82. EDITORS OF GREEK TEXT

All these have based their respective Texts on a careful consideration of the value they put upon the various MSS., Versions, etc.

We have put Dr. Scrivener's Text among these; but it differs from them all in one important particular which makes it the very best Text for general use.

It gives the Textus Receptus, but prints every word which is the subject of a Various Reading in thicker type, quoting at the foot of the page the initial letter of the names of the above Editors, according as they are in favour of or reject the Reading in question.

All that now remains to be done is for us to give an idea of the principles on which they base their respective Texts, so that our readers may, as the net result of our own labours, be able to estimate, each one for himself, the value of the authority for or against any particular Reading.

GRIESBACH (G.) based his Text on the theory of Three Recensions of the Greek manuscripts (referred to above, p. 400), regarding the collective witness of each Recension as one; so that a Reading having the authority of all three was regarded by him as genuine. It is only a theory, but it has a foundation of truth, and will always retain a value peculiarly its own.

LACHMANN (L.), disregarding these Recensions, professed to give the Text based only on the evidence of witnesses up to the end of the fourth century. All were taken into account up to that date; and all were discarded after it, whether Uncial MSS., or Cursives, or other documentary evidence. He even adopted Readings which were palpably errors, on the simple ground that it was the best attested Reading up to the fourth century.

TISCHENDORF (T.) followed more or less the principles laid down by Lachmann, but not to the neglect of other evidence as furnished by Ancient Versions and Fathers. In his eighth edition, however, he approaches nearer to Lachmann's principles.

TREGELLES (Tr.) produced his Text on principles which were substantially the same as Lachmann, but he admits

XII. THE PLACE OF VARIOUS READINGS the evidence of uncial manuscripts down to the seventh century, and includes a careful testing of a wide circle of other authorities.

The chief value of his Text lies not only in this, but in its scrupulous fidelity and accuracy; and is probably the best and most exact presentation of the Original Text of the Old Testament ever published.

ALFORD (A.) constructed his Text, he says, "by following, in all ordinary cases, the united or preponderating evidence of the most ancient authorities."

When these disagree he takes later evidence into account, and to a very large extent.

Where this evidence is divided he endeavours to discover the cause of the variation, and gives great weight to internal probability; and, in some cases, relies on his own independent judgment.

He says, "that Reading has been adopted which, on the whole, seemed most likely to have stood in the Text. Such judgments are, of course, open to be questioned."

Consequently, he sometimes is found adopting a Reading contrary to all the ancient manuscripts. A word is retained because it is "more usual"; or, it is omitted because it appears to be a "grammatical correction" of some transcriber; or, it is rejected because it seems to have been inserted "carelessly from memory"; or, is a "mechanical repetition."

All this necessarily deprives his Text of much of its weight, especially where he differs from the other Editors; and places it far below them in critical value; though, where it is in agreement with them, it adds to the weight of the evidence as a whole.

It follows, from the above, that, for the general reader, who has not had the opportunity of becoming expert in the value of the evidence of Ancient Manuscripts and Versions, it is better to be guided by a consensus of the above Textual Editors.

When Tregelles is supported by any (one or more) of the others, his Readings may be relied upon as being the best attested and most worthy of being regarded as the original and inspired Text of the Greek New Testament.