God, and the good of the Church, ordered the pastors to recall and cancel it. All these things indicate zeal for Bible circulation in a right way. And the general result of the translation and circulation of the Scriptures in France, and other nations generally, is well stated by Diodati, professor at Geneva, in a letter to the French Church, asking their permission for his Latin and French translation, in the year 1637:

"Antiquity reaped much fruit this way, as St. Augustine and divers others have witnessed; but the Christian Church in our days hath enjoyed it most abundantly. For the sweet odours dispersed abroad by the new translations of the Bible in divers languages, within these twenty-five or thirty years, is wonderful, and they have largely contributed to the edifying, instruction, and confirmation of saints. The English translation, for its great fidelity and clearness, weareth a shining crown of glory upon its head; those two German ones of Piscator and Cramerus, for their noble qualities and conditions, are exceeding useful, and have done a great deal of good; the new Polonian, made and printed at the instance of the Prince of Radzeville, is of that esteem to allure the present king of Poland to read it, and to enamour him of it, though he be a prince of a contrary religion; the new Dutch translation, which is just now coming into the world, sets persons a-longing for it, because of the excellency of its work, the number and abilities of its workmen, the time they have spent in the doing of it, and for the great helps the Lords' States General have afforded them to effect it; and the Old Testament, which is now working off at Zurich, in the purest Switzer language, must needs be of a raised worth, by that taste we had of the New, which is already printed; the new Spanish translation of Cyprian de Vallera hath produced incredible effects in Spain, no less than three thousand copies having penetrated, by secret ways and conveyances, into the very bowels of that kingdom. Let others publish the fruit of my Italian version both in Italy and elsewhere. If it were expedient and becoming me, I could bring forth numerous examples of it, and those also attested by persons of unstained credit and reputation."

We have had occasion to notice many interesting facts in the history of the Church of Scotland, parallel to similar facts in the history of the Church of France, and the resemblance does not fail in the matter of the Scriptures. So early

as 1526, many copies of Tyndale's version, which was printed on the Continent, found their way into Scotland, and were very generally read. This, with the use of other means, so hastened on the Reformation, that, in the course of seventeen years, the Parliament decreed it to be lawful to all to read the word of God. Hitherto it had been death to attempt it; and though this act did not secure a universal protection; though, in spite of it, men continued to be burnt by the Popish priests, for no other crime than possessing or reading the Scriptures, still the decision of Parliament was followed with the best effect. "Then," says Knox, "might have been seen the Bible lying almost upon every gentleman's table. The New Testament was borne about in many men's hands." As might have been expected, under such influences, the Reformation grew in strength, and in 1560 had risen to such a magnitude, that the Protestant Church became the recognised Church of the country. In the same year the English exiles at Geneva made a new translation of the Scriptures, to which many valuable notes were appended. This version was used by Knox, and was circulated to a great extent, both in England and in Scotland. As printing had originated on the Contitinent, so it could be executed more cheaply and perfectly there than in this country. Hence, for a long time, editions of the Scriptures, which were chiefly intended for Great Britain, were printed in some of the large Protestant continental towns, and then imported. So early, however, as 1565, the Psalms of David, in Scotch metre, issued from the humble printing press of Scotland; and about the same time an impression of the Geneva Scriptures, to the extent of seven thousand copies, was carried to poor Popish Ireland, and sold in the course of two years. This shows how strong was the thirst for Bible knowledge at that early period. It had been well if it had been nourished into growing power through succeeding years. It is a remarkable fact, that our fathers not only fully provided themselves with the Scriptures, but in 1567 had the Book of Common Order, with Knox's prayers, translated into Gaelic; and Dr. M.Crie doubts not that, in the same century, they had the Psalms in Gaelic. One might be ready to think that books could be of little use to a population in the circumstances of the Highlanders. It appears, however, from the researches of the Rev. Dr. Lee, that reading and writing were not, even at that period, very rare accomplishments in Argyleshire, and other parts of the Highlands, and that the complaints were more

frequent that there were no good books, than that there were not persons able to read them. If even the Gaelic population formed thus early an object of Christian care and attention to the Church, we cannot doubt that the Lowland popution were watched over with, if possible, still more parental affection. Well as Scotland was supplied with the word of God, both from England and the Continent, she would bring out an edition for herself: accordingly, in 1575, proposals were made, by a printer, to the General Assembly, to publish an edition of the English Scriptures from the Geneva version. The Church cordially entered into the plan, and by way of encouraging the work, it was agreed that burghs and parishes should advance money to defray the expense, on the understanding that, to those who thus contributed, the Bible, when printed, should be cheaper. Regent Morton subscribed a large sum-not from the public purse, for no edition of the Scriptures was published in Scotland at that period, at the government expense, but from the collections of parishes ordered by the Church. Thus the first edition of the whole Bible ever printed in Scotland, was published, with a dedication to the King, in 1579; and it was required by Act of Parliament, and under a penalty of £10, that every family should have a Bible and a Psalm-book, and searchers were appointed to see that this act was carried into effect. Whatever some may think of the apparent severity of this law, none can question the zeal for the dissemination of the word of God which it discovers. Mr. Robert Pont was appointed by the General Assembly, in 1574, to overlook Arbuthnot's edition of the Bible, and to form a calendar, which was prefixed to it. His skill in history, chronology, and the learned languages fitted him for this work. During the next forty-five years no fresh edition of the whole Scriptures issued from the press of Scotland; but in 1610, the same printer republished the same version, with the exception of some change on the New Testament, taken from another version; and the Synods required every parish church to have a copy, under the penalty of a fine. We must not imagine, however, that these two native editions supplied all the wants of Scotland for nearly half a century. No; we read of the Scotch printer bringing out an English edition with the Scotch Psalms, at Dort, in 1601, evidently for the use of our country, where such Psalms could alone be in demand; and, in addition to this, we have to bear in mind, that both in London and on the Continent there were a mul

