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Had this gentleman accompanied his sovereign to London and Windsor, some curious contrasts might have been exhibited between the very unbishop-like bishop, the hard-working superintendent, and their magnificent graces and lordships of the Anglican church. Serious apprehensions are entertained by the continental Protestants, that the recent proceedings of his Prussian majesty forbode to them no good; and, in our country, some ambitious churchmen are dreaming of the Lutheran and reformed clergy coming to embrace their knees, and to beg the favour of being inserted into the apostolical succession. I think they will find themselves egregiously mistaken. It will require all the sagacity and prudence of the royal head to get comfortably out of the difficulties, which, perhaps inadvertently, he has raised around him.

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Let me now return to the eminent Christian scholar to whom your Memoir refers but only to add that his original Jewish family name was Hirschel (not Herschel, the name of the great philosophers); that he became a convert to the Gospel when he was about sixteen years of age; and that the kind-hearted bookseller, whose penetrating judgment discerned the latent excellencies of the poor Jewish youth, and ever after was his steady and liberal friend, was Mr. Perthes. A pleasing monument of mutual affection is, that Neander's numerous and highly valued works are published, not primarily at Berlin, but by his old patron, at Hamburgh.

Feb. 17, 1842.

S.

P.S. Allow me to add two or three things, which may not be uninteresting to English readers.

The political administration of the Prussian monarchy is divided into seven chief departments.

I. That above-mentioned (Ministerium der Geistlichen, Unterrichts, und Medicinal Angelegenheiten), the Ministry of Spiritual Affairs, Education, and Medicine. It is subdivided into the three Boards thus indicated.

II. The Ministry of the Interior.

III. That of the Royal Household.
IV. That of Foreign Affairs.

V. That of War.

VI. That of Administration of Justice.

VII. That of Finance.

The late king was personally (it is generally believed, though the fact was long kept in modest reserve,) the author, or rather compiler, of the new Liturgy, published in 1829; first recommended by royal edict, then gradually enforced. Of this, a particular account, with numerous extracts, is in the Congregational Magazine, Series, Vol. xix, pp. 559-565.

In page 73 of the last number, for Johannium, read Johanneum, in pronunciation, accenting the last syllable but one.

A PLEA FOR THE AUTHORIZED VERSION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CONGREGATIONAL MAGAZINE.

DEAR SIR,-Will you kindly oblige me with room for a few remarks on an article in the last number of your periodical, "The Importance of a Knowledge of Hebrew to the Interpreter of Scripture?" In all the observations which it contains on the obligation of every minister of the Gospel to acquaint himself with the noble language in question, whether he would have the clearest conceptions of Divine truth, or feel confidence in his own interpretations, or do justice to those who attend his instructions, or refute with an enlightened criticism those errors which some pretenders to learning would build on the original Scriptures, I fully concur. And the aptness and beauty of the illustrations by which those observations are enforced, I as warmly admire: they bear the impress of the writer's own elegant and accomplished mind. Would that every interpreter of Scripture were as richly and variously furnished! But, towards the close of the article there are some reflections on the defects of our present English version of the Scriptures, and the serious consequences supposed to have issued from them, which I conceive to have little or no foundation in truth, and to be of very injurious tendency.

After a just eulogy on the authorized version, to the authors of which, notwithstanding all its admitted imperfections, we owe no common debt of gratitude, and whose performance I cannot but regard as a noble monument of learning and fidelity, the writer proceeds"Yet it is often lamentably deficient in clearness, connectedness, and harmony. It often involves the original in such hopeless mystery, that to untie the Gordian knot would be a simpler task than to extract a meaning from the strange combination of words put forth as a translation. It has left the sense so vaguely, or indefinitely, expressed, as to give birth to endless disputes, and to lead the weak-minded and fanciful to build up opinions and theories, which, when brought to the test of the Hebrew or Greek, have been found baseless as the fabric of a vision.' I read this with more than surprise, and am utterly unable to conceive what are the mistakes referred to, which could justify language so severely condemnatory as this. And then allusion is made to certain "crude and monstrous notions of impostors and false teachers," to "foul and pestilent things," which have sprung up within the Christian church, and which owe their existence, or their being kept in existence, to ignorance of the original tongues of Scripture. One is constrained to ask, what historical fact, what part of prophecy, what doctrine or precept, contained in the original Scriptures, has been so unhappily rendered or distorted in the common

English version, as to prevent any person of competent understanding from acquiring a just, comprehensive, and harmonious view, of the whole truth which God has been pleased to reveal for the saving instruction of man? That much false doctrine is abroad, is admitted; but neither, I conceive, are the imperfections of our translation at all chargeable with it, nor is it ignorance of the original tongues of Scripture in the defenders of the truth which has prevented its extinction. The grand preservative from error on religious subjects, in those favoured with Divine revelation, is sobriety of mind and a just sense of our responsibility to God for the opinions which we adopt; and where these are wanting, no accuracy and depth of Greek and Hebrew lore, will guard its possessor from false and extravagant sentiments. If the fancy be wild and ungovernable, the judgment weak, or the passions headstrong, and these do not yield to such correctives as the common English Bible supplies, I should have very little hope of their being checked and overruled by an immediate access to the original pages of inspiration.

