The people of Israel, filled with joy and gratitude at their deliverance from the Midianites, proposed to Gideon that he should become their king, and that the throne should be confirmed to his descendants. His answer shows how true and noble were the motives by which he was actuated. "I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you. The Lord shall rule over you." At the divine command, Gideon had willingly gone forth to battle for Israel; he had not shrunk from duty, nor hesitated in the face of danger; but he nobly refused to accept from the people those honors which the Lord had reserved to himself the right to bestow.
God had manifested special favor to Gideon, in selecting him as the instrument through whom to deliver Israel. While great responsibilities rested upon him in this important crisis, Gideon's course was marked with humility and faithful obedience. God accepted his work, and crowned his efforts with success. But now Gideon was assailed by temptation in a new form. When the reprover of wrong has done his work, in obedience to God's commands, the period of inactivity which succeeds the struggle, is often the most dangerous. This danger Gideon now experienced. A spirit of unrest was upon him. Hitherto he had been content to execute the commands given him of God; but now, instead of calmly waiting for divine instruction, he began to devise and execute plans for himself. He had not learned to wait as well as to labor—to suffer God's will as well as to do it.
Satan is never idle. He is filled with hatred against God, and is constantly enticing men into a wrong course of action. After the armies of the Lord have gained a signal victory, the great adversary is especially busy. He comes disguised as an angel of light, and as such he endeavors to overthrow the work of God. Thus thoughts and plans were suggested to the mind of Gideon, by which Israel were led astray.
The tribes on the east side of the Jordan were quite a distance from the tabernacle at Shiloh, to which all the men of Israel were required to repair three times a year, to attend the great annual feasts. This of course, required a considerable outlay of time and means. The thought was suggested to Gideon that it would be a great advantage to these tribes to have a place at home, for sacrifice and worship.
Without waiting for the divine sanction, he determined to provide a suitable place and to institute a system of worship similar to that carried on at the tabernacle at Shiloh. He had refused the urgent solicitations to become king of Israel, but he now determined to take advantage of the popular feeling in his favor to carry out the plan he had devised. As his share of the spoil taken from the Midianites, he asked that all the ear-rings of gold might be given him, promising that he would put them to a wise use.
As is natural, even at the present day, the people of Israel were more ready to ascribe the honor of the victory to Gideon than to the Lord. They readily complied with the request, and also collected many other costly materials, together with the richly adorned garments of the princes of Midian.
The total value of the spoil thus contributed was not less than fifteen thousand dollars. From the material thus furnished, Gideon constructed an ephod and a breastplate of judgment in imitation of those worn by the high priest.
Gideon led the people to look upon this ephod and the breastplate as possessing special sacredness in themselves. In this he erred. All that could make them sacred was the fact that they were employed in the solemn service of God as he had directed. The high priest alone was authorized to wear them when he went in before the Lord.
Because he had been commanded to offer a sacrifice upon the rock where the angel appeared to him, Gideon concluded that he had been divinely appointed to officiate as a priest, and that by instituting a service there, he might save the people the trouble and expense of their journeys to Shiloh.
The Lord was not pleased with this arrangement, for it was contrary to the order which he had established. It was an assumption of authority on the part of Gideon which proved disastrous to himself and to all Israel. God designs that his people shall place a high estimate upon every provision for their salvation. He desires them to appreciate his great mercy and condescension, and to manifest gratitude and zeal proportionate to the value of the great gift of the Son of God. But we are disposed to shun sacrifice and self-denial for our eternal interest, while we readily devote time and strength to seeking temporal advantage. Thus our conduct too often shows that we place a higher estimate upon earthly things than upon the heavenly treasure.
It is the work of God's true people to advance his glory in the earth. Through connection with him, they will be imbued with divine wisdom, which will lead them to place a right estimate upon eternal things. The Lord desired his people to go up to the tabernacle at Shiloh, at the stated seasons, even though it might require considerable sacrifice. That very effort would lead them to place a higher value upon their religious privileges.
