sense be called substantial variation ... can hardly form more than a

thousandth part of the entire text'.

It has been said that if an avowed enemy of the truth should have

access to all the mss of the Scriptures in existence, and should from them

compile the most contradictory version possible, the ordinary uncritical

reader would not know that he was not still reading the A.V.  Dr. Kenyon

'It cannot be too strongly asserted, that in substance the text of the

Bible is certain'.

Hebrew and Greek manuscripts are scattered all over the world in

libraries, private collections and museums; and these have all, or nearly

all, been examined.  Whenever a manuscript is found to disagree with another

or with the majority of readings, an application of the following principles

will usually lead in the direction of the true text:

The reading may be obviously wrong.  It may come under one of the

heads mentioned above; an omission, an insertion, a

transposition, or a mis-spelling.

The reading may not belong to the first class.  If this is so,

the examiner must weigh over the trustworthiness of the differing

manuscripts.  Some will have already been found to be very liable

to certain types of error; and manuscripts emanating from

particular sources are very likely to perpetuate certain errors

peculiar to their source.

As a general rule, though not of course as an absolute rule, the

older the manuscript is, the nearer it is to the original, and

the more likely it is to contain the true reading.

These and many other rules, only to be appreciated when the work is

actually in hand, give some idea of the check and countercheck we have in

this field of research.  This, however, is but one avenue of approach.  The

Scriptures have been translated into other languages, and some of the

translations are very ancient.  The Samaritan Pentateuch, the Septuagint

Greek Version, the Syriac and the Latin Versions, were all written at a much

earlier date than any of the corresponding original Greek or Hebrew

manuscripts which we now possess.  For instance, the oldest Hebrew manuscript

dates back to the eighth century, whereas the Septuagint was written

centuries before Christ.  The oldest Greek manuscript of the New Testament

that we now have dates back to a.d. 350, whereas the Syriac and Latin

translations go back as far as a.d. 150.  Their testimony, therefore, is most

There is yet one more check upon the text of the differing manuscripts

-- the testimony of the so-called 'Fathers'.  The Bibles used by Irenaeus,

Origen, or Jerome, have long ago perished; they were more ancient than any

now existing.  When these early writers are preaching or expounding the

Scriptures, the words they quote, the important features they bring out, are

all evidences of the text they were using.  This testimony is useful, but it

is used with caution and moderation, for the early Fathers had no idea that

we should in later days search their writings to check the copies of the text

of Scripture; many of the quotations are given from memory, with consequent

inaccuracy.  However, they have their place, and, together with the Versions

and existing manuscripts, enable the study of the text to be very nearly an

exact science.