Observer, June 15, '76.

twelve men at Ephesus, as Mr. M. admits, were re-baptized. True, he puts it on the ground that they did not believe on the Saviour as already come, but in Him as to come. Were this true, it would not show the baptisms to be one, but make the other way, as it would bring out that John's baptism differed from ours in the faith it required. But the thing is entirely an invention. The men are called "disciples,' which term after Pentecost is never, when not qualified, applied to any save those who believe in the death and resurrection of the Lord. They are also spoken of as having believed, which none since His resurrection are recognised as doing who do not confess a risen Christ.

Our friend has said one very sensible thingthat I have tied half a dozen knots in less time

year,

than he requires to undo one of them. Quite true; and if I give him till the end of the and all our pages, he will still have the halfdozen all fast tied. But why complain of want of time and space? I do not complain, and he ties as many knots as I do. The reason is, that his slip out so soon as touched, while mine won't yield.

In

my proposition is introduced, my last supported by a clearly expressed argument upon the commission. Mr. M. occupies the first part of his letter by exhorting disciples, gives the usual complaint of want of space, and makes no attempt to reply to the argument submitted. It will answer no good purpose for me to write more while he keeps thus behind. In his next, if he dispense with the usual irrelevant matter, he may be able to deal with the Commission and Baptism into the Name. At all events till he does so I need not advance. D. K.

THE ORIGIN OF THE NEW TESTAMENT AND MISTAKES THEREIN. No. IV.

IN the case of the Stanley will, of which I have already spoken, although the rights of none of the parties were effected by the variations in the copies, there was nevertheless a desire to ascertain the exact wording of the original will, and the parties took counsel as to the practicability of this. The means which they could command for this purpose were as follows:

1. About one hundred copies of the original, all of which were supposed to contain some errors, but some of which were much more accurate and reliable than others.

2. A Latin and a French translation of the original, made by one of the testator's sons, who

was at college when his father died, and who made the translations as an exercise in these languages.

3. A large number of extracts from the will, contained in letters written by interested parties shortly after the will was probated, most of which could be relied on as being correct.

4. Some written accounts of the grandfather's family, and of the different portions of his estate, together with old contracts, deeds, letters, etc.

By the careful use of these materials, the proposed task was accomplished in the following

manner:

1. Mr. Stanley found that in a majority of the instances in which his copy differed from some of the others, all the others agreed in conparably more likely that his own was wrong at demning his and concluding that it was incomthese points than that all the others were, he did not hesitate to correct his in all these places. Thus, at one single step, he corrected much the greater part of the errors which had crept into his copy.

2. But he found that on some words and divided, about half agreeing with his and half expressions the other copies were nearly equally condemning it. This puzzled him until he noticed that all of the copies which agreed with his on these points were accurately written copies, and had been taken from the record in the clerk's office, while those which were against his were the more carelessly written, and were taken from copies in private hands. As soon as

he saw this he decided that the words now in question were written correctly in his copy, and he let them stand.

3. In the next place he found a few variations in which the evidence pro. and con. from the other copies was so nearly balanced that he could not discover any decided preponderance; but in some of these instances the Latin and French translations came to his aid; for it was easy to see, by translating back into English, what words the translator had before him, and this turned the scales of evidence. On looking farther into these translations, he also found that they supported the conclusions which he had formerly drawn from the English copies alone, and this gave him greater confidence in those conclusions.

4. The work of correction was now very far advanced; but a few readings were found over which the evidence from copies was evenly divided, and in which the two translations differed from each other. At this point the extracts from the old letters were brought in, and fortunately they turned the scales in nearly all of the remaining instances.

5. Finally, there was another name, that of the brother of the testator, in which the extracts differed, the translations differed, and all the copies differed; one set having it Joseph, the other, James; but in an old contract between this brother and the testator, the name was found plainly written out, Joseph. It was then concluded that in the will the name had been written with the abbreviation Jo's, which had been mistaken by half the copyists for Ja's. This conclusion was so obviously correct that it was accepted by all parties. As a result of these inquiries, all of the hundred copies were corrected so as to read, word by word and letter by letter, as the original which was written by the grandfather.

