Page:The New Testament in the original Greek - 1881.djvu/15



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seventeenth day of May, 1881, marks an epoch in the history of the New Testament. It is the birthday both of the purest English translation and of the purest Greek text of that little book which contains the inspired message of God's wisdom and love to mankind, and which forms the highest standard of Christian faith and duty.

The coincidence is remarkable. The original and the translation were matured during the same long period by harmonious, though independent, co-operation. The Editors of the Greek text were members of the English New Testament Company of Revisers; the English and American Revisers had the confidential use of advanced proofsheets of this edition of the Greek text as they proceeded, and their translation is perhaps more nearly conformed to it than to any other printed edition from Erasmus and Beza down to Tischendorf and Tregelles.

The Textus Receptus, so called, was announced to the world by the Leyden publishers in 1633, with the bold