It is evident that the difficulty which seemed so formidable to Dr. Trench would not be lighter in case of any other Christian body undertaking the work. This would be, in all probability, merely to provide a version of their own, and thus to cut themselves off, so far as this bond is concerned, from sympathy with fellow-believers.

Another difficulty suggests itself, in the way of proceeding by Church authority, and that is the danger of giving previous sanction to a work which, after all, might not prove acceptable. The safer way is evidently for a proposed version to be for a time before the public, subject to free examination, prior to its formal adoption.

And this seems to have been the history of the present English Bible. The title of "Authorized Version" conveys a not altogether correct impression. The work was undertaken by direction of the king, without any synodal action or consent, and when published seems to have been left to win its own way to acceptance and use. "The clause on the title-page appointed to be read in churches,' has, so far as is known, no authority, no edict of Convocation, no Act of Parliament, no decision of the Privy Council, no royal proclamation" (Eadie, Vol. II., p. 204). For some time after it was issued the Bishops' and the Geneva Bible were republished, extensively circulated, and the former held its old place in many churches. So that there is very little in the history of our present Bible to support the claim that a revision can only be undertaken and consummated by church authority.

At the same time it is evident that more is needed than individual enterprise or a self-constituted board of revisers. Men of high attainments and excellent

judgment have made valuable contributions to a more faithful and exact presentation of the Divine Word, and eminent scholars have united to set forth different portions, but it is evident that none of these can obtain universal assent. The work that is eventually to take the place of the Bible of 1611 must not only engage the patient study of well-qualified minds, but it must come before the public with higher claims to attention than a self-constituted committee can command.

FIRST STEPS TOWARDS THE PRESENT REVISION.-These perplexities seem to have been happily solved in the present movement for revising the Authorized Version. It originated in the Convocation of the Province of Canterbury, an ecclesiastical body containing representatives from five-sixths of the Church of England. This assemblage of men of the highest position and most eminent character and scholarship in the Church which gave the present time-honored book, conferred the desirable sanction upon the revising body, without committing the church absolutely to their conclusions. It is no spontaneous, merely voluntary undertaking, in which the present revisers are combined, but one originating in an ecclesiastical Council of the greatest weight and respectability. May 6, 1870, resolutions were unanimously adopted by the upper house of the Convocation of Canterbury, and concurred in by a large majority of the lower house, to the following effect:

"1. That it is desirable that a revision of the Authorized Version of the Holy Scriptures be undertaken. "2. That the revision be so conducted as to comprise both marginal renderings, and such emendations. as it may be found necessary to insert in the text.

"3. That in the above resolutions we do not contemplate any new translation of the Bible, or any alteration of the language, except where, in the judgment of the most competent scholars, such change is necessary.

"4. That in such necessary changes, the style of the language employed in the existing version be closely followed.

5. That it is desirable that Convocation should nominate a body of its own members to undertake the work of revision, who shall be at liberty to invite the co-operation of any eminent for scholarship, to whatever nation or religious body they may belong."

The language of clause 5 indicates the liberal and comprehensive spirit of the action that was adopted. The great work was not to be confined to members of the Anglican Church, but to be shared by representatives of the different bodies who have equal interest in the result. This principle was advocated strongly by Archbishop Trench, in the treatise above mentioned, and by Bishop Ellicott, in the introduction to his work on the Revision of the New Testament, and was fully admitted by the Convocation.

AMERICAN CO-OPERATION.In accordance with this action, the committee appointed, consisting of eight members of each house of Convocation, proceeded to invite eminent scholars and divines, as well from different bodies of non-conformists as from the Church of England, to join in this work. Among these are found names the most distinguished for biblical and classical scholarship. The insertion of the significant word "nation" in the action above recited, showed the desire for participation in the proposed work

beyond the bounds of the British Empire, as well as beyond the limits of the established Church.

Measures were accordingly taken to obtain the cooperation of American scholars, in the hope of making the new version, like the old one, a bond of union between two great nations speaking the same language. Twenty-five persons, representing the principal Protestant communions in the United States, were invited to act in co-operation with the English revisers, and have been holding regular monthly sessions for the last seven years. There has been constant and confidential interchange of results between the committees on each side of the Atlantic, and the joint work has been going forward in a harmonious and satisfactory manner.

The final acceptance of the result is to be hereafter shown. The revisers do not ask or expect an immediate and inconsiderate approval. They will submit their conclusions to the calm and mature examination of the great Christian public, to be judged upon their own merits. It is confidently suggested to candid men who love God's word, and desire it to be presented in the greatest attainable purity, that probably no method of procedure could have been devised for securing that object, less open to objection, and combining greater advantage and promise, than that which has been adopted.

GENERAL INDEX.