course with the Jews, and the high opinion they entertained of the Greek version, together with other things which occupied their attention, kept them from the study of the original Scriptures. This was a fault common both to the Greeks and Latins; though least excusable in the former, because of the help they might have had from their intercourse with the Jews. Among the latter Jerome appears to have been the only individual who had the resolution and industry necessary to learn the Hebrew language, and to examine and correct the errors of the commonly received Latin and Greek translations, and to publish one of his own, as a more faithful exhibition of the meaning of the original. God no doubt raised him up to reprove the culpable indolence of the church, and to resuscitate the gift of interpretation, and show its importance. But the name of Jerome afterwards became the pillow of indolence. Ignorance made it a covering for falsehood. Hypocrisy worshipped it as an idol. And tyranny abused it in order to silence the witnesses of truth.

The Syrian and Arabian Churches had for a long time read the whole of the Scriptures in their own tongues. Some of their books have come down to us. And among the former in particular, many great men flourished. It is said that Jerome became the interpreter of the word of God to the Sclavonians, as well as to the Latins. The converted Moravians were allowed the use of their own language in sacred things. With these exceptions, as far as the use of the Greek and Latin versions extended, the people were confined to them, and had none in their own proper tongues. Hence we find that those who wrote in German, and other vernacular dialects, have interlarded their writings with quotations from the Latin Scriptures. In the tenth century, Charles the Fifth of France caused the word of God to be translated into the common tongue; and, if on no other account, on that, he certainly merited the title of the wise. Before that time, the Waldenses had the Scriptures in their own language, and caused a ray of light to shoot its beams through the surrounding darkness, to the confusion of those who judged it would be to their interest, if the light of truth were totally extinguished. An enemy to those noble souls testifies that they had the Old and New Testaments in their own language, and taught each other their important contents. "I have seen," says he, "an ignorant rustic recite the whole book of Job, word for word; and there were many others among them who were perfectly acquainted with the whole of the New Testament." Chaste virgins! Excellent harpers of that song which none but the elect of God ever truly understood! one may censure, if he pleases, the song of Moses and the Lamb. It was ever unintelligible to the world; which is a stranger to the spiritual joy derived from it by the faithful amidst all their sufferings. The earthly minded might deem their lives madness, and their end without honour; but they are numbered with the saints in glory everlasting. As Christ formerly armed his Apostles against the world, with the gift of tongues;

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so he then armed his bride with the gift of interpretation of tongues, against the nations of the great city, in order that his chosen witnesses might know his truth, and assert the honours of his sacred name against all the blasphemies of Antichrist, and spread through the world that everlasting Gospel which shall never more be borne down, either by the craft or the fury of Satan. To prevent that, the gift of interpretation has been granted to the church in these last ages, in a more abundant measure than ever. We have seen great numbers who have been qualified to present the genuine sense of the original Scriptures in all the varieties of human language. Hence have so many nations in consequence of reading the word of God in their own tongues, foresworn the Papal authority; and thus given a stability to the cause of truth, which will secure its final triumph. And, as far as our sins have permitted it, amidst all the dissonance of our tongues, the unity of the faith has been preserved. Such is the efficacy of the simple interpretation, or translation, of the Scriptures in the church of God, that, in the midst of all other instruction, and even where all other instruction is wanting, it presents an easy and certain way to the knowledge of saving truth.

