Singing of Psalms a Gospel-ordinance, or, A TreatiseSinging of Psalmes a Gospel-ordinance, or, A Treatise

A second ground of this Point is this: If it be not lawful to translate Hebrew Psalms (which are Verses) into English Verses, which run in number, measure, and meter of syllables:) then it is not lawful to express the elegance of the Original language ⟨p. 56⟩in a translation; for it is an artificial elegance which the holy Pen-men of Scripture used that they penned the Psalms, and such like Poetical books of Scriptures not in prose, (which men use in common speech) but in verses, which observe a certain number and measure of syllables, and some of them run in meter also, as those know that know the Hebrew, and as Buxtorf. showeth in his Thesaur. pag. 629. Now surely then it were a sacrilegious niceness, to think it unlawful lively to express all the artificial elegancies of the Hebrew Text, so far as we are able to imitate the same in a translation. Yea doubtless it were a part of due Faithfulness in a Translator, as to declare the whole Counsel of God, word for word; so to express lively every elegance of the Holy Ghost▪ (as much as the vulgar language can reach) that so the People of God may be kindly affected, as well with the manner, as with the matter of the holy Scriptures.

A second ground of this Point is this: If it be not lawfull to translate Hebrew Psalmes (which are Verses) into English Verses, which runne in number, measure, and meeter of syllables:) then it is not lawfull to expresse the elegancy of the Originall language ⟨p. 56⟩in a translation; for it is an artificiall elegancy which the holy Pen-men of Scripture used that they penned the Psalmes, and such like Poeticall books of Scriptures not in prose, (which men use in common speech) but in verses, which observe a certain number and measure of syllables, and some of them run in meeter also, as those know that know the Hebrew, and as Buxtorf. sheweth in his Thesaur. pag. 629. Now surely then it were a sacrilegious nicenesse, to thinke it unlawfull lively to expresse all the artificiall elegancies of the Hebrew Text, so farre as we are able to imitate the same in a translation. Yea doubtlesse it were a part of due Faithfulnesse in a Translator, as to declare the whole Counsell of God, word for word; so to expresse lively every elegancy of the Holy Ghost▪ (as much as the vulgar language can reach) that so the People of God may be kindly affected, as well with the manner, as with the matter of the holy Scriptures.