The Sun.
London, England, 1819-01-01 00:00:00

iiII;LIC.'►L ERRORS.

Mr. Enrrott,—lt is tuti.ch to bey pitied that -a
dogmatist, who signs himself AN ELinil'OF THE
ENGLISH CHUIICII, should so far forget his duty,
and suffer his zeal to (ninon its bias, as to blame
you7for the publication of Illy letters, which he
Ims most grossly mistaken. iiis ill manners, and
ill-founded charges against them, have no example
imme ; and it is a misfortone that they "should
disturb his repose, and make him appear were
declaimer. IVly letter's are an humble' ,appeal_ to
exalted sense, without my p: ovidiugheads to un-
derstand them'; and those blocks, yvho do not, or
will riot, I shall never. attempt to chip with a

razor. • •
This Elder. Of the Chorcii, ia his address
you; st:4lMrs-hisThhuSe spat, mL,
give him, as it can only result raAness.—
Viri)y the call me insane, and say that my letters
tend to unhinge the faith of the multitude, giving
occasion to the enemies of the Lord to .blaspheme,—
How can he judge my intentions, contrary to what
they truly are, and shake his head at what they
do not mean ? I know not whether he wrote his
address in a tavern or a cloister, befiire dinner'or
atter ;
_but such language, 'such violation of all
decency, was never before applied to me, for
which, in his reflection, be blight to make repa-
'ration by a suitable apology.' • He and liint.fornt-
_Lus,i who is, a polite and bever writer, betray
their cloth ; and in their assaults of, me they in-
jure the cause they attempt to support.
Whoever, excepting bigots and tanaties,will turn
to my letters, will be convinced that they are not,
only a defence of the Old Testament, but of IVIr.
1321..LaD3Y's Translation of it, against a partial'
and interested Critic. I have said that this book,
as containing the early history of the Jews, is the
first, the last, and best that ever was written for..
the benefit of the civilized world, and as such
have complained that no former, among many
translations, could he depended upon, however
countenanced 'by authority, which can never make
any thing true, that is not so in itself, atilt that
' its obscurity and coarseness of expression should
remain so
.long unobviated and unrefined, leaving
its substance untouched. . .
This, our Elder says, discredits the authorised
version ; and so it does, but not. the true ; and so
it ever will, while a purer is- imperiously called
for ; and while that ,calymniated. man, Mr. BEL-
. LA MY , has tioished his own.
Yet This wise man of high authoritative tones,
has nicknamed wha-t- I Irave said, by calling it
trash, and wanting sense to discover his own..
In shorty Sir, not lowraste time on so unworthy
an occasion, I shsall turn liens it, regaidless of so,
much presumption (rola an Elder of the Church,
who casts his bile alike on me and Mr. BELLAMY.
This is a foul affront on the. late QUEEN, the
I'RINCe REGENT, hisiloyal Brothers, tiye bishops,.
Doctor PARR, the Chancellor of th'e University of
Od'ord, and the High Steward of the University
of 'Cambridge, who head the subscription to Mr.
BELLAMY'S masterly work an .aaront flowing
from a man who apparently wishes to keep the
Bible in darkness, and preserve its obscurities and
indelicacies, to consecrate the whole, right or
wrong, without question or inquiry, and deem it
sacrilege to correct or explainit.
In my seventh Letter I may possibly glance at
this polite Censor, who, like a viper when durtiug
•his tongue at me, only bites at -.a file.
STACKHO USE.
Justrn et lenacem proposili rirum.

* A subscription to a work is not always a sanctiop to its
merit, but it certainly is an encouragement, and shews that
such a work as this is wanted.

[PRICE SCVENIII7NCTI,

FOR THE SUN.

‘EDITOR,—Havillg perused the effusions of
several of your ingenious Correspondents, I am
induced to transmit to you the following

BIBLICAL CRITICISM.

In the present controversy .which appears in
SUN on die New Translation of thedlible,
by Air. BELLASIY, the following passage is Item-
contradictory, and one disputant say;, it. is aille
put into the month of the Prophet. 2 Kingi,.
e. 8, v. 10. and runs thus : And. Eli3ha .said •
unto him (flazael), Go, say unto him (Benbadatl),"
Thou niayest certainly recover; howbeit the Lord
bath shewed me that he (Benhaded)ishall surely
die." Whoever reatbs.'the whole relation i&co4.

nectian'witli the-p=assey,e,-'tvit Ray degree of con-
sidermion, k int,,rlc, -nittst be of too awfid a
state of mind to draw st!ch N conclwion.