This is almost an exact parallel to the case which we have in hand. None of the original manuscripts of the apostles and evangelists have been preserved to the present time. It is but natural that when they were first issued, they were read so eagerly by the disciples, and passed from hand to hand so rapidly and extensively as to be soon worn out. Perhaps no books ever written were read and handled by so many persons and so continuously. Copies of them were also multiplied with great rapidity, and those who had new and elegant copies would not care to preserve the soiled, faded and worn out originals. As a consequence, the latter soon disappeared, and they are not mentioned by any of the subsequent writers whose works have come down to us.

But we have well nigh one thousand manuscript copies of the New Testament, laid up in the libraries of Europe, and written at intervals from the fourth to the fourteenth century of our era. All of these, as we have previously stated, have been compared with each other, word by word and letter by letter, and it has been found, as in the copies of the will above mentioned, that nearly all of these copies unite in condemning many of the readings in the copy from which our English translation was made. Now, it is clear, that where all these copies, or nearly all of them agree on a certain word, there are a thousand chances to one that it is correct. We therefore correct the disagreeing copy accordingly, and feel morally certain that we have restored it to the original reading. In many instances there is this agreement, or a very near approach to it; and where the manuscripts are divided somewhat equally on a given reading, we give preference to those that are older and more accurately written. In this way we arrive at the most unquestionable conclusions in regard to all but a comparatively small number of the various readings.

In the second place, we have many early

Observer, June 15,' 76.

translations of the New Testament into other languages. We have for example, a translation into the Syriac, and parts of one into Latin, both of which were made about the middle of the second century, or within about fifty years after the completion of the New Testament writings. One hundred years later translations were made into the dialects of Egypt, where Christianity prevailed at a very early period; a hundred years later still, witnessed versions into the Ethiopic and Gothic languages, and another into Latin; and after this period many versions were made into many tongues. Now all these translations represent, in their respective tongues, the readings of the Greek copies from which they were translated, and scholars, by translating them back into Greek can determine with entire certainty in most instances, and with a near approach to certainty in nearly all instances, what the wording of the Greek text was. Taken together, they show us the state of the Greek text all through the first four or five centuries, and many readings, the correctness of which cannot be decided by the manuscripts alone, are settled at once when the additional testimony of these translations is considered.

In the third place, out of the general wreck of ancient literature, there have come down to us the writings of many Christian authors, dating all the way from a period previous to the writing of John's Gospel, down to a period this side of which their testimony is of no value in this inquiry. All of these authors, like writers on religious subjects at the present day, make quotations from the New Testament, and these quotations tell us plainly how the passages quoted were worded at the time in which they were made. All such quotations have been carefully culled from these writings, by such authors as Charles Lachmann, a distinguished German critic, who made this his especial task, and by means of them a great many conclusions reached from the other sources of evidence have been confirmed, and some readings settled which other evidences left in doubt.

But after exhausting all these sources of evidence, there still remains a small number of readings, the correctness of which must be determined in some other way. For example, it is said in Stephen's speech, Acts vii. 16, that Abraham bought a certain piece of ground; and in John xix. 14, that Jesus was delivered by Pilate to be crucified at the sixth hour. The above named sources of evidence differ to some extent on these statements, but they do not enable us to decide as to their correctness. We are enabled however, by a parallel passage Genesis (xxxiii. 19), to know that it was Jacob, not Abraham, who bought the land in question;

Observer, June 15, '76.

and by a parallel in Mark (xv. 25), supported by the facts of the history, that it was the third hour of the day when Jesus was crucified. It is safe, therefore, to conclude in these two and some similar cases, that, although we cannot trace the mistake to its origin, a mistake of the copyists has occurred in each of these places.

By such means as these it is clear to the reader that we are able to determine with positive certainty the original reading of the New Testament manuscripts in regard to almost every word, and the case, number, person, gender, mood and tense of almost every word in the book. Not only so, but we are able to put our fingers on every single word the certainty Concerning which is not yet known, so that it can be said of all others but these, they were written precisely thus and so by the original writers. Not only can this be done, but it has been done; and in the corrected Greek texts, published by Tischendorff, Tregelles, Alford and Green, we have this very result in our hands. The work has attained almost to perfection, so that the little which remains to be done will not suffice to make the reputation of another Tischendorff, Tregelles or Griesbach.

It is now apparent to the reader, that while during the first fourteen hundred years of our era, the books of the New Testament were constantly becoming more and more inaccurate as copies were multiplied, by the invention of printing, God providentially arrested this course of deterioration, and during the last three hundred years the mistakes of fourteen centuries have been steadily undergoing detection and correction, until at last they have almost totally isappeared, and the Christian world has to-day a more correct copy of the New Testament than has ever existed since the originals perished. But the height of this glorious consummation is not realized until we take notice, that an account of the perfection with which copies of a book once made correct are multiplied by the heaven-born art of printing, our perfected Greek text will now be transmitted without corruption to all future generations, though the world ould yet stand ten thousand years. The tlers in this mine have dug from its depths almost every gem which it contains, and have set the precious jewels in a crown that shall never fade away. Thanks be to God for the Biblical Critics with which he has blessed us in these later ages, and for the art, precious beyond all price, which guarantees the transmission of a are Bible to our children's children throughout generations. And let all the people say, J. W. MCGARVEY.

Amen!

EGYPT: ITS POSITION IN RELIGIOUS HISTORY.

LOOKING down from the Pyramids upon Egypt, it was impossible not to be struck with its unique position in the religious history of the world. From the earliest times down through that long series of ages in which a Divine revelation was being given to the world through the medium of the chosen people, Egypt stands forth in history as the chief antagonistic and unchanging enemy of the Church of God. We except the period when Jacob and his family found a sunny refuge in Goshen; but how few generations elapsed before their house of refuge became their house of bondage, and Israel in the brick-kilns became the most cruelly oppressed and down-trodden of slaves! Egypt, in consequence, became the vast theatre on which the more awful attributes of God were manifested, just as Palestine became the selected scene in which the wonders of His grace should be revealed. Those ten plagues in which the whole nation was punished, and shame put upon their false divinities through the very form of the miraculous judgment, awfully culminating in the death of every first-born in the land, and in the destruction of the proud Pharaoh and his armed charioteers in the Red Sea, were unapproached in their terrific scale of retribution. in any of the older nations of the world; and yet this long line of ever darkening and deepening judgments taught the guilty people and their rulers no lesson of repentance. through the centuries of the Jewish Church and the period of the prophetic revelation Egypt. appears either as the tempter or as the persecutor of Israel, dividing the guilt, in this respect, with the Babylonian and Assyrian monarchies to the east of the secret land.

All

No burden, therefore, reads more darkly in the books of the prophets than that of Egypt. There is a minuteness of detail, a graphic picturing and intensity of colouring, an adaptation to the characteristic customs of the people and to the characteristic features of Egyptian scenery in such elaborate predictions as those in the 19th chapter of Isaiah, and in certain passages of Ezekiel, that cannot be exceeded. These were spoken and placed on record when Egypt was still in the meridian of her power, and contending with the great monarchies on the banks of the Euphrates and the Tigris for the supremacy of the nations. And yet they were all fulfilled. With Gibbon and Volney as involuntary witnesses, and modern Egypt looking down upon us from the Pyramids, we behold events corresponding not only to every line, but to every letter, of the inspired oracles. The har

mony is startling. When we read in those prophets that Egypt should "become the basest of nations;" that "there should no more be a prince of the land of Egypt;" that the country should become "destitute of that whereof it was full;" and when we place side by side with these oracles the facts that during the long ages of the Mameluke supremacy her rulers were imported strangers and slaves; that for two thousand years no native prince has ever sat upon her throne, but its sovereignty has often. been sold to the highest bidder; that the papyrus and the flax, and the manufacture of fine linen, which were once her glory, have now vanished, and the land which was once, with Sicily, the granary of the Roman Empire, is scarcely able to supply bread to its own inhabitants-it would be madness to call such things as these accidental coincidences.-Dr. Thomson.

W. NORTON AND BAPTISM BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.

Editor E. 0.-SIR, I am thankful for Mr. Norton's faithful protest against Mr. Spurgeon's inconsiderate writing and remarkable error, but I am at a loss to understand his allusion to baptism by the Holy Spirit. Mr. N. writes-

"The proof you profess to give, that the Holy Spirit by dwelling in us really united us to the Church, consists of the words baptized by one Spirit into one body.' One would suppose you must have known that the Holy Spirit was already dwelling in the disciples who were immersed in the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost; that this immersion was the imparting of extraordinary powers to those who had already been renewed by the Spirit and immersed in water (Acts viii. 12-17); and that when Paul said, in 1 Cor. xii.,' by one Spirit we were all immersed into one body,' and were made to drink into one Spirit,' he did not mean that they were made new creatures by driuking the wine of the Lord's Supper, or being immersed in water, but that they had all been made partakers of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit. But if you had known it, you would not have been guilty of sanctioning a gross untruth about what God hath said, in adopting the words of this homily, when we believe we are baptized by one Spirit into one body.''

