feature of the Bible Society, and this was owing more to accidental circumstances than to any manifest principle which, per se, demanded to be carried out. It was found difficult to unite all classes of men, entertaining clashing views on Scriptural subjects, in a scheme for circulating the Bible, unless denominational jealousy was avoided, and creeds and confessions kept in the background. We are not aware that the abstract theory ever entered the brain of any one, that, in itself, a Bible bared of all explanations was better than one which elucidated difficulties, and assisted the unlearned reader with comments. Indeed, this theory never was fully carried out, for in adhering to the authorised version, the Society adopted a body of comment which, although unostentatious, is yet highly valuable. The division into chapters and verses, and still more the pointing, are de facto a comment, often conveying a theological idea, and still more frequently acting exegetically. Then there are the headings of the chapters, by which the school of divinity to which the Translators belonged is clearly indicated. Further, there are marginal notes relating to various readings, parallel passages, and many other matters, all valuable as guides in reading the text by which they are placed. All these appliances we owe to the wisdom of our ancestors, and we cannot be too thankful to Divine Providence that the theory of the Bible Society did not become sufficiently pure and abstract to denude the Scriptures of all these additions, and throw them into the state in which they are found in ancient manuscripts.

It is not our purpose to dwell on the causes which led to the adoption of this novel principle of action on the part of the Bible Society, or to justify or blame what, perhaps, in the circumstances, was inevitable. We wish rather to call attention to a mode of thinking in relation to the Scriptures which has accompanied the Society in its course, if it has not been created by it. The old doctrine, as far as we are aware, was, that the Scriptures were part of a system, deriving their efficacy from their keeping their place in it, and being used according to its laws; the new one claimed for the Bible itself an independent standing, and treated it as sufficient for the conversion, as well as the edification of mankind. In other words, before the epoch we are speaking of, the divine records were inseparably connected with oral teaching, and accompanied and assisted the preachers of the Gospel; but since then they have been looked upon, in many cases, as adequate in their solitariness for all the purposes which Christianity contemplates.

We do not affirm that the new theory has ever been broadly stated or acknowledged, but it has been extensively acted upon, and therefore has had a powerful influence. The thinking and phraseology of a very large portion of the Christian public has been imperceptibly moulded by this idea, and certainly many

deeds of Christian benevolence proceed on a presumption of its entire truthfulness. The circulation of the Bible is often spoken of as identical with the spread of Christianity; its price has been talked of as the moral thermometer or scale by which its influence is to be tested; and the shipment of vast numbers to foreign shores has been esteemed as little less than an evangelic inroad upon the powers of darkness. Every now and then some new phase of this idea startles the public, and calls for some energetic action. Now, typographical errors are discovered in the current editions; then, the King's printers are charged with keeping up the price to an unnatural standard; and anon, rival societies are found not to have reduced their charges by the lowest fraction of a penny. Each of these facts, if such they be, might properly be worth a little attention; but they have stirred the religious mind to its depth, and given much occasion for the flowery rhetoric of writers and orators. Errors in mere words, at the worst not near so bad as what are found in the best and oldest manuscripts, have been spoken of as dishonourable to God and soul-destroying in their tendency; to keep up the price of Bibles above the mere cost of production has been made a crime far worse than to charge a starving people a high price for bread. In fact, the Bible has been treated as different from all other merchandise whatever in this respect, that while men may make a profit by retailing meat and bread to the poor, it is at their peril to gain the smallest coin by the sale of the Scriptures.

While we respect the feeling in which all this originates, we must question the soundness of the reasoning, and of the conduct to which it leads. Legitimately, it tends to divorce the Scriptures from the teaching which always has been necessary to make them generally effective, and we are much mistaken if it has not thrown into the shade the divine ordinance of personal effort for the conversion of the world. As a principle, the independent sufficiency of the Scriptures would, if fully carried out, leave other means neglected as obsolete and unnecessary, though we are quite aware it never has been allowed to extend to this natural result. Many think that the reading of the Bible in schools, without any explanation, is adequate religious instruction; and by parity of reasoning, the distribution of it among the heathen is religious instruction too. Before we can admit the truth of either of these propositions, we must be far better aware than we now can be, of what would be the effect of the Bible alone as the sole and unassisted means of religious instruction. Perhaps the moral statistics of heathen countries into which Bibles have been poured, apart from the living voice of the preacher, or any historical testimony, may give some reply to this question; but, fortunately, our own land can afford none, since here the two have always more or less intimately

gone hand in hand. Not that all who have Bibles attend places of worship, or ever listen to sermons; but there is an amount of information respecting the contents of the Scriptures in Great Britain, floating, as it were, before the public mind, which renders it impossible for many cases to occur of religious instruction being gleaned purely from that source alone.

