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The acceffion of various helps, and the advanced flate of learning, would be highly favourable to the execution of a new verfion, if the reasons given above did not convince us that fuch a verfion is neither neceffary nor expedient. The fame may be faid, with fome limitations, of what it is fashionable to call our emancipation from flavery to the Maforetic points, and to the Hebrew text as abfolutely uncorrupt.' We fay with fome limitation, for though we are no longer interested in the debates which were supported with fo much acrimony by Buxtorf and Capellus, we are forry to see the most faithful tranflation of the Hebrew Scriptures gradually finking into contempt. We are justified by the concurrent opinion of Bishop Lowth, when we confider the Maforetic punctuation as preferable, upon the whole, to any one of the ancient verfions, from the peculiar advantage it poffeffes of hav ing been formed upon a traditionary explanation of the text, and of being generally agreeable to that fenfe of Scripture which paffed current, and was commonly received by the Jewish nation in ancient times. We know that the fuperftitious zeal of the Rabbins once fuppofed the points to have been written by the finger of God. They are now, on the contrary, too often denied that credit which is juftly challenged by the best human authority.

Let us however be careful to guard our fentiments on the expediency of a new verfion against the poffibility of misconstruction. We mean not to reprefs that laudable spirit of inquiry which has prompted fo many able fcholars to examine the Scriptures of the Old Teftament in their original language; we prefume not to pass an undistinguishing cenfure on every attempt to improve our prefent verfion: on the contrary, we fincerely rejoice in the fuccefs of every effort, which tends even in the remoteft degree to illuftrate the facred Oracles of Truth; and we heartily wish, that as much may speedily be done toward the elucidation of the remaining parts of the Hebrew Scriptures, as we have lately feen accomplished for Ifaiah, for Jeremiah, and for the Twelve Minor Prophets, by their respective translators. Our objections are levelled folely against the authoritative fubftitution of a new verfion in the room of that which cuftom has familiarized to the ears, and hallowed in the imaginations of the great mafs of English Chriftians; and thofe objections are founded merely in the apprehenfion, that the poffible advantages of fuch a measure would be more than counterbalanced by the evils which, we think, would probably refult from it.

After these observations, all tending to difcourage the intro. duction of a new verfion into our religious affemblies, candour obliges us to fubjoin the rules propofed by our Author for the

Prelim. Differt. to Ifaiah, p. 55.

condu&

conduct of fuch a work. To each of thefe rules he has added a variety of pertinent remarks and exemplifications, which we have not room to transcribe.

Rule I. The tranflator fhould exprefs every word in the original by a literal rendering, where the English idiom admits of it; and where not only purity, but perfpicuity, and dignity of expreffion can be preserved.

II. Where the English idiom requires a paraphrafe, it fhould be fo formed as to comprehend the original word or phrafe; and the fupplemental part fhould ftand in Italics; except where harshness of language arifes from purfuing this method.

III. Where a verbal translation cannot be thus interwoven, one equivalent to it, and which implies the reading in the original, fhould be fubftituted; and the idiom in the text should be literally rendered in the margin.

IV. The fame original word, and its derivatives, according to the leading different fenfes, and alfo the fame phrafe, fhould be refpectively tranflated by the fame correfponding English word or phrafe: except where a diftinct reprefentation of a general idea, or the nature of the English language, or the avoiding of an ambiguity, or harmony of found, requires a different mode of expreffion.

V. The collocation of the words fhould never be harth, and unfuited to an English ear. An inverted ftructure may often be used in imitation of the original, or merely for the fake of rhythm in the fentence: but this fhould be determined by what is easy and harmo nious in the English language: and not by the order of the words in the original, where this produces a forced arrangement, or one more adapted to the licence of poetry than to profe.

