Jeremiah and Zechariah and Matthew

Matthew 27:9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value;

On Saturday am, June 3rd, Pastor Jeff Riddle posted Word Magazine 283, “An error in Matthew 27:9?” This is a nice discussion on what some folks claim is an error in Matthew 27:9 – that the name Jeremiah should be Zechariah instead. Brother Riddle concludes with an explanation and exoneration of Matthew. This video and presentation made me think of a similar explanation that was taught me by a former pastor, an historian and Old Testament scholar. Below I give an excerpt from his book Old Testament in Matthew. This is part of Lesson 48, “A Prophecy Runs Its Course.” Brother J. W. Griffith divides this lesson into three parts: (1) “Jeremiah Begins It” (with reference to Jeremiah 18:1-6; 19:1-2, 10-12), (2) “Zechariah Continues It” (with reference to Zechariah 11:12-13) and (3) “Matthew Proclaims Its Fulfillment” (with reference to Matthew 27:1-10). The explanation incorporates the view of Brother Riddle and others (a sort of synecdoche or metonymy, I suppose we might call it), additionally seeing that the gospel author Matthew by inspiration created a cento of passages from Jeremiah and Zechariah. Brother Griffith writes:

“Zechariah Continues It, Zech. 11:12-13.”

“Prophetic Connections. The reference on which this lesson is based is found in Matthew 27:9-10. It is introduced with the words, ‘Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet,’ etc. It continues to record the prophecy of Zechariah 11:12-13. Various attempts have been made to explain this seeming mistake. The best seems to be that which has the prophecy beginning with that of Jeremiah, concerning the potter and the wheel and the broken vessel. Some authorities explain that the prophecy of Jeremiah was the first in a scroll which included the prophecy of Zechariah. It was commonly referred to as ‘Jeremiah,’ much as the first five books of the Bible are sometimes called ‘Moses’ and the Psalms ‘David.’

“If it is admitted that Matthew made a mistake in attributing the quotation to Jeremiah the divine inspiration of the Scriptures might be put in doubt. The Jews divided their Scriptures into the Law, Prophets, and Psalms. Several books were included in each of these divisions. Often there were scrolls which might contain one book, or several. The explanation above would account for the fact that Matthew referred to the scroll of ‘Jeremiah,’ including Zechariah. 

“The prophecies of Jeremiah, chapters 18 and 19, contain things clearly pertinent to the events around the Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of Jesus, his subsequent remorse, suicide, and burial. Thus they are clearly joined with what Zechariah prophesied a few hundred years later. The prophecy of the potter’s field had its beginning with Jeremiah and was added to by Zechariah.

“Jeremiah’s prophesying coincided with the fall of Jerusalem and the departure of the Jewish remnant into the captivity of Babylon. This was the early fulfillment of what he had told them about the marred vessel on the potter’s wheel and the broken vessel in the Valley of the son of Hinnom. Zechariah’s prophesying coincided with the return of the Jewish remnant from the Babylonian captivity and their attempts to re-establish themselves in the land of Judah.

“The re-establishment of the Jews was to prepare the land and the people for the birth of Jesus and His ministry. The Jews then living would treat their Messiah badly put Him to death. Zechariah foretold many things about this, some of which have been studied in the foregoing lessons of this book. When the Lord had Matthew to record the ministry and atonement of Jesus, the Son of Man, these prophecies were at another point of fulfillment. Matthew gospel seems to have been directly written for the Jews, and these things from the prophecies of Jeremiah and Zechariah were most pertinent to those things about which he wrote.”

James Wyatt Griffith, Old Testament in Matthew: Volume II, Pasadena, TX: White’s Printing, 1997, pp. 225-226.

Note: Gill, Lightfoot, and other commentators point to Bava Batra and Radak (David Kimchi) describing the Jewish practice of identifying a scroll by the name of the first book in the scroll. For example: “The Sages taught: The order of the books of the Prophets when they are attached together is as follows: Joshua and Judges, Samuel and Kings, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and Isaiah and the Twelve Prophets.” Bava Batra 14b.8.  Tertullian, who lived around AD 155-225, refers to this verse in his writing Against Marcion (Book IV), mentioning without comment that the event was foretold by Jeremiah. Augustine of Hippo, writing possibly two hundred later in his Harmony of the Gospels, Book III, gives a long, odd (to me), and somewhat tedious explanation of the correctness of the prophet Jeremiah in Matthew 27:9. While I am not sure I even understood some of what Augustine wrote, I agree with his basic premise: “this has been done in accordance with the more secret counsel of that providence of God by which the minds of the evangelists were governed.” It is not an error. Additionally, Matthew does not strictly follow the prophet’s words – that is, as a quote. Rather he follows the prophet’s sense – that is, an allusion to it – which Matthew shows to be fulfilled on this occasion.

Justifier

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. 1Timothy 3:16

No other doctrine is of any greater importance in the understanding of the basis of the salvation of the LORD’s people than that of “justification.”  To be “justified” in the sight of a HOLY GOD is the desire of all who find themselves guilty of sin.  The Greek word which is most often translated as “justify” and “justified” in the KJV, literally means to be “found or rendered as righteous”.  That same word is the root word of the Greek word which is translated as “justification”.  The meaning of this word is “the act of being justified or simply put; acquitted of all crimes”. 

The man who thinks he has no need of “justification” before GOD, is a man who is convinced that he is not a sinner and faces no judgment for any crimes against the LORD of Glory.  Such a man will certainly perish in the natural darkness of his own mind without regard to his dilemma. “The simple pass on, and are punished.” (Proverbs 27:12).

Mike McInnis, excerpt from “Justified by the Justified Justifier”

Surrounding me in all I do

A little more enduring Watts hymn than the one last week – “The All-seeing God,” in Long Meter, is Isaac Watts’s “First Part” of Psalm CXXXIX (139). It is found beginning on page 365 in The Psalms of David: Imitated in the Language of the New Testament, and Apply’d to the Christian State and Worship. It includes pauses of reflection on the omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience of God – in light of which fact these thoughts should “possess my breast.”

1. Lord, thou hast search’d and seen me through,
Thine Eye commands with piercing view.
My rising and my resting Hours,
My Heart and Flesh with all their Powers.

2. My Thoughts, before they are my own,
Are to my God distinctly known;
He knows the Words I mean to speak
E’re from my opening Lips they break.

3. Within thy circling Power I stand;
On every Side I find thy Hand;
Awake, asleep, at home, abroad,
I am surrounded still with God.

4. Amazing Knowledge, vast and great!
What large Extent! what lofty Height!
My Soul with all the Powers I boast,
Is in the boundless Prospect lost.

5. O may these Thoughts possess my Breast,
Where’er I rove, where’er I rest!
Nor let my weaker Passions dare
Consent to Sin, for God is there.

Pause I.

6. Could I so false, so faithless prove,
To quit thy Service and thy love,
Where, Lord, could I thy Presence shun.
Or from thy dreadful Glory run?

7. If up to Heaven I take my flight,
’Tis there thou dwell’st enthroned in Light;
Or dive to Hell, there Vengeance reigns,
And Satan groans beneath thy Chains.

8. If, mounted on a Morning Ray,
I fly beyond the Western Sea,
Thy swifter Hand would first arrive,
And there arrest thy Fugitive.

9. Or should I try to shun thy Sight
Beneath the spreading Veil of Night,
One Glance of Thine, one piercing Ray,
Would kindle Darkness into Day.

10. O may these Thoughts possess my Breast,
Where’er I rove, where’er I rest!
Nor let my weaker passions dare
Consent to Sin, for God is there.

PAUSE II.

11. The Veil of Night is no disguise,
No Screen from thy All-searching Eyes;
Thy Hand can seize thy Foes as soon
Through Midnight-shades as blazing Noon.

12. Midnight and noon in this agree,
Great God, they’re both alike to Thee;
Not Death can hide what God will spy,
And Hell lies naked to his Eye.

13. O may these Thoughts possess my Breast,
Where’er I rove, where’er I rest!
Nor let my weaker passions dare
Consent to Sin, for God is there.

This psalm has been set with many different tunes. The best-known, at least to me, is Federal Street by Henry Kemble Oliver (1800-1885). He wrote hymns, music, and served as organist in several churches. Oliver served in several civic duties, including as a mayor, a member of the Massachusetts State House of Representatives, as well as Adjutant General and Treasurer of the state of Massachusetts.

In The Sacred Harp (1991 Revision), the tune Akin (472) uses the third stanza of Watts’s Psalm 139.

Balthasar Hübmaier, 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.

• Workers of the Church, Unite!: The Radical Marxist Foundation of Tim Keller’s Social Gospel -- “The reality of Marxism is that it is based on covetousness, greed, and idolatry, and is an effective way of hating one’s neighbor. That has been demonstrated wherever Marxism is implemented.”
• Underwater Wonderland -- “Mammoth Lake Texas attracts divers from all over the country, and I understood why as soon as I submerged myself into its strange underwater menagerie.”
• The Number of the Beast in Revelation 13 in Light of Papyri, Graffiti, and Inscriptions -- “Irenaeus considered 666 to be authentic and indicates that for him it was the most difficult reading, since he was not certain what name the number signified.”
• Tel Aviv ANU–Museum of the Jewish People buys Codex Sassoon for $38.1 million -- “The near-complete Hebrew Bible edged out a volume by Leonardo da Vinci as the most expensive sold at auction ever.”
• Scratching the Surface -- “Two West Texas ranching families, knowing their properties hold remarkable history, are trying to stop the destructive march of time, welcoming excavations by archaeologists and paleontologists and preserving important stories.”
• Making Magic With Vianney -- “Meet Vianney Rodriguez, the Corpus Christi foodie who will be inviting readers into her kitchen every month as TCP’s new food editor.”
• History of Rural Telecommunications -- “After the publication of a manual that explained to farmers how they could develop their own telephone systems on a mutual or cooperative basis, many farmer mutual systems emerged throughout rural America.”
• Heaven Only for the Baptized? The Gospel of Christ vs. Pardon through Baptism -- “Sadly, many groups that call themselves Christian believe that sin is forgiven through baptism.”
• Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, by J.C. Ryle -- “Here, as in many other instances, the simplest view, and the one which involves the fewest difficulties, is to take the passage as we find it and to interpret it as narrating an actual fact...”
• Crawling With Trouble -- “Dewberries grow wild in the scrub brush country of South Texas, and as a child I would pick them with my grandparents.”
• Balthasar Hübmaier: The Forgotten Archetype of the Baptist Denomination -- “Contemporary supporters hail him as ‘brilliant,’ ‘eloquent,’ ‘courageous,’ and ‘outspoken.’ Yet, Hübmaier would say he merely preached the Word of God.”
• 8 Principles of Prayer from John Owen -- “We are expressly commanded to pray, but are nowhere commanded to make prayers for ourselves, much less for others.”

Wiseacres must be meddling

Charles Waters Banks, English Strict & Particular Baptist and long-time editor of The Earthen Vessel, comments on the English revision of the Bible.

“The Revised Translation of the Bible has been criticised rather keenly by Dr. Parker, in his City Temple. We certainly tremble for the results. At present we only say two things; first, the spirit, the providence, and the sovereign pleasure of the eternal God, have made our blessed Bible an instrument of life, light, and joy, to many millions of souls; and, in the Lord’s hand, to his own family, it is, and will be, a precious book still. Secondly, as our age is now so preeminently learned, that neither the Bible, nor the Gospel, nor anything else is advanced enough for it, we would pray the true disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, to purchase all the Bibles they possibly can, and give to every child copies for themselves, and for their children; most earnestly beseeching them to hand them down to future generations; for soon, it may be, our Christ-exalting and truth-unfolding Bible, will cease to be printed. While we can, let us secure as many as we can, and as heir-looms, hand them down to those who come after us.”

