[cont.]
In the same letter (above) where Hort was announcing to a friend the formation of the Ghost Society, he showed a belligerent prejudice to the Universal Text – the King James Bible – of the English-speaking world, and its underlying Greek basis, the Textus Receptus, presumably because it was the Bible of the Evangelicals, and its authority supported the authority with which they preached (in those days Charles Spurgeon was preaching in London, and D.L. Moody was evangelizing all over England). In similar fashion, young and educated unbelievers of today off-handedly disdain Bible preaching and Bibles. A 23-year-old Hort wrote,
I had no idea till the last few weeks of the importance of texts, having read so little Greek Testament, and dragged on with the villainous Textus Receptus…Think of that vile Textus Receptus leaning entirely on late MSS.; it is a blessing there are such early ones…15
In 1858 Hort wrote,
The positive doctrines…of the Evangelicals seem to me perverted rather than untrue. There are, I fear, still more serious differences between us on authority, and especially the authority of the Bible…16
In 1865, when trying to “understand…the ever-renewed vitality of Mariolatry,” Hort surmised it was,
…a right reaction from the inhuman and semi-diabolical character with which God is invested in all modern orthodoxies—Zeus and Prometheus over again? In Protestant countries the fearful notion ‘Christ the believer’s God’ is the result….I have been persuaded for many years that Mary-worship and ‘Jesus’-worship have very much in common in their causes and effects.17
In these same letters (see footnote 21) Hort opines that mediation is the proper role for each – Mary and Jesus – and not worship.
We will look at some further beliefs and statements of W&H, to get an idea of the hearts and minds of these men. It was important to them that the things they believed and did were kept secret, as they well knew they were at odds with orthodox Christian faith, even in the ailing Anglican Church. In a letter to Westcott, in April of 1861, while they were unofficially18 working on their revision of the Greek text, Hort wrote,
Also—but this may be cowardice—I have a sort of craving that our text should be cast upon the world before we deal with matters likely to brand us with suspicion. I mean, a text, issued by men already known for what will undoubtedly be treated as dangerous heresy, will have great difficulties in finding its way to regions which it might otherwise hope to reach, and whence it would not easily be banished by subsequent alarms.19
Hort was worldly-wise in this, for it was not until dogged research by scholars in the 20th century unearthed their “dangerous heresy”20 (though “damnable” be a more apt description) in many areas, that we have learned things about them their contemporaries were unaware of. In a letter to Lightfoot in May of 1860, concerning a proposed commentary they would write with Westcott on the New Testament, Hort said,
Depend on it, whatever either you or I may say in an extended commentary, if only we speak our mind, we shall not be able to avoid giving grave offence to…the miscalled orthodoxy of the day.21
He was surely right in this! He was not a believer, and it was easily apparent in his views! Remember, both he and Lightfoot were involved in spiritualism (along with Westcott and Benson), and although having respect to the COE and its traditions, the group of them were but secular classicists highly trained in classical Greek. They approached the New Testament Scriptures as they did any other Greek classics, with worldly, rationalist presuppositions and critical methods. In other words, their spiritualism was not their only heresy.
In answer to an Oxford undergraduate’s questions (in 1886) about the COE’s Thirty Nine Articles of Faith, with regard to Article IX (concerning the doctrine of Original Sin), Hort answered thus,
The authors of the Article doubtless assumed the strictly historical character of the account of the Fall in Genesis. This assumption is now, in my belief, no longer reasonable.22
One might understand why he would think this way from his view of Darwin’s
Origin of Species. In a letter to Westcott (1860) he says,
…Have you read Darwin?…In spite of difficulties, I am inclined to think it unanswerable. In any case it is a treat to read such a book.”23
To his friend John Ellerton, he wrote (in 1860),
But the book which has most engaged me is Darwin. Whatever may be thought of it, it is a book that one is proud to be contemporary with…at present my feeling is strong that the theory is unanswerable24. (emphasis his)
We see Westcott was of the same mind:
No one now, I suppose, holds that the first three chapters of Genesis, for example, give a literal history—I never could understand how any one reading them with open eyes could think they did…25
The implications of these views are immense. If the Book of Genesis is not true history, then it is either error, or allegory masquerading as history. If Genesis is not true history, Jesus was in error asserting the historicity of Adam and Eve26, and Paul likewise in error in Romans and 1 Corinthians. If there was no actual fall of an actual Adam and Eve, the atonement of Christ was but a meaningless fiction. The Book of Genesis is foundational for all of God’s revelation concerning salvation. But such supposed errors were in accord with W&H’s view of the
errancy of Scripture.
