• An Intrepid “Wanderer in the Gospel’s Cause”
    The Watchtower—2004 | August 15

    • An Intrepid “Wanderer in the Gospel’s Cause”

      IT IS reported that by the age of 18, George Borrow had a knowledge of 12 languages. Two years later he was able to translate “with facility and elegance” 20 different tongues.

      In 1833 this unusually gifted man was invited to be interviewed by the British and Foreign Bible Society in London, England. Unable to finance his journey but determined to take advantage of this favorable opening, 30-year-old Borrow walked the 112 miles [180 km] from his home in Norwich, doing so in just 28 hours.

      The Bible Society presented him with a challenge​—within six months to learn the Manchu language, used in parts of China. He asked for a grammar book, but all they could give him was a copy of Matthew’s Gospel in Manchu and a Manchu-French dictionary. Yet, within 19 weeks he wrote to London, “I have mastered Manchu,” with, as he put it, “the assistance of God.” This achievement was even more remarkable because at the same time, he reportedly was correcting Luke’s Gospel in Nahuatl, one of the indigenous languages of Mexico.

      The Bible in Manchu

      In the 17th century, when Manchu first appeared in written form, using a script borrowed from the Mongolian Uighur alphabet, it became the language used in China’s official circles. Though in time its use declined, members of the British and Foreign Bible Society were eager to print and distribute Bibles in Manchu. By 1822 they had financed an edition of 550 copies of Matthew’s Gospel, translated by Stepan V. Lipoftsoff. He was a member of the Russian Foreign Office who had lived in China for 20 years. This was printed in St. Petersburg, but after only a handful of copies were distributed, the remainder were destroyed in a flood.

      A translation of the entire Christian Greek Scriptures soon followed. In 1834 the discovery of an ancient manuscript version of most of the Hebrew Scriptures increased interest in the Bible. Who could coordinate the revision of the existing Manchu Bible and complete the rest of the translation? The British and Foreign Bible Society dispatched George Borrow to undertake this task on their behalf.

      To Russia

      After arriving in St. Petersburg, Borrow applied himself to a deeper study of Manchu to enable him to proofread and edit the Bible text more accurately. Even so, the assignment was arduous, and he worked up to 13 hours a day helping to compose the type for The New Testament, which was eventually described as “a beautiful edition of an oriental work.” One thousand copies were printed in 1835. But Borrow’s cherished plan to take them to China and distribute them there was thwarted. The Russian government, fearing that this could be viewed as a missionary venture likely to jeopardize the friendly relationship they enjoyed with their neighbor, refused Borrow permission to travel to the Chinese border if he took “one single Manchu Bible” with him.

      A few copies were distributed some ten years later, and translations of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, with parallel columns in Manchu and Chinese, appeared in 1859. By then, however, most people who could read Manchu preferred to read Chinese, and prospects for a complete Manchu Bible began to fade. Manchu was, in fact, a dying language, soon to be superseded by Chinese. The transition was complete by 1912 when China became a republic.