every passage gains in fulness and clearness by being considered in the original. I need hardly repeat my warnings, not to make the study of the Bible a mere philological study; seek to have your mind imbued with its spirit. We may read from Genesis to Revelation, and talk, and argue, and stand firmly and vigorously for doctrine, and be most orthodox in our opinions, and most zealous against Jews, Turks, infidels, and heretics, and all the while our knowledge may be but "sounding brass;" and our well-weighed opinions and unanswerable arguments nothing better to ourselves than tinkling cymbals." One thing more, ere I leave this part of my subject. Our authorized translation of the Bible, approved by the first scholars, endeared to us alike by ancestral associations, early recollections, familiar usage, and ecclesiastical affection, comes home to our mind and feelings with peculiar power, and possesses peculiar claims to our veneration and respect. And, independent of all this, 'there is,' to use one of the maxims of La Rochefoucault, 6 a power in the native tongue, which remains in the mind and heart as it does in the memory.' It is not, therefore, from any disrespect to our beloved English Bible, nor from any depreciation of our noble English language, which, in the pristine vigour of active youth, there displayed its powers and might—' a well-spring of English undefiled,' uncorrupted by the dry withered leaves from classic trees, which are valued and admired chiefly because of the height from which they fall; and unpolluted by the diluting, enfeebling streams from foreign countries, so plenteously, so lamentably, of late poured in :—it is, I repeat, from no lukewarm feeling to our own bible, and our own tongue, that I advise you occasionally, nay frequently, to read the scriptures in some other language. The reason is simply this: we are apt to imagine ourselves acquainted with the sense, when, in truth, we are only familiar with the words which convey it and, in like manner, we believe ourselves to be occupying our mind with the meaning, when it is only that the words, which are the signs of it, are falling unheeded on our ear. Now, reading in another language may be a means of counteracting that inertness of mind; and there is another advantage.-A passage which appears obscure in one version, may stand forth very clearly and vividly in another. In truth, I consider it one important good arising from the study of different languages, that it is a key to different versions of the Holy Scripture. I do not advise you to read much of commentataries. I do not give you this as my own unsupported opinion, but quote with pleasure the words of an eminent servant of Christ, the Rev. T. Adam of Wintringham.- The Scriptures, are so darkened with expositions, and buried under such a heap of rubbish, that it is a kind of labour even for the Spirit of God to remove it. The minds of the poor not being sophisticated by the false glosses. which obscure the plain sense of scripture, are in a much better condition for understanding it than the learned.' And it is recorded to have been the advice of Mr. Adam not to consult commentators in cases of difficulty, but to go to God in prayer, comparing one part of His word with another, and looking to Him for his teaching and direction. The advice was founded on his own experience. You will remember the striking history of his conversion. Adam found the doctrine of St. Paul at variance with what he himself had taught; he tried to reconcile them by reference to commentators, but in vain; at last, he threw himself before God in an agony of prayer, imploring divine teaching ; and upon resuming the Epistle to the Romans, all that was before dark and perplexed, now became clear and plain. His doubts vanished; a light from heaven seemed to break over the page that he was perusing, and during more than forty years afterwards, he continued to preach the doctrines which the great Apostle of the Gentiles himself received, "Not by man, nor by the will of man, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." " I have gone beyond my intended limits; but very thankful shall I be if any single thing that I have said be really useful to you, and encourage you to searching the scriptures daily." You know the saying-(would that it were more generally acted upon!) A good textuary is a good theologian.' But never forget-mere" knowledge puffeth up" charity buildeth up." 'Whatever truth you read in the word of God,' says Augustine in his Confessions, is said with this recommendation of the grace of God, that he who sees should not so glory, as if he had not received not only what he sees, but the power of seeing itself. - while 66 6 Horne's Introduction to the Critical Study of |