Having some difficulty myself upon this text, I would be glad were Mr. Norton to favour us with information on two or three particulars called up by the few lines I have quoted:-1. By what authority he asserts that the disciples baptized in the Holy Spirit on Pentecost had the Holy Spirit previously dwelling in them. (See John vii. 39.) 2. As the phrase "baptism in the Holy Spirit" is never applied to receiving the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands, are we justified in speaking of the believers in Samaria as baptized in the Spirit? 3. In what way could the fact that some believers, in the days of the Apostles, had been made partakers of the "extraordinary gifts of the Spirit" warrant the assertion of Paul, "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free?" ONE WHO WANTS TO LEARN,

Observer, June 15, '76.

Intelligence of Churches, etc.

MARYPORT.-Mr. Hindle has been with us since April 15. We have had good meetings from the first; a lively interest is awakened. Eleven persons have confessed Jesus, and been baptized. One has been restored, and one received formerly baptized. We had the satisfaction of adding to our number a Primitive Methodist local preacher last evening. Mr. Hindle will remain with us a fortnight longer. G. LAWSON,

LECTURES AND PREACHING.-The Editor of E. 0. lately devoted a fortnight to Leicester. Interesting meetings were held and a number of lectures given corrective of the errors of Christadelphianism, interesting discussions following on most evenings. He also gave four lectures on Christianity and Secularism in the Odd Fellows' Hall, Middlesborough; Bradlaugh, Watts, and others having of late been busy in that rapidly extending locality. Questions were invited after each lecture, but the Secularists deemed it discreet to maintain silence. Lord's-day, June 4, he commenced a series of discourses in Nottingham, expecting to continue two or three weeks.

EMINENCE, Ky. (America.)—W. B. Dale, as our evangelist for this district, had by January last added ninety-six to the church; about three-fourths from the world. S. W. C.

TIPTON, Ind. (America.)—I have just returned from Veedersbury, Indiana, where I spent four Lord'sdays in a protracted effort, which resulted in about ninety added to the church; sixty-five immersions, I never saw such willingness on the part of the brotherhood to leave their work and attend meeting, both morning and night, and their readiness to take part in prayer and social meeting, though many had never taken part before they saw the great inconsistency in trying to be a Christian without praying, and offered up prayer for the first time in public. Scriptural reading was an interesting feature of the meeting. One evening, after two invitations had been given and both responded to, and the meeting closed, a young lady came forward weeping, and not willing to go home without making the good confes sion. I called order, and took her confession. At an afternoon prayer-meeting, after about eighteen prayers had been offered, a man arose and closed the meeting in a very abrupt manner by saying, "He had never before attempted to speak in the house of God; that he had been warring with his conviction, and could not stand it longer; he wished to obey the Gospel; that he wished to go straight to the water." We arose, went down into the water, and I baptized him. A saloon keeper, who had been prosecuted, came to hear me preach. He invited me home with him, gave me the Bible, and I read and prayed. The next night he made the confession, and was buried with Christ in baptism. D. B. BURKHARDT.

JAMAICA.-W. H. Williams, who has recently entered upon missionary labour in Jamaica, sustained by disciples of Christ in America, has reported favourable results. Twenty-seven have been added to the church, and Sunday-school work is promising.

Observer, June 15, '76.

Family Room.

A TALK WITH AUNT HELPFUL.

"AUNTY," said Aline, "I've been wishing for a long time to go into one of those children's hospitals and become one of the sisters; but mother is bitterly opposed, and I fear will never give her consent. This is a very great trial to me, for my heart is set upon it. What do you think I ought to do?"

"There seems to be but one thing, dear-to wait a while. Your mother may become reconciled to it by degrees, and you have opportunity to test yourself, and think more maturely upon the subject."

