Ihe; authorized version c)F|j|i|p^

BS

'

AND:

Its. INFLU
S.

J"^^"

ALBERT

COOK

CORNELL UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME or THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 189I BY

HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE

Cornell University Library

BS186 .C77
Authorized version oJ,,*|jf,,!|K|iSllll"^

3 1924 029 268 658

olin

Cornell University Library

The

original of

tfiis

book

is in

the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright

restrictions in

the United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029268658

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

and English Prose Style.

[The Bible
)

(D. C.

Heath

&

Co., Boston, Mass.)

Biblical Quotations in Old English Prose (The Macmillan Co., Writers, Series I. London and New York.)
Biblical-

Quotations in Old English Prose Writers, Series II. (Charles Scribner's Sons,

New

York.)

The Authorized Version

of the Bible

and

its

Influence

By

Albert

S.

Cook

Professor of the English Language and Literature

in Yale University

G. P. Putnam's Sons New York and London

Zbe
ffnlcfterbockcr

press

1910

Copyright, 1910
BY

ALBERT

S.

COOK

Zbt

fltnfcfterbocftet ipress*

mew T^oth

PREFATORY NOTE

THIS essay

was

originally written as

a chapter for Volume IV of The

Cambridge History of English Literature, and is here reprinted by the kind
permission of the Syndics of the
bridge University Press.

Cam-

few

trifling

changes have been made, and certain passages, retrenched

by the

editors

from
it

my

manuscript, in order to adapt

limits

to the

of the assigned

space,

are

here

restored.
Gkebnsboro, Vermont,
September, 1910.

The Authorized Version

Bible and
its

of the

Influence

IF

the Authorized Version' of the Bible

is

the

first

English

classic, as

seems

by aU competent authorities to be allowed, two inquiries suggest themselves ^first, what is meant when it is called a classic, and, secondly, what are the qual-

ities

that entitle

it

to be ranked as the

first classic in
it will

English? In other words,

first

be necessary

to examine the

' Notwithstanding the current use of this term, the Jacobean revision was never publicly authorized by Parliament or Convocation, Privy Council or King. The acceptance which it has enjoyed has been won chiefly on

its merits.
I

Two

Inquiries

Bible as literature, irrespective of

translation whatever
;

any
Eng-

and, secondly, to

examine

its

diction in the standard

lish translation, in order to see

whether

the choice of words, the mold of sentences,

and the harmonious disposition of sounds,

are such as deserve the highest praise in

comparison with the choicest productions

of native English genius.

These two
as

inquiries,

however

^the

one

into the nature of the Bible considered

literature,

nature

of

and the other into the the English in which our

is

standard
necessity

version

written

wiU

of

imply some consideration of

the successive stages by which what

call

we

the Bible grew into being, and of the

by which the English of our Bible was gradually selected, imbued with the prope:^ meanings and associations, and ordered into a fit meditun for the conveyance of the high thoughts and
successive stages

No New
abounds.

Translation

3'

noble emotions in which the

Especially
is
it

original

true of our

second inquiry that no adequate conception of the language employed in the

Jacobean version can be formed, save

through at least a brief survey of the
series of English translations

which led

up to

it.

Their indebtedness to their

is

predecessors

recognized most clearly

of

by the
Version,
Truly,

translators

the Authorized
;'

who say
good

in their preface
reader,

Christian

thought, from the beginning, that

need to make a new translation,

of a

bad one a good one

we never we should nor yet to make but to make a

ones one

good one
principal

better, or out of

many good

good one, not justly to be excepted

against

that hath been our endeavor, that our

Bible either proceeds from divine
as some will have
is
it,

mark.~

The

inspiration,

or,

according to others,

the frmt of the

4
religious

Character of the Bible

genius
of

the

Hebrew

race.

From

either point of view, the authors

are highly gifted individuals, who, not-

withstanding their diversities, and the

progressiveness observable in their representations
of

the nature of

God, are

wonderfully consistent in the

oi their writings,
for

main tenor
illustration.

and

serve, in general,

mutual confirmation and

In some cases this

may be due

to the
later

revision of earlier productions

writers,

by

which has thus brought more

primitive conceptions into a degree of

conformity with maturer and profounder

views
;

but, even in such cases, the earlier

conception

often

lends

itself,

without

wrenching, to the deeper interpretation

and the completer exposition.

The

Bible

is

not distinctively an in-

tellectual

achievement.

Like
it

all

other

great works of literature,

springs from,

and addresses, human

nattire as a whole.


The Hebraic Temper
It

has no more to do with

intellect

than
In

with
fact,

sensibility, imagination, or will.

if it

be more concerned with one of

the one that

these faculties than another, sensibility,

the sphere of the emotions,

is

has pre-eminence over the

rest.

The
is

character of the Bible as a whole

best imderstood
as

Testament
devoting
/It
is

by regarding the Old its representative, and

primarily
to
that.

attention

the Hebraic temper, and the achieveof the

\ments

Hebrew genius, that give the Bible a unique place among books and
;

these racial traits were

to

much

less subject

modification

by

alien

influences

such as that of Greek culture

period covered

^in

the

by the Old Testament

than during the epoch in which the

composition of the
effected.

New
the

Testament was
difficulty^

Much
of
St.

of

for

example,
rendering

encountered in the adequate

Paul's
epistles

into

Themes
is

of the Bible

another tongue

due to elements

in his

writing which are not

common
him

to

him

and the

writers of the Old Testament,

specifically to

but belong

as one

who
had

had received a tincture of Greek

which, in modifying
his

learning,

thought,

also modified his speech.

''the

Bible,

then,

is

given to

The tone of it by the

Old
''-be

Testament, which therefore

considered
as

may
the

the

tj^pe

of

whole.

Its

themes are the greatest that

litera-

I ture can treat.

They may be reduced

is

to

/three

God, man,

and the physicaljiaii^

regarded

I verse.

'Die'^Eysical universe

[as subordinate
/

and even subject to man, within the measure of his capacity and
needs, while

man

in his turn is subject to

^pod.

The

visible

creation reveals the

skill of its

wisdom, power, and

of the world

Maker.

Man's constitution being related to that

about him, he finds in the

Narrative, Poetry, Prophecy

latter provision for his physical wants,

and a

certain satisfaction, falling,

how-

ever, short of the highest, for his spiritual

cravings.

The

relations of

one htiman
all

being to another, and of

existences

spirittial

among

themselves, are partly

matters of positive ordinance, and partly

to

be inferred from their relations to

Thus,
if

God.
all

God

is

the Father of aU,

as

men are brethren. God is represented desiring to draw man into closer and

closer union with Himself, or as restoring

man to his original condition of friend and

trustftil

chUd.

Such eventual and comis

plete restoration

to be effected through
people, but par^patriarchs,

the agency of the

ticularly
of

Hebrew

certain leaders

prophets, are

and

others^who accordingly
less

made

the subjects of more or

extended biographies.

Speaking generally, the three species of

literattire in

the Old Testament, succeed-

Narrative
:

ing one another in the order of time,^ are

marrative, poetry .prophecy.

epistles

chiefly lyrical

and

In the

New

Testament, the

may

be said to represent pro-

phecy, and the Revelation to be partly of a prophetic, and partly of a poetical,

character,

so far as these

two can be
first

distinguished.

Narrative, then, comes

in order
It deals

of time, as in order of books.

with the early history of mankind, and

the great epochs, especially the earlier,
in the history of the

Hebrew

race.

As
its

suggested
largely

above,

it

delineates

history

under the form of biography,

form,
biographies are full of ups
lights

most universally interesting

these

and and
in

downs, of
characters
affecting
'

and shadows, both

events.

and

Conceived
destinies

as
all

the ultimate

of

From another point of view, poetry precedes two. The matter of chronology is one which
admit
of exact determination.

the other

does not

Poetry and Prophecy

mankind, and indeed of every individual

soul, these lives,

presented in bold and

picturesque outlines, are

enthralling of stories.

among

the most

Next
thus

in order to the narrative books,

filled

with matter of deepest import

interest to the race,

and overwhelming

come the
Psalter
is

poetic books,

of

which the

the chief.

Some

of the

Psalms

are fotinded
history,

upon chapters of the national and all presuppose an acquaintreligion.

ance with the national

ject to reworking at

In turn,

the Psalms of an earUer period are sub-

a later epoch, in
perfectly the senti-

order to express

more

ments

of the individual or the religious

community.
of

The same

staple of matter
all

thus reappears in a variety of forms,

them charged with

sincerity, fervor, or

even passion.