A greater injury, therefore, could not have been done to the church than was done to her when her pretended guides attempted to deprive her of the sacred Scriptures. It was sacrilege to prevent the meaning of the original from being conveyed in all its purity to every Christian, as far as possible. Yet Popes have taken no proper care to have translations made into all the languages of the converted nations, that the illiterate, who have no knowledge of Latin, may also read the word of God. And when others have made such translations, their use has been denied to the people. John the Twenty-fourth deemed it the most criminal heresy in Wickliffe to translate the Scriptures into English. And to this day, the use of such translations is condemned by the Romish Church. They are not allowed to be read publicly, nor to be cited as the word of God; nor is their promiscuous use permitted in any case, unless care be first taken to distort their plain and obvious mean ing, wherever they may seem to contradict the prevailing errors of Popery. All this is in manifest opposition to the will of the Apostle, who would have the edification of the church consulted before all things. The great reason assigned for the exclusive use of the Latin version is in perfect accordance with the design of the ancient builders of Babel. "To have the Scriptures in that general language," say the Papists, " tends to preserve the unity of the church. How could we otherwise keep up the fellowship of particular churches with each other? It would be utterly impossible, without the use of such a language, to hold a General Council. For all the Fathers who ought to attend such a Council have not the gift of tongues." What absurdity! Why do not these pretended guardians of the church's unity compel the Greeks, the Syrians, the Armenians, the Arabians, the Ethiopians, the Africans, the Indians, the Russians, all to speak Latin? Wonderful instructers and

judges of the world! To them the greater part of it is barbarian, and they are barbarians to a vast majority of their disciples. But, with what propriety can they call the Latin language the most general? Is it not a fact, that it is only known to a comparatively few individuals of the western nations, who learn it with great toil, from various considerations; while the great mass of the people, even in these parts, are as ignorant of it as the Indians themselves? Allowing that Latin were the most general language, that is no reason why the name of God should not be proclaimed in all others. And where should we find any thing like the true fellowship of particular churches with each other, if believers in general of all nations were not united and built up in the faith, through the medium of their own tongues? Have the common people the gift of tongues, any more than those admirable Fathers who are to meet in a General Council to act as the judges of the whole Christian world?

But they are not satisfied with having thus extolled a barbarous Latin version, which neither is, nor need be, understood by all the faithful; they must also censure the translations which have been made into the vernacular tongues. They tell us that many errors get into them, which cannot afterwards be easily corrected; as neither Popes, nor Councils, can be proper judges in reference to so many languages. Just so. The Pope cannot reign over the universal church. Nor ought all Christians to have respect to that name of blasphemy. Every man ought to rest his faith on the word of God; and strive, with a noble generosity of spirit, to explore its true meaning for himself according to the measure of grace which he has received. We may wait long enough before Popes and Councils become true interpreters of the sacred Scriptures, or institute a proper examination and correction of the several versions, by a careful collation of them with the originals. We have not yet seen those men who thus distress themselves with the care of all the churches pass a proper judgment, after careful examination, either on the Greek, the Syriac, or the Arabic version. And all the world knows what kind of critics they have shown themselves, even in reference to the correction of their own Vulgate.

There is another objection urged against the exercise of the gift of interpretation, by those who do not properly consider that God has doubtless bestowed it for the edification of the church, which must be answered. It is said, that so many and such variety of translations create uncertainty in the minds of the common people, as to what is the true sense of Scripture, and cannot fail to generate errors and contentions among them. This will only be the case with "the unlearned and unstable," who, in all cases, are ready to "wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction." A variety of translations is a real help to an unlettered man, when he is not disposed to rest his faith on the supposed learning and integrity of any translator, without any other consideration to induce him to think that he has the true sense

