From what I know of Westcott and Hort, I wouldn't trust any Greek or Hebrew text they had anything to do with.
Yet you seem to advocate complete trust in the textual criticism work and translating work of a group of Church of England scholars in 1611 that had similar Church of England doctrinal views as those of Westcott and Hort.
Perhaps you have been misinformed concerning Westcott and Hort by biased KJV-only sources and are uninformed concerning the doctrinal views of the KJV translators. Perhaps you should read a little about the KJV translators.
Westcott and Hort may be sometimes associated with the doctrinal views of leading KJV translator Lancelot Andrewes.
Gustavus Paine stated that Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626), who headed the Westminster group of the Old Testament, was "the real head or chairman" of all the translators, directly under Archbishop Bancroft (
Men Behind the KJV, pp. 16, 70). Donald Brake asserted that Andrewes “became the chairman of the translation committee and the most influential of the translators” (
Visual History of the KJB, p. 91). Hamlin and Jones maintained that companies of translators was “all under the general supervision of Lancelot Andrewes” (
KJB after 400 years, p. 7). Adam Nicolson noted that Andrewes “could be relied on to do Bancroft’s work for him” (
God’s Secretaries, p. 86). Paine asserted that Andrewes "chose many other translators" (
Men, p. xiii), and that he was "among the highest of the high churchmen" (p. 143). Opfell also observed that "Andrewes suggested other scholars and assisted in the preliminary arrangements" (
KJB Translators, p. 27). John Mincy affirmed that Andrewes was one of the "three men who screened suggestions for prospective translators and presented them to the king" (Williams,
From the Mind of God, p. 133). Nicolson confirmed that “Andrewes plays a central role in the story of the King James Bible” (
God’s Secretaries, p. 26). Pattison described Andrewes as the "most distinguished" of all the translators (
History of the English Bible, p. 98). Hewison noted that "in 1616 Andrewes nearly became Archbishop of Canterbury" (
Selected Wrings, p. x).
Higham observed that the faith of men such as Andrewes and Archbishop Bancroft was "Catholic in its respect for ancient custom, ordered worship, and episcopal rule" (
Lancelot Andrewes, p. 34). Ashley noted that Andrewes "sought to reconcile Catholic ceremonies with Protestant beliefs" (
England in the Seventeenth Century, pp. 41-42). Hill pointed out that "Catholic tradition in the Church of England owes a great deal" to Andrewes (
Who's Who in History, p. 31).
The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church noted that Andrewes was "one of the principal influences in the formation of a distinctive Anglican theology" which was "Catholic in tone" (p. 61). Horton Davies observed that Anglican spirituality had a "continuing link with Catholicism in Lancelot Andrewes and his successors" (
Worship and Theology in England, p. 428).
The Dictionary of Literary Biography affirmed that Andrewes was "the spiritual and intellectual leader" of the movement that has been called Anglo-Catholicism, high churchmanship, or English Arminianism (Vol. 172, pp. 4, 6).
Ian Green also referred to the "High Church or Anglo-Catholic persuasion" of men like Andrewes and Laud (
History of Religion in Britain, p. 174). George Fisher wrote: “The ‘Anglo-Catholic theology’--the way of thinking represented by such men as Laud and Bishop Andrewes--with its doctrine of the necessity of episcopal ordination to the exercise of the ministry in any church, its feeling of the exalted importance of the sacraments among the means of grace, and with the ritualistic spirit with which it was imbued, had been growing up since the last days of Elizabeth’s reign” (
History, p. 404). The reference work
Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800 noted: "Around the time he took up his Pembroke mastership, Andrewes began to emerge as a leading and outspoken member of the Anglo-Catholic Arminian party" (Vol. 5, p. 17). Ashton referred to "the more liberal theology, associated in England with the name of Lancelot Andrewes and across the North Sea with that of Arminius" (
James I, p. 173). McClintock wrote: "To express his theological tenets briefly he [Andrewes] was of the school which is generally called the school of Laud" (
Cyclopaedia, I, p. 223). Trevor-Roper identified Andrewes as the "founding father of Laudianism" (
Catholics, Anglicans, p. 243).
Brightman observed that "in broad outline the theology which he [Andrewes] preached" is "the Creed, professed by a Catholic Church, wherein the Holy Ghost, through a ministry of apostolic succession and divine right, regenerates men in baptism, confirms them by the imposition of hands, absolves them by a second imposition of hands, in the exercise of the keys, 'the Church's act,' by which 'God ordinarily proceedeth'" (
Private Devotions, p. xlvii). Trevor-Roper stated that "Andrewes pronounced the English Church to be apostolic, bishops to rule by divine right, and good works to be necessary to salvation" (
Archbishop Laud, p. 31). McGrath claimed that Andrewes “declared that orthodox Christianity was based upon two testaments, three creeds, four gospels, and the first five centuries of Christian history” (
Christian Theology, p. 8). Dorman cited Andrewes as explaining the Christian faith as “one Canon given of God, two testaments, three symbols, the first four councils, five centuries and the series of Fathers therein” (
Lancelot Andrewes, p. 9). G. M. Story noted that some have claimed that Andrewes was "virtually a crypto-Catholic" (Andrewes,
Sermons, p. xiii). Maurice Reedy claimed that "it was the essence of Anglicanism in his [Andrewes'] day that it chose to retain enough of full Roman Catholic doctrine to resemble the old Church" (
Bishop Lancelot Andrewes, p. 216). Dorman suggested that in 1595 Andrewes “reinterpreted the Lambeth Articles in a more Catholic light” (
Lancelot Andrewes, p. 5). Andrewes' works have been included in a series of books entitled the
Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology.
Dorman observed that “Andrewes advocated auricular confession” (Andrewes, p. 19). Dorman wrote: “The other sacrament that Andrewes emphasized as important in the life of a Christian is the sacrament of Penance, or Confession” (p. 128). In a sermon on John 20:23, Lancelot Andrewes taught the doctrine of absolution and confession (Ninety-Six Sermons, pp. 82-103). In his sermon points, he claimed that in the institution of baptism and the holy Eucharist, there is a power for the remission of sins. Referring to James 5:14-15, Andrewes wrote: "Call for the priests, saith the Apostle, and let them pray for the sick person, and if he have committed sin it shall be forgiven him" (
Ibid., p. 95). In notes written by Andrewes in his own Book of Common Prayer, it stated: "The Absolution--Remission of Sins, to be pronounced by the Minister alone" (Works of Lancelot Andrewes, p. 147). The Dictionary of Literary Biography confirmed that "in 1600 Andrewes gave direct offense by preaching in defense of priestly absolution" (Vol. 172, p. 5). Dorman cited from his Visitation Articles where Andrewes wrote: “By the minister he [the parishioner] may receive the benefit of absolution, to the quiet of his conscience” (Andrewes, p. 128).
raying: