THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH BIBLE REVISION
THE "UNAUTHORIZED VERSION"
The Gospel According to Rothschild
By Janet Moser and Barbara AhoThe commonly accepted account of English Bible revision begins in the year 1853 when B.F. Westcott and F.J.A. Hort set out to replace the Textus Receptus with a New Greek Text based on corrupt Alexandrian manuscripts. Virtually all King James Bible apologists start with Westcott and Hort who, they generally agree, were acting alone. However, revision of the English Bible actually began well in advance of 1853—at least in the early 1800s—as a joint project of the Church of England and American Baptists, sponsored and financed by the House of Rothschild through their innumerable fronts.
The following report is presented as a chronology of the stages leading to and during the period of revision of the Authorised Version. The facts which establish the early date of English Bible revision are available in A History of the Baptists: Traced by their Vital Principles and Practices, from the Time of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to the Year 1886 by Thomas Armitage, who was a member of the revisionist American Bible Union. Other sources reveal the hidden connections of key Bible revisers to secret societies controlled by the House of Rothschild, whose agenda was to transform the Christian Bible into an instrument of Zionism.
Why have the facts on the revisionist activities of the American Baptists been suppressed? Perhaps because the current well-known King James-Only defenders are all Baptists? And why have the Rothschild, Rhodes and Rockefeller connections to Bible revision been omitted from the standard histories, as well as the occult affiliations of the famous Bible revisers? Can this omission be due to the fact that the Baptists are deeply infiltrated by Freemasonry? Is the standard history of Bible revision a set up to insure that King James-Only believers, unaware of the Baptists' historical role in the revisionist conspiracy, will trust them as King James Bible defenders?
And what will be the next stage in the conspiracy to do away with the Word of God? After reading the "unauthorized version" of English Bible revision below, please see the following exposes:
Shock and Awe in the KJV-Only Camp
The Semitic New Testament: The Plot Against the Greek New Testament
bible Revision in America
1816 - The American Bible Society founded by New York philanthropists whose objective included translation as well as circulation of the Bible.
1827 - Thomas J. Conant of the American Baptist University of Rochester envisioned that the Bible should be thoroughly revised. Dr. Conant introduced the issue of translating "baptizein" as "immersion" in order to polarize the Baptists and employ the dialectical process in the field of Bible translation."William Colgate, a young Englishman, sacredly cherished a Bible which had been presented to him by his father, which was kept in his pew in the First Baptist meeting-house; but it was stolen, and thinking that Bibles must be very scarce or they would not be taken by theft, he conversed with others, and they resolved to form a society to meet the want. This society comprehended the purpose of translation as well as of circulation, and incorporated the following into its Constitution as its defining article: 'The object of this Society is to distribute the Bible only--and that without notes--amongst such persons as may not be able to purchase it; and also, as far as may be practicable, to translate or assist in causing it to be translated into other languages.'
"Soon other societies were formed in different places, and the universal want of a General Society began to be felt. At length, May 11, 1816, thirty-five local societies in different parts of the country sent delegates to a Bible Convention which assembled in New York, and organized the American Bible Society for 'The dissemination of the Scriptures in the received versions where they exist, and in the most faithful where they may be required.' Most of the local societies either disbanded or were made auxilliary to the General Society. The Baptists became at once its earnest and liberal supporters." [Armitage, p. 893]
"The American Bible Society, founded in 1816 by a group of New York philanthropists." [American Bible Society]
One of the founders of the ABS was Grand Master of the Masonic Lodge of New York.
"Even in 1818 (less than a decade before the dramatic turn in Masonic philosophy was manifested), the Christian nature of Freemasonry was still being openly advanced. For example, a Masonic work published that year in New York by Salem Town [System of Speculative Freemasonry] admonished American Freemasons to be bold in publicizing that 'the foundation is laid in evangelical truth'...
"That 1818 Masonic work then concluded: [A]bove all, it is not, neither can it be a secret, that a good Mason is of necessity, truly and emphatically a Christian.'
"(The endorsing preface to that work was written by Dewitt Clinton - Grand Master of the Lodge of New York. Clinton was a U.S. Senator and introduced the 12th Amendment to the Constitution. Additionally, he was an active Vice-President of the American Bible Society and was outspoken about his Christian faith and about placing the Word of God in the hands of every American.)" - 1115:39-40
The American Bible Society was financially supported by the British and Foreign Bible Society of London which had high level connections to the Quatuor Coronati Lodge founded by the Palestine Exploration Fund, which was established by the United Grand Lodge of England to make preparations for a Jewish State in Palestine.
"In 1816, two members of the [Nassau Bible] Society participated in the founding of the American Bible Society. It...received financial support from the British and Foreign Bible Society of London." [Princeton University]
"In 1865, under the patronage of Queen Victoria, all of the elite institutions of Britain, including the Anglican Church, the Grand Lodge of England, Oxford and Cambridge Universities, etc., gathered to fund a new institution, the Palestine Exploration Fund, dedicated to the 'rediscovery' of the Holy Land...
"Through the PEF, the British re-established the tradition of cultural/religious manipulation in the 19th century. [Walter] Besant was the PEF's secretary from 1868 until 1886, the year when PEF head Sir Charles Warren and he became, respectively, the first Grand Master, and the first Treasurer, of the Quatuor Coronati lodge--which they established, in their own words, as an 'archaeology lodge,' the first ever in the history of freemasonry...
"Michael Baigent [author of Holy Blood, Holy Grail], is a Corresponding Member of the Quatuor Coronati lodge, and Brother Baigent thanks, for his assistance, the Rev. Neville B. Cryer, one of Quatuor Coronati's most prominent members, and the longtime head of the immensely influential British and Foreign Bible Society." [EIR 58-9]
Yasha Beresiner, Past Master of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge: “Freemasons’ Hall in London, the home of the United Grand Lodge of England …became a popular venue for many events, amongst which are recorded meetings of the British and Foreign Bible Society…” (Scottish Rite Journal of Freemasonry)
“Freemasonry is a Jewish establishment, whose history, grades, official appointments, passwords, and explanations are Jewish from beginning to end.” (Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, a major pioneer of Reform Judaism in America, 1855)
“Freemasonry is based on Judaism. Eliminate the teachings of Judaism from the Masonic ritual and what is left?” (The Jewish Tribune, editorial, 1927)
See also: Heeding Bible Prophecy: New Israel
"This chapter can scarcely be closed more appropriately than by a brief notice of four devoted Baptists, translators of the sacred Scriptures, in whose work and worth the denomination may feel an honest pride. The veteran translator, Thomas J. Conant, D.D. . . Since 1857 Dr. Conant has devoted himself almost exclusively to the great work of his life, the translation and revision of the common English version of the Scriptures. He became thoroughly convinced as far back as the year 1827, on a critical comparison of that version with the earlier ones on which it was based, that it should be thoroughly revised, since which time he has made all his studies subsidiary to that end. . . his revision of the Bible, done for the American Bible Union, is the invaluable work of his life. . . This comprises the entire New Testament with the following books of the Old, namely: Genesis, Joshua, Judges, I. and II. Samuel, I. and II. Kings, Job, Psalms, Proverbs and a portion of Isaiah. Many of these are accompanied with invaluable critical and philological notes, and are published with the Hebrew and English text in parallel columns. His work known as 'Baptizein,' which is a monograph of that term, philologically and historically investigated, and which demonstrates its uniform sense to be immerse, must remain a monument to this distinguished Oriental scholar, while men are interested in its bearing on the exposition of Divine truth." [Armitage, p, 914-15]1830 - The American Bible Society funded Adoniram Judson's Burman Bible which changed "baptism" to "immersion."The Hegelian Dialectic: Thesis + Antithesis = Synthesis. "The thesis is an intellectual [or spiritual] proposition. The antithesis is simply the negation of the thesis. The synthesis solves the conflict between the thesis and antithesis by reconciling their common truths, and forming a new proposition." (Answers.com)
"As early as 1830 [the American Bible Society] made an appropriation of $1,200 for Judson's 'Burman Bible', through the Baptist Triennial Convention, with the full knowledge that he had translated the family of words relating to baptism by words which meant immerse and immersion, and down to 1835 the Society had appropriated $18,500 for the same purpose." [Armitage, p. 893]1835 - American Bible Society rejected any foreign version not consistent with the common version [Authorised Version (KJV)] - such as Bengali New Testament.1836 - American & Foreign Bible Society formed by Baptist churches to circulate Bengali New Testament and other versions that would translate "baptize/baptism" as "immerse/immersion.""In 1835 Mr. Pearce asked the Society to aid in printing the 'Bengali New Testament,' which was translated upon the same principle as Judson's Bible. The committee which considered the application reported as follows: 'That the committee does not deem it expedient to recommend its appropriation until the Board settle a principle in relation to the Greek word baptizo.' Then the whole subject was referred to a committee of seven, who, November 19, 1835, presented the following reports:
'The Committee to whom was recommitted the determining of a principle upon which the American Bible Society will aid in printing and distributing the Bible in foreign languages, beg leave to report,
'That they are of the opinion that it is expedient to withdraw their former report on the particular case and to present the following one on the general principle;
'By the Constitution of the American Bible Society, its Managers are, in the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, restricted to such copies as are without note or comment, and in the English language, to the version in common use. . .'The subscriber, as a member of the Committee to whom was referred the application of Messrs. Pearce and Yates, for aid in the circulation of the Bengali New Testament, begs to submit the following considerations:
'1. The Baptist Board of Foreign Missions have not been under the impression that the American Bible Society was organized upon the central principle that baptizo and its cognates were never to be translated, but always transferred, in all versions of the Scriptures patronized by them..." [Armitage pp. 894-5]"The Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, which met at Hartford, April 27th [1836], had anticipated the possible result, and resolved that in this event it would 'be the duty of the Baptist denomination in the United states to form a distinct organization for Bible translation and distribution in foreign tongues' and had resolved on the need of a Convention of Churches, at Philadelphia, in April, 1837, 'to adopt such measures as circumstances, in the providence of God may require.' But the meeting in Oliver Street thought it wise to form a new Bible Society at once, and on that day organized the American and Foreign Bible Society provisionally, subject to the decision of the Convention to be held in Philadelphia. This society was formed 'to promote a wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures, in the most faithful version that can be procured.' In three months it sent $13,000 for the circulation of Asiatic Scriptures, and moved forward with great enthusiasm." [Armitage, p. 897]
In this year, Mayer Amschel Rothschild purchased land in Palestine.
