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allowed, further than to explain those Hebrew or Greek words which could not be conveniently expressed with their full meaning in the text.

Thus much for the contents of the new version. As to the mode towards effecting it, the following plan was adopted:

I. Each translator of each company was first to take the same portion. Then all were to meet and compare notes, and through this mutual conference the best attainable version is to be made.

II. When each company had thus finished a book, a transcript of it was to be sent to each of the other five companies, so that every printed passage would thus be considered,-1st, by an individual translator; 2ndly, by a company numbering from seven to ten; 3rdly, by the other five companies separately; and lastly, to a committee of revision in case of any doubt or difficulty. This committee was formed of the chief persons of each company who were to meet together for the purpose at the end of the work. The work was not absolutely commenced until the year 1607. It is considered that a very likely cause of this delay was the difficulty of obtaining funds for the requisite cost of the undertaking. The only means open for obtaining them consisted in a contribution, asked by Bancroft, in his majesty's name, from the bishops, deans, and chapters.

The first company of translators met at Westminster, under the presidency of the well-known Dr. Andrews, -at that time Dean of Westminster, and afterwards Bishop of Chichester and Winchester, in which see he died. To this body was assigned the Pentateuch, and the historical books of Scripture, to the Kings inclusive.

The second company met at Cambridge, Dr. Livelie, the Regius Professor, having been appointed to preside. He, however, died before the commencement of the work, and in consequence of the prominent part which from the beginning of the proposal was placed in his hands, it is supposed that the delay in its commencement may have partly arisen from his death at the most critical time. The portion assigned to this company consisted of the Chronicles and succeeding books, to the end of the Song of Solomon.

The third and fourth company met at Oxford; the first of these two divisions, under the presidency of Dr. Harding, Regius Professor of Hebrew. From Isaiah to Malachi inclusive, was entrusted to them; and the four Gospels, the Acts, and the Book of Revelation, to the latter of these two bodies, which met under Dr. Ravis, then Dean of Christchurch.

The fifth company met at Westminster, under Dr. Barlow, who had been just made

Bishop of Rochester. The Epistles of the New Testament were their allotted work.

And finally, the sixth company met at Cambridge, with the Apocrypha for their portion.

The translations were finished in the year 1610. Two delegates were then appointed from Cambridge, Oxford, and Westminster, who met daily at Stationers' Hall for about three quarters of a year; and from a statement made at the Synod of Dort, in 1618, it is known that six other persons met thèse six representatives, and thus formed a committee of twelve for the general review of the work. It is not known who these six were, but it is supposed that they were six Bishops, appointed to the office by king James, and that Dr. Bilson, Bishop of Winchester, with Dr. Miles Smith, afterwards Bishop of Gloucester, finally revised the whole previous to publication, prefixing the heads to the several chapters, and adding the preface. This was a document of some length, and entered into many topics connected with the new version. Among other subjects, it dwelt on the propriety of having the Scripture circulated in the vernacular tongue, and gave reasons why a fresh translation was desirable. It then answered objections on this topic, described the labours of those who had been engaged in the work, gave the reasons for the adoption of certain rules in their proceedings, and ended with an earnest address or exhortation directed to the reader, in commendation of the word of God.

If

This document is but rarely met with. The dedication to King James is brief and well known, from its being so commonly prefixed to the Bibles in general use. we were to bring accurate moral criticism to bear on the language with which the reigning monarch is approached, we should no doubt condemn it, as of an adulatory strain. We must, however, remember that this was the universal style of the day,* and happy are we, if we can sympathize with the terms bearing especially on the great undertaking which we have briefly reviewed; and declaring the word of God to be "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 above in heaven."

THE MAIDEN AND THE RACK. AT Lisbon, in the early days of the Inquisition, a young lady, Maria de Coceicao,

* In it Queen Elizabeth is compared to the "occidental star," lately set; King James to the "sun appearing in his strength."

was seized and brought before the judges of that blood-thirsty court.

