Page:The New Testament in the original Greek - 1881.djvu/16

viii declaration, "Textum ergo habes nunc ab omnibus receptum." I venture to introduce the Greek Testament of Westcott and Hort with the modest assertion, Hic habes textum omnium editionum antiquissimum et purissimum. It is based exclusively on documentary evidence, and on the most careful comparison of all the ancient sources of the text as they have been collected and made available by the indefatigable diligence of former editors, especially of Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Tregelles. It embodies the results of the combined labours of more than a quarter of a century. It will, of course, not supersede the large editions which contain the whole critical apparatus; but it will take its rank at once among the best standard editions of the Greek Testament.*

I became personally acquainted with the editors and their work twelve years ago (at Harrow, in 1869), and saw them afterwards repeatedly at Cambridge, London, and Peterborough. I formed such a favourable opinion of the value of their labours that I engaged from them and their publisher (Mr. Macmillan) duplicate plates for an