as follows in ancient Hebrew, but in letters more nearly approaching the cuneiform type, בראשיתבראאלהימאתהשמימואתהארצ. The equivalent letters in English are (reading from right to left, as in Hebrew) TS.R.A.H.T.A.V.M.Y.M.SH.H.T.A.M.Y.H.L.A.A.R.B.T.Y.SH.A.R.B and the translators tell us that they signify, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Now, as they stand, it is utterly impossible to pronounce the words; and, even supposing that vowels were added, this could be done in such a variety of ways that hundreds of different pronunciations might result; so also might the sense be varied by many different renderings. Suppose we wrote down the authorised translation, using consonants only, and leaving entirely out the vowels, the result would be as follows (reading from left to right, as in English), NTHBGNNGGDCRTDTHHVNSNDTHRTH, which would be entirely unpronounceable unless we added vowels; and, by adding vowels indiscriminately, a variety of renderings would result. The absurdity of a written language composed only of consonants is thus made very apparent. This difficulty opposed itself to the Jewish priests, and was obviated by the introduction of vowel points, the manufacture of five final letters, and the division of sentences into words according to the arbitrary rendering of the introducers of the vowel points; so that now we possess a Hebrew language which may be, and probably is, as unlike the ancient Hebrew dialect as chalk is unlike cheese.

By slightly altering the vowel points of a sentence or a word, the whole sense may be entirely destroyed; and that this has been frequently enough done requires no proof here, for it has been abundantly shown elsewhere. Certain priests have attempted to prove that the vowel points and final letters were in use in Ezra’s time; but it is now generally admitted by scholars that they were inventions of the middle ages. Hear what the learned Christian Dupin, Doctor of the Sorbonne, says:—“The Hebrew alphabet is composed of twenty-two letters, like those of the Samaritans, Chaldeans, and Syrians. But, of these letters, _none are vowels_, and, in consequence, the pronunciation cannot be determined. The Hebrews have invented _points_, which, being put under the letters, answer the purpose of vowels. Those vowel-points serve not only to fix the pronunciation, _but also the signification of a word, because, many times, the word being differently pointed and pronounced alters the meaning entirely_. This is the consideration which has made the question as to the antiquity of the points of so much importance, and has, consequently, had such elaborate treatment. Some have pretended that these points are as ancient as the Hebrew tongue, and that Abraham made use of them. Others make Moses the author of them. But the most common opinion among the Jews is that, Moses _having learnt of God the true pronunciation of Hebrew words_, this science was preserved in the synagogue by oral tradition till the time of Ezra, who invented the points and accents to fix the meaning. Elias Levita, a German Jew of the last generation, and deeply learned in Hebrew grammar, has rejected this opinion, and contended that the invention of points took place in much more recent times. He ascribes the invention to the Jews of Tiberias and to the year 500 A.D., and alleges that the invention was not perfected till about the year 1040 A.D., by two famous Maserites, Ben-Ascher and Ben-Naphtali.”

Hear, also, what the learned and pious Dr. Prideaux says:—“The sacred books made use of among the Jews in their synagogues have ever been, and still are, _without the vowel-points_, which could not have happened had they been placed there by Ezra, and had, consequently, been of the same authority with the letters; for, had they been so, they would certainly have been preserved in the synagogues with the same care as the rest of the text.” He then goes on to say that no mention is made of the points in either the Mishna or Gemara, and continues: “Neither do we find the least hint of them in Philo-Judæus or Josephus, who are the oldest writers of the Jews, or in any of the ancient Christian writers for _several hundred years after Christ_. And, although among them Origen and Jerome were well skilled in the Hebrew language, yet in none of their writings do they speak the least of them. Origen flourished in the third, and Jerome in the fifth, century; and the latter, having lived a long while in Judæa, and there more especially applied himself to the study of the Hebrew learning, and much conversed with the Jewish rabbis for his improvement herein, it is not likely that he could have missed making some mention of them through all his voluminous works, if they had been either in being among the Jews in his time, or in any credit or authority with them, and that especially since, in his commentaries, there were so many necessary occasions for taking notice of them.” The Doctor then declares that after the Babylonish Captivity “the Hebrew language ceased to be the mother tongue of the Jews,” Aramæn, as we know, being the dialect of Judæa at the time of Herod.

We may, then, safely fix the date of our earliest Hebrew MS. at a later period than 1000 A.D., for there does not exist one single ante-Masoretic or unpointed Hebrew MS. of the Bible. The Greek Septuagint was also written in Greek capitals, without accents and breathings and without divisions between the words, and continued thus until the eighth century, when accents and breathings came into use, which were followed, in the tenth century, by small letters, as we have them now in our Greek Bibles. The very same may be said about the New Testament MSS., all of which are written in continuous Greek capitals.

