NOTICE. THIS edition of the book of Revelation contains 1. The Greek Text edited on the authority of ancient MSS. and Versions. 2. An English translation of the Greek Text. 3. The readings which may be considered as probable, whether more or less so. 4. The readings of the Elzevir edition of 1624. 5. A selection of all the various readings which are at all supported by ancient MSS., by many more recent copies, or by the earliest printed editions;-together with a classified statement of the authorities for such readings. Also, an Introduction stating in full the principles on which the text has been formed, and an outline of Biblical Criticism as applicable to the text of the Revelation. CONTENTS OF THE INTRODUCTION. I. OBJECT AND PLAN OF THE PRESENT WORK. 1. The importance of the book of Revelation 2. Causes which led to the present work 3. Preliminary preparations ii 4. The Greek Text, &c. necessary accompaniments of the English version iii 5. The application of sound criticism to the text of Scripture iii II. STATE OF THE GREEK TEXT OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION. 1. Transmission of ancient books 2. Various readings, and the causes from which they have arisen 3. The text of the book of Revelation as unprinted vii X 4. The first printed texts of the New Testament xi 5. The sources of these editions and of the common Greek Text 6. Various steps taken for the emendation of the text xiv III. SOURCES OF EMENDATION OF THE GREEK TEXT. 1. MSS., ancient versions, and early citations xviii 2. Conspectus of the ancient Greek MSS. which contain the Revelation 3. Conspectus of the more modern MSS. IV. MODE OF ARRANGING THE CRITICAL MATERIALS, AND OF FORMING THE TEXT. 1. Collection and arrangement of the various readings, &c. 3. The inner margin, and readings of various degrees of probability 4. The various readings given in the margin xxxi xxxii V. CONCLUDING MEMORANDA. 1. Places in which A. and C. agree in a reading which has not been followed 2. Variations of the Elzevir, 1624, from the Stephanic text, 1550, in the Revelation xxxiv 3. The last six verses from the 1st edition of Erasmus, 1516 4. Conclusion XXXV xxxvii INTRODUCTION. I. THE OBJECT AND PLAN OF THE PRESENT WORK. 1. EVERY one who really values Scripture as the word of God, must regard the book of Revelation as being of considerable importance to Christians; this importance must be felt to exist wholly apart from any real or supposed ability to interpret the things which are written therein. No book of the New Testament is pressed upon our attention with more solemn sanctions; "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep the things which are written in it;” this alone is sufficient to show us that if we desire, as believers in Christ, to have fellowship with the mind of God and to have our thoughts subject to His will, this book will occupy no small share of our attention. It may be that we have but little intelligence of its general structure, or of its specific interpretation, but still it is our place to keep the things written in it, even as Mary who though she little understood the things which were told her, yet kept them and pondered them in her heart. Surely as we hold fast the word of God in all its parts, we may expect, through prayer and the teaching of the Holy Ghost, to become more acquainted with the truths therein written both in their detail and their practical power. These considerations will, I trust, suffice to show that an adequate motive exists for an attempt to exhibit the Greek text of the book of Revelation as correctly as possible, together with an English version suited to that corrected text. The object and plan will, I believe, be best understood from a brief account of the motives which led to the preparation and publication of the present work. 2. Several years have elapsed since my mind was particularly turned to the state of the Greek text of the New Testament, b |