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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d76ae28 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #64728 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64728) diff --git a/old/64728-0.txt b/old/64728-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 11ebf08..0000000 --- a/old/64728-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1816 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Biblical Revision, by Edward Slater - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Biblical Revision - considerations in favour of a revised translation of Holy Scripture - - -Author: Edward Slater - - - -Release Date: March 6, 2021 [eBook #64728] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIBLICAL REVISION*** - - -Transcribed from the 1856 John Farquhar Shaw edition by David Price. - - - - - - BIBLICAL REVISION: - - - CONSIDERATIONS - - IN FAVOUR OF A - - REVISED TRANSLATION - - OF - - Holy Scripture. - - * * * * * - - BY EDWARD SLATER. - - * * * * * - - [The Authorized Version] is far from being immaculate. It is not - sufficiently close and uniform in rendering the original . . . is not - calculated to convey precise and critical information in difficult - and mysterious passages of the Prophecies, &c. - - DR. WILLIAM HALES. _New Analysis of Chronology_, Vol. II. p. ix. - - * * * * * - - LONDON: - JOHN FARQUHAR SHAW, - 36, PATERNOSTER ROW, AND 27, SOUTHAMPTON ROW, RUSSELL SQUARE. - - * * * * * - - 1856. - - _Price One Shilling_. - - * * * * * - - MY DOCTRINE SHALL DROP AS THE RAIN, - MY SPEECH SHALL DISTIL AS THE DEW, - AS THE SMALL RAIN UPON THE TENDER HERB, - AND AS THE SHOWERS UPON THE GRASS. - - DEUT. XXXII. 2. - - AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, SET YOUR HEARTS UNTO ALL THE WORDS WHICH I - TESTIFY AMONG YOU THIS DAY, WHICH YE SHALL COMMAND YOUR CHILDREN TO - OBSERVE TO DO, ALL THE WORDS OF THIS LAW. FOR IT IS NOT A VAIN THING - FOR YOU; BECAUSE IT IS YOUR LIFE. - - DEUT. XXXII. 46, 47. - - - - -CONSIDERATIONS, &c. - - -AMONG the characteristics of an Age replete with new and unlooked-for -events, perhaps not the least singular and impressive is the desire, now -extensively evinced, for an improved translation of Holy Scripture. - -A solitary voice, {3} it is true, has been raised to the same effect, -from time to time; but it has gradually died away in the noise of worldly -bustle, or been summarily stifled by Prejudice or Fear. - -A more fitting time has arrived for renewing the cry; for we have become -more reflective with the progress of events, and a desire for -improvement—not limited to mere material good—has sprung up, that is -irrepressible, and all but universal. - -But, encouraging as is the Temper of the Times for prosecuting the task -that we have undertaken, we need to make our way cautiously. The subject -is confessedly a delicate one, and is, moreover, in not a few quarters, -entrenched in prejudices under the seeming sanction of religion itself. - -“Were the Bible,” pleads Dr. Knox, {4} “corrected and modernized, it -would probably become more showy, and perhaps quite exact, but it would -lose that air of sanctity which enables it to make an impression which no -accuracy could produce. We have received the Bible,” he goes on to say, -“in the very words in which it now stands, from our fathers; we have -learnt many passages from it by heart in our infancy; . . . so that its -phrase is become familiar to our ears, and we cease to be startled at -apparent difficulties.” And again: “We should hardly recognize the Bible -were it to be read in our churches in any other words than those which -our fathers heard before us.” Possibly the people _would_ require some -time to familiarize themselves to the change, more especially in the -public services of the church; but the objection, formidable as the good -Doctor thought it, is not sufficient to overrule the plea. Precisely the -same objection, if entertained, would have deprived us of the benefit of -the present authorized version. People long accustomed to the previous -version must have been pained and startled on the introduction of the -new. Such a consequence, however, obvious as it must have been, was not -admitted to be a good argument against a change at that epoch. True, -there are more readers now than there were then, and so far the -inconvenience of change would be aggravated; but, unless we could -persuade ourselves that we should _never_ have a different version to the -present, we cannot refuse to entertain the proposition before us in -deference to such a consideration. The notion that we shall _always_ -acquiesce in the present version, with the proofs around us of the -possibility of improving it, coupled with the desire so extensively -evinced for improvement, can scarcely be seriously entertained. - -The truth is, the people are not accountable for the reasoning ascribed -to them—possibly with some justice at the time the Doctor wrote—in the -above extract. We have given it at length, because we have nowhere seen -the argument, as generally used, better expressed; but, whatever there is -in it, we hold it a great disparagement to the religious feeling of the -people at the present time, to suppose them capable of putting -Superstition for Piety, as conveyed in the terms of that passage; or to -imagine that anything less than a just and faithful version of Holy -Scripture would or could content them. - -But besides the inconvenience of the change so pathetically pleaded, -there is the time-honoured Phraseology of the Bible—that phraseology that -has earned the suffrages of a whole people, young and old, rich and poor, -learned and unlearned, and been associated with our Literary glories—to -warn us off the holy ground. Into what critic’s crucible, it may be -asked, do we propose to place the Bible, and what frigid, tame, and -insipid version, among those with which we have been of late years -familiar, do we design to substitute for our own old authorized -translation? - -Plainly, none. We know of none—valuable as some of them unquestionably -are—worthy of competing, in whole or in part, on an extended view of the -question, with our own; while, in point of phraseology, to which the -objection specifically refers, the advantage is all in favour of the old -version. But if the question at issue were—which it is not—between -Phraseology on the one hand, and Fidelity on the other, we should and -could have no hesitation in deciding for the latter. But we really think -it possible to preserve most of the beautiful phraseology of the present -version, and even add to it, while we disencumber the text of its errors, -and render it a more faithful reflex of the Divine Original. - -But the outward Dress and Ornament of the book do not exhaust all the -objections incident to the question. There are yet others of a _subtler_ -order—the exponent of deeper feelings—to which we must briefly advert. -And first, there are those who find few or no difficulties, for their -part, in the Bible, as it now stands, and therefore, naturally enough, -object to a change. The Bible, they maintain, is a plain book, and the -very terms of the Announcement at the head of it, as a Revelation of -God’s will to man, upon the knowledge of which his salvation depends, -precludes, they argue, any other supposition. To a certain extent they -are right; and God forbid we should be understood to mean that the Bible, -in its present English dress, is not satisfactory on all the great points -of faith and duty. We are sometimes told the contrary, indeed, by those -who have formed exaggerated views of the inadequacies of our version; but -such an opinion is entitled to no manner of respect; on the contrary, it -would be very easy to produce passages—_key-passages_, we might call -them, from which the WHOLE TRUTH of the Gospel might be extracted—which -would utterly defy any other translation than that exhibited in the -authorized version. But while conceding all this, we are not debarred -from seeking a version yet nearer perfection than the present, if it is -to be had. There are subordinate lessons, surely, that might be rendered -more precious and instructive; and it cannot be a right or creditable -principle to direct our inquiry only to that which _saves_, in the vulgar -sense of that term, and give only a listless and perfunctory attention to -all the rest. Not unfrequently, however this arid notion of the -_plainness_ of Scripture is resolvable into the inert and abortive state -of the faculties in which they are perused. There is no difficulty, -because the subject is not fairly grappled with. The words titillate and -amuse, while the sense is in the clouds. More respectable is that -tranquillizing and elevating feeling which oftentimes accompanies the -reading, in which the understanding, though not dead, is still at fault -through the veil interposed by the phraseology. This placid acquiescence -of the soul in a message the exact purpose of which it fails to -comprehend, may be taken to express a tacit homage to the power of the -Divine Spirit breathing through the words, however feebly enunciated; and -there may be still, under the happiest methods of elucidating Scripture -yet open to us, a just and legitimate scope for its exercise: -nevertheless, we covet habitually, and as a general principle, the -discharge of a higher function of the soul,—TO UNDERSTAND as well as TO -FEEL, and TO ACT as well as TO BE ACTED ON. - -But while these find Scripture so plain as to be able to dispense with -the Critic’s art, and all other aid, to throw further light on their -contents, there are those, on the other hand, who love a Mysterious -Bible, and to whom the whole science of Biblical interpretation is -positively distasteful, as savouring of the wisdom of man rather than of -the grace of the Spirit. They find their devotion fed, as they think, by -the Mystical element, and revel in difficulties that to others are simply -discomfiting. Cloud-land is their home. Accordingly, to relieve -Scripture of its obscurities, and render it more patent and intelligible, -is the last service for which we might expect their thanks. While this -is a genuine feeling,—indulged in for the special delectation of their -own bosoms—and not a pretence to ensnare others, or inveigle their weaker -brethren in the toils of a spiritual autocracy, it is simply an error of -the brain—an idiosyncrasy, to be treated with all due gentleness and -consideration. Let such, then, observe that there is no reason why -Scripture should be more difficult in the translation than it is in the -original, or than God designed it, or inspired men transmitted it to us; -and that the aim of these and similar efforts is simply to ensure a -version that will exhibit the Word of God with at least equal force and -perspicuity to that presented in the original text. Nor would a genuine -reverence for Scripture allow us to stop short of this point, since -anything less must be so much clear loss of most important Truth. There -are many who are grievously perplexed by the obscurity that attaches to -certain portions of Scripture, and for their sakes, as well as for the -obvious duty of the case, we insist upon all the aid we can procure to -elucidate those portions. To take one instance—a striking one—the -Messianic prophecies—those prophecies in not a few instances now -portraying the Messiah in unmistakable lineaments, and now, without the -slightest hint of a change of subject, {8a} varying the portrait, as by a -dissolving process, so that it seems no longer HIMSELF that is set before -us, but one of the erring children of men. Now, evidently, it would be -most desirable, if a new version could obviate or relieve this -difficulty. In sundry instances the sense is marred by an -incongruousness in the metaphors, {8b} for which the Bible, perhaps, is -the last book in the world to be made answerable; and this particular -fault, in most instances, a slight change in the _pointing_, for which -the context would give the fullest warrant, or a juster translation, -would satisfactorily amend. - -But will not a new translation endanger those articles of our faith in -which we have been brought up from our infancy, and which we believe to -be essential to salvation? May not the translation fall into the hands -of those who are ill-affected to the orthodox faith, and is there not -ground to believe that hostility to that faith is the real object of many -of those who are most conspicuous in the promotion of this scheme? - -This apprehension we believe to lie at the basis of much of the objection -that is entertained to the proposed change: but has it not occurred to -the alarmists, that the weapon cuts both ways, and that it is just as -possible, as far as at present appears, for the other side to be -discomfited in the shock? Who shall say that the Evangelical or Orthodox -scheme shall not gain ground by the experiment, and the opposite scheme -suffer? But these objections are manifestly unworthy a belief that -professedly rests as its basis on the Word of God; rather is it a belief -in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, not which the Holy Ghost -teacheth. And with regard to the individuals that may be selected for -the task, surely all anxiety on that ground is superfluous. The general -sense of Scripture is not now to be determined: that has been done long -ago; and all that remains for us is, in the use of such means as our -advancing scholarship supplies, to make that sense—as Providence from -time to time supplies the opportunity—yet more explicit, and available -for proficiency in Divine knowledge. - -Thus far we have been occupied in clearing our ground, and essaying a -hearing, with what chance of success we might, considering the outcry, -more or less reasonable, with which the question before us is usually -met. We take no further notice of the objections to our task, and -proceed to explain more distinctly in what that task consists. But, -first of all, we must premise, that we contemplate a “revised” rather -than an entirely “new” version. Certain feelings have entwined -themselves round the stock of the present version which it would not be -safe or needful to sever, except where the imperious demands of fidelity -to the sense necessitate the infliction. - -The fiat given to the use of the old authorized version is substantially -honourable to the nation—perhaps equally so with the fiat that gave it -existence. There is a pregnant power in the words, as symbols of the -burning _thoughts_ of the men engaged, not pale reflexes of _things_, -that has secured the all but universal use of the present version, with -all its imperfections, despite the labours of Lowth, and Horsley, and -Campbell, and Henderson, and Good, and others—all eminent names—more or -less to displace it. “The Spirit of the Living Creatures was in the -Wheels, and whither the Wheels were to go the Spirit of the Living -Creatures went with them.” {10a} - -‘FOREMOST in the conditions of a correct version is PURITY OF TEXT.’ -There is no doubt, we believe, in the minds of all qualified to pronounce -on this part of the question, that the text, both of the Old and New -Testament, generally unassailable as it is, is yet, on some not -unimportant points—and what is unimportant in such a -document?—susceptible of improvement. We wish, by all means, to have the -benefit of this improved text, as no consideration of _consequences_ can -weigh against the _actual_ inconveniences that belong to the text, in -some instances, as it now stands. The discrepancies, for example, in the -Chronicles, {10b} in matters relating to _numbers_, with the statements -in the corresponding passages in 2 Samuel and Kings, furnish most -damaging weapons in sceptical hands wherewith to assail the Sacred Books. -Some of these discrepancies are only imaginary, but others, it must be -confessed, are palpable and incontrovertible, and ought not to stand, as -they now do, in our Bibles, open, without a word appearing on the page in -their defence, to the most unmitigated contradiction. {11a} The fact is, -the text in these instances is _corrupt_, and there need be no scruple, -considering the way in which NUMBERS were variously written of old, by -letters, ciphers, or words, and more especially the liability of -transcribers to err in these matters, in arriving at that conclusion. -This extreme devotion to the Massoretic text on the part of our -translators, to the overthrow of common sense, and disregard of the -thousand arguments that plead for a change over the one thus -pertinaciously followed, is most detrimental to the credit of the Sacred -Volumes; for two statements diametrically opposed cannot, of course, be -both correct; the weaker, therefore, should naturally be made to give -place to the stronger. In some cases, _possibly_, this may be done by a -new recension of the text; in others the alteration should be summarily -made in conformity with the obvious maxims in universal use for -determining the truth in the case of contradictory documents. {11b} - -Next to Purity of Text is a CORRECT VERSION. That the present version -does not satisfy this condition in the just sense of the word, or to the -extent we have a right to require in such a matter, is now almost -universally conceded. The plea of “good enough” is given up, and the -wishes of the religious public for a translation more true to the -original, are “condescendingly” admitted to be just and reasonable; and -if this admission expressed the voice of authority, as well as the -general sense of the learned world, our wishes would speedily be in a -condition to be fulfilled. Meantime it is for us to agitate the question -till the boon be accorded, agreeably to the good old English rule, when -the stronghold of authority is to be stormed. - -It has appeared to us, in the prosecution of our task, that we could put -this question before the ordinary English reader in a form to enable him -to determine for himself with tolerable correctness the Validity of our -plea for a more correct version of Holy Writ. _On such a point it is -important he should be able to judge for himself_: accordingly, we shall -exhibit sundry amended passages, by way of specimen, in _juxtaposition_ -with the corresponding passages of the present version. It may be -premised, that it is not necessary that the amended translation should be -in all respects immaculate and unassailable; it suffices for the present -purpose if we establish the fact, that the authorized version _is_ -capable of amendment. The field before us is almost illimitable, so -numerous are the corrections that require to be supplied. Of course, we -must pick our path here and there. We begin with the Old Testament; and -here two passages recommend themselves for selection, as well for their -own intrinsic interest as for the materials they afford for elucidating -the principles that underlie the transfusion of Hebrew into English. The -reader is invited to ponder the two versions in the points in which they -differ, however minute the difference at first sight may appear, as the -change in these cases has proceeded upon a strictly literal translation -of the original Hebrew; and the variation, on a further view, may not -appear so unimportant as at first. Our first passage consists of -extracts from the Song of Deborah, Judges v., and the amended version is -due, substantially, to the able pen of Dr. Edward Robinson, Translator of -Gesenius, &c. See “Biblical Repository.” Two other versions of the same -Song are given by Dr. Adam Clarke in his Commentary, from Dr. Hales and -Dr. Kennicott respectively; but, with all their merit, they are less -literally true to the original, and therefore less eligible for -selection, than the one we have adopted:— - - JUDGES V. - - _Old Version_. _New Version_. - -2. Praise ye the Lord for the 2. For the leading of the -avenging of Israel, when the leaders in Israel, for the -people willingly offered voluntary offering of the people, -themselves. praise ye the Lord . . . -7. _The inhabitants of_ the 7. Leaders failed in Israel, -villages ceased, they ceased in they failed, until that I, -Israel, until that I Deborah Deborah, arose, that I arose a -arose . . . mother in Israel . . . -10. Speak, ye that ride on white 10. Ye that ride on white asses, -asses . . . . . . prepare a song, -11. _They that are delivered_ 11. Responsive to the voice of -from the noise of archers in the those who divide the spoil by the -places of drawing water, there watercourses. There they shall -shall they rehearse the righteous rehearse the victories of the -acts of the Lord, _even_ the Lord, the victory of his princes -righteous acts _toward the in Israel; then shall the people -inhabitants_ of his villages in of the Lord descend to the gates. -Israel: then shall the people of -the Lord go down to the gates. -12. Awake, {13} awake, Deborah: 12. Awake, awake, Deborah; -awake, awake, utter a song. . . . awake, awake, utter a song . . . -13. Then he made him that 13. Then I _said_, Descend, ye -remaineth have dominion over the remnant of the nobles of the -nobles among the people: the Lord people! O Lord, descend for me -made me have dominion over the among the mighty! -mighty. -14. Out of Ephraim _was there_ a 14. Out of Ephraim _came those_ -root of them against Amalek; whose dwelling is by Amalek. -after thee, Benjamin, among thy After thee (Ephraim) _was_ -people; out of Machir came down Benjamin among thy hosts; out of -governors, and out of Zebulun Machir (Manasseh) came down -they that handle the pen of the princes, and from Zebulun those -writer. who grasp the staff of a leader. -15. And the princes of Issachar 15. The princes of Issachar also -_were_ with Deborah; even _came_ with Deborah; yea, -Issachar, and also Barak: he was Issachar was the staff of Barak. -sent on foot into the valley. He rushed into the valley at his -For the divisions of Reuben feet. For the divisions of -_there were_ great thoughts of Reuben _I have_ great griefs of -heart. heart . . . -16. Why abodest thou among the 16. Wherefore didst thou sit -sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings still among the folds, to listen -of the flocks? For the divisions to the lowing of the herds? For -of Reuben _there were_ great the divisions of Reuben _I have_ -searchings of heart. great revolvings of heart. -17. Gilead abode beyond Jordan: 17. Gilead (Gad) abode beyond -and why did Dan remain in ships? Jordan; and Dan, why tarried he -Asher continued on the sea shore, in ships? Asher sat at the shore -and abode in his breaches. of