Compiled with added comments
FROM THE BOOK "OUR AUTHORIZED BIBLE VINDICATED" by
Benjamin Wilkinson, PhD.
Written 1930.
All CAPITAL letter are mine, for emphasis (Keith Hunt)
QUOTE
THE REFORMERS REJECT THE BIBLE OF THE PAPACY
The Papacy, DEFEATED in her hope to CONTROL the version of
the Bible in the Greek WORLD when the Greek NT favored by
Constantine was driven into retirement, ADOPTED TWO measures
which kept Europe under ITS DOMINATION.
FIRST, the Papacy was AGAINST the flow of GREEK language and
literature to Western Europe. All the treasures of the classical
part were held back in the Eastern Roman Empire, whose capital
was Constantinople. For NEAR ONE THOUSAND YEARS, the Western part
of Europe was a stranger to the Greek tongue. As Doctor HORT
says:
"The West became EXCLUSIVELY LATIN, as well as ESTRANGED
from the East; with LOCAL exceptions, interesting in themselves
and valuable to us but DEVOID of ALL extensive influence, the use
and knowledge of the Greek language DIED OUT in Western Europe"
(Hort's Introduction, p. 142).
When the use and knowledge of Greek died out in Western
Europe, all the VALUABLE records, history, archaeology,
literature, and science and remained UNTRANSLATED and UNAVAILABLE
to Western energies. No wonder, then, that this opposition to
using the ACHIEVEMENTS of the past BROUGHT on the DARK AGES
(447 A.D. to 1453 A.D.)
(Yes, we now know that in the East, not just the Greek East,
but further East still, MUCH was INVENTED, KNOWN, used as part of
everyday life and education, but Western Europe on the whole was
SHUT OFF from all that KNOWLEDGE and SCIENCE and EDUCATION that
the Eastern world was FULL of.....it truly was and has been named
correctly.....the DARK AGES - Keith Hunt).
The DARKNESS prevailed UNTIL the half-century preceding 1453
A. D. when REFUGEES, fleeing from the Greek world threatened by
the TURKS, came WEST introducing Greek language and literature.
AFTER Constantinople fell in 1453, THOUSANDS of VALUABLE MSS were
secured by the cities and centers of learning in Europe.
Europe AWOKE as from the DEAD, sprang forth to NEWNESS of
life. Columbus discovered America. Erasmus printed the GREEK NT.
Luther assailed the corruptions of the Latin Church. REVIVAL of
LEARNING and the REFORMATION followed swiftly.
(Ah yes, remember, Galileo - 1564-1642 - was rejected by
the Roman Catholic Church for many of his "discoveries" and
"views" and under threat of TORTURE from the INQUISITION he
publicly recanted his so-called "heretical" views. That is taken
from my New Canadian Dictionary, under the word "Galileo." Yes,
the "dark ages" really continued longer than Wilkinson states. It
took Europe, under the dark mystery teachings, and suppression of
the Roman Catholic Church, a long and painful time to break free
into much enlightenment BOTH in "religion" and in "science" -
Keith Hunt).
The SECOND measure adopted by the Pope which HELD the Latin
West in his power was to stretch out his hands to JEROME (about
400 A.D.), the monk of Bethlehem, reputed the GREATEST scholar of
his age, and APPEAL to him to COMPOSE a Bible in Latin SIMILAR to
the Bible adopted by Constantine in Greek. Jerome, the hermit of
Palestine.....was furnished with ALL the FUNDS that he needed and
was assisted by MANY scribes and copyists......
Jerome repaired to the famous library of Eusebius and
Pamphilus at Caesarea, where the voluminous MS of Origen had been
preserved. among these was the Greek Bible of the Vaticanus and
Sinaiticus type (Price, Ancestry, pp. 69, 70)......
Doctor Adam Clarke indicates Origen as the first teacher of
PURGATORY.
THE VULGATE OF JEROME
The Latin Bible of Jerome, commonly known as the VULGATE,
had AUTHORITATIVE sway for ONE THOUSAND YEARS......Jerome in his
early years had been brought up with an ENMITY to the Received
Text, then universally known as the GREEK Vulgate (Hort's
Introduction, p. 138).
The word Vulgate mean, "commonly used," or "current"......
Nevertheless, so POWERFUL was the Received Text that even until
Jerome's day (383 A.D.) it was called the Vulgate (Swete's
Introduction, pp. 85, 86).
The HOSTILITY of Jerome to the Received Text made him
NECESSARY to the Papacy. The Papacy in the Latin world OPPOSED
the authority of the Greek Vulgate......For this reason it sort
the great reputation Jerome enjoyed as a scholar.......