The prophetic books form the

main division.

third

After story and song come

10

Unity of Theme

monition and reproof, mingled with predictions of a better time.

The prophet
the poet, but

has
is

much

in

common with
and
is
life

more

didactic,

concerned with

the national
individual.

rather than with the

Like the poet, the prophet

rehearses or alludes to

God's dealings

with

His people, so that continuity of

is

motive

maintained

throughout.

projection into the futtire opens

sional vistas of limitless

up occarange and sur-

passing beauty, which give scope and'

direction to such hopes as

men

are prone or
their

to

conceive

for

themselves

descendants.

The
is

first

condition of great literature

a tmity of theme and concept that

shall give coherence

all detail,

and organization to

however varied.
is

By

this tes;^

the Bible

great literature.

One

in-

creasing purpose rtms through the whole,

Earnestness of Treatment

and
is

is

reflected

in

the widening and

;

deepening thought of the writers

it

yet

a purpose which

exists germinally
like

at the beginning,

and unfolds

a bud.

Thus aU the principal books are linked and even welded together, and to the common
consciousness form, as
it

were, but a single

book

^rather rd pt^Xiov than ra fitpkia.

By
which
classic

far the greater part of the books

the
^that

world
is,

has

agreed

to

call

permanently enjoyable

and permanently helpful ^are marked! 'by dignity of theme and earnestness of treatment. The theme or themes of the
Jible are of

the utmost comprehensive-

ness,

depth, and poignancy of appeal.

is

In the treatment there

nowhere a trace
be detected.
to be ptdsating
is

'of levity or insincerity to

/The heart of a
behind every
for
effect,

man

is felt

line.

There

no straining
art.

no obtrusive ornament, no

complacent parading of the devices of

12

Breadth and Vigor

Great matters are presented with warmth

of

sentiment, in
is

a simple style

and

nothing

more

likely to render literature

enduring.

Another
emplified
for

trait

of

good
is

literatvu-e

ex-

by the Bible

breadth.

Take,
the

example,

the story of Jacob,

parable of the Prodigal Son, or St. Patd's

speech on Mars'
tials

hill.

Only the essenis

are given.
detail.

There

no petty and
the

befogging

The

characters,

events, or the arguments, stand out with

clearness,

even with boldness.

central
effect
is

An

in-

clusive

and

produced

with a few masterly strokes, so that the

resulting impression
is

one of conciseness

and economy.

Closely associated with this quality of

is

breadth

that of vigor.

of the Bible

The authors have no time nor mind to

curiosities,

spend upon the elaboration of

or

upon

minute

and

trifling

points.

Subjectivity

13

Every sentence, nay, every word, must

cotint.

The

spirit

which animates the

whole must inform every particle.

is

There
;

no room
pressing,

for delicate shadings

the

issues are too

momentous, the concerns

to

too

admit of introducing

anything that can be spared.

is

A volume

compressed into a page, a page into a

line.

And God
was
light.

said,

Let there be

light,
.

and there

Jesus wept.

It
all

would not be

difficult

to

show how

these qualities flow necessarily from

the intense preoccupation of the Biblical

authors with matters affecting

all

they held dear,

all their

hopes and fears

with respect to their country, their family,

and themselves,
boundless future.

at the present

and

in

Even when the phrases

employed seem cool and measured, they

14

Hebrew and Greek

Lyrics

represent a compressed energy like that of

a tightly
effort

coiled spring, tending to actuate

and stmggle

of

many

kinds,

and to

open out into arts and civilizations of which the Hebrew never dreamed.
In a sense, then,
it is

the lyrical faculty

that distinguishes the

Hebrew

author.

Yet he

is

not an ^Sblian harp, delicately

responsive to every zephyr of sentiment.

His passions are few and elemental, and,

as

we have

seen, are

prone to utter them-

selves energetically.

One

is

tempted to
it

compare the Great Lyric, as

called, of

has been

the Hebrew, with the effusions,

or rather the creations, of Sappho and

Pindar.

Yet Sappho and Pindar must

Addison speaks

suffer in the comparison.

of

Horace and Pindar as showing, when

of style,'

confronted with the Psalms, 'an absurdity

and confusion
tive poverty of

and a comparaimagination.' As for Sap'

pho, herlongest extant production, while

Lyrical Intensity
intense,

15

shows, in conjunction with the

shorter fragments, that her deeper emotion

is

Hmited

in range, and, because of

this limitation,

and the

tropical fervor

displayed,

is less

universal in its appeal

than the best

lyrical outpourings of the

Hebrew
of

genius.

These include not only

the Psalms, but the

prophets,

much

of Job, the best

a good

deal

of of

the
St.

Apocalypse,
Paul,

occasional passages

and even parts

of the narrative

books, especially those which report the

utterances of notable persons.
It has

been asserted that the Hebrews

of the

Old Testament were incapable of

fiction,

producing either drama or

and,

one might add, the leisurely develop-

ments

of the epic.

This

is

only another

way

of affirming their lyrical intensity

and preoccupation.
Sennacherib's host
tion,
is

The

destruction of

related with exulta-

and the

historian of

Exodus

rejoices

6
1

Lyrical Intensity

over the destruction of the Egyptians

in the

Red

Sea.

He

is

no more

dis-

passionate than Tacitus in excoriating

Nero, or Joinville in his devotion to

Louis.

St.

Events are never displayed in

that 'dry Hght,' so dear, as they supposed,

to Heraclitus

and Francis Bacon.

the
writer

Al-

ways there are postulates which nothing

could

induce
is

to

discard.

There

always a presumption in favor

of monotheism, of God's protecting or

punitive care for the people of Israel, of

their eventual deliverance

and

full

en-

trance
mission.

upon

their

divinely

ordained
could

The poet

or

prophet

never be brought to admit that there

might be gods many, nor that the Hebrew

people

were not foreordained to

pre-

eminence over Philistines and Assyrians.

But this egoism,

and a decided

this racial pride,

which

manifest themselves by a strong coloring

tone,

and which are at the

Universality
furthest possible
indifferentism,

17
scientific

remove from

do not prevent the Bible

from possessing a universality which has

placed
it

at the foundation, or the head,

or both, of aU

modem literatures.
'';

There

are several reasons for this.

is

interested in the origin of

Every one the world and

of

man.

It

may

be warrantably urged

that no other literature gives so plain and

coherent an account of these origins, and

of the early history of

mankind, as the
nations

book

of Genesis.

Next, the Bible emall

phasizes the conception that

are of one blood,

and that aU men are

is

brethren, since their Father

in

one.

This,

satisfying

the

social

instinct,

has

tended more and more to draw tribe to

tribe,

and kingdom to kingdom, as well

to
individual,

as

individual

and,

in-

directly,

has appealed to national and

Thirdly, the morality
it

personal ambition.
Df

the Bible, even where

takes the

8
1

Universality
in

form of statutory enactments, keeps

ness and social well-being.

view the interests of individual happiFourthly, the

Hebrew

race

is

presented as in some sort

or the beneficent elder

the prototype,

brother, of all other races

ties,

and

nationali-

so that

any
a

of its experiences are

likely to find

parallel in subsequent his-

tory, or

even to help in making subseFifthly,

quent history.

the future of

mankind is regarded in the Bible as bound up with the general acceptance of Hebrew principles and ideals. Sixthly,
the utmost fulness of individual
life
is

represented as conditional upon the ac-

ceptance of that

God who

first distinctly

revealed Himself to the Hebrews, upon

obedience to Him, and upon spiritual

union with Hini.

With

this is associ-

ated the Messianic hope of a DeHverer,

who, greater than His brethren, yet even

as
they,

should

serve

to

bring

God

Subjectivity

and Universality
lift

19

down

to man, and

man up

to God.

These, perhaps, are reasons enough why,

notwithstanding

the,

yrin notp whirh is

everywhere heard throughout the Bible,

it

possesses also a character of tinivers-

ality,

and, one might also say, of imper-

sonality.

Thus, the Psalter, the most

the Bible,
is

lyrical part of

perhaps the

widest in

its

appeal of any, simply be-

cause the cry of the individual believer,

however impassioned,

finds

an echo

in

every other believing soul, and is not without some response from even the most
apathetic.

As

to form, in the sense of order

it is

and
in
it

proportion,

often assumed that the

its

Greeks

alone

possessed

secret

antiquity,

and bequeathed some hint of

world.

to the

modem

Perhaps, in an

endeavor to vindicate for the Hebrews

a sense of form, we
authority
;

may
so,

best appeal to

and

if

we can hardly

20

Proportion, Measure, Taste

decline to accept the

judgment of a

man

and possessed of a Frenchman's love of order and beauty, was a Semitic scholar of unusual scope and insight. It was Renan who
who,
classically educated,

said

Israel had, like Greece, the gift of disengaging

its

idea perfectly, and of expressing

it

in a con-

cise

and

finished outline

proportion, measure,

taste, were, in the Orient,

the exclusive privilege

of this they

of the

Hebrew

people,

and because

succeeded in imparting to thought and feeling

a form general and acceptable to

It is true that,
if

all

mankind.

we regard the technicalia book of the

fall

ties of literary construction,

Bible will not infrequently seem to

short but this is because the author
;

is

not

intent

upon

structtu-e of
If

a patent and

easily definable sort.

he secures unity
it is

of impression with variety in detail,

often

by the use

of other means,

and
en-

especially through

an

intrinsic

and

An
thralling

English Classic
his

21

power which pervades

Structure
is,

whole

composition.
usual sense

in

the

more

however, to be found in

limited portions, such as the story of

Joseph, a single prophecy, or a speech

from the Acts of the Apostles.

An attempt
and quaHties
be called a

has been made above to

is

show what there

classic.

in the constitution
it

of the Bible entitling

to

In what foUows, the

aim

will
it

be to consider the process by

which

became an English
it

classic,

and

the influence

has exerted, and conBefore

tinues to exert, in that capacity.

attempting this directly, however,

shall

we

need

briefly
it

to examine the prob-

lem which

presents to the translator.

of the

The nattire first demands

noticeable

Hebrew language
Its

consideration.
is

most

feature

its__^fin'pnry 1
It

abstract

and general terms.

has no

22

The Hebrew Language

or
scientific

philosophical

vocab ulary.

Nearly every word presents a concrete

meaning, clearly visible even through a
figurative use.

Many

of its roots are

palpably verbal, and the physical activity

underlying each word
its
is felt

through

all

special applications.

Thus, to take

single example, there is

a Hebrew word

variously rendered in the following pas-

sages
out.

by

bud, east, spring, outgoing, going

Job

38.

27

To
:

cause the bud of the tender

herb to spring forth.

Psahns

75.

For promotion cometh neither

from the

east

nor from the west.

:

2 Kings 2. 21

And he went forth unto

Thou makest

the

spring of the waters.

Psalms

65. 8

the outgoings of

the morning and evening to rejoice.

Thou knowest that he came to deceive thee, and to know thy going out and thy coming in, and to know all that
2

Sam.

3.

25

thou doest.

Motion, Activity, Life

23

In every one of these cases the Hebrew

word means
and
thing,

'going out' or 'going forth,'

the

Hebrew

so

understands
is

it

but the 'going forth' of the sun

one

and that
if

of the waters another.

'

Now,

we

could suppose the word bud'

or 'east' in English to present to the

imagination,
'spring,'

as

transparently

as

does

the original activity which the

word
stand

records,

we should

better under-

what is true of practically all Hebrew words. Everywhere we are face

to face with motion, activity,
life.

Of

the

Hebrew words
and one of

for pride,

one presents

the notion of mounting up, one of strutting,

seething, as

a boiling pot.

What ftmdamental
suggest?

idea of similar con-

creteness does the English

word

'pride'

There were not many abstract ideas

to be conveyed in Biblical

Hebrew

the

absence of the words

is

a sign of the

24

Language not Abstract

Such a sentence

absence of the ideas.

as
'

The problem

of external perception is

a problem in metaphysics,' or 'The modifications

produced within our nervous

system are the only states of which we

can have a direct consciousness,' would

be imtranslatable into ancient Hebrew.

It is hardly too

much

to say that every

generalization

or, better,

every general
is

truth

expressed by the Hebrew

ren-

dered with the utmost directness, and in

phraseology as pictorial, as elementav)
as transparent, as stimulative to imagi-

nation and feeling, as could possibly bej

Such a language
poetry.

is

the very language of

The medium through which

is

pgetryworks
objects'

the world of
oil,

s ^sibl e

^wine

and

the

cedar

of

Lebanon, the young

cloud, the

lion,
hills,
;

the moon, the the wild goat,

or, if

smoking

the coney, and the stork

to

we

turn

Homer

rather than the Psalmist, a

Concrete Expressions

25

plane-tree, the bright water of a spring,

a snake blood-red on the back, the cheeping brood of a sparrow, or beaked ships

and well greaved Achaians.

necessary in order to

What

is'

make poetry out

of such materials is intensity of feeling,

with elevation and coherence of thought.

These,
of the

we have seen, were the endowment

Hebrews.

On

the one hand, they

;

were close to nature

parceled out their
into separate

they had not

constitution
facilities
;

human

and independent

they had not interposed a cloud and hubbub of words between themselves and things they had not so dissipated their powers in minute and laborious
;

analysis

that

they were incapable of

sensations,

naive

views, powerful

and

vigorous convictions.

On

the other hand,

they had, as tending to coherence and

elevation of thought,

what to them was

the wonders

sufficient explanation of all

26

Simple Structure
and a
:

of the universe,

sufficient

impulse

to

lift

up

their hearts

these they found

in their overmastering belief in

God

the

Creator,

those

God who trust and

the Maintainer, and, for

love

Him, God the

Deliverer.

But not only were

the
structure
of

their

words concrete,
sentences

their

was

simple,

whUe
sense,

of the paragraph, in the

Greek

they had hardly any conin the

ception, until,

New

Testament,

we

find their diction fallen

under Greek

influence.

Their chief connective was

'and';

hence the periodic sentence was

virtually

beyond

their scope.
;

The

verse
of

was

their stylistic unit

and a sequence

or of sentences about the length of what we understand by the average aU that they aimed Biblical verse
verses
^was

at achieving in composition.

Their poetry was measured, not by

feet, as in

ancient Latin and Greek, but

Parallelism
Jb y

27

word-accents, as in the most ancient poetry of many nations, including that

of

our

English

ancestors.

Moreover,

Hebrew poetry was dominated by the

principle ofjparalMism of members. Often

these

members

are arranged in couplets,

lines.

but sometimes they include several

The

three primary forms of parallelism

are the synonymous, the synthetic, and

the antithetic.
Psalms
15. 1
:

Thus, synonymous
Lord,

(a)

who

shall abide in

thy

tabernacle?
hill?

(b)

who

shall dwell in

thy holy

Synthetic

(a

succeeding line or lines

first)
:

supplementing or completing the

Psalms
14. 2
:

(a)

The Lord looked down from

(b)

heaven upon the children of men,

there were

to see

if

any that did understand, and seek

God.

Antithetic
Prov. 10.
I
:

(a)

wise son maketh a glad

28
father, (6)
his

Parallelism
but a foolish son
is

the heaviness of

mother.

Besides

these,

there

are

variations,

such as cUmactic parallelism, where an

expression in the
first line is
:

repeated in

one or more that follow

Psalms 24. 8
(6)
:

{a)

The Lord strong and mighty,

the Lord mighty in battle.

The formation
portant.
is,

of

the strophe,

and
im-.

devices such as the refrain, are less

What
that

is

chiefly

to be noted
de-

first,

Hebrew poetry has a

cided accentual rhythm, and, secondly,

that the dominant principle in the union

of lines into larger groups
parallelism.
is

that

of

therefore

The controlling rhythm is the rhythm of meaning, what

called 'sense-rhythm,'

Watts-Dunton has
this being, as

he observes, the rhythm

:

of nature.

Stanley eloquently says

'The rapid stroke as of alternate wings,' 'the

Poetical Prose

'

29"

heaving and sinking as of the troubled heart,'

which have been

beautiftilly described as the

essence of the parallel structtire of

Hebrew verse,

are exactly suited for the endless play of

feeling,

human

and

for the understanding of every age

and nation.

Much

of

Hebrew prose was

poetical,

in the sense that it

employed these de;

vices to a greater or less extent

it

and

all of

was

poetical in the sense described

above in the discussion of the Hebrew

vocabulary.

The

prophets, in particular,
is

frequently rise into a strain which

hardly distinguishable from poetry.

The
Bible,

qtmlities, then,

which

fitted

the

beyond any other book

of the
others,

world, for translation, are,

these

among

(a) Universality of interest.

is

There

much

in

it

for the
its

meanest and most

It touches

illiterate,

and

treasures are not to

be exhausted by the wisest.


30 Concreteness, Simplicity,

Rhythm

every person at more points than any

other book that can be named.
(b)

The

concreteness
its

and

pictur-

esqueness of

language, appealing

alike to the child

and the poet, while suggesting abundant reflection to the

philosopher.
(c)

The

simplicity of its structure,

which requires Httle more from the

translator than that

he

shall render

with fidelity one brief clause at a time,

and follow
(d)

it

by the

next.

