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Tools for the Unashamed Workman.
#2.
The Concordance: its use.
pp. 17 - 20
In our last paper we ran over the history of the Concordance to the Scriptures. In this
we propose to give a word or two upon its use. If we looked into the kit of a mechanic
we should find, for instance, that he possessed more hammers than one and saws of
different sizes and shapes, and that he suited the tool to the job. In like manner we will
examine some of the "tools" we have at our disposal for the work to which we have put
our hand.
As it is the one in common use, and may be purchased for a few shillings, let us first
take a look at Cruden's Concordance. While Cruden can take no account of the original
words of Scripture and must list together all occurrences of the same English word,
whatever original words it may translate, he does sub-divide his subject in a manner that
is distinctly helpful. For example, take the word "Glory". Before giving a concordance
to the word, Cruden commences with most helpful analyses of its usage, which run into
over a thousand words. He then sub-divides his concordance as follows: (1) Glory.
(2) Give glory. (3) Glory of God. (4) His Glory. (5) My Glory. (6) Glory of
the Lord. (7) Thy Glory. (8) Glorious. (9) Gloriously. (10) Glory, the verb.
(11) Gloriest. (12) Glorieth. (13) Glorying. (14) See Crown, Honour, Vain.
No student, however erudite, could fail to be considerably helped by this sub-division of
the subject, a work entailing more hours of labour than most of us realize. The word
"Go" is found under 28 sub-divisions, and the word "God" under 23, beside which a
careful explanatory column and side references (as "See Almighty", "See Lord God"), of
which there are 53 in number, and so throughout the work. Modern editions contain a
concordance to the proper names of the Old and New Testaments.
The next concordance, to which we must give more than a passing reference, is
"Young's Analytical Concordance". As its title page tells us, this work is "on an entirely
new plan, containing about 311,000 references, sub-divided under the Hebrew and Greek
originals, with the literal meaning and pronunciation of each, designed for the simplest
reader of the English Bible". The 7th edition contains a most valuable index-lexicon,
which makes the whole work twice as valuable, and no student should purchase any
earlier edition. Dr. Young in his preface says:--
"Its great object, as Tyndale said of his New Testament, is to enable every
`plough-boy' to know more of the Scriptures than the `ancients', by enabling him at a
glance to find out THREE DISTINCT POINTS--First, What is the original Hebrew or
Greek of any ordinary word in his English Bible; Second, What is the literal and
primitive meaning of every such original word; and Third, What are thoroughly true and
reliable parallel passages."
As an illustration of the use of "Young's Concordance" we open the book at random,
and our eye falls upon the word "Abundance". This is what we find: