Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1915-02-11
HOW CAME THE
BIBLE TO US?

Editor News.
( The difficulties about the Bible which
gave in my former letter are only few
out of the many that my investigations
have brought to my attention. But a
| word about the Old Testament before
| proceed to other questions. In the Old
| Testament as the c ,tholics have it there
are a number of books not found In the
| ordinary Protestant versions. The
| Cath olics point out that the very same
authority to which we are indebted for
the books of the New Testament as we
have it, has pronounce these extra
books of the Old Testament inspired
Scripture. These are seven entire books
including l and IL NJ chabees. II you
| reject that authority for the Old Tesla
ment, why accept it for the New
But grant that the list of books found
! in the Authorized Version is the one
| that Christ really appointed. Grant
| that we are just as certain OF that@2s II
| He himself b ad hand I'd the book to each
| of US individually. How can we know
| that the books were transmitted just as
| they were written, or even substantially
so? In the early times printing was not
! invented. The only way to reproduce
| copies was by the slow process OF writ
ing each letter of each copy separately
! by hand. And the only paper then
known was made from the pith OF a
| kind of reed called papyrus, or from the
| skin of some animal. Grant that every
| copyist was perfectly conscientious and
and unprejudiced. Even then there was
| chance for numerous mistakes. The
copyist mi ht misspell a word here and
there or omit a word her" and there
which would completely change the
meaning of passage He might miss
a whole line, or he might copy certain
| name or certain word and then
looking back at the sheet from which
he is copying continue the sentence from
the same name or the same words in
different passage. Another means OF
changing the text is placing marg-
inal note or passage from book OF
devotion in the text itself: @. g., "For
til inc is the kingdom and the power and
the glory forever and ever" Many such
mistakes were undoubtedly made,
Often they are traceable.
All we have to rely upon now to get
the words of Scripture are copies made
from other copies. How many times
they were copied and recoped we have
no means of knowing. The originals
persisted centuries ago. The copies
were made by men of various abilities;
some learned, some ignorant. Much OF
the copying was done by monks. In
monasteries there we're rooms especial
fly set apart for copyist whose work 1T
was to reproduce copies OF the Scrlptur-
es and other writings, Now 1T is the
reproach of many even learned Protest
| ants at monks were ignorant and sup,
erstitious. The age in which they lived
| it is said, was covered with darkness
as of Egypt. How can you receive their
| work with any certainty that 1T was not
vitiated with this ignorance and super
stition?
This question might be asked only
on general principles. so to speak, and
as a mere superstition. But it has been
treated as more than Supposition. AS
a matter of fact, even in the very early
ages there were thousands Of variations
in the copies OF the Scriptures then
extant. And after that centuries
elapsed before the Oldest existing
manuscripts were made.
Worse vet, the honesty of those who
had the possession OF the Scriptures has
been impugned. So far, we have been
assuming that the copyist, what ever
their defects, we're honest. Take this
from man of some learning and once
OF some prominence in his country:
''Tbe pOpes themselves admitted there
were 10000 errors in their copies Re-
mem Der that during the imperial per
secu tions, the Roman emperors destroy
ed every Bible they could find. Remem-
Der, too, that the greater number of
Christians in the early days were poor
illiterate people.
The copying OF the Bible was a task in
volving great labor. AS the priests lad
exclusive possession of the B BILE, it was
easy for til EN- to change the text with
out being detected.
Now bear in mind that these changes
in the Scriptures were made before there
was any translation of the book from
Latin and Greek into the languages OF
modern peoples, and you can readily
understand how these Romanist changes
and forgeries found their way into Pro-
testant Bibles"
The above blasphemies were written
for the avowed purpose of convicting
Catholics of corrupting the Scriptures,
Butt they are admitted they simply rid
die the iptures-worse than the Ger
man submarine a British steamer
And yet from the point of view OF those
who profess no other revelation than the
Bible as we have it, they are unanswer-
able. Is it not their very ground OF
true Gospel and changed the truth Of
God into lie? Did not the Catholics
make unwarranted additions Of the truth
revealed by Christ? Purgatory, for ex
ample. Did they not try by every
means to keep the pure Gospel from the
people in order the better to deceive?
How then can you rely upon them to
have kept the Scriptures uncorrupted?
1t will be evident, suppose, that |
have tried to put these things as strong
as could, do not claim that this is
as strong as they can be made; merely
as strong as l can make them. do not
think one should minimize ones OPP
ponent's strength. But with the Cath
Ollie claims, If one does not minimize
them. they are extremely hard to refute.
Perhaps that is the reason one so sell
dom sees them correctly stated by their
opponents.
AUNT ADALINE.