of the most precious pieces of biography ever written, must be studied,

um,

The 'writings' need no eulogiand we fondly hope that not a few of our readers know them: especially the Sermons to the Young; the Discourses on Regeneration, and the Power and Grace of Christ; the Life of Colonel Gardiner; and that Treatise on the 'Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul,' which has been blessed to the conversion and edification of thousands.

Dr. Doddridge's lines, written under the motto of his family arms Dum vivimus vivamus though well known, can hardly be too often brought to remembrance. Dr. Johnson regarded them as constituting one of the finest epigrams in the English language. Do they not furnish a nice exercise for the youthful memory?

tures as children, or even young persons, exist. We may listen, and see children listening, sabbath after sabbath to discourses; beautiful it may be, to older people, and useful too, but quite unintelligible to children.

In general, it has always struck me, that our clergy shoot too high, quite over the heads of the aged poor of the flock, as well as over the heads of the children. Now, as the latter form a portion of the auditory, I think it but fair that they should have their share of sermon. If they form a sixth of the listeners, they would seem entitled to, at least, five minutes of a half-hour's sermon. I do not wish the whole of the sermon brought down to the capacity of children, as there must be the strong meat for the fathers, as well as the milk for babes in Christ. But, how easy would it be for the preacher to turn to the young, ere he closes, and in simple, very simple language, go through his discourse briefly, and impress it on them. I do hope some will be induced to do this, and I am sure a blessing will attend it.

I am, sir, yours, obediently,

A FRIEND TO CHILDREN.

TREMENDOUS FACT.-In a report lately read at a meeting of the Total Abstinence Society, in the Independent Sabbath School, at Pilkington near Manchester, it was stated that one of the committee, anxious to know how far intemperance had already gone in the school, selected eight scripture classes containing eighty-one boys, when he found that every third boy had been drunk!

SUNDAY SCHOOLS IN PALACES. The Bishop of Ripon has lately set apart a portion of his episcopal palace to be used as a Sunday School for the children of the

CONVERSATIONS ON BRITISH CHURCH HISTORY.-No. XII. BY THE REV. J. K. FOSTER.

O exclaimed the little girl, how I should like to sail in a boat down the whole river.'

the English Language.

N the sweet, rustic porch of the lodge belonging to the royal domain of Windsor, Forester had collected his three children for the purpose of fulfilling his promise. We are thankful, dear Father,' said Mary, 'to obey your command; for we have never looked into the bible since our last conversation without a desire to know how it happened to be printed in our own language.'

John, however, anticipated, 'Father will perhaps kindly tell us what were the languages which the writers of the Scriptures themselves employed.'

'A very proper request,' was Forester's reply, and one which I expected would be made. It is always best in trying to understand a subject, to begin at the beginning. You know but little of the Thames, although you often gaze on its silvery stream, as it flows between our forest and Eton, on its way to London and the German Ocean; because you never saw either its rise at Thames Head, between Cirencester and Cheltenham, nor its broad waters dividing Kent from Essex.'

your age; and if you could float down the stream, you would pass by the most extraordinary city in the world. John, read Psalm xlvi. v. 4-5. The word of God is one of the streams of the river of grace; and the people of London, and of both the banks of the Thames, would indeed be made glad if they drank freely of its waters. You drink water or milk out of your horns: you must drink happiness out of the Bible. Now attend, children, while I describe how the spring water which ran unseen was caused to bubble up, as it does in the well whence you often fetch water for your dear mother. I mean how the Bible, written in a language unknown to us, was translated into our plain English.

John and all of you will remember, that almost the whole of the Old Testament, from Genesis to Malachi, was first written in HEBREW; and all the New Testament, from Matthew to Revelations, in GREEK. I thought you would be pleased with a sight of the letters of these languages, and one of the king's chaplains has been so good as to write on this paper the awful sentence placed on the cross, by order of Pilate, in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.

The passage is in John xix. v. 19, JESUS OF NAZARETH, KING OF THE JEWS.

'What funny letters,' said Ann, 'and the first inscription, you say, reads backwards!' 'I don't understand more of them than you do; but though unlike our own writing, you should rather call them sacred than funny, since the Almighty has honoured them to teach us our naughty disobedience to his commands, and His own wonderful love in giving His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins.

Here Mary enquired what the word translation means. 'Our kind chaplain,' replied her father, 'has also written down the precise meaning of this word. It comes from the Latin word trans, over, and latus, carried; meaning that the sense of what is written in the Bible in Hebrews and Greek is carried over to the English language.' 'I see,' was John's remark, it is like bringing over oranges and figs from foreign countries to our own in ships: the meaning is the cargo, and the language the vessel. I shall always remember what a translation is. 'I hope you all will remember it,' said Forester; and never did ship bring so rich a cargo to our shores as that which first carried the Scriptures; and never was any privilege brought over to England so valuable as their translation. Praise ye the Lord."'

