days will have no excuse for not sitting at the feet of Jesus; there will be no cumbering with much serving; the Church will have only Maries in those days.”
This remark, made without the slightest personal intention, called a curious smile into Mrs. Scudder’s face, which was reflected in a slight blush from Mary’s, when the crack of a whip and the rattling of wagon-wheels disturbed the conversation and drew all eyes to the door.
There appeared the vision of Mr. Zebedee Marvyn’s farm-wagon, stored with barrels, boxes, and baskets, over which Candace sat throned triumphant, her black face and yellow-striped turban glowing in the fresh morning with a hearty, joyous light, as she pulled up the reins, and shouted to the horse to stop with a voice that might have done credit to any man living.
“Dear me, if there isn’t Candace!” said Mary.
“Queen of Ethiopia,” said the Doctor, who sometimes adventured a very placid joke.
The Doctor was universally known in all the neighborhood as a sort of friend and patron-saint of the negro race; he had devoted himself to their interests with a zeal unusual in those days. His church numbered more of them than any in Newport; and his hours of leisure from study were often spent in lowliest visitations among them, hearing their stories, consoling their sorrows, advising, and directing their plans, teaching them reading and writing, and he often drew hard on his slender salary to assist them in their emergencies and distresses.
This unusual condescension on his part was repaid on theirs with all the warmth of their race; and Candace, in particular, devoted herself to the Doctor with all the force of her being.
There was a legend current in the neighborhood, that the first efforts to catechize Candace were not eminently successful, her modes of contemplating theological tenets being so peculiarly from her own individual point of view that it was hard to get her subscription to a received opinion. On the venerable clause in the Catechism, in particular, which declares that all men sinned in Adam and fell with him, Candace made a dead halt:–
“I didn’t do dat ar’, for one, I knows. I’s got good mem’ry,–allers knows what I does,–nebber did eat dat ar’ apple,–nebber eat a bit ob him. Don’t tell me!”
It was of no use, of course, to tell Candace of all the explanations of this redoubtable passage,–of potential presence, and representative presence, and representative identity, and federal headship. She met all with the dogged,–
“Nebber did it, I knows; should ‘ave ‘membered, if I had. Don’t tell me!”
And even in the catechizing class of the Doctor himself, if this answer came to her, she sat black and frowning in stony silence even in his reverend presence.
Candace was often reminded that the Doctor believed the Catechism, and that she was differing from a great and good man; but the argument made no manner of impression on her, till, one day, a far-off cousin of hers, whose condition under a hard master had often moved her compassion, came in overjoyed to recount to her how, owing to Dr. H.’s exertions, he had gained his freedom. The Doctor himself had in person gone from house to house, raising the sum for his redemption; and when more yet was wanting, supplied it by paying half his last quarter’s limited salary.
“He do dat ar’?” said Candace, dropping the fork wherewith she was spearing doughnuts. “Den I’m gwine to b’liebe ebery word _he_ does!”
And accordingly, at the next catechizing, the Doctor’s astonishment was great when Candace pressed up to him, exclaiming–
“De Lord bress you, Doctor, for opening de prison for dem dat is bound! I b’liebes in you now, Doctor. I’s gwine to b’liebe ebery word you say. I’ll say de Catechize now,–fix it any way you like. I did eat dat ar’ apple,–I eat de whole tree, an’ swallowed ebery bit ob it, if you say so.”
And this very thorough profession of faith was followed, on the part of Candace, by years of the most strenuous orthodoxy. Her general mode of expressing her mind on the subject was short and definitive.
“Law me! what’s de use? I’s set out to b’liebe de Catechize, an’ I’m gwine to bliebe it,–so!”
While we have been telling you all this about her, she has fastened her horse, and is swinging leisurely up to the house with a basket on either arm.
“Good morning, Candace,” said Mrs. Scudder. “What brings you so early?”
“Come down ‘fore light to sell my chickens an’ eggs,–got a lot o’ money for ’em, too. Missy Marvyn she sent Miss Scudder some turkey-eggs, an’ I brought down some o’ my doughnuts for de Doctor. Good folks must lib, you know, as well as wicked ones,”–and Candace gave a hearty, unctuous laugh. “No reason why Doctors shouldn’t hab good tings as well as sinners, is dere?”–and she shook in great billows, and showed her white teeth in the _abandon_ of her laugh. “Lor bress ye, honey, chile!” she said, turning to Mary, “why, ye looks like a new rose, ebery bit! Don’t wonder _somebody_ was allers pryin’ an’ spyin’ about here!”
“How is your Mistress, Candace?” said Mrs. Scudder, by way of changing the subject.
“Well, porly,–rader porly. When Massa Jim goes, ‘pears like takin’ de light right out her eyes. Dat ar’ boy trains roun’ arter his mudder like a cosset, he does. Lor’, de house seems so still widout him!–can’t a fly scratch his ear but it starts a body. Missy Marvyn she sent down, an’ says, would you an’ de Doctor an’ Miss Mary please come to tea dis arternoon.”
“Thank your mistress, Candace,” said Mrs. Scudder; “Mary and I will come,–and the Doctor, perhaps,” looking at the good man, who had relapsed into meditation, and was eating his breakfast without taking note of anything going on. “It will be time enough to tell him of it,” she said to Mary, “when we have to wake him up to dress; so we won’t disturb him now.”
To Mary the prospect of the visit was a pleasant one, for reasons which she scarce gave a definite form to. Of course, like a good girl, she had come to a fixed and settled resolution to think of James as little as possible; but when the path of duty lay directly along scenes and among people fitted to recall him, it was more agreeable than if it had lain in another direction. Added to this, a very tender and silent friendship subsisted between Mrs. Marvyn and Mary; in which, besides similarity of mind and intellectual pursuits, there was a deep, unspoken element of sympathy.
Candace watched the light in Mary’s eyes with the instinctive shrewdness by which her race seem to divine the thoughts and feelings of their superiors, and chuckled to herself Internally. Without ever having been made a _confidante_ by any party, or having a word said to or before her, still the whole position of affairs was as clear to her as if she had seen it on a map. She had appreciated at once Mrs. Scudder’s coolness, James’s devotion, and Mary’s perplexity,–and inly resolved, that, if the little maiden did not think of James in his absence, it should not be her fault.
“Laws, Miss Scudder,” she said, “I’s right glad you’s comin’; ’cause you hasn’t seen how we’s kind o’ splendified since Massa Jim come home. You wouldn’t know it. Why, he’s got mats from Mogadore on all de entries, and a great big ‘un on de parlor; and ye ought to see de shawl he brought Missus, an’ all de cur’us kind o’ tings to de Squire. ‘Tell ye, dat ar’ boy honors his fader and mudder, ef he don’t do nuffin else,–an’ dat’s de fus’ commandment wid promise, Ma’am; an’ to see him a-settin’ up ebery day in prayer-time, so handsome, holdin’ Missus’s han’, an’ lookin’ right into her eyes all de time! Why, dat ar’ boy is one o’ de ‘lect,–it’s jest as clare to me; and de ‘lect has got to come in,–dat’s what I say. My faith’s strong,–real clare,’tell ye,” she added, with the triumphant laugh which usually chorused her conversation, and turning to the Doctor, who, aroused by her loud and vigorous strain, was attending with interest to her.
“Well, Candace,” he said, “we all hope you are right.”
“_Hope_, Doctor!–I don’t hope,–I _knows_. ‘Tell ye, when I pray for him, don’t I feel enlarged? ‘Tell ye, it goes wid a rush. I can feel it gwine up like a rushin’, mighty wind. I feels strong, I do.”
“That’s right, Candace,” said the Doctor, “keep on; your prayers stand as much chance with God as if you were a crowned queen. The Lord is no respecter of persons.”
