The Christian Messenger. (Bonham, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 11, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 22, 1876 Page: 1 of 4
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Fannin County Area Newspaper Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Bonham Public Library.
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Devoted to the I*©lisrion of Christ—in F^pt, Precept. Promise mid Enjormeut
VOL. II.
BONHAM, FANNIN COUNTY, TEXAS : WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 1876.
NO. 11.
Ijje Christian Etesstngcr
18 PUBLISHED EVERT WEDNESDAY BY
Cbas- Carlton & T. R. Burnett,
BONHAM, TEXAS.
was now very liir advanced; but a subjects at ihe present day, make |. mV throat had been soro for eight | or Mohammedan, prove just as much
tew readings were found over which quotations from the New Testa-; months. Now it is about well, for their respective systems ? And
the evidence from copies was even- mcnt, and these quotations tell us
lv divided, and in which tho two plainly how the passages quoted
translations differed from each oth- were worded at the time in which
er. At this point the extracts from they were made. All such quota-
Tums—per annum, -
six months, -
$2 20
1 25
At the annual session of the Texas
Press Association held iu Houston,
* May 11, 1876, the following by-law
was nnaniiqoQsly adopted and every
paper represented in the association
was directed to keep it standing at
the head of its advertising rates:
That each paper represented in
the Texas Editorial and Press Asso-
ciation shall be required to publish
its advertising rates and place the
the
mom on file with the Secretary of ... . .
this Association, and shouldany 80 obviously correct that it was ac-
tbe old letters were brought in, and tions have been carefully culled
fortunately they turned the scales
in nearly all of the remaining in-
stances.
Fifth: Finally, there was anoth-
er name, that of the brother of the
testator, in which the extracts dif-
fered, the translations differed, and
all the copies differed : one set hav-
ing it Joseph, the other, James; but
in an old contract between this
brother and the testator, the name
was found plainly written out, Jo-
seph. It was then concluded that
in the will the name had been writ-
ten wi}h the-abbraviation Jos.,which
had been mistaken by half the cop
yisU, for Jas. This conclusion was
•ach paper receive foreign adver-
tisements for less than their rates
here provided to be filed, then they
•hall od proof of the same be expell-
ed from this Association.
|tatei
of Advertising.
| 3 mos | 6 mos | 12 mos
1 square - - $6.00 $10.00
2 squares - - 10.00 15.00
8 squares - - 15.00 20.00
1-4 colpuiu • 25.00 35,00
1-2 column - 35.00 50.00-
1 column - - 50.00 75.00
1 15.00
20.00
30.00
50.00
75.00
100.00
Miatakes in the Bible.
No. 3..
J. W. MCGARV1T.
In tbecase of the Stanley will,of
which I have already spoken, al-
though the rights of none of the
parties were affeeted by the varia
tions in the copies, there was never-
theless a desire to ascertain the ex-
act wording Of the original will, and
the parties took counsel as to the
practicability of this. The means
which they could command for this
purpose were as foJlow*:'-
First: About one hundred copies
of copies of the .original, all of
which were supposed to contain
some errors, but some of which were
touch more accurate and reliable
than others.
Second: A Latin and French
traosjation of the original, made by
one of the testator's sons, who was
at college wheu his father died, and
who made the translations as an ex-
ercise in these -languages.
Third : A large number of ex-
tracts from the will, contained in let-
ters written by interested parties
shortly after ttie will was probated,
most of which could be relied on as
being correct
Fourth: Some written accounts
of toe grandfather's family, and of
the different portions of his estate,
together with old contracts, deeds,
letters, Ac.
By the careful use of these ma-
terials, the proposed task was ac-
complished iu the following man-
ner :
.First: Mr Stanley found that in
a majority of the instances in which
bis copy, differed from some ot the
others, all the others agreed in con-
demning bis; and concluding that
it was incomparably more likely
that his own was wrong at these
pointmhan that all the others were,
he did not hesitate to correct his in
all these places. Thus, at one single
step, he corrected much the greater
part of the errors which had crept
into bis copy.
Second: But he found that on
some words and expressions the
other copies were nearly equalIj*
divided, about half agreeing with
his and half condemning it. This
puzzled him until he noticed that
all of the copies which agreed with
his on these points were accurately
written copies, and had been taken
copied by all parties. As a result
of these inquiries, all of the hun-
dred copies were corrected so as to
fronfthese writings, by such authors
as Charles Lachmau, a distinguish-
ed German critic, who made this his
especial task, and by means of them
a great many conclusions reached
from the other sources of evidence
have been confirmed, and some read-
ings fettled which other evidences
left io doubt.
