Gerhard von Maestricht laid down forty-three Critical Canons, and Wettstein set forth in his New Testament his _Animadversiones et Cautiones ad examen variarum lectionum Novi Testamenti necessariae_ (vol. ii. 851-874). In 1755 J. D. Michaelis added to his _Curae in versionem Syriacam Act. Apost._ his _Consectaria critica de ... usu versionis Syriacae tabularum Novi Foederis_.[258] Bengel reduced all the rules to a single one. Quite recently Wordsworth and White comprehended the rules they followed in the preparation of the text of their Latin New Testament in four sentences. Of these the first two apply to a version only, and therefore do not concern us here;[259] while the fourth (_brevior lectio probabilior_) is but another form of Bengel’s canon. The third alone may be regarded as new and deserving of attention—viz., _vera lectio ad finem victoriam reportat_. That is to say, if a phrase is repeated in several passages in the same or similar terms, and displays variants in the earlier passages, the reading of the later passage will, as a rule, be the correct one, the reason being that copyists are apt to consider a certain reading to be an error the first time it occurs, and therefore to alter it, but come in the end to admit it as correct. I would once more briefly emphasize the following propositions:— (1) The text of our manuscripts must not be regarded as homogeneous, but must be examined separately for each part of the New Testament. A manuscript that exhibits a very good text in one book does not necessarily do the same in the others. The same thing holds good of versions and quotations. (2) The text is preserved with less alteration in the versions than in the manuscripts.[260] (3) In the Gospels that reading is the more probable which differs from that of the parallel passages. (4) The influence of the ecclesiastical use of the Scriptures on the text must be more carefully attended to than heretofore. (5) One of the most valuable aids in estimating the importance of the witnesses is the proper names, particularly those of less frequent occurrence. (6) “Proclivi scriptioni praestat ardua.” [Sidenote: Proper names.]