{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_64728/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_64728","id":"gutenberg_64728","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64728","summary":null,"tags":["Bible -- Translating","Bible -- Versions","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1856 John Farquhar Shaw edition by David Price.\n\n\n\n\n\n                            BIBLICAL REVISION:\n\n\n                              CONSIDERATIONS\n\n                              IN FAVOUR OF A\n\n                           REVISED TRANSLATION\n\n                                    OF\n\n                             Holy Scripture.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                            BY EDWARD SLATER.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n    [The Authorized Version] is far from being immaculate.  It is not\n    sufficiently close and uniform in rendering the original . . . is not\n    calculated to convey precise and critical information in difficult\n    and mysterious passages of the Prophecies, &c.\n\n         DR. WILLIAM HALES.  _New Analysis of Chronology_, Vol. II. p. ix.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                 LONDON:\n                           JOHN FARQUHAR SHAW,\n      36, PATERNOSTER ROW, AND 27, SOUTHAMPTON ROW, RUSSELL SQUARE.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                  1856.\n\n                          _Price One Shilling_.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n    MY DOCTRINE SHALL DROP AS THE RAIN,\n    MY SPEECH SHALL DISTIL AS THE DEW,\n    AS THE SMALL RAIN UPON THE TENDER HERB,\n    AND AS THE SHOWERS UPON THE GRASS.\n\n                                                           DEUT. XXXII. 2.\n\n    AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, SET YOUR HEARTS UNTO ALL THE WORDS WHICH I\n    TESTIFY AMONG YOU THIS DAY, WHICH YE SHALL COMMAND YOUR CHILDREN TO\n    OBSERVE TO DO, ALL THE WORDS OF THIS LAW.  FOR IT IS NOT A VAIN THING\n    FOR YOU; BECAUSE IT IS YOUR LIFE.\n\n                                                      DEUT. XXXII. 46, 47.\n\n\n\n\nCONSIDERATIONS, &c.\n\n\nAMONG the characteristics of an Age replete with new and unlooked-for\nevents, perhaps not the least singular and impressive is the desire, now\nextensively evinced, for an improved translation of Holy Scripture.\n\nA solitary voice, {3} it is true, has been raised to the same effect,\nfrom time to time; but it has gradually died away in the noise of worldly\nbustle, or been summarily stifled by Prejudice or Fear.\n\nA more fitting time has arrived for renewing the cry; for we have become\nmore reflective with the progress of events, and a desire for\nimprovement\u2014not limited to mere material good\u2014has sprung up, that is\nirrepressible, and all but universal.\n\nBut, encouraging as is the Temper of the Times for prosecuting the task\nthat we have undertaken, we need to make our way cautiously.  The subject\nis confessedly a delicate one, and is, moreover, in not a few quarters,\nentrenched in prejudices under the seeming sanction of religion itself.\n\n\u201cWere the Bible,\u201d pleads Dr. Knox, {4} \u201ccorrected and modernized, it\nwould probably become more showy, and perhaps quite exact, but it would\nlose that air of sanctity which enables it to make an impression which no\naccuracy could produce.  We have received the Bible,\u201d he goes on to say,\n\u201cin the very words in which it now stands, from our fathers; we have\nlearnt many passages from it by heart in our infancy; . . . so that its\nphrase is become familiar to our ears, and we cease to be startled at\napparent difficulties.\u201d  And again: \u201cWe should hardly recognize the Bible\nwere it to be read in our churches in any other words than those which\nour fathers heard before us.\u201d  Possibly the people _would_ require some\ntime to familiarize themselves to the change, more especially in the\npublic services of the church; but the objection, formidable as the good\nDoctor thought it, is not sufficient to overrule the plea.  Precisely the\nsame objection, if entertained, would have deprived us of the benefit of\nthe present authorized version.  People long accustomed to the previous\nversion must have been pained and startled on the introduction of the\nnew.  Such a consequence, however, obvious as it must have been, was not\nadmitted to be a good argument against a change at that epoch.  True,\nthere are more readers now than there were then, and so far the\ninconvenience of change would be aggravated; but, unless we could\npersuade ourselves that we should _never_ have a different version to the\npresent, we cannot refuse to entertain the proposition before us in\ndeference to such a consideration.  The notion that we shall _always_\nacquiesce in the present version, with the proofs around us of the\npossibility of improving it, coupled with the desire so extensively\nevinced for improvement, can scarcely be seriously entertained.\n\nThe truth is, the people are not accountable for the reasoning ascribed\nto them\u2014possibly with some justice at the time the Doctor wrote\u2014in the\nabove extract.  We have given it at length, because we have nowhere seen\nthe argument, as generally used, better expressed; but, whatever there is\nin it, we hold it a great disparagement to the religious feeling of the\npeople at the present time, to suppose them capable of putting\nSuperstition for Piety, as conveyed in the terms of that passage; or to\nimagine that anything less than a just and faithful version of Holy\nScripture would or could content them.\n\nBut besides the inconvenience of the change so pathetically pleaded,\nthere is the time-honoured Phraseology of the Bible\u2014that phraseology that\nhas earned the suffrages of a whole people, young and old, rich and poor,\nlearned and unlearned, and been associated with our Literary glories\u2014to\nwarn us off the holy ground.  Into what critic\u2019s crucible, it may be\nasked, do we propose to place the Bible, and what frigid, tame, and\ninsipid version, among those with which we have been of late years\nfamiliar, do we design to substitute for our own old authorized\ntranslation?\n\nPlainly, none.  We know of none\u2014valuable as some of them unquestionably\nare\u2014worthy of competing, in whole or in part, on an extended view of the\nquestion, with our own; while, in point of phraseology, to which the\nobjection specifically refers, the advantage is all in favour of the old\nversion.  But if the question at issue were\u2014which it is not\u2014between\nPhraseology on the one hand, and Fidelity on the other, we should and\ncould have no hesitation in deciding for the latter.  But we really think\nit possible to preserve most of the beautiful phraseology of the present\nversion, and even add to it, while we disencumber the text of its errors,\nand render it a more faithful reflex of the Divine Original.\n\nBut the outward Dress and Ornament of the book do not exhaust all the\nobjections incident to the question.  There are yet others of a _subtler_\norder\u2014the exponent of deeper feelings\u2014to which we must briefly advert.\nAnd first, there are those who find few or no difficulties, for their\npart, in the Bible, as it now stands, and therefore, naturally enough,\nobject to a change.  The Bible, they maintain, is a plain book, and the\nvery terms of the Announcement at the head of it, as a Revelation of\nGod\u2019s will to man, upon the knowledge of which his salvation depends,\nprecludes, they argue, any other supposition.  To a certain extent they\nare right; and God forbid we should be understood to mean that the Bible,\nin its present English dress, is not satisfactory on all the great points\nof faith and duty.  We are sometimes told the contrary, indeed, by those\nwho have formed exaggerated views of the inadequacies of our version; but\nsuch an opinion is entitled to no manner of respect; on the contrary, it\nwould be very easy to produce passages\u2014_key-passages_, we might call\nthem, from which the WHOLE TRUTH of the Gospel might be extracted\u2014which\nwould utterly defy any other translation than that exhibited in the\nauthorized version.  But while conceding all this, we are not debarred\nfrom seeking a version yet nearer perfection than the present, if it is\nto be had.  There are subordinate lessons, surely, that might be rendered\nmore precious and instructive; and it cannot be a right or creditable\nprinciple to direct our inquiry only to that which _saves_, in the vulgar\nsense of that term, and give only a listless and perfunctory attention to\nall the rest.  Not unfrequently, however this arid notion of the\n_plainness_ of Scripture is resolvable into the inert and abortive state\nof the faculties in which they are perused.  There is no difficulty,\nbecause the subject is not fairly grappled with.  The words titillate and\namuse, while the sense is in the clouds.  More respectable is that\ntranquillizing and elevating feeling which oftentimes accompanies the\nreading, in which the understanding, though not dead, is still at fault\nthrough the veil interposed by the phraseology.  This placid acquiescence\nof the soul in a message the exact purpose of which it fails to\ncomprehend, may be taken to express a tacit homage to the power of the\nDivine Spirit breathing through the words, however feebly enunciated; and\nthere may be still, under the happiest methods of elucidating Scripture\nyet open to us, a just and legitimate scope for its exercise:\nnevertheless, we covet habitually, and as a general principle, the\ndischarge of a higher function of the soul,\u2014TO UNDERSTAND as well as TO\nFEEL, and TO ACT as well as TO BE ACTED ON.\n\nBut while these find Scripture so plain as to be able to dispense with\nthe Critic\u2019s art, and all other aid, to throw further light on their\ncontents, there are those, on the other hand, who love a Mysterious\nBible, and to whom the whole science of Biblical interpretation is\npositively distasteful, as savouring of the wisdom of man rather than of\nthe grace of the Spirit.  They find their devotion fed, as they think, by\nthe Mystical element, and revel in difficulties that to others are simply\ndiscomfiting.  Cloud-land is their home.  Accordingly, to relieve\nScripture of its obscurities, and render it more patent and intelligible,\nis the last service for which we might expect their thanks.  While this\nis a genuine feeling,\u2014indulged in for the special delectation of their\nown bosoms\u2014and not a pretence to ensnare others, or inveigle their weaker\nbrethren in the toils of a spiritual autocracy, it is simply an error of\nthe brain\u2014an idiosyncrasy, to be treated with all due gentleness and\nconsideration.  