VI. The fimple and ancient turn of the prefent version should be retained.

VII. The old ecclefiaftical terms should be continued: as grace, elect, predeftinated, &c.

VIII. Metaphors are, in general, to be retained; and the fubftitution, or unneceffary introduction, of new ones fhould be avoided. IX. Proper names fhould remain as they are now written.

X. The best known geographical terms fhould be inserted in the text, and the original ones fhould ftand in the margin. As Syria, marg. Aram: Ethiopia, marg. Cush, &c.

XI. The language, fenfe, and punctuation of our prefent verfion fhould be retained; unless when a fufficient reafon can be affigned for departing from them..

• XII. The critical fenfe of paffages fhould be confidered; and not the opinions of any denomination of Chriftians whatever.

XIII. Paffages which are allowed to be marginal gloffes, or about the authenticity of which critics have reafon to be doubtful, fhould be placed in the text between brackets.

XIV. In the best editions of the Bible, the poetical parts fhould

be divided into lines anfwering to the metre of the original.

XV. Of dark paffages, which exhibit no meaning as they stand in our present verfion, an intelligible rendering should be made, on the principles of found criticifm."

Moft

Most of thefe rules are pregnant with good fenfe, and difplay an accurate and extenfive knowledge of the fubject. We will add, too, that, fhould the wishes of the learned Prelate be gratified by the publication of a new, or a revifal of the old verfion of the Scriptures, his own rules may, with fome few limitations, be very properly and fafely recommended to the tranflators, as the models on which their work fhould be formed.

In found criticifm, as it is mentioned in the laft rule, the Bishop includes conjectural criticifm, the fober ufe of which he frequently recommends. We agree with him, that, if it be admiffible at all, it cannot be used to foberly. "Si ita literas ac verba mutare et transferre liceat," fays the great Pocock*, "ubi tandem pedem figemus? Tot erunt textus facri, quot critici vel interpretes, five in conjectando feliciores, five paulum æquo doctiores."

Bentley's fpecimen of his intended edition of the Greek Teftament, excites no regret in our minds, that even the first conjectural critic this country has boafted, was induced at length to leave the facred volume untouched. We rather fufpect, that had the work itself appeared, it would have afforded a serious example of what Burman + obferved, indeed ironically-Doctus criticus et adfuctus urere, fecare, inclementer omnis generis libros tractare, apices, fyllabas, voces, dictiones confodere, et flylo exigere, continebitne ille ab integro et intaminato divinæ fapientiæ monumento crudeles ungues?

We doubt, indeed, whether conjecture can ever be authorized in a tranflation which is intended for general ufe. For if it be exercifed on flight occafions, it must be in fome degree fuperAuous; if on material ones, it must ever be indecifive.

In juftification of conjectural criticifm, our Author cites the authority of Bishop Lowth, in the following extract from his Preliminary Differtation to Isaiah :

"If the tranflation fhould fometimes appear to be merely conjectural, I defire the reader to confider the exigence of the cafe; and to judge, whether it is not better, in a very obfcure and doubtful paffage, to give fomething probable, by way of fupplement to the author's fenfe apparently defective, than either to leave a blank in the tranflation, or to give a merely verbal rendering which would be altogether unintelligible." Prelim. Differt. p. 73.

But the Bishop of London fpeaks of fuch verfions only as are offered to the theological ftudent. "I believe," fays he, in the paffage immediately following that quoted by our Author, " that every tranflator whatever, of any part of the Old Teftament, has taken fometimes the liberty, or rather has found himself under the neceffity, of offering fuch readings as, if examined, will be found to be merely conjectural. But I defire to be underflood, as offering this apology, in behalf only of thofe tranflations which are defigned for the priNote miscellaneæ in Portam Mofis, p. 135. Burman. Orat. Lugd. Bat. 1720.

rate

vate ufe of the reader, not as extended without proper limitations to those that are made for the public fervice of the Church."

