Author Description

In later ages, when the gospel of the Son of God was to be proclaimed to all mankind, another language was used as a vehicle for its communication. The bulk of the Israelitish race, through their captivities and eternal associations, had lost the knowledge of the holy tongue, and had learned the languages of the Gentiles among whom they dwelt; and now as their corporate national existence was to be interrupted, and they were to be dispersed among the peoples of the earth, the Hebrew language was not a fit channel for conveying this revelation to the Gentile world. Hence the same wise Providence which chose the undying Hebrew tongue for the utterances of the prophets, selected the Greek, which was at that time, more nearly than any other, a universal language, as the medium through which the teachings of the Saviour and the messages of the apostles should be sent forth to mankind. This language, like the Hebrew, has maintained its existence,-though it has been somewhat changed by the flight of years,-and the modern Greek spoken in Athens to-day is substantially the Greek of 1800 years ago. The gospel of Christ was to go forth to every nation; and the miracle of Pentecost indicated that it was the Divine purpose that each nation should hear in their own tongue wherein they were born, the wonderful works of God. Hence the Scriptures have been translated into hundreds of languages, and to-day six hundred millions of people, comprising all the leading races and nations of the earth, may have access to the Word of God in their native tongues. Nevertheless, no translation can perfectly express the delicate shades of thought which are uttered in another language, and it often becomes necessary and desirable to recur to the original Scriptures, and by searching them to find out the precise meaning of those words which were given by the Holy Ghost, and which are "more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold."