Cheraw gazette. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1835-1838, 1836-06-21

" 10 OOuOtCo otS sOttSlS " OC uICSsSo "
authority, to any learned man in the land
for his judgment in such place.
IL. Letters to be sent by every bishop
to each Of his clergy, admonishing them
Of this translation in hand, and to move
and charge as many as being skilful in the
tongues, have taken pains in that kind, to
send his particular observations to the
companies at Oxford or Cambridge or
Westminster.
IA. The following translations to be
used when they agree better with the text
than the Bishops bible-lst, 1indaPs,-
End, Matthew's,-3d, Coverdalc's,-4,h,
Whitechurch's-5th, the Geneva.
Is. Along with the fifty-four learned
men,* three or four fthe most emncnt
and grave of the university divines should
oversee the translations and see the above
rules properly observed.
When the whole was finished, three CO.
pies Of it: one from Oxford, one from
Cambridge, and one from Westminster
we're sent to London, and two persons
were chosen the joint companies to review
and polish it. These daily met in Sta
TONER'S Hall for nine months till they had
completed the task assigned them. Last
of all, Bilson of Winchester and DR.. Miles
Smith, who from the beginning had been
very active in this affair, reviewed the
whole, and prelixed the arguments to the
several books.
In their own preface the translators
have the following words. eve had be-
fore US the Hebrew ofthe Old Testament
and the Greek Of the New, nor were we
the first who fell in hand with translating
the Sacred Scriptures into English, and
consequently destitute of former helps.
The work has not been huddled up, but has
cost the workmen the labour Of nearly three
years. Neither did we think it tedious to
consult the translatons or commentators,
Chaldee, Hebrew, Syriac, Greek, or
Latin, or the Spanish, French, Italian, or
Dutch. Neither did we disdain to revise
what we had done, and to bring back 10
the anvil what We had hammered" "&c.
The lecturer then proceeds to that
statement Of two considerations, which
throw clear and steady light on the whole
subject.
/. The time when our translation was
completed, though two hundred years ago,
WIS remarkable for classical and biblical
learning. The classics from the capture
of Constantinoplc, had been revised, and
had been studied with enthusiastic ardour
in all the countries of Europe. In the
century Immediately proceeding our vcr-
sion, schools and colleges had been null
tplied over all the western world. Manu-
scripts were explored, compared, and cor
rect copies of the ancient authors, both
profanc and sacred were published with a
zeal and patience far exceeding any thing
observable in our time. Oriental litera-
ture, Hebrew, Chaldee Syriac, and Greek
was deeply studied; and dictionaries, con-
cordances, polyglots, such as the world
had never seen before for the depth g. va
riety of erudition, remain to this day as
monuments of the talents. learning, and
research Of our ancestors. Exalted on
these monuments, some of The puny schol-
ars, in these latter days Of great preten-
ton, have taken their lofty stand, and af-
fected to despise the very men by whom
those monuments were reared. 1t is we'll
known to the enlightened biblical scholar,
that during the early part Of the last cen
tury, the knowledge Of Hebrew and all sa-
cred literature was at a low ebb in this
country, and that the revival of it cannot
be dated back much later than fifty years.
Let US beware then Of putting the sugges-
tions of modern critics on higher ground
than the modest but solid claims Of our an
cestorS-
2. To this I add another consideration,
and then I finish this part of my subject !;
the time when our authorized version was
completed was time of awful contention
between catholics and protestants con-
test in which whole nations were embark
cd 10 man, arranged under their respec-
tive civil authorities. Every nerve was
strained on both sides to obtain the ascen-
dency. Learning, talents, piety, and zeal
rushed forth to tho conflict. And the mighty
field on which they met was "the transla-
ton of the sacred scriptures into the vulgar
tongues"
In this fearful combat, England stood at
the hand of the Protestant union; and
both sides were fully aware of the incalcu-
liable consequences connected with an au-
thori=ed version of the sacred scriptures
into the English tongue. The catholics
watched every measure of our govern
ment, and put every measure of our trans
lation to the severeSt scrutiny. The
Catholics had already sanctioned the Val-