The Earthen Vessel and Christian Record for 1871, Volume XXVII, 1871, London: Robert Banks, March 1, 1871, p. 86

“If the Spirit of God does not lead the enlightened mind into God’s meaning of any text, all the revisions of cosmopolitan revisers will do no soul any spiritual good. But wiseacres must be meddling.”

“Mr. John Hazelton, the long-known and beloved minister of Mount Zion, Clerkenwell, delivered a clear and excellent exposition of that precious Scripture in Heh. xiii, 5. ‘For He bath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.’ The Newlv Revised Version reads: ‘I will in no wise fail thee; neither will I, in any wise, forsake thee.’ We love our ‘Authorised Version’ so dearly, that we cannot cordially receive the cooler, quieter, plained-down revision. We listened most intently to Mr. Hazelton’s comprehensive, and thoroughly soul-refreshing, text-analysing discourse.”

The Earthen Vessel and Christian Record for 1882, Volume XXXVIII, 1882, London: Robert Banks, pp. 88, 160.

American Baptist Historical Society Digital Collections

The American Baptist Historical Society (ABHS) now has a digital records platform up on the World Wide Web — American Baptist Historical Society Digital Collections.

Materials held in the ABHS archival collections include:

• African-American Baptist association minutes as early as 1829
• Correspondence of home and overseas missionaries
• Local church records
• Official denominational minutes and publications
• Personal papers of Baptist leaders
• Records of the Baptist World Alliance

What is currently available online is only a very small and limited amount, but it is new and growing. In Primary Source (April-June 2023, p. 3), Jenny Manasco reports, “Photos, documents, and audio files will be accessible via the internet. However, what is accessible is but an infinitesimal proportion of what we hold in the archives. We calculate that it would take a full-time employee about 100 years of scanning to digitize what we have. Since we don’t have anyone dedicated full-time to scanning the materials, it may take a little longer than that.”

The site’s url is: https://abhs.access.preservica.com/

One interesting addition available is the diary of William Shadrach, added 12 April 2023. I am not very familiar with Shadrach. Born in Wales, William Shadrach came to America around 1820. He was ordained in 1828 and early on was an active pastor in the Pittsburgh Baptist Association. Shadrach was one of the founders of the University at Lewisburg, and served as Corresponding Secretary of the American Baptist Publication Society, 1853-1856. The following is an excerpt from his diary.

26 Preached at home enjoyed a refreshing season none baptized. The trial of John Holmes no doubt has thrown a stumblingblock in the way of some. O Lord remove any barrier to the progress of the cause of Christ.

Sketch of the Life of Rev. William Shadrach, D. D., by John Thomas Griffith (Philadelphia, PA: American Baptist Publication Society, for the American Baptist Historical Society, 1915) is available online at HathiTrust.

Sheri Klouda, Wade Burleson, SWBTS

Old Southern Baptist news, which I had saved, and decided to save here rather than delete.

Oral and Videotaped Deposition of Dr. Sheri L. Klouda February 26, 2008

Q. All right. Have you talked to Wade Burleson? ... 

A. He called me, I think, in January of 2007 and asked me about the truth with regard to what he had heard about my leaving Southwestern and I told him some of the story, not knowing that he was going to post it on his blog. When he told me that he was in fact going to do that, I objected.

Q. And did he publish any of the stories that you told him that you objected to?

A. He did. That was the first one or that was the one -- that was the one that he -- that told -- he posted it -- he put it on his blog and I’d objected to it and I even told Dr. Patterson about it.

Sheri Klouda: Gender Discrimination, Federal Law and the Law of Christ in the SBC and SWBTS

Dr. Sheri Klouda about Her Time at SWBTS under Dr. Paige Patterson

Memorial Day

It is my understanding that Memorial Day is specifically a day for American soldiers who died while serving in the U.S. military services. Nevertheless, for Memorial Day we put flags on graves of all Veterans buried at Holleman Cemetery. Find-A-Grave lists 423 burials. (However, there are a number of unmarked/unknown burials.) Approximately 10% of the known burials are Veterans. We placed flags at the tombs of 44 Veterans. The oldest veteran is Josiah John Holleman who served in the War of 1812. I believe the youngest might be those who served in the Vietnam era, thought there may be some who served after that.

• W. M. “Punkin” Bane
• Hubbard Columbus Barlow
• Harold B. Blanton
• Al Leon “Goose” Chapman
• Clifford Lee Chapman
• William Maderson Chapman
• Colquitt “Buss” Clark
• Leon Clark
• James “Ernie” Forson
• Charles Elmer Fuller
• William M. Gardner
• Daniel Clyde Garrett
• Robert O. Goeth
• Gustave Hubbert “Gus” Ham
• Houston Edward Ham
• Oscar Lee Ham
• Audie Holleman
• Homer Leander Holleman
• Josiah John Holleman
• Josiah John “Joe” Holleman Jr.
• Moody Valentine Holleman
• William Benjamin “Ben” Holleman
• Michael Jerry “Mike” Johnson
• Lacy Allen Koonce
• Daniel Demp Mashburn
• Odis Mashburn
• Ray McGehee
• Herbert Parsons
• Elisha Byrd “Shaw” Pruitt
• Fritz Seligman
• Elmer James Shepard
• L. Beryl Shepard
• Victor Dewitt “Buster” Stephenson
• Calvin Coolidge Vaughn
• Charlie Leroy Vaughn
• John Junior Vaughn
• Thomas Steven Vaughn
• William Lewis Vaughn
• Jonathan E. Whitten
• Wesley Williams
• William Fred Woods
• Bill Moses Woolverton
• Jim David Woolverton

James Knox Polk “Jim” Scruggs is known to be buried somewhere in this cemetery, is a veteran, but his grave location is unknown. Elisha Pruitt does not have a marker, but is believed buried in the space beside his wife, where we place his flag.

