benefit, and for the instruction of others, thankful should we be for this faithful, though uninspired, translation of the sacred oracles, which all in the land may now read in their native tongue; and which, if read aright, will guide them safely through this world, and conduct them to that better and happier state, in which even the Bible itself will be needed no more.

And as, day by day, you take this book in your hand, and study its pages, think of all the labour and all the suffering which have been expended, to procure such a privilege for you. Think of the days of persecution, when to read or to possess the Bible was considered a crime, and when the flames were kindled in London to consume the sacred book itself. And then surely you will be thankful for the blessing you possess, and will be able to enter into the feelings of the pious translators, when they said, in the preface to which I before alluded, "Among all our joys, there was no one that more filled our hearts, than the blessed continuance of the preaching of God's sacred word among us, which is that inestimable treasure which excelleth all the riches of the earth; because the fruit thereof extendeth itself, not only to the time spent in this transitory world, but directeth and disposeth men unto that eternal happiness which is alone in heaven."

But I told you there was a celebrated person to be mentioned in connection with James's reign, as well as an important event. That person was Francis Bacon. He was the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper in the reign of Elizabeth, and when quite a boy, he displayed so much genius and maturity of mind, that the Queen was accustomed to call him her young lord keeper. Children often show very soon the bent of their characters, and give indications of what may be expected of them in after-life. Young Bacon certainly did. It is related of him, that, when playing with his companions near his father's house, in St. James's Park, his attention was far more attracted by a singular echo which he noticed there, than by his boyish diversions, and he set his mind to work to investigate the cause. Before he was twelve years old, he became interested in philosophical and metaphysical subjects. Such was the beginning of the man who was afterwards considered one of the fathers of modern science.

Bacon rose to the office of Lord Chancellor, in the reign of James I, and subsequently he was created Baron Verulam, and Viscount St. Albans. He was distinguished both as a statesman and as a philosopher, and was the author of several learned and scientific books. His writings are remarkable for their beauty of

language, as well as for their ideas, and as you may like to have in your recollection a memorial of this great man, I will give you an extract or two from some of his Essays.-The following are his remarks on the subject of truth.

"The knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it; and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of human nature. The first creature of God, in the works of the days, was the light of the sense; the last was the light of reason; and his sabbath work, ever since, is the illumination of his Spirit. First, he breathed light upon the face of the matter or chaos; then he breathed light into the face of man; and still he breatheth and inspireth light into the face of his chosen. The poet saith excellently well, 'It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tossed upon the sea; a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle, and the adventures of it below; but no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage ground of truth, and to see the errors and wanderings, and mists and tempests, in the vale below; so always that this prospect be with pity, and not with swelling or pride. Certainly, it is heaven upon earth, to have a man's mind move in charity, rest in Providence, and turn upon the poles of truth."

Another extract I will give you is on "Wisdom for a man's self; "--that is, that kind of wisdom which is treasured up for selfish purposes, not for the good of others. Bacon says, "It is a poor centre of a man's actions,-himself. It is right earth; for that only stands fast upon his own centre; whereas all things that have affinity with the heavens, move upon the centre of another which they benefit.

"Wisdom for a man's self, is, in many branches thereof, a depraved thing. It is the wisdom of rats, that will be sure to leave a house sometime before it fall. It is the wisdom of the fox, that thrusts out the badger, who digged and made room for him. It is the wisdom of crocodiles, that shed tears when they would devour."

Bacon was accustomed to remark, "that the kingdom of science, like the kingdom of God, could only be entered in the character of a child; " and that "a blind man in the right road, would outstrip a swift runner in a wrong one. In his studies, it was his habit to seek direction from One wiser than himself, and the following prayer, which he wrote for students, showed the spirit of humility in which he carried on those pursuits in which he was so successful.

"To God the Father, God the Word, God the Spirit, we pour forth most humble and

hearty supplications; that he, remembering the calamities of mankind, and the pilgrimage of this our life, in which we wear out days bad and evil, would please to open to us new refreshments, out of the fountains of his goodness, for the alleviating our miseries. This also we humbly and earnestly beg,-that human things may not prejudice such as are divine; neither, that from the unlocking of the gates of sense, and the kindling of a greater natural light, anything of incredulity, or intellectual night, may arise in our minds towards divine mysteries. But rather, that by our minds thoroughly cleansed and purged from fancy and vanities, and yet subject and perfectly given up to the divine oracles, there may be given unto faith, the things that are faith's."

It would be pleasant indeed, if we could look back upon the memory of this distinguished man, who wrote so well and so rightly, without any reflection of a painful kind,-any remembrance which must take away from our admiration of his character. But there are, unhappily, associated with the name of Bacon, certain things which must lead us to fear that his practice was not always consistent with his principles. He was convicted of having acted in a manner unworthy of a great man, and especially of a Christian, by taking bribes to a very large amount in his judicial capacity.