The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1889-02-27

80 as to make them a sufficient instru-
ment to save the souls of sinners, he COM
mitted their preservation to His servants
through all successive years, and as those
servants, though generally renewed and
consecrated men, have been men, and
men only, it was inevitable that in q
course Of copying through tract of at
least three thousand years, very numer-
GUS errors and inaccuracies should have
arisen.
So much Rev. Mr.. Vance has told us,
or rather has reminded US of, for we all
knew it beforehand But here comes in
the fatal defect of his essay. He writes
in such forms of thought as to produce
the impression on inexperienced minds
that the modern science of textual criti-
cism has given as our Bible, and that
but for the exertions and labors of such
men as Lachmsnn, Tisctendort, Tregelles,
Dean Afford, and Westcott and Hort,
and others engaged in like Investigations,
we would not have had the New Tesla
ment at all in any words in which we
could rely upon it as inspired, and as
sufficient and infalhble rule of faith and
practice In other words, he has failed
to inform the inexperienced readers of
what it is most important that they
should know, viz: That from the time of
the closing Of the canon of Holy Scrip
ture down through all succeeding ages,
the world has always had the Holy
Bible " In form and substance all-sufi-
Gent as the instrument to be used by the
Holy Spirit to make sinners "wise unto
salvation"
He admits that this modern "Textual
Criticism had not been born when the
art of printing was invented and the
| light of the blessed Reformation dawned
on the world, in the early part of the
sixteenth century. And yet every
Christian student knows that during the
patristic ages, and the dark ages, and the
middle ages, consecrated men had 30
faithfully done their allotted work OF
preserving and copying the inspired
Scriptures that as soon as it became de-
sirsble to print and publish them in
book, pious scholars were Immediately
ready to produce from the libraries in
the monasteries and universities, manu-
script copies of the whole inspired canon.
And thus the "Textus Receptus," the
received tert of the New Testament was
given to the reading world in printed
form under the editorship of such men
as Erasmus, Theodore Beza, Robert
Stephens and the Elzevirs.
Now let all readers of the Central who
wish for information on the subject, rest
assured that this "Textus Receptus" thus
printed and published was the Word uf
God, and was that very Scripture de-
scribed in Timothy iii: Is, as "profta-
bic for doctrine, for reproot, for correc-
ton, for instruction In righteousness. 90
1t was the all-sufcient foundation for
the "fsith which was once delivered unto
the saints" 1t contained every doctrine
and every duty of the Christian system
and the Christian life.
The work of the textualists, of whom
Rev. Mr.. Vance thinks SO highly, has
done absolutely nothing to change, modi-
fly, add to, or take away one single item
of the elements of doctrine or duty found
in the Textus Receptus.
In fact it is we'll known that the first
effort of this work, in diving into the
monasteries and libraries, bringing out
all of the twelve hundred cursives and
eightythree uncials there found, and col
lating and comparing them, was dark
and discouraging though very transient
eclipse of Christian faith. When it first
became known that az many as 10000
various readings had been detected, be-
levers, for a time, tremb)ed for the au-
thority of the Sacred word And scep-
tics and in6dels were, in the same meas
ure, elated. In 17l3 the deist, Anthony
Collins, represented these 10000 varia-
tions acknowledged By the textualiet
Mild az " fatal to the authority of the
New Testament" But soon the light
came again, and the sun Of the Holy Word
shone out with more brightness than be-
fore. 1t was ascertained that an immense
proportion of the various readings were
either synonymes or were in words or
forms not affecting the same. And in
modern times, one OF the best of the tex
tualists, Dr. ScriveDer, has summed up
the matter in the following words: 4" So
far ls the copiousness of our stores from
causirg doubt or perplexity to the gen.
uine student of Holy Scripture that it
leads him to recognize the more fully It's
general integrity in the midst of partial
variation What would the thoughtful
reader Of Hisohylus give for the like
guidance through the obscurities which
vex his patience and mar his enjoyment
Of that sublime past?'
Though these Textualists have done
nothing whatever to vary, alter, modify,
add to, or take from the doctrines and