PREFACE

TH

HE present work is the result of an effort to remedy some of the infelicities and defects of the familiar versions of the collection of writings commonly called "The New Testament," -properly, "The New Dispensation." While the recent Revision has merits, at the same time it is generally acknowledged that it has serious imperfections, in consequence of which it has failed to satisfy the Christian public.

It is often very difficult to express in good English what appears to be the exact shade of meaning of the Greek; and it is sometimes difficult to determine just what was the thought in the mind of the writer. Consequently, the translation as written is not always entirely satisfactory to the translator himself. Still, an effort has been made, in the present work, in the first place to ascertain, if possible, the thought of the writers, and then to express such thought correctly, in language which should be acceptable to both the ordinary reader and the scholar, with as little deviation from a literal rendering as practicable, at the same time retaining in good measure the familiar style of the older version.

In order to do this, some freedom has been used in respect to idiom, and in the rendering of tenses and particles, also in the arrangement of clauses; redundant words have been sometimes omitted, and words obviously implied have been inserted; obsolete and antiquated words and forms of expression, found in the older versions, as well as words whose signification has become changed,

have been replaced by others; mistranslations have been corrected; and euphemistic language has been used in some instances. Parenthetic clauses have been so indicated. Punctuation has been carefully revised. Alternative renderings and occasional explanations are given in the foot-notes.

The spelling of proper names is a problem of some difficulty, in view of the various and conflicting claims of the Hebrew, the Greek, the Latin, and the English languages. The familiar forms have been retained, in general, although these sometimes fail to do justice to the originals.

The Greek text of Westcott and Hort has been followed in general, but not exclusively. Use has been made of all the critical helps available, but none have been implicitly followed, the author having exercised his own judgment in deciding between different renderings of a Greek word, and between different readings of the manuscripts. The intrinsic probabilities in favor of a given reading have sometimes prevailed, notwithstanding the fact that such reading is not found in the older copies, or is not sustained by a majority of the known manuscripts. A comparatively late manuscript, though not accepted as one of the best, may be in the main a copy of one more ancient than the earliest we have, and may give the true reading in some such cases.

The careful student will occasionally find words or passages which appear to be additions or interpolations by other hands than the original writers, although found in the manuscripts which are considered the best. It is not probable that many such, if any, have been made with a deliberate intention to give to the text an essentially different meaning from that intended by the writers. Some were, no doubt, marginal notes or comments made by one hand, and copied into the text by a later hand, with the supposition that they belonged there, and had been omitted by a previous copy