Page:Who is God in China.djvu/24

 of translation, which, as regards the Word of God, requires, above all things and besides a holy mind, consummate judgment.

A translation of Holy Scripture, therefore, should be the joint work of an assembly of men "moved by the Holy Ghost," and upheld by prayer, towards the one great object,—to give the people, into whose language they translate, the pure Word of God, whole and undefiled.

But, as the success of a translation greatly depends on the spirit in which the men engaged in it labour among the people, it may not be out of place, perhaps, to digress a little, by first making a few preliminary remarks "on the spirit in which we should carry on our intercourse with the heathen."

First, then, Who are the heathen? They are our "brethren, according to the flesh,"—children like ourselves of the "one God and Father of all," who, "hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth." "For we are also his offspring." They are therefore heirs, as well as we, to God's promises in Christ; but they are "alienated from the life of God by the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart"; while "by grace we stand."