“In 1836, [Zevi] Kalischer appealed to Mayer Amschel (...Rothschild) to buy out completely the land of Israel or at least Jerusalem and particularly the Temple area in order to ‘bring about the miraculous redemption from below’. Zevi Kalischer said the salvation promised by the prophets of old could come only gradually and by self-help from the Jews.” - 211:63
1838 - President of the American & Foreign Bible Society, Dr. Spencer H. Cone, sought immediately to revise the English Scriptures, however, the American and Foreign Bible Society voted against it. Dr. Cone's plan was thwarted for 14 years during which much pressure for revision was exerted and a revised AV was published."After a year's deliberation the great Bible Convention met in the meeting house of the First Baptist Church, Philadelphia, April 26th, 1837. It consisted of 390 members, sent from Churches, Associations, State Conventions, Education Societies and other bodies, in twenty-three States and in the District of Columbia. . .1849-50 - American and Foreign Bible Society removed restriction to use common version (Authorised Version).
"A constitution was then adopted and officers chosen by the Convention itself. It elected Spencer H. Cone for President...
"...At its annual meeting in 1838 its constitution was so amended as to read: 'It shall be the object of this Society to aid in the wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures in all lands.'. . .
"From the first, many in the new Society, led by Dr. Cone, desired to proceed at once to a revision of the English Scriptures, under the guidance of the principles applied to the Asiatic versions made by the Baptist missionaries. But in deference to the opposition of some who approved of the Society in all other respects, at its annual meeting in 1838 it 'Resolved, That in the distribution of the Scriptures in the English language, they will use the commonly received version until otherwise directed by the Society.' Whatever difference of opinion existed amongst the founders of that Society about the immediate expediency of applying the principle of its constitution to the English version, its ultimate application became but a question of time, and this action was postponed for fourteen years. Meanwhile, this measure was pressed in various directions, in addresses at its anniversaries, in essays published by various persons, and in the Society's correspondence. In 1842 Rev. Messrs. David Bernard and Samuel Aaron issued a very able treatise on the need of 'Revising and Amending King James Version of the Holy Scriptures.' They also procured and published in that year, through the publishing house of J. B. Lippincott, of Philadelphia, a revised version of the Old and New Testaments, 'carefully revised and amended by several Biblical scholars.' This they say they did 'in accordance with the advice of many distinguished brethren, the services of a number of professors, some of whom rank among the first in our country for their knowledge of the original languages and Biblical interpretation and criticism, have been secured to prepare this work.' Amongst these were the late Prof. Whiting, Prof. A.C. Kendrick and other leading scholars who still live and have labored on other revisions. [Armitage, pp. 897-900]David Bernard and Samuel Aaron, who produced a revised version of the Bible, denied the divine preservation of Scripture.
"The vast majority of those who read the English Bible are entirely ignorant of the Greek; of the non-translation of baptizo — and its signification... As to our being 'left without a standard', through the multiplicity and variety of translations, we have only to say that there can, in the nature of things, be no perfect standard but the Hebrew and Greek originals; these, being written by inspired men, are infallible, while all translations by men uninspired must be more or less imperfect. The number of translations cannot affect the original." [Samuel Aaron & David Bernard, The Faithful Translation (1842) pg. 30]
"The American and Foreign Bible Society held its annual meeting in New York May 11th, 1849, and, on the motion of Hon. Isaac Davis, of Massachusetts, after considerable discussion, it was 'Resolved, That the restriction laid by the Society upon the Board of Managers in 1838, 'to use only the commonly received version in the distribution of the Scriptures in the English language,' be removed.' This restriction being removed, the new board referred the question of revision to a committee of five. After long consideration that committee presented three reports: one with three signatures and two minority reports. The third, from the pen of Warren Carter, Esq., was long and labored as an argument against altering the common version at all. In January, 1850, the majority report was unanimously adopted in these words:1850 [May 22] - American & Foreign Bible Society voted against revision of the English Scriptures [A.V.]. Dr. Cone resigns as president.'Resolved, That, in the opinion of this board, the sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testament ought to be faithfully and accurately translated into every living language.
'Resolved, That wherever, in versions now in use, known and obvious errors exist, and wherever the meaning of the original is concealed or obscured, suitable measures ought to be prosecuted to correct those versions, so as to render the truth clear and intelligible to the ordinary reader.
'Resolved, That in regard to the expediency of this board undertaking the correction of the English version, a decided difference of opinion exists, and, therefore, that it be judged most prudent to await the instruction of the Society.'A most impassioned debate ensued. Drs. Cone and Wyckoff of the American and Foreign Bible Society publish "The Bible Translated" to defend their action. Revisionists issue sample revised N.T.. Those opposed to revision call for many to 'rebuke this metropolitan power' to crush the revisionist movement forever.
"On the publication of these resolutions the greatest excitement spread through the denomination. Most of its journals were flooded with communications, pro and con, sermons were preached in a number of pulpits denouncing the movement, and public meetings were held in several cities to the same end, notable amongst them one at the Oliver Street Church, in New York, April 4th, 1850. This feeling was greatly increased by the two following facts: Mr. Carter, an intelligent layman, but neither a scholar nor an able thinker, having submitted a learned and elaborate paper as his minority report, which occupied an hour in the reading, and believing that it was inspired by an astute author in New York who had opposed the Society from the first, and was then a member of the Board of the American Bible Society, Dr. Cone and William H. Wyckoff, President and Secretary of the American and Foreign Bible Society, published a pamphlet over their names in defense of the action of the board, under the title, 'The Bible Translated.' The second fact arose from the demand of Mr. Carter that those in favor of a revision of the English Scriptures should issue, in the form of a small edition of the New Testament, a specimen of the character of the emendations which they desired, in regard to obsolete words, to words and phrases that failed to express the meaning of the original Greek, or the addition of words by the translators, errors in grammar, profane expressions and sectarian renderings. Deacon William Colgate, the Treasurer, said that he approved of this suggestion, and if Brethren Cone and Wyckoff would procure and issue such an edition as a personal enterprise, he, as a friend of revision, would personally pay the cost of the plates and printing. This was done, and in their preface they stated that by the aid of 'eminent scholars,' who had 'kindly co-operated and given their hearty approval to the proposed corrections,' they submitted their work, not for acceptance by the Society, but as a specimen of some changes which might be properly made, and that the plates would be presented to the Society if they were desired. This was sufficient to fan the fire to a huge flame; much stormy and uncalled for severity was invoked, and a large attendance was called for at the annual meeting to 'rebuke this metropolitan power' and crush the movement forever." [Armitage, pp. 900-1]
1850 [May 27] - 24 revisionists including Dr. Cone and Thomas Armitage met to plan their new Bible revision society. Armitage created the resolutions' wording."The Society met for its thirteenth anniversary in New York on the morning of May 22d, 1850. The crowd of life members, life directors and other delegates was very large, and the excitement rose as high as it well could. From the first it was manifest that calm, deliberate discussion and conference were not to be had, but that measures adverse to all revision were to be carried with a high hand. It had been customary to elect officers and managers before the public services; but before this could be done Rev. Isaac Westcott moved: 'That this Society, in the issues and circulation of the English Scriptures, be restricted to the commonly received version, without note or comment;' and further moved that, as probably all minds were made up on the question, the vote should be taken without debate. Determined resistance to this summary process secured the postponement of the question to the afternoon, and other business was attended to. At that session each speaker was confined to fifteen minutes. Then in the heat of the Society it so far forgot the object of its organization as to vote down by an overwhelming majority the very principle on which it was organized. In the hope that, if revision could not be entertained, at least a great principle might be conserved as a general basis of agreement thereafter, the revisionists, on consultation, submitted the following: 'Resolved, That it is the duty of the Society to circulate the sacred Scriptures in the most faithful versions that can be procured.' When the Society had rejected this, and thus stultified itself, and denied not only its paternity but its right to exist by rejecting that fundamental principle, it was seen at a glance that all hope of its unity was gone. . .
