The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1882-07-18

given to the passages therein, which in
many instances have come to be almost
household words in the language as for
instance, whether the sentence in the
Lords Prayer, Deliver us from evil
should be that, or Deliver us from the
evil one," rs in the new translation, or
Deliver us from the evil" as some Greek
scholars, not of the Committee of Revision,
assert.
The Old Testament committee sat five
tunes a year, each session being one O.
eight days, so that forty days q year were
occupied with the consultations and COM
PARSONS of the results of the study given
TO the subject by the members during the
rest of the year. The New Testament
committee also sat for forty days each year,
dividing its sessions into monthly ones Tex
| cept during August and September) of four
days each. AS a matter of fact, its sittings
during the ten years OF the work occupied
d total of 407 days.
The propriety, not to say necessity, of
the revision, was conceded by Biblical
| scholars long before it was undertaken;
mainly, it would appear, on the ground
hat the change of meaning which many
words have undergone since the King
James version was given to the world,
| rendered many ScripturI passages n
forms of expression in the church service
| cloudy, or even u~nmeaning; as, for in
stance, the supplication: prevent us, o
Lord, in all our doings"-which is in the
Book of Common Prayer; and h state
mont: "For we can do nothing unless the
Lord prevent u.s." The original meaning
of the word prevent, which is from the
Latin "pre" and "%venin," was ito go be-
fore to help" In the present day 1t means
to go before. to HINDER or, in brief, to
Hhinder,n to "thwart." But this is, per-
- s1I.,trotton fbon onp,p ~
and is given by those who do not care to
identify themselves openly with any other
reason. There is, however, another reason
given by some which is OF more impor-
tance thai O mere change of Language, be-
cause it appears to be apprehended in some
quarters that the changes made by the re
vision might possibly tend 10 a change OF
belief. These maintain that the New Tes'
lament contains errors of moment some of
which AVE for centuries been accepted as
the basis of Christian doctrine, or as illus
t~rations of the truth. One of these latter
is the famous case of the woman taken in
adultery, with its terrible rebuke, " Let him
that is without sin among you cast the
first stonen; and one of the former is the
passage spoken as the three witnesses =
There are three that bear record in heaven
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost
and these three are one. And there are
three that bear witness in earth: the spirit
and the water, and the blood; and these
agree in one" There are many who find il
hard TO part with these texts of Christian
doctrine; but others contend that they
were mere interpretations, and must, there
fore, come out; and though the result o.
the revision will not be positively known
until the Convocation of Revisers unlocks
the room where the new add ion is piled
it Is given out that these and many othel
well known passages have been eliminated
Meantime it will be seen by the utterances
of prominent preachers of the city, giver
below, that among churchmen no appre
hension is felt that the basic doctrines OF
the church will be in anyway affected by
these ~eNpurgations of matter which nevel
belonged there, since the doctrines them
selves are founded upon texts at least n
explicit as these, and which will remain.
In addition to what has been stated
above, some further facts and information
were gathered from the following CONVEX
1ltion held with a member Of
IuE AMERICAN REVISION COMMITTEE.
Q. In what way were the members of
the English and American Revision com.
mitbee appointed? A. By the Copvoca.
ton of Canterbury, in 1870; that is the
chief body of the Church of England. II
Jtarted there; but the commission they
appointed was authorized to invite schol.
irs of other denominations and of Other
countries. 1t did so, and many accepted
| even invited n Roman Catholic, Cardinal
Newman, but he declined. The American
committee was appointed bv invitation
from England; DR.. Phillip Schaff was ask.
ed to name n certain number of American
cholars, and he did so.
Q. Did Cardinal Newman give any par
ticular reason for deciding? A, He die
not.
Q. Was it probably because the Roman
catholic church does not recognize King
James version of the BiBfe? A. 1t may
have been.
.. What ancient manuscripts has thl
committee had access to? A. There arc
about seventeen hundred manuscripts in
al; but the committee did not make use
# all, in fact only a small part of them.
1t was not necessary.
q. There is no manuscript in existence
Known or supposed to nave been written
by the apostles themselves A. No;
therc are the Vatican manuscripts and the
jinaitic Coruex. The latter is kept at St.
Petersburg, Russia.
Q. Neither one OF these were used In
the translation made by order of King
James? A. Neither one. They are Of
bout the same age, that of st. Constantine
the emperor and founder of ~Constantiun-
pie, in the fourth century.
Q. Was there an effort made by tho
American Committee to secure duplicate
plates from the English university presses /?
A. No, sir; we let it go free the same US
he King James version.
Q. Will the new work be endorsed by
the Ams rican Bible Society? A. BY its CON
shtution the American Bible Society can
circulate only the authorized English YER
sion. This is a revision, and cannot be pub
lished without an alteration of the consti-
tuition. That will probobly be made as soon
as churches and public opinion announce
their verdict. The fate OF the new book
depends not upon the committee, but upon
The verdict of the Christian public.
Q. Meanwhile individual publishers
propose to issue reprints of itp A. Yes,
because the public interest in it is SO great
that it will sell anyhow, no matter whether
the churches adopt it or not. There are
more people interested in the Bible THAI in
any other book in existence, and 1 suppose
there will be hundreds of thousands of
copies sold in a short time, but its public
use in churches and schools depends upon
the Christian public.
REV. DIR. sToRRs' VIEWS.
An interesting interview on the subject
was had with Rev. DR.. r. S. Storrs, of the
church of tho Pilgrims, the conversation
being as follows:
Q. DIR. Storrs, what do you think of the
New Testament revision ? A. l have not
seen it yet, but it is quite time that there
was q revision of the translation in use.
Q. Why do you think that? A. Because
many of the early manuscripts of tho
Scriptures, which were not known at the
| time when the King ,JameSi version az