lator has felt it a conscientious duty not unfrequently to depart, in the translation of a work, the phraseology of which is in so many instances, consecrated by ecclesiastical usage. Whilst, therefore, he has endeavoured to preserve the spirit, he has been unwilling to lose sight of the letter: studious to avoid a servile exactness, he has not felt himself at liberty to indulge the freedom of paraphrase: anxious to transfuse into the copy the spirit of the original, he has been no less anxious to render it an express image of that original. The reader, perhaps, will blame his severity: his fidelity, he trusts, may defy reproof; and on it he rests his only claim to commendation.
By placing the work, in its present form, before the public, the Translator trusts he shall have rendered some service to the cause of religion: should this pleasing anticipation be realized, he will deem the moments of leisure devoted to it well spent, and the reward more than commensurate to his humble labours.
Maynooth College.
June 10th, 1829.