the sea, and abode at his - creeks. -18. Zebulun and Naphtali _were_ 18. For Zebulun, the people -a people _that_ jeoparded their scorned their lives, and _rushed_ -lives unto the death in the high upon death, and Naphtali, in the -places of the field. high places of the plain. -19. The kings came _and_ fought, 19. The kings came, they fought, -. . . they took no gain of money. . . . they took no spoil of - silver. -22. Then were the horsehoofs 22. Then did the horses’ hoofs -broken by the means of the smite _the ground_ from the -pransings, the pransings of their haste, the haste of their riders -mighty ones. . . . - -We here pause, before proceeding to our second extract, to notice one -very damaging source of mistranslation as applicable to the Old -Testament. We allude to what may be called the use of the Prophetical or -Theological scheme in dealing with the Prophecies. For instance, in the -2nd verse of 53rd chap, of Isaiah, as below, the words “_for he shall -grow up_” ought to be rendered “_and_” or “_so_” (resuming the argument -of the previous chapter) “_he grew up_” in the PAST tense; and so on -through the chapter. The Prophets, it is well known, in the vividness of -their prophetic vision, contemplated the future events that passed under -their ken as _actually past_; {14} and as this is a prominent -characteristic of their mode of delivering prophetic truth, it ought not -to be lost sight of in a translation. The explanation of the _fact_ that -what they spoke of as actually past was still future, belongs to what is -called “exegesis,” and stands out as an Order of Rhetoric significant of, -and sacred to, their prophetic function; but by no means should such an -element enter into a translation, which, if it does not present a -faithful reflex of the original, is simply a misnomer. Not that there is -any inviolable uniformity in the practice of the translators in the use -of this scheme. Far from it; as is evident from the translation that -follows. And this serves to render a subject, necessarily obscure from -its very nature, immeasurably more so. The truth is, we have here forced -upon us the fact, that the translators were not fully acquainted with a -principle of the language—now well understood—that lies at the basis of -the whole structure. {15} They saw its force—they could not help doing -so—in the Narrative portions, but were not cognizant of it as a -Fundamental principle of the language, applicable alike to all subjects, -and not variable and flexible at the pleasure of the interpreter. - -We are sorry we can adduce no particular name on which to cast the -responsibility of the following amended version. We have consulted very -many of the most distinguished of those who have laboured to translate -this, in some respects, very intricate passage, and what we have given -must be considered mainly as an _amalgam_ of the joint labours of them -all. We are far from thinking we have given the best version possible; -and _perhaps_ the text itself, where the difficulty is peculiarly -pressing, may yet be found susceptible of improvement:— - - ISAIAH. - - _Old Version_. _New Version_. -Ch. lii. 13. Behold, my servant Ch. lii. 13. Behold, my servant -shall deal prudently, he shall be shall be prosperous; he shall be -exalted and extolled, and be very exalted and extolled, and be -high. magnified exceedingly. -14. As many were astonied at 14. As many were astonished at -thee; his visage was so marred thee; (so marred was his visage -more than any man, and his form more than any man, and his form -more than the sons of men: than the sons of men.) -15. So shall he sprinkle many 15. So shall he sprinkle many -nations; the kings shall shut nations; kings shall shut their -their mouths at him: for _that_ mouths at him (_do him homage_); -which had not been told them for that which had not been told -shall they see; and _that_ which them have they seen, and that -they had not heard shall they which they had not heard have -consider. they considered: -Ch. liii. 1. Who hath believed Ch. liii. 1. (Who hath believed -our report? and to whom is the our report? and to whom hath the -arm of the Lord revealed? arm of the Lord been revealed?) -2. For he shall grow up before 2. And he grew up before him as -him as a tender plant, and as a a tender plant, and as a root out -root out of a dry ground: he hath of a land of drought: he hath no -no form nor comeliness; and when form nor comeliness that we -we shall see him, _there is_ no should see him, and no beauty -beauty that we should desire him. that we should desire him. -3. He is despised and rejected 3. Despised and rejected of men; -of men; a man of sorrows, and a man of sorrows, and acquainted -acquainted with grief: and we hid with grief; and concealing as it -as it were _our_ faces from him; were _his_ face from us; -he was despised, and we esteemed despised, and we esteemed him -him not. not. -4. Surely he hath borne our 4. Surely _it was_ our griefs -griefs, and carried our sorrows; _that_ he bore; and our sorrows, -yet we did esteem him stricken, he carried them: but we esteemed -smitten of God, and afflicted. him stricken, smitten of God, and - afflicted. -5. But he _was_ wounded for our 5. But he _was_ pierced for our -transgressions, _he was_ bruised transgressions, _he was_ bruised -for our iniquities: the for our iniquities: the -chastisement of our peace _was_ chastisement of our peace was -upon him; and with his stripes we upon him, and by his infirmity we -are healed. were healed. -6. All we like sheep have gone 6. All we like sheep have gone -astray; we have turned every one astray; we have turned each one -to his own way; and the Lord hath to his own way; and the Lord hath -laid on him the iniquity of us laid on him the iniquity of us -all. all. -7. He was oppressed, and he was 7. He was oppressed; but he, -afflicted, {17a} yet he opened submitting himself, {17c} does -not his mouth: he is brought not even open his mouth: as a -{17b} as a lamb to the slaughter, lamb is brought to the slaughter, -and as a sheep before her and as a sheep before her -shearers is dumb, so he opened shearers _is_ dumb, so he openeth -not his mouth. not his mouth. -8. He was taken from prison and 8. From oppression and from -from judgment: and who shall judgment was he taken: but _the -declare his generation? for he wickedness of_ his generation who -was cut off out of the land of shall declare? for he was cut off -the living: for the transgression out of the land of the living; -of my people was he stricken. for the transgression of my - people, for the stroke _due_ to - them! -9. And he made his grave with 9. And he made his grave with -the wicked, and with the rich in the wicked, and with the -his death; because he had done no [impious] {17d} in his death; -violence, neither was any deceit though he had done no violence, -in his mouth. and _there was_ no deceit in his - mouth. -10. Yet it pleased the Lord to 10. But it pleased the Lord to -bruise him; he hath put _him_ to bruise him; he hath put him to -grief: when thou shalt make his grief, _proclaiming_, If his soul -soul an offering for sin, he shall make an offering for sin, -shall see _his_ seed, he shall he shall see a seed, he shall -prolong _his_ days, and the prolong _his_ days, and the -pleasure of the Lord shall pleasure of the Lord shall -prosper in his hand. prosper in his hand. -11. He shall see of the travail 11. He shall see of the travail -of his soul, _and_ shall be of his soul; he shall be -satisfied: by his knowledge shall satisfied: by his knowledge _of -my righteous servant justify woe_ {18a} shall my righteous -many; for he shall bear their servant make many righteous, and -iniquities. himself shall bear their - iniquities. -12. Therefore will I divide him 12. Therefore I will allot him -_a portion_ with the great, and the great for his portion, and he -he shall divide the spoil with shall divide the mighty as spoil, -the strong; because he poured out because he poured out his soul -his soul unto death: and he was unto death, and was numbered with -numbered with the transgressors; transgressors. So he bore the -and he bare the sin of many, and sin of many, and intercedes {18b} -made intercession for the for the transgressors. -transgressors. - -NOTE.—The new translation is less soft and mellifluous than the old, but -let it not be hastily condemned in the comparison on that account. It is -more exact, and that is the principal object now. Probably it may yet -fall into hands that shall combine all the beautiful flow of the old -version, with no less, and even far greater exactness than we have been -able to achieve. - -Thus far for the Old Testament. We adopt a somewhat different mode of -selection in dealing with the New, but adhere to our plan of exhibiting -the two versions in juxtaposition. The amended passages that follow are -taken, with a few exceptions, from Professor Scholefield’s “Hints for an -Improved Translation of the New Testament.” They are, it is presumed, -sufficiently important to warrant the selection, but it must be premised -that it is not by taking isolated passages for emendation that the WHOLE -TRUTH insisted upon in these pages can be enforced. There are numberless -points of correction of which our version is susceptible that are not -adapted for such isolated exhibition, and which it is the special -business of the Greek particles to supply; but the exhibition of such -points, involving the structure of sentences and the mutual relation of -the clauses of which they are made up, would require a much larger -canvass. We indicate this source of correction only to avert the -conclusion, that our argument rests solely on the basis supplied in the -particular mode of illustration adopted. - - _Old Version_. _New Version_. - Mark iv. 13. -And he said unto them, Know ye And he says to them, Know ye not -not this parable? and how then this parable? how then will ye -will ye know all parables? know any {19} parables? - Luke xvi. 12. -And if ye have not been faithful . . . in that which is another’s -in that which is another man’s. (_i.e._ God’s). - John xviii. 15. -And Simon Peter followed Jesus, And Simon Peter was following -and _so did_ another disciple. Jesus, and _so was_ the other - disciple (probably Judas). - John i. 9. -Which lighteth every man that Which coming into the world -cometh into the world. lighteth every man. - Acts xix. 2. -Whether there be any Holy Ghost. Whether the Holy Ghost be given. - Rom. vi. 17. -But God be thanked, that ye were But God be thanked that whereas -the servants of sin. ye were the servants of sin. - Rom. xiv. 23. -Is damned if he eat, because _he Is condemned if he eat, because -eateth_ not of faith. _it is_ not of faith. - 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. -But if our gospel be hid, it is . . . be hid (_with a veil_), it -hid to them that are lost: is hid to the abandoned: - -In whom the god of this world As to whom the god of this world -hath blinded the minds of them habitually blinds their minds, -that believe not. being unbelieving. - 1 Pet. iii. 6. -Whose daughters ye are as long as . . . as long as ye do well, and -ye do well, and are not afraid yield to no fear, (_as Sarah on -with any amazement. one memorable occasion did_). - 2 Pet. i. 19, 20, 21. -We have also a more sure word of Moreover, we have the word of -prophecy; whereunto ye do well prophecy _made_ more sure, (the -that ye take heed, as unto a voice from heaven while in the -light, &c. holy mount _confirmed_ it). - -Knowing this first, that no Knowing this first, that no -prophecy of the scripture is of prophecy of Scripture is of the -any private interpretation; nature of a private revelation; - -For the prophecy came not in old For prophecy was not prompted in -time by the will of man; but holy old time by the will of man; but -men of God spoke _as they were_ holy men of God spoke _as_ -moved by the Holy Ghost. prompted by the Holy Ghost. - 2 Pet. iii. 5, 6. -For this they willingly are For this they willingly are -ignorant of, that by the word of ignorant of, that by the word of -God the heavens were of old, and God, the heavens and the earth -the earth standing out of the were of old involved in a -water and in the water; confluence of waters; - -Whereby the world that then was, Whereby the world that then was, -being overflowed with water, being deluged with water, -perished. perished. - 1 Cor. v. 9. -I wrote unto you in an epistle. I have written to you in my - epistle (the present). - 1 Cor. vii. 11. -But and if she depart. But if also she be separated. - 1 Cor. x. 17. -For we _being_ many, are one For _there is_ one bread, and we, -bread _and_ one body. who are many, are one body. - 1 Cor. xv. 41. -For _one_ star differeth from Nay (or, this is not all, for) -_another_ star in glory. one star differeth from another - star, &c. - 2 Cor. iii. 18. -But we all, with open face And we all with unveiled face -beholding as in a glass the glory reflecting as in a glass . . . -of the Lord (Moses put a veil on his face, - not so the disciples of Christ). - 2 Cor. v. 1. -If our earthly house of _this_ If the earthly house of our -tabernacle were dissolved. tabernacle be dissolved. - 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4. -I knew a man in Christ. I know a man in Christ. - -It is not lawful to utter. It is not possible. - Gal. iii. 22. -That the promise by faith of That the promise may be given to -Jesus Christ might be given to believers by Jesus Christ. -them that believe. - Eph. v. 13. -But all things that are reproved But all things are reproved, and -are made manifest by the light. made manifest by the light. - Phil. i. 7. -Partakers of my grace. Partakers with me of grace. - Phil. i. 10. -That ye may approve things that That ye may try things that -are excellent. differ. - Phil. iv. 8. -If _there be_ any virtue, and if Whatever virtue, and whatever -_there be_ any praise. praise there be. - Col. i. 19. -For it pleased _the Father_, that For all the fulness of the -in him should all fulness dwell. God-head was pleased to dwell in - him. - Col. ii. 23. -Not in any honour to the Not with any regard to the -satisfying of the flesh. satisfying of the flesh. - 2 Thess. ii. 6, 7. -And now ye know what withholdeth And now ye know what withholdeth -that he might be revealed in his _him_, that he may be revealed in -time. his own time. For the mystery of - iniquity is already working; only -For the mystery of iniquity doth there is one that now withholdeth -already work: only he who now it, until he be taken out of the -letteth _will let_, until he be way. -taken out of the way. - Heb. iv. 2. -For unto us was the gospel For we have the glad tidings -preached, as well as unto them: thereof even as they; but the -but the word preached did not word of its report (_i.e._, which -word profit them. they heard) did not profit them. - Heb. ix. 12. -He entered in once into the holy He entered once for all into the -place. holy place. - Heb. ix. 15, 16, 17. -And for this cause he is the And for this end he is the -mediator of the new testament, mediator of the new covenant, -that by means of death, for the that, his death having taken -redemption of the transgressions place for the redemption of the -_that were_ under the first transgressions under the first -testament, they which are called covenant, they that are called -might receive the promise of might receive the promise of the -eternal inheritance. eternal inheritance. - -For where a testament _is_, there For where a covenant _is_, there -must also of necessity be the must of necessity be brought in -death of the testator. the death of the mediating - _sacrifice_. -For a testament _is_ of force -after men are dead: otherwise it For a covenant is valid over dead -is of no strength at all while _sacrifices_: since it is never -the testator liveth. of any force while the mediating - _sacrifice_ continues alive. - Heb. xii. 18. -To the mount that might be To the mount that could be -touched. touched. - Heb. xiii. 4. -Marriage _is_ honourable in all, Let marriage be honourable in -and the bed undefiled. all, and the bed _be_ undefiled. - 1 Pet. iii. 20. -Were saved by water. Were saved through the water - (brought safely through). - 1 Pet. iv. 8. -Shall cover the multitude of Will cover a multitude of sins. -sins. - 2 Pet. i. 16. -For we have not followed For we did not follow cunningly -cunningly devised fables, when we devised fables when we made known -made known unto you . . . unto you . . . - 2 Pet. ii. 1, 3. -And bring upon themselves swift . . . and their destruction -destruction . . . and their slumbereth not (_destruction_, -damnation slumbereth not. precisely the same word as - before). - 2 Pet. ii. 5. -Noah the eighth _person_. Noah, with seven others. - 2 Pet. ii. 14. -Cursed children. Children of the curse. - Rev. iv. 6. -Four beasts. Four living creatures. - Rev. x. 6. -That there should be time no That there should be no more -longer. delay. - -Thus far, by way of specimen of the improvement of which the authorized -version is susceptible on the score of fidelity to the original. The -instances might have been multiplied indefinitely, but we designed only a -specimen. We would repeat that there is a large amount of improvement -practicable in elucidating and enforcing the sense, when it is not -positively misrepresented, that is less fitted for such display, and -which alone it would require the transcription of a large portion of the -Bible to render apparent. - - “Claudite jam rivos pueri; sat prata biberunt.” - -We have indeed said enough to justify our plea, and here we might close -the evidence, but we are tempted further to observe that the sense of -Scripture is not only obscured in the authorized version by errors of -translation, but there is almost an equal amount of mischief done to the -sense by the present mode of distributing the subject-matter into chapter -and verse; for which, as is well known, there is no valid authority, -{24a} either as regards the Old or the New Testament. This fault it is -the special object of the new Paragraph Bible lately published by the -Religious Tract Society, to remedy. We confine ourselves to two -illustrations. - -The 53rd chapter of Isaiah begins with a parenthesis, (‘Who hath believed -our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’) {24b} -This, in our view, is a _soliloquy_ into which the prophet breaks forth -in relief of his feelings, while contemplating the overpowering events -that pass in review before him, coupled with the rejection of the message -by the great body of his countrymen. {25a} These events had already -begun their career at the 13th verse of the foregoing chapter, and they -go steadily on through the remainder of that, and the whole of the -following chapter, broken only by the ejaculation of the prophet, thus -violently wrenched from its place, as the matter now stands. - -The other instance we adduce of the obscuration of the sense occasioned -by the present faulty distribution of the letter-press, occurs Joshua v. -and vi. It is an example of an analogous kind to that already given. It -makes a parenthesis used simply in explanation of a series of -instructions from the Lord to Joshua to vacate its place in the -narrative, and actually stand at the commencement of a new chapter, in -which the same series of instructions is still continued. See the -“Edinburgh Review” for October last. {25b} We shall place the old and -new arrangement in juxta-position, when the violence done to the sense, -as the matter now stands, will be apparent at once. - - _Old Arrangement_. _New Arrangement_. - Joshua v. 15. -And the captain of the Lord’s And the captain of the Lord’s -host said unto Joshua, Loose thy host said unto Joshua, “_Loose -shoe from off thy foot; for the thy shoe from off thy foot_, _for -place where thou standest _is_ the place where thou standest is -holy. And Joshua did so. holy_.” And Joshua did so. -Ch. vi. Now Jericho was straitly (Now Jericho was straitly shut -shut up, because of the children up, because of the children of -of Israel: none went out, and Israel; none went out, and none -none came in. came in). And the Lord said unto - Joshua, “_See_, _I have given -2. And the Lord said unto into thy hand Jericho_,” &c. -Joshua, See, I have given into -thy hand Jericho, &c. - -The reader will observe in the above paragraph that, in addition to a -better distribution of the letter-press, we have given the _spoken -language_ in italics, with inverted commas,—a character of type we -recommend to be carried out continuously in the revised version, as it, -actually is with excellent effect, in the new Paragraph Bible. These may -be thought small matters, but we have been led to mention them as -thinking the adoption of them will give facility, not merely to the -private, but also to the _vivâ voce_ reading of Scripture,—a point surely -not undeserving of attention. - -Connected with these desiderata are others of a minor character, as—an -improved punctuation—the substitution of vernacular for obsolete -words—the use of _euphemisms_ where the allusion is obvious, and no -violence is done to the sense—appropriate concise headings to the -different sections in the margin—_chronological arrangement of the -several books_—chronological data, &c. &c. - -We are proceeding beyond the strict limits we assigned to ourselves in -the course of these last remarks, and scarcely venture further in -recommending attention—though especially worthy of it, in the case of a -Book we wish to make universally attractive,—to what may be called the -_æsthetics_ of _book-making_. We all know the advantage of a readable -type, open space between the lines, paragraphs and smaller divisions -clearly indicated, large margin, &c.; and though, in comparison with our -main object, these are small matters, they yet constitute distinct items -in the Roll of convenience, and therefore merit attention—especially in -subserviency to the object of giving to the Bible the adjuncts -appropriate to a HOUSEHOLD BOOK. - -Such is an outline of what we hope to see done. We might have multiplied -instances of mistranslation to an unlimited extent, and many other -improvements conducing to a clearer exposition of the sense of Scripture -might have been suggested: but we stop here. Enough has been said to -substantiate our argument, and we desist from the present line of thought -to indulge the flattering belief that we have at length gained our -object; that, in fact, we have a Bible such as we have invoked—with a -purer text,—a correcter version,—and other appliances better adapted to -fit it for the high ends for which it was given, than the present. What, -now, it may be asked, are the _peculiar advantages_ we promise ourselves -from the ACQUISITION? Some advantages seem to flow very naturally and -directly from the measure; and one that we may very confidently -anticipate is, a keener perception and appreciation of Scripture in its -fundamental qualities of truthfulness, power, and majesty, as the volume -is spread out before us with increased effulgence, and life-likeness to -the original. The whole orb of truth will shine out with a brightness of -which it is now in part shorn through defect in the instrument by means -of which it is viewed. Moreover, the _evidences_ for the Divine -authority of the sacred books would be yet clearer, as blemishes were -eliminated, obscurities cleared up, weak parts strengthened. The -evidences of Christianity, in their brightest array, and most decisive -effect, lie in the sacred oracles themselves. They vouch for their own -authority. How potent a power this is may be judged of from the fact -that they are accredited by those to whom they not only show no favour, -but the most decided and uncompromising hostility! Many circumstances -wrongfully accredited to them mar and weaken the evidence; but these, -however perplexing in some cases, and damaging—as the text now stands—in -others, cannot overlay their credibility. There are, moreover, doctrines -embedded in their pages that appeal solely to faith, and that receive our -assent mainly as part and parcel of a BOOK that we deem divine. It is -the word of God, and we turn away at our peril from the voice that speaks -to us from HEAVEN. Certain passages there are, as we think, so impressed -with the character of Divinity, so reassuring of a divine utterance, and -so marvellously radiant with truth, that, under the full force of the -impression, the whole soul resigns itself to the spell, and faith is -scarcely so much a voluntary emotion as a necessity. We believe because -we have no alternative. {28} Such is the power of the sacred oracles in -themselves to command belief. Nevertheless, the evidence generally of -their divine authority would be yet more conclusive, as the result of a -version more true to the sacred text. The Divine voice would be still -more audible. The arguments that have hitherto commanded our assent -would acquire fresh force, while obstacles and imperfections would -dwindle into insignificance, or altogether disappear. The force of our -plea could scarcely present itself more strongly. The Scriptures -themselves constitute the great battle-field of the argument affecting a -Divine Revelation. The question is decided in the minds of thousands, on -considerations drawn from _the Scriptures themselves_,—in virtue, that -is, of their own credentials, and not on the elaborate speculations or -ingenious apologies of (assumed) interested advocates. A more direct and -forcible evidence is required for men in no ecclesiastical position to -forestall opinion, and with little time or ability to enter into abstruse -and recondite arguments. The ordinary books of evidences, however -effective _concurrently_ with the evidence furnished by Scripture itself -(and in this way they are—many of them—doubtless exceedingly useful), are -not _alone_, and, in the absence of such corroboration, calculated to -produce the evidence that is desired to rebut the counter arguments to -which human nature in its infirmity is assailed. It requires the -re-assuring voice of God himself to give the requisite confidence and -satisfaction. Hence we have sufficiently indicated the field to which -our labours may be most successfully directed while endeavouring to -establish and diffuse, in their most telling and cogent form, the -evidences of the Christian faith. - -Moreover, a competent knowledge of Biblical erudition would, under the -new conditions of the Holy Books, be no longer so costly or onerous as at -present. Truly, this is a great desideratum. The mass of reading now -required to peruse Scripture with due edification and interest is -altogether beyond the leisure of the busy, or the means of the less -affluent: and to be doomed to hopeless ignorance of so much enlightenment -as is symbolized in the goodly tomes that meet the eye on every side, -devoted to the elucidation of Holy Writ, is by no means satisfactory. -With this partial distribution of spiritual advantages, the Christian -Church seems drifting away from its fundamental basis of _universality_, -and,—in the very spirit and wake of heathenism,—abetting and consecrating -the principle of an esoteric and exoteric school—a pet and a common class -of disciples—the one furnished with all the erudition—the prime secrets -and witcheries of knowledge—the other abandoned to the merest -generalities, a sorry heap of prejudices, or at best a dubious and -insufficient light. But however this be, certain it is there is now -available a vast amount of Biblical lore of no mean value, and which no -good Christian would willingly forego, that is all but sealed to the bulk -of the Christian world. {30} The publication of Scripture on the -principles we advocate would go far to remedy the evil. The beautiful -emendations of the Sacred text that are now scattered over a wide waste -of territory, and all but lost, would be garnered up, and made available -for common use. The occasional criticisms of Archbishop Whately, for -instance, and the specific emendations of the late Professor Scholefield, -would become alike the property of the esoterics and the exoterics: they -would be treasured up and embalmed in our own Bibles. In a word, we -should succeed to a large inheritance of the labours of others. There -would be still much left, of course, to reward industry and sagacity, and -succeeding times might fairly expect to have the benefit of all future -discoveries in this important field. The immediate benefit would be to -relieve the unlettered from dependence on the Commentary to the extent -they now are. They who run might read. {31} - -We may further be entitled to expect some abatement of our present -unchristian differences, which are fostered to some extent, as we think, -by the difficulties inherent in the Book rather as a _translation_ than -as an _original_. To some extent it gives a less certain sound, as it is -obliged to avail itself of human organs. By repairing the instrument, we -may find a great impediment to our common understanding and accord -removed, while the union thus formed will be all the more valuable as it -will be real, not simulated—uniform, not patched up for the occasion to -defeat a common enemy. It will grow out of the only bond of -union—sympathy, namely, of belief—that promises to be permanent and -available in the hour of trial. Divers forms of worship, and many -varying shades of opinion, may co-exist with this unity. Charity -thinketh no evil, is not easily provoked. If this happy purpose could be -secured by imparting a clearer light to the firmament of Christian truth, -as the result of the measure we advocate, it would not be easy to -overrate the boon in the removal of the scandal that belongs to the -present divided state of Christendom, and in the service it would render -to the church in carrying out her many offices of healing and comfort to -the world. - -Still further: Popular Education, to the extent to which it is identified -with the Bible, would be subserved by an improved translation. In many -parts of the kingdom the Bible, as is well known, is the only organ of -education available—the only apparatus by which any ray of intellectual -light finds entrance into men’s minds. This may be accounted for from -the fact that, in addition to knowledge, Scripture brings with it _the -soul’s health_; otherwise, in the rude state in which it finds a large -portion of the population, it would have small chance of fulfilling this -incidental office of educating the masses. In this light Scripture, -where, as in Protestant countries, it is freely diffused, must be -regarded as a most precious boon to a nation—as a guarantee, in fact, -that the people shall be in some sort educated, and invested with the -attributes of rational and responsible beings. Nor is the benefit of -Scripture, as a help to education, confined to the poor: in early youth -it smooths the entrance on the path of knowledge, not less effectually to -the rich than to the indigent. There is, moreover, to be considered the -part that Scripture plays in the education of the land, in the actual -occupancy it enjoys in almost every family as a HOUSEHOLD BOOK, available -as the Urim and Thummim of the ancient economy, and actually doing that -service which the “lares and lemures” of heathen households were vainly -invoked to perform. It is in vain to exclaim against this state of -things, from whatever motive, sceptical or superstitious: the fact is as -we have stated it, and, with the absence of such means of education, the -country, to a large extent, must necessarily be uneducated. - -Thus obviously is the Bible the recognized organ of popular education in -this country, and in this view it is most important that its efficiency -should be complete. But this inference derives its chief force from -considerations affecting the _character_ of the education it supplies. -In this aspect of it there is nothing that should make us regret the -actual occupancy it enjoys in this regard. On the contrary, it is -admirably adapted by its own peculiar power over men’s souls to -create—not a learned, but an intelligent people; and if intelligent, then -free, independent, powerful,—a match for tyranny in every shape, and at -every turn. Nor are the ruling powers themselves less benefited in thus -being able to lay deep the foundation of their authority in the fixedness -of principle, just appreciation of good as distinct from its counterfeit, -and sober and well-advised aims of the people so trained and nurtured. - -Closely connected with education, or such an education as we have now -been considering, is _public morality_, and with it the strength and -prosperity of a Nation. The condition of England in her various -phases—civil, military, political, and religious—has naturally arrested -the attention of intelligent foreigners, as presenting a marked -superiority in these respects, or in some of them, to their own country. -They have inquired the cause of this distinction with little success, and -are as much at fault in being able to trace no symptoms of decay or -flagging vitality in the system, cruelly tried as it not unfrequently is, -prognosticating its ruin. Perhaps there is a solution of the enigma -here. Perhaps the use of Scripture as the prime material of our early -education has generated a better morality among us, and precluded the -admission of certain forms of evil, little consonant to national -greatness or national welfare, from which we see other countries, -differently schooled, are not exempt. On this head, while avoiding undue -pretension, we would not choose to say less than truth permits. With all -the deductions to be allowed in disparagement of our claim to a high -place in the scale of morals absolutely, we have yet, as compared with -other countries,—a conscience, a sense namely of right and wrong, -pervading the bulk of the people, and leavening the land with a wholesome -morality,—we are not habituated to treat suicide as a virtue, {34}—our -functionaries, as a body, are not venal,—we are not dangerous to the -State when we meet in numbers beyond two or three,—and we are not -incapable of self-government. M. de Montalembert, in his late work on -the Future of England, while generously doing homage to the greatness of -this country, the destinies of which he undertakes to decide, has not -adverted to this high moral and religious training as supplying any -explanation of the phenomenon: perhaps deeming his own country to be not -less amply supplied with the means of religious culture. On this point -we are at issue with him, if such is his opinion. In France, as in -Catholic countries generally,—and it must be confessed in some Protestant -countries too,—it is not so decidedly a religious or moral, as an -ecclesiastical and conventual training, that is accorded; one, that is, -which, while it overlays the memory with dogmas, and deals in technical -and artificial requirements, leaves the conscience all but uninformed, -and morality, as a pervading, practical, germinating principle, almost a -non-entity. {35} - -_Paullo majora canamus_. The time is come when countries, as such, need -to be educated no less really than smaller bodies and isolated -individuals. Countries are brought now almost into as close contact with -one another as individual members of the same commonwealth; and the -identical principle that inculcates the education of individuals—that, -namely, of mutual self-defence and reciprocal advantage—applies to the -aggregation of individuals in a nation. The times of ignorance picture -to us man as a savage, a terror to his neighbours, and everywhere an -object of rightful destruction. Education became a necessity, if he -would be safe from violence, or reap advantage from the society of his -fellow. The picture presented by the history of nations in relation to -one another is substantially the same. There has been little improvement -in this respect yet visible. Nor has the necessity for it seemed urgent, -while the nations were separated by the natural obstacles of their -position, and their means of mutual annoyance in a corresponding degree -circumscribed. Science has now removed these obstacles, and the nations -are brought into immediate contiguity and contact, while their means of -mutual annoyance have been enormously and frightfully multiplied. -Startling it is to think of the growing power of nations for evil, and -inflicting evil upon one another, in the present temper and _morale_ of -the nations. Surely we may say the time has come for providing a remedy -appropriate to so fearful a crisis. There is none that occurs to us so -sure as a system of instruction that recognizes as its basis a _sanctity_ -in the relations of state with state, and lodges deep in the consciences -of the several people those great principles of justice, truth, and -benevolence, in which God has indissolubly bound up all human happiness, -whether of nations or of individuals. Unhappily there is so much to -unlearn on the subject of the relative duties of nations to one another -before this good work can be proceeded in. The sacred records have not -been supposed to furnish any lessons on this branch of human duty, and -none have been sought for. But— - - “In them is plainest taught and easiest learn’d - What makes a Nation happy, and keeps it so.” - - PARADISE REGAINED. - -Embued with the conviction that we have the means adequate to the high -ends here proposed in these very records—well understood and properly -carried out—we have ventured upon these high themes in disregard of the -imputation to which we may be subjected, with some plausibility, of -overstating our cause. We say with some plausibility, only as merging -our feelings for the moment in the superficial view ordinarily taken of -the _real character_ of the religious element—a view altogether ignored -by the history of our race, and the peculiar phenomena of the times. We -may add, it is unmistakably at variance with the consciousness of almost -every individual in Christendom, to whom it is no secret that religious -questions—unless the interest has been neutralized by long neglect, or -quashed by desperate violence—exert a strange and engrossing power over -his soul. In whatever way we look at it, it is a _power_, and in this -view may even be perverted to evil. - -“Suppose ye,” says Christ, “that I am come to send peace upon earth? I -tell you, Nay, but rather division.” {37a} In deep sympathy with these -words, and in corroboration of the prophetic spirit by which they are -marked, are the following observations of Stanley, when summing up his -reminiscences of the Lake of Galilee—the toiling all night and catching -nothing—the great multitude of fishes, so that the net broke—the casting -a hook for the first fish that came up—the net cast into the sea, and -gathering of every kind: “all these,” says he, “are images which could -occur nowhere else in Palestine but in this one spot, and which, from -that one spot, have now passed into the religious language of the -civilized world, _and in their remotest applications_, _or even -misapplications_, _have converted the nations_, _and shaken the thrones -of Europe_.” {37b} - -Thus demonstrative it is that Religion is no weak, idle, evanescent -figment of man’s imagination, but a real, substantial, controlling power, -shaping his thoughts, it may be unconsciously, and blending itself with -the solid structure of society and nations. Greece and Rome, it has been -well said, have attracted here and there a visitor, but only the Holy -Land has provoked a crusade. Nor is the evidence of its power to be -fetched wholly from the records of the past; we think we see in it in our -own days a germinating principle more potent than anything else now in -operation to work great changes, and rival, at least, if it does not -throw into the shade, all that history has yet unfolded. That this power -may be based in knowledge, and directed to a righteous end, unlike the -character oftentimes it bears on the page of the past, it may deserve -some consideration as a means to this end, whether we may not yet read -our lesson to greater advantage, and educe from the sacred page a fuller -amount of good than in its present state it is calculated to afford. And -we have the more confidence in urging our present suit, because we are -persuaded that the boon we invoke will not long be unattended with other -forms of active beneficence conducing to the same high ends. The church -will almost simultaneously rouse herself to new exertion. A yet more -effective order of Religious Teaching than we can yet boast of—from the -pulpit and the press, will probably be elicited. And thus we shall -evoke, not an isolated power waging dubious war against fearful odds, but -a CONFEDERATE force, equal, we will hope, to the crisis;—a crisis such -as, no one is so obtuse as not to see, demands something vastly in -advance of the elements at present available for neutralizing the fearful -evils now festering at our core, or looming in the no distant horizon. - -Such is our argument. The sum is, that the Sacred Books are replete with -good, and that a just appreciation of what is due to our own interests, -no less than gratitude for the gift itself, demands from us the -consecration of whatever further power Providence has, in these latter -days, conferred upon us to that end, to render that good in its utmost -extent salutary and efficacious. - -And the time for action presses. Already various undertakings are on -foot to supply the desired object: and there may be reason to fear, in -the failure of help from higher quarters, that some Society—the Religious -Tract Society, for example, as suggested by the “Edinburgh Review,” thus -following up its recent excellent publication of the New Paragraph -Bible—or some self-constituted body, as is this moment sitting in America -for this very purpose—or individual scholars—may appropriate the ground -we should rather reserve as the Special Sphere for the operations of the -highest Authority in the realm. - -It only remains that we give utterance to our most fervent hope that this -great work may signalize the reign of our beloved Queen. It will not be -the least sparkling of the diamonds that will lend lustre to her crown. -All concurrent circumstances point to this as the fitting time, and to -her Majesty as the appropriate individual to inaugurate the solemnity. -Religious scruples have given way to a more enlightened and creditable -feeling, and a higher standard of religious truth than that afforded by -the present version is plainly a desideratum. The reflections cast upon -the Protestant faith in the recent trials for Bible-burning in Ireland, -authorized in measure by the concessions of Protestants themselves to the -faultiness of the authorized version, wait to be removed. Let her -Majesty, following in this respect the example of James I., appoint to -this work a body of men the most qualified for the task the realm -affords, and we cannot doubt the result will be a version of Holy -Scripture incomparably better than the present; thus supplying a fresh -cause of exultation in her Majesty’s rule, and a surpassing debt of -gratitude to the hand that conferred the boon. - - * * * * * - - _Extract from a Speech of M. Guizot at a late Meeting of the Protestant - Biblical Society in Paris_. _See_ Times, _April_ 19, 1856. - - “Whether we consider the history of nations, or the private life of - individuals, the moral efficacy and salutary power of the holy books - glowingly manifest themselves. Undoubtedly, even among nations where - it is assiduous and general, the reading of the holy books has not - the effect of stifling the bad passions of men; it does not obviate - all errors and faults. Man remains full of weakness and vice, even - when conscious of the presence of God. But the habitual reading of - the holy books preserves nations from the greatest perils; it - prevents them from forgetting God. It has this advantage—that God - remains for them, not an idea, a name, a system of philosophy, a - riddle, but the true and living God, under whose eye they constantly - live, amid the struggles and casualties of this world.” - - * * * * * - - * * * * * - - Reed and Pardon, Printers, Paternoster Row, London. - - - - -FOOTNOTES. - - -{3} A solitary voice, in the strict sense of the word, was raised by the -Rev. Canon Selwyn at the last meeting of Convocation (March, 1856). The -motion was not suited to the _mollia tempora fandi_, perhaps. But, -whatever the cause, there can be no doubt of the fitness of the hands -into which the motion fell, or that the day is far from being distant -when the question will force itself on the notice of Convocation, in all -probability, in another shape. - -{4} “Essays, Moral and Literary,” by Dr. Vicesimus Knox. No. XLIX. - -{8a} See Psalm xxii. throughout. The difficulties attending the -_entire_ application of the psalm to Christ are by no means insuperable. -Scott unreservedly refers the whole to Christ. Adam Clarke dissents. -Psalm lxix. is for the most part a manifest adumbration of the Messiah; -and if the difficulties in the way of the entire application of the Psalm -to Christ, presented in verse 5, where he is made _apparently_ to lament -his foolishness and his guilt, could be surmounted, a great boon, it is -conceived, would be granted to all who desire to understand what they -read. The _representative_ scheme, besides being open to other -objections, has no explicit authority in the Scriptures to recommend it, -and the _double sense_ is now all but universally abandoned. Possibly, -if the text will not yield in these cases, there are principles of -interpretation involved that await future development. - -{8b} Gen. xlix. 21. For, “Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth -goodly words,” read, “Naphtali is a spreading Pine, that putteth forth -goodly boughs.” Psa. xxix. 9. For, “The voice of the Lord maketh the -hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests,” read, “The voice of the -Lord rendeth the pines, and layeth bare the forests.” So Dr. Lee. To -surrender the Bible, body and soul, into the hands of the Massorites, as -is required by their pointing of these passages, is surely asking too -much. Let the reader peruse the _whole_ of the 29th Psalm, and determine -the fitness of the correction for himself, which he may very safely be -allowed to do. The former passage, if consistently carried out on the -principles of the translators, would run, “Naphtali is a hind let loose, -_that_ giveth goodly words,” in which the incongruousness of the metaphor -would, if possible, be still more manifest. See Stanley’s “Syria and -Palestine,” p. 355. - -{10a} See Preface to Herwitz’ “Etymology and Syntax of the Hebrew -Language.” - -{10b} See Kitto’s Bib. Cyc., art. Chronicles. The whole article is very -reassuring, considering the able and accomplished pen from which it -proceeds. The writer, Dr. Davidson, to whom the lovers of Biblical -philology are under the greatest obligations, deliberately asserts the -corruption of the passages in question, and advocates a reading in -conformity with the corresponding statements in 2 Samuel and Kings. - -{11a} Compare, among other instances in point that might be given, 1 -Kings ix. 28 with 2 Chron. viii. 18. - -{11b} If _no_ purification of the text should avail us in these cases, -it would be advisable to accompany the change in the text with a note in -the margin explanatory of the corruptness of the reading that has been -superseded. - -{13} The change of accent the word undergoes in the original when -repeated in the second hemistich, gives marvellous emphasis to the -exhortation—an emphasis altogether lost in the translation. - -{14} The application of this principle may go some way towards -neutralizing the doubts that have been raised as to the identity of the -Isaiah of the later portion of the prophecy with the Isaiah of the -earlier portion. See chap. lxiv. 10, 11. One thing at least is evident, -namely, that the Apostle Paul, who was confessedly well read in Hebrew -literature, in his quotations from the latter portion of the prophecy, -seems to have had no notion of any other Isaiah than that to whom the -whole prophecy is ordinarily ascribed. See Rom. x. 16. In fact, these -doubts, now complacently acquiesced in as valid by the Rationalistic -School abroad and at home, were equally unknown to all the world till -about half a century ago. The general reader may content himself with -Dr. Alexander’s candid and able investigation of the question in his -recent Commentary on Isaiah. - -{15} The uses of the particle ו in combination with the verb. Let the -Hebrew student consult the masterly investigation and elucidation of this -subject in the Hebrew Grammar recently published by Messrs. Mason and -Bernard, Vol. II. chapters 51–55. - -{17a} This rendering is faulty as not providing for the emphatic -personal pronoun “he” in the original. - -{17b} Niphal in the sense of the Hithpael conjugation. See Gen. xvi. 9. - -{17c} The original will not admit of this rendering, though the sense is -not objectionable. - -{17d} There is great difficulty here. The word rendered _impious_, and -inserted in brackets, signifies _rich_, mostly with an accessory notion -of violence and wrong; but the parallel clause, “He made his grave with -the wicked,” and the further expression, “He was numbered with the -transgressors,” in the last verse, seem to justify the sense here given; -and so it has been understood by some rabbins and other commentators, as -Luther, Calvin, Gesenius. See Matt. xix. 23. We confess we are not -satisfied. The common reading that represents Christ as rewarded with a -grave among the rich, _because_, forsooth, he had done no violence, &c., -is surely inadmissible. - -{18a} So, ‘A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,’ v. 3. - -{18b} _Intercedes_ in the present, because his intercession is a -_continuous_ act. This distinction of tense as contradistinguished from -the past tense in the use of the preceding verb _he bore_, expressing a -transaction _once_ and _finally_ concluded, so conspicuous in the -original, is entirely overlooked in the authorized version; so Calvin, -Vitringa, Lowth, Henderson, Jones, Barnes, &c. This concurrence in the -interpretation of the authorized version is especially to be wondered at -in the more recent of the above-named critics. Messrs. Mason and Bernard -give, less happily we think, _that he might make_, &c. Dr. Alexander, -New Jersey, favours the view adopted in the amended version. See his -admirable Commentary on Isaiah. - -{19} A Hebraism lurks here. So, “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget -not ANY of his benefits;” and not “_all_ his benefits,” as our -translation has it. So again, “And God gave Cain a mark, lest ANY -finding him should kill him,” where the _same_ word is rightly rendered. -Ps. ciii. 2; Gen. iv. 15. - -{24a} Various divisions, both of the Old and New Testaments, were in use -from the earliest period, but the present divisions into Chapters and -Verses are ascribed, the former, with some hesitation, to Stephen -Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, about the middle of the thirteenth -century; the latter to Robert Stephens, a Frenchmen, about the middle of -the sixteenth century. See art. Scripture in Kitto’s Biblical -Cyclopædia. - -{24b} In an elaborate translation of the whole of this prophecy, in the -Hebrew Grammar recently published by Messrs. Mason and Bernard, the -authors conceive the opening passage, “_Who hath believed our report_,” -&c., to express the awe and wonder of the kings mentioned in the previous -chapter at the events they are supposed to witness, and accordingly they -render it, “_Who hath believed our hearing_” &c., the tidings, that is, -that have reached us, the kings aforesaid. But, with all due respect for -the translation generally, we are unable to accept this view of the -passage before us, conceiving it to be far-fetched, and opposed to the -purpose for which, in so many words, it is quoted in the New Testament. -See John xii. 37; Rom. x. 16. - -{25a} In like manner Jacob, in the course of predicting the future -fortunes of his sons, exclaims parenthetically, “I have waited for thy -salvation, O Lord.” Gen. xlix. 18. - -{25b} This article has since been republished in a separate form, under -the title of the “Present State of the English Bible,” by the Rev. -William Harness, A.M. It will well repay repeated perusal by all those -who are interested in this pre-eminently interesting question. - -{28} Let the reader advert for a moment, in connexion with the argument -for the evidences of Christianity, to the ASSUMPTIONS ordinarily and -persistently made by Christ in relation to his person and mission, and -then conceive of the _frightful arrogance_ involved in these assumptions, -supposing them to be unfounded; coupling this thought at the same time -with that perfect sobriety of mind and even tenor of a uniformly staid -and well-balanced deportment by which he was pre-eminently characterized. -_We_ do not find these assumptions in the slightest degree startling or -incredible, because they comport in our minds with the WHOLE character of -Christ as developed in the gospel. Where the evidence of Messiahship -failed among his own countrymen, if there were any failure of _evidence_, -we may advert for the solution, among other considerations, to their -blind disregard to the perfect compatibility and harmony of these -assumptions with the other features of Messiah as exhibited by Christ. -Here are a few of the expressions alluded to, all taken from the earlier -chapters of St. John’s Gospel:— - -“For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the -Son quickeneth whom he will.” “That all men should honour the Son, even -as they honour the Father.” “The bread of God is he which came down from -heaven, and giveth life unto the world.” “And this is the will of Him -that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, -may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” “I -am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in -darkness, but shall have the light of life.” “I and my Father are one.” -“Jesus saith unto her, I am the resurrection and the life: he that -believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever -liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”—How Christ should have -preferred SUCH claims without legitimate authority, and ample power to -substantiate them, is a question to which we cannot divine an answer. - -{30} Some striking illustrations of this position are to be found in the -Appendix to Mr. Stanley’s recent volume on Sinai and Palestine. This -Appendix consists of a vocabulary of topographical words in Hebrew and -English. Great care has been taken in giving the precise English for the -corresponding Hebrew term. Referring to the previous part of his work, -he says, “I have often had occasion to refer to the richness and -precision of the local vocabulary of the Hebrew language. In the -authorized version this is unfortunately lost; not so much by the -incorrect rendering of any particular word, as by the promiscuous use of -the same English word for different Hebrew words, or of different English -words for the same Hebrew word.” And again: “The geographical passages -of the Bible seem to shine with new light as these words acquire their -proper force. How keenly, for example, are we led to notice the early -tendency to personify and treat as living creatures the great objects of -nature, when we find that the ‘springs’ are the ‘eyes,’ the bright, -glistening, life-giving eyes of the thirsty East; that the mountains have -not merely summits and sides, but ‘heads,’ ‘shoulders,’ ‘ears,’ ‘ribs,’ -‘loins,’ &c.” This whole Appendix is deeply interesting to the Hebrew -student. He must feel at the same time how much the mere English student -of Scripture suffers in the absence of the same knowledge. - -{31} “They who have access to the Scriptures in the original are . . . -endowed with ten talents, compared with which the power of reading them -in our authorized version is but one. The right improvement of the one -talent will ensure to its possessor the end of his faith, even the -salvation of his soul; but this does not render guiltless those who have -greater talents if, from supineness and indolence, they neglect to use -the enlarged means with which they are gifted for attaining to the -knowledge of the truth.”—“Introduction to the Greek Testament, with -Grammatical and Exegetical Notes, by William Webster, M.A., and William -Francis Wilkinson, M.A.,” p. xvi. The above work has special claims upon -that numerous class who, with little time for elaborate research, are -glad to obtain the _results_ of a thorough critical investigation of the -language and teaching of the New Testament. - -{34} The following is from Lewes’s “Life of Goethe,” just published. -The words in double inverted commas are those of Goethe himself: ‘“I had -a large collection of weapons, and among them a very handsome dagger. -This I placed by my bedside every night, and before extinguishing my -candle I made various attempts to pierce the sharp point a couple of -inches into my breast; but not being able to do it I laughed myself out -of the notion,” &c. He played with suicidal thoughts, because he was -restless, _and suicide was a fashionable speculation of the day_,’ &c. . -. . In October, 1772 the report reaches him that his Wetzlau friend, -Goué, has shot himself. “Write to me at once about Goué,” he says to -Kestner, “_I honour such an act_, _and pity mankind_,” &c.—Vol. I. p. -197. There is more to this abominable purpose in the sequel. Such was -Goethe, a man sprung from the people, not the offspring of an effete -noblesse, and at a time of life when the very thought of self-destruction -is most alien to all the instincts of nature,—‘a canker in youth,’—and -with no taint of constitutional melancholy in his system. Goethe’s -genius was a sea of glass, capable of reflecting the rays cast upon it -from without with unusual brilliancy; but, unlike our Shakspeare, devoid -of independent power of originating _new_ thought. Thus he _reflected_ -all his days the prevailing fashion of his time, and thus he but -_re-enacts_ the sentimentalism of the hour in his suicidal lucubrations. - -{35} The policy of Pericles may be considered in relation to the causes -that aggrandize a people. His notion seems to have been that to awaken -great deeds in a nation you must supply it with great and noble thoughts. -Hence his magnificent public buildings, his lavish cultivation of the -arts, and even the attention he paid to the amusements of the people, to -make them subservient to refinement and purity of taste. But æsthetics -alone do not make a great people.—See Thuc. II., 38, 39. - -{37a} Luke xii. 51. - -{37b} Sinai and Palestine, p. 369. - - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIBLICAL REVISION*** - - -******* This file should be named 64728-0.txt or 64728-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/4/7/2/64728 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Biblical Revision - considerations in favour of a revised translation of Holy Scripture - - -Author: Edward Slater - - - -Release Date: March 6, 2021 [eBook #64728] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIBLICAL REVISION*** -</pre> -<p>Transcribed from the 1856 John Farquhar Shaw edition by David -Price.</p> -<h1>BIBLICAL REVISION:</h1> -<p style="text-align: center">CONSIDERATIONS</p> -<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">IN FAVOUR OF -A</span></p> -<p style="text-align: center">REVISED TRANSLATION</p> -<p style="text-align: center"><span -class="GutSmall">OF</span></p> -<p style="text-align: center"><b>Holy Scripture</b>.</p> - -<div class="gapspace"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">By</span> -EDWARD SLATER.</p> - -<div class="gapspace"> </div> -<blockquote><p>[The Authorized Version] is far from being -immaculate. It is not sufficiently close and uniform in -rendering the original . . . is not calculated to convey precise -and critical information in difficult and mysterious passages of -the Prophecies, &c.</p> -<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Dr. William -Hales</span>. <i>New Analysis of Chronology</i>, Vol. II. -p. ix.</p> -</blockquote> - -<div class="gapspace"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center">LONDON:<br /> -JOHN FARQUHAR SHAW,<br /> -<span class="GutSmall">36, PATERNOSTER ROW, AND 27, SOUTHAMPTON -ROW, RUSSELL SQUARE.</span></p> - -<div class="gapshortline"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center">1856.</p> -<p style="text-align: center"><i>Price One Shilling</i>.</p> - -<div class="gapspace"> </div> -<blockquote><p><a name="page2"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -2</span><span class="GutSmall">MY DOCTRINE SHALL DROP AS THE -RAIN,</span><br /> -<span class="GutSmall">MY SPEECH SHALL DISTIL AS THE -DEW,</span><br /> -<span class="GutSmall">AS THE SMALL RAIN UPON THE TENDER -HERB,</span><br /> -<span class="GutSmall">AND AS THE SHOWERS UPON THE -GRASS.</span></p> -<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Deut. -xxxii</span>. 2.</p> -<p><span class="GutSmall">AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, SET YOUR HEARTS -UNTO ALL THE WORDS WHICH I TESTIFY AMONG YOU THIS DAY, WHICH YE -SHALL COMMAND YOUR CHILDREN TO OBSERVE TO DO, ALL THE WORDS OF -THIS LAW. FOR IT IS NOT A VAIN THING FOR YOU; BECAUSE IT IS -YOUR </span><span class="GutSmall"><b>LIFE</b></span><span -class="GutSmall">.</span></p> -<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Deut. -xxxii</span>. 46, 47.</p> -</blockquote> -<h2><a name="page3"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -3</span>CONSIDERATIONS, &c.</h2> -<p><span class="smcap">Among</span> the characteristics of an Age -replete with new and unlooked-for events, perhaps not the least -singular and impressive is the desire, now extensively evinced, -for an improved translation of Holy Scripture.</p> -<p>A solitary voice, <a name="citation3"></a><a href="#footnote3" -class="citation">[3]</a> it is true, has been raised to the same -effect, from time to time; but it has gradually died away in the -noise of worldly bustle, or been summarily stifled by Prejudice -or Fear.</p> -<p>A more fitting time has arrived for renewing the cry; for we -have become more reflective with the progress of events, and a -desire for improvement—not limited to mere material -good—has sprung up, that is irrepressible, and all but -universal.</p> -<p>But, encouraging as is the Temper of the Times for prosecuting -the task that we have undertaken, we need to make our way -cautiously. The subject is confessedly a delicate one, and -is, moreover, in not a few quarters, entrenched in prejudices -under the seeming sanction of religion itself.</p> -<p><a name="page4"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -4</span>“Were the Bible,” pleads Dr. Knox, <a -name="citation4"></a><a href="#footnote4" -class="citation">[4]</a> “corrected and modernized, it -would probably become more showy, and perhaps quite exact, but it -would lose that air of sanctity which enables it to make an -impression which no accuracy could produce. We have -received the Bible,” he goes on to say, “in the very -words in which it now stands, from our fathers; we have learnt -many passages from it by heart in our infancy; . . . so that its -phrase is become familiar to our ears, and we cease to be -startled at apparent difficulties.” And again: -“We should hardly recognize the Bible were it to be read in -our churches in any other words than those which our fathers -heard before us.” Possibly the people <i>would</i> -require some time to familiarize themselves to the change, more -especially in the public services of the church; but the -objection, formidable as the good Doctor thought it, is not -sufficient to overrule the plea. Precisely the same -objection, if entertained, would have deprived us of the benefit -of the present authorized version. People long accustomed -to the previous version must have been pained and startled on the -introduction of the new. Such a consequence, however, -obvious as it must have been, was not admitted to be a good -argument against a change at that epoch. True, there are -more readers now than there were then, and so far the -inconvenience of change would be aggravated; but, unless we could -persuade ourselves that we should <i>never</i> have a different -version to the present, we cannot refuse to entertain the -proposition before us in deference to such a consideration. -The notion that we shall <i>always</i> acquiesce in the present -version, with the proofs around us of the possibility of -improving it, coupled with the desire so extensively evinced for -improvement, can scarcely be seriously entertained.</p> -<p>The truth is, the people are not accountable for the reasoning -ascribed to them—possibly with some justice at <a -name="page5"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 5</span>the time the -Doctor wrote—in the above extract. We have given it -at length, because we have nowhere seen the argument, as -generally used, better expressed; but, whatever there is in it, -we hold it a great disparagement to the religious feeling of the -people at the present time, to suppose them capable of putting -Superstition for Piety, as conveyed in the terms of that passage; -or to imagine that anything less than a just and faithful version -of Holy Scripture would or could content them.</p> -<p>But besides the inconvenience of the change so pathetically -pleaded, there is the time-honoured Phraseology of the -Bible—that phraseology that has earned the suffrages of a -whole people, young and old, rich and poor, learned and -unlearned, and been associated with our Literary glories—to -warn us off the holy ground. Into what critic’s -crucible, it may be asked, do we propose to place the Bible, and -what frigid, tame, and insipid version, among those with which we -have been of late years familiar, do we design to substitute for -our own old authorized translation?</p> -<p>Plainly, none. We know of none—valuable as some of -them unquestionably are—worthy of competing, in whole or in -part, on an extended view of the question, with our own; while, -in point of phraseology, to which the objection specifically -refers, the advantage is all in favour of the old version. -But if the question at issue were—which it is -not—between Phraseology on the one hand, and Fidelity on -the other, we should and could have no hesitation in deciding for -the latter. But we really think it possible to preserve -most of the beautiful phraseology of the present version, and -even add to it, while we disencumber the text of its errors, and -render it a more faithful reflex of the Divine Original.