In preparing the Latin Bible, Jerome would gladly have gone
all the way in translating to us the CORRUPTIONS in the text of
Eusebius, but he did not dare. Great scholars of the West were
already EXPOSING him and the CORRUPT Greek MSS (W. H. Green, The
Text of O.T., p. 116 - Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 6, p. 338)......
Although ENDORSED and supported by the power of the Papacy,
the Vulgate - which name we will no call Jerome's translation -
did NOT gain EVERYWHERE immediate acceptance. It took NINE
HUNDRED YEARS to bring that about (Jacobus, p. 4).......
As Father Simon, that monk who exercised so powerful an
influence on the textual criticism of the last century, says:
(remember the last century for Wilkinson, when writing was 1730
to 1830 - Keith Hunt)
"The LATINS have had so great esteem for the father (Jerome)
that for a THOUSAND years they used NO OTHER version" (Quoted in
Nolan, Inquiry, p. 33).
(Wilkinson has stated the Vulgate of Jerome did not gain
favor EVERYWHERE immediately - it gained favor within the Latin
world ruled over by the Roman Catholic Church - Keith Hunt).
Therefore, a millennium later, when GREEK MSS and Greek
learning was AGAIN general, the CORRUPT readings of the Vulgate
were NOTED. Even CATHOLIC scholars of REPUTE, BEFORE
Protestantism was fully under way, pointed out its THOUSANDS
of ERRORS. As Doctor FULKE in 1583 writing to a Catholic scholar,
a Jesuit, says:
"Great friends of it and your doctrine, Lindanus, bishop of
Ruremond, and Isidorus Clarius, monk of Casine, and bishop
Fulginatenis: of which the former writeth a WHOLE book,
discussing how he would have the ERRORS, VICES, CORRUPTIONS,
ADDITIONS, DETRACTIONS, BARBARISMS, and SOLECISMS of the VULAR
LATIN translation CORRECTED and REFORMED; bringing MANY examples
of EVERY KIND, in several chapters and sections: the other,
Isidorus Clarius, giving a reason of his purpose, in CASTIGATION
of the said vulgar Latin translation, confesseth that it was
FULL OF ERRORS ALMOST INNUMERABLE; which if he should have
reformed all according to the Hebrew verity, he could not have
set forth the vulgar edition, as his purpose was. Therefore in
MANY places he RETAINED the accustomed translation, but in his
ANNOTATIONS admonished the reader, how it is in the Hebrew. And,
notwithstanding this moderation, he acknowldgeth that about EIGHT
THOUSAND PLACES are by him so NOTED and CORRECTED" (Fulke,
Defence of Translation of the Bible (1583), p. 62).
(Strange is it not, that most higher critics of the Textual
Criticism of today, would never think of Jerome's Vulgate in
translating the Bible. Of course they would say we have "gone
passed such, and have moved on to newer light that has come our
way." Some call it "progressive theology." Then those who now in
the Christian Church approve of "homosexuality and lesbianism" as
okay and as alternative life style - for the membership and/or
the priests and ministers - would also say they have been
enlightened more and have moved on with a progressive theology.
The modern Textual Critics would mean they have moved on to TWO
other Roman Catholic MSS that they rely on and "run with" - the
Vaticanus and the Sinaiticus, not brought froth until the late
1800s. The fact is friends, the new modern translations that
embrace this theology of MSS adoption and reasoning, DO have MANY
DIFFERENCES from the old KJV or the NewKJV - Keith Hunt).
EVEN WYCLIFFE'S TRANSLATION WAS FROM THE VULGATE
Wycliffe, that GREAT hero of God, is universally called "the
morning star of the Reformation." He did what he could and God
greatly blessed.
Wycliff's translation of the Bible into English.....It was
taken from the VULGATE and like its model, contained MANY
ERRORS.....Wycliffe, himself, nominally a Catholic (please note -
Wilkinson knew that some he was writing about with great ability
in certain ways, were STILL Roman Catholic. Some today try to
claim Wilkinson was not willing to admit they were Roman
Catholic, we shall see this again when he writes about Erasmus
- Keith Hunt) was to the last, had hoped that the needed reform
would COME WITHIN the Catholic Church. Darkness still enshrouded
Western Europe....the Reformation lingered. THEN appeared the
translation into ENGLISH of TYNDALE from the pure Greek text of
Erasmus.
Speaking of Tyndale, DEMAUS says:
"He was of course aware of the existence of Wycliffe's
Version; but this, as a bald translation from the Vulgate into
obsolete English, could NOT be of ANY assistance (even
if he had possessed a copy) to one who was ENDEAVORING, 'simply
and faithfully, so far forth as God had given him the gift of
knowledge and understanding" to render the NT from its original
Greek into 'proper English' " (Demaus, William Tyndale, p. 105).
