"St. Matthew and St. Luke have been printed "and exposed in the Bibliotheca Biblica of "Calcutta, for sale." And we have now the satisfaction to state, that he has been faithful to his Christian principles for six years, and that "his translation of the whole New Testament, "into the Arabic language, was expected to be "finished by the end of the present year.

"1811."

THE ARABIC SCHOOL

FOR THE

TRANSLATION OF THE SCRIPTURES.

THE Rev, Henry Martyn, B. D. Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, went out to India about five years ago. His qualifications for the general superintendence of scriptural. translation, are truly respectable. After acquiring the highest academical honours in science, and a just celebrity for classical knowledge, he devoted himself to the acquirement of the Arabic and Hindostanee Languages.

His mind was strongly impressed, at an early period, with the duty and importance of communicating the revealed Religion to heathen nations. He had a spirit to follow the steps of Swartz and Brainerd, and preach to the natives in the woods; but his peculiar qualifications, as a critical scholar, have fixed him to the department of translation. He had not been long in Bengal before he was joined by Sabat the Arabian, and Mirza the Persian, and other learned natives; so that they now form an Arabic School, from which it is not pretended that there is any appeal in India.

Mr. Martyn's own proper department is the Hindostanee Language. Soon after his arrival he translated the Liturgy of the Church of England into that tongue. He found that many of the wives of the English soldiers were Hindostanee women, professing Christianity, but who did not understand the English Language; and being desirous to discharge faithfully the duties of his sacred office, he thought it proper to attempt such a translation. This original work, having received repeated revision and amendment, is esteemed, by competent judges, to be a perspicuous and faithful version of the sublime original. He also translated, about the same time, the parables and parabolic speeches

orapophthegms, of our Saviour, into the same. language, with an explanation subjoined to each.

But the grand work which has chiefly engaged the attention of this Oriental Scholar, during the last four years, is his Translation of the whole Bible into the HINDOSTANEE Lan

guage. It has been often acknowledged, that a version of the Scriptures into what is justly called "the grand popular language of Hindostan," would be the most generally useful in India. Mr. Martyn is in no haste to print any part of his Work, being desirous that it should be first revised and approved by the best scholars. His chief difficulty is in settling the orthography of the language, and in ascertaining what proportion of words ought to be admitted from the Persian and Arabic fountains; for the Hindostanee is yet in its infancy, as a written and grammatical tongue; and it is probable, that Mr. Martyn's work will contribute much to fix its standard. To evince the care and accuracy which he proposes to himself in this Translation, it will be proper to subjoin his last official report on the subject, dated December, 1809.

"The Hindostanee New Testament has been "finished some time, and submitted to the

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inspection of a variety of persons in different 媚 parts of the country; but the opinions formed "of the Work have not hitherto appeared to justify its publication. I am perfectly con"vinced of the inutility of attempting to please "all; yet I thought it better to withhold from "the Press what longer experience, and the "possession of more efficient instruments, might enable me to send forth in a form more "calculated to give general satisfaction. The 66 person whose assistance I was most anxious "to obtain, has once more joined me; and I am now willing to hope, that the Word of God "may be presented to the native of India, so as

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.

to be intelligible to the generality of readers. "The Grammar of the language is nearly fixed

by Mr. Gilchrist's learned and useful labours; "but it is still difficult to write in it with a "view to general utility. For the higher Ma

homedans and men of learning will hardly

peruse with satisfaction, a book in which the "Persian has not lent its aid to adorn the style. "To the rest a larger proportion of Hindee is more acceptable. The difficulty of ascertaining the point equally removed from either "extreme, would be considerably lessened, were there any prose compositions in the language, "of acknowledged purity. But unfortunately

"no such standard exists: no works of any de

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scription, indeed, have been found but poems.

Lately some translations in Hindostanee prose "have issued from the College of Fort William; "but as they have not yet stood the test of time, "and are very little known in the country, they "could not safely be referred to as a standard. "Thus I have been left to the guidance of my แ own judgment far more than I could have "wished."

In regard to the Arabic and Persian translations, both of which Mr. Martyn superintends as well as the Hindostanee, he thus writes:

"In the Persian and Arabic translations there are happily no such difficulties. The valuable "qualities of our Christian brother, Nathanael "Sabat, render this part of the work compara"tively easy. As he is, I trust, a serious "Christian, the study of the Word of God, "and the translation of it, are of course a mat"ter of choice with him, and a rigid adherence "to the original, a point of duty.* As a scholar

*The solicitude of these translators to infuse the true meaning of the original into their versions, and not to trust entirely to the English translation, will appear from the following observations of Mr. Martyn in his last letter." The Psalms we must leave till the end of the New Testament, for this solid reason, that I do not understand a considerable portion of that