"On the 23d, the following, offered by Rev. Dr. Turnbull, of Connecticut, was adopted:
"'Resolved, That it is not the province and duty of the American and Foreign Bible Society to attempt, on their own part, or procure from others, a revision of the commonly received English version of the Scriptures."
"This action was followed by the election of the officers and the board by ballot, when Dr. Cone was re-elected President; but the Secretary, William H. Wyckoff, and the venerable Deacon Colgate, were proscribed, together with ten of the old managers, all known revisionists. No person then present can wish to witness another such scene in a Baptist body to the close of life. Dr. Cone, at that time in his sixty-sixth year...said, with a stifled and almost choked utterance: 'Brethren, I believe my work in this Society is done. Allow me to tender you my resignation." [Armitage, pp. 902-3]
"On the 27th of May, 1850, twenty-four revisionists met in the parlor of Deacon Colgate's house, No. 128 Chambers Street, to take into consideration what present duty demanded at their hands. . . Dr. Cone presided, E.S. Whitney served as secretary, and Deacon Colgate led in prayer. . . T. Armitage offered the following, which, after full discussion, were adopted:1850 [June 10] - American Bible Union organized, with Dr. Cone as president, for purpose of revising the English Bible.'Whereas, The word and will of God, as conveyed in the inspired originals of the Old and New Testaments, are the only infallible standards of faith and practice, and therefore it is of unspeakable importance that the sacred Scriptures should be faithfully and accurately translated into every living language;
'Whereas, A Bible Society is bound by imperative duty to employ all the means in its power to insure that the books which it circulates as the revealed will of God to man, should be as free from error and obscurity as possible; and,
'Whereas, There is not now any general Bible Society in the country which has not more or less restricted itself by its own enactments from the discharge of this duty; therefore,
'Resolved. That it is our duty to form a voluntary association for the purpose of procuring and circulating the most faithful version of the sacred Scriptures in all languages.
'Resolved. That in such an association we will welcome all persons to co-operate with us, who embrace the principles upon which we propose to organize, without regard to their denominational principles in other respects.'" [Armitage, pp. 906-7]1850 - Protest to Bible revision arose in the United States. Dr. Conant began with Old Testament. Revisers of New Testament were to use Bagsters' Greek New Testament [1851]. Philip Schaff served on American Committee."On the 10th of June, 1850, a very large meeting was held at the Baptist Tabernacle in Mulberry Street, New York, at which the American Bible Union was organized, under a constitution which was then adopted, and an address explaining its purposes was given to the public. Dr. Cone was elected president of the Union, Wm. H. Wyckoff, Corresponding Secretary; Deacon Colgate, Treasurer; E.S. Whitney, Recording Secretary, and Sylvester Pier, Auditor, together with a board of twenty-four managers. The second article of the constitution defined the object of the Union thus:
'Its object shall be to procure and circulate the most faithful versions of the sacred Scriptures in all languages throughout the world.'" [Armitage, p. 907]
NOTE: Most members and directors of the American Bible Union were Baptists.
"Although the American Bible Union had always disclaimed that it was a Baptist Society, yet, a large majority of its life members and directors being Baptists, in harmony with the expressed wish of the denomination to do the Bible work of Baptists through the Missionary Union and the Publication Society, the Bible Union disposed of all its book-stock and plates to the Publication Society, on condition that its versions should be published according to demand. The American and Foreign Bible Society did the same, and now, in the English tongue, the Publication Society is circulating, according to demand, the issues of the Bible Union, the commonly received version and the Canterbury revision, with the emendations recommended by the American corps of scholars incorporated into the text; and so it has come to pass that the denomination which refused to touch the English revision in 1850 came, in less than a quarter of a century, to put its imprint upon two, to pronounce them fit for use amongst Baptists, and to circulate them cheerfully." [Armitage, pp. 912-13]
Revisers came from Great Britain:
"Next to Dr. Cone, the three men who did more to promote the revision of the English Bible than any others, were Drs. Archibald Maclay, William H. Wyckoff, and Deacon William Colgate." Archibald Maclay, D.D., was born in Scotland in 1778, and in early life became a Congregational pastor there; but after his emigration to New York and a most useful pastorate there amongst that body he became a Baptist... William H. Wyckoff, LL.D., was endowed with great intellectual powers, and graduated at Union College in 1828. [Jonathan Edwards, Pres. 1799-1801]... Deacon William Colgate...was born in Kent, England, in 1783, came to this country and established a large business in New York, which by his thrift and skill endowed him with abundant means for doing good. [soap-making business]" [Armitage, Ch. XVII]
"While many men of learning and nerve espoused the movement, as storm of opposition was raised against it from one end of the land to the other. It expressed itself chiefly in harsh words, ridicule, denunciation, appeals to ignorance, prejudice and ill temper, with not and then an attempt at scholarly refutation in a spirit much more worthy of the subject itself and the respective writers. Every consideration was presented on the subject but the main thought: that the Author of the inspired originals had the infinite right to a hearing, and that man was in duty bound to listen to his utterances, all human preference or expediency to the contrary notwithstanding. After considerable correspondence with scholars in this country and in Europe, the following general rules were adopted, and many scholars on both sides of the Atlantic commenced their work on a preliminary revision of the Bible. [Armitage, p. 908]
"Dr. Conant proceeded with the revision of the English Old Testament, aided in the Hebrew text by Dr. Rodiger, of Halle, Germany.
"The following were the general rules of the Union:
'1. The exact meaning of the inspired text, as that text expressed it to those who understood the original Scriptures at the time they were first written, must be translated by corresponding words and phrases, so far as they can be found in the vernacular tongue of those for whom the version is designed, with the least possible obscurity or indefiniteness.
'2. Wherever there is a version in common use it shall be made the basis of revision, and all unnecessary interference with the established phraseology shall be avoided, and only such alteration shall be made as the exact meaning of the inspired text and the existing state of the language may require.
'3. Translations or revisions of the New Testament shall be made from the received Greek text, critically edited with known errors corrected."The following common English version must be the basis of the revision; the Greek text, Bagster & Son's octavo edition of 1851." [Armitage, p. 908]
There were 2 groups of revisers who worked on preliminary translations: European and American with Philip Schaff on the American committee.
"Amongst the scholars who worked on the preliminary revision in Europe were Revs. Wm. Peechey, A.M.; Jos. Angus, M.A., M.R.A.S.; T.J. Gray, D.D., Ph.D.; T. Boys, A.M.; A.S. Thelwall, M.A.; Francis Clowes, M.A.; F.W. Gotch, A.M.; and Jas. Patterson, D.D. Amongst the American revisers were. . . Drs. J.L. Dagg, John Lillie, O.B. Judd, Philip Schaff, Joseph Muenscher, John Forsyth, W.P. Strickland and James Shannon; Profs. E.S. Gallup, E. Adkins, M.K. Pendleton, N.N. Whiting, with Messrs. Alexander Campbell, Edward Maturin, Esq., E. Lord and S.E. Shepherd." [Armitage, p. 908-9]
Phillip Schaff is known as the “Father of Ecumenical Movement.”
“Shortly before his death, Philip Schaff made a now famous address on ‘The Reunion of Christendom’ before the World Parliament of Religions, in...893. In this address, Schaff urged a ‘federal or confederate union’ resembling the ‘political confederation of Switzerland, the United States, and the modern German Empire. This federation would be a ‘voluntary association of different Churches in their official capacity, each retaining its freedom and independence in the management of its internal affairs, but all recognizing one another as sisters with equal rights, and cooperating in general enterprises, such as the spread of the gospel at home and abroad, the defense of the faith against infidelity, the elevation of the poor and neglected classes of society, works of philanthropy and charity, and moral reform’. This farewell address of the aged ecumenical leader was thus prophetic of the Federal Council [of Churches] of the 20th century, and even more of its successor, National Council of Churches.” (Rouse, A History of the Ecumenical Movement) 84:256
BIBLE REVISION IN ENGLAND
1851 - B.F. Westcott and F.J.A. Hort found the Cambridge University Ghost Society, one of the early pioneers of modern Spiritualist inquiry:COLLABORATION OF AMERICAN & BRITISH REVISION COMMITTEES"In 1851 was founded at Cambridge a Society to 'conduct a serious and earnest inquiry into the nature of the phenomena vaguely called supernatural,' and a number of distinguished persons became members." [Alan Gauld, The Founders of Psychical Research, NY:Schocken Books, 1968, p. 66]
Cambridge Ghost Society was parent of the Society for Psychical Research, which was directed by Henry Sidgwick, the husband of Eleanor Balfour, who was the sister of Arthur Balfour.
1853 - B.F.Westcott and F.J.A. Hort begin New Greek Testament based on Alexandrian manuscripts."Among the numerous persons and groups who in the middle of the nineteenth century were making enquiries into psychical occurrences may be mentioned a society from which our own can claim direct descent. In the Life of Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury, by his son, A. C. Benson, will be found, under the year 1851-2, the following paragraph:
"'Among my father's diversions at Cambridge was the foundation of a 'Ghost Society,' the forerunner of the Psychical Society [meaning the S.P.R.] for the investigation of the supernatural. Lightfoot, Westcott and Hort were among the members. He was then, as always, more interested in psychical phenomena than he cared to admit.'
