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A SCHOLARLY TESTIMONY TO THE EXCELLENCY OF THE KJV |
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By
Alfred Nevin, D.D. |
| Author
of Spiritual Progression, Churches of the Valley, Guide to the Oracles
and other worthy 19th century religious treatises. “It is admitted on all hands that the received English version of the Bible far excels every other translation. If accuracy, fidelity, and the strictest attention to the text, says Dr. Geddes, be supposed to constitute the qualities of an excellent version, this, of all versions, must, be accounted most excellent. Every sentence, every word, every syllable, every letter, and every point, seem to have been weighed with the nicest exactitude, and expressed either in the text or in the margin, with the greatest precision. There is no book, says the illustrious Selden, so translated as the Bible for the purpose. If I translate a French book into English, I turn it into English phrase, not French English. Il fait froid; I say ‘tis cold’, not, makes cold. But the Bible is rather translated into English words than into English phrase. The Hebraisms are kept, and the phrase of that language is kept. The style of our present version, says Bishop Middleton, is incomparably superior to anything which might be expected from the finical and perverted tastes of our own age. It is simple, it is harmonious, it is energetic, and, which is of no small importance, use has made it familiar, and time has rendered it sacred. Bishop Lowth himself, whose literary taste is known to have been of the most pure and classical order, has not hesitated to pronounce it ‘the best standard of our language.’ Bishop Horsley represents it to have been the means of enriching and adorning the English tongue, by its close adherence to the Hebrew idiom. And Dr. Clarke, author of the commentary on the Bible, says: --‘Those who have compared most of the European translations with the original, have not scrupled to say, that the English translation of the Bible, made under the direction of King James the First, is the most accurate and faithful of the whole.’ Nor is this its only praise: the translators have seized the very spirit and soul of the original, and expressed this almost everywhere with pathos and energy. They have, also, not only made a standard translation, but they have made their translation the standard of our language. While, therefore, we would most earnestly encourage every effort, on the part of all who have it in their power to prosecute the study of the Scriptures in their original tongue, --while we feel that the Church has a right to expect this of those who are set for the defense of the gospel, we are very sure, that the result of all such investigations will be to heighten confidence in the present version, and fill the heart with unfeigned gratitude to God, for that blessed book which we now enjoy, and, which for nearly two centuries and a half, has been pouring its light and consolation wherever the English tongue is spoken. Let science toil, and diligence labor in original investigation—for the Hebrew Scriptures are a mine of solid and inexhaustible gold, where giants dig for ages—let literature hold up her torch, and cast all possible light upon the sacred text, but we must and ever shall deprecate any wanton attack upon our received version [KJV]—any gratuitous attempts to supersede it by a new and different translation. It is the GOOD OLD English Bible, with which associated all our earliest recollections of religion. As such, let it go down unchanged to the latest posterity. Let us give it in charge to coming generations, and bid them welcome to all the blessings it has conveyed to us. Let it be our fervent prayer, that the light of the resurrection morning may shine on the very book which we now read,--that we may then behold again the familiar face of our own Bible, the very same which we read in childhood.” Guide to the Oracles or The Bible Student’s Vade-Mecum, by Alfed Nevin, D.D., 1857 |
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| April – May 2004 The Fundamentalist Digest; Permission granted for reprint, so long as proper credit is given. The above item is a sample of the numerous timely articles that are contained in the bi-monthly issues of The Fundamentalist Digest. |
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