'

A rhjrthm largely independent of

any
& rh3rthm
free,

the features, prosodical or other, of

individual language
varied,

and indeterminate, or, rather, determinate only by what has been

called 'the energy of the spirit

which

bosom and therefore adaptable to every emotion, from the most delicate to the most energetic.
sings within the
speaks,'

of

him who

The Good Translator

It follows that

31
is

the sway of the original

so powerful that hardly

will

any

translation
infinite

be devoid of merit, while

is

room

still

left for felicities of detail,

according to the character of the medium,

and- the skill

and

taste of the translator.

Among
he
shall

the qualifications of a good

translator, the first

undoubtedly
a!

is

that

be penetrated by

sense of the

surpassing value of his original,

and by a

corresponding sense of the importance

of his task.

This will preserve him iror^

flippancy

and meanness, by imbuing him

It will

with earnestness and humility.

make him ready to follow wherever he is led by the text, and will prevent him
from pluming himself upon prettiness
phrase, or
of

any fancies
to

of his

own.

Such a
might

translator will strive with

after
fidelity

aU

his

word and

sense,

and

after the

utmost clearness and simpHcity

32

Jerome and the Vulgate

on the one hand the

of rendering, avoiding
trivial,

and on the other the ornate or pompous. He will conform to the genius
of his

own

tongue, while endeavoring

it

to transfer to

the treasures of another

and, besides possessing naturally, he will

cultivate in every proper way,

sensitive-

ness to that music of the phrase which in

the case of the Bible

for the

is

but another name

music of the heart.

Only a few

translators

have united these endowfirst

ments

in

a just proportion, but among

ig^em must be counted Jgrome, the

of the great translators

by name, the author^though he called himself rather the reviserof the Latin
Vulgate.

whom we know

Of Jerome's

fitness

for his task the

It
is

following illustration will serve.

worthy of attention, moreover, as presenting the verses contained in the various

English specimens which will foUow

Popular Language
Exod.
19.
16,

33

18,

19

Jamque advenerai
nubes

tertius dies, et atcdiri

mane
et

inclaruerat, et ecce cceperunt

tonitrua,

micare fulgura,

et

densissima operire montem, clangorgue buccince

vehementius perstrepebat,
erat
et

timuit populus qui

in castris.

Totus aufem mons Sinai

fumabat, eo quod descendisset Dominus super

in igne,
eratque
cince
et

eum

ascenderet fumus ex eo quasi defornace;

terribilis.

omnis mons

Et sonitus bucet

paulatim crescebat in majus,

prolixius

tendebatur.

The language
first

into which the Bible can

will,

be most perfectly rendered

place,

in the

be gogular,

in

distinction
Its

from

artifiiaI_or_jch!lasic.

vocab-

ulary will consist of such words as ordinary

people would naturally use to describe

objects, or utter their emotions.
It will

abound
but

in concrete expressions,

and need
terms.

few

learned
if

or

recondite

The words should,

least,

possible, exhibit their

primitive meaning on their face, or, at

suggest immediately a single central

34

Rhythmical Language

meaning which can be accepted as radical

and primary. They must, in general, while racy and vernacular, be free from
degrading or belittHng associations, so
that they

may be

equally suitable for the

middle or ordinary style and for passages

of

any degree

of elevation

up

to the

highest.

considerable proportion of
possess sonority, or contain

them must

such adnoixtures of vowels and musical

consonants as will insure, according to
the need, a scale of melodious effects ranging

from

serene

and

quiet

har-

monies to rich and

but
all

rolling crescendos

without appearance of

effort,

instinctively responsive to the situation,

and to the Reeling which the

evokes.
If

situation

the rhythmical effects of a

alter-

language are attained through the

nation of stressed and unstressed syllables,

such a language will so far resemble the

Hebrew, and serve as a

natviral

medium

Old English

35

for the transmission of the original effects.

The
lish

which molded the Englanguage into a proper vehicle for so

influences

stupendous a literary creation as the

Bible

must next be

briefly considered.

Early in the eighth century, Bede was

making a translation into Old English of the Gospel of John, and about the year
800 A.D. the language was already capable
of such poetry as this from, the Christ of

Cynewulf^:
Thereupon from the four corners of the world, from the uttermost regions of earth, angels
aU-shining shall with one accord blow their
crashing trumpets the earth shall tremble under
;

men.

Glorious and steadfast they shall sound

couf^ of the stars, harmony and making melody from south and from north, from east and from west, throughout the whole creation. All mankind
together over against the

chanting in

shall
'

they wake from the dead unto the Last

878-889, Whitman's translation.

LI.

36
Judgment
;

Old English
they shall rouse the sons of

men

all

aghast from the ancient earth, bidding them

straightway arise from their deep sleep.

Throughout the Old English

most of the
literature

period,

produced was

strongly colored

by Biblical diction. Even

Ecclesiastical History

a work Hke Bede's

of the

English People was under this

influence.

By

about the year looo, the

of

language was able to render the Latin

form^ (Exod.
JjS

Jerome, as given above, in the following

19. 16, 18, 19)
dasg,
:

com

se

]^ydda

and

llgetta

and ]mnor

and Hcce genip oferwreh J'one mimt, and byman sweg waes gehired, and eall Jjset folc him ondred
J^e wffis

on Jjam fyrdmcon.
se

And

eall Sinai

munt smeac,
on fyre; and
'

iov^axa^e Drihten wass

uppan him smic arSs of him, and eall se munt

will

The vowel-sounds of either Italian, French, or German be sufficiently close. The characters 8 and f represent
Final eis
e of

th; g before or after e or i is usually like y.

pronounced somewhat like that in liveth, or the final German. The macron indicates length of vowel.


Middle English
wass egeslic.

37
wfiox

And

J>ere

byman sweg

swa

leng

swa swiSor. ^

Before
it

we leave this part

of the subject,

may be added

that, according to the

computations of Marsh, about 234)er cent

of the

words of the Authorized Version,

counting repetitions of the same word,

are native English.

The Ormulum and

suggest

Piers

the

influence

Plowman wUl exerted by the

during
the

Bible

on English

diction

period between a.d.

iooo and

1400

roughly speaking, between the age of

^Ifric and that of Wyclif.

The poetry
is

near the end of this period

better able

than prose to cope with the

translation.
Caste
alle

diffictdties of
^
:

Thus, Chaucer has

awey the werkes

in

of derknesse,
of brightnesse
;

And anneth you

'

armure

^Ifric's versions of the

same passage may be found

312; 2. 196, 202.

in

his Homilies, ed.

'

Thorpe,

i.

Second Nun's Tale 384-5.

38

Middle English
:

where the second Wyclifite Version reads

Rom.
13.

12

Therfor caste

we awei

the

werkis of derknessis, and be

armeris of
lijt.

we

clothid in the

Though
Purvey

this

second

version,

that

of
less

(1388), is in general

much
first,

pedantically literal than the

made

some

eight or nine years earlier, yet such

for the

words as derknessis and armeris,

Latin plurals tenehrce

and arma,

illustrate

the chief defect of both the Wyclifite

translations,

namely a

failure to attain

perfect English idiom.

Purvey seems to have been quite

earlier version
( 1 380) ,

con-

scious of the excessive literalness of the

and of the awkward-

ness due to the close following of Latin

idiom.

In his prologue, after describing

toiled, in

how he had
to elucidate

association with

others, to obtain a true Latin text,

its difficiilties,

and

he proceeds to

The Wyclff
lay

Bible

39

down important

principles of Biblical

translation
seded.

which have never been super-

Among them are

First, to translate as clearly as possible

according to the sense, and not merely

according to the words.

Secondly,

to

make

the sentence at

least as 'open' in English as in Latin, that

is,

to have due regard to English idiom.

Nevertheless,
it

may

be affirmed that'
in-

both the Wyclifite versions are far

ferior

in

ease and idiomatic character

It cannot

to the Old English.

be said

that scholars are agreed as to the influence of the Wyclifite versions

upon
;

Tindale and the Authorized Version

it

but

is

pretty clear that Tindale was in-

fluenced

by them to a moderate

extent,

and that expressions

ated

of great force

and

beauty have occasionally been appropri-

from Wyclif by the Authorized

either

Version,

mediately

or

directly.

40

The Wyclif Bible

or two instances

One

may stiffice John 4.

:

14, 'a well of water springing

up
i

into

everlasting

life'

comes, through Tindale,

;

from both the Wyclifite versions

2.

Cor.