'The most ancient translation of the Old Testament took place two or three hundred years before the birth of our Saviour, out of the Hebrew into the Greek. It was called the Septuagint, or Seventy, because tradition tells us that seventy persons were employed by Ptolemy, the king of Egypt, to perform this work. The oldest translation of the New Testament is the Syriac, I am informed.'

'Dear father, please now to tell

us about the English translation; for we shall never remember all these hard, outlandish names.'

'Well, then,' resumed Forester, my dear, impatient Mary, excepting a few poetical imitations of parts of the inspired history by Coedmon, a monk of Whitby, and of the Psalms of Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherburne, in the eighth century, there was no translation of the Scriptures (at least known) into the Saxon, or English, till the venerable Bede translated the Gospel of St. John, and having finished it, immediately expired. During the good King Alfred's sway the four gospels were translated into what is called, The Durham Book; and Alfred not only encouraged learned men to give the Saxons the Bible in their own language, but he himself also translated the Ten Commandments, the twenty-first, twentysecond, and twenty-third chapters of the Book of Exodus, parts of the Psalms, and perhaps other portions of the holy writings.'

'How pretty,' exclaims Mary, 'for a king to write out the Law of God; so you told us, dear Father, the Jewish monarchs used to do! How Alfred's love to the Bible reminds me of Josiah and of our own dear, dear Edward the Sixth.'

'It was indeed pretty; and I love my own Mary for remembering so well what I had told her. Something more was done, but only a little, by Selfric, Rolle, and Trevisa, before the days of Wycliffe. This great man, in the fourteenth century, translated the Bible into our language, to the great annoyance of Rome; for Popish priests would deny the people the incorruptible Word of God.'

Ann benevolently remarked, 'What a blessed thing it was for Wycliffe to print the Scriptures in English.'

'You are wrong, my dear girl,

in supposing Wycliffe printed-he only wrote his translation, and allowed others to copy it. The wonderful art of printing was not known in his days; nor was it used in our country before the fifteenth century.'

'What a good thing,' John exclaimed, 'that so soon after the Bible was written in English, printing should be employed to multiply copies of it.' 'Yes,' added Mary, and so soon, too, before the Reformation !'

'The first New Testament printed in English was Tyndale's, in 1526; and Miles Coverdale printed the whole Bible in our language, 1535. It was Tyndale who hoped ploughmen would understand the Word of God better than did the Popish doctors; and I thank God that keepers and their children may read this blessed book.

'It is said that Dr. Reynolds, a learned and good Nonconformist, first suggested to our king James, whom you often see in these forests, the need of a new and improved translation of the Bible. His Majesty gave orders that learned men from the two Universities of Oxford and Cambridge should revise the former translation, and fifty-four persons, recommended by the Bishops, were appointed to this very important work. Only forty-seven, however, lived and were willing to undertake this work, who finished their task in three years, 1611.' 'How could forty-seven men all write the same book?' the children asked. 'I will tell you, my dears, how they all assisted. Our chaplain says he has a list of all their names, but that we could not remember them if he copied them. Here,' drawing another paper from his poke, are the numbers, and how they were divided. Ten translated from Genesis to Chronicles, eight from Chronicles to Ecclesiastes, inclu

sive, seven the Prophets, seven the Apocrypha-though this, you know, was not inspired-eight the four Gospels, the Acts, and Revelation, and seven the Epistles.'

'Had these learned men any particular plan of connecting the parts given to them of the Scriptures?' John enquired. 'Yes, they had general rules of instruction how to act, amounting to fourteen, and authority to consult other scholars on difficult passages. The principles on which they set to work were-each to do his best privately, and then to compare his production with that of his companions-to make no unnecessary alterations of the former translation-to retain proper and ecclesiastical termseach company to send their part to all the other companies-and the whole to be superintended by three or four of the most eminent divines in either university.'

Mary remarked, 'What care the good men took to make the Translation perfect! How we ought to love them!' 'They were indeed careful, as well as learned,' replied Forester, 'and, like Jacob, have rolled away the stone from the mouth of the well; for as long as the Bible was in Hebrew and Greek, or even in Latin only, it was a fountain sealed, a well with a great stone over it. What should we know of this water of life if the Scriptures were not in plain English !'

Then, I suppose,' one of the children remarked, 'our translation is as good as the original.' 'No, my dear,' Forester answered, 'no translation can equal the original. As far as men have not made mistakes in copying, the Hebrew and Greek are perfect Scriptures; while the English, having more of man in them, are less perfect. Those who are able to judge say, that ours is the very best of all translations; and we ought therefore to be the most