Let such, then, observe that there is no reason why\nScripture should be more difficult in the translation than it is in the\noriginal, or than God designed it, or inspired men transmitted it to us;\nand that the aim of these and similar efforts is simply to ensure a\nversion that will exhibit the Word of God with at least equal force and\nperspicuity to that presented in the original text.  Nor would a genuine\nreverence for Scripture allow us to stop short of this point, since\nanything less must be so much clear loss of most important Truth.  There\nare many who are grievously perplexed by the obscurity that attaches to\ncertain portions of Scripture, and for their sakes, as well as for the\nobvious duty of the case, we insist upon all the aid we can procure to\nelucidate those portions.  To take one instance\u2014a striking one\u2014the\nMessianic prophecies\u2014those prophecies in not a few instances now\nportraying the Messiah in unmistakable lineaments, and now, without the\nslightest hint of a change of subject, {8a} varying the portrait, as by a\ndissolving process, so that it seems no longer HIMSELF that is set before\nus, but one of the erring children of men.  Now, evidently, it would be\nmost desirable, if a new version could obviate or relieve this\ndifficulty.  In sundry instances the sense is marred by an\nincongruousness in the metaphors, {8b} for which the Bible, perhaps, is\nthe last book in the world to be made answerable; and this particular\nfault, in most instances, a slight change in the _pointing_, for which\nthe context would give the fullest warrant, or a juster translation,\nwould satisfactorily amend.\n\nBut will not a new translation endanger those articles of our faith in\nwhich we have been brought up from our infancy, and which we believe to\nbe essential to salvation?  May not the translation fall into the hands\nof those who are ill-affected to the orthodox faith, and is there not\nground to believe that hostility to that faith is the real object of many\nof those who are most conspicuous in the promotion of this scheme?\n\nThis apprehension we believe to lie at the basis of much of the objection\nthat is entertained to the proposed change: but has it not occurred to\nthe alarmists, that the weapon cuts both ways, and that it is just as\npossible, as far as at present appears, for the other side to be\ndiscomfited in the shock?  Who shall say that the Evangelical or Orthodox\nscheme shall not gain ground by the experiment, and the opposite scheme\nsuffer?  But these objections are manifestly unworthy a belief that\nprofessedly rests as its basis on the Word of God; rather is it a belief\nin the words which man\u2019s wisdom teacheth, not which the Holy Ghost\nteacheth.  And with regard to the individuals that may be selected for\nthe task, surely all anxiety on that ground is superfluous.  The general\nsense of Scripture is not now to be determined: that has been done long\nago; and all that remains for us is, in the use of such means as our\nadvancing scholarship supplies, to make that sense\u2014as Providence from\ntime to time supplies the opportunity\u2014yet more explicit, and available\nfor proficiency in Divine knowledge.\n\nThus far we have been occupied in clearing our ground, and essaying a\nhearing, with what chance of success we might, considering the outcry,\nmore or less reasonable, with which the question before us is usually\nmet.  We take no further notice of the objections to our task, and\nproceed to explain more distinctly in what that task consists.  But,\nfirst of all, we must premise, that we contemplate a \u201crevised\u201d rather\nthan an entirely \u201cnew\u201d version.  Certain feelings have entwined\nthemselves round the stock of the present version which it would not be\nsafe or needful to sever, except where the imperious demands of fidelity\nto the sense necessitate the infliction.\n\nThe fiat given to the use of the old authorized version is substantially\nhonourable to the nation\u2014perhaps equally so with the fiat that gave it\nexistence.  There is a pregnant power in the words, as symbols of the\nburning _thoughts_ of the men engaged, not pale reflexes of _things_,\nthat has secured the all but universal use of the present version, with\nall its imperfections, despite the labours of Lowth, and Horsley, and\nCampbell, and Henderson, and Good, and others\u2014all eminent names\u2014more or\nless to displace it.  \u201cThe Spirit of the Living Creatures was in the\nWheels, and whither the Wheels were to go the Spirit of the Living\nCreatures went with them.\u201d {10a}\n\n\u2018FOREMOST in the conditions of a correct version is PURITY OF TEXT.\u2019\nThere is no doubt, we believe, in the minds of all qualified to pronounce\non this part of the question, that the text, both of the Old and New\nTestament, generally unassailable as it is, is yet, on some not\nunimportant points\u2014and what is unimportant in such a\ndocument?\u2014susceptible of improvement.  We wish, by all means, to have the\nbenefit of this improved text, as no consideration of _consequences_ can\nweigh against the _actual_ inconveniences that belong to the text, in\nsome instances, as it now stands.  The discrepancies, for example, in the\nChronicles, {10b} in matters relating to _numbers_, with the statements\nin the corresponding passages in 2 Samuel and Kings, furnish most\ndamaging weapons in sceptical hands wherewith to assail the Sacred Books.\nSome of these discrepancies are only imaginary, but others, it must be\nconfessed, are palpable and incontrovertible, and ought not to stand, as\nthey now do, in our Bibles, open, without a word appearing on the page in\ntheir defence, to the most unmitigated contradiction. {11a}  The fact is,\nthe text in these instances is _corrupt_, and there need be no scruple,\nconsidering the way in which NUMBERS were variously written of old, by\nletters, ciphers, or words, and more especially the liability of\ntranscribers to err in these matters, in arriving at that conclusion.\nThis extreme devotion to the Massoretic text on the part of our\ntranslators, to the overthrow of common sense, and disregard of the\nthousand arguments that plead for a change over the one thus\npertinaciously followed, is most detrimental to the credit of the Sacred\nVolumes; for two statements diametrically opposed cannot, of course, be\nboth correct; the weaker, therefore, should naturally be made to give\nplace to the stronger.  In some cases, _possibly_, this may be done by a\nnew recension of the text; in others the alteration should be summarily\nmade in conformity with the obvious maxims in universal use for\ndetermining the truth in the case of contradictory documents. {11b}\n\nNext to Purity of Text is a CORRECT VERSION.  That the present version\ndoes not satisfy this condition in the just sense of the word, or to the\nextent we have a right to require in such a matter, is now almost\nuniversally conceded.  The plea of \u201cgood enough\u201d is given up, and the\nwishes of the religious public for a translation more true to the\noriginal, are \u201ccondescendingly\u201d admitted to be just and reasonable; and\nif this admission expressed the voice of authority, as well as the\ngeneral sense of the learned world, our wishes would speedily be in a\ncondition to be fulfilled.  Meantime it is for us to agitate the question\ntill the boon be accorded, agreeably to the good old English rule, when\nthe stronghold of authority is to be stormed.\n\nIt has appeared to us, in the prosecution of our task, that we could put\nthis question before the ordinary English reader in a form to enable him\nto determine for himself with tolerable correctness the Validity of our\nplea for a more correct version of Holy Writ.  _On such a point it is\nimportant he should be able to judge for himself_: accordingly, we shall\nexhibit sundry amended passages, by way of specimen, in _juxtaposition_\nwith the corresponding passages of the present version.  It may be\npremised, that it is not necessary that the amended translation should be\nin all respects immaculate and unassailable; it suffices for the present\npurpose if we establish the fact, that the authorized version _is_\ncapable of amendment.  The field before us is almost illimitable, so\nnumerous are the corrections that require to be supplied.  Of course, we\nmust pick our path here and there.  We begin with the Old Testament; and\nhere two passages recommend themselves for selection, as well for their\nown intrinsic interest as for the materials they afford for elucidating\nthe principles that underlie the transfusion of Hebrew into English.  The\nreader is invited to ponder the two versions in the points in which they\ndiffer, however minute the difference at first sight may appear, as the\nchange in these cases has proceeded upon a strictly literal translation\nof the original Hebrew; and the variation, on a further view, may not\nappear so unimportant as at first.  Our first passage consists of\nextracts from the Song of Deborah, Judges v., and the amended version is\ndue, substantially, to the able pen of Dr. Edward Robinson, Translator of\nGesenius, &c.  See \u201cBiblical Repository.\u201d  Two other versions of the same\nSong are given by Dr. Adam Clarke in his Commentary, from Dr. Hales and\nDr. Kennicott respectively; but, with all their merit, they are less\nliterally true to the original, and therefore less eligible for\nselection, than the one we have adopted:\u2014\n\n                                JUDGES V.\n\n          _Old Version_.                      _New Version_.\n\n2.  Praise ye the Lord for the      2.  For the leading of the\navenging of Israel, when the        leaders in Israel, for the\npeople willingly offered            voluntary offering of the people,\nthemselves.                         praise ye the Lord . . .\n7.  _The inhabitants of_ the        7.  Leaders failed in Israel,\nvillages ceased, they ceased in     they failed, until that I,\nIsrael, until that I Deborah        Deborah, arose, that I arose a\narose . . .                         mother in Israel . . .\n10.  Speak, ye that ride on white   10.  Ye that ride on white asses,\nasses . . .                         . . . prepare a song,\n11.  _They that are delivered_      11.  Responsive to the voice of\nfrom the noise of archers in the    those who divide the spoil by the\nplaces of drawing water, there      watercourses.  There they shall\nshall they rehearse the righteous   rehearse the victories of the\nacts of the Lord, _even_ the        Lord, the victory of his princes\nrighteous acts _toward the          in Israel; then shall the people\ninhabitants_ of his villages in     of the Lord descend to the gates.\nIsrael: then shall the people of\nthe Lord go down to the gates.\n12.  Awake, {13} awake, Deborah:    12.  Awake, awake, Deborah;\nawake, awake, utter a song. . . .   awake, awake, utter a song . . .\n13.  Then he made him that          13.  Then I _said_, Descend, ye\nremaineth have dominion over the    remnant of the nobles of the\nnobles among the people: the Lord   people!  