text and of the Authorised Translation, has been thorough, and up to a full standard of correction. It would have been a misfortune if it had been otherwise. A timid revision that had not the nerve to aim at comparative finality, but was simply suggestive of a renewal of the process when the public mind might be judged to be again ready for it, would have had a very unsettling effect, and really would have frustrated the very progress so contemplated; for such a kind of revision would have been used as a standing argument against any revision at all. Moreover, to modify a high standard, in some subsequent review, is a process comparatively easy; but to elevate a low and tentative standard, in the case of a translation of the New Testament, would be found, if attempted, to be a work of such peculiar difficulty as to be speedily abandoned. No such misfortune has happened to the Revised Version. It represents as full a measure of correction as is required by faithfulness, fairly estimated, but not more than that. The minor changes by which it is marked are certainly numerous, but all have only one common object-the setting forth with greater clearness, force, and freshness the language and teaching of the Inspired original. Eleven years ago I alarmed your lordships by the estimate which I then formed of the amount of change that would be needed; and, I remember, I led my brother of Salisbury to say that my words would frighten people from one end of the land to the other. If that estimate was deemed to be alarming, I fear I may alarm your lordships still more when I state the actual results, and compare them with what was then anticipated. What I stated as the very lowest was six changes for every five verses-one of these changes being for critical and textual reasons. What has actually taken place is an average for the Gospels of between eight and nine changes in every five verses-somewhere about one and a-half (or three in every ten verses) being for critical changes. As might be expected, the average for the Epistles is still higher. It appears to amount to about fifteen changes for every five verses-one and a-half, as before, being due to critical changes. Yet, with all this thoroughness of revision and numerically high standard of correction, the effect to the general hearer or reader will hardly be perceptible. This is due to the second characteristic of our version-its persistent loyalty to the Authorised Translation. To any candid reader nothing will be more patent than this throughout the whole volume. Our words in the Preface will show the great rever ence that we have ever felt for that venerable version, and our practice on every page will show how, even when words may have been changed, our reverence has shown itself in such a careful assimilation to the tone and rhythm of that marvellous translation that the actual amount of change will scarcely ever be felt or recognised. Sometimes this has been effected by the choice of a word of the same rhythmical quality as that which it has displaced; sometimes by a fortunate inversion; sometimes by the reproduction of a familiar and idiomatic turn; sometimes by the preservation of the cadence even when more than one of the words which had originally helped to make it up had become modified. In a word, our care throughout has been, while faithfully carrying out revision wheresoever it might seem to be needed, to make the new work and the old so blend together that the venerable aspect of the Authorised Version might never be lost and its fair proportions never sacrificed to the rigidity of a merely pedantic accuracy. The third characteristic of the version-due recognition to the best judgments of antiquity-though not equally patent, will, I hope and believe, rarely be looked for in vain. In all more difficult passages, we have ever given especial heed to the great early versions, and to the voice, whenever it could be heard in the same language as that which we were translating, of primitive and patristic antiquity. In many of those passages, perhaps, on which we may hereafter be most severely criticised-as, for instance, in the "Deliver us from the Evil One" of the Lord's Prayer-it will be found that we are but reproducing that which had always been the interpretation of the best and earliest writers of the Greek-speaking Primitive Church. We have thus sought to tread the old paths as well as the new, and, while never neglecting modern scholarship, have never reversed old interpretations without such a clear amount of contextual or linguistic authority as rendered such a reversal a matter of distinct and indisputable faithfulness. But, my lords, I must detain you no longer. Such, in general outline, is the revision which I now have the honour of placing before you. Whatever may be its faults and shortcomings, it has been done faithfully, and it has been done prayerfully. Its pages bear the results of long-continued and arduous labours; but those labours would have been as nothing if they had not been hallowed and quickened by prayer. Such is the Revision of 1881-not unworthy, I trust and believe, to take its place among the great English versions of the past; not, also, without the