Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1880-09-16
NEW BIBLE.

-
pk lhe most eminent English-speaking
scholars in the world have been at
EeFk upon REVISION Of The Bible
known ~ the King James's Bible" |"
The committee was composed OF Bish-
CPS and other dignitaries Of the Church
81 England; Hebrew. Greek, Arabic
and theological professors from the Eng
lish and Scotch Universities, and from
Wesleyan. Baptist. C0ngreg gaticnal and
RF6s6 teFlan Colleges, il England and
scotland; . Bishop Of the Protestant
Episcopal Church in the United States;
professors from the leading theological
seminaries of the different denomina-
lions in this county, and from the d.
vinity schools OF Harvard, Yale, Prince
ton. Hartford, Andover and other cities.
Tischendorf. Kennen, Ewald, and many
other biblical scholars (including sew
eral Roman Catholic prelates) of the
continent assisted this committee.
The revision has been completed, and
we will soon have the new Bible COM
pIete, 10 read. The whole work, unan-
Imously approved by this distinguished
committee, is about to be submitted to
Christendom for its revision. No event
OF equal importance has occurred in
three hundred years. The work OF the
committee has excited great deal Of
interest, and occasionally much alarm
has been manifested, as rumors of
sweeping changes to be made in the
Old Bible reached the public ear. The
result OF their labors is sure to meet
with severe criticism, and probably
much censure. Every verse, and word
and letter in that old English Bible OF
ours seem sacred; even its obvious er-
rors are errors sanctiied by the usage
OF nine generations; by the blood Of
martyrs; by the holy lives of saints, and
by the triumphant deaths of fathers and
mothers IN Israel. No book has such a
firm hold upon the affections OF the
English-speaking world. The masses
consider every word between the lids
of the Bible, even to The headings OF
the chapters, as inspired. and when
their faith in the authenticity of that
old Bible, in whole or in detail, is weak
ened, the faith of many will be weak
ened to corresponding extent. The
new Bible will, doubtless, be received
with approval by scholars who have
long been certain that our present trans
Iation is very imperfect. but the masses
viii feel, when The old Bible is taken
G lhems-that the rock on which they
ss85d, and on which their foreiathers
stood, has been taken from under them,
and that they are standing now in shift
ing qulcksands.
When the new version first appears
it will shock the Protestant world. IL
is not recognizable as a Bible. Chap
ters and verses and running headlines
are gone. Passages, eleven verses
long, have been found TO be spurious
and are left out of the New Testament.
Familiar texts, that for generations
have been craven upon the hearts and
minds OF religious people--that hymns
have been composed upon and tenents
based upon, have disappeared. Joseph's
"coat Of many colors," in the old Bible,
is ''tunic with sleeves" in the new.
St. Matthew never wrote "many be
called but few chosen" and il is not in
the new Bible, neither is "lf any man
have ears to hear let HIM hear" The
whole story of the adulterous woman is
left out, so is the angelic colonng Of the
description of the Pool Of Bethesda, and
the famous text OF the Three Heavenly
Witnesses Ct. John, ", Z, 81 also the
fifth and sixth verses of Acts tx. These
are alluded to simply as specimens OF
the changes thai been have made. The
fact is, in every chapter Of the old Bible
important changes are made by the new.
II is estimated that in the New Testa-
ment alone 1000 important and 10000
trivial changes are made.
Doubtless these great scholars can JUS
tify their work. Doubtless the transla-
ton they give Us is supported by the
best OF historical, pathological and litera-
nv evidence. Immense advances have
been made in the knowledge OF the an
cient languages since the forty gave US
our King James's Bible. Then no COM
parison of manuscripts had been made.
There were very few manuscripts
known, none of them were old, the
oldest used by the King James Sransls-
tors was OF the middle ages.
But the present translators had two
manuscript copies OF the Bible, made
about A. ID. 340.-the "Codex Siniati-
GUS" discovered by Trschendorf, in a
convent on Mount Sinai. and The "Co-
dex Vaticanus, which had LAID for cen
turies in the library Of the Vatican, al
Rome, unnoticed. The King James
revixers had but five manuscripts, and
they modern, 10 work from; the present
revisors had over 1900 TO compare-9S
Of them being from the 4th to the 10Th
century. They had also TO aid them
the collected quotations of The earliest
writers, and the early TRANSACTIONS ol
| the Bible into Syriac, Latin, Gothic,
| Egyptian, Celtic, Arabic and Slavonic,
LIN many Of which languages there
were no eminent scholars when the old
English Protestant Bible was made
And then the accumulated knowledge oI
the last three niuries,-sppalling in
magnitude and immense IN pFolundiiy,
was now available TO assist us in OBJ
tanning correct English version OF the
Holy Scriptures.
But as perfect as the work may be, the
substitution OF the new Bible for the Old
will be resisted, and a rebellion may
be looked for ia some churches when
the attempt is made 10 take out The old
Bible. Many will take il as giving uT
tLelr faith, the memory Of their reYeEet