"Lightfoot and Westcott both became bishops, and Hort Professor of Divinity. The S.P.R. has hardly lived up to the standard of ecclesiastical eminence set by the parent society." [brackets in original] [W.H. Salter, The Society For Psychical Research: An Outline of its History, London, 1948, pp. 5,6]
Fenton John Antony Hort joined the Cambridge Company of the Apostles.
“...[F.J.A. Hort] found time to attend the meetings of various [Cambridge] societies and in June joined the mysterious Company of the Apostles… He remained always a grateful and loyal member of the secret Club, which has now become famous for the number of distinguished men who have belonged to it. In his time the Club was in a manner reinvigorated, and he was mainly responsible for the wording of an oath which binds members to a conspiracy of silence. " (Alan Gauld, The Founders of Psychical Research, NY: Schocken Books, 1968, pp. 317, 49)
"(The) Apostles had hoped that developments in the social sciences would before long make possible an equitable and frictionless society..." (Life and Letters of Fenton John Anthony Hort, Vol. I, p. 170)
"In 1853 Hort began to devote himself more definitely to work on the lines recently laid down for himself. . . It was during these weeks, in the course of a walk with Mr. Westcott, who had come to see him at Umberslade, that the plan of a joint revision of the text of the Greek New Testament was first definitely agreed upon. . . About this time Mr. Daniel Macmillan suggested to him that he should take part in an interesting and comprehensive 'New Testament Scheme.' Hort was to edit the text in conjunction with Mr. Westcott; the latter was to be responsible for a commentary, and Lightfoot was to contribute a New Testament Grammar and Lexicon." [Arthur Hort, Life and Letters of Fenton John Anthony Hort, Volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., 1896, pp. 239-40]April 19, 1853 letter to Rev. John Ellerton: "One result of our talk I may as well tell you. He (Westcott) and I are going to edit a Greek text of the New Testament some two or three years hence, if possible. Lachmann and Tischendorf will supply rich materials, but not nearly enough; and we hope to do a good deal with Oriental versions. Our object is to supply clergymen generally, schools, etc., with a portable Greek text which shall not be disfigured with Byzantine corruptions." [Ibid., p. 250]1856 - Alarm that American Bible Union would translate "baptism" as "immersion." Movements in favor of revision proliferate in England."As early as 1856 great alarm was awakened at the prospect that the American Bible Union would translate the Greek word 'baptize' into English, instead of transferring it, and the 'London Times' of that year remarked that there were already 'several distinct movements in favor of revision of the authorized version' of 1611." [Armitage, p. 909]1858-59 - In England, Dr. Trench calls for a "better" revision that would "set aside the so-called Baptists" as revisers because they "interpret" rather than translate. Real reason: the American Baptists were limited to translating from the Textus Receptus and Trench planned to use the Westcott-Hort New Greek Text."The 'Edinburgh Review' and many similar periodicals took strong ground for its revision, and, in 1858, Dr. Trench, then Dean of Westminster, issued an elaborate treatise showing the imperfect state of the commonly received version, and the urgent need of its revision, in which he said: 'Indications of the interest which it is awakening reach us from every side. America is sending us installments--it must be owned not very encouraging ones--of a new version as fast as she can... I am persuaded that a revision ought to come. I am convinced that it will come. The wish for a revision has for a considerable time been working among dissenters here; by the voice of one of these it has lately made itself known in Parliament, and by the mouth of a Regius professor in Convocation.' The revision of the Bible Union was a sore thorn in his side; and in submitting a plan of revision in the last chapter, in which he proposed to invite the Biblical scholars of 'the land to assist with their suggestions here, even though they might not belong to the church,' of course they would be asked as scholars, not as dissenters, he adds: 'Setting aside, then, the so-called Baptists, who, of course, could not be invited, seeing that they demand not a translation of the Scripture but an interpretation, and that in their own sense.' Some Baptist writer had denied in the 'Freeman' of November 17, 1858, that the Baptists desired to disturb the word 'baptize' in the English version, but the Dean was so alarmed about their putting an 'interpretation' into the text instead of a transfer, that he said in a second edition, in 1859 (page 210): 'I find it hard to reconcile this with the fact that in their revision (Bible Union) baptizo is always changed into immerse, and baptism into immersion.' The pressure of public sentiment, however, compelled him to call for revision, for he said: 'However we may be disposed to let the subject alone; it will not let us alone. It has been too effectually stirred ever again to go to sleep; and the difficulties, be they few or many, will have one day to be encountered. The time will come when the inconveniences of remaining where we are will be so manifestly greater than the inconveniences of action, that this last will become inevitable." [Armitage, pp. 909-10]1865 - American Bible Union's version is completed and printed. Church of England represented on American revision committee. American Bible Union propaganda creates demand for revision in England, leading to the Convocation of Canterbury in 1870."The final revision of the New Testament was committed to Drs. Conant, Hackett, Schaff and Kendrick and was published in 1865. The revisers held ecclesiastical connections in the Church of England, Old School Presbyterian, Disciples Associate Reformed Presbyterians, Seventh-Day Baptists, American Protestant Episcopalians, Regular Baptists and German Reformed Church. Of the Old Testament books, the Union published Genesis, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Job, Psalms and Proverbs; I. and II. Samuel, I. and II. Kings, I. and II. Chronicles, remaining in manuscript, with a portion of Isaiah. It also prepared an Italian and Spanish New Testament, the latter being prepared by Don Juan De Calderon, of the Spanish Academy. Also a New Testament in the Chinese written character, and another in the colloquial for Ningpo; one in the Siamese, and another in the Sqau Karen, besides sending a large amount of money for versions amongst the heathen, through the missionaries and missionary societies. It is estimated that about 750,000 copies of the newly translated or revised versions of the Scriptures, mostly of the New Testament, were circulated by the Union. Its tracts pamphlets, addresses, reports and revisions so completely revolutionized public opinion on the subject of revision that a new literature was created on the subject, both in England and America, and a general demand for revision culminated in action on that subject by the Convocation of Canterbury in 1870." [Armitage, p. 909]
1870 - English revisionists begin New Testament using American Bible Union's version for consultation, but the Westcott-Hort New Greek Text as its textual basis.
"The whole subject came up before the Convocation of the Province of Canterbury in February, 1870, when one of the most memorable discussions took place that ever agitated the Church of England, in which those who conceded the desirableness of revision took ground, and amongst them the Bishop of Lincoln, that the American movement necessitated the need of prompt action on the part of the Church of England. In May of the same year the Convocation resolved:That it is desirable that Convocation should nominate a body of its own members to undertake the work of revision, who shall be at liberty to invite the co-operation of any eminent for scholarship, to whatever nation or religious body they may belong.'..."The revisers commenced their work in June, 1870, and submitted the New Testament complete May 17th, 1881, the work being done chiefly by seventeen Episcopalians, two of the Scotch Church, two dissenting Presbyterians, one Unitarian, one Independent and one Baptist. A board of American scholars had co-operated, and submitted 'a list of readings and renderings' which they preferred to those finally adopted by their English brethren; a list comprising fourteen separate classes of passages, running through the entire New Testament, besides several hundred separate words and phrases. The Bible Union's New Testament was published nearly six years before the Canterbury revision was begun, and nearly seventeen years before it was given to the world. Although Dr. Trench had pronounced the 'installments' of the American Bible Union's New Testament 'not very encouraging,' yet the greatest care was had to supply the English translators with that version. During the ten and a half years consumed in their work, they met in the Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster each month for ten months of every year, each meeting lasting four days, each day from eleven o'clock to six; and the Bible Union's New Testament lay on their table all that time, being most carefully consulted before changes from the common version were agreed upon. One of the best scholars in the corps of English revisers said to the writer: 'We never make an important change without consulting the Union's version. Its changes are more numerous than ours, but four out of five changes are in exact harmony with it, and I am mortified to say that the pride of English scholarship will not allow us to give due credit to that superior version for its aid.' This was before the Canterbury version was completed, but when it was finished it was found that the changes in sense from the common version were more numerous than those of the Union's version, and that the renderings in that version are verbatim in hundreds of cases with those of the Union's version." [Armitage, pp. 910-11]Phillip Schaff became a professor at the Rockefeller-funded Union Theological Seminary.
"He became a professor at Union Theological Seminary, New York City in 1870 holding first the chair of theological encyclopedia and Christian symbolism till 1873, of Hebrew and the cognate languages till 1874, of sacred literature till 1887, and finally of church history, till his death." [Wikipedia]
“Henry Sloane Coffin was Professor of Practical Theology at Union Theological Seminary from 1904 to 1926 and President of Union Theological Seminary from 1926 to 1945. He was initiated into the Order of Skull & Bones in 1897. No doubt some influence was placed upon the seminary by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. who helped the seminary’s 1922 endowment drive with a gift of $1,083,333... Union Theological Seminary in New York [was] a subsidiary of the Rockefeller Octopus…” [Unholy Alliances, 540:148,152]
1871 - Philip Schaff conferred with the English Revision Committee. American revision committee met in Schaff's study. Collaboration between American and British committees.
