Proposed Revision of the Scriptures, York, 1870

The York Herald (February 26, 1870) carries a report of the (Church of England) Convocation of the Province of York, held Tuesday, February 22-24, 1870.

On Wednesday, February 23, 1870, the Convocation debated the “Proposed Revision of the Scriptures.” “The Rev. Canon Hey moved the appointment of a committee to confer “with the committee which had been appointed by the Southern province” (Convocation of Canterbury). “Ven. Archdeacon Cust” seconded the motion. In his discussion of the motion, Canon Hey stated “any sort of tampering unnecessarily with the venerable version of the English Bible—any sort of tinkering, if he might use the expression, would be almost like pulling the tracery of the windows in the magnificent building in which they were assembled, and replacing them with sash windows.” He, however, did not believe that such tinkering was the intent of the Southern province and though it desirable to meet with them in committee. The Bishop of Carlisle moved an amendment, below.

 

The York Herald, Saturday, February 26, 1870, p. 9

The President (of the Convocation, the Archbishop of York William Thomson ) stated that “The Bible was a bond which linked them not only to Nonconformists in our own country—from whom they were too much estranged—but to people under other skies, and living under other governments, and it was not to be expected that that which was common property to be disposed of otherwise than by all those to whom it belonged.” He thought there was no necessity to alter and modify the Bible, and that “to attempt at this particular time to translate the New Testament from any sources would be to select the worst occasion that could be selected for a work which required caution and prudence.” He was surprised “by the movement on this question in the Southern Convocation,” and “urged that there was no reason for it, and that the public were not pressing for it. He strongly supported the amendment, and asked them to keep the Bible, which notwithstanding all that had been said, was a good and excellent translation, was full of nerve, and bone, and sinew...”

The amendment against appointing a committee on the revision of the Bible “carried by a large majority, six voting against it.”