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Observer, June 1, '76.

not impart earnestness, then his faith is too weak, or his nature too apathetic for a preacher. A preacher must be a man of work. If he cannot get his consent to be this, he is in the wrong calling. The soul instinctively pays homage to great earnestness as one of the grandest elements of real manhood. It matters not that your view is clearer, your knowledge of truth larger. The man who excels you in faith and moral earnestness, will excel you in power with men. No man is fit for a preacher that has not a real faith, and the intense earnestness which springs from it. Let us go forth in the spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind, to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to dying men. Let us go in the light of all the truth we can command to-day, and with the inspirations of a moral heroism, worthy of men who speak in the name of the Son of God. May the blessing of the Infinite Father, the grace of the adorable Saviour, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us to the end of our warfare.

Christian.

THE PRIEST AND THE DISCIPLE OF CHRIST.

DR. BARCLAY was some years in Jerusalem as missionary, sustained by the Disciples of Christ in America. On returning through London, he presented to the editor of the E. O. a copy of an interesting pamphlet, roughly printed, with the wording of the cover arranged in the form of a cross. Dr. Barclay has recently departed this life. Mrs. Campbell (widow of the late Alex. Campbell, president and founder of Bethaney College) has sent a copy of the pamphlet to one of the weekly papers, published by Disciples in the United States. The pamphlet it seems has not been reprinted, and is now lost to sight. We purpose putting most of it into the hands of the readers of the E. 0. introduction we give Mrs. Campbell's letter. The first instalment will appear next issue. ORIGIN OF DR. BARCLAY'S DIALOGUE WITH A PRIEST.

As an

Thinking a brief recital of how the Dialogue with Dr. Barclay and the Catholic Priest originated (as now being published in the CHRISTIAN) would not be uninteresting to your readers, I pen it as follows:

Dr. J. T. Barclay and family arrived in Jerusalem (our Missionary family), and as there were no hotels, they stopped at the Casanova Catholic Convent. A book to record the names, and what religion they were of was sent in

immediately to their room. The last name that was put on record upon the aforesaid book had added to it, "Once a Protestant, but now a Catholic." Dr. Barclay made his record in the following manner :- "Dr. J. T. Barclay and family, Disciples of Christ, from the State of Virginia, America."

Shortly after the Priest of the place (called Father Reesh) entered Dr. Barclay's room, introducing himself, and stating that he wished. to make inquiries of him as to the meaning on the book, "Disciples of Christ." This was the origin of the "Dialogue between a Priest and a Disciple of Christ."

The Priest was highly educated and withal greatly desirous of understanding Dr. Barclay's religious views. So much so that the old Patriarch was fearful of his being too much under the influence of Dr. Barclay, and resorted to sending him off to Malta, and thence to Rome!

And

But the Doctor had preserved the Dialogue entire, and having bought in London, on his way to Jerusalem, a small hand printing press, his two sons set up the type in their parlour, and the Doctor worked it off with his own hands. It was printed in Italian, English, and Arabic. Afterwards in his travels through the country to Rome (as I am informed by Sister Barclay, who accompanied him), he scattered them in hotels and public places, as he travelled. when his portmanteau was opened and examined by the public authorities, they, seeing the writing in the form of a cross on the pamphlet, took it for granted that he was a Roman Catholic. He even placed one of them behind the bronze statue of St. Peter in the Cathedral at Rome! Such was Dr. Barclay's desire to scatter light and truth that he exposed himself to the malignity of the dark and ignorant minds he had to contend with. They would have sacrificed him had it been in their power to do so. On one occasion when he would not bow to the Host passing by, he was ordered by the officiating dignitary to be put into prison; they had actually pinioned him against a wall, and but for the native Consul, Mr. Murad (a strong friend of the Doctor), who interceded for him, he would have been sent to prison! Talk of the tender mercies of Romanism! tender mercies of Romanism! It will do what the merciful, loving Jesus strictly prohibits, under the pretence of piety! It is the same bitter, rancorous spirit to-day as it was in the days of the Martyrs, all it wants is power! Go to Rome and there to-day read over their church's "Indulgenza Plenaria," then think if that is sanctioned by the Divine authority of Heaven's King, who is all purity and holiness.

