Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1877-12-12
Letter from South Woodstock.

Letter from South Woodstock.
(No. 2)
| EDITOR OF THE AGE thank you for
publishing my letter in the last ACE
Either you or myself made couple of mis-
takes, which / wish to correct. intend
ed to say, "All the passages in the New
Testament which speak Of THE TIME of
'the coming of Christ in his Kingdom
tend to fix the time of his coming not
later than about forty years after his
crucitlXion.' Either you or left out the
words "thc time | intended to say,
she can not prove that any human being
will be destroyed or perish after, ETC.
not "we" rs you printed it. All else
correct.
understand Mr., Damon to take the
ground that our common translation by
King james Translators is an infulhble
translation. If this is so, what is the use
of almost all Christian Denominations in
the world requiring their candidates for
the ministry to study the Greek language
so as 10 be able to read the Greek Tesla
mcnt correctly, etc.
grant that the common translation is
a good one generally, except where some
English words have become obsolete, or
have changed their meaning since our
common English version was made in
1911, and in some cases where it is evil
dent that these translators were prejudice
ed by their attachment to their religious
creeds, which led them into bad transla-
tions Of certain words. They foist the
word "sake" into Eph. 4: SO, where there
is no such word in the original. They
very properly leave the words "Captism"
and "Satan" untranslated, as they ought
to have left the words sheol, hades, Ge-
henaa, diaboloS, damon, aiOn, aioniOS,
and a few others. 1t is well known that
the Greek word anastaSis meant "rising
up" instead of resurrection, or rising
again, as our translation has it, Christ
did not speak of "Me end Of the avorld,' as
our version has it, but, Of "the end of the
aiOn; and the best Greek scholars and
orthodox Commentators give "indefnite
duratton," and sage" as the most common
meanings of dion. Again, the translators
speak of "the end Of the world" (aion,)
and anon, translate the same word,
ETERNAL" Everlasting" forever" etc.
This word aion is translated "world" in
81 places in the New Testament, and yet
there is not one of these texts where it
will not make good sense to translate it
age, or, in the plural, ages.
The Hebrew and Greek languages were
not as well understood in the reign of
King James, as they are by the scholars
Of the present century. The various
readings exhibited by Kenniaot, and
Griesbach, show that the original scrip
lures have been corrupted in many pas
sages. Hence, the Hebrew and Greek
versions are the standard.
In our last we spoke of the book called
"Revelation," or Apocalypse and the End
Epistle of Peter, as not being competent
evidence to prove the truth of any doc
trine whatever, which is not otherwise
proved by plain unfgurative declarations
of genuine Scripture. Evidently, l John
8: 7, is not genuine scripture; nor would
it prove the trinity, if it were. The
ancients entertained grave doubts whether
st. Peter ever wrote this second epistle.
Eusebius, the earlist christian historian,
reckons it amongst the books not canoni-
cal. He says tradition noes not reckon it
as part of the New Testament. Origen