</p> -<p>But the outward Dress and Ornament of the book do not exhaust -all the objections incident to the question. There are yet -others of a <i>subtler</i> order—the exponent of deeper -feelings—to which we must briefly advert. And first, -there are those who find few or no difficulties, for their part, -in the <a name="page6"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -6</span>Bible, as it now stands, and therefore, naturally enough, -object to a change. The Bible, they maintain, is a plain -book, and the very terms of the Announcement at the head of it, -as a Revelation of God’s will to man, upon the knowledge of -which his salvation depends, precludes, they argue, any other -supposition. To a certain extent they are right; and God -forbid we should be understood to mean that the Bible, in its -present English dress, is not satisfactory on all the great -points of faith and duty. We are sometimes told the -contrary, indeed, by those who have formed exaggerated views of -the inadequacies of our version; but such an opinion is entitled -to no manner of respect; on the contrary, it would be very easy -to produce passages—<i>key-passages</i>, we might call -them, from which the <span class="GutSmall">WHOLE TRUTH</span> of -the Gospel might be extracted—which would utterly defy any -other translation than that exhibited in the authorized -version. But while conceding all this, we are not debarred -from seeking a version yet nearer perfection than the present, if -it is to be had. There are subordinate lessons, surely, -that might be rendered more precious and instructive; and it -cannot be a right or creditable principle to direct our inquiry -only to that which <i>saves</i>, in the vulgar sense of that -term, and give only a listless and perfunctory attention to all -the rest. Not unfrequently, however this arid notion of the -<i>plainness</i> of Scripture is resolvable into the inert and -abortive state of the faculties in which they are perused. -There is no difficulty, because the subject is not fairly -grappled with. The words titillate and amuse, while the -sense is in the clouds. More respectable is that -tranquillizing and elevating feeling which oftentimes accompanies -the reading, in which the understanding, though not dead, is -still at fault through the veil interposed by the -phraseology. This placid acquiescence of the soul in a -message the exact purpose of which it fails to comprehend, may be -taken to express a tacit homage to the power of the Divine Spirit -breathing through the words, however feebly enunciated; <a -name="page7"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 7</span>and there may -be still, under the happiest methods of elucidating Scripture yet -open to us, a just and legitimate scope for its exercise: -nevertheless, we covet habitually, and as a general principle, -the discharge of a higher function of the soul,—<span -class="GutSmall">TO UNDERSTAND</span> as well as <span -class="GutSmall">TO FEEL</span>, and <span class="GutSmall">TO -ACT</span> as well as <span class="GutSmall">TO BE ACTED -ON</span>.</p> -<p>But while these find Scripture so plain as to be able to -dispense with the Critic’s art, and all other aid, to throw -further light on their contents, there are those, on the other -hand, who love a Mysterious Bible, and to whom the whole science -of Biblical interpretation is positively distasteful, as -savouring of the wisdom of man rather than of the grace of the -Spirit. They find their devotion fed, as they think, by the -Mystical element, and revel in difficulties that to others are -simply discomfiting. Cloud-land is their home. -Accordingly, to relieve Scripture of its obscurities, and render -it more patent and intelligible, is the last service for which we -might expect their thanks. While this is a genuine -feeling,—indulged in for the special delectation of their -own bosoms—and not a pretence to ensnare others, or -inveigle their weaker brethren in the toils of a spiritual -autocracy, it is simply an error of the brain—an -idiosyncrasy, to be treated with all due gentleness and -consideration. Let such, then, observe that there is no -reason why Scripture should be more difficult in the translation -than it is in the original, or than God designed it, or inspired -men transmitted it to us; and that the aim of these and similar -efforts is simply to ensure a version that will exhibit the Word -of God with at least equal force and perspicuity to that -presented in the original text. Nor would a genuine -reverence for Scripture allow us to stop short of this point, -since anything less must be so much clear loss of most important -Truth. There are many who are grievously perplexed by the -obscurity that attaches to certain portions of Scripture, and for -their sakes, as well as for the obvious duty of the case, we -insist upon all the aid we can procure to elucidate <a -name="page8"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 8</span>those -portions. To take one instance—a striking -one—the Messianic prophecies—those prophecies in not -a few instances now portraying the Messiah in unmistakable -lineaments, and now, without the slightest hint of a change of -subject, <a name="citation8a"></a><a href="#footnote8a" -class="citation">[8a]</a> varying the portrait, as by a -dissolving process, so that it seems no longer <span -class="GutSmall">HIMSELF</span> that is set before us, but one of -the erring children of men. Now, evidently, it would be -most desirable, if a new version could obviate or relieve this -difficulty. In sundry instances the sense is marred by an -incongruousness in the metaphors, <a name="citation8b"></a><a -href="#footnote8b" class="citation">[8b]</a> for which the Bible, -perhaps, is the last book in the world to be made answerable; and -this particular fault, in most instances, a slight change in the -<i>pointing</i>, for which the context would give <a -name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 9</span>the fullest -warrant, or a juster translation, would satisfactorily amend.</p> -<p>But will not a new translation endanger those articles of our -faith in which we have been brought up from our infancy, and -which we believe to be essential to salvation? May not the -translation fall into the hands of those who are ill-affected to -the orthodox faith, and is there not ground to believe that -hostility to that faith is the real object of many of those who -are most conspicuous in the promotion of this scheme?</p> -<p>This apprehension we believe to lie at the basis of much of -the objection that is entertained to the proposed change: but has -it not occurred to the alarmists, that the weapon cuts both ways, -and that it is just as possible, as far as at present appears, -for the other side to be discomfited in the shock? Who -shall say that the Evangelical or Orthodox scheme shall not gain -ground by the experiment, and the opposite scheme suffer? -But these objections are manifestly unworthy a belief that -professedly rests as its basis on the Word of God; rather is it a -belief in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, not which -the Holy Ghost teacheth. And with regard to the individuals -that may be selected for the task, surely all anxiety on that -ground is superfluous. The general sense of Scripture is -not now to be determined: that has been done long ago; and all -that remains for us is, in the use of such means as our advancing -scholarship supplies, to make that sense—as Providence from -time to time supplies the opportunity—yet more explicit, -and available for proficiency in Divine knowledge.</p> -<p>Thus far we have been occupied in clearing our ground, and -essaying a hearing, with what chance of success we might, -considering the outcry, more or less reasonable, with which the -question before us is usually met. We take no further -notice of the objections to our task, and proceed to explain more -distinctly in what that task consists. But, first of all, -we must premise, that we contemplate a “revised” <a -name="page10"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 10</span>rather than -an entirely “new” version. Certain feelings -have entwined themselves round the stock of the present version -which it would not be safe or needful to sever, except where the -imperious demands of fidelity to the sense necessitate the -infliction.</p> -<p>The fiat given to the use of the old authorized version is -substantially honourable to the nation—perhaps equally so -with the fiat that gave it existence. There is a pregnant -power in the words, as symbols of the burning <i>thoughts</i> of -the men engaged, not pale reflexes of <i>things</i>, that has -secured the all but universal use of the present version, with -all its imperfections, despite the labours of Lowth, and Horsley, -and Campbell, and Henderson, and Good, and others—all -eminent names—more or less to displace it. “The -Spirit of the Living Creatures was in the Wheels, and whither the -Wheels were to go the Spirit of the Living Creatures went with -them.” <a name="citation10a"></a><a href="#footnote10a" -class="citation">[10a]</a></p> -<p>‘<span class="smcap">Foremost</span> in the conditions -of a correct version is <span class="smcap">Purity of -Text</span>.’ There is no doubt, we believe, in the -minds of all qualified to pronounce on this part of the question, -that the text, both of the Old and New Testament, generally -unassailable as it is, is yet, on some not unimportant -points—and what is unimportant in such a -document?—susceptible of improvement. We wish, by all -means, to have the benefit of this improved text, as no -consideration of <i>consequences</i> can weigh against the -<i>actual</i> inconveniences that belong to the text, in some -instances, as it now stands. The discrepancies, for -example, in the Chronicles, <a name="citation10b"></a><a -href="#footnote10b" class="citation">[10b]</a> in matters <a -name="page11"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 11</span>relating to -<i>numbers</i>, with the statements in the corresponding passages -in 2 Samuel and Kings, furnish most damaging weapons in sceptical -hands wherewith to assail the Sacred Books. Some of these -discrepancies are only imaginary, but others, it must be -confessed, are palpable and incontrovertible, and ought not to -stand, as they now do, in our Bibles, open, without a word -appearing on the page in their defence, to the most unmitigated -contradiction. <a name="citation11a"></a><a href="#footnote11a" -class="citation">[11a]</a> The fact is, the text in these -instances is <i>corrupt</i>, and there need be no scruple, -considering the way in which <span -class="GutSmall">NUMBERS</span> were variously written of old, by -letters, ciphers, or words, and more especially the liability of -transcribers to err in these matters, in arriving at that -conclusion. This extreme devotion to the Massoretic text on -the part of our translators, to the overthrow of common sense, -and disregard of the thousand arguments that plead for a change -over the one thus pertinaciously followed, is most detrimental to -the credit of the Sacred Volumes; for two statements -diametrically opposed cannot, of course, be both correct; the -weaker, therefore, should naturally be made to give place to the -stronger. In some cases, <i>possibly</i>, this may be done -by a new recension of the text; in others the alteration should -be summarily made in conformity with the obvious maxims in -universal use for determining the truth in the case of -contradictory documents. <a name="citation11b"></a><a -href="#footnote11b" class="citation">[11b]</a></p> -<p>Next to Purity of Text is a <span class="smcap">Correct -Version</span>. That the present version does not satisfy -this condition in the just sense of the word, or to the extent we -have a right to require in such a matter, is now almost -universally conceded. The plea of “good enough” -is given up, and the wishes of the religious public for a -translation more true to <a name="page12"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 12</span>the original, are -“condescendingly” admitted to be just and reasonable; -and if this admission expressed the voice of authority, as well -as the general sense of the learned world, our wishes would -speedily be in a condition to be fulfilled. Meantime it is -for us to agitate the question till the boon be accorded, -agreeably to the good old English rule, when the stronghold of -authority is to be stormed.</p> -<p>It has appeared to us, in the prosecution of our task, that we -could put this question before the ordinary English reader in a -form to enable him to determine for himself with tolerable -correctness the Validity of our plea for a more correct version -of Holy Writ. <i>On such a point it is important he should -be able to judge for himself</i>: accordingly, we shall exhibit -sundry amended passages, by way of specimen, in -<i>juxtaposition</i> with the corresponding passages of the -present version. It may be premised, that it is not -necessary that the amended translation should be in all respects -immaculate and unassailable; it suffices for the present purpose -if we establish the fact, that the authorized version <i>is</i> -capable of amendment. The field before us is almost -illimitable, so numerous are the corrections that require to be -supplied. Of course, we must pick our path here and -there. We begin with the Old Testament; and here two -passages recommend themselves for selection, as well for their -own intrinsic interest as for the materials they afford for -elucidating the principles that underlie the transfusion of -Hebrew into English. The reader is invited to ponder the -two versions in the points in which they differ, however minute -the difference at first sight may appear, as the change in these -cases has proceeded upon a strictly literal translation of the -original Hebrew; and the variation, on a further view, may not -appear so unimportant as at first. Our first passage -consists of extracts from the Song of Deborah, Judges v., and the -amended version is due, substantially, to the able pen of Dr. -Edward Robinson, Translator of Gesenius, &c. See -“Biblical Repository.” Two other versions of -the <a name="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 13</span>same -Song are given by Dr. Adam Clarke in his Commentary, from Dr. -Hales and Dr. Kennicott respectively; but, with all their merit, -they are less literally true to the original, and therefore less -eligible for selection, than the one we have adopted:—</p> -<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Judges -v</span>.</p> -<table> -<tr> -<td><p style="text-align: center"><i>Old Version</i>.</p> -<p>2. Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when -the people willingly offered themselves.</p> -</td> -<td><p style="text-align: center"><i>New Version</i>.</p> -<p>2. For the leading of the leaders in Israel, for the -voluntary offering of the people, praise ye the Lord . . .</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>7. <i>The inhabitants of</i> the villages ceased, -they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose . . .</p> -</td> -<td><p>7. Leaders failed in Israel, they failed, until that -I, Deborah, arose, that I arose a mother in Israel . . .</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>10. Speak, ye that ride on white asses . . .</p> -</td> -<td><p>10. Ye that ride on white asses, . . . prepare a -song,</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>11. <i>They that are delivered</i> from the noise of -archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse -the righteous acts of the Lord, <i>even</i> the righteous acts -<i>toward the inhabitants</i> of his villages in Israel: then -shall the people of the Lord go down to the gates.</p> -</td> -<td><p>11. Responsive to the voice of those who divide the -spoil by the watercourses. There they shall rehearse the -victories of the Lord, the victory of his princes in Israel; then -shall the people of the Lord descend to the gates.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>12. Awake, <a name="citation13"></a><a -href="#footnote13" class="citation">[13]</a> awake, Deborah: -awake, awake, utter a song. . . .</p> -</td> -<td><p>12. Awake, awake, Deborah; awake, awake, utter a -song . . .</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>13. Then he made him that remaineth have dominion -over the nobles among the people: the Lord made me have dominion -over the mighty.</p> -</td> -<td><p>13. Then I <i>said</i>, Descend, ye remnant of the -nobles of the people! O Lord, descend for me among the -mighty!</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>14. Out of Ephraim <i>was there</i> a root of them -against Amalek; after thee, Benjamin, among thy people; out of -Machir came down governors, and out of Zebulun they that handle -the pen of the writer.</p> -</td> -<td><p>14. Out of Ephraim <i>came those</i> whose dwelling -is by Amalek. After thee (Ephraim) <i>was</i> Benjamin -among thy hosts; out of Machir (Manasseh) came down princes, and -from Zebulun those who grasp the staff of a leader.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>15. And the princes of Issachar <i>were</i> with -Deborah; even Issachar, and also Barak: he was sent on foot into -the valley. For the divisions of Reuben <i>there were</i> -great thoughts of heart.</p> -</td> -<td><p>15. The princes of Issachar also <i>came</i> with -Deborah; yea, Issachar was the staff of Barak. He rushed -into the valley at his feet. For the divisions of Reuben -<i>I have</i> great griefs of heart . . .</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>16. Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear -the bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben -<i>there were</i> great searchings of heart.</p> -</td> -<td><p>16. Wherefore didst thou sit still among the folds, -to listen to the lowing of the herds? For the divisions of -Reuben <i>I have</i> great revolvings of heart.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>17. Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan -remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and -abode in his breaches.</p> -</td> -<td><p>17. Gilead (Gad) abode beyond Jordan; and Dan, why -tarried he in ships? Asher sat at the shore of the sea, and -abode at his creeks.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>18. Zebulun and Naphtali <i>were</i> a people -<i>that</i> jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high -places of the field.</p> -</td> -<td><p>18. For Zebulun, the people scorned their lives, and -<i>rushed</i> upon death, and Naphtali, in the high places of the -plain.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>19. The kings came <i>and</i> fought, . . . they -took no gain of money.</p> -</td> -<td><p>19. The kings came, they fought, . . . they took no -spoil of silver.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>22. Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of -the pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones.</p> -</td> -<td><p>22. Then did the horses’ hoofs smite <i>the -ground</i> from the haste, the haste of their riders . . .</p> -</td> -</tr> -</table> -<p><a name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 14</span>We here -pause, before proceeding to our second extract, to notice one -very damaging source of mistranslation as applicable to the Old -Testament. We allude to what may be called the use of the -Prophetical or Theological scheme in dealing with the -Prophecies. For instance, in the 2nd verse of 53rd chap, of -Isaiah, as below, the words “<i>for he shall grow -up</i>” ought to be rendered “<i>and</i>” or -“<i>so</i>” (resuming the argument of the previous -chapter) “<i>he grew up</i>” in the <span -class="GutSmall">PAST</span> tense; and so on through the -chapter. The Prophets, it is well known, in the vividness -of their prophetic vision, contemplated the future events that -passed under their ken as <i>actually past</i>; <a -name="citation14"></a><a href="#footnote14" -class="citation">[14]</a> and as this is a prominent -characteristic of <a name="page15"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -15</span>their mode of delivering prophetic truth, it ought not -to be lost sight of in a translation. The explanation of -the <i>fact</i> that what they spoke of as actually past was -still future, belongs to what is called “exegesis,” -and stands out as an Order of Rhetoric significant of, and sacred -to, their prophetic function; but by no means should such an -element enter into a translation, which, if it does not present a -faithful reflex of the original, is simply a misnomer. Not -that there is any inviolable uniformity in the practice of the -translators in the use of this scheme. Far from it; as is -evident from the translation that follows. And this serves -to render a subject, necessarily obscure from its very nature, -immeasurably more so. The truth is, we have here forced -upon us the fact, that the translators were not fully acquainted -with a principle of the language—now well -understood—that lies at the basis of the whole structure. -<a name="citation15"></a><a href="#footnote15" -class="citation">[15]</a> They saw its force—they -could not help doing so—in the Narrative portions, but were -not cognizant of it as a Fundamental principle of the language, -applicable alike to all subjects, and not variable and flexible -at the pleasure of the interpreter.</p> -<p>We are sorry we can adduce no particular name on which to cast -the responsibility of the following amended version. We -have consulted very many of the most distinguished of those who -have laboured to translate this, in some respects, <a -name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 16</span>very -intricate passage, and what we have given must be considered -mainly as an <i>amalgam</i> of the joint labours of them -all. We are far from thinking we have given the best -version possible; and <i>perhaps</i> the text itself, where the -difficulty is peculiarly pressing, may yet be found susceptible -of improvement:—</p> -<p style="text-align: center"><span -class="smcap">Isaiah</span>.</p> -<table> -<tr> -<td><p style="text-align: center"><i>Old Version</i>.</p> -</td> -<td><p style="text-align: center"><i>New Version</i>.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>Ch. lii. 13. Behold, my servant shall deal -prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very -high.</p> -</td> -<td><p>Ch. lii. 13. Behold, my servant shall be prosperous; -he shall be exalted and extolled, and be magnified -exceedingly.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>14. As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so -marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of -men:</p> -</td> -<td><p>14. As many were astonished at thee; (so marred was -his visage more than any man, and his form than the sons of -men.)</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>15. So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings -shall shut their mouths at him: for <i>that</i> which had not -been told them shall they see; and <i>that</i> which they had not -heard shall they consider.</p> -</td> -<td><p>15. So shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall -shut their mouths at him (<i>do him homage</i>); for that which -had not been told them have they seen, and that which they had -not heard have they considered:</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>Ch. liii. 1. Who hath believed our report? and to -whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?