I am truly thankful that you published the

Dialogue. It takes us back to first principles, and shows that "progression" is not advancing in the right direction. MRS. A.-C. ▬▬▬▬▬

THE ORIGIN OF THE NEW TESTAMENT AND MISTAKES THEREIN. No. III. OUR present work is to show in what way the errors in the Greek text, of which we have written in former articles, originated. This work is important, not so much for its bearing on the integrity or authentity of the Scriptures, as for the gratification of a natural and innocent curiosity. If we were utterly unable to account for these errors, this circumstance would not render them any more serious in their character, nor would it very greatly affect the practicability of detecting and correcting them.

The causes from which these errors sprang are various, and they are all perfectly natural. We will enumerate a few of them :

First, Inattention. Any one who has ever been employed in copying even for an hour at a time, knows how difficult it is to keep the mind from momentarily wandering, and how certain we are to make some mistake the moment this occurs. A word is left out, or written twice, or one is wrongly spelt by the omission or the repetition of a letter; or we write in the place of a certain word another of the same meaning. This want of strict attention may cause the copyist to see a word incorrectly; or to overlook one; or, having seen correctly, to get words wrong in his mind before they are copied, and consequently to write them incorrectly. So familiar were the copyists with this source of error, that a rule was adopted by the Jewish scholars, to the effect that if a king were to come in where a man was engaged in copying the Scriptures, and speak to him, he was not to look up from his work lest he should by inattention make some mistake. Much the greater part of all the errors existing originated in this way, and this source of error was greatly facilitated by the form in which the ancient manuscripts were written. They were all written in capital letters, formed precisely like printed capitals, and the words were not separated, either by spaces or by punctuation marks. That the reader may appreciate the liability to mistakes arising from this cause, we here print a passage from one of Paul's Epistles in the form of the ancient Greek, using however, English words and our own alphabet:

HOWBEITTHATWASNOTFIRSTWHICHIS
SPIRITUALBUTTHATWHICHISNATURALAND
AFTERWARDTHATWHICHISSPIRITUAL.

Observer, June 1, '76.

Let any one attempt to copy a few pages printed in this way, and he will realize by painful experience how important strict attention was to an ancient copyist, and how many mistakes must have occurred even when the closest attention was given. But even yet we see not the full force of the illustration until we consider that the most of these copyists were copying, not their own native language, but a foreign and a dead language with which they could not be perfectly familiar. The wonder is that they did not make more mistakes than our modern critics

have discovered.

The second source of error which we will mention is writing from dictation. It is wellknown that one can make much more rapid progress in copying, if, instead of being compelled to turn the eye first to the text and then to the copy, we have some person to read to us a few words at a time. We can see at once that this method must have been extensively employed by the ancient transcribers; for their task was a very tedious one at best, and they naturally resorted to every available means of hastening the work. But when he writes from dictation he has only the sound of the words to guide him, and he is liable to errors through his reader's fault as well as his own. If the reader mispronounces a word, or pronounces indistinctly, it is apt to be spelt incorrectly or to be mistaken for another. If he omits a word, it is omitted from the copy, and if he improperly repeats one it is repeated in the copy. But if the reader performs his part correctly, the writer may still blunder by misspelling, by repetitions, and by incorrect hearing.

Thirdly, a copyist was constantly tempted to trust too much to his memory. If he were writing from dictation he might allow the reader to pronounce more words at one time than he would retain, at a careless moment, in his memory until they were written, or if he were copying without a reader he would be still more strongly tempted to run the same risk. From this source in either case, would spring the same classes of errors already mentioned.

