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having the Gaelic or, as it is called, Irish language. These were continued for four years to each student, and strict care was taken not only as to the punctual payment, but as to the real Gaelic knowledge and acquirements of the young men at college. In 1704, when the lowlands had come to be well supplied with ministers, one-half of the bursaries, which had served as an encouragement to young men having English, were transferred for the use of those having Gaelic. About the same period, the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge began its inestimably important labours; and by the establishment of schools, the translation of works of practical divinity, the employment of catechists, and the establishment of libraries, was honoured to effect a vast amount of good, which eternity alone will be able fully to reveal. Were it not that I wish, at present, to restrict the reader's attention to the Gaelic Scriptures, I might mention many pleasing proofs of the zeal, both of the Church and of the Society, in attending to the spiritual wants of the Highlands. To recur to the Scriptures: though I have not been able to lay my hands upon any document which shows that the Scriptures, in the Gaelic language, were translated, in Scotland, previous to 1767; yet, from the anxiety displayed in other ways, to promote the spiritual welfare of the Highland population, and the actual fact that there were copies in England, I cannot doubt that many were obtained from London. The delay of the new translation in this country seems to have been owing to an unhappy idea, in which even intelligent and good men concurred, after the sad Popish rebellions in 1715 and 1745, that it was essential to the civilization of the Highlands, in the first instance, to abolish their language. This impression, by no means an unnatural one, of course, for a time, postponed the translation into Gaelic, but gave new animation to the efforts of Christians through English channels. After trial for a season it was found that this was not the way of getting rid of the language, and that the Christian instruction, conveyed through the medium of English, was partial and imperfect. Hence good men recurred to the former plan of reaching the people through the Word of God, translated into their native language; and in 1767, the New Testament, translated by the Rev. James Stewart, of Killin, under the care of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge, was published in an edition of not less than 10,000 copies. It may be mentioned that the great Dr. Samuel Johnson heartily

approved of the object, and encouraged the translator in his important undertaking. Thirty years after, a second edition was published by the same society, of course before the days of the Bible Society, amounting to the immense impression of nearly 22,000 copies, The Old Testament was published in parts as it was translated. Collected together, it was printed in 1802, to the extent of 5000 copies; and five years afterwards an edition of 20,000. In 1810 the Old Society printed the New Testament anew, in an edition of 10,000 copies, so that in about forty-nine years it had been instrumental, under God, in putting 66,000 copies of the Gaelic Scriptures into circulation, without counting the parts of the Old Testament, or the editions of the British and Foreign Bible Society, the latter of which now came into considerable circulation. It is an interesting fact, that so early as 1782, collections were made throughout the Church, and in subsequent years repeatedly renewed, to defray the expense of the Gaelic translation. In 1816, it was considered desirable to revise part of the translation of the Old Testament. This was done; and in the course of a few years a quarto edition was brought out under the care of the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge and a Committee of the General Assembly, which for excellence is not surpassed, it is understood. by most modern versions of the Scriptures. So impressed were the Lords of the Treasury with the great services which had been rendered to the cause of God, and the moral and religious interests of the Highlands, by the labours of the late eminent Reverend Dr. Stewart, of Luss, son of Mr. Stewart of Killin, as a translator of the Gaelic Scriptures, that in 1820 they awarded him the sum of £1000. Previous to that period, and since, various large impressions of the Scriptures have been published by the British and Foreign, and latterly by the Edinburgh, Bible Society; and instead of perpetuating the language, it is believed, that never was the anxiety to acquire English stronger or more general in the Highlands than at the present time.

Thus it appears that both the Protestant Church of France and the Protestant Church of Scotland, were remarkable for their love of the Word of God, and their anxiety to disseminate it; and what higher testimony could be given in behalf either of an individual or a Church? Next to the love of God himself, what is more beautiful or befitting than the love of his Word. Indeed they are identical. Few tests of religious character are better or more conclusive than the way

in which men feel towards the Scriptures, and in which they treat the Scriptures. How often does the Psalmist tell us of his love for the Word of God; and whatever scoffers and the supporters of an apostate Church may allege to the contrary, the benefits which attend the wide and indiscriminate circulation of the Scriptures are incalculable. The twelve million of copies which have been scattered, during the last thirty years, by the Bible Society, may seem a vast number, and some may think there has been no corresponding fruit; but could we estimate how much evil has been prevented, which, but for them, would have burst forth, how much substantial good has actually been wrought out, and what trains have been laid for infinitely more in the future, no philanthropist, and much more no Christian, could hesitate for a moment to approve of, yea, to rejoice in the sacrifice.

SECTION III.

THE CHURCHES OF FRANCE AND SCOTLAND PROMOTE EDUCATION AND THEOLOGICAL LEARNING.

