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 Section 
 

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THE 
 
 Wycliffe SemfMillennial 
 
 BIBLE CELEBRATION. 
 
 Tre n+o n N.J". 
 
 CONVENTION OF 
 
 BIBLE SOCIETIES OF NEW JERSEY 
 
 TRENTON, SEPTEMBER 21st and 22d, 1880. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE CONVENTION. 
 
Press of AMZI PIERSON & CO., Newark. N. J. 
 
•,RLC.MAH1882 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 5 
 
 9 
 
 lo 
 1 1 
 
 Introduction — The Conference, ••.... 
 
 The Convention, •■-..... 
 
 Presiding Officers, •••■.... 
 
 Order of Proceedings, 
 
 Resolutions, . . . . . . . i6 
 
 List of Delegates Appointed, . . . . , j- 
 
 Origin and Object of the Convention, by Rev. Jas. P. Wilson, D. D., . 21 
 
 Address OF Welcome, by Barker Gummere, Esq., . . . 31; 
 
 Response to the Address of Welcome, by Chas. E. Vail, Esq., . . 27 
 
 The Life, Times, and Labors of Wycliffe, by James Strong, S. T. D., . 29 
 
 William Tvndale and His Bible, by Rev. William S. Langford, . . 37 
 
 The Bible in New Jersey, by Rev. George Sheldon, D.D., . . 46 
 
 The English Bible : Its Relations to the English Language and Literature, 
 
 by Rev. Richard G. Greene, . . . ' . , 52 
 
 Divine and Human. Elements in the Bible, by Samuel M. Woodbridge, D.D., 59 
 
 The Bible the Book for All Ages, by Rev. J. Fewsmith, D.D., . . 66 
 
 The Bible and Intelligence, by Jas. McCosh, D.D., LL.D., ... 74 
 
 The Bible in Education, by Rev. William H. Campbell, D.D., LL.D., . 79 
 
 Relations of the English Bible to Civil and Religious Liberty, by Hon. 
 
 ■ Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, . . . . .82 
 
 The Authorized Version and the Present Revision, by William Henry 
 
 Green, D.D., ....... 88 
 
 The Bible and the Reformation in England, by Ashbel Welch, Esq , . 95 
 
 The Era and Work of Bible Societies, by William J. R. Taylor, D.D., . 98 
 
 Closing Address, by the Chairman, (Hon. John T. Ni.\on), . .104 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The preliminary movements toward the celebration of the Five Hundredth Anniver- 
 sary of the translation of the Bible into the English language by John Wycliffe, which was 
 completed in the year of our Lord, 1380, are carefully narrated in the statement by the 
 Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Origin and Object of the Convention, 
 whose proceedings are contained in this memorial volume. A few facts remain to be 
 stated concerning the Conference, which was held in Trenton, in the rooms of the Board 
 of Trade, February 25, 1880. Sixteen out of the twenty-one county auxiliary Bible 
 Societies in the State of New Jersey were represented as follows : 
 
 Atlantic County Bible Society, Rev. Thomas Sovreign. 
 
 Essex County Bible Society, Rev. W. J. R. Taylor, D.D. 
 
 Hudson County Bible Society, Rev. Paul D. Van Cleef, D.D. ; Rev. Lewis R. 
 Dunn, D.D. 
 
 Hunterdon County Bible Society, Rev. George S. Mott, D.D, 
 
 Mercer County Bible Society, Rev. Samuel M. Hamill, D.D. ; Rev. William 
 Harris, Rev. Walter A. Brooks, Rev. James B. Kennedy, Rev. S. Van 
 Benschoten, D.D. 
 Rev. Jesse Stiles, James C. De Cou, Esq. 
 
 Ocean County Bible Society, S. F. Blackman, Esq. 
 
 Passaic County Bible Society, Rev. Marshall B. Smith. 
 
 Somerset County Bible Society, Rev. Philip M. Doolittle. 
 
 Sussex County Bible Society, William P. Nicholas, Esq. 
 
 Warren County Bible Society, Rev. William A. Holliday. 
 
 Rev. George Sheldon, D.D., State Superintendent of the American Bible Society 
 for New Jersey and Delaware, was present ex-officio. 
 
THE CONVENTION. 
 
 By the courtesy of the authorities, the Assembly Chamber, with its adjacent rooms, 
 in the State House at Trenton, was opened for the Convention — a graceful acknowledg- 
 ment of the public sentiment of the good people of New Jersey, who value the Bible as 
 the foundation of their liberties and rights. 
 
 During all of the sessions the floor of the Assembly Chamber was occupied by the 
 delegates, and a large number of ladies and gentlemen filled the spacious galleries. The 
 pulpit, the bar, the medical profession, the judiciary of the State and of the United States, 
 presidents and professors of colleges and theological seminaries, prominent officers of 
 churches of all the leading Protestant communions, the American and Pennsylvania Bible 
 Societies, and the New Jersey auxiliaries of the parent institution, the religious and sec- 
 ular press, the worthy yeomanry, statesmen, and all the influential classes in the State were 
 represented in this notable assembly of the friends of the Bible. The programme was 
 carried out with remarkable exactness, no speaker or reader exceeding the half hour to 
 which the Executive Committee was compelled to limit them. Much credit is due to the 
 Local Committee of Arrangements, whose minute carefulness and forethought greatly pro- 
 moted the comfort and convenience of the Convention, as well as the promptness of the 
 proceedings. The expenses have been met by special contributions from friends in the 
 Auxiliary Societies, and without diverting a dollar from their ordinary receipts for Bible 
 purposes. 
 
 The music was admirably led by a double quartette from Princeton College, repre- 
 senting the Nassau Hall Bible Society. 
 
 Public interest increased until the last moments of the Convention, and the impres- 
 sion made by its proceedings was most happy upon all who were present. 
 
PRESIDING OFFICERS. 
 
 CHARLES E. VAIL, Esq., 
 
 OF THE Warren County Bible Society. 
 
 Rev. JOHN MACLEAN, D.D., LL.D., 
 
 of the Princeton Bible Society. 
 
 Hon. JOHN HILL, 
 
 of the Morris County Bible Society. 
 
 WILLIAM ELMER, M.D., 
 
 of the Cumberland County Bible Society. 
 
 Hon. JOHN T. NIXON, 
 
 OF the Mercer County Bible Society. 
 
 HONORARY COUNTY VICE-PRESIDENTS. 
 
 Atlantic — Hon. Enoch Cordery. 
 Bergen — Hon. William S. Banta. 
 Burlington — Charles E. Hendrickson. 
 Camden — Hon. George S. Woodhull. 
 Cape May — Hon. Downs Edmunds. 
 Cumberland — William Elmer, M. D. 
 Essex — Hon. George J. Ferry. 
 Gloucester — Hon. Benjamin F. Carter. 
 Hudson — Hon. A. A. Hardenbergh. 
 Hunterdon — Hon. John T. Bird. 
 
 Mercer — Hon. E. W. Scudder. 
 Middlesex — Ezra M. Hunt, M.D. 
 Monmouth — Major James S. Yard. 
 Morris — Hon. John Hill. 
 Ocean — Gen. John S. Schultze. 
 Passaic — Col. BenjaIiin Aycrigg, 
 Salem — Quinton Gibbon, M.D. 
 Somerset — J. Dumont Frelinghuysen. 
 Sussex — Hon. Samuel T. Smith. 
 Union — Hon. B. Williamson. 
 
 Warren — Hon. Charles E. Vail. 
 
 SECRETARY, 
 Rev. WILLIAM J. R. TAYLOR, D.D. 
 
 ASSISTANT SECRETARIES. 
 Rev. GEORGE S. MOTT, D.D., Rev. PAUL D. VAN CLEEF, D.D. 
 
 TREASURER. 
 CHARLES S. HAINES, Esq. 
 

 ORDER OF PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 The Convention was called to order by the Rev. James P. Wilson, D.D., Chairman 
 of the Executive Committee. 
 
 In the absence of Cortlandt Parker, Esq., of Newark, whose attendance as the 
 presiding officer of the first session was prevented by unexpected and imperative profes- 
 sional engagements, Hon Charles E. Vail, of Blairstown, Warren county, who origi- 
 nated the proposal for the celebration, was appointed to the chair. The exercises were 
 then conducted according to the programme. 
 
 10:30 A. M. 
 
 1. Invocation — By Rev. Abraham Gosman, D.D., of Lawrenceville, N. J. 
 
 2. Reading from John WycUffe's version of the Scriptures, I. Corinthians, xiii., by 
 Rev. Dr. J. P. Wilson. 
 
 3. Hymn. • 
 
 Our God, our help in ages past, 
 Our hope for years to come ; 
 
 Our shelter from the stormy blast, 
 And our eternal home. 
 
 Before the hills in order stood, 
 Or earth received her frame ; 
 
 From everlasting Thou art God, 
 To endless years the same. 
 
 A thousand ages in Thy sight 
 Are like an evening gone ; 
 
 Short as the watch that ends the night 
 Before the rising dawn. 
 
 Time, like an ever-rolling stream, 
 
 Bears all its sons away ; 
 They fly forgotten, as a dream 
 
 Dies at the opening day. 
 
 Our God, our help in ages past, 
 Our hope for years to come ; 
 
 Be Thou our guard while troubles last, 
 And our eternal home. 
 
 4. Organization, Enrollment of Delegates, Officers. 
 
12 
 
 The Wycliffe Sefni- Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 1 1 A. M. 
 
 5. Statement of the Origin and Object of the Convention — Rev. James P. Wilson, 
 D.D., Chairman of the Executive Committee. 
 
 6. Address of Welcome — Barker Gummere, Esq. 
 
 7. Response of the Presiding Officer. 
 
 8. Hymn. 
 
 Upon the Gospel's sacred page 
 
 The gathered beams of ages shine ; 
 
 And as it hastens, every age 
 
 But makes its brightness more divine. 
 
 On mightier wing, in loftier flight, 
 
 From year to year does knowledge soar 
 
 And as it soars, the Gospel light 
 
 Adds to its influence more and more. 
 
 More glorious still, as centuries roll, 
 
 New regions blessed, new powers unfurled; 
 
 Expanding with the expanding soul, 
 Its waters shall o'erflow the world : 
 
 Flow to restore, but not destroy ! 
 
 As when the cloudless lamp of day 
 Pours out its floods of light and joy, 
 
 And sweeps its lingering mist away. 
 
 11.30 A.M. 
 
 9. John Wychffe : His Times and his Bible — Professor Jas. Strong, S. T. D., Madi- 
 son, N. J. 
 
 12 M. 
 
 10. WiUiam Tyndale and his Bible — Rev. William S. Langford, EHzabeth, N. J. 
 
 The Rev. Samuel M. Studdiford, of Trenton, at the close of the morning session, 
 exhibited to the members of the Convention a rare curiosity in the shape of a manu- 
 script work of Wycliffe, in excellent state of preservation ; being a treatise on the Apostles' 
 Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer. 
 
 Mr. Studdiford stated that the book had been presented to his father, the late Rev. 
 Peter O. Studdiford, D.D., of Lambertville, in 1826, by the widow of an English 
 clergyman. 
 
 As the first pages of the book are missing, Dr. Studdiford could not, at first, ascertain 
 who was its author. Dr. Addison Alexander was greatly interested in it, and endeavored 
 for some time to obtain some clue that might lead to the name of the author; but he met 
 with no success in his efforts. 
 
 At length Dr. Studdiford somewhere found one the earliest biographies of WycHff"e, 
 which contained quotations from some of his works, and among these there were quota- 
 tions from a work that Wychffe had written on the Apostles' Creed, the Ten Command- 
 ments, and the Lord's Prayer. 
 
 Dr. Studdiford found, to his delight, that these quotations were from the very 
 manuscript he had in his possession, and thus obtained conclusive evidence that Wycliffe 
 was its author. The manuscript is beautifully written on vellum, with illuminated pages 
 and letters — the gilding in the illuminations being unusually bright aud beautiful. 
 
Order of Proceedings. 
 
 n 
 
 AFTERNOON SESSION. 
 Rev. John Maclean, D.D., LL.D., Ex-President of Princeton College, Presiding 
 
 I. Prayer — By the President. 
 
 2. Hymn. 
 
 Come, Thou almighty King ! 
 Help us Thy name to sing, 
 
 Help us to praise ! 
 Father ! all glorious, 
 O'er all victorious. 
 Come, and reign over us, 
 
 Ancient of days ! 
 
 Come, Thou Incarnate Word ! 
 Gird on Thy mighty sword ; 
 
 Our prayer attend ! 
 Come, and Thy people bless, 
 
 And give Thy Word success 
 Spirit of holiness ! 
 
 On us descend. 
 
 3 P. M. 
 
 Come, holy Comforter ! 
 Thy sacred witness bear, 
 
 In this glad hour ! 
 Thou, Who almighty art. 
 Now rule in every heart 
 And ne'er from us depart. 
 
 Spirit of power ! 
 
 To the great One in Three 
 The highest praises be. 
 
 Hence, evermore ! 
 His Sovereign majesty — 
 May we in glory see 
 And to eternity— r 
 
 Love and adore. 
 
 3.15 P. M. 
 
 3. The Bible in New Jersey — Rev. Geo. Sheldon, D.D., Princeton, New Jersey. 
 
 At this point, the Rev. Dr. Maclean, called the Hon. John Hill, one of the Vice- 
 Presidents, to the chair for the remainder of the afternoon session. 
 
 3.45 P. M. 
 
 4. The EngUsh Bible : Its Relations to the English Language and Literature — Rev. 
 Richard G. Greene, Orange, N. J, 
 
 5. Hymn. 
 
 A glory gilds the sacred page, 
 
 Majestic like the sun ; 
 It gives a light to every age. 
 
 It gives, but borrows none. 
 
 The hand that made it still supplies 
 The gracious light and heat ; 
 3 
 
 Its truths upon the nations rise, 
 They rise but never set. 
 
 Let everlasting thanks be Thine 
 For such a bright display ; 
 
 As makes a world of darkness shine 
 With beams of heavenly day. 
 
1 4 The Wycliffe Semi- Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 . 4.20 P. M. 
 
 6. The Bible as Promoting Intelligence— Rev. James McCosh, D.D., LL.D., Pres- 
 ident of Princeton College. 
 
 4.50 P. M. 
 
 7. The Divine and Human Elements in the Bible— Rev. Samuel M. Woodbridge, 
 D.D., New Brunswick, N. J. 
 
 8. Doxology — Benediction — Rev. Lewis R. Dunn, D.D. 
 
 7.30 P. M. 
 
 A public meeting, for addresses, was held in the Greene Street Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, which was crowded with an enthusiastic and representative assembly, William 
 Elmer, M.D., presiding. 
 
 1. Anthem. 
 
 2. Prayer — By the Rev, John S. Porter, D.D. 
 
 3. The Bible the Book for All Ages— Rev. Joseph Fewsmith, D.D., Newark, N. J. 
 
 4. Hymn. 
 
 Peace with her olive crown'd, shall stretch 
 Her wings from shore to shore ; 
 
 No trump shall rouse the rage of war, 
 No murderous cannons roar. 
 
 Lord, send Thy Word, and let it fly 
 Armed with the Spirit's power ; 
 
 Ten thousand shall confess its sway, 
 And bless the saving hour. 
 
 Beneath the influence of Thy grace 
 The barren wastes shall rise ; 
 
 With sudden green and fruits arrayed — 
 A blooming Paradise. 
 
 Lord ! for those days we wait ; those days 
 
 Are in Thy Word foretold ; 
 Fly swifter, sun and stars, and bring 
 
 This promised age of gold. 
 
 5. The Bible in Education — Rev. William H, Campbell, D.D., LL.D., President 
 of Rutgers College. 
 
 The next address, on " The Enghsh Bible — Its Relations to Civil and Religious 
 Liberty," was to have been delivered by the Hon. Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, of 
 Newark, N. J., who came to the city for the purpose, but was suddenly taken severely ill, 
 and was obliged to return to his home by the evening train. The Secretary announced 
 the facts to the greatly disappointed congregation, and the exercises were then closed accord- 
 ing to the programme. 
 
 7. Hymn. 
 
 Our land with mercies crowned, 
 This wide enchanted ground, 
 
 O God ! is Thine ; 
 Our fathers knew Thy fame ; 
 The trophies of their name — 
 Our heritage — proclaim 
 
 A Power divine. 
 
 Dear native land, rejoice ! 
 Raise thou thy virgin voice 
 
 To God on high ; 
 From all thy hills and bays, 
 From all thy homes and ways, 
 Let symphonies and praise 
 
 Ascend the sky. 
 
Order of Proceedings. 
 
 15 
 
 And Thou, Almighty One, 
 At whose eternal throne 
 She bows the knee ! 
 
 In all the coming time 
 Bless Thou this favored clime, 
 And may her deeds sublime 
 Be hymns to Thee ! 
 
 8. Doxology. — Benediction — By the Rev. Leopold Mohn. 
 
 The Convention resumed its sessions on Wednesday, September 22, 1880, Hon. 
 John T. Nixon, presiding. 
 
 10 A. M. 
 
 1. Anthem. 
 
 2. Prayer — By Rev. Eldridge Mix, D.D. 
 
 10.15 A.M. 
 
 3. The Authorized Version and the Present Revision — Rev. William Henry Green, 
 D.D., LL.D., Princeton, N. J. 
 
 Hymn. 
 
 Christ for the world we sing. 
 The world to Christ we bring, 
 
 With loving zeal ; 
 The poor, and them that mourn, 
 The faint and overborne. 
 Sin-sick and sorrow- worn, 
 
 Whom Christ doth heal. 
 
 10.45 A. M. 
 
 Christ for the world we sing ! 
 The world to Christ we bring, 
 
 With one accord ; 
 
 With us the work to share, 
 
 With us reproach to dare, 
 
 With us the cross to bear, 
 
 • For Christ our Lord. 
 
 5. The Bible and the EngHsh Reformation — Ashbel Welch, Esq., Lambertville, N. J. 
 
 6. Hymn. 
 
 God bless our native land ! 
 Firm may she ever stand. 
 
 Through storm and night ; 
 When the wild tempests rave. 
 Ruler of winds and wave ! 
 Do Thou our country save, 
 
 By Thy great might. 
 
 For her our prayer shall rise 
 To God above the skies ; 
 
 On Him we wait ; 
 Thou, Who art ever nigh. 
 Guarding with watchful eye ! 
 To Thee aloud we cry — 
 
 God save the State ! 
 
 11.15 A. M. 
 
 7. The Era and Work of Bible Societies— Rev. W. J. R. Taylor, D.D., Newark, N. J. 
 
 8. Closing Proceedings. 
 
 11.45. A. M. 
 
1 6 Wy cliff e Semi-Millemiial Bible Celebration. 
 
 The following resolutions were then unanimously adopted : 
 
 RESOLUTIONS. 
 
 1. Resolved, That our most devout thanks are due to Almighty God for raising up for the English 
 nation at so early a date a translator of the Holy Scripture, imbued with the spirit of the Gospel, and so 
 well adapted to his task as John Wycliffe, and that for five centurieathe English-speaking people have been 
 blessed with the pure Word of God in their own tongue, 
 
 2. Resolved, That we recognize in this fact the origin and continuance of those political, moral and 
 religious advantages which have so conspicuously distinguished England and America in the past, and are 
 now our joy and hope. 
 
 3. Resolved, That the friends of the Bible in New Jersey have occasion to rejoice in the success of the 
 WycHffe Semi- Millennial Celebration, which has attracted to the capitol so many earnest workers and well- 
 known veterans in the cause of Bible distribution, and so many influential advocates of the Holy Scriptures, 
 representing our prominent institutions of learning, and the various professions and material and industrial 
 interests of the State, showing that the Bible retains a strong hold upon the hearts of the people, and con- 
 tinues to excite a deep and far-reaching influence upon all classes of the community. 
 
 4. Resolved, That the thanks of this Convention are due to the Executive Committee, and especially 
 to the Secretary, Rev. W. J. R. Taylor, D.D., and the District Superintendent of the American Bible 
 Society, Rev. Dr. Sheldon, for the excellent and comprehensive programme prepared by them, and which 
 has been so faithfully and punctually carried out ; and that the committee be authorized to publish the 
 proceedings, together with the papers and addresses, in a suitable memorial volume. 
 
 5. Resolved, That we gratefully acknowledge our obligations to the gentlemen who have read papers 
 and delivered addresses, and that they be requested to furnish copies of the same for publication. 
 
 6. Resolved, That we deeply regret the sudden illness of Hon. F. T. Frelinghuysen, which pre- 
 vented the delivery of his address on the "Relations of the English Bible to Religious and Civil Liberty," 
 and that he be requested to furnish a copy of it for publication. 
 
 7. Resolved, That the hearty thanks of this Convention be and hereby are tendered to the gentlemen 
 who have presided at its sessions ; to the Local Committee of Arrangements, for the liberal provisions 
 made for the comfort of the delegates ; to the citizens of Trenton, for their generous hospitality ; to the 
 State authorities, for the use of the Assembly Chamber ; to the Pastor and Trustees of the Greene Street 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, for the use of their church edifice ; and to the young gentlemen of Nassau 
 Hall Bible Society, Princeton, for their kindness in conducting the music during all the sessions of the 
 Convention, thus contributing largely to the pleasure and spiritual profit of our meetings. 
 
 8. Resolved, That any surplus funds left in the hands of the Treasurer, after paying the expenses of 
 the Convention and printing the memorial volume, be paid over to the American Bible Society for its 
 general work. 
 
 The Presiding Officer, Judge Nixon, of Trenton, then made a brief closing address, 
 after which the Doxology was sung, and the Benediction was pronounced by the Rev. 
 Jonathan F. Stearns, D.D., of Newark, and the Convention then adjourned. 
 
List of Delegates. 
 
 17 
 
 LIST OF DELEGATES APPOINTED, 
 
 AND OTHER REPRESENTATIVES OF BIBLE SOCIETIES. 
 
 [Those who were present are designated by asterisks (*) attached to their names.] 
 
 .Rev. ALLEN H. BROWN, 
 •Rev. THOMAS SOVREIGN, 
 *Eev. C. E. p. MAYHEW, 
 D. E. IZARD, 
 
 ATLANTIC COUNTY. 
 
 J. B. WRIGHT, 
 P. S. TILTON, 
 *J. A. JONES, 
 T. F. WURTS. 
 
 BERGEN COUNTY. 
 
 Rev. DANIEL WISE. D.D., 
 Rev. EDWIN A. BITLKLEY, D.D., 
 Rev. THEODORE B. ROMEYN, D.D., 
 Rev. henry M. BOOTH, D D., 
 *ISAAC WORTENDYKE, Esq., 
 Rev. H. B. TURNER, 
 
 ELBERT A. BRINCKERHOFF, 
 Rev. J. E. VAN DEVENTER, 
 Hon. W. E. SKINNER, 
 ISAAC D. DEMAREST, 
 •HENRY H. VOORHEES. 
 
 BURLINGTON COUNTY. 
 
 •Rev. JOHN S. PORTER, D.D. 
 
 DYLWIN SMITH, 
 •Rev. O. a. KERR, 
 
 BENAJAH ANTRIM, 
 •Rev. S. TOWNSEND, 
 •LEWIS JEMISON, M.D., 
 
 WALTER WRIGHT, 
 •Rev. EDWARD B, HODGE, 
 •Peop. G. H. VOORHIS, 
 'Rev. WILSON STOKES, 
 •Rev. a. K. STREET. 
 
 Rev. lewis C. BAKER, 
 •Rev. henry REEVES, 
 •Rev. S. E. POST, 
 Rev. V. D. REED, D.D., 
 Rev. J. B. GRAW, D.D., 
 
 CAMDEN COUNTY. 
 
 Rev. GEORGE B. WIGHT, 
 
 Rev. F. R. BRACE, 
 *WALTER M. PATTON, 
 •JAMES ARMSTRONG, M.D, 
 •JOSEPH D. REINBOTH. 
 
 J. B. HUFFMAN, 
 
 Rev. EDWARD P. SHIELDS, 
 
 GEORGE OGDEN, 
 
 Rev. a. M. NORTH, 
 
 CAPE MAY COUNTY. 
 
 •Rev. a. p. JOHNSON, 
 PARSONS TOWNSEND, 
 ABRAHAM REEVES, 
 JOSEPH B. HUGHES. 
 
 •WILLIAM ELMER, M.D., 
 ENOCH FITHIAN, M.D., 
 •CHARLES BREWER, M.D., 
 •Rev. G. K. MORRIS, 
 JAMES J. REEVES, 
 
 CUMBERLAND COUNTY. 
 
 Hon. L. Q. C. ELMER, 
 J. LENHART PRICE, 
 Hon. NATHANIEL STRATTON, 
 •C. C. PHILLIPS, M.D., 
 GEORGE TOMLINSON, M.D. 
 
The Wycliffe Semi-Milletmial Bible Celebration. 
 
 THOMAS N. McCARTER, Esq., 
 *Rev. F. V. VAN VRANKEN, 
 *HoN. FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN, 
 *CHARLES S. HAINES, 
 *Rev. WILLIAM H. STEELE, D.D., 
 •Hon. THOMAS B. PEDDIE, 
 
 CORTLANDT PARKER, Esq., 
 •HORACE ALLING, 
 
 Chancellor THEODORE RUNYON, 
 *HENRY WILDE, 
 •Rev. J. F. STEARNS, D.D., 
 •Rev J. FEWSMITH, D.D., 
 
 ESSEX COUNTY. 
 
 •Rev. 
 
 Rev. 
 
 E. P. 
 *Rev. 
 •Rev. 
 •Rev. 
 •Rev. 
 •Rev. 
 •Rev. 
 •Rev. 
 •Rev. 
 •Bev. 
 
 WILLIAM KELLY, 
 G. A. SIMONSON, 
 NICHOLS, M.D., 
 ELDRIDGE MIX, D.D., 
 E. R. CKAVEN, D.D.. 
 A. L. BRICE, D.D., 
 J. H. KNOWLES, 
 JAMES M. TUTTLE, 
 RICHARD G. GREENE, 
 WILLIAM J. R. TAYLOR, D.D. 
 JAMES P. WILSON, D.D., 
 WILLIAM T. FINDLEY, D.D. 
 
 •Rev. DANIEL THACKARA, 
 A. S. BARBER, 
 WALLACE McGEORGE, M.D., 
 Rev. W. PITTENGER, 
 Rev. C. W. DUANE, 
 JOHN C.LATIMER, 
 
 GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 
 
 Rev. A. LAWRENCE, 
 Rev. J. H. O'BRIEN, 
 ROBERT A. BRYANT, 
 Rev. D. MOORE, 
 
 •george w. bailey, m.d. 
 *bj:lmont perry. 
 
 HUDSON COUNTY. 
 
 Hon. B. F. RANDOLPH, 
 Rev. WILLIAM VERRINDER, 
 Rev. C. K. IMBRIE, D.D., 
 M. H. GILLETT, 
 
 •C. C. VAN REYPEN, 
 CHARLES A. DE WITT, 
 
 •Rev. PAUL D. VAN CLEEF, D.D., 
 
 Rev. W. V. V. MABON, D.D., 
 
 Rev. a. p. FOSTER, 
 •Rev. W. R. DURYEE, D.D., 
 •Rev. D. R. LOWRIE, 
 •Rev. L. MOHN, 
 
 Rev. W. TUNISON. 
 
 HUNTERDON COUNTY. 
 
 Rev. C. F. TRAVER, 
 •Rev. GEO. S. MOTT, D.D., 
 •ASHBEL WELCH, 
 
 ViceC-hancellor DAVID VAN FLEET, 
 •Rev. J. M. PATTERSON, 
 
 N. W. VOORHEES, 
 •WILLIAM P. EMERY, 
 
 W. T. HERR, 
 
 Rev. G. W. ANDERSON, 
 
 Rev. a. L. MARTINE, 
 
 G. W. HERMMER, 
 •Rev. THOMAS E. GORDON, 
 •JACOB G. SCHOMP, 
 
 W. P. DEMOTT, 
 •Hon. JOHN T. BIRD, 
 •WILSON THOMAS. 
 
 MERCER COUNTY. 
 
 •BARKER GUMMERE, Esq., 
 •HUGH H. HAMILL, Esq., 
 •Rev. W. H. NEILSON, Jr., 
 •Rev. W. W. MOFFETT, 
 •Hon. WILLIAM S. WARD, 
 •WILLIAM ELMER, Jr., M.D., 
 Hon. a. G. RICHEY, 
 WILLIAM J. OWENS, 
 
 CHARLES BREARLEY, 
 •Rev. T. HANLON, D.D., 
 •E. G. cook, 
 •CHARLES E. GREEN, 
 
 W. H. SKIRM, 
 •Rev. A GOSMAN, D.D., 
 •Rev. S. van BENSCHOTEN, D.D., 
 •Rev. D. R. FOSTER. 
 
 MIDDLESEX COUNTY. 
 
 •Rev. WILLIAM H. CAMPBELL, D.D., LL.D., 
 
 •Rev. JOHN WOODBRIDGE, D.D. , 
 
 •T. B. TALLMAN, 
 
 •Rev. B. S. EVERITT, 
 
 •E M. HUNT, M.D., 
 
 •JOHNSON LETSON, 
 
 •D C. ENGLISH, M.D„ 
 
 •Rev. w. J. Mcknight, d.d., 
 
 Rev. E. HEWITT, 
 
 ABRAM VOORHEES, 
 •JOHND BUCKELBW, 
 *J. L. ROGERS, 
 •Rev. SAMUEL M. WOODBRIDGE, D.D. 
 
Names of Delegates Appointed. 
 
 19 
 
 MONMOUTH COUNTY. 
 
 REvr. J. M. ANDERSON, 
 •Hon. a. C. McLEAN, 
 
 HOLMES W. MURPHY, 
 
 Rev. frank CHANDLER, 
 •Rev. WILLIAM REILEY, D.D. 
 •WILLIAM STATESIR, 
 
 Rev. S. F. WHEELER, 
 
 Rev. G. C. HADDOCK, 
 •GILBERT H. VAN MATER, 
 
 Rev. a. p. COBB, 
 
 Rev. H. a. HENDRICKSON, 
 
 DAVID A. BELL, 
 •JOHN O. RAUM, 
 
 Major J, S. YARD. 
 
 •Rev. albert ERDMAN, 
 •Pkof. JAMES STRONG, D.D. 
 •WILLIAM S. babbitt, 
 •J. H. BRUEN, 
 *WILLIAM W. MARSH, 
 •Hon. JOHN HILL, 
 
 SELIM F. BLACKMAN, 
 
 S. C. JENNINGS, 
 
 Col. WILLIAM L JAMES, 
 
 MORRIS COUNTY. 
 
 DAVID A. NICHOLAS, 
 SAMUEL EDDY, 
 JOHN F. CORT, 
 
 NATHANIEL NILES, 
 JOHN S. McDOUGALL, 
 THEODORE LITTLE, Esq 
 
 OCEAN COUNTY. 
 
 Rev. a. H. DASHIELL, Jr. 
 Rev. JOHN HANCOCK, 
 Rev. a. M. NORTH. 
 
 PASSAIC COUNTY. 
 
 Rev. MARSHALL B. SMITH, 
 Rev. CHARLES D. SHAW, 
 Rev. JOHN GASTON, D.D., 
 Rev. DAVID MAGIE, D.D., 
 Rev. JOHN A. MUNROB, 
 Rev. JOHN H. DURYEA, D.D. 
 
 •CoL. BENJAMIN AYCRIGG, 
 
 WATTS COOKE, 
 
 GARRETT J. BLAUVELT, 
 *JOHN WORTMANN, 
 •Rev. B.V. D. WYCKOFF. 
 
 Rev. J. R. WESTWOOD, 
 HENRY M. RUMSEY, 
 Rev. W. A. FERGUSON, 
 •Rev. O. B. McCURDY, 
 Rev. J. J. REEDER, 
 
 SALEM COUNTY. 
 
 •Rev. J. S. PRICE, 
 
 •Rev. B. C. LIPPINCOTT, 
 Rev. J. F. HEILMAN, 
 Rev. W. P. EVANS, 
 CLINTON BO WEN. 
 
 SOMERSET COUNTY. 
 
 Rev. J. F. MESICK, D.D., 
 Rev. a. MESSLER, D.D., 
 •Rev. p. M. DOOLITTLB, 
 •Rev. JAMES LE FEVRE, 
 Rev. E. T. CORWIN, D.D., 
 Rev. SAMUEL PARRY, 
 •Rev. WILLIAM R. TAYLOR, 
 •Rev. L. F. burgess. 
 
 Rev. T. B. CONDIT, 
 WILLIAM P. NICHOLAS, 
 THOMAS RYERSON, M.D. 
 •DAVID R. HULL, 
 •HARVEY B. STRAIGHT, 
 Kev. a. a. HAINES, 
 
 Rev. A. Mc WILLIAM, 
 
 •Rev. JOHN HART, 
 
 J. E. NEGUS, 
 
 •PETER A. VOORHEES, 
 
 J. V. D. HOAGLAND, 
 
 F. J. FRELINGHUYSEN, 
 
 •Rev. C. H. POOL. 
 
 •Rev. HENRY STOUT, Mis.-ionary from Japan. 
 
 SUSSEX COUNTY. 
 
 WILLIAM H. HART, 
 Rev. E. a. HAMILTON, 
 
 bartley d. fuller, 
 charles d. thompson, 
 
 •Hon. S. T. SMITH, 
 
20 
 
 The Wychffe Semi- Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 Rev. W. C. ROBERTS, D D., 
 Rev. E. KEMPSHALL, D.D., 
 Rev. J. A. LIGGETT, 
 *Rev. J. U. BLISS. D.D., 
 Rev. H. SPBLLMEYER, 
 *HoN. JOSEPH ALWARD, 
 
 UNION COUNTY. 
 
 *Rbv. WILLIAM S. LANGFORD, 
 
 *Rev. E. H. REINHART, 
 
 W. W. WELLS, 
 
 R. W. TOWNLEY, 
 
 Rev. C. LAREW, 
 
 •Rev. lewis R. DUNN, D.D. 
 
 PHILIP H. HANN. 
 
 P. f. BRAKELEY, M. D.. 
 
 Hon. WILLIAM H. MORROW, 
 
 Rev. T. a. SANSON, 
 
 Rev. a. C. HIGGINS, 
 
 MOHN WHITE, 
 
 *Rev. a. M. palmer, 
 
 WARREN COUNTY. 
 
 CHARLES SCRANTON, 
 *Rev. C. 8. VANCLEVE, 
 JOHN WEST, 
 *H0N. CHARLES E. VAIL 
 *Rev. H. B. SPAYD, 
 •Rev. W. THOMPSON. 
 
 NASSAU HALL BIBLE SOCIETY OF PRINCETON COLLEGE. 
 
 •Rev. JAMES McCOSH, D.D., LL.D., 
 
 POWERS FARR, 
 
 •JOSEPH HUBBARD, 
 
 •E. S. SIMONS, 
 
 •J. SHOBER, 
 
 •W. H. McCARTER, 
 
 •RICHARD D. HARLAN, 
 CHARLES E. DUNN, 
 •GEORGE P. PIERSON, 
 •FRANK E. HOSKINS, 
 *F. W. RUTAN. 
 
 PRINCETON BIBLE SOCIETY. 
 
 Prop. STEPHEN ALEXANDER, LL.D., 
 Prop. J. S. SCHANCK, LL.D., 
 Hon. CROWELL MARSH, 
 Rev. WILLIAM HARRIS. 
 
 •Rev. WILLIAM HENRY GREEN, D.D., LL.D., 
 Prop. J. T. DUFFIELD, D.D., 
 •Rev. JOHN MACLEAN, D.D., LL D. 
 
 LAWRENCEVILLE HIGH SCHOOL BIBLE SOCIETY. 
 
 •Rev. S. M. HAMILL, D.D., 
 •HORACE PORTER, 
 
 •JAMES B. MERSHON, 
 •W. S. VOORHIES. 
 
 AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY. 
 
 •Rev. GEORGE SHELDON, D.D., 
 
 District Superintendent for N. J. and Delaware. 
 
 *Rev. EDWARD W. OILMAN, D.D , 
 
 Cor. Sec. A. B. S. 
 
STATEMENT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ORIGIN AND OBJECT OF THE CONVENTION. 
 
 By REV. JAMES P. WILSON. D. 
 
 It devolves on me, as Chairman of the Executive Committee, to give briefly an 
 account of the origin of this Convention, and how it came about. 
 
 The first pubhc proposal to celebrate the Five Hundredth Anniversary of the Trans- 
 lation of the New Testament into the English language by John Wyclifife, was made by 
 C. E. Vail, Esq., President of the Warren County Bible Society, at the annual meeting, 
 held August 4th, 1879, when, according to "The Bible Society Record" for September, 
 1879 (p. 138): 
 
 The Society, on a suggestion contained in Mr. Vail's address, adopted the following resolutions : 
 
 Whereas, The year 1880 will complete a semi-millennium of the English Bible, the translation of 
 the New Testament by Wycliffe having been issued in 1380, therefore, — 
 
 Resolved, That this occasion, so suggestive of priceless blessings, should be duly observed by the 
 English-speaking race, through its various Bible societies. 
 
 Resolved, That the Warren County Bible Society respectfully call the attention of the Managers of 
 the American Bible Society to this matter, and ask them to signalize the occasion in such a manner as in 
 their judgment shall seem best. 
 
 Resolved, That the Executive Committee of this Society be requested to make provision for some 
 suitable celebration of the same at our next annual meeting. 
 
 The next official action was taken by The Essex Bible Society, at its annual 
 meeting, held in Newark, November loth, 1879, when the subject was brought to the 
 attention of the Society by the Rev. James P. Wilson, D.D., and was referred to a com- 
 mittee. This committee reported the following minute, which was unanimously adopted, 
 after a very interesting and animated discussion : 
 
 In view of the fact that the coming year (1880) completes five hundred years of the history of our 
 English Bible, as the pious and learned Wycliffe finished his translation in 1380, we cannot but be deeply 
 impressed by the manifold blessings it has ministered to our fathers and to us. 
 
 The Essex County Bible Society considers that an event of such importance to Protestants, to the 
 entire English-speaking race, as well as to Christianity it.self, should be signalized by devout thanksgiving 
 4 
 
22 The Wycliffe Semi-Millejinial Bible Celebration. 
 
 and praise to Almighty God, together with other exercises suited to an occasion of such singular historic 
 interest. 
 
 The Society, therefore, cordially invites Bible societies throughout the State of New Jersey to unite 
 with it, by delegates duly appointed for the purpose, in a State convention, to celebrate the semi-millen- 
 nium of our English Bible. 
 
 Rev. Dr. J. P. Wilson, Rev. Dr. W. J. R. Taylor, Rev. G. M. Boynton, Rev. Dr. A. L. Brice, and 
 Rev. Dr. George Sheldon, are hereby appointed a special committee to make all necessary arrangements. 
 
 The next action is thus reported in "The Bible Society Record" for December, 1879 
 (p. 187): 
 
 The Committee on Anniversaries of the American Bible Society, at its last meeting, December 
 2, 1879, "heartily approve the suggestion made by the Warren County Bible Society, and rcco/iiiiieiid to 
 the Board the celebration of this semi-millennium in a manner worthy of its importance." Rev. Dr. M. S. 
 Hutton, Frederick H. Wolcott, Esq., and Rev. Dr. McLean, Corresponding Secretary, were appointed a 
 subcommittee to report, at the adjourned meeting, some appropriate plan for this celebration. 
 
 The Board of Managers of the American Bible Society subsequently decided to 
 celebrate the event in the month of December, 1880, and invited the Rev. Richard S. 
 Storrs, D.D., of Brooklyn, to deliver an oration on the occasion. 
 
 After repeated conferences, the special committee of the Essex County Bible Society, 
 with the approval of the Executive Committee, determined to request a conference of 
 representatives of the auxiliary Bible societies in New Jersey, for consultation and aid in 
 the proposed convention, and the following circular was issued: 
 
 * * * * The Essex County Bible Society, at its late annual meeting, unanimously 
 
 adopted a resolution, proposing, with the aid of its sister societies in the State, a public commemoration of 
 the Five Hundredth Anniversary of the Completion of the Translation of the New Testament into the 
 English Language, by the "Reformer before the Reformation," the immortal John Wycliffe. 
 
 It is eminently fitting that New Jersey, whose illustrious citizen, the venerable Elias Boudinot, 
 LL.D,, was the principal founder and the first President of the American Bible Society, shall take her 
 proper part in the commemoration of this great historical event by Christians of the English-speaking race 
 throughout the world. It is therefore proposed that a convention for this object shall be held at Trenton, 
 the Capital of the State, about the middle of September, to be composed of delegates from all the auxili- 
 aries of the American Bible Society of New Jersey. 
 
 That suitable preparations may be made, the undersigned, a committee of the Essex County Bible 
 Society, earnestly request the counsel and co-operation of your Society, by the personal attendance of its 
 representative, or by letter, in regard to the precise time or manner of the celebration, with the good hope 
 that its observance may happily increase the interest of the public in the Bible itself, and in the never- 
 ceasing work of its circulation in our own and other lands. 
 
 The conference was held, and the result is the meeting here to-day. 
 
 It is eminently fitting that these observances should be held. The English of 
 Wycliffe's translation is the finest specimen of the English language of that day, and of 
 the scholarship of that day also. I read a chapter out of his New Testament to you 
 this morning. Five hundred years have rolled away, and no mortal man can affix the 
 limits of the influence of that English translation of the Bible. The topics that will be 
 presented and discussed at this celebration have been selected with great care, and with 
 
Origin and Object of the Convetitioi. 
 
 ^J 
 
 the view of bringing the whole subject as fully before the minds of the people as possibly 
 could be done in the hmited time of such an occasion. 
 
 Before this first complete translation of the Bible into the English language by 
 WycUffe, the Word of God was a sealed book to the common people. It was part of 
 the poHcy of the Roman conquerors to use the Latin language everywhere, that they 
 might thus extend the influence of their institutions and laws among the nations they 
 had conquered. 
 
 Whatever difference of opinion there may be as to the name of the person who first 
 preached the Gospel in England, no doubt is entertained of the fact that it was preached 
 there during the first century of the Christian era, and the Latin Scriptures, as far as they 
 were translated, were introduced and used by the people generally. The first translation 
 mto English was by a monk, Caedmon by name, in the seventh century. It was a kind of 
 paraphrastic version of some of the most remarkable parts of the Scriptures that struck 
 his fancy. The translation opens with the fall of the angels and the creation of the 
 world, and then goes on to speak of the history of our first parents, and the deluge, the 
 exodus of the Children of Israel and their final settlement in the Land of Promise, the 
 actions of Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel. It abounds with periphrasis and metaphor. 
 Some portions of the Scripture were translated in the eighth century. There was another 
 translation, called the Durham Book, which is now in the British Museum, and is said to 
 be the finest specimen of Saxon ealligraphy and decoration extant. Its history is quite 
 curious and romantic. When the Danes drove the monks out of their monastery in 
 "Holy Island," they took with them, in their flight to Northumberland, this book— their 
 most sacred treasure. It fell into the sea during the voyage, and, some say, it was three 
 days in the sea, like Jonah, and was cast up on the sands, three miles from shore, by a 
 remarkable ebb tide, and was eventually recovered. It was taken by the Danes in the 
 year 995. The monks made a great deal of the event, and attributed miraculous powers 
 to the Book, and imposed with great success on the ignorant and credulous in those times. 
 Then there came the Anglo-Saxon version of the Gospels, called the "Rushworth 
 Glos," from the name of its former owner, John Rushworth. This is now in the Bodleian 
 Library, at Oxford. Over each Latin line the Saxon is written. This was in the tenth 
 century. Some have said that Alfred the Great translated the whole Bible, or at least some 
 entire Books of the Word of God. But this is a mistake. Had he done so, he no doubt 
 would have taken pains to preserve them, and some would have reached our times. But 
 there is no evidence of this. A monk named Alfric, a pious and learned Saxon, towards 
 the conclusion of the tenth century, translated into the vernacular tongue many portions of 
 the books of the Old Testament. 
 
 The eleventh century was a dark period, in consequence of the successful invasion of 
 the ferocious Danes, wno laid waste the kingdom with the sword and rapine, and learning 
 and religion departed. In the middle of the fourteenth century Richard RoUe translated 
 the Psalms into English prose. After that arose this mighty man, Wycliffe. He was born 
 in 1324, and reached the culminating point of his popularity and influence in 1374, in his 
 successful opposition to Romish tyranny and usurpation, and in sustaining the crown in 
 resisting Papal aggression. He soon had occasion to see, however, that the support he 
 received from the government was not lasting, and the men who sustained him before 
 
24 The WycUffe Semi- Centennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 persecuted him afterwards. It is not my province in this explanatory statement to detail 
 the biography of this most illustrious man. That will follow in the course of proceedings 
 in- this semi-millennial celebration. Strong and repeated efforts were made, by trial and 
 persecution in every shape, to bring him to punishment ; but, in the Providence of God, 
 these attempts all failed, and his end was peace and triumph. 
 
 Some pretend to say that he never translated the Bible; but the testimony of Huss, 
 and WycUffe's own testimony, where he says he was persecuted for this very work of 
 translation, and abundant other corroborative proofs that cannot now be rehearsed, put 
 this matter beyond all possibiHty of reasonable doubt. He died in 1384, stricken with 
 palsy, and was buried with Christian burial. In 1428 the brutal sentence of the Council 
 of Constance, 1415, which condemned forty-five articles of his doctrines, was carried out;, 
 and they took up his bones and burned them, cast the ashes into a little stream called the 
 Swift, which bore them into the river Avon and the Severn, and were carried into that 
 little ocean skirting England, and thence into the whole world, where the truths of that 
 Inspired Word which he translated are fast spreading, and- where they are destined 
 ultimately to prevail. If a monument was ever erected to his memory — any fixed memo- 
 rial over the place of his interment — it doubtless was destroyed by the same ruthless fiends 
 hat tore his body out of its last resting-place. So closes the history of John Wycliffe. 
 
 We are here to-day to observe this anniversary, and never could there be a day more 
 worthy of observance, or the celebration of which justified higher enthusiasm. 
 
 May God be with the delegates, and direct our council, and give us wisdom, so that 
 we may be profited, and live upon the strength we get here until our last days. 
 
Address of Welcome. 25 
 
 ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 
 
 By BARKER GUMMERE, Esq. 
 
 Friends and Brother Delegates of the Bible Societies of New Jersey : 
 
 I am honored by the Committee of Arrangements with the duty of welcoming you 
 to the State Capital on this auspicious occasion. That duty might perhaps have been 
 more fittingly entrusted to a representative of the Essex County Bible Society, to which 
 we owe the suggestion of this Convention, but I feel the more honored that it has been 
 entrusted to the representative of the Mercer County Bible Society. It is refreshing, in 
 this season of conventions, to know that we are gathered together here for no purpose of 
 nomination to political preferment and honor, nor for the agitation of political measures 
 or principles ; nor, though in the halls of legislation, are we met to legislate ; but we meet 
 to commemorate and to celebrate the greatest and most momentous event in the history 
 of the English-speaking people ; and I say it advisedly, to commemorate that event which 
 transformed a ferocious and barbarous race into the imperial race of the world — into the 
 missionary race, in the providence of God, for spreading far and wide over this world of 
 ours the knowledge of the Word of God. For you will observe that, from the date of 
 the translation of the Bible from a dead tongue into the Hving Anglo-Saxon, the character 
 of the race was steadily changed, and the Enghsh people, before then bloody and turbu- 
 lent, became a peaceable and God-fearing people, and enhsted in the great work of 
 spreading the knowledge of the Word of God throughout the world. I say this with 
 a full recollection of the inertness of the Christian people of England for the first four 
 centuries after the translation of the Bible. And where more fitly than here, in these 
 legislative halls, in what is pre-eminently the Hall of State, can we celebrate that event 
 which made this occasion possible ? For it was not the principles of Magna Charta, nor 
 was it the principles of the Common Law, highly and deservedly lauded as they have been, 
 that made possible the creation of a free church and a free State, but it was their 
 knowledge of the Word of God, which not only made our fathers wise unto salvation, but 
 wise unto the comprehending and establishing of the principles of ree government, which, 
 rendered it possible to construct the constitutional monarchy of England and the fairer 
 fabric of the American States. Without the English Bible, neither English nor American 
 liberty would have existed. We fitly, then, celebrate here, in the Capital of the State, this 
 great achievement of John Wycliffe. May we not reverently say that it was aj work of 
 inspiration ; — that it was in truth the Spirit of God that guided the hand that painfully and 
 slowly traced, with pen or reed, the Word of God in the living English tongue, as the 
 work of translation proceeded through so many years ; — that it was none other than the 
 
20 The Wycliffe Semi-Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 Holy Spirit which made possible the great work that has raised up this imperial, this 
 missionary, English-speaking people, who are already spread over the four continents, and 
 seem destined in the not distant future to predominate, if not to legislate, over the whole 
 world? I say it was, in truth, the work of inspiration, and we do well to celebrate it. 
 And it was a work of creation ; it created a free State and a free church, and we do well 
 to celebrate it here, in the legislative halls of this State. But while we thus exult and 
 celebrate, let us not forget that the same power which created is essential to conserve, the 
 State, and that the duty is imperatively cast upon us to spread far and wide within these 
 domains of ours the knowledge .of the Word of God, and to maintain a body politic 
 thoroughly permeated with the principles of the Christian religion. The founding of our 
 Bible societies by our fathers, their past activity, is a witness of the faithfulness with which 
 their duty has been discharged. Let our presence here be a pledge of the faithfulness 
 with which we will discharge it in the future. We have something else to do, however, 
 than to pledge, and that is to act ; and it is well in action to look fairly and squarely in 
 the face the duty itself to which we pledge ourselves. In the past century more than one 
 hundred million copies of the Word of God have been printed, translated and scattered, 
 far and wide, over the face of the earth — a most wonderful achievement; when you contrast 
 it with the slow and painful days and nights of toil of the devoted Wycliffe. 
 
 But, gentlemen, the work of the past is but a tithe of that Avhich we must do in the 
 coming century. Look abroad, look around you, and note the doors that are opened in 
 every direction for the admission of the Scriptures. Look at the enormous population 
 which, in the providence of God, is now ready to receive God's Word at our hands. The 
 millions of Hindoostan and China — the inhabitants of the central plateau of Asia — that 
 enormous population, whose number is only guessed at, which swarms upon the plateau of 
 Africa, and into which our missionaries are now penetrating in every direction. Nay, we 
 find the heathen monarchs themselves are asking for the Word of God, and that preachers 
 of that Word be sent to them. Why, in the next century, do you suppose one hundred 
 million copies of the Bible will be sufficient to answer the demand, when these hungry 
 nations on everv side, these millions, are stretching forth their hands and asking for 
 the bread of life? No, gentlemen; in the next century more than tenfold activity is 
 required on the part of the Bible societies than has been exerted in the past. So, then, 
 we are not only to celebrate the fame of Wycliffe ; we are not only to emulate the 
 example of our founders, but we are to consecrate ourselves before God to the discharge 
 of the great duty now imposed u]Don us ; and let us hope that this occasion, so fraught 
 with interest, and which will be so marked by the ability of those who will address you, 
 will accomphsh the individual consecration of every delegate who attends here to the 
 great work to which our societies are pledged. Let us endeavor, in the meetings of our 
 societies throughout the State, to obtain their pledges to be faithful, through God, to the 
 work of diffusing His Word among the people of the earth. 
 
 And now I must close; and, as I do so, I most heartily welcome you all on this 
 auspicious occasion — welcome to the Capital — welcome to the halls of this State, and 
 welcome from the hearts of all the people of this community. 
 
Response to the Address of Welcome. 27 
 
 RESPONSE 
 
 TO THE ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 
 
 By CHARLES E. VAIL, Esq. 
 
 It has fallen to me, in behalf of the delegates present, to respond to the eloquent 
 address of welcome to which we have just listened. 
 
 It is generally, I believe, considered an honor to be chosen to preside over any 
 assembly, and I esteem it an especial honor to be called upon to preside over a body so 
 distinguished, and upon an occasion so interesting as this. My position, however, is 
 embarrassing, from the fact that I have, with a moment's notice, been thus called upon to 
 take the place of a distinguished citizen from another part of the State — Cortlandt Parker, 
 Esq., of Newark — to whom was assigned this duty, and whose absence at this time no 
 one more deeply regrets than myself. 
 
 I am sure I speak for all present when I say that we are happy to be here and to 
 participate in these proceedings, commemorative of a man and an event so influential for 
 good through all succeeding time. 
 
 It is fitting that this meeting should be held in this house. Elias Boudinot, LL.D., 
 our illustrious fellow-citizen, a distinguished member and President of the Continental 
 Congress, and whose signature was affixed to the treaty of peace by which the Mother 
 Country, at the close of the war of the Revolution, recognized our independence, was the 
 principal founder and first President of the American Bible Society, of which all the 
 societies here represented are branches. Nor is this all. Many of our most eminent 
 civilians, whose voices have been heard in these halls, and who have received the highest 
 poUtical honors of the land, have ever been active and prominent in Bible work in 
 connection with the various local societies, and the parent society, as well. 
 
 It is fitting, also, that this meeting should be held in this city, the beautiful and prosper- 
 ous Capital of New Jersey; which State, always in the van of every good work, had a 
 State Bible Society in successful operation seven years in advance of the organization of 
 the American Bible Society, now known as the parent society. 
 
 The importance of the event which we to-day commemorate can hardly be overesti- 
 mated. The life and work of Wycliffe were the beginning of an era in the history of 
 the world. That grand old man was not only, as has frequently been said, the Morning 
 Star of the Reformation, and the greatest of the reformers before the Reformation, but 
 he was also the father of our modern English prose. Let what may be said as to prior 
 translations of portions of the Bible into English, or of the whole of it into Anglo-Saxon, 
 
28 The Wyclijffe Semi- Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 his was undeniably the first translation of the entire Scriptures into the English language ; 
 and, for reasons not hard to be discovered, none other, earHer or later, had so marked an 
 effect upon the destiny of the English-speaking race. Is it too much to say of him, that 
 he did more than any other one man to lay the foundations of the enduring prosperity of 
 Protestant England and America ? We do well to celebrate his praises. England, though 
 she has even a greater interest in his memory than we, as he was one of her most 
 illustrious sons, and a graduate of her proudest university, has so far failed to unite with 
 us to do him honor. Whatever may have been her reasons, our duty seems clear, to 
 acknowledge in this way our indebtedness to one through whom we have received blessings 
 great and manifold. We shall do well, also, to consider and cherish the principles which 
 actuated WycHffe, and to emulate his example in studying and spreading abroad the 
 knowledge of the Word of God, as the most hopeful means of still further advancement 
 and blessing. Let it be our task to consider how best we can impress upon those who 
 come to our land, whether from heathen countries or from those nominally Christian, the 
 knowledge and love of the Bible. Let it be our care to see how we can earliest, most 
 powerfully and most deeply, imbue the youths of oar country with the same. Thus shall 
 we best preserve the inheritance of our fathers, overcome existing evils, rise in elevation 
 of character, fulfill our mission upon earth, and enjoy uninterruptedly that blessing of God 
 which maketh rich and addeth no sorrow therewith. 
 
The Life, Times, and Labors of Wycliffe. 
 
 THE 
 
 LIFE, TIMES, AND LABORS OF 
 WYCLIFFE. 
 
 By JAMES STRONO, S. T. D., 
 
 Professor in Drew Theol. Seminary. 
 
 This semi-millennial occasion transports us, on the wings of fancy and by the hand 
 of history, to a by-gone time and a distant clime. Let us suppose, for the moment, that 
 we are in the university-town of Oxford, and in the middle of the fourteenth century. 
 From the days of King Alfred this place had been noted as a seat of learning, and in 
 later years it became famous in a still hoHer cause by the martyrdom of Ridley, Latimer 
 and Cranmer. We enter Merton, one of the six colleges existing there at the date of 
 which we speak, and we find among its "probationers" (eventually, also, it would seem, 
 among its "fellows") a young man, distinguished from others of the single name of John, 
 according to the custom of the age, simply by having come originally from the Yorkshire 
 parish (and apparently, also, manorial family) called Wycliffe, or De Wiklef (the name is 
 spelled with many variations). Vaughan (in his monograph on "John de WycHffe, D.D.," 
 Lond., 1853, p. 4) regards the word as being simply the Wye-cliffe, i. e., the water-cliff, 
 or the clift near the water, from the fact that the ancestral mansion stood on a rocky 
 height along the bank of the river Tees, at a point eleven miles north of Richmond. The 
 parish church in the vicinity is still known by the family name of Wycliffe, although the 
 manor has now passed by marriage into the house of the Tunstals and Constables of 
 Roman CathoHc affinities. Of Wycliffe's parentage and early education no record remains. 
 Born in 1324 (or, as some think, several years earlier), and admitted as one of the first 
 commoners of Queen's College (Oxford), which was founded in 1340, he was associated, 
 at the period to which we refer, witli some of the best scholars of the University, Chaucer 
 being said to have been at one time his pupil. In person considerably above the medium 
 height, straight, slender and wiry, with features indicative of penetration and refinement — a 
 thin, aquiline nose, firm mouth, smooth forehead, and clear though somewhat deeply-set eyes; 
 his expression at once frank and cautious, bland but well-bred, intellectual and yet sympa- 
 thetic — WycUffe was a man to rivet attention and secure respect at the first glance. His 
 hours were doubtless chiefly occupied, Hke those of an English college tutor of the present 
 day, with private instruction to the undergraduates; and his intervals of recreation appear 
 to have been largely spent in social rambles among the peasantry of the neighborhood. 
 5 
 
30 The Wy cliff e Semi-Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 His scholastic culture, warmed by a genial temper, gave him great influence, as well as 
 ready access, in thus accomplishing the rare function of a Hnk between the Hterary aristoc- 
 racy and the sturdy populace of a collegiate borough. Hence, he was enabled to sympa- 
 thize with the wants and sentiments of the lower classes, and to meet them with the 
 higher qualifications and views of a Christian student. It was this pecuhar position and 
 opportunity, no doubt, that incited his attention thus early to the task of translating the. 
 Holy Scriptures into the vernacular of his countrymen. The urgent need of such a 
 version cannot be well appreciated without a brief review of some of the literary and 
 ecclesiastical, and especially the Biblical, circumstances of the times. 
 
 The midnight of the Dark Ages had been broken by the establishment of high 
 schools, whose light was sensibly felt along the pathways of scientific and rehgious inquiry. 
 Europe was emerging from the semi-barbarism which the northern hordes had poured over 
 the older seats of civilization, and the invaders themselves, now Christianized and edu- 
 cated, were sending back streams of missionary and literary culture to their fatherlands. 
 England was foremost in realizing these ameliorating influences. From the times of the 
 Roman sway she had enjoyed pre-eminent advantages through contact with Latin Chris- 
 tianity, which then embodied all the learning and piety of the Western Empire; and the 
 displacement of the Britons by the Anglo-Saxons, and the subjugation of the latter in 
 turn by the Normans, had added successive elements of refinement to her originally wild 
 strength, as the compound English language itself attests to-day. At the period of which 
 we write the French tongue was still used in courts of law, a vestige of which practice 
 exists in many of the commonest legal terms of the present day; and side by side was the 
 Latin as the medium of hterary intercourse, which fact is likewise yet indicated by the 
 legal titles of many well-known processes. The EngHsh Universities, both founded about 
 two centuries prior to Wycliffe's graduation, and a little later than those of Paris and 
 Italy, but some three centuries earher than the oldest of Germany, were originally divinity 
 schools, or, at least, were conducted by divines, and largely for sacred learning. In fact, 
 theology was the chief — almost the sole — science of that day, and the only other branches 
 of knowledge which took a scholastic form were languages and philosophy, both of which 
 then had a decidedly theological aim and coloring. Moreover, the students were almost 
 exclusively novitiates of some of the monastic ranks with which at that time all parts of 
 Europe particularly swarmed. Wyclifte himself, while in college, was a candidate for holy 
 orders, and his own studies, of course, lay in that direction, as doubtless did also those of 
 most of his pupils. 
 
 The Lollards, as all the predecessors of Protestantism in England were called, had 
 already begun a comparison of the glaring corruptions of Rome with the simple truths and 
 practices of early Christianity, as well as with the obvious laws of morality and social decency ; 
 and in this discussion, which usually was rather indirectly than ostensibly carried on, the 
 Bible, especiallv the New Testament, of course, was continually appealed to as an author- 
 ity and witness against the Papal dogmas, ecclesiastical traditions and priestly dominations. 
 These latter were especially open to the shafts of ridicule ; and, as in the Reformation 
 afterward, the wits of Wycliffe's day, including Chaucer and Gower, were not slow in 
 pointing out the Romish inconsistencies to the public eye. The mass of the people were 
 thoroughly awake to the religious questions thus raised, and every educated person who 
 
The Life, Times, and Labors of Wycliffe. 3^ 
 
 mingled freely with them, as Wycliffe did, had constant occasion to ascertain their feelings 
 and apprehend their necessities. Readier access to the Holy Scriptures was evidently the 
 great desideratum in this controversy ; they alone could furnish an effectual as well as 
 spiritual weapon in the conflict. 
 
 The political condition of the country at the time greatly stimulated these debates, 
 which had not yet been nationally agitated elsewhere. One century before Wycliffe was 
 born the English barons had extorted from the violent and vacillating King John the 
 famous Magna Charta, which, although quickly denied by that prince, and denounced by 
 the Pope, who claimed the vassalage of the realm, yet renewed by the next and confirmed 
 by the subsequent sovereign, has remained to this day the substantial basis and bulwark of 
 British constitutional liberty. From that document definitely dates the great struggle 
 between the Romish and the secular arm on the one side, and the aristocratic and the 
 popular rights on the other, which has characterized English as well as Continental history 
 ever since. DisestabUshment and repubUcanism are still the radical and vital issues in 
 Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy ; while in America the vested privileges of caste 
 have scarcely met a final overthrow in our own lifetime, and the forces of Jesuitism are 
 marshaling for a fierce encounter with our native institutions in the near future. The 
 reign of Henry HI., who followed John upon the throne of England, was but a series of 
 contests between the King and the newly instituted House of Commons, which, after a 
 lull during the reign of Edward I., who was the next prince, but who was chiefly occupied 
 in settling the Scottish succession, broke out afresh under Edward H., and culminated in 
 his dethronement and horrid death. All these fluctuations of civil power the Roman 
 Pontiff watched at a safe distance, like a vulture scenting the field of battle, ever ready to 
 pounce upon the weak or the wounded of either side. Edward III., who came to the 
 throne at the age of fourteen, three years after the above-assumed date of Wyclifife's birth, 
 soon engaged in wars with Scotland and France, which occupied his entire reign ; but he, 
 nevertheless, resisted the claims of Rome, and Parliament supported him by statutes, 
 declaring the independence of the English clergy. The effect of all these poHtical turmoils 
 was to create and foster a spirit of free inquiry into human rights, both civil and ecclesi- 
 astical ; and in this investigation, whether secretly or openly conducted, the teachings of 
 Holy Writ could not fail to become intimately and constantly involved. The seeds of the 
 English Reformation of a later age were deeply and widely sown by these pubHc measures 
 and private experiences. 
 
 It must be borne in mind, however, that the art of printing had not yet been discov- 
 ered. All books, being in manuscript, had to be laboriously copied by hand, and were, 
 therefore, rare and costly. This was especially true of the Bible, on account of its large 
 size and the dead languages in which it was written. The Latin Vulgate was the author- 
 ized — or, rather, as we will presently see, the only accessible form ; and this the common 
 people, of course, could not understand, nor indeed read. Hence, Wyclifte, in the familiar 
 intercourse with the populace for which, as we have seen, his earHest public appearance 
 was distinguished, must have orally translated for their benefit such passages of Scripture 
 as he had occasion to cite in their hearing. The inconvenience and indirectness of this 
 process seem to have induced in him the determination, from his very college days, 
 to furnish a more adequate text than then existed for popular religious instruction. This 
 
32 The Wycliffe Semi- Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 purpose his whole career afterward confirmed. Vaughan says ("John de Wyclifife," p. 
 352): "Our present impression is that the thought [of translating the Bible] did not 
 become a purpose earHer than the year in which the Reformer withdrew from Oxford — the 
 year 1381." But the evidence, on grounds of presumption, for this late date of the 
 design, only shows that the thought had not at first taken such definite shape in his mind 
 as to warrant his public announcement of it. The elaborate work of Lechler ("John 
 WicHf and his English Precursors," translated from the German by Prof. Lorimer, Lond., 
 1878, 2 vols., Svo) treats but incidentally of Wyclifife's Biblical labors. 
 
 The only professed or real versions of any part of the Bible into English proper 
 before Wycliffe's were those of the Psalms, made nearly simultaneously by WiUiam of 
 Shoreham and Richard Rolle, in the early part of Wycliffe's century. They were both 
 from the Latin, were exceedingly crude, fragmentary, and encumbered with notes in most 
 copies, and never had any great celebrity or circulation. The earlier efforts at translation 
 in English were mere poetical paraphrases of portions of Scripture, such as, (i) the 
 "Ormulum," a versification of the narrative of the Gospels and Acts, belonging probably 
 to the former part of the preceding century; (2) the BibHcal poem entitled "Soulehele," 
 dating about the same time; (3) a rhymed rehearsal of the principal events of Genesis 
 and Exodus, of a somewhat later date; and (4), apparently contemporaneous with the 
 last-named, a metrical version of the Psalms, which existed, with many variations, in 
 different manuscripts. The Anglo-Saxon versions that had preceded were (i) Caedmon's 
 historical poem, written in the seventh century; (2) Aldhelm's and Guthlac's Psalters, of 
 about the same date; (3) "the venerable" Bede's Gospel of John, dated A. D. 785; (4) 
 the monk Aldred's " Durham Book," and Owun and Farmen's " Rushworth Gloss," both 
 dating about the middle of the tenth century, and covering imperfectly the Gospels; (5) 
 iElfric's abstracts from the historical books, chiefly of the Old Testament and Job; (6) 
 King Alfred's attempts, and a few other fragmentary glosses on the Psalms, Proverbs, 
 Canticles, etc., of later date and uncertain authorship. All these were altogether sporadic 
 and incomplete. Moreover, their language was quite unintelligible to Wychfife's genera- 
 tion. The Anglo-Norman dialect, which intervened, was partially represented by a series 
 of versions, or, rather, revisions, of these scattered elements, probably covering most of 
 the Bible, and certainly the Gospels, the Psalms, Canticles, and the historical books of the 
 Old Testament ; but they were of a mongrel character, and scarcely attained the authority 
 or currency even of the Anglo-Saxon reUcs upon which they were based. There was an 
 obvious and imperative call for a new and truly English version of the Bible as a whole, 
 adapted to the actual condition and vernacular of the people. It was Wycliffe's resolve 
 and destiny to achieve this for the first time. 
 
 With these necessary preliminaries, we return to the immediate history of WycHffe's 
 life and BibUcal labors. We have intimated that the exact date of his birth is uncertain; 
 and it is even doubted by some whether the John Wycliffe whom we find seneschal of 
 Merton College in 1366 (probably the author of a weak chiliastic treatise, entitled "The 
 Last Age of the Church"), was our subject, or another person of the same name. There 
 was still another John de Wycliffe, who was Vicar of Mayfield, in Archbishop Ishp's diocese, 
 from 1361 to 1380, and is liable to be mistaken for the Reformer (Vaughan's " Wycliffe," p. 
 52 sq.) All parties, however, agree that in 1360 our Wyclifife became known as a pub- 
 
The Life, Times, and Labors of IVycliffe. 33 
 
 lie opponent of the mendicant friars who infested England, interfering with school disci- 
 pline as well as with domestic relations; and to this date his tracts on that subject are 
 accordingly assigned. This was an effort no less in behalf of the people, who were weary 
 with the obtrusive sanctimony and beggarly squalor of these church fleas, than of the Uni- 
 versity authorities, who were equally sick of their impertinent ignorance and proselyting 
 usurpation. It won him such popularity, that in 1361 he was made warden of Baliol Hall 
 (afterwards Balliol College), an office for which he was well-quaHfied by his eminent dili- 
 gence and reputation as a student of civil and canon law, and especially by his skill in phil- 
 osophical and theological dialectics. By another singular coincidence, we find a John de 
 Wycliffe mentioned as master of Balliol College in 1340, who could not have been our sub- 
 ject (Vaughan, p. 559), if the above date of the latter's birth be correct. This preferment 
 of our Wycliffe gave both a wider scope to his scholastic abilities, and greater prestige to 
 his popular discussions. In the same year he was made rector of Fillingham, in Lin- 
 colnshire, a position which he exchanged in 1368 for that of Ludgershall, in the same 
 diocese. These livings did not require his removal from Oxford, and yet afforded him a 
 clerical function and a pastoral opportunity to come still more closely than before into 
 communion with the common people, and that in a rustic neighborhood. 
 