The oldest MS. of the New Testament is the Codex Sinaiticus, discovered by Tischendorf at the convent of St. Catherine, on Mount Sinai, in 1859, and supposed to belong to the fourth century. The Codex Vaticanus is also supposed to belong to the fourth century, and was first published at Rome by Vercellone, in 1858. The Codex Alexandrinus, containing both Old and New Testaments, is supposed to belong to the fifth century, and was first published by Woide, in 1786, and afterwards by Cowper, in 1860. Of the Old Testament it contains, besides the canonical and most apocryphal books found in our editions, the third and fourth books of the Maccabees, Epistle of Athanasius to Marcellinus (prefixed to the Psalms), and fourteen hymns, the eleventh in honour of the Virgin. Ecclesiasticus, the Song of the Three Children, Susannah, and Bell and the Dragon do not appear. Of the New Testament there is, in addition to the received books, the First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians and part of the Second. The Codex Ephraemi is supposed to belong to the fifth century, and was published by Tischendorf in 1843. The Codex Bezæ is a Græco-Latin MS., said to belong to the sixth century, and first published by Kipling, in 1793, and afterwards by Scrivener, in 1864. All these MSS. are written in continuous capitals, so badly formed, and so jumbled together, as to be almost illegible.

According to the showing of those most interested in proving the antiquity of sacred writings, the very earliest MS. cannot lay claim to an earlier date than the fourth century; and, if the authors to whom the Church has attributed the various writings in the Bible wrote the said records, it is clear that the latest originals must date from the first century. But the originals do not anywhere exist, and consequently it is utterly impossible for anybody to know who wrote any one of the books of the Bible, which is, therefore, a compilation of anonymous writings, and, as such, is of no authority whatever. So far from being a divinely-inspired record, it is, as we have seen, a product of the cunning and ingenuity of knaves and fanatics, who deserve credit for only one thing, and that is that they managed to make any sense whatever out of the wretched scribble and scrawl from which they derived their information.

THE

“ANNALS” OF TACITUS.

One of the darkest epochs in the history of Christianity is that period which commenced with the annihilation of the Saracen power in Europe and the establishment of the Inquisition by Pope Innocent IV. in 1243, and continued until about the end of the fifteenth century. The ghastly horrors perpetrated by the Christian Church at this time against unoffending people are too well known to need any reproduction here, and may be found fully detailed in Rule’s “History of the Inquisition,” Draper’s “Conflict,” and other similar works. My purpose just now is not to follow in detail these wicked and cruel abominations connected with the Christian superstition, but to study carefully the various circumstances surrounding the sudden appearance, in the early part of the fifteenth century, of so many MSS. purporting to have been written by the ancients. Among these manuscripts were the so-called “Annals of Tacitus,” which have since become so celebrated on account of the reference made by the author in his fifteenth book to the persecution of the early Christians by Nero. It has long been suspected by learned scholars that these “Annals,” and in particular the passage relating to Nero’s persecution of Christians, were never written by Tacitus; but, owing to the danger usually incurred in giving expression to opinions so detrimental to the interests of the Church, no one ventured until quite lately publicly to state his doubts as to the genuineness of these celebrated writings. It is now, however, pretty generally admitted among such scholars as do not make their honour subservient to their interests that the author of the “History” and the author of the “Annals” were not the same person, and that the latter, moreover, were not written until many centuries after the death of Tacitus.

To find out who was the real author of these “Annals,” and how they became associated with the name of Tacitus, it will be necessary to glance at the condition of the Christian Church during the period referred to above; and in doing so none but authors of the highest repute will be consulted.

