The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-02-16


time, has thrown light on many diff
cult passage. The result of all this has
not been to impair our impression of the
integrity of the Scriptures as we had
them before. We find no new doctrine,
no new commandment; but we do find
side-lights thrown upon thousand
points, which reveal new shades of
meaning, and give rich and fuller sig
nifcence to the Divine Word
1t was in view of this that the work
was undertaken ten years ago-frst in
England, by Committee appointed by
the Convocation of Canterbury of the
most learned scholars in the United
Kingdom. A year or two later the
American Committee was formed, and
the two Committees have worked togeth-
er in perfect harmony. They have been
divided both in England and in this
country into two Companies-one taking
the Old and the other the New Testa-
ment. 1t is the latter only which has
now completed its work. For the form
er we must wait yet two or three years
longer
The Revised New Testament will soon
be laid before our readers, who of course
look for it with the greatest eagerness.
AS slight foretaste, we give elsewhere
some forty or more of the changes made,
as illustrations of the work done by the
Revisers. In looking them over, the first
impression with many will be one of
disappointment. Some may find the
changes much less than they had ex-
pected, and feel that such slight verbal
alterations were hardly worth all this
labor. But closer inspection will dis
close, if no great changes, yet a large
number of small ones. And in interpre-
ting the Word of God, slight changes
are sometimes Important for often the
use of a particular word, or the turn of
a sentence, may give new meaning to
familiar text, or perhaps disclose
meaning wholly undiscovered before in
a passage which had been difficult and
obscure. If even Peter found in the
Epistles of a brother Apostle, some
things hard to be understood" we surely
may confess our ignorance of the inter
probation of some passages of Scripture
which seem to have profound meaning
heights and depths which we cannot
reach. Here sometimes a sudden flash
of light reveals great mysteries Before,
we were cropping in darkness, like men
entering a cavern, following a guide who
has himself to pick out his steps slowly
and cautiously. At last we come to a
standstill, while he ventures forward in
the darkness, his steps sounding fainter
and fainter as he recedes in the distance.
But suddenly, while we are straining
our eyes after him, he lights torch,
which shows "a vaulted chamber, reflect
ing the light from its glittering sides-a
world of splendor, where was only dark
ness and vacancy before. Such are the
revelations that we come upon by full
Ter understanding of the Word of God.
Yet, however felicitous these changes
may be, we are well aware that the
mere fact of altering the familiar text
will be painful to many. The old words
have become endeared to us by the as
sociations Of lifetime. They were the
words which our parents taught us when
we first learned to read the Bible. Here
is the Lords Prayer, which we learned
at mothers knee. To touch a single
word of that Prayer. seems almost like
sacrilege.
And yet, strange to say, the first i'm
preston we receive, in looking at this
Divinely-taught form of devotion, is
regret that change has not been made
In the revision, which is made by almost
every one in this country in the use of
the Lords Prayer. We are little sur
prised that the Revisers, while about it,
did not make the first sentence read
Our Father aOho art in heaven" This
Is not only more correct but seems to us
more reverent in addressing God, than
4Ohich-a pronoun properly used only
for iranimate things But the English
cling to aOhich, and we presume it was
allowed to stand as concession to them.
Possibly editions printed in America may
conform to American usage. But at the
close of the prayer we find an important
change in the omission Of the Doxology
-" For Thine is the kingdom, the power,
and the glory forever; Amen an omis-
sion which seems to leave the prayer
without fitting conclusion. This seems
a mutilation of something Divine. But
it is wholly wanting in the oldest manu-
scripts. And if we reflect little, we
shall see that this ascription of praise
has no resemblance to anything that we
find in the other prayers of Christ. 1t is
Old Testament doxology, found in the
prayer Of David, when he blessed the
Lord before the congregation q Chron.
xxx: Ill., and may have been used bv