Against the complicated hypothesis on which Dr. Griesbach has based his system of recensions many very important objections were urged by learned Biblical critics of Germany, and in England especially by Archbishop Lawrence and Dr. Frederic Nolan. The primary fact enforced by Griesbach, that the Alexandrine readings which are sup ported by the quotations of Origen possess the highest authority of all, is disputed by Professor Matthias, of Moscow, in his critical edition of the New Testament, and with greater confidence by Professor Martin Scholz, of Bann, in the prolegomena to his very learned and elaborate edition, founded on a system wholly at variance with that of Griesbach. The Alexandrine manuscripts are acknowledged by Scholz to be more ancient, but he asserts them to be more corrupt than any others, and contends that in Alexandria the alterations of the text principally originated He divides all the manuscripts, not as Griesbach, into three, but into two classes, the Byzantine and the Alexandrine, in which latter be includes the Western ; and he gives a decided superiority to the authority of the Byzantine recensions, which, in opposition to Griesbach, he strenuously maintains to be directly derived from the autographs of the evangelists and apostles themselves. The work by Archbishop Lawrence on this subject is entitled 'Remarks upon the Systematical Classification of Manuscripts adopted by Dr. Griesbach,' 8vo, 1814. The learned author states that, he considers Grieebach to be what Bishop Marsh denominated him, " the most consummate critic that ever undertook an edition of the New Testament ;" but in the course of his critical strictures on the origin and execution of his plan of appreciating manuscripts, ho employs the severest terms of censure, observing that "Griesbach's mode of investigation is unsatisfactory, his classification fallacious, and his statement of the number of readings inaccurate; that no such classification of the manuscripts of the New Testament is possible ; the existence of three distinct species of texts being a fact only synthetically presumed, and not capable of any analytical demonstra tion ; so that the student finds he is treading not on solid ground, but on a critical quicksaud." Griesbach was long and severely attacked by Trinitarian writers as an opposer of the doctrine of Christ's divinity, chiefly in conse quence of his having rejected from his text the celebrated passage respecting the three that bear witness, 1 John, v. 7, and also for inserting be for Elle& in 1-Tim. iii. 16, and Kuptrau for Oeori in Acts xx. 28. In consequence of these and other points in his critical works the commendation and patronage of the Unitarians were bestowed upon him; but in the preface to his treatise on the apostolical writings, be makes the following solemn declaration :—" Ut iniquas euspicioues omn es, quantum in me eat, smeller, et hominibus malevolis calumniandi anaam prmripiam, publice profiteer, atque Dent's tester, neutiquam me de veritate istius dogmatic dubitare ;" and to this may be added a statement from his Prolegomena,' namely, that " nulla emendatio a recentioribus etlitoribua tentata ullam Scripturm Same doctrinam immutat, ant evertit," though "peaces sensum senteutiarum afficiunt."
The laborious and minutely learned work by the Reverend Dr. Nolan, entitled An Inquiry into the Integrity of the Greek Vulgate, or Received Text of the New Testament,' published in 1815, is chiefly occupied in presenting evidence to subvert the critical system of Griesbach, and to establish the position since taken by Professor Scholz and others, that the Byzantine and not the Alexandrian codices are the most worthy of reliance. "Griesbach's theory," says Dr. Nolan, "is one of the most elaborate of those that have unsettled the foundation on which rests the entire canon. His corrected text can be received only as a proof of the general corruption of the Sacred Scriptures, and of the faithlessness of the traditionary testimony by which it is supported, since he states that the two principal classes of text, the Alexandrine and the Western, have been interpolated in every part ; that the authorised Greek version' exhibits 150,000 various readings, and has remained 1400 years in its present state of corruption; that there appears therefore to be no reservation by which the doctrinal integrity of the Sacred Scriptures can be saved; for if, in the apostolic and primitive ages, corruption was prevalent, whatever be the text gathered out of the immense number of various readings, it msy be as well any other as that originally delivered by the inspired writers." Griesbach indeed declares, in his I Symboloo Criticize,' that the manuscripts of the Alexandrine and Western recen sions, on which his system is founded, were grossly corrupted in the ago succeeding that of the apostles; that those which he held in the highest esteem were corrupted in every page by marginal scholia and interpretations of the fathers, and contained innumerable and very serious errors (" innumeroe gravissimo=que erroree.") He further states in the same treatise that no reliance can be placed on tho printed editions of the works of Origen, on the fidelity of his different transcribers, on the accuracy of his quotations, or, finally, on the copies of the Scriptures from which he quoted; so that, as observed by Dr. Nolan, we have only to take his own account of the state in which he finds the beet part of his materials to discover the extreme insecurity of the fabric which he has raised on such a foundation. "His innovations," continues the same learned divine, "are formidable in number and nature; his corrections proscribe three important passages (already named) affecting the doctrinal integrity of the inspired text; for a proof once established of its partial corruption in important matters must involve its character for general fidelity : and the deservedly high character and singular merit of this learned edition must heighten apprehension and alarm at the attempts thus made to undermine the authority of the Received Text, for the scrupulous accuracy of its execution must always command respect." In addition to the works above mentioned, reference has been made to the 'Life of Griesteteh' by Professor Rothe (In German); to Herne's ' Introduction to the holy Scriptures,' 7th eel., vol. Ii, p. 22, &c.; to Dr. Seiler's ' Biblial Hermeneutics,' pp. 340.360; &c.