“Dat’s what he a’n’t, Doctor,–an’ dere’s where I ‘gree wid him,” said Candace, as she gathered her baskets vigorously together, and, after a sweeping curtsy, went sailing down to her wagon, full laden with content, shouting a hearty “Good mornin’, Missus,” with the full power of her cheerful lungs, as she rode off.
As the Doctor looked after her, the simple, pleased expression with which he had watched her gradually faded, and there passed over his broad, good face a shadow, as of a cloud on a mountain-side.
“What a shame it is,” he said, “what a scandal and disgrace to the Protestant religion, that Christians of America should openly practise and countenance this enslaving of the Africans! I have for a long time holden my peace,–may the Lord forgive me!–but I believe the time is coming when I must utter my voice. I cannot go down to the wharves or among the shipping, without these poor dumb creatures look at me so that I am ashamed,–as if they asked me what I, a Christian minister, was doing, that I did not come to their help. I must testify.”
Mrs. Scudder looked grave at this earnest announcement; she had heard many like it before, and they always filled her with alarm, because–Shall we tell you why?
Well, then, it was not because she was not a thoroughly indoctrinated anti-slavery woman. Her husband, who did all her thinking for her, had been a man of ideas beyond his day, and never for a moment countenanced the right of slavery very so far as to buy or own a servant or attendant of any kind; and Mrs. Scudder had always followed decidedly along the path of his opinions and practice, and never hesitated to declare the reasons for the faith that was in her. But if any of us could imagine an angel dropped down out of heaven, with wings, ideas, notions, manners, and customs all fresh from that very different country, we might easily suppose that the most pious and orthodox family might find the task of presenting him in general society and piloting him along the courses of this world a very delicate and embarrassing one. However much they might reverence him on their own private account, their hearts would probably sink within them at the idea of allowing him to expand himself according to his previous nature and habits in the great world without. In like manner, men of high, unworldly natures are often reverenced by those who are somewhat puzzled what to do with them practically.
Mrs. Scudder considered the Doctor as a superior being, possessed by a holy helplessness in all things material and temporal, which imposed on her the necessity of thinking and caring for him, and prevising the earthly and material aspects of his affairs.
There was not in Newport a more thriving and reputable business at that time than the slave-trade. Large fortunes were constantly being turned out in it, and what better Providential witness of its justice could most people require?
Beside this, in their own little church, she reflected with alarm, that Simeon Brown, the richest and most liberal supporter of the society, had been, and was then, drawing all his wealth from this source; and rapidly there flashed before her mind a picture of one and another, influential persons, who were holders of slaves. Therefore, when the Doctor announced, “I must testify,” she rattled her tea-spoon uneasily, and answered,–
“In what way, Doctor, do you think of bearing testimony? The subject, I think, is a very difficult one.”
“Difficult? I think no subject can be clearer. If we were right in our war for liberty, we are wrong in making slaves or keeping them.”
“Oh, I did not mean,” said Mrs. Scudder, “that it was difficult to understand the subject; the _right_ of the matter is clear, but what to _do_ is the thing.”
“I shall preach about it,” said the Doctor; “my mind has run upon it some time. I shall show to the house of Judah their sin in this matter.”
“I fear there will be great offence given,” said Mrs. Scudder. “There’s Simeon Brown, one of our largest supporters,–he is in the trade.”
“Ah, yes,–but he will come out of it,–of course he will,–he is all right, all clear. I was delighted with the clearness of his views the other night, and thought then of bringing them to bear on this point,–only, as others were present, I deferred it. But I can show him that it follows logically from his principles; I am confident of that.”
“I think you’ll be disappointed in him, Doctor;–I think he’ll be angry, and get up a commotion, and leave the church.”
“Madam,” said the Doctor, “do you suppose that a man who would be willing even to give up his eternal salvation for the greatest good of the universe could hesitate about a few paltry thousands that perish in the using?”
“He may feel willing to give up his soul,” said Mrs. Scudder, naively, “but I don’t think he’ll give up his ships,–that’s quite another matter,–he won’t see it to be his duty.”
