The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-02-17
Wednesday, Feb. II, 1897.
Making Scripture Quotations ana
Tinkering with the Translation.

1t Is not unusual for illIterate preachers to
assume to criticlse the translation OF the Holy
Scriptures, but when a learned and plous
minister of the Gospel. like DR.. Phillips does
So we are amazed. In reading an article IN
the Associate Reformed Presby terian recently
from the pen of the man whom we have
loved and respected for a lifetime, we were
impressed by an inaccuracy in familiar
verse. This led us TO examine several OF his
Scripture quotations, and almost invariably
they were changed from the original aud
little or no respect was paid to the punctua-
tion as found in the Bible.
Here, for instance are five out OF six quota
tions:
As IT Is IN THE
AS HE HAD 1T. SCRIPTURES.
"Thnk not that am "Thlnk not that l am
come TO destroy the come 10 destroy 10
. law and the prophets. the law or the
am not eome TO de- prophets: l am not
stroy but to fulfill" come to destroy, but to
fulfill
"Till heaven and "Till heaven and
earth pass one lot or earth pass, one Jot or
one accent shall in no one title shall In no
wise pass from the law wise pass frornlthe law,
till all be fultlled."- till all he fulfilled
Matt sill. Matt. 5:lS.
"And there went out "Then went out TO
to him Jerusa lem and him Jerusalem, and all
all Judea and the re- Judea, and all the re-
gion round about Jor- gion round about Jor'
dan.-Matt. 3:5, dan."
John did preach John did preach
the baptism of repent baptism in the wilder
ance for the remission ness, AID preach the
OF sns."-Mark is. baptism Of repentance
for the remission Of
sins."-Mark Ia.
"For II the blood OF
bulls and OF goats and "For II the blood OF
the ashes Of an heller bulls and of goats, and
sprinkIing the unclean the ashes of a heller
sanctifieth to the purl- sprinkling the un-
Tying OF the fesh."- clean, ,sanctifieth 10 the
Heb. GlS. purifying OF the flesh.
The sixth and last quotation, Acts 1872, was
correctly printed in the Presby yterian. and no
n6aStion is made of it.
fair 10 presume that the In
les were due more to the careless
the writer, and TO the errors Of the
than to any Intention to trifle with
Ids of the sacred book. 1t Is little
however. that five out OF six quota
should have been imperfect.
occurs to US that quotations, from what
lever source, should be accurate, or else there
should he no attempt at following the words
Of the text.
From layman's standpoint, any effort 10
destroy perfect confidence In the absolute
correctness Of the translation of the Bible is
TO be lamented. This newspaper, speaking
as alayman, ,concurs in the expression recently
made by a learned divine, in request for his
opinion OF the possible injury that Bob Iu-
gersoll does to the religious belief OF the
people. Ho replied, in substance, that the
efforts OF Bob Ingersoll would make few in.
fidels when compared to the work Of preach
ers in finding fault with the accepted transla-
tion OF the Bible. That because of their ac-
knowledged orthodox standing N the church
their attacks on the translation OF the Bible
were having most disastrous effect In pro-
ducing infidels.
Even II these translations were not attend
ed with any evil result, 1t occurs TO US that
, IL is somewhat of a draft on our credulity to
expect US to admit that a young man, fresh
from college, or who may not have been to
college at all, should be able to correct the
language Of the Bible.
II they feel authorized to correct the Bible,
let them first explain away these words:
"And If any man shall take away from the
words of the book OF this prophecy, God
shall take away his part out of the book Of
life, and out OF the holy city, and from the
things which are written in this book"