O Lord, descend for me\nmade me have dominion over the      among the mighty!\nmighty.\n14.  Out of Ephraim _was there_ a   14.  Out of Ephraim _came those_\nroot of them against Amalek;        whose dwelling is by Amalek.\nafter thee, Benjamin, among thy     After thee (Ephraim) _was_\npeople; out of Machir came down     Benjamin among thy hosts; out of\ngovernors, and out of Zebulun       Machir (Manasseh) came down\nthey that handle the pen of the     princes, and from Zebulun those\nwriter.                             who grasp the staff of a leader.\n15.  And the princes of Issachar    15.  The princes of Issachar also\n_were_ with Deborah; even           _came_ with Deborah; yea,\nIssachar, and also Barak: he was    Issachar was the staff of Barak.\nsent on foot into the valley.       He rushed into the valley at his\nFor the divisions of Reuben         feet.  For the divisions of\n_there were_ great thoughts of      Reuben _I have_ great griefs of\nheart.                              heart . . .\n16.  Why abodest thou among the     16.  Wherefore didst thou sit\nsheepfolds, to hear the bleatings   still among the folds, to listen\nof the flocks?  For the divisions   to the lowing of the herds?  For\nof Reuben _there were_ great        the divisions of Reuben _I have_\nsearchings of heart.                great revolvings of heart.\n17.  Gilead abode beyond Jordan:    17.  Gilead (Gad) abode beyond\nand why did Dan remain in ships?    Jordan; and Dan, why tarried he\nAsher continued on the sea shore,   in ships?  Asher sat at the shore\nand abode in his breaches.          of the sea, and abode at his\n                                    creeks.\n18.  Zebulun and Naphtali _were_    18.  For Zebulun, the people\na people _that_ jeoparded their     scorned their lives, and _rushed_\nlives unto the death in the high    upon death, and Naphtali, in the\nplaces of the field.                high places of the plain.\n19.  The kings came _and_ fought,   19.  The kings came, they fought,\n. . . they took no gain of money.   . . . they took no spoil of\n                                    silver.\n22.  Then were the horsehoofs       22.  Then did the horses\u2019 hoofs\nbroken by the means of the          smite _the ground_ from the\npransings, the pransings of their   haste, the haste of their riders\nmighty ones.                        . . .\n\nWe here pause, before proceeding to our second extract, to notice one\nvery damaging source of mistranslation as applicable to the Old\nTestament.  We allude to what may be called the use of the Prophetical or\nTheological scheme in dealing with the Prophecies.  For instance, in the\n2nd verse of 53rd chap, of Isaiah, as below, the words \u201c_for he shall\ngrow up_\u201d ought to be rendered \u201c_and_\u201d or \u201c_so_\u201d (resuming the argument\nof the previous chapter) \u201c_he grew up_\u201d in the PAST tense; and so on\nthrough the chapter.  The Prophets, it is well known, in the vividness of\ntheir prophetic vision, contemplated the future events that passed under\ntheir ken as _actually past_; {14} and as this is a prominent\ncharacteristic of their mode of delivering prophetic truth, it ought not\nto be lost sight of in a translation.  The explanation of the _fact_ that\nwhat they spoke of as actually past was still future, belongs to what is\ncalled \u201cexegesis,\u201d and stands out as an Order of Rhetoric significant of,\nand sacred to, their prophetic function; but by no means should such an\nelement enter into a translation, which, if it does not present a\nfaithful reflex of the original, is simply a misnomer.  Not that there is\nany inviolable uniformity in the practice of the translators in the use\nof this scheme.  Far from it; as is evident from the translation that\nfollows.  And this serves to render a subject, necessarily obscure from\nits very nature, immeasurably more so.  The truth is, we have here forced\nupon us the fact, that the translators were not fully acquainted with a\nprinciple of the language\u2014now well understood\u2014that lies at the basis of\nthe whole structure. {15}  They saw its force\u2014they could not help doing\nso\u2014in the Narrative portions, but were not cognizant of it as a\nFundamental principle of the language, applicable alike to all subjects,\nand not variable and flexible at the pleasure of the interpreter.\n\nWe are sorry we can adduce no particular name on which to cast the\nresponsibility of the following amended version.  We have consulted very\nmany of the most distinguished of those who have laboured to translate\nthis, in some respects, very intricate passage, and what we have given\nmust be considered mainly as an _amalgam_ of the joint labours of them\nall.  We are far from thinking we have given the best version possible;\nand _perhaps_ the text itself, where the difficulty is peculiarly\npressing, may yet be found susceptible of improvement:\u2014\n\n                                 ISAIAH.\n\n          _Old Version_.                      _New Version_.\nCh. lii. 13.  Behold, my servant    Ch. lii. 13.  Behold, my servant\nshall deal prudently, he shall be   shall be prosperous; he shall be\nexalted and extolled, and be very   exalted and extolled, and be\nhigh.                               magnified exceedingly.\n14.  As many were astonied at       14.  As many were astonished at\nthee; his visage was so marred      thee; (so marred was his visage\nmore than any man, and his form     more than any man, and his form\nmore than the sons of men:          than the sons of men.)\n15.  So shall he sprinkle many      15.  So shall he sprinkle many\nnations; the kings shall shut       nations; kings shall shut their\ntheir mouths at him: for _that_     mouths at him (_do him homage_);\nwhich had not been told them        for that which had not been told\nshall they see; and _that_ which    them have they seen, and that\nthey had not heard shall they       which they had not heard have\nconsider.                           they considered:\nCh. liii. 1.  Who hath believed     Ch. liii. 1. (Who hath believed\nour report? and to whom is the      our report? and to whom hath the\narm of the Lord revealed?           arm of the Lord been revealed?)\n2.  For he shall grow up before     2.  And he grew up before him as\nhim as a tender plant, and as a     a tender plant, and as a root out\nroot out of a dry ground: he hath   of a land of drought: he hath no\nno form nor comeliness; and when    form nor comeliness that we\nwe shall see him, _there is_ no     should see him, and no beauty\nbeauty that we should desire him.   that we should desire him.\n3.  He is despised and rejected     3.  Despised and rejected of men;\nof men; a man of sorrows, and       a man of sorrows, and acquainted\nacquainted with grief: and we hid   with grief; and concealing as it\nas it were _our_ faces from him;    were _his_ face from us;\nhe was despised, and we esteemed    despised, and we esteemed him\nhim not.                            not.\n4.  Surely he hath borne our        4.  Surely _it was_ our griefs\ngriefs, and carried our sorrows;    _that_ he bore; and our sorrows,\nyet we did esteem him stricken,     he carried them: but we esteemed\nsmitten of God, and afflicted.      him stricken, smitten of God, and\n                                    afflicted.\n5.  But he _was_ wounded for our    5.  But he _was_ pierced for our\ntransgressions, _he was_ bruised    transgressions, _he was_ bruised\nfor our iniquities: the             for our iniquities: the\nchastisement of our peace _was_     chastisement of our peace was\nupon him; and with his stripes we   upon him, and by his infirmity we\nare healed.                         were healed.\n6.  All we like sheep have gone     6.  All we like sheep have gone\nastray; we have turned every one    astray; we have turned each one\nto his own way; and the Lord hath   to his own way; and the Lord hath\nlaid on him the iniquity of us      laid on him the iniquity of us\nall.                                all.\n7.  He was oppressed, and he was    7.  He was oppressed; but he,\nafflicted, {17a} yet he opened      submitting himself, {17c} does\nnot his mouth: he is brought        not even open his mouth: as a\n{17b} as a lamb to the slaughter,   lamb is brought to the slaughter,\nand as a sheep before her           and as a sheep before her\nshearers is dumb, so he opened      shearers _is_ dumb, so he openeth\nnot his mouth.                      not his mouth.\n8.  He was taken from prison and    8.  From oppression and from\nfrom judgment: and who shall        judgment was he taken: but _the\ndeclare his generation? for he      wickedness of_ his generation who\nwas cut off out of the land of      shall declare? for he was cut off\nthe living: for the transgression   out of the land of the living;\nof my people was he stricken.       for the transgression of my\n                                    people, for the stroke _due_ to\n                                    them!\n9.  And he made his grave with      9.  And he made his grave with\nthe wicked, and with the rich in    the wicked, and with the\nhis death; because he had done no   [impious] {17d} in his death;\nviolence, neither was any deceit    though he had done no violence,\nin his mouth.                       and _there was_ no deceit in his\n                                    mouth.\n10.  Yet it pleased the Lord to     10.  But it pleased the Lord to\nbruise him; he hath put _him_ to    bruise him; he hath put him to\ngrief: when thou shalt make his     grief, _proclaiming_, If his soul\nsoul an offering for sin, he        shall make an offering for sin,\nshall see _his_ seed, he shall      he shall see a seed, he shall\nprolong _his_ days, and the         prolong _his_ days, and the\npleasure of the Lord shall          pleasure of the Lord shall\nprosper in his hand.                prosper in his hand.\n11.  He shall see of the travail    11.  He shall see of the travail\nof his soul, _and_ shall be         of his soul; he shall be\nsatisfied: by his knowledge shall   satisfied: by his knowledge _of\nmy righteous servant justify        woe_ {18a} shall my righteous\nmany; for he shall bear their       servant make many righteous, and\niniquities.                         himself shall bear their\n                                    iniquities.\n12.  Therefore will I divide him    12.  Therefore I will allot him\n_a portion_ with the great, and     the great for his portion, and he\nhe shall divide the spoil with      shall divide the mighty as spoil,\nthe strong; because he poured out   because he poured out his soul\nhis soul unto death: and he was     unto death, and was numbered with\nnumbered with the transgressors;    transgressors.  So he bore the\nand he bare the sin of many, and    sin of many, and intercedes {18b}\nmade intercession for the           for the transgressors.\ntransgressors.\n\nNOTE.