"The summer of 1871 Dr. Schaff spent in Europe and had conferences with Dean Stanley and Bishop Ellicott and with the revision committee as a whole. From his daily journal it appears that on June 26, he saw the dean. 'I had a very important interview. All the details about Bible revision are settled satisfactorily. The steps I have taken in organizing the American committee are fully approved.' At Dr. Stoughton's, I dine with a number of the Bible Revisers.' Of the sessions of the Revision companies at the Deanery of Westminster he has this to say: 'The meeting of the New Testament Revisers was intensely interesting. Lightfoot, Westcott, Hort, Scrivener, Angus, Merivale, Eadie, David Brown, the Bishop of Gloucester...the Bishop of Salisbury and others were all there. No outsider is admitted except the Archbishop of Canterbury [Edward White Benson/Ghost Society].' Before his return to the United States the revision of Matthew was completed, but the copies which were ready for transmission were detained on account of the delay in securing one or more bishops of the Episcopal Church as members of the American committee."The first meeting of the American committee was held in Dr. Schaff's study in the Bible House, New York, December 7, 1871... The American companies were to receive the Revision text of the British companies and transmit their emendations back to them..." [Schaff, David S., The Life of Philip Schaff, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1897, pp. 362-3]
1872 - B.F. Westcott, J.B. Lightfoot and F.J.A. Hort found elite club for elder Apostles, the Eranus.
"[F.J.A. Hort] also regularly went to the meetings of a sort of senior 'Apostles' called the 'Eranus,' a club composed of elder men of various tastes and pursuits… The originator of the idea was the present Bishop of Durham (Westcott), and he, together with Lightfoot and your father, may be regarded as constituting the original nucleus of the club…It was not designed to have, nor has it from first to last had, a preponderantly theological character; on the contrary, its fundamental idea was that it should contain representatives of different departments of academic study, and afford them regular opportunities for meeting and for an interchange of ideas…" ((Arthur Hort, Vol. I, pp. 184-5)
1873 - Timothy Dwight (Skull & Bones, 1849) was subsequently added to the American New Testament revision committee. Timothy Dwight, who became the President of Yale University, was the grandson of Rev. Timothy Dwight (1752-1817) who was the grandson of famous Rev. Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), a personal friend of Pres. George Washington, a high-level Freemason.
"[T]o the New Testament company [was subsequently added]...Professor Timothy Dwight of Yale College." [Life of Philip Schaff, pp. 362-3ff.]
"Timothy Dwight was a man for all seasons: an ordained Congregational minister, grandson of Jonathan Edwards, personal friend of George Washington, and Army chaplain." (Cyber Hymnal)
1878 – William Blackstone’s tract promotes Zionism leading to First Niagara Prophecy Conference.
“Born in Adams, New York in 1841, William Eugene Blackstone became a successful businessman specializing in real estate outside Chicago after the Civil War. A self-taught lay evangelist and Bible teacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church, Blackstone eventually devoted himself to missionary work. While at a YMCA convention, Blackstone asked the Reverend James Hall Brooke, one of the foremost ministers of the time, to write a tract about the second coming that he could pass out on trains as he traveled. Instead, Brooke suggested that Blackstone write it himself and that he would publish it. Brooke's suggestion led Blackstone to compose Jesus is Coming, hailed as ‘probably the most wide-read book in this century on our Lord’s return.’ First published in 1878, its 1908 revised edition was financed by California oilman Lyman Stewart and distributed by the hundreds of thousands; by Blackstone's death in 1935, Jesus is Coming had been translated into thirty-six languages, with over a million copies printed.
“...The year Jesus is Coming first appeared--1878--also saw the first of a series of prophecy and Bible conferences, eventually known as the Niagara Prophecy Conferences, held around the United States which established this proto-fundamentalist theological tendency. Ministers from a wide spectrum of denominations combined elements of Princeton theology, biblical literalism, and premillennialism with a conservative opposition to higher criticism, modernism, and other liberalizing trends.” – ("In the Shadow of God's Sundial,” Hilton Obenzinger, 516)
Is “Blackstone” a pseudonym?
“Chief among these is the one concerning the famous black stone in the seat of the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey, which is declared to be the actual rock used by Jacob as a pillow. The black stone also appears several times in religious symbolism. It was called Heliogabalus, a word presumably derived from Elagabal, the Syro-Phœnician sun god. This stone was sacred to the sun and declared to possess great and diversified properties. The black stone in the Caaba at Mecca is still revered throughout the Mohammedan world. It is said to have been white originally and of such brilliancy that it could be seen many days’ journey from Mecca, but as ages passed it became blackened by the tears of pilgrims and the sins of the world.” (Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings Of All Ages, p. 97)
“The most holy thing a devout Muslim can do, outside of the actual act of Jihad is make the pilgrimage to the Kaaba at Mecca. The ritual is called the Hajj, and is named after Al Hajarul Aswad, the famous Black Stone which is imbedded in the corner of the Kaaba... Qiblah, which denotes the direction of the Kaaba at Mecca, to which they perform their Salaah (worship). The ritual of Tawwaf, or the circumambulation of the Kaaba, as it existed at that time was performed by seven priestesses, completely in the nude. The ritual of Tawwaf is still being performed this very day by thousands of aspirants dressed in white. Ideally the aspirants will complete seven revolutions, counter-clockwise around the Kaaba and and meet up with Al Hajarul Aswad, The Black Stone, which they are encouraged to kiss. The Black Stone is imbedded in the South East corner of the Kaaba, and it protrudes with a slight bulge from the black shroud which surrounds it. It is said to have fallen from heaven and according to Hadith (tradition) it was whiter than milk before it fell... Al Hajarul Aswad is Venus/Lucifer having been whiter than milk, but fallen from heaven to suffer the travail of incarnation, much like Melek Ta'us of the Yezidi tradition. It is the Sacrament of Holy Blasphemy to recognise Lucifer as the Holy Christ and to recognise that the Devil is the hiding place of the divine.” (“The Mystery of the Holy Blasphemy and the Fall of Lucifer”)
1881 – New Age of Michael allegedly began with the Jews' return to Palestine.
1883 - American and Foreign Bible Society and American Bible Union resolve their differences, accept the English revision, based on Westcott-Hort New Greek Text, and agree to publish the King James Version, the English Revised Version and the American Bible Union version. American Baptists are the only denomination to pass a resolution to adopt the Revised Version. American Bible Union changes it’s position against Bible revision.“To those working within an esoteric tradition, it might have appeared a relatively easy thing to prepare for the new era of Michael which was to begin in 1881...
“In 1881, the planets were operative on a far higher level than any statuary or verbal symbolism might suggest. The year had a particular importance for those who were interested in the deeper traditions of astrological thought. Esotericists (of which there were many in the United States at that time) knew that this was the year which the great 15th-century abbot and occultist, Trithemius von Nettesheim [Jewish], had predicted would mark a fundamental turning point in history.
“The Rosicrucian, Thomas Henry Burgoyne, one of the learned and perplexing esoteric writers working in 19th century America…had informed his readers that, in the more glorious days of human history, known now as the Golden Age, the satellite was distant from the Earth. However, in the latter Iron Age (through which civilization was now living) it was too close, so that its ‘dark shadows became more and more bewildering.’ In the year 1881, Burgoyne promised, this Dark Age would begin to recede, its malevolent influence having passed its darkest culminating point. He was partly borrowing his ideas from the Roman poet Virgil, but few of his readers would realize that. Most of them endorsed his enthusiasm for this new Age of Gold which would begin in 1881.
“That is was to be an important year in the history of mankind was not doubted by the majority of people interested in arcane lore. In a rare book, which many occultists claim to have read, but few have even glanced at, Trithemius claimed that the era which had commenced in 1525, under the guidance of the planetary angel of the Moon, would come to an end in 1881. In this same year, a new era would begin under the control of the angel of the Sun, whom Trithemius named Michael. Far-reaching changes would result, for, in a previous age, the angel had been not only the institutor of many new arts, and the inventor of astronomy and astrology, but also of architecture—the very science in which Washington, D.C. had striven to excel from its foundation.
“Trithemius—and later is followers—insisted that under the rule of this planetary angel there would be inaugurated an exciting change of direction for mankind. The angel Michael was dedicated to the expansion of human consciousness, and freedom. Furthermore, it would be during the New Age of the Sun, which would begin in 1881, that the Jews would return to their homeland.” (Ovason, 512:376, 30)
1525 - Tyndale's New Testament was the first ever based on Byzantine manuscripts (Textus Receptus) and printed in the English language.
1881 - Westcott-Hort New Greek Testament based on corrupt Alexandrian manuscripts appeared; English Revised Version (ERV) completed.
"In 1881 the Greek Testament, which has been so long expected, at last appeared, and was widely welcomed as an epoch-making book, and 'probably the most important contribution to Biblical learning in our generation.' The twenty-eight years of patient labour represented by this work were begun and ended at Cambridge. This great work should loom very large in any record of my father's life, but its character is such that it really merits separate treatment, which it is hope a careful digestion of the mass of correspondence on the subject may enable some one to bestow. For the present let it suffice to quote a fair expression of the general feeling about the book. [from The Times, 29th July 1901]
'To the world at large Westcott's tenure of the Regius Professorship will always be associated with the so-called 'Cambridge Text' of the New Testament, little as his professorship really had to do with it. Probably the whole history of the New Testament since the time of Origen there has been nothing more remarkable than the quiet persistence with which these two Fellows of Trinity--Westcott, aged twenty-eight, and Hort, some three years younger--started 'in the spring of 1853' to systematise New Testament criticism. They found themselves aware of the unsatisfactoriness of 'the textus receptus, and conscious that neither Lachmann nor Tischendorf gave 'such an approximation to the Apostolic words as we could accept with reasonable satisfaction.' So they agreed to commence at once the formation of a manual text for (their) own use, hoping at the same time that it might be of service to others.' It says something at once for their determination and their care that the two famous volumes were not published till 1881, twenty-eight years from their inception... The Revised Version, as the English representative of the Cambridge Text, is making its way slowly, but the 'Westcott-Hort' theories hold the field. It may be there will yet arise a reactionary champion, as learned as and less slovenly than Scrivener, better equipped and less abusive than Burgon, be he has not arisen yet, and if he takes the field, he must do so after a preparation as long and as honest as Westcott and Hort's.'
