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unnecessary departure from the usual mode of spelling proper names. The third rule required the "old ecclesiastical words " to be kept, such as "church," instead of "congregation; ""baptism," instead of "washing;" and the like. This rule is rather indefinite, as well as is the fourth, which directs that in case a word has different meanings, that is to be preferred which has been most commonly used by the more eminent of the Fathers, regard being had to "the propriety of the place, and the analogy of faith." The fifth rule objects to the alteration of the division into chapters, if it can be avoided. The sixth rule prohibits all notes and comments, thus obliging the translators to make their version intelligible without those dangerous helps. The seventh rule provides for marginal references to parellel or explanatory passages. The eighth rule gives direction that every man in each company shall separately examine the same chapter or chapters, and make the best translation he can. The whole company must then come together, and compare what they have done, and agree on what shall stand. Thus in each company there would

be, according to the number of members, from seven to ten distinct and careful revisions; the whole to be compared, and digested into one elaborate copy of the portion of the Bible assigned to that particular company. The ninth rule requires, that whenever a company has, in this manner, arranged any one of the sacred books, it is to be sent to each of the other companies, to be critically reviewed by them all. The tenth rule provides, that if any company, upon reviewing a book so sent to them, find anything exceptionable, they are to note the places, and their reasons for objecting thereto, and send it back to the company from whence it came. If that company should not accept the suggestions thus made, the matter was to be arranged at a general meeting of the chief persons of all the companies, at the end of the work. Thus every part of the Bible would be considered, first, separately, by each member of the company to which it was originally assigned; secondly, by the whole company together; thirdly, by the other five companies severally; and fourthly, by the general committee of revision. By this judicious plan, each part must have been closely scrutinized at least fourteen times. The eleventh rule provides, that, in case of any special difficulty or obscurity, letters shall be issued by authority, to any learned man in the realm, for his judgment thereon. The twelfth rule charges every bishop

to inform the clergy of his diocese of the work in hand; and to call upon such as are "skilful in the tongues," to send their "particular observations" to some one of the companies. The thirteenth rule appoints the directors of the different companies. The fourteenth and last rule enjoins them to refer to five other translations, when the "Bishops' Bible" is not satisfactory. These are Tyndale's; Coverdale's; Matthew's, which is part Tyndale and part Coverdale; Whitchurch's, which is what is called "Cranmer's" or the "Great Bible," and which was printed by Whitchurch; and the Geneva Bible. The object of this regulation was to avoid, as far as might be, the suspicious stamp of novelty. To the careful observance of these injunctions, most of them highly sagacious, is to be ascribed much of the excellence of the transla tion.

Although all these preliminaries were arranged by midsummer, in 1604, there was a long delay, owing, probably, to the want of the necessary pecuniary supplies. But, at last, the work began in earnest early in 1607. The learned Selden says, that when the translators met to read what had been done, each of them held in his hand a Bible in some language. If anything struck any one as requiring alteration, he spoke; otherwise the reading went on. The final revision was made by six delegates, one from each company, assembled for nine months at Stationers' Hall, in London; and aided, probably, by the same number of bishops. After nearly four years' labor, the precious volume was printed in 1611; and now for two hundred and thirty-seven years, God has been speaking by it to the multitudes of the Anglo-Saxon race. Popery, believing that ignorance is the mother of devotion, and especially ignorance of the Word of God, would fain have supplanted it by priestly inventions and corruptions.

"But, to outweigh all harm, the sacred book,

In dusty sequestration wrapt too long,

Assumes the accents of our native tongue;

And he who guides the plow, or wields the crook,
With understanding spirit now may look

Upon her records, listen to her song,

And sift her laws, much wondering that the wrong,
Which faith has suffered, Heaven could calmly brook.
Transcendent boon! noblest that earthly King

Ever bestowed to equalize and bless

Under the weight of mortal wretchedness!"

More than a million and a half of copies are annually printed and put into circulation. It is still equally acceptable to the learned and the unlearned, and is their safe guide in matters of faith and practice. It was eloquently said by one who is now a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church: "The Bible is older than the fathers, truer than traditions, wiser than councils, more learned than universities, more orthodox than creeds, more infal lible than popes, more authoritative than priests, more powerful than ceremonies, more reliable for the world's salvation than any thing or everything else under the heavens."

PILGRIMAGE TO THE JORDAN.

LET us follow yonder company of pilgrims, as they go forth to the Jordan. The pardons of the Holy Land begin at Joppa; but they are not complete without baptism in the Jordan. This annual pilgrimage is of that importance, that the Turkish government undertakes its protection, and furnishes it with an armed. escort. From the earliest dawn Jerusalem is astir, and pours forth its population to witness the departure of the pilgrims. Let us forth with them, by St. Stephen's gate, leading by Gethsemane around the slope of Olivet to Bethany. The lepers cover every point of advantage, and call upon you in God's stead to help their misery. As you leave St. Stephen's gate, the slope, descending to the bridge over the dry bed of the Kedron, is covered by tombs. It is occupied by a multitude of figures, shrouded in white. It seems as if the grave had yielded its dead to look once more on the moving throng, hurrying to the sacred waters where Jesus was baptized. They are the women of Jerusalem, veiled and wrapped about, as if with the cerements of the grave. They have only come to look on the bravery of our array, and to wish the passing pilgrim a happy return. The cymbals of the Turk, and the flash of glancing bayonets far in advance, announce that the march is begun. For hours, the straggling groups issue from the gates, till the rear is closed and guarded by the Turk.

As the long array winds and coils about the mount of Olives, let us turn aside at Bethany, about fifteen furlongs off from Jeru

salem, to look upon the tomb of Lazarus. After groping about among heaps of filth and crumbling walls, you find it in the heart of Bethany. Ask the guardian, what is the spot he keeps, and if he answers you as he answered us, he will tell you, pointing to the broken steps leading down into darkness, that there John Baptist was buried, and Moses and Mary Magdalene came and raised him. from the dead! Many a dream of the Holy Land will thus be broken up by legendary absurdities. Hurry away from such simplicities, to join the march of the pilgrims.

From the crown of the hill, you can see them to advantage. What an assemblage! All nations have their representatives. There is the sheep-skin of the Russian, the black cap of the Persian, the kilt of the Greek mountaineer, and the Frank, changed in his wanderings into the likeness of nothing eastern, nothing western. There are old men and children, young men and maidens; some on foot, some mounted. There are mules and asses, horses and camels. Large panniers are thrown across the shoulders of the brutes, whether mule or camel, and the women ride in these, one on either side, with a stout boy between on the creature's back. There are crates of oranges, and bread and bottles of water in profusion, to relieve the fatigues of the way. There are multitudes with a palmer's staff, a gourd and a shell, the costume of the ancient pilgrim, tramping on foot, in defiance of the burning sun and desert way. There are more mounted on Arab horses, and showing off their gallant horsemanship in the rough path. Their number amounts to four thousand, and they move tumultuously along in confusion endlessly entangled. They all are armed, and, as they march, maintain a rattling fire of guns and pistols. The Bedouins of the Jordan, who receive an annual present from the government for their protection of the pilgrims, flank the march on either side; for, to this day, as when a certain man going down to Jericho fell among thieves, the way is dangerous; and he who wanders from the march will return stripped and beaten. It is a noble sight to see the untamed Arab, with his horse as wild as himself, scale the face of the rocks, his loose robe flaunting in the wind; and at the summit, planting his long spear beside him, and in statue-like repose scanning the desert for lurking danger. The next moment, he plunges amidst frightful ravines, to reappear on the next succeeding height, with ceaseless vigilance.

The track of the caravan soon leaves the scanty vegetation about Jerusalem behind, and for the greater part of the way, in the twenty-four miles between Jerusalem and the Jordan, passes over a succession of bare limestone hills, unrelieved by tree or shrub. Your path at times dips into the ravines between them, or passes on the verge of chasms and precipices, from which the brain turns reeling; or over the ascending or descending slope of hills, which have been rendered smooth and dangerous by the tread of ages. It is a dreary, lifeless waste, with nothing to break the monotony of the scene, but, occasionally, in the face of some cliff, the cell of some old hermit, dead for centuries, who found these frightful solitudes congenial to the barrenness and desolation of his own spirit.

After four and a half hours in the saddle, relieved only by the endless incidents and harmless accidents of such a march, you reach the verge of the hill-country, where it sinks away at once into the valley of the Jordan. There, on the right, lies the Dead Sea, in deep repose, cradled between the mountains of Moab and and Judea, and reflecting the deep blue of the skies above it. There, on the left, is the supposed mount of the temptation of Christ, pierced and fretted with the cells of the old anchorites. And there, before you, is the sacred river, traced by waving reeds ; and beyond it, ten miles from you, the mountains from which Israel stooped on Jericho. Between you and the river, is Jericho itself, shrunken to a few miserable huts; and nearer yet, the fountain healed by Elijah, pours its water on the plain, and covers it with shrubbery and waving trees. The pavilions of the Turk, have long been up, with his banner waving above them; and beyond them, your eye may catch your own humbler tent, with its distinguishing stars and stripes. But, as you stand on the verge of the mount, you question the possibility of reaching the river from the abrupt descent. Even the dumb beasts stop and consider the path before them; it is too dangerous for the stirrup. The majority dismount; the brutes plant their feet together, and slide. down the perilous way; and, with many a fall, win at last the plain. The maidens of Jericho, dark as the tents of Kedar, come forth to welcome the pilgrim with dance and song; a light matter sends them back the richer to their huts again. The pilgrims spread themselves over the plain, and encamp, some under tents, some under trees, and more under the skies. On the plain, the

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