\u2014The new translation is less soft and mellifluous than the old, but\nlet it not be hastily condemned in the comparison on that account.  It is\nmore exact, and that is the principal object now.  Probably it may yet\nfall into hands that shall combine all the beautiful flow of the old\nversion, with no less, and even far greater exactness than we have been\nable to achieve.\n\nThus far for the Old Testament.  We adopt a somewhat different mode of\nselection in dealing with the New, but adhere to our plan of exhibiting\nthe two versions in juxtaposition.  The amended passages that follow are\ntaken, with a few exceptions, from Professor Scholefield\u2019s \u201cHints for an\nImproved Translation of the New Testament.\u201d  They are, it is presumed,\nsufficiently important to warrant the selection, but it must be premised\nthat it is not by taking isolated passages for emendation that the WHOLE\nTRUTH insisted upon in these pages can be enforced.  There are numberless\npoints of correction of which our version is susceptible that are not\nadapted for such isolated exhibition, and which it is the special\nbusiness of the Greek particles to supply; but the exhibition of such\npoints, involving the structure of sentences and the mutual relation of\nthe clauses of which they are made up, would require a much larger\ncanvass.  We indicate this source of correction only to avert the\nconclusion, that our argument rests solely on the basis supplied in the\nparticular mode of illustration adopted.\n\n          _Old Version_.                      _New Version_.\n                             Mark iv. 13.\nAnd he said unto them, Know ye      And he says to them, Know ye not\nnot this parable? and how then      this parable? how then will ye\nwill ye know all parables?          know any {19} parables?\n                            Luke xvi. 12.\nAnd if ye have not been faithful    . . . in that which is another\u2019s\nin that which is another man\u2019s.     (_i.e._ God\u2019s).\n                           John xviii. 15.\nAnd Simon Peter followed Jesus,     And Simon Peter was following\nand _so did_ another disciple.      Jesus, and _so was_ the other\n                                    disciple (probably Judas).\n                              John i. 9.\nWhich lighteth every man that       Which coming into the world\ncometh into the world.              lighteth every man.\n                             Acts xix. 2.\nWhether there be any Holy Ghost.    Whether the Holy Ghost be given.\n                             Rom. vi. 17.\nBut God be thanked, that ye were    But God be thanked that whereas\nthe servants of sin.                ye were the servants of sin.\n                            Rom. xiv. 23.\nIs damned if he eat, because _he    Is condemned if he eat, because\neateth_ not of faith.               _it is_ not of faith.\n                           2 Cor. iv. 3, 4.\nBut if our gospel be hid, it is     . . . be hid (_with a veil_), it\nhid to them that are lost:          is hid to the abandoned:\n\nIn whom the god of this world       As to whom the god of this world\nhath blinded the minds of them      habitually blinds their minds,\nthat believe not.                   being unbelieving.\n                            1 Pet. iii. 6.\nWhose daughters ye are as long as   . . . as long as ye do well, and\nye do well, and are not afraid      yield to no fear, (_as Sarah on\nwith any amazement.                 one memorable occasion did_).\n                        2 Pet. i. 19, 20, 21.\nWe have also a more sure word of    Moreover, we have the word of\nprophecy; whereunto ye do well      prophecy _made_ more sure, (the\nthat ye take heed, as unto a        voice from heaven while in the\nlight, &c.                          holy mount _confirmed_ it).\n\nKnowing this first, that no         Knowing this first, that no\nprophecy of the scripture is of     prophecy of Scripture is of the\nany private interpretation;         nature of a private revelation;\n\nFor the prophecy came not in old    For prophecy was not prompted in\ntime by the will of man; but holy   old time by the will of man; but\nmen of God spoke _as they were_     holy men of God spoke _as_\nmoved by the Holy Ghost.            prompted by the Holy Ghost.\n                          2 Pet. iii. 5, 6.\nFor this they willingly are         For this they willingly are\nignorant of, that by the word of    ignorant of, that by the word of\nGod the heavens were of old, and    God, the heavens and the earth\nthe earth standing out of the       were of old involved in a\nwater and in the water;             confluence of waters;\n\nWhereby the world that then was,    Whereby the world that then was,\nbeing overflowed with water,        being deluged with water,\nperished.                           perished.\n                             1 Cor. v. 9.\nI wrote unto you in an epistle.     I have written to you in my\n                                    epistle (the present).\n                           1 Cor. vii. 11.\nBut and if she depart.              But if also she be separated.\n                            1 Cor. x. 17.\nFor we _being_ many, are one        For _there is_ one bread, and we,\nbread _and_ one body.               who are many, are one body.\n                            1 Cor. xv. 41.\nFor _one_ star differeth from       Nay (or, this is not all, for)\n_another_ star in glory.            one star differeth from another\n                                    star, &c.\n                           2 Cor. iii. 18.\nBut we all, with open face          And we all with unveiled face\nbeholding as in a glass the glory   reflecting as in a glass . . .\nof the Lord                         (Moses put a veil on his face,\n                                    not so the disciples of Christ).\n                             2 Cor. v. 1.\nIf our earthly house of _this_      If the earthly house of our\ntabernacle were dissolved.          tabernacle be dissolved.\n                          2 Cor. xii. 2, 4.\nI knew a man in Christ.             I know a man in Christ.\n\nIt is not lawful to utter.          It is not possible.\n                            Gal. iii. 22.\nThat the promise by faith of        That the promise may be given to\nJesus Christ might be given to      believers by Jesus Christ.\nthem that believe.\n                             Eph. v. 13.\nBut all things that are reproved    But all things are reproved, and\nare made manifest by the light.     made manifest by the light.\n                             Phil. i. 7.\nPartakers of my grace.              Partakers with me of grace.\n                             Phil. i. 10.\nThat ye may approve things that     That ye may try things that\nare excellent.                      differ.\n                             Phil. iv. 8.\nIf _there be_ any virtue, and if    Whatever virtue, and whatever\n_there be_ any praise.              praise there be.\n                             Col. i. 19.\nFor it pleased _the Father_, that   For all the fulness of the\nin him should all fulness dwell.    God-head was pleased to dwell in\n                                    him.\n                             Col. ii. 23.\nNot in any honour to the            Not with any regard to the\nsatisfying of the flesh.            satisfying of the flesh.\n                          2 Thess. ii. 6, 7.\nAnd now ye know what withholdeth    And now ye know what withholdeth\nthat he might be revealed in his    _him_, that he may be revealed in\ntime.                               his own time.  For the mystery of\n                                    iniquity is already working; only\nFor the mystery of iniquity doth    there is one that now withholdeth\nalready work: only he who now       it, until he be taken out of the\nletteth _will let_, until he be     way.\ntaken out of the way.\n                             Heb. iv. 2.\nFor unto us was the gospel          For we have the glad tidings\npreached, as well as unto them:     thereof even as they; but the\nbut the word preached did not       word of its report (_i.e._, which\nword profit them.                   they heard) did not profit them.\n                             Heb. ix. 12.\nHe entered in once into the holy    He entered once for all into the\nplace.                              holy place.\n                         Heb. ix. 15, 16, 17.\nAnd for this cause he is the        And for this end he is the\nmediator of the new testament,      mediator of the new covenant,\nthat by means of death, for the     that, his death having taken\nredemption of the transgressions    place for the redemption of the\n_that were_ under the first         transgressions under the first\ntestament, they which are called    covenant, they that are called\nmight receive the promise of        might receive the promise of the\neternal inheritance.                eternal inheritance.\n\nFor where a testament _is_, there   For where a covenant _is_, there\nmust also of necessity be the       must of necessity be brought in\ndeath of the testator.              the death of the mediating\n                                    _sacrifice_.\nFor a testament _is_ of force\nafter men are dead: otherwise it    For a covenant is valid over dead\nis of no strength at all while      _sacrifices_: since it is never\nthe testator liveth.                of any force while the mediating\n                                    _sacrifice_ continues alive.\n                            Heb. xii. 18.\nTo the mount that might be          To the mount that could be\ntouched.                            touched.\n                            Heb. xiii. 4.\nMarriage _is_ honourable in all,    Let marriage be honourable in\nand the bed undefiled.              all, and the bed _be_ undefiled.\n                           1 Pet. iii. 20.\nWere saved by water.                Were saved through the water\n                                    (brought safely through).\n                            1 Pet. iv. 8.\nShall cover the multitude of        Will cover a multitude of sins.\nsins.\n                            2 Pet. i. 16.\nFor we have not followed            For we did not follow cunningly\ncunningly devised fables, when we   devised fables when we made known\nmade known unto you . . .           unto you . . .\n                           2 Pet. ii. 1, 3.\nAnd bring upon themselves swift     . . . and their destruction\ndestruction . . . and their         slumbereth not (_destruction_,\ndamnation slumbereth not.           precisely the same word as\n                                    before).\n                            2 Pet. ii. 5.\nNoah the eighth _person_.           Noah, with seven others.\n                            2 Pet. ii. 14.\nCursed children.                    Children of the curse.\n                             Rev. iv. 6.\nFour beasts.                        Four living creatures.\n                              Rev. x. 6.\nThat there should be time no        That there should be no more\nlonger.                             