JOSEPH GURNEY, THE LATE TREASURER OF THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY. JOSEPH GURNEY was born in London on the to both Houses of Parliament: a position of great 15th of October, 1804, inheriting certain traditions and associations to which he owed much. The genealogy of the now broad family of the Gurneys is traced to a companion of the Norman conqueror, who bore the territorial designation of De Gournay. Those planted in Norfolk in the twelfth century sent off in the seventeenth a branch to Bedfordshire, from which the subject of this sketch was descended. It was to him a fact of special interest that he could count at least four generations of parents, on both sides, who had been distinguished for eminently practical piety. His great-grandfather, Thomas Gurney, a son of one of the early Quakers, was a man of great originality of mind, ingenious in mechanical arts, and the inventor of that system of short-hand which bears his name, and has given a marked direction to the lives of his descendants. He left the religions connections of his father and married the daughter of Thomas Marsom, one of the Nonconformists who shared Bedford gaol with Bunyan, acquiring the honour of being the first of the now countless readers of the "Pilgrim's Progress," and after a night's study of the rude manuscript, having the courage, against the general opinion of the prisoners, to pronounce the verdict that as "it might do good," the author should "print it." Mr. Gurney, who was happy in this domestic relation, was also favoured in having the friendship of the Rev. Augustus Toplady, whose warm words on his tombstone describe him as a man whose uncommon genius was counterpoised by humility, sweetened with benevolence, and crowned with grace." His son, Joseph Gurney, appears to have been a man of not less force, vivacity, and benevolence. A rising artist of his acquaintance produced a portrait of him, in which these qualities seem yet to sparkle from the canvas, and which, on being well hung in the Royal Academy Exhibition, ushered the painter into sudden but well-supported fame. Looking at that portrait one cannot altogether wonder at the remark made to him by the Duke of Clarence, afterwards William v., who asked him at a government inquiry into West Indian slavery, for whom he appeared, and on getting the answer "For the planters," responded, good-humouredly: "I thought the opposite; you have an abolition face!" It was he who carried his father's art to such a point of proficiency and, by skilful organisation, to such rapid transference to the readable form, that, after having been engaged on various state trials, such as those of Warren Hastings, Lord Melville, and the Marquis of Wellesley, the leaders of the Walcheren Expedition, and the Mutineers at the Nore, he was appointed official reporter (not of debates, but of business) first to the House of Lords, and afterwards responsibility and labour, the processes now so familiar being at that period novel and untested. His eldest son, John, would naturally have been called to join him in these accumulating engagements; but he preferred the study of the law, and eventually became one of the barons of the Court of Exchequer. William Brodie Gurney, his second son, was, in consequence, summoned to the work which he prosecuted through a long life with ability and distinction. Devoted as he was to his vocation, he seemed to reserve his whole nature-equally strong and tender for family and social life, and for works of Christian philanthropy. At the time of his eldest son Joseph's birth he was labouring for the institution of Sundayschools under voluntary teachers, in the administration of reformatories for the fallen, in the extension of the home work of the British and Foreign Bible Society, which, at first, took largely the form of evangelism among the poor, and in missionary enterprises among the heathen, which were then slowly rising into recognition. It would be impossible for an intelligent boy to hear the daily conversation which passed on these subjects and to read the books adapted to the young which they called forth, without receiving, although unconsciously, immediate and permanent impressions. When he was about thirteen years of age, his father, to the delight of his children, took a house at Highwood Hill, which the family occupied for eight months in the year, returning for the other four to London. This introduced them all to the pleasures of rural life, and to Joseph brought what his opening understanding had begun to crave, ampler opportunities and directions for private study. He received assistance from Dr. Humphreys of Mill Hill, from which he profited to the end of life. When, in the course of eight years, the house at Highwood Hill became too strait for the gathering flock, a change was made to one more spacious at Muswell Hill, which brought with it influences yet more favourable to the expansion of his character. The family were in the habit of attending divine worship at Highgate in the morning and afternoon of Sunday; but in the evening the neighbours were invited to the house for services adapted to their benefit. Mr. Eustace Carey, who had just returned from missionary work in India, in impaired health, was, with Mrs. Carey, received for a prolonged visit, and his domestic ministry became a source of great interest. The rooms, according to the law then in force being licensed for worship, were often filled with two hundred people, many of whom were awakened to religious thoughtfulness and decision. It was probably about this time that the eldest son followed his parents, and led the way of all the rest JOSEPH GURNEY. of their children in making a profession of his faith in Christian baptism, and being united to the church under the pastoral charge of the Rev. James Dore, at Maze Pond, Southwark. His passage into conscious Christian life partook of the quietude of his natural temperament, for he never could recall the time when he did not desire to love and please God; but from the period of this solemn personal profession, he grew rapidly in courage and zeal. A field for the application of these qualities was not long in opening before him. His mother, in the year 1827, was removed by death from eight children, all of