Men from the community I know died in the War between the Northern and Southern states and are buried elsewhere are Jasper Edge, John Alexander Koonce, and maybe others. 

Many believe that his being gassed in World War I was a contributing factor in the death of Homer L. Holleman.

The Word of God is permanent

“The Word of God is permanent. Once God speaks a Word it lasts forever and never passes away.

“That is one reason the prophets and apostles wrote down the Word of God. It is a permanent Word. If it was God’s Word then, it is God’s Word today. And to eternity.”

Grant Castleberry, Capital Community Church, Raleigh, North Carolina

Blessed is the man whose bowels move

That can be a blessing, even in the way you may now be thinking of it. However, when Isaac Watts wrote this hymn, the thought was perceived much differently, very positively. Those of us who use the King James Bible are likely more familiar with the contextual meaning of this expression than those who do not use it. In the days of Watts, it was understood that “bowels” referred to the deepest or innermost part, a quality that defines something at its very core, especially the seat of pity, tenderness, compassion courage, etc. “Bowels” is used which such intention probably a dozen times in the King James Bible. It still carries that meaning, but it not likely the first thought that enters the modern mind.

The psalm of four stanzas first appeared as a metrical setting of the first part of Psalm XLI, in 1719 in The Psalms of David: Imitated in the Language of the New Testament, and Apply’d to the Christian State and Worship. The heading was “Charity to the Poor; or, Pity to the Afflicted.” Metrically, it is long meter.

In a note on Psalm XXXV (“Hark, how his sounding Bowells move”), the author, Isaac Watts, explained that “sounding of the Bowels is a Scriptural Metaphor, Isa. 63.15.” The changed primary meaning of the expression possibly helped doom the hymn to oblivion. The most recent setting of the hymn displayed on Hymnary.org is from 1909. Several options have been substituted for “bowels move” – “breast can move,” “heart doth move.” “heart-strings move,” “mercies move,” “passions move,” among others.

The hymn has seen limited use, which also means it has found no set tune companion with which it is generally associated. The Musical Olio of 1805 paired it with Banbury from the “T. Williams Collection.” Perhaps the hymn is the victim of the unfortunate change of emphasis in language. Or perhaps it just never was all that popular to begin with – seeing that revising the expression did not salvage it.

1. Blest is the man whose bowels move,
And melt with pity to the poor,
Whose soul by sympathizing love,
Feels what his fellow saints endure.

2. His heart contrives for their relief
More good than his own hands can do;
He in the time of general grief,
Shall find the Lord has bowels, too.

3, His soul shall live secure on earth,
With secret blessings on his head,
When drought, and pestilence and death
Around him multiply their dead.

4. Or if he languish on his couch,
God will pronounce his sins forgiv’n;
Will save him with a healing touch,
Or take his willing soul to Heav’n.

100 Reasons, 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.

• 100 Reasons to Believe the Critical Text Position -- “1...100.”
• Ask McGehee: an old bottle marked “Fosko” -- “In an era long before air-conditioning, thirst quenching was an important factor. Consumers were advised, ‘When you get hot and thirsty ask for Fosko … It cools, refreshes and offers real hospitality.’”
• Antioch Baptist Church, Washington County | org. 1834 -- “The Church of Christ at Antioch is situated on Stephen’s Creek on land donated by David Curry and William May. The church served white and black congregants until 1868 when the black members withdrew to establish what would become Holly Springs Baptist Church.”
• Auf Wiedersehen -- “Inside a German-style restaurant in Fredericksburg, he walked by a table of people who were speaking a language that was familiar to the German native. Well, sort of familiar.”
• Changes in Personal Belief and the Effects on Relationships (part one) -- “Many professing believers take what I call, unscriptural positions. Differences occur between believers and churches when one or more veer away from the teaching of the Bible.”
• Changes in Personal Belief and the Effects on Relationships (part two) -- “Very often someone won’t change because of its potential effect on his relationships. Others will criticize him for changing.”
• Haldane’s critique of an “open” view of canon: “and a fixed standard they never have” -- “This question of the canon, then, proceeds on infidel and irrational principles, which, if carried to their legitimate length, must, in the end in complete unbelief.”
• Heroes of the Faith: Lord Shaftesbury -- “Had Lord Shaftesbury just done this then he would be one of the most remarkable politicians of his century. In fact, it was only part of his life.”
• In A Whole New Light -- “I pull open the door of the Gelman Stained Glass Museum and step inside a kaleidoscope.”
• Northwestern - William Bell Riley Sermons & Pamphlets -- “This collection includes sermons preached and pamphlets written by William Bell Riley, fundamentalist preacher of the Minneapolis First Baptist Church and founder of the Northwestern Bible and Missionary Training School.”
• Redwater Christening -- “A revival meeting was held in the early 1890s in the East Texas town that was named for Ingersoll, and it was a mighty successful one.”
• Stonewall Jackson on “Praying Without Ceasing” -- “I have so fixed the habit in my own mind that I never raise a glass of water to my lips without lifting my heart to God in thanks and prayer for the water of life.”
• The Pool of Bethesda - John 5.2-4 -- “To condemn the passage as not genuine, is a lazy way of cutting the knot, and not at all clearly warranted by the authority of manuscripts.”
• The Received Text & Biblical Christology by Pastor Christian Khanda -- “Why should then we reject the traditional reading “the only begotten Son” in John 1:18 in favor of 20th century scholarship?”
• The Use of Italics in English Versions of the New Testament -- “This paper has not touched on the use of italics in the OT. There is room for an expert in Hebrew and Aramaic to make a judicious investigation, for italics are more extensively used in the OT than in the NT.”
• “Thoughts On the Word Theopneustos, ‘given by inspiration of God’ in 2 Timothy 3:16, and the Question of the Inspiration of the Authorized Version” -- “Scripture teaches that the words of Scripture are inspired by God, and thus the entirety of the canonical Scriptures are inspired, 2 Timothy 3:16.”
• Why I Abide by the Authorized Version -- “A thousand ministers of the Gospel presented ‘The Millenary Petition,’ for the A. V., but there was no united call for Revision. Twice the Government refused its sanction. Even the Established Church was divided.”

