[The instances of omission which have now been examined at some length must by no means be regarded as the only specimens of this class of corrupt passages[336]. Many more will occur to the minds of the readers of the present volume and of the earlier volume of this work. In fact, omissions are much more common than Additions, or Transpositions, or Substitutions: and this fact, that omissions, or what seem to be omissions, are apparently so common,--to say nothing of the very strong evidence wherewith they are attested--when taken in conjunction with the natural tendency of copyists to omit words and passages, cannot but confirm the general soundness of the position. How indeed can it possibly be more true to the infirmities of copyists, to the verdict of evidence on the several passages, and to the origin of the New Testament in the infancy of the Church and amidst associations which were not literary, to suppose that a terse production was first produced and afterwards was amplified in a later age with a view to 'lucidity and completeness[337],' rather than that words and clauses and sentences were omitted upon definitely understood principles in a small class of documents by careless or ignorant or prejudiced scribes? The reply to this question must now be left for candid and thoughtful students to determine.] FOOTNOTES: [258] It will be observed that these are empirical, not logical, classes. Omissions are found in many of the rest. [259] Last Twelve Verses of St. Mark's Gospel, chapter v. and Appendix B. [260] See Dr. Gwynn's remarks in Appendix VII of The Traditional Text, pp. 298-301. [261] The Revision Revised, pp. 42-45, 422-424: Traditional Text, p. 109, where thirty-eight testimonies are quoted before 400 A.D. [262] The expression of Jerome, that almost all the Greek MSS. omit this passage, is only a translation of Eusebius. It cannot express his own opinion, for he admitted the twelve verses into the Vulgate, and quoted parts of them twice, i.e. ver. 9, ii. 744-5, ver. 14, i. 327 c. [263] Dr. Dobbin has calculated 330 omissions in St. Matthew, 365 in St. Mark, 439 in St Luke, 357 in St. John, 384 in the Acts, and 681 in the Epistles--3,556 in all as far as Heb. ix. 14, where it terminates. Dublin University Magazine, 1859, p. 620. [264] Such as in Cod. D after St. Luke vi. 4. 'On the same day He beheld a certain man working on the sabbath, and said unto him, "Man, blessed art thou if thou knowest what thou doest; but if thou knowest not, thou art cursed and a transgressor of the law"' (Scrivener's translation, Introduction, p. 8). So also a longer interpolation from the Curetonian after St. Matt. xx. 28. These are condemned by internal evidence as well as external. [265] [Greek: kai ho peson epi ton lithon touton synthlasthesetai; eph' on d' an pese, likmesei auton].