“Then, Ma’am, he’ll be a hypocrite, a gross hypocrite, if he won’t,” said the Doctor. “It is not Christian charity to think it of him. I shall call upon him this morning and tell him my intentions.”
“But, Doctor,” exclaimed Mrs. Scudder, with a start, “pray, think a little more of it. You know a great many things depend on him. Why! he has subscribed for twenty copies of your ‘System of Theology.’ I hope you’ll remember that.”
“And why should I remember that?” said the Doctor,–hastily turning round, suddenly enkindled, his blue eyes flashing out of their usual misty calm,–“what has my ‘System of Theology’ to do with the matter?”
“Why,” said Mrs. Scudder, “it’s of more importance to get right views of the gospel before the world than anything else, is it not?–and if, by any imprudence in treating influential people, this should be prevented, more harm than good would be done.”
“Madam,” said the Doctor, “I’d sooner my system should be sunk in the sea than it should be a millstone round my neck to keep me from my duty. Let God take care of my theology; I must do my duty.”
And as the Doctor spoke, he straightened himself to the full dignity of his height, his face kindling with an unconscious majesty, and, as he turned, his eye fell on Mary, who was standing with her slender figure dilated, her large blue eye wide and bright, in a sort of trance of solemn feeling, half smiles, half tears,–and the strong, heroic man started, to see this answer to his higher soul in the sweet, tremulous mirror of womanhood. One of those lightning glances passed between his eyes and hers which are the freemasonry of noble spirits,–and, by a sudden impulse, they approached each other. He took both her outstretched hands, looked down into her face with a look full of admiration, and a sort of naive wonder,–then, as if her inspired silence had been a voice to him, he laid his hand on her head, and said,–
“God bless you, child! ‘Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger!'”
In a moment he was gone.
“Mary,” said Mrs. Scudder, laying her hand on her daughter’s arm, “the Doctor loves you!”
“I know he does, mother,” said Mary, innocently; “and I love him,–dearly!–he is a noble, grand man!”
Mrs. Scudder looked keenly at her daughter. Mary’s eye was as calm as a June sky, and she began, composedly, gathering up the teacups.
“She did not understand me,” thought the mother.
[To be continued.]
* * * * *
REVIEW.
_The New Testament_. Translated from the Original Greek, etc. By LEICESTER AMBROSE SAWYER. Boston: John P. Jewett & Co. 1858.
Few books merit the criticism which they receive; fewer receive all they merit. Here is a work, a translation, which is more likely than most to get its deserts, because its circle of critics will be unusually large. It purports to be a new and improved version of “the Book of Books,” and puts forth claims which will be conceded only after it shall have sustained the most extensive, minute, and even prejudiced scrutiny. The Bible has more readers than any other book; and that which claims to be an improved Bible must, if it secure anything like a general attention, meet with criticisms from all quarters. Mr. Sawyer is fortunate in one respect: his work will be examined and judged by multitudes who never undertook to criticize any other hook; he will have, therefore, ultimately, a popular judgment of his task and its performance. But he is unfortunate in another point: for he must meet that popular sentiment which at the outset looks with disfavor upon anything that has even the appearance of meddling with the commonly received and almost universally approved version of the Holy Scriptures. Let us, in a brief space and with as little of formal and scholastic criticism as possible, examine Mr. Sawyer’s translation.
A work of such a character as this should be judged not more by its absolute or intrinsic merits than by a comparison of them with the design avowed and the claims advanced by the author. In a task of such magnitude we ought not to expect to find everything perfect. If the completed structure have a symmetry of proportions and excellence of finish approaching reasonably near to the plan proposed, we should not too severely censure minor defects. Critics rarely accord all that authors claim; the former measure the actual achievement,–the latter look to the ideal conception; if the one be in a reasonable degree commensurate with the other, we should be lenient toward the faults of the performance.
