The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1881-03-06
EXAMPLES OF CHANGES.

In regard 10 tne TeNSlOH, one vi tHc ni>t
questions that comes up is, What Shall be
the style OF language? There Is. perhaps,
wrong popular mpr. ssion as respects
Biblical style, the peculiarIties Of old Eng
lish found In our translation OF the Bible
being mistaken for peculiariiies OF the Bible
Itself. Now, it l. no more literal to trans.
/ late in The fourth Gospel "tbe wind blow
eth where il liSieth" than 10 translate "the
wind blows where It chooses" The former
I is no more the style OF Divine inspiration
than the latter; nay, the latter, to Us to-day,
H. the more exact representation In Eng
lish OF the inspired original. Still think
we shall all agree that the Convection at
| Canterbury was wise when, in 1870, 1t
decided that the style OF diction which
we find in our Bibles OF 1Gl1,
| itself largely determined by Tyndale's yer-
sion OF 1894, shall be retained so far as pos
siblc, so that the rcvsers could hardly ind
exceptions TO such word as bloweth,'
nor to "listeib." unless they should believe
that the word bad become uninteIigible 10
modern readers. A somewhat harder qucs-
| ton has regard 10 such grammatical forms
a. abe" for ais" or care" which " for
"wbo," and the like. "Our Father, rhich
art in Heaven" is mistranslatlon in the
| English Of the nineteenth century; for the
English Of our day. like the Greek OF old,
has a masculine nhO, as well as neuier
lchjch. and has no right 10 substitute one for
, the other. But three centuries ago (which ="
was admissible English fora masculine rela.
! tive prOnoun, and It's frtTlent use IN our
Bible is one OF the mo,t stylking characteris-
ties OF what is called the Biblical style.
FIDELITY To ORIGINAL MEANING.
1t has been urged Just at this point that
| fidelity To the meaning Of the Origina. re-
qWres literal modern rendering; the case
having been citcd, for nstonce, Cf a clergy
man. not wanting IN general intelligence
but he must have been wanting in the very
elements OF Greek schOlar,hip-who actual
/ " enlarged, IN a discourse. upon the su-
/ bimity OF the use OF the vague. grand
| lchich in this passage. instead OF rho, " for
the latter" it was alleged. "would lessen
| the majesty Of the pcily" by making The
rcpr, Senlation Of HIM too sharply de-
I fined, too near aud personal, perhaps
too anthrOpomOrphic. Wen, / cIn only
say that il has rested with the commit
tee, in all such cases. 10 weigh the conflict
ing claims Of the preservation OF the old
archaic color Of our translation and the re-
quiremenlS OF modern grammar. So. too,
with archdSmS in the use Of words, in
which Tie question becomes az times much
more important FIR there is little danger
perhaps Of any ones being misled by the
"bcS" and the whichcs"; but Il man q
Inferior education might easily mlsunder-
stand such GXprcs siOnS aS "Ddvid left his
carnage and ran down into the valley"
when hi> carriage i not a coach, but some
bread and wine; ~ prevented The morn
ing," when prevented was simply "anlici-
pattd" or - came before -; "he was let. y
meaning che was hindered =; "wizards
that peep" meaning wizards that chat
ter >: " be careful for nothing" meaning
not take no care, take no thought, but sim
ply be not t9Q fuH Of care for anything, be
not OyeranxiOus.
THE GENERAL PRINCIPLE.
But the general principle upon which the
revision i made here, too, i sound one :
Retain archaic words as well aS arciIlc
forms where there is no. danger OF their
meaning being misconstrucd, but il there
j, any serious danger Of this kind substitute
for them word. ineligible to the common
reader at this day.
In Judging toe new revision when it ap.
peas care should be taken TO free the mind
from the inevitable prejudice in favor OF the
readings and rendcring> in King .James's
Bible arising from familiarity. Even the
imperfection, in our English Bible have be-
come haiOwed in our mind, by the perfcc-
tiOn> with which they are surrounded, and
in book in which every line and every
word has become precious 10 our souls we
are. at first thought, jealous OF even the
siehtes: alteration. But remember that
the reyiserS have not themselves made any
Of the readings wherein the new Bible
viii differ from the Old version. They
have only f0uHd them and collected
them from the most authentic sources, and
thus presented Bible nearer the Origi-
nal and older than the old. II we are con-
vinced that nothing has been taken away
except for the purpose OF removing the
paste from the diamonds and the pinchbeck
from the gold that nothing has been alter
ed except TO restore 10 ill., original form and
direction what had been hammered into
another shape or bent out OF the way, |
think we shall accept with thankfune.S Q
book Of which We mag say with great, If
not with absolute, confidence Here are
no interpretations or mstranslatiOns here
are the genuine words OF Divine inSpira.
tiOn-Withoul addition, without dimnution,
without peryersion.
AS for the amount of change, those who
are expecting to see 4 great difference be-
tween the new Bible and the old VIII be
more disappointed than those who hope
there viii be very little.