25 FEBRUARY 1871, Page 14

THE COMMITTEE OF REVISION.

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") Sin,—A few days ago we were able to hope that we should soon. read the Word of God, by means of a translation as perfect as the scholarship of the present day can make it. We were told that every effort would be made to get at the true sense of the all- important words upon which the Christian religion depends ; and that scholars of all creeds were to assist, so as to eliminate as far as- possible the bias of preconception that will always influence the course of judgment, however honestly intended. We hoped that we should, in a few years, at any rate, hold in our hands a trans-

cation that might be accepted, by all English-speaking people, of whatever creed, as a faithful rendering of the Word of God.

Suddenly this hope is swept away from us, and we find that the work is in the hands of a clique. A work that is utterly valueless, 'unless its honest intention is quite beyond question, is entrusted to a clique headed by the Bishop of Winchester.

Can nothing be done to avert this calamity ? Must our hope of .a pure translation of the Bible be deferred until the Bishops of the Anglican Church are no longer in a position to smother the truth ? Is it already too late to ask for a Bible suited for all the English- speaking world, instead of a mere statement of the views of the English Bishops upon the disputed points ?—I am, Sir, &c., F. F. B.