</p> -</td> -<td><p>Ch. liii. 1. (Who hath believed our report? and to whom -hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?)</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>2. For he shall grow up before him as a tender -plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor -comeliness; and when we shall see him, <i>there is</i> no beauty -that we should desire him.</p> -</td> -<td><p>2. And he grew up before him as a tender plant, and -as a root out of a land of drought: he hath no form nor -comeliness that we should see him, and no beauty that we should -desire him.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>3. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of -sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were -<i>our</i> faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him -not.</p> -</td> -<td><p>3. Despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, -and acquainted with grief; and concealing as it were <i>his</i> -face from us; despised, and we esteemed him not.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>4. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our -sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and -afflicted.</p> -</td> -<td><p>4. Surely <i>it was</i> our griefs <i>that</i> he -bore; and our sorrows, he carried them: but we esteemed him -stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>5. But he <i>was</i> wounded for our <a -name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -17</span>transgressions, <i>he was</i> bruised for our -iniquities: the chastisement of our peace <i>was</i> upon him; -and with his stripes we are healed.</p> -</td> -<td><p>5. But he <i>was</i> pierced for our transgressions, -<i>he was</i> bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our -peace was upon him, and by his infirmity we were healed.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>6. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have -turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him -the iniquity of us all.</p> -</td> -<td><p>6. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have -turned each one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the -iniquity of us all.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>7. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, <a -name="citation17a"></a><a href="#footnote17a" -class="citation">[17a]</a> yet he opened not his mouth: he is -brought <a name="citation17b"></a><a href="#footnote17b" -class="citation">[17b]</a> as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a -sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his -mouth.</p> -</td> -<td><p>7. He was oppressed; but he, submitting himself, <a -name="citation17c"></a><a href="#footnote17c" -class="citation">[17c]</a> does not even open his mouth: as a -lamb is brought to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her -shearers <i>is</i> dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>8. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and -who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the -land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he -stricken.</p> -</td> -<td><p>8. From oppression and from judgment was he taken: -but <i>the wickedness of</i> his generation who shall declare? -for he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the -transgression of my people, for the stroke <i>due</i> to -them!</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>9. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with -the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither -was any deceit in his mouth.</p> -</td> -<td><p>9. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with -the [impious] <a name="citation17d"></a><a href="#footnote17d" -class="citation">[17d]</a> in his death; though he had done no -violence, and <i>there was</i> no deceit in his mouth.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p><a name="page18"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -18</span>10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath -put <i>him</i> to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an -offering for sin, he shall see <i>his</i> seed, he shall prolong -<i>his</i> days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in -his hand.</p> -</td> -<td><p>10. But it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath -put him to grief, <i>proclaiming</i>, If his soul shall make an -offering for sin, he shall see a seed, he shall prolong -<i>his</i> days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in -his hand.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>11. He shall see of the travail of his soul, -<i>and</i> shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my -righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their -iniquities.</p> -</td> -<td><p>11. He shall see of the travail of his soul; he -shall be satisfied: by his knowledge <i>of woe</i> <a -name="citation18a"></a><a href="#footnote18a" -class="citation">[18a]</a> shall my righteous servant make many -righteous, and himself shall bear their iniquities.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>12. Therefore will I divide him <i>a portion</i> -with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; -because he poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered -with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made -intercession for the transgressors.</p> -</td> -<td><p>12. Therefore I will allot him the great for his -portion, and he shall divide the mighty as spoil, because he -poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with -transgressors. So he bore the sin of many, and intercedes -<a name="citation18b"></a><a href="#footnote18b" -class="citation">[18b]</a> for the transgressors.</p> -</td> -</tr> -</table> -<p><span class="smcap">Note</span>.—The new translation is -less soft and mellifluous than the old, but let it not be hastily -condemned in the comparison on that account. It is more -exact, and that is the principal object now. Probably it -may yet fall into hands that shall combine all the beautiful flow -of the old version, with no less, and even far greater exactness -than we have been able to achieve.</p> -<p><a name="page19"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 19</span>Thus -far for the Old Testament. We adopt a somewhat different -mode of selection in dealing with the New, but adhere to our plan -of exhibiting the two versions in juxtaposition. The -amended passages that follow are taken, with a few exceptions, -from Professor Scholefield’s “Hints for an Improved -Translation of the New Testament.” They are, it is -presumed, sufficiently important to warrant the selection, but it -must be premised that it is not by taking isolated passages for -emendation that the <span class="GutSmall">WHOLE TRUTH</span> -insisted upon in these pages can be enforced. There are -numberless points of correction of which our version is -susceptible that are not adapted for such isolated exhibition, -and which it is the special business of the Greek particles to -supply; but the exhibition of such points, involving the -structure of sentences and the mutual relation of the clauses of -which they are made up, would require a much larger -canvass. We indicate this source of correction only to -avert the conclusion, that our argument rests solely on the basis -supplied in the particular mode of illustration adopted.</p> -<table> -<tr> -<td><p style="text-align: center"><i>Old Version</i>.</p> -</td> -<td><p style="text-align: center"><i>New Version</i>.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">Mark iv. 13.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how -then will ye know all parables?</p> -</td> -<td><p>And he says to them, Know ye not this parable? how then -will ye know any <a name="citation19"></a><a href="#footnote19" -class="citation">[19]</a> parables?</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">Luke xvi. 12.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another -man’s.</p> -</td> -<td><p>. . . in that which is another’s (<i>i.e.</i> -God’s).</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">John xviii. 15.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and <i>so did</i> another -disciple.</p> -</td> -<td><p>And Simon Peter was following Jesus, and <i>so was</i> the -other disciple (probably Judas).</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">John i. 9.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>Which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.</p> -</td> -<td><p>Which coming into the world lighteth every man.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center"><a -name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 20</span>Acts xix. -2.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>Whether there be any Holy Ghost.</p> -</td> -<td><p>Whether the Holy Ghost be given.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">Rom. vi. 17.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin.</p> -</td> -<td><p>But God be thanked that whereas ye were the servants of -sin.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">Rom. xiv. 23.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>Is damned if he eat, because <i>he eateth</i> not of -faith.</p> -</td> -<td><p>Is condemned if he eat, because <i>it is</i> not of -faith.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">2 Cor. iv. 3, -4.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are -lost:</p> -<p>In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them -that believe not.</p> -</td> -<td><p>. . . be hid (<i>with a veil</i>), it is hid to the -abandoned:</p> -<p>As to whom the god of this world habitually blinds their -minds, being unbelieving.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">1 Pet. iii. 6.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>Whose daughters ye are as long as ye do well, and are not -afraid with any amazement.</p> -</td> -<td><p>. . . as long as ye do well, and yield to no fear, (<i>as -Sarah on one memorable occasion did</i>).</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">2 Pet. i. 19, 20, -21.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do -well that ye take heed, as unto a light, &c.</p> -<p>Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of -any private interpretation;</p> -<p>For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but -holy men of God spoke <i>as they were</i> moved by the Holy -Ghost.</p> -</td> -<td><p>Moreover, we have the word of prophecy <i>made</i> more -sure, (the voice from heaven while in the holy mount -<i>confirmed</i> it).</p> -<p>Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of the -nature of a private revelation;</p> -<p>For prophecy was not prompted in old time by the will of man; -but holy men of God spoke <i>as</i> prompted by the Holy -Ghost.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">2 Pet. iii. 5, -6.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word -of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the -water and in the water;</p> -<p>Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, -perished.</p> -</td> -<td><p>For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word -of God, the heavens and the earth were of old involved in a -confluence of waters;</p> -<p>Whereby the world that then was, being deluged with water, -perished.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center"><a -name="page21"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 21</span>1 Cor. v. -9.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>I wrote unto you in an epistle.</p> -</td> -<td><p>I have written to you in my epistle (the present).</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">1 Cor. vii. 11.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>But and if she depart.</p> -</td> -<td><p>But if also she be separated.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">1 Cor. x. 17.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>For we <i>being</i> many, are one bread <i>and</i> one -body.</p> -</td> -<td><p>For <i>there is</i> one bread, and we, who are many, are -one body.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">1 Cor. xv. 41.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>For <i>one</i> star differeth from <i>another</i> star in -glory.</p> -</td> -<td><p>Nay (or, this is not all, for) one star differeth from -another star, &c.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">2 Cor. iii. 18.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the -glory of the Lord</p> -</td> -<td><p>And we all with unveiled face reflecting as in a glass . . -. (Moses put a veil on his face, not so the disciples of -Christ).</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">2 Cor. v. 1.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>If our earthly house of <i>this</i> tabernacle were -dissolved.</p> -</td> -<td><p>If the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">2 Cor. xii. 2, -4.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>I knew a man in Christ.</p> -<p>It is not lawful to utter.</p> -</td> -<td><p>I know a man in Christ.</p> -<p>It is not possible.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">Gal. iii. 22.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>That the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given -to them that believe.</p> -</td> -<td><p>That the promise may be given to believers by Jesus -Christ.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">Eph. v. 13.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the -light.</p> -</td> -<td><p>But all things are reproved, and made manifest by the -light.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">Phil. i. 7.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>Partakers of my grace.</p> -</td> -<td><p>Partakers with me of grace.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">Phil. i. 10.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>That ye may approve things that are excellent.</p> -</td> -<td><p>That ye may try things that differ.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center"><a -name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 22</span>Phil. iv. -8.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>If <i>there be</i> any virtue, and if <i>there be</i> any -praise.</p> -</td> -<td><p>Whatever virtue, and whatever praise there be.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">Col. i. 19.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>For it pleased <i>the Father</i>, that in him should all -fulness dwell.</p> -</td> -<td><p>For all the fulness of the God-head was pleased to dwell -in him.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">Col. ii. 23.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>Not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.</p> -</td> -<td><p>Not with any regard to the satisfying of the flesh.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">2 Thess. ii. 6, -7.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed -in his time.</p> -<p>For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now -letteth <i>will let</i>, until he be taken out of the way.</p> -</td> -<td><p>And now ye know what withholdeth <i>him</i>, that he may -be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of iniquity is -already working; only there is one that now withholdeth it, until -he be taken out of the way.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">Heb. iv. 2.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: -but the word preached did not word profit them.</p> -</td> -<td><p>For we have the glad tidings thereof even as they; but the -word of its report (<i>i.e.</i>, which they heard) did not profit -them.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">Heb. ix. 12.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>He entered in once into the holy place.</p> -</td> -<td><p>He entered once for all into the holy place.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">Heb. ix. 15, 16, -17.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>And for this cause he is the mediator of the new -testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the -transgressions <i>that were</i> under the first testament, they -which are called might receive the promise of eternal -inheritance.</p> -<p>For where a testament <i>is</i>, there must also of necessity -be the death of the testator.</p> -<p>For a testament <i>is</i> of force after <a -name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 23</span>men are dead: -otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator -liveth.</p> -</td> -<td><p>And for this end he is the mediator of the new covenant, -that, his death having taken place for the redemption of the -transgressions under the first covenant, they that are called -might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.</p> -<p>For where a covenant <i>is</i>, there must of necessity be -brought in the death of the mediating <i>sacrifice</i>.</p> -<p>For a covenant is valid over dead <i>sacrifices</i>: since it -is never of any force while the mediating <i>sacrifice</i> -continues alive.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">Heb. xii. 18.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>To the mount that might be touched.</p> -</td> -<td><p>To the mount that could be touched.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">Heb. xiii. 4.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>Marriage <i>is</i> honourable in all, and the bed -undefiled.</p> -</td> -<td><p>Let marriage be honourable in all, and the bed <i>be</i> -undefiled.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">1 Pet. iii. 20.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>Were saved by water.</p> -</td> -<td><p>Were saved through the water (brought safely through).</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">1 Pet. iv. 8.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>Shall cover the multitude of sins.</p> -</td> -<td><p>Will cover a multitude of sins.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">2 Pet. i. 16.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we -made known unto you . . .</p> -</td> -<td><p>For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we -made known unto you . . .</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">2 Pet. ii. 1, -3.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>And bring upon themselves swift destruction . . . and -their damnation slumbereth not.</p> -</td> -<td><p>. . . and their destruction slumbereth not -(<i>destruction</i>, precisely the same word as before).</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">2 Pet. ii. 5.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>Noah the eighth <i>person</i>.</p> -</td> -<td><p>Noah, with seven others.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">2 Pet. ii. 14.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>Cursed children.</p> -</td> -<td><p>Children of the curse.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">Rev. iv. 6.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>Four beasts.</p> -</td> -<td><p>Four living creatures.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">Rev. x. 6.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>That there should be time no longer.</p> -</td> -<td><p>That there should be no more delay.</p> -</td> -</tr> -</table> -<p>Thus far, by way of specimen of the improvement of which the -authorized version is susceptible on the score of fidelity to the -original. The instances might have been multiplied -indefinitely, but we designed only a specimen. <a -name="page24"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 24</span>We would -repeat that there is a large amount of improvement practicable in -elucidating and enforcing the sense, when it is not positively -misrepresented, that is less fitted for such display, and which -alone it would require the transcription of a large portion of -the Bible to render apparent.</p> -<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">“Claudite jam -rivos pueri; sat prata biberunt.”</p> -</blockquote> -<p>We have indeed said enough to justify our plea, and here we -might close the evidence, but we are tempted further to observe -that the sense of Scripture is not only obscured in the -authorized version by errors of translation, but there is almost -an equal amount of mischief done to the sense by the present mode -of distributing the subject-matter into chapter and verse; for -which, as is well known, there is no valid authority, <a -name="citation24a"></a><a href="#footnote24a" -class="citation">[24a]</a> either as regards the Old or the New -Testament. This fault it is the special object of the new -Paragraph Bible lately published by the Religious Tract Society, -to remedy. We confine ourselves to two illustrations.</p> -<p>The 53rd chapter of Isaiah begins with a parenthesis, -(‘Who hath believed our report, and to whom has the arm of -the Lord been revealed?’) <a name="citation24b"></a><a -href="#footnote24b" class="citation">[24b]</a> This, in our -view, is a <a name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -25</span><i>soliloquy</i> into which the prophet breaks forth in -relief of his feelings, while contemplating the overpowering -events that pass in review before him, coupled with the rejection -of the message by the great body of his countrymen. <a -name="citation25a"></a><a href="#footnote25a" -class="citation">[25a]</a> These events had already begun -their career at the 13th verse of the foregoing chapter, and they -go steadily on through the remainder of that, and the whole of -the following chapter, broken only by the ejaculation of the -prophet, thus violently wrenched from its place, as the matter -now stands.</p> -<p>The other instance we adduce of the obscuration of the sense -occasioned by the present faulty distribution of the -letter-press, occurs Joshua v. and vi. It is an example of -an analogous kind to that already given. It makes a -parenthesis used simply in explanation of a series of -instructions from the Lord to Joshua to vacate its place in the -narrative, and actually stand at the commencement of a new -chapter, in which the same series of instructions is still -continued. See the “Edinburgh Review” for -October last. <a name="citation25b"></a><a href="#footnote25b" -class="citation">[25b]</a> We shall place the old and new -arrangement in juxta-position, when the violence done to the -sense, as the matter now stands, will be apparent at once.