Professor J. H. Thayer conducted the fourth college Conference-and an exceedingly interesting one-last night speaking on The Revised New Testament of 1881. The Bible, said Professor Thayer, has undergone seven revisions. In 1880 a committee was formed to consider the expediency of revising the New Testament of King James' version, and on their recommendation a committee was formed to undertake it Committees were formed on both sides of the water, and each member came to the meeting with suggestions on the translation or on the text. The debate was long and earnest. Much public interest was shown in the movement, and every one of the four millions of copies issued in the first year was sold.

One of the reasons for the revisions were the considerations growing out of the Greek language underlying one text. The translations from the Greek had not been accurate, and in some places the language itself had not been well founded. There were also considerations relating to the translations. The translation of tenses, for example, was often confusing to the reader, the article was often indiscriminately used, and the interpretations were open to improvement. When the revision was undertaken, many were against it, but those who undertook it thought that if there were errors in the translation, as there were, they should be corrected. Another consideration may be found in the marginal notes, many of which refer to other editions. Often scholars could not agree as to the meaning of a passage, and there are many annotations giving alternate renderings.

The future of the Bible is in the hands of the rising generation. Older people, brought up under the old Bible, do not want to revise it, do not want to change the familiar passages. But in forming a judgment of the Bible, read the preface first. Compare the revised edition,- not with King James' version alone, but with still older ones; and remember that the Bible was not got up as a specimen of English.