"The Westcott and Hort Greek Testament (text) appeared on 5th May 1881, only a few days before the publication of the Revised Version of the New Testament. This coincidence perhaps led adverse critics to confound the two works. Yet as a matter of fact the Greek text underlying the Revised New Testament differs considerably from that of the two Cambridge scholars; and, although privately printed copies of the latter had been placed in the hands of the Revisers, they did not accept any new reading, unless, after full discussion, a majority of two-thirds were in favour of the change. As my father has said, both in the matter of the Greek text and its translation, 'each Reviser gladly yielded his own conviction to more or less serious opposition." [Arthur Westcott, Life and Letters of Brooke Foss Westcott, Vol. I, London: Macmillan & Co., pp. 397-402]
"After the separation between the American and Foreign Bible Society and the American Bible Union, the former continued to do a great and good work in Bible circulation and in aiding the translation of missionary versions... Both these societies continued their operations till 1883, with greatly diminished receipts, from various causes, and the Bible Union was much embarrassed by debt, when it was believed that the time had come for the Baptists of America to heal their divisions on the Bible question, to reunite their efforts in Bible work, and to leave each man in the denomination at liberty to use what English version he chose. With this end in view, the largest bible Convention that had ever met amongst Baptists convened at Saratoga on May 22, 1883, and, after two days' discussion and careful conference, it was unanimously resolved:1886 - In this year Timothy Dwight became President of Yale University.'That in the translation of foreign versions the precise meaning of the original text should be given, and that whatever organization should be chosen as the most desirable for the prosecution of home Bible work, the commonly received version, the Anglo-American, with the corrections of the American revisers incorporated in the text, and the revisions of the American Bible Union, should be circulated.'" [Armitage, p. 912]
"Schaff had hoped to see a number of denominations adopt the version by formal act, but... (h)is only encouragement came from the American Baptists...in May 1882, for at that time they passed a resolution to adopt the Revised Version, incorporating the corrections of the American revisers into the text." [Shriver, George H., Philip Schaff: Christian Scholar and Ecumenical Prophet, Mercer Press, 1987, pp. 76-77]
"Although the American Bible Union had always disclaimed that it was a Baptist Society, yet, a large majority of its life members and directors being Baptists, in harmony with the expressed wish of the denomination to do the Bible work of Baptists through the Missionary Union and the Publication Society, the Bible Union disposed of all its book-stock and plates to the Publication Society, on condition that its versions should be published according to demand. The American and Foreign Bible Society did the same, and now, in the English tongue, the Publication Society is circulating, according to demand, the issues of the Bible Union, the commonly received version and the Canterbury revision, with the emendations recommended by the American corps of scholars incorporated into the text; and so it has come to pass that the denomination which refused to touch the English revision in 1850 came, in less than a quarter of a century, to put its imprint upon two, to pronounce them fit for use amongst Baptists, and to circulate them cheerfully." [Armitage, pp. 912-13]
"In 1886 Timothy Dwight (The Order) had taken over from the last of Yale's clerical Presidents, Noah Porter. Never again was Yale to get too far from The Order. Dwight was followed by member Arthur T. Hadley ('76)" - 711:92
"The Order was incorporated in 1856."
Dwight, Timothy
1849 - Date initiated
1856 - Went to the University of Berlin
1858 - Went to Yale Theological Seminary1873-85 - American New Testament Committee member
1886-98 - President of Yale University"As the new Master (Mason) is raised he looks back down at his tomb to see a Skull and crossed bones on his death shroud. This symbol of earthly remains was used by the Knights Templar as their marine battle flag." [The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasons & Secret Scrolls of Jesus 162:178]
SPREADING THE "GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ROTHSCHILD"
1889 - Formation of Cecil Rhodes' Round Table.
"The 'Rhodes secret society' was a group of imperial federalists, formed in the period after 1889 and using the economic resources of South Africa to extend and perpetuate the British Empire... During this period of almost sixty years [1889-1940], this society has been called by various names. During the first decade or so it was called 'the secret society of Cecil Rhodes' or 'the dream of Cecil Rhodes.' In the second and third decades of its existence it was known as Milner's Kindergarten' (1901-1910) and as 'the Round Table Group.' " [538:4,31]
"It is usually assumed that Rhodes owned De Beers [Consolidated Mines], but this was not the case. Nathaniel de Rothschild was a bigger shareholder than Rhodes himself; indeed, by 1899 the Rothschilds' stake was twice that of Rhodes. In 1888 Rhodes wrote to Lord Rothschild: 'I know with you behind me I can do all I have said. If however you think differently I have nothing to say.'" (Niall Ferguson, Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World, Allen Lane, London, 2003, p. 225).
"... Robert Cecil of the Jewish Cecil family that had controlled the British monarchy since a Cecil became the private secretary and lover of Queen Elizabeth I ..." (John Coleman, The Conspirators' Hierarchy: The Story of the Committee of 300)
Sir Robert Gascoyne-Cecil (1830-1903) / UK Prime Minister for three terms / father of Robert Cecil (1864-1958)
o Robert Gascoyne-Cecil became Prime Minister of England from 1885-1902
o Lord Salisbury was the title given to Robert Gascoyne-Cecil whose powerful family expanded to form Cecil Bloc
o Sir Rober Gascoyne-Cecil was brother to mother of Gerald and Arthur Balfour, whose government was continuation of Lord Salisbury’s
o The Cecil Bloc was the nexus of power from which the Rhodes-Milner Round Table evolved
o The Balfours were high ranking members of Cecil Bloc
o In The Anglo-American Establishment, Carroll Quigley credits the Cecil Bloc with creation of the Society for Psychical Research
'The Cecil Bloc was a nexus of political and social power formed by Lord Salisbury and extending from the great sphere of politics into the fields of education and publicity. . .The 'Rhodes secret society' was a group of imperial federalists, formed in the period after 1889 and using the economic resources of South Africa to extend and perpetuate the British Empire. It is doubtful if Milner could have formed his group without assistance from all three of these sources... One of the enduring creations of the Cecil Bloc is the Society for Psychical Research, which holds a position in the history of the Cecil Bloc similar to that held by the Royal Institute of International Affairs in the Milner Group. The Society was founded in 1882 by the Balfour family and their in-laws, Lord Rayleigh and Professor [Henry] Sidgwick. In the twentieth century it was dominated by those members of the Cecil Bloc who became most readily members of the Milner Group." (Carroll Quigley, The Anglo-American Establishment, pp. 31-2)
1891 – Cecil Rhodes drew up his fourth will with Lionel Rothschild the trustee of his fortune; Arthur Balfour, a Jew, in Circle of Initiates.
"The secret society, after so much preliminary talk, took form in 1891, the same year in which Rhodes drew up his fourth will and made Stead as well as Lord Rothschild the trustee of his fortune. It is perfectly clear from the evidence that he expected Lord Rothschild to handle the financial investments associated with the trust, while Stead was to have full charge of the methods by which the funds were used. About the same time, in February 1891, Stead and Rhodes had another long discussion about the secret society. First they discussed their goals and agreed that, if necessary in order to achieve Anglo-American unity, Britain should join the United States. {i.e. the capital should be in the U. S.} Then they discussed the organization of the secret society and divided it into two circles: an inner circle 'The Society of the Elect', and an outer circle to include 'The Association of Helpers and The Review of Reviews (Stead's magazine founded 1890). Rhodes said that he had already revealed the plan for 'The Society of the Elect' to Rothschild and 'little Johnston.'...
1. General of the Society: Rhodes
2. Junta of Three: Stead, Brett, Milner
3. Circle of Initiates: Cardinal Manning, General Booth, Bramwell Booth, "Little Johnson", Albert Grey, Arthur Balfour
4. The Association of Helpers
5. A College, under Professor Seeley, to be established 'to train people in English-speaking ideas.'
"Of the persons so far named, we can be certain that six were initiates. These were Rhodes, Lord Rothschild, Johnston, Stead, Brett and Milner...
Of the others who were mentioned, Brett, Grey and Balfour can safely be regarded as member of the society." (538:40-1)
1891, March 5 – Seven years before Theodore Herzl's First Zionist Congress, William Blackstone petitioned Pres. Benjamin Harrison to authorize homeland for the Jews in Palestine. Groundwork laid for Judaized Christianity; Blackstone 'father of Zionism'.
