history is familiar with the dangers to which free governments are exposed, in this direction; and the only security against them, I insist again, is the Bible. This "alone can extract the poison which the tree of liberty sucks up from its root of sin, and carries to its remotest branches, and pours into all its fruit." This alone can furnish restraints sufficiently adapted, and of sufficient power, to counteract the downward tendencies of liberty in a world like this, and render it both rational and perpetual.

The principles which have been established may aid in the solution of certain questions which force themselves upon us, as we look back upon the history of our race. Why has there been so little rational liberty in the world-liberty that could be regarded as a blessing? Why have the governments of earth been so generally, almost universally, despotic? And when experiments of free institutions have from time to time been made, why have they been, in most instances, so transient, and so unsatisfactory? Others may reply to these interrogatories as they please; but for them all I have one and the same answer. The Bible has had but a very limited circulation. It has not been generally diffused and received. Its holy principles have not taken root in the hearts of men, and of course have not exerted a quickening, a restraining influence upon their characters.

Among the heathen nations of antiquity, the Scriptures were entirely unknown. Hence we find these nations in ignorance as to their immunities and rights, and quietly bowing their necks to the iron yoke of despotism. Or if, in a few instances, they succeeded in throwing it off, the reign of freedom was short, and was liable to continual and dreadful interruptions. Such, in few words, was the experience of the ancient world; and that of the modern has not been materially different. The freedom which France achieved, near the close of the last century, was the freedom of brutes and atheists, rather than of rational men. It was the freedom of tigers to destroy each other, and to luxuriate in blood. France, like most other Catholic countries, had long been destitute of the Bible, and at the period of the revolution its Divine authority was everywhere discarded. Consequently, its spirit was not imbibed, its restraining influence was not felt, and when the people had once freed themselves from the bands of kingly and priestly domination, there were no other bands to hold them. In the phrensy of liberty, they run to riot, and trampled everything sacred and venerable in the dust.

The history of the Mexican and South American republics is full of instruction, in this connexion. They, several years since, threw off the yoke of Spain, as our country had before that of England, and established republican forms of government. They hoped that their republics would be as stable and permanent as And why have they not been? Why the difference

our own.

between them and the United States? The primary difference— that from which all others have resulted-lay exactly here: The United States had the Bible, and they had not. Under the influence of the Bible, the inhabitants of these States possessed something of a public conscience, a Christian public sentiment, which forbade them to trifle with oaths of allegiance and office-with liberty, property, and life. But the inhabitants of those States, having little of the Bible, and less of the good influences and restraints of the Bible, were incapable of enjoying rational liberty. They could have no freedom but that which was felt to be worse than none, and when they had fled from one despotism, they soon took refuge under another. And as all past efforts to establish free institutions, and promote the welfare of the human race, without the influence of the Bible and the Gospel, have been unavailing, so all present and future efforts, undertaken in the same way, will come to a like issue. The present is an age of noisy, bustling, boastful philanthropy. The evils of society are depicted in glowing colors, and various and often conflicting remedies are proposed. Now, mere education is relied upon to do the work; and now changes in civil government; and now the establishment of communities, or joint-stock associations. The Bible may, or may not, have a place. Its influence, certainly, is not much relied on. Now it needs but a slight acquaintance with depraved and corrupted human nature, with the necessities of men as sinners, and with the history of the world, to satisfy any one, that such schemes of reformation must always be failures. They always have been, and from the nature of the case, they always must be. They do not go to the root of the evil, nor have they any power to remove or to heal it. The Bible, the Gospel, is the great sovereign antidote for the moral miseries of our race, whether individually or socially; and for this there can be no substitute. This, faithfully received and applied, and this only, is of unfailing effi

cacy.

The subject shows us why despots, in Church and State, have always been afraid of the Bible. Of the fact here assumed, there can be no doubt. It is one of general notoriety. In the front rank of ecclesiastical despots nave stood, for long ages, the priesthood of the Church of Rome; and their dread of the light and influence of the Bible requires no proof. And civil despots, for the last thousand years, have usually adopted their principles, and followed in their steps. Civil despots have felt that the safety of their thrones demanded of them to seal up the Bible, and seclude it as much as possible from the common people. And their reasons for so doing have been very obvious. "Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." The Bible is emphatically a republican book. All its tendencies are not, indeed, to

anarchy and violence, but to sober, rational liberty. According to the teachings of the Bible, the human family are by nature equal. They are all brethren. I have no more right to lord it over my neighbor, than he has over me. Each and all are bound to love one another as they love themselves, and to do to others as they would that others should do to them. No wonder that despots, ecclesiastical and civil, are afraid of such a book. No wonder they deem it essential to their interests, to shut out its light and influence from the world.