Of Bishop Newcome's tranflation it will be fufficient praise to obferve, that it would be difficult to point out many inftances, in which he has not adhered to his own rules. As a fpecimen of his general manner, we will tranfcribe the following animated paffage from the Prophet Habakkuk, which Bifhop Lowch has produced in his Prælections on the Hebrew poetry*, as a ftriking example of that fpecies of fublimity, which is peculiar to the Ode:

O Jehovah, I have heard thy + speech;

I have feared, O Jehovah, thy work.
As the years approach, thou haft fhewn it;
As the years approach, thou makest it known.
In wrath thou rememberest mercy.

'God came from Teman,

And the Holy One from mount Paran: [Selah]
His glory covered the heavens ;

And the earth was full of his praise.

His brightness was as the light:

Rays freamedt from his hand:

And there was the hiding place of his power.

Before him went the peftilence:

And flashes of fire § went forth after him.
He flood, and measured the land;

He beheld, and difperfed the nations:

And the everlasting mountains were broken afunder
The eternal hills bowed down:

The eternal paths | were trodden by him.

Thou faweft the tents of Cufhan ¶ in afflision:

The curtains of the land of Midian trembled.

Was the anger of Jehovah kindled against the floods?

Was thy wrath against the floods?

Was thine indignation against the fea,

When thou didst ride on thine horses, and on thy chariots of

deliverance?

Thy bow was made bare,

According to the oath unto the tribes, even the promife. [Selah.]

Thou didst cleave the ftreams of the land:

The mountains faw thee and were in pangs

The overflowing of waters paffed away;

The deep uttered its voice:

It lifted up its hands on high.

The fun and the moon flood fill in their habitation:

By their light thine arrows went abroad;

By their brightnefs, the lightning of thy fpear.

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In thine indignation didst thou march through the land;
In thy wrach didst thou tread the nations.

Thou wenteft forth for the deliverance of thy people,
Even for the deliverance of thine anointed ones.

Thou didst wound the head out of the houfe of the wicked:
Thou didst lay bare the foundation to the rock: [Selah.]
Thou didst pierce with thy rod the head of his villages.
They rushed as a whirlwind to fcatter us :

Their rejoicing was, as if they fhould devour the poor fecretly.
Thou didst march through the fea with thine horses;
Through the heap of mighty waters.

When I heard thy Speech, my bowels trembled:

At thy voice my lips quivered:

Rottennefs entered into my bones, and I trembled in † my place;
Because I fhall be brought to the day of trouble,

To go up captive unto the people who fhall invade us with their

troops.

But although the figtree fhall not flourish,

And there shall be no produce in the vines;
The fruit of the olive fhall fail,

And the fields fhall not yield food;

The flocks fhall be cut off from the fold,
And there fhall be no herd in the stalls;
Yet will I rejoice in Jehovah,

I will exult in the God of my falvation.
The Lord Jehovah is my strength;

And he will make my feet like hind's feet,

And will caufe me to tread on mine high places.'

The words 15 D in verfe 4, according to our prefent verfion, "He had horns COMING OUT of his hand," are, we think, with greater propriety, as well as dignity, rendered by Bishop Newcome, Rays STREAMED from his hand. We would add, too, that this tranflation feems ftill further fupported by its parallelifm with the preceding clause,

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His brightness was as the light.

Our Author's note on the paffage is as follows: The verb fignifies to shine, Exod. xxxiv. 29, 30. 35: and a pencil or cone of rays iffuing from a point, diverges in the shape of a horn.'-The propriety of the metaphor is fufficiently Atriking, and indeed this interpretation of the word is juftified by the authority of Aben Ezra, who, as Buxtorf informs us, underftands it in this very paffage to fignify radii fplendentes. On Exod. xxxiv. 29, &c. to which the Bishop refers, we shall take occafion to remark, that the mif-tranflation of the word by Aquila, and the Vulgate Latin verfion, has perhaps given rife to that vulgar and ridiculous error, by which horns have

* Heb. thresh.

+ Heb. under me.

been

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