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wait." They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint."-Rev. Henry Melvill.

FALSE VIEWS OF CHRISTIANITY.-A more unrighteous perversion can scarcely be imagined, than to estimate the influences of Christianity by the phases which it wears, when examined through the turbid atmosphere of national and political history.-Rev. C. W. Le Bas.

THE HOLY SPIRIT. When the Holy Spirit descended upon the Son of God, he borrowed the semblance, not of a bird of prey, but of the mourning and tender "dove." And thus, when he now descends to stamp his sacred image on the soul, the impression which he leaves is not that of fierceness and intolerance, but of gentleness, and tenderness, and love. He is the Spirit, not of contention, but of order, and of a sound mind, and of the charity which "never faileth"-the Spirit which "maketh men to be of one mind in a house." Shall not those, therefore, who profess to follow his guidance, be "harmless as doves?" Shall they not cultivate the tenderness and gentleness of Him to whom the Spirit was given without measure? Shall they not put on that "charity" which is the "bond of perfectness?" Shall they not remember they are "brethren," and see that they "fall not out by the way?" To those who are thus cherishing the graces of the Spirit, the "Sanctifier" will become a "Comforter." As the dove brought to Noah the intelligence of the subsiding of the waters, so will the Heavenly Dove convey to the soul the glad tidings that the tempest of eternal wrath no longer sweeps ever her path.-O, may he bring us the olive-branch of hope and peace! May he "bear witness with our sprit, that we are the children of God!" May he Shake from his "wings" of "silver" every gift and blessing which the soul desires or needs! And may all men see that he is with us, by the seal of the Spirit imprest on our lives and tempers! Almost every oject or individual, brought under some new and powerful influence, discovers, by a corresponding change, the force of the instruments to which it is subjected. The desert awakes to life and beauty under the beam of the sun. The heavenly bodies obey the law of gravity, and move on in uninterrupted harmony and unclouded lustre. The poor wandering prodigal softens under the influence of a mother's love. The slave discovers a thousand new energies and sympathies and powers, as his chains fall from him. And thus, in the case of every man really brought under the influence of the Spirit, the desert of the mind is clothed with new verdure; the wandering heart is brought back again to God; the slave to his corruptions breaks from his terrible bondage, and walks abroad in all the glorious liberty of the children of God. The moral change, figuratively described by the Prophet, is accomplished: "The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped: then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert." A new man, in fact, arises under this new and sanctifying influence, clothed in the righteousness and reflecting the image of his Redeemer.

Celestial Visitant, herald of peace,

Who com'st when the waters of trouble decrease,
O say to my heart that the tempest of wrath
No longer o'erhangs and endangers my path
O come with the olive-branch, Spirit of love,
With thy train of sweet graces descend from above;
Bring with thee the purity, concord, repose,
Thy peaceful and permanent presence bestows;
Let thy heart-soothing melody charm me again,
In the days of "clear shining" that follow the rain;
In tenderness visit this sorrowing breast,
And make it for ever the seat of thy rest.

Rev. J. W. Cunningham.

He who teaches men the principles and precepts of spiritual wisdom before their minds are called "off from other objects, and turned inward upon themselves, might as well write his instructions as the sibyl wrote her prophecies, upon the loose leaves of the trees, and commit them to the mercy of the inconstant winds.-Leighton.

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Poetry.

EVENING HYMN.

Now one day's journey less divides
Me from the land where God resides;
If I have used the grace bestow'd,
And kept the straight and narrow road;
If I have walked by faith and fear,
A stranger and a pilgrim here;
And in each deed, and word, and thought,
Have lived as Christ's disciple ought.

I've one day less my watch to keep,
My foes to fear, my falls to weep;
I've one day less to see within,
Conflict, defeat, remorse, and sin.

I've one day less the road to tread
Where thorns abound, and snares are spread,
To view a world of want and war,
Disease and sorrow, sin and care.

And oh! reflect, my fainting soul,
Thou'rt one stage nearer to the goal-
Thou'rt one stage nearer to the shore,
Where sin shall never grieve thee more.

Thou'rt nearer to that holy state
On which thou lov'st to meditate;
Thou'rt nearer to that happy home
Where all the ransom'd soon shall come.