Fourth. The foregoing causes of error usually affected only individual words. We now come to one which led to the interpolation of clauses and sentences. It sometimes happened that a copyist, having omitted a line or a part of a line, would detect his error and write it in a much smaller hand on the margin of his parchment. Others copying his copy would see this, and restore the passage to its place in the body of the text. But sometimes a copyist would venture to write on the margin some expressions of his own, and another, copying from this copy would mistake this marginal writing for a passage that

Observer, June 1, '76.

had been unintentionally omitted, and correct the supposed error by putting it into the text. It is supposed that the doxology to the Lord's prayer, which is known to be an interpolation, crept into the text in this way. Some devout copyist, noticing that the prayer ended abruptly with the words, "deliver us from evil," wrote on the margin of his parchment, "for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever, Amen." His successor, supposing very naturally that this was the proper conclusion of the prayer, copied it as such, and thus all copies. which sprang from this contained it, while it was absent from all other copies. The interpolation of Acts viii. 37 occurred, most likely, in the same way.

The above is a sufficient number of specifications to illustrate the subject to the reader, and enable him to see that instead of being surprised that so many various readings are found in the manuscripts, we ought rather to be surprised that there are so few. We have said nothing about intentional alterations, because, if any at all have occurred, they are few, and it is scarcely necessary to refer to them in our abbreviated treatment of the subject.

In our next essay we will enter upon the subject of the detection of errors, and the restoration of the text to its original purity. What we have written thus far is only preliminary to the task which lies next before us.

J. W. MCGARVEY.

THE CHURCH-PLANTING AND DEVELOPMENT.-No. VII.

THE LEGISLATURE.

THOUGH the Saviour came to found a church He did not, Himself, make known the laws by which He would have it governed. For that important work He selected and qualified a faithful band. The announcement of the ordinances and discipline of His intended association of converted Jews and Gentiles was committed to those whom He selected, and whom the Father gave Him for that work-His Apostles.

The laws of earthly kingdoms are mutable, ever requiring revision, seldom perfect when framed, and soon out-grown. Hence legislation is oft-repeated, and the short-sighted legislators of the last generation have their best performances re-modeled by the men of the present, whose work, in like manner, will fail to meet the requirements of their children.

The works of God, like Himself, are perfect. The solar system requires no re-adjustment. Generation after generation, man rejoices in the

same muscular, nervous, arterial, and respiratory systems, yet, after minute examination, with all the aids of science, not a shade of improvement can be desired.

In a kingdom which, though upon earth, is not of earth, and which has God for its founderin a remedial system designed to prepare man for immortality, to destroy the love and power of sin, and to infuse a new and Divine naturein a system for which the previous ages and states of the earth have been preparatory, can it be supposed, that infinite wisdom, power, and goodness, would give deficient legislation, and leave to uninspired men the formation or alteration of ordinances and laws relating to such stupendous results, and that too after man had demonstrated his utter incapacity to frame a government for a single state productive of holiness and happiness? Unquestionably not!

Legislation for the Church of God was perfected ere the Apostles fell asleep in Jesus. He had prayed that they might not be taken out of the world but preserved from its evil. The churches they set in order were designed as models till the end of the age-not in the defects and sins of their members, but in the faith and polity established by the Apostles. To this end they have left us imperishable documents as the only standards of appeal.

The voice from the excellent glory had proclaimed-"This is my beloved Son: hear ye him." He had duly instructed His Apostles, when just before the traitor-led throng hurried Him away He lifted up His voice to heaven and said, "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." To them He said, "As my Father sent me even so send I you; he that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me."

