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SACRED WRITINGS

OF

THE APOSTLES AND EVANGELISTS

OF

JESUS CHRIST,

COMMONLY STYLED

THE NEW TESTAMENT.

TRANSLATED FROM THE

Original Greek,

BY DOCTORS GEORGE CAMPBELL, JAMES MACKNIGHT AND

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WESTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA, to wit:

Be it remembered, that on the sixth day of August, Anno Domini, 1832, Alexander Campbell, of the said District, hath deposited in this Office the Title of a book, the title of which is in the words following, to wit: "The Sacred Writings of the Apostles and Evangelists of Jesus Christ, commonly styled the New Testament. Translated from the original Greek, by Doctors George Campbell, James Macknight, and Philip Doddridge. With Prefaces, various Emendations, and an Appendix cwtaining various Translations of difficult Passages, some Critical Notes on the Language, Geography, Chronology, and History, of the New Testament; and Miscellaneous Tables, designed to aid every candid Reader of the Volume in acquiring a satisfactory knowledge of its contents. By Alexander Campbell. Third Edition, revised and enlarged."

the right whereof he claims as Proprietor, in conformity to an Act of Congress, entitled an Act to amend the several Acts respecting Copyrights JASPER YEATES DODDRIDGE,

Clerk of the Western District of Virginia.

1, Jasper Yeates Doddridge, Clerk of the United States' Court for the Western District of Virginia, hereby certify, that the foregoing is a true copy of a Copyright, as the same is duly of record in my Office.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name and affixed the Seal of the said Court at Clarksburg, this sixth day of L. 5.1 August, in the year of our Lord 1832, and in the 57th year f the independence of the United States of America. J. Y. DODDRIDGE, Clerk.

S'ereotyped by J. A. James. Cincinnati.

Mip, 11-3 29

GENERAL PREFACE.

AN APOLOGY FOR A NEW TRANSLATION.

A LIVING language is continually changing. Like the fashions and customs in apparel, words and phrases at one time current and fashionable, in the lapse of time become awkward and obsolete. But this is not all. Many of them, in a century or two, come to have a signification very dif ferent from that which was once attached to them. Nay, some are known to convey ideas not only different from, but contrary to, their first signification. And were it not for books and parchments which preserve, from one generation to another, the language of the dead, and transmit, from father to son, the words and sentences of past times; it is not improbable that, in one generation, a living language would undergo as many mutations, and admit of as many innovations, as it now does in two or three hundred years. Books, written in a style that obtains the reputa tion of being both correct and elegant, serve to give stabil ity to language. They are to language, what strong-holds and fortresses are to a country. Yet even these the cankering hand of time moulders away, and they cease to be a defence against invasion and revolution. And books, how ever reputable as the standard of a living tongue, and however much read and admired, are unable to maintain a long controversy against the versatility and love of novelty, characteristic of the human mind.

In attempting to trace the finger of God employed in preparing the way, for the introduction and consummation of a perfect revelation, some wise and learned men have thought, that the wisdom and benevolence which appear in all the divine procedure towards man, were never more conspicuous'y displayed, than in causing the completion of the Jewish and Christian writings, to precede but a little time the death of the Hebrew and Greek languages. Both languages had been consummated before the revelation was entrusted to them; and, that they might continue immutable and faithful guardians of a repository so precious and sacred; that they might become immortal conservators of the New Institution, sealed by the blood of the Son of God, they died.

We have, in writing, all the Hebrew and Greek that necessary to perpetuate to the end of time, all the ideas

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