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the lead . Many versions hare been made ; but it is the opinion of Mr . Adam , ( p . 9-, ) ttiat " if the same exertions had been made within a more limited range , the result , if less splendid , would have been more
satisfactory and useful . " The information given , as to the system adopted , at least at Serampore , will probably lead the Bible Society to the conviction , that it is of great moment that these various translations should be most
carefully revised . The first edition of the Bengallee was marked with " gross blunders ; " and though these have been principally corrected in subsequent editions , yet they must have influenced the translations made from it as the original basis - Having obtained a version of the New
Testament in one language , when a translation was required in another , Dr . Carey procured a Pundit skilled in both , * and put into his hands that already made , directingjiim to translate from one into the other . If the
Pundit understood Bengallee , that was of course the basis ; if not , some other translation ; and it is reasonable " to suppose / ' ( p . li , ) " that the sense of Scripture must be very much diluted in these successive translations . " The
only redeeming circumstance is , ( p . 12 , ) that all the versions receive the final corrections of Dr . Carey ; but whatever his efforts and knowledge , it is nearly impossible ' that the Scriptures can be duly represented in translations so made . +
Mr . Adam does not profess to have obtained full information respecting - —— . s . ¦ ¦ i . . i - ¦ * A pundit means a learned man ; and though it has come ( like Reverend or Doctor ) among us , to describe rather the profession than the attainments of the individual , it still implies his knowledge of Sunskrit . P . 12 .
+ There is reason to fear that , in numerous instances , vastly too much haste has been made iu the work of translation , difficult as it is even where a competent knowledge of the original is possessed by the translator , and the language into which he translates is vernacular . One
of those intelligent Persians whose visit to England was formerly noticed by us , represented the much-applauded translation into Persian , commended for reasons of state , by the Emperor himself , as destitute of those qualities which would have gained for it the respect of the cultivated ranks of the Persians .
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the i ?) ode in which the Serampare translations have been e&ecutfcd % btit what he states is enough to authorize the demand , oa the part of those who supply the funds , for more minute information . The following extract is itself sufficient to shew the need of explanation at least :
" A very extraordinary circumstance respecting orre of the Serampore versions was related to me by the Rev . Mr . Bard * well , whom I had frequent opportunities of seeing in Calcutta , just before his return to the United States , and to whom I refer you for the confirmation of the
following statement . The Kunkun language is described by the Serampore Mis * sionaries as spoken on the western coast of India , somewhere 3 , I think , between Bombay and Goa , and into this language they have made considerable progress in translating the Scriptures . But Mr .
Bard well declared to me , and , as he informed me , to the Serampore Missionaries themselves , that , after all the inquiries which he and his brethren had made respecting it , both amongst Europeans and natives , no traces of such a language could be found . Whether the Bombay Missionaries were not sufficiently
strict in their inquiries , or whether the language is a new one , invented by the native translator for his own purposes , may to some appear doubtful . I confess myself inclined to adopt the latter alternative . "—Pp . 12 , 13 .
The second direct means of extending Christianity , adopted by the Missionaries , is the publication of Christian Tracts . Mr . Adam gires an extract from the first Report , of the Bengal Auxiliary Missionary Society , containing the titles of those which had been published in Bengallee ; and thus proceeds :
" Such is an account which the Missionaries themselves have given of the subjects of their tracts . I have read all that are mentioned ia the above extract , and several others besides , and , with the exception of such as contain simple
scripture language , or a simple statement of scripture facts , my opinion of them is » * that they are for the most part either mystical , or puerile , or both ; which last is the character of three tracts , not long since published by the same Society , which spiritualize a voyage from England , a journey to heaven , and an account of the compass . There is scarcely one fit to be put into the hands of a native of understanding and reflection , and enip one , viz . that mentioned above under the
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1825, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2534/page/47/
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