a
sure indication of the form belonging to the original text.

10. The _citations_ of the church fathers, which are immensely numerous,
constitute another source of testimony. But less authority belongs in
general to these, because they are often made loosely from memory alone.
Their testimony is chiefly valuable as _corroborative_. "Patristic
citations _alone_ have very little weight; such citations, even when in
accordance with a version, have but little more; but when a citation
_is_ in accordance with some ancient MSS. and translations, it possesses
great corroborative value. It is as _confirming_ a reading known
independently to exist, that citations are of the utmost importance. If
alone, or nearly alone, they may be looked at as mere casual adaptations
of the words of the New Testament." Tregelles in Horne, vol. 4, ch. 34.

11. The _application_ of the above sources of criticism to the sacred
text demands very extensive research and much sound judgment. "Canons of
criticism," as they are called are valuable in their proper sphere; but,
as Westcott remarks (_ubi supra_), "they are intended only to guide and
not to dispense with the exercise of tact and scholarship. The student
will judge for himself how far they are applicable in every particular
case; and no exhibition of general principles can supersede the
necessity of a careful examination of the characteristics of separate
witnesses, and of groups of witnesses."

We bring this subject to a close by an enumeration of the last six of
the thirteen rules laid down by Westcott.

8. "The agreement of ancient MSS., or of MSS. containing an ancient
text, with all the ancient versions and citations marks a certain
reading."

9. "The disagreement of the most ancient authorities often marks the
existence of a corruption anterior to them."

10. "The argument from internal evidence is always precarious." This
canon he illustrates by several examples: "If a reading is in accordance
with the general style of the writer, it may be said on the one side
that this fact is in its favor, and on the other that an acute copyist
probably changed the exceptional expression for the more usual one," &c.

11. "The more difficult reading is preferable to the simpler." This
canon rests on the obvious ground that a copyist would be more apt to
substitute an easy reading for a difficult than the reverse.

12. "The shorter reading is generally preferable to the longer." Because
of a