With this charitable substratum for our critical structure, let us test Mr. Sawyer’s new version by contrasting it with his own avowed design and the claims with which he introduces his completed task. In the Preface he says,–
“This is not a work of compromises, or of conjectural interpretations of the Sacred Scriptures, neither is it a paraphrase, but a strict [strictly] literal rendering. It neither adds nor takes away; but aims to express the original with the utmost clearness and force, and with the utmost precision.”
This is a somewhat pretentious claim. A strictly literal rendering of any language into another is by no means always an easy task; and it is especially difficult to couple, as the translator in this case asserts he has done, the utmost clearness, force, and precision in the expression of the thought, with minute exactness of version. We are surprised that Mr. Sawyer should have rested his claim for the excellence and superiority of his translation mainly upon this quality of literalism, for it is often the case that the closest literalist is the worst translator. It is often impossible to render the thoughts expressed in the peculiar idioms of one tongue into exactly corresponding idioms of another. There are idiomatic forms, especially in the Greek, which have no precisely correspondent forms in the English, and yet these are not unfrequently the most forcible expressions of any to be found in the original; any attempt to render these literally must be abortive; and a literal rendering, or as nearly literal as possible, is the worst translation, because it sacrifices the clearness, force, and precision, to say nothing of the grace and delicacy, of the original. The French language abounds in words and phrases the literal translation of which into English perverts the meaning and destroys the force of the original. Still more is a strictly literal rendering incompatible with the preservation and transference of the beauties of style and the strength of diction. The widest range of the thought, its more delicate shades and subtiler connections, often depend in great part upon the peculiar forms of the language in which they are first clothed; and by a strictly literal translation the scope of the thought is narrowed, its finer lines obscured, and that which is of more importance than all else, the fitness of the expression, is altogether lost. The utmost strictness of literal translation is a poor compensation for the resultant poverty of language and dilution of thought; and by as much as the original is more impressive in its rich and fitting garb, by so much the more is it made to appear mean and unlike itself when forced to clothe itself in scanty second-hand habiliments.
We have said thus much on this point for two reasons: first, because it is on this chiefly that Mr. Sawyer appeals to the public for a verdict in favor of his translation; and secondly, because it is a common and popular notion, that, the more literal a translation can be made, especially in the case of the Bible, the better and more trustworthy it will be. And we are willing to admit, that, in translating the Holy Scriptures, the greatest degree of strictness in literal rendering, compatible with the full and correct expression of the thought, is and should be a first consideration; the translator should take no liberties with the text, by way either of omission, alteration, or compromise; he must in no way vitiate the thought; and if he keep within this rule, he will have escaped just criticism, and may claim the merit of faithfulness to his task. Has Mr. Sawyer, then, in his New Testament, given a strictly literal rendering? and is it an improvement on the common version? We have space for only a few specimens of his translation, and we have taken some of the first that attracted our notice; it will be observed that they are none of them abstruse or disputed passages.
COMMON VERSION.
_Matt_. ii. 16.
“Then Herod, when he saw that he was _mocked_ of the _wise men_, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth and _slew_ all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he _had diligently inquired_ of the _wise men_.”
SAWYER’S VERSION.
_Chap_. ii. _verse_ 4.
“Then Herod seeing that he was _despised_ by the _Magi_, was exceedingly angry, and sent and _destroyed_ all the children, in Bethlehem, and in all its borders, from two years old and under, according to the precise time which he _had learned_ of the _Magi_.”
