(_i_) =The Western Text.=—We thus find ourselves face to face with what has been called the only burning question of the textual criticism of the New Testament—the question, namely, of the place to be assigned to the so-called Western text. Our treatment of the external testimony has led us back through Lucian, Pamphilus, Hesychius, and Origen, to Marcion and Tatian, that is, into the middle of the second century. But the question is now whether we must stop here, or whether it is not possible to ascend with certainty even somewhat higher by means of an investigation of the material afforded by the manuscripts themselves. The “Higher Criticism,” _e.g._, seeks to get behind the Synoptic Gospels to the documents which the authors or editors used in their composition; is it not possible for the “Lower Criticism” to recover with certainty at least the primitive text of the New Testament books? And is that not most readily found in the so-called Western text? We have been obliged to make frequent reference to it already; the question for us now is, “What is the value of Codex Bezae and its associates?” It was observed by Theodore Beza himself, the scholar whose name the Codex justly bears, that the text of this manuscript differed in so many respects from that of others, especially in Luke and Acts, that he could give no explanation of it satisfactory to himself. He was not led to suppose that the alterations were due to heretics; nevertheless, like a cautious man, he thought it more advisable to preserve the Codex than to publish it. Eight hundred years before, Bede was similarly impressed by the Codex which we now know by the name of Laudianus, E_{2}. He indicated “quaedam quae in Graeco sive aliter seu plus aut minus posita vidimus.” He was uncertain “utrum negligentia interpretis omissa vel aliter dicta, an incuria librariorum sint depravata sive relicta ... namque graecum exemplar fuisse falsatum suspicari non audeo.” When the manuscripts began to be more systematically collated, Bengel declared that the criticism of the text would be much simplified if one were not bound to trouble himself with these codices, which, as being written in Greek and Latin, he called _vere bilingues_. Old students of the Maulbronn College have told me that Ephorus Bäumlein the most distinguished philologist of our Institute in this century, and editor of _Disquisitions on the Greek Particles_ and similar works, was always referring to the Codex Cantabrigiensis, though they themselves never rightly understood about this Codex, or indeed about such things at all. I do not know who it was from whom I myself first heard of it; certainly there was no particular importance attributed to it in my student days or at the college where I was. On the other hand, Tischendorf admitted its claims in opposition to all the other Greek manuscripts in several passages, such as Mark ii. 22; xi. 6; Luke xxiv. 52, 53, etc. In other