New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-12-26
MISTAKES IN THE BIBLE.


THE AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY ATTACKED AND DE-
rrNpEp-RrPlIEs TO NH. BEECHER's CRITi-
CIsMs.
AT business meeting In Plymouth Church MT.
Beecher last Friday evening In speaking about the
stated monthly collections. said the American Bible
Society printed Bible "notoriously false In spmc
parts. and which the society knows to he false.
The Rev. Dr. $. s. Conant. the well-known Biblical
scholar. when asked what he knew about the mat
ter made the following statement to TRIBUNE
reporter:
a number of years ago a committee was ap-
ponted by the American Bible Society, composed
of the Rev. Drs. Edward Robinson. X. s. Storrs
Vermilye Spring and other clergymen OF high char
acter TO restore King Jamcs's edition OF the BLDG
to the original state in which 1t came from the
translatOrs, and to correct the headings AMI run
ming titles. Tho members of the committee spent
three years on their work. meeting every week.
They compared the first three issues Of 1G11' 1917
and 1913. believe finding errors in them ALL typo
graphical and Others They corrected them all, and
corrected the headings and titles The report was
accented and the common editions were corrected,
stereotyped and issued in two forms, large ana
small octave. At subsequent annual meet
ing party led by Dr.. Breckenridge. OF
Kentucky objected to the further use Oh
the corrected copy. and insisted that the society
should 90 back to the confessedly corrupted copy
in common use. The society yielded TO the pressure
brought upon it AGAINST the earnest protest OF DE-
Robinson ard DR.. Storrs."
DR. Conant further stated that he thought the
Board had been ovcrawed by Dr. breckenridge
From prominent clergyman, one OF the original
committee appointed 10 make the corrections, the
following additional facts were learned
The committee of seven. including besides those
mentioned above. DR.. McClntock and Dr. Turner.
was appointed by the Board of Managers OF the
Bible Society in 1917 They were only to correct
the chapter ana column headings, and correct the
punctuation. capital letters ard italics On
account of the great number of volumes that hah
been printed since the King James edition was
first issued there were many differences IN different
editions in minor points. In four editions, printed
respectively in London, Oxford. Cambridge and
Edinburgh the committee found forty thousand OF
these minor differences. Many of the mistakes were
typographical. There had been Bibles printed IN
which in the verse, The barren woman shall have
more children than she that hath husband" the
word hundred" had been substituted for
husband In one edition, which was
quickly suppressed, the mot" had been
omitted from the Seventh Commandment. In
another. "they made themselves breechcs" had been
substituted for "they made themselves aprons"
Some of the chapter headings were changed because
they were clumsy some because they were incom-
plcte some because they contained comments, and
some because they were untrue. The principle of
the new headings simply to make them an
index expressed in the words of the text itself The
committee reported III 1851, and for seven years
the now edition published. In 1897 and lSoS,
this clergyman said Bishop Coke and Dr. Brecken-
ridge attacked the new edition, ana by their lnn,-
ence il was suppressed and the old edition repGo-
hsIed. The committeeman, with one exception,
then resigned their positions on the Board.
COMMENTS or DR. PORTER.
The Rev. Dr. f. S. Porter. Of Williamsburg. in a
sermon delivered last Sunday commented as follows
on the remarks of Mr.. Beecher
al was sorry to learn That one of the foremost
ministers of America. misled by one of his ever
active impulses, had been guilty of the folly of at
lacking the American Bible Society and the version
of the Bible which it publishes. 1t is well known
to every scholar that words in the version
I'm use have become obsolete, and there are few
instances IN which the changes of language require
revision. But to affirm that the Bble Society pub
fishes text which il knows to be false, Is utter ar
rogance and folly. respect tho genius of the dis
tinguished gentleman who made the charge, but no
man in America has ever suspected him or BENG
technical scholar. or qualified 10 pronounce III any
matter involving exact learning. But what
IL worse is his Indictment OF the American
Bible Society an Institution winch, with the
British and Prussan Bible Societies. has supplied
the heather world with copies OF the sacred scrip
lures in nearly two hundred dialects. do not like
to say anything in condemnation of a brother min
lister who has acquired a worthy fame; but when
any so far forgets himself as TO make an effort
to impair tho common faith in the common YER
sion of the sacred Scriptures he is guilty
of crime for which no tears can make
atouement. Still we shall hope that III
his usual way Mr.. Beecher will change his mind in
n week and very soon contradict himself on this
point as he has often done on Others"
DIR. Porter in subsequent conversation stated
that the opposition to the altered edition had been
by the Old school Presbyterians. led by DR.. Plum
mcr and was founded on the theory that the Office
of The Biole Society was simply to publish the Ri Die
rs they found IT, aud not TO amend or alterit