The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-04-18

Enelish Bible was to be book not for
an Inner ring OF theologians or scholars,
but for the common people. The pre-
dominance Of Saxon words In this YER
sion Is very remarkable Compared with
Latin words, they constitute about 30
per cent. In Shakespeare the proportion
Ii 50 per cent, In Swift marty 30, in
johnson 70, in 6ib5on TO- In the Lord g
Prayer ffty-nine out Of sixty-five words
are saxon.
Secondly, James's revissrs had this
great advantage over their predecessors
who as rule worked under the ban OF
the authorities that they felt themselves
occupied on great national UNDER aking
promoted by the King himself, and sup
portsd by the full sympathy and approval
Thirdly, they had ready 10 hand the
rich results of nearly century Of diligent
and unidentified labor In the Held OF
Biblical study.
IL is beyond the power Of man to elimi-
nate. by any machinery which ne can De,
wise, the inherent inequality Of mental
endowment. The Authorized Version 10
accordingly not a perfectly even work
throughout nor would any competent
Judge desire to claim for the Epistles the
same high level Of excellencs rs Tor the
PeDtateuch or the prophetical DOCKS
But ON the whole our Bible is character
ized by wonderful unity Of tone. and
this Is unqestionably due to the we'll
planned organization and rules for which
the King and Ills advisers were RESPONSE
BILE.
Above and around all this we have to
remember the extraordinarily stimulating
power OF the literary atmosphere which
1t WAS their unique good fortune 10
breathe. an atmosphere which went lar
to foster in them their lofty sense OF style
and their sureness OF artistic touch. The
last decade OF the sixteenth century had
1 - alma
alike In poetry, In the drama and IN
prose, to which IL would indeed be difh-
cult 60 find parallel. Beneath the sur.
face of the whole Tudor period may be
felt the intellectual restlessDess AMI fer
mentation which were the spiritual prep
arat'on for that astonishing revelation OF
creative power which charaoterizes Its
close.
Throughout the reign Of Elizabeth vast
invisible forces had been at work refasb-
ioning, transforming, fertilizing the
minds OF men. For q, willis, no doubt,
the black cloud of national peril over
Swallowed and shrouded their activity.
But none the less their influence contin.
ued operative The intellectual force OF
the Renaissance, the moral and religions
force of the Reformation, the social and
political force of newly realized and an
ever increasing sense Of national unity
and greatness, the economic force of
izing powers had b,en silently trsnsnR-
uring the old England Of Catholicism and
feudalism into the England that was to
be. With .he exception Of Mary stuart
and the repulse Of the Armada the dark
ness rolled away. A terrible danger,
nerving and bracing the whole oommun-
ity into strenuous effort, gave place to an
Understandable sense of relief. As 1t had
been In Greece after Marathon. Plataea
and Salamis. SO was 1t in this land of
ours when the Spaniard spread his sails
and fled away. Suddenly, almost IL II by
magic, a new world of literature burst
into loveliest blossom, and the national
language clothed itself In strength, in
richness and In power. Not in one de-
partment of mental activity alone, but In
every quarter there arose consciousness
of quiokened life and Of boundless posi-
| bilities. The excitement, the hope, the
buoyaucy, tbs aspiration. the intensity OF
a nation renewing its youth reused every
faculty into a varied and many sided
| alertness.
In some such air as this the translators
of the Kings Bible lived and moved and
had their being. And as they so lived the
glory of the times seems to have passed
into their souls and the inspiration OF
their originals into their pens, so that
they were enabled to build up for the
generations that were to come after the IN
an English Bible which, with all the i'm
pleteness of their critical resources which
belong indeed to every work OF man,
will ever be held in reverence as the
most splendid literary monument OF a
splendid and heroic age.