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ARCHBISHOP SHARP.-During the war between Charles I. and the Parliament, Thomas Sharp rose into notice from the particular degree of favour in which he stood with General Lord Fairfax; who held his head-quarters at Bradford, and, among other marks of regard, offered him a commission in the army: but he declined it. He was attached to the opinions of the Puritans. His infant son, John, would have been brought up in the same principles, had not his mother, a zealous royalist, given another direction to his mind. At the hazard of Lord Fairfax's displeasure, and eluding all the searches that were made for prayer-books in every house, she had preserved those of her family; and one of them she put into the hands of her son, instructing him to love and to value it. The boy was particularly moved by reading the Litany; and to this first feeling was soon added a more powerful excitement, by the accidental view of his father's secret devotions. Through a chink in the door of an adjoining room he perceived him at his private prayers; childish curiosity brought him frequently to the same place; and he found something in the importunate earnestness of his devotion so forcibly affecting his heart, that the impression was never effaced. This boy was afterwards archbishop of York. -Memoirs of Granville Sharp.

REFLECTIONS AT THE SOURCE OF THE DANUBE.— We jumped over it with ease. From what obscure causes do the mightiest effects flow! A river celebrated throughout the world, and rolling by some of the noblest cities, is here feeble and inconsiderable. It is thus the current of evil from a single individual, small at first, sometimes swells as it flows, till distant regions are desolated with its waves. The sources of the widest blessings to mankind have also their first rise in small and unnoticed beginnings. Nay, the first bursting forth of that "well of water which springeth up into everlasting life," is small and inconsiderable. No wise man undervalues the beginnings of things.Dr. Wilson, Bishop of Calcutta.

PSALM LIX. 14, 15.-A person landing at the waterside at Smyrna, in the evening, is accosted by the furious barking of a multitude of dogs: they are very numerous in the street, unowned and unfed. In Constantinople, it is said, they are fed by a public officer appointed for the purpose. These dogs are so feeble from poor living, that they whine at the slightest touch. In the long Greek fasts, when there are no offals left by the butchers in the streets, multitudes of them perish. In the day they seem very torpid from the heat, and as if they had not spirit to join in the bustle of mankind; but at night they are ready with their clamour at every little stir. They are considered useful, as keeping the streets somewhat less offensive than they would otherwise be. They remind one of Psalm lix. 14, 15: "And in the evening they will return, grin like a dog, and go about the city: they

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From this return we see that Ulster (the Protestant province), which has nearly 200,000 inhabitants more than the most populous of the other three provinces, is nearly stainless in respect of crime. It is also a curious fact, that the Insurrection Act never was proclaimed in any of the eleven counties that were planted with Protestants by James I., and that it was proclaimed in each of the remaining twenty-one that were not so planted. Note to Booker's Ter-centenary Sermon.

NAPLES: Superstition. Every one has heard of the liquefaction of the blood of St. Gennaro. At a particular period the vial is taken from its repository, and held up by a priest, who shakes it till the substance melts. As an ocular deception, it is by no means so ingenious as many of those performed by mountebanks, who devour fire, and pull ribands out of their mouths; or as many of the feats performed by the clown in a pantomime. However, it would not be safe to venture on such remarks at Naples. The substance is, of course, human blood, and that of no other than the saint; and it is equally indisputable, that the prayers, which form part of the ceremony, must have something to do with the liquefaction; for we can hardly suppose that they are only intended to render the whole of this notable piece of make-believe more plausible. Let me not be told, that respect is due even to the superstitions of an ignorant people. Let the common people themselves be ever so besotted and imbruted in worse than pagan idolatry, their priests can have no such excuse, unless we suppose them, one and all, the highest as well as lowest, to be equally ignorant, and not culpable only because labouring under the grossest delusions. If mummeries of this kind are not essential to, but the mere excrescences of, Roman Catholicism, the impurities it had contracted in times of universal ignorance and superstition, wherefore, I ask, are they not now abandoned? Why have not all jugglery and mountebankism of this sort been discountenanced by the Church itself, and suffered gradually to fall into desuetude? Neither can it be alleged, that such practices are harmless, as serving to amuse a people not sufficiently enlightened to be convinced of matters of faith by reasoning and argument, and incapable of rational devotion. Systematic deception is not laudable: no casuistry can justify such wretched expediency as that of fostering slavish superstition, merely because it is agreeable to the people themselves, because they are well satisfied, and the more readily attached to the Church. Away with such base, worldly, and cowardly policy, so opposed to the very fundamental principles of Christianity. The religion of the Gospel rejects it with utter contempt, as it ought to do; and if the filth and cobwebs that now utterly disgrace the temple of the Romish Church cannot be swept away without endangering the fabric itself, it must indeed be altogether rotten, unsound, and unsafe.-Rae Wilson.