whom, in their several degrees, hung upon her love and wisdom. She was a woman of fervent piety, devoted beyond the usual practice of her time to works of general philanthropy and yet diligent in the instruction of her children-in prayerful intercourse with each apart seeking to kindle in them the love of Christ. At her death the eldest daughter, then seventeen, was enabled, through her piety and fine talents, to perform the duties which naturally fell to her with remarkable influence. Her brother sustained her in her early endeavours, and all the younger ones rejoiced in his genial leadership. He delighted to assist them in their studies, to procure for them books suited to their tastes and ages, leading them on to usefulness by engaging them to assist him in his own efforts, even when their ability extended no farther than to cover the traets with which he was accustomed to supply the neighbouring cottages and the village schools. He was, at this period, through various means, growing in knowledge and strength of character. All the time he could spare from other duties he spent in solitary reading of no light sort; and as the Sunday evening services were often conducted by ministers from London, and students from the colleges, he availed himself of the society of such visitors to obtain light to his path. To the end of life his face would brighten as he recounted conversations which he then held with young ministers, who afterwards became distinguished for learning, or public usefulness; and those who know how, to the last, he could by modest but searching questions, possess himself of the information of another, can imagine, how, in the morning of life when so much was unexplored, he could in that way prosecute the work of self-improvement. It was his practice at that time to travel on horseback from Muswell to Westminster, and it was during those journeys that he riveted on his memory the forms of German grammar, upon which he built up in course of time a knowledge of the language which rendered him signal service in work which was not then foreseen. He entered at an early age upon the duties of his father's office, and notwithstanding his humble estimate of his own powers, soon mastered its requirements. He was not more than nineteen when he was once appointed in his father's absence to take down evidence in a committee of the House of Commons, and he could scarcely be made to believe that next day Sir George Hill, the chairman, complimented his father on having had so clever a substitute. The reading of the actual words, which the paternal satisfaction had put down at the moment, alone served to remove his scepticism. He long afterwards acknowledged that this judgment coming at the right time contributed greatly to his subsequent confidence and self-command. It 811 was no small advantage to his further development, that he frequently accompanied his father to different parts of the United Kingdom, in attendance on Royal Commissions. The evidence which passed under his attention increased his acquaintance with facts affecting the material and social condition of the country and particularly interested him in questions touching education and religion which were then pressing themselves upon public notice. In many cities, also, especially in those of Scotland, he formed friendships which presented to him. new phases of Christian excellence and diversified modes of usefulness. These friendships permanently enriched his life. In the year 1830 Mr. W. B. Gurney removed from Muswell Hill to what proved to be his final residence on Denmark Hill; and his son at the same time took a house near him and entered into married life. Into the sphere which then opened for him, and which supplied him with his dearest interests and joys, we do not propose to enter in this sketch; but shall touch only on his exertions for the public good. He had been elected, about a year before this time, a member of the committee of the Religious Tract Society. This place he retained, without interruption, for half a century, travelling, till near the close of that period, in all weathers and at all seasons, to attend the weekly breakfast committeemeeting at eight in the morning and finding himself amply repaid by the pleasure of participating in the business. While taking his share in the production of the smaller publications, his own reading led him to propose and to edit many of the practical and experimental treatises of the English divines of the seventeenth century. These he knew could be appreciated only by thoughtful Christian readers; but his acquaintance with men of education convinced him that, notwithstanding its admitted importance, the gospel of salvation was, of all topics, the one which generally they least understood. It was under this impression that he suggested to the Society the republication of Wilberforco's "Practical View of Christianity," and, having purchased six thousand copies, he had them addressed and delivered at the houses of persons resident chiefly at the West End of London, including a large number of members of both Houses of Parliament. He was not so unacquainted with mankind as to expect that such a measure would be universally approved even by men of his own principles; and it happened that, being at a dinner party about the time the distribution was proceeding, he heard the step very heartily denounced. His critics were far from being aware how much he differed from them in opinion, and he did not consider it advisable at that moment to bring the subject under discussion. If he had broken silence he could easily have observed that if a statesman had thought it worth while to add to his cares those which were necessary to the production of a book which had profoundly influenced the lives of such men as Legh Richmond and Dr. Chalmers, it could hardly be pronounced absurd for any one respectfully to present it to the class for whom it had been expressly written. It was not necessary to his own persuasion of the propriety of the attempt that any good results of it should ever come to his knowledge; but he was not left without some evidence that his Divine Master had both prompted and accepted the service. In one case two ladies in the same family Rev. William Augustus Salter, who with all the