Is the doctrine of preservation biblical?

"The Lord has miraculously watched over His word. Facts demonstrate this. In the first place, by constituting the Jews its depositaries, and afterwards the Christians, His providence thus charged itself with watching that the oracles of God should be faithfully transmitted to us. This has been done; and to attain this result, various causes were brought into operation, of which we shall have to speak hereafter. Recent researches of science have placed this fact in the light of day. Herculean labours have been undertaken to collect all the readings, or variations, which could be supplied, either by the diligent examination of the manuscripts of the sacred writings, preserved in the various libraries of Europe, the study of the most ancient versions, or the investigation of the innumerable quotations made from the sacred books throughout the writings of the Fathers of the Church; and this immense labour has furnished a result admirable in its insignificance, imposing by its nullity.

As the word of God spread, many translations in many languages have appeared. Up to the present time these translations, in whole or in part, number over a thousand languages. Translations, however, cannot claim inspiration as the original Scriptures do. Yet the godly and learned scholars, who in the time of King James I produced The Authorised Version of the Holy Scriptures, besought prayerfully the Lord’s guidance, support, and help in their very responsible task. Surely we can see that God has answered their prayers abundantly, when we examine the Scriptures we hold in our hands, and which we can receive with assurance as being indeed the word of God.

Seeing that copyists of the original Scriptures were not inspired, as the Scriptures themselves are, it follows that with all the possible care taken to make a perfectly correct copy, mistakes and errors might creep in. These copyists however were so very careful in their work, that these errors and variations between the many copies are only very slight, and do not in the least degree diminish or weaken the testimony to the great fundamentals of the Christian faith. The proportion of important variations to the whole of the Scriptures is likened to a handful of corn compared with a field of wheat. Or again, if you look into a mirror in which a speck or two of quicksilver has got scratched, you would have no doubt as to what you see in the glass. So it is with the Holy Scriptures, over which God has so manifestly put His powerful and preserving hand.

While upon the subject of the infallible inspiration of Scripture, I will say a few words upon the texts, versions, etc. To be very simple, you know that until a late date all copies were made by pen. The accuracy of these copies depended, of course, upon the care of the copyist. But, even with the greatest care, it was impossible, humanly speaking, to keep out all errors. We find, therefore, that among the hundreds of manuscripts there are a large number of small variations. Most of these scarcely affect the meaning at all, being slight omissions or insertions of letters, small words, etc. Other cases occur where the meaning of a certain verse may be altered; but I think I am safe in saying that in no one manuscript is there embodied a false doctrine, or a true one eliminated. It is certainly a great mercy of God that He has preserved His truth uncontaminated through all these centuries.

God does preserve His word for His people. Really in the dark ages the monks were used in God's providence to hand it down to us by transcribing it. "The words of the Lord are pure words … Thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever" (Ps. 12:6-7); given to us, preserved for us… .

It is true that the servants of the Lord have written with ink, and the documents they wrote have all perished. Even the documents of the inspired Scriptures of Truth do not exist to-day; but the Word of God that was written in their documents still abides, and will abide.

The result of all the labours of which we have been speaking has been most happy for all those who rightly value the integrity of the word of God. No doubt human weakness has left its traces here also, as is the case wherever anything has been entrusted to man; but the providence of God has watched over His word, so that, in spite of the great differences between the systems which learned men have followed for the revision of the text, they have nevertheless arrived at almost identical results. Apart from one or two passages, the various editions of the Greek text are almost everywhere in accordance with each other as regards the different readings which have any importance. The variations we meet with are few in number, of a secondary order, and, in a translation, would often be almost imperceptible; and the labours of the learned men who have compared the numerous MSS known at present have had the happy effect of removing the mistakes with which the first editions of the Greek text were disfigured.

Dieu, nous le répétons, a veillé sur sa Parole. Il n’a pas permis que les efforts de l’adversaire et la faiblesse de l’homme fissent disparaître une seule de Ses paroles.

The omission of instructions for carrying the laver seems to point to the word being in no way dependent on human help for its preservation. Man indeed has but too vigorously sought to get rid of the book so far as he could; but God has not suffered him to have his way. It stands for ever the one positive witness for God and His grace, as well as of His judgment against all evil.

God sent His book into the world, like all His other blessings, entrusted to human care, and liable to injury from human carelessness. We may be thankful that He has watched over His own gift, and has protected it from all real damage.

There can be no possible explanation of this save that it is God’s revelation to man, and that God’s protecting hand is held over His own Word: His Holy Spirit controlling the miraculous preservation of the Scriptures.