often seems to clash with sensibility, and we cry with Job: 'Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; on the left hand, where He doth work, but I cannot behold Him; He hideth Himself on the right hand, that I cannot see Him.' A primitive intuition apprehends the goodness of the Supreme, but the intellect, pondering this sad world, cannot confirm the intuition. A constitutional principle prompts us to prayer, implies the intervention of God in all our affairs and the validity of supplication, yet our dialectics often disown our devotions, and it seems as unphilosophical as it is natural to pray. Our consciousness assures us of our freedom and responsibility, giving grandeur to thought and life; but metaphysics contradict consciousness, degrading us into mere mechanism. The fact of immortality is a truth we find in the depth of our mind, a glorious instinctive hope lending the colour of gold to all the sphere; but science is at variance with sentiment, and we look into the black grave with dismay. If we dare trust that feeling in us which is at once deep, noble and positive, we could welcome all the glorious articles of the creed and rest in them with unmixed delight, but reason enters another verdict, and we are overwhelmed in the dilemma. How deep the grief of many who vividly realize these enigmas cannot be told. In all ages men have sorrowfully brooded over these contradictions, and in no age have they been more keenly felt than

in our own.

alism and rationalism; but it suspends the bitter polemic by mightily reinforcing the brightest convictions and aspirations of our nature. It shows us the greatest, wisest, holiest Teacher the world has ever seen-He Who spake as never man spake-giving direct and ample authentication to the grand creed of the heart; and this is surely an adequate reason for waiting in hope the final solution of the apparent antagonism between feeling and philosophy. Christ beat the music out, and by His side we need feel no more perplexity. Anxious about the Divine character, read: 'God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' Doubtful about prayer: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.' If the problem of suffering frets us, we have His interpretation: Every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.' If we have any scruples about man's place in nature, His whole career is the supreme demonstration of the moral dignity of the race. And what rational doubt can we have of immortality after listening to His farewell In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.' Christ has established a truce between reason and faith by giving reason the most solemn pledges that when the final light breaks forth we shall find all the most glorious hopes of the soul far more than realized. All who believe in Christ wait with assured confidence

and imperturbable peace.

But here also many who believe in Christ have not the 'perfect' peace. That strange schism of brain and heart, whose bitter and endless disputation creates such grief in circles where Christ is not heard, is not

O!

entirely unknown in Christ's Church. We give place to this controversy, and our peace is put to flight. We argue these questions away from Christ, and our soul is troubled. 'Let not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God, believe also in Me.' Here Christ challenges our faith in Himself as Divine, and shall we not trust Him as such? trust Him utterly? 'God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken to us in His Son.' And shall we not give Him our fullest, heartiest confidence? how much we lose by wrestling with problems away from Christ! How much we lose by setting in any degree our imagination against His promise! It is perfectly quiet, we are told, at the centre of the whirlwind. Jesus Christ is the centre of the whirlwind of modern controversy, and whilst our lame interpretations of the universe, our little systems of philosophy, put forth with so much pride and hope, are being driven about and driven away like the chaff of the summer threshing-floor, with Christ at the centre reason finds its lasting quiet. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee.' Let us stay our mind on Him in Whose face we see the glory of God, and He shall hide us in His pavilion from the strife of tongues.

The final antagonism of life is that of character and circumstance.

No sooner are we what we ought to be than we painfully feel the world is not what it ought to be, and the more nearly we are right, the more we realize how deeply the world is wrong, and how hard a thing it is to carry into effect high principles and convictions. Life is one long severe trial. We are tried in every possible way-in principle, temper, affection and faith. It

would seem here that the wicked never cease from troubling, that the weary find no rest. Here again, however, Christ becomes our peace by giving us power. He makes us to share in His own triumphant spirit and might, thus enabling us to overcome the trial and temptation, the allurement and sorrow of life. We are filled with wisdom, love, power and joy as He was; therefore, whilst in the world we have tribulation, in Him we have peace. 'These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.' And as the Apostle says: 'Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?' He who rests in Christ with an absolute faith proves perfect peace even in the midst of loss, persecution, tumult and death.

'Not a surge of worry,
Not a shade of care,
Not a blast of hurry
Touch the spirit there.'

How few of us attain this 'perfect peace in the friction and strain of this worldly life! We have solicitude, fretfulness, misgiving and sorrow. And we explain this to ourselves by regarding our circumstances as specially harsh and afflictive, which is an explanation very wide of the truth. We set down our peevishness, soreness, doubtfulness as caused by the unpropitiousness of our lot, when it really springs far more from faults of character which grace has not cured. Mariners often fear the ground swell more than the tossing waves of the windy tempest; and the deepest distress of the soul is not caused so much by the passing trial which stirs the surface, as by irregularities in the deep places of our nature. The fact is, when our inner life is strong, pure and dispassionate, so

No; the blame of our lack of peace is not to be laid on our severe environment, but on the inner defect of power which, in its turn, is caused by our qualified faith. If we fully identified ourselves with the worldconquering Christ, we should know no more irascibility or fear, but in fiery trials prove abiding equanimity and imperturbation.

