The Benton weekly record. [volume] (Benton, Mont.) 1880-1885, 1881-06-23
,E'zae Esev. Robert Co1lyer ON t9s
Necessity of tzae Revision

The Rev Robert CollYer preached on
the ncv. version at the Church Of the |
Messiah ycsterda,,.. His text was Pro-
verbs SEx., .: 's4.Sery word OF GOD is !
pure lie. said :, i is an open secret !
that there has been o feeling among schol- !
ars that the old translation we have had
for 27H years is not always true. Then,
too, manuscript copies Of 4 much earlier !
period than those used in the other trans
lations haze been found which suggest
nov and then the suspicion that the later
manuscripts have been altered IL the in
telsest Of some sect, OF that mistakes Wcros
made OF which the scribe was not aware,
or that matters which were once written
ON the margin have found place in the
text. And we have also to face the fact
that we find in the Bible many words that
have lost their meaning. And so it was
natural that there should be Il growing
desire, not for 4 new translation, but tor
new edition. III doing this work three
points had to be guarded. It could not be
done by aav sect, BECAUSE a sect must
| look even at Gods truth through It's own
spectacles. Again, those who We're TO
take the work in hand were TO be the
ripcst English scholars to be found any
where. And the third point was they
We're not to be greedy for change but
were to remember how deeply the COM
mon heart loved the book as it stands in
the simple and strong vernacular. DO /
not speak the mind of Ill lovers OF the
divine old book when | say we are all
! clad to find 80 little harm has been done;
/ that these good men have kept truth with
the simple and unlearned mind and that
the changes made bring no great shock
or jar I am glad for this reform, which
is so far from a revolution in the book we
love best 1t might have been worse; it
could hardly have been better SO far as
the mere form Of words goes. am glad
to lose even some touch of the sweet old
1 lyrical charm for the sake Of the clearer
truth which has beyond a doubt come to
us through the good work which has been
done. / am glad to find that the new re-
vision is more reasonable than the old.
Many Of us have had almost to say OF
some things III the old: ''I would not
believe this though ten thousand bibles
should affirm it to be true For instance,
/ there was one passage once deemed con-
elusive in support of that side ''There
are three that bear record in heaven, the
Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost
and these three are one [ have hearc
! very notable sermons from that text II
support Of the doctrine OF the Trinity
but this noble body OF eiivines, III Wllcf
SO far as | know there is only one Inita
rian, has left the passage out altogether
; and so conveyed 10 lis their belief tha
! John never wrote it---a truth good sChol
= ars Of the frecr sort everywhere have beet
insisting on for many years.
| ssI notice also new shades of meanin:
i that ne may welcome, touching the per
!. son aud Office Of Jesus In the old yer
sion we read s'Ihere is one God and on
mediator between God and men, the ma
j Christ Jesus. In the same epistle tn
old reading, "God WAS manifest in tn
+ fesh,'' is changed to sSHe who Was man!
a tested in the flesh" taking the grea
> name completely out Of the old contrt
yersy. IN another epistle Paul, spcakin
z Of Jesus, is made to say in the old vel
sion: 'Who being in the form Of Go
thought It not robbery to be equal wit
Gou;" but in the new the passage reads
j. ssWho being in the form OF God though
" it not q thing to be grasped to be on
Is equality with God,2 which alters tt
{. whole meaning.
/, ssIn the first epistle of John the name
If God, which it has been claimed refers
K Christ, is taken out Of the text entirel..
]; There is but one place in the old ycrslo
K, in which the word atonement is used;
Of the new this one instance is left out al
le the word reconciliation takes its plac
s. The old reading on which the Calyinis
" set such store; "Ihe Lord added to tt
s. church daily such as should be saved
e, is now made to read, stthose that were b
It, ing saved That ugly word damnatie
us is left out Of the new version entirely al
gives place to the word condemnation
be to judgment, and knowing therefore Il
b terror of the Lord" is altered into s'kno'
e ing therefore the fear Of the Lord The
s., is Il clear gain also in the new yersi
he touching. that lost yastness of terror al
el Clisn1ay, hell. It has long seemed clear
me that when any sentence can be ma
to prove this eternal doom and etarI
fire that sentence certainly should not
taken Us the word Of God. Our new. tral
~ larors have dealt with these passages
timidly, still they make the margin oft
oly read Sfor ages and ages when the te
tie reads sslor ever and ever" and that is
harmony with the best scholarship, viii
an is that "age to age enduring should
I'd ways be used instead of .everlasting'' a
me ssforeyer.'' They have not shown gu
this spirit in dealing with the word h
In which has gathered III the course of ii
hes such fearful meaning. | think they shol
as simply have leftit out in the twenty pla
9Th in which il occurs, and instead sho
have printed the original word Had
Gehenna OF Tartarus, leaving it to Il!
-. make out the meaning, each man