10,

'the deep things of God,' which

Tindale renders, 'the bottom of God's

secrets,'

and the Rheims

version,

'the

profundities of God.'

How

easy

it is

to
is

go

stylistically astray in

such matters

shown by the

fact that

two
first
.
.

versions,

both published within the

last ten years,

have, respectively, for the

passage
.

above, 'a spring of water

welling
. .

up

for enduring

life,'

and

'a

fountain

of water springing

up

for the Life of the

ages'

and, for the second, 'the profound-

est secrets of God,'

and

'the depths of the

divine nature.'

The

Wyclifite version

of

Exod.

19.

16, 18, 19 is subjoined,

the spelling being

modernized, and
indicated
:

modem renderings being

Caxton's Selections
Wyclif
(earlier)

41

And now

the third day was come, and the

ftill

morning [morewe, morrow] tide was

cleared

and lo! thunders began to be heard and lightnings

[leytes,

from the Old English word above] to

shine,
hill
;

and the most thick cloud to cover the

of the

and the cry

noise,
.

trump more hideously

in
hill

made

and the people dreaded that was

.

the tents.

And
that]

all

the

of Sinai smoked,
it

because [for thi

in fire
;

the Lord descended upon

[steyde]

and the smoke rose

all

up

of

it
;

as of

a furnace, and

the

hill

was

full fearful
little [litil

and
mele,

the sound of the trump

little

by

'littlemeal,' like piecemeal]

sprang into more,

and longer was stretched.

A hundred years later than the Wyclifite

versions

(November

20,

1483),
in

Caxton
which

published his Golden Legend,

he had inserted considerable portions of the Pentateuch and the Gospels, on the
basis,

probably,

of

Peter

Comestor's

Historia Scholastica.
translation,
if

Caxton's theory of
the

we may judge from

42

Caxton's Language

preface to his Eneydos,

was to seek a

mean between 'fair and strange terms,' by some regarded as 'over curious,' and such 'old and homely terms as were now
'

strange and almost

disused.

His aim

lay in the wish to be generally understood.

The

clearness

and beauty

of the passage
:

from Exodus wUl be readily seen

Caxton's Golden Legend

(spelling modernized).

When
waxed

the third day came, and the morning

clear,

they heard thunder and lightning,

;

and saw a great cloud cover the mount and the

cry of the trump was so
shrill

that the people

were sore

afraid.

All the

mount

of Sinai

smoked, for so much as our Lord descended on

it

in fire
it

as

had been from a furnace. and

dreadful,
little

and the smoke ascended from the hiU The mount was and the sound
of the

terrible

trump grew a
It will

more, and continued longer.

be evident that the vocabtilary

is

of

Caxton

drawn from the same source

it

as Tindale's, while

does not greatly

The
differ

Spirit of Tindale

43

from Wyclif 's, these sources being native English and Old French, with a
from the Latin.
agreed on
all

very slight admixture of words coming

directly

A
/

It

is

hands that the

is,

English of the Authorized Version

m
so

essentials,

that of Tindale.

Minor

modifications were

made by

translators

and
;

revisers for the next eighty years or

but, speaking broadly, the Authorized

is

Version

Tindale's.

The

spirit of

the

man
it is

passed into his work, and therefore

of

moment

to ascertain

what that
us
:

spirit
(a)

was.

He

himself

may

tell

His version was to be made for all^

the people, even the humblest

If

y
years I will

God

spare

me

life,

ere

many
you

cause the boy that driveth the plow to

know

more
do.

of the Scriptures than

[a theologian]

To the same effect is his preference oi favor

to grace, love to charity, health to salvation.

44
(&)

Tindale's Theories
His surrender of himself to God.|

Writing to a friend and fellow-laborer/

Frith,

he says
spirit of

The wisdom and the

lips

Stephen be with
to answer to

your heart and with your mouth, and teach your

what they shall say, and how

all

things.

He is our God if we despair

;

in ourselves,

and trust in him and his is the glory.

(c)

Amen.

His theory regarding the meaning to

:

be conveyed

-Believing that every part of Scripture

had one
of

sense and one only, the sense in the

writer.

mind

they

{d)

On Greek and Hebrew

:

with

refer-

ence to Enghsh

The Greek tongue agreeth more with

English than with the Latin.
of the

the

And the properties

Hebrew tongue agreeth a thousand time^

more with the English than with the LatinX The manner of speaking is both one, so that in a
thousand places thou needest not but to trans-

Tindale's Fidelity

45

late it into the English word for word, when thou must seek a compass in the Latin, and yet shalt have much work to translate it well-favoredly,
it have the same grace and sweetness, and pure understanding, with it in the sense

so that

Latin as
parts

it

hath in the Hebrew.

thousand

better

may

it

be translated into the

English than into the Latin.

(e)

His scruptilous

fidelity

I call

God to record,

against the day

we

shall

appear before our Lord Jesus Christ to give

reckoning of our doings, that I never altered

one syllable of God's word against

science, nor

my
that

conis

would to
it

this day,

if all

in

be honor, pleasure, or riches earthwhether ^might be given me.

The observation
speaking
of

of Augustus Hare, in

the

Jacobean
'

revisers,

is

appHcable to Tindale

They were

far

more studious of the matter than of the manner and there is no surer preservative against writing ill, or more potent
;

46

Tindale's Humility
for writing well.'
'

charm
smith
:

And

so Gold-

To

feel

your subject thoroughly,

fear, are

and to speak without

rules of eloquence.
'

the only

Elsewhere Goldsmith
is

says

'

Eloquence
;

not in the words,

but in the subject and in great concerns,

the more simply anything
it is
(f)

is

expressed,

generally the

more subHme.'
:

His hurmlity

And if they perceive in any places that I have

not attained the very sense of the tongue, or

meaning

of the Scripture, or

have not given the

right English word, that they put to their

hand

to

amend

it,

remembering

that so is their duty,

to do.

Again, he speaks of himself as

'

evil-

favored in this world, and without grace

in the sight of
dtoll

men, speechless and rude,

and

slow-witted.'

If

we add

that he was an assiduous

and minute student, went directly to the originals, and employed the best helps

Tindale's Version
attainable, all that
is

47

needful will have

been

said,

TiNDALE.

And

the third day in the morning there was

thunder and lightning, and a thick cloud upon

the mount, and the voice of the horn

waxed

ex-

ceeding loud, and host was afraid.

altogether

all
.
.

the people that was in the

.

And Mount Sinai was on a smoke, because the Lord deit

scended

down upon
all

in fire
it

thereof ascended up, as

and the smoke had been the smoke of

;

kiln,

and

the

mount was exceeding

fearful.

And

the voice of the horn blew, and waxed

louder

and louder.

Before

we

pass from Tindale to the

Authorized Version, three other trans-

must be mentioned. Coverdale's nature may be indicated by the fact that

lations
it is

he who introduced into the language

expressions

the

'loving kindness'
Tindale's

and

'tender

mercy.'

nature was

masculine, Coverdale's of a more feminine

48
cast.

The Coverdale
His
translations

Bible
of

which the
is

Prayer Book' version of the Psalter

the

a more most generally known flexible and musical rhythm than TinTindale wrote (Luke 2. 12) dale's.
^possess
:

'And take

this for

a sign; ye

shall find

the child swaddled, and laid in a manger.'

When
for
in

this

has passed under Coverdale's

it

revising hand,
:

stands

'And take

this

a sign ye shall find the child wrapped

swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger.'

Westcott has truly said of Coverdale that

' The Prayer Book excels in the music of its phrasing. One of Cranmer's collects, that for the first Sunday in

Advent, will serve as a specimen (c. a.d. 1546) : 'Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which Thy Son Jesus Christ came
shall

to visit us in great himiility that in the last day , when He come again in His glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal,
;

through

Him who

liveth

and reigneth with Thee and

the

Holy Ghost, now and

ever.'

Coverdale has been regarded by some as the originator

same word in different ways at different times but this tendency existed as far back as the Old English period.
of the tendency to translate the
;

The Geneva

Bible

49

he 'allowed himself considerable freedom

in dealing with the

shape of the original

is

sentences.

There

in every part aif

spirit as well

endeavor to transfuse the

as the letter into the English rendering.'

A
is

peculiarity of the
it

Genevan version
special

that

attains

accuracy,
literalness.

sometimes at the expense of

One example will suffice. Tindale translates Luke II. 17 'One house shall fall upon another.' The Geneva Bible has
:

'A house divided against

itself,

falleth.'

The Kheims and Doimy

versions in-

clined to Latinize, whereas earlier versions

had sought to employ simpler words,

generally of native origin.

