92 THE REV. T. H. DARLOW^ M.A.^ ON THE CHARACTER 



on to translate the other Gospels ; probably they next take in 

 hand either the Acts of the Apostles, as illustrating the growth 

 of infant Christian communities, or the Psalter, as the hymn- 

 book of the Universal Church. Before the New Testament has 

 been completed they will often translate the book of Genesis, 

 as the prologue to sacred history. It is curious to note how 

 often the earliest of the prophets which missionaries translate 

 is Jonah — doubtless because Jonah is the most missionary book 

 in the Old Testament. The experience of Bible translators 

 shows, further, that the first version of the New Testament is 

 nearly always revised before a version of the Old Testament 

 has been completed. Indeed, the vernacular New Testament 

 appears to suffice for the ordinary needs of a native Christian 

 community, until the time comes when converts are 

 sufficiently advanced to be trained for ordination ; it is for 

 their training that a version of the Old Testament becomes 

 urgent. 



In the preface to the second edition of his famous English 

 version of Plato's Dialogues, the late Master of Balliol laid 

 down certain canons which must govern every successful 

 translator : " His object is not merely to render the w^ords of 

 one language into the words of another, but to produce an 

 impression similar, or nearly similar, to that of the original on 

 the mind of the reader." ..." The excellence of a transla- 

 tion will consist not merely in the faithful rendering oi words, 

 or in the composition of a sentence only, or yet of a single 

 paragraph, but in the colour and style of the whole." . . . 

 " The metaphors admissible in different languages vary, and the 

 translator will often be compelled to substitute one for another." 

 , . . " The freest and tiie most literal rendering are not 

 necessarily opposed : but the two principles can only be 

 harmonized by a series of corrections." ..." The result 

 should read as an original work, and should also be the most 

 faithful transcript which can be made of the language from 

 which the translation is taken." 



Such is the high and difficult ideal for the translator of the 

 Bible. Not all have attained to it ; there have even been 

 crude and careless and defective versions of Scripture. 

 Some translators have assumed that good intentions can com- 

 pensate for slovenliness or ignorance. Some translators have 

 not been ashamed to exhibit strong theological or ecclesiastical 

 bias : I need only mention such partisan versions as the Polish 

 Bible, known as the " Socinian Bible," published in 1563 — and 

 the notorious French Testaments printed at Bordeaux in 16(31-3 



