“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they perform no hard labor, neither do they spin.”

These must suffice.  We cannot extend our quotations, nor is there occasion to do so.  We think we have seen enough of Mr. Sawyer’s use of words and phrases, enough of his improvements on the common version of the Bible, to convince any candid mind that his is neither a literal nor a correct translation; that so far from having improved the version, by adding clearness, force, or precision, he has injured it in each of these respects; and that the world would be immensely the loser by accepting him as a substitute for the forty-seven translators who composed the famous Council of King James in 1611.  We are informed that Mr. Sawyer has completed his improved version of the Old Testament, and will soon publish it.  We almost shudder in anticipation of the sounds which he has probably evoked from the harp of Judah’s minstrel king, of the colors which he has put on the canvas where are painted the glowing visions of Isaiah, and of the rude matter-of-fact method in which he has doubtless used the modern telescope to penetrate and scatter the glorious and solemn mysteries of the cloud-land of prophecy out of which spake the God of Daniel.  But we forbear, and must wait till we have the remainder of this magnum opus before we venture to hazard an opinion of its merits.

* * * * *

RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS.

Notes from Plymouth Pulpit; A Collection of Memorable Passages from the Discourses of Henry Ward Beecher.  By Augusta Moore.  New York.  Derby & Jackson. 12mo. $1.00.

History of New England during the Stuart Dynasty.  Vol. 1.  By John Gorham Palfrey.  Boston.  Little, Brown, & Co. 8vo. $2.25.

The Land and the Book; or Biblical Illustrations Drawn from the Manners and Customs, the Scenes and Scenery of the Holy Land.  By W.M.  Thomson, D.D., a Missionary for Twenty Years.  Maps, Engravings, etc. 2 vols.  New York.  Harper & Brothers. 12mo. $3.50.

The Poetical Works of James Montgomery. 5 vols.  Boston.  Little, Brown, & Co. 16mo. $3.75.

English and Scottish Ballads.  Collected and edited by Francis James Child.  Vols. 5 to 8, inclusive.  Boston.  Little, Brown, & Co. 16mo. 75 cts. per vol.

Poetry of the Bells.  Collected by Samuel Batchelder, Jr.  Riverside Press.  Printed in Aid of the Cambridge Chime.  By H.O.  Houghton & Co. 16mo. 75 cts.

Street Thoughts.  By Rev. Henry M. Dexter, Pastor of the Pine Street Church.  With Illustrations by Billings.  Boston.  Crosby, Nichols, & Co. 12mo. 75 cts.

The Great Day of Atonement, or Meditations and Prayers, etc., etc.  Translated from the German of Charlotte Elizabeth Nebelin, Edited by Mrs. Colin McKenzie.  Boston.  Gould & Lincoln. 12mo. 75 cts.

Pope or President?  Startling Disclosures of Romanism as Revealed by its own Writers.  Facts for Americans.  New York.  R.L.  Delisser. 12mo. $1.00.