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Show The King James Bible, Apropos of the Tercentenary The Enchah Bible Is so deeply embedded in the thought, speech and character of the Kngllsh apeaklna peoples that It his ' place In litersture and an authority arviter thin that of iny other book. The fact that it ti tranalallon Is remembered re-membered by scholars and students; but In the hands of nine generations It hil lieen an original work. Thti means that the translation has tha vital eneray of tyle. the moving power, the convincing phrasing of original literature of the very nixheit rank. It la not too much to say tlist In the tnnslsllon from the Hebrew and Oreek Into English, the Bthle has f1nd In vitality n4 pntrt1nf powr. l la thla almost unparalleled frsahneM of spirit and apch that haa mad tn Erm-llah Erm-llah BIMe th textbook of a rac of world wide relation and Influence.. Its content of nllcioua truth and Ita form of pch are ao vitally uniflod that each eontrlb-utra eontrlb-utra to the other and reinforces Ita effect. It im, therefore, not only a great work of literature, but an historical document of irreater Importance In the national life of the English speakliuj peoples thaa Magna Charta. The sources of th Rwrllah BtWe f hack to Caedmon and Bede; and half a dosen men of ftenlus contributed to the richness of phrase, the noble cadence, the lofty rhythm of a -translation which rrew nut of a remark made by Ktn Jamas to a mnferenc of KnrHsh churchmen In 104; H was not until three years I star that the scholars selected for th undertaking under-taking went seriously to work on their arat task. They were men of wide divergences di-vergences of opinion, but they were large minded In their attitude toward their work, and they combined sound scholar-untp scholar-untp with deep literary feeling. Th moment mo-ment was fortunate; for th splendid eloquence elo-quence of the great translations of, th sixteenth century, which wer In their may aa noble worka of llteratura aa th plays and poems of Shakeepeare's eon-tempAraries. eon-tempAraries. without parting with Its strength and richness had mad vast gains In simplicity and dear-nee. Th la ng uajre had not yet baooma Ittarary. fet looked by dictionary and grammar mongers"; It was In Ita most vital stac of growth: to quota lowell, "every hidden root of thought, every subtlest fiber of feeling, was mated by new shoots and leafsge of expression, fed from those unseen sources la th common earth of human nature." Th translation, finished in 111, became be-came at one a textbook of national life. Earlier and incomplete - English versions of th Bible had been rand by crowds of people In English churches and homes, but the tranalallon of 1911 became, a Green has said, "th noblest example of th Rngllsh tongue, while Its perpetual use made It from th Instant of Ita appearance ap-pearance the standard of our languag-e." Its Influence Is evident In neavrlw all thai frreater Rngllsh writer and In the Amer-can Amer-can writers as well; for It was th most precious posseaalon brought to th new world by the English settlers who laid the foundations of the American common com-mon wealth. Tnder Ita Influence Bun van's work became " well of Rngllsh unde Aed": almost three centurlea later Buskin Bus-kin recorded at length his great Indebtedness Indebt-edness to the English Bible; while In a country which was lust beginning to hear English spnken by Insignificant groups of people when that Bible was given to th world. Lincoln save the spirit of tha New Testament the simple and solemn maiesty nf expression of th Old Testament. As the sun rose over the field of Dunbar rromwell cried: "lt Ood arise, and let hla enemies be scattered"; In his second Inaugural address LJncoln said: 'Tat. If dod wills that It continue until all th wealth piled by the bondsman's IM yaare of unrequited toll shall be sunk, and until every drop of Mood drawn with the, lash ahaJI he paid by another drawn with th sword, aa was aald Saoa years ago, so; still It muat be said. The judgments of the Leord ar tru and righteous altogether. alto-gether. " Th three hundredth anniversary of the Mrth of this great teathook of English faith, speech and morals Is being commemorated com-memorated In many Impressive wavs wherever the language Is spoken: the greatest recognition of. Its Incalculable service t civ Mi sat inn would he a fresher and wiser study of Its mslestle and liberating; liber-ating; Ideas. Its noble and Inspimg Ens 1 1 sh Editorial In the May Century. |