CHAPTER II.

THE AUTHORIZED STANDARD OF SPEECH.

"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." (Isaiah viii. 20.)

"Servant of God, well done! well hast thou fought
The better fight, who singly hast maintain'd

Against revolted multitudes the cause

Of truth, in word mightier than they in arms;
And for the testimony of truth hast borne

Universal reproach; (far worse to bear
Than violence ;) for this was all thy care,

To stand approved in sight of God, though worlds
Judged thee perverse."-MILTON.

WHAT is an inch? Smile not at the question, courteous reader; but give at once a sufficient reply. What is an inch? Perhaps you may find that a satisfactory answer to this simple question requires some little thought. We might say, The twelfth part of a foot. But what is a foot? One-third of a yard. But what is a yard? One of the seventeen hundred and sixty fragments into which a mile may be supposed to be divided. But what is a mile? We will not refer to degrees, geographical or astronomical; as, in the former case, we should speedily find ourselves at the ends of the earth; and, in the other, among distant worlds, vainly inquiring, What is an inch? We will leave the ascending scale alto

So.

ear.

gether, having derived no further advantage therefrom than the opportunity of discerning a little more clearly the need of a fixed standard.—But what is an inch? Try the descending scale. Our ancestors did "Some of the old statutes expressly make the inch to be the length of three barleycorns, placed end to end, round and dry, from the middle of the Standards were made, no doubt, from this definition; or, at least, it was supposed that, if the existing standard should be lost, the barleycorns would help to restore it. Readers may smile at so simple a contrivance; but the same principle, carried a little farther, might be made very efficient in preserving a measure. Suppose, for example, that the Government were now to think it desirable to recover the three-barleycorn inch, or, at least, to invent one capable of being recovered. They would put together, not three barleycorns, but three thousand, or thirty thousand, or many different collections of three thousand, or more. The average inch deduced from these would be capable of being recovered at any time from the same grain grown in the same soil." This brief consideration of a practical difficulty, which had to be overcome, will serve to place before our minds the great importance of having a fixed standard in all matters which involve the welfare of mankind. "The first attempts to be scientific in matters of measurement, made in this country, date from the beginning of the seventeeth century. After nearly a century of communication between statesmen and philosophers on the subject of a uniform

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measure, Mr. Baily visited the Exchequer standard, and his account is as follows:- I have had an opportunity of seeing this curious instrument, of which it is impossible at the present day to speak too much in derision and contempt. A common kitchenpoker, filed at the ends in the rudest manner, by the most bungling workman, would make as good a standard. It has been broken asunder, and the two pieces have been dove-tailed together; but so badly, that the joint is nearly as loose as that of a pair of tongs.' Certainly it was desirable, in the commencement of the last century, when Britain was preparing to take the place she now occupies at the head of the world's commerce, that science and art should together provide a more satisfactory reply to the inquiry, 'In English trade, what is an inch?'"

More than two thousand years before good King Alfred ascended the throne of England, and sought to regulate and protect its trade, the question had received a satisfactory solution in the East. In the law given to the Israelites, while they were in the wilderness, this important subject was not overlooked; and, in the arrangements concerning the executive government, it was provided for. In our days, even wise men are somewhat perplexed concerning the weights and measures of ancient days. Much pains have been expended in the attempt to ascertain precisely what was the cubit of olden time. Perhaps it is doubtful whether we have yet arrived at exactness and certainty in this matter. Much doubt attaches to the measures employed of old by various

nations. We feel somewhat of this doubt when reading the sacred history. The difference of opinion is confined within narrow limits; yet such difference exists. But we have reason to believe that the Divine King and Legislator of the Jews condescended so to arrange that there should be no need of uncertainty among that people when buying and selling. Hence we find frequent reference to "the shekel of the sanctuary," as a well-known standard, and a standard around which had been placed the solemn sanctions of religion. The Holy Place, where they drew near to God, reminded the Israelites of their obligation to deal equitably with each other. In all cases of perplexity, or dispute, appeal was to be made to the Levites. Those who were set apart for the service of the omnipotent Jehovah were also to have charge of those standards by which the commerce of their brethren was regulated. (1 Chron. xxiii. 29.) The standards of the ephah and the shekel, and the other weights and measures used by the Israelites, have not been preserved to our times, because this was not necessary. But they were provided when needed. He who is infinite in majesty and power overlooked not these matters. "Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth.' Yet He disdained not to legislate concerning the measure of barley which the labouring man should receive for his hard-earned silver; and to provide

that the coarse linen with which the widow sought to clothe her children should be sold to her in full measure; and that the orphans should not be selfishly defrauded of any portion of their pittance. All departures from the authorized standards were declared to be hateful to the Divine King of Israel: "Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the Lord."

We are not surprised, therefore, to observe, that, in His holy book, the Lord has provided a standard to which He requires our speech to be conformed. In some respects a law was more needed here than even in the regulation of weights and measures. In the employment of words, the right is not always easily distinguishable; and, therefore, it might be mistaken by the ignorant, or overlooked by the heedless, or evaded by the selfish. It is comparatively easy to ascertain whether or not a balance is equal; and he who employs one by which he is enriched, and his neighbour defrauded, must know that he is a rogue. But words by which others are injured may be freely employed, and the speaker have no painful conviction of wrong-doing. It was very needful that there should be directions for speech, which should be at once unerring and authoritative. Such a standard must be provided from heaven. The human mind could furnish nothing suitable. Now and then the impulses of the heart are generous; as when one in ancient days declared that, because he was a man, nothing which appertained to the welfare of the race was foreign from him. The utterance of