Maria was charged with being faithless to the Church of Rome. Gifted with an inquiring mind, and availing herself of means to acquire a knowledge of the foundations on which true religion is based, she was not long in learning that the Roman Catholic religion is a cheat and a lie, and her pure mind rejected it with disgust. But she was a timid girl. Gentle as she was pure, and nursed in the arms of luxury, she was not fitted for the conflict of faith and patience through which she was called to pass. When brought into the presence of the cruel judges, she trembled from head to foot, the cold sweat stood on her pale brow, and she was ready to sink to the earth with fear. She had heard of this terrible Inquisition. In her hours of secret study and prayer, the thought of it had often come, and she had asked God to give her strength if the day of trial which had come to many, should at last reach her. And now it had come,-and she alone and undefended (alas! who could defend against such accusers?) was standing face to face before the monsters of the rack, and faggot, and sword.

Again she prayed, and strength was given her. She made a good confession before the bloody witnesses; and refusing to yield to their arguments, or their threats, she was stretched upon the rack. Her tender

limbs were extended by the slow revolving wheel; and though the spirit was willing to bear even more, the flesh was weak, and the poor girl yielded in the hour of her agony to confess the faith she abhorred.

Released from her torture, more dead than alive, she was taken to her cell, and suffered there to lie till she recovered the use of her limbs; when she was again brought before the tribunal to sign the confession she had made in the hour of her extremity. But while her torn limbs had been recovering strength, her heart had rejoiced again in the faith that forsook her; and now she stoutly refused to deny the truth. She would die a thousand deaths before she would be false to Christ.

Brave girl now! And yet how little we know of our own weakness. Every one has said to himself, if I were called to be a martyr, I would show them how to die! Maria was now firm in her refusal to confess, and again the gentle maiden was stretched upon the cruel wheel again the cords were fastened to her feet and hands, and her joints started from their sockets by the slow remorseless roll of that engine of despair. God help thee now, Maria; the men that have thee have no hearts, and thou must either perish or confess. She bore it longer than before. Instead of being weak

ened, she seemed to have gained strength by the former suffering, and now was resolved to be faithful unto death, and wear the crown of life. But who knows his own strength? The agony was inexpressible. When she had thought it had reached its climax, it was only just begun. New seats of pain were reached; in the wretchedness of her woe she began once more to cry for mercy. But she cried for what those wretches never had. They offered to relax the cords if she would confess; and again, poor thing, again the racked and shrieking victim groaned a miserable assent to their demand. They took her up, and once more left her in her solitary cell to come back to life. There in her aching misery she had time to think of what she had done, and why. She had been faithless to the cause she loved; and though it was sweet to lie on that cold stone floor, and feel that the wheel was no longer dragging her limbs and her life away, yet she was sorry, even then, that she had purchased her deliverance from torture by a confession of what her soul abjured. Stand up to that, Maria, when they bring thee before the monster again.

That day of trial was at hand. She was longer in recovering from this second torture, but she was hurried into the presence of the judges there to sign the extorted confession. Calmly but decidedly she told them of her weakness under suffering, how she had hoped to bear all and die rather than deny the faith she loved, but the anguish was awful, and she, a poor weak girl, had been tempted to confess. now she would retract all she had said in the moments of her misery. She abjured the Church of Rome, and defied its power. "Twice," she added, "I have given way to the frailty of the flesh, and perhaps while I am on the rack, I shall deny what was extorted from me by pain."

But

And then the wretches racked the brave girl again. She was strong now. Her strength was made perfect in suffering. The more severe the agony, the braver was her heart, and woman-like she rose above the present, and was a hero in her martyrdom. Her constancy triumphed. The judges ordered the punishment to be stayed: they would not give her the luxury of dying in her victory. They ordered her to be scourged through the streets of Lisbon, and banished!

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DR. BUNTING.

[THE following sketch is from the pen of an American gentleman, a correspondent of the "Presbyterian."]

