The herald., 1895-04-07
Woman Suffragists Rebuked for
Revising the Bible
SCRIPTURES ON MANS RIGHTS
Woman's Rights Advocates Den0minated
as Wild Theorists
The Bible Recognizes the Subordination
and Obedience of Woman to the
Reign of Man
JOHN SHIRLEY WARD


eating the wild theories of woman's rights
have led them into Revision of the whole
Bible, or of that part which refers to wo
man. Gods plan of the universe and the
salvation of sinners does not cor.cern
them, but their whole theory consists in
proving chat all of the Bible which recog
nzes the subordination OF woman to;the
reign of man, or his headship in the
family economy should be thoroughly
overhauled and revised IN these closing
years of the nineteenth century. This re-
vision may prove Paul a liar, Peter an ig-
norant evangelist Christ mere enthu-
siast from the desert, and st. John a
dreamer OF unproven philosophers. Now,
what is the object OF this womans s trans
lation of the Bible? Has it any other Obs.
iect than that OF changing the relations
of man and woman, as set forth in the
Old Testament and afterwards attested by
Christ himself, and by his inspired
apostles? Now, the real question is:A Did
the hfty-four men selected by King James,
or the forty-seven men who served on the
REVISION for three years, and who sat with
the original version in their hands. and
went over line by line, a comparison OF
the best originals with their own transla-
ton, adjusting their translation by close
comparison with the text, know nothing
they not the most profound lihguists the
ripest scholars and the most accurate
thinkers of that age. and did they not
have as many of the keys which unlock
the treasures of Biblical philology as the
present woman's rights committee? Will
the scholarship of the most advanced wo-
man on that committee compare in
breadth or accuracy with the hum blest OF
that band of tifty-four? Has any one of
them shown her superior linguistic or
classical knowledge in any one depart
ment of pathological research?
So much for the st. James edition first
published in 1911.
In 1870 the province of Canterbury,
England, under rules drawn up by both
houses of the province, appointed two
companies, the one for the revision OF the
authorized version OF the Old Testament
and the other for the revision of the same
version of the New Testament; and soon
afterwards a cooperation of Americn
Biblical scholars was invited, and two
American committees were formed, The
work of the English committees was
handed over to the American COmmi itteeS
for examination and revision, and no
textual revision was accepted without
twO-thirdS vote of all the mem berS. Ten
years were spent on this REVISION alone.
These committees had no special fad to
establish-their object was to give in
modern English literal version of the
Syriac, Hebrew Greek and Latin of that
age their object was not to prove the
divinity of Christ, or Just what was
woman's sphere in Gods providence.
Who were these English and American
this position? Was it because the ST.
James edition imposed on them some in
dividual hardship, OF lessened in some
way their natural rightsP No one will as
sert this. The names which stand as
sponsors for the revised edition, as well
Co. xha Tox., cd ara
men who have by long years of study
been enrolled as the most advanced schol-
ars of this or any past age Neither their
scholarship. nor their motives can be i'm.
pugned. Take the present w0man's
rights committee on revision, viz: Mrs.
Rev. Phoebe Hannaford, Sarah A.. Under
wood, Lady Somerset. Mrs. Elizabeth
Cady Stanton, Miss Frances Willard,
Frances Ellen Burr. Helen Gardner and
Miss Lord of London. These are honor
able names, it is true, but on question
of such momentous Importance have we
the right to ask if a single one of them
can translate into our vernacular page
of Sanscrit, or Hebrew, or Greek, or
Latin? Mind you, we do not say none
are able to do so. But if their learning
is not superior to the fifty four scholars
selected by st. James, and superior to the
fl teen selected among the most advanced
scholars OF England for the late revision,
and superior to the committee of Amerl-
can scholars cooperating with the English
committee, is it possible or probable that
this woman's rights committee appointed
simply to show the falsity of all former
translations where women were involved,
will ever make any decided impre ssion
on the literary or religious thought of the
world?
People generally find what they are
looking for. If they start out to find in
w a "a.
quire great straining of verbal phrase
ology to find it. These good woman. not
finding church work nor in the home
sufficient compass for the display of their
exuberant energy, have all at once dis
covered that woman has, by a mistrans-
lation of some HebIaic or Syriac phrase,
been made secondary consideration
and therefore have resolved that her
rights shall be restored by a new transla-.
tion to her original position. This wo-
mans committee has found out by very
cursory examination of the Holy Scrip
lures that we should pray to our
9 Heavenly Mother. +" just as we do now
in Christ's prayer ''Our Heavenld
Father" What pity Christ did not fin.
out that fact while He was on earthI
When Christ was on earth He was eithee
omniscient, or he was an imposter. l.
why. did He not teach His followers to
pray to our Mother, as well as our Father
When will this insane idea cease, of
mutilating the Bible by revision, when
ever we find that it condemns some of
our pet theories? The Arab on the great
desert reads the account of Hagar and the
character given her descendants, and be-
ing Disguised with his lineage and his
tory. forthwith appoints a committee to
revise the Bible in order to expunge from
its pages the pathetic story of Hagar and
Ismael. Then the black sons .of Africa,
well satisfied with their color till they
began tracing their ancestral line in the
BIble and being disgusted with their
origin, committee on revision is organ
lied to eliminate from the Bible every
thing that refers to Ham and his descend
ants. Thus the revision leaven works.
How long before we shall sec the Indian
demanding revision to prove the prim-
ogeniture of his race as the chosen peo-
pie of God? When? This whole effort to
re-create the sphere of woman by re-
vision of the Bible would be laughable
matter were it not such serious effort.
Xerxes lashed the waves of the Hellespont,
thinking they would be awed by his au-
thority, but each wave rose higher in de-
fance of his power, and this new wo-
mans rights revision committee may
go on revising man and his influence,
out of the everlasting flats of God and
nature, but like the Hellespont, the old and
God-given laws will go on.
The woman's rights movement is in
articulo mortis, when its only hope is in