hope of holding a place among them of honour, and, perhaps, even of pre-eminence. But these things belong to the future. For the present it is enough that I commend this volume to the favourable consideration of your lordships, and ask for it your fatherly prayers. Love Stronger than Death. BY THE REV. C. STANFORD, D.D. HERE Love lives in its strength, it will be stronger than Death. It will come down, cast aside state and ceremony, submit to a thousand indignities, stoop to save, and "stand at the door and knock." It will make the king become a suppliant to his subject, and the father to his child. Love to souls is one and the same thing all over the universe. It is the same in heaven as on earth-in God as in man. All love is humble; and, because God is the loftiest, He is the lowliest. Let us not recoil from this as from an irreverent saying; for, if God were not humble, He must have remained for ever a secret. If He had not descended with a stoop of infinite humility, He could not have come near enough even to the highest angel for that angel to descry, however obscurely, the glory of His presence. But if you would know what humility can do, study Redeeming Love. Were the native of some distant world permitted to visit us, and hear from our lips for the first time the story of our faith, he would, it is likely, be overpowered by the marvels of Divine humility. "Tell me these things again," he would naturally say, "for surely I have not understood you. Did God indeed come down to earth?" "Yes," would be the reply; "we would not seek Him, and therefore He sought us. 'Hearken unto Me, ye proud-hearted,' said the Holy One. I bring near My righteousness. As you will not come to Me, I will come to you." man?” Yes: "The Son of God with glory streamed, Too bright for us to scan; But we can face the rays that beamed From the mild Son of Man.' So, to bring the Divine glory within the horizon of our faculties, He came in the likeness of man.' "Make Himself of no reputation?" "Perfectly true; 'He was despised and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief."" "Take the form of a servant?" Yes, the highest became the lowest; the Master of Life took the form of a slave. The Son of Man came into the world, not to be the receiver of services, but that He might render 'Die on a cross?" services to others." 'Yes; 'He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.'' "And, after all this, did He indeed 'call you brethren?"" Yes; still He was not ashamed to acknowledge us. At His crucifixion all created things were ashamed of man; the earth was ashamed, and shook to its centre; the sun was ashamed, and hid his face; the dead were ashamed, and could not sleep in their graves; but Jesus still owned us. Centuries before, looking forward to this hour, and living in it, as if it were already the living present, 'He was not ashamed to call us brethren' (Psalm xxii., Heb. ii.).” "Now," might the spirit-stranger say, "at last I understand His words: Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart."" Though He sits enthroned on the riches of the universe, and the clouds are the dust of His feet, His heart is still unchanged; and we can witness to His praise; His love is still the same." Like the sunshine, which falls with magical flicker on pearl and ruby, lance and armour in the royal hall, yet overflows the shepherd's home, and quivers through the grating of the prisoner's cell; pours glory over the mountain range, flames in playful splendour on the waves, floods the noblest scenes with day, yet makes a joy for the insect, comes down to the worm, and has a loving glance for the life that stirs in the fringes of the wayside grass; silvers the moss of the marsh and the scum of the pool; glistens in the thistle-down; lines the shell with crimson fire, and fills the little flower with light; travels millions and millions of miles, past stars, past constellations, and all the dread "magnificence of heaven," on purpose to visit the sickly weed, to kiss into vividness the sleeping bloom of spring, and to touch the tiniest thing with the gentleness which makes it great; so does the Saviour's love-not deterred by our unworthiness-not affected by our slights-come down to teach and bless the meanest and the lowliest life in the new Creation. He restores the bruised reed; the weakest natures share His visits, and revive beneath His smile. "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy: 'I dwell in the high and holy place, and with Him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." All images fall infinitely short of the reality. "Light," said the sage, "is the shadow of God." It is a shadow, and nothing more, of the Divine sun of souls. It does but darkly typify the brightness of His rays and the visits of His condescension. There is no humility like His humility, for there is no love like His love. A Page from a Student's Diary. H! double is the life that A many live A dual history, unlike, distinct. The countenance may shine, the speech be gay, O God! Thy face, erewhile so bright and real, Fades from the world, and the whole round of Truth, The mighty base on which I built has rocked Or dreamt I stood, on an eternal base, |