Wiseacres must be meddling

Charles Waters Banks, English Strict & Particular Baptist and long-time editor of The Earthen Vessel, comments on the English revision of the Bible.

“The Revised Translation of the Bible has been criticised rather keenly by Dr. Parker, in his City Temple. We certainly tremble for the results. At present we only say two things; first, the spirit, the providence, and the sovereign pleasure of the eternal God, have made our blessed Bible an instrument of life, light, and joy, to many millions of souls; and, in the Lord’s hand, to his own family, it is, and will be, a precious book still. Secondly, as our age is now so preeminently learned, that neither the Bible, nor the Gospel, nor anything else is advanced enough for it, we would pray the true disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, to purchase all the Bibles they possibly can, and give to every child copies for themselves, and for their children; most earnestly beseeching them to hand them down to future generations; for soon, it may be, our Christ-exalting and truth-unfolding Bible, will cease to be printed. While we can, let us secure as many as we can, and as heir-looms, hand them down to those who come after us.”

The Earthen Vessel and Christian Record for 1871, Volume XXVII, 1871, London: Robert Banks, March 1, 1871, p. 86

“If the Spirit of God does not lead the enlightened mind into God’s meaning of any text, all the revisions of cosmopolitan revisers will do no soul any spiritual good. But wiseacres must be meddling.”

“Mr. John Hazelton, the long-known and beloved minister of Mount Zion, Clerkenwell, delivered a clear and excellent exposition of that precious Scripture in Heh. xiii, 5. ‘For He bath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.’ The Newlv Revised Version reads: ‘I will in no wise fail thee; neither will I, in any wise, forsake thee.’ We love our ‘Authorised Version’ so dearly, that we cannot cordially receive the cooler, quieter, plained-down revision. We listened most intently to Mr. Hazelton’s comprehensive, and thoroughly soul-refreshing, text-analysing discourse.”

The Earthen Vessel and Christian Record for 1882, Volume XXXVIII, 1882, London: Robert Banks, pp. 88, 160.