In other words, ubiquitous carapace

• carapace, noun. A hard layer that covers and protects animals such as crabs and turtles.
• chaplet, noun. A garland or wreath for a person’s head.
• charnel house, noun. A building or vault in which human skeletal remains are kept.
• collywobbles, noun. Pain in the stomach or bowels; belly-ache.
• doolally, adjective. Out of one’s mind, insane, mad, or eccentric.
• effete, adjective. Lacking in wholesome vigor, degenerate, decadent; exhausted of vigor or energy, worn out.
• hawker, noun. One who sells goods aggressively, especially by calling out.
• iconoclast, noun. One who destroys religious images or opposes their veneration.
• iconodule, noun. One who venerates icons and defends their devotional use.
• jejune, adjective. Without interest or significance; dull; immature; childish.
• jingoism, noun. A bellicose nationalism characterized especially by an aggressive foreign policy; chauvinistic patriotism.
• libel, noun. A written or oral defamatory statement or representation that conveys an unjustly unfavorable impression.
• mendacity, noun. The act of not telling the truth.
• monocle, noun. A type of corrective lens or eyeglass for only one eye.
• obelus, noun. A symbol such as − or ÷ or ⁒ used in ancient manuscripts to mark a questionable passage.
• pariah, noun. An outcast; any person or animal that is generally despised or avoided.
• pluviometer, noun. An instrument to collect and measure the quantity of precipitation (esp. rain; also rain-gauge).
• prurience, noun. The quality or state of being marked by immoderate or unwholesome interest or desire.
• pince-nez, noun. A style of eyeglasses clipped to the nose by a spring (from the French, meaning to pinch the nose).
• quern, noun. A primitive hand-turned grain mill; a simple device for grinding grain between two heavy stones.
• sinophile, noun. Someone with an interest in and/or who enjoys Chinese culture, language, history, or people.
• slander, noun. Oral communication of false and malicious statements that damage the reputation of another; a false and malicious statement or report about someone.
• soupçon, noun. (from French) A small amount, slight trace, as of a particular taste or flavor.
• thereupon, adverb. Concerning that matter; upon that; directly following that; forthwith; n consequence of that.
• ubiquitous, adjective. Being or seeming to be everywhere at the same time; omnipresent.

Glossary of old book terms

Words that may come up in discussions of books, especially old books.

• Advance copy: a copy of a book usually sent to reviewers prior to publication, may be in a different format and may or may not be bound.
• Binding: the method of holding pages or sheets together; may be simply stapled or sewn, or sewn and enclosed in wrappers; most often refers to a “hard” binding or covers.
• Book formats.

Folio (fo, 2^o): the format of a book, when two leaves (four pages when printed on both sides) were printed on a sheet so that it could be folded once, collated with other folded sheets and bound, the format was “folio” (two leaves). Each leaf of a folio book thus represents one-half the size of the original sheet. More than 13 inches tall.
Quarto (4to, 4^o): the format of a book, when four leaves (eight pages) were printed on the same size sheet, which would later be folded twice, the format of the resultant volume was a “quarto” (four leaves). Each leaf of a quarto book thus represents one-fourth the size of the original sheet. Approximately 10 to 13 inches tall; average 12 inches.
Octavo (8vo, 8^o): the format of a book, when eight leaves (16 pages) were printed on the same size sheet, which would later be folded and the format of the resultant volume was an “octavo” (eight leaves). Each leaf of an octavo book thus represents one-eighth the size of the original sheet. Approximately 8 to 10 inches tall; average 9 inches.
Duodecimo (12mo, 12^o): the format of a book, when twelve leaves (24 pages) were printed on the same size sheet, which would later be folded and the format of the resultant volume was an “duodecimo” (twelve leaves). Each leaf of a duodecimo book thus represents one-twelfth the size of the original sheet. Approximately 7 to 8 inches tall; average 7.5 inches.
Sextodecimo (16mo, 16^o): the format of a book, when sixteen leaves (32 pages) were printed on the same size sheet, which would later be folded and the format of the resultant volume was an “sextodecimo” (16 leaves). Each leaf of a sextodecimo book thus represents one-sixteenth the size of the original sheet. Approximately 6 to 7 inches tall; average 6.5 inches. 
Other: there are smaller and larger books, e.g., many miniatures are 64mo.

• Broadside: a printing which occurs on a single sheet of paper and only on one side – the verso (other side) is blank; when printed on both sides, the sheet is called a “broadsheet.”
• Edition: includes the copies of a book or other printed material which originate from the same plates or setting of type. If 500 copies of a book are printed on May 5 and 300 copies are printed from the same substantially unchanged plates on July 10, all 800 copies are considered part of the same edition. Compare “printing” below.
• Flyleaf: a blank leaf (or leaves) inserted during the binding process between the free end paper and the beginning or end of the printed pages.
• Frontispiece: an illustration or plate inserted immediately in front of the title page, with the illustration facing the title page (often abbreviated as frontis.).
• Imprint: used as a noun, it refers to the publication data located at the base of a title page, usually includes the city of publication, name of the publisher (sometimes the printer), and the year of publication. Imprint is sometimes used to refer to a printed piece from a certain location or period of time.
• Issue: a portion of an edition printed or published deliberately by the printer or publisher in a distinct form differing from the rest of the printing (such a paper, binding, format, etc.). Compare “state.” [The distinction between “issue” and “state” is that “issue” relates to changes done on purpose by the publisher and intentionally treated as a separate unit.]
• Leaf (and leaves): refers to the smallest, standard physical unit of paper in a printed piece.
• n.d.: an abbreviation meaning that “no date” of publication is provided in the imprint.
• n.p.: an abbreviation meaning that “no place” of publication provided in the imprint.
• Printing: the copies of a book or other printed material which originate from the same press run or from the same plates or setting of type at one time. In the example given for “Edition” (see above), the 500 copies are the first printing and the 300 copies comprise the second printing. In the 19th century some publishers labeled later printings as if they were later editions, i.e., a second printing might be called a “second edition” on the copyright page.
• Recto: the front or right-hand side of a leaf; in the case of an open book the page on the right, with the page on the left being the verso.
• Spine (also called “shelfback” and “backstrip”): the back portion of a book’s binding which is visible when a book is shelved in a bookcase; the portion which is attached at the joints to the front and rear covers.
• State: a portion of a printing with changes such as minor alterations to the text either intentional or accidental; copies on different paper without intention of creating a separate issue, etc. Compare “issue.” [The distinction between “issue” and “state” is that “issue” relates to changes done on purpose by the publisher and intentionally treated as a separate unit.]
• Verso: the reverse or left-hand side, especially used in reference to a leaf which has a recto and verso side; in an open book the recto is the right-hand page and the verso is the left-hand page.

Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch Pisidia

Acts 14:20-24 Derbe, then follow up ministry in Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch Pisidia

Verses 20-21: Though supposed to be dead, Paul was not. As the disciples were standing around him, he got up and went back into the city. Luke does not say he was dead, so this is not a miracle of resurrection. However, a miracle of healing occurred. The next day after being stoned, Paul undertook a journey of about 60 miles. Notice also, though the Jews had turned a contingent against Paul and Barnabas, there were also disciples in Lystra who stood by them for the faith. 

In II Timothy 3:11, Paul refers to things Timothy had “fully known” about him, including “persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra.” A reference to stoning is also found in II Corinthians 11:25 – “once was I stoned.” When Paul wrote to the Galatians “I bear in my body the marks (τα στιγματα) of the Lord Jesus” (Galatians 6:17), this well could include the marks of stoning at Lystra.[i]

Having stayed in Lystra overnight, the next day Paul and Barnabas left Lystra and went to the town of Derbe, a travel of some 60 miles. They had preached the gospel there, and “taught many.” After that they went back again to Lystra, where Paul had been stoned, then to Iconium and Antioch – the two cities from whence the opposing Jews who persuaded the people of Lystra to stone Paul had come. Consider their actions in light of Acts 13:51.

Verse 22: In the travels back where they had been, they were “confirming the souls of the disciples,” strengthening, establishing, making more firm or fixed. They were also “exhorting them to continue in the faith” (cf. 13:43), as well as warning them “that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (II Timothy 3:12). With their own eyes these disciples had seen evidence of this, in the direct opposition generally, and in the stoning of Paul particularly.

The description of the return trip is that of instructing the new disciples (teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you), rather than evangelizing unbelievers.

Verse 23: “they had ordained them elders in every church” Formal leadership is established in the churches. With prayer and fasting associated, they “commended them to the Lord” – that is, committed, entrusted (παρεθεντο cf. Luke 23:48; Acts 20:32). “The appointment of men to office in the Christian church was a matter of deep solemnity.”[ii] 

There were itinerant preachers in New Testament times, who “went every where preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). The apostles also traveled, preached, and visited. However, when churches were established and settled, an established and settled ministry was ordained in those churches. The settled ministry usually consisted of several preachers and teachers. For plurality of elders, compare Acts 13:1, Acts 20, et al.

Verse 24: Finishing their tour through Pisidia, Paul and Barnabas go to Pamphylia. They are wending their way back home.

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[i] Some Bible students connect the timing of Paul’s stoning at Lystra with II Corinthians 12, “I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.”
[ii] Ripley, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 195. “One good practice in the early church, we have departed from. They prayed with fasting. We have wonderful prayer meetings, but instead of fasting we have sisters of the congregation bring in the food for the fellowship which we sometimes overstress and they are all such good cooks that we begin feasting instead of fasting.” J. E. Wright, Treatise, p. 102.

Southern Baptists and The Law Amendment

In a post on March 1, I mentioned that though I am not Southern Baptist, I recognize and understand that the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is the largest and most influential body of Baptists in the United States. This Convention is more often in the news than any other body of Baptists. In the minds of many Americans, what Southern Baptists believe and practice is what Baptists believe and practice. For that reason, as an outsider I sometimes address issues specific to the SBC. An SBC issue in the news, as well as lighting up YouTube, blogs and X posts, is what is called the “Law Amendment.”[i]

This is a proposed amendment to the SBC Constitution, Article 3, Paragraph 1, which defines the makeup or composition of the Convention, including what kind of churches can be deemed in “friendly cooperation” with the Convention. The amendment proposes a sixth affirmation clarifying such cooperating churches.

The Convention will only deem a church to be in friendly cooperation with the Convention, and sympathetic with its purposes and work (i.e., a “cooperating” church as that term is used in the Convention’s governing documents) which…6. Affirms, appoints, or employs only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture. [bolded portion is the proposed amendment]

The intent of the amendment is to exclude from the SBC churches that have female pastors.[ii] The use of the word “pastor” by churches in the SBC may range from the main preaching pastor to a woman who is the “pastor” overseeing the nursery program. For many it becomes an opportune word rather than a biblical word.

In February of 2023, the SBC Executive Committee voted to remove from its ranks the prominent Saddleback Church founded by progressive Rick Warren for having a female teaching pastor functioning in the office of pastor. In June the messengers of the Convention rejected Warren’s appeal and sustained the vote of the Executive Committee. At this time they also passed the first approval of the “Law Amendment.” It seems that the amendment intends take the decision to oust a church out of being a subjective case-by-case decision made by the Executive Committee to being one firmly founded in the Constitution itself.

Proponents of the amendment argue that it will stabilize the convention “and guard us from the drift toward liberalism.” Opponents offer all sorts of arguments, from parliamentary matters to at least a light defense of women in pastoral roles as long as they are not “senior pastors.”[iii] They claim there is no “drift toward liberalism.” As an outsider looking in, it is my opinion that the “Conservative Resurgence” was not as much Conservative or Resurgence as either defenders or detractors of it like to think.[iv] Regardless, conservatism must be continually reasserted and reapplied. Often liberals simply duck down in their holes until the time seems right to pop their heads back up.

