BIBLE, KEVISION OF THE ENGLISH VERSION OF. 



dally of the German Tischendorf, were bringing 

 near the time, a little while before apparently 

 so remote, for educing order out of the chaos 

 of New-Testament various readings, and were 

 making the speedy formation of a substantially 

 reliable Greek text an object of reasonable hope. 

 About the year 1869 matters seemed ripe 

 for action. Dean Alford and Bishop Ellicott, 

 unwearied in their devotion to Biblical (and 

 especially New Testament) studies, procuring 

 the efficient support of Bishop Wilberforce, 

 took measures to inaugurate the work. There 

 was doubt at first about the best mode of pro- 

 ceeding. They contemplated procuring a royal 

 commission, in accordance with the precedent 

 substantially furnished by the revision of 1611, 

 a measure which it was especially hoped would 

 obviate the difficulty naturally attending the 

 selection of the members of the revising body. 

 For various reasons this plan was abandoned, 

 and it was decided to be most fitting to bring 

 the subject before the church in whose bosom 

 the existing version had been born and nurt- 

 ured. Accordingly, on Feb. 10, 1870, the Bish- 

 op of Winchester (Wilberforce) moved, and the 

 Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol (Ellicott) sec- 

 onded, in the Convocation of Canterbury, the 

 following resolution : 



^ a committee of both houses be appointed, 

 with power to confer with any committee that may be 

 appointed by the Convocation of the Northern Prov- 

 ince, to report upon the desirableness of a revision of 

 the Authorized Version of the New Testament, 

 whether by marginal notes or otherwise, in all those 

 passages where plain and clear errors, whether in the 

 Greek text originally adopted by the translators, or in 

 the translation made from the same, shall on due in- 

 vestigation be found to exist. 



The resolution was afterward extended to 

 the Old Testament, and passed with substan- 

 tial unanimity. It was reported to, and con- 

 curred in by, the Lower House, and a joint 

 committee of the two bodies met March 24, 

 1870, and drew up, as their report, the follow- 

 ing resolutions : 



1. That it is desirable that a revision of the Author- 

 ized Version of the Holy Scriptures be undertaken. 



2. That the revision be so conducted as to comprise 

 both marginal renderings and such emendations as it 

 may be found necessary to insert in the text of the 

 Authorized Version. 



3. That in the above resolutions we do not contem- 

 plate any new translation of the Bible, or any altera- 

 tion of the language, except where, in the judgment 

 of the most competent scholars, such change is neces- 

 sary. 



4. That, in such necessary changes, the style of the 

 language employed in the existing version be closely 

 followed. 



5. _ That it is desirable that Convocation should 

 nominate a body of its own members to undertake 

 the work of revision, who shall be at liberty to invite 

 the co-operation of any eminent for scholarship, to 

 whatever nation or religious body they may belong. 



The subject, in the mean time, had been dis- 

 cussed in the Convocation of York, but had 

 failed to meet the concurrence of that body, 

 of which, however, individual members gave 

 it their cordial co-operation. 



In May following the report was presented, 



and a committee was appointed from the Up- 

 per and Lower Houses to consider and report 

 a plan of revision on the principles above laid 

 down, and was authorized to invite the co- 

 operation of distinguished Biblical scholars out- 

 side of the Establishment. This committee at 

 once divided itself into two companies for the 

 Old and New Testaments respectively, complet- 

 ed the list of working members by careful selec- 

 tions from the dissenting religious bodies, and 

 drew up the general and special rules that were 

 to guide their labors. The two companies met in 

 June, 1870, in the Deanery of Westminster, and 

 held their sessions four days every month. The 

 New Testament Company held its meetings in 

 the Jerusalem Chamber (where the Westminster 

 Assembly had met), and was presided over by 

 Bishop Ellicott, who held the chairmanship 

 during the ten and a half years of its exist- 

 ence. The Rev. J. Troutbeck, one of the 

 minor canons of Westminster, was the secre- 

 tary. Arrangements were made with the offi- 

 cials of the Oxford and Cambridge University 

 presses, by which they received the exclusive 

 right of publishing the completed revision, and 

 met all its necessary expenses. Everything 

 now proceeded smoothly and with due rapid- 

 ity. The list of members embraced a large 

 number of those who, both in and out of the 

 Establishment, were reputed among the most 

 eminent in the kingdom for Biblical scholar- 

 ship. Their mode of proceeding which was 

 to discuss freely and thoroughly, while seated 

 around a table, the questions of criticism and 

 translation that had been separately considered 

 during the intervals of the meetings, and de- 

 cide by a majority vote insured in the main 

 a satisfactory result. There would of course 

 be cases in which the law of ponderare non 

 numerare would have been preferable. The 

 final vote was made still more conservative by 

 the requisition of a majority of two thirds for 

 any change from the old version. No existing 

 Greek text was adopted as a standard. With 

 critical scholars like Tregelles, Westcott, Hort, 

 and Scrivener, either present or accessible, 

 they could safely determine the text for them- 

 selves. Tregelles, indeed, was never able, from 

 illness, to attend the meetings, and Dean Alford 

 was early withdrawn by death from the work 

 to which his heart and life had been given. But 

 a long list of distinguished names in the two 

 companies taken in connection with their re- 

 markable punctuality in attendance guaran-* 

 tees the fidelity and ability with which their 

 work was prosecuted. The following names 

 comprise the entire British committee of revis- 

 ion, as finally constituted, excluding those who 

 declined or died, and including the ex-officio 

 members : 



OLD-TESTAMENT COMPANY. 



The Right Rev. the Bishop of BATH and WELLS, Pal- 

 ace, Wills, Somerset, 



The Right Rev. the Bishop of ELY, Palace, Ely. 



The Right Rev. the Bishop of LLANDAFF, Bishop's 

 Court, Llandaff. 