of the word of God presented to him. For, though he may not be able to translate for himself, by observing the substantial agreement of different versions in such portions of the sacred book as are perfectly obvious in their meaning and bearing, he is confirmed in his belief of the clearness and certainty of the great rule of faith and duty. And where he finds the same versions vary from each other in expression, and even partly in sense also, when he sees that still they agree in the main sentiment, he will naturally conclude that this variation is not owing to any want of clearness in the original text, but may have arisen from its fulness. Its whole meaning may not have been caught, perhaps, by any one of them; or, if caught, could not be fully expressed in another language. Each may have seen something of the mind of the Spirit, according to the position of his own, when he viewed the words of inspiration; and all may be manifestly correct and consistent with each other, though taken under circumstances which prevented their being as complete a representation of the original as otherwise they might have been. If in some places he find them utterly irreconcilable with each other, and rightly concludes that all of them may be wrong, where they cannot all be right, he will examine each by what he knows to be truth, and will admit nothing as the meaning of any part of the word of God which is evidently repugnant to that word where its meaning is indubitable. He will follow no interpreter blindfold; nor will the mere agreement of many satisfy him in matters doubtful in their own nature. He may fairly suppose that it was the intention of God to leave some parts of his word, for a time, in comparative ob scurity; as that also may tend to promote the improvement of his servants both in knowledge and piety, by prompting them to closer meditation, and more fervent and constant prayer. Where the sense still remains hidden, it will teach him humility and patience, till by assiduous efforts he arrive at the wished-for discovery. He will avail himself, with all diligence, of the aid to be derived from what has been already fully explored; while he will earnestly seek the assistance of those who have the gift of interpretation, that he may, at last, obtain, from the united studies and prayers of many, not conducted in a spirit of contention, but of charity, the information he desires. To those who thus conduct their inquiries in the fear of God, a variety of translations and expositions will be no occasion of strife and contention; but only lead to a fuller discovery of the divinity of the Scriptures: to say nothing, at present, how much that variety tends to promote a greater facility of meditation, even in the more learned themselves.

To conclude what we deem it necessary to offer to your consideration on the gift of interpretation: It is clear from what has been said, that each ought to labour assiduously, according to his ability, to promote and perfect the use of that gift in the church; in order that prophesying may be exercised in reference to every part of the word of God; and

the most evident and perfect demonstration of its truth may be made to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

Another thing which contributes much to the preservation of the advantages derived to the church from the gift of tongues is what St. Paul has called kinds of tongues. A knowledge of many languages is of great use; as it greatly facilitates the intercourse of particular churches with each other; and also advances that interpretation of the word of God, of which we have been speaking. These two points merit particular consideration.

First, "kinds of tongues" facilitate the intercourse of particular churches with each other. It is the will of God that they should not only be built up on their holy faith by the mutual communication of their respective gifts, but that they should also be all united in charity, under that one Holy Spirit which ought ever to actuate the whole. Thus all the particular sections, into which it must of necessity be ever divided, for the purposes of public worship, and the exercises of godly discipline, should mutually agree to assist and edify one another. For this end, it has been wisely ordered by divine Providence that some languages should be in more general use than others; which is the case, both as it respects such as are still vernacular, and others which have ceased to be so for ages. Thus the Hebrew is heard in all the synagogues, and gives us access to the Jews; while the Greek and the Latin are the languages of the learned throughout the whole of Europe, if not of the Christian world. The former of these has been preserved in the church, because it is that of the New Testament: the latter has been continued by the policy of Antichrist; but, at the same time, not without the special providence of God. To say nothing of many other languages which are at this day ordinarily spoken by vast masses of mankind; such as the Arabic, Sclavonian, German, French, and English.* I also pass over such as are famed in history for their knowledge of many tongues; such as, Themistocles, Mithridates, Ennius, Cato, Origen, Jerome, the five-tongued Epiphanius, Charlemagne, Frederick the Second, Maximilian the First, Matthias Corvinus, and others; who not only studied many languages, but also knew the value of such study. Nor need I mention the law of Clement the Fifth, and the Council of Vienna, which ordered that Hebrew, Greek, and Arabic, should be taught in the Universities; not, however, so much for the illustration of truth, as the extension of Papal domination. The same object was also kept in view in the golden Bull, which provided for the instruction of the children of Princes in various languages. We may observe that, for a long period after the apostolic age, this gift was little. cultivated in the church. But, about the time of the Reformation, and subsequently to that, there have arisen up such a number of persons skilled in various languages that the thing appears all but a miracle.

I have ventured to add French and English here; presuming the author himself would have done the same, had he lived in our day.