In seeking to bring the worship of God nearer home, Gideon was but providing to indulge the people in their indolence. This would have no beneficial influence upon them. All plans based upon human reasoning should be looked upon with a jealous eye, lest Satan insinuate himself into the position which belongs to God alone. The course pursued by Gideon proved a snare, not only to himself and family, but to all Israel. The irregular and unauthorized worship led the people finally to forsake the Lord altogether, to serve idols. The ephod and the breastplate were regarded with pride, because of their costly material and exquisite workmanship; and after a time were looked upon with superstitious reverence. The services at the place of worship were celebrated with feasting and merriment, and at last became a scene of dissipation and licentiousness. Thus Israel were led away from God by the very man who had once overthrown their idolatry.
If men could foresee the result of their course, if they could realize the influence which they exert upon their own families and upon society, they would move with greater caution, and would maintain a firmer reliance upon God. The mistaken conduct of parents frequently produces the most ruinous effects upon their children and associates, after the actors themselves have been laid in the grave. There is no evil which man should so much dread, as being given up to his own lusts. This was the fate of Israel. After Gideon's death, the people, especially his own house, plunged into the grossest idolatry.
Thus the snare which Gideon had so unwittingly set, entrapped the unwary feet of thousands. A snare,—how many snares are to be found in our path to-day! There is need that light from above be constantly shed upon our way, that we may see the snares laid for our feet. Oh, that fathers and mothers could realize the dangers that beset their path and the path of their children!
Those who are placed in the highest positions may lead astray, especially if they feel that there is no danger. The wisest err; the strongest grow weary. Excess of caution is often attended with as great danger as excess of confidence. To go forward without stumbling, we must have the assurance that a hand all-powerful will hold us up, and an infinite pity be exercised toward us if we fall. God alone can at all times hear our cry for help.
It is a solemn thought that the removal of one safeguard from the conscience, the failure to fulfill one good resolution, the formation of one wrong habit, may result not only in our own ruin, but in the ruin of those who have put confidence in us. Our only safety is to follow where the steps of the Master lead the way, to trust for protection implicitly to Him who says, "Follow me." Our constant prayer should be, "Hold up my goings in thy path, O Lord, that my footsteps slip not."326The Israelites needed the benefits of assembling for worship and entering into covenant together to serve the Lord. In separating themselves from the place of worship divinely appointed, they lost much. God had servants whose lips he unsealed to speak words of warning, encouragement, and reproof, so that the light received from Heaven by one shone not for himself alone, but to lighten the path of others. God knows best what his people need. His words come down to us, in warning and instruction,—"Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching."
At the present day, as in ancient times, the people of God plead their own ease or convenience as an excuse for neglecting divine service. They will devise means to preserve the Christian name without making any sacrifice of time or means. God requires his people to maintain his worship. And those who are burdened with care and responsibility, should be the last to excuse themselves from religious privileges. They need wisdom from above. They need to be constantly reaching upward to lay hold on the divine arm, lest they stumble and fall. They can walk safely, only as they fear God, and obey his voice. Those whom God has burdened with a place in his work, need not be left to their own judgment, as was Gideon, to lead men away from the right path. The feet that God is guiding will press on in a way which leads straight forward, ever ascending, and ever brightening, until it reaches the brightness of eternal day.
All wrong-doing is forsaking the path where Jesus leads, turning aside to the crooked ways of darkness. Those who are determined in the strength of Jesus to make the most of their opportunities, seizing every ray of light that Heaven sheds on their pathway, will go straight forward, fulfilling their duty to God and to their fellow-men. They will not fall, nor stumble. A divine Guide goes before the faithful, encouraging them with his voice, aiding them with his hand, and they need never mistake the way.
"ALL THINGS NEW."
"And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new."
THERE'S shadow on earth's fairest light,
Of human guilt and human tears;
She gropes her way through realms of night,
That once sang with the spheres.
But not the sport of blinded chance,
The heavenly record standeth true;
She waits a full deliverance
When God makes all things new.
The world is old with centuries,
But not for these she bows her head;
Close to her heart the sorrow lies—
She holds so many dead!
Bad discords mingle in her song,
Tears fall upon her with the dew,
The whole creation groans—How long
Ere all shall be made new?