Authorised New Testament and Revised Contrasted

I have been looking for a book called Authorised New Testament and Revised Contrasted, With the Translators’ Preface to the Reader. There seemed to be little information on it on the World Wide Web. The initial information I had on it was that Christopher Wordsworth (1807-1885), Bishop of Lincoln, was the author. In For Love of the Bible, David Cloud wrote of Wordsworth’s initial objection to the New Testament revision, and then added:

In 1886, Wordsworth continued his opposition to the Revised Version in his book The Authorized New Testament and Revised Contrasted.

However, it turns out the author of the 1886 book is not Christopher Wordsworth, but rather Benjamin Wadsworth. See WorldCat.org. The book was published in Manchester, England in 1886 by Brook and Chrystal. It has 171 pages. I have not been able to locate a scan of it online, neither have I seen any available print versions. WorldCat lists 5 libraries in the United Kingdom holding copies, as well as one in Canada (the WorldCat listing, of course, is not exhaustive).

I was, nevertheless, able to find a review of the book (though a very scathingly critical one) published in The Manchester Courier, and Lancashire General Advertiser (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England), Friday, July 2, 1886, page 2. See below.

I believe the author is the same Benjamin Wadsworth whose death is announced in The Manchester Evening News, Tuesday, July 10, 1906, page 4. I could find no other biographical information on him. If I have identified him correctly, he was outside the Church of England. Benjamin and Ann Wadsworth are buried in the Non-Conformist section of the Harpurhey/Manchester General Cemetery.

A review of the book in The Congregationalist, Volume 15 (1886), p. 564 quotes the author as saying “It will be seen, when the doctrines of this Revised Version are attempted to be taught and enforced, that all the teaching of the Reformers are undermined by it, and that it is impossible to prove from it any doctrine of grace or salvation by Jesus Christ.”

[Added March 27. Steven Avery pointed out to me an archived description by David Cloud of trips he made to England in the 2000s. In it he writes this about Wadsworth’s book: “Another work defending the KJV that I found in the British Library is B. Wadsworth’s 171-page AUTHORISED NEW TESTAMENT AND REVISED CONTRASTED (1886). This contains Wadsworth’s opposition to the English Revised Version. In the Preface, Wadsworth makes his position clear by referring to ‘the absurdities of the so-called Revision of the New Testament.’ He says that the chief reason he has written on this subject is ‘that the nation may see the wickedness of this Revision’ and ‘may see the dreadful teachings of the Revised Version, and so be led to prize more highly and defend more strenuously the Book which God has given us, which has been, and still is, England’s greatest blessing.’ He warns that ‘if England turns her back on God’s word, God will most surely visit the nation with His displeasure’ (p. vii). How prophetic were those words!” Clinton Fagge later pointed out that this paragraph can be found in In the Footsteps of Bible Translators (David Cloud, 2006, pp. 39-40).]

An Historical Study, and other music & worship links

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

• An Historical Study of Church Music Reform -- “The purpose of the study was to investigate the developments of church music in its historical perspective, and to discover if possible, guiding principles which might form a basis of judgment for the understanding and direction of contemporary church music.”
• Camille and Kennerly Kitt, the “Harp” Twins -- “Camille and Kennerly Kitt, American identical twin actresses, harpists, and famous YouTubers, have, in addition to 4 cover albums, released over 80 singles online.”
• Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot dies at 84 -- “Lightfoot’s 1976 epic, ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,’ about the drowning of 29 sailors when a freighter sank in a storm on Lake Superior, remains one of fans’ most loved songs.”
• Charles Wesley -- “Watts’s great theme was divine majesty, and no one approaches him in excellence upon this subject. Wesley’s grandest theme was love—the love of God—and here he had no rival.”
• Haaswurth Hymnals and Music -- “Hymnals and books relating to hymnology and musicians, including the history of music and modern music.”
• Judge Jackson and the Colored Sacred Harp -- “Tells the story of Judge Jackson of Ozark, AL who published a book of religious songs written by and for African American Shape note singers in 1934.”
• North Carolina Shaped-Note Singing -- “In this region, shaped-note singing had a powerful advocate in North Carolina Heritage Award winner Quay Smathers (1913 – 1997).”
• Reforming Influences in 19th Century American Church Music -- “Perhaps the most influential author to express a reaction against the current condition of music in America—especially church music—was Thomas Hastings (1784-1872).”
• Reversing the Trend in Modern Worship -- “The true public worship of God is counter-cultural. To make people feel at ease is not its purpose. It is that they may sense the presence of the living God.”
• Songs Sacred, Moral, and Patriotick -- “The following Miscellany contains texts of all kinds associated with tunes in The Sacred Harp and other tunebooks.”
• The Red-Back Hymnal and A Good Church Singing -- “We sat near the back. We’d never been to a sing, and we certainly hadn’t been to a shape note sing, nor did we know what a redback hymnal was, but we quickly learned it was named for the pressed board trimmed in a red cloth cover.”
• The Sacred Harp and Shape Note Singing -- “Shape note singing originates in the New England region of America as way to help Americans read music and participate more freely in religious activity.”
• The Variety of Influence: Forms of Craftsmanship in the 1960 Edition Sacred Harp -- “While there may have been a certain slipshod quality to the book, both as a physical object and in some of the music it contained, it could boast of having introduced such quintessential Sacred Harp classics as...”
• This was Their Story – James Deck -- “It was while he was young, between the ages of 31 and 37, that he wrote all of the hymns for which he is now known.”
• Throat-singing -- “Throat-singing is a range of singing styles in which a single vocalist sounds more than one pitch simultaneously by reinforcing certain harmonics (overtones and undertones) of the fundamental pitch.”