</p> -<table> -<tr> -<td><p style="text-align: center"><i>Old Arrangement</i>.</p> -</td> -<td><p style="text-align: center"><i>New Arrangement</i>.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan='2'><p style="text-align: center">Joshua v. 15.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>And the captain of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, -Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place where thou -standest <i>is</i> holy. And Joshua did so.</p> -</td> -<td><p>And the captain of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, -“<i>Loose thy shoe from off thy foot</i>, <i>for the place -where thou standest is holy</i>.” And Joshua did -so.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><p>Ch. vi. Now Jericho was straitly shut up, because of -the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.</p> -<p><a name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -26</span>2. And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have -given into thy hand Jericho, &c.</p> -</td> -<td><p>(Now Jericho was straitly shut up, because of the children -of Israel; none went out, and none came in). And the Lord -said unto Joshua, “<i>See</i>, <i>I have given into thy -hand Jericho</i>,” &c.</p> -</td> -</tr> -</table> -<p>The reader will observe in the above paragraph that, in -addition to a better distribution of the letter-press, we have -given the <i>spoken language</i> in italics, with inverted -commas,—a character of type we recommend to be carried out -continuously in the revised version, as it, actually is with -excellent effect, in the new Paragraph Bible. These may be -thought small matters, but we have been led to mention them as -thinking the adoption of them will give facility, not merely to -the private, but also to the <i>vivâ voce</i> reading of -Scripture,—a point surely not undeserving of attention.</p> -<p>Connected with these desiderata are others of a minor -character, as—an improved punctuation—the -substitution of vernacular for obsolete words—the use of -<i>euphemisms</i> where the allusion is obvious, and no violence -is done to the sense—appropriate concise headings to the -different sections in the margin—<i>chronological -arrangement of the several books</i>—chronological data, -&c. &c.</p> -<p>We are proceeding beyond the strict limits we assigned to -ourselves in the course of these last remarks, and scarcely -venture further in recommending attention—though especially -worthy of it, in the case of a Book we wish to make universally -attractive,—to what may be called the -<i>æsthetics</i> of <i>book-making</i>. We all know -the advantage of a readable type, open space between the lines, -paragraphs and smaller divisions clearly indicated, large margin, -&c.; and though, in comparison with our main object, these -are small matters, they yet constitute distinct items in the Roll -of convenience, and therefore merit attention—especially in -subserviency to the object of giving to the Bible the adjuncts -appropriate to a <span class="GutSmall">HOUSEHOLD -BOOK</span>.</p> -<p>Such is an outline of what we hope to see done. We might -have multiplied instances of mistranslation to an unlimited <a -name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 27</span>extent, and -many other improvements conducing to a clearer exposition of the -sense of Scripture might have been suggested: but we stop -here. Enough has been said to substantiate our argument, -and we desist from the present line of thought to indulge the -flattering belief that we have at length gained our object; that, -in fact, we have a Bible such as we have invoked—with a -purer text,—a correcter version,—and other appliances -better adapted to fit it for the high ends for which it was -given, than the present. What, now, it may be asked, are -the <i>peculiar advantages</i> we promise ourselves from the -<span class="GutSmall">ACQUISITION</span>? Some advantages -seem to flow very naturally and directly from the measure; and -one that we may very confidently anticipate is, a keener -perception and appreciation of Scripture in its fundamental -qualities of truthfulness, power, and majesty, as the volume is -spread out before us with increased effulgence, and life-likeness -to the original. The whole orb of truth will shine out with -a brightness of which it is now in part shorn through defect in -the instrument by means of which it is viewed. Moreover, -the <i>evidences</i> for the Divine authority of the sacred books -would be yet clearer, as blemishes were eliminated, obscurities -cleared up, weak parts strengthened. The evidences of -Christianity, in their brightest array, and most decisive effect, -lie in the sacred oracles themselves. They vouch for their -own authority. How potent a power this is may be judged of -from the fact that they are accredited by those to whom they not -only show no favour, but the most decided and uncompromising -hostility! Many circumstances wrongfully accredited to them -mar and weaken the evidence; but these, however perplexing in -some cases, and damaging—as the text now stands—in -others, cannot overlay their credibility. There are, -moreover, doctrines embedded in their pages that appeal solely to -faith, and that receive our assent mainly as part and parcel of a -<span class="smcap">Book</span> that we deem divine. It is -the word of God, and we turn away at our peril from the voice -that speaks to us from <a name="page28"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 28</span><span -class="GutSmall">HEAVEN</span>. Certain passages there are, -as we think, so impressed with the character of Divinity, so -reassuring of a divine utterance, and so marvellously radiant -with truth, that, under the full force of the impression, the -whole soul resigns itself to the spell, and faith is scarcely so -much a voluntary emotion as a necessity. We believe because -we have no alternative. <a name="citation28"></a><a -href="#footnote28" class="citation">[28]</a> Such is the -power of the sacred oracles in themselves to command -belief. Nevertheless, the evidence generally of their -divine authority would be yet more conclusive, as the result of a -version more true to the sacred text. The Divine voice -would be still more audible. The arguments <a -name="page29"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 29</span>that have -hitherto commanded our assent would acquire fresh force, while -obstacles and imperfections would dwindle into insignificance, or -altogether disappear. The force of our plea could scarcely -present itself more strongly. The Scriptures themselves -constitute the great battle-field of the argument affecting a -Divine Revelation. The question is decided in the minds of -thousands, on considerations drawn from <i>the Scriptures -themselves</i>,—in virtue, that is, of their own -credentials, and not on the elaborate speculations or ingenious -apologies of (assumed) interested advocates. A more direct -and forcible evidence is required for men in no ecclesiastical -position to forestall opinion, and with little time or ability to -enter into abstruse and recondite arguments. The ordinary -books of evidences, however effective <i>concurrently</i> with -the evidence furnished by Scripture itself (and in this way they -are—many of them—doubtless exceedingly useful), are -not <i>alone</i>, and, in the absence of such corroboration, -calculated to produce the evidence that is desired to rebut the -counter arguments to which human nature in its infirmity is -assailed. It requires the re-assuring voice of God himself -to give the requisite confidence and satisfaction. Hence we -have sufficiently indicated the field to which our labours may be -most successfully directed while endeavouring to establish and -diffuse, in their most telling and cogent form, the evidences of -the Christian faith.</p> -<p>Moreover, a competent knowledge of Biblical erudition would, -under the new conditions of the Holy Books, be no longer so -costly or onerous as at present. Truly, this is a great -desideratum. The mass of reading now required to peruse -Scripture with due edification and interest is altogether beyond -the leisure of the busy, or the means of the less affluent: and -to be doomed to hopeless ignorance of so much enlightenment as is -symbolized in the goodly tomes that meet the eye on every side, -devoted to the elucidation of Holy Writ, is by no means -satisfactory. With this <a name="page30"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 30</span>partial distribution of spiritual -advantages, the Christian Church seems drifting away from its -fundamental basis of <i>universality</i>, and,—in the very -spirit and wake of heathenism,—abetting and consecrating -the principle of an esoteric and exoteric school—a pet and -a common class of disciples—the one furnished with all the -erudition—the prime secrets and witcheries of -knowledge—the other abandoned to the merest generalities, a -sorry heap of prejudices, or at best a dubious and insufficient -light. But however this be, certain it is there is now -available a vast amount of Biblical lore of no mean value, and -which no good Christian would willingly forego, that is all but -sealed to the bulk of the Christian world. <a -name="citation30"></a><a href="#footnote30" -class="citation">[30]</a> The publication of Scripture on -the principles we advocate would go far to remedy the evil. -The beautiful emendations of the Sacred text that are now -scattered over a wide waste of territory, and all but lost, would -be garnered up, and made available for common use. The -occasional criticisms of Archbishop Whately, for instance, and -the <a name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -31</span>specific emendations of the late Professor Scholefield, -would become alike the property of the esoterics and the -exoterics: they would be treasured up and embalmed in our own -Bibles. In a word, we should succeed to a large inheritance -of the labours of others. There would be still much left, -of course, to reward industry and sagacity, and succeeding times -might fairly expect to have the benefit of all future discoveries -in this important field. The immediate benefit would be to -relieve the unlettered from dependence on the Commentary to the -extent they now are. They who run might read. <a -name="citation31"></a><a href="#footnote31" -class="citation">[31]</a></p> -<p>We may further be entitled to expect some abatement of our -present unchristian differences, which are fostered to some -extent, as we think, by the difficulties inherent in the Book -rather as a <i>translation</i> than as an <i>original</i>. -To some extent it gives a less certain sound, as it is obliged to -avail itself of human organs. By repairing the instrument, -we may find a great impediment to our common understanding and -accord removed, while the union thus formed will be all the more -valuable as it will be real, not simulated—uniform, not -patched up for the occasion to defeat a common enemy. It -will grow out of the only bond of union—sympathy, namely, -of belief—that promises to be permanent and available in -the hour of trial. Divers forms of worship, and many -varying shades of opinion, may co-exist with this unity. -Charity thinketh no evil, is not easily provoked. If this -happy purpose <a name="page32"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -32</span>could be secured by imparting a clearer light to the -firmament of Christian truth, as the result of the measure we -advocate, it would not be easy to overrate the boon in the -removal of the scandal that belongs to the present divided state -of Christendom, and in the service it would render to the church -in carrying out her many offices of healing and comfort to the -world.</p> -<p>Still further: Popular Education, to the extent to which it is -identified with the Bible, would be subserved by an improved -translation. In many parts of the kingdom the Bible, as is -well known, is the only organ of education available—the -only apparatus by which any ray of intellectual light finds -entrance into men’s minds. This may be accounted for -from the fact that, in addition to knowledge, Scripture brings -with it <i>the soul’s health</i>; otherwise, in the rude -state in which it finds a large portion of the population, it -would have small chance of fulfilling this incidental office of -educating the masses. In this light Scripture, where, as in -Protestant countries, it is freely diffused, must be regarded as -a most precious boon to a nation—as a guarantee, in fact, -that the people shall be in some sort educated, and invested with -the attributes of rational and responsible beings. Nor is -the benefit of Scripture, as a help to education, confined to the -poor: in early youth it smooths the entrance on the path of -knowledge, not less effectually to the rich than to the -indigent. There is, moreover, to be considered the part -that Scripture plays in the education of the land, in the actual -occupancy it enjoys in almost every family as a <span -class="GutSmall">HOUSEHOLD BOOK</span>, available as the Urim and -Thummim of the ancient economy, and actually doing that service -which the “lares and lemures” of heathen households -were vainly invoked to perform. It is in vain to exclaim -against this state of things, from whatever motive, sceptical or -superstitious: the fact is as we have stated it, and, with the -absence of such means of education, the country, to a large -extent, must necessarily be uneducated.</p> -<p><a name="page33"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 33</span>Thus -obviously is the Bible the recognized organ of popular education -in this country, and in this view it is most important that its -efficiency should be complete. But this inference derives -its chief force from considerations affecting the -<i>character</i> of the education it supplies. In this -aspect of it there is nothing that should make us regret the -actual occupancy it enjoys in this regard. On the contrary, -it is admirably adapted by its own peculiar power over -men’s souls to create—not a learned, but an -intelligent people; and if intelligent, then free, independent, -powerful,—a match for tyranny in every shape, and at every -turn. Nor are the ruling powers themselves less benefited -in thus being able to lay deep the foundation of their authority -in the fixedness of principle, just appreciation of good as -distinct from its counterfeit, and sober and well-advised aims of -the people so trained and nurtured.</p> -<p>Closely connected with education, or such an education as we -have now been considering, is <i>public morality</i>, and with it -the strength and prosperity of a Nation. The condition of -England in her various phases—civil, military, political, -and religious—has naturally arrested the attention of -intelligent foreigners, as presenting a marked superiority in -these respects, or in some of them, to their own country. -They have inquired the cause of this distinction with little -success, and are as much at fault in being able to trace no -symptoms of decay or flagging vitality in the system, cruelly -tried as it not unfrequently is, prognosticating its ruin. -Perhaps there is a solution of the enigma here. Perhaps the -use of Scripture as the prime material of our early education has -generated a better morality among us, and precluded the admission -of certain forms of evil, little consonant to national greatness -or national welfare, from which we see other countries, -differently schooled, are not exempt. On this head, while -avoiding undue pretension, we would not choose to say less than -truth permits. With all the deductions to be allowed in -disparagement of our claim to a high <a name="page34"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 34</span>place in the scale of morals -absolutely, we have yet, as compared with other -countries,—a conscience, a sense namely of right and wrong, -pervading the bulk of the people, and leavening the land with a -wholesome morality,—we are not habituated to treat suicide -as a virtue, <a name="citation34"></a><a href="#footnote34" -class="citation">[34]</a>—our functionaries, as a body, are -not venal,—we are not dangerous to the State when we meet -in numbers beyond two or three,—and we are not incapable of -self-government. M. de Montalembert, in his late work on -the Future of England, while generously doing homage to the -greatness of this country, the destinies of which he undertakes -to decide, has not adverted to this high moral and religious -training as supplying any explanation of the phenomenon: perhaps -deeming his own country to be not less amply supplied with the -means of religious culture. On this point we are at issue -with him, if such is his opinion. In France, as in Catholic -countries generally,—and it must be confessed in some -Protestant countries too,—it is not so decidedly a -religious or moral, as <a name="page35"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 35</span>an ecclesiastical and conventual -training, that is accorded; one, that is, which, while it -overlays the memory with dogmas, and deals in technical and -artificial requirements, leaves the conscience all but -uninformed, and morality, as a pervading, practical, germinating -principle, almost a non-entity. <a name="citation35"></a><a -href="#footnote35" class="citation">[35]</a></p> -<p><i>Paullo majora canamus</i>. The time is come when -countries, as such, need to be educated no less really than -smaller bodies and isolated individuals. Countries are -brought now almost into as close contact with one another as -individual members of the same commonwealth; and the identical -principle that inculcates the education of -individuals—that, namely, of mutual self-defence and -reciprocal advantage—applies to the aggregation of -individuals in a nation. The times of ignorance picture to -us man as a savage, a terror to his neighbours, and everywhere an -object of rightful destruction. Education became a -necessity, if he would be safe from violence, or reap advantage -from the society of his fellow. The picture presented by -the history of nations in relation to one another is -substantially the same. There has been little improvement -in this respect yet visible. Nor has the necessity for it -seemed urgent, while the nations were separated by the natural -obstacles of their position, and their means of mutual annoyance -in a corresponding degree circumscribed. Science has now -removed these obstacles, and the nations are brought into -immediate contiguity and contact, while their means of mutual -annoyance have been enormously and frightfully multiplied. -Startling it is to think of the growing power of nations for -evil, and inflicting evil upon one another, in the present temper -<a name="page36"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 36</span>and -<i>morale</i> of the nations. Surely we may say the time -has come for providing a remedy appropriate to so fearful a -crisis. There is none that occurs to us so sure as a system -of instruction that recognizes as its basis a <i>sanctity</i> in -the relations of state with state, and lodges deep in the -consciences of the several people those great principles of -justice, truth, and benevolence, in which God has indissolubly -bound up all human happiness, whether of nations or of -individuals. Unhappily there is so much to unlearn on the -subject of the relative duties of nations to one another before -this good work can be proceeded in. The sacred records have -not been supposed to furnish any lessons on this branch of human -duty, and none have been sought for. But—</p> -<blockquote><p>“In them is plainest taught and easiest -learn’d<br /> -What makes a Nation happy, and keeps it so.”</p> -<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Paradise -Regained</span>.</p> -</blockquote> -<p>Embued with the conviction that we have the means adequate to -the high ends here proposed in these very records—well -understood and properly carried out—we have ventured upon -these high themes in disregard of the imputation to which we may -be subjected, with some plausibility, of overstating our -cause. We say with some plausibility, only as merging our -feelings for the moment in the superficial view ordinarily taken -of the <i>real character</i> of the religious element—a -view altogether ignored by the history of our race, and the -peculiar phenomena of the times. We may add, it is -unmistakably at variance with the consciousness of almost every -individual in Christendom, to whom it is no secret that religious -questions—unless the interest has been neutralized by long -neglect, or quashed by desperate violence—exert a strange -and engrossing power over his soul. In whatever way we look -at it, it is a <i>power</i>, and in this view may even be -perverted to evil.