To bring the text into the state in which it is found in the writings of Tertullian, a century is not at all too long a period to allow.

In fact I doubt whether any subsequent century saw changes so great, though we should naturally suppose that corruption would proceed at an advancing rate for every fresh copy that was made.

The phenomena that have to be accounted for are not, be it remembered, such as might be caused by the carelessness of a single scribe.

They are spread over whole groups of MSS.together.We can trace the gradual accessions of corruption at each step as we advance in the history of the text.

A certain false reading comes in at such a point and spreads over all the manuscripts that start from that; another comes in at a further stage and vitiates succeeding copies there; until at last a process of correction and revision sets in; recourse is had to the best standard manuscripts, and a purer text is recovered by comparison with these.