delay.\n\nThus far, by way of specimen of the improvement of which the authorized\nversion is susceptible on the score of fidelity to the original.  The\ninstances might have been multiplied indefinitely, but we designed only a\nspecimen.  We would repeat that there is a large amount of improvement\npracticable in elucidating and enforcing the sense, when it is not\npositively misrepresented, that is less fitted for such display, and\nwhich alone it would require the transcription of a large portion of the\nBible to render apparent.\n\n               \u201cClaudite jam rivos pueri; sat prata biberunt.\u201d\n\nWe have indeed said enough to justify our plea, and here we might close\nthe evidence, but we are tempted further to observe that the sense of\nScripture is not only obscured in the authorized version by errors of\ntranslation, but there is almost an equal amount of mischief done to the\nsense by the present mode of distributing the subject-matter into chapter\nand verse; for which, as is well known, there is no valid authority,\n{24a} either as regards the Old or the New Testament.  This fault it is\nthe special object of the new Paragraph Bible lately published by the\nReligious Tract Society, to remedy.  We confine ourselves to two\nillustrations.\n\nThe 53rd chapter of Isaiah begins with a parenthesis, (\u2018Who hath believed\nour report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?\u2019) {24b}\nThis, in our view, is a _soliloquy_ into which the prophet breaks forth\nin relief of his feelings, while contemplating the overpowering events\nthat pass in review before him, coupled with the rejection of the message\nby the great body of his countrymen. {25a}  These events had already\nbegun their career at the 13th verse of the foregoing chapter, and they\ngo steadily on through the remainder of that, and the whole of the\nfollowing chapter, broken only by the ejaculation of the prophet, thus\nviolently wrenched from its place, as the matter now stands.\n\nThe other instance we adduce of the obscuration of the sense occasioned\nby the present faulty distribution of the letter-press, occurs Joshua v.\nand vi.  It is an example of an analogous kind to that already given.  It\nmakes a parenthesis used simply in explanation of a series of\ninstructions from the Lord to Joshua to vacate its place in the\nnarrative, and actually stand at the commencement of a new chapter, in\nwhich the same series of instructions is still continued.  See the\n\u201cEdinburgh Review\u201d for October last. {25b}  We shall place the old and\nnew arrangement in juxta-position, when the violence done to the sense,\nas the matter now stands, will be apparent at once.\n\n        _Old Arrangement_.                  _New Arrangement_.\n                            Joshua v. 15.\nAnd the captain of the Lord\u2019s       And the captain of the Lord\u2019s\nhost said unto Joshua, Loose thy    host said unto Joshua, \u201c_Loose\nshoe from off thy foot; for the     thy shoe from off thy foot_, _for\nplace where thou standest _is_      the place where thou standest is\nholy.  And Joshua did so.           holy_.\u201d  And Joshua did so.\nCh. vi.  Now Jericho was straitly   (Now Jericho was straitly shut\nshut up, because of the children    up, because of the children of\nof Israel: none went out, and       Israel; none went out, and none\nnone came in.                       came in).  And the Lord said unto\n                                    Joshua, \u201c_See_, _I have given\n2.  And the Lord said unto          into thy hand Jericho_,\u201d &c.\nJoshua, See, I have given into\nthy hand Jericho, &c.\n\nThe reader will observe in the above paragraph that, in addition to a\nbetter distribution of the letter-press, we have given the _spoken\nlanguage_ in italics, with inverted commas,\u2014a character of type we\nrecommend to be carried out continuously in the revised version, as it,\nactually is with excellent effect, in the new Paragraph Bible.  These may\nbe thought small matters, but we have been led to mention them as\nthinking the adoption of them will give facility, not merely to the\nprivate, but also to the _viv\u00e2 voce_ reading of Scripture,\u2014a point surely\nnot undeserving of attention.\n\nConnected with these desiderata are others of a minor character, as\u2014an\nimproved punctuation\u2014the substitution of vernacular for obsolete\nwords\u2014the use of _euphemisms_ where the allusion is obvious, and no\nviolence is done to the sense\u2014appropriate concise headings to the\ndifferent sections in the margin\u2014_chronological arrangement of the\nseveral books_\u2014chronological data, &c. &c.\n\nWe are proceeding beyond the strict limits we assigned to ourselves in\nthe course of these last remarks, and scarcely venture further in\nrecommending attention\u2014though especially worthy of it, in the case of a\nBook we wish to make universally attractive,\u2014to what may be called the\n_\u00e6sthetics_ of _book-making_.  We all know the advantage of a readable\ntype, open space between the lines, paragraphs and smaller divisions\nclearly indicated, large margin, &c.; and though, in comparison with our\nmain object, these are small matters, they yet constitute distinct items\nin the Roll of convenience, and therefore merit attention\u2014especially in\nsubserviency to the object of giving to the Bible the adjuncts\nappropriate to a HOUSEHOLD BOOK.\n\nSuch is an outline of what we hope to see done.  We might have multiplied\ninstances of mistranslation to an unlimited extent, and many other\nimprovements conducing to a clearer exposition of the sense of Scripture\nmight have been suggested: but we stop here.  Enough has been said to\nsubstantiate our argument, and we desist from the present line of thought\nto indulge the flattering belief that we have at length gained our\nobject; that, in fact, we have a Bible such as we have invoked\u2014with a\npurer text,\u2014a correcter version,\u2014and other appliances better adapted to\nfit it for the high ends for which it was given, than the present.  What,\nnow, it may be asked, are the _peculiar advantages_ we promise ourselves\nfrom the ACQUISITION?  Some advantages seem to flow very naturally and\ndirectly from the measure; and one that we may very confidently\nanticipate is, a keener perception and appreciation of Scripture in its\nfundamental qualities of truthfulness, power, and majesty, as the volume\nis spread out before us with increased effulgence, and life-likeness to\nthe original.  The whole orb of truth will shine out with a brightness of\nwhich it is now in part shorn through defect in the instrument by means\nof which it is viewed.  Moreover, the _evidences_ for the Divine\nauthority of the sacred books would be yet clearer, as blemishes were\neliminated, obscurities cleared up, weak parts strengthened.  The\nevidences of Christianity, in their brightest array, and most decisive\neffect, lie in the sacred oracles themselves.  They vouch for their own\nauthority.  How potent a power this is may be judged of from the fact\nthat they are accredited by those to whom they not only show no favour,\nbut the most decided and uncompromising hostility!  Many circumstances\nwrongfully accredited to them mar and weaken the evidence; but these,\nhowever perplexing in some cases, and damaging\u2014as the text now stands\u2014in\nothers, cannot overlay their credibility.  There are, moreover, doctrines\nembedded in their pages that appeal solely to faith, and that receive our\nassent mainly as part and parcel of a BOOK that we deem divine.  It is\nthe word of God, and we turn away at our peril from the voice that speaks\nto us from HEAVEN.  Certain passages there are, as we think, so impressed\nwith the character of Divinity, so reassuring of a divine utterance, and\nso marvellously radiant with truth, that, under the full force of the\nimpression, the whole soul resigns itself to the spell, and faith is\nscarcely so much a voluntary emotion as a necessity.  We believe because\nwe have no alternative. {28}  Such is the power of the sacred oracles in\nthemselves to command belief.  Nevertheless, the evidence generally of\ntheir divine authority would be yet more conclusive, as the result of a\nversion more true to the sacred text.  The Divine voice would be still\nmore audible.  The arguments that have hitherto commanded our assent\nwould acquire fresh force, while obstacles and imperfections would\ndwindle into insignificance, or altogether disappear.  The force of our\nplea could scarcely present itself more strongly.  The Scriptures\nthemselves constitute the great battle-field of the argument affecting a\nDivine Revelation.  The question is decided in the minds of thousands, on\nconsiderations drawn from _the Scriptures themselves_,\u2014in virtue, that\nis, of their own credentials, and not on the elaborate speculations or\ningenious apologies of (assumed) interested advocates.  A more direct and\nforcible evidence is required for men in no ecclesiastical position to\nforestall opinion, and with little time or ability to enter into abstruse\nand recondite arguments.  The ordinary books of evidences, however\neffective _concurrently_ with the evidence furnished by Scripture itself\n(and in this way they are\u2014many of them\u2014doubtless exceedingly useful), are\nnot _alone_, and, in the absence of such corroboration, calculated to\nproduce the evidence that is desired to rebut the counter arguments to\nwhich human nature in its infirmity is assailed.  It requires the\nre-assuring voice of God himself to give the requisite confidence and\nsatisfaction.  Hence we have sufficiently indicated the field to which\nour labours may be most successfully directed while endeavouring to\nestablish and diffuse, in their most telling and cogent form, the\nevidences of the Christian faith.\n\nMoreover, a competent knowledge of Biblical erudition would, under the\nnew conditions of the Holy Books, be no longer so costly or onerous as at\npresent.  Truly, this is a great desideratum.  The mass of reading now\nrequired to peruse Scripture with due edification and interest is\naltogether beyond the leisure of the busy, or the means of the less\naffluent: and to be doomed to hopeless ignorance of so much enlightenment\nas is symbolized in the goodly tomes that meet the eye on every side,\ndevoted to the elucidation of Holy Writ, is by no means satisfactory.\nWith this partial distribution of spiritual advantages, the Christian\nChurch seems drifting away from its fundamental basis of _universality_,\nand,\u2014in the very spirit and wake of heathenism,\u2014abetting and consecrating\nthe principle of an esoteric and exoteric school\u2014a pet and a common class\nof disciples\u2014the one furnished with all the erudition\u2014the prime secrets\nand witcheries of knowledge\u2014the other abandoned to the merest\ngeneralities, a sorry heap of prejudices, or at best a dubious and\ninsufficient light.  