Thus, Tin10.

dale

had written (Rom.

[i.e.

10)

'To

knowledge
version has
is

acknowledge]
safe.'

with the

mouth maketh a man

:

The Rheims 'With the mouth confession

' ;

made to salvation

the second Wycliiite

:

version

had rendered the same Latin by

50

Authorized Version Selective

is

'By mouth knowledging

health.'

made

to

The
lish

translators

of

the
of

Authorized
the

Version endeavored,
renderings with

out

Eng-

which they were

into

acquainted, compared with the originals

and the

principal

versions

other

tongues, ancient

and modem, to frame one which should surpass them aU by

appropriating

the

chief

excellences

of

each

so

far,

at least,

as these excellences

could be harmonized with one another. In

so far as
it

did thus reconcile pre-existing

differences, it

became a powerful agent

unity

in

estabUshing

throughout

the
of

English nation,

for,

to borrow the words

:

the historian Gardiner

all

'In its production

sectarian
all

influences were banished,

and

hostiHties

were mute.'

Whereas
in
all

previously one Bible

had been read

church, and another at home,

parties

now

and

classes

turned

with

one

Promotive of Harmony
accord, to the

51
it

new version, and adopted

It thus
life

as their very own.

became botmd
Since
it

up with the
stUled
all

of the nation.

controversy

over

the

best

rendering, it gradually

came to be accepted
minds
of

as so far absolute that in the

myriads there was no distinction between

this version

and the

original texts,

and

they
in

may almost
literal

be said to have believed

of

the

inspiration
it.

the very

words which composed

It

must not be overlooked that the

all

Authorized Version profited by

controversy
lations.

the

regarding

previous

trans-

Practically

every

word thaf\

could be challenged, had been challengeji:

The

fate of

a doctrine, even the fate of a

party,

had at times seemed to depend

upon a phrase.

The whole ground had

inti-

been fought over so long that great

macy with the

Bible had resulted.

Not
it.

only did the mind take cognizance of

52

A
it

National Classic
it;

but the emotions seized upon

of

much

was literally learned by heart by great numbers of the EngHsh people. Thus it grew to be a national possession
and
sion,
literattire

which

is

a national possesa national

and by

its

very nature appeals to the

is

poor and lowly,

classic.

in truth

No other book has so penetrated

and permeated the hearts and speech of the EngHsh race as has the Bible. What

Homer was to
like
it,

the Greeks, and the Koran

to the Arabs, that, or something not un-

the

Bible has become

:

to the

English.

Huxley writes

Consider the great historical fact that

three centtiries this book has been

for-

woven

into

the

life

of all that
;

is

best

and noblest

in English

history
Britain,

that

it

has become the national epic of

as fanuliar to noble

and

is

and

simple,

from John-o'-Groat's House to Land's End, as

it is

Dante and Tasso once were to the Italians that written in the noblest and purest English,
;

Comparison with Homer

53

and abounds in exquisite beauties of pure literaryform and, finally, that it forbids the veriest
;

hind

who never
and

left his village

to be ignorant

of the existence of other countries

civilizations,

and other
back

of a great past stretching

to the furthest limits of the oldest civilizations

of the world.

The

classical,

yet popular, character

of the Bible

has been already insisted on.

Two
ing

or three comparisons will further

this.

illustrate

Chateaubriand, renderaddress of

the pathetic

Ruth

to

Naomi in the Homeric manner, shows how prolix and comparatively languid Homer can be. It might be objected that
Chateaubriand has
but
des,
it

travestied
said

Homer,
Thucydihistorian,

cannot be

that

the consummate
himself.

Greek

travesties
of

Compare the

close

a Thucydidean speech, being about

Brasidas

one-sixth of the harangue of

to his soldiers before their

engagement

54

Comparison with Thucyditles

4. 126),

with the Illyrians (Thuc.

with the

whole

of

Gideon's address to his

men

before their encoiinter with the Midianites (Judges 7. 17, 18)

If
:

you

repel their tumultuous onset, and,

offers,

when

opportunity

withdraw again in good

order, keeping your ranks,

you

will

sooner arrive

at a place of safety,

and will
if

also learn the lesson

that

mobs

like these,

an adversary withstand
he

their first attack,

do but threaten at a distance

if

and make a
yields to
their
is

flourish of valor, although

them they are quick enough to show courage in following at his heels when there

no danger.
;

Look on me, and do likewise and behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall
be that, as I do, so shall ye do. with a trumpet, I

When

blow

and aU that are with me, then

also

blow ye the trumpets

Gideon.

on every side

of all the

camp, and say. The sword

of the Lord,

and

of

The speech

of Jahaziel (2 Chron. 20.

It is thus that

15-17) seems real.

an

An
energetic

Energetic Speech
speak.
It
:

55

man would
ye, all

runs

(with modernized punctuation)

Hearken
saith the

Judah, and ye inhabitants of

Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat.

Thus

Lord unto you

Be not

afraid nor

dismayed by reason of
the battle
is

this great multitude, for

not yours, but God's.

against them.
of Ziz,

To-morrow

go ye

down

Behold, they come

shall find

up by the

cliff

and ye

them at

the end of the brook, before the wilderness of

Jeruel.

Ye

shall

not need to fight in this battle.

stand ye
still,

Set yourselves,
salvation of the

and

see

the

Lord with you,

Judah and
Towill

Jerusalem.

Fear not, nor be dismayed.

for the

morrow go out against them,

be with you.
"

Lord

Coleridge was so impressed with the

:

vigor of Biblical style as to afiSrm

After reading Isaiah, or St. Paul's Epistle to

the Hebrews,

Homer and

Virgil are disgustingly

tame to me, and Milton himself barely tolerable.

Shakespeare,
the
first

by common

consent,

is

name

in English literature.

Of

56

Shakespeare's Prose
prose,

Shakespeare's

Churton

Collins

makes
he
'This,'

five classes, the last being

what

calls

highly wrought poetical prose.

says,
'is

he

the style where Shake-

speare has raised prose to the sublimest

pitch of verse.'
of
it

As the

first illustration

he chooses Hamlet

2, 2.

310-321

sterile

That goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a promontory this most excellent canopy,
;

the

air,

look you, this brave o'erhanging jBrma-

ment, this majestical roof fretted with golden

fire,

why,

it

appears no other thing to

me

than

a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors.

is a man! how noble in how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a

What

a piece of work

reason!

god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of

animals

And

yet, to

me, what

is this

quintes-

sence of dust?

Man delights not me.

is fine rhetoric,
is,

That, indeed,
apostrophic
it

but how

'Canopy' 'firmament' 'roofthus

and how

repetitious!
it

Shakespeare and the Bible

is

57

amplified.

Again,

even

if

we can
reason,'

distinguish

between 'noble

in

'infinite in faculty,'
. . .

and

'in

apprehension
clear

like

a god,'

how

shall

we make

to ourselves the difference between 'moving'

and

climax

'the paragon of animals

is

'action'?

And what an
'

anti-

This

Shakespeare, though, to be sure,

putting

Shakespeare

words

into

the

mouth
Psalms

of

a dramatic character.
3-8

And

now, merely as a composition, compare

8.
:

thy heavens, the work of thy the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feet all sheep and
I consider
fingers, the

When

moon and

oxen, yea,

the

air,

and the beasts of the field the fowl of and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever
;

passeth through the paths of the seas.

58

Shakespeare and the Bible

Does 'moon and stars' appeal less forcibly and pictoriaUy to the imagination
than 'golden
jestical roof
'

fire'?
is

Shakespeare's 'ma-

unrelated to

man

the
are

'heavens'

of

the Biblical

passage

knit

up
is

into the

same

fabric with him.

In thePsalm there is nothing hyperbolical.

Man

not, as a matter of fact, 'infinite

in faculty,' nor may we

assume a universal
above everything
In the

consensus that he
else,

is,

'the beauty of the world.'

is

Psalm he

subordinated to the heavens,

only to be exalted over the creatures, and

when he
than the
is

is

said to

be 'a

little

lower

angels,'

the moderation of tone

more permanently effective than Shakespeare's 'in action how like an angel!' which seems merely a piece of somewhat
dramatically
in
^to

hysterical exaggeration

^though perhaps one who keeping

has formed his conception of angels from the Bible, Dante, or Milton, from the

Milton, Scott,

Wordsworth

59

Hermes of the ancient poets,

Shakespeare's

or even from

own

line in this

same
thy

play.

And

flights of angels sing thee to

rest.

MUton does not

'

scruple to declare

There are no songs to be compared with

the songs of Zion, no orations equal to those of the prophets.'

