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14 THE
Contributed
THE PROPOSED NEW PROOF TEXTS.
By E. C. Gordon.
It seems difficult for some brethren to
get this matter straight. Hence I ask
attention to a few more words of explanation.
1. The matter has passed out of the
hands of the ad interim committee, and
is now in the hands of the Executive Committee
of Publication and the Presbyteries.
If brethren desire to have that
committee incur an expense of several
thousand dollars in printing a work which
may become waste paper in a few months,
they should agree in advance to bear the
responsibility.
2. The names and addresses of the
presbyterial examining committees should
be sent to the office of publication at
Richmond, Virginia, and not to me, as
some brethren are doing.
3. The decisions of the Presbyteries
should be sent duly authenticated to the
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly.
4. The General Assembly has not called
for personal or presbyterlal criticisms
of this work. Criticisms, whether personal
or presbyterlal are, of course, always
in order. But these should not be
confounded with what the General Assembly
has asked the Presbyteries to do.
It ift nnrlprstnnH of cnnran that tharo
will be criticisms. But these are designed
to determine whether or not the
new proof texts are as a whole better
than the old. And the Presbyteries are
asked to say, after due examination, made
according to their own orders, whether
or not they prefer the new rather than
the old. In a word, the question before
the Presbyteries is not whether or not
the new set of texts may not be improved
in some, in many respects. Most of us
<1 the ad interim committee think that it
<an be improved in some respects; we
differ as to which respects. But there is
an ena to ail tilings. Our ministers
and lower church courts have been urged
to make suggestions. A large part of
the work has already been published.
Suggestions have been made by brethren
. and very carefully considered. There
is now a great demand for new plates for
the printing of a new edition of the doctrinal
Standards. To undertake now to
open up anew the whole question* of
revision in detail, would be at once endless
and needless. Let it be at once admitted
that the new texts are by no
means ideally the best. The question is,
Are they on the whole better than the
o'd? If so, let the Presbyteries say so,
and let us print them in the new editions
of thp StnnHfirSa
5. As to the versions. The text of the
old version is to be used even to the
use of italics, with insignificant exceptions.
The only one I now recall is in
the case of Hos. 6: 7, cited to sustain
Confession of Faith. Chaper VII, Section
VI, Letter n. The translation in the text
of the A. R. V. is, in the opinion of the
committee, far more apt than the trans
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOUTj
lation of the old version. The fact that
the revised translation is used is noted.
So far as I can learn, our Church has
not formally authorized the use of any
version. The Directory of Worship says:
"The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New
Testaments shall be read from the mosv
approved translation, in the vulgar
tongue, that all may hear and understand";
but what is the most approved
translation is not stated in the Directory,
nor elsewhere in our Standards;
nor bv anv delivpranoo that t fan find nf
our General Assembly. In 1882 the General
Assembly declined to take any action
as to the revised version of the New Testament,
for the reason that the work of
the devisers was not completed. The
simple truth is, that every minister is at
liberty to use any version; and, in his
exposition of the Scriptures, to make one
for himself. For us, the Scriptures in
the original languages are authoritative.
Our ministerial expositions must be in
accordance with these as they are interpreted
by our doctrinal Standards.
o. i Qeg leave to say, with all respect
to some of our brethren, that they are
taking this revision of the citation of
proof texts somewhat too seriously. It
is an important matter; and a good deal
of hard work and some money has been
expended on it under the directions of our
General Assembly. If changes are to be
made, now }s a good time to make them.
A new set of plates for the future printing
of the doctrinal Standards is a pressing
business necessity.
The old citations are unworthy of a
church that boasts of Its intelligence,
Biblical scholarship and reverence for the
Word of God. This is true, quite independP
n 11V of tVlP "morlta r\v /lomorifa
new set of citations, in regard to which
it is not my province to speak. To cite
1 John 5: 7, and other passages, which
competent scholars reject as no part of
the Scriptures, and the opinions and arguments
of Job's friends, repudiated by
God himself, as the very Word of God, is
not to reverence, but Jo dishonor the
Scriptures.
After all, important as it is to have a
well-selected set of citations, the proof
texts are not, as proof texts, authorita
tlve. Every man is entitled to select his
own proof texts. The Church deems it
wise to print along with its doctrinal
Standards certain passages as examples
of the Scriptures which it regards as supports
to its doctrinal statements. These
are guides to her people in comparing the
Standards with the Scriptures. It is highly
desirable to have them, as far as practicable,
genuine, revelant, apt, cogent.
The question which the General Assembly
asks the Presbyteries to vote on
is this: Are the new citations on thn
whole so much better than the old, as to
justify their use in the forthcoming editions
of the Standards?
Lexington, Missouri.
Victory over selfishness Is rewarded
ty that deeper insight and clearer vision
which gives the true interpretation of
life's problems.
H. October 13, 1909.
MAST SEMINARY.
In the northern part of the mountain
section of North Carolina, lies the county
of Watauga; and in the extreme northern
part of this county is situated the
wee village of Mast, and occupying a
prominent place in this village, is Mast
Seminary, and thereby hangs a tale.
Some twelve or fourteen years ago Rev.
R. P. Pell was evangelist in this loveliest
section of a most beautiful county.
At Mast he erected a building costing
something over $300 to be used as a
school and church. A few years later,
for reasons unnecessary to state here,
the house was sold to Mr. N. L. Mast for
what It had cost. Mr. Mast Is a wealthy
merchant with a big heart and a most
earnest desire to educate the children of
the mountains. He spent over $1,000 enlarging
and improving the building, making
of It a very substantial and comfortable
school house. Realizing that he
would be unable by himself to do what
he so ardently wished, he offered the
property to the Methodist Church, but
they were unable at that time to accept
the offer (although they recognized its
value), because the school was on the
extreme border of their conference. Mr.
Mast then offered to give the property to
the Presbyterian Church, and in addition
to the gift of the building he offered
a rental lease on a good ten-room dwelling
and three acre-lot for a dormitory,
at the nominal rent of $50 per year, with
the rent free for first year?this lease is
for five years. He also gave a purchase
option on five acres of land adjoining the
school, for expansion.
At first the idea was to make this the
co-educational department of Ivees-McRae
Institute, but after more careful consideration
it was thought best to make it
a separate school. So at the last meeting
of Concord Presbytery, at Banner
Elk, the offer was presented, the school,
Mast Seminary, was formally received,
and a special board of directors was appointed
consisting of Rev. T. E. P. Woods,
Rev. Edgar Tufts, Rev. W. S. Wilson, Mr.
N. L. Mast, and Dr. C. E. Reed.
The school ^s ideally situated to reach
the young people of the mountains. It
is in a beautiful valley, accessible to the
mountain section of Virginia, Tennessee
and North Carolina. The school is in the
center of a thickly settled neighborhood
of prosperous farmers, within a radius
of three miles there are over 400 children
of school age. There is a demand
in the country for a high grade preparatory
school, and this opportunity is a
great one for our Church.
Mast Seminary has opened modestly
with about forty pupils and is steadily
growing. It is distinctly a preparatory
school, but in these days of high stand
ards for the college this means ot highstandard
for the preparatory school. So
the curriculum Is more than the ordinary
high school, the instruction is thorough,
and the moral and spiritual influence
Is the best.
The dormitory under the management
of the principal and his wife has proven