'security' against falsehood, does it necessarily follow that they are
no 'security' at all. For how shall we arrive at the knowledge of the
'principle embraced in a proposition' without the knowledge and use of
language? We cannot in any other way. Now if it be a fact, that a
proposition embracing certain principles may suffer by translation,
and even its principles be perverted and misrepresented, then, an
understanding of the original, in which the proposition was written,
may, in my opinion, be very useful. It may assist a man to arrive at a
true knowledge of the 'principles' upon which said proposition is
founded.

"'It gives you pain to see what time and money, what labour and toil
are expended in plodding over an old dead letter, to learn languages,
which exist no where only on paper, barely for the sake of reading the
opinions of other men, in other times; men who lived in other ages of
the world, and under very different circumstances from ourselves,
whose opinions (all of which are worth preserving) might be given in
our own language, so as to answer every purpose,' &c.--But if these
'opinions' should be given in our own language, there must be some to
understand Greek and Hebrew, or the opinions of those ancient writers,
let them be worth ever so much, would never find their way to us. And
when we have gained those supposed opinions, through the translation,
how do we know that the translators were faithful? Who can say they
were not warped by system? not misled by preconceived ideas? Who can
say they have not wilfully imposed upon us? Under such circumstances,
the ability to detect any inaccuracies or imposition, would, in my
view, be very desirable. You have, yourself, my brother, availed
yourself of this ability, and very justly merited the gratitude of
your readers, by rectifying the judgment, upon certain terms used in
the scriptures, the former translation of which, you have disavowed.