Some links with information about the controversy (pro & con):

• Can Anything Clear Come Out of Confusion? The Self-Contradiction, Omission, and Myopia of the Law Amendment -- “For the Law Amendment to be taken seriously, all supposed improper uses of the title should be addressed.”
• Can’t we all just get along in the SBC? -- “The SBC has no official power over any congregation, for better or for worse. The SBC does, however, have power to determine its own composition.”
• How Many Female Pastors are in the SBC? -- “The information collected is all publicly available. We checked every church against official SBC listings.”
• Letter: A Call to Keep Our Unity -- “The signatories to this letter join me in urging you to recommend the above amendment at the 2023 annual meeting. This action will bring clarity to the current confusion in our Convention...”
• Open Letter to Baptist Women -- “Even today, men are taking actions against women who are ministering, leading, and pastoring to spread the love and grace of Jesus Christ. They are wrong.”
• Responding to Opposition to the Law Amendment -- “The amendment simply clarifies what our Constitution already provides—that Southern Baptists wish to cooperate with churches that call biblically qualified men as pastors.”
• The State of the SBC -- “The question is going forward, do we want to have to consider every one of these things on a case-by-case basis? Because, I think the answer to that has to be no.”

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[i] So-called because it was proposed by Mike Law, pastor of Arlington Baptist Church, Arlington, Virginia. As of 31 January 2023, a letter from Law about the amendment had gained over 2000 supporting signatures from SBC pastors and professors. I do not know its current status, numerically.

[iii] It is my understanding that this amendment was passed by the SBC messengers in June 2023, and that the constitution requires a second vote – that is, an amendment must be approved by 23 of the messenger in two consecutive annual meetings of the Convention.

[iii] Whatever that is. It is nothing, biblically speaking.
[iv] And certainly not a “takeover,” as the opposition grumbles. In 1978, the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and other entities sponsored a forum called the Consultation on Women in Church-Related Vocations. Now in 2023-24, after some perhaps 40 years of so-called “takeover,” the SBC is dealing with the fallout of women in church-related vocations (particularly ordained ones).

Critique of “A Nearly Forgotten Heritage: The Geneva Bible”

A critique of “A Nearly Forgotten Heritage: The Geneva Bible,” by Jonathan Edwards (a modern one, not the Puritan preacher) represents another curious piece of the “pro-Geneva/anti-KJV” puzzle.[i] It contains some of the so-called “common knowledge” that is “widely available online” which passes for historical truth.

“In 1568, the Bishops Bible was published. Although partially using the Tyndale work, it mostly translated from the Latin Vulgate.”

This is false, The Bishops Bible was not “mostly translated from the Latin Vulgate.”

“The Geneva remained popular, and despite many reprints, the Geneva did not require any revisions.”

This is also false. Yes, the Geneva Bible was revised – one revision admitted by this author – but there were others as well. The Geneva Bible itself finds its basis in the prior English translations. Some Geneva Bibles were printed with the New Testament revised by Laurence Tomson (for example, this 1590 printing).[ii]

“All of the KJV printings prior to 1666 contained the Apocrypha...”

This is probably generally true, but not totally correct, in an age when printers bound Bibles in all sorts of ways (e,g., they might add the Book of Common Prayer, Sternhold and Hopkins Psalter, etc.) This 1637 printing of the KJV does not contain the Apocrypha, but skips from Malachi to Matthew.

“…the King James Bible…also included the Apocrypha, books the Roman church used, but which had been removed from the Geneva (the 1560 edition did include the books in an ‘inter-testamental’ section). No marginal notes, no cross-references…”

This statement implies that King James translation did not have the Apocrypha in an “inter-testemantal” sections – but it does! It does not deal with The Prayer of Manasseh, which in the Geneva Bible did not include in or ever move to the “inter-testamental” section. He further misunderstands marginal notes and cross references, both of which the 1611 contain. However, it did not have commentary or study notes, as the Geneva Bible.

“It was a publishing failure. The people did not flock to the new Bible, they continued to use the tried and true Geneva.”

“In its first five years of existence, readers called for seventeen editions, compared with six editions of the Geneva Bible during those same years. Expanding the time frame, in the first 35 years of its existence the KJV went through a whopping 182 editions.” See “The Reception of the King James Bible” in Correcting the Internet.

“The Mayflower pilgrims brought the Geneva to America. As I learned my family history as a 10th generation descendant of John and Priscilla (speak for yourself, John) Alden, I became interested in the Geneva Bible. John’s Bible is on display in the museum at his home near Plymouth, Massachusetts.”

Apparently, this descendant of John Alden does not know Alden’s Bible on display in the museum at Plymouth is not a Geneva Bible, but is rather a King James Bible instead.

“The KJV...is nearly word-for-word identical to the Geneva. Because of the exceptionally close copy of the KJV to the Geneva, I refer to the ‘Authorized Version’ as the ‘Plagiarized Version.’ It is simply hard to believe that being so close, with the exception of maybe 10 places, the KJV is not simply plagiarized rather than an actual work of dedicated scholars.”

This is strange complaint from one touting the Geneva Bible. If it is so great, then he ought to be glad its replacement was so exactly like it! However, in honesty the King James translation definitely is not a plagiarized version of the Geneva Bible, and there are certainly many more than 10 places where the Geneva is different. Many many more. Yet it is true that all the early generations of the English Bible are all built on the work of one William Tyndale. And rightly so.

It is good that this (probably young) “amateur Christian historian” is interested in the Geneva Bible and the history of the English Bible. It is bad that he gets so many facts wrong – facts that someone else can now come along and say this is information “widely available online”! Sadder still that a site that dubs itself “Christian History Institute” allows such to pass as “Christian History.” “Maybe 10 places” the KJV is different from the Geneva? Does anybody at CHI even check the stuff that gets posted?

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[i] “Jonathan Edwards is an amateur Christian historian living in the Salt Lake Valley. He has studied many eras of Christian history in depth, most recently focusing on the Reformation. He is a descendant of John Alden, a crew member of the historic 1620 voyage of the Mayflower, which brought the English settlers known as Pilgrims to Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts.”

[ii] A Dictionary of the Bible, Extra Volume, James Hastings, Editor. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1912, p. 250.

Draw out the sweet

Psalm 119:103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

“It is not hasty reading, but serious meditating upon holy and heavenly truths, that make them prove sweet and profitable to the soul.”

“It is not the bee’s touching of the flower, which gathers honey—but her abiding for a time upon the flower, which draws out the sweet.” 

Thomas Brooks

Joy is a Fruit

John Newton wrote “Joy is a Fruit,” which was published in his and William Cowper’s Olney Hymns, in Three Books (London: W. Oliver, 1779). It is found in six common meter stanzas as Hymn 42 on pages 54-55 (Book I), with the scripture text “The joy of the Lord is your strength,” Nehemiah Chap. ix. 10. Newton was born in 1725, and died in 1807. He was buried at St Mary Woolnoth Churchyard in London, where he ministered nearly 30 years. In 1893, the remains of he and his wife Mary were moved to the churchyard of St. Peter and Paul in Olney, the town where he and Cowper produced their famous hymn book.

In life Newton is well known as a converted former slave trader who helped influence its eventual abolishment in England. In hymnody, he is best known as the author of “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.”

One tune with which this hymn is commonly found published is Elizabethtown, by George Kingsley. Kingsley was born in 1811 in Northampton, Massachusetts and died in Northampton in 1884. He married Mary D. Dwight in 1836, and they had at least five children, George D., Charles H., William M., Edward, and Mary.

