On Orthography and Character; and on attempts to form a Universal

EDITORS, AND REVISERS OF THE BIBLE. 9

sidering the Word of God in the original with more attention than I had ever done. Often have I been fi11ed with admiration, after some hours' detention about one or two verses, at the beauty and wisdom of God's words and works; and often rejoiced at meeting a difficult passage, in order to have the pleasure of seeing some new truth emerge. It has been frequently a matter of delight to me that we shall never be separated from the contemplation of these divine oracles, or the wondrous things about which they are written. Knowledge shall vanish away, but it shall be only because the perfection of it shall come.'

§ 2.-0N METHODS OF TRANSLATING; WITH REMARKS ON SOME EXISTING VERSIONS.

It is impossible to dictate or even suggest any exact course or system to be adopted by translators. There is no royal road for them to follow but the path of loyalty, diligence, and perseverance. The translator is supposed to have a thorough experimental acquaintance with Divine truth, familiarity with his own Bible, a good working knowledge of the language into which he is going to translate, and, if possible, at least such an acquaintance with the originals as will enable him to compare the structure of sentences in the two languages. If he be acquainted with some other languages, by all means let him avail himself of the versions existing in them. He should have before him (i.) the works of his predecessors in the same task if there be any, for he ought to conform his idioms and words to their usage so far as possible, the rudest translation being a help to any one who follows after, in more ways than one; (ii.) a well-printed English Bible with marginal references and readings ; (iii.) a Hebrew Old Testament and a Greek New Testament; (iv.) concordances and critical works ; (v.) an ample supply of writing materials. He should leave in his first copy a wide margin and some space between the lines for correction, and must be prepared to write the same thing over and over again. The copy for the printer should only be written on one side of the paper.

Purvey, whose name is always associated with Wickliffe's work, describes his method of translating in the following quaint terms : ' A simple creature hath translated the Bible out of Latin into English. First this simple creature had much travail with divers fe1lows and helpers to gather many old Bibles and other doctors and common glosses, and to make a Latin Bible somewhat true; and then to study it afresh, the text with the gloss ... ; the third time to counsel with old grammarians and old divines of hard words and hard sentences, how they might best be understood and