involved in forming a judgement on a suggested Conjectural Emendation differs in one respect only from the ordinary problems involved in deciding between transmitted readings on the strength of Intrinsic and Transcriptional Evidence combined, and of these alone; it consists in asking whether a given reading out of two or three fulfils certain conditions well absolutely, whereas in other cases we ask which of two or three readings fulfils the same conditions best.
95. The place of Conjectural Emendation in the textual criticism of the New Testament is however so inconsiderable that we should have hesitated to say even thus much about it, did it not throw considerable light on the true nature of all textual criticism, and illustrate the vast increase of certainty which is gained when we are able to make full use of Documentary Evidence, and thus confine Internal Evidence to the subordinate functions which alone it is normally fitted to discharge.
