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From the Diet of Worms to the Augsburg Confession - James Aitken Wylie

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Bible?–a meteor which would have shone for one<br />

moment, and <strong>the</strong> next gone out in darkness.<br />

"<strong>From</strong> <strong>the</strong> innumerable testimonies <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

beauty <strong>of</strong> Lu<strong>the</strong>r's translation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Bible," says<br />

Seckendorf, "I select but one, that <strong>of</strong> Prince George<br />

<strong>of</strong> Anhalt, given in a public assembly <strong>of</strong> this<br />

nation. 'What words,' said <strong>the</strong> prince, 'can<br />

adequately set forth <strong>the</strong> immense blessing we enjoy<br />

in <strong>the</strong> whole Bible translated by Dr. Martin Lu<strong>the</strong>r<br />

from <strong>the</strong> original <strong>to</strong>ngues? So pure, beautiful, and<br />

clear is it, by <strong>the</strong> special grace and assistance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

Holy Spirit, both in its words and its sense, that it is<br />

as if David and <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r holy prophets had lived in<br />

our own country, and spoken in <strong>the</strong> German<br />

<strong>to</strong>ngue. Were Jerome and Augustine alive at this<br />

day, <strong>the</strong>y would hail with joy this translation, and<br />

acknowledge that no o<strong>the</strong>r <strong>to</strong>ngue could boast so<br />

faithful and perspicuous a version <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Word <strong>of</strong><br />

God.We acknowledge <strong>the</strong> kindness <strong>of</strong> God in<br />

giving us <strong>the</strong> Greek version <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Septuagint, and<br />

also <strong>the</strong> Latin Bible <strong>of</strong> Jerome. But how many<br />

defects and obscurities are <strong>the</strong>re in <strong>the</strong> Vulgate!<br />

Augustine, <strong>to</strong>o, being ignorant <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Hebrew, has<br />

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