The text is the key to this quiescent mood: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed

on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee.' Or the words of the Apostle: 'If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on

the earth.' We must live a life of constant faith, ever looking into the heavens. A distinguished physician, who recently died, reminds us that there is no place where the grandeur, ambition and care of life are so thoroughly rebuked as in an Astronomical Observatory. 'As a practical illustration of this remark,' he continues, 'I would add that my own knowledge of astronomers-those who have themselves worked with the telescope-has shown them to be generally men of tranquil temperament, and less disturbed than others by worldly affairs, or by the quarrels incident even to scientific research.' How likely this seems! Constantly dwelling on the magnitudes and magnificences of the firmament, the 'expressive silence' and splendour of the starry depths, their soul shared the grandeur and peace amid which they wrought, and they became insensible to the petty ambitions and anxieties of the earth. Thus will it be with us-only in a far grander sense and measure—if we keep heaven opened to us, and dwell constantly on the sublime facts and hopes of that celestial realm where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. The successes of life shall not exalt us, its ambitions dazzle us, its cares agitate us, its sorrows crush us. Our peace will flow like a river into the tideless, stormless ocean of eternity.

IN the present Paper I shall give some account of the changes introduced by the Revisers as better renderings into English of the original Greek text.

A double task lies before every one who attempts to translate into English the words of an ancient writer. He must first learn their meaning; and then find English words which will reproduce it as accurately and as fully as possible. And each of these departments of his work presents special difficulties.

The full significance of Greek words and inflexions and combinations can be gathered only by careful study of their use by Greek writers. Grammars and lexicons are invaluable as giving us what we may accept provisionally as working hypotheses of the meaning of each form of speech, and as noting passages which will help us to verify

But of any

these hypotheses. language, ancient or modern, a competent knowledge can be obtained only by mental contact with those who use it as an instrument and vehicle of thought.

Of many of the words of the New Testament, the meaning, and especially the suggested associations of thought, are very difficult to determine. Some of them are found very seldom in extant Greek literature.

Some words embody complex and important ideas which were an outgrowth of centuries of thought. And in very many cases the actual sense of a word in a given passage can be discovered only by careful study of the argument in which it is found.

It is very desirable to reserve as far as possible one English equivalent for each Greek word, in order to mark the connexion of thought in an argument, and to recall similar

thoughts in other passages. Moreover, a uniform English equivalent will gather around itself, more or less, the associations of thought suggested by the Greek word to those who originally used it; and will thus convey these associations of thought to the English reader. Unfortunately, no sooner do we seek for uniform English equivalents than we find that in many cases we have no word which reproduces exactly the force of the Greek word, and that in other cases uniformity can be purchased only at the cost of inelegant or obscure English. This is true of nouns and verbs, and to a still greater degree of particles, inflexions, and arrangement of words. In these cases, the tact of the translator is sorely tested to harmonize the conflicting claims of the significance of Greek words and the associations of ancient thought with the claims of good English.

The task of the Revision Committee was greatly complicated by the fact that they were set, not to make a new translation, but to revise an old one made some centuries ago.

The archaic diction of a venerated literary monument had its claims upon them. And they were frequently compelled to decide how far these claims must give way to those of the modern English reader, who wishes to know as clearly as possible the sense intended by the writers of the New Testament.

I cannot profess to give, within the limits of this Paper, an exact estimate of the degree of success attained by the revisers in their rendering of the text of the New Testament. Still less should I be able to justify such an estimate. All I shall attempt will be to point out a number of improved renderings presented to us in the New Version; and a few passages in which the Revisers have, as I think, needlessly retained incorrect or obscure render

ings, together with a still smaller number in which the New Version seems to me inferior to the Old

one.

The new rendering of the Baptist's words in Matthew iii. 7, Ye offspring of vipers, is certainly more correct and more intelligible than O generation of vipers.

The rendering lamp instead of candle in Matthew v. 15 is not only more correct, but embodies important theological truth. Like the ancient earthenware lamps preserved in our museums, we too are earth-born and of ourselves cold and dark, but are nevertheless capable of being filled with the Spirit of God, and, when lighted with heavenly fire, of shedding around us a light which is not our own. The same rendering is rightly given in Matthew vi. 22. In Revelation i. 12, etc., the word candlesticks has been retained in the text but the word lamp-stands in the margin is a definite gain.

This last passage is one out of very many examples of the good use which the Revisers have made of the margin as a means of retaining a practical uniformity of rendering where the usual equivalent was deemed to be for some reason unsuitable to the text of the New Version. The lettersGr.' introduce appropriately such marginal notes. They deserve the reader's best attention.

The new rendering in Matthew vi. 2, 5, 16, they have received their reward, is much more definite than the old one, they have their reward; and is, I think, correct. Be not anxious, in verse 25, and the similar rendering in Philippians iv. 6, are certainly better, as not requiring explanation, than take no thought, be careful for nothing; and are a very good reproduction of the Greek

sense.

The new and correct rendering of Matthew vii. 9, if his son shall ask him for a loaf, will he give him a