New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1881-07-27
Tho Revision Of tho Now Testament.
BY @. P. CnAMpLl[.1N n


& BY @. p. CHAMPLIN.
With the permission Of the Review
I will insert several brief articles re-
speeding the revision Of the New Tes-
lament.
aS The interest manifested in this work
is universal. Many people are in.
quiring respecting it; and are anxious
to know the reasons for and history of
it. To meet these inquiries, to some
extent, is my purpose.
To begin with let me call attention
REvIsoRs
Of the work and their method Of pro-
cedure.
The Convention Of Canterbury an
assembly of the spirituality Of the
realms Of England, = originated the
revision at its meeting in February
1870 This body declared revision
to. be desirable and indicated the
nature of one if undertaken. It, also,
resolved to undertake the work and
appointed a committee of its own
members for that purpose, eight repre-
sentatives from each house fthe Con-
vocation were named. In the follow
ing May the committee met, in ac-
cordance with the resolutions which
gave it being, and divided itself into
two divisions, one to work on the old
Testament and one on the new Tesla
ment. This committee at the same
time, invited thirty-seven other gent
lemen. both Of the established and
dissenting churches of the kingdom
to join in the work on an equality in
all respects with the original numbers.
A few months after this an Ameri.
can Committee of Revision was Gre
ated to cooperate with the English
company and to be governed by the
rules imposed upon themselves.
The American Committee began
work in October 1872. The English
company consisted of fifty two men,
bers and the American Of twenty.se-
ven, in all seventy nine. Of these,
twenty seven of the English and four
teen Of the American Committees, in
all, forty.one have worked on the
Old Testament while the rest part Of
the companies, twenty-five of the
English and thirteen of the American
in all, thirty.eight have devsted them.
sevles to the New Testament revision.
One of the rules laid down by the
revisors was,
TO refer ON the part of each Com.
pany, when considered desirable, to
divines, scholars, and literary men,
whether at home or abroad, for their
opinions
This rule was not a mere forma]ity.
We do not know how many eminent
scholars outside the English and Am.
erican companies were consulted, OF
who they were, or how often their
opinions were consulted; and it does
not matter. What we wish to point
out is that the men entrusted with
this work were not so full of egotism
or bigotry as to think that they were
the sole representations of Biblical
| and linguistic scholarship and criticism
in the English speaking world.
They did not possess the idea, because
intrusted with this work, that they
| were the only ones competent to
undertake it.: though we think it
would have been hard to have made a
better selection. Whoever will look
over the list Of names composing the
| respective companies, will at once see
that here are men of character. They
possessed honesty of heart, intiquity
Of purpose, real moral worth. They
| are men in whom it is possible to con-
| fde, men who would put conscience
into their work and leave upon it the
stamp Of an honest man. This is very
important; but in addition to their
moral worth these men were strong
measured by intellect. The work
given by these men was a familiar
one, Some of them had made it a
life study, and had previously con.
tributed their results to Biblical and
tcxtual criticism. The whole field
given them to work they were more
or less acquainted with. Aside from
their mental qualification they were
spiritually competent to the task.
They were in sympathy with the
writings they were called to revise
understood them and their purpose.
They profoundly respected King
Janie's Version and the sentiment
Of the people regarding it. These
! men were also representatives. They
represented different schools of the
ology and various kinds of scholarship,
and this was essential; for the book
to be revised is many. sided and it is
for the whole people. For the set
forth of the truth of such book the
union of many minds is needed. It
is we'll to bear in mind what we have
now advanced respecting the revisors
themselves.
A word as to their method of work
and we close this article.
The sessions Of the committees have
been devoted to consultation and de-
cisions respecting passages previously
assigned which have been investigated
by all the members in their individual
studies. In this way every chapter
and verse, every clause and every
| word have been carefully examined
and carefully discussed.
In this way the New Testament was
twice entirely brought under review,
and the translation passed upon by
forty persons who represented all
evangelical denominations. The
American company has received the
work of the English and the English
has again gone over their work as it
has been sent back to them from the
American Each cOmnanv has nasSnd