But however this be, certain it is there is now\navailable a vast amount of Biblical lore of no mean value, and which no\ngood Christian would willingly forego, that is all but sealed to the bulk\nof the Christian world. {30}  The publication of Scripture on the\nprinciples we advocate would go far to remedy the evil.  The beautiful\nemendations of the Sacred text that are now scattered over a wide waste\nof territory, and all but lost, would be garnered up, and made available\nfor common use.  The occasional criticisms of Archbishop Whately, for\ninstance, and the specific emendations of the late Professor Scholefield,\nwould become alike the property of the esoterics and the exoterics: they\nwould be treasured up and embalmed in our own Bibles.  In a word, we\nshould succeed to a large inheritance of the labours of others.  There\nwould be still much left, of course, to reward industry and sagacity, and\nsucceeding times might fairly expect to have the benefit of all future\ndiscoveries in this important field.  The immediate benefit would be to\nrelieve the unlettered from dependence on the Commentary to the extent\nthey now are.  They who run might read. {31}\n\nWe may further be entitled to expect some abatement of our present\nunchristian differences, which are fostered to some extent, as we think,\nby the difficulties inherent in the Book rather as a _translation_ than\nas an _original_.  To some extent it gives a less certain sound, as it is\nobliged to avail itself of human organs.  By repairing the instrument, we\nmay find a great impediment to our common understanding and accord\nremoved, while the union thus formed will be all the more valuable as it\nwill be real, not simulated\u2014uniform, not patched up for the occasion to\ndefeat a common enemy.  It will grow out of the only bond of\nunion\u2014sympathy, namely, of belief\u2014that promises to be permanent and\navailable in the hour of trial.  Divers forms of worship, and many\nvarying shades of opinion, may co-exist with this unity.  Charity\nthinketh no evil, is not easily provoked.  If this happy purpose could be\nsecured by imparting a clearer light to the firmament of Christian truth,\nas the result of the measure we advocate, it would not be easy to\noverrate the boon in the removal of the scandal that belongs to the\npresent divided state of Christendom, and in the service it would render\nto the church in carrying out her many offices of healing and comfort to\nthe world.\n\nStill further: Popular Education, to the extent to which it is identified\nwith the Bible, would be subserved by an improved translation.  In many\nparts of the kingdom the Bible, as is well known, is the only organ of\neducation available\u2014the only apparatus by which any ray of intellectual\nlight finds entrance into men\u2019s minds.  This may be accounted for from\nthe fact that, in addition to knowledge, Scripture brings with it _the\nsoul\u2019s health_; otherwise, in the rude state in which it finds a large\nportion of the population, it would have small chance of fulfilling this\nincidental office of educating the masses.  In this light Scripture,\nwhere, as in Protestant countries, it is freely diffused, must be\nregarded as a most precious boon to a nation\u2014as a guarantee, in fact,\nthat the people shall be in some sort educated, and invested with the\nattributes of rational and responsible beings.  Nor is the benefit of\nScripture, as a help to education, confined to the poor: in early youth\nit smooths the entrance on the path of knowledge, not less effectually to\nthe rich than to the indigent.  There is, moreover, to be considered the\npart that Scripture plays in the education of the land, in the actual\noccupancy it enjoys in almost every family as a HOUSEHOLD BOOK, available\nas the Urim and Thummim of the ancient economy, and actually doing that\nservice which the \u201clares and lemures\u201d of heathen households were vainly\ninvoked to perform.  It is in vain to exclaim against this state of\nthings, from whatever motive, sceptical or superstitious: the fact is as\nwe have stated it, and, with the absence of such means of education, the\ncountry, to a large extent, must necessarily be uneducated.\n\nThus obviously is the Bible the recognized organ of popular education in\nthis country, and in this view it is most important that its efficiency\nshould be complete.  But this inference derives its chief force from\nconsiderations affecting the _character_ of the education it supplies.\nIn this aspect of it there is nothing that should make us regret the\nactual occupancy it enjoys in this regard.  On the contrary, it is\nadmirably adapted by its own peculiar power over men\u2019s souls to\ncreate\u2014not a learned, but an intelligent people; and if intelligent, then\nfree, independent, powerful,\u2014a match for tyranny in every shape, and at\nevery turn.  Nor are the ruling powers themselves less benefited in thus\nbeing able to lay deep the foundation of their authority in the fixedness\nof principle, just appreciation of good as distinct from its counterfeit,\nand sober and well-advised aims of the people so trained and nurtured.\n\nClosely connected with education, or such an education as we have now\nbeen considering, is _public morality_, and with it the strength and\nprosperity of a Nation.  The condition of England in her various\nphases\u2014civil, military, political, and religious\u2014has naturally arrested\nthe attention of intelligent foreigners, as presenting a marked\nsuperiority in these respects, or in some of them, to their own country.\nThey have inquired the cause of this distinction with little success, and\nare as much at fault in being able to trace no symptoms of decay or\nflagging vitality in the system, cruelly tried as it not unfrequently is,\nprognosticating its ruin.  Perhaps there is a solution of the enigma\nhere.  Perhaps the use of Scripture as the prime material of our early\neducation has generated a better morality among us, and precluded the\nadmission of certain forms of evil, little consonant to national\ngreatness or national welfare, from which we see other countries,\ndifferently schooled, are not exempt.  On this head, while avoiding undue\npretension, we would not choose to say less than truth permits.  With all\nthe deductions to be allowed in disparagement of our claim to a high\nplace in the scale of morals absolutely, we have yet, as compared with\nother countries,\u2014a conscience, a sense namely of right and wrong,\npervading the bulk of the people, and leavening the land with a wholesome\nmorality,\u2014we are not habituated to treat suicide as a virtue, {34}\u2014our\nfunctionaries, as a body, are not venal,\u2014we are not dangerous to the\nState when we meet in numbers beyond two or three,\u2014and we are not\nincapable of self-government.  M. de Montalembert, in his late work on\nthe Future of England, while generously doing homage to the greatness of\nthis country, the destinies of which he undertakes to decide, has not\nadverted to this high moral and religious training as supplying any\nexplanation of the phenomenon: perhaps deeming his own country to be not\nless amply supplied with the means of religious culture.  On this point\nwe are at issue with him, if such is his opinion.  In France, as in\nCatholic countries generally,\u2014and it must be confessed in some Protestant\ncountries too,\u2014it is not so decidedly a religious or moral, as an\necclesiastical and conventual training, that is accorded; one, that is,\nwhich, while it overlays the memory with dogmas, and deals in technical\nand artificial requirements, leaves the conscience all but uninformed,\nand morality, as a pervading, practical, germinating principle, almost a\nnon-entity. {35}\n\n_Paullo majora canamus_.  The time is come when countries, as such, need\nto be educated no less really than smaller bodies and isolated\nindividuals.  Countries are brought now almost into as close contact with\none another as individual members of the same commonwealth; and the\nidentical principle that inculcates the education of individuals\u2014that,\nnamely, of mutual self-defence and reciprocal advantage\u2014applies to the\naggregation of individuals in a nation.  The times of ignorance picture\nto us man as a savage, a terror to his neighbours, and everywhere an\nobject of rightful destruction.  Education became a necessity, if he\nwould be safe from violence, or reap advantage from the society of his\nfellow.  The picture presented by the history of nations in relation to\none another is substantially the same.  There has been little improvement\nin this respect yet visible.  Nor has the necessity for it seemed urgent,\nwhile the nations were separated by the natural obstacles of their\nposition, and their means of mutual annoyance in a corresponding degree\ncircumscribed.  Science has now removed these obstacles, and the nations\nare brought into immediate contiguity and contact, while their means of\nmutual annoyance have been enormously and frightfully multiplied.\nStartling it is to think of the growing power of nations for evil, and\ninflicting evil upon one another, in the present temper and _morale_ of\nthe nations.  Surely we may say the time has come for providing a remedy\nappropriate to so fearful a crisis.  There is none that occurs to us so\nsure as a system of instruction that recognizes as its basis a _sanctity_\nin the relations of state with state, and lodges deep in the consciences\nof the several people those great principles of justice, truth, and\nbenevolence, in which God has indissolubly bound up all human happiness,\nwhether of nations or of individuals.  Unhappily there is so much to\nunlearn on the subject of the relative duties of nations to one another\nbefore this good work can be proceeded in.  The sacred records have not\nbeen supposed to furnish any lessons on this branch of human duty, and\nnone have been sought for.  But\u2014\n\n    \u201cIn them is plainest taught and easiest learn\u2019d\n    What makes a Nation happy, and keeps it so.\u201d\n\n                                                        PARADISE REGAINED.\n\nEmbued with the conviction that we have the means adequate to the high\nends here proposed in these very records\u2014well understood and properly\ncarried out\u2014we have ventured upon these high themes in disregard of the\nimputation to which we may be subjected, with some plausibility, of\noverstating our cause.  We say with some plausibility, only as merging\nour feelings for the moment in the superficial view ordinarily taken of\nthe _real character_ of the religious element\u2014a view altogether ignored\nby the history of our race, and the peculiar phenomena of the times.  We\nmay add, it is unmistakably at variance with the consciousness of almost\nevery individual in Christendom, to whom it is no secret that religious\nquestions\u2014unless the interest has been neutralized by long neglect, or\nquashed by desperate violence\u2014exert a strange and engrossing power over\nhis soul.  