Here is a comparison of the two translations of a simple narrative text taken at random. The essential changes (improvements?) made by Mr. Sawyer are in the words which we have Italicized. Two of these changes, the substitution of “Magi” for “wise men,” and of “destroyed” for “slew,” we shall pass with the single observation, that the rendering of the common version is in both instances the more accurate and better expressed. Mr. Sawyer substitutes “despised” for “mocked,” as the translation of [Greek: henepaichthae]. Is this literal? or is it an improvement? The Greek verb [Greek: hemaiso] has the signification primarily _to deride, to mock, to scoff at_, and secondarily _to delude, to deceive, to disappoint_, but it has not the meaning to _despise_. The word _mock_ is used in our language in both these significations,–in the secondary sense when it refers to men’s hopes or expectations,–as, _to mock one’s hopes_, that is, to delude or disappoint one’s expectations. In this sense, and in this alone, it is obviously used in this passage. The wise men did not scoff at King Herod, but they did delude him; they mocked his expectation of their return, and went back to their own country without returning to report to him, because they had been “warned of God in a dream,” not because they despised the king. To say, as Mr. Sawyer does, that they “despised” him, is neither warranted by the meaning of [Greek: _enepaichthae_], nor is such a rendering accordant with the facts of the story or the connections of the thought. It is a forced and far-fetched translation, and a change from the common version much for the worse. The same word is of frequent occurrence in the Scriptures. In the Septuagint, Jer. x. 14, it is used in the same sense as in Matt. ii. 16. It is worthy of note that in no other instance does Mr. Sawyer render it by “despised.” In Luke xviii. 32 and xxii. 63, and Matt. xx. 19, he translates it “mocked,” like the common version. Mr. Sawyer should be more consistent, if he would have us put faith in his scholarly pretensions and literal accuracy. The passage in which he indulges in this variation from his own rule is the one of all the list where such a translation is particularly fitting, and where neither force, clearness, nor precision is gained by the substitution.
Mr. Sawyer renders [Greek: _katha thov chrinon du haekribose_] thus: “according to the precise time which he had learned.”–Is this literal or correct? [Greek: _’Akriboo_] signifies _to inquire diligently, assiduously, or accurately_, and has no such signification primarily as _to learn_. If the reader will now turn to Mr. Sawyer’s translation of the 7th verse of the same chapter of Matthew, he will there find that he translates [Greek: _haekribose_] “asked”! And yet it stands in that passage in precisely the same connection of thought as in the 16th verse; so that we have our translator, who gives us only strictly literal renderings, translating the same word, occurring in the same relative connection, in the one instance by “asked,” and in the other by “had learned,”–neither of them legitimate translations, and neither precisely expressing the thought. The rendering “asked” falls as far short of the full and forcible meaning of [Greek: _haekribose_], in the one case, as “had learned” varies from its strictly literal signification in the other.
We will now examine another passage illustrating Mr. Sawyer’s consistent fidelity to literal renderings. He translates the word [Greek: _phuchae_], Luke xii. 19, 20, and 23, “soul”; thus, “I will say to my _soul_,” find “Is not the _soul_ more than the food?”–agreeing with the common version in the first instance, and differing from it in the second. But he renders [Greek: _phuchae_] in Mark viii. 36, 37, Luke xvii. 33, and Matt. xvi. 26, “life”; thus, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his _life_?” “For whoever wishes to save his _life_ shall lose it.” In these cases he seems to have made his choice between the renderings “soul” and “life” according to no rule of translation or of criticism in philology, but as his fancy dictated. How shall we explain these inconsistencies, and, at the same time, grant Mr. Sawyer his claim to literalness of rendering?
Luke ix. 24, 25, Mr. Sawyer translates [Greek: _phuchae_] “life,” and then renders [Greek: _eauthon de apolesas ae zaemiotheis_] “and destroys himself or loses his life.” The common version is “and lose himself or be cast away,” which is not only more strictly literal, but far more forcible. [Greek: _’Apollumi_] conveys the strongest idea of _total, irremediable ruin_; and [Greek: _zaemioo_], when used, as in this passage, in the aorist tense, has the signification of _bringing loss or ruin upon one’s self_. Both these thoughts are lost in Mr. Sawyer’s translation; and a more tame, insufficient, and tautological rendering than his could scarcely be imagined.
Another instance of Mr. Sawyer’s singular choice of renderings, in his zeal for improvement, is found in Luke viii. 46, which he translates, “Some one touched me; for I perceived a _power_ going from me.” The common version, “Somebody touched me; for I perceive that _virtue_ is gone out of me,” is clear and precise; Mr. Sawyer’s version, “a power,” is more indefinite and less forcible. Any intelligent reader will at once perceive that the common version is the better, and that Mr. Sawyer’s improved rendering is almost meaningless.
