The passages of this preface in which the translators warned their readers against Calmet's Church are left out, as are their notes of the same kind; the places are marked […].
THE Publick is at last presented with a Work, which has been long promised, and had been delivered much sooner, if the Persons concerned in it had not been solicitous to procure an Impression of it in English, from the last and most perfect Edition of the Original. The Author thought proper to enlarge his first Design with the Addition of two Volumes, published under the Title of a Supplement, distinct from the two former Volumes; with which these were afterwards incorporated, the new Articles inserted in their proper Places, and the Improvements of the rest disposed according to the References in the Supplement, so as to make one entire Work, reduced under one and the same Alphabet.
How much Delay must have proceeded necessarily from every Variation in the Author’s Scheme will be easily imagined by the Reader; who now the whole is at last finished, will, we hope, receive with Candour what is here offered to him with Respect. We shall not, according to the general Humour of Translators, grow tedious with excessive Commendations of our Original: But we may be permitted to acknowledge that Merit in Father Calmet which all the World allows him; and concur with the Learned of all Opinions and Persuasions, in declaring, that he has applied Abundance of good Literature to the Service of Religion, in clearing obscure Passages of the sacred Writings, in reconciling Difficulties and appearing Contradictions, in examining Original Texts, and in performing all the Offices of a judicious Historian, Critick, and Commentator.
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We have not therefore maimed him by retrenching or disguising any thing delivered by him; but in those Articles which have a more immediate Relation to the peculiar Tenets of his Church, we have faithfully expressed his Sense of them […].
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We know the Veneration of all good Catholicks for their Latin Vulgate, the Council of Trent having been pleased to pronounce it Authentick, and to require the publick Use of it in all Offices of the Church, as well as Disputations. It is not therefore strange to find our Author now and then imployed in explaining certain Terms of it, and in clearing Passages of this Translation which are obscured by them. This, though it may seem to regard more particularly those of his Communion, will be found to be a common Benefit to every learned Reader; the Author proceeding often in these critical Inquiries, to illustrate the whole Context, without ever failing to dissipate the Clouds he meets with, and to leave more Light behind him. His Citations are made always from this Version; but as it varies in many Instances from our English Bibles which are copied more exactly from the Hebrew, there is a Disagreement frequently in the References, which we have thought proper to adjust, in order to prevent Confusion. And this Care has in no part of Scripture been thought more necessary, than in the Psalms, the Distribution whereof, almost throughout, is different in each Translation; the English having followed punctually the Division of them in the Hebrew. But of this see more in the Dictionary, under the Article PSALMS.
One thing may be worth observing, which demonstrates the Author’s Judgment; namely, that whereas in his Historical Relations he is frequently obliged to give distinct Accounts of the Actions of such Persons as have been almost equally concerned in the same Series of Events; he has separated very artificially what is peculiar to each of them, and dwelt upon such Circumstances as belonged principally to the Person he is speaking of; so giving every one their own, and no more, and avoiding Repetitions, which to one of an inferior Genius had been exceeding difficult. If notwithstanding, any thing should occur which may seem to contradict this Remark, and look like Repetition; upon farther Consideration it will appear to be only a necessary Introduction to what follows, and to be inserted in the Place where it stands, for the better Connexion of the Story.
The Diligence and great Accuracy of Father Calmet has suffered very few Errors to fall from him; some Inadvertencies indeed there are in his Quotations, which we have endeavoured to correct, and more, it is possible, may have escaped both his and our Observation. The Extent of his Undertaking is an Apology for the Mistakes of it, which is a Plea that we, who are his Translators, are in Interest concerned to make as plausible as may be; being conscious, that in our way we have many more Over-sights to answer for, and less abundantly to say in Excuse of them.
If the quick Sale of any Book, and the many Impressions and Translations of it, may be admitted as an Argument in favour of it, this must appear with great Advantage; for within the few Years since its first Publication, there have been several Editions of it in French, one in Latin, another in Dutch, and more in other Languages. The Encouragement with which it has been received in many Parts of Europe, has been looked upon as a Presage of its Succes in this, where Learning of every kind is at least in equal Estimation, where the Men of Fortune and Education are as well disposed to fill their Libraries with what is valuable, and where the Subject of this Work is as much reverenced, we hope, as in any Corner of the Christian World.
We think ourselves obliged in Justice to acknowledge the Assistance we have had from Dr. Arbuthnot, whose elaborate Treatise of the Coins, Weights, and Measures of the Ancients has been almost our sole Guide, in reducing the Coins, Weights, and Measures of the Hebrews to our own Standard. From this learned and ingenious Gentleman we have borrowed with as much Liberty as Father Calmet from M. Pelletier, who in Matters of the same Nature is of equal Authority with him, and copied with as little Scrupulosity. But this we have done chiefly in the Body of the Work; for in the Tables of Reduction hereunto annexed, it was thought expedient to calculate them from the Author’s own Tables, with a more nice exactness, the better to express his particular Estimates of the Hebrew Weights and Measures; and the Reader having thus his Choice, may determine for that Scheme which is most agreeable to his own Ideas of these Matters.
The few Notes which are inserted by the Gentleman first named in the Translation are only short Remarks upon Passages which are of different Signification in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin Texts, or upon particular Opinions and Relations of Father Calmet, wherein he dissents from other celebrated Writers. They are sometimes transcribed from Men eminent for their Authority, and applied as Illustrations; or, where there is an Opportunity, as Confutations of our Author. They are interspersed in the several Parts of the Translation which have passed through the Hands of the Person abovementioned; namely, in the Dictionary as far as the Letter M, in the Bibliotheca Sacra, and in the Dissertation upon the Tacticks of the ancient Hebrews. The Continuation of these Remarks, throughout the rest of this Work, is by the Gentleman to whose Share the other Parts of this Translation have been allotted; who has confined them chiefly to such things as seemed to him of absolute Necessity, or where the Author advances Doctrines contrary to those of the Church of England.
To say any thing more particularly of the Form or Matter of this Dictionary would be a sort of Supererogation in us, the Author having discoursed so copiously of both in the following Preface, to which, without more Ceremony, we shall refer the Reader; desiring him only to correct, as well as to excuse, the too numerous Errors of the Press, the principal whereof are collected in the Tables prefixed to each respective Volume.