Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
SEBASTIAN SCHMIDT. 1273
In 1785 Bishop Swedberg, Swedenborg’s father, formed "an
invaluable intimacy with the learned and pious theologian S. Smidius"
(see Document 10, Vol. I, p. 101), and it was no doubt by his father
that Swedenborg’s attention was first directed to Schmidt’s transla
tion of the Bible.
Schmidt’s translation of the Bible was published in 1696, and
while the work was being seen through the press, he died. In the
preface to the second edition, which was published in 1708, the
Theological Faculty of the University of Strasburg give the following
account of the work and of its author:
"The author of this work is most celebrated throughout the whole
of God’s Church. For he is the most venerable, the most worthy, and
the most excellent Sebastian Schmidt, doctor of theology, and
formerly professor of it in this our beloved University of Strasburg,
and in this capacity throughout the whole ofhis life crowned with honour
and respect; who was the worthy Dean of the chapter of Thomas,
and the venerable president of the Ecclesiastical Convention, and for
many years the senior professor of the theological faculty, and its
wise and faithful director ; and who has now by a blessed departure
been snatched from the straits of this life, and carried to the blessed
and eternal mansions of the heavenly father; whose memory will
remain a blessing to all, and especially to us, to whom during his
lifetime he was either a faithful colleague or preceptor, and who
have held him ever in veneration.
"We may be allowed here to apply to him some words of
Augustine. Is it a curious or a difficult question which is placed
before us? Was it possible for so great a doctor, who spent his
whole life in reflecting and meditating on the Sacred Scripture, and
who died while engaged in these meditations, to leave to the Church
of God a version of the Scriptures which would be an ornament
and benefit to it? Or was it his duty to leave to the church such
a version? Even if we should keep silence, the version itself would
speak for itself and for its author.
"Augustine said, ’
We must have recourse to the Hebrew and
Greek originals’ ; he said also ’ a knowledge of both these languages
is necessary.’ But what was there in the hidden recesses of the
Hebrew language of the Old, and of the Greek of the New, which
our translator has not explored? Or what was there that his
perspicacity has not discovered, his profound meditation not brought
to light?
"Again Augustine said that he seemed to himself to possess
some knowledge of both these languages,’ &c. Schmidt, however,
possessed not only a little of this knowledge, but, oh how much ! In
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