Yet brightly on her smiles the sun,
A bounteous heaven delights to bless;
Oh, what shall be that fairer one
Wherein dwells righteousness?
Oh, happy world! Oh, holy time!
When wrong shall die and strife shall cease,
And all the bells of heaven chime
With melodies of peace.
No place shall be in that new earth
For all that blights this universe;
No evil taint the second birth—
"There shall be no more curse."
Ye broken-hearted, cease your moan,
The day of promise dawns for you,
For He who sits upon the throne
Says, "I make all things new."
We mourn the dead, but they shall wake!
The lost, but they shall be restored!
Oh, well our human hearts might break
Without that sacred word!
Dim eyes look up, sad hearts rejoice,
Seeing God's bow of promise through,
At sound of that prophetic voice—
"I will make all things new."
How long? The ages falter, dumb,
As on the threshold of new birth;
The nations pray, "Thy kingdom come"—
"The new heavens and new earth."
Earth turning, turning, nears that day,
When all the angel-choirs anew
Shall sing, "Old things are passed away,"
God hath made "all things new."
IS SIN ETERNAL?—NO. 10.
By J. N. Loughborough
BY ELDER J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH, OF SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND.
NOTWITHSTANDING the statement of Scripture that "Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation," and the injunction to seek God "while it is called to-day," and that "the night cometh when no man can work," the advocates of "Eternal Hope" will persist in telling us there is hope beyond the grave, and that sinners may then become reconciled to God. Such should remember the words of the prophet Ezekiel, if a man "committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die." Eze. 18:26.
In the sixth discourse of Canon Wilberforce he claimed mercy for the wicked after death, on the ground that Christ in the time intervening between his death and resurrection, preached to those who had previously died. The basis of his remarks was the words of St. Peter: "He went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing." 1 Pet. 3:19. Claiming that the "prison," should be rendered "place of safe keeping," and that the preaching was not so much evangelizing as to proclaim or herald, he passed on to say, "There have been some grand preaching scenes in history. We can cast back our thoughts to antediluvian times, and picture to ourselves Noah, the first reformer, preaching repentance as he shaped his planks of gopher wood for the ark; we can see, in the mind's eye, the young Ezekiel pleading with stubborn hearts, by the murmuring waters of Chebar; we can imagine the enthusiasm of the excited crowds who followed John the Baptist, the ascetic missionary, into the desert; we can call up before us the scene of grace and wonder on the slopes of the mount of beatitudes, when the Son of man first broke the silence of two thousand years; we can dimly imagine the electrical effect of St. Peter's first Pentecostal sermon, and admire the splendid courage of St. Paul's denunciation of idolatry on Mars' hill; we can think of Savonarola converting Florence, and of Wesley and Whitefield washing the grimy faces of the miners with their own tears as they unfolded to them the love of Jesus; but imagination utterly fails us in attempting to realize the preacher, the pulpit, and the congregation spoken of by St. Peter in the text. It needs a Dante with a revelation of the Inferno, to picture the dim shadows of disembodied spirits, the grim ghosts of doomed men, encircled by some spectral prison house, beyond the confines of which they could not, dared not roam, hanging eagerly on the words of one who, like a God as he was, had come to burst the bars of that two thousand years' locked prison. There is nothing in fact or fiction to compare with this glorious picture of Christ the conqueror wielding in hell the power he won on Calvary, bursting into hades with the charter of man's salvation and restitution on his lips—'I am he that liveth and was dead; behold I am alive forevermore, and have the keys of hell and of death.' Gaze upon it! It was a supreme crisis in the history of this planet. The great drama of man's salvation had closed on Calvary; on the cross was hanging the tortured body of him who had lived only to bless and heal; those whom he had blessed and healed had killed him—the mob is ever like some poor frightened animal which bites the hand that liberates it; the masses generally crucify their reformers and worship them when dead. But what was death to him? A royal procession to a newly acquired dependency. In the flesh he was straitened by earthly conditions. He preached in person to the few, he was held back by the limitations of this life, but, freed from the flesh, he was quickened by the Spirit. Death opened to him a new sphere of restoring work. He flies to the rescue of the spirits that lived and sinned and died in the days of Noah. He has won them; they are his, he will draw them out of anguish that they may be educated for his everlasting home and rest."