But I am sure I shall not change my mind. I feel out of my sphere at home. I must be doing something more important, and this is the thing I am best fitted for."

"In that case, dear, the way will be opened in the course of Providence. Obstacles will be removed, and it will seem to be more plainly your duty to engage in this work."

Aline did not feel pleased. She thought her aunt would commend her for the self-sacrificing spirit evinced-as she thought-in her desire to enlist in so good a cause.

"I suppose," she said, "you think I am not fitted for this work? You know how fond I am of children; and whenever I go into one of those institutions, I feel just like taking hold at once."

"Yes, dear, I know all that. I commend your zeal; but would have you weigh well all the disagreeablenesses, as far as possible; so as not to enter pon the work without counting the cost. Can my fastidious niece bear the constant attendance upon sick children, with its concomitants of nauseating ghts!"

"O, but aunty, I would not be a nurse," said Aline, interrupting her.

"Still, a sister would not leave all to nurses ; neither would she be able to choose her part in the duties of the sisterhood."

Aline was silent for a time. The truth was, she had not considered the disagreeable things very minutely, but only the pleasant part, and was somewhat misled by the romance of the subject. After awhile she said, "Aunty, now be candid. Are you saying these things to enable me to judge what is est, or because you think I am not fitted for this service?"

"Perhaps a little of both, since you ask me, my dear."

Aline felt piqued. She had not been flattered, nor had her favourite ideal met with the approval of the friend whose opinion she valued. She arose quickly, with the air of one whose pride was struggling for the mastery; but she turned back, after a few moments, and looking at her aunt said, "Really, Aunty, Í have no reason to feel flattered by your opinion.'

"But you asked it, dear, and wished me to be candid," replied aunty, kissing the earnest face which was upturned to hers; for Aline had reseated herself upon the low stool beside her aunt. That lady then began to talk about other things, thinking she had

said enough upon this subject, when Aline asked,

66

Why do you think me unfitted for the work, Aunty?"

"I think your nerves are not strong enough to bear the confinement and the wear and tear of such a life."

"But if we cannot make self-sacrifices——” replied Aline, and paused suddenly.

"Sacrifice made chiefly or in part for the sake of a sacrifice is little better than that of the heathen devotee. Look well to it, dear, that you be not resting a little in the ideal of sacrifice, as of something to render you acceptable to God. Also see whether you are not stepping over a cross that lies at your very door."

Some one coming in just then interrupted the conversation, and aunty was not sorry, for she feared she had already said too much. Passing out into the hall, Aline saw her old father sitting by a window. Before him was a table with books and papers scattered about; but he did not seem to be particularly occupied with them. Indeed, a defect of vision prevented his reading or writing long at a time. passed him without notice, according to her usual custom, although she saw an expression of deep dejection upon his face. As she entered her room she asked herself, "Am I doing anything for my father's comfort? Is he any better for having a daughter?— any happier, I wonder?"

Aline

Somehow she could not banish these thoughts. Soon she went to her father, and said, "Father, you are tired. Can I read anything to you?"

It was an unusual notice, and the father's countenance brightened at once, as he replied, "Thank you, daughter; I feel rather depressed at being obliged to be so long inactive. If you will bring your work, and sit with me awhile, I would enjoy your company. I am slow in recovering from the effects of my fall, and have many seasons of depression in consequence.'

After this Aline found many things to do for her father and mother and others at home. It seemed strange to her that she had overlooked them in seeking to do some greater thing for which, in due time, she found herself unfitted. It would require too much space to tell how she learned all this. became a great help to her parents in straitened circumstances; and, indeed, the services of an elder daughter appeared to her to be her paramount duty. So she found, after all, that home "was her sphere."

But she

PERNICIOUS BOOKS FOR BOYS.

WHOEVER thinks "it doesn't matter much what children read" would do well to note the fact brought to light by Mr. James T. Fields upon a recent visit to Pomeroy, the boy murderer. This boy, lying in prison under sentence of death for murder, confessed to having been a great reader of "blood-and-thunder stories.' He had read sixty cheap novels, all about scalping and other bloody performances, and he had no doubt these books had put the horrible thoughts into his mind which led to his murderous acts. If a good and attractive literature had been put into Pomeroy's hands, he might have been spared the dreadful fate of a murderer. The lesson comes with tenfold force to every Christian parent.