Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1885-06-25

BY 9. V. LEKCH.



completed in 1880, just 500 years
after the first English translation Of
the whole Bible by Wycklife. It
was issued in May 1881. It had an
immense sale. Two circumstances
contributed to this.
First: An extravagant curiosity in
regard TO the important work had for
years been growing Everybody
was on tiptoe at the time of the issue,
to scan, at least. copy. Second -
Several very cheap editions were put
on the market at the start An ex-
animation of the Is cent edition as
really grati6ed the expectation, as
when more expensive edition was
used. Hence, literally. millions of
copies were sold. A million the first
day. Three millions In short time.
Opinion as to its merits was rapidly
formed and as quickly put before the
the public eye. Some of this, much
oft, was crude enough. Many criti-
cisms were started. A few, at least,
proved to be well founded and serious.
Chief among these were the faulty,
clumsy English often employed; its
intense liberalism, regardless of cor
rect English idiom, sometimes obscur.
ing the real meaning; also. unneces-
sarily interfering with the authorized
text without improving either its
clearness or exactness, but rather i'm
pinging rudely on the sacred associa-
tions connected with the long and
constant usage of the melIiAuous SEN
fences Of the older version.
One great fact was quite universal.
" admitted by those capable Of cor
rect judgment, viz: A great approach
had been made to a perfect original
text, enabling the translators to give .
rendering in more exact accord with
the really inspired Word.
This result had been made possible
by the diligence and fidelity with
which during the last generation or
two, scholars had Investigated the
relative value Of the Greek manu-
scripts, and by their zeal in compar-
ing the varying readings. But es-
pecially as bearing on the matter is to
be mentioned the discovery by the
celebrated German scholar Tischen-
dorf. ofthe very ancient Sinaitic Man
uscript. in convent on Mt. Sinai, in
the year 1874 and its publication in
1862. The account Of this discovery
reads Ike romance and yet il details
the s0berest and most valued Of facts.
This manuscript with the Vatican,
became the chief arbiter il most cases
Of doubt IS to the true text. They
are p Capital letters. Their value,
especially when they agree, is ii
largely the case, ID simply incalcuIa-
bic. for, BY almost universal consen,
Of the best critics they are the oldest
known, dating from $50 TO s75 4. D.
But . small fraction Of the MSS d
the New Testament preserved d
modern times are ii Uncfals Or Capi-
tails. the form IL those nearest tie
Apostles Few even Of these MSS
belong 70 the first Eve or six centu-
ries. None date earlier than the time
Of Constantine. TIL lately not i ain
Gle very ancient. o. Uncial manu-
script Of The entire New Testamen.
unmutlatsd, was known. The texl
Of Erasmus and others, used by King
james, translators, was not even
based on the few parts of very ancient
Mss then known Il was hastily
thrown together from ths later msnu-
scripts. lar inferior il correctness to
tie olasr ones But great scholars
took p the work and bare anally 81
comps laon With the very ancient
nnTsn - NsM.s n 81