The Press.
London, England, 1858-09-04 00:00:00

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 4, 1858.

ittr a t ur t.

_ sverericss for texts, and, at the game time, some
contempt for learning. They do not read the
Bible, as they read other books, continuously, but
catacermatize it, as Plato would say. They
divide it into a series of short sayings, which they
Os the Authorized Version of the New Testa- sever from their context and quote as maxims,
ment : in Connection with some Recent Pro- though they were often never intended to be
floss& for its Revision. By Richard Chenevix maxims, and not seldom are quite untrue when
Trench, D.D., Dean of Westminster. London : considered as general propositions. This manner
of treating the Bible must needs be dangerous,
J. W. Parker and Son. but at any rate it requires that the exact mean-
THE appearance of this volume suggests to us a ing of these maxims or texts should be clearly
remark in praise of newspapers and periodicals. ascertained—in other words, it makes a learned
They have to bear so much grave censure that and subtle criticism doubly necessary. Yet the
they may well take some pains to draw attention very persons who take this course are disposed to
to the claims they have to the thanks of the treat criticism and learning with contempt. The
public. Certainly this book would not have been consequences of this singular inconsistency would
written but for that loud demand for biblical re- sometimes be amusing if they were not painful.
vision which we all remember to have been Since "rebus human's inest quidam orbis," these
made through the medium of the public press. consequences cannot be more graphically described
The clamour itself has long died away, and some than in the words of a respectable philosopher of
might say that it was fruitless ; but here are the antiquity :—" If you ask one of them a question
fruits. Through the newspapers and periodicals " (i.e., about his religious opinions), he draws
the public made known their wants to the " some obscure little text, as it were, out of a
scholars, and the scholars, like wise men, have set " quiver and discharges it at you ; and if you ask
themselves to satisfy that want. The world " him to give you an account of the meaning of
before newspapers must have been a strange place " this, you will find yourself smitten by a second
in many respects; but what strikes us just now " novel distortion of language (i.e., some too
is, how far apart in that world must the literary " literally translated Orientalism) ' • and, in short,
part and the illiterate part of the community " you will never get any good whatever out of
have been ! When books were the only publics- " any individual among them."
tions, and there was no class of interpreters
between the authors and the readers, how diffi- No revision, however well executed, will ever
cult must it have been for the former to adapt root this vice out of religious men, for it is not
themselves to the latter ! An author who so much incorrect translation which leads them
wished to serve his age must often have longed wrong as their misunderstanding of perfectly
that the age would speak and declare its needs. correct renderings into which they are betrayed
Newspapers supply this want ; the present age is by their perverse habit of converting a book full
certainly not dumb. It criticizes the conduct of of poetry, narrative, and rhetoric, into a collec-
armies, it prescribes the measures of statesmen, tion of aphorisms. But their confidence in " the
it calls for everything which it wants. A short letter that killeth " might be shaken by a revi-
time ago it clamorously demanded a supply of sion. A perilous shaking that might doubtless
Greek criticism. " Five clergymen," distin- be. It way well give us pause to think that it
guished for scholarship, respectfully presented might be mischievous to a larger number than it
their contribution, and the Dean of Westminster, benefited. But, as the Dean happily quotes,
an old and faithful servant of the public, cele- " Nunquam periclum sine periclo vincitur ;" and
brated for the skill with which he makes in another place he describes the wholesome
nutritious but rather plain food acceptable to the effect that might be produced by such a breeze
pampered palate of light readers, has served up a among the dry bones in his own weighty, though
new meal with his usual success. perhaps somewhat languid and pedantic phrase :
The Dean has apologized in his preface with That very unsettlement in regard of the wordy in which
God's message has hitherto been conveyed t i them, might
manifest sincerity mper i
for the i fection of his
work. It is not unlikely that the public may itnanooti pthroevemteosrssaom
jeassemif
ati
heatpopaymborereakeieneguraaftet chi:ant ecirade:t.
afford him many future opportunities of correct- of formality which ty long habit so easily overgrows our
ing what is amiss in it, and, if so, we would reading of the Scripture? it would not be, I think, for
earnestly exhort him to avail himself of those op- most of us unprofitable to discover that the words in which
pcirtunities. We deeply f
feel the force of the the truth has been hitherto conveyed to us, are exchangeable
or p
other,an in
unpleasant
nn
someet a
s it
places,
might it may
prove at
be, for
thebetterfi
r stm
words.
might
h tTyheet
objections which are stated in the last chapter of shock,
this book to the plan of a revision of the Bible; be a startling of many from a dull, lethargic, unprofitable
particularly are we impressed by the objection reading of God's Word ; while in the rousing of the ener-
that such a revision would widen the breach be- fries of the mind to defend the old, or, before admitting,
thoroughly to prove the new, more insight into it might
tween us and the Dissenters and the Churches of be gained, with more grasp of its deeper meaning, than
America, unless, indeed, which it would be san- sears of lazy familiarity would have given. For, indeed,
guine to hope, the two nations and the multi- according to a profound proverb," What is ever seen is
tude of denominations could be brought to never seen; " and a daily familiarity with Scripture, full
execute a revision in common. But if this and as it is of unutterable blessings, carries its dangers with it,
other objections are for the p regent decisive dangers which the course that is here urged might effect
much to remove.
against the plan—if we are not ripe for the work,
Critics will always divide themselves into two
nothing can more effectually reconcile us to
classes—those given to praise, and those given to
delay than the possession of a handbook of
alterations, a table of errata, executed by a corn- blame. Dr. Trench is one of those who by con-
stitution incline always to the more amiable ex-
petent hand and published in a cost odious
treme ; particularly, he is always disposed to be
form. If we cannot yet put the ScripturesPe in
their purity into every hand, the next best thing lavish in panegyric upon whatever is ancient.
Hence we are not surprised to find his praise of
is that the imperfections of the Authorized Ver-
sion, their nature and number, should be made the Authorized Version somewhat more warm
than that version, in our opinion, deserves. We
known as widely as possible. By judicious in-
be made suspect that when he speaks of "the rhythmic
sections and omissions this book might
into such a handbook, and if every clergyman " beauty of the periods, and the instinctive art
would make a point of mastering it we might at :‘,.wili wh,ich the style rises and falls with its
least cease for the future to hear from the lips of .subt Ject, he is ascribing to the version the
the teachers of reli • gion ignorant perversions of merits of the original. There is much measured
the words of prophets and apostles. and stately rhetoric in the New Testament ; and
a version of this can scarcely be other than mu-
" The body of Christian people in England," sical. It would not be easy to put the Som-
says the Dean, " have never realized the fact that nium Scipionis into altogether unmusical Eng-
" the Divine utterance was not made at the first lish. Again, the style of our version rises and
ti in those very En lish words which they read falls, we believe, with the style of the original ;
"in their cottagesg and hear in their church. and if also with the subject, only because the
" Who will not own that the little which this style of the original is adapted to the subject.
" faith of theirs in the English Bible has in ex- When Dr. Trench goes on to speak of " the
" ceoa is nearly or quite harmless ?" We must " skilful surmounting of difficulties the most
confess that we are not at all disposed to own " real," we admit that our translators deserve
this. On the contrary, we believe the evil to be this praise ; but it would be strange indeed if
which could'iderable and one which all the improvements they did not. Skill of this sort is not very rare ;
be made in the Authorized Version and that more than forty of the best scholars of
Would be insufficient to remove. For religious their age, having unlimited time at their disposal,
People in England have in general a strong ' should have exhibited a large measure of it might