Des Arc citizen., 1860-02-22
BIBLE REVISION, ETC.
For the Des Arc Citizen.


 To MEssRs. J, W. GLENN, A. STEWART, J.. Il E. GREENWOOD, c. S. PITTMAN, G. Mo l LAREN, A. s. ERWIN AND D. P. BLACK. 1 GENTLEMEN: I am opposed to this revision movement in the fourth place, because the reyision they propose 10 glue us is likely 10 be, in eyery respect, intersor 70 the one ,ce ao,c haue do not make this assertion rashly. 1 shall give my reasons by the following illustrations Let us sup pose an agent to come along employed by men who give out that they are intending to exhibit set of paintings superior by far to any thing we have ever yet seen. Application is made to us for money to carry forward these productions. This may all sound very we'll Bu. it will hardly be expected of us to act upon the mere word of a stranger, and in regard to company of whom we know little or nothing It is but reasonable that we re- tquire some specimens of the forth coming productions which are so highly extoled. Very good He tells us they are at hand, and draws from his carpet-wallet few ot I them. But how are our high hopes l quashed, when, instead of tbe elegant l portraitures we had imagined, we see nothing but miserable carricatures, pitiable I daubs? 8{l as l Now, let us apply this illustration to I the case in hand. The new version men tell us that our scriptures are imperfect, I that they contain obsolete and unintelli- gible words, and abound in errors and that they have employed a set of the best scholars in the world, at least " if there be any better ones they do not know where Ito find them" That these translators are about to remove from the scriptures al l that is wrong, and that we are to Jose ls1othing from our present Bible but obso- lletisms, obscurities and errors. Thatthey will remove iron, st the dust aud cobacebs of ages. The words have itaIicised are the words of the Corresponding Secretary of the Bible Revision Association, dated January l6, 1858 He also tells us that their version is to be, in "the patrest ot our Emglish.'
 1 Now I say, this sounds well; but we want the specimens from which to judge for ourselves. Fine words may deceive us, but the pictures will not. shall give you few of them. 1 have now before me the book of Job, as translated by these prodigies of modern scholarship, and for brevity's sake shall give but a few ex- tracts In chapter II, verse l2, our com mon version reads as follows: For vain man would be wise, though man be born like the wild ass's colt" This, the mod | .,n., or ,,,,x, ,,are;o,, boe tb,e Rnt va r, man is void of understanding; foal of the wild ass is man from his birth" Our old translators, according to the plain rules of interpretation, and of common sense, supplied the word like and made good sense. The Revision men left it out and thus have given version, ridiculous, ab- surd and untrue. Take another speci- men from the Sth verse of the same chap ter; common version. "It IS high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than lhell; what canst thou know2" .New version. "It is high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than the under uorM; what canst thou know !"
 The friends of the new version speak much of the importance of translating uniformly. They do not admit that the original words have different meanings. Consequently we must expect that when they come to Psalms 9: l7th, they will be obliged to translate 1t thus: "The wicked shall be turned into the ander- world," as the original word for hell, is the same in both places; and as they have struck 1t out in one place, to be con- sistent they must strike it out in the other. And 1 would here ask them, whether they lregard the word hell as an obsoletsm, an obscurity, or an error2 or whether 1t be- llongs to the dust or the cobwebs of ages Ipast? MT. Sturgeon tells us of a very polite preacher who, in closing discourse, wound up somewhat as follows: My hearers: :-I am really afraid that unless some of you amend your ways, you will go to a place --- which 1 do not like to name before this refined audience" Now the new version will, in the above cited instance, exactly suit such gentle men. Hell has long been a troublesome old word to them, and they can substitute, at least in one place, the authority of the new version, and tell their hearers that unless they reform they are afraid they will go to the uader-acorld. Truly we :, live in an age of improvements. And then we must remember that King James , translators knew nothing about sleamboats steam cars or telegraphic wires-nor dit they know anything of gas-works or gas
 lights, and how could they give us cor rect translation of Hebrew or Greek.
 rl Passing over many things In the ole Testament equally characteristic, shal
 give few specimens from the new. The
 5th verse of the 1st chapter of Acts, i
 thus translated in the new version: Fo John, indeed, immersed in water, but yot
 shall be immersed in the Holy Spirit no
 many days hence" On this l have n'
 remark to make, as the translation is il \ accordance with the "principle" upol = which the movement was based. In Act l2: 42, where our version reads, "ant l. they continued steadlassly in he apostles U doctrine and fellowship, and n breaking ; of bread and Of prayers. The nev
 version has: And they perseyereingl.
 contnued in the apostles teachings, an