Excerpt from Handbook to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament
The object of this volume is to provide a serviceable handbook to the textual criticism of the New Testament for the use of students who are comparatively new to the subject. It lays no claim to rival the standard works of Gregory and Scrivener as a storehouse of statistics and bibliographical information, though in certain details it has been possible to supplement them and bring them up to date; on the other hand, the discussion of textual theories is somewhat fuller than the plans of those works admitted of. It seemed advisable to indicate to the student the present state of the principal controversies with regard to textual theory; and I have tried to represent all the more important views fully and fairly, whether I agree with them or not.
The lists of authorities prefixed to the several chapters are not intended to be exhaustive, but to indicate either those works which I have chiefly consulted, or those which will be most useful to the student (especially the English student), who wishes to push his inquiries further. Such a work as this is in great measure dependent on the labours of others, to whom my indebtedness is, I hope, fully acknowledged throughout.