LONDON-Published by JAMES BURNS, 17 Portman Street, Portman Square; W. EDWARDS, 12 Ave-Maria Lane, St. Paul's; and to be procured, by order, of all Booksellers in Town and Country.

PRINTED BY

ROBSON, LEVEY, AND FRANKLYN, 46 ST. MARTIN'S LANE.

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THE TWO APPOINTED CHANNELS OF
DIVINE GRACE.

MOST reflecting Christians will readily admit,
that, even in this nominally Christian, and
most favoured country, a great work still
remains to be accomplished. There are
thousands and tens of thousands of our fel-
low-countrymen, who do not keep their vow
to renounce the world, the flesh, and the
devil, and who therefore need emancipation
from their present thraldom. Most persons,
who believe their Bible, will also admit, that
this work is to be effected, as God himself
has said, "Not by might, nor by power;
but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts"
(Zech. iv. 6). The main question, then, for
all those who wish to see the work accom-
plished, is, how is the Spirit of God to be
obtained, and what is the appointed channel
of his grace? The chapter, which contains
the above quotation, gives us the answer, as
Vouchsafed to Zechariah on a similar occa-
sion. At the return of the Jews from Baby-
lon, many and great difficulties impeded the
building of the temple, and the complete re-
storation of the Mosaic constitution; but the
greatest arose from the slothful and selfish
spirit of the Jews themselves. The majority
of those who had returned, and, perhaps, the
prophet himself, thought that the external
enemies were the main obstacle to the fulfil-
ment of their wishes; and that if they only
had sufficient physical force to crush their
bodily enemies, the work would be accom-
plished. To obviate this error, God exhi-
bited to the prophet a golden candlestick, of
which the seven lamps were supplied with
oil from two olive-trees, and explains the

VOL. I.-NO. VIII.

PRICE 1d.

meaning of the vision to be, that the headstone should be set upon the building, not by an extraordinary exertion of physical force, but by the communication of his Holy Spirit to the Jewish church. Zechariah appears to have comprehended the general sense of the vision and its explanation; but one point he did not understand, and that was, the means whereby the Holy Spirit was to be supplied. He saw that the oil proceeded from the olivebranches; but, not knowing what they represented, he asks, "What be these two olivebranches, which, through the two golden pipes, empty the golden oil out of themselves?" And he receives for answer, "These are the two anointed ones, that stand before the Lord of the whole earth." Now it is universally admitted, both by Christians and Jews, that these olive-branches represented the civil governor and the high-priest of that time. Scott says, in his Commentary, "Zerubbabel and Joshua, the anointed ruler and the high-priest of Judea, who stood before the Lord, and were his instruments in the work of the temple, were the anointed ones' intended." And Kimchi, the great Jewish commentator, says, "They are Zerubbabel and Joshua, who are called anointed ones,' or sons of oil,' because they had been anointed with the anointing oil,-the one to the royal estate, and the other to the priesthood." This Scripture then points out the king and the priest, as the two appointed channels of divine grace.

