waters, washed with milk, and fitly
set." By substituting "rivers" only for "rivers of waters" the text may
have gained in exactness, but it has lost immeasurably, both in poetry and
in sound. Far more poetical is the verse as given in the Douai version:
"His eyes are as doves upon brooks of waters, which are washed with milk,
and sit beside the beautiful streams."

It may even be said without any question that the mistakes of the old
translators were often much more beautiful than the original. A splendid
example is given in the verse of Job, chapter twenty-six, verse thirteen:
"By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the
crooked serpent." By the crooked serpent was supposed to be signified the
grand constellation called _Draco_, or the Dragon. And the figure is
sublime. It is still more sublime in the Douai translation. "His obstetric
hand hath brought forth the Winding Serpent." This is certainly a grand
imagination--the hand of God, like the hand of a midwife, bringing forth a
constellation out of the womb of the eternal night. But in the revised
version, which is exact, we have only "His hand hath pierced the Swift
Serpent!" All the poetry is dead.

There are two methods for the literary study of any book--the first being
the study of its thought and emotion; the second only that of its
workmanship. A student of literature should study some of the Bible from
both points of view. In attempting the former method he will do well to
consider many works of criticism, but for the study of the text as
literature, his duty is very plain--the King James version is the only one
that ought to form the basis of his study, though he should look at the
Douai version occasionally. Also he should have a book of references, such
as Cruden's Concordance, by help of which he can collect together in a few
moments all the texts upon any particular subject, such as the sea, the
wind, the sky, human life, the shadows of evening. The study of the Bible
is not one which I should recommend to very young Japanese students,
because of the quaintness of the English. Before a good knowledge of
English forms is obtained, the archaisms are apt to affect the students'
mode of expression. But for the advanced student of literature, I should
say that some knowledge of the finest books in the Bible is simply
indispensable. The important books to read are not many. But one should
read at least the books of Genesis, Exodus, R