us be thankful, however, for the good that has been already done by his means.

He has made a translation of the Gospels into the Persian language, and "800 copies of St. "Matthew and St. Luke have been printed and "exposed in the Bibliotheca Biblica of Cal"cutta, 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 superintendance of scriptural translation, are truly respectable. After ac

quiring 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 and Mirza, 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 Hindoostanee Language. Soon after his arrival he translated the Liturgy of the Church of England into that tongue. He found that many

*As Mr. Martyn and his associates at Cawnpore constitute the Arabic School in India, for the translation of the Scriptures; so Dr. Carey, and the Missionaries at Serampore, compose the Shanscrit School. See two Memoirs lately published, and the Proceedings of the Baptist Society, published annually.

of the wives of the English soldiers were Hindoostanee women, professing Christianity, but who did not understand the English Language, and being desirous to discharge faithfully the duties of his clerical office, he thought it proper to attempt such a translation. After reading prayers to the soldiers in English, he reads Hindoostanee prayers to their wives, and to other natives. 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, or apophthegms, 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 HINDOOSTANEE Language. It has been often acknowledged, that a version of the Scriptures into what is justly called “the grand popular language of Hindoostan," 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 Hindoostanee 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.

66

The Hindoostanee New Testament has been finished some time, and submitted to the inspection of a variety of persons in different 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

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.

66

may be presented to the native of India, so as "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 Hindoo is "more acceptable. The difficulty of ascer "taining the point equally removed from either "extreme, would be considerably lessened, were "there any prose compositions in the language, "of acknowledged purity. But unfortunately 66 no such standard exists: no works of any "scription indeed have been found, but poems. Lately some translations in Hindoostanee 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

de

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 Hindoostanee, he thus writes:

"In the Persian and Arabic Translations there are happily no such difficulties. The valuable