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That the ministers of the Gospel, as stewards of the mysteries of Christ, are channels of grace, will be readily conceded. them, those divine institutions, commonly called the means of grace, have been com

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mitted. They preach the Gospel, which is God's power to salvation; and they administer those sacraments, which are not mere outward forms, but the signs of an inward and spiritual grace. Most persons, however, overlook the civil government as an appointment of God; and fewer still remember its sacred office as a channel of divine grace. Men in general, and even Christians, consider the magisterial office as altogether secular, and seem to regard it as of mere human and worldly origin, conversant only about things of this world, and limited in its labours and results to this world's duration. It is true that they admit the general truth of such texts as, "By me kings reign ;" and, again, "There is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God" (Rom. xiii. 1); but they forget to look to the end for which God ordained them, as every thing else in nature and in grace, to make preparation for eternity. The children of men, in their arrangement of civil institutions, may look no farther than the interest, or convenience, or prosperity of this world, and may, therefore, change, reform, or create laws and customs, on mere worldly motives, and for mere worldly ends. This world is their all, and time the horizon of all their views; the interests of eternity, therefore, enter but sparingly, if at all, into their legislative or political lucubrations. But surely this is not the case with the King of kings, who knows that this world is only an antechamber that leads to the habitation of eternity. In his ordinances of kings and powers, he has had reference to more than the sublunary interests of mankind.

Zechariah's vision plainly points out the civil power as one of two olive-trees from which the candlestick is supplied with oil; and a little consideration will help us to see the truth of this representation. In order to be fit for the heavenly inheritance, certain habits of mind and soul must first be formed; in other words, men must be sanctified. "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." This state of soul can be effected in a moment by the exertion of God's omnipotence, without the intervention of any means whatever. But this is not the ordinary mode of God's dealings. Men must usually be babes in grace, as well as in nature, before they come to the full stature of a man; and, as babes, they require various helps, and a system of training, to assist the growth, and perfect the nature. The word of God, and the sacraments, accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit, are such helps. But the sovereign power of the state also contributes its share of blessing. In each generation it stands in the same relation to the priesthood,

as the law of Moses stands to the Gospel in God's economy of the world at large. The law held up to the world the outward form and type of all that is required and promised in the Gospel. It did not make men holy; but by its exclusion of the unclean from the camp and temple, it conveyed to the mind of every Israelite a vivid impression of the existence, and nature, and necessity, of holiness. It did not make men humble; but by the strictness and extent of its requirements, it crushed every seed of pride and self-complacency, and thus made room for humility. It did not produce love to God; but by its terrors, it begot a holy fear and awe, without which true love to God cannot exist. And to the Church at large it was a schoolmaster to prepare it for, and lead it to Christ. The divine ordinance of the civil government fulfils a similar office now for every generation, and indeed for each individual. It offers a corporeal image of Divine truth, a sort of living type of the glorious reality, at the same time that it prepares the mind for the graces of the Gospel. The king, as supreme, not created by man, nor deriving his dignity from extraneous sources, but born to honour, is the most perfect illustration of the sovereignty of God; and therefore, when our Lord Jesus Christ wished to make men understand the nature of his dominion, he drew his imagery, not from their republican dignities of dictator, consul, or tribune of the people, but exclusively from the kingly office. The whole economy of grace is called the kingdom of heaven. The felicity of the blessed is a marriagesupper, which a king made for his son. The ministers of the Gospel are the servants of a king, sent forth to invite men to the supper. The act of pardoning a sinner is the king forgiving a servant who owes him money. The final sentence is pronounced by the king seated upon the throne of his glory; and the reward bestowed upon his people is, that they too shall be, what so many people now dislike, kings and priests. No doubt the Lord Jesus Christ selected that symbol from things human, that most perfectly represented things divine; and now that Christ is in heaven, he has still left to us on earth the living parable of monarchic dignity, to instruct even those who will not read his word, and to assist the imperfect faculties of those who make it their daily study. But, besides being a type of Christ's kingdom, human monarchies may be considered as channels of grace, by preparing the mind, and exercising in it those habits which the Holy Spirit can enliven into Christian graces. Monarchy begets and propagates a certain sentiment near akin to humility. It stays the human mind from the extravagant wanderings and never-ceasing

is sure to prevail; but when it is laid open freely and fully, then the people must become, in some measure, imbued with the knowledge of divine truth. Accordingly, the Church of England, " a witness (as she describes herself) and a keeper of holy writ," has, ever since she threw off the usurping yoke of Rome, taken care to minister to her children the sincere "milk of the word." At various times she has officially executed and authorised versions of the Bible into English: the last of which, made above 200 years ago, may challenge any version in the world for purity and faithfulness. We have abundant cause for thankfulness to God, that our Church has been successful in providing us with such a translation. Her claims for this on the affectionate reverence of men extend far

beyond the limits of her own communion.

