Life in: the Word 169 But to this rule the Bible is a marvellous exception. It seems to run freely into the mould of every language, to adapt itself perfectly thereto, and to speak with equal direct ness, clearness and authority to all peoples and tribes and na tions, in their mother tongue. It does not occur to us that, in reading our common English Bible, we are reading a trans lation of an Oriental book; and indeed, when an example of the purest and best English is desired, men go with one ac cord to the Bible. Considered merely as a poem, there is nothing more ex quisite in the English language than the Twenty-third Psalm; and it has been stated that in other languages besides English this Shepherd Psalm is a model of poetical excellence. It never occurs to one reading it that he is reading a translation from another and very different language. Is not this indeed a very extraordinary fact, and the more so when we consider that the Bible, though a unit, is at the same time highly composite? It comprises specimens of every kind of literature, historical, poetical, biographical, didactic, prophetic, epistolary, etc. Moreover, it is not the production of a single human be ing, clothed in a uniform literary style of dress. On the, con trary, its several parts were penned by men in widely vary ing stations in life, from herdsmen and unlearned fishermen, to kings and statesmen; and its styles are as divergent as its writers. Nor was it the product of one era or period, which would tend to impart some common characteristics, and to prevent wide divergencies. As much as fifteen hundred years elapsed between the writing of its first and its last pages. Yet all parts and styles alike accommodate themselves to the change of lan guage far more readily and perfectly than any human being is able to do when acquiring another tongue. The property we are now considering is the more remark able when we consider also the nation from which this unique
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