"A copyist woud sometimes put in not what was in
the text, but what he thought ought to be in it, He
would trust a fickle memory, or he would make the
text accord with the views of the chool to which he
belonged. In addition to the versions and quotations
from the. Christian Fathers, nearly foir thousand
Greek
MSS of the Testament, were known to exist. As the
variety of reading is considerable.”I
In considering how far the four Canonical Gospels
faithfully present the inspired message or Gospel of
Jesus we must bear the following facts in mind: (1)
that no written copy was made of the inspire sayings
of Jesus in his life time;(2) that the earliest records
of the saying of Jesus, which were made shortly af-
ter the depature of Jesus, when the glorification of
Jesus had already begun, have all been. irretrievably
lost; (3) that in the Gospels, which were ten between
---------------------------------------------------- J.R. Dummelow: Commentary on the Holy Bible, P.16.