"HOLY ORIGINALS"
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR:1 STR,—Your correspondent "J. E. S." assumes that Professor Clifford is wrong in supposing that our Lord spoke Greek. That Greek was the "lingua franca" of Palestine at that time is certain, as Dean Stanley (" Jewish Church," HI., 468) has pointed out, and the opinion that it was the language commonly used by our Lord and the Apostles is supported by such strong evidence, both external and internal, that its adoption by Professor Clifford at least does not deserve to be derided as a "precisely similar mis- take " to that of the Bishop who spoke of our Authorised Version as "the Holy Original."
I may add that if the passage referred to by "J. E. S." was spoken in Aramaic, the words were assuredly not monosyllabic (as required for the Bishop's argument), but rather longer than if in Greek.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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