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cravings of unbridled ambition. A monarchy | the Bible is wrapped in a foreign language, superstition presents to every man one station to which he never can attain. The mind, once convinced of that, goes on insensibly to generalise this conviction, and quietly to come to the same conclusion with respect to other stations, and is thus led to contentment with that state of life in which God has fixed the man. Each individual, from the nobleman to the peasant, becomes imbued with that feeling of restraint upon ambition, and each communicates it again to those within his own sphere; and they all learn to look up, without envy or emulation, in perfect tranquillity, to a superior, whose equal they never hope, and never wish, to be. This habit of mind, formed with respect to the king, operates with respect to all the intervening steps, more or less; so that men are trained to regard superiors, not quite so far removed, with similar feelings; and thus a sentiment of reverence is fostered, which, though not amounting either to Christian humility, or fear of God, is an unspeakable blessing to its possessor and to society, and is a much better preparation for the seed of the Gospel than the continued exercise of natural pride and envy. Indeed, I am myself inclined to think that this, and similar sentiments, prevailing in shops' Bible" was used in our Church. This translation, every monarchy, are more than the mere effects of a second cause. Believing that all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works," proceed from God, I regard these effects as the operation of that holy oil, which God himself has ordained to flow from the olive-branch of royalty. A little meditation will help the reader to pursue these thoughts further, and to see for himself the justice and beauty of that vision vouchsafed to Zechariah. But whether we see the effects or not, we may be sure that God's ordinance is not without God's blessing. We do not see the spiritual grace in baptism, nor in the Lord's supper; but we believe that it is there, and we pray for it. Let us do the same with respect to this Divine ordinance; let us remember that it was instituted for this purpose; let us, therefore, pray that it may communicate freely to the candlestick in this land, so that its lamps may alway burn brightly with the oil that distils from the olive-trees of God's planting.

I purpose giving, in this paper, a succinct account of the last translation of the Scriptures into English. shall mention the occasion of its being undertaken, the rules prescribed for its execution, and especially the names of some of the principal translators. These are names worthy to be had in everlasting remembrance; but, by an ingratitude surely little to be palliated, few of them are known to the bulk of our population. Perhaps more particular memoirs of several of these venerable men may not, at some future time, be unacceptable.

[To be concluded in a future Number.]

A. M.

Prior to the accession of King James I., the "Bi

completed in 1568, had been undertaken by royal command, under the superintendence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker. Objections, however, ference held at Hampton Court on Church matters, in were made to it, and were formally stated in the con1604. The king, in consequence, consented to a new version, and issued letters to the archbishops and bishops, commanding them to inform themselves of the learned men in their several dioceses, who, by their attainments in Hebrew and Greek, and by the direction of their studies to the Scriptures, were best fitted to be engaged in such a work. Fifty-four persons were thus selected; but some of these died before the translation was commenced, and the number actually employed was forty-seven. They were all pre-eminently distinguished for their piety and profound learning in the original languages of the sacred writings. Among them were-

Lancelot Andrews, the very celebrated bishop of Winchester. He was regarded as one of the first scholars of his age, and is said to have understood fifteen languages.

John Overal, bishop of Norwich, a man of great attainments in theological learning.

Miles Smith, bishop of Gloucester, who is reported to have been perfect master of the Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic tongues.

Thomas Bilson, bishop of Winchester. He was a

THE AUTHORISED ENGLISH TRANSLATION profound divine, a consummate linguist, well read in

OF THE BIBLE.*

It is an invaluable privilege for men to read in their own tongues" the wonderful works of God." While

See Fuller's Church History, Hartwell Horne's Introduction, vol. ii.; Todd's Vindication of our Authorised Translation and Translators; and Quarterly Review, vol. xxiii.

the fathers, and most judicious in the application of his learning.

Robert Teigh, archdeacon of Middlesex, an admirable scholar.

William Bedwell, esteemed the first Arabic scholar of his time.

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