 In 1365, Archbishop Islip of Canterbury appointed WycHffe master of his new College 
 of Canterbury Hall (afterwards merged in that of Christ Church), at Oxford; but soon after 
 the accession of Langham to the See, in 1366, the monks, who formed a majority of the 
 members of the college, induced that prelate to eject WycHffe, on the ground of some 
 informahty in the appointment; and the Pope (Urban V.), being appealed to, sided, of 
 course, against Wycliffe, by a special bull, issued in 1370, of which the monks purchased 
 the royal confirmation in 1372. How little heed Wycliffe, although still professing to be 
 a faithful son of the Roman Church, paid to the Papal order of silence, accompanying 
 the bull — since it was not only gratuitous, but illegal under the Parliamentary statutes 
 above mentioned — we may judge from his tract in defense of the national policy against 
 the Pope, published about this time. This production doubtless contains the substance of 
 his argument before the Court, in reply to the same Pontiff's summons to the King to pay 
 the homage due from the time of John to the See of Rome ; a demand which, as we have 
 seen, Edward had refused to acknowledge, and now openly resisted. Thus introduced to 
 the royal favor, Wycliffe acted as the King's chaplain, and was presented (November 6, 
 1375) to the Prebend of Aust, in the diocese of Worcester, and, through the Duke of 
 Lancaster, he was compensated (about 1376) for the loss of his college mastership, by 
 being made rector of Lutterworth, in Leicestershire, where he had full scope for the reform- 
 atory principles which he now began to avow more pointedly. He had already (in 1372) 
 been created "doctor in theology" by the University of Oxford, then not a mere honorary 
 title, but an official one, authorizing him to lecture pubHcly before the students ; and he 
 used the privilege to expose the venaUty and superstition of the monkish orders, with a 
 vigor of reasoning and a keenness of satire which are conspicuous in his published tracts 
 on the subject. These abuses had come to be such a public burden, especially the occu- 
 pancy of benefices by aliens, that in 1373 the King appointed a commission, and in the 
 next year renewed it, with Wycliffe as a prominent member, to confer with the Papal 
 authorities for the abrogation of the evil. After a protracted session at Bruges, in Belgium, 
 
^4 The Wycliffc Semi-Millcunial Bible Celebration. 
 
 an arrangement was finally made; but the Pope soon violated the compact, and Parliament 
 again took action against the Roman usurpation. These developments more fully opened 
 Wycliffe's eyes to the inherent corruption of the Romish See, and he henceforth began to 
 argue and preach and teach and write boldly, and without reserve. As with Luther in a 
 later age, the hierarchy were alarmed and exasperated. By a formal convocation, they 
 summoned WycHffe to answer before them in London, on the 19th of February, 1377, to 
 accusations of erroneous doctrine. Lewis, in his "Life of John Wiclif" (Lond., 1719, 
 1820), gives February 19, 1378, as the date of this first trial; but this is an error, as is 
 evident from the dates of *che accession of Richard 11. (July 16, 1377) and of the sitting 
 of his first Parliament (October following). 
 
 The trial opened regularly, in St. Paul's, on the day appointed ; but an unlucky alter- 
 cation of a personal character arising between the Bishop of London and the Duke of 
 Lancaster, threw the assembly into an uproar, and even led to a popular tumult outside. 
 In the meUe Wyclifife was carried off in safety by his friends. The Pope (Gregory XL) 
 was now induced to take up the matter. Formal articles were prepared against Wycliffe, 
 and in five bulls, three of them dated simultaneously (May 22, 1377), he was cited to 
 answer to the charges of insubordination and heresy. Before these summons reached 
 England, Edward IIL died, and Richard IL was crowned; and the new Parliament was 
 indisposed to surrender Wycliffe for a trial at Rome (whither the Papal residence had just 
 been removed from Avignon), or even to suffer his imprisonment at home. However, in 
 February of the ensuing year (1378), the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of 
 London, to whom one or more of the bulls had been addressed, ordered a second trial in 
 Lambeth Palace, in April following. Wycliffe responded by a formal paper ; but the 
 proceedings were again abruptly, although not violently, ended, by the interference of the 
 populace in mass and the command of the King's mother. The prelatical judges retired 
 in confusion, with a pusillanimous injunction of silence upon Wycliffe, to which of course 
 he paid no respect. The prosecution shortly expired with the death of Gregory, and a 
 schism occurred by the election of two Popes as his rival successors. This gave Wycliffe 
 a fresh opportunity of exposing the corruption of the Papacy, now more flagrantly exhib- 
 ited than ever before, and, at the same time, a season of quiet for the prosecution of his 
 cherished design of translating the Scriptures, somewhat like that of Luther at the castle 
 in the heart of the Thuringian Forest. 
 
 We rapidly pass over the residue of Wycliffe's life, in order that we may devote the 
 remainder of this hmited paper to his Biblical labors. Early in 1379 he had a severe fit 
 of sickness, during which he was visited by the Papal emissaries, who urged him to 
 recant; but he soon recovered to denounce them more vigorously than ever. In 1382 a 
 court, constituted by the Pope, with the aid of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, con- 
 troverted certain propositions of Wycliffe, who had begun to question the doctrine of 
 transubstantiation ; and as his patron, the Duke of Lancaster, withheld his support, now 
 that the reformer ventured upon doctrinal ground, Wycliffe's position was eventually con- 
 demned, and the King was induced to remove him from the University. It is probable 
 that the odium of Watt Tyler's insurrection, in 1381, fell upon Wycliffe, as it was supposed 
 by his enemies to have been fomented by the "poor travehng priests" whom WycUffe sent 
 out to propagate his own views. The WyclifllTites, as his numerous followers were called, 
 
The Life. Times, and Labors of Wy cliff e. 35 
 
 were subjected to much persecution; but Wycliffe himself continued unmolested to preach, 
 at Lutterworth, the pure and earnest precepts of the Gospel. On the 28th or 29th of 
 December, 1384, he was seized, while, as some say, in the act of celebrating the Lord's 
 Supper, with a recurrence of paralysis, which he had felt two years before, and he died on 
 the last day of that year. The Council of Constance (May 5, 1415) condemned his 
 doctrines, and in 1428 his remains were dug up (from the chancel where he had fallen and 
 was buried) and were burned. The ashes were thrown into the adjoining Swift, which, 
 as Fuller, prosaically, and Wordsworth, poetically, remark, conveyed them, through the 
 Avon and the Severn, into the sea, and thus disseminated them over the world. His doc- 
 trines, carried into Bohemia by the members of Queen Anne's retinue, originated the 
 Hussite movement; and he is therefore entitled to the glorious epithet of "the Morning 
 Star of the Reformation." The celibacy of the clergy being then a universal custom, 
 Wychffe, although disputing its obligation, lived and died unmarried. His flock was his 
 family, and the English Bible his heirloom to posterity. 
 
 Wycliffe's literary productions are very numerous (Shirley ["List of the Original 
 Works of John Wicklif," Oxf., 1865] enumerates over two hundred, chiefly brief tracts). 
 Many of them were written in Latin, others in English, some in both languages, and 
 nearly all are on the religious questions of the day. Several of them still remain un- 
 printed, and more than half the entire number seem to have utterly perished. The most 
 important by far is his New Testament, which appears to have been published about 
 1378, and again in 1380. The first printed edition was by John Lewis (Lond., 1731, 
 fol.), and the next by Henry H. Baber {ibid., iSio, 4to) ; the latest is that of the 
 Clarendon Press (Oxf., 1879, i2mo). It is also contained in Bagster's "Hexapla" 
 (Lond., 1841, 4to), and in Bosworth's "Gothic and Anglo-Saxon Gospels" {ibid, 
 1865, 8vo). It was likewise printed from a considerably different manuscript by 
 Pickering {ibid., 1848, 8vo). Wycliffe also translated, either in person or by assistants, 
 the entire Old Testament, including the Apocrypha, a task which seems to have been 
 completed shortly before his death. His whole Bible has been accurately printed from a 
 collection of one hundred and seventy manuscripts, with valuable dissertations, etc., by 
 Forshall and Madden (Oxf , 1850, 4 vols., 4to). Wycliffe translated directly from the 
 Latin Vulgate, not deeming himself competent to use the Hebrew and Greek originals as 
 a basis. His version is quite hteral and plain, but comparatively stiff and inelegant, and 
 full of obsolescent words and constructions, showing that the language was yet in an un- 
 settled condition. It has, of course, little critical value nowadays, but its influence at the 
 time was immense, and has since been incalculable. It can hardly be considered the 
 foundation of our present English Bible, but rather its precursor; although, no doubt, 
 Tyndale largely used it in his translation from the original tongues. Wycliffe's Bible was 
 revised, about 1388, by John Purvey, who had been his curate at Lutterworth; and it is 
 Purvey's edition, rather than any of Wycliffe's own, that has generally passed as 
 Wycliffe's (so in Lewis's, Baber's, Bagster's, and the Clarendon texts). Both are printed 
 in parallel columns by Forshall and Madden. I close with a specimen of Wycliffe's ver- 
 sion from each Testament, in the old speUing, with Purvey's emendations in brackets. 
 
36 The Wycliffe Semi-Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 Genesis III., 7, 8. 
 
 And the eizen [izen] of both [bothe] being [weren openyd] ; and whanne thei knewen 
 him silf to be [that thei weren] nakid, thei soweden [sewiden] to gidre [the] leeues of a 
 fige tree [tre], and maden hem brechis [maden brechis for hem silf]. And whanne thei 
 herden the voys [vois] of the Lord God goynge in paradis [paradijs] at the shyning 
 [wynd] after myd dai, Adam hid hym and his wijf [and his wijf hidden them] fro the face 
 of the Lord God in the myddel [middis] of the tree [tre] of paradis [paradijs]. 
 
 Luke VIIL, 31-33. 
 
 And thei preiden him [hym], that he schulde not commaunde hem, that thei schulden 
 go in to the deepnesse [to heil]. Forsothe [And there was] a flok of manye [many] 
 hoggis was there lesewynge [swyne lesewynge] in an hil, and thei preieden [preiden] him 
 [hym], that he schulde suffre hem to entre in to [into] hem. And he suffride hem. 
 Therfore fendis [And so the deuelis ] wenten out fro the man, and entride [entriden] in 
 to hoggis [the swyne] ; and with bire [a birre] the floe [flok] went hedlinge [heedlyng] 
 in to the lake of watir [the pool], and was strangUd [drenchid]. 
 
William Tyndalc and his Bible. 2>7 
 
 WILLIAM TYNDALE and HIS BIBLE. 
 
 By REV. WILLIAM S. L A. N G F O R D , 
 
 Rector of St. John's P. E. Church, Elizabeth. 
 
 Kaulbach, in his celebrated cartoon, "The Era of Reformation," in the Berlin Museum, 
 has gathered into groups the most noted figures in science, art, letters, and discovery. 
 Central among these figures stands the form of Martin Luther, elevated upon a dais, hold- 
 ing in his upstretched hands the open Bible. Surrounding Luther are the principal promo- 
 ters of the religious Reformation of the i6th century. Behind him, still more elevated, sit 
 the pre-reformation reformers : WycHffe, Huss, John Wessel, Peter Waldo, Savonarola 
 and others. 
 
 The artist seems to have felt the touch of the spirit that moved upon the minds of men 
 in that period, kindling new zeal for knowledge and passing on till it penetrated the treas- 
 ures of heavenly wisdom in the divine store-house of God's written Word. The unseal- 
 ing of God's Book was the fruit of that intellectual awakening, which, beginning south of 
 the Alps, spread throughout Europe, and the opened Bible was the keen-edged sword 
 that delivered the people from spiritual thraldom. " Ye shall know the truth, and the 
 truth shall make you free." 
 
 John Wycliffe was the pioneer who opened the path for the common people into 
 the Word of God. In the latter half of the 14th century he translated the Latin Bible 
 of Jerome into the English tongue. Wycliffe died on the last day of the year 1384, 
 leaving behind him a host of followers, and a name precious as ointment poured forth. 
 *' Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die it 
 bringeth forth much fruit." Wycliff'e scattered seed which, in another age, was to spring 
 up in abundant fruitfulness. His influence, like his ashes, was borne far out beyond the 
 limits of his own land. 
 
 At the beginning of the 15th century we find the Scriptures translated from the Latin 
 into the languages of Poland, Bohemia and Germany. Before 147 1 four editions of the 
 German Bible had been given to the world. The Italian Bible of Malermi was printed 
 at Venice in 147 1. A French New Testament appeared in 1478; the whole Bible fol- 
 lowed in 1487. In 1522 there were in circulation printed versions of Scripture, in whole 
 or in part, in six languages besides German, Italian and French, viz. : Danish, Dutch, 
 Bohemian, Slavonic, Russian, and the dialect of Spanish spoken in Valencia. 
 
 Erasmus, reputed the most learned man of his day, gave a fresh impulse to Bible trans- 
 lation, as well by his bold advocacy of the rights of the unlearned to read the Word of 
 God, as especially by the preparation of a Greek text. His Greek Testament, which ap- 
 
38 The Wycliffe Semi- Centennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 peared first in 1516, and in revised editions in 1519 and 1522, formed the basis of the ver- 
 nacular versions. 
 
 In the year of our Lord 1523, appeared in the streets of London a man of austere 
 countenance, spare of body, plainly dressed in the garb of a priest, and with the air and 
 bearing of a student. That man was WiUiam Tyndale, the Translator, then less than 
 forty years of age. He dwelt in London about tb^e space of a year, preaching as he had 
 opportunity, and pursuing the habits of a student with great industry. While preaching 
 in the parish of St. Dunstan's, in the West, he found a friend in Sir Humphrey Mon- 
 mouth, a wealthy cloth merchant and alderman of London, who took him to his own home, 
 where, as Monmouth testifies, Tyndale lived as a good priest for half a year. " He studied 
 most part of the day and of the night at his book, and he would eat but sodden meat by 
 his good will, and drink but small single beer. I never saw him wear linen about him in 
 the space he was with me." 
 
 The materials for a sketch of Tyndale's earHer life are few and meagre. No authentic 
 record has been found of the time or place of his birth or parentage ; no incident is related 
 of his home Ufe ; no anecdote of his childhood or youth ; no account of his taking orders, 
 and only fragmentary allusions to his college days. Foxe says, " Tyndale was brought up 
 from a child at Oxford University." Froude speaks of him as " a man whose history is 
 lost in his work, and whose epitaph is the Reformation." 
 
 Assuming that Tyndale was born in 1484, he first saw the light just one hundred years 
 after the death of the heroic Wycliffe. He confesses that he was " ill favored in this 
 world, and without grace in the sight of men, speechless and rude, dull and slow-witted," 
 and it is altogether likely that his life was that of a plodding student at home and at the 
 schools. 
 
 The rehgion of England at this period was a rigid ecclesiasticism. The Church had 
 absolute power over persons and property. Stringent laws existed against heresy. The 
 bishops were empowered to arrest heretics without restraint, and upon conviction they could 
 proceed to burn them without the intervention of the civil power. It was enacted that 
 whoever read the Scriptures in English should forfeit land, chattels, goods and life, and be 
 condemned as heretics to God, enemies to the crown, and traitors to the kingdom. The 
 people were held in oppressive ignorance. The Bible was shut up. Conscience was stifled. 
 Spiritual light was quenched, and religion consisted in ceremonial rounds and superstitious 
 customs and submission to the priests. Freedom of thought was heresy; the possession of 
 God's word in English was heresy ; nothing was orthodox but implicit obedience. 
 
 Onerous taxes and compulsory tithes were exacted of the people under the extremes! 
 penalties. " The parson sheareth, the vicar shaveth, the parish priest poUeth, the friar 
 scrapeth, the pardoner pareth, we lack but a butcher to pull off the skin," thus wrote Tyn- 
 dale. " They look so narrowly after their profits that the poor wife must be countable to 
 them for every tenth egg, or else she getteth not her rights at Easter, and shall be taken 
 as a heretic." The morals and habits of the clergy were a scandal in the land. Cardinal 
 Wolsey wrote to the Pope — " both the secular and regular priests are in the habit of com- 
 mitting atrocious crimes, for which, if not in orders, they would be promptly exe- 
 cuted." 
 
 The Church's attitude towards liberal learning was extremely hostile. She claimed to 
 
William Tyndale and his Bible. 39 
 
 hold the keys of knowledge. The teachings of the Schoolmen were final. The Bible cov- 
 ered the whole range of possible human knowledge, and whatever was not read therein nor 
 could be proved thereby, was in no wise to be received. Science and philosophy were 
 proved by texts of scripture, and independent study of these was accounted heretical. 
 In 1530 Tyndale wrote to Sir Thomas More, " Remember ye not how within these thirty 
 years and far less, and yet dureth to this day, the children of darkness raged in every pulpit 
 against Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, and what sorrow the schoolmasters that taught the 
 true Latin had with them ; some beating the pulpit with their fists for madness, and roar- 
 ing out, with open and foaming mouth, that if there were but one Jerome or Virgil in the 
 world and that same in their sleeves, and a fire before them, they would burn them therein, 
 though it should cost them their lives ; affirming that all good learning decayed and was 
 utterly lost since men gave themselves unto the Latin tongue." A monk is quoted as saying, 
 " The New Testament is abook full of snakes and thorns ; Greek is anew language, of late in- 
 vention, and of which a man needs well be on his guard ; as for Hebrew, my dear brethren, 
 it is certain that all who learn it become Jews." The ignorance of the clergy was no- 
 torious. Thus wrote Erasmus of the monks in his satire, " The Praise of Folly :" " Though 
 this sort of men are so detested by everyone that it is reckoned unlucky so much as to meet 
 them by accident, they think nothing equal to themselves, and hold it a proof of their con- 
 summate piety if they are so illiterate as not to be able to read. And when their asinine 
 voices bray out in the churches their psalms, of which they understand the notes but not 
 the words, then it is they fancy that the ears of the saints above are enraptured with the 
 harmony." Like priest, like people. If the priests' lips keep not knowledge, how shall the 
 people understand ? " To keep us from knowledge of the truth," wrote Tyndale, " they 
 do all things in Latin. They pray in Latin, they christen in Latin, they bless in Latin, 
 they give absolution in Latin, only curse they in the Enghsh tongue." The Word of God 
 was entombed in a strange language, buried beneath doctrinal treatises and theological 
 summaries, heaped up with traditions and multitudes of words. But the night was far 
 spent, the day was at hand. Already streaks of dawn gilded the horizon. 
 
 The 15th century was marked by triumphs in which the whole civilized world was to 
 share. The invention of the arts, the revival of antiquity, the restoration of philology, 
 the discovery of the new western continent, were signs of an awakening which could not be 
 confined within narrow bounds. The divine art of printing brought Uterature within easy 
 reach. The press poured forth editions of the classics in convenient form, which found 
 their way among students and into the universities. England's two great universities, Ox- 
 ford and Cambridge, were infected with the leaven of the new learning. Eager students 
 sipped the fresh streams of knowledge and thirsted for more. 
 
 The close communication between the universities of Europe gave them all a com- 
 mon property in the intellectual progress in each. Students passed from one university to 
 another, attracted by the fame of some teacher. Erasmus came from Holland to Oxford. 
 Oxford students went to Italy, and returning brought back fresh enthusiasm for the studj 
 of the Greek language and Uterature. A coterie of scholars, formed in London about the 
 year 1500, became a centre of widening influence. Thus wrote Erasmus of that hterarj 
 group : " When I hsten to my friend Colet, it seems to me like listening to Plato himself. 
 In Grocyn, who does not admire the wide range of his knowledge ? What could be more 
 
40 The Wycliffe Semi- Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 searching, deep and refined than the judgment of Linacre ? Whenever did nature mould 
 a character more gentle, enduring and happy than Thomas More?" The year 1509 
 brought to the throne of England Henry VIII. Young, popular, accomplished, a friend 
 of hberal learning, he knew well the circle which so charmed Erasmus, and as the people 
 rejoiced in their young sovereign, so these scholars hoped that Henry would further their 
 aims in sound learning. John Colet was appointed court preacher, Thomas More was 
 made under-sheriff, Erasmus was called back from Italy and settled at Cambridge as 
 Professor of Divinity and Greek, Cardinal Wolsey, the Pope's Legate, a liberal patron of 
 learning, was made Henry's Lord Chancellor. 
 
 During this period of intellectual awakening in England, WilHam Tyndale was a stu- 
 dent at the universities, and laid the foundations of scholarship. At Oxford, listening to 
 the charming eloquence of Colet ; at Cambridge, sitting at the feet of the learned Eras- 
 mus, he enjoyed advantages equal to the best. Of Tyndale at Oxford, Foxe writes : " He, 
 by long continuance, grew and increased as well in the knowledge of tongues and other 
 hberal arts as specially in the knowledge of Scripture, whereunto his mind was singularly 
 addicted," and " he read privily to certain students and fellows in Magdalen College 
 some parcel of divinity, instructing them in the knowledge and truth of the Scriptures." 
 From Oxford he went to Cambridge, where he took his degree, and thence removed to 
 Gloucestershire, and became tutor in the family of Sir John Walsh. 
 
 We begin now to tread upon sure ground. Obscure as Tyndale's personal history is 
 hitherto, the Manor-house at Little Sodbury becomes a point of interest, and from thence 
 his hfe can be traced with more definiteness. That ancient house is the only place in 
 England that can be pointed out as the roof under which dwelt William Tyndale the trans- 
 lator. While there he found the vocation to which his hfe's energies were consecrated. 
 There his purpose took distinct form, and he pledged himself, if God spared him, "to trans- 
 late the Holy Scriptures into his native tongue, that what had hitherto been confined to the 
 learned, might be open to all who could read." 
 
 While there, too, Tyndale felt the rude hand of persecution. It was his custom to 
 preach in the adjacent villages and in Bristol, to the crowds that collected to hear him, on 
 the college green, but his plain speech aroused the opposition of the priests. Appeal was 
 made to the authorities to silence him, and he was summoned before the Chancellor, who 
 to use Tyndale's own words, *' threatened me grievously, and reviled me and rated me as 
 though I had been a dog." But finding nothing that they could prove against him, he was 
 permitted to depart. Divine Providence was shaping his course. In controversy with a 
 certain priest he was answered, "We were better without God's law than the Pope's." To 
 whom Tyndale repHed, " I defy the Pope and all his laws. If God spare my life, ere many 
 years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough, shall know more of the Scripture than 
 thou doest." Henceforth every energy bent to one end. It was clearly impossible for 
 him to accomplish his work at Sodbury, and so he writes: "When I was so turmoiled in 
 the country where I was that I could no longer there dwell, I this wise thought in myself: 
 This I suffer because the priests of the country be unlearned. As I this thought, the 
 Bishop of London came to my remembrance, whom Erasmus praiseth exceedingly for his 
 great learning. Then, thought I, if I might come to this man's service I were happy. 
 And so I gat me to London,and through the acquaintance of my master, came to Sir 
 
Williain Tyndale and his Bible. \\ 
 
 Harry Gilford, the King's grace's Controller, and brought him an oration of Isocrates, which 
 I had translated out of Greek into English, and desired him to speak to my Lord of London 
 for me, which he also did as he showed me, and willed me to write an epistle to my Lord, 
 and go to him myself, which also I did." 
 
 After long waiting, Tyndale was admitted to the presence of the young prelate. 
 Cuthbert Tonstal, the Bishop, received him with a cold reserve, and acknowledged the evi- 
 dence of his scholarship, but dismissed him with the most formal courtesies, assuring him 
 that a man of his talents could not fail to find service in London. Rebuffed, but not dis- 
 heartened, Tyndale tarried in London, seeking means to further his cherished purpose, till 
 at the end of a year he was forced to the sorrowful conclusion, "not only, that there was no 
 room in my Lord of London's palace to translate the New Testament, but also that there 
 was no place to do it in all England." He now looked to the land of Luther for liberty to 
 translate the Bible, and in the spring of 1524 he turned his back upon the shores of his 
 native land, never more to return. Taking ship for Hamburg, he repaired to Wittemberg 
 to meet Luther. It needs no stretch of fancy to conceive the joy with which he met the 
 great hearted German — the intrepid Reformer, who was doing for Germany what he had set 
 out to do for England. 
 
 In the Autumn of 1525, we find Tyndale in Cologne supervising the printing of his 
 New Testament. The work had not far advanced when it was interdicted by an order from 
 the Senate, and notice was sent to England warning the King and Cardinal against " that 
 most pernicious article of merchandise, the Bible." Tyndale, gathering up the sheets that 
 had been printed, fled with them in haste up the Rhine to Worms. At Worms the printing 
 was carried to completion, and two editions of 3,000 copies each, in octavo and quarto, were 
 brought out. It was the first Testament in English ever printed. Copies quickly found 
 their way into England and into the Universities, and were secretly distributed among the 
 common people to their joy, but to the annoyance of the authorities. The Bishop of Lon- 
 don confessed that "that most pernicious article of merchandise " was thick spread over all 
 his diocese. A council of bishops was called in the autumn of 1526, to deliberate upon the 
 course to be pursued, and it was resolved that the English New Testament should be pub- 
 licly burned wherever found. Elaborate preparations were made for an aiito-da-fe. Ton- 
 stal preached at Paul's Cross and denounced the work, and at the conclusion of his sermon 
 many copies of the condemned book were committed to the flames. Injunction 
 was issued, warning all who had copies to deliver them under penalty of excommuni- 
 cation. A bishop's fund was subscribed to buy up and destroy all copies that could 
 be found in Germany. These witless measures served only to increase the demand and 
 aided Tyndale in the further prosecution of his work. Copies came thick and three-fold 
 into England. " It cannot be spoken, " writes Foxe, "what a door of light they opened to 
 the eyes of the whole English nation." 
 
 The greater part of the year 1529 Tyndale spent in Hamburg, where, it has been 
 aflirmed, he had the help of Miles Coverdale in the translation of the five books of Moses. 
 These and the book of Jonah were published in 1531. The year of 1534 was signalized 
 by the production of a revised translation of the New Testament, imprinted at Antwerp, 
 and entitled, " The newe Testament dylygently corrected and compared with the Greke, 
 by Willyam Tindale, and fynesshed in the yere of our Lorde God A. M. D. & XXXIII 
 
42 The Wycliffe Semi- Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 in the moneth of November." The volume contained also a translation of " The Epistles 
 taken out of the Old Testament, which are read in the church after the use of Salisbury 
 upon certain days of the year." 
 
 This edition of 1534 contained the ripest fruits of Tyndale's work, and has been styled 
 his noblest monument. In it he had carefully gone over the whole of his work, comparing 
 the translation with the best Greek text, and introducing many changes to bring it into 
 closer conformity with the spirit and meaning of the original. A few specimens of the 
 changes will suffice to show the character of his later work. In the Sennon on the Mount, 
 St. Matthew, v. 13, the version of 1525 had run as follows: "Ye are the salt of the earth, 
 but and if the salt be once unsavory, what can be salted therewith ? it is, thenceforth good 
 for nothing but to be cast out at the doors, and that men tread it under feet." In the 
 revision it reads : " Ye are the salt of the earth, but and if the salt have lost her saltness, 
 what can be salted therewith ? It is, therefore good for nothing but to be cast out, and to 
 be trodden under foot of men." " See that your light so shine before men," is changed 
 into the more literal, " Let your light so shine before men." " Ye shall not think that I 
 am come to destroy the law," is more accurately translated, " Think not that I am come 
 to destroy the law." " Behold the lilies," to " Consider the lilies." " What raiment 
 ye shall wear," to " What ye shall put on." The last words of the sermon, " It was over- 
 thrown and great was the fall of it," is more strictly and rhythmically rendered, " And it 
 fell and great was the fall of it." 
 
 Well says Demaus, " Tyndale was great in both capacities ; he translated with un- 
 equaled felicity ; he revised with unrivalled success ; he has shown his countrymen both 
 the true spirit in which the Holy Scriptures may be worthily rendered into English and 
 the true method by which that translation may be gradually improved and perfected." 
 
 In 1535 appeared a second revision having in the title these words : " Yet once agayne 
 corrected by Willyam Tindale." From this edition were omitted the marginal glosses which 
 had been printed in former editions, thus fulfilling Tyndale's idea to give a bare text of 
 the Scriptures. The scheme of Tyndale's work was clear from the outset, and all his sub- 
 sequent revisions were but the carrying out of that scheme to the minutest points of exact 
 and true rendering. 
 
 The basis of his translation of the New Testament was the revised editions of the 
 Greek text of Erasmus, but he had also before him the Latin vulgate of Jerome, the Latin 
 of Erasmus and the German of Luther, It has been said that he was largely indebted to 
 the English of Wycliffe, but while he was no doubt familiar with Wyclifife's version, 
 there is no evidence that it exercised any control over his work, or even that he had a copy 
 of it by him. His purpose was to make a new and direct translation, and his own words 
 must be taken as conclusive. He says : " Them that are learned Christianly, I beseech 
 that they consider how that I had no man to counterfeit (that is imitate), neither was 
 holpen with English of any that had interpreted the same or such like thing in the Scrip- 
 ture beforetime." 
 
 His assertion that in both Testaments he translated direct from the original tongues 
 is fully sustained by the most competent modern critics. 
 
 Says Canon Westcott, " Tyndale availed himself of the best help which lay within his 
 reach, but he used it as a master, and not as a disciple. In rendering the sacred text, he 
 
William Tyndale and his Bible 43 
 
 remained throughout faithful to the instincts of a scholar." " It is impossible to read 
 through a single chapter (of the N T.) without gaining the assurance that Tyndale ren- 
 dered the Greek text directly." 
 
 Tyndale's writings, other than his translations of the Bible, do not come within the 
 scope of this paper. He wrote and translated controversial tracts and introductions to 
 the several books of the Bible. In some of these he sets forth, with a clearness and force 
 which has never been excelled, the principle of the single literal sense in the interpreta- 
 tion of Scripture, in opposition to the allegorical and fanciful methods which have often 
 prevailed to the confusion of the true sense. As a controversialist, he was shrewd, witty, 
 vigorous, always earnest, often severe, but in expounding God's Word for his children, he 
 was apt, rich, and faithful, with a flowing tenderness and fervent love for souls. 
 
 A glance at England will show the course of events in Tyndale's home. Wolsey had 
 bade "a long farewell to all his greatness" and died in 1530. Henry divorced Catherine 
 and married Anne in 1533, and was proclaimed Head of the Church in 1534. More and 
 Fisher were beheaded. Crammer and Cromwell were respectively Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury and Lord Chancellor. In 1534 the Convocation of Canterbury petitioned the King 
 for a translation of the Bible, and in 1536 it was ordered that the English Bible be placed 
 in every church, and that the clergy exhort all men to read it. In 1535 the royal English 
 printer was preparing to issue in London an edition of Tyndale's revised Testament, 
 
 It has seldom been given to any man to witness such success of his labors. Tyndale 
 was born for a purpose. He had now finished his course, and nothing remained but that 
 he should receive the crown of martyrdom. 
 
 It is no part of my purpose to trace the trials of this man of God through his years 
 of exile, or to describe the means employed to compass his defeat and death. His wander- 
 ings from place to place to elude the vigilance of foes j his shipwreck, whereby he lost all 
 his books, copies and writings, " to his hindrance and doubling of his labors." These and 
 many other trials which befel him were but incidents of a noble life. 
 
 From about the middle of 1534, Tyndale dwelt in the city of Antwerp, under the 
 shelter of the English House. A side-light upon his life, while here, reveals the gentler 
 features in the character of this devoted student. It was his habit to reserve himself 
 Monday and Saturday in each week, which he called his days of pastime. On these days 
 he sought out, in every hole and corner of the city, the poor and the sick, and the bur- 
 dened, and English refugees who had fled from religious persecution, and such he " did very 
 liberally comfort and relieve." He was now enabled by the income from his works to 
 live free from want, and whatever he had beyond his bare necessities he bestowed in sym- 
 pathetic charity. He felt himself secure, too, from harm to his person, and the tid- 
 ings from England might have led him to hope that he would soon be welcomed to his 
 native land. But his sense of security and his dream of returning to England in peace were 
 rudely broken. In May, 1535, a treacherous Englishman, PhilHps by name, who, through 
 feigned friendship, had secured Tyndale's confidence, laid a trap for him, and tempted 
 him forth at nightfall into the hands of officers. He was thrown into prison in the castle 
 of Vilvorde, near Antwerp, and after lying there more than a year, he was led forth to 
 execution on the sixth day of October, 1536. Having first been strangled, the fires were 
 kindled and his body burned. With his last breath he uttered the prayer, " Lord open 
 
44 The Wycliffe Setni- Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 the King of England's eyes." Thus ended the earthly life of a great man. His ashes 
 mingled with foreign dust, but he bequeathed the fruits of his life toil to his beloved Eng- 
 land — to her and to her children forever. 
 
