CNT-04 UNCIAL AND CURSIVE MANUSCRIPTS.

UNCIAL AND CURSIVE MANUSCRIPTS.

There are two kinds of Greek manuscripts of the New Testament; the oldest class being written in capital or “uncial” letters, so called from the Latin word for inch; perhaps because the letters were first made of that length. The oldest of these manuscripts have hardly any punctu­ation; and the words are not separated by spaces, the letters being run together in solid lines. This style of writing was used down to about the tenth century; after which a “cursive” or running, hand was adopted, in which manuscripts were written from the tenth century to the time when the art of printing was discovered. The “cursive” manuscripts were, of course, the most accessible, being the most numerous; and so they were mainly used in printing the earliest editions of the Greek Testament, and in preparing the various English transla­tions, down to that of King James,—only two of the five oldest and most valuable “uncial” manuscripts having been at that time known to scholars to be in existence, and those having been little used by them; though some of the “cursives” which they did use may have been copied from, and so may represent, very ancient “uncials.” The number of New Testament manuscripts, complete or fragmentary, now known, exceeds seventeen hundred, dating from about AD 330 to 1500. Of these probably seventy or eighty are over one thousand years old. Dr. Scrivener makes record of 158 uncials and 1605 cursives; some of them being Lectionaries, or Service-Books, con­taining only the Scripture lessons read in the churches;—and the number is increased from time to time by explorations in ancient libraries, especially in the East. The cursive manuscripts, dating from about AD 800 to 1500, number between nine and ten hundred. Some are beautifully illuminated; some being written on linen paper, which was first used in the twelfth century; others upon cotton paper, which was used as early as the ninth century; others, like the older uncial manuscripts, being written upon parchment and vellum, which have been in use from before the Christian era. Some thirty of these manuscripts contain the entire New Testament; others contain only portions. Manuscript books being bulky, the New Testament was for convenience transcribed in sev­eral volumes. Hence the manuscripts preserved are mostly of separate portions, rather than entire New Tes­taments. Of manuscripts containing the four Gospels there are more than six hundred; of the Acts of the Apostles and Catholic Epistles there are more than two hundred; there are about three hundred manuscripts of the Epistles of Paul, and about one hundred of the book of Revelation; besides more than four hundred Lectionaries, containing the Lessons for public reading. Of the more ancient uncial manuscripts of the New Testament the number is naturally much smaller; but there are sixty-two manuscripts of the Gospels, fifteen of the Acts, seven of the Catholic Epistles, twenty of the Epistles of Paul, and five manuscripts of the Apocalypse—a total of eighty-three manuscripts; according to the list prepared by Dr. Ezra Abbot in 1883 for the pages of Dr. Schaff’s “Companion to the Greek Testament and English Version,” (p. 101.) In this account some seventy uncial Lectionaries are not included, their great antiquity being less certain.