(From Notices of Churches of France and Scotland, by late Rev. Dr. Lorimer in 1841.)
WE have seen that even in the 16th century there is reason to believe the Psalms of David were circulated in the Gaelic tongue; and in the middle of the 17th, about 1650, we find the Synod of Argyle publishing the first fifty Psalms in the same language. Twenty-seven years later, or about 1687, the Hon. Robert Boyle, of London, a name dear to every Christian heart, had the Irish Bible of Bishop Bedell published at his own expense, and 200 copies sent down to the Highlands, on the conditions that the ministers should “read some chapters every Lord’s day to the people,” and that the Bible should be taken care of “as for the use of the parish.” This reading of the Word of God excited great interest, so much so that the Bible travelled through different parts of the parish during the whole week, and was restored upon the Saturday evening or Sabbath morning, that it might be read publicly to the assembled multitude, as a part of divine worship; and as a proof of the salutary effect of even this imperfect diffusion of the knowledge of the Word, it may be mentioned, that in the troubles which followed the revolution of 1688 in the Highlands scarcely any of the natives who had received Bibles, or been instructed from them, were implicated in hostility to the Revolution Settlement.
Immediately after the Revolution an impression of the Irish or Gaelic Bible was printed in London, and 3000 copies of the Bible, 1000 of the New Testament, and 3000 Catechisms transmitted to the agent of the Church of Scotland for distribution in the Highlands and Islands. It is an interesting fact that £1000 Scots, or £83 6s. 8d. sterling were given out of the vacant stipends for binding the Gaelic Bibles, and the balance, if there were any, was to be devoted to the publication of a new edition. The Rev. Robert Kirk, of Aberfoyle, first translated the Psalms into Gaelic verse, and altered Bedell’s Bible from Irish to Gaelic, and published it in Roman letter in 1690. In 1699 a fund was begun by the Church for printing another impression; and sixteen years later there is an earnest demand from several places for more Bibles, so much so that the Commission are entreated to do their best endeavour to procure them. In the meantime the Confession of Faith and the Catechisms, which contain a large body of Scripture, were translated and published. So early as 1708 a letter is written to the Synod of Argyle requesting them to undertake the work. Shortly after a collection is made to defray the expense, and in 1714 the Confession appeared, and ten years later the two Catechisms. This was a most important publication, and quite in keeping with the other exertions of the Church at the same period to provide the destitute parts of the Highlands and Islands with the blessings of religious instruction. At the beginning of the century a work was revived and enlarged in which the Church had been engaged many years before. Bursaries of £10 a year were raised by the Synods for the encouragement and support of young men at college having the Gaelic or, as it is called, Irish language. These were continued for four years to each student, and strict care was taken not only as to the punctual payment, but as to the real Gaelic knowledge and acquirements of the young men at college. In 1704, when the lowlands had come to be well supplied with ministers, one-half of the bursaries, which had served as an encouragement to young men having English, were transferred for the use of those having Gaelic. About the same period the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge began its inestimably important labours; and by the establishment of schools, the translation of works of practical divinity, the employment of catechists, and the establishment of libraries, was honoured to affect a vast amount of good, which eternity alone will be able fully to reveal. Were it not that I wish at present to restrict the reader’s attention to the Gaelic Scriptures, I might mention many pleasing proofs of the zeal both of the Church and of the Society in attending to the spiritual wants of the Highlands. To recur to the Scriptures: though I have not been able to lay my hands upon any document which shows that the Scriptures in the Gaelic language were translated in Scotland previous to 1767, yet from the anxiety displayed in other ways to promote the spiritual welfare of the Highland population, and the actual fact that there were copies in England, I cannot doubt that many were obtained from London. The delay of the new translation in this country seems to have been owing to an unhappy idea, in which even intelligent and good men concurred, after the sad Popish rebellions in 1715 and 1745, that it was essential to the civilisation of the Highlands, in the first instance, to abolish their language. This impression, by no means an unnatural one, of course, for a time postponed the translation into Gaelic, but gave new animation to the efforts of Christians through English channels.
After trial for a season it was found that this was not the way of getting rid of the language, and that the Christian instruction, conveyed through the medium of English, was partial and imperfect. Hence good men recurred to the former plan of reaching the people through the Word of God translated into their native language; and in 1767 the New Testament, translated by the Rev. James Stewart, of Killin, under the care of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge, was published in an edition of not less than 10,000 copies. It may be mentioned that the great Dr. Samuel Johnson heartily approved of the object, and encouraged the translator in his important undertaking. Thirty years after a second edition was published by the same society, of course before the days of the Bible Society, amounting to the immense impression of nearly 22,000 copies. The Old Testament was published in parts as it was translated. Collected together it was printed in 1802 to the extent of 5000 copies, and five years afterwards an edition of 20,000. In 1810 the old society printed the New Testament anew in an edition of 10,000 copies, so that in about 49 years it had been instrumental, under God, in putting 66,000 copies of the Gaelic Scriptures into circulation, without counting the parts of the Old Testament or the editions of the British and Foreign Bible Society, the latter of which now came into considerable circulation. It is an interesting fact that so early as 1782 collections were made throughout the Church, and in subsequent years repeatedly renewed, to defray the expense of the Gaelic translation. In 1816 it was considered desirable to revise part of the translation of the Old Testament. This was done; and in the course of a few years a quarto edition was brought out under the care of the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge and a committee of the General Assembly, which for excellence is not surpassed, it is understood, by most modern versions of the Scriptures. So impressed were the Lords of the Treasury with the great services which had been rendered to the cause of God and the moral and religious interests of the Highlands by the labours of the late eminent Rev. Dr. Stewart, of Luss, son of Mr. Stewart, of Killin, as a translator of the Gaelic Scriptures, that in 1820 they awarded him the sum of £1000. Previous to that period and since various large impressions of the Scriptures have been published by the British and Foreign, and latterly by the Edinburgh, Bible Society; and instead of perpetuating the language it is believed that never was the anxiety to acquire English stronger or more general in the Highlands than at the present time.
Thus it appears that both the Protestant Church of France and the Protestant Church of Scotland were remarkable for their love of the Word of God and their anxiety to disseminate it; and what higher testimony could be given in behalf either of an individual or a Church? Next to the love of God Himself, what is more beautiful or befitting than the love of His Word. Indeed they are identical. Few tests of religious character are better or more conclusive than the way in which men feel towards the Scriptures, and in which they treat the Scriptures. How often does the Psalmist tell us of his love for the Word of God; and whatever scoffers and the supporters of an apostate Church may allege to the contrary, the benefits which attend the wide and indiscriminate circulation of the Scriptures are incalculable. The 12,000,000 of copies which have been scattered during the last thirty years by the Bible Society may seem a vast number, and some may think there has been no corresponding fruit; but could we estimate how much evil has been prevented which but for them would have burst forth, how much substantial good has actually been wrought out, and what trains have been laid for infinitely more in the future, no philanthropist, and much more no Christian, could hesitate for a moment to approve of, yea, to rejoice in the sacrifice.