June 1927
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down and the revival gained momentum. Next word came from the north that an Indian settlement in the Hudson bay country was aroused by a similar occur rence. But one Jack Miner, of Windsor, Ont., has acknowledged that the geese all came from his 30-acre farm.. As many as 9000 wild geese visited Miner’s farm during the past year. He enticed them by means of several Canadian geese whose, wings he clipped, which he keeps on the place as decoys. Last year it took more than 4000 bushels of corn on the cob and nearly 7000 bushels of shelled corn to feed the visitors. Whistling swans and various other birds also visit the Miner farm. Miner was interested to know the range of birds during their migrations so he tagged many of the wild geese and later he had messages from the Bible printed on these tags.. “Who knows into whose hands these messages will fall and what effect they will have?” he reasoned. “Wild geese may be turned into missionaries.” And it seems that they have been. ■ ic.r . ate ate Grew Out of a Testament About the year 1812 two English artil lery officers, journeying through the Pro vince of Quebec, overtaken by darkness, sought shelter in the home of a French- Canadian. Next morning they wished to make their host a present, but he firmly declined to accept any. One of the of ficers, as a little token of gratitude, left 'behind him a small Testament. The wife, a Roman Catholic, finding her husband interested, sought the priest’s advice, and was told it would not be a bad thing if the Book were lost. It disappeared later. The elder son asking his mother before leaving home what had been done with the Book, searched the loft, found it and took it away with him. In his new home, after much time spent in reading it he found out the difference between Papal and Protestant teaching. Later he and his family were received into the Church of England. Sequel: Three sons grew up. One is rector of an important church in Winni peg, another is a minister to the French- speaking Canadians in his native province, Quebec; the third^tis an agent of the C. C. C. S. among the fishermen and farm ers of Nova Scotia. The daughters married clergymen, and three sons of the next generation are to enter the ministry. The Sabrevoir Mission and schools in the Province of Quebec for the evangeli zation and training of young French Can adians are the direct outcome of this conversion. ate ate Wishbones, Jawbones, Backbones Church members may be divided into three classes in a skeleton outline—wish bones, jawbones, and backbones says an exchange. The wishbones are always lan guidly hoping that the Church will pros per without their effort; the jawbones of course do the critical talking; but the backbones get under the heavy burdens and carry them.
scholar who has devoted many years to the study of the Apocryphal literature of the New Testament. Dr. James says > “ ‘Just over a hundred years ago, in 1820, an Apocryphal New Testament was issued by William Hone. Hone’s book has long held the field; it is constantly being reprinted, and it has enjoyed a popularity which is in truth far beyond its deserts. For it is a misleading and an unoriginal book. Misleading, because all its externals suggest that it is a.isupplement to the New Testament. Printed in double col umns, with all the books divided into chapters and verses, with a summary pre fixed on every page, it presents the fa miliar aspects of the English Bible to anyone who opens it. Misleading, again, because about half the volume is occu pied by the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, which.are not apocryphal. Mis leading, also in a more, serious way, be cause ,title-page and preface' tell us that it contains the writings which were “not included in the New Testament by its; compilers,” when it was first “collected into a volume.” ' “ ‘Unoriginal, because the whole con tents of the book except the prefaces are borrowed - bodily from two books about one hundred years older than Hone’s.’. “Resting secure in the judgment of this noted scholar, we may be assured that this erroneously titled book does not con tain ‘The LoSr’Books of the Bible,’ and that after all our copy of the Bible is complete.” ’ ,v.Sí£,Í ,v'1 ate ate Geese as Missionaries “The Pathfinder” is responsible for the story that negroes in Atlanta found a message from the Bible attached to the legs of a wild goose and immediately a religious revival was inaugurated such as Georgia communities had not witnessed for many years. Then another goose bearing a Bible quotation was brought
Lost Books of The Bible. T HE following communication from the Oxford University Press, has to do with the much advertised “Lost Books of the Bible,” concerning which many in quiries have been made: “Dear Sir B-You have doubtless no ticed recent advertisements of a book, en titled ‘The Lost Books of the Bible.’ They have been appearing in daily papers as well as magazines of national circula tion. “Upon reading this book we were very much surprised to find that it was sub stantially a duplication, not only as to contents, but also as in phraseology and format of ‘The New Testament Apocry pha,’ a work published in 1820. “This latter work has never been highly regarded by Biblical scholars, and has had but a very ordinary circulation. In asmuch as ‘The Lost Books of the Bible’ is practically the same as this very old book of little .influence, we did not con sider that it would at all affect the Bible- reading public, and so took no notice of the incorrect implications in the book itself, or the advertising exploiting it. “Recently, however, we have been re ceiving letters from various people who have evidently read the advertising, and as a result, are wondering if their Bibles are complete. It seems that many are be ing led to believe that this work contains ancient documents of value, now just published, which were formerly excluded by Ecclesiastical Councils. “We invite your co-operation in pre venting the further spread of the influ ence of this incorrect information, in so far as your readers are concerned, by the publication of Dr. Montague R. James’ opinion of ‘The New Testament Apocry pha,’ on which ‘The Lost Books of the Bible’ is based. Dr. Montague R. James you will recognize as an outstanding
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