18 JUNE 1870, Page 15

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

THE REVISION OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.

go THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]

Sin—Mr. Gladstone's pleasant and bantering reply to Mr. C. Buxton's motion relating to the revision of the English Bible, could only be understood to mean that there was no such public demand for the accomplishment of this work as would compel an unwilling Government to undertake an additional responsibility. He pointed out that it was a serious thing for " authority "— "the civil authority "—to move in a matter of this importance. Convocation enjoyed the freedom of a body whose action would bind no one. He would by no means censure the members of "the Convocation of the Southern Province" if they endeavoured to win some credit by undertaking what might be a useful work. Let them experiment on a revision. As for the expense, which would certainly exceed £.30,000, if Parliament bad to find the supplies for a Royal Commission, why, the higher clergy, "who, though not extravagantly opulent, have considerable means," might defray the cost of their experiment. What a shock it might give to the President of the United States, if he were to receive some morning "a sealed envelope," and find himself re- quested to do a thing so violently unconstitutional as to take part in an undertaking which might indirectly touch religion !

The argument introduced by this pleasantry was hardly of a more solid or serious kind. If a revision were executed by a Royal Commission, it was not to be expected, Mr. Gladstone said, that every one would be satisfied with the work. Here would be a difficulty. How could a work put out by " authority " be again mended ? A revision by Convocation would be only an experi- ment. If it was unsatisfactory, there would be an end of it. If, on the contrary, it should give universal satisfaction, then would be the time for "the civil authority" to stamp it with its sanction. Now, in the first place, it may be safely asserted that no possible translation would satisfy everybody. In the next place, it may be regarded as almost certain that a revised translation executed by a Royal Commission, would be far more likely to satisfy reason- able persons and the public generally than one appearing under any other auspices. And thirdly, an experimental version by a Oonvocation Committee may prove very embarrassing. It is quite certain to be more correct than the present version, but it may not be so good as it might be. The public and the civil authority may be puzzled whether to accept it or reject it, and may not improbably end in accepting it with a sense of dissatisfaction.

The resolution of the Government was, however, acceptable to Parliament, and—disappointing as it must be to those who would have liked to see an enterprise of the highest interest to the English world carried out as a national work—it seems useless now to rebel against it. We must hope for the best from the labours of the Convocation Committees. The promoters of the movement have shown a most creditable liberality in availing themselves of the help of Nonconformists. But it may be worth while, perhaps, to observe that the literary element of the work has hardly been enough considered. Scholarship is, no doubt, the first requisite, for the correction of the text and of errors in translation. But expression is of scarcely secondary importance. To mend our English version as perfectly as possible, it is not enough to be a learned divine. Where it is decided to correct a

sentence, what skill will be needed to mould the new phrase and fit it in with the old text ! Imagine what help might be given, for example, either by Mr. Matthew Arnold or by Mr. Bright, the one with his exquisite literary taste and art, the other with his rare instinct' for the choice of words, and his equally remarkable sympathy with the language of the English Bible. Hitherto it would seem that the value of aids like these has been overlooked. But there may still be time to associate some masters of expression with the scholars and divines whose special business it is to prepare the materials of an amended version.—I am, Sir, &c., D.