Why the AV: A Host of Reasons from William Hoste

I have been collecting information on the opposition to the Revised Version of the Bible (1870-1885). It is interesting how much came in the 20th century, when we might think it had been mostly forgotten by anyone except scholars. However, I have identified several works (short essays to book length) against the RV in the 1920s and 30s: (1924, Philip Mauro; 1925, William Aberhart, E. E. Franke; 1930, Benjamin Wilkinson). This time frame is intriguing. I remain uncertain as to the exact reason “why” of this time frame.

A good bit of the material is available online. Today I received in the mail Remember the Ancient Landmark: the Case Against The Revised Version 1881. This is a 1987 reprint (with a new preface and epilogue) of an essay by William Hoste (1860-1938), an English Plymouth Brethren editor and preacher, first written in 1931 under the title Why I Abide By the Authorised Version. Hoste was editor of The Believers Magazine, 1931-1938. He cannot fairly be called “King James Only,” but he seems sort of “Revised Version Never.” Here are some excerpts from the booklet.

“…the mass of changes and omissions in the New Testament, which, after 50 years [written 1931, rlv] , are still awaiting their justification.” (p. 10)

“All knew the Authorised contained archaisms (which practically everyone understood), and some ‘plain and clear’ blemishes. It was not necessary to alter the complexion of the whole to correct these…Unfortunately the R.V. of 1881, while professing to be a revision, was, as we shall see, based on a new, private and untested Greek Text by two of the Revisers – Drs. Westcott and Hort. It has been well remarked: ‘Not the Revisers’ least service is their showing how very seldom the A.V. is materially wrong’. But the Revision was a great ill to cure a lesser.” (pp. 11-12)

“No doubt little lists of niceties of translation can be made out by enthusiasts, but some bright colours in a bad picture do not prove it well designed or executed, nor do small advantages compensate for great losses.” (p. 13)

“A gardener, once hired by the present writer to tidy up his garden, dug up some weeds, and also his bed of lilies of the valley, the pride of the garden. It was fine digging, but poor gardening. Nothing has seemed too sacred for the Revision majority to ‘dig up’ in faithfulness to their few favourite manuscripts.” (p. 13)

“I believe the revision needed today is a revision of any confidence we may have allowed ourselves in the changes in the Greek text adopted by the R.V. That Revision is a pyramid on its apex, and even the apex is unsound.” (pp. 15-16)

The structure of the pamphlet is organized by nine reasons William Hoste gives for preferring the Authorised Version of the Bible.

1. The A. V. (though, of course, not perfect) was translated on more Reliable Principles
2. The Revision was Unnecessary
3. The Revision was not Generally Wanted
4. The Revisers Exceeded their Mandate
5. The Methods of the A. V. were more Reliable
6. The Manuscripts of the A.V. were more Reliable
7. The Margin of the A.V. is More Reliable
8. The Men of the A.V. were More Reliable
9. The Doctrine of the A.V. is More Reliable

Poke Salad Granny

 

Native Oak Flat Pokeweed, amongst other weedy vegetation

On the 20th (last Saturday), Kim and I went to the 48th Annual Poke Salad Festival in Blanchard, Louisiana. We enjoyed the drive through the country, seeing new places, and strolling by the antique cars & festival booths. However, the festival was not particularly “poke-salady.” It seemed to only be that in name, without any particular emphasis on poke salad. I guess I expected more would be done to relate the festival to the traditional Southern food. Or maybe we missed the poke salad booth?

Near one booth I saw 3 or 4 poke salad plants in some pots. Not sure why. Perhaps for sale? Probably not. Maybe for the ambiance? I noticed that the stems on these were brownish, not green or purple as I ones that I have always seen. I wonder if there more than one variety of poke salad?

Poke Salad (aka poke, pokeweed, poke sallet) is a traditional Southern dish which I am familiar with through my lifetime – though I have not eaten inordinate amounts of it. In addition to use as a food, various pages on the internet mention other uses which I have never seen. “Industrial” uses include making ink and dye from the juice of the berries. It has also been used in folk medicine. It has been recommended for the treatment of rheumatism and arthritis, as well as an emetic and purgative. The homeopathic company Boiron sells a pokeweed medicine for sore throat relief.

I have only eaten poke salad as cooked greens – usually “in-halfs” with other cooked greens such kale, mustard greens, or turnip greens (and parboiled first). How some other people say they eat it are: young stalks cooked like asparagus or okra; the leaves pan-fried in bacon grease, with onions, salt, and pepper; the berries for syrups, jams, and pie fillings. I know nothing of these uses and cannot recommend them for that reason. All parts of the pokeweed – root, stalk, leaves, and berries – contain toxins and should only be used by those who know how to prepare them.

Most East Texas folks (at least rural ones, I suppose) will find poke salad abundant, easy to identify – and free! Free food is hard to beat, and I have read that poke salad is extremely high in vitamin A. On the one hand, there is the story of a family in our community during the Depression. They leveraged poke salad as a survival ration. It is remembered that the husband/father picked it no matter how mature the plant. None of them died or got sick (that is, then, from eating poke salad). On the other hand, there is the story of the Baptist preacher who baptized me. Once he accidentally ate some raw poke salad, thinking it was spinach. He did not die, but ended up in the emergency room with severe stomach cramps.

