It hence results that altogether ninety-nine Scholars have, to a greater or less extent, taken part in the work of this revision, forty-nine of whom have been members of the Episcopalian Churches of England, Scotland, Ireland, and America, and fifty members of other Christian Churches. This fact is in itself full of interest and significance. Upon no previous revision have so many Scholars been engaged. In no previous revision has the co-operation of those who were engaged upon it been so equally diffused over all the parts of the work. In no previous revision have those who took the lead in originating it, and carrying it forward, shown so large a measure of Christian confidence in Scholars who were outside of their own communion. In no previous revision have such effective precautions been created by the very composition of the body of Revisers, against accidental oversight, or against any lurking bias that might arise from natural tendencies or from ecclesiastical prepossessions. On these accounts alone, if on no other, this revision may be fairly said to possess peculiar claims upon the confidence of all thoughtful and devout readers of the Bible.
The New Testament Company assembled for the first time on Wednesday, June 22nd, 1870. They met in the Chapel of Henry VII., and there united in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. After this act of worship and holy communion they formally entered upon the task assigned to them. The Old Testament Company held their first meeting on June 30th.
By the kindness of the Dean of Westminster, the New Testament Company was permitted to hold its meetings in the Jerusalem Chamber. This room, originally the parlour of the Abbot’s Palace, is associated with many interesting events of English history. It was to this spot that Henry IV. was conveyed when seized with his last illness; and here, on March 20th, 1413, he died. It was here, in the days of the Long Parliament, that the celebrated Assembly of Divines, driven by the cold from Henry VII.’s Chapel, held its sixty-sixth session, on Monday, October 2nd, 1643; and here thenceforward it continued to meet until its closing session (the 1163rd), on February 22nd, 1649. Here were prepared the famed Westminster Confession of Faith, and the Longer and Shorter Catechisms so highly prized by the Presbyterian Churches of Scotland, and during many generations by the Independents of England. Here also, just fifty years later, assembled the memorable Commission appointed by William III., at the suggestion of the Dean of Canterbury (Dr. Tillotson), to devise a basis for a scheme of comprehension in a revision of the Prayer Book. In this room the New Testament Company have held the larger number of their sessions. Upon the few occasions on which it was not available the Company has most frequently met in the Dean of Westminster’s library. Twice it has held its monthly session in the College Hall, twice in the Chapter Library, and once in Queen Anne’s Bounty Office.
The Jerusalem Chamber is an oblong room, somewhat narrow for its length, measuring about forty feet from north to south, and about twenty from east to west. Down the centre of the room there extends a long table; and on this table, in the middle of its eastern side, is placed the desk of the Chairman, Bishop Ellicott. Facing the Chairman, and on the opposite side of the room, is a small table for the use of the Secretary. The members of the Company took their places round the table without any pre-arrangement, but just as each might find a seat most ready at hand. The force of habit, however, soon prevailed, and most of the members sat constantly in the place which accident or choice had assigned to them. On the Chairman’s right sat the Prolocutor, Dr. Bickersteth, and on his left, during the sixteen meetings he was spared to attend, sat the late Dean of Canterbury, Dr. Alford, who, to the great sorrow of the Company, was so early taken away from their midst. Between the Prolocutor and the northern end of the table were the places usually occupied by the Bishop of Salisbury, the Bishop of St. Andrews, Dean Blakesley, and Mr. Humphry. Between the Chairman and the southern end were the places of the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Brown, Dr. Vaughan, Dr. Eadie, and Canon Westcott. Between the Secretary’s table and the northern end of the long table were the seats of Canon Kennedy, Dr. Angus, Archdeacon Palmer, and Dr. Hort; and between the Secretary’s table and the southern end were those of Dr. Vance Smith, Dr. Scrivener, Dr. Lightfoot, Dean Scott, and Dr. Newth. At the northern end of the table were the places of Archdeacon Lee and Dean Stanley; and at the southern end those of Dr. Moulton and Dr. Milligan.
As the general rules under which the revision was to be carried out had been carefully prepared, no need existed for any lengthened discussion of preliminary arrangements, and the Company upon its first meeting was able to enter at once upon its work. The members of the Company had previously been supplied with sheets, each containing a column of the printed text of the Authorized Version, with a wide margin on either side for suggested emendations—the left hand margin being intended for changes in the Greek text, and the right hand margin for those which related to the English rendering. Upon these sheets each member had entered the result of his own private study of the prescribed portion, and thus came prepared with well-considered suggestions to submit for the judgment of the Company. The portion prescribed for the first session was Matt. i. to iv. This portion opening with the genealogy, the question of the spelling of proper names at once presented itself for decision. It was felt that, by the twofold forms so often given in the Authorized Version to the names of persons and places, a needless difficulty was set in the way of the simple reader of the Bible; and it was agreed that, while preserving in every case the familiar forms of names which had become thoroughly Englished, such as John, James, Timothy, Jacob, Solomon, &c., all Old Testament proper names quoted in the New should follow the Hebrew rather than the Greek or Latin, and so appear under the same form in both Testaments.