“On March 5, 1891, the Chicago businessman and Methodist Episcopal lay worker William E. Blackstone was introduced by Secretary of State James G. Blaine to President Benjamin Harrison in order to present a petition Blackstone authored, ‘Palestine for the Jews.’ ‘What shall be done for the Russian Jews?’ the petition asked, and Blackstone boldly answered:
“Why not give Palestine back to them again? According to God’s distribution of nations, it is their home, an inalienable possession, from which they were expelled by force....Why shall not the powers which under the treaty of Berlin, in 1878, gave Bulgaria to the Bulgarians and Servia to the Servians now give Palestine back to the Jews?...Let us now restore them to the land of which they were so cruelly despoiled by our Roman ancestors.
“Nonetheless, Benjamin Harrison did not accept Blackstone's proposal… Blackstone would send the Memorial to presidents Cleveland and Roosevelt (McKinley had already signed), but official government sympathy for the Zionist project would have to wait for Woodrow Wilson.” – 516
“The Blackstone Memorial emerged from the same Reformation and Enlightenment preoccupations with Jews as the original nation whose restoration confirms other ‘natural,’ European nations and comprises both a necessary prerequisite and model for the reconstitution of an authentic, ‘primitive’ Christianity. Blackstone's contribution to this tradition was to elaborate a fully realized political Zionism that took long-standing religious narratives into the realm of late-nineteenth-century nationalism, colonialism, and imperialism. Indeed, with Blackstone's petition and related activities antedating by six years the convening of Theodor Herzl's first Zionist conference in 1897, Nathan Straus and Louis Brandeis thought enough of his practical efforts to flatter the evangelist as 'the father of Zionism.'” - 516
"Timothy Beach Blackstone (1829-1900), who was president of the Chicago & Alton Railroad from 1864 to 1899, had been a surveyor for the New York and New Haven Railroad under Col. Roswell B. Mason, who brought Blackstone after him to the Illinois Central Railroad in 1851. (Biography of Timothy B. Blackstone. By Ida Hinsman, 1917.) T.B. Blackstone was one of the financial supporters of his cousin, William Eugene Blackstone (1841-), of Blackstone Memorial fame. Marvin Hughitt, President of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, Milton Stewart and his brother, Lyman Stewart, of the Union Oil Company of California, were other financial supporters of W.E. Blackstone. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis administered his funding for evangelizing to Jews...
"The signatories of the Blackstone Memorial included such powerful Wall Street figures as Chauncey M. Depew, John D. Rockefeller and his brother William Rockefeller, William E. Dodge, Frank Loomis, Cyrus W. Field, Russell Sage, and John A. Stewart, as well as Rev. Edward W. Gilman, brother of the president of Johns Hopkins University [Daniel Coit Gilman / S&B 1852]. Their Harriman, Vanderbilt, Guaranty Trust, Skull & Bones, and Standard Oil money and connections have created two world wars to drive the Jews out of Europe and into Palestine; and today, the resulting strife is the pretext for America's invasion of the Middle East. And E.H. Harriman's sons elevated the Bush family into the U.S. power elite. / List of signatories
The Blackstone Memorial / American Messianic Fellowship
"Professor Charles A.L. Totten, military instructor at Yale University, proclaimed the Blackstone manifesto to be a mystical fulfillment of biblical prophesy, and claimed that Armageddon was to occur in 1899 (Palestine For the Jews. New York Times, Mar. 8, 1891; The World's Approaching End. Lieut. Totten Says It Will Occur In Less Than Eight Years. New York Times, Apr. 12, 1891, which made Page 1.)..."Daniel Coit Gilman's brother, Rev. Edward W. Gilman, was married to Benjamin Silliman (S&B 1837) Jr.'s sister, Julia Silliman [Jewish] (Died. Gilman.- New York Times, Apr. 20, 1892, p.5.) DC Gilman's sister, Elizabeth Coit Gilman, was married to Rev. Joseph Parrish Thompson, S&B 1838 (Married. New York Times, Oct. 26, 1853.), of the Broadway Tabernacle in New York City..." (The Blackstone Zionists)
1892 - Philip Schaff wrote to Timothy Dwight predicting the success of the Revised Version.
1895 - Timothy Dwight published abridged version of Documentary History on the American Committee on Revision"To Timothy Dwight (S&B 1849) [Philip Schaff] wrote in 1892: 'It is impossible that a work to which a hundred scholars of various denominations of England and America have unselfishly devoted so much time and strength can be lost. Whether the Revised Version may or may not replace the King James Version, it will remain a noble monument of Christian scholarship and cooperation, which in its single devotion to Christ and to truth rises above the dividing lines of schools and sects.'" [Penzel, Klaus, Philip Schaff: Historian and Ambassador of the Universal Church, Mercer University Press, Macon GA, 1991, p 260-61.]
"The documentary evidence for the work of the American Bible revision committee is conveniently gathered in Documentary History on the American Committee on Revision, of which only 100 copies were privately printed. However, an abridged version was published by Timothy Dwight, Historical Account of the American Committee of Revision of the Authorized Version of the Bible (New York, 1885)." [Penzel, Klaus, Philip Schaff: Historian and Ambassador of the Universal Church, Mercer University Press, Macon GA, 1991, p. 252ff.]1901 - Publication of American Standard Version (ASV) by Thomas Nelson.
"The Revised Version of the N.T. was published simultaneously in London and New York in 1881. The O.T. segment followed in 1885. Appendices indicated instances where British and American translators disagreed. The American Standard Version...was published in 1901." [William H. Gentz, Gen. Ed., The Dictionary of Bible and Religion, Nashville, 1986, p. 133]"1901 Nelson introduces the innovative American Standard Version of the Bible." (Thomas Nelson History)
1906-1916 - John Buchan, who was close to Lord Milner, became a partner in the publishing firm of his old classmate, Thomas A. Nelson based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
"Buchan was not a member of the inner core of the Milner Group, but was close to it and was rewarded in 1935 by being raised to a barony as Lord Tweedsmuir and sent to Canada as Governor-General. He is important because he is (with Lionel Curtis) one of the few members of the inner circles of the Milner Group who have written about it in a published work. In his autobiography, Pilgrim's Way, (Boston, 1940) he gives a brief outline of the personnel of the Kindergarten and their subsequent achievements, and a brilliant analysis of Milner himself. . .
"Buchan went to Brasenose College, but, as he says of himself, 'I lived a good deal at Balliol and my closest friends were of that college.' He mentions as his closest friends Hillaire Belloc,... T.A. Nelson,... Edward Wood (the future Lord Halifax)...
"Buchan went to South Africa in 1901 on Milner's personal invitation, to be his private secretary, but stayed only two years. . . .he left in 1903 to take an important position in Egypt. This appointment was mysteriously canceled. . .it is. . .likely that Milner changed his mind because of Buchan's rapidly declining enthusiasm for federation. This was a subject on which Milner and other members of his Group were adamant for many years. By 1915 most members of the Group began to believe that federation was impossible, and, as a compromise took what we know now as the Commonwealth of Nations -- that is, a group of nations joined together by common ideals and allegiances rather than a fixed political organization. . .The present Commonwealth is in reality the compromises worked out when the details of the Milner Group clashed with the reality of political forces.
"As a result of Buchan's failure to obtain the appointment of Egypt, he continued to practice law in London for three years, finally abandoning it to become a partner in the publishing firm of classmate Thomas A. Nelson (1906-1916). . ." (Quigley, 538:56-8)
John Buchan was a member of the Merovingian bloodline, i.e. Jewish.
"The Comyn family, which included the earldoms of Buchan and Monteith, was an old one, and could match the Bruces in power and prestige. . . On 10 February 1306, at the church of the Grey Friars in Dumfries, Bruce, with his own hand, murdered his adversary. Comyn was stabbed with a dagger and left to bleed to death on the church's stone floor. According to several accounts, he did not die immediately and was carried to safety by the monks, who sought to minister to his wounds. Bruce, hearing of this, returned to the church, dragged him back to the altar, and there slaughtered him..." (The Temple & The Lodge, 106:29)
1909 – C.I. Scofield [Scofeld], a member of the Niagara Prophecy Conference with William Blackstone, published his Scofield Reference Bible.
"After mature reflection it was determined to use the Authorized Version. None of the many revisions have commended themselves to the people at large. The Revised Version, which has now been before the public for twenty-seven years, gives no indication of becoming in any general sense the people's Bible of the English-speaking world. The discovery of the Sinaitic MS, and the labours in the field of textual criticism of such scholars as Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Winer, Alford, and Westcott and Hort, have cleared the Greek textus receptus of minor inaccuracies, while confirming in a remarkable degree the general accuracy of the Authorized Version of that text. Such emendations of the text as scholarship demands have been placed in the margins of this editions, which therefore combines the dignity, the high religious value, the tender associations of the past, the literary beauty and remarkable general accuracy of the Authorized Version, with the results of the best textual scholarship.
"The editor disclaims originality. Other men have laboured, he has but entered into their labours. The results of the study of God's Word by learned and spiritual men, in every division of the church, and in every land, during the last fifty years, under the advantage of a perfected text, already form a vast literature, inaccessible to most Christian workers. The Editor has proposed to himself the modest if laborious task of summarizing, arranging, and condensing this mass of material." - (C.I. Scofield, Scofield Reference Bible, 1909, 1917 Edition)
“The Scofield Reference Bible, whose notes explained Biblical texts from a dispensational perspective, was published in 1909 and became an authoritative and effective recruiter for the [fundamentalist, dispensationalist] movement.” - 517
Scofield directed by Samuel Untermeyer, future president of American Jewish Committee, and funded by Rothschild agents Jacob Schiff and Bernard Baruch.
"As a young con-artist in Kansas after the Civil War, he met up with John J. Ingalls, an aging Jewish lawyer who had been sent to Atchison by the 'Secret Six' some thirty years before to work the Abolitionist cause. Pulling strings both in Kansas and with his compatriots back east, Ingalls assisted Scofield in gaining admission to the Bar, and procured his appointment as Federal Attorney for Kansas. Ingalls and Scofield became partners in a railroad scam which led to Cyrus serving time for criminal forgery...
"Following his Illuminati connections to New York, he settled in at the Lotus Club, which he listed as his residence for the next twenty years. It was here that he presented his ideas for a new Christian Bible concordance, and was taken under the wing of Samuel Untermeyer, who later became chairman of the American Jewish Committee, president of the American League of Jewish Patriots, and chairman of the Non-sectarian Anti-Nazi League.
"Untermeyer introduced Scofield to numerous Zionist and socialist leaders, including Samuel Gompers, Fiorello LaGuardia, Abraham Straus, Bernard Baruch and Jacob Schiff. These were the people who financed Scofield's research trips to Oxford and arranged the publication and distribution of his concordance.
"It is impossible to overstate the influence of Cyrus Scofield on twentieth-century Christian beliefs. The Scofield Bible is the standard reference work in virtually all Christian ministries and divinity schools. It is singularly responsible for the Christian belief that the Hebrew Prophecies describe the kingdom of Jesus' Second Coming, and not the Zionist vision of a man-made New World Order.
"And it is precisely because Christians persist in this belief that they remain blind to the reality of Zion.
"Scofield served as the agent by which the Zionists paralyzed Christianity, while they prepared America for our final conquest." (Unified Conspiracy Theory)
1916 - Blackstone Memorial finally accepted by Rothschild pawn, Woodrow Wilson.
"Other significant agents for the Rothschild Bank were Edward M. House and Bernard Baruch. Bernard Baruch was instrumental in Woodrow Wilson's successful presidential campaign. Colonial Edward M. House became President Wilson's closest advisor, selecting the president's cabinet and virtually running the State Department. There is little doubt that, under the influence of Colonial House, Woodrow Wilson became an invaluable puppet to the Rothschilds in not vetoing the Federal Reserve Act and asking Congress for a declaration of war against Germany." (USA & International Bankers History)
“Blackstone would send the Memorial to presidents Cleveland and Roosevelt (McKinley had already signed), but official government sympathy for the Zionist project would have to wait for Woodrow Wilson. By the time William Blackstone presented his petition to Wilson in 1916 there were other advocates, such as Nathan Straus, Rabbi Stephen Wise, and Louis Brandeis, with whom Blackstone could collaborate. ” – 516
"The records at Hatfield House show that the Unity of Science Conferences was the brain child of Robert Cecil, as confirmed by the Dutch Jew, Mandell Huis alias Colonel House, who was the controller of Woodrow Wilson and Wilson's personal representative at the Paris peace Conference; and the special representative of the United States Government at the Inter-Allied Conference of Premiers and Foreign Ministers in 1917; U. S. representative at the Armistice in 1918 and a member of the Commission on Mandates in 1919. Mandell Huis, like the Cecils, professed to be a Christian, but was a Jew by birth and conviction. He was a firm friend of the Cecil clan, and it was Huis who forced Wilson to agree to the July, 1915 {should be 2 November 1917} arrangement made by Arthur Balfour which gave Palestine to the Zionists and brought America into the first world war." (John Coleman, "King Makers, King Breakers: The Cecils")
1917 – As Foreign Secretary / Secretary of State in the administration of Lloyd George, Arthur Balfour issued the Balfour Declaration to Lord Rothschild. The Declaration had been drafted by Lord Milner of Cecil Rhodes' Circle of Intimates.
"It was a Rothschild who helped create the state of Israel. In 1917, after serving as a member of the British Parliament, Zionist 2nd Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild – the eldest son who inherited Nathan's money and title after his death in 1915 – received a letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour expressing approval for the establishment of a homeland for Jews in Palestine. This letter became known as the Balfour Declaration." - 482:82-3
“’His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people...' Thus wrote the head of the British Foreign Office, Arthur James Balfour, a former Prime Minister and native Scot, on November 2, 1917. Abba Eban calls the Balfour Declaration, which opened the way for the creation of Israel, 'the authentic turning point in Jewish political history.’” – 528:178
“This declaration, which is always known as the Balfour Declaration, should rather be called 'the Milner Declaration,' since Milner was the actual draftsman and was apparently, its chief supporter in the War Cabinet. This fact was not made public until 21 July 1936. At that time Ormsby-Gore, speaking for the government in Commons, said, 'The draft as originally put up by Lord Balfour was not the final draft approved by the War Cabinet. The particular draft assented to by the War Cabinet and afterwards by the Allied Governments and by the United States...and finally embodied in the Mandate, happens to have been drafted by Lord Milner. The actual final draft had to be issued in the name of the Foreign Secretary, but the actual draftsman was Lord Milner.” (Carroll Quigley) – 538:169
"In World War I the British, with Arab aid, gained control of Palestine. In the Balfour Declaration (1917) they promised Zionist leaders to aid the establishment of a Jewish 'national home' in Palestine, with due regard for the rights of non-Jewish Palestinians. The British had also promised Arab leaders to support the creation of independent Arab states. The Arabs believed Palestine was among these, an intention that the British later denied." - 124:2054
“When World War I broke out in 1914, Palestine was firmly in the grasp of the Ottoman Empire. By 1916, there was widespread speculation, even in the secular press, about the restoration of a Jewish homeland if the Turks could be vanquished. By late 1917, events were rapidly moving along those lines. As British forces fought their way into Palestine from the south, Lord Arthur Balfour, the British foreign secretary, wrote to Lord James Rothschild, a leader in international Zionism: ‘His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best efforts to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.’
“Five weeks after the Balfour Declaration, the Turks surrendered Jerusalem to British forces, virtually without a fight.” - 517
1932 - Soviet spies against England, Victor Rothschild and Guy Burgess, were elected to the Cambridge Apostles Club, of which Hort and Westcott had been members.
"The Fifth [man] provided Stalin almost on a daily basis with what Churchill and Roosevelt were saying about the USSR. The spy also had particular links to the US military and intelligence during and after the war… The Fifth Man was Nathaniel Mayer Victor Rothschild (1910 to 1990), better known as the third Lord Rothschild. He was the British head of the famous banking dynasty, which apart from prolific achievements in art, science, wine and charity, had shaped recent history by such acts as the financing of the British army at the Battle of Waterloo and the purchasing of the Suez Canal for Great Britain and Prime Minister Disraeli…[Anthony] Blunt made much play towards the end of 1932 about his efforts to have Rothschild and Burgess elected to the Apostles... On 12 November 1932 Burgess and Victor were both voted in." (Roland Perry, The Fifth Man, London, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1994, pp. 20-21, 44-5)
"Victor Rothschild, who worked for J.P. Morgan & Co., and was an important part of MI5 (British Intelligence). Victor Rothschild was also a communist and member of the Apostles Club at Cambridge... The Rothschilds have several agents which their money got started and who still serve them well, the Morgans and the Rockefellers. The Rockefellers were Marrano Jews. The original Rockefeller made his money selling narcotics, (they weren't illegal then). After acquiring a little capital he branched out in oil. But it was the Rothschild capital that made the Rockefeller's so powerful. 'They also financed the activities of Edward Harriman (railroads) and Andrew Carnegie Steel.'" (77:155)
1946 – Thomas Nelson, the largest Bible publisher, published the New Testament of the Revised Standard Version (RSV). (Thomas Nelson History)
1969 – Sam Moore, who was president of the Council for National Policy from 1984-85, bought Thomas Nelson Publishers and became its CEO and President. (Thomas Nelson History) His brother, Charles Moore, also a member of the CNP, became vice president of Thomas Nelson. [See: The Council for National Policy]
"Meanwhile, half a world away in Lebanon, a young man named Sam Moore attended an evangelical school where he heard the basics of the Christian faith. Early one morning Sam discovered the body of a murdered friend under an olive tree. Shaken, Sam placed his faith in Christ with the help of a Christian neighbor.
"In 1950, the nineteen-year-old Sam Moore came to America with an intent to pursue medical training. He had $600 and his father's advice to 'work hard, be honest, and don't be afraid to take risks.' To pay his way through college at the University of South Carolina and later Columbia Bible College, Sam began selling Bibles door to door." (Thomas Nelson History)
1976 – Thomas Nelson Publisher initiated the New King James Version. (Thomas Nelson History)
"Two meetings of the North American Overview Committee met at Nashville and Chicago in 1975 to assist in preparing guidelines for the NKJV. Members of that committee and a Nashville Convocation of 1984 included the following high profile members of the Religious Roundtable and Council for National Policy: Tim LaHaye, D. James Kennedy, Jerry Falwell, Ben Haden, Mary C. Crowley, W.A. Criswell, E.V. Hill, Henry Morris, Bill Bright and Charles Stanley." (NKJV Translators)
The Nineteenth Century Occult Revival: The Legacy of Westcott & Hort
Defense of King James VI & I and the 1611 Authorised Version
