The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1878-12-15
SUNDAY READING.

ESSENTIALLY SUNDAY READING
The English and American conventions
Of learned philologlsts and theologrDs who
are engaged in the work Of revising the
Bible, will probably submit their report to
the public sometime during the year 1870
The labors of the reviscrs have been prose
cutcd under conditions of profound secrecy,
and no official limitations have lren given
of the conclusions arrived ut concerning
certain important doctrinal passages that
are known to be in dispute
1t has long been the opinion Of learned
thcologians that the King James Bible
abounds in grave errors in Translation, in
faulty passages interpolated by Tanslators,
and in passages rendered obscure or mean
ingless by changes that have bcqn wrought
in the English language. The theological
editor of the New York Sun says, that when
the present version of the Bible was made,
over three hundred and fifty years ago the
translators had but scanty materials upon
which to work, and only one of the seventy
translators possessed a thorough Knowledge
of the Hebrew language, This being true,
there is, with the light the nineteGth CEN
fury affords, no cause tor surprise that they
were often at fault in the Interpretation Of
what we term the original text Since that
time many Of the early manuscripts
have been found, and there is nothing pre-
sumptious in the remark that biblical and
linguistic knowledge have advanced ID
wonderful degree, as have our means ofre-
search and comparison.
The time WAS when the man was lot
safe in his life or person, who declared tlat
the Bible was not essentially and entirlly
the word of God. Now, the wiscst Chls-
tians in the world confess that it contains
spurious passages, interpretations made by
disputatous Christian fathers, and, as before
recited, grave faults in the translation.
And, recognizing the existence of these
faults and errors, the question arises, what
Shall be done with theml The assembling
of the present Anglo-American revisory
board indicates the answer. If there had
been no purpose to exclude the spurious, to
weed out the tares, there had been no con-
vention. The time is coming, and the wise
men Of the church are preparing for it,
when no man will build his faith on an un-
certain or disputed foundation. The de-
mand, even Of the present hour is, that if
the Bible is to be taken as the guide, the
supreme arbiter in matters Of faith and
morals it must not remain cOnfesscdly
faulty, but be purged Of everything which
our highest earthly authority may declare
not legitimate. This will continue to be the
demand of thinking people, and the
number of these is multiplying marvelousy.
But there are Others, and some of them
among the clergy, who cry out most Justify
against the omission of anything, although
its spuriousness may be proven by evidence
Of Alpan height. Changes, they argue,
will impair confidence in the Bible, and, as
a consequence, confidence in its authority
as rule Of action and guide of faith
These protests are made by men who GER
tainly forget that what the wisest Of our
and linguists are doing today,
is what men with less wisdom and fewer
did about three hundred AMI fifty
years ago; and in proportion with the m
crease of wisdom the men Of to-day bring
to their and in the prosecution OF their
work, in that proportion should be or in
crease Of confidence in and vencratIon for
the fruits of it, The Bible capnot be
harmed by eliminating unqucstiondbe cr-
rors from its pages. Could such thanges
work injury to it. the Protestant fathers,
who threw out whole books rs apochryphaI,
would certainly have destroyed i. Truth
truths that will stand unshakcn before
all the assaults Of skepticism and inidclity,
seem to be the aim of the Anglo-Amcrcan
board. If this aim is accomplished by
them, if the truths Of the Bible are made
to stand ont in their purity, unobscurcd by
The "cobwebS' Of the ages, then indeed
IAN it be said that the Christian church is
founded upon rock, and the gates Of hell
shall not prevail against it.
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AN ASTONISHING FACT. "A large proper
lion of the American manic nra To-day emf