In whatever way we look at it, it is a _power_, and in this\nview may even be perverted to evil.\n\n\u201cSuppose ye,\u201d says Christ, \u201cthat I am come to send peace upon earth?  I\ntell you, Nay, but rather division.\u201d {37a}  In deep sympathy with these\nwords, and in corroboration of the prophetic spirit by which they are\nmarked, are the following observations of Stanley, when summing up his\nreminiscences of the Lake of Galilee\u2014the toiling all night and catching\nnothing\u2014the great multitude of fishes, so that the net broke\u2014the casting\na hook for the first fish that came up\u2014the net cast into the sea, and\ngathering of every kind: \u201call these,\u201d says he, \u201care images which could\noccur nowhere else in Palestine but in this one spot, and which, from\nthat one spot, have now passed into the religious language of the\ncivilized world, _and in their remotest applications_, _or even\nmisapplications_, _have converted the nations_, _and shaken the thrones\nof Europe_.\u201d {37b}\n\nThus demonstrative it is that Religion is no weak, idle, evanescent\nfigment of man\u2019s imagination, but a real, substantial, controlling power,\nshaping his thoughts, it may be unconsciously, and blending itself with\nthe solid structure of society and nations.  Greece and Rome, it has been\nwell said, have attracted here and there a visitor, but only the Holy\nLand has provoked a crusade.  Nor is the evidence of its power to be\nfetched wholly from the records of the past; we think we see in it in our\nown days a germinating principle more potent than anything else now in\noperation to work great changes, and rival, at least, if it does not\nthrow into the shade, all that history has yet unfolded.  That this power\nmay be based in knowledge, and directed to a righteous end, unlike the\ncharacter oftentimes it bears on the page of the past, it may deserve\nsome consideration as a means to this end, whether we may not yet read\nour lesson to greater advantage, and educe from the sacred page a fuller\namount of good than in its present state it is calculated to afford.  And\nwe have the more confidence in urging our present suit, because we are\npersuaded that the boon we invoke will not long be unattended with other\nforms of active beneficence conducing to the same high ends.  The church\nwill almost simultaneously rouse herself to new exertion.  A yet more\neffective order of Religious Teaching than we can yet boast of\u2014from the\npulpit and the press, will probably be elicited.  And thus we shall\nevoke, not an isolated power waging dubious war against fearful odds, but\na CONFEDERATE force, equal, we will hope, to the crisis;\u2014a crisis such\nas, no one is so obtuse as not to see, demands something vastly in\nadvance of the elements at present available for neutralizing the fearful\nevils now festering at our core, or looming in the no distant horizon.\n\nSuch is our argument.  The sum is, that the Sacred Books are replete with\ngood, and that a just appreciation of what is due to our own interests,\nno less than gratitude for the gift itself, demands from us the\nconsecration of whatever further power Providence has, in these latter\ndays, conferred upon us to that end, to render that good in its utmost\nextent salutary and efficacious.\n\nAnd the time for action presses.  Already various undertakings are on\nfoot to supply the desired object: and there may be reason to fear, in\nthe failure of help from higher quarters, that some Society\u2014the Religious\nTract Society, for example, as suggested by the \u201cEdinburgh Review,\u201d thus\nfollowing up its recent excellent publication of the New Paragraph\nBible\u2014or some self-constituted body, as is this moment sitting in America\nfor this very purpose\u2014or individual scholars\u2014may appropriate the ground\nwe should rather reserve as the Special Sphere for the operations of the\nhighest Authority in the realm.\n\nIt only remains that we give utterance to our most fervent hope that this\ngreat work may signalize the reign of our beloved Queen.  It will not be\nthe least sparkling of the diamonds that will lend lustre to her crown.\nAll concurrent circumstances point to this as the fitting time, and to\nher Majesty as the appropriate individual to inaugurate the solemnity.\nReligious scruples have given way to a more enlightened and creditable\nfeeling, and a higher standard of religious truth than that afforded by\nthe present version is plainly a desideratum.  The reflections cast upon\nthe Protestant faith in the recent trials for Bible-burning in Ireland,\nauthorized in measure by the concessions of Protestants themselves to the\nfaultiness of the authorized version, wait to be removed.  Let her\nMajesty, following in this respect the example of James I., appoint to\nthis work a body of men the most qualified for the task the realm\naffords, and we cannot doubt the result will be a version of Holy\nScripture incomparably better than the present; thus supplying a fresh\ncause of exultation in her Majesty\u2019s rule, and a surpassing debt of\ngratitude to the hand that conferred the boon.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n _Extract from a Speech of M. Guizot at a late Meeting of the Protestant\n       Biblical Society in Paris_.  _See_ Times, _April_ 19, 1856.\n\n    \u201cWhether we consider the history of nations, or the private life of\n    individuals, the moral efficacy and salutary power of the holy books\n    glowingly manifest themselves.  Undoubtedly, even among nations where\n    it is assiduous and general, the reading of the holy books has not\n    the effect of stifling the bad passions of men; it does not obviate\n    all errors and faults.  Man remains full of weakness and vice, even\n    when conscious of the presence of God.  But the habitual reading of\n    the holy books preserves nations from the greatest perils; it\n    prevents them from forgetting God.  It has this advantage\u2014that God\n    remains for them, not an idea, a name, a system of philosophy, a\n    riddle, but the true and living God, under whose eye they constantly\n    live, amid the struggles and casualties of this world.\u201d\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n           Reed and Pardon, Printers, Paternoster Row, London.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES.\n\n\n{3}  A solitary voice, in the strict sense of the word, was raised by the\nRev. Canon Selwyn at the last meeting of Convocation (March, 1856).  The\nmotion was not suited to the _mollia tempora fandi_, perhaps.  But,\nwhatever the cause, there can be no doubt of the fitness of the hands\ninto which the motion fell, or that the day is far from being distant\nwhen the question will force itself on the notice of Convocation, in all\nprobability, in another shape.\n\n{4}  \u201cEssays, Moral and Literary,\u201d by Dr. Vicesimus Knox.  No. XLIX.\n\n{8a}  See Psalm xxii. throughout.  The difficulties attending the\n_entire_ application of the psalm to Christ are by no means insuperable.\nScott unreservedly refers the whole to Christ.  Adam Clarke dissents.\nPsalm lxix. is for the most part a manifest adumbration of the Messiah;\nand if the difficulties in the way of the entire application of the Psalm\nto Christ, presented in verse 5, where he is made _apparently_ to lament\nhis foolishness and his guilt, could be surmounted, a great boon, it is\nconceived, would be granted to all who desire to understand what they\nread.  The _representative_ scheme, besides being open to other\nobjections, has no explicit authority in the Scriptures to recommend it,\nand the _double sense_ is now all but universally abandoned.  Possibly,\nif the text will not yield in these cases, there are principles of\ninterpretation involved that await future development.\n\n{8b}  Gen. xlix. 21.  For, \u201cNaphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth\ngoodly words,\u201d read, \u201cNaphtali is a spreading Pine, that putteth forth\ngoodly boughs.\u201d  Psa. xxix. 9.  For, \u201cThe voice of the Lord maketh the\nhinds to calve, and discovereth the forests,\u201d read, \u201cThe voice of the\nLord rendeth the pines, and layeth bare the forests.\u201d  So Dr. Lee.  To\nsurrender the Bible, body and soul, into the hands of the Massorites, as\nis required by their pointing of these passages, is surely asking too\nmuch.  Let the reader peruse the _whole_ of the 29th Psalm, and determine\nthe fitness of the correction for himself, which he may very safely be\nallowed to do.  The former passage, if consistently carried out on the\nprinciples of the translators, would run, \u201cNaphtali is a hind let loose,\n_that_ giveth goodly words,\u201d in which the incongruousness of the metaphor\nwould, if possible, be still more manifest.  See Stanley\u2019s \u201cSyria and\nPalestine,\u201d p. 355.\n\n{10a}  See Preface to Herwitz\u2019 \u201cEtymology and Syntax of the Hebrew\nLanguage.\u201d\n\n{10b}  See Kitto\u2019s Bib. Cyc., art. Chronicles.  The whole article is very\nreassuring, considering the able and accomplished pen from which it\nproceeds.  The writer, Dr. Davidson, to whom the lovers of Biblical\nphilology are under the greatest obligations, deliberately asserts the\ncorruption of the passages in question, and advocates a reading in\nconformity with the corresponding statements in 2 Samuel and Kings.\n\n{11a}  Compare, among other instances in point that might be given, 1\nKings ix. 28 with 2 Chron. viii. 18.\n\n{11b}  If _no_ purification of the text should avail us in these cases,\nit would be advisable to accompany the change in the text with a note in\nthe margin explanatory of the corruptness of the reading that has been\nsuperseded.\n\n{13}  The change of accent the word undergoes in the original when\nrepeated in the second hemistich, gives marvellous emphasis to the\nexhortation\u2014an emphasis altogether lost in the translation.\n\n{14}  The application of this principle may go some way towards\nneutralizing the doubts that have been raised as to the identity of the\nIsaiah of the later portion of the prophecy with the Isaiah of the\nearlier portion.  See chap. lxiv. 10, 11.  One thing at least is evident,\nnamely, that the Apostle Paul, who was confessedly well read in Hebrew\nliterature, in his quotations from the latter portion of the prophecy,\nseems to have had no notion of any other Isaiah than that to whom the\nwhole prophecy is ordinarily ascribed.  See Rom. x. 16.  In fact, these\ndoubts, now complacently acquiesced in as valid by the Rationalistic\nSchool abroad and at home, were equally unknown to all the world till\nabout half a century ago.  The general reader may content himself with\nDr. Alexander\u2019s candid and able investigation of the question in his\nrecent Commentary on Isaiah.