Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1910-06-17
How WE Cor THE BIBLE.

are displaced by ~interest" and~Ss self
control throughout. The "arfoy
snake an animal unknown to zool-
ogy, and owing its origin to a too
literal rendering Of the German word
"pfeilschlange. disappears in favor of
"dartsnake. And Pharaoh is no
longer compared to the fabulous
dragon. but to "a great monster
obscurities Of phrase and idiom
which vex the reader have been re-
moved from the American edition.
The term "Holy Spirit uniformly
takes the place of the now meaning
less "Holy Ghost" aThe fat OF the
kidneys Of wheat" becomes "the
finest Of the wheat " and @let us play
ths man is certainly more intelligi-
BILE and more in accord with modern
English idiom than "let us play the
men,"
The American revisers do not hesi-
tate to add a few words in italics to
make passage more perspicuous; as,
aHis disciples asked Him privately.
Ho7g is il that we could not cast 1t
out?" Or as in this verse: "The more
the prophets called them the more
they went from them Stylistic
and grammatical purists no longer
stumble at the sentence, A FOOLS
vexation is heavier than them both,
at the Hebraism, "Mine eye spared
them from destroying them; for we
have instead "A FOOLS vexation is
heavier than they BOTH and mine
eye spared them, and 1 destroyed
them not" The unlearned reader
will think for the future more worth
lily of the householder in the parable
who agreed with the laborers not for
a penny but for a shilling a day.
Finally the American edition has
improved on the King James in the
external presentation of the Bible.
The running headlines suggest the
contents of each page, yet are free
from any dogmatic implication; che
marginal references have been still
more carefully sifted; the paragraphs
are shorter and enable us better TO
mark the transitions OF prophetic
thought and apostolic argument; the
punctuation and Typography have
been minutely reviewed and simpli-
fed. Take one Illustration of the
care devoted to this last point; The
American reyisers render, so will
the king desire thy beauty; for he is
thy lord" The King James version
print "lord" with capital, and in so
doing, impose a Christian interpreta-
tion on the letter of the Hebrew,
whereas the American revisers keep
to the strict meaning of the text.
Taking a glance backward along
the path we have travelled, we cannot
but be impressed by the complex Of
forces, intellectual, moral and spir-
itual, that have shaped the history of
the English Bible. Version after ver-
sion has been the fruit OF increased
knowledge and deeper insight, and
each on the whole has been an i'm
provement on its ancestors. I'm
wearied industry, chivalrous en-
deavor, pious zeal, attended its birth
and helped 1t on its way through the
centuries; nor has it lacked the conse-
Grating touch of martyr blood No
artificial product created to serve the
passions of the hour, but the vital
outgrowth Of the spiritual life of a
great people, 1t has continued to live
and thrive. Striking its roots into
distant past, yet not limited by it;
assimulating the garnered good OF
centuries. yet itself presenting afIIttill
higher type of excellence--it Il. 81
confidently challenge the world to
point to any existing ecclesiastical
veLion which approaches It in faith
ft-sness to the language and spirit Of
inspiration.
Then, again, the recent resurrection
of a great mass of papyrus rolls from
the soil of Egypt has added distinctly
to our knowledge of the type of Greek
in which the New Testament was
written. 1t used to be thought that
the New Testament Greek was based
upon the Greek Of the Septuagint
We now know that the sacred writer's
used the common Greek OF their day.
Many of their phrases and construc-
tions. which were supposed to be
dialectic peculiarities, have been
found over and over again in the re-
Gently discovered papyri. A study of
the Greek vernacular Of the first cen
tury marks a new epoch in our knowl-
edge of the grammar and language Of
the New Testament.-New York
Weekly Witness.