What Is Poke Sallet?

All the promises of God

“Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the Lord. Shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.” Isaiah 66:9 

“Observe, my soul, not only how readily the Lord undertakes to bless his people, and makes good his promises, but the gracious manner in which he confirms his word unto his servants, ‘wherein he causeth them to hope.’ All the promises of God in Christ Jesus are sweet, and sure, and amen; but methinks there is a double blessedness in those, which, from their seeming to come to us with difficulty, the Lord recommends yet more by bringing in the sovereignty of his power to their accomplishment. It is as if the Lord said by every one, ‘Because it be marvellous in your eyes, should it be also marvellous in mine eyes? saith the Lord of Hosts,’ Zechariah 8:6.”

Robert Hawker

The Solid Rock

Edward Mote was a Baptist preacher and hymn writer. His best-known hymn is this one – The Solid Rock. It begins with the first line “My hope is built on nothing less,” originally titled “The Immutable Basis for a Sinner’s Hope.” The hymn idea is based on the Parable of the Wise and the Foolish Builders (Matthew 7:24-27). Sometimes it appears with the title “Jesus All in All.”

Edward Mote was born in London, England January 21, 1797. A cabinet maker by trade, he pastored the Rehoboth Baptist Church in Horsham, West Sussex for 26 years (from 1848 till his death in 1874). This church still exists and is a member of the Association of Grace Baptist Churches (South East).

Henry Burrage quotes Mote as saying of his youth “My Sabbaths were spent in the streets at play. So ignorant was I that I did not know there was a God.” (Baptist Hymn Writers and Their Hymns, p. 156)

In Memoirs of the Principal Hymn-Writers (1870), John Gadsby relays Mote’s experience in Mote’s own words.

“I went to a school where no Bible was allowed; so that I was totally ignorant of the word of life when I entered that place of worship; but though I knew not the letter of the law, the Holy Ghost brought the spiritual contents of it into my conscience that morning. For two years that dart was in my liver, till extracted by Calvary’s blood, under a sermon by Mr. Bennett, of Birmingham, who was on a visit to London, one Good Friday morning, from ‘The Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all,’ and from that auspicious hour to the present, precious blood has been the solace of my mind.”

There existed in the past some confusion on the authorship of the hymn. It had appeared in Rees’ collection of hymns, and thereafter was often simply credited to “Rees.” In 1852, Mote wrote to The Gospel Herald and related the hymn’s origin.

“One morning it came into my mind as I went to labour, to write an hymn on the ‘Gracious Experience of a Christian.’ As I went up Holborn I had the chorus,

‘On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.’

“In the day I had four first verses complete, and wrote them off. On the Sabbath following I met brother King as I came out of Lisle Street Meeting (who was for many years a deacon of brother Coombs), who informed me that his wife was very ill, and asked me to call and see her. I had an early tea, and called afterwards. He said that it was his usual custom to sing a hymn, read a portion, and engage in prayer, before he went to meeting. He looked for his hymn book, but could find it no where. I said, ‘I have some verses in my pocket; if he liked, we would sing them.’ We did; and his wife enjoyed them so much, that after service he asked me, as a favour, to have a copy of them for his wife. I went home and by the fireside composed the last two verses, wrote the whole off, and took them to sister King, and visited her every day after tea, while she lived (five or six days); and never had more heavenly converse with a saint of God than in those heavenly, heart-replenishing visits, we mutually rejoiced in the great things of God.

“As those verses so met the dying woman’s case, my attention to them was the more arrested, and I had a thousand printed for distribution. I sent one to the Spiritual Magazine, without my initials, which appeared some time after this. Brother Rees of Crown Street, Soho, brought out an edition of hymns, and this hymn was in it. David Denham introduced it with Rees’s name, and others after.” (“Letters to the Editor,” The Gospel Herald, or Poor Christian’s Magazine, Volume XX, 1852, p. 285)

This hymn was included by Edward Mote in his Hymns of Praise. A New Selection of Gospel Hymns, combining all the Excellencies of our spiritual Poets, with many Originals (London. J. Nichols, 1836). The original hymns included is this work number nearly 100, among a total of 606 hymns.

In his declining days of health, Mote said, “The truths I have preached I am now living upon; and they will do to die upon.” (p. 157) Edward Mote died November 13, 1874, and is buried in the Rehoboth churchyard. According to the online church history, his dying words were “Precious blood, precious blood, that makes peace with God.”

The words on a tablet honoring Edward Mote in the Rehoboth chapel include: For 26 years the beloved pastor of this church, preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified, as all the sinner can need, and all the saint can desire. 

The tune for The Solid Rock was composed by William Bradbury in 1863. The words appear in most songbooks commonly in the following form.

1. My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:
All other ground is sinking sand.

2. When darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:
All other ground is sinking sand.

3. His oath, his covenant, his blood,
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:
All other ground is sinking sand.

4. When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in him be found:
Dressed in his righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:
All other ground is sinking sand.

The current form varies slightly from Mote’s original, which I believe included some of the following material. It is my understanding (though I have not located a first printing to check), that “Nor earth, nor hell my soul can move” was originally the first line of this hymn.

Nor earth, nor hell, my soul can move,
I rest upon unchanging love;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
‘Midst all the hell I feel within,
On his completed work I lean.

I trust his righteous character,
His council, promise, and his pow’r;
His honour and his name’s at stake,
To save me from the burning lake.

When I shall launch in worlds unseen,
O may I then be found in him,
Dressed in his righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

This, of course, included the refrain “On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand: All other ground is sinking sand.” In my estimation The Solid Rock is one of the “top shelf” great hymns of the Christian faith.