In the event someone says, but this is argumentum ad hominem (criticism of an opponent’s character or motives, rather than of the person’s argument or beliefs), a person’s character and motives will certainly bear on their spiritual views, and hence on their doctrines and related textual matters. As the Lord Jesus said, “…a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” (Matthew 7:17, 18)
1
Final Authority: A Christian’s Guide to the King James Bible, by Dr. William P. Grady (Grady Publications, Inc. 1993), page 210.
2
Life and Letters of Fenton John Anthony Hort, by his son, Arthur Fenton Hort (Macmillan, London, 1896) Reprint by the Bible for Today. Volume II, page 186.
3 Ibid., page 202.
4
Life and Letters of Brooke Foss Westcott, by his son Arthur Westcott (Macmillan, London, 1903) Reprint by the Bible for Today. Volume I, pages 175, 176.
5
Life of Westcott, Vol. I, p 47.
6
The Secret Doctrine, by Helena P. Blavatsky (the Theosophical Publishing Society, 1893), Vol. II, page 30.
7
Man and His Symbols, Edited by Carl G. Jung (Dell Pub. Co., 1964); “Part 2: Ancient Myths and Modern Man,” by Joseph L. Henderson, page 155.
8
The Occult Underground, by James Webb (Open Court Pub. Co. 1974), page 36.
9
Life of Hort, Vol. I, page 211.
10
The Society For Psychical Research: An Outline Of Its History, by W.H. Salter (President, 1947-8), (London, Society For Psychical Research, 1948), pages 6, 7.
11 I first became aware of this hidden aspect of W&H’s lives through a tape made by Gail Riplinger. I found the allegations of their deep and continued involvement with spiritualism hard to believe. So I bought her book,
New Age Bible Versions: An Exhaustive Documentation Exposing the Message, Men and Manuscripts Moving Mankind to the Antichrist’s One World Religion, by G.A. Riplinger (A.V. Publications 1993), and researched the citations of the 30th chapter, “The Necromancers.” I was amazed to find her scholarship essentially sound. To confirm the most important of her documentations, I bought the respective (unabridged) biographies of Westcott and Hort, each written in two volumes by their sons, and through the Queen’s (New York City) interlibrary loan system obtained Webb’s
The Occult Underground, Salter’s
The Society for Psychical Research: An Outline of its History, and Gauld’s
The Founders of Psychical Research. Riplinger’s presentation of W&H as hardcore spiritualists, going to séances and other occult activities, and proselytizing others to join them, was true. Occasionally she would get a page number wrong (in footnote 12 above, quoting from Webb, she had page 8 instead of 36), and she misattributed quotes a couple of times from Gauld’s work, but they were relatively insignificant. The conclusions she draws – and documents – with regard to Westcott’s and Hort’s involvement in the occult in her chapter 30, apart from her theorizing re “W.W. Westcott” in her footnote 128, is sound. [I learned from James White this aforementioned “theorizing” is patently false.]
Although her work is edifying in some respects, I cannot endorse her book due to many far-fetched notions, and also errors. Sometimes her quotes are taken out of context in a way I would term “misrepresentation.” I would not call her representative of those who present the best defense of the King James Bible and the Hebrew and Greek texts which underlie it. Still, some of her research is valuable. If you read her, do so warily.
12
The Fabians, by Norman and Jeanne MacKenzie (NY: Simon and Schuster, 1977), page 18.
13
Life of Westcott, Vol. I, pages 44, 45.
14 Ibid., page 52.
15
Life of Hort, Vol. I, page 211.
16 Ibid., page 400.
17 Ibid., Vol. II, pages 49-51.
18 They did not receive their official appointment to revise the New Testament – not the Greek text, but make minor revisions in the English text – until 1871.
19
Life of Hort, Vol. I, page 445.
20 2 Peter 2:1 more accurately classifies theirs as “damnable heresies” – there being a distinction between the two types.
21 Ibid., page 421.
23 Ibid., Vol. I, page 414.
24 Ibid., page 416.
25
Life of Westcott, Vol. II, page 69.
26 Matthew 19:4-6
____
I'll attach a pdf of this post for easier reading and copying: