One more, and it's not actually a quote, just a string of unsupported assertions made about Westcott and Hort before UGChuzzlewit went into incoherent mode and rode madly off in all directions. Of course, the accusation that Westcott and Hort WUZ 0CCuL71sT5!!!one!! is one of the most famous bits of slander in Riplinger's scandal rags, so it's worthy of discussion.
Westcott and Hort dabbled with the occult and communicating with spirits,
There is, in fact, no evidence that "Westcott and Hort" dabbled with the occult, with one exception: Hort writes to his wife in 1864 that at a dinner party, "We tried to turn tables, but the creatures wouldn't stir" (Hort,
Life and Letters, vol. 2, 33).
As for the aforementioned seance, I imagine that in the mid-1800s, you probably wouldn't have found too many people of the upper classes of British society that hadn't attended one, even if they had no serious belief in Spiritualism. In the 1840s, a pair of sisters in New York claimed spirits were communicating with them through tapping noises heard in the house. Spiritualism became a craze, and soon it crossed over to England.
Perhaps this is what piqued Westcott's interest in Spiritualism and motivated him to join the Ghostlie Guild, but there is no evidence he ever so much as sat in on a table-turning. Of course, UGChuzzlewit, being a low-budget Gail the Ripper, can't help but try and present Westcott and Hort yet again as some sort of thinking-alike, homogenous blob.
Lie #15.
and had a club called the "Ghostly [sic] Guild", which included a man named Lightfoot,
The "Ghostlie Guild"...numbered amongst its members A. Barry, E. W. Benson, H. Bradshaw, the Hon. A. Gordon, F. J. A. Hort, H. Luard, and C. B. Scott.... (Westcott, Life and Letters, vol. 1, 117.)
You would think that if such a prominent personality as J. B. Lightfoot had been a part of the Guild--especially considering that Westcott and their third partner-in-crime, E. W. Benson, were the co-founders of the group--Westcott's son might have mentioned his name. I know of no evidence that Lightfoot was a member. (Riplinger doesn't count.)
Lie #16.
who created a Lexicon to support their new Greek Text.
J. B. Lightfoot wrote many useful theological works, but a Greek lexicon was not among them.
Lie #17.
This club became the "Society for Psychical Research",
According to the
Wikipedia article on the SPR, it was founded based on conversations between journalist Edmund Rogers and physicist William F. Barrett, in 1881. The founding committee also included Stainton Moses, Charles Massey, Edmund Gurney, Hensleigh Wedgwood and Frederic W. H. Myers.
If any of the notable personalities that founded the Ghostlie Guild (which included, supposedly, two future Bishops of Durham and one future Archbishop of Canterbury amongst their number) had moved on to the SPR, you would expect the Wikipedians to take notice, wouldn't you?
In reality, the only connection between the Ghostlie Guild and the Society for Psychical Research is that they were but two of many scholarly societies that cropped up in the 19th century to investigate, to varying degrees of rigour, claims of the supernatural and paranormal.
Lie #18.
who interviewed the founder of the Satanic religion of Theosophy, Helena P. Blavatsky (Sublime Elect Scotch Lady, Masonic Patent issued by John Yarker), and were favorably impressed with her.
Yeah, who cares.
Westcott himself, as his son points out, soon lost interest in the Guild, apparently "because he was seriously convinced that such investigations led to no good" (Ibid., 119). This would certainly appear to be the case. In 1893, a newspaper editor named William Thomas Stead, who had become interested in Spiritualism, founded a magazine named
Borderland to report favourably on paranormal research. An article in the first issue, titled "The Response to the Appeal," compiled letters from various prelates and other public figures, containing their opinion about research into paranormal phenomena. One of the respondents was B. F. Westcott:
The Bishop of Durham, one of the few who seem to realise that there is a living world outside the Church walls, tells us quite frankly that the best thing to do with Borderland [Stead's word for the supernatural] is to leave it alone. Whether we agree or disagree with Bishop Westcott's letter, it gives no uncertain sound. He says:--
Many years ago I had occasion to investigate "spiritualistic" phenomena with some care, and I came to a clear conclusion, which I feel bound to express in answer to your circular. It appears to me that in this, as in all spiritual questions, Holy Scripture is our supreme guide. I observe, then, that while spiritual ministries are constantly recorded in the Bible, there is not the faintest encouragement to seek them. The case, indeed, is far otherwise. I cannot, therefore, but regard every voluntary approach to beings such as those who are supposed to hold communication with men through mediums as unlawful and perilous. I find in the fact of the Incarnation all that man (so far as I can see) requires for life and hope. ("The Response to the Appeal", Borderland 1, no. 1 (July 1893): 11.)
Bishop Westcott ended his adult life basically the way he began it: desiring to point people to Jesus as sufficient for life and hope. The Riplingerites could learn from his example, but being so feverishly obsessed with the Blessed Version KJV, would rather smear a decent man. No one should listen to these grifters; rather, they should be refuted (2 Cor. 10:5) and silenced (Titus 1:11).