He states further: "The flood was a signal evidence of God's love; seeing man wandering farther and farther from him, in the days of Noah increasing the separation, aggravating the lawlessness, his love sent the flood to arrest his wanderings from rectitude and to convey him to another sphere of education. In the fullness of time, the same love revealed in Jesus, enters their prison-house, releases them from darkness, and brings them out into the fullness of gospel light."
In the above we have an eloquent description of the case in hand, but eloquence is not always argument. It might all be very well, if it were a fact that the preaching was done during the period intervening between Christ's death and resurrection. Of this we shall see more presently.
The Reverend Canon says, "We need a Dante to describe this scene of Christ preaching in hell." It occurred to me while reading the above, that I had read a very full description of this fancied preaching of Christ to disembodied spirits. I open volume XVI. of the twenty-four volumes of the Ante-Nicene Library, edited by the Rev. Alexander Roberts, D. D., and James Donaldson, LL. D., Edinburgh, edition of 1870, and find under the appellation of "Apocryphal Gospels," one entitled "The Gospel of Nicodemus," Part II., giving us quite a full and elaborate description of what it calls "Christ's descent into hell."
This writing represents that as Christ approached the gates of hell, there was a dispute between Satan, the prince of hell, and hades, whether they should admit Christ. Having gained admission, he first bound Satan and "delivered him to the power of hades, and drew Adam to his brightness." Then we read, "And the Lord stretched out his hand, and said: Come unto me, all my saints, who have my image and likeness. Do you, who have been condemned through the tree and the devil, and death, now see the devil and death condemned through the tree. Immediately all the saints were brought together under the hand of the Lord. And the Lord holding Adam by the right hand, said to him: Peace be to thee, with all thy children, my righteous ones! And Adam fell down at the knees of the Lord, and with tearful entreaty praying, said with a loud voice: I will extol thee, O Lord; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. . . . . In like manner also all the saints of God, falling on their knees at the feet of the Lord, said with one voice: Thou hast come, O Redeemer of the world; as thou hast foretold by the law and thy prophets, so hast thou fulfilled by thy deeds. Thou hast redeemed the living by thy cross, and by the death of the cross thou hast come down to us, to rescue us from the powers below, and from death, by thy majesty. O Lord, thou hast set the title of thy glory in Heaven, and hast erected as the title of redemption thy cross upon earth, so, O Lord, set in hades the sign of the victory of thy cross, that death may no more have dominion. And the Lord, stretching forth his hand, made the sign of the cross upon Adam and upon all his saints; and holding Adam by the right hand, went up from the powers below; and all the saints followed him." P. 206.
There is one difficulty in using this Apocryphal writing as proof of the Rev. Canon's theory, and that is, the description does not relate to a deliverance of sinners, but of "saints" who were said to have Christ's "image and likeness." Then again, it seems to give so strong a potency to the "sign of the cross" as to create at once the suspicion that this so-called "gospel of Nicodemus" is only after all another forged document of the Roman Catholic church.
Let us read carefully the statement of St. Peter concerning this preaching and see if it really gives any countenance to these theories of pardon after death. "For Christ also hath once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit; by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water." 1 Pet. 3:18-20.
If we observe carefully the above scripture, we may discover in it just what we wish to know, namely, when this preaching was done, how and by whom it was done, and the exact result of the preaching. We observe first, that the preaching was not done by Christ in person, but by his spirit. He was put to death in the flesh and quickened by the spirit, by which he went and preached. The same Spirit of God that raised up Jesus from the dead, moved out Noah to preach while he was preparing the ark. The Canon says of those people at that time, that they went farther and farther from God until he sent the flood to remove them to another sphere of education. That is not the way Scripture writers state it. St. Peter says God "saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness." 2 Pet. 2:5. As he preached and warned the people, "they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away." Matt. 24:38, 39. They had abundant warning in that one hundred and twenty years, but they rejected the warning and hardened their hearts in sin, and so Noah's preaching "condemned the world." Heb. 11:7. The result of this long period of Noah's preaching was the salvation of just eight souls in the ark, while the millions who rejected his warning message "knew not" (because they refused light) and were all destroyed.