But alter exhausting all these
sources of evidence, there still re-
mains a small number of readings,
the correctness of which must be
determined in some other way.
For example, it is said in Stephen’s
speech, Acts 7:16, that Abraham
bought a certain piece of ground;
and in John 10:14, that Jesus was
delivered by Pilate to be crucified
at the sixth hour. The above named
sources of evidence differ to some
read, word by word and letter by extent on these statements, but
letter, as the original which was
written by the grandfather.
This is almost an exact parallel
to the case which we have in hand.
None of the original manuscripts of
the apostles and-evangelists have
been preserved to the present time.
It is but natural that when they
were first issued, they were read so
eagerly by the disciples, and passed
from hand to hand so rapidly and
extensively as to be soon worn out.
Perhaps no books ever written were
read and handled by so many per-
sons and so continuously. Copies
of them were also multiplied with
great rapidity, and those who had
new and elegant copies would not
they do not enable us to* decide as
to their lurrectness. We are ena-
bled, however, by a parallel passage
iu Genesis (33:19), to know that it
was Jacob, riot Abraham, who
bought the land in question ; and
by a parallel in Mark (15:25), sup-
ported by the facts of the history,
that it was the third hour of the
day when Jesus was crucified. It
is safe, therefore,to conclude in these
two and some similar cases, that,
although wo cannot trace tho mis-
take to its origin, a mistake of the
copyists has occurred in each of
these places.
By such means as these it is clear
thanks to God,so I can go to work.1
Many of us thank God also, and all
of us will be glad to see bro W.
if success is to be considered an ar-
gument in favor of a doctrine or
intercession ol the brethren. Hera
is the origin both of mortifications,
penances, etc., and of saint-worship.
“ Behold!” says De Aubigne on this
C. K.
Tho
Texas Baptist aud‘
tl»© Donate.
The editor of the above sheet is
pretending to give the positions ad-
vocated by the debatants at '"White
Mound. He well says that he is
uot giving their language, but only
endeavoring to represent them fair-,
ly. I am not writing to make ob-
jections to his way of reporting, but
ohly wish to call attention to some
things which have recently appear-
ed. iu his paper. While at the
Mound he said to me in the pres-
ence of several persons that he
oonld not account for "Eld. Thomas
not noticing the subject of “final
perseverance,” unless he forgot it.
When he returned to his sanctum,
however, where he could think of
the effect of a refusal to defend one
of their cherished articles of faith,
he hit on a plan to set matters all
right. It was this: “ If I had been
in the discussion I should have said
more on that subject. I suppose
as Eld. Thomas had read it in his
first speech, and the Scriptures to
provo it, he did not think it neces-
sary to refer to it again until his
opponent attempted to answer him.”
I can excuse Mr. Buckner for his
false statement here, as he was not
present when Eld. Thomas read the
articles. Mr. T.’« first speech con-
sisted in reading about seventeen
articles of faifh,(opinions would suit
some of them better), and then re-
turned to the first of the series and
began to read the Scripture referen-
practice, then the Romish church passage of TertuIlian, “ man turned
has the advantage of the Protestant aside from God and turned back up-
workT. We introduce thft following ion himsell” Now I ask, whethvr
objections and historical statements,
against the use ot the anxious seat:
I may safely lake it for granted
that the religious character of a re-
ligious man is beneficially or injuri-
ously affected according as his re-
ligious opinions are correct or in-,
correct; and this being assumed, I
can see great danger of his embrac-
ing erroneous opinions from the
practice in question. • It has been he held responsible.
so far'as the practice ip question is
concerned, is there not identity of
import in the expression, “ Ask tho
prayers of God’s people and implore
the intercession of the brethren ? ”
But the latter is shown by.the pen
*>f history to have been theengia
of saint-worship, and for what the
former will bring upon the churches,
the ministers of the present age will
already stated that those under re-
ligious concern are urged Jo take
the anxious seat with a view to com-
mitting themselves on the side of
God and religion ; and were this all,
the following observations would
be Without foundation. But it is
not soq the}’ are urged by this act
to ask Ihe prayers of God’s people
on their behalf. Now I am far from
intimating that the effectual fervent
prayer of a religious man is without
avail; and as far from forgetting
that whenever two such agree as
Consider of it, take advice, and
speak your mind. How natural the
progress is, in a mind spiritually en-
lightened, from asking the prayers
of God’s people, to the idolatry of
the church of Rome, a moment’s
reflection will convince any one.
