12. The fullest critical edition of the Greek Testament hitherto published contains but a comparatively small portion of the whole mass of variations already known; as a rule, the editors neglect, and rightly neglect, mere errors of transcription. Such things must be recorded for several reasons, but neither they, nor real various readings that are slenderly supported, can produce any effect in the task of amending or restoring the sacred text. Those who wish to see for themselves how far the common printed editions of what is called the “textus receptus” differ from the judgement of the most recent critics, may refer if they please to the small Greek Testament published in the series of “Cambridge Greek and Latin Texts(15),” which exhibits in a thicker type all words and clauses wherein Robert Stephen’s edition of 1550 (which is taken as a convenient standard) differs from the other chief modifications of the _textus receptus_ (viz. Beza’s 1565 and Elzevir’s 1624), as also from the revised texts of Lachmann 1842-50, of Tischendorf 1865-72, of Tregelles 1857-72, of the Revisers of the English New Testament (1881), and of Westcott and Hort (1881). The student will thus be enabled to estimate for himself the limits within which the text of the Greek Testament may be regarded as still open to discussion, and to take a general survey of the questions on which the theologian is bound to form an intelligent opinion. 13. The work that lies before us naturally divides itself into three distinct parts. I. A description of the sources from which various readings are derived (or of their EXTERNAL EVIDENCE), comprising: (_a_) Manuscripts of the Greek New Testament or of portions thereof. (_b_) Ancient versions of the New Testament in various languages. (_c_) Citations from the Greek Testament or its versions made by early ecclesiastical writers, especially by the Fathers of the Christian Church. (_d_) Early printed or later critical editions of the Greek Testament. II. A discussion of the principles on which external evidence should be applied to the recension of the sacred volume, embracing (_a_) The laws of INTERNAL EVIDENCE, and the limits of their legitimate use. (_b_) The history of the text and of the principal schemes which have been proposed for restoring it to its primitive state, including recent views of Comparative Criticism. (_c_) Considerations derived from the peculiar character and grammatical form of the dialect of the Greek Testament. III. The application of the foregoing materials and principles to the investigation of the true reading in the chief passages of the New Testament, on which authorities are at variance. In this edition, as has already been explained in the preface, it has been found necessary to divide the treatise into two volumes, which will contain respectively— I. First Volume:—Ancient Manuscripts. II. Second Volume:—Versions, Citations, Editions, Principles, and Selected Passages.