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Untitled Article
been less attentively studied ., and less cordially and extensively adopted as the rule of life , than they ; ire at present . The difficulties which
necessarily result from the nature of the rccords from the peculiar circumstances under which they were composed , from the intellectual biases of the authors , and the character and situation of those for whose use thev were intended * have been greatly increased by the ignorance and prepossessions of
the readers , and by their inattention to some of the most plain and obvious principles of criticism . Ignorant or unmindful .. of the phraseology of the times , the peculiarities of the particular
composition , the prevalent opinions and practices , and above all , the religious opinions and phraseology of the Jews , persons have supposed that the N . T . writers used words and expressions in the same sense , with the same latitude and
force of expression ^ with which they themselves employ them ; and have , accordingly interpreted the scriptures in a way inconsistent , not only with the allowed principles of reasoning on other subjects ,
and with the most obvious deductions from what we know of the nature and attributes of God , but also with the express representations of other parts oi
scripture . What is obscure must be interpreted , if it can , by what is clear ; but the plan which
theologians have too frequently adopted , is to interpret the passages which are obscure by their own pre-formed opinions , ( without first examining whether they were or could be the opinions of the writer , ) aad then to transform the
Untitled Article
most simple truths into mysteri £ s in order to make these also suit : their system . . It ma } ' with strict truth be affirmed , that a correct translation of the N . T . is fundamentally requisite for a correct and
generally diffused understanding of that important volume . Even those whose attention is considerably directed to the original , necessarily have their interpretation of it much warped by the ideas which
are forced upon them by a translation , the words of which are fa- * miliar to them from their infancy , and which they continually hear in public worship , and probably use in their families and in private ? . But the unlearned reader will
deprive his knowledge of the 'N . T . almpst entirely from a translation ; and in so far as that translation is incorrect , ( whether from the want
of the requisite information , or from the theological biases of th ^ translators , ) will his notions on the subject be defective or erroneous . We have no doubt that
some of the mo § t glaring departures from Christian truth , arc principally supported by the words of the ^ authorized version , where
the phraseology of the original would justif y no such interpretation . And separate entirely from errors as to Christian faith , ther # is a no small number of cases in
which the illiterate must form false ideas of the import of words and phrases , in consequence of the changes which havte * within the la $ t two centuries taken place in out
own language , or of the transactors having been ignorant of , or inattentive to , the peculiarities in the phraseology of the origina l * If to these considerations jie add-
Untitled Article
98 Review . —Improved Version of the New Testament .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1809, page 98, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1733/page/42/
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