-Benhadad,'King of Syria, was sick, and •:-.:nt
Hazael to `the Prophet Elisha, to know whether
he should recover front his disorder. Tiie Prophet
tells Ulazael to declare to him that_ he might cer-
tainly recover, notwithstanding the Lord hat!)
chewed him that Benhadad would surely die. But
mark; not die of that disorder With which, he was
afileted, but a fiiolent death. When ilazael' re-
turned, .he told the Ring, that the Prophet sa,id
he should surely recover,' (ver. 1/1.) which is a dif-
fer,,ht sense from the expression of the Prophet,
the one denoting the possibility only of the event,
the other,_ its absolute fulfilment. And this may
he the reason why some imagine that the Word's
of 'the Prophet imply the same sense. But no,
had liazael used the sense of: the ,Prophet's
(gess-ion, it would have tended to.excite-some sus.
-picion in the breast of the King of the evil which
followed. Thergfor,e. Ilazael,not only reserved
to himself the additional prophecy in enswer to
request of the Icing, but. lnterpretated the
Prophetts, inessage. 'relative thereto. And the
reason is manifest, for Hazael " on the morro;7
took a .tiick.,clotti,, dipped it in water, and spread
it 'on the King's; face, •so that he died," though
tinder aTretence is 'Cites!) or ease him-, as: the
ntarT,,,in.: of thcoldliible•rPrnarks; This tyres the
tic.7tA :that appeared inc,-ii:lble,to the Prophet,
for othdrivise the Kirig m igh ;hire certainly recovered
of his disorder.
•

•-Noti; Sir, what avails all ;the orgrin4ents of the
Hebraist if.hc don't show the idiom to cotresponil
with th'cit of the English, or-any other latignage,
agreeable to the common and- analogical sense of
th 2 passage in connection with the narrative, with
whirhthe above elucidation perfectly agrees, and is
different from any other I have yet seen,-with respect
to the'entire relation. There is only one reason that
can be. urged to render the text different from
what it is, and that is, if the words are noiade-
plate to express . the sense which forms-the sub-
ject matter of discourse, or in other words, if the
passage does not correspond with the entire rela.'.
tion of which it is a part. The present Transla-,
Lion of this passage is far -more agreeable to the
facts of the case than the old one, which renders
the former part, " Thou shalt recover•." And
Mr. BELLAMY, jt is said, inserts the particle not
in the clause, neither of which so aptly applies to
the case, so that the former of these. three Trans*
lations is more expressive of the real intent of ibp
Prophet, and the whole of the eireumstances,than
either of the latter. Let it be remarked, that the
butt of the argument is to reconcile the propriety
of the Prophet's reply with the simple enquiry of
the King, and the view lie had of. the complica-
tion of circumstances which followed the retti•rn
of flazael, and under this consideration the pas.
sage by no means `appears diicordant, or can be
rendered more intelligible to an English car, with

nne trivial exceptioti to its perspicuit-y ; and t:i.it
rnAy be obviated by a tranTosition of.tbe 01,'s as
" Ttion certainly inayest recoveo"

. .
But, there appears to be enveloped-in this con-
troversy a point of-a philosophical tendeory, which
may excite the disputants ,to shew their various
and peculiar sentiments respecting the propriety
of the above passage, which is that of the con-
sistency and truth of a circumstance being, de-
clared possible from. its own nature, and which.
does not take place ; this has excited much con-
tention amons' Theologians and PhilosopherS,
both ancient and modern, and the ahove relation
furnishes a proper subject for it. But, Sir, I do,
not conceive that it is necessary for a Translator
to possess all that acumen and judgment which
are required to, comprehend and decide upon all
the various opinions that arc afloat in the- world,
neither do 1 believe it poSsible ; it is the Literal
sense he has only to do with, and to give that with
at; tinhiassed judgment to the world. ,
maidstuue, Dec. 2G, 1915. C•