 No fair estimate can be made of Tyndale's work without taking account of the cir- 
 cumstances in which he wrought. For centuries the Hebrew language had been practically 
 lost, and Greek was but little known. Latin was the language of literature, of 
 religion, and of the Bible. To tamper with the Latin Bible was as the sin of Uzzah ; to 
 turn it into the vulgar speech, was to degrade the sacred Book with the language of Ash- 
 dod. This superstition had struck its roots so deep, and spread so wide, that nothing 
 less than a violent wrench could loosen it. Tyndale's translation was in the teeth of 
 this prevailing prejudice, and came without sanction, in spite of authority, across the 
 sea, from what was considered the very hot-bed of heresy. Both More and Tonstal uttered 
 sweeping denunciations against it, and engaged in minute criticism of it — so minute that 
 Tyndale was led to say, that with the same diligence they might have made a translation 
 themselves. Yet, it is no small tribute to the merit of the translation, that so skilled a 
 critic as Sir Thomas More employed himself chiefly with Tyndale's doctrines. The 
 renderings which most offended him were such as these, "congregation" for "church," 
 "elder" for "priest," "favor" for "grace," "repentance" for "penance," "love" for 
 " charity." These simple terms of familiar significance struck at the traditional and 
 false notions which the other words had imported into the religion of the times. When 
 we consider how few helps Tyndale had ; the strong bias of theological traditions ; the 
 crude condition of the English tongue as a vehicle for the subtile shadings of thought in 
 he Bible, we wonder that he had the mental poise and discrimination to do his task so 
 well. But he was too wise to claim perfection for his work, and in his address to the 
 Christian Reader, he wrote, " Exhorting instantly, and beseeching them that are better 
 seen in the tongues than I, and that have higher gifts of grace to interpret the sense of 
 the Scripture and meaning of the Spirit than I, to consider and ponder my labor, and that 
 with the spirit of meekness, and, if they perceive in any places that I have not attained 
 the very sense of the tongue, or meaning of the Scripture, or have not given the right 
 English word, that they put to their hands to amend it, remembering that so is their duty 
 to do." It should be no matter of surprise, or of regret, that the text of the Scriptures 
 should be guarded with scrupulous care. It is easier to translate than to translate well ; 
 it is far easier to change than to improve, and every change, however small, in the sacred 
 text, demands the most searching scrutiny. We may make liberal allowance for the pas- 
 sions excited against Tyndale's version when we consider the ecclesiastical sensitiveness 
 and bigotry of the times in which he lived, but surely, we ought not to meet a like spirit, 
 in our day of greater light and liberty, nor ought the attempts of scholarly and devout 
 minds to amend and perfect the work of that great master, to be opposed by narrow 
 prejudice. Critical taste should not be inconsiderate of the value of the famiUar phrase of 
 scripture ; nor, on the other hand should, reverence for what has been obstruct changes, 
 which are demanded by more perfect knowledge. The Father of the English version has 
 given in thoughtful words the charter and guide for all future revisions. 
 
 In the language of an eminent biblical scholar, " Tyndale, not only furnished the type 
 of all succeeding versions, but bequeathed the spirit which will exercise a preservative 
 
William Tyndale and his Bible. 45 
 
 influence over the version of the EngHsh Bible through every change or revision that may 
 await it, until scriptural revision shall be no more." The eloquent language of Mr. 
 Froude, the historian, is a glowing but just tribute to Tyndale. He says: "Of the 
 translation itself, though since that time it has been many times revised and altered, we 
 may say that it is substantially the Bible with which we are all familiar. The pecuhar 
 genius — if such a word may be permitted — which breathes through it; the mingled 
 tenderness and majesty; the Saxon simphcity ; the preternatural grandeur, unequalled, 
 unapproached in the attempted improvements of modern scholars, all are here, and 
 bear the impress of the mind of one man — William Tyndale." 
 
 A recently discovered autograph letter of Tyndale, written to the Governor of the 
 Castle while he was a prisoner at Vilvorde, is too precious to be omitted from this sketch. 
 
 " I entreat your Lordship, and that by the Lord Jesus, that if I am to remain here during 
 the winter, you will request the Procureur to be kind enough to send me from my goods, 
 which he has in his possession, a warmer cap, for I suffer extremely from cold in the head'. 
 A warmer coat also, for that which I have is very thin ; also a piece of cloth to patch my 
 leggings ; my overcoat has been worn out ; my shirts are also worn out. He has a woolen 
 shirt of mine, if he will be kind enough to send it. I have also with him thicker leggings 
 for putting on above ; he has also warmer caps for wearing at night. I wish also his per- 
 mission to have a candle in the evening, for it is wearisome to sit alone in the dark. But 
 above all, I entreat and beseech your clemency to be urgent with the Procureur that he 
 may kindly permit me to have my Hebrew Bible, Hebrew Grammar, and Hebrew Diction- 
 ary, that I may spend my time with that study. And in return, may you obtain your dear- 
 est wish, provided, always, it be consistent with the salvation of your soul. But if any 
 other resolution has been come to concerning me, that 1 must remain during the whole 
 winter, I shall be patient, abiding the will of God to the glory of the grace of my Lord 
 Jesus Christ, whose Spirit I pray may ever direct your heart. Amen. 
 
 "Wm. Tindale." 
 How vividly does this call to mind the aged Apostle to the Gentiles, writing from the 
 Mamertine prison in Rome to his faithful Timothy : "I am now ready to be offered and 
 the time of my departure is at hand. The cloak that I left at Troas, with Carpus, bring 
 with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments." There is no reason to doubt 
 the tradition that Tyndale, while in prison, carried the translation of the Old Testament 
 to the end of the second book of Chronicles. 
 
 The name of William Tyndale should be dear to every one who loves the English 
 Bible. It will grow in esteem the more his Hfe is studied and the better he is known. 
 For if, to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God be the test of good- 
 ness, then Tyndale was a good man. If to have the foresight and courage of faith to 
 discern the right and choose it, to project a noble course, and pursue it through perils and 
 over obstacles, unintimidated by danger, unflinching in death, if this be greatness, then 
 Tyndale was a great man. 
 
 If to begin alone, amid scorn and obloquy, and to keep right on with brave spirit, and 
 tireless zeal, and patient hope, and at last to be owned, accepted, revered, if this be suc- 
 cess, then Tyndale was not only good and great, but victorious also. He won the crown ; 
 and as time goes on, and earth's histories shall be closed — when the chroniclers have fin- 
 ished their task, in the roll of the world's worthies no name will shine with a purer lustre 
 than the name of William Tyndale, 
 
46 The Wycliffe Semi- Millennial Bible Celebration, 
 
 THE BIBLE IN NEW JERSEY. 
 
 By Rev. GEORGE SHELDON, D. D., 
 
 SuperiDtender.t of the American Bible Society for New Jersey and Delaware. 
 
 " There are no politics like those which the Scriptztres teadi." — JoHN MlLTON. 
 
 For nearly three hundred years after the event that we this day commemorate, New- 
 Jersey was for the most part still an unbroken wilderness. The soil, enriched by the neg- 
 lected vegetation of ages of luxuriant growth, was occupied by sparse and straggling tribes 
 of aborigines. 
 
 Nothing reflects in brighter and more beautiful colors the principles of the Sacred 
 Scriptures, which influenced the leading characters who guided the early aff"airs of our 
 State, than the manner and spirit of their intercourse with the Indians. They recognized 
 them as children of a common Father ; they admitted that the savages held a fair title to 
 their lands, on the principle of what is termed in legal phrase, y//j-^<?////?/w, having the orig- 
 inal right of possession. So far did their regard for the teachings of the Holy Book we 
 honor put them in advance of the times in which they Uved, that they have left to us a 
 beautiful illustration of Christianity in this respect, not so fully seen in the colonization of 
 any other State ; and as a fruit of their humane and generous conduct, the Indians of New 
 Jersey gave the early settlers less trouble than was the case in any sister colony. Perhaps 
 nothing can better illustrate this than the following historical incident : 
 
 As is well known, the early settlers amicably purchased lands of the Delaware Indians, 
 a tribe that took its name from our beautiful river, and who were at that time the largest 
 owners of the soil. In 1758, a treaty was made, granting them the right of fishing in all 
 rivers and bays south of the Raritan, and a reservation was provided for them in Burlington 
 County. They remained in peaceable possession of these privileges until they left the 
 State. After their removal to the State of New York, and subsequently to Michigan, as 
 late as 1832, cherishing a tradition respecting their ancient fishing and hunting rights in 
 New Jersey, they delegated one of their number to obtain from our Legislature compensa. 
 tion for the relinquishment of those rights. The sum asked, $2,000, was, to the honor of 
 our people, cheerfully granted by their representatives in session in this House. This 
 Indian representative, who, by the way, was once a student of Princeton College, ended 
 his appeal with the words: " We have long looked up to the leading characters of this State 
 in particular, as our fathers, protectors and friends." Their claim was advocated in eloquent 
 terms by that distinguished Jerseyman, Samuel L. Southard, who made this significant 
 statement : " It is a proud fact in the history of New Jersey, that every foot of her soil 
 
The Bible vi New Jersey. AJ 
 
 had been obtained from the Indians by fair and voluntary purchase and transfer— a fact 
 that no other State in the Union, not even the land which bears the name of Penn, can 
 boast of" The letter of thanks addressed to the Legislature by the Indian representative 
 was read before the two Houses, in joint meeting, in this Chamber, on the 14th of March, 
 1832, and was received with shouts of acclamation. It contained the followmg extraor- 
 dinary and very beautiful testiiiiony: "Not a drop of our blood have you spilled in battle; 
 not an acre of our land have you taken but by our consent." 
 
 Ntw Jersey as a Commonwealth was in early times molded by New England Puri- 
 tans, emigrants from Holland, English Quakers, Scotch Presbyterians, and Swedish Lu- 
 therans. While these representatives of different nationalities had some bitter contests 
 among themselves, on the merits of which we have no occasion to enter, it is worthy of 
 grateful record that a spirit of broad Christianity was generally manifest in the pubHc 
 affairs of the State, and that no man was ever seriously persecuted for his religious behefs. 
 George Fox, the eminent Quaker, who in his early boyhood was an earnest student of the 
 Bible, found no hindrance in laying the foundation on this new soil of the universal rehg- 
 ion of peace and love. Like William Penn, persecuted in the Old World and in some 
 parts of the New, he found perfect tolerat'on here. It m.ay be mentioned that those ex- 
 cellent colonists, the Swedes, who settled in Salem county and elsewhere, took the lead in 
 the early. instruction of the Indians in the truths of Christianity. They even went so far 
 as to prepare the first catechism for their use. As is well known, David Brainerd, of 
 beautiful memory, who held the distinctive title of " Missionary to the Indians," devoted 
 his short life to self-denying labors among the children of the forest in this State and on 
 the western banks of the Delaware. His brother, John Brainerd, also labored among them 
 many years. 
 
 New Jersey and the Revolution. 
 
 Harsh is the hand of war ! But we thank the God of peace that in the midst of all 
 its horrors, we can in any case recognize tokens of His presence, and we are grateful to 
 know that when the sad days of conflict which separated the colonies from the Mother 
 Country drew on, the people of our State still gave so much evidence of religious char- 
 acter. That sacred Book, which they had brought with them from far over the sea, and 
 which they had been taught to revere as the guarantee of civil and religious liberty, was 
 evidently their guide, under the leadership of such ardent patriots as President John With- 
 erspoon, the martyred James Caldwell, and others. It is but just to say that the Fresby- 
 terian and Reformed clergymen of that day took a place among the foremost in the defense 
 of our rights. 
 
 In the Revolution, the losses of New Jersey of men and property, in proportion to her 
 population, were said to have been greater than those of any other of the thirteen States. 
 So it follows, that New Jersey, though territorially small, took such a place among those 
 who struggled for American freedom, and, as is well known, some of the most important 
 events of the Revolution occurred on her soil. 
 
 New Jersey and the Late Civil War, 
 Here, also, in times of great peril and excitement, we cannot forget that the power of 
 Christian principle was still apparent in reference to our public affairs. Daily assemblies 
 
^8 The Wycliffe Semi-Millentiial Bible Celebratioti. 
 
 for prayer in different parts of the State, during the war, especially in times of great emer- 
 gency, of which many of us have a tender remembrance, as well as supplications in our 
 homes and in the sanctuaries of the living God, attested both the religious and patriotic 
 fervor of our people. Not only in the former struggle of the Revolution was their share 
 in full and even large proportion to their wealth and population, but with a Christian 
 heartiness they united in support of a common cause, under Governors Charles S. Olden 
 and Joel Parker. About 50,000 copies of the New Testament were carried to the camp, 
 the field and the hospital by our soldiers, as a mark of the respect and affection of their 
 friends at home, who presented them. Beautiful as were those holy volumes themselves, 
 more so than those sent from any other State, still more beautiful was the act by which 
 they were bestowed. So did the divine sentiment of the Scriptures, " God a very present 
 help in trouble," sway the minds and hearts of our people in their great sorrows. 
 
 Measures for Bible Distribuiion in Early Times. 
 
 It should be noticed how generally the leading civilians of our Commonwealth, as well 
 as the ministers of our holy religion, evinced a personal interest in the distribution of the 
 Scriptures among our people. They considered it was not enough to leave their circula. 
 tion to the laws of commerce and of trade. 
 
 Early organized effort was made and combinations formed to increase their diffusion. 
 First in order was the appointment, at meetings of consultation held for the purpose, of 
 what was termed local agencies, composed of eminent citizens in the several counties. 
 
 Among these may be mentioned Gen. Ebenezer Elmer, of Bridgeton. Gen. Elmer 
 was an officer in the Revolutionary army, and in the closing years of his Hfe was President 
 of the Cumberland County Bible Society. His son. Judge Lucius Q. C. Elmer, holding 
 the same office, still lives in a green old age, deeply interested in the work of the Bible 
 Society, and was engaged to preside at this very session of the Convention, but, contrary to 
 his hope and expectation, the state of his health did not permit of his doing so. 
 
 Rev. Peter Studdiford, an influential minister in Hunterdon County; his son. Rev. Dr. 
 Peter O. Studdiford, of the same county, now deceased ; and his grandson, Rev. Dr. Peter 
 A. Studdiford, now li-ving, form a remarkable line of clergymen in three generations, all 
 prominent, in the same county, in this great enterprise. 
 
 This plan of local agencies, to a considerable extent, preceded the formation of the 
 State Bible Society, and was a part of that general religious movement, commencing in 
 England at the beginning of this century, which brought in the present new and wonderful 
 era of evangelical effort. 
 
 The New Jersey State Bible Society, a memorable feature of the early history of these 
 operations, was organized at Princeton, December 5, 1809, seven years prior to the forma- 
 tion of the National Society. Among those prominent at this period, whose names should 
 be remembered, the following laymen should be mentioned, viz. : Gov. Joseph Bloomfield 
 Dr. Elias Boudinot, and Joshua M. Wallace, of Burlington ; Chief-Justice Andrew Kirk- 
 patrick, John Nelson, and James Bishop, of New Brunswick ; Samuel Bayard, of Prince- 
 ton ; and Lucius H. Stockton, of Trenton. The following names of clergymen honored in 
 theirday,may alsobe mentioned, viz.: Rev. Dr. Samuel Stanhope Smith, President of Prince- 
 ton College ; Rev. Dr. John H. Livingston, President of Rutger's College ; Dr. John Wood- 
 
The Bible in N'ew Jersey. 49 
 
 hull, of Monmouth ; Rev. James F. Armstrong, of Trenton ; Dr. Joseph Clark, of New- 
 Brunswick ; Rev. Joseph La Rue, of Pennington ; Rev. George S. Woodhull, of Cranbury ; 
 Rev. Dr. Robert Finley, of Basking Ridge ; Dr. Charles H. Wharton, of BurHngton ; Rev. 
 Dr. James Richards, of Newark ; Dr. John McDowell, of Elizabethtown ; Rev. James V. C. 
 Romeyn, of Hackensack ; Rev. Dr. Samuel Fisher, of Paterson ; Rev. Dr. Asa Hillyer, of 
 Orange ; and Rev. Dr. Jacob Kirkpatrick, more recently deceased. 
 
 Nassau Hall Bible Society. 
 
 Next followed, in 1813, the Nassau Hall Bible Society, of Princeton College. It was 
 formed under the presidency of Rev. Dr. Ashbel Green, and represented the students of 
 that institution, and also of the Theological Seminary just estabUshed in that place. In 
 its early history it was favored with the authorization and guidance of President Green and the 
 College Faculty, as well as of Drs. Archibald Alexander and Dr. Samuel Miller, Professors in 
 the Seminary. The new society very early assumed a conspicuous position, not only in 
 the College and throughout the State, but also in other parts of the country. Great was 
 the interest manifested in a Bible Society organized and sustained by college students. It 
 led to the formation of similar associations in academies and schools throughout the 
 State, that became subsequently honorable and steadily-working auxiliaries, viz.: at Eliza- 
 bethtown, Trenton, Lawrenceville, Basking Ridge, and Princeton. Similar societies at 
 Jefferson, Union, and Dartmouth Colleges followed. Mr. WiUiam Plain, the first on the 
 hst of the alumni of the Theological Seminary ; Rev. W. A. McDowell, afterwards well 
 known in the church ; and William Pennington, subsequently Governor of the State and 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives at Washington, appear among its earliest student 
 officers. Among those who took an early and active part in the society's atfairs was Pro- 
 fessor John Maclean, who afterwards served, with eminent ability as Vice-President and 
 President of the College, and who still lives, honored and beloved, in his Princeton 
 home. 
 
 To this society belongs the honor of having originated the plan of State distribution of 
 the Scriptures. It was first suggested and carried to its adoption by Rev. Dr. Job F. 
 Halsey, at that time pastor of the Tennent Church in Monmouth county. Dr. Halsey is 
 still living, pastor emeritus, in a serene old age at Norristown, Pa. No one gentleman was 
 more active in these aftairs at that time than the late Rev. Dr. Robert Baird, then a student in 
 the college, "this system was afterwards adopted in other parts of the country, and has found 
 much favor in subsequent years in the prosecution of this work. In the early years of 
 the society's history, chiefly before there was any national organization, it extended its 
 work to the Army and Navy of the United States. In one of its reports it is claimed that 
 the idea of supplying the navy with the Scriptures, originated here. Commodores Bain- 
 bridge and Stewart favored the students in their benevolent and patriotic efforts in behalf 
 of the regular supply of Government vessels, many of which became historic in the war of 
 1812. 
 
 American Bible Society. 
 
 The following extract is from the ist Report of the Managers of the American Bible 
 Society, rendered in 181 7: 
 
50 The VVycUffe Semi-Mille7inial Bible Celebration. 
 
 " The Managers feel it their duty to state that the plan of such an institution was first 
 suggested by the British and Foreign Bible Society to the Philadelphia Bible Society. No 
 measures, however, were adopted to attempt its execution, until the New Jersey Bible 
 Society undertook the experiment. Although baffled in their first effort, their worthy 
 President, Dr. Boudinot, acting in conformity to their wishes, persevered in the good 
 work, and finally succeeded." That distinguished Jerseyman, Elias Boudinot, who first 
 gave formal expression to the desire for a National Bible Society, and, as far as was true of 
 any one person, was its founder, became its first President. He continued in office five 
 years, until his death in 182 1, when the managers put on record the following expression : 
 " The monument to his memory is the American Bible Society." Among the eminent 
 men who succeeded him in office were Col. Richard Varick and Hon. Theodore Fre- 
 linghuysen, names dear to Jerseymen. 
 
 General Organization throughout the State since 1847. 
 
 Bible Societies were formed early after 1816, which in some cases were well sustained. 
 Among these may be mentioned those in the counties of Gloucester, Cumberland, Hunt- 
 erdon, Morris, Somerset, Sussex, and perhaps one or two others. Among those laymen 
 who did important work in founding these associations were : Samuel L. Southard, 
 Gen. John Beatty, and Chief-Justice Charles Ewing, of Hunterdon \ Gen. John FreHng- 
 huysen. Judge WiUiam T. Rodgers, and Frederick Frelinghuysen, of Somerset ; Gen. 
 Ebenezer Elmer, of Cumberland, of whom I have just spoken, and others. 
 
 Public Interest in the Bible in the Last Thirty Years. 
 
 Shortly prior to the year 1850, associations were formed in the other parts of the 
 State — those then existing became revived, while a more general interest was evinced, and 
 the County Societies came to cover the entire State, and were well sustained. By this 
 system of observance from generation to generation, our people have been trained to put 
 honor upon this work, so that in many cases the anniversaries of the auxiliary societies 
 become religious holidays, anticipated with pleasure and celebrated with enthusiasm. 
 These annual gatherings in the twenty-one counties of the State have been no unimportant 
 element in Christian education for a whole generation and more. 
 
 In addition to these, those more formal assemblies, for many years held in this chamber, 
 composed of members of both branches of the Legislature, and presided ov^r by the Chief 
 Magistrate of the State, have attested the general interest in this great enterprise. 
 
 We may justly be proud of the high position which the Bible, from which Witherspoon 
 and Livingston preached and taught, has in our ancient colleges at Princeton and New 
 Brunswick, in our seminaries, and in our public schools. One of our honored Chief 
 Magistrates, the late Gov. Daniel Haines, said : " There is not a law on our statute books 
 which cannot be more or less distinctly traced to the sacred law of God in the Bible. 
 
 To the honor of New Jersey it has been said, that in no State have eminent civilians, 
 jurists, and members of the bar, been more prominent and active in all that pertains to 
 this great enterprise than in our own. Among those who have held official position dur- 
 ing the last thirty years in the Bible Societies of the State, and who have now passed away^ 
 the following well-known laymen may be mentioned, viz.: Judge Stacy G. Potts, Gov. 
 
The Bible in Neta Jersey. 5 ^ 
 
 Peter D. Vroom, Chancellor Henry W. Green, Joseph G. Brearley, and William C, 
 Howell, of Mercer county; William N. Shinn, and John Griscom, of Burlington ; Gov. 
 George F. Fort, and Joel Haywood, of Ocean; Dudley S. Gregory, of Hudson; Samuel 
 D. Stryker, and Peter I. Clark, of Hunterdon; Judge William P, Robeson, Judge R. S. 
 Kennedy, J. F. Sherrard, Dr. J. Marshall Paul, and Dr. Roderick Byington, of Warren ; 
 Gov. Daniel Haines, Judge Martin Ryerson, Jonathan Whittaker, and John Ilifif, of Sus- 
 sex; Judge Ira C. Whitehead, of Morris county; Judge Ralph Voorhees, and Benjamin 
 McDowell, of Somerset; and Chief-Justice Hornblower, John P. Jackson, James G. Goble, 
 Dr. Lyndon A. Smith, William Rankin, and Cornelius Walsh, of Essex county. To this 
 hst, a large number of leading clergymen might be added. 
 
 As illustrating the force of practical Christianity, mention may be made, before closing, 
 to the noble conduct of the people on our sea-coast toward ship-wrecked crews and 
 passengers. Without any public remuneration whatever, by daring heroism, at the risk 
 and often at the sacrifice of their lives, they have been in the habit for many years of saving 
 those who were ready to perish, and providing from their own resources for the immediate 
 wants of the sufferers. The United States Life-Saving Service has forty-one stations 
 on the New Jersey coast. To a larger degree than to any other one person, we are indebted 
 for the establishment of this service to Ex-Governor William A. Newell, who successfully 
 pressed that important interest before Congress. 
 
 It is the glory of the settlers of New Jersey, of various nationalities, who came from 
 the homes of the Old World, that they united by such sacrifice in laying the foundation 
 of a free church in a free State. In looking back upon their day with tender emotions, 
 we make grateful record of our admiration and thanks. 
 
 It is encouraging to see that what was so much desired and longed for by the ardent 
 minds of Wycliff'e, and his fellow laborers and sufferers, in the ages that were dark and far 
 back, has been in such a good degree realized in our day, and nowhere more than in this 
 Christian Commonwealth, where not only the learned, but the common people also, have 
 the happy possession of the Word of God in their hands and in their homes. Thus we 
 may be pardoned in exclaiming : 
 
 Hail ! honored New Jersey ! 
 " Oh, fair young mother ! on thy brow 
 Shall sit a nobler grace than now; 
 Deep in the brightness of thy skies, 
 The thronging years in glory rise, 
 
 And, as they fleet, 
 Drop strength and riches at thy feet." 
 
52 The Wycliffc Semi- Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 \ 
 
 THE ENGLISH BIBLE: 
 
 ITS RELATIONS TO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND 
 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 By RICHARD G. GREENE, 
 Pastor of Trinity Church, Orange, New Jersey. 
 
 We are standing, to day, like the prophet Ezekiel in vision, where waters issued from 
 under the threshold of the mystical temple. For these few hours we go backward half a 
 thousand years in the history of the island-home of our fathers. The whole social archi- 
 tecture of this nineteenth century recedes ; we leave behind us all the modern structures 
 of our spiritual and ecclesiastical life; our eyes are turned to that majestic sanctuary whose 
 front is toward the dawn, and from whose threshold comes a trickling rill, flowing from the 
 altar within, " fast by the oracles of God." That which we are beholding is the quiet and 
 seemingly feeble coming forth of the Word of God into our English tongue. One who 
 has a measuring-Hne in his hand, measures a thousand cubits along the gentle stream and 
 brings us through the waters, which have risen to our ankles ; again he measures a thousand 
 cubits and brings us through — the waters are to the knees; again a thousand, and brings us 
 through — the waters are to the loins; afterwards he measures a thousand, and lo ! it is a river. 
 for the waters are risen, a river that we cannot pass over. Tracing it on its course through 
 desert lands we find multitudes of trees and plenteous verdure along its banks ; and he 
 with the measuring line says to us, "These waters issue out and go down into the desert, 
 and go into the sea; which being brought forth into the sea, the waters thereof shall be 
 healed ; and everything shall live whither the river cometh, because its waters issued out 
 of the sanctuary." 
 
 We are here to commemorate the historic channel, through which the wonderful Word 
 of God issued from its springs on the templed height of Zion, and from the closed domain 
 of the Hebrew Church, into the language and the lands that are latest in history, and farthest 
 toward the setting sun. We celebrate a translation and many translations in one. 
 
 It is made my especial duty to speak of the Word in its translation into our own lan- 
 guage, and of its relations to that language ; but it becomes us now and at all times to hold 
 in chief regard that supreme, interior translation which only the Holy Ghost can give, that 
 translation whereby in old times the Word first came to chosen men, and whereby in every 
 age the Word of God comes as tlie word of life to dying souls. To this peculiar and sur- 
 passing glory of the Holy Scripture, as the transcript in human history through human ex- 
 
The English Bible : Its Relations to the English Language. 5 3 
 
 perience, of the Living Word, who is the Son of God, other voices than mine are called to 
 testify in these commemorative hours. 
 
 Yet, we may well refuse to celebrate the birth of this noblest classic of the English 
 tongue, in any line of thought which leaves out of view the Divine element, which is the 
 root of its noble pre-eminence. All our honor of the translation is vain, and it is not " good for 
 us to be here," unless we set beyond denial the fact that, for five centuries God's revelation 
 of Himself in His Son and by His Spirit, given aforetime by prophets and apostles, has 
 bee?i ivritten in our English to7igtie. If it can be maintained that the inspiration, the 
 Divine life, that was in the Hebrew and the Greek, has been either vacated or reduced in 
 its flow into the English speech, then we here are strangely rejoicing over not a rising but 
 a fading day. We may assuredly know — we may even see in history — that the stream 
 that comes forth from the Heavenly sanctuary is never absorbed or diminished, but widened 
 and deepened, in its course through successive lands. It is the manner of Christ the 
 Word to increase. It is then a faulty and disordered thought which, envying the advan- 
 tages of the first language through which of old the Divine revealings came, underrates in 
 the comparison the amplitude and certainty of the revelation to us that are far off and of 
 strange, new tongues. What, though a different era and aUen national development and 
 diverse linguistic elements and principles, make impossible to an English translation the 
 precise reproduction of the Hebrew or Greek original in its formal thought ? What 
 though the tides of modern occidental history, and especially the tumultuous, complex, and 
 systematized pettiness, which we are pleased to call civihzation, have opened language into 
 multitudinous issues utterly new, while driving with resistless change through whatever 
 channels may remain of ancient thought and feeling ? If the disadvantage of a transla- 
 tion be such that Wycliffe and Tyndale — those two giant prophets of the modern church — 
 and their mighty successors, could give England and America only some echo of the Divine 
 voice ; if they could do nought but turn the Divine light of the earUer days, as a reflected 
 or refracted ray, more or less dimmed or distorted, upon the scene of our modern life ; 
 if Christ's missionaries, rendering His Word into scores of heathen languages to-day, can 
 present only a truth ever diminishing and evaporating in its necessary translation from 
 language to language, then the Word of God, which we have trusted was quick and power- 
 ful, is bound indeed ; and the Gospel, instead of being the dawning of the glory of the 
 latter day, is but a waning light. 
 
 This whole line of thought is entangled among the externals of God's Word, confusing 
 the reality with the form, the life with the linguistic dress. It overlooks the fact that God's 
 revelation m its essence is not, and cannot be, words in any language, ancient or modern ; 
 that though it come, and must come, in word and letter, as the rider in his chariot, the 
 Divine truth that comes is never the " letter," but always the spirit ; even as our Lord 
 Jesus teaches us when He says : " It is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth noth- 
 ing; the words that 1 speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are life [John vi., 63.] God 
 has graciously set His Word in the ternc\s of human language ; but, that Word was fully a 
 trajislation in the very first language, Hebrew, Greek, in which it came, as it can be in any 
 subsequent ; and any tongue of earth can be but an imperfect human vehicle ordained 
 to deliver the life and truth of God to the hearts which His Spirit opens to receive it. 
 For the same Spirit who of old spoke to holy men with a direct revelation of God, and in- 
 
54 The Wycliffe Semi- Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 spired them to speak with what then came from them as a secondary and transitional revela- 
 tion through such language as they knew- —the same Spirit made of old, and makes in every 
 age, the primary and enduring revelation of Christ, not within the limits of any ethnic sys- 
 tem of grammar, syntax, inflection — but in the universal language of God to the soul of 
 man — that language which is the deep foundation of all mortal speech. 
 
 The venerable verbal forms of Holy Writ must stand, indeed, and be held in reverence. 
 That is no translation, but a violation, which fails to seek their accurate rendering through 
 every linguistic help which is known to man — a violation of the ground-form which God has 
 seen fit to appoint for His Word on the earth. The Transfiguration, that temporary 
 translation of Jesus Christ, had need to base its sublime spiritual scenery on a solid mount 
 of common earth and rugged rock ; so, revelation must have its standing place in the 
 " letter." But the revelation that is to suffer in the transfer from language to language 
 under the hands of men who, using all available human knowledge, give themselves to be 
 led of the same Spirit who first gave the Word, must have been a revelation only local and 
 transient, and not God's Word to the world. The revelation stands in the letter, but it 
 is not the letter, and it is not to be Hmited by the letter. 
 
 No gift of tongues came down on any Pentecost day in the elder church in the wilder- 
 ness or on Mount Zion. God spoke to Moses face to face ; yet Moses had such small 
 gift of tongue, that he could scarcely speak to Pharaoh, and he " spoke unadvisedly with 
 his lips," when he smote the rock ; and we know that scarcely any echoes of the Divine 
 voice to David and the prophets sounded out to any bordering lands. The near heathen 
 nations surrounded with a wall of solid darkness the little land on which fell God's ancient 
 light. There was true revelation, but not as yet so vital, organic, and self-completing, that 
 it could spread wings for translation round the world. But when in the fullness of time, 
 He whose name is the Word of God, from whom all language in either earth or heaven 
 comes, to whom all rightfully belongs, had been completely manifested on the earth and 
 in the heavens, then revelation was complete. Complete — not Ji?iished, like a fossil bed- 
 ded in an eternal fixedness of fact, but complete with living power for action and for flight. 
 The very symbols with which the Spirit of God came down upon the humble, apostolic 
 church, were symbols of mighty going forth and of living speech — the rushing wind, the 
 tongues of leaping flames. And to the end of days the gift of tongues abides in the church 
 of Christ ; no longer, indeed, as a miraculous surprise, but as the far mightier constant flow 
 of those forces with which Christ spreads His regenerating sway over language after language 
 — vitalizing the very faculty of human speech, redeeming the human tongue in the re- 
 demption of the human heart, making crystaline with Divine light and melodious with 
 heavenly echoes the languages of successive nations, as by successive translations He sets 
 His living Words in their familiar forms of speech — until He shall have brought all utter- 
 ance into celestial harmony in the unity of a Kingdom without end. Then shall the rev- 
 elation that was a rebuking promise in Eden, a thunder on Sinai, a groan on Calvary, 
 a noise of battle and woe in the Apocalypse ; that was a whisper to Adam, and a plaintive 
 song in David, and a stern cry in Elijah, and a rapture of tears in Isaiah, and life and light 
 both veiled and unveiled in the Son of Man, and a deep gaze in John, and a fused and 
 welded argument in Paul, complete itself in adoration, and be merged into the everlasting 
 song. 
 
The English Bible: Its Relations to the English Language 55 
 
 The work which we here commemorate opened one of the stages in the historic path 
 to this consummation. God's Word, entering when the time was ripe, into our En-Hsh 
 tongue, has wrought a work beyond measurement by man, in founding, molding, unifiying 
 two great alhed nations. By its successive versions, from Wydiffe down, influencing hfe 
 law, and language, it has marshalled the British Isles and this Northern continent into the 
 mighty march of the Kingdom of God. 
 
 John Wyclifife's translation, not the first in English, was the first rendering of the 
 whole Bible into our English. Seven hundred years previously an English (Anglo-Saxon) 
 version of various parts of the Book had been made, and a Psalter of about that date is in 
 the National Library at Paris. Sir Thomas More testifies that "the whole Bible was 
 long before Wyclifife's days, by virtuous and well-learned men, translated into the English 
 tongue." These earlier issues of Divine truth had been preparing with invisible ftrce 
 much of the England that was to be, the America that is, and— we may say— through these 
 the world that is to be. One of their products, early ripe, was John Wycliffe himself. 
 
 We can see however, that these previous issues had found no preparedness of the 
 times for any broad and immediate national results. Before Wycliff-e's time, English 
 nationality had had hardly an existence; it was struggling into self-cons»iousness'; experi- 
 menting with many diverse elements of thought and character and language, as these 
 were thrust upon it at the sword's point by repeated incursions ; with ancestral memories 
 and traditions which as yet were discords rather than a harmonizing force ; its chief na- 
 tional bond, the outward girdle of the seas that raged around its island shores. Early cast 
 off from the Roman empire, as an outlying region too remote to be surely held and 
 assimilated ; it had become an island also in politics, manners, domestic life, language, and 
 religion. The Latin, the Gallic, and other Celtic, the Scandinavian, and other Teutonic 
 elements, which had cast themselves upon it in repeated surges of invasion, it had held in 
 mechanical mixture, amid which the chief unifying internal agency had been the Latin 
 Church ; though even that subtle and pervasive force had found these islanders intractable 
 when it had pushed its authority beyond a certain height. 
 
 When Wycliff-e's version appeared, the hour had struck for the England of our own 
 ancestral memories to emerge from the tumult of ages. It was in his century that the 
 long-vexed stream of the dominant language passed into a broader, smoother channel, and 
 began that steady and expanding flow which five succeeding centuries have not greatly 
 disturbed with either turning or arrest. The "old Enghsh" or Anglo-Saxon, which had 
 been spoken in two leading dialects— one in the north, the other in the south- 
 began in his early life, to give place to a " midland English ; " and it was in this 
 that he and his great cotemporary, Chaucer, wrote. In less than twenty years after Wyc- 
 liff-e's translation was made, the midland dialect had become the accepted literary form of 
 the language, displacing the French and the more recent northern and southern English. 
 This dialect— called geographically the Midland English— viewed chronologically was the 
 " middle English," transitional between the old and our modern speech. Only two varia- 
 tions have been developed since Wycliff-e wrote: first, the " early modern English," which 
 by i6ii (the date of the pubHcation of our present English Bible) had passed into modern 
 English, substantially our present tongue. 
 
 While it is not easy to assign to Wycliff'e's version its exact influence in modifying and 
 
5 6 The IVy cliff e Semi-Millentiial Bible Celebration. 
 
 unifying the English speech, it is certain that that influence was great, at least as a prepara- 
 tive. He had not the aid of printing ; it was nearly a century and a half before any part of 
 the Bible was printed in EngHsh ; indeed, the whole of his earlier version was not printed 
 until thirty years ago. Copies of his work could be multiplied only by transcription ; but 
 he sent forth multitudes of readers, " poor priests," who, gathering assembHes by the way- 
 side and in the market places, poured the living truth into the ear and the heart of the 
 common people. We shall see that printing was not so indispensable as in our day, when 
 we remember that the England of Wycliffe had a population probably less than 4,000,000, 
 and that books of any kind were rare. Thus the Bible, entering the English tongue before 
 the era of modern growth, was able to intrench itself in the national heart, and to in- 
 fluence the national literature in an age in which formative principles were to go forth for 
 action on the growing populations of many future centuries. 
 
 Moreover, there was a tremendous popular and even national power in the spirit with 
 which Wycliffe produced his version — the spirit characterizing Tyndale also in his transla- 
 tion a hundred and fifty years afterward. From the book on which they labored they re- 
 ceived not only a devout temper and much zeal — neither of which was rare in those days — 
 but also that whijh was rare and startling, a solemn estimate of the value and of the rights 
 of the individual man as against, or at least aside from, the huge corporation and body 
 politic known as the Church. For the over-grown ecclesiasticism of their day they both had 
 low esteem, deeming that it had far too much intruded itself between man and God. Al- 
 ready the church and the priesthood had their Latin Bibles ; John Wycliffe would put the 
 Word of God into the mother-tongue of every Englishman. It was no dainty business to 
 which he set himself; his version was homely, made for plain folk — " so," as he says, " that 
 pore Christen men may some dele know the text of the Gospel ; " it was no work of ascetic 
 and superstitious devotion ; it was no offering to the Church, not even with any large refer- 
 ence to the need of a lectionary for the common people joining in the church services ; bat 
 a work in behalf of the common people, irrespective of the church, that they for themselves 
 might read and study the Divine Word. This commended it to the Teutonic independence 
 and to the English practical common-sense, opening for it a wide acceptance; and endu- 
 ing it with power. In the light of subsequent history we plainly see that this strong appeal 
 to common sense, private judgment, and individual rights — all claimed in the name of the 
 Word of God — was a prophecy and a claim of all our modern civil and religious freedom. 
 It was the enfranchisement of literature. It was one of those movements which modify 
 and decide a nation's language, by deeply influencing the national life. 
 
 After Wycliffe had opened the gates of England to the Word, the public demand for 
 it grew rapidly, and was met by many successive translations, until, after two centuries and 
 a quarter, our present version appeared, the Book of our fathers, the Book of our childhood; 
 the Book which, with whatever needful emendations in details, will be the Book of our 
 children, and of our childrens' children, so long as the English tongue endures. The 
 history of this translation is so famihar, and its praises have been so often and so eloquently 
 sounded by the masters of language and of thought, that I spare the words of mine, 
 which could bring it no added honor. Viewed as a mere literary production, it has stood 
 for nearly three hundred years, the one incomparable classic of our English tongue. 
 Shakespeare's literary work ended at the time when this version went forth. Both were great 
 
The English Bible: Its Relations to the English Language. 57 
 
 factors in the language ; yet it is easy to see that the language of the Bible is, more nearly 
 than that of Shakespeare, the language of to-day. The English which our translators used 
 gained, from the truth which it enshrined, such stabiHty, dignity, and living power, that it 
 has stood amid vast governmental and social changes, migrations, national revolutions, and 
 such rising and rushing tides of thought as the world had never known before, an immov- 
 able bulwark of the English speech. It was the chief defence of the literature of two 
 great nations against the incursion of foreign idioms, and especially of that pompous 
 Latinized, or that affected French style, which in the last century invaded the court and 
 the polite society of Britain, and had its echoes in our then humble American Hterature. 
 It is our English Bible which has held the English-speaking people to the solid Saxon, 
 which we have a right to claim as the root and elemental fibre of our tongue. 
 
 Besides its preservatit^e service for the structural forms of our language, its work has 
 been creative in the intellectual and moral sphere of thought and character, and of their 
 expression in Hterature. Its perusal has been a universal education. For it introduced 
 into our mother-tongue a library of separate books, the winnowed wisdom and experience 
 of seventeen hundred years under the leadings of the Spirit of God — each several book 
 the work of a rich, elect, illuminated human spirit — and all still pouring their individu- 
 ality to swell the one historic tide of truth along the channels of our fore-fathers' speech. 
 Into our modern Western world, so restless, spasmodic, and executive, it has brought 
 the contemplative thought of far ancient days and of the oriental lands, adding to our 
 language a solemn grandeur and a nameless charm of spiritual beauty. To our whole 
 hterature it has given a moral atmosphere vitalized as with the breath of God. Bringing 
 in the living truth of eternal things in the formative period of our modern speech, it has 
 imbued our language with a spiritual essence ; it has enlarged the scope 
 of our common words, endued them with new wealth of thought, opened 
 them to finer issues, Hfted them into higher ranges of meaning ; thus broadening the 
 whole horizon of language outward toward the infinite spaces, ennobling it and empower- 
 ing it for all moral and spiritual utterance ; at once enriching and simpHfying. making 
 more generous and more sincere all human communications. The world's oldest, strong- 
 est, most tender, and most majestic Hterature — no mere flight of oratory or labor of logic 
 or dream of poet's imagination or mystic gropings of philosophy, but literature of actual 
 human nature and of the Living God — is within the covers of the EngHsh Bible. Finding 
 or making its way into the homes of the high and of the lowly, it has possessed literature 
 in both thought and style, supplying to oratory a fiery power, to poesy a winged rapture, 
 to law and charter — precept of public duty and declaration of civil rights — a strong soul- 
 shaking reverberation from the awful Mount of God. Its rugged fibre is inwoven through 
 our common diction ; its strangely delicate echoes fill our grandest libraries. Take out 
 of our language and our literature those possessions which have been either given or 
 confirmed by the EngHsh Bible, and much of that which gives our English its distinc 
 tive character would be gone. 
 
 We have been looking backward over the track of half a millennium. Look forward 
 another half miUennium. No man can predict, no man can imagine, what mighty 
 changes may arise. Time seems hurrying now as though the ages were driving to 
 their spiritual and their physical consummation, known to Him alone who sitteth in the 
 
58 The Wycli^c Semi-Millciniial Bible Celebration. 
 
 circle of the Heavens. But this we can well predict : if the world shall stand in its present 
 conformation — the " fast-anchored isle " still keeping its westward watch off the coasts of 
 Europe; this new and greater Britain still spanning this western continent between 
 earth's two grandest oceans — then the thousandth anniversary of the entrance of the 
 Word of God uito our English tongue shall celebrate that Word — Hke all truth, ever 
 old and ever new — still fresh and strong, still interpreting in our mother-tongue the 
 language of the City of God, still leading the nations, like a pillar of cloud and a pillar of 
 fire, along the path of history toward the glory of the Day of the manifestation of the 
 Son of God. 
 
Divine and Human Elements in the Bible. 59 
 
 DIVINE AND HUMAN ELEMENTS 
 IN THE BIBLE. 
 
 By SAMUEL. M. WOODBRIDGE, D. D., 
 Prof, in the Theol. Seminary at New Brunswick. 
 
 It may serve to throw light upon our subject if we distinguish between the Christian 
 Religion and the Book which conveys it to the world. For we all know there is a knowl- 
 edge conveyed to us by a synthesis, differing in kind from combined conclusions of all pos- 
 sible analyses. In nature, the mountain set fast on its ancient foundations, many-colored, 
 towering to the clouds, proclaims to us in its unity, lessons of power, beauty and majesty, 
 which all the aggregations of results from hammering at the rocks, and examining the 
 strata, and searching the caverns and other mysteries, can never teach. And so in Art ; no 
 learned researches into the origin of the stones of the Cathedral of Milan, nor into the 
 histories of its builders, can convey to us the subhme idea of the designer, the architec- 
 ture, which is simple and pertains only to the unity. Still more remarkable are the results 
 of the synthesis of letters ; in themselves insignificant, yet speUing out for us all the great 
 things of life ; three of them combined representing the name above every name, God, 
 with all His attributes and glories. You cannot analyze the voices which declare the eternal 
 power and Godhead. 
 
 Now, if it be true that no man is capable of criticising a book, or ought to criticise it, 
 until he has mastered its scope and design, then it is as much a betrayal of intelligence as 
 it is of justice to Umit the Bible utterances without regarding the great ideas to which these 
 utterances are subordinate ; and then does the duty of the Church become obvious, first, to 
 set aside as false in principle the criticism which disregards the Religion of the Bible; 
 and second, to keep distinctly and always in view the prominent features of this stupendous 
 system, which as a portrait covers the entire canvas, which comes with its own direct testi- 
 mony, appealing to conscience and all the nobler powers of the soul. 
 
 I. The Bible sets forth before us, as we are able to bear it, the glory of the 
 perfect God. Go through the world's Pantheon and you can find no Deity like the Most 
 High of the Scriptures. No one name can express His glory, no one conception — no 
 hundred conceptions — can set forth His Nature, and no Theophany manifest more than a 
 ray or two of God. He is before, all things, and by Him all things consist. He in- 
 habits eternity. The sacred writers make no secret of the unsearchableness of God ; the 
 first name they give Him is the plural name, because in Him are gathered all divine 
 
6o The Wicliffe Sejiii-Milleiiuial Bible Celebratioji. 
 
 glories, and all the titles, and powers, and offices of the Universe over which He sits en- 
 throned forever. He is the King, the Lawgiver, the Judge, the Father in Heaven, the 
 Elohim. He is not the absolute God of the philosopher. With passionate utterances do 
 poets and prophets pour forth the adoration, the longings, the love, the joy of the soul, as 
 they catch glimpses of the light of their Heavenly Father ; with shouts of triumph, in which 
 all the heavens seem to join, do they declare their consciousness of the presence and love, 
 and covenant care of Him. who, greater than all, dwells with the man who is of an humble, 
 contrite heart. From the opening passage to the closing benediction the Book is full of 
 God ; the centre of unity, the life, the light, and joy of His creatures; to Him all the suns 
 of the firmament sing ; to Him thrones and dominions bow down. Justly may we distrust 
 the intelligence of the man who, in his searchings into the kind of wood of which the Ark 
 was made, fails to discern the majesty, the surpassing glory of the great God of the Mercy 
 Seat ; who cannot see that to elimmate from the Scriptures the almighty and everlasting 
 Jehovah, is to leave in our hands a collections of legends and histories without unity, or 
 value, or significance. And this is the doom of the godless soul ; to stand in the temple 
 where millions love and adore Him who shines forth from between the Cherubim, and dis- 
 cern nothing but its walls or perchance its adornments, and then, too often, to be given 
 over to a diabolical vandalism which would fain whelm even these in ruins. 
 
 2. With equal clearness the Book conveys to us a transcendent system of morality. 
 We say transcendent, because it transcends not only all human systems, but all human con- 
 ceptions of virtue ; and this from the fact that it connects right and wrong with the vast and 
 holy moral government of God, and with the natural and universal claims of the Creator_ 
 His commandments are exceeding broad, reaching to the acts of the spiritual nature, and 
 above all, laying claim to the supreme and controlling aftections of the soul. At once, 
 therefore, do the Bible ethics rise above all human orderings and institutions. Refusing to 
 accept the terms of human devising, the Bible has its own terms : righteousness, upright- 
 ness, holiness, sanctification, and, on the other hand, sin, iniquity, transgression ; and 
 every man who will see is compelled to confess that the scenes at Mount Sinai, where, pre- 
 ceded by the herald trump, the Moral Law was spoken by the voice of God amid 
 thunderings and darkness, and earthquakes; and the revelation of the Judgment Day, 
 when all the intelligent universe, amid awful displays of the divine power, shall be gathered 
 before the great white throne ; that these tremendous displays, fitly correspond with the 
 entire system ; and we have a right to distrust the moral judgment of the man who 
 cannot peceive the grandeur and unlimited reach of the Bible morality. 
 
 3. A third feature of this religion, if anything more distinct than its moral law is its 
 Messiah. No criticism can eliminate this wonderful person from the Old Testament or the 
 New. It matters not in this respect, in what pre-Christian century, the coming Prophet, 
 Priest, and King was announced. In the Septuagint, translated long before Christ, are the 
 clear prophecies of the Redeemer, who would gather into one the glories of all earth's Saviours, 
 and infinitely more. The Hebrews were a prophetic people ; their prophets proclaimed," the 
 King shall come. He shall sit a priest upon His throne," and all the nation expected the 
 Dehverer. The New Testament history joins hands with the Old Testament prophecy. 
 The Bible portrait of the Christ is no patch-work. That marvelous oratorio which sets forth 
 the advent and suff"erings and glory of the Messiah, only accords with the simple and 
 
Divine and Human Elements in the Bible. 6 1 
 
 natural interpretation of the whole church as expressed in her hymns and prayers ; while 
 her enemies themselves in long array have come to place on record their acknowledgment 
 of the moral beauty and astonishing influence of the Church's Messiah. The Lord Jesus 
 Christ can be no more eliminated from the web and the woof of the Scripture, than He 
 can from human history. From the year i A. D., as from a light point, radiance from 
 Him who came in the midst of the week, streams back through all the centuries to Para- 
 dise Lost, down through future ages to Paradise Regained ; while to those who study His 
 person and work, and who grow in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour, He is revealed 
 with ever increasing clearness; strange beauties captivate them ; they see His glory as the 
 only begotten of the Father ; they understand the heavenly songs to the Lamb that was 
 slain, and the language of the prophet. His name shall be called Wonderful Coun- 
 sellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. 
 
 4. With equal clearness the Bible unfolds a purpose laid in remote ages, connected 
 with the Scriptural doctrine of the community of the descent of the race from Adam and 
 from God; unfolding as generations pass away; "never hasting never resting;" the pur- 
 pose of gathering all the families of the earth into one vast brotherhood in Jesus 
 Christ, the Elder Brother and Kinsman Redeemer. No man doubts this proclaimed 
 purpose which entered into the very constitution of the Church, and is interwoven into its 
 model prayer. This purpose, so unique, so vast, so unselfish, so replete with love to man, 
 so misunderstood even by the prophets, so opposed to the prejudices of the Rabbis, and 
 indeed, the Jewish nation, making its way onward against difficulties which seemed to be 
 insuperable ; like a law of nature, acting and conquering without observation ; and to be 
 accomplished by such methods, charity in the soul and the truth in the lips ; enters essen- 
 tially into the Religion of the Bible ; and the Church loses her peculiar power when she 
 ceases to be prophetic, when the Divine Word no longer resounds in her heart. " The earth 
 shall be filled with my glory as the waters cover the sea ; in Thee shall all the families of 
 earth be blessed." 
 
 5. With the same distinctness and universality does the Bible set forth the perfect 
 purpose with regard to the individual man ; to make him like God his Father. He is tlie 
 model ; nothing less. The man in his sonship is to be fitted for and led on to a magnifi- 
 cent destiny as a Prophet, a Priest, and a King. This design is never concealed. The 
 conflict is always against sin, which unfits him for his station;, the strength to overcome 
 is given by the Holy Spirit ; all motives converge on personal sanctification ; the crowns 
 and sceptres and Gehenna-fires of eternity are revealed, and its forever and ever, the ages 
 of ages, reverberate like mighty thunderings on the ear. 
 
 How can any man deny the stupendous nature of this Religion? It is no fabric wrought 
 out of Bible materials by the imagination of men ; it stands out from the Scriptures as 
 distinctly before the miUions of the Church as does the portrait upon the canvas, as do 
 the Alpine mountains before the traveler. 
 
 And now the question returns, is this religion divine ? for if divinity be found at all, 
 it will be in these universal truths. We say here that we believe the Christian Apolo- 
 getics are, as a whole, unanswered and unanswerable by the enemies of the Church ; they 
 stand a monument of the unsurpassed intellectual power and indomitable faith of her 
 people ; nevertheless, we feel bound to say, that all human arguments cannot uphold this 
 9 
 
62 ' TheWycliffe Semi-Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 Religion, which in its nature is self-witnessing, and which does not and cannot stand by 
 the wisdom of men, but by the power of God. It cannot live, because it cannot be 
 received by \kit fides /lumana, but only by iht fides divina. Like the light of day, this eternal 
 truth is its own witness. Were the Son of Man to come in the clouds with His holy angels 
 would any other proof than that appearing be demanded or possible ? Does not the 
 moral law testify to its own righteousness ? The best proof of the light, is the light, 
 and the best proof of God, is God. He comes in His almighty and everlasting power 
 and glory and holiness and love, and the soul whose moral discernment is right at once 
 recognizes its Creator. The Gospel of the Messiah is water to the thirsty spirit ; he 
 that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself When the moral law laid 
 hold on Felix, he asked no question concerning the authorship of the Book of Exodus ; 
 and when this Religion of God, by any one of its vast thoughts, gets possession of a 
 man, in the presence of its acknowledged and self-witnessing truths the historic difficul- 
 ties shrink at once into the smallest dimensions, and even if unexplained, no more dis- 
 turb the faith than do the little annoyances of Hfe confidence in the providence of a 
 heavenly Father. Here is the real point of conflict with the powers of darkness ; and if 
 the leaders of the sacramental host mistake just here and waste the energies of the Church 
 in throwing up fortifications, and waging a defensive warfare in mere skirmishing, what 
 can they expect but disaster ? What men need is not arguments framed by words of 
 man's wisdom, but this Religion which commends itself to every man's conscience in the 
 sight of God. Let the Religion be received, and the Book will take care of itself He 
 who receives the Religion by a divine faith knows it to be divine ; he sees on it the pecu- 
 liar impress stamped upon all the works of God, and by which they are recognized as His ; 
 stamped upon the heavens, and the earth, and the sea ; upon every grass-blade and every 
 star, the power, the wisdom and beauty, and mystery, the seal of the Almighty upon every 
 one of His Works. There Uves not the man who has fathomed any one of these mighty 
 revelations ; the feeling of every dying Christian is, how few steps have I taken up the 
 Mount of God. 
 
 We turn to look at the Book which announces the Religion, and lo ! from end to 
 end it is human, its language, its characters, its thoughts, its conceptions even of God, 
 anthropomorphitic and anthropopathic. He is seen with all human powers ; with hands 
 and eyes, and memory, and anger, and jealousy. The Bible is the most human book ever 
 written, with its child-like men, its child-like thoughts, its histories intrinsically insignificant, 
 being the journeyings and conflicts, the fears and hopes, the sins and sorrows of a few men 
 and women and children, not deemed worthy of a place among the heroes of the mighty 
 kingdoms of this world. Two questions remain to be answered : what is the effect of the 
 projection of a divine revelation among these human elements ? And why are the human 
 elements so universal and conspicuous ? A right answer to the former question is of the 
 last importance to the Church of Christ. We revert to the Temple of Solomon as it stood 
 complete on the morning of its consecration. Every timber and stone in the building had 
 been hewn and placed by the hands of men, its gold had been dug out of this earth, tried, 
 beaten and laid over floor and altar by human skill ; the curtains had been woven by the 
 hands of men and women and children ; the temple was of human workmanship, and no 
 more sacred in itself than any other house in Jerusalem ; but when the cloud of divine 
 
 10 
 
Divine and Human Elements in the Bible. 03 
 
 glory entered, from that moment every beam and curtain and atom of gold, from the in- 
 nermost shrine to the outermost court, was sanctified by the glory which rested upon it ; 
 and the priest needed no voice, like that from the burning bush to Moses, '' Put off thy 
 shoes from off thy feet ;" he saw at once that the ground was hallowed by the presenee 
 of Deity. The time or the manner of the coming of the cloud is only an incident, 
 the presence of the divine glory, that is the essential thing. The temple was never 
 deified, but it was sanctified and glorified, and endeared to the true Israelite, who with 
 reverence and joy unspeakable bowed upon the threshold, and whose soul sang with the 
 Psalmist, " O, that I might dwell in the house of the Lord forever!" God, indeed, gave the 
 pattern of the house, because it was to represent in the best manner His own thoughts and 
 the mysteries of the future, but it was none the less human on that account, and the human 
 only was sanctified as it came in contact with the divine. Shall the world then call be- 
 lievers book-worshippers, because they love and tremble at the Word which declares the 
 glory of God ? Word-worshippers, because they cling to the human sounds under which 
 they hear the divine undertone ? Glass-worshippers, because they will not allow the glass 
 to be dashed into pieces, in which with open face they see the light and love of God, and 
 the splendors of the heavenly inheritances ? The Book is sacred to every Christian and 
 inexpressibly precious, because from its pages beams the face of a reconciled Father ; its 
 histories are sacred, because they reflect His providence and grace. His justice and truth; 
 its men beloved, because, although sinners, in contact with God, they become prophets and 
 saints. How the poor Shunammitc clung to Elisha because he had power with God. From 
 end to end the Book on which Jesus Christ placed His sacred hand is sanctified. Its un- 
 explained records, its chronicles, its genealogies, its dead nations, which are monuments, 
 become holy, as they belong to that history in which God is revealing to principalities and 
 powers His manifold wisdom. What possible difference could it make whether the 
 soil on which Moses stood at Horeb was sand or clay ? The glory from the burning bush 
 fell upon it and it was sanctified. But let us turn rather to that illustrious example in 
 which the divine and human culminate. The humanity of Jesus Christ is one of the most 
 precious of the doctrines of the Bible. His hands touched the leper; His feet walked 
 weariedly after the lost ; His eyes wept over our sorrows; His body hungered and thirsted : 
 His soul was sorrowful, even unto death ; He was our kinsman, all human, yet hallowed 
 forever by the indwelling Deity : and none could lay a dishonoring hand upon the Son of 
 Man, without dishonoring the eternal Son of God, enshrined in this true Holy of Holies. 
 To all this it may be said God is not enshrined in the Bible ; nevertheless, He has en- 
 shrined the revelation of His highest manifested glory in this Word. His voice speaks to 
 the soul through its sounds ; His power and wisdom and saving grace act through its 
 promises ; His thoughts shine forth through its symbols ; in its depths a new universe of 
 truth is seen, more wonderful than any of the scenery of this earth, or than the constellations 
 of the night ; the cherubim bend down to look into its wonders ; and in the midst is seen 
 His Son dwelling among us, walking amid the golden candlesticks, the Lamb also in the 
 midst of the throne ; and no man can separate between the Word and the glory of the Lord 
 which sanctifies it. 
 
 Why then, finally, is the human made so prominent in the conveyance of a Divine 
 Revelation ? At once we revert to the creation of man, a descendant of God by the 
 
64 The Wycliffe Semi-Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 divine breathing, a son of God, and therefore treated as a king. Hence covenants arise ; 
 the man is taken into co-working with his Creator, and to this day the most beautiful 
 landscapes of the world are those in which God and man work together ; and had man 
 maintained his integrity, human history, now godless, and therefore wild and fearful in its 
 course, would have revealed the wondrous blending of the human and the Divine, and 
 especially have reflected the divine glory. 
 
 It accords, therefore, with the entire system of the government of the world that the 
 seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent, and that men should be the 
 centre of sacred history. In the next place, if we are to be instructed in the Divine we 
 must begin with our human consciousness, for to understand the divine power, or wisdom, 
 or love, the learner must first have the conception in himself. But the powers of man lead 
 him on beyond himself The very senses bring us to the horizon, and point us on toward 
 the infinite and eternal ; and it would be indeed strange if God did not make use of 
 human conceptions to instruct beginners in knowledge otherwise unattainable. But 
 always by the side of anthropomorphitic conceptions stands the revelation — none by 
 searching can find out God. These rays adapted to us, though no form nor likeness can 
 be made of Him, are but the first rays of a glory that is infinite. What passing whispers are 
 heard of Him ; the thunder of His power, who can understand ? And then by the human 
 elements God intends to interest us and attract us to the Divine. And this is of special sig- 
 nificance, because the natural man perceiveth not the things that be of God ; and so as in 
 nature, there is first the natural and then the spiritual. By colors and melodies God sum- 
 mons us to the treasures of the world. Who does not know it is thus the Christian 
 gets access to hearts hardened by sin and misery, through the memories of childhood. 
 Hence the records go back of nationalities and all that is artificial, and search for the uni- 
 versal in humanity, the final elements in human nature. They are for all classes of the race 
 — for children, for the ignorant, for all nations, and hence their facile translation into all 
 languages. They find bonds of union with the heathen ; Hiram provides timbers for 
 the house ; Balaam announces the star to arise from Judah ; and the King of Babylon pro- 
 claims for all ages the majesty of the most high God, whose dominion is from genera- 
 tion to generation. They are intended to reach all human fife and. sanctify it, hence they 
 speak of every thing essential, from conception and birth to the burial ; of things we would 
 deem insignificant ; of all institutions bearing upon human destiny, of marriage and the 
 family, of the Nation, of the Church, of the Sabbath ; if there be anything essentially 
 human, it is set forth in the light of God. And next to impress the brotherhood of the race, 
 for the tears, which still flow in many nations, and after thousands of years, at the story of 
 Joseph or of Ruth, or the sense of the sublime at the magnificent poetry of Job or of 
 Isaiah, as much shew our common humanity as do the sympathies which are stirred by 
 present sights of sorrow. As face answers to face, so the heart of man to man. The 
 characters of the Bible are representative and typical of our entire humanity. As these 
 men tell us of their own experiences, fears, hopes, aspirations, they are telling us once 
 for all time the histories of our own souls, and we become conscious of the true 
 brotherhood of men, and the bonds of the fellowship of the sons of God are felt to reach 
 through all centuries. And yet there remains a reason for the method which crowns 
 all others. The men of sacred history, and with whom God walked and conversed, 
 
Divine and Human Elements in the Bible. 65 
 
 were sinners ; the sins of many were recorded conspicuously against them; and it is to shew- 
 that the Bible is the book of divine mercy ; their sins are the cloud upon which is re- 
 flected the rainbow of the Covenant of Grace, Always it is where the human has reached 
 its limits, the Divine enters ; where human wisdom, and strength, and righteousness fail 
 in self-despair, there does God appear in the history, as in the wrestling with the helpless 
 Jacob ; but above all, as in that glad hour when, in the night of the world's despair, the 
 child was born, and God was manifest in the flesh, and the Divine and human were joined 
 forever by a union that astonished angels, in Immanuel, God with us. 
 
66 The WycUffe Semi-Milhrinial Bible Celebration. 
 
 THE BIBLE THE BOOK FOR ALL 
 
 AGES. 
 
 By REV. J. FEWSMITH, D. D., 
 
 Newark, N. J. 
 
 The theme on which I am to speak is The Bible the Book for All Ages. 
 Though not necessarily belonging to the commemoration of WycHffe and his work, it 
 certainly is pertinent to this occasion. During this memorial year we shall doubtless hear 
 again and again those familiar words of the quaint historian Fuller, when relating the 
 action of the Council of Constance — the exhuming and burning of Wychffe's bones, and 
 the casting of their ashes into the river Swift : " Thus this brook hath conveyed his ashes 
 into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow seas, they into the main ocean. 
 And thus the ashes of Wyclifife are emblems of his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the 
 world over." Are not these words a fit illustration of our theme? — that Bible which 
 Wycliffe translated into English, the river which makes glad the city of our God, ever 
 flowing from His throne, and widening out into a mighty ocean, touching all continents, 
 and conveying light and life to all people through all ages ? If I may be allowed a line 
 of Latin in this presence : " Labitur, et labctur in onine volubilis cevutn." The living 
 tide flows on through every age, and will never cease to flow ; or, as one of our hymns ex- 
 presses it : 
 
 Upon the Gospel's sacred page, 
 
 The gathered beams of ages shine ; 
 And, as it hastens, every age 
 
 But makes its brightness more divine. 
 
 On mightier wing, in loftier flight, 
 
 From year to year does knowledge soar ; 
 And as it soars, the Gospel light 
 
 Becomes effulgent more and more. 
 
 Consider for a moment the construction of this Book, and the position which it 
 occupies. 
 
 It is called the Bible, that is, the Book ; the Book that stands peculiar and supreme ; 
 the Book, the hke of which can nowhere be found, and to which the human race accords 
 a reverence and a distinction given to none other. Its very name challenges regard for it 
 as belonging to the whole human race ; the Book for all mankind. No other volume has 
 attained such distinction. Do you remind me of the Koran — the book of the Arab speak- 
 ing people, who number so many miUions? and tell me that "the Koran" means "the 
 
The Bible the Book for all Ages. 67 
 
 Book," or more precisely, " that which is to be read ? " I answer, first, that in substance 
 and contents and character, the Koran is not worthy to be compared with the Bible ; 
 and secondly, the Koran is the book for " the faithful," the followers of Mohammed, 
 and not for all mankind ; and thirdly, that not only has our sacred Book had a constit- 
 uency of vastly more millions, but centuries before Mohammed prepared the Koran, 
 the larger part of our sacred writings, the old Testament, was known as "the Book," 
 or more strictly, " the books" or writings ; the books distinguished from all others. At 
 a later date the one word Bible, which is simply the Greek word for book, was applied to 
 the whole collection of the Old and New Testaments. We are justified in calling our 
 Bible the Book, or, as we fondly say sometimes, " the Book of books," and in appealing to 
 this fact as an evidence that it belongs to all mankind. And then have you reflected, my 
 friends, that this expression is literally true — that the Bible is Hterally the Book of books ? 
 As you know, it is not a single book by a single author, but a collection of sixty-six dis- 
 tinct books by at least forty different authors, written in various localities, and at dates ex- 
 tending over sixteen hundred years ; and the different books bearing the stamp of their 
 several authors and of the times in which they were written. These peculiarities them- 
 selves go far to justify its claim to universahty. 
 
 Whether or not there were any written documents embodying any of its facts prior 
 to the time of Moses, of which he availed himself in writing the book of Genesis; whether 
 or not there were authentic traditions which he gathered and stamped with authority ; it 
 is evident that previous to his time there was among men, and especially among the de- 
 scendants of Shem, knowledge of the true God, and some, at least, of the religious prin- 
 ciples and worship which afterwards, under divine direction, were more fully and distinctly 
 developed ; so that even where the Bible did not exist as a book, the things which it con- 
 tained were the religion of the early ages. And then, from Moses onward, even to the 
 present day, it has been doing its work, and has been the religious book of an incalculably 
 larger multitude of the human race than any other writing. And although it was during 
 many centuries hmited in its control and in the allegiance which it received to a single 
 nation, yet, even from the beginning, it reached out its influence to others, gave them 
 warnings and counsels, and invited them to share it its beneficence : and from the beginning 
 its commands, its exercise of authority, its promulgation of law, extended to all people. 
 And Jehovah was never, strictly speaking, the God of the Jew only, though He was the 
 Jews' God in a peculiar sense ; but He was God also of the Egyptian, and the Assyrian, 
 and the Greek and the Persian, whose dominion extended over all. This feature grows 
 brighter and brighter until the coming of the Son of God into the world, and His ascen- 
 sion to heaven, with the words dropping from his hps : " Go ye and teach all nations," and 
 the spreading of His kingdom, and the writing of the Christian Scriptures. Now the 
 finished Bible is pre-eminently the Book for all mankind, as the religion of Jesus Christ is 
 the one absolute reHgion, claiming regard and submission to the exclusion of all others. 
 For note now : — 
 
 I. This Bible contains records of facts in which all parts of the human race are in- 
 terested, and ever zvill be. 
 
 To thoughtful men in all ages the origin of the world and of the human race has been 
 a subject of profound interest; and it ever will be. God himself has put this world prob- 
 
68 The Wy cliff e Semi-Miltennial Bihle Celebration. 
 
 lem in the human heart. (Eccl., iii., 1 1.) And with all the wonderful achievements of investi- 
 gation, discovery, acute aud profound reasoning, men have not yet found any more satis- 
 factory solution of these questions than the book of Genesis affords. That remains and will 
 remain, to all nations and all ages, the common fountain of knowledge on these points, acces- 
 sible to all, and alike interesting to all, beyond which they can never go< and which they can 
 never close up. So with regard to many questions pertaining to man's moral nature and 
 relation to God the same may be said. The great universal facts in the history of human- 
 ity are there in that book, the heritage of all ages. They can be found no where else, 
 and men will ever seek to know them, 
 
 2. And the Bible is not a mere record of facts, a history of past events ; it is a living 
 book, belonging to the experience of to-day and to each i?idividuar s life. 
 