\n\n{15}  The uses of the particle \u05d5 in combination with the verb.  Let the\nHebrew student consult the masterly investigation and elucidation of this\nsubject in the Hebrew Grammar recently published by Messrs. Mason and\nBernard, Vol. II. chapters 51\u201355.\n\n{17a}  This rendering is faulty as not providing for the emphatic\npersonal pronoun \u201che\u201d in the original.\n\n{17b}  Niphal in the sense of the Hithpael conjugation.  See Gen. xvi. 9.\n\n{17c}  The original will not admit of this rendering, though the sense is\nnot objectionable.\n\n{17d}  There is great difficulty here.  The word rendered _impious_, and\ninserted in brackets, signifies _rich_, mostly with an accessory notion\nof violence and wrong; but the parallel clause, \u201cHe made his grave with\nthe wicked,\u201d and the further expression, \u201cHe was numbered with the\ntransgressors,\u201d in the last verse, seem to justify the sense here given;\nand so it has been understood by some rabbins and other commentators, as\nLuther, Calvin, Gesenius.  See Matt. xix. 23.  We confess we are not\nsatisfied.  The common reading that represents Christ as rewarded with a\ngrave among the rich, _because_, forsooth, he had done no violence, &c.,\nis surely inadmissible.\n\n{18a}  So, \u2018A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,\u2019 v. 3.\n\n{18b}  _Intercedes_ in the present, because his intercession is a\n_continuous_ act.  This distinction of tense as contradistinguished from\nthe past tense in the use of the preceding verb _he bore_, expressing a\ntransaction _once_ and _finally_ concluded, so conspicuous in the\noriginal, is entirely overlooked in the authorized version; so Calvin,\nVitringa, Lowth, Henderson, Jones, Barnes, &c.  This concurrence in the\ninterpretation of the authorized version is especially to be wondered at\nin the more recent of the above-named critics.  Messrs. Mason and Bernard\ngive, less happily we think, _that he might make_, &c.  Dr. Alexander,\nNew Jersey, favours the view adopted in the amended version.  See his\nadmirable Commentary on Isaiah.\n\n{19}  A Hebraism lurks here.  So, \u201cPraise the Lord, O my soul, and forget\nnot ANY of his benefits;\u201d and not \u201c_all_ his benefits,\u201d as our\ntranslation has it.  So again, \u201cAnd God gave Cain a mark, lest ANY\nfinding him should kill him,\u201d where the _same_ word is rightly rendered.\nPs. ciii. 2; Gen. iv. 15.\n\n{24a}  Various divisions, both of the Old and New Testaments, were in use\nfrom the earliest period, but the present divisions into Chapters and\nVerses are ascribed, the former, with some hesitation, to Stephen\nLangton, Archbishop of Canterbury, about the middle of the thirteenth\ncentury; the latter to Robert Stephens, a Frenchmen, about the middle of\nthe sixteenth century.  See art. Scripture in Kitto\u2019s Biblical\nCyclop\u00e6dia.\n\n{24b}  In an elaborate translation of the whole of this prophecy, in the\nHebrew Grammar recently published by Messrs. Mason and Bernard, the\nauthors conceive the opening passage, \u201c_Who hath believed our report_,\u201d\n&c., to express the awe and wonder of the kings mentioned in the previous\nchapter at the events they are supposed to witness, and accordingly they\nrender it, \u201c_Who hath believed our hearing_\u201d &c., the tidings, that is,\nthat have reached us, the kings aforesaid.  But, with all due respect for\nthe translation generally, we are unable to accept this view of the\npassage before us, conceiving it to be far-fetched, and opposed to the\npurpose for which, in so many words, it is quoted in the New Testament.\nSee John xii. 37; Rom. x. 16.\n\n{25a}  In like manner Jacob, in the course of predicting the future\nfortunes of his sons, exclaims parenthetically, \u201cI have waited for thy\nsalvation, O Lord.\u201d  Gen. xlix. 18.\n\n{25b}  This article has since been republished in a separate form, under\nthe title of the \u201cPresent State of the English Bible,\u201d by the Rev.\nWilliam Harness, A.M.  It will well repay repeated perusal by all those\nwho are interested in this pre-eminently interesting question.\n\n{28}  Let the reader advert for a moment, in connexion with the argument\nfor the evidences of Christianity, to the ASSUMPTIONS ordinarily and\npersistently made by Christ in relation to his person and mission, and\nthen conceive of the _frightful arrogance_ involved in these assumptions,\nsupposing them to be unfounded; coupling this thought at the same time\nwith that perfect sobriety of mind and even tenor of a uniformly staid\nand well-balanced deportment by which he was pre-eminently characterized.\n_We_ do not find these assumptions in the slightest degree startling or\nincredible, because they comport in our minds with the WHOLE character of\nChrist as developed in the gospel.  Where the evidence of Messiahship\nfailed among his own countrymen, if there were any failure of _evidence_,\nwe may advert for the solution, among other considerations, to their\nblind disregard to the perfect compatibility and harmony of these\nassumptions with the other features of Messiah as exhibited by Christ.\nHere are a few of the expressions alluded to, all taken from the earlier\nchapters of St. John\u2019s Gospel:\u2014\n\n\u201cFor as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the\nSon quickeneth whom he will.\u201d  \u201cThat all men should honour the Son, even\nas they honour the Father.\u201d  \u201cThe bread of God is he which came down from\nheaven, and giveth life unto the world.\u201d  \u201cAnd this is the will of Him\nthat sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him,\nmay have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.\u201d  \u201cI\nam the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in\ndarkness, but shall have the light of life.\u201d  \u201cI and my Father are one.\u201d\n\u201cJesus saith unto her, I am the resurrection and the life: he that\nbelieveth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever\nliveth and believeth in me shall never die.\u201d\u2014How Christ should have\npreferred SUCH claims without legitimate authority, and ample power to\nsubstantiate them, is a question to which we cannot divine an answer.\n\n{30}  Some striking illustrations of this position are to be found in the\nAppendix to Mr. Stanley\u2019s recent volume on Sinai and Palestine.  This\nAppendix consists of a vocabulary of topographical words in Hebrew and\nEnglish.  Great care has been taken in giving the precise English for the\ncorresponding Hebrew term.  Referring to the previous part of his work,\nhe says, \u201cI have often had occasion to refer to the richness and\nprecision of the local vocabulary of the Hebrew language.  In the\nauthorized version this is unfortunately lost; not so much by the\nincorrect rendering of any particular word, as by the promiscuous use of\nthe same English word for different Hebrew words, or of different English\nwords for the same Hebrew word.\u201d  And again: \u201cThe geographical passages\nof the Bible seem to shine with new light as these words acquire their\nproper force.  How keenly, for example, are we led to notice the early\ntendency to personify and treat as living creatures the great objects of\nnature, when we find that the \u2018springs\u2019 are the \u2018eyes,\u2019 the bright,\nglistening, life-giving eyes of the thirsty East; that the mountains have\nnot merely summits and sides, but \u2018heads,\u2019 \u2018shoulders,\u2019 \u2018ears,\u2019 \u2018ribs,\u2019\n\u2018loins,\u2019 &c.\u201d  This whole Appendix is deeply interesting to the Hebrew\nstudent.  He must feel at the same time how much the mere English student\nof Scripture suffers in the absence of the same knowledge.\n\n{31}  \u201cThey who have access to the Scriptures in the original are . . .\nendowed with ten talents, compared with which the power of reading them\nin our authorized version is but one.  The right improvement of the one\ntalent will ensure to its possessor the end of his faith, even the\nsalvation of his soul; but this does not render guiltless those who have\ngreater talents if, from supineness and indolence, they neglect to use\nthe enlarged means with which they are gifted for attaining to the\nknowledge of the truth.\u201d\u2014\u201cIntroduction to the Greek Testament, with\nGrammatical and Exegetical Notes, by William Webster, M.A., and William\nFrancis Wilkinson, M.A.,\u201d p. xvi.  The above work has special claims upon\nthat numerous class who, with little time for elaborate research, are\nglad to obtain the _results_ of a thorough critical investigation of the\nlanguage and teaching of the New Testament.\n\n{34}  The following is from Lewes\u2019s \u201cLife of Goethe,\u201d just published.\nThe words in double inverted commas are those of Goethe himself: \u2018\u201cI had\na large collection of weapons, and among them a very handsome dagger.\nThis I placed by my bedside every night, and before extinguishing my\ncandle I made various attempts to pierce the sharp point a couple of\ninches into my breast; but not being able to do it I laughed myself out\nof the notion,\u201d &c.  He played with suicidal thoughts, because he was\nrestless, _and suicide was a fashionable speculation of the day_,\u2019 &c. .\n. . In October, 1772 the report reaches him that his Wetzlau friend,\nGou\u00e9, has shot himself.  \u201cWrite to me at once about Gou\u00e9,\u201d he says to\nKestner, \u201c_I honour such an act_, _and pity mankind_,\u201d &c.\u2014Vol. I. p.\n197.  There is more to this abominable purpose in the sequel.  Such was\nGoethe, a man sprung from the people, not the offspring of an effete\nnoblesse, and at a time of life when the very thought of self-destruction\nis most alien to all the instincts of nature,\u2014\u2018a canker in youth,\u2019\u2014and\nwith no taint of constitutional melancholy in his system.  Goethe\u2019s\ngenius was a sea of glass, capable of reflecting the rays cast upon it\nfrom without with unusual brilliancy; but, unlike our Shakspeare, devoid\nof independent power of originating _new_ thought.  Thus he _reflected_\nall his days the prevailing fashion of his time, and thus he but\n_re-enacts_ the sentimentalism of the hour in his suicidal lucubrations.\n\n{35}  The policy of Pericles may be considered in relation to the causes\nthat aggrandize a people.  His notion seems to have been that to awaken\ngreat deeds in a nation you must supply it with great and noble thoughts.\nHence his magnificent public buildings, his lavish cultivation of the\narts, and even the attention he paid to the amusements of the people, to\nmake them subservient to refinement and purity of taste.  But \u00e6sthetics\nalone do not make a great people.\u2014See Thuc. II., 38, 39.\n\n{37a}  Luke xii. 51.\n\n{37b}  Sinai and Palestine, p. 369.","title":"Biblical Revision: considerations in favour of a revised translation of Holy Scripture","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":13845}