The people on whose prayers the
enquirer is taught to rely are his
neighbors, acquaintances and rela-
tives—persons whom be knows,
and arc, indeed, very ordinary saints
—and the reasons, u If their prayt
ers on my behalf will be prevalent,
eea-which were under each article.
to the reader that we are able to
care to preserve the soiled, faded I determine with positive certainty
and worn out originals. As a con 'the original reading of the New
sequence, the latter soon disappear Testament manuscripts in regard to
ed, and they are not mentioned by i almost every word, and the case,
any of the subsequent writers : umber, person, gender, mood anu
whose works have come down to us. tense of almost every word in the
But we have wrell nigh one thous- booR. Not only so, but wo are able
and manuscript copies of the New to put our fingers on every single
Testament, laid up in the libraries word the certainty concerning
of Europe, and written at intervals which is not yet known, so that it
from the fourth to the fourteenth can be said of all others but these,
uu v *<r iiui ».i<». All iiicoi., | ilirj ncic vtiuiuu precisely
as w^s have previously stated, have and so by the original writers. Noti tjme eXr,ire(j
been compared with each other, only so, but we are able to put our j
word bv word and letter by letter, fingers on every singie word the
and it has been found, as in the cop-1 certainty concerning which is not
ies of the will above mentioned, that yet known, so that it can be said of
nearly all of these copies unite in all others but these,'they were writ-'
condemning many of the readings ten precisely thus and so by the
in the copy from which our English original writers. Not only rani ... w
translation was made. Now, it is! this he done, but it has been done ; 83,1,1 ui)0n that subject. Well, as he
clear, that where all these copies, or and in the corrected Greek texts,
nearly all of them agree on a cer published by Tisehendorff, Tre-
tain word, there are a thousand gelles, Alford ami Green, we have
this vevy result in our hards. The
work has attained almost to perfec-
vftehed the third when hisiput not nma virtually mm aiqui-
These articles were
not used again during the discus-
sion, so he never even referred to a
passage of Scripture on that subject.
Eld. B. thinks had ho been in the
discussion more should have been
chances to ohe that it is correct.
We therefore correct the disagree-
ing copy accordingly, and feel mor-ltion, so that the little which re-
ally certain that we.have restored mains to be done will not suffice to
it to the original reading. In many make, tho reputation of another
instances there is this agreemeiy,or Tisehendorff, Trego lies or Gries-
was not in that one,ho can yet have
a chance toshow that the Scriptures
sustain that article of their luith.
We will give equal space in the
Christian Messenger to what he
will give in the Texas Baptist, fora
written discussion. What say you,
Bro. B. ? Are you willing for your
readers to see both sides ? I see
you are not yet satisfied with Elder
T.’o defense. I judge this by your
parenthetical replies when his fail-
ed. Now, as I had nearly all the
Baptist preachers at the debate to
meet, I would prefer to' take you
lurv, or within about fifty years
after the completion of the New
Testament writings. One hundred
years later translations were mado
into ihe dialects of Egypt, where
Christianity prevailed ut a very
early period; a hundred years later
still, witnessed versions into the
Eibiopie and Gothic languages,“and
another into Latin ; and alter this
period many versions were made
iuto many tongues,
translations represent, in their re
touching anything they ask, they, a portion, the prayers of those in
have a gracious promise for their heaven w-ill be the more so. If the
encouragement; neither do I forget
that inspired men ask the prayers
of their churches on their behalf.
The danger in the case before us
arises from the moral condition at
the time of those who are encour-
aged to ask the prayers of Christ-
ians. Their condition is one of ex-
treme spiritual ignorance, and of
this they are just beginning to be
sensible; the sense of their ignor-
ance expresses itself in the inquiry,
“ What shall we do ? ” “ What
shall we do to be saved ? ” If they
ries, they are not properly to be
considered as anxious; and hence
the anxious scats arc not their place.
But if they make these inquiries,
what answers do they receive?
What must you do to be raved ?