 There may indeed be portions of it which seem not to be at all pertinent to our mod- 
 ern Ufe, or our personal circumstances. Yet even these will be found to be valuable to 
 us as illustrations of the Divine character, and parts of a great order of events, which 
 has a central principle and a grand ultimate aim. For it is one of the distinctive and 
 most remarkable features of these writings that, written by so many persons and at such 
 different times, and with such differences of style, there is a principle which binds them 
 all together and makes of them one Book. The unity of the Scriptures is a living unity ; 
 and the Bible is the book for all ages, because this unity is a centre of interest and life to 
 all, from the beginning to the end of time. No one can inteUigently and thoughtfully read 
 the Bible without discovering the ever-present, all-pervading power of this principle. From 
 the story of the expulsion from Paradise on account of sin, down to the last writing of the 
 New Testament, " one increasing purpose runs ; " one light shines ; one all-controUing de- 
 sire of God's heart manifests itself; one song for human nature sings through all — and 
 that is Redemption, redemption for the lost, through the coming of the Son of God. 
 And the book that begins at creation and ends with the consummation of earth's work in 
 the issues of the heavenly glory ; the book that brings God near to men, and hfts men up 
 to God ; the book whose central life and glory is Redemption, must be the Book for all 
 ages. Its voice is not the voice of history, coming muffled and cold from the dead past, 
 but a living voice, warm with the beating love of a living friend, speaking to us amid the 
 experiences of to-day. 
 
 3. The Bible addresses instincts, conscientious convictions, needs and hopes, that are 
 cotmnoti to htanafi nature, and if presents principles that are universal in their application. 
 
 No other book so describes human character, so manifests discernment of human 
 wants, so sympathizes with human sorrows, so probes the human heart, and exposes its 
 corruption ; so reveals to man the true nature of his difficulty. The Bible makes known 
 to men a God worthy of their worship, and confidence, and obedience. The Bible ex- 
 plains our instinctive longings after immortality, and assures us of our continued and 
 unending existence. It explains the instinctive sense of accountability to some Being 
 higher than man, and the forebodings of a sense of guilt of which man cannot divest 
 himself; and makes God known to us as the Supreme and Righteous Judge, to whom all 
 must render account. The Bible reveals the glorious Sovereignty, and equally glorious 
 
The Bible and Intelligence. J J 
 
 lands or in the lowest suiks of our cities ; and having experienced the power of truth and 
 grace upon his own heart, he goes forth in the faith of the efficacy of the blood of Christ 
 and in the regenerating power of the Spirit to elevate them in this world and prepare 
 them for the next. Need I ask which of these is the genuine philanthropy, most worthy of 
 heaven and suited to earth and man ? I hold that our missionaries are taking the proper 
 steps of elevating the lapsed when they present Christ to them in the Word. They do 
 not go to naked savages, and say you must clothe yourselves and learn the arts, and build 
 houses and learn to read, for none of which things they have as yet any appreciation ; 
 but seeking to awaken the heaven-born instinct, they tell them of a holy God and of a 
 suffering Saviour, and that they have souls to be saved and a heaven to gain. 
 
 The Apostle (Rom., i., 21, onward) tells how the races fell, " Because when they 
 knew God they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their 
 imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." " And even as they did not like to re- 
 tain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things 
 which are not convenient, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, 
 covetousness, maliciousness." As mankind have fallen by reason of their rejecting God, 
 so they are raised by accepting Him. The Word of God goes down to the inner and 
 deeper springs of our wonderful nature, and as these are opened, the whole soul is relieved 
 and roused, and is now prepared to receive "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever 
 things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things 
 are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report." Under these moral agencies, the counter- 
 part of the immoral agencies under which they fell, the race rises from age to age in the 
 scale of beings. This I am prepared to show is the philosophic, this the practical mode 
 of procedure, if we would elevate mankind. Verily, our old Christianity is yet far ahead 
 morally of what professes to be our most advanced science and philosophy. The work is 
 not to be done by proffering civilization which is sure to be rejected, nor by extending 
 merchandize which may only add civilized to savage vices, nor by better political systems 
 which there is nobody to work ; but by " the preaching of Christ crucified unto the Jews 
 a stumbhng block, and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them who are called both 
 Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." Those who are 
 led first to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness find that all other things are 
 added unto them ; and that education, and science, and enterprise, and commerce, and 
 wealth, and literature, and refinement follow as rewards which God gives to them who 
 receive His Son. 
 
 The Bible does not profess to teach science or philosophy. If this had been its 
 primary end it would have reached only a small portion of the human race, and would 
 not have touched the inner springs of action even of these. I maintain that there is 
 nothing in the Bible inconsistent with the latest discoveries of science. If we take the 
 word " day " as meaning, which it does in the very second chapter of Genesis, " in the day 
 that the Lord made the earth and the heavens," and all throughout the Scriptures, it can be 
 shown that in the opening chapter of Genesis is a better description of the geological epochs 
 than any man of science could draw out. But while the Bible does not teach science, it 
 raises in a community the spirit which prompts to the cultivation of science. It awakens 
 a craving thirst for knowledge. The youth thus brought to the use of his faculties is con- 
 
78 The Wycliffe Semi-Millemiial Bible Celebratioti. 
 
 strained by wonder, which, as Bacon says, "is the seed of knowledge ; " by an intense pas- 
 sion to resolve the sphinx-like enigmas which nature proposes to him, by an intellect which 
 feels a pleasure in being exercised, to inquire what is the nature, and what the meaning, 
 what the origin, and what the end of the objects which surround him on the earth and canopy 
 him in the heavens. The Bible teaches us that the works of nature are the work of God ; 
 and thus leads all who beUeve the Word to observe them, and those who have leisure to 
 study them, when they find that they reward him for his trouble. In this way the Bible 
 promotes science more than any other book has done. 
 
 You look for scientific researches and discoveries not in any heathen country, not 
 even in the semi-civilized ones, such as India and China, but in lands blessed with the 
 light of revelation. This is the power which awakens the life which is the source of the 
 whole mental activity. What is it that calls forth the exuberance of spring ? It is the 
 approach of the sun germinating the seeds that are lying in the soil. So it is the light of 
 Word that calls forth the seeds of intelligence which are in the soil, and produces a thousand 
 forms of activity, and in the end abundant fruithfulness. It has to be added that when 
 science has once been started it will make progress so far independently of the Bible. All 
 the light of day comes originally from the sun, but it is now reflected upon us from moun- 
 tain and hill and plain, from cloud and tree and ground. So with the light which enlight- 
 ens every man that cometh into the world ; coming originally from God, it now shines upon 
 us from all the objects that surround us. Men, in consequence, are apt to feel as if they 
 could now do without God and His Word ; and they set up a worldly, even an atheistic 
 science, and feel as if they could have a science without God. But this is a mistake. 
 Withdraw religion, and the powerful motive arousing intelligence among the great mass of 
 the people would be taken away very speedily, just as the glow of the evening sky soon 
 fades into darkness when the sun, whose rays illuminated the whole, has sunk beneath the 
 horizon. 1 
 
The Bible in Education. 79 
 
 THE BIBLE IN EDUCATION. 
 
 By Rev. AATILLIAM H. CAMPBELL, D.D., LL.D., 
 President of Rutgers College, New Brunswick. 
 
 I wish to say a few words to you to-night on the Bible, as the teacher of the teach- 
 ers. The true teacher is a king upon earth ; yes, the mightiest among the mighty. And 
 yet his sole work is to sow broadcast the seeds of truth, sowing them in his teaching and 
 in his life j and he cannot be the true teacher unless he does both. 
 
 And now behold the sower as he goes forth with his apron full of seed, and his face 
 lit up with joy, telling of the hope which swells his heart. And drawing near, ask 
 him what seeds are these which thou hast in thy apron, the sowing of which seems to fill 
 thee with such joy ? His answer is prompt ; for he lives, and loves to live, just to tell of 
 all who want to know about the seed and the sowing of it. I have, he says, five kinds to 
 seed, which I sow with a joyful, because with a hopeful, heart. This hour I am sowing 
 the seeds of physical truth ; truth about the material universe, which God has made and 
 upholds. And I never weary of sowing them, for they tell of the wisdom, power, goodness, 
 and faithfulness of God. The next hour I will scatter the seeds of intellectual truth tell- 
 ing of God's mightiest work on earth, — man, whose soul is a spirit like God's, and made 
 in His very image, in knowledge, righteousness, and hohness. And on this theme I never 
 weary of speaking. Again, at a third hour, I go forth to sow the seeds of social truth ; 
 about man, made a social being, made to Hve and love, and serve and rejoice in all the 
 many relations of life which his social nature fits him to sustain. And this is a grand 
 theme on which I love to dwell, even more than on the former two, for here I have still 
 more to say about the wisdom, power, goodness, and faithfulness of God. 
 
 And then when I sow these three kinds of seed, from the very necessity of the case, I 
 sow always along with them two other kinds of seeds ; seeds of vioral truth, telling of 
 man's relations to God, who made him, as well as all other men, unto whom God has made 
 him a brother, and then by a divine necessity, by the very purpose of God, the moral 
 truths introduce the spiritual truth ; for the law is the schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. 
 And the sowing of these seeds of spiritual truth, fills with an overflowing joy him who 
 sows and them who receive ; for then both rejoice in God's redeeming love. And now 
 draw near again and question him a second time, for you will not weary him with ques- 
 tions asked in your search after truth. Ask him, why art thou so joyful in the sowing of 
 these seeds ? Again he answers at once : The very etymology of the word truth gives a 
 partial answer to your question. Truth is that which can be trusted, and which never disap- 
 points. I sowed it first in my own heart, and it has given me always guidance. I have 
 
oO The Wycliffe Semi-Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 been in many ways of life, and found them full of disappointment and heart-breaking 
 sorrow. But nothing of these griefs happened unto me in the pathway into which truth 
 guided me. All these seeds which I have in my apron put a man into the right way, and 
 keep him there ; for they afford not only guidance, but strefigth to walk. I never knew 
 a man who put the seeds of truth into his heart, and made them the principles of his life, 
 who did not become strong to walk, yes, to run, in the right way. But there is a third 
 thing in these seeds of truth, which is a further reason why they can be trusted; there is 
 poiver in them. The man who has them in his heart neither runs a bootless race ;ior 
 vainly beats the air. He is a power for good in his day and generation, and whatsoever 
 he does prospers. 
 
 But, says the teacher, still further, the seeds I sow are to be trusted for even a higher 
 reason than that already named. They are precious seed, because of Him who gives them 
 unto me, and ennobles me by making me a sower of them. The Son of God, who said of 
 Himself, I am the light of the world, is the source whence human intelligence gets all its 
 knowledge, and truth is truth to us, because He makes it known. But He is not only the 
 revealer of truths, but He is the author of them all. He is the efficient cause of every 
 created thing that exists. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not any 
 thing made that was made. There was a time when God was alone, and nothing of all 
 this universe existed, except as a thought or purpose in the divine mind. But when the 
 almighty fiat of the Son of God was spoken, then these thoughts of the divine mind be- 
 came objective truths, precious, because the Son of God gave them, but still more precious 
 because they were born of His divine purpose. They were born of His thoughts, and 
 many of them, namely, moral and spiritual truths, were born of His very nature, and are, 
 therefore, eternal and unchangeable, because His nature is. And, indeed, there is not a seed 
 in my apron which bears not on its brow the mark of its birthplace. Take the simplest 
 physical truth, and when will man ever exhaust the power that is in it of endless, exhaustless 
 application to the wants and comfort of man. AH discoveries and inventions are but 
 new applications of these physical truths, which had all their potency in them when they 
 came forth from the mind of the Son of God ; and no one of them has ever been exhausted 
 or ever will be. No intelligence, human or angeUc, will ever be able to say of any, even 
 the simplest physical truth, that it can never do more for man than it has done, its 
 appHcabilities exhausted, its potency all known. When the crack of doom comes scient- 
 ists will be hard at work cataloguing nature, their work not half done, and each mere 
 physical truth will be fresh with a potency, waiting to be, and never yet having been ap- 
 plied. The naturalist when he finds a fossil, labels it, writing on it its name and the local- 
 ity whence it came. But I, says the true teacher, do all that in my sowing, but I always 
 and above all else, tell of the Son of God, who purposed all that potency, meant it all 
 down to its most minute application. And if all this be true of physical, how much 
 more impressively true is it of the other four kinds of truth. 
 
 Of Solon's famous saying, hwiv thyself the Latin poet said : e coelo descendit — it 
 came down from heaven. But this declaration is far truer of each seed in my apron. 
 They all came from God, and bear their truth-mark on their forehead. But all these 
 five kinds of truth which I sow have a second truth-mark attesting their divinity. 
 Each truth has at once an attractive and repellent force. Does a single truth 
 
The Bible in Education. 8 1 
 
 find lodgement in the soul, it will drive out all opinions not in accordance with 
 itself, while it attracts and holds all that is in harmony with itself. This truth makes a 
 man free from all the thraldom of error, and builds him up into a true manhood, which con- 
 sists in walking consciously, joyously, usefully, in the light wherein is no darkness at all. 
 But the strongest proof of the divinity of these truths is, that no one ever sows them in his 
 own heart and life, and recognizes them as having the Son of God as their author, with- 
 out the blessed Lord's coming down, dweUing in these truths, and vitalizing them in the soul 
 of him who receives them. In everyone of these truths there are, for him that thus receives 
 them, doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness, and he who is thus 
 taught becomes the true teacher — the man of God made perfect, thoroughly furnished 
 unto all good works. The Bible, dear friends, is the only true educator ; without the Bible 
 the teacher is vain, presumptuous, and a forgetter of God, and his pupils drink in all his 
 spirit. But he whose mind is steeped in the truths of the Bible, and who is imbued with the 
 spirit of Christ ; the Light of the world shining forth from every page of the Bible, will be 
 a power from God. He will be a meek, humble, reverent man, loving the truth because 
 it comes from Christ, and sowing it unweariedly. God will bless him unceasingly, causing 
 his sowing to yield a thousand-fold increase. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Taylor then said : 
 
 It is with the deepest regret and sympathy that I have to announce that Ex-Senator 
 Frelinghuysen, who came to the city for the purpose of making the address which is an- 
 nounced next on the programme, has been taken seriously ill, and was obliged to leave for 
 home by the half past eight train. There is no name in the annals of New Jersey — none 
 in connection with its statesmanship — more nearly connected with the Word of God, and 
 with the circulation of that Word, than the honored name which he bears — which repre- 
 sents three generations in the Senate of the United States and at the bar of our honored 
 State. 
 
 I know that you will sympathize with him, and that we all feel the great loss of the 
 instructions which we had hoped to have received from him, especially as this is the one topic 
 upon the programme which so nearly touches our civil relations to the Word of 
 God. 
 
 In compliance with the special request of the Convention, contained in Resolution 
 Number 6, on page 14, Mr. Frelinghuysen has furnished the following notes of his 
 address : 
 
The Wycliffe Semi- Milk rmial Bible Celebratioii. 
 
 RELATIONS OFTHEENGLISH BIBLE 
 
 TO 
 
 CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 
 
 By The Hon. FREDKRICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN. 
 
 Invited to take part in the exercises of this interesting occasion, I readily assented. 
 Had I reflected that I was expected to consider a theme so important and comprehensive 
 as " The Relations of the EngHsh Bible to Civil and Religious Liberty, and to Civilization," I 
 should have felt constrained to refer the duty to some one addicted to philosophic analysis 
 and discourse. 
 
 Religious liberty has relation to that original sense within us, which always and infal- 
 libly tells us, not what acts or opinions are right or wrong, but which tells us whether 
 our motives are right or wrong, and approves right and condemns wrong motives. 
 This sense within us we call conscience ; and he enjoys religious liberty who without 
 the domination of governmental edicts, ecclesiastic dogmas, or the tyranny of custom or 
 of opinion, is free to believe what conscience approves, and to bring his acts and opinions 
 to the test of an educated and informed judgment. Religious liberty is the freedom to 
 obey that monitor within which says, "you must do right," and thoroughly to inves- 
 tigate as to what is right. Christ's mission established a standard of perfect 
 rectitude, and shed the light of truth on the conscience. He instituted a society 
 or church, consisting of those who loved and obeyed Him. For a few years 
 He associated with, instructed, and counselled His followers. He told them that 
 He would soon leave them, but promised that when He was gone, the Spirit 
 would come, teaching them all things, and bringing to their remembrance all things that 
 He had said, that the Gospel would be preached in all the world, and would, hke leaven, 
 diffuse itself through society. This came to pass. The Church at Jerusalem after His 
 death and before Pentecost consisted of only a few members. Then the Spirit turned the 
 hearts of men as rivers of water are turned, the Gentiles were brought in, and the Church 
 miraculously increased ; then, too, the Spirit did bring the things Christ had said to remem- 
 brance, and the Gospels and Epistles were written, and became the sword of the Spirit's 
 conquests, the engrafted Word, able to save souls. 
 
 The true Church of Christ now existing all over the world has milhons of disciples, 
 and is, on matters of religious faith, authority. It is authority not to be obeyed with ab- 
 ject servihty, but to be respected. Its utterances are to be entertained, to be investigated, 
 
Relations of the English Bible to Civil and Religious Liberty. 83 
 
 and to be tested. The Scriptures tell us that the Church was instituted by God, to receive 
 the truth, that Christ is the " Head of the Church," that the Apostles are the " messengers 
 of the Church," and the exhortation is that he who hath ears to hear shall hear what the 
 Spirit saith unto the churches, and the churches are said to have been, " established in the 
 faith." 
 
 And besides, the most learned of men, men, too, who have manifested the excellence 
 of their character by dying for the truth, and still, better by living according to it, have in 
 the Church and for the Church, studied, interpreted and guarded the truth, and it would be 
 no more rational for one honestly seeking spiritual truth, to ignore without inves- 
 tigation the teachings of the Church, than for one seeking a knowledge of astronomy or 
 chemistry to turn away from those who are proficient in those sciences. 
 
 One in search for eternal truth may not listen to the flippant wordster who serves up 
 the blasphemous cavillings that have survived the remorseful death of abandoned infidels, 
 and yet disregard the teachings of the Church of Christ, sustained as they are by the 
 learning and logical reasoning of eminent scholars, whose lives have been divine epistles. 
 Though the way of salvation is so plain that wayfaring men, though fools, need not err 
 therein, still the investigation of the historic evidence of Christianity, the contentions with 
 the objections which depraved but astute intellects have invented as opiates to consci- 
 ence, and the interpretation of the text of Scripture require more learning and study than 
 most are able to give. Advocating as I do religious liberty, far be it from me to weaken in 
 the slightest degree respect for the institutions of that Church for which Christ gave him- 
 self. Liberty in religion is as distinguishable from licentiousness as it is from servile 
 bondage. 
 
 While the spiritual Church had existed from the age of Christ, always discernable by 
 the light of God's word, the external Church departed from the simplicity of the Gospel 
 and of Apostolic times, and substituted the traditions of men for the inspired Word. The 
 Word said that the Lamb of God was once offered a sacrifice for sin. Rome said that 
 whenever the Priest took the wafer and said, " This is my body," it became the very body 
 and soul of our Lord. The Word said there was one mediator between God and 
 man — Rome said there were many mediators between the mediator and man. Phys- 
 ical and spiritual healing virtues were ascribed to relics and pilgrimages and penances, 
 and as these traditions could only be maintained by withholding from the people the 
 Word, the translation of Scripture into the vernacular was under heavy penalties forbidden 
 by Pope and Kings, and a moral gloom and an intellectual darkness rested on the world. 
 Then it was, more than five hundred years ago, that John Wycliffe appeared on the world's 
 stage, as one of those creations of God by which our race is ever and anon advanced 
 long strides in knowledge and virtue. Brave, intellectual and upright, he mastered the 
 learning of his age, and especially devoted himself to the study of theology, not as a 
 barren art as then taught, but as a divine science derived from the spirit as well as the let- 
 ter of the Scripture. He tested the teaching of the monastery by the pure Word. He 
 denounced the doctrine of transubstantiation, and opposed the medicant orders, which, 
 under the garb of devotion, preyed upon the substance of the people. He anticipated 
 the essential doctrines of Protestants, and known as the evangelic doctor, delivered lectures 
 on divinity to multitudes of students and spread the truth far and wide. He translated 
 
84 The Wycliffe Semi-Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 the Bible from Latin into English, that it might be made the ultimate standard of faith. 
 He and faithful priests made copies of the New Testaments, and distributed them to those 
 who would proclaim the truth to the people. The higher classes, who alone were ac- 
 quainted with letters, became students of the Bible and the spirit of inquiry was 
 awaked, not again to be easily stupified. Ecclesiastic councils denounced the ter- 
 rors of excommunication, and kings proclaimed the forfeiture of estate and of life 
 against those who read the translation, but still the system of religious bondage 
 had been shattered, causes had been set in motion which, in leading to the Refor- 
 mation, in little more than a century disenthralled the conscience of men. The Coun- 
 cil of Constance adjudged that Wyclifife died a heretic, he was declared infamous, and 
 his bones were ordered to be exhumed and scattered. The memory of both Cardinal and 
 Bishop who assumed to stand between the human soul and God has perished, while this 
 assemblage proves that the memory of that great man who kindled a fire at which suc- 
 ceeding reformers lighted their tapers, is after five centuries still venerated. "The memory 
 of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot." 
 
 Christ says, ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Paul says, " Be 
 ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is 
 in you." 
 
 To know the truth, and have a reason ready, free investigation and discussion is essen- 
 tial. If a proposition be true, let it be investigated, that the contrary error may be de- 
 stroyed. If it be false, let it be investigated, that its falsity may appear. If it be partly 
 true, partly false, let it be investigated, that the truth may be sifted from the error. 
 There is on earth no infallible umpire to decide for man what is eternal truth except- 
 ing the oracles of God, and the inquiry ever open is, what do they say, and are the say- 
 ings those of God's oracles. 
 
 It is by investigation that the truth is made living, personal, experimental. The 
 miUions who every Lord's day all over Christendom are comparing Scripture with Scrip- 
 ture, casting on it the light of history and testing it by tractable reason, are growing up an 
 army of defenders of the truth such as the world never saw. Had the early Christians 
 accepted the truth as dead beliefs, never questioned, never defended, they would not have 
 made their conquests. 
 
 The assaults that have been made against Christianity, and its defence, have resulted 
 in valuable confirmation. The early infidel writers, Celsus, Porphyry, and JuHan, have left 
 recorded admissions of the most important Gospel facts, while their efforts to avoid and 
 account for the facts admitted are too feeble and unreasonable to shake the truth. 
 Edward Gibbon,whose " Dechne and Fall of the Roman Empire" covers the period from the 
 birth of Christ to the Reformation, has unintentionally rendered Christianity the highest 
 service, by showing that with his remarkable familiarity with contemporaneous and Jewish 
 history, he was unable to discover any defect in the historical narrative or superstructure 
 of Christianity. 
 
 The advantages of free investigation are manifested by the fact that science, after long 
 rejecting, within a few generations has verified those truths in nature which God inci- 
 dentally, as it were, revealed thousands of years ago. Thus, that the earth was cre- 
 ated and not eternal ; that it is round ; that its crust rests on interior fire ; that the 
 
 ■^. h^ 
 
 \ 
 
The Bible the Book for all Ages. 69 
 
 Fatherhood of God, and the meaning of suffering and sorrow, and opens sources of con- 
 solation and strength just adapted to man's need. The Bible tells us how we may obtain 
 the forgiveness of sin, and have a blessed peace with God. The Bible brings more dis- 
 tinctly into consciousness, and addresses with loving directness, that higher aspiration of 
 the soul which impels man to struggle against sin, and to seek the complete development 
 of his character in moral excellence ; and it tells us how we may secure a grand victory 
 over evil, and an assurance of eternal life. Where in all the ages of the world, to the 
 latest generation, shall be found a man to whom these teachings will not apply and be in- 
 valuable. 
 
 The Bible reveals most clearly and richly the morality which should govern men in all 
 the intercourse of life — in the family, in business, in civil relations ; the duties which we 
 owe to one another, and to the State of which we are citizens \ the great principles whose 
 practical exemplification would give us the highest style of manhood, the best civil- 
 ization, the noblest government, the happiest homes. 
 
 And when will there ever be an age when its teachings will be obsolete, or needless, 
 or superseded by anything better than it presents ? 
 
 The Bible reveals the true God, and tells man how to Hve and how to be saved. 
 When will the time come when there shall be none who need to know these things ? 
 When shall there be no man who will need to know the way to God, none who shall need 
 to be saved ? Till that day the Bible remains the same : of infinite value to the human race ; 
 fountain of life ; source of salvation. As long as the human race exists the words of 
 Jesus will be true ; " I am the way, the truth, and the life ; no man cometh unto the 
 Father but by me :" and the Book which proclaims those words will live and be the Book 
 of Life for mankind until there is no sinner to be saved ; until the millennial glory of earth 
 is lost in the higher glory of the finished work in heaven ; and there will be no further need 
 of the Book, because the saints of all ages will see Jesus, and learn of Him. 
 
 And notice how the Bible not only retains its freshness, but seems as if it were written 
 on purpose for to-day, and for each individual's peculiar experience ; and also how the more 
 constantly you read it the richer and fresher it appears. There is a pecuHarity in its utter- 
 ances which makes each individual feel they are for him. The spirit that is in them speaks 
 to our heart. The book of Psalms, for instance, what a transcript it is of human experi- 
 ence in all ages ! How the heart to-day finds the best expression of its gratitude, rever- 
 ence, joy, fear, doubt, penitence, peace, trust, hope, in the words of those sacred songs ! 
 What myriads of souls have said : " The Lord is my Shepherd." What myriads have 
 "cried out of the depths" unto the Lord! What myriads have tearfully repeated the 51st 
 Psalm as their sacrifice of contrition ; or, have pealed forth, " The Lord reigneth," and 
 " Bless the Lord, O my soul," in grateful exultation ! And so all through the oX^l prophets., 
 and in the histories of devout men, there are utterances which find living use this day, and 
 ever will find it ; while millions have seemed as they read the Gospels to hear the sound 
 of Jesus' voice, or have found the Holy Ghost speaking to them through Paul, or Peter, or 
 John. 
 
 And it is wonderful how new life comes out of the Book with every day's experience ; 
 the Book itself fitting mto all the new circumstances of life, and the enlarged knowledge 
 and distincter faith enabling us to grasp more of its meaning, to reaHze more its worth. 
 10 
 
70 The WicUffe Se7ni-Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 And so, no matter what men are or where they are, the Bible is the Uving book for 
 them. It adapts itself, as it were, to their changed circumstances. Every man finds in it 
 something for him, and something for just the position in which he finds himself. Rich 
 or poor, sick or well, despondent or exulting, spiritual or dull, at home or among strang- 
 ers, the Bible is with him and for him. Greek or Jew, Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, 
 the Bible is with him and for him. In the home or the school, or the state, in every rela- 
 tion of hfe, showing man his noblest duty, asserting for woman due respect ; it is with him 
 and for him. 
 
 4. And so we may say, it is the Book for all ages of human life ; for the child and 
 for the old, for youth and for manhood. Remarkably is it composed in this respect. It takes 
 the little child from the earHest opening of intelligence, and interests him with its stories, 
 and impresses upon him its truths. Really, all hterature, secular or sacred, has nothing that 
 so truly touches and possesses the young heart as Bible stories and Bible scenes. And 
 fiction of the highest order has never pictured such a scene, or thought out such an inci- 
 dent, as that of Jesus blessing little children ; and millions of children have heard that story 
 with deepest mterest, and have in a sort of unconscious hush and loving reverence felt 
 the touch of Jesus on them. And old age has gone bravely and patiently through its pil- 
 grimage leaning on this golden staff" of the Lord ; while countless multitudes have found 
 it the guide of their youth, the companion and strength of their riper years. 
 
 5. And then, again, zv hat a power it has to meet the ever changing phases of social 
 life, and the advances of learning. 
 
 The human race is progressive. At some periods the world seems to go forward with 
 gigantic strides ; this modern era is distinguished by intense mental activity. There have 
 been immense labors in scientific research and in the practical application of scientific 
 principles; and these have produced large results, great acquisitions of knowledge and power. 
 Amid all these our Bible remains, the same and yet not the same ; unchanged and change- 
 less in its substance, in its authoritative revelations, and its claim to our confidence and 
 reverence ; speaking to day, as it ever has spoken as the word of God. But in many 
 respects it is better understood, and the Hght which it was designed to throw on human 
 life is more clearly discerned. The Bible itself is a progressive book. There is a progress 
 of Revelation in it from beginning to end. The twilight rays of redemption grow brighter 
 until the Son of Righteousness appears, and His authorized apostles explain and en- 
 force His religion. So as the human race advances in intelligence, many parts of the 
 Bible are better understood; its great universal principles are more clearly discerned, and 
 their living forcefulness is felt. The Bible remains the same ; the truths which it teaches 
 are the same; nothing is added to them, nothing is taken from them, as the ages roll on. 
 The God of the Bible, the Law of the Bible, the Saviour of the Bible, the Grace of the 
 Bible — these remain the same, yesterday, and to-day, and forever, whether the Book goes 
 with these to cultured Greece or imperial Rome, to the peasant of the middle ages or to the 
 Romish hierarchy, to the man of letters or to the unlettered workman, to Protestant Europe 
 and America. It is the same in these respects in the light of the nineteenth century, with 
 all its wonderful advance and orand achievement, that it ever has been and ever will be. 
 
The Bible the Book for all Ages. J I 
 
 All new light of knowledge illustrates its meaning and exhibits its beauty. For all advance 
 it has a quick sympathy. Nay, it is the spring and sustainer of intellectual activity. To 
 its protection and the hfe which it imparts is due that freedom of investigation and dis- 
 cussion which is the boast of our age, and which many ungratefully turn against it. Its 
 changeless substance takes on the character of a present Hfe. It is always of to-day, be- 
 cause it is eternal. 
 
 6. And thus far the Bible has proved itself iht Book for all ages. 
 
 Wherever it has gone it has carried new light and new life to the nations. Where- 
 ever its teachings have been understood and accepted, it has shown its superiority to all 
 other professedly religious books. It has produced immense changes in civil governments, 
 in social habits, in that complex thing which we call civilization. The religion of the Bible 
 overturned the Roman empire, and has gradually made the civilization of modern Europe. 
 Bible lands to-day are the leading countries of the earth ; and in Bible lands they are the 
 freest and most intelligent where the Bible is most read and its teachings most fully prac- 
 tised. And even now the nations of the earth that are getting glimpses of the superiority 
 of the Christian civiHzation, are looking hopefully toward this blessed book, and stretching 
 out their hands to receive from us the lamp of life. 
 
 The Book for all ages ! Yes : it is made for all; it is suited to all; it has blessed 
 the ages past ; it is the light of the present ; it is the hope of the future ; the Book that 
 gives to this earthly life its richest beauty, its noblest worthiness ; that makes the grandest 
 manhood, and lifts to highest level the instincts and the virtues of social humanity, and 
 that alone guides to eternal blessedness ; the one Book for Man, for each individual, and 
 for all that make up the mighty sum of humanity, from Adam to the latest born of the 
 race. 
 
 The Book for all ages ! Yes : the ages will claim it for themselves ; will guard and 
 reverence it, and will never let it die. The Bible has made for itself a place in the human 
 race from which it never can be dislodged. It has so entered into the current of human 
 life, so incorporated itself with every department of our being, that we can almost as read- 
 ily imagine man existing without love, or hope, without a moral nature, as without the 
 Bible. It belongs to the ages, numberless as they may be. It will never die. The hand 
 of violence will not be able to destroy it. The floods of doubt shall not wash it away. The 
 highest genius shall not produce anything to supersede it. The life of God is in it, and it 
 shall endure forever. 
 
 It is a wonderful book! So wonderful that we can ascribe its authorship to God 
 alone. Written by men, with human peculiarities chnging to it, the religion which it 
 teaches, the morality which it enforces, the way of salvation which it proclaims, the God 
 whom it declares, the future which it reveals, the exactness of its adaptedness to human 
 wants, above all, the Christ whom it sets before us, with His beauty of character. His 
 wonderful works, His subUme teaching. His divine sacrifice — all show that it is of God 
 alone. All human wisdom through all the ages never could have made such a book ; 
 never could have so made it answer human wants, never could have invented Jesus and 
 His story. There it stands peculiar and alone ; the Book of mankind, because it is the 
 book of God ; the book of God, because it is so wonderfully the Book of mankind. 
 
72 The Wy cliff e Semi-Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 My friends, if we were here to defend the authority of the Bible, to prove its divine 
 origin and authority against the attacks of infidelity, I would take my stand on the Book 
 of Psalms and the Gospel of St. John, and feel that I was secure. And I make this 
 assertion with a clear knowledge of theories concerning the historic origin and growth of 
 the Psalms, and of the violent assaults upon the Fourth Gospel, and with the full acknowl- 
 edgment of the human elements therein. I assert distinctly, the utter impossibility that 
 these books could have sprung from a human mind untaught by the Divine spirit. The 
 Gospel exists only because it is true ; and that which makes the Psalms such a book of 
 life for all mankind, is the life of God that is in it. 
 
 But to such a defence we are not now called. Nor need we be very careful to defend 
 ourselves against the charge of Bibliolatry, as if we were superstitiously regarding the 
 book itself — worshiping the printed book. That is a false and foolish charge sometimes 
 made against friends of the Bible. Of course, it is not the book, but the revelation from 
 God which the book contains, that we prize above all price. It is the glory of God 
 shining there that makes the book glorious and precious. We are not worshipers of the 
 book, but of the God of the book. But we do value the book as containing in fixed and 
 objective form the authoritative declarations of God, a revelation that may be known and 
 read by all men. We do reverence the book as coming from God, as constructed under 
 His supervision, and as full of Him. And we thank Him that He has in infinite wisdom 
 put His revelations in that permanent form for all ages ; that He has not left us to 
 the uncertainty of tradition coming down through long centuries, to the vagaries of 
 fanaticism assuming to speak in God's name, or the assumptions and tyranny of a priest- 
 hood speaking oracles for human enslavement. He has not left each man to be a law to 
 himself, and to regard his feelings as communications from God, but has given us in vis- 
 ible and tangible form, in a statement intelligible by all. His Word for you and me. He 
 has made the Bible the wonderful casket, wrought by many hands through many ages, 
 that contains the precious jewel whose lustre is the heavenly light that guides to salvation. 
 It is the crystal vial, more precious than the golden vials full of the prayers of saints, that 
 preserves for all ages the elixir of life. And it is perilous to separate what God has joined 
 together ; and in a supposed exalted liberality, or spirituality, to set little value on the let- 
 ter of the Bible, because the spirit is more than the letter. In reality, we know nothing of 
 the spirit apart from the letter. We know not God except through the word, the word of 
 life. We know Jesus only as we find Him in the Bible. It will be a sad hour for Christianity 
 and the world when men think they can have religion without this book ; or when they 
 give over the book to a self-appointed priesthood, who shall give them such portions, with 
 such interpretations, as they please, instead of themselves reading it freely and judging of 
 its teaching. The Bible is not an amulet to be hung about the neck, or sewed upon the 
 hem of our garments. Neither is it so sacred a book that none but the priests of the 
 Lord may touch it. It is the voice of God speaking to you and to me and to every man, 
 in every age, the words of eternal life, to which our hearts should readily and earnestly 
 respond. 
 
