[Transcriber's Note: This book contains much Greek text, which will not be well-rendered in plain text versions of this E-book. Also, there is much use of Greek characters with a vertical bar across the tops of the letters to indicate abbreviations; because the coding system used in this e-book does not have such an overline, they are rendered here with underlines. It also contains some text in Syriac, which is written right-to-left; for the sake of different transcription methods, it is transcribed here in both right-to-left and left-to-rights, so that regardless of the medium of this E-book, one or the other should be readable.]

The following is Prebendary Scrivener's recently published estimate of the System on which Drs. Westcott and Hort have constructed their Revised Greek Text of the New Testament (1881).—That System, the Chairman of the Revising Body (Bishop Ellicott) has entirely adopted (see below, pp. 391 to 397), and made the basis of his Defence of The Revisers and their New Greek Text.

(1.) There is little hope for the stability of their imposing structure, if its foundations have been laid on the sandy ground of ingenious conjecture. And, since barely the smallest vestige of historical evidence has ever been alleged in support of the views of these accomplished Editors, their teaching must either be received as intuitively true, or dismissed from our consideration as precarious and even visionary.

(2.) Dr. Hort's System is entirely destitute of historical foundation.

(3.) We are compelled to repeat as emphatically as ever our strong conviction that the Hypothesis to whose proof he has devoted so many laborious years, is destitute not only of historical foundation, but of all probability, resulting from the internal goodness of the Text which its adoption would force upon us.

(4.) We cannot doubt (says Dr. Hort) that S. Luke xxiii. 34 comes from an extraneous source. [Notes, p. 68.]—Nor can we, on our part, doubt, (rejoins Dr. Scrivener,) that the System which entails such consequences is hopelessly self-condemned.

Scrivener's Plain Introduction, &c. [ed. 1883]: pp. 531, 537, 542, 604.