But while I think the language now animadverted upon, unwarranted by the truth of the case, it is also of injurious tendency; though I am persuaded that nothing could have been further from the intention of the writer. It must tend to shake the confidence of the unlearned in the common translation, and, in that proportion, lead them to think their present Bibles of little use. Were the evil complained of as great as represented, there is no remedy for it but either to imbue the minds of our entire population with a critical knowledge of the sacred tongues, or a more exact and faithful translation of the Scriptures. The former is hopeless; and the latter, though a desideratum, and one which I would thankfully hail, is, I fear, so distant, that we should carefully abstain from so speaking of the existing one as would unduly lower it in the estimation of the multitude. But when, as I conceive, the evil has been magnified, the obligation is still stronger to maintain the present version in the veneration of the unlearned. They have not, indeed, the high privilege of listening to prophets and apostles in the tongues employed by them, but they have, in the present translation, with all its imperfections, an utterance of the truth so clear, distinct, and faithful, that they cannot too highly prize, nor too diligently study it.

These friendly strictures on the concluding portion of an article, which, with this exception, has commanded so much of my admiration, and which, I trust, will be pondered by all whom it concerns, I humbly venture, Mr. Editor, to submit to your readers, assured that from none will they obtain a more impartial and candid consideration, than from the highly gifted and generous brother who has given occasion to them.

Morpeth.

N. S. VOL. VI.

2 A

F.

ON THE DIVINE LAW RESPECTING MARRIAGE.

MR. EDITOR,-The remarks of "Civis" in your last number, on marriage within certain degrees of affinity, will not, I apprehend, be deemed conclusive by the generality of the readers of your periodical. His statement, that such marriages are authorized by the civil law, may, indeed, be correct; but the proof supplied as to the sense of the Divine law on the subject, will probably be considered as very defective, or, at least, as insufficient to determine the path of duty in such cases. I hope that some of your valued correspondents will again take up the subject, that by further discussion, the law of God may be ascertained, and that our pastors and churches may not be left to painful uncertainty and conflicting opinions, but be supplied with such evidence as shall enable them to decide what is the course of duty in this matter.

I beg to submit to the consideration of your intelligent readers the following questions, in the hope that they may at least call forth satisfactory explanations from some who are able and willing to carry on a discussion which is becoming of practical importance to our churches.

1. Are there any prohibitions of marriage within certain degrees of affinity?

2. If so, are they contained in the 18th and 20th chapters of Leviticus, or in some other part of Holy Scripture?

3. Were not the prohibitions in the 18th of Leviticus given because the alliances referred to would be unnatural rather than adulterous, and so against marriage as well as adultery; but if against adultery only, why was it not prohibited with all parties?

4. Was not the command to marry in Deut. xxv. 5, an exception, and not the rule, in a singular case, and for a special purpose? See the annotations of the Assembly of Divines, and the Rev. Thomas Scott's Commentary on Gen. xxxviii. 8, and Deut. xxv. 5.

5. Does not this command for a singular case, when the widow had no child, and for a special purpose, to secure an inheritance or a complete genealogy, imply that the general law or practice was otherwise? PHILALETHES H.

Feb. 10, 1842.

REVIEWS.

The English Hexapla: exhibiting the Six Important English Translations of the New Testament Scriptures-Wiclif, 1380; Tyndale, 1534; Cranmer, 1539; Genevan, 1557; Anglo-Rhemish, 1582; Authorized, 1611. The Original Greek Text after Scholz, with the various readings of the Textus Receptus and the principal Constantinopolitan and Alexandrine Manuscripts, and a complete Collation of Scholz's Text with Griesbach's Edition of 1805: preceded by an Historical Account of the English Translations. 4to, London. Samuel Bagster & Sons.

THIS handsome quarto is the expression of a happy thought. The work is all golden. No minister of the word should be without it. There is a raciness about the older English versions that must be highly relished by a man of taste, and a suggestiveness in the different renderings of the same passage, extremely helpful to the public teacher. Moreover, as nothing improves the judgment more than its frequent exercise in questions of minute and delicate criticism, wherein are distinguished "fas atque nefas exiguo fine," so we believe that the frequent comparison of the six translations, carefully bearing in mind the sources whence they are drawn, will have a tendency to confer upon the student this prime virtue of an expositor. We may confidently predict its general adoption as the study companion of the Christian minister.

Having said thus much for this beautiful volume, no more than its extraordinary merit demands, we pass on at once to notice at some length the Greek text of Scholz, which adorns with its noble type the top of every page. Dr. J. Martin Augustus Scholz, a professor in the University of Bonn, devoted twelve years of incessant labour to the preparation of this edition, and undertook, between the years 1818 and 1821, biblico-critical tours in France, Switzerland, Italy, Palestine, and the Archipelago. In these journeys, he collated in whole, or in part, all the manuscripts of the New Testament which are to be found in the libraries of Paris, Vienna, Munich, Berlin, Treves, London, Geneva, Turin, Florence, Venice, Parma, Rome, and Naples, together with those deposited in the Greek monasteries at Jerusalem, St. Saba, and the Isle of Patmos. In the formation of his text, he has not only reaped the advantages of his own admirable industry and extensive research, but has also enjoyed the benefits resulting from the critical editions of his predecessors, whose judgments upon disputed texts, and whose systems of arrangement and canons of criticism have greatly assisted him in his indefatigable labours.

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