, 1885-05-16

A'F .ARs O0HnNH III a IT,
vised edition Of the old testament were
given to the newspapers at midnight last
night. All the morning papers will con
tain copious extracts from the work. In
the following paragraphs is presented the
substance Of the semi official article pre-
pared for the London Times, in which
some account of the work of revision,
with particul reference to the American
part Of it, is given. m
Finally an international work Of four
teen years has come to a close, The re-
vise1 version Of the new testament was is
sued in May 1881. and now the revised
old testament will o o be published in all
parts of the English speaking world.
This revision is the most important event
in the history Of the English Bible since
the publication of King James %transla-
ton in 1911. The success Of the old
testament may not be as great as that Of
the new, of which over 1000, 900 copies
were sold on the day of publication, and
more than 3.O0O.O00 copies before the
close of the year, but it will probably be
more fayorabiy received and less severely
criticized, for 1t involves no changes of
the Hebrew text, no other manuscripts
than the Masorilie having been discovered.
and the idiom of the authori-
zed version is most carefully pre-
served out of regard for the conservative
feeling Of the church in its attachment for
the language of the old version. All
erron Of the translation, however. have
been removed and the revision will be
pronounced by every competent bible
reader to be a great improvement. 1t
presents the results of the combined labor
OF a large number Of the best Hebrewists
and biblical scholars of England and the
United States, most Of them professors Of
Hebrew in universities and seminaries. 1t
has, moreover, the advantage of the vast
advance Of the last fifty years on Oriental
philoiogy, biblical, geography, history and
antiquitic, all of which were but imper-
fectly understood by the forty.seven trans
lators Of King James, although it is freely
admitted they did the very best in their
day. The new version is not a good YER
sion in the place of a bad one, but a great
improvement Of a good version. The
movement for the present version was in
~augurated by the ~conyooation Of Canter-
bury, the mother church Of Anglo-Saxon
Christendom May "a, 1870, by the adoption
ofthe following resolutions: First, That it
is desirable that a revision of the author
lied version of the holy scriptures be un-
dertaken. Second, That the revision be
so conducted as to comprise both margi-
nal readings aud such e~mendations as may
be found necessary to insert in the text of
authorized version. Third, That in the
above resolutions we do not contemplate
any new translation of the bible or any
alteration of the language except wherein
the judgment of the most competent
scholars think such change is necessary.
Fourth. That in such necessary changes
the style Of language employed in the ex-
listing version be closely followed. Fifth,
That is desirable that the c~onvocation
should nominate a body Of its own menu
bers to undertake the work of revision.
who shall be at liberty to invite the CO.
operation Of any eminent for scholarship
to whatever nation or religious body they
may belong. Steps towards the forma-
ton af an American committee Of revision
were taken almost Immediately after the
organization of the English companies.
The first meeting of the New
Testament company in England was
held June %, 1870. On the eth Of July
following the two houses of ~convocation
voted to invite the cooperation Of some
American divines, and to Bishop WILDER
force and Dean Stanley was assigned, soor
afterwards, the duty of securing this ne
suit. They authorized DR.. Angus, whC
was contemplating a visit to America, Il
open correspondence with Rev. DR.. Schaf
and other American scholars while in thu
United States in regard to this work
In August, 1870, DIR. Angus sent let
ten to various American scholar
lin which he explained the plaI
df the English work and suggesle'
the formation Of an American committe
Of twelve or eighteen, to which the worl
9 Of the English revison could be referre'
: for criticism and revision. He gave som
; hints as to how the expenses OF such
committee could be met, and invited col
r~espondeuce on the subject DIR. Angu
aLo had personal communication wit
DR.. Sehraf, aud the result was the 8
= lection Of certain gentlemen who wer
fitted for the work and were likely to b
< regarded as authorities in biblical learnin
, by the American public, and the submit
sion OF their names to Bishop Elliot an
: Dean Stanley, as representing III
: English body. A few months later Dea
: Stanley made the int formal commun
cation BY letter in discharge of the dui
h assiened 10 him after the vote in the col
vocation Of July is ls70.'