News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-06-18

[From the New York Herald.l
The new version of the Old Testament
marks q very important epoch in the
history of Biblical literature. When it
was first proposed In the Convocation OF
the Province Of Canterbury very con-
siderable opposition was naturally de-
veloped. 1t was thought that any inter-
ference with the received text would de-
stroy certain sacred associations in the
popular mind and tend to unsettle the
peoples faith. The answer to this ques-
tioning fear was that the people have q
right to as correct statement OF the
Divine law as can be made, and that the
universal belief in the Bible as an in
spired book had no such slender founda-
tions that it could be shaken by exact
truth telling. The onerous task was at
once undertaken by scholars OF world
wide renown, and they have faithfully
and conscientiously worked year after
year until at last it has been completed.
It is with no ordinary pride that we re-
call the fact that among the number
who lent their services to this undertak-
ing we're many Americans whose names
and fame are worthy our boast.
The first Anglo-Saxon translation OF
any part OF the Bible of which we have
any record is contained in poem by
Caedmon, a monk of Whitby, In the
seventh century. 1t was succeeded by
the Anglo-Saxon Psalter translated by
Aldhelm, Bishop Of Sherborn, who
died at the beginning of the eighth
century, and this by rendition OF the
Psalms, by the ancorite Guthlac, and
this by the Apostles Greed, the Lords
PRAYER and the Gospel Of John, trans
lated by the venerable Bede. From this
time until 1882 numerous versions OF
different parts of the Bible appeared, all
of them more or less faulty.
At the end of the 14th century, In
answer to an increasing demand on the
part of the people to possess the whole
book in the vernacular, Wycliffe and his
coadjutors produced complete transla-
ton. They were compelled to use only
the Latin Vulgate, not being acquainted
with either Greek or Hebrew. The work
was hastily performed and had many
serious blemishes. 1t is interesting to
know that in 1920 one of Wycliffe's les
taments was sold for a sum equivalent
to something more than two hundred
| dollars.
Tyndale printed in Worms, to which
city he fled on account of persecution,
quarto edition of the New Testament In
1926 or 1926, and in Antwerp in 1884 a
third edition, "dyligently corrected and
compared with the Greke."
Perhaps the first to publish the whole
Bible in English was Myles Coverdale.
His translation was published in Zurich
in October, 1886. From this time to
the reign of King James numerous edl-
tions made their appearance.
On January 16, 1904, in consequence
os n conference with the Puritans held
at Hampton Court, it was determined to
have what has since been known as an
"authorized version" This authorized
| version WaS pISPaAOo W 10y
scholars, and when completed 1t re-
ceived the royal sanction and has been
in use ever since.
In this age of careful research 1t has
been thought necessary to re-examine
the old manuscripts. The best Biblical
critics of the world have brought the
| full weight of their scholarship to beal
on the work. They are men who love
the truth and are ready to tell it, ever
though by doing so they may imperi
q any or all of the dogmas on which tn
: | worlds faith has been founded
Q They wished to have no errors in til
foundations of their belief They hay
n put every doctrinal text under th
h microscope, and when it became neces
s sary they changed its language. Unde
D these circumstances it is remarkabl
a that the alterations made were no
greater, The Bible which has been IL
use for two hundred and fifty years
! when tested by the critical scholarship
of very scholarly and critical age, Ii
found to need very few changes, and i
is safe to say that the work of the Re
vision Committee has not even lostleo
the old time faith of Christendcm.