The St. Johns herald., 1898-10-29
REVISED VERSION A DRUG.
Booksellers Still Overstocked with
 Copies of the Newest Bible.

Booksellers Still overstocked with
 Copies of the Newest Bible.
 Those who remember the enormous
 sales which attended the introduction of the revised version of the holy scrip 1 lures will be not little surprised q
 the general collapse which has gradu ] ally made this publication drug or
 the market. Over sixteen years agC the first edition of the revised New
 Testament was published by the OK
 ford Press, and at the time so strenu
 ous were the efforts made to obtain ad
 vance sheets of it that one house alone
 offered f5,000 for a single copy without success. When the revised version of the entire Bible was published, four years later, the run on the Oxford University Press warehouse was un- precedented, upward of 100000 cop les being issued between one midnight and the next midday. At the New York branch of the Oxford Press, in Blocker street. the office was besieged the night before publication, and spe- cial detectives were placed around the building to prevent Over-eager purchas- CTS from obtaining copies, even by de posting their money.
 It is estimated that 100000 copies were sold in this country during the first three weeks after the publication. Such sale had never before been known, and several American firms, including Harper Bros, D. Appleton & Co.,, Dodd, Mead & Co.,, and Porter & Coates of Philadelphia, issued Amer Ican editions in large quantities to meet the demand.
 The collapse was experienced less than two months after the first appear ance of the new version. The total loss to the American firms interested has been yariously estimated to be between $500,000 and $GO0,00O. From that date until now the sales have been extreme ly small, less than eight copies being sold to 100 of the King James version.
 That the revised version will ever supplant the King James version seems extremely doubtful from the present outlook. As Is we'll known, the new version is never used in either the Ro- man Catholic or Protestant Episcopal church in public worship, and can nev- ar be, unless authorized by those in power, which Is extremely unlikely to occur, owing to the origin of the re- vised version. The Douay Bible is at present used almost exclusively among English-speaking people of the Roman Catholic church, and the King James Bible in the Protestant Episcopal church. In churches of other denomi- nations the revised version has made little or no headway, and the regular Scripture reading for the day is rarely taken from 1t.
 As a textbook, however, 1t Is con- sidered almost invaluable, and is used extensively by clergymen of all de- nominations and in many Sunday schools. Its superiority in technical accuracy is everywhere recognized. It's lack of popularity in public worship seems to grow out of loss of senti- ment, which is found to so large a de- gree in the authorized version. One of the passages which has evoked the most unfavorable comment is the translation of the Lords prayer, which in Matthew vi., 9-14, is made to read as follows:
 "Our Father which art Tn heaven hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as In heaven so on earth. Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our debts as as We also have forgiven our debtors And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one" The of "the evil one" for "eYil' brought forth flood of criticism.
 Another passage which has attract ed attention is the translation of "Glor- la in EXcelsis." Instead of Glory be to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men," the revised version has it: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among men in whom he is well pleased'
 These two passages, perhaps, alone have decided the fate of the new yer sion as book appointed to be read in New York Times.
 DANGERS OF GUN PRACTICE.