Till the Day of Pentecost, as He commanded, the Apostles remained waiting, praying for the promised bestowal of power. But when thus endowed with the Spirit, they gave laws to the Israel of God. The three thousand sinners who yielded to Jesus and were born again were organized, with others, as the church in Jerusalem, the first planted of the Churches of Christ. Many churches were subsequently planted, and were the one body ordered and governed by the Apostles. Thus their Apostleship being not of men, neither by men, but by Jesus the Christ and God the Father, they could do nothing against the truth but for the truth, speaking with the demonstration of the Spirit and in power, not in the words that man's wisdom teaches, but in words by the Holy Spirit, they were enabled to say, "He that is of God heareth us-God beareth us witness both

with signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts."

Under the former dispensation, the law was given in one short period. In the new and more glorious, the Divine government was developed as rendered requisite. The laws of God delivered on the last principle, were, however, not less perfect and permanent. Perhaps, the main, or only difference is, that while the Jew can find his law compacted in a few pages, the Christian is called upon to regard not only the commands. of the Apostles, but the approved examples of the churches. Were all who call themselves by the name of Jesus prepared to do this, then would names and sects, and parties fall, for the Apostles taught the same things and established the same order in every church. Paul to the Corinthians, observes, "and so I ordain in all the churches." (1 Cor. vii. 17.) Of Timothy, he says, who shall bring you in remembrance of my ways, as I teach everywhere, in every church. The churches planted in Judea were model churches. Hence to the Thessalonians the same Apostle writes, "For ye, brethren, became imitators of the Churches of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus."

It may be said, that if the Apostles legislated for the church as events rendered necessary, why not now arrange, re-arrange, and adapt its polity to the circumstances of each generation? The answer is, that their acts were never reversed, they did not arrange and re-arrange. When, for instance, they were called to decide as to circumcision and things strangled and blood, they did so once for all. What they made law then is law now. They continued with the church till the completion of its legislation, and thus provided for future requirements. They affirm, in relation to their acts, that it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to them. Their conclusions were binding upon the churches, and excommunication followed disobedience, unless avoided by repentance and reformation. "Therefore brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle." (2 Thess. ii. 15.) Now, we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us." (2 Thess. iii. 6.) They have no successors. All subsequent claims to inspiration are worthless. They have finished their work, yet, being dead, they continue to rule. As Moses was heard in the synagogue after his earthly career had terminated, they are now heard in every uncorrupt congregation, as the only propounders of the Divine Law. In view of such continued authority, Peter says,

Observer, June 1, '76.

"This second epistle I now write unto you, in which I stir up your sincere mind to remembrance, to be mindful of the words spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the COMMANDMENTS OF US, THE APOSTLES of the Lord and Saviour," "that you may be able, after my decease, to have these things always in remembrance." Thus, having perpetuated their laws and commands, recorded their sayings and doings, binding them upon the church, their rule ends not till the Lord come.

Miraculous attestation of their truthfulness and accuracy was secured to the church during the entire legislative period, that is during their sojourn on earth. This was no longer required when the presentation of new truths ceased, and consequently, looking forward to a time when it would terminate, when they should know, even as they were known, the Apostles clearly announced the discontinuance of spiritual gifts. "And he gave, some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." Eph. iv. 11, 12, 14.)

These miraculously endowed brethren were then given, until the church should obtain the unity, or completeness of the faith, that "we should not be tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine," and freak of will-worship. With this on his mind, Paul could freely say, "Charity never faileth; but whether there be prophecies they shall fail, whether there be tongues they shall cease, whether there be knowledge (communicated by the Spirit), it shall vanish away"-cease to be thus given.

The importance of this position is perceived only by those who understand that, had it been duly regarded, the apostacy could not have taken place, Papal Rome never could have existed, the union of Church and State must have remained impossible, and sects and sectaries have continued unknown.

After trial, under every variety of circumstance, man has shown himself unable to frame a system suitable to his condition. He has erected empires before which the world has been prostrate; yet they have dissolved from want of just government. Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome have dissolved, as nations are now dissolving from the same cause-proving that man, in his best state, is unable to govern himself, leading us to feel the need of a

Observer, June 1, '76.

