Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1885-06-30

mas been printed IN paragraphs natu-
rally connected, with quotations and
poetry in parallel or metrical form,
while numbers indicating chapter and
verse are relegated to the margin
An immense number of acknowledged
errors have been corrected, as task, .
in the place of"borrow ]" ''the river, /"
for "Rood," ~Oaks of Mamre," for
''PIain Of Mamre, etc.
Large numbers of.Hebraisms have
been changed to English idiom. Many
unhappy and misleading renderings
have been cleared up. Altogether,
the Improvement in these regards is
very striking.
In one sense the Revision OF the
Old Testament was aarger work
than that which occupied the New
Testament Division. Tt covered
much more matter. It was neverthe.
less less formidable task. The diff
tcnlties we're immensely fewer. The
Massoretic MSS were taken as the
chief basis Of the text. The Massorab,
is the technical name given to col
lection of critical notes made, some
claim by Ezra. Others, with more ap-
parent truth, refer them to conscien-
tious Rabbins about $50 years after
Christ. The learned Professor, DR..
Bissell says distinctly, that in this
text the church has substantially
correct copy Of the original documents
and one worthy of all confidence" Ali
agree that the chief text was carefully
and genuinely transmitted from the
time OF Ezra under the peculiarly sa--
cred seal of the Jewish Canon. For
5 centuries ct least, the Jews before
the time Of Christ, preserved with re.
ligiOus fidelity and with all exactness,
the Sacred Records of their Faith and
History. The text used by these
Revisers Is that refered to by Bissell
and all other scholars as entirely re-
liable. It'eDjoys the great value OF
being accepted by Jews and Chris
tians alike. All critics, especially the
learned Prof. Strack, of Berlin, say
that the text used is worthy Of great
confidence. There are not one ff.
teenth of the variations IN Hebrew
MSS, as compared with the Greek
MSS of the New Testament. Few
even, of these, affect really the sense.
The same, in greater proportion only,
is true OF tho New Testament.
With this, the very best text at
ready hand, it was chiefly in the more
exact rendering of the original that
improvement was called for. During
the generations that have passed since
King James translatcrs did their good
work, much more exact knowledge
of Hebrew has been attained, aAd OF
Jewish customs and antiquities. as
well as of every other branch of learn.
ing important ia reaching the best re-
suits in q work Of this kind. The
magnificent acquisitions of criticism.
of travel and survey, and of scholar
ship, Of the last ffty years especially,
have been freely used in the work cf
improvement. Immense numbers 81
imperfect renderings, long known to
exist in the authorized version have
thus been happily dealt with.
AS the result of the criticism Cd
freely INDUCED in as to the New
Testament. the Revisers Of the Old
have been led to avoid some Of the
leading blunders connected with the
other part Of the work. Fewer Al.
terations have been made in the
smoothly lowing English Of the
authorized. Only. Or chiefly, when
fidelity to the original demanded
change has it been made. MANY
marginal readings have been noted
of greater felicity and axa..,...
which might better, one would think.
have been included ID the text The
conservatism at this point has been
too great. The expression Of altera
tons has been largely limited to the
language of the authorized and ear
lier English versions. Ii ease ST al
toration II tho original text, only de-
cidedly pFeponderating evidence has
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