I had a letter of introduction to Dr. Bunting, and called at his house when I was in London, but did not succeed in finding him at home. It was therefore very gratifying to me to learn, on my arrival at Oxford the day before Good Friday, that he was engaged to preach there the next day, and I resolved at once to hear him if it were possible. I accordingly went to the chapel where he was to preach, at the appointed hour, with Mr. Collingwood, printer to the University,an excellent and most gentlemanly man, at whose house I had previously engaged to stay, during my visit at Oxford. As we entered the chapel, I found a very plain, broad-shouldered, rather coarse-looking man, reading the Episcopal service, and he read it with an air of such indifference that I was impatient for the end of it, especially as I thought he was equally so. I took for granted that it was some Methodist brother of low degree, whom Dr. Bunting had brought in to assist him in the service; and as I had gone to hear Dr. Bunting, it was a disappointment to me to hear anybody

else.

The church service being disposed of in due time, this same indifferent reader proceeded to administer baptism to several children, among whom was one of the resident minister's children, and he introduced the service with some remarks that led me to doubt whether it was not the veritable Jabez Bunting to whom I was listening. He began by saying that that was not the time or the place to go into a particular vindication of the doctrine of infant baptism; that he must be allowed now to take this for granted; that those who differed, differed conscientiously, and had the same right to their views as he had to his. He then read the rubric of the English Church on this subject, and pronounced it excellent, especially as requiring that the ordinance should be administered publicly, and called the opposite mode "a kind of smuggling." He proceeded to speak of baptism at some length; first as an ordinance of instruction; and, secondly, as an ordinance of covenant--and concluded by apologizing to his brother for having said things which he must be supposed so well to know, and so fully to appreciate. The address was of considerable length; and before it was half finished, I did not need anybody to inform me that I was listening to the first Methodist preacher in England.

The baptism being over, Dr. Bunting

ascended the pulpit, and announced as his text, that rich and precious passage, "He that spared not his own Son," &c. The discourse was simple in its plan, full of strong evangelical thought, very felicitously and logically presented, and in some parts was even sublimely pathetic and eloquent. The whole service, so far as I witnessed it, was conducted with perfect decorum; but after Collingwood and myself had retired into the vestry, I was told that there was a prayer offered, during which there were two hundred audible amens, the minister of the place taking the lead. When the service was over Dr. Bunting came into the vestry; and when I was introduced to him, he very kindly expressed his regret at not being at home when I called at his house in London, and said he had directed his son to ascertain at Hackney where I stayed, that he might call upon me. Though he has the reputation, I believe, of being somewhat of an ecclesiastical dictator, I found him exceedingly pleasant and free in conversation, and no more inclined to take airs than the humblest man I ever met. As he knew that I expected to be at Shrewsbury in the course of the next week, and as he expected to be there, also, he expressed a wish that we might meet; and accordingly, he actually did me the favour to call upon me at Shrewsbury on Sunday evening, after having performed the usual services of the day. If I had been called upon to pronounce judgment upon him in the marketplace without hearing him speak, I should have said that he was a red-faced, well-fed, coarse-grained Englishman; but if my opinion concerning him had been asked after hearing him preach, and seeing him in private, I should have said that while he was not at all lacking in courtesy and kindness, he was one of the most vigorous thinkers and eloquent preachers whom I have ever met.

THE YOUNG LADY'S FIRST GIFT. NOT far from forty years ago, Miss H——, in a New England city, heard one Sabbath, for the first time, a missionary sermon. She had distinguished family connections; her personal character already gave promise of great superiority, and more than all, she was an ardent Christian. With a glowing heart, she listened to the story of the wants and woes of the heathen. Her attention was especially called to the Sandwich Island mission, and she shed many tears of pity in thinking of the misery of those who never heard of her Saviour. "What can I

do?" was the question she asked herself. On returning home, she said eagerly to her astonished father, "Father, I want all

my money." "All your money to-daywhat can you want it for?" "I must give it to that good man who preached this morning, that the poor Sandwich Islanders may have the Gospel." It amounted to sixteen dollars, and she cast the whole into the "Lord's treasury."

The interest felt for the new mission

spread throughout the town. By-and-by the church was repaired, and the old pul pit was sent to the Sandwich Islands, for the new house of worship erected there.

