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p55 Dear -, - You may put any letters you like to "James."* I rather dislike dialogues as fictitious, but they serve to bring out truth in many cases better as a kind of parable, so to speak. Still I am hardly satisfied. . . . The importance of judging church history, or the state it reveals, is daily more apparent to me. I am not at the bottom of it, but the change from scripture to prelacy, succession of bishops, so-called, has something mysterious in it, along with the fabrication of Ignatius, and perhaps Apostolic Constitutions, which are, I believe, heretical in their present state - a prelacy which is the basis of all subsequent Christendom till the Reformation, and now of high church, and even all clerical systems. But one thing is clear, that all refer to Peter for the system, not one to Paul. The unity of the church as they view it is always based on him; Paul at best only comes in by the bye, swamped in Peter at Rome. And even as to detail, the rising up of scriptural conscience against image worship and evil was from Paul's writings, and the authors of it, called Paulicians. They had only his writings and the gospels - but this by the bye. This system presses stronger on me than even infidelity, dreadful as it is individually.

{*["Familiar conversations on Romanism."]}

As to the gospels and translation, I must leave it over to God: they want to get a French Old Testament and new edition of New; and I have here the Old on hand - the historical part easy, the prophets often difficult, the Psalms done. I should be glad of a little quiet, but I have felt I must do the day's work, and leave the rest to God, for Italy is before me too. I am expected, but in no hurry. I have thought to run to England when finished here, or before if necessary. . . .

As to the Psalms, I fear you have taken labour in vain. I translated them in America for study and practice in Hebrew, with only a Gibb's Gesenius, that dear J. Harris gave me some thirty years ago, which I use mostly for a travelling dictionary, very well done for its size, but an abridgment (now I believe out of print); but at your request I was doing all over again.

When I speak of church history, the word is quite enough for me, but the origin of an immense system calling itself the church, is of interest. It may be the Lord meant it to be concealed, that now we might judge by the word: in that I have no difficulty.

Affectionately yours.

Elberfeld, November, 1869.

[52031E]

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