One more example of these strictly literal renderings must suffice, John iii. 4. common version,–“Nicodemus saith unto him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born?'” Sawyer’s version,–“Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? can he become an unborn infant of his mother a second time, and be born?'” The absurdity of the form of language put into the mouth of Nicodemus by Mr. Sawyer is obvious at a glance; no such thought was ever so expressed by any speaker in any language; it is wholly forced and unnatural; and upon comparing Mr. Sawyer’s translation with the original, we find that he has paraphrased the passage with a vengeance, altogether omitting to translate the clause [Greek: _eis thaen koilian … eiselthein kai gennaethaenai_], and interpolating an expression, instead, which is neither in the original text nor in the thought. Probably Mr. Sawyer’s motive for taking this extraordinary liberty was a false delicacy, amounting to prudery; but it ill assorts with his assertion, that his work is not a paraphrase, nor one of compromises, or of conjectural interpretations.
We might proceed with numerous illustrations’ exhibiting the weakness of Mr. Sawyer’s claim of an improved and strictly literal rendering, but these are enough. Before he claims much on the score of scholarly accuracy or critical rendering, he must explain these inconsistencies and remove these blemishes. But if such faults are patent in the simplest narrative passages, what confidence can we place in Mr. Sawyer as a translator of difficult, abstruse, doctrinal, and disputed texts? In every instance in which we have tested his translation of the original, the changes which he has made from the common version not only, in our judgment, are no improvements, but positively render the expression less clear, less forcible, and less precise; of course, as the language is made worse, the thought is, in the same proportion, obscured.
Another peculiarity of Mr. Sawyer’s translation, which we suppose he claims as an improvement, does not meet our approval. In all cases where there is no word in our language which expresses the signification of the Greek, as in the names of weights and measures, Mr. Sawyer substitutes for the language of the common version the foreign word of the original,–sometimes merely giving the orthography of the Greek in English letters, sometimes affixing a termination,–and frequently he adds, in brackets, an explanation of his rendering. As examples of this, we quote the following:–
“Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a _modius_ [1.916 gallon measure].”
“I tell you that you shall not go out thence till you have paid even the last _lepton_ [2 mills]”
“It is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three _sata_ [33 quarts] of flour.”
“And there were six stone water-jars there, placed for the purification of the Jews, containing two or three _metretes_ [16.75 or 25.125 gallons] each.”
“And he desired to fill his stomach with the _carob pods_ which the swine eat.”
“And one poor widow came and cast in two _lepta_, which is a _quadrans_ [4 mills].”
It requires no knowledge of the original to pass judgment on such changes as are here made from the common version. The practice which Mr. Sawyer here introduces and sanctions is a vicious one in any translation, and is especially so in the case of the Holy Scriptures, which are to be read by the unlearned and ignorant as well as by the scholar and the critic. Mr. Sawyer’s translation of such words as we have noted above conveys no idea to the mind of the common reader, and requires a glossary to make it intelligible. There is in his choice of words a pedantry and affectation of learning that are in bad taste. But in this, as in his other strictly literal renderings, he is inconsistent, and does not adhere to his own rule. He translates Matt. vi. 30,–“And if God so clothes the grass of the field, which to-day is, and tomorrow is cast into the _oven_,” etc. If he were consistent in his practice, he would have rendered the word “oven” _klibanon_, and then, in parenthesis, explained that it signifies “a large round pot, of earthen or other material, two or three feet high, narrowing towards the top, on the sides of which the dough was spread to be baked in thin cakes.” Probably Mr. Sawyer was deterred from following his rule in this case by the formidableness of the necessary parenthesis; but there is as much reason why he should have written _klibanon_ instead of “oven,” as there is for substituting _lepton_ for “farthing,” or _modius_ for “bushel,” or _carob pods_ for “husks,”–and in fact more reason, because the word “oven,” which he indorses and uses, conveys a far more imperfect idea of the original, [Greek: _klibanon_], than those words of the common version which he has rejected do of their originals. All such changes as those instanced above, in our judgment, mar the simplicity and obscure the meaning of the passages where they occur.