Years rolled on. The young lady entered upon the arduous duties of a pastor's wife, and had become a mother; yet she still found time to labour and pray for "the nations sitting in darkness."

One of her sons, after some years' absence attending to his profession in a remote part of the land, found it necessary, owing to the declining state of his health, to take a voyage. He embarked for the Sandwich Islands. He arrived in safety, and found himself not among heathen, but was immediately surrounded by Christian friends. He was hospitably entertained; his wants and sickness were cared for, and in due time he was enabled to go up to the house of God, when almost the first object that met his eyes was the "old pulpit," beneath whose droppings his sainted mother had felt the first springing up of missionary fervour.

How little that young lady thought, so many years before, when she placed her sixteen dollars in the contribution-box, that she was thus providing for the future comfort and entertainment of her own child!

BRITISH METHODIST WORTHIES. THE following somewhat whimsical record of the names of Wesleyan preachers will be interesting to many of our readers:

To those who for names have an odd predilection,

We dedicate those of the Wesleyan Con

nexion.

A Dean and a Deakin, a Noble, a Squire;
An Officer, Constable, Sargeant, and Cryer;
A Collier, a Carter, a Turner, a Taylor,
A Barber, a Baker, a Miller, a Nailor,
A Walker, a Wheeler, a Waller, a Ridler,
A Fisher, a Slater, a Harpur, a Fidler,
A Pindar, a Palmer, a Shepherd, and Crook;
A Smith and a Mason, a Carver and Cook;
An Abott, an Usher, a Batcheler Gay;
A Marshall, a Steward, a Knight and a Day;
A Meyer, an Aldermann, Burgess, and Ward;
A Wiseman, a Trueman, a Freeman, a Guard;
A Bowman, a Cheesman, a Colman, with
Slack;

A Britten, a Savage, a White and a Black; French, English, and Scots; North, Southerne, and West;

Meek, Moody, and Meysey, Wilde, Giddy, and Best;

Brown, Hardy, and Ironsides, Manly, and Strong;

Lowe, Little, and Talboys; Frank, Pretty, and Young;

With Garrets, and Chambers, Halls, Temples, and Flowers,

Groves, Brooks, Banks, and Levells, Parkes, Orchards, and Bowers,

Woods, Warrens, and Burrows, Cloughs, Marshes, and Moss;

A Vine, and a Garner; a Crozier, and Cross; Furze, Hedges, and Hollis, a Broomfield, and Moor;

Drake, Partridge, and Woodcock; a Beach, and a Shoar;

Ash, Crabtree, and Hawthorn, Peach, Lemmon, and Box;

A Lyon, a Badger, a Wolfe, and a Fox;
Fish, Hare, Kidd, and Roebuck, a Steer,

and a Ray;

Cox, Ca'ts, and a Talbot, Strawe, Cattle, and Hay;

Dawes, Nightingales, Buntings, and Martins, a Rowe,

With Bustard and Robin, Dove, Swallow, and Crowe;

Ham, Bacon, and Butters, Salt, Pickles, and Rice;

A Draper and Chapman; Booths, Byers, and Price;

Sharp, Sheers, Cutting, Smallwood, a Cubitt, and Rule;

Stones, Gravel, and Cannell, Clay, Potts, and a Poole;

A Page, and a Beard, with Coates, and a Button,

A Webb, and a Cap; Lindsay, Woolsey, and Cotton;

A Leech, and a Bolus, a Smart, and a Payne; A Cloake, and a Satchel, a Snowball, and

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Barr;

A Hussey, and a Wedlock; a Driver, and Carr;

A Cooper, and Adshead; a Bird, and a Fowler;

A Key, and a Castle, a Bell, and a Towler; A Tarr, and a Shipman; with Quickfoot, and Toase;

A Leek, and a Lilly, a Green, Budd, and Bowers;

A Dunn, and a Baile; a Squarebridge, and Ford;

A No-All, and Doolittle; Hopewell, and Sleep;

And Kirks, Clarks, aud Parsons; a Grose,

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Literary Notices.

