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An t-seachdain sa chaidh, thug mi dhuibh tòimhseachain a nochd ann an clò anns a’ Ghàidheal anns na seachdadan dhen naoidheamh linn deug. Bha mo shròn anns an dearbh phàipear-naidheachd an t-seachdain seo, agus mhothaich mi lèirmheas de leabhar. Bha an leabhar air a sgrìobhadh le James Erasmus Phillips. Bha e air eadar-theangachadh gu Gàidhlig le Eobhan MacColla.

Sgrìobh Seumas Erasmus Phillips dà leabhar le tiotal inntinneach. A’ chiad fhear – Seven Common Faults: Grumbling, Temper, Thoughtlessness, Selfishness, Over-Anxiety, Indolence and Self-will. Agus an dàrna fear – Things Rarely Met With: Patience, Unworldliness, Resignation, Meekness, Humility, the Love of Enemies. Agus saoil cò am fear dhiubh a chaidh eadar-theangachadh gu Gàidhlig? Seadh – na Seven Common Faults!

Agus an tiotal air an leabhar ann an Gàidhlig? Seven Common Faults – Seachd Coireachan a Tha Cumanta. Grumbling – Gearan. Temper – Droch Nàdar. Thoughtlessness – Neo-shuimealachd. Selfishness – ¹óè¾±²Ô-³¦³óù¾±²õ±ð²¹³¦³ó»å. Over-Anxiety – Anbharr Iomagain. Indolence – Leisg. Agus Self-will – ¹óè¾±²Ô-³Ù³ó´Ç¾±±ô. B’ e an tiotal gu lèir – Seachd Coireachan a Tha Cumanta – Gearan, Droch Nàdar, Neo-shuimealachd, ¹óè¾±²Ô-³¦³óù¾±²õ±ð²¹³¦³ó»å, Anbharr Iomagain, Leisg agus ¹óè¾±²Ô-³Ù³ó´Ç¾±±ô. Cha chreid mi gum biodh e a’ leum far nan sgeilpichean an-diugh!

Bha an t-ùghdar a’ cur air adhart modhan Crìosdachd mar dhòigh gus na seachd coireachan a sheachnadh. Mu ‘Gearan’, tha e a’ sgrìobhadh seo: ‘Cronaichibh ur clann air a shon ... aig àm iomchaidh, agus nuair a tha cothrom freagarrach [ann], cronaichibh ur càirdean [airson a bhith a’ gearain].’

‘Tha nàdar gearanach,’ tha e ag ràdh, ‘fìor chronail don chaitheamh-beatha dhiadhaidh ... Tha e a’ toirt oirnn dìochuimhneachadh gu bheil sinn daonnan fo chùram Freastal Dhè.’

Tha Seumas Erasmus Phillips a’ moladh gun lean sinn deagh eisimpleir. ‘Tha fhios agaibh gur e ar Slànaighear Beannaichte ar n-eisimpleir anns an nì seo,’ tha e a’ sgrìobhadh. ‘ ... ged bu tàireil, sgainnealach an gnàthachadh a fhuair E bitheanta, gidheadh aon uair cha tàinig gearan o bhilean Ìosa Chrìosda.’

Last week, I gave you riddles that appeared in print in An Gàidheal in the 1870s. My nose was in the same newspaper this week, and I noticed a review of a book. The book was written by James Erasmus Phillips. It was translated into Gaelic by Eobhan MacColla.

James Erasmus Phillips wrote two books with [an] interesting title[s]. The first one – Seven Common Faults: Grumbling, Temper, Thoughtlessness, Selfishness, Over-Anxiety, Indolence and Self-will. And the second one – Things Rarely Met With: Patience, Unworldliness, Resignation, Meekness, Humility, the Love of Enemies.

And the title of the book in Gaelic? Seven Common Faults – Seachd Coireachan a Tha Cumanta. Grumbling – Gearan. Temper – Droch Nàdar. Thoughtlessness – Neo-shuimealachd. Selfishness – ¹óè¾±²Ô-³¦³óù¾±²õ±ð²¹³¦³ó»å. Over-Anxiety – Anbharr Iomagain. Indolence – Leisg. And Self-will – ¹óè¾±²Ô-³Ù³ó´Ç¾±±ô. The entire title was – Seachd Coireachan a Tha Cumanta – Gearan, Droch Nàdar, Neo-shuimealachd, ¹óè¾±²Ô-³¦³óù¾±²õ±ð²¹³¦³ó»å, Anbharr Iomagain, Leisg agus ¹óè¾±²Ô-³Ù³ó´Ç¾±±ô. I don’t think it would leap off the shelves today!

The author was proposing Christian ways as a means to avoid the seven faults. About ‘Grumbling’, he writes this: ‘Censure your children for it ... at an appropriate time, and when you have a suitable opportunity, censure your friends [for grumbling, complaining].

‘A grumbling nature,’ he says, ‘is really damaging to the religious way of life ... It makes us forget that we are always under the care of God’s Providence.’

James Erasmus Phillips recommends that we follow a good example. ‘You know that our Blessed Saviour is the example in this matter,’ he writes. ‘ ... although the treatment He received was often contemptible and scandalous, not even one time did a complaint come from the lips of Jesus Christ.’