Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1885-05-28
ENDORSING THE RErIsIox.
The Kev. Dr. Nixon ON the Revised
Old Testament Unique Dis
course.

Il
course.
At the Central Presbyterian Church
Sunday. morning the Rev. J.a Howard
| Nixon, ID. d., delivered unique dis
course upon the revision of the Old Tes-
lament, giving an explanation of the
needs of the work its benefits and his
hearty endorsement of the results of the
lnbor Of the college of revision. He took
his text from II part of the thirty fifth
verse of John x: "And the Scriptures
cannot be broken.n AT the outset he de
Tended the claims Of the Old Testament to
consideration ON the ground that it was
endorsed by Christ and the apostles; that
the New Testament revelations were IN
explanation of the old, the latter serving
as preparation for the now.
BY adducing chronological fncts the
speaker proved conclusiyely that the Old
Testament is the same AZ when Jesus
sanctioned it; that the books are the
same in number, in title and contents.
lie referred to the integrity and zeal Of
the Jews. in preserving the scriptures and
their great care exercised in the tran
scriptions 30 there snoopportunity for any
changes. A comparison made of various
translations shows so much similarity,
that it is conclusive that the original
Hebrew transcripts are the same. The
fact is still stronger confirmed by the
few changes made by recent reyision's
and again by the few if any changes of
Importance made in the last revision
There is good reason TO be sure that the
scriptures today are the same in contents
as was delivered from the mouths of the
holy men of old, when moved to speak
IaNF. III -.
10 the earlier translations by Wyckliife,
by Luther and the great translation by
Tyndall and of the latters being put To
death at the stake by the church of ltomc
MS reward for his work, adding it is
presumed,it would do the same thin. now
had it the power.
The translations of 1907 and 1914 did
not displace the translation of Geneva
until 40 years after the latter hnd been
completed. Therefore, the fate q. the
translation now in use is not sealed and
it is not probable that the version we are
now familiar with will be replaced by the
present new version for several years.
The best scholars i'll America md Eng
land were engaged in the recent work of
revision. The England school going over
the text and sending TO this country all
pIopoSou ciluubcS W Dt huDJeCLeu 10 tle
vote of the American college. Then the
work WINS returned to England and gone
over second time, no further changes
being made unless acquiesced in by two
thirds of the whole college. The work
was then subjected to third and final
revision for further consideration of
changes not made at previous reyisions.
The one business of this college was to
make such changes, and only such as
would better give the meaning of the scrip
ures. This could be done by reason of the
scholars of to-day having u superior
knowledge of Hebrew, and other condi-
tions which could enter into the work
throwing greater light upon the original
text than at the time the King james re-
vision was made. In the English lam
guage there has also been many changes
within $50 years; illustrating leasing
has been changed ito lying;" ''prevent"
formerly meaning ''to anticipate" now
''to hinder" The translations of the
Bible have done more to fix the English
language than anything else.
The speaker in his discourse paid high
tribute to the scholarship of the trans
lators and cited it MS guarantee of the
thoroughness and excellence of their
work