Newport daily independent., 1911-03-14

SSG&S8l3&a83GS&a&& pc IOunQ ID any or the oldest Greek MSS. and were evidently added to the Word of God in the Seventh Century or later. Moreover. we gave proofs of the untruthfulness of this addition. Is 1t true that whoever believes the Gospel of Christ may handle serpents with impunity and may drink deadly poison without harm7 Surely not It is nothing short of sin for those who knoW better to acknowledge these verses and to use them to bolster up theories of Divine Healing. It is as much crime to add to the Word of God as to take away from 1t.
 Today invite attention to some oth- CT 'dead f1ies," some other additions to Gods Word, which have had much to do with twisting the theology once de- livered to the saints. Take, for in- stance, the closing words of the Lofd's Prayer:
 "Thine Is the Kingdom and Power and
 Glory"
 These words, if uttered by our Lord, should be found in the old Greek MSS. But they are not found therein. They are, therefore, to be rejected as additions made by people centuries after Matthew's Gospel was written. These words were introduced when the faith of the Church respecting the Kingdom of Messiah was changed or chansAng from what 1t was originally, All through the New Testament the second coming of Christ in power and glory to establish His Kingdom and to glorify the Church, His Bride, is set for the end of this Gospel Age. But as the time grew long change of sen timent came into the Church. It be- came popular and rich. It's bishops were respected Finally the theory prevailed that God did not intend to delay the establishment of the King dom until the second coming of Christ, but did intend to establish 1t in the hands of the Church during this Age and to use the Church for the. con quering of the world and the fulfilling of all the promises of the past.
 In line with this the most prominent bishop of the time was recognized as Divinely appointed to represent Christ in the world and to reign over the na- tions in his stead and to bring about the Messianic reign, etc. This was the Bishop of Rome, who subsequently was styled the Pope and who claimed and was accorded the honorable title, ''Vice-0erent 0f the Son ot God" It is said that the equivalent of this title is worn to this day by the Pope on his J0rG, or three-crowned hat-Vic0rtus Del FIJI.
 "Thy Kingdom Como on Earth"
 The Lords prayer was already in the Scriptures, and was known to many. It could not be eliminated. But some zealous person, fully believing that Gods Kingdom had come, felt justified in amending the prayer to correspond to what he supposed were the facts. Hence the prayer which begins, Thy Kingdom come," Is made to end by saying, 'Thy Kingdom has come in its glory and power"
 How glad we are to see the Truth on this subject: that the Kingdom of Gods dear Son has not yet been set up in any sense of the word-that it is still future. It cannot be set up until this Gospel Age ends and the "elect" saint ly few of every nation, Jew and Gen tile, shall be chGnged from earthly to heavenly nature by the First Resurrec- ton, which will qualify them to be kings and priests unto God and unto Christ and to reign with Him thou sand years (Revelation xx, @.
 It is well that all Bible students should mark this fly and extract 1t from the Precious Ointment and notice how much sweeter and fresher the Lords prayer is to them forever.
 "Oh, What Whopper!"
 Who cannot sympathize with the great inf1del, Thomas Paine, who when reading the last verse of St. Johns Gospel, exclaimed, "Oh, what whop- perl" It reads, And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, suppose that even the world it. self could not contain the books that should be written" (John xxi, 25). Surely anyone of reasoning mind should see the absurdity of such statement. Surely all Christian minis ters should have informed the Lords sheep under their care respecting what is and what is not the Word of God, the Bible as it was recognized by the Apostolic Church and written down in the original Greek MSS. Why. any Christian minister should assail me because endeavor to do for the peo pie what he has neglected to do cannot understand. I must leave 1t to the Lord to judge between us.
 I recent Higher Criticism and accept the Word of God in full. reject noth- ing because of my own or other mems surmises, but merely go by the facts. l If the oldest Greek MSS. do not con