the Editor of the XN ru-Catxa Dary News, Sui,—Few things are more puzzling to! the lay mind than the rival versions of the Chinese Bible, and the impossibility of getting conscientious and able men to pre-Sent an undivided front toa common foe. For the acrimony that has characterised the Term and other questions, I offer no apology, Let it be set down to the effec of the climate, let it be adduced as evidence that sinologues are more theoretic thin} practical and would be all the better of having their angularities rubbed off by more intercourse with the world; let it be accepted as prof positive of the indwelling of! the Old Adam, Want of unity, however, in more our misfortune than' our fault. For the expression of foreign ideas, the Chinese language must be the crabbedest that exists, and it lends itself to the incorporation of foreign phraseology almost with the same facility as if Englishmen were compelled to write ZX for tea and for lung. Very few Chinese expressions for Biblical ideas can be regarded as absolutely fixed, fewer still are entirely satisfac tory, and new renderings are suggested with a rapidity that.is almost bewilder We have no satisfactory Christian termino-fogy, and being sound Protestants have no} supreme authority to fix one for us, nor do many of us think that the best of everything that the capacities of the Chinese language can afford has yet been submitted to our eh In such case there must be conflicting views, and with conflicting views anslations of the Bible; nor is there likelihood of the war of words being hushed to silence until the educated Christian perception of the native Church instinctively adopts the terms that are most appropriate, The materials that must form the skeleton of a standard translation do not yet lie ready to our hand.
the present state of affairs a one-man version is almost certain to be superior to the product of a committee representing different opinions and endeavouring to hold the balance even, A one-man version will have the substantial merit of consistency, and we may reasonably expect originality and the enrichment of the Christian vocal bulary, the whole being a solid contribution to the Chinese Bible in its final form. By no sleight of hand could consistency be evolved from the compromises of a representative committee, and originality would stand a poor chance on a show of hands.
Few proposals are more preposterous than those now being made fur a union version. It is mooted that some existing version is to be taken as a basis. Which? Can any one be named without producing a split among our united friends? Is the terminal gy also be union? If so, it will be a marvel in more senses than one. We are expected to signify our acceptance of a version of which a single verse has not been penned, the very plan of which has not been divulged. The whole thing savours so strongly of the confidence trick that some of us think it prudent to reserve our judgment until we have looked the gift horse in the mouth. It needs only to be mentioned that Anglican Churchmen are not agreed on the term t" be used for Bishop, and that I have two Mandarin versions of the Prayer Book before me, to assure the public that not captiousness but inherent impos-at the present stage, which prevent us joining heart and soul for union version.
Mr. Murray has recently published in your coluuans certain proposals from the British and Foreign and Scotch Bible Societies which were rejected by Dr. John, Vouo? For the embarrassment. of Dr. John, and to put a stop to the production of all other versions until the great unknown of the Cnio committee has made its appearance? But it is well to have the document, to let us know what proposals are made by those who are ignorant of local facts and have never grappled ith
Christian the difficulties of accurately exp truth in idiomatic Chinese. Would committee of fifteen representing the conflicting views of missionaries in Northern, Eastern and Central China, the members of which did not even meet together in consultation, be a workable body Could portions of the translation be for-erded from Hankow to the confines of the Fimpire, be examined, commented on, and returned to Hankow, all within the space of forty days without radical improvement of the native post? Since the home directors chairman of committee, why did they not appointed Dr. John to be chief translator and appoint the other fifteen? Was it because they did not know of fifteen men capable of revising Dr. John's Chinese that an invidios duty was to be devolved upon the missionaries? Was it not asking either too little or too much from Dr. John to expect him to do the whole initial translation, then submit it to the criticism of any fifteen mon that might be chosen, and leave the final adjustment of the text toa small consmittes pointed by the fifteen, Dr. John having no more voice in the matter than the other members, beyond a casting; vote. Without a doubt, Dr. John decide wisely and well, when he rejected such an overture. Translating, hampered by no trammels, yet courting criticism and suggestions, not from a select and favoured fifteen, but from all quarters, and putting forth his version to sink or swim on its own merits, he has given us more manly and better work, he has done more justice to his ripe experience and mature scholarship, he has contributed far more to put the Chinese Bible in its final shape, than if he had accepted the envious and unenviable position offered by the Bible Societies.
Tam, ete.,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.