Des Arc citizen., 1860-02-15
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BIBLE REVISION, ETC.

GENrnEMEN: l am opposed to ,he revision movement: In the third paces because Ue already have e Bible translated at lime and in circumstances i'stinifety more fauorable 10 correctness and impar- tiaiity Mam that proposed by fhe Bible Union. d 6a io Hs ned a3ni
 F1nsr. As TO THE TiME--Il was shortly after the Reformation, by which Europe had been aroused as a giant from its slumbers. The. public mind had ac- quired unwonted activity. Controversy had whetted the intellect. The English language was in full possession of Saxon energies. 1, was the age when Milton lived-wllen Bacon was constructing his .Novum Orgdaum, and when Shakespeare was in his prime. In vain do we now lookfor any works in which the powers of our language are so strikingly developed as in the writings of the men of that gem erai period. Take, as a single example of its versatility and power, the following lines from Milton :--gsd lis aals ies. gea lli@v jgsAao5 i" The fend gqy sae.-s Der, bog, or steep, through strait, rough, With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his | E way, a4f&qs Aat9Na eAf SeiNaA And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies"
 The, great his,orian,s ,Macauay y--when he would pass he highest eeuloglum upon the eloquenceef the statesmen of that age, says that 1t was lbe cloquence of the men who lived with the translalors of the Eng fish Bible. . IL was, moreover, the age of all others in which the learned languages were best understood. Macaulay tells us that the mother of Sir Francis Bacon corresponded with Bishop Jewell in Greek, and that an intimate knowledge of these languages was essential at that time to all | who took pleasure in works of taste. sha Il here quote the words of Mcclure, a historian who, tells us that he spent more than twenty years in the invest'ga-- Ftion of the history of the fneB shc trans lated our common version Not only,'s says he, " had the, English language, that singular compound, ripened to, it's full per. lection, but the study of Greek, and of the oriental tongues, and of rabbinical lore, had then been carried to . greater extent than ever before or since. This particu- lar field of learning has never been SO highly cultivated among English diyines as it was at that day" Speaking of the translators, he says, "all the colleges of Great Britain and America, even in this proud day of boaslipg, could not bring together the same number of divines equally qualified by learning and piely for such an undertaking" Ut was" says he, sslhe golden age of biblical and orien lal learning in England d-ncver before nor since have these studies been pursued by scholars whose vernactilar tongue is the English, with such zeal, industry, and success. "saaHsi6sG3 afab rl V
 If il were necessary could give the names of the venerable translators, and fill columns from various sources, in proof of their prodigious learning. shall, however, content myself with an extract from the London Times, written by Dr, Cummings, one of the best known writers in Great Britain:- :-
 It appears to me very improbable that so learned, impartial, and judcious a body of translators as the authors of the version of 1911 can be brought together in the nineteenth century Their names are dear to every scholar. fseo ost 3os asnsf s.f, a,..a
 LanceIot Andrews. Bishop of Winchester, intimately acquainted with fifteen languages; !; Oyeral, Dean of St. Paul's whose scholarship alone raised him to eininence; Adrian Sera- via, a irst-rate linguist Richard Clarke, ceie- brated for his profound acquaintance with Hebrew, Greek, and Latin; Bedweil, the very first Arabic and Oriental scholar of his day, to whom Lightfoot acknowledges the deepest obligation Lively, Reigns Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge, pronounced by a competent judge to be the very chiefest of those who were the flower of the University for knowledge of to gaes ;" Dr. Raino ds, described in Woods ATHENE OxoN, as " pro digiousIy read in all Kinds of learning, and
 most excellent in tongues;" Kilby, renowped for his Hebrew and Rabbincal learning Miles Smith, "who,o says Wood, " was so conyersant and expert in ChaIdaic, Syraic, and Arabic, that he made them almost as familiar as his native tongue Z" Brett, Rector of Quainton, was, according to the same com petent judge, {. famous for learning as well as piety, and versed in the Latin, Greek, Hebrew, | Chaldea, Arabic, and Ethiopic tongues;' w ard, the learned friend of Usher and Bois reputed 50 be the first Greek scholar in Eu- rope. 194 .9.ea9feia 9TaN gie9 h.sou. These are few specimens of the profound- 1 1y learned, judicious, and pious men who exc cuted the translation of 16l1so e, ssYoa
 I have no hcsitancy in expressing it as
 my own opinion, that since the beginning
 of time, there never have been assembled
 in one body, an equal number of men. se profoundly acquainted with the origina Languages. as were ihe translators of oul
 common Bible. God m his Providence had a, that time raised up those mighty
 men 10 prepare version of his own word not only 10 ii, untold millions for eterna bessedness. but to elevate the nation iha ; read it, and the nations that were yeti
 read it, above all other people, for let i
 not be forgotten, that England owes it' superiority over the rest of Europe, al does the United States it's superiority ovel Mexico and South America. 10 the fres circulation of it's incomparable scriptures SEcoED The circumstances. including
 the arrangements adopted for the ac
 complishment of the work. could not hav'
 been better adapted to secure correc
 translation.
 Fify-four men were selected, but a
 seven of them either died or failed 10 acl ], but forty seven were actively engaged Il U if These we're divided into six com