A Dialogue Between, 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 Dialogue Between a Traditional Text Advocate and a Critical Text Advocate -- “Vanquished by the Word Incarnate, Satan next directed his subtle malice against the Word written. Hence, as I think,—hence the extraordinary fate which befell certain early transcripts of the Gospel.”
• Biblical and Historical Studies for Roman Catholics -- “The true church teaches that the 66 books of the Bible were all ‘given by inspiration of God’ and are able to make the believer ‘perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works’ without any other authority, such as unwritten tradition.”
• Christ or Chords? The Manipulated Emotionalism of Hillsong, Asbury, and Pentecostalized Evangelical Worship -- “Unbridled emotion is actually a mark of spiritual immaturity, while true spiritual affections have more modest affects upon the body.”
• Doug Kutilek’s Incredible Errors: An examination of his article “Wilkinson’s Incredible Errors.” -- “Each quotation is allegedly an ‘incredible error’ made by Wilkinson or Fuller. Seven ‘incredible errors’ made by Fuller or Wilkinson are examined.”
• Edward Hiscox: A New England Pastor -- “If you could travel back to 1814, you probably wouldn’t notice a young pastor’s wife giving birth to a son who would grow up to be an important Baptist pastor in his generation, Edward Turston Hiscox.”
• Essay from Received Text Anthology Under Fire -- “At the center of this controversy is the claim that such divergent texts are not accidents of history, but intentional corruptions introduced to deceive well intentioned, God fearing Christians. This seems to be a major contention on this topic.”
• Hand Symbolism on Gravestones -- “Fingers pointing upward indicate that the departed has gone to heaven and beckons grieving loved ones to look up.”
• How the cops buy a “God view” of your location data -- “According to a recent investigation from Electronic Frontier Foundation and The Associated Press, a company called Fog Data Science has been gathering Americans’ location data and selling it exclusively to local law enforcement agencies in the United States.”
• KJV in the USA: The Impact of the King James Bible in the USA -- “The rise and fall of the King James Bible in America is, of course, part of the larger story of the rise and fall of the Bible in America. For the most part, the United States is a post-biblical country.” (Interesting, but also supports certain urban myths)
• Produce Better Readers, Not Easier Bibles -- “Hidden in the assumption that the average Christian cannot read the KJV is also the assumption that the average Christian is effectively reading at a lower level than a publicly educated high schooler. This, to me, is deeply concerning if it is true.”
• Social Media and Electronics: Addictive Drugs for Christians? -- “Physical substances are not the only drugs that are addictive and which turn your brain into putty and your conscience into a wreck—social media and electronic devices do as well.”
• Spirit Baptism: A Completed Historical Event; An Exposition and Defense of the Historic Baptist View of Spirit Baptism -- “Many conflicting views of Spirit baptism compete for adherents in the modern religious milieu. One prominent view, which will be referenced below as the post-conversion special power (PCP) view, affirms that the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which it avers continues to take place today, occurs after the point of conversion in the life of some, but not all, Christians.”
• TGC Co-Founder Tim Keller Dies at 72 -- “With great sadness we mourn the loss of Timothy Keller, 72, who died on May 19, more than three years after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.”
  
• The Textus Receptus’s Canonicity in Baptist Confessions -- “The church, as the depository of God’s words (1 Timothy 3:15), led by the Holy Spirit (John 16:13), recognized and received (John 17:8) the words of God as they were given her by Christ her Savior.”
• The Hypocrisy and Deceitfulness of the Chief Critical Text Attack on the Received Text of Scripture -- “Ross showed how that in over a hundred places a line of reading in the USB/NA has no (zero) manuscript evidence. White has one example. Ross had over a hundred.”
• Why Faithful Exiles Can Bow to the Golden Statue -- “It has recently come to our attention that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego have put forward the argument that any Israelite who bows down to King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue has departed the faith and become apostate.”

Revelation 22:18-19 and the Bible

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Revelation 22:18-19

“This clause applies to the case of all the books of Holy Scripture: comp. Deuteronomy iv.2; Proverbs xxx.6; but it especially applies to the Apocalypse, the crowning point of prophecy, which was exposed to peculiar danger, and the minute and admirable connection of which might be disturbed or obscured by the change of even a single word.” (Gnomon of the New Testament, Volume V, by Johann Albrecht Bengel, p. 385)

Johann Bengel says that Revelation 22:18-19 applies to all of Holy Scripture. I think he is correct. Some modern King James Bible detractors act like King James Onlyists alone are saying that Revelation 22:18-19 applies beyond the book of Revelation. Bengel was clearly no King James Onlyist. In fact, his Gnomon was written in German and only later translated into English.

Benjamin Franklin’s “Faith”

I have seen the following quote online, credited to Benjamin Franklin:

“Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshipped.”

I have heard a lot of conflicting things about Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). So, I put a question mark by the quote. Would he have said that? Well, he did – or rather wrote it. These are the words of Franklin. However, the brief extracted quote above sounds more “orthodox” Christian than Franklin actually was. The context brings out more of the “faith” or “religion” associated with Franklin. He follows this statement above in saying “That the most acceptable service we render to Him is in doing good to His other children.” He goes further to address man being judged by his good works, that the religion of Jesus is “the best the World ever saw,” but that he has “some Doubts as to his Divinity, tho’ it is a Question I do not dogmatise upon.” Nevertheless, Franklin saw “no harm however in its [Jesus’ Divinity] being believed,” as long as that belief resulted in the good consequences.

I suppose the whole is a good summary of what Benjamin Franklin believed – and that is what Franklin intended it to be. He did not hold biblical Christianity, though he considered it to be generally a good thing.

The statements are made in a letter from Franklin to U.S. educator and theologian Ezra Stiles, dated March 9, 1790, written a little over a month before his demise.