John Milton, author of Paradise Lost, in his Treatise on Christian Doctrine, takes the position that the prison of this text is the grave and that the word spirits in this case refers to men now dead. He says, "By which also he went and preached to the spirits that are in prison, literally, in guard, or, as the Syriac version renders it, in sepulchro, 'in the grave,' which means the same; for the grave is the common guardian of all till the day of Judgment. What, therefore, the apostle says more fully, chap. 4:5, 6, 'Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead; for, for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead,' he expresses in this place by a metaphor, 'the spirits that are in guard;' it follows, therefore, that the spirits are dead."
The notes to the Rhemish Testament (Roman Catholic) favor strongly the position of the Canon, that the preaching of Christ was while he was dead. Before me lies a Confutation of the Rhemish Testament with its notes. This able work was written by William Fulke, D. D., chosen fellow of John's College, Cambridge, in 1564. The writing of his confutation was completed in 1589. On 1 Pet. 3:19, he says, "The apostle saith not that the soul of Christ after his death preached in hell, but he came in his spirit, and prophesied in the days of Noah to the disobedient, whose souls are now in hell.
"This place we confess to be hard, but yet not so hard of itself, as it is to them that have a prejudicate opinion in their minds, of Christ's descending into hell after his death. But first, here is no mention of the soul of Christ, nor of descending, but of his spirit coming and preaching; not to the godly that were in prison, but to them that were sometime disobedient, which are still in prison; not to their deliverance, but to their destruction. The apostle, therefore, meaneth by this most ancient example, to show that Christ had always care of his church, and therefore in the same spirit, by which he was raised to life after he was dead, he came of old time, and preached destruction to the reprobate, even in the days of Noah, who for that they condemned his preaching, are327now damned spirits in prison. And at the same time appointed Noah to make the ark, for the safeguard of himself, and the small company of the church, and in the same preserved his church from destruction by water, wherein is also a notable figure of our salvation by baptism. And that he speaketh of Christ's divine spirit, and not of his human soul, is manifest by that he saith, he came in the same spirit by which he was made alive, or restored to life, which was not his human soul, but his divine power, by which his soul was joined again to his body. As Paul concludeth that he was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the spirit of sanctification, by his resurrection from the dead, that is, by raising himself from death by his divine spirit and eternal power. For his human soul did not return to his body of itself, but by power of his divine and eternal spirit."
DR. CLARKE occupies nearly eight pages in his Commentary, on this text. We give only the substance of his remarks:—
"But it is likely this verse is not genuine. It is wanting in every MS. of this epistle written before the invention of printing, one excepted, the Codex Montfortii, in Trinity College, Dublin; the others which omit this verse amount to one hundred and twelve.
"It is wanting in both the Syriac, all the Arabic, Æthiopic, the Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, Slavonian, &c., in a word, in all the ancient versions but the Vulgate; and even of this version many of the most ancient and correct MSS. have it not. It is wanting also in all the ancient Greek Fathers; and in most even of the Latin.
"The words as they exist in all the Greek MSS., with the exception of the Codex Montfortii, are the following:—
"'6. This is he that came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. 7. For there are three that bear witness, the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree in one. 9. If we receive the witness of man, the witness of God is greater,' &c.
"The words that are omitted by all the MSS., the above excepted, and all the versions, the Vulgate excepted, are these:—
"'[In Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one; and there are three which bear witness in earth.]'
"To make the whole more clear, that every reader may see what has been added I shall set down these verses, with the inserted words in brackets.