Scott

As Sir Walter drew near his beautiful and affecting

end, he requested Lockhart to read to

him.
replied

When
: '

asked from what book, he

'the grand storehouses

Need you ask? There is but one.'

and meditative imaginaScriptures.'

To Wordsworth,
of enthusiastic

tion

are the prophetic and lyrical

parts of the

Holy

Ruskin ascribed the best part

taste in Uterature to
his

of his

having been

required
certain
'I

by

his

mother to learn by heart

:

chapters of the Bible, adding

[it]

cotint

very confidently the most

precious,

and,

on the whole, the one

6o

Ruskin, Carlyle, Macaulay

part
' :

essential

of

all

my

education.'
. . ,

Carlyle said
is

In the poorest cottage

one Book, wherein for several thousands

of years the spirit of

man has foimd light,

interpreting
is

and nourishment, and an

response to whatever

deepest in him.'
Scriptures
as

Newman

speaks

of

the

'compositions which, even

sidered, are

humanly

con-

among the most sublime and

Macaulay
book which,
reif

beautiful ever written.'

garded the Bible as

'a

ever5^hing else in our language should

perish,

would alone
its

suffice to

show the

whole extent of

beauty and power';

:

and elsewhere he says of Bunyan 'He had studied no great model of composition,

with the exception

exception

of undoubtedly

^an

important

our

noble

translation of the Bible.'

of its
'

Froude speaks

mingled tenderness and majesty,

the Saxon simplicity, the preternatural

grandeur.'

Revisers' Opinion
This
is

6i

the testimony borne

by the

translators of the Revised Version of the

New
We

Testament

have had to study

this

great Version
;

by line and the longer we have been engaged upon it the more we have learned to admire its simplicity, its dignity, its power, its happy turns of expression,
carefully
line
its

and minutely,

general accuracy, and,

its

we must not
and the

fail

to

add, the music of

of its

cadences,

felicities

rhythm.

Swift writes, almost exactly a hundred

years after the date of the Authorized

Version

'The translators of our Bible

that

were masters of an English style much

fitter for

work than any which we

which
I

see in otir present writings,

take

to be owing to the simplicity that runs

through the whole'

and

again, of the

changes which had been introduced into

the language
' :

They have taken

off

a
is

great deal from that simplicity which

62

Swift,

Hallam

one of the greatest perfections in any

language.'

Hallam, though he admits that the

style of the Authorized Version is 'the

perfection of our English language,' has

often been censtired for declaring that the

English of the Jacobean version

'is

not

the English of Daniel, or Raleigh, or Bacon'

^in

fact,

that

'

it is

not the language

I.'

of the reign of
strictly true,

James
'in

Yet

this

is

and

for the reason that he

assigns,

namely,

consequence of the

principle of adherence to the original ver-

sions

which had been kept up since the

It is true, in a
is of is of

time of Henry VIII.'

sense, that

his age, his age.

no great writer's diction any more than he himself

Coleridge declares
of

Shakeage,'

speare,
just as himself,

'

His

is

not the style of the not of an age.'

Ben
'

Jonson declared of the poet

Indeed,

He was

Not
it

of an

Age

63

seems as though this were the necessary

condition, at least in the case of great

writers, of being 'for all time,' that
shall

one

not be too

much

'of

an

age.'

Great thought and great feeling draw

their

own

appropriate diction to them-

selves,

steel

somewhat as the magnet attracts filings and after the appropriate

;

diction

has

thus
it

been

attracted,

the
of

union between

and the substance

discourse seems to be almost indissoluble.

It is as
if

a soul had been clothed upon

mth

flesh.

From

that moment, nothing

;

can be changed with impunity

if

you
the

wrench away a word,

time when the
take upon

it is

as
it.

if

a portion

of the life-blood followed

so-ul

Now

of the Bible

began to

itself flesh for

us was nearly

three-quarters of a century before the

work of the Jacobean

solutely

revisers.

But
it

since

the life-process, so to speak, did not abbegin

with Tindale,

really

64

Diction
over

Homogeneous
a
considerably
longer

extended

period than that

if

named above,

especially

we
;

consider that Wyclif

for
if

was concerned
in-

in it

the Wyclifite versions be

cluded, the Vulgate can hardly be ignored,

so that eventually the Septuagint must

be regarded as having initiated a process which the Jacobean revisers completed.

If

the substance of the Bible

may

thus be compared to^a soul which was

to be fitted with a body,
it

wiU foUow

that the diction

will

differ

somewhat

from member to member, even as it did in the Hebrew and Greek originals but
;

it

will also follow, in proportion to the

assumed

and interdependence of these parts or members, that this diction will have a certain homogeneity,
relation

so that a radical change in the vocabulary

at

any point would be

truth
of
this

likely to

throw
rest.

that part out of keeping with the

The

was recognized by

So Few Words
EUicott, when,
in 1870,

65
fu-

he advised

ture revisers to 'Kmit the choice of words

to the vocabulary of the present [Authorized] version,

combined with that of the

;

versions, that preceded it

and

in alter-

ations

preserve as far as possible the

of the Authorized

rhythm and cadence

Version.'
It is
effects

not a

little

remarkable that the

wrought by the English Bible

should require so few words.

of the

The editors
160,813,

New

English Dictionary reckon

the words in
of

A to L, inclusive, as

which number 113,677 are what they call main words. Shakespeare, it has
been estimated, employs about 21,000
(others say 15,000, or 24,000); Milton,
in his verse,

about 13,000.

The Hebrew

(with the Chaldee) of the Old Testament,

according to the computations of Leusden, comprises 5,642 words,

and the

New

Testament,

it is said,

has 4,800, while the

66

Capacities of Simple
if

Words

whole English Bible,

Marsh, eraploys
all

we may trust about 6,000. Making

is
still

due allowances for the 'myriad-mind-

edness' of a Shakespeare, there

room for the conclusion that the capacities

of words, especially of the simpler words,

much those who

are

greater than

is

believed

by
not

use a large and heterogeneous

vocabulary.

In this respect there

is

so much difference between native English

and Norman French words as is commonly supposed. In the following examples, the words clean, pure, and clear translate the same Greek adjective, and
all

seem equally
:

expressive, or nearly

so

Rev.

15.

And
. . .

the seven angels came out

clothed in pure and white

of the temple,
linen.

Rev.

19. 8

And

to her was granted that

she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and

white.

Influence upon Literature

Rev. 21. 18
like
:

67

And

the city was pure gold,

unto

clear glass.

That
Job

in this sense they are fairly inter-

changeable
15. 15,

may

be seen by comparing

'Yea, the heavens are not

clean in his sight,' with Tennyson's

Make thou my
As are the

spirit

pure and clear

frosty skies.

This brings us to the question of the

influence of the Authorized Version

upon
in-

subsequent

English

literature

^an

fluence which cannot always be precisely

distinguished from that of the Bible in

some
it is

earlier

form.

When

Spenser or

Shakespeare, for instance, uses the Bible,

of course not the Jacobean version,

and now and then the same thing will be true at a later period, as in some of
Milton's writing.

The more important

:

modes

in

which the Bible has affected

English literature are these

68
""

Scriptural

Language Borrowed
are Scriptural, and the

(a)

The themes
Such

language partly, at times even largely,

Scriptural,
is

the case in sermons,

versified Psalms, paraphrases of Scriptural

narrative, devotional essays,

and the

like.

An

excellent

example

is

Bunyan's Pilexamples of a

grim's Progress.

This book apart, how-

ever, there are few, if any,

work which has been accepted as pure

literature

emplo3dng Biblical diction to

like

anything

such

degree.

Other

attempts, such as the Book of Mormon,^

tend to the grotesque or ludicrous, because of the disparity between the lan-

guage and the ideas suggested.

creteness

A diction
in
its

resembling that of the Bible in its con-

and

simplicity,

and

slightly archaic character, has, however,

of late been

employed with good

effect in

prose versions from authors like Homer.

Q))

Quotations

from the Bible

are.

introduced, sometimes slightly changed,

Allusions
into secular writings.

69
object
is

The

to

substantiate a statement, or to

awaken

a train of associations favorable to the author's purpose. These can be found in

almost any author, but they are more

common
earlier,

in the nineteenth century

than

being especially used by writers

at heart the reform or eleva-

who have

tion of society or individuals.

Such are

Shelley, Dickens, Carlyle, Ruskin,

Tenny-

son, the

Brownings, Jean Ingelow, and

Longfellow

^to

mention only a few of

the rhore obvious names.

(c)^^usions, or considerably modified

quotations,

are introduced freely,

and

may be found on the editorial page of many a newspaper. Thus, one reads
:

The

full

measure of

justice is not

meted out

to them.

