Thibodaux minerva. [volume] (Thibodaux, La.) 18??-1858, 1854-11-18
The Different Bibles.

The Albany Evening Journal gives a his
toric sketch of the Bible, which we thinl
will be interesting to our readers; and WI
quote it in full:
The books that compose the Bible were
first collected under the name of Johr
Chrysostem at Constantinople, in the fifth
century. For several centuries after it wa!
translated only into Latin. There was NJ
English version in print at all at the Re
formation, nor until some years after the
establishment of the Presbyterian, Anglican
and the Lutheran Churches. Whatever
| doctrines the early reformers promul gated
they drew from the Latin version, them as
now, published and sanctioned by the Ro
man Catholic Church. In 1889 the hrsl
English translation was printed, made by
John Wyckliffe.
Others were soon put forth by Tyndal
| Coverdale and Mathew. If those good men
had been as learned as they were pious
their version would not have abounded, as
they do, in omissions and blunders in gram.
mer and spelling 1t was to correct these
defects, and to supply the people of Grea,
Britain with an authentic and carefully
made version, that the two new trauslalons
were commenced in the latter part of the
same century; the one at London, by a con.
vocation of English diyines and Iinguists,
and the other by similar convocation,
about the same time, at Douay, small town
diately into use in England; the one by the
made were from the Greek text, and both
follow il, as nearly as possible, word for
word Both, like all TRANSACTIONS, doubtless
have inperfections. But they resemble
each other so closely that not one man in a
hundred could tell the difference, except by
looking at the title page.
Put the London version, of which he has
such dread, into the hands OF Catholic,
and even with Priest to aid him, he would
be puzzled to find single sentence that
conflicts with the doctrines of his church.
Put the Douay version into the hands of the
Protestants who are so much afraid of it, and
if they can find doctrines therein that are
not preached from Protestant pulpits, they
are wise beyond their generation. a
Yet. from the quarrel they have got into
one would suppose they were two different
Bibles, with the two different creeds. instead
of two TRANSACTIONS of one and the same
thing.
About the only point of difference be-
tween the two versions that has been made
the OCCASION of doctrinal dispute, is the
translation of the Greek word msetanoia. In
our version il is rendered "repentance"-in
the Douay version it is rendered "penance.o
and in later editions, with a note at the bot
tom OF the page, saying the reader may
translate it if he prefers
The Baptist, who takes exceptions to both
versions, for their rendering of the Greek
word baptiso, and the Unitarian, who dis
putes their correctness in passages relating
to the Trinity, might, with much more con-
sistency refuse to read either one at school
than the Catholic refuse to read the London
version or the Protestant refuse to let him
use the Douay.
With the Interpretation put upon the text
by the different churches, we have nothing
to do. The text itself is the subject of the
quarrel and that is, in both, substantially
the same. sac
- We know there is a sort of superstition
among uneducated Catholics that the Eng
lish Bible makes divers furious attacks upon
the Pope; we know that many uneducated
Protestants firmly believe the Catholic BIZ
BILE commands fish to eaten on Friday, and
the like. And perhaps in us laymen, who
do not read any version as often as we ought
to, such childish notions may be excusabIe.
But Protestant clergymen and Catholic
priests know better, and they are much to
blame if they encorage disputes which can
have origin only in ignorance on one side,
and petty sectarian bigotry on the other.
For our part we have never yet seen the
copy of Scriptures, well translated or i'll, that
it would harm children, or grown folks Ell
ther, to read. In the good time coming,
when Christian charity shall bear some sort
of proportion to sectarian zeal, We hope and
believe it will be SO thought. The Bible is
older than the sects. and we trust, is destin-
ed to outlive all their controversies.
NOBLE SAcRIFIcE.-The London Punch says:
"We know a benevolent old lady who because
of the erreat scarcity Of paner has disconfipr,cd