Ask the prayers of God’s people by
coming to ihe anxious seat, replies
the minister. Now the minister is
ihe religious teacher of these people,
and thns teaching tltera (unwitting-
ly, I acknowledge,) another way of
prayers of common saints avail,
much more will those of eminent
ones, as Paul, Peter, James and
John ; and especially will these of
the Virgin avail,. If saints, the
best of whom have sinned, can be
prevalent intercessors, much nMHgl
angels, who have never sinned.**
Is not this progress to idolatry, pal-
pably downward though it be, yet
natural to a darkened mind, and
who can tell whither it will ran F
But I have yet another objection
to the practice in question. It tends
io produce in the after life of the
convert^ real or supposed,) spiritual
pride. He is supposed to have be-
come a Christian under the persua-
sion that tho prayers of Christians
contributed to his conversion—they
were intercessors with God for him.
But now he has become a saint; be
is promoted to the office and char-
acter of a mediator with God for
others. Can he dispossess his mind
of the thought that saints, and
himself among them, possess an effi-
salvation than tho true oue. They caey before God, as such; that their
receive the impression that God’s j prayers stand in less need of tho
people are mediators between God j Savior’s iqtercession than those of
and himself, and ^tlius there is not [sinners, to render them acceptable?
^ne mediator only. Is this teaching; I had almost said must it not be the
calculated to exalt Christ in their : case, that the oearcher of hearts
estimation as the only foundation of reads, in hia spirit, some such ex-
a sinner’s hope 7 Will this teaching
produce a race of Christians of the
class of him who on his way to the
stake said, “None but Christ, j self; come not near me; I am holier
None but Christ.” In such teaching,: than thou!” And this evil, if it
I ask, where is the blood ? But this exist, is to be attributed to the er-
sabject has other aspects. It nun-1 rors of his first instruction, and it
isters of Christ will thoroughly re- becomes his ins;ructors to inquire
fleet on the tendencies ot .this prac-
tice, it will, I am certain, be speedi- sponsible.
a very near approach to it; and: bach.
where the manuscripts are divided It is now apparent to the reader,
somewhat equally on a given read- that while during the first fourteen
ing, we give preference to those that; hundred years of our era, the books
arc older and more accurately writ- of the New Testament were con-
ten. In this way we arrive at the | stantly becoming more and more
most unquestionable conclusions in inaccurate as copies were multi-
regard to all but * comparatively plied, by the invention of printing
small number of tho various read- God providentially arrested this
ings. | course of deterioration, and during , single-handed. If you aim to review
In the second place, we have ma- the Inst throe hundred years the mj e;j(je cf the discussion, it would
ny early translations of the New ; mistakes of fourteen centuries have be more man'like to allow me space
Testament into other languages, been steadily undergoing detection . . T
W. h,,* for sample, a translation and correction, until at last they to rev.ew yonr reytenr. I see. you
into the Syriac-, and parts of one in- have almost totally disappeared, j persist in writing us Re\., and call-
to Latin, both of which were made 1 and the Christian world has to day ing ns Campbellites. I would refer
about the middle of the second cen- a more correct copy of the New v00 the “golden rule.” Would
Testament than has eyer ?*is^ L* wish otbere to call vou by a ly abandoned. It may startle some I
tbtfhwight o? this glo^ouV'oo'nsnra-1 namo which you hud bah publicly to learn that by th.s measure (not a [
mationls not realized until wo lake, ai d privately refused to wear? new one, as w.i.l soon appear,) they
notice, that an account of tho per- i Would you wish this done by a man are preparing the way for one ol
fection with which copies of a book to be a disciple of Christ,
once njade correct are multiplied by , knowi the namc to be 0ften-
the heaven born art of printing, our a, u b
perfected Greek text will now lx- rive to yvu . If you
transmitted without corruption to j yea m e following tho rule,
all future generations, though the
Nowall these j world should yet stand ten thousand , . . .....
years. The toilers in this mine i , . ,, \ .c ,
fromTha record**iiTl*i^“cl7rU.iffic.*,j"M''ive ton2,iea the readings ot have dug from its depths almost cv-,' cl,rc “■ -v »“ sec 1 '
while those wltieh were »g»m« hi.!‘he W1 ln?>' fr.v G*'m *»'»■' '* conlains, and t ' Il0RS-
.. . Iv”«-ritfdn were translated, and scholars, hv have set the precious jewels in a - ---^ 1 ^--- i
Inti tilkon from ftnntt-* in nri! j translating them back into Greek J crown that shall never lade away, j The AuxiouM Sent. page of history and trace with him
. , . . can determine with entire certainty Thanks he to God for tho Biblical
, , . - in most instances, anti with a near Critics with winch he n:i
pression as “ God, I thank thee that
I am not as ether men are, nor even,
as this sinner. ” “ Stand by thy-
to what extent they will be held r$-
n. d. b.
would, then
“ Do
Glenfawn, Rusk Co., Texas, |
the grossest abominations of Papal
idolatry to overshadow the land.