They sold their birthright for a mess of pottage. They have fallen among thieves.

In the

last three

books which the present

70

Allusions

writer has read for

amusement, he has
In one of them,

been interested to note quotations and

allusions of this nature.

a recent book on life in an Italian province,

63 references were found
;

in the second,

a recent work on the

12; in the third,
18.

life

of wild animals,

a novel by Thomas
the
first

Hardy,

From
is

Ah

yes,

she

beautiful

exceedingly,

the

Queen among cities, the king's daughter, adorned as a bride: glorious without and within.
She spoke a broken English, compared with

which the tongues of men and angels alike

short.

fell

Things which their fathers

taught them.

have told and

She wanted a
them.

tale

about these 'sons of the

as the

burning coal' [Job

5. 7],

Hebrews

called

Prom
He
lying

the second

has learned unconsciously the strength of

still.

Familiar Phrases
The
little

71

wild things would hear the low

tinkle of invitation to all

who were

athirst,

and

would come swiftly to drink.

From
To be
I
.

the third
,

near her, yet unseen, was the one

left to

ewe-lamb of pleasure

him.

have certainly got

thistles for figs, in

worldly sense.

That mother had

day
of his espousals,

not crowned

him

in the

and

in the

day of the glad-

ness of his heart.

(d)

Many

phrases have grown so com-

mon
web

that they have become part of the

of current English speech,

and are
all,

hardly thought of as Biblical at

except on deHberate reflection.
stance
:

For
;

in-

'highways and hedges'

'still

'clear

as crystal';

small voice'; 'hip

' ' ;

and
root

thigh
'

'

'arose as

one man
' ;

lick the dust '

'

a thorn in the flesh

'broken reed

' ;

of all evil'; 'the nether millstone'; 'sweat of his brow'; 'heap coals of fire'; 'a law


72

Familiar Phrases

unto themselves'; 'the fat of the land';

'dark sayings'; 'a soft answer'; 'a word
in season';

'moth and

rust'; 'weighed in

the balance and found wanting';

even
the
of

such

colloquialisms
(cf.

as,

'we

are

people'

Job

12. 2).

Many more
less

these might readily be quoted.

(e)

Other influences,

definitely

but more important, remain to be mentioned. Of the Bible in its relations to religion/ individual conduct, and ideals political and social, this is not the place to speak yet these affect literature to an incalculable extent, if they do not even provide Of such matters as its very substance.
measureable,
;

fall

within the scope of this chapter

matters of vocabulary, grammar, idiom,

and

style

something may
first

briefly

be

said.

In the

place, the literary influence

of the Bible, like that of

distinctly conservative.

any

classic, Is

The reading

of

Conservative Influence
it

73

tends to keep alive a familiarity with the words and constructions which were
current

when the English

Bible grew up,

or rather of such of these words and

constructions as proved most conformable

to the genius of the

Hebrew and Greek

writings.

employed in the sacred

As

hinted above, this influence, in conjunction with that of the Bible in the sphere
of

thought and emotion, seems to have

if

culminated,

its

ciolmination

be not

rather a matter of the future, in the

latter

half

of

the nineteenth centxiry.

The

result is that

many

terms formerly

regarded as awkward, or alien to the

genius of the language, are

now

under-

and accepted. Soon after the Authorized Version was issued, Selden
stood

thus criticized the rendering

The

Bible

is

rather translated into English

words than into English phrases. The Hebraisms

are kept,

and the phrase of that language is kept.

74

Hebraisms Accepted
typical

Hebraism
'oil

is

the use of of in

such phrases as
of sin,'
'

of gladness,*
;

King

of kings'

'man but who has any

In the
first

difficulty

with them now?

half of the nineteenth century,

Hallam

could say

It abounds,

especially in the

Old Testa-

ment, with obsolete phraseology, and with single

words long since abandoned, or retained only

provincial use.

in

At present
earlier

this is

no truer
if

of the Bible

than of Shakespeare,

Our English has been so revived, and

as true.

rendered so familiar, that

much which
in

needed

elaborate

explanation
is

the

eighteenth century

now

intelligible to

every one.
objectors
:

As Lightfoot

said of other

The very words which these critics would have

ejected from our English Bibles as barbarous, or

uncouth, or obsolete, have again taken their

Return toward

Biblical Diction

75

places in otir highest poetry,

and even

in our

popular language.

Like the course of a planet round the

sun, the

movement

of English diction,

which in the seventeenth and eighteenth

centuries was,

on the whole, away from

that of the Bible,

now

returns with ever

it.

accelerating speed toward

That the
earlier
is

movement. really began at a much

date,

though inconspicuously,

shown

by the counsels and practice of Swift, and by the circumstance that Challoner's

Roman

Catholic version of 1763-4 abanof

doned noany of the Latinisms

the

Rheims and Douay

Version.

translations in favor

of the simpler language of the Authorized

The use of concrete words has grown in favor. The colorlessness, vagueness, and
obscurity of abstract terms, and of con-

ventional phraseology whether abstract

76

Huxley, Bunyan
Vividness}"

or not, have been discredited.

the sense of reality, have more and more

prevailed in literature
technical writings.

^that is, in

non^

Simplicity

has

always been

recom-

mended by the example of the Authorized

Version,

and, especially since the age

of Wordsworth,

ing

upon

more and more gainbombast and meretricious

is

ornament.

The

concreteness

Authorized Version,

and simplicity of the and its use of the

have
steadily ap-

homely vernacular,

pealed to plain people, as distinguished

from those who have had more abtindant

opportunities of education.
of the humble for the Bible

But the love

is

largely

due

to

its

message of cheer and ]^pe.

call

Huxley
the Bible

has even gone so far as to

'the

and the and Linoppressed.' Two men, Btmyan coln, who educated themselves largely by

Magna Charta

of the poor

Lincoln, Burns, Carlyle

77

means

of the Bible,

may

serve as ex-

amples of

many who have become known

Both are famous as writers,
of both is alive

to posterity for their inestimable services

to their race.

and the best writing

with the
spirit of

the Bible.

Bunyan has
Of Lincoln
it

already been mentioned.

has been said that he built up his entire

reading upon his early study of the Bible:

He had

mastered

it

absolutely

mastered

it

as later he mastered only one or

two other
it
.

books, notably Shakespeare

mastered

so that
.

he became almost 'a

man

of

one book';

and
of

he

left his life

as part of the crowning

work

the century that has just closed.

Bums and
writers

Carlyle are two other notable

who

point the same conclusion,

Coleridge's observation
of
:

and

all illustrate

The

best

and wisest

mankind, the kingly

to be beyond

spirits of history,

enthroned in the hearts of

it

mighty nations, have declared

compare the most

perfect instrument, the only

78

Whitman

adequate organ, of Humanityinstrument of

cies
all

the

organ and

the

gifts,

powers, and tendenis

by which the individual

privileged to rise

above himself.

Of Walt Whitman, the American who wished to be known as the poet of democracy,
said
:

it

has

been

authoritatively-

His own essential model, after

all is said,

was

the rhythmical patterns of the English Bible.

Here was precisely that natural

tion between the
'terrific,'

stylistic varia-

the 'gentle,' and the

'inferior' parts, so desired

Here were
passages.

lyric

by William Blake. fragments, of consummate

rolling music, this

beauty, imbedded in narrative or argumentative

... In this strong,

in

intense feeling, these concrete words expressing

primal

emotion

daring

terms

of

bodily

sensation.

Whitman found
write.

the charter for the

book he wished to

The

elevation

diction, assisted

and by

nobility of Biblical
its

slightly archaic

Chief
tinge,

Bond

of English Race

79

have a tendency to keep all English style above meanness and triviality. In
the words of Coleridge, 'intense study
of the Bible will keep

any writer from

style.'
'

being vulgar in point of

The

Bible teaches that emotion should

not habitually be divorced from thought,/

nor thought from emotioncertainly not

in literature.
is

Wherever simple language

feeling,
stirs

charged with noble

is

the

imagination,

directed

by steady and
is

comprehensive thought,

adapted to

actuate the will in the direction of social

and individual good, and

pregnant. Biblical style
is

is

concise

and

approximated,

and very probably

dominant.

Biblical influence is

Finally, the English Bible

is

the chief

bond which holds united, in a common loyalty and a common endeavor, the various branches of the EngUsh race.

The

influence of the Bible can be traced

8o

Chief

Bond

of English Race
course
of

through
literature

the whole

English

and English

civilization, and,

more than anything else, it tends to unity and perpetuity to both.

give

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