66

Divine legislature, and warning us to flee for safety to Him, Of the increase of whose government and peace there shall be no end."

Jesus, the head of the new dispensation, developed through His Apostles the principles of the Divine government, and having all authority in heaven and in earth given unto Him, the family of Adam are commanded to put themselves under His government. In every instance of deviation from the Jerusalem model, even by churches, fully sincere in their desires to bless humanity, failure has been the resultthat is to say, inferior results only have been produced, and a sectarian and powerless church is the standing monument of folly surpassing that of the builders of Babel.

It is then our duty to hear the Apostles--to regard their laws-to use their words-and thereby be enabled to say, "He that is of God heareth us." It is ours to reject all ordinances, bonds of union, creeds, and attempts to legislate for the church since the Apostles fell asleep in Jesus, that it may be said of us, "I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil, and thou hast tried them who say they are Apostles and are not, and hast found them liars."

THE PARDON OF SINS AND BAPTISM.

AMICABLE DISCUSSION.-LETTER ELEVEN.

Jesus said, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." Again, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life." And again, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."

I HAVE placed these words at the beginning of this letter that the minds of the readers of those interested in this discussion may be recalled to a solemn sense of the question before us, and that they may accordingly be more concerned about ascertaining the mind of Him whose disciples they profess to be, upon these solemn and important subjects, than taken up with the strife of tongues, and watching how skilfully the disputants may wield words of fence or offence. For my own part I have wish to excel in this exercise; nothing would have tempted me into this discussion but an intense desire to be of service to those whose leading thought is, that they are disciples of Jesus but who, I am painfully persuaded, in their great anxiety to be faithful to all the commands of Christ, have been misled through the misapprehension of the meaning of a few texts of Scripture, into the adoption of exaggerated views respecting Baptism, to the distortion, if

not perversion, of the Gospel in several respects. To me it is a matter of rejoicing that I have had so able an opponent to contend with. I suppose it is no violation of literary etiquette to recognise in the initials D. K. those of one of the very foremost debaters of the day, one who has made his name respected in biblical and ecclesiastical questions. If then he fails to justify the views he advocates upon these subjects, it may be at once concluded it is from no lack of ability or accomplishment on the part of the advocate, but simply from the fact to which I have not ceased to direct attention, viz., that there is not one single passage of Scripture which asserts that God pardons any one in the act of Baptism. I regret much the necessity of having had-in the face of his boasting as to having annihilated my proposition and refuted my arguments to charge him with garbling the one and misrepresenting the other. As far as I am personally concerned it is a small matter, but in respect to its possible effect in obscuring the judgment of some readers, it becomes very serious indeed. In response, then, to his challenge I must substantiate these charges, that it may be clearly seen he has shrunk from facing my proposition, and finding it unassailable, has put up something else of his own, that the spectators may see him overthrow it. My first proposition is expressed in these words (page 5.) "The remission or pardon of sins is-received by the repentant sinner whenever he believes in Jesus.' In his second letter (page 56), he skilfully but unfairly mutilates it, and writes "his proposition cannot be true; put it thus, Sinners are saved whenever they believe in Jesus . . . he can give up his proposition." In arguing as if this garbled version were mine-by suppressing the word repentant he changes the scope of the terms altogether, both by a suppressio veri, in concealing my qualifying term, and by a suggestio falsi, suggesting the false inference that I included mere assenting but unrepentant sinners. I called attention to the change in the gentlest terms possible. He might have frankly made the amende honorable, by apologising, or he might have passed from the subject in discreet silence; he did neither, but tried to put a bold face on the matter by representing first that he never said it was my proposition-which a reference to the printed words I have quoted confutes— and second that it was at any rate an embodiment of my argument, as after setting down repentance at the first I had abandoned it and it had never been seen in my possession since. This is simply absolutely untrue, a reference to my letters will show that I was careful to guard against this very snare, and therefore put in besides the words repent and repentance repeat

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