titude of editions of the Psalms and Catechisms, and the whole Bibles published for the Scotch market. It is known that there were not less than thirty editions of Buchanan's Psalms imported into this country, during the forty-five years of which I speak. In the same space of time, it is estimated, there could not be less than one hundred editions of the various translations of the Bible printed in England, and that not less than twenty of these were absorbed by Scotland; and the number of copies in these editions was not small or inconsiderable. It appears that one impression, at a later day, amounted to nearly eight thousand copies, and that the demand for the Psalms in metre was at the rate of twenty thousand yearly. The annual copies of the whole Scriptures cannot be estimated at a much lower number, and considering the comparative poverty and small population of Scotland, what an idea do these facts suggest of the religious spirit of our fathers, their devoted love, and unwearied use of the word of God. It is a curious but interesting circumstance, illustrative of the views which I have been presenting, that in 1637, when there was an open resistance to the imposition of the English service-book, it is said a shower of small clasp Bibles followed the stool of Jenny Geddes, amounting, in number, to "whole pockfulls,"-proving at once, the indignation of the people, and the abundance of the Scriptures. Twenty years afterwards, we are assured by Kirkton, that " every family had a Bible, and was able to read it;" and twenty years again after that, in days of hot and intolerable persecution, we find the king's printer in Scotland bitterly complaining of "great sums of money" being daily expended upon foreign Bibles, that is, English Bibles printed out of Scotland.

It is unnecessary to pursue the investigation farther, with reference to English Bibles; but it may not be uninteresting to mention a few facts, in reference to the Scriptures in the Gaelic language. The Protestant Church of France had only to provide for one language, the Protestant Church of Scotland had to provide for two. We have seen that even in the 16th century there is reason to believe the Psalms of David were circulated in the Gaelic tongue; and in the middle of the 17th, about 1650, we find the Synod of Argyle publishing the first fifty Psalms in the same language. Twentyseven years later, or about 1687, the Hon. Robert Boyle, of London, a name dear to every Christian heart, had the Irish Bible of Bishop Bedell published at his own expense, and two hundred copies sent down to the Highlands, on the con

ditions that the ministers should "read some chapters every Lord's day to the people," and that the Bible should be taken care of "as for the use of the parish." This reading of the Word of God excited great interest, so much so that the Bible travelled through different parts of the parish during the whole week, and was restored upon the Saturday evening or the Sabbath morning, that it might be read publicly to the assembled multitude, as a part of divine worship; and as a proof of the salutary effect of even this imperfect diffusion of the knowledge of the Word, it may be mentioned, that in the troubles which followed the revolution of 1688, in the Highlands, scarcely any of the natives who had received Bibles, or been instructed from them, were implicated in hostility to the Revolution Settlement.

Immediately after the revolution an impression of the Irish or Gaelic Bible was printed in London, and 3000 copies of the Bible, 1000 of the New Testament, and 3000 Catechisms transmitted to the care of the agent of the Church of Scotland, for distribution in the Highlands and Islands. It is an interesting fact, that £1000 Scots, or £83, 6s. 8d. sterling, were given out of the vacant stipends, for binding the Gaelic Bibles, and the balance, if there were any, was to be devoted to the publication of a new edition. The Rev. Robert Kirk, of Aberfoyle, first translated the Psalms into Gaelic verse, and altered Bedell's Bible from Irish to Gaelic, and published it in Roman letter in 1690. In 1699, a fund was begun by the Church for printing another impression; and sixteen years later there is an earnest demand, from several places, for more Bibles, so much so, that the Commission are entreated to do their best endeavour to procure them. In the mean time, the Confession of Faith and the Catechisms, which contain a large body of Scripture, were translated and published. So early as 1708 a letter is written to the Synod of Argyle, requesting them to undertake the work. Shortly after, a collection is made to defray the expense; and in 1714 the Confession appeared, and ten years later the two Catechisms. This was a most important publication, and quite in keeping with the other exertions of the Church at the same period, to provide the destitute parts of the Highlands and Islands with the blessings of religious instruction. At the beginning of the century, a work was revived and enlarged, in which the Church had been engaged many years before. Bursaries of £10 a-year were raised by the Synods for the encouragement and support of young men at College,