The Portland daily press., 1869-05-12
Recent Publications.

A book which has excited much attention
and discussion is The Revised Neao Testament,
version prepared and corrected by the final
Committee of the American Bible Union, and
published under the sanction of that associa-
tion. The careful labor Of number of en-
inent divines and accurate scholars, for long
period of time, has been devoted to its prepara-
ton, and it is rich with the results of this out
lay. The basis of revision has been the COM
mon English version, only such alterations be-
ing made as, in the judgment of the revisers
were required to bring out the exact meaning
of the received Greek text, which, with we'll
known errors corrected, has been closely fol
lowed. As general thing the alterations
made in the translation serve not so mach tC
give different meaning to the passages in
question as to define more closely the accepted
Specification. In few instances the new
words substituted seem to be hardly an inn
provement upon the old, but in far the greater
number there appears to be an increase of ac-
curacy The peculiar feature of the work
however, which has made it the subject of not
little excited discussion is the rendering OF
the words usually translated 5aptize and bdp-
tisne by i7anserse and immersion. The large
body of Christians who hold the distinction
implied in these different renderings to be a
vital one have naturally hailed with joy a work
which brings to their Interpretation the sane
ton of so much learning and ability; while
their opponents have been eager TO denounce
the change as a'perversion Of the sacred texa
The merits of such controversy as this it does
not belong to us to discuss. Bat the work has
some features the advantages of which are OBJ
vious even to the general reader. Among
these the adoption of the paragraph form in
place of the modern mode, never used in the
ancient Scriptures of division into verses, is an
evident improvement, especially as for con-
venience of reference the numbers of the vers-
es are retained. All quotations from the Old
Testament are indicated by displayed type,
and the poetic form is restored to those which
appear as poetry il the original. The mechan-
ical execution of the book is also good; the
type and paper clear, tbe binding substantial
and tasteful. (Received by Loring, Short g
Harmony
Mr.. Herbert Spencer, whose work on the
Principles OF Biology has attracted so many
readers, has been, as is well known ior some
time engaged in the preparation OF q comple-
mentarv work ON the "Principles OF Psycholo-
gy., The first part of this work, The Data Of
Psucholooy. has been published in New York
bv tbe Appletons. Ii is a brief treatise, intro
ductory in its character, designed by the au-
thor to show the scope and define the limits of
his subject which is to be fully discussed in fu-
ture divisions of the work Few writer's of
our day have attained more commanding po-
sition in the peculiar field of thought which he
has chosen than Mr.. Spencer, and the large
number of readers who eagerly follow his spec
ulations will have much satisfaction in well
coming his new work, the ripest product of his
acute and philosophic mind (Received by
Bailey & Noyes)
Appletons have also published new edition
(the first having failed to supply the demand)
of the address delivered at Chicago in August
last, President Barnard of Columbia College,
before the American Association for the Ad-
yapcement of Science, on The Recent Progress
of Science, in which the asserted identity of
the mental powers with physical forces is ex-
amined and discussed with much ability. (Re-
ceived by Bailey & Noyes.l
"Sea and Night" being the first part of Vic
tor Hugo's Nan Who Laughs, is published in