rather than the pure word of God itself; and that he should see no real converts follow from his ministry? -The wonder is, that he should expect any other result. A mother who might leave her offspring when born, to die of inanition for want of the breast, might as well complain that she had never reared a single, living child, as he complain that he had never seen a single real Christian, when he never furnished even his native clergy with the Scriptures" able to make men wise unto salvation," written in their own language.

But do the Scriptures and the practice of the Apostles warrant our thus withholding the written word from heathen converts in general, even though it be given to native teachers? Surely the apostle James did not exhort teachers alone to "lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the engrafted word of truth able to save their souls,"otherwise these teachers could have been little better than those "the new reformers" are reproached with employing. And could it be teachers alone that Peter exhorted to "lay aside all malice, and guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and evil speakings, that as new-born babes they might desire the sincere milk of the word to grow thereby?" Surely not. Further, Paul writing to the Ephesian converts in general, says, "let the word of God dwell in you richly ;" and commends Timothy for having known the scriptures from a child because they "were able to make him wise unto salvation." He also tells him, that "all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto every good work." We hope our author will not urge here that by the man of God he merely meant Timothy, and that he

never expected his converts in general to be men of God! Precisely on the same principle after having declared to the Asiatic converts that they would see his face no more, Paul adds; "and now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified." Was he mistaken, or is our Author?

But what will the Abbé say, if we shew him that the Scriptures are recommended to those NOT YET CONVERTED, as the means of creating faith in their minds, and recommended too without a single exception or expurgatory clause? Yet this can be easily dine. Or Lord in John viii. addressing those whom he knew to be his bitter enemies, says, "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me." The Holy Spirit also, Acts xvii. describes the Bereans who had not yet r ceived the gospel, as being more noble than those of Thessalonica, in that they searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so. And it is added, which is completely decisive against our author," therefore, many of them believed." This however was, we suspect, searching them through the medium of an imperfect translation; for if these Bereans in general were able to read pure Hebrew, when it was unintelligible at Jerusalem nearly five centuries before, still it is not very likely that the honorable women were such expert Hebræans, yet of them "believed not a few."

Thus then the more deeply we search, the more clearly does it appear, that not only is the translation of the Scriptures into the idioms of the country "likely to make real converts to Christianity," but that it is the grand means which made them even in apostolic times,—and the only means which can be used by any missionary,

even to the end of time. We have seen the Scriptures recommended for perusal to unconverted men, and real faith or conversion follow; and that, amidst all the miracles wrought in apostolic times, men were begotten or born again, only by the word of God; that it was this which nourished them afterwards, till they brought forth the fruits of righteousness; and that the Scriptures are represented even by the apostle Paul, as "able to render the man of God thoroughly furnished unto every good work ;"-" to build up heathen converts and give them an inheritance among them who are sanctified." We find also that in nineteen instances out of twenty, all this was done through the medium of an imperfect translation even in apostolic times; and that since the ancient Greek and the pure Hebrew have ceased to be vernacular in any country on earth, all the future conquests of Christ's gospel, while they are sure as "the ordinances of heaven," must be won through the Scripture's being translated into the idioms of the various countries in which the gospel may be preached. author might well suspect therefore that his assertions on this subject would to some appear "bold and extraordinary;" for they are decidedly against the Old Testament scriptures, the declarations of our Lord, the doctrines and the practice of his Apostles, directed by his Holy Spirit to plant his gospel, to build up his church and leave in all things a pattern for future ministers and missionaries to the end of time.

Our

It may not be improper however, to ascertain whether, since the Divine word was invariably the means of conversion in apostolic times, success NECESSARILY followed its promulgation, as matter of course; or whether this depended wholly on the sovereign will of God. To ascertain this is important, since if the former

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were the case, we should have only to disseminate the Divine word, and expect an immediate crop of genuine converts, filled with the fruits of righteousness. But if the latter be the fact, we have in the first instance to please God by using the means he has prescribed and always blessed, as it is a first principle, that unless we use the means God has appointed, we have not the slightest reason to expect success:-we have further to use these means in such a way that our spirit and temper of mind shall please Him, otherwise we may labor years and obtain little or no fruit:--and having done all, we have humbly and patiently to wait the sovereign pleasure of Him who alone "giveth the increase."

On the very face of the subject we might almost infer that success depends wholly on the sovereign will of the Holy Spirit, from the manner in which our Lord expresses himself to Nicodemus; "The wind bloweth where it listeth;-so is every one that is born of the Spirit." But on so important a point, we are not left to mere inference: the Divine Spirit tells us, Acts iv. that notwithstanding all the gifts poured out on the Apostles themselves, the success of their preaching the word rested wholly with God. "The Lord added to them daily such as should be saved." This is corroborated by the testimony of Paul, the most successful of all the Apostles, "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase:" and as though this were not sufficient to point out the grand source of success, he adds; "so then, neither is he that planteth any thing, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase." With this agrees the testimony of James; "of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures." And that of Peter-"ye have purified your hearts in obeying the

truth through the Spirit." Thus, although the word of God is invariably the means in the hand of God, of itself it produces nothing, even though planted by a Paul and watered by an Apollos. The increase as to season, time, and degree, rests wholly with Him who hath declared, "the zeal of Jehovah of Hosts shall perform this," and "I Jehovah will hasten it in its time."

Thus, both the positions of our author, brought to the test of the Scriptures, prove to be diametrically opposed, not merely to one or two passages, but to the whole series of Scripture Prophecy, and the whole current of Scripture Doctrine and Apostolic Example. That Eas tern Asia shall become as fully a part of Christ's kingdom as is Britain herself, is described as being equally certain with "the ordinances of heaven," the rising of to-morrow's sun;-with the sufferings and death of the Lord Jesus, which this "glory" is infallibly to follow ;with the Day of final Judgment, which cannot come 'till Christ shall have famished all the gods of the earth, and put all enemies under his feet, for "then"—and not till then, "cometh the end." That this is to be effected through the instrumentality of the Holy Scriptures is heralds of it in a thousand different villages, each able equally certain; and unless pure Hebrew and Greek should become vernacular to the natives of India and China, it is no less certain that it must be effected by Translations of them into the languages and idioms of China and India.

Should our author, on discovering that he himself verbally translated the word for thirty years, (if indeed he ever gave his proselytes any thing of the Divine word,) plead for this verbal mode, in opposition to a written or printed translation, we must beg leave to remind him again, that not only is his own experience wholly