If a Bible were a blessing in the mere possession, and apart from the use of it, then we are willing to concede that to cheapen Bibles and to diffuse Christianity are identical, and that the circulation of the Scriptures without note and comment would be philanthropic and wise. But as we deny the premises, we cannot admit the conclusion. The diffusion of the Scriptures in the abundant manner in which they have been of late years furnished to our countrymen, we look upon as a blessing; but it has its high and proper value only in connection with the use of other means of equal if not of greater authority. We are nowhere told in the teaching of Christ and his Apostles to circulate the Bible, but we are instructed to preach the Gospel to every creature, and to make disciples of all nations. While, therefore, we consider the invention of printing as an arrangement on the part of God for extending the blessings of Christ's Church and kingdom, we must yet view it as having a relation to the whole Christian system. It must make the living voice more eloquent, and not cause it to become silent as though superseded by the increased use of the letter of Holy Writ; it must cause Christ's Ministers to be careful what they teach, because it puts into the hands of their hearers the standard of appeal by which their utterances must be tried; it must multiply expositions and comments, not for faith but for edification, in proportion as it multiplies the text, and thus maintain the same harmony and equilibrium as existed between Scripture and oral teaching, before its wonderful agency was discovered. To make printing the means of a vast expansion of the written Word of God, and not at the same time to increase the efficacy of other instruments of carrying on the interests of his kingdom, would be like giving a greater volume and energy to the heart, without at the same time expanding the whole system.

Let it be remembered that it is a tendency more than an actual result which we have endeavoured to point out in these observations. We would not, if we could, take away one copy of the Bible circulated in past years, by whomsoever or howsoever conveyed, but would, if in our power, multiply its impressions a thousandfold. The possession of such a boon by those who are already Christians must tend wonderfully to their comfort and edification; and, in the case of the most ignorant, the reading of its glorious passages may be productive of great incidental benefit. If it were only as paving the way for a more complete employ

ment of the whole Gospel plan of instruction, the providing and diffusing copies of the Scriptures should be hailed by all good men. On this account we rejoice at the intention of printing a million copies of the New Testament for China, because we hope and believe that they will, more or less, prepare the mind of that strange people for after missionary operations. If, like seed, they lie buried long beneath the clods of superstition and ignorance, awaiting that heavenly dew and rain which are promised to follow the loving accents of mercy from human lips, it is yet pleasing to know that some seed is there. But admitting all this, for which we trust our readers will give us full credit, we cannot blind ourselves to the fact that religious people have been disposed to give to the circulation of the Bible, per se, a wrong place in the order of means, and to expect from it what neither its own statements nor the early history of Christianity will warrant.

Our readers will be prepared for the expression of our opinion that while, in relation to the common people, the circulation of the Bible in any form is a blessing, it becomes still more so in proportion to the facilities possessed by men for understanding its history and contents. Among the numerous instruments which perform the part of interpreter to the popular mind we may mention early training, instruction in schools, information derived from the pulpit, miscellaneous and incidental illustrations mixed up with our literature, and professed expositions and comments. From the first two may be said to be conveyed to the young the traditionary faith of parents and teachers, which, we are happy to think, is more often substantially correct than erroneous, on the cardinal doctrines of Christianity, in spite of the varied and conflicting opinions which exist on many subjects. After a certain amount of conventional knowledge is thus received, the pulpit in many cases suggests new views, revives old impressions, and conveys a general conviction of the importance of the Holy Scriptures and the religion they reveal. But from the sources now mentioned young persons more often receive dogmatic theology than Biblical knowledge. It is seldom that the pulpit does more than illustrate the catechism, and that is generally confined to doctrines and their resulting duties. On what may be called the Literature of Holy Writ most classes, but especially the lower, would be profoundly ignorant if all they knew were derived from early training and the pulpit. We believe it is from the press that the far greater part of such information is received, and thus the same remarkable discovery which has given the poor man a Bible has also supplied him with a knowledge of its history and an explication of its contents.

The influence exerted by printing, at this time, on the masses of our countrymen is a subject of great solicitude to all who connect

national prosperity with public morals; and it cannot be concealed that infidel and licentious principles are being thickly sown by means of cheap publications. But at the same time let us not forget the converse of the picture, or fail to recognise the antagonistic position occupied by a wiser and holier literature. The number of works which directly or indirectly call attention to the Bible, and throw light upon its contents, is prodigiously great, and it goes on increasing, although we fear this department of literature is less operative on the lowest classes than on those just above them. Books and publications of a salutary character and of the cheapest form are not near so plentiful as those of the opposite class. In large towns, shop-windows are filled with penny numbers of the vilest trash, adorned with pictures equally base, while there is comparatively nothing equally cheap and externally attractive to counteract this amount of evil. But it is not so when we ascend from mere sheets and pamphlets to books, for in this sphere morality and religion have more influence. Let any one look over a monthly catalogue of books published in that short period, and he will be surprised to find how many of them are intended to honour and illustrate the Word of God. For this fact our grateful thanks are due, as for all things, to the watchful care of Him who is Head over all things to his Church, and who does not allow the floods of irreligion and vice to prevail. He yet stilleth the noise of their waves and the tumult of the people, and will, we have no doubt, make the discovery of printing finally to be more potent for good than for evil. Amidst much barrenness of the moral soil, and although noxious productions often spring from it and acquire a portentous growth, the silver stream of divine truth still flows and widens its channel, giving a promise that in due time the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.

We now turn to our principal object-a survey of the comments and expositions which are brought to bear on the popular mind, and by which the contents of the Bible are explained to the common people of our country. These may be arranged into three classes such as merely illustrate the obscurities of the text principally from internal evidence; such as attempt the improvement of its readers by practical reflections; and such as surround it with a system of dogmatic theology.

I. The work of the venerable translators of the Authorized English Version, is the type which has been followed and improved upon in successive editions of the Bible, which have furnished dates, headings, and marginal readings. The first place in this class is due to Bagster's Comprehensive Bible, both as presenting many original features, and being executed with a care and skill which have never been surpassed. We were just emerging