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nifcst of which hate besn detected in the modem Versions , dae instance shall suffice . Dean Swift preached a Sermon on the Three Witnesses * in St . John ' s First Epistle ; from whence he endeavoured to deduce the
Athanasian doctrine * the Sermon remains , hut the text is acknowledged to be spurious , by the most orthodox writers . The reader is desired not hastily to conclude , that there is any inconsistency if * these remarks . The sum is this ^ ^ mr authorized Version is an
invaluable treasure , which , nevertheless , requires a revision ; and which circumstance it is to be hoped , will , in due time , engage the attention of those whom it may concern ; for this , as it should seem . Is a case in which
Christian magistrates and Christian legislatures may lawfully interfere , without being chargeable with intrusion ; a case in which kings and queens may truly become * ' nursing fathers and nursing mothers to the church /' namel y > by taking proper measures
to provide for the body of Christian professors ^ in the respective communities over which they preside , a faithful , plain and judicious translation into their native language of the Holy Scriptures : and let those persons who shall , hereafter , be engaged in . this
great work in our own land , whether cleric or laic , proceed with all imaginable delicacy , with a wholesome fear and caution as to the particulars here enumerated , which appear to
comprise the chief of what is wanting ; not departing from the simplicity , energy and pathos , of the venerable volume bequeathed to us by our forefathers , without absolute necessity , lest thek work meet with the fate of
some of the modern humble attempts , " either to drop still-born from the press , or , to remain in the libraries of the learned , apt indeed for consultation , but totally unfit for general use . R .
P . S . Lawrence HowePs History of the Bible , 1718 , contains many useful hints on this subject , particularly as to , the mistakes in numerals in the Old-Testament History of Jephthah , &c , which astonish the plain reader , and furnish matter for the sneer of the sceptic .
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Dn Evans ' s Final Remarks on Irving * s Orations . 21 &
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Islington , Si * , April IOS 1824 . HAVE read with pleasure thg I Rev . Edward living ' s Orations for the Oracles of God , &c , but not with a blind and indiscriminate admiration .
I am not insensible of the defects by which they are characterized , ami which have been censured with the utmost severity . His critics have especially reprobated his use of antiquated words and obsolete expressions * drawn from Jeremy Taylor , from
Isaac Barrow , and more particularly from John Milton's prose and poetry . Some , however , have commended his peculiarity of style , whilst others altogether denounce it . In my bumble opinion , a middle course should be steered , just such a course as Pope thus happily delineates in his
Postscript to the Odyssey . As I have not the pleasure of personally knowing * the Rev . Mr . Irving , I will transcribe the paragraph , that it may reach him through the medium of your widelycirculating Miscellany . Influenced by mo hostility to his preaching or authorship , he may , probably , thank me for it . Caressed and admired as
he is by a large portion of the relig ious world , 1 am persuaded that , lie is not , like a spoiled child , unsusceptible of improvement . "A just and moderate mixture of old words , " ( says Mr . Pope , ) < € mayhave an effect , like the working of old
abbey-stones into a building , which I have sometimes seen to give a kind of venerable air , and yet not destroy the neatness , elegance , and equality requisite to a new work , I mean without rendering it too unfamiliar or remote from the present purity of
writing , or from that ease and smoothness which ought always to accompany narration or dialogue . In reading a style judiciously antiquated , one finds a pleasure not unlike that of travelling on an old Roman way , but then the road must be as good as the
way is ancient , the style must be such , in which we may evenly proceed without being put to short stops by sudden abruptnesses , or puzzled by frequent turnings and transpositions . No man delights in farrows and stumbling blocks ; and let our love of antiquity be ever so great , a fine ruin is one thing , and an heap of rubbish
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1824, page 215, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2523/page/23/
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