is ear, as is his skill, so and not otherwise
he will speak, so and not otherwise than they can respond to that
imagination, that character, that order of his intellect, that harmony of
his soul, his hearers will hear him. Let me conclude with this great
passage from Newman which I beg you, having heard it, to ponder:--

If then the power of speech is as great as any that can be named,
--if the origin of language is by many philosophers considered
nothing short of divine--if by means of words the secrets of the
heart are brought to light, pain of soul is relieved, hidden grief
is carried off, sympathy conveyed, experience recorded, and wisdom
perpetuated,--if by great authors the many are drawn up into unity,
national character is fixed, a people speaks, the past and the
future, the East and the West are brought into communication with
each other,--if such men are, in a word, the spokesmen and the
prophets of the human family--it will not answer to make light of
Literature or to neglect its study: rather we may be sure that, in
proportion as we master it in whatever language, and imbibe its
spirit, we shall ourselves become in our own measure the ministers
of like benefits to others--be they many or few, be they in the
obscurer or the more distinguished walks of life--who are united to
us by social ties, and are within the sphere of our personal
influence.

[Footnote 1: I append the following specimen translations of the famous
passage in St Paul's "First Epistle to the Corinthians" xv. 51 sqq. I
choose this because (1) it is an important passage; (2) it touches a high
moment of philosophising; (3) the comparison seems to me to represent
with great fairness to Tyndale the extent of the forty-seven's debt to
him; (4) it shows that they meant exactly what they said in their
Preface; and (5) it illustrates, towards the close, their genius for
improvement. From the Greek, Wyclif translates:--

Lo, I seie to you pryvyte of holi thingis | and alle we schulen rise
agen | but not alle we schuln be chaungid | in a moment in the
twynkelynge of an ye, in the last trumpe | for the trumpe schal
sowne: and deed men schulen rise agen with out corrupcion, and we
schuln be changid | for it bihoveth this corruptible thing to clothe
uncorropcion and this deedly thing to putte aweye undeedlynesse. But
whanne this