Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-08-28
8cli9luus department.
Conducted by REV. c. NJ. souTnGArE.
THE WHY AND HOW OF THE
NEW BIBLE REVISION.

Some jealousy has been manifested in diff
ferent quarters at the work Of Bible Revis.
ION now going forward in England, and in
which some of our own best scholars have
been invited to cooperate. An article on
this a" new revision" in the international
Reeie'o by Prof. Fisher of Yale College,
discusses the subject in calm and impartial
manner, aud contains information, historical
and critical, of interest to many Of our read
crs.
Prof. Fisher says:
Our English version owes its distinctive
value chiefly TO one man. John Tyudale,
whose name is every day gathering new lus-
ter the more his life is known and his SER
vices understood. With the genuine spirit
OF scholar he blended deep, heartfelt
sympathy with the Gospel as it was preach
ed by the retormers. lie carly declared to
a " learned man who said that it were bet
ter to be without Gods law than the Pope's:
" II God spare my life, ere many years |
will cause boy that driveth the pillow shall
know more OF the Scripture than thou do
est" an expression suggested, it may be,
by fine saying Of Erasmus in his exhorta.
ton Z" would that the husbandman at the
pillow should sing something from hence"
that u.s. from the Gospels aud the Epistles
TO give Englishmen the Bible in their own
language and in style which the humblest
peasant could understand, was the passion of
his life, Driven from England, and then
from one place to another on the continent,
this heroic scholar was at length pursued
unto death by the unsleeping tyranny Of
Henry VIII. But he did his work and did
it we'll. While awaiting himself OF all ac-
cessible helps, including Luther's translation,
ho was independent and original, as well as
perfectly conscientious. Tyndale's version
was incorporated in the different English
Bibles which subsequently appeared. 1t
forms. the Saxon element the pith and
marrow Of the authorized version. Turn to
any passage of the New Testament, aud
compare it with the corresponding pas
sage in Tyndale the small extent Of the va.
riations-which, moreover, are not all for
| the better-will be discerned Thus, our
translation was made at time when, and by
men to whom the Bible had Just been opened
alresh, like mine of gold long covered
from observation. They plunged into the
study Of its contents with the ardor of dis
coverers. 10 sound its meaning was an OBJ
ject of eager study. In that age Of religious
ferment, when the evangelical reform ab.
sorbed the minds Of men, when persecution
aud martyrdom were not the unlrequent
penalty Of labors like those Of Tyndale, there
existed spiritual qualifications for the work
Of translating the Bible, such as are not
presented under other circumstances, in a
more peaceful age. The introductions aud
marginal notes OF Luther and Tyndale be-
tray the ardent sympathy, the enthusiasm
which the Scriptures kinded in their minds.
Here is pointed out a rebuke for the idle.
ness Of monks; there hit at pigrimages,
or ecclesiastical extortion. That the En-
glishSpeaking race should cling to the old
version with tenacious affection is quite
natural. :" 1t lives on the ear" says the
Roman Catholic Baber, like music that
can never DO forgotten, like the sound of
church BELLS which the convert hardly
knows how he can iorego" Add to the in
trnsic merits Of the old version the charm
which is lent to it by the power Of tradition
aud of long association, to say nothing of
the extent to which it has filtered itself into
the best products Of English literature, and
there will be no surprise if proposition to
abandon it should raise an cutlery; if even
apologists should be found for its manifest
defects. A comparison Of it with the lat
inzed Douay version, meritorious as the lat
ter is in some important respects, sets in
strong relief the peculiar, sterling excellence
of our old translation.