 And so, my hearers, it is well that we join with these commemorative services our praises 
 and thanksgivings to God for the blessed Book. John WyclifFe was one of those whom the 
 providence of God raised up to break off the fetters that were upon the Bible, and to start 
 
The Bible the Book for all Ages. y2> 
 
 it afresh upon its errand of mercy among the nations. The story of his translation, the 
 attempt to follow the stream which issued as a fountain from the rock at the touch of his 
 pen, must be left to other hands. The history of the five hundred years is a history of 
 the influence and triumphs of the Bible ; a powerful witness to the truthfulness of our 
 position that the Bible is the book for all ages. 
 
 When Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament was first made public, a cotem- 
 porary of his, and a bitter enemy, Henry Knighton, Canon of Leicester, wrote thus ; " The 
 Gospel which Christ committed to the clergy and doctors of the Church, that they 
 might sweetly dispense it to the laity and weaker persons according to the exigency of 
 the times and the wants of the people, hungering after it in their mind, this John 
 Wychffe has translated out of Latin into the Anglican, not angelic, language ; whence, 
 through him, it has been pubUshed and disclosed more openly to laymen, and women able 
 to read, than it used to be to the most learned and able of the clergy, and so the Gospel 
 pearl is cast abroad and trodden under foot of swine ; and what was dear to the clergy 
 and laity is now rendered, as it were, the common jest of both; so that the gem of 
 the Church becomes the derision of laymen, and that is now theirs forever which before 
 was the special property of the clergy and doctors." 
 
 Most truly, though in offensive words, did the alarmed ecclesiastic describe Wycliffe's 
 work. He gave the Bible to the people ; to woman as well as to man ; to all who could 
 read the English language ; to " the common people," who of old heard Jesus gladly. 
 Could he stand with us to-day, and survey the Christian world? could he count up the 
 miUions on millions of Bibles now scattered over the globe ? could he know that this 
 Book, over which he toiled prayerfully, has gone through so many stages of improvement, 
 and been so multiplied by the magic of printing, and then having caught a pentecostal 
 baptism, has been translated into 250 different languages, would he not stand amazed and 
 praise God for His wonderful works ? Perhaps — who shall say ? — perhaps from some 
 grand outlook on the Holy hill of Zion above, he, and Tyndale, and Huss, and Luther 
 may survey this field of earth, and talk together of the great things which the Lord has 
 wrought through their instrumentality, and may see with clearer vision than we do the 
 onward flow of the river of life — the Word going to all the nations, till all shall hear the 
 joyful sound, and rejoice in the great salvation. And may it not be that this very monk, 
 Knighton, who wrote these hard things of Wyclifife, and others who, like him, blindly per- 
 secuted the friends of the truth, even some of the men of Constance, who burned Huss 
 and decreed that WycHfFe's bones should be exhumed and dishonored — for sound judg- 
 ment, as well as Christian charity, leads us to beheve that many of them may have been 
 true disciples of Jesus, notwithstanding their errors and sins — may it not be, I say, that 
 some of them shall stand there on heaven's heights, with those godly reformers, and rejoice 
 in the glorious success of that work which they sought to hinder ; heaven's clearness and 
 purity making a perfect unity of all who love the Saviour — a unity of which we have fore- 
 shadowings here in the blessed fellowship of those who love the Bible. May the God of 
 the Bible speed that glorious consummation ! And may we, the people of the Bible, show 
 that we rightly estimate it, and largely drink in its spirit, by maintaining unimpaired its 
 freedom, and reverencing its authority, and by giving it to all the nations, and sending it 
 down in its purity to all the ages. 
 
74 The Wycliffe Semi- Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 THE BIBLE AND INTELLIGENCE. 
 
 By JAMES McCOSH, D. D., LL.D., 
 
 President of the College of New Jersey. 
 
 The faculties of man's mind are commonly divided into two, the understanding and 
 the will — the head and the heart, as they are vulgarly called. 
 
 In our day we commonly designate these as the cognitive and the motive powers. 
 We can easily understand the difference. It is by the head that the boy learns his lessons ; 
 but it is his heart that makes him feel an interest in them and pursue them eagerly. It is 
 the understanding that performs the act, but it is awakened by the motive powers. If you 
 want to call forth the activity of the intellect, you may have to begin by touching the 
 feelings. 
 
 I. The Scriptures address both parts of our nature. They address the understanding. 
 " We speak as unto wise men, judge ye what we say." The books of Moses carry us farther 
 back into authentic history than any other. It is confessed on all hands that there are 
 literary beauties in the Bible of a certain kind which are not equalled, and I am certain are 
 not surpassed, by any other work of ancient or modern times. We have no lyric poetry 
 superior in spirit, in condensation, and in force to the Psalms of David. We have no 
 poetry so sublime, not even that of Milton who drew so much from Scripture, as that 
 found in the parting address of Moses at the close of the book of Deuteronomy, or the 
 dialogues of the book of Job, and the rapt visions of Isaiah. Throughout the whole Scrip- 
 ture, but particularly the New Testament, and very specially in the discourses of our Lord 
 and the Epistles of Paul, we have higher views of the character of God and of duty, than in 
 the discourses of Socrates, and the pages of Plato, Aristotle, and Marcus Aurelius, the greatest 
 philosophers and moralists of heathen antiquity. They open to us lofty ideas which the 
 mind of man might not have been able otherwise to grasp and retain. Take only two or 
 three as examples. There is the idea of infinity and of eternity, nowhere clearly apprehended 
 by heathen writers. There is the idea of perfect holiness or of separation from sin, an 
 idea which no heathen ever rose to. More especially, there is the idea, which many intel- 
 lectually proud men in our day cannot comprehend, of the sin-hating and yet sin-forgiv- 
 ing God; of God just and yet the justifier of the ungodly. 
 
 In particular, the' Scriptures give us an insight into our nature such as has been pre- 
 sented to us nowhere else. What a variety of character, good and evil, is brought before 
 us in the Four Gospels. In the centre or foreground of the painting (if painting it can be 
 called, which is the simplest of all simple narratives) stands Jesus, the brightness of the 
 Father's glory and the express image of His person seen in shadow ; working miracles, re- 
 
The Bible and Bitelligence. 75 
 
 lieving distress, teaching His disciples, under the pressure all the while of the mighty load 
 of a world's sin. Around him we notice his Apostles, distinguished by almost every pos- 
 sible diversity of character ; some timid, others, confident ; each with a heart ungodly by 
 nature, but all, with one sad exception, coming under a heavenly power which is struggling 
 with inward corruption within them. Farther off we get a glimpse of other disciples shrink- 
 ing from the view; for though convinced that Jesus has come from God, they have not the 
 courage to avow themselves to be His followers. Here and there among the groups hover- 
 ing around, we see enemies irritated by the faithfulness of the Holy One in the midst of 
 them, and anxiously plotting to be rid of Him ; at this place you notice a company of scoff- 
 ing Sadducees ; at that place a party of scowling Pharisees. Scattered among these we 
 find persons who had been relieved by the grace of Him who went about continually doing 
 good, who had had their burdens of care removed, or their diseases healed. This man, fixing 
 his eyes so eagerly on Jesus, was lately bhnd ; this other listening so intently, was lately 
 deaf; that other walking and leaping with such alacrity, was a short time ago hope- 
 lessly lame ; and this one so full of life and joy, was a few days ago prostrated on a bed of 
 •sickness, or shut up in the gloom of the sepulchre. In the background of the scene we 
 have the mass of the people vacillating between two opinions ; now strewing his path with 
 branches of trees and shouting hosanna, and again with loud voice demanding His cruci- 
 fixion. Where else will you meet with such a variety of character, reaching from spotless 
 excellence on the one hand, to bloated lust and demoniacal malice and fury on the other. 
 Heaven and earth and hell, God and man and devils, the flesh and the spirit, human nature 
 and divine grace, meet and wrestle and struggle till we see the several properties of each. 
 By this mixture of light and shadow we are interested and allured to pursue the path be- 
 fore us ; and in doing so we pick up most salutary instruction. I beUeve it may be said 
 that he who has thoroughly studied the Gospel history, knows more of human nature in its 
 deeper disposition and moods, especially in its relation to God the friend, and to God the 
 [supposed] foe, than one who has read all the histories that were ever written of all the 
 people that ever lived. 
 
 II. But after all, it is the motive part of man's nature, the will and feelings, that the Word of 
 God primarily and chiefly addresses and calls into exercise. But in doing so it awakens the 
 intelligence, which, as it acts, grows and is strengthened. " Faith cometh by hearing, and 
 hearing by the Word of God." When the Word of God is known, believed in and received 
 by the heart, the effect produced on the motives, the character and the action is not a 
 simple but a complex and varied one. It is as when the returning sun calls forth the 
 spring with its grass, its leaves, its buds, its blossoms and flowers which cover and adorn the 
 earth. It is as when the Hght of the morning arises and there is an audible stir, and the 
 cattle on a thousand hills go forth to gather their sustenance, and milUons of men hasten to 
 their multiphed activities. So it is when the light of the Word rises upon the souls of 
 men ; it is not a single effect that follows, but it is an influence which calls forth an infinite 
 number of products ; a sharpened intellect and active mental powers, which form hterature 
 and science, followed in course by civilization, by refinement, by inventions in the practical 
 arts, and by taste in the fine arts. 
 
 We often see this in the individual youth. He is growing up motiveless, dull, seeking 
 only bodily enjoyments, and doing nothing to fulfill the end of his being. But an arrow 
 
^6 The Wycliffe Sevii-Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 shot from God's quiver reaches him and he is roused from his lethargy, and he has an end 
 to live for, and he takes up and accomplishes a great work which ennobles him and does 
 good to others. Without this he would have lived and died like a brute ; with this he leads 
 a God-like life of love and activity. It has been as when showers descend on the parched 
 ground and the pastures of the wilderness, and not one, but a miUion of blades and leaves 
 and corn feel the influence, and rejoice in the good they do. 
 
 Take not an individual, but a nation, a race sunk in ignorance and supersti- 
 tion, like Britain two thousand years ago, or hke our Indians in this country, or 
 like the South Sea Islanders, or the dark continent of Africa. How are you to exalt them ? 
 Some will say by carrying to them the arts and sciences — a knowledge of architecture, and 
 engineering, and painting, and mathematics, and mechanics, and geology. If you proceed 
 in this way, the savages would gaze at you with wonder, but listen to you with stupor. 
 You would soon find that you had nothing to interest them or move them to action. 
 You present to them a beautiful painting of Raphael, but they would thank you much more 
 for a bunch of painted feathers. You talk to them of angles and mechanical powers, but 
 they would be more obliged to you if you would give them a weapon to kill their enemies. 
 You read Milton to them, but they prefer the noise of their war dance. But let the Bible 
 be opened to them and explained by the preacher ; let them realize that they have a soul,, 
 and you will find that there is something within them which beats responsive. Let them 
 be made to feel that they have done evil, and there is a voice from their hearts ready to 
 confirm your statement, and they look round for an escape. Let them be told of God as 
 a Father giving His Son as a loving Saviour, and the feelings of their hearts are called forth. 
 And now the powers that were, if not dead, at least dormant, come forth as the leaves of 
 the apparently dead tree do in spring. The man now feels that he has a life worth liv- 
 ing, and he lives for it. He knows that there is a God to whom he must give an account, 
 and he lays restraints on his animal lusts. He knows that there is a world to come, and 
 his aims stretch towards it. 
 
 I remember the time when there was a keen discussion as to whether savages should 
 first be civilized, or Christianized. When missions were started, the Rev. Sidney Smith 
 and the Edinburgh Review, at that time the most influential journal in the world, ridi- 
 culed them, and said, let them first be taught the arts and sciences. In that age the cry- 
 was, first civilize, and then Christianize, and it was uttered by men who took no pains 
 either to civilize or to Christianize. The feeling now rather is, that it is of no use to ele- 
 vate the savage or degraded classes ; they may be allowed to sink or disappear, provided 
 the higher races, such as the Aryan, and especially the Anglo-Saxon, are to take their 
 place. It is a fit creed and sentiment for those who work to make the ignorant and the 
 outcast the ministers of their selfishness and of their lusts, without being troubled with 
 any reproaches of conscience. How different in its practical bearing is the faith of the 
 Christian, who holds that God has " made of one blood all nations," and that all human 
 beings are alike, in that they possess souls capable of improvement and destined to live 
 forever. Catching the spirit of Him who stood by the weak against the strong ; who 
 came to seek and to save that which was lost; who permitted the woman who was a sinner 
 to approach Him, and ever sought to raise the fallen, the disciple of Christ recognizes 
 as brothers and sisters the lowest specimens of humanity, whether found in heathen 
 
Relations of the English Bible to Civil and Religious Liberty. 85 
 
 winds go in circuit and return to their circuit again ; that the rivers flow to the sea and 
 return to the places whence they came, and that to this end God " made a weight for the 
 winds," and weigheth the waters ;" that the sky is an illimitable expanse, and not a 
 solid vault ; that the stars are as the sands on the seashore for multitude ; that the lio-ht of 
 the first day sustained the gigantic trees and herbs of the third day, which are found in the 
 coal deposits of the earth, and which the sun of the fourth day never could have developed 
 or sustained ; that the " day" of creation, was not a Solar day but a period, for the 14th 
 verse of Genesis tells us that it was not until the fourth period of creation, that to the sun 
 was assigned the office of dividing the day from the night, and of regulating the sea- 
 sons. The numerals from one to six inclusive are capable of seven hundred and 
 twenty mutations, of being by transposition read as so many different sums, so mathema- 
 tically, excluding the nature of reason of things, the six events of creation are capable of 
 like mutations. Thousands of years after the Revelation is given a science arises, which 
 testifies that from the multitude of possible orders or succession of creative event, revelation 
 gives that one order or succession that is true. 
 
 But why urge that free investigation is essential to true rehgious Hberty ? It is those 
 who fear or hate the truth that avoid scrutiny. And they always fall into error ; thus 
 Socrates, the noblest of heathen, was condemned to death by the Areopagus as a corrupter 
 of youth, because he denied the divinity of the gods recognized by the ,State ; and thus 
 the Jewish priests, when they heard our Saviour assert that He was the Son of God, tore 
 their garments and said, what need we any further proof ; we, ourselves, have heard His 
 blasphemy — crucify Him. 
 
 That man knows nothing of Christianity who conceives that it has the effect to im- 
 pinge in the slightest degree on the perfect freedom of conscience. To do so, would be 
 to violate its elementary principles. God could not be content with a material world, 
 though every stone were a diamond and every rock a sapphire. He craved the homage of 
 free intelligences, having the capacity on this drill ground of earth, to form character upon 
 which He could look with complacency, who could return gratitude for His benefactions, 
 and an ever unceasing love for His ineffable love, and to this end those intelligences must 
 be free. Destroy that freedom and you destroy the very purpose of God. 
 
 Civil liberty is freedom from tyranny in civil government. 
 
 Christ, the central figure in all history, came to bring salvation and immortal life to a 
 race, in all generations and in all nations. His teachings were not local or temporary, but 
 universal and eternal. He favored no particular form of human government, either aris- 
 tocracy^ or monarchy, or republic. When the taxpayer challenged His opinion as to the 
 lawfulness of tribute. He waived the inquiry by telling him to "render unto Caesar's the 
 things that were Caesar's," without intimating what things were Caesar's. 
 
 When the heir called upon Him, to direct his brother to give him his share of the 
 estate, He said, " Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you ?" It is of Httle impor- 
 tance who ha? the estate, but of infinite moment whether you worsphip God or mammon. 
 A man's Hfe consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth — beware of 
 covetousness. The rulership of nations, the crown of David, the hosannas of the multi- 
 12 
 
86 The Wycliffe Semi-Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 tude, were to Him so utterly devoid of attraction, that he simply put them aside with 
 the declaration, " My kingdom is not of this world." 
 
 But while the prime end and purpose of Christianity was not to estabhsh civil liberty, 
 or to protect the rights of man, it indirectly and unerringly effects these results. The deca- 
 logue constitutes the basis of well-ordered government, and Christianity first spirituahzes the 
 law and then declares that in every jot and tittle it shall be fulfilled. It proclaimed the Father- 
 hood of God and the brotherhood of man, and on its very frontlet is inscribed the maxim, 
 " Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do you even so unto them." 
 
 A man to whom the truths of the Bible have never been revealed, who finds himself, 
 without his volition, a sentient being in a world of wretchedness and sin, waiting to fall 
 into the cold grave, saying to '^ corruption thou art my father, and to the worm thou art 
 my mother, and my sister," cannot be a free man ; but when he learns that there is a 
 Spirit-God, who is the Father of the spirit he is conscious of being, and that He has sent 
 His Son to restore him, a magnificent ruin, to the bright image of His Father, and that the 
 grave is not an abyss of degradation, but the portal to a home of ineffable joy, then the 
 slave becomes a freeman, and Liberty his ministering angel. 
 
 The great truths of the Bible had but a hmited and qualified effect on civil 
 liberty until the Scriptures were, a century and a half after Wycliffe, not only 
 translated but printed, by Tyndale and Coverdale, in the vernacular, and placed 
 in the hands of the people. Then they learned from the Old Testament with what 
 a resolute spirit of freedom a small nation, surrounded by the Egyptians, Assyr- 
 ians, and Persians, counselled by God, and led on by the Prophets, contended for 
 their altars and their homes ; aijd having read the heroic deeds of Israel, they, when 
 they contended for their own liberties and rights, recognized in " the ensigns of 
 war, the banners of God." Then, too, in the New Testament they found the Magna 
 Charta of liberty and equality, which placed high and low, rich and poor, in a perfect 
 brotherhood. And when the descendants of Bible reading Englishmen laid the founda- 
 tions of a grand Republic in this western hemisphere, they inscribed on its corner 
 stone " All men are created equal." Then, too, the key of knowledge was recaptured from 
 those who would not enter into the sanctuary of learning themselves, but hindered those 
 who would, the prohibitions against the translation and publication of works of science were 
 annulled, and the monopoly of learning was wrested from the clergy. The State became 
 free from the control of the Church, which thus became powerless to impede the course 
 of justice or to pilfer the pubHc revenue. That Book gave moral dignity to the people, in- 
 tegrity to rulers, and put to shame the artifices of ecclesiastics. The English Bible has 
 established constitutional liberty for the English speaking people of the world. It is the 
 people's book. Cherish it, let it be excluded nowhere, and the day will soon come, when the 
 kingdoms of this earth shall become the kingdoms of our Lord. 
 
 That Bible, too, has given to the world those two handmaidens of civil liberty, the 
 Christian Sabbath and the Christian Home. If there be one memory that may be cherished 
 here, and recalled with joy in the spirit land, it is that of the Sabbath at home. 
 There is the unchallenged confidence, the easy intercourse, the chastened pleasantry, an 
 affection reciprocated, which is felt rather than expressed, the subdued and tender mention 
 
Relations of the English Bible to Civil and Religious Liberty. 8 7 
 
 of a dear one who once was there, the simple allusion to some loving incident in the life 
 of Him who died for us, the reading of the old Bible — 
 
 "Then kueeling to heaven's eternal King, 
 
 The saint, the husband and the father prays, 
 Hope springs exulting on triumphant wing, 
 That thus they all shall meet in future days." 
 
 Sons and daughters having such memories as a possession are the polished corner- 
 stones of which the palace of civil liberty is built. 
 
 To portray the effect of the English Bible on civilization, would be to give the his- 
 tory of centuries. The press now moves the world; the multiphcation of copies of val- 
 uable books renders their preservation more secure than Alexandrian libraries. Steam 
 has made the world a neighborhood, and electricity has rendered it a whispering gallery, 
 so that a cry of distress or wrong in its remotest corner evokes everywhere a response of 
 sympathy ; commerce, agriculture and art have made magical progress ; schools, colleges, 
 churches, asylums bestud the earth ; the principles of the gospel have been incorporated 
 into the common Law of England and America, and adopted as the basis of the inter- 
 national law. Nations that have hitherto rejected our religion are being captivated by 
 the wondrous advance of Christian nations in the arts and sciences, and are assiduously 
 imitating them. Thither they send their sons to be educated. English is taught in their 
 schools and spoken by the educated. That the English Bible, religious Enr^lish literature, 
 and Christianity itself will follow is not doubtful. 
 
 It is not however, a spurious Christianity, into which is infused so much of human pas- 
 sions and human pride as is palatable, that will make the men to make a state. A Christian- 
 ity that would rob a fellow immortal for whom Christ died of all dignity, and so subject 
 him to the lash, that in his degradation he abjectly believes that he deserves it, would not 
 build up, but would destroy civil liberty and high civilization. So, too, that bigoted pride, 
 which is intolerant of every opinion that does not harmonize with the postulates of the 
 creed it has enshrined, will not elevate our race. The zealots who will hang a witch and 
 then go home " as men and Christians justified," " God willed it and the witch has died," 
 are not the men to make a state. If civil liberty and advanced civilization have been 
 -established amid such influences, it has not been by virtue of, but in spite of them. 
 
 Dear God and Father of us all, 
 
 Forgive our faith in cruel lies ; 
 Forgive the blindness that denies, 
 
 Forgive thy creature when he takes, 
 For the all perfect love thou art, 
 
 Some grim creation of his heart. 
 
SS The Wy cliff e Se^ni-Milletmial Bible Celebration. 
 
 THE AUTHORIZED VERSION AND 
 THE PRESENT REVISION. 
 
 By WILLIAM HENRY GREEN, D.D., 
 Professor in the Theological Seminary, Princeton, N. J. 
 
 The autliorized version of the Bible is one of the most precious legacies bequeathed 
 to the English speaking peoples of the present day, by the learning and piety of former 
 generations. 
 
 The written word of God is the revelation of His will to men for their salvation. It 
 js the heritage of the world, and belongs to all men by divine indefeasible right. They 
 are entitled to receive it in authentic form, and in their own vernacular tongue. The 
 miracle at Pentecost was a type for future ages, setting the standard of duty and of 
 privilege for the Christian dispensation, when the multitude out of every nation under 
 heaven exclaimed : We hear every man in our own tongue wherein we were born, the 
 wonderful works of God. As the church spread among the nations, she carried with her 
 the Scriptures as at once the charter on which her own existence was founded, and the 
 message which she was bidden to proclaim. And early versions into the various languages 
 of the time are the surest indications of the extent of her conquests age by age, as 
 well as the permanent memorials of her pious zeal. 
 
 The irruption of the barbarians into Europe and the overthrow of the Western Ro- 
 man empire terminated for a season the work of translation. The languages of the bar- 
 barians were unwritten. The language of books and written documents was the Latin ; 
 It was the depository of all extant learning. Letters were despised by the rude men of 
 arms. And the tongues of these roving tribes were in continual flux. They must be 
 taught by the living teacher. Records and laws and chronicles were all in Latin. It was 
 the language of the conventual establishments where learning was gathered and preserved. 
 All who aspired to knowledge in any branch whatever, must seek it in Latin. Under these 
 circumstances it followed as a matter of course that the church service was maintained in 
 Latin, and the Scriptures were kept in that tongue, in the form which they had finally 
 received from the learned and pious monk Jerome. 
 
 As soon as England began to have a stable government, the Anglo-Saxon church blos- 
 somed forth into a vernacular literature, and the Scriptures were rendered from the Latin 
 into the language of the people. But with the Norman invasion came the fall of Anglo- 
 Saxon and the incorporation of new elements of speech, which ultimately gave rise to En- 
 glish. And WycHfife was raised up to execute that noble task, and bestow upon his coun- 
 
The Authorized Version and the Present Revision. 89 
 
 trymen that great boon which, after five centuries, we are here to-day to commemorate. 
 He translated the Bible into English, and thus prepared the way for giving this precious 
 volume not merely to the clergy and to scholars, but to the masses. This translation was 
 necessarily made from the Latin, the version of Jerome, which was not only the best that 
 was accessible, but the best in existence. It was vastly superior in clearness and in ac- 
 curacy to any that had been made before or since, and was certamly a great advance upon 
 the Septuagint, which had been so highly esteemed in the ancient church as to be almost 
 thought to be inspired and infallible. Jerome himself was censured for deviating from it 
 as fidehty to the original required him to do. And now his own version, which had been 
 endeared to the people of God by the use of so many ages, which was the basis of the 
 •current Uturgies and commentaries, and the common standard of appeal throughout the 
 western ecclesiastical world, and was justly entitled to high respect and veneration, came 
 at length to have such an overweening measure of sanctity and inviolability associated 
 with it, that the Council of Trent by formal decree, erected it into an ultimate authority 
 from which no one must presume to dissent on any ground whatever. 
 
 But with the revival of learning was restored the knowledge of the Greek and He- 
 brew languages. And the great Reformation of the sixteenth century brought with it as 
 a primary and a fundamental truth that the word of God in its inspired originals is the 
 sole infalUble rule of faith and duty. This ultimate standard, by which all questions are 
 to be authoritatively decided, must therefore be rendered universally accessible by being 
 reproduced as accurately as possible for popular use. The translation of .a translation, 
 however excellent and highly prized the letter may be, cannot meet the case. Hence the 
 simultaneous movement, which manifested itself all over Europe, to render the Scriptures 
 from their originals into the vernacular tongue. And while Erasmus prepared for schol- 
 ars a more accurate rendering of the New Testament mto Latin than the Vulgate, Luther 
 gave the Bible to Germany, Zwingle and his associates to Switzerland, and others did the 
 same for France and Spain and Italy. 
 
 This same impulse was caught by William Tyndale, whose is the most honored 
 name in the history of our English Bible, to whom it was given to lay the groundwork of 
 ■our present translation, and to whom much of its great excellence can be directly traced, 
 particularly its vigorous and homely English, and the transparent simplicity of its style. 
 His heroic labors, patient endurance and triumphant martyrdon crown with unfailing lus- 
 tre the sacred enterprise to which his life was devoted. 
 
 Thus was laid the basis of the English version of the Bible ; and through all the 
 ■changes and revisions which have since been made by various hands and under quite dis- 
 tinct influences, this work of Tyndale remains the staple of the whole. It has fixed the 
 style and determined the character and method of the translation. It set the standard of 
 clear and easily intelligible English, of exactness of rendering, of avoiding paraphrase and 
 circumlocution. And much of Tyndale's own is still preserved in the familiar language of 
 the authorized version, traceable through all the forms through which the English Bible 
 has passed. 
 
 Other versions of the Bible into the tongues of modern Europe have mostly been made 
 by some one man, or a few men laboring in concert. It is an important feature in the 
 constitution of our Enghsh Bible that it is not the product of any one mind, but that divers 
 
QO The WycUffe Semi- Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 agencies have been successively employed upon it, until under the combined operation of 
 them all it has grown to be what it now is. Tyndale's version has great excellencies ; but 
 its chief importance lay in its being the starting-point of a series of labors, converging to 
 one end, and issuing in a result which could only have been reached by this method of 
 gradual approaches. And further, his was a proscribed version, emanating from an exile, 
 obnoxious to the king and the prelates, and despised as a heretic. And although this very 
 hostility and opposition might endear it the more to those who were in full sympathy with 
 its author, and were, like him, proscribed and persecuted for the faith which they cherished,, 
 and it might in some quarters be more eagerly sought after because of the vigorous meas- 
 ures employed for its suppression, it could not be, under these circumstances, what was most 
 to be desired, the Bible for the English nation and for the English-speaking world — not the 
 property of any one class of the population, but for all classes — not warped by any indi- 
 vidual or sectarian bias — not sprung from any one party in Church or State — under no ban 
 of outlawry, and subject to no hinderance to its free circulation and general acceptance. 
 
 This high- distinction of our English Bible was providentially achieved by the joint 
 action upon it of the two great factors which, at that period of religious fermentation,, 
 divided the British public. There were, on the one hand, successive revisions and editions- 
 emanating from Puritans and Dissenters ; and on the other hand, a series of revisions 
 directed by the Church dignitaries and the sovereign authority ; until, finally, at the aus- 
 picious moment of the accession of King James, these were welded together by the royal 
 translators into our present admirable version, which was thus the crowning product of the 
 labors of eighty-five years, and has been the Word of God to Enghsh readers for the two 
 hundred and seventy years that have elapsed since. 
 
 It is not necessary, nor would my limited space allow me to dwell at length upon each 
 of the several stages through which the English Bible passed before reaching its present 
 form. I simply mention the names of Coverdale's Bible, the so-called Matthew's Bible, 
 made up from all that Tyndale had translated, with the rest from Coverdale ; and the 
 Geneva Bible, the work of learned exiles, who found shelter in that city during bloody 
 Mary's reign, which, though never sanctioned for the public use of the churches, promptly 
 became the household Bible of those who used the English tongue, and so continued for 
 three-quarters of a century. Meanwhile the great Bible was prepared at the instance of 
 Cromwell, then high in favor with Henry VIII., as the basis of Matthew's Bible, and pub- 
 lished in England under express royal sanction, and a copy was required to be placed in. 
 every church. And subsequently the Bishops' Bible was issued, so called because of the 
 part taken by various bishops and other learned men in its production, and gained prece- 
 dence of all others for use in the churches. The Genevan and the Bishops' Bibles thus 
 stand at the ends of these two lines of progress — the former in more general use among the 
 people, the latter preferred by ecclesiastical authority. Then King James came to the 
 throne. At the abortive Hampton Conference, held to reconcile conflicting parties, one 
 of the proposals presented from the Puritan side was that the King should take measures 
 to have a more exact translation of the Scriptures than those then in use. The suggestion 
 was at once responded to favorably by the King, who had the wisdom to embrace the 
 opportunity thus afforded him of eff"ecting what must ever be regarded as the grandest 
 achievement of his reign. Wise measures were adopted to engage and unite all parties in 
 
The Authorized Version and the Present Revisioji. 9 1 
 
 the enterprise, and to render it as far as possible satisfactory to all. A body of about fifty 
 translators was selected from among the most learned and competent scholars of the king- 
 dom, and deducting the time consumed in preliminary arrangements, and various hin- 
 derances, the nature of which cannot now be determined, they seem to have spent nearly 
 three years of continuous labor upon this great work. A number of carefully prepared 
 rules were drawn up for their guidance at the outset, among which the first and the four- 
 teenth may be particularly referred to here, as showing that it was not a new and inde- 
 pendent version that was aimed at, but one which should base itself upon the old, while 
 freely admitting every modification which fidelity to the inspired originals required. The 
 ■first rule is this : The ordinary Bible read in the church, commonly called the Bishops' 
 Bible, to be followed and as little altered as the truth of the original will permit. The 
 fourteenth rule directs that Tyndale's, Matthews', Coverdale's, Whitchurch's or the Geneva 
 translation should be used when they agree better with the text than the Bishops' Bible. 
 
 The final result was the English version now in common use, which it is not too much 
 to say is the best translation of the Scriptures for popular and ecclesiastical use which has 
 ever been produced in any age or in any country. It is commonly called the " Authorized 
 Version," and yet it does not appear that its general acceptance is owing to any public 
 authorization whatever. Canon Westcott says upon this point : " No evidence has yet 
 been produced to show that the version was ever publicly sanctioned by Convocation, or 
 by ParHament, or by the Privy Council, or by the King." It gained its currency partly, it 
 may have been, by the weight of the King's name, partly by the personal authority of the 
 prelates and scholars who had been engaged upon it, but still more by its own intrinsic 
 superiority over its rivals. The printing of the Bishops' Bible was at once stayed when 
 the new version was definitely undertaken. No edition is given in the lists later than 1606, 
 though the New Testament from it was reprinted as late as 16 18. So far ecclesiastical 
 influence naturally reached. But it was otherwise with the Genevan version, which was 
 chiefly confined to private use. This competed with the King's Bible for many years, and 
 it was not till about the middle of the century that it was finally displaced. 
 
 The two centuries and three-quarters that have elapsed since the version of King 
 James have been fruitful, beyond any previous period of like extent, of progress in every 
 branch of knowledge and attainment. And the studies and researches which bear upon 
 the better understanding of the word of God have not been stationary. The whole 
 science of philology has been created within a generation. The structure and relations 
 of the original languages of Scripture have been studied with a thoroughness and exactness 
 never before equalled. The genesis and significance of the various forms assumed by the 
 different parts of speech, the meaning of particles and of constructions, have been investi- 
 gated with a diligence and minuteness that has thrown an astonishing Hght on what was 
 obscure and brought out the true force of what was previously overlooked. Helps to 
 study have been indefinitely, increased. Lexicons, grammars, commentaries have been 
 multiplied, and collateral aids have been furnished of an important character by the inves- 
 tigation into ancient and oriental customs, the exploration and identification of sacred 
 localities, the discovery and interpretation of ancient monuments. Materials have been 
 accumulated likewise for sacred criticism, and by a most extensive and laborious compar- 
 ison of ancient manuscripts and versions, and all that bears upon the text of Scripture, a 
 
92 The Wycliffe Semi- Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 closer approximation has been made to ascertaining the exact words of tbe inspired wri- 
 ters, and purging out the textual errors that in the transcription of ages have crept in. 
 Meanwhile, the English language itself has been undergoing change, though anchored by 
 its extensive literature, in which this grand old version has more than all beside contributed 
 to make it stable. Words in familiar use two centuries ago have become obsolete, and are 
 no longer intelligible to ordinary readers, or suggest a different sense from that which they 
 formerly had. 
 