Kingsley played the organ in Boston, Massachusetts at the Old South and Hollis Street churches and taught music in Philadelphia and Northampton. The American Classical Hymns site describes Kingsley as “Shy, modest to a fault, and all but forgotten today,” but that in his lifetime he “enjoyed moderate renown as a music teacher, compiler, and organist.” 

Elizabethtown probably first appeared in Kingsley’s tunebook The Sacred Choir: a Collection of Church Music in 1838, where it is found in the lower brace of page 109. Kingsley compiled a number of music books in his lifetime, including: The Harmonist, 1833 and Templi Carmina, 1853.

1. Joy is a fruit that will not grow
In nature’s barren soil;
All we can boast, till Christ we know,
Is vanity and toil.

2. But where the Lord has planted grace,
And made his glories known,
There fruits of heavenly joy and peace
Are found, and there alone.

3. A bleeding Saviour seen by faith,
A sense of pard’ning love,
A hope that triumphs over death,
Give joys like those above.

4. To take a glimpse within the vail,
To know that God is mine;
Are springs of joy that never fail,
Unspeakably divine!*

5. These are the joys that satisfy
And sanctify the mind;
Which make the spirit mount on high,
And leave the world behind.

6. No more, believers, mourn your lot,
But if you are the Lord’s,
Resign to them that know him not,
Such joys as earth affords.

* Changed in later printings to “Unspeakable! divine!”

Murder and Witchcraft in the Mountains, and other links

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

• A Cut Above -- “Many assume Jim Bowie became famous defending the Alamo in 1836. In truth, he was already quite famous 10 years before.”
• “bated breath” vs. “baited breath” -- “...it’s not possible to have baited breath, even if you eat a ton of minnows.”
• Coast Guard Refuses to Enforce New California Regulation -- “What we see here is just another example of how far California is from every other state and even from the federal government on its commitment to the shrill environmentalist agenda”.
• Counterpart in the Tilley Feud - Stanley Church of Christ, org. 1886 -- “The church started out as a Primitive Baptist church and also served as the community schoolhouse serving up to 40 children. Sometime in the early 1900’s it became a Church of Christ. ”
  
• Deciphering scribal abbreviations -- “The rules governing abbreviations were flexible, and scribes did not adhere to the exact same sets of rules regarding them. However, general patterns can be discerned for scribal abbreviations.”
• Full List of Resurrections in the Bible -- “...all of the resurrections that are mentioned in Scripture for reference.I have also decided to include a list of ‘honorable mentions.’”
• How Many Female Pastors are in the SBC? -- “The information collected is all publicly available. We checked every church against official SBC listings.”
• Murder and Witchcraft in the Mountains - Tilley Bend Baptist, org. 1858 -- “Martin Free offered a deed of gift on a three-acre lot in a gully near the Toccoa River to a group of believers who formed the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, the predecessor of Tilley Bend Baptist Church.”
• No Law in Georgia for Mormons -- “Cumorah Mormon Church in Coffee County was founded. Today, this empty church building is the oldest LDS church building that is still standing in Georgia.”
• Texas’ Heartbeat -- “Nestled on the banks of the Brazos River, this charming site was once the headquarters for Stephen F. Austin’s colony and is now a fascinating glimpse into the lives of early Texians.”
• The Theological Heresies of Westcott and Hort -- “Westcott denied the historicity of Genesis 1 to 3...Hort wrote: I am inclined to think that no such state as ‘Eden’ (I mean the popular notion) ever existed, and that Adam’s fall in no degree differed from the fall of each of his descendants...”
• Utilizing Unclaimed Letter Lists in the Newspapers -- “If your ancestor’s name was in a list of letters over an extended period, it could hint at certain life events. Illness, traveling, death, or a possible move may have been why a letter was not claimed.”
• Was the King James Bible on the Mayflower? -- “Mrs. Baker responded very graciously, leaving no doubt that she believes that Alden brought the KJV with him on the Mayflower.”