The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-15 00:00:00

THE BIBLE

Mr. BUXTON moved that an humble address be
presented to her Majesty, praying that she will be
graciously pleased to invite the President of the United
States to concur with her Majesty in appointing commis-
sioners to revise the authorised version of the Bible.
He argued that although the matter had been taken
in hand very promptly by Convocation, yet that body had
no legal or legitimate right to act on behalf of the
Established Church or the nation. The work ought, in
his opinion, to be taken up by Her Majesty's Government.
The opinion was widely held that Convocation was not
the body to which the enterprise ought to be entrusted, al-
though he admitted that it had shewn a liberal spirit
far beyond what might have been expected. At the same
time the work of revision did not belong to any one party
or nation, but it concerned the whole English speaking
race throughout the world. Speaking in reference to the
composition of the Committee of Convocation appointed
to conduct the work, he said that the clergymen of the
NorthernProvince,forming a large proportion of the Church
of England had been excluded owing to an unfortunate
misunderstanding between the two Convocations. He
also pointed out that in Scotland great disappointment
was felt that a selection had not been made of Scotch
scholars. The question was whether they intended to
regard Convocation as the representative and governing
body of the Church of England. He held that it was a
usurpation of power on the part of Convocation to put
itself forward in that character, and remarked that since
the Reformation it had had no legal right to act as the
representative and governing body of the Church. He
referred to the exclusively priestly character of Convoca-
tion, the laity being entirely excluded. It had been said
that the matter was not so ripe that it was desirable it
should be taken in hand as a national under-
taking, but the fact was that the case was as
strong as it could be. The hon. gentleman
then alluded to the prodigious strides which scholarships
in England had made daring the last fifty years, and to
the recognition of the errors of the authorised version.
The hon. gentleman also called attention to the sources of
errors in the Bible. It was admitted, he said, that the
authorised version gave a distorted image of the original

Scripture, and the question was whether they preferred
the false translations, or would have the Scriptures
as originally written. He noticed the objections which
had been raised to a revision of the authorised version.
He trusted that a translation might be made which should
contain the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth, and free from every blemish presented to the Eng-
lish speaking nations throughout the world, so that there
should no longer be anything to mar the beauty of the

Bible or its force.
Mr. P. WYNDHAM seconded the motion. He believed
that the work if undertaken either by a Royal Commis-
sion or Convocation, would end in disappointment. It
might be true that these men would act under criticism,
but the question was, where would criticism be brought to
bear? The initiation of so great a work should come from
the highest power in the kingdom, namely, the Crown.
The authorised version, he remarked, was not the pro-