But we will now notice what appears to us a more serious defect than any of those already mentioned. Mr. Sawyer throughout his translation substitutes vulgar Latinisms and circumlocutions for the vigorous phrases of the received version. Sometimes this is done at the expense of homely Saxon words which are the very sinews of our language; and wherever such words are sacrificed for Latinisms, the beauty and force of the whole are impaired or destroyed. Again, the translator seems to have a peculiar antipathy to everything like poetical expressions or the euphonious arrangement of sentences. He has evidently fallen into the error of supposing that the most prosaic rendering is necessarily the most exact; whereas the fact is, that the most poetical form of expression of which a passage is susceptible is often the most clear, forcible, and precise. The best method of giving the reader an idea of the justice of this portion of our criticism of Mr. Sawyer’s version is to quote some passages in contrast with the common version.
COMMON VERSION.
“_If thou wilt_, let us make here three tabernacles.”
“So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord: thou knowest that _I love thee_.”
“God be _merciful_ to me a sinner.”
“Give us this day our _daily_ bread.”
“_And therefore_ I cannot come.”
“And to whom men have _committed_ much, of him they will ask the more.”
“I _give tithes_ of all that I _possess_.”
“For which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and _counteth the cost_?”
“And upon this rock I will build my _church_.”
“If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if _he repent_, forgive him.”
“And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, _Rejoice with me_, for I have found my sheep which was lost.”
“And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, _Peace_, be still.”
“As we were driven up and down in Adria, about midnight the shipmen _deemed that they drew near to some country_.”
“Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate and _broad_ is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate and _narrow_ is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they _toil not_, neither do they spin.”
SAWYER’S VERSION.
“_If you please_, we will make here three tabernacles.”
“When therefore they had breakfasted, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that _I am a friend to you_.”
“God, be _propitious_ to me a sinner.”
“Give us to-day our _essential_ bread.”
“_On this account_ I cannot come.”
“And of him with whom men have _deposited_ much, they will ask more.”
“I _tithe_ all I _acquire_.”
“For what man of you wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down and _estimate the expense_?”
“And upon this rock will I build my _assembly_.”
“If your brother sins, reprove him; and if _he changes his mind_, forgive him.”
“And coming to the house, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying, _Congratulate me_; for I have found my sheep that was lost.”
“And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said to the lake, _Hush!_ Be still!”
“When we were borne along in the Adriatic, at about midnight the sailors _suspected that some land was approaching them_.”
“Enter In through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and _spacious_ the way which leads to destruction, and many are they that enter in by it; for narrow is the gate, and _compressed_ the way which leads to life, and few are those who find it.”
“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they _perform no hard labor_, neither do they spin.”
These must suffice. We cannot extend our quotations, nor is there occasion to do so. We think we have seen enough of Mr. Sawyer’s use of words and phrases, enough of his improvements on the common version of the Bible, to convince any candid mind that his is neither a literal nor a correct translation; that so far from having improved the version, by adding clearness, force, or precision, he has injured it in each of these respects; and that the world would be immensely the loser by accepting him as a substitute for the forty-seven translators who composed the famous Council of King James in 1611. We are informed that Mr. Sawyer has completed his improved version of the Old Testament, and will soon publish it. We almost shudder in anticipation of the sounds which he has probably evoked from the harp of Judah’s minstrel king, of the colors which he has put on the canvas where are painted the glowing visions of Isaiah, and of the rude matter-of-fact method in which he has doubtless used the modern telescope to penetrate and scatter the glorious and solemn mysteries of the cloud-land of prophecy out of which spake the God of Daniel. But we forbear, and must wait till we have the remainder of this _magnum opus_ before we venture to hazard an opinion of its merits.
* * * * *
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