In a mock
dialogue between an individual supportive of Roman Catholic theology (“Phildox”)
and “Orthodox” (a conservative Protestant), John Garbett, an Anglican critic of
Catholicism, writing in 1827, presented a view of the Apocrypha similar to that
of D&C 91:
PHILODOX
You speak thus from dislike to the Apocrypha.
ORTHODOX
By no means. The apocryphal books are of
great importance to the elucidation of the canonical; they contain a fund of
piety and wisdom, and much valuable historical record, mingled with no small
portion of error. But in altering the canon, the present Church of Rome not
only sets herself in opposition to the old Church, but to all Christian
Churches: to the Church of the Apostles, the Prophets, and of Christ himself .
. . (John Garbett, The Nullity of the
Roman Faith; Being a Practical Refutation of the Doctrine of Infallibility in a
View of The Evidence and History of Certain Leading Tenets of the Church of
Rome [London: John Murray, 1827], 40)
Further Reading
Jared Ludlow, Exploring the Apocrypha from a Latter-day Saint Perspective (Cedar Fort, 2018)