"'6. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. 7. For there are three that bear record [in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. 8. And there are three that bear witness in earth,] the Spirit, and the water and the blood, and these three agree in one. 9. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater,' &c. Any man may see, on examining the words, that if those included in brackets, which are wanting in the MSS. and versions, be omitted, there is no want of connection; and as to the sense, it is complete and perfect, without them; and, indeed, much more so than with them. I shall conclude this part of the note by observing, with Dr. Dodd, that there are some internal and accidental marks which may render the passage suspected; for the sense is complete, and indeed more clear and better preserved, without it. Besides, the Spirit is mentioned, both as a witness in Heaven and on earth; so that the six witnesses are thereby reduced to five, and the equality of number, or antithesis between the witnesses in Heaven and on earth, is quite taken away. Besides, what need of witnesses in Heaven? No one there doubts that Jesus is the Messiah; and if it be said that Father, Son, and Spirit are witnesses on earth, then there are five witnesses on earth, and none in Heaven; not to say that there is a little difficulty in interpreting how the Word or the Son can be a witness to himself.'
"The writers that have quoted it are comparatively recent or spurious, for those of any note which have been supposed, from certain expressions in their works, to have had reference to this verse, have been proved by learned men to have had no such text in view. A great and good man has said that 'the seventh verse, in conjunction with the sixth and eighth, has been quoted by Tertullian, Cyprian, and an uninterrupted train of Fathers.' But a more incautious assertion was never made, as the preceding list will prove; and the evidence on the subject I have most carefully examined. Bengel, who was an excellent critic and a good man, endeavored to defend it, but without success; and Michaelis, demonstrated its spuriousness from Bengel's five concessions. Knittel has defended its authenticity with much critical acumen: Hezelius with great sagacity; David Martin of Utrecht, with much honest simplicity; and Dean Travis with abundance of zeal, without much knowledge of the critical bearings of the subject. Socinians need not glory that it is indefensible, and that honest Trinitarians give it up; for the sacred doctrine which it appears to express is diffused through every part of the Scriptures, and is as inexpugnable as a rock of adamant, and will live and prevail in the church of Christ while sun and moon endure, and till time shall be swallowed up in eternity."
The following is Dr. Clarke's summary of the evidence:—
"SUMMARY of the whole evidence relative to the Three Heavenly Witnesses. 1 John 5:7.
"1. One hundred and thirteen Greek MSS. are extant, containing the First Epistle of John, and the text in question is wanting in one hundred and twelve. It only exists in the Codex Montfortii (a comparatively recent MS.), already described. The Codex Ravianus, in the Royal Library at Berlin, is a transcript taken from the Complutensian Polyglot.
"2. All the Greek Fathers omit the verse, though many of them quote both verses 6 and 8, applying them to the trinity, and divinity of Christ and the Holy Spirit; yea, and endeavor to prove the doctrine of the trinity from verse 6 and verse 8, without referring to any such verse as the 7th, which, had it existed, would have been a more positive proof, and one that could not have been overlooked.
"3. The first place in which the verse appears in Greek is the Greek translation of the Acts of the Council of Lateran, held A. D. 1215.
"4. Though it is found in many Latin copies, yet it does not appear that any written previously to the TENTH CENTURY contains it.
"5. The Latin Fathers do not quote it, even where it would have greatly strengthened their arguments; and where, had it existed, it might have been most naturally expected.
"6. Virgilius, bishop of Tapsus, at the conclusion of the fifth century, is the first who seems to have referred expressly to the three heavenly witnesses; but his quotation does not agree with the present text either in words or in sense; and besides, he is a writer of very little credit, nor does the place alleged appear to learned men to be genuine.
"7. The Latin writers who do refer to the three heavenly witnesses vary greatly in their quotations, the more ancient placing the eighth verse before the seventh, and very many omitting, after the earthly witnesses, the clause these three are one. Others who insert these three are one add in Christ Jesus; others use different terms.
"8. It is wanting in all the ancient versions, the Vulgate excepted; but the more ancient copies of this have it not; and those which have it vary greatly among themselves, as may be seen in the specimens already produced.
"9. It is wanting in the first edition of Erasmus, A. D. 1516, which is properly the editio princeps of the Greek text.
"It is wanting also in his second edition, 1519, but he added it in the third from the Codex Montfortii.