 No one would now dream of resting content with the translation of a classic author 
 made two hundred, or even one hundred years ago. Shall we deal less reverently with the 
 inspired Word than with the word of man ? Shall we be concerned to have the utmost 
 accuracy in the rendering of Homer, or Plato, or Cicero, or Virgil, and not cherish a 
 similar solicitude in regard to the writings of those holy men, who spake as they were 
 moved by the Holy Ghost ? The people are entitled to have the pure and unadulterated 
 word of God ; they are entitled to possess the highest results which the latest and best 
 scholarship can accomplish ip reproducing in their native tongue the very word of God 
 with accuracy and p^-ecision. All will agree that \i it be possible to improve the current 
 version, so as to make it more faithfully represent the inspired original, the Church is under 
 the highest obHgation to Him who has committed the lively oracles to her keeping, so to 
 set forth God's message to the world as to declare the truth, the whole truth, and nothing 
 but the truth. 
 
 There has been a growing feeling among competent judges that with all its great and 
 acknowledged excellencies, our version is, in many respects, an inadequate mirror of the 
 original. There are obscurities which can and ought to be cleared up ; there are mistakes 
 which should be rectified; the force and beauty of many passages is dimmed, which a cor- 
 rect rendering would restore to their true lustre and power. What is most of all to be 
 desired in a translation of the divine Word is a scrupulous fidelity, which shall declare 
 God's will exactly as He has Himself expressed it, and as He designed that it should be 
 understood. 
 
 A prudent caution, might, however, well urge a careful deliberation before undertak- 
 ing so momentous a work. In seeking some slight and doubtful advantage, may we not 
 incur the risk of doing more harm than good ? Is it nothing to unsettle men's minds as 
 to the accuracy and authority of our existing version ? to shake their confidence in what 
 they have so long been accustomed to regard as the very Word of God — which is associated 
 with the holiest impulses and the most devout aspirations — which has been the basis of 
 all Christian worship, and is inwrought in all Christian literature ? Will not the very pillars 
 of the temple be shaken if the Bible be disturbed ? If those sacred words, which we learned 
 at our mother's knee, and on which our souls have been nourished ever since, should 
 be replaced by others less familiar, it would grate upon our ears and upon our hearts. 
 The very sound and rhythm of each passage dwells upon the memory, and is too precious 
 to be lost. The veneration which we feel for this good old version that our fathers used, 
 and that has come down to us hallowed by the touch of centuries — can this possibly be 
 transferred to any modern rendering ? And shall we abandon, except for the gravest 
 reasons, the great advantage now possessed in the universal acceptance of our existing 
 version, which commands the allegiance of the entire English-speaking Protestant world. 
 
The Authorized Version and the Present Revision. 93 
 
 in all its divisions and denominations of whatever creed, and in all lands ? It is confessed 
 that the deficiencies in our version are in comparatively unessential matters — that they do 
 not ordinarily affect the important doctrines and great truths of our religion. If any 
 changes whatever be admitted in a work confessedly so excellent on the whole, is there 
 not great danger that this noble masterpiece will, after all, be marred for the sake of some 
 trifling and subordinate advantage ? 
 
 It is not surprising that great sensitiveness should be felt whenever the suggestion is 
 ventured that this grand work by the old Masters should be retouched. Hence while 
 admitting the desirableness, if just the right thing could be done, and only such changes 
 as were needed could be effected in the proper way, the verdict of the Christian public 
 long continued to be that the time for a revision had not come. Let no rash and ill- 
 advised changes be made in what is so precious and so dear. Let no irreverent hand be 
 suffered to touch it. 
 
 Nevertheless, a conservatism so rigid that it will not consent to even the most neces- 
 sary changes stands in its own light. There is no surer way of undermining the authority 
 of the Scriptures in the public estimation than, while admitting the existence of inaccura- 
 cies, to refuse to allow them to be corrected. The attempt to cover up confessed deficien- 
 cies creates the suspicion that these are greater than they really are. Which is better to 
 subject it as now to the flippant corrections of every sciolist who chooses to say, often 
 without reason, this or that passage is not properly translated, or to permit competent and 
 judicious persons to pass deliberately upon the case, and apply whatever correction may 
 be needed, once for all ? • 
 
 The present movement in England and America for the revision of the common ver- 
 sion of the Bible has the apiDearance of being providential. It was originated, as is well 
 known, in the Convocation of Canterbury, which, after mature consideration, resolved that 
 the time had now come for them to address themselves to this momentous undertaking. 
 They accordingly appointed a committee from their own number for the work of transla- 
 tion, consisting of bishops and learned men, several of whom are of the highest celebrity 
 and reputation for biblical learning. With an enlightened liberality befitting an enterprise 
 of such magnitude and involving the interests of the whole Church of God, they sought the 
 co-operation of scholars from all the leading religious bodies in Great Britain. The emi- 
 nent and well qualified men employed upon this work in that land are such as to command 
 the highest confidence for learning, piety, sound judgment, and good taste. Recognizing 
 further the fact that the English Bible is not for Great Britain alone, but for the English- 
 speaking world, they have sought to give the work of its revision not only an interdenomi- 
 national but an international character, by associating with themselves a number of Amer- 
 ican revisers, selected from the various bodies of Christians in this country, so that all 
 branches of the Church, in both England and America, may amicably unite in this joint 
 undertaking. The object proposed is not to produce a new version ; this no one contem- 
 plates. It is simply to make such corrections in our existing version as fidelity to the 
 original requires. And this is to be done, as far as may be, in the spirit and style of the 
 version which we have all learned to love ; so that the new may as far as possible resemble 
 the old ; that the old, famihar texture may remain ; that we may not have a patched-up 
 garment, but one that is, to all appearance, of a piece throughout. The aim is simply to 
 13 
 
94 The Wycliffe Sem-Millenmal Bible CeJebraiion. 
 
 carry the same process by which our existing version was prepared one step further. It is 
 just to do for King James' version what it did for those that preceded it. It is by succes- 
 sive revisions that our Enghsh Bible has reached the excellence that it has already acquired. 
 A conservatism so great as to hold this blessed volume inviolate, and make its sacredness 
 a shield for all deficiencies, would have arrested the process before King James' version 
 was made, to our great detriment and that of every generation since his time ; it would 
 have prevented Jerome from improving upon the old Itala ; it would have stayed the hand 
 of Tyndale from setting aside Wycliffe. 
 
 This work of revision, which has been going harmoniously, and it is hoped success- 
 fully, forward for some years past, has almost reached its conclusion. The New Testament 
 is nearly ready to be given to the public, and has been announced to appear in a few 
 months. The Old Testament, it is expected, will follow in a couple more years. It will 
 then be for the Christian public to pass their judgment on what has been done. It has 
 been a work of love on the part of those who have been engaged in it, undertaken and 
 prosecuted at a great expense of time and labor, and with no thought of pecuniary reward. 
 If their work, when finished, shall approve itself to the Churches and to competent judges 
 among Christian scholars as an improvement upon the existing version, such as shall war- 
 rant its acceptance and adoption, their highest aspirations will be satisfied. 
 
The Bible and the Reformation in England. 95 
 
 THE BIBLE AND THE REFORMA- 
 TION IN ENGLAND. 
 
 By ASHBEL. "WELSH, Esq., 
 Lambertville. 
 
 The real Reformation in England was effected by means of the Bible in the mother 
 tongue ; and that, too, except in the interval between the rise of Wycliffe and the acces- 
 sion of Henry IV., in 1399, in spite of the opposition of the government of church and 
 state, of the influence of the great and of the learned, and of the whole public instruction 
 given to the people. 
 
 During the century and a half between the accession of Henry IV. and the death of 
 Henry VIII., in 1547, those of the English people who held the opinions we now call Pro- 
 testant, did not form a visible society. History knows little about them except their per- 
 secutions and their constant, eager, secret Bible reading. As Lingard, the great Roman 
 CathoUc historian, says, the principles of the Reformation " vegetated in secret." They 
 were watered directly by the English Bible. 
 
 The contemporary Reformations in Germany and Switzerland took their start, and 
 the Reformation in England its fresh start, under the respective leaderships of Luther, 
 Zwinglius, and Tyndale, independently of each other. These three men were almost 
 exactly of the same age. Each of them arrived at his Pi^otestant opinions by the study 
 of the Bible alone. Neither borrowed from either of the others. But the means by 
 which they did their work and their own fortunes were widely different. 
 
 In Germany, Switzerland and France, though the doctrines of the Reformation were 
 learned by the public teachers directly from the Bible, the people learned them mainly by 
 public instruction from those teachers. Hence in those countries religious opinion among 
 the people took the color of the points from which the instruction emanated, Wittemberg, 
 Zurich, and Geneva, respectively. There the Reformation had powerful advocates among 
 the learned, and powerful patrons among the great. 
 
 In England all was the reverse of this. There, no public Protestant instruction was 
 possible for a century and a half before the death of that bitter enemy of the Reformation, 
 Henry VI 1 1. There, the peculiar views of neither of the continental schools of doctrine 
 prevailed. No learned men, except Tyndale and his few friends, dared to speak for Protes- 
 tantism. Even brave, honest Hugh Latimer shrank from it. The excellent Ridley, only 
 as yet partially Protestant, was shut up in the Tower. Cranmer was burning Protestants, 
 doubtless towards the last very much against his will. The illustrious Tyndale, who was 
 
96 The Wy cliff e Semi- Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 a third of a century in advance of Cranmer and the so-called English Reformers, had 
 dared to speak out and to translate the Scriptures, and was hiding from the persecutions 
 of the English Church and State in the Netherlands. The learned and elevated Fryth and 
 other friends of Tyndale who dared speak out, were roasted to death at Smithfield. 
 For a century before Henry's death the Reformation had no patron among the great, no 
 advocate except Tyndale and his friends among the learned. In 1529 the Convocation of 
 the Archiepiscopal province of Canterbury boast, "In the crime of heresy, thanked be God, 
 no notable person has beUeved in our time." The exiled Tyndale, fleeing from one hiding 
 place to another, often pinched with hunger and cold, but all the while going on with his 
 incomparable translation, could only speak to the people of England through that transla- 
 tion, but in that he spoke with wonderful effect. 
 
 The Reformation in England grew in secret among the people, from the study of the 
 English Bible alone. 
 
 Among the many evidences of this was the great and ever increasing demand for Tyn- 
 dale's Bibles, and their ever increasing influx into England during the whole of the last 
 twenty years of Henry's reign ; although during a part of that time to circulate or read 
 them was punishable by death, and many a martyr died for reading and circulating 
 them. 
 
 A great ecclesiastical body in Henry's reign bore witness that the people got their 
 Protestantism from Tyndale's Enghsh Bible, by calling it " that great book of heresy." 
 
 The sovereigns of the house of Tudor, unlike the dynasty that succeeded them, had 
 the tact to see jusl how far in tyranny they could safely go, and when it was necessary to 
 stop. Henry saw that the people would have the Bible, and that he could not resist them. 
 Their power was not seen or heard, but felt by the Tudor instinct. His concession in 
 ultimately allowing it to be read (provided the translation was called by somebody else's 
 name than Tyndale's) proves the irresistible determination of the people to read it, and 
 that imphes the growth of Protestantism among them. 
 
 When King Henry died in 1547, though all public men in Church and State had, up 
 to that moment, avowed their opposition to " heresy," that is, to Protestantism, though 
 the heroic Anne Askew had been burned within a few months for being a Protestant, 
 though the supreme executory council was itself divided between the old and new faith, the 
 government and the church turned short around, and avowed itself out and out 
 Protestant. 
 
 There is but one possible explanation of this. The overwhelming majority, not per- 
 haps of all the people, but of the people of intelligence, energy and activity, had become 
 secretly Protestant already. All the evidence and circumstances corroborate this. 
 
 Cranmer and the so-called English reformers did not bring about the Protestant 
 Reformation. They were not fully Protestant themselves till after the people had become 
 so. They then took the Reformation up, adopted, announced, and organized it. They 
 expressed its doctrines very much in the language of Geneva, and clothed it in the forms 
 and organization already in use. They never sowed, they only harvested, what WycHfife's 
 and Tyndale's English Bibles had already sown and ripened. 
 
 The people arrived at the knowledge of what we believe to be the truth much sooner 
 than the learned did. It took Cranmer, after the close of his three years' Bible study, 
 
The Authorized Version and the Present Revision. 97 
 
 twenty-eight years to become a Protestant. There was so much of the rubbish of the dark 
 ages in his head, that it took the hght a great while to get through it ; and, as he himself 
 expresses it, he came to the knowledge of the truth, •' by little and Httle." And so it was 
 with the learned generally. Tyndale was a remarkable exception, partly from studying the 
 Scriptures so early in Ufe, and partly from the vast superiority of his mind. 
 
 The intelligent people, who had never read the mediaeval fathers, and never filled their 
 heads with the quibbles of Scotists and Thomists, had so much less to unlearn, that they 
 were taught Protestantism by the Scripture much sooner than the learned of that day. 
 They did not probably make up their minds on points about which evangelical denomina- 
 tions differ, but they did on points about which such denominations agree. 
 
 It thus appears by an experience on a large scale, and extending through many years, 
 that when the people earnestly study the Scriptures, they will find and retain the truth 
 in spite of public teaching to the contrary. 
 
 This suggests to ourselves an important safeguard and an important study. Laymen, 
 as well as clergymen, should get their religious instruction largely from the Bible itself 
 
 Parents have now turned over their children very much to the Sunday-Schools. 
 Those children are getting their religious views froai teachers often very youthful, some- 
 times unsound, and from religious novels, written by anybody, selected by anybody, and 
 sought for in proportion to their spiciness. Men and women are getting their views, more 
 or less, from religious periodicals ; those that are most exciting, or even startling, have a 
 good chance to be read, whatever their orthodoxy may be. In all this there is risk of 
 erroneous and even fatal teaching, which the pulpit may not be able to counteract. 
 
 The remedy, or one remedy, is the study of the Bible itself, especially of the New 
 Testament, and its committal to memory by the young. I mean the study of the text it- 
 self, not what some commentator says about it. The great historical lesson we have been 
 considering teaches us that by fiUing the mind with Bible truth error will be kept out. 
 
 The laws of this State recognize the doctrine that juries of laymen are more to be re- 
 Ued on to decide questions of fact than lawyers ; that our tribunal of last resort is 
 safer to decide even questions of law, when composed partly of laymen, than it would be 
 if composed wholly of lawyers. Some of our churches recognize the same thing by joining 
 laymen in the government of the Church, and placing them in their supreme tribunals. 
 
 That is, when the learned are disposed to carry their theories and technicalities too 
 far, it is important to have the common sense of plain people at hand to restrain them. 
 And it is perhaps not quite certain that woman's instinct of right and truth is not even 
 better for this purpose than the slower common sense of men. 
 
 Without pushing these ideas to any extreme, they do suggest that there is an element 
 of safety and conservatism in the laity being well grounded in the Bible. Though they do 
 not decide what is true, they do in the long run decide what shall be taught as true. 
 No congregation will long continue to listen to what they believe to be false. 
 
 We, in this State, gratefully recognize our seminaries and pulpits as safe guides, teach- 
 ing what our respective denominations regard as Bible truth. But it is not so everywhere ; 
 and it may not always be so here ; extremists or errorists may yet set up schools and pul- 
 pits, even in conservative New Jersey. The safety from their misleading influence is not 
 the denunciations of the orthodox, but a people well grounded in the Scriptures. 
 
98 The Wycliffe Sefni-Millefmial Bible Celebration. 
 
 THE ERA AND WORK OF BIBLE 
 
 SOCIETIES. 
 
 By WILLIAM J. R. TA.VLOR, D.D., 
 Newark, N. J. 
 
 The illustrious M. Guizot, President of the Bible Society of France, in an address 
 made at its anniversary, not long before his death, uttered this memorable declaration, 
 " The Bible has survived, and will ever triumphantly survive human criticism, and Bible 
 Societies are but the instruments of Providence,, which it is not in the power of man to 
 baffle or disturb." 
 
 In this light, as instruments of the Providence of God, it is proposed in this paper to 
 review 
 
 THE ERA AND WORK OF BIBLE SOCIETIES. 
 
 I. It may be confidently asserted that Bible Societies have made a New Era in 
 THE History of the Bible and of its Propagation in the World ; and that they 
 may rightly claim a high place among those formative agencies in modern civiHzation, of 
 which an English poet of the last century wrote, 
 
 From the blessings they bestow, 
 
 Our times are dated and our eras move. 
 
 Like many other good and great things in the kingdom of God, the exact origin of the 
 Bible Society is not known. It "came not with observation." It seems to have been an 
 inspiration — a whisper of the " still, small voice " of Him "from whom all holy devices, all 
 good counsels, and all just works do proceed." It was one of God's " precious thoughts " 
 put into some quiet and holy soul, and as quietly brought to light and action. The first 
 record of any organized society for the distinctive and sole work of circulating the sacred 
 Scriptures is that of the Naval and Military Bible Society, which was formed in England in 
 1780, just one hundred years ago, while England was at war with France and America, 
 Spain and Holland. " It was called simply, " The Bible Society," and was composed of 
 a few individuals who were moved by sympathy for the peculiar perils of soldiers and sail- 
 ors, for whose benefit it was established. But no one knows who originated it ; and no 
 one man can claim the glory of it. That belongs to the God of the Bible. It was sup- 
 ported by individual donations and Church collections, and within two years it expended 
 ;^i5oo, and distributed over eleven thousand Bibles among British soldiers and seamen. 
 Strangely, too, the first ship which it supplied was that " Royal George " which went down 
 
The Era and Work of Bible Societies. 99 
 
 on the British coast, in a land breeze, "with twice four hundred men," to whom this Society 
 gave four hundred Bibles eighteen months before. 
 
 Thus, as we reckon it, the era of Bible Societies began exactly a century ago, and 
 four hundred years after the New Testament was first translated into the English language 
 by John WycHfife. 
 
 The next Bible Society was called the French Bible Society, and was organized in 
 1792, by some EngUsh Christians, but the French Revolution frustrated their benevolent 
 plans for sending Bibles to France, and its funds were used for circulating English Bibles in 
 Ireland, and then the Society was dissolved. 
 
 The British and Foreign Bible was projected in 1802, but was not organized until 
 1804 ; The American Bible Society followed in 1816, under the leadership of that eminent 
 citizen of New Jersey, the Hon. Elias Boudinot, LL.D., who was its chief founder, its first 
 patron, and its first President. 
 
 These two great National Bible Societies, the foremost ones in the world, are the 
 parents of thousands of auxiUaries and of independent societies in the four quarters of 
 the globe. They represent the entire system of agencies for the multiplication and distri- 
 bution of the word of God in all lands and languages, and they combine the various forms 
 of that Providential character which we have ascribed to them, in their origin, growth, 
 methods, sustenance, and successes. They have sprung from the manifest purposes of God 
 in pious souls, and in the certain progress of His kingdom. They illustrate the parable, 
 ", So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground ; and should 
 sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not 
 how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after 
 that the full corn in the ear." 
 
 The Bible Society was " a new thing in the earth" an hundred years ago. It inau- 
 gurated a new period of Bible work — an almost unlimited combination of Christian en- 
 terprise and resources for the wider circulation of the word of God, without note or com- 
 ment, and for all nations. 
 
 II. It is an Era of vast Production of the Holy Scriptures. I speak now of 
 its mechanical results. It is estimated that during the last seventy-five years Bible Soci- 
 eties alone have printed, published and sent forth over one hundred and sixty millions of 
 volumes, containing the Old and New Testaments, and parts of the Bible in separate 
 works. But to these round figures must be added the unnumbered issues of private pub- 
 lishers and pubhshing institutions, boards and societies, which have published the Bible in 
 whole or in part, separately and in connection with commentaries, Sunday-school lessons 
 and other Biblical apparatus. Even the number of the editions cannot be ascertained, 
 while the copies are actually innumerable in many lands and languages. 
 
 The Scriptures have also been produced by Bible societies in a greater variety of 
 type, paper, binding, sizes, shapes, and prices than ever before ; and this has been done at 
 a minimum of cost, with the maximum of good taste and of practical adaptation to the 
 wants of the multitudes, from the little child to the aged disciple, and from the finest 
 diamond miniature editions to the great pulpit foUos, and the raised letter quartos for the 
 blind. 
 
 Bible Societies have not hurt private enterprise, but have stimulated it to produce the 
 
I OO The Wycliffe Semi- Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 Bible in forms and with accessories which their charters forbid, and which the pubHc de- 
 mand. No book in the world is now pubHshed in so many editions and styles as the 
 sacred Scriptures, from the five cent Testament and twenty-five cent Bible of the Ameri- 
 can Bible Society, to the most sumptuous illustrated issues of private publishers, and the 
 rare and costly fac-sifniles of the greatest manuscripts of the world. Almost absolute 
 accuracy of the printed text of the authorized English version has been attained in the 
 standard editions of the American Bible Society ; and the mechanical execution of the 
 Arabic, the Syriac, and many other foreign versions, is incomparably beyond the pro- 
 ducts of previous centuries. 
 
 III. It is an Era of Unparalleled Diffusion of the Scriptures. In no former age 
 has there been so large and constant and varied a circulation of the Bible through so many 
 newly opened and " effectual doors." The demand and the supply have obeyed their 
 law. Three general efforts have been systematically made to furnish the whole popula- 
 tion of the United States with the word of God ; and between these and since the last, 
 which was the monument of the Jubilee year of the American Bible Society, 1866, the 
 regular work of distribution has never ceased. By the recent development of the Col- 
 portuer system by the parent society, in addition to former methods, and through other 
 benevolent institutions, and by clergymen, and many subsidiary channels, the supply is 
 reaching the out of the way places, new settlements, mining regions, and the remotest 
 destitutions of our migratory population. This great work at home, which stretches 
 from the seaboard cities to the heart of the continent and the frontiers of civilization, is 
 only part of that wider distribution which is in progress among all nations that are acces- 
 sible. The successive annual reports of the British and Foreign and American Bible 
 Societies unfold the mighty work in all its movements, and are crowded with facts which 
 prove the minuteness of detail, the fidehty, the far-reaching system, the Christian enter- 
 prise and liberality with which it is conducted, so quietly that the world takes httle notice 
 of it. Mere figures in a statistical table can give no adequate idea of the magni- 
 tude of this service, which is the distinctive feature of the Era of Bible Societies. 
 It would be wrong to omit in this survey the national and patriotic services which Bible 
 societies have rendered in peace and in war, on land and sea, during the first century of 
 their era. Love of country and love of Christ and His Word have blended their powers 
 not only in prosperous and peaceful times to supply the families and schools of Christian 
 lands with this best of all books for all classes of the people, but in war-time they have 
 filled camps and hospitals and barracks, and lone pickets and marching armies and mighty 
 fleets, with those priceless volumes, which were carried in knapsacks out of which every 
 superflous thing had been cast away, and which lighted multitudes of the heroes through 
 the dark valley. In the Mexican war, in the Crimean, in the hospitals of Scutari and 
 Sebastopol, and of the Virginia Peninsula, and during the four years of our own civil 
 conflict, this peaceful war work was carried on. And long before it was at an end hun- 
 dreds of thousands of Bibles and Testaments were given and sent by the American Bible 
 Society across the Unes, with the full consent and permit of the authorities at Washington, 
 and of our military and naval commanders, to comfort and bless the soldiers who wore 
 the grey, and to herald with their silver trumpets the peace which came first on the field of 
 battle, and which is still marching on to its higher victories in society, in the churches, and 
 
The Era and Work of Bible Societies. I O I 
 
 the State. This service to our country in her long agony was the legitimate result of those 
 loved principles of the common faith, and of universal Christian charity and duty, which 
 characterize the era and work of Bible Societies. We cannot dwell longer upon this stir- 
 ring theme, but we will do well to remember that American citizens cannot expect that 
 God will save the State which dishonors or rejects His Word which has made the State, 
 and given it its religious and civil liberties. 
 
 IV. It is An Era of Multiplied Translations of the Bible into the 
 Languages of the Nations. In 1804, the Bible existed only in fifty ancient and 
 modern languages. Some of these were dead languages, and most of them were poorly 
 done. The old versions were chiefly those of Europe and the neighboring parts of Asia 
 and Africa, and only four were in the tongues of more distant nations. Since 1804, 
 when the British and Foreign Bible Society began its work, new translations have been 
 made into 226 languages and dialects, the number of versions being 268 (or more.) 
 These embrace in many cases only parts of the Scriptures, the entire Bible having been 
 translated within this century into about fifty-five languages ; the New Testament into 
 eighty-fourj and portions of the Old and New Testaments into eighty-seven. Of these trans- 
 lations the British and Foreign Bible Society have pubhshed or helped to publish new ver- 
 sions in 187 languages and dialects ; and the American Bible Society has promoted the trans- 
 lation and circulation of the Scriptures in whole or in part, in eighty-three languages and dia- 
 lects, of which fifty-eight are new versions. These include its greatest foreign versions, such as 
 the Arabic, Armeno-Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, and other translations and revisions in the 
 languages of the most populous of the unevangelized nations. The revision of the earlier 
 versions into new tongues has become almost as necessary, and in some instances more 
 difficult and laborious, than the original translations, whose imperfections only the best 
 scholarship can remedy. This is one of the most striking characteristics of the era of 
 biblical translation. The Bible is now printed and circulated in the languages of eight 
 hundred millions of the human race. Not all the previous centuries of the Christian era 
 together, have matched these world wide conquests of the native tongues of the nations by 
 "Sword of the Spirit," in the hands of God's men, who were raised up for this purpose. 
 And the Bible Societies with which they ^ATought on their mission-fields, encouraged, 
 strengthened, and sustained their work, and then gave it to the peoples for whom it was 
 done, in more tongues than were spoken under the miraculous inspiration of the day of 
 Pentecost. I do not wonder that Dr. Carey's fellow-missionary. Dr. Ward, who was also 
 an expert printer, and supervised the publication of the Scriptures in no less than twenty 
 of the forty languages of India, wrote these words in his journal, when he was on his 
 way to the East, " Unto me, who am the least of all saints, is the grace given that I 
 should print among the heathen the unsearchable riches of Christ." Could we with 
 similar prophetic ken anticipate the results of the next century of Bible translation un- 
 der the impulse of the Careys, the Judsons, the Goodells, and EU Smiths, and Van 
 Dycks, and Schaufflers, and Riggses, and the goodly Companies of the translation of the 
 Chinese and Japanese Scriptures, we might even see the most remote and barbarous 
 tribes of Central Africa and the islands of the oceans reading, " every man in his own 
 tongue the wonderful works of God." 
 
 It remains only to add to this statement, that this marvellous work of rendering the 
 14 
 
I02 The Wycliffe Semi-Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 Scriptures into foreign tongues is one of the most distinctive and special Providential as- 
 pects of the history of Bible Societies, and that without them there is little probability that 
 it would or could have been so extensive or so well done. 
 
 V. It is an Era of Preparation for Larger Bible Work. All that has yet been done 
 is but as the scaffolding around the rising walls. The last annual report of the American 
 Bible Society states, that to give " the Japanese New Testament, recently pubHshed, to 
 every inhabitant of that empire would demand as many volumes as this Society has issued 
 in all languages and dialects during the entire sixty-four years of its history ; and to give a 
 copy of the Arabic Bible to all who speak that language would certainly require more 
 volumes than have been issued in all tongues by the British and Foreign Bible Society dur- 
 ing the century." These illustrations indicate the UberaHty and the services which the king- 
 dom of God will demand for the kingdoms of this world, as the Gospel marches on to its 
 final triumphs. This era of preparation, therefore, ought to be pre-eminently an era of 
 prayer, an era of consecrated Biblical knowledge and learning ; an era of continual progress in 
 all good works ; an era of spiritual growth, and for training of the rising generation for the 
 Bible work of the times ; an era of intelligent forecast and persistent liberality, and of large 
 plans and grand endeavors. As the earth becomes practically smaller by the use of steam 
 and electricity, and the advances of modern civilization, so the kingdom of God grows 
 larger in the sight of the nations and by its rapid development of Christianity among them. 
 Therefore, this era of Bible Societies, which are but one branch of Christian Evangeliza- 
 tion, must necessarily become an era of larger beneficence, which shall not only be sys- 
 tematic but proportionate, in the Apostolic sense, to the abiUties of all Christians and the 
 necessities of the kingdom of Christ. Leading all the benevolent institutions of Christen- 
 dom, the great Bible Societies of the age have been so wisely administered that the world has 
 almost unbounded confidence in the general management of their great trusts ; and their ex- 
 ample has been fruitful of good in other departments of Christian enterprise. Our era 
 of preparation has been conspicuously marked by the union and unity of the friends of the 
 Bible, in the publication, translation and circulation. Bible Societies are entitled to the 
 honor of introducing and promoting this spirit and practice among the long sundered 
 branches of the Christian household. There is no platform for Christian union like that 
 of the pure and simple word of God ; and no other work so develops that divine princi- 
 ple in its many practical bearings. It makes no new nor strange tests ; it furnishes the 
 highest motives and the grandest opportunities, and the largest fields for unity. It sup- 
 plies the spirit, the learning, the service, the methods, and the aims, before which sectarian- 
 ism falls back into its narrow nooks, and large-hearted, open-handed love manifests itself 
 in devotion to the one sacred Book of " The Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of 
 Saints." Men who can agree upon nothing else are as one here. This spirit, which has 
 combined its forces in the Bible Societies of the century has been the parent of many 
 more united agencies of Christian philanthropy and evangelization. It has gradually edu- 
 cated the Churches, and gathered their choicest men and women, and trained their children 
 and youth. It has lowered the fences and removed the stumbling blocks of former times, 
 and has taught Christians every where to think more of things in which they agree than of 
 those about which they differ ; and to stop fighting each other, that they may make common 
 cause against the combined foes of the Bible and the Church of Christ. I also venture 
 the assertion, that no other Christian work could even now have united, as for ten years 
 
The Era and Work of Bible Societies. 1 03 
 
 past, any bodies of Christian scholars like the existing companies of English and American 
 Revisers of the Authorized Version of our English Bible. May it not be one of the signs 
 of that larger charity and grander purpose of the second century of this era and work of 
 Bible Societies upon which we are now entering ? 
 
 VI. Finally, this memorable occasion signalizes a Period in which Our own noble 
 State has been ever Loyal to the Bible, and Faithful to the Principles of its Found- 
 ers AND ITS Religious and Civil Liberties. This celebration, which is unique and solitary 
 among the States of the Union, coming as it does amid the excitement of a Presidential can- 
 vass, and on the eve of a great Ecumenical Ecclesiastial Council in a neighboring city, is an 
 index of the place which the Bible holds in the regards of the great majority of our people 
 and in our institutions. We close these proceedings with a cheerful retrospect of the five 
 hundred years that have passed away since John Wycliffe translated the New Testament 
 into the English language, and with more hopeful outlooks to the coming semi-millennium 
 of the Bible in the world. " The Morning Star of the Reformation " still shines near the 
 Sun of Righteousness, and, like the most brilUant of the planets, is seen in the daylight 
 which has quenched the splendors of other and greater celestial orbs. And thus in the era 
 and work of Bible Societes we, in this western hemisphere, which was not discovered until 
 Wycliffe had been dead one hundred and eight years, now help to fulfil the quaint predic- 
 tion of old Thomas Fuller, upon the unearthing of his remains, and the burning of his 
 bones, and the scattering of his ashes upon the Swift by order of the Council of Constance : 
 '■'■ Thus, this brook has conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the 
 narrow seas, they into the main ocean. Thus the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblem of his 
 doctrine, which is now dispersed the world over." 
 
 But let us not forget that in this era and work, men, and societies, and churches, and 
 the Word itself are but the instruments for the accomplishment of those divine purposes 
 for which the world and the Cross of Christ exist. When Joshua the High-Priest, and 
 Zerubbabel, the Elect builders of the second temple, and the people and their offerings were 
 all ready for the work, the Voice from heaven declared, " Not by might, nor by power, 
 but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." Let us not forget this sign by which we are to 
 conquer. Not to WycUffe, nor to Tyndale, nor their co-laborers, nor to the great 
 Bible Societies and publishers, nor to the modern translators of the Word into the 
 world's speech, do we bow the knee. The history of our English Bible, especially has 
 been signally wrought out above the heads and hands of human governments, and ec- 
 clesiastical authority. The glory of its semi-millenial past, and of its unmeasured future, 
 belongs only to Him " from whom all glories are." " The sword of the Spirit is the word of 
 God." The Holy Spirit can make it " sharper than any two-edged sword," whether in the 
 hands of a spiritual giant or a little child — and the Book will never achieve its predestined 
 conquests until the World shall have its Pentecost. In this faith and with this hope, it is 
 our honor, our privilege, and our opportunity to live and labor in this era of work of 
 Bible Societies. And while its enemies, with unsurpassed learning and ingenuity, are 
 trying to destroy it, let all who love the Bible go on sowing the imperishable seed for 
 the great harvest which is coming. The Lord will take care of it. 
 
 This, then, is our principle and our inspiration amid the changes of men and of the 
 times, and the threatening of all foes. " The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but 
 the word of the Lord endureth forever." 
 
I04 The Wycliffe Semi- Millennial Bible Celebration. 
 
 CLOSING ADDRESS 
 
 By the CHAIRMAN (the HON. JOHN T. NIXON), 
 Judge of the U. S. District Court for New Jersey. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Convention : 
 
 In behalf of the people of Trenton, I desire to return thanks to you for these com- 
 plimentary resolutions. But there are two things in them that I do not quite understand. 
 
 Why should your thanks be rendered to the different gentlemen who have been in- 
 vited to preside over your sessions ? The obligation is all the other way. We have esteem- 
 ed it a privilege to be allowed to sit here and listen to the admirable papers^ which have 
 been prepared by the invitation of the executive committee. I know of no higher honor 
 than to be allowed to preside over a convention like this, where the single object of the 
 meeting is to magnify the Holy Word of God. 
 
 There is another matter embraced in the resolution, on which I may make a single 
 suggestion. 
 
 Why should thanks be extended to anyone for attending the sessions of the conven- 
 tion? 
 
 We have all received a large equivalent in the feast set before us. We have had our 
 views of the Word of God enlarged. We have been encouraged and strengthened in our 
 future efforts for the Bible cause, and have been better fitted for more complete consecra- 
 tion of time, talent, and means to the work of Bible distribution. 
 
 In conclusion let me urge you to go back to your homes, deeply impressed with the 
 one thought, that all of our personal hopes, and the hopes of our children, are involved in 
 accepting the doctrines and living the precepts of God's Holy Word, and that all our hopes 
 for the country are bound up in the adoption of its principles in the administration of our 
 public affairs. 
 
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