were brought to Christ; and in a second a mother rest was contented to remain unknown-a seclusion who threw aside the volume in disdain, found that which, notwithstanding his attainments, his retiring her daughter had read and received from it deep character would have led him in any case to prefer. convictions, and on her being sent from home to But in a memoir of the one it is impossible not to have these convictions chased away, she was thrown name the other of these true brothers, who after into relations with an evangelical ministry and years of intimate correspondence on the word of God, brought to a full knowledge of the Saviour. AnAn- departed almost hand in hand, death dividing them other incident was told to the writer of these for only a few weeks, to continue their study of reminiscences by his cousin the Rev. John Hampden truth in the all-revealing light of their Saviour's Gurney, who warmly appreciated the effort. The presence. The work, under the title of the "Annobook, in this instance, on being delivered at the tated Paragraph Bible," was published in sections at house of a nobleman, was first received by his intervals extending from 1851 to 1860, but before lady, who, on glancing at the title pushed it along its completion it had received alike the cordial the table to a clergyman, saying. "That is more welcome of general readers and the deliberate appro in your way than in ours: take it with you." He bation of men of learning. It was found by the accepted the gift, and it led to a revolution in his former class to supply a species of knowledge which character and ministry. no similar work up to that period had brought so completely within their reach; and by the latter it was admitted to present a body of notes at once thorough and popular, expressed with unusual precision and lucidity, and above all pervaded by a spirit of piety which elevated the common details of criticism. Mr. Gurney early formed the opinion that the Bible might be made much more intelligible by some simple changes in the manner in which it is usually printed; and when, about thirty years ago, it was ascertained that the right of printing it was less restricted by law than it had long been supposed to be, he brought the subject under the attention of the Religious Tract Society. The committee having decided to issue an edition in which his views should be carried out, it appeared, first in 1846, and subsequently, with great improvements, in 1877, under the descriptive title of the "Pocket Paragraph Bible" -the Bible which has been so liberally given as prizes for religious knowledge in conjunction with Sir Francis Peek's grant to School Board pupils. The labour expended on this work, though great, was congenial to his tastes and mental habitudes, and proved to be the beginning of greater enterprises in the same direction. The Society had published a commentary derived chiefly from the works of Henry and Scott, and therefore for the most part hortatory; but he conceived the idea of accompanying the Authorised Version with such a series of critical and illustrative notes, embodying the latest results of exact scholarship, as should enable the reader to form his own judgments and deduce his own practical lessons. He thought that such an exposition might proceed on the understanding which he thus expressed: "The literal and primary meaning is first to be sought; and that is to be ascertained in precisely the same way as that of any other book: the Bible was written for the people in the common language of men," a position which, though so self-evidently just, has been by no means invariably acted on by either commentators or preachers. Mr. Gurney, in proceeding to carry out this design, was unwearied in searching the works of the most recent expositors both English and Continental, and in bringing them under the attention of the Biblical scholars whom he invited to take part in the undertaking. When the papers which they produced were laid before him, to be brought into form and unity, his critical tact, joined with his power of condensed expression, rendered, as all acknowledged, the most admirable service. Not the least competent of those who united with him, especially in the final revision, was his own brother-in-law, the *See Memoir of Rev. J. H. Gurney, A.M., in the "Sunday at Home," for April of this year. It is interesting to know that in countries where the Bible is a new book, the people just recovered from heathenism have been furnished with the means of reading its pages with intelligence, by having translations of these annotations put into their hands. It widens our conceptions of the diversified populations, by whom, for the first time in history, the records of our redemption are prized and studied, to learn that versions of this commentary are already completed or in progress, not only in Syriac and Arabic, but in Chinese, Burmese, Tamil, Singhalese, Mahratta, Urdu, and Basuto, while in Bengalee and other Oriental tongues it has been made the basis of similar concise expositions. It may be mentioned that all the literary work of the English original, together with the copyright and the stereo-plates, corrected and amplified up to the latest time, was presented as a gift to the Religious Tract Society; although none but the few who know what this involves, will understand how many thousands sterling, quite irrespective of personal service, were thus nobly and worthily devoted. In the course of his labours in the editing of this work it was impossible that Mr. Gurney should not come to know how much light might be shed on the meaning of sacred Scripture by the alteration of a single word, or a change in the mere form of a phrase, in any version; and in his anxiety to enable readers to come as closely as possible into contact with the original text, he resolved to dispense with all commentary, and to attempt the formidable task of having a revision of the entire English Bible made through competent scholars, who should agree with him in certain general principles of procedure. This work was begun by inserting emendations within brackets in the received version; but after full consideration of that method it was decided to adopt one more direct and simple. Eminent Hebrew and Greek scholars answered