This question being thus settled, the Company proceeded to the actual details of the revision, and in a surprisingly short time settled down to an established method of procedure. So little need arose for any change in this respect that the account of any one ordinary meeting will serve as a description of all. The Company assembles at eleven a.m. The meeting is opened by prayer, the Chairman reading three collects from the Prayer Book, and closing with the Lord’s Prayer. The minutes of the last meeting are then read and confirmed. Any correspondence or other business that may require consideration is next dealt with. These matters being settled, the Chairman invites the Company to proceed with the revision, and reads a short passage as given in the Authorised Version. The question is then asked whether any textual changes are proposed; that is, any readings that differ from the Greek text as presented in the edition published by Robert Stephen in 1550. If any change is proposed, the evidence for and against is briefly stated, and the proposal considered. The duty of stating this evidence is, by tacit consent, devolved upon two members of the Company, who, from their previous studies, are specially entitled to speak with authority upon such questions—Dr. Scrivener and Dr. Hort—and who come prepared to enumerate particularly the authorities on either side. Dr. Scrivener opens up the matter by stating the facts of the case, and by giving his judgment upon the bearing of the evidence. Dr. Hort follows, and mentions any additional matters that may call for notice, and if differing from Dr. Scrivener’s estimate of the weight of the evidence, gives his reasons, and states his own view. After discussion, the vote of the Company is taken, and the proposed reading accepted or rejected. The text being thus settled, the Chairman asks for proposals on the rendering. Any member who has any suggestion on his paper then mentions it, and this is taken into consideration, unless some other member state that he has a proposal which refers to an earlier clause of the passage, in which case his proposal is taken first. The reasons for the proposed emendation are then stated; briefly, if it be an obvious correction, and one which it is likely that many members have noted down; if it be one less obvious, or less likely to commend itself at first sight, the grounds upon which it is based are stated more at length. Free discussion then follows, and after this the vote of the Company is taken. Succeeding suggestions are similarly dealt with, and then the passage, as amended, is read by the Chairman, or by the Secretary. The meeting lasts until six p.m., an interval of half-an-hour having been allowed for luncheon. The Company meets every month, excepting only in the months of August and September, for a session of four consecutive days.
At a very early period of their labours it became clearly manifest to the Company that they could only do their work satisfactorily by doing it very thoroughly, and that no question in any way affecting the sense or the rendering could be passed over because of its seeming unimportance. Questions, whether of text or translation, which appeared, when regarded in relation only to the passage under review, to be too minute to be worthy of serious attention, became oftentimes invested with a grave importance when other, and especially parallel, passages were considered; and thus proposed changes, which might otherwise have been dismissed as unnecessary, claimed for themselves a careful examination. As a necessary result of this determination to make the revision as complete as might be in their power, the progress made in the work was but slow, and at the end of the ninth day of meeting not more than 153 verses had been revised, an average of only seventeen verses a day. Thereupon several members of the Company became alarmed at the probable length of time over which the revision would extend, and on the tenth day of meeting resolutions were submitted, that, “with a view to swifter progress, the Company be divided into two sections, of which one shall proceed with the Gospels and the other with the Epistles,” and “that on the last day of each monthly series of meetings the whole Company meet together to review the work done by the two separate sections.” To these resolutions a full consideration was given, and with the result of producing an almost unanimous conviction that such a division of the Company was undesirable. It was felt that the weight of authority attaching to this Revision, would, with many persons, be largely dependent upon the fact that it represented the united judgment of a considerable number of scholars, and that the proposed division of the Company would consequently tend to lessen the claims of the work to the confidence of the public. It was found, too, that it would not be possible to make any satisfactory division of the Company; and from the varied qualifications of the members, each felt that it would be a palpable loss to be deprived of the co-operation of any of the rest. It was also exceedingly doubtful whether any saving of time would be secured by the proposed arrangement. The review by the entire Company of the work done by the separate divisions would, in very many cases, reopen discussion; and questions which had been decided, perhaps unanimously, after lengthened debate, would be debated afresh, and that, too, by those who were less familiar with all the bearings of the question, and on whose account it would be necessary to give lengthened explanations, and sometimes to retrace other ground also. The resolutions were consequently withdrawn, and the conviction became general amongst the members of the Company that they had no other alternative than to face the probability of a much longer period of labour than any one amongst them had at first anticipated, and to accept the full responsibilities of the work which had been laid upon them.
After this the work steadily proceeded, and various general questions having been decided as they arose, the rate of progress became more rapid; but even then the average did not rise above thirty-five verses a day.
In accordance with the rules under which the Company was acting, all proposals made at the first revision were decided by simple majorities; but at the second revision no change from the Authorized Version could be accepted unless it were carried by a majority of two to one. Though here and there this rule stood in the way of a change which a decided majority of the Company were of opinion was right, its action upon the whole was very salutary.