Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1881-06-18

this book on both sides OF the OC
Next, if these revisers have
as so way, we will have reyisions o
that visions, until at last the good
conn book will all be revised and alt,
and perhaps, except that one phi
ser Good Lord, deliver us
and 't1'hese revisers have act
,nfer dared to lay their hands upofI
they angels that sang over Bethl |
floor If the angels had known wis
! ark to come TO pass that Chd
r fhe night / don't think they5n
-er of have sung SO loudly. ped
zah earth, good will to men, i%ht
/. his into Christmas carol tn I,et
q ark choke you black in the5me-
.pant the revisers try their haDugh. /
most thing else when they ats in
was Let them chisel imprc few
, fine Powers Greek slave, cent or
'fiffv touches to Angeles sIa keep
were paint the rose, but lie. IL Is
hav- their hands off our can't re-
to if good enough for US. IS of the
r.s.,'n revise away the CFhe Bible /
1ther thousands who rea4at will be
zzah Q! to-day is the hi generations
and read and preachers. preach
light hence. call upoto be duicll in
cred ers and all Chriss against this
1t making their D
the PROCLAMATION. /"
ma COLLYER ON THE
ity. THE REV. RoITHE REVISION.
: of NECEssV
srk. ebert Collyer preached
We The RRersion at Church of
hat on the n yesterday. His text
me MN-hcy = Il
bv was Epure." lie said: sit is an
no. of GFet that there has been a
, of opeamong scholars that the old
ars leation we have had for go
ac- " is not always true. Then,
nd manuscript copies of much
tv. klier period than those used in
neie other TRANSACTIONS have been
ground which suggest now and then
( the suspicion that the later manu-
/ scripts have been altered in the in
l tereSt of some sect, or that mistakes
were made of which the scribe was
/ not aware or that matters which
were once written on the margin
have found a 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
Sc it was natural that there should
be a growing desire, not for new
| translation, but for a new edition.
In doing this work three points
had to be guarded. 1t could not be
done by any sect, because a sect
must look even at Gods truth
through its own spectacles. Again,
those who were to take the work in
hand were to be the ripest English
scholars to be found anywhere.
And the third point was they were
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 ver-
nacular. Do | not speak the mind
of all lovers of the divine old book
when | say we are all glad to find
50 little harm has been done; that
these good men kept troth with the
simple and unlearned mind, and
that the changes made bring no
great shock or jar. L am glad for
this reform, which is so far from a
revolution in the book we love best.
1t might have been worse; ii 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 lyrical charm for the sake
of the clearer truth which has be-
yOnd 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 in 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
conclusive in support of the Trinity,
and certainly if it were proven true
it would be the strongest word to
be found 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 heard very notable |
of tine doctrine of the Trinity; but
which so far as l know there is only
one Unitarian, has left the passage
out altogether, and so conveyed to
us their belief that John never
wrote it-a truth good scholars of
the freer sort everywhere have been |
insisting on for many years.
81 notice also new shades of
meaning that we may welcome,
touching the person and office of
Jesus. IN the old version we read !
There is one God and one mediator !
between God and men, the man |
Christ Jesus In the new it is I |
'There is one mediator between |
God and man, himself man, Christ |
Jesus In the same epiStle the old |
reading, God was manifest in the |
flesh,' is changed to lie who was
manifested in the flesh, taking the |
great name completely cut of the |
old controversy. In another epistle |
Paul, speaking of Jesus, is made TO /
say in the old version; "WhO being |
in the form of God thought it not |
robbery to be equal with God = but |
in the new the passage reads: Who |
being in the form of God thought 1t |
not a thing to be grasped to be on
an equality with God which alters
the whole meaning.
SIN the first epistle of John the
name of God, which il has been
claimed refers to Christ, is taken |
out of the text entirely. There is |
but one place in the old version in
which the word atOnement Is used
in the new this one instance is left
out and the word reconciliation
takes its place. The old reading on
which the CalvInists set such store:
"The Lord added to the church
daily such as should be saved, is
now made to read, those that were
being saved That ugly word
damnation is left out of the new
version entirely and gives place to
the word condemnation or TO judg
ment, and knowing therefore the
terror of the Lord is altered into
knowing therefore the fear of the
Lord There is Il clear gain also in
the new version touching that lost
Vastness of terror and dismay, hell.
1t has long seemed clear to me that
when any sentence can be made to
prove this eternal doom and eternal
lire that sentence certainly should
not be taken rs the word of God.
Our new trapslatorS haVe dealt
with these passages too timidly,
still they make the margin often
read 'for ages and ages, when the
text reads for ever and ever and
that is in harmony with the best