</p> -<p>“Suppose ye,” says Christ, “that I am come -to send <a name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -37</span>peace upon earth? I tell you, Nay, but rather -division.” <a name="citation37a"></a><a href="#footnote37a" -class="citation">[37a]</a> In deep sympathy with these -words, and in corroboration of the prophetic spirit by which they -are marked, are the following observations of Stanley, when -summing up his reminiscences of the Lake of Galilee—the -toiling all night and catching nothing—the great multitude -of fishes, so that the net broke—the casting a hook for the -first fish that came up—the net cast into the sea, and -gathering of every kind: “all these,” says he, -“are images which could occur nowhere else in Palestine but -in this one spot, and which, from that one spot, have now passed -into the religious language of the civilized world, <i>and in -their remotest applications</i>, <i>or even misapplications</i>, -<i>have converted the nations</i>, <i>and shaken the thrones of -Europe</i>.” <a name="citation37b"></a><a -href="#footnote37b" class="citation">[37b]</a></p> -<p>Thus demonstrative it is that Religion is no weak, idle, -evanescent figment of man’s imagination, but a real, -substantial, controlling power, shaping his thoughts, it may be -unconsciously, and blending itself with the solid structure of -society and nations. Greece and Rome, it has been well -said, have attracted here and there a visitor, but only the Holy -Land has provoked a crusade. Nor is the evidence of its -power to be fetched wholly from the records of the past; we think -we see in it in our own days a germinating principle more potent -than anything else now in operation to work great changes, and -rival, at least, if it does not throw into the shade, all that -history has yet unfolded. That this power may be based in -knowledge, and directed to a righteous end, unlike the character -oftentimes it bears on the page of the past, it may deserve some -consideration as a means to this end, whether we may not yet read -our lesson to greater advantage, and educe from the sacred page a -fuller amount of good than in its present state it is calculated -to afford. And we have the more confidence in urging our -present suit, because we are persuaded that the boon we invoke -will not long be unattended with other forms of <a -name="page38"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 38</span>active -beneficence conducing to the same high ends. The church -will almost simultaneously rouse herself to new exertion. A -yet more effective order of Religious Teaching than we can yet -boast of—from the pulpit and the press, will probably be -elicited. And thus we shall evoke, not an isolated power -waging dubious war against fearful odds, but a <span -class="GutSmall">CONFEDERATE</span> force, equal, we will hope, -to the crisis;—a crisis such as, no one is so obtuse as not -to see, demands something vastly in advance of the elements at -present available for neutralizing the fearful evils now -festering at our core, or looming in the no distant horizon.</p> -<p>Such is our argument. The sum is, that the Sacred Books -are replete with good, and that a just appreciation of what is -due to our own interests, no less than gratitude for the gift -itself, demands from us the consecration of whatever further -power Providence has, in these latter days, conferred upon us to -that end, to render that good in its utmost extent salutary and -efficacious.</p> -<p>And the time for action presses. Already various -undertakings are on foot to supply the desired object: and there -may be reason to fear, in the failure of help from higher -quarters, that some Society—the Religious Tract Society, -for example, as suggested by the “Edinburgh Review,” -thus following up its recent excellent publication of the New -Paragraph Bible—or some self-constituted body, as is this -moment sitting in America for this very purpose—or -individual scholars—may appropriate the ground we should -rather reserve as the Special Sphere for the operations of the -highest Authority in the realm.</p> -<p>It only remains that we give utterance to our most fervent -hope that this great work may signalize the reign of our beloved -Queen. It will not be the least sparkling of the diamonds -that will lend lustre to her crown. All concurrent -circumstances point to this as the fitting time, and to her -Majesty as the appropriate individual to inaugurate the -solemnity. Religious scruples have given way to a more <a -name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 39</span>enlightened -and creditable feeling, and a higher standard of religious truth -than that afforded by the present version is plainly a -desideratum. The reflections cast upon the Protestant faith -in the recent trials for Bible-burning in Ireland, authorized in -measure by the concessions of Protestants themselves to the -faultiness of the authorized version, wait to be removed. -Let her Majesty, following in this respect the example of James -I., appoint to this work a body of men the most qualified for the -task the realm affords, and we cannot doubt the result will be a -version of Holy Scripture incomparably better than the present; -thus supplying a fresh cause of exultation in her Majesty’s -rule, and a surpassing debt of gratitude to the hand that -conferred the boon.</p> - -<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center"><i>Extract from a Speech of M. -Guizot at a late Meeting of the Protestant Biblical Society in -Paris</i>. <i>See</i> Times, <i>April</i> 19, 1856.</p> -<blockquote><p>“Whether we consider the history of nations, -or the private life of individuals, the moral efficacy and -salutary power of the holy books glowingly manifest -themselves. Undoubtedly, even among nations where it is -assiduous and general, the reading of the holy books has not the -effect of stifling the bad passions of men; it does not obviate -all errors and faults. Man remains full of weakness and -vice, even when conscious of the presence of God. But the -habitual reading of the holy books preserves nations from the -greatest perils; it prevents them from forgetting God. It -has this advantage—that God remains for them, not an idea, -a name, a system of philosophy, a riddle, but the true and living -God, under whose eye they constantly live, amid the struggles and -casualties of this world.”</p> -</blockquote> - -<div class="gapspace"> </div> - -<div class="gapshortline"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center">Reed and Pardon, Printers, -Paternoster Row, London.</p> -<h2>FOOTNOTES.</h2> -<p><a name="footnote3"></a><a href="#citation3" -class="footnote">[3]</a> A solitary voice, in the strict -sense of the word, was raised by the Rev. Canon Selwyn at the -last meeting of Convocation (March, 1856). The motion was -not suited to the <i>mollia tempora fandi</i>, perhaps. -But, whatever the cause, there can be no doubt of the fitness of -the hands into which the motion fell, or that the day is far from -being distant when the question will force itself on the notice -of Convocation, in all probability, in another shape.</p> -<p><a name="footnote4"></a><a href="#citation4" -class="footnote">[4]</a> “Essays, Moral and -Literary,” by Dr. Vicesimus Knox. No. XLIX.</p> -<p><a name="footnote8a"></a><a href="#citation8a" -class="footnote">[8a]</a> See Psalm xxii. throughout. -The difficulties attending the <i>entire</i> application of the -psalm to Christ are by no means insuperable. Scott -unreservedly refers the whole to Christ. Adam Clarke -dissents. Psalm lxix. is for the most part a manifest -adumbration of the Messiah; and if the difficulties in the way of -the entire application of the Psalm to Christ, presented in verse -5, where he is made <i>apparently</i> to lament his foolishness -and his guilt, could be surmounted, a great boon, it is -conceived, would be granted to all who desire to understand what -they read. The <i>representative</i> scheme, besides being -open to other objections, has no explicit authority in the -Scriptures to recommend it, and the <i>double sense</i> is now -all but universally abandoned. Possibly, if the text will -not yield in these cases, there are principles of interpretation -involved that await future development.</p> -<p><a name="footnote8b"></a><a href="#citation8b" -class="footnote">[8b]</a> Gen. xlix. 21. For, -“Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly -words,” read, “Naphtali is a spreading Pine, that -putteth forth goodly boughs.” Psa. xxix. 9. -For, “The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and -discovereth the forests,” read, “The voice of the -Lord rendeth the pines, and layeth bare the forests.” -So Dr. Lee. To surrender the Bible, body and soul, into the -hands of the Massorites, as is required by their pointing of -these passages, is surely asking too much. Let the reader -peruse the <i>whole</i> of the 29th Psalm, and determine the -fitness of the correction for himself, which he may very safely -be allowed to do. The former passage, if consistently -carried out on the principles of the translators, would run, -“Naphtali is a hind let loose, <i>that</i> giveth goodly -words,” in which the incongruousness of the metaphor would, -if possible, be still more manifest. See Stanley’s -“Syria and Palestine,” p. 355.</p> -<p><a name="footnote10a"></a><a href="#citation10a" -class="footnote">[10a]</a> See Preface to Herwitz’ -“Etymology and Syntax of the Hebrew Language.”</p> -<p><a name="footnote10b"></a><a href="#citation10b" -class="footnote">[10b]</a> See Kitto’s Bib. Cyc., -art. Chronicles. The whole article is very reassuring, -considering the able and accomplished pen from which it -proceeds. The writer, Dr. Davidson, to whom the lovers of -Biblical philology are under the greatest obligations, -deliberately asserts the corruption of the passages in question, -and advocates a reading in conformity with the corresponding -statements in 2 Samuel and Kings.</p> -<p><a name="footnote11a"></a><a href="#citation11a" -class="footnote">[11a]</a> Compare, among other instances -in point that might be given, 1 Kings ix. 28 with 2 Chron. viii. -18.</p> -<p><a name="footnote11b"></a><a href="#citation11b" -class="footnote">[11b]</a> If <i>no</i> purification of the -text should avail us in these cases, it would be advisable to -accompany the change in the text with a note in the margin -explanatory of the corruptness of the reading that has been -superseded.</p> -<p><a name="footnote13"></a><a href="#citation13" -class="footnote">[13]</a> The change of accent the word -undergoes in the original when repeated in the second hemistich, -gives marvellous emphasis to the exhortation—an emphasis -altogether lost in the translation.</p> -<p><a name="footnote14"></a><a href="#citation14" -class="footnote">[14]</a> The application of this principle -may go some way towards neutralizing the doubts that have been -raised as to the identity of the Isaiah of the later portion of -the prophecy with the Isaiah of the earlier portion. See -chap. lxiv. 10, 11. One thing at least is evident, namely, -that the Apostle Paul, who was confessedly well read in Hebrew -literature, in his quotations from the latter portion of the -prophecy, seems to have had no notion of any other Isaiah than -that to whom the whole prophecy is ordinarily ascribed. See -Rom. x. 16. In fact, these doubts, now complacently -acquiesced in as valid by the Rationalistic School abroad and at -home, were equally unknown to all the world till about half a -century ago. The general reader may content himself with -Dr. Alexander’s candid and able investigation of the -question in his recent Commentary on Isaiah.</p> -<p><a name="footnote15"></a><a href="#citation15" -class="footnote">[15]</a> The uses of the particle ו -in combination with the verb. Let the Hebrew student -consult the masterly investigation and elucidation of this -subject in the Hebrew Grammar recently published by Messrs. Mason -and Bernard, Vol. II. chapters 51–55.</p> -<p><a name="footnote17a"></a><a href="#citation17a" -class="footnote">[17a]</a> This rendering is faulty as not -providing for the emphatic personal pronoun “he” in -the original.</p> -<p><a name="footnote17b"></a><a href="#citation17b" -class="footnote">[17b]</a> Niphal in the sense of the -Hithpael conjugation. See Gen. xvi. 9.</p> -<p><a name="footnote17c"></a><a href="#citation17c" -class="footnote">[17c]</a> The original will not admit of -this rendering, though the sense is not objectionable.</p> -<p><a name="footnote17d"></a><a href="#citation17d" -class="footnote">[17d]</a> There is great difficulty -here. The word rendered <i>impious</i>, and inserted in -brackets, signifies <i>rich</i>, mostly with an accessory notion -of violence and wrong; but the parallel clause, “He made -his grave with the wicked,” and the further expression, -“He was numbered with the transgressors,” in the last -verse, seem to justify the sense here given; and so it has been -understood by some rabbins and other commentators, as Luther, -Calvin, Gesenius. See Matt. xix. 23. We confess we -are not satisfied. The common reading that represents -Christ as rewarded with a grave among the rich, <i>because</i>, -forsooth, he had done no violence, &c., is surely -inadmissible.</p> -<p><a name="footnote18a"></a><a href="#citation18a" -class="footnote">[18a]</a> So, ‘A man of sorrows and -acquainted with grief,’ v. 3.</p> -<p><a name="footnote18b"></a><a href="#citation18b" -class="footnote">[18b]</a> <i>Intercedes</i> in the -present, because his intercession is a <i>continuous</i> -act. This distinction of tense as contradistinguished from -the past tense in the use of the preceding verb <i>he bore</i>, -expressing a transaction <i>once</i> and <i>finally</i> -concluded, so conspicuous in the original, is entirely overlooked -in the authorized version; so Calvin, Vitringa, Lowth, Henderson, -Jones, Barnes, &c. This concurrence in the -interpretation of the authorized version is especially to be -wondered at in the more recent of the above-named critics. -Messrs. Mason and Bernard give, less happily we think, <i>that he -might make</i>, &c. Dr. Alexander, New Jersey, favours -the view adopted in the amended version. See his admirable -Commentary on Isaiah.</p> -<p><a name="footnote19"></a><a href="#citation19" -class="footnote">[19]</a> A Hebraism lurks here. So, -“Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not <span -class="GutSmall">ANY</span> of his benefits;” and not -“<i>all</i> his benefits,” as our translation has -it. So again, “And God gave Cain a mark, lest <span -class="GutSmall">ANY</span> finding him should kill him,” -where the <i>same</i> word is rightly rendered. Ps. ciii. -2; Gen. iv. 15.</p> -<p><a name="footnote24a"></a><a href="#citation24a" -class="footnote">[24a]</a> Various divisions, both of the -Old and New Testaments, were in use from the earliest period, but -the present divisions into Chapters and Verses are ascribed, the -former, with some hesitation, to Stephen Langton, Archbishop of -Canterbury, about the middle of the thirteenth century; the -latter to Robert Stephens, a Frenchmen, about the middle of the -sixteenth century. See art. Scripture in Kitto’s -Biblical Cyclopædia.</p> -<p><a name="footnote24b"></a><a href="#citation24b" -class="footnote">[24b]</a> In an elaborate translation of -the whole of this prophecy, in the Hebrew Grammar recently -published by Messrs. Mason and Bernard, the authors conceive the -opening passage, “<i>Who hath believed our -report</i>,” &c., to express the awe and wonder of the -kings mentioned in the previous chapter at the events they are -supposed to witness, and accordingly they render it, -“<i>Who hath believed our hearing</i>” &c., the -tidings, that is, that have reached us, the kings -aforesaid. But, with all due respect for the translation -generally, we are unable to accept this view of the passage -before us, conceiving it to be far-fetched, and opposed to the -purpose for which, in so many words, it is quoted in the New -Testament. See John xii. 37; Rom. x. 16.</p> -<p><a name="footnote25a"></a><a href="#citation25a" -class="footnote">[25a]</a> In like manner Jacob, in the -course of predicting the future fortunes of his sons, exclaims -parenthetically, “I have waited for thy salvation, O -Lord.” Gen. xlix. 18.</p> -<p><a name="footnote25b"></a><a href="#citation25b" -class="footnote">[25b]</a> This article has since been -republished in a separate form, under the title of the -“Present State of the English Bible,” by the Rev. -William Harness, A.M. It will well repay repeated perusal -by all those who are interested in this pre-eminently interesting -question.</p> -<p><a name="footnote28"></a><a href="#citation28" -class="footnote">[28]</a> Let the reader advert for a -moment, in connexion with the argument for the evidences of -Christianity, to the <span class="GutSmall">ASSUMPTIONS</span> -ordinarily and persistently made by Christ in relation to his -person and mission, and then conceive of the <i>frightful -arrogance</i> involved in these assumptions, supposing them to be -unfounded; coupling this thought at the same time with that -perfect sobriety of mind and even tenor of a uniformly staid and -well-balanced deportment by which he was pre-eminently -characterized. <i>We</i> do not find these assumptions in -the slightest degree startling or incredible, because they -comport in our minds with the <span class="GutSmall">WHOLE</span> -character of Christ as developed in the gospel. Where the -evidence of Messiahship failed among his own countrymen, if there -were any failure of <i>evidence</i>, we may advert for the -solution, among other considerations, to their blind disregard to -the perfect compatibility and harmony of these assumptions with -the other features of Messiah as exhibited by Christ. Here -are a few of the expressions alluded to, all taken from the -earlier chapters of St. John’s Gospel:—</p> -<p>“For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth -them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.” -“That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour -the Father.” “The bread of God is he which came -down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.” -“And this is the will of Him that sent me, that every one -which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting -life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” -“I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall -not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of -life.” “I and my Father are one.” -“Jesus saith unto her, I am the resurrection and the life: -he that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: -and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never -die.”—How Christ should have preferred <span -class="GutSmall">SUCH</span> claims without legitimate authority, -and ample power to substantiate them, is a question to which we -cannot divine an answer.</p> -<p><a name="footnote30"></a><a href="#citation30" -class="footnote">[30]</a> Some striking illustrations of -this position are to be found in the Appendix to Mr. -Stanley’s recent volume on Sinai and Palestine. This -Appendix consists of a vocabulary of topographical words in -Hebrew and English. Great care has been taken in giving the -precise English for the corresponding Hebrew term. -Referring to the previous part of his work, he says, “I -have often had occasion to refer to the richness and precision of -the local vocabulary of the Hebrew language. In the -authorized version this is unfortunately lost; not so much by the -incorrect rendering of any particular word, as by the promiscuous -use of the same English word for different Hebrew words, or of -different English words for the same Hebrew word.” -And again: “The geographical passages of the Bible seem to -shine with new light as these words acquire their proper -force. How keenly, for example, are we led to notice the -early tendency to personify and treat as living creatures the -great objects of nature, when we find that the -‘springs’ are the ‘eyes,’ the bright, -glistening, life-giving eyes of the thirsty East; that the -mountains have not merely summits and sides, but -‘heads,’ ‘shoulders,’ ‘ears,’ -‘ribs,’ ‘loins,’ &c.” -This whole Appendix is deeply interesting to the Hebrew -student. He must feel at the same time how much the mere -English student of Scripture suffers in the absence of the same -knowledge.</p> -<p><a name="footnote31"></a><a href="#citation31" -class="footnote">[31]</a> “They who have access to -the Scriptures in the original are . . . endowed with ten -talents, compared with which the power of reading them in our -authorized version is but one. The right improvement of the -one talent will ensure to its possessor the end of his faith, -even the salvation of his soul; but this does not render -guiltless those who have greater talents if, from supineness and -indolence, they neglect to use the enlarged means with which they -are gifted for attaining to the knowledge of the -truth.”—“Introduction to the Greek Testament, -with Grammatical and Exegetical Notes, by William Webster, M.A., -and William Francis Wilkinson, M.A.,” p. xvi. The -above work has special claims upon that numerous class who, with -little time for elaborate research, are glad to obtain the -<i>results</i> of a thorough critical investigation of the -language and teaching of the New Testament.</p> -<p><a name="footnote34"></a><a href="#citation34" -class="footnote">[34]</a> The following is from -Lewes’s “Life of Goethe,” just published. -The words in double inverted commas are those of Goethe himself: -‘“I had a large collection of weapons, and among them -a very handsome dagger. This I placed by my bedside every -night, and before extinguishing my candle I made various attempts -to pierce the sharp point a couple of inches into my breast; but -not being able to do it I laughed myself out of the -notion,” &c. He played with suicidal thoughts, -because he was restless, <i>and suicide was a fashionable -speculation of the day</i>,’ &c. . . . In October, 1772 -the report reaches him that his Wetzlau friend, Goué, has -shot himself. “Write to me at once about -Goué,” he says to Kestner, “<i>I honour such -an act</i>, <i>and pity mankind</i>,” &c.—Vol. I. -p. 197. There is more to this abominable purpose in the -sequel. Such was Goethe, a man sprung from the people, not -the offspring of an effete noblesse, and at a time of life when -the very thought of self-destruction is most alien to all the -instincts of nature,—‘a canker in -youth,’—and with no taint of constitutional -melancholy in his system. Goethe’s genius was a sea -of glass, capable of reflecting the rays cast upon it from -without with unusual brilliancy; but, unlike our Shakspeare, -devoid of independent power of originating <i>new</i> -thought. Thus he <i>reflected</i> all his days the -prevailing fashion of his time, and thus he but <i>re-enacts</i> -the sentimentalism of the hour in his suicidal lucubrations.</p> -<p><a name="footnote35"></a><a href="#citation35" -class="footnote">[35]</a> The policy of Pericles may be -considered in relation to the causes that aggrandize a -people. His notion seems to have been that to awaken great -deeds in a nation you must supply it with great and noble -thoughts. Hence his magnificent public buildings, his -lavish cultivation of the arts, and even the attention he paid to -the amusements of the people, to make them subservient to -refinement and purity of taste. But æsthetics alone -do not make a great people.—See Thuc. II., 38, 39.</p> -<p><a name="footnote37a"></a><a href="#citation37a" -class="footnote">[37a]</a> Luke xii. 51.</p> -<p><a name="footnote37b"></a><a href="#citation37b" -class="footnote">[37b]</a> Sinai and Palestine, p. 369.</p> -<pre> - - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIBLICAL REVISION*** - - -***** This file should be named 64728-h.htm or 64728-h.zip****** - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/4/7/2/64728 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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