Again:
"For, as became an accomplished Greek scholar, Tyndale was
resolved to translate the NT from the original language, and NOT
as Wycliffe had done, from the Latin Vulgate; and the ONLY
edition of the Greek text which had yet appeared, the only one at
least likely to be in Tyndale's possession, was that issued by
Erasmus at Basle" (Idem, p. 73).
THE REFORMERS OBLIGED TO REJECT JEROME'S VULGATE
The Reformation did not make great progress until after the
Received Text had been RESTORED to the world. The Reformers were
NOT satisfied with the Latin Vulgate.....
Cartwright, the famous Puritan scholar, described the Vugate
as follows:
" As to the Version adopted by the Rhemists (Cartwright's
word for the Jesuits), Mr. Cartwright observed that all the SOAP
and NITRE they could collect would be insufficient to CLEANSE the
Vulgate from the FILTH of BLOOD in which it was ORIGINALLY
conceived and had since collected in passing so long through the
hands of UNLEARNED monks, from which the Greek copies had
ALTOGETHER ESCAPED" (Brook's Memoir of Life of Cartwright, p.
276)......
Such was the DARKNESS and so MANY were the ERRORS which the
Reformers had to encounter as they started on their way. They
welcomed the rising spirit of intelligence.....but the priests
LOUDLY DENOUNCED it. They declared that the study of the Greek
was of the DEVIL and prepared to destroy all who promoted it
(Foude, Life and Letters of Erasmus, pp. 232, 233).
How intrentched was the situation may be seen in the
following quotation of a letter written by Erasmus:
"Obedience (writes Erasmus) it so taught as to hide that
there is any obedience due to God (wow, where have we heard this
today, in our modern Christianity....lots of it, have whatever
modern translation that is based mainly on the Vaticanus and
Sinaiticus MSS...and just do your own things, as whatever pleases
or is suited for you in your chosen way of life at the
time....but do not teach that God still has His word out there,
and He still expects you to live by every word of it - Mat.4: 4 -
Keith Hunt). Kings are to obey the Pope. Priests are to obey
their bishops. Monks are to obey their abbots. Oaths are exacted,
that want of submission may be punished as perjury. It may
happen, it often does happen, that an abbot is a fool or
drunkard. He issues an order to the brotherhood in the name of
holy obedience. and what will such order do? An order to observe
chastity? An order to be sober? An order to tell no lies? NOT ONE
of these things. It will be that brother is not ot learn Greek:
he is not to seek to instruct himself. He may be a sot. He may go
with prostitutes. He may be full of hatred and malice. He may
never look inside the Scriptures. No matter. He has not broken
any oath. He is an excellent member of the community. While if he
disobeys such a command as this from an insolent superior
there is stake or dungeon for him instantly" (Idem, p. 64).
(Today it seems, people by and large cannot see that they
have thrown away one biting snake in the one hand only to replace
the biting snake with the other hand. They have gone over to the
Greek alright, run off with basically two MSS they rely on for
their NT translation - and not found and used to any degee until
the late 1800s - so claiming God did not preserve His word of the
NT, hence "progressive theology" that means God's word is
"relative" in its text to what "finds" come along and to how man
wants to exploit them claiming this is now closer to what it was
originally, but who knows another "find" may make it closer to
what it was than what is was before the other "find" was found.
Do you get the picture of the mind-set they have? Basically
teaching that just about anything goes with whatever NT
translation you want to come up with, at whatever time in history
and at the same time you make up your religion for yourself, as
to fit your plans, wishes, desires. Believe that God did not
preserve His word, down through the ages, that it's just man,
with all kinds of mixed up messes in it all, so choose which mix
up pleases you, for this stage of your life, change the mix as
you go along. If the next mix is better for you at some time,
then run with that mix....just anything goes as long as you do
not run a mess with the laws of the land and end up in prison or
on death row.
It's true folks......that is what popular Christianity is
coming to, already there in fact. Going to be very easy for the
end time Beast power to take back its control of humanity,
when God says it's time for the prophecies of Revelation to come
to pass - Keith Hunt).
It was impossible, however, to hold back the ripening
harvest. Throughout the centuries, the Waldenses and other
faithful evangelicals had sown the seed. The fog was rolling away
from the plains and hills of Europe.......
When the one thousand years had gone by, strains of new
gladness were heard.....Erasmus threw his first Greek NT at the
feet of Europe. Then followed a full century of the greatest
scholars of language and literature the world ever saw. Among
them were Stephens and Beza, each contributing his part to
establishing and fortifying the Received Text.......
.............................
Compiled 2003. We shall see the work of Erasmus and the Greek
text, in the next chapter. And we shall see that Wilkinson KNEW
Erasmus was a Roman Catholic to boot.
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