We are cheered with the conclusion, although some things at present may seem discouraging, that great and happy changes are yet to be realized in the condition and the governments of men. By various artifices, the light of Divine truth has long been partially or wholly obscured. It has been concealed under a bushel, or under a bed. Those for whose benefit this holy light was given, have not been able, or have not been permitted, to enjoy it. But it will not be so always. It will not be so very long. The angel having the everlasting gospel to publish to the nations, has begun his flight. The Bible is being translated into all the languages and dialects of men. It is circulated by thousands and millions. Its light is breaking forth upon the benighted nations, and it can no more be restrained, than can the light of the literal day. And as it spreads and is received, its influence will be felt and manifested. It will be manifested, not only in the spiritual, but in the social and civil condition of man. There

may not be, as it is hardly desirable there should be, any violent changes; but hoary despotisms will crumble; tyrannical claims. and customs will be relinquished, oppression will uplift its hard yoke, and relax its iron grasp; and the universal brotherhood of man will come to be recognized and acknowledged. All this may not be done suddenly, but it will be done. It is no more certain that the Bible will be universally diffused and received, and the gospel be preached to every creature, than it is that the spirit of the gospel will be manifested, silently, gradually, spontaneously, in producing just such changes as those to which I have referred. Tyranny, slavery, oppression, and cruelty of every kind, will give place to an impartial and universal philanthropy, each man acknowledging, reciprocating the rights of every other, and loving his neighbor as himself.

In conclusion, let us all love and honor the Bible; and let us manifest our love for it, by a diligent study and hearty reception of its truths, and by a cheerful obedience to its laws. Let us also manifest our love for it, by an earnest co-operation in the great enterprise now in progress, of giving the Bible to the world.

There are two reasons, aside from its direct spiritual benefits, why the people of this land should cling to the Bible, and do all they can to promote its circulation. The one has respect to the

safety and permanency of our own institntions; the other to the freedom and happiness of mankind.

Our republican institutions originated with the people, and are to be supported by the people. They originated under the influence of the Bible and the gospel, and no other influence is adequate to sustain them. Put away the Bible, the Sabbath, the Church, the gospel ministry and ordinances, from this land, and consign it over to Popery, infidelity, and heathenism, and how long would our free institutions remain? How long, before thick darkness would settle down upon the minds of the people, the public conscience would be seared, religious restraints would be taken away, and our forms of government, so free and yet so effective, would be given to the winds? The Bible, I repeat, is the palladium of our country's liberty. With this, believed and obeyed by the great body of our citizens, we can never be enslaved. Without it, we cannot long be freemen. Enthusiasts may point to their favorite schemes; but no scheme, whether of society or government, can long save us, without the Bible. Aspiring demagogues may boast of their patriotism; but he is the best patriot, who best studies, loves, and obeys the Bible. He is the best patriot, who best exemplifies its Divine influence upon himself, and who labors most assiduously to extend its influence all over the land, and over the world.

The Bible does not permit us to live for ourselves, or to consult chiefly even for our country's good. We are to live for mankind. We are to consult the highest virtue and happiness of the race. And how can this object be promoted, but by engaging, as we are able, in the great and glorious enterprise of giving the Bible to the nations? Without the Bible, the dark portions of the earth can never be enlightened, or civilized, or Christianized. They can never be prepared for the enjoyment of rational liberty and happiness. We owe it, then, to the benighted nations; we owe it to that Savior who has died for them, and has commanded us to seek their good; we owe it to our own soul's welfare, to unite, to the extent of our means and influence, in sending the gospel to the destitute portions of the earth, that so the blind may see, and the deaf may hear, and the spiritually dead may be revived, and live forever.

ARTICLE V.

AIDS TO CLASSICAL STUDY.

By E. D. SANBORN, Professor of Languages, Dartmouth College, N. H.

WE often hear scholars lamenting the decline of classical learning, while the facilities for the study of the dead language sare daily increasing. The press literally teems with text-books and commentaries for the use of students. Lexicons, grammars, annotations, scholia, keys, and translations, are as numerous as autumn leaves. Every year yields a rich harvest of "aids" to the critical study of the classics. If the numerous editions of standard authors, with notes and emendations, which so often claim the attention, and call forth the eulogies of literati, are, in any degree, true indices of the popular taste, we may, with great confidence, affirm that classical literature is reviving. Within a few years, nearly half a score of Greek lexicons, with English definitions, have been published in England and America; while in Germany, works of the highest merit in philology, succeed each other as rapidly as the pictures in a showman's box. In the department of Latin philology, the press has been far less prolific, still there are not wanting sufficient helps for the thorough mastery of this language. The complete separation of the Latin and Greek languages in the lexicography of the latter, and the substitution of English for Latin definitions of Greek words, have brought the study of Latin into comparative disesteem. Consequently, the Greek language has gained popular favor, while the Latin has fallen somewhat into disrepute. At least, such is the testimony of English scholars. "No person," says Mr. Donaldson," who is conversant with the subject, will venture to assert, that Latin scholarship is at present flourishing in England. On the contrary, it must be admitted, that while we have lost that practical familiarity with the Latin language, which was possessed some forty years ago, by every Englishman with any pretensions to scholarship, we have not supplied the deficiency by making ourselves acquainted with the results of modern philology, so far as they have been brought to bear upon the language and literature of ancient Rome." The Latin language has now ceased to be the only medium of communication among scholars. The cultivation of the vernacular tongues of Europe, has contributed more than all other causes, to cast down the Latin from its Varronianus, p. 6,