Priestly Despotism Rampant in the Wesleyan Conference. A Letter to the Right Hon. Lord John Russell, &c., &c. By WILLIAM MARTIN. London: W. B. King, Whitefriars-street.

Ir was in an evil hour that an obscure young preacher at Leeds, lacking mental ability to distinguish himself, conceived the idea of becoming famous by entering into correspondence with a great statesman, and endeavouring to cajole or bore him into retracting a deliberately-expressed condemnation of the character and tendency of the Wesleyan Conference. Had the matter ended there, Mr. Woolmer had shed his ink to very little purpose; but as the publication of the correspondence has led to the issue of the letter before us, in which the acts and deeds of the Conference, especially during the last four years, are recorded with a terrible faithfulness, bringing together the narratives which have been scattered through the columns of newspapers and the pages of numerous tracts, piling fact on fact, and cruelty on cruelty, until in their cumulative character they are positively appalling,-we think this young preacher has strikingly illustrated the danger of playing with edgetools; for of all edge-tools the most dangerous in the hands of the conceited and inexperienced is a grey-goose quill.

Most of our readers are familiar with the circumstances out of which Mr. Martin's letter arises; it may perhaps not be uninteresting, however, briefly to rehearse them. In the month of February last, the General Wesleyan Reform Committee issued a placard, which was posted throughout the kingdom, calling public attention to the analogy which existed between the despotism of the Wesleyan Conference and the deeds of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in imprisoning the Madiai for reading the Bible. In this placard was a quotation from a pamphlet issued some years ago by Lord John Russell, entitled "Memoirs of the Affairs of Europe from the Peace of Utrecht," the passage reads thus: "Could the Methodists, indeed, be invested with the power which Rome once possessed, there is reason to fear that, unless checked by the genius of a humane age, the Conference would equal Rome itself in the spirit of persecution." Galling as it was that the opinion of an enlightened and liberal statesman should thus signally confirm the statements and complaints of a "miserable minority" of factious and

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discontented Reformers," the more cautious and experienced adherents of Conferenceism were content to bite their lips, but say nothing; convinced that their best policy was silence. However, "fools rush in where," &c., and the Reverend Theophilus Woolmer addressed to his lordship two long letters, in which common prudence and English grammar were equally disregarded, entreating him to retract the damnatory opinion regarding "a body of divines" to which he belonged; and thus bored, his lordship in a curt half-dozen lines replies, not that his opinion of the "body of divines" is changed, but that he does not think that the Wesleyan people would, if they had the power, be a persecuting body. With singular dulness Theophilus overlooks this distinction, and elated with his success incontinently rushes into print. This circumstance has afforded Mr. Martin an opportunity for addressing the present letter to Lord John-from which his lordship will find that the Wesleyans if not a persecuting people, are in very deed a persecuted people; and that the Wesleyan Conference has, in many of its recent acts, exhibited a spirit of persecution unsurpassed by that of any ecclesiastical despotism known to history, and that, to the full extent of its power, it has exercised against some of the best men ever connected with Methodism, a tyranny reckless, ruthless, and unrelenting.

We must confess, however, that familiar as we are with the manifold cruelties of the Conference, we cannot read Mr. Martin's pamphlet, in which these enormities are detailed, without emotion. The clear, succinct, lucid, and forcible style in which he presents his narrative, brings a fresh thrill of horror as we read. Some of the facts he relates are not so familiar as are the events of the last four years; but they show that it is no new thing with the Conference to endeavour to crush everything like liberal or independent thinking. The mode in which they endeavoured to coerce the amiable and accomplished Dr. Adam Clarke,--who in learning, piety, and intelligence excelled the whole combined of his persecutors, is painfully affecting. The letter in which Dr. Clarke refers to one instance we quote, as given by Mr. Martin:

"When the late extraordinary address was carrying on by Dr. Coke and Mr. Pawson, I opposed it with all my might. I was flattered to accede to it: this was in vain. I was threatened: this no way. shook my determination to oppose. I was then told, Your father has been a great expense to Kingswood; and this, if you continue to oppose,

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