Howbeit, they mean uot so, neither
eorncth it into their hearts. I alludo
urto all men ns you would have) to tho worship of saints. “Strike,
do unto vou?” Road this [hut hear me,” as the Grecian said.
Brethren, cast not this paper aside
under the conviction that the writer
is mad, but accompany him to the
The Anxious Sent.
and were taken from copies in pri ! determine with entire certainty Thanks be to God for the Biblical -- ! the actual origin of the worship ot
h« decided that the words now ;n j >" most instances, and with a near | Critics with which he blessed | if the anxious scut is of divine samU in the Papal church and you
..Mion wore written correctly iB ?PP™.ch to certainty in pearly .It | u-t.ahcw later tigc., ami for the tllCn ,|,„M ,10 right |wil, Mv. « how l.ke thi. ia to thi.
- - ■ ina.ancea, what the_w..r.l,t>g ol the art, preon.n, beyoa.i a II pr.ee, win eh, X uao it, amt we do wrong in re-
February 23, 1876.
Eds. Messenger :—“ Except a man
be born of water and ihe Spirit ha
can not enter the kingdom of heav-
en.” What do the Baptists say born
of water means ? If it means bap-
tism, then how can a man enter the
kingdom of k««ven without baptism?
Is the kingdom of heaven here
spoken of the Baptist church ? Do
the Baptists all agree as to the mean-
ing of this text? If the kingdom
of heaven here spoken of is not the
Baptist church, what is it? Does a
say, ” now iiko™ ms is yo um». ' Q cnlcr lbe kingdom of heaven
Idolatry in the church did not arise hcro gpoken of entMf
translations camel" bi‘ll fiTh j 5o»""i«im»»y of these translu-
woe easy to see, by translating back t,onM ’* co,,sl^erei *
into English, what words the trans- In the third place, out of the gen-
lator had before him, and this turn oral wreck of ancient literature,
•d the scales of evidence. On look tnere have come down to us the
ing farther into these translations, writings of many Christian authors,
. ® ^ I . I . at ______A. I J A 1 ! f l I U A ». a «w e
he also found that they supported
lbe conclusions which he had for-
merly drawn from the English cop-
ies alone, and this gave him greater
confidence in thoee conclusious.
Fourth: The work correction
dating at) the way from a period
previous to the writing of John’s
Gospel, down to a period this side
of which their testimony is of no
value in this inquiry. All of these j8€ven
Texas, and for some years at
University, then on a mission
to Prince Edward’s Island, says,
Feb. 28 : “I am on my way still to
Texas. It may be that I will not
get that far till la!). Have heen
preaching more or less since I wrote
you, in May, and then from Syra-
cuse to Fall city. l|p*e been here
days. My health is very
on
, account of poor crops. This
of saints is as follows: In the third ^ ,|f th(y coun(y is weUfilfodwith
18 3: century Tertullian,
vmo appointment, but that .t is a ce„t>try Tertullian, an ilimtriou., . nnI for „
sntee." Strange indeed. pa.(orof Carthage, holds the follow- j ^ boller
Not a Jivmo appointment, only ® j mg language I... work I* f»»" ; ,fce «teU«»e. •. Mgnniwtl. ehnidt
means of grace. He adds : '*oa|ientia : 14 It is necessary to change J M W.
bkssei my soul at the altar of r ,jre88 ttIij Cur food; we must ’ _ ' _
prayer, and this is as good argument! put OD -Mck_doth ami asnes; wo) when a roan meets too many pall
as I want.” This ‘argument’ does j miwt renounce all comfort and backs on the *t rect it is rio surprise
not weigh a leather. Docs not the j adorning of the body and falling j if he gets home late and receive# ^
2££ r ntligiou 1 good now. When 1MOt. Inland | c7thoHc «Penen«, or the Mormon Mown boiot, tbe l,r,o.t,>ploro «h.|C*ndl. lebturo.
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Burnett, Thomas R. & Carlton, Charles. The Christian Messenger. (Bonham, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 11, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 22, 1876, newspaper, March 22, 1876; Bonham, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth974253/m1/1/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bonham Public Library.