For some time after the establishment of the Inquisition in 1243 the Church had been able to suppress, to a very large extent, the growing tendency of the age towards the acquirement of knowledge: by the rack, the stake, and the gibbet, by torture, by fire, and by the knife, she had relentlessly pursued her horrid and diabolical career, hoping by these means to preserve the faith and silence her enemies. To a large extent it is admitted she was successful; but in remote places the spirit of inquiry lived and grew in spite of her: Abelard, the first Freethinker, had well sown his seeds in France; Arnold of Brescia had left to his brethren in Italy a scheme of reform which was destined to take practical shape in the autumn of 1870; and Wicliffe had preached from his chair at Oxford doctrines which could not fail ere long to have their effect upon the intellect of England. This bold Yorkshireman did not scruple to publicly declare that the mendicant friars who were commissioned by the Pope to travel over England and grant absolution and indulgences to the people were a pack of thieves and sensualists, that the clergy were indulging in open wickedness, that the indulgences of the Pope were a manifest blasphemy, and that the priesthood had no right to deprive the people of the right to search the Bible. He even went so far as to speak of the Pope as “Antichrist, the proud worldly priest of Rome, and the most cursed of clippers and purse-kervers.” From the pulpit of his little church at Lutterworth he openly preached against the authority of the Pope in England, and declared that Christ had given no temporal lordship to the popes and no supremacy over kings. The Pope and the Sacred College very naturally resented this behaviour, and ordered copies of Wicliffe’s works to be sent forthwith to Rome for inspection, the result being that three bulls were drafted on May 22nd, 1377, and despatched to England, one being addressed to Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, and William Courtenay, Bishop of London, another being addressed to the King, and the third to the University of Oxford. These bulls expressed the surprise of his Holiness that such a fearful heresy had not been at once suppressed, and commanded that immediate steps should be taken for silencing the author of it. He was to be apprehended and shut up in prison until the further orders of the Pope arrived; and all proofs and evidence of his heresy were to be sent by special messenger to Rome without delay. These bulls, however, arrived too late to be of much use. Already Wicliffe had been brought to trial before the Bishop of London and his court at St. Paul’s, with a result not at all to the liking of his Holiness or any of his pious followers, as he very soon discovered.

On February 19th, 1377, Courtenay sat in Our Lady’s Chapel in St. Paul’s, surrounded by Church dignitaries, to hear the accusation against the reformer, a large and excited crowd, favourably disposed towards Wicliffe, howling outside the doors. Suddenly a disturbance took place inside the chapel, caused by Lord Percy and John of Gaunt forcing their way towards the reformer; the Bishop and his court were scandalised, and immediately called upon the intruders to withdraw; but, instead of doing so, Percy quietly turned to Wicliffe and politely requested him to be seated, whereupon Courtenay became furious and yelled out: “He must and shall stand; it is unreasonable that one on his trial before his ordinary should sit.” High words followed; the mob outside was in a state of fury, and the bishops and clergy were terrified. The end soon came, for John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, stepping in front of the Bishop, shouted: “As for you, who are growing so arrogant and proud, I will bring down the pride, not of you alone, but that of all the prelacy in England,” and then declared that in a few moments he would drag him out of the court by the hair of his head. This brought matters to a climax; the mob burst into the chapel, the Bishop and clergy fled, and the reformer was set free. The greatest consternation prevailed among the clergy upon the news of this outrage being carried through the country, and for several weeks secret deliberations were carried on for the purpose of devising some good plan for restoring the visibly decreasing prestige of the clerical party.

At last the three bulls arrived from Rome, but were, as we have seen, too late in the field; for not only had the trial of Wicliffe turned out a failure, but the King had in the meantime died, and the Oxford doctors had almost all sided with the reformer. Still, the Church determined to punish Wicliffe, who was summoned to appear before Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, in Lambeth Chapel, to answer charges of heresy and insubordination; but this trial proved as unfortunate for the clergy as the former one, for another angry mob besieged the chapel and demanded the release of the reformer, in addition to which Sir Lewis Clifford arrived in haste from the Queen to forbid the bishops passing any sentence upon Wicliffe. This was indeed a surprise for their reverences, who precipitately left the chapel and reached their homes in the best way they could. All this had a great effect upon the minds of the people both in England and on the Continent; for the Pope and his satellites had not only been attacked, but, what was more amazing, they had suffered an unparalleled defeat; and the probability was that the discontented of France and Italy would follow the example of the English reformer and attempt to put into practice the theories of Arnold and Abelard. The times certainly looked black for the Church; but an event happened shortly afterwards which added still more to the general dismay of the clericals, and was near being the end of the Papacy.

Pope Gregory XI. died on March 27th, 1378, at the Vatican, where he had arrived shortly before from his beautiful residence at Avignon; and the Italian clergy, fearing that the next pope would also take up his residence in France, determined to exert every effort to place upon the vacant chair of St. Peter an Italian who would be likely to remain at the Vatican. At this time the sacred college consisted of twenty-two cardinals, twelve of whom were French, so that it would have been an easy matter for the French majority to elect a French pope; but the clamour, not only of the clergy, but of the laity of Rome, was so great that the majority did not avail themselves of their opportunity, and allowed the Archbishop of Bari, a Neapolitan, to be nominated and unanimously elected to the vacant see, under the title of Urban VI. Not many weeks passed away before the French majority began to repent their haste, and ended by publicly excommunicating Pope Urban VI., calling him apostate and antichrist, and electing in his stead, on September 21st, Robert of Geneva, under the title of Clement VII. The Italian bishops and clergy stood by the Pope of their choice, who resided at the Vatican, while the French bishops and clergy bowed allegiance only to their Pope, who took up his residence at the old papal palace at Avignon; and thus it happened that for the first time in the history of the Church there were two popes at the same time, each pouring forth his anathemas at the other, and each declaring himself to be the divinely-ordained vicar of Christ on earth. Owing to this schism, Wicliffe was allowed to preach his heresy without let or hindrance, for the whole of Europe was in a constant ferment, and the bishops could ill bestow time upon such an insignificant person when two such lofty individuals were attracting the attention of both clergy and laity.

For forty years these rival popes and their successors carried on a perpetual warfare, both with the sword and the pen, Pope Urban being succeeded in turn by Pope Boniface IX., Pope Innocent VII., and Pope Gregory XII., and Pope Clement by Pope Benedict XIII. During this time there were not wanting men who were bold enough to turn to account this papal schism in the interest of reform. Wicliffe was working silently but steadily in England, and actually had the audacity to render the Bible in the vulgar tongue, so that the people could read it in the churches, the thing of all others that the popes and the cardinals dreaded, for they well knew that, as soon as the Bible was read and understood, the authority of the Church would gradually wane, and eventually cease to exist at all. In vain did the popes thunder forth their curses upon Wicliffe’s venerable head, for was not the whole of Europe at that very time discussing more or less fiercely the very question as to which of the two holy ones was really Pope? Of what use was it that he of Avignon denounced Wicliffe, when half of Christendom denied his right to the papal chair? He of Rome was in precisely the same position, so that the high-sounding anathemas fell but lightly on the old reformer; but it was far otherwise with the heretical teachings which called forth the papal curses; for they were carried into the most remote corners of Europe, causing quite a sensation among the hitherto loyal servants of the Church. Jerome of Prague, in the year 1400, just sixteen years after Wicliffe’s death, carried across the channel a large assortment of Wicliffe’s writings, and immediately commenced to carry on the work of the great reformer in Europe, challenging the doctors of Paris and Vienna on his way home. Uniting with John Huss, a Professor of Prague University, he attacked with great violence the Papacy, declaring that the very fact of the head of the Church being split into two was sufficient to destroy for ever the notion of papal infallibility. Things had now arrived at such a pass that the doctors of the Sorbonne in Paris made a desperate attempt to settle the difficulty. For fifteen years past they had been urging the two popes to resign simultaneously, so that one successor to both could be unanimously elected, and the dispute thus settled; but neither party would yield an inch. At last, in 1409, driven to desperation by the effect produced by Wicliffe’s writings, and by the bold preaching of Huss and Jerome, the Council of Pisa deposed both popes, and elected a third—viz., Balthazar Corsa, who assumed the title of Pope John XXIII. and took up his residence at Bologna. The two deposed pontiffs, however, refused to recognise the decree of the Council, the consequence being that, instead of there being two popes, there were three. This strengthened the position of Huss and Jerome, who said: “If we must obey, to whom is our obedience to be paid? If all three are infallible, why does not their testimony agree? And if only one of them is the most Holy Father, why is it that we cannot distinguish him from the rest?” The Bolognan Pope declared the Roman Pope to be a heretic, a demon, and antichrist; the Roman Pope entertained similar views about his holy brother of Bologna; and both stigmatised the Avignon Pope as an impostor and schismatic; while his Holiness of Avignon had as much affection for his two holy brethren as they had for him.

Another Council was held at Constance in 1418, at which all three Holinesses were deposed, excellent precautions being at the same time taken to ensure the proper carrying out of the sentences. Otho Colonna was then elected to the chair of St. Peter, as Martin V., and the schism at last put an end to. But at what a cost had this schism been kept up for forty years! People had begun to seriously question the right of the popes to claim infallibility; many were now in the habit of daily reading the Bible, and some had even dared to search ancient authors for fuller information respecting the establishment of Christianity. Unless these three ulcers were immediately cauterised and effectively effaced, the Church must fall from its high position, as the holy ones at the Vatican well knew. Accordingly, the Inquisition was brought into service of the Pope, to put a stop to the insolence of those who dared to assail the dogma of infallibility, and who had been guilty of the blasphemy of reading the Bible. Huss and Jerome had already been burnt at the stake. In addition to this, large sums of money were offered for freshly-discovered MSS. of the ancients, in order that all the evidence it was possible to collect together might be available in case of emergency. These means were very effectual; for troublesome people, who had inquiring minds or who had learnt to read and write, were quickly despatched to a happier land by the agents of the Inquisition, while the money offered for newly-discovered MSS. acted like magic in causing old musty writings to turn up in every direction.