to his call, and devoted themselves to the high enterprise. The ultimate responsibility, of course, rested with these scholars, but when their judgments were balanceu, Mr. Gurney's judicial moderation and moral insig with his fine taste in the choice of language, prov JOSEPH GURNEY. as before, of great value. Nothing was more remarkable than the sustained patience and the everfreshening interest with which he prosecuted his department-not the least irksome of the combined labour; and those who may examine only the summaries of the books, the formation and titles of the paragraphs, the parallel passages, the illustrative tables, and the admirable introduction to the entire volume, will find themselves under no light weight of obligation to his diligence. It was an occasion of great satisfaction, and probably was received by him as no doubtful indication of the approval of his 813 welcome. In a short time the public possessed them- Joust Gurney years of peaceful home-life at Wimbledon. Divine Master, that an undertaking on which all the attainments and all the aspirations of his life were finally concentrated, should have been brought to completion just as his advanced age and declining health demanded his retirement from active duties. The book was issued from the pre-s of the Queen's printers, under the title of the "Revised English Bible," in the year 1877, and although a work of such delicacy, and involving so many grave questions, it met with an immediate and a very remarkable measure of approval. Reviews, both critical and literary, entered, in many instances, upon a full examination of its merits, and all united to bid it other influences, and holding convictions very different from his own. In the midst of his earlier labours he took a leading part in the formation of societies for evangelisation on the Continent and in the Colonies which brought him into association with many German, French, and Canadian Christians. It was his delight to have these at his house for long visits that he might become familiar with their modes of thinking and with their difficulties and successes. In all ministers of Christ he took a warm interest, and was especially kind to those who were just entering on their work. His manner with students was peculiarly agreeable to them; his humility, his deference, his desire to learn, united with the intelligence and depth of his suggestions, which often fastened themselves on the memory and incited to fresh thought, made a conversation with him of lasting value. For many years he was treasurer of the college at Regent's Park, of which his brother-in-law, Dr. Angus, has been long the principal, and showed his interest in the training of ministers, there conducted, by many valuable services. It is hardly necessary to observe that he was a man of genuine catholicity. He loved Christians as Christians. No one could have detected in him any preference or depreciation of a person on account of the section of the Church to which he happened to belong. It was simply impossible for him not to love one in whom he saw the character of Christ, or to refuse to act with him so far as he was able to do so consistently with his principles. He did not expect others to violate their convictions in order to unite with him, nor could he part with anything he held sacred in order to unite with them. He perfectly understood the common ground on which all may, with a good conscience, stand on the same level. He retained, for his own part, through life, the persuasion of the spiritual nature and constitution of the Christian Church, and the consequent limitation of its membership and government to those who are themselves spiritual. He adhered to the order of worship observed in both branches of Congregationalism, but he would have been glad to have seen introduced into it some forms of common prayer. So decided was his desire for this addition to the existing method that he compiled with great pains a liturgical service, which he published and submitted to consideration. The book met with approval, and would probably have passed into use if any considerable number of congregations had entertained the desire for such a change. Mr. Gurney had been favoured throughout life with an amount of health which served for almost continuous application to work. He had known few times of sickness, and had experienced little interruption to that mental activity which filled up all the intervals of imperative duties; for whether the time at his command were long or short, the place public or private, he seemed always to have information to elicit from a friend, a book to examine, a proof to revise, or some tangled question to unravel by quiet thought. But the relaxation of this constant tension became at length inevitable. He was called to the acquaintance of sleepless nights and days of languor and weariness. He retained his delight in the Divine word, in reading of the more thoughtful kind, and in the biographies of eminent men; but the powers of attention gradually diminished, and】 he, in whom patience seemed a natural virtue scarcelyneeding culture, was brought through a course of discipline which appeared to have been intende 1 solely to bring that grace to perfection. It was with no reluctance that he accepted these appointments of his Heavenly Father. He admitted the wisdom an 1 rejoiced in the love which reigned in them. He knew whom he had believed, and was persuaded tha= he was able to keep that which had been committe i to him. In that calm trust he waited until the 12t of August, 1879, when he was called to enter the place prepared for him in his Father's house. C. M. B. Christmas Cheer for Christmas Sufferers. CHRISTMAS bells are ringing, Happy voices singing, Here alone I lic. Each glad heart upraises, None but Jesus near: What hast thou to fear? "I, who died to free thee, Could I bear to see thee Drooping and distrest? Faint thou art and weary, Cheer thee, lone one, cheer thee, Lean upon My breast. "Soon in realms of glory Thou shalt tell the story Of my faithful love. Angel forms shall listen, Angel eyes shall glisten In their home above." Christmas bells are ringing, Now I join the singing With a gladsome straîn. Christ is mine for ever, He will leave me never Till with Him I reign. M. E B. |