Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1880-02-19

and Africa, and into four only o
countries lying beyond. Some of thes
= old versions were not adopted other
: were printed for use until something
better could be provided it is bet
ter to give a starving man stale breaC
than TO keep him while you are baking
: others again have been employed with
g out material change up to the presen
. time. In some countries q single yer
e sion has been accepted, as in England
5 elsewhere, as in France and Germany
use has been made of more than one
and in cases where important sections
of the people have refused one version,
it has been the practice of most Bible
Societies to permit them to purchase a
version they would receive, provided
always it was substantially faithful,
and revealed clearly the way of saliva
tion. The Apocrypha has never been
included by the British and Foreign
Bible Society in its English editions,
and since the year 1927 it has been dis
used in its foreign issues. The Bible
Societies of Germany and Scandinavia
still cling, however, to part of the Scrip
lures which Luther considered g useful
and proper to be read" .... ....
New translations have been made
since 1904 in about two hundred and
twenty-six languages. To state how
many have been due to the labors of
any particular body of missionaries
would not be easy, inasmuch as, in
many cases, various missions have been
engaged. The same difficulty applies,
in a measure, to the work of the Bible
Societies, two or more having often
published in the same language. Still
the following may be taken as an ap.
proximate statement, though the cor
RICHNESS OF the figures is not guaranteed.
The British and Foreign Bible Society
has published, or assisted to publish,
new versions in 1877 languages, the
American Bible Society in forty-one,
the National Bible Society of Scotland
in five, the Bible Translation Society in
fourteen, the Society for Promoting
Christian knowledge in seventeen or
more, the Trinitarian Bible Society in
three, the Netherlands Bible Society
in eleven, the three societies of Ger
many in nine, of Switzerland in nine,
and of Denmark, Sweden and Norway
in six.
Many of the above translations ex-
tend only to part of the Scriptures. The
entire Bible has been rendered during
the present century in about tifty-fVe
languages, the New Testament in
eighty-four, and parts only in eighty
seven. 1t may surprise some to learn
that the work should, in SO large pro-
portion Of cases, be Incomplete; but
none will wonder who realizes the pro-
digious labor involved in making
of the whole Bible. The
version of Judson occupied nineteen
years, the Bengali of Dr. Carey at least
fifteen years, the Tahitian twenty
years, the Arabic sixteen years. How
could it be otherwiseP Think only of
The labor it would cost simply to tran
scribe the book from Genesis to Revela-
ion; try turning single Gospel into
amiliar language like French, due re- ]
gard being paid to accuracy and idiom; !
md then imagine the position of men
ike Eliot or Moftat, who had to note {
lown phonetically the words used by
he natives, mold them by degrees into {
! written language, and then cast into t
hat rough mold the elevated spiritual (
of the Bible. How difficult '
0 find equivalents for sin, F" " atone /
nent," righteousness in Languages c
possessing, perhaps, a dozen words for c
to murder" according as mother, t
hid or other relative is dispatched,
ut none for gratitude" or "forgive- v
ess," because such affections are UNI t
noWn! r
No, the marvel is that so much has t.
cen translated so we'll Considering Fl
ne varied difficulties Of the work, I S
mink we have evidence of the special e
id of tho spirit of God given to these b
len, and should thank Him who has G.
1abled them so nobly to discharge d
lsk of unexampled responsibility and h
Importance. No wonder, however, that CT
lere should be need of revision, a sub Ol
ct on which few remarks may fol-
w.
If we may interpret the feelings of a
5VOuI anu aDle translator, ne Will be ,
e first to desire the improvement of !e
s version, knowing how, during the ia
'st twenty or thirty years of mission, W
o language is continually becoming IL
'tter known, His colleagues, too, will q
'ess on him suggestions, and other So b!
cites, it may be, laboring in the same al
I'D, will wish to have a share in the te
vision, so that one Bible may be pro- =
iced for the converts, and the evil of sa
rying versions be avoided. m
Hence it happens that, in many cases, q
vision committees have been formed. W.
le best example is that of the Board ue @
w sitting in Madagascar, on which Su M
e four missionary societies labor IN ~
9 in the island are represented, @u
9 ablest Malagasy scholar being en- q.
ged as chief editor. May the result m Du
their labor be as happy as was that S@ @
the Tamil Committee, whose mem a. s1i
RS at the close of ten years said: tI Gn'
Dur daily work brought us SO direct TT TI'
in contact with the great things and w w
ep things of God that it was source u; nl
continual refreshment to us, r. W.. IVA
4 o. - III