In the last section, I directed the reader's attention to the love which the Protestant Church of France showed for the Word of God, and the exertions she used to disseminate it among her people in sixty of the years which elapsed between the granting and the revocation of the edict of Nantes; in other words, between 1596 and 1660. I have now to call his attention to the zeal which she discovered FOR A SOUND AND THOROUGH EDUCATION, AND ALSO THEOLOGICAL LEARN

ING, during the same period.

From the general diffusion of knowledge at the present day, the progress of art and science, and the improved modes of education which have lately been introduced, we are apt to imagine that the present is the only age in which the claims of knowledge are understood, and to look with disparagement upon the attainments of all former periods; but such an impression is unjust and erroneous. Of course, from the very nature of the case, the past cannot compete with the present in the diffusion of the same kind of knowledge; but it cannot be doubted, that the early Protestant and Presbyterian Churches showed as enlightened an appreciation of the value of knowledge, and, according to their circumstances, made as great sacrifices to spread it abroad, as any of its friends in modern times. Every sensible and

pious man, in whatever age he lives, must wish the Scriptures of truth to be universally known; and he can scarcely do so, without valueing the other works of God, and wishing a knowledge of them to be widely diffused. All God's

works are connected together, and reflect mutual light and fresh illustrations on each other. The reason why general knowledge was not so widely communicated in former as in present times, is not that Christian men were indifferent about it, but that it did not exist. Had it been accessible, such was the estimation in which it was held, it would have been diffused; but no science can be propagated till it is established and ascertained. In defect of knowlege as to existing things, our ancestors betook themselves and their children to the knowledge of the past, and dealt in the study of antiquity to a degree in which they far surpass the men of modern days. This shows that they were not careless about, and far less hostile to, the claims of knowledge; and, in all fairness, such considerations should be attended to in making a comparative estimate of the love of knowledge in former and present times. True religion almost necessarily drawing along with it the study and dissemination of the Word of God, must ever supply at once the most powerful stimulus to the general acquisition of elementary education, and the best incentive to the attainment of those higher branches of knowledge which are essential to the defence and elucidation of divine truth. We need not wonder, therefore, to find that the Protestant Church of France, which, in her early days, was remarkably influenced by the spirit of true religion, should have laboured to bestow a scriptural education upon all her youth, and a high professional education, in addition, upon all who were destined to minister at her altars. Thus did she approve herself the friend of the best knowledge and the best interests of man.

I have already referred to the indications which she gave of this spirit from the very beginning of her existence, from the middle of the sixteenth century down to the establishment of the edict of Nantes, in various decrees and canons, by which she provided that the churches should take care schools be erected, and the youth instructed; and also that money be raised by influential members of the Church, and by Presbyteries and Synods, for maintaining young men of piety and promising parts at the university, preparatory to their coming forth as ministers of the Gospel. I shall not recur to these measures, but shall shortly advert to their

maintenance and enlargement, in the later period of which I now write; that is, during a great part of the seventeenth century.

Though the Church of France was considerably reduced in strength, and was exposed to perpetual and harassing interference from the Church of Rome, still such was her love of literature, and philosophy, and theological science, that she could boast of not less than five universities, those of Montauban, Saumur, Nismes, Montpellier, and Sedan. She attempted, in 1619, to rear a College of Philosophy and Literature at Charenton, but was frustrated by the Papists. Nor was this all. Dissatisfied with the acquisitions which were made in the learned languages at the elementary and private schools, she, in 1607, used means, and successfully, for raising a college or grammar school in each of the thirteen provinces into which the Protestant Church was divided, where young men might be trained preparatory to entering on their university course, and by which they might be better enabled to profit by that course. The universities and bursars were originally supported by the subscriptions of individuals and churches, and the fifth part of the money contributed for the poor; but this proving inadequate and precarious, it was made one of the provisions of the edict of Nantes, that the Government should contribute an annual sum to the Church of one hundred and thirty-five thousand livres of this the universities received between twelve thousand and thirteen thousand livres, and each of the provincial colleges one hundred crowns. Even with this assistance, individuals, and churches, and Synods, were called upon for free contributions. Owing to the necessities of the State, and the hostile influence of the Church of Rome, the royal grant was repeatedly, and for years, discontinued. In these circumstances, the Protestant Church had no resource but to apply to her friends. In 1631, the Synod of Charenton complains, that the colleges and universities had not received any assistance from his Majesty's bounty for a long time; and, in the dread of being plunged "at last into total ruin," ordained, that the fifth denier of all alms received in all the churches, should be set aside, out of which a sum might be raised for their maintenance, " by way of advance and loan, only until the monies granted by his Majesty being received, restitution be made of those borrowed sums to the comfort and benefit of the poor." A sort of assessment for these purposes was fixed upon the churches in each of the thirteen

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