"It is wanting in the editions of Aldus, Gerbelius, Cephalæus, &c.
"It is wanting in the German translation of Luther, and in all the editions of it published during his lifetime.
"It is inserted in our early English translations, but with marks of doubtfulness, as has already been shown.
"10. In short, it stands on no authority sufficient to authenticate any part of a revelation professing to have come from God."
In regard to the Greek MS. which contains the disputed words we will add: Erasmus omitted the words because there was known no Greek MS. which contained them. When this MS. was produced he then inserted the words, although he was of opinion that it was constructed from the Latin Vulgate, and this is now the opinion of critics. If this be so, it scarcely deserves the name of "a Greek MS."—certainly it is not entitled to the credit of one.
The following are the closing words of the remarks on this subject in the "Companion to the Revised Version":—
"No defender of the genuineness of 1 John 5:7, 8, will probably arise in the future. The controversy regarding the passage is finished, and will never be renewed. But the literary history to which it has given rise will not be forgotten. A small library might be formed of the books and pamphlets which have been written for or against the words. Among the authors of these works some very celebrated names appear. That of the illustrious Sir Isaac Newton has a place in the list. He wrote against the genuineness of the words, and thus did good service in the cause of truth. But by far the most memorable event in this lengthened and often bitter controversy was the publication of the letters of Professor Porson to Archdeacon Travis. These letters, by their acuteness and ability, whatever may be thought of their spirit, virtually settled the case against the genuineness of the passage. And although since then the voices of some zealous friends of Scripture—bishops, cardinals, and others—have been unwisely lifted up in defense of 'the three Heavenly witnesses,' yet so decidedly have the minds of all scholars now been made up as to the spuriousness of the words, that they have been omitted in the Revised Version, without a line even on the margin to indicate that they had ever been admitted to a place in the sacred text."
ABOUT SHAKING REEDS.
"What went ye out to see? A reed shaken by the wind?" The lesson which may be drawn from these questions, if we read them aright, is an important one, and one which needs very much to be studied in these days of loose beliefs and uncertain faith. A reed shaken by the wind is a very unstable and unreliable thing, upon which no dependence can be placed.
A belief is worth nothing if it be not full and certain. Doubt is inconsistent with faith in anything. To doubt a doctrine or dogma is essentially to disbelieve it. There are no may-be-so's concerning God's truth. There is no half-way business about it—no halting this side of an entirety. We must accept a statement of Christian truth in its wholeness, or it is no valid acceptance.
Do I say I believe in immersion as Christ's baptism, and couple it with the expression of a doubt or an admission that there may be some other way? Then I do not believe it; it is simply an apprehension that it may be the true way.
On the other hand, I am as sure that immersion is Christ's mode of baptism as if God had spoken it to me face to face. I have not a shadow of doubt about it. It is therefore belief, because it is perfect. Do we have any doubts that Christ is the son of God? That he has made a vicarious atonement for all who in full faith put their trust in Him? If we have, we are but "reeds shaken in the wind." We have no abiding belief to which to cling. Do we belong to a church, and have any doubts as to its being the very best existing embodiment of Christianity and of church polity? If we have, it is not the place for us. Our doubts destroy our belief in it as such embodiment. There are too many "reeds," both in our pulpits and in our pews—men who permit the "little foxes" of doubt "to spoil the vines"—men driven about by every wind of doctrine—drifting hither and thither on every wayward current. Our belief should be equivalent to knowledge; it should be so strong, so intelligent, so well fortified on every hand that we should be able to say "I know" not only "in whom" but in what I believe. That is the only belief worth having—the only true belief we can have.—Standard.
The Minister’s Neglected Inner Life
By W. A. Griffith
MANY a minister becomes so engrossed with church work that the essential need of his own spirit is overlooked. Many become so absorbed in books, and so scholarly in their thoughts, that they may be said to live in their intellects, while the heart life ebbs away.—W. A. Griffith.
Theology Growing Simple
BISHOP WHIPPLE recently remarked: “As the grave grows near, my theology is growing strangely simple, and it begins and ends with Christ as the only refuge for the lost.”