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**List: Chinese Ministry Bible ( 圣经 (cs) / 聖經 (ct) )
CHINESE. Dr. Morrison’s Translation, issued in..., by the Anglo-Chinese-College, in twenty-one Volumes.--1860 S. Bagster [Info only: Chinese Character "1823" John 1:1-13 unknown.] |
简体中文 (cs), 繁體中文 (ct), 正體中文 / Chinese: Wenli, High Bible History (3)
**List: Chinese Ministry
Bible ( 圣经 (cs) / 聖經 (ct) )
Chinese...
CHINESE. "I.--GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT, AND STATISTICS. [...]
II.--CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. [...]
III.--VERSIONS OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES, IN CHINESE. .... In 1806 a translation was commenced in Bengal under the superintendence
of the Rev. David Brown, Provost of the College of Fort William; he employed for this purpose
Joannes Lassar, who was an Armenian Christian, but a native of China; and in 1807 a copy of S. Matthew
in Chinese, translated and beautifully written by Lassar, was sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury for
the Lambeth Library. In 1808 the Rev. D. Brown transmitted to the Secretary of the British and
Foreign Bible Society the first sheet of this translation that had passed through the Chinese press.
It had been printed from wooden blocks, cut by chintz pattern makers; but early in 1811 metal
types were used in printing the Scriptures at Serampore, and this mode of printing Chinese is now
generally adopted by our mies., in preference to the native method of printing from wooden
blocks. The preparation of the version, from about the year 1808, was taken up by the Serampore
mies.: Dr. Marshman and his son, in conjunction with Lassar, completed and printed it at
Serampore in 1822, under the liberal patronage of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Each
sheet of this version was subjected, by the indefatigable translators, to an almost incredible number of
revisions, and the whole was diligently conferred with Griesbach’s text. Another version was made by
Dr. Morrison, who about the year 1807 was sent to China by the London My. Society. Before
his departure from England he had obtained some knowledge of the language, and in aid of his
important undertaking he took with him the copy of a Chinese MS. belonging to the British Museum,
and admirably executed by some unknown hand; it was apparently a translation from the Vulgate, and
from the beauty of the style was judged to be the production of a native.1 It was written by order of
Mr. Hodgson, in 1737-8; he presented it, in 1739, to Sir Hans Sloane, through whom it came into
the possession of the British Museum. It contained a condensed harmony of the Gospels, and likewise1 Mr. Callery (Systema Phon., p. 80) says that this version was written by the Jesuits, and incautiously made
over to the English by J. Marchini, superintendent of the College of the Propaganda, at Rome.the Acts, and all the Epistles of St. Paul, with the exception of that to the Hebrews, of which the first
chapter only had been translated; when death, or some other cause, arrested the hand of the translator.
Dr. Morrison says, concerning this MS., that in translating the New Testament, he, at the commence-
ment, derived great assistance from the Epistles, but that afterwards they caused him much labour in
verifying, and in effecting such alterations as his judgment suggested. In the translation of the Old
Testament, Dr. Morrison made considerable use of Bishop Newcome’s version of the twelve minor
prophets, and of Lowth’s Isaiah; he also referred continually to the original Scriptures, the Septuagint,
Vulgate and French Versions: he never appears, however, to make any remarkable departure from
the sense of the Authorised English version. Dr. Morrison after labouring alone for some years in China
was provided with a valuable coadjutor in Dr. Milne, who was sent to aid in the work of translation,
by the London My. Society. The historical books of the Old Testament, and the book of Job,
were translated by Dr. Milne, and he died while employed in their revisal. The entire version was
completed in 1823.
At the anniversary of the Bible Society in 1824, Dr. Morrison presented the sacred volume at the
meeting, and Mr. Butterworth related the following incident:--"It is now many years ago, that in visiting
the library of the British Museum, I frequently saw a young man who appeared to be deeply occupied
in his studies; the book he was reading was in a language and character totally unknown to me. I
asked the young man what it was; he replied modestly, The Chinese, and said, I am trying to understand
it, but it is attended with singular difficulty; if the language be capable of being surmounted by human
zeal and perseverance, I mean to make the experiment. Little did I think," continued Mr. Butter-
worth, "that I then beheld the germ, as it were, of that great undertaking, the translation of the Sacred
Scriptures into the Chinese language." The production of this most important version, and of the
numerous successive editions through which it has passed, is mainly if not entirely due, under Pro-
vidence, to the generous aid of the British and Foreign Bible Society, who, from first to last, advanced
more than ten thousand pounds in furtherance of the translation and circulation of the Chinese
Scriptures. About the year 1836, a revised edition of the New Testament was produced by the joint
labours of Messrs. Medhurst, Gutzlaff, Bridgman, and J. R. Morrison. But this work, although in
idiomatic correctness a great improvement on preceding versions, was considered by competent
authorities as loose and paraphrastic, and the work of translation was felt to be still incomplete.
In 1843, the Protestant mies. in China assembled in Hong-kong, and recorded their wish
for a new version of the Scriptures in the Chinese language, better adapted for general circulation
than any hitherto published. They recommended that the task of preparing such a version should
be confided to a body of Delegates, and this proposal met with the fullest sanction and support at
the hands of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The labours undertaken by the Delegates
were commenced in 1847; the version of the New Testament was completed in 1850, and that
of the Old Testament five years later. The "Delegates’ Version" (as this edition of the Scriptures
in China is generally called) is that now adopted by the Protestant missions, and an edition of
50,000 has been printed at Shang-hae and Hong-kong, under the sanction of the British and Foreign
Bible Society."--The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition) Samuel Bagster [Info only]CHINESE. Dr. Morrison’s Translation, issued in..., by the Anglo-Chinese-College, in twenty-one Volumes.--1860 S. Bagster [Info only: Chinese Character "1823" John 1:1-13 unknown.]
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